Geography Commons^™

When Nature Invades: Resident Perceptions Of The Austerity-Driven "Rewilding" Of An Urban Park In Rock Island, Illinois, Christian S. B. Elliott

Anthropology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

In an era of rapid urbanization, changing climate, and increasing political division, parks represent increasingly important places for urban residents to interact with and feel connected to the natural environment and receive a number of mental and physical health benefits. Unfortunately, in an age of austerity politics, parks and recreation departments in Midwest Rust Belt cities often lack adequate funding to maintain such public spaces. Recently, the business-minded Rock Island, Illinois Department of Parks and Recreation has implemented a creative cost-saving management solution: “naturalizing” sections of its city parks. This interdisciplinary study uses a mixed methods approach to discover how …

Refugee Housing In Worcester: A Neighborhood Case Study Of Bell Hill, Tyler Seth Maren

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper examines refugee resettlement practices at the neighborhood level, asking what neighborhood characteristics are conducive to achieving positive integration and housing stability outcomes. Using data from a quantitative study of refugee resettlement case files from Ascentria Care Alliance as a foundation, this research takes the form of an analysis of the Bell Hill neighborhood in Worcester, MA, a major resettlement destination. Using Ascentria data, secondary data sources such as US Census data and the Worcester Assessor’s Database, and site visits, this paper constructs a profile of Bell Hill along four major dimensions: community characteristics, housing, social infrastructure, and physical …

A View From Above: Alternative Perspectives On Smallholder Livelihoods And Agrobiodiversity Conservation In Northern Ecuador, Chris Hair

Dissertations

Food security and deintensification of agriculture are serious concerns in Latin America. Agriculture, especially at small-scale subsistence levels, is hard work, and comes with some economic and physical risk. Transitions from traditional multi-cropping to mono-cropping systems introduce two particular risks that are new to most smallholders: (1) the loss of agricultural diversity and (2) the potential for widespread failure when focusing on the cultivation of a single crop. This research explores how Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), or drones, can be used for rapid inventories of crop diversity and to enhance crop management techniques on small-scale farms. In the community …

How Much Variation In Land Surface Phenology Can Climate Oscillation Modes Explain At The Scale Of Mountain Pastures In Kyrgyzstan?, Monika A. Tomaszewska, Geoffrey M. Henebry

NASA Land-Cover Land-Use Change Data Sets

Climate oscillation modes can shape weather across the globe due to atmospheric teleconnections. We built on the findings of a recent study to assess whether the impacts of teleconnections are detectable and significant in the early season dynamics of highland pastures across five rayons in Kyrgyzstan. Specifically, since land surface phenology (LSP) has already shown to be influenced by snow cover seasonality and terrain, we investigated here how much more explanatory and predictive power information about climatic oscillation modes might add to explain variation in LSP. We focused on seasonal values of five climate oscillation indices that influence vegetation dynamics …

What Drives Commercial Poaching?: From Poverty To Economic Inequality, Elizabeth Lunstrum, Nícia Givá

Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over the last decade, South Africa and its iconic Kruger National Park have experienced a steep increase in the killing of rhinoceros for its horn, which is reaching staggering prices largely in Asian markets. This is a key piece of the larger illegal wildlife trade (IWT). Drawing on fieldwork in the Mozambican borderlands adjacent to Kruger where many poaching recruits originate, we respond to calls for better understanding of the drivers of IWT and in particular links between poverty and poaching. Our analysis shows that economic factors including poverty are the most central drivers of rhino poaching on the ground-level …

The Invasion Of The Southern Pine Bark Beetle, Matthew Shaughnessy

Transformations: Presentation Slides

The Southern Pine Bark Beetle is a pest that is native to the south eastern United States. Historically the population has been held to southern parts of the nation due to the harsher cold weather in the north. During the last twenty years there has been an increase in average annual temperatures on the east coast. This has allowed the species to move northward and afflict unprotected softwoods at a high rate. The objective of this project was to observe the movement of the Southern Pine Bark Beetles between 2012 and a population estimate for 2027 made by the USDA …

