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<p>The purpose of this thesis is to offer a defence of Jlirgen Habermas's discourse ethics against rival ethical theories that are oriented toward questions of the good life. Habermas's discourse ethics is founded on the Kantian distinction between the right and good. This distinction has come under fire from hermeneutically informed theorists, such as Georgia Warnke and Charles Taylor, as being either unattainable and unnecessary (Warnke), or contradictory as it must rely on the cultural contextuality in which it is formed (Taylor). But since Habermas's discourse ethics is discursive in nature and founded on the structural pragmatics of language use, it is able to effectively answer both Warnke's and Taylor's concerns. I attempt to prove this by showing that Habermas grounds discourse ethics through linking it with the perspective in which participants partake in actual discourse; thus providing a quasi-contextual basis, while it still remains Kantian in nature, as its scope and function is cognitive, universal and formal.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

In experiment one, week old Jersey bull calves (n=39) were assigned to one of four diets: 21/21 (n=8), 27/33 (n=8), 29/16 (n=9), MILK; or a baseline sacrifice group (n=6). Diets 21/21, 27/33, and 29/16 were milk replacers containing 21, 27, or 29% CP, and 21, 33, and 16% fat, respectively. Diet 21/21 was fed at 15% of BW. Diets 27/33, 29/16, and MILK supplied 180g CP/d. Calves were fed 4 wk. Weight, hip height, wither height, heart girth, and body length were measured weekly. Weekly plasma samples were analyzed for PUN, NEFA, and glucose. Calves were processed to estimate body composition. Feed efficiency and ADG were greatest for calves fed MILK, least for calves fed 21/21, and intermediate for calves fed 29/16 and 27/33. Calves fed 27/33 or MILK had the greatest gains of fat and percentage fat in the empty body. Body fat percentage of calves fed 29/16 or 21/21 was not changed by diet. Performance of calves fed 27/33 and 29/16 was similar except that calves fed 29/16 were leaner and calves fed 27/33 had a propensity for elevated NEFA. Feeding 180g of CP in the MR was beneficial to calf performance compared with diet 21/21. In experiment two, tissues from a subset of calves [21/21 (n=4), 27/33 (n=5), 29/16 (n=5), MILK (n=3), baseline (n=2)] were scanned using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry to estimate mass, fat, CP, and ash. Liver, organ, and carcass mass by DXA were correlated to scale weights (R²⁺= 0.99, 0.62, and 0.79, respectively). DXA was a poor predictor of percentage fat, CP, and ash (adjusted R²⁺ <0.10). Experiment three determined level of calf mortality in the United States; and identified opportunities to reduce mortality. Herds (n=88) were representative of the US Jersey population. Production averaged 7180 ± 757 kg milk annually. Herds averaged 199 births annually. Mortality was 5.0% from birth to 24 h (M24) of life and 6.7% from 24 h to 3 mo of life (M3). Level of mortality (M24) was highest in herds that calved on pasture. Lower levels of mortality (M3) were associated with use or maternity pens and earlier weaning. / Ph. D.

This project examines two organizations--the Better Babies Bureau and the Children's Bureau--created by Progessive women in the early twentieth century to combat high infant mortality rates, improve prenatal and postnatal care, and better child welfare. The Better Babies Bureau, founded in 1913 by journalists from the Woman's Home Companion magazine, and the Children's Bureau, founded as a federal agency in 1912, used similar campaigns to raise awareness of these child welfare problems in the early 1900s; where they differed, however, is in their ultimate goals. The Children's Bureau sought to improve long-term medical care and infant mortality rates for women regardless of race or socioeconomic status; I analyze how they worked directly with midwives and health officials to provide better care for mothers and children. The Better Babies Bureau, in comparison, catered specifically to white women through prize-based contests and eugenics rhetoric. Through their better baby contests, they promoted the idea that disabilities and defects should be eliminated in children in order to create a better future. By the late 1910s, these two organizations were utilizing nationwide campaigns to appeal to mothers through either consumerism or health conferences. I argue that although the Better Babies Bureau made a greater cultural impact, the Children's Bureau made a longer lasting—and farther reaching—impact on infant mortality rates by making healthcare more accessible for both rural and urban women. / Master of Arts / In the early twentieth century, many Americans became concerned with the number of children dying before age one. This thesis examines two different organizations that were created in an attempt to reduce these infant mortality rates, improve prenatal and postnatal care, and better child welfare. These two organizations, the Children's Bureau and the Better Babies Bureau, were created and run by Progressive women who took vastly different approaches to raising awareness of these problems. The Children's Bureau worked directly with health and government officials to improve child welfare and healthcare. Meanwhile, the Better Babies Bureau utilized contests to convince mothers that defects and disabilities needed to be eliminated in their children. In this thesis, I argue that the Children's Bureau was ultimately far more effective by appealing to a wider audience, creating a plan for long-term medical care, and improving access to prenatal and postnatal care for women.

