The concept sustainability has grown to include concerns about social equity as well as economic and environmental. This thesis investigates commuting in Leon County, Florida using a jobs-housing balance/excess commuting framework. Excess commuting has been a popular kind of commuting research for over thirty years. However a dataset from the U.S. Census Bureau offers new opportunities for insight as it is highly spatially disaggregate and available annually for the years 2002-2011. This thesis uses spatially disaggregate measures to analyze whether commuters with different income commuting differently over the course of the recent U.S. recession 2006-2011. To this end, jobs clusters are identified in the region and commuting into these areas is compared to the regional averages. Lastly a relative commuting burden metric is devised to contextualize monetarily what these commuting patterns mean for the different groups. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2013. / July 15, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Horner, Professor Directing Thesis; Joseph Pierce, Committee Member; Michael Duncan, Committee Member.

Perhaps nothing on Earth is so uniquely majestic, yet destructive as the tornado. A violent tornado can level a town in minutes, causing death, injuries, monumental property losses and lasting emotional damage. To better understand the power behind tornadoes this research estimates the per-tornado total kinetic energy (TKE) for all tornadoes in the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) database over the period 2007-2013. TKE is estimated using the fraction of the tornado path experiencing Enhanced Fujita (EF) damage and the midpoint wind speed for each EF damage rating. TKE is validated as a metric of destruction by comparing it to other indexes of destruction including the Destruction Potential Index (DPI) and Tornado Destruction Index (TDI). Results showed that the Tallulah-Yazoo City-Durant tornado was the tornado with the most energy over the period, that 2011 was the year with the most energy, and that April and May were the months of the year with the most energy. The difference between frequency and energy was investigated and showed that while parts of "Tornado Alley" experienced the most tornadoes, it was the Deep South that experienced the most powerful tornadoes. Future work on TKE should look to compare environmental parameters (convective air potential energy (CAPE), helicity, and vertical wind shear) and TKE values. It should also look to disaggregate the scale at which TKE is possible and focus on the social implications of powerful tornadoes. TKE as a metric of destruction has value in its potential ability to spark new considerations about insurance rates, building codes, and public policy concerning tornadoes. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 20, 2015. / DPI, energy, TDI, tornado / Includes bibliographical references. / James B. Elsner, Professor Directing Thesis; Victor Mesev, Committee Member; Stephanie Pau, Committee Member.

People living in urban areas face environmental challenges resulting from the ever-increasing amount of impervious surfaces, which in turn increase the volume of stormwater runoff. Stormwater flow from impervious surfaces can lead to stream degradation, habitat alteration, low base flows, and toxic loadings from non-point sources. Rapid urbanization exacerbates the problem by creating continuous areas of surface imperviousness and fewer green patches. Remote sensing is a technology that facilitates frequent and widespread collection of data that can be analyzed to measure the extent of surface imperviousness, biophysical areas, and urban land use types. Accurate and current information of urban land use is required to build strategies for sustainable development. The purposes of this dissertation are to explore how object-oriented classification using high spatial resolution images captured by the QuickBird and GeoEye-1 satellite sensors can measure urban imperviousness and vegetation cover; and using multiple regression models, how climatic, geographic, physical, hydrological, and demographic factors influence stormwater quality in two cities - one in a humid climate, and one in an arid climate. It is important to establish the specific requirements and objectives for stormwater quality and to recognize the difference of cities in arid and humid areas. The spatial-statistical methodology demonstrates how satellite imagery can identify precise, consistent and rapid consequences of urbanization. Finally, another goal of this research is to suggest effective urban planning and stormwater management policies for sustainability, considering regional characteristics of arid and humid areas. It is critical for supporting public policies that advocate environmental sustainability and the more recent focus of urban livability. This research will be worthwhile for controlling and exploring the plurality of urban areas by providing a data source for the development and design of urban planning. Outreach from each can be conveniently grouped within the diverse umbrella of urban sustainability that links theory with more pragmatic policy-based solutions. That is, this dissertation will focus on the role of stormwater quality in urban sustainable management policy, indicators of urban growth and exurban expansion. The broader impact of this research is to help understand urban areas; how they are measured by their biophysical characteristics; their built environment; and their place is environmental ecologies. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / March 28, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references. / Victor Mesev, Professor Directing Dissertation; Timothy S. Chapin, University Representative; Xiaojun Yang, Committee Member; Tingting Zhao, Committee Member.

