In 1742, the settlement of Augusta was established as an outpost of English royalization on Roatán Island, Honduras. This military camp housed a mix of English soldiers, English colonists, and local indigenous Miskitu peoples. While the settlement was occupied for only a brief span of seven years, the material record of the community provides insight into Miskitu-English interactions during the royalization process. Royalization encompassed strategies deployed by the English Crown to bring about loyalty to the state. In this dissertation, I discuss the concept of royalization from an agent-centered perspective to consider the intentions behind the occupants' usage of objects and spaces in everyday practice. This interdisciplinary research integrates documentary evidence with the results of four field seasons of archaeological investigations, which have unearthed mixed deposits of English and Miskitu material culture. I contend that such deposits indicate that Augusta's occupants were participants in the royalization process, but that these strategies were not fluid or enforced. The royalization of Augusta was complicated by a number of factors including the settlement's distance from the Crown, its local environment, and the diversity of its occupants. By considering the historical and archaeological evidence, I contend that elements of English lifestyles were integrated into Miskitu identity, and that this integration reveals some of the ways in which the process of royalization was adapted to the unique social and natural landscape of the western Caribbean.

Allochthonous, seaward-dipping deposits that flank reef-rimmed carbonate platforms (reef-rimmed carbonate foreslopes) display a spectrum of deposit types, seismic-scale stratal architecture, and bed-scale heterogeneity due to diverse sediment sources and resedimentation processes. This variability has resulted in a lack of consistent characterization approaches, and has made the development of predictive models that link carbonate foreslope deposit types to stratal architecture challenging. This study uses data from outcrops, including the Upper Devonian of the Canning Basin, Western Australia and the Upper Permian of the Delaware Basin, West Texas, and examples from literature to provide 1) an approach for characterizing reef-rimmed carbonate foreslopes in terms of deposit types and architecture, 2) conceptual models that outline the variations that exist, and 3) discussion of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that control the observed variations. The primary depositional elements that construct reef-rimmed carbonate foreslopes can be categorized as 1) debris elements (breccias and blocks) from brittle reef failure, 2) grain-dominated elements (grainstones and rudstones) from offbank transport of sand and gravel, and 3) mud-dominated elements (mud-dominated fabrics) that record relative foreslope quiescence and fine-grained periplatform shedding. The fundamental stratal geometries observed are 1) accretionary margins, characterized by margin-toforeslope interfingering and clinoforms, and 2) escarpment margins, characterized by aggrading-retrograding margin architecture and foreslope onlap. The combinations of element proportions, element distribution, stratal geometry, bed- to bedset-scale architecture, and depositional profile scale that exist in carbonate foreslopes range widely, warranting multiple depositional models. The deposit type and architectural variations observed in detail from Upper Devonian and Upper Permian outcrops of the Canning Basin, Western Australia, and the Delaware Basin, West Texas, respectively, are linked to differing scales of superimposed accommodation change and reef faunal assemblage. Observations from other outcrops and extensive literature review display further controlling factors that affect carbonate foreslope development, such as platform morphology, oceanographic conditions, slope height, tectonic setting, and siliciclastic input, suggesting a multi-variable interplay of controls. These controls dictate the productivity and resedimentation of the contributing sediment factories, and/or influence the development of the carbonate platform system as a whole. Knowledge and classification of carbonate foreslope deposit types, architecture, and controls not only improve understanding of these complex systems, but also allow for the development of predictive relationships for economic purposes. / text

The Slate Islands caribou (Rangifer tarandis caribou) is an insular population which has experienced several population crashes and has been described as likely to succumb to extirpation. While a great deal of research has been conducted on mainland woodland caribou, factors which influence caribou distributions may differ between island and main land populations. In this thesis, I investigate relationships between habitat, landscape, anthropogenic features, population size, predation and spatial distribution of woodland caribou across the Slate Islands Provincial Park (Ontario) at the forest-patch spatial scale. Generalized linear models were used to compare observed caribou locations to available locations across the park, based on data from 1978 to 1995. Results indicated that the Slate Islands caribou selected deciduous cover, larger forest patches, areas further to water, flatter areas, lower elevations and areas closer to anthropogenic features. Population size had a limited effect on caribou distributions. / October 2015

