Digital Commons Network^™

The Seed | Urban Vertical Farming Germinated, Michael Lima

Architecture Senior Theses

A city works as an ecosystem in many ways. However, we currently do not live within that ecosystem, as the difference between an ecosystem and a city is the waste output and food input . Nature and society do not exist independently because there are no spaces of nature unaffected by man. With this in mind we need to reestablish our relationship with nature. Architecture and engineering can be used to create buildings that will allow humans to turn cities into ecosystems. This thesis argues that Urban Vertical Farms will produce social and economic hubs that will be a new …

Exploring Elementary Students’ Agricultural And Scientific Knowledge Using Evidence Centered Design, Molly R. Brandt

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The public is more disconnected from agriculture than ever. Americans are two to four generations removed from the farm, and a majority of Americans, even in rural agricultural states have no direct link to agriculture. As a result, the public lacks the knowledge and appreciation of the food, fuel, and fiber it demands. The National Center for Agricultural Literacy (NCAL) uses National Agricultural Learning Objectives (NALOs) to measure student’s agricultural knowledge. The purpose of this project is to develop assessments aligned with the NALOs and to use results from the assessments to further understand students’ agricultural literacy. This study focuses …

Calcium And Magnesium Absorption And Retention By Growing Goats Offered Diets With Different Calcium Sources., Jennifer Long

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Calcium addition is necessary in order to balance the high phosphorus concentrations that are characteristic of high-concentrate ruminant diets. However, calcium sources differ in their bioavailability. Our objective was to determine apparent Ca and Mg absorption and retention in goats offered diets containing different sources of Ca. Spanish-Boer goats (n=18; 19.6 ± 1.88 kg) were stratified by BW and sex and randomized to dietary treatments consisting of Purina Antlermax 16 containing either calcium carbonate (CC), Calmin (CM) or Milk Cal (MC). Goats were adapted to a control, corn-based high-concentrate diet on pasture and then moved to individual 1.0 × 1.5 …

Building An Assessment-Focused Information Literacy Program For Agriculture And Related Disciplines: A Collaborative Approach, Katherine O'Clair

Library Scholarship

Students pursuing degrees in STEM fields, including agriculture and related sciences, need to develop discipline-specific information skills in order to be successful in their educational pursuits and to meet tomorrow’s challenges in their future work as agriculture professionals. Oftentimes, information literacy programs are situated in general education or liberal arts courses, leaving the discipline-specific courses to incorporate information literacy only when and where possible. As STEM librarians, we know this is not sufficient, but the challenge of building a STEM-specific information literacy program can be overwhelming, especially when instructors have little time to incorporate any additional content into their already-packed …

Crop Modeling For Assessing And Mitigating The Impacts Of Extreme Climatic Events On The Us Agriculture System, Zhenong Jin

Open Access Dissertations

The US agriculture system is the world’s largest producer of maize and soybean, and typically supplies more than one-third of their global trading. Nearly 90% of the US maize and soybean production is rainfed, thus is susceptible to climate change stressors such as heat waves and droughts. Process-based crop and cropping system models are important tools for climate change impact assessments and risk management. As data- science is becoming a new frontier for agriculture growth, the incoming decade calls for operational platforms that use hyper-local growth monitoring, high-resolution real-time weather and satellite data assimilation and cropping system modeling to help …

Corporate Agricultural Investment And The Right To Food: Addressing Disparate Protections And Promoting Rights-Consistent Outcomes, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Anna Bulman

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Over the past decade, the world has witnessed heightened corporate interest in large-scale land-based agricultural investment. While such investments can potentially have positive effects for local communities, they also can have wide-ranging negative impacts on human rights, including through forced displacement and the loss of livelihoods. This Article examines the impact of large-scale corporate agricultural investment on the right to food, as well as on human rights more generally. It considers the protections offered by the investment and human rights legal regimes to both corporations and individuals, including recent international developments relating to transnational corporate accountability and efforts to integrate …

Transparency In Land-Based Investment: Key Questions And Next Steps, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Large-scale investments in agriculture and forestry are often shrouded in secrecy. In many cases, they are negotiated without the involvement of affected communities, approved through opaque decision-making procedures, and governed by legal agreements that are difficult both to access and to understand. This systemic lack of transparency impedes accountability and exacerbates ongoing disagreements about the real costs and benefits for investors, host countries, and their citizens.

