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2010

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Articles 31 - 60 of 241

Full-Text Articles in Geography

Places For Races: The White Supremacist Movement Imagines U.S. Geography, Barbara Perry, Randy Blazak Sep 2010

Places For Races: The White Supremacist Movement Imagines U.S. Geography, Barbara Perry, Randy Blazak

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increasingly, scholars are acknowledging that racial and other forms of animus assume a spatial dimension. Not only does intercultural hostility take different forms depending on location, but so, too, does the concomitant bias-motivated violence imply “places for races.” The very intent and motive of hate crimes are grounded in the perceived need of perpetrators to defend carefully crafted boundaries. While these boundaries are largely cultural, they may also take on a real, physical form, at least from the perpetrator’s perspective. Nowhere is this more evident than in the geographical imagination of the White Supremacist movement. This paper will trace the …

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Modeling Acoustic Scattering From The Seabed Using Transport Theory, Jorge Quijano, Lisa M. Zurk Sep 2010

Modeling Acoustic Scattering From The Seabed Using Transport Theory, Jorge Quijano, Lisa M. Zurk

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Radiative Transfer (RT) theory has established itself as an important tool for electromagnetic remote sensing in parallel plane geometries with random distributions of scatterers, and most recently it has also been proposed as a model for the propagation of elastic waves in layered ocean sediments. In this work the capabilities of this model are illustrated, as the RT method is used to predict backscattering strength from laboratory models of random media. The RT model is characterized by its flexibility on accommodating scatterers in a broad variety of sizes, shapes, and acoustic contrast relative to the background media. Additionally, this formulation …

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Climate Change: Helping Nature Survive The Human Response, Will R. Turner, Bethany A. Bradley, Lyndon D. Estes, David G. Hole, Michael Oppenheimer, David S. Wilcove Sep 2010

Climate Change: Helping Nature Survive The Human Response, Will R. Turner, Bethany A. Bradley, Lyndon D. Estes, David G. Hole, Michael Oppenheimer, David S. Wilcove

Geography

Climate change poses profound, direct, and well-documented threats to biodiversity. A significant fraction of Earth's species is at risk of extinction due to changing precipitation and temperature regimes, rising and acidifying oceans, and other factors. There is also growing awareness of the diversity and magnitude of responses, both proactive and reactive, that people will undertake as lives and livelihoods are affected by climate change. Yet to date few studies have examined the relationship between these two powerful forces. The natural systems upon which people depend, already under direct assault from climate change, are further threatened by how we respond to …

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China And Geography In The 21st Century: A Cultural (Geographical) Revolution?, Lily Kong Sep 2010

China And Geography In The 21st Century: A Cultural (Geographical) Revolution?, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A noted Singapore-based cultural geographer and specialist on Asia reviews the recent emergence of cultural geographic research on and within China and the implications of China's rise for the study of 21st century cultural geography more broadly. She identifies six major issues modern China is confronting that, when addressed from a cultural geographical perspective, may both enhance an understanding of the country and reshape the practice of cultural geography as a subdiscipline: agricultural reform, economic reform, urban change, rural-urban migration and related social inequalities, the changing family structure, and environmental change. The author argues that if China's cultural geography is …

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Introduction: Contested Landscapes, Asian Cities, Lily Kong, Lisa Law Sep 2010

Introduction: Contested Landscapes, Asian Cities, Lily Kong, Lisa Law

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A decade and a half after Cosgrove and Jackson (1987) wrote their seminal piece on ‘new’ cultural geography, the discipline of geography has experienced a ‘cultural’ turn. Economic geography, for instance, has been infleected through perspectives that take on board cultural retheorisations (see Thrift and Olds, 1996; Thrift, 2000). Within urban studies, the acknowledgement of culture’s powers is not new (see, for example, Agnew et al., 1984). Yet, geographers scrutinising urban landscapes have moved the field, using some of the retheorised perspectives that Cosgrove and Jackson (1987) encapsulated. Of most pertinence to this volume is the retheorised notion of culture …

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Object Discrimination Using A Multi-Wavelength Photonic Sensor, Kavitha Venkataraayan, Sreten Askraba, Kamal E. Alameh, Clifton L. Smith Aug 2010

