Digital Commons Network^™

Patterns Of Seasonal Variation In Diet, Abundance, And Movement Of The Scarlet Macaw (Ara Macao) In Southern Belize, Mark Stephen Mcreynolds

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study was conducted in 2008 and 2009 to determine if Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao), in subtropical southern Belize, Central America, are seasonal and elevational migrants and if their movement is influenced by seasonally abundant food. Reports from southern Belize indicated strongly seasonal sightings of macaws (N ≈ 200) in two separate areas of considerable difference in elevation. I monitored plant phenology plots (2 m x 500 m) in low (N = 6) and high (N = 6) elevation areas for a year to compare fruit abundance with macaw sightings in point counts on the plots and nearby. My point …

Transboundary Political Ecology In The Peru-Brazil Borderlands: Mapping Workshops, Geographic Information, And Socio-Environmental Impacts, David S. Salisbury, A. William Flores De Melo, Pedro Tipula Tipula

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Development, resource, and settlement frontiers inspired by national policies and global demand continue to expand into the international boundary lands of Amazonia. National policies promote development and conservation projects on lands already inhabited and managed. Regional governments are increasingly frustrated by the inadequate and outdated geographic information available to solve overlapping claims and improve planning in sensitive border regions. The resulting combination of inappropriate policies, contested resources, and poor geographic information in the borderlands create impacts not only for national, regional, and local landscapes and livelihoods but also foreign relations due to transboundary effects. This article uses a transboundary political …

Analyses Of Surface Wave Seismic Data And Supplemental Borehole And Electrical Resistivity Tomography Control, Mengxing Li

Masters Theses

"Multichannel analyses of surface wave (MASW) data and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) control were acquired at two test sites in central Missouri. Limestone bedrock existed at both test sites at variable depths. The ground surface at both test sites was relatively flat.

The primary objective was to map the variable depth to the top of the rock based on shear-wave velocity contrasts. ERT data and borehole control were acquired at each site in order to constrain the interpretation of the MASW data.

The MASW method proved to be more effective than the ERT method in terms of mapping soil layers …

Effects Of Hikers And Boats On Tule Elk Behavior In A National Park Wilderness Area, Benjamin H. Becker, Christopher M. Moi, Thomas J. Maguire, Robert Atkinson, Natalie B. Gates

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Human disturbance of wildlife may cause disruption of normal feeding, resting, reproduction, or care for juveniles. Such disturbance may be particularly undesirable in federally managed wilderness areas designed to minimize human influences on natural resources. We recorded tule elk (Cervus elephus nannodes) responses (standing, walking away, running) to off-trail hikers, off-shore boats, and other natural and anthropogenic factors in Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California during 2002 to 2008. Most disturbance behaviors were related to other elk exhibiting rutting behaviors, but off-trail hikers still explained a 100% increase and off-shore boats a 15% increase in baseline disturbance …

Measuring The Educational Impact Of Promoting Environmental Awareness In Kids (Peak): The Development And Implementation Of A New Scale, Jennifer Miller, Lindsey Brown, Eddie Hill, Amy Shellman, Ron Ramsing, Edwin Gómez

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (LNT) is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches skills and values for recreating responsibly in the out-of-doors. LNT developed Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids (PEAK), based on seven ethical principles. The PEAK program provides a pack that contains several interactive activities specifically designed to educate children about the outdoors and the responsible use of shared public lands. While the PEAK program has been in existence for a number of years, the program’s effectiveness has not been empirically tested. Moreover, there is limited data regarding responsible environmental attitudes and behavior in elementary school-aged …

Ecocriticism And Christian Literary Scholarship, Timothy J. Burbery

English Faculty Research

This essay presents a case for ecocriticism as a viable critical method for Christian scholars. It begins with an historical overview of the method, then examines common ground shared by ecocriticism and Christianity, including what amounts to a kind of critical realism, and the belief in the inherent goodness of creation. Two potential obstacles are then addressed by way of Lynn White, Jr.'s famous essay, "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis." These include the relationship of the Bible and the environment, and the charge of anthropocentrism. I believe White is partly right, but contend that neither objection is fatal …