Jointly authored by CCSI and the Open Contracting Partnership, this briefing note examines why contract disclosure and a contracting process that is open, accessible, and inclusive are important; what such transparency entails; and how …

Recommending Transparency In Land-Based Investment: A Summary Of Relevant Guidelines And Principles, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

An emerging consensus on the need for greater transparency in land-based investment is increasingly evident across various forums. This document consolidates recommendations regarding transparency featured in guidelines and principles published by international organizations, government agencies, and multilateral or multi-stakeholder groups. Viewed together, these recommendations offer insight on the evolving narrative on transparency in land-based investment, assist stakeholders in addressing the issue of transparency, and provide an informed starting point for further analysis.

A Federal Role In Education: Encouragement As A Guiding Philosophy For The Advancement Of Learning In America, Gerard Robinson

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Status Of Open Access Institutional Digital Repositories In Agricultural Sciences: A Case Study Of Asia, Bijan Kumar Roy, Subal Chandra Biswas, Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Paper highlights the current state of open access repositories (OARs) movement in Agricultural field of Asian countries. It describes their characteristics in terms of types, contents, disciplines, languages covered, technical and operational issues, and policy matters. Compares and evaluates repositories against selected parameters and makes some recommendations for the growth of agricultural repositories Worldwide. Also presents a unified interface that can harvest metadata from different OAI-PMH compliant agricultural repositories Worldwide.

Lung Cancer Risk Test Trial: Study Design, Participant Baseline Characteristics, Bronchoscopy Safety, And Establishment Of A Biospecimen Repository, E. L. Crawford, Albert M. Levin, F. Safi, Mei Lu, A. Baugh, X. Zhang, J. Yeo, S. A. Khuder, A. M. Boulos, P. Nana-Sinkam, P. P. Massion, D. A. Arenberg, D. Midthun, P. J. Mazzone, S. D. Nathan, R. Wainz, G. Silvestri, J. Tita, J. C. Willey

Public Health Sciences Articles

BACKGROUND: The Lung Cancer Risk Test (LCRT) trial is a prospective cohort study comparing lung cancer incidence among persons with a positive or negative value for the LCRT, a 15 gene test measured in normal bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC). The purpose of this article is to describe the study design, primary endpoint, and safety; baseline characteristics of enrolled individuals; and establishment of a bio-specimen repository.

METHODS/DESIGN: Eligible participants were aged 50-90 years, current or former smokers with 20 pack-years or more cigarette smoking history, free of lung cancer, and willing to undergo bronchoscopic brush biopsy for NBEC sample collection. NBEC, …

Agricultural Development In A Tibetan Township, Scott Waldron, Pubuzhuoma N/A, Colin Brown, Wujincuomu N/A, Tao Jin, Wei Na

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Rural Tibet has been confronted with a series of new and major forces over the last decade including new opportunities to work off-farm and to collect caterpillar fungus, buoyant food markets, and after decades of neglect, renewed policy attention to agriculture. This paper examines semi-subsistent agricultural structures at the household level, as the base from which rural Tibetans pursue livelihood strategies and adapt to new opportunities and challenges. With small land sizes and precarious food balances, agricultural households have been given a boost through rising prices and increased policy attention to agriculture that manifests itself at local levels. This has …

Personal Meaning Mapping As A Tool To Uncover Learning From An Out-Of-Doors Free-Choice Learning Garden, Deborah L. Bailey, John H. Falk

Research in Outdoor Education

Garden-based learning (GBL), a form of outdoor education contextualized and framed within unpredictable and real-world learning environments, is ideally suited to the teaching of science. However, the vast majority of GBL educational research has utilized a cognitive and positivist research paradigm, one that artificially restricts the investigative lens. The goal of the larger project from which this paper was drawn was to develop a better understanding of how youth perceived a garden experience. This paper shares the affordances and constraints of the constructivist framework utilized and the primary measurement tool, Person Meaning Mapping (PMM). Despite some inherent limitations, the PMM …

Cultivate Fall/Winter 2016, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

No abstract provided.

Cultivate Spring/Summer 2016, Utah State University

Cultivate Magazine

No abstract provided.

