19468 research outputs found
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Hurdles and opportunities for conservation of native fish biodiversity in Nepal
No full textA steep north–south elevational gradient in Nepal supports a diverse freshwater fish fauna ranging from coldwater to tropical species. About 23% of the land area of Nepal is protected, but the conservation of water resources and aquatic species, which provides critical ecosystem services, has yet to be a primary goal. Threats to native fishes include habitat alteration, nonnative species, dams, unregulated exploitation, and climate change. Additionally, the fishes of Nepal are undersampled and inadequately known, with high levels of taxonomic uncertainty, potential cryptic species, and species that are likely unknown to science. Opportunities for effective conservation of native fish biodiversity are emerging, however, and center on the co-production of knowledge and co-development of conservation strategies with local communities. A multifaceted approach that integrates conservation with sustainable development is needed to protect Nepal's unique ichthyofauna and to promote a sustainable future for aquatic resources that are crucial to Nepal's ecology, economy, and culture
Public Justification and Religious Liberty: A Convergence-Based Reformulation of the Argument from Respect
No full textThis thesis critiques the consensus model of public reason, which holds that coercive laws must be justified by shared, secular reasons. I argue that this model inadequately respects religious citizens and fails to uphold liberal commitments to respect and reasonable pluralism. In response, I defend the convergence model, which permits citizens to justify laws through diverse but intelligible reasons rooted in their own worldviews. After addressing major objections from Jonathan Quong and Stephen Macedo, I apply the convergence framework to religious liberty, drawing on Alan Patten’s principles to assess which model better protects freedom of conscience. I conclude by reformulating the Argument from Respect, showing that convergence offers a more inclusive and morally defensible foundation for public justification in pluralistic democracies.PhilosophyBachelors of Arts (BA
Synchronizing Graph and Embedding Representations of Lyrical Data with Graph Neural Networks and Developing a Classification-to-Generation Workflow For Genre-Specific Songs
No full textAdvancements in large language models and their ability to quickly generate prompt-based content has impacted the classification and generation of creative textual data, such as song lyrics. These advancements have generated attention within the machine learning research community and public domains. The unique structure of song lyrics, which follow spe- cific forms and exhibit a natural flow not evident in prose, poses a challenge to generating new songs. This project explores the integration of graph neural networks (GNNs) with transformer-based language models to improve genre-specific song lyric generation and pro- vides an extensive computational background for each technique utilized. Songs are repre- sented through a heterogeneous graph where song documents and lyric words are nodes con- nected by occurrence-based edges, and additionally as fine-tuned Bidirectional Encoder Rep- resentations from Transformers (BERT) embeddings. These feature representations are both used to train the graph neural network, which differs from traditional embeddings-only song classification techniques. The GNN is trained to classify songs by genre, capturing structural and semantic relationships between lyrics and musical genre, utilizing the dual representation of song lyric features. The classification features are used during prompted song generation to guide GPT-2, a transformer, in real time by modifying token selection based on genre- specific lyric relationships and overall genre proximity within the graph of the generated song. Thus, generation incorporates context-aware constraints to enhance genre-specificity. The classification-to-generation approach is evaluated using BLEU scores, cosine similarity, and perplexity to analyze genre consistency and creativity between original and generated lyrics. Results suggest that real-time graph-guided generation produces more coherent and genre-aligned lyrics, demonstrating a promising hybrid model for structured creative text gen- eration and proving the robustness of dual-representative features for song lyric classification.Data ScienceBachelors of Science (BS
Surveying Approaches to Black Hole Theory and Quantum Gravity
No full textThis thesis provides a discussion of preliminary theories of gravitation and quantum field theory as they relate to theories of quantum gravity. Mathematical methods are developed for studying the theory of stochastic quantum gravity. The theory is developed in the cases of Minkowski space, cosmological inflation space, and Rindler space. These methods are expanded and stochastic processes found for background metrics of a particular class that do not exhibit mixed space-time derivatives, including the black hole metric. Various questions related to black hole information theory, including the effects of Hawking radiation, the firewall puzzle, and the fate of information entering a black hole are discussed. The derivations of black hole entropy calculations and their interpretations from different perspectives on quantum gravity are also included.PhysicsBachelors of Science (BS
On Certain Moments of the Logarithmic Derivative of Characteristic Polynomials of Random Unitary Matrices
No full textThe moments for the logarithmic derivative of characteristic polynomials for random unitary matrices are calculated in the ``macroscopic" and ``mesoscopic" ranges at distance from the unit circle. For matrices in the unitary group , the moments on circles of radius for applicable parameters are found to be asymptotically as . The possibilities and challenges of extending these methods to other ranges of the moment are also discussed.MathematicsBachelors of Science (BS
Militant Monks? Ethnoreligious Nationalism and the 2021 Military Coup in Myanmar
No full textWhile much has been written regarding the factors that influenced the Burmese military to stage the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, little research considers the impact of ethnoreligious nationalism on the military's decision to depose the government. This paper aims to illustrate potential ethnoreligious nationalist motives that caused the military to stage the coup, with a particular focus on the role of Buddhist nationalist organizations and their relationships with the Burmese military. Drawing on the activities and status of Buddhist nationalist groups from the period preceding the 2015 Myanmar general elections to the post-coup period, military statements, and the military’s interaction with the Burmese Buddhist community following on the coup, this paper intends to prove that the Burmese military believed that the Bamar-Buddhist agenda in Myanmar became increasingly threatened under the National League for Democracy- led government. Therefore, the military staged the coup, subsequently indicating that ethnoreligious nationalism played a considerable role in the military's decision-making process. This paper will provide an alternative explanation regarding the military’s motive to stage the 2021 coup, as well as insight into the influence of ethnoreligious nationalism on civil-military relations in Myanmar and throughout South and Southeast Asia.GovernmentBachelors of Arts (BA
Pelagic primary production and respiration in Cherrystone Inlet, VA, 2021-2024
Get PDFWater quality and primary production and respiration dataset can be found in the Cherrystone_production_data.csv file; and background, site location, and data collection and analysis methods can be found in the READ_ME_Cherrystone.pdf file.
