bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Demise of the Longleaf-Pine Ecosystem
Authors: Smith Garrett C. , Patterson Mark W. , Trendell Harold R.
Published: July 2013

The longleaf pine ( Pinus palustris ) was once the South's most important timber species. It is associated with a distinct ecosystem that includes several endangered plants and animals. The pre-European extent of the ecosystem may have been as much as 100 million acres, yet extensive cutting in the 19th and 20th centuries has reduced this acreage to less than three million. We review the tree's importance to the region and document its spatial reduction in two states representing the species' core area: Florida and Georgia. In the last 60 years 90% of the longleaf pine acreage in these states has been lost. Unlike forests in the western U.S., southern forests are largely privately owned and longleaf pine on these lands is in jeopardy. Efforts at reintroduction are noted. Yet, without further incentives, education, and changes in public policy, privately held longleaf pine could largely disappear within the next three decades.
Some Effects of Employment Centers on Commuting Times in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 1990
Authors: Sultana Selima
Published: July 2013

This study examines the relationship between one-way commuting time to major employment clusters in the Atlanta metropolitan area in 1990 and (1) the employment size of the clusters, (2) their distance from the major CBD cluster, and (3) selected attributes of workers in these clusters. The clusters are divided into centers and subcenters and central area and suburban locations. In addition to analyzing descriptive data, seven independent variables were correlated with mean commuting time in order to test three sets of hypotheses. Data are from the 1990 U.S. Census of Transportation Planning Package for a 13-county portion of the Atlanta metropolitan area, and utilize 948 Transportation Analysis Zones. It was found that three sets of factors are associated with mean commuting time: In order of importance they are distance of the cluster from the CBD (inverse association); characteristics of the workforce in the cluster, viz. percentage of high-income workers, percentage of workers who are Black, and percentage of transit users; and employment size of the cluster.
The Three Georgias: Emerging Realignments at the Dawn of the New Millennium
Authors: Hartshorn Truman A. , Walcott Susan M.
Published: July 2013

This research examines spatial realignments within Georgia, pointing to the rise of a tripartite regional model consisting of declining urban cores, dynamic suburban sprouts, and stagnant rural poverty regions. Rapid growth and restructuring during the 1990s resulted in significant new patterns of development. A process of creative destruction impacted old manufacturing centers and led to a rapid rise in new high-tech sectors, without accompanying changes in historic poverty areas. Roughly dividing the state's population into corresponding thirds, these transformations portend shifts with both political and economic consequences at the dawn of the 21st century. Active intervention at the state, regional, and local levels will be needed to create a more balanced development pattern in the state in the future.
The Metempsychosis of King Cotton
Authors: Hart John Fraser
Published: July 2013

The body of King Cotton lies amouldering in the grave, but his soul has been metempsychosized. Cotton dominated the agriculture of the South in 1929, the peak year, when 1,719,165 farmers grew 42,579,522 acres of the crop. Few grew more than 15 acres, or produced more than one-third of a bale per acre. They grew it in small patches with backbreaking hand labor, especially for the tasks of chopping and picking. In 1997 only 24,860 farmers in the South grew cotton, but they grew 11,799,225 acres. They had consolidated the erstwhile patches into large open fields. They averaged 425 acres of cotton, and produced better than a bale per acre. Agrichemicals and machines had replaced hand labor, and one-fifth of the crop was irrigated. The boll weevil eradication program, which has spread outward from northeastern North Carolina, has decimated production costs, and the price had been favorable. Inadequate gin capacity has forced farmers to shift from field wagons to modules, and a new cotton landscape has been created in the South.
Arbitration as a Decision-Making Tool: The Tampa Bay Water Case
Authors: Johns Rebecca A.
Published: July 2013

Rapid population and economic growth in the Tampa Bay region of Florida has severely affected fresh water resources. Plans to increase water supply have been opposed for their perceived failure to divide limited resources fairly between stakeholders and to protect the Bay ecosystems. A partnership among local governments and public agencies in 1998 attempted to end years of litigation over water rights and ecosystem protection, but failed to prevent arbitration over proposed withdrawals from the surrounding rivers. This paper examines the process of arbitration as a tool to negotiate complex interests in water. Under certain circumstances, arbitration may constitute a quality decision-making process.
Multiyear Variation of Temperature and Precipitation in the Coastal States of the Southeastern United States
Authors: Greenland David
Published: July 2013

