Digital Commons Network^™

Disease Outbreaks In Coupled Populations : An Application To Measles Spread In Cameroon, Kirsten Maggie Viz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Many childhood diseases can be modeled mathematically using a system of differential equations that group the overall population into compartments. Much research has been done to understand and control the spread of these diseases within a single population and between coupled populations with constant parameters. In this thesis, we are concerned with how a disease is spread through and between coupled populations using models with time-varying parameters and asymmetric coupling.

Measles outbreaks in the West African country of Cameroon present a good example of disease spread with seasonality. By dividing Cameroon into two subpopulations and using parameters that reflect recent …

Pastoral Stock Water Workbook, T M. Sincliar, F A. Bright

Agriculture reports

The Pastoral Stock Water Workbook has been developed to assist you to estimate the costs of maintaining stock water and make informed decisions about managing existing and proposed water points. The first half of the Workbook provides background information on stock water points, their usage, advantages and disadvantages. Whilst the second part contains a series of stepby- step exercises that should be completed as you progress through the Workbook. The latter part of the Workbook aims to: • Show a worked example of the annual costs of maintaining water; • Provide tools to calculate water costs for your business; • …

2005 - The Tenth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Tenth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 8, 2005. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Taxi Cab Geometry: History And Applications!, Chip Reinhardt

The Mathematics Enthusiast

We will explore three real life situations proposed in Eugene F. Kraus e's book Taxicab Geometry. First a dispatcher for Ideal City Police Department receives a report of an accident at X = (-1,4). There are two police cars located in the area. Car C is at (2,1) and car D is at (-1,-1). Which car should be sent? Second there are three high schools in Ideal city. Roosevelt at (2,1), Franklin at ( -3,-3) and Jefferson at (-6,-1). Draw in school district boundaries so that each student in Ideal City attends the school closet to them. For the third …

Transmission Of Environmental And Conservation Knowledge In Andohahela National Park, Mika S. Nagasaki

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Andohahela National Park : Legends and Laws

The legendary forests of Andohahela National Park (N.P.) have long been respected as a source of inspiration and life for the Anosy region in the extreme southeast of Madagascar. Hundreds of years ago, according to various oral traditions, Prince Mana offered himself as a sacrifice in order to quench the drought that brought war and famine to his people, the Tahela (a clan of the Anosy tribe). Zanahary, the Malagasy creator, responded by unleashing the rains and springs in the mountains, which made the land fertile again, and stopped the wars. In gratitude, …

Use Of Tracers And Isotopes To Evaluate Vulnerability Of Water In Domestic Wells To Septic Waste, Ingrid M. Verstraeten, Gregory S. Fetterman, Michael T. Meyer, Thomas D. Bullen, Sonja Sebree

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

In Nebraska, a large number (>200) of shallow sand-point and cased wells completed in coarse alluvial sediments along rivers and lakes still are used to obtain drinking water for human consumption, even though construction of sand-point wells for consumptive uses has been banned since 1987. The quality of water from shallow domestic wells potentially vulnerable to seepage from septic systems was evaluated by analyzing for the presence of tracers and multiple isotopes. Samples were collected from 26 sand-point and perforated, cased domestic wells and were analyzed for bacteria, coliphages, nitrogen species, nitrogen and boron isotopes, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), …

Rapid Prototyping For The Design Of Virtual Worlds, Prabhu V. Krishnan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Development of Virtual Reality (VR) applications is challenging where application developers are required to have expertise in the target VR technologies along with the problem domain expertise. New VR technologies impose a significant learning curve to even the most experienced VR developer. The proposed solution relies on synthesis to automate the migration of a VR application to a new unfamiliar VR platform/technology. To solve the problem, the Common Scene Definition Framework (CSDF) was developed, that serves as a superset/model representation of the target virtual world. Input modules were developed to populate the framework with the capabilities of the virtual world …

Correlation And Causes Of Fifth Order Cycles Within The Upper Cretaceous Eagle Formation, Bighorn Basin Of Wyoming, Kimberly Ann Johnson

