Thesis (Honors)--University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Honors)--University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Despite Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism, until recently, the perspectives of the country’s lesser-known, marginalized writers have not been usually taken into consideration in mainstream discussions on the nature of Canadian identity and its socio cultural mosaic. Specifically, minority life writing narratives had generally received little critical attention in Canada. This paper aims to fill this slowly-decreasing gap through the exploration of two texts whose female writers negotiate their distinct ethnic and national selves within the cultural dominant of Canada. The essay compares Apolonja Kojder’s Polish-Canadian memoir, Marynia, Don’t Cry, to Rita Joe’s Mi’kmaq-Canadian autobiography, Song of Rita Joe. The analysis of these texts sets the Polish and Aboriginal communities into conversation, and yields a discussion on the nature of cultural, national, linguistic and female identity. It argues that identity is political, relational and always in process. Since much of the personal narrative writers’ identity struggle in an alien land and language often unravels as a translation of the self into another world, the two personal narratives add nuance to our understanding of the contradictions found in institutional policies. The study creates awareness of the literary and discursive strategies by which writers of disadvantaged communities challenge and subvert cultural oppression, identity misconstructions, and the exclusion of ethnic and women’s histories from within mainstream society. However, through the textual hybridization of cultures, languages, histories and life experiences, Kojder’s and Joe’s intention is to facilitate understanding across groups, create respect for diversity, propel social participation and induce socio political transformation. This paper means to shed light on the Canadian experience in its unique variations, and to add to life writing studies on ethnic and national individuals’ personal encounters with and within the Canadian socio- cultural and political milieu. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Studies were conducted on the dynamics of live, standing recent dead, and standing old dead herbage for a desert grassland site in the southwestern United States. Data were collected at eleven sample dates from August 24, 1979 to October 18, 1980. Coefficients of variation for biomass data for most species exceeded 400% with only the most abundant species sampled with coefficients of variation less than 100%. Coefficients of variation generally were less than 80% for the perennial grasses as a group. The mean rate of transfer of biomass from live herbage to standing recent dead herbage was 0.21% per day for 203 days when expressed as a percentage of the peak live herbage. A rate of transfer of 0.53% per day of live herbage to standing dead for 109 days for perennial grasses in the desert grassland was found during early vegetative growth. A high proportion of leaves to culms was present during this period as compared to the summer growing season. Heavy precipitation in the early part of September accelerated growth of live herbage, and also accounted for losses of standing recent dead and standing old dead herbage to the surface litter component. The loss of dry leaves from standing grass culms due to rainfall impact contributes to an underestimate of net primary production. Standing old dead biomass accumulated following the depression in September. Transformation of the recent dead herbage to an appearance of old dead late in the summer also contributed to underestimating of current year production based on peak crop method due to the identification of recent dead herbage as the old dead component. Summation of growth increments by sample periods provided the highest estimate of aboveground net primary productivity when compared to estimates based on peak standing crop, summation of species peaks, and summation of significant growth increments by sample periods. Estimates of net productivity were 186% of the estimate at peak standing crop. Estimates of net production based on significant growth increments by sample periods yield the lowest value for net production, because poor precision of samples restricted data to few significant values. Based on the peak periods for standing biomass of lifeform groups, a minimum of four sample dates are recommended to estimate aboveground net primary production for semidesert grassland in southeastern Arizona. These sample dates include: (1) late April to sample spring peaks by perennial grasses, annual forbs and annual grasses; (2) late June to capture the spring trough; (3) late September to sample peak crops of perennial forbs, and half-shrubs; and (4) mid to late October to sample the fall peak for perennial grasses. Net production estimates by the peak crop method for perennial grasses varied from 18.7 g/m² in 1979 to 86.1 g/m² in 1980. This variability was attributed to the differences in the amount of rainfall in 1979 and 1980. This factor, therefore, largely influenced the repeatability of biomass estimates from one year to another. The large amount of time (approximately 644 man-hours) needed to sample and separate live and dead components by species for 20 quadrats at each harvest date, together with the year-to-year variability and the need for a minimum of four sample dates to effectively sample the desert grassland community, makes biomass data impractical for general use as a data base in land-use planning. However, this effort should be looked at from the standpoint of research studies describing the dynamics of range systems based on temporal characteristics and transfer functions to provide data which can help design management strategies for these range ecosystems.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:17:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aparecida de Fatima Coelho Duarte.pdf: 1845707 bytes, checksum: 21290977dbf9fa224663eb0690018b96 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-04 / Fundação Ford / This thesis aim to know and understand the social, economic and cultural changes that occur in the way of life of rural Santa Rita s residents, with the arrived of the company Paracatu River Mining SA (RPM), in 1987, in Paracatu, State of Minas Gerais. Santa Rita are a traditional community, consisting of small producers who survive with the family agriculture, located below tailings dam of the firm. The RPM is controlled by transnational Canadian Kinross Gold Corporation, which runs its third expansion project at Paracatu. This project extends for more 30 years the expectation of exploitation of deposits and increases the production of gold from five to 15 tonnes per year. The environmental issue that has emerged from economic model of capitalist production is the axis of this theoretical work that follows an interdisciplinary view of the complexity issue. The reflections are done recovering the source of the environmental issue for science, the social and political milieu, contextualizing the mining company Rio Paracatu - RPM on the global and local scene. In this content, analyzes the changes that occur in the way of life of Santa Rita s residents with the implementation of RPM. The research was made by the participant observation, semi-structured interviews with dwellers and importants comunity persons, forms, documents studies, newspaper, books and Internet analises, seeking discover the environmental issues that occur locally and creating some prospective orientations / Esta dissertação traz como proposta conhecer e compreender as mudanças sociais, econômicas e culturais que ocorreram no modo de vida dos moradores da comunidade rural Santa Rita, com a implantação, desde 1987, da empresa Rio Paracatu Mineração S.A. (RPM), no município de Paracatu, em Minas Gerais. Santa Rita é uma comunidade tradicional, constituída por pequenos produtores que sobrevivem da agricultura familiar, localizada abaixo da barragem de rejeitos da empresa. A RPM é controlada pela transnacional canadense Kinross Gold Corporation, que executa seu terceiro projeto de expansão em Paracatu. Esse projeto amplia para mais 30 anos a expectativa de exploração das jazidas e eleva a produção de ouro de cinco para 15 toneladas por ano. A questão ambiental que emergiu do modelo econômico capitalista de produção é o eixo teórico desta dissertação que obedece a uma visão interdisciplinar pela complexidade do assunto. As reflexões são feitas resgatando-se a origem da questão ambiental para a ciência, o meio social e político, contextualizando a empresa Rio Paracatu Mineração RPM no cenário global e local. A partir desses conteúdos, analisa as mudanças que ocorrem no modo de vida dos moradores da comunidade Santa Rita com a implantação da RPM. A pesquisa é desenvolvida através da observação presencial, de entrevistas semiestruturadas com moradores e sujeitos representativos da comunidade, formulários, estudos de documentos, análise de jornais, livros e pesquisas na internet, buscando elucidar as questões ambientais que acontecem localmente e formulando algumas orientações prospectivas