Multiyear variation of temperature and precipitation in the coastal states of the southeastern United States is investigated for the period 1885 to 1999. The major conclusions of this study are that: (1) with the exception of a significant decrease in summer precipitation there has been little overall change in the values of temperature and precipitation of the study area over the last century. The region is one of only two large areas in the world that have not manifested a warming trend; (2) the climate of the study area during the last century falls approximately into two specific climate periods. The period 1900-1950 had a relatively high annual, winter, and summer temperature, low annual and winter precipitation, and a small range of variation in annual and winter precipitation. The period 1951-1999 had low annual, winter and summer temperatures rising at the end of the period, relatively high annual and winter precipitation and low summer precipitation, and a relatively large range of variation in annual and winter precipitation; (3) multiyear climatic variability exists in the study area and the variability of temperature, in particular, is associated with the value of the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Charlotte's Role as a Financial Center: Looking Beyond Bank Assets
Authors: Graves William
Published: July 2013

Studies of financial activities generally focus on the location of assets. Charlotte is often revered as the newest and second-largest banking center in the U.S. in terms of the total assets held by the locally headquartered banks (Bank of America and First Union). Deeper evaluations of financial activity reveal that despite the magnitude of the local asset base, financial employment and wage levels are close to the national average. In terms of the percentage of total employment in the FIRE sector, Charlotte ranks below similar-sized cities such as Jacksonville, Richmond, or Columbia. Examination of the relationship between bank assets and financial-sector employment suggests that the Charlotte banks have a smaller local economic impact per dollar of assets than other regional banks. These results suggest that the high visibility of the banking industry in Charlotte may overshadow the diversity of the area's economy and overstate the economic contributions of the city's most prominent employers.
Environmental Decision-Making and Community Involvement: The Case of Sandy Island, South Carolina
Authors: Halfacre Angela C. , Browning Jeremy D. , Ballard Brian P.
Published: July 2013

Environmental decision-making and mediation research has examined a range of approaches and has increasingly focused on the actors involved with this process. A central part of environmental decision-making is the incorporation of community participation within the decision-making process. The manner in which such participation occurs and its impact on the process is the focus of this paper. We examine the following research question: what type and extent of community participation in the environmental decision-making process led to the conservation of Sandy Island, South Carolina? Analysis of resident surveys and stakeholder interviews, complemented by examinations of minutes from agency meetings, government documents, and newspaper accounts suggest that federal and state partners successfully incorporated local resident opinion into the environmental decision-making process through resident proxies. This successful environmental decision-making process has raised community awareness and increased public agency ability to address community concerns. Such community involvement, if maintained, begins to fulfill a central principle of successful environmental decision-making.
Hog Farming in Eastern North Carolina
Authors: Furuseth Owen J.
Published: July 2013

The last decade was marked by the restructuring of American hog farming. Small-scale swine operations and independent processing facilities have given way to a vertically and horizontally integrated, industrial-type farming regimen. North Carolina's pork producers were leading innovators in this transformation. Across eastern North Carolina, hog production has emerged as the second most important agricultural commodity, but the areal distribution of industrial hog farming has imploded, with increased concentration of hogs and related business infrastructure in the Southern Coastal Agricultural District. In the face of growing state and local regulation of their business, hog producers have adjusted their expansion programs, moving new facilities out of state and cautiously expanding herds in counties where the local political climate is still hog friendly. This paper examines these trends, comparing the early 1990s to the last half of the decade. Geographical shifts in the business are explored and potential adjustments in the future of eastern North Carolina's hog farming enterprise are suggested.
Citizen Reaction to a Proposed Time Zone Boundary Change in Kentucky: Juxtaposing Boundaries on the Land / In the Mind
Authors: Brunn Stanley D.
Published: July 2013

Changes in time zone boundaries are rare but are the result of initiatives at local levels where businesses and employees have stronger linkages to counties and cities in a time zone other than their own. I investigate the October 2000 change in Wayne County, a rural county in southcentral Kentucky that petitioned the U.S. Department of Transportation to join the Eastern Time Zone. Public meetings, letters and petitions demonstrated the divided sentiment regarding the change. Almost 70% of the 2500 signatures supported the change. I investigate the content of 660 individual letters to identify the major reasons supporting and opposing the change. Linkages to places of employment and shopping and visits to physicians were major reasons in support of the change. Objections were a dissatisfaction with no referendum, concerns about children's safety waiting for buses in the dark, "liking it the way it is," and inconveniences for farmers.
Tobacco Farmers and Landscape Change in North Carolina's Old Belt Region
Authors: Birdsall Stephen S.
Published: July 2013

Flue-cured tobacco has been grown in North Carolina since the flue-curing process was developed. Practices employed for generations by successful grower families find expression in small-farm rural landscapes that have altered little for many decades. The federal Tobacco Stabilization Program helped buffer the region's tobacco landscapes from change, but external forces have recently accumulated to threaten the long-established patterns. One possible outcome of these pressures is the geographic fragmentation of traditional grower communities and their replacement in portions of the region by one of three alternative landscapes.
The Geographic Distribution of Home Computer Ownership in the Southeast: An Analysis of Racial and Economic Differences
Authors: Bosman M. Martin , Chakraborty Jayajit
Published: July 2013

