Geography Commons^™

Deep Learning For Remote Sensing Image Processing, Yan Lu

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Remote sensing images have many applications such as ground object detection, environmental change monitoring, urban growth monitoring and natural disaster damage assessment. As of 2019, there were roughly 700 satellites listing “earth observation” as their primary application. Both spatial and temporal resolutions of satellite images have improved consistently in recent years and provided opportunities in resolving fine details on the Earth's surface. In the past decade, deep learning techniques have revolutionized many applications in the field of computer vision but have not fully been explored in remote sensing image processing. In this dissertation, several state-of-the-art deep learning models have been …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence And Geographic Information System For Developing Automated Walkability Score, Md Mehedi Hasan

Dissertations

Walking is considered as one of the major modes of active transportation, which contributes to the livability of cities. It is highly important to ensure walk friendly sidewalks to promote human physical activities along roads. Over the last two decades, different walk scores were estimated in respect to walkability measures by applying different methods and approaches. However, in the era of big data and machine learning revolution, there is still a gap to measure the composite walkability score in an automated way by applying and quantifying the activityfriendliness of walkable streets. In this study, a street-level automated walkability score was …

Faits Accomplis In The Shadow Of Shifting Power, Joshua Adam Hastey

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The military fait accompli is so understudied a phenomenon in the international relations literature that even its definition is not widely known. A fait accompli is a unilateral revision to the status quo in an ongoing dispute over some distribution of benefits. Though recent work has demonstrated that faits accomplis are relatively common events in international history and current international relations, the subject remains undertheorized and empirically underexplored. This dissertation seeks to open up the conversation about faits accomplis in two complementary ways. First, it advances an original formal model of faits accomplis in the shadow of power shifts, …

Marketing To The New Generations Of Lgbtq+ Tourists, George Smith

Master's Theses

As social acceptance for LGBTQ+ people grows, it is essential to research and understand more about tourism and its important role in the lives of LGBTQ+ populations. There are tourism communities around the country that may not be familiar with this market segment and are not sure where to start. This can leave the LGBTQ+ market segment under-represented in the tourism industry. This research sets out to answer the question, “Can tourism communities who wish to expand to newer generations of LGBTQ+ travelers market to them successfully?” Mixed research methods include an exploration of city tourism websites, interviews with tourism …

When Doing More Requires Knowing More: Explaining The Intention To Seek Procedural Information About Recycling, Sonny Rosenthal, Yan Wah Leung

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study examines the relationship between the intention to recycle more and the intention to seek procedural information, in this case, information about how to recycle. In contrast to prior research that used information seeking as a predictor of behavior change, this study considers behavioral intention as a predictor of intention to seek information. Regression analysis of survey data from Singapore residents confirms that prediction, explaining 27% of the variance in intention to seek procedural information. Moderation analysis suggests the effect of intention to recycle more is stronger among individuals with low recycling self-efficacy. An alternative analysis suggests the greater …

Essays On Climate Change-Related Extreme Events, Alvin E. Harris

Dissertations

There are increasing and urgent calls for global economies to join in the fight against the impacts of climate change (World Bank, 2020). With reports such as the World Bank (2020) of climate change costing billions of dollars in losses for economies, the purpose of my dissertation is to examine the effects of climate change-related extreme events and their potential economic effects in three areas: agriculture, migration, and the labor market.

My first essay focuses on the factors that influence farmers’ perception of risk and adaptive strategies against the effects of climate change-related extreme events. I examine whether farmers’ social …

Variability In Historical Fire Patterns Of A Moist Mixed-Conifer Forest In The Northern Blue Mountains Of Oregon, Laura Marie Platt

Dissertations and Theses

High variability in historical fire patterns characteristic to mixed-severity fire regimes is expected to have contributed to a structurally heterogeneous landscape throughout much of the forested ecosystems of the western United States. After more than a hundred years of fire exclusion in the region, many forests have shifted to a more homogeneous structure, which raises concern regarding these forests' ability to sustain expected increases in fire activity with a warming climate. The shift is not uniform across the west, however, and differences in historical disturbance patterns and changes due to land management are not well characterized in forests across a …

La Apropiación Social Y Espacial De Vivienda De Interés Prioritario (Vip): Casos Las Flores Y La Aurora En La Ciudad De Medellín, Katy L. Millán Otero, Jorge E. Vasquez

