Digital Commons Network^™

Dendroarchaology: Using Tree Rings To Document Utah’S Historic Pioneer Structures, Robert Karl, Dr. Matthew Bekker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pioneer history is a heritage of Utah. Utah was founded on the premise of pioneers venturing from the east and settling throughout Utah. Very few of these historic pioneer structures have been dated in the state of Utah and for many of these structures there exists only a rough idea of when they were built. Other structures have been dated but the information is unpublished and therefore unavailable to the general public and the scientific community. And, though the use of tree rings in archaeology has a rich history in the southwestern United States , most research has focused on …

Trends In The Spatial Distribution And Characteristics Of Korean-Americans, Megan Knowles, Dr. J. Matthew Shumway, Ruth Kerry

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Human Geography minimal research has been done regarding the immigration and spatial distribution of Korean-Americans. Historically there has been a detectable relationship between the degree of spatial concentration of a specific population and their degree of social assimilation. Few studies have been conducted regarding Korean-Americans as a separate ethnic group, and these studies most often focus on economic, health, and cultural aspects of the community and tend to be more local in scale.

Agenda: Arizona V. California At 50: The Legacy And Future Of Governance, Reserved Rights, And Water Transfers, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Arizona v. California at 50: The Legacy and Future of Governance, Reserved Rights, and Water Transfers (Martz Summer Conference, August 15-16)

The Colorado River is an economic, environmental and cultural lifeline of the southwestern United States, and the allocation of its scarce waters are a source of ongoing controversy. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. California. While the case was an important landmark in the still-evolving relationship between these two Lower Basin states, it remains most relevant today by the way in which it clarified federal rights and responsibilities. This is especially true in the areas of federal (including tribal) reserved rights, the role of the Interior Secretary in Lower Basin water …

Modeling Urban Forest Biomass Using Aisa+ Hyperspectral Data, Brian Bunker, Dr. Ryan Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Urban forests are trees and other woody vegetation growing in an urban environment. Urban forests have been shown to have economic, aesthetic, and ecological benefits (Gatrell & Jensen, 2002; Nowak & Crane, 2002). Monitoring the health of Urban Forests is important to maintain a healthy environment for humans in their principal habitat. Our research focused on developing methods to monitor urban forest biomass using remote sensing data.

Investigating The Housing Market For Student Tenants Surrounding An Urban University, Olivia M. Dobbs Ms.

Honors College Theses

The private housing market for students around Wayne State University, an urban campus in Detroit, Michigan, stands in a fast-changing period. The area has grown economically from institutional and medical center investment in the past few years, causing occupancy and rents to rise. This follows years of disinvestment that allowed rent rates to fall to comfortable rates for students. The University has published its interest in developing the “campus life” including more off-campus private market housing for students, while developers see potential for even higher rents for young professionals. This study assesses the current perceptions of a sample of rental …

A Paleoenvironmental Investigation Of Eolian Influx In Lacustrine Sediments Of The Southern Rocky Mountain Region, Rebecca L. Brice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Potential indications of long-term trends in paleoclimate, specifically winds, in the Southern Rocky Mountain region of the United States were tested using lacustrine sediment from South Blue Lake in the Wet Mountains of Colorado. This study builds upon existing eolian and lacustrine research, and investigates paleowind in a location not yet studied in this manner. Variability in sediment laminae, particle size, and mineralogy show similar patterns during the mid-Holocene warm period (ca. 5500 cal. yr BP - ca. 6000 cal. yr BP). These patterns indicate a warmer, drier, windier period that is contrasted by a less variable period in the …

Plain & Simple: The Will To Live Sustainably In An Unsustainable World, Brandi Nichole Button

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sustainability is a buzzword covering a variety of fields and subjects. For the purposes of my research sustainability is “the ability to keep going over the long haul. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present” (Gilman 1). The sustainability movement refers to activists, educators and researchers who are dedicated to finding high quality ways of living in the world that are environmentally benign for all who are now living as well future generations to come (Gilman 1). This research focuses on three women who engage in voluntary …

The Use Of The Ostracode Cyprideis Americana (Sharpe) As A Proxy For Salinity In Bahamian Lake Systems, Rachel E. Bowles

