A hydraulic model was developed to determine differences in the hydraulic characteristics of three different reaches of an urban- and agriculturally-impacted stream in southwest Virginia. The three reaches all had cattle excluded from the channel in 2010. The farthest upstream, Treatment 1, was left to progress without intervention beyond cattle removal while the other two, Treatments 2 and 3, were regraded and stabilized using common stream restoration techniques and a forested riparian was established. The banks of Treatment 2 were regraded to a slope of 3:1 while Treatment 3 was designed with a flat inset floodplain cut into the banks. The model results showed that the self-adjustment in Treatment 1 exhibited inset floodplains with diverse topographical structure including floodplain channels. These adjustments provided higher floodplain volume and mass exchange between the channel and the floodplain when compared with the stable, straight Treatment 2. Comparisons between Treatment 1 and Treatment 3 did not clearly show which treatment was more well connected, with some metrics showing Treatment 1 was more connected while others indicated the opposite. Overall, the findings indicate that stabilization of channelized streams without consideration of the natural planform prolongs adjustment to a channel-floodplain form with more exchange of water, sediment, nutrients and providing refuge for biota. / Master of Science / A water flow model was developed to determine differences in between sections with different management practices an urban- and agriculturally-impacted stream in southwest Virginia. The three reaches all had cattle excluded from the channel in 2010. The farthest upstream, Treatment 1, was left to progress without intervention beyond cattle removal while the other two, Treatments 2 and 3, were stabilized by changing the bank slope and planting trees. The banks of Treatment 2 were regraded to a slope of 3:1 while Treatment 3 was designed with a flat section cut into the banks. The model results showed that the self-adjustment in Treatment 1 created an bench similar to Treatment 3. This section flooded more readily and allowed for higher flow of water between the channel and the floodplain when compared with the stable, straight Treatment 2. Comparisons between Treatment 1 and Treatment 3 did not clearly show which treatment was more well connected, with some metrics showing Treatment 1 was more connected while others indicated the opposite. Overall, the findings indicate that stabilization of channelized streams in their man altered state prolongs adjustment to a more natural form which provides services including flood mitigation, sediment cycling, nutrient cycling and habitat for plants and animals in and along the stream.

This thesis focuses on manomin (wild rice) ecocultural restoration by Wabaseemoong Independent Nations (WIN) in Northwestern Ontario. Ecocultural restoration includes the recovery of habitats and re-establishment of relationships between WIN and manomin. The objectives are to: 1) Describe the past and present state of rice-related practices in WIN and changes of the 20th century 2) Select and document a restoration site(s) 3) Identify the possibilities for the involvement of school students in the restoration process 4) Design a prototype for a wild rice camp that contributes to relationship re-establishment. The main pillars of the WIN restoration process - traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), site selection, involvement of children and young people, and transformative learning experienced by adult participants of a wild rice camp – are the main study components. The project is guided by a design-based methodology with data gathered through interviews, design workshops, participant observation, and biophysical methods. / May 2016

published_or_final_version / abstract / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

published_or_final_version / abstract / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

No description available.

This study of sixty-seven Restoration comedies demonstrates that the ethical system by which the comic playwrights distribute praise and blame to their characters is a contractual one: those characters who learn to respect contract--the social acknowledgment of another's equality and autonomy--are those who win the dramatic prizes, whether money or marriage. Those characters who attempt to subvert or pervert the contractual ethic, whether through ignorance or design, generally defeat their own aims. Critical opinion has not often favored this thesis because it assumes that contract and trust--the latter a quality many critics now see as important in these comedies--are mutually exclusive. But legal history and legal theory show instead that they are mutually dependent, that an act of trust is a priori an act of contract, and the intellectual milieu of the seventeenth century provided the comic playwrights with ample reinforcement for this idea. Two of the three prerequisites for contract, agreement and consideration, take the same definition in comedy as in law. The third, however, constitutes the major difference between contracts in life and contracts in comedy: what the law calls identity or personality. This quality, explicitly defined in law, is less so in comedy, but it must nevertheless be present if we are to recognize any character as a responsible social being. Furthermore, that character must possess, in addition to this requisite identity, the awareness that personal contract--a private, self-enforcing agreement--is both ethically and practically superior to legal or illegal manipulation or force. Once possessed of both identity and a willingness to contract--of both individual and social integrity--that character earns the right to enjoy the emotional and material wealth which so happily rewards those upholding the comedies' moral vision, a moral vision that sees the contractual ethic as a testament to man's respect for and trust in his fellows.

Two aspects of salinity in arid land were investigated as part of the present dissertation: the first was the potential re-use of industrially generated brine for irrigating landscape plants, and the second was the ecological restoration of saline farmland. The following is a summary of the most important points. With water conservation efforts accelerating in arid environments, industrial wastewater is considered a candidate for re-use. We investigated the use of high EC (electrical conductivity) cooling-tower water to irrigate nine common landscape plants in an urban environment. Each plant (replicated in a block design) was irrigated according to water demand determined by the soil moisture deficit, with one of three water treatments: blowdown water (3.65 dS m⁻¹), well water (0.52 dS m⁻¹) and a 1:1 blend (2.09 dS m⁻¹). Results indicate the salinity of the irrigation water did not have a significant effect (P>0.05) on growth or water use but, soil salinities were higher in basins irrigated with blowdown water compared to those irrigated with well water. The overall feasibility of reusing industrial brines to irrigate urban landscapes is discussed in light of the results. Restoring abandoned arid farmland can be challenging because topographic, geomorphic and hydrologic features have been degraded and cannot support a diverse native plant community. Typical amelioration practices depend upon good quality water to restore the soil’s physiochemical properties, however the long-term availability of any water is rare. A mitigation banking project to return 432 hectares of farmland to an open-space designation involved the collaboration of scientists, landscape architects and engineers to achieve five main goals: water management, erosion control, decreasing soil salinity, and increasing species diversity and vegetation cover. Two strategies evolved in the planning process that work in tandem to achieve these goals: a water management system that redirects storm water and run-off to discrete areas of the site for subsurface storage as plant-available water, and the introduction of a diverse mix of native plants. Field trials tested the strategies and also investigated different soil surface treatments, seeding methods and irrigation regimes against the germination and establishment of a customized native seed mix. Results from vegetation data indicate a combination of soil ripping and imprinting leads to the highest germination and establishment rates and drip irrigation helped establish transplanted seedlings. The project was designed so the longterm outcome does not depend on continual inputs and maintenance.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to make further contribution in filling the gap in detailed analyses of George Farquhar's plays.