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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
This dissertation addresses the tendency among some disability scholars to overlook the importance of congenital deformity and disability in the pre-modern West. It argues that congenital deformity and disability deviated so greatly from able-bodied norms that they have played a pivotal role in the history of Western Civilization. In particular, it explores the evolution of two seemingly separate, but ultimately related, ideas from classical antiquity through the First World War: (1) the idea that there was some type of significance, whether supernatural or natural, to the existence of congenital deformity and (2) the idea that the existence of disabled people has resulted in a disability problem for western societies because many disabilities can hinder labor productivity to such an extent that large numbers of the disabled cannot survive without taking precious resources from their more productive, able-bodied counterparts. It also looks at how certain categories of disabled people, including, monsters, hunchbacks, cripples, the blind, the deaf and dumb, and dwarfs, which signified aesthetic and functional deviations from able-bodied norms, often reinforced able-bodied prejudices against the disabled.
ContributorsParry, Matthew (Author) / Fuchs, Rachel (Thesis advisor) / Tirosh-Samuelson, Hava (Committee member) / Wright, Johnson K. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In complex consumer-resource type systems, where diverse individuals are interconnected and interdependent, one can often anticipate what has become known as the tragedy of the commons, i.e., a situation, when overly efficient consumers exhaust the common resource, causing collapse of the entire population. In this dissertation I use mathematical modeling to explore different variations on the consumer-resource type systems, identifying some possible transitional regimes that can precede the tragedy of the commons. I then reformulate it as a game of a multi-player prisoner's dilemma and study two possible approaches for preventing it, namely direct modification of players' payoffs through punishment/reward and modification of the environment in which the interactions occur. I also investigate the questions of whether the strategy of resource allocation for reproduction or competition would yield higher fitness in an evolving consumer-resource type system and demonstrate that the direction in which the system will evolve will depend not only on the state of the environment but largely on the initial composition of the population. I then apply the developed framework to modeling cancer as an evolving ecological system and draw conclusions about some alternative approaches to cancer treatment.
ContributorsKareva, Irina (Author) / Castillo-Chavez, Carlos (Thesis advisor) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Nagy, John (Committee member) / Smith, Hal (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation analyzes the way in which leaders of certain Taiwanese Buddhist organizations associated with a strand of Buddhist modernism called "humanistic Buddhism" use discourse and rhetoric to make environmentalism meaningful to their members. It begins with an assessment of the field of religion and ecology, situating it in the context of secular environmental ethics. It identifies rhetoric and discourse as important but under acknowledged elements in literature on environmental ethics, both religious and secular, and relates this lack of attention to rhetoric to the presence of a problematic gap between environmental ethics theory and environmentalist practice. This dissertation develops a methodology of rhetorical analysis that seeks to assess how rhetoric contributes to alleviating this gap in religious environmentalism. In particular, this dissertation analyzes the development of environmentalism as a major element of humanistic Buddhist groups in Taiwan and seeks to show that a rhetorical analysis helps demonstrate how these organizations have sought to make environmentalism a meaningful subject of contemporary Buddhist religiosity. This dissertation will present an extended analysis of the concept of "spiritual environmentalism," a term developed and promoted by the late Ven. Shengyan (1930-2009), founder of the Taiwanese Buddhist organization Dharma Drum Mountain. Furthermore, this dissertation suggests that the rhetorical methodology proposed herein offers offers a direction for scholars to more effectively engage with religion and ecology in ways that address both descriptive/analytic approaches and constructive engagements with various forms of religious environmentalism.
