Geography Commons^™

Wrack And Ruin: Legacy Hydrologic Effects Of Hurricane-Deposited Wrack On Hardwood-Hammock Coastal Islands, John T. Van Stan Ii, Scott T. Allen, Travis Swanson

Earth, Environment & Sustainability: Faculty Publications

Hurricanes can cause immediate catastrophic destruction of marsh vegetation and erosion of soils; however, they also have long-lasting ecological impacts. Those impacts include the deposition of tremendous amounts of saltmarsh litter ('wrack') onto upland ecosystems, the hydrologic effects of which have not previously been investigated. When Hurricane Irma battered the southeastern US coastline, widespread wrack deposition was reported (often exceeding 0.5 m depth), especially in vulnerable coastal hammock ecosystems: locally-elevated forests within the saltmarshes that rely on freshwater inputs from rain. We report the impacts of this deposited wrack, which has persisted for 2 years, on effective precipitation inputs to …

The Urban Morphology Of Hyderabad, India: A Historical Geographic Analysis, Kevin B. Haynes

Masters Theses

Hyderabad, India has undergone tremendous change over the last three centuries. The study seeks to understand how and why Hyderabad transitioned from a north-south urban morphological directional pattern to east-west during from 1687 to 2019. Satellite-based remote sensing will be used to measure the extent and land classifications of the city throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century using a geographic information science and historical-geographic approach. This approach provides the basis for a structured archival historical-geographic analysis. Focusing on Hyderabad, India from 1687 to 2019, the objectives of this research are to: (1) delineate and quantify the geographic extent of built-up …

Reclaiming Indiana: The Politics Of Crisis Amid The Failures Of Liberal Capitalist Modernity, Chris Grove

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This ethnography examines grassroots political responses to the economic crisis that began in 2008, foremost in the US Midwest, which arguably laid the groundwork both for the election of President Donald Trump and presidential candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders. President Obama launched his $787 billion stimulus plan in Elkhart, Indiana, in early 2009. At the height of the crisis, unemployment skyrocketed from four to 20 percent in Elkhart, and it became central to struggles over the political direction of the US. With few safety nets, Elkhart residents struggled to meet their basic needs, creating conditions for political organizing on both …

How To Break An Addiction: A Case For Planetary Post-Capitalist Recovery, Ann Marie (Annie) Spencer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents an evidence-based, geographically informed theory of so-called addiction in the capitalist mode of production. Taking the present-day opioid epidemic as its point of departure, it argues that ‘addiction,’ rather than an anomalous, individuated pathology, is an organizing principle of capitalist social formations. Neither moral nor medical, ‘addiction’ is a structural and pervasive expression of life lived under the capitalist mode of production. Capitalism, society structured in pursuit of profit, produces human subjects with deleterious dependencies on addictive commodity substances by design and in mass. The methodology of the project is consciousness expansion through pattern recognition, stitching together …

Labor, Land Use, And The Luxury City, Samuel Stein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Labor, Land Use, and the Luxury City is an examination into the entanglements of working-class organizations, real estate capital, and state planning in 20th and 21st century New York City. Through theoretical inquiry, historical interpretation, and contemporary analysis, I investigate the motivations – both internally generated and externally imposed – that guide New York City unions’ and non-profits’ decision-making around questions of land use and gentrification. These institutions maintain a complex set of relationships to both real estate capital and the real estate state, leading many unions and non-profits to either support land use changes that accelerate gentrification or negotiate …

Diversity Rhetoric And Practice: A Critical Examination Of “Diversity” In Graduate Education, Tellisia M. Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to investigate the built environment, educational policy, place making, and personalized lived experiences of doctoral students of color in “diverse” academic spaces. I critically examine the linkages and gaps in institutional policies of diversity and inclusion in relation to the narratives of doctoral students of color enrolled at the Urban Public University (pseudonym). I use qualitative methodology of Environmental Autobiography to capture the narratives. My dissertation demonstrates the importance of Critical Race Theory (CRT) by prioritizing the embodied knowledge making and experiences of people of color. This work challenges dominant ideologies of diversity and …

Evaluating Temporal Approximation Methods Using Burglary Data, Lukas Oswald, Michael Leitner

