1925 research outputs found
Sort by
Investigating ephemeral stream channel restoration: from prioritization to implementation
Full text linkEphemeral stream channels (ESC) flow following precipitation events. ESC are dry most of the year. Recently, efforts to restore ESC have begun to increase. Recognized as a fundamental part of stream restoration planning is appropriate site selection. For restoration, there are methods to prioritize perennial streams, wetlands, riparian vegetation, springs, and watersheds. However, there are no methods to prioritize ESC. This research applied a mixed-method approach to answer the following: 1) What criteria are used to prioritize stream sites? 2) How can those criteria be applied to ESC? 3) How can ESC criteria be modeled spatially to identify priority restoration sites? I conducted interviews with stream restoration experts and analyzed the qualitative results using thematic methods. I developed a list of criteria used by river restoration experts in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests around the Western United States. I presented the criteria used to select sites to stakeholders, assembled as the comprehensive implementation working group (CIWG), working to support the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) in the forests of northern Arizona. The CIWG is responsible for prioritizing ESC for restoration. Through interviews with the CIWG, I developed a site selection method incorporating regional values. This site selection model is a weighted scoring calculation based on a hierarchical approach to identifying and measuring criteria at ESC. I then applied the site selection method to a spatial analysis to rank 163 candidate ESC for restoration. The results of my work showed that the criteria used to measure stream restoration sites depend on the regional values of experts and stakeholders. I found that in the semi-arid forests of northern Arizona, where ESC are prevalent and perennial streams are rare, the priority was to select sites that increase consumptive water supply in reservoirs, downstream perennial streams, and groundwater. Furthermore, I discovered that spatial analysis measurements of ESC criteria required the development of novel methods. Applying this method requires the participation and support of regional experts and stakeholders to determine important values. This research is critical to developing methods to improve the planning process of ephemeral stream restoration worldwide
Stolen sands: the ongoing impact of the malihini gaze on native Hawaiian women
No full textDespite the economic growth tourism provides, it often comes at a cost for Indigenous peoples and their land. This conflict can be located in the capitalist roots of the industry. Tourism within Indigenous lands is often extractive, as its foundation has been built upon the commodification of the Indigenous population, their language, culture, and resources. This commodification results in the exploitation of Indigenous peoples. Conflicts between tourism and Indigenous peoples are not exclusive to Hawai‘i. However, this thesis focuses on the experiences of Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) women in the tourism industry. By conducting qualitative research, Indigenous voices remained at the center of this project. The research questions of this thesis were: Do Native Hawaiian women working in today’s tourism industry feel exploited? In what ways is exploitation experienced? How are Native Hawaiian women managing those experiences?
Those research questions have been answered in the following way: Yes, Native Hawaiian women working in today’s tourism industry feel exploited, with exploitation experienced financially, culturally, and through acts of violence. Nonetheless, Native Hawaiian women are managing their experiences of exploitation through various forms of resistance and persistence
Framing Chicana/o/x resistance amid a pandemic: an oral history
No full textThe COVID-19 outbreak impacted political and social polarization across all sections of society, even those who are most impacted by the health and economic hardships caused by the pandemic. Chicana/o/x face many vulnerabilities to the pandemic due to their already marginalized status in the United States. Even so, this population still carries varying and conflicting views and behaviors of the pandemic. The analysis of this social group's responses to the pandemic reveals social problems both interior to the Mexican American experience and exterior to the ways United States systems and institutions operate to push marginalized communities to approach social issues in harmful ways. This project is an oral history of Northern Arizona University Chicana/o/x students’ experiences through the coronavirus pandemic. Decolonizing methodologies and Chicana feminisms are used to support participants' oral histories (Espinoza, Cotera, and Blackwell, 2018; Hurtardo, 2003, 2021; Tuhwai, 2021). Oral histories are necessary for recognizing, representing, and reclaiming Chicana/o/x’s voices and knowledges in academia. Acknowledging the unique Chicana/o/x experience of the pandemic is a matter of social justice and decolonization
Supporting the task-driven skill identification in open source project issue tracking systems
Full text linkSelecting an appropriate issue, also known as a task, ticket, bug, or feature request, is challenging for newcomers to Open Source Software (OSS) projects. To facilitate filtering and issue selection, researchers and practitioners have proposed several strategies to automatically add labels to the issues. However, the results vary, and these approaches are still far from mainstream adoption, possibly because of a lack of good predictors and relevant labels.In this research, we investigate how to assist new contributors in finding an issue when onboarding a new project. To achieve our goal, we predict the domains of the APIs declared in the source code that solves the issues and use this information as labels in the issue tracker.
Starting from a case study using one project and an empirical experiment, we found that predicting API domains is feasible and the API-domain labels are relevant to select an issue. Next, we generalize the predictions for five projects in different programming languages, issue trackers, and development modes. In the sequence, we employed interviews and a survey to identify what strategies communities adopt to assist the new contributors in finding a task. We found that maintainers, frequent contributors, and new contributors diverge about the importance of the strategies, but labeling issues is one of the most relevant strategies. Additionally, inspired by previous research, we mined conversation data from OSS projects' repositories to investigate whether predictions might benefit from leveraging metrics derived from communication data and social network analysis (SNA). We studied how these "social metrics" improve the automatic labeling of open issues with API domains. We also ran an empirical experiment to measure the influence of the API domain labels on the contribution progress and correctness. We observed the API-domain labels improved the participants' progress in proposing and coding a solution.
