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2019

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Rooting For The Riotous Life: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Agroforestry In The Delaware Valley, R. A. Pic Jan 2019

Rooting For The Riotous Life: An Ethnographic Analysis Of Agroforestry In The Delaware Valley, R. A. Pic

Theses & ETDs

This thesis examines human implementation of agroforestry in the Delaware Valley and the potential of this agricultural and ecological process to influence natural disaster and climate event resilience as well as the preservation of community cohesion. I evaluate the role of agroforestry through combining research into historical agriculture and Delaware Valley ecology as well as five interviews conducted with three current agroforestry practitioners. Ecosystems that grow fruit and nut crops throughout urban, suburban, and rural communities of the Delaware Valley can address issues of crop diversity preservation, lack of community green spaces, food insecurity for community members, and natural disaster …

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Käthe Kollwitz’S Experiments In Printmaking: Intensifying The Expression Of Maternal Loss, Shana Dickler Jan 2019

Käthe Kollwitz’S Experiments In Printmaking: Intensifying The Expression Of Maternal Loss, Shana Dickler

Theses & ETDs

Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is a German artist known for her evocative prints revealing the hardships of proletarian life, motherhood, and war. Kollwitz constantly revisits the theme of maternal loss, often through raw and highly personal representations. She uses established iconographic references, while simultaneously altering them drastically to fit her own narrative. Her images draw on her own trauma of grief and loss, and they have previously been understood only as the natural extension of her own lived experience. However, analyzing Kollwitz’s printmaking techniques in tandem with her subject matter enriches our understanding of her as an artist. I will demonstrate …

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A Morally Schizophrenic Relationship: The Politics Of Humans And Nonhumans In America, Erika Thompson Jan 2019

A Morally Schizophrenic Relationship: The Politics Of Humans And Nonhumans In America, Erika Thompson

Theses & ETDs

Often ignored in animal rights and welfare literature is the political context that shapes and influences our relationship with non-humans. Different species in America experience vastly different lifestyles and treatment, partly due to their legal classifications. This quantitative research project analyzes different demographic markers of a human, their level of meat consumption, if are a farmer, their degree, biological sex, age, income, race and political ideology to predict whether or not they serve as indicators of support for animal rights claims. The data, gathered from the 1993 and 1994 GSS, includes 2,771 participants and was analyzed using bivariate and multivariate …

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The Construction Of Perceived Authenticity In Ethnic Tourism, Olivia M. Lowrey Jan 2019

The Construction Of Perceived Authenticity In Ethnic Tourism, Olivia M. Lowrey

Theses & ETDs

Ethnic tourism instigates a reflexive relationship between tourists and host groups that blurs the lines between hospitality and economic exchange. Research in tourism has demonstrated that perceived authenticity is positively related to tourist satisfaction and the amount paid for a touristic experience. This relationship has been suggested as a contributing factor towards host groups advertising images of themselves that cater to touristic perceptions of authenticity. Through the use of representativeness heuristics and prototype theory, this study explores consumer decision making in the context of ethnic tourism. It improves an understanding of the cognitive underpinnings that help construct perceived authenticity in …

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Units Of Consciousness: Translating Multimodal Synesthesia Eperience Into Specialized Aural Resolution, Zulfiia O. Tursunova Jan 2019

Units Of Consciousness: Translating Multimodal Synesthesia Eperience Into Specialized Aural Resolution, Zulfiia O. Tursunova

Theses & ETDs

I present a chamber music composition Units of Consciousness written for violin, cello, double bass, and piano. It consists of three movements: “Units of Consciousness”, “Dissonant Coherence”, and “Intrusions”. The piece employs various modern music composition techniques and focuses on concept of consciousness as an integral part of existence and interaction between all elements of the environment. This work raises questions about the conflicting role of humanity in the current evolutionary and revolutionary processes of the planet. Units of Consciousness is based on multimodal synesthetic experience of the composer; on my own perceptions of time, consciousness, and music. Rather than …

