The terms "core" and "periphery" have a long history of use for describing regional variability in the archaeological record. Contemporary theories for the late prehistoric in the Greater Southwest often follow this tradition, postulating underlying social processes that created this division. This dissertation examines the assumptions and the evidence for theories of long-distance social interaction by considering the prehistory of the Northern Sierra, a region in the south-central Greater Southwest located in northwestern Chihuahua, northeastern Sonora, southwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona. Paquime (sometimes called Casas Grandes) in Chihuahua is widely considered to be the core of late prehistoric developments in the Northern Sierra. The history of research and interpretation of the region are carefully considered, an analysis that demonstrates the inadequacies of current data and theory. New frameworks will be needed to resolve disputed issues. Towards this end, evidence of interaction at Paquime is examined by analyzing the quantity and distribution of nonlocal ceramics within the site. These probable exchange items are found to be relatively rare and their distribution diffuse, indicating acquisition was largely casual and infrequent. Attention is then focused on the postulated periphery by examining the upper San Bernardino Valley in the extreme southeastern corner of Arizona. Data collected for this examination includes survey within the Valley and excavation of the late prehistoric Boss Ranch Site (AZ FF:7:10 (ASM)). The interpretive concerns that are addressed include (1) population movements, (2) external influences on settlement systems, (3) trade and interaction, and (4) the influences of subsistence systems. The analysis revealed no evidence of population intrusion from the "core" and few aspects of local material culture that could be ascribed to Paquime. Exchange items are rare, and the probable sources include many areas besides the zone around Paquime. Furthermore, excavation data suggest that settlements may have been occupied repeatedly for short periods. This undermines notions of stable core and periphery interaction by indicating the absence of surplus crops, stable social alliances, and hierarchical settlement systems in the region.

This item was digitized as part of the Million Books Project led by Carnegie Mellon University and supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Cornell University coordinated the participation of land-grant and agricultural libraries in providing historical agricultural information for the digitization project; the University of Arizona Libraries, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Office of Arid Lands Studies collaborated in the selection and provision of material for the digitization project.

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This thesis examines the concept of the state in the context of the Indus River Valley, located in northwest India and Pakistan. In the first section, I synthesize several popular trends in state discussion from both inside and outside of archaeological theory. I then apply my synthesized approach to state definition to the archaeological record from the Indus River Valley. The resulting work visits both the concept of the state and the rich cultural history of the Indus Civilization. I determine that there was a state in the Indus River Valley, but that the Indus state was very different from others scholars have identified in the archaeological record.

