Digital Commons Network^™

Climate Change Impact On Bridge Scour Risk In Ny State: A Gis-Based Risk Analysis Model, Muhammad Hassan Butt

Publications and Research

Bridge scour, the primary cause of bridge failure in the United States, escalates post-severe storms, necessitating effective mitigation. This study employs a GIS-based risk analysis model to assess climate change's impact on bridge scour and associated risks in New York State. Data from the National Bridge Inventory, climate hazard maps, and geospatial data are integrated.

Compound Flooding In A Non-Stationary World: A Primer For Practice, Gerarda M. Shields, J. Rolf Olsen, Miguel Medina Jr., Jayantha Obeysekera, Poulomi Ganguli, Carlo Demichele, Gianfausto Salvadori, Mohammad Reza Najafi, Hamed Moftakhari, Ferdinand Diermanse, Amir Aghakouchak

Publications and Research

Compound flooding conditions present a significant challenge for civil engineers in their pursuit to design for and maintain the integrity of a structure’s entire life cycle. Coupled with non-stationary processes due to a changing climate and land use change, risk is a moving target. Through the support of ASCE’s Task Committee on Compound Flooding, the Hydroclimatology Engineering Adaptation (HYDEA) sub-committee is developing a Manual of Practice (MOP) to provide a synthesis of available tools and methods of best practice for civil engineers designing for compound flooding conditions. This paper presents a primer for practicing civil engineers on this work. Hydrodynamic …

Uav Mapping Vs Manned Aerial Mapping, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

As the technological capacities and capabilities of geospatial data acquisition enhance employing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), geospatial data users must now wrestle with whether it is more beneficial to utilize UAVs to map, chart, survey, examine, and record an area's topography and graphical features or stick with the traditional method of Manned Aerial Mapping (MAM) aircraft for better aerial data acquisition. Factors such as project scope, location, size, budget, accessibility, time constraints, and project site security and accessibility play a significant role in selecting which method would bring the best results. The December 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment and Tottenville, Staten …

Using Nyc Open Data To Improve Accessibility For People With Mobility Impairments In New York City., Said Naqwe

Publications and Research

Approximately one-fifth to one-quarter of American families have a family member with a mobility impairment, which poses challenges for many local communities, particularly in New York City Boroughs. To address this issue, Doorfront.org aims to make sidewalks and facilities, such as residential buildings and restaurants, more accessible to disabled residents of New York City. As a research assistant for Doorfront.org, I used NYC Open Data to accumulate data on inaccessible facilities, such as the NYC sidewalk polygons, building footprints, city hydrants, bus shelters, parking meters, street trees, pedestrian ramps, litter baskets, city benches, and newsstands.
I downloaded a non-geospatial CSV …

Toporadio: Mapping Research On Spanish-Languageradio In The United States, Eric Silberberg

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the construction of TopoRadio (toporadio.org), an interactive map that showcases publications and archives about Spanish-language radio in the U.S. The map aims to promote a more inclusive and comprehensive representation of U.S. radio history by improving the visibility of contributions from Latinx broadcasters. The article addresses how map-making historically suppressed Spanish-language radio programs and proposes using critical cartography as a framework for mapping back this history. The technical elements of TopoRadio, including publication selection criteria, metadata design, geocoding process, and the appraisal of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, are described to provide scholars with a reproducible method …

From Surplus To Scarcity: Restaurant Labor Along The Brooklyn Waterfront, 2020-2023, Emily Holloway

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Studying Factors Of Environmental Injustice And Ways To Achieve Equity, Arham Hussain, Reginald Metellus

Publications and Research

In today's day of age, the biggest concern for current and future generations: the environment. The urban heat island (UHi) with its significant energy, health, and societal impacts is among the major environmental issues in urban regions, especially in historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs). In the 1930s, the former federal agency, Homeowners' Loan Corporation (H0Lq, created ''Residential Security" maps of major cities, known today as "redlined" areas. These neighborhoods were often designated as "hazardous" due to the high percentages of people of color living there, leading to systematic disinvestment based on race. While the program ended in 1968, …

