Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Physics and Astronomy. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-110). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38824

<p> Understanding the causes of specific fire regimes is critical for determining the long term impacts of fire on vegetation cover. Numerous studies using 30 m Landsat data find a relationship between fire timing and vegetation type, but this relationship has not been observed at broader scales. In West Africa land-cover patterns are heterogeneous and patchy at the landscape scale and annual fires often burn mosaic patterns. It is well documented that where fires are known to be small and fragmented, the commonly used coarse-resolution MODIS data cannot give accurate estimates of burned area. Moreover, their inability to capture the spatial pattern of land-cover types burned presents a mixed pixel problem, because vegetation and agricultural fields vary on a scale less than 500 m². To overcome these issues, this study uses medium-resolution Landsat data to map land-cover. Landscape ecological indices are used to observe spatial patterns at 500 m scale.</p>

<p> FEMA&rsquo;s <i>Hazus Earthquake Model</i> (FEMA, 2018) is used frequently in the United States for scenario driven catastrophic planning, prioritizing mitigation funding, and disaster response situational awareness. The Hazus Earthquake Model requires a significant array of data for conducting earthquake loss estimations in terms of population demographics, building construction proxies, built environment estimates, critical facility locations, building infrastructure, and a variety of engineering and analysis parameters. A basic baseline of these required inputs is provided with Hazus for all 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and the 5 U.S. territories. These default baseline datasets and engineering/analysis parameters however are somewhat rudimentary, and the incorporation of local data greatly increases results. Hazus enables the United States natural hazards risk assessment community to quantify risk using a robust suite of analysis options. By adapting the <i>Hazus Earthquake Model</i> for a country outside of the United States, risk management professionals across the globe can leverage the significant financial investment and over 20 years of software and scientific methodology investments undertaken by the U.S. government for their communities. While the methods and models are transferable internationally, the limited available data upon which the model is reliant minimizes its application outside of the U.S. Many global population exposure, building, and construction practice datasets do exist that could be leveraged to enable regional Hazus Earthquake modeling capability globally and a methodology for integrating these datasets into the software can facilitate technology transfer for supporting risk reduction. By conducting a quantitative comparison between modeled and actual losses from the 2015 Gorkha (Nepal) Mw 7.8 earthquake, this study aims to answer whether FEMA&rsquo;s U.S.-centric Hazus Earthquake Model can be adapted for Nepal to estimate building damages, injuries, and fatalities using global exposure datasets.</p><p>

<p> This study performed an assessment of the representational accuracy of the forest class of the GlobeLand30 (GL30) global land cover data sets for the country of Mexico using a robust geographically distributed forest inventory survey of the forests in Mexico. The representational accuracy assessment was carried out for both the 2000 and 2010 GL30 data sets. The detailed attribute data associated with the validation set demonstrates how GL30 classifies specific forest types and how canopy coverage and number for trees per site influence the likelihood of GL30 identifying the sites correctly as forests. The results indicate that producers accuracies range from 72.3% to 97.3%. The tropical forests (89.1%) were better represented by the GL30 forest class than the temperate forest (73.9%). The most poorly represented classes from the temperate (oak: 72.3%) and tropical (low dry deciduous jungle: 74.9%) groups were deciduous. Receiver Operator Curve and Area Under the Curve analyses show that canopy coverage of a site is a better predictor of GL30, correctly identifying the site as forest for temperate forest, and that the number of the trees per site is a better predictor of GL30 correctly identifying a site as forest for tropical forests. The results also indicate a distinct spatial variability in the location of the sample sites that are misidentified as forests by GL30. The results of this thesis will help researchers and professionals better understand the representational accuracy of the GL30 data sets for the forests in Mexico.</p><p>

