Digital Commons Network^™

Rain Gardens: The Return Of Ecosystem Services, Katie Dehaan

Honors Theses

In the modern world impervious surfaces, especially in urban areas, abound. These include roads, highways, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs that have replaced permeable surfaces, mainly open land, forests, and wetlands. Rainwater runs off of these surfaces collecting pollutants on its way to permeable areas. Rain gardens collect and process rainwater. Native plants with deep root systems process large volumes of rainwater and the microorganisms living in the soils and roots can process pollutants. The purpose of my research was to find out what variables affect species presence or absence in rain gardens. Species presence or absence at the time …

Air Quality And Environmental Justice: An Analysis Of County-Level Data In The United States, Alyssa Tittle

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes the relationship between air pollution and poverty and race/ethnicity at the county level in the United States. Using air pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency and population characteristics data from the Census Bureau to model relationships in RStudio, results show that race/ethnicity, population, and median value of owner-occupied housing units are the most statistically significant variables associated with air quality.

Genetically Modified Organisms In The United States Crop Market, Toluwani V. Ogunbayode

Quest

Economic Analysis

Research in progress for ECON 2302: Principles of Microeconomics

Faculty Mentors: Millie D. Black, Ph.D., and Michael Latham, Ph.D.

The following paper represents research begun by students in Honors Principles of Microeconomics. The honors course introduced students to numerous economic models and methods of analysis. Students were asked to identify an economic issue or controversy related to topics studied in class and to provide a literature review relevant to their topic. Students were also asked to provide an economic analysis, discuss opposing viewpoints, present an economic evaluation of various policy options, and make a recommendation regarding the preferred …

Ua12/2/1 Grad Guide, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Special graduation magazine issue of the College Heights Herald includes articles:

• Robb, Hayley. Dear Fall 2019 Graduates
• Graduation Weekend Schedule
• College of Education & Behavioral Sciences Graduates
• Norvell, Abbey & Ryan Goodlett. Topping Off the College Years – Mortarboards
• Gordon Ford College of Business Graduates
• College of Health & Human Services Graduates
• Benningfield, Chloe. Graduate Christmas List
• Ogden College of Science & Engineering Graduates
• Norvell, Abbey. Picking the Perfect Pair – Shoes
• Potter College of Arts & Letters Graduates
• Brandt, Jess. What Kind of Co-Worker Are You?

Toward A Sustainable Architectural Education: The Case Of Jordan, Rana T. Matarneh

Al-Balqa Journal for Research and Studies البلقاء للبحوث والدراسات

This study was commissioned by the Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC) to assess the quality of the architecture education undergraduate program curriculum in Jordan in response to social, cultural, environmental and technological transformations. The key questions addressed in this study explore: - Sustainability of the curricula for architectural education towards professional practice. - Learning outcomes: Providing graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the current professional demands of the market. - Program structure: curricular models for environmental education and digital architecture. This research examines the present curriculum framework based on certain benchmarks based on the application of several …

Is Our Coal-Onial Era Ending Anytime Soon?, Hadiqa Faraz

Undergraduate Economic Review

In this paper, I estimate the long-run co-integrated relationship between energy demand and economic growth for 20 countries from the year 2000 to 2016. I use panel unit-root and heterogeneous panel co-integration tests to test for non-stationarity of the panels and to determine whether there is a long-run link between energy consumption and GDP per capita. The estimated model uses a first-difference OLS model to estimate income elasticity of energy demand; the empirical results of this model show that there is a long-run relationship between energy consumption per capita and GDP per capita. In the long-term, on average, with 1% …

Importance Of Refractory Ligands And Their Photodegradation For Iron Oceanic Inventories And Cycling, Christel Hassler, Damien Cabanes, Sonia Blanco-Ameijeiras, Sylvia G. Sander, Ronald Benner

Faculty Publications

Iron is an essential micronutrient that limits primary production in up to 40% of the surface ocean and influences carbon dioxide uptake and climate change. Dissolved iron is mostly associated with loosely characterised organic molecules, called ligands, which define key aspects of the iron cycle such as its residence time, distribution and bioavailability to plankton. Models based on in situ ligand distributions and the behaviour of purified compounds include long-lived ligands in the deep ocean, bioreactive ligands in the surface ocean and photochemical processes as important components of the iron cycle. Herein, we further characterise biologically refractory ligands in dissolved …

The Daily Gamecock, Monday, December 2, 2019, University Of South Carolina, Office Of Student Media

December

No abstract provided.

