Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of Human Health Impacts Due To Adverse Climate Events Through The Use Of Vulnerability Mapping: A Scoping Review, Michael T. Schmeltz, Peter J. Marcotullio

Publications and Research

Government officials, health professionals, and other decision makers are tasked with characterizing vulnerability and understanding how populations experience risks associated with exposure to climate-related hazards. Spatial analyses of vulnerable locations have given rise to climate change vulnerability mapping. While not a new concept, the spatial analyses of specific health outcomes remain limited. This review explores different methodologies and data that are used to assess vulnerability and map population health impacts to climate hazards. The review retrieved scholarly articles and governmental reports concerning vulnerability mapping of human health to the impacts of climate change in the United States, published in the …

Phylogenetic Trees And Networks Can Serve As Powerful And Complementary Approaches For Analysis Of Genomic Data, Christopher Blair, Cécile Ané

Publications and Research

Genomic data have had a profound impact on nearly every biological discipline. In systematics and phylogenetics, the thousands of loci that are now being sequenced can be analyzed under the multispecies coalescent model (MSC) to explicitly account for gene tree discordance due to incomplete lineage sorting (ILS). However, the MSC assumes no gene flow post divergence, calling for additional methods that can accommodate this limitation. Explicit phylogenetic network methods have emerged, which can simultaneously account for ILS and gene flow by representing evolutionary history as a directed acyclic graph. In this point-of-view we highlight some of the strengths and limitations …

Remixing An Open Educational Resource: A Case Study Of The Uncommon “R”, Lusiella Fazzino, Julie Turley

Urban Library Journal

Open educational resources address the crisis college students face purchasing textbooks. Although academic librarians play a prominent role implementing the open educational resource solution, by engaging faculty in their use and creation, librarians could go further. At the College of New Rochelle, instruction librarians teamed up with the Scholarly Communications Librarian to revise and remix an already existing information literacy textbook. This case study outlines how an open educational resource textbook was altered and localized to reflect students’ lived reality. The textbook was used in a credit-bearing information literacy course for the College’s Liberal Arts adult education B.A. program.

Evaluation Of The Uncertainty In Satellite-Based Crop State Variable Retrievals Due To Site And Growth Stage Specific Factors And Their Potential In Coupling With Crop Growth Models, Nathaniel Levitan, Yanghui Kang, Mutlu Özdogan, Vincenzo Magliulo, Paulo Castillo, Fred Moshary, Barry Gross

Publications and Research

Coupling crop growth models and remote sensing provides the potential to improve our understanding of the genotype x environment x management (G X E X M) variability of crop growth on a global scale. Unfortunately, the uncertainty in the relationship between the satellite measurements and the crop state variables across different sites and growth stages makes it diffcult to perform the coupling. In this study, we evaluate the effects of this uncertainty with MODIS data at the Mead, Nebraska Ameriflux sites (US-Ne1, US-Ne2, and US-Ne3) and accurate, collocated Hybrid-Maize (HM) simulations of leaf area index (LAI) and canopy light use …

The Effect Of Citi Bike Introduction On Injury Rates In New York City, Masakazu Hiruma

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests the hypothesis that the introduction of Citi Bike influences bicycle injuries by observing the gradual expansion of the bike share system in NYC. Data is analyzed from 2012-2018 New York Police Department (NYPD) Motor Vehicle Collisions and Citi Bike Station Feeds (NYC Open Data).

