Geographic Information Sciences Commons^™

Remote Sensing To Detect The Movement Of Wheat Curl Mites Through The Spatial Spread Of Virus Symptoms, And Identification Of Thrips As Predators Of Wheat Curl Mites, Abby R. Stilwell

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The wheat curl mite (WCM), Aceria tosichella Keifer, transmits three viruses to winter wheat: wheat streak mosaic virus, High Plains virus, and Triticum mosaic virus. This virus complex causes yellowing of the foliage and stunting of plants. WCMs disperse by wind, and an increased understanding of mite movement and subsequent virus spread is necessary in determining the risk of serious virus infections in winter wheat. These risk parameters will help growers make better decisions regarding WCM management. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the capabilities of remote sensing to identify virus infected plants and to establish the potential …

Creation Of Soil Liquefaction Susceptibility Maps For San Luis Obispo & Marin Counties Using Geographic Information Systems., Amelia M. Lowman

Earth and Soil Sciences

Liquefaction of soils in response to earthquake shaking is a pressing issue in the state of California. Using Geographic Information Systems, Geological and lithology layers, along with criteria in order to separate out the data into four risk categories, a liquefaction risk assessment map was created for San Luis Obispo and Marin Counties. The accuracy of these maps was then assessed using liquefaction occurrences for San Luis Obispo County, and it was determined that while the map is somewhat accurate, in order to obtain a greater amount of accuracy and increase the usefulness of these maps, more data would need …

Qualitative Spatial Reasoning With Holed Regions, Maria Vasardani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intricacies of real-world and constructed spatial entities call for versatile spatial data types to model complex spatial objects, often characterized by the presence of holes. To date, however, relations of simple, hole-free regions have been the prevailing approaches for spatial qualitative reasoning. Even though such relations may be applied to holed regions, they do not take into consideration the consequences of the existence of the holes, limiting the ability to query and compare more complex spatial configurations. To overcome such limitations, this thesis develops a formal framework for spatial reasoning with topological relations over two-dimensional holed regions, called the …

Using Conservative And Biological Tracers To Better Understand The Transport Of Agricultural Contaminants From Soil Water Through The Epikarstic Zone, Brian Ham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Agriculture contamination is very common in karst systems due to the vulnerability of these aquifers. Animal waste is often spread across crop land to enrich the soil with nitrates and phosphates. Herbicides and pesticides are also applied to the crops. The transport of these pollutants through the soil and epikarst is a difficult process to monitor due to the complex, heterogeneous behavior of the groundwater as it makes its way down to the aquifer below.

An experimental site at Crumps Cave lended a unique opportunity to monitor the vadose zone at a waterfall in the cave below. A previous dye …

Analysis Of Mammoth Cave Pre-Park Communities, Matthew Brunt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Before the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park, this area was home to numerous communities, each with a sense of identity. To prepare for the creation of the National Park, all residents living within these communities were relocated, and many of these communities were lost to the passage of time. Today, public memory of these lost communities is being fostered by the descendents of the pre-park area.

Through the use of a Historical Geographic Information System, 1920 Edmonson County manuscript census data, and statistical analysis, the demographic composition of these lost communities was explored. This project not only brought to …

Lower Tropospheric Temperature Variability Over The Usa: A Gis Approach, Souleymane Fall, Dev Niyogi, Gilbert L. Rochon

GIS Day

We use the high resolution North American Regional Analysis (NARR) dataset to build for the United States a Temperature Change Index (TCI) based on four contributing variables derived from the layer-averaged temperature and lapse rate of the 1000mb - 700mb layer (near-surface to 3000 meters) for the 1979-2008 period. The analysis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods to identify distinct regional patterns based on aggregate temperature trends and variability scores. The resulting index allows us to identify and compare regions that experience high (low) temperature trends and variability that are referred to as hot spots (cold spots). The upper Midwest …

Regional Response To A Statewide Renewable Energy Standard: Status And Trends Of Wind Energy Development In West Michigan, Erik Edward Nordman

Erik Edward Nordman

This project used integrated assessment to explore and analyze regional response to Michigan’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The RPS required electric providers to generate ten-percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Wind was identified as a primary source of renewable energy, and much of the state’s wind resources are concentrated in the West Michigan coastal zone. About 28 percent of the state’s planned wind generation capacity is located in the four-county study area. Local governments vary in their current regulations for siting utility-scale wind farms, as well as in their attitudes toward them. The region has significant offshore …

Mius News: Maps And Imagery User Services @ Fiu Green Library: Vol. 3, Issue 2 Fall 2009, Jill V. Krefft

MIUS News

Florida International University's Fall 2009 Map and User Imagery Services Newsletter; Vol. 3, issue 2.

