Geography Commons^™

Un Nuevo Fenómeno En Un Mundo De Tradición: Percepciones Del Cambio Climático En La Isla De Taquile / 99/5000 A New Phenomenon In A World Of Tradition: Perceptions Of Climate Change On The Island Of Taquile, Daniel Meagher

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

El cambio climático amenaza el estilo de vida tradicional de los agricultores de subsistencia de los Andes. Este trabajo resume y analiza las percepciones del cambio climático de los Taquileños, una comunidad de 2.500 campesinos indígenas de subsistencia que viven en la isla de Taquile en el Lago Titicaca. Esta comunidad no está aislada del mundo exterior, y hay una fuerte presencia de la iglesia cristiana y el turismo.

Los datos fueron recolectados a través de entrevistas y observación participante entre las fechas del 2 de noviembre al 15 de noviembre, 2016. Las veinte entrevistas contienen las perspectivas de siete …

Water Resource Change And Management: Implications Of Climate Change And Water Resource Management For Pastoral Herders In Bayan Ulgii, Rachel Ryan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mongolia is the 8th most vulnerable country in the world to climate change. The water regime of Mongolia is therefore experiencing intensive change with significant effects in the availability, distribution, and security of water resources. The implications of this change are exacerbated when aligned with poor water resource management, an issue that is prevalent as water regime change challenges current water management systems. These implications specifically affect the vulnerable rural population of Mongolian herders who maintain the practice of nomadic pastoralism. In the western province of Bayan Ulgii, the change in the numerous glaciers and other water resources that are …

Aerosols Size Distribution Characteristics And Role Of Precipitation During Dust Storm Formation Over Saudi Arabia, Ashraf Farahat, Hesham El-Askary, A. Umran Dogan

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region are frequently exposed to major dust storms and anthropogenic emissions from rapidly growing industrial activities that affect aerosols optical and physical characteristics. This paper integrates observations from space-borne sensors namely MODIS and CALIPSO, together with AERONET ground observations to examine eight years aerosols characteristics during the (March–May) season of 2003 to 2010 over Saudi Arabia. Aerosol analysis from the interdependent data assessment show comparable aerosols characteristics over the eight year period with higher aerosols mean optical depths over enhanced dust load region, (46–50°E, 25–29°N), during March–May of 2009 and 2010. The mean …

Enso Controls Interannual Fire Activity In Southeast Australia, Michela Mariani, Michael-Shawn Fletcher, Andrés Holz, Petter Nyman

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the main mode controlling the variability in the ocean-atmosphere system in the South Pacific. While the ENSO influence on rainfall regimes in the South Pacific is well documented, its role in driving spatiotemporal trends in fire activity in this region has not been rigorously investigated. This is particularly the case for the highly flammable and densely populated southeast Australian sector, where ENSO is a major control over climatic variability. Here we conduct the first region-wide analysis of how ENSO controls fire activity in southeast Australia. We identify a significant relationship between ENSO and both fire …

Community Schools: A Public Health Opportunity, Catherine Diamond

Dissertations and Theses

Community schools link students, families, and communities to educate children and strengthen neighborhoods. They have become a popular model for education in many U.S. cities in part because they build on community assets and address multiple determinants of educational disadvantage. Since community schools seek to have an impact on populations, not just the students enrolled, they provide an opportunity to improve community health. It has been proposed that community schools influence the health and education of the area residents through three pathways: building trust, establishing norms, and linking people to networks and services. However, no research has been published exploring …

Land Cover Data For The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011, Gregory A. Carter, Carlton P. Anderson, Kelly L. Lucas, Nathan L. Hopper

Faculty Publications

Land cover on the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands was surveyed in 2010–2011 as part of continuing research on island geomorphic and vegetation dynamics following the 2005 impact of Hurricane Katrina. Results of the survey include sub-meter GPS location, a listing of dominant vegetation species and field photographs recorded at 375 sampling locations distributed among Cat, West Ship, East Ship, Horn, Sand, Petit Bois and Dauphin Islands. The survey was conducted in a period of intensive remote sensing data acquisition over the northern Gulf of Mexico by federal, state and commercial organizations in response to the 2010 Macondo Well (Deepwater Horizon) oil …

Institutionalizing Environmental Justice: Race, Place, And The National Environmental Policy Act, Keith K. Miyake

