<p>  </p> <p>Evolution is the foundation for all of biology. However, our approaches and understanding of evolution—simply, the change of allele frequencies from one generation to the next—have themselves evolved over time. In this dissertation I explore multiple approaches to understand evolution and the consequences of evolution across variable scales and study organisms. First, I use meta-analytic techniques and Bayesian hierarchical models to investigate the phenotypic consequences of two forms of cryptic local adaptation, co- and countergradient variation, by leveraging a decades-old quantitative genetics approach (Chapter 1). I find large effects for both co- and countergradient variation, however they are obscured in natural settings by concurrent large environmental effects. I also show that these large effects are ubiquitous across phenotypic traits, organisms, and environmental gradients, suggesting that while similar phenotypes may be the evolutionary end point, the mechanisms to achieve those phenotypes likely vary. In the following chapter I explore the rapid evolution of a unique and understudied species introduction, pink salmon (<em>Oncorhynchus gorbuscha</em>) in the Great Lakes. Pink salmon were introduced into Lake Superior in a single introduction event and have broken two obligate life histories, anadromy (though they treat the Great Lakes like surrogate oceans) and their fixed two-year life cycle, making them ripe subjects for contemporary evolution. Using whole-genome sequence data, I first investigate the effects of a genetic drift in the form of a bottleneck at introduction and characterize the subsequent loss of genetic diversity (Chapter 2). I show that despite a large loss of genetic diversity, pink salmon also rapidly adapted to their novel environment based on signals of putative selection across numerous regions of the genome, particularly in a period gene associated with their daily circadian clock (<em>per2</em>). Next, I explore how genome structure likely aided adaptation by pink salmon to the Great Lakes, providing evidence that a supergene (~29 Mbp) containing an inversion on chromosome 10 swept to near fixation in the Great Lakes (Chapter 3) and likely aided in osmoregulatory adaptation to this novel environment. Finally, I end with a short perspective chapter (Chapter 4) where I highlight potential future research directions for each of the previous chapters. Together, this research investigates the drivers and consequences of evolution across multiple scales and shows the powerful effect of genetic drift and genetic adaptation in shaping the genomic and phenotypic attributes of populations.</p>

One of the most difficult tasks towards designing earthquake resistant structures is the determination of critical earthquakes. Conceptually, these are the ground motions that would induce the critical response in the structures being designed. The quantification of this concept, however, is not easy. Unlike the linear response of a structure, which can often be obtained by using a single spectrally modified ground acceleration history, the nonlinear response is strongly dependent on the phasing of ground motion and the detailed shape of its spectrum. This necessitates the use of a suite (bin) of ground acceleration histories having phasing and spectral shapes appropriate for the characteristics of the earthquake source, wave propagation path, and site conditions that control the design spectrum. Further, these suites of records may have to be scaled to match the design spectrum over a period range of interest, rotated into strike-normal and strike-parallel directions for near-fault effects, and modified for local site conditions before they can be input into time-domain nonlinear analysis of structures. The generation of these acceleration histories is cumbersome and daunting. This is especially so due to the sheer magnitude of the data processing involved. The purpose of this thesis is the development and documentation of PC-based computational tools (hereinafter called EQTools) to provide a rapid and consistent means towards systematic assembly of representative strong ground motions and their characterization, evaluation, and modification within a performance-based seismic design framework. The application is graphics-intensive and every effort has been made to make it as user-friendly as possible. The application seeks to provide processed data which will help the user address the problem of determination of the critical earthquakes. The various computational tools developed in EQTools facilitate the identification of severity and damage potential of more than 700 components of recorded earthquake ground motions. The application also includes computational tools to estimate the ground motion parameters for different geographical and tectonic environments, and perform one-dimensional linear/nonlinear site response analysis as a means to predict ground surface motions at sites where soft soils overlay the bedrock. While EQTools may be used for professional practice or academic research, the fundamental purpose behind the development of the software is to make available a classroom/laboratory tool that provides a visual basis for learning the principles behind the selection of ground motion histories and their scaling/modification for input into time domain nonlinear (or linear) analysis of structures. EQTools, in association with NONLIN, a Microsoft Windows based application for the dynamic analysis of single- and multi-degree-of-freedom structural systems (Charney, 2003), may be used for learning the concepts of earthquake engineering, particularly as related to structural dynamics, damping, ductility, and energy dissipation. / Master of Science

