Digital Commons Network^™

A Model For Research-Based Mentorship And Professional Development, Matthew Lee Smith

Health Behavior Research

This article has no abstract. It serves as the editorial/overview for the special issue on mentorship. However, rather than simply introducing the special issue, a mentorship model is provided. As such, a commentary article type was selected.

Relationship Between Sustainable Outer Space Law And The Use Of Satellite Technology In Handling Marine Plastic Debris, Andreas Pramudianto

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Since the discovery of plastic material, which ends up as plastic waste after use and partly enters the sea, it has become a global problem that needs serious treatment. No international agreement exists about handling marine plastic debris. By contrast, national laws have been created to plastic bags and plastic debris. Currently, the existing legal instruments, especially in outer space law, are still traditional and inadequate. A sustainable new paradigm in outer space law is needed, such as the use of satellite technology, such as the COSMOS satellite by RKA Recosmos, for global environmental issues, including the ozone layer, climate …

Coal Mining Sector Contribution To Environmental Conditions And Human Development Index In East Kalimantan Province, Kunny Izza Indah Afkarina, Sindhung Wardana, Poerborini Damayanti

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

Coal mining has been one of the issues that led to pros and cons in Indonesia. Research shows that mining activities are one of the factors that affect people’s incomes and local and national economic development. However, mining is a lucrative activity that leads to construction booms that attract population growth and lead to deforestation, thus affecting the environmental conditions of a region. The coal mining industry of Indonesian province of East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, provides most of the economic base needed to build the infrastructure and provide energy of the country. Kalimantan Province accounts for approximately …

Summer Habitat Used By American Kestrels In Santa Clara County, California, Nicole Tomes

Master's Theses

Urbanization can be a primary source of the loss of native species populations by causing habitat loss, fragmentation and land conversion (Tilman et al., 2001; Krauss et al., 2010; Marzluff, 2001). Birds of prey, which are mid or top carnivores, are especially at risk from the loss of habitat that can occur on both the breeding and wintering grounds. Raptors can be considered environmental indicators of habitat degradation because of their small populations, low population densities, and high position in local food webs. This research investigated the habitat preference of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) (kestrel), a widely distributed raptor, …

Socio-Ecological Interactions In The National Forests And Grasslands Of Central Oregon: A Summary Of Human Ecology Mapping Results, David Banis, Rebecca Mclain, Alicia Milligan, Krystle N. Harrell, Lee Cerveny

Occasional Papers in Geography

Occasional Papers in Geography Publication No. 8

In 2015, Portland State University, the US Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, Deschutes National Forest (DNF), Ochoco National Forest (ONF), US Forest Service Region 6, and Discover Your Forest embarked on a collaborative project to understand spatial patterns of public use on the national forests and grasslands of Central Oregon and the ecosystem benefits attached to those places. At the time the project began, the DNF and ONF anticipated that they would be revising their forest/grassland plans in the near future. This human ecology mapping project generated socio-spatial data layers describing the …

Un Viaje Gráfico De Crítica Política: Análisis Geográfico-Temático De Los Diseños De Eneko De Las Heras Sobre Los Periódicos Interviú Y 20 Minutos, Giovanni Pietro Vitali

Artl@s Bulletin

Esta contribución pretende ser una tentativa de análisis crítico y geográfico del trabajo del caricaturista venezolano Eneko de Las Heras Leizaola. En este artículo proponemos un análisis espacial y cronológico de sus dibujos de humor gráfico y de denuncia social publicados en los periódicos Interviú y 20 Minutos entre los años de 2007 a 2018. El sustento de dicho análisis reside en el empleo de herramientas digitales. Demostraremos cómo Eneko representa, incluso si hay algunas críticas sociales en respuesta a fenómenos económicos, políticos y bélicos, nuevas formas de contar cuestiones sociales como el sexismo o la ecología.