A Tale Of Two Species: Black-Tailed And White-Tailed Prairie Dog Biogeography From The Last Interglacial To 2070, April Dawn Bledsoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ecological niche models (ENMs) were created for White-tailed and Black-tailed prairie dogs and projected into the Last Interglacial (LI), the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and mid-Holocene (mid-H) to discern possible past suitable habitat for both species. Additionally, ENMs were projected into the future year 2070 representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 2.6 and 8.5 to discern how climate change may affect future habitat suitability. Kernel density estimations, minimum convex polygons, and median distribution centers of White-tailed and Black-tailed occurrence records were examined between time-periods to discern the effects of anthropogenic westward expansion on both species’ distributions. Current ENMs were constructed from commonly …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, May 2020, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Volume 1. Issue 4

In this issue:

Dean’s Update P.1
Awards & Recognition P.2
Club Spotlight | Academic Tips P.3
Interest in Science | Face Masks P.4
Research Spotlight | Welcome P.4
Meet the Pets of CNS P.5

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Traffic Crashes Involving Pedestrians And Cyclists In Jefferson County, Kentucky., Joseph M. Garcia

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Walking and cycling are health-conscious, environmentally friendly modes of transportation, yet very few American trips are accomplished using these methods. A major factor behind this is the fear of being involved in a crash with an automobile. From 2009-2019 there were over 5,200 automobile crashes involving either pedestrians or cyclists in Louisville/ Jefferson County, Kentucky. Researchers have found that these kinds of crashes exhibit spatiotemporal patterns in different cities across the globe. The objective of this study was to determine if there exist any spatial and/or temporal patterns regarding these kinds of crashes. Data for this study came from the …

Sustainable Wastewater Treatment In The American South, Caroline Miles

Master's Theses

Aging infrastructure and changing social and environmental conditions are two factors that are currently pushing wastewater treatment towards more sustainable methods. This thesis investigates what sustainable treatment technologies are being used in the American South through a focused sample of six cities across the region: Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The study assesses the types of sustainable treatment technology utilized at each facility, the perspectives of wastewater professionals about the technology, and the economic and environmental sustainability of each facility. Data was collected through direct observations on tours of the facilities, …

Paul Robeson, Carnival, And The 2018 National Eisteddfod, Mark Rhodes

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

No abstract provided.

Malaria Risk On Ancient Roman Roads: A Study And Application To Assessing Travel Decisions In Asia Minor By The Apostle Paul, Daniel C. Browning Jr

Master's Theses

This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for …

Learning To Love Bats, Bethany J. Lawson

Honors Theses

Throughout history, bats have often become entangled in various myths and legends that have negatively influenced human perceptions of bats. Media outlets often sensationalize the relationship of bats to novel diseases, which also creates negative perceptions of bats in the human imagination. Bats are beneficial to our ecosystems and provide pollination services, seed dispersal, and insect control. However, bats are currently facing a variety of life-threatening issues, such as habitat destruction, fatalities at wind energy sites, climate change, and most notably, white-nose syndrome – a disease that has killed millions of North American bats in the past decade. With bats …

The Story Of Here: A Graphic Guide To Holy Cross And College Hill, Sarah Luria, Jesse Carson, Mia Cronin, Daniel D'Ambrosio, Sara Donohue, Kerry Flaherty, Hannah Ford, Jenna Giardina, Andrew Lydon, Cameron Magalotti, Brett Mccarron, Matthew Shea, Nora Sheehan, William Solomon, Marco Spataro, Connor Sullivan, Thomas Thiel, Paihan Wu

Holy Cross Bookshelf

This illustrated guide captures the history of the section of Worcester where the College of the Holy Cross is located. Historical sources and imaginative interpretations based on historical research are combined to create a unique "then and now" approach and experience of "double vision" to tell the story of College Hill.

