Geographies of youth, volunteering and religion: narratives of young Muslim volunteers in Birmingham, UK

This thesis sits at the interface of three cross-cutting areas of research: youth, volunteering and religion. Geography has made notable contributions to the study of youth in recent years, through a focus on spatialities of the lives of young people. There remains, however, a bias towards research on young people in higher education. Research by geographers on volunteering has been vibrant and diverse, yet understandings of what and who a volunteer is remain hazy and problematic. Islam has received considerable attention within geography. The relationship between Islam and the West is continually shifting and geographical research needs to keep up with this everchanging landscape. This thesis examines the narratives of young Muslim volunteers in Birmingham, UK, exploring four research questions: (1) What is the landscape of volunteering in Muslim communities in Birmingham? ; (2) What pathways do young Muslims take to become volunteers? ; (3) What are the experiences of young Muslims who volunteer? ; and (4) How does volunteering shape the identities of young Muslims? . To address these research questions, a mixed methods approach was utilised, comprising of a questionnaire survey of 382 respondents and a series of 45 interviews amongst Muslims between the ages of 18 to 25. The motivations for volunteering amongst the respondents were primarily altruistic, challenging the depiction of youth volunteering as a route to corporate work. Muslim women were more exposed to discrimination within their own communities through cultural and religious expectations, particularly within more religiously conservative communities. Women were also more exposed to abuse from outside of their communities through Islamophobia. Volunteering amongst young Muslims provided a sense of belonging, eroded stereotypes and broke down barriers within society. The findings of this thesis provide empirical and conceptual contributions to literature on youth, volunteering and religion. The research expands the literature on young people beyond a focus on higher education, as well as providing analytical purchase to the understanding of vital conjunctures in relation to youth transitions. This thesis provides several conceptual contributions to research on volunteering, developing definitions of volunteering to reflect the diversity of formal, informal and embodied micro practices uncovered within this research project. This thesis offers new perspectives on the everyday lives of young Muslims in Britain through their engagement with volunteering

NDVI With Artificial Neural Networks For SRTM Elevation Model Improvement – Hydrological Model Application

Digital elevation model (DEM) plays a substantial role in hydrological study, from understanding the catchment characteristics, setting up a hydrological model to mapping the flood risk in the region. Depending on the nature of study and its objectives, high resolution and reliable DEM is often desired to set up a sound hydrological model. However, such source of good DEM is not always available and it is generally high-priced. Obtained through radar based remote sensing, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is a publicly available DEM with resolution of 92m outside US. It is a great source of DEM where no surveyed DEM is available. However, apart from the coarse resolution, SRTM suffers from inaccuracy especially on area with dense vegetation coverage due to the limitation of radar signals not penetrating through canopy. This will lead to the improper setup of the model as well as the erroneous mapping of flood risk. This paper attempts on improving SRTM dataset, using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from Visible Red and Near Infra-Red band obtained from Landsat with resolution of 30m, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The assessment of the improvement and the applicability of this method in hydrology would be highlighted and discussed

Combining Satellite And Gauge Precipitation Data With Co-Kriging Method For Jakarta Region

Jakarta is vulnerable to flooding mainly caused by prolonged and heavy rainfall and thus a robust hydrological modeling is called for. A good quality of spatial precipitation data is therefore desired so that a good hydrological model could be achieved. Two types of rainfall sources are available: satellite and gauge station observations. At-site rainfall is considered to be a reliable and accurate source of rainfall. However, the limited number of stations makes the spatial interpolation not very much appealing. On the other hand, the gridded rainfall nowadays has high spatial resolution and improved accuracy, but still, relatively less accurate than its counterpart. To achieve a better precipitation data set, the study proposes cokriging method, a blending algorithm, to yield the blended satellite-gauge gridded rainfall at approximately 10-km resolution. The Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP, 0.1⁰×0.1⁰) and daily rainfall observations from gauge stations are used. The blended product is compared with satellite data by cross-validation method. The newly-yield blended product is then utilized to re-calibrate the hydrological model. Several scenarios are simulated by the hydrological models calibrated by gauge observations alone and blended product. The performance of two calibrated hydrological models is then assessed and compared based on simulated and observed runoff