Although empirical studies on the "digital divide" have examined differences in computer access at the national scale, statewide variations in personal computer (PC) ownership have not been assessed at the regional scale. The objective of this article is to examine the geographic distribution and extent of the racial and economic divides in home PC ownership across 10 states of the U.S. Southeast. Recent data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey are used to compare the proportion of households owning a PC in each state and the region as a whole. Our results indicate that White households are significantly more likely to own a PC than African American households in all 10 states. The extent of this racial divide is particularly large in rural states such as Alabama and Mississippi, where African American ownership rates are smaller than in other states. A significant difference in PC ownership also exists in all states between the highest- and lowest-income households, particularly in Tennessee and Georgia. Our analyses emphasize the importance of a state-level approach for understanding the nature of the digital divide.
Old, But New: An Inventory of Textile Mill Reuse in the Charlotte Urban Region
Authors: Ingalls Gerald L. , Moore Tyrel G.
Published: July 2013

Rather than trying to copy what other places do, some cities turn to the preservation of local historic, cultural, and environmental resources as an organizing force that defines recent development efforts. Historic preservation and adaptive reuse of old buildings is pursued in areas where industrial building stocks, left in the backwash of economic restructuring, provide resources that are geographically unique to individual places. Abandoned industrial buildings mark the decline of old economic systems and identify formative periods of urban economic and spatial evolution that comprise important elements of the heritage of contemporary landscapes. The southern Piedmont of North Carolina, for example, became the Carolinas' largest concentration of mills as the southward diffusion of the American textile industry occurred between 1880 and the early 1900s. A century later, that concentration remains in a stock of textile mills that have found new uses in a new regional economy. Our research inventories over 100 existing mills and explores their reuse. A wide mix of textile mill reuses occurs in a geography determined by regional growth patterns of the 1990s.
Modeling Spatial Differences in Population Densities: Whites and Blacks in Atlanta, 1990-2000
Authors: Tang Yanbing
Published: July 2013

In this paper, the natural-logarithm cubic-spline function approach is applied to estimate population densities for the total population and White and Black population throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area as well as in four compass directions for 1990 and 2000. To more clearly depict the spatial differences in population densities, entropy and contour mapping are also used. There is marked segregation between Whites and Blacks in Atlanta, and total population densities are strikingly different between Whites and Blacks in varying directions from the center of the city.
Searching for William Bartram's Buffalo Lick
Authors: De Vorsey Louis
Published: July 2013

The writings of Philadelphia natural scientist William Bertram are among the best sources on the ecological and geographical conditions that prevailed in the Southeast in the years immediately preceding the Revolutionary War. In this essay, particular attention is paid to his colorful and detailed description of an important but somewhat unusual landmark on Georgia's Indian frontier. It was a buffalo lick, a place at which buffaloes and other large herbivores were known to lick and eat clays in the soil. The lick under investigation, termed the "Great Buffalo Lick," was such a singular place that it was designated to be a boundary-line checkpoint in an important treaty negotiated to allow the Colony of Georgia to acquire a huge cession of land from the Cherokee and Creek Indians in 1773. Although the Great Buffalo Lick remained a well-known place in the decades immediately following that date, with the passage of time its location was lost from memory. In the 1930s, researchers began to employ cartographic evidence to augment Bartram's colorful but imprecise description. At least three different specific sites were described by researchers who argued that they had found the place Bartram had visited and described. These sites did not agree with my own analysis, first published in the 1960s. Presented here is further analysis, based on late 18th-century land survey plats and deeds, that has allowed me finally to precisely locate Bartram's Great Buffalo Lick on the present-day landscape.
Methods of Mapping Migration Flow Patterns
Authors: Holland Sandra C. , Plane David A.
Published: July 2013

In this paper, we explore alternative methods for mapping and highlighting the most significant patterns of movement present in a complex system of interregional migration streams. Commonly authors show, for instance, the "ten largest" streams of movement. However, a spatial interaction perspective would lead us to suspect that the streams with the largest absolute numbers of migrants might simply occur for origins and destinations having the largest populations—especially those in close spatial proximity. Using 1994-1995 IRS tax-return data for flows between U.S. states we explore a number of alternative measures that may be used to select the most "salient" streams in the movement system. We examine gross flows, net migration flows, demographic effectiveness (efficiency), transition probabilities, and several new interactance standardizations, and we compare the visual representations that they yield.
The Uneven Development of Manufacturing in the Southeast, 1950-1990
Authors: Hanham Robert Q. , Hanham Alison Chisholm
Published: July 2013