Faculty Publications

Law enforcement is very interested in knowing when a crime has happened. Unfortunately, the occurrence time of a crime is often not exactly known. In such circumstances, estimating the most likely time that a crime has happened is crucial for spatio-temporal analysis. The main purpose of this research is to introduce two novel temporal approximation methods, termed retrospective temporal analysis (RTA) and extended retrospective temporal analysis (RTAext). Both methods are compared to six existing temporal approximation methods and subsequently evaluated in order to identify the method that can most accurately estimate the occurrence time of crimes. This research is conducted …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, June 2020, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 1. Issue 5

Contents:

Dean’s Update P.1
Awards & Recognition P.2
Club Spotlight P.3 Interest in Science | Welcome P.4
Research Spotlight | NSO Update P.5
Monthly Photo Series: Gardens P.6

Deep Learning For Land Cover Classification Using Only A Few Bands, Chiman Kwan, Bulent Ayhan, Bence Budavari, Yan Lu, Daniel Perez, Jiang Li, Sergio Bernabe, Antonio Plaza

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

There is an emerging interest in using hyperspectral data for land cover classification. The motivation behind using hyperspectral data is the notion that increasing the number of narrowband spectral channels would provide richer spectral information and thus help improve the land cover classification performance. Although hyperspectral data with hundreds of channels provide detailed spectral signatures, the curse of dimensionality might lead to degradation in the land cover classification performance. Moreover, in some practical applications, hyperspectral data may not be available due to cost, data storage, or bandwidth issues, and RGB and near infrared (NIR) could be the only image bands …

How Globalization, Sustainability, And Human Impacts Are Affecting Two Major Mexican Cities: Mexico City And Guadalajara, Cristina Sedano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Mexico is one of the richest countries in the world, not in terms of economic stability but in terms of natural resources, culture, and atmosphere. When people think of Mexico, they usually think of the high-tension relationship with the United States, their neighboring country to the North. Although there are many diverse historical and present-day characteristics of Mexico, most associate the county with the high levels of crime due to narco and cartels, the high levels of poverty in regional areas, and to some just a party destination. Unbeknownst to many is the thousands year old culture that is passed …

Using Historical Maps For Contaminated Site Identification And Prediction, And Environmental Justice Implications: A Case Study In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dana Heusinkveld

Masters Theses

As the production of synthetic chemicals has grown in the past centuries to increase production, lower costs, and generally make our lives more convenient, detecting and understanding the environmental impacts of these compounds has lagged significantly behind their mass production and wide-spread use. To combat this trend, sources of these contaminants, especially those that have been removed from the landscape, need to be quickly identified to make mitigation and remediation efforts more effective. In this study, historical Sanborn maps are used to extract and digitize historical site/land use in Grand Rapids during the early 1900s through the practical application of …

Neighborhood Change In Las Vegas, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This Fact Sheet analyzes indicators of demographic and economic change in Las Vegas neighborhoods and suburbs, provided by “American Neighborhood Change in the 21st Century,” a study published by the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity (IMO) at the Minnesota Law School. Researchers reviewed data from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) for the top 50 largest metros in the U.S. The study reports levels of neighborhood change, including economic growth, poverty concentration, gentrification, and low-income displacement. Data pertaining to the Las Vegas metropolitan region are synthesized to measure indicators of economic viability and housing availability.

House Ownership In Selangor: A Qualitative Study On Consumers Preferences And Challenges, Packeer Mohamed Nur Syafiqah

Student Works (2020-2029)

The residential real estate market in Selangor offers diverse house types following the fact that the state has highest number of workers. It is important for a proper decision-making process by taking consider a few factors such as financial and neighbourhood factors in a house purchase. Based on residential housing market data in Selangor, Petaling district was found to have the most purchases and the 2 to 2 and a half storey house type is the most purchased out of the variety, and there are also cases where there are completed houses that were not purchased by the residents, even …

Fair World 64: A Text-Based Game Of The 1964–1965 World's Fair, Christofer R. Gass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The project is a text-based game of a typical day during the first season of the 1964 World’s Fair in what is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The 1964-1965 World’s Fair, that Robert Moses presided over as president, was one of the largest and most expensive fairs ever created, but only days after the last fairgoer left through the turnstile most of the many pavilions that brought education, entertainment, and joy to so many people were destroyed to leave a vast open space that is relatively empty to this day. Although most of the pavilions were either relocated or demolished, there …

Young Children's Play In High-Rise Housing: A Window Into The Changing Lives Of Urban Middle-Class Families In Pune Metropolitan Area, Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to identify the combinations of spatial arrangements and physical features that influence young children’s access to play and the quality of their play opportunities in a heterogeneous sample of high-rise housing in India. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development as a framework, the study examines two large umbrellas that contribute to young children’s play opportunities in high-rise housing developments: (1) The play environment that is made available for children by developers and design professionals; and (2) Parents’ and caregivers’ ways of using the designated and undesignated spaces based on their own play values and beliefs. A …

