Digital Commons Network^™

Using Contemplative Approaches In Education As A Pathway To Cultivating Hope In Design-Driven Futuring, Francesco Michele Noera, Luca Simeone, Rike Neuhoff

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Amidst the challenges of our time, characterized by pervasive uncertainty and global crises, despair often overshadows hope. Within the context of design-driven futuring, where long-term futures and possibilities are envisioned and shaped, the absence of hope can leave designers feeling powerless and doubting the impact of their work on a predetermined world. Yet, hope is a human experience that can be nurtured. This research explores the inner world of design students, addressing their emotions, thoughts, and perceptions. We conducted design experiments in Master's programs in Denmark and Italy, adopting a contemplative approach during design-driven futuring processes. Contemplative practices, known for …

Love. The Forgotten Dimension For Just And Democratic Ai Futures, Meike Hardt, Nazli Cila, Pieter Desmet

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Addressing the widespread use of AI-driven decision-making systems in public spheres, in this paper we advocate for the integration of love as both a virtue and an affection within the discourse of participatory practices in AI design and development. Based on an analysis of justice, the need to shift the focus to love will be highlighted. Furthermore, we introduce two directions love could play during AI design: (1) love as an epistemological design inquiry to question the conventional knowledge structures in design by integrating embodied and experiential knowledge, and (2) love as a political design inquiry to challenge unjust systems …

Sentiment Analysis In Relation To Jordan’S Churches - For The Promotion Of Christian Pilgrimage And Religious Tourism In Jordan, Malek Bader

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Jordan has many famous tourist destinations of Christian importance, but it is unable to attract many Christian pilgrimage tourists. With churches being the epicenter for Christian pilgrimage tourists, an effort was made to understand the sentiments of the people towards the churches of Jordan. A VADER sentiment analysis was performed on 1,758 tweets after biased data removal and data pre-processing of Twitter data for one year. The results showed that 56% of people had positive sentiments, 27% had neutral sentiments, and only 17% had negative sentiments towards the churches of Jordan. The most frequently appearing words in the total word …

Overcoming Barriers To Improved Decision-Making For Battery Deployment In The Clean Energy Transition, Brian Tarroja, Julie M. Schoenung, Oladele Ogunseitan, Alissa Kendall, Yang Qiu, Timothy Malloy, Jens Peters, J. Mijin Cha, Dustin Mulvaney, Oliver Heidrich, Manuel Baumann

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Decarbonization plans depend on the rapid, large-scale deployment of batteries to sufficiently decarbonize the electricity system and on-road transport. This can take many forms, shaped by technology, materials, and supply chain selection, which will have local and global environmental and social impacts. Current knowledge gaps limit the ability of decision-makers to make choices in facilitating battery deployment that minimizes or avoids unintended environmental and social consequences. These gaps include a lack of harmonized, accessible, and up-to-date data on manufacturing and supply chains and shortcomings within sustainability and social impact assessment methods, resulting in uncertainty that limits incorporation of research into …

Sea Urchins Like Zinc Oxide Nanometric Mitigating Meloidogyne Incognita Infection In Eggplant, Amir Khan, Manar Fawzi Bani Mfarrej, Mohd Farhan Khan, Shahbaz Khan, Peiter Malan, Saurabh C. Saxena, Mohd Muddassir, Faheem Ahmad

All Works

This study focused on the nematicidal potential of sea urchin-like zinc oxide nanometrics (SUZN) against the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. XRD, SEM, UV-vis spectroscopy, TEM, and EDX have been utilized to characterize the SUZN. Various SUZN concentrations (150–750 ppm) were examined for their implications for M. incognita second-stage juveniles (J2s) and egg masses, including mortality as well as hatching inhibition. The largest J2s hatching inhibition (83.07%) was seen at 750 ppm SUZN after 48 hours of incubation, whereas the lowest hatching occurred at 150 ppm when compared to the control. SUZN illustrated increased nematicidal efficiency with increasing concentration and incubation …

