Productivity, diversity and survival of estuaries are threatened by explosive coastal population growth and associated recreational activities. One major area of recreational growth has been the number of small pleasure craft motoring in shallow waters at high speeds. On the east coast of Central Florida in the Indian River Lagoon system, intense boating activity occurs year-round and intertidal reefs of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica with dead margins (piles of disarticulated shells) on their seaward edges are commonly found adjacent to major boating channels. The cause(s) of the dead margins is unclear. However, the disarticulated shells may be reducing reef sustainability if these surfaces are unavailable for larvae. Recruitment trials were run on eight reefs (4 with dead margins, 4 without) in three 8-week trials in 2001/2002. Significant differences were found for location on reef and season. For survival of recruits, significant differences were found for reef type, location on reef, and season. Sediment loads, percent silt/clay, and relative water motion were all found to be significantly higher on impacted reefs. Spring months were found to be the optimal time for larval recruitment to increase larval set and survival and to also decrease the effects of sedimentation and water motion. Based on these results, experimental restoration began May 2003 to develop an ecologically and economically feasible restoration protocol for this intertidal region. Four different densities of shells (0, 16, 25, 36) were attached to vexar mesh mats (45 X 45 cm) displaying shells perpendicular to the substrate. 360 mats were randomly deployed at one of six dentified optimum recruitment locations. Recruitment increased through June and was significantly higher on mats with 36 shells. This was followed by a large, expected decline in recruitment and survival in July/August, due to competition, predation and/or extreme high temperatures. Total live oysters on the restoration mats significantly increased during October 2003 through February 2003. These newly-created oyster reefs are moveable and provide optimal substrate and larval set to be transported post-recruitment to areas resource managers have slated for restoration to aid in reef sustainability. To determine the potential negative effects of flow and sediment levels on oyster larval settlement, which may be associated with an increase in boating actitivity, laboratory experiments were conducted. Eighteen trials, with competent oyster larvae, nine in flowing-water and nine in still-water were run at three sediment levels: no sediment, low sediment, and high sediment loads. Larval settlement was significantly higher in the still-water trials and both high and low sediment loads significantly reduced larval settlement.

This thesis examines the complex relationship between drama and royalist politics during the English Restoration, and how power is translated through language and space. I focus primarily on Dryden and Davenant's adaptation of Shakespeare's Tempest, re-titled The Enchanted Island (1667), but also draw connections to Thomas Shadwell's operatic version of 1674 and Thomas Duffet's Mock Tempest of 1675. I argue that the new adaptations reinforced the superiority of a monarchical rule over an English commonwealth and republic and subverted radical political movements that had arisen during the English Civil War. I do so by applying Guy Debord’s theory of spectacle to the Restoration stage. He defines spectacle is a "diplomatic representation of hierarchic society to itself, where all other forms of expression are banned" (Debord 23). Ultimately, conservative powers co-opted and appropriated subversive ideas and used the stage as direct access to public discourse. By separately examining the low and high plot I will show how spectacle functions through language and images and works to reinforce Prospero as the ultimate vision of a 'father-king'. By drawing from Debord, I will attempt to draw connections between modern day power structures, such as mass-media, and the Restoration stage. I argue that the means by which power is translated through mass media is analogous to how playwrights of the Restoration captured the attention of their audiences. / Thesis / Master of English

Rivers are among the most anthropogenically affected ecosystems in the world by irrigation, transportation, channelizing, and hydropower. Habitat restorations have become a popular method to restore the heterogeneity and complexity of rivers aiming for improvement of biodiversity. In this master thesis, I studied the effects of restoration in a regulated and channelized river in the middle of Sweden. Differences in fish abundance and diversity together with hatching success and survival rate from egg to smolt of Seatrout (Salmo trutta) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were tested between restored and unrestored reaches. In addition, differences in abundance, biomass, diversity, and composition of benthic species between restored and unrestored areas were studied.  The study design consisted of three restored and three unrestored locations where artificial spawning grounds (redds) were placed, electrofishing was conducted, and an inventory of abundance, biomass and diversity metrics of benthic fauna was performed. Whitlock-Vibert boxes were used in the artificial redds and were used to calculate hatching success. The inventory of benthic fauna consisted of kick-sampling and sampling of stones followed by identification and measuring of length in the lab.  The findings in this study suggest that the survival of salmonids is not limited by the hatching success but that the lack of migration possibilities and the low survival rate from egg to smolt makes it unlikely with a successful reintroduction of Atlantic salmon and seatrout in Dalälven. Furthermore, one could argue that the habitat restorations have not increased the diversity of benthic fauna. However, it is possible that there is an ongoing shift in the benthic fauna towards a more diverse community in the restored areas and it is possible it will be more visible in a few years which supports maintaining long-term monitoring. Lastly, this study enlightens consequences with anthropogenically affected rivers and leaves opportunities for further studies.

This initiative will seek to transform the suffering experienced by Catholic women when a marriage covenant ends through a research-based project to reimagine the Roman Catholic annulment process. This project is intended to increase awareness of the annulment process to foster healing and restoration. The Roman Catholic annulment process, dating back to A.D. 110, historically focused on a more transactional approach to breaking the covenantal bond established in a Catholic marriage. This process will help women view and experience the annulment process as a journey toward healing and restoration leading to new relationships with self, others, and God. Finding joy in a new beginning brings hope. Yet finding a new beginning in the annulment process is an experience of faith. The study examines Catholicism as a way of life in the broader context of sacramental theology. The sacramental life centers on seven interrelated sacraments. The sacrament of marriage creates a covenantal relationship and life-long marital bond. This bond cannot be dissolved. There is no Catholic divorce. Therefore, when a civil divorce occurs, a complex cycle of grief follows. While marriage remains a significant part of the fabric of our society, approximately 50% of all U.S. marriages end in divorce. Despite controversy regarding the annulment process, it can be a life-giving journey that transforms suffering. Church documents provide vision, clarity, and the opportunity for Catholics to understand teachings on marriage, divorce, and annulments. The project will include a group of 8-10 Catholic women, who were married in the Church and experienced a civil divorce. These women will build trust, develop authentic relationships, and support each other as they journey together. The group will be structured using the Bridges Transition Model which highlights three stages of transition: endings, neutral zone, and new beginnings. This one-year project will be evaluated using information gathered during individual and group sessions. A structured outline has been established for the project and aligns with the steps in the annulment process.

