Geography Commons^™

Using Spatial Analysis And Machine Learning Techniques To Develop A Comprehensive Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Consolidation Model, Samira Soleimani

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The safety of highway-railroad grade crossings (HRGC) is still an issue in the United States of America (USA). The grade crossing is where a railroad crosses a road at the same level without any over or underpass. To improve the safety of crossings, the crossings’ condition should be explored from several aspects such as engineering design (speed limit, warning signs, etc.), road condition (number of lanes, surface markings, etc.), rail design (the type of track, ballast, etc.), temporal variables (weather, visibility, time of day, lightning, etc.), social variables (population, race, etc.), and last but not least, spatial variables (the type …

The Research Landscape Of Current Vietnamese Skilled Migration, Chi Hong Nguyen

Essays in Education

Although research on labour migration from Vietnam seems to be solid, that on skilled migration is paid scant attention to. Aiming to contribute further understandings to this gap, this article outlines basic streams of research on Vietnam’s migration and points out weaknesses in current research on Vietnamese skilled migration. In addressing this deficit, this paper identifies six limitations: (1) a discrete nationalism outlook, (2) a limited use of relevant conceptual frameworks, (3) a lack of empirical evidence on migrants’ transnational practices, (4) the absence of migrants’ voices, (5) the inclusion of Vietnamese migrants in Asian migrant groups, and (6) a …

النمو السكاني والاحتياجات السكنيَّة لمدينة إربد 2004 – 2024- Population Growth And Housing Needs Of Irbid City, 2004-2024, Bilal Al-Bayer, Mousa Samha

Al Jinan الجنان

The aim of this study is to examine population growth rates, and housing needs of Irbid city. For this purpose, the study took into consideration the housing needs in Irbid city. The study based on population census data used certain quantitative method to estimate population growth rates.and population projections in future , The annual decay rate of houses, and counted housing need resulted from decreasing occupancy rate to 2.5 person/room.

The analysis of the study showed that the district witnessed rapid population growth. For instance, the population growth rate was 4.17% during 1979-1994. while it decreased to 2.05% during 1994-2004. …

No One Size Fits All: Key Debates In Transnationalism Research, Chi Hong Nguyen

Essays in Education

Migration is often examined through different theories and approaches such as cultural theories, policy and economic frameworks and transnationalism. Most of these approaches unpack the key components of migration that include effects of social structures on agency, influences of transnational ties, migrants’ successes and lives in limbo as well as cultural norms and gender roles. These have succeeded in offering a well-informed understanding of migration as embodied processes that are formed by migrants’ interactions with the surrounding world. As an embodied approach, transnationalism looks into various aspects of migrants’ lives across space and time. It entails various units of analysis. …

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Human–Wildlife Conflicts In The Kenya Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, Joseph M. Mukeka, Joseph O. Ogutu, Erustus Kanga, Eivin Røskaft

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries is faced with many and mounting challenges, including increasing human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs). In Africa and other developing countries, increasing HWCs, particularly those adjacent to protected areas, can adversely affect local stakeholder perceptions and support for conservation. We analyzed HWC reports for multiple wildlife species compiled >23 years (1995–2017) from the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem (GTE) in Kenya to determine HWC trends. The GTE is the largest protected area in Kenya, covering 22,681 km². Overall, 39,022 HWC incidents were reported in 6 GTE regions (i.e., Taveta, Mutomo, Kibwezi, Rombo, Galana, Bachuma). The 5 wildlife species …

Advancing Best Practices For Aversion Conditioning (Humane Hazing) To Mitigate Human–Coyote Conflicts In Urban Areas, Lesley Sampson, Lauren Van Patter

