Coastal lakes, lagoons, and wetlands often provide excellent records of environmental change related to both marine and terrestrial processes. Although coastal paleoenvironments in the Caribbean have been a subject of increasing interest, long-term environmental reconstructions from lakes on the Atlantic side of the Caribbean islands are lacking. Laguna Limon is a freshwater lake in the El Seibo province of northeastern Dominican Republic. We collected a 315-cm sediment core from the center of the lake to examine lake evolution using loss-on-ignition and foraminiferal analysis. Loss-on-ignition results indicated the presence of a low-energy lagoon in the lake's present location between about 4700 and 1400 cal yr BP. During this period a foraminiferal assemblage dominated by the brackish-water Ammonia parkinsoniana but also containing relatively-abundant normal-marine salinity taxa (e.g., Quinqueloculina spp., Archaias angulatus, and Trochulina rosea) gradually was replaced by a low-diversity assemblage dominated by Ammonia tepida and Ammonia parkinsoniana, indicating a gradual decline in salinity due to the lagoon's growing isolation from the Atlantic Ocean. By 1400 cal. Yr. BP, the lake had become a shallow wetland, indicated by sediments with a high organic content. At 1200 cal. Yr. BP the lake flooded with freshwater, as it remains today. This study provides context for ongoing research into the environmental and human history of the Laguna Limon area. / Master of Science

The study of lake sediments can provide valuable insights into lake history and climate variation throughout time. In-depth studies have been carried out at Lake Miragoane, Haiti and in high- and mid-elevation sites in the Dominican Republic, and a few other inland and coastal locations throughout the Caribbean; however, to date little has been published on prehistoric conditions in other coastal areas of Hispaniola. Laguna Alejandro (informally named by researchers) (~18.31°N, 71.03°W), on the southwest coast of the Dominican Republic, was examined to expand our knowledge of long-term environmental history in this region. This ~25 hectare lake is separated from the Caribbean Sea by a 100 m wide limestone ridge about 3–5 m tall. We recovered two consecutive cores (0–100 cm, 100–185.5 cm) close to the limestone barrier to investigate the potential for paleotempestology and other paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Three AMS 14C dates indicate that the lake is ~1100 years in age. Sediment analyses revealed three major events that correlate with bands of uncharacteristic sediment composition and particle size at 74–77.5 cm, 150.5–153 cm, and 183.5–185.5 cm. Four distinct strata containing serpulids and several pockets of Ammonia beccarii provided insights on changes in salinity and the connections between the lagoon and the ocean. The upper deposit (74–77.5 cm, 620 ±60 YBP) contains gypsum and represents a period of increased salinity within the lake brought on by drought. The two lower bands are composed of sand consistent with nearby beach sands. The 150.5–153 cm band provides evidence of a hurricane landfall at 1022 ± 60 YBP. The combination of biological data from 165–183.5 cm and sediments within the 183.5–185.5 cm band provide evidence for salinity fluctuations that indicate the closure of the lake. Sediments contained a variety of invertebrates that helped to document changes in lake chemistry through time. This study of Laguna Alejandro sediments documented lake history and provided information on recent climatic shifts in the region. / Master of Science

The results of the model can be used for enhancing the integrated management of the water resources of the Azua Valley. The model shows the effects of an extensive drainage network on the high ground-water levels which prevailed from 1983 to 1988. A sensitivity analysis also shows the zones of the aquifer which require development of new pumpage in order to overcome the drainage problem in areas still flooded by uncontrolled artesian flow. The results of the model can be used for enhancing the integrated management of the water resources of the Azua Valley.

Background: Compared to non-Latino whites, Latinos in the United States carry a disproportionate burden in mortality due to diabetes, chronic liver disease, and cirrhosis, and there is evidence that immigrants’ health behaviors and outcomes worsen as they become more acculturated. Additionally, the neighborhoods where Latinos live influence their health behaviors and outcomes through availability of retailers and products (such as fast food restaurants, liquor stores), density of advertising and advertisement language, and whether the neighborhood is an ethnic enclave. In this work, I examine the effects of acculturation and these built environment factors on diet, BMI, and alcohol use in Dominican Latinas, with a focus on the potential interaction between individual- and neighborhood-level variables. Methods: Dominican Latinas over 40 were recruited from target neighborhoods in northern Manhattan and western Bronx as part of a larger study, and invited to complete a survey (N=420). I used mapping software (ArcGIS) to merge this survey data with intensive street audit data collected near participants’ residences (N=229 street sides). I supplemented the neighborhood audit with data from a reliable business database (ReferenceUSA). The analytical approach differed based on the structure of each hypothesized model. For moderated mediation models, I used a percentile bootstrap to obtain model estimates and confidence intervals at different percentiles of the moderator. For models without moderated mediation, I used OLS regression, logistic regression, or Poisson GLM, depending on the distribution of the outcome. Results: When analyzing diet and BMI outcomes, I found that negative influences in the built environment (such as fast food retailer density and processed food advertising in English and Spanish) were associated with higher BMI, but only in the least acculturated participants in the sample. There were no significant effects of positive influences in the built environment (such as fresh food retailers and fresh food advertisements) at any level of acculturation. For alcohol outcomes, less acculturated participants were less likely to report drinking, and this effect was strongest among those with greater alcohol retailer density near their residences. Number of Latino owned businesses (a measure of whether an area is an ethnic enclave) was sometimes protective and other times detrimental, depending on participant acculturation and the specific outcome measured. Conclusions: There is evidence that less acculturated Latinas are more susceptible to negative influences of the built environment than their more acculturated counterparts, and have higher BMIs due to these contextual factors. However, lower acculturation may be protective for alcohol outcomes. The effects of ethnic enclave neighborhoods on health are complex and dependent on both individual-level acculturation and the specific outcome investigated. The findings in this work highlight the importance of considering individual and contextual factors concurrently when modeling health behaviors and outcomes in Latinos.

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Through close readings of various texts that deal with issues of border, identity and the relationship between Haiti and Dominican Republic as well as with the flow of immigrants between Dominican Republic and the United States, this study introduce the trope of the “rayano” (the one that was born, lives or comes from the border) as an apt metaphor to explain the identity of Dominicans in the twenty-first century — an identity that should be viewed as one born out of movements, translations and interstices. The primary texts that this study will focus on will cover the Haitian-Dominican and Dominican-American experiences.  In terms of the former, El Masacre se pasa a pie (1973) by Freddy Prestol Castillo and The Farming of Bones (1998) by Edwidge Danticat are useful for analyzing the defining moment of the relationship between Haiti and Dominican Republic in the twentieth century: the 1937 border massacre of Haitians and Dominican-Haitians ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael L. Trujillo. In the case of the Dominican-American relationship, Dominicanish (2000) by Josefina Báez, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) by Junot Díaz will be the texts through which it will be analyzed the Dominican diaspora and its relationship with the two defining spaces of Dominicanness in the twenty-first century: Santo Domingo and New York City. In addition to these texts, this study also will engage with the theoretical production regarding the triangular relationship between Dominican Republic, Haiti and the United States through an analysis of the different metaphors used by Lucía M. Suárez in The Tears of Hispaniola: Haitian and Dominican Diaspora Memory, Eugenio Matibag in Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State and Race in Hispaniola, and Michele Wucker in Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola.

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 75).

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