JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
Not a member yet
9773 research outputs found
Sort by
CHINESE JADE: MAKING THE PAST SERVE THE PRESENT
No full textJade is a semi-precious mineral that has played a significant role in Chinese societies since antiquity. As a material culture, jade has a life beyond the context that it was created in and is capable of evoking images of the past. This paper explores jade culture’s significance to Chinese culture at different points in time and its use in state and political legitimization. Jade culture has been recycled throughout Chinese history to reflect societal shifts and to meet the particular needs of a given society. This paper starts by looking at jade culture during Chinese antiquity, and then during the Qing dynasty, the territorial precursor to modern China, and then finally it looks at the construction of a contemporary Chinese identity through the state’s cultural policies, legitimized by jade culture. This paper demonstrates that jade culture has an important role in building myths and legends that bridge people in one context to another, greater past
A PAST INFORMING PRESENT: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION OF IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
No full textAutoethnography is an emerging method of qualitative inquiry within the social sciences. Born out of ethnography and a call for increased reflexivity in research, autoethnography incorporates the researcher as a member of the community being studied. Using autoethnographic, ethnographic, oral history, and narrative research methods, I revisit moments from my past, using an individual perspective, and attempt to situate them within broader contexts. Participant interviews, presented as dialogue, are used to provide a wider lens to my own interpretations of past events. My analysis combines my positions as researcher and participant, to consider the role of family structure, class, and privilege at different points in my life thus far. The thesis invites readers to participate in the process of analysis through the use of reflection and open-ended questions, as an acknowledgment of the subjectivity involved in interpretation of lived experiences
NATURE’S AWAKENING AGENTS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLASSIC PSYCHEDELICS, MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE, AND THE INCREASE OF NATURE-RELATEDNESS
No full textThe recent revival of psychedelic research has revealed that classic psychedelics (LSD, Psilocybin, DMT, and Mescaline) have the potential to increase nature-relatedness during and after receiving the substance, particularly when the recipient has a mystical experience during the session. This thesis is an assessment of classic psychedelics and psychedelic triggered mystical experience as a means to increase long term connection with nature and environmental lifestyle change. This will be executed through the examination of prehistoric to modern use of classic psychedelics, their profound effects, recent research and qualitative interviews with individuals. In the interviews, 90% of the participants mentioned nature before being prompted, and 50% confirmed that having a mystical experience contributed to their perceived increase in nature-relatedness. I suggest that through the intentional and ceremonial use of classic psychedelics humans can begin to reconnect with the sacred power of the natural environment and reclaim our responsibilities as a part of the ecological community
Testing Site Suitability for Hard Clam (Mercenaria campechiensis) (Gmelin, 1791) Growth and Survival within Sarasota Bay, Florida
No full textShellfish aquaculture, particularly Hard clams (Mercenaria spp.) (Gmelin, 1791), has been a growing industry in the United States for their demand in the seafood market as well as their filtering of excess nutrients and algae in coastal habitats. In efforts to restore hard clams in Sarasota Bay, FL and implement a natural detoxifier in the ecosystem, Sarasota Baywatch and New College of Florida tested ideal sites for restoring a hard clam population. Four hundred Mercenaria campechiensis were transplanted to four bare-bottom sites. The clams were separated into three 11mm mesh bags of 25 clams each based on size and monitored bi-weekly for 14 weeks. Site 2 exhibited the most growth as well as a low mortality rate (4.0%). The results suggest that there are acceptable locations for clam growth and survival. Replicates of this study, in addition to utilizing other clam containment methods, can help to further understand the ideal conditions for this bivalve species within Sarasota Bay
ABSTRACT SYNECDOCHE IN FINITE SEMIGROUPS A GENERAL THEORY OF POINTLIKE SETS AND RELATED PHENOMENA
No full textWe develop a general framework for functorial detection of pseudovariety membership by way of dualities between lattices of endofunctors on the category of finite semigroups and the lattice of pseudovarieties. These dualities arise when the action of these endofunctors may be described as pointwise selections of elements from functorially assigned finite lattices. To illustrate this phenomenon, we consider two examples. The first example involves the family of universal image functors, which send a finite semigroup to its maximal homomorphic image belonging to a given pseudovariety. The second example—which is the focus of much of the paper—involves the family of pointlike functors, which send a finite semigroup to its semigroup of pointlike subsets with respect to a given pseudovariety. In each case, these families of functors are exhibited as the fixed points of an antitone Galois connection between a larger lattice of functors and the lattice of pseudovarieties. We also provide new proofs of the decidability of pointlike sets for the pseudovarieties of R- and L-trivial semigroups, as well as for pseudovarieies of semigroups whose subgroups all belong to some specified pseudovariety of groups
SIMPLY GROW ANGER ALONGSIDE THE LEMONGRASS & EUCALYPTUS accompanied with critical introduction —SILENCE AN ACT OF SELF-HANGING
No full textNo abstract provided
Do Static Types Help Functional Programmers?
