Geography Commons^™

Impacts Of Climate Warming And Permafrost Thaw On The Riverine Transport Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus To The Kara Sea, Karen E. Frey, James W. Mcclelland, Robert M. Holmes, Laurence G. Smith

Geography

Measurements of nitrogen and phosphorus (N and P) concentrations from previously unstudied streams and rivers throughout west Siberia suggest that climate warming and/or associated permafrost thaw will likely amplify the transport of N and P to the Kara Sea and adjacent Arctic Ocean. We present concentrations of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), ammonium (NH4-N), nitrate (NO3-N), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) from 96 streams and rivers within the Ob'-Iriysh, Nadym, and Pur river drainage basins. The sampled sites span ∼106 km2, a large climatic gradient (∼55°N-68°N), and include 41 cold, permafrost-influenced and 55 warm, permafrost-free watersheds. Concentrations …

Bureacratizing Ethics: Institutional Review Boards And Participatory Research, Deborah Martin

Geography

This paper provides a brief history of regulatory research ethics, as embodied in Institutional Review Boards in the United States. The purpose is to foster common disciplinary understanding of the origin and purpose of IRBs, and to identify the core conflict between the philosophies of participatory action research and regulatory ethics. That conflict centers on the contradictory language and associated understandings of research "subjects" and "participants". I suggest a need for more disciplinary engagements around this conflict, to foster more open ethical debates and competencies among geographers. © Deborah G. Martin, 2007; journal compilation © ACME Editorial Collective, 2007.

Provenance Tracking In A Commons Of Geographic Data, David B. Mccurry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advancement in digital archiving technologies provides researchers with a multitude of methods for sharing their research and data digitally with others. However, when acquiring data from others directly or indirectly the law often imposes an assumption of copyright in the dataset acquired. This creates a difficult legal situation affecting future use and creation of derivative works from the data. A digital commons may be defined as a shared resource in which creators of contributed materials (data) grant a legal right for all others to use the material under the provisions of an open-access license. This thesis hypothesizes that an approach …

Combining Geospatial And Temporal Ontologies, Kripa Joshi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Publicly available ontologies are growing in number at present. These ontologies describe entities in a domain and the relations among these entities. This thesis describes a method to automatically combine a pair of orthogonal ontologies using cross products. A geospatial ontology and a temporal ontology are combined in this work. Computing the cross product of the geospatial and the temporal ontologies gives a complete set of pairwise combination of terms from the two ontologies. This method offers researchers the benefit of using ontologies that are already existing and available rather than building new ontologies for areas outside their scope of …

Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations In The South Bronx: Changes In The Nyc Community Districts Comprising Mott Haven, Port Morris, Melrose, Longwood, And Hunts Point, 1990 - 2005, Astrid Rodríguez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report analyzes demographic and socioeconomic characteristics among the five largest Latino nationality groups during 1990-2005 in South Bronx, specifically the neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Port Morris, Melrose, Longwood, and Hunts Point.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino subgroup in the South Bronx, accounting for over half of the total population by 2005 although their …

Household Land Management And Biodiversity: Secondary Succession In A Forest-Agriculture Mosaic In Southern Mexico, Rinku Roy Chowdhury

Geography

This study evaluates anthropogenic and ecological dimensions of secondary forest succession in Mexico's southern Yucatán peninsular region, a hotspot of biodiversity and tropical deforestation. Secondary succession in particular constitutes an ecologically and economically important process, driven by and strongly influencing land management and local ecosystem structures and dynamics. As agents of local land management, smallholding farmers in communal, i.e., ejido lands affect rates of forest change, biodiversity, and sustainability within and beyond their land parcels. This research uses household survey's and land parcel mapping in two ejidos located along the buffer of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve to analyze how household …

The Association Between Distance To Water Pipes And Water Bodies Positive For Anopheline Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) In The Urban Community Of Malindi, Kenya, Daniel E. Impoinvil, Joseph Keating, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Robert Duncan, Gabriel Cardenas, Sajjad Ahmad, Charles M. Mbogo, John I. Githure, John C. Beier

Geography

The increasing risk of mosquito-borne diseases in African urban environments has been partly attributed to failed planning and resource underdevelopment. Though engineered systems may reduce mosquito proliferation, there are few studies describing this relationship. This study investigates how engineered systems such as roads and piped water systems affect the odds of anopheline immatures (i.e., larvae and pupae) occurring in water bodies located in Malindi, Kenya. Anopheles gambiae s.s. (Giles), An. arabiensis (Patton), and An. merus (Dointz) were identified in urban Malindi, with Anopheles gambiae s.s. being the predominant species identified. The Breslow-Day test was used to explore interactions among independent …