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A Test For Vocal Suppression In Male X. Borealis Aquatic Frogs, Susan A. Hajmohammad Jan 2019

A Test For Vocal Suppression In Male X. Borealis Aquatic Frogs, Susan A. Hajmohammad

Theses & ETDs

This study explores male – male acoustic signaling behavior in Xenopus borealis, a species of the Xenopus South African clawed frogs. Vocal suppression had been observed in another species of Xenopus, Xenopus laevis. Because X. borealis males have a much more simplified call type than X. laevis, X. borealis males were tested to see if they respond suppressively to the advertisement callings of conspecifics, sexually receptive experimental males were recorded from while given playback of conspecific advertisement calls, heterospecific advertisement calls (X. muelleri) and white noise as a control. On average, males suppressed to any playback, regardless of type. There …

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Shusaku Endo: Demonstrating The Wholeness Of The Christian Experience In Japan Through Silence And Scandal, Carly Richardson Jan 2019

Shusaku Endo: Demonstrating The Wholeness Of The Christian Experience In Japan Through Silence And Scandal, Carly Richardson

Theses & ETDs

The focus of this thesis is the Japanese Catholic author Shusaku Endo, and his influence on the Japanese Christian community. Endo struggled with fitting in to the Japanese community as a Christian, as well as having difficulty being accepted into the Christian community as a Japanese person. His struggles with finding acceptance are present in his novels, and result in his works having a prominent Christian influence. Through analyzing his novels Silence and Scandal, I argue that his works have successfully brought awareness to the Japanese Christian community. My first chapter gives an overview of Shusaku Endo’s life, as well …

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Automated Text Extraction Of Anna Karenina And The Kreutzer Sonata: Quantifying The Lexical Representation Of Women In Tolstoy, Emma Schwarz Jan 2019

Automated Text Extraction Of Anna Karenina And The Kreutzer Sonata: Quantifying The Lexical Representation Of Women In Tolstoy, Emma Schwarz

Theses & ETDs

I extract the lexical representation of target words related to the concepts of gender and sensuality in Tolstoy utilizing the word2vec algorithm. The word2vec algorithm takes as input a corpus and outputs a vector space where the vectorized words that are closest in the space are most similar. This similarity is defined through calculating the cosine similarity between vectors in the space. The corpus consists of Anna Karenina and The Kreutzer Sonata, two works that address the woman question in nineteenth-century Russia, and is retrieved from Project Gutenberg. I provide visualizations of the words most similar to target words within …

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Implementing A Network Based Approach To Learning Chinese Characters, Katherine Diamond Jan 2019

Implementing A Network Based Approach To Learning Chinese Characters, Katherine Diamond

Theses & ETDs

For the uninitiated, Chinese often appears to be extremely difficult. The writing system is complex with few hints as to what any character looks and sounds like. This project aims to review the relevant literature and design a learning tool that takes advantage of the structure of Chinese characters in order to provide an easier and more enjoyable learning environment for second language (L2) learners of Chinese. This is achieved by introducing Chinese characters in a computer generated learning order that is theorized to be substantially more effective for L2 learners of Chinese.

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Breaking The Bee’S Knees: An Overview Of Global Pollinator Decline And Conservation Efforts On The New College Of Florida Campus, Jackie Lebouitz Jan 2019

Breaking The Bee’S Knees: An Overview Of Global Pollinator Decline And Conservation Efforts On The New College Of Florida Campus, Jackie Lebouitz

Theses & ETDs

We live in a world where anthropogenic activity and its consequences (pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, etc.) have led to the loss of pollinator biodiversity. Both agricultural operations and general ecosystems require pollination for stability. Biodiversity provides an excellent ecological buffer for compromised species that may disappear due to environmental stressors, disease, and genetic bottlenecks. In fact, bats, birds, butterflies, beetles, and even some species of lizards can provide pollination services to plants. Some flowering plants rely on specialist pollinators for their continued persistence in an ecological community, and the vulnerability of these species can lead to disruptions in the …