The Scientific Romances Of Jules Verne And H.G. Wells: Imperialism Disguised As Progress In The Early Days Of Science Fiction, Timothy Ferris

Theses and Dissertations

Frequently in their respective oeuvres, Verne and Wells write in a rhetoric of conquest that almost always translates to discovering a more efficient means of taming wild, non-European environments. These goals extend not only to the lands that their protagonists explore, but also to human beings and other life that may populate them. Indeed, the underlying focus—the one that is masked behind the thrill and adventure of both Wells and Verne—is none other than the march of progress as understood by middle-class Europeans in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Progress can produce positivistic optimism, and it can also …

The Public Library As Resistive Space In The Neoliberal City, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

With reduced hours, decaying infrastructure, and precariously positioned staff, local public libraries provide much needed services in cities devastated by inequality and slashed safety nets. In this article, I draw on ethnographic research of a small public library in a diverse, mostly working class neighborhood in Queens, New York. I show that in addition to providing an alternative to the capitalist market by distributing resources according to people’s needs, the library serves as a moral underground space, where middle class people bend rules to help struggling city residents. Although the library occasionally replicates hegemonic ideologies about immigrant assimilation, it provides …

Affect & Race/(Blackness), Colin Patrick Ashley, Michelle Billies

Publications and Research

We question the question of affect and race as one that has already built itself upon blackness and anti-blackness, such that the question a priori for an affect theory seeking to address race, we argue, is that of black ontology. We first examine various works in affect theory that theorize race through new mechanisms of discourse, works that theorize interpersonal and emotive affects, and works that have contributed to a biopolitical understanding of race, affect, and assemblage. Delving deeper into a Deleuzian legacy of affect as capacity we assert that the theoretical works of afro-pessimism and black optimism (as black …

Visual Sociology, Erin Siodmak

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Eece 351 Teaching Science In The Elementary School, Line A. Saint-Hilaire

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

An Urban Flash Flood Alert Tool For Megacities—Application For Manhattan, New York City, Usa, Rafea Hashim Al-Suhili, Cheila Cullen, Reza Khanbilvardi

Publications and Research

Urban flooding is a frequent problem affecting cities all over the world. The problem is more significant now that the climate is changing and urbanization trends are increasing. Various, physical hydrological models such as the Environmental Protection Agency Storm Water Management Model (EPA SWMM), MIKE URBAN-II and others, have been developed to simulate flooding events in cities. However, they require high accuracy mapping and a simulation of the underground storm drainage system. Sadly, this capability is usually not available for older or larger so-called megacities. Other hydrological model types are classified in the semi-physical category, like Cellular Automata (CA), require …

“A” For Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors In Women, Damon Abraham, Kateri Mcrae, Jennifer A. Mangels

Publications and Research

Previous research has shown that the prospect of attaining a reward can promote task engagement, up-regulate attention toward reward-relevant information, and facilitate enhanced encoding of new information into declarative memory. However, past research on reward-based enhancement of declarative memory has focused primarily on paradigms in which rewards are contingent upon accurate responses. Yet, findings from test-enhanced learning show that making errors can also be useful for learning if those errors represent effortful retrieval attempts and are followed by corrective feedback. Here, we used a challenging general knowledge task to examine the effects of explicitly rewarding retrieval effort, defined as a …

Cs + Sociology: Using Big Data To Identify And Understand Educational Inequality In America ( 2), Joseph Cleary, Elin Waring

Open Educational Resources

This lesson is connected to but can be used independently of "Using Big Data to Identify and Understand Educational Inequality in America (1)"

Students will develop CS skills and behaviors including but not limited to: learning what an API is, learning how to access and utilize data on an API, and developing their R coding skills and knowledge. Students will also learn basic, but important, sociological principles such as how poverty is related to educational opportunities in America (and how this relationship varies between and among states). Although prior knowledge of CS and sociology is helpful, neither is necessary for …

Aesthetic Perception Of Urban Spaces: New York, Timur Pozhidaev

Theses and Dissertations

Aesthetic perception is an important field of interest in many aspects of everyday human life. It affects individual and social unconscious behavior and is strongly related to the decision-making processes in the human mind. The current study can serve as an important prototype for planning purposes and social and environmental justice among the regional units of New York City. With the current scientific sphere lacking a comprehensive methodology for assessing social superstructure, an aesthetic framework has the potential for success in evaluating the aspects of sustainable and resilient urban development.