No full textDo types stop bugs? Existing research is inconclusive, and limited to object-oriented programming. I identify several categories of possible errors in functional programming, and detail whether a static type system can help. I propose a detailed future study to determine the optimal level of static typing annotations in functional programming languages for best software maintainability
MEASURING BRAZILIAN PEPPER’S (SCHINUS TEREBINTHIFOLIA, ANACARDIACEAE) ALLELOPATHIC EFFECTS ON NATIVE & INVASIVE SPECIES
No full textSome plant species release organic chemical compounds (allelochemicals) in order to hinder the growth of other organisms. This adaptation is known as allelopathy and is relatively widespread among both native and invasive species. Brazilian Pepper, Schinus terebinthifolia, Anacardiaceae (BP) a notoriously damaging invasive plant in Florida, exhibits allelopathy on multiple fronts; the compounds in the leaves, roots, stems and seeds suppress germination and growth in native plant species. The allelopathic effects of Brazilian Pepper (BP) against native species have been well documented, but there is a dearth of research concerning how other invasive plant species in Florida react to BP allelopathy. In a lab germination experiment, BP allelochemicals found in leaves and topsoil were shown to decrease growth, suppress germination, and increase mortality in both native (Pinus elliottii) and invasive species (Schinus terebinthifolia & Casuarina equisetifolia) to differing degrees. It will be difficult to stabilize native ecosystems and remove noxious weeds if land managers are unaware of the biological and developmental reactions of native and non-native flora to BP allelochemicals. Accordingly, park managers may be able to recognize potential invasive threats more effectively and respond appropriately if provided with more data concerning the range and severity of potential allelopathic effects
THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO COMPOST INITIATIVE’S ROLE IN ESTABLISHING COMMUNITY BASED ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
No full textMy thesis project regards the creation of the University of New Mexico’s Compost Initiative (UNMCI), a newly emerging compost program that has been decades in the making. This was made possible through the partnership with UNM’s Sustainability Studies Program, Lobo Gardens, and UNM Recycling. The UNMCI offers an efficient, resilient on-campus solution to organic food waste management and fosters environmentally friendly loci of control. While compost programs and the action of composting hold fundamental value, our current society presents challenges, some of which are cognitive blocks concerning willingness to engage with sustainability efforts, such as composting, and other greater than self (or Object) actions. In my thesis, I will discuss the philosophical aspects of cultural difference, the idea of the natural as intuitive systems, in relation to the rejection of life-affirming acts, and environmental racism, and the ecology of death in connection with the development process of the UNMCI. Compost is a radical life-affirming act, with the ability to create a closed-loop system that in itself, is naturally sustainable and nurturing to our environment and its inhabitants, us
The Artist and The Unholy Links between Bulgakov, Gogol, and Romantic Traditions of Artists and the Otherworld
No full textTo call attention to the descriptions of the demonic in the works of Gogol and Bulgakov is so obvious that it has become a pastiche of literary criticism in the field. Indeed, both authors manage to create worlds that are at once filled to the brim with humor and irony, but also suggest that insidious and terrible things lurk beneath the surface. This thesis seeks to draw parallels between the two authors, analyzing the usage of the demonic in Master and Margarita, “Nevsky Prospekt”, and “The Portrait” to better understand the cosmology that Bulgakov and Gogol use to depict the artist’s relationship to the otherworld. Bulgakov was a great reader of Gogol (perhaps unsurprisingly, given the popularity of Gogol in the Russian canon), and once stated that his literary preference was for Gogol (Milne 110). He also wrote a stage adaptation of Gogol’s Dead Souls during the long period over which Master and Margarita was composed. But one can see that the similarities between the two authors go beyond simple admiration. Both are talented at depicting, as well as denouncing,the many faces of poshlost, a quality signifying banal pretension and the debasement of the sublime. Both are readers of German Romanticism, with seeded references to Schiller, Hoffmann, and Goethe occuring in their works. One can also see that both artists’ works can be classified as in the genre of the fantastic – a genre in which the real world, the imaginary, and fantasy elements seem to blend together for both characters and readers alike. Both, too, seem to share a special philosophy of art, in which artists hold a special place of responsibility and influence in society. It is this philosophy that will be examined in this thesis. The specifics of how Gogol and Bulgakov view artists can be seen through the lenses of the aforementioned commonalities between the two authors: their usage of the demonic, their scorn of poshlost, and their knowledge of the Romantic tradition. Both authors use the ambiguity of demonic influence in order to show ‘tests’ of various artististic characters, condemning some and praising others. Specifically, through their use of the fantastic, Bulgakov and Gogol are able to make commentary on the artistic community as a whole through the representation of various artists in interactions with the demonic. Some artists – representative of the more banal type that Bulgakov and Gogol mutually disliked – are swayed by the temptations offered by the demonic into creating art that lacks quality, lacks authenticity, and acts as a detriment to society as a whole. Some artists, however, seem able to overcome temptations both worldly and otherworldly in order to create truly great art