Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Interrelationships Among Landscapes, Ndvi, And Stream Water Quality In The Us Central Plains, Jerry A. Griffith, Edward A. Martinko, Jerry L. Whistler, Kevin P. Price

Faculty Publications

During late spring through summer of 1994 and 1995, 290 randomly selected stream sites in Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri were sampled once for several parameters including conductivity, turbidity, total phosphorus, nitrate-nitrite nitrogen, the index of biotic integrity, and a habitat index. Based on landscape data from watersheds that were delineated for each sampling location, interrelationships were examined between these water quality parameters and land use/land cover, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and vegetation phenological metrics derived from the NDVI. Statistically significant relationships were found between NDVI values and the derived metrics with the stream condition parameters (r values to …

Measuring Urban Sprawl In Kalamazoo Region: A Land Cover Approach, Olena I. Smith

Masters Theses

Urban sprawl is a common American problem that has continued unabated throughout the last six decades. The pattern of urban sprawl in many metropolitan areas of Michigan is typical for much of the United States. Urban sprawl has been recognized as a major social problem in Michigan since the beginning of the 1990's. However, few studies measure urban sprawl by utilizing land cover information.

This research is a temporally comparative study that concentrates on changing patterns of "land cover" (the way land is covered by natural or human activities) from 1978 to 1996 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The study focuses on …

Investigating El Nino Southern Oscillation And Tornado Activity In Texas, Joel R. Intrieri

Masters Theses

The possible relationships between El Nino Southern Oscillation and tornado frequency and intensity (as measured by the Fujita Scale) within Texas are explored in this paper. Reported tornado occurrences from 1950-2000 are compared to the Japan Meteorological Agency's Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly Index to discover significant patterns and trends throughout the state. Overall, results reveal that more intense tornadoes are likely to touchdown during the cold phase (La Nina) of the ENSO cycle. Regional differences are also observed with the La Nina extreme favoring increases in tornado frequency and intensity within distinct areas of the state. Finally, the cold swing …

Evaluating Conflicts In The Use And Development Of Geographic Information Systems, Amber Bethell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Use of geographic information systems is increasing in governments, commercial companies, and by individual users. With such pervasive use of GIs there has been surprisingly little investigation of the values that various parties would support in the development of geographic technologies. There are many parties involved in the use of GIs each with opinions of what are good goals for developing and using such systems. This research seeks to determine differences and similarities among parties in the importance placed on supporting specific societal goals germane to the use of geographic technologies and databases. Previous research determined six areas where the …

Modeling Boundaries Of Influence Among Positional Uncertainty Fields, Joshua P. King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within a CIS environment, the proper use of information requires the identification of the uncertainty associated with it. As such, there has been a substantial amount of research dedicated to describing and quantifying spatial data uncertainty. Recent advances in sensor technology and image analysis techniques are making image-derived geospatial data increasingly popular. Along with development in sensor and image analysis technologies have come departures from conventional point-by-point measurements. Current advancements support the transition from traditional point measures to novel techniques that allow the extraction of complex objects as single entities (e.g., road outlines, buildings). As the methods of data extraction …

High Oblique Photographic Assessment Of Lakeshore Residential Landscapes In Southwest Michigan, John E. Truchan

Masters Theses

In Southwest Michigan, a growing number of residential developments are evident as residences line nearly the entire shoreline of many inland lakes. This may cause a potential change to the lakeshore vegetation and water quality of the lake, but no data have been collected to determine shoreline conditions at present nor as baseline reference for estimation effects of the continuing trend, nor for planning models for future development.

A physical survey was conducted in order to determine what residential landscape characteristics currently exist at selected lakes in Barry and Kalamazoo counties, Michigan. The data from the physical survey were summarized …

Reflections Of An American Geographer On The Anniversary Of September 11th, William G. Moseley

William G Moseley

No abstract provided.