As populations of the European gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.) move into the southeast, laboratory studies indicate that the potential exists for defoliation and possible tree mortality in mixed pine-hardwood stands. This dissertation describes a field study that was initiated to determine the susceptibility and vulnerability of pure and mixed stands of loblolly pine, oaks and sweetgum in pine-oak and pine-sweetgum cover types in the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic province. Sixteen stands were defoliated between 1992 and 1996. Stand susceptibility was significantly related to stand composition; stands with a greater proportion of susceptible species experienced greater defoliation. Oaks and sweetgum were heavily defoliated. Pines did not suffer extensive defoliation, and results of the study indicate that the probability of widespread gypsy moth defoliation in pine plantations appears to be low. A multiple linear regression model for the prediction of mean stand defoliation is also presented. Trends in tree mortality were similar to those previously described in northeastern forests. Susceptible tree species were heavily impacted, however, oaks displayed greater vulnerability than sweetgum. Suppressed and intermediate trees in the understory, and trees that were in poor or fair condition, had a greater probability of dying subsequent to defoliation. However, under- and overstory basal area mortality rates were not significantly different in the pine-oak type, and stem mortality rates were not significantly different in either type. Loblolly pine mortality was observed, but it was difficult to isolate the source, and thereby determine whether gypsy moth defoliation was a primary causal factor. In general, the potential for extensive pine mortality in mixed pine-hardwood stands does not appear to exist. Logistic regression was found to be a useful tool in the prediction of individual tree mortality and two logistic regression equations were derived and validated for use in pine-oak and pine-sweetgum cover types. / Ph. D.

Veracity of past analyses on the impact of impingement and entrainment of fish in power-plant cooling systems was questioned. Density-dependent dynamics were hypothesized as variable, not constant, making previous analyses based on constant density-dependent or density-independent mortality in error. This hypothesis was tested with a simulation model based on complex biological and behavioral mechanisms for individual fish, thereby forgoing the need for assuming the kind of mortality exhibited by a fish community prior to the analysis. Yellow perch and walleye in Oneida Lake, New York, were focal points of this test, and data taken in 1972 from Oneida Lake were used to validate the model. Model experiments consisted of varying turbidity, water temperature, impingement and entrainment, and abundance of young perch and walleye. Under most conditions in the experiments, individual growth was unchanged, and predators maintained a high frequency of full stomachs. Exceptions were that water temperature influenced growth and that adult walleyes went hungry when fry of both species were limnetic. Mortality of young perch proved depensatory and that of young walleye density-independent. Mortality of walleye fry was inversely influenced by abundance of young perch. High levels of turbidity greatly enhanced fry survival for both species. Impingement and entrainment reduced survival of young perch and young walleye by 43 and 30 percent, respectively. Expected losses due to density-independent impingement and entrainment were 3 and 2 percent. Depletion of young perch occurred because of their depensatory mortality; depletion of young walleye occurred because their survival was related to abundance of young perch. High abundance of young perch and high turbidity dropped mortality to density~independent levels of about 3 percent. These mitigating effects of turbidity and high abundance showed that mortality could shift from density-dependent to density-independent dynamics. The relationship between abundance of young perch and mortality of young walleye meant that no analysis based on a single species could properly assess impacts of impingement and entrainment in Oneida Lake. The conclusion was that density-dependent and density-independent mortality are variable and are influenced by certain conditions: 1) compensatory mortality is based on density-dependent growth, 2) density-~independent and depensatory mortality are based on density-independent growth, 3) density-independent mortality occurs when predation removes insignificant numbers of prey, and 4) depensatory mortality occurs when predators remove large numbers of prey. / Ph. D.

We examined various aspects of horseshoe crab populations in conjunction with BioWhittaker, a biomedical company that bleeds horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) and utilizes their blood for biomedical purposes. We examined mortality rates of bled and unbled crabs by holding crabs in tanks for 2-week periods. We estimate average differential mortality between bled and unbled horseshoe crabs to be 7.5% (95% CI: 0.14% - 38.1%), significant with p<0.001. We examined the range in amounts of blood extracted from 98 male horseshoe crabs. Mean mass of blood extracted was was 78.3 grams (95% CI: 70.5g - 86.0g) and ranged from 8.2g to 212.3g. We compared gender-, size-, and stage-class distributions of crabs caught in trawls by BioWhittaker in Chincoteague, Virginia and Ocean City, Maryland during the years 1999 - 2000. Significant differences in gender distribution (p=0.0062), size distribution (p=0.0002) and stage-class distribution (p<0.001) were seen between locations, with Chincoteague, Virginia's population comprised of smaller and younger crabs, with greater proportions of females as compared with Ocean City, Maryland. Significant differences in overall gender distributions (p=0.0109) were also seen between years 2000 and 2001, with greater proportions of females present in 2000 than in 2001. We tagged 7,500 bled, adult horseshoe crabs to gain information on horseshoe crab population dynamics. From resight reports (N=121), we examined movement patterns and found average distance traveled was 29.8 miles and maximum distance traveled was 195 miles, suggesting mixing along the Atlantic coast. We found a 1.6% recovery rate of tagged crabs and tags found detached from crabs. 11.6% of our resights consisted of tags found detached from crabs. We use information gained in our study to suggest improvements for future tagging efforts that could lead to further knowledge of horseshoe crab population dynamics. / Master of Science