This is a work-in-progress report of Miami Studies, a curricular, research, and collections-focused initiative housed at the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab (WPHL) at Florida International ...University (FIU). Miami Studies represents a unique approach to Latina/o/x studies in the Greater Miami region and at one of the largest Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) in the country. The rationale, framework, and historical context for a Miami Studies school of urbanism is described in detail. This is followed by an explanation of the WPHL’s digitally focused initiatives: the digitization of a now-defunct newspaper titled Miami Life and the Mellon Foundation-funded Community Data Curation post-custodial project. Also referenced is the Díaz Ayala Collection of Cuban and Latin American Popular Music, housed at FIU Libraries.
•Identification of the correct conceptual model in bedrock aquifers is challenging.•Aquifers often behave as equivalent porous media for flow but not for transport.•The major issue is whether there ...are continuous open fracture pathways.•14 diagnostic tests for conceptual model identification are described.
Transport in bedrock aquifers is complex because there is often substantial flow through fractures, and the apertures and interconnectivity of these fractures are usually uncertain. Single-porosity numerical models often give satisfactory results for simulating flow. However, simulating transport is more challenging and results based on single-porosity assumptions can yield inaccurate results. Seven cases are reviewed where travel times were found to be unexpectedly short. Results show that dual-porosity flow is common, with advective flow through fracture networks and immobile storage in the matrix. However, in some cases a dual- or multiple-permeability (or porosity) approach provides better simulations of aquifer behavior. Fracture porosity of bedrock aquifers is usually <1%, resulting in rapid groundwater velocities in many aquifers. Overestimation of the effective porosity is the most common reason for the overestimation of travel times. Residence times of artificial tracers in bedrock aquifers are typically two to three orders of magnitude less than residence times of environmental tracers because the latter are retarded by matrix diffusion. Fourteen diagnostic tests for determining the appropriate conceptual model for bedrock aquifers are described.
Everglades National Park (ENP) is a hydro-ecologically enriched wetland with varying salinity contents, which is a concern for terrestrial ecosystem balance and its nearby urban sustainability. In ...this study, spatio-temporal soil salinity maps are created using remote sensing techniques, coupled with literature review to understand vegetation salt tolerance properties, and field assessments entailing insitu electric conductivity (EC) measurements. The mapping first entailed the execution of a supervised machine learning technique—the maximum likelihood classification algorithm—to delineate seven vegetation-based land cover classes for the area, namely, mangrove forest, mangrove scrub, low-density forest, sawgrass, prairies and marshes, barren lands with woodland hammock and water, for the years 1996, 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2015. The classifications for 1996–2010 yielded accuracies of 82%–94%, and the 2015 classification was supported through ground truthing. Afterwards, EC tolerance thresholds for each vegetation class were established, which yielded soil salinity maps comprising four soil salinity classes—i.e., the non- (EC = 0–2 dS/m), low- (EC = 2–4 dS/m) and high-saline (EC ≥4 dS/m) areas. The soil salinity maps visualized the spatial distribution of soil salinity with no significant temporal changes. Furthermore, insitu EC measurements carried out at 23 sampling sites covering all land cover classes mostly validated (91% samples were tested within range) the estimated soil salinity ranges for the latest distribution. The approach of using land cover classes to sense salinity ranges in an urban-proximal ecosystem is pragmatic and application oriented, attributing to novel and useful study upshots considering the diversifying ecological context.
•A mapping approach for soil salinity from land cover classes are proposed.•Supervised machine learning tool used for land cover classification for 1996, 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2015 for ENP area.•Top-soil salinity mapping carried out, with the latest one been validated through insitu assessment.•Spatio-temporal trends of soil salinity changes are analyzed.
Key and Tahiti limes have historically been very important to the economy of south Florida. However, there are few commercial orchards left for these lime cultivars in the state. Many orchards were ...destroyed during Hurricane Andrew, and those that survived were then eliminated by Florida’s Citrus Canker Eradication Program in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Tahiti limes are being considered for reintroduction in Miami-Dade County because of the growing demand for this fruit, especially among buyers who are willing to pay more for Florida-grown fruit. In this publication, we explore the history of lime production in south Florida and current trends in the market, especially growing demand in the United States for Tahiti limes. The price premiums from the growing domestic market for Tahiti limes would likely be enough to overcome the challenges growers face in combating the disease pressure from citrus canker, citrus greening, and intense competition from Mexico and other countries.
