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An Extendable Visualization And User Interface Design For Time-Varying Multivariate Geoscience Data, Yanfu Zhou

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Geoscience data has unique and complex data structures, and its visualization has been challenging due to a lack of effective data models and visual representations to tackle the heterogeneity of geoscience data. In today’s big data era, the needs of visualizing geoscience data become urgent, especially driven by its potential value to human societies, such as environmental disaster prediction, urban growth simulation, and so on. In this thesis, I created a novel geoscience data visualization framework and applied interface automata theory to geoscience data visualization tasks. The framework can support heterogeneous geoscience data and facilitate data operations. The interface automata …

Prejudice And Discrimination In U.S. Graduate Geography Programs: Reports From Domestic And International Students, Karen C. Johnson

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on domestic and international students and their experiences of discrimination and prejudice while enrolled in graduate geography programs in the United States. This is an issue that relates to three important and interrelated trends in graduate education in the United States: increasing numbers of international students; growing efforts to reduce and eliminate discrimination and prejudice in higher education; and rising awareness of the role that academic “climate and culture” play in sustaining or changing current patterns of participation by students of diverse backgrounds. A web-based survey was developed and used to collect data from 420 students in …

The Dirt On The Collins Mounds Site, Carmelita Angeles

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Building monumental architecture has been one method used by humans to rise above an earthbound existence. In the United States, large earthen mounds were constructed from the Archaic period to the Mississippian period. The Collins Mound Site in Arkansas was recently dated to the Late Woodland period. For this study, soil samples were extracted from the northern section of the site for description and particle-size analysis. Erosion from plowing, wind, water, and gravity is the most likely process causing a decreased mound height and increased basal diameter. Mound fill likely originated near the river for two of the mounds and …

Ireland Defined As Place, Halley Andrews

Honors Theses

Ireland is a country filled both with rich land and rich culture. In this project, I undertook to better understand this beautiful country by examining it in terms of place and space, and also by studying and analyzing its literature. I discuss the complex relationship between space, a physical location, and place, the meaning given to a certain location and construct a “tablecloth model” that I then use to analyze the place and space seen in modern Irish literature, examining writers such as Seamus Heaney, William Butler Yeats, and Patrick Kavanagh. I compare the authors’ and poets’ sense of Irish …

Putting Christians On The Map : Topographic Mosaics From Late Antique Jordan As Representations Of Authority And Status., Tracey Elizabeth Eckersley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine nine ecclesiastic floor mosaics from Late Antique Palaestina and Arabia that contain topographic motifs ­­˗ images of cities set in realistic or stylized landscapes. Previous interpretations of the pavements have been limited by two assumptions: that artists or bishops were solely responsible for determining the compositions, and that only religious interpretations were intended for church pavements. Inscriptions indicating that patrons were generally lay people and iconography that encourages secular interpretations complicates both assumptions. This study investigates the mosaics in light of Late Antique euergetism in order to determine why donors included architectonic elements in the …

Effect Of Migration, Carrying Capacity, And Fecundity On The Formation Of Clinal Patterns During Range Expansions., Neha J. Angal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Range expansions, empirically and in simulations, lead to clinal patterns of genetic diversity. Clines are often used as spatial markers of past migrations. This study investigated the effects of migration, growth, and carrying capacities on clinal patterns during range expansions, using forward-time simulations in Nemo. Initial results show, in the absence of prior population structure, range expansions result in a loss of diversity strongly affected by migration, growth, and carrying capacity. This loss of diversity did not persist to the final generation, corresponding to 10,000 years, indicating clinal patterns are less durable than previously assumed—challenging the utility of clinal patterns …

Geographical Location And Stage Of Breast Cancer Diagnosis: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Faustine Williams, Aimee S. James, Stephen Jeanetta

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: To examine systematically the literature on the effect of geographical location variation on breast cancer stage at diagnosis, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

Methods. Eight electronic databases were searched using combination of key words. Of the 312 articles retrieved from the search, 36 studies from 12 countries were considered eligible for inclusion.

