Memoria para optar al título de Arquitecto / Este proyecto esta mirado desde un punto de vista de un deportista que vivió toda su vida en la comuna, creyendo firmemente que las cosas pueden mejorar en muchos niveles. El proyecto intenta mejorar varias inquietudes que hoy en día se intentan solventar con pequeñas intervenciones sin conexiones entre ellas, para hacer que estas tengan un mayor impacto en la comunidad. Las intervenciones tienen distintas escalas hasta llegar a la final la cual se hace un diseño mas acabado que será quien integre factores urbanos que en la actualidad son “cotidianos”, que es como la ciudad le gana territorio a la precordillera sin reparos. El Centro Deportivo Comunitario de La Florida busca ser el hito articulador entre dos fuerzas que disputan hoy en día, brindando un gran espacio a la comunidad ya sea deportivo como social en la altura, quien pretende ser un constante mirador del gran Santiago.

During the last two decades, a broad spectrum of short- and long-term studies on different taxonomic groups has enriched our understanding about how dynamics of taxonomic and ecological diversification have changed through geologic time. There are two major issues that have impacted these studies: the quality and quantity of data used are often insufficient in various ways and the methods used may produce results that are more equivocal than supposed. To investigate these issues more fully, this dissertation focuses on studies on two major aspects: 1) short-term studies examining the nature of successful and unsuccessful predatory attacks on Plio-Pleistocene bivalves; and 2) a Phanerozoic-scale project examining trends in bivalve richness and ecological differentiation. The short-term studies, focusing on shell-breaking predation on bivalves, have shown that the existing methodologies which only study either successful or unsuccessful component of predation in isolation are fraught with potential issues in developing effective interpretations. When these two components (i.e., successful and unsuccessful) are studied in tandem as was done here, however, traces of predation can be used to better constrain potential paleoecological interpretations related to predation intensity, predator's attack strategies, and predator-prey dynamics. The long-term project includes two Phanerozoic studies on bivalves' taxonomic and ecological richness. The taxonomic study has shown how the elements included in various datasets used can affect the Phanerozoic richness trajectory of bivalves. The revised and newly compiled dataset developed here reveals that bivalves showed three major episodes of diversification - a Ordovician radiation of orders and families, a Mesozoic diversification of families, and a dramatic Cenozoic rise in the total number of genera - all of which were synchronous with ecological diversification in terms of appearances of new life forms capable of colonizing new ecospace (i.e., cubes). However, these synchronous changes in taxonomic-ecologic richness were influenced by many biotic (e.g., predation, competition, and adaptive innovations) and abiotic (e.g., nutrient availability, sea level, and temperature) components, for which I propose a multilevel mixed model such that all these components can be studied in tandem.

ABSTRACT Hail poses a substantial threat to life and property in the state of Florida. These losses could be minimized through better understanding of the relationships between atmospheric variables that impact hail formation in Florida. Improving hail forecasting in Florida requires analyzing a number of meteorological parameters and synoptic data related to hail formation. NOAA archive data was retrieved to create a database that was used to categorize text files of hail days. The text files were entered into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory website to create National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis maps of atmospheric variables for Florida hail days as well as days leading to the hail event. These data were then analyzed to determine the relationship between variables that affect hail formation, in general, across different regions and seasons in Florida using Statistical Product and Service Solutions. The reasoning for the differing factors affecting hail formation between regions, seasons and hail sizes were discussed, as well as forecasting suggestions relating to region and month in Florida. The study found that the majority of all hail that occurs in Florida is during the wet season. A low Lifted Index, high Precipitable Water and lower than average Sea Level Pressure, in most cases, is present during hail days in Florida. Furthermore, results show that Vector Wind magnitude increases as hail size increases. Additionally, several atmospheric variables useful to studying hail events, such as Lifted Index, Precipitable Water, Sea Level Pressure, Vector Wind and Temperature have significant correlations with each other depending on the region and season being observed. Strong correlations between low Lifted Index, high Precipitable Water values and the occurrence of hail events are discussed, as well as the relationship between temperature anomalies at various pressure levels and the occurrence of hail events.

This thesis is an interdisciplinary analysis of humans' relationship to the natural environment, specifically how wetlands are reflected in our legislative decisions. Our perceptions of wetlands and our relationship to the environment are influenced by our locality, history, and inter-generational relationships. These perceptions shape decision-making within a community. Our relationship to the natural environment and the way we interact with it can be explained through psychological and geographical theories. Historical trends reveal our consistently negative perspectives of wetlands in the United States and a rapid decline in wetlands acreage. At the federal, state, and local level, Americans have attempted to agree upon regulations that protect both essential wetland functions and private property rights. Literature, academic discourse, newspaper articles, local voices, county employees, and legislation help reveal the relationship between perceptions of wetlands and the regulations that affect these ecosystems. Hillsborough County's wetland controversy exemplifies a debate between differing public attitudes toward wetlands similar to that seen across the state and country. Pressure from landowners and developers encouraged the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission to vote to eliminate the county wetland protection division in the summer of 2007. Public concern following this decision led to debate about the significance of local wetland regulations. The decision to eliminate the wetland protection division was placed on hold for further discussion. In the first four chapters I examine the historical, social and psychological roots of our relationship to wetlands. Then, chapters five and six address wetland regulations on the federal and state levels. Chapter seven is a case study of Hillsborough County's wetlands controversy that arose in summer 2007 with a commission vote to do away with the county wetlands protection. Finally, in chapter eight I attempt to bring together all sides of the wetlands conversation into towards finding a solution to what position county governments should take in regulating wetland impacts and use.

