This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land: An Analysis of Presidential Immigration Rhetoric in the Nation of Immigrants

This thesis explores the function and limitations of presidential immigration rhetoric, using Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as examples to show the development of rhetoric across their presidencies. Reagan and Clinton are theoretically ideologically juxtaposed, though examples found in their public speech on immigration politics show patterned language that contributed to harmful discourses, kept legislation ineffective, and promoted anti-immigration sentiment. Most persistent since Reagan’s response to the fourth and current wave of immigration to the U.S. was the description of the United States as a “nation of immigrants.” Reference to the “nation of immigrants” was often conflictingly coupled with rhetoric that promoted restrictive sentiments. Contradictory and ambiguous presidential immigration rhetoric used to appeal to multiple constituencies has left immigration legislation unproductive and has had harmful consequences for immigrant communities

LINKING LANDSCAPE PATTERN TO POPULATION PROCESSES FOR A CARNIVOROUS MAMMAL

As a taxonomic group, carnivores are amongst those with the highest conservation concern due to the combination of wide-ranging behavior, typically slow reproductive rates, and low density. The Pacific marten (Martes caurina) is a carnivore species of conservation concern throughout much of its southern range in the U. S. The Pacific marten (marten hereafter) is considered a habitat-specialist, due to its association with late-successional forest habitat which provide specific elements, such as cavities in large-diameter trees for denning, to meet a variety of its life history needs. Across its range, threats to marten persistence range from timber harvest, wildfire and fuels management, and recreational development. Ski areas represent one form of recreation development that involves both the modification of habitat and high concentrations of human activity. My dissertation investigates the influence of landscape pattern from ski area development on population processes to provide insight on the marten’s compatibility with this form of recreational development and to develop a sound ecological basis for guiding management. By comparing 3 pairs of ski and controls areas I found that martens exhibited avoidance behavior in response to winter recreation activities by both reducing the frequency of habitat use and occupancy at ski areas in winter. Females avoided ski areas in winter more strongly than males by also having lower densities at ski areas during winter compared to controls. After winter recreation activity ceased in the spring and summer, habitat use, occupancy rates, and female density at ski areas were no different than at control areas. Both sexes selectively moved iii between remnant forest patches with the shortest ski run crossing distances in all seasons at ski areas. Overall the fragmentation of habitat from ski runs reduced the functional connectivity by 41% at ski areas compared to controls. I found that females were more selective than males for both resources during the denning season and for remnant habitat patches at ski areas. During the denning season females selected for mesic forest habitat in the largest trees size class available and for more of this habitat type than males. Selection for both the largest size class of forest habitat and larger quantities of that habitat types suggests that suitable denning habitat is composed of two resources: suitable denning sites in large-diameter live and dead trees and large amounts of habitat associated with the highest prey abundances. At ski areas females selected for the largest patch sizes of remnant forest while males did not. Using capture-mark-recapture analysis I found that adult male apparent survival was reduced at ski areas compared to control areas but female survival was not affected. This reduced survival rate was consistent with skewed age structure for males at ski areas suggesting this was largely representative of reduced true survival. Estimates of seniority for sub-adults of both sexes were lower at ski areas, suggesting recruitment of this age class to the adult age class is reduced. Using genetic parentage analysis at 16 microsatellite loci for 53 yearling martens I found that more immigrants were captured at ski areas and the recruitment rate of yearling per adult female was \u3e 4 times lower at ski areas compared to controls. Overall, my research shows that, considering behavioral responses alone, martens appear compatible with developed ski areas. However, the demographic responses suggest otherwise as the combination of reduced survival of males and reduced recruitment of juveniles suggest martens are just able to maintain persistence at ski areas, but contribute little to the larger iv population. Collectively, this suggests ski areas represent ecological traps for martens, where typically reliable sex-specific cues—suitable remnant habitat for denning for females and presence of females for males—are mismatched in landscapes fragmented by ski runs that ultimately reduce individual fitness

Types of relationships sought through Internet personal ads

Little is know about the types of relationships that individuals pursue through the use of Internet personal ads. This study uses a sample of 463 self-selected Internet personal ad users to examine how gender, age, marital status, and the presence or absence of children influences the type of relationship sought through Internet dating sites. Multinominal logistic regression is used to make three different relationship type comparisons: casual sex partner versus long-term relationship, platonic relationship versus long-term relationship, and platonic relationship versus casual sex partner. Men had significantly greater odds of looking for a casual sex partner versus a long-term relationship when compared to women. Additionally, males had significantly greater odds of looking for a casual sex partner versus a platonic relationship when compared to women. Cohabiting and married individuals showed greater odds of seeking a casual sex partner versus a long-term partner and significantly lower odds of seeking a platonic relationship versus a causal sex partner when compared to never-marrieds. Age was significant only when examining platonic versus long-term relationships. No significant effects were found for those who were divorced or had children. This study is the first to systematically examine the types of relationships that individuals seek through their Internet personal ads

The experience of infertility: A review of recent literature

About 10 years ago Greil published a review and critique of the literature on the socio-psychological impact of infertility. He found at the time that most scholars treated infertility as a medical condition with psychological consequences rather than as a socially constructed reality. This article examines research published since the last review. More studies now place infertility within larger social contexts and social scientific frameworks although clinical emphases persist. Methodological problems remain but important improvements are also evident. We identify two vigorous research traditions in the social scientific study of infertility. One tradition uses primarily quantitative techniques to study clinic patients in order to improve service delivery and to assess the need for psychological counseling. The other tradition uses primarily qualitative research to capture the experiences of infertile people in a sociocultural context. We conclude that more attention is now being paid to the ways in which the experience of infertility is shaped by social context. We call for continued progress in the development of a distinctly sociological approach to infertility and for the continued integration of the two research traditions identified here

