Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Impact Of Covid-19 On Disaggregate Consumption And Online Retail Sales: Evidence From The Usa, Gulzar Ahmed, Olcay Akman

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

This study applies the difference-in-difference technique to analyze the consumption pattern during COVID-19 against pre-COVID-19 years. We analyze the online retail sales before and after COVID-19 using time series and linear regression models. Time series intervention analysis results suggest that COVID-19 has caused a statistically significant change in the mean level of online retail sales share in e-commerce. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we find a 4% decrease in aggregate consumption from March to December 2020 compared to the benchmark period although statistically insignificant. Further, using a fixed effects model with time dummies, we find a nearly 8% significant decrease in …

Intimacy Without The Chance Of Heartbreak For Richer, For Poorer, In Sickness & In Health, Cynthia Nguyen

Honors Projects

The present study investigates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the consumption of porn, shifts in the production of porn consumed between men and women, and the breakdown of any pattern in adult content via film, pictures, and audio. A quantitative approach was done by using R to analyze data pulled off of Pornhub, Reddit’s GoneWildAudio subreddit, and Archive of Our Own from 2018 to 2023. Statistical inference and modeling is used to attempt to find a pattern in the production of online porn across three mediums over several years before, during, and after the pandemic. Regardless of events …

Height Of Branching In Leucaena (Leucaena Leucocephala) Ecotypes Under Rotational Grazing, D Urbano, C Davila

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

To evaluate and select the best branching heights and the leucaena ecotypes which give the best supply and consumption of dry matter, an experiment was carried out at the “Judibana” ranch near El Vigía, Mérida State, Venezuela, at an altitude of 65 meters (165 ft.). The experimental design used was random blocks and the treatments were in a split plot design, repeated three times. The main plots were 13 leucaena ecotypes (CIAT - 7385, 7984, 7985, 9377, 17217, 17218, 17219, 17222, 17223, 17474, 17492, 17501, 17502) and the secondary ones were three heights of branching (0.40, 0.80 and 1.20 m). …

Optimizing Energy Consumption In Smart Homes Using Ga-Lstm, Akibor Junior Chukwuka, Bakare-Bolaji Moyosoreoluwa, Baboucarr Dibba

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The need to optimize energy consumption arises from the inadequate energy supply many homes face. However, to optimize energy consumption in a home, one must be equipped with the knowledge of the energy consumption rate and energy supply rate in the home. This paper proposed the use of a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model optimized by Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the energy consumption in a smart home. The model was designed using 8 input variables, which were observed weather information of a given region over a span of 350 days. The data set was split into a training data …

Alternatives To Corn For Baiting Wild Pigs, Justin A. Foster, Lee H. Williamson, John C. Kinsey, Ryan L. Reitz, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Nathan P. Snow

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We examined dietary preferences of wild pigs to discern possible bait alternatives to corn. Captive trials were conducted during spring and fall 2021 in the Wild Pig Research Facility at Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Hunt, Texas, USA. We conducted 2‐choice tests by allowing wild pigs to feed ad libitum on soybeans, split peas, mealworms, and peanuts (spring 2021), and oats, acorns, earthworms, and peanuts (fall 2021), always with corn available as a second choice for reference. In each trial, we used proportion of test bait eaten versus total bait eaten, and relative access to both food sources as indices of …

A Qualitative Look Into Repair Practices, Jumana Labib

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research poster is based on a working research paper which moves beyond the traditional scope of repair and examines the Right to Repair movement from a smaller, more personal lens by detailing the 6 categorical impediments as dubbed by Dr. Alissa Centivany (design, law, economic/business strategy, material asymmetry, informational asymmetry, and social impediments) have continuously inhibited repair and affected repair practices, which has consequently had larger implications (environmental, economic, social, etc.) on ourselves, our objects, and our world. The poster builds upon my research from last year (see "The Right to Repair: (Re)building a better future"), this time pulling …

The Demotechnic Index Of Nations, 1980-2018, Camden Rainwater

Geosciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Demotechnic Index (DI) is a non-dimensional metric that is the scalar multiple of energy consumption over and above that required for mere subsistence of a national population. Thus, the DI is a measure of energy efficiency that scales a country’s industrial energy consumption (called the total technological energy) and the energy required to meet the metabolic demand of the population (called the total metabolic energy). The DI was created by scientist John Vallentyne in 1982, refined in 1994, but never gained popularity or wide use as a sustainability metric. The objective of this thesis was to re-evaluate the DI …

