Recently, examination of deoxyribonucleic acids in water samples (environmental DNA or eDNA) has shown promise for identifying fish species present in water bodies. In water, eDNA arises from bodily secretions such as mucus, gametes, and feces. I investigated whether eDNA can be effective for characterizing fish presence, relative abundance, biomass, and species composition in a large Arizona reservoir (Theodore Roosevelt Lake) and 12 small Arizona (<24 ha) waterbodies. Specifically, I compared fish presence, relative abundance (catch per unit effort [CPUE]), biomass (biomass per unit effort [BPUE]), and species composition measured through eDNA methods and established American Fisheries Society (AFS) standard sampling methods in Theodore Roosevelt Lake and 12 small waterbodies. Environmental DNA sampling resulted in detection of Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum at a higher percentage of sites than boat electrofishing, both in spring and fall. Contrarily, gill nets detected Gizzard Shad at more sites than eDNA for both spring and fall sampling in Lake Roosevelt. Boat electrofishing and gill netting detected Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides at more sites than eDNA, with the exception of fall gill net sites which equally detected Largemouth Bass at sites within Lake Roosevelt. Environmental DNA detected Largemouth Bass and Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus at more Arizona small lakes than detection with established gear methods. I observed no relationship between relative abundance and biomass of Largemouth Bass and Gizzard Shad measured by established methods and their DNA copies at individual sites or by lake section in Lake Roosevelt. Likewise, I found no relationship between relative abundance and biomass of Largemouth Bass and Bluegill measured by established methods and their DNA copies across 12 small waterbodies. Plot analysis conceivably illustrated that reservoir-wide catch composition (numbers and total weight of fish [g]) achieved through a combination of gear types (boat electrofishing + gill netting) for Largemouth Bass and Gizzard Shad was slightly similar to the proportion of total eDNA copies of each species for both spring and fall field sampling. Likewise, spring and fall gill net surveys somewhat portrayed total catch composition (numbers and total weight of fish [g]) of Largemouth Bass and Gizzard Shad similar to the proportion of total eDNA copies of each species. The exception was the total lack of similarity illustrated between proportions of fish caught in spring and fall boat electrofishing and total eDNA copies of each species in Lake Roosevelt. However, the deceptive similarity of all the plots were not present in the chi-square analysis with the exception of fall gill net surveys in Lake Roosevelt. In addition, eDNA did reflect the relative proportions of Largemouth Bass and Bluegill in total catch composition in some, but not all of 12 small Arizona waterbodies. The ease of eDNA sampling over established fish sampling makes it appealing to natural resource managers. Compared to current established fish sampling methods, eDNA sampling can be less laborious, less time consuming, and more cost effective. Environmental DNA sampling may be useful in sites that have difficult access such as remote sites. However, evaluation of eDNA is necessary to identify limitations and benefits in fish monitoring programs. Furthermore, field sampling protocols, filtration, DNA extraction, primer design, and DNA sequencing methods need further refinement and testing before incorporation into standard fish sampling surveys.

Nonnative species that cause damage to ecosystems to which they are introduced are considered in-vasive. Restoration of the original ecosystem after an invasive population has established is expensive and difficult but more likely to succeed when invasions are discovered early. Containment efforts to prevent the spread of known invasions also benefit from earlier knowledge of invaded sites. Environ-mental DNA (eDNA) techniques are emerging as a tool that can identify invasive species at a distinctly earlier time point than traditional methods of detection. I collected water samples from eight sites not known to be invaded by the freshwater New Zealand mud snail (NZMS). After filtering these samples to collect eDNA, I used a species-specific probe with qPCR to identify NZMS eDNA. I found evidence for NZMS invasion at five of the eight sites, with later physical confirmation of mud snails at one of these sites. This study is the first example of successful application of eDNA to detect new invasions of the freshwater New Zealand mud snail, setting the stage for further monitoring of at-risk sites to de-tect and control new invasions of this destructive snail.

Conservation efforts that involve habitat protection, population augmentation, and species reintroductions require knowledge of the habitat requirements, distribution, and abundance of a species—information that can be challenging to acquire, especially for rare organisms with patchy distributions. In this thesis, I develop a protocol for the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) and create a Species Distribution Model for the endangered James spinymussel, Parvaspina collina (Unionidae). The results of this work show that eDNA is a robust tool for identifying species presence but not for estimating the relative abundance of populations. This study found that P. collina’s distribution is influenced by abiotic habitat characteristics related to sedimentation and runoff rather than by the distribution of its host fishes. The predicted habitat suitability was used to identify locations of priority conservation concern and these results can be used to direct future sampling efforts, identify potential dispersal routes, and inform conservation decisions.

