Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Nature Of Space For Human Behavior In Ordinary Structured Environments, Molly Boeka Cannon

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What is the nature of the built environment? Built environments are the settings within which people carry out activities and emerge from the specific combining of spatial conditions with specific social content for the setting. The social content and the spatial conditions form a core-defining relationship that serves to distinguish one structured setting from another. A core-defining relationship such as this refers to the essence of the built environment. What are the implications for human behavior that emerge from conceptualizing built environments in this manner? I argue that space, through its essential relationship with the contexts of daily living (i.e. …

The Relationship Between Urban Leaf Area And Summertime Household Energy Usage In Provo, Jacob Adams, Dr. Ryan Jensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of our study is to investigate the relationship between urban leaf area, estimated through remote sensing, and household energy usage in the city of Provo, Utah. Anecdotal evidence indicates that trees provide cooling in the summer by shading homes, which reduces the need for air conditioning and the amount of electricity used. This study will attempt to determine this decrease of energy usage based on varying amounts of tree cover as measured by the Leaf Area Index (LAI) obtained from a satellite image. We expect that LAI and household energy consumption will be negatively correlated— as LAI increases, …

Human Geography Without A Map, William E. Demars, Laurel Rosenberger, Jimmy Rogers, Trent Hardee

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

Course materials developed for a 9th grade course on human geography, focusing on human rights, terrorism, and globalization.

Trail Mapping From Space: New Recreation Mapping At Bogus Basin Ski Area, Jenna Duffin, Cherilyn Blender, Dondi Black, Chrissy Weiser, Remington Buyer, Rick Raymondi, Bruce Slice, Alisha Pena, Jim Edgemon, Brian Himes, Steve Rogers, Patrick Watsons, Dave Wofford

College of Arts and Sciences Poster Presentations

Research Question: Can a comprehensive, accurate, and detailed map of recreational trails be produced without stepping foot in the field? Remote sensing is "reconnaissance at a distance" (Colwell, 1966). Mapping is a three step process: 1.) basemap assembly, 2.) cartographic interpretation, 3.) review & correction. While a simple concept, remote sensing has traditionally been the left to the experts due to the high skill set and specialized computing equipment required to complete even the most rudimentary data preparation and processing tasks. Today, Google Earth, the National Agricultural Imagery Program (1m NAIP), global 30m digital elevation data (DEM), desktop ArcGIS, and …

Analysis Of The Socio-Environmental Impacts Of The Sierra Del Divisor Transportation Infrastructure In Peru And Brazil, George Appling, David S. Salisbury

Geography and the Environment Poster Presentations

Located in the remote southwestern Amazon, the Sierra del Divisor mountain range divides the Ucayali and Jurua Watersheds and separates the urban centers of Pucallpa, Peru and Cruzeiro do Sul, Brazil. Both Pucallpa and Cruzeiro do Sul serve as economic hubs for their region, but are each the end of the road, as beyond them rivers remain the main means of transportation (figure 1). The Sierra del Divisor region includes indigenous territories, forestry and mining concessions, a reserve for the “uncontacted” Isconahua people, the Serra do Divisor national park in Brazil, and a proposed Peruvian national park, currently the Sierra …

Mapping The Lake Michigan Tri-Modal Corridor, David Lemberg

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA)

No abstract provided.

A Magical Look At The Shore, Suzanne Zack

Wrack Lines

A free digital resource helps you sea Connecticut changing.

Driving Tour Narrative And Map Of Historic Talbotton, Georgia, Amanda Rees, Ron Fuller, Jessica Juhan, Wesley Mellina

Columbus Community Geography Center

Talbot County Chamber of Commerce approached the Columbus Community Geography Center in December 2012 seeking help to update their historic driving tour of the county seat, Talbotton, GA. Students and faculty met several times with our community partner in Spring 2013. Students proposed preparing a new historic driving tour narrative and a tri-fold handout that would include a map locating each historic building featured on the tour.