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are now recognized as a permanent feature in urban environments across much of North America. Behavioral aversion conditioning, or humane hazing, is increasingly advocated as an effective and compassionate alternative to wildlife management strategies, such as trap and removal. Given a growing public interest in humane hazing, there is a need to synthesize the science regarding methods, outcomes, efficacy, and other relevant considerations to better manage human–coyote conflicts in urban areas. This paper was prepared as an outcome of a workshop held in July 2019 by Coyote Watch Canada (CWC) to synthesize the literature on …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, October 2020, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 1. Issue 9

Content:

Dean’s Update P.1
Awards & Recognition P.2
Student Club Spotlight P.3
Open PRAIRIE | Research Overview P.4
Interest in Science | Updates P.5
Where’s Wil? P.6 Art
Competition Announcement P.7

Environmentally Clean Access To Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments, Alexander B. Michaud, Trista (Vick-Majors, Amanda M. Achberger, Mark L. Skidmore, Brent C. Christner, Martyn Tranter, John C. Priscu

Faculty Publications

Subglacial Antarctic aquatic environments are important targets for scientific exploration due to the unique ecosystems they support and their sediments containing palaeoenvironmental records. Directly accessing these environments while preventing forward contamination and demonstrating that it has not been introduced is logistically challenging. The Whillans Ice Stream Subglacial Access Research Drilling (WISSARD) project designed, tested and implemented a microbiologically and chemically clean method of hot-water drilling that was subsequently used to access subglacial aquatic environments. We report microbiological and biogeochemical data collected from the drilling system and underlying water columns during sub-ice explorations beneath the McMurdo and Ross ice shelves and …

Linking Irrigation To Landslides In Franklin County, Washington, Eric Savaria

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Landslides occur when a slope is unstable and collapses with different contributing and mediating factors to slope instability, including human activity. This study evaluates the association between the occurrence of landslides and irrigation in Franklin County, Washington. The study sought to evaluate whether irrigation can be linked to an increase in the occurrence of landslide events within Franklin County. The study area was divided into a ‘treatment site’ and several ‘control sites.’ The treatment site is located in Franklin County where irrigation has occurred near the cliff, while the control sites are sloped and non-irrigated areas outside of Franklin County. …

Landscape Fragmentation In Coffee Agroecological Subzones In Central Kenya: A Multiscale Remote Sensing Approach, Gladys Mosomtai, John Odindi, Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman, Régis Babin, Pinard Fabrice, Onisimo Mutanga, Henri E.Z. Tonnang, Guillaume David, Tobias Landmann

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Smallholder agroecological subzones (AEsZs) produce an array of crops occupying large areas throughout Africa but remain largely unmapped. We explored multisource satellite datasets to produce a seamless land-use and land-cover (LULC) and fragmentation dataset for upper midland (UM1 to UM4) AEsZs in central Kenya. Specifically, the utility of PlanetScope, Sentinel 2, and Landsat 8 images for mapping coffee-based landscape were tested using a random forest (RF) classifier. Vegetation indices, texture variables, and wavelength bands from all satellite data were used as inputs in generating four RF models. A LULC baseline map was produced that was further analyzed using FRAGSTAT to …

Phenology Of Short Vegetation Cycles In A Kenyan Rangeland From Planetscope And Sentinel-2, Yan Cheng, Anton Vrieling, Francesco Fava, Michele Meroni, Michael Marshall, Stella Gachoki

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The short revisit times afforded by recently-deployed optical satellite sensors that acquire 3–30 m resolution imagery provide new opportunities to study seasonal vegetation dynamics. Previous studies demonstrated a successful retrieval of phenology with Sentinel-2 for relatively stable annual growing seasons. In semi-arid East Africa however, vegetation responds rapidly to a concentration of rainfall over short periods and consequently is subject to strong interannual variability. Obtaining a sufficient density of cloud-free acquisitions to accurately describe these short vegetation cycles is therefore challenging. The objective of this study is to evaluate if data from two satellite constellations, i.e., PlanetScope (3 m resolution) …