The Qualitative Report

El aseguramiento de vivienda como medio que permite la protección de una persona, es considerado una de las necesidades de primer orden en tanto su ausencia amenaza la supervivencia humana. Su demanda constante hace que mecanismos de formalización como las normas y las políticas la contemplen como un bien de relevancia social que debe ser asegurado y reconocido por el Estado y acogido por sus destinatarios. En ese sentido se propone comprender la apropiación socioespacial de los beneficiarios de VIP de Las Flores y La Aurora, Nuevo Occidente, en Medellín, Colombia. La metodología empleada fue cualitativa y sobre su base …

Cluster Analysis Of Opioid Accessibility In The Carolinas Using Data From The Arcos Database And An Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area Method, Michael T. Bunker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study takes advantage of transaction level data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) database made newly available under court order by The Washington Post in July 2019. This data details individual shipments of pharmaceutical opioid analgesics from wholesalers to retail distributors. Using the Enhanced 2-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) method, this study calculated access to opioid morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per capita for census tracts in North Carolina and South Carolina during the year 2009. This study demonstrated that outlier volumes of opioid analgesics at individual pharmacies are not always …

Using Multi-Sensory And Multi-Dimensional Immersive Virtual Reality In Participatory Planning, Mahbubur Meenar, Jennifer L. Kitson

School of Earth & Environment Departmental Research

In the last two decades, urban planners have embraced digital technologies to complement traditional public participation processes; research on the impact of smarter digital instruments, such as immersive virtual reality (IVR), however, is scant. We recruited 40 focus group participants to explore various formats of spatial planning scenario simulations in Glassboro, NJ, USA. Our study finds that the level of participation, memory recalls of scenarios, and emotional responses to design proposals are higher with multi-sensory and multi-dimensional IVR simulations than with standard presentations such as 2D videos of 3D model simulations, coupled with verbal presentations. We also discuss the limitations …

What If And What More: Disturbing Habits Of Thought About Playwork ‘Re-Search’, Wendy K. Russell, John Fitzpatrick, Bridget Handscomb

International Journal of Playwork Practice

This short article reports on a presentation given at an International Journal of Playwork Practice seminar in 2018. It describes an approach to evaluating the work of an adventure playground using Participative Action Research and a critical cartographic method for producing documentation that shows the unique nature of playwork.

Towards An Economic Geography Of Fintech, Karen P. Y. Lai, Michael Samers

Geography Faculty Publications

In this paper, we identify the ways in which the existing literature has examined financial technology (FinTech). Using the frame of the ‘FinTech Cube’, we examine how FinTech unfolds through the intersections of key actors, technologies and institutions. We demonstrate the relevance of FinTech for two areas of geographical enquiry: i) the reshaping of global production and financial networks, and ii) financial inclusion and poverty reduction in poorer countries. In doing so, we accord particular attention to the significance of FinTech for theoretical and empirical research in economic geography.

The Effect Of Money Supply(M2) On Real Magnitudes In The Economy Of Jordan A Rational Expectations Approach_X000d_, Hussain Talafha, Monther Share

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This study applies a neo-classical model to test the impact of anticipated and un anticipated growth in money supply (M2) on some key economic variables in the Jourdan economy for the period (1968:1-1988:4). The model consists of four equations: (i) the money supply growth equation;(ii) the growth in unemployment rate equation; (iii) the real growth in GNP equation; and (iv) the growth in price level equation (inflation rate). The study investigates the relationships and hypotheses using two stage least square method which is applied at the first difference logarithm structural equations. The first stage is applied to the money supply …

Analysis Of Construction Industry In Jordan 1980 - 1990, Mohammed A.S. Hiyassat, Hasan M. Tantawi

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the performance of the construction industry in Jourdan during the past decade. For this purpose, the authors addressed the following issues: 1- The size of the industry which is expressed in terms of volume and contribution to gross domestic products (GDP). In this section, the causes and effects of fluctuations are discussed. 2- Contribution of the industry to the country’s fixed asset formations, and finally 3- The structure of construction contractor_x000D_ _x000D_

Eliminate The Harassment Of Putting Shame On Someone For Something, Mr. Subhi Al-Bassam

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

Some old linguistics said that the verb Aiyara (Reproach) with the preposition Al-Ba a (of) is not a good language. But some of them said it is not a very good language, this article proves, through the investigation of classic Arabic prose and poetry, and through grammar, that the verb Aiyara (Reproach) with the preposition Alba a (of) is highly correct. And is better than to be without the preposition Alba a (of).

