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Physical and Environmental Geography Commons™

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2003

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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Physical and Environmental Geography

The Best "Lied" Plans: Engaging Undergraduate Participation In Fieldwork, Andrew J. Bach Oct 2003

The Best "Lied" Plans: Engaging Undergraduate Participation In Fieldwork, Andrew J. Bach

Environmental Studies Faculty and Staff Publications

This paper describes a field project from an introductory soils course taught in spring 2001. Looking at soils in the field is a necessity, since the physical details of soils cannot be readily reproduced in a class or lab setting.Convincing students that crawling into a muddy hole will help them learn does not always work. So I conceived a plan to inspire the class about looking at soil in the field. I used geography as a starting point, by selecting an extraordinary environmental setting for the field project. Then I fully developed a research project for the class, including hypotheses …

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Assessing The Acceptance Of The New Environmental Paradigm In Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Jaclyn Rose Burke Apr 2003

Assessing The Acceptance Of The New Environmental Paradigm In Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Jaclyn Rose Burke

Masters Theses

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, there has been an expanding popular movement to protect the environment and a growing consciousness that humans are an integral part of nature. The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) is a worldview that emphasizes the relationship that exists between humans and the environment. The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to assess Kalamazoo County, Michigan residents' attitudes on the environment based on their acceptance of the NEP. The acceptance of the NEP by Kalamazoo County residents was evaluated by residents' responses on a survey developed to measure their environmental attitudes. Kalamazoo County was found …

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Soil Survey Enhancement Of Landsat Thematic Mapper Delineation Of Wetlands: A Case Study Of Barry County, Michigan, Rosemary Ann Anger Apr 2003

Soil Survey Enhancement Of Landsat Thematic Mapper Delineation Of Wetlands: A Case Study Of Barry County, Michigan, Rosemary Ann Anger

Masters Theses

The Landsat Thematic Mapper Satellite system has provided a unique platform for the study of natural and man-made features since 1972. This suite of sensors has become an important tool in assessing vegetation type and health over large areas of the earth. This paper reviews the Landsat Thematic Mapper’s ability to categorize wetlands using an unsupervised classification scheme. A preliminary exploration of an unsupervised classification of wetlands using soil engineering characteristics from the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s soil survey as a pseudo bandwidth is described. The result of this project suggests that when compared to the National Wetlands Inventory, a …

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Non-Optimal Levels Of Suburbanization, Philip E. Graves Jan 2003

Non-Optimal Levels Of Suburbanization, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Suburbanization has many causes, among which is the attempt to relocate to acquire a more desirable vector of local public goods. The traditional economists' procedure for valuing public goods involves vertical aggregation of marginal willingness to pay, at a given income level. This approach is flawed by failing to recognize that individuals will not work for goods that cannot be acquired individually with higher incomes. There will be a parallel input market failure any time there is a public good output market failure, thus the `given income' of the traditional valuation method is too low. Hence, traditional valuation methods result …

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Das Zeitalter Der Knappheit – Ressourcen, Konflikte, Lebenschancen, Isidor Wallimann, Michael Dobkowski Jan 2003

Das Zeitalter Der Knappheit – Ressourcen, Konflikte, Lebenschancen, Isidor Wallimann, Michael Dobkowski

Books

Michael N. Dobkowski and Isidor Wallimann establish a disturbing but realistic scenario of the disastrous future that awaits humankind as surplus populations collide with dwindling resources. Authors consider a number of cause-and-effect situations on industrialization, biophysical limits, exponential population growth, and genocide, to name a few. This volume is a critical contribution to the field and will serve as an ideal introduction to courses in the environment, population, resources, genocide, and social conflict.

