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Scotts Bluff National Monument, Plant Community Resource Brief, Isabel Ashton, Mike Prowatzke

United States National Park Service: Publications

2011 Monitoring Status

Overview

In 2011, the first year of vegetation monitoring by the Northern Great Plains Network Inventory and Monitoring staff at Scotts Bluff National Monument, efforts resulted in the documentation of 79 plant species. This was the lowest number of species among parks sampled in 2011. Graminoid (grass and grass-like plant) species accounted for only 21 (27%) of the total species, but graminoid cover was much higher than that of any other plant type. Forbs were much more diverse, but did not provide as much foliar cover.

The 5 most abundant native non-graminoids were winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata …

Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring Protocol For The Northern Great Plains I&M Network - Standard Operating Procedures, Version 1.01, Amy J. Symstad, Robert A. Gitzen, Cody L. Wienk, Michael R. Bynum, Daniel J. Swanson, Andy D. Thorstenson, Kara J. Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Introduction

The Northern Great Plains Inventory and Monitoring Network (NGPN) includes thirteen park units located in five northern Great Plains states across six ecoregions. Plant community composition and structure monitoring comprises the core of the vegetation monitoring effort for the NGPN, covering the “Riparian Lowland Plant Communities” and “Upland Plant Communities” vital signs (Gitzen et al. 2010). The narrative portion of the plant community protocol can be found in Symstad et al. 2012. The narrative includes the rationale for vegetation monitoring, an overview of sample design, field methods, data management, and program requirements. This document contains the standard operating procedures …

Brief 4: Lessons From The Multilateral Trading System For Reforming The Architecture Of The International Environmental Regime, Thomas Cottier, Manfred Elsig, Judith Wehrli

Governance and Sustainability Issue Brief Series

Recent studies on environmental regimes suggest that important lessons and policy recommendations may be drawn from the functioning of the multilateral trading regime. This brief compares the needs and goals of the trade and environment regimes, and discusses how insights from over sixty years of experience of the multilateral trading system might provide ideas for redesigning the architecture of the international environmental regime. It further calls for a better dialogue and improved complementarities between the two fields in order to enhance coherence within international law.

The Social Network Of Software Engineering Research, Subhajit Datta, Nishant Kumar, Santonu Sarkar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The social network perspective has served as a useful framework for studying scientific research collaboration in different disciplines. Although collaboration in computer science research has received some attention, software engineering research collaboration has remained unexplored to a large extent. In this paper, we examine the collaboration networks based on co-authorship information of papers from ten software engineering publication venues over the 1976-2010 time period. We compare time variations of certain parameters of these networks with corresponding parameters of collaboration networks from other disciplines. We also explore whether software engineering collaboration networks manifest symptoms of the small-world phenomenon, conform to the …

Manipulation Of Online Reviews: An Analysis Of Ratings, Readability, And Sentiments, Nan Hu, Indranil Bose, Noi Sian Koh, Ling Liu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As consumers become increasingly reliant on online reviews to make purchase decisions, the sales of the product becomes dependent on the word of mouth (WOM) that it generates. As a result, there can be attempts by firms to manipulate online reviews of products to increase their sales. Despite the suspicion on the existence of such manipulation, the amount of such manipulation is unknown, and deciding which reviews to believe in is largely based on the reader's discretion and intuition. Therefore, the success of the manipulation of reviews by firms in generating sales of products is unknown. In this paper, we …

Discovering Fine-Grained Sentiment In Suicide Notes, Wenbo Wang, Lu Chen, Ming Tan, Shaojun Wang, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper presents our solution for the i2b2 sentiment classification challenge. Our hybrid system consists of machine learning and rule-based classifiers. For the machine learning classifier, we investigate a variety of lexical, syntactic and knowledge-based features, and show how much these features contribute to the performance of the classifier through experiments. For the rule-based classifier, we propose an algorithm to automatically extract effective syntactic and lexical patterns from training examples. The experimental results show that the rule-based classifier outperforms the baseline machine learning classifier using unigram features. By combining the machine learning classifier and the rule-based classifier, the hybrid system …

Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists And Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches, Charles H. Smith, Joshua Woleben, Carubie Rodgers

DLPS Faculty Publications

Each name in the following list of naturalists is linked to a corresponding capsule "chrono-biographical" sketch of that individual prepared by the authors. Coverage extends from approximately 1950 backward in time as far as the eighteenth century; figures from all over the world are included (though there is admittedly a decided Anglo-American bias). The target subject here is biogeography, but this being a broad field there are many persons on the list who are better known as climatologists, zoologists, botanists, ecologists, oceanographers, paleontologists, etc.--in other words, who made their main reputations in cognate disciplines.

