Digital Commons Network^™

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 2, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 83, No. 1, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

Estimating Business And Residential Water Supply Interruption Losses From Catastrophic Events, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Following man-made or natural catastrophes, widespread and long-lasting disruption of lifelines can lead to economic impacts for both business and residential lifeline users. As a result, the total economic losses caused by infrastructure damage may be much higher than the value of damage to infrastructure itself. In this paper, we consider the estimation of economic impacts on businesses and residential consumers resulting from water supply disruption. The methodology we present for estimating business interruption losses assumes that marginal losses are increasing in the severity of disruption and that there may be a critical water availability cutoff below which business activity …

Comparative Analysis Of Environmental Kuznets Curve In Central And Eastern Europe And South And East Asia, Yu-Chin Pang

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Environmental deterioration has frequently been viewed as a problem that inevitably accompanies economic development and industrialization. However, different economic backgrounds might experience different kinds and levels of environmental deterioration. This study investigated environmental deterioration in two groups of countries with comparable income levels but different economic backgrounds-transitional Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and non-transitional South and East Asian (SEA) countries.

This research utilized the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis to explain the relationships among macroeconomic indicators, country categories, and atmospheric concentrations in the CEE and SEA regions. Three research questions and six hypotheses and related sub-hypotheses were answered and tested …

Significance Of Trends Toward Earlier Snowmelt Runoff, Columbia And Missouri Basin Headwaters, Western United States, Johnnie N. Moore, Joel T. Harper, Mark C. Greenwood

Geosciences Faculty Publications

We assess changes in runoff timing over the last 55 years at 21 gages unaffected by human influences, in the headwaters of the Columbia-Missouri Rivers. Linear regression models and tests for significance that control for ‘‘false discoveries’’ of many tests, combined with a conceptual runoff response model, were used to examine the detailed structure of spring runoff timing. We conclude that only about one third of the gages exhibit significant trends with time but over half of the gages tested show significant relationships with discharge. Therefore, runoff timing is more significantly correlated with annual discharge than with time. This result …

Pleistocene Peccaries From Guy Wilson Cave, Sullivan County, Tennessee., April Season Nye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Descriptive and taphonomic analyses of undescribed Pleistocene Tayassuidae from Guy Wilson Cave within the East Tennessee State University and McClung Museum collections revealed a MNI of 16 Platygonus compressus and 2 Mylohyus from left femora and isolated teeth, respectively. Linkage between upper dentition and species identification is suggested by comparing Mylohyus fossilis to M. nasutus from other Pleistocene-aged sites. Long-bone NISP and age profiles show a predominance of Platygonus adults. Tayassuidae upper canines, likely Platygonus, suggest sexual dimorphism. Long bones were analyzed for carnivore damage and utilization revealing light utilization similar to that caused by modern wolves. Long bone …

Gis Aided Archaeological Research Of El Camino Real De Los Tejas With Focus On The Landscape And River Crossings Along El Camino Carretera., Jeffrey M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Many generations of indigenous pathways through the forests of eastern Texas have their origins obscured in antiquity. Utilized by early European explorers, these pathways became modified through heavy use and the expansions and improvements needed to accommodate easy passage of European horses and carts and finally the heavy wagons of Anglo-American settlers. The first road through Texas, El Camino Real de Los Tejas, utilized portions of these early trails.

El Camino Carretera (known as the cart road) is an early segment of El Camino Real de los Tejas that crossed the Sabine River at the boundary between Texas and Louisiana. …

Instantaneous Spectral Analysis: Time-Frequency Mapping Via Wavelet Matching With Application To Contaminated-Site Characterization By 3d Gpr, John H. Bradford, Yafei Wu

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Spectral decomposition, by which a time series is transformed from the 1D time/amplitude domain to the 2D time/spectrum domain, has become a popular and useful tool in seismic exploration for hydrocarbons. The windowed, or short-time Fourier transform (STFT) was one early approach to computing the time-frequency (t-f) distribution. This method relies on the user selecting a fixed time window, then computing the Fourier spectrum within the time window while sliding the window along the length of the trace. The primary limitation of the STFT is the fixed window which prevents either time localization of high frequency components (if …

The Whitehead Link On The Cubic Lattice, Elizabeth Haynes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The cubic lattice is a graph in Â3 where the vertices are points with integer coordinates and edges are unit length line segments parallel to the x-, y-, or z-axis. A step is a line segment that connects one vertex to a neighboring vertex one unit away in the x-, y-, or z-direction. This thesis will show that the Whitehead Link needs at least 34 steps to be embedded on the cubic lattice.

