Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Estimating The Economic Recreational Value Of Paracas National Reserve In Ica Peru: A Fair Fee Implementation Approach, Jaqueline Garcia-Yi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paracas National Reserve (PNR) is one of the fifty-seven protected areas that belong to the National System of Protected Areas (SINANPE) of Peru. Located in Ica Department, on the Pacific coast of Peru, it is the only coastal-marine ecosystem currently protected by the Peruvian government. PNR has been internationally recognized, principally as a wintering area for bird migrations. It has been designated as a Regional Shorebird Reserve by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (1991), a Ramsar site by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (1992), and a Particular Sensitive Sea Area by the …

Context-Specific Preference Learning Of One Dimensional Quantitative Geospatial Attributes Using A Neuro-Fuzzy Approach, Georgios Mountrakis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Change detection is a topic of great importance for modern geospatial information systems. Digital aerial imagery provides an excellent medium to capture geospatial information. Rapidly evolving environments, and the availability of increasing amounts of diverse, multiresolutional imagery bring forward the need for frequent updates of these datasets. Analysis and query of spatial data using potentially outdated data may yield results that are sometimes invalid. Due to measurement errors (systematic, random) and incomplete knowledge of information (uncertainty) it is ambiguous if a change in a spatial dataset has really occurred. Therefore we need to develop reliable, fast, and automated procedures that …

Recommender Systems For Multimedia Libraries: An Evaluation Of Different Models For Datamining Usage Data, Raquel Oliveira Araujo

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Many recommender systems exist today to help users deal with the large growth in the amount of information available in the Internet. Most of these recommender systems use collaborative filtering or content-based techniques to present new material that would be of interest to a user. While these methods have proven to be effective, they have not been designed specifically for multimedia collections. In this study we present a new method to find recommendations that is not dependent on traditional Information Retrieval (IR) methods and compare it to algorithms that do rely on traditional IR methods. We evaluated these algorithms using …

An Exploratory Study That Examines Perceptions, By The Regulated Community, On The Effectiveness Of Air Quality Permitting For Clark County, By The Department Of Air Quality And Environmental Management, Scott Jelinek

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Clean Air Act of 1970 (CAA) made the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) responsible for establishing and maintaining federal programs that control air quality. In turn, each state was delegated responsibility for air quality within its borders, although this responsibility may be shared with Native Americans or tribal lands. In many states, jurisdiction has been delegated to regional or local agencies that are then responsible for air quality in their respective air basins. Even though terrain or water bodies define the physical boundaries of air basins, they are usually designated by County boundaries for regulatory convenience (Wooley, David R., 1997).

Psychological Factors Associated With Anticipatory Nausea And Vomiting, Melinda L. Nielsen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Many cancer patients experience adverse chemotherapy-related side effects. The present study examined the relationships among disease variables (i.e. stage of cancer, type of breast cancer), medical treatment variables (i.e. toxicity of chemotherapy regimen, strength of antiemetic treatment), psychological variables (i.e. health locus of control, anxiety sensitivity, desire for control, coping strategies), and anticipatory nausea and vomiting in women with breast cancer. One hundred women with breast cancer completed the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale - Form C, the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, the Krantz Health Opinion Survey, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, and the Morrow Assessment of Nausea and …

A Data Model For Exploration Of Temporal Virtual Reality Geographic Information Systems, Jorge Alberto Prado De Campos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Geographic information systems deal with the exploration, analysis, and presentation of geo-referenced data. Virtual reality is a type of human-computer interface that comes close to the way people perceive information in the real world. Thus, virtual reality environments become the natural paradigm for extending and enhancing the presentational and exploratory capability of GIs applications in both the spatial and temporal domains. The main motivation of this thesis is the lack of a framework that properly supports the exploration of geographic information in a multi-dimensional and multi-sensorial environment (i.e., temporal virtual reality geographic information systems). This thesis introduces a model for …

The Association Of Blood Type On The Five Factors Of Personality In Chinese Adolescents, Kunher Wu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of personality factors in Chinese adolescents using the Chinese Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and to determine whether blood type is associated with personality. It is widely accepted by psychologists that the five-factor model can provide an adequate representation of adult personality dimensions, but there is less agreement on the number of factors observable in adolescence. A total of 3,396 11^th graders from the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan completed the Chinese NEO-PI-R. Principle component analysis with varimax rotation showed five factors of personality in these Taiwanese adolescents, which clearly …

