Magister Artium - MA / The study through the topic: An investigation of Zimbabwe's contemporary heritage practices of memorializing war: A case study of the Heroes' Acres in Matabeleland South Province focuses on post liberation war memorialisation and management in the post-colonial state of Zimbabwe. It analyses the emergence and management of war memorials and shrines in the form of heroes' acres, in the province of Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe from 1988 to 2010. Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980 after a long protracted war waged by two guerrilla movements against the unilaterally declared independent state of Rhodesia led by Ian Smith. Post-1980, ZANU (PF) became the dominant political party in the new state now renamed Zimbabwe. A national memorialisation structure was established soon after independence; charged with ensuring a befitting memorialisation of the war of liberation. Post-independence political contradictions between the parties notwithstanding, the results of the 1980 election showed an ethnicized landscape, a trajectory that has been at the centre of the national political discourse. Political disturbances in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces became one of the most important and interesting historical issues that unsettled the nation in respect of memorialisation. Against this background, this research proposes to assess how political actors contributed to the issue of memorializing a war in post-1980 Zimbabwe. Using the central question which arose from a critique of Zimbabwe's memorialisation structure as a graded one, in which the local site subordinates the national, the research aims to examine whether the shifts in the political and management spheres of the heroes acres as represented by the inclusive government currently governing the country and the transferring of management duties of heroes acres to the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, has managed to challenge the claim made above. By embarking on this work, the research aims to examine whether the local memorial sites actually act as mere subordinates in a deliberate graded structure to the national shrine represented by the National Heroes' Acre in Harare, within the politics of memorialisation.

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The Acres Homes Transit Company in Houston, Texas is Texas' first African American owned and operated bus company. Some say it is the first in the South. The company was developed during the height of the civil rights period. It serves as an establishment of economic empowerment during the oppressive civil rights era. The video is a historical visual documentation of the bus company from its beginning to its end. An accompanying written profile describes the research process, the pre-production, production and post-production stages, as well as future proposals for the documentary.

Master of Science / Division of Biology / Brett K. Sandercock / Grassland birds have experienced population declines worldwide from habitat degradation caused by conversion to agriculture and recent intensification of land use, including increased use of fertilizer, fossil fuels, and irrigation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) includes initiatives targeting wildlife enhancement to mitigate ongoing declines in grassland bird populations. The newest CRP practice, State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE), was designed to restore vital habitats for high priority wildlife species throughout the United States. Our objective was to assess the potential benefits of SAFE for upland gamebirds and grassland songbirds in Kansas. We monitored lands enrolled in SAFE to estimate bird density based on field scale and landscape scale characteristics. Our study was conducted in three ecoregions: Smoky Hills (4 counties), Flint Hills (3 counties), and the High Plains (3 counties). We surveyed 121 SAFE fields and 49 CRP fields from 2012 – 2013. Northern Bobwhite density was negatively associated with percent litter within survey fields. Ring-necked Pheasant density differed among ecoregions, and was positively associated with percent bare ground in the High Plains, but negatively associated with field age in the Smoky Hills. Mourning Dove density differed among ecoregions, and was negatively associated with percent forb in the High Plains, and positively associated with percent grassland in the Smoky Hills. In the Flint Hills, Mourning Doves were negatively associated with CRP fields and large fields. Brown-headed Cowbirds were positively associated with percent forbs. Amount of CRP surrounding survey locations was positively associated with bird density through the entire range for Grasshopper Sparrows, Dickcissels, and Lark Buntings, and in the High Plains for Western Meadowlarks. Percent woodland had negative effects on Western Meadowlarks in the Smoky Hills, whereas percent cropland had negative effects on Eastern Meadowlarks statewide. CRP positively affected abundance of four of our species, whereas percent cropland and woodland negatively affected others. Thus, the amount of set-aside lands enrolled in SAFE could be important for grassland bird populations. SAFE and CRP supported equal numbers of Northern Bobwhites and Ring-necked Pheasants, suggesting SAFE provides benefits for target species of upland gamebirds.