This study focused on the optimisation of offshore marine fish-cage farming in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The main objective was to select the most suitable sites for offshore cage culture. This is a key factor in any aquaculture operation, affecting both success and sustainability. Moreover, it can solve conflicts between different coastal activities, making a rational use of the coastal space. Site selection was achieved by using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based models and related technology, such as satellite images and Global Positioning System (GPS), to support the decision-making process. Three different cage systems were selected and proposed for different areas around Tenerife. Finally, a particulate waste distribution model (uneaten feed and faeces) was developed, also using GIS, for future prediction of the dispersive nature of selected sites. This can reduce the number of sites previously identified as most suitable, by predicting possible environmental impacts on the benthos if aquaculture was to be developed on a specific site. The framework for spatial multi-criteria decision analysis used in this study began with a recognition and definition of the decision problem. Subsequently, 31 production functions (factors and constraints) were identified, defined and subdivided into 8 sub-models. These sub-models were then integrated into a GIS database in the form of thematic layers and later scored for standardization. At this stage, the database was verified by field sampling to establish the quality of data used. The decision maker's preferences were incorporated into the decision model by assigning weights of relative importance to the evaluation under consideration. These, together with the thematic layers, were integrated by using Multi-criteria Evaluation (MCE) and simple overlays to provide an overall assessment of possible alternatives. Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the model robustness. The integration, manipulations and presentation of the results by means of GIS-based models in this sequential and logical flow of steps proved to be very effective for helping the decision-making process of site selection in study. On the whole, this study revealed the usefulness of GIS as an aquaculture planning and management tool. Cage systems that can withstand harsh environments were found to be suitable for use over a broader area of Tenerife's coastline. Thus, the more robust self-tensioned cage (SeaStation®) could be used over a greater area than the weaker gravity cages (Corelsa®). From the 228 km2 of available area for siting cages in the coastal regions with depth of 50 m, the suitable area (sum of scores 6, 7 and 8) for siting SeaStation® cages was 61 km2, while the suitable area for SeaStation® and Corelsa® cages was 49 and 37 km2 respectively. Most of the variation between these three cage systems was found among the intermediate suitability scores. It was concluded that the biggest differences in suitable area among cage systems are between Corelsa® and SeaStation® systems, followed by differences between Corelsa® and OceanSpar® cages, and OceanSpar® and SeaStation® respectively. This variability was mostly located on the N and NNW of the island, where waves, both long and short-term, are higher.