Climate Data Manipulation And The Use Of Water To Build Political Power In The Southwest United States, Conrad Moore, Professor Emeritus

Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty Publications

Models utilized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicate a striking trend toward increasing aridity in the Southwest United States. Two landmark articles published in Science magazine have emphasized the critical future consequences of this trend. Data from 59 National Weather Service stations distributed across the region west of the continental divide and south of the 41^stparallel (the northern border of Colorado and northeastern Utah), including 36 stations in the Upper Colorado River Basin and lower Southwest, show that annual and winter precipitation increased over the 60-year period 1950-2010, although the record is impoverished by the deletion …

Between North And South: The Eu-Acp Migration Relationship, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

Before the turn of the century, international migration had an extremely low profile on the global development agenda. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for example, make no mention at all of international migration. Although a number of studies have attempted to “mainstream” migration into the MDGs after the fact, it is still largely ignored in official assessments of progress made towards them (Usher, 2005; Crush and Frayne 2007; Skeldon, 2008). According to the United Nations (UN), the silence surrounding migration in the MDGs was because it was too divisive and sensitive an issue between developed and developing countries (United Nations …

Geography News, V36n1, Spring 2013, Geographic Alliance Of Iowa.

Geography News

Inside This Issue:
--Coordinator’s Corner
--GAI Updates
--Summer 2013 Workshops

Review Of The Future Of Indian And Federal Reserved Water Rights: The Winters Centennial Edited By Barbara Cosens And Judith V. Royster., Lloyd Burton

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

As one who took an early interest in the water rights of American Indian tribes (American Indian Water Rights and the Limits of Law, 1991), I found this book a welcome opportunity to get current on an enduring yet ever-changing area of western water law. In reading it, I was impressed both by what it is and what it is not.

What It Is. This is primarily a report on the proceedings of a conference that the American Indian Law Center and the University of New Mexico's Utton Transboundary Resources Center convened on the centennial anniversary of the U.S. …

Review Of The Guide To Oklahoma Wildflowers By Patricia Folley, Barney Lipscomb

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Oklahoma is home to some 2,500 species of flowering plants. Patricia Folley has captured, in full color, some 200 striking and beautiful wildflowers. From the state wildflower (Gaillardia pulchella) to the state grass (Sorghastrum nutans), this wildflower guide covers plants growing in the Rocky Mountain foothills in the northwest to the cypress swamps of the southeast and a lot in between.

Each species is illustrated with at least two photos showing the entire plant in its habitat and a closeup of its flower. The text offers a short description, followed by the geographic area of the …

Review Of Reservation "Capitalism": Economic Development In Indian Country By Robert J. Miller, Gavin Clarkson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

I don't know how many times I've heard someone say, "Capitalism doesn't work in Indian Country ... it's just not compatible with their way of life." While I've often attempted to counter such misconceptions with my own anecdotal knowledge and experience, Robert J. Miller's excellent Reservation "Capitalism" thoroughly eviscerates that persistent myth.

The opening chapters offer a comprehensive critique of the antiquated notion of Indians as "forest-dwelling socialists," detailing how private property rights, wealth accumulation, and entrepreneurial acumen were commonplace throughout Indian Country prior to European contact. Miller proceeds to recount how reservation economies were devastated by European interactions and …

Accuracy Of Antler Metrics In Predicting Age Of White-Tailed Deer And Mule Deer, Casey W. Schoenebeck, Brian C. Peterson, Jason A. Obermiller

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Electronic deer check systems offer state natural resource agencies alternatives to mandatory in-person check stations, resulting in potential savings in money and personnel. However, a reliable means for hunters to classify the age of harvested antlered deer must be established so that important management indices such as antlered yearling harvest can continue to be used to set future management goals. Therefore, we evaluated the use of six different antler metrics to predict age class of white-tailed and mule deer (1.5 and >/= 2.5 years). We used discriminant analysis to determine the number of deer correctly classified into each age class …

Review Of What The River Carries: Encounters With The Mississippi, Missouri, And Platte By Lisa Knopp, Eugene Zuerlein

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The best way to fall in love with rivers is to have a relationship with them. Lisa Knopp does this by looking, experiencing, and contemplating what each river looked like in its wild state; how historical and contemporary travelers viewed them; how they were named; how First Americans lived near and depended upon them; how industry and agriculture have used them; what each river is like after two centuries of human tinkering and engineering; and how the culture, politics, and philosophy of people living along these rivers continue to be shaped by them.

