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Tackling wicked problems
Get PDFThis book is designed specifically for Plymouth State University students enrolled in the "Tackling a Wicked Problem" course and contains sections on wicked problems, habits of mind, and information literacy. This material was written specifically for the TWP course as well as material from other openly licensed material including
A comparison of atmospheric river catalogs in the northeastern United States
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to compare a subjectively identified catalog of Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) over the Northeast U.S. constructed during a Summer 2018 REU project (i.e., the Duncan catalog) to a published objectively identified catalog of ARs by Bin Guan (UCLA/JPL; i.e., the Guan Catalog). This work demonstrates that the Guan Catalog of AR events over the Northeast U.S. is comparable to the Duncan Catalog of AR events in the winter months. The catalogs are most different during the summer months. The Guan Catalog in most cases does not determine the difference between broad regions of enhanced horizontal water vapor transport and more narrow corridors of enhanced horizontal water vapor transport more common to AR events over the Northeast U.S. As a result, the subjective Duncan Catalog dataset is more accurate for determining AR events in the summer months in the Northeast U.S. as compared to the Guan Catalog. Validation of the subjective climatology of AR events in the Duncan Catalog is an important first step in identifying a proper AR dataset to study the relationship between ARs and their impacts over the Northeast U.S. (e.g., flooding).Student Showcase of Research & Engagement Spring 201
Hemispheric effects in facial and emotional perception
Get PDFThis study investigated the effect of hemispheric field upon the perception of normal and Thatcherized (faces with inverted mouth and eye features) faces. The prevailing evidence is that faces are processed either locally in parts (eyes, nose, mouth) or globally by the relationships between parts. Emotional processing theories include the valence hypothesis (positive emotions processed in left hemisphere, negative in the right), the approach-withdrawal hypothesis (approach emotions processed in the left hemisphere, withdrawal in the right), and the right hemisphere hypothesis (all emotions processed in the right hemisphere) (Adolphs, Jansari, & Tranel, 2001; Quaranta, Siniscalchi, & Vallortigara, 2007; Natale, Gur, & Gur, 1983). Faces were presented on PowerPoint slides at 12 respective angles (0 to 330 degrees rotation) for 0.20 seconds in either the left or right visual field. Normal faces were generally seen as happier than distorted faces, and normal faces differed significantly based on hemisphere and angle (F(11)=2.17, p=.01), as did distorted faces (F(11)=4.55, p=.00) with a Tukey's post hoc revealing significant differences between angles 60 and 300 (F(1)=20.61, p=.00). There was a general trend of misidentifying emotions when the mouth was tilted away from the focal point, indicating that the mouth may be essential in identifying happiness.Student Showcase of Research & Engagement Spring 201
Proactive watershed planning and community engagement in the Warner River watershed
Get PDFGiven current threats to our waterways, watershed planning is a blossoming field. Unfortunately, organizations aiming to develop such plans are given little guidance on the planning process. The Environmental Protection Agency Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans briefly describes watershed planning as an ���adaptive,� ���integrated,� and ���participatory and collaborative� process but does not advise how to incorporate these approaches or explain their benefits and challenges. I comparatively analyze these watershed planning approaches in Chapter 1 and then provide two examples in Chapters 2 and 3 of how the approaches are being applied within the Warner River Watershed (NH) to proactively conserve wild brook trout and high-quality coldwater stream habitat. In Chapter 2, I evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative and participatory landowner engagement program designed to increase landowner awareness and appreciation of aquatic organisms living in their stream. This highly effective program fostered stewardship