The five senses are something we rely on to perceive our external world. Through an architectural sense, meditative and relaxing experiences establish themselves. How one is influenced by their surroundings a sense of self sparks a connection between body and place. Architecture, along with the phenomenon of synesthesia, brings another level of understanding of the world. With architectural spaces that enclose and water, a sense can be amplified and advanced to the forefront of the accompanying senses. Through the perception of one sense through another, the question of how the senses are in association with each other arises. With being submerged underground, a meditative refuge for the self embodies the five senses and the sense - less. Sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound work collectively to convey the experience of synesthesia. The perception of senses through another creates unique experiences and evokes self awareness. / Master of Architecture / The five senses [ sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste ] are something we rely on to perceive our external world. Through an architecture of sense, meditative and relaxing experiences establish themselves. This sense of self sparks a connection between body and place. Architecture, along with the phenomenon of synesthesia, brings another level of understanding of the world. With architecture and water, a sense can be amplified and advanced to the forefront of the accompanying senses. Through the perception of one sense through another, the question of how the senses are in association with each other arises.

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The goal of this thesis is to present the virtual environments research community with a thorough investigation of collaborative awareness in Tele- immersion and related immersive virtual environments. Tele-immersion was originally defined in 1996 by Tom Defanti of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), is "the union of networked VR and video in the context of significant computing and data mining" [Leigh, et. al., 1997]. Since then, research on Tele-immersion has outgrown most of its system and performance-related issues and now focuses supporting collaborative interaction and usability. Tele-immersion now deals with the "[creation of persistent virtual environments] enabling multiple, globally situated participants to collaborate over high-speed and high-bandwidth networks connected to heterogeneous supercomputing resources and large data stores" [Leigh, et. al., 1997, p. 1 of 9]. In the early stages of Tele- immersion there were two main factors driving the research: the significant processing load of real-time and simulated computational steering, and the sheer bulk of the data sets being generated for scientific visual analysis [Leigh, et. al., 1997]. Now the growing number of immersive VR sites is motivating a need to support human-to-human interaction and work over wide networks of immersive virtual environments. This research focuses heavily on issues of collaborative awareness in these networked, immersive virtual environments. Collaborative awareness, in this context, is a concept that encompasses the caveats of one's knowledge about the CVE and its occupants. As a result of this study, software has been designed to provide support not only for collaborative awareness, but also for several other dimensions of collaboration. / Master of Science

Remote visualization has emerged as a necessary tool in the analysis of big data. High-performance computing clusters can provide several benefits in scaling to larger data sizes, from parallel file systems to larger RAM profiles to parallel computation among many CPUs and GPUs. For scalable data visualization, remote visualization tools and infrastructure is critical where only pixels and interaction events are sent over the network instead of the data. In this paper, we present our pipeline using VirtualGL, TurboVNC, and ParaView to render over 40 million points using remote HPC clusters and project over 26 million pixels in a CAVE-style system. We benchmark the system by varying the video stream compression parameters supported by TurboVNC and establish some best practices for typical usage scenarios. This work will help research scientists and academicians in scaling their big data visualizations for real time interaction. / Master of Science / With advancements made in the technology sector, there are now improved and more scientific ways to see the data. 10 years ago, nobody would have thought what a 3D movie is or how it would feel to watch a movie in 3D. Some may even have questioned if it is possible. But watching 3D cinema is typical now and we do not care much about what goes behind the scenes to make this experience possible. Similarly, is it possible to see and interact with 3D data in the same way Tony Stark does in the movie Iron Man? The answer is yes, it is possible with several tools available now and one of these tools is called ParaView, which is mostly used for scientific visualization of data like climate research, computational fluid dynamics, astronomy among other things. You can either visualize this data on a 2D screen or in a 3D environment where a user will feel a sense of immersion as if they are within the scene looking and interacting with the data. But where is this data actually drawn? And how much time does it take to draw if we are dealing with large datasets? Do we want to draw all this 3D data on a local machine or can we make use of powerful remote machines that do the drawing part and send the final image through a network to the client? In most cases, drawing on a remote machine is a better solution when dealing with big data and the biggest bottleneck is how fast can data be sent to and received from the remote machines. In this work, we seek to understand the best practices of drawing big data on remote machines using ParaView and visualizing it in a 3D projection room like a CAVE (see section 2.2 for details on what is a CAVE).