Gis Analysis For Abu Dhabi Schools, Shaima Hassan Hammadi

Theses

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become an indispensable tool in many fields of study and research. GIS is useful for choosing sites, targeting market segments, planning infrastructure facilities and responding to emergencies. GIS is internationally used for the educational sector in different aspects such as planning schools allocation and managing educational resources. This thesis investigated the spatial distribution of schools in Abu Dhabi with respect to population density and service areas, generated prospective locations for constructing new schools based on the current and future demand using multi-criteria decision rules, developed a road network system that helps in finding shortest and …

Overcoming Global Ignorance: Developing Geographic Literacy In A World Regional Geography Course, Amy Seymour

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The most recent Roper Survey (2006), a study of geographic literacy among 18-to 24-year-olds, found that despite constant coverage of the war in Iraq since 2003, 63% of Americans surveyed could not find Iraq on a map. Similar shortcomings abound in the poll, pointing to what must be considered a "geographic illiteracy" among Americans. This national geographic illiteracy has global implications that range from the local to the global scale, including issues of politics, economics, foreign policy, environmental policy, and resource use to name just a few. How badly prepared, then, are students entering colleges and universities in terms of …

Commuting Analysis In A Small Metropolitan Area - A Case Study Of Bowling Green/Warren County, Kentucky, Caitlin Hagar

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In previous studies of urban commutes, little attention has been paid to commute patterns in smaller urban areas. In this study, the concept of "excess commute" (EC) is applied to the Bowling Green-Warren County Metropolitan Statistical Area (BGWCMSA) in Kentucky. EC quantifies the portion of commute distance explained by the overall spatial separation of jobs and households. Results in this thesis research show that approximately 65% of commute distance by persons driving alone in the study area can be explained by the physical locations of homes relative to job sites as well as the existing roadway network, leaving an EC …

Wal-Mart Versus Meijer: A Spatial And Economic Analysis Of Supercenter Competition In Michigan, Christopher J. Washebek

Masters Theses

My research will examine the spatial and demographic strategies of supercenter firms in the State of Michigan, namely those operated by Meijer, Inc. and Wal-Mart, Inc. The competitive nature of retailing in Michigan shifted heavily in 2000 when Wal-Mart brought its Supercenter format to Michigan, making it a direct competitor to Meijer, who has operated in Michigan since 1962. Within seven years, Wal-Mart expanded its Michigan Supercenter operations from one in 2000 to forty-five in 2007. In many cases, small towns throughout the state are supporting both Meijer and a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Heavy competition of this nature between two supercenter …

Correction: Using Participatory Design To Develop (Public) Health Decision Support Systems Through Gis, S. Michelle Driedger, Anita Kothari, Jason Morrison, Michael Sawada, Eric J. Crighton, Ian D. Graham

Anita Kothari

Background: Organizations that collect substantial data for decision-making purposes are often characterized as being 'data rich' but 'information poor'. Maps and mapping tools can be very useful for research transfer in converting locally collected data into information. Challenges involved in incorporating GIS applications into the decision-making process within the non-profit (public) health sector include a lack of financial resources for software acquisition and training for nonspecialists to use such tools. This on-going project has two primary phases. This paper critically reflects on Phase 1: the participatory design (PD) process of developing a collaborative web-based GIS tool.

Methods: A case study …

An Evaluation Of A Low-Cost Uav Approach To Noxious Weed Mapping, Brandon Tyler Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Mapping their location and extent is a critical step in noxious weed management. One of the most common methods of mapping noxious weeds is to walk the perimeter of each patch with a handheld GPS receiver. This is the method used at Camp Williams, a National Guard Bureau training facility in Utah where this study was conducted. It was proposed that a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that made use of a hobbyist remote control airplane equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and digital camera could be used along with automated post-processing techniques to reduce the cost of …

Cutler Bay Township: Sea Level Rise 1990 - 2160 Resulting From Global Climate Change, Peter Harlem

Sea Level Rise Collection

Draft Document.

Presentation of maps produced from digital LIDAR elevation grids and contoured at 1 ft. levels illustration sea level rise for the Cutler Bay Township in Miami-Dade County.

