Busca apresentar a problemática da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais frente às teorias e práticas arquivísticas e às tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TICs), com o intuito de identificar as variáveis que impactam diretamente as políticas de preservação dos documentos arquivísticos digitais. Busca ainda apoiar as bases conceituais da preservação digital no Brasil e instrumentalizar as instituições com vistas à implementação da preservação digital de seus documentos arquivísticos. Trabalha com a hipótese de que a gestão e a preservação inadequada dos documentos arquivísticas digitais - via de regra sob responsabilidade de administradores e profissionais das TICs sem interface com os arquivistas - coloca em risco o documento arquivístico digital e, consequentemente, a memória social de parte da história da humanidade. Propõe um modelo conceitual de gestão da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais aplicável a qualquer instituição, independentemente de seu porte, e o discute em relação às propostas desenvolvidas pelo projeto InterPARES. A análise do modelo conceitual permite identificar outros elementos em busca do aperfeiçoamento da gestão da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais. / Aims to present the problem concerning the digital records preservation facing theories and archivists practices and the information and communications technology (ICTs), looking to identify the variables that impact the digital records preservation policies. Aims to support the digital preservation conceptual bases in Brazil and equip institutions regarding an implementation in the digital preservation of their records. The essay is based upon the hypothesis that the improper preservation and management of digital records - mainly under the responsibility of administrators and ICTs professionals without interface with the archivists - risks the digital records and, consequently, the social memoir of a fraction of mankind\'s history. This work suggests a conceptual model in the preserve of digital records applicable to any institution, regardless of its size, discussing it on the proposals developed by the InterPARES project. The analysis of the conceptual model allows identifying other elements in searching of the improvement in the management of digital records preservation.

Busca apresentar a problemática da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais frente às teorias e práticas arquivísticas e às tecnologias da informação e da comunicação (TICs), com o intuito de identificar as variáveis que impactam diretamente as políticas de preservação dos documentos arquivísticos digitais. Busca ainda apoiar as bases conceituais da preservação digital no Brasil e instrumentalizar as instituições com vistas à implementação da preservação digital de seus documentos arquivísticos. Trabalha com a hipótese de que a gestão e a preservação inadequada dos documentos arquivísticas digitais - via de regra sob responsabilidade de administradores e profissionais das TICs sem interface com os arquivistas - coloca em risco o documento arquivístico digital e, consequentemente, a memória social de parte da história da humanidade. Propõe um modelo conceitual de gestão da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais aplicável a qualquer instituição, independentemente de seu porte, e o discute em relação às propostas desenvolvidas pelo projeto InterPARES. A análise do modelo conceitual permite identificar outros elementos em busca do aperfeiçoamento da gestão da preservação de documentos arquivísticos digitais. / Aims to present the problem concerning the digital records preservation facing theories and archivists practices and the information and communications technology (ICTs), looking to identify the variables that impact the digital records preservation policies. Aims to support the digital preservation conceptual bases in Brazil and equip institutions regarding an implementation in the digital preservation of their records. The essay is based upon the hypothesis that the improper preservation and management of digital records - mainly under the responsibility of administrators and ICTs professionals without interface with the archivists - risks the digital records and, consequently, the social memoir of a fraction of mankind\'s history. This work suggests a conceptual model in the preserve of digital records applicable to any institution, regardless of its size, discussing it on the proposals developed by the InterPARES project. The analysis of the conceptual model allows identifying other elements in searching of the improvement in the management of digital records preservation.

This graduate report is a description of my artistic development through the graduate program at the University of Texas at Austin. It records my development and growth as an artist in relationship to the concepts, materials, and processes I have been investigating and exploring in the past three years. The graduate report focuses on three important concerns to which I’ve been dedicated. First, materials are imperative to my work. I physically collect and use my father’s ordinary objects and transform them with raw materials, such as clay, flour, honey, chocolate, beeswax, and petroleum jelly. The decision of choosing raw materials is based on my personal and cultural experiences. I am particularly interested in exploiting raw materials because I believe these raw materials can trigger a particular memory, place, or relationship that I want to preserve and remember. Second, my process of making involves ritualistic aspects with repetitive acts. I believe that everyday practices are a way of reconstructing relationships and remembering home. I am interested in embracing emotional attributes that may be simple activities: spraying a piece daily to keep it wet or sewing a personal object until it is impossible to sew. Finally, through the relationship among the objects, repeated actions, and an anticipation that evokes magical power and charged energy, I methodically transform objects. I do this to celebrate emotions and to preserve not only these personal objects but also my memories of home. / text