Researchers are presently developing information visualization technologies, with one of their primary purposes being the assisting of educators in the teaching of students. This thesis examines whether this technology affects student learning and attitudes toward the learning experience. By presenting information to students using visualization technologies, the hypothesis was tested that learning would be facilitated and that attitudes would be affected positively. Students were asked to participate in a visualization exercise in which they experienced topographic maps presented in an animated digital medium. Some students observed the maps displayed on a computer monitor, or projected on a traditional movie-screen, while other students were involved in a virtual reality presentation through the I-Desk (single-wall CAVE), as well as the CAVE itself. From these results, a gauge of student reaction to the use of this technology was developed. In particular, it was discovered that students did learn to recognize plan view contour signatures after viewing 3-dimensional visualizations. In addition, students also reacted positively on a variety of attitude measures. Because of weaknesses in the research design these results cannot be generalized to the larger population of students. However, this information could be useful to researchers interested in further examining this field of study, as well as to instructors who wish to incorporate such visualization technology into their own teaching curriculums. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Density of troglobitic crustaceans and levels of potential food sources were compared in reference pools and pools disturbed by septic system effluent in Banners Corner Cave, Russell Co., Virginia. Data from six physicochemical parameters indicate slight to high disturbance in five pools in reference to two undisturbed sites. Disturbed sites had high levels of conductivity, nutrients, and fecal coliforms. Highly disturbed sites had large decreases in concentration of dissolved oxygen. Isopod (Caecidotea recurvata) and amphipod (Stygobromus mackini) density and isopod size-class distributions were measured seasonally with short-term mark-recapture techniques. Isopods were absent only in highly disturbed sites. Highest isopod density (up to 74.6/m²) occurred in slightly and moderately disturbed sites. Amphipods were absent from all disturbed sites. Fungal biomass, total organic matter (TOM), and bacterial biomass in pool sediments were measured to determine changes in food availability caused by the septic system effluent. Fungal biomass was negligible in all pools. Contribution of bacterial biomass to sediment TOM was increased in disturbed pools with little overall increase in TOM. Bacteria, fine particulate matter and coarse particulate matter (CPOM) were used equally well in laboratory growth experiments. Presence of CPOM, not organic enrichment by septic system outfall, is the most likely cause of high isopod density in some pools. Septic system effluent may provide additional food to the aquatic community in Banners Corner Cave, but generally was damaging to the system. / M.S.

Research regarding the distribution and structure of fungal communities in caves is lacking. The current study examines fungal communities in Kartchner Caverns, a mineralogically diverse cave located in the Whetstone Mountains, Arizona, USA. The first study examines culturable fungal diversity from speleothem surfaces. Twenty-one fungal genera represented by 43 genotypes and 53 distinct morphological taxonomic units (MTU) were recovered from 15 speleothems. Analysis of DGGE profiles indicated a significant effect of sampling site on community structure. The second study examined fungal diversity from speleothem and rock wall surfaces using the 454 FLX Titanium sequencing platform using the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) as a genetic marker. Fungal diversity was estimated and compared between speleothem and rock wall surfaces and its variation with distance from the natural entrance of the cave was quantified. Effects of environmental factors and nutrient concentrations in speleothem drip water at different sample sites on fungal diversity were also examined. Sequencing revealed 2219 fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at 95% similarity. Speleothems supported a higher fungal richness and diversity than rock walls, but community membership and the taxonomic distribution of fungal OTUs did not differ significantly. OTU richness and diversity were negatively correlated with distance from the natural cave entrance. Community membership and taxonomic distribution of fungal OTUs differed significantly between the front and back of the cave. There was no observed effect of drip water nutrient concentration on fungal community structure. The third study examined fungal community structure from bat guano over the course of a year. There was no significant difference in fungal OTU richness, diversity, or community membership and taxonomic affiliations among sampling times. There were no significant differences in nutrient concentrations of guano samples among sampling times. Nutrient concentration did have a significant effect on community structure, especially the level of nitrogen and calcium.

