Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 15-16). / vii, 20 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 2, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-127).

The endangered Hawaiian monk seal has been undergoing dramatic population declines for several decades. These declines may be linked to food resources or environmental changes and this is reflected in the stable isotope analysis of the monk seals. The use of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios on Hawaiian monk seal bone collagen samples collected from 1912 through 2006 determined that changes within the environment and food web of the Hawaiian monk seal may be factors contributing to the decrease in the population. Over the ninety-four year period the overall δ15N of the monk seals was depleted by approximately 3‰ and the δ13C had minimal changes. Monk seals located within the northern extent of the NWHI exhibited the most dramatic changes in stable isotopes. From 1923 through 2006 the δ15N of the Hawaiian monk seals within this area was depleted nearly 6‰, while δ13C was enriched by 2‰. This significant depletion in δ15N, along with the enrichment within the δ13C for the northern NWHI could be caused by an increase in the primary productivity within the area, leading to a shorter food web. This inverse relationship within the northern NWHI could also be a representation of the monk seals foraging more on benthic rather than pelagic prey, or foraging inshore rather than offshore in this region. This northern region was in contrast to the Central and southern islands within the NWHI. The central NWHI seals had nominal change in their δ15N and δ13C from 1912 to 2006; whereas, the southern NWHI seals exhibited a 3.5‰ depletion in δ15N and a nearly 1‰ depletion in δ13C over the span from 1951 through 2006. Within the central NWHI the juvenile monk seals were more depleted in δ15N as compared to the adult monk seals, which could indicate a prey base change for these seals. Within the southern NWHI there was a significant difference within δ15N and δ13C over the decades of the study which could indicate a decrease in the regional productivity. The adult monk seals within the southern region also had an increase in δ15N which could be a indicator of starvation for the seals within this region. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes indicate modern monk seals (2000-2006) foraged on a number of different teleost, crustacean, eel, and cephalopod species, correlating to earlier and current studies being conducted on the food sources of the Hawaiian monk seal.

Can a force that escalates conflict, deescalate conflict? Historically, religion has been a force that divides and unites. While most academic research has focused on the horror of religious wars, William Ury’s concept of the Third Side offers an alternate lens. The sovereignty conflict in Hawaii is rooted in a religious narrative meeting this criterion. The purpose of this research was to investigate how the Hawaiian Kingdom Nationals view the role that religion played in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom; and concurrently, how they perceive the role that religion played in reconciling their struggles. To understand how this force harmed and healed the Hawaiian Kingdom Nationals, a mixed method approach of ethnography and transcendental phenomenological was applied. Snowball sampling was used to identify each participant. Subsequently, the primary data were collected through interviews, observations, field notes and Queen Lili‘uokalani’s memoirs. Afterwards, the data were analyzed by implementing a descriptive phenomenological thematic structure revealing four emerging themes: the Lokahi Triangle, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, Peacemakers and the Hawaiian Kingdom Still Lives. Finally, these four evolving units illuminate the essence of each Hawaiian Kingdom National’s lived experience: There is a diamond in the Pacific, the aloha state, but it is not in a state of aloha. A storm of betrayal sent a tsunami of shockwaves through time leaving damaged souls in its wake. Yet amid the tumult a Queen’s prayer echoes in the wind. Her legacy is humility and forgiveness for all. In Paradise transformed, the aloha spirit blows in with the island breeze calming the raging seas of injustice.

Focusing on a period roughly from 1865 to 1900, this dissertation utilizes close readings of paintings, illustrations, photographs, and other material culture to provide a lens on the rapid political and cultural transformation of the final decades of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i. Visual culture played a key role as a coercive tool as postbellum planters and industrialists who eyed Hawai‘i as the first Pacific outpost in an overseas American empire developed a colonial rhetoric that obscured Native authority and visibility and touted the “inevitable” extinction of the Hawaiian race. However, many images from this period which appear to illustrate Hawai‘i’s docility in the face of American supremacy do not fall as neatly into this simple interpretative framework as we might initially assume. For instance, this project observes how figures such as Queen Emma and King David Kalākaua refused to accept the threat to their sovereignty as they themselves leveraged visual culture in resistance to American imperialism. Chapter One analyzes photographs of Queen Emma as reflections on both Victorian mourning culture and Emma’s political ascendency from 1865-1885. Chapter Two explores paintings of early Maui sugar plantations by Enoch Wood Perry, Gideon Jacques Denny, and Joseph Dwight Strong as lenses on questions of slavery, Asian contract labor, and annexation. Chapter Three provides a close reading of the anti-annexation critique in Mabel Clare Craft’s illustrated book Hawaii Nei alongside the visual and literary production of other women who depicted Hawai‘i in the years surrounding annexation. Chapter Four jumps to the mid-20th century as it examines the painted portraits of late nineteenth-century Hawaiian royalty created by Fredda Burwell Holt alongside key works of literature by her husband, John Dominis Holt, a leading voice of the “Hawaiian Renaissance” that emerged in the 1960s following the resolution of Hawaiian statehood. Overall, this dissertation embraces its case studies as necessarily multivalent and open-ended as it resists the tendency to craft a narrative in which primitive indigeneity meekly yielded to the unstoppable barrage of American imperial pressure. Together, these chapters navigate a material landscape of nineteenth-century Hawai‘i that was layered with imperial control as well as opposition.

