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Linking classroom learning and research to advance ideas about social-ecological resilience
Get PDFThere is an increasing demand in higher education institutions for training in complex environmental problems. Such training requires a careful mix of conventional methods and innovative solutions, a task not always easy to accomplish. In this paper we review literature on this theme, highlight relevant advances in the pedagogical literature, and report on some examples resulting from our recent efforts to teach complex environmental issues. The examples range from full credit courses in sustainable development and research methods to project-based and in-class activity units. A consensus from the literature is that lectures are not sufficient to fully engage students in these issues. A conclusion from the review of examples is that problem-based and project-based, e.g., through case studies, experiential learning opportunities, or real-world applications, learning offers much promise. This could greatly be facilitated by online hubs through which teachers, students, and other members of the practitioner and academic community share experiences in teaching and research, the way that we have done here
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Improving the renovation, repair and painting training course to eliminate childhood lead poisonings: Wisconsin observations
Get PDFMaster's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013In 2011, I worked briefly with the Asbestos and Lead Program for the State of Wisconsin. It was my job to conduct audits of our training providers as well as on-site inspections of work sites. During my time there I discovered a real disconnect between what I saw in the field and what is taught in class. Wisconsin has its own lead rules that are more stringent than the EPA's. After taking a critical look at the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP) curriculum, I saw where the problems lay. The required hands-on training does not present the skills in a logical order and the demonstration is not similar enough to reality to be retained and transferred to a worksite consistently. Instead of contractors and homeowners learning how to conduct a job safely from start to finish, they are presented specific skills broken down into 11 skill sets. Over a four month time span I took the EPA curriculum and wrote scripts, videotaped, edited and narrated training videos with the assistance of Department of Health Service staff to eliminate the disconnect between the classroom learning and the real world. The videos demonstrate lead-safe work practices in a manner intended to increase retention rates. The videos were released in July 2012, and since then inspection statistics show a 13 percent decrease in offenses from certified workers and a 31 percent decrease in violations overall. Data for the first half of 2013 also indicated a positive trend; violations by certified contracts are down an additional percent. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation conducted a study in 1996, finding that 62 percent of Alaska private homes were built prior to 1979. This means approximately 49 percent of all Alaskan homes contain lead-based paint, 14 percent higher than the national average. The use of lead-based paint in colder regions is not uncommon. Lead-based paint was praised for its durability and longevity, making it ideal for regions in the circumpolar north. Americans spend nearly 90 percent of their time indoors. In cold climates, such as the Arctic, people tend to spend even more time indoors (EPA, 2012). Increased time indoors allows for increased wear on friction surfaces in the home. For children, deteriorating lead-based paint and lead in house dust are the primary and often most concentrated sources of lead (CDC, 2012). The Center for Disease Control reports that in 2004 there were 143,000 deaths and a loss of 8,977,000 disability-adjusted life years attributed to lead exposure worldwide. The primary cause was lead-associated adult cardiovascular disease and mild intellectual disability in children. Children represent approximately 80 percent of the disease impact attributed to lead, with an estimated 600,000 new cases of childhood intellectual disabilities resulting from blood lead levels (BLLs) greater than 10 υg/dL(CDC, 2012)
Uninhabited and free from work: an environmental and federal land-use policy history of Glacial Lake Atna wilderness, Alaska
Get PDFThesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2020The Glacial Lake Atna area, a valley between the southern Alaska and Wrangell mountain ranges in Southcentral Alaska, despite its appearance today as remote, thickly forested, and seemingly "wild" in character, has a 10,000-year history of human habitation. The first peoples in Alaska made encampments and harvested subsistence resources on the shores of the glacial lake and its margins, while today residents and visitors to the region continue to inhabit, hunt, fish, gather berries, cut firewood, and generally subsist from the land in ways remarkably similar to their prehistoric forebears. Humans and nature have a long, shared history in the thirteen million-acre Glacial Lake Atna region, and yet, since the mid-1980s, amid the modern-day conservation movement to protect so-called wild places, the region has been bordered and patrolled in ways that separate humans from nature. Wilderness policies under the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management suggest that wilderness areas are inherently pristine, devoid of human inhabitation, and without the imprint of human work. Alaska lands acts, most specifically the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, while allowing for subsistence, did not adequately address work and inhabitation. This thesis questions such policies and, through archaeological, historical, and policy analyses of humans and nature in the region, argues wilderness has never been truly uninhabited and free from work. The idea of "wilderness" lacks introspection as these areas contain quite a lot of human history, and indeed wilderness is a construct of romanticism and post-frontier ideologies.Introduction -- Research Questions -- Literature Review -- Methodology. 