Associated Dataset:
Blachman, S.A., and M.J. Brush. 2025. Pelagic primary production and respiration in Mobjack Bay, VA, 2023-2025. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA: WMScholarWorks.Virginia’s aquaculture industry is dependent on an adequate food supply derived chiefly from primary production by phytoplankton. Limited food availability can reduce the growth and potential harvest of cultured bivalves at high planting densities, and the effect of food limitation can vary seasonally. However, sustained measurements of phytoplankton primary production and respiration are rare, especially in the shallow, nearshore waters around the perimeter of the Chesapeake Bay where bivalve aquaculture is concentrated. To provide resource managers with information necessary to assess this critical control on the ecological and economic sustainability of the aquaculture industry, we measured rates of pelagic primary production and respiration monthly at three locations in Cherrystone Inlet, a tidal tributary in the lower Chesapeake Bay with extensive bivalve aquaculture. Rates were measured over the entire year in 2021 and 2024 and during the primary growing season in 2022 and 2023.This work was supported with funding from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the VIMS Office of Research & Advisory Services.Ecosystem Healt
Sacred Bodies, Sinful Lives: Gender, Holiness, and Bodily Appetites in Late Antique Harlot Hagiographies
No full textDuring Late Antiquity (~200-800 CE), a movement called asceticism arose out of the Eastern Christian Church. These holy figures mortified their bodies to achieve higher spiritual purification. Ascetics avoided food, water, sex, sleep, perfumes, and indulgent sights. Hagiographies, a type of saint biography, were written to venerate ascetics and to spiritually train their audiences. In the Eastern Roman Empire, four hagiographies emerged describing the exceptional lives of repentant promiscuous women. These four texts differ from the typical body of late antique hagiographies. Rather than showcasing idealized bodies and the glorified lives of saints, these hagiographers depict the harlots as lowly, penitential figures. The depiction of bodily appetites in the harlot hagiographies is also unique. Prior to their spiritual awakening, the women indulge in excesses of sinful, earthly delights. Following their conversions, they indulge in heavenly taste, sounds, touch, smell, and sights. This conversion in excess may be a result of the reconciliation of conflicting concepts. In the wider late antique Christian culture, femininity signified sinfulness, corporeality, and recklessness. Conversely, asceticism and holiness adopted masculine gender connotations. In attempting to depict saints who retained their femininity whilst accessing asceticism, the four hagiographers needed to unite those two contradictory associations. This resulted in a somewhat confused depiction of figures who were both harlot and saint, lowly and holy, indulgent and ascetic. Yet, asceticism itself is a combination of contradictory concepts, because ascetics functioned as both holy and human figures. The harlots, rather than being weaker versions of the movement, may in fact be the quintessential ascetics.HistoryBachelors of Arts (BA
Assessing the Orthogonality of Genetic Circuits
No full textOrthogonality is one of the most fundamental principles of synthetic biology. Designing circuits that limit unintended interactions between a circuit and the genetic background of its host is essential for ensuring host health, circuit functionality, and overall safety of the engineered organism (Borkowski et al., 2016). However, a standardized method of orthogonality assessment between a genetic circuit and its host does not currently exist in the field. In addition, some of the most effective methods for assessing circuit-host orthogonality, such as RNA sequencing, are not widely accessible due to the technical expertise required and the high financial cost. This thesis aims to provide a review of the scientific literature in which orthogonality of a genetic circuit has been implicitly or explicitly assessed in prokaryotic organisms, and also aims to highlight some of the methods and tools that have been developed for increased circuit orthogonalization (Costello & Badran, 2021; Liu et al., 2018b). In addition to this review, this thesis summarizes the circuit design finalization, construction, and testing that Beteel Abu-Ageel completed as a member of the 2021 William and Mary iGEM team. Specifically, this includes her work with sensors designed to quantify burden caused by a circuit on both the transcriptional and translational levels and testing of a curli fiber production circuit which served as a test circuit for the burden sensor experiments.BiologyBachelors of Science (BS
From Witches to Cat Ladies: An Analysis of Spinster Tropes and the Reproductive Mandate
No full textExcerpt from paper: The media–whether it be books, television, or the news–is built upon narratives. From Disney movies about emotions to novels about enormous whales, each narrative is informed by a wide selection of tropes, otherwise defined as “common or recurring [themes] or [motifs] in a story or work of fiction” (Relojo-Howell). Contrary to popular belief, using tropes is not necessarily harmful. There is a reason that Shakespeare has had such a long-lasting impact on the world’s artistic memory: he wrote with tropes that resonated with his audience, appealing to basic human truths. For the same reason, countless subsequent artists have also used tropes that Shakespeare himself created in their works. What tropes often become, however, are shallow oversimplifications of complex social identities. Especially for historically marginalized groups, tropes can perpetuate incorrect and harmful beliefs and attitudes. Women are perhaps one of the most prevalent examples; they have long been persecuted, especially in regard to their reproductive choices. Through the weaponization of spinster tropes, specifically those of the “witch” and “cat lady,” the media and popular culture persecute women who fail to abide by the reproductive norms established by neoliberal, patriarchal society. As a result, this phenomenon reveals the unwillingness of society to allow women to maintain reproductive autonomy and the inherent danger involved in the overreliance on tropes.Modern Languages & Literature