Quantifying Surface Severity Of The 2014 And 2015 Fires In The Great Slave Lake Area Of Canada, Nancy H. F. French, Jeremy Graham, Ellen Whitman, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The focus of this paper was the development of surface organic layer severity maps for the 2014 and 2015 fires in the Great Slave Lake area of the Northwest Territories and Alberta, Canada, using multiple linear regression models generated from pairing field data with Landsat 8 data. Field severity data were collected at 90 sites across the region, together with other site metrics, in order to develop a mapping approach for surface severity, an important metric for assessing carbon loss from fire. The approach utilised a combination of remote sensing indices to build a predictive model of severity that was …

Rainfall Interception And Redistribution By A Common North American Understory And Pasture Forb, Eupatorium Capillifolium (Lam. Dogfennel), D. Alex Gordon, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Brent A. Sellers, S. M. Moein Sadeghi, John T. Van Stan Ii

Earth, Environment & Sustainability: Faculty Publications

In vegetated landscapes, rain must pass through plant canopies and litter to enter soils. As a result, some rainwater is returned to the atmosphere (i.e., interception, I) and the remainder is partitioned into a canopy (and gap) drip flux (i.e., throughfall) or drained down the stem (i.e., stemflow). Current theoretical and numerical modeling frameworks for this process are almost exclusively based on data from woody overstory plants. However, herbaceous plants often populate the understory and are the primary cover for important ecosystems (e.g., grasslands and croplands). This study investigates how overstory throughfall (P_T,o) is partitioned into …

Unfamiliar Territory: Emerging Themes For Ecological Drought Research And Management, Shelley D. Crausbay, Julio Betancourt, John Bradford, Jennifer Cartwright, William C. Dennison, Jason Dunham, Carolyn A.F. Enquist, Abby G. Frazier, Kimberly R. Hall, Jeremy S. Littell, Charles H. Luce, Richard Palmer, Aaron R. Ramirez, Imtiaz Rangwala, Laura Thompson, Brianne M. Walsh, Shawn Carter

Geography

Novel forms of drought are emerging globally, due to climate change, shifting teleconnection patterns, expanding human water use, and a history of human influence on the environment that increases the probability of transformational ecological impacts. These costly ecological impacts cascade to human communities, and understanding this changing drought landscape is one of today's grand challenges. By using a modified horizon-scanning approach that integrated scientists, managers, and decision-makers, we identified the emerging issues in ecological drought that represent key challenges to timely and effective responses. Here we review the themes that most urgently need attention, including novel drought conditions, the potential …

A Global Welcome: Metro Chicago's Approach To Immigrant Inclusion, Paul Mcdaniel, Rob Paral

Faculty Articles

Global cities significantly shape our world by driving solutions across a range of challenges, including migration. A new Chicago Council report, A Global Welcome: Metro Chicago’s Approach to Immigrant Inclusion, provides an overview of greater Chicago’s immigrant community and highlights unique approaches taken to create a more inclusive city, while also emphasizing ways for Chicago and other cities to improve. The report is authored by Paul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography at Kennesaw State University, and Rob Paral, Nonresident Fellow at the Chicago Council.

Data Detectives

In The Loop

A 2020 collaboration between DePaul and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) filled in missing racial data in the city’s COVID-19 case surveillance system to facilitate a more informed, racially equitable response. Using the algorithm an application was designed that lets CDPH researchers quickly receive calculated racial information when they enter surnames and zip codes. The application design team hopes to build other factors into the app, such as occupation, to improve its COVID-19 predictive modeling.

