Digital Commons Network^™

Toward Energy-Efficient Deep Neural Networks For Forest Fire Detection In An Image, Yali Wang, Chuulabat Purev, Hunter Barndt, Henry Toal, Jason Kim, Luke Underwood, Luis Avalo, Arghya Kusum Das

The Geographical Bulletin

Forest fires cause huge losses and are a serious problem facing many countries worldwide, including the USA, Canada, Brazil, Siberia, and Indonesia, to name a few. Automatic identification of forest fires in an image is thus an important field to research in order to minimize disasters while also helping in mitigation planning and designing rescue tactics. Artificial Intelligence technologies, especially deep neural networks, have emerged recently with promises to detect fires with better accuracy from an image. However, the massive energy consumption of deep neural networks thwarts their widespread adoption, especially when it comes to onsite detection of fire utilizing …

Gis-Based Spatial And Temporal Analyses Of Motor Vehicle Crashes In The Atlanta Metropolitan Region 2017-2021, Heyward Stober, Jeong C. Seong

The Geographical Bulletin

Motor vehicle crash analysis is among the most insightful metrics for public safety officials, researchers, and drivers. In this article, geographical information systems (GIS) tools were used to study the spatial and temporal trends of traffic crashes and fatal crashes. The methodology involves collecting spatial crash data over time and using computer-based analysis to overlay the road data against various spatial and temporal parameters in the Atlanta metropolitan region. Results show major crash hotspots in the region, such as the cites of Marietta, Kennesaw, and College Park. Hotspots tend to form on interstate highways, while smaller state highways have fewer …

Recovery Of Microtopography Following Prairie Restoration: Implications For Biodiversity Monitoring, Karli Cich, Scott Powell

The Geographical Bulletin

Tallgrass prairies are often restored from agricultural fields where the natural microtopography has long since been removed. Therefore, our study investigates the degree to which restored prairies recover microtopography. Differences in microtopography were measured using precise elevation data collected from LiDAR to compare differences in microtopography between crop fields, fallow fields, newer restored prairies, and older restored prairies. We also compared plant biodiversity indices between newer and older restored prairies using nested plot vegetation sampling. Our first research question is how microtopography differs between the sites. Our results show that older restored prairies had the most microtopographic variation, followed by …

Modeling The Impact Of Ocean Temperature Increases On The Distribution Of Seagrasses Around The Korean Peninsula Using A Machine Learning Technique, Jina Jang, Seohyeon Kim, Jeong Seong

The Geographical Bulletin

Seagrasses are important resources which form a vital part of the ocean ecosystem. They are also considered blue carbon because of their capability of sequestrating carbon. Seagrass distribution can be affected by many factors including ocean temperature. It is highly likely that recent climate change may increase ocean temperature significantly in East Asia and consequently alter seagrass distribution patterns. This study aims at predicting the impact of ocean temperature increases on seagrass habitats around the Korean Peninsula. Using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) Model, seagrass habitat distributions were modeled when sea temperature rises by 1°C, 2°C, 3°C, and 4°C. Results show …

Predicting Cloud Fraction With Instantaneous Direct And Diffuse Shortwave Solar Irradiance, Jamison Lerma, Emily K. Blackaby, Maosi Chen, Sasha Madronich, Wei Gao

The Geographical Bulletin

The purpose of this study is to compare the different performances of three commonly used models (i.e., linear regression, random forest regression, and deep neural network (DNN)) to predict cloud fraction (CF) using ground-based shortwave solar radiation measurements and analyze the importance of the input features. The CF data are obtained from the Surface Radiation Budget (SURFRAD) and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) and the irradiance data from the USDA UV-B Monitoring and Research Program. The study finds that CF of opaque and total clouds can be best predicted using both Random Forest Regression and DNN with the validation R2 …

Prediction Of Traffic Congestion Using A Time-Series Model And Spatiotemporal Data: A Case Study Of The Atlanta Downtown Connector, Yunsik Kim

The Geographical Bulletin

Traffic congestion poses significant socio-economic challenges, and many urban commuters experience time and cost burdens due to traffic jams. Effectively managing and predicting traffic congestion is crucial for contemporary urban planning and operations. This study aims to predict congestion using time-series deep learning models, focusing on a chronically congested road section. The research area is the Atlanta Downtown Connector, a heavily trafficked route passing through the heart of the city of Atlanta. To address issues often associated with sensor and GPS-based data collection, traffic data was obtained from an open-source online map service, Google Maps. A multivariate time-lagged LSTM model …

