Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Communication Of Findings In Environmental Impact Assessment And Developing A Research Agenda For Improvement, Alan Bond, Francois Retief, Angus Morrison-Saunders, Jenny Pope, Reece C. Alberts, Claudine Roos, Dirk Cilliers

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) aims to embed consideration of the significance of predicted environmental consequences (the findings) of proposed developments into approval decision making. Achieving this aim relies on adequate communication of the findings of the EIA to the stakeholders, especially the decision makers responsible for the approval decision. However, the naïve assumption that this communication of findings can be effectively achieved through the publication of a written report pervades legislation worldwide, despite decades of evidence to the contrary. As a first step towards improving such communication, this research identifies the contingent conditions associated with effectively transferring EIA findings from …

Directional Speaker Poster, Eugene Ng, Bryan Wong, Ruhaan Das

Student Works

Changi Airport is set to expand with a new terminal, Terminal 5. Currently, many of the airport's processes are manual, requiring a high dependence on staff. This proposal aims to incorporate automation and AI for a smoother passenger experience.

Engaging Residents In Policy And Planning For Sea Level Rise: Application Of The Action-Oriented Stakeholder Engagement For A Resilient Tomorrow (Asert) Framework, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, J. Gail Nicula, Daniel P. Richards, Ogechukwu Agim, Michelle Covi, Khairul A. Anuar

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This chapter describes the application of the Action-oriented Stakeholder Engagement for a Resilient Tomorrow (ASERT) framework for communicating with and engaging both residents and community stakeholders in their localities’ efforts to prepare for and to respond to flooding and sea level rise. The application of ASERT incorporates communication, education/learning, and gamification elements that can be embedded into community meetings. We describe the way in which ASERT community meetings are designed (1) to provide an inclusive and engaging process that will allow residents to participate in their city’s resilience efforts; (2) to provide information about resilience in an environment that encourages …

Communicating And Co-Producing Information With Stakeholders: Examples Of Participatory Mapping Approaches Related To Sea Level Rise Risks And Impacts, Pragati Rawat, Khairul A. Anua, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Jon Derek Loftis, Ren-Neasha Blake

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

This chapter discusses practical approaches for using participatory mapping as a tool to visualize and communicate sea level rise (SLR) and climate change risks, to share information about the vulnerability to, and threats of, climate change, and to co-produce knowledge with stakeholders. The examples presented in this chapter are from demonstrated applications in communities in Virginia (USA) that involve participatory mapping and that utilize a web-Geographic Information System (GIS). The web-GIS is innovatively combined with other technologies and participatory processes to create low-cost high-tech approaches so that even people with little to no knowledge of GIS can interact with maps …

Developing An Effective Targeted Mobile Application To Enhance Transportation Safety And Use Of Active Transportation Modes In Fresno County: The Role Of Application Design & Content, Samer Sarofim

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

Do pedestrians and cyclists need their own app? Pedestrians and cyclists in Fresno county think so, and this research examined this need and how it relates to the importance of app design. Survey participants (all who regularly use active transportation modes) along with a variety of transportation stakeholders, including the Fresno Council of Government, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 6, and the City of Fresno — Public Works Department, indicated the importance of designing effective communication tools to enhance the utilization of active transportation modes and to ensure the safety of vulnerable road users. In this study, over …

Examining The Impact Of Climate Change Film As An Educational Tool, Brittany Bondi, Salma Monani, Sarah M. Principato, Christopher P. Barlett

Student Publications

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of film in communicating issues related to climate change. While previous studies demonstrate an immediate effect of a film post-screening, this study also considered if a film can inspire long-term effects, and if supplemental educational information plays a role on participant understanding.

