Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-133).

Thesis (Ph.D)--Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Rong Fu; Committee Member: Marc Stieglitz; Committee Member: Peter Webster; Committee Member: Robert E. Dickinson; Committee Member: Robert X. Black. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin. / Typescript (xerox copy). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

No description available.

The thesis comprises a classification and analysis of 64 tales told by Indian inhabitants of the rural communities around the highland town of Canar, Southern Central Ecuador, The informants all had Quichua as their mother tongue and, with the exception of 4 texts, used it in the telling of the tales. These were tape-recorded, transcribed with the help of a Quichua assistant, and are presented in full together with English translations. The classification of texts is based largely upon criteria of contents, although both genre and tale structure are also taken into account, all three considerations being closely interrelated. Classification according to content owes something of theory and method to the Finnish-American school led by Aarne and Thompson (Thompson 1955-58, Aarne and Thompson 1951). The discussion of genre definition takes Bascom's article (1965) as a starting point, and also takes into account more recent statements on the subject. The consideration of structure as a criterion at the classification stage is in accordance with the arguments of Propp (1968) and Dundes (1962b, 1964). The classification scheme resulted in a breakdown of the tales into four sections (A-D), The largest of these is Section A, whose 32 tales will be shown to adhere to a common structural framework, whilst the sub-sections into which they are divided reflect their differences in surface content. Sections B and C are both examples of tale cycles, bound by this definition to be grouped together. Section D comprises humorous tales, largely borrowings from mestizo culture, with little in common on grounds of structure. The analysis seeks to examine the relationship between tales within the sections, at the levels of both structure and content if this is appropriate; where it is not, remarks are confined to content alone. The analysis of both structure and content calls for some comparisons to be drawn with material from elsewhere. Such comparisons are confined to the Ecuadorean highlands, to a lesser extent Peru, and incidental reference is made to other geographical areas, especially where borrowings are concerned, Structural analysis was most applicable to Section A, an apparently heterogeneous group of legends and folktales which, it is argued, are bound together by common underlying features of structure. These features appear to derive from the local legends of the area, and have then encouraged the adoption and development of certain folktales whose structure was compatible with such already existing forms. The theoretical basis for this approach is to be found in Dundes (cit.), Maranda and Kongas Maranda (1971), and Hymes (1971). The breakdown of texts to reveal their structure takes both the 'syntagmatic' and the 'paradigmatic' aspects of the latter into account (see Dundee's intro, to Propp 1968:xi-xii). In order to reveal more clearly the paradigmatic characteristics of the texts, and the structural affinities that exist between tales at this level, use is made of Levi-Straussian terminology and the methods he uses for the schematic cross-comparison of tales have been adapted (Levi-Strauss 1970, 1972), Analysis of content follows two main lines: in the case of the legendary material it is particularly appropriate to examine the relationship that apparently exists between the local belief system and oral narrative. In the case of folktales, it is relevant to consider content on comparative lines, examining the nature and/or distribution of episodes as they occur in Canar and as they are found elsewhere in Andean narrative tradition. The works of Morote Best were particularly useful for this purpose (1950b, 1953b, 1954, 1957, 1958a, 1958b). The main aim of the thesis is therefore to analyse the structure and content of the tales in order to show the underlying relationships that bind them within a coherent system of narrative tradition. Some connections at both these levels are also to be seen between sections as well as within them, and these are pointed out. Material introduced from outside was adopted, it is suggested, for its compatibility with that which was already there. In addition to this, possible social and cultural reasons for the appeal of particular kinds of tale in the area are discussed as relevant.

No description available.

No description available.

Larval development and reproduction of 19 species of Central Amazonian fish (five cichlids, two siluriforms, one osteoglossiform and 11 characiforms) were studied over two years. Most species spawn during the flooding season. The cichlids, the siluriforms and two species of characiform are nest spawners, reproducing in the littoral areas of the floodplain. The osteoglossiform is a mouth-brooder. The remaining characiforms spawn in the river channels and show no parental care. Two main strategies explain 90% of the variability of reproductive traits found among the 19 species. The first strategy is used by riverine spawners (characiforms). They have high fecundity , high to very high reproductive expenditure (calories per spawn per wet weight of female) and spawn once a year during a short season. Their eggs vary in size from 0.06 to 0.3 mg and have intermediate to high calorific value. The second strategy is used by the cichlids and two species of characiforms. They have low fecundity, low reproductive expenditure, long spawning season, multiple spawnings per season and some of them show parental care. Their eggs vary in size from 0.4 to 1.2 mg and have an intermediate calorific content. The other three species show distinct combinations of reproductive traits, but have as common feature a high reproductive expenditure, a short annual spawning season and parental care. Patterns of larval development are correlated with egg size and adult spawning sites. Egg size explained most of variability of larval body size at hatching, pectoral fin bud, eye pigmentation, jaw formation, swim bladder inflation, onset of swimming, first feeding and maximum size attained with exclusively endogenous feeding. The pattern of blood circulation of the larvae was correlated with the spawning sites. Larvae of riverine spawners are small, utilize yolk efficiently and are relatively resistant to starvation. Newly hatched larvae of riverine spawners seem to be very sensitive to physico-chemical conditions of the floodplain lakes, but by the first feeding stage they develop some resistance to the low availability of oxygen. Larvae of littoral spawners are large, utilize yolk less efficiently, and seem to be resistant to low concentrations of oxygen. The resistance of larvae to oxygen deficiency is correlated with the development of the larval respiratory system. It is suggested that egg size of riverine spawners was selected to optimize the distance of the dispersal of the larvae in a range of floodplain lakes. Conversely, egg size of floodplain spawners seemed to be selected to optimize larval survival in the spawning lake. The results are further discussed in relation to life history models.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Sociology, August 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The rate of recombination and parasite load of species of anuran from Peruvian Amazonia were examined to test the idea that recombination functions to diversify progeny in order to resist the continual counter-adaptation of parasites. The anurans were found to be hosts to over 32 species of macroparasite, as well as a wide variety of protistan and moneran parasites. It was found that a combination of three variables (diet, habitat, abundance), together with host body size accounted for a substantial proportion of the variation in mean parasite richness and parasite species distribution among host species. The relationship between parasites and ecology was found to be independent of host phylogeny. The demonstration of substantial environmental heterogeneity in parasitization predicates that a positive relationship between parasite richness and recombination should be found in this case. This prediction was supported by the data: highly parasitized species of anuran had higher rates of recombination. This is the first study to demonstrate a direct positive relationship between recombination (rather than sex) and parasites.