abstract: For the death penalty to be justified, it must be reserved for the worst of the worst. In his 2011 study of Connecticut's death penalty system, however, John Donohue found that arbitrariness and discrimination are defining features. Donohue's finding that non-white defendants whose victims were white are six times more likely to receive the death penalty indicates that race is more a predictor of a death sentence than the egregiousness of the crime. An analysis of capital sentencing outcomes in Maricopa County, Arizona reveals that the race of the victim is not related to the likelihood of receiving a death sentence, but the race of the defendant is. Use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), logistic regression, and an egregiousness calculation are employed to analyze capital sentencing trial outcomes in Maricopa County from 2009 through 2011. This triangulated approach is applied to test three theoretically-derived models - the Donohue model, the Illinois Commission model, and the Functional model. The findings indicate that during the given time period in Maricopa County, the race of the defendant was statistically significant in cases with low to mid-levels of egregiousness, but was no longer significant in the most egregious cases. The results also reveal that the most egregious cases, typically indicated by the presence of a prior conviction and multiple victims, are nearly five times more likely to result in an outcome of death. While the results of this study are suggestive only, because of the small sample size and the relatively brief duration of time studied, the conclusions presented aim to provoke further inquiry into states' death penalty systems to address Donohue's allegation of unconstitutional application nationwide. Through a drastic reduction of death-eligibility factors, implementation of a transparent plea bargaining protocol in which the presence of certain aggravating factors preempts the possibility of a plea, and equal funding for prosecutor and defense offices, the death penalty in this country could begin to target the worst of the worst. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Justice Studies 2012

Arizona agriculture faces many changes in the near future. One of the most imminent changes will come from the enactment of the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Management Act. The 1980 AGWMA is designed ultimately to curtail the use of groundwater in Arizona. Agriculture will be affected since this sector used approximately 87 percent of all water in the State in 1980. This study reports on the possible effects that a proposed pump tax and water duty policy would have on agriculture within the Phoenix Active Management Area. The PAMA is one of four such areas in the State that have been identified as needing groundwater use management. The results of this study indicate that the proposed water duty is more effective in curbing groundwater use than the proposed pump tax. Investment in more water application efficient irrigation technologies is also important in this study. However, substantial amounts of capital investment funds will be needed to begin this investment.

No description available.

Irrigation uniformity, efficiency, leaching fraction, salt and water ages, and evapotranspiration rate were estimated from subsoil salinity data for three cotton fields in Arizona. The estimation of these parameters was based on the assumption of steady-state water and salt flow through the crop root zone. The levels of salt concentration in the irrigation water were 21.3, 11.5, and 11.6 meq/L for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Two of these fields were furrow irrigated, and the third was subsurface drip irrigated. Each field was sampled for salt concentrations to a depth of 1.5 m at 10-15 sites. A total of 514 soil samples were collected. Significantly lower salt concentrations were observed in the soil profiles in Fields 1 and 2 compared to Field 3, but lower variations in the salt concentrations were observed in Field 3 compared with Fields 1 and 2. These variations in salt concentration could be due to restricted water movement within the soil profile caused by stratified soil. Since a soil-water extract model indicated little or no chemical precipitation of salt within the soil profile, there was no need to correct the data for chemical effects. The calculated irrigation uniformity was highest in Field 3 and lowest in Field 1. This may be related to more accurate land leveling in field 2 than Field 1. The irrigation efficiencies were 83.0%, 89.0%, and 80.0% for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The correlation coefficient between the ages of salt and water was 0.98, 0.99, and 0.97 for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Leaching fraction was highest in Field 3 and lowest in Field 2. Mean actual ET calculated from the Blaney-Criddle method were 372, 314, and 308 mm for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Mean ET calculated from the salinity data were 1,250, 1,590, and 1,140 mm for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Statistically significant correlation coefficients were, however, found between both methods of estimating ET. These values were 0.97, 0.86, and 0.93 for Fields 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

In the late 1970s, Southern California Edison Company proposed the construction of a 500 Kilovolt transmission line from Buckeye, Arizona (just west of Phoenix) to the Devers substation near Banning California. The proposed routes crossed the traditional territory of numerous Native American groups such as the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi Southern Paiutes, Cocopah, Mojave, Maricopa, O’Odham, Quechan, and Yavapai. As required by the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental impact assessment was conducted to understand potential impacts this project could have on human and natural resources. For the first time since the passage of NEPA, Native American concerns were fully considered. This report presents the findings of the first Native American social impact assessment in the United States. This report presents contemporary Native American values that were pertinent to planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of high voltage generation and transmission facilities. The ethnographic study also considered the following aspects: (a) determine if, where, and in what manner such values were relevant to the Devers Palo Verde study area, (b) define differing levels of significance that Native Americans assigned to geographical points, zones, or issues within the subject study area exhibiting such values, (c) assign appropriate sensitivity ratings to the pertinent points, zones, or issues of significance and rank such points, zones, and issues from highest to lowest, explain what actions might constitute varying degrees, kinds of impact to those points, zones, or issues, and (e) provide recommendations for mitigation of negative impacts to those points, zones, or issues.