Ua-Rg14-02 Public Affairs Office / Media And Community Relations/Publications, Archives

Archives Registers

Course catalogs, directories, various publications/booklets by title, newsletters, community programs, slides of USM, and calendars of events, Currents volumes, 1913-1999

Risk Of Climate Damage In The Mountain West, 2024, Taylor Volk, Isabelle G. Graham, Ivan Sun, Zachary Billot, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Environment

This fact sheet examines 2024 data on the estimated annual cost per person of damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and population from climate related disasters for the five Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The original report, “States at Greatest Risk of Climate Damage - 2024 Study,” by Jaclyn DeJohn and published by SmartAsset, includes data on climate disaster risk for all 50 states.

A Modelled Estimate Of Food Access Within Countries Shows That Inequality Within Countries Has Increased Despite Rising Equality Between Countries, Juan Diego Martinez, Navin Ramankutty, Zia Mehrabi, Tom W. Hertel

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Global food calorie supply per person is more than 2900 kcal per day on average, but we have failed to ensure equitable access to these calories. Yet how uneven food access is within countries has remained poorly understood, as has the progress made over the past five decades on closing the access gap. Using publicly available data, we developed a theoretically-grounded statistical model to estimate the cross-national relationship between average per capita expenditure and per capita food availability and used this to estimate within-country access to food for income deciles in 135 countries. We find that, from 1961 to 2013, …

Tracing The Digital Plant Humanities: Narratives Of Botanical Life And Human-Flora Relations, Paul Longley Arthur, John Charles Ryan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In this paper, we trace the emergence of what we term the digital plant humanities (DPH) as an evolution of burgeoning botanical interest among environmental and digital humanists. We argue that DPH coalesces the theoretical and methodological frameworks of the three research areas of plant humanities, environmental humanities, and digital humanities. After conceptualising DPH, we analyse three projects representative of the emergent field—the Native American Ethnobotany Database; Herbaria 3.0; and Microcosms: A Homage to Sacred Plants of America—while referring to a broader range of formative projects including the Plant Humanities Lab.

A Geospatial And Machine Learning Framework For Forecasting Ground Level Ozone Pollution, William J. Keenan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The major detrimental health effects of ground-level ozone (GLO) pollution make it imperative that both policy makers and ordinary citizens have access to high accuracy, high-resolution forecasts of their local area. Recently, advancements in computing power have made it possible to apply artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to a variety of big data modelling problems, including GLO forecasting and estimation. Of these AI methods, deep neural networks (DNN) have demonstrated the highest accuracy due to their ability extract non-linear relationships from high dimensional, noisy data inputs.

This research effort uses novel data sources, namely NOAA’s High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) meteorology …

Using Historic Glacial Data And Gis To Predict Mount Rainier National Park’S Glacial Future, Daniel Kincaid

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Will Washington state have glaciers 100 years from now (year 2124)? Due to generally warmer weather glaciers are largely in retreat globally, including the glaciers in Washington state. In Washington state summer glacial meltwater plays a vital role in the survival of wildlife and is needed for human purposes that include recreation, power generation, drinking, agricultural, and industrial. This project looked at the most resilient glaciers in Washington state, the glaciers at Mount Rainier National Park. Historic measurements were used in an exponential growth calculation to project the amount in acres each glacier at Mount Rainer will advance or retreat …

Visualization Of Indiana And Northern Long-Eared Bats Using Spline Surfaces To Enable Targeted Land Management, Devin Escue

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

This project introduces a Bat Visualization Tool to help manage habitats for threatened bat species while considering broader ecosystem dynamics. It integrates data from acoustic bat surveys at the Corriell Nature Preserve in Iowa. The tool attaches spatial context to non-spatial survey data, weights species calls based on statistical p-values, and creates visual bat species distribution maps using spline surfaces. It also generates future survey locations based on these patterns. By using geospatial analysis and statistics, the tool identifies priority areas for conservation actions, focusing on factors like forest composition, roosting preferences, and land cover types that affect bat habitat …

