JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
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REGIME CHANGE IN COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES: THE CASE OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
No full textIn 2020, the Dominican Republic’s dominant party lost the presidential elections for the first time in 16 years. This thesis examines the main factors that led to this paradigm shift in Dominican politics. I argue that internal party conflict, public perceptions of corruption and a strengthened opposition movement were central to the 2020 outcome. I find robust support for my main hypothesis. First, internal party conflict caused major party leaders to defect from the PLD, which significantly threatened hegemonic party stability. Second, corruption scandals and perceptions of corruption affected voting preferences leading up to the 2020 elections. Lastly, the rise of independent media and the PRM’s ability to establish itself as the main opposition party was crucial in channeling public discontent towards the PLD before the 2020 elections
THE SINGING TOWER OF FLORIDA: MATERIALIZING THE PROGRESSIVE ERA AT BOK TOWER GARDENS
No full textEdward Bok, the editor of the Ladies Home Journal from 1889–1919, has earned a reputation as an overlooked yet influential figure of the Progressive Era (1896–1920). Through his power as editor, Bok fostered conventional change towards his goal of making the world more “beautiful.” To Bok, beauty could improve social conditions in America and this vision is best illustrated in his final project, The Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, now known as Bok Tower Gardens, in Lake Wales, Florida. This thesis examines how Edward Bok, with his selected artists and architects, utilized landscape design, architecture, and the decorative arts to materialize the Progressive Era causes he championed. Bok Tower Gardens blends idealized Floridian nature, medievalist architecture, and site-specific iconography through a lens of aesthetic environmentalism to create Bok’s climactic example of a “beautiful” cultural and physical landscape. This thesis presents a new way to understand the role that Edward Bok played in shaping an ideal America through architecture and garden design
PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES AND THEORY OF ASTRONOMICAL ABSOLUTE PHOTOMETRY WITH CCDS
No full textPresented in this thesis is the theory of photometry, absolute photometry, the practical properties of CCDs, and the use of CCDs for photometry. In this thesis we concern ourselves with CCD absolute photometry in practice, and how to take into account the noise of the signal source, the extraneous signals and noises introduced through the usage of a CCD, the signal introduced from light pollution sky brightness, the signal filtered out through atmospheric extinction, and telescope/CCD system imperfections and non-uniformities. Throughout, uncertainties are propagated so that the uncertainties in eventually determined “catalog” magnitudes can be accurately determined. Finally, we provide a set of algorithms for CCD absolute photometry and the determination of associated uncertainties, generalized for use with any standard photometric system, accounting for all practicalities of observing from within Earth’s atmosphere and equipment imperfections
DANCE FOR THE SOUL: AN AI CHOREOGRAPHER
No full textDance is the art of translating meaning and emotion into symbolic sequential movement. This thesis aims to model such creativity in the form of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) choreographer; given a word, the AI generates sequences of movement that capture the “feel” or emotion of the word. The AI has two main components: sentiment analysis of the word and translating the inferred sentiment into body movement, the latter of which is further broken down into a classification model and a generation model. The backbone of the word analysis is handled by a pre-trained model from a third party. The classification and generation of dance is handled by a random forest (RF) classifier and custom LSTM-RNN, respectively, trained on motion capture data from various contemporary dances. The location features of the motion capture data were relativized before normalizing both the location and the rotation features. This preprocessing technique and the decision to use a RF classifier was determined through a performance comparison of 5 classification models handling 15 differently preprocessed motion capture data. A user study to measure the realism of the artificially choreographed dances was constructed, though unfortunately not conducted due to time constraints. Prior to development on the AI, a survey of professional contemporary dancers was conducted to understand the dance genre and its relationship with emotion. The goal of this thesis was to develop an AI which not only choreographed realistic dances, but replicable ones too. Therefore, the dances were visualized using 3D animation software and pilot testing was conducted to gather feedback on modeling techniques which enhanced perceived replicability
PURIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF C. ELEGANS IDH-2
