Digital Commons Network^™

Developing Bird-Strike Risk Assessment Models For Open-Water Restorations, Justin D. Hart, Alison Colyer, John R. Allan

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Mineral extraction sites that are restored to open water can increase bird-strike risk if they are planned near airports. This can generate conflict between the minerals industry and safeguarding authorities. To help resolve this potential conflict, it would be useful to predict how new restorations affect local water-bird populations so that mineral deposits can be exploited and restored in safeguarded zones without compromising flight safety. Bird abundances and movements at new restorations can be estimated with statistical models that use the environmental characteristics of restoration schemes as predictor variables. These models can improve guidance in safeguarding, provided that they comprise …

A Decade Of U.S. Air Force Bat Strikes, Suzanne C. Peurach, Carla J. Dove, Laura Stepko

Human–Wildlife Interactions

From 1997 through 2007, 821 bat strikes were reported to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Safety Center by aircraft personnel or ground crew and sent to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, for identification. Many samples were identified by macroscopic and or microscopic comparisons with bat specimens housed in the museum and augmented during the last 2 years by DNA analysis. Bat remains from USAF strikes during this period were received at the museum from 40 states in the United States and from 20 countries. We confirmed that 46% of the strikes were caused by bats, but we …

Suspending Vulture Effigies From Roosts To Reduce Bird Strikes, Steven A. Ball

Human–Wildlife Interactions

I observed very few vultures over the airfield after deploying the effigies, and vultures were completely absent most days. Hanging vulture effigies seemed to be effective in pushing the vultures farther away by denying them their observation point looking over the Coastal Plain near the airfield. This meant that their forage center point had been relocated far enough from the airfield that few individuals extended their range as far as the airport.

Using Wedelia As Ground Cover On Tropical Airports To Reduce Bird Activity, Michael A. Linnell, Michael R. Conover, Tim J. Ohashi

Human–Wildlife Interactions

aircraft collisions (i.e., bird strikes) are a major problem at airports worldwide, often because birds are attracted to airfields to feed on seeds, insects, or rodents that abound in the grassy areas near runways and taxiways. We compared an alternative ground cover, wedelia (Wedelia trilobata), to existing vegetation (control plots) on the airfield at Lihue Airport, Kauai, Hawaii, to determine if bird populations on the airport could be reduced by eliminating their forage base. We studied wedalia because it is a low-growing plant that did not need mowing, was easily established in plots, and out-competed other plants, resulting …

Phenotopic Plasticity Of Leaf Shape Along A Temperature Gradient In Acer Rubrum, Dana L. Royer, Laura A. Meyerson, Kevin M. Robertson, Jonathan M. Adams

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Both phenotypic plasticity and genetic determination can be important for understanding how plants respond to environmental change. However, little is known about the plastic response of leaf teeth and leaf dissection to temperature. This gap is critical because these leaf traits are commonly used to reconstruct paleoclimate from fossils, and such studies tacitly assume that traits measured from fossils reflect the environment at the time of their deposition, even during periods of rapid climate change. We measured leaf size and shape in Acer rubrum derived from four seed sources with a broad temperature range and grown for two years in …

Georgia Library Quarterly, Fall 2009, Susan Cooley

Georgia Library Quarterly

Complete issue of Georgia Library Quarterly, Fall 2009, vol. 46, no. 4.

Putting Trees Back In The Hands Of Malians: L’Association Malienne Pour La Conservation De La Faune Et De L’Environnement And The Balance Between Using And Protecting Local Forests, Cara Peterson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Products from trees provide the essential human necessities of food and shelter, as well as the means to cook and construct them with firewood and lumber. With the earth’s ever increasing population and growing industries, these needs have also risen, and forests worldwide are feeling the strain of deforestation and over usage for both commercial and household consumption. Deforestation in Africa is occurring at a smaller scale than on other continents, but this does not mean it is any less damaging to local ecosystems (Bessassen, 2009, p. 76). In fact, African forests are particularly stressed because approximately 90% of the …

Effects Of Re-Grown Forest Habitat On Lemur Catta Behavior, Sophie Ackoff

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study examines the effects of re-grown forest habitat on L. catta behavior at Berenty Private Reserve in Southern Madagascar during the early wet season. Evaluation of the reforested area versus natural forest revealed significant differences in species composition and food availability. Though the re-grown forest showed signs of forest regeneration and total greater food availability, the natural forest of Malaza proved to contain more preferred food sources for L. catta. Behavioral observations were collected over eight full-day troop follows and showed significant differences in feeding behavior, activity budget, and intra-troop and inter-troop aggressions. The WELL troop in Ankoba, the …

