Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Utilizing Suas-Based Remote Sensing For Sustainable Outdoor Recreational Trail Design And Monitoring, Isaac C. Kinder

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study utilizes sUAS-based remote sensing and hydrologic models to analyze and predict locations susceptible to water-based trail erosion. Erosion is frequently cited as the most significant environmental impact of trails and often requires costly design and management considerations. A professionally designed trail totaling 4 km in length was segmented based on presence or absence of water-based erosion for analyses and then flown with sUAS technology. Three Logistic regression (LR) models were generated utilizing several hydrologic terrain models of varying resolutions to determine the effects of spatial resolution on the models’ predictive accuracies. Receiver operator characteristics, kappa, and overall accuracy …

Perceptions Of Trail Safety In Humboldt County, California: An Analysis Of Safety Concerns, Factors That Impact Trail Use, And The Value People Place On Trails, Natalie C. Arroyo

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Trails in Humboldt County, California that are used for both transportation and recreation have myriad community benefits. However, people’s concerns about feeling safe can affect trail use, design, and development, as well as how trails are valued and perceived by residents. There has been a lack of information in Humboldt County about trail safety perceptions despite it being a factor that repeatedly arises in infrastructure planning and funding conversations. My research was focused on answering the following questions: (1) How do Humboldt County trail users perceive their safety on and near trails? (2) What factors affect these perceptions about safety, …

Planning For People In Communities And Outdoor Recreation Places: Fostering Community Cohesion, Shaping Place Meanings, And Exploring Imaginaries, Yumiko Jakobcic

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines people’s relationships to place and community. The papers are linked by three broad themes: 1) place meanings, 2) community connections to resource places, and 3) innovative qualitative research methodologies.

The first paper used ethnographic methods in a case study of Vermont’s Winooski Valley Park District to examine how regional park districts can strengthen community relationships. It explored how the district serves visitors and communities, stimulates community interactions and cohesion, and perceives the outcomes of these efforts. Results showed that regional park districts connect people with nature and with others across neighborhoods, communities, and regions. These unique places …

Building A Better Batture: A Regional Recreational Enhancement Around The Morganza To The Gulf Levee, Taylor N. Fehmel

LSU Master's Theses

Twenty-five years ago, the existing flood protection levees along the Louisiana coastline were removed and construction was started by Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District on a new project called ‘Morganza to the Gulf’ or MTG. This project was undertaken to construct a new flood protection levee system around Louisiana in the communities in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish. The MTG Levee is one of the first coastal projects in Louisiana to incorporate a risk-based analysis for a double levee system containing both local parish drainage levees and future storm surge levees of MTG. It was designed to protect approximately 250,000 people …

Incorporating User Data In Cross Boundary Trail Mangement: A Case Study Of The Foothills Trail Systemnear Wenatchee, Wa, Beth Macinko

All Master's Theses

Land managers for areas where recreation occurs balance minimizing impacts on the landscape with providing recreation opportunities. Use characteristics including type of use, use frequency, and use patterns have been shown to influence the severity of landscape impacts from recreation. Collecting and incorporating user data is critical to effective recreation management. The Foothills trail system is a nonmotorized, day use trail system adjacent to the city of Wenatchee, Washington that crosses public and private properties. This thesis obtained data on user demographics, use characteristics, user perceptions, and spatial use patterns through a questionnaire administered through a mixed method sampling approach …

Why Do They Do That? Understanding Factors Influencing Visitor Spatial Behavior In Parks And Protected Areas, Abigail M. Sisneros-Kidd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Visitors to parks and protected areas within the United States and worldwide often visit these areas with a particular destination in mind, such as seeing Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone National Park or standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park. These visitor use destinations, and the pathways leading to them, such as trails and roadways, see high levels of use, and as a result, impacts to soil, vegetation, air, water, soundscapes, and night skies that result from this use. The field of recreation ecology studies these impacts to park and protected area resources resulting …

Recreation Ecology Of Colorado Fourteeners: An Assessment Of Trail Usage And Impacts, James C. Ewing

Master's Theses

The popularity of climbing Colorado’s 14,000 ft. peaks, or “Fourteeners”, has risen dramatically in recent years, raising important sustainability and management questions. Moreover, groups managing the peaks operate with major capital constraints so their efforts need to be informed, prioritized, and efficient. This paper gauges the dynamics of trail usage, explanatory variables, and recreational impacts across all 58 Fourteeners, and details evaluation adjustments that minimize error and produce results in-step with the resource management framework. Relative to a baseline study completed in 2005, substantial changes occurred in trail usage and impact dynamics. The greatest changes were concentrated on peaks previously …

Moor Movement: Automated Docking On Drought-Stricken Reservoirs, Daniel Beck

Landscape Architecture

Moor Movement establishes a mechanized docking system for unpredictable shoreline fluctuations on inland lakes and reservoirs. Due to climate change and warmer global temperatures, the threat of ocean level rise has initiated massive proposals to address the interface between ocean and man-made infrastructure. While this is a monumental problem, ocean level rise is not the only immediate threat. The recently declared emergency drought conditions in California are finally bringing attention to inland lakes and reservoirs. While ocean levels might rise 2-7 feet in 100 years, a lake could drop 100 feet in 5 years. What happens to access roads, marinas, …

