Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: Jelena Mirkovic, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 3, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Larry McNeal (chair), Dianne Ashby, George Padavil, Lemuel Watson, Kenneth Crapes. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-259) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--RAND Graduate School, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Biological Sciences Department, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-157). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11753

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According to realistic conflict theory (RCT), people develop negative attitudes towards others as a result of competition with those others over limited resources. I hypothesized that participants would change their opinions of others in a greater negative direction if those others were competitive in resource use than if those others are cooperative. Additionally, I hypothesized that the participants' own resource use would influence how they changed their opinions of the others. Participants were asked to complete a ten-item trait-rating questionnaire before and after competing in a simulated fishing environment against a simulated group that fished either a little (cooperative opponent) or a lot (competitive opponent). As predicted, when fishing against competitive opponents, participants changed their ratings in a more negative direction than when fishing against cooperative opponents. In addition, participants' own fishing behaviour influenced some of their rating shifts. I discuss an alternative explanation of the results as based on group identity processes (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), and suggest that the effects of such processes should be directly compared with competition over resources in the same study. Limitations of the study are discussed along with potential solutions.

This dissertation comprises three articles that propose explanations for the eventual extinction of Neanderthals in Europe after a period of several thousand years of coexistence with anatomically modern humans (AMH). I propose that bioenergetic differences between Neanderthals and AMH favored the persistence of AMH. This difference in energetic efficiency was augmented by any behavior that was advantageous to AMH. Consequently, such behaviors directly impacted the rate of Neanderthal extinction. The first article proposes a mathematical model that reconstructs Neanderthal and AMH energetic budgets to predict how using fire for cooking might have affected the success of each species. I first use the model to establish that energetic differences alone result in Neanderthal extinction when Neanderthals and AMH occupy the same landscape. I then establish that cooking meat increases its caloric value, and incorporate that parameter into the model. The outcome indicates that differential fire use by Neanderthals and AMH significantly affects the rate of Neanderthal extinction. The second article analyzes the evidence for marrow and bone grease extraction from reindeer carcasses by Neanderthals and AMH during cold climate phases. I analyze two assemblages produced by Neanderthals and three produced by AMH to determine how each group exploited these crucial nutritional resources. Results indicate that marrow processing intensity correlates with site function rather than with human species while bone grease may have been more intensively processed by AMH. In the third article, I integrate these studies within a new theoretical framework combining self-organizing criticality (SOC) and resilience thinking (RT). I explore Neanderthal extinction across multiple scales. SOC explores how interactions at the scale of the individual can combine to cause events such as an extinction. RT provides a systems-level framework for understanding how patterns of change among Neanderthals, AMH, prey populations, and the landscapes they inhabit may lead to instability and collapse. I identify the arrival of AMH into a landscape occupied by Neanderthals as a threshold point that set the process of Neanderthal demise in motion. I then use SOC and RT together to explain Neanderthal extinction as a slow and patchy process, rather than a sudden extinction.