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Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετήθηκε η δυνατότητα ανάπτυξης δραστηριοτήτων που σχετίζονται με τον αλιευτικό τουρισμό από τους αλιείς των Κυκλάδων. Στόχος είναι η συγκράτηση των υπαρχόντων αλιέων στο επάγγελμα αλλά και η προσέλκυση νέων, η διατήρηση της αλιευτικής πίεσης σε αποδεκτά επίπεδα και η προστασία των θαλάσσιων οικοσυστημάτων στα πλαίσια μιας ολοκληρωμένης παρέμβασης, η διατήρηση της πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς και παράδοσης καθώς και η βελτίωση του επιπέδου ζωής των αλιέων. Ο αλιευτικός τουρισμός είναι μια εναλλακτική μορφή τουρισμού η οποία αναπτύσσεται από επαγγελματίες αλιείς, κατά την οποία επιβιβάζουν στα επαγγελματικά αλιευτικά τους σκάφη τουρίστες-επισκέπτες για την ανάπτυξη της παραδοσιακής αλιευτικής δραστηριότητας για ψυχαγωγικούς και εκπαιδευτικούς λόγους. Η δραστηριότητα αυτή πραγματοποιείται ήδη σε αρκετές χώρες με εμφανή θετικά αποτελέσματα στους ευαίσθητους τομείς της αλιείας, της οικολογίας και του τουρισμού. Στα πλαίσια της έρευνας αυτής έγινε καταγραφή του ενδιαφέροντος των επαγγελματιών αλιέων και των ιδιοκτητών σκαφών για τέτοιου είδους δραστηριότητες καθώς και η ανάπτυξη μιας τυπολογίας της υφιστάμενης κατάστασης της μικρής παράκτιας αλιείας στην συγκεκριμένη περιοχή. Τα στοιχεία που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην έρευνα συγκεντρώθηκαν από προσωπικές συνεντεύξεις που πραγματοποιήθηκαν με 111 κατόχους επαγγελματικής άδειας αλιείας σε 9 επιλεγμένα νησιά των Κυκλάδων σε συνεργασία με τοπικούς αρμόδιους φορείς. Η έρευνα ολοκληρώθηκε σε δύο ταξίδια, κατά τους μήνες Απρίλιο και Ιούλιο του έτους 2006 αντίστοιχα. Στόχος είναι η διάγνωση των κατηγοριών αλιέων που δείχνουν ενδιαφέρον για την ανάπτυξη της δραστηριότητας καθώς και η καταγραφή των τεχνικών σημείων που φαίνεται να παίζουν σημαντικό ρόλο στην προσπάθεια αυτή. Παράλληλα έγινε εκτίμηση του ενδιαφέροντος από την μεριά των επισκεπτών για δραστηριότητες που σχετίζονται με τον αλιευτικό τουρισμό με την βοήθεια ερωτηματολογίου και ενημερωτικού τρίπτυχου φυλλαδίου που διανεμήθηκε σε διάφορες ξενοδοχειακές μονάδες των Κυκλάδων. Επιπλέον στα πλαίσια της ανάλυσης έγινε σύγκριση με παλαιότερες έρευνες που πραγματοποιήθηκαν στην περιοχή με σκοπό την αναγνώριση της υφιστάμενης κατάστασης της μικρής παράκτιας αλιείας. / -

Literary conventions in the writing of the Gulf Islands of the British Columbia coast have “invented” the islands as a distinct region. Lying at the centre of the Strait of Georgia urban region, the islands function as objects of pastoral desire: in representing escape from the city, they are perceived as “natural” by contrast. The landscapes of the Gulf Islands posit a version of “nature” radically different from that common elsewhere in Canada. The protected waters of inland sea and archipelago, benign climate, naturally-occurring alternation of forest and meadow, and defining liminal zone of the beach make the local landscape seem inherently pastoral. As does the pastoral mode, the tropes of discovery and settlement provide convenient, familiar frames for neo-colonial experience of nature and representation of landscape. Using a broadly historical approach, the thesis traces the longevity of local landscape conventions since Spanish exploration of the islands in 1791 and 1792. Rapid population growth intensifies the dominance of the pastoral, while tropes of discovery and settlement give newcomers and established residents the rhetorical means to claim origins in the Gulf Islands. The need to establish origins shapes community politics, which are codified in the Islands Trust, the provincially-funded body that oversees land-use issues in the islands. The thesis consists of ten chapters, the first two of which examine local conventions for defining Gulf Islands space and for writing the history of the islands. Chapters Three and Four discuss the tropes discovery and settlement, respectively, and Chapter Five focusses on characteristic narratives used to express the notion of “Gulf Island.” Chapters Six through Eight revisit the themes of the previous three chapters, inverting the order of discovery and settlement in the second cycle to reflect the ahistorical, simultaneous invocation of these ideas locally. Whereas Chapter Five demonstrates how one Gulf Island version of pastoral dominates the region’s presentation of itself in imaginative writing, Chapter Eight examines the consequences for local narrative when events cannot be articulated within the pastoral mode. As a counterpoint to analysis, in Chapter Four, of how settlement functions as a rhetorical device in Gulf Islands writing, Chapter Six examines aspects of the physical, settled landscape--specifically architecture and the ornamentation of holiday homes and homesites with objects gathered from the beach--as deliberate expressions of indigenousness. In a similar pairing, Chapter Seven examines nostalgic uses of the “discovery” trope intended to express local space, extending the scope of Chapter Three, which explicates attitudes toward the islands expressed through two “original” European voyages of discovery in the islands. Chapters Nine and Ten discuss the role of intertexts in Gulf Island writing: only very recently has the idea of a Gulf Islands “canon”--as indicated by intertextual references between Gulf Islands texts--become current, Gulf Islands writing continues to rely on intertextual references to imperial foundation texts to define, and determine significance in, local landscape. The “sketch” form, which permeates all genres and modes of landscape representation in the islands, in itself articulates the “natural” and thus expresses the condition of “Gulf Island.”