Born and raised along the Mississippi near …

Review Of Historical Atlas Of The North American Railroad By Derek Hayes, William G. Thomas

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Lavishly illustrated, beautifully bound, and richly textured, this volume stunningly reproduces the visual culture of the railroad: its maps, brochures, advertisements, broadsides, and pamphlets. Derek Hayes has brought together over 400 maps, ranging from the first railroad survey map drawn in the U.S., filed in 1809, to President Barack Obama's "Vision for High Speed Rail in America," published in 2009. This is an impressive compilation, but it is not an atlas in the conventional sense. Hayes considers a "map" to be any printed item with geographical information on it, whatever its genre. Whether a route map, advertisement, or ticket, whether …

Roles Of Perceived Control And Planning In Ranch Drought Preparedness, Tonya Haigh, Cody Knutson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Ranchers in the Great Plains and across the United States face the threat of periodic drought. Though ranchers might minimize losses through drought-preparedness activities, many do not adequately prepare for drought, in part because of perceptions that the outcomes of drought management are not controllable. We explore how drought planning activities affect ranchers' perceptions of control and drought preparedness using the theories of planned behavior and goal attainment as guiding frameworks. Ten Great Plains ranchers who had engaged in drought management activities were interviewed about their plans. From the interviews, three activities emerged that appeared to increase ranchers' perceived control …

Late Holocene Activation History Of The Stanton Dunes, Northeastern Nebraska, Rebecca A. Puta, Paul R. Hanson, Aaron R. Young

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Nebraska Sandhills have been an important resource for better understanding dune activation and the nature of prehistoric Great Plains drought events. However, until recently, few studies have focused on documenting the activation histories of smaller dune fields found along the Great Plains' eastern margin. This study focuses on the Stanton dune field, which lies about 145 km east of the Nebraska Sandhills on an alluvial terrace of the Elkhorn River in northeastern Nebraska. Sediments in the Stanton Dunes were dated with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to determine when these dunes were active. The ages indicate three activation periods that …

Review Of Red State Religion: Faith And Politics In America's Heartland By Robert Wuthnow, James E. Sherow

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Robert Wuthnow, who directs the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, has a distinguished publishing record in the field of American religion and culture. A Kansas native, he has an unmistakable soft spot for the state. He opposes Thomas Frank's view that Kansans have consistently espoused Republican-centered moral issues at odds with their economic well-being. His central argument, as he clearly states, is that the "Republican Party and the centrist conservatism of the state's two dominant religions-Methodism and Catholicism- actually deterred radical religious and political movements from gaining much ground during most of the state's history." He …

Relative Abundance Of Northern Flying Squireels And Red Squireels In Different Forest Types, Black Hills, South Dakota, Melissa Hough, Charles D. Dieter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Northern flying squirrels (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the Black Hills National Forest (BHNF) of South Dakota represent isolated populations. Because data on both species in the region are limited, and because the northern flying squirrel in South Dakota and the Black Hills National Forest has species of concern status, we trapped throughout BHNF to determine relative abundance in different forest types for both populations. For northern flying squirrels, capture rate was higher in the northern and western hills compared to the southern and eastern hills, whereas for red squirrels, capture rate was …

Great Plains Research, 23-1, Editorial Matter

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Cover

Masthead

News & Notes

Instructions to authors

Table of Contents

Missouri National Recreational River Visitor Study, Summer 2012, Marc F. Manni, Yen Le, Steven J. Hollenhorst

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This visitor study report profiles a systematic random sample of Missouri National Recreation River visitors during July 19 - 25, 2012. A total of 467 questionnaires were distributed to visitor groups. Of those, 256 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a 54.8% response rate.