An Analysis Of Base-Level Conduit Sedimentation In South Central Kentucky, Ben Tobin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In karst basins, significant amounts of surface-derived sediment can enter into cave systems. The transport and deposition of these sediments in underground streams is a function of flow velocity, sediment supply and passage morphology. Changes in the surface environment can affect the water and sediment supplies to subsurface drainage systems and thus may be reflected in the sedimentary structure, texture and rates of deposition of cave sediments. Cave sediments in two south central Kentucky caves were studied to evaluate a possible, relationship between variations in deposit characteristics and variations in surface changes, including land-use. Samples were collected using coring tubes …

Modified Fenton Oxidation Of Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils With Cao2: Microbial Survival And Surfactant Production, Abraham Matthew Northup

Dissertations

The efficacy of CaO₂ for use in modified Fenton's (MF) reactions was investigated in this study, with the goal of developing a CaO₂-based MF oxidation technology for use in in situ chemical oxidation. Traditionally, liquid H₂O₂ (HP) is used, and is injected into the subsurface in excess to ensure a sufficient radius of influence. CaO₂ was investigated as an alternative source of H₂O₂ for MF reactions.

First, the rate of dissolution of powdered CaO₂ and the yield of HP was investigated. Our results showed that the rate of dissolution …

West Nile Virus Monitoring In North Central Texas And A Proposed Surveillance Model, Mark Edward Dinubila

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

West Nile virus monitoring among mosquito populations in Tarrant County, Texas has been ongoing for more than 4 years. Coupled with RT-PCR Testing by the North Texas Regional Laboratory, Tarrant County and the cities that reside within its borders have been able to get an estimate of the location of the virus in their cities. As the participants select trap locations based on convenience, past experience and public interest, it should be beneficial to use geomorphological characteristics to dictate future trapping locations. This surveillance model using existing land maps of Tarrant County, past trap locations and their test results. The …

Quarternary Alluvial Deposition In The Upper Green River Valley, Kentucky, Juan Herrera

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research describes the alluvial deposits and Quaternary geomorphic evolution of the Upper Green River in Kentucky by documenting the nature of flood plain sediments at two sites along the valley bottom of the Upper Green River between Mammoth Cave National Park and Green River Lake. Field methods employed included stratigraphic descriptions of bank exposures and borings obtained in flood plain surfaces, along with textural and radiocarbon analysis of sediment samples. Sediment samples from boreholes and bank exposures in two study sites (Pitman Creek confluence, -PCC- and Upper Green River Biological Preserve -UGRBP-) were collected and sieved to determine grain …

Geostatistical And Stochastic Study Of Flow And Tracer Transport In The Unsaturated Zone At Yucca Mountain, Ming Ye, Feng Pan, Xiaolong Bill Hu, Jianting Zhu, Amy J. Smiecinski

Publications (YM)

Yucca Mountain has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy as the nation’s long-term, permanent geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste. The potential repository would be located in Yucca Mountain’s unsaturated zone (UZ), which acts as a critical natural barrier delaying arrival of radionuclides to the water table. Since radionuclide transport in groundwater can pose serious threats to human health and the environment, it is important to understand how much and how fast water and radionuclides travel through the UZ to groundwater. The UZ system consists of multiple hydrogeologic units whose hydraulic and geochemical properties …

Assessment Of Undiscovered Oil And Gas Resources In Tertiary Strata Of The Gulf Coast, 2007

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 113.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, a mean of 690 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and a mean of 3.7 billion barrels of undiscovered natural gas liquids in onshore lands and State waters of the Gulf Coast.