L'âge au sevrage est un trait d'histoire de vie qui affecte le succès reproductif des femelles. Sa détermination à partir d'observations de la tétée est limitée en raison de l'allaitement de confort ou de nuit. Le suivi de l'alimentation des nourrissons, à partir des isotopes stables de carbone et d'azote fécaux (δ13C, δ15N %N) est une alternative précise et non invasive aux méthodes comportementales. Les âges de sevrage chez le colobe magistrat (Colobus vellerosus) à BFMS, Ghana, ont été déterminés en utilisant les δ13C et δ15N fécaux, et ceux-ci ont été comparés aux évaluations comportementales du sevrage. Les différences d'âge au sevrage entre trois groupes de colobes différents ont également été comparées. Des échantillons fécaux ont été collectés auprès de 8 dyades de mères (N = 88 fèces) et de leurs enfants (N = 98 fèces). Les échantillons ont été homogénéisés et analysés dans un spectromètre de masse à rapport isotopique et un analyseur élémentaire. L'âge moyen du sevrage chez tous les nourrissons ayant utilisé des isotopes stables fécaux était de 15,75 mois, ce qui était supérieur à l'âge moyen du sevrage déterminé à partir des observations de l'allaitement (14,6 mois). Deux nourrissons ont été sevrés avant le début de la collecte des données fécales, deux avaient un âge isotopique au sevrage similaire à leur âge de sevrage comportemental, et deux avaient un âge isotopique au sevrage supérieur à leur âge comportemental. Deux nourrissons dont on a déterminé qu'ils n'étaient pas encore sevrés d'après les évaluations isotopiques n'ont pas été observés en train de téter et ont montré des différences δ15N nourrisson-mère alternativement plus grandes et plus petites entre 6 et 9 mois. Cela peut indiquer un processus de sevrage cyclique, les nourrissons devenant plus ou moins dépendants du lait au cours de la période de 4 mois. Il semblait y avoir des différences dans les âges moyens de sevrage isotopique entre les groupes. Mon étude a montré que les isotopes stables fécaux peuvent être utilisés avec succès pour surveiller le développement nutritionnel des nourrissons et les différences de niveau trophique entre le nourrisson et la mère chez les singes colobes arboricoles. / Age at weaning is a life-history trait that affects the reproductive success of females. Its determination from observations of suckling is limited due to comfort and night nursing. To monitor infant diets, fecal stable carbon, and nitrogen isotopes (δ13C, δ15N %N) provide an accurate and non-invasive alternative to behavioral methods. Weaning ages in ursine colobus (Colobus vellerosus) at BFMS, Ghana was determined using fecal δ13C and δ15N, and these were compared to behavioral weaning assessments. I also compared differences in weaning ages between three different colobus groups. Fecal samples were collected from 8 dyads of mothers (N = 88 feces) and their infants (N = 98 feces). The samples were homogenized and analyzed in an isotope ratio mass spectrometer and elemental analyzer. The mean weaning age among all infants using fecal stable isotopes was 15.75 months, which was older than the mean weaning age determined from observations of nursing (14.6 months). Two infants were weaned before fecal data collection began, two had an isotopic age at weaning similar to their behavioral weaning age, and two had an isotopic age at weaning that was older than their behavioral age. Two infants who were determined to be not yet weaned from isotopic assessments were not observed to nurse and showed alternately larger and smaller δ15N infant-mother differences between 6 and 9 months. This may indicate a cyclic weaning process, with infants becoming more or less dependent on milk over the 4-month period. There appeared to be differences in the average isotopic weaning ages between groups. My study showed that fecal stable isotopes can be successfully used to monitor infant nutritional development and infant-mother trophic level differences in arboreal colobus monkeys.