Ochre is found at many Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites and its use is often attributed by archaeologists to enhanced mental abilities and symbolism. However, the links between the visible uses of ochre, cognition and symbolism have not been clearly demonstrated. Here it is argued that by understanding ochre processing technology and some of the stages involved in using ochre, one can determine the skill, knowledge and cognitive abilities required to execute those activities. In order to understand the usetraces found on ochre, and to enable the identification of them, as well as the types of ochre used, experiments were first performed with geological ochre specimens. Ochre pieces collected from the Sibudu surrounds were used experimentally for a variety of grinding, scoring and rubbing activities. All use-traces created on the ochre piece during an activity were macro- and microscopically examined, recorded and compared. Experimental ochre pieces ground against a coarse or fine-grained slab develop parallel striations. Grinding results in significant changes to the surface shape of the ochre, and often results in faceted edges. Scoring can be performed with the intention to create powder, or to create a design. The incisions created from scoring often do not reach all the edges of the used surface and they regularly have frayed terminations. A frayed incision termination shows that the incision was created by multiple scoring strokes. When ochre is scored to manufacture powder the incisions that are generated are parallel groups of grooves with erratically oriented grooves as well. Grooves created through both grinding and scoring have microstriations within them and they show a range of profile shapes. The most common use-wear from rubbing ochre on soft materials is smoothing, edge rounding and polish. Microstriations and metallic lustre occasionally form during rubbing. The collection of utilised experimental ochre formed a comparative collection for the examination of the Sibudu ochre. The main body of this research comprises a study of the Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage from Sibudu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Sibudu has a large Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage of over 9000 pieces of ochre from layers dating between ~77 ka and ~37.6 ka. All pieces were examined to determine the types of ochre used and to inspect all use-traces present on the pieces. The assemblage comprises 5449 ochre pieces iv >8 mm, including 682 pieces with markings from use. The pre-Still Bay (~77 ka) and Howiesons Poort (~65–62 ka) layers have the highest percentage of utilised pieces. Bright-red ochre was preferentially selected for use throughout most of sequence. There is evidence of the preferential selection of specific types of ochre for use in the Sibudu assemblage. Shale and pieces with medium hardness values are common throughout the sequence. Grain sizes change through time – pieces with clayey grain sizes are favoured during the Still Bay and Howiesons Poort, whereas silty grain sizes are preferred in the younger Middle Stone Age occupations. High frequencies of bright-red amongst the utilised pieces, coupled with high frequencies of yellow or orange pieces with no evidence of use, suggest that colour choices were deliberate and not a product of postdepositional heating. Chemical analysis of a sample of utilised pieces indicates that they all contain iron, silicon, aluminium and calcium; many pieces contain hematite and some contain maghemite. Use-traces were divided into activity categories, based on experimental results. Combined grinding and rubbing is the most frequent activity for which ochre pieces were used. Grinding and rubbing use-wear also occurs independently on many pieces. Scored pieces are rare, but are more frequent in the pre-Still Bay (~77 ka) industry than elsewhere in the sequence. Some of the incisions appear to be deliberate engravings, and parallel lines and fan-like marks are the most often repeated patterns. Use-traces acquired during powder-producing activities predominate, implying a desire to create ochre powder. Powder-producing activities were mainly performed with bright-red pieces, while minimal scoring is mainly present on brown-red pieces. Pieces with mica inclusions are not common, but were frequently used for powder-producing activities. Once the activities performed with ochre were established, thought-and-action sequences, or cognigrams, were constructed. This helped establish the steps involved in each activity and the temporal and physical distance between the commencement of a task to its completion. Inferential sequences were constructed to establish the procedures and knowledge needed to complete an activity, thereby establishing the cognitive prerequisites. Cognitive interpretations are made using the concept of enhanced executive functions of the brain. The construction of the inferential thoughtv and-action sequences showed that the various ways that ochre was used have different cognitive requirements. Powder-production alone is not an indicator of complex cognitive processes, although some planning, foresight and knowledge of materials is required. Some of the powder was used in the creation of hafting adhesives, which is a cognitively demanding process requiring attention-switching ability, response inhibition and abstract thought. Grinding ochre and then rubbing the piece on a soft material for the direct transfer of powder does require some complex mental abilities, such as multi-tasking and switching attention. Scoring a piece of ochre with a sharp tool does not necessitate enhanced executive functions, but some engravings demonstrate foresight, intentionality and an awareness of space and symmetry that may demonstrate abstract thought. This research provides a complete description of the Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage at Sibudu, and establishes the way that ochre was used at the site. This contributes to the debate on the advent of enhanced behaviours in the past by providing insight into the cognitive abilities required by the ochre users. It offers a method of analysing ochre use in the past by drawing on cognitive theory and the visible applications of ochre. Both simple and complex cognitive abilities were required for ochre activities at Sibudu. The requirement for cognitively complex abilities in some of the ochre-related activities at Sibudu suggests that the people living there during the MSA had advanced mental capabilities like modern humans living today. This research shows how ochre use can be employed as a proxy for cognitive capabilities, and can therefore shed light on the evolution of the modern mind.

