Digital Commons Network^™

A Critical Evaluation Of The Uvm Food Systems Web Presence: An Information Architecture Approach, Elizabeth A. Berman

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

No abstract provided.

Forging New Library Connections Between Vermont And Peru, Fred C. Pond, Laurie Kutner, Mara Saule

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Researchers at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont (UVM) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima, Peru (PUCP) have built extended collaborative relationships based on an umbrella affiliation agreement between the two institutions. Originally centered on health technology and instrumentation, the relationship soon expanded to include partnerships in science and engineering, public administration and, most recently, in library collaboration. In September 2015, three of us from the UVM Libraries travelled to PUCP for a week to strengthen library connections between our universities. In order to understand the PUCP research context and the role of librarians at the …

Spin Exchange Interaction In Substituted Copper Phthalocyanine Crystalline Thin Films, Naveen Rawat, Zhenwen Pan, Cody J. Lamarche, Anthony Wetherby, Rory Waterman, Takahisa Tokumoto, Judy G. Cherian

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

All rights reserved. The origins of spin exchange in crystalline thin films of Copper Octabutoxy Phthalocyanine (Cu-OBPc) are investigated using Magnetic Circular Dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy. These studies are made possible by a solution deposition technique which produces highly ordered films with macroscopic grain sizes suitable for optical studies. For temperatures lower than 2K, the contribution of a specific state in the valence band manifold originating from the hybridized lone pair in nitrogen orbitals of the Phthalocyanine ring, bears the Brillouin-like signature of an exchange interaction with the localized d-shell Cu spins. A comprehensive MCD spectral analysis coupled with a molecular …

Identifying Missing Dictionary Entries With Frequency-Conserving Context Models, Jake Ryland Williams, Eric M. Clark, James P. Bagrow, Christopher M. Danforth, Peter Sheridan Dodds

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

In an effort to better understand meaning from natural language texts, we explore methods aimed at organizing lexical objects into contexts. A number of these methods for organization fall into a family defined by word ordering. Unlike demographic or spatial partitions of data, these collocation models are of special importance for their universal applicability. While we are interested here in text and have framed our treatment appropriately, our work is potentially applicable to other areas of research (e.g., speech, genomics, and mobility patterns) where one has ordered categorical data (e.g., sounds, genes, and locations). Our approach focuses on the phrase …

Characterizing The Google Books Corpus: Strong Limits To Inferences Of Socio-Cultural And Linguistic Evolution, Eitan Adam Pechenick, Christopher M. Danforth, Peter Sheridan Dodds

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

It is tempting to treat frequency trends from the Google Books data sets as indicators of the "true" popularity of various words and phrases. Doing so allows us to draw quantitatively strong conclusions about the evolution of cultural perception of a given topic, such as time or gender. However, the Google Books corpus suffers from a number of limitations which make it an obscure mask of cultural popularity. A primary issue is that the corpus is in effect a library, containing one of each book. A single, prolific author is thereby able to noticeably insert new phrases into the Google …

Historic Preservation Program Newsletter, University Of Vermont. Historic Preservation Program.

Historic Preservation Program Newsletter

2015. UVM Historic Preservation Program Newsletter.

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAM HISTORY DEPARTMENT - WHEELER HOUSE - BURLINGTON, VERMONT

Effects Of Skeletal Streetscape Design On Perceived Safety, Chester Harvey, Lisa Aultman-Hall, Stephanie E. Hurley, Austin Troy

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

It is important for planners and urban designers to understand how physical characteristics of urban streetscapes contribute to perceptions of them as safe, comfortable urban spaces. While urban design theory offers numerous suggestions for successful streetscapes there is meager empirical evidence of their effects. We suggest that this is largely due to precision and sample size limitations on audit-based physical design and human perception measurements. This paper overcomes these limitations by identifying a key set of "streetscape skeleton" design variables that can be efficiently measured using a GIS-based method. It then measures these variables on a large and diverse sample …

Rapid Biotic Homogenization Of Marine Fish Assemblages, Anne E. Magurran, Maria Dornelas, Faye Moyes, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Brian Mcgill

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

The role human activities play in reshaping biodiversity is increasingly apparent in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the responses of entire marine assemblages are not well-understood, in part, because few monitoring programs incorporate both spatial and temporal replication. Here, we analyse an exceptionally comprehensive 29-year time series of North Atlantic groundfish assemblages monitored over 5° latitude to the west of Scotland. These fish assemblages show no systematic change in species richness through time, but steady change in species composition, leading to an increase in spatial homogenization: the species identity of colder northern localities increasingly resembles that of warmer southern localities. This biotic …

Implementing Middle School Youth-Adult Partnerships: A Study Of Two Programs Focused On Social Change, Catharine Biddle, Dana Mitra

