Digital Commons Network^™

Becoming Native, Patricia Monaghan

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

With relentless beaks, a squad of crows attacked a winter field. It was a fine fair Irish field, sweeping upwards in the pale sunlight towards a dark bulwark of rhododendrons surrounding a single gnarled oak, beneath which three ruddy cattle grazed. Welcoming this peaceable scene as an excuse to slow my journey, I parked on the verge and walked to the field's iron gate.

Navigating The Starless Night: Strategies For Understanding Autobiogeography, Matthew Wolf-Meyer, Davin Heckman

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Ancient mapmakers relied upon the presence of celestial bodies for their conceptualization of the world, for their external knowledge-making tools, as if a far-off body could help to make sense of our terrestrial life/as if it couldn't. Cosmology, as a practice, relied on the construction of an external body of knowledge that the local meaning-maker could situate him- or herself into, and more broadly, their entire society and culture -- the interior is determined by its relationship to the exterior (or the exteriorized). For the ancient Greeks then, the font of Western culture, this cosmology works at once …

Processes Of Embodiment And Spatialization In The Writings Of Paul Auster, Markus Rheindorf

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Processes of embodiment and the spatialization of interior categories such as thought and memory are defining characteristics of Paul Auster's novels, essays, and poetry, and a brief survey of these aspects can offer a new perspective on Auster's oeuvre as an organic whole. It is the underlying assumption of this paper that the transformation of interior into exterior constitutes a specific instance of the transpositional processes discussed therein. Within the theoretical framework of cultural studies -- as opposed to the more narrowly defined literary studies -- such transformations can be regarded as processes of embodiment, that is to …

The Use Of Geographic Information Systems To Study Repeat Victims Of Domestic Abuse In The Waterloo Region Of Ontario, Canada, Claudia Saheb

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The importance of repeat victims as an effective target for crime prevention measures has been widely recognised. Many have studied repeat victims of property crimes, but few have studied repeat victims of personal crimes and their spatial distribution. This study used 1996 and 1997 crime data from the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) in Ontario, Canada and focused specifically on domestic-abuse-related crimes and repeat victims of those crimes. Various methods of mapping and analysis were used to better understand the spatial distribution of those crimes and vulnerability of the victims. Standardised crime rates and crime density were calculated. Thematic and …

Bedrock Geology Of West Fork Quadrangle, Washington County, Arkansas, Jack T. King, Maria E. King, Stephen K. Boss

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

A digital geologic map of West Fork quadrangle was produced at 1:24,000 scale using the geographic information system (GIS) software Maplnfo. Data regarding stratigraphic relations observed in the field were digitized onto the United States Geological Survey (USGS) digital raster graphic (DRG) of West Fork quadrangle. The geology of West Fork quadrangle consists of sedimentary rocks of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian systems. The Fayetteville Shale and Pitkin Formation represent the Mississippian system. The Hale, Bloyd, and Atoka Formations represent the Pennsylvanian System. Each of these formations consists of members that were mapped at 1:24,000 scale, and this mapping effort represents …

Revised Bedrock Geology Of War Eagle Quadrangle, Benton County, Arkansas, Robert A. Sullivan, Stephen K. Boss

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

A digital geologic map of War Eagle quadrangle (WEQ) was produced at the 1:24000 scale using the geographic information system (GIS) software ArcView® by digitizing geological contacts onto the United States Geological Survey (USGS) digital raster graphic (DRG). The geology of WEQ consists of sedimentary rocks of Ordovician (Cotter, Powell, and Everton Formations), Devonian (Clifty Formation and Chattanooga Shale), and Mississippian (St. Joe-Boone, Batesville, and Fayetteville Formations) systems. Impoundment of Beaver Lake in 1966 inundated most Ordovician rocks cropping out in WEQ, but all three formations were present in isolated outcrops along the present shoreline of the lake. The St. …

From Bricks And Mortar To Bricks And Clicks: The Transformation Of A Bank Branch Network Within The Greater Toronto Area (Ontario), Michelle Anne Mok

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Over the last 20 years, Canadian retail financial services have undergone a dramatic transformation due to a number of driving forces: technology, globalization, changing lifestyles and demographics, competition, and deregulation. Because retail financial services have been impacted, the way Canadians perform banking transactions has also been impacted, resulting in a shift from a spatially-oriented banking approach to a non-spatial approach. Transactions are being performed using alternative delivery channels including the automated banking machine, telephone banking, internet banking, point of sale purchasing, and new format branches, rather than in the traditional branch network. This research examines changes in the branch network …

