A crescente demanda por recursos naturais e a conseqüente perda de qualidade e quantidade dos mesmos, indica a necessidade do desenvolvimento de alternativas, nas diversas áreas do conhecimento e das atividades humanas. No caso dos agroecossistemas, as práticas convencionais provocaram ao longo do tempo a degradação do solo e dos recursos hídricos, a perda da biodiversidade e a desestruturação dos ecossistemas, que culminaram em desequilíbrios globais de balanço hídrico e temperatura. O presente estudo visa analisar o potencial de utilização de Sistemas Agroflorestais (SAFs). SAFs são práticas de manejo da terra há muito tempo conhecidas, que associam, deliberadamente, árvores com culturas agrícolas temporárias, permanentes e/ou animais simultaneamente ou sucedendo-se temporalmente no espaço; obtendo os benefícios de proteção ambiental e de produção proporcionados pelas árvores. Para a realização do estudo foram utilizadas as bases cartográficas digitalizadas das características ambientais (solo, topografia, hidrologia e clima) do município e as mesmas foram sobrepostas através do Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG). As características ambientais de São Carlos, indicam a necessidade da adoção de sistemas de produção sustentáveis, capazes de conservar a qualidade e a quantidade do solo e dos recursos hídricos disponíveis, bem como sua biodiversidade, por isso apresenta grande aptidão para a utilização dos SAFs e uma ampla variedade de espécies com potencial de uso. A prioridade de adoção de SAFs é para áreas degradadas e subutilizadas, áreas de preservação ambiental e adjacentes, reservas legais e áreas suscetíveis à erosão. Sugere-se novos estudos, em campo, para comprovação dos resultados teóricos obtidos. / Growing demand for natural resources and the consequent losses on their quality and quantity indicates that it is necessary to develop alternatives for knowledge as well as for human activities. In the case of agroecosystems, conventional practices stimulated, at the same time, depletion of soil, water resources, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem disorganization, that takes to global unbalances on water and temperature. The aim of this study was to analize the potencial for utilization of Agroforestry Systems (AFSs) in São Carlos, SP. AFSs are land management practices known since long time ago. AFSs consist in association of trees with another activities (such as temporary/permanent agricultural species and/or animals), simultaneously or succeeding temporally on space. The trees used in this practice provide benefits like production and environmental protection. In this study, it was used local environmental features - soil, topography, hidrology and climate - represented on digital cartographic bases. They were overlaid by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). São Carlos environmental features indicate the necessity of adoption of sustainable production systems, enabling to conserve soil and water resources quality and quantity as well as the biodiversity. Therefore, São Carlos presents vocation for Agroforestry Systems utilization, with wide species variety that presents potencial use. Priority areas for AFSs implementation are those degraded and underutilized ones, environmental preservation areas and surroundings, as well as soils with high susceptible of erosion. It is suggested new studies with a practical approach aiming the confirmation of theoretical results obtained.

In the process of analysing and monitoring the growth and development work, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a useful tool. GIS maps can explain the world by putting spatial aspects in relation to each other. The County Council of Västernorrland was converted into a Region in 2017 and thus received responsibility for the regional development work. Currently, the region does not have a GIS operation of its own but has realized that a regional GIS management would facilitate by more efficient analyses and better decision support.  The purpose of this study is to compare and describe how GIS is used in similar Regions and how GIS can be used in Region Västernorrland. A value table with selected factors such as area and population has been created to identify similar regions to Region Västernorrland. The study examines how GIS is handled in Region Kalmar län and Region Dalarna. Interviews with GIS users in each Region have been compared with theories on GIS usage in public and regional activities to discuss how the regional GIS usage can be developed. The result shows that the regional GIS use has a development potential in several areas shown in previous studies. Lack of data, knowledge and organizational coordination are some of the areas that GIS users handle. The interviews also show that there are interests and opportunities for regional GIS management.

Orientador: João Pedro Albino / Resumo: Os Sistemas de Informações Geográficas – SIG – têm sido muito utilizados pelos órgãos de saúde para análise e tomada de decisão nas ações de combate a diversas doenças e têm alcançado resultados dentro dos parâmetros de controle dos vetores, porém essas análises não permitem uma fácil verificação de tendências e evolução das mesmas, ocasionando demora na tomada de decisão e, comumente, um superdimensionamento dos recursos utilizados. Com o objetivo de criar uma visualização mais eficaz, foi desenvolvido um método de análise e representação de dados de endemias que permitiu o desenvolvido de mapas interativos capazes de representar a densidade, a concentração e a dispersão dos casos (mapa de calor - heatmap), utilizando o Sistema R e Python. Ao aplicar este método baseado nos dados de casos de leishmaniose humana, fornecidos pela Secretaria da Saúde na cidade de Marília, interior de São Paulo, no período de 2011 a 2019, foi possível identificar com mais precisão em quais locais estão ocorrendo a transmissão animal-humana. A interação na linha do tempo do mapa permitiu verificar o comportamento dessa contaminação, sendo possível prever por quais regiões os casos devem se alastrar e quais os principais pontos de bloqueio do avanço da doença devem ser definidos. / Abstract: Geographic Information Systems - GIS - have been widely used by health agencies for analysis and decision making in actions to combat various diseases and have achieved results within the parameters of vector control, however these analyzes do not allow an easy verification of trends and their evolution, causing delay in decision making and, commonly, an oversizing of the resources used. In order to create a more effective visualization, a method of analysis and representation of endemic data was developed that allowed the creation of interactive maps capable of representing the density, concentration and dispersion of the cases (density map - heatmap), using the R and Python System. By applying this method based on data from cases of human leishmaniasis, provided by the Secretariat of Health in the city of Marília, in the interior of São Paulo, from 2011 to 2019, it was possible to identify more precisely in which locations animal-human transmission is occurring. The interaction in the timeline of the map allowed to verify the behavior of this contamination, making it possible to predict which regions the cases should spread to and which are the main points of blocking the progress of the disease. / Mestre

