Geography Commons^™

Show Me St. Louis: Risk Assessment Through An 80-20 Framework, Hannah K. Steinman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers of crime and place have long explored the uneven distribution of crime within the built environment and repeatedly identified where crime is concentrated. The longstanding question pertaining to crime at the micro-level, is why crime concentrates. This study operates within environmental criminology, through an 80-20 framework, to explore the spatial distribution of crime across streets with crime generators and attractors in St. Louis, Missouri to fill this gap in the literature. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations is used to identify unique high and low-crime street profiles. Crime data from 2018 – 2019 are used from the St. Louis …

Landscapes Of Danger: A Geospatial Analysis Of Perceived And Realistic Risk In Bryce Canyon National Park, Tia Francis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The quantification of risk has inspired a wide breath of literature from the physical sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines like geography. Many attempts to estimate risk via natural hazards either focus on quantifying realistic risk or perceived risk of lay persons, with very little overlap between these paradigms. Due to this, a considerable knowledge gap exists within perceived risk and natural hazards research. This study aims to provide a comprehensive, risk estimation and assessment strategy through a multi-hazard risk assessment of Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA). This case study analyzed knowledge of risk among visitors with perception surveys and …

An Evaluation Of Unmanned Aircraft Systems' Ability To Assess Stripe Rust In Large Wheat Breeding Nursies, Jamison T. Murry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stripe Rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) is a foliar disease that significantly impacts global wheat production, and resistant cultivars provide the most efficient method of control. High-throughput phenotyping using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) offers a potentially more efficient method for field-based phenotyping compared to visual assessment. Here we tested the ability of remote sensing to predict stripe rust severity in a diverse population of 594 soft red winter wheat lines, planted in single-rows, and evaluated them by visually rating stripe rust intensity and remotely using the dark green color index (DGCI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and blue NDVI. …

Spatial Analysis Of Soil Creep Rates On Mount Sequoyah, Fayetteville Arkansas, Amy Suzanne Morris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a part of the Boston Mountains, which are considered a deeply dissected plateau. The area is prone to mass wasting, which is the general downslope movement of sediments, soils, and rock through different processes that cause instabilities along a hillslope, and in its soil and loose rubble mantle. For this study, we looked at soil creep, which is the small-scale movement of soil downhill because of gravity, wetting and drying cycles, and heating and cooling cycles.

By measuring the tilt of utility poles, we determined multiple causes of soil creep. The variables that are …

A 30-Yr Climatology Of Meteorological Conditions Associated With Lightning Days In The Interior Western United States, Dmitri Alexander Kalashnikov, Paul Loikith, Arielle J. Catalano, Duane E. Waliser, Huikyo Lee, John T. Abatzoglou

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

A 30-yr climatology of lightning days and associated synoptic meteorological patterns are characterized across the interior western United States (WUS). Locally centered composite analyses show preferred synoptic meteorological patterns with positive 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies located to the northeast and negative sea level pressure anomalies to the northwest and collocated with local lightning days. Variations in preferred patterns for local lightning days are seen across the interior WUS. Areas not commonly affected by the North American monsoon system including the western Great Basin and northern Rocky Mountains show higher-amplitude anomalies of geopotential height, moisture, and midtropospheric instability patterns suggesting the …

Political Parties And Demographic Transformation In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Demography

This Fact Sheet presents projections of demographic change in Nevada’s political party coalitions using data provided in the report “States of Change: How Demographic Change is Transforming the Republican and Democratic Political Parties.” Using the composition of the two parties’ electorate in the 2016 presidential election as a baseline, researchers explore age, race, and education characteristics of voters in 14 U.S. swing states to predict the demographic makeup of voting groups in future elections. This Fact Sheet makes comparisons to other swing states, but focuses primarily on Nevada data.