An Analysis Of The Demand For Passenger Rail Services In Peninsular Malaysia, Tick Seng Lee

Student Works (2000-2009)

Rail passenger service is an important part of Malaysia's public transport system where Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) is the only sole provider of intercity rail passenger services in Peninsular Malaysia. For years, there has been a decline in the number of intercity train passengers. This paper attempts to evaluate the factors, which determine the demand for rail passenger services. Binary logit models were built based on the data collected from the train passenger survey and bus passenger survey that were conducted across the Peninsular whereby the socioeconomic and demographic variables were coded into dummy variables so that these variables …

Risk, Vulnerability And Environmental Hazards In The Village Of Darkot, Northern Pakistan, Nicholas Andrew Cradock-Henry

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Conventional approaches to studying environmental risks and hazards have focused on the physical parameters of geomorphic, hydrologic and climatic events—magnitude, duration and frequency—without adequately accounting for the role of human agency in averting disaster and distributing loss. Secondly, where human intervention was recognized it was often in an incriminating way, particularly in work dealing with the developing world or peripheral regions such as mountain areas. Here, humans were portrayed as helpless victims; unable to successfully adapt to their environment or else they were viewed as having played an unwitting role in their own downfall through ‘short-sighted’ agricultural practices such as …

Radiation Budget, Ground Thermal Regime And Hydrological Balance Of A Low Arctic Tundra Basin, Coppermine River, Northwest Territories, David S. Turcotte

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The effects of slope, aspect and vegetation cover on the radiation balance and active layer thermal regime of arctic tundra were investigated during the summer of 1999 and the spring of 2000. The study site is located at Daring Lake, N.W.T (64°52'N, 111°35'W) in the Slave Geological Province of the Coppermine River Basin. A sub-basin 14 ha in area and with approximately 30 meters of relief was intensely monitored for hydrological radiation and energy balance components. Initiation of active layer development and subsequent thawing was earlier and more pronounced on predominantly west facing slopes due to increased receipt of incoming …

Health And Development: Infectious Intestinal Diseases In A Transborder Region (United States-Mexico), Flavia Bianchi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Intestinal infectious diseases are considered the northern Mexican border’s most obvious challenge facing children. The Mexico-US Border region is a 200-kilometer border zone that extends 100 kilometers on either side of an imaginary borderline and stretches 3,141 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. In 2000, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization’s representative for the Americas, published a study of the top causes of mortality between 1995 and 1997 to estimate the absolute burden of mortality in the primary Mexican and American border community, collectively known as the Sister Cities. Using the PAHO …

Impact Of Land Use Change On Hydroelectric Power Generation In Cameron Highlands, Fook Kun Choy

Student Works (2000-2009)

This study assesses the impact of land use changes on annual energy production of the hydro stations of Cameron Highlands Hydroelectric Scheme. Land use affects sediment load and streamflow of Sungai Telom and Sungai Bertam, which influences power generation and energy production of the several hydro stations in Cameron Highlands. Data of rainfall, streamflow, suspended sediment load, land use and energy output for the period 1964 to 1998 were collected, processed and analysed. Regression analysis, double mass curve method and double ratio technique were used in the assessment. The suspended sediment load and annual runoff of Sungai Telom and Sungai …

Application Of Gis As An Environmental Monitoring Tool For Ambient Air Quality, Poh Aun Tan

Student Works (2000-2009)

The purpose of this study is to utilize Geographic Information System tool for the purpose of developing a customized Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Tool (AMAQUM). A PC based ArcView GlS software was chosen for the purpose of constructing a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). This application was customized using an extensive Avenue scripting language associated with Dialog Designer in the ArcView environment. The AMAQUM developed consists of three main components or interfaces i.e. air quality modelling, ground level concentration and monitored ambient air quality. Firstly, the air quality modelling interface has the capability of running the ISCST3 air quality model …

A Study On The Sustainable Development Of Cameron Highlands, Jin Hooi Chan

Student Works (2000-2009)

Cameron Highlands, located in the mountain area of tropical forest of Peninsular Malaysia, is a popular tourist destination and is also suitable for tea and vegetable farming. It has also been developed for hydroelectric power generation. Development activities have recently been intensified creating enormous stress to the environment. This thesis investigates the sustainability of the development in Cameron Highlands. It adopts a holistic approach based on the Pressure-State-Response framework. The methodology adopted is mainly library research, with supplementary environmental data processing and calculation. The pressure of the development of agriculture, tourism and hydropower generation on the environment is analyzed. Then, …

