Delaware

Few in Hollywood knew that James Young Deer, general manager of Pathé Frères West Coast Studio from 1911 to 1914, was really an imposter. After all, Young Deer had earned a reputation as the first Native American producer and had worked alongside D. W. Griffith, Fred J. Balshofer, and Mack Sennett.  For decades, he eluded film historians.  But after ten months of poking through dusty archives and faded vital records, the identity of this mysterious filmmaker finally came to light.

This thesis is a geographic and temporal case study of the carpentry and joinery trades present in the Delaware River Valley region from the period of Anglo-European settlements in the 1660s to about 1740. This examination of the region’s craft traditions emphasizes what its colonies share: patterns of settlement, ethnicity, kinship, religion, material richness, and commercial interdependence.

This study closely examined the construction of and materials used in case furniture produced in New Jersey or Pennsylvania individually, or in the larger Delaware River Valley region as a whole, revealing the persistence of Anglo-European craft traditions in colonial America, and a relative stasis in internal casework construction as a result of the apprenticeship system.
The similarity of construction and material found in these objects indicates the shared cultural expectations of craftsmen and their patrons, illustrative of the craft tradition of the Delaware Valley Region, not of any one colony.  It also speaks to the significant role of New Jersey's timber in intercolonial commerce. This further suggests that extant furniture defined as made within Philadelphia or Pennsylvania without any further details of maker and place of manufacture could have been produced anywhere in the Delaware River Valley, including New Jersey, Chester County, and the Lower Counties (Delaware). In addition to case studies examining furniture of this region, this study identifies over two hundred and fifty members of New Jersey’s woodworking trades who utilized the colony's material wealth and interpersonal resources for individual success.

Of late there has been much discussion regarding racial disparities in the expulsion/suspension rates in
Delaware. Of importance to the community is degree that extreme disciplinary actions by school
officials are driven by racism or racial discrimination. Some have even associated extreme disciplinary
practices as a major contributor to the pipeline to prison. This preliminary study does not directly
address the school to prison pipeline issue in Delaware, however it does provide some insight to racial
disparities in the expulsion/suspension rate in Delaware’s public high schools.

In this paper I examine the varying responses of early American Methodists to the tumultuous American War for Independence within the Mid-Atlantic region, placing special emphasis on the pacifist witness of several key leaders including Freeborn Garrettson and Jesse Lee.  This pacifism poses a quandary for church historians since Methodism has never stood within the peace church tradition.  Therefore, I also offer suggestions for how to interpret these unique responses to war and violence.

This white paper examines the attitudes and perception of black community leaders regarding issues important to building capacity and development in Wilmington’s inner city. It sought to focus on capacity building and community development in Wilmington as a socio-political phenomenon. This paper begins with the assumption that social and political factors are as equally important as to economic factors in increasing the standard of living and quality of life in Wilmington’s inner-city communities. It considers the impact of social influences in shaping individual leaders political views. The findings show a measure of agreement among leaders regarding the most important issues facing their community, and strong agreement among the community leaders’ perceptions of the factors influencing political and social outcomes in the community. They were critical of the job government was doing to assist the community, yet equally critical of the efforts of the residents to address the problems their community faced.  They did not have much confidence in outside institutions nor did they have much faith in blacks who lived outside of the community helping to build community capacity and develop.  Capacity building and community development in inner city communities must be understood as they are situated in a complex and unique socio-political context and in accordance with internal community identity politics.

Evacuation and shelter-in-place decision making for hospitals is complex, and existing literature contains little information about how these decisions are made in practice. To describe decision-making processes and identify determinants of acute care hospital evacuation and shelter-in-place during Hurricane Sandy. Semistructured interviews were conducted from March 2014 to February 2015 with key informants who had authority and responsibility for evacuation and shelter-in-place decisions for hospitals during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. Interviewees included hospital executives and state and local public health, emergency management, and emergency medical service officials from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Interviewees identified decision processes and determinants of acute care hospital evacuation and shelter-in-place during Hurricane Sandy. We interviewed 42 individuals from 32 organizations. Decisions...

Abstract Mycoplasma infections can cause significant morbidity and mortality in captive and wild chelonians. As part of a health assessment of endangered bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in the northeastern US, choanal and cloacal swabs from these and other sympatric species, including spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata), eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina), wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta), and common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) from 10 sampling sites in the US states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, were tested by PCR for Mycoplasma. Of 108 turtles tested, 63 (58.3%) were PCR positive for Mycoplasma including 58 of 83 bog turtles (70%), three of three (100%) eastern box turtles, and two of 11 (18%) spotted turtles; all snapping turtles (n = 7) and wood turtles (n = 4) were negative. Sequence analysis of portions of the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region and the 16S ribosomal RNA gene revealed a single, unclassified species of Mycoplasma that ha...

Groundwater discharge locations along the upper Delaware River, both discrete bank seeps and diffuse streambed upwelling, may create thermal niche environments that benefit the endangered dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon). We seek to identify whether discrete or diffuse groundwater inflow is the dominant control on refugia. Numerous springs and seeps were identified at all locations where dwarf wedgemussels still can be found. Infrared imagery and custom high spatial resolution fiber-optic distributed temperature sensors reveal complex thermal dynamics at one of the seeps with a relatively stable, cold groundwater plume extending along the streambed/water-column interface during midsummer. This plume, primarily fed by a discrete bank seep, was shown through analytical and numerical heat-transport modeling to dominate temperature dynamics in the region of potential habitation by the adult dwarf wedgemussel.

This study evaluated factors associated with age-appropriate dental care utilization and preventive behaviors among preschool-aged children in Delaware. In June 1994, child health questionnaires were mailed to a simple random sample of 1,005 Delaware caregivers whose children were ages 6 to 36 months. Only 12% of children > or = 12 months old had been to the dentist. Child's race, maternal education, maternal age, dental insurance, having a regular place for medical care, receiving information on tooth care from medical personnel, and family income were not associated with having a dental visit. Improving information provided to caregivers and health professionals on appropriate timing of dental services and preventive dentistry is recommended to enhance oral health for preschool-aged children.

The cessation of production and replacement of cathode ray tube (CRT) displays with flat screen displays have resulted in the proliferation of CRTs in the electronic waste (e-waste) recycle stream. However, due to the nature of the technology and presence of hazardous components such as lead, CRTs are the most challenging of electronic components to recycle. In the State of Delaware it is due to this challenge and the resulting expense combined with the large quantities of CRTs in the recycle stream that electronic recyclers now charge to accept Delaware's e-waste. Therefore it is imperative that the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) understand future quantities of CRTs entering the waste stream. This study presents the results of an assessment of CRT obsolescence in the State of Delaware. A prediction model was created utilizing publicized sales data, a variety of lifespan data as well as historic Delaware CRT collection rates. Both a deterministic and a probabilistic approach using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) were performed to forecast rates of CRT obsolescence to be anticipated in the State of Delaware. Results indicate that the peak of CRT obsolescence in Delaware has already passed, although CRTs are anticipated to enter the waste stream likely until 2033.