This guide was a project of Montserrat Seminar 111N, taught by Prof. Sarah Luria in Spring 2020.

*The Story of Here:* *Correction for Plate 5*, *Pakachoag/ Language*

“Nipnet” denotes the area of the Nipmuc, rather than the people themselves. Nipmuc (or even nipamaug (to denote people) is the best …

Geographic Imaginaries Of Urban Spatial Segregation: A Case Study Of The West End Neighborhoods In Louisville, Kentucky., Amber Dock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to translate the framework of geographic imaginaries into an urban context in order to capture a narrative of how residents conceptualize and experience segregation. This framework is rooted in an investigation of local discourses as they exist within a specific social, political, and historical context. Institutionalized segregation and structural racism are the foundations on which the American urban context studied here was built upon. This study employs multiple methods, including contextualizing the study area, analyzing discursive content, and visualizing the results. The results of these analyses included empirically connecting concentrations of protected classes to …

Of Moose And Men (And Moose-Men), Henry Cavanaugh

Montserrat Annual Writing Prize

The story of a family's annual tradition of moose tracking in northernmost New Hampshire.

Characterizing The Impacts Of The Invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid On The Forest Structure Of New England, Peter Brehm Boucher

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Climate change is raising winter temperatures in the Northeastern United States, both expanding the range of an invasive pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae), and threatening the survival of its host species, eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). As a foundation species, hemlock trees underlie a distinct network of ecological, biogeochemical, and structural systems that will likely disappear as the HWA infestation spreads northward. Remote sensing can offer new perspectives on this regional transition, recording the progressive loss of an ecological foundation species and the transition of evergreen hemlock forest to mixed deciduous forest over the course of the infestation. …

Changes In Land Use Land Cover (Lulc), Surface Water Quality And Modelling Surface Discharge In Beaver Creek Watershed, Northeast Tennessee And Southwest Virginia, Tosin James

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beaver Creek is an impaired streams that is not supporting its designated use for recreation due to Escherichia coli (E.coli), and sediment. To address this problem, this thesis was divided into two studies.

The first study explored changes in Land Use Land Cover (LULC), and its impact on surface water quality. Changes in E.coli load between 1997-2001 and 2014-2018 were analyzed. Also, Landsat data of 2001, and 2018 were examined in Terrset 18.31. Mann-Whitney test only showed a significant reduction in E.coli for one site. Negative correlation was established between E.coli load, and Developed LULC, Forest LULC, and …

Archaeological, Geophysical, And Geospatial Analysis At David Crockett Birthplace State Park, In Upper East Tennessee, Reagan Cornett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A geophysical survey was conducted at David Crockett Birthplace State Park (40GN205, 40GN12) using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry. The data indicated multiple levels of occupation that were investigated by Phase II and Phase III archaeological excavations. New cultural components were discovered, including the remnants of a Protohistoric Native American structure containing European glass trade beads and Middle Woodland artifacts that suggest trade with Hopewell groups from Ohio. A circular Archaic hearth was uncovered at one meter below surface and similar deep anomalies were seen in the GPR data at this level. A semi-automated object-based image analysis (OBIA) was implemented …

Changing Agricultural Landscapes: An Investigation Of Dragon Fruit Production In Southern Vietnam., Laura Krauser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Agricultural transition represents an essential component of land-use and land-cover change in developing countries across the world, as economic and social factors pressure agriculturalists out of traditional subsistence farming into food commodity production. Modernization has altered modes of income, land ownership, and livelihood in Southeast Asia drastically in recent years. The Bình Thuận Province of southern Vietnam experienced a particularly radical transformation with the introduction of dragon fruit cultivation, which has been profoundly encouraged by outside markets in China, Australia, and Japan. This research combines remote sensing and qualitative research to examine and characterize a changing agricultural landscape in rural …