Digital Commons Network^™

Geospatial Tools And Techniques For Watershed Management Using Swat 2009, Naresh Pai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, geospatial tools and techniques were developed to support specific aspects of watershed pollution management, such as quantifying land-use change (LUC) impacts, prioritizing subwatersheds, and communicating field-scale impacts, using the soil and water assessment tool 2009 (SWAT 2009) model.

For the land-use change objective, a geospatial tool titled SWAT2009_LUC was developed that enables SWAT modelers to prepare specific input files for simulating concurrent land-use changes during the SWAT 2009 model simulations. Testing of the tool for the Illinois River Drainage Area in Arkansas (IRDAA) watershed showed that the tool accurately represented temporal land-uses within the model. Model simulations …

Recent Rates Of Forest Harvest And Conversion In North America, Jeffrey G. Masek, Warren B. Cohen, Donald Leckie, Michael A. Wulder, Rodrigo Vargas, Ben De Jong, S. P. Healey, Beverly Law, Richard Birdsey, R. A. Houghton, David J. Mildrexler, Samuel Goward, W. Brad Smith

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

Incorporating ecological disturbance into biogeochemical models is critical for estimating current and future carbon stocks and fluxes. In particular, anthropogenic disturbances, such as forest conversion and wood harvest, strongly affect forest carbon dynamics within North America. This paper summarizes recent (2000–2008) rates of extraction, including both conversion and harvest, derived from national forest inventories for North America (the United States, Canada, and Mexico). During the 2000s, 6.1 million ha/yr were affected by harvest, another 1.0 million ha/yr were converted to other land uses through gross deforestation, and 0.4 million ha/yr were degraded. Thus about 1.0% of North America's forests experienced …

Using Gis To Determine The Influence Of Wetlands On Cayuga Iroquois Settlement Location Strategies, David J. Birnbaum

HIM 1990-2015

The archaeological record of the Iroquois supports that settlements were regularly relocated during the protohistoric period (1500-1650 A.D.). With the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) computer software, archaeologists may analyze variables potentially resulting in or influencing the movement of settlements. Through the use of spatial analysis, I argue that Cayuga Iroquois settlement locations were influenced by the environmental characteristics of their surrounding landscape. Specifically, wetlands are believed to have influenced settlement location choices in central New York state. This study examines the spatial relationships between wetland habitats and protohistoric period Cayuga Iroquois settlements where swidden maize agriculture comprised most …

An Examination Of Supplemental Educational Services Expectations And Realities In A Large Public School District, Kristin Blair

HIM 1990-2015

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This sweeping legislation brought reform to every area of public education by establishing seven performance-based provisions. Supplemental Educational Services is a core aspect of NCLB, designed to meet two of the seven goals: improving academic performance of disadvantaged students and promoting innovative programs. SES tutoring is provided free of charge to parents for students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch and that attend a Title I school that has not made Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, for three or more years. The …

The Role Of Rain In Postclassic Maya Religious Belief, Lillie U. Dao

HIM 1990-2015

The concept of religion and its practice within ancient societies across the world is a subject that has fascinated scientists for centuries. The pre-Columbian Maya codices, first-hand Postclassic hieroglyphic documents, have been examined by hundreds of anthropologists. Analysis of these books has led scientist to hypothesize that these manuscripts were vitally connected to the Maya Postclassic belief system. Understanding the central focus of a civilization's religion and how, why and under what circumstances the religion is practiced truly distinguishes them as a culture. The intent of this thesis is to examine the role of rain in Maya Postclassic religious belief. …

Soundings 2011-12-01, N/A N/A

Soundings

No abstract provided.

Selected Characteristics For Nebraska Legislative Districts From The 2006‐2010 American Community Survey, Center For Public Affairs Research (Cpar)

Past Publications

On December 8, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released five‐year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates for the combined years of 2006 through 2010, making available social, economic, housing and demographic statistics for every community in Nebraska and the nation. Also available are estimates for Nebraska’s Legislative Districts.

The data are based on a rolling national sample survey mailed to about 3 million addresses each year, resulting in nearly 2 million final interviews each year from 2006 through 2010. By pooling several years of survey responses, the ACS can generate detailed statistical portraits of smaller geographies such as legislative districts. The …

The Mediterranean Hybridity Project: Crossing The Boundaries Of Law And Culture, Seán Patrick Donlan

Journal of Civil Law Studies

No abstract provided.

George Dargo, Jefferson’S Louisiana: Politics And The Clash Of Legal Traditions, Agustín Parise

Journal of Civil Law Studies

No abstract provided.

December 2011 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Recently Certified Cdfi Banks And The Cdfi Banking Sector, Susan Longworth, Robin Newberger

Documents

No abstract provided.

