Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 P482 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 R62 / Master of Landscape Architecture

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1952 D31 / Master of Science

Ce travail de thèse, le premier pour la Sardaigne consacré entièrement à la production sur silex, offre un regard nouveau sur les assemblages en pierre taillée du Néolithique, mettant en lumière la manière dont les différentes phases de la production lithique sont mises en place, depuis l'acquisition de la matière première jusqu'à l'obtention de produits finis. Cela sur la durée et sur une aire géographique vaste. D’autre part, il permet de reconstruire le comportement des néolithiques par rapport à ce matériel et, par rapport aux autres ressources lithiques exploités durant l’arc chronologique analysé, l’obsidienne en particulier. / In Sardinia the use of siliceous raw materials for the production of chipped stone artifacts is frequent in prehistory, although to varying degrees in relation to the areas and periods analyzed. These lithotypes, characterized by different qualities, have a great variability and a wide spread over the entire region. This work presented a summary of the diachronic variations in lithic flint production during the Neolithic, focusing on the one side, to describe their typological and technological features and, on the other side, to illustrate the variations in the raw material selection behaviors occurred in this period.

"Spark and Ruin: a Story of Re-beginning" is a multi-media concert dance work that addresses empathy as a physical and cognitive reactionary state, and utilizes dancing bodies as agents to facilitate this empathic experience. This work developed out of "The Flint Project," which investigates Flint, Michigan, "the most violent city in America," and a community characterized by racial tension and severe distinctions in class and social standing. This post-industrial, urban community serves as a microcosm through which we can examine how racial, social, and cultural politics intersect to establish systematic practices that challenge the possibility of the "American Dream." "The Flint Project" is a vehicle for creative research that investigates these systems and develops the material into a live performed event, "Spark and Ruin: a Story of Re-beginning". This performance includes installations featuring live performers and also various forms of media (including photography, film, and interactive "stations"). All of this material is constructed to contextualize the material for the viewer in a proscenium-style full-length dance performance. The objective of this piece is to establish a space for viewers to empathize with the material--to create an experience that will evolve into inquiry of systematic inequality as well as self-reflection of perception and bias. In facilitating this level of questioning, I aim to move viewers with compassion and heightened awareness of social inequity, as well as opportunities to chge the systems that enforce it.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1915. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