The Social Construction of Infertility

Health and illness are not objective states but socially constructed categories. We focus here on infertility, a phenomenon that has shifted from being seen as a private problem of couples to being seen as a medical condition. Studying infertility provides an ideal vantage point from which to study such features of health care as inter-societal and cross-cultural disparities in health care, the relationship between identity and health, gender roles, and social and cultural variations in the process of medicalization. Infertility is stratified, both globally and within Western societies. Access to care is extremely limited for many women in developing societies and also for marginalized women in some highly industrialized societies. We also discuss the ways in which responses to infertility are influenced by the process of self-definition. The experience of infertility is profoundly shaped by varying degrees of pronatalism and patriarchy. In advanced industrial societies, where voluntary childfree status is acknowledged, many women experience infertility as a “secret stigma”; in other cultures, where motherhood is normative for all women, infertility may be impossible to hide. In the West, acceptance of the medical model is virtually hegemonic, but in other societies medical interpretations of infertility coexist with traditional interpretations

Maximum Likelihood Estimation Methodology Comparison for the Three-Parameter Weibull Distribution with Applications to Offshore Oil Spills in the Gulf of Mexico

Maximum Likelihood estimation of the two-parameter Weibull distribution is straightforward; however, there are multiple methods for maximum likelihood estimation of the three-parameter Weibull. This paper presents an evaluation of these methods using four data sets including oil spill data from the Gulf of Mexico. Highlighted are fairly major differences in the estimated parameters between nine statistical packages. A VBA routine has been developed allowing practitioners to implement three-parameter Weibull maximum likelihood estimate within Excel. The code and support documentation are available free at http:faculty.otterbein.edu/WHarper

Habitat selection by American martens (Martes americana) in coastal northwestern California

The Humboldt marten, Martes americana humboldtensis, has undergone a dramatic decline throughout its historical distribution in coastal Northwestern California. There is currently only one known population occupying an area occurring in <5% of the historical distribution of the subspecies. Conservation and management efforts to benefit this population are hampered by lack of information on the habitat ecology of martens in the coastal forest of northwestern California. Furthermore there have been no investigations of the habitat ecology of marten populations anywhere in the coastal forests of the Pacific States. I investigated habitat relationships of the only known population of martens within the historical distribution of M a. humboldtensis at three spatial scales (microhabitat, stand, and home range) and in relation to four forest management regimes (industrial timberlands, and U. S. Forest Service (USFS) matrix lands, late-successional reserves, and wilderness). Over 12 months of fieldwork during 2000 and 2001, I detected martens at 26 of 159 track plate sample units distributed on a systematic grid located over the region known to be occupied by the population. I used an information-theoretic approach to rank 56 a priori candidate models that described hypothesized habitat relationships at each spatial scale. Marten detections occurred in two distinct habitat types, those with forests on serpentine soils and forests associated with more productive soil types, which are more common in the region. At the microhabitat scale in serpentine habitats, martens were detected at sites with dense shrub cover, sparse tree cover, and abundant surface rocks. Dense shrub cover and abundant surface rocks may provide key overhead and escape cover for martens in serpentine habitats. At the microhabitat scale in non-serpentine habitats martens were detected at sites having the most mesic aspects, with dense tree and shrub cover, and with a higher abundance of large diameter snags. At the stand scale martens selected conifer-dominated stands with dense shrub cover in the latest seral stages (old growth and late-mature) in non-serpentine habitats and variable seral stages in serpentine habitats. At the home-range scale the probability of detecting a marten decreased with increasing amounts of logging within 1-km of the sample unit and increased with increasing maximum patch size of old growth, old growth plus late-mature, or serpentine habitat within 1-km of the sample unit. Martens were detected significantly more frequently in USFS lands than in private industrial timberlands. Within USFS lands, martens were detected most frequently in matrix and late-successional reserves, and least frequently in the wilderness area. This study provides new information on the habitat ecology of martens in the coastal forests of northwestern California. It demonstrates the importance of investigating marten habitat at multiple spatial scales and provides insights to linkages among scales and how martens respond to forest management. It also provides information to aid conservation and restoration of martens in northwestern California through identification of areas currently occupied or with suitable habitat, information to identify suitable habitat in areas outside the study area, and information to guide conservation planning for martens and site-specific habitat restoration

A New Way to Estimate the Potential Unmet Need for Infertility Services Among Women in the United States

Background: Fewer than 50% of women who meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility receive medical services. Estimating the number of women who both meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility and who have pro-conception attitudes will allow for better estimates of the potential need and unmet need for infertility services in the United States. Methods: The National Survey of Fertility Barriers was administered by telephone to a probability sample of 4,712 women in the United States. The sample for this analysis was 292 women who reported an experience of infertility within 3 years of the time of the interview. Infertile women were asked if they were trying to conceive at the time of their infertility experience and if they wanted to have a child to determine who could be considered in need of services. Results: Among U.S. women who have met medical criteria for infertility within the past three years, 15.9% report that they were neither trying to have a child nor wanted to have a child and can be classified as not in need of treatment. Of the 84.9% of infertile women in need of treatment, 58.1% did not even talk to a doctor about ways to become pregnant. Discussion: Even after taking into account that not all infertile women are in need of treatment, there is still a large unmet need for infertility treatment in the United States. Conclusion: Studies of the incidence of infertility should include measures of both trying to have a child and wanting to have a child