Digital Commons Network^™

Flood Realities, Perceptions, And The Depth Of Divisions On Climate, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Cameron P. Wake, Joel N. Hartter, Thomas G. Safford, Alli J. Puchlopek

Sociology

Research has led to broad agreement among scientists that anthropogenic climate change is happening now and likely to worsen. In contrast to scientific agreement, US public views remain deeply divided, largely along ideological lines. Science communication has been neutralised in some arenas by intense counter-messaging, but as adverse climate impacts become manifest they might intervene more persuasively in local perceptions. We look for evidence of this occurring with regard to realities and perceptions of flooding in the northeastern US state of New Hampshire. Although precipitation and flood damage have increased, with ample news coverage, most residents do not see a …

Fall 2016, Asian Studies Minor Grows In Breadth And Popularity, Sandhya Shetty

UNH International Educator Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Public Awareness Of The Scientific Consensus On Climate, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Questions about climate change elicit some of the widest political divisions of any items on recent U.S. surveys. Severe polarization affects even basic questions about the reality of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), or whether most scientists agree that humans are changing the Earth’s climate. Statements about scientific consensus have been contentious among social scientists, with some arguing for consensus awareness as a “gateway cognition” that leads to greater public acceptance of ACC, but others characterizing consensus messaging (deliberate communication about the level of scientific agreement) as a counterproductive tactic that exacerbates polarization. A series of statewide surveys, with nationwide benchmarks, …

Introducing ... New Faculty, Susan Dumais

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

400 Predictions: The Search Sea Ice Outlook 2008–2015, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Julienne Stroeve

Sociology

Each Arctic summer since 2008, the Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) has invited researchers and the engaged public to contribute predictions regarding the September extent of Arctic sea ice. The public character of SIO, focused on a number whose true value soon becomes known, brings elements of constructive gamification and transparency to the science process. We analyze the performance of more than 400 predictions from SIO’s first eight years, testing for differences in ensemble skill across years, months and five types of method: heuristic, statistical, mixed, and ice-ocean or ice-ocean-atmosphere modeling. Results highlight a pattern of easy and difficult years, corresponding …

Understanding Stakeholder Preferences For Flood Adaptation Alternatives With Natural Capital Implications, Jonathon R. Loos, Shannon H. Rogers

New Hampshire EPSCoR

Inland flood risks are defined by a range of environmental and social factors, including land use and floodplain management. Shifting patterns of storm intensity and precipitation, attributed to climate change, are exacerbating flood risk in regions across North America. Strategies for adapting to growing flood risks and climate change must account for a community’s specific vulnerabilities, and its local economic, environmental, and social conditions. Through a stakeholder-engaged methodology, we designed an interactive decision exercise to enable stakeholders to evaluate alternatives for addressing specific community flood vulnerabilities. We used a multicriteria framework to understand what drives stakeholder preferences for flood mitigation …

Water Concerns Unite Citizen Activists:A Community Rights Movement Transcends Party, Age, And Gender, Cliff Brown

Carsey Publications

In this brief, author Cliff Brown examines an instance of sustained local activism in which citizens in the communities of Nottingham, Barrington, and Barnstead, New Hampshire, mobilized to protect community groundwater against threats from commercial use. Beginning in 2001, USA Springs commenced work on a large water-bottling operation that would have pumped over 400,000 gallons daily from Nottingham and Barrington. Activists fought back through state agencies and the courts, engaging in a lengthy campaign that involved petitioning, lobbying, community meetings, rallies, public protests, and a State Supreme Court case.