Recent evidence suggests that backbarrier structure may act as an historical record of island development, and that backbarrier shorelines can be used as a proxy of an island’s past and future transgressive response to sea-level rise. The structure and stability of back-barrier shorelines are dependent on the geologic framework, defined here as the combination of nearshore topography, underlying geology, and modern geomorphologic forces. This antecedent framework controls and influences the present morphology, nearshore dynamics, and rates of transgression in response to sea-level rise while also acting as a feedback to the estuary ecology on the bayside. It is therefore surprising that our understanding of backbarrier geomorphology is limited. There is a need for an established link between process regimes and an island’s geomorphological history. This thesis bridges the current intellectual gap. The primary hypothesis of this project is that shorelines and bathymetric isolines share quantitative shape signatures indicative of their shared morphological past. To establish this link, the backbarrier shorelines of four United States National Seashores (Fire Island, NY; Assateague Island, MD; Santa Rosa Island, FL; and North Padre Island, TX) are digitized from aerial imagery using the marshline as the shoreline indicator to ensure the inclusion of (vital, sometimes inundated) ecosystems and sediment storage. The alongshore variation of this backbarrier shoreline, the mainland shoreline, lagoon bathymetry, and nearshore bathymetry are each quantified through wavelet analysis and their shape signatures are examined for spatial correspondence. Large and small scale variations are identified and attributed to the geomorphologic controls operating on the same scale and alongshore variation. The result is an improved understanding of how the geologic framework controls backbarrier shoreline shape, which is essentially an expression of the underlying geology.

Free radicals are thought to be involved in the destructive process of beta cells in Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Studies were performed to test the hypotheses (1) that malondialdehyde (MDA), a by-product of lipid peroxidation, affects $ beta$-cell function and integrity in vitro and (2) that such effects might be prevented in the BB rat (a model of spontaneous autoimmune diabetes) in vivo by administration of $ alpha$-phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN), a free radical spin trap. First, islets of Wistar-Furth rats were studied at 12, 24 and 40 hr of culture in either 5.5, 11 or 16.5 mM glucose, and MDA at a range of concentrations ($6 times10 sp{-12}$-10$ sp{-3}$M). High concentrations of MDA inhibited glucose-stimulated insulin release without corresponding decreases in islet insulin content, suggesting that in situations with high predicted islet free radical content (e.g., autoimmune insulitis) beta cell function may be affected even before the cells are destroyed. Second, 28 diabetes-prone (BBdp) and 13 non diabetes-prone (BBn) rats were given PBN (20 mg/kg) s.c. 2x/day and 27 BBdp and 12 BBn rats received an equal volume of saline. PBN was able to decrease MDA in the absence of the autoimmune process and is remarkably non-toxic. However, it did not prevent diabetes for reasons which may include its concentration at the site of the inflammatory process or specificity to types of radicals trapped. Because it did decrease MDA, either a higher dose or a combination of PBN with other agents may hold promise for disease prevention.

No description available.