BIOLOGY, LIFE HISTORY AND CONSERVATION OF ELASMOBRANCHS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON WESTERN ATLANTIC SKATES

In this dissertation two approaches were used to increase the knowledge of elasmobranch population dynamics and life history: (1), the comparative approach and (2), the species-specific approach. In the comparative approach I constructed standardized three-stage matrix models for 55 species of sharks and rays. Using these models I (1) conducted elasticity analyses to determine how the vital rates of mortality (M) and fertility (f) influence elasmobranch population growth rate r, (2) estimated sensitivity of elasticity to perturbation in vital rates, and (3) examined the taxonomic distribution of model inputs and species vital rates, such as size at maturity (Lmat), and total length (Lmax). I found positive relationships between the elasticity of Lambda (population growth rate) to changes in juvenile and adult stages to longevity and age at maturity; however, the age at maturity and the elasticity of Lambda to changes in the adult stage relationship appeared to be invariant. Combining vital rates and elasticities, I found similar suites of life histories and demographics within taxonomic groups at various levels. Further I examined where (or if) elasmobranchs fall in the evolved triangular ordination of life history strategies proposed by Winemiller and Rose (1992). My results indicate that when plotted using only the teleost ordination, elasmobranchs appear to be periodic strategists, outside the limits of the teleost ordination. However, when elasmobranch data is included in the ordination they form the extreme range of equilibrium strategists and are grouped by order. In the species-specific approach, I found evidence for a strong latitudinal trend in maximum size (l sub infinity) and size at maturation (lmat) in little skate with individuals in northern regions reaching a larger size at maturity and maximum length and growing slower than little skate from more southern regions. No similar trend was found in winter skate. Little skate is smaller, reaches maturity at a younger age is faster growing and shorter lived then winter skate (Little skate: l sub infinity = 56.1 cm, k = 0.19/yr, Tmax = 12.5, Tmat = 7; Winter skate: l sub infinity = 122.1 cm, k = 0.07/yr, Tmax = 20.5, Tmat = 12.5). Winter skate has higher annual fecundity then little skate of 26-101 and 21-57 eggs per year respectively. Using estimated vital rates for winter skate and National Marine Fisheries Service's survey data an age-structured model was constructed for winter skate from 1963-1998. The model indicated that the western Atlantic population of winter skate was rebuilding in the 1980's following overfishing in the 1960's and 1970's

Identity, community and embodiment: Chopper’s tattoo tour

Heavy Metal fans have a unique style of dress, music and interaction via which a sub-cultural community is formed and maintained. This article explores how this community is embodied through tattoos and the display of cultural symbols associated with the shared identity of Metallers. We employ the concept of metonym as a means of exploring the bodyscape of a particular Metaller and his interactions with others. The concept of the bodyscape is used to theorise links between community and identity as enacted at sub-cultural events

Evaluation of the heat transfer module (FAHT) of Failure Analysis Nonlinear Thermal And Structural Integrated Code (FANTASTIC)

The heat transfer module of FANTASTIC Code (FAHT) is studied and evaluated to the extend possible during the ten weeks duration of this project. A brief background of the previous studies is given and the governing equations as modeled in FAHT are discussed. FAHT's capabilities and limitations based on these equations and its coding methodology are explained in detail. It is established that with improper choice of element size and time step FAHT's temperature field prediction at some nodes will be below the initial condition. The source of this unrealistic temperature prediction is identified and a procedure is proposed for avoiding this phenomenon. It is further shown that the proposed procedure will converge to an accurate prediction upon mesh refinement. Unfortunately due to lack of time FAHT's ability to accurately account for pyrolysis and surface ablation has not been verified. Therefore, at the present time it can be stated with confidence that FAHT can accurately predict the temperature field for a transient multi-dimensional, orthotropic material with directional dependence, variable property, with nonlinear boundary condition. Such a prediction will provide an upper limit for the temperature field in an ablating decomposing nozzle liner. The pore pressure field, however, will not be known

Intertextuality in exile: the fusion of French and Russian language and literature in the works of Gaito Gazdanov

This thesis considers the works of Gaito Gazdanov (1903-1971) and analyses his engagement with a transnational range of predecessors and contemporaries. In foregrounding Gazdanov’s intertextual practice as a crucial element of his creative process, it demonstrates his deliberate cultivation of a (primarily, but not exclusively) Franco-Russian canon as a means of fashioning an identity as an exilic writer. The method draws flexibly on different theories of intertextuality (Kristeva, Barthes, Culler, Taranovskii) and aligns them with Russian Formalist theories of the literary process as unfolding through imitation, struggle and parody. Gazdanov’s influences are situated according to four distinct axes: a Russian nineteenth-century tradition, European (principally French) modernism, early Soviet writing, and the works of émigré contemporaries of the younger generation. Each of the four cases articulates a different iteration of intertextuality: typological transpositions of Russian classical novels, the impact of Proust as a cultural institution in interwar Paris, an interest in Babel’ as a Russian author mediating the non-Russian influence of Maupassant, and a mutual dialogue with Nabokov as a fellow émigré playing with canonical Russian influences. Intertextuality serves as a means of understanding how Gazdanov and other émigré writers aligned themselves with established literary canons, and simultaneously struggled against them in search of their own voice. What emerges from this enquiry is literature representing a multilingual, heterotopic form of identity that resists rigidly national canons

