Digital Commons Network^™

Building Bridges For Women Through Service-Learning: Bringing Students And Communities Together To Combat Domestic Violence In Honduras, Darlene Metcalf-Bergeron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis defines service-learning and domestic violence, while describing how bringing students and communities together through service-learning courses can build and has already built bridges for victims of violence against women. Collaboration is essential in the quest to raise awareness about domestic violence through education. This thesis will demonstrate through data and photojournalism this collaboration between students of SPA/MLC Service-Learning Classes of UMaine from 2006 through to and including 2011.

As the themes in this thesis develop the reader will also begin to question what lies just beyond our borders and behind closed doors for women of the twenty-first century. …

Sources Of Variability In Agronomic Weed Seed Predation: Time, Space, Habitat, And Hyperpredation, Sonja K. Birthisel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weed seed predation is an ecosystem service that benefits farmers by decreasing seedbank inputs, thereby reducing weed pressure in subsequent growing seasons. Seed predation can be considerable, but is highly variable. Sources of variability may include time, space, habitat, and trophic interactions such as hyperpredation. Two experiments were conducted to measure the impacts of these sources of variability on weed seed predation rates in Maine mixed vegetable agroecosystems.

Chapter One of this thesis describes a series of landscape-level field experiments conducted to quantify the effects of time, space, and habitat on seed predation rates. Seed assays, with and without vertebrate …

Communication And Resilience In Collaboration, Social-Ecological Systems, And Discourse, Bridie Mcgreavy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does communication connect with and shape resilience and sustainability? I understand communication as a dynamic and context dependent concept. I draw my understanding of communication from systems, materiality, and discourse theories. I employ a mix of quantitative, qualitative, and critical approaches in three discrete projects focused on collaboration, social-ecological systems, and discourse.

In the first project, my collaborators and I ask: how does an understanding of complex communication dynamics help identify ways to improve participation for intended collaboration outcomes across scales? We explore this question through a two-year mixed methods study of interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement in Maine’s …

Production Ecology And Stand Dynamics Of Young Acadian Forest Stands In Response To Silvicultural Intensity And Compositional Objectives, Andrew S. Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early successional stands are common across the Acadian forests of eastern Canada and the Northeastern US. However, productivity and dynamics of these stands, as well as the underlying mechanisms influencing these processes, under different management scenarios are poorly understood. To address this need, I used a factorial experiment that controlled silvicultural intensity and species composition to quantify the effects of varying treatments on early stand dynamics, and the physiological and morphological factors influencing tree performance . Specifically, I studied: 1) species differences in aboveground allometrics, 2) light capture, light-use efficiency (LUE; growth/light capture), and foliar carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of …

Design, Optimization, And Testing Of A Cross-Flow Tidal Turbine, Megan Colleen Swanger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a summary of testing conducted with a Darrieus style cross-flow tidal turbine. Many locations around the world have locations suitable for tidal turbine energy, including the Cobscook Bay in Eastport, Maine. Cross-flow turbines are likely to have a smaller impact on the environment compared to axial flow turbines due to their operation at lower tip speed ratios. Since very little experimental data is available presently for cross-flow turbines, this study provides an expansive set of performance data for two NACA series blade profiles of the same chord length. One blade profile was used in two different orientations …