Building And Maintaining A Statewide Transportation Framework, Kenneth Dueker, Paul Bender

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Creating and maintaining up-to-date sharable Geographic Information SystemsTransportation (GIS-T) data is challenging. Many states are working on Transportation Framework efforts to build a complete, consistent, and current transportation data layer in conjunction with the NSDI and Geospatial One-Stop efforts. This paper summarizes an effort that systematically re-examined transportation data sharing issues as part of the development of a Transportation Framework for the State of Washington. Business needs were assessed in terms of spatial and temporal accuracy needs of stakeholders and users of a state-wide Transportation Framework. A conceptual model was developed for a Transportation Framework with emphasis on data flows …

Career/Epscor: Geospatial Database-Driven Extraction Of Information From Digital Aerial Imagery, Peggy Agouris

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This project aims at the advancement of the ability to extract spatial information from digital aerial imagery by taking advantage of geospatial databases to support and guide object extraction operations. It deals with aerial images representing scenes for which prior or complementary information already exists. Examples of such information are pre-existing digital maps, digital terrain models, and spatial information systems in general. The research plan involves: (1) matching images to existing databases for change detection; (2) analysis of scale differences between database information and image; and (3) developing metadata structures to convey accuracy information for objects contained in geospatial databases. …

Statistical Methods To Partition Effects Of Quantity And Location During Comparison Of Categorical Maps At Multiple Resolutions, R. Gil Pontius

Geography

New generalized statistical methods to measure agreement between two maps at multiple-resolutions, where each cell in each map has a multinomial distribution among any number of categories, are presented. This methodology quantifies agreement between any two categorical maps, where either map uses fuzzy or crisp classification. The method measures the agreement at various resolutions by aggregating neighboring cells into an increasingly coarse grid. At each resolution, the method partitions the overall agreement into correct due to chance, correct due to quantity, correct due to location, error due to location, and error due to quantity. In addition, the method computes six …

Ua66/8/3 Geogram, Wku Geography & Geology

WKU Archives Records

Newsletter created by and about the WKU Geography & Geology highlighting activities of faculty, students and alumni.

Regional Technology Assets And Opportunities: The Geographic Clustering Of High-Tech Industry, Science And Innovation In Appalachia, Edward Feser, Harvey Goldstein, Henry Renski, Catherine Renault

Edward J Feser

This study constitutes a systematic location analysis of the technology assets of Appalachia. The report identifies and documents sub-regional concentrations of technology-related employment, R&D, and applied innovation within and immediately adjacent to the 406-county service area of the Appalachian Regional Commission. By assembling and analyzing an extensive set of data at high levels of functional and spatial detail, the study reveals localized technology strengths that might be nurtured through focused economic development policy.

Estimating Population Numbers Of Black Bears (Ursus Americanus) In Eastern Kentucky Using Microsatellite Analysis, Kelly Vowels

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Black bears (Ursus americanus) occur sporadically in eastern Kentucky, and there is some evidence that a breeding population exists. In order to establish management practices to enhance the black bear population in Kentucky, information about this population is needed. However, until recently, no population size estimate has been available. Gathering information on black bears is difficult because black bears are elusive animals. The development of new molecular methods has made it easier to track and gather information on black bear populations, including estimates of population size. Molecular markers are particularly useful in that they do not require physical contact with …

The Evolution Of A Commercial Landscape: A Case Study Of The Motels Along U.S. Highway 31-W, Jill Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The cultural landscape is shaped by human imprints on the natural environment. Many decisions are made that have rippling effects over time. One type of development that changes the landscape is transportation innovation. As improved transportation links are introduced, people change their movement to include the quicker, more efficient route. As movement changes due to increased accessibility, roads that were once traveled by all now have fewer travelers. The rippling effects of the decision to add new infrastructure start at the opening of the innovation. New businesses will spring up at crossroads and common stopping areas. The long established businesses …

G-Portal : A Map-Based Digital Library For Distributed Geospatial And Georeferenced Resources, Ee Peng Lim, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As the World Wide Web evolves into an immense information network, it is tempting to build new digital library services and expand existing digital library services to make use of web content. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of G-Portal, a web portal that aims to provide digital library services over geospatial and georeferenced content found on the World Wide Web. G-Portal adopts a map-based user interface to visualize and manipulate the distributed geospatial and georeferenced content. Annotation capabilities are supported, allowing users to contribute geospatial and georeferenced objects as well as their associated metadata. The other …

The Future Of Stock Enhancements: Lessons For Hatchery Practice From Conservation Biology, Culum Brown, Rachel L. Day

