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During 1975 the Architect Christopher Alexander designed and built an experimental project for low income people in the city of Mexicali, Mexico. The aim of the project was to create a beautiful place, not just of architectural beauty but in its essential spirit, in its quality of life. A number of patterns, taken from the book A Pattern Language, were used to design the environment. The residents played an important role in the design of their place: this, according to the author, would guarantee that the place would directly respond to their physical and spiritual needs. / Today, 20 years later, the project has undergone a lot of changes. People have continued the building process by themselves. Additions, modifications and changes in the use of spaces have blended the project with the neighborhood. This research attempts to describe the project's changes, to explain the motivating factors in its changes, and to evaluate the designer's original goals. It reveals the discrepancy between the architect's intentions and the actual needs of the residents. In this respect, the transformations observed show the incorporation of a culturally-based production process, suggesting the existence of an already inherent building practice that was neglected in the Mexicali approach.

Because mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus ) are an important game species throughout their range, an understanding of factors affecting mule deer populations is important for effective management. Desert mule deer (O. h. eremicus ) in southeastern California inhabit an arid region of North America where generally annual precipitation is <200 mm. Limited rainfall suggests a low abundance of plants for forage and cover. Consequently food and perhaps free water may be important limiting factors in populations of mule deer in deserts. The purpose of this study was to collect information about the resources upon which desert mule deer in a region of southeastern California rely, the factors that affect those resources, and the influence of the resources on mule deer population dynamics. This study addressed 6 components of deer ecology. Part 1 involved the use of long-term El Niño southern oscillation (ENSO), rainfall, and deer harvest records to investigate effects of ENSO and rainfall on long-term population trends of mule deer in the Sonoran Desert, southeastern California, USA. Part 2 reported the results of a microhistological analysis of fecal pellets to identify plant species in diets of desert mule deer in southern California and the seasonal changes in use of forage classes. The third part investigated at how rainfall, temperature, and plant characteristics affected biomass of deer forage. Part 4 involved an analysis of gradients in forage biomass and use by mule deer and bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ) along dry riparian streams near catchments. The fifth part was a study of how rainfall, temperature, forage biomass, and forage growth are related to water content, crude protein, and in-vitro dry-matter digestibility of some common forage species of desert mule deer in the Sonoran Desert, California. The final section involved the use of radiocollared deer, remote photography at wildlife water developments, and mark-recapture techniques to estimate population abundance and sex and age ratios. Together, these studies provide an understanding of the resources on which desert mule deer in California depend, how those resources are influenced by environmental conditions and large herbivores, and the consequences of these interactions on the demography of mule deer.

Surface and subsurface data indicate that Cretaceous strata in the southern Ventura basin are part of the northward prograding Chatsworth submarine fan. The fan extends westward as far as Trancas Beach in the Santa Monica Mountains and wells in the Oxnard Plain and on Oak Ridge. The eastern edge of the fan is constrained by wells in western San Fernando Valley which contain fine-grained strata which may have been deposited east of the Chatsworth fan. The Nonmarine Simi Conglomerate overlies the Cretaceous and is itself overlain by Paleocene marine beach sandstone and siltstone. These marine strata do not extend eastward into the San Fernando Valley. The lower Paleocene and Cretaceous strata were overlapped by the upper Paleocene Santa Susar1a and middle Eocene Liajas Formations. Sedimentation patterns for the Santa Susana and Llajas may be explained by two models: (1) A northwest-trending submarine ridge on which muds and silts were deposited, was flanked on the northeast and southwest by troughs receiving deep-water sands. (2) Both formations were deposited on a southwest-facing shelf, slope, and turbidite trough. Subsurface data important in basin analysis include 1) bathyal paleo- bathymetry for the entire Santa Susana, 2) sand channels in the Santa Susana which possibly funneled sediment westward down a submarine slope, 3) shelf-facies(?) Eocene strata with neritic to upper bathyal paleobathymetry in Oxnard Plain, and 4) Llajas fades in northern Simi Valley suggesting gradation upward from a shallow marine to outer shelf or slope environment. Facies correlations across the Simi fault indicate no large-scale post- Paleogene strike-slip displacement. If these sequences were rotated, as suggested by paleomagnetic data, the restored Cretaceous fan would come from the east and the restored Paleocene shoreline would face south. Thus paleogeography for the Cretaceous is simplified by the rotation hypothesis, but Paleocene paleogeography is made more complicated. / Graduation date: 1983