Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Big Data Applications And Challenges In Giscience (Case Studies: Natural Disaster And Public Health Crisis Management), Amir Masoud Forati

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the application and significance of user-generated big data in Geographic Information Science (GIScience), with a focus on managing natural disasters and public health crises. It explores the role of social media data in understanding human-environment interactions and in informing disaster management and public health strategies. A scalable computational framework will be developed to model extensive unstructured geotagged data from social media, facilitating systematic spatiotemporal data analysis.The research investigates how individuals and communities respond to high-impact events like natural disasters and public health emergencies, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods. In particular, it assesses the impact of socio-economic-demographic …

Shifting Frontiers Economic Consequences Of The Polish Partitions, Andrew J. Fox

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses spatial regression discontinuity design to examine the impacts of historical border changes on economic development in modern Poland. Positive effects on institutions and infrastructure are found in the Austro-Hungarian zone of the Polish partition, while the Prussian zone suffer negative consequences due to 20th-century destruction and post-war expulsions.

Production, Best Management Practices, And Market Impacts Of Forest Biomass Harvest And Collection In The Mid-Atlantic Region, William E. Smith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Time motion studies were conducted at five mid-Atlantic sites that spanned various operations in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The harvest systems included integrated harvests where chips were produced in the forest, roundwood systems where only roundwood was produced, and a centralized chipping system. The study collected overall productivity and machine utilization data at the various harvesting operations. The cost per green ton of woody biomass ranged from $18.46 to $39.8 resulting in an average of $30.33 among the five systems. Hauling had the highest average price per green ton at $9.10, while loading had the lowest at $1.73 per …

Toward A Reconceptualization Of Gentrification: Assessing Neighborhood Variation By Socioeconomic And Economic Processes, Annette M. Mackay

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The core conceptualization of gentrification is social class ascension. Researchers and the public have often disagreed about how, when, where, and why gentrification occurs. When there is agreement, researchers often add specifications, such as displacement, that further confuse the concept. Reasons for the confusion include non-integrating theoretical dimensions, methods that assume independent effects, and the context of place. The objective of this study is to conceptualize gentrification in a case study city using two key dimensions, socioeconomic and economic processes, in a spatial context. Using principal component analysis to identify the latent constructs that account for change in Pittsburgh, PA, …

Addressing The Scale Issues In Spatial-Temporal Analysis Of Crime : An Integrative Framework And Empirical Findings, Mohammed Abdulrazak Alazawi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Based on a critical review of existing literature in the spatial-temporal analysis of crime, three challenges have been identified: spatial-temporal scaling, theorizing spatial patterns for different types of crime, and the micro interaction between space and time. The spatial-temporal scaling issue is related to choosing the appropriate geographic unit of analysis. The theoretical issue concerns the lack of an integrative approach that can integrate the benefits of each theoretical perspective and identify broader processes to explain the resulting spatial patterns for different types of crime. Also, examining and explaining the variation of the micro space-time interactions for different types of …

Equity In Accessibility, A Case Study Of City Of Sacramento, Meredith C. Milam

City and Regional Planning

This paper is a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) spatial analysis of the transportation accessibility and equity in Sacramento, California. A literature review examines discriminatory regulatory policies in the 1900s that wrote racial segregation into law. The effects of these policies have lasting effects on spatial dispersal of people and create barriers to accessibility and therefore result in inequitable transportation systems. The accessibility and equity analysis in Sacramento explores demographic data, job concentration and available modes of transportation, and commuter data. The results of the analysis suggest that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to measuring accessibility and equity. …

Exploring Group-Threat And Police-Involved Homicide : A Spatial Analysis Of Police Involved Homicide In Us Counties, Kyle Demori Maksuta

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The recent advent of the Black Lives Matter movement has reinvigorated criminological inquiry into police violence. Recent advances in spatial analysis have opened new opportunities for understanding the spatial relationship between social structure and police violence. Spatial analysis is both statistically and substantively important to our understanding of police-involved-homicide (PIH), yet few studies have attempted to marry recent advances in spatial econometrics to this topic. The current study introduces spatial Durbin modeling (SDM) as a particularly useful approach to studying the spatial relationships between variables associated with group threat theory and PIH. Previous research has demonstrated the connections between group …

A "Warm" Or "Cold" Early Mars: Evidence From Valley Networks, Xuezhi Cang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Although Mars is cold and dry today, many lines of evidence suggest that ancient Mars had large amount of water and surface fluvial processes. However, climate modelers have encountered difficulties in modeling such early warm and wet conditions with an above freezing temperature, mainly due to the Martian orbit being further away from the Sun and the faintness of the young Sun. The main purpose of this dissertation is to test the ancient Martian climate hypotheses by investigating the spatial pattern of valley network (VN) properties that can survive post-formational modification (i.e., the robust characteristics) and by analogizing the Earth …

