Digital Commons Network^™

Active Sovereignty, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Biogeochemical Stoichiometry Of Antarctic Dry Valley Ecosystems, J. E. Barrett, R. A. Virginia, W. B. Lyons, D. M. Mcknight, J. C. Priscu, P. T. Doran, A. G. Fountain, D. H. Wall, D. L. Moorhead

Faculty Publications

Among aquatic and terrestrial landscapes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, ecosystem stoichiometry ranges from values near the Redfield ratios for C:N:P to nutrient concentrations in proportions far above or below ratios necessary to support balanced microbial growth. This polar desert provides an opportunity to evaluate stoichiometric approaches to understand nutrient cycling in an ecosystem where biological diversity and activity are low, and controls over the movement and mass balances of nutrients operate over 10-106 years. The simple organisms (microbial and metazoan) comprising dry valley foodwebs adhere to strict biochemical requirements in the composition of their biomass, and when activated …

Landscape Context Outweighs Local Habitat Quality In Its Effects On Herbivore Dispersal And Distribution, Kyle J. Haynes, Forrest P. Dillemuth, Bryan J. Anderson, Alyssa S. Hakes, Heather B. Jackson, S. Elizabeth Jackson, James T. Cronin

Faculty Publications

Past studies with spatially structured herbivore populations have emphasized the primacy of intrinsic factors (e.g., patch quality), patch geometry (e.g., patch size and isolation), and more recently landscape context (e.g., matrix composition) in affecting local population abundance and dispersal rate. However, few studies have examined the relative importance of each factor, or how they might interact to affect herbivore abundance or dispersal. Here, we performed a factorial field experiment to examine the independent and interactive effects of patch quality (plant biomass, leaf protein, leaf phenolics) and matrix composition [mudflat or non-host grass (Bromus inermis)] on planthopper (Prokelisia crocea) emigration from …

A Mobile Element-Based Evolutionary History Of Guenons (Tribe Cercopithecini), Jinchuan Xing, Hui Wang, Yuhua Zhang, David A. Ray, Anthony J. Tosi, Todd R. Disotell, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

Background: Guenons (tribe Cercopithecini) are a species-rich group of primates that have attracted considerable attention from both primatologists and evolutionary biologists. The complex speciation pattern has made the elucidation of their relationships a challenging task, and many questions remain unanswered. SINEs are a class of non-autonomous mobile elements and are essentially homoplasy-free characters with known ancestral states, making them useful genetic markers for phylogenetic studies. Results: We identified 151 novel Alu insertion loci from 11 species of tribe Cercopithecini, and used these insertions and 17 previously reported loci to infer a phylogenetic tree of the tribe Cercopithecini. Our results robustly …

Emergency Transportation Preparedness, Management, And Response In Urban Planning And Development, Brian Wolshon

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Freshwater Inflow And Sediment Discharge Into Lake Pontchartrain In Louisiana, Usa, Kangsheng Wu, Y. Jun Xu

Faculty Publications

Freshwater and sediment are crucial to the development and health of aquatic and wetland ecosystems in deltaic coastal regions. This study examines the long-term freshwater inflow (1940-2002) and total suspended solid loading (1978-2001), and their relationships with climate variables in three major river watersheds to Lake Pontchartrain, the largest inland estuary in the USA. The results show an average total annual freshwater inflow of 5.04 km3 and an average total annual sediment loading of 210 360 t, with the highest contributions from the Amite River watershed. Over 69% of annual inflow occurred within the six months from December to May. …

Merging Gps Data With High Spatial Resolution Multispectral Imagery: An Urban Recreation Case Study, Daniel Unger, David Kulhavy, Jerome E. Benson Ii

Faculty Publications

In 1992 a disc golf course was created by Alpha Phi Omega, Nu Sigma Chapter of Stephen F. Austin State University within Pecan Park in the c ity of Nacogdoches, Texas. Using constructs from Landscape Ecology, in cluding structure, function and change within a land mosaic provided the basis for establishment of the course. The addition of the disc golf cour se modified the use of the park promoting cultural cohesion among the disc golf enthusiasts. To aid the recreational enjoyment of golf participants, vector m aps of each fairway were created when the disc course was developed and loca …

Quae Supersunt Sema Polyphemou: A Case Of Paraleipsis In The Argonautica Of Apollonius Rhodius1, Andrew Foster

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Corps Of Discovery: A Twenty-First-Century Contextual Missiology For The Denominational Church In The United States, Terri L. Elton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Managing Coastal Resources In The 21st Century, M P. Weinstein, R C. Baird, D O. Conover, M Gross, M P. Weinstein, D K. Loomis, Z Naveh, S B. Peterson, D J. Reed, E Roe, R L. Swanson, J A. Swart, J M. Teal, R. Eugene Turner, D E. Van, H J. Windt

Faculty Publications

Coastal ecosystems are increasingly dominated by humans. Consequently, the human dimensions of sustainability science have become an integral part of emerging coastal governance and management practices. But if we are to avoid the harsh lessons of land management, coastal decision makers must recognize that humans are one of the more coastally dependent species in the biosphere. Management responses must therefore confront both the temporal urgency and the very real compromises and sacrifices that will be necessary to achieve a sustainable coastal ecosystem, one that is economically feasible, socially just, and ecologically sound.