Where Copyright Meets Privacy In The Big Data Era: Access To And Control Over User Data In Agriculture And The Role Of Copyright, Tesh W. Dagne

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The application of big data in different sectors of the economy and its transformative value has recently attracted considerable attention. However, this transformation, driven by the application of advanced technologies that utilize big data—such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and software systems—raises concerns about access to and control over the user data that results from the uptake in using digital technologies. This Article examines the role different legal regimes have in framing access to and control over various forms of user data from the perspective of technology users in the agriculture sector. This Article then goes …

Energy And Protein Efficiency Of Lactating Dairy Cows Fed Ground Peas, Canola Meal And Rumen-Protected Amino Acids, Andre De Barros Duarte Pereira

Doctoral Dissertations

Forages as conserved silage or grass cannot supply enough nutrients and energy as required by lactating dairy cows. As a result, supplementation with grains is needed to provide animals with enough nutrients to be healthy and produce milk being profitable (NRC, 2001). High producing cows need protein supplementation from sources other than forages in order to maximize milk protein production, with emphasis on replenishing requirements for specific amino acids. Excessive protein in the diet or deficiency of an essential amino acid can reduce productivity and increase excretion of N to the environment, causing pollution. Research must be conducted to help …

Year-Round Management Of High Tunnel Production Systems: Spinach And Tomato, Connor Eaton

Master's Theses and Capstones

As high tunnel production is relatively new to the Northeast, this research has helped understand knowledge-gaps in common warm and cold-season crop systems in the region. High tunnels increase crop yield and quality and extend the growing season, and are most commonly used for tomato in the warm-season and spinach in the cold-season.

Spinach was grown in unheated high tunnels throughout the cold-season to evaluate the effects of cultivar and planting date on yield and sweetness (Brix° levels). Cultivar and planting date had a significant effect on yield, where earlier planting dates resulted in higher yields. Cultivar had a significant …

Establishing Methodology For Occupational Injury Surveillance In Agriculture And Logging, Erika Elisabeth Scott

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Developing a low-cost surveillance system for occupational injury in agriculture and logging has long been a challenge. These data are needed to prioritize public health interventions in the agriculture and logging industries, and are crucial to evaluating changes in injury rates, as well as the effectiveness of safety interventions. Recently, the transition to electronic data reporting created new opportunities for the development of sustainable, low-cost surveillance systems. Pre-hospital care reports (PCR) and hospital data (emergency department, inpatient, and outpatient) are datasets of particular interest.

Food System Education Among High School Students, Yussra Mt Ebrahim

Honors Theses and Capstones

As the American public school system is currently designed, the average student is likely to graduate high school without ever having received any formal instruction regarding the food system in which he or she takes part as a consumer. Such instruction was not necessary up until the current era of separation between consumers and food production. Through this research project, I sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of a single introductory lesson on the issues confronting the modern American food system, which I taught to two high school biology classrooms. A pre-survey was taken by the high school biology students online …

Developing Agritourism In The Caribbean: Critical Ethnography And Sustainable Landscape Design To Improve The Human Experience At Letan Bossier, Haiti, Kristen Maria Lonon

LSU Master's Theses

The Letan Bossier, Haiti community is in need of continued investment from international agencies, in an effort to improve conditions for locals, along with shaping the experience of the tourist, at and around an attractive natural basin, three miles north-west of Cayes-Jacmel, Haiti, at about 187 meters above sea level. In order to improve one’s journey through this mountainside community to the Grand Basin, capital investments must be made. The goal of the proposed design solutions is to solve for the locals first, in turn, attracting tourists to experience a space that’s supported by its own people. The goal of …

Using Zeolite For Soil Moisture Retention And Salinity Control, Mark Torres

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

There is a great need in the desert southwest United States for exploring ways to save water in agriculture as it accounts for up to 90 percent of water consumption in many western states (USDA 2016). As surface water reaches critical lows the dependence on ground water has increased leading to the need for deeper wells with higher salt concentrations. The studies conducted for this research included using zeolites from the St Cloud Mining Company in Winston, New Mexico to determine the feasibility of using these zeolites to help and retain moisture in zeolite treated soils. The Volumetric Water Content …

Land Use In The Northern Great Plains Region Of The U.S. Influences The Survival And Productivity Of Honey Bee Colonies, Matthew D. Smart, Jeff S. Pettis, Ned Euliss, Marla S. Spivak

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The Northern Great Plains region of the US annually hosts a large portion of commercially managed U.S. honey bee colonies each summer. Changing land use patterns over the last several decades have contributed to declines in the availability of bee forage across the region, and the future sustainability of the region to support honey bee colonies is unclear. We examined the influence of varying land use on the survivorship and productivity of honey bee colonies located in six apiaries within the Northern Great Plains state of North Dakota, an area of intensive agriculture and high density of beekeeping operations. Land …