Academic Success In First-Year Engineering Students At Private Higher Education Institutions In Egypt: Key Factors, Wassim Alexan

Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed to identify the key factors contributing to the success of first-year engineering students at private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Egypt. It specifically examined how various independent variables influence the success of these students, measured as the dependent variable. By analyzing these relationships, the study seeks to pinpoint key success factors (KSFs) for first year engineering students in this specific educational context. The research work employed a mixed methods approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The quantitative analysis involved collecting data through a survey administered to a sample of first year engineering students at private …

Current And Future Environmental Suitability For Bats Hosting Potential Zoonotic Pathogens In Rural Kenya, Ruut Uusitalo, Reilly T. Jackson, Tamika J. Lunn, Essi M. Kohonen, Joseph G. Ogala, Paul W. Wabala, Tarja A. Sironen, Kristian M. Forbes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Synanthropic bats live in close proximity to humans and domestic animals, creating opportunities for potential pathogen spillover. We explored environmental correlates of occurrence for a widely distributed synanthropic African bat, Mops pumilus—a species associated with potential zoonotic viruses—and estimated current and future environmental suitability in the Taita Hills region and surrounding plains in Taita–Taveta County in southeast Kenya. To project future environmental suitability, we used four Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 general circulation models that capture temperature and precipitation changes for East Africa. The models were parameterized with empirical capture data of M. pumilus collected …

Assessing The Effects Of Climate Change On Vulnerability To Poverty: The Case Of Heat Waves And Construction Workers In Egypt, Rachad Bani Samari

Theses and Dissertations

“Doomsday, humanity’s extinction, the end of days”. Apocalyptic adjectives abound to highlight the danger looming over the planet, as the earth is warming up due to global warming and climate change. The picture painted over the canvas has consistently projected a gloomy image of low-income countries and of the poor. As the earth is gently boiling with heat, low-income groups in the Global South are predicted to be most affected. However, most of such warnings and studies focused on sectors directly dependent on suitable weather conditions such as agriculture, and sea tourism. While the climatic phenomena of heat waves may …

Wasted Space: Using Parking Lots & Vacant Land To Improve Neighborhood Completeness, Ryan Martyn

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

This study conducts a spatial analysis of Portland, Oregon, focusing on leveraging underutilized areas like parking lots and vacant land—termed "wasted space"—to improve the city's completeness. Central to this investigation is the concept of a "complete neighborhood," characterized by access to daily necessities within convenient active transportation trip. This comprehensive idea encompasses walkability, equitable access to services, and sustainability.

This paper aims to redefine the concept of a complete neighborhood with precision and delve into its implications. The research looks at five regional, town, and neighborhood centers as defined by the city of Portland. These centers act as pivotal hubs …

Water Quality Assessment, Eutrophication, And Pollution Index In Lake Edku (Nile Delta Of Egypt), Mohamed A. Okbah, Mahmoud S. Ibrahim, Tarek O. Said, Mohammed E.M. Nassar, Maie I. El-Gammal

Blue Economy

Lake Edku is one of the most important lakes in the northern Nile Delta of Egypt. Studying the physicochemical characteristics and nutrient salts is essential for assessing water quality. pH recorded values fell within internationally permitted limits; the temperature was suitable for the growth of fish and living organisms. Electrical conductivity indicates a source of fresh water; salinity indicates that the lake water is brackish; Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) refers to most of the fresh water in the lake. Solid particulate matter occurred within the permissible limits according to WHO, and DO, and some results exceeded the permissible limit. However, …

Strength Evaluation Of Corn And Rice Husk Ash As Partial Cement Replacement In Foam Concrete, Leila Viktoria M. Esguerra, Shereen Danielle L. Haduca, Chrisha Anne C. Gaw, Kate G. Reboredo, Richard M. De Jesus