A Remote Sensing Investigation Of The 2022 Invasion Of Eastern Ukraine On Agricultural Landcover, Michael S. Agbozo, Luke J. Marzen, Chandana Mitra

The Geographical Bulletin

Ukraine-Russian political relations over the years have alternatively experienced periods of tranquility and turmoil with violent conflicts since 1917, including the events of the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 Russian invasion of the entirety of Ukraine. These conflicts remain developmental threats and their assessment requires multi-perspective analysis. Understanding the spatial dimensions of such conflicts and their consequences on physical and social spaces at varying scales could provide credible scientific impetuses on which targeted post-conflict remediations could be built. This preliminary study therefore takes advantage of the capabilities of satellite remote sensing, to provide quick and effective spatiotemporal analysis …

Open-Source Based Change Pattern Analysis Of Urban Green Spaces Using Landscape Metrics, Mohammad Anwar Alattar

The Geographical Bulletin

A growing number of studies have been conducted on urban green spaces (UGSs), given their essential role in mitigating urbanization externalities. The current available methods for acquiring and analyzing UGSs data suffer from several limitations. For example, free satellite imagery exhibits pixel distortion and fails to account for fine-grained structure such as accurate geometry or size. Moreover, official UGSs datasets are typically updated periodically, not continuously. This work provides a Python-derived open-source based analysis for acquiring, modeling and analyzing UGSs change patterns using landscape metrics. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, it is applied on the New York …

Evaluating The Use Of Unpiloted Aerial Systems To Detect And Monitor Beech Bark Disease In New England Forests, Isabelle Lopez, Benjamin T. Fraser, Russell G. Congalton

The Geographical Bulletin

The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) plays a key role throughout eastern North American forests. However, beech bark disease (BBD) causes widespread mortality of beech trees. We investigated whether imagery collected using an unpiloted aerial system (UAS) could differentiate beech tree health. Reference data were collected from 140 beech trees in New Hampshire and were visually classified as having “no/trace damage,” “moderate damage,” or “heavy damage.” Multispectral imagery was collected from a UAS, and 44 image features were derived for each beech crown. We used machine learning to identify the importance of each feature in distinguishing between the three health classes …

High-Mountain Hazards In The Indian Himalaya: An Assessment Of The Causes And Effects Of The Chamoli Flood In 2021, Christina M. Salzmann, Sarah J. Halvorson, Anna E. Klene

The Geographical Bulletin

On 7 February 2021, a devastating flood severely impacted the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga, and Dhauliganga River Valleys in the northwestern District of Chamoli, India. The flood washed away two hydropower projects and caused more than 200 fatalities. This study assessed some of the causes and effects of this catastrophic flood event and aims to provide further documentation that the event was not caused by a glacial lake outburst flood, as many reports initially indicated. Analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, digital elevation model (DEM) differencing, and precipitation and temperature data showed that an ice-rock avalanche was released as a result of …

Editors' Note, Jc Seong

The Geographical Bulletin

Editors' Note

Front Matters, Nancy Pullen-Hoalst

The Geographical Bulletin

Front Matter

Volume 64-2 Complete Issue, Nancy Pullen-Hoalst

The Geographical Bulletin

Complete Issue

Issue 436: February 8-22, 2024, The Local Voice

The Local Voice

No abstract provided.

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 3 - February 8, 2024

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 3 - February 8, 2024. 24 pages.

Mexican Consumers' Attitudes Toward Irradiated And Imported Apples, André D. Murray, Rosa K. Gallardo, Anuradha Prakash

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

This study centers on analyzing Mexican consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for imported US fresh apples subjected to irradiation, contrasting it with the more prevalent postharvest chemical treatments. We collect data using a survey tool in Qualtrics designed to explore the impact of information dissemination through two distinct narrative styles: scientific and layman. The study uses a between-subjects approach and apply the propensity score matching to address potential confounding factors across respondents' samples. We apply the generalized multinomial logit models in WTP space, taking into consideration respondent's certainty when answering to the choice experiment questions. Our findings reveal that respondents …

Teddy Roosevelt And The Panama Canal, Paul Mills

Legacy

No abstract provided.