Urban Traffic Externalities And Housing Value, Michael Owen Carpenter

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study explores the relationship between high-capacity urban roadways and housing value. The traffic on high-capacity urban roadways is expected to generate negative externalities, depressing the value of nearby housing. These same roads also provide accessibility, which is expected to capitalize into housing value as a bonus. The hypothesis underlying this research is that houses near high-traffic, high-speed roads suffer a penalty to their value as the negative externalities generated by the road are capitalized. However, as distance from these roads increases and the presence of negative externalities decreases, houses will capitalize a net benefit due to the accessibility gained …

Virginia Geographic Information System (Gis) Programs And Resources For Libraries, Stuart Frazer

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Over the last ten years geographic information systems (GIS) have drawn increasing attention from the library community. In Virginia the way has been led by the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech library systems, both members of the Association of Research Libraries' GIS Literacy Project (http://www.arl.org/info/gis/index.html) begun in 1992. Many of the Commonwealth's other college and university libraries are now offering GIS services at varying levels of complexity. As library interest in GIS grows, the time seems right for a roundup of resources available from higher education and public sector organizations across the Commonwealth.

Broad Are Nebraska's Rolling Plains: The Early Writings Of George Bird Grinnell, Richard Vaughan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Profiles the life of writer George Bird Grinnell (1849-1938) and the influence his first trip to Nebraska had in shaping his early writings about the American West. Among the works he published were several groundbreaking books about the Plains Indians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Not only did this 1870 trip to Nebraska, as a member of O. C. Marsh’s first Yale Paleontological Expedition, influence Grinnell's scholarly endeavors, but his deep interest in the state also influenced his lifelong devotion to environmental preservation and established him as an important advocate for the protection and welfare of Native …

Glacial Deposits, Vol. 30, 2001-2002, Department Of Geography-Geology

Glacial Deposits

Newsletter of the Department of Geography-Geology

The Progression Of Recycling In Bowling Green, Kentucky, Susan Marklin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Recycling is an important issue when dealing with solid waste. It keeps many tons of garbage out of our landfills and prolongs landfill life. Although many people in the Bowling Green area participate in the mandatory recycling program, there are still many who do not. The number of people who participate in the program has steadily grown over the past five years; however, there are still many people who need to get involved. This research argues that much effort has been put into recycling in recent years at the global, national, and local level. However, it also argues that even …

1998 Debris Flows Near The Yakima River, Kittitas County, Washington—Some Geomorphic Implications, Martin R. Kaatz

Geography Faculty Scholarship

The geomorphic consequences of debris flows and their asso- ciated storms have been documented in many parts of the United States. Few, if any, have been studied and documented in central Washington. The importance of recurrent debris flows in sculpting Washington landscapes has not been generally recognized compared to other processes. Arid and semi-arid regions are particularly vulnerable to debris flows triggered by sudden intense thunderstorms. Most such areas are sparsely populated and eyewitnesses are uncommon. By contrast, semi-arid central Washington is relatively well popu- lated, and there are likely to be people who have observed the storms. Such witnesses …

A Geostatistical Screening Strategy For Assessing Contaminated Sediment, Yasuyo K. Makido

Masters Theses

Many environmental problems involve the collection and interpretation of spatial data. Screening methods attempt to develop efficient test procedures to determine the presence and absence of contaminants in samples. Screening methods can reduce monitoring costs and effectively identify contamination problems. Adaptive sampling has the flexibility to adjust for follow-up sampling based on the observed patterns in the population. Geostatistical method is employed for the adaptive sampling scheme. Geostatistics are statistical methodologies that use spatial coordinates to help formulate models used in estimation and prediction.

