Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Snow-Albedo Feedback In Northern Alaska: How Vegetation Influences Snowmelt, Lucas C. Reckhaus

Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates how the snow-albedo feedback mechanism of the arctic is changing in response to rising climate temperatures. Specifically, the interplay of vegetation and snowmelt, and how these two variables can be correlated. This has the potential to refine climate modelling of the spring transition season. Research was conducted at the ecoregion scale in northern Alaska from 2000 to 2020. Each ecoregion is defined by distinct topographic and ecological conditions, allowing for meaningful contrast between the patterns of spring albedo transition across surface conditions and vegetation types. The five most northerly ecoregions of Alaska are chosen as they encompass …

“Penniless And Unknown”: Temporality Of The Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery - A Gis Analysis, Eric Eugene Burant

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses GIS modeling techniques of spatial data, archaeological data, and historical documentation to determine patterning of material culture associated with interments at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery (MCPFC), an unmarked cemetery located in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Archaeological excavations at the MCPFC in 1991-1992 and again in 2013 recovered over 2,400 individuals associated with Milwaukee County’s practice of providing burial for institutional residents, unidentified or unclaimed individuals sent from the Coroner’s Office, the remains of cadaverized individuals, and community poor from 1862 through 1925 (Richards 2016).

Previous research identified two distinct material culture classes; grave goods and grave inclusions. …

A Gis-Based Risk Assessment For Fire Departments: Case Study Of Richland County, Sc, Tracy Whelen

Theses and Dissertations

Risk assessments enable fire departments to be better prepared for future incidents and to engage in more effective prevention activities. A combination of physical, demographic, and behavioral risk factors combined form a community’s level of risk. This research shows how spatial and nonspatial statistical methods can be used within a GIS framework to create such a risk assessment, with the Columbia-Richland Fire Department in Richland County, SC being used as a case study. Hot spot analysis and thematic mapping of incident rates were used to assess the first research question – what is the spatial variability of structure fires, carbon …