[pt] Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo favorecer o processo de inclusão no ensino superior das pessoas com deficiência a partir do reconhecimento de seus olhares e vozes no contexto do Núcleo de Apoio e Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência – NAIPD/PUC-Rio. A inclusão das pessoas com deficiência é uma conquista do movimento social e político desse grupo de pessoas que reivindicou seus direitos de participação plena e efetiva na sociedade. Na esfera do ensino-aprendizagem, a partir da década de 1990, o conceito de inclusão tem sido discutido com base numa mudança nos padrões hegemônicos, buscando reconhecer a diversidade humana e o respeito às diferenças. Nos últimos anos, como reflexo dos avanços, a inclusão é motivo de discussão e implantação de políticas públicas no ensino superior. Nesta pesquisa, sustenta-se ser necessária a revisão das práticas de ensino-aprendizagem e a definição de estratégias que permitam que estudantes com diferentes condições possam ter oportunidades, considerando o princípio da equidade. Entende-se também que o desenvolvimento de projetos de design com o uso de metodologias participativas pode ser uma ferramenta no processo de inclusão no ensino. Assim, para responder à questão: De que modos o design tem possibilidade de favorecer o processo de inclusão no ensino superior das pessoas com deficiência?, foram escolhidos como fundamento a abordagem metodológica Design em Parceria, como vem sendo desenvolvida no departamento de Artes e Design da PUC-Rio, e a abordagem de pesquisa Histórias de Vida. A escolha por um estudo exploratório de cunho qualitativo-interpretativo privilegia uma escuta sensível e atenta ao outro; constituída no acolhimento e reconhecimento das singularidades; no diálogo e interação entre sujeitos. As histórias de vida levam a conhecer as vivências, pensamentos e sentimentos pessoais, assim como, representam de algum modo, um contexto social e histórico. No encontro das vozes de estudantes e professores destaca-se: a importância da empatia e diálogo permanente; a relevância da atenção e respeito às condições pessoais de estudantes e professores; a necessidade de abertura para conhecer e rever conceitos e práticas, considerando que é observado o desconhecimento acerca dos assuntos específicos relativos à deficiência. Em suma, a partir de encontros entre um grupo de estudantes e a pesquisadora se dá o processo de projeto em design que reúne olhares e vozes de estudantes e professores e consolida a investigação com o desenvolvimento da plataforma digital de comunicação – PLURAIS. O ambiente interativo propõe a participação com a aproximação das pessoas para se conhecerem e compartilharem suas experiências. A experimentação em processo com o uso continuado por estudantes e professores poderá gerar modificações. Entende-se que o desenvolvimento de projetos de design com foco na singularidade dos sujeitos e construção de sentidos a partir da interação entre eles, contribui para mudanças de atitudes e comportamentos em prol de uma cultura inclusiva na universidade. / [en] This research aims to favor the inclusion process of people with disabilities in higher education by recognizing their voices and views in the context of the Nucleus of Support and Inclusion for People with Disabilities (Núcleo de Apoio e Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência – NAIPD/PUC-Rio) at PUC-Rio. The inclusion of people with disabilities is an achievement of the social and political movement led by this group to claim their rights of full and effective participation in society. In the scope of teaching-learning, starting in the 1990 s, the concept of inclusion has been discussed based on a shift in hegemonic standards, aiming to recognize human diversity and to respect the differences between people. In the last few years, as a result of those advances, inclusion has become a topic of discussion and implementation of public policies in higher education. In this research, the need for the current teaching-learning practices to be revised is sustained, as well as strategies that allow students with different means to have access to opportunities, considering the principle of equity. It is also understood that the development of design projects based on participatory methodologies can be a tool in the process of inclusion in education. Thus, to answer the question: In which ways does Design have the possibility to favor the process of inclusion in higher education for people with disabilities?, the theoretical frameworks chosen were the Design in Partnership methodology – as it has been developed in PUC-Rio s Department of Arts and Design – and the Life Histories research approach. The choice for an exploratory study of a qualitative-interpretative perspective privileges the attentive and sensible listening to other people s perspectives; constituted by welcoming people s singularities; by dialogue; and by the interaction between subjects. The life histories lead to knowing people s experiences, thoughts and personal sentiments, as well as represententing, in a way, a historical and social context. In the meeting of teachers and students discourses, what stands out is: the importance of empathy and permanent dialogue; the relevance of attention and respect to teachers and students individual conditions; and the need for openness to learn and review concepts and practices – considering the lack of knowledge in regards to the specific subjects that relate to people with disabilities, that has been observed so far. In essence, from the meeting between a group of students and the researcher, the design process starts, by gathering voices and views of students and teachers and consolidating this investigation with the development of a digital platform of communication – PLURAIS. The interactive environment encourages people to participate by getting to know each other and by exchanging their experiences. The experimentation process, with the continuous usage by teachers and students, may result in modifications. It is understood that the development of design projects with a focus on subjects singularities and sensemaking processes stemming from their interactions contributes to attitude and behavior changes in favor of an inclusive culture in Universities.

In March 1942, the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, 36th Division, surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army on Java in the Dutch East Indies. Shortly after the surrender, the men of the 2nd Battalion were joined as prisoners-of-war by the sailors and Marines who survived the sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Houston. From March 1942 until the end of World War II, these men lived in various Japanese prison camps throughout the Dutch East Indies, Southeast Asia, and in the Japanese home islands. Forced to labor for their captors for the duration of the conflict, they performed extremely difficult tasks, including working in industrial plants and mining coal in Japan, and most notably, constructing the infamous Burma-Thailand Death Railway. During their three-and-one-half years of captivity, these prisoners experienced brutality at the hands of the Japanese. Enduring prolonged malnutrition and extreme overwork, they suffered from numerous tropical and dietary diseases while receiving almost no medical care. Each day, these men lived in fear of being beaten and tortured, and for months at a time they witnessed the agonizing deaths of their friends and countrymen. In spite of the conditions they faced, most survived to return to the United States at war's end. This study examines the experiences of these former prisoners from 1940 to 1945 and attempts to explain how they survived.

