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Title: "Flooding oil" : investigating poor health in vulnerable communities in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
Creator: Barry, Fatoumata Binta
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been exploited for decades due to extensive oil and gas deposits that have led to devastating livelihood and health consequences. In addition to oil and gas industry impacts, floods are intensifying in Niger Delta communities that have annual flooding during the rainy season (April to October). In 2012, Nigeria experienced a severe flooding event that damaged infrastructure and livelihoods with virtually no studies completed about the health consequences....
Show moreThe Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been exploited for decades due to extensive oil and gas deposits that have led to devastating livelihood and health consequences. In addition to oil and gas industry impacts, floods are intensifying in Niger Delta communities that have annual flooding during the rainy season (April to October). In 2012, Nigeria experienced a severe flooding event that damaged infrastructure and livelihoods with virtually no studies completed about the health consequences. This dissertation research study aims to fill this scholarly gap by disentangling the emerging health concerns in Niger Delta oil communities with particular attention to women and children as they are sensitive indicators of population health. It utilizes a mixed-methods approach with the inclusion of Eco-Syndemics and African womanism theoretical perspectives. It was found that the Niger Delta has multiple pre-existing vulnerabilities that put the population at more risk during flooding events. Also, through an evaluation of airborne concentrations of chemicals released by gas flares and a retrospective, cross-sectional comparison, women and children in Uzere (oil community) have greater exposure levels to toxic chemicals released and more health concerns than similar women and children in Aviara (non-oil community), even though both communities are located in flood-prone areas in the Niger Delta. Overall, this dissertation research advances our understanding of the complexity of health hazards in communities close to oil and gas activities in the midst of more severe flooding. It also enriches scholarly and policy debates by providing an initial assessment of the link between climate variability and health in vulnerable communities. -- Abstract.
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Title: An analysis of the restaurant landscape in the Detroit Metropolitan Area : travel behavior and spatial patterns of difference
Creator: Eckert, Jeanette Elizabeth
Date: 2018
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation examines the spatial pattern and density of fast food restaurants in the Detroit region, and uses the results of a travel survey to analyze what types of restaurants respondents travel to in an average week. These travel characteristics are explored relative to urban form and sociodemographics of the respondents. A primary contribution to the literature is the use of reported restaurant travel trips, as opposed to making assumptions based solely on proximity or density of...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the spatial pattern and density of fast food restaurants in the Detroit region, and uses the results of a travel survey to analyze what types of restaurants respondents travel to in an average week. These travel characteristics are explored relative to urban form and sociodemographics of the respondents. A primary contribution to the literature is the use of reported restaurant travel trips, as opposed to making assumptions based solely on proximity or density of nearby restaurants. The study area is the Detroit region, characterized by a wide range of socioeconomics, demographics, and urban forms in a relatively small geographic area. The study sites selected represent high- and low-density neighborhoods as well as areas of affluence and extreme poverty. The neighborhood study sites include two high-density, low-income neighborhoods in Detroit; two high-density, higher-income neighborhoods in Ann Arbor and Birmingham; and two low-density, high-income neighborhoods in Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield, for a total of six neighborhoods. Using data on the locations of licensed restaurants in the study region at the time of the survey (2007-08), fast food density was calculated in multiple ways, including per capita, per square mile, and per road mile. The results show that residents of the City of Detroit have a slightly higher exposure to fast food than suburban counterparts. More notable is that of all restaurants in a municipality, Detroit has a higher proportion that is fast food (22%), compared to 15% in the low-density suburbs and 13% in the high-density suburbs. Using 997 completed travel surveys, the analysis reveals stark differences in the types of restaurants visited by Detroit respondents compared to suburban respondents. The majority of all restaurant trips (77%) for Detroit respondents are to fast food establishments, compared to 22% in the low-density suburbs and 17% in the high-density suburbs. More than half (52%) of Detroit respondents report traveling to a fast food restaurant in an average week, compared to 16% in both the low-density and high-density suburbs. Thus, Detroiters are dining out to fast food about three times as often as their suburban counterparts, despite having only a slightly higher density and proportion of fast food restaurants. Additionally, higher-income respondents travel farther on average to dine out, and are less likely to travel to fast food. While there is little difference in characteristics relating to a likelihood to dine out to restaurants in general, there are significant differences when examining trips to fast food restaurants. One or more trips to fast food in an average week is related to a higher body mass index, fewer servings of vegetables, more servings of soft drinks, less vigorous exercise, and cigarette smoking. The connected street grid design, density, and mixed-use zoning that is often associated with good urban design, walkability, and better health outcomes can be found in the high-density study neighborhoods of urban Detroit and the suburbs of Ann Arbor and Birmingham. Yet despite similar urban form, the suburban communities are reporting a much lower prevalence of obesity, higher likelihood to engage in exercise, more ideal nutritional choices than Detroit. Further examination into these complex relationships is warranted in order to help alleviate the public health disparities we see around obesity and diet-related diseases.
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Title: Investigating the relationship between uv-b radiation exposure and racial disparities in preeclampsia : a medical geography study
Creator: Kutch, Libbey C.
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Preeclampsia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Research had demonstrated that adequate levels of vitamin D can help to circumvent the risk of preeclampsia. Vitamin D plays a role in cardiovascular health and in maternal health, and cutaneous exposure to ultra-violet (UV)-B radiation is critical to maintaining healthy vitamin D levels. The majority of vitamin D in humans is produced when the skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. UV-B varies...
Show morePreeclampsia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Research had demonstrated that adequate levels of vitamin D can help to circumvent the risk of preeclampsia. Vitamin D plays a role in cardiovascular health and in maternal health, and cutaneous exposure to ultra-violet (UV)-B radiation is critical to maintaining healthy vitamin D levels. The majority of vitamin D in humans is produced when the skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. UV-B varies geographically; therefore geography influences the availability of vitamin D and the potential risk for preeclampsia. However, research on the geographic relationship between UV-B and pregnancy induced hypertensive disorders, including preeclampsia has been relatively neglected. This research investigates the relationship between maternal UV-B exposure and preeclampsia for mothers giving birth in Michigan from 2008 to 2015 during 3 time periods, 1-pre-conception, 2-early pregnancy, and 3-late pregnancy. A medical geographic and human ecological framework conceptualizes the environmental, biological and behavioral factors influencing the UV-B and preeclampsia relationship. UV-B is estimated using the Erythemal Daily Dose calculated form OMI remote sensing data. Preeclampsia is measured using Michigan's Vital Statistics Birth Data 2008-2015. Multilevel models were estimated to study these relationships. This study found that slight increases in UV-B exposure prior to conception and later in pregnancy could reduce the odds of preeclampsia for white but not black mothers. Other important risk factors for preeclampsia were increasing BMI, chronic and gestational diabetes and living in urban areas. Receiving Medicaid was protective for preeclampsia for white mothers but not black mothers. Enrollment in WIC was highly protective for all mothers. This medical geography research demonstrates the importance of utilizing remote sensing to begin to understand UV-B exposure on an important pregnancy outcome from a population perspective. Future research should also focus on reevaluating the measurement of the Erythemal Daily Dose to reflect people with high melanin concentrations. Future research could also branch out to other highly prevalent conditions with low vitamin D susceptibility such as cancers and dementia and Alzheimer's.