behaviors and stimulated landowners to implement land management recommendations to improve stream habitat quality. In Chapter 3, I describe how I collaboratively developed an adaptive, integrated decision-making framework to prioritize culvert replacement projects. After many adjustments and iterations, I created a final product that included parameters related to social, economic, and environmental well-being, and also integrated stream habitat with surrounding landscape condition. These efforts and similar efforts being conducted in the Warner River Watershed will help ensure the sustainability and resiliency of wild brook trout and protect high-quality coldwater stream habitat.Electronic Thesis or Dissertatio
New Hampshire FDI data commentary: fall 2019
Get PDFEach year, PSU researchers update and advance findings to enhance the initial data in the inaugural “New Hampshire Foreign Direct Investment Report: Presence and Contributions to State and County Economies.” In May 2019, the first observations of FDI and foreign business activities and patterns were published: “Foreign Investment and Business Activity Patterns and Trends in New Hampshire: 2001-2018”. The synopsis of critical discoveries and trends uncovered in the two reports may be thought-provoking; providing actionable insight to the economic development professional.Article
The big-dot product: an altered dot product
Get PDFThe dot product is a common vector operation with uses in finding perpendicular vectors and leading to vector projections. With the dot product being so useful with vectors, we explore an alteration of the definition called the big-dot product. Given vectors v and u with x as the angle between them, the dot product of vectors v and u is |vu|sin(x), while the big-dot product with the same givens is |vu|cos(x). The big-dot product excels with scalar multiples of vectors and areas, but yields a complicated result when finding perpendicular vectors.Student Showcase of Research & Engagement Spring 201
Genetic variants in the CTGF gene associated with a family history of heart disease
Get PDFA person in the United States suffers from a heart-related incident every minute. Damage sustained during a heart attack can cause chronic health problems, heart failure, and death. Connective Tissue Growth Factor (CTGF) is a gene that coordinates repair of damaged tissue after a heart attack. When there is too much CTGF, faulty repair can occur causing scarring and decreased heart function. The aim of this research is to determine if CTGF genetic variants correlate with a family history of heart disease. Cheek cells were collected from PSU volunteers and DNA was sequenced to find genetic variants. Volunteers also completed a survey recording family history of heart disease-related incidents or conditions. A Kendall's Tau b test was used to correlate the presence of genetic variants and survey data. One variant, C156T, correlated to an increased family history of heart disease (p-value < 0.001). In the PSU population, we found 17 variants, 6 of which are novel. Finding new variants indicates that small resequencing efforts can lead to the discovery of previously unknown human genetic diversity. Investigating the relationship between CTGF genetic variation and family history of heart disease may help discover genetic variation that influences scarring.Student Showcase of Research & Engagement Spring 201
The legend of question six
Get PDFThe final question 1988 International Math Olympiad in Melbourne Australia, presented to the world's best and brightest young minds, would evolve to become one of most difficult questions in Mathematics. Of the 260 participants, only eleven were able to solve Question Six perfectly in the given amount of time, proving too difficult even for future Field's Medalist Terence Tao. Question Six simply states "Let a and b be positive integers such that ab + 1 divides a2 + b2. Show that the resulting integer is a perfect square." This research explores a definitive solution to the infamous question, and features questions utilizing a similar train of thought, featuring an emergent proof technique that is new to the world of Mathematics.Student Showcase of Research & Engagement Spring 201
Quantifying the differences between watersheds and identifying the role of antecedent precipitation in 5-year flow events in the southeast U.S.
