Geography Commons^™

Development And Mapping Techniques For The Comprehensive Community Wildfire Protection Plan (Cwpp) For Jefferson County, Colorado, Scot Fitzgerald

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) development process highlighted in this document was developed for multiple CWPP for Jefferson County, Colorado. Documents were created for three Fire Protection Districts, and a larger scale plan was developed to cover all of Jefferson County. The county-wide plan was developed combining existing fire protection district CWPP information, infrastructure data from the Jefferson County GIS department, and fuels and vegetation from LANDFIRE in order to create maps with which wildfire hazards and fuel mitigation recommendations could be identified. The final CWPP is a tool for communities and other local stakeholders to implement wildfire hazard …

Automatic High-Fidelity 3d Road Network Modeling, Jie Wang

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Many computer applications such as racing games and driving simulations frequently make use of 3D high-fidelity road network models for a variety of purposes. However, there are very few existing methods for automatic generation of 3D realistic road networks, especially for those in the real world. On the other hand, vast road network GIS data have been collected in the past and used by a wide range of applications, such as navigation and evaluation. A method that can automatically produce 3D high-fidelity road network models from 2D real road GIS data will significantly reduce both the labor and time needed …

High School Graduation And Dropout Rates In The Pikes Peak Region Of Colorado: A Spatial Analysis Of School Proximity To Military Installations, Rachel Orlicky

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The purpose of this project was to examine graduation and dropout rates for high school students to determine if a correlation could be found with respect to the relative school distance from a military installation in the Pikes Peak region. Spatial analysis and Ordinary Least Squares analysis were used to build a linear regression model to predict student graduation and dropout rates. The results for the total student population for graduation rates and for dropout rates showed no statistically significant correlation with respect to the relative proximity to a military installation. Detailed analysis revealed that several minority and gender subgroups …

Soil Development Processes On The Western Slope Of The Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains: A Geographic Study, Kristopher (Kris) Osterloh

Earth and Soil Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Gps Enabled Ipod Touch For Skiers, Camila Dorin

Honors Theses

The purpose of my senior project was to design and build a system that provides GPS capabilities to the iPod touch. The system is used in conjunction with an iPod application, giving skiers the possibility to have access to the following outputs: graph of speed during run, distance skied, calories burned, and map of the slopes followed. The system consists of a GPS receiver, an Arduino microcontroller, a Wifi Shield, and iPod touch, and an iPod application. A central point during the development of the system was the transmission of data from one piece of hardware to the other and …

A Survey And 5-Point Analysis Of Modern Day Human Trafficking, Sarah Wietbrock

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Ecology Of San Luis Obispo: A Children's Book, Heidi Van Campen

Social Sciences

San Luis Obispo is one of the most loved places in the world by its residents and visitors. Located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo is the heart of California's Central Coast. However, this paper is not about the present-day cities or residents. It is an ecological history; the story of life and land over time.

Historians tend to treat nature as the setting for history, rather than a participant. Ecology is a history written knowing that we shape our environment and it shapes us.

This is a story of the ecology of San Luis Obispo.

Celebrity Environmentalists: The Effects Of The Rich And Famous On Conservation Efforts, Lauren Ashley Brown

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

A Geographical Perspective Of The Statistical Data Of And About Greeley, Colorado, And Its Off-Premise Liquor Stores: Location, Number, And Possible Saturation, Scott Jones

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This document, with the use of Geographical Information Systems, will verify that statistically Greeley, Colorado does not contain more than an adequate number of liquor stores within its city limits. This document is intended to give the reader a nonbiased geographical perspective of the statistical data of Greeley, Colorado and its off-premise liquor stores: location, number, and if it should be considered over-saturated.

