Digital Commons Network^™

Enhanced Lithological Mapping In Arid Crystalline Regions Using Explainable Ai And Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing Data, Hesham Morgan, Ali Elgendy, Amir Said, Mostafa Hashem, Wenzhao Li, Surendra Maharjan, Hesham El-Askary

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Lithological classification is essential for understanding the spatial distribution of rocks, especially in arid crystalline areas. Artificial intelligence (AI) recent advancements with multi-spectral satellite imagery have been utilized to enhance lithological mapping in these areas. Here we employed different AI models namely, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest Classification (RFC), Logistic Regression, XGBoost, and K-nearest neighbors (KNN) for lithological mapping. This was followed by the application of explainable AI (XAI) for lithological discrimination (LD) which is still not widely explored. Based on the highest accuracy and F1 score of the previously mentioned models, RFC model outperformed all of them, and …

Collaborative Professional Development Featuring Innovative Curriculum Materials, Cory Callahan

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Here I synthesize two research investigations (Callahan, 2018, 2019) that comprise a continuing line of inquiry into the potential of innovative curriculum materials and sustained collaboration as a professional development program to help in-service teachers understand and implement a complex model of social studies instruction. This article features an original innovative curriculum material and specifically explores the question: To what degree can a collaborative professional development program featuring innovative curriculum materials help social studies teachers understand and implement a powerful social studies approach? Findings suggest the professional development program and its innovative curriculum materials helped teachers promote substantive pedagogical thinking …

Understanding Complex Socio-Environmental Systems With Spatial Agent-Based Models, Rebecca C. Vandewalle, Alexander Michels, Furqan Baig, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

Our increasingly connected world is faced with complex socio-environmental problems (e.g., biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity). Tackling these problems requires cross- disciplinary approaches that examine the problems based on synergistic spatial and system thinking. Spatial Agent-Based Models (SABMs) represent a powerful approach to understanding complex socio-environmental systems. However, research on SABMs and associated complex problem solving face grand challenges that must be overcome to effectively unleash the power of SABMs enabled by cyber-based geographic information science and systems (cyberGIS). This paper describes four such grand challenges —reproducibility, scalability, communication, and accessibility. Resolving these challenges will enable new spatial …

Communicating Uncertainty And Cataloging Bias In Spatial Data Science Education, Peter Kedron, Jiahua Chen

I-GUIDE Forum

Uncertainty is an unavoidable part of any spatial analysis, which makes quantifying and communicating uncertainty a requirement of any spatial data science study. However, current curricula leave students understanding the importance of uncertainty and concerned about potential bias, but without an actionable framework to improve their workflows or inferences. We propose a framework rooted in Bloom’s Taxonomy for introducing these concepts to spatial data science students.

A Convergence Framework For Integrating Cybergis Education And Research On I-Guide Platform, Fangzheng Lyu, Furqan Baig, Yunfan Kang, Erick Li, Anand Padmanabhan, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

This paper described Data with Notebooks as a convergence framework for integrating cyberGIS education and research on the I-GUIDE Platform. The I-GUIDE Platform provides rich geospatial data and computing resources and adheres to FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data principles. The framework enhances these capabilities by harnessing scalable and reproducible geospatial analytics. Specifically, this framework supports the development of interactive cyberGIS education and research Jupyter Notebooks centered around geospatial datasets. A case study demonstrates the application of the framework, showing six cyberGIS research notebooks and four cyberGIS education notebooks based on a Twitter dataset. The case study and underlying …

Building Blocks For Geospatial Software Education Using The I-Guide Platform, Rebecca C. Vandewalle, Alexander Michels, Zhiyuan Li, Nattapon Jaroenchai, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

By combining advanced cyberinfrastructure with geospatial analysis capabilities and resources in an accessible online environment, the I-GUIDE Platform has great potential for geospatial computing focused education. However, learning occurs in different settings and contexts, both formal and informal. For I-GUIDE Platform to be successful, it should have the flexibility to support a variety of educational needs. In this paper, we argue for an expanded set of front-end building blocks to support diverse education and research use-cases, building on existing cyberGIS capabilities and Jupyter backend. We draw from experience working with the CyberGISX platform as an education tool in different learning …

