Few East African groups have attracted the attention of academics as much as the Swahili of coastal Kenya and Tanzania. The Swahili town of Lamu has even been described as having more professional researchers than doctors per inhabitant (Mazmi and Shariff 1994:2). Researchers commonly describe the Swahili as having a maritime culture (Middleton 1992:8; Nurse and Spear 1985:97; Prins 1965:263-275) and looking to the sea for their livelihood and identity (Mazmi and Shariff 1994:19; Ylvisaker 1975:74-83). They stress the contact of the `sea-prowling` Swahili with the ocean through seafaring, trading, fishing, and boat building to acquire wealth and social standing (Mazmi and Sharif 1994: 19; Middleton 1992: 8). Futhermore, the origin of the word Swahili is said to stress the proximity of the sea, coming from the Arabic sawahil (coast) or being of local origin, swahili (literally this island), making the Swahili variously the people of the coast (Middleton 1992:1) or the people of this island (Mazmi and Shariff 1994:56).

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An extremal property of normal distributions is that they have the smallest Fisher Information for location among all distributions with the same variance. A new test of normality proposed by Terrell (1995) utilizes the above property by finding that density of maximum likelihood constrained on having the expected Fisher Information under normality based on the sample variance. The test statistic is then constructed as a ratio of the resulting likelihood against that of normality. Since the asymptotic distribution of this test statistic is not available, the critical values for n = 3 to 200 have been obtained by simulation and smoothed using polynomials. An extensive power study shows that the test has superior power against distributions that are symmetric and leptokurtic (long-tailed). Another advantage of the test over existing ones is the direct depiction of any deviation from normality in the form of a density estimate. This is evident when the test is applied to several real data sets. Testing of normality in residuals is also investigated. Various approaches in dealing with residuals being possibly heteroscedastic and correlated suffer from a loss of power. The approach with the fewest undesirable features is to use the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) residuals in place of independent observations. From simulations, it is shown that one has to be careful about the levels of the normality tests and also in generalizing the results. / Ph. D.

Fire is a natural and essential component of forests in western North America. Fire maintains biodiversity through the creation of different habitat types, and regular fire rotations reduce the accumulation of woody fuels and thick understory plant densities that give rise to catastrophic fire. The practice of fire exclusion has altered western forests and increased the risk of widespread change under rising temperatures projected for the 21st century. To manage for the reintroduction of fire it is critical that we understand the interactions between fire and forest biota in recently fire-suppressed forests. In Chapter 2, I studied the formation and impact of small-scale fire refugia. Fire refugia are areas within burned forest that experienced relatively little change, and are recognized as important places that offer protection for forest biota (vegetation, wildlife) during and after the fire. Very few studies, however, have examined small-scale fire refugia despite their importance to many organisms (e.g., small mammals, understory plants). In a long-term forest monitoring plot in Yosemite National Park, I mapped all unburned areas ≥ 1 m2 the first year after fire. I found small fire refugia were abundant, somewhat predictable, and fostered increased survival and diversity of nearby plant life. My results suggest that small fire refugia are an important component of burned forests that should be included in management considerations. In Chapter 3, I examined possible fisher habitat in burned areas. Fishers are forest carnivores of high conservation concern due to widespread declines since European settlement and the risk of habitat loss due to fire. An isolated population remains in the Sierra National Forest, where managers are weighing the need to reintroduce fire against possible detrimental impacts to current habitat. My research examined the forest structural characteristics (vegetative cover, heights of different forest layers) surrounding fisher dens. I found suitable thresholds of these structural characteristics in recently burned areas in Yosemite, particularly after low-severity fire. My results suggest that burned areas may offer suitable denning habitat for fishers, though more research is needed to determine if this conclusion holds for all fisher activities (e.g., foraging, resting) and scales of selection.

