Digital Commons Network^™

An Invitation For Engagement: Assigning And Assessing Field Notes To Promote Deeper Levels Of Observation, John S. Farnsworth, Lyn Baldwin, Michelle Bezanson

Environmental Studies and Sciences

This paper explores current practices for teaching the discipline of keeping field notes within academic natural history courses. We investigate how journal projects can be structured to promote engagement with the natural world while emphasizing the importance of recording accurate and honest observations. Particular attention is paid herein to the assignment of field notes, and to the process of assessing the results of these assignments. Our discussion includes results from an informal survey of best practices among colleagues representing numerous natural history disciplines.

Library Journal Book Reviews, Michal Strutin

Staff publications, research, and presentations

Reviews of the following books: Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster. 2014 Zero Waste Solution: Untrashing the Planet One Community at a Time. 2013 A Thousand Deer: Four Generations of Hunting and the Hill Country. 2012 The Last Lost World: Ice Ages, Human Origins, and the Invention of the Pleistocene. 2012 The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance. 2012 The Great Disruption: How the Climate Crisis Will Change Everything. 2011 Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life. 2009 Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet. 2009 Nature's Clocks: How Scientists Measure …

Group Social Climate And Individual Peer Interaction: Exploring Complex Relationships On Extended Wilderness Courses, Benjamin J. Mirkin

Research in Outdoor Education

This study explored how adolescents' perception of the social climate on wilderness expedition courses related to changes in how they approached peer interactions. Contrary to the hypothesis, on average, their orientation toward adaptive peer interaction decreased (n=251) from pre- to postcourse test. The individual level predictors of change in peer interactions were student's perception of group cohesion, task orientation, instructor control; and at the group level, instructor perception of the fun or playfulness of the course, as well as the course make-up (i.e., having participants who have been on previous similar experiences). This research contributes to knowledge of …

Impact Of Impervious Surfaces On Water Quality By Measurement Of Macroinvertebrates In Rock Island And Moline, Illinois, Kara Noonan

Urban Watershed Project

Streams have been degrading in quality since the introduction of impervious surfaces. Water concentrations have been altered as sediment and other pollutants have been introduced from severe erosion from runoff. As the water continues to change, the biotic integrity becomes disturbed. More specifically, aquatic invertebrate populations begin to change. More organisms that can tolerate poor quality streams are thriving as organisms that can only tolerate high quality streams are beginning to run thin. This study strives to find a spatial relationship between impervious surfaces around Rock Island and Moline, Illinois and the water quality within the streams by looking at …

"Over The River And Through The Woods": An Analysis Of Understory And Canopy Plant Diversity In Urban Riparian Forests, Carlisle R. Evans Peck

Urban Forest Project

As population growth explodes and urban areas expand, studying the ecology of urban areas has become increasingly important. Urban development has been shown to drastically alter native habitats and to severely degrade biodiversity. However, urban landscapes also hold the potential to harbor and support valuable biodiversity especially if managed correctly. We studied the understory herbaceous plant and overstory tree canopy diversity of eight forested ravines in the small cities of Rock Island and Moline IL surrounded by a range of urban development intensity. The goal of the project was to determine whether or not the composition of the plant communities …

Rising Tide 2014, Une Office Of Research And Scholarship, Edward Bilsky, Annie Leslie, Une Communications

Rising Tide

Research and scholarship highlights from University of New England community members of the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Pharmacy, School of Community and Population Health, Westbrook College of Health Professions, and Centers of Excellence.

2014 International Pinot Noir Celebration Program, International Pinot Noir Celebration

IPNC Documents

This document is the 2014 program for the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC), held annually on the campus of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. The program contains a detailed schedule of the celebration’s major events, presentations, and meals, as well as information regarding guest speakers and chefs visiting the campus. The program also includes a short description of all participating wineries for 2014, both foreign and domestic, along with a listing of the IPNC board of directors and all major supporters and contributors to the event.

