Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development Of High-Technology Industries In The Portland/Vancouver Metropolitan Area: An Analysis Of Regional And Intraregional Factors Affecting High-Tech Firm Locations, Ulf Eichner

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis aims to investigate local conditions of high-tech industry development in the Portland/Vancouver CMSA. To do so, the research proceeds in four major stages. First, it is analyzed how historical factors contributed to the rise of high-tech industries in the CMSA. The second part consists of mapping the distribution pattern of hightech establishments. The U.S. Bureau of Census' County Business Patterns statistics are used to calculate the number of high-tech establishments and employees by branch (SIC code) and county; two high-tech directories help to identify the exact firm locations. Thirdly, an explanatory set of locational factors is established, based …

Epa's Map Of Radon Zones, Nebraska, Sharon W. White, Lisa Ratcliff, Kirk Maconaughey, R. Thomas Peake, Dave Rowson, Steve Page, Linda C. S. Gundersen, R. Randall Schumann, James K. Otton, Doug Owen, Russell Dubiel, Kendell Dickinson, Sandra L. Szarzi

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Staff Publications

Sections 307 and 309 of the 1988 Indoor Radon Abatement Act (IRAA) direct EPA to identify areas of the United States that have the potential to produce elevated levels of radon. EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Association of, American State Geologists (AASG) have worked closely over the past several years to produce a series of maps and documents which address these directives. The EPA Map of Radon Zones is a compilation of that work and fulfills the requirements of sections 307 and 309 of IRAA. The Map of Radon Zones identifies, on a county-by-county basis, areas of …

A Classification Of Ecosystem Desertification Using Satellite Imagery, Dzheltyrbas Gulf, 1980-1989, Marni D. Cavis

Masters Theses

This study focused on the development of a land cover classification method for the Dzhiltyrbas Gulf region southeast of the Aral Sea in the former Soviet Union. Desertification of the region was mapped based on ecosystem descriptions taken from a database defining four stages of desertification. Landsat MSS images (bands 1, 2, and 4) were used as the basis for classification. Standard unsupervised and supervised classification methods did not distinguish the level of detail required to map each stage of desertification in each ecosystem. Therefore, the ecosystems had to be defined and classified as separate entities (based on SBI and …

Portland As A Divided City: Geographical Voting Patterns On Ballot Measures In The November 1990 Elections, Dmitry Sharkov

Dissertations and Theses

A significant and challenging topic for contemporary geography is an understanding of how the social construction of space both reflects social forces and at the same time structures those forces. This thesis is a case study of how political and social attitudes, measured as an outcome of votes for different issues, reflect the social organization of space in Multnomah County, Oregon. It employs an arealstructural (ecological) approach. Using eleven different issues voted upon in the general elections of November, 1990, it analyzes relationships between ballot items and socioeconomic characteristics of the electorate for small geographic areas in the county. The …

Towards A Boundless Ethic, Henry Spira

Commentaries and Editorials

No abstract provided.

Modelling Avian Distributions Of The Navarrese Region In Northern Spain With A Geographic Information System, Samuel Soret-Garcia

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

GIS (Geographic information Systems) technology was used for identifying relations between environmental characteristics and the breeding distributions of nine avian species of the Navarrese region in northern Spain. Data overlays of multiple GIS layers derived the explanatory variables for modelling the breeding distributions from logistic regressions. A spatial autocorrelation analysis was conducted to characterize the distribution patterns and to incorporate spatial factors (neighborhood effects) into their analysis.

All nine patterns analyzed exhibited a high level of spatial autocorrelation. Accordingly, the basic hypothesis of spatial randomness was rejected in favor of spatial clustering for the sample data. The breeding distributions strongly …

A Location Analysis Of Vandalism To The Rock Art Of The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Julia J. Wilt

Dissertations and Theses

Archaeological sites in the New World are the fragile and non-renewable remains of cultures which flourished for thousands of years prior to European contact and displacement. Sites which escape the effects of erosion and development often fall victim to vandalism. Cultural resources, including rock art and other archaeological sites, are protected by state and federal laws which prohibit the removal or disturbance of the sites, whether from development or from vandalism. Vandalism is frequently seen as a problem for law enforcement rather than a problem for cultural resource management. Management plans which include cultural resource protection provisions and guidelines often …

The Palm Landscape Of Belize: Human Interaction With The Cohune Palm (Orbignya Cohune), Kendra Mcsweeney

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Bringing Geography To Life!, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"When Gil Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society, called a meeting of Kit Salter and other geographers from California nearly a decade ago, he had no idea that the discussion would have a profound impact on the teaching of geography in the nation's schools."

