The main topic of this thesis is the tropicalizations of Severi varieties, which we call tropical Severi varieties. Severi varieties are classical objects in algebraic geometry. They are parameter spaces of plane nodal curves. On the other hand, tropicalization is an operation defined in tropical geometry, which turns subvarieties of an algebraic torus into certain polyhedral objects in real vector spaces. By studying the tropicalizations, it may be possible to transform algebro-geometric problems into purely combinatorial ones. Thus, it is a natural question, “what are tropical Severi varieties?” In this thesis, we give a partial answer to this question: we obtain a description of tropical Severi varieties in terms of regular subdivisions of polygons. Given a regular subdivision of a convex lattice polygon, we construct an explicit parameter space of plane curves. This parameter space is a much simpler object than the corresponding Severi variety and it is closely related to a flat degeneration of the Severi variety, which in turn describes the tropical Severi variety. We present two applications. First, we understand G.Mikhalkin’s correspondence theorem for the degrees of Severi varieties in terms of tropical intersection theory. In particular, this provides a proof of the independence of point-configurations in the enumeration of tropical nodal curves. The second application is about Secondary fans. Secondary fans are purely combinatorial objects which parameterize all the regular subdivisions of polygons. We provide a relation between tropical Severi varieties and Secondary fans.

This report is not intended to argue how sprawl is to be stopped. Infill development is too limited to support the growth cities are expecting, and with a market of buyers who desire to live outside of the city and own a little piece of the country, can there really be an end to sprawl? Rather, this report identifies a method of sprawling smartly: conservation development. As an alternative to conventional subdivision, conservation subdivision developments perpetually preserve a significant portion— usually half—of the development site as open space. This report examines the conservation subdivision ordinances that municipalities have adopted as an alternative or, in some cases, to replace conventional subdivision regulations, and the strategies they exercise that affect a change in the way we sprawl. / text

The main topic of this thesis is the tropicalizations of Severi varieties, which we call tropical Severi varieties. Severi varieties are classical objects in algebraic geometry. They are parameter spaces of plane nodal curves. On the other hand, tropicalization is an operation defined in tropical geometry, which turns subvarieties of an algebraic torus into certain polyhedral objects in real vector spaces. By studying the tropicalizations, it may be possible to transform algebro-geometric problems into purely combinatorial ones. Thus, it is a natural question, “what are tropical Severi varieties?” In this thesis, we give a partial answer to this question: we obtain a description of tropical Severi varieties in terms of regular subdivisions of polygons. Given a regular subdivision of a convex lattice polygon, we construct an explicit parameter space of plane curves. This parameter space is a much simpler object than the corresponding Severi variety and it is closely related to a flat degeneration of the Severi variety, which in turn describes the tropical Severi variety. We present two applications. First, we understand G.Mikhalkin’s correspondence theorem for the degrees of Severi varieties in terms of tropical intersection theory. In particular, this provides a proof of the independence of point-configurations in the enumeration of tropical nodal curves. The second application is about Secondary fans. Secondary fans are purely combinatorial objects which parameterize all the regular subdivisions of polygons. We provide a relation between tropical Severi varieties and Secondary fans.

The hyperpallium densocellulare (HD) is an avian cerebral structure, the origin of which remains unclear and considered to be critical to the understanding of the non-mammalian forebrain evolution. The main goal of this investigation was to clarify the anatomical characteristics and behavioral implications of HD, which had been assumed to be a homogeneous unitary entity. This project had three specific aims: 1) To identify possible subdivisions of HD in terms of cytoarchitecture, Substance P distribution, and connections based on unpublished (Aim 1a) as well as published data (Aim 1b); 2) To identify the unknown connections of these subdivisions by using anatomical tract-tracing methods; and 3) To identify the behavioral implications of these subdivisions by examining the expression of an immediate early gene EGR-1 (early growth response protein 1) using immunohistochemical methods. Based on the present study, four subdivisions of HD (rdHD, cdHD, rvHD, and cvHD) were identified in terms of cytoarchitecture, hodology, and EGR-1 immunoreactivity. In general, the results showed that the dorsal regions of HD (rdHD and cdHD) are closely connected to each other and involved in networks linking sensory and limbic functions. The ventral regions of HD (rvHD and cvHD) also have close connections between them, but also have direct associations with many limbic forebrain structures. In terms of behavioral implications, the EGR-1 study showed that only one subdivision, rvHD, had significant changes in EGR-1 immunoreactivity when animals were exposed to live conspecifics. These findings suggest that this area is uniquely involved in reactions to external stimuli. These results further provide an important insight on the organization and evolution of the avian forebrain, the cerebrum in particular.

