The GIS of Plaza B represents the application of GIS in the analysis of buildings. The GIS contains information on six structures and recreates the development of the royal residential plaza at the ancient Maya site of Altun Ha, in northern Belize. Altun Ha is a small site with a long history of occupation, rich in architectural and artifactual forms. The major site expansion and development started in the end of the Early Classic (A. D. 400) with the emergence of the institution of kingship at the site. Two adjunct plazas, A and B, formed the largest ceremonial residential complex in the center of the site. This thesis analyzed the layout of the residential plaza and the dynamics of change in the access patterns within the structures. The study of the layout revealed that in spite of the seeming informality, the layout of Plaza B was carefully planned. The access patterns and shape of residential structures showed that one of them was used as a residential- administrative building, and another most likely have been strictly residential. The architecture of the plazas funerary shrine recreated stories from Maya mythology and symbolized the connection between ancestors and descendants. The changes in the access patterns within the structures of Plaza B, around A. D. 700, paralleled by the changes in tomb and cache placement practices, supported the hypothesis about the change in the succession line of the ruling family that led to the gradual degradation of the central power at Altun Ha and eventual abandonment of the site. The GIS of Plaza B proved to be an excellent information base and valuable tool for data analysis. It allowed representation of the plaza structures as a complex of interconnected dynamic entities. This unified representation, in turn, allowed formulation of the hypothesis about social changes that triggered changes in architecture.

Between the Civil War and World War I, American cities underwent dramatic changes: they changed in shape, they changed in size, they changed in terms of who was there, and how those individuals were distributed through the city. The driving force behind these urban morphological changes was industrialization and the emergence of industrial slums on the edges of expanding business districts. These industrial slums were widely believed to breed disease, crime, intemperance, and immorality external costs that were being born by the entire society. Yet American society and American philanthropic institutions were not prepared to deal with the by-products of the new industrial-capitalist economy (namely, extensive poverty and increased social segregation) or the rise of big cities. As a result, progressive social reformers developed new methods of helping poor, largely immigrant communities adjust to a rapidly changing, increasingly complex urban society. One such effort was the settlement movement. Begun in Londons East End in 1884, the movement emphasized residence and the creation of community. The movements leaders worked to facilitate communication across class lines, provide cultural luxuries (like university level classes and art exhibits) to the poor, create functioning neighborhoods in the midst of blight, and spur others primarily, idealistic, upper-class, college-educated men to participate in social reform. The English settlement movement (and the American movement, which began in 1886) represented a new, alternative approach to helping the poor; mid-nineteenth century social reformers focused on moralism, and viewed poverty as the product of vice and moral failure. Settlement workers viewed poverty largely as an environmental problem that they could help solve through settlement-sponsored activities and amenities. This research focuses on two settlement houses in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1890s and examines how settlement workers impacted the neighborhoods of the South Cove and the South End. The founders (and ultimately, workers) of the settlements had very different ideas on how best to help their communities, yet both made significant strides toward providing basic amenities to their neighbors in the form of libraries, baths, playgrounds, health clinics, daycare, and school classes, amenities that these neighborhoods otherwise would have been without.

In the summer of 2003 I conducted an archaeological study at Pork and Doughboy Point, Belize, under the direction of Dr. Heather McKillop. The site, situated amidst other ancient Maya coastal settlements of the Port Honduras in southern Belize, has only been tested for offshore deposits in the three decades since it was reported. The current research involved the first reported terrestrial excavations at the site. The goals of this investigation were to recover pottery that could be used to date the ancient Maya occupation and obtain artifacts that would suggest the nature of the site. From artifact analyses I have concluded that Pork and Doughboy Point was the location of one or more intensified activities, the products of which were likely involved in coastal-inland trade with the interior centers of southern Belize. I propose first generation models that test the available data in an attempt to depict the nature of ancient Maya coastal site development and economy. These models may also be appropriate in other regions of the Maya realm.

