The construction of traditional large-scale central power plants and the extension of power lines in Taiwan have tremendous difficulties in terms of the land acquisition and environmental protection. In addition, one potential risk of energy supply is that over 95% of energy source is imported overseas. Therefore, the most important goal of Taiwan energy policy is to cut down the amount of energy import. To achieve the goal, it is important to explore innovatively local energy source by developing the renewable energy. Among the available renewable energy technologies, the technology of wind power is the most well developed one besides the hydraulic power. Because of the limited land resources and restrictive regulations, it is expected that wind farm development in Taiwan can only be set up in offshore, instead of inland. In the present study, we propose a multi-functional wind farm site, which involves ocean farm ranch. This may be desirable to bring mutual benefits for both developers and local stake holders. The present study has analyzed the diverse aspects of offshore multi-functional wind farm development under the framework of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). From a macroscopic view point, we have considered the environmental impacts of from the wind farm construction, as well an ocean farm ranch operation at the site. The ocean farm ranch included the establishment of offshore cage aquaculture and artificial reef. A hierarchy indicator set has been identified to account for the diverse factors, consisting of marine environment, ecosystem, and social-economy. The cross linkages chains between the interrelated factors have been carefully examined and established using the Integrated Assessment (IA) approach. It is therefore easy for the decision makers to comprehend the complex relations hips common the diverse environmental factors if an offshore multi-functional wind farm is to be developed in the future. The sustainable usage of coastal resource must be achieved for the offshore wind farm development.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2009. / Release of full electronic text on OhioLINK has been delayed until June 1, 2014. Includes bibliographical references (p. 398-424)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Release of full electronic text on OhioLINK has been delayed until June 1, 2014. Includes bibliographical references (p. 398-424)

No description available.

No description available.

This study uses Transition Analysis on the Mimbres skeletal remains of the NAN Ranch Ruin to provide a more complete picture of its demography. Previous attempts to reconstruct the demographic structure of prehistoric populations have been hindered by aging methods that provide biased age distribution. Early methods had a tendency to produce age distribution similar to that of the reference sample that was used to create them. In addition, they often overlooked sexual dimorphism and left out the senescent portion of the population which in turns produced inaccurate population structures. Transition Analysis is a multifactorial approach to estimate the age-at-death of adult skeletons that focuses on the cranium, the pubic symphysis and the auricular surface of the ilium. The method relies heavily on the Bayesian probability that a given trait or a given combination of traits is displayed at a given age, it recognizes sexual dimorphism, performs well on fragmentary skeletons and allows for the age estimation of older individuals. The NAN Ranch Ruin sample consists of over 240 individuals, including 185 from the Classic Period. A previous study focused on the 81 individuals from the Classic period that were collected during the first five years of excavations. Following age estimation of adult skeleton I constructed composite abridged life tables. For the Classic Period, I found a high infant mortality rate (47%) and low life expectancy at birth (21.14 years) as expected. However, this analysis produced different mortality patterns than older demographic studies, where mid adult mortality increases only slightly, decreases in late adulthood (40-55 years old) and increases again in senescence (55-80 years old), instead of increasing steadily in adulthood to culminate at age 50. This difference is a consequence of the aging methods that have been used to analyze other southwestern prehistoric samples. Finally, while I was not able to confirm different mortality patterns between males and females, I found that people from the east roomblock enjoyed greater longevity than those from the south roomblock, though the difference is not statistically significant.

Thesis (M.S.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2009. / Vita. Reproduction permission applies to print copy: Blanket permission granted per author to reproduce. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-55).

In this study I assessed bat (Chiroptera) diversity on Kwalata Game Ranch (KGR) in Gauteng, South Africa. I investigated the influence of habitat heterogeneity, specifically vegetation type and level of cover, on the local bat assemblage structure. I sampled bats within three vegetation types (savanna-woodland, riparian and ecotone) on KGR and estimated percentage vegetation cover at sample sites as a proxy for vegetation structural complexity. I used passive sampling with bat detectors and active trapping with mistnets, harp-traps and roost searches to ensure as thorough an inventory as possible. Sample-based rarefaction revealed that the KGR bat assemblage is relatively species-poor and bat diversity is equivalent among the different vegetation types (confirmed with Whittaker’s β diversity index). A total of only eight insectivorous species was recorded and pteropodids appear to be absent from KGR. Moreover, species richness estimators indicated sampling was exhaustive. I attributed the low bat diversity to the impacts of known land use, particularly historical grazing by cattle (during 1980’s) and land clearing by humans that have resulted in a relatively fragmented savannah-woodland . In addition to the diversity assessment I evaluated effects of the deterministic processes of interspecific competition and prey defences on the ensemble structure of insectivorous bats . I measured the parameters of size, wing morphology and echolocation call structure for each species. These are the primary traits governing the habitat in which insectivorous bats can forage and the types of prey they can handle. Competition should result in size assortment of species that minimizes their similarity while defences of insect prey should result in a narrow range of effective echolocation parameters. Taking size into account is important as size can govern the type of prey able to be handled thus differently sized sympatric bat species may have similar echolocation characteristics but do not compete for prey. I used null models to test for the effects of competition and prey defences. I compared the insectivorous bat ensemble of KGR with random ensembles constructed from regional species pools of insectivorous bats. My results suggest evidence for competition – minimum size differences were larger and more evenly distributed than expected from chance. Moreover, my results are unlikely to be reflecting the “ghost of competition past” as the majority of insectivorous bat species at KGR are generalists thus making resource overlap more likely. Prey defences, on the other hand, appear to have no influence on the KGR ensemble structure – echolocation call parameters were clumped rather than more similar than chance would expect. Evidence for competition was surprising given the species-poor nature of the ensemble. Thus alternative factors potentially contributing to assortment of size and wing morphology parameters are discussed. KGR is bordered by large peri-urban settlements with numerous street lamps and large spotlights that produce substantial light pollution. High-duty cycle bats are often the main contributors to the prey defence hypothesis as they usually echolocate outside of the hearing range of tympanate insects. However, they may actively avoid artificially lit areas as a result of the slow flight making them more susceptible to predation. Also, artificial lights can interfere with the defence mechanisms of many tympanate insects thus allowing low-duty cycle echolocating bats to take advantage of a usually unavailable resource. The lack of evidence for the influence of prey defences was thus attributed to impacts of ecological light pollution.

There was a period during the early history of Utah when grasses in some areas grew so tall that it hid grazing cattle and sheep from view. However, mismanagement caused this to change and depleted grassland was invaded by noxious weeds, sagebrush, and pinyon-juniper. This deterioration of choice grassland to less desirable range cover was aided by the attitude of stockmen that pasture was available on a first come first serve basis. As a result of such an attitude and the unsatisfactory condition of ranges. the era of free, uncontrolled use of grazing lands came to a close with the introduction of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934. This act provided for classification of all unappropriated and unreserved lands. Grazing districts were organized and regulations were established for the distribution of grazing permits and the setting of fees to be charged for the use of public lands (9, p.14).1