Geography Commons^™

An Evaluation Of Unmanned Aerial Systems And Structure-From-Motion For Fluvial Large Wood Sensing And Risk Assessment, Daniel Gerke

Masters Theses

This research aims to show Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) technology can, in combination, improve on traditional large wood (LW) monitoring techniques. More temporally and economically efficient data collected at a finer spatial resolution and greater spatial extent will increase the effectiveness of management plans and risk assessment for LW by providing decision-makers with a complete picture of the river.

Contemporary practices are too inefficient in time and labor for large-scale monitoring of fluvial LW with anything more than the most general management or risk assessment in mind. The paradigm of river research, the river continuum concept (RCC), …

Communications And Methodologies In Crime Geography: Contemporary Approaches To Disseminating Criminal Incidence And Research, Mitchell Ogden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many tools exist to assist law enforcement agencies in mitigating criminal activity. For centuries, academics used statistics in the study of crime and criminals, and more recently, police departments make use of spatial statistics and geographic information systems in that pursuit. Clustering and hot spot methods of analysis are popular in this application for their relative simplicity of interpretation and ease of process. With recent advancements in geospatial technology, it is easier than ever to publicly share data through visual communication tools like web applications and dashboards. Sharing data and results of analyses boosts transparency and the public image of …

“Daughter” As A Positionality And The Gendered Politics Of Taking Parents Into The Field, Menusha De Silva, Kanchan Gandhi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research on gendered politics of the field has delved into the practices of accompaniment and its implications on research and knowledge production, particularly through the case of researchers’ children and partners. In comparison, the tendency to seek assistance from parents is neglected within the scholarship. Drawing on the PhD fieldwork experiences of two researchers in their “native” country, specifically a Sri Lankan researcher conducting fieldwork in Sri Lanka and a North Indian scholar researching in South India, the paper reveals parents’ contribution to the research process, in terms of enhancing researcher credibility, facilitating contact‐making and access, and providing emotional and …

Potable Water Leakage Prediction And Detection Using Geospatial Analysis, Jacob Tittle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to increasing water treatment costs and conservation needs, traditional water loss analysis and acoustic leak detection methods are becoming heavily scrutinized by water utilities. This study explores water loss in Johnson City, Tennessee and how geospatial data analysis techniques improve water loss mitigation. This project uses sample water system pressure data and ordinary kriging spatial interpolation methods to identify leakage areas for further investigation. Analysis of existing geographic information system (GIS) water utility datasets with interpolated hydraulic grade values at sample water pressure points produce manageable survey areas that pinpoint areas with possible water leakage. Field detection methods, including …

Dry Heat Among The Red Rocks: Risk Perceptions And Behavioral Responses To Extreme Heat Among Outdoor Recreationists In Southeastern Utah, Kirsten M. Goldstein

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Communicating the risks related to extreme heat is important and essential for saving lives. This study looks at how tourists think about extreme heat in a hot and dry environment. It looks at relationships between an individual’s local climate, their thoughts about the current weather conditions, and demographics. The results from this study are intended to help tourist agencies, emergency managers and emergency planners, and policymakers in creating and carrying out communication strategies for extreme heat.

Thoughts about and physical responses to weather are different for everyone and shaped by personal experiences. How one thinks and feels about the weather …

Improving Earthquake Disaster Models With Post-Event Data: Insights From The 2015 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake, Bradley Steven Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immense amounts of data are collected following earthquake disasters. Yet, it remains unclear how researchers’ might take full advantage of diverse post-disaster datasets. Using data from the 2015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake, this dissertation explores three ways in which post- disaster survey and assessment datasets can be used to inform models of seismic risk, vulnerability, and recovery processes. The first article presents an empirical analysis of scale issues in disaster vulnerability indices using a novel dataset of 750,000 households. This study finds that using aggregated household data to create social vulnerability indices can produce results that are meaningfully different from equivalent …

A Geospatial Analysis Of Safety And Risk Perception In The Buffalo National River, Julie Nicole Terhune

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1972, the Buffalo River in Arkansas became America’s First National River. Since then, the Buffalo National River has become a beloved recreational retreat for locals and visitors alike. The Buffalo National River is home to incredibly scenic views and host to many outdoor activities, among them, hiking and floating. As with any confluence of nature and humans, there is great risk involved in all aspects of the park. Between 2011 and 2017, a total of 140 search and rescue missions were carried out. Some were resolved easily, but more serious accidents were not unheard of.

