Geography Commons^™

Applications Of Satellite Geodesy In Environmental And Climate Change, Qian Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Satellite geodesy plays an important role in earth observation. This dissertation presents three applications of satellite geodesy in environmental and climate change. Three satellite geodesy techniques are used: high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS), the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). In the first study, I use coastal uplift observed by GPS to study the annual changes in mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet. The data show both spatial and temporal variations of coastal ice mass loss and suggest that a combination of warm atmospheric and oceanic condition drove these variations. In the second …

Factors Driving The Concentration Of Ephemeral Flow, Gretchen Anne Guyer

Dissertations and Theses

In spite of decades of related research, stream channel initiation is still not well understood. Current theories of channel initiation are grounded in research conducted by Montgomery and Dietrich, largely in the transport limited, temperate, humid climate of the Pacific Northwest, USA. This field data driven work concluded that the drainage area required for channel initiation is directly correlated to the slope of the contributing area. However, there are a host of related variables that have yet to be examined in the field. This study revisits the slope-area relationship focusing on ephemeral overland flow in headwaters of both the Pacific …

Using Data To Build Community: Exploring One Model Of Geographically Specific Data Use In The Non-Profit Sector, Robert L. Fischer

Faculty Scholarship

Non-profit organizations strive to identify and build community in a variety of ways. A new development to assist non-profit organizations with this critical task is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that incorporate data assembled from area non-profit organizations. In this article, we investigate the reasons why non-profit organizations adopt these systems, their inclusion of various stakeholders in site launch, and the challenges for sustaining GIS use. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with sites that have adopted a prominent GIS application – the Urban Institute's Community Platform – we find that although non-profits may implement GIS with the expressed …

Quantifying Transit Access In New York City: Formulating An Accessibility Index For Analyzing Spatial And Social Patterns Of Public Transportation, Maxwell S. Siegel

Theses and Dissertations

This paper aims to analyze accessibility within New York City’s transportation system through creating unique accessibility indices. Indices are detailed and implemented using GIS, analyzing the distribution of transit need and access. Regression analyses are performed highlighting relationships between demographics and accessibility and recommendations for transit expansion are presented.

Geospatial Modeling Of Vietnamese Fdi, Cuong Nguyen Tien

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis sets a goal to analyze and project geographically disaggregated measures of FDI using aggregate data. We regress the country level FDI with aggregate, fine geospatial data on GDP, urban extent, and risk. By disaggregating the model, we will predict the FDI flow in every 1000 square kilometer area.

Human Rights In North Korea - The Pump Don't Work Cause The Vandals Took The Handles, Steven Gariepy

International Human Rights Law Journal

Many cynics of the universality of international human rights point to persistent large-scale human-rights abusing regimes, such as the Democratic Republic of North Korea, as proof that there is nothing at all universal about human rights. This essay is an attempt to root out the implications of internal national policies on the suitability of international human rights whilst reinforcing their universality. The author of this essay, a military lawyer, reaches the conclusion that the pump of universal human rights don't work within the North Korea cause the vandals took the handle.

A Proposed Enhancement To Un Treaty Enforcement: Regular Recommendations To Civil Society, Benjamin Bloomer

International Human Rights Law Journal

The UN treaty body system is an imperative component in the enforcement of international human rights law, but it currently does not have the mechanisms sufficient for the effective internalization of international human rights law standards. One of its current mechanisms, namely, concluding observations, are by their nature of being addressed to states insufficient to ensure enforcement in state parties not politically, economically, socially, or culturally inclined to obey the recommendations. This article proposes a new publication that will better foster communication between civil society organizations and treaty bodies, allowing for a more highly coordinated effort of civil society in …

