Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Gis Analysis Of Potential Wetland Mitigation Opportunities In The Brandywine Creek Watershed, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Shannon Ryan

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Wetlands provide innumerous functions and values that are beneficial to both the natural environment and economic systems. Historically these habitats have suffered significant losses and it is crucial to preserve existing wetlands and plan for future restoration opportunities. This research examines six sub-watersheds within the Brandywine Creek watershed within Chester County, Pennsylvania to determine where potential wetland mitigation opportunities occur. Using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis, three wetland characteristics including watercourse locations, existing National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) wetlands, and hydric soils were mapped throughout each of the watersheds. Areas of agricultural easements and steep slopes were used to exclude …

Life In Between: Prehispanic Settlement Patterns Of The Carabamba Valley, Northern Peru, Amedeo Sghinolfi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation is an archaeological study of the Carabamba Valley (ca. 150 - 3,500 m.a.s.l.) in Northern Peru, which aims to reconstruct settlement patterns through the longue durée (ca. 1800 B.C. - A.D. 1532). This study also documents the relations occupants of this frontier zone maintained with neighboring polities on the Peruvian North Coast (Virú Valley) and in the Northern Highlands. The valley features the resource-rich ecological niche called chaupiyunga, fed by rainwater that flows towards the Pacific Ocean and by a number of springs, where crops like coca, fruits, and vegetables can be easily grown. The Carabamba Valley also …

Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) With A Thermal Sensor To Map And Count Deer Population, Maxwell C. Ott

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The number of deer in an area is an important statistic for land managers to know, as overabundance has many negative effects. There are many methods that have been used to count deer in the past, such as using manned helicopters and airplanes, walking on foot, and conducting controlled hunts. UAS (unmanned aerial systems) is a growing field that provides many benefits over traditional methods of counting deer, such as lower cost and missions being less time consuming. Using a thermal sensor attached to a UAS makes it simple to spot any deer during a flight. Two main methods of …

Constructing A Data-Based Mortality Profile For Avian Tower Kills At Telecommunication Towers In Illinois, Rachel Dipietro

Theses and Dissertations

During spring and fall seasons, Neotropical migratory passerines travel nocturnally across the Western Hemisphere between their wintering and breeding grounds, often encountering man-made threats. One hazard that has gained considerable publicity in recent decades is the communication tower. While there have been many tower kill studies recorded, there has been no attempt at predicting the risk of towers based on their different attributes (e.g., height, type of light, landscape placement) spatially on a regional scale. The objective of this study was to create seasonal mortality profile maps in GIS for Illinois, based on tower attributes combined with key factors such …

From Accessibility And Exposure To Engagement: A Multi-Scalar Approach To Measuring Environmental Determinants Of Children’S Health Using Geographic Information Systems, Martin Healy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A growing body of research suggests that increasing the accessibility to health-related environmental features and increasing exposure to and engagement in outdoor environments leads to positive benefits for the overall health and well-being of children. Additionally, research over the last twenty-five years has documented a decline in the time children spend outdoors. Outdoor activity in children is associated with increased levels of physical fitness, and cognitive well-being. Despite acknowledging this connection, problems occur for researchers when attempting to identify the child’s location and to measure whether a child has made use of an accessible health-related facility, or where, when and …

Decisions Set In Stone: Spatial Analyses Of Ozark Rock Art Sites, Elements, And Motifs With Gis, Jordan Lee Schaefer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to spatially analyze rock art distributions in the Salem Plateau section of the Arkansas Ozarks. Statistical tests, such as chi-square and t-testing, are applied to provide an objective view of rock art patterning in relation to the overall landscape. The data collected from these methods allow one to discern the locational preferences for rock art, which potentially reveal cultural details about the people involved with its creation. Multiple analytical perspectives are applied throughout, initially focusing on comparisons with expected values and random points. Later statistical tests use bluff shelter distributions as reference data …

Risk Perception In Small Island Developing States: A Case Study In The Commonwealth Of Dominica, Hannah Eboh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face high vulnerability to natural hazards. Understanding risk perception in SIDS is an essential step towards reducing vulnerability on these at-risk island states. A case study in the Eastern Caribbean's Commonwealth of Dominica, which has a notable volcanic risk, is used to explore risk perception. Specifically, focus groups were conducted in 18 villages throughout Dominica where participants produced hand-colored maps to show where they believed volcanic risk existed on the island and shared their reasoning behind their maps.