Gentrification In Upper Manhattan? Demographic And Socioeconomic Transformations In Washington Heights/Inwood, 1990-2015, Lawrence Cappello

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines the impact and extent of gentrification in the Washington Heights/Inwood area – traditionally one of Manhattan’s most quintessential Latino neighborhoods.

Methods: This report uses the American Community Survey PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) data for all years released by the Census Bureau and reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa, (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml).

Results: The Latino community of Washington Heights/Inwood is not being displaced in any meaningful way. While there has certainly been an increase in the number of wealthy non-Hispanic Whites over the last decade, as of 2015 Latinos maintained the …

A New Long Island: Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations In New York City's Historic Suburbs, 1990 - 2016 (Revised), Lawrence Cappello

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines key socioeconomic and demographic trends in New York City and Long Island from 1990 to 2016.

Methods: The findings reported here are based on data collected by the Census Bureau IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series), available at http://www.usa.ipums.org for the corresponding years and the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

Results: The Long Island suburbs have grown significantly more diverse in the early twenty-first century. The total number of non-Hispanic Whites in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties is in steady decline, as is their share of Long Island’s total population. Latinos and Asians, on the …

Cs + Sociology: Using Big Data To Identify And Understand Educational Inequality In America (1), Joseph Cleary, Elin Waring

Open Educational Resources

This is the first of two lessons/labs for teaching and learning of computer science and sociology. Either and be used on their own or they can be used in sequence, in which case this should be used first.

Students will develop CS skills and behaviors including but not limited to: learning what an API is, learning how to access and utilize data on an API, and developing their R coding skills and knowledge. Students will also learn basic, but important, sociological principles such as how poverty is related to educational opportunities in America. Although prior knowledge of CS and sociology …

Imaging Exploitation, Complexity, And Paradox In Subaltern Labor Photography, Mahnure Janis

Theses and Dissertations

Imaging Exploitation, Complexity, and Paradox in Subaltern Labor Photography is an expanded cinema performance examining 'cheap' labor in the fast fashion industry through a self-reflexive diasporic lens. The images and narration explores the garment factories in Bangladesh and contains ‘a photographer’s cognitive meta-data’, including ethical dilemmas while taking the images.

Researching At The Community-University Borderlands: Using Public Science To Study Policing In The South Bronx, Brett G. Stoudt, María Elena Torre, Paul Bartley, Evan Bissel, Fawn Bracy, Hillary Caldwell, Lauren Dewey, Anthony Downs, Cory Greene, Jan Haldipur, Scott Lizama, Prakriti Hassan, Einat Manoff, Nadine Sheppard, Jacqueline Yates

Publications and Research

This article is a case study of the Morris Justice Project (MJP), a participatory action research (PAR) study in a South Bronx neighborhood of New York City (NYC) designed to understand residents' experiences with and attitudes towards the New York Police Department (NYPD). An illustration of public science, the research was conducted in solidarity with an emerging police reform movement and in response to an ongoing and particularly aggressive set of policing policies that most heavily impacts poor communities and communities of color. The case study describes a set of ongoing participatory, research-action, "sidewalk science" strategies, developed in 42 square …

Under The Paving Stones, The Beach, Amanda L. Katz

Theses and Dissertations

Under the paving stones, the beach investigates the human labor that goes into sustaining life inside of a luxury condominium on Brooklyn’s newly redeveloped East River waterfront. The rhythms of labor and leisure occasionally synchronize as we sense the physical, psychological and environmental limits of our current way of life.

Development Of Digital Bathymetry Maps For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo Using Sonar And Remote Sensing Techniques, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Jorge Gonzalez

Publications and Research

This article presents an improved algorithm for optimization and development of a digital bathymetric model (DBM) for Lake Azuei (LA) (Haiti) and Lake Enriquillo (LE) (Dominican Republic) using the ANUDEM method. Both sonar data and contour lines of the lakes’ layout extracted using Landsat imagery were compiled for bathymetry development. We show that the performance of the ANUDEM method was strongly dependent on the density and irregularity of the spatial distribution of the data. Changing the resolution of the output grids and deriving auxiliary topographically corrected contours improved the ANUDEM performance and minimized the systematic errors of the method. Statistical …

Staging A Modern Nation: The Art And Architecture Of The Peruvian Pavilion At The 1939/40 New York World’S Fair, Alida R. Jekabson

Theses and Dissertations

At the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair, the Peruvian government installed a multimedia display of objects and products in a foreign pavilion. An examination of the building and its contents provides a basis to understand how art and commerce work together to construct narratives of authenticity, nationalism and modernity.