Middle Grades Review

Youth-adult partnerships position youth and adults in roles of equal leadership of initiatives in their schools and communities, supporting a dynamic that runs counter to traditional patterns of youth-adult interaction. This article describes the piloting of two youth-adult partnership programs aimed at supporting the development of such relationships with different core foci at the middle grades level – one on community health and the other on school pedagogical change. In comparing the challenges and opportunities of implementing these programs in the middle grades environment, we find that while youth participants perceived positive developmental outcomes as a result of their participation, …

Authentic For Whom?: An Interview Study Of Desired Writing Practices For African American Adolescent Learners, Gholnecsar E. Muhammad Phd, Nadia Behizadeh Phd

Middle Grades Review

Across theory, research, and learning standards, there is a clear call for authentic writing experiences to increase achievement and engagement. According to theories of authenticity that stress its subjective nature, a writing task is authentic when a student perceives it as relevant to the real world—as they define the real world. Moreover, there is a need for authentic writing in classrooms that connects to increased student engagement, but the reality of writing instruction across schools in the United States remains rote and teacher-centered. These narrowed views and perspectives are further exacerbated when it comes to teaching African American youth in …

Cultural Capital, Agency, And Voice: Literacy Practices Of Middle School English Language Learners, Bogum Yoon

Middle Grades Review

Grounded in cultural capital and agency theory, this study examines two middle school English language learners’ (ELLs) participatory behaviors in literacy practices in the U.S. classroom. A closer examination of the ELLs’ participatory behaviors through their authentic voices is important to understand for their literacy development. The purpose of this article is to discuss the interconnection among ELLs’ agency, identity, and classroom dynamics for their language and literacy learning. The data sources include formal and informal interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts, including reading and writing projects. Findings suggest that, despite the students’ similar background of race, native language, age, gender, …

Student Voice As Regimes Of Truth: Troubling Authenticity, Emily Nelson

Middle Grades Review

Student voice: authentic or contrived? In this essay I argue that authenticity in student voice has been largely conflated with a notion of objective truth. I trouble this view for the ways in which it masks power dynamics in student voice in a quest for truth. Instead I proffer a view of student voice as socially constructed through discourses that act as regimes of truth to open up but also discipline and constrain possibilities for action and identity within student voice initiatives. I ‘plug in’ this ‘student voice as regimes of truth’ concept to think with data from a recent …

Addressing The Question Of Authenticity In Middle Grades Student Voice Work: Wrestling With Politics, Power, And Purpose In Education, Alison Cook-Sather

Middle Grades Review

No abstract provided.

Development Of Gis Tools To Optimize Identification Of Road Segments Prone To Flood Damage, James Sullivan, Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, Ernie Buford, Austin Troy

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

No abstract provided.

If You've Seen One Worm, Have You Seen Them All? Spatial, Community, And Genetic Variability Of Tubificid Communities In Montana, Nilanjan Lodh, Donna M. Rizzo, Billie L. Kerans, Stephanie Mcginnis, Nikolaos Fytilis, Lori Stevens

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

Genetic studies are recognized increasingly as important for understanding naturally occurring disease dynamics and are used to predict host genetic diversity and coevolutionary processes and to identify species composition in ecological communities. Tubifex tubifex, the definitive host of the whirling disease parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, comprises 6 known lineages that vary widely in parasite susceptibility. We used 16S ribosomal DNA (16S rDNA) to identify relationships among genetic variability of 3 oligochaete genera (T. tubifex, Rhyacodrilus spp., and Ilyodrilus spp.; Oligochaeta:Tubificidae), oligochaete assemblage composition, and the presence of whirling disease in 9 locations across 4 watersheds in Montana, USA. We assessed genetic …

Climate Change Sentiment On Twitter: An Unsolicited Public Opinion Poll, Emily M. Cody, Andrew J. Reagan, Lewis Mitchell, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Christopher M. Danforth

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

The consequences of anthropogenic climate change are extensively debated through scientific papers, newspaper articles, and blogs. Newspaper articles may lack accuracy, while the severity of findings in scientific papers may be too opaque for the public to understand. Social media, however, is a forum where individuals of diverse backgrounds can share their thoughts and opinions. As consumption shifts from old media to new, Twitter has become a valuable resource for analyzing current events and headline news. In this research, we analyze tweets containing the word "climate" collected between September 2008 and July 2014. Through use of a previously developed sentiment …

Not Your Mother's Library Orientation, Gary S. Atwood, Nancy A. Bianchi

UVM Libraries Conference Day

This presentation outlines how the authors transformed a traditional orientation for new University of Vermont Medical Center residents into a more active learning experience. Specifically, it describes how they focused on making connections between what the residents already knew, or what they wanted to know, about libraries and the resources and services available at Dana Medical Library.