Network Level Pavement Deterioration Prediction Modeling For The City Of Syracuse, Burak Gursoy

Theses - ALL

Pavement deterioration prediction models play an important role in pavement management systems and allow decision makers to plan maintenance and rehabilitation works in advance. There are several factors affecting the deterioration of pavement sections such as traffic loading, freeze and thaw, snow plowing, construction quality as well as pavement thickness and age. Developing pavement deterioration prediction models can provide decision makers with many benefits. First of all, pavements can be treated before they reach undesired levels of service and this would extend the lifetime. Secondly, required budget for expenses can be provisioned, which helps public authorities to generate more precise …

Potential Distribution Of Six North American Higher-Attine Fungus-Farming Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species, Sarah F. Senula, Joseph T. Scavetta, Joshua A. Banta, Ulrich G. Mueller, Jon N. Seal, Katrin Kellner

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ants are among the most successful insects in Earth’s evolutionary history. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding range-limiting factors that may influence their distribution. The goal of this study was to describe the environmental factors (climate and soil types) that likely impact the ranges of five out of the eight most abundant Trachymyrmex species and the most abundant Mycetomoellerius species in the United States. Important environmental factors may allow us to better understand each species’ evolutionary history. We generated habitat suitability maps using MaxEnt for each species and identified associated most important environmental variables. We quantified niche overlap …

“Neighbors As Competitors” Or “Neighbors As Partners”: How Does Market Segmentation Affect Regional Energy Efficiency In China?, Liang Nie, Zhongxiang Zhang

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

Existing studies have focused on the negative impact of inefficient resource allocation on energy performance in China’s factor market, but neglected to further explore the underlying reason for this phenomenon from the perspective of market segmentation. In this paper, the epsilon-based measure model, which combines the merits of radial and non-radial Data Envelopment Analysis, is employed to measure the energy efficiency, and price index method derived from Iceberg Transport Cost model is used to examine the degrees of market segmentation. On the basis, we use the Tobit model to empirically investigate the impact of market segmentation on China’s energy efficiency. …

Rheological Models For Non-Newtonian Viscosity Of Modified Asphalt Binders And Mastics, Aboelkasim Diab, Zhanping You, Xuelian Li, Jorge Carvalho Pais, Xu Yang, Siyu Chen

Michigan Tech Publications

This paper is aimed at providing a comprehensive experimental work on the viscosity behavior of different modified asphalt binders and mastics, as well as exploring mathematical representations of the results in attempts to predict the viscosity and flow behaviors according to Vinogradov-Malkin and Phillips-Deutsch models. The modified asphalt binders were prepared in the unaged and aged states using styrene-butadienestyrene (SBS), ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), and crumb rubber (CR); while the hydrated lime (HL) and fly ash (FA) were selected to produce the binder-filler mastics. To widen the study findings, the additives (polymers, rubber, and fillers) were applied at different possible levels …

Role Of Groundwater-Lake Interactions On The Behavior Of Chemicals In A Nearshore Aquifer, Sabina Rakhimbekova

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is well recognized that groundwater-surface water interactions play an important role in controlling the flux of groundwater-derived inorganic chemicals to surface waters. While these interactions have been well-studied in marine, and river and stream settings, the influence of these interactions on chemical fluxes to large lakes is poorly understood. Nearshore aquifers adjacent to inland coastal waters, such as the Great Lakes, are characterized by dynamic flow patterns and the mixing of groundwater and lake water, which have distinct chemical compositions. This sets up an important reaction zone in the nearshore aquifer that may modify the fate of groundwater-derived chemicals …

Comparative Analysis Of Water Storage Dynamics And Storage-Discharge Relations Among Variably Urbanized Catchments Within South River Watershed, Dekalb County, Ga, Eimienwanlan Ibhagui

Geosciences Theses

The study of watershed storage is critical for understanding watershed hydrologic functions, ecosystem dynamics, and biogeochemical processes. However, few studies have quantified how much water lies in the subsurface in urban watersheds. In this study, dynamic storage was estimated, and storage-discharge relations evaluated in Atlanta, GA among variably urbanized watersheds. Streamflow data from 2012-2016 was utilized and the simple dynamical systems model employed. Dynamic storage values in these watersheds are small: ~3mm to ~9mm. The small dynamic storage values observed across the watersheds are linked to watershed urbanization; however, other subsurface properties of the watersheds may also account for this …