Design/methodology/approach: Using surveys, we assessed undergraduate students’ climate change responses pre-, immediately-post, and 9-weeks post watching the climate change documentary The Human Element (Prod. Earth Vision Institute, 2018). In the 9-week interim before the final survey, half of the participants received weekly information on climate change via …

Call Of The Chorus Frog: An Undergraduate Experience In Field Research In The Elwha River Basin, Nicole Vandeputte

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In scientific disciplines, students are not often taught to write in a way that is easily understood by people outside of their field. It is my goal to learn to communicate scientific research to a broad audience in a way that is both understandable and interesting. In spring of 2019, I participated in Huxley’s environmental science field camp. We traveled to the Elwha River basin in Olympic National Park and conducted wildlife research projects of our own design. My group’s research assessed amphibian habitat in two areas of the park, one of which was recently exposed after the removal of …

Communicating In Crisis Situations, Rick Gorvett, Chris Morse, Julie Volkman

Communication Faculty Journal Articles

Communicating technical information, especially in a crisis situation and particularly when the audience does not share the technical background, is a challenge that actuaries frequently face. This essay describes the dynamics and issues involved in crisis communications and provides some recommendations for actuaries confronting such a situation.

Disaster Damage Categorization Applying Satellite Images And Machine Learning Algorithm, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour, Adrian Gheorghe

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Special information has a significant role in disaster management. Land cover mapping can detect short- and long-term changes and monitor the vulnerable habitats. It is an effective evaluation to be included in the disaster management system to protect the conservation areas. The critical visual and statistical information presented to the decision-makers can help in mitigation or adaption before crossing a threshold. This paper aims to contribute in the academic and the practice aspects by offering a potential solution to enhance the disaster data source effectiveness. The key research question that the authors try to answer in this paper is how …

Taking Action: A Case Study Analyzing The Deficiencies And Potential Opportunities For Improvement In The Severe Weather Warning System, Carson Meredith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The United States is one of the most prone areas in the world to experience severe weather. A warning system operated by the National Weather Service alerts the public of the dangers of severe weather. The purpose of this project is to analyze the effectiveness of the National Weather Service warning system across Kentucky and Tennessee. A case study is presented analyzing six severe weather events in areas warned by the National Weather Service offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee in 2018. Factors reviewed include effectiveness in issuing timely warnings, verification (i.e., whether or not severe weather actually occurred), …

Apocalyptic Rhetoric And Subversive Framing In “The Uninhabitable Earth” (Poster), Louisa A. D'Ovidio

Spring Expo of Research and Creative Activity

By applying theories of rhetorical criticism to the arguments in the viral, and controversial, New York Magazine cover piece “The Uninhabitable Earth” by David Wallace-Wells, this study evaluated the dominant frames, appeals and persuasive narratives utilized in the article. In vivid brush strokes, “The Uninhabitable Earth” painted eight scenes of apocalyptic horror that climate change will bring to our civilization, from toxic smog that will smother cities, to deadly heat waves that could kill thousands near the equator, and even total societal collapse because of the economic cost of climate change. The article became an overnight and controversial success, and …

Reducing Symptom Distress In Patients With Advanced Cancer Using An E-Alert System For Caregivers: Pooled Analysis Of Two Randomized Clinical Trials, David H. Gustafson, Lori L. Dubenske, Amy K. Atwood, Ming-Yuan Chih, Roberta A. Johnson, Fiona Mctavish, Andrew Quanbeck, Roger L. Brown, James F. Cleary, Dhavan Shah

Health and Clinical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Symptom distress in patients toward the end of life can change rapidly. Family caregivers have the potential to help patients manage those symptoms, as well as their own stress, if they are equipped with the proper resources. Electronic health (eHealth) systems may be able to provide those resources. Very sick patients may not be able to use such systems themselves to report their symptoms but family caregivers could.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to assess the effects on cancer patient symptom distress of an eHealth system that alerts clinicians to significant changes in the patient’s symptoms, as …

Transdisciplinary Research Partnerships In Sustainability Science: An Examination Of Stakeholder Participation Preferences, Karen H. Beiluch, Kathleen P. Bell, Mario F. Teisl, Laura Lindenfeld, Jessica Leahy, Linda Silka

Publications

Sustaining coupled natural and human systems requires multiple forms of knowledge, experiences, values, and resources be brought into conversation to address sustainability challenges. Transdisciplinary research partnerships provide the opportunity to meet this requirement by bringing together interdisciplinary scientists with stakeholders in some or all stages of the knowledge production process. However, building partnerships to produce sustainability outcomes is a complex process requiring an understanding of the social psychological and contextual variables impacting partnerships. Here, we explore local government officials’ (LGOs’) preferences for participation in these partnerships. Using data from a statewide survey, we develop a theoretically and empirically derived model …

Communicating Nuisance Flooding In Hampton Roads, Burton St. John Iii, Carol Considine, Michelle Covi, Wie Yusuf, Stephanie Joannou

July 24, 2015: Communicating Frequent Flooding

No abstract provided.