Object Discrimination Using A Multi-Wavelength Photonic Sensor, Kavitha Venkataraayan, Sreten Askraba, Kamal E. Alameh, Clifton L. Smith

International Cyber Resilience conference

A bench prototype photonic-based sensor for object discrimination is described. A combination module, which allows five laser diodes of different wavelengths to overlap and sequentially emit identically-polarised light beams through a common aperture, is presented. The key visible and infrared wavelengths are selected from sample objects spectral signatures. A cylindrical optical quasi-cavity structure is designed to generate 15 laser spots for each laser. The intensity of the reflected light from each spot is detected by a high speed line scan image sensor. Object discrimination is accomplished by calculating the slope values between selected wavelengths in the blue to infrared range.

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Mapping In Philanthropy: Exploring The Use Of Mapping In Foundation Grantmaking, Jim Casey Aug 2010

Mapping In Philanthropy: Exploring The Use Of Mapping In Foundation Grantmaking, Jim Casey

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Foundations provide grants to nonprofit organizations in our communities, who then provide services locally. Choosing which nonprofit to fund, and which not to fund is difficult. This study examines current uses and upcoming uses of mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as part of funding decisions made by foundations. Foundations engaged in strategic funding, especially that which targets specific populations are more likely to use GIS and geospatial analysis in funding decisions. Grantmaking in response to proposals requires less strategic analysis and calls for mapping much less by comparison. As a field, nationally foundations and nonprofits have identified many uses …

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A Gis Model To Predict Feral Pig (Sus Scrofa) Habitat On Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Brian Schnick Aug 2010

A Gis Model To Predict Feral Pig (Sus Scrofa) Habitat On Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Brian Schnick

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The applicable Natural Resource area of this project is animal control and wildlife management, as wild pigs can be quite destructive to landscapes (Campbell, et al., 2010) (McCann, et al., 2008). Geographic Information System (GIS) predictive models have proven to be useful in regards to other mammals (Travaini, et al., 2007), raptors (Bustamante, et al., 2004), and pest species such as locusts (van der Werf, et al., 2005). Pigs are often nocturnal and bed down in heavy cover, hindering direct observation. Additionally, Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) encompasses over 400 square kilometers. Therefore, predictive modeling is an appropriate method for …

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Developing Tornado Climatology In The Southern Great Plains Per Phases Of Prominent Oceanic Oscillations, Nicholas M. Fillo Aug 2010

Developing Tornado Climatology In The Southern Great Plains Per Phases Of Prominent Oceanic Oscillations, Nicholas M. Fillo

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Meteorologists are continually working toward a greater understanding of which atmospheric environments are most conducive for tornado development. This Capstone project analyzed tornado occurrences across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana during the period 1950 through 2009 to determine if any correlation exists between the location and frequency of tornado activity and the phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. While it was determined that no phase of any of the oscillations studied was significantly more dominant over the other(s) concerning frequency, this project does identify some spatial shifts in tornado activity depending …

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Determining Heritage Oak Tree Susceptibility To Sudden Oak Death Using Gis Risk Analysis, Michelle M. Guzdek Aug 2010

Determining Heritage Oak Tree Susceptibility To Sudden Oak Death Using Gis Risk Analysis, Michelle M. Guzdek

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Sudden Oak Death (SOD), caused by the pathogenic water mold Phytophthora ramorum, has killed hundreds of thousands of oak trees in the California coastal regions, with redwood-tanoak forests being hit the hardest (Shoemaker et al., 2007). The term “sudden oak death” is used to describe the disease, because of how rapidly the pathogen has killed otherwise healthy tanoaks, virtually in a matter of weeks (COMTF 2010). SOD was first reported in California in 1994 and is believed to have originated from infected nursery or ornamental plants, but the source has never been identified (Mascheretti et al. 2008).