Rethinking Patent Law’S Uniformity Principle, Craig Allen Nard, John F. Duffy

Faculty Publications

Modern law on expert testimony insists, as a condition of admissibility, that the asserted expertise be determined by the trial judge to be reliable. Reliability is usually characterized as a dichotomous attribute of evidence, as if expertise were either reliable or unreliable. This article argues that making progress in the development of meaningful and appropriate restrictions on the admissibility of expert testimony requires that we abandon this conceptualization and understand the implications of endorsing a gradational notion of reliability in which evidence can be more or less reliable and in which a comparative assessment of reliability is prominent. Consistent with …

Landscapes Of Power And Identity: Comparative Histories In The Sonoran Desert And The Forests Of Amazonia From Colony To Republic, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Relations Between Historical Geography And Latin Americanist Geography, Andrew Sluyter, Kent Mathewson

Faculty Publications

Content analysis of Geography in America (Gaile and Willmott 2003), which collects forty-seven chapters written by representatives of each of the specialty groups of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), reveals much about the recent intellectual structure of the discipline (Sluyter et al. 2006). One striking feature of that structure is the lack of intellectual connectivity, measured in practitioners named and publications cited, between the chapters of the Latin Americanist Specialty Group (LASG) and the Historical Geography Specialty Group (HGSG). Detailed comparison of the HGSG chapter and the Historical and Cultural Perspectives section of the LASG chapter addresses the character …

In Their Own Image: The Public Library Collection As A Reflection Of Its Donors, Suzanne Marie Stauffer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

On Symplectic 4-Manifolds With Prescribed Fundamental Group, Scott Baldridge, Paul Kirk

Faculty Publications

In this article we study the problem of minimizing aχ + bσ on the class of all symplectic 4-manifolds with prescribed fundamental group G (χ is the Euler characteristic, σ is the signature, and a, b ∈ ℝ), focusing on the important cases χ, χ + σ and 2 + 3σ. In certain situations we can derive lower bounds for these functions and describe symplectic 4-manifolds which are minimizers. We derive an upper bound for the minimum of χ and χ + σ in terms of the presentation of G. © Swiss Mathematical Society. χ

The First Amendment And Non-Political Speech: Exploring A Constitutional Model That Focuses On The Existence Of Alternative Channels Of Communication, Patrick Garry

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Visual Representations Of The Spatial Relationship Between Bermuda High Strengths And Hurricane Tracks, Jason T. Knowles, Michael Leitner

Faculty Publications

The 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons dramatically demonstrated the magnitude of the societal significance of hurricanes, negatively impacting on all scales from the personal to the national. Although definitive identification of the forcing mechanisms controlling hurricane tracks and landfall patterns remains elusive, increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that the increase in hurricane activity along the Gulf Coast is due to a southwestward shift in the position of the Bermuda High. This research uses multiple visualization techniques to explore the spatial correlation between Bermuda High strengths - as interpreted from the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index - and hurricane tracks. Using …

Use Of The Global Positioning System In The Field Recovery Of Scattered Human Remains, Ginesse A. Listi, Mary H. Manhein, Michael Leitner

Faculty Publications

This study examines the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a tool for field mapping of scattered human remains or other materials in forensic investigations. Two aspects of the GPS are considered: (1) the level of accuracy that can be obtained using a mid-priced GPS unit, and (2) the effectiveness of using the GPS to map scattered materials. The positional accuracy of the GPS receiver was tested using a National Geodetic Survey (NGS) point located in Baton Rouge, LA. The utility of the GPS for mapping was investigated by setting up a mock field recovery and mapping the remains using both …

This Bridge Called Imagination: On Reading The Arab Image Foundation, Dore Bowen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Online Word Of Mouth And Its Implications For Trademark Law, Eric Goldman

Faculty Publications

This Chapter discusses the emergence of online word of mouth, the process by which consumers disseminate their views about marketplace goods and services. Due to online word of mouth, consumers have an unprecedented ability to influence the brand perceptions of other consumers. Unfortunately, these effects have put doctrinal pressure on trademark law, leading to judicial interpretations that inhibit the flow of online word of mouth and may damage the efficacy of marketplace mechanisms. This Chapter will explore how trademark law should be interpreted to preserve the flow of socially beneficial online word of mouth.

