Search Results

open access

Analyzing Tuberculosis Vulnerability and Variables in Tarrant County

Description: Over 9 million new cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported worldwide in 2013. While the TB rate is much lower in the US, its uneven distribution and associated explanatory variables require interrogation in order to determine effective strategies for intervention and control. However, paucity of case data at fine geographic scales precludes such research. This research, using zip code level data from 837 confirmed TB cases in Tarrant County obtained from Texas Department of State Health Servic… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: McGlone, John Francis
open access

Are Streams Protected? Outcomes of Environmental Regulation

Description: Urban areas experience the loss of natural stream channels through conversion to artificial conveyances. This process tends to target headwater and other low order streams. The purpose of this study is to determine the patterns of stream loss in Denton, Texas, and explore the regulatory structure that manages these streams. Historic and current maps and stream data are used to map Denton's streams and categorize them according to their vertical connectivity as: 1) "intact", streams that are … more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Rowen, Zachary
open access

Assessing Rainfall Interception by Urban Tree Canopies in Denton, Texas

Description: Rainfall interception is one mechanism by which tree canopies can reduce surface runoff in urban areas. The objectives of this research were to: 1) quantify rainfall interception by urban tree canopies, and 2) determine the influence of vegetation and microenvironmental factors on rainfall interception rates. In the city of Denton, Texas, 30 mature post oak (Quercus stellata) and blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica) trees were selected for study. Trees were assigned to one of three categories… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Edington, Patrick
open access

County Level Population Estimation Using Knowledge-Based Image Classification and Regression Models

Description: This paper presents methods and results of county-level population estimation using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images of Denton County and Collin County in Texas. Landsat TM images acquired in March 2000 were classified into residential and non-residential classes using maximum likelihood classification and knowledge-based classification methods. Accuracy assessment results from the classified image produced using knowledge-based classification and traditional supervised classification (maxim… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Nepali, Anjeev
open access

The Descriptive Paleontology and Applied Ichthyoarchaeology of the Ponsipa Fauna

Description: The archaeology of the Northern Rio Grande region of New Mexico has recently received an increased amount scholarly attention. In particular, understanding past trends in demographics, agricultural productivity, violence, and social networks have been primary goals of archaeological research. Understanding patterns in animal exploitation has, however, received far less attention due to a small yet growing regional zooarchaeological database. Through the identification of animal remains from a s… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Dombrosky, Jonathan
open access

Developing a Soil Moisture-Based Irrigation Scheduling Tool (SMIST) Using Web-GIS Technology

Description: Software as a service (SaaS) is a primary working pattern and a significant application model for next generation Internet application. Web GIS services are the new generation of the Software as a service that can provide the hosted spatial data and GIS functionalities to the practical customized applications. This study focused on developing a webGIS based application, Soil Moisture-Based Irrigation Scheduling Tool (SMIST), for predicting soil moisture in the next seven days using the soil moi… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Nikfal, Mohammadreza
open access

Dismantling the Psychiatric Ghetto: Evaluating a Blended-Clinic Approach to Supportive Housing in Houston, Texas

Description: Locational decisions based on stigma and low funding have handicapped the efficiency of community based mental healthcare in the United States since 1963. However, the pattern of services in the 21st century American South remains largely unknown. This thesis addresses this gap in knowledge by using a mixed methodology including location allocation, descriptive statistics, and qualitative site visits to explore the geography of community clinics offering both physical and mental health services… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Lester, Katherine Ann
open access

Efficiency of Nitrate and Phosphorus Removal in a Working Rain Garden

Description: Rain gardens are low impact developments designed to mitigate a suite of issues associated with urban stormwater runoff. The site for this study was a Denton City rain garden at the Denton Waste Water Treatment Plant. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal was examined in light of two overflow events comprised of partially treated wastewater from an upslope anaerobic digester pond. Nitrate removal efficiency was examined across differing dry spell intervals of 5, 8, and 12 d, displaying a moderate neg… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Strong, Patrick
open access

Evaluating Sea-Level Rise Hazards on Coastal Archaeological Sites, Trinity Bay, Texas

