Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
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Rafael Galvan with Pedro Oliva
No full textPortait of Rafael Galvan with Pedro Oliva dressed in a suit and tie/bowti
Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behavior, habitat use, and movement patterns in an active Texas ship channel
Get PDFA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Marine BiologyAnthropogenic activity in coastal areas can damage marine habitats and alter marine mammal behavior and movement patterns. Understanding marine mammal habitat use and behavior near human activities is crucial for advising conservation management to aid in the preservation of marine mammals and the critical environments that they occupy. Port Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, Texas, have experienced extensive infrastructure and oil exportation growth over the past 40 years. This thesis provides insight into common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) behavior, habitat use, and vessel interactions in the active Corpus Christi Ship Channel (CCSC) that has not been studied since the 1980’s. A shore-based digital theodolite was used for one year to research free-swimming bottlenose dolphin: (1) behavioral states (forage, travel, mill, socialize, orient-against current, rest) and habitat use in relation to temporal patterns (season, time of day), tidal patterns (tidal state, current speed), and habitat types (distance to mangroves, seagrass, depth, shoreline) in the CCSC-Aransas Pass confluence area; (2) behavioral state (forage, travel, mill, socialize, orient-against-current, rest) and movement (swimming speed, bearing change) patterns in relation to temporal patterns (season, time of day), group size, number of calves, vessel characteristics (presence, type, size, speed, total vessels, distance to vessels) near Port Aransas in the CCSC. Throughout all seasons and times of day, bottlenose dolphins primarily used the CCSC-Aransas Pass confluence area for foraging, traveling, and milling, while socializing, orienting-against-current, and resting occurred less frequently. Bottlenose dolphins primarily engaged in foraging, traveling, and milling in the deep middle of the confluence area, potentially to avoid fast-moving recreational vessels at the surface by diving or moving between channels. Dolphins also commonly foraged near the active Port Aransas ferry crossing, indicating that dolphins may be acclimated to the ferries’ consistent movement patterns. Socializing, orienting-against-current, and resting infrequently occurred in the confluence area, suggesting that intense vessel traffic may deter specific behavioral states or that dolphins may relocate away from vessel activity in the CCSC-Aransas confluence to engage in certain behaviors. Vessels (e.g., oil tankers, cargo carriers, tugs, barges, ferries, ecotours) were within 300 m of dolphins during 80% of dolphin observations and an average of two vessels were present with each dolphin group. Foraging, milling, and socializing occurred in large group sizes in the confluence area. Dolphins swam slowly and increased bearing changes with increasing group sizes of ? 15 individuals, potentially to increase protection from vessel activity. More than one vessel type and size were found near the majority of dolphin positions. Foraging, socializing, and traveling occurred when ecotourism vessels were present, suggesting that dolphins may be partially habituated, tolerant, or desensitized to dolphin-watching tours in the CCSC. Dolphin swim speed and bearing change varied with vessel type. As the number of vessels present increased, dolphin swim speeds and bearing changes increased possibly to avoid vessel traffic. Despite daily vessel traffic, bottlenose dolphins appear to use the deeply dredged channels, mixing of currents, and human-made seawalls of the CCSC-Aransas Pass area. The CCSC-Aransas Pass area appears to be a key foraging hotspot for bottlenose dolphins despite anthropogenic operations. Dolphins exhibited movement responses to the number of vessels in the CCSC and swam faster and changed bearing/direction as the number of vessels increased. Behavioral and movement patterns identified in this study can direct future research efforts in the CCSC, as continued observation of bottlenose dolphin habitat use and vessel interactions is advised as vessel activity and coastal development increases in the area. Future studies can focus on how dolphin behaviors change with varying distances to vessels and in the presence of ecotourism vessels and how dolphin group size and calf presence change with vessel interactions. Research on seasonal fish abundance and movement through the CCSC, as well as identifying common prey species of dolphins is also recommended. Long-term monitoring of dolphin abundance, habitat use, site fidelity, and responses to increases in anthropogenic activities may lead to improved management practices for dolphin protection in the CCSC.Marine Biology ProgramCollege of Scienc
