Browsing by Author "Wilson, Jeffery S."

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    Exploring spatial allocation techniques for the placement of food pantries: Madison County, Indiana
    (2017-02-01) Ashraf, Maria; Banerjee, Aniruddha; Wilson, Jeffery S.; Dwyer, Owen J.; Lulla, Vijay
    The thesis highlights the effectiveness of using location allocation model to find the optimum location of food pantries such that it serves maximum food insecure households. Since most households do not have personal means of transportation, the model makes sure that the food pantries are accessible at a walkable distance from the households. To reduce the shortage of food that the food pantries often face, the pantries are located near the food rescue sites like grocery stores, restaurants and institutional canteens. In this way, extra edible food with myriad choices can be diverted to the food insecure population at a walkable distance . Reducing food loss and food insecurity helps us move towards a better , more sustainable future.
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    Identifying enhanced urban heat island convection areas for Indianapolis, Indiana using space-borne thermal remote sensing methods
    (2015-04-02) Boyd, Kelly D.; Johnson, Daniel P.; Wilson, Jeffery S.; Martin, Pamela A.
    Heat is one of the most important factors in our atmosphere for precipitation (thunderstorm) formation. Thermal energy from local urban land-cover is also a common source of heat in the lower atmosphere. This phenomenon is known as the urban heat island effect (UHI) and is identified as a substantial cause to a changing climate in surface weather modification. The proceeding study investigates this connection between the UHI and surface weather using remote sensing platforms A ten-year analysis of the Indianapolis UHI and thunderstorms were studied from the summer months of May, June, July, August and September (MJJAS) from 2002 until 2011. LANDSAT space borne satellite technology and land-surface based weather radar technology was used in this analysis for thunderstorm investigation. Precipitation areas identified from land-based NEXRAD WSR-88D technology were used to identify convection from non-synoptic forcing and non-normal surface diurnal heating scenarios. Only convection appearing from the UHI were studied and analyzed. Results showed twenty-one events over eighteen days with the year 2005 and 2011 having the largest frequency of events. The month of August had the largest concentration with seven events during the late afternoon hours. UHI results showed July had the largest heat island magnitude with April and September having the lowest magnitude in UHI temperatures. Three events of the twenty-one storm paths did not had a significant mean temperature difference in the heat island below the storm reflectivity. The nineteen storm paths that were significant had a warmer area underneath storm path development by an average 6.2°C than surrounding areas. UHI initiation points showed twelve of the twenty-one events having statistically significant differences between 2 km initiation areas and the rest of the study areas. Land-cover results showed low intensity developed areas had the most land-cover type (48%) in the 2km initiation buffer regions.