Mius News: Maps And Imagery User Services @ Fiu Green Library: Vol. 3, Issue 1 Fall 2009, Jill V. Krefft

MIUS News

Florida International University's Fall 2009 Map and User Imagery Services Newsletter.

Precision Navigation Using Pre-Georegistered Map Data, Frederick C. Webber

Theses and Dissertations

Navigation performance in small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is adversely affected by limitations in current sensor technology for small, lightweight sensors. Because most UAVs are equipped with cameras for mission-related purposes, it is advantageous to utilize the camera to improve the navigation solution. This research improves navigation by matching camera images to a priori georegistered image data and combining this update with existing image-aided navigation technology. The georegistration matching is done by projecting the images into the same plane, extracting features using the techniques Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) [5] and Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) [3]. The features are matched …

Resource Conflict Among Farmers And Fulani Herdsmen: Implications For Resource Sustainability, Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin, Marietu Tenuche

Olarewaju Oluseyi Ifatimehin

This study describes the traditional relationship between farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the incessant resource conflict witnessed in Kogi State, Nigeria and how it affects livelihood security of those involved and resource sustainability for the communities. These conflicts are most responsible for the unsustainable utilization of land and water resources as the trampling by the hooves of herds of cattle compacts the soil of farm land, destroy farm crops by the herdsmen, places restraint on effective utilization of arable farmland among other destruction of available resources. It is understood that these conflicts have their roots in the land tenure system, …

Specifying And Detecting Topological Changes To An Areal Object, Jixiang Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Support Vector Methods For Higher-Level Event Extraction In Point Data, Jon Devine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phenomena occur both in space and time. Correspondingly, ability to model spatiotemporal behavior translates into ability to model phenomena as they occur in reality. Given the complexity inherent when integrating spatial and temporal dimensions, however, the establishment of computational methods for spatiotemporal analysis has proven relatively elusive. Nonetheless, one method, the spatiotemporal helix, has emerged from the field of video processing. Designed to efficiently summarize and query the deformation and movement of spatiotemporal events, the spatiotemporal helix has been demonstrated as capable of describing and differentiating the evolution of hurricanes from sequences of images. Being derived from image data, the …

Controlling Influenza A (H1n1) In China: Bayesian Or Frequentist Approach, Dejian Lai, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

In this article we discuss two approaches to controlling the newly identified influenza A (H1N1) via Bayesian and frequentist statistical reasoning. We reviewed the measures implemented in China as an example to illustrate these two approaches. Since May 2009, China has deployed strict controlling mechanisms based on the strong prior Bayesian assumption that the origin of influenza A (H1N1) was from outside China and as such strict border control would keep the virus from entering China. After more than two months of hard work by Chinese health professionals and officials, the number of confirmed influenza A (H1N1) has increased steadily …

A Proposed Architecture For Emergency Response Systems Based On Digital Earth, Dapeng Li

Dapeng Li

No abstract provided.

The Conservation Value Of Tigers: Separating Science From Fiction, Philip J. Nyhus, Ron L. Tilson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Data Storage Scheme For Geo-Spatial Data Organization And Metadata Cataloging, Jennifer Fu

GIS Center

No abstract provided.

Use Of Spatial Boundary Matrices In Web Based Community Characteristics And Public Involvement Strategy Tools, Jennifer Fu

GIS Center

No abstract provided.

Using Geographically Weighted Regression Models To Analyze Crash Harm, Libin Zheng

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Society pays a high cost for collisions in terms of property damage, injuries and loss of life. This paper has two objectives. One is to examine various factors associated with harm caused by highway collisions. Both global OLS and local GWR models are provided to identify specific variables influencing crash harm. Another objective is to demonstrate the use of a Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) method in this complex safety problem, which can estimate models for each crash location and show spatial variation. The results show that the GWR model is a significant improvement on the OLS model; the test for …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Widely Available 3-D Visualization Tools In Support Of Public Participation, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Jennifer L. Weeks, Tim Case

Publications and Research

There is a persistent need for improved tools and techniques to facilitate public involvement in transportation decision making. Despite continuous improvements in increasing public involvement at all phases of transportation decision making, transportation agencies are still seeking more affordable, accessible, and effective means of communicating with a wide range of stakeholders. The report documents a survey of a wide variety of transportation agencies on their use of interactive 3-D visualization for public involvement using an electronic survey. Supplemental qualitative data was generated through telephone interviews with selected survey participants. It concludes with three case studies illustrating applications of interactive 3-D …

Whether To Get An H1n1 Vaccination Or Not?, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

In this interview Dr. Hsu provided public health informatics expertise to answer why or why not to receive H1N1 vaccination.