ContributorsClippard, Seth (Author) / Chen, Huaiyu (Thesis advisor) / Tirosh-Samuelson, Hava (Committee member) / Bokenkamp, Stephen (Committee member) / Tillman, Hoyt (Committee member) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The Committee on Rare and Endangered Wildlife Species (CREWS) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made important and lasting contributions to one of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation in U.S. history: the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). CREWS was a prominent science-advisory body within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in the 1960s and 1970s, responsible for advising on the development of federal endangered-wildlife policy. The Committee took full advantage of its scientific and political authority by identifying a particular object of conservation--used in the development of the first U.S. list of endangered species--and establishing captive breeding as a primary conservation practice, both of which were written into the ESA and are employed in endangered-species listing and recovery to this day. Despite these important contributions to federal endangered-species practice and policy, CREWS has received little attention from historians of science or policy scholars. This dissertation is an empirical history of CREWS that draws on primary sources from the Smithsonian Institution (SI) Archives and a detailed analysis of the U.S. congressional record. The SI sources (including the records of the Bird and Mammal Laboratory, an FWS staffed research group stationed at the Smithsonian Institution) reveal the technical and political details of CREWS's advisory work. The congressional record provides evidence showing significant contributions of CREWS and its advisors and supervisors to the legislative process that resulted in the inclusion of key CREWS-inspired concepts and practices in the ESA. The foundational concepts and practices of the CREWS's research program drew from a number of areas currently of interest to several sub-disciplines that investigate the complex relationship between science and society. Among them are migratory bird conservation, systematics inspired by the Evolutionary Synthesis, species-focused ecology, captive breeding, reintroduction, and species transplantation. The following pages describe the role played by CREWS in drawing these various threads together and codifying them as endangered-species policy in the ESA.
ContributorsWinston, Johnny (Author) / Hamilton, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Henson, Pamela (Committee member) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Evolution is a key feature of undergraduate biology education: the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has identified evolution as one of
the five core concepts of biology, and it is relevant to a wide array of biology-related
careers. If biology instructors want students to use evolution to address scientific
challenges post-graduation, students need to be able to apply evolutionary principles to
real-life situations, and accept that the theory of evolution is the best scientific
explanation for the unity and diversity of life on Earth. In order to help students progress
on both fronts, biology education researchers need surveys that measure evolution
acceptance and assessments that measure students’ ability to apply evolutionary concepts.
This dissertation improves the measurement of student understanding and acceptance of
evolution by (1) developing a novel Evolutionary Medicine Assessment that measures
students’ ability to apply the core principles of Evolutionary Medicine to a variety of
health-related scenarios, (2) reevaluating existing measures of student evolution
acceptance by using student interviews to assess response process validity, and (3)
correcting the validity issues identified on the most widely-used measure of evolution
acceptance - the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) - by
developing and validating a revised version of this survey: the MATE 2.0.
ContributorsMisheva, Anastasia Taya (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Barnes, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Cooper, Katelyn (Committee member) / Sterner, Beckett (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Understanding the dynamic interactions between humans and wildlife is essential to establishing sustainable wildlife-based ecotourism (WBE). Animal behavior exists within a complex feedback loop that affects overall ecosystem function, tourist satisfaction, and socioeconomics of local communities. However, the specific value that animal behavior plays in provisioning ecosystem services has not been thoroughly evaluated. People enjoy activities that facilitate intimate contact with animals, and there are many perceived benefits associated with these experiences, such as encouraging pro-environmental attitudes that can lead to greater motivation for conservation. There is extensive research on the effects that unregulated tourism activity can have on wildlife behavior, which include implications for population health and survival. Prior to COVID-19, WBE was developing rapidly on a global scale, and the pause in activity caused by the pandemic gave natural systems the chance to recover from environmental damage from over-tourism and provided insights into how tourism could be less impactful in the future. Until now it has been undetermined how changes in animal behavior can alter the relationships and socioeconomics of this multidimensional system. This dissertation provides a thorough exploration of the behavioral, ecological, and economic parameters required to model biosocial interactions and feedbacks within the whale watching system in Las Perlas Archipelago, Panama. Through observational data collected in the field, this project assessed how unmanaged whale watching activity is affecting the behavior of Humpback whales in the area as well as the socioeconomic and conservation contributions of the industry. Additionally, it is necessary to consider what a sustainable form of wildlife tourism might be, and whether the incorporation of technology will help enhance visitor experience while reducing negative impacts on wildlife. To better ascertain whether this concept of this integration would be favorably viewed, a sample of individuals was surveyed about their experiences about using technology to enhance their interactions with nature. This research highlights the need for more deliberate identification and incorporation of the perceptions of all stakeholders (wildlife included) to develop a less-impactful WBE industry that provides people with opportunities to establish meaningful relationships with nature that motivate them to help meet the conservation challenges of today.
