My dissertation examines the role of “the law of nations”—as international law was known in the eighteenth-century—in the diplomacy of the American Revolution. My method is to assess the way in which European and American diplomats used this law in a series of negotiations involving Spain, France, Britain, and the United States in a conflict over the Mississippi River. I argue that European statesmen based their conduct on a set of pragmatic norms, derived from precedent, which were known as the customary law of nations. American revolutionaries were generally naïve in their use of this law, having had no prior experience with international affairs. John Jay—the emissary tasked with defending American interests in the Mississippi—was an exception to this rule. Among Jay’s most notable attributes was the tenacity with which he defended the statehood of the United States, and its corresponding right to the privileges and protections afforded by the law of nations. The issue lay at the heart of the conflict over the Mississippi, and Jay’s conduct, I demonstrate, was decisive to its outcome. In my last two chapters I explore the source of Jay’s perspicacity and suggest that he likely derived his understanding of the law of nations from the treatises of Samuel von Pufendorf—a leading proponent of a theoretical version of the law of nations that was popular in intellectual circles at the time. Pufendorf was an authority in “moral philosophy”, or the scientific study of natural moral law; and he defined states as corporate moral persons, whose rights derived from a universal law of sociability. Jay was educated at King’s College in New York City (1760-1764), and the president of King’s, Samuel Johnson, was one of the preeminent authorities in British North America on Enlightenment-era theories of natural law. Johnson gave Pufendorf a central place in his curriculum, and it was Pufendorf’s theories, I argue, combined with the authority with which Johnson imbued them, that lay behind Jay’s use and conception of the law of nations.

Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, located in southwestern Pasco County, Florida, contains nearly 7,689.06 hectares (19,000 acres) and includes 18 natural communities. A floristic inventory was conducted on approximately 404.69 hectares (1,000 acres) within Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park which included 11 community types. A comparison of those 11 communities in the study area with the rest of the park shows that the dominant community types do occur within the study site, making it representative of the entire park. The objective of this study conducted from May 2003 to October 2004 was to compile a list of the vascular plant taxa found within the study area to be used by the Southwest Water Management District to help in their management regimes. A total of 475 taxa were collected, representing 104 families, and 269 genera. Of these 436 are native taxa, 16 endemic taxa, 39 non-native taxa, 32 county records, 7 listed taxa, and 5 commercially exploited taxa. Each natural community is described and an annotated list of the vascular plant taxa is presented.

This thesis provides an initial inquiry into the acoustics of Chinese identity, or Chineseness, in the emerging studies of Sinophone and Sinophonicity through the study of three well-known Sinophone musicians -- Teresa Teng, Leehom Wang, and Jay Chou. As critics such as Ien Ang and Rey Chow have reminded us, it is becoming increasingly urgent to reexamine the plurality of Chineseness with the rise of China. Truly, the umbrella term "Chinese pop" or "Mandopop" has become an inadequate common denominator in terms of the multilinguistic and multicultural elements in popular music produced in overseas Chinese communities such as Hong Kong and Taiwan or what Shu-mei Shih calls the "Sinophone" communities. In short, Sinophone studies explore the relation between the Chinese mainland and these Sinophone communities in a set of conditions (geographic, ethnic, linguistic, political, etc.). This thesis will explore the ways in which Sinophone musicians exhibit and perform Chineseness, the reason for its manifestation, and the implications and consequences for these types of articulations. / text

This dissertation uses the public career of Harvard evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould to examine the place of evolution in American culture from 1960 to 2002. Gould was a professional paleontologist and public science writer who rose to fame through his participation in a series of American controversies over biology and society. Prior to the 1980s, Gould publicly disagreed with other biologists over the relationship between liberalism and scientific research. As a New Left activist, Gould advocated caution over public pronouncements on evolutionary explanations of race and sex. His opponents believed that science could provide objective standards for understanding human difference. This thesis shows how the resurgence of creationism in the context of the New Right brought a new community into dialogue with these generally left-oriented academics. Evolutionary scientists and writers solidified a new evolutionary orthodoxy in their attempt to close ranks against the political, social and intellectual threat of creationism. Gould's intellectual and political struggles with the rise of this Darwinian orthodoxy demonstrate the impact that the American public had on the terms of debate within professional evolutionary biology. By studying the impact of public religious controversy on scientific knowledge production, this dissertation brings a fresh perspective to histories of both American evolutionary science and American cultural formation. / History of Science

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The purpose of this study was to provide an analysis of the major arias and ensembles of Jody Nagel's Fifty-Third Street for performance practice, drawing upon a case study of the premiere. The opera Fifty-Third Street was composed in 1992 by Nagel for his dissertation project at the University of Texas at Austin. The librettist is Seth Wolitz, then a University of Texas faculty member. The opera examines the lives of two homeless men on 53rd Street in New York City, between 5th and 6th Streets, and the reactions toward them from various facets of society, including the church, art institutions, businesses and tourists. The opera was premiered at Sursa Performance Hall on the campus of Ball State University on April 12, 2007 with a subsequent performance on April 15, 2007.Both the piano/vocal score and the chamber orchestra score from the premiere have been examined in the analysis of the opera, in addition to the original treatise by Jody Nagel. The analysis is conducted from a performer's perspective and examines vocal aspects, including potential technical challenges, range and tessitura; musical aspects, including formal analysis, tonality, melody, harmony and rhythm in relation to the text; drama and staging, and character motivation for each of the major arias and ensembles. Suggestions are offered for practice and performance based upon the analysis and informal interviews with the composer, conductor, directors, cast and crew of the premiere performance. Appendices include scene charts, costume lists, lighting and projection cues, original set and publicity materials, and a DVD recording of the world premiere performance.Many composers throughout the centuries have used opera as a way to comment on the world in which they lived and to challenge the status quo: Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro; Verdi, Un ballo in maschera; Berg, Wozzek; Britten, Peter Grimes. Jody Nagel has continued this tradition in a way that is powerful and compelling. Future directors will discover that Fifty-Third Street offers an invaluable tool for the musical development of students and professionals, for the growth of the American opera repertory, and for challenging the American way of life. / School of Music

The purpose of the study was to determine the personal, social, and vocational impacts of technology on Jay County, Indiana. The study resulted in the following findings:1. Jay County residents have mixed reactions toward technology. Residents stated an interest in technology.2. Jay County residents expect changes in their personal and professional lives because of technology. Residents stated benefits and difficulties resulting from increased technology.3. Technology is already present in Jay County. Technology can be found throughout Jay County in the schools, industries, small businesses, professional practices, retail establishments, financial institutions, local government, and utilities.4. A need has been expressed in the community to prepare individuals for changes in technology. There is an expectation among residents for the community to offer training opportunitites.RECOMMENDATIONSThe following recommendations are made:1. Jay County should continue to build on the collaborative projects that have been initiated in the community and should address technology through the existing strategic planning process.2. The Jay County Technology Advisory Committee should continue its involvement and take action on these recommendations. The committee should monitor technological expansion as well as the availability of technical training opportunities in the community.3. The advisory committee should identify the populations in Jay County who need technical training and should implement appropriate strategies for reaching these populations.4. The advisory committee should plan a computer curriculum by identifying existing opportunities and expanding on them to reach the populations who are not currently being served.5. A community computer learning center should be a cooperative project in the community and should become a clearinghouse for technical training where requests are made and educational opportunities identified.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (D.M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-196). Discography: leaves 105-190. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M.A. in English)--Vanderbilt University, Aug. 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.