Sea-level rise and climate change are important issues in science, politics, and communities. Sea-level rise is a particularly contentious topic in Florida, where expected impacts include coastal ...flooding, shrinking shorelines, and saltwater intrusion. It is unclear what Floridians think about sea-level rise and the ways in which the state can adapt to these impacts. This 5-page fact sheet written by Bailey Emrick, Misti Sharp, and Xiang Bi and published by the UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department summarizes findings from two recent surveys examining attitudes of Miami residents and those of residents of the rest of Florida about sea-level rise and potential adaptations to it
Location-based studies for tourism destinations have beenconducted from perspectives such as regional geography and systematicgeography. However, despite the importance of location, the impact ...oflocation on food safety has not yet been studied, even though it might bethe most influential aspect of planning and development in a tourism destination. This exploratory study identified locational determinants that are associated with the degree of critical food safety violations in hotel restaurants in the Miami metropolitan area in the United States. The results indicated that proximity to the beach, downtown, city of Miami, and airport had a significant effect on critical food safety violations. Furthermore, considerable local variations in the relationships among variables were explored using a geographically weighted regression. The implications on and suggestions for effective food safety planning and policy related to tourism are discussed.
•Exploring the spatial patterns of food safety of hotel restaurants.•Detecting local clusters of critical food safety violations at hotel restaurants.•Identifying locational determinants related to the degree of food safety violations.•Proximities to beaches, downtowns, and airports affect the degree of food safety violations.•Midprice hotels and non-chain hotels present more significant results.
The Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital's legacy of patient care, teaching, and research in the neurosciences extends over a period of 50 years. ...The department's founder was Dr. David Reynolds. The subsequent chairman, Dr. Hubert Rosomoff, formed a solid foundation that helped put the department on the map. Drs. Barth Green and Roberto Heros, the immediate past chair and co-chairman, garnered both national and international attention for the department. Dr. Green focused his career on complex spine and spinal cord disorders, and was pivotal in creating the world's largest research center for spinal cord injuries. Dr. Heros is a master educator and pioneer neurovascular surgeon, as well as a former president of several neurosurgical national and international organizations. In aggregate, the department has made major contributions to the foundations of neurosurgery.
Since 1959, the Cuban revolutionary government has proudly proclaimed that "the revolution is for the children." Many Cuban Americans reject this claim, asserting that they chose exile in the United ...States to protect their children from the evils of "Castro-communism." Anita Casavantes Bradford's analysis of the pivotal years between the Revolution's triumph and the 1962 Missile Crisis uncovers how and when children were first pressed into political service by ideologically opposed Cuban communities on both sides of the Florida Straits. Casavantes Bradford argues that, in Havana, the Castro government deployed a morally charged "politics of childhood" to steer a nationalist and reformist revolution toward socialism. At the same time, Miami exile leaders put children at the heart of efforts to mobilize opposition to Castro's regime and to link the well-being of Cuban refugees to U.S. Cold War foreign policy objectives. Casavantes Bradford concludes that the 1999 Elian Gonzalez custody battle was the most notorious recent manifestation of the ongoing struggle to define and control Cuban childhood, revealing the persistent centrality of children to Cuban politics and national identity.
•The ability to manage and build urban water resilience will depend on how the city is managing and governing its water resources and services and how it is addressing the water-related shocks and ...stresses•There is an increasing demand for innovative tools and guidance to apply water resilience concept in practice.•With empirical evidence, the paper presents a water resilience assessment framework that includes a set of resilience indicators that will guide in building urban water resilience•Critical dimensions to build urban water resilience: infrastructure and ecosystems, health and wellbeing, planning and finance, and leadership and strategy.
The resilience model is an increasingly well-established paradigm of urban planning that guides responses to water related shocks and stresses, such as floods, droughts. However, due to limited studies and guidance on how to apply the concept of water resilience in practice, there is a growing demand for innovative tools that can help urban planners make better decisions and investments for a resilient urban water system. This paper presents a governance-based water resilience planning tool called the City Water Resilience Framework (CWRF), which is designed to meet this need. CWRF enables cities to collectively assess and plan for strengthening urban water resilience. It has been co-created through research and a robust peer-review process with eight partner cities and consultation with global experts. Based on this research, different factors of resilience were identified, which informed the development of CWRF, that includes a set of resilience goals, sub-goals and indicators, categorised across four dimensions: infrastructure and ecosystems, health and wellbeing, planning and finance, and leadership and strategy. Evidence is presented from the application of CWRF in Cape Town and Greater Miami and the Beaches (GM&B), which informed the cities' key water planning and strategies by integrating water resilience factors and activities.
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