This study seeks to map Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) concentrations in sediment in Lake Allegan and Morrow …

The Central And East European Automotive Industry Restructuring, Petr Pavlinek

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

have come to the Slavic Research Center of the Hokkaido University to study the profound changes that have been taking place in the automotive industry of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since 1990. My work is based on several field research visits to the Czech Republic that included in depth interviews conducted with key informants (plant managers, trade union leaders and ministry officials) in car factories, car component plants and governmental institutions. The automotive industry restructuring in the 1990s involved a number of complex issues that my research addresses, such as the effects of price and trade liberalization in the …

Religion And Technology: Refiguring Place, Space, Identity And Community, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper reviews the literature on the religion-technology nexus, drawing up a research agenda and offering preliminary empirical insights. Firsts I stress the need to explore the new politics of space as a consequence of technological development, emphasizing questions about the role of religion in effecting a form of religious (neo)imperialism, and uneven access to techno-religious spaces. Second, I highlight the need to examine the politics of identity and community, since cyberspace is not an isotropic surface. Third, I underscore the need to engage with questions about the poetics of religious community as social relations become mediated by technology. Finally, …

La Homogeneizacion Paisajistica De Los Valles De Hortmoier Y Sant Aniol (Alta Garrotxa, Girona): Caracterizacion Y Evaluacion De Los Cambios Ambientales En El Periodo 1957-1979-1996 Con Patch Analyst, Josep Vila I Subiros, Joan M. Welch

Geography & Planning Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Small And Medium Enterprises In The Economy Of Slovakia, Jaroslav Kling

Student Work

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of small and medium enterprises in the economy of Slovakia. The changes of 1989 brought about the changes of society and economy as well. In the period of transformation of the Slovak economy, small and medium enterprises have been often considered to be a critical element of economic revival. The study answers to what extent this expectation has been met. Legal and institutional frameworks of the small and medium enterprises development are analyzed. Popular attitudes toward entrepreneurs, views and opinions of the key representatives of entrepreneurs and state representatives are …

The State Goes Home: Local Hyper-Vigilance Of Children And The Global Retreat From Social Reproduction, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

In an early scene in The Terminator, the Cyborgian Arnold Schwarzenegger walks into an L.A. gun shop and asks to see the wares. The shopkeeper lays out Uzis, submachine guns, rocket launchers, and other sophisticated means of overkill, nervously understating, "Any one of these will suit you for home defense purposes." The situation is likewise in the growing child protection industry. In keeping with the shopkeeper's sly comment, these businesses feast on an all-pervasive culture of fear, while creating a mockery, alibi, and distraction out of what they are really about - to remake the home as a citadel through …

Spectral Response And Spatial Pattern Of Fraser Fir Mortality And Regeneration, Great Smoky Mountains, Usa, Thomas R. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

High elevation Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) forests of the Southern Appalachians have undergone widespread mortality since the introduction of the balsam woolly adelgid in the 1950s. Resulting changes in ecosystem pattern and process (e.g., stand dynamic processes) have greatly affected floral and faunal communities. In this project, we integrated field observations, geographic information system topographic models, and 1988–1998 satellite imagery to analyze spatial and temporal conditions of Fraser fir and spruce-fir ecosystems in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Tasseled cap indices (brightness, greenness, and wetness) and associated spectral changes for Landsat TM digital data were statistically modeled by …

Low-Income Homeownership In Portland's Albina Community: A Comparative Analysis Of Housing Quality In Market-Rate And Subsidized Houses, Carolyn Emily Collopy

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to detem1ine which of these two options, market-rate or subsidized, offer higher quality affordable housing to low and moderate-level income households. Through field observation and GIS analysis, the study compared the structural, block, neighborhood amenity, crime, and proximity to CBD characteristics of affordable market-rate and subsidized houses in Portland's Albina Community. The study samples were approximately 100 houses per sample; market-rate houses consisted of houses that sold during 2000 for $125,000 or less, and subsidized houses were selected from housing created by three local non-profit development agencies.

General characteristics of the two samples revealed …

Development Of An Arc View™ Extension To Measure Local Fractal Dimension, Christopher Page Caird

Masters Theses

Texture is defined as the visible cue suggesting the smoothness or coarseness associated with image tone or color (Emerson, 1999). Fractal dimension (D) offers insight towards understanding texture in the spatial as well as spectral context of an image (Mandelbrot, 1982). Fractal dimension is best understood as a range of values between two and three that are used to quantitatively describe a surface. (D) values near 2.0 represent a uniform area containing similar pixel values. In contrast, (D) values near 3.0 represent a domain that is spectrally complex. This complexity stems from light and dark pixels in close proximity to …

Ua3/9/2 Warren / Edmonson Counties I-66 Scoping Study, Wku Presiden'ts Office

WKU Administration Documents

Agendas, statistics, maps and other data regarding the I-66 corridor through southern Kentucky.