Lake Powell 1971–1983, Stanley L. Welsh

Books by Faculty of the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum

Abstract

This work catalogs the author’s experiences collecting plants and surveying the area around Lake Powell as part of a long-term environmental study of the Navajo-Kaiparowits region, which was approved through BYU and funded by a consortium of power companies. Data collected included plant and animal inventories, population demographics of small mammals, and weather. The account details several incidents of the type bound to occur in field research and mentions by name many students involved in the project. Numerous photographs are included. Seventeen new plant species are listed, which were named from specimens acquired in the area. The appendix lists …

A Study Of The Feasibility Of A Transfer Of Development Rights Program In Lewiston, Maine, Lucy Triedman, Caroline Caldwell, Elizabeth Sangree, Mark Mccauley

Community Engaged Research Reports

This project was conducted in collaboration with David Hedinger in Lewiston’s City Planning Office in order to assess the feasibility of a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Program in Lewiston. The overall aim of this project was to apply scholarly literature, findings from case studies, and input from experienced professionals to determine what successful TDR programs look like, the factors they possess, and the conditions present.

The primary problem that TDR programs seek to address is urban sprawl, or the slow spread of development outside of the urban centers into the rural fringes. Urban sprawl has two chief components: 1) …

Testing Disturbance Methods To Aid Interseeding Forbs In A Grass-Dominated Prairie Restoration In Northeast Indiana, Adam Thada

Master of Environmental Science (MES) Theses

Many tallgrass prairie restorations fail to match the level of biodiversity found in undisturbed prairie remnants. Restorations often become excessively dominated by warm-season grasses at the expense of forbs due to the lack of historical disturbance regimes. Interseeding new species often requires a disturbance mechanism to aid establishment of new plants. In April 2013, five native forb species were seeded into a restoration dominated by Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem). Two types of treatments were used in a factorial design: biomass removal by haying or burning, and application of a grass-specific herbicide. After one growing season, seedling counts of sown and …

Biodiversity Of Corticolous Macrolichens In A Selected Northeastern Indiana Forest And Implications For Conservation, Margaret L. (Gray) Kubina

Master of Environmental Science (MES) Theses

The hardwood forests of Indiana are experiencing a decline in oak (Quercus) regeneration. Most forests are undergoing sugar maple (Acer saccharum) replacement in the understory. This dynamic is of concern because of the potential decline in total species diversity in these forests. Lichens can be valuable indicators of forest health; however, they are not included in Indiana’s forest health monitoring program. An analysis of lichen biodiversity was conducted at Salamonie River State Forest (SRSF) in Wabash County, Indiana. The objectives of this study were to survey the current lichen biodiversity within SRSF in northeastern Indiana and …

Taylor University Catalog 2014-2015, Taylor University

Undergraduate Catalogs

The 2014-2015 academic catalog of Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.

2014 Year In Review

Environmental Law at Maryland

No abstract provided.

Bangalore: Urban Development And Environmental Injustice, Mayrah Udvardi

Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis bridges the transnational discourses on environmental justice and urban social inequality through an in depth analysis of Bangalore, India. I define environmental justice as the meaningful participation in the development of the environment and the fair access to that environment across peoples regardless of difference. Although gaining traction in other global cities, environmental justice has not been considered in Indian cities because the conceptualization of the “environment” is pragmatically restricted to rural areas. I ground this thesis in three core arguments: (1) the natural environment and built environment exist in a hybrid form in both cities and rural …

Wellesley Magazine Fall 2014, Wellesley College Alumnae Association

Wellesley Magazine (Alumnae Association)

Featured in this issue:

Wendy Posts It / by Sarah Ligon ’03

Blue on the Red Planet / by Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99

Rewriting the Book on Clapp Library / by Catherine O'Neill Grace

Wellesley Magazine Winter 2014, Wellesley College Alumnae Association

Wellesley Magazine (Alumnae Association)

Featured in this issue:

The Night That Changed Wellesley:

-- Up in Flames / by Lisa Scanlon Mogolov ’99

-- College Hall and Everything After / by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz ’63

The Grand Experiment / by Sarah Ligon ’03

Chasing the Next Big Idea / by Melissa Ludtke ’73

The Writing Center Annual Report: 2013-2014, Kelly Webster

The Writing Center: Reports

As a University hub for campus conversations about writing, the Writing Center administers programs to help undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines become more versatile and effective writers, readers, and thinkers. In one-to-one and small-group tutoring sessions and in whole-class workshops, tutors help students to recognize their strengths and weaknesses as communicators and to practice strategies appropriate to various writing contexts.

