Digital Commons Network^™

Impacts Of Agriculture And Dairy Farming On Groundwater Quality: An Optimization Problem, Tomaz Dentinho, R. Minciardi, M. Robba, Roberto Sacile, V. Silva

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

A decision model for groundwater quality preservation in areas affected by intensive agriculture and dairy farming, with specific reference to the Azores islands, is presented. In these islands, the exigency to find appropriate instruments to support decisions in Integrated Water Management (IWM) is particularly felt because the increase of tourism and the dairy farming have increased water demands and depletion of water quality. An optimization problem, in terms of decision variables, objectives, and constraints is formalized. The physical/chemical/ecological models are embedded as constraints in the decision model. Specifically, four types of models (hydraulic model, chemical model, agricultural model, and dairy …

Bayesian Decision Networks - Going Beyond Expert Elicitation For Parameterisation And Evaluation Of Ecological Endpoints., C. A. Pollino, Barry T. Hart

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Ecological and integrative analyses routinely involve the synthesis of a range of information sources into a single model. Bayesian decision networks (BDN) are increasingly being used for this purpose because they are flexible, transparent and relatively easy to use. Indeed, BDNs offer a scientific and pragmatic approach to improve decision-making in environmental management, directly addressing management needs, while promoting stakeholder participatory processes. However, despite their advantages, many BDNs developed to meet such needs are not being developed or applied to their full potential. The majority of BDNs published to date rely only on expert opinion to parameterise and evaluate ecologically …

Optimization Of Grazing Management For Watershed Sediment Control, Y. Duan, P. Heilman, D. Phillip Guertin

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Grazing on rangelands can increase erosion that is a major source of nonpoint source pollution. Grazing management is important in maintaining vegetation cover, which consequently impacts erosion and sediment yield. This paper uses a representative ranch model to define grazing management from an economic perspective. The model maximizes the profit of a representative ranch that can utilize all grazing lands in a watershed with constraints on forage resources, sustainable utilization, and production technology and sediment yield control objectives. A case study for the Walnut Gulch Watershed in Arizona showed a shift of the spatial distribution of optimal stocking rates with …

Combining Participatory Approaches And Modelling: Lessons From Two Practical Cases Of Policy Support, H. Van Deldena, Guy Engelen

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In this paper two different policy exercises carried out with the METRONAMICA land use modelling framework are discussed. The first aims at finding suitable locations for the expansion of residential and business activities in Utrecht Province, the Netherlands. It takes into consideration future economic and demographic developments as well as all other land use claims in the province. The second was carried out as part of the EEA-PRELUDE project and aimed at exploring the impacts of different scenarios on land use developments and the state of the environment in Europe. Both exercises are similar in combining a participatory approach with …

Free And Open Source Geospatial Tools For Environmental Modeling And Management, Ari Jolma, Daniel P. Ames, N. Horning, M. Neteler, Aaron Racicot, T. Sutton

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Geospatial software tools (GIS) are used for creating, viewing, managing, analyzing, and utilizing geospatial data. Geospatial data can include socio-economic, environmental, geophysical, and technical data about the Earth and societal infrastructure and it is pivotal in environmental modeling and management (EMM). Desktop, web-based, and embedded geospatial tools and systems have become an essential part of EMM. Environmental simulation models often require pre- or post-processing of geospatial data, or they can be tightly linked to a GIS, using it as a graphical user interface (GUI). Many local, regional, national, and international efforts are underway to create geospatial data infrastructures and tools …

Experience Gained From The Use Of Environmental Information Systems For The Public In The State Of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Werner Geiger, C. Düpmeier, M. Ruchter, T. Schlachter, R. Ebel, M. Linnenbach

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

For the protection of the natural environment and a sustainable development, joint responsibility and participation of the citizens are indispensable. In this connection, enlightenment and information of the public and the promotion of environmental awareness play a crucial role. This contribution shall present various environmental information systems for the public and report about the experience gained from their development and operation. The systems have been developed as parts of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Environmental Information System by Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in cooperation with the State Institute for the Environment, Measurements, and Nature Protection. In particular, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Environmental Information Network with a portal …

Combining Participatory Approaches And Modelling: Lessons From Two Practical Cases Of Policy Support, H. Van Deldena, Guy Engelen

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In this paper two different policy exercises carried out with the METRONAMICA land use modelling framework are discussed. The first aims at finding suitable locations for the expansion of residential and business activities in Utrecht Province, the Netherlands. It takes into consideration future economic and demographic developments as well as all other land use claims in the province. The second was carried out as part of the EEA-PRELUDE project and aimed at exploring the impacts of different scenarios on land use developments and the state of the environment in Europe. Both exercises are similar in combining a participatory approach with …

Supporting Multidisciplinary Model-Based Water Management Projects: A User Perspective, Huub Scholten, Ayalew Kassahun

