Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainable Financing Mechanism For Landscape Sustainability Management: A Systematic Approach To Designing A Payments-For-Ecosystem Services (Pes) In Santee River Basin Network, South Carolina, Julie Carl Ureta

All Dissertations

Natural resources provided by the environment through ecosystem services (ES) are vital in humanity’s survival, economic development, and human well-being. While ES improves human well-being, the continuous provision of ES is directly dependent on the ecosystem’s health and integrity. Changing land uses favoring urbanization, and industrial complexes rather than forests and agricultural land affects the ecosystem’s health; hence, affecting the continuous provision of ecosystem services. To ensure sustainable development, conservation programs should be implemented considering both the stakeholders’ well-being and maintaining the ecosystem’s health and integrity.

This study designs a sustainable financing mechanism known as Payments-for-Ecosystem Services (PES), which intends …

The Local Labor Market Impacts Of Us Megafires, Benjamin A. Jones, Shana M. Mcdermott

Economics Faculty Research

As we learn to sustainably coexist with wildfire, there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of its multidimensional impacts on society. To this end, we undertake a nationwide study to estimate how megafires (wildfires > 100,000 acres in size) affect US labor market outcomes in communities located within the flame zone. Both year-of-fire and over-time dynamic impacts are studied between 2010−2017. We find that counties located within a megafire flame zone experience significantly lower per capita wage earnings across multiple sources of earnings data for up to two years after megafire event occurrence. We find preliminary evidence that impacts …

Studies Of The Planetary Boundary Layer And Their Impact On Air Pollution In A Semi-Arid Region With Complex Terrain, Nakul Nitin Karle

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The adjacent cities of El Paso-Juárez, located in the Rio Grande Rift Valley and surrounded by complex mountainous terrain, have undergone rapid urbanization and industrial growth in the last few decades, accompanied by increasing substandard air quality episodes. Although numerous air quality studies were conducted in this semi-arid region in the past, none focused extensively on the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) contribution and impact on air pollutant concentrations. In this work, both the high and low ozone episodes from 2015 to 2020 were examined. Both modeling and experimental data of the PBL height (PBLH) were obtained and related to atmospheric …

The Impact Of Air Pollution On Housing Prices., Zhonghua Jin

Dissertations (2016-Present)

Air pollution has been considered as an influential environmental factor affecting both local government policies and the general public’s decisions on housing within large metropolitan areas. In the past few decades, the United States achieved excellent results on a large scale. However, in some major industrial metropolitan areas, air pollution still stays at relatively high levels. In related environmental studies, environmental justice is often emphasized to eliminate or mitigate social imbalance among urban communities. However, fewer studies have adopted quantitative methods to assess the effectiveness of existing environmental policies. Taking the Houston region as an empirical case, this study examines …

Initial Floristic Response To High Severity Wildfire In An Old-Growth Coast Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) Forest, Mojgan Mahdizadeh, Will Russell

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Climate driven increases in fire frequency and severity are predicted for Mediterranean climatic zones, including the Pacific coast of California. A recent high severity wildfire that burned in the Santa Cruz Mountains affected a variety of vegetation types, including ancient coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) stands. The purpose of this study was to characterize the survival and initial recovery of vegetation approximately six months after the fire. We sampled thirty randomly selected points in an old-growth coast redwood forest to examine and compare survival, crown retention, and post fire regeneration of trees by species, and the recovery of …

A Geo-Economic Framework For Dune Construction And Long-Term Coastal Resiliency In New Jersey, Jesse Charles Kolodin

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Following the extensive coastal impacts (i.e., storm surges) caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the State of New Jersey chose to install large-scale engineered berm-dune structures as their main coastal resiliency strategy. Initially, the project was entirely funded with federal emergency relief funds, but will require state and local beachfront communities to pay a percentage costshare for future renourishment projects. The thesis specifically focuses on three adjacent beachfront communities within the barrier island stretch of Long Beach Island, NJ (i.e., Beach Haven, Long Beach Township, and Ship Bottom), all of which had been provided engineered dunes in 2016. Following installation, …

