The communication made possible by the Internet has leveled the global playing field in some ways, but helped maintain traditional inequalities as well. The digital divide refers to disparities in telecommunication access and use from global to local scales. This study uses access point mapping to quantify local Internet access in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A Wi-Fi access point (router) density was obtained and compared to various demographic and socioeconomic attributes in neighborhoods. Fieldwork confirmed the expectation that traditionally disadvantaged groups would have the lowest rates of Wi-Fi ownership, but median household income was unexpectedly less related than race, education, and single-mother households. Results from research following the access point mapping technique can help inform planners in implementing municipal Wi-Fi networks meant to redress the digital divide. It can also be used as a proxy measure for socioeconomic data that are not updated often or are expensive to collect.

Tropical cyclone-generated storm surges inflict natural disasters that are among the most catastrophic globally. The surges observed along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are among the highest in the world, second only to the Bay of Bengal. Storm surge activity along the U.S. Gulf Coast remains poorly understood, however, in part, due to the absence of credible research that accurately depicts the maximum height and location of historic surge events. This research addresses this gap in the scientific literature by creating a database of storm surge observations along the Gulf Coast between the years 1880 to 2009. A total of 53 sources were utilized to construct this database, including 21 government documents, 16 books and online publications, and more than 3,000 pages of newspaper from 16 daily periodicals. The database identifies 193 surge events ¡Ý 1.22 meters, nine of which exceed five meters. Hurricane Katrina is the largest magnitude event in the dataset, at 8.47 meters. Spatial analysis reveals enhanced surge activity along the central and western Gulf Coast, as well as the Florida Keys. Time series analyses reveal surge frequencies and magnitudes generally coincide with Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation phases. This research also tested the correlation between surge activity and four climate teleconnections- the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and solar activity. The SOI correlated the highest, followed by the NAO. Return periods associated with extreme surge levels were calculated using four quantile estimation methods- the Gumbel and Beta-P distribution methods, and the Huff-Angel and Southern Regional Climate Center (SRCC) linear regression methods. The SRCC method produced the line of best fit, estimating a 100-year basin-wide surge level of 8.1 meters, and a 2-year basin-wide return period of 2.75 meters.

In the first half of the nineteenth century the house types of the landscape and the footprint of New Orleans changed dramatically. Many of the changes can be attributed to the influx of the refugees from Saint Domingue and the Americans who immigrated from the North and the East Coast of the United States. Both sets of influxes reflect the impact of these two immigrant groups on the previously existing power structures in economics, politics, and society of the city. While the refugees from Saint Domingue more or less assimilated into the city, and in doing so, achieved power over the native Creoles, primarily in the area of social sophistication, the Americans with their more blunt approach to business and politics tended to wrest power from the Creoles by a superior, or at least more effective, business acumen. The landscape generated by the social, political and economic activities and conflicts of the first half of the nineteenth century are apparent in New Orleans today. A number of the buildings built during the period are still present. For example on the 400 block of Royal Street, the old Louisiana State Bank building still has the initials LSB in the ironwork of the balcony and Brennans Restaurant now occupies the old Banque de la Louisiane, but the St. Louis Hotel has been replaced by the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. The Thirteen Sisters is home to a number of art galleries and host to the annual White Linen Night in early August, and social rivalry is maintained by the annual Dirty Linen Night on Bourbon Street the following weekend.

In this study, dry spells in the southern United States are analyzed. Dry spells are defined as consecutive days with no recorded rainfall. Seventy (70) weather stations are researched in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Daily precipitation for each station identifies potential trends in consecutive dry days. Stations were selected for their completeness, longevity, and their proximity to one another. Only stations with five percent or less missing data were allowed. All 70 stations will be analyzed from 1950-2008. Twenty-four stations possess over 100 years of data and will be analyzed. The best geographical indicator for consecutive dry days across this region is longitude, where dry spells have longer durations at westernmost stations. Longitude is a good indicator of changes in frequencies across the study area due to natural climatological controls. Continental tropical (cT) airmasses that exist mainly over Mexico and the southwestern United States compared to the maritime tropical (mT) airmass over the Gulf of Mexico influence precipitation in this area. Moving west from 95°W, there is a steep gradient in dryness of the selected stations. This is the point in which the maritime tropical airmasses lose its influence over the region. Annual average dry spells are calculated. Results from this analysis illustrate more positive tendencies than negative for the years 1908-2008. Annual maximum dry spells are also determined, which show a tendency toward shorter duration events overtime (71.4% of stations). Longer annual maximum dry spells also occur in the west. These tendencies support the idea of climate change, increasing temperatures, and therefore more rain days. Return periods for these events are also presented to further analyze the climatology of dry spells in this region for the 2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, and 100-year events. Steep gradients are discovered in the western half of the study area. From near 95°W eastward, the gradient is much less evident. Results from this research should assist those in the agriculture industry, water resource management, and the many others who depend on high-quality forecasts of precipitation. This analysis also aims to benefit decision and policy-makers in all levels of government.