Prevalence Of Caffeine Dependency And Daytime Fatigue Amongst Undergraduate Students, Benjamin P. Brown, Josie Nicholson, Willa Stauffer, Elise M. Crause, Katie Young

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Caffeine is considered a legal drug with a main function of acting as a stimulant. The recommended daily dose of caffeine is up to 400 mg, however, most college students consume on average 800 mg per day (Mcllavian et al., 2013). Amongst American college students, caffeine is considered one of five most commonly consumed drugs, being compared with alcohol, marijuana, opioids, and sedatives (American Addictions Center, 2019). Within this population, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the adverse effects of caffeine and its potential impact of alertness versus sleepiness. Existing literature on this topic has shown that caffeine can …

On Modelling And Analyzing Composite Resources’ Consumption Cycles Using Time Petri-Nets, Amel Benna, Fatma Masmoudi, Mohamed Sellami, Zakaria Maamar, Rachid Hadjidj

All Works

ICT community cornerstones (IoT in particular) gain competitive advantage from using physical resources. This paper adopts Time Petri-Nets (TPNs) to model and analyze the consumption cycles of composite resources. These resources consist of primitive, and even other composite, resources that are associated with consumption properties and could be subject to disruptions. These properties are specialized into unlimited, shareable, limited, limited-but-renewable, and non-shareable, and could impact the availability of resources. This impact becomes a concern when disruptions suspend ongoing consumption cycles to make room for the unplanned consumptions. Resuming the suspended consumption cycles depends on the resources’ consumption properties. To ensure …

Energy Planning Model Design For Forecasting The Final Energy Consumption Using Artificial Neural Networks, Haidy Eissa

Theses and Dissertations

“Energy Trilemma” has recently received an increasing concern among policy makers. The trilemma conceptual framework is based on three main dimensions: environmental sustainability, energy equity, and energy security. Energy security reflects a nation’s capability to meet current and future energy demand. Rational energy planning is thus a fundamental aspect to articulate energy policies. The energy system is huge and complex, accordingly in order to guarantee the availability of energy supply, it is necessary to implement strategies on the consumption side. Energy modeling is a tool that helps policy makers and researchers understand the fluctuations in the energy system. Over the …

Battling Over Bathwater: Greywater Technopolitics In Los Angeles, Sayd Randle

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In Los Angeles, domestic wastewater recycling ("greywater") systems are controversial, loved by local environmentalists and disdained by the city's water agencies. Drawing on fieldwork among greywater advocates and public water agency workers, this article examines how greywater systems function as nodes that unsettle relations between residents and the public agencies that manage the city's water grid. Elaborating the longstanding frictions over greywater reuse in LA reveals how these fixtures are mobilized by advocates to rescript the roles of both individuals and the state within the urban waterscape. Detailing public agency workers' resistance to this form of selective disconnection from the …

A Comparison Study Among The High School Students In The Us: Obesity And Overweight Rates Among Racial Minorities—Stress, Dietary Behavior, Sports And Physical Activity Participation, Animesh Dali '24, Naima Shifa

Student Research

Background: The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) collects data on American youth primarily for assessing various health risk factors. This study aims to examine the relationship between demographic, and behavioral variables that we have considered as risk factors and obesity in American youth in 2015 and 2019.

Methods: Data pertaining to obesity risk factors and BMI measurements were obtained from the YRBSS. Cross Tables and linear regression models were constructed and subsequent analyses were used to examine the correlation between risk factors and BMI. Two-sample t-tests were used to explore the difference between the 2015 and 2019 datasets.

Results: …

Food Supply Chains In Developed Countries And Livestock Production Systems, Alan Mcdermott

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Functional Plant In Sheep Foraging, Ling Wang, Guowei Chen, Xiao Shun, Deli Wang

IGC Proceedings (1993-2023)

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Temperature On Evacuation Rates And Absorption Efficiency Of Flathead Catfish, Zach Horstman

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Knowledge of fish gastric evacuation rates are a necessary component for both field and laboratory studies when trying to understand feeding rates, modeling energy budgets, and understanding trophic dynamics of aquatic ecosystems. Many freshwater fish encounter a broad range of environmental temperatures across life history stages, but the mechanistic link between temperature and physiological processes often remains poorly understood. We designed three recirculating aquatic systems capable of rearing Flathead Catfish Plyodictis olivaris in order to quantify gastric evacuation rates and gross energy absorption at three temperatures (17º C, 22º C and 25º C). We examined the relationship between temperature and …

A Matched Payout Model For Investment, Consumption, And Insurance With A Risky Annuity Income, Joseph Allen Adams

