New Horizons - April 2010

New HorizonsVMI Journal of Undergraduate Research

Volume 4 Number 1 April 2010

Executive Editor: Mary Ann Dellinger, Professor of Modern Languages and Cultures

Associate Editor for the Humanities: D. Alexis Hart, Assistant Professor of English

Associate Editor for Engineering: Robert L. McMasters, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Associate Editor for the Sciences: George Brooke, IV, ‘94, Assistant Professor of Physics

Contributing Editors for Volume 4

David M. Allen, Virginia Military InstituteRobert L. Coleman, University of South AlabamaNorman Hinton, University of Illinois-Springfield (emeritus)David W. Johnstone, Virginia Military InstituteChristopher S. Lassiter, Roanoke CollegeDavid L. Livingston, Virginia Military InstituteEdward A. Lynch, Hollins University Megan H. Newman, Virginia Military InstituteJacob Siehler, Washington & Lee UniversityHoward Thomas, Fitchburg State College

Cover design: Cadet Dominik Wermus (Physics and Applied Mathematics,‘10). Photograph of M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, compiled from several images taken at the VMI Observatory.

New Horizons logo: Cadet Erin M. Squires (Biology, ‘08)

New Horizons VMI Journal of Undergraduate Research

Editorial Board

The editorial board of New Horizons: VMI Journal of Undergraduate Research would like to acknowledge the generous financial support of the VMI Research Laboratories and the VMI Undergraduate Research Initiative who funded the publication of this issue.

Our thanks to our colleagues for their efforts on behalf of New Horizons:

u Dr. Charles F. Brower, Professor, International Studies and Political Science u Dr. Robert C. McDonald, Associate Dean of Faculty u Dr. Christina R. McDonald, Institute Director of Writing u Dr. Bill Oliver and Ms. Sherri Tombarge, VMI Writing Center u Dr. R. Wane Schneiter, Dean of Faculty u Dr. James S. Turner, Head, Department of Biology

Special thanks to Leslie Joyce, Administrative Assistant, VMI Undergraduate Research Initiative, and BR Floyd, Media Administrator, Marketing and Communications.

New Horizons VMI Journal of Undergraduate ResearchVMI Undergraduate Research Initiative

Virginia Military InstituteLexington, VA 24450

Volume 4

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VMI Journal of Undergraduate Research

Volume 4 Issue 1 April 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 From the Executive Editor

3 Dedication: Dr. James E. Turner, Director of the Undergraduate Research Initiative (2002-2009)

Engineering

7 Small Arms Fire Localization and Evasive Action Device CadetTimothyM.Graziano(ElectricalandComputerEngineering,‘12) Faculty Mentor: Dr. James C. Squire, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Humanities

17 Scant Resources: American and Japanese Foreign Relations Regarding Raw Materials and the Origins of Pearl Harbor

CadetVincentW.Abruzzese(History,‘09) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mark F. Wilkinson, Professor of History

27 The Contemporary Pilgrim: Postmodernity and Pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago

CadetEvenT.Rogers(English,‘10) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert L. McDonald, Professor of English and Fine Arts

39 Defense of the Dominican Military? An Examination of the Dominican Military’s Role in its Present Society and the Case for Disbandment

CadetSaifA.Vazquez(InternationalStudies,‘10) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Richard J. Kilroy, Professor of International Studies and Political

Science

Sciences

55 Directrix-Generated Curves and Surfaces CadetCalebGibson(AppliedMathematics,‘11) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniel S. Joseph, Associate Professor of Mathematics and

Computer Science

75 Effects of Estrogen on the Neuromuscular System in the Embryonic Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

CadetAlexanderP.Houser(Biology,‘10) Faculty Mentor: Dr. James E. Turner, Professor of Biology

85 Assembling and Testing a Neutron Detector CadetDominikWermus(PhysicsandAppliedMathematics,‘10) Research Mentor: Dr. Doug Higinbotham, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator

Facility

95 Roosting Habits of Male Eastern Small-Footed Bats (Myotis leibii) in New Hampshire

CadetM.ErinHawes(Biology,‘11)andCadetTimothyJ.Brust(Biology,‘11) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paul R. Moosman, Assistant Professor of Biology

101 About the Contributing Editors

103 Undergraduate Research at VMI

New Horizons u Volume 4 u Number 1 u 2010

From the Executive Editor

Siempre que enseñes, enseña a la vez a dudar de lo que enseñas. [Wheneveryouteach,teachyourhearerstodoubtwhateveryouteach].

JoséOrtegayGasset

1

AmongthemanyprivilegesaffordedmeastheExecutiveEditorofNew Horizonsisthe

opportunitytoworkwithcadetsandcolleaguesfrom disciplines and academic divisions withwhichItypicallyhavelittlecontact.Onewouldthinkthatafterfouryears,thereading,editing,andrevisingroutinewehaveestablishedatNew Horizonswould bring few surprises as far asthequalityofcadetresearchandthededicationof facultymentorsacrosstheVMIPost.Afterall, I have read more than a dozen technicalpapers produced by science and engineeringmajors,allofwhichweresoadvancedthatonlythepositionof the textassuredme Ihadnotmistakenlyturnedthemanuscriptupside-down.Cadet humanists, often writing about familiarsubjects,haveleftmenolessawe-struckintheirchallengestolong-heldinterpretationsandfreshanalysesoftopicsthatestablishedscholarshadabandonedorignored.

The tacit rejection of academic mediocrityonthepartofcadetresearcherswhoseworkappears in the journal remains the hallmark

of New Horizons and a source of pride toourVMIcommunity.YetasExecutiveEditor,I cannot truthfully assert that the intellectualprowess reflected in cadets’ articles is whatI have come tomost esteem in these youngscholarsoverthecourseofthepastfouryears.Rather, it has been the self-assuredness theyexudewhenquestionedorchallengedontheirwork,beitintheintimacyofaneditingsessionoratthepodiumofapublicforum.

Often times during the reviewing process,thefacultymentororaNew Horizonseditorwillmakea suggestionorquestionparticularwording to which the cadet will respondby pointing to his manuscript and saying:(courteouslyalwaysandaccording tomilitaryprotocol):”No,Ma’am, this iswhat Iwant tosay.”Atconferencesandseminars,thesenewacademic researchers welcome each querywithequalpoise and readiness indefenseoftheirfindingsaswellastheirmethodology.

Such confidence does not evolve fromperfunctoryaccoladesorgratuitous shoulder-

2 New Horizons/April2010

patting.Itisahabitnurturedbymentorswhoteachtheirstudentsnotonly“todoubtwhatever[they]teach,”buttoalsoquestionwhatothershaveclaimed.Itcomesfromhavingconqueredtheintellectualobstaclecoursethateachnewlineofinquirybuildsintheresearcher’smindand fromstumblingone’s fair shareof timesalongtheway.

The eight cadets whose work appearsin this volume of New Horizons—as wellas the cadet whose work will appear in theelectronic versionofNew Horizons, volume4—have jumped the hurdles of academicpublicationwith thesamedeterminationandgrace of those writers who preceded them.RepresentingeightdepartmentsandfourVMIclasses(2009-2012),theyhavesubjectedtheirwork to the scrutiny of their mentors, otherfaculty members, the New Horizons editorsandananonymousthird-partyfacultyreader.TheEditorialBoardofNew Horizonsoffersour heartiest congratulations to these cadetsand their academic mentors, along with the

expressionofourgratitudefortheirpatiencethroughout the past eight months of mark-ups,revisions,galleysandblue-lines.

We remain indebted to all our colleaguesat the Institute and other institutions whoserved as contributing editors for this fourthvolume of New Horizons. Our experiencehas taught us thatnewacademicwriters arebest served by teacher/scholars with seriouspublicationexperience,andwerecognizethatthementorshipandevaluationofcadetworkdependsmoreoftenthannotonthesacrificeofone’sownpreciousresearchtime.

Last,butneverleast,Ioffertheexpressionofmyappreciationtomyco-editorsandcolleagues,Dr. Alexis Hart, Dr. Bob McMasters, and Dr.Merce Brooke for their dedication and selflesseffortsonbehalfofNew Horizons: VMI Journal of Undergraduate Research.

MaryAnnDellingerExecutiveEditor,New Horizons

New Horizons is published annually through the VMI Undergraduate Research Initiative. For information, contact: [email protected] or Ms. Leslie Joyce, Undergraduate Research, 309 Science Building, VMI, Lexington, VA 24450.

Dedication

3


We dedicate Volume 4 of New Horizons: VMI Journal of Undergraduate Research toDr. JamesE.Turner, ’65,VMI’s firstDirector of theUndergraduateResearch Initiative

(2002-2009), Professor of Biology and Chemistry, and current Head of the Department ofBiology.

Dr.TurnerisanationalleaderinundergraduateresearchandservesasamemberoftheCUR(Council of Undergraduate Research) Board of Governors. His programmatic vision and histirelesseffortonbehalfofcadetinquiryhaveproventobecontinuoussourcesofinspirationforVMIfacultyandcadetsalike.

7


INTRODUCTIONHistorically, ambush techniqueshavebeen

used in two ways to increase effectivenessin combat. First, they allow military forcestodomuchgreaterdamagewhiledeployingfewermenandequipment.Second,theyhavepsychological warfare value because friendlyforcesmustconstantlystayalertforanambush.Ambushtacticsareoneoftheoldestandmosteffectiveformsofwarfareandcontinuetobeusedthroughouttheworldtoday.Thesetacticsare currently used in the ongoing conflictsin the Middle East. The modus operandiof insurgents opposed to the US-led forcesin Iraq is to set off an improvised explosivedevice(IED)and,intheconfusion,engagethealreadydamagedHighMobilityMultipurposeWheeledVehicle (HMMWV)orothervehiclewithsmallarmsfirebeforedisappearingintothe city [1]. According to several militaryexperts[2],thetacticofambushhasfourmajor

Small Arms Fire Localization and Evasive Action Device

CadetTimothyM.Graziano

Faculty Mentor: Dr. James C. Squire, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ABSTRACTFrom ancient times to present day, warring forces have used ambush techniques in combat. In modern conflicts these tactics may take the form of hidden sniper fire whose sound is difficult to distinguish over road noise. We therefore identified the sound signature of a gunshot and developed a device that can indicate with 75% accuracy whether or not a shot has been fired. We plan future developments to include directional indication capabilities for military anti-sniper and anti-ambush applications, allowing military personnel to take evasive action if engaged in an ambush.

parts: planning, preparation, waiting, andexecution. The planning, preparation, andwaitingphasessimplydescribetheprocedurestosetupanambush,whichincludecoverandconcealment.Theexecutionphaseiscritical.Inorderforanambushtosucceed,theenemymustnotknowtheattackiscomingandtheymustnotbeabletoescapetheambushonceit is sprung. A typical ambush begins withan IED attack. Once an IED is detonatedand troopscomeunder smallarmsfire, it isdifficulttodiscernwheretheenemyishidingorhowtoescapethe“killzone.”UStroopswouldbenefitfromtechnologythat identifiesthedirectionofagunshottohelpthemavoidsniperfire.Technologyalreadyexiststhatcanidentifygunshotsandpossibledirection.Thework done by Maher [3] shows the benefitsof analyzing gunshot location with digitalsignal processing (DSP) techniques. An oldaxiom states “knowledge is power.” There


is no place on earthwhere that assertion ismoretruethanonthebattlefieldsofthe21stcentury.

PURPOSEThegoalofthisresearchistodevelopadevice

that can effectively distinguish the differencebetween a gunshot and the harsh ambientnoiseofthebattlefieldandnumericallydisplaythestrengthofthesource.Thisstrengthvaluecan then be used to develop directional anddistanceidentifyingcapabilities.

The device has a microphone, two light-emittingdiodes (LEDs),andaseven-segmentLEDdisplaytoshowstrength.SeeFigures1and2.

ANALySIS METHODSAcapgunwasusedasasimulacrumofsmall

armsfire.Toidentifyitsuniquesonicsignature,the soundwas recordedusinga custom-builtmicrophone pre-amplifier connected to aMatlab™ analysis program through a highresolution Data Acquisition (DAQ) device.

Signal Strength

Capgun

Microphone

Event

Figure 1. ExternalDesignofDevice.

LEDs�C

1500Hz LP 500Hz LP ED

2500Hz LP 1500Hz LP ED

MIC PREAMP 5V LDO reg 5V Inverter

Figure 2. InternalDesignofSystem.

Figure 3. HandClapinTimeDomain.

Graziano/SmallArmsFireLocalizationandEvasiveActionDevice 9

This setup was used to record several capgun and other sounds in multiple domains.Once several signals were recorded (Figures3 and 4), it was discovered through the use

ofanotherMatlab™analysisprogramthatthemethod for recognizing a cap gun signaturewastomeasurethepowerbinsaboveorbelow1500Hz.SeeFigures5and6.

CONSTRUCTION

Once a method for identifying a gunshotwas discovered, analog filters were designedto electronically separate the signal powerabove and below 1500Hz. The first part ofthissystemisapowersupplyandmicrophonepre-amplification stage. The power supply(Figure 7) was designed to deliver regulated+5Vand-5V.

The microphone and pre-amplificationstageconvertssoundwavesintovoltagesandamplifiesthem(Figure8).

Figure 4. CapguninTimeDomain.

Figure 5. HandClapinFrequencyDomain.

Figure 6. CapguninFrequencyDomain.

Figure 7. PowerSupply.


Figure 8. MicrophonePreamplifier.

FROMPREAMP

+5V

+5V

+5VC

11C

12

R15

R16

R11

R13

R14

R12

C5 C6

C9

D1

D2

C7

C8

C10TO �C

TO �C

TO �CX1 U6

U4

U5

Figure 9. FilteringStages.Thiscircuitrydistinguishesacapgunsonicsignatureversuswhatismerelyaloudsound.

�C R17

+5V

+5V

GUN OTHERTO S

TRE

NG

THD

ISP

LAY

FRO

M F

ILTE

R S

TAG

E

Figure 10. MicrocontrollerandLEDoutputstage.Thiscircuitryanalyzestherelativestrengthofthesignal,and,ifitisfromacapgun,displaysitsstrengthnumerically.


Thenextstageconsistedofaseriesofhighpass,lowpass,andenvelopedetectorfilters.APIC12F683microcontrollerwasprogrammedto provide a 150kHz and 250kHz clock forthe switched capacitor low pass filter. Thefilters were designed using two MAX 291chips which provided a 1500Hz low passanda2500Hzlowpassfilter.Theoutputsofthese filterswere next connected to a seriesof capacitors and resistors comprising thehighpassfiltersandenvelopedetectors.Theoutputs from thefiltering stagesare twoDC

Figure 11. StageOnePrototype.

signals,thelevelsofwhichareproportionaltotherootmeansquarepowerinthepreceding10msinthe500-1500Hzand1500-2500Hzbandsofthemicrophonesignal(seeFigure9).Thissystem isconnected toaPIC18F2420microcontrollerprogrammed tocompare therelativethresholdsofthetwobandpassfiltersaftertheypassthroughtheenvelopedetectors,andlightthecorrespondingLEDsandstrengthdisplay(Figure10).Theprocessofdesigningan algorithm that consistently identifies capgunsignalswithouttriggeringfalsepositivesis


nottrivial,asmanyoutsidesourcescandisruptorchangetheacousticsignatureproducedbythecapgun.

FINAL PRODUCT AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

Theprintedcircuitboard(PCB)wasdesigned,populatedwithcomponents,andthenmountedonto a clear plastic stand for demonstrationpurposes (see Figure 11). Preliminary testsshowthedevicetriggersaccurately70%-75%ofthetimewitha95%confidenceinterval.Thisperformancelevelwaslowerthantheoriginalgoal;however,optimizationofthealgorithmiscontinuing.Oncethedeviceisoptimized,itwillbepossibletodevelopamorecomplexsystemwithfouroftheoriginalcircuitsinanoutward-

facing array. This more complex system willhavetheability,withtheuseofseveralofthedesigned devices, to reverse triangulate theposition of a shooter and provide constantdirection with the addition of an electroniccompass(Figure12).Thissystem,inturn,canprovide an instantaneous location of dangerto military personnel, thereby removing theelementof confusion fromambush situationsandsavinglives.

CONCLUSIONS

The outcome of this research showed anability tomeet the intendedgoalofdesigninga system capable of recognizing a certainsoundsignature.Theaccuracywaslowerthandesired;however,itisstillbeingoptimized.The

Figure 12. PossibleFutureDevelopments.


researchsuggeststhat,throughtheuseofdigitalandanalogelectronicfiltering,itispossibletoidentifythesoundsignatureofagunshot.Thisresearchisthefirststeptowardbuildingadevicethatcanidentifythedirectionofashooterforanti-sniper/anti-ambush applications for themilitary.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to thank Dr. Jim Squire for

his endless support and encouragementwithout which this project would not havebeensuccessful.Iamforevergratefulforhispatience,wisdom,guidance,andadvocacy. IwouldalsoliketothankDr.Christensonwhooriginally sparkedmy interest in this areaofresearch.My thanks alsogo toCadet JustinTench who took me under his wing andprovidedmuchdowntoearthguidanceIfound

essential to this project. Finally Iwould liketothanktheWetmoreFundandSURIdonorsand theURIatVMI,withoutwhose supportthisprojectwouldhavebeenimpossible.

REFERENCES[1]Operation Iraqi Freedom, Official website of

Multi-national Force-Iraq, 30 Apr. 2009,“TerroristTactics,”http://www.mnfiraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=727&Itemid=44

[2]Pike,JohnE.,01Dec.2009,“AmbushTactics,”http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/90-8/Appc.htm

[3]Maher, Robert C., Sept. 2006, “Modelingand Signal Processing of Acoustic GunshotRecordings,” IEEE Signal Processing Society 12th DSP Workshop,pp.257-261.

17


On December 7, 1941, the ImperialJapaneseNavyattackedtheUnitedStates

PacificFleetstationedatPearlHarbor,Hawaii,andAmericawasthrustintoWorldWarII.TheoriginsofthebloodyPacificWararenumerous,intricate,andcontested.Theyincludemotivesranging from Japanese militarism and racismto economic expansion and the pursuit of

Scant Resources: American and Japanese Foreign Relations

Regarding Raw Materials and the Origins of Pearl Harbor

CadetVincentW.Abruzzese

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mark F. Wilkinson, Professor of History

ABSTRACTAlthough historians point to a multitude of factors contributing to the outbreak of hostilities between the US and Japan in 1941, understanding the two nations’ competing interests regarding raw materials deserves attention as they contributed to the rising tensions that eventually erupted into war. “Scant Resources: American and Japanese Foreign Relations Regarding Raw Materials and the Origins of Pearl Harbor” analyzes how the incompatible desires of both Japan and the US to maintain access to strategic raw materials in Southeast Asia precipitated the attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Japan initiated a quest for autarky, or economic self-sufficiency, in order to supply the raw materials required by a modern, industrialized society. Its quest eventually led to the 1931 Manchurian Crisis and subsequent war with China in 1937. However, rather than secure autarky, these conflicts only increased Japan’s dependence on foreign raw materials. Japan thus turned to Southeast Asia, a region the US depended upon for its own supply of raw materials, which was made more critical as America faced war with Germany. US foreign policy makers reacted to Japan’s move on Southeast Asia with a series of resource embargoes and economic freezes. By 1941, neither Japan nor the US was willing to negotiate, as each demanded unrestricted access to Southeast Asia’s resources. Feeling that they were left with no other alternative, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

rawmaterials, tonamebuta few. Of these,thelatterdeservesattention.Manyhistoriansagreethatinternationalrelationsregardingrawmaterials contributed to armed conflict. AsEmenyBrooksobservedevenbeforethewar,“Thesizeandeffectivenessofnationalpowerisnolongerdeterminedalonebytheextentofanation’s territoryandpopulation,orby the


wealth of its territories, or the strength of itsarmiesandofitsequipmentinmunitions,butratherby itscapacity for industrialization” (1).Amodernizednationrequireslargeamountsofrawmaterials to fuel its industries. AsJapanindustrializedduringtheearlytwentiethcentury,itbecameawareofitsdomesticrawmaterialsdeficiencyandthussoughttoexclusivelycontrolEastAsiafornaturalresources,anambitionthatconflictedwiththeOpenDoorsystemfavoredbytheUnitedStates.Bylate1940,thisconflictofinterestseriouslystrainedrelationsbetweenthetwonations.TheattackonPearlHarborwas,inpart,aneffortbytheJapanesetorelievetheirempireoftherawmaterialshortagethathad resulted from the 1937 Sino-JapaneseWar, had been worsened by the Americanresource embargo begun in the summer of1940,andhadbeenmadecriticalwhentheUSfrozeJapaneseassetsin1941.

BeginningwiththeMeijiRestorationin1868and culminating in the 1930s, Japan soughtthestatusofaworldpower,agoalthatinitiatedJapan’s quest for autarky, or economic self-sufficiency. The Japanese home islands arelargelyvolcanic landsandalthough theyhaveaccess to extensive resources of wood andfish, they lackadequate rawmaterialsneededto support an industrialized society, such asironandoil.In1941,E.F.Penrose,aformerprofessoratNagoyaCollegeofCommerceinJapan,wrote,“Thesupplyofhigh-grade ironoreintheJapaneseEmpireisextremelysmallandthecombinedproductionofJapanproperand Korea has amounted in recent years toonlyone-fifthofthetotalsupply”(4).AsJapanmodernized during the late 1800s, a greatemphasiswasplacedonexpandingtheImperialmilitary.Shipyardsandweaponsfactoriesgrewacross thenation. MichaelBarnhartexplainsthat,“Intheprocess,ofcourseJapan’sdemandforiron,steel,andtheotheressentialsofmodernconflictsoared”(22). Rawmaterialshortagesresulted. Initially, however, these resourceshortages did not cause lasting problems.DuringconflictssuchastheSino-JapaneseWarof1895andtheRusso-JapaneseWarof1905,Japan was heavily pressed for raw materials.However, these conflicts were relatively short

andendedbeforeresourceshortagescreatedasevere hindrance to the Japanese war effort.TheadventofWorldWarI,however,altogetheralteredJapaneseperceptionsofresourcesandarmedconflict.

WhenWorldWarIeruptedin1914,Japanesestaff officers stationed in Europe carefullystudiedthenatureoftheconflict.Theirreports,whichdetailedthebeginningsoftrenchwarfareandpredictedalongconflict,convincedTokyotoreviewJapan’sabilitytowageaprotractedwar (Barnhart 23). Colonel Koiso KuniakistudiedJapan’seconomicsituation.Hetouredthe home islands, Korea, and China andreviewedGermanattemptstoachieveautarky.Heconcluded:“Neither thehome islandsnortheempire inFormosa,Korea, and southernSakhalincouldprovideresourcessufficientforwaging modern war. The control of richerterritories,suchasChina,wasimperative”(qtd.inBarnhart22). Koiso’sconclusionsolidifiedthe notion that Japan depended on foreignresources.Japanimmediatelyinitiatedaplanfor domestic economic reform and overseasexpansion designed to create a self-sufficientJapaneseeconomy. JonathanUtleyexplainsthatasJapansought to raise its status in thePacific region, it required secure access toresourcesand“bydominatingthepoliticalandeconomic life ofEastAsia…Japanese leadershopedtoassuresafeaccesstothemarketsandraw materials vital to Japan’s role as a greatnation”(178).

In 1928, Lieutenant Colonel Ishiwara KanjibeganastudyofManchuriainordertodeterminewhat advantages Japancouldgain there. Hisfindings were strikingly similar to Koiso’s:“The [Japanese] economy lacked adequatequantitiesofnearlyallthematerialsneededformodernwarfare—andthisrealizationaddedaneconomicdimensiontothealreadyconsiderablestrategic attractiveness of controlling nearbyterritories inChina. The logical startingpointwas Manchuria” (qtd. in Utley 24). Whenthe Great Depression worsened, and China’spolitical division deepened, Japan saw anopportunitytoextenditscontroloverManchuriacompletely, thus gaining access to marketsand raw materials. Although Manchuria had

Abruzzese/AmericanandJapaneseForeignRelationsRegardingRawMaterials 19

been a part of China for hundreds of years,theJapanesehad,by1931,heavilyinvestedineconomicintereststhere.Mostimportantly,theSouth Manchurian Railway transported largeamountsofcoalandoil,bothvaluableresourcesfor the Japanese economy. Many Japanesebelieved that bringing Manchuria fully into itscontrolwouldincreaserawmaterialproduction.Accordingly,JapanbeganoccupyingManchuriainlate1931.

On September 18, 1931, a small bombdetonated on the tracks of the SouthManchurianRailwaynearthecityofMukden.The Japanese Kwantung Army immediatelyrespondedandexecutedawell-plannedattackonMukdenitself(Yoshihashi6).Bydaybreakon the 19th, Japanese forces had taken thecity and prepared to launch further militarycampaigns into Manchuria. The Mukdenincident and subsequent invasion, now calledthe Manchurian crisis, resulted in completeJapanese control of the region: “By January1932 the Kwantung Army and top echelonsof the South Manchurian Railway werecooperating closely to draw up developmentplansforthenewstate.InMarch,Manchukuowas born” (Barnhart 33). Manchukuo, theJapanesepuppet regime,wasagreat step inthequestforautarky.TheentireManchurianregion was opened for Japanese resourceexploitation, and in 1937, events near theMarco Polo Bridge began Japan’s militaryoccupationofChinaProper.

Between 1932 and 1937, tensionsbetween China and Japan grew, and whenfighting erupted at the Marco Polo Bridge,Japan seized the opportunity to launch a fullmilitary campaign to conquer China. Withinone month, Japan had occupied the Pekingand Tientsin regions of Northern China andprepared to takeShanghaialong theYangtzeRivertothesouth.Initially,theSino-Japaneseconflict appeared to be another quick victoryfor Japan: “The Imperial Army commencedthe China incident in July 1937 with plansassuming that three divisions, three months,and 100 million yen would be sufficient toconcludetheaffair” (Barnhart91). However,TokyounderestimatedChiangKai-shekandthe

ChinesewhocontinuedtobattletheJapanesedespitemanydefeats.Overthecourseofthe1930s,ChiangbelievedthateithertheWesternpowers or the Soviet Union would intervenein a Sino-Japanese conflict because theywouldconcludethatavictoriousJapanwouldthreaten their economic interests (Sun 89-91).Although,asexplainedlater,theforeignpowersdidnot intervene inChina in the late1930s,Chiang’shope that theywoulddo sopreventedhimfromseekingpeacewithJapan.Thismoveextendedthelengthoftheconflictbeyond the timeframe Japan had expected.Afullyearaftertheoutbreakofhostilities,theChinese continued to fight. The protractedconflictstretchedJapan’sresourcesdesperatelythin and threatened (rather than solidified) itspursuitofautarky.