No description available.

abstract: This dissertation explores vulnerability to extreme heat hazards in the Maricopa County, Arizona metropolitan region. By engaging an interdisciplinary approach, I uncover the epidemiological, historical-geographical, and mitigation dimensions of human vulnerability to extreme heat in a rapidly urbanizing region characterized by an intense urban heat island and summertime heat waves. I first frame the overall research within global climate change and hazards vulnerability research literature, and then present three case studies. I conclude with a synthesis of the findings and lessons learned from my interdisciplinary approach using an urban political ecology framework. In the first case study I construct and map a predictive index of sensitivity to heat health risks for neighborhoods, compare predicted neighborhood sensitivity to heat-related hospitalization rates, and estimate relative risk of hospitalizations for neighborhoods. In the second case study, I unpack the history and geography of land use/land cover change, urban development and marginalization of minorities that created the metropolitan region's urban heat island and consequently, the present conditions of extreme heat exposure and vulnerability in the urban core. The third study uses computational microclimate modeling to evaluate the potential of a vegetation-based intervention for mitigating extreme heat in an urban core neighborhood. Several findings relevant to extreme heat vulnerability emerge from the case studies. First, two main socio-demographic groups are found to be at higher risk for heat illness: low-income minorities in sparsely-vegetated neighborhoods in the urban core, and the elderly and socially-isolated in the expansive suburban fringe of Maricopa County. The second case study reveals that current conditions of heat exposure in the region's urban heat island are the legacy of historical marginalization of minorities and large-scale land-use/land cover transformations of natural desert land covers into heat-retaining urban surfaces of the built environment. Third, summertime air temperature reductions in the range 0.9-1.9 °C and of up to 8.4 °C in surface temperatures in the urban core can be achieved through desert-adapted canopied vegetation, suggesting that, at the microscale, the urban heat island can be mitigated by creating vegetated park cool islands. A synthesis of the three case studies using the urban political ecology framework argues that climate changed-induced heat hazards in cities must be problematized within the socio-ecological transformations that produce and reproduce urban landscapes of risk. The interdisciplinary approach to heat hazards in this dissertation advances understanding of the social and ecological drivers of extreme heat by drawing on multiple theories and methods from sociology, urban and Marxist geography, microclimatology, spatial epidemiology, environmental history, political economy and urban political ecology. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Social Science 2013

Photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity generation has the potential to reduce the demand for more traditional fossil and nuclear power generation. Community PV solar installations allow energy users to share the electricity generated by these plants. Optimal siting of community solar installations will allow for maximum electricity generation while avoiding environmental conflicts, as well as, minimizing construction costs. This study identifies opportunities for community solar plants in Maricopa and Pinal Counties, Arizona, of ¼-acre in size. Input parameters fall into economic, physical, and environmental categories. Each of the input parameters were classified from 1 (not suitable) to 9 (highly suitable). Next, the classified rasters in each category were weighed according to importance, and Esri’s Weighted Sum tool was used to generate a combined raster for the category. The three resulting environmental, economic, and physical characteristic rasters were weighed again, and the Weighted Sum tool was used to generate a raster of community solar suitability scores. Next, a mask of locations inappropriate for community-scale solar development was created, including lakes, rivers, streams, and residential rooftops, which are too small to accommodate ¼-acre community solar installations. The masked areas were removed from the suitability raster, and the suitability raster was reclassified using standard deviations to generate a preference map with values ranging from 1 (low preference) to 3 (high preference). The model output reveals 68 percent of the study area is of medium or high preference for community solar installations. Maricopa and Pinal counties provide many opportunities for community solar installations.

No description available.

From the Proceedings of the 1975 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 11-12, 1975, Tempe, Arizona / Arizona's continued growth and development depends upon sound management of water resources, especially melted snow which is the primary source of water for the 1.1. Million residents of Maricopa county. The method for snowpack information gathering practiced by watershed specialists of the Salt River project in Arizona is described. The method is outlined, describing aircraft reconnaissance, direct enroute mapping of extent and depth of snowpack, and techniques for identifying ice and/or melt conditions. Under optimal conditions, this technique is considered more than acceptable for determining snowpack levels. Limitations of the technique result from the observer's tolerance of vertigo which can arise under flying conditions; cloud cover, which can reduce contrast and shadows thereby reducing accuracy of observation; and vegetation zones where density of plant matter screens much of the snow.