Variability in the hemispheric-scale atmospheric circulation can be directly linked to variations in surface environmental features, such as temperature, precipitation, and pollutant transport. One indicator of the behavior of the hemispheric-scale circulation is the circumpolar vortex (CPV). This research utilizes a geographic information system (GIS) approach to determine the variability in the northern hemisphere (NH) CPV. Specifically, the area, shape, and centroid of the December, January, February, April, July, and October NHCPV are analyzed for 1959 2001 because these features may provide insight about relationships between hemispheric-scale circulation and global temperature change throughout the year. A circularity ratio is used to characterize the shape of the hemispheric-scale circulation. Results suggest that none of the months analyzed exhibit any long-term trends in area and circularity, with July being the most variable month in area and October being the most variable month in circularity. In general, winter centroids tend to be skewed toward the Pacific basin, but few systematic temporal shifts in centroid position were noted for any month. Many monthly NHCPVs are correlated with atmospheric teleconnection patterns. For example, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is associated with the area of the December, January, February, and April NHCPV, while in December the circularity is positively correlated to the AO Index. Also, the Pacific-North American Index is correlated with the area of the December and February NHCPV and with the shape of the December, January, and October NHCPV. Cluster analysis resulted in seven clusters consisting of similar wintertime NHCPV properties. Finally, clear regional patterns emerge that suggest that the area and circularity are associated with variability in surface temperature and moist static energy in various regions of the northern hemisphere. These results may facilitate understanding of the relationship between hemispheric- and regional-scale circulation and global temperature change.

The Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone (GMHZ) has been observed along the Louisiana continental shelf west of the mouth of the Mississippi River since 1985. Previous research associated the surface area of the GMHZ with runoff in the Mississippi-Missouri River Basin (MMRB), with "wet" years linked to larger GMHZs than "dry" years. This research uses monthly climate divisional Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data and Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PHDI) data and monthly atmospheric teleconnection indices are used to predict the GMHZ extent up to several months in advance, using stepwise multiple regression techniques. The predictive equations are then used to reconstruct the extent of the GMHZ for years prior to 1985. To generate a hydroclimatologic regionalization of the MMRB, a principal components analysis (PCA) is performed to identify regions of homogeneous hydroclimatic variability that may contribute to variability in GMHZ extent. Results may be helpful to environmental planners who might use the predictions in defining upcoming seasons for the commercial seafood industry, and to environmental historians who may use the hindcasted estimates to explain variation in seafood harvests.

This study reports on the demography and osteological profile of the Poole-Rose Ossuary. Excavated in 1990 under the direction of Heather McKillop and at the request of the Alderville First Nation, the Poole-Rose Ossuary is a Late Woodland burial site in southern Ontario, Canada. Lack of European artifacts in the burial suggests that this site predates European contact. The Poole-Rose Ossuary is radiocarbon dated to A.D. 1550 ± 50 years. The skeletal remains were commingled. This ossuary likely represents the mass re-burial known as the Feast of the Dead or the Kettle. For the most part, closely related individuals were involved in such re-burials, which occurred every eight to 12 years. The talus and calcaneus were used in this study. The left talus shows a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of 212; approximately 15% of the individuals are subadults. The MNI is within the range reported in previous studies on the Poole-Rose Ossuary (range of MNI is 161 to 337). The incidence of degenerative joint disease is low, which is consistent with the clinical literature. This study also reports on issues of concordance and discordance of the Poole-Rose Ossuary with an ethnohistoric account and other studies of Late Woodland ossuaries (e.g., burial of infants, de-fleshing, and cremation).