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I examine ways that the US National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and its primary enforcement mechanism, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, have reshaped the state as a site for racial and environmental conflict by institutionalizing a particular form of environmental justice within governmental decision making processes. Combining archival methods and legal analysis, I develop three case studies involving community struggles over the social production of space that each engage the EIA process to different effect. The case studies were selected based on what they reveal about the ways that the environmental justice framework intersects …

Transnational Indigenous Migration: Racialized Geographies And Power In Southern Highland Ecuador, Victoria Stone-Cadena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the shifting landscape of social and economic inequalities in the remittance-dominated region of southern highland Ecuador, focusing on the transformations brought about by increased international migration since the early 2000s. The broader question is whether or not transnational migration has facilitated political and social upward mobility among indigenous communities. More specifically I ask: in what ways does indigenous identity figure in contemporary international migration practices, how does transnational indigenous migration complicate bounded notions of rural indigenous life, and how might the strategies employed by indigenous migrants transform social and economic inequalities in two small towns in the …

Negotiating And Navigating Invisible Food Deserts: An Exploratory Study On Foodways Of Adults On The Autism Spectrum, Jungja Park Cardoso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I explored foodways of adults on the autism spectrum in order to understand how they negotiate and navigate their food environments. Foodways are beliefs and practices involved in food production, preparation, distribution and consumption (Counihan 2008). In an effort to hear marginalized voices in autism discourse, I conducted an online survey and interviews in modes chosen by participants to accommodate the communication needs of a wide range of autistic adults. The primary participants were highly educated adults with a formal autism diagnosis (n = 23) and self-diagnosed adults (n = 6). Out of the 29 autistic participants who …

An Iterative Approach To Ground Penetrating Radar At The Maya Site Of Pacbitun, Belize, Sheldon Skaggs, Terry G. Powis, Clara R. Rucker, George Micheletti

Publications and Research

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys provide distinct advantages for archaeological prospection in ancient, complex, urban Maya sites, particularly where dense foliage or modern debris may preclude other remote sensing or geophysical techniques. Unidirectional GPR surveys using a 500 MHz shielded antenna were performed at the Middle Preclassic Maya site of Pacbitun, Belize. The survey in 2012 identified numerous linear and circular anomalies between 1 m and 2 m deep. Based on these anomalies, one 1 m × 4 m unit and three smaller units were excavated in 2013. These test units revealed a curved plaster surface not previously found at …

Cartographic Potential Of New Technologies: Hu:Care, William B. Moore

September 29, 2016: Adaptive Structures and Innovative Solutions

No abstract provided.

Cartographic Potential Of New Technologies: Aerial Data Collection, Todd Broward

September 29, 2016: Adaptive Structures and Innovative Solutions

No abstract provided.

Erosion And Sedimentation During The September 2015 Flooding Of The Kinu River, Central Japan, Dan Matsumoto, Yuki Sawai, Masaki Yamada, Yuichi Namegaya, Tetsuya Shinozaki, Daisuke Takeda, Shigehiro Fujino, Koichiro Tanigawa, Atsunori Nakamura, Jessica E. Pilarczyk

Faculty Publications

Erosional and sedimentary features associated with flooding have been documented in both modern and past cases. However, only a few studies have demonstrated the relationship between these features and the corresponding hydraulic conditions that produced them, making it difficult to evaluate the magnitude of paleo-flooding. This study describes the characteristics associated with inundation depth and flow direction, as well as the erosional and sedimentary features resulting from the disastrous flooding of the Kinu River, central Japan, in September 2015. Water levels rose rapidly due to heavy rainfall that eventually overtopped, and subsequently breached, a levee in Joso City, causing destructive …

Automatic Scaling Hadoop In The Cloud For Efficient Process Of Big Geospatial Data, Zhenlong Li, Chaoweikai Yang, Kai Liu, Fei Hu, Baoxuan Jin

Faculty Publications

Efficient processing of big geospatial data is crucial for tackling global and regional challenges such as climate change and natural disasters, but it is challenging not only due to the massive data volume but also due to the intrinsic complexity and high dimensions of the geospatial datasets. While traditional computing infrastructure does not scale well with the rapidly increasing data volume, Hadoop has attracted increasing attention in geoscience communities for handling big geospatial data. Recently, many studies were carried out to investigate adopting Hadoop for processing big geospatial data, but how to adjust the computing resources to efficiently handle the …

Platforms For Hyperspectral Imaging, In-Situ Optical And Acoustical Imaging In Urbanized Regions, Charles R. Bostater, Taylor Scott Oney