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ostracodes, bi-valved crustaceans, are potentially excellent proxies for salinity.They are abundant, react to changes in salinity, and secrete low-magnesium calcite shells that preserve information about their host water chemistry. Changes in valve trace element concentration, stable isotope composition, and sieve pore shape values have been linked to changes in salinity. This study analyzed the response of the euryhaline ostracode, Cyprideis americana, to salinity in six lakes from two Bahamian islands across two seasons. The purpose of this work was to determine which compositional and morphological variables in C. americana are the most useful for paleosalinity reconstructions.Ostracode and water samples were …

Utilizing Remote Sensing And Geospatial Techniques To Determine Detection Probabilities Of Large Mammals, Patricia A. Terletzky-Gese

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Whether a species is rare and requires protection or is overabundant and needs control, an accurate estimate of population size is essential for the development of conservation plans and management goals. Wildlife science has traditionally relied on human observers in airplanes, helicopter, or ground vehicles to count the number of individuals seen during wildlife surveys. However, these traditional surveys of wildlife require significant resources, are difficult to conduct quickly and safely over remote and/or extensive locations, are disruptive to the studied species, and are prone to significant error due to unobserved or missed animals and multiple counts of single animals. …

Introduction To Gis Using Open Source Software, 4th Ed, Frank Donnelly

Open Educational Resources

This tutorial was created to accompany the GIS Practicum, a day-long workshop offered by the Newman Library at Baruch College CUNY that introduces participants to geographic information systems (GIS) using the open source software QGIS. The practicum introduces GIS as a concept for envisioning information and as a tool for conducting geographic analyses and creating maps. Participants learn how to navigate a GIS interface, how to prepare layers and conduct a basic geographic analysis, and how to create thematic maps. This tutorial was written using QGIS version 1.8 "Lisboa", a cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) desktop GIS software package.

Banking On The Impossible: The Political Life Of Wetlands In Southern Louisiana, Michael Kantor

Geography and the Environment - Theses

Wetland banking is an increasingly prominent environmental governance strategy in the United States. Associated with larger trends toward the financialization of ecosystem services, wetland banking acts as a mode of social regulation while stabilizing a particular regime of accumulation. Its use by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the development of wetlands has certain implications for the distribution of and access to land, water, and capital. This thesis investigates a particular wetland development project in southeastern Louisiana and its relation to a local wetland bank, the Army Corps of Engineers, and a multinational oil …

Battle For The Mountains: Restructuring Extractive Production And The Socio-Ecological Crisis In West Virginia's Coalfields, Ben Marley

Geography and the Environment - Theses

The coalfields of southern West Virginia have faced recurring crises linked to its regional political economy. Today's crisis is constituted by the decimation on the United Mine Workers of America and the greater use of mountaintop removal coal mining in conjunction with policies and market conditions. This thesis argues that crisis in southern West Virginia's coalfields, like previous crises, will mean the reorganization of human and extra-human natures in which social movements along with economic conditions play an integral role in transcending the crisis. Tracing the history of crises in southern West Virginia's coalfields and interviewing retired coal miners, community …

A Geomechanical Study Of The Mississippian Boone Formation, Karen Nicole Mason Buckland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Boone Formation in northwest Arkansas is a chert-limestone sequence analogous to the subsurface Mississippi Lime reservoir in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. It has low permeability and produces via horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The response to stimulation by fracturing is dependent on the quantity of chert in the area. Chert nodules and laterally extensive chert layers in the sequence are variable. Locally, cm- to dm-scale chert bedding is continuous and comprises up to 50% of the outcrop. Elsewhere, the chert is nodular and intermittent.

Samples collected from representative outcrops spanning the thickness and aerial extent of the formation …

The Application Of Geographic Information Technology And Ground-Penetrating Radar In The Study Of The Evolution Of The Charles River Basin, Lars E. Anderas

Graduate Masters Theses

A two-part study was conducted on the evolution of the shoreline of the Charles River basin on a city-wide scale as well as in finer detail in Magazine Beach Park, along the Cambridge shore of the river. Both parts of the study utilized geographic information technology (GIT) to integrate and analyze data from modern and historical sources, including maps, digital elevation models (DEMs), and orthographic and oblique photography. The city-scale portion of the study produced estimates of the total area of new land made within the study area since Boston's founding in 1630, 14.3 km², of which 6.5 …

An Embodied Perspective Of Expertise In Solving The Problem Of Making A Geologic Map, Caitlin Norah Callahan