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Multidisciplinary model-based water management is a complex process. Projects that have to follow this process may encounter many problems, related to miscommunication, malpractice, misuse of the model, insufficient knowledge of the modeled problems and overselling of model capabilities. This leads to model projects, which are not transparent and difficult to audit. The knowledge-based system consists of an ontological knowledge base (KB) with ‘best modelling practices’ for teams, which members have different disciplinary backgrounds and play different roles in a project, and a Modelling Support Tool (MoST). MoST generates and presents guidelines from the KB on what to do. MoST also …

Mike Basin, David Wood

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

MIKE BASIN addresses water allocation, conjunctive use, reservoir operation, or water quality issues. It couples ArcGIS with hydrologic modeling to provide basin-scale solutions. The MIKE BASIN philosophy is to keep modeling simple and intuitive, yet provide in-depth insight for planning and management. In MIKE BASIN, the emphasis is on both simulation and visualization in both space and time, making it appropriate for building understanding and consensus. MIKE BASIN is a quasi-steady-state mass balance model, allowing for routed river flows. The water quality solution assumes purely advective transport. Decay during transport can be modeled. The groundwater description uses the linear reservoir …

Impacts Of Agriculture And Dairy Farming On Groundwater Quality: An Optimization Problem, Tomaz Dentinho, R. Minciardi, M. Robba, Roberto Sacile, V. Silva

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

A decision model for groundwater quality preservation in areas affected by intensive agriculture and dairy farming, with specific reference to the Azores islands, is presented. In these islands, the exigency to find appropriate instruments to support decisions in Integrated Water Management (IWM) is particularly felt because the increase of tourism and the dairy farming have increased water demands and depletion of water quality. An optimization problem, in terms of decision variables, objectives, and constraints is formalized. The physical/chemical/ecological models are embedded as constraints in the decision model. Specifically, four types of models (hydraulic model, chemical model, agricultural model, and dairy …

Ribasim River Basin Planning And Management Simulation Program, Delft Hydraulics

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

RIBASIM (River Basin Simulation Model) is a generic model package for analyzing the behaviour of river basins under various hydrological conditions. The model package is a comprehensive and flexible tool which links the hydrological water inputs at various locations with the specific water-users in the basin. RIBASIM is designed for river basin planning and management RIBASIM follows a structured approach to river basin planning and management. RIBASIM enables the user to evaluate a variety of measures related to infrastructure, operational and demand management and the results in terms of water quantity and water quality. RIBASIM generates water distribution patterns and …

Bridging The Design-Use Gap For Dss In Environmental Policy And Practice., K. B. Matthews, M. G. Hutchins, G. Hill

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Drawing on the literature of agricultural decision support systems (DSS) and experience in developing tools for policy support and evaluation, this paper argues that while in the main such tools have failed to live up to expectations it may be that the expectations were unrealistic. The design-use gap of DSS for environmental management is partially the inevitable cycle of expectations (unbelief-euphoria-disappointment and maturity or abandonment) experienced by any innovation. The environmental problems facing land managers and society are dauntingly complex. Yet more or better quality information does not inevitably lead to better management. Many of the issues that face land-use …

A New Raster-Based Spatial Modelling System: 5d Environment, S. Mazzoleni, F. Giannino, M. Mulligan, D. Heathfield, M. Colandrea, M. Nicolazzo, M. D'Aquino

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The functional description of natural systems requires the representation of different classes of processes including chemical, biochemical, and physical functions, with or without their spatial representation. On the other hand, there are several cases where a realistic representation of the process dynamics needs a spatially explicit implementation of the model (eg. hydrological flows, fire propagation, pollution diffusion, etc.). In more general terms, and for different scientific fields, scaling problems and the issue of linking dynamic and spatial processes require an integrated logic and appropriate software solutions. Different tools aimed at implementing spatial modelling capability (PCRaster, SME, SimARC) have not yet …

The Integrated Model Network Ite2m: Model Set-Up And Assessment Of Agricultural Land Use And Management Options, Wolfgang Reiher, Lutz Breuer, Bernd Weinmann, Thorsten Pohlert, Martin Bach, Rolf A. Düring, Stefan Gäth, Hans Georg Frede

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The Integrated Tool for Economic and Ecological Modelling (ITE2M) is developed to assess landscape services of different land use options. ITE2M is a network of several models addressing agroeconomy, agricultural policy and environmental services with respect to soil, water as well as floral and faunal biodiversity. As a central part of ITE2M the agro-economic simulation model ProLand predicts land use distributions that are optimal from an economic point of view. ProLand calculates the spatially differentiated maximum land rent accounting for different natural, technical, economic and political boundary conditions. The site specific outputs of ProLand comprise land rent, land use and …