Music In Its Social Context: Fiji In A Microcosm, Alexander Greene

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The music of Fiji flows throughout the country as rich as the food and as omnipresent as the kava. Music touches all aspects of the Fijian way of life. Whether one is Indo-Fijian, Indigenous Fijian, from another pacific island, kylomo, or a kavailagi, there is no escaping music while in Fiji. This paper looks to explore the different social settings and context that music is created and then in turn listened to, and how the social setting of Fiji has shaped what music is created here. This paper also attempts to gather in a cohesive manner, what music is being …

Know Your Enemy: Tibetan Perceptions Of And Approaches To Chinese Studies In Exile, Katherine Mechling

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Achieving peaceful dialogue between Chinese and Tibetans is the crux of the Tibetan community in exile’s strategy to regain its homeland. Yet despite the recognized importance of cross-cultural communication the Tibetans, ideologically unwilling to separate “China the Oppressor” from “China the Neighbor” or even, potentially, “China the Co-Collaborator,” have largely avoided studying their adversary. Although increased literacy in Chinese language, knowledge of Chinese history and understanding of Chinese culture would enable the Tibetans to engage with China more effectively and productively, few initiatives exist in exile that facilitate the spread of such information. Receiving only a basic overview of Chinese …

Otter Realm, October 1, 2009, California State University, Monterey Bay

The Otter Realm

CSUMB Sets Sail -- Sooner Rather Than Later -- What You Otter Do! Oct 1 - Oct 15 -- Hello...Bonjour...Buenos Dias -- New Bins=No Excuses -- Pirating Still Prevalent -- Parking Wars -- Swine Flu -- Seeking Medical Attention -- Otter of the Issue: Mindy Mills -- Personal Growth and Counseling Center: Know When to Get Help -- Raising Baby Jaws -- Surroundings: Lessons -- No Cop, No Stop -- Sunday Funday -- Nor-Cal Ren Faire -- Vision And Volume -- Blink 182 Reunited After Four Year Break-up -- Fly Rides and Hot Chili: 11th Annual Marina Air Faire -- …

The Advocate, October 1, 2009, Minnesota State University Moorhead

The Advocate

No abstract provided.

Borrowing From The B Schools: The Legal Case Study As Course Materials For Transaction Oriented Elective Courses: A Response To The Challenges Of The Maccrate Report And The Carnegie Foundation For Advancement Of Teaching Report On Legal Education, Celeste M. Hammond

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Retail Investor In An Age Of Financial Uncertainty, Barbara Black

University of Dayton Law Review

No abstract provided.

Warm Ideas And Chilling Consequences, Arthur P. Bochner

Communication Faculty Publications

In the process of writing my academic memoirs spanning a period of more than thirty-five years, I discovered how crucial the work of Gregory Bateson had been to my life as a teacher, a scholar, and a relational partner. In this paper I celebrate Bateson's charming and incisive ideas about how communication works, his deep reservations about the worship of quantification, and his astute analysis of what is at stake when we make epistemological errors in everyday life. Reviewing a turning point in my academic life—a conference held in 1979, I reaffirm the importance of warm ideas and provide a …

The Voice, Fall 2009: Volume 55, Issue 1, Dordt College

The Voice Archive

Shim Makes an Internship Happen; Building Assets for Life; La Fiesta Spices Up the Weekend; Love Your Library; Zach Mulder Finds His Place in Politics; Dordt Cements a Growing Partnership with Northrise University in Zambia; Vos Will Help Zambians Find Better Ways to Feed Themselves; Writing Students Have an Impact on State EMT Squads; College Breaks Ground on Apartments; Engineering Keeps Up with Times; Commons Goes Greener; Concert Choir Honored by Regional Invitation; Nursing Department Gets New Digs; Fall Brings Out All of the Campus Athletic Teams; Learning Takes a Vacation in The Netherlands; Ribbens Academic Complex: Classroom Building Overhaul …

Moving Forward And Outward, Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Moving Forward and Outward is the third of five short articles about the history of Hope College, located in Holland, Michigan.

Integrating Elf4 Into The Circadian System Through Combined Structural And Functional Studies, Elsebeth Kolmos, Monika Nowak, Maria Werner, Katrin Fischer, Guenter Schwarz, Sarah Mathews, Heiko Schoof, Ferenc Nagy, Janusz M. Bujnicki, Seth J. Davis

Faculty Publications

The circadian clock is a timekeeping mechanism that enables anticipation of daily environmental changes. In the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the circadian system is a multiloop series of interlocked transcription-translation feedbacks. Several genes have been arranged in these oscillation loops, but the position of the core-clock gene ELF4 in this network was previously undetermined. ELF4 lacks sequence similarity to known domains, and functional homologs have not yet been identified. Here we show that ELF4 is functionally conserved within a subclade of related sequences, and forms an alpha-helical homodimer with a likely electrostatic interface that could be structurally modeled. We support this …

Los Arcos - Fall 2009, University Of Texas-Pan American

UTPA Archives - Los Arcos Magazine

No abstract provided.