Finally, we designed an OSS demonstration tool to recommend issues to contributors regarding the API domains they select in a user interface.
The performance of the classifiers reached 0.922 precision, 0.978 recall, and 0.942 F-measure. These results indicate our models can predict API domain labels. We also found that assigning labels to issues is relevant for diverse developers in OSS communities because it can indicate the skills involved in a solution to the issues. By investigating this research topic, we expect to assist OSS communities in attracting and onboarding new contributors, who are very important for the sustainability of the projects
Demarcating space and creating place: examining the processes for creating sacred landscapes by the ancient Maya of western Belize
Full text linkIn Xunantunich during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900), the Maya created a sacred space that grew to embody the wealth and power of Xunantunich’s rulership. The central Plazas presented this concept through the myriad symbols– stelae, altars, tombs, and cache deposits– that were incorporated into the space. Although Maya religious symbology has been a popular subject of study in Maya Archaeology for decades, there is still much to be discovered about how these expressions of Maya cultural identity determined a sacred space. Moreover, archeological research into ancient Maya cultural practices also requires interpreting cultural materials through epigraphic and ethnographic records as well. During the field season in 2022, I conducted architectural analysis in Xunantunich and comparable sites in the Belize River Valley and used photogrammetry to build a 3D model of the site center. I conducted my observations of the site using a phenomenological approach to explore the ways movement, sight, and sound are controlled by architecture, and synthesized these observations with the historical and cultural chronology of the site. This method underscores the importance of spatial context in ancient Maya architecture, as urban layouts are direct reflections of Maya religious symbolism and ideology. The objective of this research is 1) to expand the Maya archaeological record and provide a deeper understanding of how pre-contact civilizations prospered and evolved over centuries while maintaining a sense of veneration for deities associated with nature, which become increasingly associated with divine rulership, and 2) to demonstrate the usefulness of Photogrammetry 3D Modeling in archeological research
Impact of gender identity on observer blame in sexual assault
Full text linkThe present research explores how third-party observers' perceptions of words and behaviors of a transgender versus a cisgender individual differently when attributing blame from a sexual assault. Stereotypes, attributions, and gender identities, as well as how these constructs influence blame in sexual assault, will all be considered within the framework of this study. There are two primary research questions: (a) Does gender identity of the victim influence third-party observer blame in sexual assault? and (b) Do gender stereotypes influence third-party blame in sexual assault? The study incorporated a 2 by 2 between-subjects factorial design to answer these research questions. The independent variables are gender (woman, man) and gender identity (transgender, cisgender) and the primary dependent variables are victim blame and perpetrator blame. Gender stereotypes was also measured utilizing a scale that was adapted and developed from wording in Hutchison and Abrams (2003), while the items from what was identified as stereotypes unique to transgender people were compiled from Howansky et al. (2019).The first hypothesis is women will have more blame attributed to them than men in sexual assault. The second hypothesis is transgender individuals will have more blame attributed to them than cisgender individuals. For the third hypothesis, an interaction between gender and gender identity is expected, such that transgender women will have a higher level of blame than is expected for women and for being transgender, transgender men and cisgender men will be similar. The exploratory secondary hypothesis is that people with stronger stereotype acceptance will attribute more blame to transwomen in comparison to other groups in sexual assault. For the first hypothesis, the main effect of gender (man/woman) on perpetrator blame was significant. More specifically, perpetrator blame was higher when the victim was a woman versus when the victim was a man.
