Digital Commons Network^™

Mongolian Pastoralism–Nomadism And Marketing, Ralph Van Gelder, Nigel Brown, Dorlig Shombodon

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Mongolian pastoralism is a treasured “art” and tradition, honoured for its resourcefulness and maintained by the national social and political environment, but in the modern world it is an anachronism. Modern market requirements, enforced by domestic and international consumers, are rendering current Mongolian pastoralism unsustainable. Traditional nomadic herding is a subsistence activity. The products of modern herders are traded in domestic and international markets, hence modern nomadic herding is a profit making activity, in which product specification to satisfy consumers has to be the driver for grazing management and pasture utilisation considerations.

Application Of Pastoralists' Knowledge To Natural Resource Management In Spain, Elisa Oteros-Rozas, María Fernández-Giménez, Ricardo Ontillera-Sánchez, José A. González, Federico Fillat-Estaque

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Extensive livestock rearing has been acknowledged as an important tool for sustainable management of social-ecological systems and biodiversity conservation. In the Mediterranean Basin this relationship has been highlighted in mountainous and rural areas, where the co-evolved assemblages and dynamics of plant communities and grazing practices and patterns are mutually reinforcing. Among extensive livestock rearing systems, mobile pastoralism is a typical adaptation in semi-arid areas and mountainous regions where pasture availability is especially variable in time and space. In Spain, mobile pastoralism dates back to Neolithic and has survived until our days in different ways. An outstanding example of mobility is …

Socio-Economic Implications Of The Forage Livestock Balance Policy, Li Yang

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

There are generally two kinds of rangeland dynamics models, range model and state-and-transition model, as the concept of livestock carrying capacity was not as useful as expected in non-equilibrium rangeland systems (Behnke and Abel 1996; Turner 1993), although the equilibrium and non-equilibrium ecosystems are not distinguished as different (Briske, Fuhlendorf et al. 2003). Based on range model theory, the Forage Livestock Balance Policy (FLBP) has been implemented for ten years in China.

This policy has been trying to adjust the utilization of grasslands according to the assessed livestock carrying capacity (LCC). After ten years experience, this paper reports on the …

Seeking Care At Free Episodic Health Care Clinics In Appalachia, Malerie Lazar, Sandra Thomas, Lisa Davenport

Journal of Appalachian Health

Background: People who live in rural Appalachia experience a wide variety of problems when seeking access to health care. Health care disparities continue to be one of the most complex and prevalent problems, and many barriers exist for impoverished men and women such as a lack of education, complications with health insurance, and personal distrust of healthcare providers.

Purpose: A critical gap in the literature is the unheard voice of persons in rural underserved areas. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of persons in rural Appalachia who seek healthcare services at free episodic health care clinics, …

An Investigation Into The Effects Of Rural Roads On Plant Diversity Of Roadsides In Arid Rangelands Of Iran, Anahita Rashtian, Mansour Mesdaghi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Roads are essential elements of human societies. Rural roads are clear indicators of rural development. Most rural roads in Iran are dirt roads and roadside vegetation is an important part of the ecosystem. Making roads can change the microclimate, including the light regime, pH and organic matter of soil, hydrological and sedimentation regimes (Karim and Mallik 2008; Hayasakaa et al. 2012). This can affect the composition of vegetation, with increased density and frequency of some fast-growing species close to the road for example (Parendes and Jones 2000). Road-building can also contaminate the air, soil, and water, with destruction of …

The Impact Of Surface Coal Mining On The Pre- And Post-Mining Agricultural Potential Of The Grassland Biome Of Southern Africa, Wayne F. Truter, T. Bredell, J. Olivier, D. Van Heerden, P. Mosebi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Surface mining of coal is widespread in the grassland areas of the Mpumalanga Province in South Africa, and is the main cause of many environmental impacts in this agriculturally important region. To ensure healthy and productive vegetation after the reclamation process, disturbed soils need to be ameliorated and re-vegetated with locally adapted grass species to protect, preserve and improve soils for future agricultural use. To date, soil compaction is regarded as one of the main factors that cause severe restrictions in the effective rooting depth of plants, and the level of compaction is strongly influenced by altered soil water contents, …