The Effects Of Manufactured Nanomaterial Transformations On Bioavailability, Toxicity And Transcriptomic Responses Of Caenorhabditis Elegans, Daniel L. Starnes

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

In recent decades, there has been a rapid expansion in the use of manufactured nanoparticles (MNPs). Experimental evidence and material flow models predict that MNPs enter wastewater treatment plants and partition to sewage sludge and majority of that sludge is land applied as biosolids. During wastewater treatment and after land application, MNPs undergo biogeochemical transformations (aging). The primary transformation process for silver MNPs (Ag-MNPs) is sulfidation, while zinc oxide MNPs (ZnO-MNPs) most likely undergo phosphatation and sulfidation. Our overall goal was to assess bioavailability and toxicogenomic impacts of both pristine, defined as-synthesized, and aged Ag- and ZnO-MNPs, as well as …

Effects Of Mowing And Soil Disturbance On The No-Till Establishment And Productivity Of A Diverse Forage Crop Cocktail In Hayfields, Myers M. Shaiyen

Master's Theses and Capstones

This project examined approaches to establishing a functionally diverse forage crop “cocktail”, a mixture of 15 annual and perennial forage crop species with contrasting functional traits, within a hayfield for the purpose of increasing hayfield forage plant diversity and productivity. The forage crop cocktail was intended to enhance the diversity of the resident hayfield, as well as contribute to enhancements in overall hayfield productivity via biological interactions among the cocktail and resident hayfield species, rather than through external chemical inputs. We examined several strategies for both managing the resident hayfield plant community prior to sowing the cocktail and the timing …

Developing Chemically Mutagenized Ems Forrest Soybean Population For High Oil Profile, Joshua William Gunther

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF JOSHUA GUNTHER, for the Masters of Science degree in Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems, presented on November 2nd, 2015, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: DEVELOPING CHEMICALLY MUTAGENIZED EMS FORREST SOYBEAN POPULATION FOR HIGH OIL PROFILE. MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Khalid Meksem SUPERVISOR: Dr. Naoufal Lakhssassi Soybeans (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) are the most important crop that provides a sustainable source of oil and protein worldwide. Five major fatty acids are known, Palmetic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic and Linolenic acid, and each is essential for both nutrition and biodiesel. Oil demand for biodiesel production is constantly …

Rural Vs. Non-Rural Differences And Longitudinal Bone Changes By Dxa And Pqct In Men Aged 20-66 Years: A Population-Based Study, Bonny L. Specker, Howard E. Wey, Teresa L. Binkley, Tianna Beare, Maggie Minett, Lee A. Weidauer

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research was to determine whether there were differences in estimated means and rates of change in BMC, bone area, BMD and measures of bone geometry among men (n=544) from three distinct populations (Hutterite [rural], rural non-Hutterite, non-rural), and whether activity levels or calcium intake explain these population differences. Men were enrolled in the South Dakota Rural Bone Health Study and followed for 7.5 years to estimate means and rates of change in bone mass, density, size and geometry. Femoral neck (FN) and spine measurements were obtained every 18 months by DXA and distal radius (4% and …

Using A Rising Plate Meter To Determine Paddock Size For Rotational Grazing, Jennifer W. Macadam, Sara R. Hunt

All Current Publications

For rotational grazing of pastures to be most successful, it’s important to match pasture production to ruminant intake, because both can change during the grazing season. This publication shows how a rising plate meter can be used to calculate available pasture dry matter, allowing pasture managers to optimize pasture utilization and ruminant production on pasture.

Plenary Presentation On George Washington Carver At The Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, 2014, Kenneth M. Quinn

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

No abstract provided.

On Feeding The 10 Billion, Patricia Boling

Dawn or Doom Conference

It is commonplace to encounter people close to agriculture in Indiana worrying about how we will produce enough food to feed the projected 10 billion people who will inhabit the earth by 2050. But the assumption that Indiana needs to become even more productive and figure out how to turn out even more of what it does best, corn and soy beans, begs the question, what kind of food are we producing, and how will producing more of it benefit a rapidly increasing world population? We Hoosiers are incredibly productive, but our agricultural output is used primarily to create animal …