This research is a 'case study' analysis on Flint Construction cc, which has undergone a management buy-out. Flint Construction cc specializes in the construction and restoration of surface and underground rail systems, the sale and purchase of perway materials (rails, sleepers, etc) and general civil engineering construction. The objective of the study is to determine the value of Flint Construction cc using the relevant valuation techniques discussed in the literature. Different valuation techniques are analyzed and utilized in order to ascertain the value of the business at the time of the buyout. These include using models such as Price-earnings (earnings valuation model), balance sheet valuations (assets valuation model), discounted free cash flows model (DFCF model), and the economic value-added model (EVA model). This study is a 'case study' and is limited to Flint Construction cc, and we therefore cannot generalize. Further, the study is conducted on an unlisted company, and it is difficult to obtain information, which is not publicly available. Other unlisted companies would probably be reluctant to disclose financial information. However, an interview was conducted to obtain data on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, subjective risk adjustments and perceptions of Flint Construction cc which were used in the valuation using PIE ratios, estimation of future cash flows and the EVA method. The Price-earnings (earnings valuation model), discounted free cash flows model (DFCF model), and the economic value-added model (EVA model) reveal that the business was sold at a 'fair' value of R3 million. The range for Flint Construction cc obtained from the different valuation methods excluding the net asset value method was from R2,450,403 to R3,I06,880. A further study can be undertaken to see what happens to company value after a buyout and whether shareholder value is created. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources / Adam A. Ahlers / The Flint Hills ecoregion in Kansas, USA, represents the largest remaining tract of native tallgrass prairie in North America. Anthropogenic landscape change (e.g., urbanization, agricultural production) is affecting native biodiversity in this threatened ecosystem. Our understanding of how landscape change affects spatial distributions of carnivores (i.e., species included in the Order ‘Carnivora’) in this ecosystem is limited. I investigated the influence of landscape structure and composition on site occupancy dynamics of 3 native carnivores (coyote [Canis latrans]; bobcat [Lynx rufus]; and striped skunk [Mephitis mephitis]) and 1 nonnative carnivore (domestic cat, [Felis catus]) across an urbanization gradient in the Flint Hills during 2016-2017. I also examined how the relative influence of various landscape factors affected native carnivore species richness and diversity. I positioned 74 camera traps across 8 urban-rural transects in the 2 largest cities in the Flint Hills (Manhattan, pop. > 55,000; Junction City, pop. > 31,000) to assess presence/absence of carnivores. Cameras were activated for 28 days in each of 3 seasons (Summer 2016, Fall 2016, Winter 2017) and I used multisession occupancy models and an information-theoretic approach to assess the importance of various landscape factors on carnivore site occupancy dynamics. Based on previous research in other ecosystems, I expected a negative relationship between both coyote and bobcat occurrence with increasing urban development but a positive relationship for domestic cat and skunk occurrence with increasing urban landcover. I also predicted grassland landcover to positively influence site occupancy for all carnivores except domestic cats. I expected that coyotes, the apex predator in this ecoregion, may limit domestic cat distributions through intraguild competition. Thus, I predicted a negative relationship between site occupancy of domestic cats and coyote occupancy probabilities. Because urban development results in habitat loss and fragmentation, I expected native species richness and diversity to decline with increased urban development. Coyotes had lower occupancy and colonization rates in areas with increased urban landcover. Bobcat occupancy was insensitive to urban landcover and colonization rates were greater in grassland landcover and row-crop agriculture fields. Site occupancy of bobcats was highly influence by forested areas and greater edge densities. Contrary to my hypothesis, striped skunk occupancy and colonization rates were negatively related to urban landcover. As expected, domestic cats were more likely to occur in and colonize sites with increased urban development and less likely to occur at sites with high coyote occupancy probabilities. Native carnivore species diversity and richness were negatively related to urban landcover. Occupancy dynamics of carnivores were shown to be influenced by landscape structure and composition as well as intraguild interactions. My results show urban landcover has a strong influence on the spatial distributions of carnivores in the northern extent of the Flint Hills.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / J. M. Shawn Hutchinson / Grasslands of the Flint Hills are often burned as a land management practice. Remote sensing can be used to help better manage prairie landscapes by providing useful information about the long-term trends in grassland vegetation greenness and helping to quantify regional differences in vegetation development. Using MODIS 16-day NDVI composite imagery between the years 2001-10 for the entire Flint Hills ecoregion, BFAST was used to determine trend, seasonal, and noise components of the image time series. To explain the trend, 4 factors were considered including hydrologic soil group, burn frequency, and precipitation deviation from the 30 year normal. In addition, the time series data was processed using TIMESAT to extract eight different phenometrics: Growing season length, start of season, end of season, middle of season, maximum value, small integral, left derivative, and right derivative. Phenometrics were produced for each year of the study and an ANOVA was performed on the means of all eight phenometrics to assess if significant differences existed across the study area. A K-means cluster analysis was also performed by aggregating pixel-level phenometrics at the county level to identify administrative divisions exhibiting similar vegetation development. For the study period, the area of negatively and positively trending grassland were similar (41-43%). Logistic regression showed that the log odds of a pixel experiencing a negative trend were higher in sites with clay soils and higher burning frequencies and lower for pixels having higher than normal precipitation and loam soils. Significant differences existed for all phenometrics when considering the ecoregion as a whole. On a phenometric-by-phenometric basis, unexpected groupings of counties often showed statistically similar values. Similarly, when considering all phenometrics at the same time, counties clustered in surprising patterns. Results suggest that long-term trends in grassland conditions warrant further attention and may rival other sources of grassland change (e.g., conversion, transition to savannah) in importance. Analyses of phenometrics indicates that factors other than natural gradients in temperature and precipitation play a significant role in the annual cycle of grassland vegetation development. Unanticipated, and sometimes geographically disparate, groups of counties were shown to be similar in the context of specific phenology metrics and this may prove useful in future implementations of smoke management plans within the Flint Hills.

No description available.