The Mississippi Delta, as defined by the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), is an area of historical and present deprivation. Persistent poverty, lackluster economic development opportunities, and the associated ills of this environment exist alongside large-scale, subsidized agriculture. These federal subsidy payments are criticized for increasing the wealth of corporate enterprises rather than stabilizing the family farmer for whom they were created. This dissertation examines the geography of agristructure, subsidies, and socio-economic characteristics in the Delta with the purpose of identifying spatial relationships among these three variables. Drawing from the Goldschmidt Hypothesis, this research proposes that areas of large-scale agristructure will also be areas of high subsidy income and of poor community well-being as measured by social and economic indicators. Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) are employed with correlation and interviews in order to identify the patterns of deprivation associated with agriculture and to understand variation in this geography within the region. With this information, hopefully policymakers will recognize the inefficiency wrought from the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to economic development in the region. The Delta will not effectively move forward without acknowledgement of agricultures role in both its wealth and deprivation and of understanding the regions true diversity.

In recent years, several freshwater diversion structures have been constructed along the lower Mississippi River south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These structures divert freshwater and sediment into Louisianas coastal wetlands in an effort to combat Louisianas estimated annual wetland loss of 65 km2. The successful operation of these diversions depends upon the stage of the Mississippi River. An increase in river stage generally results in an increase in the suspended sediment load and in the discharge of water through a diversion. The subsequent transport of suspended sediment within an estuary is also influenced by local rainfall, tide, and wind speed and direction. This study examines the relationship between the suspended sediment concentration in the east-central Barataria Basin and the operation of the Naomi Siphon, Mississippi River stage, local rainfall, tide, wind speed, and wind direction. The Naomi Freshwater Diversion, located southeast of New Orleans, diverts freshwater and suspended sediment into the Barataria Estuary. A 10-year record of monthly turbidity readings (used as a surrogate for suspended sediment concentration) from within the estuary was combined with river stage, rainfall, tide, wind speed, and wind direction data to examine the effect of these forcing factors on the turbidity and concentration of suspended sediment within the estuary. Results indicate that suspended sediment concentrations are greatest in the areas closest to the siphon when the siphon is discharging and during periods of high river stage. Spoil banks appear to block the flow of sediment-laden sheet flow to the outer regions of the wetland. Sheet flow is diverted into canals and flows off site. Individually, tide affects only the interior wetlands, due to an increase of readily available sediment in this area. Rainfall and wind individually provide a negligible influence on suspended sediment concentrations. Regression models of the relationship between suspended sediment concentration and the environmental forcing factors were developed. The study also determined that canals are more efficient than bayous for transporting suspended sediment. The canals appear to be funneling suspended sediment out of the wetlands.

Sinker cypress (Taxodium spp.) logs are timbers that were lost during transit from harvest locations in the swamps and mill sites during the industrial cypress harvest from 1880-1930. A small industry has developed, concentrated on the recovery of sinker logs. Most of the persons involved in the recovery of sinker cypress, mill the logs into lumber, and sell the timber directly to consumers or to distributors. A smaller number of pullers retain the logs for personal use. Recovery operations are a costly endeavor and require a significant investment on the part of the harvesters. Most pullers are owner/operators who do not use profits from log sales as a primary source of income. The federal and state governments have enacted policies and regulations to prevent negative impacts on the ecosystems around recovery locations. Persons who harvest sinker cypress logs must apply for permits to remove sinker cypress from waterways. Sinker cypress recovery is cost and labor intensive. The preferred methodology of finding logs is to don diving gear and feel for logs in the mud on the bottoms of rivers and streams. This study was conducted in south Louisiana and conclusions were based primarily on personal interviews and legal studies. There is a spatial relationship between the cultural identity of south Louisiana and cypress. South Louisiana is a source of sinker cypress and the majority of people who purchase the wood live in region. The wood is also used on a smaller scale in restoration projects in the United States in order to maintain consistent wood grain matching.

This dissertation presents an alternative mapping approach which challenges the hegemony of abstract space and instrumental reason propagated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its 1998 study of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) permitting process. The "other truth" is presented through application of concepts from critical theory, critical geography, and the works of Henri Lefebvre to a specific environmental justice struggle in St. James Parish, Louisiana. In 1996 Shintech, Inc. proposed building a polyvinyl chloride facility in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The community, concerned about the considerable toxic burden already present in the area, formed a grassroots environmental group, St. James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment (SJCJE) to fight the plant location. A chief concern of the SJCJE was the potential adverse health impact of the proposed facility on the health of the community's children. Working with the SJCJE, I created maps to illustrate their concerns. The EPA created a series of maps as part of their investigation which attempt to superimpose abstract space onto social space of the local community. I critiqued the EPA maps using concepts from critical theory, critical geography, and Lefebvre. The EPA maps are biased in favor of the status quo. While the EPA maps take the petrochemical facilities in the area as their central organizing principle, my maps are community-oriented. The maps I produced for the SJCJE are centered on the schools in the community and one of the more populated areas. My alternative mapping approach is not a replacement for the EPA's work but rather a necessary complement. The mapping approach I demonstrate is a move toward emancipatory mapping.