ContributorsSurrey, Katie (Author) / Gerber, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Guzman, Hector (Committee member) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Schoon, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Since the 1980s, academics and activists attempting to explain why American evangelicals have supported politicians with controversial environmental track records—from James Watt to James Inhofe—have framed such believers as apocalyptic fatalists content to pillage Creation until Jesus raptures them to safety and destroys the Earth. Today evangelicals maintain higher levels of climate skepticism and lower levels of support for environmental legislation than other religious groups—seemingly confirming the “End Times Apathy Hypothesis.” However, the history of such Rapture-believing, premillennial evangelicals reveals surprisingly sensitive attitudes toward science, nature, and the environmental crisis that stand in stark contrast to popular depictions. Far from promoting anti-science and anti-environmental attitudes, premillennialism has historically encouraged a this-worldly interest in empirical science as believers saw the natural world as a source of revelation and sought to discern the “signs of the times.” It has also offered a flexible theological framework capable of assimilating the most dire findings by environmental scientists and meeting them with hope. Prophecy popularizers such as Billy Graham and Hal Lindsay wrote books which sold in the millions and carried with them the latest findings and predictions by environmental scientists—making them, in effect, some of the most effective science communicators of the twentieth century. Where environmental skepticism has entered evangelicalism, it has been through postmillennial Christian Reconstructionism—a movement deeply opposed to premillennialism—and its promotion of economic cornucopianism, Young Earth Creationism, Christian America historical revisionism, and organizations like the Cornwall Alliance. To make evangelicals into anti-environmentalists, these Reconstructionists first had to unmake them as premillennialists.
This interdisciplinary dissertation demonstrates how history and theology can explain evangelicals’ shifting attitudes toward environmentalism. From their early concerns over nuclear testing through their participation in the first Earth Day and up to the eve of the millennium, premillennialism drove evangelicals to take seriously the growing concerns for Creation’s condition and their present attitudes of skepticism and antagonism represent a divergence from this hitherto untold story of apocalyptic environmentalism.
ContributorsFuller, Robert Edward (Author) / Tirosh-Samuelson, Hava (Thesis advisor) / Jones, Christopher (Committee member) / Berry, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Similar-identity role models, including instructors, can benefit science undergraduates by enhancing their self-efficacy and sense of belonging. However, for students to have similar-identity role models based on identities that can be hidden, instructors need to disclose their identities. For concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) – identities that can be hidden and carry negative stereotypes – the impersonal and apolitical culture cultivated in many science disciplines likely makes instructor CSI disclosure unlikely. This dissertation comprises five studies I conducted to assess the presence of instructor role models with CSIs in undergraduate science classrooms and evaluate the impact on undergraduates of instructor CSI disclosure. I find that science instructors report CSIs at lower rates than undergraduates and typically keep these identities concealed. Additionally, I find that women instructors are more likely to disclose their CSIs to students compared to men. To assess the impact of instructor CSI disclosure on undergraduates, I report on findings from a descriptive exploratory study and a controlled field experiment in which an instructor reveals an LGBTQ+ identity. Undergraduates, especially those who also identify as LGBTQ+, benefit from instructor LGBTQ+ disclosure. Additionally, the majority of undergraduate participants agree that an instructor revealing an LGBTQ+ identity during class is appropriate. Together, the results presented in this dissertation highlight the current lack of instructor role models with CSIs and provide evidence of student benefits that may encourage instructors to reveal CSIs to undergraduates and subsequently provide much-needed role models. I hope this work can spark self-reflection among instructors to consider revealing CSIs to students and challenge the assumption that science environments should be devoid of personal identities.