Gwaabaw: Applying Anishinaabe Harvesting Protocols To Energy Governance, Sakihitowin Awasis

Geography & Environment Publications

Oil and gas extraction has transformed Anishinaabe society in ways that undermine the consensual, holistic, and egalitarian basis of natural law. To many Indigenous people, framing fossil fuels and other energy sources as “natural resources” does not accurately define energy projects or capture related risks. Some Anishinaabe pipeline opponents have suggested that traditional harvesting protocols–culturally embedded moral precepts that govern the gathering of food and medicinal plants–also be applied to activities that produce energy. This paper explores how this could be done, focusing on tar sands extraction and the Line 3 expansion plan. I begin by discussing Anishinaabe harvesting protocols, …

Memorialization On College Campuses Today, Virginia Thornton

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

This study uses the theoretical basis of placemaking and memorialization to examine the placement of memorial landscapes on college campuses. The research is based in case study analysis of other college campuses. It looks specifically at where and what is memorialized and what elements of placemaking are incorporated. The main postulate of my research is that the location of the memorialization of the suspected slave burial ground and history of slave labor on Richmond’s campus is appropriately placed in the Eco-corridor. The research suggests this postulate is not true, as the majority of other memorials have been placed in more …

Stormwater Management For A Healthier Campus Watershed: The Value-Add Of Green Stormwater And Watershed Management To The University Of Richmond’S Campus Landscape, Nia Cambridge

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Increasing competitiveness, educational opportunities and available funding, investment in sustainable infrastructure can be an immense value-add to the modern-day college campus. This paper explores the use of green low impact development to mitigate the effects of stormwater runoff on the University of Richmond (UR) campus. Rich in sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, bacteria and other organic matter, stormwater runoff is one of the main non-point sources of pollution in urban water bodies and a key area of opportunity for UR to improve stewardship to the nearby James River. A review of academic and industry literature was conducted to determine whether or …

Systems Of Meaning In Place Attachment, Emily Routman

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Numerous scholars agree that contact with natural landscapes has benefits for the landscape and the person experiencing them, including increased environmentally-responsible behaviors as well as psychological, cognitive, physiological, and social benefits. People develop a sense of place in outdoor landscapes while experiencing the physical environment, and sense of place is strengthened by place attachment – one’s emotional ties to a place. According to Williams and Patterson (1999), place attachment is perceived through four systems of meaning: 1) aesthetic/inherent, 2) goal-directed/instrumental, 3) cultural/symbolic, and 4) individual/expressive. The present study sought to understand which of these four systems of meaning are the …

How Do Farmers Experience Agroecology In Rural Communities Of Northern Ecuador?, Neil Michael Ayala Ayala

Latin American Studies ETDs

Agroecology, a concept in continuous evolution embraces science, practice and sociopolitical aspects. Its meaning is gaining space of debate and global interest as an alternative for building sustainable food systems and resilient communities, not only from the environmental perspective, but from all the dimensions of sustainability. The Andes region is recognized for its agrodiversity and for its history of agricultural activity; nevertheless, the effects of unsustainable agricultural practices inspired in the principles of the so called “Green Revolution” are evident. Conventional agriculture has decreased the capacity of resilience of the agroecosystems and their associated communities. Agroecology is often perceived as …

Earth Observation And Cloud Computing In Support Of Two Sustainable Development Goals For The River Nile Watershed Countries, Wenzhao Li, Hesham El-Askary, Venkat Lakshmi, Thomas Piechota, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In September 2015, the members of United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with universal applicability of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The SDGs are consequential for the development of the countries in the Nile watershed, which are affected by water scarcity and experiencing rapid urbanization associated with population growth. Earth Observation (EO) has become an important tool to monitor the progress and implementation of specific SDG targets through its wide accessibility and global coverage. In addition, the advancement of algorithms and tools deployed in cloud computing platforms provide an equal opportunity to use EO …

Home: Recreated In A College Setting, Hannah Huggins

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

There has been virtually no research on college students’ re-creations of home on college campuses. This research seeks to address this gap in literature and investigate the re-creation of home by college students on college campuses through a qualitative analysis of student experiences in on-campus housing at the University of Mary Washington. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were used to understand individual student perspectives on home and home re-creation. Home re-creation on college campuses is an individual and complex process. No single feature or collections of features transform a space into home for everyone. Main elements that create a sense of home …

280— Exploring The Geographic Distribution Of Childbed Fever Deaths In Mid-19th Century Rochester, Ny, Meaghan Parks