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Fill The Earth And Subdue It: Evangelicals, Environmentalism, And Religious Divides, James Spencer Powell Jan 2019

Fill The Earth And Subdue It: Evangelicals, Environmentalism, And Religious Divides, James Spencer Powell

Theses & ETDs

Christianity contains numerous ecotheologies that present humans as the epitome of creation, but also instruct them to care for the Earth. While Christian environmental organizations have flourished over the past few decades, studies have consistently linked belief in Christianity and Evangelicalism in particular to negative environmental ethics and lack of support for environmental regulation. Numerous explanations for Evangelical’s aversion to environmentalism have been explored and tested such as biblical literalism, religiosity, morality, eschatology, and political conservatism with different explanations ultimately resulting. This led me to explore what aspects of Christianity are responsible for these environmental ethics by studying the social …

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The Effect Of Anthropogenic Noise Pollution On The Foraging Efficiency Of Corn Snakes (Pantherophis Guttatus), Margaret Hoffswell Jan 2019

The Effect Of Anthropogenic Noise Pollution On The Foraging Efficiency Of Corn Snakes (Pantherophis Guttatus), Margaret Hoffswell

Theses & ETDs

Travel by car produces many types of pollution and one of the most disregarded of these types is noise pollution. Sadly, the vast majority of populations that may be affected by noise pollution remain unstudied. This research aims to investigate the effects of such traffic noise on the widespread and charming corn snake. Snakes rely on highly sensitive mechanoreception to hunt, including an acute articulation of their ear bone directly to their jaw. Because noise pollution may interfere with these senses, it may hinder their ability to forage effectively. To study this relationship, I subjected eight snakes to artificial traffic …

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Affliction As Insight: Disability And Empathy In Dostoevsky’S The Idiot, Alyson Hart Jan 2019

Affliction As Insight: Disability And Empathy In Dostoevsky’S The Idiot, Alyson Hart

Theses & ETDs

This thesis is an exploration of how the characters Ippolit and Prince Myshkin in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot are affected by their disabling conditions in regards to their capacity for empathy towards others, as well as how others empathize with them. Drawing on the theories of various critics, this thesis outlines the characteristics of each characters’ illness, and the unique ways that these illnesses influence each character’s life. Each chapter focuses on one character, examining different episodes that illustrate how each character gives and receives empathy throughout the novel. The first chapter focuses on Prince Myshkin, the protagonist of the novel …

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A Novel Approach To In Situ Microbiome Surveys Of Fungi In Mosquitoes, Evan Towers Teal Jan 2019

A Novel Approach To In Situ Microbiome Surveys Of Fungi In Mosquitoes, Evan Towers Teal

Theses & ETDs

Millions of people are affected by mosquito-borne diseases, causing problems for people specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists have started looking at control methods using microbes to better manage mosquitoes, primarily looking at organisms in the bacterial kingdom. In this project, I attempted to survey the fungal microbiome of three mosquito genera using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Results from this experiment showed mostly mosquito DNA was amplified using these methods, however, this data has uncovered important information about biases which occur in the process of amplifying multiple genomes using ITS1 and ITS4 primers.

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On The Edge Of The Volcano: Science And The Sublime In Joseph Wright Of Derby’S Views Of Mount Vesuvius, Jaime Hampton Jan 2019

On The Edge Of The Volcano: Science And The Sublime In Joseph Wright Of Derby’S Views Of Mount Vesuvius, Jaime Hampton

Theses & ETDs

Joseph Wright is known for his candlelit depictions of scientific inquiry that reflect the popularization of science during the age of Enlightenment. Less well-known are his multiple views of Mount Vesuvius, which were inspired by his travel on the Grand Tour. This thesis explores the ongoing influence of scholarly science and notions of the sublime on the creation of Wright’s later Vesuvius artworks. It looks at the artist’s methods of studying the volcano and his connections to scholars interested in the sciences, particularly geology, and also examines the popular appeal of Vesuvius as part of a market for Grand Tour …