This research was designed to document the decompositional and behavioral patterns and activities of arthropods colonizing child-sized remains, as observed by field sampling and 24-hour, high resolution video surveillance. The purpose of this research was to test the relationship between delays in arthropod colonization of child-sized remains and climatic conditions. Between March and June 2004, the remains of two child-sized pigs (approximately 11 kilograms) were deposited in an isolated wooded region in a suburban area of Virginia. The sites were secluded, approximately 83 yards from any dwellings. The pigs were placed on the surface: one was clothed, the other was unclothed. Wire cages were placed over them to prevent larger scavengers from consuming the specimens. Two high resolution video cameras were set up utilizing an infrared light source for night viewing. The cameras were set to record on a 24-hour basis. Taping was conducted every day throughout the period. Remains were also physically monitored every day, arthropods collected, observations noted, and direct temperature and humidity readings taken with a psychrometer at the experimental sites. Data for the macro-environment were collected from the U.S. Marine Corps Meteorology and Oceanographic Division, which provided hourly data on wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, sky cover, and weather observations. Two replicates of the study were conducted. Tapes were reviewed to document the number of arthropods visiting the sites, as well as species and activity. Inter-rater reliability was performed to ensure species documentation was accurate. Results of this study demonstrate the relationship between weather and delays in arthropod colonization. For both replicates, rainy, overcast weather conditions delayed colonization even though temperatures were above established thresholds of activity. This study also showed the effect of arthropods diurnal predilections. Additionally, it further highlighted the interspecies and intraspecies competition among insects for viable food sources and demonstrated exclusion and succession. Vertebrate scavenging was a factor even though all the specimens were secured in wire cages, as vertebrates successfully removed specimens from the cages. Results of this research reinforce the need for careful review of all factors when considering post mortem interval estimations.

Members of the Randolph family, a prominent plantation family that has lived in Louisiana since the late eighteenth century, contacted a team of anthropologists from Louisiana State University to help recover thirteen individuals from St. Marys Cemetery in Bayou Goula, Louisiana. The cemetery had been abandoned since 1970, its graves overgrown with weeds and desecrated by vandals. Of the thirteen individuals recovered, three sets of remains did not have associated grave markers. These three were taken back to the lab and analyzed using standard forensic procedures. Documentary research on the history of the cemetery, the once associated church, and the Randolph family provided important context for excavation. This thesis presents the project in its entirety with the hope that it will provide a helpful blueprint for both anthropologists and family members who might find themselves involved in the rescue of ancestral remains from historic cemeteries.

Brownfields are "abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination" (USEPA 2003a). This thesis focuses on the practices of public and private institutions to redevelop brownfields in Shreveport, Louisiana, as a means of mitigating potential technological hazards. The theoretical concept framing this analysis is hazards-of-place, a model of vulnerability that proposes interactions among physical vulnerability, social vulnerability, and mitigation efforts. In this model, vulnerability is a process that involves not only the likelihood of a hazardous incident but also the processes of hazard creation and mitigation that occur within social and geographical context. Hazards-of-place is an appropriate model for this analysis because of the roles of urban development processes and governmental authority in both creating and redeveloping brownfields. The thesis describes how processes of brownfield creation and redevelopment correspond to components of the hazards-of-place theory. The review of environmental records, which documents the influence of the quantitative perception of risk prevalent among environmental service firms and regulators, demonstrates the influence of governmental authority. The thesis analyzes the connection between brownfield redevelopment and other urban development processes. The analysis uses property values to compare investment at brownfields to investment in the surrounding properties. The two methods of analysis, statistical and cartographic, yield results with different degrees of success. The statistical analysis did not support the identification of any spatial patterns of investment relative to the subject sites. Cartographic analysis, however, identified outliers that were excluded from statistical analysis but were nevertheless associated with brownfield redevelopment. Supported by fieldwork, the cartographic analysis demonstrates that the new uses of redeveloped brownfields are part of industry-specific development in the surrounding area. The study areas surrounding both subject sites contained several properties that were the sites of significant levels of investment. The activities at these properties supported development of the same industries as at the new activities at the brownfields. These results indicate that, although it does not play a role in initiating new investment, brownfield redevelopment is closely associated with broader processes of urban development.

The assessment of child development requires standards in order to compare an apparent physiologic age to an actual chronological age. In assessing chronological age of an individual, the use of multiple indicators is ideal and important in determining age at death. For individuals under the age of about 21 years, dental development is the most reliable indicator of age. Research aimed at understanding the variation in tooth formation due to race and sex will help to more accurately determine the age at death of remains of subadult individuals. This project examined the impact of race, sex, and time period on first and second molar development. The sample gathered consisted of 303 panorex radiographs of individuals ranging in age from four years to 14 years. Each radiograph was of an individual whose age, sex, and racial affinity were known. The results of statistical analyses revealed no significant difference in timing of dental development between race, sex, or decade groups. Mean comparisons did show some slight differences, especially with regard to sex and decade differences. Girls have an earlier average age at each stage of second molar development than boys. A directional change from the 1980s to the 1990s shows an increase in average age at each stage of development, suggesting that at least some secular change has occurred in recent years.

