Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Urban

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    SMALL MAMMAL POPULATIONS, TICKS, AND TICK-BORNE DISEASES IN URBAN PARKS
    (2024) Coriell, Carson; Mullinax, Jennifer; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    As urban environments expand, the distribution of wildlife, particularly white-footed mice, influences public health through zoonotic pathogen transmission, such as Lyme disease. This study examined pathogen risk in urban green spaces, focusing on interactions among small mammal communities, black-legged ticks, and the bacterium Borreliella (Borrelia) burgdorferi. Over two years, small mammal trapping was conducted across six urban park sites in Maryland to 1) quantify small mammal densities in six unique urban sites and 2) identify correlations between small mammal community and habitat structure related to pathogen prevalence. Findings revealed significant differences in pathogen risk between parks, driven by elevation and landscape features, with open shrub-scrub, and upland habitats, such as powerline corridors, linked to increased transmission risk. These results underscore the importance of habitat-level management strategies for urban green spaces to mitigate pathogen risk, rather than focusing solely on white-footed mice.
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    MOSQUITOES AND VEGETATION ACROSS SOCIOECONOMIC GRADIENTS
    (2024) Rothman, Sarah; Leisnham, Paul T; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The biomass and composition of local vegetation is a key resource for juvenile mosquitoes, affecting a suite of life history traits including survival, development rate, and body size. In cities across the United States, both plant and mosquito communities vary with socioeconomics. Vegetation is typically more abundant and biodiverse in high-income neighborhoods, whereas mosquitoes are often more numerous and more likely to vector diseases in low-income neighborhoods. While prior work has examined the effects of plant resources on mosquitoes, my dissertation evaluates how these communities interact across a socioeconomically diverse urban landscape. Chapter 1 is a scoping review of current knowledge of the individual relationships between mosquitoes, plants, and socioeconomics in cities. In Chapter 2, I describe fine-scale vegetation surveys on socioeconomically diverse residential properties in Baltimore, MD and Washington, D.C. that revealed less canopy cover, more vines, and more non-native plant species on lower-income blocks. In Chapter 3, I used leaves from the most frequently observed canopy species on low- and high-income blocks, and species common to both, as detrital resource bases in competition trials between two dominant urban mosquitoes, Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens. Population performance for both species was greater when reared with characteristically low-income than characteristically high-income detritus, suggesting that socioeconomically diverse plant communities are an important factor in shaping urban mosquito communities. Overall, population performances were greatest when mosquitoes were reared in the regionally representative detritus, and I used this detritus base in Chapter 4 to evaluate the effects of varying temperatures. Aedes albopictus population performance was optimized at higher mean temperatures characteristic of low-income blocks, while C. pipiens performance was best at lower mean temperatures characteristic of high-income blocks. Population performance was often lower, however, when temperatures fluctuated around a high or low mean than when the temperature was stable, suggesting that laboratory studies may need to mimic field conditions to obtain applicable results. My research provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind previously observed relationships, and may help guide management and policy strategies to address environmental injustices and public health threats.
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    EDU-SCAPE: Crafting Social Landscapes through Learning within Ivy City and Trinidad
    (2024) Hernandez, Kevin Alexander; Burke, Juan; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The District of Columbia boasts wonderful neighborhoods of various scales and cultures, with many stemming from the city’s inception. While enriched with life, culture, and community, not all neighborhoods share the same benefits, with several neighborhoods and communities within the district devoid of amenities which are present elsewhere. Ivy City and Trinidad, both historic communities located in Ward 5 have historically been ignored by the city, with several master plans and development campaigns threatening the livelihood of local residents in exchange for economic benefit. This thesis seeks to find ways to design for such communities, while providing enriched social spaces for locals amid threatening campaigns and architecture. By acknowledging the existing academic facilities and institutions located in both neighborhoods, the design of the project focused on utilizing learning facilities and communal design initiatives to provide residents with facilities that provide amenities and communal spaces for lifelong learning and improved quality of life.
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    Communicating Courtyards
    (2023) Gulisashvili, Konstantin; Bell, Matthew J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This project is for a multiple story residential structure and urban redevelopment near the Shota Rustaveli square. This courtyard building is owned by different families and offers a communal frame supporting family use. The courtyard configuration promotes privacy and provides a safe semi-private space. The design goal of the project is to evolve the failing urban fabric and to develop a contemporary dwelling based on the historical and cultural precedent of the Tbilisi Courtyard house.The main feature of this project is the courtyard style residential building, which will provide multiple uses such as socializing, cooking, play space, and more. In addition, the project will attempt to reproduce city traditions via a seamless connection of redeveloped surrounding neighborhoods with the existing city fabric.
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    SOUND OF THE CITY: Creating a balanced sound composition in urban green spaces
    (2021) Gray, Lauren Reed; Sullivan, Jack; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Sounds in the landscape are an important, and an often-ignored aspect of the human experience. In urban landscapes, the sounds in the landscape create a symphony. Combining the beloved sounds of nature and humans, with the often less desirable, but no less important sounds of traffic and sirens. This thesis aims to put that symphony of sounds and its relationship to the landscape under the microscope. By first looking into the theories of composers John Cage and R. Murray Schafer, and then applying those theories to the soundscape and landscape, the exploration and examination of the conscious, subconscious, beautiful, and necessary, as it pertains to soundscape and landscape design, will be revealed.