DLSU Senior High School Research Congress

The construction industry is acknowledged as a crucial catalyst for the development of all countries. However, it also significantly contributes to waste generation, environmental pollution, and global carbon emissions (Menegaki and Damigos, 2018; Zhang & Wang, 2023). As the use of fibers as a partial reinforcement in concrete is considered to enhance the ductility, tensile strength, compressive strength, and durability of the concrete mixture, the purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of using Corn Husk Ash (CHA) and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) as partial cement replacement in foam concrete (FC), examining the compressive and tensile strength, water …

The Chanterelle: The Magazine Of Environmental Studies At Cal Poly Humboldt, 2023-2024

The Chanterelle

The Chanterelle showcases the written work of Environmental Studies majors at Cal Poly Humboldt. Each contributing author enrolled in “ENST 395W: Research & Analysis for Environmental Studies” during the 2023-2024 academic year. While each student chose their own topic, they were prompted to write for a public audience. Specifically, they were encouraged to write for a friend, co-worker, roommate, sibling, or any other family member. Our intended audience in this magazine is thus public. We hope you enjoy this collective project. It is the outcome of course readings, research, and peer edits.

Planned Expansion Of Transportation Infrastructure In Brazil Has Implications For The Pattern Of Agricultural Production And Carbon Emissions, Zhan Wang, Geraldo B. Martha Jr., Jing Liu, Cicero Z. Lima, Thomas W. Hertel

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

High transportation costs have been a barrier to the expansion of agriculture in the interior of Brazil. To reduce transportation costs, Brazil launched the National Logistics Plan, aiming to expand its railway network by up to 91 % by 2035. Such a large-scale infrastructure investment raises concerns about its economic and environmental consequences. By combining geospatial estimation of transportation cost with a grid-resolving, multi-scale economic model that bridges fine-scale crop production with its trade and demand from national and global perspectives, we explore impacts of transportation infrastructure expansion on agricultural production, land use changes, and carbon emissions both locally and …

Managing The Risks Against Carbon Neutralization For Green Maritime Transport, Melisa Ozbiltekin-Pala, Yigit Kazancoglu, Stavros Karamperidis, Mangey Ram

Plymouth Business School

Maritime transport plays a vital role in global trade. With low transport costs and high service reliability, approximately 80% of products are transported by sea. The international nature of maritime transport supports globalized production and consumption patterns. As a result, maritime transport is uniquely influenced by the convergence of environmental, geopolitical, and social factors. One of the environmental factors linked to maritime transport is emissions. Although many steps have been taken to reduce emissions within the scope of carbon neutrality by implementing new technologies and policies, the volume of emissions produced in maritime transport is still relatively high and threatens …

Natural Gas Or National Gas–Would A Statewide Natural Gas Ban In New Development Violate The Commerce Clause?, Madison D. Montague

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article analyzes: (1) the contours of a natural gas installation ban, how municipalities have incorporated these bans, and how the state government may pass a statewide ban; (2) the likelihood that these bans would place a substantial burden on interstate commerce; (3) who, if anyone, would have standing to sue to end these bans; and (4) whether anyone could prevail in an action against a ban on new gas development.

An Economic Remodel: The Genesis Of Modern Corporate Sustainability, Caitlin R. Doak

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

My thesis aims to understand and analyze what is catalyzing the advancement of sustainability in corporate agendas. After my internship at Deloitte and four years of Dartmouth undergrad, I recognized some important themes emerging in the sustainability landscape. Sustainability is at the forefront of policy and stakeholder engagement right now. Shareholders, consumers, regulators, policy makers, are all putting pressure on CSuite executives to redefine materiality and increase transparency in order to properly understand sustainability-related risks and opportunities within companies. Climate and nature-related disclosures are becoming just as important as financial disclosures because companies are being evaluated holistically, and a company’s …

“Salmon Don’T Have Time For Us To Fix The Climate”: The Politics Of Climate Change And Dam Breaching On The Lower Snake River, Zanna Stutz

