JBC Commons (New College of Florida)
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THE CANTERBURY TALES: HOW GENDERED NARRATIVE AUTHORITY SHAPED MEDIEVAL SOCIETY’S PERCEPTIONS OF WOMEN
No full textThis thesis analyzes female narrators and female representation through narrative in The Canterbury Tales. It draws connections between the tales of The Prioress, The Second Nun, The Wife of Bath, and The Man of Law in order to understand and explain societal views on women during the Medieval time period. In order to do so, this thesis has a heavy emphasis on saintly women and wives, as well as narrator authority and agency. These focuses are used to explain how the narrators of The Canterbury Tales exercise their agency as gendered narrators in order to navigate social tensions surrounding women in the stories they tell
ACCESSIBLE USABILITY: DISTINGUISHING TWO FIELDS OF WEB DEVELOPMENT
No full textAccessibility and usability are often presented as tightly coupled, with the former being a subset of the latter. However, there is a lack of robust research to back this claim. This thesis demonstrates the flaws in considering the fields to be intertwined by proving that a website that follows usability practices may still lack adherence to accessibility standards. This is done by creating a website for New College’s computer science department through iterative design principles and analyzing the resulting website for adherence to accessibility standards. The results of this thesis show that a website created according to usability standards can still be flawed in its adherence to accessibility guidelines, demonstrating that in order to develop a well-rounded practice of accessible usability, the two fields must be considered separate entities that are both essential to Web development
BIOFUEL PRODUCTION: A REVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY AND EXPERIMENTAL OPTIMIZATION OF TERMINAL ALKENE PRODUCTION
No full textGlobally people are working towards creating and implementing methods to reduce human-induced climate change. The US has a particularly large responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because it is the second leading emitter globally. Being one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels and greenhouse emitters in the world, it’s important to identify the sector that contributes most to climate change, how it affects climate change, and what solutions exists to reduce emissions within that industry. Part 1, identifies that the transportation sector is responsible for the highest consumption of fossil fuels and highest greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have been well aware of the harmful consequences of fossil fuels and as a result have been developing biofuels for over 40 years. Biofuels cannot be used to decarbonize the entire transportations sector but with further research, second generation microalgae biofuels can be used in place of fossil fuels for the aviation industry and heavy-industry manufacturing. In Part 2, a protein fusion with decarboxylase OleT and Superoxide Reductase is constructed and optimized with cleavable linker HRV3C. Currently, platinum or palladium is used in decarboxylating fatty acids in microalgae biofuel production. This catalyst is expensive, inefficient in large-scale manufacturing, and has a fast lifecycle. The constructed and optimized protein fusion can be used as a replacement for the metal catalysts currently used with further research and optimization
THE USE OF SPECULATIVE FICTION IN CONSTRUCTING GENDER IDENTITY
No full textThis thesis argues that speculative fiction can be a persuasive tool in imagining new ways of conceptualizing gender and humanity, and an analytical tool for the exploration of gender, humanity, and intersectionality in modern American society. First, I present an analysis of Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, which invites readers to think about how gender and humanity are conceived, as well as who benefits from the enforcement of gender and humanity norms. Secondly, I offer the reader my own speculative fiction that simply takes as understood that gender identity isn\u27t easy--but builds a story that is complex and has a character whose gender cannot be known
MINUCIUS FELIX AND ORIGEN AS CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS: CONVERSION AND CRITICISM
No full textChristian apologetics in the Roman empire had two main purposes: to defend Christians and their beliefs from persecution, and to present Christianity as a legitimate religion for Romans to convert to. This thesis examines two roughly contemporary apologetic texts, Contra Celsum and Octavius, as representatives of the two respective goals. In the Introduction, I present some background on Roman-era apologetics. In Chapter 1, I discuss the different purposes for which the two works were written, and speculate on how the author’s social contexts may have influenced those purposes, followed by a brief outline of how I intend to analyze the writers’ differences. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 examine various points of the works’ forms and content which I argue are illustrative of their differing goals and the differing attitudes that led to them. The Octavius, as a representative of the persuasive goal, is very welcoming to pagans in its form and content, while Contra Celsum, as a representative of the defensive goal, is much more critical
AGENCY AND TIME-SPACE COMPRESSION IN THE INTERNET