Brown reports that threats to community water precipitate a high level …

Wildfire, Climate, And Perceptions In Northeast Oregon, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Joel N. Hartter, Barry D. Keim, Angela E. Boag, Michael W. Palace, Forrest R. Stevens, Mark J. Ducey

Sociology

Wildfire poses a rising threat in the western USA, fueled by synergies between historical fire suppression, changing land use, insects and disease, and shifts toward a drier, warmer climate. The rugged landscapes of northeast Oregon, with their historically forest- and resource-based economies, have been one of the areas affected. A 2011 survey found area residents highly concerned about fire and insect threats, but not about climate change. In 2014 we conducted a second survey that, to explore this apparent disconnect, included questions about past and future summertime (fire season) temperatures. Although regional temperatures have warmed in recent decades at twice …

Science, Scientists, And Local Weather: Understanding Mass Perceptions Of Global Warming, Wanyun Shao, James C. Garand, Barry D. Keim, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Objective: To explore the effects of long-term climate trends and short-term weather fluctuations, evaluations of scientists and science, political predispositions, religious affiliation, the information environment, and demographic attributes on individuals’ views about whether global warming exists and, if so, whether it is a result of natural cycles or human activity.

Methods: We use data from the 2009 Pew General Public Science Survey, along with data on long- and short-term patterns of temperature and precipitation in individuals’ home communities.

Results: We find that long-term trends in summer temperatures influence perceptions of global warming. Individuals who reside in communities with long-term warming …

Latin American Perspectives To Internationalize Undergraduate Information Technology Education, Mihaela C. Sabin, Barbara Viola, John Impagliazzo, Renzo Angles, Mariela Curiel, Paul Leger, Jorge Murillo, Hernan Nina, Jose Antonio Pow-Sang, Ignacio Trejos

Applied Engineering and Sciences Scholarship

The computing education community expects modern curricular guidelines for information technology (IT) undergraduate degree programs by 2017. The authors of this work focus on eliciting and analyzing Latin American academic and industry perspectives on IT undergraduate education. The objective is to ensure that the IT curricular framework in the IT2017 report articulates the relationship between academic preparation and the work environment of IT graduates in light of current technological and educational trends in Latin America and elsewhere. Activities focus on soliciting and analyzing survey data collected from institutions and consortia in IT education and IT professional and educational societies in …

Development Of Multiple Polymorphic Microsatellite Markers For Ceratina Calcarata (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Using Genome-Wide Analysis, Wyatt A. Shell, Sandra M. Rehan

New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Publications

The small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata (Robertson), is a widespread native pollinator across eastern North America. The behavioral ecology and nesting biology of C. calcarata has been relatively well-studied and the species is emerging as a model organism for both native pollinator and social evolution research. C. calcarata is subsocial: reproductively mature females provide extended maternal care to their brood. As such, studies of C. calcarata may also reveal patterns of relatedness and demography unique to primitively social Hymenoptera. Here, we present 21 microsatellite loci, isolated from the recently completed C. calcarata genome. Screening in 39 individuals across their distribution …

Unh Research Finds Winter Warmth Recollections Depend On Climate Beliefs, Erika Mantz

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Unh Research Finds Winter Warmth Recollections Depend On Climate Beliefs, Erika Mantz

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Was December Warm? Family, Politics, And Recollections Of Weather, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Mary D. Lemcke-Stampone

Carsey Publications

In 2015 New Hampshire experienced its warmest December on record. The temperature exceeded twentieth century average temperatures by a wider margin than for any month in historical records dating back to 1895. In February 2016, as part of an ongoing study of environmental perceptions, the Granite State Poll asked state residents whether they thought the recent December had been generally colder, warmer, or about average for that month. Only 63 percent remembered it had been above average. The remainder of the winter set a new warmth record as well, so in April 2016 another Granite State Poll asked residents about …

Review Of: Hjalmar Fors, The Limits Of Matter: Chemistry, Mining, And Enlightenment, Jan V. Golinski

History

No abstract provided.

Improved Ecosystem Indicator Tools For Water Qualitymanagement – Genomic Analysis Of Periphyton To Identifystressors, Alison Watts, W. Kelly Thomas

NH Water Resources Research Center Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Natural Dams And Biogeochemistry At The River Network Scale: Implications For Water Quality, Denise Burchsted, Christopher Brehme, Mark B. Green, Jennifer M. Jacobs, Wil Wollheim

NH Water Resources Research Center Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Identifying Priorities For And Strategies To Optimize Oral Preventive Service Delivery In Pediatric Primary Care Settings In Nh, Hnh Foundation, Nh Pediatric Improvement Partnership

All Materials

No abstract provided.