A Summer Migration: How We Moved Our Research Guides To A New Website, Graham Sherriff

UVM Libraries Conference Day

In spring 2015, liaison librarians at the University of Vermont’s Bailey/Howe and Dana Medical Libraries migrated their online research guides to the LibGuides v2 platform, moving more than 600 guides to a new site. Librarian Graham Sherriff, who coordinated the Working Group that oversaw the migration, describes the goals, challenges and outcomes of a major data migration project.

What's The Deal With Data? Understanding Research Data Management & Support At Uvm, Elizabeth A. Berman

UVM Libraries Conference Day

In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) began requiring that researchers submit two-page data management plans (DMPs) with their grant applications in order to demonstrate how they will preserve and provide long-term access to federally-funded research data. In 2013, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum that requires all granting agencies to develop a plan to make both the data and published articles of federally-funded research publicly available, free of charge. These policies directly impact the University of Vermont: in FY 2014, UVM received 615 grants and contracts amounting to $128 million, 70% of …

Zipfs Law Holds For Phrases, Not Words, Jake Ryland Williams, Paul R. Lessard, Suma Desu, Eric M. Clark, James P. Bagrow, Christopher M. Danforth, Peter Sheridan Dodds

College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences Faculty Publications

With Zipfs law being originally and most famously observed for word frequency, it is surprisingly limited in its applicability to human language, holding over no more than three to four orders of magnitude before hitting a clear break in scaling. Here, building on the simple observation that phrases of one or more words comprise the most coherent units of meaning in language, we show empirically that Zipfs law for phrases extends over as many as nine orders of rank magnitude. In doing so, we develop a principled and scalable statistical mechanical method of random text partitioning, which opens up a …

Ecological And Biogeographic Null Hypotheses For Comparing Rarefaction Curves, Luis Cayuela, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Robert K. Colwell

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

The statistical framework of rarefaction curves and asymptotic estimators allows for an effective standardization of biodiversity measures. However, most statistical analyses still consist of point comparisons of diversity estimators for a particular sampling level. We introduce new randomization methods that incorporate sampling variability encompassing the entire length of the rarefaction curve and allow for statistical comparison of i ≥ 2 individual-based, sample-based, or coverage-based rarefaction curves. These methods distinguish between two distinct null hypotheses: the ecological null hypothesis (H0eco) and the biogeographical null hypothesis (H0biog). H0eco states that the i samples were drawn from a single assemblage, and any differences …

Evaluation Of Load Characteristics Of I-89 Bridge 58n, Richmond, Eric Hernandez, Neely

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

The Vermont Agency of Transportation has some concerns about the structural integrity of Bridges 58 North and South on I-89 located in the town of Richmond Vermont. Specifically, the steel stringers under very heavy and extraordinary traffic loads. Material testing has indicated that the stringers are of lower grade steel than specified in the design. The objective of this research initiative was to instrument a portion of the deck in Bridge 58 North in an effort to estimate its static and dynamic characteristics. The bridge deck was instrumented with 10 accelerometers and 28 dynamic strain sensors. Two aspects of particular …

Impacts Of Community-Based Natural Resource Management On Wealth, Food Security And Child Health In Tanzania, Sharon Pailler, Robin Naidoo, Neil D. Burgess, Olivia E. Freeman, Brendan Fisher

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a major global strategy for enhancing conservation outcomes while also seeking to improve rural livelihoods; however, little evidence of socioeconomic outcomes exists. We present a national-level analysis that empirically estimates socioeconomic impacts of CBNRM across Tanzania, while systematically controlling for potential sources of bias. Specifically, we apply a difference-indifferences model to national-scale, cross-sectional data to estimate the impact of three different CBNRM governance regimes on wealth, food security and child health, considering differential impacts of CBNRM on wealthy and poor populations. We also explore whether or not longer-standing CBNRM efforts provide more benefits than …

Temporal Overlap And Co-Occurrence In A Guild Of Sub-Tropical Tephritid Fruit Flies, Gleidyane N. Lopes, Miguel F. Souza-Filho, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Leandro J.U. Lemos, Wesley A.C. Godoy, Roberto A. Zucchi

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Studies of community assembly have emphasized snapshot comparisons of spatially replicated samples from "natural" assemblages. Agro-ecosystems are characterized by relatively little habitat heterogeneity and no dispersal barriers for actively flying insects. Therefore, dynamic patterns of species segregation and aggregation are more likely to reflect the direct or indirect effects of species interactions. We studied the temporal organization of a guild of 21 congeneric species of Anastrepha that colonized fruit orchards in Monte Alegre do Sul, São Paulo, Brazil. This assemblage also included the introduced Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. One hundred six consecutive weekly censuses (11 Jan 2002-16 Jan 2004) …