Thermodynamic Model Of Co2 Deposition In Cold Climates, Sandra K. S. Boetcher, Ted Von Hippel, Matthew J. Traum

Publications

A thermodynamic model, borrowing ideas from psychrometric principles, of a cryogenic direct-air CO2-capture system utilizing a precooler is used to estimate the optimal CO2 removal fraction to minimize energy input per tonne of CO2. Energy costs to operate the system scale almost linearly with the temperature drop between the ingested air and the cryogenic desublimation temperature of CO2, driving siting to the coldest accessible locations. System performance in three Arctic/Antarctic regions where the proposed system can potentially be located is analyzed. Colder ambient temperatures provide colder system input air temperature yielding lower CO2 removal energy requirements. A case is also …

Wofford Today Winter 2019, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Wofford Today

No abstract provided.

Finalizing The Property Health Report Completed In Conjunction With Healthy Homeworks, Lewiston, Sophie Landes, Hermione Zhou

Community Engaged Research Reports

Poor housing conditions in aging housing stocks continue to affect people living in rental units in downtown Lewiston, Maine. Currently, information on multi-family rental units downtown is difficult to access unless you know exactly what you are looking for. The Property Health Report (PHR) is an online database with a goal of increasing access to information on the safety and health information of multi-family rental homes in downtown Lewiston. Invented by local non-profit Healthy Homeworks, the database includes information on registration with the city, active liens, notices of violation, lead inspection data, and other data relating to financial, legal, and …

Quantifying Carbon Stocks Within The Androscoggin Land Trust, Olivia Lamarche, Kirsten Pelletier, Eric Viera

Community Engaged Research Reports

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and electricity, land use and deforestation, agriculture, and industry are causing unprecedented rates of climate change. The climate emergency is intensifying as temperature extremes increase, snow and ice cover declines, and the oceans warm and acidify. The need to mitigate climate change is rapidly increasing and many mitigation efforts focus on the reduction of GHG outputs into the atmosphere, primarily the development of new renewable energy technologies in order to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. While a decreased reliance on fossil fuels is a key climate solution, …

Creating An Independent Organization For Lewiston/Auburn Trails, Ava Gulino, Nelly Junesand, Kassandra Wilson

Community Engaged Research Reports

Maine lends itself to many outdoor activities with its varied geography. Many communities around the state have acknowledged this asset and designed trail systems that allow for people to experience the outdoors. In Maine, many trail organizations are nonprofits as it allows them to provide critical services that contribute to economic stability and mobility in surrounding communities without being dependent on local governments (National Council of Nonprofits 2019a). The nonprofit community in Maine has been successful throughout the years in creating a robust and vibrant community of citizens that help protect the environment, educate children, and inform the government (Maine …

Food Waste At Lewiston Middle School, Alex Cullen, Dylan Simon, Anne Trapp

Community Engaged Research Reports

In 2017, 30-40% of all food produced in the United States ended up in landfills and contributed to the country’s carbon footprint. At the same time, 13% of US households were food insecure. In Maine, however, that number rises to 15.7% and in the city of Lewiston, ME, it to 25.2%. Enough of the Lewiston population is affected by food insecurity to make the Lewiston School District eligible for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which guarantees free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of socioeconomic background. As the only middle school in the district, Lewiston Middle School (LMS) receives …

Inventorying Amenities And Usage Of Lewiston-Auburn Trails, Mary Margaret Adams, Alison Bodner, Rafi Wolfson

Community Engaged Research Reports

Trails provide numerous benefits to the community and the environment, and give a space for people to engage with the outdoors. Safe and well maintained trails promote healthy lifestyles by increasing the physical activity of the public, mitigate climate change by encouraging clean means of travel and promote community building by creating a space for people to interact with each other. While trails provide overarching benefits to the community at large, each trail presents unique benefits, challenges and usage patterns, and every trail user has their own relationship with the trails that they use. The L/A Trails organization found a …

