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Numerical Modeling Of Otec Thermal Discharges In Coastal Waters, Jongkyu Kim, Hyeon-Ju Kim

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

Thermal discharge from industrial outfalls is categorized into two major classes based on their density. First class is the effluent that has a higher density than that of the ambient water body. The second class is the effluent that has a lower density than that of the ambient water body. Due to the effect of several factors such as tides, waves, winds, river discharges, thermal effluents etc., the mixing characteristics of OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) thermal plume is much complicated. In this study we try to identify the mixing and dispersion characteristics of coastal waters to consider their physical …

Flood Resilience Index - Methodology And Application, Jelena Batica, Philippe Gourbesville

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

In recent years the number of people affected by flooding processes increases up to the point where the organisational structure of urban communities threatens to experience the significant direct and indirect damages. The vulnerability to flooding processes due to sophisticated assets is high and the assessment of flood resilience becomes the main direction to follow within integrated flood risk management. This paper takes a first step in bringing resilience in integrated flood risk management through a framework that is employing five dimensions in order to evaluate the level of disturbance and ability to preserve and functioning during and after the …

Thermoclinic Assessment Of A Preliminary Circulation Model For Lake George In The Jefferson Project, Emanuele Ragnoli, Fearghal O Donncha, Jeffrey W. Short, Imad A. Hannoun, Sandra A. Nierzwicki-Bauer, Lloyd A. Treinish, Anthony P. Priano, Charles W. Boylen

International Conference on Hydroinformatics

The Jefferson Project is a collaboration between the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM, and the FUND for Lake George aimed at understanding and managing complex factors (road salt, storm water runoff, invasive species) threatening Lake George, New York.

Lake George is located about 80 km north of Albany in upstate New York and is known internationally for its water clarity. Understanding the hydrodynamics of the lake is fundamental for creation and maintenance of a research and monitoring program for the early detection of and response to adverse environmental and biological change. In this work a 3D circulation model of the lake …

College Of Arts And Sciences E-News Issue 16: August 2014, College Of Arts And Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

• Good governance in Africa is focus of August conference
• WMU Hosts the First Annual Michigan Autism Conference
• WMU researchers receive grant to study fatal fungus in bats
• State group elects WMU executive to vice presidential post
• Most Delicious of Privileges
• Damar Foundation President
• English language and culture center gets new director

Faculty Handbook Section Iii - Arts And Sciences And College Of Professional Studies Policies And Procedures - Updated 8/1/2014, All Faculty

Faculty Handbooks

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of The Potential Effects Of Urbanization On The Water Quality Of The Middle Fork Of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky., Olivia Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined whether water quality diminished as a result of increasing pollution downstream along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek, Louisville, Kentucky in response to urbanization. Samples of key water quality indicators/pollutants were collected for 12 weeks (November - January) along the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek at three different stream gauges. A spatial and statistical analysis was performed to verify any significant correlations between the water quality indicators and pollutants, and whether basin wide landcover/sewer outlet numbers led to an increase in these indicators downstream. Following ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis statistical testing it was established that turbidity significantly increased …

Human Dependence On Nature: How To Help Solve The Environmental Crisis By Haydn Washington, Lorelei Hanson

The Goose

Review of Human Dependence on Nature: How to Help Solve the Environmental Crisis by Haydn Washington.

Prairie Restoration: Bridging The Past And The Future, Daryl D. Smith

The Prairie Naturalist

Tallgrass prairie once dominated most of mid-continent North America. Conversion of this prairie to cropland was rapid and extensive. Today, it is the most decimated ecosystem in North America with less than two percent remaining. Prairie reconstruction began at the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in the 1930s. Thirty years later, exemplary initiatives by a group of highly motivated restorationists in Illinois and Iowa became a part of the legacy of restoration ecology. Their work generated widespread public interest in prairie restoration and initiated the ongoing biennial North American Prairie Conference. Since then, practitioners have made significant advances in reconstruction and …

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

Institutional Databook 2013-2014, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Campus Documents and Reports

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Study Of The Impact Of Project Delivery Methods Used On Public Highway-Rail Intersection Projects In New York State, Osileke Odusanya Osipitan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The improvement of infrastructure by a public agency is to ensure satisfaction of the general public using such infrastructure, based on available funds. In order to implement and sustain the public good, an efficient project delivery method or the assessment of existing project delivery methods used to develop such infrastructure is necessary. Project delivery method is a process that defines the relationship between parties involved in a specific project. Any of the methods could affect a project budget, schedule, quality and the involvement of the project owner. This study investigated the impact of project delivery methods used by different type/class …