Microbial Nitrogen Limitation Increases Decomposition, Joseph M. Craine, Carl Morrow, Noah Fierer

Dartmouth Scholarship

With anthropogenic nutrient inputs to ecosystems increasing globally, there are long-standing, fundamental questions about the role of nutrients in the decomposition of organic matter. We tested the effects of exogenous nitrogen and phosphorus inputs on litter decomposition across a broad suite of litter and soil types. In one experiment, C mineralization was compared across a wide array of plants individually added to a single soil, while in the second, C mineralization from a single substrate was compared across 50 soils. Counter to basic stoichiometric decomposition theory, low N availability can increase litter decomposition as microbes use labile substrates to acquire …

Bedrock Channel Geometry Along An Orographic Rainfall Gradient In The Upper Marsyandi River Valley In Central Nepal, William Craddock, Douglas Burbank, Bodo Bookhagen, Emmanuel Gabet

Faculty Publications

Pronounced rainfall gradients combined with spatially uniform exhumation of rocks at Quaternary timescales and uniform rock strength make the upper Marsyandi River valley in central Nepal a useful natural laboratory in which to explore variations in bedrock channel width. We focus on small catchments (0.6–12.4 km2) along a more than tenfold gradient in monsoon rainfall. Rainfall data are gathered from a dense weather network and calibrated satellite observations, the pattern of Quaternary exhumation is inferred from apatite fission track cooling ages, and rock compressive strength is measured in the field. Bedrock channel widths, surveyed at high scour indicators, scale as …

Sheep Updates 2007 - Part 3, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall, James Hall, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff, John Young, M. Alchin, M. Young, T. Johnson, John Lucy, Martin Staines, Tim Wiley, Rob Grima, Sandra Prosser, Matt Ryan, Geoff Moore, Tony Albertsen, Phil Barrett-Lennard, George Woolston, John Titerington, Sarah Knight, Brianna Peake

Sheep Updates

This session covers seven papers from different authors:

PROFITABILITY

1. Benchmarking demonstrates both the potential and realised productivity gains in the sheep and wool industry, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall and James Hall, ICON Agriculture, Darkan

2. Improving sheep genetics will increase farm profitability, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, John Young Farming Systems Analysis Service, WA

3. Meat, Merinos and making money in WA Pastoral Zone, M. Alchin, M. Young and T. Johnson, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia,

GRAZING

4. Nitrogen - farmers' friend or foe? John Lucy and Martin Staines, Department …

Cost/Effectiveness Analysis Of Obtaining Operational Estimates Of Reference Evapotranspiration, Peninsular Florida, Usa, Michael G. Kittridge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to conduct a cost/effectiveness analysis of the computation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) in the peninsular of Florida. A meteorological station on the Fort Meade Mine in Polk County, Florida was used to provide data for the calculation of ETo. Five ETo equations were tested to determine the accuracy and cost/effectiveness to the fully measured ASCE Penman-Monteith (Full ASCE-PM) equation on daily, monthly, and annually time steps. The ETo equations ranged in amounts of parameters from the Full ASCE-PM to the Hargreaves. The energy terms accounted for approximately 90% of the total ETo flux. Solar …

Seismic And Well Log Attribute Analysis Of The Jurassic Entrada/Curtis Interval Within The North Hill Creek 3d Seismic Survey, Uinta Basin, Utah, A Case History, Ryan J. Oneal

Theses and Dissertations

3D seismic attribute analysis of the Jurassic Entrada/Curtis interval within the North Hill Creek (NHC) survey has been useful in delineating reservoir quality eolian-influenced dune complexes. Amplitude, average reflection strength and spectral decomposition appear to be most useful in locating reservoir quality dune complexes, outlining their geometry and possibly displaying lateral changes in thickness. Cross sectional views displaying toplap features likely indicate an unconformity between Entrada clinoforms below and Curtis planar beds above. This relationship may aid the explorationist in discovering this important seismic interval. Seismic and well log attribute values were cross plotted and have revealed associations between these …