Coastal Onlap/Offlap Amplification Due To Organic Sediment Accumulation And Degradation : Implications For Sea Level Reconstruction, Norjmaa Khosbaatar

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Coastal-plain depositional systems such as fluvial deltas are archives of past external (allogenic) forcing, such as sea-level variations, and their evolution can be described by two geomorphic boundaries: the alluvial-basement transition or upstream boundary, and the shoreline or downstream boundary. Patterns of landward/seaward migration of the shoreline (i.e., transgression/regression) and the alluvial basement transition (i.e., coastal onlap/offlap) in the rock record are often used for reconstruction of past sea-level changes. Theories for stratigraphic interpretation, however, need to be adapted to deal with internal (autogenic) processes that could play a significant role, but are to date largely unexplored. In particular, in-situ …

First-Year Seminar And Its Impact On Retention At A Small Liberal Arts College In South Carolina, Michael A. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First-Year Seminar (FYS) courses have been the foundational building blocks for academic and nonacademic success for first-year college freshman since the late 1970s. With the focus on improving retention and persistence, FYS courses have been viewed as the resource that connects freshmen to the faculty, staff, student, and campus environment. Therefore, it is vital to see the impact that it has had on students and how it can further develop persistence through graduation. The researcher conducted this basic qualitative study to look for emerging themes of sophomore experience in the FYS courses and how that impacted their persistence and retention …

Coalition For Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, Vol. 46-C, No. 8, Coalition For Prisoners' Rights

Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletters

Anniversaries

George Jackson's Struggle & Death

Attica Prison Uprising

En Apoyo A Cuba

Wall City Nuestra Msion - producida por: San Quentin News escrito por prisioneros - avanzando en la justicia

Intensive Management Unit Challenge

Diversity Accepted: Pride Celebration

UC Davis Books to Prisoners [as published in The Fire Inside of the CCWP, #64]

CA Coalition for Women Prisoners

Alienation, Modernization, And Animal Welfare: Human-Animal Relationships At The Farm, State, And Country Levels, Michael D. Briscoe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Our relationships with animals are important for us as humans, for the environment, and for the animals themselves. In this dissertation I look at the relationships between humans and animals at three scales: farm, U.S. state, and country. Specifically, I address how factors like economic growth, technological innovation, and globalization affect human relationships with animals. Understanding how these factors influence human-animal relationships is important for improving these relationships and deciding which directions will most contribute to sustainable outcomes. I address the social factors that influence human-animal relationships in three studies.

In the first study I surveyed and interviewed dairy farmers …

Weedy Relations: Narratives Of Invasion And Intimacy With Tamarisk In The Chihuahuan Desert, Shannon S. Pepper

Geography ETDs

Tamarix spp., also known as salt cedar or tamarisk, is a shrub that has garnered a notorious reputation in North America as an invasive plant, with widespread policy and research advocating for its eradication in the Southwest U.S. and Northern Mexico. This study examines both governmental conservation documents and news articles to investigate narrative trends on tamarisk in the Southwestern U.S. and Northern Mexico as a contiguous region (the Chihuahuan Desert), expanding on current research to include transborder effects on the perception and management of introduced species. This paper asks: In the last 25 years, how has the movement, …

Novel Application Of 210po-210pb Disequilibria To Date Snow, Melt Pond, Ice Core, And Ice-Rafted Sediments In The Arctic Ocean, Mark Baskaran, Katherine Krupp, Mark Baskaran

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

We collected surface ocean water, snow, grab ice, ice core, melt pond and ice-rafted sediment (IRS) from 5 ice stations during the Western Arctic US GEOTRACES cruise (USGCG Healy; August 10 – October 7, 2015) and analyzed for 210Po (T1/2 = 138.4 days) and 210Pb (T1/2 = 22.3 years) in dissolved and particulate phases (snow, grab ice, ice core, surface seawater) to investigate the 210Po:210Pb disequilibria in these matrices. Thirteen aerosol samples, using a large-volume aerosol sampler (PM10), from Dutch Harbor, AK to North Pole, were also collected and analyzed for 210Po/210Pb to quantify the atmospheric depositional input to the …

Super Solar, William Wilton

Honors Program: Expanded Learning Clubs

No abstract provided.