TheSino-JapaneseWardidnotgounnoticedintheworld,andshortlyafterhostilitieserupted,President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresseda Chicago crowd in response to the Asianconflict.InhisfamousaddressonOctober5,1937,nowknownastheQuarantineSpeech,Rooseveltadvancedtheconceptofmaintainingpeacethroughthediplomaticoppositiontotheaggressive expansion of foreign nations. Hespokeofmoralconsciousnesssaying,“Itmustbearousedtothecardinalnecessityofhonoringthesanctityoftreaties,ofrespectingtherightsand libertiesofothers,andofputtinganendtoactsofinternationalaggression”(Rosenman409).RooseveltalsodefendedtheOpenDoorPolicy, or the policy of maintaining a free-marketsysteminEastAsia. Althoughhedidnot specifically reference the Sino-Japaneseconflict, his mention of the violation of theCovenant of the League of Nations and theNine Power Treaty (both designed to protectterritorial integrity) testifies to his concernsabout Japanese expansion (410). He stated,“Theoverwhelmingmajorityofthepeoplesandnationsoftheworldtodaywanttoliveinpeace.Theyseektheremovalofbarriersagainsttrade.They want to exert themselves in industry,in agriculture and business, that they mayincreasetheirwealththroughtheproductionofwealth-producinggoods” (409). Through theQuarantineSpeech,Roosevelt set theUnited


States in opposition to Japanese expansionand the subsequent threat to free markets inChina. However, he stopped short of openresistance. Roosevelt didnot call formilitaryaction or economic sanctions against theJapaneseEmpire.He,alongwithSecretaryofStateCordellHull,madegreateffortstoavoidJapanese-American conflict. Despite theseefforts, as the Sino-Japanese War deepenedand the threat to the Open Door worsened,USpolicymakersgraduallyoffereddiplomaticoppositiontoJapanandsetthestageforthe1940resourceembargoes.

In 1938, Secretary Hull learned thatAmericanaircraftsalestoJapanhad, inpart,made possible the Japanese bombing ofciviliancities.Concerned,hesentatelegramon June 12 to Joseph Grew, the Americanambassador in Japan, saying, “The situationisinconsistentwiththeabhorrencewithwhichthisGovernmentandtheAmericanpeopleviewthe current bombings of civilian populations”(FRUS1938,3:618).TheStateDepartmentquickly requested that aircraft manufacturersceasesalestoJapan.AmemorandumbytheChief of the Office of Arms and MunitionsControlstated,“Incompliancewithinstructionsreceived,Ibeganthismorningtogetintouchwith manufacturers to inform them orally ofthisGovernment’sdesirethattheydonotsellor export such articles to countries engagedin bombing civilian populations from the air”(FRUS1938,3:618).TheUnitedStatesactedupon the developments in China. However,these actions were limited to words andencouragement for fear thatdirectoppositionwouldriskwar.

As the Chinese continued to resistthroughout 1938, the Japanese engagedincreasingnumbersof soldiers in theconflict,“[u]ltimately announcing its intention to crushallresistancethroughoutthecountry”(Marshall57). The expanding scope of the conflictstretched Japan’s resources dangerously thinand forced it to look for new sources of rawmaterials.ThesearchledJapantoSoutheastAsia,andinearly1939,Japanadvanced:“OnFebruary10,JapaninvadedandoccupiedtheislandofHainan,claimedbyFranceandonly

125milesfrom....Indochina”(60).Onemonthlater,Japan invaded theSpratley Islands,alsocontrolled by France. Furthermore, “Whileconsolidating her foothold in Indo-China,Japan was also seeking to secure economicconcessionsfromtheNetherlandsIndies,withwhomtradenegotiationshadbeenproceedingfor some months with little apparent result”(Bisson 113). These bold moves, especiallyJapan’sdemandsupontheDutchEastIndies,escalated the strain in Japanese-Americanrelations and heightened American concernabout Japanese expansion. The Rooseveltadministration reacted much more stronglyto the Japanese threat to Southeast Asia—particularly theDutchEast Indies (alsoknownas the Netherlands East Indies)—than to theJapanesethreattoChina’smarkets.TheUSbelieved thatmaintaining access toSoutheastAsianrawmaterialswasimperativetoAmericanvitalinterestsandthatblockingJapan’saccessto those raw materials would prevent furtherJapaneseexpansion.

A close analysis of the American relianceonSoutheastAsianrawmaterialsrevealsthatChinawasnotas importanttotheUSastheDutchEastIndies:“Withtheexceptionoftungoil, China provided nothing that the UnitedStates could not obtain elsewhere” (Utley85). Although the United States favored anopen market in China—and indeed wouldhavebenefitedfromsuchasystem—itdidnotrelyonsuch.Inthesummerof1940,“[StateDepartmentAsianspecialistStanley]Hornbeckand [Assistant Secretary of State Alger] Hissconcluded that ‘many of our most importantrawmaterialimportdesiderataaretobefoundincommercialquantitiesonlyintheFarEast”(Marshall71). TheUSalsobelieved that therestrictionsplacedonmarketsduetotheSino-Japanese War would end when the conflictitselfended.In1938,theChinesegovernmentrestrictedtheStandardVacuumOilCompany’ssalesinChinainanefforttopreventoilfromreachingJapaneseforcesinoccupiedChineseterritories. The American ambassador toChina,NelsonJohnson,wrotetotheChineseminister,WangChung-hui,expressinghisbeliefthattherestrictionswereonlytemporary.On


behalf of Standard-Vacuum, he wrote, “TheCompanywishestoplaceonrecord…thefactthatsuchcomplianceistobewithoutprejudice,andthat it isundertakenwiththeexpectationthatupontheterminationofpresentabnormalconditionsthesetemporaryrestrictionsuponafreemarketwill bewithdrawn” (FRUS1938,4:579-80). American policy makers fearedthat,unlikeChineserestrictions,Japan’scontrolofSoutheastAsiawouldbeapermanentthreat.

OilwasoneofthemostimportantresourcesintheDutchEastIndies:“TheinvolvementofAmerican firms in the development ofDutchEastIndiespetroleumpredatedWorldWarI…By 1920, the Netherlands East Indies wereproducingoverfifteenmillionbarrelsofcrudeoil, most of which was exported as crude oilor fuel oil, benzene, gasoline, and kerosene”(Randall 30). These early American exploitspaidoffandby the late1930s, theUSdrewimmense supplies of oil from theDutchEastIndies.AsJapanexpendedincreasingamountsof resources in China, it sought new sourcesof raw materials, particularly oil: “Overall,JapanreliedonAmericafor80percentoffuelneeds.Forspecialdistillates,suchasgasoline,the dependence ran over 90 percent…Japan’s stockpiles were at their lowest pointinyearsbecauseofoperationsinChina…TheNetherlands East Indies did look promising”(Barnhart146).Theprospectofcontrollingtheoilfields in the Indies tantalized theJapaneseasameans toremedythesituation inChina.When Hitler’s invasion of the Netherlandsemboldened Japan’s resolve to acquireSoutheastAsia,USpolicymakersrealizedthatthe“threatofaJapanesemoveagainsttheoil-fieldsoftheEastIndies…nowappearedarealpossibility”(Anderson137).

In addition to oil, a prized resourceproducedintheDutchEastIndieswasrubber,a commodity necessary to manufactureequipmentrangingfromtiresandfootweartotanksandbattleships.InastatementbeforetheCommitteeonMilitaryAffairsin1939,ColonelH.K.Rutherfordidentifiedrubberasastrategicresource,oronethatwasabsolutelyessentialtotheUSinatimeofwar(House109).Hethenprovidedalarmingstatisticsregardingthesource

of American rubber supplies, “approximately95percentcomingfromtheFarEast” (111).By1939,JapanhadbecomealargeobstacletoAmericaneffortstoobtainadequaterubbersupplies:“IntelligencereachingtheDepartmentof State indicated that Mitsui and Company(andassociatedJapanesefirms)wassecuringadominantpositionintherubbertradebetweenAsia and the United States. Integrating thepurchasing, shipping, insuring, and selling ofrubber,JapanesefirmshadmovedinonBritishtradersandgainedcontrolof30to40percentoftheshipmentsofAmericanrubberimports”(Frank111).AmericanpolicymakersrealizedthatifJapaneseexpansioncontinued,acriticalshortageofrubbercouldresult.Lookingbackin1943,rubberscientistCharlesWilsonstated,“ThenPearlHarborjarredourcomplacency…and raised the curtain for Japan’s grabbingthe sourceof around96percentof ournowdoublyessentialrubber”(Wilson204).AstheJapanese threat to these resources rose, theAmericangovernmentresponded.

USpolicymakersstrengthenedtheirresolvetoopposeJapaneseexpansionin1940whenthey allowed the 1911 Treaty of Commerceand Navigation to expire and dispatched theUSPacificFleet toHawaii. The1911treatywas signed by both Japan and the US anddetailed the nature of trade that would occurbetween the two nations. It granted eachcountrymostfavorednationstatusandstated,“There shallbebetween the territoriesof thetwohighcontractingpartiesreciprocalfreedomof commerce and navigation” (FRUS 1911,1:316).DuetoescalatingeventsinSoutheastAsia,theAmericangovernmentdecidedtoletthe treatyexpire inJanuary1940. Althoughpassive,thisdecisionrepresentedanintentionalact by the government tooppose Japan andprimed the stage for the resource embargothat would follow in the summer. On July26,1939,CordellHullwrotetotheJapaneseAmbassadorstating:

TheGovernmentoftheUnitedStateshascometotheconclusionthattheTreatyofCommerceandNavigationbetweentheUnitedStatesandJapan which was signed at Washington onFebruary21,1911,containsprovisionswhich


need consideration. Toward preparing thewayforsuchconsiderationandwithaviewtobetter safeguarding and promoting Americaninterests as new developments may require,the Government of the United States…givesnoticeherebyof itsdesire that thisTreatybeterminated.(FRUS1939,3:559)

“Undeterred,” the Japanese furthered theircontrol over China by establishing “a puppetgovernment at Nanking four months laterto administer the areas of China under theircontrol. Thataffront toAmericanwishes ledFranklinRoosevelttodispatchthemainbodyoftheAmericanfleettoHawaii,whereJapanesedive bombers found it in December 1941”(Chalk236-37). Roosevelt vainlyhoped thatthe presence of the US Pacific Fleet wouldprovideawarningtoJapananddissuadethemfrom further expansion. This strategy failed,however,andJapancontinueditsadvanceintoSoutheastAsia,particularly aiming for theoilsuppliesintheDutchEastIndies:

With the American government’s abrogationof the United States-Japan Treaty ofCommerce, Japanese naval leaders beganserious consideration of alternative sources ofpetroleum supplies. Since the NetherlandsEast Indies, by virtue of its proximity andbecause of existing distribution systems, wasthemostaccessible…thenavywasincreasinglydeterminedthatpressurebeputonthecolonialgovernmenttheretoincreaseitsoilexportstoJapan.(Peattie218-19)

AsJapanese-Americantensionscontinuedtorise,USpolicymakerscametobelievethatiftheyeliminatedJapan’saccesstorawmaterials,thenJapanwouldbeforcedtoenditscampaignofaggressiveexpansion. In1940,Hornbeckargued, “The United States could do muchtodaytowardpreventingJapanfrombecomingsupremeineasternAsia”(Marshall76).Civiliancommittees,suchastheAmericanCommitteeforNon-participationinJapaneseAggression,formed specifically to advance Hornbeck’sobjective. These organizations believed thatactiveoppositiontoJapanwouldstopconflictinAsia.Theyfeltthat“[s]implybyrefusingtosellthesegoodstoJapan…Japan’saggressioncouldbehalted”(Utley54).BlockingJapan’s

accesstoresources,theyargued,wouldforceittohaltitsaggressivecampaignwhilepreservingUSaccesstothosesameresources.EventsinEuropesoonallowedtheproposedembargoestotakeeffect.

InMay1940,AdolfHitler,theFascistdictatorofGermany,invadedFrance,Belgium,andtheNetherlandsandcommencedhiswarwiththeWesternEuropeanpowers.AlthoughthiseventinitiallyappearedisolatedtoEurope,itactuallyhad far-reaching effects in the Far East thatpropelled theUnitedStates andJapan closerto war. Jonathan Utley explains, “SweepingGermanmilitaryvictories inEuropeupsettheprecariousbalanceofpowerinAsiaandcreatedthelikelihoodofimminentJapaneseexpansioninto Southeast Asia” (Utley 83). When theNetherlandsfelltotheGermanmilitary,JapansawanopportunitytooccupytheDutchEastIndies—then left defenseless—in an effort tosecuremuchneededsuppliesofrawmaterials.AsChalksuggests,“TheJapaneseregardedtheGermaninvasionasaheaven-sentopportunityto extract deliveries of raw materials and toseverChina’ssupplylinesfromIndo-ChinaandBurma”(Chalk270).Japannotonlybelievedthatoccupying theDutchEast Indieswas thebest way to alleviate the resource shortagecausedbytheSino-JapaneseWar,butalsothenextstepinachievingautarky.TheJapanesefeltthattherichresourcesoftheIndieswouldliberateJapanfromitsrelianceonpurchasingAnglo-American rawmaterials. JonMarshallexplains, “The army believed Japan musttaketheNetherlandsEast Indiesaspartof itsprogram to ‘free’ itself from its dependenceupon Britain and the United States...throughtheestablishmentofaself-sufficienteconomicsphere” (Marshall 74). By mid-1940, theJapanese firmly believed in the necessity ofoccupyingtheDutchEastIndiesandstatedtheirintentionsinthePrinciplesforNegotiatingwiththe Dutch East Indies. As Nagaoka Shinjirorelates, “According to the ‘Principles,’ Japanwasto1)maketheDutchEastIndiespartoftheEastAsiaCo-ProsperitySphere,2)supporttheself-determination for the Indonesian people,and 3) conclude with the Dutch East Indiesconcretepactsforthedefenseofthatterritory


in order to secure peace in the East AsiaCo-ProsperitySphere”(Shinjiro143-44).

TherapidGermanvictoriesinEuropenotonlyencouraged Japan to occupy the Dutch EastIndies,butalsoconvincedtheUSthatwarwithGermanywaslikely.Indeed,“[t]hecollapseofthealliedforcesinEuropepromptedtheRooseveltadministration to undertake a preparednessprogram”(Shinjiro83).Accordingly,increasingmilitarypreparationsrequiredavitalstockpileofrawmaterials,themajorityofwhichcamefromthe Far East. A contemporary journal articlestated,“Accesstothestrategicrawmaterials…of Southeast Asia, in the immediate future atleast,isnolessvitaltotheUnitedStatesthanitistoJapan”(Shepherd52).Wheninternationaltensions rose in 1939, Congress proposedlegislationtocreateastockpileofstrategicrawmaterials. Colonel H. K. Rutherford of theOfficeoftheAssistantSecretaryofWartestifiedbeforetheCommitteeonMilitaryAffairssaying,“The only sure method of guarding against ashortage…is by collecting stock piles in peaceandmaintainingthemintactasregardsquantityand quality until an emergency requires theiruse”(House113).

Legislationwasslowtopass,however,andonlythemomentouseventsinEuropein1940convincedgovernmentofficialsthatimmediateaction was necessary. Without immediatelysecuring access to raw materials, the UScould not produce the machines, vehicles,and armaments necessary to achieve victoryinEurope.Many(suchasStanleyHornbeck)believed that the proposed embargoes onraw material exports would not only limitJapanese expansion, but also conserveresources important to the American wareffort. InJanuary1941,Hornbeckdefendedtheresourceembargoes,whichhadthenbeenin effect for nearly six months. He wrote,“WeareopposedtoJapan’sgeneralprogramof subjugating neighboring countries by forceandestablishingJapanesepoliticalcontroloverunlimitedareasbothonlandandatsea…Also,wearenowengagedinagiganticeffortofourowninpursuitofourdefenseprogram,andweareconserving,bymeasureswhichwebelieveto be reasonable, this country’s resources”

(FRUS 1941, 4:777). A large percentageof those rawmaterials that theUS sought toconserve originated in the Dutch East Indies.AmemorandumonMay22,1940byGeneralGeorge C. Marshall states, “We have vitalinterestsinthreegeneralareas:a.TheFarEast,b. South America, c. Europe” (Bland 218).Marshall intentionally highlighted SoutheastAsiaasvitaltotheUSbymentioningitfirst.

Japandroppedthefinalstrawinearly1940whenitdemandedrawmaterialshipmentsfromtheDutchEast Indiesandclosed traderoutesinto China. Japan’s ultimatum commandedexports fromtheDutchEast Indiesof rubber,bauxite,andoil,pressuredBritaintoclosetheBurmaRoad,andhaltedallshipmentsofrawmaterialsfromIndochina(Bland240-41).Asaresult,Americanpolicymakersdecidedthatimmediate actionwasneeded tohalt Japan’sadvance into Southeast Asia. According toMarshall, “US leaders naturally saw Japan’sencroachmentonIndochinaasmerelythefirststepsinanacceleratedprogramofexpansionsouthward to a vital area” (Marshall 124).RecognizingtheneedforrawmaterialstofightGermany, members of Roosevelt’s cabinetpersuadedhimtoreact.OnJuly26,onlytwomonths afterHitler’s invasionof France, thatstep came: “President Roosevelt banned theexport of aviation gasoline, high grade scrapiron and steel scrap to Japan” (Chalk 241).This embargo marked a major turning pointinAmericanrelationswithJapanasitinitiatedactiveoppositiontoJapan.

In fact, the US embargo on raw materialsplacedsuchgreatstrainontheJapanesethatiteventuallydrovethemtoattackPearlHarbor.After the initial embargo of aviation gasolineand steel, embargoes of nearly all militarilyuseful metals, machinery, and manufacturedproductsfollowed:

The economic sanctions applied by theUnited States… toward the end of 1940,werebecomingincreasinglysevere.Oneitemafter anotherof strategicmilitary importancewas added to the embargo list following theestablishment of the export licensing systeminJuly:scrapirononSeptember26(effectiveOctober10);ironore,pigiron,ferroalloy,and


certainkindsoffinishedandsemi-finishedsteelproductsonDecember10(effectiveDecember30);copper,bronze,zinc,nickel,brass,causticpotash,andmanysemi-manufacturedproductsmade from them on January 10, 1941(effective February 3); and well and refiningmachinery,radium,anduraniumonFebruary4(effectiveFebruary10).(Shinjiro147-48)

Although the embargoes succeeded inbuildingtheUSastockpileofrawmaterialsforwar production, they failed to curb Japaneseaggression. Rather,Japan felt that ithadnoalternativebuttooccupyallofSoutheastAsia.As Utley characterizes the situation, “Japanwasnotdeterred.Instead,itfeltencircledandredoubleditseffortstomovesouthandestablishcontrol over the resources and markets ofthe South Seas” (Utley 85). Ironically, theembargoes backfired and accelerated theJapanese advance towards the Dutch EastIndies. On September 26, 1940, followinga suspension in Japanese negotiations withtheDutchEast Indies, theConsulGeneral ofBatavia(Foote) informedCordellHullthat,“Itisgenerallybelievedthatthelullinnegotiationsresulted from the desire of the Japanese toawait the successful outcome of events inFrenchIndochinaandthatiftheyaresuccessfultheNetherlandsIndies...willmeetthesamefateinthenearfuture”(FRUS1940,4:154).Themovement towards war had quickened, andwhentheUSfrozeJapaneseassetsinAugust1941,warbecameinevitable.

The American authorization freezingJapanese assets was the toughest and mostactiveoppositiontoJapantheUShadtakenuptothattime.Initially,Roosevelthadintendedthe freeze to be selective. He chose UnderSecretarySumnerWellestodevelopamethodof initiating the freeze. WellesdraftedaplanthatallowedJapansufficientfundstopurchasegasolinebelow80octane,butfrozeassetsonpurchases of higher octane fuels. However,he left the detailed planning to AssistantSecretaryofStateDeanAchesonwhobelievedthattheUSshouldopposeJapanusingharshdiplomatic measures: “On August 5 [1941]AchesonmetwithhisoppositemembersintheTreasuryandJusticeDepartments.WhentheysawhowmuchoilJapanwouldbeabletobuy

underthe[initial]freezeguidelines,theyagreednottoreleasefundstoJapanforthepurchaseofitemsforwhichExportControlhasalreadyissuedlicenses”(FRUS1940,4:155).Achesonalteredthelanguageofthefreezeauthorizationtoincludeallpetroleumproducts,and(obliviousto these covert changes) Roosevelt signed it.TheForeignFundsControlCommittee(FFCC)immediately refused to authorize Japan fundsnecessarytopurchaseanyformofoil.Japanquickly felt the negative effects and vainlyattemptedtonegotiateasolution.

Throughout 1941, both Japan and theUnited States attempted to reach a peacefulsolution to the escalating tensions betweenthem. During thesenegotiations, eachnationdemandedconcessionsfromtheother.TheUSdemanded that Japan renounce the TripartiteAlliance,agreetoafreetradesysteminChina,andwithdrawfromSoutheastAsia,whileJapandemanded that the US cease arms shipmentstoChina,agreetorestorecommercialrelations(endtheembargoes),andcooperatewithJapanto assure that both nations received access toDutch East Indies raw materials (Ike 267-71).Althoughbothcountriesmadedemands,neitherwaswillingtoacquiescetotheother,andbylate1941, Japan had made the decision to strikePearl Harbor. An American attaché’s reportdated November 13, 1941 stated, “Japan’seconomicstructurecannotwithstandthepresentstrain much longer…the writer firmly believesthatthemilitaryleadersofJapandecidedmonthsagothatitwouldbefarbetterfortheJapaneseArmytogodownfightingamajorpowerthantowithdrawfromChinaforanyotherreason”(FRUS 1941, 4:590-91). Believing that theyhad exhausted all options, Japan dispatchednaval forces on November 26, 1941 withplanstoattackPearlHarboronDecember7ifnegotiationscontinuedtobeunsuccessful.

On December 1, 1941, Japanese leadersheldthefinalImperialConferenceanddecidedupon war. During the conference, ForeignMinisterTogostated,“IbelievethatAmerica’spolicy toward Japanhas consistently been tothwarttheestablishmentofaNewOrderinEastAsia,whichisourimmutablepolicy”(Ike270).By this time, Japanese leaders recognizedthat Japan and the United States could not


reconciletheirdifferences.IfJapancapitulatedtotheUS’sdemands,thenitwouldbeforcedtoabandonChinaandManchuria,placingitinalowerstatusthantheJapanesewerewillingtoaccept.IftheUSgaveintoJapan’sdemands,then it would be forced to recognize Japan’sdominationofSoutheastAsiaandloseaccesstotherawmaterialslocatedthere.BothJapanandtheUSrequiredtherawmaterialsofSoutheastAsia,buttheirconflictingeconomicandculturalviews placed them in opposition. By 1940,theUSfeltcompelledtoactrepeatedlyagainstJapaneseaggressionandtopreserveresourcesforwarinEurope.Havingalreadyallowedthe1911 Treaty of Commerce and Navigationto expire, American leaders boldly initiated aseriesofharshrawmaterialexportembargoestoJapan. The situationwasworsenedwhenAssistantSecretaryofStateAchesoncovertlyfroze all Japanese assets in August of 1941.Driven to desperation by a lack of materialsneeded to conclude the Sino-Japanese War,JapanfelttherewasnoalternativebuttoattacktheUnitedStatesandachieveaquickvictory.ItwaswiththisobjectiveinmindthatJapaneseaircraft attacked Pearl Harbor and initiatedAmericanentryintoWorldWarII.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI thank Dr. Mark F. Wilkinson, Professor of

Historyandmyfacultyadvisor, forhissupportand guidance throughout this project. Hiskeeninsight,interestinUS-EastAsianrelations,andappreciationforhistoricalscholarshipmadethisprojecta joytocompleteandprovidedanoutstandinglearningopportunity.

WORKS CITED“Address at Chicago, October 5, 1927.” The

Public Papers and Addresses of FDR.SamuelI.Rosenman,Ed.NewYork:Macmillan,1941.

Anderson, Irvine. The Standard-Vaccum Oil Company and United States Asian Policy, 1933-1941.AnnArbor:Xerox,1974.

Barnhart, Michael A. Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941.Ithaca:CornellUP,1987.

Bisson,T.A.America’s Far Eastern Policy.NewYork:InstituteofPacificRelations,1945.

Chalk, Frank R. The United States and the International Struggle for Rubber.Dissertation:UofWisconsin,1970.Print.

Emeny,Brooks.The Strategy of Raw Materials.NewYork:Macmillan,1934.

Foreign Relations of the United States: 1911.Washington:GPO,1918.

Foreign Relations of the United States: The Far East 1938.4vols.Washington:GPO,1954.




Ike, Nobutaka, ed. Japan’s Decision for War: Records of the 1941 Policy Conferences. Stanford:StanfordUP,1967.

Marshall, Jonathan. To Have and Have Not: Southeast Asian Raw Materials and the Origins of the Pacific War.LosAngeles:UofCaliforniaP,1995.

Peattie,MarkR.“Nanshin:The‘SouthwardAdvance,’1931-1941, as a Prelude to the JapaneseOccupation of Southeast Asia.” The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945.PeterDuuset.al,Eds.Princeton:PrincetonUP,1996.189-242.

Penrose,E.F.“Japan’sBasicEconomicSituation.”The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science215(1941):1-6.

Randall, Stephen J. Foreign Oil Policy 1919-1985.Montreal:McGill-Quenn’sUP,1985.

Shepherd, Jack. “Japan’s Southward Advance—Economic and Political.” The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science215(1941):44-53.

Shinjiro, Nagaoka. “Economic Demands on theDutchEastIndies.”The Fateful Choice: Japan’s Advance into Southeast Asia 1939-1941.JamesWilliamMorley,Ed.NewYork:ColumbiaUP,1980.125-53.