How Wildlife Information, Recreation Involvement And Demographic Characteristics Influence Public Acceptability Of Development, Jessica Espenshade

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Increasing development like roads and houses will alter the future landscape of Vermont. Development provides important resources for people and society, but also results in consequences for wildlife and opportunities for recreation. Managing development requires information on the public's acceptability of development and how acceptability is shaped by information on various consequences. In this study, I examined three questions: 1) What is the public's acceptability of development? 2) Does wildlife information influence public acceptability of development and 3) Is the maximum amount of acceptable development influenced by views about wildlife, involvement in recreation, and demographic factors? I surveyed 9,000 households …

Using The Microsoft Kinect To Assess Human Bimanual Coordination, Joshua James Liddy

Open Access Theses

Optical marker-based systems are the gold-standard for capturing three-dimensional (3D) human kinematics. However, these systems have various drawbacks including time consuming marker placement, soft tissue movement artifact, and are prohibitively expensive and non-portable. The Microsoft Kinect is an inexpensive, portable, depth camera that can be used to capture 3D human movement kinematics. Numerous investigations have assessed the Kinect's ability to capture postural control and gait, but to date, no study has evaluated it's capabilities for measuring spatiotemporal coordination. In order to investigate human coordination and coordination stability with the Kinect, a well-studied bimanual coordination paradigm (Kelso, 1984, Kelso; Scholz, & …

Wilderness As A Social Movement: Expanding Cultural Relevance In The 21st Century, Dylan Lang

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This year is the 50^th anniversary of two monumental pieces of legislation: the Wilderness Act and the Civil Rights Act. Though these two laws exist within different arenas of public affairs, both have had significant effects on American society.

The Wilderness Act was signed into law in 1964 with almost unanimous support, at a time when American society overwhelmingly supported its passage. Since 1964, wilderness has been criticized as an elitist ideal representing a small interest group in the United States. As our country becomes increasingly diverse, and public lands protection loses popular support, making wilderness more relevant to …

Income Inequality And Spatial Distribution : Firm Location, Product Quality And Welfare Of Poor., Namrata Gulati Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The key idea explored in this thesis is the following: though being poor in itself is a huge disadvantage, the situation might be influenced considerably by the type of neighbourhood the poor lives in as private establishments like educational institutions, health care facilities or credit institutions take both the location and income mix of people into account while making strategic decisions like whether to enter into the neighbourhood at all, and, upon entry, what price and quality to choose for their products and services. Is staying with the rich a virtue for the poor or a source of resentment? Are …

A Prospective Analysis On The Sustainability Of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Austin Bailey Porter

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Human Capital And Economic Growth: Theory And Policy., Bidisha Chakraborty Dr.

Doctoral Theses

Growth theory is one of the most important branches of macroeconomics. Growth theory helps us to understand the intertemporal behaviour of a dynamic economy and to understand the properties of the long-run rate of economic growth. It identifies the factors causing the deviation of the actual rate of growth from the socially efficient rate of growth and analyses the effectiveness of various policies in removing this gap. It analyses the condition of stability of the long-run equilibrium and also attempts to establish links between the long run equilibrium and the persistence of underdevelopment.With the emergence of the ‘new’ growth theory, …

Perceived Crowding And Visitor Support For Use Rationing: A Reanalysis Of Existing Data, Jascha M. Zeitlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis presents a reanalysis of data collected between 1999 and 2006 by the Institute for Outdoor Recreation and Tourism (IORT) at Utah State University. These data concern a variety of outdoor recreation sites in Utah, Idaho, and South Dakota, and were collected via intercept, mail, and, to a very limited extent, telephone surveys. Survey instruments contained questions related to visitor perceptions of crowding, overall satisfaction, support for use limits/rationing, and estimates of use density, in addition to other conceptually related factors.

Analyses consisted of multiple regression models for both perceived crowding and visitor support for use limits dependent variables …

Providing The Best Of Both Worlds: Balancing Conservation And Recreation In A System Of Protected Areas In Texas, Kellen Allison Smith

LSU Master's Theses

Societies are becoming increasingly urban and isolated from natural areas. Protecting certain natural areas is vital for building and maintaining resilience in ecological systems for the continued conservation of biodiversity and provision of ecological services. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) promotes the development of systems of protected areas within nations and regions as a sustainable means of preserving the biodiversity within natural areas. Allowing sustainable ecotourism and wildlife-based recreation activities in protected areas can provide economic incentives to surrounding communities making protection an attractive alternative to more extractive forms of land use. Managing …

Essays On Individual And Collective Powers In A Voting Body., Sonali Roy Dr.

Doctoral Theses

MotivationThe issue of measurement of voting power is a very important topic of discussion in social science these days. The concept of voting power concerns any collective decision making body (or, equivalently, a collectivity) which makes ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decisions on any issue, by the process of voting. Examples of such bodies abound in today’s world. The United Nations Security Council, The Council of Ministers in the European Union, the Parliament of the republic of India, the board room of any corporate house etc., are all examples of such decision making bodies.The voting process of each of these bodies is …

Essays On Minimum Cost Spanning Tree Games., Anirban Kar Dr.