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    Boundary Campus Threshold: Urban University Campus Boundaries
    (2016) Fernandes, Gina Maria; Rockcastle, Garth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    University campuses, located in urban settings, develop specific characteristics based on the urban fabric around them. As universities meet their physical, political, and social campus boundaries, they must decide how to progress. University stakeholders, from students & faculty to neighbors & alumni, engage the campus boundary as they traverse between city and campus. Thus, the campus edge becomes a physical manifestation of overlapping and interconnected stakeholder identities.
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    "Barbarous Berlin": Narratives of Queerness, Space, Survival, and Memory in a Liminal City
    (2018) Joyner, Raleigh; Baer, Hester; Germanic Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The intent of my work is to explore the relationships between history, space, community, and movement in and through the city of Berlin throughout the last century. I trace common threads of liminality, memory, survival, and the relationships between the urban space and the individual over a 100-year period. The three periods that I particularly focus on are the Weimar era (1919-1933), the division of Germany and Berlin (1961-1989), and the reestablishment of Germany as a united country (1990-present).
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    USING SOCIALLY SENSED BIG DATA TO MODEL PATTERNS AND GEOGRAPHIC CONTEXT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES IN CITIES
    (2018) Fu, Cheng; Stewart, Kathleen; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Understanding dynamic interactions between human activities and land-use structure in a city is a key lens to explore the city as a complex system. This dissertation contributes to understanding the complexity of urban dynamics by gaining knowledge of the interactions between human activities and city land-use structures by utilizing free-accessible socially sensed data sources, and building upon recent research trend and technologies in geographical information science, urban study, and computer science. This dissertation addresses three main questions related to human dynamics: 1) how human activities in an urban environment are shaped by socioeconomic status and the intra-city land-use structure, and how in turn, the knowledge of socioeconomic status-activity relationships can contribute to understanding the social landscape of a city; 2) how different types of activities are located in space and time in three U.S. cities and how the spatiotemporal activity patterns in these cities characterize the activity profile of different neighborhoods in the cities; and 3) how recent socially sensed information on human activities can be integrated with widely-used remotely sensed geographical data to create a novel approach for discovering patterns of land use in cities that are otherwise lacking in up to date land use information. This dissertation models the associations between socioeconomics and mobility in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area as a case study and applies the learned associations for inferring geographical patterns of socioeconomic status (SES) solely using the socially sensed data. This dissertation also implements a semi-automated workflow to retrieve activity details from socially sensed Twitter data in Washington, D.C., the City of Baltimore, and New York City. The dissertation integrates remotely-sensed imagery and socially sensed data to model the dynamics associated with changing land-use types in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metropolitan area over time.
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    The Boom and the Bust: The Jewish Community of Portsmouth, VA, 1910-1930
    (2016) Gunn, Allison R.; Rozenblit, Marsha L; History/Library & Information Systems; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In 1917, Jews came in large numbers to Portsmouth, VA, for the economic opportunity offered by a booming World War I economy and the new market the war workers offered. Between 1907 and 1918 alone, the Jewish population grew by an astonishing 1,042%. The community declined rapidly, however, immediately after the war. The primary reason for the decline of the community was economic. Jews came to Portsmouth, not as laborers, but as retailers and business owners. They therefore relied upon a large, stable, local market which dissipated in the Interwar period. Studying Portsmouth reveals the foundational dynamics between Jewish communities and the local economy. In the period, American Jews relied on specific economic niches such as retail to prosper. When an economy was unfavorable for such businesses, Jewish communities did not thrive.
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    An Analysis of Principal Attrition in a Large Urban School District
    (2016) Anthony, Douglas W; McLauglin, Margaret J; Norris, John; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Principal attrition is a national problem particularly in large urban school districts. Research confirms that schools that serve high proportions of children living in poverty have the most difficulty attracting and retaining competent school leaders. Principals who are at the helm of high poverty schools have a higher turnover rate than the national average of three to four years and higher rates of teacher attrition. This leadership turnover has a fiscal impact on districts and negatively affects student achievement. Research identifies a myriad of reasons why administrators leave the role of principal: some leave the position for retirement; some exit based on difficulty of the role and lack of support; and some simply leave for other opportunities within and outside of the profession altogether. As expectations for both teacher and learner performance drive the national education agenda, understanding how to keep effective principals in their jobs is critical. This study examined the factors that principals in a large urban district identified as potentially affecting their decisions to stay in the position. The study utilized a multi-dimensional, web-based questionnaire to examine principals’ perceptions regarding contributing factors that impact tenure. Results indicated that: • having a quality teaching staff and establishing a positive work-life balance were important stay factors for principals; • having an effective supervisor and collegial support from other principals, were helpful supports; and • having adequate resources, time for long-term planning, and teacher support and resources were critical working conditions. Taken together, these indicators were the most frequently cited factors that would keep principals in their positions. The results were used to create a framework that may serve as a potential guide for addressing principal retention.