Are State Comprehensive Institutions Prepared For Ai? Not Yet., Brent J. Goertzen

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has profound implications for higher education and teaching and learning. The present study, conducted at a state, comprehensive university (SCU) is the US Midwest, evaluated how effective faculty in a leadership focused program are at differentiating between human or AI-generated content. Participants reviewed 12 “student assignments” representing short answer essays, and completed the following tasks: 1) evaluated the assignment on three dimensions of the grading rubric; 2) assigned a percent grade; 3) indicated whether it was human or AI-generated; and 4) provided a rationale for their selection.

Evolving technologies like ChatGPT and other LLMS …

Cwu Faculty Senate Minutes 2/07/24, Janet Shields

Faculty Senate Minutes

These are the official Central Washington University Faculty Senate minutes for the February 7, 2024, regular meeting.

Complex Erosional Response To Uplift And Rock Strength Contrasts In Transient River Systems Crossing An Active Normal Fault Revealed By 10Be And 26Al Cosmogenic Nuclide Analyses, Sarah J. Boulton, Ángel Rodés, Derek Fabel, M. Cihat Alçiçek, Alexander C. Whittaker

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Understanding the influence of bedrock lithology on the catchment-averaged erosion rates of normal fault-bounded catchments and the effect that different bedrock erodibilties have on the evolution of transient fluvial geomorphology remain major challenges. To investigate this problem, we collected 18 samples for ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al cosmogenic nuclide analysis to determine catchment-averaged erosion rates along the well-constrained Gediz Fault system in western Türkiye, which is experiencing fault-driven river incision owing to a linkage event ~0.8 Ma and has weak rocks overlying strong rocks in the footwall. Combined with existing cosmogenic data, we show that the background rate of erosion …

Understanding Decision Making As It Influences Treatment In Thoracolumbar Burst Fractures Without Neurological Deficit: Conceptual Framework And Methodology, Charlotte Dandurand, Cumhur F. Öner, Olesja Hazenbiller, Richard J. Bransford, Klaus Schnake, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Lorin M. Benneker, Emiliano Vialle, Gregory D. Schroeder, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran, Mohammad El-Skarkawi, Rishi M. Kanna, Mohamed Aly, Martin Holas, Jose A. Canseco, Sander Muijs, Eugen Cezar Popescu, Jin Wee Tee, Gaston Camino-Willhuber, Andrei Fernandes Joaquim, Ory Keynan, Harvinder Singh Chhabra, Sebastian Bigdon, Ulrich Spiegel, Marcel F. Dvorak

Rothman Institute Papers

STUDY DESIGN: This paper presents a description of a conceptual framework and methodology that is applicable to the manuscripts that comprise this focus issue.

OBJECTIVES: Our goal is to present a conceptual framework which is relied upon to better understand the processes through which surgeons make therapeutic decisions around how to treat thoracolumbar burst fractures (TL) fractures.

METHODS: We will describe the methodology used in the AO Spine TL A3/4 Study prospective observational study and how the radiographs collected for this study were utilized to study the relationships between various variables that factor into surgeon decision making.

RESULTS: With 22 …

Meet The Spring '24 B Impact Clinic Cohort, Sustainability Institute

Sustainability Institute Blog

No abstract provided.

Electrical Field Service Employees’ Intent To Stay Or Leave, Jeffrey Daniels

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Electrical field service leaders are concerned with losing human capital as it requires the shifting or reallocating of economic and non-economic resources to maintain operations and financial goals. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between general job satisfaction, employee motivation, and employee turnover intentions. Participants included 51 electrical field service leaders in the electrical field service industry who completed the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Motivational Trait Questionnaire. The multiple linear regression analysis results indicated the model could significantly predict employee turnover intentions, F(2, 48) = 15.29, p < .001, R2 = .389. In the final model, general job satisfaction was the only significant contributor (t = -5.15, p = < .001, β = -0.586). A key recommendation is for electrical field service leaders to implement goals around the mastery of a particular task, quarterly competitions around goal attainment, and regularly scheduled team meetings. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve work–life balance, shift more time invested into the local community, and update models incorporating a multicultural workforce in the services sector.

