Over the past century, suburban living has been a sign of prosperity and a manifestation of the American dream. Owning a large single-family home, a spacious yard and a car have become a measure of success. The trend towards suburban habitation has created a surge of sprawled development that has led to an inefficient built-environment The attitudes, and lifestyles of the current young population are no longer the same; millennials are getting married and starting families later, with a greater demand to settle in urban areas. They are placing higher value towards living near jobs and walkable amenities and are choosing to wait longer on purchasing a home. The increased demand for urban living has caused city rents to skyrocket. The percentage of individuals who live in urban areas is expected to increase by 20% in the next 35 years. The overpopulation of cities has caused a surge in housing costs - making urban settlement increasingly unaffordable. The suburbs fail to provide millennials and young profession s with an adequate supply of rental housing due to its dominate presence of single family homes. The expensive cost of cities, along with the lack of viable housing in the suburbs has many young professionals stuck, in search of a feasible place to live. The suburbs have potential to be urbanized, and to provide a mix of housing types that accommodates a more diverse set of residents, however, there is a slew of pre-development hurdles that halt the process of high-density housing construction. This is especially seen in Long Island, NY, where residents are hesitant to allow the production of multi-family projects in their backyard. Transit Oriented development can serve as a solution to this problem, by stimulating the growth of long island towns, minimizing traffic impact, and catering specifically to millennials and seniors. This would allow the built environment of areas outside of transit hubs to preserve their single-family character, and would have little effect on the existing structure of school districts. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

We report 95 vertebrate taxa (13 fishes, 11 reptiles, 63 birds, 8 mammals) from late Pleistocene bone deposits in Sawmill Sink, Abaco, The Bahamas. The >5,000 fossils were recovered by scuba divers on ledges at depths of 27-35 m below sea level. Of the 95 species, 39 (41%) no longer occur on Abaco (4 reptiles, 31 birds, 4 mammals).We estimate that 17 of the 39 losses (all of them birds) are linked to changes during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (PHT) (∼15-9 ka) in climate (becoming more warm and moist), habitat (expansion of broadleaf forest at the expense of pinewoodland), sea level (rising from -80 m to nearly modern levels), and island area (receding from ∼17,000 km2 to 1,214 km2). The remaining 22 losses likely are related to the presence of humans on Abaco for the past 1,000 y. Thus, the late Holocene arrival of people probably depleted more populations than the dramatic physical and biological changes associated with the PHT.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

<p> The Manitoulin Formation on Manitoulin Island consists of a lower biostrome extending across the island and an upper biohermal accumulation just south of Manitowaning. </p> <p> Viscible hydrocarbon accumulations occur in the bioherm, mostly contained in the more porous framework corals Paleofavosites and Palaeophyllum. Hydrocarbons found in other sample sites across the island show a very low bulk weight per cent and are of no economic significance. </p> <p> The bulk of the hydrocarbon was likely formed in lower carbonates near the centre of the Michigan Basin. Petroleum is also thought to have been introduced with solutions which formed calcite deposits. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a function of excess heating of man-made impermeable surfaces and structures. Using Landsat satellite imagery along with its Thermal-Infrared (TIR) band, the UHI of Starkville, MS; Birmingham, AL; and Atlanta, GA were analyzed. Unsupervised classification of the Landsat imagery and temperature extraction from the TIR band revealed city size and amount of high-density urban land use are directly related to UHI intensity and higher than average surface temperatures. Vegetation analysis within the three study area cities, however, revealed an average surface temperature reduction of 2 °C with only 15% forest coverage within a 1km2 area. Results obtained can be useful as a potential monitoring tool that can characterize relationships between amount and percentage of urban tree cover and surface temperature. The information can be utilized by city planners and others who are interested in mitigating UHI effects in the ever- increasing urban America.

The ethnography of communication is a mode of inquiry which investigates relationships between language and culture in a particular speech community. Based on the ethnographic perspective, this study examines a certain way of speaking at a specific historical moment in a specific community. The major focus is two disc jockeys who are characterized as "trilingual" speakers (Japanese-English-Okinawa dialect) and their code switching activities in an Okinawan local radio program. The three-month field study took place on the island of Okinawa. Data were collected from observations at the two radio stations, transcriptions of the program, and interviews with the DJs, the program director, program listeners, and older Okinawan residents. The situational and metaphorical code switching patterns found in the DJs' verbal interactions include: obligational code choice, topic related code choice, interjections, quotations, translations, a lack of language proficiency, reiterations, and addressee specification. Using language which reflects "we" versus "they" orientation was a major determinant of the DJs' code choices. While the DJs use dialect to maintain Okinawan group identification, the use of English appeared directed toward loosening the social separation between Okinawans and Americans who belong to mutually exclusive speech communities. In addition to these functions of code switching related to the general social context in Okinawa, the study finds that the DJs and program listeners share the particular sociolinguistic values and therefore create a specific speech community. The DJs' use of three codes discloses two cultural phenomena in this young Okinawan speech community. One is the enhancement of Okinawan identity as a resistance to Japanization and the other is the acceptance of the American influence as part of local culture. Although the DJs are known to be "trilingual" among the younger people, the older generation defines the DJs' dialect as Okinawan-Japanese, which is a Creole produced language contact between the Okinawa dialect and Japanese. In a strict grammatical analysis, most of the DJs' dialect is not spoken in pure form of the Okinawa dialect. However, using dialect in a certain way, the DJs maintain and share Okinawan group identity with the young program fans. Simultaneously, the mixed-background English speaking radio hosts are also accepted by listeners as a symbol of new Okinawa where the American influence has become an indispensable factor in creating its unique characteristics. The success of the "trilingual" entertainers reveals the current situation in the young Okinawan speech community where a cultural interrelation between mainland Japan, America, and Okinawa can be discovered.

No description available.

Though Hong Kong has considerable green spaces, the enclosed, nice urban landscape is usually too symbolic for deep rest while the joyful natural park lacks setting for people to have long stay and deep enjoyment. I would like to take the opportunity of the thesis to research and discuss of a place where the landscape could be blurred with human intervention providing space for people to sustainable stay, enjoy nature and relax from the high density, high speed, and high-pressured urban life. Meanwhile, the local setting will be blurred in to the landscape as a feature that enhance the interaction between human and nature as well. It will be a space for people frequently and easier to be back to nature, a place for people to calm, clear, and pure their minds and heart, and a location to build a sustainable and harmonious relationship between people and nature. A meditation field is defined as such a place in my design. Blurring landscape is a new approach in this design where the blurring landscape layer turns the original site constrains into opportunity and sustainable human stay, and on the other hand, it enhances the interactive landscape feature for deep relax and completion through five senses. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture