Geography Commons^™

Using Gis To Facilitate Data Driven Decision Making, Jason Glatz

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

This poster presents two methods for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assist in data driven facilities management, with a primary focus on space planning and use. One method focuses on using GIS to analyze new book additions to the collection and their relationship to existing storage capacity. By treating each shelving range like a street, and each book like an address, the added books can be plotted on the range. This allows for a convenient visual analysis of the spatial growth of new books. GIS is also used to represent the remaining storage capacity of each section within a …

Light Pollution Research Through Citizen Science, John Kanemoto

STAR Program Research Presentations

Light pollution (LP) can disrupt and/or degrade the health of all living things, as well as, their environments. The goal of my research at the NOAO was to check the accuracy of the citizen science LP reporting systems entitled: Globe at Night (GaN), Dark Sky Meter (DSM), and Loss of the Night (LoN). On the GaN webpage, the darkness of the night sky (DotNS) is reported by selecting a magnitude chart. Each magnitude chart has a different density/number of stars around a specific constellation. The greater number of stars implies a darker night sky. Within the DSM iPhone application, a …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Regulatory Stormwater Monitoring Protocols On Groundwater Quality In Urbanized Karst Regions, Daniel C. Nedvidek

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Non-point pollution from stormwater runoff is one of the greatest threats to water quality in the United States today, particularly in urban karst settings. In these settings, the use of karst features and injection wells for stormwater management results in virtually untreated water being directed into the karst aquifer. Currently, no policies exist specifically to provide water quality protections to karst environments. This study utilized a combination of karst stormwater quality data, along with survey data collected from MS4 Phase II communities, and an analysis of current federal, local, and state water quality regulations, to assess the need for karst-specific …

Selling Tradition: Impression Management And Draft Animal Agriculture Of A Mississippi Farmstead, Matthew Corbin Lance

Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study of a family of farmers in Mississippi’s Piney Woods who use horse-drawn equipment to grow crops. This practice is notable in the context of a larger agricultural system that prioritizes mechanization (particularly the use of tractors). The production style and their use of local direct selling via farmers markets allowed them to thrive economically because they were able to tap into a niche market of consumers desiring an alternative to the modern, conventional agricultural system.

Other literature on Alternative Food Networks (AFN) discusses the issues of alterity and appropriation—that is, whether AFN ventures are …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Bridging The Work Of Field Scientists And The Needs Of Data Re-Users, Antonia Rosati, Lynn Yarmey

The International Workshop on Ice Caves

The National Science Foundation requires Principal Investigators to make the data they collect and create publically available. To assist PIs with this requirement, NSF funded the Advanced Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (ACADIS). ACADIS houses data from the Division of Polar Programs (PLR), provides data management assistance to PIs, and advances search and data discovery tools. In short, ACADIS exists for NSF Arctic researchers by providing a safe home for data and encouraging data reuse. ACADIS is a group of specialist organizations comprised to create a repository of Arctic data that encompasses spatial, temporal, and attribute granularity of data …

Overcoming Roadblocks In Introducing Virtual World Technology To High Schools, Casey Dylan Bailey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative is a non-profit educational organization that provides students in over two hundred schools in eight states with access to advanced computing technologies for the purpose of enabling students to develop technical skills early and to produce solutions to local community problems. Although many high-end technologies are available through EAST, they are desktop solutions that individual students use and there are none that enable students within a school or between schools to collaborate.

This thesis is a saga that documents the identification and removal of many roadblocks to introducing a 3D multi-user virtual simulation …

Smart Growth And New Urbanism: The Implementation Of Development Plans Eight Years After Hurricane Katrina On The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Heather Nicholson

Honors Theses

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Coast, Master Concept Plans (MCPs) that emphasized smart growth and new urbanism were created to reduce sprawl on the coast. This study seeks to find the reality of these plans by examining what has actually been implemented from the MCPs eight years after Hurricane Katrina. This study was conducted in the Mississippi coastal cities of Long Beach and D’Iberville. The MCPs were georeferenced, digitized, and overlaid on top of current land use parcel data using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Parcels were selected and categorized based on each proposed plan and compared to current …

Use Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) For Urban Tree Inventories, Brian Ritter

All Theses

In contrast to standard aerial imagery, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) utilize recent technological advances to provide an affordable alternative for imagery acquisition. Increased value can be realized through clarity and detail providing higher resolution (2-5 cm) over traditional products. Many natural resource disciplines such as urban forestry will benefit from UAS. Tree inventories for risk assessment, biodiversity, planning, and design can be efficiently achieved with the UAS. Recent advances in photogrammetric processing have proved automated methods for three dimensional rendering of aerial imagery. Point clouds can be generated from images providing additional benefits. Association of spatial locational information within the …

Integrated (Remote Sensing, Gis, And Modeling) Hydrological Investigation And Landslide Susceptibility Studies In The Arabian Shield, Talal Ghazi Alharbi