Sustainability Science Graduate Students As Boundary Spanners, Spencer R. Meyer, Vanessa R. Levesque, Karen H. Bieluch, Michelle L. Johnson, Bridie Mcgreavy, Stacia Dreyer, Hollie Smith

Faculty Publications

Graduate training in sustainability science (SS) focuses on interdisciplinary research, stakeholder-researcher partnerships, and creating solutions from knowledge. But becoming a sustainability scientist also requires specialized training that addresses the complex boundaries implicit in sustainability science approaches to solving social-ecological system challenges. Using boundary spanning as a framework, we use a case study of the Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI) at the University of Maine to explicate key elements for graduate education training in SS. We used a mixed-methods approach, including a quantitative survey and autoethnographic reflection, to analyze our experiences as SSI doctoral students. Through this research, we identified four essential …

Arctic Air Pollution: Challenges And Opportunities For The Next Decade, S. R. Arnold, K. S. Law, C. A. Brock, J. L. Thomas, S. M. Starkweather, K. Von Salzen, A. Stohl, S. Sharma, M. T. Lund, M. G. Flanner, T. Petaja, H. Tanimoto, J. Gamble, Jack E. Dibb, M. Melamed, N. Johnson, M. Fidel, V. P. Tynkkynen, A. Baklanov, S. Eckhardt

All Materials

The Arctic is a sentinel of global change. This region is influenced by multiple physical and socio-economic drivers and feedbacks, impacting both the natural and human environment. Air pollution is one such driver that impacts Arctic climate change, ecosystems and health but significant uncertainties still surround quantification of these effects. Arctic air pollution includes harmful trace gases (e.g. tropospheric ozone) and particles (e.g. black carbon, sulphate) and toxic substances (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that can be transported to the Arctic from emission sources located far outside the region, or emitted within the Arctic from activities including shipping, power production, and …

Democratizing Startups, Seth C. Oranburg

Law Faculty Scholarship

President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (“JOBS Act”) of 2012 into law to “help entrepreneurs raise the capital they need to put Americans back to work and create an economy that’s built to last.” The goal is to “democratize startups” by making capital available to diverse entrepreneurs in new geographies. Yet the net effect of securities regulations and market conditions is the opposite. Startup companies are encouraged to stay private so capital is consolidating in large, mature firms instead of recycling into new startups. Evidence of consolidation is that once-rare “Unicorns” (billion-dollar startups) now number at least 170. …

Spring 2016, In Case You Missed It, Jennifer Saunders

UNH International Educator Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Using Geographic Information Science To Map The Flight Of The Regicides In Seventeenth- Century New England, Steven Cowley

Inquiry Journal 2016

In mid-seventeenth century two of the judges who condemned King Charles I of England to death became regicide fugitives when his son came to the throne as Charles II. The two men fled to New England and eluded their Royalist pursuers for twenty years. I am attempting to track their travels and hideouts through standard historical research and, more recently, the use of Geographic Information Science (GIS), a form of digital mapping technology which organizes information in a geographical format by adding spatial coordinates to existing data to form a geodatabase. This article describes the application of GIS to test …

The Soil And Plant Biogeochemistry Sampling Design For The National Ecological Observatory Network, Eve-Lyn S. Hinckley, Gordon B. Bonan, Gabriel J. Bowen, Benjamin P. Colman, Paul A. Duffy, Christine L. Goodale, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Erika Marin-Spiotta, Kiona Ogle, Scott V. Ollinger, Eldor A. Paul, Peter M. Vitousek, Kathleen C. Weathers, David G. Williams