Evaluating Strategies For Community-Sourced Photography For Mapping Alcohol Adverts In The Urban Slums In Kampala, Uganda, Joseph Madden

Public Health Capstone Projects

The transient and temporary nature of urban slums throughout the world provide a challenge for collecting actionable data on indicators that can accurately predict factors that have both adverse and protective effects on health. By studying methods to identify hotspots of alcohol advertising more efficiently, there can be a better system for allocating resources or directing research teams to focus efforts on more in-depth studies. In this capstone, a pilot exercise performed in May 2019 explored utilizing locally sourced photographs of alcohol advertisements and then digitally mapping this data to identify and visualize areas of concern that contain a large …

Integrating Lidar Data And Multi-Temporal Aerial Imagery To Map Wetland Inundation Dynamics Using Google Earth Engine, Qiusheng Wu, Charles B. Lane, Xuecao Li, Kaiguang Zhao, Yuyu Zhou, Nicholas Clinton, Ben Devries, Heather E. Golden, Megan W. Lang

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Staff Publications

The Prairie Pothole Region of North America is characterized by millions of depressional wetlands, which provide critical habitats for globally significant populations of migratory waterfowl and other wildlife species. Due to their relatively small size and shallow depth, these wetlands are highly sensitive to climate variability and anthropogenic changes, exhibiting inter- and intra-annual inundation dynamics. Moderate-resolution satellite imagery (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel) alone cannot be used to effectively delineate these small depressional wetlands. By integrating fine spatial resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and multi-temporal (2009–2017) aerial images, we developed a fully automated approach to delineate wetland inundation extent at …

Expanding Virginia"S Oyster Industry While Minimizing User Conflict - Interim Report (Year 2 Of 3), Roger L. Mann, Marcia Berman, James Wesson, Melissa Southworth, Tamia Rudnicky

Reports

This study seeks to assess the sustainability of the public oyster fishery and the expansion of hatchery dependent oyster aquaculture in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Previous analyses have suggested that limitations in available shell resources will ultimately drive the future of the public fishery. The expansion of intensive aquaculture, already apparent in the Bay, suggests sustainability will be contingent upon the availability of bottom space and/or a shift in practices that minimize user conflict in leased areas.

Assessing Wildfire Damage From High Resolution Satellite Imagery Using Classification Algorithms, Ai-Linh Alten

Master's Projects

Wildfire damage assessments are important information for first responders, govern- ment agencies, and insurance companies to estimate the cost of damages and to help provide relief to those affected by a wildfire. With the help of Earth Observation satellite technology, determining the burn area extent of a fire can be done with traditional remote sensing methods like Normalized Burn Ratio. Using Very High Resolution satellites can help give even more accurate damage assessments but will come with some tradeoffs; these satellites can provide higher spatial and temporal resolution at the expense of better spectral resolution. As a wildfire burn area …

Deriving Lifetimes Of Lunar Ejecta Constituents: A Model For Lunar Erosion Regolith Overturn, Cole Nypaver

Masters Theses

Recently formed, rough impact ejecta deposits on the Moon are visible in radar and thermal infrared remote sensing data as an optically bright ring or “halo” around the associated impact crater. Over time, however, the rocks and boulders associated with these once-rough ejecta deposits break down into fine-grained regolith due to macroscopic space weathering processes and corresponding remote sensing signatures fade to background noise. In this thesis, I measure the Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) and Rock Abundance (RA) responses of small (~1.5-2.0 diameter) simple impact craters of varying ages on the lunar mare. The goal of this work was to …

Coalesced Cherokee Communities In The Eighteenth Century: A Spatial And Elemental Analyses Of The Ceramic Assemblage At Mialoquo (40mr3), An Overhill Cherokee Town In Monroe County, Tennessee, Christian Allen

