The Noble Savage and Ecological Indian: Cultural Dissonance and Representations of Native Americans in Literature

This thesis provides a unique approach to understanding the historical origins and contemporary social ramifications of the use of the concepts of the Noble Savage and the Ecological Indian within literature. I first examine the history of the Noble Savage concept in literature by examining relevant social movements, and then its eventual transition into its modern counterpart, the Ecological Indian. Authors who employ the use of these concepts typically portray Natives in a way which provides an idealized alternative for white cultural woes. Consequently, this idealization creates problems with modern Native identity. In the second half of this project I evaluate two modern novels which address these Native identity issues—Ceremony (1977) by Leslie Marmon Silko and Wolfsong (1995) by Louis Owens. These novels incorporate aspects of the Ecological Indian concept and each offers a different interpretation of the concept‟s effect on Native culture; one is optimistic and forward-thinking while the other is more pessimistic and critical of the current social environment. Understanding these two opposing responses, in conjunction with the critical history, allows for a more constructive acknowledgement of the problematic divide between American ideals and Native experiences and concerns. I submit my research in hopes that it may offer potential solutions to the cultural woes caused by the long-standing stereotypes associated with the Noble Savage and Ecological Indian concepts

Agricultural open data in the Caribbean: Institutional perceptions, key issues and opportunities

Open government data and open agricultural data are rapidly emergent focus areas in Caribbean policy, research and development circles. CTA has been investigating open data through different activities to contribute to agricultural knowledge acquisition, policy and value chain development in African, Caribbean and Pacific countires

pi-NN Coupling Constants from NN Elastic Data between 210 and 800 Mev

High partial waves for $pp$ and $np$ elastic scattering are examined critically from 210 to 800 MeV. Non-OPE contributions are compared with predictions from theory. There are some discrepancies, but sufficient agreement that values of the $\pi NN$ coupling constants $g_0^2$ for $\pi ^0$ exchange and $g^2_{c}$ for charged $\pi$ exchange can be derived. Results are $g^2_0 = 13.91 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.07$ and $g^2_c = 13.69 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.24$, where the first error is statistical and the second is an estimate of the likely systematic error, arising mostly from uncertainties in the normalisation of total cross sections and $d\sigma/d\Omega$.Comment: 21 pages of LaTeX, UI-NTH-940

Evaluation of black carbon estimations in global aerosol models

We evaluate black carbon (BC) model predictions from the AeroCom model intercomparison project by considering the diversity among year 2000 model simulations and comparing model predictions with available measurements. These model-measurement intercomparisons include BC surface and aircraft concentrations, aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) retrievals from AERONET and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and BC column estimations based on AERONET. In regions other than Asia, most models are biased high compared to surface concentration measurements. However compared with (column) AAOD or BC burden retreivals, the models are generally biased low. The average ratio of model to retrieved AAOD is less than 0.7 in South American and 0.6 in African biomass burning regions; both of these regions lack surface concentration measurements. In Asia the average model to observed ratio is 0.7 for AAOD and 0.5 for BC surface concentrations. Compared with aircraft measurements over the Americas at latitudes between 0 and 50N, the average model is a factor of 8 larger than observed, and most models exceed the measured BC standard deviation in the mid to upper troposphere. At higher latitudes the average model to aircraft BC ratio is 0.4 and models underestimate the observed BC loading in the lower and middle troposphere associated with springtime Arctic haze. Low model bias for AAOD but overestimation of surface and upper atmospheric BC concentrations at lower latitudes suggests that most models are underestimating BC absorption and should improve estimates for refractive index, particle size, and optical effects of BC coating. Retrieval uncertainties and/or differences with model diagnostic treatment may also contribute to the model-measurement disparity. Largest AeroCom model diversity occurred in northern Eurasia and the remote Arctic, regions influenced by anthropogenic sources. Changing emissions, aging, removal, or optical properties within a single model generated a smaller change in model predictions than the range represented by the full set of AeroCom models. Upper tropospheric concentrations of BC mass from the aircraft measurements are suggested to provide a unique new benchmark to test scavenging and vertical dispersion of BC in global models

Scaffold-Based Multi-Objective Drug Candidate Optimization

In therapeutic design, balancing various physiochemical properties is crucial for molecule development, similar to how Multiparameter Optimization (MPO) evaluates multiple variables to meet a primary goal. While many molecular features can now be predicted using \textit{in silico} methods, aiding early drug development, the vast data generated from high throughput virtual screening challenges the practicality of traditional MPO approaches. Addressing this, we introduce a scaffold focused graph-based Markov chain Monte Carlo framework (ScaMARS) built to generate molecules with optimal properties. This innovative framework is capable of self-training and handling a wider array of properties, sampling different chemical spaces according to the starting scaffold. The benchmark analysis on several properties shows that ScaMARS has a diversity score of 84.6\% and has a much higher success rate of 99.5\% compared to conditional models. The integration of new features into MPO significantly enhances its adaptability and effectiveness in therapeutic design, facilitating the discovery of candidates that efficiently optimize multiple properties

Constraints on the Tectonic Setting of the Andaman Ophiolites, Bay of Bengal, India, from SHRIMP U-Pb Zircon Geochronology of Plagiogranite

The Andaman ophiolites are well exposed in the Andaman group of islands, which is part of the Sunda-Burmesedouble-chain arc system in the Bay of Bengal, India. Plagiogranites occurring on the eastern margin of the southernpart of South Andaman Island appear as interstitial vermicular and micrographic intergrowths of quartz and plagioclase.They are tonalitic to trondhjemitic in composition, and their Rb, Yb, Ta, and Y abundances are characteristicof a volcanic-arc affinity. Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe U-Pb dating of zircons from a plagiogranite withinthe Andaman ophiolite has yielded a weighted mean 206Pb/238U age of 93.61.3 Ma, interpreted as the age of itscrystallization. The subduction-related plagiogranite has intruded a gabbro unit of the Andaman ophiolites as wellas extrusives of the East Coast Volcanics at this time. Since the Andaman ophiolitic rocks predate the plagiogranite,they cannot have been generated in the currently active Late Miocene Andaman-Java subduction zone and were mostlikely obducted onto the leading edge of the Eurasian continent at an earlier phase of subduction activity during earlyCretaceous time