Get PDFFloods are among some of the most dangerous phenomena people are faced with each year. The current practice of flood forecasting relies on modeling the complex hydrological processes that control the flow of freshwater through a watershed. Past literature has shown however, that these complex processes can be simplified using rainfall-runoff models. These models estimate the relationship between precipitation and runoff generation. Some models emphasize the land-surface interactions, while others focus on the estimation of soil moisture in determining how precipitation flows through a watershed. The soil composition and land cover are not mutually exclusive of each other, and varying combinations of both across different watersheds are linked to the differences in the antecedent conditions necessary to produce floods. The first part of this study focuses on quantifying soil composition and land cover differences in watersheds of the Southeast U.S. region. A principal component analysis (PCA) of watershed attributes from the GAGES-II dataset was used to spread 78 sample watersheds into a 2-D phase space. Ten sample watersheds were chosen to represent the phase space in the second part of this study which was to determine the role of antecedent precipitation in 5-year flow events. Eighty-eight 5-year flow events were identified and the cumulative antecedent precipitation (AP) prior to these events were analyzed using three parameters: storm precipitation (0-3 Day AP), intermediate (4-14 Day AP), and long-term (4-30 Day AP). A principal component regression analysis (PCR) of the 88 events was used to determine the role of antecedent precipitation in the 5-year flow events. Two PCR models consisting of four parameters each were used to analyze differences between the effects of intermediate and long-term precipitation on the magnitude of the 5-year flow events. The parameters used in the PCR were the storm precipitation, antecedent precipitation, and each sample watershed’s position in principal components one (PC1) and two (PC2). The results of the PCR determined that the cumulative antecedent precipitation prior to an event has little effect on the magnitude of these flows. It was determined that the attributes comprising PC1 and PC2, along with the storm precipitation had a stronger effect on the flow magnitude of the events. The hydrological processes associated with the attributes of PC1 and PC2 were used to describe the differences between the watersheds, proving that a PCA can be used to quantitatively differentiate watersheds in the Southeast U.S.Electronic Thesis or Dissertatio
Avian community response to group-selection harvest on a mixed-forest American tree farm in west-central New Hampshire
Get PDFEarly-successional species of songbirds are in sharp decline especially in Eastern North America. These species colonize early-successional forest that are currently near historic lows for most of the Northeastern United States. Intentional management for these species often recruits predators, invasive plants or nest parasites, depending on landscape context. Managing for early-successional species can negatively affect late-successional species that depend on mature forest. Currently, habitat for arlysuccessional species is declining due to urban expansion and natural maturation of early-successional vegetation into more mature forests. By creating a mosaic of small group-selections within mature mixed deciduous-coniferous forest, we successfully recruited early-successional species without decreasing the abundance or reproductive performance of later-successional species. Through monitoring fledging success of three early-successional species, magnolia warbler (Setophaga magnolia), chestnutsided warbler (Setophaga penslyvanica), common yellow throat (Geothlypis trichas) and three late-successional species, black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescens), hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) and ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus) we were able to assess the impact of the harvest on two suites of avian species. We conducted point counts one year prior to harvest and seven consecutive years postharvest, and documented habitat use of the post-harvest mosaic for these six species in 2017 and 2018. Though the first monitoring season (2017) did not include intensive monitoring of hermit thrush or ovenbird, both early and late successional species paired and fledged young at rates that suggest the habitat was suitable to each suite of species. Early-successional songbird species were 74% successful in fledging young when combining monitoring data from 2017 and 2018 and forest-interior species were 64% successful in fledging young. Point counts revealed that immediately postharvest, species richness increased and continued to increase significantly through the recruitment of several early successional species and persistence of the late successional species. We found that early-successional songbird species began to increase in abundance and richness after the fifth year post harvest with no negative pattern of decrease in forest-interior songbird species abundance and richness across years. We documented that through the group-selection cutting there were significantly more woody stems less than 2.5 cm in cut areas and less canopy cover when compared to mature forest. Contrary to our prediction there was no significant difference in the density of woody stems less than 8 cm in cut areas compared to mature forest. This is most likely due to the high amounts of herbaceous plants such as raspberry (Rubus spp.) in cut areas which did not contribute in the woody stem count. The density of stems less than 8cm was negatively correlated with nest success, though previous studies have shown opposite findings. None of the measured shrub and tree vegetation variables or ground cover variables had a significant correlation with successful nesting. The return rates of those species banded in 2018 were 39% for black-throated blue warblers, 25% for common yellow throats and 14% for chestnut sided warblers. More than half of New Hampshire is privately owned and so landowners and consulting foresters can play a critical role in sustaining early successional habitat without negatively impacting late-successional migratory birds.Electronic Thesis or Dissertatio