A Distinct Difference Between Air And Mucosal Temperatures In Human Respiratory Tract, Mehdi Khosravi, Ruei-Lung Lin, Ashish P. Maskey, Subodh Pandey, An-Hsuan Lin, Lu-Yuan Lee

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

xtensive evidence indicates that several types of temperature-sensitive ion channels are abundantly expressed in the sensory nerves innervating airway mucosa. Indeed, airway temperature is known to play an important role in regulating respiratory functions. However, the actual airway mucosal temperature and its dynamic changes during the respiratory cycle have not been directly measured. In previous studies, airway tissue temperature was often estimated by indirect measurement of the peak exhaled breath temperature (PEBT). In view of the poor thermal conductivity of air, we believe that the airway tissue temperature cannot be accurately determined by the exhaled air temperature, and this study …

Urban Agroecology For Food Sovereignty And Biodiversity: Are Urban Community Farms Or Gardens More Effective?, Heidi L. Giancola

Master's Theses

Industrial agriculture is accurately criticized for eliminating biodiversity and destroying food sovereignty. Urban agroecosystems, usually individual plots in community gardens, are promoted to restore ecological services and equity to food systems. Recently, collectively tended urban community farms have developed, with explicit social justice goals. This study directly contrasts the effectiveness of the urban community farm and garden models. Spatial analysis is used to confirm that community farms enhance geographic access for healthy food priority areas compared to gardens in the San Francisco bay area. An online survey of farm staff and gardeners from Marin to Santa Clara County resulted in …

Changes In Allochronic Breeding Populations Of Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha) Of Prince William Sound, Alaska, Claire Dormody

Master's Theses

Prince William Sound, Alaska is home to one of the largest pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) fisheries in the world. Salmon populations there have been fished commercially for over a century, and the State’s documentation of commercial fishing provides a valuable dataset in order to examine abundance trends of species in this region. For this thesis research, I analyzed the fluctuations in abundance and isolated even year and odd year breeding populations of pink salmon to assess whether there is a numerical discrepancy between pink salmon that spawn in odd years and the population that spawns in even years. Analysis of …

Distribution And Habitat Use Of The Santa Clara County Population Of Red-Bellied Newts (Taricha Rivularis), Joie De Leon

Master's Theses

Anthropogenically-induced habitat loss and degradation have increased extinction rates in amphibians worldwide, yet little is known about many remaining populations. A disjunct population of red-bellied newt (Taricha rivularis), an endemic California species, was discovered 130 km south of its previously known range. Here I document the range and breeding phenology of this population and contrast its mesohabitat use with that of other sympatric newts. Surveys across two years suggest that the southern population of T. rivularis is confined to a 1 km segment of Stevens Creek, and the population follows an early-March to late-April migratory breeding pattern, similar to one …

Hook-Billed Kite, Chondrohierax Uncinatus, Southbound Autumn Migration In Belize And Mexico, Ryan Anthony Phillips

Master's Theses

The Hook-billed Kite (Chondrohierax uncinatus) is a specialized Neotropical raptor with a wide distribution that has received little research attention. The species is considered non-migratory across most of its distribution, but there are scattered records of Hook-billed Kite migration. The present research describes, for the first time, the largest southbound autumn migration of Hook-billed Kite in Belize and Mexico and evaluates the effects of environmental conditions on this phenomenon. Eight years of count data were collected in Belize and 25 years in Mexico. During a total of 3093.1 count hr from 2013-2020 in Belize, 39928 Hook-billed Kites were counted on …

Understanding Food Policy Councils: Lessons For Extension Partners, Gail Feenstra, Clare Gupta, David Campbell, Jennifer Sowerwine, Katherine Munden-Dixon

Journal of Extension

This paper presents findings from a survey of 34 food policy councils (FPCs) in California. The survey addressed organizational structure and functions, policy priorities and achievements, and the use of research or other information. We find that most FPCs have formed in recent years, operate with small budgets and limited or no staff, and function primarily to foster network relationships. FPCs rely on community-based knowledge more than academic research, suggesting an opportunity for Extension professionals to lend expertise. We conclude by identifying specific ways Extension professionals can support FPCs as they seek to enhance local and regional food systems.