Acoustic Factors In Forming Arabic Structure, Dr. Mohammed Jawad Al Nouri

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This paper is a study of the sound factors, which control the mechanism of sound changes, affecting Arabic sounds, when they hold adjacent positions, in certain morphological structural formations. It becomes clear to us, through linguistic patterns and examples in this paper, which are more influential than other adjacent sounds, that those sounds are characterized by certain features which make them dominant in the process of structural formation, most important among them are features of sibilant, velarization, voicedness, plosion, nasalization, being rolled, length of place of articulation, and the vowel characteristics called, in Arabic, (madd and liin). Moreover, it becomes …

The Perceptions Of Al-Yarmouk University Students To Practice Global Announcement Materials Which Are Concerned Human Rights In Jordanian Society., Amin Mohanna, Muhammad Al-Khawaldeh

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This study tries to reveal the university students viewpoint in practicing the article of the international declaration of human rights in Jordanian society > this was done through a random sample consisting of 192 students of facilities of arts and education in Yarmouk University > to measure this viewpoint the researchers designed an instrument for this purpose which included all the articles of the international declaration of human rights and monitored the responses of the members of this samples to these articles according to an evaluative scale consisting of four levels (4) being the highest and (1) the lowest . Eight independent …

Rain In The Modern Arabic Poem, Dr. Hussein Yousef Kharyush

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This research discusses the domains and the implicature of rain in the modern Arab poetry. Since the rain is connected to the origins of life, and is a symbol of renewal, the use of rain in the Arab poetry, in this way is considered among daring usages because it recaptures the historical symbols. And it’s used to express something about the Arab situations in this age. Finally, the new meaning dedicates new implicature of rain that is connected to the truth and reality when the poet loses this reality and seeks salvation.

Punishment In International Relief Agency Schools At Jordan As Teachers And Students See It., Dr. Muhammad Mustafa Abu Alia

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

The purpose of this study is to know the viewpoints of teachers and pupils in UNRWA schools in Jordan towards punishment. A specially designed questionnaire was given to (862) pupils and (315) teachers from a random sample taken from five areas in Jordan. The Questionnaire consists of (34) items covering the following five domains: causes, aims, kinds, consequences of punishment as well as alternative and attitudes to punishment. The data obtained from the questionnaire were subjected to x2 (chi square) for the purpose to determining significant differences – in the above domains- between the teachers and pupils. The present study …

Critical Vision Of Novel By Abed Al- Mohsen Bader, Dr.Yousef Abu Al-Odoss

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This paper investigates Abdul-Muhsin Bades methodology in study and criticism of the novel. The paper concentrates on the following points: 1-The conditions necessary for the writer’s vision. 2- Abdul-Muhsins view of the Idealism, romanticism and Aestheticism. 3-The character and its role in writing the novel. 4- Importance of time and place in the structure of the novel. 5-language and style of the novel. 6-Some general comments.

Vowels Between Theoretical Standards And Pronunciation Characteristics, Dr. Samir Stitiah

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This research aim at classifying the theoretical and practical principles of vowels. Some of these principles are related to the acoustic features. The acoustic features can be observed in sonority and friction. The contextual criteria are observed in the phonological usages and practical linguistic level. However, the practical criteria can be easily observed in the articulatory features such as narrowing and the obstruction of the air- system. Cardinal vowels represent the duality of vowels, they represent the theoretical and practical aspects of vowels. Cardinal vowels are divided into: primary, secondary, and additional vowels. All cardinal vowels are defined according to …

Grammatical Analysis By Eben Hisham Al-Ansari, Dr. Abdel Hamid Mustafa El Sayed

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

The writer made a presentation of syntactic analysis by IBN HISHAM AL – ANSARI in his book named (MUGHANI AL-LABEEB). He discussed his conception of (THE SENTENCE) agreeing with some of his conclusions and asking for reconsideration of others. He concluded his research by submitting some remarks that got the attention of the contemporaries during their consideration of the scope recent linguistics aspects. Afterwords the writer tried to exhibit the principles that IBN HISHAM followed in the field of syntactic analysis. He explained that IBN HISHAM took advantage of the principles of grammarians scattered through their judgments of linguistic structure. …

Southwest Pacific Tropical Cyclone Frequency And Intensity Related To Observed And Modeled Geophysical And Aerosol Variables, Rupsa Bhowmick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on western region of Southwest Pacific Ocean (SWPO)

basin (135E - 180, and 5S - 35S) tropical cyclone (TC) climatology using observed

and modeled data. The classification-based machine learning approach

identifies the synoptic geophysical and aerosol environment favorable or unfavorable

for TC intensification and intensity change prior to landfall incorporating

observational and satellite data. A multiple poisson regression model with varying

temporal monthly lags was used to build a relationship between the number of

monthly TC days with basin wide average dust aerosol optical depth (AOD), sea

surface temperature (SST), and upper ocean temperature (UOT). This idea …

Downtown Population Growth In Southwest And Mountain West Metros, Peter Grema, Eshaan Vakil, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