Working at the junction of medicine and physical anthropology, this research investigates the rate of fracture healing. The ability to assign ages to fractures based on the degree of remodeling could be a valuable tool for identifying skeletal remains. This ability could differentiate between individuals with similar fractures and could also narrow the search of medical records for matches. Multiple radiographic images from 62 individuals were collected from the Baton Rouge Orthopaedic Clinic, including information on sex, ancestry, age of the individual, and age of the fracture. Breaks in the x-rays are categorized into one of six stages, defined on the basis of observable characteristics in radiographs. Variables of age, sex, ancestry, and type of fixation (ie, internal or external) are tested against the stage of the fracture and the time since the initial diagnosis of the fracture. Univariate analysis of variance shows that age is the only variable investigated in this study that repeatedly shows a significant correlation to the age of a particular fracture. Further research is needed to draw concrete conclusions and develop acceptable ranges for dating fractures.

Forest fragmentation refers to the spatial distribution of forests in a landscape. Forest fragmentation drastically alters forest composition, habitat quality, genetic flow and many other ecological processes associated with forested ecosystems. This research examined spatial patterns and rates of forest fragmentation during the 1991-2001 period for a region in southeast Louisiana known as the "Florida Parishes." Following classification of 1991 and 2001 Landsat data into forest and non-forest classes, spatial patterns were examined using Fragstats 3.3 spatial analysis software. Spatial statistics such as patch density, perimeter to area ratios, core area indices, edge density, and various landscape continuity indices were used to assess patterns and trends of forest fragmentation in landscapes throughout the region. A variety of patch, core and edge metrics indicated increasing forest fragmentation in a majority of the landscapes examined. Values of various landscape continuity indices were also found to suggest significant increases in forest fragmentation in a majority of landscapes. The correlation of various forest fragmentation metrics with metrics associated with suburban sprawl was shown to be relatively weak by low R² values. These findings may suggest that suburban sprawl was not the only factor affecting the spatial arrangement of forests in the Florida Parishes during the study period. The results of this research facilitate an increased understanding of the current trends of forest land-cover fragmentation in the Florida Parishes and the potential influences of these trends on related ecological processes.

As geographers continue to research the interactions between physical landscapes and conceived or represented landscapes, the Virgin of Guadalupe pilgrimage site, a prominent site for Latin American Catholicism, provided an opportunity for further study in this area. Mexico Citys rapid expansion drastically changed the material landscape from rural to densely urban, especially since the early 1900s. With indigenous spirituality closely tied to the physical aspects of the landscape, especially those more related to the natural and rural elements, the onset of urbanity can potentially lead to alienation and consequently a decrease in pilgrimages and participation in worship at the site. How then, do those representing the site adjust to the changes in the landscape in order to maintain a sense of spirituality, and how is spirituality maintained through the interactions of all other elements of the material/conceptual landscape associated with the site? Repeat photography, field observation, and archival research were used to answer these questions. In order to gain more perspective, historical sections were written describing the venerated image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the cultural, especially religious, differences between the natives and Europeans involved with this site. Another section describes the site as seen in 2005, while comparing it to earlier years. Several dialectical considerations are discussed in order to provide a more in-depth understanding of the sites interactions with its surroundings. Subsequently a material/conceptual landscape site analysis model, developed in regards to this pilgrimage site but potentially applicable elsewhere, paves the way for understanding the intricate interactions taking place among different aspects of the material/conceptual landscape. The concluding section extrapolates general themes regarding previous responses of representations and the material pilgrimage site design to threat of a potentially alienating urban landscape, along with indicating what we may expect to see when visiting the site and viewing representations of the site in the near future. The concluding section also delves into possible future research opportunities at this pilgrimage site, especially regarding various forms of landscape analysis.