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<p>Lucie Lagerbielke (1865-1931) is a fairly unknown writer who lived and worked in Stockholm. All her life she was writing with a strong aim to tell her truth and she had an aspiration to change the world for the better.  Her main points of views in her authorship were; oneness, the power of love, a belief in a supreme purpose to be served, religious mysticism and the interest in understanding and to prove the transcendent on a scientific basis. </p><p>In my discussion I relate to Rita Felski and her expression <em>the popular sublime,</em> a term she applies to illustrate a sublime way of writing that was common in women popular fiction in the late nineteenth-century. This romantic literature with escapist tendencies was popular among the ordinary readers but very seldom met with success with the professional critics.</p><p>Focus in this BA thesis is the spiritual Lagerbielke and in what way she wants to change the society. I have analyzed two of her novels, <em>Daniel- ett lifsöde</em> and <em>En sällsam upplefvelse</em> with intention to examine how she used her novels to plead for her cause.</p><p>By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that both her novels have the purpose to emphasize her philosophy of life. <em>En sällsam upplefvelse</em> focus on explain the supernatural scientifically and in the novel <em>Daniel – ett lifsöde</em> her intend is to enlighten oneness and selfless love. </p>

The tropical cyclone (TC) and environmental interaction is not fully understood. Previous studies have demonstrated that this interaction affects intensity change. The studies found that intensification is favored in low shear, moist environments, with high sea surface temperatures (SST). However, little precise quantification was provided, especially in terms of the impact of environmental water vapor on TC intensity change. This work addresses the TC interaction with the environmental water vapor. Results from a comprehensive statistical study show that TC intensification is more likely to occur in an anomalously moist environment than a dry environment. However, only a small amount of the total variance is explained. When assessing the effect of vertical wind shear along with environmental water vapor, more of the variance is explained. Water vapor not only affects TC intensity. Prior modeling studies have demonstrated impacts from environmental water vapor on TC structure. These impacts can also affect intensity change. Specifically, enhanced water vapor content within the TC enhances the rainbands, which can lead to an eyewall replacement cycle, causing a temporary weakening, followed by re-intensification. This thesis evaluates observational and high resolution MM5 model output from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita from the Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Experiment (RAINEX) to evaluate the effects of varying water vapor distributions on TC structure. While the two hurricanes were of similar intensity, they had different water vapor distributions and structures. Rita underwent an eyewall replacement cycle while under RAINEX surveillance while Katrina did not. Rita was also located within a dry environment and had a strong horizontal moisture gradient, while Katrina was in a moist environment and had a weak moisture gradient. Results suggest that a strong horizontal water vapor gradient, with a moist TC and dry outer environment may confine the hurricanes into a pattern that causes them to have high circularity, promoting the formation of a secondary eyewall. The dry outer environment had strong atmospheric stability and was less favorable for deep convection far from the center in the Rita case. The moist environment in the Katrina case was more unstable. This may have allowed for the rainbands to be farther from the center in a less circular pattern than Rita. The results presented in this thesis suggest that this pattern is less favorable for an eyewall replacement cycle.

Lucie Lagerbielke (1865-1931) is a fairly unknown writer who lived and worked in Stockholm. All her life she was writing with a strong aim to tell her truth and she had an aspiration to change the world for the better.  Her main points of views in her authorship were; oneness, the power of love, a belief in a supreme purpose to be served, religious mysticism and the interest in understanding and to prove the transcendent on a scientific basis.  In my discussion I relate to Rita Felski and her expression the popular sublime, a term she applies to illustrate a sublime way of writing that was common in women popular fiction in the late nineteenth-century. This romantic literature with escapist tendencies was popular among the ordinary readers but very seldom met with success with the professional critics. Focus in this BA thesis is the spiritual Lagerbielke and in what way she wants to change the society. I have analyzed two of her novels, Daniel- ett lifsöde and En sällsam upplefvelse with intention to examine how she used her novels to plead for her cause. By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that both her novels have the purpose to emphasize her philosophy of life. En sällsam upplefvelse focus on explain the supernatural scientifically and in the novel Daniel – ett lifsöde her intend is to enlighten oneness and selfless love.