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Title: Integrated remote sensing and crop system modeling for precision agriculture across spatial and temporal scales
Creator: Peter, Bradley George
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: In light of global environmental change, population pressure, and food production demands, there is considerable value in mapping biogeographic crop niche and characterizing crop productivity at multiple scales to enhance the impact of agricultural improvement across Africa. Crop system research has advanced sustainable strategies for intensifying food production; however, questions regarding where to implement innovative technologies are largely unresolved.This dissertation focuses on four...
Show moreIn light of global environmental change, population pressure, and food production demands, there is considerable value in mapping biogeographic crop niche and characterizing crop productivity at multiple scales to enhance the impact of agricultural improvement across Africa. Crop system research has advanced sustainable strategies for intensifying food production; however, questions regarding where to implement innovative technologies are largely unresolved.This dissertation focuses on four geographic questions: (1) Where is the fundamental climate niche of maize, pigeonpea, and sorghum across Africa? (2) Where are marginal lands in Malawi and what are the underlying drivers of marginality? (3) Based on the drivers of marginal maize production, what are geographic scaling options for integration of pigeonpea into maize-based cropping systems? (4) What spatial resolutions are effective for conducting precision agriculture at the farm scale in smallholder systems? Overarching themes within the geographic discipline such as the modifiable areal unit problem and ecological fallacy problem underpin this research. Marginal areas for maize are highlighted at the Africa and Malawi scales and overlain with the optimal climate niche for crops such as sorghum and pigeonpea that offer multiple ecosystem services (e.g., soil rehabilitation through nitrogen fixation). Crop productivity is evaluated at scales relative to policy making delineations in Malawi (i.e., country, district, and extension planning area) to disentangle heterogeneity at local scales that may appear homogeneous at broader scales. At the Malawi farm scale, this research included the use of a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS), national government satellites (e.g., Sentinel-2), and commercial satellites (e.g., SPOT 6). Spectral measurements of crop status were evaluated at multiple spatial resolutions (ranging from 0.07-20-m) to determine what spatial resolutions and what spectral indices are most effective for estimating crop yields and crop chlorophyll.Results of this research include high spatial resolution maps of maize, pigeonpea, and sorghum suitability across Africa, indicating that pigeonpea and sorghum occupy unique agroecological zones throughout the continent (e.g., sorghum in the Sahel region). Similarly, pigeonpea suitability in Malawi occupies a greater land area than the extent to which it is currently cultivated, demonstrating that integration into maize-based cropping systems, particularly where soil is marginal, can have beneficial scaling outcomes. For the smallholder farm scale, problems of clouds and satellite revisit rates have not yet been overcome for precision agriculture. In this regard, sUAS are a promising option for relating spectral signals to on-farm measurements of crop status. Evidence from drone flights conducted at two experimental farms in the central region of Malawi (Nyambi and Ntubwi) suggest that spatial resolutions closer to the plant scale (i.e., 14-27-cm) are most effective for relating spectral imagery to crop status. Moreover, the green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI) and green soil adjusted vegetation index (GSAVI) were consistently correlated with crop chlorophyll and yield, illustrating that a broad range of indices should be evaluated for precision agriculture.
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Title: An analysis of diverse gentrification processes and their relationship to historic preservation activity in three Chicago neighborhoods
Creator: Grevstad-Nordbrock, Ted, 1968-
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation explores the relationship between historic preservation and gentrification and how these forces have differentially shaped neighborhoods in Chicago over the period 1970-2000. It asks the two primary questions. First, to what extent is there evidence of diversity and complexity in the gentrification processes in Chicago where there have also been high levels of historic preservation activity? Second, what are some of the fundamental characteristics of these gentrification...
Show moreThis dissertation explores the relationship between historic preservation and gentrification and how these forces have differentially shaped neighborhoods in Chicago over the period 1970-2000. It asks the two primary questions. First, to what extent is there evidence of diversity and complexity in the gentrification processes in Chicago where there have also been high levels of historic preservation activity? Second, what are some of the fundamental characteristics of these gentrification processes? This dissertation assesses whether public preservation programs have been facilitating gentrification in Chicago and helps clarify the long-debated relationship between preservation and gentrification. To explore these topics, principal component analysis and K-means cluster analysis are used to identify three suitable neighborhoods as case studies; each of these neighborhoods is then subjected to an in-depth, qualitative analysis. The findings of this research suggest that neighborhoods with different histories, populations, and urban morphologies use preservation programs in different ways to achieve different gentrification outcomes.
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Title: Geographic impacts of federally funded state-based obesity programs on adult obesity prevalence in the United States
Creator: Koh, Keumseok
Date: 2016
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Approximately one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Following a moderate increase in obesity during the 1970s, obesity prevalence in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1980s. There are also large black and white disparities in obesity prevalence. Obesity is an important public health problem because it is related to many comorbidities, including heart disease and cancer that cause premature mortality. Since 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...
Show moreApproximately one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Following a moderate increase in obesity during the 1970s, obesity prevalence in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1980s. There are also large black and white disparities in obesity prevalence. Obesity is an important public health problem because it is related to many comorbidities, including heart disease and cancer that cause premature mortality. Since 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) has funded 37 state health departments to reduce the rising obesity in populations within their states. Importantly to-date there have not been any national studies evaluating the impacts of these CDC-DNPAO funded programs on changing obesity prevalence within and across funded and non-funded states. This dissertation research therefore, investigated the impacts of CDC-DNPAO state-specific obesity intervention programs on the geography of adult obesity in the United States at the county level. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and census data comprised the data used for this research. Theoretical frameworks and techniques were applied from the fields of health geography, population geography and economics. This dissertation research included three independent and interrelated studies described below. The first study utilized a spatial microsimulation approach to indirectly estimate obesity prevalence at the county level. Obtaining a comprehensive obesity dataset across all counties is challenging because the BRFSS is designed to estimate obesity prevalence only at the national or state levels. There is a need therefore to apply spatial microsimulation modeling to virtually replicate the demographic characteristics of BRFSS survey respondents and allocate their BMI status at the county level. Obesity prevalence estimates—i.e., the number of obese cases/ population at risk from the spatial microsimulation modeling were mapped to visualize and explore the spatial patterns and detect obesity clusters. Counties in Southern states, especially along the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains, and counties containing or in proximity to American Indian reservation sites had elevated obesity prevalence rates across time, 2000 to 2010. The output from the spatial microsimulation is also used in the subsequent two studies in this dissertation research. The second study evaluated the impact of the CDC-DNPAO programs on obesity prevalence in states with and without funding using an interrupt time series modeling technique to identify where state CDC-DNPAO programs were more or less protective of adult obesity and where to target future interventions. The third study partitioned the variance in obesity prevalence between blacks and whites into explainable and unexplainable portions of obesity using a reweighting decomposition technique to further understand these disparities.The findings from this research identified where programs have been successful in controlling obesity and where to target future interventions to reduce obesity, reduce racial disparities in obesity and improve population health. The translation of this knowledge will also be helpful to reduce obesity in other countries, particularly those countries experiencing a transition toward obesity in their populations.