This study is a feminist reading of Jane Smiley's novel A Thousand Acres. It focuses on the Cook sisters and their lives in a farming community at a time that coincides with the end of second wave feminism. In particular, it pays attention to the absence of sisterhood among the three sisters in the novel. It analyses first each individual sister including their different approaches to sisterhood and then their failure to unite in the type of strategic, politically motivated notion of sisterhood that was promoted by second wave feminism.          By looking at different reasons why the sisters cannot establish a strong sisterhood my essay aims to demonstrate that A Thousand Acres not only criticises patriarchal society in its portrayal of the Cook family but also, and more importantly, that it criticises second wave feminism by pointing out its failure in terms of promoting a sense of sisterhood.

Στην ιατρική, συχνά χρησιμοποιούνται τεχνολογίες πληροφοριών και επικοινωνιών για να βοηθήσουν τους γιατρούς στις διαδικασίες διάγνωσης, ιδιαίτερα σε προβλήματα διαφορικών διαγνώσεων σε ασθένειες. Μέθοδοι Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης (ΤΝ) μας δίνουν την δυνατότητα αναπαράστασης της ιατρικής γνώσης και των τρόπων χρήσης της (π.χ. για διάγνωση ασθενειών) σε όλους τους τομείς της Ιατρικής. Η ομάδα ΤΝ του Τμήματος Μηχ/κών Η/Υ & Πληροφορικής έχει δημιουργήσει ένα πρωτότυπο (prototype) ενός ιατρικού ευφυούς/έμπειρου συστήματος διαφορικής διάγνωσης παθήσεων οστών (αποκαλούμενο XBONE) που στηρίζεται σε συμβολικούς κανόνες. Το συγκεκριμένο ευφυές (έμπειρο) σύστημα προορίζεται να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως συμβουλευτικό εργαλείο από ορθοπεδικούς. Για την αναπαράσταση γνώσης χρησιμοποιήθηκε μια υβριδική γλώσσα αναπαράστασης κανόνων, που ονομάζεται 'νευροκανόνες' (neurules), η οποία συνδυάζει συμβολικούς κανόνες και νευρωνικές μονάδες. Η ομάδα ΤΝ έχει επίσης αναπτύξει και ένα πρωτότυπο εργαλείου δημιουργίας ευφυών συστημάτων που στηρίζεται στους νευροκανόνες (αποκαλούμενο HYMES). Τέλος, η ίδια ομάδα έχει αναπτύξει ένα εργαλείο δημιουργίας έμπειρων συστημάτων από δεδομένα (αποκαλούμενο ACRES) που βασίζονται σε κανόνες με συντελεστές βεβαιότητας. Τα έμπειρα αυτά συστήματα είναι υλοποιημένα σε κώδικα CLIPS. Στο πλαίσιο της διπλωματικής : 1. Ολοκληρώνεται η ανάπτυξη του XBONE καθιστώντας το πλήρως λειτουργικό ευφυές σύστημα, παρέχοντας παράλληλα αυξημένη αξιοπιστία στην παραγωγή διαγνώσεων που αφορούν ασθένειες των οστών. Επίσης, αναπτύσσεται μια διαδικτυακή έκδοσή του. 2. Δημιουργείται μια δεύτερη έκδοση του XBONE στηριζόμενη σε νευροκανόνες από μετατροπή των συμβολικών κανόνων του αρχικού σε νευροκανόνες μέσω του εργαλείου HYMES. Εν συνεχεία δημιουργείται μια τρίτη έκδοση του συστήματος βασισμένη σε νευροκανόνες που δημιουργούνται μέσω του εργαλείου HYMES από ένα σύνολο εμπειρικών δεδομένων. 3. Δημιουργούνται επιπλέον εκδόσεις του παραπάνω συστήματος με το εργαλείο ACRES από τα ίδια δεδομένα. 4. Δημιουργείται μια τελευταία έκδοση του XBONE στο οποίο έχει επιτευχθεί ασαφοποίηση συγκεκριμένων μεταβλητών. 5. Τέλος, πραγματοποιείται σύγκριση των παραπάνω συστημάτων και αποκρυσταλλώνονται τα τελικά συμπεράσματα. / In medicine is often used ICT in order to help doctors to make diagnosis, especially in problems of differential diagnosis. Settlement methods based on Artificial Intelligence (ΑΙ) provide us the opportunity of standardization of medical knowledge and imaging ways of diagnosis procedures in specific areas of medicine. The A.I. group of CEID (Computer Engineering & Informatics Department) has developed a prototype of a medical intelligent/expert system for differential diagnosis of bone disorders (called XBONE), which is based on symbolic rules. This intelligent (expert) system is intended to be used as an advisory tool from orthopaedists. For knowledge representation used a hybrid language representation of rules, called ‘neurules’, which combines symbolic rules and neural units. The A.I. group has also developed a tool for creating intelligent systems based on the neurules (called HYMES). Finally, the same group has developed a tool for developing expert systems from data (called ACRES) which are based on rules with certainty factors. These expert systems are implemented in CLIPS. The aim of this thesis is : 1. The integration of XBONE, making it fully functional and reliable on bone diseases. We also create a web based version of it. 2. The development of a second version of XBONE based on neurules modifying symbolic rules to neurules via HYMES and the development of a third version with neurules which is created by empirical data. 3. The development of more versions using ACRES tool. 4. Finally, the comparison of above systems.