Sun,Youli.China and the Origins of the Pacific War 1931-1941.NewYork:St.Martin’sP,1993.

United States. Cong. House. Committee onMilitary Affairs. Strategic and Critical Raw Materials.76thCong.,1stsession.Washington:GPO,1939.

Utley,Jonathan.Going to War with Japan: 1937-1941.NewYork:FordhamUP,2005.

Wilson,Charles.Trees and Test Tubes: The Story of Rubber.NewYork:Holt,1943.

Yoshihashi,Takehiko.Conspiracy at Mukden: The Rise of the Japanese Military.NewHaven:YaleUP,1963.

27


In 1978, renowned anthropologists Victorand Edith Turner closed the first chapter of

theirstudyImage and Pilgrimage in Christian Culturewithastatementthatseemsnowalmostprophetic. Speaking of a paradigm shift frompilgrimage earlier being “deeply tincturedwithobligatoriness” to its voluntary enactment inmodernsociety,theywrote:“[Pilgrimages]maybeseenasprovidinglivemetaphorsforhumanandtranshumantruthsandslavificwayswhichallmenshareandalwayshaveshared,hadtheybut

The Contemporary Pilgrim: Postmodernity and Pilgrimage

on El Camino de Santiago

CadetEvenT.Rogers

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert L. McDonald, Professor of English

ABSTRACTIn the late 1970s, visitations to the world’s spiritual epicenters surged. This was also one of the most turbulent periods in recent world history—war seemed inevitable between two ideological superpowers, it was the end of a decade of energy conflict that would culminate in the energy crisis of 1979, there was growing concern about the environment, and a sense of a pervasive materialism stemming from the emergence of a wealthier middle class in the wake of post-war reconstruction. And this was just a decade after the European intellectual community—consisting of thinkers like Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-François Lyotard—was engaged in a discourse that marked the development of a “new philosophical context” known as postmodernism.

It is striking how analogous our present situation is to those themes that shaped public and private lives over thirty years ago. We are in a period of economic crisis. Much of the world is engaged in conflict. In Western society, traditional roles and accompanying prescribed senses of identity are being disassembled or are in flux. Yet, pilgrimage persists. Or more precisely, so pilgrimage persists—and it continues to grow in popularity.

This paper draws a connection between the virtuality and ambiguity of our hyper-connected, postmodern world and the enactment of contemporary pilgrimage.

knownit.Pilgrimagesmaybecomeecumenical”(39).TheTurnershadnoticedastrikingincreasein thenumberof individualscalling themselves“pilgrims” travelling to ancient holy sites. Inthe early 1980s (only a few years after thecompletionoftheTurners’study),theCatholicpilgrim center of Lourdes, France, would seeover 4million visitors—by1990, this numberwouldrisetonearly5million(Giuiarti13).

Manyofthesamethemesthatshapedpublicand private lives over thirty years ago seem


analogoustoourpresentsituation.Inaworldofunprecedentedconnectivityandtechnologicaladvancement, fraught with sustained periodsofconflictandcrisis,pilgrimagepersistsatascale unprecedented in recent history. ThephenomenonthattheTurnershadonlyseenin its infant stages has crystallized into aworldwide renaissanceofpilgrimage.Havingbeen informed by mass communication andhavinghadtheirjourneyfacilitatedbymoderntransportation, individuals are now seekingouttheexperienceofpilgrimageinashowofextraordinaryself-determination.

The continued enactment of contemporarypilgrimage prompts reflexive questionsconcerningboththeexperienceofpilgrimageand the sociocultural sourceof itsenactment:what is inherent in the pilgrim-experience—which isoftenuncomfortable, ifnotpainful—that the contemporary man or woman findsso appealing? And to what degree can wetrace interest in the contemporarypilgrimageto factors in pilgrims’ own societies?1 Whileaccessibilitytothesiteshascertainlyincreaseddue to a wealthier, more global society,these factors are but the conduit for a moretelling current characteristic of contemporaryexistence.Onepairoffactorsthatseemslikelytoaccount for theflourishingofpilgrimage isthecollisionbetweenthehumanwhonaturallyseeksmeaninginexistenceandtheambiguousvalues of a postmodern society. This clashis perhaps nowhere more apparent than inSpain, where—during the summer months,especially—thecountrysideswellswithwelloverone hundred thousand peregrinos (pilgrims)whoperformtheancientpracticeofpilgrimageon an equally ancient road: El Camino deSantiagodeCompostela.

***

Thewestwardmovementofpilgrimsfromthroughout Europe to the Galician city ofSantiago de Compostela originates in thelegendofthedeathoftheapostleJamestheGreater and his subsequent entombment.TheJameslegendbeginswithhismartyrdomat the hands of Herod of Agrippa in AD44, as recorded in the Bible’s book of

“Acts.” James’s Translatio from Jerusalemto Ira Flavia in Spain was recorded later,the earliest complete and formalized sourcebeing the12th centuryLiber Sancti Jacobi, alsoknownastheCodex Calixtinus(Melczer29).2 According to Book II of the codex,James’sbodywasplacedinarudderlessboatby his followers and divinely piloted to thenorthwestern coast of Spain where it wasensconcedinstone.Duringsometimeinthecourseof the reignofAlfonso IIofAsturias(789-840), James’s remainsand relicswerelocated by a sheep herder and a city wasfoundedonthespot.

Although decidedly Catholic in its origin,theCaminodeSantiagoiscurrentlyattractinga global, wide-ranging array of interfaithparticipantsfromover140countries;devoutCatholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Muslims,people who define themselves as “spiritual”(read not religious but not atheist), sharea similar drive to enact pilgrimage on thisparticular route.3Thenumberofpilgrimsontheroutecontinuestoincrease:in2007alone,a full 27 new countries were representedon the Camino that had not been recordedin the yearprevious.The latest figures fromthe Archbishopric of Santiago show thatthe Cathedral at Santiago issued 114,026Compostelas in 2007, up from 100,377 in2006 (a13.6% increase)and93,924 (a7%increase)in2005.

Figures 1 and 2 display the steeply risingtrend of pilgrims receiving the Compostelafrom1985 to2004 (Archbishopric).4 Figure2bestillustratestheoveralltrendbyexcludingthe Holy Jubilee Years of 1993, 1999, and2004.5 Even with these important religiousyearscharted independently (Figure3), thereisaclearandsteadyincreaseinthenumberofpilgrimsontheCaminodeSantiago.

Such a display of human mobility—ofwhat Norwegian University of Science andTechnology professor Erik Karlsaune calls“popular religiosity”—is ripe for academicinquiry. Of all the academic disciplines,anthropologyisbestequippedtoconceptualizeboth the drive to perform pilgrimage andits enactment (1).6 However, given the

Rogers/PostmodernityandPilgrimageonElCaminodeSantiago 29

Pilgrims Receiving the Compostela by Year(1993, 1999, 2004 excluded)

# Pilgrims

1985

/619

8719

8819

8919

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9119

9219

9419

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0020

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07

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100000

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60000

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20000

0

Figure 1. Pilgrims receiving the Compostela by year, excluding HolyYears. Data from Archbishopric of

# Pilgrims

Pilgrims Receiving the Compostela by YearJubilee Years Included200000

180000

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100000

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0

1985

/6

1987

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2007

Figure 2. PilgrimsreceivingtheCompostela,includingHolyYears.DatafromArchbishopricofSantiago.


phenomenon’scomplexity,itoftensitsattheintersection of multiple disciplines including(at the minimum) history, sociology, ritualstudies,psychology, economics,politics, andliterature.7 In thewordsofSharonRosemanand Ellen Badone in their introduction toIntersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism (2004), “rigiddichotomiesbetweenpilgrimageandtourism,or pilgrims and tourists, no longer seemtenable in the shifting world of postmoderntravel” (2).Observationsofparticularpilgrimpractices taken from anthropological orethnographic studies may inform one study,enrich another, but can rarely offer broad-basedconceptsthatareuniversallyapplicable.For example, Victor Turner’s concept ofpilgrimage as communitas—or the levelingofstrictsocialstructuresasaresultofsharedexperience—canbeobservedontheCaminode Santiago, but is not necessarily a fittingdescriptionofthepilgrimexperienceinLatinAmerican spiritual pilgrimages (V. Turner193).8 Recent scholarship which embracesthe often uncomfortable intersection ofnumerousdisciplineswherepilgrimagesits isreleasing“thenecessityofattemptingtofitallpilgrimage-related phenomena into a rigidly

preconceivedtheoreticalframework”(BadoneandRoseman5).9Theprospectofestablishingamethodological approach to contemporarypilgrimage, though ithasbeenattemptedbyrecent scholars likeJamesPreston,becomesitselfapostmodernchallenge.10

It is possible and important, however, toconceive of a definition of what constitutespilgrimage. Developing a definition requiresthefusionofthreecomponentsofthepilgrim-experience: first, the journey enacted by thepilgrim (either internally or externally) byphysicallymovingone’sbodyfrom“here”to“there” (or both); second, the pilgrim’s ownsetofexpectationsaboutwhatcanbegainedfromthejourney,thuspreparingtheway;andfinally the pilgrim’s identity, conditioned bysociety.Perhapstheseelementsofpilgrimageare what led scholar and filmmaker AlanMorinis to offer the following definition ofpilgrimageintheintroductiontothelandmarkvolumeSacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage: “the pilgrimage is a journeyundertaken by a person in quest of a placeorastate thatheorshebelieves toembodya valued ideal” (4). Morinis’s definition farfrom invokes the imageofmedievalpilgrimsarmedwithwalkingstaves,watergourds,and

Pilgrims Receiving the Compostela During Three Jubilee Years

0

2004

1999

1993

50000 100000 150000 200000

Pilgrims

Figure 3. PilgrimsreceivingtheComposteladuringHolyYears.DatafromArchbishopricofSantiago.


religion,measuringthecourseoftheirjourneyinprostrated lengthsoftheirbodies. Instead,it allows for applying the term “pilgrim” tothetraditionalimageaswellastothosewhoarrive at the sacred site by way of moderntransportation.

Inthislight,theboundariesbetweentourismand pilgrimage become increasingly blurred.Commentingonthispermeability,theTurnerswrotethat“thetouristishalfapilgrim,ifapilgrimis half a tourist” (Image and Pilgrimage 20).Thiscrossoverhascertainlyledtoanopeningin the discourse of pilgrimage, especially asethnographicstudiesshowthatvisitorstoStar Trek conventions, the Grand Canyon, andtheWorldTradeCenterMemorialhavemuchmore in common than not with pilgrims toreligious epicenters such as Fatima, Lourdes,and the islandofShukoku.11ButevenstrictlywithinthediscourseofpilgrimsontheCamino,thosewhowalk or bike are consideredmoreauthentic pilgrims—if not the only sojournerswho can rightfully be called “pilgrims”—thanthose who arrive in Santiago by bus. In theanthropological study of pilgrimage, sortingout degrees of “pilgrim-ness” does little toserveourunderstandingof thephenomenon,so we return to Morinis’s definition: in ourcontemporaryexaminationofpilgrimage,whatdistinguishes the tourist from the pilgrim—whatcreatespilgrimage—appearsonlytobeaquestionofintention.

To look into intention requires necessarilythat we consider its counterpart, the desiredoutcome. By enacting pilgrimage, pilgrimsmove away from one thing—their society,their sociocultural context, thepainofa loss,for example, and towards another: “idealsenshrined in the pilgrimage places” (Morinis6). This movement implies that pilgrimage,in part, arises out of a perceived gap in thecomposition of one’s being—or the journeywould be unnecessary. The journey itselfis required because the would-be pilgrim issomehow inhibited from merging with thoseideals due to external or internal conditions,orboth.Inthisway,theactivityofpilgrimagecan be seen as “a movement toward theCenter,”whichisperceivedtobe“thesourceof

religiousmerit,divineblessings,and‘theinwardtransformation of spirit and personality’”(Cohen 51). As Victor Turner notes, such aconceptionofmovement“canbeinterestinglyrelated to [Arnold] van Gennep’s concept ofthe rite of passage” because it gives form toadichotomous journeythatexistsbothwithinthepilgrimandexternally.Thereis,ofcourse,a literalphysical “spatial separation”betweenthepilgrimand thepilgrimage sitebutalsoaperceivedinnerdistancebetweentheindividual“self”andtheabstract(213).

Thisstrongemphasisonthejourneybreaksfrom Victor Turner’s claim that “pilgrimagecenter[s]” represent “a threshold” for afundamental reason: arrival at Santiago deCompostela (the pilgrim center, in this case)doesnot,formostpilgrims,constitutetheclimaxofapilgrim’sexperience.Infact,mostpilgrimsreport feelings of depression, anxiety, andimpatienceinthekilometersclosesttoSantiago.Arrivalatthecathedral,thoughitdoesinspirea brief period of elatedness of having “madeit,” is largelyanti-climactic.Thesearenot theemotionsofapilgrimwhosejourney’spurposeis tied up in the “spiritual magnetism” of afixedlocation(ortheritualsperformedatthoselocations)(Preston33).Instead,theseemotionsarestrikingbecauseofhowneartheyseemtothetourist’sresponseatvacation’send.Thisisnottosaythatevensecularpilgrimsdonotfindgreat solidarity and significance in attendingthe cathedral’s celebrated Pilgrim’s Mass orinpressingtheirforeheadstothestatueofSt.James.Yet,thejourneyitselfalwaysstandsoutasmorealchemicalthanthedestination.

The Camino de Santiago is often referredtoinshortassimply“theCamino.”Thisisasmuchatermofconvenienceasitisareflexivecommentthatmirrorsthepilgrims’intentions.The “Camino”—although consisting of sevenseparate routes within Spain and stretchingthousandsofkilometersthroughouttherestofEurope—istakenasonewhole,oneexperience.As we have seen, the Camino de Santiagoattracts equally secular and religious pilgrims.Yet, I have doubts about how important thehistorical and cultural context of the Caminotruly is to many contemporary pilgrims,


particularly in their initialdecision toperformthepilgrimage.Tothisend,pilgrimageappearsmoreasaselectedmediumforacertaintypeofexpression.

As a result, twentieth-century folkloristArnoldvanGennep’sworkverymuchinformsour understanding of individual motives forenactingpilgrimageontheCamino.InRites de Passage (1909), van Gennep conceptualizeda theoretical framework through which toview change and transformation as universalphenomena. He noticed that movementthroughnaturalstagesoflifeandsocialstatusissimilartothespatialmovementofanindividualacross territorialboundariesofall kinds,whathe termed “territorial passage” (22). Thisdynamic consists of a set of phases or ritesthat he called “preliminal rites…, liminal (orthreshold rites)…,andpost-liminal rites” (21).Thecruxofthetransition—theactualcrossingof the limen, theLatin root for threshold—isinstrumental in shaping identity. The Turnerssawthefittingnessofliminalitytopilgrimageinitsabilitytoexplainthetransformativeprocessthat the pilgrim undergoes at the end of thejourney (Turner and Turner 11), stating thatpilgrimagesarea“liminoidphenomenon”(35).When pilgrims, speaking of their motivationsforenactingpilgrimage,say,“Iwanttochangemyselfintoabetterperson”or“toseewhetherI can stand this long way,” or that they arewalkingtheCaminoinpreparationfor“startinganewpartof life,”theyembodythevoiceoftheinitiate,seekingliminality.

UsingtheTurners’conceptionofpilgrimage,I would like to extend their argument byemphasizingthattheliminalexperienceisnotmerelyabyproductofapilgrim’sdevotionbutispreciselythatwhichthecontemporarypilgrimseeks. The prospect of solidifying identitywithinthecontemporarycontextbecomeslessfeasiblebyalackofmeaningfulritesofpassagebywhichanindividualclosesonephaseoflifeandentersanother.Findingfewmodesthroughwhichtoformastableidentityinapostmodernsociety, the contemporary man or womanseekspilgrimageasamechanismfordoingso.Performingpilgrimage,then,isaself-imposedriteofpassageforthesakeofidentityaswell

as what anthropologist Clifford Geertz callsa “metasocial commentary” on the pilgrim’shomesociety(qtd.inTurnerandTurner38).

***

“WhowasI?Today’s self, bewildered,

Yesterday’s forgotten; tomorrow’s, unpredictable?”

JorgeLuisBorges(qtd.inHarvey41)

Therenaissanceofpilgrimageinthe1970shasitsrootsintheintersectionofamultiplicityof social, spiritual, physical, intellectual, andpolitical changes. The postwar era of the1950s-1970s marked one of the greatestperiodsofturmoilinWesternculture.Althoughthe Cold War would never materialize intophysical conflict,at the time itwasaperiodof real and immediate danger, dramaticallyaffecting the social consciousnesses ofEuropeans and Americans. Part responseto Soviet Communism and part postwarreconstruction, themiddleclassesofEuropeand the United States continued to expandenormously—one result of which was the“babyboom”oftheperiod.Fedbycontinuedtechnological modernization, the wealthiermiddleclasswouldusherinanentirelynewageofconsumerculture,givingrise toaparallelsocialcritiquewhosecriticscoinedtermssuchas “mass consumption” and “consumerism.”The values of this new “materialist” cultureappearedambiguous,althoughconsumerismwas,insomeways,ademocraticideal.

By 1969, a war foreign to the hearts andminds of most American citizens was beingwagedinVietnam,shatteringpublictrustinthewisdom of many of America’s philosophicalandphysicalinstitutions—theExecutiveBranchandtheuniversalityofdemocracy,forexample.Atthesametime,1960scounter-culturewasatitsheightandEuropeanandAmericansocietieswere experiencing a dramatic openness.Practices of sexuality and social definitionsfor women, homosexuals, and minoritieswere breaking and reforming, and Easternspiritualitywas entering intopublic discourse.Meanwhile,Continental thinkerswhowere inEuropeat thetimeof theSecondWorldWar


like Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, andJean-François Lyotard began publishing theirideas on language, power, and philosophy.In the philosophical and physical meaningsof World War II, they saw the failures of“liberal democracies to achieve social justice”and the collapse of ideological powerhouseslike Marxism as signaling a decline in the“Westernphilosophical tradition itself” (Drolet3). To these Continental critics, the productsof the reasoning mind of the Enlightenmenttradition—with its belief that a social utopiacould be constructed through reason alone—andwhatJurgenHabermascalledthemodernproject“todevelopobjectivescience,universalmoralityandlaw,andautonomousartaccordingto…inner logic,”weretheneardestructionofEurope and the death of millions of civiliansand military personnel (qtd. in Harvey 12).Thisparticularwarshowed fully the falloutofcompetinguniversals.

The response by philosophers of theperiod would be the development of a“new philosophical context” known aspostmodernism(Drolet38).Ifdiscoveringandimplementing universals in every aspect ofhumanexperiencewasthecoreofmodernity,postmodernism is characterized by theembraceofpluralism—abyproductof lookingat the foundational suppositions of Westernphilosophy and deconstructing the very ideaof the human “universal” (Harvey 51). Inarchitecture,postmodernismwouldbemanifestindesigningforbothmenandwomen,ratherthan the modern “Man” (40). This contextwas seen as a wholly new period, replacingcontinuity with fragmentation, purpose withplay, and rhetoric with semantics (Hassan123).Postmodernismwasdistinguishablebothintimeandsensibilityfromthe“modern,”yetoperated within the same current of culturalandphysicalmodernization.

In this same turbulence—a potential warbetween the world’s two greatest ideologies,in theheightofpostmoderndiscourse, in thematerialism of a wealthier West, and in thequestioning of traditional social structures—anthropologistsVictorandEdithTurnerkeyedintotheresurgenceofpilgrimage.Atthetime,

the Turners saw the phenomenon as largelyreligious, thoughthey leftopenthepossibilityofincreasedsecularpilgrimage.Theyattributedthe pilgrimage to a kind of religious revivalindicative of a widespread reaction to thedramaanduncertaintyofthe1970s.Althoughtheir understanding of the phenomenon waslimited by its relative newness at the time,they pointed to the importance of identityduring its enactment. Through pilgrimage,identity is shifted, reformed, and solidifiedprimarily through two experiences: liminalityandspontaneouscommunitas,bothdiscussedabove.

Identity becomes such a vital questionwhen discussing pilgrimage on the CaminodeSantiagobecause it seems to be a centralconcern of most contemporary pilgrims.Pilgrimsoftenstatethattheirmotivesaredrivenbythedesireto“findthemselves”ortodevelopa relationship with their “real selves.” Manypilgrims’beliefsthusseemtocenteronacore“self”—anidentityseparatefromtheexternal,somethingmorerealanddeepthanthecasualconception of identity that contemporaryexistence would appear to conceal. In manyrespects,pilgrimagebecomesamechanismforpeeling away and shutting out layers of falseidentityandshutoutdiscordantnoise.

We can trace the centrality of identity incontemporary pilgrimage directly to thepostmodern philosophical deconstructionof the very cultural structures that help formindividual identity. Jean-François Lyotarddefinespostmodernismas“incredulitytowardsmeta-narratives,” or stories about a givensociety that the society continually tells itself(123).InWesternculture,meta-narrativesareimbeddedinculturallyheldidealsthathavebeenindeclinesincethe1960s—namelythenuclearfamily and white, masculine, and Christianvalues.Speakingoftheconditionofthefamilyin1995, therapistsStevenMills andDouglasSprenkle intuited an explicit connectionbetweenthematerializationofpostmodernismandthedissolvingofthetraditionalfamily:

Goneforincreasingnumbersofpeoplearethefixed standards that have historically dividedrightandwrong,decentfromindecent,noble


from savage. Family values, for increasingnumbers of people, are less rooted in thesacredprinciplesofthechurchandcommunitythanintheprivatemixofpersonal,situationalbeliefs.(368)

Postmodernity’ssuspicionof“universaland‘totalizing’” discourses is largely responsiblefor this climate (Harvey 9). It strips societyof external correlatives by which individualsfind and understand their relationships toothers insocial scenarios.On theonehand,for example, women who want to leavethe household are no longer confined tosecretarialworkor to teachinggradeschool.Ontheother,“Somethingasdramaticasouridentity,”statessocialtheoristBarrySchwartz,“isnowbecomeamatterofchoice.Wedon’tinheritanidentity,wegettoinventit.Andwegettore-inventourselvesasoftenaswelike.Andthatmeansthateverydaywhenyouwakeup in themorning,youhave todecidewhatkindofpersonyouwanttobe.”

Inthisclimate,Internetsocialgroupsbecomeavenues for creating identity, but without theformative experience of liminality, leavingthe identity ultimately meaningless. Changingor constantly updating pictures and personalinformation on social networking websitessuch as MySpace turns compulsive in a sortof desperate attempt to define and expressoneself genuinely, though the mediumremains uncompromisingly virtual. Onlinesocialnetworkingnotonlypassesforgenuineinteraction but also, uncommonly, replacesit. Similarly, “reality TV”—though frequentlyscripted—actsasavicariousemotionalsubstitutefor face-to-face emotional engagement. Bydefinition, there is something decidedly un-real about social interactions that are whollyvirtualandremote.Theyreduceinterpersonalbonds to aesthetic pleasure, making bothdefinitions of the self and the other entirelyself-referential—an act of creativity, selection,and exclusion (Bauman33).Ashistorian andsocialcriticChristopherLaschnotes,thisstatein postmodern culture “has made deep andlasting friendships, love affairs and marriagesincreasingly difficult to achieve” (qtd. inBauman33).OnFacebook—whichhas seen

agrowthfrom1millionusersat its inceptionin2004to200millionusersinMayof2009(“Statistics”)—we can collect our friends,cataloguethem,promotethem,orcuttieswiththem in an instant. Although contemporaryhyper-connectivity has eliminated physicalcommunicative distances, we have perhapsneverbeenfartherapart.

Perhaps it isnotsurprisingthatpilgrimagehascontinuedtogrowinpopularity,especiallyamongst people aged 19-35. At the timeAmericananthropologistNancyFreyfinishedher ethnographic study on the Camino in1996,shenotedthat“themajorityofpilgrims[were] urban, educated, and middle class,”65% of which were men (29). In just overten years, the composition of pilgrims hasshifted dramatically; women now comprise44%ofthepilgrimpopulation,up10%fromthe decade before. In 2007, the plurality ofparticipantsconstitutedtheagerange19-35,makingupafull35%ofallrecordedpilgrims(Archbishopric). Interestingly, this age groupalsoconstitutestheplurality(30%)ofinternetusers(“U.S.Report”).

To the individual living in the postmodern,hyper-connected condition highlighted above,pilgrimageisawayofestablishingcontinuityindaily existence by self-imposing an experiencethat inherently induces reflection. This addsanotherlayerofimportancetothejourney,asthesustainedphysicalcontactwiththeexperience—represented in the road—is a central motive.At the same time, a typeof fulfillmentwhollydifferent from the quotidian satisfaction ofdesiresemergesfromthemeasurableattainmentofprogress.Thecredencial del peregrino (thepilgrim’spassportrequiredforgainingentryintoalbergues)becomesapointofpridethatusurps,at least for themoment,collegediplomasandfiguresinbankaccounts(Figure4).12Eachinkystamp signifies a continuous accumulation ofmiles requiring real, physical passage throughspaceandtime.

As much as pilgrimage on the Camino deSantiago is adeeplypersonal experience, it isalsoanopportunityfor“thedirect, immediate,andtotalconfrontationofhumanidentities”(V.Turner193).Pilgrimsoscillatebetweenperiods


of individual isolation while walking duringthe day and collective decompression whileresting in the evenings, yet always within anintrospectiveenvironment.Restaurantsintownsthat are traditional overnightpilgrim stops areusuallyequippedwithafewtablesandabarinoneroom,andanenormouscommunitydiningroom (comedor) in another. Family dining onlongtableswithwoodenbenches is thenorm.Thiskindofinteractionrestsindirectoppositiontothetransienceofpostmodernrelationships—making space for authenticity and a sense ofconnection between pilgrims. Regardless ofage,sex,orrace,thepilgrimageontheCaminoprovestobeadifficultexperienceduringwhichindividualscanfindrealcommonground.

