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Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-68). / This thesis explores the design of dwellings which respond to the warm, humid climate of central Florida. The central hypothesis is that a house should change with the seasons; through the use of variable enclosure the house can close up into a mechanically conditioned "box" during uncomfortable weather and open up as a "pavilion" during pleasant conditions. The thesis begins with a brief explanation of some characteristics of Florida's climate. This is followed by a discussion of some dwellings which have also used the "box and pavilion" strategy. The major portion of this work presents a collection of reference patterns for creating dwellings for warm, humid climates; there are examples to show how these patterns were incorporated into my design exploration. Finally, the thesis closes with a brief review of the references and a comparison with the product of my design exploration. / by Steven John Boyington. / M.Arch.

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Vertical structure, the top-to-bottom arrangement of aboveground vegetation, is an important component of forest and shrubland ecosystems. For many decades, ecologists have used foliage height profiles and other measures of vertical structure to identify discrete stages in post-disturbance succession and to quantify the heterogeneity of vegetation. Such studies have, however, required resource-intensive field surveys and have been limited to relatively small spatial extents (e.g.,

The objective of the study was to identify and measure the magnitude of the gap that may exist between the corporate level Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) culture and its ensuing policies and their equivalent at the property level. This gap was hypothesized to be a function of a number of personal characteristics of the General Managers (GMs) coupled with the organizational profile of the hotel. The data were collected via an online survey based on a CSR scale developed by Turker (2009) in combination with other original and previously used smaller scales. The study‟s population consisted of general managers of hotels that were managed by a corporate office and were members of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. In total, 564 hotel GMs were contacted by email by their perspective associations and invited to participate in the study. A total of 123 surveys were returned which equated to a 22% response rate. The results indicated that the gaps for all factors were very small. This suggested that based on the GMs‟ perceptions, there was not much variation between their corporations‟ CSR policies and their properties‟ CSR policies. Hence, because of this small variation, it can be speculated that, in this study, hotel GMs were committed to follow precisely the corporate CSR policies and initiatives at their property levels. Notwithstanding the above, the results supported three hypotheses as follows: (a) the more GMs were involved in the community, the less they were committed to CSR policies relating to the government; (b) the more hours per week GMs spent in community volunteerism, the higher was their commitment to overall CSR policies; and iv (c) the higher was the demonstrated commitment of GMs to their corporation‟s CSR policy regarding responsibility to employees, the more they were rewarded through nonmonetary perceived personal success. This study and its ensuing results were of significant importance to the general CSR body of knowledge and unique in terms of their contribution to CSR in the hotel industry. The practical implication from this study was that it sets a number of benchmarks relating to CSR corporate and property level policies and initiatives in a given sector of the hotel industry. In addition, due to the fact that few, if any, gaps were found between the corporate and property level cultures, corporate officers can at least feel fairly comfortable that from the GMs‟ perspectives, CSR initiatives are being implemented at the property level in accordance with corporate policy

Determining the amount of resources needed, specifically food and water, following a hurricane is not a straightforward task. Through this research effort, an estimating tool was developed that takes into account key demographic and evacuation behavioral effects, as well as hurricane storm specifics to estimate the number of meals required for the first fourteen days following a hurricane making landfall in the State of Florida. The Excel based estimating tool was created using data collected from four hurricanes making landfall in Florida during 2004-2005. The underlying model used in the tool is a Regression Decision Tree with predictor variables including direct impact, poverty level, and hurricane impact score. The hurricane impact score is a hurricane classification system resulting from this research that includes hurricane category, intensity, wind field size, and landfall location. The direct path of a hurricane, a higher than average proportion of residents below the poverty level, and the hurricane impact score were all found to have an effect on the number of meals required during the first fourteen days following a hurricane making landfall in the State of Florida

Understanding the effect of food abundance on feeding behavior can benefit conservation efforts in many ways, such as to determine whether impacted environments need food supplementation, whether different locations of threatened species contain different food abundances, or whether reintroduction sites are missing key components of a species’ diet. I studied the relationship between feeding behavior and food abundance in the Lower Keys marsh rabbit (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri), an endangered subspecies endemic to the lower Florida Keys. Specifically, my study set out to measure the relative abundance of the primary plants within the natural habitat of the Lower Keys marsh rabbit and estimate the proportion of each of these plants within the rabbit’s diet. With this information, I tested the following hypotheses: first, the Lower Keys marsh rabbit selectively feeds on specific plants; second, that diet does not differ among sites; and third, that diet is not affected by food abundance. Using stable isotope analysis, I determined that two plants were prominent in the rabbit’s diet: a shrub, Borrichia frutescens, and a grass, Spartina spartinae. These two species were prominent in the rabbit’s diet in most patches, even where they were relatively rare, suggesting the rabbits are indeed selectively feeding on these species. In addition, although diet did differ among patches, selective feeding was apparent in all cases. Overall, this study determined that certain food types are important food sources for the federally endangered Lower Keys marsh rabbit and that these rabbits do not feed on plants based on plant abundance. This knowledge can be directly applied to reintroduction and restoration efforts for the Lower Keys marsh rabbit. More generally, the methods used in this study can be applied to other species of concern in order to address questions associated with diet requirements and foraging behavior.

Little academic research has been conducted examining access to transportation by those in need. The small amount of research that has been done focuses primarily on mobility issues of the elderly and the disabled, despite findings that income level is an important determinant in access to transportation. The few studies that have examined access to transportation in relation to income simply cite the difficulties that those in poverty face when attempting to access vital resources as problematic, yet very few focus specifically on this issue. This thesis examines how free food recipients commute to and from local pantries, and whether public transportation in the Orlando metropolitan area adequately services food bank resources utilized by low income individuals. Physical location data as well as survey questionnaires were used to determine commuting patterns as well as the overall availability and utilization of transit options of Orlando‟s low income population. Findings from this study show that even though nearly 50% of respondents do not own a car, public transportation remains a last option, making the Orlando area heavily dependent on cars, even for those with no direct access to one. Despite low public transit ridership, it was found that the majority of food pantries in Orange County are adequately serviced by LYNX, while pantries in Seminole County suffer from a severe lack of services.

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