Integrating Land‐Water‐People Connectivity Concepts Across Disciplines For Co‐Design Of Soil Erosion Solutions, William H. Blake, Claire Kelly, Maarten Wynants, Aloyce Patrick, Shaun Lewin, Joseph Lawson, Emmanuel Nasolwa, Annabel Page, Mona Nasseri, Carey Marks, David Gilvear, Kelvin Mtei, Linus Munishi, Patrick Ndakidemi

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Soil resources in East Africa are being rapidly depleted by erosion, threatening food, water and livelihood security in the region. Here we demonstrate how the integration of evidence from natural and social sciences has supported a community-led change in land management in an agro-pastoral community in northern Tanzania. Geospatial analysis of erosion risk and extent (based on a drone survey across a 3.6 km² sub-catchment) revealed that recently converted land had ca 12-times greater rill density than established slow-forming terraced plots (987 ± 840 m² ha⁻¹ vs. 79 ± 110 m² ha⁻¹). Slope length …

Case Note: Avangrid Networks, Inc. V. Secretary Of State, Grady F. Hogan

Maine Law Review

Citizen initiatives and referendums are important tools for participatory democracy. Because initiatives often concern contentious public policy matters, opponents of pending initiatives have at times turned to the courts to prevent particular initiatives from appearing on upcoming ballots. Courts typically will adjudicate such pre-election challenges when plaintiffs assert the proscribed procedural requirements for voting on an initiative have not been met or when plaintiffs allege an initiative’s subject-matter is outside the constitutionally delineated scope of permissible initiative content. However, because of the ripeness justiciability doctrine that requires a concrete, certain, and immediate legal problem, courts generally will not adjudicate pre-election …

Evidence For A Highly Dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet During The Pliocene, Karsten Gohl, Gabriele Uenzelmann-Neben, Johanna Gille-Petzoldt, Claus Dieter Hillenbrand, Johann P. Klages, Steven M. Bohaty, Sandra Passchier, Thomas Frederichs, Julia S. Wellner, Rachel Lamb, German Leitchenkov, A. Klaus, D. Kulhanek, T. Bauersachs, M. Courtillat, E. Cowan, M. De Lira Mota, M. Esteves, J. Fegyveresi, L. Gao, A. Halberstadt, K. Horikawa, M. Iwai, J. Kim, T. King, M. Penkrot, J. Prebble, W. Rahaman, B. Reinardy, J. Renaudie, D. Robinson, R. Scherer, C. Siddoway

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those in the Pliocene. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 recovered continuous late Miocene to Holocene sediments from a sediment drift on the continental rise, allowing assessment of sedimentation processes in response to climate cycles and trends since the late Miocene. Via seismic correlation to the shelf, we interpret massive prograding sequences that extended the outer shelf by 80 km during the Pliocene through frequent advances of grounded ice. Buried …

Predicting The Environmental Suitability For Onchocerciasis In Africa As An Aid To Elimination Planning, Elizabeth A. Cromwell, Joshua C P. Osborne, Thomas R. Unnasch, Maria-Gloria Basáñez, Katherine M. Gass, Kira A. Barbre, Elex Hill, Kimberly B. Johnson, Katie M. Donkers, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

Recent evidence suggests that, in some foci, elimination of onchocerciasis from Africa may be feasible with mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin. To achieve continental elimination of transmission, mapping surveys will need to be conducted across all implementation units (IUs) for which endemicity status is currently unknown. Using boosted regression tree models with optimised hyperparameter selection, we estimated environmental suitability for onchocerciasis at the 5 × 5-km resolution across Africa. In order to classify IUs that include locations that are environmentally suitable, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to identify an optimal threshold for suitability concordant with locations where …