ContributorsBusch, Carly Anne (Author) / Cooper, Katelyn (Thesis advisor) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Avian influenzas are zoonoses, or pathogens borne by wildlife and livestock that
can also infect people. In recent decades, and especially since the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in 1996, these diseases have become a significant threat to animal and public health across the world. HPAI H5N1 has caused severe damage to poultry populations, killing, or prompting the culling of, millions of birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has also infected hundreds of people, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic drivers of avian influenza risk, particularly in China, the most populous country to be infected. Among the most significant ecological risk factors are landscapes that serve as “mixing zones” for wild waterfowl and poultry, such as rice paddy, and nearby lakes and wetlands that are important breeding and wintering habitats for wild birds. Poultry outbreaks often involve cross infections between wild and domesticated birds. At the international level, trade in live poultry can spread the disease, especially if the imports are from countries not party to trade agreements with well-developed biosecurity standards. However, these risks can be mitigated in a number of ways. Protected habitats, such as Ramsar wetlands, can segregate wild bird and poultry populations, thereby lowering the chance of interspecies transmission. The industrialization of poultry production, while not without ethical and public health problems, can also be risk-reducing by causing wild-domestic segregation and allowing for the more efficient application of surveillance, vaccination, and other biosecurity measures. Disease surveillance is effective at preventing the spread of avian influenza, including across international borders. Economic modernization in general, as reflected in rising per-capita GDP, appears to mitigate avian influenza risks at both the national and sub-national levels. Poultry vaccination has been effective in many cases, but is an incomplete solution because of the practical difficulties of sustained and widespread implementation. The other popular approach to avian influenza control is culling, which can be highly expensive and raise ethical concerns about large-scale animal slaughter. Therefore, it is more economically efficient, and may even be more ethical, to target the socio-ecological drivers of avian influenza risks, including by implementing the policies discussed here.
can also infect people. In recent decades, and especially since the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in 1996, these diseases have become a significant threat to animal and public health across the world. HPAI H5N1 has caused severe damage to poultry populations, killing, or prompting the culling of, millions of birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It has also infected hundreds of people, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. This dissertation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic drivers of avian influenza risk, particularly in China, the most populous country to be infected. Among the most significant ecological risk factors are landscapes that serve as “mixing zones” for wild waterfowl and poultry, such as rice paddy, and nearby lakes and wetlands that are important breeding and wintering habitats for wild birds. Poultry outbreaks often involve cross infections between wild and domesticated birds. At the international level, trade in live poultry can spread the disease, especially if the imports are from countries not party to trade agreements with well-developed biosecurity standards. However, these risks can be mitigated in a number of ways. Protected habitats, such as Ramsar wetlands, can segregate wild bird and poultry populations, thereby lowering the chance of interspecies transmission. The industrialization of poultry production, while not without ethical and public health problems, can also be risk-reducing by causing wild-domestic segregation and allowing for the more efficient application of surveillance, vaccination, and other biosecurity measures. Disease surveillance is effective at preventing the spread of avian influenza, including across international borders. Economic modernization in general, as reflected in rising per-capita GDP, appears to mitigate avian influenza risks at both the national and sub-national levels. Poultry vaccination has been effective in many cases, but is an incomplete solution because of the practical difficulties of sustained and widespread implementation. The other popular approach to avian influenza control is culling, which can be highly expensive and raise ethical concerns about large-scale animal slaughter. Therefore, it is more economically efficient, and may even be more ethical, to target the socio-ecological drivers of avian influenza risks, including by implementing the policies discussed here.
ContributorsWu, Tong (Author) / Perrings, Charles (Thesis advisor) / Collins, Jim (Committee member) / Daszak, Peter (Committee member) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Guided by Tinto’s Theory of College Student Departure, I conducted a set of five studies to identify factors that influence students’ social integration in college science active learning classes. These studies were conducted in large-enrollment college science courses and some were specifically conducted in undergraduate active learning biology courses. Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, I identified how students’ identities, such as their gender and LGBTQIA identity, and students’ perceptions of their own intelligence influence their experience in active learning science classes and consequently their social integration in college. I also determined factors of active learning classrooms and instructor behaviors that can affect whether students experience positive or negative social integration in the context of active learning. I found that students’ hidden identities, such as the LGBTQIA identity, are more relevant in active learning classes where students work together and that the increased relevance of one’s identity can have a positive and negative impact on their social integration. I also found that students’ identities can predict their academic self-concept, or their perception of their intelligence as it compares to others’ intelligence in biology, which in turn predicts their participation in small group-discussion. While many students express a fear of negative evaluation, or dread being evaluated negatively by others when speaking out in active learning classes, I identified that how instructors structure group work can cause students to feel more or less integrated into the college science classroom. Lastly, I identified tools that instructors can use, such as name tents and humor, which can positive affect students’ social integration into the college science classroom. In sum, I highlight inequities in students’ experiences in active learning science classrooms and the mechanisms that underlie some of these inequities. I hope this work can be used to create more inclusive undergraduate active learning science courses.
ContributorsCooper, Katelyn M (Author) / Brownell, Sara E (Thesis advisor) / Stout, Valerie (Committee member) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Orchinik, Miles (Committee member) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018