Results. This review identified 17 (47%) of 36 studies in which breast cancer patients residing in geographically remote/rural areas had more late-stage diagnosis than urban women. Ten (28%) studies reported higher proportions of women diagnosed with breast cancer resided in urban than rural counties. Nine …

Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions Near Mosier, Oregon, Cullen Brandon Jones

Dissertations and Theses

The town of Mosier, Oregon, is located near the east, dry end of the Columbia River Gorge, and the local area is known for cherry orchards that rely heavily on groundwater for irrigation. The CRBG groundwater system in Mosier has experienced groundwater declines of up to 60 meters due to over-pumping and or commingling. Declining groundwater levels have led to concerns over the sustainability of the resource, as it is the principle water source for irrigation and domestic use. Despite numerous previous studies of groundwater flow in CRBG aquifers here and elsewhere in the Columbia River basin, an aspect that …

Learning For Cross-Layer Resource Allocation In The Framework Of Cognitive Wireless Networks, Wenbo Wang

Theses

The framework of cognitive wireless networks is expected to endow wireless devices with a cognition-intelligence ability with which they can efficiently learn and respond to the dynamic wireless environment. In this dissertation, we focus on the problem of developing cognitive network control mechanisms without knowing in advance an accurate network model. We study a series of cross-layer resource allocation problems in cognitive wireless networks. Based on model-free learning, optimization and game theory, we propose a framework of self-organized, adaptive strategy learning for wireless devices to (implicitly) build the understanding of the network dynamics through trial-and-error.

The work of this dissertation …

The Case Of Villa Benfica: Retrofitting A Multifamily Building In A Hot And Humid Climate For Energy Efficiency, Carolina Kuhner Camara Dos Santos

Theses

Buildings and constructions occupy 50% or more of a city's land area and impact the environment with their elevated energy consumption. The current debates involving alternatives to limit the impacts of climate change have informed decision makers, architects, and engineers on design alternatives addressing energy efficiency in new constructions, but the existing building stock requires adaptation. Existing buildings are locked in an inefficient typology. In this context, this work presents energy efficient strategies to retrofit a typical residential building in Recife, Brazil. The study involves the application of three retrofit strategies concerning the building envelope to a baseline building, and …

Rare, Threatened And Endangered Species Of Oregon (2016), James S. Kagan, Sue Vrilakas, John A. Christy, Eleanor P. Gaines, Lindsey Wise, Cameron Pahl, Kathy Howell

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Extinction is a natural process. Today, however, plant and animal species are disappearing world-wide at an accelerated pace. Based on current trends, half of the species on earth will be extinct within the next 100 years. The major reasons for this are human caused changes to the environment, which continue to increase - in Oregon and throughout the world.

Once lost, a species can never be recovered, and there is no way of knowing how useful it may have been. We do know that human beings and many of their industries depend on plant and animal products. About 50% of …

Integrating High-Resolution Datasets To Target Mitigation Efforts For Improving Air Quality And Public Health In Urban Neighborhoods, Vivek Shandas, Jackson Voelkel, Meenakshi Rao, Linda A. George

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reducing exposure to degraded air quality is essential for building healthy cities. Although air quality and population vary at fine spatial scales, current regulatory and public health frameworks assess human exposures using county- or city-scales. We build on a spatial analysis technique, dasymetric mapping, for allocating urban populations that, together with emerging fine-scale measurements of air pollution, addresses three objectives: (1) evaluate the role of spatial scale in estimating exposure; (2) identify urban communities that are disproportionately burdened by poor air quality; and (3) estimate reduction in mobile sources of pollutants due to local tree-planting efforts using nitrogen dioxide. Our …

An “Act Of God”? Rethinking Contractual Impracticability In An Era Of Anthropogenic Climate Change, Myanna Dellinger