Degumming Of Hemp Fibers Using Combined Microwave Energy And Deep Eutectic Solvent, Bulbul Ahmed

LSU Master's Theses

Hemp is considered as one of the sustainable agricultural fiber materials. Degumming or surface modification of hemp bast is needed to produce single fibers for ensuing textile and industrial applications. The traditional degumming process necessitates a high amount of alkali, which causes detrimental environmental pollution. This study offers a new method to degum hemp fibers with reduced use of harmful alkali and precious water resources. In this work, hemp bast fibers were degummed by using combined microwave energy and deep eutectic solvent (DES). The properties of hemp fibers manufactured by this method were investigated and compared with the traditional alkali …

Urban Forests And Their Potential To Combat Food Insecurity: Analyzing Foods From Street Trees In New York City, Ny, Kristen Cooney

Environment and Sustainability Summer Fellows

There is growing recognition that urban forests have the potential to combat food insecurity via their edible parts, namely fruits, berries, and nuts. Many tree species commonly planted in urban spaces have edible parts that may fulfill the nutritional needs of city residents that are food insecure, but no one has analyzed the value of city street trees to understand this potential. I analyzed New York City’s street trees by each species and their edible parts to measure this potential.

Freedom Of Speech At Ursinus College, Benjamin Henwood

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

Freedom of speech is a hot topic issue on many college campuses across the United States. My research project’s goal is to find out how our community at Ursinus College feels about freedom of speech. My project is going to explore how well Ursinus holds itself to its standards of free and open inquiry and how the students on campus feel about free and open inquiry. In order to understand how the community feels about free speech on our campus, we borrowed a survey from the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education and distributed it to roughly half of the …

Urban Forests And Their Potential To Combat Food Insecurity: Analyzing Street Trees In Baltimore, Md For Their Edibility, Victoria Bearden

Environment and Sustainability Summer Fellows

Food insecure environments, in which residents lack consistent access to nutritious food materials, can occur in urban settings. Literature on urban forests suggests that trees can provide a range of provisioning ecosystem services, including edible uses. We consider this to determine if street trees in Baltimore, Maryland have the potential to provide nutritious food materials to address food insecurity in Healthy Food Priority Areas (HFPA), designated by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

The Action Is Listening: Undergraduate Women Of Color & Sense Of Belonging At Usd, Mayzong Lee

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

At the intersection of gender and race, women of color (WOC) often lack holistic support in navigating their undergraduate experience at the University of San Diego (USD). My purpose in this action research was to understand how Women of Color define, experience, and navigate their sense of academic, social, and cultural belonging at USD beyond the data. Consisting of three cycles, this research asked participants to define each sense of belonging followed by an individual interview to share how they have experienced their own definition of belonging at USD. The last cycle of this research was an opportunity for participants …

Biblical Kinship, Refugees, And Immigration: A Review Of Refuge Reimagined, Robert Dehaan

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The authors recognize the challenges of developing a global plan to address the refugee crisis but see it as an attainable goal."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the book Refuge Reimagined from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/biblical-kinship-refugees-and-immigration-a-review-of-refuge-reimagined/

Fostering Acceptance And Visibility Within Latinx Student Organizations For Lgbtq+ Latinx-Identifying Students, Crystal Ibarra

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my research is to increase the visibility of intersecting identities of LGBTQ+ Latinx students within Latinx student organizations at the University of San Diego. This visibility would signify acceptance within the organizations and student’s self-acceptance and personal development. My research questions are: How can I increase awareness of the intersecting Latinx and LGBTQ+ identities within Latinx student organizations? How can I better support student leaders to create safe and brave spaces for Latinx LGBTQ+-identifying students?

The outcome of the research was that the culture of Latinx student organizations shifted to acknowledge the lived experiences of intersecting LGBTQ+ …