Doctoral Theses

There is a wide range of economic contexts in which aggregate costs have to be allocated amongst individual agents or components who derive t he benefits from a common project. A firm has to allocate overheard costs atmongst its different divisions. Regulatory authorities have to set taxes or fees on individual users for a variety of services. Partners in a joint venture must share costs (and benefits) of the joint venture. For example, when two doctors share an office they need to divide the cost of office space, medical equipment and secretarial help. If several municipalities use a common water …

Recreational Use Of Montane Streams Of The Puerto Rican Rainforest, Summer Kartchner

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

As the population of the small island of Puerto Rico increases, so do the number of recreationists in natural areas. With increasing pressure on finite resources, managers must understand how humans are using these resources in order to conserve without limiting visitor satisfaction.

Essays On Cooperative Behaviour And Collective Action., Anindya Bhattacharya Dr.

Doctoral Theses

This dissertation explores some issues concerning the behaviour of coalitions of individuals in a game theoretic set-up and also studies one aspect of a society facing collective action of the masses. The common feature of the issues explored in the dissertation is that it investigates the properties of stable social states. Chapter 2 introduces a notion of a social state that is unlikely to be displaced by any coalition of agents endowed with a certain notion of rationality and a certain degree of farsightedness and explores the properties of such states. Chapter 3 is also concerned with coalitionally stable social …

Assessment Of Recreation Space Along The Hudson River Waterfront In Jersey City, Nj, Darren M. Davidowich

Theses

For the past decade Jersey City, New Jersey has worked to redevelop its waterfront. The once highly industrialized waterfront is now the location of residential and commercial uses and more projects are slated for the future. Although many improvements to the physical and built environment occurred along the waterfront, many question whether enough emphasis was placed on outdoor recreation. Site assessments, field observations, and surveys of waterfront users in Jersey City, NJ were conducted to determine what uses are possible, and in the greatest demand on the waterfront. A total of (950) field observations were made of waterfront users. This …

Visitor Use Of Interpretive Facilities At Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming, Rizal Bukhari

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Visitors expect to a gain high-quality outdoor experiences at any recreation site they visit. In order to support that effort, most recreation managers utilize interpretive facilities to educate and inform visitors about the site. It is important for interpretive managers to be aware of what kind of interpretive media could best be used in a given setting for the type of visitor anticipated. To accomplish this goal, it is necessary to understand visitors' behavior and incorporate that understanding into the interpretive planning process.

This study looks at visitor use of interpretive facilities provided at Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming. The …

Essays In Dynamic Games., Saikat Datta Dr.

Doctoral Theses

This thesis contains four essays which broadly come under the area of Dynamic Games. All the essays involve developments or applications of non-cooperative equilibrium concepts to games played over infinite horizons. The two essays in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 involve the concept of renegotiation proof equilibriain repeated games. The essay in Chapter 4 discusses how a social norm of slow building of trust in bilateral relationships can be understood as a social equi- librium even in the absence of asymmetric information problems. Chapter 5, which represents joint work with Prabal Raychaudhuri, applies non-cooperative bargaining theory to a context where …

Contribution To The Theory Of Stochastic Games., Sagnik Sinha Dr.

Doctoral Theses

A mathematical theory of Games of Strategy was born in several stages between 1928 and 1941. John von Neumann is known as its father. The culmination of the pioneering work of von Neumann and Morgenstern was the publication of the Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Ref.28] in 1944. Ik is snid of the book . posterity may regard this book as one of the major scientifie achievements of the first half of the twentieth century. Emphasizing a new approach to competetive behaviour through a mathematical reduction to suitable games of strategy, this giant work laid bare a host of …

Studies In Set Theoretic Hierarchies:From Borel Sets To R-Sets., Rana Barua Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The present thesis consists of three parts.Part I of the thesis is devoted to the study of regularity propertion of classes of sets obtained from 8-8 operations applied to the class of clopen set s. In particular, the classes of set s obtained by applying the hierarchy of increasingly complex R-operations {Rp,), are investing at ed. Our points of departure in this study are the recent works on R- sets by Hi nm an and Burgess. In this thesis we have unified the methods of Hinman and Burgess by extensively u sing the game quantifier and methods of inductive definability. …

The Effects Of Recreation Specialization And Motivations On The Environmental Setting Preferences Of Backcountry Hikers, Randy J. Virden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study explored how recreation specialization and different types of motivations were related to environmental settings preferred by backcountry hikers. A questionnaire was developed that measured the level of hiking specialization, desired psychological outcomes, and preferred environmental setting attributes. Questionnaires were mailed to 619 backcountry hikers from three Intermountain West hiking areas; a response rate of 68 percent was attained.

Results of the study revealed significant associations between the level of hiking specialization and the psychological states desired by backcountry hikers. In general, increased hiking specialization served to increase the importance of specific psychological outcomes such as autonomy, exercise, achievement …