The Manuscript Copy Of Sfera In The Morgan Library, Dana Hart

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the literary origins of the fifteenth century text Sfera, a rhyming Italian treatise by Gregorio Dati, and considers the patronage, creation, and function of the manuscript copy in the Morgan Library and Museum, focusing on the illustrated maps and cities.

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Leading Pedestrian Interval Signals In Nyc, Jeremy J. Sze

Theses and Dissertations

I evaluated the impact of the phased introduction of Leading Pedestrian Interval Signals (LPIs) on collision and injury outcomes at 12,987 signalized traffic intersections in New York City over the course of 25 quarters from 2012 to 2018. An intersection is treated when a LPIs is installed to give pedestrians lead time to cross the street before vehicles are allowed to move. Outcomes from NYPD’s Motor Vehicle Collisions data were matched to signalized intersections. I hypothesize that LPIs would reduce collisions and reduce injuries for pedestrians at intersections. A difference in difference fixed effects panel regression was used to identify …

The Effect Of The Fresh Program On Crime Rate In Nyc, Ashley M. Kraus

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines whether opening up grocery stores in underserved areas in New York City have an affect on the occurrence of crimes in those neighborhoods. Using data from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) on the Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) grocery stores and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on crime statistics by precinct, regressions are run to determine how the different types of crime varies across precincts over time with the introduction of the FRESH program by employing a difference in difference regression with fixed effects. The primary data for my project …

Altar/Installations By Amalia Mesa-Bains In A Feminist Context, Carmen Del Valle Hermo

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the path-breaking art installations and attendant writing of Amalia Mesa-Bains, who fused the home altar traditions of Mexican and Chicana women with contemporary considerations of identity politics and hybridity, naming the form domesticana. It situates her practice within a trajectory of feminist art.

Vision Literature And The Monetization Of Purgatory In Twelfth- And Thirteenth-Century Europe, Peter Colon

Theses and Dissertations

In twelfth- and thirteenth-century Europe, the creation and rise of Purgatory had a tremendous religious, economic, and social impact; but as it spread throughout Christendom, the phenomenon of paid indulgences did too. By analyzing the vision literature of this period, an understanding of Purgatory’s monetization is ultimately arrived at.

A Smartphone App Survey To Encourage Sustainable And Healthy Travel Mode Choices, Paul Rivers

Theses and Dissertations

Can access to carbon footprint and health [calorie and fat burn] information influence transportation behavior? Survey methods are used in conjunction with a smartphone GPS mobile app to measure transportation tendencies in weekdays – weekends, and willingness to undertake modal shift based on app experience over one week.

Repurposed Spaces In Berlin And Johannesburg, Rebecca Kukla

Theses and Dissertations

Berlin and Johannesburg are repurposed cities, which were spatially designed to enforce a defunct social order, and which now must be used in new ways by new residents. Through a reading of several sites in each city, I examine how repurposed urban spaces and their inhabitants shape one another.

Population Decline And School Closure In Puerto Rico, Jennifer Hinojosa, Edwin Melendez, Kathya Severino Pietri

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

According to the 2018 U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Estimates, Puerto Rico’s population is 3.1 million, having declined 4% since 2017 (3.2 million).1 This is the first official estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20th, 2017. Since Hurricane Maria, migration has intensified, especially among adults and the children accompanying them (family units), and this pattern shifted the Island’s demographic structure. This declining population has had a series of social and demographic impacts, such as increasing vacancy rates for housing units, lower growth rates in child population, and school closures throughout the Island. In …