A Most Endangered list is a common programmatic tool used by historic preservation advocacy groups. These lists allow the organizations to focus their support on a small, representative selection of threatened historic resources. While these programs are widely accepted and implemented, there has been no formal investigation into their use or study of the subtle differences that make each program unique. This thesis analyzes statewide Most Endangered programs with the goal of determining if there are variables that can enhance the program’s effectiveness at accomplishing the organization’s goals. Organizations that wish to examine the usability or effectiveness of their Most Endangered programs do not have easy access to the information that is needed for an objective analysis. This is the current situation at Preservation Texas, Texas’ statewide preservation advocacy organization. The staff there is currently evaluating the organization’s Most Endangered program, making this document a timely and useful tool for their use. This thesis seeks to provide a base from which Preservation Texas, or any preservation advocacy organization, can begin to examine their own program’s operations. For this project I performed research on statewide Most Endangered programs at both macro and micro levels. An initial investigation of the web-presence of these programs enabled me to make broad determinations about their operations. I then selected five of these organizations for a closer study. Through interviews and additional research, it was possible for me to begin to compare and contrast the programs while analyzing their differences from an impartial perspective. Through this careful study, I developed a list of eight criteria that are indicative of an effective Most Endangered program. In the final chapter I use these eight criteria to analyze Most Endangered programs, specifically the one operated by Preservation Texas. By applying my research and observations, I am able to reach constructive conclusions about the operations and functions of Preservation Texas’ Most Endangered program. While this thesis was written for the benefit of a specific organization, the findings are applicable to any organization that has, or is thinking about starting, a Most Endangered list. / text

The Florida Everglades ecosystem is threatened by human development, increased pollution, freshwater scarcity, and invasive species; factors that have negatively impacted the Everglades and native species health and populations. Man-made canals and levies have redirected the natural flow of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee into the Florida Everglades, starving central and south Florida ecosystems of necessary fresh water and nutrients. Through the efforts of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Project (CERP), freshwater is being redirected back into central and south Florida, returning the sheet flow of water back into the Everglades. Monitoring species abundance in the Everglades is a beneficial conservational tool for assessing restoration efforts from CERP. As a semi-aquatic apex predator, river otters (Lontra canadensis) are a useful health bio-indicator for the Florida Everglades. In order to conduct future population studies of river otters in the Florida Everglades, it must first be ascertained where they can be found and what time of year they are most likely to be sighted. For this study, Moultrie infrared game cameras were used to photograph the presence or absence of river otters within the five main habitats in the Everglades; the pinelands, hardwood hammock, cypress swamp, marsh prairie, and mangrove estuary at two protected areas in the Florida Everglades (Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand State Park). River otters were most frequently sighted in the hardwood hammock habitat, but were also found in the cypress swamp. The large majority of river otter sightings occurred during dry season, which is thought to be a function of restricted water availability and aquatic mobility. Future population studies of river otters would be most productive in the hardwood hammock and cypress swamp habitats during dry season. Game camera images along with field opportunistic sightings, resulted in a variety of species documented. This provided valuable information of species richness and distribution within and amongst the habitats. The hardwood hammock was found to be the most species rich habitat, having over half the species observed in the study in this habitat. The Aves class was the most abundantly observed in the Everglades, and was most frequently sighted during the dry season. As a refuge for migratory birds, the Everglades house the majority of bird species during the winter months, which occur during dry season. The Aves class was most frequently sighted in the pinelands habitat during dry season. This habitat, being the highest in elevation and therefore the driest, shows a stronger resemblance to most northern bird habitats then does the water-saturated wetlands found throughout the Everglades. The mangrove estuary was the most commonly occurring outlier, having the least species overlap when compared to the other habitats. All other habitats in the Everglades are freshwater wetlands, while the mangrove estuary is a brackish environment, which limits the species that are unable to tolerate saline conditions. Further studies of species abundance throughout the Everglades will aid in monitoring CERP restoration efforts over time.

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The vast majority of terrestrial plant species live in symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). AMF and plants live in complex networks, with roots of individual plants hosting multiple AMF, and single AMF colonizing multiple plants concurrently. Through the exchange of resources, the two partners of this symbiosis can have great effects on each other, effects which can ripple through both communities. What determines the patterns of associations between the partners is still largely unknown. In this dissertation, I examine a variety of factors, and in particular host identity, that could drive the community composition of AMF in roots. I began by surveying the diversity of AMF in roots of 12 plant species at a remnant bunchgrass prairie in Oregon, U.S.A. (Chapter 2). To do that, I first designed new primers for use in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to specifically amplify DNA from all Glomeromycota species. Using those primers, I found 36 distinct AMF phylogenetic groups, or operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the roots from the prairie. The proportion of OTUs in the basal order Archaeosporales was greater than in many other environmental surveys. I also conducted an in silico analysis to predict how effectively previously published primers would detect the whole diversity of OTUs I detected. I then assayed AMF community composition in the roots of 50 plants from nine plant species (Chapter 3). To do that, I designed primers specific to 18 of the OTUs detected in the initial field survey and used them to test for the presence of each OTU in the roots individual plants. I used that data to test if AMF community composition in individual roots correlated with host identity, spatial distribution, or soil characteristics. I found host identity was associated with both the richness and the structure of root AMF communities, while spatial distribution and soil characteristics were not. Finally, I performed an experimental test of the effect of host identity and community context on AMF community assembly (Chapter 4). I grew plants from four native perennial plant species, including two common and two federally endangered plants, either individually or in a community of four plants (with one plant of each species). I analyzed the AMF community composition in the roots of all plants after 12 weeks of growth with exposure to a uniform mix of field soil as inoculum. I found that host species identity affected root AMF richness and community composition, and community context affected AMF richness. Only one of the endangered species was highly colonized by AMF, and I did not detect unique AMF communities associated with it. This dissertation provides information on the diversity of AMF at a remnant bunchgrass prairie, an ecosystem which has been the subject of very few studies of AMF. Although a complex mix of factors interact to determine AMF community composition in roots, this work provides strong evidence that host identity plays a major role in that process. / Graduation date: 2013

No description available.