Assessment Of Soil Erosion Vulnerability In Rural Communities In The Vicinity Of Motozintla De Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico : A Physical And Sociological Approach, Selene B. González-Morales

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Soil erosion is a natural geological phenomenon resulting from removal and transportation of soil particles by water, wind, ice and gravity. As soil erosion may be affected from cultural factors as well. The physical and social phenomena of soil erosion are researched in six communities in the upper part of Rio Grijalva Basin in the vicinity of Motozintla de Mendoza, Chiapas, Mexico. For this study, the USDA RUSLE model was applied to estimate soil erosion rates in the six communities based on the available data. The RUSLE model is based on soil properties, topography, and land cover and management factors. …

Agriculture And Food In Crisis: Conflict, Resistance, And Renewal [Book Review], Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Edited by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar. 2010. Monthly Review Press, New York, New York, United States. 348 p. Paperback, cloth US$ 75.00, paper US$ 18.95, ISBN-13 978-1-58367-226-6.

That doubling of food production over the next four decades will be needed to adequately nourish our human population is not news, but the incredible steps essential to achieve that goal and their political and social implications are less well reported. In this series of 16 essays edited by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar, several thoughtful specialists in global food issues explore the historical, biological, economic, energy, political and social dimensions of …

Genotoxic And Mutagenic Effects Of Aqueous Extract From Aerial Parts Of Achillea Teretifolia, Di̇lek Akyil, Sedat Oktay, Recep Li̇man, Yasi̇n Eren, Muhsi̇n Konuk

Turkish Journal of Biology

Genotoxic and mutagenic effects of aqueous extract from aerial parts of Achillea teretifolia (At-ext) were investigated using both Allium cepa root meristematic cells and a short-term mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium with TA98 and TA100 strains in the presence or absence of S9 mix, respectively. In the Allium tests, EC_{50} value was determined as 50 g/L, and 0.5 × EC_{50}, EC_{50}, and 2 × EC_{50} concentrations of At-ext were applied to onion tuber roots. Methyl methane sulfonate (MMS, 10 ppm) and distilled water were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The mitotic index (MI) increased in all concentrations in …

Workplace Futures: A Case Study Of An Adaptive Scenarios Approach To Establish Strategies For Tomorrow’S Workplace, Ruth Saurin

Doctoral

Workplace change and innovation will become critical to the organisation’s future in a dynamic, knowledge-based economy and society. As such, anticipating and managing future change is fast becoming a vital dimension underpinning the successful transition – to new work styles, patterns and locations; yet traditional workplace planning methods are rather limited in their ability to fulfil this task. This research, therefore, examines how the potential application of Futures Studies, and more specifically the Prospective
Through Scenarios process, can address this issue in order for the workplace to be actively sustained to stay effective for the organisation in the long-term.Using a …

Y'All Eat: Foodways, Performative Regional Identity, And The South In The Twenty-First Century, Kirsten Schofield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Y'all Eat: Foodways, Performative Regional Identity, and the South in the Twenty-first Century" examines the ways in which iconic Southerners--Jim Beam and his ilk, Colonel Harland Sanders, and Paula Deen--create and sustain the hypercontemporary South. Because of their media exposure and place in the popular imagination, these characters force a specific kind of performance in both an intergroup and intragroup context. Close readings of individual appearances and selected portions of these characters' output help to shed light on how these identities are formed, upon what they rely for structure and support, and what this means for modern consumers around the …

Esc/Geg 3830 : Building Geodatabases, Geology/Geography

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Ursinus Magazine, Winter 2012, Wendy Greenberg, Kathryn Campbell, Ellen Labrecque, Bobby Fong, Andrew Clark, Kelly Sorensen, Abbie Cichowski, Mariana Bergerson, Chelsea Sproul

