Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2002. / Adviser: Charles Schweger. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Yes / Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies after having assessed the current state of research and presented the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimising the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition sites across time and space. / The Home Turf Project of Wageningen University and Research Centre, financed by the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO Vidi Project, no. 276-60-003).

The current application of logistics in the construction industry is relatively inefficient when compared with other industries such as retail and manufacturing. The factors attributed to this inefficiency include the fragmented and short-term nature of construction process and inadequate tracking facilities on site. The inefficiency of construction logistics creates inter alia loss of materials and equipment, waste, construction delay, excessive cost and collision accident on site. Meanwhile, several information and communication technologies (ICT) have been proposed and developed by researchers to improve logistics functions such as tracking and monitoring of resources through the supply chain to the construction site. Such technologies include global positioning system (GPS), radio frequency identification devices (RFID), wireless sensors network (WSN) and geographical information system (GIS). While considerable research has been undertaken to develop the aforementioned systems, limited work has so far been done on investment justification prior to implementation. In this research, a framework has been developed to assess the extent of construction logistics problems, measure the significances of the problems, match the problems with existing ICT-based solutions and develop a robust ready-to-use multi-criteria analysis tool that can quantify the costs and benefits of implementing several ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool is an integrated platform of related evaluation techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis, Decision Tree Analysis, Life Cycle Cost Analysis and Multi-Attribute Utility Theory. Prior to the development of this tool, data was collected through questionnaire survey and analysed by means of statistical analysis in order to derive some foundational parameters of the tool. Quantitative research method was adopted for data collection because the processes of the tool for which the data was required are quantitative. The implementation of this tool is novel given the integration of the analytical techniques mentioned above and the application of the tool for selecting ICT-based construction logistics systems. The tool takes in data such as cost and quantities of materials for a building project and quantifies the cost and benefits of alternative ICT-based tracking systems that can improve the logistics functions of the project. The application of the tool will eliminate guesswork on the benefits of ICT-based tracking systems by providing an objective platform for the quantification of cost and benefits of the systems prior to implementation.

This thesis utilizes a combination of landform and soil data and a GIS model to analyze previous subsurface reconnaissance data within the Tipton Till Plain region of Indiana. Survey areas are analyzed according to their location within drainages as well as on their individual surface and subsurface soil characteristics. Additionally, measurements of the valley width at the investigation area and upstream are collected and considered. Soils are also analyzed as a ratio of their individual impermeability in relation to the impermeability of upstream soils. Soil taxonomy and drainage characteristics are analyzed along with the effects stream order and proximity to water have on the potential for an area to contain buried deposits. The conclusion drawn is that comparisons of the permeability of individual drainage basins in relation to the larger drainage basin is not a reliable method of predicting the potential for site burial. The relationship between the valley width at the point of investigation in relation to valley width upstream was analyzed with a weak correlation between valley width stability and the potential for buried deposits. Soil drainage and taxonomic classification analysis appear to show where buried deposits are not likely to be encountered. The analyses of stream order and proximity to water did not reveal any significant differences in the potential for encountering buried deposits. It is recommended that the current guidelines for recommending subsurface investigation should be followed more strictly. / Department of Anthropology

The purpose of this research is to solve several important problems of the AVI system, including the AVI site location problem, travel time forecasting, the study of reliability and accuracy of the forecasted travel time. This thesis serves as a further research toward the modeling of AVI systems in which the effects of AVI site location, AVI site density, travel time forecasting are analyzed. The model based on the genetic algorithms was applied to AVI site location problem to solve it as a multi-objective optimization problem, thus the best locations was determined on the basis of several criteria. The model developed was tested in an assumed transportation network. The achieved CPU time in this stage of the research are promising. MATLAB and its accompanying Neural Network Toolbox, has been applied to data obtained from San Antonio real time AVI Tag database to forecast travel time. The approach to the neural network is detailed in this paper. Two ANN models were tested in this research. The accuracy of AVI travel time forecasting was then assessed and the better model for travel time forecasting was found. Lastly, a comparison of forecasted travel time with different travel time prediction technologies was performed to serve as a reference parameter for the travel time forecasting study. / Master of Science