El Farol Revisited: A Note On Emergence, Game Theory And Society, Martin Shubik

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The El Farol Bar problem with coordination is reconsidered in terms and extended with consideration of further context.

The Impact Of News Coverage On Conflict: Toward Greater Understanding, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

This article develops an approach for the empirical study of the news media’s impact on the conflict that it covers. While mass communications research has studied how the news media covers conflict, it has not taken the next step of assessing the impact of that coverage. This article contends that such an inquiry is necessarily an inter-disciplinary task, and joins conflict theory with mass communications research to identify the kinds of questions that may be empirically tested to determine whether the news media is having a constructive or destructive effect on the conflict that it covers.

Accurate Extraction Of Morphological Information From Volumetric Imagery, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

October 1, 2009, Council On Academic Affairs

Minutes

No abstract provided.

October 1, 2009, Council On Academic Affairs

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Default Penalty As A Disciplinary And Selection Mechanism In Presence Of Multiple Equilibria, Juergen Huber, Martin Shubik, Shyam Sunder

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Closed exchange and production-and-exchange economies may have multiple equilibria, a fact that is usually ignored in macroeconomic models. Our basic argument is that default and bankruptcy laws are required to prevent strategic default, and these laws can also serve to provide the conditions for uniqueness. In this paper we report experimental evidence on the effectiveness of this approach to resolving multiplicity: society can assign default penalties on fiat money so the economy selects one of the equilibria. Our data show that the choice of default penalty takes the economy to the neighborhood of the chosen equilibrium. The theory and evidence …

Default Penalty As A Selection Mechanism Among Multiple Equilibria, Juergen Huber, Martin Shubik, Shyam Sunder

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Closed exchange and production-and-exchange economies may have multiple equilibria, a fact that is usually ignored in macroeconomic models. Our basic argument is that default and bankruptcy laws are required to prevent strategic default, and these laws can also serve to provide the conditions for uniqueness. In this paper, we report experimental evidence on the effectiveness of this approach to resolving multiplicity: a society can assign default penalties on fiat money so that the economy selects one of the equilibria. Our data show that the choice of default penalty takes the economy close to the chosen equilibrium. The theory and evidence …

Default Penalty As A Selection Mechanism Among Multiple Equilibria, Juergen Huber, Martin Shubik, Shyam Sunder

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The possibility of the presence of multiple equilibria in closed exchange and production-and-exchange economies is usually ignored in macroeconomic models even though they are important in real economies. We argue that default and bankruptcy laws serve to provide the conditions for uniqueness of an equilibrium. In this paper, we report experimental evidence on the effectiveness of this approach to resolving multiplicity: a society can assign default penalties on fiat money so that the economy selects one of the equilibria. The laboratory data show that the choice of default penalty takes the economy near the chosen equilibrium. The theory and evidence …

Contributing Factors To Pointcut Fragility, Phil Greenwood, Awais Rashid, Raffi Khatchadourian

Publications and Research

Pointcut fragility is a well-documented problem of Aspect-Oriented Programming with changes to the base-code causing join points to incorrectly fall in or out of scope. In order to combat this problem a tool was developed that provides mechanical assistance to pointcut maintenance. This tool relied on the deep structural commonalities between program elements to detect when pointcut fragility occurs. During the assessment of this tool a number of common practices were uncovered that were employed both in the aspect and base-code that contributed to or prevented pointcut fragility. This paper documents the practices uncovered and describes how they can affect …

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Vegetation Monitoring And Analysis: Quarterly Progress Report, July 1, 2009 To September 30, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Vegetation Monitoring

Executive Summary

• Weed Sentry staff surveyed over 55 miles and 311 acres (most of which was conducted by foot) this quarter.
• Planning for future Brassica tournefortii research projects has been implemented through collaboration between PLI and NPS staff.
• Preliminary results from ongoing Brassica tournefortii projects indicate little effect of disturbance on abundance of the species, but, as expected, the species benefitted with increased water availability
• Rare plant data monitoring and data entry for this season is complete.
• Pre-planning activities for the upcoming Northshore Road restoration plantings and evaluation were initiated.
• Gypsum restoration research is ongoing, data are being analyzed and …

Heat And Smoke Effects On Red Brome Soil Seed Banks, Scott R. Abella, E. Cayenne Engel

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Management of exotic plants that are annuals entails understanding and managing their soil seed banks. We completed a study of the influences of heat and liquid smoke on red brome (Bromus rubens) soil seed banks collected from Red Rock Canyon in southern Nevada as part of a collaborative fire effects monitoring effort with Bureau of Land Management - Las Vegas. We collected the samples from the 2005 Loop Fire, where we observed in a monitoring field study that exotic grasses such as red brome were relatively sparse in the first 2-3 years (which were during a dry period) following the …