Although the interrelationship between land use and travel behavior was given more than scant attention in the past, urban planners are far from a solution to reduce commuting and travel by car. One of the reasons is that studies of this kind are often conducted at the aggregate scale limiting ones probabilities of making inferences of individual/household-level travel behavior. Using 1997 Baton Rouge Personal Transportation Survey (BRPTS) data this study attempts to overcome this limitation. First, a multi-level modeling (MLM) approach is applied to investigate the geographical effect of a place and the role of population composition in accounting for place-to-place differentiation in commuting. The models examined the degree of association between several aspects of land use and travel behavior, considered alone and controlling for socio-economic factors. Results of the study indicate that land use remains significant even after accounting for socio-economic factors. Thus, spatial proximity of jobs determines commuting in a significant way. Second, urban structure and its effect on commuting in the Baton Rouge region of Louisiana were examined. Job concentrations in the study area in 1990 and 2000 were defined and changes examined from 1990 to 2000. Commuting patterns both from the perspectives of monocentric and polycentric urban structures were investigated. Results indicate that the polycentric system contributes to a reduction in individual commuting times and distances in the study area. Lastly, individual-level trip data for the Baton Rouge metropolitan area was used to examine the relationship between land use and trip chaining behavior. Specifically, land use measures were used to explain the likelihood of combining activities into multi-stop trip chains by residents of Baton Rouge region. In addition, the impact of travelers employment status was also considered. Models of the ordinary logistic regression, and one accounting for correlation among individual observations were compared. In all models tested, inclusion of land use measures improved the model. Results indicate the significant land use impact on a travelers decision regarding trip chaining. The study findings are consistent with the literature, however, they illustrate the difference that exists between by workers and non-workers.

Various facial reconstruction techniques are used by forensic artists to assist in the identification of human remains. In establishing the biological profile for completion of a facial reconstruction, often the most difficult yet most important determination to make is that of race and/or ancestry of the decedent. By purposefully creating a facial reconstruction of an unidentified presumed mixed-race female decedent, staying true to the tissue depth information arrived at as a result of this researchers tests to determine her race, this author plans to investigate if any biases arise among any potential parties involved in the forensic identification process. This investigation was conducted through polling students at a predominantly white university and a predominantly black university in order to compare how individuals of different races and ancestral backgrounds view race and ancestry and to compare their responses. A public survey regarding the completed clay facial reconstruction was conducted at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Southern University (SU), both located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Participants answered questions regarding the race and ancestry of the woman represented by the clay facial reconstruction (134 total; LSU = 71, and SU = 63). The responses from the surveys between both campuses were similar. The largest number of students believed the womans race to be white (41.8%) and her ancestry to be European (28.4%) when compared to the other labels. This researcher employed the Pearsons chi-square test to assess if the responses to the survey were significantly different (5% significance level with three significant digits for rounding). The comparisons of survey responses found a significant difference between the two universities for the race identification only; all other comparisons based on sex, self-identified race of the respondent, and responses to ancestry were not significantly different. Additionally, the most frequently referenced facial features were the nose and the lips, respectively, in the surveys. Although the responses of the students of the two institutions did not deviate significantly in the way in which they identified specific racial features, their answers were diverse. Future research on this topic should be motivated by questioning if scientific practices are sufficient enough to capture this issue an issue which is also socially scientific

Whalers from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the North Atlantic archipelago of the Faroe Islands hunt pilot whales and a variety of other small cetaceans for food. Vincentian whalers use harpoons, thrown by hand or fired from a modified shotgun mounted on the boat. Faroese whalers, using several dozen boats, work cooperatively to drive an entire pod of whales ashore, where shore-based whalers are waiting to complete the kill with traditional whaling knives. Vincentian whaling traces its origins to the late nineteenth century. Records of Faroese whaling date to the late sixteenth century but the practice is thought to be much older, originating perhaps as early as the tenth century. The annual average take of all cetaceans is 305 in St. Vincent and 1,358 in the Faroe Islands. Whaling is both culturally and practically significant in both locations, providing not only a connection to history, but a source of food as well. However, the continuation of both operations may be threatened by the presence of methyl-mercury and other environmental pollutants in the tissues of the whales, which have been shown to have negative effects on human health. Additionally, both societies have had to negotiate the efforts of anti-whaling organizations, who employ methods such as protest, boycotts, and interventionary attempts to disrupt whaling activities. While the majority of whaling operations throughout the world have ceased completely, owing to a severe decline in whale populations, the Vincentians and the Faroese have in place certain traditional conservation strategies to avoid overexploitation of local stocks. Both societies place geographical limits upon the spaces in which whaling is allowed. The Faroese have codified certain traditional conservation practices into their legal codes including the power of whaling authorities to forbid whale drives to occur if conditions are not favorable or if the food that would result is not needed. Additionally, whaling in the Faroe Islands is conducted communally and the commercialization of whaling is forbidden. Vincentian whalers have cautiously engaged available technological advances, adopting certain technologies to aid their efforts but declining to adopt technologies that might lead to overexploitation of the resource.