The Origin And Expansion Of The Eastern Red Fox, Adrienne Egge Kasprowicz

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

When new populations are first identified in a region there are multiple potential sources: introduction of a non-native species, extra-range expansion of a nearby population, or demographic growth of a previously unnoticed species. Red foxes were absent or rare in the mid-eastern portion United States until the late 1800s. Their origins potentially include natural population increase/expansion, translocations from Europe, and, eventually, 20th century fur farming. In this study I attempt to identify the relative impact of native expansion versus human mediated introductions of both colonial era European foxes and early 20^th century fur-farm foxes on the establishment of red …

Black Hole In The Rising Sun: Japan And The Hague Convention On Child Abduction, Paul Hanley

International Human Rights Law Journal

Japan has long been criticized for its failure to address the issue of international child abduction. In response to international pressure, Japan adopted the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Parental Abduction in April 2014. Despite its ratification of the treaty, great concern remains whether Japan is willing to comply with the legal obligations imposed by the Convention. This article examines Japan’s struggle with the issue of international child abduction, analyzing its traditional approach to family matters such as its “divorce by conference” system, which permits couples to negotiate issues of child custody and visitation without any judicial …

Observational Analysis Of Inter-Annual Boundary Layer Processes Within The Glaciated Llanganuco Valley, Peru, Jason Covert

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The tropical glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru are rapidly receding as a result of significant mass and energy imbalances caused by climate change. The glacier recession is raising concerns among the scientific community and those living in the Rio Santa Valley of Ancash, Peru due to the likely water shortages in the near future as a result of disappearing glaciers and the subsequent reduction of fresh water discharge. In response to the concern, much research has sought to constrain the atmospheric forcing of the glacier surface energy balance (SEB) in effort to model future glacier loss. There is little …

Analysis Of The Responses To Poverty In Harrisonburg, Virginia, Kara Krantz

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty was established in 1964 to eradicate poverty in the United States. There have been great strides towards accomplishing this goal; however, poverty continues to persist. The purpose of this study is to analyze poverty in Harrisonburg, Virginia and how it compares to poverty at the state and national levels. In addition, this study evaluates the services provided by nonprofits and government agencies to the poor in Harrisonburg. Finally, it investigates the interactions among the nonprofits and government agencies. Poverty statistics come from the U.S. Census Bureau. Analysis of the data reflects that the presence …

Using Residential Location To Assess The Environmental Value-Action Gap Of Students At James Madison University, Emma Rose Martin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study focuses on the environmental Value-Action Gap of students at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia. This gap occurs when a person has pro-environmental beliefs but does not have congruent actions. Often, there are other factors apart from a person’s values that influence his/her willingness to participate in eco-friendly behavior (Howell 2013). For this study, the factor of influence being addressed is location. When students live on-campus at JMU they are surrounded by ‘green’ initiatives. Understanding the diffusion of environmental behavior from on-campus living to off-campus living is important because the majority of a JMU student’s residency is …

Perceptions Of Safety In Urban Spaces: The Fan District, Richmond, Va, Lindy C. Westenhoff

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This project identifies and spatially analyzes environmental factors that influence the perception of safety in populations of women within Richmond’s LGBT community. The project was conceived due to increasing calls for awareness about street harassment. Its purpose is to examine what physical factors, at the street level, increase or decrease feelings of safety or discomfort for women within this community.

In the first part of the project, survey data was collected from volunteer participants, members of either Diversity Richmond, downtown Richmond’s local LGBT resource center, or Madison Equality, the LGBT student organization at James Madison University. Using blank paper maps …

Aquifer Vulnerability Modeling In New Jersey Through The Use Of Modified Drastic Methodology, Clement Uduk, Tanja Hopmans

Student Research Symposium

Due to the global average increase in temperature over the last 50 years, sea levels have been rising and making coastal aquifers more susceptible to saltwater intrusion. The average rate of sea level rise has increased from 2 mm/year to 3.5 mm/year during the twentieth century. The state of New Jersey is not only densely populated but the development along coastlines makes inundation a potential serious threat. New Jersey is diverse in aquifer types, in addition to the types of water bodies surrounding New Jersey, and makes for an interesting case study for groundwater vulnerability. The EPA has a universal …

