In order to understand the ecological characteristics of three dry farming systems in the semiarid San Luis Potosi Plateau, Mexico, a one year study was conducted. The systems studied were a purely rainfed field, a field on an alluvial fan irrigated with runoff water, and a field in a bottomland irrigated with water diverted from an ephemeral stream. Three treatments, farmed, edge and unfarmed, were established in a Randomized Block design, with three replications, for each system. The major conclusions of this research were the following. During the summer, climate is resposible for a concentration of the communities's production and reproduction. Climate is also of paramount importance to agriculture. Rainy periods, on the other hand, decreased the activity of animals. None of the farming systems had detrimental effect on soil fertility. Only slight modifications of soil temperature and air temperature and humidity resulted from farming. A general overview of all the results did not provide evidence that all farming systems decrease biotic richness and diversity. The effects depended on the type of system, its isolation, and the natural vegetation adjacent to it. Herbs were enhanced by farming only when the natural system was relatively free of them. Farming did not have important effects on invertebrates. Birds were negativelly affected by farming, whenever the unfarmed areas included an arboreal stratum. Also, insectivorous birds responded differently than non-insectivores. Rodents were affected negatively by farming in two of the systems, and this could be linked to habitat simplicity. In one case, dense herb cover was associated with very high rodent populations. In general the data adjusted to the hypothesis that structurally more heterogeneous agroecosystems hold more diverse biotas. The concepts of "farmland biota" and "edge effect" were not supported by this study. Edges were ocasionally superior, and only when they included more complex plant communities than either side. A mosaic of heterogeneous farmlands and natural vegetation attracts certain rodents and birds, increasing environmental diversity.

Class of 2011 Abstract / OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the pharmaceutical needs of a rural Arizona border town in order to determine the feasibility of building a pharmacy within the San Luis Walk-In Clinic. METHODS: Surveys included questions regarding general information such as education level and length of time living in the community, health literacy, household medications and medical supplies, pharmacy and prescription information, travel time to current pharmacy, level of satisfaction of current pharmacy, and interest in additional pharmaceutical clinical services. Only questions in the public health survey that were related to the pharmaceutical needs assessment were reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS: 127 pharmaceutical needs assessment surveys were collected and analyzed. Of note, 78% of survey respondents reported traveling outside of San Luis to purchase medications. 76% of households are either not satisfied or slightly satisfied with their pharmacy. Up to 65% of households are interested in additional pharmaceutical services such as medication therapy management (MTM) and education classes on various disease states. CONCLUSION: The findings from the surveys strongly suggest that the residents in San Luis would welcome an additional pharmacy to their community. Less time would be used commuting out of town to purchase medications and additional clinical services would be well appreciated within San Luis. Thus, it is recommended that a pharmacy be built within the San Luis Walk-In Clinic.

Microalgae biomass has potential as a feedstock for various bioproducts, including biofuel. Algae can be cultivated on treated wastewater or on untreated wastewater, accomplishing treatment as a co-benefit. Greater understanding of algal productivity is needed. This study compared the net productivity of naturally forming algae polycultures, and monocultures of Scenedesmus obliquus (DOE0152Z) and Tribonema minus cultivated on treated municipal wastewater or primary clarifier effluent. The experiments were conducted in outdoor, 1350-L and 1000-L, raceway tanks in coastal central California during a multi-year period. A linear regression model of net productivity (i.e., based on the difference of biomass in the influent and effluent of the raceways) was developed. The highest productivity culture was a polyculture grown on primary clarifier effluent at 20.0 +/- 3.8 g/m2-day (ash-free dry weight, AFDW over 12 months of continuous cultivation). The monoculture with the highest productivity was Tribonema minus at 16.1 +/- 0.8 g/m2-day (summer through winter). In the various strain and wastewater type combinations tested, solar radiation was the most statistically significant predictor of net productivity (p

Dual Organization in the Andes. The Problem and Research Methodology at San Luis Site, ZañaThis paper presents the preliminary results of archaeological research at San Luis Site, Zaña Valley, in the Peruvian north coast. The concept of dualism in the Central Andes is analyzed in the context of the associations and material distributions like ceramics, lithics and burned zones. This work will help to determine ritual activities in the study of analogous phenomena in other sites satisfactorily not yet defined. / Este trabajo presenta los resultados preliminares de investigaciones arqueológicas en el sitio monumental de San Luis, en el valle de Zaña. Basándose en las asociaciones y distribuciones de material, se analiza el concepto de dualismo manejado en los Andes Centrales. A partir del análisis de la distribución de cerámica, líticos y otros materiales así como zonas quemadas, este enfoque permite la interpretación de actividades rituales y ayudará en el estudio de fenómenos comparables que aún faltan en su precisión debida.