Evolving Law And Policy For Freshwater Ecosystem Service Markets, Martin W. Doyle, Todd Bendor

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Identifying Effort Estimation Factors For Corrective Maintenance In Object-Oriented Systems, Michael J. Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research identifies factors that impact software maintenance effort by exploring the decision-making process of expert estimators of corrective maintenance projects by using qualitative methods to identify the factors that they use in deriving estimates. We implement a technique called causal mapping, which allows us to identify the cognitive links between the information that estimators use, and the estimates that they produce based on that information. Results suggest that a total of 17 factors may be relevant for corrective maintenance effort estimation, covering constructs related to developers, code, defects, and environment. When these factors are rank-ordered, they demonstrate that some …

The Information Battlefield: Al-Qaeda's Use Of Advanced Media Technologies For Framed Messaging, Jessica Marie Martin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Through a descriptive and qualitative content analysis of Al-Qaeda videos from 2001 to 2010, this thesis describes how the organization's video production has undergone a surge in production quality by using modern technology and skilled recruits. This thesis also provides background on the Islamic culture and the history of Al-Qaeda in order to put into perspective the goals of the organization's framed messages that are incorporated into their videos. The study also draws on parallels of propaganda use throughout history to highlight how regimes from all over the world understand the importance of communication during a time of war.

Place, Purpose, And Practice: A Case Study Examining Rural Teachers’ Sense Of Community And Its Impact In The Classroom, Faith Beyer Hansen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In an era in which education policy directs schools towards economic outcomes and away from local and/or community goals, this research is rooted in the notion that place matters (Howley & Howley, 1995). More specifically, this study examines what impact a rural teacher’s sense of community has on her experiencing both the broader community, the community of her individual classroom, and on her practice.

This collective case study followed six teachers in one rural middle school in the mountain west. Participants were nominated using a Sense of Community Index (SCI-2) and fell into the following categories: teachers with a low, …

Number 15, 2011, Palara Editors

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

Complete Issue

Inducing Private Wildfire Risk Mitigation: Experimental Investigation Of Measures On Adjacent Public Lands, Tyler Prante, Joseph M. Little, Michael L. Jones, Michael Mckee, Robert P. Berrens

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Increasing private wildfire risk mitigation is an important part of the larger forest restoration policy challenge. Data from an economic experiment are used to evaluate the effectiveness of providing fuel treatments on public land adjacent to private land to induce private wildfire risk mitigation. Results show evidence of “crowding out” where public spending can decrease the level of private risk mitigation. However, a policy prescription that ameliorates this crowding out is identified. Participants undertake more mitigation when fuel treatments on publicly owned lands are conditional on a threshold level of private mitigation effort and information describing each participant’s spending is …

Financing Inclusive Growth In Nigeria: Challenges And Prospects, Sheriff A. Tella, Patrick I. Esenwah

Economic and Financial Review

This paper is divided into four Sections. The first is the introduction and definition of the title of the article, next is Section 2, which contains literature on theoretical construct on economic growth and development models, including Inclusive Growth (IG) model while in Section 3 we present the role of money in economic growth. Section 4 looks at models of financial inclusion and evidence of financing inclusive growth in some developing countries. In Section 5, we identified challenges and prospects for financing inclusive growth in Nigeria. Section 5 is the concluding remark where some recommendations are proposed for successful inclusive …

Finance For Growth And Policy Options For Emerging And Developing Economies: Nigeria., W. Olayiwola, H. Okodua

Economic and Financial Review

The analysis in the paper clearly revealed that finance is important for a sustainable economic growth. It also shows that financial policies designed in various EME countries had the main aim of making the financial system provide financial functions. However, there are large differences in how well the financial system in each country performed these functions. Also, it is well noted that what matters to economic growth is access to financial services and not who supplies them, whether it is private sector as in South Africa and Nigeria or the combination of public and private sectors as in China. The …

Getting There, Increasing Access To Destinations, Part Iv, Land Use And Transportation Planning, Tennessee. Advisory Commission On Intergovernmental Relations.

Land Use Reports

No abstract provided.

Bycatch Of The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Inshore Shrimp Fishery And Its Effect On Two Sea Catfish Species: The Gafftopsail Catfish (Bagre Marinus) And The Hardhead Catfish (Ariopsis Felis), Scott P. Eustis

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In Lake Pontchartrain Basin, commercial fishing in estuarine habitats impacts many non-target species collected as bycatch. I investigated the bycatch assemblages collected by commercial vessels and compared these to assemblages collected by typical fishery-independent methods. I compared assemblages using analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and determined important species by weight and abundance using similarity percentages analyses (SIMPER). I also examined differences in size-class distributions by gear type using density kernel plots and Mann-Whitney U tests. The two gear types collected significantly different assemblages (ANOSIM R = 0.522, p = 0.001) and gear type explained more composition differences than other factors such …

Finance For Growth And Policy Options For Emerging And Developing Economies: Nigeria, Wumi Olayiwola, Henry Okoduwa, Evans Osabuohien

Economic and Financial Review

This paper attempts to address the issues of the major impediments to mobilising investment funds, and the appropriate policies for achieving and guaranteeing finance for growth, by assessing the performance of financial policies of selected EMEs in mobilising financial resources for economic growth, and identifying policy options necessary for achieving finance for growth. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 discusses the basic characteristics of emerging economies (EMEs), and Section 3 positions Nigeria among the EMEs within the context of finance for growth. Section 4 deals with challenges and constraints of Nigeria in achieving finance for …

Financing Inclusive Growth In Nigeria: Challenges And Prospects., S.A. Tella

Economic and Financial Review

After the introduction, the rest of this paper is divided into four Sections. The next section, Section 2, contains literature on theoretical construct on economic growth and development models, including Inclusive Growth (IG) model while in Section 3 we present the role of money in economic growth. Section 4 looks at models of financial inclusion and evidence of financing inclusive growth in some developing countries. In Section 5, we identified challenges and prospects for financing inclusive growth in Nigeria. Section 5 is the concluding remark where some recommendations are proposed for successful inclusive growth financing in Nigeria.