Bicycling as a mode of transportation has been increasing in recent years due to its environmental and health benefits. The availability of bicycles through bicycle share programs has made bicycling a more viable option. With this increase, there is a need for complementary improvements of bicycle infrastructure. Many local and regional transportation agencies are recognizing this need and developing a master plan or safety action plan to improve the city’s bicycle and walking facilities. This study examines bicycle travel demands and travel patterns in Lexington, Kentucky as generated by SPIN bicycle share users. It is hypothesized that the SPIN users emulate bicycle users on and around the University of Kentucky campus. Therefore, analyzing their travel patterns will provide a valuable understanding of bicycle demand and infrastructure needs. To identify such demand, travel patterns and routes were compared to the existing bicycle infrastructure in order to determine improvement needs with an ulterior goal to increase bicycling as a mode of transportation. The methods of study include five levels of analysis: length and duration, temporal, climatic, point density, and modeling. Recommendations for improving routes and parking facilities have been developed based on analytical methods and results obtained. The findings support the notion that bicycle infrastructure influences the travel paths cyclists take. The research supports the idea that commuters are using SPIN bicycles to chain their trips with transit and completing the last or first section of the trip with a bicycle. It was found that bicycle travel demand fluctuates with weather patterns. Furthermore, future work could use the existing data and conduct a detailed analysis on the individual trip level to determine what percentage of a completed trip was taken on an existing bicycle facility or on a non-facility. These findings should aid transportation planning and city officials to make decisions for expanding the existing bicycle network in efforts to minimize the percentage of cyclists who take a detour and the length of detours when necessary.

Hydrologic models were used to examine the effects of land cover change on the flow regime of a watershed located in North-Central Texas. Additionally, the effect of spatial resolution was examined by conducting the simulations using sub-watersheds of different sizes to account for the watershed. Using the Army Corps of Engineers, Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS), two different modeling methods were evaluated at the different sub-watershed resolutions for four rainfall events. Calibration results indicate using the smaller spatial resolutions improves the model results. Different scenarios for land cover change were evaluated for all resolutions using both models. As land cover change increased, the amount of flow from the watershed increased.

This thesis research analyzes how Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) can be used to understand extant Northeastern Plains Village (NEPV) settlement strategies in aggregate for the purposes of subjoining a subsequent verification metric to the current archaeological classification system used to describe NEPV associated sites. To accomplish this task, I extracted Traditional Ecological Knowledge from ethnographic sources for comparison to geospatial, geostatistical, and statistical analyses. My results show that the hierarchical clustering exhibited among NEPV sites is congruent with first person narratives of habitation and resource collection activities occurring in the pre-Reservation period (before AD 1880) within the research area. This study emphasizes the importance of the incorporation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge into material typological classification schemes for archaeological sites which are convoluted by a high rates of cultural transmission.

Building Information Modeling (BIM), used by many for building design and construction, and Geographic Information GIS System (GIS), used for city planning, contain large spatial and attribute data which could be used for Lean and green city planning and development. However, there exist a systematic gap and interoperability challenge between BIM and GIS that creates a disjointed workflow between city planning data in GIS and building data in BIM. This hinders the seamless analysis of data between BIM and GIS for lean and green developments. This study targets the creation of a system which integrates BIM and GIS system data. The methods involve the establishment of a novel Environmental Information Modeling (EIM) framework to bridge the gap using Microsoft Visual C#. The application of this framework shows the potential of this concept. The research results provide an opportunity for more analysis for lean and green construction planning, development and management.

