Using GIS to Locate Areas for Growing Quality Coffee in Honduras

Abstract Small-scale coffee producers worldwide remain vulnerable to price fluctuations after the 1999-2003 coffee crisis. One way to increase small-scale farmer economic resilience is to produce a more expensive product, such as quality coffee. There is growing demand in coffee-producing and coffee-importing countries for user-friendly tools that facilitate the marketing of quality coffee. The purpose of this study is to develop a prototypical quality coffee marketing tool in the form of a GIS model that identifies regions for producing quality coffee in a country not usually associated with quality coffee, Honduras. Maps of areas for growing quality coffee were produced with information on climate, soils, topography, areas vulnerable to environmental degradation, the location of current quality coffee farms, and infrastructure. The maps depict suitable coffee-growing land in portions of eight western Honduran departments.

Distribution of Dioecious Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) along an Environmental Gradient in Ogallala, NE.

Abstract The purpose of this research was to study the sex distribution and energy allocation of dioecious Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) along an environmental resource gradient. The trees surveyed were growing in a canyon located at the University of Nebraska’s Cedar Point Biological Research Station in Ogallala, Nebraska. Due to the geography of this canyon, environmental factors necessary for plant growth should vary depending on the tree’s location within the canyon. These factors include water availability, sun exposure, ground slope, and soil nitrogen content, all of which are necessary for carbon acquisition. Juniperus virginiana is a dioecious conifer. Dioecious plants maintain male and female reproductive structures on separate individuals. Therefore, proximal spatial location is essential for pollination and successful reproduction. Typically female reproductive structures are more costly and require a greater investment of carbon and nitrogen. For this reason, growth, survival and successful reproduction are more likely to be limited by environmental resources for females than for male individuals. If this is true for Juniperus virginiana, females should be located in more nutrient and water rich areas than males. This also assumes that females can not be reproductively successful in areas of poor environmental quality. Therefore, reproductive males should be more likely to inhabit environments with relatively lower resource availability than females. Whether the environment affects sexual determination or just limits survival of different sexes is still relatively unknown. In order to view distribution trends along the environmental gradient, the position of the tree in the canyon transect was compared to its sex. Any trend in sex should correspond with varying environmental factors in the canyon, ie: sunlight availability, aspect, and ground slope. The individuals’ allocation to growth and reproduction was quantified first by comparing trunk diameter at six inches above ground to sex and location of the tree. The feature of energy allocation was further substantiated by comparing carbon and nitrogen content in tree leaf tissue and soil to location and sex of each individual. Carbon and nitrogen in soil indicate essential nutrient availability to the individual, while C and N in leaf tissue indicate nutrient limitation experienced by the tree. At the conclusion of this experiment, there is modest support that survival and fecundity of females demands environments relatively richer in nutrients, than needed by males to survive and be reproductively active. Side of the canyon appeared to have an influence on diameter of trees, frequency of sex and carbon and nitrogen leaf content. While this information indicated possible trends in the relation of sex to nutrient availability, most of the environmental variables presumed responsible for the sex distribution bias differed minutely and may not have been biologically significant to tree growth.

Trade Liberalization, Corn Prices and a Rural Community in Guatemala

Trade liberalization policies in Guatemala have impacted agricultural production. This thesis focuses on how trade liberalization has happened, what have been the impacts at a national level and describes how a community has adapted to the implementation of these policies. The implementation of trade was influenced by several, international and national institutions. Among the international institutions are the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the United States Agency for International Development. At the national level the institutions that have partaken in shaping the trade policies are the military and the owners of capital and labor. The implementation of trade policies at a national level has affected national corn prices, population level diets and to some extent reduced poverty levels. At a local level trade liberalization policies have impacted land holdings, increased intensification of agriculture, including agrochemical, machinery and crop plantations per year, and consumption rates of corn have been affected. Maximization of the benefits and minimization of the detrimental effects can happen with the implementation of policies that promote food security, improve access to health and education, and prevent environmental and human health consequences from the intensification of agriculture and at the same time continue with the production of non-traditional agricultural products.

Risk-based Modeling to Develop Zoning Criteria for Land-use Near Canadian Airports

Land development in the vicinity of airports often leads to land-use that can attract birds that are hazardous to aviation operations. For this reason, certain forms of land-use have traditionally been discouraged within prescribed distances of Canadian airports. However, this often leads to an unrealistic prohibition of land-use in the vicinity of airports located in urban settings. Furthermore, it is often unclear that the desired safety goals have been achieved. This paper describes a model that was created to assist in the development of zoning regulations for a future airport site in Canada. The framework links land-use to bird-related safety-risks and aircraft operations by categorizing the predictable relationships between: (i) different land uses found in urbanized and urbanizing settings near airports; (ii) bird species; and (iii) the different safety-risks to aircraft during various phases of flight. The latter is assessed relative to the runway approach and departure paths. Bird species are ranked to reflect the potential severity of an impact with an aircraft (using bird weight, flocking characteristics, and flight behaviours). These criteria are then employed to chart bird-related safety-risks relative to runway reference points. Each form of land-use is categorized to reflect the degree to which it attracts hazardous bird species. From this information, hazard and risk matrices have been developed and applied to the future airport setting, thereby providing risk-based guidance on appropriate land-uses that range from prohibited to acceptable. The framework has subsequently been applied to an existing Canadian airport, and is currently being adapted for national application. The framework provides a risk-based and science-based approach that offers municipalities and property owner’s flexibility in managing the risks to aviation related to their land use.

Weekly Problems Scales: Instruments for Sexually Abused Youth and Their Nonoffending Parents in Treatment

This study’s purpose was to determine if efficient measures could be created to assess multiple problematic behaviors identified in youth who were sexually abused and in treatment. Because of the lack of easily administered brief instruments that assess multiple domains of interest in this population, complementary parent and child assessment measures were developed. The Weekly Problems Scale–Child Version (WPSC) and the Weekly Problems Scale–Parent Version (WPS-P) were created to monitor the weekly progress of the child and family in treatment and focus specifically on common areas of difficulties in this population. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to assist in identifying the number of underlying dimensions in the scales. Results indicate that the WPS-C and WPS-P demonstrate adequate internal consistency, temporal stability, and construct validity. The WPS-C and WPSP display significant promise as research and clinical assessment tools for use with youth who are sexually abused and their nonoffending parents in treatment.