***

Pilgrimage satisfies the desire for anunfettered, unfiltered contact with thedemandingimmediacyofpresentexperience—an increasingly irregular occurrence. Walkingthe Camino is a mere act of exercise untildone with intention, at which point ittransforms intopilgrimage.Thesparkof that

intentionarisesoutofthetensionbetweentheindividualandhis society,a space that seemsespecially volatile in the postmodern world.On pilgrimage, though the physical route isfixed, the individual has an enormous role inshapingherownexperience.Initsinception—ifwecanconceiveofsuchathing—pilgrimagewas, to return to Karlsaune’s scholarship,always “religion from below”—the originalgrassroots movement (1). Though religion islayereduponpilgrimage,theexperienceseemsalways to return squarely to its source in thehuman being seeking meaning. And thoughthis impulse often overwhelms theoreticalframeworks and baffles methodologies, it isvitallyimportanttoattempttounderstand.Asanobservableenactmentofoneaspectofthehumancondition,participationinandstudyofpilgrimageprovidesignificantinsightintohowexternal circumstances shape the motives ofhumanlife.AswegrapplewithwaystodiscovermeaningandtosolidifyidentityintheWesternpostmodern culture, pilgrimage surfaces asone, albeit unconventional, instrument forpullingtogetherthosefragments.

Figure 4. Apilgrim’scredencialwithstampsreceivedfromalbergues,restaurants,waypoints,andcafé-bars.


NOTES1A similar question has beenposed byNancy Frey in

her book Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago (1998). She phrases the question as such:“Whataremodernpilgrimssayingabouttheworldbywalkingandcycling?”(16).Freydoeslittletoconcretelydescribe what particular situations of contemporarylifepilgrimsare reactingagainst.As I discuss later inthepaper,atthetimeFreyconductedherstudy,“themajorityofpilgrims[were]urban,educated,andmiddleclass” (29). I build on her already comprehensiveresearch by updating our understanding of pilgrims’motives in theageofsocialnetworking,apost9/11West,andaglobalfinancialcrisis.

2During the last one hundred years, much researchhas emerged on the Codex Calixtinus and earliermanuscripts that inform it,other sources thatdescribethelifeandworksofJamesandtheapostolictraditionintheIberianPeninsula,aswellassufficientargumentandevidencenecessary todisprove thegreatlyembellishedand fragmentary account of the James Legend. Fora discussion that provides sufficient evidence that theapostle’s body is not, in fact, buried at Santiago deCompostela, see Jan van Herwaarden (1980). VanHerwaardenstateshimselfthathispurposeinpursuingsuchscholarshipwasnottoaffecttheflowofpilgrimstoCompostelainanyway.SpeakingoftheJamesLegend,he says “[It is] a legend which may possibly be basedonfalsehood,butwhichhasobtainedmorerealpowerthereby than ever could have been provided by truth.Proof thatSt. James theGreat is not buried inSpainwouldnotdeterasinglepilgrim”(3).

3TheCaminomaybeCatholicinorigin,butthepilgrimageroute was not, at first, sponsored by the church. Likemany pilgrimage routes, interest in this pilgrimagewasformedfromthe“bottomup.”SociologyprofessorErikKarlsaune of NTNU writes pilgrimage is “genuinely anoutcomeofpopularreligiosity.It isreligionfrombelow.Religious authorities or experts have not created thehumanphenomenonofpilgrimage.Buttheelitegroupofareligioncanuseitasameansforexecutionofpower…[Itisan]anthropologicalphenomenon”(Karlsaune1).

I experienced this diversity of pilgrims myself, aswell,when Iwalked theCamino. Although Ididnotencounterthemdirectly,IheardseveralpilgrimsspeakoftwoMuslimwomenwhowalkedtheCaminofor10daysinJune2009.Duringthecourseofmypilgrimagein Spain, I also met, photographed, and collected astatementfromaBuddhistMonkfromGermany.

4While every pilgrim’s office and albergue are requiredto keep records of the pilgrims who pass through theirdoors, accurate statistics on the actual number ofpilgrimswhowalk theSt.JamesWayduring thecourseof a year are impossible to maintain. Unlike seasonalreligious pilgrimages that have a clearly demarcatedbeginning and end—the Muslim Hajj, for example—onthe Camino the same are entirely up to the pilgrim’sindividual discretion. In addition,manypilgrimswalk theCamino in stages, beginning the journey one year and

receivingtheCompostela—thechurch-issuedcertificateofcompletion—years later.Manypilgrims donot completethe pilgrimage due to medical issues. And to add anadditional layerofcomplexity,thousandsmorewalkonlythefinalrequired100kilometerstoSantiagoinordertoreceivetheCompostela.Thus,whentheArchbishopricofSantiagoreleasesitsfiguresonthenumberofpilgrimsinagivenmonthoryearbasedonthenumberofCompostelas issued,wecanbesurethattheactualnumberofpilgrimswhowalked,biked,orrodeonhorsebacktheCaminodeSantiagowasfargreater.Evenso,thesefigures—especiallywith regards to the steeply rising number of pilgrims—indicateadramaticphenomenon.

5AYearofHolyJubileeisanyyearinwhichthe25thofJuly, theFeastofSaintJames,fallsonaSunday.ThenextHolyJubileeYearwillbein2010.

6Thestudyofpilgrimageasananthropologicalphenomenonisrelativelynew,beginningprimarilywiththeworkoftheTurners in Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture(1978). Following the Turners’ work, Alan Morinisassembled and edited a collection of essays from severalcolleaguesfollowingtheconference“Pilgrimage:theHumanQuest”inMay1981.Theessayswerepublishedin1992inavolumetitledSacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage.Forasummaryandforward-lookingdiscussionontherelationshipbetweenanthropologyandpilgrimage,see Turnbull, Colin, “Anthropology as Pilgrimage” inMorinis,1992.

7Primary texts and travelogues such as Basho’s The Narrow Road to Deep North and Other Travel Sketches significantly shape shared ideas about whatconstitutes pilgrimage. They can also help form anunderstanding about the vital role of popular culturein shaping the often adventurous romantic notionsabout travel in general. These ideas about the powerof the journey shape motives as equally as externalcircumstances. For a cultural analysis of literature’seffectonpilgrimage,seeThomasRimer’sPilgrimages: Aspects of Japanese Literature and Culture.

8See thecollectionofessays titledPilgrimage in Latin America(1991)byMorinisandCrumrine.

9The short history of the anthropological study ofpilgrimage has yet to yield a universal theory of itsenactment.Sometheoriesfitincertainsituationsandnotinothers.Themoreethnographersandanthropologistsattempt tocategorizeanddefinepilgrimage, themoreelusive it becomes. For further discussion on sacredjourneys, the anthropology of tourism, and a numberof different approaches to studying pilgrimage, seeSmith,1992;EadeandSallnow,1991;Morinis,1992;ColemanandElsner,1995;Dubisch,1995.

10In his essay “Spiritual Magnetism: An OrganizingPrinciple for the Study of Pilgimage,” Prestonproposes that “the drawing power of the sacredcenter” or a shrine’s “spiritual magnetism” can offerthis methodological approach. His theory unwinds,however,whenappliedtopilgrimagesliketheCaminowhere the journey, rather than thedestination, is thepurposeoftheexperience.


11For a compelling argument about how attendance ata Star Trek convention qualifies as pilgrimage, seeJennifer Porter’s article titled “Pilgrimage and theIDIC: Exploring Star Trek Convention Attendanceas Pilgrimage” in Intersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism(2004).

12Albergues are pilgrim-only hostels. They are locatedin most towns along the pilgrimage route and offerpilgrimsaplacetosleepandwashforthenight.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSAnother summer, deeper down the rabbit

hole.MyunconditionalthanksgoesouttotheJackson-Hope Fund donors who, with theircontinued patronage, make meaningful andformativeresearchexperiencespossible.

Thanks to the peregrinos whose courageandhumanityarethereasonforthisproject.I did not walk the Camino alone. For thosewhosharedtheexperiencewithmephysically,emotionally, in conversation, and in silence,youwillalwaysknow.

A friendship and mentorship continuedandgrewthissummerthatwassolidifiedtheyear before. I am ever thankful for Dr. RobMcDonald and his bottomless reservoirs ofenergy, patience, and guidance. Thanks tohim,Iseemtogrowinspiteofmyself.

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Leed, Eric. The Mind of the Traveler: From Gilgamesh to Global Tourism.NewYork:Basic,1991.

Otto,Rudolf.The Idea of the Holy.Trans.JohnW.Harvey.NewYork:OxfordUP,1958.

Pedersen,Noralv.“TheModernPilgrim.”Gemini.NorwegianUniversityofScienceandTehcnology.2001.Web.5February2010.

Reader, Ian. Making Pilgrimages: Meaning and Practice in Shikoku.Honolulu:UofHawaiiP,2005.

Reader, Ian and J.A.Walter, eds.Pilgrimage in Popular Culture.NewYork:Palgrave,1992.

Rimer, J. Thomas. Pilgrimages: Aspects of Japanese Culture and Literature.Honolulu:UofHawaiiP,1988.

Swatos, William H. Jr., and Luigi Tomasi. From Medieval Pilgrimage to Religious Tourism: The Social and Cultural Economics of Piety.Westport:Praeger,2002.

Turner,Victor.The Ritual Process.Ithaca:CornellUP,1966.

39


INTRODUCTION

The military has always had a powerfulposition in the Dominican Republic. In

thepost-ColdWarworldera,theinfrequencyof war has put in question the need for atraditional military, particularly for smallnations. The role of the military today has

Defense of the Dominican Military? An Examination of the Dominican

Military’s Role in its Present Society and the Case for Disbandment

CadetSaifA.Vazquez

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Richard Kilroy, Professor of International Studies and Political Science

ABSTRACTFor the last four decades, the Dominican Republic has been transitioning from a traditional society to a modern one. In the traditional society, the military has been the bastion of power, but as the nation modernizes and adopts more liberal thoughts, the military is increasingly coming under scrutiny due to its active role in politics and due to allegations of human right abuses and corruption within the armed forces. Indeed, the absence of a clear enemy and a cessation of border disputes have called into question the need for a military at all.

Today, many Latin American militaries are undergoing significant changes such as the acceptance of women and the expansion of women’s roles into the military, modernization and professionalization, and the shift towards multi-national actions. At the same time, these militaries have been trying to change the people’s perception of the past. The thesis offered in this essay is that the Dominican military must either: change and adapt to a progressively more modern and liberal democratic society in which its power will no longer be absolute or potentially face the prospect of disbandment (as was done in other countries in Central America) by force or sheer necessity.

been expanded to provide humanitarian aidduring emergencies and natural disasters aswellasaidingotherdomesticandinternationaldefense institutions in fighting intraregionalorganizations that traffic drugs, people, andarms. Unfortunately, the corruptive natureandhumanrightsabusesofthearmedforcesimpede their own effectiveness and are a


harmful influence to the young democraticinstitutionsofthecountry.

During the summer of 2009, I went tothe Dominican Republic to obtain primarysourceinformationontheissuesofabuseandcorruptioninthearmedforces.Ialsolookedat past and present reforms to modernizeand professionalize these institutions andexamined how political and economicissues have hindered such transitions. Thispaper examines two of the major problemsthat require the commitment of militarycomponents in theDominicanRepublic: thedrugtradeandtheillegalHaitianimmigration.Secondly,itdescribeshowthedisestablishmentofthemilitaryinCostaRicawaspossible,butdoesnotserveasanappropriatemodelfortheDominicanRepublic.

THE DEFENSE INSTITUTIONSThe Dominican Republic has four major

independent defense institutions (theNationalPolice,NationalArmy,Navy, andDominicanAir Force) and one dependent defenseinstitution (the National District of DrugControl).TheNationalPolice(PN)isthelargestof these institutions with 35,000 personnel,and its governance falls under the Secretaryof State of the Interior and Police. The PNprovidesavarietyoffunctionsandservicestothe Dominican people. It is often regardedasthemostcorruptandabusiveofthedefenseinstitutions and is by far the least respected.ThePNwasusedbyRafaelTrujilloandJoaquinBalaguer1 to repress and eliminate enemies,leaving a dreaded image of the institution.This poor reputation has worsened withregular incidents of bribery, police brutality,and relations to the drug trade (Luis AlbertoHumeau, Geopolítica).

The military is responsible for providingexternalsecurityandsupporttothePN.ThethreemajorindependentmilitarybranchesaretheNationalArmy(EN),Navy (MG),andAirForce (FAD). The enlistedor commissionedpersonnel inthesemilitarybranches, liketheofficersinthePN,mustgiveupcertainrightsentitledtocitizens,mostimportantlytheright

tovote.Article93oftheConstitutionstates,“The Armed Forces are essentially obedientandapoliticalandhaveno,inanycase,abilitytolead….”(EjércitoNacional).2

The EN is composed of approximately25,000personnel,andtheMGiscomposedof5,100personnel;eachorganizationconductsoperationstoenforcemigrationlaws,customsregulations, and anti-drug operations; tocombat terrorism, to provide environmentalprotectionandhumanitarianassistanceduringnatural disasters; and to support the PN inmaintainingpublicordervialandorsea(EjércitoNacional 2008). The FAD is composed ofapproximately5,000personnelandistheleastrespectedofthemilitarybranchesbecauseofitsperceiveduselessness.

BoththePNandthearmedforcesperformcivic actions throughout the nation. Thearmed forces support various programs tohelp develop and provide health assistancetocivilianpopulations. Civicactions include:cartographicprojects;technicalskilleducationfor mechanical work; education for nursinganddentistry;conservingandplantingforests;transportingfoodandsuppliestodisasterareas;andbuildinghouses,schools,andinfrastructureprojects(MiguelÁngelCordero155-71).

Within the last two decades, the govern-ment also formed specialized institutionsthat provide support to the PN and militaryforces, overseen by the Secretary ofState of the Armed Forces (Secretaria de las Fuerzas Armadas Dominicanas). TheNationalDistrictofDrugControl(DNCD)servesas thecentralagency forallmatters involvingdrugtrafficking(BreaCruz38).Threesmallerinstitutions thatprovidesecurity for land,sea,and aerial ports were formed in 1997 and2007. These are the Specialized Corps forFrontier, Airport, and Port Security. Theseinstitutionsrecruitpersonnel fromthemilitaryandPN (Secretaria de las Fuerzas Armadas Dominicanas 32).

ProfessionalismAccording to Samuel Huntington3, the

characteristics that make up a professional

Vazquez/DefenseoftheDominicanMilitary? 41

militaryare:loyaltytodemocraticinstitutions;obedience to authorities of a modern state;technical competence and experience toaccomplish the services assigned by law; andpoliticalneutrality (qtd. inSotoJiménez245).Judgingbythesecharacteristics,theDominicanarmed forces (FF.AA.) are technically aprofessional military according to theirdoctrines.TheFF.AA.haveremainedloyaltodemocraticinstitutionsafterthe1965civilwar,been obedient to the democratically-electedpresidents,andhavethetechnicalcompetenceto accomplish their duties prescribed by law.However, themilitary’spartisanship isaclearviolationofHuntington’svalues.Themilitaryandpoliceareconstitutionallyprohibitedfromhaving the right to voteandare supposed toremain apolitical, but this is not the case.Delinquencyandcorruptionbymembersofthepoliceandmilitaryinstitutionsarealsorampant,althoughthisisprobablyduetopooreconomicconditionsandacultureofcorruptionseeninmanydevelopingnations.

Frequentabusesbymembersofthedefenseinstitutionsincludevehiclethievery,smugglingof illegal immigrants, committing homicides,and drug-related charges (“Denuncia elaumento de delitos violentos en RépublicaDominicanaen2008”). During the last fewyears there has been an increase in publiccriticism of the defense institutions becauseof active news reporters exposing theseabuses. In 2009, the news reported that aFADMajor, alongwith eleven other people,broke into a Parmalat factory and stoleapproximately US$8,000 (“Poder justicial”).Recently, theMG(themostrespectedof thedefense institutions) has come under fire forsuspecteddrug-relatedactivities,afterareportexposedtheMG’sparticipationinkillingsevenColombian drug traffickers in an apparent“settling of scores” and smuggling peopleto Puerto Rico (Jiménez). When numerousmilitaryandpolicepersonnelareimplicatedinsuchactions,thereare“purges”ofhundredsof officers and enlisted personnel at a time.However, most of these “purges” consist ofallowingthepersonneltoretire,withpensions,anddonotleadtotrial.

The lack of a truly independent judiciarysystem and an internal affairs investigationinstitution, such as the American FBI,represents one of the most difficult hurdlestoday in reforming the defense institutions.The 2008 case of “Guayabin Massacre”demonstratesthelaxityofthecurrentmilitaryjudicial system (Organization of AmericanStates).Inthiscase,checkpointsoldiersnearDajabón, a border town, opened fire on atruckthatdidnotstop.Thetruckranofftheroad and seven people died and 14 otherswerewounded.Thesoldiersweresummonedtocourtfourtimes,buttheynevershowedupandwerenotbroughttojustice(OrganizationofAmericanStates).

Military personnel and politicians get awaywith crimes inmanyLatinAmericannations.Policeandmilitarypersonnelhavetraditionallybeen used by authoritarian rulers to suppressthe population, and have committed crimeswithoutpunishment.Thistraditionhascarriedon into modern Latin America today. ThereasonwhytheDominicandefenseforcesaresoabusiveandcorrupt ispartlybasedon thenation’sownunstablehistory. Sincethe19thcentury,multipledefenseinstitutionshavebeencreatedanddisbanded,andthereforetheyhavebeenleftwithnoclearidentity.AfterthewarswithHaiti,theseforceswereprimarilyusedasrepressive instruments by different dictatorsas well as the Haitian and United Statesgovernments.

20 year Reform In 2002, the Armed Forces Reform and

Modernization Committee was establishedto reform and modernize the FF.AA. overa 20 year period (Soto Jiménez xiv). Oneof the main goals of this program is toformally establish both a new nationalstrategyandanewmentalityforthemilitary(10). The introduction to the reformdocument references heavily Richard L.Millet and Michael Gold-Bliss’s “BeyondPraetorianism,” an essay that analyzes thecontemporarytransitionthatLatinAmericanmilitariesarecurrentlyundergoing.Formost


of the region’s history, the military usedexcessiveforcetomaintainorder,atraditionnolongerconsideredacceptableintheyoungdemocraciesofLatinAmerica.Theproject’sresearchersacknowledgethattheDominicanmilitarystillmaintainsthatoutdatedmentalityand is in dire needof change. They stressthat the drug trade, the nation’s biggestthreat, cannot be fought with the currentsystem(qtd.inSotoJiménez,Seguridad42).

Inparticular, the reformproposals aim toupgrade equipment; reorganize commandstructure;nurtureamodernmilitarymentalityforitsrecruits;investinacademicstoimproveleadership;developastrictlydefensive,highlymobile force with a flexible structure andjoint-action capability able to react quicklyto dynamic and unpredictable threats; andchangethepublic’sperceptionofthearmedforces(EulalioC.PeraltaFernándezxxv-xxvi).

In interviews with Lt. Col. Peralta (whosefather is part of the committee) andLt.Col.Vargas,Iaskedthemtoevaluatetheprogram’sprogress.TheyweresentbytheENtoprovidehelpforthispaper;bothofthemarecurrentlyonstaffathighermilitaryeducationinstitutionsfor the EN. Lt. Col. Vargas stated that theproject startedout really slowly andhasonlyrecently begun to move forward. He feltoptimisticbutworriedabouttheprogram’sfategiventhecurrenteconomy.Lt.Col.Peraltawasalsooptimisticbutwasunconcernedabouttheeconomy.Hestatedthatthemostimportantpartoftheprojectisstressingeducationfortheenlistedpersonnelandcommissionedofficers.This is a major point of the reform projectandhasresultedintheconstructionofhighereducationinstitutionswithnewscholarlyworkswrittenbyFF.AA.personnel.

ThePN isalsopartof this reformsystem,althoughitisbeingadministeredindependentlyfromthemilitary.From2002-2004theinitialreformswereverypromising.ThePNChief,JaimeMarteMartínez,wasveryseriousaboutthe program and pushed for many reforms.Unfortunately,hewasremovedfromhispostbecauseofpolitics,andwasreplacedbyMajorGeneral Pérez Sánchez, a supporter of thenewly-electedpresidentLeonelFernández.

Aswiththemilitary,akeytooltomodernizingandprofessionalizingthePNistheeducationof itspersonnel,whohave traditionallybeenrecruitedfrompeopleoutsidethecapitalandof poorer economic means. The Universityof the Dominican National Police was builtto provide education to the administrativeandmanagingcomponentsofthePN(PolíciaNacional18).Aminimumof20yearsservedin the force and a bachelor’s degree fromauniversitywerealsomadepre-requisitesfortheNationalPoliceChiefposition(20). InordertochangethementalityandtheimageofthePN,humanitarian aidhas been revamped intheruralareastohelpwithdisputes,druguseprevention,anddistributionoffood,tools,andtrees(29–30).From2002to2004,339,969peoplereceivedhelpfromthisbranch.Manycadetsandofficershavebeensenttomoderndemocraticcountriestolearnhowtocombatthecorruptingtraditions(PolicíaNacional49).Another key elementof this reformwas theimprovementofthepoliceemployees’qualityoflife,includingcompensationforretirement,life insurance, and programs and assembliesfortheirfamilies(18).

DRUG TRAFFICKINGEventhoughtheDominicanRepublicdoes

notproduceillegaldrugs(savelimitedquantitiesofmarijuana),itsgeographicalpositionservesasalaunchpadfordrugsfromSouthAmericato theUnitedStates andEurope (BreaCruz38).ItislocateddirectlynorthofColombia,theprimarycocaineproducer,andVenezuela,headed by the anti-American Hugo Chavez;it is east of Jamaica, a marijuana producer;it shares a border of almost 400 kilometerswithHaiti,anunstablenation;anditislocated130 kilometers from Puerto Rico, a U.S.territory. Drugs transported to Puerto Ricoare transferred to the United States moreeasily as they do not go through the sameinternationalcustomsprocedures.Thegrowthand development of the tourism industry inthe Caribbean has served as a catalyst fordrug distribution and consumption and hasincreasedinternalconnectionsfortheUnited


States and Europe (Humeau, Geopolítica120).

The Dominican Republic itself has a largedrug-consuming population estimated tonumber200,000to300,000in2006(BreaCruz 24). Drug consumption is a seriousproblem inDominicansocietyand isdirectlyrelatedtoanincreaseofcriminalactivity(25-26). As of 2009, seventy-one percent ofcriminalactivitywaslinkedtodrugtrafficking(AristyCapitán).

The principal drug trafficking organizationscomefromColombia.ThirtypercentofcocaineproducedinColombiatransitsthroughtheislandofHispaniola4andisthemosttraffickeddruginthe Dominican Republic. Approximately 10-15%ofcocainedeliveredtotheUnitedStatestransitsthroughtheislandofHispaniola(Cruz).Nationals fromdifferent nations then serve astheprimarytransporters,mostlyusingfastboats.TheDominicanRepublicandPuertoRicohavetraditionallyservedasthefavoredroutesfordrugtraffickers,astheysharethesamelanguageastheirdistributors.Inthelastfewyears,however,Colombians have increasingly depended onHaiti, where they have established commandcenters for theirCaribbeanoperations. Fromthesebases,primarilyDominicansandHaitianstransport drugs into the Dominican RepublicfromHaiti,Colombia,andVenezuela(MartínezHenríquez32).

Drugs transit by air, sea, and land to andfrom the Dominican Republic, requiring theresponseofallDominicandefenseinstitutionsaswellasinternationalcooperation.Oneofthemost successful responses to the curtailmentofthedrugtradeistheoperationsconductedat airports that result in the detainment ofhundredsofdrugmulesfromdozensofnationseachyearandtheconfiscationofhundredsofkilogramsofdifferentdrugs(DistritoNacionalde Control de Drogas [DNCD] AeropuertoInternacionalLasAméricas).Thiscoordinationofeffortshasreducedtheuseofinternationalairlinesbydrugtraffickerstolessthantwentypercentofthetransportationmethodsavailable(Humeau,Geopolítica,120).

As a result, one of the preferred tacticsusedbydrugtraffickersiscargobombarding.

Drug traffickers fly aircraft from Colombiaandbombardthecoastalandruralareaswithdrugs, which are then picked up by theiragents.Onaveragethereare319undetectedillicitflightsintotheDominicanRepubliceachyear with the capability to transport over amillionpoundsofcocaine(MartínezHenríquez24). Lt.Col. Peralta said that the nation isunable to counteract cargo bombardingeffectively due to the lackof radars and fastaircraft.TheFAD,ifproperlyequipped,couldproveveryeffective.RecentlyeightEMB314Super Tucanos (Brazilian-made light aircraft)have been ordered to intercept the drugtraffickersandtherearealsoplanstoprocurethe necessary radar to detect them (Lancer,“LeonelFernández”).

Despitethehardworkandachievementsoflocalandinternationalsoldiers,policeofficers,andagents,thedrugtradecontinuesstronginthe Dominican Republic and the Caribbean.Thelackoftransparencyandlowwagesresultin corruption from the institutions that aresupposedtofight thedrugtraffic,stymieingtheir best efforts and completely destroyingtheircredibility. ApopularperceptionintheDominican Republic maintains there is onecolonel for each illegal drug. Many rumorsand speculations regarding police, militarypersonnel, and politicians’ involvement withdrugsexist.Statisticalevidenceandconclusivefacts,however,arehardtofind.

HAITIAN FACTORThe political and economic conditions of

Haiti have forced masses of its citizens toescapeandseekabetterlifeintheDominicanRepublic. Illegal immigration is the primaryissueof contentionbetween the twonations(CorcinoPolanco67).This issueisnotverydifferentfromtheillegal immigrationissueintheUnitedStates.

InashortconversationwithLt.Col.Peralta,EN,IaskedhimiftheENwasinchargeoftheborder. He responded, “Theoretically, yes,”butactuallyitisthedutyofCESFRONT,abodyrecently created directly under the Secretaryof Defense to deal with the Haitian border


and the illegal immigration problems. TheCESFRONT was created in 2007 to watchover the check-points with Haiti (Secretaria de las Fuerzas Armadas Dominicanas).Likethe DNCD, the CESFRONT is composedof members of the military and the PN,currently numbered at approximately 500personnel(SecretariadelasFuerzasArmadasDominicanas,2009).TheCESFRONTworksclosely with the Migration Directory, whichdetainsillegalHaitiansthroughoutthecountryanddeportsthem.