Revisiting The Hispanic Health Paradox: The Relative Contributions Of Nativity, Country Of Origin, And Race/Ethnicity To Childhood Asthma, M. Camacho-Rivera, I. Kawachi, G. G. Bennett, S. V. Subramanian

Journal Articles

This study examined the relationship between race and Hispanic ethnicity, maternal and child nativity, country of origin and asthma among 2,558 non-Hispanic white and Hispanic children across 65 Los Angeles neighborhoods. A series of two-level multilevel models were estimated to examine the independent effects of race, ethnicity, and country of origin on childhood asthma. Lifetime asthma prevalence was reported among 9 % of children, with no significant differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites overall. However, in fully adjusted models, Hispanic children of non-Mexican origin reported higher odds of asthma compared to non-Hispanic white children. A protective nativity effect was also …

Virginia Commonwealth University Fall Commencement Program [2014], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

9th Susquehanna River Symposium Program With Abstracts, Bucknell Center For Sustainability And The Environment

Susquehanna River Symposium -- Conference materials

No abstract provided.

Dams, Jack D. Ellis

Jack D. Ellis Rowan County History Collection

No abstract provided.

Virginia Commonwealth University Commencement Program [2014], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Making A ‘Hydropower Nation’: Subjectivity, Mobility, And Work In The Nepalese Hydroscape, Austin Lord

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This essay focuses ethnographic attention on changing patterns of subjectivity, livelihood, and agency co-arising within the production of Nepal's imagined hydropower future. As the projects and processes of hydropower development proliferate across the physical and human geographies of Nepal they produce many different kinds of risk and opportunity, as well as labor, mobility, and 'project-affected people'. Combining empirical and visual methods, this essay describes how these lived hydroscapes are shaped by shifting concepts of locality, belonging, citizenship, and 'affectedness' that are constantly evolving in response to an entanglement of aspirations and future-making projects.

My Observations Of Danish Innovation In Doing Science, Learning New Things, And Living An Interesting Life, Eugene S. Takle

The Bridge

I have had the very good fortune to interact with a number of Danish scientists and scholars over my career, and much of the scientific success I have enjoyed is directly related to these interactions. My career has taken me to Denmark several times for a variety of personal as well as professional reasons. Although my contacts have been, in some cases, somewhat episodic and mostly professionally driven, it has been my experience that once strong connections with Danish people are made they persist and do not diminish in spite of the lack of continuous tending.

2014-2015 Catalog, College Of The Holy Cross

Course Catalogs

This catalog lists available courses for the 2014-2015 term.

The Pikeminnow Against The Dam, Lucy Andrews

Gateway Prize for Excellent Writing

No abstract provided.

Aquilegia, Vol. 38 No. 5, Winter 2014: Newsletter Of The Colorado Native Plant Society, Jan Loechell Turner, Charlie Turner

Aquilegia - Colorado Native Plant Society

The Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter will be published on a bimonthly basis. The contents will consist primarily of a calendar of events, notes of interest, editorials, listings of new members and conservation news. Until there is a Society journal, the Newsletter will include short articles also. The deadline for the Newsletter is one month prior to its release.

Undergraduate Catalog, 2014-2015, Valparaiso University

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Guide To The Edward Kirby Collection, 1954-2004, Orson Kingsley

Archives & Special Collections Finding Aids

Edward P. "Ned" Kirby, a native of Whitman, Massachusetts, was a longtime Republican politician in the state. After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross and Boston College Law School, he joined the Army during the Korean War and served as a Lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1952-1955. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives three consecutive terms from 1961-1966, representing the 5th Plymouth District. Kirby was the youngest Republican in the House when he was first elected. From 1968-1976 he served as Plymouth County Commissioner. In 1981 he was elected to the Massachusetts …

Sullivan County, New Hampshire Annual Report For The Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2014., Sullivan County Representatives

Sullivan County, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a county in the state of New Hampshire.