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Smooth: Adapting Joyce Carol Oates For Film In The Me Too Era, Thomas Ghebrezgi Jan 2019

Smooth: Adapting Joyce Carol Oates For Film In The Me Too Era, Thomas Ghebrezgi

Theses & ETDs

My role in this thesis is that of adapter/scholar. First, I examine the 1985 film Smooth Talk (dir. Joyce Chopra) based on Joyce Carol Oates’s short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” I begin by addressing the critical discourse surrounding Chopra’s film, providing a reading of Smooth Talk that directly rebuts allegations the film is either anti-feminist or imaginatively staid. I argue Smooth Talk uses allusions to the Bible, specifically to the parable of the Levite and His Concubine, to craft a critique of the patriarchal forces that structure the world of the film’s protagonist, the teenaged …

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Growth And Nutrient Dynamics Of A Tank Forming Bromeliad ( Tillandsia Utriculata), Elizabeth White Jan 2019

Growth And Nutrient Dynamics Of A Tank Forming Bromeliad ( Tillandsia Utriculata), Elizabeth White

Theses & ETDs

Tillandsia utriculata is an ecologically important epiphytic bromeliad that is native to Florida. These plants have unique ways of absorbing nutrients and responding to the stressors that come along with occupying a particularly stressful niche (growing on the bark of trees). A major adaptation that this study focused on is the growth form of these plants’ leaves, referred to as “tanking”. Tanking allows for the collection of detritus and water in the base of these plants leaves to be stored and used in times of drought. From a pilot study, there is reason to believe that there is some kind …

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Stars, Dinosaurs, And You: A Prehistoric Podcast, Eliza Bychek Jan 2019

Stars, Dinosaurs, And You: A Prehistoric Podcast, Eliza Bychek

Theses & ETDs

This audio podcast surveys the breadth of natural history, starting with the Big Bang and progressing through the formation of stars and planets to our own Earth, from there on serving as an overview of the history of life through its various eras, and culminating in a look at the hominin family tree and the evolution of humankind. The podcast is intended to be accessible to listeners of all levels, requiring only an understanding of English and a willingness to learn. It should leave its audience with a solid scientific foundation for understanding how we and our world evolved to …

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To Float Above Water: Mapping Modernity And Identity In Recent Chinese Ecocinema, Derek Harootune Otis Jan 2019

To Float Above Water: Mapping Modernity And Identity In Recent Chinese Ecocinema, Derek Harootune Otis

Theses & ETDs

Recent Chinese filmmaking demonstrates a unique spatial and ecological consciousness. Two films produced in the last three decades, Zhang Ming’s Wushan Yunyu and Jia Zhangke’s Still Life, focus this consciousness towards the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Narratives focusing on the transient and unstable lives lived in the shadow of the Dam are deepened by unique cinematographic technique and intertextual reference to China’s tradition of landscape aesthetics, suggesting a deep connection between Chinese artistic and poetic history, physical Chinese landscapes, and the inner lives of these films’ characters. In order to access and discuss that connection, I adapt Fredric …

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Violent And Savage And Lawless: Narratives Of Hospitality In Homer’S Odyssey, James Urbec Jan 2019

Violent And Savage And Lawless: Narratives Of Hospitality In Homer’S Odyssey, James Urbec

Theses & ETDs

In this thesis, I analyze the ways that Homer uses hospitality as a reference point for the characters and conflicts in the Odyssey. Hospitality is a central theme of the text, and is used as a framework within which the ξεῖνοι over the course of the epic can display their virtue or villainy, and be understood in context. In Chapter One, I examine the first four books of the Odyssey, the so-called “Telemachy,” and argue that the section provides essential context and setup for the characters and hospitality concepts explored later in the text. In Chapter Two, I explore the …