Reducing Liver Cancer Risk Through Dietary Change: Positive Results From A Community-Based Educational Initiative In Three Racial/Ethnic Groups, Lin Zhu, Ellen Jaeson Kim, Evelyn González, Marilyn A. Fraser, Steven Zhu, Nathaly Rubio-Torio, Grace X. Ma, Ming-Chin Yeh, Yin Tan

Publications and Research

Dietary behaviors and alcohol consumption have been linked to liver disease and liver cancer. So far, most of the liver cancer awareness campaigns and behavioral interventions have focused on preventive behaviors such as screening and vaccination uptake, while few incorporated dietary aspects of liver cancer prevention. We implemented a community-based education initiative for liver cancer prevention among the African, Asian, and Hispanic populations within the Greater Philadelphia and metropolitan New York City areas. Data from the baseline and the 6-month follow-up surveys were used for the assessment of changes in dietary behaviors and alcohol consumption among participants. In total, we …

A Decade Review Of Disease Surveillance Research Trends In The International Journal Of Health Geographics (2009 To 2018), Rose Jimenez, Paradorn Wongchanapai

Publications and Research

The field of health geographics is rapidly growing in its methods and epistemologies. This is a review of the open-source journal International Journal of Health Geographics, and the trends in disease surveillance over ten years (2009-2018). Drawing from research review methodologies, we wrote a Python script to quantify research trends within the field of geographic disease surveillance, finding many articles focusing on population health, techniques of GIS, qualitative techniques, and geospatial technology for health monitoring. This was foundational in conducting an in-depth qualitative lexical analysis of article content and epistemologies. Overall, we concluded that over the time period, the …

Precision Dentistry In Practice, Diana V. Macri

Publications and Research

A paradigm shift is necessary to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes. Precision medicine and precision dentistry may be able to shift the burden of disease and improve the nation’s oral and overall health.

Divergent Water Requirements Partition Exposure Risk To Parasites In Wild Equids, Kaia J. Tombak, Laurel A. Easterling, Lindsay Martinez, Monica S. Seng, Liana F. Wait, Daniel I. Rubenstein

Publications and Research

For grazing herbivores, dung density in feeding areas is an important determinant of exposure risk to fecal- orally transmitted parasites. When host species share the same parasite species, a nonrandom distribution of their cumulative dung density and/or nonrandom ranging and feeding behavior may skew exposure risk and the relative selection pressure parasites impose on each host. The arid-adapted Grevy's zebra ( Equus grevyi ) can range more widely than the water-dependent plains zebra ( Equus quagga ), with which it shares the same species of gastrointestinal nematodes. We studied how the spatial distribution of zebra dung relates to ranging and …

Spatial Downscaling Of Goes-R Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Regions: A Case Study For New York City, Abdou Bah, Hamidreza Norouzi, Satya Prakash, Reginald Blake, Reza Khanbilvardi, Cynthia Rosenzweig

Publications and Research

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect is among the major environmental issues encountered in urban regions. To better predict the dynamics of the SUHI and its impacts on extreme heat events, an accurate characterization of the surface energy balance in urban regions is needed. However, the ability to improve understanding of the surface energy balance is limited by the heterogeneity of surfaces in urban areas. This study aims to enhance the understanding of the urban surface energy budget through an innovation in the use of land surface temperature (LST) observations from remote sensing satellites. A LST database with 5–min …

A Call For The Library Community To Deploy Best Practices Toward A Database For Biocultural Knowledge Relating To Climate Change, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Abstract

Purpose – In this paper, a call to the library and information science community to support documentation and conservation of cultural and biocultural heritage has been presented.

Design/methodology/approach – Based in existing Literature, this proposal is generative and descriptive— rather than prescriptive—regarding precisely how libraries should collaborate to employ technical and ethical best practices to provide access to vital data, research and cultural narratives relating to climate.