Description: This study uses the predictive modeling program Sea-Levels Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to evaluate sea-level rise hazards, such as erosion and inundation, on coastal archaeological sites with a vertical rise of sea level of .98 meters from 2006 to 2100. In total 177 archaeological site locations were collected and georeferenced over GIS outputs maps of wetlands, erosion presence, surface elevation, and accretion. Wetlands data can provide useful information about characteristics of the wetl… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Elliott, Patrick
open access

Exceedance Frequency Analysis of Urban Stormwater Quality and Its Relation to Land Use Change, Denton, Texas

Description: Urbanization causes various environmental issues including water pollution, air pollution, and solid waste. Urbanization of watersheds has a profound influence on the quality of stormwater runoff. The quality of stormwater runoff is highly associated with land use. This study analyzed the exceedance frequency of stormwater quality in five watersheds of Denton over eleven years and also analyzed the relationship between stormwater quality and land use/cover of each watershed. The results showed … more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Shrestha, Manjul

Green Entrepreneurialism and the Making of the Trinity River Corridor: The Intersection of Nature and Capital in Dallas, Texas

Description: Since the adoption of neoliberalism, many cities have taken to integrating nature with capital accumulation to create a sense of place. This has been closely tied to urban greening, or green "revitalization." As part of curating this desired character, city governments are working to roll out plans to restore and renew neighborhoods using their natural landscapes through methods such as reforestation, the creation of parks, and commercial development. These cities, deemed Entrepreneurial cities… more
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Date: May 2019
Creator: Krupala, Katie Ilene
open access

Hurricane Storm Surge Sedimentation on the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Texas: Implications for Coastal Marsh Aggradation

Description: This study uses the storm surge sediment beds deposited by Hurricanes Audrey (1957), Carla (1961), Rita (2005) and Ike (2008) to investigate spatial and temporal changes in sedimentation rates on the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Texas. Fourteen sediment cores were collected along a transect extending from 90 to 1230 meters inland from the Gulf Coast. Storm-surge-deposited sediment beds were identified by texture, organic content, carbonate content, the presence of marine micro… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Hodge, Joshua B.
open access

Identifying Cultural and Non-cultural Factors Affecting Litter Patterns in Hickory Creek, Texas

Description: Plastic deposition in hydrological systems is a pervasive problem at all geographic scales from loci of pollution to global ocean circulation. Much attention has been devoted to plastic deposition in marine contexts, but little is known about inputs of plastics into local hydrological systems, such as streams. Any attempt to prevent plastic litter must confront people’s behaviors, so archaeological concepts are used to distinguish between various cultural inputs (e.g., littering) and non-cultur… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Carpenter, Evan S.
open access

The Influence of Local Forage Variability on White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Body Size at Fort Hood, Texas

Description: Nutritional quality and availability is thought to regulate geographic patterns of variability in animal body size due to phenotypic plasticity. The purpose of this study is to determine how vegetation quality, abundance and population density influence white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) body size on a subregional spatial scale at Fort Hood, Texas. Harvest and census records are used to test the hypothesis that white-tailed deer exhibit phenotypic plasticity (e.g. larger body size) in… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Eddins, Amy C.
open access

Influence of the Choice of Disease Mapping Method on Population Characteristics in Areas of High Disease Burdens

Description: Disease maps are powerful tools for depicting spatial variations in disease risk and its underlying drivers.  However, producing effective disease maps requires careful consideration of the statistical and spatial properties of the disease data. In fact, the choice of mapping method influences the resulting spatial pattern of the disease, as well as the understanding of its underlying population characteristics. New developments in mapping methods and software in addition to continuing improvem… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Desai, Khyati Sanket
open access

The Landscape Legacies of Gas Drilling in North Texas

Description: In North Texas, the Barnett Shale underlies large areas of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW), which magnifies debates about the externalities of shale gas development (SGD). Continued demand for natural gas and expansive urbanization in DFW will cause more people to come in contact with drilling rigs, gas transport, and other urban shale gas landscapes. Thousands of gas wells within the DFW region occupy a large, yet scattered land surface area. DFW city planners, elected officials, and oth… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Sakinejad, Michael Cyrus
open access