Aquaculture Collection

The world’s fish species are under threat from habitat degradation and over-exploitation. In many instances, attempts to bolster stocks have been made by rearing fish in hatcheries and releasing them into the wild. Fisheries restocking programmes have primarily headed these attempts. However, a substantial number of endangered species recovery programmes also rely on the release of hatchery-reared individuals to ensure long-term population viability. Fisheries scientists have known about the behavioural deficits displayed by hatchery-reared fish and the resultant poor survival rates in the wild for over a century. Whilst there remain considerable gaps in our knowledge about the exact causes …

Preliminary Report Of Animal Bones From Hrísheimur, Mývatn District, Northern Iceland, Sophia Perdikaris, Thomas H. Mcgovern

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2000 and 2001 the FSl / NABO project Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland collected animal bones from the heavily eroded site of Hrísheimur south of lake Mývatn. The 2001 season produced a substantial archaeofauna from a 2 x 2 meter test excavation of a midden deposit that apparently fills a small sunken-feature structure. While further excavations are planned to collect more material and to better understand the deposit and site as a whole, it may be useful to provide an interim overview of the bone materials recovered from the largest context (003) of the midden deposit tested in …

Changes In Fire Regimes And The Successional Status Of Table Mountain Pine (Pinus Pungens Lamb.) In The Southern Appalachians, Usa, Michael R. Armbrister

Masters Theses

Table Mountain pine is a tree species endemic to the southern Appalachians that is heavily dependent on repeated surface fires for successful regeneration. Since the implementation of fire suppression as a forest management tool in the early 1900s, the fire frequency in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and surrounding National Forests has been dramatically altered. Without fire, Table Mountain pine will not persist in the southern Appalachian Mountains. I used dendrochronology to analyze the fire history and current age structure of Table Mountain pine populations. This approach provided baseline information on the current successional status of Table Mountain pine stands …

Context Effects In Visual Length Perception: Role Of Ocular, Retinal, And Spatial Location, Yoav Arieh, Lawrence E. Marks

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In three experiments, we examined the transfer of orientation-contingent context effects between the eyes and across portions of the retina with or without variation in external spatial location. Previous research had shown that vertical lines are judged long, relative to horizontal lines, when the stimulus set comprises relatively long horizontals and short verticals (Contextual Condition B), as compared with the reverse when the stimulus set comprises relatively short horizontals and long verticals (Contextual Condition A). Consequently, the contextual set of stimuli influences the magnitude of the horizontal-vertical illusion (HVI), decreasing its size under Contextual Condition A and increasing its size …

Geography Newsletter, Spring 2002, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Geography.

Geography Newsletter

Inside this issue:

-- New GIS/Remote Sensing Faculty Member Appointed for 2002-03
-- Alumni Album
-- Recent Geography Graduates
-- Geography Foundation Account
-- 2002 Geography Alumni Survey
-- Results of the 2000-01 Departmental Academic Program Review
-- Dr. David W. May Promoted to Full Professor
-- Spring Awards Banquet: Friday, April 26, 2002

Assessment Of Land Use/Land Cover Change Impact On Water Quality In The Davis Creek Watershed, Southwestern Michigan, Porntip Limlahapun

Masters Theses

This study uses Arc View Nonpoint Source Modeling (A VNPSM), an interface between Agricultural Nonpoint Source Pollution Model and ArcView GIS to assess the impact of land use/land cover change between 1978 and 1996 on water quality in the Davis Creek watershed, southwestern Michigan. The distribution of land use/land cover changes is identified by geographic analysis. Compared to 1978, agricultural land decreased by more than 60 percent while residential land increased by over 170 percent in the watershed in 1996. The hydrologic impact of the urbanization is evaluated by the AGNPS model. AVNPSM is used to derive required input parameters …

Roots And Shoots Of The H. Dan Heyn Vision: Indigenous Planting Design, 1950-1980, Elizabeth A. Heiny-Cogswell

Masters Theses

Indigenous planting design, the practice of incorporating regional native plant species into new landscape projects, is little studied. This trend is counter to the more known and accepted American practice of using exotic ornamental plant species. This thesis studies the work and context of one Texas landscape architect, H. Dan Heyn. Beginning in the 1950's and continuing through the 1980's, Heyn became committed to, and specialized in, the use of indigenous plants in his landscape architectural design practice.