Summer Average Urban-Rural Surface Temperature Differences Do Not Indicate The Need For Urban Heat Reduction, Alberto Martilli, Matthias Roth, Winston T. L. Chow, Et Al

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This is a comment to the paper "Magnitude of urban heat islands largely explained by climate and population" by Manoli et al. (2019, Nature 573 p. 55-60; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1512-9)

Minding Other People's Business: Community Attachment And Anticipated Negative Emotion In An Extended Norm Activation Model, Sonny Rosenthal, Kang Leng Ho

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study extended the norm activation model in the context of litter reduction to explain self-managing (e.g., avoiding littering) and other-managing (e.g., picking up litter) behaviors. Although those kinds of behaviors are conceptually distinct, prior research has not explained differences in their prediction. This study addresses that gap by considering the roles of community attachment and anticipated negative emotion in other-managing behavior. The addition of those predictors creates a second explanatory pathway in the norm activation model. Results showed awareness of consequences, ascription of responsibility, and community attachment predicted personal norm (R2 = 0.54), which predicted self-managing behavior (R2 = …

Branding The Sacral Landscape: Religious Content In Regional Tourism Marketing, Set In A Post-Secular Society, Markus Hilpert

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

There is a paucity of research on the branding of sacral landscapes as a regional strategy in tourism marketing. On the one hand, the concept of place branding, to date, has been transferred very little to sacred destinations, while on the other hand, religious content and modern tourist marketing barely fit together. Nonetheless, the perception of religion in a postmodern society opens up new opportunities for sacred places to reposition themselves in the competition faced by tourist destinations. The aim of this article is to show how German tourism regions with a religious focus build their brand. Through analyzing six …

Anchorite Sacred Caves In Serbia: Balancing Between Pilgrimage And Religious Tourism Development, Aleksandar Antić

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Serbia is a country with diverse karst terrain, full of various surface and underground karst formations. This terrain is one of the factors that influenced the development of cultures and civilizations in this area. Many archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric people found refuge, safety and peace in many caves in present-day Serbia. The natural environment has also influenced many spiritual endeavours, which have shaped cultural identities throughout history. In this study, Orthodox anchorite sacred caves in Serbia are explored, as well as their related pilgrimage activities and potential for religious tourism development. For the purpose of this research, three pilgrimage …

(Re)Inscribing Meaning: Embodied Religious-Spiritual Practices At Croagh Patrick And Our Lady’S Island, Ireland, Richard Scriven, Eoin O'Mahony

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Responding to calls for critical interrogations of pilgrimages, our paper examines how different religious meanings are (re)inscribed in spaces through the performance of annual events in a post-secular context. This focus reveals how pilgrims’ embodied practices are fundamental to continuing definitions of these locations as sacred places. Using accounts of the Croagh Patrick and Our Lady’s Island pilgrimages in Ireland, we trace the movement of people in these spaces focusing on how meanings are forged, refracted, and challenged through the performances. These mass embodiments assert traditional understandings of Christian worship and looser spiritual interpretations, while simultaneously involving secular concerns. The …

Interior Restoration A.A Maramis Building Ministry Of Finance Of Indonesia: Developing Interior Concepts With The Principles Of Cultural Heritage Restoration, Ika Yuni Purnama

International Review of Humanities Studies

A.A Maramis is a palace building consisting of 3 floors with the 19th century Empire in Indonesia. This building represents the development of Indonesian architecture in the early 19th century. In the renovation planning that began at the end of 2019, the A.A Maramis building is expected to be a historical reminder of how important this agency is as well as the chronology of events that have occurred in the past in order to increase love for the nation and the motherland. In the planning of restoration is expected to become one of the attractive and educative tourism destination. Restoration …

Cultural Policy And The Rise Of Multiculturalism Study Of Fine Arts Exhibition In The 2000s, The National Gallery Of Indonesia, Citra Smara Dewi

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study focuses on the role of cultural policy in the rise of multiculturalism with a case study of the Indonesian Art Exhibition, Pameran Seni Rupa Nusantara (PSRN) 2000s, which was initiated by a cultural institution, the National Gallery of Indonesia (GNI). PSRN exhibition is one of the important programs of GNI because it gives space to the artists of the archipelago - not just Java and Bali - to present works of modern-contemporary art rooted in local wisdom. As a nation that has the characteristics of pluralism, the spirit of multiculturalism in art has become very significant, especially in …