The definition and allotments of a liquor store licenses vary. The three licenses available are Special Event, On Premise, and Off-Premise. These can commingle. This study was concerned with the license used for sale of full-strength products …

Spatiotemporal Analyses Of Child Pedestrian-Vehicle Incidents Occurring During School-Commuting Hours In Metro Atlanta From 2000 To 2007, Amy M. Moore

Geosciences Theses

From 2000 to 2007, the five core county area of Metropolitan Atlanta (Fulton, Dekalb, Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett) experienced 1,871 incidents involving child pedestrians. Nearly one-third of these incidents occurred during school-commuting hours. This study examines the geospatial locations of these incidents, with regards to the location of all 647 public schools within the study area. A GIS is used to analyze the spatiotemporal arrangement of these incidents in order to find risk factors and patterns in the data. Aspects of the built environment are then considered in areas with higher frequencies of child pedestrian-vehicle incidents. A walkability assessment is …

Mineralogy And Geochemistry Of The Bauxite Deposits (Cretaceous), Wilkinson County, Georgia., Adebayo O. Ayorinde

Geosciences Theses

Cretaceous bauxite deposits from Hall and Veneer mines, Wilkinson County, Georgia are composed of kaolinite, gibbsite, goethite, anatase, nordstrandite and bohemite. Quartz and micas are absent in the samples. The presence of boehmite and goethite are evidence of intense weathering forming the bauxite deposits. The extremely high values of the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) which is over 99, and the low values of the alkali metals and alkali earth metals, support an intense weathering origin for the bauxite deposit. There is evidence of deposition in the mines based on the presence of pisoids in the bauxite samples and the …

Particle Size, Critical Shear Stress, And Benthic Invertebrate Distribution And Abundance In A Gravel-Bed River Of The Southern Appalachians, Helen Mayoral

Geosciences Theses

To determine the relationship between the abundance and density of benthic invertebrates, and the critical shear stress of individual grain sizes, a reach along Smith Creek, was divided into ten 2m x 2m quadrants. Within each quadrant, five randomly selected clasts for each grain size ranging from 2.26 to 25.6 cm were cleaned for benthic invertebrates. Wolman pebble counts for each quadrant were also conducted and used to determine the critical Shields stress per grain size fraction from the model given by Wiberg and Smith (1987) that explicitly accounts for particle hiding/sheltering effects in mixed-bed rivers. Particle entrainment values were …

Intensive Study Of Ambient Carbon Dioxide Variability In Urban Atlanta, Brian L. Vann Mr.

Geosciences Theses

Urban areas contain multiple sources and sinks of carbon dioxide, yet spatial and temporal information explaining its variability, diurnal patterns, and effects from human activity are limited. The city of Atlanta, due to conflicting air masses, geographic location, and population growth, is as an excellent location to study carbon dioxide concentrations across its urban landscape. Mobile measurements of ambient CO₂ concentrations were obtained at 1.5m above ground level along a transect in winter 2010 within the perimeter of Atlanta. Analyses of winter 2010 CO₂ variability at GSU’s stationary CO₂ monitor was also explored. The results showed that …

New England's Retail Landscape: An Analysis Of The County-Level Retail Restructuring, 1998 To 2008, Christopher J. Rappa

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Spatial Variation In Organic Carbon And Stable Isotope Composition Of Lake Sediments At Laguna Zoncho, Costa Rica, Zachary P Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

Lake sediments are valuable paleoenvironmental archives that provide information on past climate and land-use change. Most lake sediment studies rely on a single core, usually recovered from the center of a lake, and do not consider spatial variability in the lake basin. My dissertation presents a spatially-explicit record of prehistoric agriculture from Laguna Zoncho, Costa Rica and evaluates spatial variability in lake sediment proxies based on a network of five sediment cores. Results extend earlier proxy analyses of a single core collected near the center of the lake, which documented prehistoric agriculture and forest clearance from 3000 to about 500 …

Geographies Of Competitive Advantage: An Examination Of The Us Farm Machinery Industry, Dawn M. Drake

