A method of linking SORTIE-ND and PrognosisBC was developed for the purpose of predicting natural regeneration and forecasting future stand conditions in mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins - MPB) attacked stands in the Interior Douglas-fir (IDF) and Sub-Boreal Spruce (SBS) biogeoclimatic ecosystem zones of central and southeastern British Columbia. PrognosisBC, a spatially-implicit growth model, lacked a submodel suitable for predicting natural regeneration in unsalvaged MPB-disturbed stands. To fill this gap, estimates of regeneration (trees <7.5 cm diameter at breast height - DBH) were supplied to PrognosisBC using the light-mediated forest dynamics model SORTIE-ND and the linked model was used to forecast future stand conditions. In order to improve results, a density-dependent system of crown allometry equations to predict crown depth and crown radius was developed and then added to SORTIE-ND. The equations used stand-level measures of stems ha-¹, basal area (m² ha-¹), and the basal area of trees taller than the target tree to explicitly account of the effects of crowding on the crown axes. Additionally, crown radius and crown depth were used as dependent regressors. The equations were fit using a nonlinear three-stage least squares estimator and generally provided good estimates of crown depth and crown radius for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), hybrid spruce (Picea engelmannii x glauca (Moench) Voss), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Beissn.) Franco) and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Tests of the hybrid model with the improved system of crown allometry equations were performed using reconstructed plot data collected from natural stands disturbed by MPB 25-years ago. The hybrid model provided good estimates (small mean bias and low root mean square error) for the basal area of advance regeneration (2 < DBH < 7.5 cm) for lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia). The best estimates were achieved when trees <7.5 cm DBH were transferred from SORTIE-ND to PrognosisBC 15-years after MPB-disturbance. For trees <2 m in height, poor estimates of stems ha-¹ where obtained. Despite the shortcomings with respect to trees <2 m tall, the results suggest that linking SORTIE-ND and PrognosisBC is an effective method of building a hybrid model capable of being used in MPB-disturbed forests. However, full parameterization of the SORTIE-ND model is likely needed to obtain accurate estimates for all sizes of natural regeneration.