This service has been set up …

Slides: Unconventional Gas And Oil – Potential Air Emissions, John Imse

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: John Imse, Hydrogeologist, ENVIRON International Corporation presents an overview of the current methods for developing a shale play and the typical site operations

10 slides

Slides: Air Monitoring And Litigation Update, John Jacus

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: John Jacus, Partner, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, reviews recent litigation aimed at oil and gas development activities with respect to air emissions impacts, and also several recent and ongoing studies and ambient monitoring efforts focused upon air emissions from oil and gas activities

23 slides

Slides: Air Quality - Oil And Gas Development, Paul R. Tourangeau

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Paul Tourangeau, Assistant General Counsel, DCP Midstream, LP and former Director, Colorado Air Pollution Control Division, addresses regulatory requirements and policies related to air emissions from the oil and gas sector, including recent and current initiatives at the state and federal level

8 slides

Slides: Hydrofracking: Air Issues And Community Exposure, Debra A. Kaden

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Presenter: Debra Kaden, Ph.D., Toxicologist, ENVIRON International Corporation, discusses air concentrations of chemicals of potential health concern surrounding oil and gas development activities, as well as temporal and spatial patterns of these chemicals in the ambient environment. Such information is necessary to evaluate possible health impacts of the drilling process on air in surrounding communities.

19 slides

Agenda: Air Quality Impacts From Oil And Gas Development, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Air Quality Impacts from Oil and Gas Development (January 27)

Oil and gas development and hydraulic fracturing have received enormous attention over the past few years, and most of that attention has focused on the potential impacts of such development on water quality. However, the potential impacts on air quality from oil and gas development have received far less public and media attention and discussion. This two-hour program will assess the current scientific knowledge, regulatory requirements and policies regarding the impacts on air quality from oil and gas development and will address current initiatives at the state and national levels to further regulate and control those impacts.

The Emergency Mind: How We Adjust To And Cope With Living In Dangerous Places, Matt Davis

Collected Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Performance Indices For The Planning Of Sustainable Transportation Systems, Pankaj Maheshwari, Alexander Paz, Pushkin Kachroo

Graduate Publications & Presentations

What is sustainable transportation system?

Fulfill the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations

Utilize resources without compromising their health and productivity Leads to development that improves quality of life

Assimilate economic, ecological, social, and bio-physical components of resource ecosystems

Minimize the use of renewable and non-renewable resources, provide affordability and equity between generations

Take Pride In America Phase Iii: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 25, 2011-January 24, 2012, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• The GIS database was shared with the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Project.
• Total attendance during Hector’s Helpers meetings exceeded 250.
• America Recycles Day involved over 25,000 people.
• Recruiting procedures were developed for the volunteer monitoring program.

The University of Nevada Las Vegas Public Lands Institute (PLI) has designed the Take Pride in America (TPIA) Phase III work plan based on the strategic plan developed by the Southern Nevada Agency Partnership (SNAP) anti-litter and desert dumping team during Phase II of the program.

Slides: Natural Gas: Game Changer Or Runner Left On Base? Working To Get It Right In Co!, Gary Graham

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Dr. Gary Graham, Director, Lands Program, Western Resource Advocates

21 slides

Slides: Drawing The Blueprint For A Sustainable Natural Gas Future, Mark K. Boling

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Mark. K. Boling, Executive Vice-President and General Counsel, Southwestern Energy

23 slides

Slides: Current And Proposed Research Activities Addressing Health, Environmental, Economic, And Political Issues Related To Natural Gas Development, University Of Colorado. School Of Public Health. Department Of Environmental And Occupational Health

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado School of Public Health

20 slides

Agenda: Drawing The Blueprint For A Sustainable Natural Gas Future, University Of Colorado At Denver. Wirth Chair In Environmental And Community Development Policy, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

A stakeholder-led forum discussing the key topics affecting natural gas as a safe and sustainable energy resource. Participants learned about the current research and related resources at Colorado’s three research universities and participated in designing future research needs.

Slides: Jisea Natural Gas Study: Potential U.S. Electric Power Futures, Jeffrey Logan

Drawing the Blueprint for a Sustainable Natural Gas Future (January 18)

Presenter: Jeffrey Logan, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

4 slides

A Semantic Problem Solving Environment For Integrative Parasite Research: Identification Of Intervention Targets For Trypanosoma Cruzi, Priti Parikh, Todd Minning, Vinh Nguyen, Sarasi Lalithsena, Amir H. Asiaee, Satya S. Sahoo, Prashant Doshi, Rick L. Tarleton, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Background: Research on the biology of parasites requires a sophisticated and integrated computational platform to query and analyze large volumes of data, representing both unpublished (internal) and public (external) data sources. Effective analysis of an integrated data resource using knowledge discovery tools would significantly aid biologists in conducting their research, for example, through identifying various intervention targets in parasites, and in deciding the future direction of ongoing as well as planned projects. A key challenge in achieving this objective is the heterogeneity between the internal lab data, usually stored as flat files, Excel spreadsheets or custom-built databases, and the external …

Responses To The 11/4/11 Ostp Data Rfi, David Lowe

Published Works

On November 3, 2011, OSTP released a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting public input on long-term preservation of, and public access to, the results of federally funded research, including digital data ,as required in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. Published here are the responses from David Lowe, Preservation Librarian and Digital Programs Team Leader at the University of Connecticut Libraries.