Tradeoffs Of Generalization, Kyra M. Abrams, Peter T. Darch

I-GUIDE Forum

Models used in geospatial data science are often built and optimized for a specific local context, such as a particular location at a point in time. However, upon publication, these models may be generalized beyond this context, reused in research simulating or predicting other times and places. Without sufficient information or documentation, bias embedded in these models can in turn result in bias in the reuser’s research outputs. Drawing on a long-term qualitative case study of aging dams researchers and developers of models used by these researchers, we find significant documentation gaps. We combine a literature-based genealogy with interviews with …

Data-Intensive Convergence Science For Analyzing Place-Based Spatial Accessibility, Alexander C. Michels, Shaowen Wang

I-GUIDE Forum

Place-based spatial accessibility is a critical tool for measuring the health, resilience, and sustainability of communities. Accessibility methods are employed by a wide range of fields to measure access to food, healthcare, infrastructure and other critical needs. While measures of access are relatively simple, they attempt to capture the complexities of human mobility and spatial decision-making to assess how well populations are served by the infrastructure, resources, and services at their disposal. This paper describes four key areas where data-intensive convergence science can revolutionize our understanding of place-based spatial accessibility by addressing issues of scale, spatial impedance, diversity, and accessibility. …

Note From Editor, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Note from Editor

Cover And Forewords, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

Interview: Interviewed By Steven Schnell Editor, The Geographical Bulletin, Thomas J. Baerwald

The Geographical Bulletin

Tom Baerwald is currently President of the Association of American Geographers, and is employed at the National Science Foundation, where he has served in many capacities, most recently as Senior Science Advisor in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences and as a program director for the Geography and Regional Science Program. He also is a coordinator for environmental social and behavioral science activities, assisting in the conduct of multidisciplinary efforts that engage social and behavioral scientists in the studies of interactions among human and natural systems. He earned a B.A. in geography and history from Valparaiso University and both …

Development Of A Severe Winter Index: Buffalo, New York, Theodore Mcinerney, Stephen Vermette

The Geographical Bulletin

Climate indices provide a useful way to characterize climate. The objective of this study is to rank the past 37 winters (1970-1971 to 2006-2007) in Buffalo, New York using a ‘Severe Winter Index’ (SWI) that incorporates a number of winter-related elements. Five elements were chosen to reflect varying aspects of a winter season: snowfall amount, number of days with 12 inches or greater of snow on the ground, heating degree days (HDD), number of days with temperatures at or below 0o F, and percent cloudiness during daylight hours. Data were obtained from the Buffalo Forecast Office of the National Weather …

Spatial Patterns Of Methamphetamine In North Dakota, Alex Feidler, Roni Mayzer, Kevin Romig, Douglas Munski

The Geographical Bulletin

In the last decade, the methamphetamine situation has become critical in North Dakota, which has the third-highest rate of clandestine meth lab seizures in the country. This study addresses two questions: 1) What is the spatial pattern of meth–related arrests in North Dakota? and 2) What geographic factors account for the increased prevalence of meth use and production in the state? This study employs GIS overlay and multiple regression analysis to determine the spatiality of the phenomenon. The findings reveal that meth-related arrests tend to take place in the more urban southeast and central counties while meth lab seizures tend …

Displacement And Development: The Paradoxes Of India’S Tehri Dam, Jason Newton

The Geographical Bulletin

The town of Old Tehri, India has been inundated by a lake created by the construction of the Tehri Hydroelectric Dam, one of the Indian government’s newest modernization and development projects. This dam is beset by a paradox: it attempts to bring modernization and development to the far reaches of the territory, while creating displacement conflicts which can change a relatively few people’s lives for the potential benefit of millions of others. A new city designed for the displaced residents, New Tehri, has been presented by the government as a solution for the displaced people. However, by conducting fieldwork onsite …