This paper examines the main characteristics of natural order associated to touristic practices thatsubsist in the San Luis Potosí territory, located at the meridian limit of the ancient Aridoamérica and occupies a central portion of the United States of Mexico. This federative entity differs from the national context by its demographic growth and important industrial development, condition that is more relevant in the State headquarter. However, in spite of its varied and abundant natural attributes that include desert zones, steppes, tropical perennial forest and other vegetation associations of transcendental importance that complement the natural attractions, good for economic activities. Even in the xxi century the touristic activity in San Luis Potosí has had a marginal dynamics out of the state planning policies, which shows that the natural conditions have not been, by themselves, a significative sparkling to push its growth.The proposed results of this research are part of the project «Natural and socioeconomic potential for ecotourism development in the State San Luis Potosí, México», financed by a concurrent fund of the National Council of Science and Technology and the government ofthe State of San Luis Potosí. / El presente trabajo examina las principales características de orden natural asociadas a lapráctica del turismo que subyacen en el territorio de San Luis Potosí, que se localiza en el lí- mite meridional de la antigua Aridoamérica y ocupa la porción central de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Esta entidad federativa se distingue en el contexto nacional por un crecimiento demográfico e industrial importante, situación que se presenta especialmente en la cabecera estatal. No obstante y a pesar de sus atributos naturales variados y abundantes que incluyen zonas desérticas, esteparias, bosque tropical perenifolio y otras asociaciones vegetales de trascen- dental importancia que complementan atractivos naturales idóneos para el aprovechamiento económico, aún al inicio del siglo xxi la actividad turística ha tenido una dinámica marginal ajena a las directrices y políticas de planificación rectoras en el estado de San Luis Potosí, lo que muestra que las condiciones naturales no han sido, por sí solas, un detonante significativo que incentive el crecimiento de la actividad.En las condiciones anteriores, el Plan Estatal de Desarrollo de San Luis Potosí 2003- 2009 evidencia un incipiente interés gubernamental en el último trienio por impulsar la articulación de ejes y zonas que integren al ecoturismo como una actividad complementaria de la economía regional. Lo anterior solo será posible mediante la creación de instrumentos científicamente sustentados que mensuren las potencialidades y condiciones del elemento natural, revelado en este trabajo a través de métodos geográficos cuantitativos apoyados en análisis de sistemas de información geográfica.Los resultados que se proponen obtener en esta investigación forman parte del proyecto titulado «Potencial natural y socioeconómico para el desarrollo del ecoturismo en el estado de San Luis Potosí, México», financiado por un fondo concurrente del Consejo Nacional deCiencia y Tecnología y el Gobierno del Estado de San Luis Potosí.

This dissertation examines the cultural politics of conservation efforts in Mexico City, where in 2000, the city legislated a soil and water conservation plan in its rural areas. During 12-months of field work in the village of San Luis Tlaxialternalco 1 focused on how the conservation plan was to be established in the wetlands with chinampa agriculture, directly above one of the city's fresh water reservoirs. Political ecology research of conservation suggests that ecosystemic processes are intricately linked to economic and social processes on many scales. Post-structuralist analysis has complicated homogeneous and generalizing descriptions of social categories, politics of power, and the causality between socio-economic, political, cultural, and ecological factors. Research in political ecology emphasizes the diversity of actors and their subject positions and seeks to locate and understand the dynamics of power and agency within and outside formal institutions. I examined the negotiations of the conservation plan on three social scales and I looked at the intersecting axes of power and the knowledge of various actors, and how they inform conservation. On the scale of the state, a discursive analysis of the 'coloniality of power' of the conservation plan uncovers the city government's underlying assumptions about how the fanners' land use practices and social organization contribute to the conservation effort. I ask how do those assumptions define and condition chinampa farmers as 'Indian'? I conclude that in the conservation plan, colonially-based discourses constitute rural communities and agriculturalists in ways that subject them to the city's needs and interests, and exclude them from equal livelihood opportunities. In San Luis Tlaxialternalco I examined ideas of 'community' by documenting how the conservation plan affected local power relations. Analyzing the dynamics among chinampero farmers in their meetings, I exarnined the alliances in and the 'voice' of the village. I conclude that 'community' is a fluid and contested entity shaped by class, knowledge, and cultural values in unpredictable constellations. The tjaird scale of analysis concerns women's knowledge and voice, and examines ideas of silence as agency. In semi-structured interviews and participant observation in farmer women's everyday lives in San Luis I explored how they make decisions that affect the environment. The research shows that multiple constraints and opportunities, such as economic responsibilities, class, prestige, and patriarchy shape women's daily lives and direct their decisions to advance goals consistent with their values even when their decisions may undermine the long-term health of the environment they depend on. By looking at the micropolitics of conservation, my research provides cultural understanding of how at different scales decisions that affect ecology are made and how they are articulated through cultural idioms in the charged context of the conservation plan. The dissertation de-mystifies predominant representations of chinampas and chinamperos. It also complicates ideas of 'cornmirnity' and suggests that the analysis has to go beyond class and include values and knowledge. Further, I show that relevant ecological knowledge does not automatically lead to 'appropriate' action, and that silence can be a powerful tool that resists impositions and firrthers individual and community interests. Finally, the thesis suggests that political ecologists need to move away from equating power with action and activism within "progressive movements", and that conservation efforts need to have multiple goals and follow diverse strategies. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on March 15, 2010. Major professor: Tom Trice. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Arts in History." "December 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-77).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on March 15, 2010. Major professor: Camille O'Bryant. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in Kinesiology." "March 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-30).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / Title from PDF title page; viewed on June 21, 2010. Major professor: Hemalata Dandekar, Ph.D. "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of City and Regional Planning." "June 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 41).

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / "A report for the Community Development Department of the city of San Luis Obispo" Title from PDF title page; viewed on April 27, 2010. Major professor: Cornelius Nuworsoo, Ph.D., AICP "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Joint Transportation Planning degree [of] Master of City and Regional Planning/Master of Science in Engineering (Transportation Planning Specialization)." "March 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-138).