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Life history response to infection and the potential for dishonest signals in the ground cricket, Allonemobius socius
Title
Life history response to infection and the potential for dishonest signals in the ground cricket, Allonemobius socius.
Creator
Copeland, Emily, Fedorka, Kenneth, Hoffman, Eric, Crampton, William, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
In order to maximize fitness, individuals must partition their limited resources among competing physiological processes, creating negative statistical associations between processes known as (")life-history trade-offs("). Evidence indicates that individuals tend to decrease their reproductive investment when confronted with a significant immunological challenge in order to increase investment in immune defense. This trade-off is often accompanied by a significant decrease in the sexual...
Show moreIn order to maximize fitness, individuals must partition their limited resources among competing physiological processes, creating negative statistical associations between processes known as (")life-history trade-offs("). Evidence indicates that individuals tend to decrease their reproductive investment when confronted with a significant immunological challenge in order to increase investment in immune defense. This trade-off is often accompanied by a significant decrease in the sexual signal, which provides an honest signal of the male's infection status to potential mates. However, if individual residual reproductive value is low, they may instead increase their reproductive investment to maximize reproductive success before the end of their life (a.k.a. terminal investment). Here, we investigate the potential for terminal investment in the ground cricket Allonemobius socius by inoculating males with varying dosages of an immune challenge. We predicted that both high dose and advanced male age would induce terminal investment. Furthermore, we predicted that terminally investing males would produce a dishonest signal by increasing their signaling effort. We found that upon infection We found that upon infection, young males and old males differentially alter their reproductive strategy. Young males exhibited the classic deceleration of reproductive effort. However, old males increased their calling song energetics and decreased their parental investment (nuptial gift size), suggesting that old males are dishonestly signaling their condition to the female.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004529, ucf:49249
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004529
Cafeteria Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Lunchtime in a Central Florida Elementary School
Title
Cafeteria Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Lunchtime in a Central Florida Elementary School.
Creator
Herrington, Emily, Matejowsky, Ty, Williams, Lana, Geiger, Vance, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Public school cafeterias are used by nearly 51 million children (ages 4-17) in the United States every day. With over 40% of the approximately 73 million children (ages 0-17) participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), public school lunches carry resounding nutritional, social, and educational significance for their consumers. This fact, coupled with frequent media attention to school lunch food, notwithstanding, a notable lack of social scientific engagement with both students...
Show morePublic school cafeterias are used by nearly 51 million children (ages 4-17) in the United States every day. With over 40% of the approximately 73 million children (ages 0-17) participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), public school lunches carry resounding nutritional, social, and educational significance for their consumers. This fact, coupled with frequent media attention to school lunch food, notwithstanding, a notable lack of social scientific engagement with both students' perspectives and NSLP operators persists. Divided into two studies, this research utilizes ethnographic methods to explore students' lunchtime experiences within a Central Florida public elementary school cafeteria. Both works are grounded in information collected from 22 semi-structured and unstructured interviews with students, parents, cafeteria workers, school faculty, and a county official while also participating in a one-month lunchtime observation period in Spring 2017. The first study utilizes ethnographic methods to investigate students' food selection, social practices, and mealtime behaviors within the cafeteria. In this work, I argue that student's preferences are most often informed by taste and familiarity, though both age and personal belief systems strongly outline students' experiences. In the second study, I focus on the top-down priorities of nutrition, food production, and student feedback that guide how institutions construct lunch menus for elementary students. Specifically, I investigate what role public institutions play in forming elementary school students' understandings of food and expectations for mealtimes. Synthesizing findings from both studies, I assess how social, economic, and industry pressures are tangible within local cafeteria and governmental contexts. This research contributes to academic scholarship and public policy regarding childhood nutrition in institutionalized settings and advocates for the inclusion of elementary-aged children as important social actors in their call for increased and dietarily-inclusive food options.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006882, ucf:51732
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006882
THREADS OF IDENTITY: MARISOL'S EXPLORATION OF SELF
Title
THREADS OF IDENTITY: MARISOL'S EXPLORATION OF SELF.
Creator
Williams, Emily, Colo'n Mendoza, Ilenia, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Marisol Escobar, known in the 1960s as the "Latin Garbo," is a sculptor famous for showing with the Pop art greats. However, Marisol holds a curious position in art history, stranded between the formalism of the 50s and 60s male dominant Pop movement and the conceptual experimentation and radicalism of the 1970s. Her quiet yet intense observation pinpoints the overriding human elements present in the objects of her scrutiny. Most notable for turning her gaze inwards, her self-portraiture...
