Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluating Common Raven Take For Greater Sage-Grouse In Oregon’S Baker County Priority Conservation Area And Great Basin Region, Frank F. Rivera-Milán, Peter S. Coates, Jacqueline B. Cupples, Michael Green, Patrick K. Devers

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The common raven (Corvus corax; raven) is a nest predator of species of conservation concern, such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Reducing raven abundance by take requires authorization under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. To support U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s take decisions (e.g., those that authorize killing a specified proportion or number of individuals annually in a defined area), including the most recent one for Oregon’s Baker County Priority Area for Conservation (PAC), we modeled raven population dynamics under hypothetical scenarios with take rates ranging from below to above the maximum sustained yield (MSY; …

Smart: A Science-Based Tiered Framework For Common Ravens, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Peter S. Coates, Cali L. Roth, Sarah C. Webster, Shawn T. O'Neil, Kerry L. Holcomb, John C. Tull, Pat J. Jackson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Large-scale increases and expansion of common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations are occurring across much of North America, leading to increased negative consequences for livestock and agriculture, human health and safety, and sensitive species conservation. We describe a science-based adaptive management framework that incorporates recent quantitative analyses and mapping products for addressing areas with elevated raven numbers and minimizing potential adverse impacts to sensitive species, agricultural damage, and human safety. The framework comprises 5 steps: (1) desktop analysis; (2) field assessments; (3) comparison of raven density estimates to an ecological threshold (in terms of either density or density …

Covid-19: The Spearpoint Of Human–Wildlife Interactions, Terry A. Messmer

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This is the letter from the editor-in-chief.

In The News, Ike Ionel, Jessica Tegt

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Items in the news.

Cover, Editorial Staff, Journal Information

Human–Wildlife Interactions

This includes the cover, editorial staff, and journal information.

Estimating Trends Of Common Raven Populations In North America, 1966–2018, Seth M. Harju, Peter S. Coates, Seth J. Dettenmaier, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Pat J. Jackson, Michael P. Chenaille

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Over the last half century, common raven (Corvus corax; raven) populations have increased in abundance across much of North America. Ravens are generalist predators known to depredate the eggs and young of several sensitive species. Quantifying raven population increases at multiple spatial scales across North America will help wildlife resource managers identify areas where population increases present the greatest risk to species conservation. We used a hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach to analyze trends of standardized raven counts from 1966 to 2018 using Breeding Bird Survey data within each Level I and II ecoregion of the United States and Canada. …

Increased Abundance Of The Common Raven Within The Ranges Of Greater And Gunnison Sage-Grouse: Influence Of Anthropogenic Subsidies And Fire, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Lindsey R. Perry, Jeffrey L. Beck, Jimmy D. Taylor

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The common raven (Corvus corax; raven) is native to North America and has increased in abundance, especially throughout western North America, during the last century. Human subsidies have facilitated raven dispersal into less suitable habitats and enabled these populations to maintain higher annual survival and reproduction. Concomitantly, overabundant raven populations are impacting other native at-risk species such as the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and potentially the Gunnison sage-grouse (C. minimus). Using Breeding Bird Survey data from 1995–2014, we evaluated raven count data to quantitatively describe changes in abundance and expansion into sagebrush (Artemisia …

Common Ravens Disrupt Greater Sage-Grouse Lekking Behavior In The Great Basin, Usa, Joseph L. Atkinson, Peter S. Coates, Brianne E. Brussee, Ian A. Dwight, Mark A. Ricca, Pat J. Jackson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Expansion of human enterprise has contributed to increased abundance and distribution of common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) across sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems within western North America. Ravens are highly effective nest predators of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage-grouse), a species of high conservation concern. Sage-grouse population trends are estimated using count survey data of males attending traditional breeding grounds, known as leks. We sought to investigate associations of ravens to sage-grouse lek sites and document interactions between the sage-grouse and ravens as well as those between sage-grouse and other animals observed around leks. First, we …

Thinking Like A Raven: Restoring Integrity, Stability, And Beauty To Western Ecosystems, John M. Marzluff, Matthias-Claudio Loretto, Cameron K. Ho, Georgia W. Coleman, Marco Restani

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Common ravens (Corvus corax; ravens) are generalist predators that pose a threat to several rare wildlife species in the western United States. Recent increases in raven populations, which are fueled by increased human subsidies—notably food, water, and nest sites—are concerning to those seeking to conserve rare species. Due to the challenges and inefficiencies of reducing or eliminating subsidies, managers increasingly rely on lethal removal of ravens. Over 125,000 ravens were killed by the U.S. Government from 1996 to 2019, and annual removals have increased 4-fold from the 1990s to mid-2010s. We contend that lethal removal of ravens, while capable …