The CESFRONT, however, is made up ofonly lightly-armed sentries from the otherdefenseinstitutions.TherearemanyHaitians,Jamaicans, and Dominicans who enter thecountrywithcontrabandsuchasweaponsanddrugsthataredealtwithbyspecialunitsfromtheDNCD,EN,andPNinjoint-operationsthatarecarriedoutalmostdaily.From2000-2004,therewereonaverage239.6operationsperyeartocombatdrugandweaponstraffickers.About a third of these operations involveddrugsthatweretransferredacrosstheborder(PolicíaNacional106).

In my interview with Professor Cruz,Professor of History (emeritus) of theUniversidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo,hestatedthat inthe last fewyearstherehasbeen an escalation of violence and criminalactivity fromHaitians in retaliation forbeingabused by Dominicans. Since the 2004revolt inHaiti,Haitiansentering thecountryhavebecomemorebelligerentbecauseoftheHaitianNationalLiberationFront’sinfluence.The National Liberation Front is very anti-Dominican and has been known to spreadanti-DominicanflyerscallingforviolenceandclaimingtheentireislandasHaitian(NotiCen:Central American & Caribbean Affairs,2004).Inthelastfewyears,therehavebeenmorereports inthelocalmediaaboutcrimesagainst and committed by Haitians in theDominican Republic, though there isn’t anystatisticalevidenceofthisincrease.WhenIfirstarrivedinthecountry,therewasacommotionafteramoblynchedaHaitianinthetownofHerrerainretaliationforthedecapitationofaDominican thedaybefore—events thatwere

officiallycondemnedbybothnations(Nicolás).Yetthissortofincidentisnotuncommon.

IllegalHaitian immigration is also a healthconcern for the Dominican Republic. Haitilacks in the resources to provide its peoplewithnecessarymedicalcare.Asaresult,mostillegal Haitians lack knowledge of infectiousdiseases and therefore pose a health hazardthatcreatesaburdenontheDominicanpublichealthadministration;theseillegalimmigrantsarebelievedtoreceiveashighasthirtypercentof public health benefits. The DominicanHealthMinisterhasstatedthattheirpresence“constitutes a load on the national sanitarysector,anddiseaseslikemalaria,HIV,denguefever and other contagious diseases are athreatforthehighnumberofHaitianmigrantsinthecountry”(RojasAgramonte42).

Military ThreatHaitinolongerhasamilitary;themilitary

was disbanded in 1994 by President Jean-BertrandAristideandreplacedbyanationalpoliceforce.Aristide—viewedasHaiti’sbestchancefordemocracy—becamePresidentofHaitiin1991,butwasremovedfrompowerbytheHaitianmilitaryandlaterreinstatedbytheUnitedStatesmilitary in 1994 (Regan).He was once again removed from office in2004,whichhasleftthecountryinturmoil—forcinganinterventionbytheUnitedNationspeacekeepingforces.

Aristide’sgovernmentcrumbledinthefaceoftwohundredparamilitaryfromtheNationalLiberation Front, which was composed ofHaitianex-militarypersonnel (GlobalSecurity.org). The poorly equipped, poorly trainedNationalPoliceinstalledafterAristide’sreturnin 1994 were completely helpless (Regan).The events leading up to the 2004 crisis inHaiticonstitutedasevereblowtothealreadystrained relations between the DominicanRepublicandHaiti—creatinganevengreatersenseoftensionforbothpopulations.Somebelieve that theDominicanRepublicand theUnitedStatesplayedaroleinthe2004coup,inAristide’skidnapping,andinharboringtheleadersof the rebels. Prior to the rebellion,


small skirmishes took place between theborders resulting in the deaths of twoDominicanmilitarypersonnelandfourHaitiancommandos(GlobalSecurity.org).

SOCIO-POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS

Since1961,the fledglingdemocracyintheDominican Republic has in large part onlyfunctionedinformalitiessuchaselections,freespeech, political parties, and organizations.The actual practice of democracy is plaguedwith a variety of characteristics that hamperthe political representation and economicstabilityofthecountry(Hartlyn13).

Some characteristics that comprise thepolitical tradition in Latin America areauthoritarianism, elitism, and clientelism(WiardaandKline233).Allofthesequalitiesare present in contemporary Dominicansociety. Theeraofcaudillos,dictators,andauthoritarian governors serves as the modelfor Dominican politics today (Soto Jimenez240). Dictators’ usual policy of “winnertakes all” does not lend itself to negotiationand compromise with the opposition—acharacteristic that has transferred itself to allofthepublicandprivateinstitutions(241).

ThequalityofclientelismisclearlypresentintheDominicanRepublicas inthepreviously-mentioned example of Major General MarteMartínez. Instead of awarding positions onmerit,practitionersofclientelismconferstatusand titles to supporters and friends. Headsof Dominican defense institutions and othergovernment departments remain for two tothree years regardless of their competence.Themilitaryandpolicearenotapoliticalastheconstitution demands and never have been.Generalsandadmiralstypicallyhavetheirwivesandrelativescampaignforandcontributetothefundraising efforts of presidential candidatestheybelievewillwin.Becauseoftheirpoliticalaffiliations, select families fill many civilianandmilitary departments, andnewpositionsareoftenaddedtoaccommodatemorefamilymembers.Thissystemoffavoritismobviouslyimpedes the improvement of the defense

institutionsandthenation,asleadershipisnotbasedonmerit,competence,andpreparationbutratheronconnections.

The administration of Leonel Fernándezwas first elected into office as a result of apoliticalagreementbetweentheleadersofthetwomostpowerfulparties,JoaquinBalaguerand Juan Bosch, to prevent Peña Gómezfrom winning in 1997. His administrationhas enacted neo-liberal policies that havestrengthened the tourism sector andincreased the nation’s annual economicgrowth. Since the 1990’s, the DominicanRepublic has experienced high economicgrowth, on an average of 7% annually.Between 2004 and 2007 the economygrewanaverageof9.5%eachyear (BancoCentraldelaRepublicaDominicana).Muchof this growth is credited to the neo-liberaleconomicpoliciesofBalaguer’s last term inoffice, but thesepolicieswerecontinuedbyhis successor Leonel Fernández. However,as Steven Gregory (2007) describes in The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the Dominican Republic,theeffectsofsuchpolicieshavehelpedveryfew people rise from poverty, and in mostcases have actually increased the economicdisparity. Most politicians get paid at leastUS$5,500amonthandcanreceiveasmuchasUS$55,000 amonth including expensesfor housing and transportation (Miller). Incontrast, the average Dominican familyearnsaboutUS$356amonth,with severalmembersofthefamilyworking(“DominicanRepublicCountryBrief”).Asergeantmajor,the secondhighest enlisted rank in thePN,earns US$150, which is the same wage adomesticworkerearns.Engineers,doctors,and lawyers can earn about US$1,300 permonth, nine times that of an experiencedenlistedpoliceman.

The biggest problem lies in the lack ofaccountability and transparency in thegovernment, which has allowed rampantcorruption. The most infamous exampleof this lack of accountability and outrightcorruptionistheenergysituation,aproblemthat has existed sinceBalaguer’s twelve-year


terminthe1970’s.Thecountryexperiencesblackouts approximately one to three timesadayforarangeofhoursdependingontheregion. On different occasions, Japan andthe Netherlands have offered solutions toprovideenergytotheentirecountrythroughwindenergyinthewesternpartofthenationoranuclearplant,bothat subsidizedprices.The Dominican politicians, however, havealways rejected these proposals and haveinstead favored the current deals with theenergycorporations.Duetotheirantiquatedandinefficientequipment,Dominicanenergycompaniescanneitherprovideenoughenergyto the population nor gain profits. Thepoliticiansacceptedabribeandagreedtopaythesecompaniesevenif theydonotprovideservice(Gregory14).

In the study Barómetro de las Américas 2008, 74% of Dominicans responded thattheybelievecorruptionisagreatproblem.Theperception of legitimacy in public institutionswas45%,oneofthehighestinLatinAmerica,whichreflectsalackofconfidenceinthepublicinstitutions.Theperceptionofinsecuritydueto criminal activity decreased from 79% to59%.However,lackofconfidenceinthePNincreased from 30% to 42%. The PN andpolitical parties remain the most distrustedinstitutions in thecountry. This lackof faithingovernmentinstitutionsfollowsatrendseenthroughoutLatinAmerica:alossofconfidenceinthelegitimacyofcontemporarydemocracies(qtd. in “Denuncia el aumento de delitosviolentosenRepúblicaDominicanaen2008”).

COSTA RICAN MODEL—DEMILITARIZE?

A possible solution is to demilitarize theDominicanRepublicasCostaRicahasdone.CostaRicaisasmallnationlocatedinCentralAmerica between Panamá and Nicaragua.Its long historical tradition of a stable andlegitimate democracy has defined theuniqueness of the nation within the CentralAmericanandCaribbeanregion.Itcurrentlydoesnothaveamilitary, favoringanationalpolice—acharacteristic that is regardedasa

crucial factor to its long-standingdemocratichistory.

But the Dominican Republic is quitedifferentfromCostaRica.Dominicans(alongwithCubansandBrazilians)aremulatto(fromAfrican and European ancestry), in contrasttomuchof therestofLatinAmerica,whichislargelymestizo(fromIndianandEuropeanancestry). The current level of economicand democratic stability relates to the racialcompositions of countries in Latin America.WiardaandKlineidentifyfourdifferentracialcomposition groups for Latin Americancountries. The mestizo nations are México,Venezuela, Nicaragua, Panamá, Honduras,ElSalvador,andColombia. The indigenous-majoritynationsareEcuador,Guatemala,Perú,Paraguay,andBolivia.“Europeancharacter”nations are Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, andCosta Rica. The levels of democracy andeconomic stability aregenerallybetter in thenations with “European character,” followedbymestizoandmulattonations,andlastlytheindigenousnations.Thesecategorizationsdonot suggest racial superiority, but rather theaffinity to democracy European immigrantsbrought with them from the countries oforigin (Wiarda and Kline 5). Nations of“European character” generally have higherGDPsandliteracyrates;betterqualityoflife;lesspoverty;andlowercorruptionlevels,whiletheindigenousnationshavetheopposite(seeFigure1).

An important characteristic of Costa Ricais its colonial experience. As Bruce Wilsonargues in Costa Rica: Politics, Economics and Democracy,CostaRicaisuniquebecauseof its “rural democracy.” The country as acolony was geographically isolated, sufferedfromwidespreadpoverty,hadfewexportableproducts, and, most importantly, had arelatively lownumberof hostile natives (10).In colonial Latin America, the encomiendasystem established a hierarchy the effects ofwhichcanstillbeseentoday.Theeconomicencomiendasystemrelegatedtheindigenouspeoples and mestizos to the lower rungs ofthesocialandeconomicladdersandputthoseofEuropeandescentincharge.However,the


hostilityoftheindigenouspopulationandtheirlimited numbers did not allow for amestizoclasstodevelopinCostaRica,andthelackofexportableresourcesdidnotcauseademandforAfricanslaves.Thesetwofactorsresultedina“rural egalitarian society” inwhichboththe wealthy and the poor tilled their lands.This social systemallowed for democracy tobeintegratedmorequicklyinCostaRicathantherestofLatinAmericaand“discouragedtheevolution…ofamilitaryclass”(12).

This social system did not allow for astrong military culture to integrate itselfinto Costa Rican politics. The role of themilitary in the Dominican Republic, onthe other hand, follows a more traditionalhistory, especially in relation to most of

Latin America. The Dominican Republichad the first military and police force inSpanish America. As a result, throughoutthe nation’s history these institutions havebeen deeply integrated in many of thenation’s most important events. NationalmilitariesledtheindependencewarsagainsttheSpanishandbroughtstabilityandordertotheturmoilthatfollowed.However,theywerealso responsible for enormous crimesagainsthumanity andperiodsof repressiverule. Some countries, such as Argentinaand Chile, have professionalized theirmilitaryinstitutionstopreventcorruptionandrepression.Despiteperiodsofdictatorshipsrenowned for their brutality, the militariesin the region have usually been respected.

Figure 1.

Sources: CIA Factbook, 2009; The Economist, 2009; International Monetary Fund, 2008; Human Development Reports, 2008.

GDP* GINI*Quality of

LifeLiteracy

Rate2008

Growth PovertyArgentina $14,413 51.3 6.5 97.9% 7 4

Bolivia $4,330 60.1 5.5 86.7% 5.9 12.6

Brazil $10,325 57 6.4 88.6% 5.1 9.7Chile $14,510 54.9 6.8 95.7% 3.2 3.3

Colombia $8,215 58.6 6.2 90.4% 2.5 8.1

Costa Rica $10,752 49.8 6.6 94.9% 2.9 3.8

Dominican Republic $8,571 51.6 5.6 87.0% 4.8 9.6

Ecuador $7,769 53.6 6.3 91.0% 5.3 7.6

El Salvador $7,551 52.4 6.2 80.2% 2.5 13.6

Guatemala $4,898 55.1 5.3 69.1% 4 20.3Honduras $4,268 53.8 5.3 80.0% 4 14.9

Mexico $14,560 46.1 6.8 91.0% 1.3 6.7

Nicaragua $2,688 43.1 5.7 67.5% 3 16Panama $11,343 56.1 6.4 91.9% 9.2 6.9

Paraguay $4,778 58.4 5.8 94.0% 5.8 10.8

Peru $8,580 52 6.2 92.9% 9.8 11Uruguay $13,294 44.9 6.4 97.6% 8.9 3.3

Venezuela $12,785 48.2 6.1 93.3% 4.8 7.3


Recently, for example, when Haitian ex-military members took power and paradedacross the nation in 2004, significantportionsof thepopulationapplauded themfor their legacy of expelling the French inthe19thcentury(Regan).

Inspiteofthedifferencesintheirhistoryandracial composition, the Dominican RepublicandCostaRicatodayfaceremarkablysimilarproblems. Like the Dominican Republic,Costa Rica is a wealthier and more securenation in comparison to its neighbor.Nicaraguan immigrants currently composeapproximately ten to fifteen percent of theCosta Rican population, while Haitianscompriseapproximatelyfifteenpercentofthepopulation in the Dominican Republic (CIA Factbook).Thisinfluxofimmigrantshasfora long time caused a strain on Costa Rica’sreputedsocialeconomy(Ameringer93).

Inadditiontoitsweakenedeconomy,CostaRica faces problems with the drug trade.Like the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica isgeographicallypositionedinanimportantdrugroute between drug-producing countries inSouthAmericaandthelargestdrug-consumingcountry,theUnitedStates.CostaRicaservesasa transshipmentpoint for illicitdrugs fromSouth America, mostly cocaine and heroin.Thisconnectiontotheregionaldrugtradehasalsocreatedariseincrimeinthecountry,withabout thirty-threepercentofcriminaloffensesbeingdrugrelated(“DrugConsumptionintheCostaRicanPrisonPopulationanditsRelationtoCommmittingCrimes”).

Bothofthesesecuritythreatsaredealtwithby the Ministry of Public Security’s PublicForce, Costa Rican Air Force, and CoastGuard personnel, with a combined force ofabout17,000in2003(NationMaster).Theseinstitutions were installed after the militarywas disbanded by José Figueres in 1949following a violent civil war. Even thoughthe institutionsarenot calledmilitary forces,they have the same organizational structureandfunctionasaregulararmy,navy,police,and air force (Carvajal). These institutionsconstituteaparamilitaryforce,amorelightly-equippedmilitarythatalsopolicesthecitizenry

(Lutterbeck45-46). TheDominicanmilitaryis just that: a lightly-equipped military thatsharesmanyfunctionswith thePN. Hence,adismantlingofthemilitaryintheDominicanRepublicwould not change the current levelof abuse and inefficiencies of the defenseinstitutions;itwouldonlyconstituteachangeofnameforeachoftheinstitutions.

Education—Key Variable?Rather than disband the military, a better

solution to effectively professionalize theDominican Republic’s defense institutions isto increase education and decrease economicdisparity;bothcouldhelpstrengthendemocracyand decrease corruption. Corruption runsrampantinallofLatinAmerica.CostaRicadoesnot,however,sufferfromthisplaguetothesamedegreeastherestofLatinAmerica. In2008CostaRicawasranked47thamongthe“LeastCorruptedNationsintheWorld,”the3rdlowestin Latin America behind Chile and Uruguay.The Dominican Republic, in contrast, ranked102nd,12thof the18LatinAmericannations,excluding Cuba (Transparency International).People in most Latin American nations havelittlefaithintheircourts,withanaverageof73%havingnegativeviews, including thepeopleoftheDominicanRepublic(Hughes).Incontrast,CostaRica’s courts rate quite favorably in theperception of its population. Likewise, publicofficialsinCostaRicaareheldtohighstandards,unlike much of the rest of Latin America(includingtheDominicanRepublic)wheretheyareviewedwithdistrust(Hughes).

Thereisarelationshipbetweenthelevelofcorruptionandeducationasdemonstrated inthefollowingtable(seeFigure2).Adecreasein corruption would result in the defenseinstitutions improving the execution of theirfunctions and proceeding with necessaryreforms.AsFigure2shows,thereisastrongnegative correlation of -0.88, meaning thatthe lowerperceived levels of corruption are,thehigherthelevelofeducation.

CostaRicahashadlowlevelsofcorruptionand a stable democracy. Costa Rica andother countries with low corruption and


betterdemocraticstabilityallshareacommondenominator: literate populations. CostaRica, often referred to as the “Switzerlandof Central America,” has a literacy rate of94.9%(CIA Factbook).Asamoreeducatedpopulace, Costa Ricans are able to makeinformeddecisionsaboutpoliticsandreforms.Inaddition, CostaRica investsa thirdof itsexpendituresoneducation(“CostaRica”).TheDominican Republic, in contrast, despite its87% literacy rate, designates only 12.4% ofitsexpendituresoneducation,making itoneof the lowestspendersoneducation inLatinAmerica (NationMaster). The DominicanRepubliccannotchangeitshistoryoritsracialcomposition, but it can change its educationsystem. Amore educatedpopulationwoulddecrease the corruption and facilitate thenecessary reforms to professionalize andmodernizetheDominicanArmedForces.

CONCLUSIONThe FF.AA. currently combats regional

threatssuchasdrugs,humantrafficking,andmoney laundering. Corruptionand frequentabuses, however, reduce the effectiveness ofand border control operations, tarnishing itspublic image. This corruption is especiallydamagingconsideringthattheroleofamilitaryintoday’sworld(especiallyforsmallernations)isnolongerlimitedtofightingtraditionalwars.The Costa Rican model of a national policewithmilitary functions,orparamilitary force,canbeconsideredasuitablealternativeduetothelowlikelihoodofwarandbecauseitisoftenseenasakey factor toCostaRica’s reputed

democratichistory.However,itperformsthesamefunctionsasamilitaryanddoesnotplayakeyroleintheperpetuationofCostaRica’sdemocraticlegacy.ReplacingtheDominicandefense institutions with a Costa Rican styleparamilitary forcewouldchangenothing. Inconjunction with military and police reformsoraparamilitarysubstitution,anequallyrobustreformofthepoliticalandeconomicsystemsinthecountrymustbeimplemented.Otherwise,the reforms for thepolice andarmed forceswill not work, and any new paramilitaryorganization createdwould simply act in thesamemannerunderadifferentlabel.

Costa Rica has had a strong democratichistorybecauseofthewayitwasfoundedandbecauseofitseducatedpopulation.ButintheDominicanRepublic,corruptionrepresentsaseriousobstacletothelegitimacyofdemocraticinstitutions,includingtheDominicanmilitary,police, and politics, and remains a threat topoliticalstability.Educationistheonevariablefactor that the Dominican Republic can andshouldmakestronger inorder todevelop itsdemocracyandreducecorruption.Agreaterinvestment in education would help curbcorruptionwhilestrengtheningthelegitimacyof thedemocraticanddefense institutionsofthenation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSFirst I must thank Dr. Rick Kilroy for

introducingmetotheSummerUndergraduateResearch Initiative (SURI), helping meformulatethebasisforthispaper,guidingmethroughouttheprocess,andencouragingme

Figure 2.

Argentina Bolivia ChileCosta Rica

Dom. Rep. Panama Uruguay

Literacy Rate 97.9% 86.7% 95.7% 94.9% 87% 91.9% 97.6%Perceived Corruption 24% 57% 11% 24% 41% 40% 17%

Sources: Literacy rates: CIA Factbook; Perceived Corruption: Transparency International’s “Global Corruption Barometer 2005.” Correlation(r) 5 NSXY 2 (SX)(SY) / Sqrt([NSX2 2 (SX)2][NSY2 2 (SY)2]).


to submit it to New Horizons. Jorge Tellezdeservesthanksforencouragingmetoapplyto SURI. I am also grateful to the Jackson-Hope Fund for sponsoring my travel to theDominicanRepublic,whereIconsultedprimaryresources and witnessed the Dominicansituationfirsthand.IntheDominicanRepublicIwas providedwith awealth of informationfrom the military institutions, friends andfamily,especiallymy abuelita, IreneDíaz. ImustalsothankDr.BlairTurnerandDr.ScottYoungdahlfortheireditingsuggestions.

NOTES1RafaelLeonidasTrujilloMolinaruledtheDominican

Republic between 1930 and1961, both as theofficially-elected President and as an unelectedmilitaryleader.JoaquínAntonioBalaguerRicardoservedasPresidentofthecountrybetween1966and1978.

2Alltranslationsaremine.3Samuel Huntington was an American political

scientist who wrote extensively on civil-militaryrelations.

4Hispaniola is the island sharedbyHaiti and theDominicanRepublic.

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55


INTRODUCTION

Conic sections have been studied for overtwo thousand years. First studied by theGreeks,thisinquiryisbelievedtohavestartedanywherefrom600to300B.C.1Studentsareformally introduced to conic sections duringtheir college calculus sequence. However,circles, ellipses, hyperbolas, parabolas (thefour basic conics), points, lines, and doublelines(thethreedegenerateconics)arefamiliarto nearly everyone. Commonly found innature,conicsectionsplayanimportantroleinengineering.

Whatexactlyisaconicsection?Theformaldefinition states that a conic section is anyintersectionofadoubleconeandaplane(seeFig.1).Eachofthefourbasicconicsectionscan be defined by a point (or points) calledthe focus (or foci) anda line (or lines) calledthe directrix (or directrices). For example, aparabolaisthesetofallpointsinthex-yplanethatareequidistantfromafocusanddirectrix(the focus must not be on the directrix). In

Directrix-Generated Curves and Surfaces

Cadet CalebGibson

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniel S. Joseph, Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science

ABSTRACTPutting a twist on the traditional definition of a parabola, an interesting family of curves (that includes the conic sections) is defined. Many interesting results occur with directrix-generated curves. After exploring the possibilities in two dimensions, we extend the concept to three dimensions with directrix-generated surfaces. We also show that these surfaces have a reflective property similar to that of the directrix-generated curves.

otherwords,alinesegmentperpendiculartothedirectrixextendingtotheparabola is thesamelengthasalinesegmentfromthefocustotheparabola.

Figure 1. Theintersectionofadouble-nappedconeandaplane.


Dr. Gregory Hartman proposed aninteresting twist to this definition. Whathappensif thedirectrix isnolongerrequiredto be a line? What if it is a different curve?He and Dr. Daniel Joseph investigated thisquestionanddiscoveredafamilyofcurvesthathave interestingproperties. Thewell-knownconicsectionsareasub-classofthisfamilyofcurves.

DIRECTRIx-GENERATED CURVESMathematically, adirectrix-generatedcurve

isdefinedasfollows.

Definition:Considerthepoint ,describedbythevector andthecurve tracedoutbytheparametrically-definedvectorfunction

. We define the directrix-generated curve to be the set of all points

described by the vector functionsuchthat liesonthe

normallinetothecurve at and isequidistantfromthepoint andthecurve at

(Fig.2).Inotherwords, mustsatisfythefollowingcriteria:

(1)

(2)

Figure 2. Anillustrationofthetwocriteriausedindefiningthenewcurves.

Gibson/DirectrixGeneratedCurvesandSurfaces 57

Figure 3. Thedirectrixisaparabola.

Thepoint iscalledthefocusandthecurve is called the directrix. We will adopt the

convention of referring to as the focus,asthedirectrix,and astheresulting

directrix-generatedcurve.

Using Mathematica® to solve equations (1)and(2)simultaneouslywefind,

(3)

and,

. (4)

Ifthefocusisfixedattheorigin,thisexpressionismoreclearlygiveninthevectorform,

. (5)

where is simplya90degreecounterclockwiserotationofthevector .

Givenadirectrixandafocus, theresultingcurvecannowbe found.Figure3 showsanexampleofthedirectrix-generatedcurvethatresults when the directrix is the parabola

andthefocus is locatedatthe origin. (Note that throughout this paperthe directrix will be shown in black and theresulting directrix-generated curve will beshowningrey.)

Asnotedearlier,eachofthefourbasicconicsections can be represented as a directrix-generatedcurve(seeFig.4).Althoughderived


Figure 4b. Acircleresultswhenthedirectrixisacirclewiththefocusatthecenter.

Figure 4a. Aparabolaresultswhenthedirectrixisaline.


Figure 4d. Ahyperbolaresultswhenthedirectrixisacirclewiththefocusoutsidethecircle.

Figure 4c. Anellipseresultswhenthedirectrixisacirclewiththefocusoffcenter.


Figure 5. Thereflectionproperty.

in a different context, the knowledge that acircle,ellipseandhyberbolacouldbeobtainedfromapointandacirclehasbeenwellknown.2

Reflection PropertyThe reflection property of parabolas,

circles, ellipses, and hyperbolas is normallydefined in terms of two foci. A line comingfrom one focus will reflect off the curve insuch away that the lineof reflectionpassesthrough the other focus. According to thisdefinition, only parabolas, circles, ellipses,andhyperbolashavethisreflectionproperty.3Using a different definition for the reflectionproperty, we can show that all directrix-generated curves have a reflection property.Wedefinethereflectionpropertyfordirectrix-generatedcurvesintermsofthefocusandthedirectrix. We say that a directrix-generatedcurve has a reflection property if every lineperpendicular to the directrix reflects off thedirectrix-generatedcurve insuchaway that

thelineofreflectionpassesthroughthefocus(as long as the directrix-generated curve issmooth at the point of intersection.)4 Forthe four conics, these two definitions of thereflectionpropertyareequivalent.Whatdoesthisreflectionpropertylooklike?Aline thatpasses through the point andisperpendicular to thedirectrixat thatpointwillreflectofftheresultantcurveatthepoint

insuchawaythatthelineofreflection, ,passesthroughthefocus(seeFig.5).

