Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Role Of Dignity In Rural Natural Resource Governance, Tora Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dignity is “an internal state of peace that comes with the recognition and acceptance of the value and vulnerability of all living things” (Hicks, 2011, p. 1). Dignity is a crucial element in effective governance arrangements. This study applies dignity theory, and related theories of natural resource governance and environmental communication, to understand and overcome barriers to effective governance of common pool resources in rural communities. Chapter 1 reviews relevant literature on natural resource governance and develops a theoretical framework for dignity. Chapter 2 applies dignity theory to a contentious comprehensive planning process in a small Maine town in order …

Spatiotemporal Wireless Sensor Network Field Approximation With Multilayer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network Models, François Neville

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As sensors become increasingly compact and dependable in natural environments, spatially-distributed heterogeneous sensor network systems steadily become more pervasive. However, any environmental monitoring system must account for potential data loss due to a variety of natural and technological causes. Modeling a natural spatial region can be problematic due to spatial nonstationarities in environmental variables, and as particular regions may be subject to specific influences at different spatial scales. Relationships between processes within these regions are often ephemeral, so models designed to represent them cannot remain static. Integrating temporal factors into this model engenders further complexity.

This dissertation evaluates the use …

Toward A Commons Of Geographic Data, Joseph J. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Making scientific data openly accessible and available for re-use is desirable to encourage validation of research results, and/or economic development. A significant body of spatially-referenced, locally-produced data produced by individual researchers, non-profit groups, private associations, small companies, universities, and non-governmental organizations across the United States is not online and therefore not generally available to professional scientists and to the general public. If there were an online environment, a "Commons of Geographic Data," where that data could be deposited or registered, and where users could access and re-use it, what infrastructure characteristics might potential contributors find desirable in order for them …

Enhanced Place Name Search Using Semantic Gazetteers, Nagalakshmy Vijayasankaran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With the increased availability of geospatial data and efficient geo-referencing services, people are now more likely to engage in geospatial searches for information on the Web. Searching by address is supported by geocoding which converts an address to a geographic coordinate. Addresses are one form of geospatial referencing that are relatively well understood and easy for people to use, but place names are generally the most intuitive natural language expressions that people use for locations. This thesis presents an approach, for enhancing place name searches with a geo-ontology and a semantically enabled gazetteer. This approach investigates the extension of general …