Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mathematics, 1977. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography : p. 86-90. / M.C.P. / B.S.

An investigation of architecturally significant buildings constructed within the last fifty years, in the Midwest and the application of preservation theories to these significant buildings, to aid in evaluation strategies and preservation implementation.Recognition of recent past construction as candidates for architecturally significant cultural resources and the application of preservation theories to these buildings make for good design and preservation practice. Part of our responsibility, as preservation professionals is to promote the preservation of significant structures, regardless of the date of construction. Since there is no established process to aid in preserving recently constructed buildings of architectural significance, it is necessary to develop strategies to assist in the evaluation process. / Department of Architecture

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Precipitation trends and their driving mechanisms are examined over a variety of spatial and temporal scales using a multi-proxy, decadally-resolved sediment record from Martin Lake that spans the last 2300 years. This unique archive from a northern Indiana kettle lake documents significant climate variability during the last 2 millennia and shows that the Midwest has experienced a wide range of precipitation regimes in the late Holocene. Three independent proxies (i.e., oxygen and carbon isotopes of authigenic carbonate and %lithics) record variations in synoptic, in-lake and watershed processes related to hydroclimate forcing, respectively. Together, these proxies reveal enhanced summer conditions, with a long period of water column stratification and enhanced summer rainfall from 450 to 1200 CE, a period of time that includes the so-called Medieval Climate Anomaly (950-1300 CE). During the Little Ice Age, from 1260 to 1800 CE, the three proxy records all indicate drought, with decreased summer rainfall and storm events along with decreased lake stratification. The Martin Lake multi-proxy record tracks other Midwest climate records that record water table levels and is out-of-phase with hydroclimate records of warm season precipitation from the High Plains and western United States. This reveals a potential warm season precipitation dipole between the Midwest and western United States that accounts for the spatial pattern of late Holocene drought variability (i.e., when the Midwest is dry, the High Plains and the western United States are wet, and vice versa). The spatiotemporal patterns of late Holocene North American droughts are consistent with hydroclimate anomalies associated with mean state changes in the Pacific North American teleconnection (PNA). Close associations between late Holocene North American hydroclimate and records of Northern Hemisphere temperatures and the Pacific Ocean-atmosphere system suggests a mechanistic linkage between these components of the global climate system that is in line with observational data and climate models. Based on our results, predominantly –PNA conditions and enhanced Midwestern summer precipitation events are likely to result from continued warming of the climate system. In the western United States, current drought conditions could represent the new mean hydroclimate state.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis looks at the role that public history, expressed through civic pride and public memory, and military history have played in shaping the history of Vincennes, Indiana, from the battle fought by George Rogers Clark to the memorial named after him and finally with the four United States Navy ships named Vincennes.