An Inverse Association Between West Nile Virus Serostatus And Avian Malaria Infection Status, Robert Ricklefs, Matthew Medeiros, Tavis Anderson, Jenni Higashiguchi, Uriel Kitron, Edward Walker, Jeffrey Brawn, Bethany Krebs, Marilyn Ruiz, Tony Goldberg, Gabriel Hamer

Biology Department Faculty Works

BackgroundVarious ecological and physiological mechanisms might influence the probability that two or more pathogens may simultaneously or sequentially infect a host individual. Concurrent infections can have important consequences for host condition and fitness, including elevated mortality risks. In addition, interactions between coinfecting pathogens may have important implications for transmission dynamics.MethodsHere, we explore patterns of association between two common avian pathogens (West Nile virus and avian malaria parasites) among a suburban bird community in Chicago, IL, USA that share mosquito vectors. We surveyed 1714 individual birds across 13 species for both pathogens through established molecular protocols.ResultsField investigations of haemosporidian and West …

A Dendrochronological Analysis Of Insect Outbreaks And Climate Effects On Tamarack From Indiana And Michigan, Nicholas Lorin Flinner

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Disturbances have a strong impact on tree stand dynamics across the world. In North America, the larch sawfly (Pristiphora erichsonii) and larch casebearer (Cleophora laricella) are two non-native species of insects affecting tamarack across much of their native range. The majority of research on the effects of larch sawfly on tamarack (Larix laricina) has been conducted in Canada with very little dendrochronological work in the United States along the geographical boundary of tamarack or on the effects of larch casebearer on radial growth. As a consequence, very little is known about the relationship between tamarack and these insects’ outbreaks in …

The Effect Of Intentionally Engaging Attention When Viewing Restorative Environments: Exploring Attention Restoration Theory, Charles E. Jaggard

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although research exploring Attention Restoration Theory has been extensive, certain procedures for its study seem to be taken as implicit, but require investigation for a deeper understanding and application of both the theory and its underlying processes. This study aimed to answer the questions: “What is the result of engaging directed attention when viewing otherwise restorative environments?” and “Does this intentional engagement have any effect on already fatiguing non-restorative environments?” Participants were asked to complete a task designed to fatigue their directed attentional capacity and then view images of restorative or non-restorative environments, wherein they either were asked to direct …

Alternative Ways To Enumerate Data On Race In Puerto Rico: Are Racial Segregation And Spatial Clustering More Evident When Using A Culturally Grounded Methodology?, Reuben Allen

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nationalist discourse concerning race in Puerto Rico generally states that residents are of the same racially mixed heritage—a combination of Spanish, West African, and indigenous ancestry of various degrees. However, literature and casual observations suggest that the population is characterized by greater variation in physical appearances than what is posited by “admixture” discourse. Moreover, and further complicating the understanding of race, 2010 U.S. Census data show that over 75 percent of Puerto Ricans self-identified as “White, alone”, and that only 3.3 percent of respondents indicated “Two or More Races.” Researchers, employers, and governmental agencies attempting to address or further analyze …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Role Of Geography In Sustainability Education, Makayla Jane Bonney

Theses

Many within and outside of the discipline of geography see it as a highly appropriate home for sustainability studies. Despite a history of human-environment education within geography and support from professional research or education organizations, some studies show that geography has not developed a lead role in sustainability education. This study examines the role of geography in offering "Sustainability Focused" courses as reported by AASHE STARS institutions with geography programs. The results show that although geography departments are highly utilized when available at an institution -offering the highest proportion of sustainability courses, averaging 14% of "Sustainability Focused" curriculum- there is …

Assessment Of Nitrifying Bacteria In Massard Plant Using Molecular Tools, Jennifer Puanani Holmes-Smith

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The discharge of nutrients (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) has become an increasingly important issue in the United States. Ammonia (NH3) is a common contaminant found in domestic wastewater and agricultural runoff. It can cause toxicity in fish if left untreated. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends low national criteria for ammonia limits in freshwater. With these greater restrictions, ammonia-nitrogen limit compliance (5 mg/L) has become an issue at the Massard WWTP in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The purpose of this research is to assess the ammonia removal in the Massard WWTP in order …

Incorporating Physics-Based Patterns Into Geophysical And Geostatistical Estimation Algorithms, Erasmus Kofi Oware

All Dissertations

Geophysical imaging systems are inherently non-linear and plagued with the challenge of limited data. These drawbacks make the solution non-unique and sensitive to small data perturbations; hence, regularization is performed to stabilize the solution. Regularization involves the application of a priori specification of the target to modify the solution space in order to make it tractable. However, the traditionally applied regularization model constraints are independent of the physical mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of the target parameters. To address this limitation, we introduce an innovative inversion scheme, basis-constrained inversion, which seeks to leverage advances in mechanistic modeling of physical phenomena …