The mannjafnaðr is a verbal dueling competition containing boasts and insults through which Norse men compare their achievements and exploits against those of other men in bids to prove themselves more honorable in the eyes of the Norse community. This thesis examines the structure, content, and themes of the mannjafnaðr presented in the Morkinskinna, Magnussona, Brennu-Njals, and the Orvar-Oddr sagas as manifestations of the Norse conception of masculinity. My analysis reveals that these encounters are highly structured and provide interactants opportunities to evaluate adherence to culturally dictated strictures of honor their own and their opponents. Through a complex discourse structure, Norse men evaluate their honor through five categories of actions: physicality, social duties, sexual irregularity, appearance, and the violation of alimentary taboos. The Norse do not value these categories equally. The frequency of each categorys usage in the verbal confrontation reveals their hierarchy. Analysis of the themes in each mannjafnaðr reveals the debates that Norse men had about the valuation of the types of actions and situations through which they perform their masculinity.

Hurricane Katrina had a significant impact on the number and distribution of known archaeological sites in New Orleans, Louisiana. Due to government mandated investigation in heavily damaged areas, many archaeological sites were recorded in geographic locations where there were previously none recorded. This thesis examined the spatial distribution of sites in the context of archaeological predictive modeling to determine the impact of disaster recovery on site location. In addition, decision making processes that led to the discovery of sites were examined to determine how they contributed to spatial bias in the distribution of sites recognized by the Louisiana Division of Archaeology. Sites were categorized based on the types of investigations that led to their discovery: academic research, development or disaster recovery. They were then subjected to spatial and statistical analysis methods to demonstrate geographic differences between categories. Differences in mean elevation and distance to water between site categories were found to be statistically significant. Spatial clusters were identified that were unique to each site category indicating that they were also spatially different. This study indicated that clusters of sites observed within the known site distribution were the result of biased survey methods rather than an accurate representation of the varying density of archaeological deposits throughout New Orleans. As a result, the use of known sites for predictive modeling in New Orleans is highly problematic and needs to be evaluated further. A different conceptual model of New Orleans archaeology was then proposed that considers the city as a single site that can be modeled as having varying degrees of archaeological sensitivity across geographic space.

Drawing on the legacy of architectural studies in cultural geography, this dissertation integrates traditional approaches to built environments that take seriously the physical form and presence of buildings with more recent scholarship that employs performance and practice theory to address the embodied, contingent, and ongoing practices through which buildings are endowed with meaning by those who use, inhabit, or identify with them. Using ethnographic and architectural-documentation methods to carefully apprehend the interrelationships between architecture and embodied practices, this dissertation presents a set of ethno-material case studies four buildings and their community of users that were central to New Orleans recovery after Hurricane Katrina. The case studies reveal how architecture and embodied practices worked as systems of meaning that intersected in ongoing ways to produce or re-produce each buildings significance in post-disaster New Orleans. This dissertation also considers the often overlooked role of the citys built environments in structuring and sustaining cultural practices and traditions after Hurricane Katrina. Because government-backed preservation processes were a principal arena where issues of architectural significance and cultural vitality were debated and addressed in post-Katrina New Orleans, this dissertation also considers the two major preservation controversies in the city following the storm and offers insight into the disconnect between various notions and understandings of architectural significance during these preservation debates, namely the material-centered emphasis of preservationists versus residents embodied, embedded, and often practical notions of place significance. While this dissertation offers insight on urban systems and policy in crisis, historic preservation policy and practice in post-Katrina New Orleans specifically, the research speaks to issues of redevelopment, recovery, and preservation in other American cities. Most fundamentally, the project offers cultural geographers, preservationists, and other place documentarians refined conceptual and methodological frameworks to more adequately assess architectural significance and promote buildings that are important to the communities they work with.