Plastic Pollution And The Global Throwaway Culture: Environmental Injustices Of Single-Use Plastic, Kristin L. Mcdermott

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

The global throwaway culture has created a cross-ecosystem plastic pollution injustice. The first to suffer this injustice will be the most vulnerable. Our oceans have become our dumpsters. The throwaway culture has created a disrespect of material goods that has turned the earth’s resources into rubbish after a single use. Eighty percent of the yearly 8 million tons of plastic that enter the ocean is single use plastic, such as plastic bottles, plastic shopping bags, or cigarette lighters.[1] Plastic has destroyed ecosystems, robbing impoverished communities of natural resources and of a healthy and safe living environment. First to suffer …

Beyond Metropolises: Hybridity In A Transnational Context, Raihan Sharif

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

Beyond metropolises and within transnational contexts, investigating hybridity discourses is long overdue. This article argues that the epistemic violence embedded in such discourse has grave implications for the very impoverished nations and peoples with whom it claims solidarity and that, because this discourse is trendy in academia, its service to neoliberal capitalism is both easy to miss and important to expose. Interstices of postcolonial hybridity discourses, development discourses, and environmental justice discourses—dominant versions of which are segregated from contextual issues—as produced in Western academia and exported to third world countries for appropriation as developmental efforts—reveal epistemic violence, the manipulation of …

Applying Gis Technology In Airport Management, Eleanor Clark

Honors Projects

This honors project involved applying two disciplines to aid in advancing the efficiency of airport management at the Toledo Express Airport. I utilized my geography and aviation knowledge and geographic information system (GIS) skills to create a GIS, a webmap, and a 3-in-1 map-based program that had the capabilities of executing Part 139 Self Inspections, asset management, and work orders. The GIS system and webmap were successfully created to aid in management, cohesiveness, and efficiency within the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, the managing entity of the Toledo Express Airport. For the 3-in-1 map-based program, I worked closely alongside a programmer …

Economic Consequences Of Conflict, Displacement And Humanitarian Aid: Implications For Syria, Molly S. Burns

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report analyzes the complex relationships between conflict, displacement, aid, and economics. Providing a brief overview of the context of civil war in Syria and an analysis of development literature on micro- and macroeconomic consequences of conflict and displacement, it critically analyzes the role of emergency humanitarian aid in contribution to the persisting conflict in Syria. It then discusses relationships of humanitarian aid and conflict through past cases of war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Rwanda. These two case studies have been chosen in order to demonstrate how aid can inadvertently become contributive to funding war economies, and also how the …

(Between The Streets) In Worcester : Redefining Professional Education In Community Development To Cultivate Empathy Through A Community Theatrical Framework, Chiu Yi Hannah Yukon

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research paper presents an alternative form of conducing Community Development Research. It highlights the gaps that currently exist in professional education with the community development and planning program at Clark University. The research paper employs a theatrical framework to encourage practitioners to ask more illuminating questions that informs the ‘human work’ that sometimes gets overlooked. In order to be authentic in the field of Community Development, practitioners need to be in touch with a less scientifically rational side of themselves, to truly embrace the complexities of the human condition. Drawing from my personal experiences, I wrote a play based …

Value Creation And Value Capture In The Automotive Industry: Empirical Evidence From Czechia, Petr Pavlinek, Jan Ženka

Geography and Geology Faculty Publications

This article investigates how distinct tiers of firms contribute to value creation and value capture in the automotive industry. We employ firm-level indicators to evaluate the value creation and capture of distinct supplier tiers in the Czech automotive industry, while considering differences between foreign-owned and domestic firms. Our analysis suggests that the economic effects of the automotive industry largely depend on its capital intensity and that mostly foreign-owned higher tier firms generate and capture greater value than lower tier firms, which include the vast majority of domestic suppliers.