Faculty Publications

Human impacts on biogeochemical cycles are evident around the world, from changes to forest structure and function due to atmospheric deposition, to eutrophication of surface waters from agricultural effluent, and increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will contribute to understanding human effects on biogeochemical cycles from local to continental scales. The broad NEON biogeochemistry measurement design focuses on measuring atmospheric deposition of reactive mineral compounds and CO2 fluxes, ecosystem carbon (C) and nutrient stocks, and surface water chemistry across 20 eco‐climatic domains within the United States for 30 yr. Herein, we …

State And Local Determinants Of Employment Outcomes Among Individuals With Disabilities, Purvi Sevak, John O'Neill, Andrew J. Houtenville, Debra L. Brucker

Institute on Disability

In the United States, employment rates among individuals with disabilities are persistently low but vary substantially. In this study, we examine the relationship between employment outcomes and features of the state and county physical, economic, and policy environment among a national sample of individuals with disabilities. To do so, we merge a set of state- and countylevel environmental variables with data from the 2009–2011 American Community Survey accessed in a U.S. Census Research Data Center. We estimate regression models of employment, work hours, and earnings as a function of health conditions, personal characteristics, and these environmental features. We find that …

No Easy Answers, Jennifer Saunders

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Preface: Impacts Of Extreme Climate Events And Disturbances On Carbon Dynamics, Jingfeng Xiao, Shuguang Liu, Paul C. Stoy

All Materials

The impacts of extreme climate events and disturbances (ECE&D) on the carbon cycle have received growing attention in recent years. This special issue showcases a collection of recent advances in understanding the impacts of ECE&D on carbon cycling. Notable advances include quantifying how harvesting activities impact forest structure, carbon pool dynamics, and recovery processes; observed drastic increases of the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and dissolved methane in thermokarst lakes in western Siberia during a summer warming event; disentangling the roles of herbivores and fire on forest carbon dioxide flux; direct and indirect impacts of fire on the global carbon …

The New Hampshire, Vol. 105 [106], No. 28 (Feb. 11, 2016), The New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Print Edition

An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire. This volume was printed as 105, but it is the 106th volume in the series.

Soil Functional Zone Management: A Vehicle For Enhancing Production And Soil Ecosystem Services In Row-Crop Agroecosystems, Alwyn Williams, Daniel A. Kane, Patrick M. Ewing, Lesley W. Atwood, Andrea Jilling, Meng Li, Yi Lou, Adam S. Davis, A. Stuart Grandy, Sheri C. Huerd, Mitchell C. Hunter, Roger T. Koide, David A. Mortensen, Richard G. Smith, Sieglinde S. Snapp, Kurt A. Spokas, Anthony C. Yannarell, Nicholas R. Jordan

Faculty Publications

There is increasing global demand for food, bioenergy feedstocks and a wide variety of bio-based products. In response, agriculture has advanced production, but is increasingly depleting soil regulating and supporting ecosystem services. New production systems have emerged, such as no-tillage, that can enhance soil services but may limit yields. Moving forward, agricultural systems must reduce trade-offs between production and soil services. Soil functional zone management (SFZM) is a novel strategy for developing sustainable production systems that attempts to integrate the benefits of conventional, intensive agriculture, and no-tillage. SFZM creates distinct functional zones within crop row and inter-row spaces. By incorporating …

Evaluation Of Nitrous Acid Sources And Sinks In Urban Outflow, Elliott T. Gall, Robert J. Griffin, Allison L. Steiner, Jack E. Dibb, Eric M. Scheuer, Longwen Gong, Andrew P. Rutter, Basak K. Cevik, Saewung Kim, Barry Lefer, James Flynn

All Materials

Intensive air quality measurements made from June 22–25, 2011 in the outflow of the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) metropolitan area are used to evaluate nitrous acid (HONO) sources and sinks. A two-layer box model was developed to assess the ability of established and recently identified HONO sources and sinks to reproduce observations of HONO mixing ratios. A baseline model scenario includes sources and sinks established in the literature and is compared to scenarios including three recently identified sources: volatile organic compound-mediated conversion of nitric acid to HONO (S1), biotic emission from the ground (S2), and re-emission from a surface nitrite reservoir …