Institutional Data Book 2013-2014, University Of Minnesota, Morris Office Of Institutional Research

Institutional Effectiveness and Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Project Prairie And Tallgrass Education On The Rice Lake Plains: A Journey From 1870 To Today And Beyond, Todd Farrell, Mark Rupke, Mark Stabb

The Prairie Naturalist

Project Prairie began in 2011 as a curriculum-linked integrated environmental studies program to showcase the Rice Lake Plains (RLP), a tallgrass prairie landscape of sandy rolling hills located at the eastern extent of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario. Project Prairie provides educators both indoor and outdoor activities that support their curriculum and share the story of the RLP. Project Prairie provides teacher and student resources that focus on the RLP from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. Learning objectives of Project Prairie are developed from the subjects of science, social science, language arts, geography, history, and Aboriginal culture. …

Collaborating For A Shared Purpose, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

An Efficient Method Of Estimating Downward Solar Radiation Based On The Modis Observations For The Use Of Land Surface Modeling, Min Chen, Qianlai Zhuang, Yujie He

Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Faculty Publications

Solar radiation is a critical variable in global change sciences. While most of the current global datasets provide only the total downward solar radiation, we aim to develop a method to estimate the downward global land surface solar radiation and its partitioned direct and diffuse components, which provide the necessary key meteorological inputs for most land surface models. We developed a simple satellite-based computing scheme to enable fast and reliable estimation of these variables. The global Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products at 1° spatial resolution for the period 2003–2011 were used as the forcing data. Evaluations at Baseline Surface …

A City Club Report On Measure 92: Gmo Labeling, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Johnson Spends The Summer At Harvard Forest, University Relations

Campus News Archive

Alayna is examining the relationship between climate and deforestation.

Stellar Program Welcomes International Students, University Relations

Campus News Archive

The program improves international student performance and creates friendships.

Indigenous Knowledge And Science Unite To Reveal Spatial And Temporal Dimensions Of Distributional Shift In Wildlife Of Conservation Concern, Christina N. Service, Megan S. Adams, Kyle A. Artelle, Paul C. Paquet, Laura V. Grant, Chris T. Darimont

Population Distribution and Habitat Collection

Range shifts among wildlife can occur rapidly and impose cascading ecological, economic, and cultural consequences. However, occurrence data used to define distributional limits derived from scientific approaches are often outdated for wide ranging and elusive species, especially in remote environments. Accordingly, our aim was to amalgamate indigenous and western scientific evidence of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) records and detail a potential range shift on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. In addition, we test the hypothesis that data from each method yield similar results, as well as illustrate the complementary nature of this coupled approach. Combining information from …

Nutrient Addition Dramatically Accelerates Microbial Community Succession, Joseph E. Knelman, Steven K. Schmidt, Ryan C. Lynch, John L. Darcy, Sarah C. Castle, Cory C. Cleveland, Diana R. Nemergut

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

The ecological mechanisms driving community succession are widely debated, particularly for microorganisms. While successional soil microbial communities are known to undergo predictable changes in structure concomitant with shifts in a variety of edaphic properties, the causal mechanisms underlying these patterns are poorly understood. Thus, to specifically isolate how nutrients – important drivers of plant succession – affect soil microbial succession, we established a full factorial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization plot experiment in recently deglaciated (~3 years since exposure), unvegetated soils of the Puca Glacier forefield in Southeastern Peru. We evaluated soil properties and examined bacterial community composition in …

Diurnal And Semidiurnal Internal Waves Near Two Harbors, Santa Catalina, California, Craig G. Gelpi

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Internal waves at both diurnal and semidiurnal frequencies are common on island slopes in the Southern California Bight (SCB). Amplitudes in both regimes are similar, although the phenomenology at the 2 frequencies is expected to be different since the bight is north of the critical latitude (30°), making diurnal modulations evanescent though semidiurnal waves can propagate. Understanding the driving forces for the internal waves may provide insight into vertical mixing in the bight. We used long-duration time series of ocean temperatures measured near the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies (WIES), Santa Catalina Island, to study highly resolved spectra and seasonal …

Property Constructs And Nature's Challenge To Perpetuity, Jessica Owley

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 4 in Environmental Law and Contrasting Ideas of Nature: a Constructivist Approach, Keith H. Hirokawa, ed.

Full Issue

Colby Magazine

Colby Magazine vol. 102, no. 4 (Spring 2014): full issue