This paper uses a geographic shift-share model to examine the uneven development of manufacturing at the state and local scales in nine southeastern states from 1950 to 1990. The research compares changes in employment between states and among six types of local areas within each state. The types of local areas studied are: central city areas, urban fringe areas, large towns, small towns, rural nonfarm areas, and rural farm areas. The results indicate that: (1) the development of manufacturing in the Southeast was geographically uneven from 1950 to 1990 at both state and local scales, but more so at the local level; (2) development at the local scale shifted from rural nonfarm in the 1950s, to small and large towns in the 1960s, to urban central and fringe areas in the 1970s, and to a wide range of local areas in the 1980s; (3) development became less uneven between states over time for all types of local areas, and by the 1980s the degree of uneven development closely corresponded to the degree of urbanization (ruralization) of the local area, with small towns and rural areas being the most evenly developed and urban central areas being the most unevenly developed; (4) development became less uneven among the six types of local areas within every state over time, with Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia being the most evenly developed and Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina being the least evenly developed by the 1980s; and (5) labor costs were a significant determinant of the uneven development of manufacturing at the local scale, but the dominance of this factor appears to have subsided in the 1980s.
Globalization Forces and the Industrial Restructuring of Greenwood County, South Carolina
Authors: Lord J. Dennis
Published: July 2013

This paper uses Greenwood County, South Carolina, as a case study to illustrate the contrasting effects of globalization forces on the industrial restructuring of a local economy. The county's industrial structure, similar to that in many small communities in the Piedmont region of the U.S. South, was dominated by the textile industry for over half of the 20th century. By the latter half of the century, however, the county and other textile communities began to realize the need to diversify their industrial base in order to maintain viable local economies. This need became even more apparent as the textile industry began to shift to lower cost, offshore production areas. More recently, globalization forces via foreign direct investment have benefited the local economy, the most notable example being the location of Fuji Film's North American manufacturing headquarters in the county. Greenwood County provides an example of a community that has been able to "harness the local to capture the global." Arguably, the county should be considered a "maker" region, not unlike the status described for the Greenville-Spartanburg area of the state.
Measuring Agricultural Sustainability: Energy Analysis of Conventional Till and No-Till Maize in the Georgia Piedmont
Authors: Moseley William G. , Jordan Carl F.
Published: July 2013

The ecological sustainability of human production systems has been a major topic of discussion and study since the late 1980s. In the realm of agriculture, scholars have had difficulty identifying a whole ecosystem measure of sustainability. This paper examines the feasibility of using energy input/output analysis as a measure of agricultural sustainability, and uses such analysis to compare the efficiency of conventional and no-till farming practices. The study presents results from an experiment conducted in the Georgia Piedmont to determine the energy output/input ratios for conventional and no-till maize plots under irrigated and nonirrigated conditions. The experiment provided mixed results on whether or not no-till agriculture is a more energy efficient or sustainable agricultural practice. The authors conclude that the question as to which system is more sustainable depends on what is being measured and over what time frame. Even within the context of a short-term experiment, no-till was more efficient, hence sustainable, if total above-ground biomass production was considered. This is a justifiable approach if benefits of carbon sequestration are considered. In contrast, conventional till was more efficient in the short-term if maize kernel production alone was considered (the most important aspect to individual farmers in economic terms). Energy input/output analysis is a potentially viable measure of agricultural sustainability that deserves further study.
Late-Holocene Vegetation Changes at Bluff Swamp, Louisiana
Authors: Reese Carl A. , Liu Kam-biu
Published: July 2013

Stratigraphic pollen studies on two short cores taken from Bluff Swamp, a cypress backwater swamp in southeastern Louisiana, have provided a proxy record of late-Holocene vegetational changes in the area. Results show that during AD 1100-1700, the area was dominated by a dense Taxodium (cypress) swamp. Throughout this time, cypress populations declined steadily, perhaps due to a gradual rise in the water level of the swamp. Around AD 1700 there was a dramatic change in the environment, marked by a sudden decrease in Taxodium and a subsequent rise in heliophytic, early-successional taxa, due to European settlement. In 1950, the U.S. Corps of Engineers constructed a levee that bisects the swamp. This, and other recent anthropogenic disturbance, has resulted in massive cypress die-off due to the widespread ponding of this fragile environment.
Rural Homeless and Springfield, Missouri's Service Hub
Authors: Rollinson Paul A.
Published: July 2013

