Geography Commons^™

Pathways Forward For Onshore Wind Energy In The State Of Maryland: A Gis Multi-Criteria Analysis, George Pisano

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This study examines pathways forward for onshore wind energy in the State of Maryland. To meet its decarbonization goals, Maryland needs to quickly transition its electric grid away from fossil fuels. The state is currently in the process of developing offshore wind farms that have the potential to represent a significant source of renewable energy. However little progress has been made in expanding Maryland’s onshore wind energy production capacity. Using a multi-criteria GIS analysis, this study found that there is a limited but not inconsiderable area in the state that could be suitable for wind farms of varying scales that …

Perceived Social And Environmental Impacts Of The Maya Train Project On The Yucatan Peninsula Of Mexico: A Case Study Of Puerto Morelos, Emely Hernandez Yac

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Maya Train Project (MTP) is a new national megaproject in Mexico, meant to connect the perimeter of the Yucatan Peninsula, and facilitate easier transportation for tourism, industry, and agriculture. Given the region’s dependence on tourism, the train will accelerate the growth, as well as the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the region. Globally, the tourism industry has resulted in inequitable social and environmental impacts for the local communities and there is concern that this new Maya Train Project will serve to accelerate uneven development in the region. This project focused on the coastal tourist city of Puerto …

Re-Storying Grant Creek: A Case Study Of Relational Dynamics On A Degraded Montana Stream, Seamus Rucci Land

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration began in 2021, and after a history of contentious ethical debates, ecological restoration is increasingly portrayed as a viable framework for combating environmental degradation and supporting more healthy and stable social-ecological systems. The proposed ecological restoration of Grant Creek, a degraded stream near Missoula, Montana, offers an opportunity to connect a restoration site to the broader, rapidly growing field of restoration practice. It also allows the opportunity to forward the ‘relational turn’ proposed by many in the sustainability sciences as an ontological and methodological means to move beyond positivist portrayals of social-ecological systems, which …

‘Big’ And ‘Little’ Quo Vadis? In The United States, 1913–1916: Using Gis To Map Rival Modes Of Feature Cinema During The Transitional Era, Jeffrey Klenotic

Faculty Publications

This article emanates from a geospatial database of over 600 premieres of the Cines company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), an eight-reel film distributed by George Kleine, and nearly 250 premieres of the Quo Vadis Film Company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), a three-reel film of ambiguous origins distributed by Paul De Outo. By mapping local premieres of both films across the United States from 1913 through 1916, the data show with spatiotemporal precision the spread of Quo Vadis? as one of cinema’s early blockbuster titles. Yet within this national phenomenon, the two films’ footprints reveal differing cultural geographies served by competing efforts to …

Comparison Of Topsoil Moisture In E3sm Model Simulations And In-Situ Observations Over Illinois, Jacinda Lee Mayer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Soil moisture stimulates land-atmosphere interactions by modifying energy and water fluxes in the boundary layer and it plays an important role in climate change studies. The objective of this research is to quantify the spatial and temporal variations of the Illinois Climate Network’s (ICN) observed topsoil moisture, as well as evaluate how accurately the new climate model, E3SM, is simulating soil moisture compared to the observed data during 2003-2014. Observed topsoil moisture averaged over growing season during the 12-year period indicates a general dry-north and wet-south pattern in Illinois, and northeast and southwest become drier with the progression of the …

Characterization Of Site-Specific Vegetation Activity In Alaskan Wet And Dry Tundra As Related To Climate And Soil State, Michael Gregory Brown, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Reiner Zimmermann, Nicholas Steiner, Stephanie Devries, Laura Bourgeau-Chavez

Advanced Science Research Center

We present discrete (2-h resolution) multi-year (2008–2017) in situ measurements of seasonal vegetation growth and soil biophysical properties from two sites on Alaska's North Slope, USA, representing dry and wet sedge tundra. We examine measurements of vertical active soil layer temperature and soil moisture profiles (freeze/thaw status), woody shrub vegetation physiological activity, and meteorological site data to assess interrelationships within (and between) these two study sites. Vegetation phenophases (cold de-hardening start, physiological function start, stem growth start, stem growth end, physiological function end, cold hardening completion) were found to have greater interannual day of year (DOY) occurrence variability at the …