<p dir="ltr"><i>Conjure, Care, Calls, and Cauls</i> centers the histories of Black and southern conjuring midwives in life, lore, and literature. I argue that these conjuring midwives are practitioners of wholistic care who employ conjure work as a method to access wholeness. This avenue to access Black wholeness was intentionally disrupted by 20^th century physicians across the United States and the South. These physicians espoused <i>disabling racist rhetoric</i> to attack Black midwives’ bodies and beliefs as dangerous, casting them as unreliable and unsafe caregivers. Widely circulated in US medical journals, physicians articulated a national and regional “midwife problem” that led to the overwhelming removal of Black midwives from US medical care. This successful displacement of Black midwives by Western medicine and its physicians created and perpetuated what I name the <i>crazy conjure lady trope</i>, the disabling stereotype that considers the Black folk health practitioner or believer as crazy, insane, or otherwise unwell in Black women’s literature and lives. Using Black feminist literary criticism and a Black feminist disability framework, I consider Toni Cade Bambara’s <i>The Salt Eaters </i>(1981), Gloria Naylor’s <i>Mama Day </i>(1988), and Jesmyn Ward’s <i>Sing, Unburied, Sing </i>(2017) alongside Black midwives’ ethnographies and autobiographies to center and consider the Black southern conjuring midwife in Black women’s literature and US history.</p>

The Tasmanian lacewing (Micromus tasmaniae Walker) is one of the most common aphid predators occurring in lucerne crops in New Zealand. A comparison of sampling techniques, and the output from a simulation model, suggest that the abundance of this lacewing may have been significantly underestimated in the past. Although the occurrence of aphid predators was erratic M. tasmaniae occurred more often and in far greater numbers (up to 100 m⁻²) than any other predator species. A simulation model for lacewing development in the field indicated that the large adult populations which occurred could be accounted for on the basis of reproductive recruitment. Independent evidence that immigration was not involved in the occurrence of these large populations was gathered using directional flight traps around the field perimeter. The major factors influencing lacewing population dynamics were the availability of aphid prey and, in the autumn, parasitism. Otherwise, survival of all life-histoty stages was high with no evidence of egg or larval cannibalism. Several instances of high lacewing mortality were identified by the model and the lack of any obvious cause for these highlights inadequacies in the understanding of lacewing bionomics. The model, which used a linear relationship (day-degrees) between development and temperature, was incapable of accurately predicting lacewing emergence under field temperatures which fluctuated outside the linear region of the development rate curve. Temperature thresholds and thermal requirements estimated under fluctuating temperatures similar to those in the field produced almost identical model output to those estimated under constant temperatures in the laboratory. Prey species was capable of influencing the rate of lacewing development. M. tasmaniae has the attributes necessary to produce large populations in the short time available between lucerne harvests. The asymptote of the functional response curve is low but the efficiency at converting aphids to eggs is high. Therefore, the lacewing is able to attain maximun reproductive output at low prey densities. A low temperature threshold for development (4-5° C), rapid development and short preoviposition period results in a short generation time (49 days at 15° C). Long adult life, high fecundity and the absence of any form of estivation or diapause, results in complete overlap of generations and multiple generations per year. M. tasmaniae's role as an aphid predator is restricted by its low appetite for prey and by the lucerne management regime currently practiced in New Zealand. Because it consumes relatively few aphids per day the lacewing's ability to destroy large aphid populations is limited. However, this may be offset by its ability to attack aphids early in the aphid population growth phase, and by the large numbers of lacewings which may occur. Under the present lucerne management schemes the large lacewing populations which do occur are forced out of the fields, or die, following harvest. A number of management options for increasing the lacewings impact as an aphid predator are briefly discussed.