Monograph Reduced Box Price: Managing Human–Deer Conflicts

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Order form for HWI monograph, Methods for Managing Human–Deer Conflicts in Urban, Suburban, and Exurban Areas. This monograph identifies challenges and benefits associated with many human–deer conflict mitigation actions as well as methods to monitor the response of deer populations to management actions. Deer exploit urban, suburban, and exurban areas where human populations provide anthropogenic attractants, either intentionally or inadvertently, which often leads to human–deer conflicts. Mitigating actions have varying degrees of efficacy and may not be effective or accepted in every situation. Wildlife and municipal managers must work together to seek methods to reduce attractants, mitigate conflicts, and perpetuate …

Frontier: Autonomy In Detection, Actuation, And Planning For Robotic Weeding Systems, Piyush Pandey, Hemanth Narayan Dakshinamurthy, Sierra N. Young

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Weeds are a persistent and significant problem in agricultural production. Weeds, which tend to grow and produce very rapidly, compete with crops for critical resources, which can significantly reduce crop yields (Zimdahl, 2007). Herbicides are one of the most common and inexpensive approaches to controlling weeds; however, their continued and widespread use has prompted concerns due to off-target movement and steadily rising herbicide-resistant weed populations (Westwood et al., 2018). Given the significance of increasing herbicide-resistant weed populations and economic pressures to reduce costs associated with weeding, there is a need to implement more sustainable weed management approaches. Integrated weed management …

How Does Lake Powell Water Storage Influence Release Temperatures And Grand Canyon Fishes?, David Rosenberg, Lindsey Bruckerhoff

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Current Lake Powell reservoir operations for equalization and the Upper Basin drought contingency plan are articulated as target reservoir surface elevations and storage volumes. This analysis asks and answers the question how does water storage in Lake Powell influence release temperatures and Grand Canyon fishes?

Toward Open And Reproducible Environmental Modeling By Integrating Online Data Repositories, Computational Environments, And Model Application Programming Interfaces, Young-Don Choi, Jonathan L. Goodall, Jeffrey M. Sadler, Anthony M. Castronova, Andrew Bennett, Zhiyu Li, Bart Nijssen, Shaowen Wang, Martyn P. Clark, Daniel P. Ames, Jeffery S. Horsburgh, Hong Yi, Christina Bandaragoda, Martin Seul, Richard Hooper, David G. Tarboton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Cyberinfrastructure needs to be advanced to enable open and reproducible environmental modeling research. Recent efforts toward this goal have focused on advancing online repositories for data and model sharing, online computational environments along with containerization technology and notebooks for capturing reproducible computational studies, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for simulation models to foster intuitive programmatic control. The objective of this research is to show how these efforts can be integrated to support reproducible environmental modeling. We present first the high-level concept and general approach for integrating these three components. We then present one possible implementation that integrates HydroShare (an online …

Uvc Automatic Door Handle Sanitizer, Dean Dalton, Tate Patterson

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Infectious disease is easily spread through the use of door handles

• A virus placed on a single door handle can spread through the remainder of the building within 2 to 4 hours
• Ultraviolet Class C light (UVC) is effective at sanitizing surfaces easily and at a low cost
• UVC light can be harmful when there are high levels of direct exposure to the eyes

Automatic Door Handle Sanitizer

• The device applies UVC light to effectively sanitize while safely allowing the use of the door

Automatic Paint Booth Ventilation, Cooper Despain

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Problem and Solution

• For paint to cure properly, air flow must be maintained during the entire curing process.
• Proper air flow is also essential for the health and safety of those working within the paint booth.
• Automatic ventilation control of the booth will ensure that the air flow is sufficient while personnel are painting, as well as maintain the proper air flow when operators have left and the paint is curing.
• PLC system will monitor conditions within the booth and ducting, and the supply and the exhaust fans will be adjusted accordingly.

3d Mapping Robot, Konnor Andrews, Ryan Jacobson

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Problem: Current 3D interior mapping methods are cumbersome, complicated, and costly. A consumer typically cannot purchase or operate the existing tools.

However, 3D mapping has a myriad of practical applications, such as interior design, virtual reality environment creation, and robotics research. This project aims to make 3D mapping tools more accessible for consumers.

Solution: This project combines modern control theory and signal processing to create an autonomous robot that can traverse and map unknown indoor areas. This robot can be managed using a simple interface on any device with a web browser. The scan that the robot generates can then …

Armed Bike Lock, Nick Elmer

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Bikes are too easy to steal, especially out of the back of pickup trucks

Goals:

• Create a notification system to alert you even if you are away the bike
• Stop the theft
• Save your bike and money

Turtlebot 3, Jarome Allen, Nathan Beazer

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Autonomous small vehicle
• Built from scratch.
• Rechargeable battery for continued use.
• All wheel drive
• Upgradeable components
• Built to have additional features added
• Easy to use for wide range of users.

Autonomous Delivery Robot, Sam Petersen, Nathan Haws

Electrical and Computer Engineering

We designed and assembled a self-driving delivery vehicle.