Spatial Patterns Of Crime In District 05, Quito-Ecuador, 2016-2020, Pablo Esteban Ochoa Veloz

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The geography of crime in Ecuador has not been geographically studied. In Quito, few criminal studies have been developed from a geographic approach. This research focuses on studying trends and patterns of crime in Quito`s District 05 by employing spatial analytical tools using GIS (Geographic Information System), statistics and cartographic techniques. This study aims to contribute to the literacy in crime-related topic in the country. Quito´s District 05 houses a representative percentage of the city´s financial services, retail activities, and other tertiary services. This district is among the most important economic business district in the city which attract many people …

Changing Faces, Changing Places: Understanding Immigration, Housing Market And Native Out-Migration In Established And New Destinations In The United States., Anqi Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation concerns residential incorporation and the socioeconomic impact of immigrants primarily from Latin America and Asia with their rapid geographical dispersal in the U.S. I adopt econometrics methodologies and GIS techniques to examine how immigration affects housing price changes and white out-mobility in established and new destinations, utilizing datasets from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The first part examines the effects of immigration into the U.S. established and new immigrant destinations on housing prices using county-level data that span 2011 to 2017. Using the global and local Moran’s I statistics, I demonstrate …

The Geography Of Creative Clusters And Firm Productivity: Empirical Evidence From 20 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (Msas) In The United States, Tahereh Granpayehvaghei

Public Affairs Dissertations

The burgeoning research on creative clusters and an increased rate of municipal investment in creative policymaking are becoming dominant global trends. Yet, the factors that help foster creative-friendly communities and how much they relate to creative firm productivity remain insufficiently understood. This dissertation is a step forward in our knowledge of the geography and typology of creative clusters and their association with productivity in the United States. In this research, creative clusters refer to meaningful and statistically significant agglomerations of creative firms. This research demonstrates that creative clusters have an “urban nature” in most cases, meaning that there is a …

Examining Spatial Inequities In Green Space Distribution And Access Around The Historic City Of Savannah, Georgia., Chiamaka F. Chimah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Green space supports recreational activities and environmental sustainability which has proven to aid physical and social well-being as well as environmental health. However, spatial inequities are observed in the distribution and accessibility of urban green space. This norm identified as an environmental justice issue has left racial minorities and people of low socioeconomic status at a disadvantage. This study adopted a geospatial approach to assess green space quantity, quality, and accessibility, and generate a green space index. This research assessed the relationship between racial structure, socioeconomic characteristics and green space inequities in all municipalities in Chatham County, Georgia with a …

Exploring The Structural Effects On The Lethal Violence At The U.S. Counties Under The Situational Action Theory: An Application Of Multivariable Spatial Regression Model, Yunho Yeom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the stream analogy (Unnithan, Corzine, Huff-Corzine, & Whitt, 1994) and the frustration-aggression approach (Henry & Short, 1954) in lethal violence phenomenon analysis, several scholars have integrated theories from outside of their fields of study to understand lethal violence under a single theoretical framework. Some of these researchers have focused on deteriorating socioeconomic conditions and the collective attributional style when explaining the causes of lethal violence; others have failed to assume the non-independence of observation among contextual predictors. Recognizing these shortcomings, this study integrates the social components of situational action theory to examine their mediating effects on the relationship between …

Mapping Sex Offenders And Treatment Centers In Relation To Social Disorganization, Amber Amin

Master's Theses

Research shows that the clustering of Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) is connected to social disorganization. Residential patterns disrupt the reintegration of the RSO population. Utilizing data from Queens and the Bronx, NYC, this study examines RSO clustering in the two boroughs and explores the proximity of community resources to RSO addresses that may assist reintegration. Using data from the New York Megan’s Law and census data for Queens and Bronx Counties, maps were created to study the residential patterns of RSOs. The results show clustering of RSOs in areas with variables pertaining to high social disorganization and a lack of …

Anthropogenic Landscapes Of Amazonia : A Spatial Analysis Of Landscape Modification And Settlement Organization At Macurany, Brazil., M. Grace Ellis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthropogenic landscapes are the product of complex human-environment processes that form distinct features in the landscape, which materially preserve and reflect human behavior. Anthropogenic landscapes in Amazonia likely date back to human colonization of the region around 16,000 BP. Since colonization, humans have been marking, modifying, managing, and engineering the landscape resulting in a mosaic of anthropogenic landscape features across Amazonia. The diversity of ancient landscapes documented in Amazonia reflects the cultural heterogeneity that existed in the past. This research explores the complex human-environmental processes that form distinct, identifiable, lasting features on the landscape and what these features can illuminate …