OES Theses and Dissertations

Cyclic stratification was examined in the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian) section (Eagle Formation) within the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming. Of particular concern was the 10³ to 10⁴ year band, which in marine settings has been attributed to orbital forcing (Milankovitch cyclicity). A series of 19 sections were measured through the Virgelle Member of the Eagle Formation. Most were measured on the “J”-shaped escarpment that constitutes the nose and north flank of the Thermopolis anticline. Several others were measured at sites up to 30 km to the northwest along paleo-shoreline. In the study, detailed thickness data of all sections and …

Climate Change In Metropolitan Boston, Paul Kirshen, Matthias Ruth, William Anderson

New England Journal of Public Policy

Even though urban infrastructure systems are important and are designed according to socioeconomic and environmental conditions that are very sensitive to climate, there have been few major integrated assessments of the impacts of climate change on metropolitan infrastructure systems and services and possible adaptations. An analysis of the Boston metro area found that adaptation actions taken before full climate-change impacts occur will result in fewer expected negative impacts to the region than waiting for major impacts to occur. Adaptation of infrastructure to climate change must also consider land use management, environmental and socioeconomic impacts, equity, and adaptation actors and institutions. …

Integrating And Delivering Massive Geospatial Datasets For Educational Use, Michael Haungs, Rollin Strohman

Computer Science and Software Engineering

No abstract provided.

Next Edition Of Iho S-57 (Edition 4): Much More Than Encs, Lee Alexander, Michael Brown, Barrie Greenslade

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

The primary goal for the next edition of S-57 (Edition 4) is to support a greater variety of hydrographic-related digital data sources, products, and customers. This includes matrix and raster data, 3-D and time-varying data (x, y, z, and time), and new applications that go beyond the scope of traditional hydrography (e.g., high-density bathymetry, seafloor classification, marine GIS). It will also enable the use of web-based services for data discovery, browsing, query, analysis, and transfer. S-57 Edition 4.0 will not be an incremental revision of Edition 3.1. Edition 4 will be a new standard that includes both additional content and …

An Analysis Of Biometric Technology As An Enabler To Information Assurance, Darren A. Deschaine

Theses and Dissertations

The use of and dependence on, Information technology (IT) has grown tremendously in the last two decades. Still, some believe the United States is only in the infancy of this growth. This explosive growth has opened the door to capabilities that were only dreamed of in the past. As easy as it is to see how advantageous this technology is, it also is clear that with its advantages come distinct responsibilities and new problems that must be addressed. For instance, the minute one begins using information processing systems, the world of information assurance (IA) becomes far more complex. As a …

Multi-Dimensional, Multi-National, Multi-Faceted Hydrographic Training: The Nippon Foundation Gebco Training Program At The University Of New Hampshire, Dave Monahan, Clive Angwenyi, Hugo Montoro, Taisei Morishita, Abubakar Mustapha, Walter Reynoso Peralta, Shereen Sharma, Srinivas Karlapati

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Hydrographic training entered a new era when students arrived at the University of New Hampshire in August of 2004 to form the first class of the Nippon Foundation GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans) training program. Born out of the need to replenish GEBCO’s aging human material, and of the desire to spread deep ocean mapping capabilities more widely throughout the world, the program attracted applications from 57 students in over thirty countries. The seven selected each had post graduate training and several years experience, but differed in that three were hydrographers, two geologists and two oceanographers. Classes planned …

Ecological Science And Sustainability For The 21st Century, Margaret A. Palmer, Emily S. Bernhardt, Elizabeth A. Chornesky, Scott L. Collins, Andrew P. Dobson, Clifford S. Duke, Barry D. Gold, Robert B. Jacobson, Sharon E. Kingsland, Rhonda H. Kranz, Michael J. Mappin, M. Luisa Martinez, Florenza Micheli, Jennifer L. Morse, Michael L. Pace, Mercedes Pascual, Stephen S. Palumbi, Oj Reichman, Alan R. Townsend, Monica G. Turner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ecological science has contributed greatly to our understanding of the natural world and the impact of humans on that world. Now, we need to refocus the discipline towards research that ensures a future in which natural systems and the humans they include coexist on a more sustainable planet. Acknowledging that managed ecosystems and intensive exploitation of resources define our future, ecologists must play a greatly expanded role in communicating their research and influencing policy and decisions that affect the environment. To accomplish this, they will have to forge partnerships at scales and in forms they have not traditionally used. These …

