Bridging prehistory and history in the archaeology of cities

Archaeology is ideally suited for examining the deep roots of urbanism, its materialization and physicality, and the commonalities and variability in urban experiences cross-culturally and temporally. We propose that the significant advances archaeologists have made in situating the discipline within broader urban studies could be furthered through increased dialog between scholars working on urbanism during prehistoric and historical periods, as a means of bridging concerns in the study of the past and present. We review some major themes in urban studies by presenting archaeological cases from two areas of the Americas: central Mexico and Atlantic North America. Our cases span premodern and early modern periods, and three of the four covered in greatest depth live on as cities of today. Comparison of the cases highlights the complementarity of their primary datasets: the long developmental trajectories and relatively intact urban plans offered by many prehistoric cities, and the rich documentary sources offered by historic cities

Sky coverage modeling for the whole sky for laser guide star multiconjugate adaptive optics

The scientific productivity of laser guide star adaptive optics systems strongly depends on the sky coverage, which describes the probability of finding natural guide stars for the tip/tilt wavefront sensor(s) to achieve a certain performance. Knowledge of the sky coverage is also important for astronomers planning their observations. In this paper, we present an efficient method to compute the sky coverage for the laser guide star multiconjugate adaptive optics system, the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), being designed for the Thirty Meter Telescope project. We show that NFIRAOS can achieve more than 70% sky coverage over most of the accessible sky with the requirement of 191 nm total rms wavefront

Preparing School Leaders for Special Education: Old Criticisms and New Directions

In the context of accountability and high-stakes testing, professors of educational administration in Texas and across the nation are under tremendous pressure to develop innovative principal preparation programs that produce effective school leaders, especially as research methodologies emerge to disaggregate the effects of such programs. One area few programs adequately address, including more innovative programs, is special education - despite the fact that principals struggle with accountability for all students, but particularly those principals in schools and districts with limited resources and limited professional development opportunitie~ (Bays & Crocket, 2007; Wakeman, Browder, Flowers, & Ahlgrim-Delzell, 2006). Principals have long reported that their preparation programs did not prepare them with the legal and instructional knowledge in the area of special education (DiPaola & Walther-Thomas, 2003; Hirth & Valesky, 1990)

Comparison of serum steroidal hormone concentrations in buller steers, riders, and uninterested penmates : implication for the etiology of the buller steer syndrome in North American feedlots

There was a significant relationship between body weight at the time of bulling activity and day 1 rectal temperature (P=0.002). The relationship between body weight at the time of bulling and day 3 rectal temperature was not significant (P=0.31). Analysis of the categorical variables found that the condition of growth hormone implants at the time of bulling did not differ between groups (P = 0.27). Day 1 serum estradiol 17[beta] concentration was significantly different between groups (P=0.05). The 4 steers that had detected-quantified levels of estradiol 17[beta] on day 1 were riders. One buller and 1 control had detected-not quantified levels of estradiol 17[beta] on day 1. The available data support the hypothesis that the rider steer has elevated estradiol 17[beta] at the time of bulling activity as compared to the buller and uninterested pen mates. The results of this study suggest that the rider should be scrutinized as closely as the buller in future studies.The following parameters were recorded and analyzed in rider steers (n=17), buller steers (n=6), and control steers (n=18) at the time of bulling activity: body weight on day 1, rectal temperature on day 1 and 3, implant condition on day 1, and serum hormone concentrations of trenbolone, trenbolone acetate, testosterone, progesterone, and estradiol 17[beta] on day 1 and 3. Day 1 was considered the day of initial bulling activity. The data was analyzed for differences among the variables between the 3 steer groups. Continuous variables included weight at the time of bulling, and rectal temperature on day 1 and 3. Categorical variables included serum hormone concentrations on day 1 and 3, and growth hormone implant condition. Analysis of the continuous variables indicated that body weight at the time of bulling did not differ between groups (P=0.99). Rectal temperature at the time of bulling did not differ between groups (P=0.93), and the rectal temperatures on the third day post bulling activity did not differ between groups (P=0.80)

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThrough a case study analysis of 19th and 21st century communitarian innovation groups, this dissertation develops a business model that promotes innovation without the incentives of monopoly profits provided by patents. Social Utopian communities of the 19th century and Free and Open Source Software development communities share similar contributors' incentives and comparable organizational structures which provides a foundation for a business model that can be transported to other industries, specifically biotechnology. Communitarian innovation groups already exist within the biotechnology sector but have not yet been proven effective or capable of applying the communitarian business model through all stages of research and development. This dissertation provides the business model for communitarian innovation as well as recommendations on how to apply the business model to all stages of biotechnology innovation