Bridging The Gap: Where Indigenous Knowledge And Western Science Come Together To Shape Environmental Stewardship, Bowman Leigh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In the era of climate change, humans are grappling with how to ensure that natural resources exist into the future. For millennia, Indigenous people have actively managed the environment, drawing upon deep connections to the land passed down through generations. The Western worldview, on the other hand, sees humans as separate from nature — an attitude that has led to many of the environmental crises we see today.

This portfolio examines places and programs where Western science and Indigenous knowledge (IK) or traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) come together to shape environmental stewardship. Western science and IK/TEK are inherently different ways …

Seeding Resilience: An Examination Of The Impacts Of A Seed Saving Network In Western Montana, Christina Leas

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Seed saving, a worldwide practice as old as agriculture, continues even in the context of an increasingly industrialized and globalized agricultural system. While some scholarship has focused on informal seed saving practices that continue to thrive in the global South, few studies have examined the dynamics of these practices in the global North, particularly in the American West. Informal seed saving systems have implications for the resilience of agroecosystems. The concept of resilience has become an important framework for conceptualizing agroecosystems as social-ecological systems, both in scholarship and in policy. However, operationalizing the concept of resilience, particularly in agroecology research, …

Application Of Uas Remote Sensing For Cultural Heritage Preservation And Archaeology, Nickolas D. "Dan" Macchiarella, Kevin A. Adkins

Publications

Using small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to gain aerial perspectives for remote sensing with cameras and LiDAR is truly benefiting cultural heritage preservation and archaeological work. Photogrammetric products derived from sUAS captured images are providing precise and detailed data. LiDAR- equipped sUAS are also making precise and detailed data available for analysis. Rapid technological gains associated with all UAS are bringing these remote sensing technologies to bear in exciting ways. Novoberda fortress in the Republic of Kosovo and Creekside Village, Tularosa Basin, New Mexico provide excellent examples of photogrammetric work and LiDAR derived analysis products resulting from the use of …

Arithfusion: An Arithmetic Deep Model For Temporal Remote Sensing Image Fusion, Md Reshad Ul Hoque, Jian Wu, Chiman Kwan, Krzysztof Koperski, Jiang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Different satellite images may consist of variable numbers of channels which have different resolutions, and each satellite has a unique revisit period. For example, the Landsat-8 satellite images have 30 m resolution in their multispectral channels, the Sentinel-2 satellite images have 10 m resolution in the pan-sharp channel, and the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) aerial images have 1 m resolution. In this study, we propose a simple yet effective arithmetic deep model for multimodal temporal remote sensing image fusion. The proposed model takes both low- and high-resolution remote sensing images at t₁ together with low-resolution images at a …

การจำลองการเกิดน้ำท่วมในพื้นที่ลุ่มน้ำเจ้าพระยาตอนกลางด้วยแบบจำลอง Hec-Ras, ปัญชิกา มูลรังษี