UC Law Journal

“Extreme” weather has become the new normal. Previously considered to be inexplicable and unpredictable “acts of God,” such weather can no longer reasonably be said to be so. They are acts of man. The current doctrine of contractual impracticability rests on the notion that a party may be exculpated from contractual liability if supervening events render a performance impracticable, unless they have implicitly or explicitly assumed the risk. To a large extent, courts still consider the foreseeability of the event and an a party’s ability to control it. However, it makes little logical or legal sense to continue to allow …

De Consecrationibus: Abbot Suger's Consecrations Of The Abbey Church Of St. Denis, Elizabeth R. Drennon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Between 1140 and 1144, several consecrations at the newly renovated abbey church of the royal monastery at St. Denis, located just a few miles north of Paris, the capital of the Capetian kings, were carried out under the careful control of its abbot, Suger. These ecclesiastical ceremonies were of immediate concern to the king of France, a number of significant French lords, and to the French clergy for their importance in recognizing the patron saint of the monarchy, and by extension of the people of France. The consecrations used traditional elements of liturgy to introduce elements of the new “Gothic” …

Maximum Depositional Age Of The Neoproterozoic Jacobsville Sandstone, Michigan: Implications For The Evolution Of The Midcontinent Rift, David H. Malone, Carol A. Stein, John P. Craddock, Jonas Kley, Seth Stein, John E. Malone

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

A crucial constraint on the evolution of the ca. 1100 Ma Midcontinent Rift (MCR) in North America comes from the Jacobsville Sandstone, Bayfield Group, and other equivalent sedimentary rocks (JBE) that overlie the volcanics and sediments deposited in the MCR basin near Lake Superior. The MCR began extending ca. 1120 Ma and failed—ceased extending—at ca. 1096 Ma, although volcanism continued for ∼10 m.y. The JBE’s age is poorly constrained, with proposed ages ranging from ca. 1100 to ca. 542 Ma (i.e., youngest Precambrian). It has been proposed that the JBE were deposited shortly prior to or during the time when …

Wildfire, Climate, And Perceptions In Northeast Oregon, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Barry D. Keim, Angela E. Boag, Michael W. Palace, Forrest R. Stevens, Mark J. Ducey

Sociology

Wildfire poses a rising threat in the western USA, fueled by synergies between historical fire suppression, changing land use, insects and disease, and shifts toward a drier, warmer climate. The rugged landscapes of northeast Oregon, with their historically forest- and resource-based economies, have been one of the areas affected. A 2011 survey found area residents highly concerned about fire and insect threats, but not about climate change. In 2014 we conducted a second survey that, to explore this apparent disconnect, included questions about past and future summertime (fire season) temperatures. Although regional temperatures have warmed in recent decades at twice …

Rebuilding Security And Peace For Women: Exploring Women’S Security Challenges And Activism For Security And Peace Building In Northeast India, Rubi Devi

Dissertations

Women have been affected by violence and conflicts ever since the wars were first waged on earth. Woman as a grieving mother or widow is a common portrayal of war and conflict. However, the common portrayal of women as passive victims does not recount the whole story of women’s experience in conflict/post conflict scenario. Women face countless security challenges in the form of physical, psychological abuses, economic burden and most importantly sexual violence- rape, murder, molestation, kidnapping and sex trafficking. The gendered nature of conflict, thus, increases women’s security challenges and places them at a critical juncture of experiencing and …

Destination Choice In Novel And Mature Destinations: Effects Of Psychographic Traits And Anticipated Need Congruity On Tourist Intentions, Oliver Cruz-Milan

Theses and Dissertations

The tourism marketing literature shows that psychological variables are predictors of destination choice for vacations. However, research testing the effects of Plog's (1974) personality-based psychographic traits on destination selection has yielded inconclusive results. Based on the theory of market choice behavior (Sheth, Newman, and Gross, 1991a), this research proposes that tourist´s destination choice is influenced by the mediating effects of anticipated needs congruity (epistemic, emotional, functional, and social) in the relationship between Plog's psychographic traits and behavioral intentions, providing more explanation of destination preference for novel and mature beach resort destinations (Butler, 1980). In order to conduct the study, data …