This report will seek to identify the various factors that both enable and impede colonias and non-border colonias from developing. What processes determine the improvement of conditions in informal homestead subdivisions? Upon completing a number of interviews and extensive research, the conclusion can be reached that the various issues in policy implementation experienced with border colonias can help to inform the development of improved policies that will benefit both border and non-border colonias. / text

Economic and environmental inventory and evaluation were made of Utah recreational subdivisions filed with the state from 1962 through 1972. Major data were collected from standard subdivision questionnaires, filed by developers with Utah Real Estate Division, Department of Business Regulation. Study included 62,716 lots, 238,004 acres, and a value, in terms of developers' projected gross sales, of $211,836,550 in 1972 dollars. Description of Utah recreational urbanization included: community services such as water supply and sanitation, drainage and flooding, fire protection, roads, and schools; developer sales inducements, improvement costs, and selling costs; subdivision layout characteristics, locations, magnitude, value, and buildout rates; and lot owner improvements. Data included documentation of subdivisions by year, by county, and by county and year, in terms of number of subdivisions, number of lots, number of acres, average size in acres, average price per acre, and total value. Number of lots in each county was compared with county populations, populations changes, households, and household changes. Development locations were documented on a state map using composite computer mapping techniques. Developer questionnaires revealed economic and environmental impacts of recreational urbanization. Economic impact study included property tax assessments and revenues, state filing fees and administrative costs, and projected demand on community services. Environmental impact discussed included soil erosion, sedimentation, and preemption of public land use. Locational analysis was made with respect to natural environment: national forests, parks, monuments, and recreational areas. Political, social, and cultural impacts were also discussed. Special problems of long term leases of state School lands to recreational subdividers was studied. A case study in Iron County documented subsidization of California and Nevada ownership of Southern Utah mountain property through differential assessment. Effects of existing tax and fee control techniques upon recreational development were identified and assessed. Examination was made of state and local laws and regulations and their enforcement as they relate to development impacts on state and local economic and natural environments, with comparison of Utah with California and Colorado. Theory of environmental economics was applied to land use planning, control, and management. Economic alternatives to alleviating problems of recreational urbanization were presented, with special attention to problems of: speculation; demand on community services; tax inequities, negative economic and environmental impacts; an internalizing, for the public sector, external costs of private development. Composite computer mapping was illustrated as a land use planning tool in solving "fit" between human settlements and the natural environment.

St. Petersburg stood on the cusp of great change in 1946. Returning veterans sought jobs and housing, and St. Petersburg experienced its first major growth era since the real estate boom of the 1920s. The decade of the 1950s saw the city's population leap from 96,738 to 181,298, an 87 percent increase driven by boosters and national publicity about the city's leisurely ambience. Tract houses replaced remaining pockets of pasture and pine trees as subdivisions sprawled toward the city limits and beyond. On fertile truck-farming acreage called Goose Pond, developers built Central Plaza, a shopping center positioned to drain business energy from an aging downtown. Space-age industry brought light manufacturing to supplement traditional economic bases. The Sunshine Skyway opened in 1954 and less than a year later, road builders completed U.S. 19 through St. Petersburg, providing more economic advantages. Civil Rights advances shook Jim Crow, as African Americans sued to integrate swimming venues and challenged "red lines" defining where people of color could live and open businesses. Television began opening new horizons and changing leisure habits as air conditioning brought residents a new dimension of indoor comfort. City leaders reaching for a dynamic civic image worried about the city's reputation as a haven for the elderly, but education leaders ordered three new high schools built to serve the burgeoning white student population. The mid-century boom revived an optimistic spirit while raising issues such as land use, the downtown's future, and race relations against a backdrop of cultural change and the search for civic identity. As reflected in articles, interviews, reports, and manuscripts, St. Petersburg began redefining itself for the twentieth century's second half. This study surveys, describes, and analyzes the transformative events.

