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Shifting patterns of precipitation associated with climate change may affect water-limited ecosystems to a greater degree than atmospheric CO2 or temperature changes, yet we lack a mechanistic understanding of the effects of water in these ecosystems. In water-limited ecosystems, annual net primary productivity correlates strongly with total annual precipitation. However, precipitation in these ecosystems arrives in episodic events, suggesting that biophysical investigations should focus on the implications of discrete precipitation events. Further, examining dynamics of ecosystem processes over a period of days or weeks promises to link our leaf-level mechanistic understandings with larger scale patterns and temporal dynamics of ecosystem photosynthetic CO2 uptake, respiration and evapotranspiration.The objectives of this dissertation were to quantify: (1) the influence of biotic and abiotic features of an ecosystem (e.g., species composition and soil physical characteristics) on short-term patterns of resilience and resistance to a precipitation pulse; (2) the role of antecedent climatic conditions and the seasonal timing of rainfall in limiting ecosystem carbon exchange in response to precipitation events; and (3) the effect of changes in woody plant abundance on seasonal ecosystem carbon dynamics in relation to the North American Monsoon.Major findings and contributions of this research include defining the concepts of ecosystem functional resistance and resilience and their implications in the presence of a dominant nonnative bunchgrass in semi-arid grasslands (Appendix A); a better understanding of the influence of warm-season precipitation variability and the seasonal timing of rainfall on ecosystem carbon dynamics in a semi-arid grassland (Appendix B); the use of flux duration analysis, a novel approach to analyzing ecosystem carbon and water flux time-series data to distinguish between "pulse-driven" or "steady-state" ecosystems (Appendix C); and, finally, the application of flux duration analysis to quantify the sensitivity of ecosystem carbon exchange in response to seasonal rainfall in a riparian grassland and shrubland and the role that plant functional type diversity may play in constraining carbon exchange sensitivity (Appendix D).

This thesis is dedicated to establishing ways in which the image of Calderon was perceived and constructed by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, of both conservative and reformist convictions, as part of their efforts to create and impose their own understanding of what Spanish national identity is or should be like. / The thesis concentrates on the writings of several of the most important intellectuals of the XVIII century who took part in the heated debate as to the value of Calderon's work: Blas Nasarre y Ferriz, Tomas Erauso y Zabaleta, Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin, Cristobal Romea y Tapia, Jose Clavijo y Fajardo and Francisco Mariano Nipho. / The first two chapters of the thesis deal with the way by which the image of Calderon has been used in order to support certain ideological convictions, in particular, a certain way of understanding Spanish national identity. Chapter three examines the polemics itself, from its beginning in 1749 until the mid-sixties of the XVIII century. A brief section of conclusions closes the thesis, followed by a selected bibliography.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the process of manipulation of the image of the Golden Age playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600--1681) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Intellectuals of all political stripes sought to impose their own agendas by advancing both conservative and reformist convictions as they used the figure of Calderon to their own advantage in the creation of a 'Spanish national identity' for the time. / The research conducted here focuses on the writings of various thinkers of the rival ideologies over the two centuries mentioned above. What this demonstrates most cogently is how, first, the appropriation of Calderon's image always played an essential role in the political debate about 'national identity,' and, secondly, how the dramatist's image was increasingly identified with the values and parameters of conservative ideology. / The first chapter deals with the origins of the debate about the idea of a 'national identity' during the eighteenth century, and analyses in detail the ideological duality and division which characterized this debate as well as its strongly political background. The next two chapters examine respectively the writings of Bohl de Faber and Menendez Pelayo, both of whom took on key roles in the debate. The interpretation provided in these two chapters leads to the conclusion that, by the nineteenth century, Calderon's image was strongly identified with conservative ideology. The thesis ends with some final conclusions, followed by a select bibliography.

This thesis examines the image of the absent mother, and its implications, in a limited selection of plays by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. The characters studied are Segismundo and Rosaura from La vida es sueno , Semiramis from La hija del aire and Focas, Eraclio y Leonido from En la vida todo es verdad y todo mentira. The study was done from a psychoanalytic perspective, using as reference the theories of Erik Erikson, Jacques Lacan and John Bowlby. Erikson's ideas are based on Freud but with some changes, since he represents the ego's functions as well as a greater elaboration of classic psychoanalytical concepts. His main argument is that the ego's nature is determined not only by inner forces but by social and cultural influences. His theory encompasses a series of psychological development stages that occur throughout an individual's life cycle. Jacques Lacan obtained international fame through his personal interpretation of---and rupture with---Freud. The main emphasis of his work is in the importance of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind. John Bowlby is considered one of the most important psychiatrists of the twentieth century. His attachment theory is one of the principle theoretical developments in psychoanalysis in the latter part of this century. The purpose of this investigation was to give an explanation of the selected characters and their psychological development based on the proposed theories. The consequences of maternal deprivation and isolation manifest themselves in the development of the personality of the characters, mainly impeding the normal formation of the ego and super ego.

Thesis (M.S. - Renewable Natural Resources)--University of Arizona, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-193).

Thesis (M. S. - Natural Resources)--University of Arizona, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 281-296).

Thesis (M.A.)--Brooklyn College, 1968. / "Sep. 'Estudios'"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-50).

Proefschrift - Amsterdam.