GREAT Day Posters

Childbed fever, formally called puerperal fever or puerperal septicemia, is an infection typically contracted by women after childbirth. Historically, childbed fever was a serious threat to maternal health. Childbed fever is caused by exposure of open wounds or abrasions, which are common after giving birth, to group A and B Streptococcal bacteria. Ignaz Semmelweis discovered that hand washing using a chlorinated solution reduced cases of childbed fever in 1847. This project reviews the instances of death from childbed fever in Rochester, New York from 1837-1860 and later from 1907-1919 and attempts to determine which areas of the city had the …

216— Using Rochester’S Family Public Housing In The “Crescent Of Poverty” As A Catalyst For A Solar Initiative, Christopher Miller

GREAT Day Posters

Both the climate crisis and poverty rates in US cities have increased rapidly, with few solutions. This research examines the relative solar potential in public housing developments in Rochester, NY, specifically in the area of concentrated poverty called the “Crescent of Poverty.” Also examined are societal benefits that an inclusive solar/sustainability movement provides for Rochester. Rochester is a mid-sized, diversely populated city with an overall poverty rate >30% and a childhood poverty rate >50% (Murphy, 2018). These alarming rates have contributed to the creation of the “Crescent of Poverty”, where the majority of family public housing developments are located. Solar …

228— Biden's Bounce: The African American Vote And Biden's South Carolina Comeback, Rachel Morris

GREAT Day Posters

On February 29, 2020, registered Democrats across South Carolina came out to vote for their preferred primary candidate. At the time of this primary, former Vice President Joe Biden needed a win to show that he was still a contender in the race. As the poles closed that night, it was clear that South Carolina was going to give Biden the win and this momentum eventually propelled his campaign to a bigger win on Super Tuesday. South Carolina is an important primary state with 63 delegates available, and it can make or break a candidate’s chance of securing the nomination. …

Philosophical Perspectives, Jochen Albrecht

Publications and Research

This entry follows in the footsteps of Anselin’s famous 1989 NCGIA working paper entitled “What is special about spatial?” (a report that is very timely again in an age when non-spatial data scientists are ignorant of the special characteristics of spatial data), where he outlines three unrelated but fundamental characteristics of spatial data. In a similar vein, I am going to discuss some philosophical perspectives that are internally unrelated to each other and could warrant individual entries in this Body of Knowledge. The first one is the notions of space and time and how they have evolved in …

Crude Oil Spill Response In The Great Lakes Region: Before And After The 2010 Kalamazoo River Enbridge Oil Spill, Marshall Kim

Honors Theses

Pipeline infrastructure is a particularly sensitive and unique energy transport mode. Pipelines carry gas, biofuels and liquid petroleum throughout the United States (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2019). These pipelines stretch beneath sensitive ecological areas, lakes, rivers and streams, and our homes and businesses. According to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) (2018), between all of the states in the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York) there is a cumulative 801,718 miles of pipeline. This includes interstate and intrastate, natural gas and petroleum pipelines. 9,556.9 miles of this is the interstate …

Migration Of Millennials And Seniors In The Mountain West, Ashley Leclair, Mary Blankenship, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Demography

This Fact Sheet examines trends in intraregional migration of millennials and seniors since the Great Recession, with a focus on the Mountain West. The data presented were originally published in a report by the Brookings Institution, titled “How migration of millennials and seniors has shifted since the Great Recession.”

Comparison Of Terrestrial Lidar, Sfm, And Mbes Resolution And Accuracy For Geomorphic Analyses In Physical Systems That Experience Subaerial And Subaqueous Conditions, Taylor Rowley, Mick Ursic, Kory Konsoer, Eddy Langendon, Mike Mutschler, Josh Sampey, Pawel Pocwiardowski

Faculty Publications

This study provides a systematic comparison of lidar, Multibeam Echo Sounders (MBES), and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) derived datasets collected over a fixed surface contained within a large outdoor flume converted to a 15 × 2.5 × 1.5 m tank. The surface incorporated various morphological features and structures for measurement technique comparison over varying surface type and geometries. Two lidar scans and two photograph sets (used in SfM) capture the subaerial surface within the experimental tank before and after the tank was filled for MBES measurements. MBES surveys at varied frequencies (200 and 400 kHz), swath widths (90° and 150°), and phase/amplitude …