Since 1982, the state of Illinois has afforested over 100,000 acres of abandoned or marginal cropland. Afforestation, the planting of trees on land not in forest cover, is a sustainable forest management practice that has been shown to store carbon, increase plant diversity, improve soil and water quality, and assist in flood abatement. Our research seeks to develop practical soil and vegetative indicators that can be used by researchers and land managers alike to accurately assess changes to ecosystem function following land use shifts. To assess forest restoration success in terms of ecological function, seven ecological indicators were measured across a chronosequence of 50 afforested sites and 20 mature forested sites. Soil indicators: bulk density, aggregate stability, total nitrogen, total carbon, and labile carbon, and vegetation indicators: forest productivity and stocking density were assessed for each site. Additional sampling was completed on 25 nearby agriculture fields for each of the five soil indicators. Our data were analyzed using an analysis of variance test with multiple comparisons to examine differences among indicator values by land use category. Overall, soil indicator bulk density significantly decreased across afforested sites with stand age, whereas indicators aggregate stability, labile carbon, and total carbon significantly increased across afforested sites with stand age. Linear regression analyses were used to assess the change in indicator values with stand age. Additional linear regression analyses were used to assess the change in indicator values with site index, and significant results were recorded for 3 out of the 5 soil indicators. Indicator bulk density displayed a significant negative relationship with site index, and indicators aggregate stability and total carbon displayed a significant positive relationship with site index. Overall, our results indicated that four out of the five soil parameters measured were successful indicators of restored ecological function in afforested sites. Furthermore, we believe that the inclusion of vegetation indices forest productivity and stocking density provides vital information into forest succession and a better understanding of how productive sites benefit soil quality.

The purpose of the paper was to evaluate the effects of the restoration efforts in Juktån on the plant species richness and composition, vegetation zonation and soil composition. The restoration involved implementation of a dynamic flow, in addition to hydro-geomorphological alterations. Three sites were inventoried in the bypass reach, representing one reach affected only by flow restoration and two reaches affected both by flow and morphological restoration, along with an upstream reference reach unaffected by regulation. Inventories were conducted along an elevational gradient perpendicular to the water and involved occurring species, plant cover, bare ground and soil composition. The results showed a change in species composition after restoration. Riparian associated species were more common after restoration and the proportions of herbs and graminoids increased. Higher flooding caused a change in zonation, increasing the graminoid, riparian forest and amphibious zones along the riparian habitat. Species richness, as well as soil composition remained largely the same. The effects of the hydro-geomorphological alterations were hard to interpret due to lack of data. The results indicate a positive effect of the new flow on the plant species community in the bypass reach, whilst also highlighting the hydro-geomorphologically altered locations as biodiversity hotspots. Time-delay in ecological response is acknowledged as driving factor for the indifference in species richness and soil composition. The hydrological restoration is concluded to be an effective way of simulating natural flow regimes, improving ecological integrity of riparian communities and structural vegetational patterns in the riparian zone of bypass reaches.

Current practices of landfill restoration can be characterised as anthropocentric, violent and unsuccessful gestures of purification and control, while they erase traces of planetary history and habitats generated by waste and dirt. The dominant notion of landfill restoration insists on a concept of humans as directors of geo-bio flow who are capable of controlling and reversing the dirty chaos they created. However, matter has its own agency and as any other form of life, waste flows; it may eventually spill, leak and reach our bodies and surroundings through water, air and geological strata. Focusing specifically on Fyli landfill in Athens, the project’s goal is the articulation of a design proposal that questions the current practices of landfilling and landfill aftercare seeking for a reconceptualization of ecological restoration that does not imply a clean, purified and beautiful landscape but generates acts or re-membering and adapting towards a symbiosis with our mess. But how urban design can create the conditions between the coexistence between landfill’s processes of contamination and deformation and human attachment to cleanliness and sameness?This is the research question that is investigated through the specific context of Fyli landfill, seeking a new story for restor[y]ing our relationship to waste.

The shipboard power system supplies energy to sophisticated systems for weapons, communications, navigation, and operation. After a fault is encountered, reconfiguration of a shipboard power system becomes a critical activity that is required to either restore service to a lost load or to meet some operational requirements of the ship. Reconfiguration refers to changing the topology of the power system in order to isolate system damage and/or optimize certain characteristics of the system related to power efficiency. When finding the optimal state, it is important to have a method that finds the desired state within a short amount of time, in order to allow fast response for the system. Since the reconfiguration problem is highly nonlinear over a domain of discrete variables, the genetic algorithm method is a suitable candidate. In this thesis, a reconfiguration methodology, using a genetic algorithm, is presented that will reconfigure a network, satisfying the operational requirements and priorities of loads. Graph theory is utilized to represent the shipboard power system topology in matrices. The reconfiguration process and the genetic algorithm are implemented in MATLAB and tested on an 8-bus power system model and on larger power system with distributed generators by considering different fault scenarios. Each test system was reconfigured in three different ways: by considering load priority, without considering load priority, and by combining priority factor and magnitude factor. The test results accuracy was verified through hand checking.

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