Masters Theses

I use the ceramic assemblage from the Mialoquo site, an eighteenth-century Historic Cherokee community (A.D. 1760-1780), to study the social formation of Cherokees from different Cherokee town areas at the site. The assemblage is composed of at least two Historic Cherokee types, the Overhill and Qualla ceramic series. Three methods were used to evaluate the ceramics from the Mialoquo assemblage: morphological, spatial, and elemental. Morphological analyses (namely temper and surface treatment) of these sherds were used to examine ceramic variability of the assemblage. Spatial analyses, using ArcGIS, were used to identify patterns between ceramic series present. Finally, elemental analysis, using …

Using Archaeological Remote Sensing To Evaluate Land Use And Constructed Space In Chaco Canyon, Jennie O. Sturm

Anthropology ETDs

Archaeological remote sensing includes a suite of non-invasive methods that can be used to study elements of the archaeological record that may not be achievable otherwise. Using primarily geophysical remote sensing, and especially ground-penetrating radar (GPR), three studies involving questions of “use” were conducted in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. The first used GPR to study the built interior features of a single room in Pueblo Bonito to evaluate use and function of that room. Three categories of features were identified in the GPR data and confirmed with subsequent excavation. The second study used GPR to re-evaluate an enigmatic land use …

What If The Key To Climate Change Is Hiding Under The Sea?, Shira Feder

Capstones

“We know more about outer space than we do the ocean,” says Vicki Ferrini, a research scientist at Columbia University with over 20 ocean expeditions under her belt. And as the woman leading Seabed 2030, the charge to map the world’s oceans—which are 85% unexplored—she knows how vital this is to combat climate change and exactly how she’s going to do it. Read it here: https://medium.com/@shira.feder/what-if-the-key-to-climate-change-is-hiding-under-the-sea-4503565c33a2

Predation Risk Of Double-Crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax Auritus) On Commercial Catfish Production In The Mississippi Delta, Terrel Christie

Theses and Dissertations

Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) impact United States commercial aquaculture and are considered the greatest avian predators on catfish (Ictalurus spp.) aquaculture facilities in the Mississippi Delta. Recent changes in aquaculture practices, regulatory policies, and decreased overall hectares in production prompted this study that: 1) estimated abundance and distribution of cormorants at their night roosts using aerial surveys, 2) assessed cormorant consumption of catfish in relation to their night roost through cormorant collections and stomach contents analysis, and 3) updated a cormorant bioenergetics model with contemporary data to estimate catfish loss. Models estimated that 4.2 and 5 million cormorant forage days …

Rural Multilingual Family Engagement, Maria Coady

The Rural Educator

Rural teachers and educators are increasingly called upon to build partnerships with families who use languages other than English in the home (US DOE, 2016). This is equally true for rural schools, where the number of multilingual families is small, and the language and cultural backgrounds of students differs from those of school. This article reviews the research on parental involvement and three common models of parental involvement. In this article, I propose a revised conceptual model for teachers and educators for rural multilingual family engagement. This article calls for increasingly refined research that addresses the sociohistorical backgrounds of families …

Implications Of The Modifiable Areal Unit Problem For Wildfire Analyses, Timothy P. Nagle-Mcnaughton, Xi Gong, Jose A. Constantine

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Wildfires pose a danger to both ecologies and communities. To this end, many large-scale analyses of wildfire patterns and behavior rely on the aggregation of point data to polygons, typically those based on distinct disparate ecological areas. However, the sizes, shapes, andorientations of the polygons to which data are aggregated are not neutral factors in the resulting analysis. The influence of the aggregation polygons on calculated results is known as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP), which is well-documented in the spatial statistics literature. Despite the documentation of the MAUP, relatively few wildfire studies consider the effects of the MAUP …

Osgearth Stereoscopic Vision Generation Method For Hmd-Based Virtual Reality, Liheng Tan, Ma Qiang, Bingchuan Jiang, Li Feng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The technology of immersive virtual reality based on helmet mounted display (HMD) has become a focus of study, however, its visual content is mainly produced through commercial game engines. OsgEarth is an open-source, state-of-the-art and widely used digital earth simulation system. Based on this, we studies the stereoscopic vision generation method for global virtual terrain environment, mainly focusing on: stereoscopic vision theory; construction of global high-precision virtual geographical environment; calculation of binocular view frustrum; system integration. The proposed method is verified under the hardware conditions of PC and HTC VIVE, which can generate stereo images of the global virtual …