No full textIsocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) is an important enzyme in the citric acid cycle that is responsible for catalyzing the forward and reverse oxidative decarboxylation reaction of isocitrate to alpha-ketoglutarate. This reaction also reduces NADP+ to NADPH in the matrix of the mitochondria. Mutations in the mitochondrial isoform of IDH have been seen in acute myelogenous leukemia and many other types of cancers. Although it’s unclear if these mutations are the primary cause of cancer cell growth, further study can aid in finding the connection between these mutations and cancer. Past thesis students have conducted studies on the wild type and mutant versions of the cytosolic IDH isoform, IDH-1, from Caenorhabditis elegans. These theses focused on the optimal conditions and purification of the protein. The mitochondrial isoform, IDH-2, is thought to have the same characteristics as its isoform IDH-1. However, there has been no research done on IDH-2 in C. elegans. This thesis focuses on the characterization and purification of IDH-2 from C. elegans. In this study, C. elegans IDH-2 was overexpressed in E. coli. It was found that the enzyme was not soluble in the native purification steps. After completing a protein solubility test, the enzyme was purified through a denaturing process with 6 M guanidinium and 8 M urea. In an attempt to refold the protein on the chromatography column, the urea was diluted out of the wash buffer. Protein assays were done in a variety of reaction conditions. Unfortunately, the protein was inactive due to the possibility of it not properly refolding during the purification
DISTRIBUTION OF THE BIGG’S KILLER WHALE ECOTYPE IN THE SALISH SEA WITH REGARDS TO SEASONALITY AND PINNIPED VULNERABILITY
No full textThe Bigg’s killer whale ecotype (Orcinus orca) is found in the coastal waters of the Northeast Pacific and is the only ecotype known to prey on other marine mammals in the Northern Hemisphere. Studies on the population of Bigg’s killer whales in the Salish Sea have been conducted, almost continuously, since 1994. However, few studies have looked at density distribution in regards to season and pinniped haul out sites. In this study, the relationship between the Bigg’s killer whale and pinnipeds was mapped according to season to determine if there are any patterns of spatial use, particularly with density. Location data provided by the Center for Whale Research were used to conduct kernel density and Getis-Ord Gi* hot spot analysis to compare distributions by season. These tests revealed a variation in hot spot locations among winter, summer, and spring, as well as among pinniped breeding, pupping, and postbreeding seasons. Kernel density indicated that Haro Strait and the upper areas of the Strait of Juan de Fuca have the most Bigg’s killer whale sightings regardless of season. Understanding seasonal spatial use of Bigg’s killer whales and how these movements affect their foraging practices can be used to better inform decisions regarding stock estimates, pinnipeds abundance, and resident killer whales’ status and habitat use in the area
Studying the Effects of Increased Seawater Temperature on Symbiodinium within the Coral Species Pocillopora damicornis (Linnaeus, 1758).
No full textGlobal warming continues to impact biomes. One such system that is heavily influenced by global warming are marine ecosystems and more specifically, the coral reefs that provide shelters for more than 25% of all marine species. Through the use of microscopy, the Symbiodinium within these corals can be examined and quantified to see how the thermal fluctuations affect them. For the current study, Pocillopora damicornis was selected as it is commonly found in tropical waters in the Indo-Pacific region and is a reef-building coral. Corals were fragmented and separated into six tanks, pairs were labeled as either the control, temperature increased by one degree (°C), or temperature increased by two degrees (°C). Each week, all experimental tanks experienced an increase in water temperature to simulate a gradual change. After each week concluded, water samples were collected from the tanks and analyzed under the brightfield microscope to determine the total amount of Symbiodinium released into the surrounding environment. From these experiments, there appears to be a relation between the increasing water temperatures and the number of Symbiodinium found within the water surrounding the corals
The Prophet Q: QAnon’s Utilization of Christian Apocalypticism in the Formation of a New Religious Movement
No full textNo abstract provided
GENDERED DYNAMICS OF ΚΡΆΤΟΣ IN HOMER, AESCHYLUS, & SOPHOCLES: A RESPONSE TO MARY BEARD
No full textMary Beard’s Women & Power: A Manifesto discusses the parallels between the patriarchal gendering of women in ancient Greek literature and the experiences of “women in the west” (ix). This thesis responds by taking a handful of the ideas presented in Women & Power (namely, those related to gendered, elite “power” in Homer’s Odyssey, Aeschylus’ Oresteia, and Sophocles’ Antigone) and building on them to deepen and complicate our understanding of violently gendered, patriarchal power in ancient texts. I conclude that Penelope, Clytemnestra, and Antigone are neither entirely voiceless, nor powerless, nor monstrous individuals. At the same time, these women’s stories (as presented by Homer, Aeschylus, and Sophocles) do not offer empowering narratives that are worth reclaiming as though they are about “girl power” (89). But if we let them, they might illuminate the complexities and the horrors of patriarchal power structures that define power by its relationship with gender, class, violence, and oppression