The Role Of University Participation In Integrated Coastal Zone Management : A Case Study Of The Ria De Aviero, Amie Barbosa Figueiredo

Theses

The purpose of this investigation is to examine the efforts of the Universidade de Aveiro to create a public participation process and provide information for the management of the Ria de Aveiro, a lagoon system, in Portugal. This thesis examines whether universities are effective as coordinators and facilitators of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). The Universidade de Aveiro, through the European Union-ICZM Demonstration Programme, spearheaded two projects, MARIA and ESGIRA-Maria, in efforts towards moving forward with ICZM in the area. A framework was created and then applied through a series of pilot-projects. Examination of the results of these pilot projects …

Calcareous Nannofossil Evidence For The Existence Of The Gulf Stream During The Late Maastrichtian, David K. Watkins, Jean M. Self-Trail

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Upper Maastrichtian calcareous nannofossil assemblages, from eight cores on the South Carolina Coastal Plain (onshore set) and three deep sea drilling sites from the continental slope and abyssal hills (offshore set), were analyzed by correlation and principal component analysis to examine the ancient surface water thermal structure. In addition, a temperature index derived from independently published paleobiogeographic information was applied to the sample data. All three methods indicate a strong separation of the samples into onshore and offshore sets, with the offshore data set exhibiting significantly warmer paleotemperatures. The great disparity between these two sample sets indicates that there was …

Effects Of Climate And Landcover Change On Stream Discharge In The Ozark Highlands, Usa, Q. Steven Hu, Gary D. Willson, Xi Chen, Adnan Adnan

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Stream discharge of a watershed is affected and altered by climate and landcover changes. These effects vary depending on the magnitude and interaction of the changes, and need to be understood so that local water resource availability can be evaluated and socioeconomic development within a watershed be pursued and managed in a way sustainable with the local water resources. In this study, the landcover and climate change effects on stream discharge from the Jacks Fork River basin in the Ozark Highlands of the south-central United States were examined in three phases: site observation and data collection, model calibration and simulation, …

An Artificial-Neural-Network-Based, Constrained Ca Model For Simulating Urban Growth, Qingfeng Guan, Liming Wang, Keith C. Clarke

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Insufficient research has been done on integrating artificial-neural-network-based cellular automata (CA) models and constrained CA models, even though both types have been studied for several years. In this paper, a constrained CA model based on an artificial neural network (ANN) was developed to simulate and forecast urban growth. Neural networks can learn from available urban land-use geospatial data and thus deal with redundancy, inaccuracy, and noise during the CA parameter calibration. In the ANN -Urban-CA model we used, a two-layer Back-Propagation (BP) neural network has been integrated into a CA model to seek suitable parameter values that match the historical …

Some Concerns When Using Data From The Cooperative Weather Station Networks: A Nebraska Case Study, Hong Wu, Kenneth G. Hubbard, Jinsheng You

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In this study, daily temperature and precipitation amounts that are observed by the Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) were compared among geographically close stations. Hourly observations from nearby Automatic Weather Data Network (AWDN) stations were utilized to resolve the discrepancies between the observations during the same period. The statistics of maximum differences in temperature and precipitation between COOP stations were summarized. In addition, the quantitative measures of the deviations between COOP and AWDN stations were expressed by root-mean-square error, mean absolute error, and an index of agreement. The results indicated that significant discrepancies exist among the daily observations between some paired …

The 19th Century Excavation Of Kent's Cavern, England, Donald A. Mcfarlane, Joyce Lundberg

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

Between 1858 and 1880, William Pengelly developed revolutionary new techniques for the archeological and paleontological excavation of cave deposits. His work at Brixham Cave and Kent’s Cavern, England, yielded tens of thousands of specimens from the mid-Pleistocene to the Holocene, settled the intellectual debate over the co-existence of humans and extinct mammals, and accumulated an unparalleled resource for continued study. Although the Brixham Cave work was thoroughly summarized in print, Pengelly never published the plans of his much more thorough and extensive excavations at Kent’s Cavern. Here we present a reconstructed plan of the Pengelly excavations that we hope will …