Includes index / Bibliography: p. 77-79 / i, 145 p. : / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.

This thesis addresses the utility of deep-water coral geochemistry and its potential to reconstruct oceanographic conditions in the Straits of Florida. Through stable isotope and elemental analyses of the carbonate skeletons and use of available geochemical proxy calibration equations, present and past environmental parameters were determined. Over the last several years, scientific expeditions to the bottom of the Straits of Florida have revealed hundreds of deep-water coral mounds and led to the collection of extensive oceanographic data, sediment samples, and deep-water coral specimens. In 2005-2006, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was used to map the coral mound fields at five sites with the use of geophysical imaging technology, and the manned Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible was deployed for further exploration and sample collection. The AUV and the submersible CTD also measured numerous environmental parameters, including temperature and salinity. With the goal of reconstructing environmental parameters across the Straits of Florida, Scleractinian and gorgonian deep-water coral specimens were selected from three sites spanning the Straits. Each coral was sampled at the highest resolution possible and analyzed for stable isotopes and elemental concentrations. Resulting geochemical data, specifically d18O, d13C, Sr/Ca, and Mg/Ca, was then used with previously published and newly developed calibration equations to calculate temperature, salinity, and seawater density. Kinetic and vital effects were also examined and taken into account while reconstructing environmental parameters using the coral geochemistry. Additional reconstructions using stable isotopic values from benthic foraminifera corroborated the geochemical reconstructions, and analyses of pteropods and surface sediment samples provided further insight into the oceanographic conditions at the bottom of the Straits of Florida. Results from geochemical reconstructions agreed with in situ data, indicating that slightly warmer bottom temperatures exist on the eastern side of the Straits and salinity variability among the three sites is minimal. This suggests that the deep-water coral skeletons are sensitive recorders of the environmental conditions in which they lived. Ultimately, in situ measurements and reconstructed parameters showed that there is little variability across the bottom of the Straits and that Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is the only apparent water mass in the area at that depth. Moreover, comparison of the coral habitat from this study with others from around the world demonstrated that certain conditions are required for deep-water coral growth, and that these same parameters are common to deep-water reef systems throughout the globe. Further sampling and geochemical analyses of deep-water corals in the region may be used to gain additional insight into the oceanographic conditions surrounding the coral mounds both presently and in the past. As with other previously studied deep-water coral systems, this highlights the potential for the reconstruction of paleo environmental records from deep-water corals in the Straits of Florida.

The Everglades, a wetland ecosystem unique to southern Florida has been degraded by the loss of nearly half of its area to urban and agricultural development as well as by alterations to Florida’s hydrology. Modifications to the flow of water to the Everglades have altered the remaining portion of the Everglades. Most prominent among these changes in the remaining Everglades is the loss of tree islands with a disproportionately greater loss of larger tree islands. Despite their significance as “keystone habitats”, our understanding of how changes to Everglades tree islands will affect fauna is poor. In the work presented, 16 study tree islands of Rock Reef Pass, Everglades National Park, Homestead, FL, were classified into three size classes (large, medium and small) and used animal capture histories collected between February 1994 and December 2005 to investigate the relationship between tree island size classes and indirect indicators of adult female hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) and marsh rice rat (Oryzomys palustris) fitness and reproduction. Adult female S. hispidus and O. palustris body weights were used as an indicator of adult female fitness and compared among tree island size classes. The proportions of reproductively active females, the proportions of captures of individuals in the juvenile age class and the number of juveniles per female were used as indirect indicators of female reproduction and compared among island size classes. Animal capture histories were also used to perform multi-state mark-recapture analyses, where sates were defined as three island size classes, to draw inferences about state-specific rates of survival and state transition probabilities for Oryzomys palustris and Sigmodon hispidus as a function of the most salient features of the Everglades ecosystem, namely, its tree islands and its seasonal wet and dry periods. Specifically, Akaike’s, information criterion (AIC) was used to make inferences about factors influencing survival and transition probabilities by comparing the relative fit among models where survival and transition rates are described as functions of tree island size classes and as a function of environmental variables that distinguish seasonal periods (monthly water levels, total monthly rainfall, mean air temperature, days dry, days inundated). The probabilities of individuals remaining within the same island size class were interpreted as an indirect indicator of size-class specific tree island use. Results indicated that greater proportions of S. hispidus adult females were reproductively active and had higher fitness on larger islands than females on smaller islands. The body weights of S. hispidus adult females, the proportions of individuals in the juvenile age class and the number of juveniles per female, were positively correlated with tree island area while the proportions of reproductively active S. hispidus females were not. When compared among tree island size classes, S. hispidus females recaptured on the same large island weighed more than females recaptured on the same and medium or small island suggesting that females with greater fitness are found on larger tree islands. The proportions of reproductively active S. hispidus females and of individuals in the juvenile age class were greater on larger tree islands than on smaller islands, although the number of juveniles per females did not differ among tree islands. The results also indicated that differences in the fitness and reproductive condition of O. palustris females are not as distinct among females on different size tree islands. The body weights O. palustris adult females, the proportions of juveniles and the number of juveniles per female were not correlated with island area, while the proportions of reproductively active females were negatively correlated with tree island area. The body weights of O. palustris adult females recaptured on the same large tree island were higher than those of females on smaller islands while the proportions of females that were reproductively active and the proportions of captures of juveniles were higher on small islands than on large islands. Mark-recapture analysis provided evidence that overall, Sigmodon hispidus survival rates were higher on larger islands than on smaller islands. Evidence was not found that Oryzomys palustris survival rates differed among size classes, perhaps due to the limited spatial scale of this study relative to the spatial sale of O. palustris habitat use. Both species’ survival probabilities differed between seasons with Oryzomys palustris having higher survivorship during wet seasons and Sigmodon hispidus during the dry season. Both Oryzomys palustris and Sigmodon hispidus were more likely to remain on large island than on smaller islands.

