Geography Commons^™

Critique Of Microcredit As A Development Model, Grace Levin

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The field of microcredit (otherwise known as microfinance, microlending, or microcapital) has expanded rapidly since the 1980s as an economic means of lifting people out of poverty. Generally, microcredit has been accepted as an effective method for empowering both individuals and communities. In recent years, however, critics have brought to light some of the problems associated with microlending, such as the complex socioeconomic factors that can cause loan programs to fail. These problems stem from the basic tenet of microfinance: the need for lending programs to be managed locally in order to understand the needs of a community and assess …

Landscaping Israel: Power And Resistance On The Ground, Janey Kemp

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Factors That Shape Environmental Perceptions: The Role Of Health And Place, Elizabeth Langlois

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Risk perception is the judgment people make about the characteristics and severity of a risk. Numerous theories and models exist which have identified the factors that influence risk perception. Among these factors, location, health status, and demographic characteristics are known to shape risk perception. To measure the influence of these factors on environmental perception, a series of surveys conducted in four Louisiana communities between 2004 and 2005 describe community perceptions about environmental issues and health status. The objective of the study was to characterize and compare environmental concerns relative to location, health status, and demographic characteristics. Results indicate that location …

Gender Relations Of Space: Impact On Women’S Leadership In Nigeria [Pilot Study], Oluremi Alapo

Publications and Research

This qualitative phenomenological research study examines women in Nigeria and how they continue to face enormous set-backs regarding development and leadership capabilities. The socio and economic roles that many women occupy in Nigerian society affects leadership roles, especially in the context of sexual division of labor and in decision-making. The national and family culture present prevents women to fully adapt to innovative 21st century leadership. Culture is socialized in a person through the shared values of social groups that in turn play key roles in a person’s cognitive, emotional, and social functioning. The national and family culture is one in …

Monitoring Land-Cover Change In The Las Vegas Valley: A Study Of Five Change Detection Methods In An Urban Environment, Bonnie Diane Weidemann

Theses and Dissertations

Change detection is currently a topic of great interest to theoretic geographic researchers. The necessity to map, monitor, and model land cover change is also important to a variety of applied fields as varied as urban planning and military intelligence. This research compares five algorithms to map urban land cover change in the greater Las Vegas, Nevada metropolitan area. Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery acquired on May 1990 and May 2000 was used as the primary data. The change detection methods yielded simple maps of change vs. no change. These algorithms included image differencing, image ratioing, image regression, vegetation index differencing, …

The Role Of Interdisciplinary Gis And Data Curation Librarians In Enhancing Authentic Scientific Research In The Classroom, Benjamin D. Branch, Michael Fosmire

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Data science is a recently evolved area of scientific inquiry, where data, often collected by others, is analyzed by independent investigators to draw new conclusions. As such, data literacy needs to be incorporated into authentic research activities. The earth sciences in particular have a trove of data that resides in national data centers as well as individual investigators’ labs, which can be repurposed to provide the inputs for students to make their own inquiries into the data. With the amount of data available, students can make more substantive conclusions than if relying just on data they’ve collected themselves.

The Flow Of Water, Power, And Ideas: Water Commodification In Cape Town, South Africa And The Stratified Experiences Of Time And Space Compression, Jenna Washburn

Master's Theses

I use the neoliberalization of the water sector in Cape Town, South Africa in order to test my theory of unequal development. I assert that the neoliberal economic practices of water commodification, business-friendly tariff policies, and prepaid management devices keep people along the periphery from accessing water, power, and ideas – thus causing a stratification of time and space compression between the core and the periphery.

By painting a theoretical picture of world cities, I wish to complicate the dominant views of time/space compression and suggest that, much like development and arguably because of it, time and space compression actually …

Examining Land Use/Land Cover Change And Potential Causal Factors In The Context Of Climate Change In Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal, Kamal Humagain

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In the context of growing tourism and global warming, the fragile landscape of the Himalayas is under immense pressure because of rapid land cover changes in developing countries like Nepal. Remotely sensed data combined with ethnographic knowledge are useful tools for studying such changes. The quantitative change can be measured analyzing satellite images whereas local people’s perceptions provide supportive information. To measure such changes in Sagarmatha National Park of Nepal, Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Thematic Mapper (TM) images since 1972 were used. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated for different elevation classes and land cover types. These measurements, along …