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้ประยุกต์ใช้แบบจำลองชลศาสตร์ HEC-RAS เพื่อการจำลองและคาดการณ์การเกิดน้ำท่วม ในลุ่มน้ำเจ้าพระยาบริเวณตั้งแต่ท้ายเขื่อนเจ้าพระยา จ.ชัยนาท จนกระทั่งถึง อ.เมือง จ.อ่างทอง โดยทำการจำลองการไหลในลำน้ำแบบหนึ่งมิติ (1D) และการหลากของน้ำล้นตลิ่งในลักษณะสองมิติ (2D) ในการจำลองการไหลแบบหนึ่งมิติ ผู้วิจัยทำการเทียบมาตรฐานแบบจำลอง โดยใช้ข้อมูลอัตราการไหล ในลำน้ำที่สถานีตรวจวัด C.13 และระดับน้ำที่ C.7A พ.ศ. 2553 และ พ.ศ. 2555 เพื่อกำหนดค่าสัมประสิทธิ์ความขรุขระแมนนิ่ง (Manning’s n) ของพื้นท้องน้ำที่เหมาะสมในการจำลองการไหลแบบไม่คงที่ในลำน้ำ สำหรับการจำลองการไหลแบบ 2 มิติ ทำการเทียบมาตรฐานแบบจำลองกับขอบเขตพื้นที่น้ำท่วมจากภาพถ่ายดาวเทียมรายวัน และระดับน้ำท่วมจากจุดสำรวจ 4 ตำแหน่ง เพื่อปรับค่าการระบายน้ำออกจากพื้นที่ศึกษาด้วยค่าสัมประสิทธิ์ปรับแก้การเปิด-ปิดประตูระบายน้ำและการกักเก็บปริมาณน้ำท่วมส่วนเกิน จากนั้นจึงทดสอบความสมเหตุสมผลของแบบจำลอง โดยใช้ข้อมูลอัตราการไหลในลำน้ำและขอบเขตพื้นที่น้ำท่วม พ.ศ.2551 และ พ.ศ.2552 รวมถึงระดับน้ำท่วมจากจุดสำรวจ 3 ตำแหน่งในพื้นที่ศึกษา ผลการศึกษาพบว่า ค่า Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) ของอัตราการไหลในลำน้ำอยู่ระหว่าง 0.95-0.99 และค่า root-mean-squared error (RMSE) ของความลึกน้ำท่วม 3 ตำแหน่ง อยู่ระหว่าง 0.67-0.68 เมตร เมื่อเพิ่มโครงสร้างบรรเทาการเกิดอุทกภัยในแบบจำลอง สามารถลดพื้นที่น้ำท่วม พ.ศ. 2548 และ พ.ศ. 2550 ได้ 41.27 และ 51.49 ตารางกิโลเมตร ตามลำดับ โดยการเพิ่มพื้นที่แก้มลิงสามารถบรรเทาอุทกภัยได้มากที่สุด ในขณะที่การเพิ่มความสูงคันกั้นน้ำและการขุดลอกลำน้ำ ไม่สามารถลดพื้นที่ที่เกิดน้ำท่วมขังได้มากนัก ในนอกจากนี้ยังพบว่าการเพิ่มโครงสร้างบรรเทาน้ำท่วมทั้ง 3 ประเภท ทำให้พื้นที่ที่ยังคงมีน้ำท่วมขัง มีระดับความลึกน้ำท่วมลดลง 0.1-0.15 เซนติเมตร

Tales From A Placeholder: A Relational Journey With Land, Place, People And Self, Kalle O. Fox

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The proposed thesis is a collection of place-based, long- and-short-form creative nonfiction essays. The places of interest are where the author spent different amounts of time in during her twenties, including Iceland, Miami and Seaside, Florida, Butte and Missoula, Montana, and a series of National Parks on the western side of the Continental Divide. This thesis is informed what cultural geographer Yi Fu Tuan coined as topophilia: the affective bond between people and place. “Place” and “sense of place,” while each having their own array of definitions in environmental scholarship, are considered interchangeable in the context of my work. A …

'Indirect Pathways Into Practice': Philippine Internationally Educated Nurses And Their Entry Into Ontario's Nursing Profession, Lualhati Marcelino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While there are several studies that highlight the quantitative and statistical profiles of internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the Philippines who migrate to countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and Canada, there is little research that delves deeply into the qualitative review and analysis of their experiences in their own words. This study addresses that gap by applying the transnational feminist concept of “global care chains” in a single case study design that explores the experience of nurses who migrated to Ontario through permanent and temporary immigration streams and were interviewed in 2011 to 2012 to …

Agent-Based Modelling And Big Data: Applications For Maritime Traffic Analysis, Marc Sirizzotti