No full textIn this project I claim that agency is impacted by the internet through time-space compression. This topic is very relevant to the effects the internet has on society and individuals today. With the acceleration of mental states in cyberspace through time-space compression, our intentional dispositions are impacted, and thus our agency is impacted. In this thesis I address what time-space compression is, what the effects are, how identity plays a role in agency, and how our agency is impacted by time-space compression through answering the above questions. I use both Kadri Vihvelin and Marya Schechtman’s perspectives to make my points. Through addressing these concerns, I address how our decision making is impacted through the internet as a space
THE POLITICAL ECNONOMY OF THE UNITED STATES DOLLAR
No full textThis paper is intended to explain the value of the US Dollar. In order to do this, I will begin by developing a theory of money in general before moving on to discuss the unique aspects which set the dollar apart. Before I can explore the value of the US Dollar, I must clearly articulate the concepts of value and money. Value is a wholly subjective concept. Changes in value therefore can be completely explained by changes in the sentiment of individual market actors. I contend that monetary theory often puts too much emphasis on the differences between different forms of money. I attempt then to flesh out a practical theory of money, not an aesthetic one. What makes a money is in its use, not in its form. The scope in which I apply monetary theory to the case of the Dollar will be limited so as to allow for greater focus on what sets it apart from other modern fiat currencies. The US Dollar behaves in a unique fashion relative to other currencies. The value, for example, of the Dollar is far less susceptible in my view to depreciation as a result of an increase in the money supply than a currency such as the Argentine Peso. The difference in my view is not random or a coincidence; there is good reason for the Dollar’s relative price stability. To this end, much of the paper is dedicated to unraveling the nature of the global demand for the US Dollar and what a unique position the Dollar occupies in the global economy. It is this unique position which allows the United States Federal Reserve to increase the supply of Dollars so substantially while having relatively little impact on the value of the Dollar compared to the impacts similar programs carried out by other central banks may have on the currencies they issue
MODELING OF TWO NANOPARTICLE SYSTEMS IN GLASS
No full textAnalysis techniques such as micro-spectrophotometry (MSP) and transmission electron microscopes (TEM) are useful in many fields, but each has their limitation. While TEM provides magnification of images allowing nanoparticle (NP) size measurement, field of view is too small to determine an overall size distribution. MSP allows characterize of materials by measuring surface plasmons resonances (SPR), and through Mie theory, one can calculate an associated NP radius corresponding to full width half max (FWHM) of the SPR band. Mie theory, however, assumes that all NPs within the system are spherical, non-interacting, and equal in size which is unlikely in practice. To gain insight on relative size distributions for multi-size NP systems we propose a study which combines experimental values from both techniques. QBMie software, is used to simulate spectral SPR bands for single NP size systems, copper (Cu) or silver (Ag). The SPR data is then used to simulate systems of two NP sizes, both Cu or Ag, with OriginLab software. Through graphical analysis, we derive formulas which determine the relative size concentrations of NPs in two NP size systems using only values obtainable via TEM and MSP. The scope of our study is limited to cases where the large NP has radius R = 10 nm, and the smaller NP has 2 ≤ R≤ 10, but serves as a step towards analyzing constituent properties of systems in more detail
MAPPING THE SEASONAL ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE DEBRIS ON LIDO BEACH AND SIESTA BEACH: AN ANNUAL GIS STUDY
No full textMarine debris can consist of almost any anthropogenic item, which makes its presence in the environment a threat. In this study, the different types, abundances, and distributions of marine debris on a seasonal basis at both Lido Beach and Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida were examined. A total of 11,143 pieces of debris were collected from both beaches over all four seasons. While there were no distinct seasonal differences, the Summer season had the largest collection of marine debris (Lido: 2,252 items / Siesta: 3,465 items), while the Spring season had the smallest collection (Lido: 709 items / Siesta: 728 items). Additionally, GIS Analysis was incorporated to give a spatial representation of the debris distribution. The outcome of these maps suggests that, on average, the most amount of debris was found at the dune line, while the least amount was found at the shoreline
A Preliminary Survey of Macroinvertebrates Inhabiting Southwest Florida Storm Drain Inlets
No full textStorm drain ecosystems are under-studied sources of biodiversity in the urban environment. As sea levels rise, saltwater is predicted to infiltrate the stormwater removal pipelines, which will have unknown effects on the ecology of the drains. Using artificial substrate as a collection method, benthic macroinvertebrates from over ten different phylogenetic orders were found to inhabit storm drain inlets at New College of Florida. Although detailed speciation was not performed in this preliminary assessment, it seems that the macroinvertebrates found in the inlets were primarily freshwater organisms. Nevertheless, as we’ve seen with red tide and the Deepwater Horizon events, having a baseline collection before disruption is critical. The effects of sea level rise on storm drain ecosystems are examined in the context of these data