Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Agriculture, Influence, And Instability Under The Ancien Régime: 1708-1768, Adam J. Polk

Masters Theses

The French Revolution has been studied from myriad perspectives. The majority of scholarship focuses on the political and urban chaos of the times. Agricultural conditions and the influence of onerous taxation and stagnant agricultural options are given only a cursory examination in most research. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between agronomic and environmental conditions and the eruption of violence in urban centers during the French Revolution and the years leading up to it (1708-1768). This period prior to the French Revolution serves as a template to investigate the nature of the rural-agricultural influences, with a particular focus paid …

As The Crow Flies: An Underrepresentation Of Food Deserts In The Rural Appalachian Mountains, Kasie Richards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diet and dietary related health outcomes such as obesity and diabetes are major public health concerns. While personal choice and dietary behaviors are major influences on how an individual eats, the environment influences these choices and behaviors. The nutrition environment is one key influence and its relationship with food choice, behaviors, and socioeconomic influences is complex. Within the structure of the nutrition environment, food access and socioeconomic status compound influencing nutrition behavior and food choice.

Food deserts are defined as geographic region of low access to healthy affordable food in low income areas. The USDA developed a system for the …

Planning For Gentrification: A Geographic Analysis Of Gentrification Susceptibility In The City Of Asheville, N.C., Nakisha Fouch

All Theses

The American urban backdrop has seen an ebb and flow of investment and abandonment in the central city. The movement of the population from city to suburb and vice versa is often associated with access to lower rents, but is also driven by consumer demand. As redevelopment occurs in the once declining urban areas, economic development brings in a new middle class and the private and public services necessary to accommodate them. Inevitably, as new people move in current residents may be forced out. Addressing this issue is complicated by understanding what makes a neighborhood or a particular population prone …

Creating A Pedestrian Level-Of-Service Index For Transit Stops: Evidence From Denver’S Light Rail System, Patrick Gallagher

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Approach For Developing Adaptation Strategies In Climate Planning: A Case Study Of Vulnerability In Dukes County, Massachusetts, Jonathan Pollak

Master's Theses

Climate Action Plans (CAP’s) are recent innovations in policy that have been catalyzed by a need to adjust the relationship between human activity and the Earth’s climate system. CAP’s often are composed of methods to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in addition to adaptation strategies. Research indicates, however, that many plans focus on mitigation strategies while adaptation policies related to predicted changes caused by climate change are often overlooked. This thesis presents an integrative framework for locating areas that are in need of adaptation strategies through a GIS based decision support system that visualizes vulnerability. It is operationalized through an empirical …

Mapping Women's Movement In Medieval England, Claire Clement

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates women’s geographical movement in medieval England from the perspective of mobility and freedom. It uses pilgrimage accounts from medieval miracle story collections and to gather information about individual travel patterns. The study uses GIS to analyze gendered mobility patterns, and to investigate whether there were noticeable differences in the distance which men and women traveled and the geographical area of the country they originated. It also analyzes the nearness of men’s and women’s respective origin towns to alternative pilgrimage locations, as a means of examining the factors determining gendered travel mobility. The study finds that women’s travel …

Predictive Geospatial Modeling For Archaeological Research And Conservation: Case Studies From The Galisteo Basin, Vermont And Chaco Canyon, Wetherbee Bryan Dorshow

Anthropology ETDs

Geospatial modeling of ancient landscapes for predictive scientific research and hypothesis testing is an important emerging approach in contemporary archaeology. This doctoral dissertation is comprised of three published North American case studies that clearly demonstrate the value of predictive geospatial modeling to address explicit goals of contemporary archaeological research, conservation and cultural resource management. The case studies consist of a GIS-based prioritization analysis of natural and cultural resources conservation value in the Galisteo Basin of north-central New Mexico, an archaeological sensitivity analysis (site-discovery potential) for the state of Vermont, and a predictive model of agricultural potential during the Bonito Phase …

Spatial Discrepancies Between Nhdplus And Lidar-Derived Stream Networks, Nicole Marie Samu

Masters Theses

Many organizations demand that current water resource issues necessitate improved stream network mapping for more accurate and reliable watershed analysis and modeling results, which can ultimately enable better management and policy decisions. Stream network data from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) and derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) are each widely accepted to be of superior quality compared to many other conventional datasets. Each dataset indicates potential to improve a wide range of water resource applications; NHDPlus for its high spatial accuracy and functionality, and LIDAR-derived networks for their high resolutions. NHDPlus is publicly available and widely used; …

Prehistoric Foraging Strategies In The Piute Valley Of Southern Nevada, Christopher Alan Brosman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Piute Valley of Southern Nevada is an incredibly diverse but arid zone in the eastern portion of the Mojave Desert. Most of this diversity can be attributed to the elevation shifts ranging from the Colorado River basin to the peaks of the surrounding mountain ranges. These peaks and valleys provide a multitude of resource zones in which prehistoric hunter-gatherers could provision themselves throughout the year. For this thesis I have used archaeological survey, paleo-climate models, life-sciences data and ethnographic research to perform an in-depth land use analysis of prehistoric forager adaptations to this challenging but life-sustaining environment.

Recent investigations …

The Roc And The Hard Place: The Empirical Effects Of Economic Development Projects On Property Value, And The Reurbanization Of Rochester, Ny, Henry R. Fitts

Senior Theses and Projects

Using quantitative analysis techniques in GIS and SPSS this piece analyzes property assessment data from Rochester, NY dating back to 1990. These values are compared to the City's economic development project sites, and cluster and regression analyses were conducted to measure the effect of proximity. The evaluations held mixed results, and further study is required to prove that proximity to a project site has a positive influence on property values. Nonetheless, the study shows some evidence to support this hypothesis and notes important geographical phenomena.