Teleconnective Influences On The Strength Of Post-Tropical Cyclones, Jeremy Young

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Over the 1951-2009 time period, 47% of all tropical systems in the Atlantic Basin transitioned to post-tropical storms. These storms are capable of producing hurricaneforce winds, torrential, flooding rains and storm surge that floods coastal areas. This study adds to previous climatological work by completing a case-study of Hurricane Ike (2008) and examining how teleconnections such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) contribute to the strength of a transitioning post-tropical storm. T-tests performed show strong statistical relationships between an increase (decrease) in post-tropical storm …

Obesogenic Neighborhoods: The Impact Of Neighborhood Restaurants And Convenience Stores On Adolescents' Food Consumption Behaviors, Meizi He, Patricia Tucker, Jennifer D. Irwin, Jason Gilliland, Kristian Larsen, Paul Hess

Geography & Environment Publications

To examine the relationship between the neighbourhood food environment and dietary intake among adolescents. Cross-sectional design using: (i) a geographic information system to assess characteristics of the neighbourhood food environment and neighbourhood socio-economic status; (ii) the modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to assess participants' overall diet quality; and (iii) generalized linear models to examine associations between HEI and home and school food environmental correlates. Mid-sized Canadian city in Ontario, Canada. Participants Grade 7 and 8 students (n 810) at twenty-one elementary schools. Students living in neighbourhoods with a lower diversity of land-use types, compared with their higher diversity counterparts, had …

Prehistoric Human Ecodynamics In The Rub Al-Khali Desert: Results Of Remote Sensing And Excavations In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Jason T. Herrmann

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Archaeological investigations in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE conducted by the Dubai Department of Archaeology and the University of Arkansas demonstrate that the desert inland of the Oman Peninsula was occupied not only during the Arabian Neolithic (8000-4400 BC), when the region experienced a moist period referred to as the Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO), but also during the more arid millennia following the decline of the HCO into the Christian Era. During this period, desert settlement clustered near a band of oases, in contrast to the more widespread spatial distribution of remains of nomadic pastoralists from the Neolithic. Excavations at …

Competing Sovereignties: Corporate Social Responsibility, Oil Extraction, And Indigenous Subjectivity In Ecuador, Emily Billo

Geography and the Environment - Dissertations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs developed in recent years as the business response to social and environmental criticism of corporate operations, and are most debated in those societies where neoliberalism emerged most prominently, the United States and the United Kingdom. My dissertation expands these debates investigating the CSR programs of a Spanish-owned multinational oil company, Repsol-YPF operating in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. It explores CSR programs as institutions that can facilitate ongoing resource extraction, and particular technologies of rule that serve to discipline indigenous peoples at the point of extraction. I conducted an institutional ethnography to examine the social relationships …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring For Scotts Bluff National Monument, 2012 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Stephen K. Wilson

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

the last remnants of native mixed-grass prairie in the region. The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) surveyed 8 long-term monitoring plots in Scotts Bluff National Monument in 2012 as part of an effort to better understand the condition of plant communities in the park. We measured plant diversity and cover, estimated tree and shrub density, looked for the presence of exotic species that are of concern to park management, and evaluated the amount of human and natural disturbance at all plots. This effort was the second year in a multiple-year venture to document the current …

Assessing The Impacts Of Dams On Nutrient And Sediment Loading In The Kalamazoo River Using The Soil And Water Assessment Tool (Swat), Daniel Henry Serfas

Masters Theses

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was applied to the Kalamazoo River Watershed in order to evaluate the impacts that several dams within a superfund site "Area of Concern" have on the sediment, nutrients, and streamflow of the system. It was hypothesized that the SWAT model could be used to recreate the watershed in hopes of estimating the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment that would result from the removal of the dams. The model would then be used to evaluate dam removal scenarios to come up with a best management practice (BMP).

