Extreme architecture: building in the contemporary city

The contemporary city has evolved into an agglomeration of shopping malls, convenience stores, corporate offices, and single family houses that are linked by an intensive highway infrastructure and, as Andrew Kruse referred to it, "thinfrastructure" of fiber optic cables and satellites. This agglomeration, dubbed the "Generic City" by Koolhaas, is an organism dominated by " ... motion, time, and event" where process is more important than place. Architecture within the contemporary city has been reduced to a mere resultant of the economic forces that shape the city- a mere spectator within the dynamic matrix of the contemporary city. For architecture to regain any respect, it must shed this spectator mentality and become an active and aggressive force within the city. The intent of this thesis is to, through the study of Extreme Sports and several architectural precedents, to develop a methodology for the creation of an "Extremist Architecture" within the contemporary city. This architecture, much like the participants in extreme sports, will be obsessed with "discovering new potentials in existing conditions" by going beyond the norm and pushing the edge of the envelope. The vehicle for the development of this architecture will be the design of a downtown "superstop" for the city of Houston. The design focuses on three major issues. First, the concept of the void and its inverse within the city. Second, reevaluating the role of the curtain wall within the city. The curtain wall is no longer seen as a strict political line at the perimeter of the building but instead one inhabits it. The curtain wall in essences delaminates and becomes the building. Third, program is seen not as a static element but as a fluid element that continuously reconfigures itself through the passage of time. This method of understanding program was a way of fully incorporating the initial analysis of Extreme Sports

Reconstructing diet, health and activity patterns in early nomadic pastoralist communities of inner Asia.

From the distant past until the present day, the archetypal image of the vast steppe lands of Inner Asia has been represented by populations practicing various forms of nomadic pastoralism as their predominant means of subsistence and way of life. While existing research in this region has focussed on questions pertaining to empire formations and interactions, as well as social and political complexity, a more developed understanding of diet, health, and activity patterns has yet to be established. Towards this end, the broad aim of this dissertation entails the reconstruction of diet, health and activity in discrete populations which inhabited this region from c. 1500 BCE to CE 600. These objectives have been addressed through a comprehensive research programme involving osteological and chemical analyses of human skeletal remains, derived from archaeological sites located throughout modern-day southern Siberia, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Kyrgyzstan. Additional skeletal samples dating from c. CE 1200 to 1300 and a late historic sample from c. CE 1700 to 1900 have been included to provide a comparative framework for the earlier material under study. This dissertation aimed to challenge assumptions, which often presuppose a predominantly mobile pastoralist lifestyle for many of these populations, by providing indirect and direct evidence for dietary habits and evidence for workload and activity patterns. Long-term dietary intake was investigated through the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes on both human skeletal remains and associated archaeological faunal material. Diet has also been assessed through a comprehensive study of dental pathology and dental wear analysis. Health and nutrition has been assessed through the study of dental pathology, linear enamel hypoplasia, and degenerative joint disease. Workload and activity patterns have been addressed through the combined analysis of musculo-skeletal stress markers and degenerative joint disease. The key results of this dissertation indicate dietary variation and similarities in distinct communities which are related to food procurement strategies carried out at local group levels. The results of the isotopic and dental pathology analyses indicate dietary variation in discrete groups which may have been labelled under the same terms historically and archaeologically, but based on these findings did not necessarily engage in identical subsistence regimes. In addition, the results of the isotopic analyses reflect the influence of the inhabitation of and environments on 615N isotopic signatures and reinforce the need for contextualising isotopic results within local environmental settings. The analysis of degenerative joint disease, coupled with musculo-skeletal stress marker recording has provided an indication of variation in workload and health between discrete groups. Based on these results workload variation and activity patterns have been found to be relatable to local food production activities and social circumstances of particular groups. Finally, the combined analyses presented in this dissertation have provided a firm basis for reconstructing past lifeways of these populations by presenting a more thorough understanding of diet, health and group activities. In addition, this assessment provides a foundation for future research in these areas, which will continue to contribute to our knowledge of the ancient communities of this region

Harvesting Regimes Affect Brown Midrib Sorghum-Sudangrass and Brown Midrib Pearl Millet Forage Production and Quality

As water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer continue to decline in the Texas High Plains, alternative forage crops that utilize less water must be identified to meet the forage demand of the livestock industry in this region. A two-year (2016 and 2017) study was conducted at West Texas A&M University Nance Ranch near Canyon, TX to evaluate the forage production and quality of brown midrib (BMR) sorghum-sudangrass (SS) (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench ssp. Drummondii) and BMR pearl millet (PM) (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) Leeke)) harvested under three regimes (three 30-d, two 45-d, and one 90-d harvests). Sorghum-sudangrass consistently out yielded PM in total DM production in both tested years (yield range 3.96 to 6.28 Mg DM ha−1 vs. 5.38 to 11.19 Mg DM ha−1 in 2016 and 6.00 to 9.87 Mg DM ha−1 vs. 6.53 to 15.51 Mg DM ha−1 in 2017). Water use efficiency was higher in PM compared to SS. The 90-d harvesting regime maximized the water use efficiency and DM production compared to other regimes in both crops; however, some forage quality may be sacrificed. In general, the higher forage quality was achieved in shorter interval harvesting regimes (frequent cuttings). The selection of suitable forage crop and harvesting regime based on this research can be extremely beneficial to the producers of Texas High Plains to meet their individual forage needs and demand