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“Idle Hands Make Fretful Minds:” The Relationship Between Selftouch Gestures And Nicotine Use, Benjamin Cook Jan 2019

“Idle Hands Make Fretful Minds:” The Relationship Between Selftouch Gestures And Nicotine Use, Benjamin Cook

Theses & ETDs

Self-touch gestures occur every day in nearly every human, though not much information is known about why they occur. One hypothesis that has been echoed throughout psychological literature is that these behaviors allow an individual to regulate the amount of sensory information they receive, and thus act as a tool for regulating negative affect. Nicotine use, and substance use more generally, is considered an example of expressive suppression, an emotional regulation strategy that ultimately leads to more negative affect. The connection between self-touch gestures and nicotine use has been understudied despite both variables being connected to emotional regulation. The current …

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Luciferian Proto-Individualism In Two Adaptations Of The Faust Legend, Jasmine Johnson-Bullara Jan 2019

Luciferian Proto-Individualism In Two Adaptations Of The Faust Legend, Jasmine Johnson-Bullara

Theses & ETDs

To lay the groundwork for interpreting Faust and Dr. Faustus as a prototypical Individual and as a protégé of the Devil, I establish definitions of Individualism (both for the Renaissance and for the Enlightenment) to be used alongside biblical characterizations of Lucifer, which guide my textual analysis. For Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall history of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, I make use of Jacob Burckhardt’s definition of the Renaissance Individual in his Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy) and interpret Dr. Faustus’ self-concernedness as an expression of his Individualism. In the …

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Rough And Tumble Play In The Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris), Aren Hendrickson Jan 2019

Rough And Tumble Play In The Domestic Dog (Canis Familiaris), Aren Hendrickson

Theses & ETDs

Rough-and-tumble play is a type of social play characterized by both competition and cooperation. The experience of rough-and-tumble play may allow juveniles to calibrate their emotional response and improve motor, neural, and social development. Playing as adults has been shown to reduce current stress levels. In the animal kingdom, rough-and-tumble play typically happens between familiar individuals. At off-leash dog parks, familiar and unfamiliar individuals play, which requires intricate social coordination. How do they do it? Here we observed naturally occurring playful behaviors of domestic dogs in 14 dyadic play bouts at an off-leash dog park in Bradenton, Florida. We video-recorded …

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Striving For Love: Spinoza And Tillich On Love And Self-Actualization, Jordi F. Gonzalez Jan 2019

Striving For Love: Spinoza And Tillich On Love And Self-Actualization, Jordi F. Gonzalez

Theses & ETDs

This thesis traces the notions of “God” and “love” between the two philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Paul Tillich. In revisiting the infamous phrase that “God is Love” and relating it to philosophical discussions between both Spinoza and Tillich, a proposed suggestion for an ethical maxim or principle of life is detailed. It is a reconceptualization of love the following formulation: Love = Attachment = Attention + Appreciation + Acceptance. In thinking of the interconnectedness of everything, the oneness of everything, we can come to a conclusion on how this might affect one’s ethics towards themselves, the world, and others. The …

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The Perception Of Value: Affect, Physiology, And The Role Of Reenactment, Daniel Parr Jan 2019

The Perception Of Value: Affect, Physiology, And The Role Of Reenactment, Daniel Parr

Theses & ETDs

This thesis examines the representations of stimulus value that guide goal-directed behavior. Evidence is reviewed regarding the process by which stimuli acquire valence, and the affective and physiological events that underlie this process. “Reenactment accounts” - which hold that the representation of the value of a stimulus relies on the reenactment of the affective states that have been associated with the stimulus in the past - are then discussed. Using neuroimaging studies on the role of ventral prefrontal cortex in evaluation, and other evidence, an argument is made against these accounts. Finally, a study designed to test the importance of …

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Examining Victim Blaming: An Analysis Of The Sexual Objectification Of Women In Media, Self-Objectification, And Rape Myth Acceptance, Nina Schmidt Jan 2019