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Hyperspectral measurements of the water surface of urban coastal waters are presented. Oblique bidirectional reflectance factor imagery was acquired made in a turbid coastal sub estuary of the Indian River Lagoon, Florida and along coastal surf zone waters of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. Imagery was also collected using a pushbroom hyperspectral imager mounted on a fixed platform with a calibrated circular mechatronic rotation stage. Oblique imagery of the shoreline and subsurface features clearly shows subsurface bottom features and rip current features within the surf zone water column. In-situ hyperspectral optical signatures were acquired from a vessel as a function of …

Hyperspectral Reflectance Signature Protocol For Predicting Subsurface Bottom Reflectance In Water: In-Situ And Analytical Methods, Charles R. Bostater, Tyler A. Rotkiske, Taylor Scott Oney

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

In-situ measurement of bottom reflectance signatures and bottom features in water are used to test an analytical based irradiance model protocol. Comparisons between predicted and measured bottom reflectance signatures are obtained using measured hyperspectral remote sensing reflectance signatures, water depth and water column constituent concentrations. Analytical solutions and algorithms are used to generate synthetic signatures of different bottom types. The analytical methodology used to simulated bottom reflectance contains offset and bias that can be corrected using spectral window based corrections. Example results are demonstrated for application to coral species, submerged aquatic vegetation and a sand bottom type. Spectral windows are …

Under Pressure: Cetaceans And Fisheries Co-Occurrence Off The Coasts Of Ghana And Côte D’Ivoire (Gulf Of Guinea), Marijke N. De Boer, James T. Saulino, Koen Van Waerebeek, Geert Aarts

Anthropogenics and Population Decline Collection

Within the Gulf of Guinea high levels of fisheries-related cetacean mortality (bycatch and direct-capture) has been documented. For locally rare species such removals could potentially lead to significant population level effects. However, information on the cetacean abundance and distribution is scarce. Similarly, it remains largely unreported where fishing fleets operate offshore. A cetacean survey took place during geophysical surveys (2013–2014) along the coasts of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. This provided a unique opportunity to study both offshore cetacean and fishing communities. Due to large group-sizes, melon-headed whales were the most abundant (0.34 animals km−1) followed by Fraser’s dolphins and short-finned …

Tri-Variate Relationships Among Vegetation, Soil, And Topography Along Gradients Of Fluvial Biogeomorphic Succession, Daehyun Kim, John A. Kupfer

Geography Faculty Publications

This research investigated how the strength of vegetation–soil–topography couplings varied along a gradient of biogeomorphic succession in two distinct fluvial systems: a forested river floodplain and a coastal salt marsh creek. The strength of couplings was quantified as tri-variance, which was calculated by correlating three singular axes, one each extracted using three-block partial least squares from vegetation, soil, and topography data blocks. Within each system, tri-variance was examined at low-, mid-, and high-elevation sites, which represented early-, intermediate-, and late-successional phases, respectively, and corresponded to differences in ongoing disturbance frequency and intensity. Both systems exhibited clearly increasing tri-variance from …

Affect And Value In Critical Examinations Of The Production And ‘Prosumption’ Of Big Data, Daniel G. Cockayne

Geography Faculty Publications

In this paper I explore the relationship between the production and the value of Big Data. In particular I examine the concept of social media ‘prosumption’—which has predominantly been theorized from a Marxist, political economic perspective—to consider what other forms of value Big Data have, imbricated with their often speculative economic value. I take the example of social media firms in their early stages of operation to suggest that, since these firms do not necessarily generate revenue, data collected through user contributions do not always realize economic value, at least in a Marxist sense, and that, in addition to their …

Reconciling Agriculture, Carbon And Biodiversity In A Savannah Transformation Frontier, Lyndon Estes, T. Searchinger, M. Spiegel, D. Tian, S. Sichinga, M. Mwale, L. Kehoe, T. Kuemmerle, A. Berven, N. Chaney, J. Sheffield, E. F. Wood, K. K. Caylor

Geography

Rapidly rising populations and likely increases in incomes in sub-Saharan Africa make tens of millions of hectares of cropland expansion nearly inevitable, even with large increases in crop yields. Much of that expansion is likely to occur in higher rainfall savannas, with substantial costs to biodiversity and carbon storage. Zambia presents an acute example of this challenge, with an expected tripling of population by 2050, good potential to expand maize and soya bean production, and large areas of relatively undisturbed miombo woodland and associated habitat types of high biodiversity value. Here, we present a new model designed to explore the …