The effect of a free-living stage in host-parasite coevolution: a skink mite phylogenetic study in New Zealand. During the last decade, phylogenetic trees have even been used to compare ecologically related taxa such as parasites and their hosts, and are used to determine their level of coevolution or reciprocal adaptation in time. Diverse coevolutionary events have been detected for this ecological association, where generally the parasite has been regarded as one that feeds exclusively on the host and is likely to cospeciate with it. A different coevolutionary pattern might occur when the parasite has a free-living stage in its life cycle, in which the parasite may have the opportunity to abandon its host and successfully colonise a new species (host-switching) making cospeciation less likely. Many New Zealand skinks are infested with a parasitic mite, Odontacarus sp. (Prostigmata: Leeuwenhoekiidae), which becomes free-living as an adult. The genetic variation of these mites found on four hosts was analyzed for host- parasite coevolutionary events. The hosts were the McCann’s skink and the common skink in coastal Birdling Flat, Canterbury, plus these species and the Grand and Otago skinks in Macraes Flat, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand. The genetic variation of fast evolving nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacers 2 and mitochondrial Cytochrome c Oxidase I in Odontacarus mites found on these hosts was determined by PCR and DNA sequencing and phylogenetic trees were built using the computer programs PAUP*4 and MrBayes 3. The results show that mite haplotypes only had a significant geographical division and no host-related differences. In Birdling Flat, the COI haplotypes were represented in two groups that infested both regional hosts and had 5.7 % divergence. The same individual mites belonged to a single ITS 2 haplotype, thus indicating a historical geographical division between two populations that now interbreed successfully. The Macraes Flat mites were divided into two COI haplotypes with 2.4% divergence and internal nodes, which showed greater genetic variability than the Birdling Flat populations. The Macraes Flat mites formed two ITS 2 haplotypes with 6% divergence. This greater geographical structure of the Otago mites is probably due to the older age of the mainland area compared to the recently exposed coastal locality of Birdling Flat. The COI haplotypes from the two different regions had a mean distance of 15.5%, with an earlier divergence time than that known for the hosts. For both genes, the haplotypes from different regions had 100% bootstrap support and the parasite showed no host specificity. Mites of the different COI and ITS haplotypes were found on most of the host species that were sampled in Canterbury and Otago. The results of this study suggest that a free-living stage in a parasite’s life cycle can favour coevolutionary events such as inertia (failure to speciate) and host-switching, probably as a result of resource-tracking of the parasite. NB: Electronic files contained on CD to accompany print copy are not included with this version of the thesis.

About 3850 men of the First Australian Imperial Force were captured on the Western Front in France and Belgium between April 1916 and November 1918. They were mentioned only briefly in the volumes of the Official Histories, and have been overlooked in many subsequent works on Australia and the First World War. Material in the Australian War Memorial has been used to address aspects of the experiences of these neglected men, in particular the Statements that some of them completed after their release This thesis will investigate how their experiences ran counter to the narratives of CEW Bean and others, and seeks to give them their place in Australia???s Twentieth Century experience of war.

Contemporary Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo (1991), has described ‘the end of history’ as a motif of our times. While neo-liberal conservatives such as Francis Fukuyama (1992) celebrated triumphantly, and perhaps rather prematurely after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ‘the end of history’ in the ‘inevitable’ global acceptance of the ideologies of free market capitalism and liberal democracy, methodological postmodernists (including Barthes, Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Foucault), mobilised ‘the end of history’ throughout the later half of the twentieth century as a symbol of a crisis of confidence in the discourse of modernity, and its realist epistemologies. This loss of faith in the adequacy of representation has been seen by many positivist and empiricist historians as a threat to the discipline of history, with its desire to recover and reconstruct ����the truth���� of the past. It is argued by defenders of ‘traditional’ history (from Appleby, Hunt, & Jacob, 1994; R. J. Evans, 1997; Marwick, 2001; and Windschuttle, 1996; to Zagorin, 1999), and some postmodernists (most notably, Jenkins, 1999), that if we accept postmodern social theory, historical research and writing will become untenable. This study re-examines the nature of the alleged ‘threat’ to history posed by postmodernism, and explores the implications of postmodern social theory for History as curriculum. Situated within a broadly-conceived critical-reconceptualist trend in curriculum inquiry, and deploying a form of historically and philosophically oriented ‘deconstructive hermeneutics’, the study explores past attempts to mount, and future possibilities for, a curricular response to the problem of historical representation. The analysis begins with an investigation of ‘end of history’ discourse in contemporary theory. It then proceeds through a critical exploration of the social meliorist changes to, and cultural politics surrounding, the History curriculum in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, from the Bicentennial to the Millennium (1988-2000), a period that marked curriculum as a site of contestation in a series of highly public ‘history wars’ over representations of the nation’s past (Macintyre & Clark, 2003). It concludes with a discussion of the missed opportunities for ‘critical practice’ within the NSW History curriculum. Synthesising insights into the ‘nature of history’ derived from contemporary academic debate, it is argued that what has remained uncontested in the struggle for ‘critical histories’ during the period under study, are the representational practices of history itself. The study closes with an assessment of the (im)possibility of History curriculum after ‘the end of history’. I argue that if History curriculum is to be a critical/transformative enterprise, then it must attend to the problem of historical representation. / PhD Doctorate