Examining Victim Blaming: An Analysis Of The Sexual Objectification Of Women In Media, Self-Objectification, And Rape Myth Acceptance, Nina Schmidt

Theses & ETDs

This study examines the relationships between sexual objectification, self-objectification, rape myth acceptance, and victim blaming. Participants first completed a self-objectification and rape myth acceptance questionnaire and engaged in a short cognitive task to mitigate priming effects. They were then shown either sexualized images (experimental condition) or neutral images (control condition), read a vignette depicting a sexual assault, and answered questions to assess their victim blaming score. Contrary to previous literature, sexual objectification did not affect victim blaming. Additionally, self-objectification was not related to victim blaming, but rape myth acceptance was strongly, positively related to victim blaming such that higher rape …

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Art Of The Alien Timeline: Exploring How Nonlinear Narratives Achieve Brecht’S Theory Of Alienation In Run Lola Run And Memento, Connor Borden Jan 2019

Art Of The Alien Timeline: Exploring How Nonlinear Narratives Achieve Brecht’S Theory Of Alienation In Run Lola Run And Memento, Connor Borden

Theses & ETDs

Films that are structured with a nonlinear narrative are able to create a sense of unfamiliarity for the audience watching. This uncertainty can be used to create Bertolt Brecht’s Alienation Effect which is meant to create more critically observant audiences by creating an experience for the audience members that is separated from what is going on in the story. This thesis examines two films which are structured around unique nonlinear narratives and the way that they create the Alienation Effect with their narrative presentation. These films both contain some form of a puzzle in their plot so that audiences will …

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“All The Jews Of The World”: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Passover Liturgy And Disability Theology, Ezra Katz Jan 2019

“All The Jews Of The World”: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Passover Liturgy And Disability Theology, Ezra Katz

Theses & ETDs

This thesis explores the connections between language, discrimination, inclusion and exclusion, and liturgy. I examine this first in an introduction that discusses the history of the Disability Rights Movement in order to track the development of scholarly models regarding disability. Choosing to use the social model of disability, I go on to discuss theory of language and politically correct culture in Chapter 1. Chapters 2 and 3 are case studies, to argue my ultimate point that even liturgy that claims to be inclusive often falls short of this goal. The thesis concludes with points for further research and suggestions for …

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Cotton, Cattle And Commerce: Differing Economic Development Paths As An Explanatory Factor For Divergent Political Outcomes In The United States And Argentina, Christian Reitnauer Jan 2019

Cotton, Cattle And Commerce: Differing Economic Development Paths As An Explanatory Factor For Divergent Political Outcomes In The United States And Argentina, Christian Reitnauer

Theses & ETDs

The histories of the United States and Argentina provide an opportunity to examine the questions of democratic survival and failure given the divergent outcomes experienced by these countries. A possible explanation is in how these countries’ economic systems affected their political institutions. Both Argentina and the Southern United States developed agricultural systems dominated by elite landed interests. These two cases also saw significant resistance to and backlash against democratization. The Northern United States developed a diverse economic system with an agricultural base consisting of small landowners, democratized more rapidly and did not experience a backlash significant enough to threaten the …

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Influence Of Varying Sand Albedo On Sea Turtle Nest Depth Temperatures, Mackenna Louise Jensen Jan 2019

Influence Of Varying Sand Albedo On Sea Turtle Nest Depth Temperatures, Mackenna Louise Jensen

Theses & ETDs

Sea turtles, sexually determined by temperature, see higher ratios of females produced with warmer temperatures. Albedo—the reflection of radiation by a surface— plays an important role in sand temperatures of nesting beaches, however, the specific variation necessary to alter nest temperatures has not been well investigated. Individual sand samples, with the first 20 cm of sand varying in albedo with light and dark sand, were measured for temperature differences at the surface and varying depths. The surfaces, heated by solar radiation and convection, were significantly different, but sand depths heated through diffusion, left depths of 20 cm and 50 cm …

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