Geography Commons^™

Tourism Planning And Local Community Participation: Veron – Punta Cana Municipal District, Dominican Republic, Jose Ernesto Fernandez Lorenzo

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the attitudes and perceptions of local residents in regards to tourism development and local community participation, as well as their willingness to participate in the tourism planning process. The data was obtained from a household survey questionnaire conducted in the municipal district of Verón - Punta Cana in the province of La Altagracia in the Dominican Republic. The sites selected for this study include Juanillo, Verón, and Friusa. Through several Chi-square (χ2) analyses, this thesis is able to conclude that residents in Friusa and Verón share positive perceptions in regards to tourism development when compared to residents …

Assessing Changes In Land Cover In Southeast Louisiana From 2001 To 2011 Using Time-Series National Land Cover Data, Ashley Tarver

Masters Theses

Each year, Louisiana loses 20 to 25 square miles of land. If land loss persists at the current rate, a forced migration of the human population with serious implications may be warranted. Although studies have measured land use/land cover change in southeast Louisiana over multiple decades, a recent analysis of landscape changes since Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in 2005 is needed to identify areas with chronic long-term wetland losses and associated economic development patterns. This study, therefore, compares land cover and land use changes including wetland loss, and subsequent increases in developed land in ten parishes from 2001 to 2006 (pre-Katrina), …

Ten Simple Rules For Responsible Big Data Research, Matthew Zook, Solon Barocas, Danah Boyd, Kate Crawford, Emily Keller, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Alyssa Goodman, Rachelle Hollander, Barbara A. Koenig, Jacob Metcalf, Arvind Narayanan, Alondra Nelson, Frank Pasquale

Geography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Molecular And Optical Properties Of Tree-Derived Dissolved Organic Matter In Throughfall And Stemflow From Live Oaks And Eastern Red Cedar, Aron Stubbins, Leticia M. Silva, Thorsten Dittmar, John T. Van Stan

Earth, Environment & Sustainability: Faculty Publications

Studies of dissolved organic matter (DOM) transport through terrestrial aquatic systems usually start at the stream. However, the interception of rainwater by vegetation marks the beginning of the terrestrial hydrological cycle making trees the headwaters of aquatic carbon cycling. Rainwater interacts with trees picking up tree-DOM, which is then exported from the tree in stemflow and throughfall. Stemflow denotes water flowing down the tree trunk, while throughfall is the water that drips through the leaves of the canopy. We report the concentrations, optical properties (light absorbance) and molecular signatures (ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry) of tree-DOM in throughfall and stemflow from …

Forging Blockchains: Spatial Production And Political Economy Of Decentralized Cryptocurrency Code/Spaces, Joe Blankenship

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cryptocurrencies and blockchains are increasingly used, implemented and adapted for numerous purposes; people and businesses are integrating these technologies into their practices and strategies, creating new political economies and spaces in and of everyday life. This thesis seeks to develop a foundation of geographic theory for the study of spatial production within and surrounding blockchain technologies focusing on acute studies of Bitcoin as cryptocurrency, Ethereum as digital marketplace, and their conditions of possibility as decentralized autonomous organizations. Utilizing concepts from Henri Lefebvre's Production of Space, this thesis situates blockchain technologies within the wider discussion about the political economy of …

Finding, Organizing, And Creating Spatial Data, Sarah Watson

Research Data and Scholarly Communications Committee Workshops

To produce a compelling and attractive map, it is necessary to have quality data. However, finding quality data and using it to prepare maps can be quite challenging. This workshop will begin with a review of different types of spatial data, how to access it, and strategies for understanding and organizing it. We will then focus on creating our own data by georeferencing scanned paper maps. Georeferencing involves assigning geographic coordinates to images (e.g., maps, aerial photos) that lack a defined coordinate system. Georeferencing helps us locate where an image is located in the world so we can effectively use …

How Lessons From A Past Disaster Can Influence Resilience And Climate Adaptation In Broward County, Florida, Hannah Rose Torres

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the face of future uncertainties, many places are struggling with decisions about how to prepare for and adapt to climate change. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the concept of resilience, and uncover lessons for resilience-building exposed by a past disaster, Hurricane Wilma.