Group size and type: Thirty-eight percent of visitor groups consisted of two or three people and 35% were in groups of six or more. Sixty-four percent of visitor groups consisted of family groups.

State or country of residence: United States visitors were from 29 states and comprised 99% of total visitation during the survey period, …

From Farm To Fork To Landfill: Food Waste And Consumption In America, Mariel Nunley

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the creation and disposal of food waste in the United States. Food waste is a specific yet highly critical issue that implicates the large, incongruous systems of both food production and waste disposal. Waste is created throughout the food supply chain, with producers as well as consumers guilty of throwing away good food. Rather than repurpose food as compost or donate it to those in need, wasted food, although completely biodegradable and often edible, is mixed in with the rest of our garbage and disposed of in a landfill. By evaluating the systems of waste disposal …

Currents Of Change: An Urban And Environmental History Of The Anacostia River And Near Southeast Waterfront In Washington, D.C., Emily C. Haynes

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis analyzes how social and environmental inequalities have interacted throughout Washington, D.C.’s urban and environmental history to shape the Anacostia River and its Near Southeast waterfront into urbanized and industrialized landscapes. Drawing on the principles of environmental justice, urban political ecology, and environmental history, I examine the construction of urban rivers and waterfront space over time. I link the ecological and social decline of the Anacostia River and Near Southeast neighborhood to a broader national pattern of environmental degradation and social inequality along urban rivers that resulted from urban industrialization and federal water management. Finally, I discuss the recent …

Managing Tribal Lands And Resources In Michigan: Tribal, State, And Federal Influence, Elise M. Crafts

Masters Theses

Michigan Indigenous Tribes, along with the State and Federal government, are key players in current environmental management programs and policy. The current relationship between these three entities is not clearly defined. Using qualitative data collected through collaborative interviews with employees and members of multiple Michigan Tribes, this study narrates the present dynamic of the Tribal-State-Federal environmental relationship. The Federal government's legal obligation to Michigan Tribes may mitigate potential tension between Tribal and Federal environmental departments, as Tribal-Federal communication is historically established by treaty. Across the country, Federal, State and Tribal departments face similar environmental concerns but the extent to which …

Location And Competitive Strategy In Retail: The Case Of Gamestop In Michigan, Karl P. Schrantz

Masters Theses

The State of Michigan offers a unique retail environment that offers a diverse arena for firms to interact and compete in. The state has many cities of different size and a multitude of retail chains that operate within them. Over the past two decades this competition has become even stiffer with the rapid growth of big box retailers. In spite of this general notion there are often the less known stories of small retailers that have been able to compete and survive big box retailing. This research aims to assess how a smaller retail chain, GameStop in this case, is …

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Global Futures And Government Towns: Phosphates And The Production Of Western Sahara As A Space Of Contention, Mark Drury

Publications and Research

The study of natural resources lends itself to theorizing the politics of nature and the politics of time. The space of Western Sahara, where both remain highly contested, provides an opportunity to consider the ramifications of resources in political conflict at different historical moments. Drawing from environmental histories of North Africa and the Sahara, as well as the anthropology of time, the author focuses on two historical moments. The first, from 1945 to 1972, concerns the discovery of phosphate deposits during the Spanish colonial period and the implications of this discovery for political authority in the Sahara more broadly. The …

News - Georgia State University - Gsu Library Receives $210,000 Neh Grant, Christian J. Steinmetz

Georgia Library Quarterly

Georgia State University Library recently received a $210,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for “Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making, 1930s – 1990s”, submitted by librarian Joe Hurley (Principal Investigator) and history professor Kate Wilson (co-PI).