Ursinus Magazine, 1995–Present

Farewell and congratulations to Dean Judith Levy • Drumroll, please; Mark Gadson joins Ursinus Advancement staff • Faculty books • Heefner organ • Balance and broaden • Redemptive power of music • Which fork event • America Reads holiday party hosted by Ursinus tutors • Business students compete • Student-athlete earns accolades • The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art exhibitions on view • Take your best shot: Collegeville on Camera days • Homecoming 2011 • Welcome to the blogosphere • Nothing short of amazing: Ursinus field hockey wins Centennial Conference • Inauguration of Bobby Fong, Ph.D. • A …

Fussy Feeders: Phyllosoma Larvae Of The Western Rocklobster (Panulirus Cygnus) Demonstrate Prey Preference, M I Saunders, P A Thompson, A G Jeffs, Christin Sawstrom, N Sachlikidis, L E Beckley, A M Waite

Research outputs 2012

The Western Rocklobster (Panulirus cygnus) is the most valuable single species fishery in Australia and the largest single country spiny lobster fishery in the world. In recent years a well-known relationship between oceanographic conditions and lobster recruitment has become uncoupled, with significantly lower recruitment than expected, generating interest in the factors influencing survival and development of the planktonic larval stages. The nutritional requirements and wild prey of the planktotrophic larval stage (phyllosoma) of P. cygnus were previously unknown, hampering both management and aquaculture efforts for this species. Ship-board feeding trials of wild-caught mid-late stage P. cygnus phyllosoma in the eastern …

Nature Is Ordinary Too: Raymond Williams As The Founder Of Ecocultural Studies, Rodney Giblett

Research outputs 2012

In a recent article in Cultural Studies, Jennifer Daryl Slack called for the jettisoning of ecocultural studies as an add-on to Cultural Studies and the revitalizing of Cultural Studies with the eco as integral to it. One way I propose of doing so in this article is to revalue and re-establish the beginnings of Cultural Studies, and of ecocultural studies, in the work of Raymond Williams in which both were integral to the other. I call Williams both a founder of Cultural Studies and the founder of ecocriticism and ecocultural studies, though of course he did not use these terms, …

Exploring Visitor Experiences Along The Going-To-The-Sun Corridor Of Glacier National Park, Elena Nikolaeva

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Visitor use on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR) corridor is one of the most critical issues that Glacier National Park faces. According to the park’s General Management Plan, it should be addressed to safeguard the quality of park resources and the visitor experiences. 80% of park visitors travel along at least some part of the road, which is the primary park experience and one of the most spectacular highlights of the park. The road was built in early 1930, and now brings almost 2 million visitors annually into the heart of Glacier NP. Increased number of cars on this narrow historic …

Private Property Owner Regard Of Hazard Fuel Mitigation In The Wildland Urban Interface, Jennifer Ann Martynuik

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The objective of this research was to document and to analyze private property owner reasons and justifications for implementing, or not, the fire prevention effort of hazard fuel mitigation. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 property owners in the forest proximate community of Seeley Lake, Montana. Using an interpretive approach and grounded theory methodology, the content analyses of transcribed interviews was completed for the purpose of capturing the variations in WUI property owner behaviors and viewpoints on hazard fuel mitigation. The property owners provided diverse reasons and nuanced justifications for their decisions. Hazard fuel mitigation was often undertaken for …

Restoring The "Shining Waters": Milltown, Montana And The History Of Superfund Implementation, David James Brooks

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation is a case study of a dam removal and river restoration within the nation's largest Superfund site. In 1981, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included Milltown Reservoir on its first list of Superfund sites. Superfund law capped two decades of the federal government's most aggressive environmental legislation. While tracking the national story of Superfund law, my story provides a local view of how individuals, organizations, and agencies shaped the Superfund process. After the EPA designated Milltown a national Superfund site, the environment itself, persistent work within the channels of public policy, and federally-mediated compromise helped restore some shine …

