Human Geography Commons^™

Great Plains Region From Encyclopedia Of Religion In America, Volume 2, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

To understand the religions of a region, it is helpful to examine its environmental characteristics and the history of human occupation of that land because interpretations and forms of worship often reflect the environment with which believers cope. Although characteristics of the natural environment are intricately incorporated into most ancient religions, this relationship may be less obvious in religions with creeds and set of beliefs enunciated by historic figures. Here focus is on how the religious history of the Great Plains distinguishes it from other parts of America.

The Changing Landscape Of A Rural Region: The Effect Of The Harry S Truman Dam And Reservoir In The Osage River Basin Of Missouri, Melvin Arthur Johnson

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Harry S Truman Dam and Reservoir project is of immense size. Many thousands of tons of raw materials were required to complete the construction of the dam and relocations. Millions of dollars were spent to acquire land, compensate those who were displaced, and to pay those who were employed in the planning, purchasing, coordinating, defending, and managing the myriad of contractors, contracts, and legal defenses. The affected area of the project is not only complex physically but also socially and economically. It is, therefore, not surprising that the counties studied (Benton, Henry, and St. Clair) would react in different …

Stress, Status, And Sociability: Exploring Residential Satisfaction In The Rural Midwest Following Rapid Immigration, James Potter, Rodrigo Cantarero, Amy E. Boren

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

This investigation examined predictors of residential satisfaction among newly arrived residents (NAR) and long-term residents (LTR) of a rural community following a rapid influx of immigrants into the community. The physical environment, social/cultural aspects of life, and resources and public services were hypothesized to affect perceptions of residential satisfaction. Both LTR and NAR were pleased with environmental attributes, sociocultural attributes, and public services. An inverse relationship was revealed between stress and residential satisfaction. The primary sources of stress for LTR related to economics and social status issues, whereas the primary sources of stress among NAR involved issues concerning family and …

Time-Series Analysis Of Clusters In City Size Distributions, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Craig R. Allen, K. Michael Bessey

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Complex systems, such as urban systems, emerge unpredictably without the influence of central control as a result of adaptive behavior by their component, interacting agents. This paper analyses city size distributions, by decade, from the south-western region of the United States for the years 1890–1990. It determines if the distributions were clustered and documents changes in the pattern of clusters over time. Clusters were determined utilizing a kernel density estimator and cluster analysis. The data were clustered as determined by both methods. The analyses identified 4–7 clusters of cities in each of the decades analysed. Cities cluster into size classes, …

Allotment In Severalty On The Northern Ponca Reservation: The Geography Of Disposession, Oliver Raimund Froehling

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In 1890 the Ponca Reservation in Knox and Boyd county was parcelled up and each individual Ponca received a plot of land as his or her own. The remaining 72,000 acres were opened for settlement under the Homestead Act. During the next few decades, most of the remaining Ponca lands held by individuals were sold to non-Indians. When the Ponca were allowed to acquire some tribal lands under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the land base had already disintegrated. One effect of this disintegrating land base was the increased out-migration of tribal members which eventually led to termination of the …

Review Of Early Prehistoric Agriculture In The American Southwest, By W. H. Wills. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School Of American Research Press, 1988. 196 Pages., Alan J. Osborn

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

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Wills's book provides archeologists with an innovative account of why and how past hunter-gatherers initially expanded their food-getting activities to include the cultivation of domesticated crops. His study makes use of a variety of subjects including r- and K-selection, density-dependent responses, risk minimization, the forager-collector continuum, maize phenology, Holocene environments, technological change, stylistic variation, social boundaries, and mating networks. Wills also offers new information and reassessments of the archeological record at Bat, Tularosa, Cordova, and Cienega Creek caves in the Mogollon highlands. He approaches the archeological literature for the American Southwest with healthy skepticism. And he challenges many …

General Karl N. Haushofer And Geopolitik, David P. Benorden

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to trace the mainstream of German and related geopolitical philosophy and the various aspects that influenced the philosophy from 1800 to 1945. Two themes evolved: Political Geography and Nationalism. Along with economic considerations, these themes were fused into Geopolitik by Karl Haushofer and his followers in Germany following the end of World War I.

The goal of this work is to trace Geopolitik to discover the significance of its implications, what was behind it, and what were its real objectives. Geopolitik is a German-developed "science'' based on doctrines and practices with its origins in …

Spatial Structure And Decision-Making Aspects Of Pedestrian Route Selection Through An Urban Environment, Michael R. Hill

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The review of literature is hierarchically organized in terms of the pedestrians ever widening spatial skills: walking, crossing streets, and choosing routes. Route choice is conceptualized as a game played upon an urban street system viewed as a graph. Completing a walk requires the sequential selection of edges from those available in the graph. Each sequence of choices is called a strategy. This study is an investigation of the characteristics of strategies employed by pedestrians in their selection of routes from one place to another. Data were collected in Lincoln, Nebraska. Two hundred pedestrians were intercepted, tracked to their destinations, …

Vacancy Chains And Intra-Urban Migration, Donald C. Rundquist

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

American society is a very mobile one, with approximately twenty percent of the populace changing its place of residence every year. It has been estimated that over two-thirds of all moves take place within the city. Geographic studies of intra-urban migration generally treat the relocations as either 1) movement from one areal unit to another, such as inter-census tract flows, or as 2) individual-level, unrelated moves between respective origins and destinations. In reality, however, each change of residence is one part of a much longer sequence of changes.

This thesis examines intra-city moves within the framework of their real-world linkage …