This dissertation adds to ongoing research efforts that seek a better understanding of the complex relationships between human beings and their environment. Specifically, the impact of natural disasters on coastal communities from the sudden occurrences of such disasters and their potentially devastating consequences - e g., earthquakes and tsunamis - requires communities to be prepared, by planning specific land-use polices and by developing evacuation plans. Through identifying the locations of populations at risk of a tsunami, determining their behavioral responses during an evacuation, and utilizing a GIS evacuation tool - Capacity-Aware Shortest Path Evacuation Routing (CASPER), the research reported in this dissertation proposes a means to predict the number of evacuating vehicles from various tsunami scenarios and calculate evacuation clearance time for these scenarios. Motivated by the need to provide new ways to use the results of the behavioral analysis in evacuation modeling, this study developed a methodology to predict the number of evacuating vehicles based on the result of the behavioral analysis to estimate the evacuation clearance time using evacuation modeling. In order to estimate the evacuation clearance time, a framework was utilized and is described in four analytical chapters of this dissertation - chapters 4 - 7: Chapter 4 identifies the population at risk of tsunami. Chapter 5 explores the characteristics of the sample population; Chapter 6 offers predictions on the number of evacuating vehicles, and, Chapter 7 models the evacuation process to estimate the evacuation clearance time with and without congestion. Each of these chapters interconnects with the succeeding chapter as they together complete the framework used to model evacuation clearance time. The ability to assess the preparedness for a natural hazard will broaden the understanding of the relationship between behavioral responses and evacuation transportation options, which in turn will provide planners, government officials, and geographers the required knowledge to address related planning issues such as evacuation planning and sustainable development. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 3, 2015. / Behavioral Survey, Evacuation, Geography, GIS, Transportation Modeling, Tsunami / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Horner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Timothy Chapin, University Representative; Earl J. Baker, Committee Member; Tingting Zhao, Committee Member; Eren Ozguven, Committee Member.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine several important issues in landscape pattern analysis, including the identification of important landscape metrics, the impact of the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in landscape pattern analysis, the linkage between pattern and process, and the application of landscape pattern analysis. A theoretical framework of hierarchical patch dynamics paradigm and a technical framework of GIS and remote sensing integration are employed to address these questions. The Red Hills region of southwestern Georgia and northern Florida is chosen as the study area. Land use/cover (LULC) and longleaf pine distribution maps were generated through satellite image classification. Sub-watersheds were used as the main analysis units. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on 43 sub-watersheds at three hierarchical LULC levels to identify important landscape metrics. At both landscape- and class-levels, the measurement of fragmentation was identified as the most important landscape dimension. Other dimensions and important metrics varied with different scales. Hexagons were used as an alternative zoning system to examine the MAUP impact in landscape pattern analysis. The results indicated that landscape pattern analyses at class level and at broader scales were more sensitive to MAUP than at landscape level and at finer scales. Local-scale pattern analysis based on moving window analysis greatly reduced the impact of MAUP at class level, but had little effects at landscape level. An examination of the relationship between landscape pattern variables and biophysical/socio-economic variables was undertaken by using statistical analysis. The biophysical variables of soil drainage and mean slope and the socio-economic variables of road density, population density, distance to Tallahassee, Florida, and plantation amount were found to be closely correlated to the landscape patterns in this region. However, a large amount of variation in the landscape patterns remained unexplainable, suggesting that additional factors should be considered in the analysis of pattern and process relationship. The important landscape metrics identified by PCA were used in landscape classification and evaluation. Nine core longleaf pine patches were identified as having the first conservation priority. Eight sub-watersheds and thirteen plantations were considered the most important in management. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Geography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2005. / August 5, 2005. / MAUP, Landscape Metrics, Landscape Classification, Scale, The Red Hills Region / Includes bibliographical references. / Xiaojun Yang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Frances C. James, Outside Committee Member; James B. Elsner, Committee Member; Jon Anthony Stallins, Committee Member; Mark W. Horner, Committee Member.

In this dissertation I examine the United States as a space of hunger. While geographers have analyzed hunger in other places around the world, especially in the Third World, they have generally neglected to explain its occurrence in the American context. I begin by taking to heart Sayer's observation that social objects are intrinsically meaningful and examine the ways in which hunger has been conceptualized in the United States and, therefore, measured, mapped, and addressed in policy and politics. Next I develop a theoretical framework for explaining hunger, drawing upon the ideas of scholars who have studied food deprivation in the United States and elsewhere. The framework, echoing primarily the terminology and ideas of the geographer Michael Watts, is called the "sphere of food security", a historically and geographically defined social space consisting of three sets of causal forces – termed entitlement, empowerment, and political economy – that shapes the ability of people to reliably obtain food. I apply the framework to the U.S. in order to generate a multi-faceted understanding of hunger in that place context. First, I show that the ability of Americans to avoid hunger and achieve food security depends primarily on their access to food channels governed primarily by market relations and secondarily by rights of citizenship and state policies, while access to food channels governed by private relations of affinity and community (i.e. charity), though important on an individual basis, is insufficient to provide the basis for individual or household food security. Second, I show how the social relations in which food channels are embedded have changed in the decades leading up to the late 1990s. In general the anti-hunger political system forged in the late 1960s was eroded by an ascendant neoliberal ideology and the political economic shift from Fordism/Welfarism to Flexibilism/Workfarism. Third, I analyze the map of hunger in the United States, revealing its spatial distribution to be a function of three composite economic and social forces. Finally, I conclude with a case study of hunger in Washington state, a place with an unexpectedly high rate of hunger due to recent political economic dynamics and internal differentiation. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Geography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / December 18, 2004. / Hunger, United States, State Devolution, Neoliberalism / Includes bibliographical references. / Janet E. Kodras, Professor Directing Dissertation; Petra Doan, Outside Committee Member; Philip E. Steinberg, Committee Member; Barney Warf, Committee Member.