Assessing The Role Of Shame And Honor During The Alta Conflict, Michael T. Bremmer

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

For nearly a century the Sami peoples of Norway were subject to colonial policies of assimilation and integration. According to historians of the Sami, colonial processes stigmatized Sami individuals and the Sami culture, producing feelings of shame. The concept of shame, for both individuals and groups, centers on experiencing fear, pain, and/or uneasiness, and requires a judging audience. Honor is about individuals transcending self-interest and the need for individuals and groups to acquire self-esteem for that purpose; it also requires a judging audience. Concepts of shame and honor played an important role during the Alta conflict; a watershed moment in …

An Inquiry Into Eco-Labeling: The Promise Of Predator Friendly Certification (Pfc), Melissa Ellen Katherine Early

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Agricultural landscapes play key roles in preserving biodiversity through habitat protection while providing ecosystem services necessary for rural livelihoods. There is a small, but growing movement among agricultural producers to live with nature rather than to dominate nature. Within this larger agriculture movement are efforts to live with predators rather than eliminating them through lethal means. This is reflective of the changing conversation around predators in the New West. Means of co-existence include livestock guardian animals, electric fencing, fladry, range rider patrols, rotational grazing, and lights etc. One grassroots effort in this area is Predator Friendly Certification (PFC). PFC is …

Constructing Wilderness: The Nexus Of Preservation And Ocean-Space In The United States, Ryan Orgera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ocean has long played a minor role in human geography; imagining it as natural space rather than an extractive space even less significant. This dissertation explores the most revered kind of American nature preservation: wilderness. Despite the millions of acres set aside as wilderness in the United States, no such designation exists for ocean-space as a discrete entity. Through the analysis of congressional hearings, bills, resolutions, public laws, and maps, this dissertation uncovers the complex constructs of the production of legal wilderness. Furthermore, it uncovers a novel vein of inquiry, that of the ocean as a preserved natural space. …

The Effect Of Disinfectants, Cleaning, And Drying Practices On Oriental Rugs Flooded With Contaminated River Water: Public Health And Policy Implications, Daniel Bernazzani

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Oriental rugs contaminated with Category 3 floodwater potentially harbor environmental bacteria known to be human pathogens. River water inoculated with three species of gram positive and gram negative environmental bacteria (Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were used to assess the effectiveness of disinfectant type, cleaning methodology and drying practices by examining the survival rates of bacteria. Rug sections were immersed for one hour in contaminated water, saturated in one of three EPA registered disinfectant products (Phenol, Quaternary chloride, and Thyme oil) or tap water as a control, followed by cleaning and drying. The results showed that all disinfectants reduced …

Implementation Of Initiatives To Reform The Quality Of Education In Rural Ghanaian Junior High Schools, Agatha Inkoom

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite Ghana's record investment in education, in 2008, only 40% of students passed the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) at the end of junior high school and gained admission into senior high school. Urban schools continue to outperform rural schools and the gap between Ghana‟s best and worst performing schools continues to widen. This study investigated the effectiveness of education policy implementation and how this has impacted on education reform in one rural district of Ghana‟s Upper West Region. The research investigated the status of education in Junior High Schools, the impact of Reform 2007 and the factors that influenced …

Risk Magnified: Standing Under The Statist Lens, Mary D. Fan

Articles

Why some harms count before the courts and others do not is a matter of acute expressive and practical impact. Judicial refusal to see claimed injuries is an effective denial of legal personhood and a bar from powerful judicial machinery. The issue of “erratic, even bizarre” judicial recognition of supplicants vexed Professor Joseph Vining as early as 1978. Recent scholarship argues that injuries are seen through a subjective lens, reflecting the relative privilege of the judiciary and their concomitant difficulties in perceiving injuries to minorities and the poor. This is a troubling contention. So long as another, objective explanation remains, …