A Visual Typology Of Abandonment In Rural America: From End-Of-Life To Treading Water, Recycling, Renaissance, And Revival, Jason P. Holcomb, Paul Frederic, Stanley D. Brunn

Geography Faculty Publications

The contemporary American rural landscape reflects a mix of ongoing economic changes in agricultural land use, population change, and built environments. The mix depends on past and recent change which represent landscapes of memory and silence to those experiencing economic and demographic renaissance. We develop a typology of five stages that reflect the contemporary rural scene and conduct field transects in Northwest Iowa and Central Maine. Features of the dynamics in rural America are evident in photographs of residences, land use changes, and commercial structure. The study calls for additional studies on rural settlement populations, economies, and society in different …

Dynamic Of Soil Mesofauna Of Fixed Sand Dunes On The Songnen Grasslands, Northeastern China, Xiuqin Yin, Zhenhai Wang, Dandan Zhang

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Grasslands cover vast land areas in semi-arid and semi-humid regions. Sand dunes, most of which are fixed sand dunes, form a large portion of grasslands. Vegetation on fixed sand dunes is an important part of grassland ecosystem productivity, and topographic position is one of the important factors resulting in the differences among vegetation, soil, etc. (Sakai and Ohsawa, 1994; Nagamatsu and Miura, 1997).

An important component of soil fauna ecology is to analyze the distribution of soil fauna and its influencing factors. On the small scale, the ozone factors become the dominant factor affecting the soil fauna (Frouz et al., …

Resistance And The Black Freedom Movement: Reflections On White’S Freedom Farmers, Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, Priscilla Mccutcheon, Ashanté Reese, Angela Babb, Jonathan C. Hall, Eric Sarmiento, Bradley Wilson

Geography Faculty Publications

First paragraphs:

Landmark: 1. An object or feature of a landscape . . . that is easily seen and recognized from a distance, especially one that enables someone to establish their location. Synonyms: mark, indicator, guiding light, signal, beacon, lodestar. 2. An event or discovery marking an important stage or turning point in something. Synonyms: milestone, watershed . . . major achievement. (“Landmark,” n.d., para. 1 & 4)

Dr. Monica White’s Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement stands literally as a landmark, ushering in a new era of community-based scholarship with and for agrarian justice. From here …

Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, And Consumer Welfare, Charles J. Courtemanche, David Frisvold, David Jimenez-Gomez, Mariétou H. Ouayogodé, Michael Price

Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced a mandate requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards. This paper investigates whether and why calorie posting laws work. To do so, we develop a model of calories consumed that highlights two potential channels through which mandates influence choice and outlines an empirical strategy to disentangle these alternatives. We test the predictions of our model using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to compare changes in body mass index (BMI), obesity, and consumer well-being in locations that implemented calorie-posting laws between 2008 and …

Global Pattern And Change Of Cropland Soil Organic Carbon During 1901-2010: Roles Of Climate, Atmospheric Chemistry, Land Use And Management, Wei Ren, Kamaljit Banger, Bo Tao, Jia Yang, Yawen Huang, Hanqin Tian

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Soil organic carbon (SOC) in croplands is a key property of soil quality for ensuring food security and agricultural sustainability, and also plays a central role in the global carbon (C) budget. When managed sustainably, soils may play a critical role in mitigating climate change by sequestering C and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. However, the magnitude and spatio-temporal patterns of global cropland SOC are far from well constrained due to high land surface heterogeneity, complicated mechanisms, and multiple influencing factors. Here, we use a process-based agroecosystem model (DLEM-Ag) in combination with diverse spatially-explicit gridded environmental data to …

Soil And Water Conservation And Integrated Management In Watershed Ecosystem Of The Loess Plateau, China, Guobin Liu, Gaolin Wu, Guoliang Wang, David Mitchell

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The Loess Plateau is well known for severe soil erosion and ecosystem degradation. The key issues in this region are the food security (grain), ecological security and a sustainable economy. This paper reviews a range of studies on ecological restoration, and management and the benefit at watershed scale on the Loess Plateau. This includes several successful cases and failures in soil conservation. The paper presents practical soil conservation measures and related benefit analysis, and discusses some effective methods adopted in soil erosion control, research directions and future perspectives for the Loess Plateau.

