Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Local Residents' Experience Of The Coal Ash Spill In Kingston, Tennessee: A Phenomenological Study, Amy Lynn Mathis

Doctoral Dissertations

On December 22, 2008, near Kingston, Tennessee, a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) retention pond holding approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of coal fly ash failed, spilling the ash into the nearby Emory River and inundating farms and homes in the Swan Pond community. As a result more than 100 people were permanently displaced from their homes and the clean-up effort is ongoing.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of living near Kingston, Tennessee, in the aftermath of the spill. Using existential phenomenology as the guiding research methodology, I interviewed 9 participants from the area and asked …

Contextualizing The Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site (40wg59): Understanding Landscape Change At An Upland South Farmstead., Daniel Whitaker Howard Brock

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on a contextual archaeological approach to investigate the historic landscape of the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site. Tipton-Haynes is a late eighteenth- through twentieth-century upland south farmstead located in Johnson City, TN. Home to two prominent Tennessee families and occupied until acquired by the state in the 1960s, the site has experienced many alterations to the landscape over time. The analysis presented views the landscape as material culture investigated through a multidisciplinary approach including historic research, architectural survey, geophysical survey, dendrochronology, and archaeology. To make sense of the complex nature of the Tipton-Haynes site, multiple methods were used …

Public Land In A Changing Climate: Planning For An Uncertain Future, Kathleen Marie Hauser

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the ways in which institutions and actors consider climate change, and how the inclusion of diverse perspectives and challenges in the planning process shapes climate change governance. In particular, I asked how the participants, place-specific contexts, and decision-making processes affect environmental decision-making in Alaska’s National Parks. I discuss the literature on geographical perspectives on climate change, environmental and climate change governance, how uncertainty and risk affect decision-making in the context of climate change, and the history of land use management in the United States. This project incorporates qualitative methods to research the Climate Change Scenario Planning project …

Challenges To Sharing Data Among Environmental Scientists And Data Managers In The Southeastern United States, Mary Beth Ross West, Miriam L.E. Steiner Davis

Annual Research Symposium of the College of Communication and Information

Poster Submission

The Increasing Biological Information Sources: Technical Assistance and Support for Delivery and Technology Transfer (IBIS) project was funded by the United States Geological Survey’s National Biological Infrastructure (NBII) to identify relevant data sets in areas of research that served NBII’s stakeholders: environmental decision makers, researchers and scientists including citizen scientists, and teachers and students. The IBIS project also developed biodiversity information tools and services to address the accessibility of USGS provided biodiversity information.

For this report, forty data sets were identified and analyzed by the IBIS researchers; the results of the data set interviews are presented in this …

Spatial Discrepancies Between Nhdplus And Lidar-Derived Stream Networks, Nicole Marie Samu

Masters Theses

Many organizations demand that current water resource issues necessitate improved stream network mapping for more accurate and reliable watershed analysis and modeling results, which can ultimately enable better management and policy decisions. Stream network data from the National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) and derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) are each widely accepted to be of superior quality compared to many other conventional datasets. Each dataset indicates potential to improve a wide range of water resource applications; NHDPlus for its high spatial accuracy and functionality, and LIDAR-derived networks for their high resolutions. NHDPlus is publicly available and widely used; …

Examining Impacts On Water Demand Resulting From Population And Employment Growth Using A Regional Adjustment Model, Steven Blake Thomas

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the currently available water use data and its limitation for use in scientific research. The first chapter offers a description of the current nationwide water data including descriptions of collection methods and trends found within the data. The varying collection methods used result in inconsistencies within the datasets and between the years. These inconsistencies have resulted in the data being used more as a point of reference than in nationwide empirical analysis of water use. There has been a calling for systematic improvements to the data, which could contribute to greater empirical analysis taking place at the …

An Exploratory Study Of The Nature And Composition Of Current Library And Information Science Programs In Indian State Universities, Bharat Mehra, Devendra Potnis, Jennifer Morden

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- EECS

This brief article explores the current state of library and information science (LIS) programs in terms of their nature and composition in state universities in India. Preliminary findings were based on a content analysis of representative information regarding LIS education available on the websites of all state universities and colleges that offer LIS programs in India. Findings indicated broad trends in administrative structuring and nomenclature of LIS programs which requires standardization. The type of degrees awarded, the composition of faculty positions, student places per year and student-faculty ratios was also found to be varied among the different institutions. The lack …