Gallery of CurvesGiven all this background information, we

set off to find as many interesting directrix-generated curves as possible. How did wedetermine if a directrix-generated curve wasinterestingornot?Therewerenosetcriteria,so we explored the possibilities. However, ifa resultant curve had symmetry, wasn’t toomessy, and/or was aesthetically pleasing to


Figure 6a. Thedirectrixisanasteroid.

Figure 6b. Thedirectrixisahypocycloid.


Figure 6d. Thedirectrixisanotherspirograph.

Figure 6c. Thedirectrixisaspirograph.


Figure 6e. Thedirectrixisanephroid.

Figure 6f. Thedirectrixistricuspoid.


. Thedirectrixisabutterflycurve.

Figure 6g. Thedirectrixisanotherhypocycloid.


the researcher, itwas considered interesting.We found that the more interesting thedirectrixwas,themoreinterestingtheresultingcurve.Examplesof interestingdirectricesarehypocycloids,spirographs,lissagjouescurves,etc(seeFig.6).

Some of the most interesting curves aregenerated from using directrix-generatedcurvesasthedirectrices.Forexample,startingwiththecubic asthedirectrix,theresultingcurveis .

Theresultinggraphisn’tterriblyinteresting.However, if this resulting curve is used asthenewdirectrix, the resultingcurve isquiteinteresting(seeFig.7).

Inourresearch,oneofthemostinterestingresultant curve progressions occurred withthe equiangular spiral, also known as thelogarithmic spiral (see Fig. 8). Logarithmicspirals, which can be written in general as

where and are constants, are spirals that have a

constantangle betweentheradial lineand

the tangent lineateverypointon thecurve.The angle is described by .Thesespiralshavefascinatedmathematiciansfor centuries for several reasons. First, theyappear innumerous areasofnature suchasthegrowthpatternofnautilus shellsand theflightpatternsofhawksastheyapproachtheirprey. Second, they have many interestingmathematicalproperties.Forexample,scalingor rotating them gives a similar logarithmicspiral.Inotherwords,ifalogarithmicspiralisrotatedormultipliedbyaconstant,theresultis another logarithmic spiral with the sameconstantangle .5

We will now prove the following theoremconcerning the directrix-generated curvegeneratedfromanequiangularspiral.

Theorem 1: The directrix-generated curve,thedirectrixofwhichisanequiangularspiralwith the focusat theorigin,willbeasimilarequiangularspiral.

Figure 7a. Thedirectrixis .


Figure 7b. Thedirectrixisthedirectrix-generatedcurvefrom7a.

Figure 7c. Thedirectrixisthedirectrix-generatedcurvefrom7b.


Figure 7d. Thedirectrixisthedirectrix-generatedcurvefrom7c.

Figure 8. Anequiangularspiralanditsresultantcurve


Proof: Take a general equiangular spiralparameterizedby

where is a constant. We rewrite as acolumnvector

.

Theresultingdirectrix-generatedcurveis

.

Factoring,weget

Given any there exists a constant suchthat .Therefore

.

Going back to our directrix-generated curve,wehave

.

Since ,

.

Weknowthematrix

is the rotation matrix, which will rotateanyvectorin counterclockwisebyanangle .Therefore, istheequiangularspiral scaledbya factor and rotatedby radians.Thus isasimilarequiangularspiral.(Itshouldbenotedthat canbewrittenintermsof .)Infact it isnothardtoshowusing simple trigonometry that .Thus,thescalingfactor andtheangleofrotationis .

DIRECTRIx-GENERATED SURFACESWe next wanted to extend the concept

of directrix-generated curves to directrix-generatedsurfaces.

Definition:Consider thepoint ,describedby the vector and thesurface traced out by the parametrically-defined vector function

. We define thedirectrix-generatedsurfacetobethesetofallpoints describedby the vectorfunction such that lies on the normal line tothe surface at and isequidistant from thepoint and the surface

at . In other words, mustsatisfythefollowingcriteria:

, (6)

, (7)

. (8)

Thepoint iscalledthefocusandthesurfaceiscalledthedirectrix.

Our hypothesis, which proved to be true,wasthat if thedirectrix, ,wasarotationofa simple curve, , about an axis, then thedirectrix-generated surface would simply bea rotation of the directrix-generated curvegenerated by the directrix, , about thatsame axis. For example, in two dimensions,if thedirectrixwasa line,theresultantcurvewould be a parabola. Thus, if the directrixwasaplane(alinerotatedaboutanaxis),theresulting surface would be a paraboloid ofrevolution (see Fig. 9). If the directrixwas a


Figure 9. Anexampleofwhatwethoughtadirectrixgeneratedsurfacewouldlooklike.

morecomplicatedsurface,however,wewerenotsurewhattheresultwouldbe.

InordertobeginprogrammingMathematica®to find these directrix-generated surfaces, welookedatthevectorformofthedefinitionforthedirectrix-generatedcurves,

.

Inordertoextendthisdefinitiontosurfaces,weweregoingtoneedtomakesomechanges.Inthe2-Ddefinition,wehadtofindavectorthatwasperpendiculartothederivativeofthedirectrix.Inthe3-Dcase,however,wewouldhave to find a vector perpendicular to thetangentplaneofthedirectrix.Thususingthecrossproductofthetwopartialsof wehave,


. (9)

Programming this definition intoMathematica®,wewereabletofinddirectrix-generated surfaces. Figure 10 shows someexamplesofthesedirectrix-generatedsurfaces.Here the directrix is the more transparentsurface.

Reflective PropertyInterestingly, these directrix-generated

surfacesalsohaveareflectionpropertysimilartothatoftheirtwodimensionalcounterparts.As with curves, Drucker showed that usingthe traditional definition of reflection, onlya certain number of surfaceswill actually bereflective.3Thesesurfacesareplanes,spheres,paraboloids, ellipsoids, and hyperboloids.Again, our reflection property is broader,

thereforemoresurfacescanbeconsideredtohave this reflection property. Our reflectionproperty states that a line perpendicularto the directrix will reflect off the resultantsurface, if thesurface issmoothat thepointofintersection,insuchawaythatthelineofreflection passes through the focus (see Fig.11).

Theorem 2: Directrix generated surfacesarereflective.

Instead of trying to directly show that thepartial derivatives of wereperpendicularto anindirectroutewastaken.

Proof: By the definition of directrix-generatedsurfacesweknow

.

Wetakethepartialderivativewithrespecttoofbothsidesoftheequality,

Figure 10a.Thedirectrixisaparaboloidwiththefocusattheorigin


Figure 10b. Thedirectrixisasphereandthefocusisoffcenter.

Figure 10c. Thedirectrixisacylinderandthefocusisattheorigin.


Figure 11. Thereflectivepropertyforsurfaces.

Figure 10d. Thedirectrixisatorusandthefocusisattheorigin.


,

andweget

.

Wecansimplifythepreviousequationto

.

We know that .Thereforewecancanceloutthedenominatorsleaving .

Continuingweget,

However, we know by definition is perpendicular to . Thus the left-handside of the equation is zero which impliesthat . Therefore isperpendicularto .Byasimilarmethod,wecanshowthat isperpendicularto .Since isperpendiculartoboth and

, will be bisected by the tangentplane to the directrix-generated surface.Thisobservationcombinedwiththefact that

, shows that the line ofreflectiontravelsthroughthefocus.

CONCLUSIONWe investigated this interesting class of

directrix-generated curves. By expandingthe library of directrix-generated curves, wefound many examples with equaly interestingproperties.Oneofthese,theequiangularspiral,ledustothediscoverythatthedirectrix-generatedcurveresultingfromanequiangularspiralwithitsfocusattheoriginisanequiangularspiral.

Next we introduced an analogous class ofsurfaces.Thesedirectrix-generatedsurfacesaresimilartotheir2-Dcounterpartsinmanyways,nottheleastofwhichisthereflectionproperty.Both directrix-generated curves and surfacesoffera lotmore researchopportunities, sincewe have barely begun to investigate theintricaciesofthesecurvesandsurfaces.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses his gratitude to his

mentor,Dr.DanJoseph,forhisguidanceontheresearchproject.Thanks,aswell,toDr.GregHartmanforhisinsightsandcontributions,andtotheJackson-HopedonorsandVMIfundingthatsupportedthisresearch.

REFERENCES1R. Larson, R. P. Hostetler, and B. H. Edwards,

Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions,4thed.(HoughtonMifflin,Boston,2007).

2C. S. Oglivy, Excursions in Geometry, (OxfordUP,NewYork,1969).

3D.Drucker, “Reflection properties of curves andsurfaces,” Mathematics Magazine 65 (1992),147-157.

4G.Hartman,D.Joseph,andC.Gibson,“GeneralizedParabolas”(toappear).

5E.W.Weisstein,“LogarithmicSpiral,”MathWorld,lastaccessed:Jan28,2010<http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LogarithmicSpiral.html>

75


Effects of Estrogen on the Neuromuscular System in the

Embryonic Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

CadetAlexanderHouser

Faculty Mentor: Dr. James E. Turner, Professor of Biology

ABSTRACTEstrogen is important in maintaining nervous system axonal growth, synapse formation, and neurotransmitter release. Estrogen is produced in many tissues of the body, including the nervous system, by an enzyme called aromatase, which converts androgens to estrogen. When estrogen is removed from the embryonic zebrafish system by using an aromatase inhibiter (AI) 4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OH-A), the organism does not developmentally express normal sensory-motor (S-M) functions and creates a condition called “listless.” When estrogen replacement therapies were used in AI-treated fish, there was a considerable amount of S-M functional recovery, especially when measuring tactile responses. It can therefore be hypothesized that estrogen plays a vital role in the formation and maintenance of sensory and muscle synapses in the developing zebrafish. This hypothesis was tested in part through immunohistochemistry using the antibody against the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), which targets the synaptic vesicles that transport the acetylcholinergic neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters will activate the trunk muscles, allowing for the outward expression of the developing S-M behaviors. Specifically, fish at 48 hours post fertilization were treated with 4-OH-A at a 50 × 10-6 M concentration for three days, and controls were maintained in an isotonic solution. Morphometric data analysis indicated that there was an absence of vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) staining in the trunk skeletal muscles as a result of AI treatment. In contrast, estrogen replacement therapy, as a co-treatment in AI-treated fish, restored VAChT vesicle staining. Estrogen-treated fish exhibited a significantly higher number of VAChT profiles than did control fish. In addition, the primary motor neurons that stimulate the zebrafish trunk muscles and provide the acetylcholine neurotransmitter were visualized using a znp-1 antibody. These observations also demonstrated that estrogen deprivation significantly disrupts the branching and survival of these cells, which is corrected by estrogen replacement therapy. Therefore, data from these studies demonstrate that AI treatment denervates the zebrafish trunk skeletal muscles, which helps to explain their listless condition and demonstrates estrogen’s important role in


INTRODUCTIONRecently,estrogenhasbeenfoundnotonlyin

thereproductiveorgansandadrenalglands,butalsointhebrainofmammals,fish,andbirdsofbothsexes.2AccordingtoGarcia-Seguraetal.,thebodyrequiresacomplexestrogenhormoneresponsesystembecauseofestrogen’sroleasaneuroprotectantinthebrain.6Thedecreaseinestrogenconcentrations,as inmenopause,canbecorrelatedwiththeonsetofAlzheimer’sdiseaseandage-relatedmaculardegeneration.Inaddition,cognitiveabilitiesinvertebratesareattheirhighestwhensufficientneuro-estrogenis present.10,14 There is also valid evidenceshowing that estrogen can reduce damagedoneduringstrokeandasuddenlossofoxygenflow to thebrain. Estrogenalsoplaysa rolein regenerating facial and peripheral nerveaxonsinmammals.18Estrogenhasalsobeenshowntobeimportantinmaintainingsynapseformation, axonal growth, neurotransmitterrelease, and ionic concentrations in thedevelopingandmaturenervoussystem.20

Estrogenisasteroidalhormonethatisderivedfromcholesterol. Inorder forestrogentobeproduced,anenzymeknownasaromatase isrequiredtoaidintheconversionoftestosteroneorandrostenedionetoestrogen.Thearomataseinhibitor 4-hydroxyandrostenedione (4-OH-A)competesfortheactivesiteagainstthenaturalsubstratemoleculeandrostenedione. 4-OH-Ais a steroidal AI and binds irreversibly to thearomataseenzyme.7 Inshort, theadditionofanaromataseinhibitortothezebrafish’ssystemhas been demonstrated to cease productionof estrogen, thus leaving the fish estrogen-deprived.22 Zebrafish in particular containtwogenes thatare responsible forconvertingandrogensintoestrogen.Thesetwogenesarecalled cyp19a and cyp19b and produce theenzymes cytochrome P450 aromaA, foundin theovary,andcytochromeP450aromaB,found in the brain.4 Interestingly, teleostfish have concentrations of aromatase in thebrain 100-1000 times greater than those inmammals.10

Thezebrafishisanidealmodelorganismforthisareaofstudyforseveralreasons.Zebrafish

embryosmatureinseveraldays,whichallowsforthestartandfinishofexperimentsinashorttime period. Also, researchers can observeorgan development because the zebrafishis transparent. The aqueous environmentof embryonic fish allows it to readily absorbtreatments. 14,18 When the zebrafish areexposed to an aromatase inhibitor, theydevelopa condition termed “listless.”11 Thelistlessfishexhibit significantly suppressedorabsentsensory-motorfunctionsincludingtactileresponse,vestibularresponse,eyemovement,fin movement, and spontaneous movement.Sincethefishhavelittletonosensory-motorfunction,theyareessentiallyparalyzed.Fromthisdataahypothesiswasdevelopedthatstatesthatthelistlessmodelischaracterizedinpartby the lackof the formationormaintenanceof neuronal synapses in the neuromuscularsystemofembryoniczebrafishduetoestrogendeprivation.Thestudy’sfindingsconfirmthishypothesis. Specifically, we report that inAI-treatedfishthere isanabsenceofstainedvesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT)vesicles at the neuromuscular junction, inadditiontosignificantdeficitsinmotorneuronbranchingandsurvival,whicharerestoredbyestrogenco-treatmentwithAIadministration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Zebrafish preparationEmbryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio, F2 wild

typeembryos,strainAB)betweentheagesof48and96hourspostfertilization(hpf)wereusedinallexperiments.TheywerebredeitheratVMIor at a breeding facility in Oregon (ZebrafishInternational Resource Center, University ofOregon,Eugene).Protease(Sigma)wasusedto dechorionate the embryos upon arrival inordertoexposethefishtovarioustreatmentsprior to their normal hatching time. Anaverageof80-100fishwereusedineachtrial,withaminimumofthreetrialsperexperiment.The standard control group consisted of fivefishandtheexperimentalgroupsrangedfromfive to10fish. Also, thefishwereplaced inacontrolled-environmentchamberthroughout

Houser/EffectsofEstrogenontheNeuromuscularSystemintheEmbryonicZebrafish 77

the experimental trials to maintain constanttemperature(28.5oC)andlightcycles(12:12).

TreatmentsThe zebrafish were placed in a variety of

differentsolutionsinordertodeterminetheirreactiontoagiventreatment.Thearomataseinhibitor 4-hydroxy androstenedione (4-OH-A) (Sigma) was used at a concentrationof 50 ×10-6 M and estrogen (17-estradiol,Sigma)ataconcentrationof10-8or10-6M.Both estrogen and 4-OH-A (Sigma) weredissolvedin0.05%ethanolanddilutedtotheappropriateconcentrationwithanegg-rearingsolution (ERS) composed of 0.04g CaCl2,0.163gMgSO4,1.0gNaCl,0.03gKClin1Lofdistilledwater.Theco-treatmentconsistedof a solution of 50 x 10-6M AI and 10-8 Mestrogen.ControlswereexposedtoanERSsolution containing 0.05% ethanol. Themediumwasexchangedevery24hours.

ExPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

Tactile response-AI pulseIn order to determine if estrogen could

accelerate the developmental appearance ofthetactileresponse(TR),fishat48hpfwerepulsed in AI for 24 hours prior to startingthe experiment (until 72 hpf). At 72 hpf,approximately eight to 10 fish were placedinwellscontainingAI(50x10-6M),ERS,orestrogen(1x10-6M).TRdatawerecollectedoverthenext48hours,in24-hourincrements(96and120hpf).

VAChT and znp-1 stainingFish at 48 hpf were treated with AI (50

×10-6 M), estrogen (10-8 M), AI + estrogenco-treatment, or ERS solutions for 48hours (96 hpf). After completion of thisinitial treatment, all embryos were fixedin 4% para-formaldehyde.3 In order todetermine the effect that estrogen has onthe neuromuscular synapse, in situ whole-mountimmunohistochemicalprocedureswere

employed. The antibody usedwas vesicularacetylcholine transporter (VAChT, goat,Millipore), which stains for the vesicles thatcarryacetylcholineintheboutonofthenerveterminals19, and znp-1 (mouse, ZFIN), whichstains for the CaP primary motor neuronsthat innervate the zebrafish trunk muscles.21Antibodyhistochemistry involved the indirectmethod. Specifically, VAChT was localizedusing the Vectastain Elite ABC kit (goatIgG,VECTORLaboratories), and znp-1waslocalized using the Vectastain Elite ABC kit(mouse IgG, VECTOR Laboratories). Thekit was used in accordance with themanufacturer’sinstructions.Diaminobenzidine(DAB, VECTOR Laboratories), the chosensubstrate, left a brown stain indicating thepresence of the antibody. The VAChTprimary antibody was diluted to 1:1,600,the znp-1 primary antibody was diluted to1:100, and the secondary antibodies weredilutedinaccordancewiththemanufacturer’sinstructions.TheDABpre-soaksolutionwasmade by adding 25µl DAB stock solution,1ml 0.1M PO4 buffer, 1ml dH20, and 20µlDMSO.2 The stained whole-mounts werephotographed using a Nikon C1 confocalmicroscope.

DATA ANALySIS

Tactile responseData was collected every 24 hours over a

48-hour time period. To measure tactileresponse,eachfishwastouchedwithametalprobe, and escape responses were observedusing a dissecting microscope. If the fishreacted in any way to the stimulus, it wasrecordedasapositivetactileresponse.

VAChT and znp-1 data collectionAfter immunohistochemical staining was

complete, the fish were placed on slides aswhole-mounts. For VAChT, the stainedpunctate vesicles were counted in the trunkmusculartissueabovetheanalporeoveranarea


of7.8×10-3µm2,measuredusingagriddedgraticule. For znp-1-treated fish, the stainedCaPmotorneuronswerecountedthroughouttheentirezebrafish.ThenbranchpointsoffofCaPmotorneuronsaroundtheanalporewerecounted and averaged. Finally, the distancefromthetipofthetailtothefirststainedCaPmotor neuron was measured using a griddedgraticule.Measurementsweremadeat200XusingaNikonEclipseE800microscope.

Statistical analysisSeveral types of statistical analysis were

used to determine if the data collected wasstatistically significant. For the estrogen-accelerated tactile response experiment, az-testwasused.ForVAChTandznp-1,aone-way ANOVA was employed. The programSigmaStatwasusedinthesecalculations.

RESULTS

Estrogen replacement therapy accelerates tactile response development in embryonic zebrafish

After the fish had been pulsed in AIfor 24-hours and placed in either ERS or10-8 M estrogen, the estrogen-treated fishdemonstrateda36%greater tactileresponserecoverythanthefishtreatedwithERS(Figure1).However,atDay2,ERS-treatedfishhadcaught up with tactile response expression,and there was only an 8.3% differencebetween the two values. This significantdifference(p>0.008)atDay1,butnotatDay2(p<0.05),showedthatestrogendoesinfacthaveagreaterabilitytoacceleratetherecoveryofAI-treatedfishthanjustastandardisotonic

Figure 1.Estrogentreatment(10-8Mindicatedas10^-8EP)acceleratestherecoveryofthetactileresponse(TR) in embryonic zebrafish after initially being pulsed with 50 X 10-6 M 4-OH-A for a 24-hour period(indicatedbyAI).Thedatawereobtainedafter24and48hoursofestrogenexposurepostAIwashout(96and120hpfrespectively).ControlsweretreatedwithERSafterAIwashout(indicatedasERSP).TheAI-treatedfishdisplaylittletonoTRrecoveryover48hours.TheestrogentreatmentatDay1had36%morefishdisplayTRthanintheERStreatment(asterisk=p<0.008).After48hours,boththeERSandestrogentreatmentsshowfullrecoverywithonlyan8.3%differencebetweenthetwotreatments(p<0.05).ThereforeestrogenappearstoacceleratetheearlyrecoveryoftheTR.

Estrogen Accelerated TR Recovery After AI Washout

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Figure 2.PhotomicrographsdepictingtheeffectsofestrogenandAItreatmentsontheimmunohistochemicalvisualizationofVAChT-stainedvesiclesat48hoursoftreatment(120hpf).A)TheERS-treatedfishstainedpositive for theVAChT vesicles carrying acetylcholine in the pre-synaptic region of the neuromuscularjunction(arrowspointtovesicles).B)TheAI-treated(50X10-6M)fishdemonstratednoVAChTvesicles.C)TherecoveryofstainedvesiclesinAIplusestrogenco-treatedfish.D)Thetrunkmusculatureofanestrogen-treated(10-8M)fishdemonstratesthattherearemorevesicleswhencomparedtoERScontrols.Fromthisdata,theinferencethatestrogendoesinfactplayaroleinthemaintenanceofthepre-synapticregionoftheneuromuscularsystemcanbemade.Figures2A-Dweretakenat200xmagnification.

solutionduringtheearlystagesoftreatment.

Estrogen has a significant impact on the vesicles carrying acetylcholine to the neuromuscular junction

Photomicroscopic VAChT immunohisto-chemistryresultsaredisplayed inFigures2A-D.The trunk of an ERS-treated zebrafish displayseveralgroupingsofstainedvesicles,whichcanbe identifiedas blackdots scattered throughoutthemuscle(Figure2A).InAI-treatedfish,thereappearstobealackofstainedvesiclesthroughoutthe trunk musculature (Figure 2B). The trunkmusculatureofanestrogen-treatedfishappearstoexhibitmorevesiclespresentwhencomparedto all other treated fish (Figure 2C). Finally,co-treated fish display stained vesicles althoughlessthanthecontrol(Figure2D).

Morphometric analysis corroborates thelight microscopic observations (Figure 3).

Specifically, fish treated with estrogen had asignificantlyhighernumberofvesicles (34.1%,p<0.025) than the controls treatedwith ERS.The AI-treated fish demonstrated no visiblevesicles, but fish exposed with a co-treatmentdemonstratedasignificantrestorationofvesicleswhencomparedwiththeAI-treatedfish.Asanadditional control,ERS-treatedfish lacking theprimary antibodyVAChT exhibited no stainedvesicles.

Estrogen affects the development of CaP primary motor neurons and their branch points

Samples from ERS, AI, co-treatment, andestrogen treatments were stained via znp-1immunohistochemical techniques. All fourtreatmentgroupsdisplayedznp-1-stainedCaPprimarymotorneurons (Figure4). However,thereweredifferencesamongthevariousgroupswhenlookingatthenumberofaxonspresentin


thefish,thenumberofbranchpoints,andhowfardownthetailtheneuronsarepresent.TheAI-treatedfishhadfeweraxonspresent(Figure5), fewer branch points (Figure 6), and CaPneuronswereabsentinthetailregion(Figure7)whencomparedtotheotherthreetreatments.Specifically,theAI-treatedfishhadonaveragefourfewerCaPmotorneuronsthantheERS-,estrogen-,andco-treatedfish(p=0.009,0.010,and0.013respectively).WhenlookingatthenumberofbranchpointsprojectingoffoftheCaPmotorneurons,theobservationwasmadethatAI-treatedfishhadasignificantreductioninthebranchpointswhencomparedtoERS-,estrogen-,andco-treatedfish(p=0.013,0.009,and0.025respectively).Also,estrogen-treatedfishappearedtohaveanincreasednumberofbranchpointswhen compared to the controlERS-treatedfish (p=0.017). Onaverage, the

estrogen-treatedfishhadabout3morebranchpointsperCaPmotorneuronthanERS-treatedfish.Finally,inthetailregionofthezebrafish,AI-treatedfishhadasignificantamountofCaPaxon degeneration when compared to ERS-,estrogen-, and co-treated fish (p=0.009,0.010,0.013 respectively). Onaverage, theAI-treatedfishweredenervatedabout20mmx10-2furtherupthetailanteriorlythantheotherthreetreatmentgroups.

DISCUSSIONResultsfromthisstudyshowedthatestrogen

acceleratedtherecoveryofthetactileresponseinzebrafishaftera24-hourAI-washout.Inotherwords,physiologicaldosesofestrogenappeartohave the ability to accelerate the repair of

*VAChT Labeled Vesicles

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Figure 3.ThemorphometricanalysisoftheeffectofestrogenandAI-treatmentsonVAChTantibody-labeledvesiclesat48hrsoftreatment(120hpf).TheERS-treatedfishhadasignificantlygreaternumberofstainedvesicleswhencomparedtoAI(50X10-6M)treatment.Fishtreatedwithestrogen(10-8M)hadapproximately34.1%morevesiclesthanthecontrolERS(p<0.025)andfishtreatedwithaco-treatment(10-8Mestrogen+50X10-6MAI)hadonly20.2%lessvesiclesthantheERScontrols(p<0.05).TheAI-treatedfishexhibitednovisiblevesicles.ERS-treatedfishlackingtheprimaryantibodyVAChT(ERS+noPA)demonstratednovesicles.Asterisksindicateasignificantdifferencebetweenallvalues.