Growth-Liberating Technology Meets Fragmented Regulation: Decentralized Wastewater Systems In Wilson County, Tennessee, Kendrick J. Curtis

The Geographical Bulletin

Conventional sewage disposal technologies have long been a critical limiting factor of growth patterns. However, the advent of decentralized wastewater systems is weakening their influence. No longer constrained to areas where sewers can be economically extended or limited by the siting constraints of septic systems, developers are free to pursue projects wherever opportunities arise. In this paper, I examine what happened when this spatially liberating technology was introduced into an existing suite of regulations, jurisdictions, and actors involved in the development process. I found that while local governments are making rational decisions, they are doing so within limited spatial bounds. …

Volume 50-2 Complete Issue, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 50-2 Complete Issue

Cover And Forewords, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

Scales Of Whiteness And Racial Mixing: Challenging And Confirming Racial Categories, Serin D. Houston

The Geographical Bulletin

This paper examines personal and public portrayals of the self and family articulated by heterosexual mixed-race households living in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It argues that an attention to scale sheds light on how mixed-race partnerships and households both reproduce a racial hierarchy and express shifting racial identities. A focus on the work of whiteness – defined here as an evaluative set of practices and processes that implicitly or explicitly legitimate a static racial hierarchy – in the confirmation of and challenges to racial categories further specifies my claims. I explore seemingly contradictory expressions of race in …

Comparison Of Recycling Rates Of Three Adjacent Communities In St. Clair County, Illinois, Pamela Lauf

The Geographical Bulletin

This research project consists of two types of surveys to assess recycling in the city limits of Belleville, Swansea, and O’Fallon, Illinois, each of which uses a different type of recycling program. One method of data collection consisted of conducting visual surveys to observe participation rates. The second was a questionnaire mailed to homes in these communities requesting information on the household’s recycling habits, attitudes toward curbside recycling, income, and highest education level achieved by head of household. This project determined that the most influential factor in determining whether people take part in a curbside recycling program is cost.

Street Trees And Urban Renewal: A Baltimore Case Study, Cynthia L. Merse, Geoffrey L. Buckley, Christopher G. Boone

The Geographical Bulletin

For centuries, street trees have persisted as enduring features of the urban landscape. Evidence shows that investing in “green infrastructure” not only contributes to a healthy ecosystem but offers economic and social benefits as well. Despite these advantages, the popularity of street trees has waxed and waned over the years in cities across the United States. The urban forest in Baltimore, Maryland has not been immune to these fluctuations, despite the city’s reputation for innovative tree care and the emphasis city officials placed on street tree planting as part of the urban renewal programs of the 1950s and 1960s. One …

A Revised Climatically Optimal Major League Baseball Season In North America, Brent R. Skeeter

The Geographical Bulletin

A study conducted in the late 1980s determined the climatically optimal placement of the Major League Baseball season based on temperature and several other climatic variables. Numerous changes have taken place in Major League Baseball since the late 1980s which could have potentially altered the placement of the climatically optimal season. This paper updates the previous work in order to determine the current climatically optimal season. The results indicate that the climatically optimal season has only changed slightly since the time of the previous study. As found in the previous study, based on climate alone, the season should begin and …

Cover And Forewords, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Cover and Forewords

Amazigh Nationalism In The Maghreb, John Lauermann

The Geographical Bulletin

While many inhabitants of the Maghreb (a cultural region of Northwest Africa) are ethnically Arab, the region is also home to a significant minority population. An indigenous population of the Maghreb, the Imazighen (singular: Amazigh) account for at least 13 percent of regional population. Imazighen exhibit a substantial level of ethnic consciousness and nationalist sentiment. This research investigates manifestations of Amazigh nationalism through political affiliations and cultural associations, focusing especially on Amazigh populations in Algeria and Morocco. Overall, this research finds that there are well-developed Amazigh nationalist ideologies and organizations in, and beyond, the Maghreb. These nationalist forces play significant …