Spatial Decision Support Systems Use In Peacekeeping And Stability Operations Analysis: Spatial Analysis For U.S. Army Civil Affairs Civil Information Management, Earnest R. Lloyd

Public Affairs Dissertations

Becoming a core U.S. military mission in 2005, Stability Operations deals with the political, economic, social and structural resiliency of a county or region. It is conducted to support and develop a host nation’s government, or to initiate governmental services in a non-governed area until the host nation can do so itself. Inherent in this is the provision of public goods, whether the military is the principal provider or to understand the relative public good provision levels within a given area. This understanding is known as situational awareness of the operational environment (OE), a significant issue for any military commander …

Assessing Variation In Air Quality Perception: A Case Study In Utah, Karen Jayne Mendenhall

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In recent years, Utah has experienced poor air quality due to pollution-trapping winter inversions and summer ozone pollution. The resulting impacts of poor air quality include health issues, reduced visibility, economic impacts and ecological impacts. Utah’s topography and exploding urban population are factors which increase human exposure to these adverse impacts of air pollution. It is important for State and local governments to understand how people perceive air quality so that clean air campaigns target those who are most likely to foster pro-environmental behaviors. An analysis was conducted using data from a state-wide survey conducted in July 2017. The survey …

Measuring Community Violence, Trauma, And Family Functioning Among Youth Living In Low-Income, Urban Environments, Kyle Deane

Dissertations

Exposure to community violence is a pressing public health concern that has profound effects on an adolescent’s development and psychological well-being, and is disproportionately experienced by ethnic minority youth living in economically disadvantaged urban environments. Efforts to measure violence exposure and its sequelae have centered primarily on the use of retrospective questionnaires and cross-sectional design and often fail to consider other contributory risk or resilience factors. Comprised of three related studies, the goal of this dissertation is to address the relations between of exposure to community violence, adjustment difficulties, such as posttraumatic stress, and family functioning among African American and …

The Influence Of Northern Hemisphere Teleconnections On The Geography Of Pacific Tropical Cyclone Genesis, Nicholas Ray Adkins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The research in this thesis used statistical and spatial analysis methods to test the influence of six Northern Hemisphere teleconnection patterns on the latitude and longitude components of tropical cyclogenesis occurring in the eastern and western North Pacific Ocean basins for the period 1979-2016. The Pacific-North American (PNA), West Pacific (WP), El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) teleconnection patterns were examined independently and in combination for association with variations in cyclogenesis geography. Four of the six teleconnection patterns were found to exert an influence on cyclogenesis latitude and/or longitude in …

Cohens On The Move: Jewish Residential Dynamics In Cincinnati, Ohio, 1940-2000, Carmi J. Neiger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In the 1960s and 1970s, as many large US cities experienced rapid racial and ethnic demographic shifts, the intra-urban residential settlement and migration patterns of American Jews came to the attention of sociologists and urbanists. Although the interest in this population has waned in favor of more recent immigrant groups, patterns of Jewish residential dynamics continue to evolve, reflecting changes over time in both Jewish religious and ethnic identity and assimilation into mainstream American society. The lack of Census data identifying households by religious affiliation requires an alternative approach to the study of this group. In the first section of …

Regulatory And Financial Influence Of Federal Government Activities On Local Economies: A Three Essay Approach, Brianne Renee Firth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation examines the effects of federal government activities on local economies. Three research questions are addressed: How do federal environmental regulations influence local economic growth?, What regional factors influence the spatial distribution of federal conservation programs?, and How does location-based federal funding effect economic resilience within the targeted region? Regional economic analysis, spatial analysis, and spatial econometric techniques are implemented to answer these questions.

The first essay examines the effects of the air pollution standards on county level economic growth. The results illustrate, in the long run, the impacted regions have adapted to the changes in the pollution standards. …

Final Internship Report: Gis Research And Analysis At The Center For Homicide Research, Paul Jeffrey Tatting

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This final internship report is being submitted as an Alternate Plan Paper as partial fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Science in Geography at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The internship took place at the Center for Homicide Research (CHR) in Minneapolis, Minnesota from January through June of 2018.