Figure 4.PhotomicrographsdepictingtheeffectsofestrogenandAItreatmentsontheimmunohistochemicalvisualizationofznp-1-stainedCaPprimarymotorneuronsat48hoursoftreatment(120hpf).AlltreatmentgroupsstainedpositivelyfortheCaPprimarymotorneuron.Figure4A-DrepresentsERS,AI,co-treatment,andestrogenrespectively.Theimagesweretakenat200Xmagnification.

Number of Neurons Per Fish Length

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Figure 5.ThemorphometricanalysisoftheeffectofERS,estrogen,co-treatment,andAItreatmentsonznp-1antibodylabeledCaPprimarymotorneuronsat48hrsoftreatment(120hpf).TheERS-,estrogen-(EST),andco-treated(COT)fishhadsignificantlymoreCaPneuronsalongtheentirelengthofthefish(p=0.009,0.010,and0.013respectfully)thanintheAI-treatedgroup.TheaveragenumberofneuronsalongtheentiretrunkintheERS-,estrogen-,andco-treatedfishwerenotsignificantlydifferent(p>0.05).


theS-Maspectofthenervoussystem.Currentliteraturehas suggested that estrogenhas theability to repair some neurological damageandplaysaneuroprotective role in thebody,with particular roles in maintaining synapseformation,axonalgrowth,andneurotransmitterreleaseinthenervoussystem.6,20Estrogenalsoappearstohelpintheregenerationoffacialandperipheralnerveaxonsinmammals.15Theseresults fromthe literaturehelp toconfirmthedatadescribedinthecurrentstudy.

Based on current results, there was asignificantdifferenceinthenumberofVAChTsynapticvesiclesinERS-,estrogen-,co-treatedandAI-treatedfish. Itwashypothesizedthatthe AI-treated fish’s lack of estrogen wouldcauseadenervation-likephenomenon in theneuromuscularjunctionofthezebrafish,whichwould help explain the listless condition.

Results from the current study validatedthe original hypothesis: estrogen is vital inmaintainingahealthysynapse.VAChTstainsspecifically forAch-containingvesicles in thenerveterminalsattheneuromuscularjunctionandnovesicleswerevisible in theAI-treatedfish, but co-treatment partially restored thiscondition.Incorrelationofthesefindings,theliteraturehasshownthatestrogendeprivationresults in the degeneration of synapses inmammals.20Specifically,inarecentstudydonein thehippocampalregion inovariectomizedrats, the aromatase inhibitor letrozole hadsignificant effects on the down-regulationof synapses in the spine and presynapticboutons.9 In the environment it has beensuggestedthatestrogencontaminantsappeartoactasendocrinedisruptors,whichcouldhelptoexplainthecauseofpoorneurotransmitter

Figure 6. Themorphometricanalysisof theeffectofERS-,estrogen-,co-treatment,andAI-treatmentsonznp-1antibodylabeledaxonbranchingpointsofCaPprimarymotorneuronsat48hrsoftreatment(120hpf).TheERS-,estrogen-(EST),andco-treatedtreatedfishhadsignificantlymorebranchingpointswhencomparedtoAI-treatedfish(p=0.013,0.009,and0.025respectfully).TherewasalsoasignificantdifferencebetweentheERS-andestrogen-treatedfish(p=0.017)inthatestrogencausedanincreaseinthenumberofbranchpointsabovethatofcontrolvalues.

Average Number of CaP Branch PointsN

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functioninseveralneuromusculardiseases.1

The data collected from the CaP motorneuron studies help shed additional lighton estrogen’s role in axonal formation andmaintenance.AlthoughalltreatmentgroupsstainedpositiveforCaPmotorneurons,therewere still significant differences includingthe number of branch points, total numberof axons in the fish, and a lack of neuronsin the tail region. The observation that alltreatmentgroupshavepositively-stainedCaPneurons shows that estrogen’s role in theneuromuscularsystemmightbemoreheavilyfocused in the nerve terminal ends thanoriginallythought.

These current findings help explain themechanism for the listless condition. Ascurrently reported, AI treatment causes the

lack of synaptic vesicles in cholinergic nerveendings of the neuromuscular junction dueto lack of endogenous estrogen initiatedby AI treatment. These findings open thepossibilities for further research in thiszebrafish model regarding estrogen’s role innervous system development, maintenance,andneuromusculardiseases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSTheauthorwould like to thankDr.Turner

forhismentorshipandleadershipinthisstudyasa facultyadvisor. Theauthoralso thanksMr.TedGrigorieff,Mr.SpencerKimori,andMr.ChrisMcNairfortheirexpertcareofthezebrafishcolonyaswellastheDepartmentof

Distance to First Motor Neuron in the TailRegion

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Figure 7.ThemorphometricanalysisoftheeffectofERS,estrogen,co-treatment,andAItreatmentsonznp-1antibodylabeledCaPprimarymotorneuronsinthetailregionat48hrsoftreatment(120hpf).Specifically,measurementsweremadefromthetipofthespinalcordtowherethefirstCaPmotorneuronscouldbeseenanteriorly. Thegreater thedistance, themoreevidence there is forCaPmotorneurondegeneration. Theco-treated (COT), estrogen- (EST), andERS-treatedfishwere significantly further innervateddown the tailregionwithintactCaPmotor(p=0.009,0.010,and0.013respectfully)thanintheAItreatedgroup.TherewasnosignificantdifferenceintheaveragedistanceofdeinnervationinthetailregionoftheERS,estrogen,andco-treatedfish.ThesedatasuggestaninitialposteriortoanteriorgradientofCaPmotorneurondegenerationsinresponsetoAItreatment.


BiologyandtheVMIUndergraduateResearchInitiative,whichhavesogenerouslysupportedthisresearch.

REFERENCES1R.A. Alyea and C.S. Watson. “Differential

regulationofdopaminetransporterfunctionandlocationbylowconcentrationsofenvironmentalestrogensand17beta-estradiol,”EnvironHealthPerspect117,778-83(2009).

2K.A. Bates, A.R. Harvey, M. Carruthers, andR.N. Martins, “Androgens, andropause andneurodegeneration: Exploring the link betweensteroidogenesis, androgens, and Alzheimer’sdisease,”CellMol.Life.Sci.62,281-292(2005).

3R. BreMiller, “Solutions for Antibody StainingProtocols,”<www.zfin.com>

4G.V. Callard, A.V. Tchoudakova, M. Kishida,and E. Wood, “Differential tissue distribution,developmentalprogramming,estrogenregulationand promoter characteristics of cy19 genes inteleost fish,”J. SteroidBiochem.Mol.Biol.79,305-314(2001).

5D.F. Chen, G.E. Schneider, J.C. Martinou, andS. Tonegawa, “Bcl-2 promotes regenerationof severed axons in mammalian CNS,” Nature385,434-439(1997).

6L.M. Garcia-Segura, I. Axoitia, L.L. Doncarlos,“Neuroprotectionbyestradiol,”Prog.Neurobiol.63,29-60(2001).

7N.Harda,S.I.Honda,andO.Hatano,“AromataseInhibitors and Enzyme Stability,” Endocrine-RelatedCancer6,211-218(1999).

8K.H.Holin,F.Cicchetti,L.Bjorklund,“Enhancedaxonalgrowthfromfetalhumanbcl-2transgenicmousedopamineneuronstransplantedtotheadultratstriatum,”Neurosci.104,397-405(2001).

9O.Kretzetal,“HippocampalSynapsesDependonHippocampalEstrogenSynthesis,”J.Neurosci.5,5913-5920(2004).

10S.D. Moffat SD, A.B. Zonderman, E.J. Metter,C.Kawas,M.R.Blackman,S.M.Harman,S.M.Reanick, “Free testerone and risk forAlzheimerdisease inoldermen,”Neurobiol.62,188-193(2004).

11B. Nelson,B., R.P.Henriet, A.W. Holt, A. W.,K. C. Bopp, A.P. Houser, O.E. Allgood, andJ.E. Turner, “The role of estrogen on the

developmental appearance of sensory-motorbehaviors in the zebrafish (Danio rerio): Thecharacterization of the listless model,” BrainRes.1222,118-128(2008).

12S.K. Powers, A. Kavazis, K. DeRuisseau,“Mechanisms of disuse muscle atrophy: role ofoxidative stress,”Am. J.Physiol.Regul. Integr.Comp.Physiuol.288,R337-344(2005).

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14J.W. Simpkins, S-H Yang, Y. Wen, and M.Singh, “Estrogens, projestins, menopauseand neurodegeneration: Basic and clinicalstudies,”CMLS,Cell.Mol.LifeSci.62,271-280(2005).

15J.F. Soustiel, . Palzur, O. Nevo, I.Thaler, andE. Vlodavsky, “Neuroprotective anti-apoptoticeffectofestrogens intraumaticbrain injury,”J.Neurotrauma.22,345-352(2005).

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17T.Suguira,N.Ito,K.Goto,H.Naito,T.Yoshioka,and S.K.Powers, “Estrogen administrationattenuates immobilization-induced skeletalmuscleatrophyinmalerats,”J.Physiol.Sci.56,393-399(2006).

18L. Tazar and K.J. Jones, “Neurotherapeuticaction of testosterone on hamster facial nerveregeneration: temporal window of effects,”HormonesandBehavior45,339-344(2004).

19E.Weihe,J-HTao-Cheng,Schafer,M.K.H.,J.D.Erickson,andL.E.Eiden,L.E., “Visualizationof the vesicular acetylch9oline transporter incholinergic nerve terminals and its targeting toaspecificpopulationofsmallsynapticvesicles,”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 93, 3547-3552(1996).

20P.M. Wise, D.B. Dubal, M.E. Wilson, S.W.Rau, and L. Liu, “Estrogens: Trophic andProtective Factors in the Adult Brain. Front,”Neuroendocrinol22,33-60(2001).

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85


INTRODUCTION

Thomas Jefferson National AcceleratorFacility’s electron beam can reach energiesofupto6GeV,easilyknockingoutnucleonsfromtargets.Detectingneutronshasbeenofhigh interest inmanyexperiments, includingpast and future short-range correlationexperiments.1-3 Scientists at Jefferson Lab’sHallAwanted tobeable todetectneutronsmore efficiently, so they decided to expand

Assembling and Testing a Neutron Detector

CadetDominikWermus

Research Mentor: Dr. Doug Higinbotham Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Newport News, VA)

ABSTRACTDetecting neutrons is of high interest in experiments at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Scientists use neutron detectors made of rectangular bars of scintillating plastic releases with PMTs (photomultiplier tubes) attached to each end. When charged particles pass through, scintillating plastic releases photons, which activate the light-sensitive PMTs. Neutrons have a small but known probability of colliding with nuclei in the plastic and releasing protons, which in turn produce light and are detected. A two-inch wall of lead shields the experiment from correlated pairs blocking out nearly all charged particles, making the array of scintillator bars a neutron detector. For several upcoming experiments in Hall A, scientists wished to add twenty-four one-meter-long bars to an existing detector. There were three stages to the project: physically assembling the bars, setting up the data acquisition system, and testing the detector with cosmic rays (high-energy particles from deep space). PMTs were taken from old bars, cleaned, tested and glued onto new scintillator bars. A data acquisition system composed of an ADC (analog-to-digital converter) and TDC (time-to-digital converter) was assembled, allowing for calibration and testing with cosmic rays. The energy deposited by the passage of cosmic rays was used to set the high-voltage power supplies of the PMTs. Once set, the known cosmic ray rate of 100 rays/m2·s was verified. These detectors will be used for experiments such as E07-006 (Studying Short-Range Correlations via the Triple Coincidence (e, e’pn) Reaction) to detect neutrons released from a correlation pairs of nucleons.

thecurrentdetector,HAND(HallANeutronDetector)byaddingtwolayersofscintillatingplasticbars.Thesebarscouldeitherbeaddedbehind the existing detector or be giventheirowntrigger layerandactasaseparatedetector.

Scintillatingplasticgivesoffaconstantglowbecausechargedparticlespassingthroughthematerialcause theelectrons toemitphotonsin the visible spectrum. The more energeticthe charged particle, the more photons are


released. A particle detector can be madesimply by gluing a light detector to a bar ofscintillator and wrapping it in masking tape(blocking out ambient light). Specifically, theHANDismadeupofmeter-longrectangularbarscovered inblackmaskingtapewithonephotomultiplier tube (PMT) attached to eachend. There are eighty-eight bars in total,standing vertically in five rows back-to-back.(Figure1).

Since neutrons have no net charge, theyare not explicitly detected by scintillators.Instead, a neutron has a small probabilityof hitting a nucleus and releasing a proton,which then releases photons in the plastic.10cm-thickbarswilldetectabout10%oftheneutronspassingthrough.Anotherbarplacedbehind the first will detect another 10% oftheincidentneutrons(19%total),andsoon.Unwanted chargedparticles such as protonsand electrons must be filtered out; this isdone with a thin layer of “veto” bars whichhavevery littlechanceofdetectingneutrons,but almost certainlydetect chargedparticles.Signals given in the veto layer are used toremove charged particle events off-line. Atwo-inchleadwallinthehallcanalsobeusedtofilteroutchargedparticlesbeforetheyeverreachthedetector.

A neutron detector is simply a charged-particle detector that uses electronics andshielding to filter out unwanted particles.Neutrons release charged particles throughnuclear reactions inside the detector itself.There were three phases to the project:physicallyassemblingthebars,hookingupthedata acquisition system (DAQ) andhardwaresystems,andperformingthecosmicraytests.

PHySICAL ASSEMBLyThe bars, ordered from Kent State

University,aremadeof100cmlong,10x25cmrectangularclearscintillatingplastic(Figure2). Two triangular “light guides” with PMTsattached are fixed at each end. The entirebodyofthebar iswrappedinblackmaskingtapetoshieldoutambient light.Twenty-fournew bars were ordered, so forty-eight PMTswouldbeneeded.

Hall A’s storage shack contained an olddetectingarray, thescintillatorbarsofwhichhad yellowed from use. The attached PMTs(Photonis XP4578/B) were still functional,anditwasbudget-wisetoreusethem.Atotalofforty-twoweresalvaged(saving$136,000)by cutting through the silicon glue whilebeingcarefulnottocauseanyshockorheavy

Figure 1. TheHAND(HallANeutronDetector)withadiagramontheleftandphotoontheright.

Wermus/AssemblingandTestingaNeutronDetector 87

vibrations that would break the sensitivevacuum-sealed chambers. The PMTs werereturnedtothetestlab,wherethesurfaceofeachPMTwascleanedwithalcoholtoremoveanysmudgeswhichwouldblockoutlight.

ThePMTlooksandbehaves likeareverseflashlight;whenasinglephotonmakescontactwith its thin metal surface, a single electronis released, which then makes contact withother cathodes, causing a cascade of moreandmoreelectronsuntilanoticeablesignalismade.PMTsare extremely sensitive andareoverwhelmedifexposedtonormallight.

ThePMThastwoparts:thevacuum-sealed,5”-diameter glass-surface photon receptorandtheelectronicbaseattachedtotheotherend.Thebasehastwocableplugs:onehigh-voltageforpoweringthedeviceandonelow-voltagefordeliveringasignal toacomputer.After being cleaned, each individual PMTwasmountedinsidea“blackbox”;amodified

toolbox made to seal out all ambient lightwhenshut.ThePMTwasconnectedinsidethebox,andcableswereconnectedfromtheboxtoapowersourceandanoscilloscope(Figure3). The power source delivered over 2000volts, though the voltage to each PMT waslateradjusted.TheoscilloscopegaveavisualreadingofthePMT’soutputsignal.

ThePMTswerefirstturnedonandassessedfor“noise”;ifnotreceivinganylight,thePMTshouldproduceonlyaverysmallsignalcomingfrom thermal electrons within. Good PMTswould fluctuate in the five millivolt region,whileotherswouldgiveoutputsinthedozensofmillivoltsregion,renderingthemunusable.However, this readingoften signaled amereproblemwiththePMT’sbaseratherthanthecomplex cavity. Replacing the base was farcheaperthanreplacingthevacuumcavity.Ofthe 42 PMTs, 37 had good bases, and fiveneeded replacement. These replacementswere taken from other spares at the lab.OnePhotonisXP4572/BandfivemoreEMI9823KB PMT bases were taken from othersparesatthelab.

In testing each PMT, a small, rectangularpiece of scintillating plastic was pasted ontothe surface with a clear, sticky, non-dryingglue. The PMT-scintillator combination wasplaced again in the blackbox, powered andattached to an oscilloscope. Though theblackbox would shut out ambient light and

Figure 2. The type of scintillator bar used in thissetup;PMTsareattachedonbothends.

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Figure 3. TestingaPMTtoseeifitstillworks.Ontheleft,theclosedblackboxconnectedtoapowersourceandanoscilloscope.Ontheright,zoomedinshowingaPMTwithasmallpieceofscintillatorattachedtodetectcosmicrays.Withthissizescintillator,therateofparticlesdetectedwasabout1.6hitspersecond.


charge, thescintillatorwouldstillgivea faintamountoflightfromthecosmicrayspassingthrough. Cosmic rays are highly energeticparticlesthatcomefromdeepspaceandpassthroughtheEarthataconstantrate.Primarycosmic rays are usually highly relativisticprotons. These protons collide with cosmicdustorozoneintheatmosphere,breakingupintosecondarycosmicrays,whichareusuallyrelativisticmesonsandotherexoticparticles.Approximately75%ofwhatfinallyreachestheEarth’ssurfacearemuons,orheavyelectrons.It is expected that one hundred of thesesecondarycosmicrayspassthroughasquaremeter every second.4 For this small pieceofplastic, about 8 × 20 centimeters and halfa centimeter thin,we expected to get about

,which corresponded to what was observedontheoscilloscope:aboutthreehitsforeverytwoseconds.A“hit”couldbeseenasastrongspikeinnegativevoltage,whichhappenedinthecourseofonlyafewnanoseconds.

Once thePMTsweredetermined ready foruse, thenext stepwas to attach them to thebars. A clear adhesive called Elastosil® wasused to glue the surfaceof eachPMT to theunwrapped end of each bar. The chemicalconsistsoftwoparts,Elastosil®AandB,and

must be combined prior to use. Elastosil® isa siliconglue,and isusefulbecause it isbothhard to break physically, while easy to breakchemically(withmostsolvents).Thecompoundisfirstmixed(90%partA,10%partB),with200 grams being enough to use for four orfivePMTs.Airbubblesfromthemixturewereremoved using a blow drier, and then a thinlayerwasappliedtothesurfaceofthebar.

Becausethegluetakestwenty-fourhourstodry,thebarsneededtobeplaceduprightandPMTsbalancedontop(Figure4).Fivebarsata time were strapped upright to an A-frameandbalanced,thebottomsheldincustom-builtstandsgivenbyKentStateUniversity.Thegluewasapplied,andeachPMTwasattachedandtapedonsidestothebarforextrasupport.Thiswasadelicateprocess,asthebarsweighclosetoonehundredpoundseach,andthePMTscaneasilyshatterifamoderateforceactsonthem.HarderstillwasplacingthesecondPMTonthebar’sotherend;thebarshadtobesuspendedanextrafootofftheground.

A bar was considered complete when ithadtwoPMTsattached,andallitsremainingexposedareaswererewrappedinatleasttwolayers of masking tape. Each bar was theninspectedforlightleaks(holesinthetapewhichwould allow ambient light in) by connecting

Figure 4. Ontheleft,standingthescintillatorbarsupright,balancingthemandsecuringthem.Ontheright,gluingthePMTsonandallowingthemtodryovera24-hourperiod.


eachPMTcoveringthebarwithablackwoolblanket.Partsof theblanketwouldbe lifted,and if a signal began to appear, a flashlightwould be used to pinpoint the specific areawheretheleakwaspresent.Onceallthebarsweretested,theywereneatlystackedinawaythat the PMTs would not touch each other.NineteenbarswereconstructedandtestedinthismannerbutfivemorehadEMI9823KB

PMTswithoutbases,andcouldnotbetested.Fivecompletebarswerethenstackedtogethertomimicthefinaldetectorproduct.Fourbarswere laid flat side-by side, and another wasplaced on top, intersecting them (Figure 5).The ten PMTs were powered with 2000Vfrom a high-voltage power supply. The low-voltagedatacableswereconnectedtotherestofthedataacquisitionsystem(DAQ).

Figure 5. Onearrangementofbarsusedforcosmicraytesting,withthebarontopactingasthetrigger.

Figure 6. Ontheleft,thefullelectronicsarraywithcablesattached;fromtopdown,anoscilloscope,variouselectronics units (amplifier, discriminator, gate generator,ADC output), high voltage power source,TDCoutput.TheADCsandTDCsareconnectedtoaVME,whichsendsthedatatothecomputer.Ontheright,partoftheelectronicsarraywiththeoscilloscopeontop,readingaPMT’soutput.Notethedipinthesignal:thishighlightedsignalisalow-energycosmicray(~100millivolts),withsomehigher-energyrays’readings(~200millivolts)fadingaway.Thesignalisabitlessthan200nanosecondswide.


THE DATA ACQUISITION SySTEM

The DAQ was composed of two parts:theanalog-to-digitalconverter (ADC),whichmeasuredthestrengthofthesignal,andtime-to-digital converter (TDC), which measuredwhenthesignaloccurred.Becauseaconstantcollection of events would overwhelm thecomputer,windowsof timeor“gates”wereused to determine when data would berecorded. With four bars on the floor andone spread on top, the top bar acted as a“trigger.”Fromabove,acosmicraywouldgothrough the trigger, startinga timing“gate”for data to be recorded in the other bars.In a matter of nanoseconds, the ray wouldcontinue, activate the other bars it passedthrough,andasignalwouldberecordedandsent to the computer.Measuring the timingandstrengthofthesignalofallthePMTsontwo bars, the path of the cosmic ray could

be determined. With a large collection ofdata,boththerateandangulardistributionofcosmicrayspassingthroughtheEarthcouldbecalculated.

Awindowof about200nanosecondswasneeded to record the energy deposited by acosmicray.Whenaraywouldfirstpassthroughthetriggerbar,thetriggerPMTswouldactivate,sendingtheirtwosignalstoacoincidenceunit.Iftheyoccurredsimultaneously,theunitwouldactivateandsendasignaltoagategenerator.Onecopyofthissignalwassentthroughaboutthree and a half-meters of delay cables (asignaltravelsthroughcableat17centimeterspernanosecond),back to thegategeneratorwhichclosedthegate,andanothertoatimingdevice(Figure6).

ThereweretenchannelsforthetendifferentPMTs. Each PMT had a cable which sent asignal to a10x amplifier, allowing for betterdistinguishingofthedifferentsignals,andthen

Figure 7. Discriminator Level (mV) vs. Count Rate (events/s).The discriminator set the minimum of thestrengthsignalswereallowedtopassthrough.Thesignalstrength-to-particleenergyratioisabout4mV/MeV.Thiswastoblockoutnoiseandlow-energychargedparticlesintheTestLabarea.Thoughtherateof20events/scorrespondedto150mV,othersettingsalsosawsuccessfulruns.Accordingtomeasurements,anysettingpast300mVreducedtheratetoaveryslow2events/sorless,andsettingslessthan50mVsawanexponentialincreaseineventrate.A“sweetspot”of75mVwasusedforsomeoftherunsintestingthedetectorbars.

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toadiscriminator.Thediscriminatorwas settoacceptsignalsonlyaboveacertainvoltage,blocking noise and low-energy particles. Ifaccepted, two copies were made. The firstsignals went to the computer as the ADCs.The second signals went to a timing devicewhichoutputtheTDCs.TheADCsignalwastheintegralofthevoltagefromtheopeningtotheclosingofthetiminggate,withareferencevoltage subtracted to reduce the effects ofnoise.TheTDCdatawasthetimethesignalarrivedminusthetimethegatebegan.

The computer was able to collect cosmicrayreadingswithCODAsoftwareandprocessthem using ROOT. CODA (Common DAQ)is a software system developed at Jefferson

Lab for the collection of data to be used inconjunctionwithROOT.ROOTwasdevelopedat CERN by physicists working with high-energy experiments in which the number ofevents inoneruncanbe in themillions,andwith hundreds of runs in one experiment.ROOT is useful for its processingpower andgraphingcapabilities.5

TESTING WITH COSMIC RAySWiththesetupcomplete,datawerenearly

readytoberecorded.However,becauseeachPMT’sbaseisslightlyunique,eachPMTwouldneedaslightlydifferent“gain,”oramountofamplificationtogivethesamereadingforthe

Figure 8. ROOT analyzer displayingADC histograms used to optimize voltages on PMTs, with typicalROOTmenuinbackground.Channelsnineandtenarethetriggerbar’sPMTs,andonethrougheightarethePMTsonthedetectorbarsbeneath.AgoodADCsignalisoneofasharpspikebetween0and300mV(a“pedestal”ofnoiselatercutout),andadecreasingslopebeyondit.Thisdatawastakenfromshortruns,wherelongerrunswouldhavemuchmoredataandmuchsmootherslopes.Notethesehistogramsareonalogarithmicscale.Eventhoughtheotherchannelsaredisconnected,theystilldisplaypedestalnoisecausedbythermalelectronsintheelectronics.Alsonotethatchannelsevendisplayspedestalnoise,whichatthetimeshowedthatsomethingwasdisconnected;thebasewasslightlydetachedfromthePMT.


sameenergyparticle.Quickrunsweretakentocheck theADCscoming fromeachPMT.If the energies detected were too high, thepower going to the PMT would be loweredandvice-versa.ThegainsonthePMTswereadjustedsotheywouldallgivereadingsinthesamerange.

Charged particles lose energy in theplastic at 2 MeV/cm. With most of thecosmic rays coming from the atmosphere

above, there would be a mean energydeposit of 50 MeV per cosmic ray,correspondingtoabout200mVinasignal.To evaluate the rate of events detected,the discriminator was tested on a range ofsettings(Figure7).Therateofeventsshouldhave been ,reduced to 20 hits/s since not all eventswouldbedetectedbythePMTs.Thisrateofeventscorrespondedtoasettingof150mV.