Living At The Friendship House: Findings From Thetransition Planning Inventory, Jane E. Finn, Vicky-Lynn Holmes, Rebecca Johnson

Faculty Publications

A residential initiative, named the Friendship House, was created through advocates focused on helping people with intellectual disabilities live independently in affordable and safe housing on a university campus. The Friendship House is a small residence hall where individuals with intellectual disabilities live side-by-side with similarly aged and same gendered university students. Qualitative finding as in resident reports and observational data provides support that the Friendship House experience has been successful. However, to better equip these residents with intellectual disabilities, it is important to assess the program in terms of post school transition acquisition skills. This study focuses on whether …

Towards A Practical Communication Intervention, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The study starts from evidence that several communication acts fail, but nobody is called to intervene and nobody thinks of intervening. Examining different branches (specialties) of the communication discipline and focusing on four possible practices, by comparison, differentiation, collating and corroboration, the current study brings arguments for a branch of the communication discipline that has as unique practical aim the communicational intervention, the practical, direct and strict application of communication research. Communication, as discipline, must create an instrument of intervention. The discipline which studies communication globally (General Communication Science) has developed a strong component of theoretical and practical research of …

From Alarm To Action: Closing The Gap Between Belief And Behavior In Response To Climate Change, Kathryn Laing Doherty

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The degree to which the climate continues to change will largely be determined by choices made by individuals and nations regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Many Americans engage in energy conservation actions. But, the political will in the United States to adopt emissions reduction policies is unlikely to exist without public demand. Therefore, public mitigation actions of individuals (e.g., contacting elected officials in support of emissions reduction) are critical to induce legislative response. The majority of individuals who are most concerned about climate change (the “Alarmed” segment) do not engage in public mitigation actions, but some do. The purpose of this …

Slides: Multi-Dimensional Energy Poverty Index (Mepi), Morgan Bazilian

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director, Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

8 slides

Peer Influence Of Non-Industrial Private Forest Owners In The Western Upper Peninsula Of Michigan, Jillian R. Schubert, Audrey L. Mayer

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

Understanding how non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners gain and share information regarding the management of their property is very important to policy makers, yet our knowledge regarding how and to what degree this information flows over privately owned landscapes is limited. The work described here seeks to address this shortfall. Widely administered surveys with close-ended questions may not adequately capture this information flow within NIPF owner communities. This study used open-ended questions in interviews of clusters of NIPF owners to determine whether and to what extent owners influence each other directly (through conversations or referrals to sources of advice) or …

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

Coping With Distance: An Empirical Study Of Communication On The Jazz Platform, Renuka Sindhgatta, Bikram Sengupta, Subhajit Datta

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Global software development - which is characterized by teams separated by physical distance and/or time-zone differences - has traditionally posed significant communication challenges. Often these have caused delays in completing tasks, or created misalignment across sites leading to re-work. In recent years, however, a new breed of development environments with rich collaboration features have emerged to facilitate cross-site work in distributed projects. In this paper we revisit the question "does distance matter?" in the context of IBM Jazz Platform -- a state-of-the-art collaborative development environment. We study the ecosystem of a large distributed team of around 300 members across 35 …

Communication: New Insight Into The Barrier Governing Co2 Formation From Oh + Co, Christopher J. Johnson, Berwyck L. Poad, Ben B. Shen, Robert E. Continetti