Hourly Rainfall And Goes Infrared Radiances In Amazonia, Dean Gregory Butzow

Masters Theses

Ground-based hourly rain of the Amazon Basin was investigated for the period of January 1988 to December 1990. UFPa, Careiro, and CEPLAC rain stations were selected to represent the rain characteristics of coastal Amazonia, central Amazonia near the river, and central Amazonia in the "terra firme" respectively.

Throughout the period, UFPa exhibits a distinct diurnal cycle, with peak rain occurring from the mid-afternoon to early evening hours. The diurnal cycles of the inland stations is less pronounced, presenting significant nocturnal and early morning components.

Results from the pulse analysis of the hourly rainfall time series, lead to an average model …

Ideological Hegemony And The Political Symbolism Of Religious Buildings In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Cultural geographers have for too long ignored the association between the 'religious' and the 'political', concentrating instead on separating the 'religious' from the sociopolitical and economic forces in society. The challenge is taken up in this paper in an analysis of the contemporary meanings and values of religious buildings in Singapore as invested by the state. Attention is paid to the state's conceptions of religion and religious space and the roles it plays in influencing such space. The ways in which, through its various roles, the state in Singapore plays a significant part in influencing context and hence in shaping …

Where Is The Median Center?, Robert Stoddard

Department of Geography: Faculty Publications

Comment on Enedy (Journal of Geography 92:23-27)
Measurements of central tendency are more complex in two-dimensional space than for one-dimensional data. The additional complexity results not only from the second dimension but also from the arrangement of data. These conditions mean that some linear statistics cannot be converted automatically into areal statistics without careful consideration of their properties. It also means that there has been confusion about the definition of the median center.

Natural Hazards In Puerto Rico, Risa Palm, Michael E. Hodgson

Geosciences Faculty Publications

Puerto Rico faces natural hazards including hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, subsidence, and flooding. Although Puerto Ricans perceive themselves as highly vulnerable to these hazards, few have adopted mitigation measures except for mandatory insurance.

The Cartographic Collections - The Harold L. And Peggy L. Osher Collection & The Lawrence M.C. And Eleanor Houston Smith Collection, Osher Map Library And Smith Center For Cartographic Education

Osher Map Library Miscellaneous Publications

The Cartographic Collections - The Harold L. and Peggy L. Osher Collection & The Lawrence M.C. and Eleanor Houston Smith Collection.

The Smith and Osher Cartographic Collections comprise fine specimens of original maps, atlases, geographies, and globes spanning the years from 1475 to the present.

For Whom Is The Rural Economy Resilient? Initial Effects Of Drought In Western Sudan, Leslie C. Gray, Michael Kevane

Economics

This discussion piece addresses two recent debates: entitlement theory and the resilience of rural systems. The authors find that in western Sudan entitlement theory provides a specific and useful framework for understanding the nature of the crisis confronting the society. Arguments about the resilience of rural systems, however, need to be more closely examined and will depend on site-specific factors. The rural economy and society of western Sudan were not found to be resilient.

Lucille Vinyard Journal 1993, Lucille Vinyard

Lucille Vinyard Journal Collection

No abstract provided.