Impacts Of Climate Change On Livestock Systems: What We Know And What We Don’T Know, Mark Howden, S. Schroeter, S. Crimp, C. Stokes

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate changes and the associated increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration are just two of many possible future drivers of change in grassland systems and whilst there are significant uncertainties around these, they are probably more effectively characterised than many other drivers. The challenge for grasslands systems research is not so much trying to precisely predict future climate in the face of unresolvable uncertainty but rather to work with decision-makers to enhance their decisions for a range of possible climates, build their capacity to make sound risk-based and informed decisions and increase the array of options available for adaptation. There …

Comparative Analysis Of Climate Change Adaptation Options Across The Southern Australian Livestock Industry, Afshin Ghahramani, Andrew D. Moore

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Climate change is predicted to have a substantial negative effect on the productivity of grasslands across southern Australia (Moore and Ghahramani 2013). We used the GRAZPLAN biophysical simulation models to assess several possible grassland management and animal genetic improvement adaptations under SRES A2 climate change scenario. Simulations spanned the five dimensions of geography, time, global circulation models, enterprise, and adaptations. Impact of climate change was predicted to reduce profitability of livestock industry by 46%, 58%, and 72% at 2030, 2050 and 2070, respectively. Increasing soil fertility could return the average profitability of five livestock enterprises to its historical level at …

Research On Soil Carbon Storage Of Alpine Grassland Under Different Uses In Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tao Li, Youmin Gan, Lei Ji, Shujing Yang, Zhongqi Song

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In recent years, with the temperature rising on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, studies have shown that (Shaoqing Wang et al. 1999; Yuchun Qi et al. 2003) the plateau permafrost has great potential for emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon, nitrogen, because of the remarkable permafrost thermal sensitivity. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a special geographical and ecological unit, which has an important role in global climate change. The study of soil carbon storage of grassland ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its distribution characteristics allow the evaluation of different land management. The carbon cycle response and feedback effects of …

The Changing Patterns In Grasslands And Soil Fertility Along The Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect Across China–Mongolia–Russia, Xiangyang Hou, Leonid Ubugunov, S. Tserendash, Haijun Chen, Wenjun Han, Xiangjun Yun, Ding Yong, Wang Zhen, Lei Ji

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This paper analyses the adaptation and change in species along the north-south Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect across China – Mongolia – Russia and considers the implications for climate change and management. The plant community diversity, above-ground biomass, N:P ratios of community and of dominant species, soil N (nitrogen), soil P (phosphorus) and AP (available phosphorus) contents were studied along a 1400 km north-south transect. The main findings were: (1) the community diversity and productivity decreased with the increase in latitude and a significant negative correlation was found between the many plant characteristics and latitude (P < 0.05) – decreasing diversity, biomass and N:P ratios; (2) soil AP content was lowest in Inner Mongolia, whereas no significant change in soil total P with latitude was found in China-Mongolia-Russia transect, a significant positive correlation was detected between the soil nutrient (N and AP) and latitude (P < 0.05); (3) a significant positive correlation was evident between plant community P content and soil AP content (P < 0.01), but a negative correlation was found between community N:P ratio and soil AP content (P < 0.05). The soil AP content can be used as a soil properties indicator to reflect the plant communities P content and N: P ratio. It is suggested that greater human activities in Inner Mongolia may be an important factor affecting soil AP content, community N:P and plant growth.

