Thesis (Ph.D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Ocean Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-184). / During July and August of 1996, a large acoustics/physical oceanography experiment was fielded in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, south of Nantucket Island, MA. Known as the Shelfbreak Front PRIMER Experiment, the study combined acoustic data from a moored array of sources and receivers with very high resolution physical oceanographic measurements. This thesis addresses two of the primary goals of the experiment, explaining the properties of acoustic propagation in the region, and tomographic inversion of the acoustic data. In addition, this thesis develops a new method for predicting acoustic coherence in such regions. Receptions from two 400 Hz tomography sources, transmitting from the continental slope onto the shelf, are analyzed. This data, along with forward propagation modeling utilizing SeaSoar thermohaline measurements, reveal that both the shelfbreak front and tidally-generated soliton packets produce stronger coupling between the acoustic waveguide modes than expected. Arrival time wander and signal spread show variability attributable to the presence of a shelf water meander, changes in frontal configuration, and variability in the soliton field. The highly-coupled nature of the acoustic mode propagation prevents detailed tomographic inversion. Instead, methods based on only the wander of the mode arrivals are used to estimate path-averaged temperatures and internal tide "strength". The modal phase structure function is introduced as a useful proxy for acoustic coherence, and is related via an integral transform to the environmental sound speed correlation function. Advantages of the method are its flexibility and division of the problem into independent contributions, such as from the water column and seabed. / by Brian J. Sperry. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2002. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-161). / I used direct measurements of nitrogen gas (N₂ fluxes and a ¹⁵N stable isotope tracer to determine the contribution of denitrification to salt marsh sediment N cycling. Denitrification in salt marsh tidal creekbottoms is a major sink for groundwater nitrate of terrestrial origin. I studied creekbottom denitrification by direct measurements of N₂ fluxes in closed chambers against a low-N₂ background. I undertook experiments and simulation modeling of sediment N₂ fluxes in closed chambers to optimize the key experimental parameters of this approach. Denitrification in these sediments was driven by the degradation of labile organic matter pools which are depleted during long incubations. Sediment thickness was the most important parameter controlling the required incubation time. Errors of up to 13% with gas headspaces and 80% with water headspaces resulted from headspace N2 accumulation and the resulting collapse of the sediment-water diffusion gradient. These errors could be eliminated by using headspaces of sufficient thickness. Headspace flushing to reduce ammonium accumulation did not affect denitrification rates, but caused transient disturbance of N₂ flux rates. Direct measurements of 0₂, C0₂, N₂, and inorganic N fluxes from the sediments of a salt marsh tidal creek were made in order to examine the interaction of denitrification with the carbon, oxygen, and N cycles. Organic carbon concentration and lability were the primary controls on metabolic rates. C0₂/N flux ratios averaged 6.1, indicating respiration driven by algal biomass. / (cont.) Allochthonous denitrification accounted for 39% of total sediment denitrification (2.7 mol N m⁻² yr⁻¹). 46% of remineralized ammonium was denitrified, while the contribution of autochthonous denitrification to 0₂ and C0₂ fluxes was 18% and 10%, respectively. A ¹⁵N-ammonium tracer was used to study competition between plants and nitrifying bacteria for remineralized ammonium. In undisturbed sediments of Spartina alterniflora, plant uptake out-competed nitrification-denitrification, with plant uptake accounting for 66% of remineralized ammonium during the growing season. Under N fertilization (15.5 mol m⁻² yr⁻¹), both plant N uptake and denitrification increased, but denitrification dominated, accounting for 72% of the available N. When plant uptake was hydrologically suppressed, nitrification-denitrification was stimulated by the excess N, shifting the competitive balance toward denitrification. / by Michael Robert Hamersley. / Ph.D.