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Shale Weathering Rates Across A Continental-Scale Climosequence, Ashlee L.D. Dere, Tim White, Lixin Jin, David Harbor, Meredith Townsend, Susan L. Brantley Aug 2010

Shale Weathering Rates Across A Continental-Scale Climosequence, Ashlee L.D. Dere, Tim White, Lixin Jin, David Harbor, Meredith Townsend, Susan L. Brantley

Geography and Geology Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

A transect of sites has been established in North America and England as part of the Critical Zone Exploration Network (CZEN) to investigate the rates of soil formation across a climate gradient. Sites reported here are all underlain by an organic-poor, iron-rich Silurian-age shale, providing a constant parent material lithology from which soil is forming. This climosequence includes relatively cold and wet sites in Wales, New York and Pennsylvania, with temperature increasing to the south in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama. Puerto Rico provides a warm/wet end member for the transect, although this site does not lie on the same shale …

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'The Edge Of The Island': Neighborhood Identity And Evolving Community In 'Liminal Places', Gordon Douglas Aug 2010

'The Edge Of The Island': Neighborhood Identity And Evolving Community In 'Liminal Places', Gordon Douglas

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This paper examines the contemporary processes at work in urban areas without clear spatial identities that are simultaneously facing the challenges of cultural change and gentrification. I do so through the close analysis of one such ‘liminal place’ on Chicago’s West Side. I use the phrase ‘a community on the edge of the island’ to describe the area, inspired by an interview subject who referred to the tenuous search for a sort of ideal bohemian hipness as the need to stay as “close to the edge of the island” as possible without actually leaving it. Making use of ethnographic and …

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The Global Project: Observing Geographic Literacy Obtained By Study Abroad Learning, Erin Joy Greunke Aug 2010

The Global Project: Observing Geographic Literacy Obtained By Study Abroad Learning, Erin Joy Greunke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

One of the major debates regarding studying abroad concerns criticism that it lacks measurable and demonstrable learning outcomes and is usually viewed as less rigorous than other university courses (McKeown 2009). As one Western Kentucky University (WKU) faculty member noted when responding to the Faculty Attitudes Survey deployed for this project, all too often “too many study abroad experiences [are] little more than glorified fieldtrips.....” (Anonymous WKU Faculty Member, 2009, Appendix IV). While this may be the case, upon their return to the United States, students often say their study abroad experience proved life changing. The primary purpose of this …

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The Multifunctional Transition In Australia’S Tropical Savannas: The Emergence Of Consumption, Protection And Indigenous Values, John Holmes Aug 2010

The Multifunctional Transition In Australia’S Tropical Savannas: The Emergence Of Consumption, Protection And Indigenous Values, John Holmes

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

As elsewhere in affluent, western nations, the direction, complexity and pace of rural change in Australia can be conceptualised as a multifunctional transition in which a variable mix of consumption and protection values has emerged, con- testing the former dominance of production values, and leading to greater com- plexity and heterogeneity in rural occupance at all scales. This transition has been explored in accessible, high-amenity landscapes driven by enhanced consumption values. Less attention has been directed to remote, marginal lands where a flimsy mode of productivist occupance can, in part, be displaced by alternative modes with the transitions being facilitated …

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Beragam Islam, Beragam Ekspresi: Islam Indonesia Dalam Praktik, Oki Rahadianto Sutopo Jul 2010

Beragam Islam, Beragam Ekspresi: Islam Indonesia Dalam Praktik, Oki Rahadianto Sutopo

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

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Pluralisme Dan Masyarakat Pasca-Politik, Fransisca Sse Seda Jul 2010

Pluralisme Dan Masyarakat Pasca-Politik, Fransisca Sse Seda

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

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Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams Jul 2010

Preservation Ethics In The Case Of Nebraska's Nationally Registered Historic Properties, Darren Michael Adams

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on the National Register of Historic Places and considers the geographical implications of valuing particular historic sites over others. Certain historical sites will either gain or lose desirability from one era to the next, this dissertation identifies and explains three unique preservation ethical eras, and it maps the sites which were selected during those eras. These eras are the Settlement Era (1966–1975), the Commercial Architecture Era (1976–1991), and the Progressive Planning Era (1992–2010). The findings show that transformations in the program included an early phase when state authorities listed historical resources pertaining to the settlement of the …

