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Increasingly higher numbers of people are moving into urbanizing environments, yet our understanding of ecosystem consequences of rapid urbanization is still in its infancy. In this dissertation, I assessed dynamics of residential landscapes during suburban succession and consequences for ecosystem functioning. First, I used a space-for-time approach to quantify more than a century of suburban succession in the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex (DFW). Attributes of residential landscape plant diversity and habitat complexity were quantified for 232 individual properties nested within 14 neighborhoods constructed between 1906 and 2020. Suburban succession progressed from simple turf lawns with limited habitat complexity to landscapes dominated by deciduous trees and high habitat complexity, but homeowner decisions related to landscape management affect the rate of that transition and the number of plants and taxa present. Next, I used the novel spatial construct of "neighborhoodsheds" to test for effects of suburban succession on carbon export, and found that the proportion of carbon derived from C3 vs. C4 plants was affected by neighborhood plant community structure (i.e. greater proportion of trees and shrubs primarily in later stages of suburban succession). Finally, I conducted a mesocosm experiment to test effects of changes in allochthonous inputs during suburban succession on aquatic ecosystem functioning. The proportion of carbon from C3 vs. C4 sources interacted with time to affect abundance of emergent mosquitoes and chironomids. This work sets the stage for further research on urban ecology in DFW and provides conceptual advances for the study of urban ecosystems more broadly.

CONK is a collection that explores the absurdist irony located at the intersection between horror and humor. The events are predicated upon the characters' fundamental misunderstandings of the world around them, their doom arising from their inability to differentiate between the indecipherable and the incorrect ("Bird Kill"). Some are more reflexive, revolving around the difficulty of telling a story at all ("What a Story''), or exploring the dissolution of self that results from the act of artmaking (the eponymous "CONK"), or even indulging in the joy of said dissolution ("Celebration"). Other times, the pieces mix esoteric language and pop culture referents with the goal of defamiliarizing them ("Will That Be All?"). The resulting destabilization, this breakdown of heuristic methodology, creates situations that resist understanding and renders uncanny previously mundane images. / Master of Fine Arts / CONK is a collection of short fiction.

Submitted by Maria Dulce (mdulce@ndc.uff.br) on 2013-12-03T16:52:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Costa, Tony Leao-Tese-2013.pdf: 2384708 bytes, checksum: de1317c23c9d40d0479b92c65528f53a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-12-03T16:52:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Costa, Tony Leao-Tese-2013.pdf: 2384708 bytes, checksum: de1317c23c9d40d0479b92c65528f53a (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / O presente estudo trata de um duplo e complementar fenômeno histórico. Primeiro, elucida uma tradição de elaboração de música popular no Pará a partir da cidade de Belém. Essa tradição foi constituída de uma vertente de música identitária, que tem no carimbo o seu principal símbolo, e de uma segunda vertente de música popular “povão”, a qual se estabeleceu marginalmente junto à primeira. Essas duas vertentes constituíram a tradição local que está, por sua vez, em constante processo de mudança e reelaboração. Como pano de fundo desse processo esteve a “hipermagem” da cidade de Belém, entendida como o território da cultura popular e musical dos subúrbios e periferias, e suas conexões com o interior do estado do Pará e com o “centro” da cidade. Esse território marginal é visto aqui como mediador, por excelência, de gostos musicais subalternos, que em alguns momentos tenderam a se expandir e a contribuir para a constituição da tradição musical local. O segundo tema aqui estudado é a relação de aproximação e/ou afastamento entre essa tradição local e a grande tradição da música popular no restante do Brasil. Os contatos da “música regional” com a “música brasileira” estiveram sempre permeados por uma tensão constituinte, geradora de diferenciação e de identidades mais ou menos intercambiáveis. Observou-se, portanto, que, a partir da hipermagem da cidade de Belém, gostos e gêneros musicais foram cultivados, reelaborados e expandidos para a tradição local, mediados por agentes como a indústria cultural, a intelectualidade artística e a rede de festas populares. Em um circuito mais amplo, essa mesma tradição local estabeleceu contatos com a grande tradição nacional ou com tradições musicais alternativas, como a música caribenha. O mundo cultural da hipermagem e as conexões de sua cultura popular e musical a partir de Belém constituíram uma narrativa sonora subalterna e divergente à narrativa oficial e aos padrões de gosto da tradição musical do Pará e do Brasil. / The present study is about a double and complementary historical phenomenon. First, the scheduling of a tradition of popular music in Pará starting from Belém city. This tradition was built from a strand of identitary music which has “carimbó” as its main symbol and a second strand of popular music “povão” that established slightly with the first. These two strands settled down the local tradition that is, in its turn, in a constant process of changing and redesigning. The “hipermargem” of Belém was working as a background of this process, which is understood as folk culture and musical territory of the suburbs and peripheries and their connections with the interior of Pará state nad the “center” of the city. This unrestrained territory is seen here as a worth mediator of subordinate musical tastes that sometimes tended to expand and contribute to the local musical tradition establishment. The second topic studied here is the closeness and/or deviation relationship of this local tradition with the great popular music tradition in the rest of Brazil. The contacts of “regional music” with “Brazilian” music have always been permeated with a basic tension, generating differentiation and more or less interchangeable identities. It was observers, therefore, that since the “hipermargem” of Belém tastes and musical genres were cultivated, reworked and expanded to the local tradition, mediated by agents such as the culture industry, the artistic intellectuality and the popular festivals network. In a wider circuit this same local tradition established contacts with the great national tradition or with alternative musical traditions such as Caribbean music. The “hipermargem” cultural world and its folk culture and musical connections from Belém constituted a sound subordinate narrative opposite to the official narrative and patterns of taste and musical tradition of Pará and Brazil.

Thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / The current increase in demand for accommodation in the Johannesburg northern suburbs is linked to the political and demographic changes that took place within South Africa post 1994. During this time there was a flight of affluent white South Africans away from what was then the centre of the country’s economy, the Johannesburg Central Business District (Garner, 2011). There has been an increase in the size of South Africa’s black middle class post 1994, due to the removal of racist legislation impeding the economic advancements of black South Africans, as well as due to the progressive affirmative action policies designed to fast track the advancement of black South Africans (Southall, 2016). Consequently, there has been a steady increase of black middle class people moving into the northern suburbs of Johannesburg. The study was conducted in the Sandton suburbs of Johannesburg, Gauteng. It sought to understand what factors have led to the increase in demand for accommodation in these suburbs from the black middle class. 27 interviews were conducted with participants in the case study areas of Illovo, Sandton Central Business District, Sandown, Bryanston and Sandhurst. The researcher made use of direct observations during the semi-structured interviews. The results showed that research in this area was imperative as it helped to explain the buying and renting patterns of the black middle class. This is important for property developers and the government because the black middle class is a fast growing economic subgroup within the country. This can impact on policy and property development in the country. The study found that the black middle class are moving to the northern suburbs for pragmatic reasons and that proximity to their places of work, proximity to amenities and security are the most important factors causing them to move. / MT2017