Sensory stimulation from food-related cues elicits a number of rapid physiologic responses that prepare the gastrointestinal tract for efficient nutrient utilization and help minimize perturbations to metabolic homeostasis. Cephalic phase insulin release (CPIR) is one such response that specifically promotes glucose homeostasis by limiting the rise in blood sugar after...
At a time when environmental conditions are rapidly changing, understanding how thermal extremes impact wildlife is imperative to fully understanding the consequences of climate change in natural ecosystems. While many organisms are currently impacted by rapidly warming and more erratic environmental conditions, identifying and investigating model species whose life histories...
The variety of natural disasters provide different sets of characteristics and properties with unique challenges. One significant difference between hazard types is prewarning lead time, the amount of time individuals have from a potential warning to the disaster occurring. Rapid onset disasters may not provide an official warning about a...
Vibrio bacteria are commonly found in freshwater, marine, and estuarine environments. Members of this genus can exist in commensal relationships with marine animals or as planktonic bacteria, however, they are well known for their roles as pathogens towards humans and animals. In this dissertation, I investigated aspects of host-bacteria relationships...
Rural farmers in Tanzania depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. Poor soil conditions, and the danger of drought, increases the risk of cyclical poverty conditions. Aid organizations, including the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the Millennium Development Projects (MDP), as well as industrial tobacco industry, have provided development programs...
The story of Leo Szilard has not been told in its full complexity. This is especially so of the role imagination played in Szilard’s worldview. Szilard, like many other scientists in the mid-twentieth century, worked on the Manhattan Project. Like these other wartime participants, the work and relationships formed during...
Predicting recruitment, which is dependent on parent stock size and climate, is vital for forecasting productivity of fish stocks. The effects of climate can be analyzed via the use of climate indices. Three climate indices, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation, and the Oceanic Niño Index, describe...
The purpose of this grounded theory mixed methods study is to understand how new scuba dive students are creating meaning of their relationship to the marine environment and how that might be shaped by dive training and dive experiences. Eighty-one scuba dive students enrolled in a standardized entry-level dive course...
Haiti has suffered great losses from deforestation, with little forest cover remaining today. Current reforestation efforts focus on seedling quantity rather than quality. This study examined limitations to the production of high-quality seedlings of the endemic Hispaniolan pine (Pinus occidentalis Swartz). Recognizing the importance of applying sustainable development principles to...