Identifying Barriers to File Rendering in Bit-level Preservation Repositories: A Preliminary Approach

This paper seeks to advance digital preservation theory and practice by presenting an evidence-based model for identifying barriers to digital content rendering within a bit-level preservation repository. It details the results of an experiment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library, where the authors procured a random sample of files from their institution’s digital preservation repository and tested their ability to open said files using software specified in local policies. This sampling regime furnished a preliminary portrait of local file rendering challenges, and thus preservation risk, grounded not in nominal preferences for one format’s characteristics over another, but in empirical evidence of what types of files present genuine barriers to staff and patron access. This research produced meaningful diagnostic data to inform file format policymaking for the repository. Data files created to support this research are available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89994.Ope

Expertise and environment in the Klamath River Basin

Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-293)."Negotiating Nature" explores resource management in action and the intertwined roles of law and science in environmental conflicts in the Upper Klamath River Basin in southern Oregon. I follow disputes over the management of water and endangered species. I develop several themes: first, how these disputes demonstrate the growing connections between scientific and legal authority in environmental matters. This occurs because environmental laws often limit participation in disputes to those who can offer "scientific data" in support of their claims. I call this situation "scientific legality" and suggest that increasingly, one's ability to make legal claims is closely tied to one's ability to muster scientific authority behind those claims. Second, how the growing importance of scientific expertise in environmental decision-making has affected the ways that groups frame environmental claims. Third, how negotiations over environmental rights, regulations, and policies shape not only management efforts, but also narratives of environmental relationships. In Part One, I discuss the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which legally mandates that only scientific considerations can be taken into account in certain aspects of endangered species management. As a result, the Act has impacted the ways people frame claims about endangered species. I then discuss how the Klamath Tribes of American Indians have responded this situation, and the implications of this for presumed divisions between the environmental knowledge of scientists and native peoples. In Part Two, I examine a 1975 water rights case, United States v. Adair et al. I explore how the court drew on and reproduced prominent narratives of American Indian history, and the ways these narratives bounded the agency of the Klamath in relation to the environment and the colonial process. In Part Three, I examine a dispute in 2001 over endangered species. In this conflict, a dispute over policy quickly became a dispute over the scientific claims that legitimated the policy. Expert disagreement ensued. Although political explanations for expert disagreement were common, I suggest that a more underlying cause was the unavoidable uncertainties of ecological claims. These uncertainties were politically useful to those who wanted to stall management action and maintain the status quo.by Nicholas Seong Chul Buchanan.Ph.D.in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HAST

Water rights and related water supply issues

Presented during the USCID water management conference held on October 13-16, 2004 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The theme of the conference was "Water rights and related water supply issues."Includes bibliographical references.Proceedings sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Central Utah Project Completion Act Office and the U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage.Consensus building as a primary tool to resolve water supply conflicts -- Administration to Colorado River allocations: the Law of the River and the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement of 2003 -- Irrigation management in Afghanistan: the tradition of Mirabs -- Institutional reforms in irrigation sector of Pakistan: an approach towards integrated water resource management -- On-line and real-time water right allocation in Utah's Sevier River basin -- Improving equity of water distribution: the challenge for farmer organizations in Sindh, Pakistan -- Impacts from transboundary water rights violations in South Asia -- Impacts of water conservation and Endangered Species Act on large water project planning, Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System, Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project -- Economic importance and environmental challenges of the Awash River basin to Ethiopia -- Accomplishing the impossible: overcoming obstacles of a combined irrigation project -- Estimating actual evapotranspiration without land use classification -- Improving water management in irrigated agricultue -- Beneficial uses of treated drainage water -- Comparative assessment of risk mitigation options for irrigated agricutlrue -- A multi-variable approach for the command of Canal de Provence Aix Nord Water Supply Subsystem -- Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis and Statistical Learning Theory II: water management application -- Soil moisture data collection and water supply forecasting -- Development and implementation of a farm water conservation program within the Coachella Valley Water District, California -- Concepts of ground water recharge and well augmentation in northeastern Colorado -- Water banking in Colorado: an experiment in trouble? -- Estimating conservable water in the Klamath Irrigation Project -- Socio-economic impacts of land retirement in Westlands Water District -- EPDM rubber lining system chosen to save valuable irrigation water -- A user-centered approach to develop decision support systems for estimating pumping and augmentation needs in Colorado's South Platte basin -- Utah's Tri-County Automation Project -- Using HEC-RAS to model canal systems -- Potential water and energy conservation and improved flexibility for water users in the Oasis area of the Coachella Valley Water District, California

2019-2020 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1114/thumbnail.jp

2020-2021 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1115/thumbnail.jp

2021-2022 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1116/thumbnail.jp

2022-2023 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1117/thumbnail.jp

The contribution of the new Institutional economics in order to avoid opportunistic behaviour in the Packaging supply chain. A business process oriented analysis of the forthcoming german ink ordinance to avoid food safety scares.

Purpose – The thesis aims to explain how the theory of New Institutional Economics can be applied to inspire and develop our understanding of the dynamics surrounding the German paper based packaging supply chain (PPSC) behaviours and relationships in view of the future German Ink as well as Mineral Oil Ordinance and its expected European spill over. Design/Methodology – A meticulous survey of the literature is applied. The study underlying this thesis conducted a research design embedding the selection of participants and inducting them into the research processes by pre-tasking, drafting and executing expert interviews as well as obtaining feedback for respondent validation. The interviewees were representatives of the most central actors in the decision-making process. Seventeen senior managing directors or chairperson of industrial packaging associations on national and European level. The research involved five focus groups: systemic industrial associations (n=5), ancillary suppliers of fibre based packaging (n=2), independent or corporate packaging supplier (n=5), food packers or manufactures on international level (n=2) and industry-oriented consultants (n=3). Findings –The author posits that NIE theory provides valuable insights for relationship engineering within supply chains where social, legal and behavioural dynamics dominate. The findings and conclusions of this research foster valuable information and concrete recommendations for PPSC in Germany. The findings have significance for those who administrate as managers and contribute to the rare body of literature relating the law bill of the expected German Ink and Mineral Oil Ordinances in a business process context. Practical Implications – It is a serious and critical job and duty for managers to conclude and mitigate issues in time to come. The set of NIE theories purvey this demand by providing them with useful tools to respond. The recommendations are related to all decision makers and stakeholders to ensure the success of their business processes within the PPSC.Administración y Dirección de Empresa

2016-2017 Course Catalog

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/coursecatalogs_asc/1047/thumbnail.jp