Fossil Agamidae from Western Australia have been the subject of limited study. To aid in fossil agamid identification, Hocknull (2002) examined the maxilla and dentary of several extant species from Australia and determined diagnostic characters for various species groups. In the study here, fossil agamids from two localities in Western Australia, Hastings Cave and Horseshoe Cave, were examined, grouped, and identified to the lowest unambiguous taxonomic level. Morphometric analyses were conducted to compare morphotypes, and find additional diagnostic characters. From Hastings Cave there were two maxilla morphotypes and three dentary morphotypes. Based on identifications, taxa present at this locality were Pogona and Ctenophorus. Horseshoe Cave contained three maxilla morphotypes and two dentary morphotypes; taxa present were Pogona, Tympanocryptis, and Ctenophorus. Morphometric analyses showed separation between groups; however, the dentary morphotype separation was not as clear. Each morphotype identification matched a species in the respective localities today, but identifications are cautious.

The Dog Child site is a multi-component archaeological site located within Wanuskewin Heritage Park, approximately three kilometres from the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The site was excavated from 2004 to 2009 during the summer field season with help from the University of Saskatchewan Department of Archaeology and Anthropology field school and the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society field school. A Master of Arts thesis dealing with the first three years of excavation entitled The Dog Child Site (FbNp-24): A 5500 Year Multicomponent Site on the Northern Plains was completed by Cyr (2006).<p> A focus on the 2007 to 2009 field seasons has been undertaken in this thesis. Artifacts including projectile points and pottery recovered from the site as well as radiocarbon dates confirm the presence of six occupation levels. Five different projectile point series or complexes are associated with the six occupation levels including: Plains Side-Notched, Prairie Side-Notched, McKean series, Oxbow complex, and Mummy Cave series (Gowen). The Mummy Cave series at the site encompasses two of the occupation levels identified. Due to the rich Gowen cultural level at the site the opportunity to study this cultural occupation in more detail became the focus of the second research program.<p> The Hypsithermal is a period of increased complexity and debate on the Plains. This thesis focuses on the 7500 to 4500 years B.P. time frame during which Mummy Cave series cultural occupations are present. The archaeological remains recovered from the Gowen occupation at the Dog Child site suggest the utilization of a broader subsistence base rather than a sole focus on utilizing and consuming bison. Comparison of other sites from this time period indicates that the Dog Child site may be unique in the number of specimens and taxa represented by the excavated faunal assemblage. From this analysis a wealth of new archaeological data including insight into Hypsithermal subsistence patterns and paleoenvironmental studies can be observed.