Abortion, the termination of pregnancy, is safe when provided as a surgical procedure by a trained provider or when the correct dosage of the drugs mifepristone and/or misoprostol are used. Despite this, many barriers to abortion care exist. In the United States (US), targeted state-level abortion restrictions create barriers to care, which make it so that people who wish to utilize abortion care face difficulty or are unable to do so. Such barriers to care have important public health implications, as studies have shown that individuals who cannot access wanted abortion care have poorer psychological, physical, social, and economic outcomes than those who obtained care. This dissertation aims to examine one component of abortion access, accessibility, operationalized as the drive time from a woman’s home to the nearest abortion-providing facility. We employ a novel measure of abortion accessibility constructed from three data sources: (1) the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health facility database; (2) US Census estimates and shapefiles; and (3) OpenStreetMap data. In the first study, we used geographic information systems (GIS) to explore the effect of programmatic and policy changes related to telemedicine for medication abortion services (TMAB) on population-level measures of abortion accessibility, or drive time to the nearest abortion-providing facility. We found that either expansions in TMAB services or removal of TMAB bans could improve abortion accessibility in the US. For these two exposure scenarios, compared to the current abortion provision scenario, increases in the proportion of women within a 30-, 60-, and 90-minute drive time of an abortion-providing facility ranged from 1.25 percentage points, or an additional 781,556 US women aged 15-44 years with accessibility, to 5.66 percentage points, or an additional 3,530,423 US women aged 15-44 years with accessibility. In the second study, we used GIS to assess the potential effect of the geographic unit of analysis (i.e., block group, ZIP code tabulation area [ZCTA], or county) on misclassification of the proportion of US women of reproductive age within a 30-minute drive time of an abortion-providing facility relative to a measure calculated using Census blocks. We found that block group- or ZCTA-based estimates of abortion accessibility were an underestimate, but resulted in little misclassification relative to measures constructed using Census blocks at the national level; however, county-based measures substantially underestimated abortion accessibility compared with Census block-based measures. Nationwide, the Census block-based abortion accessibility estimate was 0.35 percentage points greater than the block group-based estimate, 2.72 percentage points greater than the ZCTA-based estimate, and 24.21 percentage points greater than the county-based estimate. By state, the Census block-based abortion accessibility estimate ranged from 0 to 8.51 percentage points greater than the block group-based estimate, from 0 to 27.86 percentage points greater than the ZCTA-based estimate, and from 0 to 79.49 percentage points greater than the county-based estimate. Given that state-level ZCTA-based estimates could be substantially different from the Census block-based estimate, ZCTA-based estimates are likely not appropriate for state-level analyses or US analyses stratified by state. Finally, in the third study, we assessed the relationship between level of accessibility in an abortion client’s home ZCTA and the gestational age at which the client obtained abortion care, using fine stratification by propensity score to control confounding. We found that compared with living in a ZCTA with >0% accessibility, living in a ZCTA with 0% accessibility was associated with a decreased risk of being at or beyond 14 weeks’ gestation at abortion visit. These unexpected findings could be due to a selection bias induced by limiting the sample to those who obtained abortion care, uncontrolled or poorly controlled confounding, misclassification of exposure and/or outcome, and/or unidentified effect measure modification by state abortion provision landscape. Through these three dissertation studies, we highlighted the potential impact on abortion accessibility in the US with different changes in programming and policy, quantified misclassification of abortion accessibility, and examined how misclassification varied by geographic measure and location. The third study in this dissertation suggests a need for more research to identify how selection bias may affect studies of abortion access in the US that rely on data only from those who are able to access care.

Water quality data and land use information were analyzed within the Alafia River watershed in Florida to determine spatial and temporal trends in these variables over a 16 year time period from 1991-2006. Monthly water quality data (for dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fecal coliform, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen) were statistically analyzed using the modified seasonal Kendall nonparametric test for trends that accounts for serial correlation. The statistical trend analysis was conducted for the entire study period, but monthly, seasonal, and land use trends were also examined. Land use information was examined using Geographic Information Systems to determine the percent change in land use proportion from 1990 to 1999, 1999 to 2006, and 1990 to 2006. The proportions of each land use and their percent change were then related to the trends in water quality. The results of this analysis showed that water quality for the parameters turbidity and total phosphorus have been shown to be improving with statistically significant decreasing trends for turbidity at stations 74, 111, 116, and 139 and for total phosphorus at stations 74, 114, and 115. A statistically significant decreasing trend in dissolved oxygen was determined for stations 116 and an increasing trend in total nitrogen for stations 114, 115, and 151 implying water quality for these parameters is degrading. Other noted trends were high fecal coliform and total nitrogen at station 111, which has higher proportions of agricultural land use and an increasing proportion of urban and built-up land use. Also, low dissolved oxygen was noted at station 74. The proportions of land use for the entire study area have changed from predominantly wetlands to now urban and built-up land use. While agricultural, rangeland, and wetlands land use have shown a reduction in the proportion of coverage in the contributing zone of almost every station, urban and built-up land use has increased in proportion at every station.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Due to climate change, rapid urbanization, and population expansion, the water demand and supply is showing increasing fluctuations, especially in the arid or semi-arid regions. One of the most important water resource management strategies to improve water security in these drought-prone areas is managed aquifer recharge (MAR), which is developed to recharge groundwater purposefully and increase its storage to overcome the temporal imbalance between local water demand and availability, thus improving water security of the water supply. Assessment of an MAR project requires the integration of many types of methods, data and information from many disciplines, which makes it a challenge. This thesis addressed a GIS based modeling approach for assessing the implementation of MAR in terms of suitable sites as well as appropriate scheme in drought-prone area. The West Coast of South Africa was studied as a case. Langebaan Road