Volume 50-1 Complete Issue, Steven M. Schnell

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 55-2 Complete Issue

Disturbance And Successional Dynamics In An Old-Growth Whitepine-Mixed Hardwood Forest In The Great Lakes Region Of Minnesota, Grant P. Elliott, Evan R. Larson

The Geographical Bulletin

Concern exists regarding the decline of Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) in the pine-mixed hardwood forests of the Great Lakes region. Using dendroecological techniques, we reconstructed the disturbance history and successional dynamics of an isolated old-growth white pine-mixed hardwood forest in northeastern Minnesota. The oldest trees in the stand were white pine, but a transition to late-successional species began in the mid-1800s prior to extensive anthropogenic influences in the region. This was facilitated by a change in the dominant disturbance type from fire to a combination of wind throw and white-tailed deer browsing. This transition appears to have occurred …

Toward A Non-Totalizing Critique Of Capitalism, Kate Driscoll Derickson

The Geographical Bulletin

In this paper, I critically engage from a feminist perspective with arguments from David Harvey’s Condition of Postmodernity. Using feminist insights into epistemology and ontology, I argue that Harvey’s is a totalizing theory, and as such, lacks the emancipatory value it claims to offer. I then engage with some feminist critiques of Harvey’s work, arguing that, while innovative, they are insufficient insofar as they fail to provide a critique of capitalism. Drawing on the work of feminist epistemologist Lorraine Code, I explore what a non-totalizing theory of capitalism might look like. I conclude by arguing the work of Gibson-Graham and …

State-To-State Migration In Nevada, 2017-2022, Ayda Atici, Reese Howard, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet examines data on state-to-state migration patterns of people moving from other states to Nevada, as well as individuals leaving Nevada and moving to other states between 2017 and 2022. Data for all 50 states are found in the United States Census Bureau’s report, “State-to-State Migration Flows."

No. 11: Food Insecurity And South Sudanese Urban Refugees In Kenya, Cherie Enns, Samuel Owuor, Abbey Lin, Jacqueline Fanta, Cobby Achieng, William Kolong, Kristin Swardh

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the already precarious situation of urban South Sudanese refugees living in Nairobi and Nakuru, Kenya. The pandemic not only increased food insecurity but also disrupted livelihoods and exacerbated socio-economic vulnerabilities that were already significant. These refugees faced limited access to support mechanisms typically available in refugee camps, with inadequate government response and interruptions to remittance flows. Urban refugees were hit especially hard due to the absence of organized support frameworks, leaving them more exposed to the pandemic’s impacts.

This policy brief examines the critical challenges faced by urban South Sudanese refugees in terms of food security …

No. 10: Digital Technologies And Food Remitting By Zimbabwean Migrants In South Africa, Sean Sithole, Daniel Tevera, Mulugeta F. Dinbabo

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted traditional remittance channels, particularly for Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa who relied on informal networks to send food and other essential goods back home. The closure of borders, lockdowns, and mobility restrictions disrupted these informal networks, accelerating the adoption of digital platforms for food remittances. This policy brief explores the role of emerging digital technologies such as mobile money apps and food remittance platforms in facilitating cross-border food transfers between Zimbabwean migrants in Cape Town and their families in Zimbabwe during the early stages of the pandemic. The brief examines how platforms like Mukuru and …

No. 09: Connecting Migrant Remittances And Food Security In Jamaica, Elizabeth Thomas-Hope

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

Migrant remittances play a crucial role in supporting households in Kingston, Jamaica, particularly in mitigating the effects of poverty and food insecurity. However, while remittances improve household food security, their impact on reducing inequality and contributing to inclusive social development is more complex. Wealthier households are more likely to receive remittances, and the overall impact of remittances on broader economic growth and food security at the national level remains limited. This brief explores the relationship between remittances and food security in Jamaica within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a focus on SDG 10. It …