Highway 12, Christian Probasco

All USU Press Publications

Highway 12 is undoubtedly one of not only America's but the world's most scenic highways. From its intersection on the west with Highway 89 south of Panguitch, Utah, it runs up through Red Canyon onto the Paunsagunt Plateau and across Bryce Canyon National Park. It then drops into the Paria River Valley, passes through several tiny villages, crosses some extraordinary (for anywhere but this region) badlands, and descends the Escalante River into Potato Valley. While a driver may justifiably feel she has seen some scenery by that point, the highway is just getting started, for in the next stretch, it …

The National Coral Reef Institute, Nova Southeastern University

Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Virtuous Globalization: A Dialogue For The University Of New Hampshire Discovery Program, Tom Kelly

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Positive Feedback Between Tree Establishment And Patterns Of Subalpine Forest Advancement, Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A., Matthew F. Bekker

Wasatch Dendroclimatology Research

The development and maintenance of several types of visually striking vegetation patterns are controlled by positive feedback between pattern and process. These patterns are particularly common at ecotones, where the influence of positive feedback may affect the position and dynamics of the boundary between the adjacent biotic communities. In this study, I use dendrochronology to examine the role of feedback between existing trees and the establishment and survival of seedlings in the advancement of linear, finger-like strips of subalpine forest in Glacier National Park, Montana. A general upslope, windward to leeward pattern of older trees followed by progressively younger trees …

Iowa's Sand Prairie State Preserves: Anomalous Grain-Size Distributions And Optically Stimulated Luminescence (Osl) Dates, Steven H. Emerman, Brian R. Depew, Lisa K. Anderson

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Grain-size distributions and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates were obtained for the sand from Iowa's five sand prairie state preserves, which are Behren's Ponds and Woodland, Cedar Hills Sand Prairie, Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie, Marietta Sand Prairie and Rock Island. OSL dates ranged from the late Pleistocene (15,560 years B.P.) to the very late Holocene (as recent as 590 years B.P.), indicating that the late Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs in Iowa have seen multiple episodes of aridity, which is consistent with results from the Nebraska Sand Hills and eolian sand stringers in southeastern Minnesota. The grain-size distributions were anomalous in that, compared …

Web-Based Independent Study Program, Darryl Dwaine Scroggins

Theses Digitization Project

The Web-based Independent Study Program (WISP) is an on-line database program used to create and store educational records for members of Dikaios. (Dikaios is a Christian educators association that offers an independent study program.) The database allows home educators to create, store, edit, view, and print the forms and records that are required by Dakaios administrators and by the state of California. Further, the database helps students and home educators monitor student progress towards meeting high school graduation requirements.

Particle Size, Caco3, Chemical, Magnetic, And Age Data From Surficial Deposits In And Around Canyonlands National Park, Utah, Harland Goldstein, Richard Reynolds, Marith Reheis, James Yount, Paul Lamothe, Helen Roberts, John Mcgeehin

Canyonlands Research Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Best Practices For Customer Resource Management (Crm), Richard Poirier

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

This thesis will help to define the best practices for implementing a CRM (Customer Resource Management) system in corporate enterprises. The notion that CRM is just an Information Technology Software Application is shortsighted. CRM is a more global design incorporating vendors, supply chains, enterprises, and customers. In presenting this dissertation, I follow proven and respected processes in order to set a foundation that is necessary for a structured research framework to identify best practices in CRM systems.

Amateur Hour: Nathaniel H. Egleston And Professional Forestry In Post-Civil War America, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Nathaniel Egleston, the second head of the U.S. Division of Forestry (1883–1886), is a forgotten figure in the history of early American forestry. The one-time minister became a tireless advocate for trees in the post-Civil War era, writing innumerable and well-received essays and pamphlets. But his enthusiasm did not translate into administrative success, and he was replaced by Bernard Fernow, who in turn was succeeded by Gifford Pinchot; the pair’s scientific training signaled the professionalization of American forestry.

The Search For A Common Language: Environmental Writing And Education, Melody Graulich, Paul Crumbley

All USU Press Publications

A stellar group of writers, scientists, and educators illuminate the intersections between environmental science, creative writing, and education, considering ways to strengthen communication between differing fields with common interests.