John Eliot (1604-1690) has been called ‘the apostle to the Indians’. This thesis looks at Eliot not from the perspective of modern Protestant ‘mission’ studies (the approach mainly adopted by previous research) but in the historical and theological context of 17th century puritanism. Drawing on recent research on migration to New England, the thesis argues that Eliot, like many other migrants, went to New England primarily in search of a safe haven to practise pure reformed Christianity, not to convert Indians. Eliot’s Indian ministry started from a fundamental concern for the conversion of the unconverted, which he derived from his experience of the puritan movement in England. Consequently, for Eliot, the notion of New England Indian ‘mission’ was essentially conversion-oriented, Wordcentred, and pastorally focussed, and (in common with the broader aims of New England churches) pursued a pure reformed Christianity. Eliot hoped to achieve this through the establishment of Praying Towns organised on a biblical model – where preaching, pastoral care and the practice of piety could lead to conversion – leading to the formation of Indian churches composed of ‘sincere converts’. The thesis starts with a critical historiographical reflection on how missiologists deploy the term ‘mission’, and proposes a perspectival shift for a better understanding of Eliot (Chapter 1). The groundwork for this new perspective is laid by looking at key themes in recent scholarship on puritanism, focusing on motives for the Great Migration, millenarian beliefs, and the desire for Indian conversion (Chapter 2). This chapter concludes that Indian conversion and millenarianism were not the main motives for Eliot’s migration to the New World, nor were his thoughts on the millennium an initial or lasting motive for Indian ministry. Next, the thesis investigates Eliot’s historical and theological context as a minister, through the ideas of puritan contemporaries in Old and New England, and presents a new perspective on Eliot by suggesting that conversion theology and pastoral theology were the most fundamental and lasting motives for his Indian ministry (Chapter 3). After the first three chapters, which relocate Eliot in his historical context, the last three chapters consider Eliot’s pastoral activities with the Indians. These have usually been understood as ‘mission’, without sufficient understanding of Eliot’s historical and theological context in the puritan movement and how he applied its ideas to Indian ministry. The thesis examines Eliot’s views on ‘Praying Towns’ as settlements for promoting civility and religion, and ‘Indian churches’ as congregations of true believers formed by covenant (Chapter 4). It investigates Eliot’s activities in the Indian communities, to apply puritan theology and ministerial practice to the Indians as his new parishioners (Chapter 5). Finally, the thesis offers a comparison of puritan and Indian conversion narratives, to try to recover Praying Indians’ own voices about conversion and faith (Chapter 6). This analysis finds both similarities and differences. The extent of the similarities does not necessarily mean (as some have alleged) that puritanism was unilaterally imposed on the Indians. The evidence equally well suggests a nuanced picture of Eliot’s engagement with the Indians from the perspective of 17th century puritanism and its conversion-oriented parish ministry.

Research into the dialects of the New England states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont) has traditionally split the region into distinct geographic regions based upon variations in production, primarily along an East-West border. Generally, such regions have been considered relatively stable in terms of their variation (Labov, Ash and Boberg 2006); however, recent work in the area has found that the traditional dialect boundaries have begun to shift (c.f. Stanford, Leddy-Cecere and Baclawski 2012). Such research has focused on very specific regional changes in production, ignoring the perceptual salience of the features observed to be in flux. To date very few studies (Ravindranath and Fernandes 2014) have examined how New Englanders perceive the regional divisions, with emphasis on the collected regions while not focusing specifically on how regions view each other in terms of difference and similarity. This study examines regional perceptions of dialects in the New England states as seen by a small subset of New Englanders, predominantly residents of Maine and Massachusetts, through two studies: one conducted using a new web-based approach and another using the traditional pen-and-paper method of perceptual dialectology. Speakers have been asked to identify areas with differing varieties through the draw-a-map task (Preston 1989). These responses are then aggregated using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), contrasting results between the two methods. Results are used to identify areas of salient dialectal features across New England, informing contemporary and future research into language change in a region considered as stable. Additionally, methodological concerns and advances are addressed.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / Historic houses function as the stages for, and central figures in, processes of place-making and heritage construction. I offer the case site of the Fairbanks House (completed in 1641) in Dedham, Massachusetts as the subject of my investigation into these issues. Touted as the "oldest timber frame house in North America," the Fairbanks House is widely regarded as a significant example of early colonial architecture in the United States; it has operated as a house museum since it was purchased by the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc. stewardship group in 1904. This study expands beyond antiquity to include all eight generations of Fairbanks families who lived on the property. I argue that longevity, and a durational perspective that links the past with the present, is equally vital to peoples' understanding and appreciation. I trace the biography of the Fairbanks House from its creation in the early 17th century to its current use as a heritage site. This perspective emphasizes the continued saliency of accumulated individual decisions and actions, reified by both material culture and immaterial processes such as tradition and memory. I use archaeological, architectural, documentary, and oral sources to reconstruct the landscape of the Fairbanks farm and I demonstrate how residents made day-to-day choices, such as land purchases or neighborly socializing, to improve their socio-economic standing and establish a future for their children. In doing so for eight generations, they established a legacy that was celebrated beginning in the 19th century, when Fairbanks women living in the house promoted their family's history through storytelling and published media. These processes of heritage construction remain continuous and personal, as shown by the results of an ethnographic study that I designed, which reveals that Fairbanks House museum visitors define historicity not through specific facts about the Fairbanks family but through their own narratives based on their engagement with the site's material culture. In addition to providing an important example of how generations of modestly-successful New England farmers adapted their surroundings to fit their values and goals, this study positions local house museums as dynamic spaces for creative, personal engagements with the past.