Volcanic tuffs and tuffaceous sediments are frequently associated with elevated As groundwater concentrations even though their bulk As contents (~ 5 mg kg-1; Savoie, 2013) are only marginally greater than the average crustal abundance of 4.8 mg g-1 (Rudnick & Gao, 2003). Thus, As mobilization must be facilitated by conditions particular to these rocks. Alkaline desorption, anionic competition, reactive glass dissolution, and reductive dissolution of iron oxides are proposed processes of As release from volcanic rocks. Geogenic As contamination of groundwater in the southern Willamette Valley in western Oregon has been well-documented since the early 1960s, and previous studies have identified the Little Butte Volcanics Series and Fisher and Eugene Formations as the source of As contamination. This study examines 19 samples from 10 units of ash flow tuffs and tuffaceous sediments within the Fisher Formation and Little Butte Volcanics Series, representing a range of weathering and devitrification, to determine conditions of mobilization and mineralogical constraints that control As release into solution. Leachate studies were conducted over a range of pH from 7 to 11, phosphate concentrations from 10 μM to 100 mM, and in time series from 4 to 196 hours. Results demonstrate that silicic volcanic tuffs are capable of mobilizing As in concentrations above regulatory limits at pH conditions produced naturally by the tuffs (pH 8-9) or with moderate concentrations of P (10-100 μM). Alteration products, e.g. zeolites and clays, appear to be the primary host phases for mobile As. Samples that do not contain these alteration products tend to produce concentrations of As well below regulatory limits and often below the instrument detection limits of this study. The type of alteration may influence As mobilization: tuffs containing more clays tend to mobilize As through surficial desorption, and tuffs containing more zeolites tend to mobilize As by dissolution or formation of colloids. Additionally, one volcaniclastic sample demonstrates that extremely elevated concentrations of As, up to 1000 μg/L are possible as a result of oxidative dissolution of As-bearing sulfide phases.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a Phlebovirus member of the Bunyaviridae family and it is the causative agent of Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne viral zoonotic disease that poses a significant threat to domestic ruminants and human health in Africa. The RVFV is an encapsulated, negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus with a tripartite segmented genome, containing L (large), M (medium) and S (small) segments. The S segment codes for two proteins, namely the nucleocapsid (N) protein and non-structural protein (NSs). There is evidence that the NSs protein is involved in virulence by blocking the expression of the interferon beta (IFN-β) promoter. It has been recently demonstrated that the SAP30-NSs-YY1 multiprotein complex represses the IFN-β promoter. Consequently, the interferon expression is blocked, allowing virus to replicate. A total of 45 isolates of RVFV recovered over a period of 53 years in 14 African countries, Madagascar and Saudi Arabia were characterized by full sequencing of the S segment of the virus. This data was added to another 27 strains of RVFV available on GenBank for phylogenetic analysis using MEGA4, giving a total of 72 strains analyzed. Alignments were made of the entire S segment, the NSs gene, the N gene, and their deduced amino acid sequences. The laboratory strains, clone 13, MP12 and Smithburn, were also included in the alignments. Two isolates were passaged ten times through two different amplification systems to asses the potential for sequence variation to occur in the original material through routine laboratory manipulations. Sequencing data was generated from the virus RNA present in the original clinical specimens and from the extracted RNA from the tenth passage of virus in each amplification system. The results showed 100% homology for each respective isolate, demonstrating that the RVFV S segment remained stable during ten serial passages in different propagation systems. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted on the naturally occurring RVFV strains (n = 72) and the findings indicate that circulating strains are compartmentalized and belong to one of three major lineages, namely Egyptian, western African, and central, eastern and southern African. The strains clustered in the Egyptian lineage had an average p-distance of 1.0%, the western African strains 0.9%, and the central, southern and eastern African strains 2.0%. The overall average p-distance was 2.5%, with a range from 0 to 4.1%. For the N gene, the range was from 0 to 4.2%, with an average of 2.2%. For the N protein, the range was from 0 to 2%, with an average of 0.2%. The NSs gene had a range of 0 to 4.6%, with an average of 2.4%. The NSs protein had a range of 0 to 3.8%, with an average of 1.7%. The intergenic region (IGR) had a range of 0 to 9.2%, with an average of 4.8%. Results of the study suggest that RVF outbreaks can result from either the rapid spread of a single strain over vast distances or from an increased activity of a strain circulating at an endemic level within an area/region during prolonged dry periods. Sequencing alignment showed that the length of the S segment ranged from 1690 to 1692 nucleotides. This difference in length was due to insertions and deletions found in the IGR, which is also the region with the most sequence divergence (4.8%). Both the NSs and N genes had neither insertions nor deletions, and were both found to be stable, though the NSs gene was slightly more variable than the N gene (2.5% versus 2.2%) The deduced amino acid sequences of the NSs protein were considerably more variable than that of the N protein (1.7% versus 0.2%). Alignment of the NSs protein demonstrated that the 5 cysteine residues at positions 39, 40, 150, 179 and 195, are highly conserved among the isolates analyzed. These residues are important for conservation of the three-dimensional structure of the protein and the formation of filamentous structures observed in cells infected with natural strains of RVFV. The NSs protein is now implicated as the major factor of virulence and that its pathogenicity is associated with the blocking of interferon production. Therefore, any amino acid changes that result in changes to the filamentous structure of the NSs protein might impact on the binding kinetics between the NSs protein, SAP30 (Sin3A Associated Protein 30) and YY1 (Yin Yang-1). There were 6 amino acid changes in the NSs-SAP30 binding domain, with one being unique to the live-attenuated Smithburn vaccine strain. Generated sequencing data contributes to global phylogenetic characterization of RVFV isolates and and molecular epidemiology of the virus. In addition, findings of this study will further aid investigation on reassortment events occurring between strains of RVFV and genetically related viruses, the role of the NSs protein in the replicative cycle of the virus, the pathogenic effects of the NSs protein within the RVFV-infected host cells, and might help to identify molecular basis of RVFV virulence.