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Title: The carbon sequestration and soil respiration after land use conversion in biofuel cropping ecosystems
Creator: Su, Yahn-Jauh
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Global climate change alters Earth's carbon, hydrological and energy cycles from local to global scales, changing our climate patterns and impacting our lifestyles and prosperity. The development of bioenergy may partially mitigate the release of carbon dioxide during the combustion of fossil fuel. However, the carbon emissions from the bioenergy-induced land use change have long been debated and it is not certain whether they really represent a reduction of carbon emission. In this study, I...
Show moreGlobal climate change alters Earth's carbon, hydrological and energy cycles from local to global scales, changing our climate patterns and impacting our lifestyles and prosperity. The development of bioenergy may partially mitigate the release of carbon dioxide during the combustion of fossil fuel. However, the carbon emissions from the bioenergy-induced land use change have long been debated and it is not certain whether they really represent a reduction of carbon emission. In this study, I monitored the components of the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2, including gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (Reco), total soil respiration (Rs), autotrophic soil respiration (Ra) and heterotrophic soil respiration (Rh), to understand their responses to climate variability and in particular a severe drought event. I studied three major bioenergy crops (continuous corn, switchgrass and restored multicultural prairie) on fields with two different land use histories (conventional corn-soybean rotation and Conservation Reserve Program brome grass fields). I found that the amplitude, the duration and the seasonality of microclimatic variables (temperature and precipitation) were important for the carbon dynamics in the bioenergy cropping systems. The soil water content affected the annual NEE, GPP and Reco although it did not have strong correlations with these components of carbon fluxes at short-term scale. The short-term (1-2 week) normal summer water deficit may affect annual NEE while long-term (spring-summer) drought may change the community structure and affect the carbon cycling processes in the following years. The temperature sensitivities of soil respiration were shifted within and between years. In addition, crop types and land use histories affect the responses of ecosystem to climate events. The different phenology between annual and perennial crops and the establishment of dense root systems in perennial crops can change the ratio of the components of NEE and change the direction and the amounts of net ecosystem carbon flux. Annual and perennial crops have different strategies responding to different climate scenarios and their combinations. The monitoring of climate patterns at intra-annual scale is required to understand how the ecosystem respond to climate change.
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Title: Migrant livelihood and business in urban China : the case of Henancun and recycling in Beijing
Creator: Feng, Jia
Date: 2016
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: "Henancun, as one of the migrant enclaves in Beijing, emerged in the late 1980s with the development of the informal recycling business. Although rural-to-urban migrants and their recycling business play essential roles in providing the recycling service to the local residents and promoting the environmental protection, their existence is nearly invisible in the city. Focusing on the development history of Henancun, the structural and institutional barriers faced by both migrants and...
Show more"Henancun, as one of the migrant enclaves in Beijing, emerged in the late 1980s with the development of the informal recycling business. Although rural-to-urban migrants and their recycling business play essential roles in providing the recycling service to the local residents and promoting the environmental protection, their existence is nearly invisible in the city. Focusing on the development history of Henancun, the structural and institutional barriers faced by both migrants and recycling businesses, and their coping strategies in Beijing, this dissertation research uses a combined qualitative and quantitative research method to examine the role of Henancun and the nature of the informal recycling business in recycling migrants' livelihood, and to understand the structural and institutional barriers faced by migrants and recycling as well as their coping strategies in Beijing. Based on questionnaires, interviews, observations and government documentation examinations, this study reveals that Henancun is both a migrant and a business enclave that emerged to cope with the socially and politically marginalized circumstances migrants have been facing in the city. Besides, the space of Henancun, with full-fledged services to accommodate migrants' livelihood and businesses, has gradually become a permanent 'outside' space that exists in between the city and migrants' hometowns. The informal nature of the recycling business also emerged as a strategy to cope with local regulations and uncoordinated governmental policies."--Page ii.
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Title: Relict Pleistocene deltas in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Creator: Luehmann, Michael David
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The purpose of this dissertation is to (1) map relict deltas that formed between ≈21.0 and 13.0 cal ka BP in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and (2) group those that have similar geomorphic, sedimentologic, and environmental components. In the past, beach ridges, wave-cut bluffs, meltwater spillways, and spits have been the primary relict landforms used to document and analyze paleolakes and coastal conditions in Michigan. This study highlights how, in addition to simply providing evidence...
Show moreThe purpose of this dissertation is to (1) map relict deltas that formed between ≈21.0 and 13.0 cal ka BP in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and (2) group those that have similar geomorphic, sedimentologic, and environmental components. In the past, beach ridges, wave-cut bluffs, meltwater spillways, and spits have been the primary relict landforms used to document and analyze paleolakes and coastal conditions in Michigan. This study highlights how, in addition to simply providing evidence for a paleolake, relict deltas may also be important proxies for coastal and terrestrial conditions during deglaciation.Elevation data, stratigraphic information from well (water, oil, and gas) logs, along with surface and subsurface textural data derived from soil maps, enabled me to map 61 Pleistocene deltas in Lower Michigan. Of these, 27 had been known from previous works, whereas 34 are unique to this study. Most of the deltas are graded towards a known, ancestral, paleo-lake; however 16 deltas, many of which are kamic deltas, terminate into an unidentified and currently unknown or unstudied paleolake and/or lake stage.Results from a numerical grouping analysis of the deltas confirm that relict late-Pleistocene deltas – at least those in Lower Michigan - have topographic and sedimentologic characteristics that facilitate placing them into unique morphologic groups. The grouping analysis suggests that there are at least five different, distinct types of relict deltas in Lower Michigan. The majority of Group 1 deltas are relatively large, sandy, and arcuate-shaped, with sandy textured catchments. Group 2 deltas are also mostly sandy and arcuate-shaped but are relatively small; many of these deltas were sourced from a (likely) stagnant ice margin. Both Group 1 and 2 deltas are mostly located in northern Michigan. The bulk of Group 3 deltas are also sandy and arcuate-shaped, but unlike deltas in Groups 1 and 2, they have fine textured catchments and are more widely distributed. Most Group 4 deltas are relatively large, fine textured, arcuate-shaped, and have fine textured catchments; all Group 4 deltas are located in SE Michigan. The soils on these deltas are mostly fine-textured suggesting that these deltas were perhaps submerged by higher succeeding lake levels. Group 5 deltas are elongate-shaped, with multiple midchannel bars and interpreted as fluvial-dominated deltas. These deltas, all located in central Michigan, have formed at the mouths of major meltwater spillways. Arcuate-shaped deltas (Groups 1-4) are the most common type of relict delta in Lower Michigan; these deltas are interpreted as wave-dominated deltas. They are common on the eastern margins of the Lower Peninsula, in association with large lakes, where they confirm the strong, persistent and sustained winds and wave energies in the Great Lake region at this time. Several methods have been used to record paleo-water plane elevations from relict beach ridges, wave-cut bluffs, meltwater spillways, and spits. Future studies of these relict coastal features in conjunction with relict deltas will provide a proxy for both paleocoastal and paleoterrestrial conditions.By identifying and studying 61 relict deltas in Lower Michigan, I hope to promote further research on such systems within the Great Lakes region. Detailed and comprehensive investigations on Pleistocene deltas will advance our understanding of lake-level and landscape dynamics, along with wave and wind energies and directionalities during the late Pleistocene.