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Agent based modeling (ABM) is a powerful tool for examining complex systems in many scientific applications, including maritime transport systems. Growing demands for freight transport and increased industry emphasis on reducing environmental impacts have heightened the focus on vessel and port efficiency. This research aimed to create a maritime route planning model to simulate vessel movement in all waterways. The goal of the ship routing model developed in this research was to develop a simulation tool capable of reproducing real world shipping routes useful for navigation planning, with emphasis on port scheduling and potential application for further use and exploration. …

Lake Huron Shoreline Analysis, Shubham Satish Nandanwar

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lake Huron is a popular tourist destination and is home to several businesses and residents. Since the shoreline is dynamic and is subject to change over the years due to several factors such as a change in water level, soil type, human encroachment, etc., these locations tend to encounter floods due to increased water levels and wind speed. This causes erosion and loss to the properties along the shoreline.

This study is based on two areas of interest named Pinery Provincial Park and Sauble Beach which are located on the shoreline of Lake Huron where Pinery Provincial Park is a …

Exploring The Relationship Between Drought And Population Change On The North American Great Plains, 1970-2010, George Heath

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Through the second half of the 20th century, the North American Great Plains saw widespread rural out-migration, a continuation of trends that began with the Dust Bowl crisis during the Great Depression of the 1930s. As part of a wider academic focus on the roles climate and environmental changes have on migration, this research project sought to understand the relationship between drought conditions and rural population decline on the Great Plains. In this explorative research, census population data for Canada and the US from 1970-2010 were analyzed along with temperature, precipitation, and Palmer Drought Severity Index data for the same …

Bee Cities And More-Than-Human Communities: Protecting Pollinators In The Anthropocene, Jennifer Marshman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Grounded in political ecology and the ecological humanities, the aim of this research is to examine the Bee City movement as a conservation engagement strategy at the municipal level. While pollinator research occurs from a variety of perspectives – biology, entomology, phylogeny, ecology, and agricultural sciences - social engagement strategies and the human dimensions of pollinator conservation have yet to be widely investigated. This research questions if these strategies put in place, and contribute to, important political and socio-ecological mechanisms in the local context. Through a collective case study methodology, this research points to the Bee City movement as a …

Does Air Pollution Cause Residents Of New Delhi, India To Migrate Internationally?, Snigdha Basu

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Delhi, India, and the surrounding cities of Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad consistently rank among the world's most polluted cities. For many parts of the year, air pollution levels are so high as to cause significant harm to human health, economy and the environment. Despite overwhelming evidence of the severity and consequences of air pollution, institutional measures to control it remain insufficient.

There is growing evidence that environmental degradation has the potential to generate migration of people out of affected areas. However, the links between environmental factors and migration are complex, with migration often being a result of interactions between …

Changes In Reproductive Behavior And Birth Patterns During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Sakartvelo (The Republic Georgia) [რეპროდუქციული ქცევასა და შობადობის ცვლილებები კოვიდ-19 პანდემიის დროს საქართველოში], Nino Mateshvili

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Because of the increased frequency and extent of large-scale disasters, including health events, there is a need to better understand the impacts of these disasters on key demographic processes. In particular, in the European countries, including the Republic of Georgia (Sakartvelo), which already face demographic problems, such as aging population and decreasing birth rates, researchers and policymakers are concerned with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demographic indicators and processes, such as birth rates and reproductive behavior. That is why it is very timely to collect and analyze initial evidence establishing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as a …

Quantifying Water Security In West Virginia And The Potomac River Basin, Eric Carl Edvard Sinius Sjostedt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

All healthy ecosystems, communities, and economies are founded on access to clean, adequate water sources to support ecosystem services, provide clean drinking water, and allow the production of water-intensive goods and services. The state of available water resources must be analyzed through the lens of water security, defined as the capability to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for people, the economy, and ecosystems. Mountain regions are sources of freshwater resources for downstream regions, which produce disproportionately higher runoff than downstream regions. As a result, mountain regions are often referred to as natural water towers …