This thesis explores the integration of the built environment into an existing extrinsic experience. It considers how a place can become incorporated into a series of experiences in nature, while still maintaining it’s integrity as a singular space. It questions how the lines between nature and interior can be blurred, and how responses to essential existing conditions can provide a coalesced experience.

This thesis is an exploration of the way design facilitates people’s understanding of a place. Hermeneutic theorist Hans Georg Gadamer wrote that we belong to history in the “splendid magic of immediately mirroring the present in the past and the past in the present”. Hermeneutics is the study of how we interpret non-verbal communication. Researching the history of the site on multiple scales guided design decisions that will intuitively shape visitor’s comprehension of Pump House Park’s past, present and future relationship with the city.

The objective of this thesis is to provide a detailed investigation of phosphorus transformations in constructed wetlands. Five replicate Wetland Units were constructed adjacent the wastewater treatment plant in Richmond, Australia. Each wetland was supplied with secondary or tertiary sewage effluent and planted identically with species of schoenoplectus, Phragmites, and Triglochin. Detention times for each Unit were established at 5 or 15 days. Phosphorus concentrations were monitored routinely at the inlet and outlet of each Unit, with a number of specific studies conducted to investigate internal transformations. These studies, undertaken in 1994 and 1995, determined that plants were the dominant phosphorus store in the short term, during wetland establishment and that sediments were the dominant long-term phosphorus storage compartment. Laboratory investigations indicated that there was no significant role for bacteria or algae in the water column relating to phosphorus sequestering, although microorganisms appeared to have some role in the translocation of phosphorus to soil binding sites. After phosphorus contacted the soil surface, transpiration related entrainment of surface water and direct phosphorus uptake by plants were the dominant mechanisms for causing phosphorus to move deeper through the soil substrate. Removal of phosphorus from the interstitial water was by incorporation to biomass or direct sorption to soil binding sites / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients are often sedated, yet sedation assessment scales have not been thoroughly studied in this population. This project inquiry describes the use of the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) in assessing sedation in TBI patients. Methods: A retrospective, descriptive analysis of 38 ventilated, sedated TBI patients was performed to describe 1) the characteristics of the study TBI population, 2) the use of the RASS to guide titration of sedation medication, and 3) the nursing perspective of a sedation titration protocol that includes the use of the RASS. Results: Prescribed RASS score for the study population was -2; the actual RASS score was -2.04 +/-1.05. The days spent on mechanical ventilation were 3.46 +/- 1.95. The Injury Severity Score (ISS) correlated with sedation titration (r = -0.373; p<.05). The ICD-9 code also correlated with the RASS (r = -0.400; p<0.05). There was no correlation between RASS and sedation titration (r = -0.061; p = 0.717). The majority of nurses perceived that when using the RASS, sedation level did not affect their feeling of accuracy of neurological assessment (56%), and the patient's agitation level did not affect their feeling of accurate neurological assessment (58%). Conclusion: While the degree of injury was associated with the ability of the TBI patient to maintain the prescribed RASS level, there was no association between the RASS score and sedation titration, indicating that in this small study, the RASS did not guide sedation titration in the TBI population. However, the time spent at the prescribed RASS level and days of mechanical ventilation, which was similar to reported norms, suggest that the RASS is an adequate tool for assessing sedation in the TBI population. From the nursing perspective, the use of the RASS was not a barrier in assessing sedation titration. To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe the use of RASS for assessment of sedation in TBI patients. Additional prospective studies are necessary to fully understand the ability of the RASS to guide sedation titration.

This essay tries to determine how two municipal archival programs develop from their origins as collections of historical documents in museums, and whether they fit into the larger pattern of archival development found in Canadian federal and provincial public archives, which is identified as "total archives". To provide some context for the two case studies, the essay first examines the main features of the Canadian tradition of "total archives" and tries to locate Canadian archives in the context of the worldwide evolution of modern archival institutions. The essay then explores the development of municipal archival programs in Delta and Richmond, British Columbia to reveal how they were conceived, advanced and sustained. The study concludes that local archival programs do fit into the Canadian tradition of "total archives", however, a conceptual framework which includes both the cultural and administrative purposes of archival institutions appears to be lacking. The conclusion summarizes some of the aspects of a conceptual framework including: the nature of archives, the legal status of public records and the need for archival legislation, the administrative role of an archival program, the need for a commitment of adequate resources, and the need for local governments to recognize their duty to preserve and make accessible public records of continuing value.

Cemeteries serve as repositories of history and memories of the local community, as well as afford the living population an opportunity to connect and learn about a culture’s past. Accordingly, the cemetery as a place and the rituals associated with death and remembrance that it holds, not only communicate and express the ideals of a collective identity, but also undergo modifications with time and geography. Through the study of burial rituals and funerary traditions of the multicultural community in the City of Richmond in British Columbia, this thesis seeks unifying qualities within the diversity of practices that will offer strategies for the design of ritual spaces that not only communicate the cultural identity within each community, but also serve as a place in which new ritual practices are born and integrated for the greater community of Richmond.

Thesis (D.W.S.)--Institute for Worship Studies, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1916. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 93.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1916. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 93.

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