Experience Gained From The Use Of Environmental Information Systems For The Public In The State Of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Werner Geiger, C. Düpmeier, M. Ruchter, T. Schlachter, R. Ebel, M. Linnenbach

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

For the protection of the natural environment and a sustainable development, joint responsibility and participation of the citizens are indispensable. In this connection, enlightenment and information of the public and the promotion of environmental awareness play a crucial role. This contribution shall present various environmental information systems for the public and report about the experience gained from their development and operation. The systems have been developed as parts of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Environmental Information System by Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in cooperation with the State Institute for the Environment, Measurements, and Nature Protection. In particular, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Environmental Information Network with a portal …

Uncertainty Management, Spatial And Temporal Reasoning, And Validation Of Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems, Miquel Sànchez-Marrè, Karina Gibert, Rick Sojda, Jean-Philippe Steyer, Peter Struss, Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

There are inherent open problems arising when developing and running Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems (IEDSS). During daily operation of IEDSS several open challenge problems appear. The uncertainty of data being processed is intrinsic to the environmental system, which is being monitored by several on-line sensors and off-line data. Thus, anomalous data values at data gathering level or even uncertain reasoning process at later levels such as in diagnosis or decision support or planning can lead the environmental process to unsafe critical operation states. At diagnosis level or even at decision support level or planning level, spatial reasoning or temporal …

Current Trends In Environmental Modelling With Uncertainty., Jiří Hřebíček, Jan Pesl

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The important characteristic feature of environmental modelling is the complexity and uncertainty of its mathematical representation (uncertainty of formula). Imprecision of its input data is another characteristic feature, where it is not possible to omit influences of primary monitoring (e.g. gaps of data, errors of measuring facilities, human factor, etc). Many parameters in algorithms and their mathematical formulations are substituted by empirical constants in praxis, although it is well known that their values are very volatile and input data are not validated. Nowadays, information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities are growing rapidly and applied mathematical software (e.g. computer algebra systems, …

Data Mining As A Tool For Environmental Scientists, J. M. Spate, Karina Gibert, Miquel Sànchez-Marrè, E. Frank, Joaquim Comas, Ioannis N. Athanasiadis

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Over recent years a huge library of data mining algorithms has been developed to tackle a variety of problems in fields such as medical imaging and network traffic analysis. Many of these techniques are far more flexible than more classical modelling approaches and could be usefully applied to data-rich environmental problems. Certain techniques such as Artificial Neural Networks, Clustering, Case-Based Reasoning and more recently Bayesian Decision Networks have found application in environmental modelling while other methods, for example classification and association rule extraction, have not yet been taken up on any wide scale. We propose that these and other data …

Ribasim River Basin Planning And Management Simulation Program, Delft Hydraulics

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

RIBASIM (River Basin Simulation Model) is a generic model package for analyzing the behaviour of river basins under various hydrological conditions. The model package is a comprehensive and flexible tool which links the hydrological water inputs at various locations with the specific water-users in the basin. RIBASIM is designed for river basin planning and management RIBASIM follows a structured approach to river basin planning and management. RIBASIM enables the user to evaluate a variety of measures related to infrastructure, operational and demand management and the results in terms of water quantity and water quality. RIBASIM generates water distribution patterns and …

Dealing With Uncertainty And Sensitivity Issues In Process-Based Models Of Carbon And Nitrogen Cycles In Northern Forest Ecosystems, G. R. Larocque, J. S. Bhatti, A. M. Gordon, N. Luckai, Jinxun Liu, Shuguang Liu, P. A. Arp, C. -F Zhang, Alexander Komarov, Pavel Grabarnik, M. Wattenbach, C. Peng, Jianfeng Sun, Thomas White

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Many process-based models on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles have been developed for northern forest ecosystems. These models are widely used to evaluate the long-term decisions in forest management dealing with effects like particulate pollution, productivity and climate change. Regarding climate change, one of the key questions that have sensitive political implications is whether northern forests will sequester atmospheric C or not. Whilst many process-based models have been tested for accuracy by evaluating or validating against observed data, few have dealt with the complexity of the incorporated procedures to estimate uncertainties associated with model predictions or the sensitivity of …

Uncertainty Management, Spatial And Temporal Reasoning, And Validation Of Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems, Miquel Sànchez-Marrè, Karina Gibert, Rick Sojda, Jean-Philippe Steyer, Peter Struss, Ignasi Rodríguez-Roda

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

There are inherent open problems arising when developing and running Intelligent Environmental Decision Support Systems (IEDSS). During daily operation of IEDSS several open challenge problems appear. The uncertainty of data being processed is intrinsic to the environmental system, which is being monitored by several on-line sensors and off-line data. Thus, anomalous data values at data gathering level or even uncertain reasoning process at later levels such as in diagnosis or decision support or planning can lead the environmental process to unsafe critical operation states. At diagnosis level or even at decision support level or planning level, spatial reasoning or temporal …

