<p>NR 20140804</p>

Many trilobites have cuesta-like structures, known as terrace ridges, on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the exoskeleton. Although terrace ridges all appear to have the same basic construction, they are highly variable and several types are known. These structures are poorly understood and there are many, varied and sometimes contradictory theories as to their function, which are discussed herein. Terrace ridge shape variation was explored across Class Trilobita, first qualitatively and then using a novel geometric morphometric technique, extended (landmarkregistered) eigenshape analysis (EEA) (MacLeod, 1999). A database containing details of over 6000 images of trilobite terrace ridges in the literature was compiled from over 450 scientific papers, from which a resource of 1600 scanned images of terrace ridges within the Asaphida was produced. A successful heuristic analysis technique was developed using EEA, analysing approximately 400 of these images. Trends in the variation of simplified terrace ridge arrays on several parts of the trilobite were successfully identified. The analysis of these terrace ridge arraysachieved good taxonomic separation and, in particular, this analysis appeared to separate pelagic and benthic terrace ridge-bearing forms, potentially providing an independent cryptic test for trilobite mode of life hypotheses based on exposed morphologies. Both qualitative and quantitative strands of research contributed to a phylogenetic discussion of terrace ridges across Class Trilobita as well as informing an analysis of the suggested functions of terrace ridges. The mapping of terrace ridge character states clarified patterns of acquisition and secondary loss of terrace ridges across the Class. Secondary losses were suggested to be related to the adoption of specialised feeding behaviours and the development of alternative types of sculpture. Some support was found for theories of frictional interaction and species recognition as roles for terrace ridges from the morphometric analyses.

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I propose to design a facility that will be both a fitness center and a community center. The building will integrate a fragmented site, making the site a cohesive whole and making all parts of the site navigable through extensive terracing, inside and outside the structure. Emphasis will be placed on making the community center more important visually than its larger counterpart, the fitness center. / Master of Architecture

Connection is a fundamental part of architecture; not only in the forming of spaces, rooms and buildings, but in how each extends further to the surrounding environment, the streets, the city, and to the world. Connections are also made between the built environment and the people that experience it. The goal of an architect should be to improve the setting and the quality of life of the people that utilize its features. These settings enable people to connect with each other, strengthen the community, and connect the community with the surrounding environment. As a thesis study, a community center for Fort Dupont Park in Washington D.C. provides a suitable model for testing this approach to architecture. A variety of existing features such as neighborhoods, schools, and recreational areas provide support for a venue which gives coherence and centrality to the community. / Master of Architecture