Subsistence maize production has long been a dominant economic activity of households in Santiago Apóstol, a Zapotec community in the Central Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. A baseline study from 1973 documents a regionally pervasive form of household level agriculture whereby cultivators prioritize land for subsistence maize above commercial crops. Since then, much has transformed the face of rural Mexico, including migration to the United States. Migration accelerated beginning in the 1970s as a response to government disinvestment in maize, but it may also be a new force of cultural and economic change impacting agriculture. The question arises, has migration modified longstanding subsistence agricultural practices centered on local varieties of rainfed maize? If not, what might explain the continuities and changes in agricultural practice observed? Ethnographic land use and maize consumption surveys among 19 migrant headed households conducted in Santiago Apóstol in the summer and winter of 2012 indicate that mean production of maize remains equivalent to that documented in the late 1960s, suggesting that migration has not engendered a generalized shift to commercial crops. Potential explanations for the persistent use of rainfed, local maize among migrant headed households are drawn from a mixed methods methodology involving triangulated analyses of household economic data, land tenure arrangements, perceptions of environmental change, participant observation, and archival research. Triangulated analyses allow speculation on linked human environmental changes in the landscape that may have reinforced use of a traditional, rainfed grain crop.

Over 115 miles of rock revetments that serve to protect river banks have been constructed in the Willamette Basin. In this study the spring and summer bird use of Willamette Basin revetments is examined. Revetments that had not been recently cleared of most woody vegetation and blackberries were found to have significantly greater total and breeding bird use than cleared revetments. Possible factors affecting bird use, such as vegetation on revetments and vegetation adjacent to revetments are examined using linear regression analysis. The results of this study are compared with results of previous work in riparian forests along the Columbia River. It is concluded that revetments represent significant avian habitat, especially for "edge species," and that present maintenance practices involving removal of vegetation adversely affect bird use.

The radiation climate of Cache Valley was established f rom the continuous recordings of global and diffuse sky radiation at Utah State University campus from June 1968 to July 1969 and August 1968 to July 1969, respectively. The influence of topographic features during summer and winter conditions a t seven representative locations running on an east-west direction across the valley were determined by making short term measurements on clear days. A comparison of the clear day average global radiation on approximate dates of the same solar declination shows higher values during late winter and spring than t he values during late summer and autumn. This is mainly the influence of the higher atmospheric water vapor during the warmer months. An interesting fact is, that not only the direct , but also the scattered radiation shows higher values during the spring months . This is caused by additional reflection from the snow-covered mountain slopes . In the curve showing the distribution of the diffuse sky radiation on completely cloudy days, the effect of the multiple reflection between the ground surface and t he bases of clouds is very prominent in the period when there is snow on the ground. sky radiation at Utah State University campus and to study the local influences of local topography on the receipt of global and diffuse sky radiation at various locations across the valley on an east-west direction by making short term measurements under summer and winter conditions . In a mountain valley like Cache Valley, the difference in climate between the two opposite sides can largely be attributed to differences in the amounts of radiation received. This study was conducted on a scale where the incoming solar radiation may be influenced by topographic features.

The purpose of this paper was to measure factors that affected the profitability of dairy operations in Gunnison Valley, Utah. Special attention was paid to economies of size, return on dairy capital and benefits accruing to the owners of dairies in the valley . Also, within the scope of this study was the subject of economic development and its accompanying impacts on an economy. A census of the dairy operations in Gunnison Valley was conducted to acquire data on dairy_capital owned, cow numbers and quantities of milk produced and returns to the owners of dairies of both a monetary and non-monetary nature. Comparisons were made of this data and overall profitability of dairy operations was measured in relation to various factors and the configuration of factor mixes. Developmental impacts were measured in an absolute and relative manner.