Structuring A Wayfinder's Dynamic And Uncertain Environment, Michael D. Hendricks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wayfinders typically travel in dynamic environments where barriers and requirements change over time. In many cases, uncertainty exists about the future state of this changing environment. Current geographic information systems lack tools to assist wayfinders in understanding the travel possibilities and path selection options in these dynamic and uncertain settings. The goal of this research is a better understanding of the impact of dynamic and uncertain environments on wayfinding travel possibilities. An integrated spatio-temporal framework, populated with barriers and requirements, models wayfinding scenarios by generating four travel possibility partitions based on the wayfinder's maximum travel speed. Using these partitions, wayfinders …

Bio-Optical Properties Of The Arctic Waters: Empirical And Theoretical Observations, Jian Wang

OES Theses and Dissertations

Bio-optical observations were made during August 2000 in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Chlorophyll a concentration (Chl) ranged from 0.068 to 18.51 mg chl m⁻³. Both total particulate and phytoplankton absorption at 443 nm were closely correlated with chlorophyll concentration. There is no strong correlation between chlorophyll concentration and absorption by soluble materials or nonpigmented particulates. Absorption, scattering, and attenuation all show strong first-order spectral relationships. Two semianalytical remote sensing reflectance models were evaluated and validated using bio-optical data collected in this region. Both models were proficient at retrieving chlorophyll concentration, phytoplankton absorption coefficients, and particulate backscattering coefficients. …

Investigation Of Geobase Implementation Issues: Case Study Of Information Resource Management, Mario L. Oliver

Theses and Dissertations

Billions of dollars have been wasted on failed information system (IS) projects over the last decade in the private and public sectors. More specifically, the tri-service environment of the U.S. military has not implemented a single successful geospatial IS (GIS). The lack of a service-wide insertion process for GIS was cited as the most significant cause for military GIS failures. GeoBase represents the USAF's most recent GIS implementation. The GeoBase program focuses on Information Resource Management (IRM) and cultural issues. The GeoBase Sustainment Model (GSM), anecdotally developed by GeoBase leadership to reflect implementation issues and the IRM practices of the …

Camera System Support For Highway Transportation Using Mobile Devices, Le Minh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the very fast growing technology in wireless, advancement in hardware and the dramatically falling cost of mobile computing devices such as PDA, handheld device, People nowadays can have a personal device that fits in their hand but has computing power as a desktop did few years ago. The same device now is able to communicate over a wireless network and view office document at the same time. The combination of size, power and flexibility makes the personal devices increasingly appear in many aspects of life. In this proposal, we focus on a simple yet useful application of mobile devices …

Image Compression And Its Effect On Data, Khaled S. Alkharabsheh

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis is intended to define and study different image compression techniques, software programs, image formats (from early ones such as “GIF” to most recent ones such as “JPEG 2000”), compression effect on compressed data (compressed images), and its effectiveness and usefulness in reducing the file size and its transmission time, as a result.

In many GeoBioPhysical applications, some information inside any image may be the keys to solve different kinds of problems and classify features. This kind of data and information has to be handled with care; i.e. it’s not allowed to be lost during the compression process. On …

Urban Development And Effects To Transportation Systems Of Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, Wannaporn Jarupath

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Urban growth and its relationship to the transportation system of Lexington, Kentucky were investigated using temporal images of Landsat Thematic Mapper and multi-date line data. Land cover of the area was extracted using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Technologies. Change detection techniques were employed to identify areas of transformation between 1988 and 2000. Several digital image processes such as geometric registration, radiometric normalization, unsupervised classification, and accuracy assessment were applied to analyze the results. Vector analysis was utilized as well along with raster analysis to examine the effect of urban growth to the transportation system. Two datasets of line …

The Threat Of Cyberterrorism: Contemporary Consequences And Prescriptions, Galen Asher Thomas Stocking

Theses Digitization Project

This study researches the varying threats that emanate from terrorists who carry their activity into the online arena. It examines several elements of this threat, including virtual to virtual attacks and threats to critical infrastructure that can be traced to online sources. It then reports on the methods that terrorists employ in using information technology such as the internet for propaganda and other communication purposes. It discusses how the United States government has responded to these problems, and concludes with recommendations for best practices.

Visual Expectations: Using Machine Learning To Identify Patterns In Psychological Data, Skyler Place

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to utilize the tools of machine learning to evaluate the data obtained through experiments in psychology. Advanced pattern finding algorithms are an effective approach to analyzing large sets of data, from any domain of science. Consequently, we have a psychological question and hypothesis, and a separate machine learning technique to assess these claims. The realm of psychology that I focused on is visual cognition, and how an individual's knowledge affects how they see the world. This alteration of visual data is a part of perception -when the brain enhances the data coming in from …