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Title: Linking land change and commodity chains in a globalizing world : the case of Mexico
Creator: Galvan Miyoshi, Yankuic M.
Date: 2016
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Global land change continues to concern both scholars and the general public. Loss of tropical forest, in particular, creates significant impacts with respect to biodiversity resources and the carbon cycle. Recently, researchers have grown hopeful that countervailing processes of forest recovery, often referred to as forest transition, will mitigate environmental damage imposed by forest loss. The UN’s REDD program has served to focus attention on how to reduce deforestation and encourage...
Show moreGlobal land change continues to concern both scholars and the general public. Loss of tropical forest, in particular, creates significant impacts with respect to biodiversity resources and the carbon cycle. Recently, researchers have grown hopeful that countervailing processes of forest recovery, often referred to as forest transition, will mitigate environmental damage imposed by forest loss. The UN’s REDD program has served to focus attention on how to reduce deforestation and encourage forest transitions. Such policy initiatives are praiseworthy, but their ultimate success depends on uncovering the underlying drivers of land change (LC), whether forest loss or gain. Adding complexity to the policy debate are the far-reaching impacts of globalization. The dissertation seeks to add to our understanding in this regard by undertaking a national-scale study aimed at comprehending how globalization affects LC processes. Specifically, the dissertation links broad shifts in national LC dynamics with spatial shifts or re-territorialization of food commodity chains, in the context of neoliberal reforms affecting a domestic economy. It addresses the combined issues of forest loss and forest gain as they occur within the borders of an individual nation by assessing the changing territorial imprints of beef cattle and maize (M&B) production in Mexico. LC is often driven by agricultural change, so it should come as no surprise that substantial research identifies M&B production as a proximate cause of Mexican LC. However, this research goes a step further and embeds this proximate causation within the broader social structures from which it originates, namely those associated with globalized commodity chains. In doing so, the project's novel approach addresses LC through constructs drawn from Economic Geography. Two research hypotheses are advanced: (1) that the production geography of M&B commodity chains shifts over time, triggered by neoliberal reform, and (2) that shifts in source regions for both commodities explain patterns of land change across Mexico, with some areas experiencing forest transition and others deforestation. To address these hypotheses, the dissertation employs a mixed methodological approach, which includes formal and informal interviews with firms and key informants, field observations, and spatial econometrics using land use data from agricultural census and national land cover data for the years 1991 and 2007. My results suggest that neoliberal reform is redefining M&B production geography. The rise of the Mexican feedlot and the maize flour industry are intimately related with the adoption of free trade policies and transfer of prior governmental functions in the food sector to private agents. The dissertation shows that the spatial changes of the beef component of the M&B commodity network correspond in many ways to changes in forest cover. When herds diminish, there is FT; when herds expand, forests are lost. The econometric analysis confirms this pattern. Deforestation in Mexico continues to slow down, in part, with the help of large volumes of corn imports from the US and cattle smuggled from Central America.
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Title: INVESTIGATING UGANDA’S HIGH HIV INCIDENCE AMONG YOUNG WOMEN IN AN ERA OF WIDESPREAD GAINS IN HIV PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
Creator: Namanya, Judith
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation examines the factors driving risky sexual behavior associated with reported high numbers of new HIV infections among young women in Uganda, using Mbarara District as a case study. Using the modified Social Ecological Model for Young Women’s Vulnerability to HIV Infection, the study investigates the contextual and broader structural factors, their interactions within and across multiple levels, and how they influence the sexual behaviors of individual young women in ways that...
Show moreThis dissertation examines the factors driving risky sexual behavior associated with reported high numbers of new HIV infections among young women in Uganda, using Mbarara District as a case study. Using the modified Social Ecological Model for Young Women’s Vulnerability to HIV Infection, the study investigates the contextual and broader structural factors, their interactions within and across multiple levels, and how they influence the sexual behaviors of individual young women in ways that increase their vulnerability to contracting HIV. The objectives of the study are: 1) Evaluate individual-level factors associated with sexual risk-taking behavior, specifically having unprotected sex, among young women ages 15-35 years; 2) Describe contextual and broader structural factors that make young women vulnerable to HIV-related risky sexual behaviors, and assess how these contextual factors interact with individual-level factors in ways that perpetuate high levels of HIV infection; and 3) Re-examine the connection between poverty and other economic factors to risky sexual behavior and vulnerability in the context of high HIV transmission among young women. The study used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, combining household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews. Household survey results show that risky sexual behavior i.e., having sex without a condom, is still high (over 48%) among the unmarried young women ages 15-35 years. Engagement in unprotected sex increased by age, with young adults reporting more unprotected sex encounters than adolescent girls. Those with primary or some secondary education were at an increased risk of having unprotected sex. Surprisingly, women with tertiary education were at higher risk of engaging in unprotected sex than those who had completed secondary education. Negative binomial regression analyses show that women with no employment and those with part-time employment were at an increased risk for unprotected sex compared to those with low paying but stable employment. These findings on education and HIV risk call for a careful reexamination of the link between higher education and HIV vulnerability to inform policy. Education policies and interventions need to focus on curricula that incorporate entrepreneurial skills at different educational levels from primary to college. Keeping girls in school under the protective eye of parents, guardians and teachers is key in reducing exposure to unprotected sex among young girls. Findings from the qualitative analysis revealed that sociocultural and structural factors, including social norms (premarital sex as taboo, early marriage pressures, subornation of girls and women), youth unfriendly HIV services (e.g., long waiting times, rude and unprofessional clinic staff), high unemployment rates, sexual harassment, exploitation by male employers, and discrimination were key factors perceived to drive risky sexual behavior in relation to HIV contraction among young women. The findings show that while many young women, especially those with children, engaged in risky transactional sexual behavior to meet basic needs, many younger women, including college-level ones, did so to meet materialistic wants and to fit-in with peers. Widespread availability of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) caused complacency among young people. HIV was no longer perceived as life threatening due to ARVs, which prevent progression into full-blown AIDS, morbidity and death. In fact, some young women were more scared of getting pregnant than contracting HIV. We suggest that efforts to reduce new HIV infections among young women and young men should target individual risk perception, and balance HIV treatment and prevention messages. Findings reveal a complex mix of dynamic and interacting factors operating at different levels that create context specific sexual behavioral risk socioscapes that sustain or accentuate the high rates of new HIV infections among the young women. Using a Social Ecological Model for Young Women’s Vulnerability to HIV as a guiding framework, we contend that efforts for addressing the high HIV infections among young women, including sexual behavioral change interventions, economic empowerment programs, should not only aim at individual women but also target factors operating at the sociocultural and structural levels.