Toward A Method Of Collaborative, Evidence-Based Response To Desertification, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Joel R. Brown, Jason W. Karl, Jeffrey E. Herrick, Kris M. Havstad

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Over generalized narratives about how desertified ecosystems will respond to restoration actions may result in wasted resources, missed opportunities, or accelerated degradation. Evidence-based collaborative adaptive management (CAM) could solve this problem by providing site-specific information that is trusted by users and enables learning opportunities. Although calls for CAM are increasing, many recommendations remain abstract and difficult to operationalize in specific projects. We review some general challenges for managing desertification in rangelands and draw upon recommendations in the recent literature to develop a 6-step method of CAM to address desertification. The method draws upon our ongoing experiences and makes novel connections …

Tactical Themes For Rangeland Research, Kris M. Havstad, Deb P. C. Peters, Brandon T. Bestelmeyer, Dawn Browning, Jason W. Karl, Darren James, Scott Schrader

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The problems threatening the conservation and management of rangeland, over one-half of the world’s terrestrial surfaces, are significant and growing. Current assessments of drivers and externalities shaping these problems have resulted in strategies intended to result in sustainable development of these lands and their resources. However, how can individual scientists and individual research programs support the needed strategies and goals? What can we realistically contribute and accomplish? We believe that technology can connect individual scientists and their science to the problems manifest in rangelands over the world, in a more rapid exchange than has occurred in the past. Recognition of …

Barn-Raising On The Digital Frontier: The L.A.U.N.C.H. Collaborative, Bradford W. Hesse, David Ahern, Michele Ellison, Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, Robin C. Vanderpool, Karen Onyeije, Michael C. Gibbons, Timothy W. Mullett, Ming-Yuan Chih, Victoria Attencio, Grant Patterson, Jessica Boten, Christopher Hartshorn, Ben Bartolome, Katie Gorscak, Melanie Mccomsey, Alexandra Hubenko, Bin Huang, Corey Baker, Don Norman

Journal of Appalachian Health

A meta-analysis of oncology papers from around the world revealed that cancer patients who lived more than 50 miles away from hospital centers routinely presented with more advanced stages of disease at diagnosis, exhibited lower adherence to prescribed treatments, presented with poorer diagnoses, and reported a lower quality of life than patients who lived nearer to care facilities. Connected health approaches—or the use of broadband and telecommunications technologies to evaluate, diagnose, and monitor patients beyond the clinic—are becoming an indispensable tool in medicine to overcome the obstacle of distance.

Estimating Crude Protein Concentration Of A Grass Sward Using Spectral Measurements, Joseph L. Moyer, Chuyuan Wang, Bohua Ling, Kevin P. Price

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

While measurement of forage mass (FM) is fundamental to evaluating sward productivity, its forage quality determines the value for grazing. Optical sensing devices have varying potential for estimating forage characteristics. Instruments such as the Greenseeker®, which measures normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have been related to various characteristics, but are confounded with canopy traits (Biewer et al. 2009). Simultaneous readings of NDVI and FM were used to separate their contributions to sward crude protein CP using multiple regression (Moyer et al. 2010).

Relationships in swards of tall fescue (Lolium arundinacium Schreb.) were poorer than in other species, …

Place And Digital Space, Suraj Chaudhary

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

The intersection of philosophies of space and technology is a fecund area of inquiry that has received surprisingly little attention in the philosophical literature. While the major accounts of space and place have not considered complexities introduced by recent technological developments, scholarship on the human-technology relationship has virtually ignored the spatial dimensions of this interaction. Place and Digital Space takes a step in addressing this gap in literature by offering an original, phenomenological account of place and using this framework to analyze digitally mediated spaces. I argue that places are continually evolving, internally heterogenous, and spatially distinct meaningful wholes with …

Reconsidering Moral Perception: The Dialectical Emergence Of Moral Perceptual Contents During Experience Via Cognitive Penetration And Oppressive Socialization’S Suppression Of Our Ability To ‘See’ Moral Reasons For Humanization And Liberation, James William Lincoln

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

Moral perceptions occur when a subject makes an immediate discernment about the moral features of an occurrent experience. This project taxonomizes theories of moral perception into the following two camps: experientialism and judgementalism. I defend a version of experientialism, Moral Perceptual Orientation, by arguing that we, in addition to making moral judgments, have genuine perceptions with moral content during occurrent experience. I then go on to advance a framework for understanding how these perceptions are curated by our background beliefs by developing a view of dialectical consciousness. I do this by synthesizing Herbert Marcuse’s perspective on the epistemic subject with …