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Density Estimation And Adaptive Bandwidths: A Primer For Public Health Practitioners, Heather A. Carlos, Xun Shi, James Sargent, Susanne Tanski, Ethan M. Berke Jul 2010

Density Estimation And Adaptive Bandwidths: A Primer For Public Health Practitioners, Heather A. Carlos, Xun Shi, James Sargent, Susanne Tanski, Ethan M. Berke

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Geographic information systems have advanced the ability to both visualize and analyze point data. While point-based maps can be aggregated to differing areal units and examined at varying resolutions, two problems arise 1) the modifiable areal unit problem and 2) any corresponding data must be available both at the scale of analysis and in the same geographic units. Kernel density estimation (KDE) produces a smooth, continuous surface where each location in the study area is assigned a density value irrespective of arbitrary administrative boundaries. We review KDE, and introduce the technique of utilizing an adaptive bandwidth to address the …

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Planning Policy And Public Perception In Small-Town Utah, Greg M. Platt Jul 2010

Planning Policy And Public Perception In Small-Town Utah, Greg M. Platt

Theses and Dissertations

City growth policies codify community values and serve as the basis for enforcement of community standards. If these policies do not match resident preferences for growth, potential exists for communities to grow in ways which make the community undesirable. This thesis examines whether adopted city growth policies match resident preferences in small towns in Utah. Findings include a strong relationship between resident preferences and city leader preferences for growth. Also, city staffs are poor readers of public sentiment relative to growth and growth management. Some cities are more effective in enacting city policies to match resident attitudes towards growth than …

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Design Of A Comprehensive Geographic Information System For The Administration Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas National Historic Trail, Jeffrey M. Williams Jul 2010

Design Of A Comprehensive Geographic Information System For The Administration Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas National Historic Trail, Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s (ATCOFA) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory were engaged by the National Park Service (NPS) National Trails System-Intermountain Region to provide GIS services supporting the NPS’s development of a Comprehensive Management Plan for El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail (ELTE). The scope of work was completed under an agreement with the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit sponsored by the Texas AgriLife Research Program at Texas A&M University. ATCOFA assisted the NPS in the coordination of local landowner and other local stakeholder contacts, conducted archival research …

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A Differential Absorption Model For Remote Sensing Of Atmospheric Pressure, Shivam J. Shah Jul 2010

A Differential Absorption Model For Remote Sensing Of Atmospheric Pressure, Shivam J. Shah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The goal of the project is to develop and test a "model based" radar processing strategy that is compatible with the concept of a "cognitive radar". The basic approach will be to develop a cognitive radar algorithm (genetic algorithm) based on the capabilities of an existing commercially available Software Radio. While the focus of this effort is the development of a candidate approach for genetic algorithm, the longer term goal would be to implement the approach using this software radio technology to provide a low cost radar processor. The proposed technology would use differential absorption radar working at the 50-56 …

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Using Gis To Determine Wind Harvesting Potential To Help Offset Boulder County's Yearly Energy Usage To Become A More Sustainable County, Pete Coventry Jun 2010

Using Gis To Determine Wind Harvesting Potential To Help Offset Boulder County's Yearly Energy Usage To Become A More Sustainable County, Pete Coventry

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This project focuses on Boulder County, Colorado as a case study to demonstrate how a Geographic Information System (GIS) can identify potential wind harvesting areas. A step by step demonstration will illustrate the steps needed to determine such harvesting areas and their wind potential. Once potential wind harvesting areas have been identified, concluding analysis will determine the amount of energy generated in efforts to offset current energy use. Harvesting wind has dated back to the 7th century and is looked at as a mature technology (Edwards 2003). Over the past few decades, public attitudes towards wind harvesting is becoming …

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Creating A Habitat Suitability Index Model For Argali Sheep (Ovis Ammon), And Siberian Ibex (Capra Sibirica) In Ikh Nartin Reserve, Mongolia, Nanette Bragin Jun 2010

Creating A Habitat Suitability Index Model For Argali Sheep (Ovis Ammon), And Siberian Ibex (Capra Sibirica) In Ikh Nartin Reserve, Mongolia, Nanette Bragin