Homelessness in rural areas and small towns has largely been overlooked by geographers. This article details a case study of homelessness within a persistently poor rural region, providing insight into the coping strategies used, the nature of rural homelessness, and the question of migration to receive social services. Homelessness is shown to be positioned, for the most part, in metropolitan areas. Indeed, it was often not until households had moved to a larger urban setting that they were labeled as "homeless." We seek to understand more about the dignity and inventiveness of rural people and their coping strategies. A decentralized service hub framework proves useful in framing public policy discussions.
Port Competition for Cargo Tonnage in the U.S. South
Authors: Witters Roberta L. , Ivy Russell L.
Published: July 2013

Ports in the United States compete in a relatively free market system Because shipping lines are free to choose the ports they utilize, port authorities have to continually upgrade their facilities to keep pace with changes in the industry The container revolution altered the entire shipping network system, and ports have been called upon to respond to the needs of the shipping companies. Thirty U.S. ports in the South Atlantic and Gulf regions are examined in this study Variables that determine a successful port in competing for high-volume tonnage are tested and found to have different weights in 1965, the early days of the container revolution, compared to 1999
America's Johannesburg and the Struggle for Civil Rights: A Critical Geography
Authors: Wilson Bobby M.
Published: July 2013

No American city symbolizes more than Birmingham, Alabama, the struggle for Civil Rights. After more than 40 years, the struggle continues to be a major part of the city's identity as a place What type of social movement was the Civil Rights struggle and why Birmingham, why this particular place? Is it purely coincidental that a city that became known as the most segregated city in America, "America's Johannesburg" and the place for one of the most significant battles for Civil Rights in America, also was the South's most industrial city, the "Pittsburgh of the South," the South's modern city?
Habitus and Ethnicity in the Upper South: To Enslave or not to Enslave
Authors: Hawkins Michael
Published: July 2013

The antebellum South exhibited a great deal of internal variety in agricultural practices, ethnicity, and slaveholding patterns. Geographers and historians have argued that planters and farmers predicted their decision on whether or not to own slaves on either ideological or economic grounds. A given agent's response to the question of slaveholding in the Upper South was as much an unconscious decision employed in the social game as it was a rational economic or ideological decision. Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus emphasizes the unconscious nature of everyday practices including the accumulation of both material and symbolic capital. The Great Appalachian Valley was settled by two distinct groups from different source regions, each with its own habitus people from the Pennsylvania Culture Hearth who were strongly influenced by German ethnicity, and settlers of primarily English descent from the Tidewater Culture Hearth. I submit that people were disposed to embrace or eschew the practice of slaveholding according to their habitus, and the use of free or slave labor was bound up with a number of related economic, religious, and agricultural everyday practices
"Workfare" in the Triangle: Local Context and Employer Biases Against Welfare Recipients
Authors: Johnson-Webb Karen D.
Published: July 2013

The Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) was passed in 1996 in the U.S. and, through devolution of the administration of welfare programs from the federal to the state and local levels, these programs have taken on various forms and yielded results and outcomes that vary geographically This qualitative study of employer attitudes provides a better understanding of how local context affects the outcomes of a "workfare" program using a case study in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. It focuses on a group of hospitality sector employers in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA and their attitudes toward their employees, with emphasis on welfare recipients and Hispanic immigrants. Results suggest that these employers: (1) are frustrated with implementation of the WorkFirst Program, (2) have a deep-seated perception of an overall poor work ethic in the "workfare" applicant pool, and (3) have a very favorable perception of the work ethic of their immigrant workers.
Weather and Voter Turnout: Kentucky Primary and General Elections, 1990-2000
Authors: Gatrell Jay D. , Bierly Gregory D.
Published: July 2013

Weather and politics are seldom discussed together. Yet, conventional wisdom has long held that inclement election-day weather (e.g., rain or low temperature) inhibits voter participation. While this alleged relationship has been taken for granted, this unofficial "weather hypothesis" has not been formally or directly tested using observed aggregate turnout data. Our paper tests the statistical relationship between observed voter turnout and election-day weather conditions for all Kentucky counties over 10 general-primary election cycles between 1990 and 2000. Using ordinary least squares regression, the results suggest weather events statistically account for observed variation in voter turnout and the statistical relationship varies based on election type, party affiliation, geography, and the specific character of an election cycle.
Geographic and Ecological Variation in Seedling Growth Rates of Sand Pine ( Pinus clausa )
Authors: Parker Albert J. , Parker Kathleen C. , McCay Deanna H.
Published: July 2013