Dissertations

The task of constructing a geologic map is a cognitively and physically demanding field-based problem. The map produced is understood to be an individual’s two-dimensional interpretation or mental model of the three-dimensional underlying geology. A popular view within the geoscience community is that teaching students how to make a geologic map is valuable for preparing them to deal with disparate and incomplete data sets, for helping them develop problem-solving skills, and for acquiring expertise in geology. Few previous studies have focused specifically on expertise in geologic mapping. Drawing from literature related to expertise, to problem solving, and to mental models, …

Study Of Feasability For Phase Difference Extraction Using Software Defined Radio In Location Analysis, Paul Miller

Masters Theses

Here is a method for using the phase of an HF radio signal for use in location analysis. This computation is implemented in a software defined radio processing block in the GNU Radio environment. The signals analyzed are received by an Ettus Research USRP SDR. We created a phase analysis system called WMU Rootsync, which compares the roots of a received signal to the roots of a generated reference signal for the phase analysis. This research describes a prototype method for phase analysis only. Future projects may use these ideas differently than presented here. We intend for future projects to …

Men's Modesty, Religion, And The State: Spaces Of Collision, Karen M. Morin

Faculty Journal Articles

This article examines religious practices in the United States, which govern modesty and other dress norms for men. I focus both on the spaces within which they most collide with regulatory regimes of the state and the legal implications of these norms, particularly for observant Muslim men. Undergirding the research are those ‘‘gender equality’’ claims made by many religious adherents, that men are required to maintain proper modesty norms just as are women. Also undergirding the research is the extensive anti-Islam bias in American culture today. The spaces within which men’s religiously proscribed dress and grooming norms are most at …

Finding Nature In Your Neighborhood: A Field Mapping Protocol For Community Based Assessment Of Greenspace Access, James Bryant, Mark Cordell, Garry Deihl, Abel Gebrezgi, Tamara Layden, Thomas Arenas Marshall, Kathryn Newman, Amy Pitts-Lore, Leah Sobieck

Asset Mapping: Community Geography Project

The Audubon Society of Portland and PSU Capstone students developed the Greenspace Access Point Field Mapping Protocol during the summer of 2013. The protocol was developed as a tool for a community-based approach to inventorying open space access points and to generate more accurate information on open space access in the Portland-Metro region.

Kelekatan Kelembagaan: Industri Distro Fesyen Di Bandung, Rochman Achwan

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This paper tries to enrich three perspectives for the study of creative industry, cultural entrepreneurship, social contract, and contextual knowledge, by employing an institutional approach and argues that institutional embbededness plays a vital role in promoting creative fashion distro (distribution store) in Bandung that historically well-known city of fashion. Qualitative method has been used to collect data from various informants. This study reveals that disembeddedness between state and creative fashion business and within society of fashion become a mayor feature of the business. As a consequence, creativity of fashion entrepreneurs unable to prosper and internal business organisation is difficult to …

Hidup Adalah Perjuangan: Strategi Pemuda Yogyakarta Dalam Transisi Dari Dunia Pendidikan Ke Dunia Kerja, Oki Rahadianto Sutopo

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This article shows the experiences of six young people from Yogyakarta who struggle in the process of school to work transition. These young people creatively implemented long term strategy both inside and outside the field of education They accumulate various kind of capitals so that it can be converted in the future. All of the informants are from middle class background. The result shows they still get benefits from strategies and capital that they had previously created. As a young people from middle class background, they are optimist that they can reach their dream jobs in the future as long …

Menggantung Ke “Atas”: Perkumpulan Sosial Perdesaan Di Era Desentralisasi, Anggoro Yudo Mahendro

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

In democracy, the government at the national and local level strives to create an active community, which manifests in a variety of community associations. Desa Rintis shows the active role of local government in supporting the establishment of community associations at the village level. We can understand this because the local government has the structural strength through its regulations to influence the society. Besides, the local government also provides cultural as well as economic capital that is included in the relational process between the state and social associations. This condition causes initiative of some members of the community to form …

Revivalisme Kekuatan Familisme Dalam Demokrasi: Dinasti Politik Di Aras Lokal, Wasisto Rahajo Djati