Spatiotemporal Variations Of City-Level Carbon Emissions In China During 2000–2017 Using Nighttime Light Data, Yu Sun, Sheng Zheng, Yuzhe Wu, Uwe Schlink, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

China is one of the largest carbon emitting countries in the world. Numerous strategies have been considered by the Chinese government to mitigate carbon emissions in recent years. Accurate and timely estimation of spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions is of vital importance for planning of low-carbon strategies. For an assessment of the spatiotemporal variations of city-level carbon emissions in China during the periods 2000–2017, we used nighttime light data as a proxy from two sources: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) data and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS). The results …

"Anishinaabe Time": Temporalities And Impact Assessment In Pipeline Reviews, Sakihitowin Awasis

Geography & Environment Publications

Indigenous ways of living that embrace multiple temporalities have been largely supplanted by a single, linear colonial temporality. Drawing on theoretical insights from Indigenous geographies and political ecology, this article considers how pipeline reviews come into being through contested temporalities and how dominant modes of time dispossess Indigenous peoples of self-determination in energy decision-making. In particular, Anishinaabe clan governance – a form of kinship that provides both social identity and function based on relations to animal nations – is undermined in colonial decision-making processes. Through analysis of documents from Canada’s National Energy Board and interviews with Anishinaabe pipeline opponents, I …

The Quest For Greener Pastures: Evaluating The Livelihoods Impacts Of Providing Vegetation Condition Maps To Pastoralists In Eastern Africa, Elia Machado, Helene Purcell, Andrew M. Simons, Stephanie Swinehart

Publications and Research

The survival of millions of pastoral households in Eastern Africa has become increasingly at risk. Due to mounting socioeconomic and climatic stressors, pastoral households are faced with making migration decisions under increasing uncertainty about resource availability and limited coping strategies. We assess the potential of providing vegetation condition maps to support the migration decision of pastoralists in Ethiopia and Tanzania and the effect of map usage on their herd condition and size. The maps were generated from remotely sensed data using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a proxy for vegetation condition and overlain with pastoralists’ preferred grazing areas. …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Paleontological Resources Management Plan (Public Version), Scott Kottkamp, Vincent L. Santucci, Justin S. Tweet, Jessica De Smet, Ellen Stark

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Since Agate Springs Ranch was founded by James H. Cook in 1887, exquisite examples of transitional Miocene mammalian fauna have been found along this stretch of the Niobrara River valley. Collectively these paleontological discoveries, along with the existing archeological and historical Native American collection, were the basis for establishing Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) as a unit of the National Park System (NPS). The fossil remains from the Harrison and Anderson Ranch formations span a short, but important, time period within the Miocene Epoch. AGFO has provided science with an intimate look into North American mammalian evolution …

Urban Crime Mapping And Analysis Using Gis, Alina Ristea, Michael Leitner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Data And Information As Our New Transport Infrastructure: An Exploration Into How The Modern Transport System Is Being Shaped By Information Communication Technology, Adam Davidson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is focuses on the role that data and information has in creating and altering behavior related to transportation. To do so, it lays out a theoretical model of technological transition and then follows it up with three case studies. The theoretical model provides a structure to consider how different actors in our transportation ecosystem – users, firms, policy actors – mix with technological evolution to uphold or incrementally recreate our transportation landscape. The case studies stand on their own to highlight important findings about how data and information are impacting transportation scenarios, but collectively reinforce the theoretical models. …

A Defense And Expansion Of The Theory Of Capitalist Ground Rent: Speculation, Securitization, And Struggles Over Land And Housing, Francesca Manning

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Why are the rents so high? Who is responsible for homelessness, for urban and rural displacement? How can these problems be combatted?

Recent literature addressing these questions has pointed to gentrification and the financialization of land and housing, faulted financialized landlords, hedge funds, and the irredeemable logic of finance, and pointed to the importance of land and housing regulation to prevent displacement.

However, theories of displacement—in both land and housing, on both urban and rural terrain—suffer from a lack of an underlying theory of the logic, tendencies, and limits of ground rent extraction in capitalism.