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Title: USING THE “KITE” FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING LANDSCAPE CHANGE AND IMPROVING EAST AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE
Creator: Wanyama, Dan
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Mount Elgon Ecosystem (MEE), an important hydrological and socio-economic area in East Africa, has exhibited significant landscape changes, driven by both natural factors and human activities, therefore leading to more frequent natural disasters (frequent and extended droughts, floods, and landslides). Yet, few studies have focused on the MEE socio-ecological system; no comprehensive knowledge exists of how humans and nature interact, at multiple scales, to drive ecosystem-wide landscape...
Show moreThe Mount Elgon Ecosystem (MEE), an important hydrological and socio-economic area in East Africa, has exhibited significant landscape changes, driven by both natural factors and human activities, therefore leading to more frequent natural disasters (frequent and extended droughts, floods, and landslides). Yet, few studies have focused on the MEE socio-ecological system; no comprehensive knowledge exists of how humans and nature interact, at multiple scales, to drive ecosystem-wide landscape changes. This dissertation focuses on three interrelated questions: (1.) What is the nature and magnitude of change in MEE greenness for the period 2001-2018, and how is this change related to long-term trends and variability in MEE precipitation? (2.) How is ecological and environmental (eco-environmental) vulnerability distributed across the MEE, and what are the major factors driving these patterns? and (3.) How will the MEE landscape change in the future, and what opportunities exist for streamlining livelihood improvement and environmental conservation efforts?Study 1 characterized comprehensively, over multiple time scales, recent patterns and trends in MEE vegetation greening and browning. The MEE was found to exhibit significant variability in vegetation dynamics and precipitation regimes. There was persistent greening and browning at different time scales and this change was attributed to both natural factors (including changing precipitation) and anthropogenic factors (especially the vegetation-to-cropland conversion). The study also concluded that MEE precipitation had increased substantially in the post-2000 era, which influenced greening and browning patterns observed in the 2006-2010 period. The integration of Mann–Kendall, Sen’s slope and bfast (breaks for additive season and trend) proved useful in comprehensively characterizing recent changes in vegetation greenness within the MEE. Study 2 examined eco-environmental vulnerability for the MEE using freely available remote sensing (RS), topographic, and socio-economic data. The study found that the majority of the MEE (comprising savannas, grasslands, and most of the agricultural land in Ugandan MEE) was moderately vulnerable based on the analysis methods and variables used. The eco-environmental vulnerability index (EEVI) showed a marked increase in vulnerability with decrease in elevation. Eco-environmental vulnerability was strongly associated with multi-year variables based on precipitation, temperature, and population density. Moreover, precipitation distribution was changing especially in the wet season, thus adding another layer of risk for agriculture and ultimately for local community livelihoods.Study 3 simulated possible future land use changes in the MEE based on existing RS LULC products and a well-known land use change model. The study projected that agriculture will possibly expand from approximately 58% in 2001 to more than 64% in 2033 if current and future LULC transformation follows rates in 2001-2017. These new croplands will occur mostly around edges of the protected forest and zones of transition between mixed vegetation and existing croplands. Due to the unpredictable LULC transitions in the MEE, simulating forest-to-cropland conversion was less accurate compared to mixed-to-cropland conversion. This research provides a more complete explanation of the underlying complex human-environment interactions shaping the MEE landscape. This is the first study to comprehensively assess landscape dynamics at multiple scales (10-day, 16-day, monthly, seasonal, and household). It is also the first to define and assess at the annual scale, eco-environmental vulnerability as influenced by climate, topographic and socio-economic variables. In addition, by simulating future LULC change, this research provides the opportunity to quantify and anticipate possible LULC changes in the MEE. This research relies on publicly available RS and geospatial datasets and therefore analyses conducted here can easily be translated to other similar regions.
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Title: THE TOXIC TRUTH : ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN MICHIGAN
Creator: Kreuze, Amanda
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of...
Show moreThe Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of pollutants are pregnant women and infants, with minority and poorer women at greatest risk. The goal of this research is to investigate maternal and infant health outcomes associated with TRI chemical exposures in Michigan from 2008-2017 from an environmental justice perspective using an ecosyndemic theoretical approach. The objectives of this research are: 1) To outline the ecosyndemic theoretical approach as a holistic lens by which to conceptualize maternal exposures to multiple toxic chemicals. 2) To investigate the spatial and temporal patterns and clusters of RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations and the degree to which these human health risks are more elevated in minority and low-income communities. 3) Estimate the impact(s) of maternal exposure to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations on adverse birth outcomes, including lethal congenital anomalies, controlling for potential maternal level confounding variables. U.S. Census data was used to measure racial composition and poverty at the census tract level. The annual RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations across census tracts were sub-divided into exposure quartiles and these were spatially and temporally assigned to each mother’s pregnancy. The analyses were conducted using geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiological methods including cluster detection techniques. This study found that building upon the ecosyndemic framework the urban areas of Detroit and Grand Rapids were found to contain 80% of the census tracts with the highest RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations. African Americans, Hispanics and residents living near and below poverty were most likely to live in these census tracts. These inequities persisted over time for African Americans living in Detroit and Grand Rapids and more recently for Hispanics living in Detroit, demonstrating on-going and emerging environmental injustices. Mothers exposed to the highest RSEI quartiles were at higher odds of low birth weight and preterm birth controlling for other known risk factors. The interactions between exposures to highest RSEI quartile and other behavioral and medical risks exacerbated the likelihood of these adverse birth outcomes. Finally, space-time analysis revealed several areas in Michigan with persistent clusters of lethal congenital anomalies. Clusters in Detroit and Muskegon that were in part explained by proximity to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentration values requires further investigation. Based on the study findings, recommendations include increased monitoring of TRI sites, incentivize companies to reduce their use of highly toxic chemicals and add additional environmental justice evaluations when approving new industrial facilities and targeting areas for pollution reduction, particularly census tracts in the highest RSEI quartile where mothers are at greatest risk of adverse birth outcomes. Future research should investigate possible interaction and mediating effects between chemical exposures and maternal behavioral and medical factors, further investigate the clusters of lethal birth defects in Michigan and investigate the upstream forces that contribute to environmental injustices and adverse birth outcomes in Michigan.
