The dryland ecosystems of the US Desert Southwest (SW) are dependent on soil moisture for aboveground productivity; the generation of soil moisture in the SW is dependent on both soil physical properties and climate forcing. This study is one of the first regional point-scale analyses that explores the role of soil physical properties in modulating aboveground vegetation dynamics in response to climate forcing in the SW. Soil texture accounted for significant differences in average aboveground primary productivity across the SW. However, soil texture could not account for differences in inter-annual aboveground productivity variation across the SW. Subsurface soil texture was tightly coupled with precipitation seasonality in accounting for differences in long-term average seasonal aboveground productivity in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. The results of this study indicate that the subsurface is a significant factor in modulating aboveground primary productivity, and needs to be included in future modeling exercises of dryland ecosystem response to climate forcing and change.

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No description available.

This dissertation is a critical ethnographic study of institutional, ideological, and cultural factors influencing the educational pathways of low-income Latino/a students. The study lasted for nine months, and research was conducted in two field sites: a public high school and a public university in the Southwest. There were eighteen research participants--seventeen students and one teacher. A funds of knowledge approach combined with a Latino/a Critical Theory lens and best practices in college access allow a consideration of these factors in public schooling. I balanced institutional data with interviews, writing samples, and class discussions, and I found that factors hindering students' persistence included material conditions such as overcrowding, ideological constraints such as low expectations, and a cultural disconnect between students' values and the values embedded in school curricula and policies. Although these Latino/a students demonstrate experiential critical literacy, the students are not given an opportunity to connect their lived experiences to theory in school, which can hinder college-going attitudes. To foster critical democracy, practitioners of First-Year Composition have an opportunity to rethink our purpose and goals to make sure that what we advocate in theory--college persistence for all students--matches up with our practice. This study suggests remedies to ensure that in a system in which social, economic, and political inequities are fed by and feed our inequitable educational system, we can take an active role in reshaping the educational pipeline by working in partnership with public schools and communities to bring equity to college access and retention efforts.

The North American Monsoon System (NAMS) is a dominant factor in climate in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Despite the influence of the NAMS and the intense research efforts it receives, its predictability, its variability, and the details of its influence on the environment are not well understood. This dissertation is comprised of three papers, which collectively address these three aspects of this complex climate phenomenon through an examination of various data and analyses at multiple spatial and temporal scales, while focusing on impacts in southern Arizona. In the first paper, a modified definition of the NAMS is established to delineate dates for monsoon onset, bursts, breaks, and retreat. The results are applied to an atmospheric compositing study in the second paper and to an applied study of monsoon-wildland fire relationships in the third paper. In the second paper, geopotential height patterns that affect moisture advection are identified. Onset, retreat, and break timing and duration are impacted by shifts in the latitude of the mid-level anticyclone and by lower-level gradients and contour orientation. Analyses in the third paper reveal the some of the complex effects of monsoon onset, variations in break timing and duration, and monsoon retreat on fire occurrence. This research contributes to the current knowledge of the NAMS in general and to the specific regional impacts of the monsoon. The results can (1) improve meteorological forecasts through the recognition of synoptic and sub-synoptic patterns related to the NAMS and (2) help fire managers by expanding the current understanding of the regional controls of wildland fire.

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This practicum examines the opportunities and challenges for transit-oriented development (TOD) at strategic station areas along the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor (SWRTC) in Winnipeg. Research included three case studies that investigated policy support, station area planning and implementation tools in the City and County of Denver, City of Boulder and the City of Ottawa. Three recommendations are outlined in the concluding chapter. The first is to develop Smart Growth land use policies that direct growth to station areas along the SWRTC. The second is to develop station area plans that indicate the permitted land uses, urban form and densities at station areas. The third is to create a zoning overlay for TOD to that embraces compact, pedestrian oriented development, mixed land uses and reduced off-street parking requirements. These recommendations are of particularly benefit to the City of Winnipeg and to other municipalities that are investing in rapid transit systems and TOD.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

This practicum examines the opportunities and challenges for transit-oriented development (TOD) at strategic station areas along the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor (SWRTC) in Winnipeg. Research included three case studies that investigated policy support, station area planning and implementation tools in the City and County of Denver, City of Boulder and the City of Ottawa. Three recommendations are outlined in the concluding chapter. The first is to develop Smart Growth land use policies that direct growth to station areas along the SWRTC. The second is to develop station area plans that indicate the permitted land uses, urban form and densities at station areas. The third is to create a zoning overlay for TOD to that embraces compact, pedestrian oriented development, mixed land uses and reduced off-street parking requirements. These recommendations are of particularly benefit to the City of Winnipeg and to other municipalities that are investing in rapid transit systems and TOD.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Art History, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-266).