In Times Of Medical Crisis: Inadequacy Of Legal Remedies Available To Sexual Minorities., A. Nicole Kwapisz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Society has become more tolerant and accepting of changes to the social order. Yet many people still feel the need to cover when in public. Covering is a practice of sexual minorities hiding who they really are for fear of judgment and stereotyping. The media portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (collectively LGBT) issues allows people to grow more comfortable and accepting of sexual minorities. In the climate of change and acceptance, many LGBT individuals choose to live their lives cover-free. However, refusing to downplay their stigmatized identities leads to routine denial of equal treatment. The rights of sexual …

Print Vs. Online Journalism: Are Believability And Accuracy Affected By Where Readers Find Information?, Burton Speakman

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Believability and accuracy of print and online news is studied via the comments of newspaper readers of a small Texas community. The readers of the Normangee Star were chosen to be the survey recipients to learn if readers in a small community had the same attitude about their local newspaper that national surveys have indicated exist about newspapers in general. The expectation was that those who read more news online would consider their local paper to be less believable and accurate than those who read little to no news online. Surveys were mailed to 200 subscribers of the Star, …

Early Detection And Control Of Potential Pandemics., Shengpeng Jin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early information is crucial for policy makers and public health officials responsible for protecting the public from the virulent spread of contagious diseases. Current indicators of the spread of contagious outbreaks lag behind the actual spread of the epidemic, leaving no time for a planned response. The studies of Christakis et al. in 2010 have shown that social networks can provide more timely information for prediction. Our focus, however, is on the effective control of the spread of contagious outbreaks in their early stages. We do this by defining a more effective way to chart the spread of contagious outbreaks, …

Stakeholder Participation In Large Scale Complex Systems Modeling: Lessons From An Urbansim Users Community, Sandra H. Goff

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Complex systems models for urban and regional simulation are increasingly being used as tools within decision-making processes underscoring the need to involve stakeholders in the modeling process. Stakeholder participation can serve both learning and community-building purposes, improving model legitimacy, saliency and accuracy and resolving conflicts over competing interests. However, the complex and highly technical nature of modeling activities has the potential to serve as an important barrier to stakeholder engagement. Members of an online UrbanSim user community were contacted in order to examine stakeholder participation in the development and implementation of UrbanSim models. For analysis purposes, a participation hierarchy was …

Space Makers Or Space Cadets Exploring Children's Perceptions Of Space And Place In The Context Of A Dublin Primary School, A Loxley, B O'Leary, Sj Minton

School of Psychology

This paper discusses two interconnected themes: (1) the variegated role of space in primary school architecture; and (2), the perception of this space as a lived phenomenon from the perspective of pupils. In this context, space is not seen as being synonymous with the physical properties of a school (although this does exert an influence), but as an 'active ingredient' through which a particular social order is produced and sustained. Echoing the work of Lefebvre's (1991) triadic conceptualisation of space, Markus's (1993) meshing of architecture and power (via Foucault, 1991a, 1991b), certain extensions of ecological/ecosystemic theories of child and adolescent …

Gis Assisted Problem Analysis Of Trail Erosion In Monongahela National Forest, Steven J. Storck

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research investigates the frequency and patterns of trail erosion on purposefully selected natural surface trails in Monongahela National Forest. Trail erosion is considered a non-self-limiting process which degrades trail beds making them unattractive, difficult to travel on, and has the potential to impact local streams with the introduction of silt. Recreation ecology research delineates factors which influence the rate of erosion on a trail into three broad categories: recreational use, environmental conditions, and managerial actions. This study tests the relationship of variables from each of these categories to the local patterns of erosion. Three sampling strategies are used to …

Exploration Of Stream Habitat Spatial Modeling; Using Geographically Weighted Regression, Ordinary Least Squares Regression, And Natural Neighbor Interpolation To Model Depth, Flow, And Benthic Substrate In Streams, Kenneth R. Sheehan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Assessment and modeling of stream habitat are integral to understanding streams and the biota within them. In the past several decades, assessment sophistication of ecologic systems increased due to analysis power afforded by gains in computing capability. Spatial data analysis methodology grew alongside computing power and incorporated spatial qualities of ecological data, thereby providing new insights. New methods like geographically weighted regression (GWR) and more established methods like interpolation are now being used in ecological studies to guide assessments and management decisions. However, their accuracy and utility for analysis of stream habitat data have not been fully explored. To clarify …