Summarizing data from Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program’s May 2020 research brief “big city downtowns are booming, but can their momentum outlast the coronavirus?,” this fact sheet includes an overview of population growth in downtown and metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 1980 and 2018 in the Southwest and Mountain West regions of the United States. We focus on Mountain West states (Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico) in our analysis. In addition, we include the metros that comprise the Southwest Megapolitan Triangle (Southern California, alongside Las Vegas, NV, and Phoenix, AZ metropolitan statistical areas).

The Perceived Usefulness Of A Weather Radar Display By Tampa Bay Residents, Michelle E. Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A weather radar display is a tool that provides spatially oriented, timely information about an impending weather event. While radar is frequently used by meteorologists, emergency managers, and pilots, this tool is now readily available for individuals to use on a variety of platforms including television, computer/laptop, smartphones and tablets. Most importantly, there are hundreds of mobile weather applications available as well as online sources that provide a weather radar display. However, little is known about how individuals use a weather radar display. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand why radar is sought out as a tool …

Pan-Arctic Analysis Of Cultural Ecosystem Services Using Social Media And Automated Content Analysis, Claire A. Runge, Vera Helene Hausner, Remi M. Daigle, Christopher Monz

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In the Arctic, as in many parts of the world, interactions with the natural world are an important part of people's experience and are often recorded in photographs. Emerging methods for automated content analysis of social media data offers opportunities to discover information on cultural ecosystem services from photographs across large samples of people and countries. We analysed over 800,000 Flickr photographs using Google's Cloud Vision algorithm to identify the components of the natural environment most photographed and to map how and where different people interact with nature across eight Arctic countries. Almost all (91.1%) of users took one or …

“Wilderness” Revisited: Is Canadian Park Management Moving Beyond The “Wilderness” Ethic?, Megan Youdelis, Roberta Nakoochee, Colin O'Neil, Elizabeth Lunstrum, Robin Roth

Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper questions whether the rescaling of conservation practice in Canada to include local and Indigenous communities, NGOs, and private market-based actors represents a move away from wilderness-thinking in conservation, and what implications this might have for the future of conservation in Canada. We explore the links between Cronon's “wilderness” ethic and coloniality, racism/sexism/classism, and political economy, and the extent to which recent trends in conservation practice, such as co-management arrangements, private tourism proposals, and a shift in programming to attract a diverse public to parks, help us to move beyond the limited vision for conservation and environmentalism that the …

Hydrogeochemical Characterization And Speleogenesis Of Sistema Huautla In Oaxaca, Mexico, Fernando Hernandez

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Sierra Mazateca, Mexico is home to Sistema Huautla, the deepest cave in the Western hemisphere with 1,560 meters of depth and 90 kilometers of passage, including 26 entrances distributed in a high-relief, karstified terrain, within the Sistema Huautla Karst Groundwater Basin. Exploration of the cave has generated research questions about its evolution and geomorphology given the different vadose and phreatic zones impacted by tectonic and incision processes. Dye traces during this study of Cueva de La Peña Colorada confirmed it is a fossil resurgence of the cave system. An additional cave, Cueva Elysium, was connected hydrologically in 2019, expanding the …

Detroit Food Metrics Report 2019, Alex B. Hill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

This report provides a snapshot of data and information on Detroit’s food system as well as trends over time. The report includes a broad range of programs and initiatives that local organizations, the Detroit Food Policy Council, and the City of Detroit are undertaking to address food insecurity, increase healthy food access and awareness, and support a more sustainable and just food system.

Covid-19 Is Spatial: Ensuring That Mobile Big Data Is Used For Social Good, Age Poom, Olle Järv, Matthew Zook, Tuuli Toivonen

Geography Faculty Publications

The mobility restrictions related to COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in the biggest disruption to individual mobilities in modern times. The crisis is clearly spatial in nature, and examining the geographical aspect is important in understanding the broad implications of the pandemic. The avalanche of mobile Big Data makes it possible to study the spatial effects of the crisis with spatiotemporal detail at the national and global scales. However, the current crisis also highlights serious limitations in the readiness to take the advantage of mobile Big Data for social good, both within and beyond the interests of health sector. We propose …