This dissertation examines how contemporary Irish women writers dismantle national conceptions linking Irish women to the hearth and home by offering an alternate version of women’s lived experience, which nationalist ideologies have simplified. I consider how these writers define “home”—the domestic, the familiar, the intimate—as complicated by sexuality, exile, and violence. Using Freud’s theory of the uncanny as a lens, I analyze how these writers question established social relations in order to uncover uneasy relationships to self, home, and homeland. In my project, postcolonial theory and transnational feminisms, coupled with trauma theory, facilitate the contextualization of the uncanny as a response to the hybrid identities, dislocations, and effects of violence on gender roles within the nation. The first two chapters examine Edna O’Brien’s later fiction, which unsettles conceptions of the nation by emphasizing the experiences of marginal figures, thereby questioning who belongs within the nation’s borders. The next two chapters on the fiction of Jennifer Johnston and Mary Beckett reveal how the crossing of the public into the private sphere exposes a paradoxical homespace that is both haven and prison for rich Anglo-Irish Dubliners and working-class Catholics in Belfast. The final chapter on Kate O’Riordan’s novels explores issues of exile, alienation, and trauma through a multi-generational lens, revealing how memories of “home” and fraught parent-child relationships at once hinder and facilitate identity formation. In the epilogue, I briefly discuss how contemporary Irish poetry could address the issues raised by the works of fiction examined in my project.

This thesis uses archetypal theory as explained by Carol Pearson in The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By to illustrate the heroic journey undertaken by the protagonist in Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Renascence." Feminist archetypal theory is a useful lens for gaining the reader access to the underlying paradigms of struggle experienced by the female literary character because it exposes the parallels that exist in separate female experiences. By applying Pearson's theory to Millay's work, readers are able to elucidate more clearly the methods used by the poet to create commonality and continuity with her female audience. Throughout the poem, the protagonist hero recursively circles through the Innocent, Orphan, Martyr, Wanderer, Warrior, and Magician phases. This essay utilizes a close reading strategy to illustrate its argument and provide evidence to its conclusions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 292-309).

According to James Mulholland, choral works in which the composer begins by using the text to inspire creativity evolve in three stages. First, the poet carefully chooses words and expressions as a vehicle for thoughts and emotions. The composer, in the second stage, enhances the artistic impact of the poem by setting it to music. In the final stage, conductor and performers give voice to the poet's work and to the composer's musical expression of it in a live performance.Choral conductors serve two art forms, language and music. In this study, I will investigate the compositional process and musical style of James Mulholland in five of his choral works, focusing on the composer's use of scansion (measurement of metrical patterns in each line of poetry), vocalization, imagery, and Leitmotif to express the text. The choral works to be studied include Heart, we will forget him! (Emily Dickinson), Fulfillment (Anonymous), The Wild Honeysuckle (Philip Freneau), What lips my lips have kissed (Edna St. Vincent Millay), and If love should count you worthy (attributed to Sidney Royse Lysaght). These pieces were chosen in consultation with the composer to represent his general style. My desire to survey a variety of poets was an additional consideration.Although the focus of my study lies in the second stage of the evolution of a choral work (the setting of the text by the composer), I suggest rehearsal considerations based upon my research. To provide historical context highlighting the circumstances under which each poem was written, poets' biographies (where applicable) are included. Additionally, a synopsis of each poem will provide a cursory understanding of its meaning. Familiarity with the poem's historical context and basic vocabulary is essential to the performance in order to clearly communicate the emotion of the text to a live audience.

This thesis uses archetypal theory as explained by Carol Pearson in The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By to illustrate the heroic journey undertaken by the protagonist in Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem "Renascence." Feminist archetypal theory is a useful lens for gaining the reader access to the underlying paradigms of struggle experienced by the female literary character because it exposes the parallels that exist in separate female experiences. By applying Pearson's theory to Millay's work, readers are able to elucidate more clearly the methods used by the poet to create commonality and continuity with her female audience. Throughout the poem, the protagonist hero recursively circles through the Innocent, Orphan, Martyr, Wanderer, Warrior, and Magician phases. This essay utilizes a close reading strategy to illustrate its argument and provide evidence to its conclusions.

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2007. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-137).