Key sources of oil for western markets are located in complex geopolitical environments that increase economic and social risk. The amalgamation of economic, environmental, social and national security concerns for petroleum-based economies have created a renewed emphasis on alternative sources of energy which include biomass. The stability of sustainable biomass markets hinges on improved methods to predict and visualize business risk and cost to the supply chain. This thesis develops Bayesian logistic regression models, with comparisons of classical maximum likelihood models, to quantify significant factors that influence the siting of biomass-using facilities and predict potential locations in the 13-state Southeastern United States for three types of biomass-using facilities. Group I combines all biomass-using mills, biorefineries using agricultural residues and wood-using bioenergy/biofuels plants. Group II included pulp and paper mills, and biorefineries that use agricultural and wood residues. Group III included food processing mills and biorefineries that use agricultural and wood residues. The resolution of this research is the 5-digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA), and there are 9,416 ZCTAs in the 13-state Southeastern study region. For both classical and Bayesian approaches, a training set of data was used plus a separate validation (hold out) set of data using a pseudo-random number-generating function in SAS® Enterprise Miner. Four predefined priors are constructed. Bayesian estimation assuming a Gaussian prior distribution provides the highest correct classification rate of 86.40% for Group I; Bayesian methods assuming the non-informative uniform prior has the highest correct classification rate of 95.97% for Group II; and Bayesian methods assuming a Gaussian prior gives the highest correct classification rate of 92.67% for Group III. Given the comparative low sensitivity for Group II and Group III, a hybrid model that integrates classification trees and local Bayesian logistic regression was developed as part of this research to further improve the predictive power. The hybrid model increases the sensitivity of Group II from 58.54% to 64.40%, and improves both of the specificity and sensitivity significantly for Group III from 98.69% to 99.42% and 39.35% to 46.45%, respectively. Twenty-five optimal locations for the biomass-using facility groupings at the 5-digit ZCTA resolution, based upon the best fitted Bayesian logistic regression model and the hybrid model, are predicted and plotted for the 13-state Southeastern study region.

This article is an attempt to put forward the use of new digital techniques and data for understanding prehistoric landscapes. The starting point is that the specific characteristics of the landscape and of the sites included affect the interpretation. One character is the contemporary landscape and its topographies. Ancient landscapes can be successfully recreated digitally using GIS. By applying GIS methodology, a regression equation and new data, we reinvestigated an hypothesis proposed by Welinder in 1978 concerning the acculturation of the Pitted Ware Culture. The results indicate that a reconstruction of the landscape may alter the understanding of the Neolithic land use and the question of the relocation and termination of the Pitted Ware Culture at the end of Middle Neolithic B.

Η τεράστια και ραγδαία ανάπτυξη στην επιστήμη και στην τεχνολογία σε αυτήν την υφήλιο, τέτοια όπως τα ΓΣΠ και η δορυφορική ψηφιακή χαρτογράφηση οφείλεται στην επιτακτική ανάγκη της ανάπτυξης των χωρών να την προλάβουν και να την αξιοποιήσουν. Η χρήση της τεχνολογίας των ΓΣΠ είναι ουσιώδης, καθώς εξελίσσεται σε ένα από τα καλύτερα και γρηγορότερα εργαλεία ως προς την αξιοποίηση των παραγωγικών πόρων και βοηθά στην απόφαση υποστήριξης της διαδικασίας. Τα ΓΣΠ χρησιμοποιούν την τεχνολογία των ηλεκτρονικών χαρτών δημιουργώντας αλληλεπίδραση με πολύ-επίπεδους χάρτες έτσι ώστε να βρεθούν βέλτιστες λύσεις για τα προβλήματα. Συνδυάζει χωρικά και μη-χωρικά δεδομένα για να κατασκευάσει πληροφορίες που μπορούν εύκολα να αναλυθούν από αυτούς που παίρνουν αποφάσεις. Χρησιμοποιώντας την τεχνολογία των ΓΣΠ έχουμε ένα ισχυρό εργαλείο για την επίτευξη του σχεδιασμού αφού ο ψηφιακός χάρτης θα μπορούσε να χρησιμοποιηθεί στην εύρεση καλύτερων τοποθεσιών για διαφορετικούς σκοπούς όπως στις τράπεζες, στα ΑΤΜ, στα νέα σχολεία, εστιατόρια κτλ. Η εργασία συζητά τα κριτήρια που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στη στατική ανάλυση και επίσης αναφέρεται στην επιτυχία της GIS ανάλυσης στο να προτείνει τοποθεσίες για τα ΑΤΜ. / The huge and rapid advancement in science and technology in this globe such as GIS and Satellite digital mapping makes it a must for developing countries to catch-up and utilize it. Usage of GIS-technology is essential, as it is becoming one of the better and faster tools to manage resources and helps in the decision support process .A GIS uses electronic mapping technology in producing interactive multi-layer maps so that queries are set to find optimal solutions for problems. It combines spatial and non-spatial data to construct visualized information that can be easily analyzed by decision makers.Using GIS technology is a powerful tool to help in planning since the digital map could be used in defining best positions for different purposes such as banks, ATMs, new schools, restaurant, etc. The paper discusses the criteria used in the spatial analysis, and also, reports on the success of the resultant GIS analysis to suggest proper locations for ATM’s.