Findings – COVID-19 and climate destruction signal urgent global challenges. Library best practices are positioned to respond to climate change. Literature indicates how libraries preserve, share and cross-link cultural and scientific knowledge. …

Using Data Science Tools For Investigating Chat Logs From The Conti Ransomware Group, Boyan Kostadinov, Joseph Liu, Julio Rayme

Publications and Research

The main goal of this paper is to showcase some results from a comprehensive data analysis that we did on the cache of chat logs from the notorious ransomware group Conti. The chat logs were made publicly available on February 27, 2022. They were translated from Russian into English, and contain 393 json files with chat logs from the instant messaging service Jabber. We employ a variety of modern data science tools for text mining, natural language processing, network analysis and geospatial analysis to investigate the Conti chat logs so that we can understand the command and control structure of …

Elevated Growth And Biomass Along Temperate Forest Edges, Luca L. Morreale, Jonathan R. Thompson, Xiaojing Tang, Andrew B. Reinmann, Lucy R. Hutyra

Publications and Research

Fragmentation transforms the environment along forest edges. The prevailing narrative, driven by research in tropical systems, suggests that edge environments increase tree mortality and structural degradation resulting in net decreases in ecosystem productivity. We show that, in contrast to tropical systems, temperate forest edges exhibit increased forest growth and biomass with no change in total mortality relative to the forest interior. We analyze > 48,000 forest inventory plots across the north-eastern US using a quasi- experimental matching design. At forest edges adjacent to anthropogenic land covers, we report increases of 36.3% and 24.1% in forest growth and biomass, respectively. Inclusion of …

Analyze And Examine Wildfire Events In California, Aleena Hoodith, Sakim Zaman, Safoan Hossain, Jiehao Huang

Publications and Research

•A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted, uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural areas and urban areas. •Recent studies have shown that the effect of anthropogenic climate change has fueled the wildfire events, leading to an increase in the annual burned areas and number of events. •California is one of the places having the most deadliest and destructive wildfire seasons. With the global warming effect of 1°C since 1850, the 20 largest wildfires events that have occurred in California, 8 of them were in 2017. (Center For Climate And Energy Solutions) •Climate change is primarily caused …

How Phantom Networks, Provider Qualities, And Poverty Sway Medicaid Dental Care Access: A Geospatial Analysis Of Manhattan, Destiny Kelley, Shipeng Sun

Publications and Research

Access to general dental care is essential for preventing and treating oral diseases. To ensure adequate spatial accessibility for the most vulnerable populations, New York State mandates a ratio of one general dentist to 2000 Medicaid recipients within 30 min of public transportation. This study employed geospatial methods to determine whether the requirement is met in Manhattan by verifying the online directories of ten New York managed care organizations (MCOs), which collectively presented 868 available dentists from 259 facilities. Our survey of 118 dental facilities representing 509 dentists revealed that significantly fewer dentists are available to treat Medicaid recipients compared …

Assessment Of The Impacts Of Urbanization On Land-Use And Land-Cover Changes Using Remote Sensing And Python At Gazipur District, Bangladesh, Atika Rahman Akji, Nowshin Ahsan Priyanka, Anwar Zahid, Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, Jowaher Raza, Nazrul I. Khandaker

Publications and Research

Urbanization has been the central demographic trend, not only in the Asia-Pacific region, but also for the entire world. Local geo-mapping is the vital tool for analyses of land-use and land-cover. This study attempts to classify land-use in unsupervised settings and create land-cover map by using open-source Landsat data integrated with GIS technologies and other ancillary resources. This work concentrates on Gazipur Sadar (an upazila or sub-district of the Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division) and Kaliakair, which are rapidly growing unplanned urban and industrial zones. The usage of python coding greatly assisted accomplishing the post-classification …

Development Of Predictive Models For Water Budget Simulations Of Closed-Basin Lakes: Case Studies Of Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo On The Island Of Hispaniola, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