Dissertations

An integrated approach (remote sensing, geographical information systems [GIS], and modeling) was applied to conduct a number of hydrologic and environmental investigations in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) aimed at: (1) identifying the spatial and temporal climate change–related variations in precipitation over the AP using readily available, remotely acquired global precipitation data sets; (2) investigating the nature of the factors controlling the observed climatic variations; (3) estimating the partitioning of precipitation over the Red Sea Hills watersheds into runoff , recharge, and initial losses using calibrated continuous rainfall runoff models (Soil Water Assessment Tool [SWAT]); (4) identifying landslide (largely caused by …

An Analysis Of The Potential Effects Of Urbanization On The Water Quality Of The Middle Fork Of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky., Olivia Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined whether water quality diminished as a result of increasing pollution downstream along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky in response to urbanization. Samples of key water quality indicators/pollutants were collected for 12 weeks (November - January) along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek at three different stream gauges. A spatial and statistical analysis was performed to verify any significant correlations between the water quality indicators and pollutants, and whether basin wide landcover/sewer outlet numbers led to an increase in these indicators downstream. Following ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis statistical testing it was established that turbidity significantly increased …

Michigan's Clay Bluffs: The Description And Comparison Of An Erosion-Dependent Natural Community, Nathaniel G. Fuller

Masters Theses

The clay bluffs of Michigan are a natural community found along the shores of the Great Lakes. Groundwater is found to be critical to sustaining the alkaline wetlands on the face of the bluff as well as the source of most erosion events. The clay bluffs are unusual in their vegetation, disturbance regime and geographical context. This thesis focuses primarily on describing seeping clay bluffs and exploring the comparison to other natural communities. The purpose of this is twofold, to better understand the ways in which natural communities are described as distinct from one another, and to assess the distinctness …

Time-Space Analysis Of Terrorist Planning Cycles, Michael Stephen Gerald Eastham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism is among the largest threats to national and international security in today's global community. Acts of terrorism have resulted economic and societal impacts throughout the world. Improvements in technology have increased the capacity of terrorists to maximize the impact of their actions. The increasing influence and prevalence of terrorist activity has demanded research focused on the prevention of terrorist acts. A known method of terrorism prevention is uncovering a plot during its planning and preparation phase. Terrorist planning can be evaluated based on how actors move through space and time prior to the execution of their attack. General patterns …

Ambient Geographic Information And Risk Mapping, Todd Barr

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Research on social media as an information source for emergency managers and epidemiologists is expanding at a rapid pace. When combined with the spatial predictive analysis methodology known as Risk Terrain Mapping and the capability of the local health agencies to response, the predictions of outbreaks and their affects can be modeled. This study attempts to create a spatial Risk Terrain Model outbreaks of influenza, and influenza like illnesses within the continental United States. The Risk Terrain Model will be built upon accepted epidemiological models form the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as Google’s Flu index and …

Reformasi Tni: Pola, Profesionalitas, Dan Refungsionalisasi Militer Dalam Masyarakat, Ahmad Yani Basuki

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

As a process of military withdrawal from politics, the internal reform of The Indonesian National Defense Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia/TNI) has specific characters in its pattern as well as in its professionality. In this paper, Talukder Maniruzzaman’s concept of military withdrawal from politics and Robert K. Merton’s and Talcott Parsons’ functional analysis were laboured to inquire that process experienced by TNI. That inquiry used the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The result shows that TNI reform is a gradual, hierarchical and sustainable process. TNI reform can also categorized as professional military withdrawal from politics—a process which is not going …

Globalisasi Dan Transformasi Institusi Pendidikan Militer Di Sekolah Staf Dan Komando Tni Al (Seskoal), Amarulla Octavian

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

Globalization has brought some challenges and threats to the building of national defence and security of many countries, including Indonesia. Many efforts have to be made to answer these challenges and threats. One of these efforts is doing some necessary transformations in the institutions of military education—in this case, The School of Staff and Command of Indonesian Navy (Sekolah Staf dan Komando TNI AL/SESKOAL) that becomes the research subject of this article. This article argues that the attempt of military organization to do adaptation and anticipation in facing globalization can be done by transformation of institution of military education, especially …

Jaringan Purnawirawan Tentara Nasional Indonesia Dalam Politik Relasi Sipil–Militer Pasca Reformasi Tni, Arie S. Soesilo

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This article discusses the entering process of retired military (TNI) officers into politics and their performances in that arena. This article argues that the retired military officer’s roles in politics provided new characteristics to the pattern of civil-military relations in Indonesia. It related to their capability to bridge the communication and to act as muting agent in political conflict between civil and military politicians. This article also asserts that the involvement of retired military officers in politics is strongly based on their commitment to the constitution in building democratic consolidation, which is not representing military interests. Thereby, it criticizes existing …

Demokratisasi Relasi Sipil–Militer Pada Era Reformasi Di Indonesia, Koesnadi Kardi

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

Indonesia’s military reform resulted cultural, structural, doctrinal and organizational changes. But those changes are not fundamental enough to build democratic civil–military relation that relies on civilian supremacy. The process of military reform in Indonesia showed us that the success of democratization of civil–military relation depends on institutional setup of the military related to civilian institutions’ persistency, guidance, and initiative. This study used Peter D. Feaver’s theory of “principal-agent” to show that the lack of civilian institutions’ coherence and resoluteness caused persisting problems to the Indonesia’s military reform under democratic system. Civilian supremacy in Indonesia appears to be relied on “voluntary …

