Ivy, Russell L.

As the current President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, nears the end of his reign, the shift in his foreign policy has become clear as well as the direction on which he has set the nation for his predecessors to continue. The shift in policy has come from above as represented by the Russian elite and central government, as well as a noticeable ideological shift from below by the Russian citizens, both of which focus on the anti-West rhetoric known as Eurasianism. The school of thought known as Eurasianism seeks Russia to reestablish itself as a Eurasian empire. The contention of this paper is that the first indication of the Putin Administration's attempts at empire building will be through reclamation of the areas known as the former Soviet South. It is through this territory and strategic partnerships that Russia may once again become a dominate global force both militarily and economically.

Elderly seasonal migration is strong in certain parts of the United States. Florida experiences drastic annual fluctuations in population due to this trend, and certain geographic areas within the state are more attractive than others. According to current literature on the topic, there are both negative and positive consequences to the area of in-migration. The first main goal of this paper is to determine which of the variables suggested by the current literature actually are associated with a high seasonal population. It was found that all of the variables suggested were extremely multicollinear, but percentage 65 and older had the highest overall correlation. The second goal is to perform an analysis of the effects of the seasonal population on a city with a high raw number of seasonal housing units---Boca Raton. This was done through a comparison of the current literature with empirical evidence gathered on Boca Raton. It was found that Boca Raton is consistent with the literature with the majority of the effects.

Daytona Beach is known as a center for automobile and motorcycle racing, a famous spring break destination for thousands of college students, and its world famous beaches. The city, like so many other American cities underwent a decentralization of the downtown. Businesses left for the suburbs and thus reshaped the city. This research examines the land use changes in the central business district through time and examines the build up of a new commercial corridor located around the Daytona International Speedway. The research also examines the redevelopment process the city of Daytona Beach used to reinvent itself. Finally, this research will attempt to link the new commercial corridor to the Speedway as one cause of the decentralization process of the downtown.

The Czech Republic underwent many political and economic changes in the past decades, especially after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, when communism was brought down and democracy reinstated. The changes affected tourism as well as other areas. This research looks at the evolution of the tourism industry in the Czech Republic, especially concentrating on two vertical themes, comparing different tourism variables on time periods before and after 1989. Quantitative and descriptive methods are applied to economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts of tourism to provide a detail comparison of the two time periods. As the Czech Republic is a country in transition, the efficiency and the lack of current tourism models for transition countries are discussed. Some modest ideas for future research are also proposed.

The deregulation of the airline industry in the United States in the late 1970's has created more competition between airline companies. Many studies have been done regarding the changes to the industry since deregulation, but little research exists regarding the relationship between airfares, travel distance and route competition. In an effort to discover the relationship between these variables a series of analyses are performed using various statistical models as well as a comparison of the United States airspace to the European Union airspace (a regulated system). In this thesis it was found that not only do the variables that determine airfares in the United States have little to do with distance, but also that there are more variables beyond competition that are necessary to consider.

Germany, with respect to tourism departures, spending, and propensity, is a very strong market in the global tourism arena. German tourism has been increasing steadily over the past few decades, following the world trend. The objective of this paper is to assess the influence of Germans on world patterns during this era of tourism growth. The central focus is to determine to what extent the Germans act as allocentric trendsetters in world patterns. Arrival ranks of the most popular current and historic destinations of world tourists and Germans were compared, and destination choices were analyzed with respect to tourist behavior theory. It was found that the Germans demonstrate several types of tourism motivations, and are influential both regionally and globally.

Ports in the United States (US) are encouraged to compete in a free market system. Several Shipping Acts since the 1800's have ensured that each port is not given exclusive rights over any other US port. Because shipping lines are free to choose the port they utilize, ports have to continually upgrade their facilities to keep up with continual changes in the industry. The container revolution changed the entire port network system. What makes a port successful before and after the container revolution for thirty selected US ports is examined in this study. Variables that determine a successful port are tested and found to be different before and after the container revolution.

Because every region, destination, site, of event is unique, it has been difficult to apply any one specific rule or model to enhance tourism planning. In manufacturing, and other economic areas, the product life cycle concept has been a proven method used in tracing the evolution of a product of industry through its various stages of life. In the past, most tourism models were used specifically to measure economic development, employment, foreign exchange, and tax revenues, but not the life cycle of the destination or site itself In recent years however, a form of the product life cycle model has been found increasingly useful in tracing the stages of the tourism product and its components. The tourism life cycle model provides the opportunity to study the history of a destination, site, or event by identifying the causes that influence its transition through each of its stages. The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of a major U.S. antiquing event by using the product, of more precisely, the tourism life cycle model. It will examine the different stages which the event had traversed, and will attempt to show that the time may be at hand for promoters and other vested participants to engage in strategic planning in order to rejuvenate the event.

This paper looks at the various types of hubs that have evolved in the air transportation network in the USA. Since deregulation of the industry at the end of the 1970s, the major air carriers have expanded their networks to become more competitive, and the number and types of hubs have grown accordingly. A connectivity analysis using a traditional matrix approach is used to derive indices which are the basis for the development of a connectivity classification scheme. In addition, the various service functions of hubs are explored.

An airport with quality service can contribute to a city's quality of life and be an essential component in luring new residents and industry to an area. Competitive fares and convenient, frequent schedules are important to these prospective residents and, of course, to the current local population for both business and pleasure travel. However, for the small city, maintaining quality service can be a challenge. Small-city airports are harder to promote to major airlines as financially worthwhile ventures due to their lower traffic-generating potential.