Forecasting The Response Of Earth's Surface To Future Climatic And Land Use Changes: A Review Of Methods And Research Needs, Jon D. Pelletier, A. Brad Murray, Jennifer L. Pierce, Paul R. Bierman, David D. Breshears, Benjamin T. Crosby, Michael Ellis, Efi Foufoula-Georgiou, Arjun M. Heimsath, Chris Houser, Nick Lancaster, Marco Marani, Dorothy J. Merritts, Laura J. Moore, Joel L. Pederson, Michael J. Poulos, Tammy M. Rittenour, Joel C. Rowland, Peter Ruggiero, Dylan J. Ward, Andrew D. Wickert, Elowyn M. Yager

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

Earth's Future published by Wiley on behalf of the American Geophysical Union. In the future, Earth will be warmer, precipitation events will be more extreme, global mean sea level will rise, and many arid and semiarid regions will be drier. Human modifications of landscapes will also occur at an accelerated rate as developed areas increase in size and population density. We now have gridded global forecasts, being continually improved, of the climatic and land use changes (C&LUC) that are likely to occur in the coming decades. However, besides a few exceptions, consensus forecasts do not exist for how these C&LUC …

Climate Controls On Air Quality In The Northeastern U.S.: An Examination Of Summertime Ozone Statistics During 1993-2012, Evan M. Oswald, Lesley Ann Dupigny-Giroux, Eric M. Leibensperger, Rich Poirot, Jeff Merrell

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

The goal of this study is to better understand the linkages between the climate system and surface-level ozone concentrations in the Northeastern U.S. We focus on the regularity of observed high ozone concentrations between May 15 and August 30 during the 1993-2012 period. The first portion of this study establishes relationships between ozone and meteorological predictors. The second examines the linkages between ozone and large-scale teleconnections within the climate system. Statistical models for each station are constructed using a combination of Correlation Analysis, Principal Components Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression. In general, the strongest meteorological predictors of ozone are the …

Notes From The Field: Lessons Learned From Using Ecosystem Service Approaches To Inform Real-World Decisions, Mary Ruckelshaus, Emily Mckenzie, Heather Tallis, Anne Guerry, Gretchen Daily, Peter Kareiva, Stephen Polasky, Taylor Ricketts, Nirmal Bhagabati, Spencer A. Wood, Joanna Bernhardt

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

While there have been rapid advances in assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES), a critical remaining challenge is how to move from scientific knowledge to real-world decision making. We offer 6 lessons from our experiences applying new approaches and tools for quantifying BES in 20 pilot demonstrations: (1) Applying a BES approach is most effective in leading to policy change as part of an iterative science-policy process; (2) simple ecological production function models have been useful in a diverse set of decision contexts, across a broad range of biophysical, social, and governance systems. Key limitations of simple models arise …

Will Passive Protection Save Congo Forests?, Gillian L. Galford, Britaldo S. Soares-Filho, Laura J. Sonter, Nadine Laporte

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Central Africa's tropical forests are among the world's largest carbon reserves. Historically, they have experienced low rates of deforestation. Pressures to clear land are increasing due to development of infrastructure and livelihoods, foreign investment in agriculture, and shifting land use management, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC contains the greatest area of intact African forests. These store approximately 22 billion tons of carbon in aboveground live biomass, yet only 10% are protected. Can the status quo of passive protection - forest management that is low or nonexistent - ensure the preservation of this forest and its …

Barriers And Opportunities To Promote Rights To Sustainable Production Of Smallholders In The Context Of Climate Stresses In Central America, Raffaele Vignola

Food Systems Summit 2015

Under a systemic approach, right to food implies also considering two aspects such as the implementation of and correspondent support to sustainable agricultural production by smallholders. Given the observed and projected trends, this requires also considering how such practices can help these vulnerable producers cope with and recover from the increasing climate stresses affecting them. We here focus on these two complementary aspects for the case of coffee and basic grains smallholders: the identification of adaptive benefits of sustainable practices and the barriers and strengths of cross-scale governance to support their implementation in Central America (a highly climate-vulnerable region).

Gender, Nutrition, And The Human Right To Adequate Food: Toward An Inclusive Framework, Anne C. Bellows

Food Systems Summit 2015

The food crisis of 2008 was not an isolated incident or unique event from which the world economy and food security has re-stabilized. Rather, as Valente and Suárez Franco (2010, 455) state, "[the 2008 food crisis] is not new for more than 840 million people who have constantly been subjected to hunger over the last thirty years, millions of whom died of malnutrition and associated diseases, or had their quality of life severely affected by the consequences of malnutrition." Although estimates of food insecurity differ, the geography and socio-demographic profile of the food insecure remains unaltered (FAO, WFP, IFAD 2012; …