Foraging ecology and habitat use of the northern diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) in southern Chesapeake Bay

The northern diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin ) is the only estuarine turtle residing along western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of North America. Through predation, terrapins may be a key species in coastal marine habitats by exerting top-down control on marsh invertebrates, and thereby help to maintain healthy marshes. Despite the terrapin\u27s ecological importance, there has not been a thorough study of terrapin foraging ecology and movements in lower Chesapeake Bay. In this dissertation, the research focused on the foraging habits of diamondback terrapins and their effects within salt marsh and seagrass habitats of lower Chesapeake Bay. I provided detailed analysis of the diet of diamondback terrapins captured from both salt marsh and seagrass habitats that showed preferred foraging in seagrass beds when present, as well as prey differentiation by terrapin size, i.e., small vs. large terrapins. Three general patterns in dietary overlap based on terrapin size were common for M. terrapin. By habitat, there was substantial overlap in prey choice, though further analyses determined selectivity for barnacles Balanus spp. by small terrapins in seagrass beds. Small terrapins from marsh-mudflat habitats consumed more periwinkles than large terrapins from marshes or all terrapins from marsh-SAV habitats. The size of ingested periwinkles was related to terrapin size with snails ingested by mature females presenting a bimodal distribution. Two mesocosm prey choice experiments showed that terrapins had a preference for juvenile blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) over periwinkles and mottled dog whelks (Nassarius vibex). A third revealed terrapins were less successful in finding and consuming blue crabs with increasing percent cover of vegetation. An acoustic telemetry study confirmed that small terrapins, which included all males and juvenile females, had better-defined home ranges than adult females and stayed mostly in shallow near-shore water in seagrass beds of lower York River, whereas large females entered these areas on flood and high tides. A logistic regression model predicted that small terrapins were less likely to move out of an area than large females. Males made infrequent, long distances trips within the study area not associated with mating. Both genders and size classes also frequently moved between non-connected Zostera marina beds in the study area. This research provided the first field evidence that terrapins ingested viable eelgrass seeds incidental to consuming Z. marina epifauna. A second logistic regression model revealed that small terrapins were more likely to consume seeds than large terrapins. The diamondback terrapin is considered a species of concern in Virginia, but it has minimal protection with little enforcement. This dissertation provides empirical evidence supporting the diamondback terrapin\u27s ecological importance within Chesapeake Bay that can be incorporated into conservation strategies to promote recovery and protection of the species within Virginia

Social Media\u27s Impact on Compassion

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether individuals are losing their sense of compassion through the use of using social media. I will be examining the social media sites Facebook and YouTube, and I will provide examples as to how people are losing their compassion through use of these sites in order to victimize and bully others. I will be discussing cyberbullying within this essay and how it is an example of how individuals are losing their compassion online. My primary source will be the case of Amanda Todd, who was a severely bullied fifteen year-old girl who posted a video on YouTube in 2012. In this video, Todd explained her story to the world as to why she was being cyberbullied and hoped to gain compassion from social media users. Instead of individuals expressing compassion toward Todd, they only increased her torment by posting horrible comments on her video, goading the young teenager to kill herself. A month after posting the video, Todd committed suicide. Based off the tragic case of Amanda Todd, I will explain my argument through a psychological and ethical approach, that individuals are losing their compassion online. I will further be exploring the idea of “compassion fatigue” and how it may have played a role in social media users reacting the way they did towards Todd’s YouTube video. Lastly, I will also be discussing the ways in which individuals can maintain their humanity online in this ever-changing, and fast-paced technological age

On a conjecture of Bergstra and Tucker

AbstractBergstra and Tucker (1983) conjectured that a semicomputable (abstract) data type has a finite hidden enrichment specification under its initial algebra semantics. In a previous paper (1987) we tried to solve the entire conjecture and we found a weak solution. Here, following the line and the proof techniques of the previous paper, we examine a nontrivial case in which the conjecture has a positive answer

Valutazione della performance del Pronto Soccorso dell'Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana mediante analisi dei dati del biennio 2014-2015

Con l’ausilio del sistema di valutazione della performance della sanità toscana, sviluppato e implementato dal Laboratorio Management e Sanità (MES) della Scuola Superiore S. Anna di Pisa, ci si propone di seguire nel tempo l’andamento degli indicatori relativi al Pronto Soccorso (PS) dell’Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana (AOUP). Gli anni considerati vanno dal 2010, anno dell’inaugurazione del nuovo Dipartimento di Emergenza ed Accettazione (DEA) dell’Ospedale Nuovo Santa Chiara (Cisanello), fino al 2015. I dati dimostreranno come il 2014 - 2015 abbia rappresentato un biennio fondamentale. Nel 2014 si osserva l’inversione di un trend negativo relativo agli indicatori di performance, mentre nel 2015 si riscontra un mancato ulteriore auspicato incremento. Si presenterà il vasto progetto di riorganizzazione del Pronto Soccorso operato nel 2014, secondo i principi della filosofia Lean, di cui si illustreranno brevemente i concetti basilari che comprendono anche la mappatura dei percorsi assistenziali. Si passerà quindi alla schematizzazione dei processi del Pronto Soccorso come riorganizzato nel 2014 e si analizzeranno i dati relativi alla performance del 2014 e del 2015; sulla base di questa mappa ci si propone di identificare dove il percorso reale si discosta da quello ideale. Si evidenzieranno quindi gli eventuali punti critici su cui sarà opportuno lavorare per continuare a percorrere positivamente la spirale del miglioramento continuo

Novel biomarker and stable isotopic approaches for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of saline and stratified ecosystems : the modern Coorong Lagoon and Devonian reefs of the Canning Basin

An integrated elemental, biomarker and stable isotope approach was used to explore environmental and ecological changes, particularly of salinity and water-column stratification, in (i) a modern estuarine ecosystem recently impacted by human water management practices and drought; and (ii) a marine palaeoenvironment associated with the Late Devonian extinctions. A pyrolysis method was developed to investigate methyltrimethyltridecylchroman (MTTC) sources and a proxy for reconstruction of freshwater incursion into marine palaeoenvironments based on these biomarkers was introduced