The GIS of Plaza B represents the application of GIS in the analysis of buildings. The GIS contains information on six structures and recreates the development of the royal residential plaza at the ancient Maya site of Altun Ha, in northern Belize. Altun Ha is a small site with a long history of occupation, rich in architectural and artifactual forms. The major site expansion and development started in the end of the Early Classic (A. D. 400) with the emergence of the institution of kingship at the site. Two adjunct plazas, A and B, formed the largest ceremonial residential complex in the center of the site. This thesis analyzed the layout of the residential plaza and the dynamics of change in the access patterns within the structures. The study of the layout revealed that in spite of the seeming informality, the layout of Plaza B was carefully planned. The access patterns and shape of residential structures showed that one of them was used as a residential- administrative building, and another most likely have been strictly residential. The architecture of the plazas funerary shrine recreated stories from Maya mythology and symbolized the connection between ancestors and descendants. The changes in the access patterns within the structures of Plaza B, around A. D. 700, paralleled by the changes in tomb and cache placement practices, supported the hypothesis about the change in the succession line of the ruling family that led to the gradual degradation of the central power at Altun Ha and eventual abandonment of the site. The GIS of Plaza B proved to be an excellent information base and valuable tool for data analysis. It allowed representation of the plaza structures as a complex of interconnected dynamic entities. This unified representation, in turn, allowed formulation of the hypothesis about social changes that triggered changes in architecture.

Between the Civil War and World War I, American cities underwent dramatic changes: they changed in shape, they changed in size, they changed in terms of who was there, and how those individuals were distributed through the city. The driving force behind these urban morphological changes was industrialization and the emergence of industrial slums on the edges of expanding business districts. These industrial slums were widely believed to breed disease, crime, intemperance, and immorality external costs that were being born by the entire society. Yet American society and American philanthropic institutions were not prepared to deal with the by-products of the new industrial-capitalist economy (namely, extensive poverty and increased social segregation) or the rise of big cities. As a result, progressive social reformers developed new methods of helping poor, largely immigrant communities adjust to a rapidly changing, increasingly complex urban society. One such effort was the settlement movement. Begun in Londons East End in 1884, the movement emphasized residence and the creation of community. The movements leaders worked to facilitate communication across class lines, provide cultural luxuries (like university level classes and art exhibits) to the poor, create functioning neighborhoods in the midst of blight, and spur others primarily, idealistic, upper-class, college-educated men to participate in social reform. The English settlement movement (and the American movement, which began in 1886) represented a new, alternative approach to helping the poor; mid-nineteenth century social reformers focused on moralism, and viewed poverty as the product of vice and moral failure. Settlement workers viewed poverty largely as an environmental problem that they could help solve through settlement-sponsored activities and amenities. This research focuses on two settlement houses in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1890s and examines how settlement workers impacted the neighborhoods of the South Cove and the South End. The founders (and ultimately, workers) of the settlements had very different ideas on how best to help their communities, yet both made significant strides toward providing basic amenities to their neighbors in the form of libraries, baths, playgrounds, health clinics, daycare, and school classes, amenities that these neighborhoods otherwise would have been without.

In the summer of 2003 I conducted an archaeological study at Pork and Doughboy Point, Belize, under the direction of Dr. Heather McKillop. The site, situated amidst other ancient Maya coastal settlements of the Port Honduras in southern Belize, has only been tested for offshore deposits in the three decades since it was reported. The current research involved the first reported terrestrial excavations at the site. The goals of this investigation were to recover pottery that could be used to date the ancient Maya occupation and obtain artifacts that would suggest the nature of the site. From artifact analyses I have concluded that Pork and Doughboy Point was the location of one or more intensified activities, the products of which were likely involved in coastal-inland trade with the interior centers of southern Belize. I propose first generation models that test the available data in an attempt to depict the nature of ancient Maya coastal site development and economy. These models may also be appropriate in other regions of the Maya realm.