The dissertation begins with an introduction (Chapter 1) detailing the research problem, key terms and overall research design. The study was conducted in three distinct phases. The first phase (Chapter 2), explored the concept of resilience to understand how it was defined in three South Florida communities. Content analyses of city and …

Understanding Utah’S Water Resources Through The Red Canyon Bristlecone Pine Tree, Shawn Wortham, Matthew Bekker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this research project is to properly cross date samples of the Bristlecone Pine Tree in order to learn more of the past, present, and future of Utah’s Water Resources. Under the mentorship of Dr. Bekker, we will take both living and dead cross sections of the Bristlecone Pine Trees found in Red Canyon, UT and add them to a tree ring database with hundreds of other samples. This will build a master chronology of tree ring measurements to help our team to discover more about the water supply for Utah.

Geographical Information Systems (Gis) Applied To Urban Nutrient Management: Data Scarce Case Studies From Belize And Florida, Charlotte Juliane Haberstroh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient inputs into the environment greatly impact urban ecosystems. Appropriate management strategies are needed to limit eutrophication of surface water bodies and contamination of groundwater. In many existing urban environments, retrofits or complete upgrades are needed for stormwater and/or wastewater infrastructure to manage nutrients. However, sustainable urban nutrient management requires comprehensive baseline data that is often not available. A Framework for Urban Nutrient (FUN) Management for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was developed to specifically address those areas with limited data access. Using spatial analysis in GIS, it links water quality, land use, and socio-demographics, thereby reducing data collection and field-based …

P01. Examining The Community Food Environments For Elementary School-Aged Children In The City Of London And Middlesex County, Ontario, Catherine Dubreck

Western Research Forum

Background: Childhood obesity is a growing public health issue. In Canada, one in four children/youth are overweight or obese. Research suggests diet plays a crucial role in childhood obesity, and that prevalence rates of overweight or obesity among children in a neighborhood may relate to area socioeconomic characteristics and other environmental factors. The community nutrition environment (e.g., the type, location, and accessibility of food outlets) can influence dietary habits.

Methods: Using ArcGIS, public and private elementary school addresses were geocoded, food outlets were mapped, and both junk food outlet density and the modified retail food environment index were …

P10. Road Cracking Area Percentage Evaluation Using Airborne Hyperspectral Imagery, Boyu Feng

Western Research Forum

Background:

Although the airborne platform is efficient and economic compared to the popular ground vehicles in road condition survey (RCS), studies on applying it in RCS are limited. A former study on airborne hyperspectral imagery (AHI) tried to tie a band ratio to pavement condition index. Its result proved the value in AHI, yet pointed out the difficulty in quantitative evaluation.

Methods:

This study further explored the application of AHI in RCS, and fully took advantage of the entire spectrum shape, rather than a ratio. Aiming at the cracking area percentage (CAP) on the asphalt paved arterial road system in …

Mapping Urban Bare Land Automatically From Landsat Imagery With A Simple Index, Hui Li, Cuizhen Wang, Cheng Zhong, Aijun Su, Chengren Xiong, Jinge Wang, Junqi Liu

Faculty Publications

In recent years, hundreds of Earth observation satellites have been launched to collect massive amounts of remote sensing images. However, the considerable cost and time to process the significant amount of data have become the greatest obstacle between data and knowledge. In order to accelerate the transformation from remote sensing images to urban thematic maps, a strategy to map the bare land automatically from Landsat imagery was developed and assessed in this study. First, a normalized difference bare land index (NBLI) was presented to maximally differentiate bare land from other land types in Wuhan City, China. Then, an unsupervised classifier …

Mapping Urban Bare Land Automatically From Landsat Imagery With A Simple Index, Hui Li, Cuizhen Wang, Cheng Zhong, Aijun Su, Chengren Xiong, Jinge Wang, Junqi Liu