This thesis expands upon the dialogue between speed and architecture, investigating how architecture reinterprets the linear city, originally defined by the continuous fabric of the freeway and more recently reconfigured by the high speed rail line. Using the linear city as a site of exploration and high speed rail as a ground to test new typologies of architectural insertions at amplified speed, this thesis produces an extended civic space along the proposed high speed rail line connecting Tampa and Orlando. Combining a series of performance and commercial programs, this new typology will make the obscured visual experience along the extended territory of the rail line legible, through a sequencing of specific architectural intersections, exploring how monumental civic space will be made and occupied in the sprawl of the American city.

Accurate age estimates for the commercially-important Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, would greatly enhance analyses of life history and population dynamics. Previous estimates of their age based on size and growth may be inaccurate because of variable growth in the wild. An established technique for aging crustaceans – histologically-determined lipofuscin content in the nervous system – was used on lobsters reared in the laboratory for up to five years. We verified the presence of lipofuscin in eyestalk neural tissue and described its distribution in cell cluster A of the hemiellipsoid body. Neurolipofuscin content of both sexes increased linearly over the five-year age range, with seasonal oscillations. Growth of these animals, on the other hand, showed sex differences and began to asymptote after three years. Neurolipofuscin concentrations in the two eyestalks from the same animal were similar. These results suggest that the neurolipofuscin technique will be valuable for estimating age of wild-caught P.argus.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of recommendations from selected educational reports and state mandates on curriculum, standards and policy in teacher education programs. The survey population included deans of teacher education in thirty-five public and private colleges in the states of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The study also determined the attitude of the deans regarding the recommendations from the selected reports and state mandates in the survey states and colleges. The recommendations analyzed in the study were from the reports: A Nation At Risk. The Imperative for Education Reform, High School. A Report on Secondary Education in America, Meeting-the Need for Quality. Action in-the South, Paideia Proposal: An Educational-Manifesto, and A Place Called School. Prospects for the Future.A thirty item questionnaire containing recommendations from the selected reports and state mandates related to states surveyed was developed and utilized. Six research questions were tested statistically by use of percent response, Pearson Product-Moment Correlation,analysis of variance and covariance, and Chi-Square. The .05 level of significance was established as the critical probability level for the significant results. The .01 level was also indicated to further identify levels of significance.Conclusions1. There was a greater tendency for the deans of teacher education to agree with the recommendations that had been implemented and a tendency to disagree with the recommendations that were not implemented.2. The majority of the recommendations that were standard oriented were implemented or proposed for implementation.3. A majority of the recommendations that were policy oriented were not considered for implementation.4. The majority of the deans did not favor recommendations that stressed stringent standards regarding the admittance of students to teacher education programs.5. The majority of the deans did not favor reform in curriculum such as the recommendations related to pedagogy and teaching methods, and were divided between disagree and undecided regarding the merits of a five year teacher education program.6. The type of institution did make a difference when responding to recommendations from the reports. The private colleges favored more of the recommendations that were curricula oriented. The public colleges favored more recommendations that were standard oriented. The majorityof the predominantly black colleges did not favor recommendations that emphasized raising the entrance and exit standards in teacher education.This study found that state mandates had greatest influence on teacher education since the release of the national reform reports of 1983-1984. The national reports were not found to have significant influence on teacher education reform regarding implementation of suggested reform; however, the attitudes of the deans supported such reform effort in teacher education.