In 1986 there were nearly 2.7 million Canadians 65 years of age and over. During the next several decades, the number of elderly Canadians is expected to continue to grow more quickly than any other age group. The growth of the elderly population, in conjunction with their basic right to adequate, affordable housing, necessitates that planners recognize and attempt to satisfy the unique housing needs and desires of elderly Canadians. In order for planners to appropriately meet the housing needs and desires of current and future cohorts of elderly persons, they must strive for the creation of a continuum of housing options and living arrangements suitable for a diverse range of housing needs within each community. This thesis provides a strategy for the creation of a continuum of housing options and living arrangements for elderly persons in a small city: the City of Terrace in northern British Columbia. The process is divided into three phases: (1) an examination of a range of housing options and living arrangements encompassing independent, supported independent, and dependent living, (2) a profile of the City of Terrace which will identify the types and locations of existing housing and services for the elderly and clarify directions for future development, and (3) an analysis of the financial costs and the locational requirements of the housing options and living arrangements in order to determine which options are best suited to the present and future housing needs of elderly Terrace residents. The findings of this research indicate that there are a wide range of independent and dependent living housing options and living arrangements for elderly Terrace residents; however, there is a lack of supported independent housing options for seniors. Consequently, there is an emphasis on encouraging the development of supported independent housing options in the first five years of the ten year strategy. A relatively small percentage of the total population of the City of Terrace is 65 years of age and over. Therefore, in an attempt to offer a range of housing options for a small seniors' population in the City, many of the housing options that are recommended can be developed in single family detached dwellings. The benefits of developing these options in single family homes include the ability to make more efficient use of uncrowded single family homes, the ability to create and dissolve an option for a single household without affecting other households, and the ability to create small scale developments of group living arrangements in existing single family homes and neighbourhoods. The creation of a variety of options throughout the community on a smaller scale helps to ensure that there will be a range of housing options encompassing independent, supported independent, and dependent options without risking the viability of these options because of the limited numbers of seniors in the community. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Thesis advisor: Noah P. Snyder / Large-scale human modification of the northeastern U.S. landscape began in the 17th century with forest clearing and milldam construction. In the mid-Atlantic Piedmont region of the U.S., Walter and Merritts (2008) found that millpond deposits persist for centuries after dam breaching, resulting in fill terraces composed of legacy sediment. Stratigraphic observations in the mid-Atlantic indicate that these laminated to massive fine-grained layers typically overly a prominent Holocene hydric soil that overlies a Pleistocene basal gravel. I test whether this set of processes applies to glaciated New England. This study focuses on two New England watersheds: the South River in Massachusetts and the Sheepscot River in Maine. I use stratigraphic analysis and radiocarbon dating to identify legacy deposits, and then use lidar digital elevation models to map planar terrace extents in each watershed. Finally, I use lidar digital elevation models to estimate thickness of legacy sediment found behind breached or removed milldams and estimate volumes of legacy sediment storage in valley bottoms over entire watersheds. The South River watershed has 32 historic dam sites; 18 have been field checked and 14 show evidence for legacy sediment storage. The Sheepscot River watershed has 33 historic dam sites; 13 have been field checked and six show evidence of legacy sediment storage. Stratigraphic analyses of bank exposures in both watersheds show a brown fine sand and silt layer (up to 2.19 m thick in the South River watershed and up to 2.30 m thick in the Sheepscot River watershed) which sometimes is underlain by gravel and/or clay; no buried Holocene hydric soil has been found. Further evidence for legacy milldam sedimentation comes from radiocarbon dating. Three radiocarbon dates from the South River watershed and six from the Sheepscot River watershed are less than 300 years old; no underlying Holocene material has been dated. The maximum volume of legacy sediment estimated using lidar methods for the South River watershed is 2.5 x 106 m3 and for the Sheepscot River watershed the volume is 3.7 x 106 m3. These volumes of legacy sediment can be translated to maximum mean thickness of sediment eroded from each landscape: 37 mm for the South River watershed and 7 mm for the Sheepscot River watershed. The Sheepscot River watershed has most of its legacy sediment terraces in the lower section of the watershed with many lakes and wetlands disturbing sediment transport in the upper section of the watershed. Compared to the Sheepscot River watershed, the South River watershed has more widespread glacial deposits contributing to legacy sediment with few lakes and wetlands. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

This research examines the practice of hillslope terracing in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico. It explores how one popular terrace form, zanja-bordo (ditch-and-border) terraces, is employed in two distinct, though sometimes related contexts: (1) producing crops (agriculture) and (2) protecting natural resources (conservation). It first traces the use of zanja-bordo terraces in traditional agriculture in the region, highlighting some of the major elements of their form and function, issues surrounding their antiquity, and their possible role in the landscape degradation so prevalent in the region today. Moving from this agricultural context, the dissertation next examines the role of zanja-bordo terraces in landscape restoration efforts in Tlaxcala. It demonstrates the key role that active and prolonged maintenance plays in long-term efforts to restore previously degraded farmland back to productive capacity. The dissertation then examines more broadly how government programs to promote zanja-bordo terracing in the region impact farmers, whose ancestors have been building zanja-bordo terraces for centuries. Findings from the collection, synthesis, analysis, and groundtruthing of written data on governmental terracing projects in the state reveal that while perhaps well intentioned, these programs did little to promote sustainable agricultural development or environmental conservation in the region. Finally, the dissertation moves above the 3,000-meter mark to examine the relatively recent phenomenon of high-elevation terracing in Mexico's national parks. Conceived as a means of erosion mitigation, water conservation, reforestation, and even fire suppression, government agencies now construct zanja-bordo terraces throughout the understory of many of Mexico's subalpine forests. A case study of the la Malinche (Malintzi or Matlalcueyatl) National Protected Area illustrates some of the difficulties in examining each of the claimed benefits of terracing in these environments. Whether for agriculture or restoration, as a techno-developmental strategy, or as a tool for soil and water conservation, zanja-bordo terraces are shown to be an adaptable and effective hillslope management technology. This dissertation demonstrates, however, that successful adaptation and implementation of zanja-bordo technologies into different contexts largely depends on the effective planning, monitoring, and maintenance of terrace structures and processes. Ultimately, the sustainability of zanja-bordo terracing relates more to issues of contextualization and human motivation than to questions of technological innovation. / text