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Title: A risk reduction approach to tsetse and African trypanosomiasis control : case study the canvas method
Creator: Jordan, Demetrice R.
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: African trypanosomiasis is an inherently multiscale human-animal-environment problem, with a spatially and environmentally constrained vector, a transnational disease distribution, two distinct disease strains (East and West African), innumerable human and animal reservoirs, and entrenched socio-cultural barriers and policy challenges. Colloquially known as 'sleeping sickness' and 'Nagana' in animals, African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by pathogenic protozoa of the genus...
Show moreAfrican trypanosomiasis is an inherently multiscale human-animal-environment problem, with a spatially and environmentally constrained vector, a transnational disease distribution, two distinct disease strains (East and West African), innumerable human and animal reservoirs, and entrenched socio-cultural barriers and policy challenges. Colloquially known as 'sleeping sickness' and 'Nagana' in animals, African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by pathogenic protozoa of the genus Trypanosoma. The parasite is transmitted through the salivary glands of tsetse fly during a blood meal. African trypanosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease endemic to 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Neglected tropical diseases are communicable, viral, parasitic, and bacterial infections that mainly affect poor people. Worldwide, neglected tropical diseases are not allotted the resources necessary to control and eradicate them. As a neglected tropical disease, African trypanosomiasis is given a lower global health priority which hinders control program effectiveness. Despite decades of research to control tsetse, trypanosomiasis continues to threaten the health and well-being of people and animals across sub-Saharan Africa. Compounded by resource constraints for control efforts, African trypanosomiasis is also poorly understood, severely underreported, often misdiagnosed, and fatal. The disease has a case fatality rate of nearly 100%, if untreated. While treatment is available, they are often expensive and toxic. Annual deaths attributed to African trypanosomiasis have a compounding impact across human and animal populations and the landscape. An estimated 60 million Africans and countless livestock are at risk of the infection, illuminating the need for risk reduction approaches to mitigate exposure. This dissertation examines tsetse and African trypanosomiasis control from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining health geography, disease ecology, diffusion of disease epidemiology, development economics, and global health policy. As a more general contribution, this dissertation presents a framework for addressing vector-host problems, using a multifaceted risk reduction and control strategy, innovative methodologies, and community participation to increase long-term success.
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Title: Regional climate response to land use and land cover change in contiguous United States
Creator: Nikolić, Jovanka
Date: 2020
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Future land use and land cover (LULC) pattern in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) is expected to be significantly different from that of the present, and as an important surface forcing for earth's climate system, the potential changes in LULC will contribute to climate change at all scales (local, regional to global). While numerous studies have examined how the earth's climate will respond to the anthropogenic increase of greenhouse gas concentrations in the earth's atmosphere, this...
Show moreFuture land use and land cover (LULC) pattern in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) is expected to be significantly different from that of the present, and as an important surface forcing for earth's climate system, the potential changes in LULC will contribute to climate change at all scales (local, regional to global). While numerous studies have examined how the earth's climate will respond to the anthropogenic increase of greenhouse gas concentrations in the earth's atmosphere, this research aims to quantify the response of several climate variables to the expected LULC change in the CONUS using simulations from a regional climate model. The research is composed of three individual studies. The first study assesses the sensitivity of simulated low-level jet (LLJ) characteristics on changes in LULC pattern. As a prominent weather and climate process responsible for transport of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward into central CONUS, LLJ plays an important role in the hydrological cycle and wind energy generation over the Great Plains. Therefore, it is important to quantify the potential changes in jet characteristics, such as jet speed, height and frequency, under the influence of LULC change. The second study investigates the impact of LULC change on frost indices - the dates of last spring frost and first fall frost and the length of frost free seasons. Frost is one of the major factors affecting the growth and development of plants and crop production. Future changes in LULC could make some regions more beneficial, while others more harmful to agricultural practice. Finally, the third study examines the potential impact of the changes in LULC pattern on future wind energy resources. As a zero carbon energy resource, wind energy helps limit greenhouse gasses emissions and mitigate climate change. Knowledge gained on where in the CONUS wind power class would likely to change from unsuitable or marginal to suitable, and vice versa, as a result of LULC change can be useful for future wind farm sitting and for making better informed energy policies.
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Title: GOVERNANCE OF PEOPLE-CENTERED FOREST-AGRISCAPES RESTORATION IN MALAWI : INSTITUTIONAL AND MODELING APPROACHES
Creator: Djenontin, Ida Nadia Sedjro
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This doctoral dissertation embodies an interdisciplinary inquiry of human-environment interactions approached from a geospatial perspective. It investigates some socio-institutional dimensions of ecosystem restoration, focusing on the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) paradigm. FLR is a people-centered ecosystem restoration approach that advances a holistic landscape approach to restoring degraded natural resources. FLR’s implicit landscape approach to environmental management requires...