We harvested seedlings from across the range of sand pine ( Pinus clausa ) in order to estimate seedling growth rates. We found significant differences in seedling growth rates between its two varieties. Ocala sand pine ( P. c. var. clausa ) on the Florida peninsula commonly regenerates following crown fires on open ground, seedling growth was rapid on these sites Choctawhatchee sand pine ( P. c. var. immuginata ) on the Florida panhandle commonly regenerates in the sand pine forest understory, often in canopy gaps formed by wind damage. Seedling growth was slower and more variable in these settings. Heat and water stress at a modern dune site on the panhandle yielded the slowest seedling growth. At Eglin Air Force Base, fire suppression has allowed sand pine to invade longleaf pine savannas. Seedling growth rates across a gradient of invasion revealed no significant differences between sites from the historical core of sand pine's range in coastal lowlands and older invasive sites, where dense sand pine cover has developed. By contrast, recently invaded sites showed rapid seedling growth, not significantly different from values obtained for Ocala sand pine seedlings following crown fires.
Extent and Dispersal Rates of Chinese Privet ( Ligustrum sinense ) Invasion on the Upper Oconee River Floodplain, North Georgia
Authors: Ward Ronald W.
Published: July 2013

Ligustrum sinense (Chinese privet, privet) is an invasive woody shrub with an extensive naturalized distribution in the eastern and southeastern United States. Although privet is considered an invasive species in many eastern states, to date there has been no attempt to quantify the areal extent of privet invasions in vulnerable ecosystems. In the Upper Oconee River Basin, northeastern Georgia, privet thickets are abundant on the river floodplain. At the landscape scale, I used historical aerial photographic analysis to determine the extent and timing of privet invasion along a 43 km reach of the Upper Oconee River I also used magnified historical aerial photograph images to investigate whether there are particular types of land uses associated with the invasion at three one-kilometer sub-reaches Privet was well established by 1951, the first aerial photographs of the area taken during winter leaf-off period, when 51% of 1,327 ha of floodplain surface had already been invaded. By 1999 privet had spread to 59% of the floodplain Analysis of the 43-km study reach, and qualitative observations of historical privet invasion at the three representative sub-reaches, suggest that the modest increases in privet extent over the study period are primarily due to invasion of agricultural fields and pastures. While some remnant patches of noninvaded floodplain forest persist in areas that experienced less human activity, most remaining stands of noninvaded floodplain forest are confined to backswamp areas where frequent flooding appears to exclude privet establishment and growth.
Location and Expansion of Help Supply Services in the U.S. South, 1988-1999
Authors: Gong Hongmian
Published: July 2013

While there is a rich literature on the unprecedented growth of help supply services, the spatial implications of the growth have not been adequately explored. This research fills some gaps by studying the U.S. South, the fastest-growing and most specialized region in help supply services. Using employment data at the county level, it is found that the help supply services in the South were concentrated in metropolitan areas with a population of 250,000 or more, and in central counties of metropolitan areas. However, there is relative decentralization downward and outward as help supply services expanded both hierarchically from large-and-medium metropolitan areas to small metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan areas and horizontally from central counties to sub-urban counties and nonmetropolitan counties.
Predicting Success or Failure on Main Street: Urban Revitalization and the Kentucky Main Street Program, 1979-1999
Authors: Smith Christa A.
Published: July 2013

This study examines factors contributing to the active or inactive status of Main Street communities in Kentucky. Data were gathered on 37 Main Street communities from 1979-1999. A logistic regression analysis revealed that three variables—downtown business vacancy rates; whether or not the town was within the sphere of influence of a metropolitan area; and the composition of the Main Street board leadership—were the most important predictors of on-going Main Street activity. It was determined that more rural Main Street communities were better able than their urban counterparts to manifest the "tyranny of space" (i.e., the potential to gain excessive entrepreneurial profits) that Lösch's version of central place theory struggled so hard to eliminate. These more isolated small municipalities were successful in sustaining economic revitalization efforts because they were not in direct competition with larger urban areas. It was further surmised that the leadership approach of Main Street participants differed in the active and inactive communities, which additionally explain the active/inactive status in these municipalities.
Building a Bioscience Workforce: The Southeast Versus the Vanguard States
Authors: Leigh Nancey Green , Walcott Susan M.
Published: July 2013

The biotechnology industry is extraordinarily concentrated: five states account for nearly half of all biotechnology firms. California accounts for almost a quarter of all firms while Massachusetts accounts for just over one-tenth of all firms. Viewing the biotechnology industry as a leading sector for creating high-quality growth, many states have initiated public policies aimed at growing the industry at home and capturing a greater share of the national pie. In a comparative analysis with these two vanguard states, we examine public strategies initiated during the last two decades to promote the development of the biotech industry in three states in the Southeast: Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Biotechnicians represent the largest number of workers in this industry, hold the greatest promise for geographic diffusion throughout the Southeast, and constitute a largely unexamined sector. The extent to which workforce-training strategies are successful typically depends on clustering and network building with industry leaders.
A Vibrant Cultural Boundary in Florida
Authors: Lamme Ary J. , Meindl Christopher F.
Published: July 2013