This paper is organized into seven chapters. This chapter, Chapter 1, is the introduction to the internship. Chapter 2 examines the scope of the internship. It includes a background of CHR, the duties of a GIS Intern, and discusses the benefits of the internship. Chapter 3 details presentations that were made …

Spatial Modelling And Wildlife Health Surveillance: A Case Study Of White Nose Syndrome In Ontario, Lauren Yee

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Wildlife data is often limited by survey effort, small sample sizes, and spatial biases associated with collection and missing data. These factors can create unique challenges from a surveillance perspective when trying to extract spatial patterns of habitat suitability and disease distributions for conservation and management purposes. This thesis examined data quality from a wildlife health database in the context of spatial analysis of wildlife disease. Spatial analysis of the data to predict habitat suitability of bats and white nose syndrome afflicted bats was examined by using the MaxEnt modelling method. Methods to reduce spatial bias were examined and specific …

Chipping Through Time: The Evolution Of Lithic Spatial Organization At The Bridge River Pithouse Village, British Columbia, Ethan P. Ryan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Archaeological investigations at Housepit 54 within the Bridge River site have, to date, exposed 15 discreet floors primarily dating to ca. 1500-1000 cal. B.P. In this thesis, the spatial distributions of lithic artifacts from every floor are examined. Questions will be addressed specifically towards formation processes and the potential relationships between the patterning of lithic distributions as they relate to hearth-centered activity areas or domestic areas and fluctuations in estimated population. In addition, this thesis explores spatial organization as a cultural trait or concept that can be transmitted through time. Using the same methodological and theoretical approach for each floor, …

Thule Iron Use In The Pre-Contact Arctic, Eileen Colligan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the use of iron by the Thule people, a Neoeskimo culture that lived in the North American Arctic between approximately 1000 AD and 1400 ̶ 1500 AD. The study takes a pan-Arctic perspective to bring together research that has usually been done on a more-limited geographical scale. This viewpoint shows the Thule culture from a view that corresponds to their world.

The study focuses on: (1) revisions in the accepted chronology of the Thule and how these have affected the explanations for the Thule Migration from Alaska to Greenland; (2) new understandings about the iron that was …

A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Household Financial Reactions And Homebuyer Awareness Of Registered Sex Offenders In A Rural, Suburban, And Urban County., John Charles Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As stigmatized persons, registered sex offenders betoken instability in communities. Depressed home sale values are associated with the presence of registered sex offenders even though the public is largely unaware of the presence of registered sex offenders. Using a spatial multilevel approach, the current study examines the role registered sex offenders influence sale values of homes sold in 2015 for three U.S. counties (rural, suburban, and urban) located in Illinois and Kentucky within the social disorganization framework. Homebuyers were surveyed to examine whether awareness of local registered sex offenders and the homebuyer’s community type operate as moderators between home selling …

Snow And Non-Snow Events Based Winter Traffic Crash Pattern Analysis And Developing Lake Effect Snow Induced Crash Count Prediction Model, Bandhan Dutta Ayon

Masters Theses

This study aims to (i) find the spatial-temporal traffic crash pattern and (ii) develop a statistical model for predicting LES induced traffic crash counts. Three southwest Michigan counties: Allegan, Kalamazoo and Calhoun are selected to conduct this study. Snow and non-snow event based comparative analysis are conducted using Getis-Ord Gi* statistic to identify high density crash cluster locations in the study area. While several new and oscillating hot spots are detected in Allegan during snow, no hot spot is detected during non-snow events based analysis. In Kalamazoo, traffic crashes do not exhibit much difference in spatial-temporal trend during snow or …

If Pits Could Talk: An Analysis Of Features From The Figura Site (Aghk-52), Kelly Gostick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the features and spatial patterning of features across the Figura site (AgHk-52), a Late Woodland, Younge Phase Western Basin site, dating to the 13^th century AD. The features from this site were analyzed to gain insight into these unique contexts and how they can, in turn, advance our understanding of life at the Figura site. Given the clean and ordered settlement pattern of the site, the spatial relationships of features to other settlement patterns – such as residential and non-residential areas, inside and outside the palisade – could be analyzed. The site was divided into defined …

Spatial Patterning And Human Behavior In Level "F" At Lapa Do Picareiro., Brandon K Zinsious

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spatial analysis at the site level offers unique perspectives and has become increasingly more accessible as advances in technology allow rapid 3-dimensional mapping and rigorous statistical analysis. This project focused on the geological stratigraphic level “F”, at Lapa do Picareiro; a shallow cave in the Estremadura region of Portugal. This level, dated to 14,000 years ago calibrated BP, experienced multiple human occupations between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas. This work examines the recovered material from a period of Upper Magdalenian occupations and sheds light on how enclosed space was used in Estremadura Portugal. Distinct distributions of lithic …

Location-Based Modeling And Statistics Internship With Location, Inc., Yixuan Wang

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

In the summer 2016, I had the honor to work as a GIS & statistics intern at Location, Inc. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) private company that builds and delivers location-based big data, analytics, tools, and services. The company’s mission is to create the best location-based technologies to help businesses make well-informed decisions (Location, Inc.). I was chosen by the company’s CEO, Dr. Andrew Schiller, who is also a Clark Alumnus. During the internship period, I worked in the data science team supervised by Jonathan Glick, and my main responsibilities were handling geographical and statistical …