Microfacies Analysis, Sedimentary Petrology, And Reservoir Characterization Of The Sinbad Limestone Based Upon Surface Exposures In The San Rafael Swell, Utah, Caleb R. Osborn

Theses and Dissertations

The Lower Triassic Sinbad Limestone Member of the Moenkopi Formation has produced minor amounts of oil in the Grassy Trail Creek field near Green River, Utah and is present below much of central Utah including the recently discovered Covenant field. Superb outcrops of this thin (15 m), mixed carbonate-silicilastic unit in the San Rafael Swell permit detailed analysis of its vertical and lateral reservoir heterogeneity. Vertically, the Sinbad Limestone comprises three facies associations: (A) a basal storm-dominated, well-circulated skeletal-oolitic-peloidal limestone association, (B) a storm-dominated, poorly-circulated hummocky cross-stratified siliciclastic/peloidal association, and (C) a capping peritidal cross-bedded oolitic dolograinstone association. Eleven microfacies …

Transient Storage As A Function Of Geomorphology, Discharge, And Permafrost Active Layer Conditions In Arctic Tundra Streams, Jay P. Zarnetske, Michael N. Gooseff, Troy R. Brosten, John H. Bradford, James P. Mcnamara, W. Breck Bowden

CGISS Publications and Presentations

Transient storage of solutes in hyporheic zones or other slow-moving stream waters plays an important role in the biogeochemical processes of streams. While numerous studies have reported a wide range of parameter values from simulations of transient storage, little field work has been done to investigate the correlations between these parameters and shifts in surface and subsurface flow conditions. In this investigation we use the stream properties of the Arctic (namely, highly varied discharges, channel morphologies, and subchannel permafrost conditions) to isolate the effects of discharge, channel morphology, and potential size of the hyporheic zone on transient storage. We repeated …

The Smallest Base And Precious Metal Deposits In The World: Vapor Transport And Deposition Of Co-Cu-Sn-Ag Alloys In Vesicles, Elizabeth Adele Outdoor Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

Metallic bronze-Co-Ag alloys ranging from1-90 µm have been discovered in bomb and lava vesicles from the mafic volcanoes of Kilauea in Hawaii and Vesuvius, Stromboli and Etna in Italy. It is inferred that the metals for these alloys were transported (in part) as chloride complexes, and that the metal ratios in the alloys may be a function of S/Cl. Alloy compositions in each system are extremely heterogeneous with Co concentrations from 1% to 94%, Cu from 2% to 89%, Sn from 1% to 22% and Ag from 0.5% to 42%. Maximum abundances (in wt%) of other trace or minor elements …

Reservoir Characterization And Outcrop Analogs To The Navajo Sandstone In The Central Utah Thrust Belt Exploration Play, Ashley Dalrymple

Theses and Dissertations

Reservoir heterogeneity plays an important role in oil field economics and completion strategies. We herein characterize the reservoir heterogeneity of the Early Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in the Justensen Flat/Devils Canyon area of the San Rafael Swell, Utah. These outcrops are located approximately 60 kilometers (45 mi) east of the recently discovered Covenant oil field which is located in the central Utah thrust belt exploration play. The reservoir for the Covenant field is the Navajo Sandstone. This study can serve as an outcrop analogue for this developing play and other eolian reservoirs worldwide. There are eight facies within the Navajo Sandstone …

Incorporating Results Of Avian Toxicity Tests Into A Model Of Annual Reproductive Success, Richard S. Bennett*, Matthew A. Etterson

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Modeling the effects of pesticide exposure on avian populations requires knowledge of how the pesticide changes survival and fecundity rates for the population. Although avian reproduction tests are the primary source of information on reproductive effects in the pesticide risk assessment process, current tests cannot provide a direct estimate of the effects of a pesticide on fecundity rates. We present a mathematical model that integrates information on specific types of effects from reproduction tests with information on avian life history parameters, the timing of pesticide applications, and the temporal pattern of pesticide exposure levels to estimate pesticide effects on annual …

