In the next 20 years, the nation must accommodate the largest number of potential homebuyers in its history. To provide a basis for homebuyer education, the purpose of this study was to identify problems related to the homebuying process. A random sample of 250 buyers of residential property in Fort Collins, Colorado, during 1978 was obtained. A questionnaire, developed following Dillman's Total Design Method for mail surveys, presented 66 potential difficulties ordered according to six steps in the homebuying process. After indicating all difficulties encountered during search, purchase, and first year of occupancy, respondents listed the two considered most important, their consequences, perceived causes, and consumer recourse. A response rate of 80.4% was achieved, of which, 153 were eligible owner-occupants who had made a new purchase. All but two difficulties received a frequency of at least one; and eight difficulties were added by respondents. The most frequent problems, reported by 20% or more of the buyers, were: utility costs much higher than expected or estimated, activities foregone since purchase, mechanical system problems, repairs or adjustments necessary before or soon after purchase, delayed closing, overlapping payments on two residences, problematic telephone installation, and required costs or activities different from the previous residence. The mean total number of difficulties reported was 7.16. Subjects listed 47 and 44 items, respectively, as most and second most important difficulties. By combining frequencies for importance items, weighting those for the most important problem, the composite rank order of importance was: foregone activities, high utility costs, overlapping payments, mechanical problems, financial bind, delayed closing, and structural conditions or defects. Financial and personal consequences were more often associated with the important difficulties than legal consequences. Most frequent avenues of consumer recourse taken or planned were personal complaints to the source of the problem and to relatives or friends. Perceived causes of the important problems varied. Frequency distribution comparisons between sample groups, categorized by 15 buyer, search, and purchase characteristics, generally showed similarities on the most frequent difficulties. However, lists of most important difficulties varied in both content and rank order between groups. Mean comparison tests revealed significant differences (p<.01 and .05) in total number of difficulties on the variables: purchase experience, income level, and age of structure. Major conclusions were 1) The wide ranges and lack of congruence between the difficulties frequently reported and those considered most important, suggest that to attract the attention of a majority of affected buyers, homebuyer education efforts must be comprehensive, yet personally focussed; 2) Although some problems seem likely to be experienced by many owners, the potential for encountering certain difficulties appears to relate to certain characteristics, and populations most in need of education for self-protection are: first-time and lower-than-average income buyers, in-migrants, and those purchasing newly constructed homes and/or at prices less than $60,000; 3) Since the bulk of frequent and important difficulties were detected in move-in and occupancy stages, and were related to financial consequences, timing of purchase or move, and quality or condition of the unit, educational content should emphasize these areas. / Ph. D.

Almost every New England town with colonial roots has a manicured Main Street, or some thoroughfare that is meticulously cared for in attempt to preserve and display its history through its architecture. Buildings range in age from as old as the town to as new as yesterday. However, in most cases, Main Street is not a true reflection of the complete history of a town. After a certain point in time, it was no longer acceptable to build in a manner reflective of the current conditions. If a new building was to be erected, only eclectic adaptations of past styles were deemed suitable, to achieve scenographic coherence. Resultantly, any significant truth to Main Street's architecture ceased to develop. A true reflection of the actual societal institution as manifested through the architecture of the town was lost. It is this loss that I refer to as "truth". This thesis is about finding, and restoring, truth through the design of a new house on Main Street in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Glastonbury is a town full of colonial history, with more than 150 houses built before 1800, many of which exist on Main Street. The design for this house is not a direct condemnation of historic eclecticism; rather, it is an attempt to demonstrate how a house can be designed to reflect the true connection between time and place in the institution of "the house". The design acknowledges history through proportion, form, and scale, and it admits contemporary values through abstraction of details, use of materials, and organization of space. The product is a statement about how to design a house that comprehensively and truthfully reflects the spirit of its setting. / Master of Architecture

This thesis seeks to determine if there is a relationship between a vice president of the United States governing influence and his involvement in a presidential reelection campaign. The period for this thesis will begin with Richard Nixon'­s vice presidency and end with Al Gore's. To find a connection I will create factors that will examine both governing influence and reelection campaign involvement. / Master of Arts