This dissertation develops a theory …

Oceanic Groundings: Maritime Geographies And Black Internationalism In The Early Twentieth Century, Maegan A. Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the shipboard writings, transnational solidarities and vernacular cultures, and spaces of social reproduction among Black and other subaltern seafarers and maritime travelers in the first decades of the twentieth century. I draw upon oral histories, literature, poetry, memoirs, and the archives of leftist political organizations and British colonial officials. Through a practice of close reading across textual genres and transnational spaces, my dissertation develops oceanic groundings as: (1) a constellation of iterative and intentional acts of political learning through the movements of ordinary people, (2) a pedagogical project of listening to and learning from the shifting grounds …

Legitimizing Violence At The European Border: Gendered Misrepresentations At Sea And The Vulnerable Other, Michela Demelas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis highlights a temporal and spatial gap in the feminist literature about migrants' journeys throughout the Mediterranean, and investigates the gendered dynamics acting upon the encounter between the European border and racialized bodies at sea. The Mediterranean sea’s material features allow Europe to approach migration as a humanitarian crisis coming from outside, which discharges its responsibility for the deaths. Yet, essentialistic views represent the feminized Other as vulnerable and needing to be saved from the male Other and the sea. Such views shape the Western narratives around concrete rescue procedures and border authorities behaviors. The encounter between the border …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, September 2020, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Issue 1. Volume 8

Contents:

Dean’s Update P.1
Awards & Recognition P.2
Interest in Science | Competitions P.3
Open PRAIRIE | ODFS Recap P.4
ODFS Recap | Research Spotlight P.5
Spring 2020 Dean’s List P.6-7

Application Of The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale To Assess Sand Dune Response To Tropical Storms, Jean Taylor Ellis, Michelle E. Harris, Mayra A. Román-Rivera, J. Brianna Ferguson, Peter A. Tereszkiewicz, Sean P. Mcgill

Faculty Publications

Over one-third of the Earth’s population resides or works within 200 km of the coast. The increasing threat of coastal hazards with predicted climate change will impact many global citizens. Coastal dune systems serve as a natural first line of defense against rising sea levels and coastal storms. This study investigated the volumetric changes of two dune systems on Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA prior to and following Hurricanes Irma (2017) and Florence (2018), which impacted the island as tropical storms with different characteristics. Irma had relatively high significant wave heights and precipitation, resulting in an average 39% volumetric …

The Emergence Of Ecosystems-Based Fisheries Management From The Groundfish Crisis In New England: An Actor-Network Theory Analysis, Catherine King

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research investigates the emergence of ecosystems-based fisheries management (EBFM) for New England's marine fisheries in the context of the "crisis" that is escalating in its groundfish fishery. Close observations of the practices of fisheries scientists in coordination with managers at the New England Fisheries Management Council, with focus on how knowledge is being produced and employed, allows for understanding EBFM as an emergent construction produced by networks of associations between actants, human and non-human, material and semiotic, and not strictly as a policy prescription informed by experts on biology, ecology, and socio-economics. This analysis identifies and elucidates the multiplicity …

Geographies Of Creativity: Inherited Concepts, Revised Vistas, Anjeline De Dios, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Given growing criticism in recent years against what might variously be referred to as the ideology of creativity, the hegemony of creativity, and enforced creativity, it might seem unwise to produce a book, let alone a handbook, about creativity. As far as conceptual fads go, the creative turn has itself taken such a diverse trajectory of ‘turns’, oftentimes in divergent ways that do not interact, that the term may justly be discredited in some quarters. Nevertheless, strategies and policies anchored on the notion of creativity remain enthusiastically adopted and adapted in many policy circles, perhaps particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, …

Gamifying Place, Reimagining Publicness: The Heterotopic Inscriptions Of Pokémon Go, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the transformative effects of augmented reality mobile games on society and space. By layering playfulness onto public space through a digital interface, augmented reality mobile games create a pervasive sense of play that can be accessed by players potentially anywhere, and at any time. Games like these can therefore be understood as heterotopic inscriptions on otherwise mundane environments. Since being released in 2016, Pokémon Go has become one of the most popular augmented reality games in the world. It gamifies place by embedding digital objects within public spaces; in doing so, it can bring about a reimagination …