Swine Flu Myths - Experts Debunk Four Common Myths About Swine Flu, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

To date, no evidence has been found to link eating or handling pork to contracting swine flu. As the cases of the new swine flu virus continue to rise, so too do the misconceptions about the illness. "By eating pork or handling pork products you won't [contract] H1N1," said Ed Hsu, an associate professor of health informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center and a contributor to ABC News's OnCall+ Swine Flu site. "There is no scientific evidence or literature or any studies that suggest that one contracts H1N1 virus through eating pork or handling pork products." Additionally, …

Should I Wear A Mask To Protect Myself From The Flu?, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

It depends. If you already have H1N1 virus infection, you are recommended to wear a mask just to prevent yourself from spreading the virus to others.

Can One Get H1n1 Flu (Swine Flu) From Eating Pork?, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

there is no literature (study) suggesting that human being would get swine flu by eating pork or handling raw pork. Usually, if you prepare or cook your pork/meat product above temperature 70C (160F) the temperature could kill most of the germs and viruses, including h1n1 virus

Swine Flu Vs. Bird Flu: Which Is The Greater Pandemic Threat? New Research Hints At Why Swine Flu Overshadows Bird Flu In Pandemic Potential, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Ed Hsu, associate professor of public health informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences and School of Public Health, agreed. "This study renders potential explanations for why Avian Flu virus does not effectively transmit from human to human -- an important indicator for raising pandemic level." Take, for example, the virulence of bird flu. Despite the relative paucity of human cases of bird flu among humans, Hsu said, 258 people have died since 2003 as a result of the bird flu virus -- a case fatality rate of more than 60 percent. "Once [bird flu] viruses …

2 Billion Infected? Who Stokes Swine Flu Fear, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

One could reasonably question the reliability of WHO's statement of mass infection," he said. "By making such statement without strong backing WHO may risk putting its accountability on the line. "I think that WHO could serve the world health better by providing a more evidence-based, sensible 'benchmark' of H1N1 infection," said Ed Hsu, associate professor of public health informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences and School of Public Health. He argued that the 2 billion figure, based on past pandemics, does not take into account recent public health improvements. Moreover, his own research has suggested …

Swine Flu Likely To Return To U.S. Next Winter - Experts Can't Predict Whether It Will Be More Virulent Or Not, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

explained C. Ed Hsu, an associate professor of public health informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston and associate director of health informatics at the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Preparedness at the University of Texas School of Public Health. "How and when the flu spreads is dependent on other factors as well: the fitness and efficiency of the virus itself along with its innate ability to replicate; the susceptibility of the host; and the environment, which includes not only the weather, but also human behavior (for example, groups of people confined together …

An Embedding Graph For 9-Intersection Topological Spatial Relations, Matthew P. Dube

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the practice of mapmaking, it is commonplace to represent many spatial phenomena as if they were in a different dimension than they truly are. In this context, it is extremely important to understand the total set of relationships available in a two-dimensional setting. Currently, there exist many sets of relations in two dimensions that have been modeled by the 9-intersection matrix. Many of these sets of relations have defined conceptual neighborhood graphs that show the inherent topological similarities between different types of configurations. Many of these sets of relations, however, do not have established conceptual neighborhood graphs. Furthermore, …

Towards Spatial Queries Over Phenomena In Sensor Networks, Guang Jin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Today, technology developments enable inexpensive production and deployment of tiny sensing and computing nodes. Networked through wireless radio, such senor nodes form a new platform, wireless sensor networks, which provide novel ability to monitor spatiotemporally continuous phenomena. By treating a wireless sensor network as a database system, users can pose SQL-based queries over phenomena without needing to program detailed sensor node operations. DBMS-internally, intelligent and energyefficient data collection and processing algorithms have to be implemented to support spatial query processing over sensor networks. This dissertation proposes spatial query support for two views of continuous phenomena: field-based and object-based. A field-based …

Flu Experts Debate Potential Number Of H1n1 Infections Worldwide, Chiehwen Ed Hsu

Chiehwen Ed Hsu

According to ABC News. "I think that WHO could serve the world health better by providing a more evidence-based, sensible 'benchmark' of H1N1 infection," said Ed Hsu, associate professor of public health informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences and School of Public Health. Hsu said that while the WHO's estimates are grounded in historic data, they fail to consider improvement in public health, and his research shows signs that the numbers of swine flu infections in the U.S. are stabilizing. "One could reasonably question the reliability of WHO's statement of mass infection," Hsu said. "By …