thesis

This thesis examines the duality of meaning conveyed by John Milton's use of language in the epic poem, Paradise Lost, specifically repetition, pairing, alliteration and puns. Following a long tradition of close readings, especially critics RA. Shoaf and Christopher Ricks, I argue that Milton conceives the Fall of Adam and Eve as a falling into polysemy, or multiplicity of signification. Very few critics have undertaken a close reading of words that signal coupling in the poem, and their relationship to pairs and oppositions relevant to Genesis. Shoaf identifies pairs and oppositions in the poem as duals and duels, and connects them to binaries in the theology. However, he overlooks a great deal of evidence which supports his theory of the dual and the duel, and also disregards many significant examples of duality in Milton's wordplay that other critics identify, including alliterative pairs and words that convey ancient etymologies.

Greenways are corridors of relatively intact natural vegetation through otherwise disturbed habitat that typically connect larger protected natural areas. The establishment of greenway systems throughout the United States is a testament to the increasing recognition of the necessity to incorporate wild areas within urban and other disturbed landscapes for the sake of biological sustainability and the emotional welfare of human residents. In my thesis, I examine a local greenway in Jupiter, Florida, the Abacoa Greenway, which is both product and component of the greenway movement, a recent and revolutionary phenomenon in urban planning. I evaluate the greenway's ecology, the specific functions it serves, and its significance within the broader realm of environmental ethics. The primary protected habitats are a mixture of scrubby pine flatwoods and shallow wetland basins. The flatwoods provide important habitats for numerous native species, including the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and the many commensal species that live in the tortoises' burrows. The shallow wetland basins also serve a number of purposes, including a surface water management system. As a whole, the greenway is an important resource for human recreation and environmental education, including scholarly research by students and faculty at Florida Atlantic University. It serves as important link between people and nature in an urban setting where they might otherwise be completely estranged.

This thesis will investigate the ways in which Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady of the United States and the Junior United States Senator from New York State, appropriated strategies of liberal feminism in her political career as the first modern, working mother to serve as First Lady. A feminist First Lady, Clinton broke through the social expectations placed upon that role in an unprecedented manner by taking an active part in the political strategy and substance of her husband's administration. Her successful campaign for the United States Senate in 2000 as the first former First Lady to hold such an office proved that she has her own political clout independent of her husband. Hillary Rodham Clinton has all the marks of a liberal feminist success story: a strong political background and educational credentials, unfettered ambition, mastery of public discourse, her own political identity, and a real commitment to tough policymaking and representation in Washington. Yet despite this success, liberal feminism presents problems for the women's movement generally. After mapping the history of Hillary Rodham Clinton as a feminist political figure, I will examine whether liberal feminism is adequate in challenging patriarchal structures and other related forms of domination.

The use of ethanol as a liquid fuel for automobiles began on a large scale in 1978. Since then, it has grown with the help of national subsidies for producers coupled with statewide incentives for producers and consumers. The market for ethanol more than doubled between 2001 and 2005, with even faster growth projected in the near future. Regulation has played more of a role on the recent rapid expansion of the market than natural market forces. This thesis surveys a brief history of ethanol fuel usage and regulatory action in the United States and provides a few econometric models of production and consumption. Public policy creates a high level of demand for ethanol without consumer preferences changing much. This model could be used to assess the likely effects on the ethanol market of an MTBE ban in states that currently allow its use as an oxygenate.

The history of public space in America is consistent with a pattern of privatization, rationalization, and individual escapism. From the frontier to the regulatory bureaucracy and into suburbanization and New Urbanism, we have and are witnessing the steady decline of vibrant, critical, and democratic public spheres and their replacement with a corporate and media controlled space that reflects the commodification and militarization of American culture at the hands of these corporate elites. After tracing a genealogy of the public and public space, this thesis will focus on two examples of New Urbanist design that illustrate the corporate nature of community politics: the Disney Corporation's Celebration, Florida and DreamWorks' Playa Vista, California. Discussing the ideological basis for both communities, this thesis will suggest possible lessons to be learned for the creation of a public based on an ethic of common ground made possible by organized resistance to corporate manipulation of place.

Despite the fact that when surveyed 92.4% of the Venezuelan population self identified as Catholic, a large swath of Venezuelans stand Pentecostalized. Pentecostalization in Venezuela seems to take the form of growth in the Catholic Charismatic Movement. The study shows Châvez gained a majority of those whose self identified affiliation is evangelical as well as a majority of those who hold Pentecostal beliefs. The relationship between religion and voting patterns in the 1998 Venezuelan Presidential case has not been explored. The study does this, concluding that although Venezuela is by and large Pentecostalized, a desire in political and governmental change was the most salient reasons for Venezuelans when they voted for President in 1998.

The Jones Act of 1917 gave U.S. citizenship to all Puerto Ricans, who were then able to move easily between the island and the United States. A constant transfer of people ensued and the process of transculturation accelerated. Puerto Ricans zealously strive to maintain their identity and to culturally set themselves apart, most visibly through the use of the Spanish language. Thus, some find it scandalous that Puerto Rican authors, such as Rosario Ferrâe and Esmeralda Santiago, would dare publish works in English. Both authors received university-level education in the United States, but their experiences have been very different, and their works provide a worthwhile comparison. Ferrâe had not written a novel in English until she published The House on the Lagoon in 1995, and she always translates her own prose work. Santiago writes exclusively in English and does not translate her own work. The second of her three memoirs, Almost a Woman, published in 1998, relates the story of her time in New York City until she is twenty-one years old. This thesis examines the transculturation of Puerto Ricans in U.S. society and their struggle to hold onto Spanish as a way of maintaining their identity as seen in The House on the Lagoon and Almost a Woman.

While the general public agrees that the Sex Pistols were punk--they were dirty, vile, low-class, and they sang crass lyrics--their aesthetics were originally brought into punk by the New York Dolls, by bringing the street into their performance. The New York Dolls were from the New York City streets; they were mediocre musicians, unglamorous, and not at all phantasmagorical. They removed the hierarchy and the bourgeois elements from their performances that had been established by previous New York City bands like the Velvet Underground--who performed as high-class, elitist artists. The New York Dolls destroyed this hierarchy, allowing the audience to join them. So, all the aesthetics that are associated with punk are the physical, visual, and auditory manifestations of the original scene and unity that began with the New York Dolls.

Definitions of convergence range from very strong (such as the concept of uniform convergence) to weaker and weaker versions like convergence in measure. We shall give a background in integration, measure theory, and convergence; then we move on to define convergence in measure with speed. We define three versions of convergence in measure with speed with an inner speed factor, an outer speed factor, and one with both speed factors. We then give examples of functions that fall under each of these categories and prove important results relating convergence in measure with speed to existing definitions.

The relationship between the United States and Panama had been a precarious power struggle from 1821 until the Canal Zone reverted to Panamanian control in 1999. In 1903, the United States aided Panama in seceding from Gran Colombia, and both parties signed a treaty allowing the United States to build a canal. The Panamanians were concerned with the sovereignty of the Canal Zone and wanted the Panamanian flag to fly alongside the U.S. flag in the Canal Zone. On January 9, 1964, Panamanian students rebutted by marching the Panamanian flag into the Canal Zone and rioting broke out. This thesis explores the impact of this violent occurrence in light of the fact that the U.S. media glosses over it, whereas, together with other international events following the riots, it prompted the revision of the canal treaty. Subsequently, a new treaty was signed in 1977, becoming effective almost a hundred years after the creation of the Latin American country.