Helping Children To Be Lifelong Learners, Don Pearson, Ann Pearson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

A New Raster-Based Spatial Modelling System: 5d Environment, S. Mazzoleni, F. Giannino, M. Mulligan, D. Heathfield, M. Colandrea, M. Nicolazzo, M. D'Aquino

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The functional description of natural systems requires the representation of different classes of processes including chemical, biochemical, and physical functions, with or without their spatial representation. On the other hand, there are several cases where a realistic representation of the process dynamics needs a spatially explicit implementation of the model (eg. hydrological flows, fire propagation, pollution diffusion, etc.). In more general terms, and for different scientific fields, scaling problems and the issue of linking dynamic and spatial processes require an integrated logic and appropriate software solutions. Different tools aimed at implementing spatial modelling capability (PCRaster, SME, SimARC) have not yet …

Focus, Bob Evancho (Editor)

FOCUS on Boise State

Creative collaboration between departments, outside agencies and even sister universities is transforming how Boise State operates and what it can accomplish. This issue of FOCUS provides a closer look at how the university is encouraging and benefiting from an array of partnerships in research, community service and creative activity. Cover by Drew Roberts.

Ecological Fitting As A Determinant Of The Community Structure Of Platyhelminth Parasites Of Anurans, Daniel R. Brooks, Virginia León-Règagnon, Deborah Mclennan, Derek Zelmer

Faculty Publications

Host–parasite associations are assumed to be ecologically specialized, tightly coevolved systems driven by mutual modification in which host switching is a rare phenomenon. Ecological fitting, however, increases the probability of host switching, creating incongruences between host and parasite phylogenies, when (1) specialization on a particular host resource is a shared characteristic of distantly related parasites, and (2) the resource being tracked by the parasite is widespread among many host species. We investigated the effect of ecological fitting on structuring the platyhelminth communities of anurans from a temperate forest and grassland in the United States and tropical dry and wet forests …

The Public Trust Doctrine: A Conservative Reconstruction & (And) Defense, Barton H. Thompson Jr.

Southeastern Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Biocatalytic And Antimetastatic Studies Of The Marine Cembranoids Sarcophine And 2-Epi-16-Deoxysarcophine, Swapnali S. Sawant, Diaa T.A. Youssef, Jane Reiland, Melissa Ferniz, Dario Marchetti, Khalid A. El Sayed

Faculty Publications

The soft coral Sarcophyton glaucum is a rich resource of several bioactive cembranoids. Sarcophytol A (1) and sarcophine (2) are cembranoid diterpenes reported from this soft coral and extensively investigated for their cancer chemopreventive properties. This study aimed at investigating the antimetastatic potential of the major cembranoids, sarcophine (2) and 2-epi-16-deoxysarcophine (3), from the Red Sea soft coral S. glaucum. Biocatalytic transformation of 3 using Rhizopus stolonifer ATCC 6227a and Absidia spinosa ATCC 6648 afforded four new metabolites, 5-7 and 9, along with the known 9α-hydroxysarcophine (8). Sarcophine, 2-epi-16-deoxysarcophine, and metabolites 5-9 revealed significant antimetastatic activity against the highly metastatic …

Reca And Rada Proteins Of Brucella Abortus Do Not Perform Overlapping Protective Dna Repair Functions Following Oxidative Burst, Christelle M. Roux, Natha J. Booth, Bryan H. Bellaire, Jason M. Gee, R. Martin Roop, Michael E. Kovach, Renée M. Tsolis, Philip H. Elzer, Don G. Ennis

Faculty Publications

Very little is known about the role of DNA repair networks in Brucella abortus and its role in pathogenesis. We investigated the roles of RecA protein, DNA repair, and SOS regulation in B. abortus. While recA mutants in most bacterial species are hypersensitive to UV damage, surprisingly a B. abortus recA null mutant conferred only modest sensitivity. We considered the presence of a second RecA protein to account for this modest UV sensitivity. Analyses of the Brucella spp. genomes and our molecular studies documented the presence of only one recA gene, suggesting a RecA-independent repair process. Searches of the available …

Redefining Multicultural Education And Its Applications In The General Music Classroom, Emily C. Hardwick

Theses and Dissertations

"Understanding music in relation to history and culture" is the ninth standard for music education developed by the National Association for Music Educators (MENC) in 1994 (Mark, 1996, p. 50). This principle is very broad and it is up to individual teachers to make sure they include history and multiculturalism in their curriculum. The term multicultural education is extensive and because many teachers do not understand what all it entails, some students do not get a comprehensive multicultural education.

In the general music class for example, teaching students a Japanese folk song is a typical multicultural lesson. I do not …

South Dakota State University 2006-2008 Graduate Programs, South Dakota State University

South Dakota State University Catalogs and Bulletins: 1935 to present

No abstract provided.