Show moreThis doctoral dissertation embodies an interdisciplinary inquiry of human-environment interactions approached from a geospatial perspective. It investigates some socio-institutional dimensions of ecosystem restoration, focusing on the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) paradigm. FLR is a people-centered ecosystem restoration approach that advances a holistic landscape approach to restoring degraded natural resources. FLR’s implicit landscape approach to environmental management requires sectoral interactions and policy integration in implementing restoration interventions in interlocking agricultural and forested landscapes – forest-agriscapes. As such, FLR seeks to address, holistically, the interlinked challenges of land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, livelihood insecurity, and unsustainable supply of multiple socio-ecological benefits. The research analyses specifically how to achieve integrated and sustainable governance of landscape-scale restoration of lands, trees, and forests by deepening understanding of the related institutional, socio-economic, cultural, and behavioral dimensions. It employs an analytical approach that blends qualitative analysis, econometric modeling, and spatial agent-based modeling (ABM) to explore forest-agriscapes restoration as a complex socio-ecological system (SES). Using Malawi as a country case study in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the research first investigates what potential context-appropriate governance system—including governance model, institutional arrangements, and regulatory framework—would adequately promote effective integrated implementation of landscape restoration. The research adopts a polycentric governance perspective based on the Ecology of Games Theory (EGT). Using the EGT, it explores the structural and functional dimensions of an appropriate integrated governance system by examining four specific governance parameters: collaboration arrangements, social learning mechanisms, coordination processes, and institutional externalities. Second, the research draws on an econometric perspective and an environmental behavior perspective rooted in social psychology to examine the local patterns and socio-cultural determinants and the decision-making processes of local individual and collective resources restoration efforts. Through a mixed qualitative and quantitative methods approach, it addresses why and how local smallholder farmers and resource users engage in restoration activities, including the driving and constraining factors for their restoration efforts. Finally, the research uses ABM, a bottom-up computational modeling approach to SES, to explore the aggregate landscape-level dynamic patterns and environmental impacts of local restoration decisions and consequent activities, with different simulations of management and policy scenarios. The research offers diverse knowledge contributions and practical insights for effective forest-agriscape restoration. It advances knowledge on framing ingredients of a contextualized polycentric governance system to successfully operationalize an integrated landscape approach to resources management and restoration in Malawi and contributes to testing the EGT as a novel theory of polycentric governance. Moreover, the research illuminates the nature, level, diversification features, and areal extent of local restoration, and uncovers associated main drivers and challenges. It also offers more social understanding of individual and collective restoration behaviors, notably insights on local farmers’ and resources users’ decision-making processes for land, tree, and forest restoration. This improves knowledge on empirically capturing such behavioral components and integrating them into computational modeling. Further, the research uncovers a forward-looking 10-year trend and spatially explicit patterns of potential restoration extent, intensification, participation level, and resulting landscape regreening. The dynamics of the potential aggregate environmental impacts of local, bottom-up restoration efforts suggest empowering them, shedding light on likely propitious management and policy options to operationalize. This contributes insights for spatially targeted and evidence-based restoration implementation in Malawi, exemplifying how to enhance the use of ABMs to support restoration management and policy. Overall, the research shows the promise of using mixed integrative research approaches to better inform effective FLR interventions and the practical insights for Malawi are also relevant for other similar SSA contexts. Broadly, the dissertation illustrates effective socio-ecological governance as one way to approach the persistent challenge centered on a complex co-existence issue: how to balance competing goals of attaining sustainable natural resource-based livelihoods, food security, and poverty reduction while protecting biodiversity and ecological integrity within a changing climate context.
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Title: CLIMATIC VARIABILITY AND CHANGE IN THE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES : IMPLICATIONS FOR NITROGEN LEACHING IN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
Creator: Baule, William James
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: How has the background climate of the Midwestern United States changed over recent decades and how has this affected nitrate leaching? These are the core questions addressed in this dissertation, through three self-contained studies focused on different aspects of the climate-agriculture interface in the Midwestern United States. In Chapter 2, statistical methods are used to quantify the solar radiation biases present in a widely used reanalysis-based hydrometeorological dataset over space,...
Show moreHow has the background climate of the Midwestern United States changed over recent decades and how has this affected nitrate leaching? These are the core questions addressed in this dissertation, through three self-contained studies focused on different aspects of the climate-agriculture interface in the Midwestern United States. In Chapter 2, statistical methods are used to quantify the solar radiation biases present in a widely used reanalysis-based hydrometeorological dataset over space, implement statistical bias correction and interpolation to address the spatial nature of this bias, and quantify the impacts of the solar radiation bias and proposed correction on simulated maize yields and water stress. Correction of reanalysis solar radiation alone brought simulated yield and water usage more in line with simulations forced with in-situ solar radiation. Chapter 3 examines changes in precipitation, utilizing a unique approach to station screening during the period 1951-2019 over a region encompassing the Great Lakes and broader Midwestern regions, of the United States. A multiple tier procedure was utilized to identify high quality input data series from the Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily dataset. Temporal and spatial trends were analyzed for a broad range of related annual and seasonal indicators ranging from accumulated totals and frequency of threshold events to event duration and potential linkages with total precipitable water. Our analyses confirm the results of previous studies while providing unique insights to data quality and seasonality. The trends of the indicators in our study exhibited more cohesive spatial patterns and temporal similarities when compared with studies with different quality control criteria, illustrating the importance of quality control of observations in climatic studies and highlighting the complexity of the changing character of precipitation. In Chapter 4, System Approach to Land Use Sustainability, a process-based crop model was applied with gridded soil and meteorological data using a yield stability zone concept to simulate corn and soybean production in 14 Midwestern states at the sub-field scale during the 1989-2019 period. Five zones based on multi-year yield stability were simulated for each field at 30m x 30m resolution, with zones being relative to each individual field. Outputs were evaluated using a nitrogen balance approach to establish zone-specific statistical distributions of nitrate leaching across the 14 states, specifically highlighting periods with changing and highly variable precipitation. Results indicate that low stable, unstable hill tops, and unstable slope zones are associated with an outsized contribution to overall nitrate leaching and that unstable zones exhibit variable year-to-year response to weather tied to their position in the landscape. Spatial analysis of the results suggests leaching is tied to precipitation variability, water stress, and total precipitation amount. In aggregate, the chapters presented here highlight the interconnectedness of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum to changes in hydrologic regime and sensitivity to the biases in the data used to conduct analyses, run models, and from which conclusions are drawn. The study findings shed light on the potential for improved management of agricultural fields and illustrate how process-based crop models can be useful for designing management practices to reduce environmental pollution and increase profits to producers.
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Title: PERSONAL SERVICE AND LEISURE TRAVEL IN THE CITY OF DETROIT AND ITS SUBURBS : EXPLORING INDIVIDUAL- AND NEIGHBORHOOD-LEVEL VARIABILITY
Creator: Li, Xiaomeng
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The ability to travel is essential for people to participate in society, acquire resources and services, and engage in daily life. Trips for personal service and leisure constitute a significant share of total travel, more than one-third of all trips, but the distinct patterns of these journeys have often been overlooked in the existing literature. Also, daily travel in high-poverty, declining urban neighborhoods experiencing disinvestment is less studied and is not well understood. Focusing...