Attentional Social Media: Mapping The Spaces And Networks Of The Fashion Industry, Ate Poorthuis, Dominic Powers, Matthew Zook

Geography Faculty Publications

In this article we use big data methods to analyze the attention paid to the fashion industry on social media. The article argues that for the fashion industry, like many industries, the core product is a form of knowledge that is dependent on gaining and holding people’s attention. To understand this attentional economy, social media offers a unique window because it is increasingly a central space within which fashion knowledge is created and shared. Using long-term, geotagged big data from Twitter, we analyze the hitherto difficult-to-explore spaces and places of the global fashion industry. The article suggests that the data …

Wholeness And Belonging In Nikky Finney's Head Off & Split: An Eco-Politics Of Resilience And Resistance, Mary Rudolph

Theses and Dissertations--English

Nikky Finney’s Head Off & Split illuminates an urgent and radical eco-political project: the creation of whole, resilient, co-species communities capable of surviving interlocking political, social, and ecological crises. Finney foregrounds the strategic practice of belonging as a method of survival within contexts of systemic oppression and climate chaos. “Belonging,” in these terms, is not a “natural” ontological state, but a mode of co-being that is continually (re)created and (re)enacted through daily world-making practices: foodways, spatial habitation, migration and movement. Belonging is a collection of reciprocal, adaptive, situated praxes that make and sustain beings and worlds. They rely on and …

Sororities As Confederate Monuments, Stephen Clowney

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Temporal Instability Of Factors Contributing To Single-Vehicle Crash Severity--A Mixed Logit Approach, A. M. Hasibul Islam

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

This study investigates the factors associated with single-vehicle crash injury severity using five years (2014 – 2018) of crash data from Kentucky, USA, using a mixed (random-parameter) logit model. We also explore the temporal heterogeneity of the correlated factors across different times of the day. Most crash-severity models assume that the estimated parameters remain temporally stable. For instance, the effect of light conditions on crash severity may differ based on the time of the crash occurrence—noon vs. dusk. The temporal instability of the factors due to the time-of-day variation can lead to (under) overestimating the parameters that influence the development …

Holistic Resilience Quantification Framework Of Rural Communities, Amanda Melendez

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Communities need to prepare for anticipated hazards, adapt to varying conditions, and resist and recover rapidly from disturbances. Protecting the built environment from natural and man-made hazards and understanding the impact of these hazards helps allocate resources efficiently. Recently, an indicator-based and time-dependent approach was developed for defining and measuring the functionality and disaster resilience continuously at the community level. This computational method uses seven dimensions that find qualitative characteristics and transforms them into quantitative measures. The proposed framework is used to study the resilience of rural communities’ subject to severe flooding events. Harlan County in the Appalachian region is …

North Fork: Whitesburg Tributaries Watershed Plan, Letcher County, Ky, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute

KWRRI Research Reports

Crafts Colly, Sandlick, and Dry Fork are tributaries to the North Fork of the Kentucky River. The three tributaries are located immediately north of the North Fork of the Kentucky and flow southward into the river within or near the City of Whitesburg in Letcher County, Kentucky. Letcher County is found in the Appalachian coalfields of southeastern Kentucky.

To improve water quality in the Kentucky River, water quality impairments in the upper reaches of the watershed must be addressed. In focusing efforts in Crafts Colly, Sandlick, and Dry Fork, three headwater tributaries of the North Fork Kentucky River, pollution loading …

Planting The Seed: A Proposal For A Farm Operation Test Under The Fsma Produce Safety Rule, Sophia Kruszewski, Samuel Ingraham

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Boundaries And Infomediaries: A Qualitative Study Of The Information Practices Of Community Health Workers, Robert M. Shapiro Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Despite successful efforts to treat and manage diseases, public health officials have recently begun a campaign to refocus efforts toward initiatives to alleviate the pressures that are often referred to as social determinants of health. In eastern Kentucky, and in other geographical regions labeled as health professional shortage areas or medically underserved areas, issues stemming from social determinants are compounded with health care systems that are often lacking the human resources to meet basic medical needs. One strategy has been to utilize volunteers and paraprofessionals such as community health workers to lessen the burden on the primary care and hospital …