Life is a transition through stages, framed by birth and death. We transition through life in a nonlinear fashion, moving sometimes closer to, and sometimes farther from, rest. Daily, we rise for living and fall to rest. Daily, we prepare for activity and prepare for sleep. Daily we age and endure, but our burdens may lighten with the coming of Spring or a new member to the family. In reverence to the stages of life, I have designed a house living for death - a house that provides a meaningful setting for the stages of life and our daily transitions. The house provides a dwelling for a cemetery caretaker, whose very vocation is a daily encounter with death. The house, living for death, is composed of aspects that call the dweller to death and to life. Death is reflected in a stone foundation and walls for the private quarters of the home, for rest and daily preparations. These ground the dweller in ultimate rest. Life is reflected in rooms of timber that create a place for nourishment, entertaining, and leisure during the day. The centerpiece of the house is a stone hearth that adjoins the stages of the house - stone and timber, death and life. Just as the stages of life are nonlinear, the stone and timber construction of the house meet and acknowledge each other and their respective roles. For example, the sleeping quarters have a stone foundation but east-facing walls of wood remind the sleeper that activity calls and that rest in the house is not permanent. A key feature of the home is its moment of transition to the west, where the dweller is prepared to encounter and acknowledge final rest in the attached cemetery. Two rotating doors create a space for the caretaker to access the cemetery through a moment of transition. In this moment, the caretaker accesses her tools and reorients her mind. Transitioning to the outdoors, the caretaker must ascend to the cemetery and pauses on landing when eye-height with her charges, the headstones. Upon return from the cemetery, the moment of transition is a moment to remove dirt, clean, and again reorient to the living. / Master of Architecture / Life is a transition through stages, framed by birth and death. We transition through life in a nonlinear fashion, moving sometimes closer to, and sometimes farther from, rest. Daily, we rise for living and fall to rest. Daily, we prepare for activity and prepare for sleep. Daily we age and endure, but our burdens may lighten with the coming of Spring or a new member to the family. In reverence to the stages of life, I have designed a house living toward death - a house that provides a meaningful setting for the stages of life and our daily transitions. The house provides a dwelling for a cemetery caretaker, whose very vocation is a daily encounter with death.

Yes / Landscape geophysical survey around the small upland ‘henge’ at Yarnbury, Grassington, North Yorkshire revealed few anthropogenic features around the enclosure but did identify a small rectangular structure in the same field. Sample trenching of this feature, radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic dating proved it to be an earlier Neolithic post and wattle structure of a type that is being increasingly recognised in Ireland and the west of Britain. It is the first to be recognised in the Yorkshire Dales and it is argued that the Dales may have been pivotal in the Neolithic for east–west trade as well as pastoral upland agriculture.

Historic preservation commissions are required to review proposals of infill within historic districts. Often, this process is viewed as something that stifles an architect. What can an architect to do to both comply with the preservationists wishes and fulfill their clients desires to have an innovative new construction? An architect must look past the prescribed ways of satisfying preservation commissions requirements and fully interpret the process. / Master of Architecture

The central idea of the 2005 Virginia Tech Solar House was to celebrate its solar aspects while integrating the engineering systems and the architecture into a single entity. Through the process of design and construction, the relationship between each detail and the overall architectural concept became evident. Highlighting four specific details to illustrate such intimate relationship, this study shows the importance of carefully working through each detail to remain faithful to the original design without any major compromise. / Master of Architecture

A house was designed to express the clearing in which it stands. The site was analyzed in terms of the elements that lend themselves to architecture. The character of light, space and order contribute to the overall design of the house. Thus the house can be said to be an expression of the natural beauty of its site. / Master of Architecture

This thesis seeks to illuminate a blind spot in the scholarship of the later Cromwellian Protectorate by focusing on an intriguing innovation in the parliamentary constitution of 1657 – the creation of an upper chamber or "Other House". The Other House may have filled the void left vacant by the defunct House of Lords, but it did not necessarily mean that the Protectorate was backsliding its way towards the ancient constitution of King, Lords and Commons. Although many aspects of ceremony and procedure remained exactly the same as its predecessor, its functions were reformulated and its membership was significantly different. The life peers nominated by Oliver Cromwell to sit there were politically, religiously, socially and geographically diverse. Yet, Cromwell's attempt to nominate a chamber that would please all sides ultimately ended up pleasing nobody; instead of bringing definition to the constitutional arrangement, his choices simply muddied the waters further. The resulting mood was one of apathy among civilian Cromwellian MPs in the second session of the second Protectorate Parliament towards both the Other House and the settlement as a whole. More importantly, the Other House was never a bulwark for the military Cromwellians; it did not institutionalise the army's position within the constitution. Although this posed no immediate problem under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, it came to the fore following the succession of his conservative-minded son Richard. When the Commons and Protector united behind an anti-military programme in April 1659, the military Cromwellians found themselves outnumbered and outmanoeuvred in the Other House. Unable to protect their interests by constitutional means, the military men turned to their ultimate source of strength – the army. In forcing the Protector to dissolve Parliament, they undermined completely the constitutional arrangement and effectively sealed the end of the Protectorate regime.

The purpose of this study is to develop a guide to inform individuals concerned with the building of a home, suggesting the proper procedures to follow in financing, planning and constructing. The study is also designed to help the potential home builder in the selection of various artisans and the purchasing of building materials, along with the basic structure of a home.