As an evolving cornerstone of the Sunbelt at the beginning of a new century, Florida deserves increased attention from cultural geographers. Most of what is known of cultural patterns in the Sunshine State is based on some good, traditional 20th century research. For instance, in his Cultural Geography of the United States , Wilbur Zelinsky identified a cultural divide extending in a "U" shape from coast to coast across the Florida Peninsula. We seek to update our understanding of this important boundary through study of its evolution, elaboration and experiential consequences. Using historic maps and census data, we looked for evidence of the beginnings and movement of that boundary. We suggest that the divide originated with the arrival of northeasterners in southeast Florida around the turn of the 20th century, and then moved northward along the coasts. Interior South Florida retained significant southern population elements throughout this century. At present, the boundary area of this cultural divide along portions of both coasts exhibits complex socioeconomic characteristics associated with what some have called a "blight belt." On these bases we suggest a partial realignment, renaming of the blight belt as the blight archipelago, and fuller meaning of this primary cultural divide on the Florida peninsula.
Poverty Concentration in a Multiethnic City: The Impact of Compositional and Redistributive Forces in Miami, Florida, 1980-1990
Authors: Strait John B.
Published: July 2013

Over time, the urban poor in the United States have become spatially concentrated within extremely poor neighborhoods, and as a result increasingly isolated from the nonpoor. Two general forces that vary in scale have been shown to be responsible for this process. First, poverty concentration may arise simply from metropolitan-wide changes in the overall population of the poor and/or nonpoor, a collection of forces that I refer to here as compositional forces. Second, poverty concentration may also result from intrametropolitan forces that cause the poor and/or nonpoor to redistribute themselves within metropolitan areas. These latter forces are referred to here as redistributive forces. In this paper, I examine the degree to which these two separate forces have impacted the levels of poverty concentration among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites within Miami, Florida, from 1980 to 1990. Both forces functioned to increase poverty concentration among all three groups, with compositional forces generally having the stronger effect. A racial/ethnic continuum exists in Miami, as poor African Americans were the most spatially isolated of all groups and were more significantly impacted by redistributive forces. Poor Whites were the least isolated, while poor Hispanics exhibited intermediate levels of spatial isolation and poverty exposure. Evidence suggests that the residential experiences of both poor African Americans and Hispanics were strongly influenced by the migratory behavior of the nonpoor in Miami.
An Overlooked Source of Weather-Related Property Damage in the Southeast: Lightning Losses for Georgia, 1996-2000
Authors: Stallins J. Anthony
Published: July 2013

I compiled weather-related property damage claims for Georgia and compared them with observational loss records in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Data reports for 1996-2000. Lightning comprised 53% of a total 37,093 weather-related claims for property damage observed during this interval, amounting to $22.9 million in losses. Based on tests of group differences obtained with multiresponse permutation procedures (MRPP), lightning was comparable to wind damage in total dollar losses. When adjustments are made for the market share of insurer providing these claims data, lightning losses in Georgia may approach $92 million for the five-year period. Storm Data greatly underestimated lightning losses, suggesting that insurance claims can provide much needed detail on the economic costs of high frequency, localized weather hazards such as lightning. For the southeastern U.S., lightning may be an underrecognized agent of weather-related property losses.
Rural Virginia Women's Small Businesses: Ethnicity and Linkages
Authors: Aspaas Helen Ruth
Published: July 2013

In 1992, Candida Brush used Carol Gilligan's arguments about the interconnectedness of women's lives to encourage a more careful analysis of women's small business activities. Gilligan's perspective suggests that women's social orientations are directed more toward cultivating strong relationships rather than achieving independence (separateness) and position. Indeed, women's realities show multiple connections, and, in the case of women business owners, Brush suggests that the connections are often with family members, social acquaintances and community organizations. In central Virginia's agricultural heartland, African American and Anglo American women own and operate a variety of businesses, many of them highly successful. They are the subjects of this analysis of the linkages that rural Virginian women experience as a consequence of their business activities. The linkages are categorized into spatial, economic, formal and informal networking, familial, developmental and community involvement. The research also identifies differences between African American and Anglo American women business owners in the region. While the literature makes some broad generalizations about the impacts of some of these linkages, little in fact is known about how participation in small business ownership in rural settings can influence women's lives and the subsequent ties to family, home and community. This research begins an important discussion of ethnic variations in linkages fostered by business ownership.
"The Real South Starts Here": Whiteness, the Confederacy, and Commodification at Stone Mountain
Authors: Essex Jamey
Published: July 2013

Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, has served as a vital landscape for the construction of regional and racial identities in the South through the construction of a White identity based on the region's Confederate past. This paper examines Stone Mountain's historical development as a landscape of southern White identity construction, with particular focus on the roles played by "Lost Cause" interpretations of southern history, the Ku Klux Klan, and the state of Georgia during the Civil Rights movement. Since 1998, the partial privatization and development of Stone Mountain Park as a theme park based on an historical recreation of a late 19th-century southern town has altered the contexts and reproduction of these racial and regional identities. Stone Mountain, while retaining elements of the White southern identity rooted in the celebration of a Confederate past, has become primarily a place for the consumption of a commodified historical experience.
The Latter-Day Saint Diaspora in the United States and the South
Authors: Laing Craig R.
Published: July 2013

During the 20th century, the spatial distribution of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has experienced significant changes as the percentage of members in the West has declined while the percentages in the South, Midwest, and Northeast have increased. These changes are the result of members leaving the faith's traditional centers, namely Utah and the Great Basin, to settle in other American regions as well as the conversion of new members in these regions. This paper documents the 20th century diaspora of Latter-day Saints, especially to the American South. The South has played an important role in this transition and today is home to 15% of American Latter-day Saints. Latter-day Saints are found to be similar in distribution as the region's population as a whole. The presence of sizable member populations in the region's large metropolitan areas and the construction of Church-related facilities in them are creating incipient cultural hearths for the faith in the South and contributing to a more diverse southern religious landscape.
Commuting Constraints of Black Female Workers in Atlanta: An Examination of the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis in Married-Couple, Dual-Earner Households
Authors: Sultana Selima
Published: July 2013

Using 5% Public-Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) for 1990, this paper examines the extent of racial variation in females' commuting times in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the context of the spatial mismatch hypothesis. Much past research has portrayed, based on old industrial cities, racial variation of males' commuting times, but the study of racial variation in female commuting time, especially based on the post-industrial city, remains underexamined. This is one of the very few studies of racial variations in females commuting times based on a post-industrial city. To ensure compatible comparison between Blacks and Whites, the analysis controls all the matched characteristics of these two groups such as: marital status, household types, parental status, occupation status, location of residence and workplaces, and mode of transportation. This study confirms the results of many past studies, that regardless of the comparable socioeconomic status of Blacks and Whites, Black females continue to face significant spatial barriers, especially in the service economy, when commuting within central cities, time that is therefore unavailable for other purposes. Unlike other studies, this research finds, regardless of occupational status, shorter reverse commuting by central city Black females (except for the professional workers). The situation with Blacks living and working in the suburbs differs slightly, with some evidence of an explicit spatial mismatch reflected by their longer commuting times.
The Transformation of Richmond's Historic African American Commercial Corridor
Authors: Bowen Dawn S.
Published: July 2013

Second Street, or "the Deuce," in Richmond's historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, was the focal point of African American commerce in the early part of the 20th century. Enterprises of all types clustered along this street, just north of Broad Street, Richmond's main thoroughfare and the center of White business activity. While some scholars have argued that there was, in fact, never a separate Black economy, it is clear that this street was the hub of African American economic and social life in Richmond. Professional and personal services, banks, hotels, restaurants and general merchandise stores were established along Second Street to meet the needs of Richmond's Black population. Denied access to the White-owned theatres and clubs, Blacks also created a unique entertainment district along the Deuce, which was home to numerous social clubs, restaurants, and theatres. This paper explores the growth of Second Street during the first half of the 20 th century and explains the reasons behind its subsequent decline in the latter half of the 20th century.
The Emergence of Ethnic Niches in New Immigrant Destinations: An Examination of Atlanta's Labor Market, 1980-1990
Authors: Wang Qingfang , Pandit Kavita
Published: July 2013

The entry of foreign-born workers into U.S. metropolitan labor markets was associated with a rise in ethnic niches, i.e., occupations dominated by ethnic workers. Our study examines the emergence of ethnic niches in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area, whose foreign-born population began to increase in the 1980s. Using the 1980 and 1990 PUMS data, we first develop an odds ratio to identify the occupational niches associated with different ethnic groups, and then examine the relative earnings of niche workers. We then compare the determinants of job earnings for niche and nonniche jobs using regression analysis. Our findings reveal a sharp ethnic segmentation of the labor force as early as in 1980. The economic advantages of niche employment vary by ethnic group, with the skill level of the job and the extent of ethnic social capital being important factors. Overall, the economic implications of niche employment for foreign-born and native-born workers were strongly contingent on the particular nature of Atlanta's economic growth in the past few decades.