No description available.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis examined the influence of fall-spawning coho salmon on the density, growth rate, body condition, and survival to outmigration of juvenile coho salmon rearing in beaver ponds on the Copper River Delta, Alaska. During the fall of 1999 and 2000 fish rearing in ponds that received spawning salmon were compared to ponds that did not receive spawners, and to ponds that were artificially enriched with salmon carcasses and eggs. Juvenile coho salmon responded variably to fall-spawning salmon. There were no consistent patterns associated with the two naturally occurring pond types (spawning vs no spawning). In some ponds, fall-spawning salmon increased growth rates and improved the body condition of juvenile coho salmon. Enrichment with salmon carcasses and eggs significantly increased growth rates of fish in non-spawning ponds. For some ponds, the relative influence of spawning and enrichment on body condition depended on fish size. There was no evidence that the influence of fall-spawning resulted in greater smolt production. Fall-spawning salmon provide important food resources that can benefit juvenile coho salmon rearing in beaver ponds on the Copper River Delta. However, other factors such as nutrients from riparian vegetation and catchment characteristics that control hydrology and thermal regimes are important to coho salmon smolt production. / Graduation date: 2004

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Geography / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Geography and Geology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Destruction of ecosystems and infrastructure can be caused by melting of massive ice within permafrost. To predict potential melting caused by natural and human disturbance, we need to know the nature and origin of massive ice deposits. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the nature of massive ice in coarse-grained sediments that accepted theories suggest should not occur. / Degradation of ice-rich granular resources is expensive and difficult to rehabilitate and can cause developmental thermokarst, overestimation of granular resources, disturbance of wildlife habitat and create conflicts with traditional land uses. / To locate massive ice we used a resistivity geophysical technique and to characterize the ice we used geochemical, petrographic and stratigraphic techniques. The resistivity technique detected bodies of massive ice and ice-rich sediments and coarse-grained sediments at high resolutions and laboratory analysis reveal that the ice was of glacial origin. / These findings indicate that massive ice of glacial origin occurs in coarse-grained sediments in permafrost. The techniques used in this study could form the basis of a predictive model of massive ice occurrence.

Interaction between Taiwan and China has increased remarkably in recent decades. From being complete enemies in 1949 to the momentum created by the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement in 2010, both countries have come a long way. This thesis focuses on the extent of interaction and cooperation between businesses and Chinese local authorities in the Chinese Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) and their impact on Taiwanese investment. The Chinese central government has expressly set out its policies of encouragement of specific preferential treatment, and the researcher seeks to answer: to what degree in fact local governments share central government objectives and implement such preferential policies in their areas (including by way of their own policies), and what are the factors governing their decisions. It also explains how the local authorities and local Taiwanese investors (taishang) have interacted. To that end, it analyses an important set of relationships: that between Chinese central and local governments; between the Taiwanese government and Taiwanese business elites; and between Taiwanese investors and Chinese local governments in the YRD and PRD. This study places trans-border interactions in the context of globalization, regionalism and economic integration. China's overriding goal of uniting Taiwan with the PRC has remained constant but the method of achieving this objective has modified, adapting to the global environment, and its vision of a growing economy through its more recent national plans. Emphasis is now on greater economic linkages with Taiwan's economy, thus creating Taiwanese dependence on China's prosperity. Beyond economic reasons it is also hoped that greater connections between Chinese and Taiwanese will strengthen their sense of shared identity, thus making for unification via a "soft landing". This thesis examines the opportunities and constraints that Taiwanese businesses in the YRD and the PRD have in practice encountered, in order to determine whether Chinese local bureaucrats are a help or hindrance in this broader political objective of preferential treatment. It compares Taiwanese businesses with other overseas investors in both secondary and tertiary sectors in the two localities. The research methodology used has included semi-structured elite interviews in China and Taiwan between 2008 and 2010 with relevant decision-makers, namely Taiwanese investors, non-Taiwanese foreign investors, Chinese and Taiwanese government officials. In order to obtain qualitative insights into Chinese local authorities' viewpoints, attitudes and strategy of their approaches to the Taiwanese businesses in China, as well as knowledge of how Taiwanese businesses develop their business activities in China, the main method of data collection in this thesis is therefore in the form of elite interviews. The research concludes that while Taiwanese investors generally do get preferential treatment from Chinese local governments as compared with other investors, there is no general rule which can give them assurance of this. From an examination of several criteria influencing local governments, it seems that much depends on personal relations (guanxi) with Chinese officials, Chinese society being still heavily influenced by traditional attitudes and relationships. Further, the application of laws is still guided by 'rule of man' instead of 'rule of law'. Company location, size and type of industry are other important factors in the application of the preferential policies. Moreover, the incentives that Taiwanese investors have previously received are gradually decreasing, mainly for two reasons. One is the evolution of Chinese central government's plans, aiming to achieve their objectives for economic development of the country, while also making for a wider distribution of wealth and giving greater support to Chinese domestic companies. The other is because of the increased role of local governments, allowing them to set their own initiatives; their response is found to have been to put their localities' interests first and act more independently and pragmatically to changes in their local circumstances. This thesis has made a contribution to the application of methodology by its in-depth analysis and diversity of people interviewed, and to existing literature by exploring the less-developed area of cross-strait political economy studies. However, the qualitative nature of this study and its reliance on a situation which is subject to constant change provide room for further examination by others with different backgrounds or may usefully be looked at again in the light of additional information, such as larger samples of interviews, a different methodology such as quantitative methods, different variables such as Chinese domestic companies, different regions of China, or developments in the countries and regions under study.