Despite an increasing number of healthy lifestyles throughout the country, Americans, including Native Hawaiians, keep gaining weight. Unlike several American lifestyles that have resulted in weight gain within the American population, the vegetarian lifestyle is a scientifically proven method for decreasing body weight and maintaining the weight loss for more than 1 year. This study aimed to compare the lifestyle patterns of 4 vegetarian lifestyles and 1 nonvegetarian lifestyle among Native Hawaiians aged 21 and older using their body mass index (BMI). This quantitative study utilized a correlational design, which is particularly suitable for examining the relationship of BMI to eating lifestyle and such variables as physical activity. A survey with 18 questions was administered to participants (n = 300) who have chosen a specific lifestyle and have been following this lifestyle for 1 year or more. The main research question investigated the difference in the body weight of Native Hawaiians aged 21 and older who followed and maintained a vegan, lacto-ovo vegetarian, semivegetarian, or nonvegetarian diet. Participants' BMI was affected by the factors of age, self-efficacy, disease status (high blood pressure, no health risks), and eating habits (Vegetarian Lifestyle Scale). While the Vegetarian Lifestyle Scale was a significant predictor of BMI, there was no significant difference in the effect of the 2 lifestyle classifications of nonvegetarian and vegetarian on BMI, after controlling for other relevant factors. This study aimed to effect social change in the Native Hawaiian community by demonstrating the health benefits of a plant-based diet and better informing public health officials to guide their development of more effective nutrition and weight loss programs for Native Hawaiians.

The greenhouse frog, Eleutherodactylus planirostris, native to Cuba and the Bahamas, was recently introduced to Hawaii. Studies from other invaded habitats suggest that it may impact Hawaiian ecosystems by consuming and potentially reducing endemic invertebrates. However, there have been no studies on the greenhouse frog in Hawaii. The first component of this study was to conduct a diet analysis. We conducted a stomach content analysis of 427 frogs from 10 study sites on the island of Hawaii. At each site, we also collected invertebrates using two different sampling methods: leaf litter collection and sticky traps to characterize available resources. Greenhouse frogs consumed predominantly leaf litter invertebrates. Dominant prey items consisted of Hymenoptera: Formicidae (32.4%), Acari (19.2%), and Collembola (17.4%). Greenhouse frogs consumed more Formicidae than was measured in the environment. At one study site, we estimated there were 12,500 frogs ha-1 using mark-recapture methods and greenhouse frogs consumed 129,000 invertebrates ha-1 night-1 at this site. The second component of this study was to determine the distribution of the greenhouse frog on the island of Hawaii, with a male breeding call presence/absence survey at 446 points along the major road network. The greenhouse frog was detected at 61 sites (14%), and found mostly in lowland areas, in habitats of native shrublands and forests, nonnative forests, agricultural lands, and pastures on the southwestern and eastern sides of the island. We determined detection probabilities of the greenhouse frog and the invasive coqui frog, E. coqui. Detection probability of the greenhouse frog was low on the first two surveys and improved by the third survey. Detection probability of the coqui was higher than the greenhouse frog, but overall site occupancy estimates were similar for both species. Because the greenhouse frog appears to be as widespread as the coqui, we recommend that research be conducted to investigate its impacts ecologically to determine whether control efforts should also be aimed at this species.

Let H be the Hawaiian Earring, and let H denote its fundamental group. Assume (Bi) is an inverse system of bouquets of circles whose inverse limit is H. We give an explicit bijection between finite normal covering spaces of H and finite normal covering spaces of Bi. This bijection induces a correspondence between a certain family of inverse sequences of these covering spaces. The correspondence preserves the inverse limit of these sequences, thus offering two methods of constructing the same limit. Finally, we characterize all spaces that can be obtained in this fashion as a particular type of fibrations of H.

We present a family of fibrations over the Hawaiian earring that are inverse limits of regular covering spaces over the Hawaiian earring. These fibrations satisfy unique path lifting, and as such serve as a good extension of covering space theory in the case of nonsemi-locally simply connected spaces. We give a condition for when these fibrations are path-connected.

Variables such as stigma, weak ethnic identity, and cultural mistrust have been linked to the underutilization of therapy amongst ethnic minority populations. As such, ethnic minority populations may reach a higher threshold of distress-including areas such as anxiety and depression-before seeking professional help. While there is substantial research documenting ethnic differences among various ethnic minority populations (e.g., African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics) very little research has been conducted exploring differences among individuals from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) backgrounds. For the current study, we explored differences in distress upon intake as well as the change in anxiety and depression scores over the course of 12 therapy sessions for NHPI college students compared to college students from other ethnic groups. We also explored the effect that spirituality and religiosity had on depression and anxiety among NHPI college students. We collected data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a practice research network that has aggregated data from hundreds of university counseling centers across the United States, from the years 2012-2015. Our total sample was N = 256,242; of that sample, n = 452 identified as NHPI. We selected independent variables from the Standardized Data Set (i.e., ethnicity, age, gender, estimated socioeconomic status, importance of spirituality and religiosity) and dependent variables from the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 and -34 (i.e., depression, social anxiety, generalized anxiety). We analyzed data using latent growth modeling and computed a conceptual effect size by comparing the change in standard deviation between treatment effects. Results yielded significant differences (p < .05) between both intercept and slope estimates for NHPIs compared to African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Whites. Notably, NHPI depression scores improved at the highest rate over time compared to other ethnic groups, while anxiety scores among NHPIs improved at the lowest rate. The effect of spirituality and religiosity on anxiety and depression was statistically insignificant. The results of this study indicated that NHPI college students experience psychotherapy outcomes differently than other ethnic groups, including Asian Americans, with moderate-to-large magnitudes of effect. Considering substantial meta-analytical research supporting the benefits of culturally adapted treatment, results of this study suggest the need to disaggregate the combined demographic Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), as research conducted on this broader group provides questionable validity when applied to clinical settings for NHPIs.