The historical water level fluctuations of the two neighboring Caribbean lakes of Azuei (LA) and Enriquillo (LE) on Hispaniola have shown random periods of synchronous and asynchronous behaviors, with both lakes exhibiting independent dynamics despite being exposed to the same climatic forces and being directly next to each other. This paper examines their systems' main drivers and constraints, which are used to develop numerical models for these two lakes. The water balance approach was employed to conceptually model the lakes on an interannual scale and examine the assumptions of surface and subsurface processes. These assumptions were made based on field …

Globe Mosquito Habitat Mapper Citizen Science Data 2017–2020, Russanne Low, Rebecca Boger, Peder Nelson, Matteo Kimura

Publications and Research

The GLOBE Program's GLOBE Observer application is a free citizen science mobile data collection and visualization tool compatible with iOS and Android operating systems. Citizen scientists armed with the app can report the mosquito larval habitats they identify using the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper tool. This data can complement the climate, weather, and land cover data obtained from satellite measurements by scientists who develop risk models for mosquito-borne diseases. Public participation in mosquito surveillance research provides the opportunity to obtain the volume, velocity and variety of data needed to fight the threat of vector-borne diseases, especially in under-resourced communities with …

Quo Vadis Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo: A Future Outlook For Two Of The Caribbean Basin's Largest Lakes, Mahrokh Moknatian, Michael Piasecki

Publications and Research

Lakes Azuei (LA) and Enriquillo (LE) on Hispaniola Island started expanding in 2005 and continued to do so until 2016. After inundating large swaths of arable land, submerging a small community, and threatening to swallow a significant trade route between the Dominican Republic and Haiti; worries persisted at how far this seemingly unstoppable expansion would go. The paper outlines the approach to a look forward to answer this question vis-à-vis climate change scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It uses numerical representations of the two lakes, and it examines how the lakes might evolve, deploying three …

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Progress And Prospect For Spatial Demography, Stephen A. Matthews, Laura Stiberman, James Raymer, Tse-Chuan Yang, Ezra Gayawan, Sayambhu Saita, Sai Thein Than Tun, Daniel M. Parker, Deborah Balk, Stefan Leyk, Mark Montgomery, Katherine J. Curtis, David W. S. Wong

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents When Crime Moves Where Does It Go? Analyzing The Spatial Correlates Of Robbery Incidents Displaced By A Place-Based Policing Interventiondisplaced By A Place-Based Policing Intervention, David N. Hatten, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Objective:

Examine the place-based correlates of robbery incidents displaced by a foot-patrol intervention in Newark, NJ. We use constructs from Crime Pattern and Social Disorganization theories to test hypotheses concerned with associations between the structure of the environment and the displacement of crime.

Method:

Robbery incidents were spatially joined to street segments to study micro-level displacement processes. Predictor variables were operationalized using data from the Newark Police Department and Infogroup USA. Generalized Linear models tested associations between the characteristics of street segments and displaced robbery in the target area as compared to a control.

Results:

Environmental structure is important to …

Molecular Speciation Of Size Fractionated Particulate Water-Soluble Organic Carbon By Two-Dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (Nmr) Spectroscopy, Marie-Cecile Chalbot, Salma Siddiqui, Ilias G. Kavouras

Publications and Research

Particulate matter is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; its effects depend on particle size and chemical content. It is important to understand the composition and resultant toxicological profile of particulate organic compounds, the largest and most complex fraction of particulate matter. The objective of the study was to delineate the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectral fingerprint of the biologically relevant water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) fraction of size fractionated urban aerosol. A combination of one and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy methods was used. The size distribution of particle mass, water-soluble extract, non-exchangeable organic hydrogen functional types and specific biomarkers such as …

Fine-Grained, Spatiotemporal Datasets Measuring 200 Years Of Land Development In The United States, Johannes H. Uhl, Stefan Leyk, Caitlin M. Mcshane, Anna E. Braswell, Dylan S. Connor, Deborah Balk

Publications and Research

The collection, processing, and analysis of remote sensing data since the early 1970s has rapidly improved our understanding of change on the Earth’s surface. While satellite-based Earth observation has proven to be of vast scientific value, these data are typically confined to recent decades of observation and often lack important thematic detail. Here, we advance in this arena by constructing new spatially explicit settlement data for the United States that extend back to the early 19th century and are consistently enumerated at fine spatial and temporal granularity (i.e. 250m spatial and 5-year temporal resolution). We create these time series using …