We Don’T Talk About Influence: An Analysis Of Disney’S Encanto & Its Influence On Viewers’ Perceptions Of Colombian Culture, Olivia Grace Keyser

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study, “We Don’t Talk About Influence: An Analysis of Disney’s Encanto & Its Influence on Viewers’ Perceptions of Colombian Culture,” was to analyze the way Colombian culture is presented in Disney’s Encanto as well as to determine whether viewers of Encanto learn and develop a favorable view of Colombia and Colombian culture after watching the film. In this qualitative research study, 20 participants completed two questionnaires, which were used to determine their perceptions of Colombian culture prior to and after watching Encanto. The collected data was analyzed through the lens of the communication strategy of entertainment-education. …

The Impact Of Wwii And Changes Brought By The War On A Small Kentucky Community, Barry A. Kennedy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

War is a regular tool that brings changes and new opportunities for people. For the people of Logan County, life was rather stagnated between the American Civil War and WWII. During the Civil War Logan County played a very important role in the pro-Confederate movement in Kentucky, even housing multiple meetings and a convention with the goal of Kentucky joining the Confederacy. While this did not happen, this movement continued in the years that followed the war, as a massive Confederate hangover reigned over the county. This hangover, which can be associated with the “lost cause” dominated the way of …

Exclusive Legal Personality Of States In East Asia And The Legacy Of Bandung Pragmatism, Tetsuya Toyoda

Indonesian Journal of International Law

One of the significance of the Bandung Conference was the down-to-earth realism. The People's Republic of China (PRC) was among the major promoters of the conference, despite its mostly unrecognized status in the international community. The exclusive legal personality is the central tenet of the modern system of international law, where non-sovereign entities are strictly discriminated against sovereign ones. The introduction of international law in East Asia in the late-nineteenth century was particularly troublesome with the eventual denial of legal personality of semi-sovereign entities, such as the kingdom of Lew Chew, the Joseon dynasty, or the government of Tibet. East …

Creation Of A Southwestern Authors Archive: Revisiting The Laverne Harrell Clark Collection Ten Years Later, Erin R. Wahl, Pamela Pierce, Wendy Burk, Julie Swarstad Johnson, Sarah Kortemeier

Journal of Western Archives

This article details the processing of the LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection by University of Arizona Poetry Center librarians, archivists, and interns, and the current status and next steps of the collection. The LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection, which contains thousands of portraits and candids of poets taken circa 1960-2000 by LaVerne Harrell Clark, the Poetry Center’s first director, is deeply entwined with the Poetry Center’s institutional identity. In addition, the authors explored ways in which the collection and the institution as a whole are positioned as uniquely Western and also of national significance. Those processing the collection became interested …

To Catch The Cheshire Cat: Freezing Injunction Jurisdiction At The Click Of A Mouse, King Fung Tsang, Pierce Lai

Washington International Law Journal

Since its emergence in 1975, the English freezing injunction has grown to have a robust and global extraterritorial reach, but its exercise in extreme cases is jurisdictionally unsound. The “real connecting link” between assets and forum required for the grant of a worldwide freezing order in aid of foreign proceedings has become significantly looser, notably with an element of fraud acting as catalyst. This jurisdictional link is further weakened by the receding of reciprocity imperatives between the United Kingdom and member states of the European Union following Brexit. In its place is the enforcement principle, enabling a high degree of …

Joint Senate Meeting Minutes 2-6-24, Unk Student Government

Joint Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Most Deprived Louisiana Census Tracts Have Higher Hepatocellular Carcinoma Incidence And Worse Survival, Kendra L. Ratnapradipa, Tingting Li, Mei Chin Hsieh, Laura Tenner, Edward S. Peters

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Liver cancer incidence increased in the US from 1975 through 2015 with heterogeneous rates across subpopulations. Upstream or distal area-level factors impact liver cancer risks. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between area-level deprivation and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence and survival. We also explored the association between area deprivation and treatment modalities. Methods: Louisiana Tumor Registry identified 4,151 adult patients diagnosed with malignant HCC from 2011 to 2020 and linked residential address to census tract (CT)-level Area Deprivation Index (ADI) categorized into quartiles (Q1 = least deprived). ANOVA examined the association between ADI quartile …