During data analysis it was discovered that a proportion of participants did not understand what the word “transgender” means. The proportion of respondents who did not know what the word “transgender” meant was 43.1%, compared with 56.9% who did know. The knowledge of the term “transgender” had a relationship with the amount of victim blame. Knowledge was not related to the amount of perpetrator blame. There was a negative correlation between transgender knowledge and gender stereotypes as measured by the stereotype measure adapted from Hutchison and Abrams (2003) and Howansky et al. (2019). Due to these findings, it is essential for future research and interventions to focus on reducing the negative impacts of ignorance about the transgender community. Moreover, interventions must target disseminating positive and factual knowledge regarding transgender people
An archaeological reconnaissance of Clarks Pass, Joshua Tree National Park
Full text linkClarks Pass features prehistoric and historical resources that shape the cultural landscape along the Mojave and Colorado deserts. This reconnaissance is driven by Joshua Tree National Park's cultural resource management needs for protection of sensitive resources and their formal recordation. Cultural resources are finite but provide significant data potential of prehistoric lifeways and histories that followed. These resources represent resiliency from natural and human impacts which echo the resiliency of the descendant communities which imbue them with cultural meaning. In
this technical report, over 300 artifacts/features, ten archaeological sites, various natural resources, and significant impacts are formally recorded. Strategies towards preservation, future research potential, and stewardship are explored within this report
Gender and reentry: investigating co-educational practices in a jail-based residential substance abuse treatment (RSAT) setting
Full text linkThis thesis investigates men’s and women’s experiences within a co-educational, jail-based, residential substance abuse treatment (RSAT) program. Using a qualitative research design, this research examined secondary, semi-structured interviews with individuals experiencing incarceration from a Colorado residential substance abuse treatment program to understand how gender impacts participants’ experiences in the program. This research aims to explain how heteronormative views reinforced by the jail determine the experiences of individuals within an RSAT program. Through this approach, this study explores themes such as the benefits of the co-educational environment, the replication of a community-based treatment environment within a jail, as well as participants’ experiences of gender segregation and gender inequality. Participants expressed having positive experiences when they could replicate their lives prior to incarceration in environments that include a work program outside of the jail, having positive interactions with their fellow participants regardless of gender, and having positive experiences with the program staff. Participants expressed having negative experiences when they experienced gender segregation and gender inequality which included issues surrounding the division of genders, unequal privileges, lack of co-gender environments, and issues surrounding feminine hygiene. Overall, these findings reveal that participants feel dehumanized within the program and that there is a need to identify and adjust the program in a way that would create more engaging experiences for individuals within the program
Identification and evaluation of Yellow-billed Cuckoo habitat using acoustic monitoring and species distribution model methods
Full text linkThe western distinct population segment of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (cuckoo) was federally listed as threatened in 2014. Long considered riparian obligate, populations have declined range-wide as riparian habitat has been lost or degraded due to conversion to agriculture, dams, or other development. Recent surveys, however, have documented cuckoos in southeastern Arizona using xeroriparian vegetation in ephemeral and intermittent drainages not previously known to be occupied. We (Northern Arizona University, in conjunction with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey) confirmed breeding in 23 of 24 sites that were classified as occupied according to standardized playback surveys, providing support for the use of established survey methods to estimate breeding status in xeroriparian habitat. Combining our data with previously collected data, we produced a novel map of cuckoo distribution in southeast Arizona which includes 100 occupied sites in xeroriparian habitat. These results indicate cuckoos in xeroriparian habitat represent a regionally significant and previously undescribed population. We also developed a species distribution model (SDM) for cuckoos in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico using topographic, climatic, and phenological variables. Our resulting model had an AUC score of 0.971, indicating high model performance. Evaluation of variable contribution suggested cuckoos are associated with warm drainages that experience high productivity during summer monsoon season. The SDM output map highlighted a broader spectrum of riparian and xeroriparian habitat than previous models, including key areas lacking survey data. Finally, we evaluated methods for the use of autonomous recording units (ARUs) to identify and monitor cuckoo habitat. Our semi-autonomous classifier for detecting cuckoo calls had a recall score of 0.33, precision score of 0.06, and an F-score (β = 1) of 0.102, consistent with studies of other cryptic birds. We demonstrated acoustic monitoring can determine occupancy rates comparable to traditional survey protocols with a minimum of 2 hours of daily acoustic recording. Our results provide important new information on cuckoo habitat associations, distribution, and monitoring methods which may inform conservation and management decisions, while our ARU methods provide an important new approach for increasing survey coverage
First–generation Latinas achieving academic success within predominantly White institutions through a sense of belonging
Full text linkFirst-generation Latinas (FGLs) in higher education have experienced challenges attending predominantly White institutions. Lack of sense of belonging is a strong predictor for isolation, anxiety, and/or depression. In addition to cultural dissonance and racially driven climates, attending predominantly White institutions increase the odds against Latinas to graduate. In addition to a robust college schedule, first-generation Latinas (FGLs) find it difficult to navigate college campuses. Studies have shown a sense of belonging is strongly associated with academic success and degree attainment. The culmination of educational inequality is an epidemic among historically marginalized populations on scalable levels. According to the article in the Education Trust Journal by Anthony et al. (2021), “White women and men are likelier to hold bachelor and graduate degrees than their Hispanic peers. Bachelor’s degree attainment for White women and men is over 20% higher than for Latinas and Latinos” (p. 76). The ongoing social injustices among higher education institutions are problematic and continue to silence underrepresented populations. The purpose of the study is to give voice to FGLs and examine the relationship between women of color. In addition, increase awareness to procure academic success and gauge sense of belonging attending predominantly White institutions. The methodology of the study was derived from an autoethnographer voice. As Bochner and Ellis (2021) stated, “The autoethnographer not only tries to make personal experience meaningful and cultural experience engaging, but also, by producing accessible texts, she or he may be able to reach wider and more diverse mass audiences that traditional research usually disregards, a move that can make personal and social change possible for more people” (p. 277). Educational equality is possible, transformation is necessary for monumental change on behalf of marginalized populations. The powerful voices in this study are just the beginning of the solutions for breakthrough—the resources to help future generation of Latinas establish a sense of belonging while attending predominantly White institutions, the status quo will continue to be progressive, and not regressive, and as an educational leader, this is my vow