Doctoral Dissertations

Many explanations of competitive advantage view place as a secondary factor. Organizational studies models tend to be considered aspatially, yet most are inherently geographic. It is important to consider the impact that geography has on the success or failure of an individual firm or a sector. This dissertation examines how location impacts the US farm machinery industry through an empirical analysis of Porter’s Theory of Competitive Advantage. Contributing to this empirical test are other bodies of literature including models for headquarters and research and development siting, product life cycle theory, industry life cycle theory, and green technologies as a driver …

Dental Genetic Traits Of Selected Maya Burials From Wild Cane Cay And Moho Cay, Belize, Kelly Heim

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Farm Fragmentation: Mapping The Status And Trends Of Agricultural Lands In Colorado, Gabrielle Friedman

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Statistical spatial analysis was used in this research to assess the factors contributing to the downsizing of farms as well as overall farm size choice in Colorado. The areas of research focus will be the spatial effects and the economic landscape. This work will challenge the common belief that large, corporate farms are swallowing up small farms in a consolidation effort. Further, the analysis will quantify and visualize the status of agricultural lands in Colorado. The research will help to inform the theoretical understanding of agricultural decision processes within the context of economic and spatial factors.

Defining The Regional And Seasonal Climatic Response Of Long Douglas-Fir Tree-Ring Chronologies In Central Mexico, Grant Howard West

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Problems with instrumental climate data and difficulties arising from the distribution of sensitive, long-term tree-ring chronologies across Mexico's complex terrain have made it difficult to model the climate signal of tree-rings in Mexico. The objective of this research is to utilize the improved long-term, high-resolution, gridded instrumental climate dataset for Mexico recently developed by Zhu and Lettenmaier (2007) to document the climate signal of Douglas-fir in central Mexico. Through correlation analysis between five Douglas-fir tree-ring chronologies created by the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Tree-Ring Laboratory and Zhu and Lettenmaier's (2007) gridded historical climate dataset, this research aims to define the regional …

Dendroclimatic Analysis Of Climate Oscillations For The Southeastern United States From Tree-Ring Network Data, Yanan Li

Masters Theses

Dendroclimatological research along a geographical gradient is important to understanding both spatial and temporal characteristics of climate influences on tree growth. In this study, three tree-ring width chronologies, obtained from field collection and previous research, were used to represent tree growth along a longitudinal transect from coast to inland in the southeastern U.S.: Hope Mills, located at the Atlantic Coastal Plain; Linville Mountain, located on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains; and Gold Mine Trail, located on the western side of the Appalachians. The variations of ring width indices in chronologies reflect extreme climatic events such as severe droughts …

Geospatial Data Accessibility In Web 2.0 Environments, Sara Helen Mcnamee

Masters Theses

Geographically referenced data is becoming a robust source of information because the use of place-based relevance searching is being employed as a popular form of information access and dispersal. To address this trend, the researcher conducted a study on the usability of the USA National Phenology Network (http://www.usanpn.org/), engaging 6 volunteer participants structured usability test of the USANPN mapping application. The participants were asked to complete two tasks, and data was collected both during (in the form of a think aloud exercise) and after the test (in the form of an exit interview). From the data collected, the researcher aimed …

The Effects Of Land-Use Change On The Hydrological Properties Of Andisols In The Ecuadorian Paramo, James Joseph Hartsig

Masters Theses

The Ecuadorian páramo is characterized by unique soil properties that allow the ground to hold large amounts of water. These páramo grasslands support Andean cities and communities as a source of water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use. Although recent research has suggested that changes in land use can decrease the amount of water and affect the water-holding capabilities of the soil, the hydrologic effects of different land uses, including burning for livestock grazing and pine planting for carbon credits, are currently under debate.