Aquesta tesi vol contribuir a comprendre millor els sistemes socioecològics i el seu canvi al llarg del temps des d’un punt de vista holístic i relacional. Pretén mostrar que les activitats productives del camp no són necessàriament incompatibles amb la conservació de la biodiversitat, i que algunes d’aquestes activitats, fins i tot en situacions d’integració en economies de mercat, són indispensables per conservar els paisatges culturals que les societats urbanes modernes volen protegir. La tesi es pregunta si la recuperació i l’expansió de la superfície forestal poden tenir un efecte negatiu en l’escolament de les conques i el cabal dels cursos d’aigua, així com en la biodiversitat pròpia d’hàbitats oberts a escala local. També explora la transformació del camp durant el procés d’industrialització i urbanització per recolzar la noció d’una interrelació i hibridació històriques entre el rural i l’urbà, i mostra que l’expansió urbana és el resultat d’intenses lluites polítiques entre diferents grups socials amb una distribució desigual dels costos i els beneficis del canvi socioecològic. La Mediterrània és una regió especialment idònia per als objectius d’aquesta recerca, ja que es considera un ‘hotspot’ de biodiversitat mundial el qual és resultat de la integració entre processos naturals i humans. A més, està fortament amenaçada degut a la gran sensibilitat dels seus ecosistemes envers tots els components del canvi global. La tesi se centra en la Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, a Catalunya, una de les ciutats més grans de l’Europa mediterrània, i específicament en dos municipis de muntanya baixa de la segona corona metropolitana: Olzinelles, al massís del Montnegre, i Matadepera, al massís de Sant Llorenç del Munt i la serra de l’Obac. La metodologia es basa en una combinació d’elements de la història ambiental, l’ecologia política i la hidrologia forestal amb el coneixement ecològic de la pagesia local. L’anàlisi del sistema productiu d’Olzinelles i les seves arrels històriques (capítol 4) mostra com les diverses pràctiques de gestió dels recursos naturals, incrustades en un marc institucional i una cosmovisió particulars, permetien al sistema socioecològic adaptar-se a les variacions de la demanda externa i al mateix temps mantenir la seva capacitat per proporcionar aliments a la població local. L’abandonament d’aquestes pràctiques durant un procés de modernització a escala nacional i global ha comportat una reducció de les poblacions d’espècies pròpies de camps, pastures i boscos esclarissats. A l’escala de conca (vall d’Olzinelles, capítol 3) es conclou que l’assecament de la riera observat en les darreres dècades s’ha d’atribuir a un període més sec i no pas a la petita aforestació que hi ha tingut lloc. No obstant, en futurs estudis caldria incorporar la variació de la coberta arbòria ja que té un rol important en la intercepció i la partició de la pluja, i en les darreres dècades ha experimentat un fort augment com a resultat de l’abandonament de les pràctiques de gestió forestal. L’anàlisi de Matadepera (capítol 5) mostra com en el procés d’expansió urbana s’enfrontaren diferents visions del futur de diferents grups socials (propietaris de terres i pagesia d’esquerres). El projecte socioecològic de les elits dominants va esdevenir una realitat perquè van ser capaces de controlar recursos vitals com la terra i l’aigua amb l’aniquilació de la dissidència a través de la presó, les execució i la violència psicològica del règim franquista sorgit al final de la Guerra Civil (1939). La construcció discursiva d’una ‘escassetat natural’ va ajudar a construir un consens espontani en relació als impactes negatius de l’arribada de grans quantitats d’aigua procedent del riu Llobregat per a possibilitar la gentrificació del poble. La tesi conclou que una combinació adequada de diferents graus d’hibridació socioecològica en l’anàlisi de la realitat pot ser una bona forma d’entendre les dinàmiques complexes dels canvis en els usos de la terra i de la conservació de la biodiversitat en llocs concrets, i també útil per superar l’estricta separació conceptual i analítica entre societat i natura, camp i ciutat, conservació i desenvolupament, i àrees protegides i no protegides. / This thesis is aimed to better understanding the coupled social-ecological systems and their change over time in a holistic and relational way. It intends to show that productive rural activities are not necessarily incompatible with conservation of biodiversity, and that some of these activities, even when they are quite integrated with market economies, are indispensable to conserve the cultural landscapes that modern urban societies want to protect. This thesis also asks whether forest recoveries have a negative effect on water discharge from the catchments and on the biodiversity from open habitats at a local scale. It also explores the transformation of the countryside during the process of industrialization and urbanization to support the notion of historical interrelatedness and hybridity between the rural and the urban; and shows that suburbanization is the outcome of political struggles between different social groups resulting in uneven distribution of the costs and benefits of socioecological change. The Mediterranean is a particularly illuminating region for the aims of this research since it is considered a hotspot of global biodiversity which itself is a consequence of the integration between natural and human processes, besides being highly threatened because of the particular sensitivity of Mediterranean ecosystems to all drivers of global change. This thesis is focused in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (Catalonia), one of the largest cities of Mediterranean Europe, more specifically in two mountain municipalities of the outer metropolitan ring: Olzinelles, in Montnegre Mountains, and Matadepera, in Sant Llorenç del Munt Mountains. The methodology combines elements from environmental history, political ecology and forest hydrology with the local ecological knowledge from peasants. The analysis of the productive system of Olzinelles and its historical roots (chapter 4) shows that several management practices, embedded in a particular institutional setting and worldview, allowed the social-ecological system to adapt to the changing external demand while keeping its capacity to supply food to the local community. The abandonment of such practices under a national-to-global process of modernization resulted in a decrease of species from fields, meadows and sparse forests. At the catchment scale (Olzinelles valley, chapter 3) it is concluded that the observed decrease in the water runoff may be attributed to a drier period rather than to the small afforestation experienced in the catchment. However, future studies should incorporate the variation of canopy cover given its potential role in rainfall interception and partitioning processes, and the great increase in canopy cover experienced in the catchment as a result of the abandonment of forest management practices. The analysis of Matadepera (chapter 5) shows that different visions of the future by different social groups (landowners vs. left-wing peasantry) collided in the process of suburbanization. The socioecological project promoted by ruling elites prevailed because they were able to control vital resources like land and water with the annihilation of the dissidence through prison, execution and psychological violence under the new Francoist regime that arose after the end of the Civil War in 1939. The discursive construction of a ‘natural scarcity’ of water helped to achieve spontaneous consent for controversial aspects of bringing water from the Llobregat River to allow the gentrification of the town. The thesis concludes that a suitable combination of different degrees of socioecological hybridity in the analysis may be suitable to understand the complex dynamics of land change and biodiversity conservation in a particular setting, as well as useful to overcome the strict conceptual and analytical separation between society and nature; city and countryside; conservation and development; and protected and non-protected areas.

Mountain holding in the 21st century – difficulties and possibilities   This study examines the difficulties and possibilities that mountain holding farmers have today. The following questions were considered: i) Who is cultivating mountain holdings today? ii) Which is the most important reason to keep animals there? iii) What kind of subsidies are most common? iv) What kinds of animals and what breeds are the most common? v) For how long period of time are the animals kept at the mountain holdings every season? vi) How are the fundamental regulations in the animal welfare law being followed, and are there any problems/conflicts in keeping animals at the mountain holdings? vii) What meaning do the animals have for the farmers and what are the farmer’s thoughts about the future? A survey based on these issues was sent out to 107 mountain holdings farmers with animals on grazing land, where 59 % submitted a response. The results showed that knowledge on how to keep animals at the mountain holdings was overall good. The biggest difficulties for the farmers were not following the current regulations but an increased number of predators and poor profitability. 45 % of 62 responders thought predators were a problem and 35 % that poor profitability was a problem. The possibilities that farmers have are mostly to focus their resources on tourism. Today we talk about biological diversity, locally produced and national particularities, and from this study I think that the mountain holdings have several important functions to fill there.