Prajurit Profesional-Patriot: Menuju Tni Profesional Pada Era Reformasi, Syamsul Ma'arif

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This article discuses about The Indonesian National Defense Forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia/TNI) who has been experiencing a shift from praetorian military to professional military because of fundamental change within Indonesian society after the end of the Soeharto’s regime in 1998 which is followed by a transition of power from New Order to reformed government. That shift can be seen through some issues related to territorial institutions, military business, and relation between TNI and The Ministry of Defense (Departemen Pertahanan). This paper argues that that shift and its related issues can be explained by patriot professional military thesis. This thesis combines …

Relasi Sipil-Militer Dalam Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Papua, Syafrudin Tippe

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This research attempts to show that active role of agencies allows an adequate civil–military relation to be established despite of some constrains to the relationship between the two. Employing qualitative approach to assess civil–military cooperation in empowering Papuan society, the case study shows how the military and civilian collaborated to subdue the social tension in a territory prone to conflict. The result suggests that military component took pivotal role in maintaining peace and national security in Papua. Through its history, Indonesian government planned Papua development with military’s involvement on one side, yet without any attempt to embrace the subject of …

The Soldier And The State: The Theory And Politics Of Civil–Military Relations, Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Embrio Sosiologi Militer Di Indonesia, Redaksi Jurnal Masyarakat

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

No abstract provided.

Using Gis To Assess Firearm Thefts, Recoveries And Crimes In Lincoln, Nebraska, David A. Grosso

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Firearm use in the United States has long been of great concern and at the center of many debates. Most research, however, has either focused on the use of firearms in violent crimes or the availability of firearms compared to the violent crime rates. Few studies have focused on the theft of firearms or the relationships between stolen firearms and crime. Using seven years of data collected Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department, this thesis focuses on the geospatial dimensions of firearm thefts and recoveries. Specific attention is given to the relationship firearm thefts and recoveries have with gun-related crimes, violent crimes, …

Expanding The Circle: New Poets To The Goose, Sonnet L'Abbé

The Goose

An introduction to the poets whose work appears in The Goose for the first time in this issue.

Wild Life, Jordan Abel

The Goose

Poetry by Jordan Abel. This poem is composed from 91 public domain Western novels that are freely available on Project Gutenberg. In total, the source text is over 10,000 pages long and is authored by 20 different writers. When all of the novels were searched simultaneously, there were 41 instances of the phrase "wild life." The resulting poem provides a contextual space where the language of a single word or phrase can be read.

Moose: Recollections From A Northern Childhood, Allison K. Athens

The Goose

A creative reflection on growing up with moose.

Animals And Law In The American City, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 6 in Environmental Law and Contrasting Ideas of Nature: a Constructivist Approach, Keith H. Hirokawa, ed.

Whereas a large and growing scholarly literature is dedicated to studying human populations in the city, not much has been written about nonhuman animals in this space. This essay explores the presence of nonhuman animals in the American city through a legal lens. I begin with a few general contemplations about the legal classification of animals in American cities, and then move to explore specific legal classifications of animals in cities: domestic and companion animals, agriculture or livestock animals, wild animals, …

Order And Disorder In The Urban Forest: A Foucauldian-Latourian Perspective, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 9 in Urban Forests, Trees, and Greenspace: A Political Ecology Perspective, L. Anders Sandberg, Adrina Bardekjian & Sadia Butt, eds.

We pass by street trees everyday. Their existence as well as their particular location in the city seems obvious, innocuous, natural. But, as is the case with most taken-for-granted "things" (Brown, 2011), some excavation is bound to reveal a more complicated and even ideological story. This study focuses on such a story: the story of the clandestine governance of nature and of humans by way of nature - all through the construction and regulation of city street …

Managing Regional Water Resources Amidst Rapid Urbanization In Southwest Florida: A Case Study, Nicole Owusua Caesar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Experts and organizations involved in freshwater resources management have emphasized the importance of long-term urban resource planning and management that considers the tight coupling which exists between human - nature - technology systems. The resistance of contemporary urban growth efforts to consider resource carrying capacities and ecosystem requirements has led to costly unintended consequences including the deterioration of natural capital and their associated ecosystem services, and the degradation of water resource flows. As these problems continue to worsen, resource experts have called for the development of a new water resource management paradigm inclusive of various sustainability criteria.

Historically water-rich Florida …

Connecting Institutional Discourses And Everyday Understandings Of Climate Change: Viewpoints From A Suburban Neighborhood In Tampa, Florida, Christopher Metzger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a general consensus regarding anthropogenic global climate change across the international scientific community, many of the major greenhouse gas producers in the world, especially the United States, are hesitant to implement strict emissions regulations. According to some prominent atmospheric scientists, such as James Hansen and Michael Mann, if industrialized countries continue to produce carbon emissions at current rates, an irreversible planetary tipping point of raising temperatures 2°C above pre-industrial levels could be reached in less than 40 years. Societies have a wealth of information from the natural sciences to understand the climate problem and currently possess the technological means …