Thesis advisor: Noah Snyder / Increasing attention has been drawn to the need for reliable streamflow estimates at ungaged locations under a range of climatic and hydrologic conditions. Climate projections for the northeastern United States over the 21st century--which include significant increases in temperature and precipitation--could have broad impacts on streamflows, potentially reducing the accuracies of existing streamflow models for the region. This thesis investigates recent changes in daily flow-durations in southern New England, and examines their influence on the reliability of the low-flow models for Massachusetts presented by Ries and Friesz (2000). An analysis of discharge data collected at gaging sites through water year 2012 revealed increases in nearly all flow durations at sites across southern New England since the mid-20th century, whereas very low flows (quantiles at or above the 95-percent exceedance probability) generally showed decreases, especially since the 1990s. Twenty-year moving streamflow quantiles at each of ten selected exceedance probabilities were examined for the periods of record of 16 streamflow-gaging stations in southern New England. The beginning of water year 1992 appeared to mark an inflection point in low-flow quantiles, before which very low flows were steady or increasing, and after which these flows showed near-universal decreases. While the observed peak in 20-year low-flow quantiles around 1992 may be due to the statistical method used to calculate the quantile trends, the inflection point could also be an indicator of when increasing evapotranspiration surpassed increasing precipitation as the principal climatic driver of changes in low flows in southern New England. The general upward translation of the flow-duration curve observed over the last 60 years is very likely linked to increases in annual precipitation during this period, while the decreases in very low flows are likely due to changes in climatic variables (increasing summer temperatures and evapotranspiration rates), and amplified by anthropogenic factors (greater areas of impervious surfaces and increasing rates of surface- and ground-water withdrawal). The data suggest that increasing precipitation rates have already caused the Ries and Friesz (2000) equations for the median low flows (Q50 to Q75) to become biased towards underestimation, and decreases in very low flows threaten to render the models for these flows biased towards overestimation in the coming decades. The streamflow quantile trends (for both the entire period of record of the gaging stations and just the post-1992 period) for each of the ten flow-durations of interest were extended into the future to the point where the corresponding Ries and Friesz (2000) model would fail (when actual flow durations would be outside the 90-percent prediction intervals for the estimated flows for greater than 10% of sites). The models for the lowest streamflows are estimated to lose validity by as early as 2018. Climate change is predicted to have significant effects on streamflow characteristics in southern New England over the 21st century, and the results of this study indicate that the Ries and Freisz (2000) low-flow models should be reformulated using more recent streamflow data within the next decade, and validated every 20 years thereafter to ensure their accuracies are maintained despite the effects of regional nonstationarity. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Thesis advisor: Rudolph Hon / This study characterizes the current state of water quality of surface streams and rivers in the eastern New England region. A set of water quality data for nine rivers, part of the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program was statistically evaluated to identify natural and anthropogenic persistent influential factors on water quality in surface waters. Binary analysis and multivariate analysis, mainly Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA) were applied to determine the least number of independent relationships among multiple chemical components in the data set. Statistical results show that in eight of the nine rivers included in this study, four principal components can explain about 80% of the total variance of the original data. The most significant contributing factors can be identified with: (1) chemical weathering; (2) road salt applications; (3) nutrient cycling; and (4) agricultural/waste water. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Geology and Geophysics.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographies. / by Edward W. Hill. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / The intention of this study is to examine the quality and quantitative achievements of two hundred seventy-nine left handed children located in the elementary schools of New England.