Tornado Density And Return Periods In The Southeastern United States: Communicating Risk And Vulnerability At The Regional And State Levels, Michelle Bradburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tornado intensity and impacts vary drastically across space, thus spatial and statistical analyses were used to identify patterns of tornado severity in the Southeastern United States and to assess the vulnerability and estimated recurrence of tornadic activity. Records from the Storm Prediction Center's tornado database (1950-2014) were used to estimate kernel density to identify areas of high and low tornado frequency at both the regional- and state-scales. Return periods (2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year, 50-year, and 100-year) were calculated at both scales as well using a composite score that included EF-scale magnitude, injury counts, and fatality counts. Results showed that the …

Imagining The Nigerian Nation Through The West African Pilot 1960-1966., David Zintak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The independence era in Nigeria, ushered in after 1960 and ending in 1966 with the fall of the civilian-elected government in a military coup, was a pivotal juncture in the construction and imagining of the nation and the citizen. Ideas of what a citizen should act like, dress like, and what mindsets were proper to hold were discussed frequently in the media. One critically important media outlet during the independence era was the West African Pilot. The Pilot is generally considered an influential nationalist publication during and prior to this era. This thesis explores how Nigeria was imagined through the …

Student Outcomes In Traditional, Hybrid, And Online Courses In Community College Career And Technical Education Programs, Thomas R. Sewell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether differences in student course outcomes as defined by final course grades existed between three content delivery methods in career and technical education courses: Traditional (face to face), hybrid, and online. Final course grades in career and technical education courses at one community college for the Fall 2011 through the Fall 2015 semesters were used in this study to compare the success of students in courses employing the three content delivery methods. The outcomes for male and female students and the outcomes for traditional and nontraditional students in career and technical …

Aaaneurysm Outreach Screening Data And Emergency Healthcare Accessibility In Louisiana: Identifying High-Risk Populations For Targeted Interventions, Amy M. Poole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abdominal aortic aneurysms are the third leading cause of sudden death in men 60 years and over. AAAneurysm Outreach provides free screenings to residents of Louisiana and beyond. Service areas were calculated for each AAAneurysm Outreach screening event location and stroke center. Data provided by the 2010 U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to describe demographics of the underserved populations and to identify high-risk areas for targeted interventions. Twenty-five percent of age-eligible Louisianans reside outside optimal drive-time-to-screening-event zones but within spatially clustered areas of increased prevalence rates. The maximum drive-time-to-treatment zones …

Transportation System And Its Association With Human Health – A Review And Modeling Approach, Fnu Zahed

Masters Theses

Transportation systems constitute of infrastructure, commute modes, land use and other policies. The purpose of transportation is to provide easy access to goods and services. While attaining this purpose, impacts of transportation on human health and well-being have been ignored to some extent. Recently, studies have begun analyzing the impact of transportation systems on quality of life and health disparities. While many studies have discussed the impact of the transportation system on individual factors from health, a very limited number of studies have focused on the impact of multiple factors associated with multiple morbidity and mortality forms. The focus of …

Being With Bees: An Anthropological Study On Human-Animal Relations In Southern Beekeeping, Kori Nadine Armstrong

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the complex and dynamic communicative relationship between beekeepers and their managed honey bee colonies, providing insight into the relationship between bees, their stewards, and the interface between nature and culture. It also helps unravel the ways in which this interspecies relationship changes a beekeepers’ perception of what it means to be human. Data collection features extensive participant observation with 21 semi-structured interviews with Southern beekeepers.