Droughtscape, Summer 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Summer 07 Outlook

Hayes Named Director of NDMC

NDMC & UN Plan for Drought

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Drought Tools Workshops Underway

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum October 10-11, 2007 Portland, Oregon

Evaluation Of An Experimental Lidar For Surveying A Shallow, Braided, Sand-Bedded River, Paul J. Kinzel, C. Wayne Wright, Jonathan M. Nelson, Aaron R. Burman

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Reaches of a shallow (<1.0 m), braided, sand-bedded river were surveyed in 2002 and 2005 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LiDAR (EAARL) and concurrently with conventional survey-grade, real-time kinematic, global positioning system technology. The laser pulses transmitted by the EAARL instrument and the return backscatter waveforms from exposed sand and submerged sand targets in the river were completely digitized and stored for postflight processing. The vertical mapping accuracy of the EAARL was evaluated by comparing the ellipsoidal heights computed from ranging measurements made using an EAARL terrestrial algorithm to nearby (<0.5 m apart) ground-truth ellipsoidal heights. After correcting for apparent systematic bias in the surveys, the root mean square error of these heights with the terrestrial algorithm in the 2002 survey was 0.11 m for the 26 measurements taken on exposed sand and 0.18 m for the 59 measurements taken on submerged sand. In the 2005 survey, the root mean square error was 0.18 m for 92 measurements taken on exposed sand and 0.24 m for 434 measurements on submerged sand. In submerged areas the waveforms were complicated by reflections from the surface, water column entrained turbidity, and potentially the riverbed. When applied to these waveforms, especially in depths greater than 0.4 m, the terrestrial algorithm calculated the range above the riverbed. A bathymetric algorithm has been developed to approximate the position of the riverbed in these convolved waveforms and preliminary results are encouraging.

Effect Of Regional Tectonic Setting On Local Fault Response To Episodes Of Volcanic Activity, Diana C. Roman, Philip Heron

Geology Faculty Publications

In this study we examine the interaction of tectonic and volcanically-generated stress fields, and their combined effect on patterns of volcanotectonic (VT) seismicity, by calculating Coulomb stress changes on local faults induced by a constant dike inflation event in a background stress field of systematically varying magnitude and orientation. We find that patterns of VT seismicity (earthquake locations and fault-plane solutions) resulting from dike inflation depend strongly on the relative strength and orientation of background tectonic stresses. Patterns of VT seismicity similar to those predicted by our Coulomb stress models have been observed at several recently active volcanoes, and appear …

Pend Oreille River, Box Canyon Model: Model Scenario Simulations, Chris Berger, Robert Leslie Annear, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Washington Department of Ecology is interested in developing a temperature Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) allocation for the Pend Oreille River between the Albeni Falls Dam (U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s reservoir) and Box Canyon Dam as shown in Figure 1. The Pend Oreille drainage basin is shown in Figure 2. An existing model of the Box Canyon reach was updated from CE-QUALW2 Version 3.0 to Version 3.5. This current research involves improving the calibration of the original model (1997 and 1998) and expanding the model using 2004 as an additional data set for calibration.

The use of field …

Cave Development In Strata Of Ordovician-And Silurian-Devonian-Age In Highland County, Virginia, Carol Ann Peterson

OES Theses and Dissertations

Picturesque Highland County, Virginia, also known as "Virginia's Little Switzerland", is characterized by high mountains, tranquil rivers, and hundreds of caves. This study determines how geologic structures and processes control speleogenesis, or cave development, in the county. Solutional caves in Highland County are found in Ordovician limestones and dolostones and in Silurian- to Devonian-age limestones. Despite the lithologic and structural differences between the strata, caves in both sections tend to be similarly joint-controlled in directions of both regional strike (N40°E), dip (northwest or southeast), or in fractures intersecting at 60 and/or 120 degrees. Brittle failure, including fractures and faults induced …