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Mongolia is a country with a park system of protected areas, preserving native flora and fauna. In order to inform decision makers about the status of endangered species and park land health, two species of concern, the Argali sheep (Ovis ammon) and Siberian ibex Capra siberica) in the Ikh Nart Reserve in Mongolia were studied. A Habitat Suitability Index Model was developed to study the Argali and ibex habitat preference and discern if the reserve and core zone offer optimal habitat. A total of 57 animals were examined, creating 95% and 50% home range kernels, and minimum convex polygons. The …

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Gis Applications For Coal Mine Subsidence In The State Of Colorado, Charles J. Strickler Jun 2010

Gis Applications For Coal Mine Subsidence In The State Of Colorado, Charles J. Strickler

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The state of Colorado has an extensive history of subsurface coal mining. Due to the widespread extraction of coal, numerous subsidence events have occurred, causing both costly and potentially dangerous conditions. The two most common types of underground coal mines in Colorado are slope and shaft mines, which are prone to roof collapse that can propagate to the surface in the form of sinkholes and troughs. Sinkholes and troughs can occur over prolonged periods of time or as instantaneous events, which may leave landowners little reaction time and expensive repairs. As of January 2010, no spatial database existed that covered …

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Beyul Khumbu: Sherpa Constructions Of A Sacred Landscape, Lindsay Ann Skog Jun 2010

Beyul Khumbu: Sherpa Constructions Of A Sacred Landscape, Lindsay Ann Skog

Dissertations and Theses

Khumbu, part of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park in eastern Nepal and an UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to the Sherpa people, ethnic Tibetan Buddhists who migrated to the region more than 500 years ago. Sherpas animate the landscape with localized water, tree, rock, and land spirits, identify sacred mountains, mainly associated with the Bönpo and Tibetan yullha traditions, and some view the landscape as a beyul, a sacred place and hidden valley protecting Buddhist people and beliefs in times of turmoil and need. These beliefs protect the natural environment through religious practices and taboos against environmentally harmful …

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Susceptibility Modeling And Mission Flight Route Optimization In A Low Threat, Combat Environment, Brett J. Machovina Jun 2010

Susceptibility Modeling And Mission Flight Route Optimization In A Low Threat, Combat Environment, Brett J. Machovina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Movement and transportation systems are a primary topic in the study of humans and their relationship with the environment. Only a few modes of transportation allow for nearly full freedom of movement that is unconstrained by rigid nodes and networks. Individual human travel (walking, climbing, swimming, etc.) is one example while rotorcraft travel is another. Although other criteria constrain movement, independence from a network allows for a unique examination of human spatial decision-making and choice behavior. This research analyzes helicopter flight route planning in a low threat combat environment with respect to geography. The particular problem addressed, which ultimately concerns …

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Treatment Of Displaced Indigenous Populations In Two Large Hydro Projects In Panama, Mary Finley-Brook, Curtis Thomas Jun 2010

Treatment Of Displaced Indigenous Populations In Two Large Hydro Projects In Panama, Mary Finley-Brook, Curtis Thomas

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The World Commission on Dams provided an analytical overview of the cumulative effects of years of dam development. A lack of commitment or capacity to cope with displacement or to consider the civil rights of, or risks to, displaced people led to the impoverishment and suffering of tens of millions and growing opposition to dams by affected communities worldwide. However, after the WCD, little has changed for the better in terms of resettlement policies. In fact, the standards of key agencies, like the Asian Development Bank, have been lowered and diluted compared to prior policies. Dam-induced development and displacement are …

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Fire: Ecology & Prevention, Justin R. Frey Jun 2010

Fire: Ecology & Prevention, Justin R. Frey

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Variations In Vulnerability To Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Kelsey Margaret Allard Jun 2010

Variations In Vulnerability To Climate Change In Southeast Asia, Kelsey Margaret Allard

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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Dairy Farming And Cattle Ranching; Consequences On Human And Environmental Health, Sarah Kensky Jun 2010

Dairy Farming And Cattle Ranching; Consequences On Human And Environmental Health, Sarah Kensky

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

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