Copper Mining and Environmental Costs in Dominica

A proposal from an international mining company to establish a copper mining operation in the Caribbean island of Dominica could be highly favourable, given the potential for financial benefits associated with such a project. On the downside, such projects are often associated with environmental damage. The area targeted for this copper mine was a rainforest in the north-eastern portion of Dominica occupying around 12 percent of the island’s total land area. A critical question is therefore whether copper mining could be a viable alternative to agrarian uses of the targeted area, if both financial and environmental costs are taken into consideration. A Contingent Valuation Survey of Dominicans and Visitors allowed for inclusion of non-market costs in the analysis. Cost-Benefit and sensitivity analyses were carried out to assess project feasibility. The results indicated that NPV was negative under conservative assumptions. NPV was sensitive to changes in the price of copper and the inclusion of environmental costs did affect the level of price increase required to make NPV positive.Copper mining, Dominica, environmental costs, sensitivity analysis, cost-benefit, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics,

A Further Study of Perceptual Defense

For many years, psychologists have been trying to find the relationship between perception and different factors of personality. Different experimental techniques were constructed to measure these concepts. One of the tools used to measure personality factors and their effect on perception was the tachistoscope. Through the use of this instrument, words or pictures could be flashed on a screen at varying rates of speed, or illumination. The subject upon watching these flashes, would relate the information which he perceived

Developing Spatial Reasoning Skills in General Chemistry Students

The study of organic chemistry requires the understanding and use of spatial relationships, which can be challenging for many students. Prior research has shown that there is a need to develop students’ spatial reasoning skills. To that end, this study implemented guided activities designed to strengthen students’ spatial skills, with the aim of preparing students for organic chemistry and other future STEM courses. Students, taking the second semester of a two-semester general chemistry course, engaged in these activities. This study followed a quasi experimental design, in which the experimental (n = 209) and the control group (n = 212) were administered a pre-test. Students voluntarily chose to participate in one, two or three activities during their laboratory periods. At the completion of the semester, both groups participated in a post-test designed to measure spatial skill acquisition. The results show that the mean score rose in the experimental group after each successive intervention. A one-way ANOVA confirmed that student performance differed significantly between the three interventions and the control group. When disaggregating post-test results by gender, male and female students showed approximately the same overall mean score improvement

The Never-Ending Quest: Possession as a Postmodern Literary Romance

This thesis explores how the novel Possession brings together the sensibilities of postmodernism and the romance in its approach to the world and to narrative. In bringing into focus this conflict between archetype and postmodernism, Possession provides a kind of guide to both the status of the romance in the postmodern era and how we might look at postmodernism with more clarity. The story of the romance can be seen as evolutionary, in the sense that it has adapted to its surroundings with each new literary era while maintaining recognizable features. It has traditionally had something to say about love, desire, transcendence and idealism, all things which the postmodern perspective rejects in their simple forms. In Possession, the romantic quest takes as its object the existence of narrative itself. Under the revisions of postmodernism, the romance becomes a quest for a cohesive text, for some kind of a whole in the postmodern world’s seemingly insurmountable pluralism. Narrative is deconstructed and shown naked as it is simultaneously reconstructed and fulfilled; Possession is always consciously and simultaneously following and creating its narrative structure. We see relevance stripped away in some ways, but also restored to the romance narrative if for no other reason than for its familiarity and its intelligibility. Even if we no longer see a particular meaning attached to the structure of the romance, it is still relevant in that it provides shape by which people organize and understand their lives. Certainly, in Possession, the meat of the story is the attempt to find a story, to fit the events into a recognizable narrative structure in the hope that it will provide some kind of clarity. The clarity we and the characters seek is both elusive and obvious: first, there is no story except that which we create, and second, we cannot help but create stories in the search for meaning

Personality, Motivation, and Internet Gaming Disorder: Understanding the Addiction

This dissertation examined the relationships among personality traits, motivation for play, and Internet gaming disorder in a diverse sample of Internet gamers, using a group correlational design and path analysis. The researcher sampled participants who self-identify as Internet gamers by posting invitations to participate in the study on Internet forums, as well as by accessing the gaming population at Pokémon Go hotspots. The study used valid and reliable instruments: The Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGD-10), the abbreviated form of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), and the Motivation to Play Online Games Questionnaire (MPOGQ). Data analysis included descriptive statistics related to population demographics and prevalence rates, and multiple regression based on proposed causal relationships in a path analysis model. Prevalence analysis indicated that 4.2% of the population sampled met IGD criteria, with higher prevalence rates among males, students, and people under age 30, indicating potential risk factors for IGD. Findings showed that significant predictors of IGD amongst the variables in the model include male gender, neurotic and introverted personality traits, and motivation related to achievement, socialization, and immersion. A critical analysis of frequency of IGD criteria in the DSM-5 provided further implications for screening and assessment, with specific implications for female and non-White gamers. Limitations related to self-report data and generalizability, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed

The Presiding Eldership: A Study

Studies the basis for the presiding eldership in the Methodist Church

The Never-Ending Quest: Possession as a Postmodern Literary Romance

This thesis explores how the novel Possession brings together the sensibilities of postmodernism and the romance in its approach to the world and to narrative. In bringing into focus this conflict between archetype and postmodernism, Possession provides a kind of guide to both the status of the romance in the postmodern era and how we might look at postmodernism with more clarity. The story of the romance can be seen as evolutionary, in the sense that it has adapted to its surroundings with each new literary era while maintaining recognizable features. It has traditionally had something to say about love, desire, transcendence and idealism, all things which the postmodern perspective rejects in their simple forms. In Possession, the romantic quest takes as its object the existence of narrative itself. Under the revisions of postmodernism, the romance becomes a quest for a cohesive text, for some kind of a whole in the postmodern world’s seemingly insurmountable pluralism. Narrative is deconstructed and shown naked as it is simultaneously reconstructed and fulfilled; Possession is always consciously and simultaneously following and creating its narrative structure. We see relevance stripped away in some ways, but also restored to the romance narrative if for no other reason than for its familiarity and its intelligibility. Even if we no longer see a particular meaning attached to the structure of the romance, it is still relevant in that it provides shape by which people organize and understand their lives. Certainly, in Possession, the meat of the story is the attempt to find a story, to fit the events into a recognizable narrative structure in the hope that it will provide some kind of clarity. The clarity we and the characters seek is both elusive and obvious: first, there is no story except that which we create, and second, we cannot help but create stories in the search for meaning

\u27Science of Trivalency\u27

Due to mine cross cultural living, (I was born in the U.S. but grew in Southeast Asia), I became very interested in the Anthological, Social and Scientific difference between cultures. This led to a historical meta evaluation of humanity in general. Using the principals of Noetic Science, this evaluation reviled the ignorance and down right absence of any educational opportunities to learn the true functional abilities of mankind

\u27Science of Trivalency\u27

Due to mine cross cultural living, (I was born in the U.S. but grew in Southeast Asia), I became very interested in the Anthological, Social and Scientific difference between cultures. This led to a historical meta evaluation of humanity in general. Using the principals of Noetic Science, this evaluation reviled the ignorance and down right absence of any educational opportunities to learn the true functional abilities of mankind