Geography Commons^™

The Grand Tour And Development Of Tourism: 1600-1900, Osher Map Library

Osher Map Library Exhibition Catalogs

The Grand Tour and Development of Tourism, 1600 to 1900.

October 4, 2011 to April 28, 2012

The 400th anniversary of Thomas Coryat’s "Crudities" (1611), the first tourist memoir, is celebrated by this history, to 1918, of the European tourism industry and the development of guidebooks and maps.

Curated by Yolanda Theunissen, USM.

Geography News, V34n2, Fall 2011, Geographic Alliance Of Iowa.

Geography News

Inside This Issue:
--Coordinator's corner
--Stategic (sic) Planning
--A Geographer’s view of RAGBRAI
--Planned 2012 Workshops

Review Of Holy Ground, Healing Water: Cultural Landscapes At Waconda Lake, Kansas. By Donald J. Blakeslee., Lauren W. Ritterbush

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In Holy Ground, Healing Water readers are treated to a historical journey through the changing cultural landscapes of the Waconda Lake area, northcentral Kansas. This region provides the setting for discussion of unique and representative Native American and EuroAmerican cultural developments in the Great Plains. Don Blakeslee, anthropologist with Wichita State University, briefly reviews roughly 13,000 years ofNative traditions, based on archaeological investigations in the region, then discusses the Pawnee Trail, early European and Euro-American expeditions, complex Native-Native and Native-Euro-American interactions during the 19th century, sacred and secular perceptions and uses of Waconda Spring, and Lincoln Park, a local example …

Review Of Hard Grass: Life On The Crazy Woman Bison Ranch. By Mary Zeiss Stange, Linda M. Hasselstrom

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Twenty years ago, Stange and her husband traded a modest New Jersey house for seven square miles of overgrazed prairie and set out to right the wrongs done to a place that had been mismanaged ecologically as well as environmentally. The restoration begins disastrously with llamas before it proceeds to success with bison. Her narration includes her own experiences, but most of her essays are serious, in-depth studies of the broader topics that constitute life in the great grasslands spreading across the interior of the country. She begins with prehistory, analyzing the evolution of both plants and animals in the …

Review Of Gentle People: A Case Study Of Rockport Colony Hutterites. By Joanita Kant., Rod Janzen

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Joanita Kant's Gentle People is an excellent case study of South Dakota's Rockport Hutterite Colony. The book includes in-depth description and analysis of the lifestyle of Rockport Colony residents and covers people of all ages and interests. There are numerous helpful photographs, both contemporary and historical. Members of the Rockport Colony belong to a religious society that has practiced "community of goods" for nearly five centuries. The book not only introduces the reader to the deep-seated beliefs and practices of members, but also provides important sociological analysis supported by helpful figures and maps, including population pyramids, floor plans, and colony …

Review Of Remaking The Heartland: Middle America Since The 1950s. By Robert Wuthnow, Randolph Cantrell

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Shrinking farm numbers, population losses, and empty storefronts on Main Street have come to be seen as symptoms of an inevitable slide to oblivion for many Heartland communities. Empirical evidence of such decline is easily found, making the trend a favorite topic for journalists. In Remaking the Heartland, Robert Wuthnow offers a very different interpretation of the same trends. His central argument is that Middle America (defined as eight states including most of the Great Plains) has been characterized by adaptation to changing social and economic realities in a way that has made the region a "more vibrant contributor …

A Google Earth-Based Framework For Visualization Of The Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast System, Gary Lawson

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

For the persons who live near and travel the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the data provided by the Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast System (CBOFS) is invaluable. The information provided includes measurements and forecasts of surface wind velocity, water current velocity, salinity levels, water level, and temperature. Currently, this information is freely available on the CBQ_FS website hosted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is offered as Nowcast, measured data, and Forecast data and is visualized using 2D images which describe a subset of the data in an easy to read chart. However, if the data were …

Immigrant Economic Experiences: A Canada-Us Comparison, Lucia Lo

Migration and Ethnic Relations Colloquium Series

No abstract provided.

'The Earth Is Crying Out In Pains Of Childbirth': Bauxite Mining And Sustainable Rural Development In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

In 2003, residents of the Serra do Brigadeiro Territory, a rural region of Southeastern Brazil in one of the few remaining patches of the Atlantic Forest, learned of a large number of bauxite concessions in their territory given by the federal government to the prominent Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (CBA), Brazil’s largest aluminum producer. Because the region prides itself on its small-scale agriculture and its lush natural environment, the mining has been the source of much contention in the community. Introduced to the topic by the international conservation non-profit and research center, Iracambi, I spent two months in the territory …

Homestead National Monument Of America, Geologic Resources Inventory Report, J. Graham

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

This report accompanies the digital geologic map data for Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska, produced by the Geologic Resources Division in collaboration with its partners. It contains information relevant to resource management and scientific research. This document incorporates preexisting geologic information and does not include new data or additional fieldwork.