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Despite its relative simplicity, the role of tunneling in the reaction OH + CO → H + CO(2) has eluded the quantitative predictive powers of theoretical reaction dynamics. In this study a one-dimensional effective barrier to the formation of H + CO(2) from the HOCO intermediate is directly extracted from dissociative photodetachment experiments on HOCO and DOCO. Comparison of this barrier to a computed minimum-energy barrier shows that tunneling deviates significantly from the calculated minimum-energy pathway, predicting product internal energy distributions that match those found in the experiment and tunneling lifetimes short enough to contribute significantly to the overall reaction. …

Agenda: 2010 World Energy Justice Conference: Emerging Solutions For The Energy Poor: Technological, Entrepreneurial And Institutional Challenges, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Journal Of International Environmental Law And Policy

2010 World Energy Justice Conference (November 5)

This conference is a sequel to the 2009 World Energy Justice Conference (WEJC 2009) which began examining ways of mainstreaming safe, clean, and efficient energy for the world's Energy Poor (EP). The EP number two and a half billion people living on less than $1-2 a day who have no access to modern energy services. WEJC 2010 more fully develops these themes. WEJC 2010 will explore how the next round of global warming meetings in Cancun could design new flexibility mechanisms that give credits, for example, for the reduction of black carbon by the adoption of cookstoves, and embrace small …

Slides: Climate Change And Public Lands: Examples From National Parks, Stephen Saunders

The Past, Present, and Future of Our Public Lands: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Public Land Law Review Commission’s Report, One Third of the Nation’s Land (Martz Summer Conference, June 2-4)

Presenter: Stephen Saunders, President, The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (Denver, CO)

40 slides

A University-Based Forensics Training Center As A Regional Outreach, Education, And Research Activity, Rayford B. Vaughn, David A. Dampier

Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering Faculty Research

This paper describes a university-based Forensics Training Center (FTC) established by a Department of Justice grant for the purpose of improving the ability of state and local law enforcement in the Southeastern part of the United States to address the rising incidence of computer based crime. The FTC effort is described along with supporting evidence of its need. The program is not only a service activity, but also contributes to the Mississippi State University (MSU) security program pedagogy, and research effort.

System Analysis Of The Uri Hurricane Preparedness Plan, Rebecca Harlow

Senior Honors Projects

If a hurricane were to hit URI in the upcoming fall semester what would happen? This project is a thorough evaluation of the current URI plan, how it works, how it doesn’t and who has the answers. The project is framed from an information systems perspective. The analysis of the system is based on where vital information is stored, how it is communicated when needed and who is involved. To find the answers to these questions, in depth interviews were conducted with key emergency personnel. Among them are URI’s Director of Safety and Risk, J Kevin Culley, Major Baker of …

Slides: Environmental Justice: Comprehensive Approach, Nicholas Targ

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Nicholas Targ, Holland & Knight, former Associate Director for Environmental Justice Integration, Office of Environmental Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

16 slides

Slides: Tug Hill Commission, Ny, Linda Gibbs

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Presenter: Linda Gibbs, Natural Resources Specialist, Tug Hill Commission, NY

26 slides

Agenda: Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, And Lessons Learned, Communities Committee, University Of Montana. School Of Forestry. Bolle Center For People And Forests, Wilderness Society (U.S.), Nature Conservancy Of Montana, Swan Ecosystem Center, Northwest Connections, Blackfoot Challenge, Flathead Economic Policy Center, Pinchot Institute For Conservation, American Forests, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Community-Owned Forests: Possibilities, Experiences, and Lessons Learned (June 16-19)

Community-owned forests may be the answer for some U.S. communities now confronting unanticipated and unwanted large scale land use changes – changes that could irrevocably change their local landscapes and quality of life. Across the country, millions of acres of private forest lands are being put up for sale as the forest products companies who own them find other, cheaper sources of supply. If, as is likely, purchasers divide and convert the forests to residential or other development uses, nearby communities face losing the critical economic, environmental, recreational, social, cultural, and aesthetic values and benefits those forests have traditionally provided. …

Conference Summary: Water, Climate And Uncertainty: Implications For Western Water Law, Policy, And Management, Steve Bailey

Water, Climate and Uncertainty: Implications for Western Water Law, Policy, and Management (Summer Conference, June 11-13)

7 pages.

"Steve Bailey, National Center for Atmospheric Research"