The interrelationship between communication and interaction, as well as diverse ways in which messages and cues manifest in the bee yard are explored through olfactory, optical, touch, and mechanical modalities. Variables including …

The Invisible People Of The Invisible Coast: The Resilience Of People Experiencing Homelessness To Disasters On The Alabama, Louisiana, And Mississippi Gulf Coasts, Nicole Elizabeth Callais

Master's Theses

While extensive research has been conducted on vulnerability and resilience with regard to hazards, very few studies have researched the resilience of homeless populations. The Gulf Coast region is densely populated and susceptible to natural and anthropogenic hazards. Climate change studies indicate that this region will experience an increase in severe and intense tropical cyclones[1], thereby increasing the risk of experiencing adverse impacts from future coastal hazards. While local government agencies in this region have policies in place to protect communities, these policies tend to exclude any action regarding the evacuation and safety of the homeless population.

In …

Mr. Jefferson's Army In Mr. Madison's War: Atrophy, Policy, And Legacy In The War Of 1812, David Alan Martin

Master's Theses

President Thomas Jefferson is a well-known figure, who is not well understood. His military policies are under-examined in the historiography. Yet, he had a tremendous impact on martial development in the Early Republic. Jefferson reshaped the military to suite his pragmatic republican ideals. His militia system expanded while the regulars were disbanded. The Navy was greatly decreased, and the remainder of his military was used for frontier exploration, riverine trade, road development, and other public works. This disrupted the precedent of strong federal military development as set by his predecessors: George Washington and John Adams. His reforms also left the …

"Black And White Together, We Shall Win": Southern White Activists In The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, Olivia Bethany Moore

Master's Theses

During the Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi has often been characterized as a simple battle of white racists against black activists. Drawing heavily on oral histories, personal publications, and Mississippi Sovereignty Commission reports, this thesis examines the unconventional stories of white southerners who transcended the segregationist environments in which they were born. As southern white activism took many forms, this work offers biographical insights to three individuals who have received little scholarly attention: journalist P.D East, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) activist Buford Posey, and William Carey president Ralph Noonkester. While their contributions between 1950-1971 differed, being …

Determining The Viability Of Recent Storms As Modern Analogues For North-Central Gulf Of Mexico Paleotempestology Through Sedimentary Analysis And Storm Surge Reconstruction, Joshua Caleb Bregy

Master's Theses

The northern Gulf of Mexico has been devastated by recent intense storms. Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005) are two notable hurricanes that made landfall in virtually the same location in Mississippi. However, fully understanding the risks and processes associated with hurricane impacts is impeded by a short and fragmented instrumental record. Paleotempestology could potentially use modern analogues from intense storms in this region to extend the hurricane record back to pre-observational time. Existing empirically based models can back-calculate surge heights over coastal systems as a function of transport distance, particle settling velocity, and gravitational acceleration. We collected cores in a …

Navigating The Arab Spring: The Power Of Food Prices And The Stability Of Monarchies, Evan Andrew Buck

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Arab Spring shocked the world of political science and international relations due to the collapse of many regimes that were commonly seen as stable. This research seeks to uncover how food pricing, which acted as a “threat multiplier,” incentivized unrest. Through the study of five nations from the Arab Spring—Egypt, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Jordan—two things are apparent. First, the monarchy of Jordan is the only regime that remained stable. Second, food prices played an important role in the mobilization of protest. This leads to a quantitative analysis between state fragility, food prices, and monarchies in the Middle East …

The Drive To Deceive: Lance Armstrong's Image Repair And Maintenance, S. Andrew Stowe

All Dissertations

Lance Armstrong is one of the most recognized athletes of all time and one of the most successful cyclists ever. After surviving cancer, going on to win the Tour de France a record seven times, and being the center of a media empire, Armstrong’s reputation was publicly ruined after the United States Anti-Doping Agency released a huge case against him. Armstrong had to recant years of righteous denials and arduous insistence that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs. This doping scandal exposed a well-liked sports hero as a fraud and cheater, making him an exception case study in branding and …