Den här uppsatsen analyserar humor i texter skrivna av kvinnor, samt humors funktion och framställning genom några utvalda kvinnliga humordrag i förhållande till tragiska, svåra ämnen. Uppsatsen utgår från två verk – Ett år av vila och avkoppling av Ottessa Moshfegh och Carrie Fishers Vykort från drömfabriken. Humorn analyseras genom en textnära och komparativ läsning som lyfter upp likheter och skillnader mellan humorns funktioner i de två olika verken. Uppsatsen tar en teoretisk utgångspunkt i John Morrealls tankar och teorier om universell humor, samt en teoribildning av kvinnliga humordrag i tre texter av Gail Finney och Regina Barreca. Med hjälp av Finney och Barreca har jag konstruerat en lista på sju punkter som visar den kvinnliga komikens mönster och hur den skiljer sig från den manliga. Analysen är indelad i tre delar som diskuterar hur humor nyttjas som självförsvar, själskadebeteende och självförstärkning i verken.

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Active control of sound and vibration fields has become an strong area of research over the past few decades. In regards to the active control of acoustic radiation from vibration fields, known as active structural acoustic control (ASAC), there have been many different methods employed to understand structural and acoustic relationships and to control vibrations to limit the acoustic radiation. With active sound field control, sensors, usually microphones, need to be dispersed in the sound field, or an array of microphones must be placed directly in the sound field which, in many cases, uses up too much space for practical applications. To remedy this, objective functions have been transferred to the structure, sensing vibrations rather than pressures. A small, integrated array of structural sensors can be placed on the structure, reducing the system's overall footprint. Acoustic energy density has become a well established objective function, which produces a more global effect using only a local measurement. Another benefit of acoustic energy density lies in the breadth of sensor placement. While acoustic energy density has proven successful in active noise control (ANC), the quantity deals with pressures, not surface vibrations. The problem with ASAC is that an objective function with the robustness of acoustic energy density does not yet exist. This thesis focuses on a structural error sensing technique that mimics the properties of acoustic energy density control in the sound field. The presented structural quantity has been termed Vcomp, as it is a composite of multiple terms associated with velocity. Both analytical and experimental results with the control of this quantity are given for a rectangular plate. The control of Vcomp is compared to other objective function including squared velocity, volume velocity and acoustic energy density. In the analytical cases, the benefits include: control at higher structural modes, control largely independent of sensor location, and need for only a single point measurement of squared Vcomp with a compact sensor. The control at higher frequencies can be explained by the control of multiple acoustic radiation modes. Experimental results offer some validity to the analytical benefits but alternate sensing techniques need to be investigates to more fully validate these benefits.

I studied aspects of fisher (Martes pennanti) population ecology on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in northern California to fill critical information gaps relative to timber management and its effect on the status of fishers, a candidate for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. A decline in mark-resight density estimates of fishers from 1998 (52/100 km2; 95% CI = 43-64) to 2005 (14/100 km2; 13-16) was likely due to changes in prey habitat suitability, increased predation pressure, and/or disease. The decline was also indicated by catch-per-unit effort indices, but not by camera station or track-plate station indices. Colleagues and I developed and tested methods of collecting mark-recapture data using genetic marking, passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag technology, and digital, passive-infrared photography that could be used in a demographic monitoring protocol. The comparatively high cost of PIT tag reading equipment and genetic analyses makes the use these methods dramatically more expensive and yield less demographic data compared to using a traditional mark-recapture approach using only live trapping. By monitoring 40 radio-marked, breeding age (> 2 years old) females during 2005-2011, we found that 87% exhibited denning behavior and 65% of these were successful in weaning at least one kit (mean = 1.9). Of 14 kits radio-marked in their first fall, 3 died prior to dispersal, 3 lost collars, and the other 8 established home ranges 0.8-18.0 km away from natal areas. Nipple size (width multiplied by height of the largest anterior nipple), evaluated as a predictive index of female fisher reproductive success, differed among nonbreeders vs. attempted and current breeders. A predictive index for use in assigning reproductive status to females with unknown reproductive histories had an overall correct classification rate of 81% and a chance-corrected measure of prediction of 69.5%. These results illustrate the value in establishing long-term, accurate programs to monitor populations of imperiled species which strive to determine cause and affect relationships to changes in populations and ultimately, modeling habitat fitness. The relatively low reproductive rate of female fishers brings into question the species ability to demographically respond to increased rates of juvenile and adult mortality with increased reproduction and/or survival. The limited dispersal capability of juvenile fishers restricts ability to rescue vanishing local populations from extirpation, re-inhabit landscapes from which they were previously extirpated, and establish the functional connectivity of metapopulations.

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