Allen-Carlson, Dawn Elaine (Fa 34), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 34. [Dr. Joe Daugherty: collector] Oral history project completed by Dawn Elaine Allen-Carlson concerning the collections of Daugherty for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Contains data sheet, journal, 2 indices, tape summary and transcription.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Covering October 6, 2011-January 5, 2012, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• A total of 11 clean-up events were conducted this quarter.
• The Interagency Anti-Litter Team met twice this quarter.
• The redesign of the website continued.
• A draft Judicial System Analysis report was presented to the Interagency Law Enforcement Team for review. The Executive Director requested that the Law Enforcement Team provide written comments to include within the Judicial Analysis. Once these comments are incorporated into the report, it will be submitted in compliance with the task agreement.

Cognitive Approaches For The Semantic Web, Dedre Gentner, Frank Van Harmelen, Pascal Hitzler, Krzysztof Janowicz, Kai-Uwe Kuhnberger

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

A major focus in the design of Semantic Web ontology languages used to be on finding a suitable balance between the expressivity of the language and the tractability of reasoning services defined over this language. This focus mirrors the original vision of a Web composed of machine readable and understandable data. Similarly to the classical Web a few years ago, the attention is recently shifting towards a user-centric vision of the Semantic Web. Essentially, the information stored on the Web is from and for humans. This new focus is not only reflected in the fast growing Linked Data Web but …

Bath, Maine: A City Of Ships, Taylor Witkin

Historical Ecology Atlas of New England

Known as Maine’s city of ships, Bath sits on the shores of the Kennebec River, about 15 miles from the Gulf of Maine and 40 miles up the coast from Portland. Though small in population, Bath’s impact on Maine, the rest of United States, and even on the world has been anything but small. Today Bath is known mostly for the Bath Iron Works, which supplies the US Navy with a large portion of its fleets, however, in Bath’s early days it built large, wooden yachts and schooners mostly for trade, not war. The next few pages will explore Bath’s …

Network-Based Criterion For The Success Of Cooperation In An Evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma, Stephen Devlin, T Treloar

Mathematics

We consider an evolutionary prisoner's dilemma on a random network. We introduce a simple quantitative network-based parameter and show that it effectively predicts the success of cooperation in simulations on the network. The criterion is shown to be accurate on a variety of networks with degree distributions ranging from regular to Poisson to scale free. The parameter allows for comparisons of random networks regardless of their underlying topology. Finally, we draw analogies between the criterion for the success of cooperation introduced here and existing criteria in other contexts.

The New Hampshire Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Fund: Year 3 (July 2011-June 2012) Evaluation, Matthew Magnusson, Cameron P. Wake

The Sustainability Institute Publications

The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Fund (GHGERF) was created by the New Hampshire legislature in 2008 and has been administered by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The purpose of the Fund was to support energy efficiency, energy conservation, and demand response programs to reduce New Hampshire’s greenhouse gas emissions. Funding was derived from the State’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort by nine northeastern states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the electric power sector via a cap and trade program. As of June 2012, RGGI auctions have resulted in revenues to New …

Identifying Well Pads In The Haynesville Shale Region, Louisiana And Texas, With Digital Imagery, Darinda Dans, Daniel Unger, Kenneth W. Farrish, I-Kuai Hung

Faculty Publications

The Haynesville Shale is an underlying rock formation in northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas that contains vast quantities of natural gas. With new technology has come the ability to extract more natural gas from one of the largest gas deposits in the United States. With increased production, increased change in the local ecosystem will occur. It is necessary to examine oil and gas exploration effects on the local ecosystem due to changes in land cover, such as habitat loss and increased soil erosion. Remotely sensed imagery were utilized to ascertain the use of various digital image processing techniques to determine …

Toward A Regional Radiocarbon Model For The East Texas Woodland Period, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

The East Texas Radiocarbon Database contributes to an analysis of tempo and place for Woodland era (ca. 500 B.C. - A.D. 800) archaeological sites within the region. The temporal and spatial distributions of calibrated radiocarbon (¹⁴C) ages (n=127) with a standard deviation (ΔT) of 61 from archaeological sites with Woodland components (n=51) are useful in exploring the development and geographical continuity of the peoples in East Texas, and lead to a refinement of our current chronological understanding of the period. While the analysis of the dates produces less than significant findings due to sample size, they are used …