<p> Archaeologists have been interested in relationship between environmental variability and cultural change for the last six decades. By understanding how, when, and why humans adapt to environmental change, archaeologists and anthropologists can better understand the development and complexity of human cultures. In northwest Alaska, archaeologists hypothesize that environmental variability was a major factor in both growing coastal population density, with large aggregated villages and large houses, between 1000 and 500 years ago (ya), and subsequent decreasing population density between 500 ya and the contact era. After 500 ya people are thought to have dispersed to smaller settlements with smaller house sizes in coastal areas, and perhaps, upriver. This settlement pattern was identified through research at four site locations over 30 years ago. The changing geographic distribution of sites, associated settlement size, and house size has not been examined in detail. A more careful examination of changing northwest Alaskan settlement patterns is needed before larger questions about socio-economic organization can be addressed. I use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to evaluate the evidence for a geographic redistribution of Arctic peoples during the Late Holocene. </p><p> I constructed a database of settlement location and site attribute information, specifically the number of houses within each settlement and the size (m²). Data were collected from a dataset of Western Arctic National Parklands (WEAR), the Alaska Heritage Resource Survey (AHRS) database of archaeological sites in Alaska, 409 unpublished site reports and field notes curated by the National Park Service (NPS) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the results of recent fieldwork in northwest Alaska. A total of 486 settlements were identified within the northwest Alaska with 128 settlements having temporal and site attribute data. </p><p> I incorporated settlement size data into a GIS database and then carried out global, Moran&rsquo;s I, local Moran&rsquo;s I, and local Getis-Ord spatial analyses to test whether settlement redistribution occurred and if key settlement locations shifted after 500 ya. The site attribute data (number of houses and average size of houses) are used to test the additional aspects of the proposed settlement pattern change after 500 ya. A total of 83 settlements with 465 houses are used to test if the average size of settlements and average house size changed after 500 ya. </p><p> The results of the spatial analyses indicate no statistically significant patterns in the spatial distribution of settlements. Site attribute analysis shows no statistical difference in the average number of houses per village or the average size of houses before or after 500 ya. The results of this work build our understanding of regional settlement patterns during the late Holocene. By testing settlement pattern change, i.e. settlement distribution, settlement size, and house size, future research into settlement pattern change can begin to evaluate likely causes for the observed changes. My method, specifically the use of GIS as a method for testing settlement pattern change, can be applied to other regions and temporal scales.</p><p>

<p> This thesis provides an extensive look at where permitted non-farm uses and dwellings have clustered within Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zones in the Northern Willamette Valley in Oregon. There is a looming concern that non-farm related uses and dwellings, or non-farm development, are conflicting with agricultural preservation strategies. Specifically, non-farm developments can potentially undermine the critical mass of farmland needed to keep the agricultural economy sustainable, but until now, studies have lacked spatially precise data to systematically track these phenomena. This thesis offers methodological contributions towards analyzing these operations and presents a broad account of what has been occurring in the region. Using permit approval data from the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) and 2015 county tax lot shapefiles, I geocoded the locations of these uses and dwellings. I used location quotient and spatial autocorrelation coefficients to identify non-farm hotspots in the region and summarized different typologies that have developed. The findings reveal that viticulture operations have amassed near Dundee and Newberg in Yamhill County, while commercial activities and home occupations have clustered near the Salem-Keizer UGB. Concurrently, dwellings have clustered near the Yamhill-Polk County border. Finally, I offer suggestions to improve Oregon&rsquo;s agricultural land use policy and data management process, as well as advocate for more intensive research in the future to generate narratives for our results.</p><p>

The high degree of accuracy now found using GPS observation techniques has led to worldwide acceptance of the geocentric datums, specifically the WGS84 datum as the mainstay for referencing in the geodetic community. Nevertheless, local datums are non-geocentric and if we want to use GPS on their positions, some disagreement will result. This report presents PC-based software to transform coordinates between any two arbitrary datums. Transformations between NAD27 and NAD83 are used as examples expanded with the development of maps which illustrate shifts between those two datums in Latitude, Longitude, and Geoidal Height. It should be stressed that these transformations are based upon the standard seven parameters (3 shifts, 3 rotations, and scale change) and changes in the semimajor axis and the flattening including second partial differentials. This software does not take into account any random distortions that may be present in the datum coordinates. / Master of Engineering

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<p> Electoral districts drawn by independent commissions are seen by political reformers to be preferable to those drawn by state legislatures. The overtly partisan interests of elected officials, say the reformers, lead to oddly-shaped, and gerrymandered districts. To test this, shapes of districts in states with commissions are compared to those within the same state prior to the commission&rsquo;s establishment. Additionally, shapes of districts in states with commissions are compared to those in a selected group of states without commissions. This study tests hypotheses on two methods of measuring compactness, Reock and Polsby-Popper, and coterminosity, the congruence of district lines and pre-existing political boundaries. The study finds that each state with a commission shows no significant difference in mean compactness compared to its pre-commission form. However, in aggregate, all post-commission districts show a significant increase in mean Reock compactness compared to all pre-commission districts, and all districts in states with commissions show significantly less Polsby-Popper compactness than districts in non-commission states. The study also finds no significant difference in coterminosity between commission states and non-commission states. Though the true effect of commissions may not be discernible from averages, other redistricting criteria also need to be controlled for and evaluated over time.</p>