Theses and Dissertations

We introduce a new insurance instrument allowing retirees to hedge against risk of mortality and risk of default. At retirement, the retiree is allowed to purchase an annuity that provides a defaultable income stream over his lifetime. The time of mortality and time of default are both uncertain, but are accompanied by determined hazard rates. The retiree will make consumption and investment choices throughout his lifetime, which have certain restrictions: the retiree can never enter a bankruptcy state (negative total wealth), and the investment choices are made in a risk-free financial instrument (such as a treasury bill or bond) and …

The Consumption Of Fresh Vegetables From Street Food And Sanitation Of Street Stalls At Four Locations In Bogor City, Donna Fujie Rahaditha Utami, Winiati P. Rahayu, Lilis Nuraida

Kesmas

The consumption of fresh vegetables at the stalls needs serious attention. This research aimed to estimate the exposure probability due to fresh vegetables consumption of street food consumers, to measure sanitation level of street stalls that serving fresh vegetables, and to recommend a mentoring program for the stalls at four locations in Bogor City. This research was conducted at 16 stalls located at four locations in Bogor City. The number of respondents surveyed was 293 people and determined by stratified sampling method. Food frequency questionnaire was used as a tool in the survey. The survey showed that men consumed more …

Thing-Makers, Tool Freaks And Prototypers: How The Whole Earth Catalog’S Optimistic Message Reinvented The Environmental Movement In 1968, Andy Kirk

History Faculty Research

In the fall of 1968 a Stanford-trained biologist, organizer of the legendary Trips Festival and Merry Prankster named Stewart Brand published the first Whole Earth Catalog. Between 1968 and 1972, the Catalog reached millions of readers and won the National Book Award. The title and iconic cover image of this counterculture classic celebrated the first publicly released NASA photographs showing the whole planet Earth from space. These images profoundly changed the way humans thought about the environment. And the Catalog played an important role in that change.

Developing A Unified Approach To Sustainable Consumption Behaviour: Opportunities For A New Environmental Paradigm, Vivienne Byers, Alan Gilmer

Articles

Politicians and national policy makers seek to encourage individuals to engage in a wide range of pro-environmental practices to address both discrete environmental problems and major global challenges such as climate change. Theoretically, the field of behavioural management in environmental consumption which seeks to change holarchic open human systems, is much contested. This paper proposes to develop a synthesized conceptual framework embracing a unified approach that addresses the systematic, structural, and institutional perspectives on how consumption, through public policy initiatives, can be developed and changed to reflect a deeper ecological foundation. This approach considers the debate regarding policy and behavioural …

Trophic Dynamics Of Flathead Catfish In The Missouri River Bordering Nebraska, Dylan R. Turner

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding the trophic dynamics of large, riverine ecosystems is complex and requires knowledge from several inputs and outputs of the ecosystem. Most riverine ecosystems have been altered in some way whether through damming, channelizing, or diverting water. The Missouri River is not immune to these anthropogenic alterations. The river has dams throughout its middle portion and is channelized from Sioux City, Iowa to its confluence with the Mississippi River. Flathead Catfish pylodictus olivarius are one of the most ecologically harmful introduced species but little research has looked at the influence native populations of Flathead Catfish have on native prey populations …

Eating For The Environment: The Potential Of Dietary Guidelines To Achieve Better Human And Environmental Health Outcomes, Margaret Sova Mccabe

Law Faculty Scholarship

Agriculture and food production contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. Shifting human dietary patterns has the potential to reduce such environmental harms while also promoting human health. Government policy, in the form of the United States Dietary Guidelines (USDG), recommends what Americans should eat and could play an important role in shifting the food system to one that is more sustainable. However, the USDG are an overlooked aspect of U.S. food policy. While many countries have moved to synthesize environmental goals with dietary guidance, the United States has taken the opposite approach. In 2015, despite recommendations from …

Potential Direct And Indirect Effects Of Climate Change On A Shallow Natural Lake Fish Assemblage, Jason J. Breeggemann, Mark A. Kaemingk, Timothy J. Debates, Craig P. Paukert, Jacob R. Krause, Alexander P. Letvin, Tanner M. Stevens, David W. Willis, Steven R. Chipps

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Much uncertainty exists around how fish communities in shallow lakes will respond to climate change. In this study, we modelled the effects of increased water temperatures on consumption and growth rates of two piscivores (northern pike [Esox lucius] and largemouth bass [Micropterus salmoides]) and examined relative effects of consumption by these predators on two prey species (bluegill [Lepomis macrochirus] and yellow perch [Perca flavescens]). Bioenergetics models were used to simulate the effects of climate change on growth and food consumption using predicted 2040 and 2060 temperatures in a shallow Nebraska Sandhill lake, …

Tribes And Water In The Colorado River Basin, Colorado River Research Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

4 pages : charts.