Ralph Bunche, Champion of Human Dignity and Peace, 1903-1971

Poster of Ralph Bunche with a phrase from his 1950 Nobel Peace Prize speech: To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The poster is undated

Jorge Carrera Andrade en el contexto de la poesía ecuatoriana contemporánea

Se ha repetido que Jorge Carrera Andrade (1902-1978) es el poeta ecuatoriano mejor conocido, dentro y fuera del Ecuador. Tal severación, ¿quiere decir que la obra del poeta quiteño es suficientemente conocida dentro y fuera del país? ¿O que es menos desconocida, menos ignorada? ¿Alude a que existe algún conocimiento de otros poetas ecuatorianos, al menos de Gonzalo Escudero (1903- 1971), Alfredo Gangotena (1904-1944) y César Dávila Andrade (1919-1967)? Se ha dedicado a Carrera Andrade, es verdad, una cantidad de estudios que sobrepasa con mucho el número de los dedicados a los otros tres poetas que, con él, comparten la condición de “clásicos” dentro de la poesía escrita por ecuatorianos en este siglo. Mas, ¿quiere ello decir que conocemos la poesía de Carrera Andrade, que conocemos la poesía de nuestros poetas fundamentales

A Formalization of Postmodern Theory

Postmodern theory is examined from the perspective of explanatory scientific theory. Although this kind of effort would be rejected by postmodernists as imposing a failed epistemology, this article nonetheless translates the arguments of prominent postmodern theorists into a series of propositions. By developing these propositions, it is possible to see how they might generate testable hypotheses that can guide the empirical assessment of the substantive arguments of sociological postmodernists. The propositions are organized under four basic headings: (1) the increasing importance of culture; (2) the destabilization and dereification of culture; (3) the increasing importance of the individual; and (4) the viability of the subject. While there is inevitably a certain amount of selectivity involved in this exercise, our hope is that the core arguments of postmodern theory are arrayed in a manner that can facilitate their empirical assessment by researchers

Brazil, the bomb and the poet: Cecilia Meireles and the Gandhian Seminar (1953)

In 1953, a group of nine delegates (from non-communist countries) met in New Delhi to discuss Gandhi’s “outlooks and techniques” as a creative means to resolve Cold War nuclear tensions. This article mainly focuses on the politics and lyrical impressions as observed by the Brazilian poet Cecília Meireles in the Seminar proceedings and the Diário de Notícias. As the only Latin American delegate to attend the Seminar, she sheds new light on the ways emerging countries such as India and Brazil cope with racism, war, hunger, and violence. One pressing Gandhian issue Meireles and other delegates address is the ethical role of “machines” in modern society. Problems faced by postcolonial cultures, such as industrialization, poverty, and racial strife, seem to take a different (and more dangerous) perspective when thought of in terms of machines and progress. To elucidate this “machine-like” rhetoric, the ideas of Deleuze and Guattari have been applied throughout. Other participant comments such as those by Ralph Bunche and John Boyd Orr allow for additional insight into topics still relevant today

The Social Constructionist Challenge to Primacy Identity and the Emancipation of Oppressed Groups: Human Primacy Identity Politics and the Human/'Animal' Dualism

In a recent issue of this journal Mike Homfray asserted that social constructionism challenges emancipatory politics based in essential conceptualisations of identity. Thus for Homfray the concept of identity as associated with the pre-deconstructed subject is central for the emancipatory goal of oppressed groups like the lesbian and gay movements. In this paper I offer a distinction between radical identity politics that seeks to liberate oppressed groups, and what I have called primacy identity politics in which primacy identity is used to preserve the subjugation of those who are oppressed. In so doing I put forward a challenge to Homfray\'s somewhat wholesale rejection of the capacity for a critique of identity to work for emancipatory politics by focussing on primacy identity politics rather than on radical identity politics. In making an argument for the deconstruction of identities for emancipatory purposes I refer to my work on the human oppression of nonhuman animals. In this work I turn my attention away from those who are oppressed to the oppressors because this transfer of attention shows how useful the deconstruction of identity could be for the emancipation of oppressed groups. My examination of discourses used by the pro nonhuman animal experimentation lobby group Pro-Test shows how primacy identity politics can effectively be challenged by a social constructionist critique of essential identities and thus, contra Homfrey, I conclude that the deconstruction of identities can strengthen emancipatory causes.Human, Identity Politics, Nonhuman, Oppressed, Performative, Primacy, Radical, Social Construction