The Community Outreach Model Of Service-Learning: A Case Study Of Active Learning And Service-Learning In A Natural Hazards, Vulnerability, And Risk Class, Brittany D. Brand, Kara Brascia, Margaret Sass

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The popularity of service learning is increasing, especially at a time when college students want to make a greater impact in their communities. However, service learning has not been extensively assessed in courses based in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This article provides a case study of how incorporating service learning through a community outreach project can increase student engagement, enhance the depth of understanding of a given topic, build communication and teamwork skills, and contribute meaningfully to the students' community. This article shares how the instructor of a natural hazards, vulnerability, and risk course implements service-learning through a community …

Migration Tactics Of A Long-Distance Migratory Songbird From Across A Continental Breeding Range, Rosalind Renfrew, Dan Kim, Noah G. Perlut, Michael D. Cadman

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Migration strategies in the avian world are often compared at the species level and evaluated relative to general ecology and constraints such as molting and breeding timetables. The advancement of tracking technology provides an opportunity to explore variation in more specific migration tactics within species and their populations as it relates to demographic and environmental factors throughout the annual cycle. We compare migration timing among 4 populations of Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) from across the breeding range using data from light-level geolocators. The date of departure from the breeding grounds and the duration of southbound migration differed among breeding …

Connections, 2019, University Of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library

Connections

No abstract provided.

Planning Practices For The Public Mental Health, Kaitlin A. Mcbride

Planning Theses - Archive

The rapid urbanization taking place in the 21st century poses its own unique set of public health concerns. In addition to changing lifestyles around the world, mental illness rates are higher in our cities. While the conversations surrounding public health usually focus on the physical, mental health has an equal impact on the overall wellbeing of individuals and populations. Just as the planning profession finds it crucial to be involved in efforts to improve the physical public health in cities, we must do the same for the public mental health. Like most professions, planning is guided by our theories. These …

The Treadmill Of Information: Development Of The Information Society And Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Joseph M. Simpson, Riley E. Dunlap, Andrew S. Fullerton

Sociology Faculty Publications (Archived)

The world is facing a crisis of global warming due to the release of CO₂ and other greenhouse gasses by human activities. Many scholars and stakeholders argue that information and communication technology (ICT) development will mitigate CO₂ emissions. Advocacy of technological solutions to CO₂ mitigation is consistent with ecological modernization theory's assertion that reflexive societies will modernize sustainably. In contrast, we define the “treadmill of information” as the unique contribution of ICT development to environmental degradation. We examine the impact of ICT development on total CO₂ emissions and source-sector emissions from electricity, buildings, manufacturing, and transportation …

The Monadnock Volume 61, December 2019, Clark University Geographical Society

The Monadnock (Clark Geographical Society)

Volume 61 of The Monadnock. The Monadnock was the alumni magazine of the Clark University Geographical Society (1927-1985) (2014-present).

Do Changing Resource Conditions Displace Anglers? A Study Of Contingent Travel Behaviors And Substitution Patterns On Minnesota’S North Shore, Adam Hestetune

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Angling in Minnesota’s North Shore faces unique threats from the impacts of climate change. These impacts, such as changes in the presence and/or abundance of specific species, present management challenges which might also influence the demand for recreational angling throughout the region. Anglers’ adaptations to climate change in the North Shore region could shift densities, timing, and spatial use of the region’s fish populations, increasing the stress on ecological systems. Developing an empirically-grounded understanding of the contingent behaviors of anglers is imperative if the region’s fish populations are to be managed sustainably. Using a travel cost model, we measured the …

An Application Of Bayesian Multilevel Model To Evaluate Variations In Stochastic And Dynamic Transition Of Traffic Conditions, Emmanuel Kidando, Ren Moses, Thobias Sando, Eren Erman Ozguven