Vulnerability And The Erosion Of Seismic Culture In Mountainous Central Asia, Sarah J. Halvorson, Jennifer Parker Hamilton

Geography Faculty Publications

Vulnerability to earthquake disasters in mountainous regions frequently escapes investigation and analysis. The tragic and costly earthquake disasters that have recently occurred in Central Asia have spurred important questions among local, regional, and international policymakers, scientists, and social activists regarding the root causes of earthquake vulnerability. Drawing on an analysis of recent earthquake disasters in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, this article explores the concept of “seismic culture” (Degg and Homan 2005) in relation to vulnerability. Specifically, it argues that diminishing levels of indigenous hazard knowledge, demographic shifts, gendered livelihood transformations, and the lack of public access to science- based …

The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake: A Perspective On Women's Experiences, Jennifer Parker Hamilton, Sarah Halvorson

Geography Faculty Publications

The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake is illustrative of the intensity and scope associated with catastrophic earthquake disasters in mountainous regions. The experience of the immediate aftermath, relief and recovery, and community reconstruction underscores how this event impacted mountain women, particularly in their roles in rescue and relief efforts and in rebuilding households and communities. A situational analysis was undertaken in order to document and make recommendations for the significant challenges and concerns facing women earthquake survivors in 3 of the valleys most proximate to the epicenter. Earthquake planning and mitigation strategies in northern Pakistan and elsewhere need to focus on reducing …

"Questions About Stuff You Don't Normally See On A Map:" A Study Of Sixth-Graders' Abilities To Understand Quantitative Thematic Maps, Stephanie Lynn Gaspers

Dissertations and Theses

Middle school students work with many types of maps in school, however most maps they use are qualitative thematic maps that only show differences in kind as compared to quantitative thematic maps that show differences in amounts. This thesis investigates sixth-grade students' abilities to analyze three types of thematic maps: dot maps, choropleth maps, and graduated circle maps. Two hundred and two Oregon sixth-graders were tested on their abilities to interpret map symbology, make inferences from the data, categorize values into regions, and ask geographic questions concerning data distributions. The results indicate that students can understand these three quantitative thematic …

Mius News: Maps And Imagery User Services @ Fiu Green Library: Vol. 1, Issue 1 2007, Jill V. Krefft

MIUS News

Fall 2007 Newsletter for FIU's Maps and Imagery User Services department.

Kaleidoscope Eyes: Geography, Gender, And The Media, Christina E. Dando

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

We are suggesting…a change in attitudes and perceptions, a substantial shift in the angle of vision, a recognition, in short, of the supreme social, and thus geographic, fact that women, as individuals or as a class, exist under much different conditions and constraints in a world quite different from, however, closely linked with, that inhabited by males. The human geographer must view reality stereoscopically, so to speak, through the eyes of both men and women, since to do otherwise is to remain more than half-blind.

(Zelinsky, Monk and Hanson 1982, 353)¹

Picture yourself in a boat on a river, …

Who Will Put America Back Together Again?, David J. Keeling

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Applicability Of Satellite Remote Sensing And Gis Techniques And Ground Data In Watershed Planning: The Case Of Kubili, Nigeria, Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

Watershed land and hydrology are resources that are very important in agricultural development. Adequate and proper land use planning and management of these resources is of ultimate importance in sustainable development. In this study remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were used to generate information on the current status and utilization potentials of the Kubili watershed and generate local specific micro watershed development plans for the area. The study revealed that about 33.25 per cent of the land cover is used for rain fed agriculture that lacks sufficient soil and moisture to support good yield. The drainage density …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 1, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Gis Aided Archaeological Research Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas With Focus On The Landscape And River Crossings Along El Camino Carretera., Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Many generations of indigenous pathways through the forests of eastern Texas have their origins obscured in antiquity. Utilized by early European explorers, these pathways became modified through heavy use and the expansions and improvements needed to accommodate easy passage of European horses and carts and finally the heavy wagons of Anglo-American settlers. The first road through Texas, El Camino Real de Los Tejas, utilized portions of these early trails.