Geography Undergraduate Senior Theses

This thesis examines the politics of climate change and dam breach on the Lower Snake River. Located in Southeastern Washington within the Columbia River Basin, the four Lower Snake River dams (LSRD) have long been a source of political and legal controversy. While dam proponents advocate for services that they provide, which includes hydropower, navigation, and irrigation, others contend that their environmental impacts, particularly on salmon and steelhead, make them legally, environmentally, and morally irresponsible. Within this space, I specifically investigate how climate change has influenced the environmental politics and conflicts that surrounds dam breaching, further exploring how competing values …

Lawrence University One Hundred Seventy-Fifth Commencement, Sunday, June 9, 2024, Lawrence University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Fiscal Incentives For Green Growth: A Mixed-Methods Study Of The State Of Agroforestry And Tree Cover In India, Spriha Pandey

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

Agroforestry is a crucial strategy for diversifying farmer livelihoods and achieving India's climate goals, but its adoption has been hindered by institutional and fiscal obstacles. This mixed-methods study investigates the impact of national government schemes on tree cover increase and expert perceptions of incentives and barriers to agroforestry adoption. Our analysis of national schemes from 2013-2017 reveals that effective fiscal mechanisms and policy cohesion are critical drivers of agroforestry growth. Specifically, we find that increased funding for the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is associated with significant increases in tree cover area while funding for the Horticultural Scheme (NHM) is …

The Impact Of Maine’S Municipal Shellfish Management On Clam Harvester Motivation To Participate In Resource Conservation, Rachel Lohr Freer

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

This study investigates how the resource management strategies implemented by Maine’s different Municipal Shellfish Conservation Committees influences the motivation held by shellfish harvesters’ to participate in resource conservation activities. As soft shell clam landings are declining across Maine due to increasing predation and climate-related stress, there seems to be a disconnect in harvesters’ willingness to support the conservation activities that Shellfish Conservation Committees make available to them. In efforts to improve participation, town leadership in select regions have started to mandate the completion of annual conservation hours requirements. The diversity of policy approaches enacted by towns provides the unique opportunity …

The Dartmouth Land Ethic: Synthesizing Environmental Ethical Beliefs In Hanover And Beyond, Conor M. Roemer

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

In this thesis, I seek to explore the nature of an environmental ethical paradigm at Dartmouth. In order to do so, I have chosen to begin with an examination of Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic. This watershed essay has inspired many environmental ethical inquiries in the last eighty years. Leopold’s Land Ethic urged human beings to view the environment beyond what might be extracted for anthropogenic use and to see the land as a summation of everything that lies within it: not just the plants and animals, but the mountains, rocks, rivers, and soil as well. In turn, scores of philosophers …

Conserving The Public Lands: Policy And Spatial Analysis Of A Bureau Of Land Management Conservation Leasing Mechanism, Isaiah M. Menning

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is the largest land administrator in the United States, managing about 10% of U.S. lands, primarily in the Western states. The BLM manages under a multiple-use framework, issuing commercial authorizations for grazing, mining, oil and gas, and wind and solar on public lands, while also managing for ecosystem health. In April 2024, the agency finalized a rule that would create a conservation leasing mechanism to allow private, state, and tribal parties to lease BLM lands for restoration and mitigation purposes, which I investigate here. First, I find that while the conservation leasing mechanism does …

Land-Use Governance And Indigenous Engagement In Arctic Alaska And Norway: Successes, Current Gaps, And Paths Forward, Ningning Sun

Environmental Studies Senior Theses

This study aims to analyze the land use governance structures and the role of Indigenous engagement in Alaska and Norway using a comparative approach, with special focus on successful practices, current gaps, and paths forward to achieve equitable governance. Extractive land uses, such as oil and gas extraction and the construction of wind farms, have mixed impacts on Indigenous communities and lead to social and legal issues such as land use conflict and environmental injustice. Previous research has studied land use governance in Arctic countries with regard to Indigenous Peoples, yet there is a lack of literature that spans Alaska …