A mental health literacy intervention to improve psychological treatment-seeking attitudes and intentions in African Americans
Get PDFDepartment of Psychology & SociologySystemic-Level Barriers: The ineligibility of services, treatment disparities, limited access to treatment facilities, and the lack of culturally-relevant care Cultural Barriers: Spiritual beliefs and community stigma Individual-Level Barriers: Limited finances, lack of insurance coverage, lack of transportation, childcare, lack of social support, the fear of being locked away, the fear of losing one’s children, and negative experiences with the mental healthcare system (personal experiences or learning of others’ experiences) Psychological Barriers: The inability to recognize symptoms of mental illness, the perceived insusceptibility to mental illness, the belief that there is no need for treatment, internalized stigma, and the Black strength schema. African Americans are disproportionately less likely to receive treatment for their mental illness(es) (39.4%) than their European American counterparts (52.4%; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2021). This is a public health problem. To confront this problem, it is necessary to address the issue of treatment-seeking. Typically, the first step in the treatment life-cycle is to decide to seek psychological treatment. For African Americans, this decision is often complicated by a significant number of barriers to treatment, unique to the Black experience (Bryant et al., 2013; Conner et al., 2010; Davis et al., 2008; Haynes et al., 2017; Jegede et al., 2021; Redmond et al., 2019; Sonik et al., 2020; Ward et al., 2009; Williams et al., 2012): The present study will address the psychological barriers. The primary aim of the study is to increase formal psychological treatment-seeking attitudes and intentions by increasing mental health literacy, reducing internalized stigma, and redefining the Black strength schema. To do this, a single-session, online mental health literacy intervention, has been developed specifically for African Americans: The Black Mental Health Education Program - Anxiety and Depression (BMHE-AD)
Beatrice and Virginia Galvan
No full textBeatrice and Virginia Galvan sitting together on a couch smiling for a pictur
Five men standing in front of the train engine
No full textFive men standing on a train track in front of the train engin
Influence of heterogeneity or shape on the locomotion of a caged squirmer
Get PDFThe development of novel drug delivery systems, which are revolutionizing modern medicine, is benefiting from studies on microorganisms’ swimming. In this paper we consider a model microorganism (a squirmer) enclosed in a viscous droplet to investigate the effects of medium heterogeneity or geometry on the propulsion speed of the caged squirmer. We first consider the squirmer and droplet to be spherical (no shape effects) and derive exact solutions for the equations governing the problem. For a squirmer with purely tangential surface velocity, the squirmer is always able to move inside the droplet (even when the latter ceases to move as a result of large fluid resistance of the heterogeneous medium). Adding radial modes to the surface velocity, we establish a new condition for the existence of a co-swimming speed (where squirmer and droplet move at the same speed). Next, to probe the effects of geometry on propulsion, we consider the squirmer and droplet to be in Newtonian fluids. For a squirmer with purely tangential surface velocity, numerical simulations reveal a strong dependence of the squirmer’s speed on shapes, the size of the droplet and the viscosity contrast. We found that the squirmer speed is largest when the droplet size and squirmer’s eccentricity are small, and the viscosity contrast is large. For co-swimming, our results reveal a complex, non-trivial interplay between the various factors that combine to yield the squirmer’s propulsion speed. Taken together, our study provides several considerations for the efficient design of future drug delivery systems.U.A. and H.N. gratefully acknowledge funding support from the National Science Foundation, grant no. 2211633. H.N. also acknowledges support from a Jess and Mildred Fisher Endowed Professor of Mathematics from the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson Universit
An Engineer with surveying equipment
No full textAn Engineer watching from the surveying equipment at the construction sit
Goad Cadillac showroom
No full textInside the Cadillac La Espada concept car in Goad Cadillac showroom with ten people looking at the new Cadilla