1. Uninhabited wilderness and the prehistoric Period -- 1.1. Geology -- 1.2. Archaeology -- 1.3. The First Peoples and work -- 1.4. Conclusions. 2. Work and wilderness and the frontier period -- 2.1. The idea of wilderness -- 2.2. Alaskan exploration and work -- 2.3. The Last Frontier -- 2.4. Early conservation efforts -- 2.5 Conclusions. 3. The Federal lands period -- 3.1. The campaign for wilderness -- 3.2. Drawing boundaries -- 3.3. ANILCA Title VIII and work -- 3.4. Wilderness access -- 3.5. Conclusions -- Conclusions -- Bibliography
Bounty in the Bering Strait: a case for proactive regulation in the world's next chokepoint
Get PDFThesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015This thesis analyzes trends in waterborne trade throughout history to demonstrate that the Bering Strait will soon become a chokepoint of international trade. Scientific studies suggest that the accelerating effects of global warming in the Arctic will result in ice-free routes in the coming decades. Given the likelihood that vessel traffic through the Bering Strait will rise, this thesis assesses the region's ecological vulnerability, along with its significant commercial and cultural values. The history of shipping regulation worldwide and commercial regulation in the Bering Sea reveals a tendency to enact regulation in response to a major oil spill or species depletion. To ensure the food security of Native coastal communities and the productivity of commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea, this thesis argues for a proactive approach to vessel traffic regulation in the Bering Strait. It examines several current regulatory regimes to identify which could be enacted to protect the region's resources. This thesis concludes that, despite barriers to cooperation between Russia and the U.S., a cross-border management regime that promotes safe shipping through the Bering Strait would further both nations' economic interests and safeguard the Bering Sea's valuable yet vulnerable marine resources.Introduction -- Literature Review -- The History of Maritime Trade -- Chokepoints of Trade -- Analyses of Arctic Shipping -- Bounty in the Bering Sea -- Regulation in the Bering Strait -- Methodology -- Chapter One: A brief history of maritime trade, the importance of chokepoints and the inevitable rise of vessel traffic through the Bering Strait -- Introduction -- Waterborne Trade -- The Growth of Civilizations -- The First Maritime Empires -- The Spread of Transoceanic Trade -- The Importance of Geography -- Advantages of Ocean vs. Land Transport -- Geography and Power -- Chokepoints to Maritime Trade -- Chokepoints at Risk -- Arctic Alternatives -- Northeast and Northwest Passages -- Global Warming and Thawing Shipping Lanes -- The Allure of the Northeast Passage -- The Bering Strait as a Future Chokepoint -- International Interest in the Arctic -- Commercial Viability of the Arctic -- Oil and Gas Arctic Shipping -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Chapter Two: Assessing present values in the Bering Sea and past regulatory trends worldwide to make the case for proactive regulation in the Bering Strait -- Introduction -- The Bering Sea Ecosystem -- Historical Value -- Land Bridge Migrations, First Settlements, and Subsistence Trends -- Current Value -- Subsistence Habits and Food Security in Coastal Communities -- Subsistence Species Threatened by Global Warming -- Introduction of Cash Economies and Store-Bought Foods -- Bering Sea Fishery -- History of Commercial Endeavors in the Bering Sea -- Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: Marine Mammal Harvesting -- Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: Bering Sea Fisheries -- Threats to the Bering Sea Fisheries and Subsistence Resources Posed by Shipping -- Oil and Gas Spills -- Ship Strikes -- Noise -- Pollution -- Discussion -- Overharvesting of Marine Resources -- Oil Spills and Subsequent Regulations -- Conclusion -- Chapter Three: Proposed solutions, regulatory options, and economic incentives for cooperation between Russia and the U.S. in the Bering Strait -- Introduction -- Local Concerns and Recommended Regulations -- Mandatory vs. Voluntary Regulations -- Legal Frameworks for the Arctic Ocean -- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) -- International Maritime Organization (IMO) -- The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) -- Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas -- Polar Code -- Regulatory Gap -- Potential for Cross-Border U.S.-Russia Collaboration -- The Redistribution of State Power and the Rise of NGOs -- Russia-Norway Collaboration -- U.S.-Canada Collaboration -- Past and Present U.S.-Russia Relations -- Arctic Ambitions -- Russia -- United States -- Discussion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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