thesis

The current use of the phrase "wall of separation" between church and state as a legal defense for the removal of religious expression (particularly Protestant Christianity), i.e., religious expression, from governmental institutions and the prohibition of the free exercise of individuals working within them goes contrary not only to the original intent of the Founders and the Framers but also to the religious, political, and legal history and traditions of the United States of America. The abundance of historical evidence reduces the colonial contentions to three: 1) no legal establishment of one sect of Christianity or another religion as the national religion; 2) no legal prohibition against the free exercise of religious conscience of any religions, especially minority ones; 3); and no taxation of the citizenry for the support of a legally preferred religion. The application of these three prongs of the "historical test" will reduce litigation, minimize judicial vacillation, and uphold the principles that precipitated the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.

This project focuses on, Behind the Green Door, a film that inaugurated and in many ways defined the genre of hard-core pornography. I will examine the subversive modes of sexual behavior created and promoted by society and will argue that pornographic films actively attempt to redefine socially created notions of sexual comportment. I will then examine the notion of sexual fantasy and behavior as represented in two pornographic films, The Masseuse and The Fashionistas, in relation to the models of sexual comportment present in Behind the Green Door. Specifically, I will study the work of two female pornographic stars, Jenna Jameson and Belladonna, and discuss the manner in which their work has reclaimed the notion of femininity and the necessity for female sexual pleasure by presenting women as sexually empowered beings able controlling and creating sexual scenarios specifically designed to garner physical pleasure.

This paper examines permit trading as an instrument for greenhouse gas emission abatement and suggests that a cap and trade scheme is the lowest-cost option for achieving this goal. The paper examines relevant examples of emission trading within the United States, including the Acid Rain Program contained within the 1990 Clean Air Act, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and the Chicago Climate Exchange. I address the circumstances, constraints, and degree of success of such programs in relation to the Kyoto Protocol as well as other possible permit schemes at the national level within the United States. I contrast tradable permits with other forms of environmental abatement policy including command and control regulation and taxation. Finally, I analyze the effect of several variables including population and GDP on emissions growth and draws conclusions on what extent those variables play on shaping a domestic greenhouse gas trading program.

Epidemic models help us predict the outcome of an epidemic. I will discuss and compare two simple epidemic models: a deterministic model implemented by a simple differential equation, and a stochastic model, which is more realistic, but harder to analyze. In both models we assume, for simplicity, that each individual goes through only two stages: healthy (susceptible) and sick (infective). Such models, called SI epidemic models, describe infections with no immunity. We will show that, when the population gets large, the more realistic stochastic model approaches the simple deterministic model on the average, which will allow us to see that the deterministic model is used for a good reason.

Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita, most often noted for its critique on consumerism in post-war America and the conflict between Old World European values with New World American ones, contains an equally strong critique on consumerism of media. Lolita's narrative style, the memoir of a pedophile and murderer simultaneously seeking absolution and applause, investigates the relationship between a seductive mass media and its prurient and Puritanical audience. Implicit in the narrative technique is the audience's own participation in the mediation of reality.

Freshwater marshes are a harsh wetland ecosystem classified by seasonal water level fluctuation. Dry down periods are common in some marshes, making life difficult for fish and other aquatic organisms. The goal of this study was to compile an updated species list of fishes inhabiting the freshwater marsh system within Savannas Preserve State Park. Twenty-three fish species were collected between August 2005 and May 2007. This survey, along with past collections, and the current species list in the park's management plan were used to make a new proposed species list. Three species of nonnative fishes were observed during the study, the first report of exotic fishes in the park. It is believed that abnormally high water levels for an extended period may have allowed the water in neighboring canals to connect to the marsh system and, as a result, new species were able become introduced in the park.

In Our Mutual Friend Dickens plays with the idea of people becoming things and things becoming people. One such person, who is initially introduced as a table, is Melvin Twemlow. This member of the aristocracy plays an almost comical, minor role within one sub-plot of the novel, but over the course of the novel progresses from a "feeble" character into a strong, morally authoritative voice. Dickens concludes his novel with a debate concerning who is, or should be, "the voice of society" and the last word of the debate is given to the mysterious table-man character. Rather than allowing a central protagonist to champion his thoughts, Dickens surprises his readers by making an exemplary moral figure of a mild, minor character from among the ranks of the pompous aristocracy. Twemlow's speech makes a familiar Dickensian point about the need for social reform in a strange, politically incorrect way.

The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is endemic to the Southeast United States, where its populations are declining primarily due to habitat loss. Gopher tortoises prefer habitats with open sunny spots for nesting and basking. Fire is a normal element in gopher tortoise habitat, and when natural fires are suppressed, habitats may become too overgrown. To maintain the open spaces, some land managers use reduction mowing of vegetation. I studied gopher tortoises in the Abacoa Greenway reserve, established to protect the tortoises in a residential area of Jupiter, Florida, and I examined how reduction mowing influences tortoise activity. I evaluated the distribution of burrows throughout the study site by flagging the burrows both before and after extensive reduction mowing took place in the greenway. Statistical comparison between new burrows found within the interior as compared to the periphery both before and after the mowing reveal a significant relationship between both variables. These results suggest that the tortoises utilize newly mowed areas as preferred substrate for new burrows.

Habitat fragmentation causes the isolation of groups of individuals within species by producing a new landscape that is uninhabitable for many species, including birds. I surveyed the John D. MacArthur campus of FAU in the Fall of 2005 and Spring of 2006 to assess the use of the campus by birds. Throughout the campus trees are lined in rows along the sidewalks and around buildings, in contrast to the pine flatwoods environment that existed prior to development. The birds observed were found performing various activities on the campus, including foraging, perching, and building nests. Individuals were concentrated around or near buildings with the most diverse vegetation. Through assessing these campus uses I suggest that there are ways we can help increase bird diversity in promoting their use of urban environments. Such solutions can help decrease the number of individuals and species lost to the destructive force of habitat fragmentation.

Throughout the course of North American history, wolves have been persecuted with a vengeance. Negative wolf perceptions have in the past created and continue to create controversial policies and views towards wolves. While most of these attitudes are geared towards gray wolves, as gray wolves are the most common and prominent, unfavorable perceptions have also extended to the less well-known red wolf. This study compares two red wolf reintroduction programs, one in the Tennessee-Kentucky area and the other in North Carolina, as well as the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction program. After analyzing these three programs, it can be concluded that the perceptions towards wolves regardless of the type of wolf or location remain largely negative and that wolves continue to face persecution.