User:Iulus Ascanius

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Professionally, I have a scholarly interest in Psychometrics, especially: Computerized adaptive testing, Item response theory, Criterion-referenced test, Computerized classification test, and the Sequential probability ratio test.

My non-professional scholarly interest is in the confluence of urban geography, development geography, and economic geography on the topic of site and situation; namely, why is a city founded and why does it grow? Is it:

• water power (Minneapolis, MN and Watertown, WI)

• a more-or-less terminus of navigation (Saint Paul, MN and Duluth, MN)

• a natural harbor (Milwaukee, WI as well as many supercities like New York, Hong Kong, and the San Francisco area)

• a canal entrance (Cincinatti, OH, Chicago, IL and Buffalo, NY - technically, Tonowanda)

• a confluence (Saint Louis, MO, Kansas City, MO, and Pittsburgh, PA)

• a handy stop or port on a river (New Orleans, LA and Memphis, TN)

• a geological resource (Minnesota's Iron Range and mining towns everywhere)

• railroads (Omaha, NE and Atlanta, GA)

• the first available river crossing (Rome and London)

• tactical defensibility (Tyre, Lebanon and Athens)

• public purposes such as a capital or university (Madison, WI, Jackson, MS, Columbus, OH, State College, PA)

• proximity to other cities with these characteristics (e.g., a pure suburb like Woodbury, Minnesota)

• additional factors such as soil quality, climate, economic booms and depressions, etc.