Here Are My People

"It is unique as the country in which it is located. Local color and human interest are comprehended in every page.

University Archives

How do university digital archives play a role in the parent institutions' impact on their student body? Through a review of literature and case studies, as well as first-hand research in the form of interviews with six university archivists from across the United States, this paper gathers current data on analytics and interdepartmental communications that elucidate the impact and role of digital archives for the parent institution. By uncovering what is or is not working, the popularity levels of its analog counterparts, as well as specifically how the digital archives are being utilized, a clearer picture is painted on the holistic success that is a university's digital archive. All parent institutions have primarily institution-specific digital assets and less-so alternative research material needed for academic success. Additionally, with the awareness of digital preservation standards and workflows involving different archival toolkits, there is still a lack of user surveys regarding how effective the digital archive is for the target audience. More information and research is needed as to why parent institutions are not concerned with polling their target audience as to the effectiveness of the digital archives

The Glamour of British Columbia

"The reader who has penetrated this province with H. Glynn-Ward in her Glamour of British Columbia becomes aware of the vastness, the wildness, the variety in mountain, lake and stream and is inspired if not always enthused. The book is the account of an adventurous woman who dares to explore the Fraser River Valley, to hunt in the 'Cariboo Region' and to climb in winter Mount Robson, the highest, the most beautiful, the most dangerous mountain in all the Rockies.

Oregon Sketches

"In Oregon Sketches Wallace Smith gives glimpses of the new and glorified West, a West that is a revival of all that tradition has contributed to the term, including cowboys and Indians, guns and war paint… As a picture of some of the swiftly changing phases of the West the book is of value.

The Story of the Western Railroads

"The Story of the Western Railroads by Robert E. Riegel is not for the romanticist… It is rather the account of an inch by inch, month by month conquest in the threefold field of politics, finance, and engineering… He writes without bias; he is strictly non-partisan whether he is writing of the capitalist, the politician, or the interested public.

Qualitative and Quantitative Determination of Impaired Movement in Protective Clothing

Impaired movement is seen in most instances where protective clothing is worn. Unlike conventional garments, protective clothing is usually constructed to provide very a generous fit. Therefore, the methods used for the determination of range of motion in conventional garments are not appropriate for assessing protective clothing. This study compared the qualitative and quantitative methods of assessing impaired movement in protective clothing. The qualitative assessment provided an overview of the general acceptance of each CPE, while the quantitative method found differences in the magnitude of restrictions caused by the garments

Summary of Trapping Regulations for Fur Harvesting in the United States

A “Summary of Trapping Regulations for Fur Harvesting in the United States and Canada” was originally conducted by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Fur Resources Technical Subcommittee in 1995. Over the last decade trapping devices and methods, as well as the regulations that guide them have undergone changes. The summary data of furbearer trapping regulations contained in this report were gathered during the summer/fall of 2007 in an effort to capture those regulation changes and report the current conditions and restrictions within existing laws for the harvest of 26 species of furbearers by regulated trapping throughout the United States. The annual harvest of wild furbearers occurs under the conditions set forth in regulations promulgated within each state. An on-line survey was developed and distributed to wildlife agencies in 49 U.S. states (excluding Hawaii). Information was compiled under five major categories: 1) training and licensing 2) bodygrip traps 3) foothold traps 4) trap placement and 5) snares. Response rate to the survey was 100%. The survey contained 113 questions. Information presented on any page of this report is only a single component within more comprehensive regulations. To understand the full relevance and importance of any response, the listed information needs to be examined within the context and in concert with all other existing regulations. Despite these constraints, the information within this report is very useful to furbearer managers to help examine technologies and initiate and make furbearer management decisions. The Furbearer Conservation Technical Work Group of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is grateful to all agencies for their cooperation in gathering this information

Behavioral Ecology and Management of Suburban Coyotes in Westchester County, New York

The coyote (Canis latrans) is now established as a relatively common inhabitant of nearly all landscapes in the northeastern United States. However, the ecology and management of this larger, mid-sized carnivore in urban areas is poorly understood, and creates much uncertainty for residents and wildlife managers alike. Detailed behavioral ecology studies are important to understand the role of the coyote in urbanized landscapes and their interactions with humans. We are studying the behavioral ecology of coyotes in Westchester County, N.Y., a predominantly urban county directly north of New York City. We investigated the diet of coyotes through trail-based fecal collections to identify potential anthropogenic food items that could lead to negative human-coyote interactions. Concurrently, we examined the spatial ecology of coyotes using both VHF-and GPS-based telemetry. Preliminary results from the diet analysis indicated that \u3e50% of the scats collected contained white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) remains. Other natural food items accounted for most of the remaining food items. No domestic dog remains have been identified in scats and only 4 scats contained domestic cat remains-3 of which were collected during the same day along the same collection trail. Spatial ecology data indicated that coyote home ranges (n = 26) averaged 5.53 km2 ± 3.18 SD, and ranged from 1.16-12.02 km2. Habitat use revealed that 71% of coyote locations (n = 1,987) were in natural lands, and 28% were in residential, recreational and agricultural areas. While these findings indicated the risk for negative interactions was lower than for other areas of the U.S., potential does remain for conflicts to occur. Overall, resident coyotes appear to be living natural lives and remain embedded in natural processes, while avoiding human interactions in developed landscapes

Requirements Engineering in Building Climate Science Software.

Software has an important role in supporting scientific work. This dissertation studies teams that build scientific software, focusing on the way that they determine what the software should do. These requirements engineering processes are investigated through three case studies of climate science software projects. The Earth System Modeling Framework assists modeling applications, the Earth System Grid distributes data via a web portal, and the NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Command Language is used to convert, analyze and visualize data. Document analysis, observation, and interviews were used to investigate the requirements-related work. The first research question is about how and why stakeholders engage in a project, and what they do for the project. Two key findings arise. First, user counts are a vital measure of project success, which makes adoption important and makes counting tricky and political. Second, despite the importance of quantities of users, a few particular “power users” develop a relationship with the software developers and play a special role in providing feedback to the software team and integrating the system into user practice. The second research question focuses on how project objectives are articulated and how they are put into practice. The team seeks to both build a software system according to product requirements but also to conduct their work according to process requirements such as user support. Support provides essential communication between users and developers that assists with refining and identifying requirements for the software. It also helps users to learn and apply the software to their real needs. User support is a vital activity for scientific software teams aspiring to create infrastructure. The third research question is about how change in scientific practice and knowledge leads to changes in the software, and vice versa. The “thickness” of a layer of software infrastructure impacts whether the software team or users have control and responsibility for making changes in response to new scientific ideas. Thick infrastructure provides more functionality for users, but gives them less control of it. The stability of infrastructure trades off against the responsiveness that the infrastructure can have to user needs.Ph.D.InformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86438/1/archerb_1.pd