This Is The Right Place: Community-Based Art Education At Utah's Springville Museum Of Art, Mark Graham, Sharon R. Gray

Faculty Publications

The human condition in the post-modern world is increasingly nomadic. A sense of displacement and alienation is pervasive. Schools emphasize abstracted knowledge removed from the experience of students. Many people feel detached from the places where they live and have no particular sense of belonging or responsibility toward their communities. Museums can counter this pervasive restlessness and be a powerful source of community renewal. This article draws connections between place-based education theory and the educational mission of the art museum, as illustrated by the Springville Museum of Art. The small town of Springville, Utah enjoys an unparalleled connection with its …

A Theory Of Expressive International Law, Alex Geisinger, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

Ever since Grotius first suggested that desire for esteem from the broader global community motivates States to comply with international law, identifying just how this desire effects compliance has proven illusive. The ability to harness the pull of international society is important to virtually all treaty formation and compliance. It is especially important in the area of human rights regimes where other compliance forces such as coercion, are rarely, if ever, used. Recent empirical evidence, however, suggests that human rights regimes are ineffective. Indeed, in many situations this evidence suggests that the human rights practices of States that ratify such …

Imagining Sovereignty, Managing Secession: The Legal Geography Of Eurasia's "Frozen Conflicts", Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

The interrelated concepts of sovereignty, self-determination, and the territorial integrity of states form a Gordian knot at the core of public international law. These concepts encompass not only how we define the classic actors of the international system—states—but also how seriously international law takes claims of civil and political rights. This Article considers how geographic concepts can be used to try to untangle—or slice through this knot of issues.

The frozen conflicts of Eurasia are a series of ongoing secessionist crises in the post-Soviet states of Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. I will use the example of the so-called "frozen conflict" …

Whose Public, Whose Order? Imperium, Region, And Normative Friction, Christopher J. Borgen

Faculty Publications

Theories of international law and politics are a product of their times. They focus on the issues of the day (or of the immediate past) and their assumptions are often the assumptions of the society in which they were born. Perhaps that it is why so many international relations scholars were surprised by the end of the Cold War: Their theories were so informed by bipolarity that they were unable to see the actual changes that would transform the state system. As international relations scholars are re-assessing their theories in a post-Cold War world, lawyers may do the same concerning …

Impact Of Lidar Nominal Post-Spacing On Dem Accuracy And Flood Zone Delineation, George T. Raber, John R. Jensen, Michael E. Hodgson, Jason A. Tullis, Bruce A. Davis, Judith Berglund

Faculty Publications

Lidar data have become a major source of digital terrain information for use in many applications including hydraulic modeling and flood plane mapping. Based on established relationships between sampling intensity and error, nominal post-spacing likely contributes significantly to the error budget. Post-spacing is also a major cost factor during lidar data collection. This research presents methods for establishing a relationship between nominal post-spacing and its effects on hydraulic modeling for flood zone delineation. Lidar data collected at a low post-spacing (approximately 1 to 2 m) over a piedmont study area in North Carolina was systematically decimated to simulate datasets with …

Capital Punishment In The United States, And Beyond, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

This article explores the controversial topic of capital punishment, with a particular focus on its longstanding application in the United States. The use of the death penalty in the US has been the subject of much criticism both domestically and internationally. The numerous concerns addressed in this article relate to the morality of the punishment, its effectiveness, the uneven application of the penalty, and procedural problems. The US Supreme Court has confirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment while striking down particular uses of the death penalty. The US is not, however, alone in executing convicted defendants. Capital punishment is still …

Art, Ecology And Art Education: Locating Art Education In A Critical Place-Based Pedagogy, Mark Graham

Faculty Publications

In contemporary life and education, the local is marginalized in favor of large-scale economies of consumption that are indifferent to ecological concerns. The consequences of neglecting local human and natural communities include a degraded habitat, loss of wilderness, alienation, rootlessness, and lack of connection to communities. Critical place-based pedagogy provides a robust framework for the theory and practice of art education that is concerned with ecological issues. This article locates art education within a critical pedagogy of place as a prelude to describing contemporary art and art education that is engaged with ecological Issues.

Contemporary Art, Science, Ecology, And A Critical Pedagogy Of Place, Mark Graham

Faculty Publications

In contemporary life and education, the local is marginalized in favor of large-scale economies of consumption that are indifferent to ecological concerns. The consequences of neglecting local human and natural communities include a degraded habitat, loss of wilderness, alienation, rootlessness, and lack of connection to communities. Place-based education responds to this indifference to local ecological concerns by grounding student learning in the experiences of their own lives, communities, and regions. Critical place-based pedagogy broadens the scope of place-based learning by incorporating critical theory into the curriculum of the local. This article describes a critical pedagogy of place as a prelude …

Clouds, Cameras, And Computers: The First Amendment And Networked Public Places, Timothy Zick

Faculty Publications

It seems to be a common assumption that physical places like parks, sidewalks, and public squares, and "cyber-places" like the Web, constitute separate locations of communication. In reality, however, the intersection and collision of these two spaces is imminent. In some respects it has already occurred. Entire cities and counties are erecting wireless "clouds" that will bring the Internet to vast public spaces. Technologies of surveillance continue to proliferate. What one does and says in public places is increasingly subject to surveillance by means of a combination of hand-held devices and official surveillance tools like closed circuit television cameras (CCTV). …

Imposing A Cap On Capital Punishment, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.