The model was calibrated, however, during …

Agriculture, Influence, And Instability Under The Ancien Régime: 1708-1768, Adam J. Polk

Masters Theses

The French Revolution has been studied from myriad perspectives. The majority of scholarship focuses on the political and urban chaos of the times. Agricultural conditions and the influence of onerous taxation and stagnant agricultural options are given only a cursory examination in most research. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between agronomic and environmental conditions and the eruption of violence in urban centers during the French Revolution and the years leading up to it (1708-1768). This period prior to the French Revolution serves as a template to investigate the nature of the rural-agricultural influences, with a particular focus paid …

Returning The Commons: Resource Access And Environmental Governance In San Luis, Colorado, Keith Lindner

Geography and the Environment - Dissertations

In Lobato v. Taylor (2002) the Colorado Supreme Court awarded Hispano heirs to the 1843 Mexican-era Sangre de Cristo Land Grant returned access to formerly communal land known as La Sierra, the Taylor Ranch, or today Cielo Vista Ranch. The 77,000 acre parcel of mountainous land remains privately owned, yet through Lobato over 4,000 individuals have been awarded legal rights to access the land for the "reasonable use" of pastures and forests for grazing, firewood, and timber. Based on roughly 15 months of ethnographic research in collaboration with the Land Rights Council and based in San Luis, CO, this dissertation …

Producing Edge City: Publics, Perceptions, And The Right To Life On The New Frontier, Ben Alan Gerlofs

Geography and the Environment - Theses

This thesis explores Oak Brook, IL, an edge city (Garreau 1991) in the western suburbs of Chicago. A number of authors have advanced criticisms of edge cities (Beauregard 1995; Marcuse 1997), including that they are particularly exploitative and exclusionary. Some authors have claimed that edge cities are a "new frontier" (Garreau 1991), while others suggest that they are nothing new at all (Walker 1994). I address these concerns by way of an in-depth engagement with Oak Brook, Chicago's truest edge city. I ultimately argue that while edge cities have unique characteristics, they are part of a long heritage of capitalist …

Situation Analysis Of Somalia’S 2011 Famine, Ahmed Mohamed Askar

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

This CE examined the contributing factors of famine in Somalia and developed a situation analysis of Somalia’s 2011 famine. The situational analysis was developed using health and famine indicators. Data from geographic information system (GIS) was also used to supplement analysis to look for trends and patterns of the famine. I predicted that conflict was the leading factor in Somalia’s 2011 famine. I concluded that conflict exacerbated the famine situation in the south of Somalia but in the north (Somaliland) famine was due to climate and lack of permanent rivers and water sources.

Using Gis And Remote Sensing Applications To Determine Recovery From Disaster: Seven Years Post-Katrina In Residential Communities Of Hancock County, Carlton P. Anderson

Honors Theses

Hurricane Katrina devastated the gulf coast states of Louisiana and Mississippi on August 29th, 2005. The communities of Shoreline Park and Waveland in Hancock County, Mississippi were used in this study to analyze land use change post-Hurricane Katrina using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing. These two communities are experiencing slower recovery than their counterparts along the coast. By examining high-resolution aerial imagery from 2007 and 2012, there can be comparisons that show the timeline of recovery for these two communities post-Katrina. Shoreline Park has seen 30% of its total parcels change their structural footprints from 2007 – 2012 …

Climate Change And The Spread Of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Courtney B. Reed

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Soccer Labor Market In Europe 2011‐2012: History And Trends Of Players From Argentina, Brazil, And West Africa, Eduardo Ortiz

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Geographic Information Systems For Real-Time Environmental Sensing At Multiple Scales, Samuel Esswein

All Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to design, implement, and apply a real-time geographic information system for data intensive water resource research and management. The research presented is part of an ongoing, interdisciplinary research program supporting the development of the Intelligent River® observation instrument. The objectives of this research were to 1) design and describe software architecture for a streaming environmental sensing information system, 2) implement and evaluate the proposed information system, and 3) apply the information system for monitoring, analysis, and visualization of an urban stormwater improvement project located in the City of Aiken, South Carolina, USA.
This research …

Mapping Xenophobic Violence In South Africa: Modeling Spatial Relationships Between Group Grievances And Opportunities To Measure The Propensity For Xenophobic Violence, Eric Holder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Xenophobia can be defined as the hatred or fear of foreigners or strangers or of their politics or culture (Ngwane et al., 2008). This sentiment reached its tipping point in urban areas across the Republic of South Africa in May 2008 when mass, widespread and systematic attacks against African non-nationals took place across the country. Although previous research agrees on who played the various roles during this crisis event (Everatt, 2010), little research has been carried out to create a predictive model to assess where future violence could occur based on a set of conflict indicators. The purpose of this …