Surveys were administered to all focus group participants to collect necessary socio-demographic information. Subsequently, participant’s hand-drawn maps …

A Method For Determining Damage Within Historic Cemeteries: A First Step For Digital Heritage, Justin E. Malcolm

Honors Undergraduate Theses

While it is true that historic cemeteries are places that contain a wealth of knowledge about the history of a community they are sometimes not well maintained. The information within can be lost as grave-markers are damaged either by natural causes or human interaction. In larger cemeteries preserving these significant places can sometimes be difficult due to a number of different factors. Therefore focusing preservation efforts on specific locations where damage is more likely to occur is crucial to ensure that the monuments that are the most at risk are preserved. One possible way of accomplishing this is through the …

The Impact Of Data Sovereignty On American Indian Self-Determination: A Framework Proof Of Concept Using Data Science, Joseph Carver Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Data Sovereignty Initiative is a collection of ideas that was designed to create SMART solutions for tribal communities. This concept was to develop a horizontal governance framework to create a strategic act of sovereignty using data science. The core concept of this idea was to present data sovereignty as a way for tribal communities to take ownership of data in order to affect policy and strategic decisions that are data driven in nature. The case studies in this manuscript were developed around statistical theories of spatial statistics, exploratory data analysis, and machine learning. And although these case studies are …

Examining The Active Transportation - Built Environment Relationship In London, Ontario, Douglas M. Rivet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research on the relationship between the built environment and active transportation has accelerated and expanded over the past 20 years. This growth is in large part due to continuing evidence of rising rates in obesity and Type-2 diabetes that coincides with decreasing rates of physical activity across all ages in the post-industrial world. Walking more is a simple solution to increasing rates of physical activity. While for most people walking is possible throughout the day, there has been a decrease in the use of walking as a means of transportation. This study examines environmental determinants of active transportation from two …

The Effect Of Home Range Estimation Techniques On Habitat Use Analysis, Brendon Quinton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The term “home range” refers to the area in which an animal spends most of its time during everyday activities. This study examined the effects of four different home range estimation techniques on the proportions of habitats located therein. The study utilized a point dataset collected for twenty individual Florida Black Bears (Ursus americanus floridanus), occurring in five different areas throughout the state of Florida. Each dataset was used to create home ranges using the following techniques: (1) Minimum Convex Polygon, (2) Kernel Density Estimation, (3) Characteristic Hull Polygon, and (4) Time-Geographic Density Estimation, a new home range …

An Anthropological Investigation Of The Dynamic Human-Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus Aethiops Sabaeus) Interface In St. Kitts, West Indies, Kerry M. Dore

Theses and Dissertations

Over 350 years ago, the ecology of St. Kitts was dramatically altered by the advent of sugar cane production and the introduction of a highly adaptable, invasive animal species: the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). This project employed both primatological and ethnoprimatological techniques to assess conflict between vervet monkeys and Kittitian farmers. Methodological tools from primatology allowed for the creation of a predictive model of monkey crop-raiding behavior. The model was highly informative about monkeys' current raiding patterns; however, viewing Kittitian farmers and vervet monkeys as interconnected through an ethnoprimatological perspective revealed the significance of history with regard to this …

Eco-Epidemiology Of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, Patrick Vander Kelen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is an alphavirus with high pathogenicity in both humans and horses. Florida continues to have the highest occurrence of human cases in the USA, with four fatalities recorded in 2010. Unlike other states, Florida supports year-round EEEV transmission. This research uses Geographic Information Science (GIS) to examine spatial patterns of documented sentinel seroconversions and horse cases in order to understand the relationships between habitat and transmission intensity of EEEV in Florida. Sentinel sites were categorized as enzootic, periodically enzootic, and negative based on the amount of chicken seroconversions to EEEV. Sentinel sites were analyzed …

Digital Mapping As A Student And Staff Communication Tool, Ryan Gyurkovitz

Horticulture and Crop Science

A study in the use of Geographic Information Systems in the development of digital maps for use by students and staff in Plant Identification Courses.

Spatial Epidemiology Of Birth Defects In The United States And The State Of Utah Using Geographic Information Systems And Spatial Statistics, Samson Y. Gebreab

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Oral clefts are the most common form of birth defects in the United States (US) and the State of Utah has among the highest prevalence of oral clefts in the nation. The overall objective of this dissertation was to examine the spatial distribution of oral clefts and their linkage with a broad range of demographic, behavioral, social, economic, and environmental risk factors through the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistics. Using innovative linked micromaps plots, we investigated the geographic patterns of oral clefts occurrence from 1998 to 2002 and their relationships with maternal smoking rates and proportion …

A Spatial And Temporal Analysis Of Conifers Using Remote Sensing And Gis, Michael Koon

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Two sets of remotely sensed images, 1986 Landsat Multispectral Scanner and a 2000 Landsat Thematic Mapper +, were used in a change detection study to determine decline and growth of conifers in Grant and Tucker Counties. The images were registered, preprocessed for atmospheric effects, ratioed using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and categorized. A thematic change calculation was performed indicating growth and decline of vegetation. The resulting information was combined with ancillary data for GIS spatial analysis. The results showed an overall increase in vegetation and specifically on abandoned mine lands. Statistical tests showed decline occurred on steeper slopes, but was …

Gis Modeling Of Desert Root Crop Maturation On The Mid-Columbia Plateau, Mary Michelle Phillips

All Master's Theses

The settlement patterns of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Columbia Plateau were choreographed to match the cadence of the seasons, with movements timed to efficiently utilize available resources. Desert roots, such as lomatium and bitterroot, provided a primary source of dietary nutrition, yet the ideal conditions for exploiting these plant resources coalesced for a very limited time in any one location. It was therefore necessary to possess an intimate knowledge of the plants' lifecycles in order to effectively plan gathering activities. In order to predict the growth patterns and maturation rates of these desert root crops, a GIS model was …