This research tested hypotheses about moisture-related properties of páramo soils under different land uses at two …

An Investigation Of Stratigraphic Evidence For An Abrupt Climatic Event 8200 Yr Bp In Valle De Las Morrenas, Costa Rica, Brian Thomas Watson

Masters Theses

Lago de las Morrenas 4 (9.498056° [degrees] N, 83.486111° [degrees] W, 3466 m elev.) is the lowest lake in a chain of glacial lakes located in the Valle de las Morrenas, a valley facing almost due north from Cerro Chirripó, the highest peak in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica. Coarse resolution analyses of pollen, microscopic charcoal, and loss-on-ignition of a ca. 10,000 year sediment record from Lago de las Morrenas 4 was carried out to complement and extend previous research on the environmental history of the Chirripó highlands and to provide context for high-resolution sampling and analysis of …

Using Volunteer Tracking Information For Activity-Based Travel Demand Modeling And Finding Dynamic Interaction-Based Joint-Activity Opportunities, Yitu Xu

Masters Theses

Technology used for real-time locating is being used to identify and track the movements of individuals in real time. With the increased use of mobile technology by individuals, we are now able to explore more potential interactions between people and their living environment using real-time tracking and communication technologies.

One of the potentials that has hardly been taken advantage of is to use cell phone tracking information for activity-based transportation study. Using GPS-embedded smart phones, it is convenient to continuously record our trajectories in a day with little information loss. As smart phones get cheaper and hence attract more users, …

I Will Return As Millions: Bolivia’S Experiment With Neoliberalism And Decentralization, James Stowe

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Gis And Web Technologies For Assessing Sediment Pollution From Abandoned Developments, Joshua Werts

All Theses

The economic crisis that occurred at the time of this research left numerous residential developments in the Southeastern United States in various stages of construction, creating a potential source of sediment runoff to waterways. Sediment runoff is potentially damaging to aquatic ecosystems and lakes. The objectives of this research include identifying these developments in upstate South Carolina through GIS/remote sensing analysis and implementation of an integrated webGIS framework. Residential development locations with significant bare soil areas were identified through GIS analysis involving Landsat 5 TM classification and aerial photograph verification. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used in …

Imagining Place, Fighting For Space The Story Of The National Heritage Area Movement, Jesse Solomon Turiel

Honors Capstone Projects - All

In this paper, I analyze recent economic and political trends by providing an in depth look at the National Heritage Area (NHA) program. By tracing their conception and origination back to the early 1980s, I attempt to place NHAs within the larger framework of deindustrialization and government cutbacks that were occurring at the time. Furthermore, I show how, with their emphasis on building social capital and creating cross-jurisdictional ties, NHAs were a natural response to emerging “new regionalist” ideals in America. By embracing the concept of regional partnerships to enhance economic competitiveness, NHAs signaled a new drive towards geographical thinking …

Critically Exploring The Challenges Of Successful Integration For French-Speaking Newcomers From Visible Minority Groups Within London, Ontario’S Francophone Minority Community, Suzanne N. Huot

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This critical ethnography examines the experiences of French-speaking immigrants from visible minority groups within the London, Ontario Francophone minority community (FMC). It challenges assumptions embedded within understandings of ‘successful’ integration, and highlights barriers faced by immigrants in enacting occupation and negotiating identity. The study draws on occupational science and migration studies, and the theoretical framework incorporates key concepts from Goffman and Bourdieu’s theories of performance and practice and anti-racist and postcolonial feminist literature. Eight immigrants participated in up to five sessions consisting of narrative and in-depth interviews, creating a mental map, and engaging in routine occupations. Six respondents from local …

Handmade And Diy: The Cultural Economy In The Digital Age, Benjamin Joshua Shultz

Doctoral Dissertations

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In recent years there has been growing consensus among academics and policy makers that cultural industries are key drivers of contemporary economic growth. For geographers and economists, the roles of agglomeration and knowledge flows are important factors that sustain the cultural industries. However, existing research focuses overwhelmingly on elite cultural industries in global cities. In addition, there has been little effort to account for new technologies that …

The Sacrum Of The Poole-Rose Ossuary: Health Status, Variation, And Demography, Elizabeth A. Moffett

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.