Hijab In The Indonesian National Struggle, Mangesti Rahayu

International Review of Humanities Studies

Fashion and history cannot be separated, because fashion is one indicator of a change in culture, civilization, behavior, and certain identities. Vice versa, changes and developments in fashion are influenced by conditions at the time the fashion is developing, both the social, cultural, political, religious, economic and others. Fashion that is developing in Indonesia is Muslim fashion. One part of Muslim clothing is the hijab, headgear worn by Muslim women. Hijab is not only part of religious observance, hijab is already part of fashion and we can examine the hijab style of a society from its historical period. We can …

Architecture And Geography Of China Proper: Influence Of Geography On The Diversity Of Chinese Traditional Architectural Motifs And The Cultural Values They Reflect, Shiqi Liang

Culture, Society, and Praxis

This article examines regional geographical differences and their reflection in the diversity of Chinese traditional architectural motifs within China proper. This article specifically focuses on how regional geographical differences lead people to prioritize different cultural values and how those values were reflected in their respective architectural motifs.

Immigrants And Their Voting Power In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This Fact Sheet presents the number of both documented and undocumented immigrants in Nevada, synthesizing data provided by New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research non-profit organization. To estimate the total number of immigrants in the U.S. and across each of the 50 states, researchers reviewed various data sources including the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, the Center for Migration Studies, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Wildlife Connectivity Modeling For The Northern Red-Legged Frog In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Oregon, Amanda Hilary Temple

Dissertations and Theses

Effective habitat connectivity tools that use GIS data perform well in remote areas but may not be as dependable in urban environments. The goal was to study uses and limitations of a conservation management tool in development, the Metro Regional Habitat Connectivity Toolkit, which evaluates connectivity for and permeability of wildlife movement. Habitat quality scores are generated from GIS-derived and field collected data such as connectivity patch/matrix characteristics, water source, vegetation, other structural components, wildlife observations, and human disturbance at survey sites. I compared GIS and field generated habitat quality scores for the Northern Red-legged Frog (Rana aurora) …

The Consequences Of Guiding Profession Deregulation For The Status And Training Of Tourist Guides: A Portuguese Overview, Luis Miguel Brito

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

In the present neoliberal market economy, the so-called free tours and their unlicensed tourist guides found the perfect environment to practice their activity, which is often criticised by licensed guides. The overall difference between the two types of guides is related to the fact that licensed guides have a formal specific education and training to do their job, sometimes complemented with continuous professional development, whereas free tours’ guides don’t. Therefore, several questions come to mind: Since unqualified guides are actually working without any training, should there be any formal education for tourist guides? How useful is formal and continuous training …

The Role Of Tourist Guides In The Multi-Vocal Presentation Of Heritage, Veronica Barbara

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

People tend to think of heritage sites as places for education and entertainment. In reality, visitors also seek sites for other reasons, often more personal in nature. This is due to the different voices within the heritage experience which make sites not only highly contested areas but also sensitive spaces to interpret and present. Based on the qualitative research done for an MA dissertation entitled ‘Are we being multi-vocal? The case of presenting Archaeological Heritage in Malta’, the author explores the different values that artefacts and sites have for different people and how the visiting experience can lead from the …

Roles And Responsibilities Of A Tourist Guide And Their Trainers: Reflections And Recommendations, Vincent Zammit

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

My first ever guiding experience, was telling stories to my siblings and cousins, and other friends who would bother to come with me around the streets of my home-town, Valletta. I remember my first visit to an exhibition, back in 1970. As a 15-year old I was impressed with all the exhibits, coming from all over the world. I also remember reading the captions and wondering how was it possible to remember all that information. Maybe the seeds of guiding were already there. Interest in visiting places and guiding continued. For thirteen years I worked as a guide with the …

On Tourist Guiding: Reflecting On A Centuries-Old Profession And Proposing Future Challenges, Luis Miguel Brito, Glen Farrugia

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

This paper provides a historical overview of Tourist Guiding, followed by some thoughts and reflections on how we can improve and develop our profession into the 21st Century. Thus, the paper traces the main developments of the profession through time. The idea of the paper is to offer a context to this new Journal, and hopefully entice the reader to draw useful parallels when critically reading the content of this and future issues of this publication.