As conservation subdivisions increase in popularity, large tracts of community open spaces are being created. The typical landscape treatment is usually reminiscent of the English Landscape School: acres of turf providing little wildlife habitat or environmental benefits. Many homeowners are sold on the idea of great expanses of turf similar to a golf course. The open spaces are generally left to the homeowners association to maintain. In some cases it is donated to local municipalities. Maintenance is often expensive and places a burden on local governments. This study will show that creating more sustainable open spaces can correct this problem. This can be accomplished through the use of an ecologically based planting design. The following thesis project focuses on an alternative landscape planting treatment for these large open spaces, a treatment that has a significant cost savings and offers a different experience. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Thesis (MSc (Mathematics))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In this thesis we study a standard example of refinable functions, that is, functions which can be reproduced by the integer shifts of their own dilations. Using the cardinal B-spline as an introductory example, we prove some of its properties, thereby building a basis for a later extension to the vector setting. Defining a subdivision scheme associated to the B-spline refinement mask, we then present the proof of a well-known convergence result. Subdivision is a powerful tool used in computer-aided geometric design (CAGD) for the generation of curves and surfaces. The basic step of a subdivision algorithm consists of starting with a given set of points, called the initial control points, and creating new points as a linear combination of the previous ones, thereby generating new control points. Under certain conditions, repeated applications of this procedure yields a continuous limit curve. One important goal of this thesis is to study a particular extension of scalar subdivision to matrix subdivision ...

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:00:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3903.pdf: 15607351 bytes, checksum: 9cb2d710675184e0023df8da9b44661f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-09 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / This dissertation focuses the closed horizontal condominiums and subdivisions in the city of São Carlos that appeared in the 1970s consolidating itself as the form of housing of highincome classes that seek parts far from the center to live within the walls. In 1976 in São Carlos, it was deployed Parque Sabará the first enterprise of this tipe since then, the condominiums expanded and hold large areas of the city. They are located as in portions more remote as in the consolidated urban area. This dynamic is increasing in many Brazilian cities, as evidenced by the growing production of work aimed at this issue. This way, there are discussions and questions the social perspective, as an ingredient of socio-spatial segregation, or in relation to the legality of the establishment of these enterprises, that do not have specific legislation that regulates us. Therefore, the dissertation refers to the study and analysis of closed residential subdivisions and condominiums in São Carlos, and the transformations inserted in the context of the deployment of these enterprises. The research is based in literature search, documentary, photographic and visits to investigate the production of urban space from the closed condominiums and subdivisions set in a dynamic real estate production. This study was guided by the discussion of socio-spatial segregation and the capitalist production of space that impose occupation patterns that spread and are responsible for maintaining the capital. / Este trabalho tem como foco os condomínios e loteamentos horizontais fechados na cidade de São Carlos que surgiram na década de 1970, se consolidando como forma de moradia das classes de renda alta que buscam porções afastadas do centro para viver intramuros. Em 1976 foi implantado em São Carlos, o Parque Sabará primeiro empreendimento deste tipo desde então, os condomínios expandiram-se e hoje ocupam vastas áreas do município, situando-se tanto em porções mais afastadas quanto na malha urbana consolidada. Esse tipo de configuração expandiu-se e, agora, volta-se a outras classes sociais e não apenas às classes ricas em uma dinâmica que se mostra crescente em várias cidades brasileiras, como demonstra a produção crescente de trabalhos voltados a essa temática. Assim, surgem discussões e questionamentos sob o ponto de vista social, em uma abordagem enquanto ingrediente de segregação socioespacial ou ainda em relação à legalidade da constituição destes empreendimentos, que ainda não possuem legislação específica que os regule. Nesse sentido, o trabalho se refere ao estudo e análise dos loteamentos e condomínios residenciais fechados em São Carlos, bem como às transformações inseridas no contexto da implantação desses empreendimentos. A pesquisa se dá com base em pesquisa bibliográfica, documental, fotográfica e visitas in loco no intuito de investigar como ocorre a produção do espaço urbano a partir dos condomínios e loteamentos fechados inseridos numa dinâmica de produção imobiliária. Este estudo foi norteado pela discussão em torno da segregação socioespacial e da produção capitalista do espaço que dita padrões de ocupação que se disseminam e são responsáveis pela reprodução do capital.