Established as a memorial to pioneer life and the Homestead Act of 1862, Homestead National Monument of America preserves approximately 92 ha (228 acres) of terraced grassland and riparian, floodplain environments. Included in the monument are about 40 ha (100 acres) of restored tallgrass prairie and …

Analysis Of Migration Models Of Biogeography-Based Optimization Using Markov Theory, Haiping Ma, Daniel J. Simon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is a new evolutionary algorithm inspired by biogeography, which involves the study of the migration of biological species between habitats. Previous work has shown that various migration models of BBO result in significant changes in performance. Sinusoidal migration models have been shown to provide the best performance so far. Motivated by biogeography theory and previous results, in this paper a generalized sinusoidal migration model curve is proposed. A previously derived BBO Markov model is used to analyze the effect of migration models on optimization performance, and new theoretical results which are confirmed with simulation results are obtained. …

Crime And Social Strain In Fairfax County, Va: Using Geographical Information Science To Test For Social Strain In The Aftermath Of The Great Recession, Jason D. Reyes

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Robert Merton, through the Social Strain Theory, suggests that crime exists because of society’s demands do not meet individuals needs. The following study is a qualitative study that first explains what the Social Strain Theory is, then tests to see if this theory has any validity to one of the most affluent counties in the United States. This study compares Fairfax County’s socioeconomic variables with the their crime data during the Great Recession to uncover any trends or patterns for which Robert Merton would say are due to high amounts of Social Strain. The overall results of the study suggest …

Development And Mapping Techniques For The Comprehensive Community Wildfire Protection Plan (Cwpp) For Jefferson County, Colorado, Scot Fitzgerald

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) development process highlighted in this document was developed for multiple CWPP for Jefferson County, Colorado. Documents were created for three Fire Protection Districts, and a larger scale plan was developed to cover all of Jefferson County. The county-wide plan was developed combining existing fire protection district CWPP information, infrastructure data from the Jefferson County GIS department, and fuels and vegetation from LANDFIRE in order to create maps with which wildfire hazards and fuel mitigation recommendations could be identified. The final CWPP is a tool for communities and other local stakeholders to implement wildfire hazard …

A Comparison Of The Transition Of Denver Neighborhood Crime From 2000 To 2010, David Muenkel

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The purpose of this project was to study crime in the City of Denver, Colorado and show how crime moves between neighborhoods over time. The study involved looking at crimes aggregated at the neighborhood level to determine how crime transitioned within the City of Denver from 2000 to 2010. The crime data was also compared with calls for service to determine how police activity and citizen reporting related to crime in the City of Denver. The results indicated that the City of Denver, while increasing in population from 554,636 in 2000 to 600,156 in 2010 had a reduction in the …

From Lakes To Plants: Spatial Assessment Of Vegetation Dynamics Along 52 Disappearing Lakes In The Boreal Forests Of Alaska From 1984-2009 In The Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge, Steve Ewest

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

A spatial assessment of vegetation change along the areas of shrinking lakes was conducted in 2011. The analysis utilized Landsat TM/ETM imagery bands 3 and 4 to calculate NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) from 1984 to 2009 and applied cell and zonal statistics to measure the change as well as create an animation of the change. Also, three 30 meter bands and the zonal averages for the maximum values were assessed. The band in the 60-90 buffer bands has the greatest ratio amount of the maximum vegetation values when compared to the 0-30 meter and the 30-60 meter buffered bands. …

Coca And Conservation: Cultivation, Eradication, And Trafficking In The Amazon Borderlands, David S. Salisbury, C. Fagan

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The cultivation and traffic of coca, Erythrolxylum coca, and coca derivatives remain understudied threats to the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. Currently the crop is transforming land use and livelihoods in the ecologically and culturally rich borderlands of Amazonian Peru. The isolated nature of this region characterized by indigenous populations (both settled and uncontacted), conservation units, resource concessions, and a lack of state presence provides fertile ground for the boom and bust cycle of coca production and facilitates the international transport of the product to neighboring Brazil. This paper explores the social and environmental impacts of coca production, eradication, and …

Amenity Migration, Exurbia, And Emerging Rural Landscapes: Global Natural Amenity As Place And As Process, Kirsten Valentine Cadieux, Patrick T. Hurley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Digital Mapping As A Student And Staff Communication Tool, Ryan Gyurkovitz

Horticulture and Crop Science

A study in the use of Geographic Information Systems in the development of digital maps for use by students and staff in Plant Identification Courses.

Postcolonial Transformation Of The Australian Indigenous Population, John Taylor

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

The 1967 constitutional referendum paved the way for the application of a single national methodology for the construction of a self-identified Indigenous popu- lation via census, survey, and administrative data collection and these sources have provided for statistically meaningful official estimates of Indigenous popu- lation growth and spatial redistribution as well as for some understanding of the dynamics underpinning change. The primary purpose of this paper is to outline the course of this change and to reflect on matters arising that are of concern and interest to public debate on population growth and its implications. To do this meaningfully it …

The Role Of Landscape In The Distribution Of Deer-Vehicle Collisions In Two Counties In South-Central Mississippi, Jacob Jeremiah Mckee

Master's Theses

The number of deer killed by vehicle collisions each year in the United States exceeds the number of deer killed annually through hunting. Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) have a vast negative impact on the economy, traffic safety, and general wellbeing of otherwise healthy deer populations. To mitigate DVCs, it is imperative to gain a better understanding of the factors that play a role in their spatial distribution. Much of the existing research has been inconclusive, pointing to a variety of factors that cause DVCs that are specific to study site and region. Very little DVC research has been undertaken in the …