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

The article aims to elaborate political dynasty that developed in local politics arena. The emergence of political dynasty is indicated by several points. First of all, the failure of function from local political party to conducts political regeneration. Secondly, high cost democracy which impeding public to participate in public office succession. Third, political power from local elite was uneven, thus resulting power centralization in few strong local elite that transforming dynasty. Patrimonialism is not always becoming main perspective to analyzing political dynasty. There are many alternative political perspectives to analyze this case. This paper used familism political culture to elaborate …

Modal Budaya Dan Modal Sosial Dalam Industri Seni Kerajinan Keramik, Antonius Purwanto

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

Cultural and social capital is important in the development of industrial cluster of ceramic art craft. This paper describes and explains the role of cultural and social capital in the development of industrial cluster of ceramic art craft in Kasongan. This paper also describes and explains the dynamics of domination and resistance among entrepreneurs in the cluster. By using qualitative research methods show that cultural capital is important for the change of the cluster from the one which produce traditional-functional ceramic to the one which produce artistic ceramic. It is also important for upward social mobility among entrepreneurs. Social capital …

Dead White Men And Other Important People: Sociology’S Big Ideas, Fitrah Munir

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Anti-Masyarakat Sipil, Redaksi Jurnal Masyarakat

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Remote Sensing Of Soil Moisture In Vineyards Using Airborne And Ground-Based Thermal Inertia Data, Aiman Soliman, Richard J. Heck, Alexander Brenning, Ralph Brown, Stephen Miller

Publications and Research

Thermal remote sensing of soil moisture in vineyards is a challenge. The grass-covered soil, in addition to a standing grape canopy, create complex patterns of heating and cooling and increase the surface temperature variability between vine rows. In this study, we evaluate the strength of relationships between soil moisture, mechanical resistance and thermal inertia calculated from the drop of surface temperature during a clear sky night over a vineyard in the Niagara region. We utilized data from two sensors, an airborne thermal camera (height ≈ 500 m a.g.l.) and a handheld thermal gun (height ≈ 1 m a.g.l.), to explore …

Remote Sensing Of Green Leaf Area Index In Maize And Soybean: From Close-Range To Satellite, Anthony L. Nguy-Robertson

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation seeks to explore alternative methodologies for estimating green leaf area index (LAI) and crop developmental stages. Specifically this research [1] developed an approach for creating a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) high spatial resolution product for estimating green LAI on the base of data collected using two different close-range sensors. It was determined that the vegetation indices (VIs) Wide Dynamic Range Vegetation Index (WDRVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index 2 (EVI2) were capable of accurate estimation of green LAI from MODIS 250 m data using models developed from hyperspectral (RMSE < 0.69 m² m^-2; CV < 33%) or multispectral sensors (RMSE < 0.69 m² m^-2; …

Reviewing Models Of Land Availability And Dynamics For Biofuel Crops In The United States And The European Union, Ruopu Li, Nicola Di Virgilio, Qingfeng Guan, Song Feng, Goetz M. Richter

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The biofuel-related land use in the USA and the EU has significantly expanded during the last decade; models have been used to estimate land availability and demand in these regions. This paper provides an overview of different land-use modeling practices applicable to first- and second-generation biofuels. We review the importance of different land categories for biofuels, modeling approaches (top-down/bottom-up) and their integration, data availability for calibration and validation, model scale, and uncertainty. Possible future changes of biofuel land use and research gaps and limitations are synthesized. Key issues are the lack of data for independent validation and the need for …

The Politics Of The "New North": Putting History And Geography At Stake In Arctic Futures, Andrew T. Stuhl

Faculty Journal Articles

References to a “New North” have snowballed across popular media in the past

10 years. By invoking the phrase, scientists, policy analysts, journalists and others

draw attention to the collision of global warming and global investment in

the Arctic today and project a variety of futures for the region and the planet.

While changes are apparent, the trope of a “New North” is not new. Discourses

that appraised unfamiliar situations at the top of the world have recurred

throughout the twentieth century. They have also accompanied attempts to

cajole, conquer, civilize, consume, conserve and capitalize upon the far north.

This …

More Effective Human Spaceflight Programs And Their International Security Implications, Bert Chapman, Sarag J. Saikia

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

NASA can more effectively perform its missions by transferring its aeronautic responsibilities to the Federal Aviation Administration and be renamed the National Space Agency. The U.S. must also recognize that space is an emerging arena of international competition and conflict and militarily protect its space assets from China which seeks to use space to restrict the U.S.' ability to defend its strategic interests in regions such as the Western Pacific.