Taitung County is mountainous. Its geological structure is weak. Typhoon and heavy rain is frequent. Land erosion, landslide, and silt deposit in rivers is serious. In recent years, hilly areas are over-developed and conservation problem worsens. In typhoon and heavy rain, soil and other resources would be washed away and causes serious damage. The resources that people are relying on are vanishing. The purpose of this paper is to study the conservation of hilly areas, the management of river catchment areas, and the investigation and planning of the conservation of resources. This paper may help our people better understand the importance of conservation and t hey will be willing to work for a better Taitung Countye. This paper also studies the government conservation policies over the years and the their results, the farmers¡¦ understanding of the land, and conflict between the government and the farmers in land use in hilly areas. The study finds out that in managing the river catchment areas, government executive system is too complicated. Farmers do not appreciate the way the laws are implemented. They do not admit that their development cause water pollution or soil erosion. Rather, they believe that landslide and government policies in garbage dumping and road opening are to be blamed. Farmers are against most of the government policies especially in returning their land to government. There is a gap between government and farmer recognition. It is suggested that from now on, related personnel should investigate more and communicate more with people before preparing a policy. And since farmers are more willing to accept policies in subsidizing afforestation and soil protection, government should work on these issues.

The first option has been publicly traded for more than 30 years. With the progress of time, despite the European option is still the exchange-traded option. But evolved through the years, the European option has not meet people's needs, so exotic option was born. Similarly, the pricing model, from the traditional closed-form solution (under the Black-Scholes assumption), now commonly used binomial trees, finite difference, or by using the Monte Carlo simulation. The main impact of the following factors: the first, with the complexity of the option contract - from single asset to multi-assets, from the plain vanilla option to the path-dependent option, it is more difficult to find the closed-form solution of the option. Second, with the development of personal computers, making numerical computing is no longer a difficult task. It is precisely these two front reason, there will be the birth of this article. Himalaya option is also an exotic options. With the multi-assets and path dependent features, we want to find a closed-form solution is very difficult. Under multi-assets situation, the binomial tree and finite difference will be time-consuming calculation. Therefore, this paper is using Monte Carlo simulation of reasons. In this paper, we use Monte Carlo simulation to pricing Himalaya option, which includes several variance reduction techniques used to reduce sample variance. Finally, when pricing completed, we try to do a simple study to option hedging.

Late Pleistocene displacement along the Lone Mountain fault suggests the Silver Peak-Lone Mountain (SPLM) extensional complex is an important structure in accommodating and transferring strain within the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ) and Walker Lane. Using geologic and geomorphic mapping, differential global positioning system surveys, and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) geochronology, we determined rates of extension across the Lone Mountain fault in western Nevada. The Lone Mountain fault is the northeastern component of the SPLM extensional complex, and is characterized by a series of down-to-the-northwest normal faults that offset the northwestern Lone Mountain and Weepah Hills piedmonts. We mapped eight distinct alluvial fan deposits and dated three of the surfaces using ¹⁰BE TCN geochronology, yielding ages of 16.5 +/- 1.2 ka, 92.3 +/- 8.6 ka, and 142.2 +/- 19.5 ka for the Q3b, Q2c, and Q2b deposits, respectively. The ages were combined with scarp profile measurements across the displaced fans to obtain minimum rates of extension; the Q2b and Q2c surfaces yield an extension rate between 0.1 +/- 0.1 and 0.2 +/- 01 mm/yr and the Q3b surface yields a rate of 0.2 +/-.1 to 0.4 +/- 0.1 mm/yr, depending on the dip of the fault. Active extension on the Lone Mountain fault suggests that it helps partition strain off of the major strike-slip faults in the northern ECSZ and transfers deformation around the Mina Deflection northward into the Walker Lane. Combining our results with estimates from other faults accommodating dextral shear in the northern ECSZ reveals an apparent discrepancy between short- and long-term rates of strain accumulation and release. If strain rates have remained constant since the late Pleistocene, this could reflect transient strain accumulation, similar to the Mojave segment of the ECSZ. However, our data also suggest an increase in strain rates between ~92 ka and ~17 ka, and possibly to present day, which may also help explain the mismatch between long- and short-term rates of deformation in the region.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences." Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 185 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-167).

Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Rudolph Darken, Joseph Sullivan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 51). Also available online.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special report study entitled: Notion of place. Includes bibliographical references.