Use Of Environmental Isotope Tracer And Gis Techniques To Estimate Basin Recharge, Abdulganiu A.A. Odunmbaku

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The extensive use of ground water only began with the advances in pumping technology at the early portion of 20th Century. Groundwater provides the majority of fresh water supply for municipal, agricultural and industrial uses, primarily because of little to no treatment it requires. Estimating the volume of groundwater available in a basin is a daunting task, and no accurate measurements can be made. Usually water budgets and simulation models are primarily used to estimate the volume of water in a basin.

Precipitation, land surface cover and subsurface geology are factors that affect recharge; these factors affect percolation which invariably …

Propagation Of Interval And Probabilistic Uncertainty In Cyberinfrastructure-Related Data Processing And Data Fusion, Christian Servin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Data uncertainty affects the results of data processing. So, it is necessary to find out how the data uncertainty propagates into the uncertainty of the results of data processing.

This problem is especially important when cyberinfrastructure enables us to process large amounts of heterogeneous data.

In the ideal world, we should have an accurate description of data

uncertainty, and well-justified efficient algorithms to propagate this uncertainty. In practice, we are often not yet in this ideal situation:

the description of uncertainty is often only approximate, and the algorithms for uncertainty propagation are often not well-justified and not very computationally efficient. …

Trading Off The Benefits And Burdens: Coal Development In The Transboundary Flathead River Valley, Nadia E. Soucek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The potential for coal development in the transboundary Flathead River Valley threatened the ecological integrity of the Crown of the Continent for more than thirty years. Economic benefits from coal mining in British Columbia were pitted against the environmental concerns of poor water quality, endangered species protection, and connectivity issues were of particular interest in Montana. This paper examines the course of coal development proposals in the transboundary valley through government statements, reports, and news sources to track changes in policies or actions that led to a resolution. Tensions between the benefits and burdens of coal development were resolved in …

What They Consider, How They Decide: Best Practices Of Technical Experts In Environmental Decision-Making, Cassandra J. Hemphill

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Drawing from qualitative data gathered from environmental management professionals, this paper describes best practices for decision-making in environmental clean-up. Technical experts are knowledgeable about both cultural and technical rationality and employ both, as appropriate, to achieve more robust decisions. Experts use active, passive, and interactive communicative strategies to reduce uncertainties and manage tensions. Deliberation is used to achieve robust decisions. The analysis suggests that organizations can improve acceptability of decisions by authorizing experts to incorporate cultural rationality early in the decision process.

Reading The Standing Tea Leaves In American Electric Power Co. V. Connecticut, Bradford C. Mank

University of Richmond Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court by an equally divided vote offour to four affirmed the Second Circuit's decision finding standing and jurisdiction in the case in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut. While not binding as precedent beyond the Second Circuit,the case offers clues to how the Court is likely to rule in future standing cases. This article discusses the likely identities of the four Justices on each side of the standing issue in the case, as well as how Justice Sotomayor might have voted if she had not recused herself. Furthermore, the article examines how the decision expand- ed on …

A High-Resolution Palynological Analysis Of The St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama: Locating The Eocene-Oligocene Boundary And Characterizing The Environmental Changes Across The Margin, Kevin Jensen

LSU Master's Theses

The Eocene-Oligocene (E-O) transition is a key interval in geological history because it marks a major change in Earth’s climate and because these strata are also popular oil targets in the Gulf Coast. E-O sequences in Alabama are stratigraphically complex. The St. Stephens Quarry (SSQ) in Alabama is one of the few accessible quarries along the Gulf Coast where the E-O boundary is visible in outcrop. Despite the abundance of research projects conducted in the SSQ, many controversies still surround the E-O boundary placement and correlation to the Global Stratotype in the Massignano section in Italy that is based on …