The Global-To-Local Search Method: A Systematic Search Procedure That Uses The Context Of The Textured Layout To Locate And Detect Low-Contrast Targets In Aerial Images, Keith Marron Park

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Agro-Climatic Hazards And The Political Economy Of Food Insecurity In West Africa: A Case Of A Rural Food Economy, Raphael Lawer Djabatey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Variability and declining food production and accessibility in West Africa have characterised the food system in the region’s rural economy. These phenomenon have contributed to the fluctuation and declining per capita food supply and calorie intake, falling wages of farmers, rising food prices and increasing reliance on food imports and food aid by the governments and people of West Africa. The cause of the problem still remains an illusion and continues to baffle policy makers. Very often the problem is attributed to drought. However, to reduce the problem of household food insecurity to natural forces is to miss the centre …

Voronoi Diagrams As A Visualization Technique For Spatial Autocorrelation In Point Data Sets, Martin A. Cassel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis explores a new way of visualizing spatial autocorrelation in a GIS environment. It explores some relationships between spatial autocorrelation models, spatial interaction models and weighted Voronoi diagrams. Since the weighted Voronoi diagram is equivalent to a form of spatial interaction models, any GIS with the ability to generate a gravity model can be utilized to perform this new technique of exploratory spatial data analysis. This thesis demonstrates how the cross product form of‘ spatial autocorrelation models like the Geary and the Moran statistics is equivalent to the form of a multiplicatively weighted distance utilized in the definition of …

Pandemic Influenza: An Analysis Of The Spread Of Influenza In Kitchener, October 1918 (Ontario), Niall Phillip Alan Sean Johnson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Influenza remains one of the major killers in modern society. In addition to the mortality it causes, it exacts a huge medical, social and economic toll. Due to its propensity to undergo change, through antigenic drift and shift, this disease continues to torment humankind. These changes are the driving force that enables influenza to periodically become epidemic and pandemic. The study of past pandemics thus may provide useful insight to comb-it the disease now and in the future. The 1918-19 pandemic is one of the three worst outbreaks of disease in recorded history, with only the Justinian plagues and the …

Theoretical And Empirical Examinations Of Spatial Scale And Aggregation Effects On The Principal Axis Factoring Technique When The Observations Are Areal Units, Len Michael Hunt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous assessments of factor analytic invariance to scale and aggregation effects have led to discrepant results. To determine the true effects, this study comprehensively examines the influence of scale and aggregation on factorial ecologies. This investigation is completed for three data sets, four scales, and thirty aggregations at each scale. Of these three data sets, two are artificial. These two data sets differ only by levels of spatial autocorrelations as one data set contains independent areal unit observations while the other set includes modest positive spatial autocorrelations. The third data set consists of variables from the 1986 Saskatoon enumeration areas. …

Ua1c9/1108 Wku Campus Map, Western Kentucky University

WKU Archives Records

Map of WKU campus.

An Analysis Of Canadian International & Interprovincial Manufacturing Export Flows: 1974-1990, H. Lillian Kucsma

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examined the changing internal and external export patterns of Canadian manufactured products in the years 1974, 1979, 1984, and 1990. Hechscher—Ohlin's comparative advantage trade framework was used to guide the analysis. Internally, provincially biased shipping patterns were found over the four time periods analyzed. The percentage of intraprovincial shipments increased, and interprovincial shipments decreased through time. This suggests that the provinces exhibited signs of increasing provincialism. Externally, except for 1990, primary export flow destinations to the USA as a percentage of total exports increased over time while those to the other OECD countries decreased. Secondary export flow destinations, …

Negotiating Conceptions Of 'Sacred Space': A Case Study Of Religious Buildings In Singapore, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper, I approach the study of religious place from a re-theorized cultural geographical stance. Using multi-religious Singapore as a case study, I examine the tensions which arise over the meanings and values associated with religious buildings because of the conflict between state hegemony on the one hand and the oppositional meanings and values of religious groups and individuals on the other. I also examine the ways in which individuals negotiate their conceptions of sacred space in order to cope with changes imposed on their religious places by the state. Primarily, my argument is that conflict is avoided because …

Movements And Behavior Of Wild And Head-Started Sea Turtles, John A. Keinath

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Flipper-tagging, aerial surveys, and satellite telemetry was used to investigate the occurrence, migratory routes, distances traveled, swimming speeds, diving behavior, and the relation of water temperature to movements and timing of migration of wild loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles. The behavior and movements of head-started loggerhead turtles was investigated with satellite telemetry and compared to wild turtles. Flipper-tagged loggerhead and Kemp's ridley turtles inhabit Chesapeake Bay during the warm months and many return in subsequent seasons. Aerial surveys showed that loggerhead turtles migrate from south of Cape Hatteras to northern waters during May and June, …