Visualization Analysis Method Of Passenger Hotspot Based On Fast Density Clustering, Zihe Huang, Shangbing Gao, Zhigeng Pan, Hui Hao, Qiyu Liao, Fengfeng Zhao

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: With the development of urbanized transportation, the perceptual computing plays an important role in smart cities. Aiming at the problem that the traditional density clustering algorithm cannot adapt to massive taxi GPS trajectory data and visualization, the BCS-DBSCAN (Big-Data Cluster Center Statistics Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) clustering algorithm is proposed. The algorithm can segment and parallelize the trajectory data, extract the maximum density cluster, and adapt the result to the visualization model. The experimental results show that compared with other popular methods, this method has significant advantages in extracting clustering speed, accuracy and visualization of urban …

Design Of Spatial Agent Simulation Platform Based On Webgis, Zheng Zhong, Zhengyang Chang, Yunfeng Fei

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Task simulation is important in planning of national defense facility system. An architecture with a simulation model system and task data management system scheme is proposed to combine geo-processing service of traditional GIS and Agent simulation to overcome the shortness in temporal analysis and task simulation of traditional GIS. Potential benefits include: shareable simulations, rich spatial analysis resources, and high credibility. Based on that, an experimental Spatial-Agent simulation prototype is developed with WebGIS technology. Taking a transportation task as an example, the feasibility of the design is verified.

Data Model Of Battlefield Geographic Environment Simulation Object Based On Cognition, Zhu Jie, You Xiong, Xia Qing

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Aiming at the urgent demands on present battlefield environment cognition active service, its requirements are hard to be satisfied by the traditional battlefield environment data model, thus a kind of battlefield environment simulation data model needs to be constructed. The characteristics of task-orientated battlefield geographic space cognition progress are analyzed, and the cognitive process concept model is constructed. The characteristics of battlefield environment object recognition structure are analyzed; the hierarchical structure division is implemented on battlefield geographic environment simulation object with object-orientated method; and object data models are described uniformly with SEDRIS. Based on cognitive-driven mechanism of workflow, the …

The Method Summary Of Generating Large-Scale Artificial Population In An Artificial Society, Yuanzheng Ge, Zhichao Song, Rongqing Meng

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The generation of large-scale artificial population is the fundamental data of high-resolution agent-based artificial society. By the comparison of typical artificial population models, the basic elements, generating methods, and evolving rules, the development of artificial society, generation of population database, the establishment of spatial-temporal relationship, evolving rules of behavior, and reconstruction of social relationship are analyzed. Furthermore, data-driven method and open interface framework of artificial population are discussed, and the future direction and development are listed.

A 30-Year Climatology Of Meteorological Conditions Associated With Lightning Days In The Western United States, Dmitri Alexander Kalashnikov

Dissertations and Theses

A 30-year climatology of lightning and associated synoptic meteorological patterns are characterized across the Western United States (WUS), utilizing a comprehensive composite analysis. Results generally show a preferred synoptic meteorological setup with positive 500-hPa geopotential height anomalies to the northeast of the location experiencing a lightning day, and negative sea level pressure anomalies co-located and to the northwest. Variation in preferred anomaly patterns across the western US reflects the divide between those areas affected by the North American monsoon system and areas outside the monsoonal core. Locations in the western Great Basin and northern Rocky Mountains, which are outside the …

Explaining The Sectarian Violence In The Middle East: A Conflict Analysis Of The Case Study Of Saudi Arabia And Iran, Ahmed Elsayed Eltally

Dissertations and Theses

The Middle East has been rife with conflicts, extremism, and sectarianism in recent decades. Many explanations attribute the rise of sectarianism in the Middle East to the historical divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, while others attribute it to power or identity concerns. This thesis explores the factors that contributed to the rise of contemporary sectarianism in the Middle East through the case study of Saudi-Iranian rivalry. Drawing on the literature on the history of the Middle East, Islam, theories of international relations, and conflict studies, it underlines how Saudi Arabia and Iran use sectarianism to further their interests. This …