No description available.

Productivity, diversity and survival of estuaries are threatened by explosive coastal population growth and associated recreational activities. One major area of recreational growth has been the number of small pleasure craft motoring in shallow waters at high speeds. On the east coast of Central Florida in the Indian River Lagoon system, intense boating activity occurs year-round and intertidal reefs of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica with dead margins (piles of disarticulated shells) on their seaward edges are commonly found adjacent to major boating channels. The cause(s) of the dead margins is unclear. However, the disarticulated shells may be reducing reef sustainability if these surfaces are unavailable for larvae. Recruitment trials were run on eight reefs (4 with dead margins, 4 without) in three 8-week trials in 2001/2002. Significant differences were found for location on reef and season. For survival of recruits, significant differences were found for reef type, location on reef, and season. Sediment loads, percent silt/clay, and relative water motion were all found to be significantly higher on impacted reefs. Spring months were found to be the optimal time for larval recruitment to increase larval set and survival and to also decrease the effects of sedimentation and water motion. Based on these results, experimental restoration began May 2003 to develop an ecologically and economically feasible restoration protocol for this intertidal region. Four different densities of shells (0, 16, 25, 36) were attached to vexar mesh mats (45 X 45 cm) displaying shells perpendicular to the substrate. 360 mats were randomly deployed at one of six dentified optimum recruitment locations. Recruitment increased through June and was significantly higher on mats with 36 shells. This was followed by a large, expected decline in recruitment and survival in July/August, due to competition, predation and/or extreme high temperatures. Total live oysters on the restoration mats significantly increased during October 2003 through February 2003. These newly-created oyster reefs are moveable and provide optimal substrate and larval set to be transported post-recruitment to areas resource managers have slated for restoration to aid in reef sustainability. To determine the potential negative effects of flow and sediment levels on oyster larval settlement, which may be associated with an increase in boating actitivity, laboratory experiments were conducted. Eighteen trials, with competent oyster larvae, nine in flowing-water and nine in still-water were run at three sediment levels: no sediment, low sediment, and high sediment loads. Larval settlement was significantly higher in the still-water trials and both high and low sediment loads significantly reduced larval settlement.

This thesis examines the effects of transportation network changes, settlement pattern changes, population density and terrain characteristics upon cemetery siting. Due to the practically inviolate legal status of cemeteries, they provide a window to the past. Geographic Information Systems technology was used to analyze geophysical attributes of the cemetery sites. As transportation modes changed and improved, the distances from decedent's residences to burial sites increased. Also, cemetery upkeep is somewhat related to ease of accessibility, but other factors enter into this relationship. Personal interviews suggest that family"ties to the land" have an effect upon cemetery utilization and maintenance in rural southern West Virginia. Early cemeteries were sited in river and creek bottoms. More recently sited cemeteries are located at higher elevations. / Master of Science

No abstract Provided. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

No abstract Provided / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

This dissertation challenges Charles W. Ramsdell's needless war theory, which argued that profitable slavery would not have existed west of the 98th meridian and that slavery would have died a natural death. It uses statistical information that is mined from the county tax records to show how slave-owners on the northwestern frontier of Texas raised livestock rather than market crops, before and during the Civil War. This enterprise was so strong that it not only continued to expand throughout this period, but it also became the foundation for the recovery of the Texas economy after the war.

Late prehistoric to Protohistoric (ca. A.D. 1200 – 1700) agricultural settlement in the Black Prairie uplands of Mississippi may have been enabled by “seep springs,” water features fed by groundwater discharge in certain geological settings. Ceramic seriation and GIS analysis of archaeological site location shows that over time, sites clustered around areas most likely to have supported springs, a finding supported by the presence of specimens of a moist-ground snail genus at a number of sites. These data indicate that Native settlement in the Oktibbeha County area was influenced by the presence of seep springs.

No description available.

No description available.

The Byrne (1991) model was developed to predict excess pore water pressure for saturated sands under cyclic loading. However, the model can also be used to predict seismic compression in dry or partially saturated clean sands, which is the focus of this research. The original Byrne (1991) model has two primary limitations. One limitation is that calibration coefficients for the model have only been developed for clean sand, while seismic compression is a concern for a variety of soil types in engineering practice. Another limitation is that the existing calibration coefficients are solely correlated with soil relative density. This is in contrast to findings from studies performed over the last two decades that show various environmental and compositional factors, in addition to relative density, influence seismic compression behavior. To overcome these shortcomings and others the model was transformed to allow it to be implemented in "simplified" and "non-simplified" manners and systematic model calibration procedures were developed by means of MATLAB code. Both "simplified" and "non-simplified" variants of the model are used to analyze a site in Japan impacted by the 2007, Mw6.6 Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki earthquake. The results from the analyses are in general accord with the post-earthquake field observations and highlight the utility and versatility of the models. / Master of Science / Earthquake shaking can cause compression of volume in soil, which may induce damage to various infrastructures. This phenomenon is known as seismic compression. Byrne (1991) proposed one model that can be used to evaluate the magnitude of seismic compression. However, this model has two significant limitations. One limitation is its coefficient expression is suitable for merely one soil type, while seismic compression is a concern for a variety of soil types in engineering practice. Another limitation is that the existing model coefficients are only correlated with soil density. This is in contrast to findings from research conducted over the last two decades that show many other environmental and compositional factors, in addition to soil density, affect the magnitude of seismic compression. To overcome these shortcomings and others the model was modified and calibrated, where mathematical transformations were performed for the model to allow it to be implemented in “simplified” and “non-simplified” calculation manners. Also, systematic model modification procedures were established by means of codes written by one software called MATLAB. Both the “simplified” and “nonsimplified” calculation methods of the model were used to analyze a site in Japan impacted by an earthquake occurred in 2007, named Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake. The results from the analyses are in general accord with the records obtained after the earthquake and highlight the utility and versatility of the modified models.