The special nature of tribal water rights -- Quantified water rights -- The Colordo mainstream reservations -- Central Arizona tribes -- Upper basin tribes -- Outstanding / unresolved tribal claims -- The path forward.

Environmental Leadership: Exploring Environmental Dissonance Involving Natural Resource Consumption And Ecosystem Degradation, Thomas L. Tochterman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the corporate world, communities, and individuals become more globalized and demands on natural resources increase, a new emphasis on environmental leadership including a new pragmatic environmental ethos is needed to meet certain basic human needs of future generations. The research problem addressed in this study was the lack of knowledge concerning how environmental cognitive dissonance influences consumption practices related to inefficient resource utilization and ecosystem degradation. The purpose of this study was to provide an understanding of the breadth and depth of environmental cognitive dissonance among visitors to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The research questions addressed …

Mechatronics In Electrical Efficiency And Environmental Impact, Sherif Hyseni

UBT International Conference

This paper focuses on the mechatronic technology development, and its influent on electrical efficiency with a direct result in cost and environment. Considering the well-known European Union standard “20-20-20” and the possibility and responsibility of Kosovo in this field, the role of energy efficiency has great impact for future directions. This paper refers to a new technology solution for heating that is available on the local market, called “DAIKIN” by analyzing the functionality of this device and its promise to save up to 40% of the heating costs. Implementation of “DAIKIN” technology in state institutions in Prishtina, and also the …

Trading Fat For Forests: On Palm Oil, Tropical Forest Conservation, And Rational Consumption, Cindy Isenhour

Anthropology Faculty Scholarship

The longstanding butter vs margarine debate has recently become more complex as the links between margarine, industrial palm oil plantations, and tropical deforestation are made increasingly clear. Yet despite calls for consumers to get informed and take responsibility for tropical deforestation by boycotting margarine or purchasing buttery spreads made with sustainably-sourced palm oil, research in multiple contexts demonstrates that even the most aware, engaged, and rational consumers run into significant barriers when trying to reduce their environmental impacts. This paper supplements important critiques of neoliberal conservation at the site of extraction or intended conservation (Carrier and West 2009; Igoe and …

A Cross-Country Analysis Of Energy Efficient Development, Nicholas Fleagle

Honors Theses

Maximizing energy efficiency, producing as much as possible with as little energy as possible, is something every country should be working toward. This study measures the efficiency of specific countries by examining the interrelationships that exist among each country’s energy consumption and such measures of development as health, education, income, access to essentials and CO2 emissions. It then analyses why certain countries are more efficient than others and how these inefficient countries can improve. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to generate a cross country comparison of energy efficiency scores over multiple dimensions of development. Pairs of inefficient countries and …

Beef Production And Consumption: Sustainable Alternatives, Roslynn Brain

Roslynn Brain

Sustainable living involves choosing a lifestyle with minimal environmental impacts. The ultimate goal is to leave future generations with a healthier environment than the one we were born into. How can we do that with beef consumption? Beef is part of American culture, so is there a way to make wiser choices when it comes to purchasing beef ? The short answer is, yes!

Modeling Biofuel Expansion Effects On Land Use Change Dynamics, Ethan Warner, Daniel Inman, Benjamin Kunstman, Brian Bush, Laura Vimmerstedt, Steve Peterson

Dartmouth Scholarship

Increasing demand for crop-based biofuels, in addition to other human drivers of land use, induces direct and indirect land use changes (LUC). Our system dynamics tool is intended to complement existing LUC modeling approaches and to improve the understanding of global LUC drivers and dynamics by allowing examination of global LUC under diverse scenarios and varying model assumptions. We report on a small subset of such analyses. This model provides insights into the drivers and dynamic interactions of LUC (e.g., dietary choices and biofuel policy) and is not intended to assert improvement in numerical results relative to other works.

Demand …

Beef Production And Consumption: Sustainable Alternatives, Jennifer W. Macadam, Roslynn Brain

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

Sustainable living involves choosing a lifestyle with minimal environmental impacts. The ultimate goal is to leave future generations with a healthier environment than the one we were born into. How can we do that with beef consumption? Beef is part of American culture, so is there a way to make wiser choices when it comes to purchasing beef ? The short answer is, yes!