Quaternary landform features and their associated sedimentary assemblages (river terraces and alluvial fans) often provide important records of long-term landscape evolution. The reconstruction of global terrace sequences has enabled the identification of numerous external and internal forcing mechanisms which operate within the Quaternary landscape system. The relative effects of these forcing mechanisms are highly variable over a range of spatial and temporal scales. In this research, a combined study approach is adopted in order to ascertain the significance of external (e.g. tectonics, climate) and/or internal (e.g. lithological thresholds) forcing mechanisms upon patterns of Quaternary landscape development within the Tabernas Basin, SE Spain. The results of extensive field investigation have developed a four-tiered landform stratigraphy (i.e. basin wide terrace levels) for the Tabernas Basin. Chronological constraints for the Quaternary stratigraphy were obtained from Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating. Age estimations develop a pattern of climatically driven terrace aggradations during glacial phases throughout the Middle to Late Pleistocene. This pattern fits well with regional models of enhanced terrace formation during glacial phases after the Middle Pleistocene. The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Tabernas Basin was investigated by methods of geospatial interpolation and numerical modelling. The results of conceptual and quantitative modelling approaches highlight the dominance of non-uniform rates of base-level change driven by variable rates of tectonic uplift throughout the Mid-Late Pleistocene. Enhanced uplift in the west of the basin associates well with regional patterns, with tectonically driven base-level changes focused in the eastern Alpujarran Corridor. Internal landscape thresholds were important in the Holocene development of the Tabernas basin. Increased rates of incision in the final stages of basin development were likely attributed to the effects of lithological controls coupled with anthropogenic activity in the basin catchment.

The genesis and characteristics of the Timpanogos, Hillfield, and Sterling soils and an unnamed Mollisol (soil formed on north- slope) on the east part of Cache Valley were studied in order to determine (1) why the soil morphology is not chronologically related to the geomorphic surface and (2} why different soils have developed on these surfaces , even though the soil forming factors appear similar. The particle size distribution of the upper horizons of the Timpanogos, Hillfield , and unnamed Mollisol pedons are relatively similar . These soils developed from stratified deposits with granulimetric composition in which 75 to 90 percent of the grains are less than 100 micrometers in diameter , characteristic of wind-blown material. Development of an incipient argillic horizon in Timpanogos pedon indicates this soil did not develop under the moist conditions of the Pleistocene and the geomorphic surface was not stable after deposition. The material was reworked by the wind. The Sterling soil formed on an alluvial fan which was deposited during Holocene time and its development is chronologically related to geomorphic surface. The development of an incipient argillic horizon in the Timpanogos soil and a weak cambic horizon in the Hillfield soil and the unnamed Mollisol is due to topographic condition of the landscapes. The thick and dark mollie epipedon in the unnamed Mollisol (north-slope) compared to the Hillfield soil (south- s lope) which has an epipedon with color light to be mollie and a less thick A horizon is related to effect of microclimate.