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

© 2019, The Author(s). This study seeks to investigate the variations associated with lane lateral locations and days of the week in the stochastic and dynamic transition of traffic regimes (DTTR). In the proposed analysis, hierarchical regression models fitted using Bayesian frameworks were used to calibrate the transition probabilities that describe the DTTR. Datasets of two sites on a freeway facility located in Jacksonville, Florida, were selected for the analysis. The traffic speed thresholds to define traffic regimes were estimated using the Gaussian mixture model (GMM). The GMM revealed that two and three regimes were adequate mixture components for estimating …

Study On Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based On Tio2 Composite Nanomaterials, Cuiping Kang, Muhammad Aqeel Ashraf, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

With the continuous development of nanomaterials, how to improve the conversion efficiency of DSSCs has been the focus of scholars. Nano-TiO2 material is a wide bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap of 3.2eV. It exhibits good performance in dye adsorption, charge separation, electron transport, etc., and has good chemical stability and strong acid and alkali resistance. Therefore, it was always the material of choice for the preparation of photoanodes. In this paper, different thicknesses of TiO2 NRs barrier layers were prepared on FTO substrates by solvothermal method and two-step spin coating method, and their electrochemical and photoelectric properties were tested by …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring At Wind Cave National Park, 2019 Data Report, Theresa L. Schaffner, Daniel J. Swanson, Stephanie L. Rockwood

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire) vegetation monitoring at Wind Cave National Park (WICA) in 2019. This was the ninth year of combined monitoring efforts.

Crew members from NGPN visited 18 long-term monitoring plots to collect data representing the plant communities at WICA. The NGPFire program collected pre- and post-burn data from an additional 37 plant community and forest structure monitoring plots. This work is part of a long-term monitoring effort designed to evaluate the condition of the vegetation community and understand …

Vegetation Classification And Mapping, Missouri National Recreational River, Tom Baldvins, Matt Ley, David Jones, Joe Stevens, Hannah Pilkington

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The vegetation inventory project at Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR) classified and mapped vegetation within the park administrative boundary and estimated thematic map accuracy quantitatively. The project was conducted over a four year period from the summer of 2015 to the winter of 2019.

The project follows guidance provided by the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program. The overall process includes initial planning and scoping, imagery procurement, field data collection, data analysis, imagery interpretation and classification, and accuracy assessment. The initial planning and scoping meetings to support study plan development took place in December, 2009, …

Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Homestead National Monument Of America, David S. Jones, Roy Cook, John Sovell, Christopher Herron, Jay Benner, Karin Decker, Andrew Beavers, Johannes Beebee, David Weinzimmer

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The National Park Service (NPS) Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) Program administered by the NPS Water Resources Division evaluates current conditions for important natural resources and resource indicators using primarily existing information and data. NRCAs also report on trends in resource condition when possible, identify critical data gaps, and characterize a general level of confidence for study findings. This NRCA complements historic resource assessments, is multi-disciplinary in scope, employs a hierarchical indicator framework, identifies and develops reference conditions/values for comparison against current conditions, and emphasizes spatial evaluation of conditions and GIS (map) products.

Congress established the Homestead National …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring At Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, 2019 Data Report, Molly B. Davis

United States National Park Service: Publications

Abstract

This report presents the results of vegetation monitoring efforts in 2019 at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) by the Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) and the Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology Program (NGPFire). This was the ninth year of combined monitoring efforts.

In 2019, crew members from NGPN visited 6 long-term plant community monitoring (PCM) plots to collect data on the upland mixed-grass prairie plant communities at AGFO. This work is part of a long-term monitoring program established to better understand the condition of the vegetation community and how it changes over time. NGPN staff …

Transportation Electrification: An Examination Of The Utility's Role, Kate Kahlert

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Political Polarization And Long-Term Change In Public Support For Environmental Spending, Eric W. Johnson, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Public support for environmental protection has evinced declines in recent years that are widely attributed to growing antipathy among self-identified Republicans. Fractures in what was long considered broad and enduring support for the environment in the United States have called attention to the broader sociopolitical context in which individual opinion on the environment is formed, and especially the role of political parties and their leaders in shaping opinion. Empirical analyses of environmental support, however, remain strongly focused on individual-level correlates of support. We apply recent methodological advances in age-period-cohort models to scrutinize changes in Americans’ willingness to pay more for …