Show moreMarisol Escobar, known in the 1960s as the "Latin Garbo," is a sculptor famous for showing with the Pop art greats. However, Marisol holds a curious position in art history, stranded between the formalism of the 50s and 60s male dominant Pop movement and the conceptual experimentation and radicalism of the 1970s. Her quiet yet intense observation pinpoints the overriding human elements present in the objects of her scrutiny. Most notable for turning her gaze inwards, her self-portraiture defies easy categorization. Marisol's approach to self-portraiture is in service to the exploration of her own identity. Yet, from the 1990s onwards, Marisol's work has received little scholarly coverage despite her stylistic affinities within Postmodern discourse. Therefore, I will discuss Marisol's body of work, use of iconography and development of style in the last three decades which focuses on the artist's expression of identity, sexuality, and power.
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Date Issued
2013
Identifier
CFH0004535, ucf:45208
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004535
Quantum Chemical Studies for the Engineering of Metal Organic Materials
Title
Quantum Chemical Studies for the Engineering of Metal Organic Materials.
Creator
Rivera Jacquez, Hector, Masunov, Artem, Balaeff, Alexander, Harper, James, Heider, Emily, Zou, Shengli, Kaden, William, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Metal Organic Materials (MOM) are composed of transition metal ions as connectors and organic ligands as linkers. MOMs have been found to have high porosity, catalytic, and optical properties. Here we study the gas adsorption, color change, and non-linear optical properties of MOMs. These properties can be predicted using theoretical methods, and the results may provide experimentalists with guidance for rational design and engineering of novel MOMs. The theory levels used include semi...
Show moreMetal Organic Materials (MOM) are composed of transition metal ions as connectors and organic ligands as linkers. MOMs have been found to have high porosity, catalytic, and optical properties. Here we study the gas adsorption, color change, and non-linear optical properties of MOMs. These properties can be predicted using theoretical methods, and the results may provide experimentalists with guidance for rational design and engineering of novel MOMs. The theory levels used include semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations with the PM7 Hamiltonian and, Density Functional Theory (DFT) to predict the geometry and electronic structure of the ground state, and Time Dependent DFT (TD-DFT) to predict the excited states and the optical properties.The molecular absorption capacity of aldoxime coordinated Zn(II) based MOMs (previously measured experimentally) is predicted by using PM7 Theory level. The 3D structures were optimized with and without host molecules inside the pores. The absorption capacity of these crystals was predicted to be 8H2 or 3N2 per unit cell. When going beyond this limit, the structural integrity of the bulk material becomes fractured and microcrystals are observed both experimentally and theoretically.The linear absorption properties of Co(II) based complexes are known to change color when the coordination number is altered. In order to understand the mechanism of this color change TD-DFT methods are employed. The chromic behavior of the Co(II) based complexes studied was confirmed to be due to a chain in coordination number that resulted in lower metal to ligand distances. These distances destabilize the occupied metal d orbitals, and as a consequence of this, the metal to ligand transition energy is lowered enough to allow the crystals to absorb light at longer wavelengths.Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) present an extension of MOM principles to the main group elements. The synthesis of ordered COFs is possible by using predesigned structures andcarefully selecting the building blocks and their conditions for assembly. The crystals formed by these systems often possess non-linear optical (NLO) properties. Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) is one of the most used optical processes. Currently, there is a great demand for materials with NLO optical properties to be used for optoelectronic, imaging, sensing, among other applications. DFT calculations can predict the second order hyperpolarizability ?2 and tensor components necessary to estimate NLO. These calculations for the ?2 were done with the use of the Berry's finite field approach. An efficient material with high ?2 was designed and the resulting material was predicted to be nearly fivefold higher than the urea standard.Two-photon absorption (2PA) is another NLO effect. Unlike SHG, it is not limited to acentric material and can be used development of in vivo bio-imaging agents for the brain. Pt(II) complexes with porphyrin derivatives are theoretically studied for that purpose. The mechanism of 2PA enhancement was identified. For the most efficient porphyrin, the large 2PA cross-section was found to be caused by a HOMO-LUMO+2 transition. This transition is strongly coupled to 1PA allowed Q-band HOMO-LUMO states by large transition dipoles. Alkyl carboxyl substituents delocalize the LUMO+2 orbital due to their strong ?-acceptor effect, enhancing transition dipoles and lowering the 2PA transition to the desirable wavelengths range.The mechanism 2PA cross-section enhancement of aminoxime and aldoxime ligands upon metal addition of is studied with TD-DFT methods. This mechanism of enhancement is found to be caused by the polarization of the ligand orbitals by the metal cation. After polarization an increase in ligand to ligand transition dipole moment. This enhancement of dipole moment is related to the increase in 2PA cross-sections.
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Date Issued
2015
Identifier
CFE0005990, ucf:50777
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005990