This thesis examines the level of public support for the development of a greenway system in Leon County, Florida. The data for the study was acquired through a mail survey (N=390) to a randomly sampled selection of Leon County, Florida registered voters. The results of the survey were interpreted using logistic regression. In addition, the analysis determines survey respondents' perceived level of access to existing Leon County trails. The analysis reveals that gender, age, education, length of time at current residence, renting versus owning property, and political ideology are significant in predicting voter approval of the Leon County greenway system and the use of public funds for its further development. The findings suggest the utility of a prediction model for other communities facing ballot measures to fund park, open space, and trail development. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Spring Semester, 2005. / December 8, 2004. / Environmental Concern, Greenways and Trails, Voter Behavior / Includes bibliographical references. / Jonathan Leib, Professor Directing Thesis; Janet Kodras, Committee Member; Morton Winsberg, Committee Member.

The need to create effective plans for distributing aid after a hurricane is of increasing importance, as recent research suggests stronger storms will be affecting more people located throughout the southeastern United States in the immediate future. There is also evidence that not all people will choose to evacuate an at risk region or seek protection at shelters. To this point there have been only a few studies exploring the use of location models in post-hurricane settings to accomplish efficient placements of facilities with goods and services for people who remain at their homes. No researchers have examined the possibility of implementing a hierarchical structure among these relief facilities. This thesis suggests a hierarchical capacitated-median model as a means for achieving hierarchy. Three variations of this model are tested and their solutions are compared to that of a non-hierarchical version of the capacitated-median model. The thesis finds that if there is limited availability of certain goods or services it could be useful to employ the use of a hierarchical capacitated-median problem to place facilities that provide different levels of assistance. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2009. / June 22, 2009. / Hurricanes, Location Modelling, Disaster Relief / Includes bibliographical references. / Mark Horner, Professor Directing Thesis; Tingting Zhao, Committee Member; Philip Steinberg, Committee Member.

The Talladega-Cartersville fault emplaces the rocks of the Talladega metamorphic belt upon the unmetamorphosed rocks of the foreland fold-and-thrust belt. The Talladega slate belt is composed of lower-greenschist facies meta-sedimentary and meta-volcanic rocks which are poly-deformed yet have undergone only one metamorphic event. The stratigraphy located in Talladega County within the Talladega slate belt include the Kahatchee Mountain Group, the Sylacauga Marble Group and Talladega Group which are interpreted in this study as representing a change is deposition from clastic shallow marine, to stable carbonate bank, to a deep marine basin following the collapse of the carbonate shelf. The Talladega slate belt in this study is interpreted as being a distal continuation of the units exposed within the foreland thrust belt. Lithologic and petrographic study indicates that the sandstones within the Sleeping Giants klippe are more suited to the metamorphic belt stratigraphy than the Chilhowee stratigraphy in the foreland. This renders the Sleeping Giants klippe an isolated part of the Talladega slate belt. Four fold phases are detailed, the oldest of which, is the only one to have occurred before the metamorphic event. The metamorphic event is believed to have occurred during the Alleghenian orogeny during which deep burial (~12 km) gave the rocks of the metamorphic belt their low-grade metamorphic signature. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geological Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2009. / August 6, 2009. / Structural Geology, Petrography, Wash Creek Slate, Sylacauga Marble Group, Talladega Slate Belt, Stratigraphy / Includes bibliographical references. / James F. Tull, Professor Directing Thesis; Vincent J. M. Salters, Committee Member; Steve Kish, Committee Member.

This study examines patterns of cloud-to-ground flash enhancement and precipitation for the greater Atlanta, Georgia region. Previous research documented greater annual average flash densities (6 to 8 km-2/yr), and more flash days northeast of the city. Precipitation enhancement has also been observed through the use of both ground-based gauge and spaceborne radar data. Using an approach based in cartographic visualization and GIS, a climatology is developed to identify and characterize possible causal mechanisms and variability in flash production. To delineate how prevailing winds contribute to this hotspot, lightning flashes were selected for weak forcing conditions during the summer months (May through September, 1995 through 2003). The steering winds for the events that lower flashes in the northeast hotspot were clustered according to wind speed and direction to isolate variability in flash production around the city. Flash events were coupled to rainfall data (NARR) to visualize associated precipitation production. The spatial patterning of precipitation and cloud-to-ground lightning enhancement around Atlanta is indicative of urban alteration of convective processes. Downwind areas of increased flash activity and precipitation accumulation shifted around the urban area in accordance with steering winds from several directions. This research emonstrates the need for contextual analysis of urban lightning and precipitation patterns that accounts for the variability of localized conditions. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Geography in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2008. / October 10, 2008. / Urban Climates, Heat Islands, Data Mining / Includes bibliographical references. / Jon Anthony Stallins, Professor Directing Dissertation; Timothy Chapin, Outside Committee Member; James B. Elsner, Committee Member; Xiaojun Yang, Committee Member.