<p dir="ltr">The Dorothy and Ray Garman Preserve is a 35.4 hectare tract of hydro-mesophytic forest that includes ephemeral pools and scrub-shrub wetlands with <i>Cephalanthus occidentalis</i> as the dominant species component, a previously farmed agricultural field (now planted with native trees), and areas within that field which have reverted into wetlands. Garman is located within the Cedar Creek Conservation Area of Allen County, a region of important biodiversity in northeast Indiana. To document the structure and composition of the plant communities at this property, I utilized random and systematic plot samping, as well as a meandering floristic survey. The focus of my efforts was to explore the forested portion of the property and its immediate margins. I counted 150 species, representing 53 genera and 50 families. Using the Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) method, eleven species had coefficient of conservatism values of 8-10, ten of which were herbaceous and one arboreal species (<i>Populus heterophylla</i>). This indicates that Garman is a relatively high-quality site with some quality remnant components. The site has an FQA value of 46.4, and the mean coefficient of conservatism was 3.8. Furthermore, 95.3 percent of the total species documented were native, a relatively high mark for a fragment within a larger suburban area. Species potentially indicative of bog habitats such as <i>Sphagnum fimbriatum </i>(a non-vascular species of interest), <i>Ilex verticillata</i>, and <i>Viola nephrophylla</i>, as well as historical occurrences of other peatland communities in the area, indicate that Garman may have historically been a true bog that has since senesced into buttonbush wetland type due to anthropogenic impact. Overall, the vascular plant flora of Garman demonstrates that this site is of unique importance to the broader Cedar Creek Conservation Area, since it contains several plant species not present at other sites within this region, as well as intact natural plant communities.</p>

Chronic disease and unhealthy weight is an epidemic threatening the future wellbeing of Indianapolis. This study identifies how the City, and its partners, can improve fresh produce access and availability in high-risk neighborhoods through urban farming and gardening strategies. Recommendations for the City and allied organizations include: the degree of participation, food production and distribution, land policy and farm/garden location, educational programming, and economic sustainability. Target areas for new farms and gardens are identified through GIS overlay mapping and computational of indicators for chronic illness, food environment, and food insecurity. The intended outcome is a guide for the City of Indianapolis, and others facing similar problems, to implement and sustain City programs that address health in highrisk neighborhoods. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The movement to conserve natural resources in the United States began as a response to the perceived inefficiency which governed resource allocation. The subsequent environmental movement served to expand the definition of conservation to include not only the efficient use of resources, but also the preservation of land in its natural state. In Indiana, this supposed deficiency in conservation led some environmentalists to establish the Indiana Nature Preserves System which locates remnants of the Indiana wilderness and protects them from development. The Indiana Nature Preserves System is symbolic of the Land Ethic proposed by the early ecologist Aldo Leopold, who believed that man was but one component of the "land community." To alter all natural areas, Leopold and Indiana preservationists argued, was both an assault on ecological stability and on the right of nature to exist for its own sake. / Department of History