Volumetric Pipeline Environment Analysis: A Methodology For Creating 3d Data Suitable For Pipeline Environment Risk And Mitigation Products, Anthony Timpson

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Pipeline risk assessment GIS is constantly seeking to improve the tools and methodologies of data analysis to incorporate more world details. The need for complex 3D systems modeling is expanding as GIS takes a main stage in mapping the infrastructure and environment of medium scale, vertically complex, pipeline systems. Pipeline environments must be specially tailored to suit the data analysis capabilities of ERSI ArcGIS 10. Model based automation facilitates the conversion of data types and preparation of analysis results. The methodology presented is one avenue of possible development in generating a greater level of detail in intricate medium scale pipeline …

Use Of Environmental Isotope Tracer And Gis Techniques To Estimate Basin Recharge, Abdulganiu A.A. Odunmbaku

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The extensive use of ground water only began with the advances in pumping technology at the early portion of 20th Century. Groundwater provides the majority of fresh water supply for municipal, agricultural and industrial uses, primarily because of little to no treatment it requires. Estimating the volume of groundwater available in a basin is a daunting task, and no accurate measurements can be made. Usually water budgets and simulation models are primarily used to estimate the volume of water in a basin.

Precipitation, land surface cover and subsurface geology are factors that affect recharge; these factors affect percolation which invariably …

The Effect Of Mortgage Liberalization On Housing Patterns In Tampa Bay, Jason Richardson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to determine whether the process of mortgage finance liberalization, manifested in concurrent activities of securitization, deregulation, and neo-liberal policy, have resulted in changes to the tenure of residents in neighborhoods in Tampa Bay. It makes use of existing literature on gentrification and mortgage finance and compares those findings with three sample neighborhoods in and around the city of Tampa. To do so the thesis employs data collected from lenders pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, court records of sales and mortgages filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, and interviews with stakeholders …

Incentivizing Biodiversity Conservation: The Ecological Icms In Brazil, Erin Franks

CMC Senior Theses

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the ecological ICMS (ICMS-e) in the Brazilian Amazon, an intragovernmental transfer for incentivizing biodiversity conservation. Tax funds are passed from state governments to municipalities in proportion to the amount of protected area within their borders; biological reserves, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands are all considered. Econometric analysis using a fixed effects model found that the policy had little positive effect on increasing protected areas compared to the significant negative influence of poor land tenure, agricultural influences, and lack of monitoring for illegal deforestation. However, the policy may increase municipal governments' acceptance of and …

Applying Gis Metrics To Determine Degree Of Glacial Modification In Mountainous Landscapes, Carl Delbert Swanson Ii

All Master's Theses

The ability to quantitatively assess the degree of glaciation in mountainous areas can be a powerful tool in unraveling the evolution of landscapes, and provide key insights in regions where field research is difficult. Here we determine, test, and apply metrics that assess the relative degree of past glacial modification in mountainous landscapes. Results show that slope results can be used to quantitatively assess the degree to which an area is modified by glaciation. In particular, analysis of basins using slope frequency distribution curves and slope vs. elevation plots capture steeper slopes, flatter valley bottoms, cirques, and arêtes of glaciated …

A Discourse On Geospatial Technology Applications In Predictive Analytics And Evidence-Based Decision Support For Disaster Research And Management, Steven Matthew Ward

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Continued population growth and development in vulnerable locations across the world are creating a new geography of hazards and disasters. Increasing storm frequencies coupled with unrelenting efforts to control flooding through structural means will undoubtedly intensify the intersection between flood hazards and humans. Accordingly, the baseline capacity of places to prepare for and rebound from disaster events adequately is negatively impacted. Hurricane Katrina brought this reality to the forefront of disaster science and management in 2005. Concurrent with the increased awareness of evolving hazardscapes has been the identification of deficiencies in how components of disasters are studied and managed. The …

Spatial Assessment And Analysis Of Pollution Sources And Water Quality In The Bogue Falaya River And Abita River Watersheds, St. Tammany Parish, La, Chelsea Core

LSU Master's Theses

Watershed planning is an important ongoing process for enabling communities to repair polluted waterways and ensuring the health and vitality of waterways for future generations. This study defines a process to spatially track pollution sources entering into our waterways. An essential tool used in the watershed planning process is geographic information systems. It is important to gather spatial information to illustrate where all potential pollution sources are located within each watershed. The data for this study were assembled into a database and mapped to locate pollution sources including: commercial/small business wastewater treatment plants; subdivisions without community wastewater treatment; and individual …

Gis-Based Spatial Analysis Of Place Names In Yunnan, China, Ling Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Yunnan, with the largest number of minority languages in China, is labeled as “The Museum of Dialects”. The rich diversity of ethnic groups is reflected in its toponyms (place names). The objectives of this study are to (1) construct a GIS database of toponyms in Yunnan at the prefecture, county and township levels from a comprehensive toponymical dictionary series of China; (2) analyze the spatial distribution of Han, Tibeto-Burman (Zang-Mian) and Kam-Tai (Zhuang-Dong) toponyms and its association with environmental factors; and (3) examine the historical evolution of toponyms. Results show that the study shows that the highest concentrations of Zang-Mian …