• People and companies spend a lot of time delivering food, packages, and other items.
• A self-driving delivery vehicle could save these people time and money.
• We set out to design and assemble an autonomous vehicle that could safely and securely navigate around its environment to deliver a package to a user-defined destination.

Cablecam System, Brian Strickler, Nikolas Clark

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Existing cable camera systems are limited in the number of options and the excessive costs. CableCam seeks to provide smooth linear motion control at an affordable price. Channeling inspiration from making amateur videos with a desire for improved quality, this team has created an inexpensive cable camera system with professional features such as 3-axis stabilization and automatic motion control.

Gym Power Generation System: Exercise Bike Generator, Richard Beck, Cedric Mannie

Electrical and Computer Engineering

What?

• Design and build an exercise bike that produces power!

Why?

• Nobody likes pollution from burning fossil fuels.
• We need more renewable power sources.
• Energy from exercise is usually wasted.

Considerations:

• The bike needs to have adjustable resistance.
• The power produced needs to be usable.
• The system needs to be safe & user-friendly.

Pawtomatic Pet Door, James Cosgrove, Austin Hillyard

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Pet doors aren’t secure
• Pet doors don’t allow the user to restrict access to specific animals
• Pet doors that do lock/close must be locked/closed and reopened manually

Garden Helper Robot (Ghr), Tye Foster, Matthew Jacques, Joshua Mecham

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Engineer Joshua Mecham's grandfather Jerry Hansen loves to garden; however, Jerry's arthritis prevents him from pursuing his passion.

There had to be some way to incorporate an ordinary hose box into a mobile gardening bench. This solution would simultaneously water Jerry’s plants as well as provide a seat Jerry could use instead of getting on his hands and knees.

For this reason, the GHR was designed with people like Jerry in mind that want to continue their hobbies despite disabilities/sickness/age troubles.

The Module Tinkering Vehicle (Motiv), Steve Brezenski

Electrical and Computer Engineering

MoTiV is a remote-controlled car kit hat a user can assemble and add additional components to as desired.

The goal for MoTiV is to provide an introduction to electronics that:

• Appeals to a diverse audience, both experienced and novice
• Limits frustration on the part of the learner by working reliably and consistently
• Allows for new functionality to be added as desired with a method for easily updating device software

Infant Earmuff System, Beth Powell

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Infant Earmuff System allows caretakers to prevent hearing damage in infants when wearing the device.

• Infants have smaller ear canals and are therefore more susceptible to hearing damage than adults
• Hearing damage in infants is permanent but infants are bad at communicating if the noise level is too loud.
• The Infant Earmuff System allows caretakers to understand the level of noise an infant is hearing and whether that level is dangerous.

Real Life Jrpg, Jacob Wilson

Electrical and Computer Engineering

JRPG is a very popular video game genre, it’s turn based battle system allows the player to create interesting strategies impossible to find in real time games.

The goal of Real Life JRPG is to bring that experience away from the TV. Fight a dragon by actually swinging a sword.

Up to 3 players will work together to defeat the dragon, attacking it will Lower it’s health points and if the Dragons health points reach 0 the players win. But the Dragon will retaliate and if all players lose their health points, the dragon win.

Making Loud Noises Quiet, Logan Voigt, Nicholas Williams

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Guns are loud. Putting on ear protection takes time. Hunters need to listen for animals, so they can not wear ear protection constantly. Hunters have limited time to react when they see their target. They do not have time to put on ear protection. The Shot Silencer protects hunters’ hearing by actively noise cancelling the sound of the gunshot.

Sdgpu - Fpga Linux Gpu, Usu Department Of Electrical And Computer Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Video output and accelerated rendering are an increasing important need for personal computers.
• FPGAs provide a hardware platform for reconfigurable hardware acceleration.
• This project involves designing and building a hardware platform, FPGA logic, and Linux driver stack for video output and accelerated rendering.
• Targeting a PCIe add-in card form factor with 1080p 60 Hz output via HMDI means the system works out of the box with nearly all modern hardware.
• An extensible software and HDL design serves to provide a platform for computational and graphical acceleration.

Enxor Open-Source Logic Analyzer, Matthew Crump

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professional grade logic analyzers can cost a fortune, putting these devices out of reach from students and electronic hobbyists

• Enxor is an open-source FPGA project allowing anyone to use or customize it
• Enxor can be used to monitor external signals or added as a submodule in a larger FPGA allowing internal signal testing
• No device specific modules allowing Enxor to run on any FPGA
• User interface works on Windows and Linux

Code Learning Laptop, Max Gesullo

Electrical and Computer Engineering

• Learning basic coding skills on your own is difficult. You need to worry about the language, coding programs, and instructional content
• The above barriers to entry keep people from starting to learn coding who would otherwise enjoy it
• This project is designed to consolidate all the resources needed to learn basic coding concepts into one easy to use device