Faculty Publications

In recent years, hundreds of Earth observation satellites have been launched to collect massive amounts of remote sensing images. However, the considerable cost and time to process the significant amount of data have become the greatest obstacle between data and knowledge. In order to accelerate the transformation from remote sensing images to urban thematic maps, a strategy to map the bare land automatically from Landsat imagery was developed and assessed in this study. First, a normalized difference bare land index (NBLI) was presented to maximally differentiate bare land from other land types in Wuhan City, China. Then, an unsupervised classifier …

Introduction To Gis, Sarah Watson

Research Data and Scholarly Communications Committee Workshops

Do you have a research question that you would like to depict geographically? Have you ever wanted to include a map in your presentations or reports, but could not find one that suits your specific needs? This workshop will address these questions by introducing participants to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a tool that facilitates the visualization of spatial data, geographic analysis, and the production of maps. Attendees will learn the basics of GIS terminology, explore different GIS software packages, and will walk through a hand-on tutorial focused on basic geographic analysis. No prior GIS knowledge required.

The presentation slides are …

Effects Of Anthropogenic Activity On The Green Swamp Preserve Ecosystem, Barbara Ann Nordheim-Shelt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Green Swamp Preserve is a large geographic area that has sustained many changes since Europeans settled in Florida. There has been little published research on the impacts of anthropogenic activity on this system. This thesis research seeks to document more recent changes in the Green Swamp and to evaluate the effects of various human activities on the system. The study period is from 1985 to 2015. For this time period changes in land use and landcover were examined using neural network classifications. Changes in vegetation health were evaluated by examining Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green Vegetation Index …

Editorial, Jamal Jokar Arsanjani, Michael Leitner, Alexander Zipf

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of Scaling Effects On Coarse Resolution Land Surface Phenology, Xiaoyang Zhang, Jianmin Wang, Feng Gao, Yan Liu, Crystal Schaaf, Mark Friedl, Yunyue Yu, Senthilnath Jayavelu, Joshua Gray, Lingling Liu, Dong Yan, Geoffrey M. Henebry

GSCE Faculty Publications

Numerous land surface phenology (LSP) datasets have been produced from various coarse resolution satellite data and different detection algorithms from regional to global scales. In contrast to field-observed phenological events that are defined by clearly evident organismal changes with biophysical meaning, current approaches to detecting transitions in LSP only determine the timing of variations in remotely sensed observations of surface greenness. Since activities to bridge LSP and field observations are challenging and limited, our understanding of the biophysical characteristics of LSP transitions is poor. Therefore, we set out to explore the scaling effects on LSP transitions at the nominal start …

No. 08: International Migration And Urban Food Security In South African Cities, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Hungry Cities Partnership

The drivers of food insecurity in rapidly growing urban areas of the Global South are receiving more research and policy attention, but the precise connections between urbanization, urban food security and migration are still largely unexplored. In particular, the levels and causes of food insecurity amongst new migrants to the city have received little consideration. This is in marked contrast to the literature on the food security experience of new immigrants from the South in European and North American cities. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on urban food security in the South by focusing on the case …

No. 07: Household Food Security And Access To Medical Care In Maputo, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic

Hungry Cities Partnership

The relationship between household access to medical care and food security is a potentially circuitous and challenging relationship to model. This discussion paper uses multiple modelling techniques to determine the quality of the relationships between these variables using household survey data collected by the Hungry Cities Partnership in 2014 in Maputo, Mozambique. The results of the investigation are framed according to the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and indicate a predictive relationship between household food security status and consistent household medical care access among the sampled households. The results also identify potential conditional independence in the relationship between other demographic variables and …

No. 06: The Informal Sector’S Role In Food Security: A Missing Link In Policy Debates, Caroline Skinner, Gareth Haysom

Hungry Cities Partnership

This discussion paper aims to review what is currently known about the role played by the informal sector in general, and informal retailers in particular, in the accessibility of food in South Africa. The review seeks to identify policy-relevant research gaps. Drawing on Statistics South Africa data, we show that the informal sector is an important source of employment, dominated by informal trade with the sale of food a significant subsector within this trade. We then turn our attention to what is known about the informal sector’s role in food sourcing of poorer households. Surveys show that urban residents, and …