Show moreThe ability to travel is essential for people to participate in society, acquire resources and services, and engage in daily life. Trips for personal service and leisure constitute a significant share of total travel, more than one-third of all trips, but the distinct patterns of these journeys have often been overlooked in the existing literature. Also, daily travel in high-poverty, declining urban neighborhoods experiencing disinvestment is less studied and is not well understood. Focusing on the city of Detroit and its suburbs, this dissertation examines daily travel patterns – the one-way trip distance (length of journey to the destination), weekly trip frequency and total distance traveled, and mode of travel – for personal services and leisure activities, and how they vary by individual sociodemographic characteristics and different neighborhood environments. The results show that personal service and leisure travel have distinct patterns in terms of trip distance and mode selection. Also, the effects of the neighborhood environment and individual sociodemographic characteristics on travel vary significantly by the purpose of the journey (personal service versus leisure). In particular, the effect of aging varies by neighborhood context and trip purpose. Seniors in declining urban neighborhoods have significantly fewer leisure trips, indicating challenges they face in leisure activity participation. Moreover, the typical association of high-density built environments and shorter trip distances do not hold in the declining urban Detroit neighborhoods. In fact, residents in such neighborhoods experience unique burdens in travel and have to travel longer distances to reach amenities despite living in a high-density built environment, due to the extreme disinvestment within the city of Detroit. Lastly, focusing on an essential type of personal services – pharmacies, it is shown that residents in declining urban neighborhoods actually bypass local independent stores within the neighborhood and travel longer distance to shop at more distant national chain pharmacies.
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Title: “BLACK, SET, SPIKE : ” AN ANALYSIS OF THE RACIAL EXPERIENCES OF BLACK FEMALE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS IN EUROPE
Creator: Fry, Jen
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Sports and geography each profoundly impact the lived and professional experiences of Black female athletes. These experiences also significantly shape their personal and professional identities, as both deal with the occupation of space and the way people move and interact in geographic spaces. Little attention has been paid by the academic and athletic communities to the lived experiences of professional athletes who play abroad. Currently, minimal research has been conducted on the...
Show moreSports and geography each profoundly impact the lived and professional experiences of Black female athletes. These experiences also significantly shape their personal and professional identities, as both deal with the occupation of space and the way people move and interact in geographic spaces. Little attention has been paid by the academic and athletic communities to the lived experiences of professional athletes who play abroad. Currently, minimal research has been conducted on the experiences of Black female volleyball players (BFVPs) who have played in Europe and how race, gender identity, space, and sports affected their lived experiences abroad based on their identities. This dissertation utilized qualitative methods to analyze the racial experiences of Black women who have played professional volleyball in Europe and whose experiences have not been documented within studies of geography—or, more specifically, within perspectives of Black feminist thought, Black geographies, and theory of racial space. The goal of this dissertation was twofold: (a) explore how intersecting racial and gendered identities, place, and space influenced the racism encountered by U.S. BFVPs in Europe; and (b) provide a source of information for future Black female college athletes who want to play professionally but do not know what they do not know. By developing a body of literature within sports geography on the overlooked and unresearched experiences of professional Black female athletes (BFAs), I contributed to the ever-increasing body of literature on BFAs across various disciplines. Some of the discoveries from my research were that BFVPs experienced racism in ways similar to what they experienced within the United States, such as being oversexualized, expected to play up racially stereotypical views of Black women, and having their hair touched without their consent. They also experienced racism in wildly different ways, such as being spit on, teammates withholding English skills, and accusations of prostitution. When conducting my research, a qualitative approach of a brief demographic survey of 15 questions was sent to over 100 current and former BFVPs; I used these data to narrow down participants. There was a response rate of more than 50%, which resulted in 60 women filling out the survey; of that population, 51 checked yes to interest in being interviewed, and nine checked no to denote no interest in being interviewed. Based on criteria of the number of years played, countries played in, and teams played for, I narrowed the sample to 18 participants willing to participate in qualitative interviews. The theoretical frameworks of Black feminist thought, Black geographies, and theory of racial space were used to understand the experiences of the participants and helped me create a new conceptual framework called critical Black feminist sports geographies.
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Title: The Geography and Recent Activity of Lake Michigan’s Coastal Sand Dunes
Creator: McKeehan, Kevin G.
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation attempts to fill a gap in knowledge regarding conditions amongst the dunefields of Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. Much is now known about the evolution and geochronology of these unique freshwater dune systems. The region’s coastal dunes began forming during the Nipissing high stand phase (~5.5ka) of ancestral Lake Michigan. Since then, according to the chronology constructed from several studies, the coastal dunes then underwent several periods of stability and instability...
Show moreThis dissertation attempts to fill a gap in knowledge regarding conditions amongst the dunefields of Lake Michigan’s eastern shore. Much is now known about the evolution and geochronology of these unique freshwater dune systems. The region’s coastal dunes began forming during the Nipissing high stand phase (~5.5ka) of ancestral Lake Michigan. Since then, according to the chronology constructed from several studies, the coastal dunes then underwent several periods of stability and instability along the entire shoreline. However, questions remain regarding dune conditions and variability since ~1900. The goal of this dissertation was to determine if changes have occurred to the region’s coastal dune systems in the last ~120 years and what might be driving those changes. Given that dune systems are sensitive to biotic and abiotic variables, examining the last ~120 years of dune behavior could potentially reveal how Lake Michigan coastal dunes are responding to anthropogenic climate change and human development.Three studies, each comprising a dissertation chapter (Chapters 2-4), were conducted to help close this knowledge gap. Each chapter is broadly linked through an ecogeomorphic lens, particularly through the relationship between dunes and vegetation, which are interconnected in important ways. In Chapter 2, changes in dunefield vegetation and morphology were determined at several locations along the eastern Lake Michigan shoreline through the use of ground-level repeat photography. The second dissertation study – Chapter 3 – concerns the spatiotemporal analysis of historical changes of blowouts, which are important indicators of significant disturbance in the dunes. In this chapter, blowouts were mapped from aerial images at three timestamps – 1938, 1986-8, and 2018 – and the changes quantified. Chapter 4, the final dissertation study, explores the relationship between terrain ruggedness and vegetation in a coastal dunefield along Lake Michigan by calculating two terrain indices – Riley’s Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI) and Sappington’s Vector Ruggedness Measure (VRM) – and the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI). Through a land systems framework, the results were compared to determine if any correlation exists between the ruggedness of dunes and vegetation.In the first two dissertation studies, the results show a clear expansion of vegetation at the expense of previously bare sand. In the final study, the values from TRI and VRM and the values from the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) were not correlated overall, especially where one type of vegetation was dominant. However, within one land system – the dune barrens -- a moderate-to-strong negative correlation existed between terrain ruggedness and vegetation. Moreover, evidence suggests that vegetation has transformed the dune barrens land system area within the modern period. Overall, the results of these three studies demonstrate that vegetation is expanding over previously bare surfaces in coastal dunes along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and has a considerable influence on regional dune conditions. While the precise driver(s) of this transformation is unclear, the regional-scale nature of these results suggests a uniform control is affecting these changes. As described in this dissertation, it is possible that an increase in precipitation since the 1930s, elevated atmospheric CO2 and N concentrations, a reduction in wind power, some other change in climate drivers, or a combination of many factors is responsible for the expansion in vegetation. It is also possible the trend in vegetation growth in Lake Michigan’s coastal dunes is a lagged response to an earlier climate event.
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