Risk perception studies are …

Unlocking Pre-1850 Instrumental Meteorological Records: A Global Inventory, Stefan Bronnimann, Rob Allan, Linden Ashcroft, Saba Baer, Mariano Barriendos, Fiona Williamson, Et Al

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A global inventory of early instrumental meteorological measurements is compiled. It comprises thousands of series, many of which have not been digitized, pointing to the potential of weather data rescue.Instrumental meteorological measurements from periods prior to the start of national weather services are designated “early instrumental data”. They have played an important role in climate research as they allow daily-to-decadal variability and changes of temperature, pressure, and precipitation, including extremes, to be addressed. Early instrumental data can also help place 21st century climatic changes into a historical context such as to define pre-industrial climate and its variability. Until recently, the …

Material And Seismic Assessment Of The Great House At Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Arizona, Douglas W. Porter, Anjali Mehrotra, Matthew J. Dejong, Angelyn Bass, Matthew Guebard, John Ochsendorf

United States National Park Service: Publications

The authors characterized earthen wall materials and plasters in a mid-fourteenth-century Hohokam great house at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (Arizona) and assessed the seismic susceptibility of its puddled earth walls. Characterization included determining the microstructure, microcomposition, porosity, aggregate mineralogy, and identification of phases in the binding matrix for each of 36 samples and reconstructing plaster technologies, including material selection, preparation, and application sequences. Findings support the ideas that earthen materials were manipulated to optimize their performance to suit the unique site conditions and needs of the ancient people using the structure and included finishes that were unusual in southwestern …

Exposure And Potential Effects Of Pesticides And Pharmaceuticals In Protected Streams Of The Us National Park Service Southeast Region, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Jeffrey R. Duncan, William A. Battaglin, Jimmy M. Clark, Michelle L. Hladik, Bradley J. Huffman, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Celeste A. Journey, Kelly L. Smalling

United States National Park Service: Publications

Globally, protected areas offer refugia for a broad range of taxa including threatened and endangered species. In the United States (US), the National Park Service (NPS) manages public lands to preserve biodiversity, but increasing park visitation and development of surrounding landscapes increase exposure to and effects from bioactive contaminants. The risk (exposure and hazard) to NPS protected-stream ecosystems within the highly urbanized southeast region (SER) from bioactive contaminants was assessed in five systems based on 334 pesticide and pharmaceutical analytes in water and 119 pesticides in sediment. Contaminant mixtures were common across all sampled systems, with approximately 24% of the …

Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Jorge Baron, Maria Kolby-Wolfe, Kristen Smith Dayley, Twila Bird, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Program has been around for 35 years, started in 1984 specifically to help Central American refugees during the mid-1980s, when they were fleeing civil wars. A pro-bono group of attorneys performing "direct legal representation", helping low income community members who are navigating different aspects of the immigration system. NWIRP also engages in "systemic advocacy" which attempts to change systems and policies revolving around asylum and immigration rights.

Jungle Gyms Of Justice: Understanding The Urban Park Accessibility Problem, Victoria Holmes

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Urban parks and green spaces have the potential to provide outstanding benefits to both children and adults. However, increased urbanization and the disproportionate placement of urban parks and green spaces can make these benefits elusive. Case studies focused on Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago have found that access to urban parks and green spaces is more challenging for non-white and low-socioeconomic status populations. The present study, focused on the much smaller, much less populated city of Harrisonburg, Virginia, builds on this work using geographic information system (GIS) buffer analysis to find that all socioeconomic groups face access issues to some …

The Future Of Reef Ecosystems In The Gulf Of Mexico: Insights From Coupled Climate Model Simulations And Ancient Hot-House Reefs, Kristine L. Delong

Faculty Publications

emperatures (SST), salinity, carbonate chemistry, and acidity. Over the last half-century, some reef communities have been disappearing at an alarming pace. This study focuses on the Gulf of Mexico, where the majority of shallow coral reefs are reported to be in poor or fair condition. We analyze the RCP8.5 ensemble of the Community Earth System Model v1.2 to identify monthly-to-decadal trends in Gulf of Mexico SST. Secondly, we examine projected changes in ocean pH, carbonate saturation state, and salinity in the same coupled model simulations. We find that the joint impacts of predicted higher temperatures and changes in ocean acidification …

Commercials As Social Studies Curriculum: Bridging Content & Media Literacy, Shanedra D. Nowell

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This essay explores ways television commercials can teach both media literacy skills and social studies content knowledge. Because of their brevity and concise messages, commercials offer teachers a wide assortment of engaging, content focused lesson topics that can be used to introduce new ideas, as writing or discussion prompts to further explore concepts, or as creative media projects to assess the content and media literacy knowledge. I examine different approaches to integrate commercials into social studies classes and include resources to guide students through deconstructing commercials, understanding advertisers’ creative techniques and appeals, and creating their own commercials.