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Evaluation Of The Ncep/Ncar Reanalysis In Terms Of Synoptic Scale Phenomea: A Case Study From The Midwestern Usa, Justin T. Schoof, S C. Pryor Jan 2003

Evaluation Of The Ncep/Ncar Reanalysis In Terms Of Synoptic Scale Phenomea: A Case Study From The Midwestern Usa, Justin T. Schoof, S C. Pryor

Publications

We evaluate the ability of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–National Center for Atmosphere Research (NCAR) reanalysis to represent the synoptic-scale climate of the Midwestern USA relative to radiosonde data. Independent, automated synoptic classifications, based on rotated principal component analysis (PCA) of 500 hPa geopotential heights, 850 hPa air temperatures, and 200 hPa wind speeds and a two-step clustering algorithm, result in a 15-type NCEP–NCAR synoptic classification and a 14-type radiosonde classification. The classifications are examined in terms of similarities and differences in the modes of variance manifest in the PCA solutions, the spatial patterns and variability of input …

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Gis Modeling Of Desert Root Crop Maturation On The Mid-Columbia Plateau, Mary Michelle Phillips Jan 2003

Gis Modeling Of Desert Root Crop Maturation On The Mid-Columbia Plateau, Mary Michelle Phillips

All Master's Theses

The settlement patterns of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Columbia Plateau were choreographed to match the cadence of the seasons, with movements timed to efficiently utilize available resources. Desert roots, such as lomatium and bitterroot, provided a primary source of dietary nutrition, yet the ideal conditions for exploiting these plant resources coalesced for a very limited time in any one location. It was therefore necessary to possess an intimate knowledge of the plants' lifecycles in order to effectively plan gathering activities. In order to predict the growth patterns and maturation rates of these desert root crops, a GIS model was …

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Transportation And Land Use Patterns: Monitoring Urban Change Using Aerial Photography, Portland, Oregon 1925-1945, Paul Hagen Fyfield Jan 2003

Transportation And Land Use Patterns: Monitoring Urban Change Using Aerial Photography, Portland, Oregon 1925-1945, Paul Hagen Fyfield

Dissertations and Theses

American urban neighborhoods are a patchwork; the spatial arrangement of types is a reflection of the dominant transportation technology at the time of their development. The earliest suburban areas were made accessible by fixed route systems such as the electric streetcar, followed by the widespread adoption of the automobile; each transportation epoch resulted in characteristic patterns of land use. This study uses aerial photographic coverage of Portland, Oregon from the years 1925, 1936, and 1945, a time of decline for the once popular trolley lines and dramatic increase in automobile usage, to monitor change within the residential areas of Portland's …

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Canyonlands National Park, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey Jan 2003

Canyonlands National Park, Robert J. Johnson, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Satellite image map of Canyonlands National Park, Utah

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Futures Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: The Prospective Process Through Scenario Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: A Tool For Exploring Human Futures, John Ratcliffe, Lorcan Sirr Jan 2003

Futures Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: The Prospective Process Through Scenario Thinking For The Built And Human Environment: A Tool For Exploring Human Futures, John Ratcliffe, Lorcan Sirr

Articles

We are currently living through an era where we can, and need to, create exciting new possibilities in the way we think about, plan, design and build new places and spaces for working and living. At the same time, two irresistible forces – change and complexity – face decision-makers charged with framing and executing future policy and practice for the built and human environment. This paper generally argues the case for employing a ‘prospective’ process through scenario thinking for strategic planning and management in the urban arena. It does not attempt to identify or explore the advances made in planning …

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State Laws And The Independent Judiciary: An Analysis Of The Effects Of The Seventeenth Amendment On The Number Of Supreme Court Cases Holding State Laws Unconstitutional, Donald J. Kochan Dec 2002

State Laws And The Independent Judiciary: An Analysis Of The Effects Of The Seventeenth Amendment On The Number Of Supreme Court Cases Holding State Laws Unconstitutional, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

In recent years, the Seventeenth Amendment has been the subject of legal scholarship, congressional hearings and debate, Supreme Court opinions, popular press articles and commentary, state legislative efforts aimed at repeal, and activist repeal movements. To date, the literature on the effects of the Seventeenth Amendment has focused almost exclusively on the effects on the political production of legislation and competition between legislative bodies. Very little attention has been given to the potential adverse effects of the Seventeenth Amendment on the relationship between state legislatures and the federal courts. This Article seeks to fill part of that literature gap, applying …

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