Geoprivacy, Convenience, And The Pursuit Of Anonymity In Digital Cities, Jerome Dobson, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

Cities demand spatial efficiencies that can be achieved only through sharing of information. Current technologies support collection, processing, and dissemination of unprecedented quantities of personal, public, and corporate information. Inherent in this milieu is an inevitable contest among societal efficiency, corporate profits, consumer convenience, personal privacy, and even freedom. The authors examine current trends in technology, data collection, legislation, and public acceptance. They find that without broad specific regulations limiting location data collection and use—including a universal protected right for individuals to pursue anonymity—governments, commercial enterprises, employers, and individuals increasingly will exploit tracking technologies at the expense of geoprivacy.

Kanien’Kéha (Mohawk) (United States And Canada) - Language Snapshot, Joseph Pentangelo

Publications and Research

Kanien’kéha is an endangered Northern Iroquoian language historically spoken in what is now the Mohawk Valley of central New Yorkstate in the United States of America. Today, it is spoken by about 3,800 people in six communities in upstate New York, USA, and in Ontario and Quebecprovinces, Canada: Akwesasne, Kahnawake, Kanesatake, Six Nations, Wahta, and Tyendinaga. The varieties spoken in these communities differ slightly in terms of phonology, vocabulary, and orthography. Robust language revitalisation efforts are ongoing, and the language is of great cultural importance to the Kanien’kehá:ka people.

Integrating Digital Tools In Remote Learning To Enhance The Delivery Methods Of Technical Content In Undergraduate Geosciences, Ruslana Baker, Malek Shami, Nazrul I. Khandaker, Stanley Schleifer

Publications and Research

The global transition to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic was an extremely difficult task for both students and faculty in geological sciences. Technical courses, such as Structural Geology, Mineralogy, Petrology, and Invertebrate Paleontology, that require in-person lectures and laboratory sessions involving various rocks and mineral samples, fossils, maps, and models, were a major concern at the start. The challenge of delivering the technical content via Microsoft Teams, Skype, Webex, Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, Zoom, and other internet based platforms was not only a burden for the faculty to carry, as students were struggling to conceptualize outcrop-and-type-section-based information and link …

The Quest For Greener Pastures: Evaluating The Livelihoods Impacts Of Providing Vegetation Condition Maps To Pastoralists In Eastern Africa, Elia Machado, Helene Purcell, Andrew M. Simons, Stephanie Swinehart

Publications and Research

The survival of millions of pastoral households in Eastern Africa has become increasingly at risk. Due to mounting socioeconomic and climatic stressors, pastoral households are faced with making migration decisions under increasing uncertainty about resource availability and limited coping strategies. We assess the potential of providing vegetation condition maps to support the migration decision of pastoralists in Ethiopia and Tanzania and the effect of map usage on their herd condition and size. The maps were generated from remotely sensed data using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a proxy for vegetation condition and overlain with pastoralists’ preferred grazing areas. …

Globe Observer Data: 2016–2019, Helen M. Amos, Matthew J. Starke, Tina M. Rogerson, Marilé Colón Robles, Travis Anderson, Rebecca Boger, Brian A. Campbell, Russanne D. Low, Peder Nelson, David Overoye, Jessica E. Taylor, Kristen L. Weaver, Trena M. Ferrell, Holli Kohl, Theresa G. Schwerin

Publications and Research

This technical report summarizes the GLOBE Observer data set from 1 April 2016 to 1 December 2019. GLOBE Observer is an ongoing NASA‐sponsored international citizen science project that is part of the larger Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, which has been in operation since 1995. GLOBE Observer has the greatest number of participants and geographic coverage of the citizen science projects in the Earth Science Division at NASA. Participants use the GLOBE Observer mobile app (launched in 2016) to collect atmospheric, hydrologic, and terrestrial observations. The app connects participants to satellite observations from Aqua, Terra, …