Lithic Production at the Mesilla Phase Placitas Arroyo Site Complex Doña Ana County, New Mexico

Description: This study of lithic analysis shifts attention from typological studies to explicitly behavioral analyses, complimenting studies of both intrasite and intersite patterns of variability and change. Analysis of several assemblages from the Placitas Arroyo site complex reveals changing patterns of raw material procurement and selection, core reduction strategies, as well as tool production and discard. The most striking result thus far is the quite uniform emphasis on flake production from well-pr… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Younger, Alexandra Carla
open access

Memory and Continuity Amidst Irreversible Decline in the Texas Big Empty

Description: This thesis interrogates sense of place and place attachment in the Big Empty on the north central Texas plains. The region stretches from the Red River on the north to the Colorado River basin on the south and from the Cross Timbers on the east to the Caprock escarpment on the west. Since 1930, the Big Empty has seen sustained and severe population decline such that some counties there now register less than a quarter the population they did at their peaks during the interwar years. Through in… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Underwood, Robert Reed
open access

Public Market Trade Areas: Local Goods, Farmers, and Community in the U.S. Southwest Region, 1996-2016

Description: The number of public markets in the United States increased from more than 300 in the 1970s to more than 8,600 by 2016. This increase in markets is related to changes in food production, localism and the local food systems movement, socioeconomic changes, cultural changes, and perceptions of embeddedness. Research on the underlying conditions for the success of public markets is scant in the United States, and especially in the USDA Southwest Region. This study provides analysis of public marke… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Oppenheim, Vicki Ann
open access

Reconstructing Identity with Urban Community Agriculture: How Refugees Confront Displacement, Food Insecurity, and Othering through Community Farming

Description: Ethnic and religious conflict, and the deepening of capitalism have led to global diaspora at unprecedented levels. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that as of 2015, 1 in every 122 persons worldwide were either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. The U.S. currently admits the largest number of refugees worldwide. However, policies fail to reflect the multitude of elements that constitute successful resettlement. Moreover, many refugees come from farming… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Griffin, Marinda
open access

Retail Change and Light Rail: an Exploration of Business Location Changes Accompanying Commuter Rail Development in Denton County, Texas

Description: Within the past few decades, commuter rail routes in several major metropolitan areas have been implemented to provide an alternative to automobile transportation. Urban planners in these cities are looking to commuter rail to mitigate congestion and pollution. However, research on the impacts of commuter rail development on the surrounding retail landscape is still needed. In metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth, the Denton County Transportation Authority recently opened its new A-Train light rail s… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Yarbrough, Trevor S.
open access

Retail District Evolution: An Exploration of Retail Structure and Diversity, a Case Study in Denton, Texas

Description: It is well established that national retail chains impact small, single location retail businesses in terms of revenue generation, retail structure, retail type diversity, and location. This study examines the retail structure and diversity of five retail districts in the City of Denton, Texas. The analysis focuses on one central business district (CBD), one traditional retail strip center (University Drive, also known as US HWY 380), one special retail district (Fry Street District), one tradi… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Bova, Joshua Paul
open access

Small Town Retail Change in East Texas: an Analysis of Retail Growth, Decline, and Spatial Reconfiguration

Description: In recent years, small towns have experienced declining levels of retail activity attributable to a variety of factors. Previously conducted research identifies a number of these factors such as changing population dynamics, continuously evolving retail practices, locational factors, and an assortment of other macroeconomic factors. Although retail decline is common for many small towns, there are some small towns that have been able to maintain their viability in an ever-changing economic clim… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Whitaker, Carl W.
open access

Social Vulnerability and Bio-Emergency Planning: Identifying and Locating At-Risk Individuals

Description: In 2006, the United States Congress passed the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) which mandated that all emergency preparedness planning shall address at-risk populations. Further, in 2013, the reauthorization of this act, known as PAHPRA, defined at-risk individuals as "children, older adults, pregnant women, and individuals who may need additional response assistance." This vague definition leaves emergency managers, planners, and public health officials with the difficult task of… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Richardson, Brian T
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