Figure 9. TDChistograms.BysubtractingthetwoPMTsononebar, thepointofentryonthebarof thecosmicrayscouldbedetermined.Withsomemodification,thexandyscalesoneachgraphwereusedtoshowthelengthofthebarsincentimeterswithzeroasthecenter,whiletheheightshowsthenumberoftimesthatpartofthebarwashit.Thefirstgraph(a)showstheentrypointforcosmicraysonthemiddleleftbar.Theotherthreegraphsdisplayonebarversusanother(b)middleleftversusbottomleft,(c)middlerightversusbottomright,and (d)bottomleftversusbottomright.Note that thenumberpassing throughbothbottombarsisverysmallincomparisontotheothercharts.Oneachbar,thereisabiastooneside.Thecauseisstillunknown,butthefaultismostlikelyeitherasourceintheTestLabenvironmentorwiththevoltagesettingsonthePMTs.Forthisrun,thediscriminatorlevelwas75mV,foratotalofabout3millionevents.

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The final phase of testing would be tomeasure the paths of the cosmic rays. Anew arrangement was set up: five barswere arranged so that one trigger bar laidflatontopof twostacksof twobars.Largerecordings were taken (two to three millionevents),andanevaluationprogramwritteninROOT displayed ADC and TDC data fromeach PMT in histograms (Figure 8). ThedifferenceinTDCsonasinglebarcouldgivethepointofentryof thecosmic ray (Figure9). By comparing two bars, the completepath (includingangle)ofacosmic raycouldbe determined. Total spatial and angulardistributionofcosmicrayswascalculatedbyaddingalloftheseevents(Figure10).

ByexaminingtheTDCdata,thereseemedtobeastrongbiastowardsonesideoneachofthebars.The reason for this is still undetermined;either there is some source giving off strongradiation(whichinthetestlabisverypossible),or the gains on the PMTs are imbalanced.Either way, based on these results, the bars

were determined ready for use. The detectorwillbeused forexperiments suchasE07-006(Studying Short Range Correlations via theTriple Coincidence (e, e’pn) Reaction), wherean electron beam scatters paired nucleonsfroma target. In the future, thebarsstillneedto be arrayed in ametal rack just aswith theoriginal detector. Further, a “veto” layer maystill beassembled if thisdetector is tobeusedindependently fromtheoriginal.A2-inch leadwallwillabsorbalmostallchargedparticles,butathinlayerofscintillatorpoorlyabsorbsneutronsandcansignal“falsehits”forunwantedparticles.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSIcannotexpressmyfeelingsofgratitudeinto

thispoorlittlesection.MysummerinternshipwasgrantedbytheDepartmentofEnergySULI(ScienceUndergraduateLaboratoryInternship)Program.Iwouldliketothankmymentor,Dr.Higinbothom, forhisgreatdedication, senseofhumor,andhismanyhoursofleadingme

Figure 10. Angulardistributionof cosmic rays indegrees. 90degrees is center, indicating a cosmic rayenteringperpendiculartothesurfaceofthebar.Onceagain,thereisabiastooneside,indicatingapossiblesourceintheTestLab,orsomeotherunknowncause.ThefitshownhereisaGaussian,whichisincorrect;angular distribution of cosmic rays fits a cosine-squared distribution centered around 90 degrees.Thediscriminatorlevelwassetto150mV,withabout2millionevents.

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tothriveinthissink-or-swimenvironment.Forour collaboration on this effort, I would liketoacknowledgephysicistsEliPiasetski,MosheKochaviandPh.D.studentOrChenfromtheUniversityofTelAviv,whohavegivenmethefirstunderstandingofthelifeofascientist.Mythanks to Lisa Surles-Law and JanTyler forbringingtheinternstogetherandforlaughingwhenIdidthingsthatotherscientistsdidnotapproveof.Finally,I’dliketothankAnthonyGillespie,GaryDezern,EdFolts,ElenaLongandeveryoneelsewhohasmentoredmethissummer.IamnowconfidentIamcapableofbecomingagoodscientistandwillbehappywithmylifedoingso.

REFERENCES

1R. Subedi et al., Science 320, 1476 (2008);(10.1126/science.1156675).

2D.W.Higinbotham,E.PiasetzkyandM.Strikman,Protons and Neutrons Cozy Up In Nuclei and Neutron Stars,49N1,22-24(2009).

3S.Gilad,D.Higinbotham,S.Watson,E.Piasetski,V. Sulkosky et al., Studying Short-Range Correlations in Nuclei at the Repulsive Core Limit via the Triple Coincidence (e,e’pN) Reaction, [JLabE07-006](2009).

4C. Amsler et al., [Particle Data Group], Physics Letters B667,1(2008).

5A. Brun and F. Rademakers, Nuclear Instrumentation MethodsA389,81(1997).

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INTRODUCTION

Myotis leibii is a rare species of batoccurring throughout mountainous areas ofeasternNorthAmerica.1Becausethespeciesisseldomencountered,itsbiologyandecologyare not well known. If populations of M. leibii decline, this lack of information aboutitsecologymayhinderconservationattempts.Recent work on M. leibii assessed foragingbehavioranddiet.3-4Results indicateditsdietis primarily composedofmoths but includesa diverse array of anthropods. The species’roosting habits during summer are largelyunknown. In Maryland, female M. leibiigenerally roost increvicesof rockoutcrops.3However, no study has been conducted on

Roosting Habits of Male Eastern Small-Footed Bats (Myotis leibii)

in New Hampshire

CadetM.ErinHawesandCadetTimothyJ.Brust

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paul R. Moosman, Assistant Professor of Biology

ABSTRACTThe roosting habits of eastern small-footed bats (Myotis leibii) are poorlyunderstood. We studied the roosting behavior of three male M. leibii in NewHampshire by measuring the physical and temperature profiles of their roosts.Physicaldimensionsofroostswerecomparedtothesamecharacteristicsmeasuredatnearbyrandomsitesusinglogisticregression.Temperatureofroostsfluctuateddailyandrangedfromca.20°Cintheearlymorningto32°Cafternoon.Roostswere associated with crevices that had larger lengths, widths, and depths thanrandomsites. This suggests that habitatswith inadequate crevice sizesmaybeunsuitableforM. leibii.Largercrevicescouldallowbatstoregulatetemperatureoravoidpredators.

theroostinghabitsofmaleM. leibii. Whatisknownislimitedtoanecdotalreportsinvolvinghibernatingbats.1

Maleand femalebatsoftenexhibit differentroosting behaviors.2 According to Veilleux,maleandfemaleeasternpipistrelles(Perimyotis subflavus)selecteddifferentspeciesoftreestouseasroosts,withfemalesroostinginconifersand males in northern red oaks.6 Female P. subflavus also switched between roosts morefrequently(every17days)thanmales(33days).6Suchdifferencesinbehaviormayhavebeenduetoaddedphysiologicalrequirementsassociatedwith pregnancy, lactation, and predatoravoidance.6Giventhegender-baseddifferencesinbehaviorexhibitedbyP. subflavus andotherNorthAmericanbats,M. leibiimayalsoexhibit


gender-based differences in roosting behavior.If so, the effectiveness of future conservationeffortswilldependonathoroughunderstandingof theroostinghabitsofbothsexes.Thegoalof this study was to: 1) describe the roostinghabitatandtemperaturepreferenceofmaleM. leibiiand2)identifywhetherroostsitespossessdifferentphysicalparametersthanrandomsites.Information presented herein represents thefirstpublisheddescriptionoftheroostinghabitsofmaleM. leibii.

METHODSBats were captured using mist nets placed

along travel corridors at Surry MountainLake in Cheshire County, New Hampshire(42o59’54N72o18’35W),duringthemonthsofJuneandJuly2009.SurryMountainLakeisaman-madereservoirformedbydammingoftheAshuelotRiver.Thelandscapesurroundingthe lake is steep and mostly forested, withelevation ranging from149mat thebaseofSurryMountainDamto409mat the topofSurry Mountain. Upland forest at the site isdominatedbymaturewhitepine,hemlock,andred oak. Forested portions of the floodplainof the Asheulot River consist mostly of silverbirch, paper birch, iron wood, hickory, andAmericancherrytrees.Thedamis549mlongandorientedeasttowest,withnorthandsouthslopes covered by granite boulders rangingfromapproximately12cmto3mindiameter.

Bats were captured by placing mist netsacross wooded roads and perpendicularlyalongtheedgesoffieldswithin600mofthedam.CapturedmaleM. leibiiwereweighedto the nearest 0.1 g using a spring scale(Pesola, Baar, Switzerland) and their lengthofforearmmeasuredtothenearestmm.Age(adultvs. juvenile)andreproductivecondition(abdominal vs. scrotal testes) were recorded.Prior to release, numbered aluminum bandswereplacedontheirforearms(PorzanaLTD,East Sussex, United Kingdom). Adult maleM. leibii were given a 0.38 g temperature-sensitive radio transmitter (LB-2NT, HoloHilSystemsLTD,Ontario,Canada).Transmitterswereattachedusingsurgicalbondingcement

(TorbotGroupInc.,RhodeIsland,USA).BatswerereleasedatthesiteofcaptureandlocateddailyusingYagiantennasandradioreceivers(R-1000, Advanced Telemetry Systems,Minnesota, USA). The presence of bats inroostswasvisuallyconfirmedusingtelemetryandvisualsearchesofnearbycrevices.Visualsearches were performed only every otherday to minimize disturbance of the bats.Whenvisualconfirmationwasnotconducted,locationsofroostsiteswereestimatedwithina five-meter area via triangulation by tworesearchers standing ca. 10 m away. Batswerelocatedinthismanneruntiltransmittersfailedorfelloff(ca.10dayseach).

Roosts were photographed and theircoordinates obtained using a hand-held GPSdevice(±6merror).Physicalcharacteristics,includinglength,width,anddepthofthecrevice,aswellascompassaspectsofthehillsideandroost sites were recorded. Also, the type ofroost (e.g., scree, cliff face, or rock outcrop)andestimatedangleofthecrevicewerenoted.Data-logging temperature sensors (NexsensTechnology,Inc.,Ohio,USA),insertedintotheroosts,recordedthetemperatureeveryhourforthreedays.Roostsweremarkedwithflaggingtapeforlateridentification.Withtheexceptionof temperature, the samemeasurements alsowererecordedat36randomsites.Thesesiteswereselectedusingasatelliteimageofthedam,whichwasmarkedwithagridscale tocreate40 potential sampling locations. Thirty-six ofthese were randomly selected and measuredtocomparewithconfirmedroosts.Confirmedroosts and random locations were comparedwithalogisticregressionmodelusingaforwardselectionprocesstoidentifyvariablescorrelatedwith habitat use. The model was constructedusing type of location (roost or random) asthe dependent variable and crevice length,depth, width, and crevice angle as potentialindependentvariables(withalpha=0.05).

RESULTSAtotalofthreemaleM. leibiiwerecaptured

and radio-tracked. Roostdatawerecollectedfromeachoftheseoveratotalof28“batdays.”

HawesandBrust/RoostingHabitsofMaleEasternSmall-FootedBats(Myotis leibii)inNewHampshire 97

Wedefinetotalbatdaysasthenumberoftimesagivenbatwassuccessfullytrackedtoaroost.Batswerealwaysobservedroostingalone,andeach usuallymoved to a new roost each dayoverthelengthofthestudy(21roostsiteswereidentified).Batsroostedonclifffaces28.6%ofthetime(8outof28batdays)andincrevicesofrocksontheslopesofthedam71.4%ofthetime(20outof28batdays).Thenorthsideofthedamwasusedlessfrequently(31.6%)thanthe south side (68.4%). Roost temperaturedatawererecordedforonlytwobatsbecausethe third bat roosted on an inaccessible cliffface. Combing data from both bats, thereweretendaysinwhichroostswerenotvisuallyconfirmed; therefore, temperature data werenot acquired. Average temperature (±SE) ofroostswas23.6±0.2oC.Bat40076roostedinsixcrevicesonthenorthsideofthedamandspent five bat days in less-accessible places,suchasaclifffaceandrockoutcropca.fivekmfromthedam.Theaveragetemperatureofitsroostsonthedamwas21.6±0.2oC(Figure4).Bat40083roostedin12roosts,allonthesouthsideofthedam.Theaveragetemperaturesofitsroostswere24.2±0.2oC(Figure4).

Logistic regression analyses of physicaldimensions of roosts indicated that creviceangle was the only physical parameter thatwas similar between roosts and randomsites. Roosts varied from random sitesmost significantly according to crevicelength (x2=14.7, d.f. =1, P<0.001; Figure1). Crevice depth (Wald=5.26) and width(Wald=3.03)alsovariedsignificantlybetweenroostsandrandomsites,butonlywhencrevicelengthwasexcludedfromthemodel(x2=8.04,d.f.=2,P=0.018;Figures2and3).

DISCUSSION Results suggest that roost characteristics,

including habitat type (such as cliff faceversus talus slope) and crevice dimensions,influencedhabitatselectionbyM. leibii.Mostbats were found in the talus slopes of thedam, whereas only one bat roosted on thecliff face next to the dam. This observationsuggests the dam offered a more favorablehabitat formostof theM. leibiiwe studied.Previouslypublishedinformationhasdescribedthe use of mountainous regions with talus

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Figure 2. PredictedprobabilityofsitesbeingusedasroostsbyM. leibiibasedonalogisticregressionmodelwithcrevicelength(cm)astheindependentvariable.

Figure 3. Comparisonofthemeandepth(cm)ofrandomsitesversusthoseusedasroostsbyeasternsmall-footedbats(Myotis leibii).

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HawesandBrust/RoostingHabitsofMaleEasternSmall-FootedBats(Myotis leibii)inNewHampshire 99

rocky slopes, although M. leibii have alsobeen found in buildings, tunnels, caves andmines during hibernation.1 Surry MountainDamismanmade,butresemblesatalusslope,whichourresultssuggestmaybeaparticularlyfavorablehabitatforM. leibii.

Temperature values suggest that roosts onthe south side of the dam hold heat longerthroughout theday, relative to those locatedon the north side of the dam (Figure 4).Thisconditionmayhavebeencausedbytheamountofsolarradiationeachsidereceived,since north-facing slopes typically receiveless sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere.However, roosts were not monitoredsimultaneously.OnebatwasmonitoredduringJune,whereas theotherwasstudied inJuly.Thus,temperaturedifferencesmayhavebeeninfluencedbyother factors, suchas seasonalchanges in temperature or perhaps otherphysicalpropertiesofroosts.

SurryMountainDampossessesarangeofboulder sizes providing crevices of varioussizes. Although many of these crevices

representpotential roosts, actual roost sitesmostlyoccurred increviceswithdimensionsthatwerelargerthanthoseofrandomsites.Most small species of bats possess highrestingmetabolicratesthatareenergeticallyexpensive to maintain at low temperatures.Therefore, it is believed that bats chooseroosts that are warm enough to maintainoptimal body temperatures without usingtheirownenergytodoso.5Wehypothesizethatlargercrevicesallowedbatsgreaterabilityto thermo-regulate by moving to cooler orwarmer parts of the crevice throughout theday. Largercrevicesmayalsohaveofferedbetterprotectionfromdiurnalpredatorsthatpatrol the dam, such as common ravens(personalobservation).

Dataprovidedby this studyhas allowed thefirstdetaileddescriptionofhabitatsusedbyM. leibii.Thespecies’tendencytouselargecrevicessuggeststhathabitatswithsmallcrevicesarelesslikelytobeusedasroostsites.Althoughweonlymeasuredcrevicedimensions(notbouldersize),larger crevices are probably created by larger

Figure 4. Comparisonofmeanwidth (cm)of randomsitesversus thoseusedas roostsbyeasternsmall-footedbats.

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boulders. Therefore, bats may select or avoidtalus slopes based on whether they possessappropriately sized boulders. We suggest thatfuture studies should assess whether bouldersizeinfluenceshabitatusebyM. leibii.Ifso,thisinformationcouldhelpwildlifemanagersidentifysiteslikelytosupportM. leibii.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis research was made possible by the

Summer Undergraduate Research InstituteprogramattheVirginiaMilitaryInstitute.WewouldliketothankDr.HowardThomasandDr.PaulMoosmanfortrainingustoconductresearch with bats and for their guidance inthefield.Also,wethankR.FarnsworthandB.Hufffortheirassistanceintrackingthebats.

REFERENCES1T.L. Best and J.B. Jennings, “Myotis leibii,”

MammalianSpecies547,1-6(1997).

2H.G. Broders, and G. J. Forbes, “Interspecificand intersexual variation in roost-site selectionofNorthern long-earedand little brownbats inthegreaterFundyNationalParkecosystem,”J.WildlifeManagement3,602-610(2004).

3J.B.JohnsonandJ.E.Gates,“Springmigrationand roost selection of female Myotis leibii inMaryland,” Northeastern Naturalist 15, 453-460(2008).

4P.R. Moosman, Jr., H. H. Thomas, and J. P.Veilleux, “Food habits of Eastern small-footedbats(Myotis leibii)inNewHampshire,”AmericanMidlandNaturalist158,354-360(2007).

5C.Turbill,C.,“Thermoregulatorybehavioroftree-roostingChocolateWattledbats (chealinolobus morio) during summer and winter,” J.Mammalogy87,318-323(2006).

6J.P.Veilleux,“ANoteworthyHibernationRecordof Myotis leibii (Eastern Small-footed Bat) inMassachusetts,” Northeastern Naturalist 14,501-502(2003).

7J.P. Veilleux, O. Whitaker, Jr., S.L. Veilleux,“Tree-roosting ecology of reproductive femaleeasternpipistrelles, Pippistrellus subflavus, inIndiana,”J.Mammalogy84,1068-1075(2003).

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DavidM.AllenholdsaM.S.inPhysicsfromtheUniversityofVirginiaandhasdonegraduatework at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. While at UNC at Charlotte, heparticipatedinresearchinvariablestarsandoptics.AtVMIheisworkingonsonoluminescenceandisupgradingtheVMIparticleacceleratorandtheNuclearPhysicsLaboratory.Mr.AllenisanInstructorandLabManagerintheDepartmentofPhysicsandAstronomyattheVirginiaMilitaryInstitute.

Robert L.Coleman receivedhisPh.D. inLiteratures inEnglish fromRutgersUniversity.His publications include studies on critical theory, American literature, and composition. Heiscurrentlyworkingonamonographonthetwentieth-centurysouthernwriterJamesBranchCabell.Dr.ColemandirectstheHonorsProgramattheUniversityofSouthAlabama.

NormanHintoncompletedhisdoctoralstudiesattheUniversityofWisconsin.HehastaughtatWisconsin,Princeton,St.LouisUniversity,andtheUniversityofIllinois-Springfield.Dr.Hintonhaspublished in scholarly journals on awide rangeof topics includingChaucer,Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,andmanyotherpiecesofMiddleEnglishandOldEnglishliterature.Dr.HintonisanEmeritusProfessorofEnglishattheUniversityofIllinois-Springfield.

David W. Johnstone received his Ph.D. from the University of Akron located in Akron,Ohio.TheprimaryfocusofhisresearchisondrinkingwaterdisinfectionandtreatmentandhaspublishedtwopapersinEnvironmental Engineering Science.HeisanAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofCivilandEnvironmentalEngineeringattheVirginiaMilitaryInstitute.

Christopher S. Lassiter holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Duke University. His researchinterestsincludetheeffectsofsteroidhormonesduringembryonicdevelopmentaswellastheeffectsofenvironmentalmimicsofsteroidhormones.HeiscurrentlyanAssistantProfessorofBiologyatRoanokeCollegewherehealsosponsorstheBiologyClub.

DavidL.LivingstonreceivedtheB.S.E.,M.E.,anddoctoraldegreesinElectricalEngineeringfromOldDominionUniversity.Hisresearchinterestsincludecomputationalintelligence,robotics,anddigitalandembeddedsystems.HeisaSeniorMemberoftheIEEEandcurrentlyservesastheIEEEComputerSocietyRegion3Coordinator.Dr.LivingstonisaProfessorofElectricalandComputerEngineeringattheVirginiaMilitaryInstitute.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING EDITORS


EdwardA.LynchreceivedhisM.A.andPh.D.inGovernmentandForeignAffairsfromtheUniversityofVirginia.HisareasofspecialtyareLatinAmericaandreligioninpolitics.Hisfirsttwobooks,Religion and Politics in Latin America,andLatin America’s Christian Democratic Party,wereonthistheme.Heisalsotheauthoroftwoforthcomingbooks,onRonaldReagan’sCentralAmericapolicy,andonthepoliticalcareerofGovernorGeorgeAllen.Dr.LynchisaProfessorofPoliticalScienceatHollinsUniversity inRoanoke,VA,wherehealsodirects theMasterofArtsinLiberalStudiesprogram.

MeganH.NewmanholdsanM.A.inAnthropologyandaPh.D.inAmericanStudiesfromtheCollegeofWilliamandMary.Herresearchinterestsareintheareasofmaterialculturestudies,archaeology,andthehistoryofscienceandtechnology.Shehasworkedasanarchaeologist,history instructor,andmuseumcurator.Dr.Newmancurrently servesas the InterlibraryLoanManagerattheVirginiaMilitaryInstitute.

Jacob Siehler completed his doctoral studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and StateUniversity.Hisresearchexploresmathematicalspaceinabreadth-first(notdepth-first)fashion,which often draws on his prior experience in computer science. Dr. Sieher is an AssistantProfessorofMathematicsatWashington&LeeUniversity.

HowardThomashisPh.D. inBiologyfromNortheasternUniversity. Hisresearchcenterson documenting mammalian biodiversity and the impact of anthropogenic agents on suchbiodiversity.Bothinternalandexternalfundingsupporthisongoingresearch.Dr.ThomasisaProfessorofBiologyatFitchburgStateUniversitywherehehasalsoservedasDepartmentChairandRegistrar.

103


New Horizons represents the latest facetof the VMI Undergraduate ResearchInitiative (URI), established in 2001 bydirectiveof theDeanofFaculty,Dr.CharlesF.Brower, IV (BrigadierGeneral,U.S.ArmyRetired). The goal of theURI is to providecadets with meaningful undergraduateacademic research experiences throughone-on-one interactionwith facultymentorsbothinside and outside the traditional classroomenvironment. Overthecourseof itshistory,URI efforts to promote cadet research havefocusedonthefollowingobjectives:

• Revisionof thecurriculumandelevationofcadet standards and expectations makingcadet participation in research projects atypicalpartoftheVMIacademicexperience.

• Solidification of faculty support through:1) incentives merited by the additionalresponsibilities of supervising individualcadetresearchprojectsand2)theallocationofadditionalfacultypositionsindesignatedareasofexpertise.

• Expansion of institutional support to cadetsinvolvedinresearchandtheirfacultymentors.

Since its inception, theVMIUndergraduateResearch Initiative has expanded in manydirections, thanks to ongoing administrativesupport,thegenerosityofalumniorganizations,cadets’ intellectual curiosity, and facultyenterprise. Currently, the URI funds variousgrant programs and symposia in support ofcadetresearchmadeavailabletodepartments,faculty, and cadets through a variety ofprograms.

TheURIlaidthefoundationforundergraduateresearch at VMI through its Department/Program Innovation Grants forDevelopingPrograms.InnovationGrantsprovidefundingtodepartmentsandprogramsofferingcapstoneresearchexperienceswiththefollowingpriorities:1)thosewithoutacapstoneresearch experience in their curriculum, butproposing to develop and implement one; 2)those already having a plan for a capstoneresearch experience, but needing funds forimplementation;3)thosealreadyhavingafullyfunctioning capstone research experience,but seeking funds to improve it;4)and thosealready having a fully functioning capstoneresearch experience, but seeking funds torewardparticipatingfacultymentors.

CadetsseekingresearchfundsmayapplytotheWetmoreCadetResearchFund, acompetitivegrantprocesswhichallowsthemto purchase supplies, to travel to symposiafocusedon their thesis research, to continuewith the previous summer’s research, and/or to conduct field studies. Wetmore fundsare allocated by academic session and areavailablethroughouttheyear.

URICadetResearchResourcesalsosubsidizetravel,allowingcadetstopresenttheirprojectresults at meetings/symposia or to conductfieldresearchinpreparationforcompletionofresearchleadingtoanhonorsthesisduringtheacademicyearorsummersessions.

One of the most successful initiatives ofthe URI, the Summer UndergraduateResearch Institute (SURI) providesfundingonacompetitivebasisforcadet-facultyresearch teams representing almost every

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AT VMI


academic department at VMI. Each cadetreceivesacashawardalongwithfreetuition,room, and board for ten weeks, while eachfacultymentorreceivesastipend.Cadetsalsoearn6academiccredithoursfortheirwork.

Inadditiontothementoredresearchprojects,theSummerInstitutesponsorsanorientationsession,guestspeakers,andsocial functions.CadetspresenttheresultsoftheirprojectinaresearchsymposiumheldinSeptember.

AllcadetsareinvitedtosubmitaproposaltotheUndergraduate Research Symposium(URS),heldannuallyinApril.CadetpresentersattheURSdiscusstheresultsoftheirresearchinaposterexhibitionhall(informaldemonstrations)orinaformalsession(lectureformat)aspartofaspecialcampus-widedayofevents.Invitedfacultymembers from other colleges and universitiesassist in the evaluation of cadet presentations.The three top-rated cadets in each academicdivision (science, engineering, and humanities)arehonoredatanawardsdinnerintheevening.

The evaluation of cadets’ work andconstructive feedbackwehavereceived fromour colleagues from other campuses havehelped us to improve the Symposium eachyear. As an added benefit, the interactionsbetweenVMI facultyand theexternal judges

have laid the groundwork for future, inter-institutional collaborations on undergraduateresearch.

Perhaps the most significant cooperativeeffort in support of cadet research to datewas the 2005 National Conference onUndergraduate Research, jointly sponsoredby VMI and neighboring Washington & LeeUniversity. Two thousand undergraduateresearchers, along with three hundredprofessors and administrators representingthreehundredcolleges,attendedthethree-dayconferenceheldonthehostingcampuses.

AnunexpectedoutcomeofURI-supportedundergraduate research activities has beenthe creation of cadet-developed intellectualproperty.CurrentlytheURIisassistingseveralcadetteamsthroughtheprocessofobtainingpatent protection for their inventions.Additionally, we have used the real-worldexamples of these cadet inventions as casestudies in an academic classroom setting,specificallyasthesubjectofa marketingandbusiness plan development in a course onentrepreneurship.

Source. Dr. JamesE.Turner,DirectorofUndergraduate Research, Virginia MilitaryInstitute.

Documents

New Horizons - April 2010