El Camino Carretera (known as the cart road) is an early segment of El Camino Real de los Tejas that crossed the Sabine River at the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. …

Remote Sensing And Gis Analysis Of Spatial Distribution Of Fracture Patterns In The Makran Accretionary Prism, Southeast Iran, Shankar Babu Pokharel

Geosciences Theses

This study shows that remote sensing and GIS are powerful tools in identifying geologically induced lineaments from digitally enhanced ETM+ satellite imageries and the digital elevation model (DEM) in remote areas such as the Makran accretionary prism, southeast Iran. The presence of the conjugate shear fractures in the eastern part, along with the extensional, and the presence of reidal sets associated with the subsidiary fractures of the Minab-Zendal fault system in the western part, suggests that the structural pattern changes from pure shear to simple shear from east to the west across the prism. Moreover, the gradual increase in the …

Comparative Baseflow Hydrochemistry Of Various Septic System Density Groups Within The Yellow River Watershed, Gwinnett County, Georgia, Robert Carl Neurath

Geosciences Theses

Baseflow water chemistry between different septic system density groups was analyzed to understand how septic system usage impacts the water quality of the Yellow River Watershed located in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Seventy water samples were collected at baseflow conditions in the summer of 2006. The samples were analyzed for the abundance and distribution of chlorides, sulfates, nitrates, and specific conductance. Geographic Information Systems were used to determine sample collection sites, assign samples into density groups, and spatially analyze and display the results. Statistical methods were used to compare the results of each density group with all others,and to find any …

Middle To Late Holocene Environmental Change And Human Impacts In Seasonally Dry Neotropical Forest Of Northwestern Costa Rica: Sedimentary Evidence From Six Lakes, Martin R. Arford

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents evidence of long-term changes in climate, fire, and vegetation in northwestern Costa Rica, as revealed by sediment profiles from lakes on the seasonally dry, lower Pacific slope of Miravalles volcano in Guanacaste province (10.7^o N, 85.2^o W). Sediment cores were recovered for pollen and charcoal analysis from six lakes formed by volcanic activity approximately 8200 years ago.

Six regional pollen zones were delineated based on changes in pollen and sediments, and dated by AMS radiocarbon determinations on macrofossils. The basal pollen zone (Zone 6, prior to 8000 cal yr BP) comprises elastic sediments that correspond …

An Analysis Of The Spatial Distribution Of Chiefdom Settlements: Modeling The Mississippian Culture In The Tennessee River Valley, Jonathan Witcoski

Masters Theses

Location-allocation models based on optimization criteria are appropriate tools for the analysis of archaeological settlement patterns. In early agricultural societies, elite classes might maximize their control of the population and resources by optimally situating their primary settlements. Location-allocation models can simulate the multiple factors that potentially underlie settlement site location decisions. I describe several maximal covering models and their applicability to understand the degree of political centralization in the Upper Tennessee River Valley during several Mississippian archaeological cultural phases (900 to 1600 A.D.). My results support the notion that the main objective of the Mississippian elite in choosing sites for …

Late Holocene Charcoal Stratigraphy And Modern Charcoal Deposition In The Pine Rocklands Of Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas, David N. West

Masters Theses

The paleoecological history of the Bahamas archipelago is one of change throughout the Holocene, and is recorded in the sediments deposited in solution holes. However, with its karstic pine rocklands landscape, Great Abaco Island has virtually no overland flow of water, neither rivers nor sheet-flow. This means that transport of charcoal produced through biomass burning and deposited in local ponds and solution holes is primarily microscopic in size and is probably transported by wind. Fires in the pine rocklands are mainly low-intensity ground fires that result in very little aerial transport of charcoal. Unless a fire occurs immediately adjacent to …

The Rise Of A Hispanic Enclave In Davidson County, Tennessee, Jim Chaney

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In recent years, the United States has observed a significant increase in the Hispanic population within its borders through immigration. Since the 1980s, there has been a shift in the immigration and movement of the Hispanic population from border states to states in the southeastern United States. Many Hispanics, attracted by employment opportunities, have moved into growing metropolitan areas in the American South. In some of these cities, new Hispanic immigrants have created distinct enclaves. These enclaves provide almost all needs for the Hispanic community, such as shopping, healthcare, legal assistance, dining, employment, entertainment, and religion. This study examines the …

Mapping Better Business Strategies With Gis, Tin Seong Kam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The value of location as a business measure is fast becoming an important consideration for organisations. GIS (Geographical Information Systems), with its capability to manage, display, analyse business information spatially, is emerging as a powerful location intelligence tool. In the US, Starbucks, Blockbuster, Hyundai, and thousands of other businesses use census data and GIS software to help them understand what types of people buy their products and services, and how to better market to these consumers. For example, McDonald’s in Japan uses a GIS system to overlay demographic information on maps to help identify promising new store sites. Singapore Management …