A Method To Analyze Similarities Of Eye Movements: A Giscience Based Spatiotemporal Approach, Mehrdad Vaziri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Similarity analysis is the subject of several studies that primarily collect, process, and analyze movement data of various types, including animals, humans, vehicles, hurricanes, and eye tracking. The movement studies often focus on characteristics of a mobile entity (moving object) over time and space. Such studies usually are interested in tracking the changes to the moving object. Therefore, the size of the object becomes irrelevant. Each mobile object is considered a moving point through time and space. The points have all two attributes in common which are locations and timestamp of those locations. Despite the similarities between the movement datasets, …

Online Mapping Tools For Geolocating Amish Settlements, Andrew Wilson, Brian Lonabocker, Megan Zagorski

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This technical note demonstrates the value of using online mapping tools as a method of geolocating Amish settlements. Primarily using freely available Bing and Google maps and published lists of the addresses of Amish ministers, we geolocated 1,362 Amish households in Ohio and 1,203 in Pennsylvania, representing about 10% of Amish households in those states. From these data we were able to derive a population density map of the Amish across Ohio and Pennsylvania. We caution that our map is merely a model and based on several assumptions, but the product is a finer resolution map of Amish distribution than …

How Unique Is Milwaukee’S 53206? An Examination Of Disaggregated Socioeconomic Characteristics Across The City And Beyond, Scott W. Hegerty

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Symposium

Milwaukee’s 53206 ZIP code, located on the city’s near North Side, has drawn considerable attention for its poverty and incarceration rates, as well as for its large proportion of vacant properties. As a result, it has been the subject of academic studies, considerable news reporting, and even a documentary; it has benefited from targeted policies at the city level. Targeting specific ZIP codes, rather than other types of geographic area can raise certain issues, however. In particular, these areas were created for mail delivery rather than to facilitate socieoeconomic analysis, and they often aggregate diverse urban areas that sometimes cover …

Gis And Cartography Supporting Neiu, Erick Howenstine

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Symposium

Geographers study place and location and these are critical to the success of an institution like ours with a (mainly) commuting student body. Our employees also often travel long distances to campus, and our 80,000 alumni are dispersed around the world but mainly still reside in the Chicago region. Many classes use the City and surrounding areas for field trips, internships and more. Our satellite campuses – El Centro, CCICS, Lake County College – add an additional dimension to our spatial challenges and opportunities. Underlying all this is a mosaic of neighborhoods, distinct socioeconomic and demographic areas, dense transportation infrastructure, …

Decolonizing The Barrio: The Spatial Politics Of Culture In Chicago’S Paseo Boricua, Dennis Grammenos

Faculty Research and Creative Activities Symposium

In the current neoliberal climate that has stoked an intense intercity competition for internationally footloose capital, many cities with global aspirations are encouraging urban redevelopment projects that brand and promote heterogeneous cultural enclaves as destinations for leisure and tourism consumption. Oftentimes, such enclaves emerge as "ethnoscapes" that ostensibly express the cultural identity of its residents, usually immigrant populations. In Chicago, municipal policies aimed at enhancing a visitor economy have been instrumental in the creation of the Paseo Boricua, a Puerto Rican "ethnoscape". This study examines the intersection of Chicago's urban redevelopment policies and the spatial politics of culture that unfold …

The Guns Of Fort Monroe, Chris Fox

Student Posters: GIS Day

The objective of this research project is to analyze the interlocking fields of fire from the field artillery positions around the Bastion known as Fort Monroe located in Hampton Virginia. The research project will allow for the visualization of the artillery positions around the fort in one overview, as well as line of sight analysis from each artillery position within the moat. An analysis and line of sight for the artillery positions outside of the fort was also conducted. The 12 Inch M1895 and M1900 disappearing guns were the largest guns used at the fort and fired a projectile that …