This investigation shows the beginning and importance in Texas of the idea to use indigenous plants, the tremendous task involved to study …

Learning In The Prairie, Meredith L. Beilfuss

Masters Theses

This research focused on fieldwork in geography and science education relative to the high school curriculum. First, the literature was reviewed to analyze the pedagogical and cognitive benefits of using fieldwork and how fieldwork might enrich the high school social studies and science curriculum in Michigan. Second, prairie curriculum resources were evaluated for suitability using the Michigan Education Standards and the National Standards for Geography. Finally, two groups of high school students engaged in fieldwork, using two different methods, photography and sketching, and were compared for their pre and post fieldwork knowledge of prairie ecological concepts. The pre and post …

Proceedings Of The Workshop On Spatio-Temporal Data Models Of Biogeophysical Fields For Ecological Forecasting, Geoffrey Henebry, Jan Chomicki, Tony Fountain

Geoffrey Henebry

Report Of Animal Bones From Tjarnargata 3c, Reykjavík, Iceland, Sophia Perdikaris, Colin Amundsen, Thomas H. Mcgovern

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Executive Summary

During rescue excavations in downtown Reykjavík in 1999 nearly 100 kg of well-preserved animal bone was recovered in investigations at Tjarnargata 3 C by Fornleifastofnun Islands (FSÍ) directed by Mjöll Snaesdóttir. This bone collection (or archaeofauna) was largely sieved (4 mm and 1 mm mesh wet screen) and represents one of the largest archaeofauna recovered from Iceland to date. Analysis was carried out at City University of New York’s Northern Science & Education Center’s two zooarchaeology laboratories at Brooklyn College and Hunter College in 2000-01. The analyzed bone materials were returned for long term curation at the National …

Bush Grasps To Define Enemy, William G. Moseley

William G Moseley

No abstract provided.

Tb182: Agricultural Land Changes In Maine: A Compilation And Brief Analysis Of Census Of Agriculture Data, 1850-1997, Soeun Ahn, William B. Krohn, Andrew J. Plantinga, Timothy J. Dalton

Technical Bulletins

The purpose of this study is to compile the best available long-term historical information on agricultural land use in Maine and to briefly analyze these data to develop a statewide description of Maine's land use history from the mid-1800s to present. Our emphasis is on compiling statistically based information and, in particular, land use data reported in the Census of Agriculture. Objectives were (1) to compile available statewide data on agricultural land and land cover (LULC) in Maine, 1850-1997; (2) to examine temporal and spatial patterns in the LULC of Maine; and (3) to discuss the implications of the major …

Gps Locations And Costa Rican Topo Maps, Kenneth H. Orvis

Geography Publications and Other Works

Over the past several years I have been working with Sally Horn and our U.S. and Costa Rican collaborators on several projects in Costa Rica related to paleoenvironmental research. Such research requires accurately locating geomorphic and archaeological features in the field, using GPS and the 1:50,000 scale topographic maps produced by the Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Doing so is a challenge to the uninitiated, because GPS locations (including elevation) appear to be just plain wrong when you match them to the map. A position collected on the north side of a stream plots on the south side on the map, or …

Commercial Regional Space/Airborne Imaging, Ugur Akyazi, Ali Durmus, Birce Boga Bakirli, Arif Arin

Theses and Dissertations

In this work goal programming is used to solve a minimum cost multicommodity network flow problem with multiple goals. A single telecommunication network with multiple commodities (e.g., voice, video, data, etc.) flowing over it is analyzed. This network consists of: linear objective function, linear cost arcs, fixed capacities, specific origin-destination pairs for each commodity. A multicommodity network flow problem with goals can be successfully modeled using linear goal programming techniques. When properly modeled, network flow techniques may be employed to exploit the pure network structure of a multicommodity network flow problem with goals. Lagrangian relaxation captures the essence of the …

Feng Shui And Chinese Rituals Of Death Across The Oregon Landscape, Andrew Ryall Briggs

Geography Masters Research Papers

Paper 2: Upwards of 20,000 Chinese migrated to Oregon before 1890. Upon their deaths many were interred in "Chinese cemeteries." In China, the placement of cemeteries is an important aspect of the traditional Chinese religion. This paper asks if the early Chinese practiced the same Feng Shui in the placement of the Oregon gravesites. While Feng Shui is not codified, there are a few general principles to determine graveyard placement, and by comparing Oregon Chinese gravesites with that required for proper Feng Shui placement, concluded that the early Chinese immigrants may have followed the precepts of traditional Chinese religion in …