Visualization For Anomaly Detection And Data Management By Leveraging Network, Sensor And Gis Techniques, Zhaoxia Wang, Chee Seng Chong, Rick S. M. Goh, Wanqing Zhou, Dan Peng, Hoong Chor Chin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper studies the importance of visualization for discerning and interpreting patterns of data and its application for solving real problems, such as anomaly detection and data management. There are various ways to realize visualization to cater to the needs of numerous real life applications. Depending on needs, a combination of some of these ways may be required for presenting an effective visualization. The authors present visualization schemes for anomaly detection/condition monitoring and data management by leveraging network techniques and combining them with modern techniques such as sensor, database, mobile communication, GPS and GIS techniques. Two case studies are presented …

Integrated Approach For Hydrogeologic Investigations In Africa: Inferences From Space-Borne And Land-Based Gravity, Aeromagnetic, Gis, And Remote Sensing Data, Mohamed El Sayed Ahmed Ahmed

Dissertations

An integrated (space-borne and land-based gravity, aeromagnetic, GIS, and remote sensing) approach was developed, tested, and applied to investigate the following on regional scales (Africa) or local scales (El Qaa Plain, Sinai): (1) assess the capability of GRACE data (04/2002 to 08/2011) for monitoring elements of hydrologic systems on the sub-basin level (Task 1); (2) address the nature and the controlling factors (e.g., climatic and/or human pressure-related) affecting the inter-annual GRACE-derived Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) trends over a large suite of hydrologic systems and domains in (Africa) (Task 2); and (3) identify the structural, geologic and hydrologic settings as well …

Inter-Species Interactions: Effects Of Spatial Proximity Of Breeding Burrowing Owls (Athene Cunicularia) And Mountain Plovers (Charadrius Montanus) On Mountain Plover Nest Success, Lindsey Messinger

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Predator-prey interactions are complex and direct interactions between predator-prey pairs are difficult to distinguish due to direct and indirect effects of additional predator-prey interactions. While most studies evaluating the impact of predators on prey concentrate on consumption (mortality of prey caused by a predator), there are a variety of interactions that take place between predators and prey that may not result in mortality. These in direct impacts of predation have been found to influence micro- and macro- habitat use, time allocation patterns, species distribution, population growth, and species interactions and can be just as strong or stronger than consumptive effects.

Mapping Sustainability: City Of Fife Parks And Recreation, Tonya Elliott

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permits fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future.

Mapping The Evolution Of Racially Mixed And Segregated Neighborhoods In Chicago, Jonathan Chipman, Richard Wright, Mark Ellis, Steven R. R. Holloway

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Chicago metropolitan region consists of a spatially complex mosaic of neighborhoods, in which measures of racial and ethnic composition vary dramatically. Understanding these patterns and their evolution has been hindered by ambiguities in the use of terms like ‘diverse’ or ‘segregated’, which are often posited as opposite ends of a one-dimensional scale. Using a new taxonomy of neighborhood composition, we have mapped the evolving patterns of Chicago's neighborhoods in 1990, 2000, and 2010, and tabulated census tracts that have undergone transitions or remained stable. Looking beyond the Chicago metropolitan area, we have developed an interactive atlas of similar maps …

Using Landscape Pattern Metrics To Characterize Ecoregions, Martha Isabel Posada Posada

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ecological regions, or ecoregions, are areas that exhibit “relative homogeneity in ecosystems”. The principal objective of this research was to determine if and how landscape structure (quantified by landscape pattern metrics) may be related to ecoregions defined using Omernik’s approach to ecoregionalization. Nine key landscape pattern metrics (number or LULC classes and the proportion of each class, number of patches, mean patch size and area-weighted fractal dimension, perimeter-area fractal dimension, contagion, mean Euclidean nearest neighbor distance and interspersion and juxtaposition index) where used to asses landscape structure in a sample of 26 Omernik Level III ecoregions located in the central …

Climate Change And The Water Crisis In Israel, Lauren Deutsch

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Israel’s water crisis is controlled by the availability and location of water resources that are affected by climate change and geopolitics in southwest Asia. Conflict between Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have put strains on the allocation of water recourses. The goal of this research was to model how much a change in climate will affect the amount of available freshwater in Israel. Intensive research taken from Israel and the occupied territories was carried out to understand how the amount of precipitation, rainfall, and the rate of evaporation is affected by …