New Hybrid Protected Lands Layer for Vermont Conservation Design Analysis (February 2019)

This shapefile (.shp) is a hybrid of the March 2017 Edition of the Vermont Center for Geographic Information\u27s (VCGI) Vermont Protected Lands Database (VPLD), the Vermont Land Trust\u27s February 2019 Protected Lands database, and The Nature Conservancy\u27s Secured Areas (SA 2018+) database. The VLT and SA 2018+ datasets were used as the scaffolding for the hybrid protected lands layer, with some VCGI VPLD polygons retained if they contained unique contributions. These datasets were combined by C.D. Loeb because each input dataset was missing some protected lands polygons in the state of Vermont. Additionally, the VCGI VPLD dataset contained many overlapping polygons, making it unusable for the area calculations of interest to our study on the overlap between formally protected lands and Vermont Conservation Design landscape-level targets (see publication reference). This hybrid protected lands layer creates a more complete snapshot of Vermont’s protected lands for our study’s purposes than any other known, publicly available dataset as of February 2019, and also corrects for all improperly overlapping polygons. However, we know that this hybrid product still does not capture all of Vermont\u27s protected lands. Specifically, some Upper Valley Land Trust-protected parcels are missing from this hybrid protected lands layer, and there are probably other protected parcels that could not be captured by the input datasets. Thus, our hybrid product will likely underrepresent actual protections. This layer was created to intersect with Vermont Conservation Design targets for input into the software Tableau. Its purpose was to perform cross tabulations to compare Vermont Conservation Design targets with protected lands in Vermont to-date, and to calculate acreages of protected lands that are also design targets by primary protecting agency. All parcel attributes and delineations in the hybrid output are only as good as the parent datasets. In areas where parcels were digitized differently between parent datasets, “slivers” may have been generated by merging them. Our study objectives originally included an analysis of the GAP Status of protected lands in Vermont (reflected in this layer\u27s metadata); however, some serious errors were detected in parent datasets with regards to GAP Status, so GAP Status was discarded as an analysis object. Please note author-identified GAP Status issues if using this dataset. Please see the shapefile\u27s metadata for detailed creation steps. The user implies knowledge of the limitations of this dataset. This dataset should not be used to ascertain boundaries or legal acreages for any parcels. Note: This version of the hybrid protected lands layer does not have county boundaries embedded in it nor waterbodies excluded from it, since it was created to capture all formally protected lands in the state of Vermont to the best of the authors’ abilities. Prior to use in our analysis, this layer was modified to exclude waterbodies and to introduce county boundaries. To obtain the same hybrid protected lands layer with county boundaries embedded in it and waterbodies excluded from it, please contact C. D. Loeb at [email protected]

A Conversation With Steve Shagan

On the evening of November 11, Steve Shagan met with the film students at Columbia College. Shagan authored and produced Save the Tiger. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film Department. Photographer: Randy Donefrio. 23 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1003/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With a New York Television Writer (Edward Adler)

On the evening of March 18, Edward Adler met with film students at Columbia College. Adler began his career during the golden age of television, authoring scripts, and recently complete drama aired on CBS Playhouse.The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film Department. Photographer: David Morenz. 24 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1002/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With Alan Parker

On the evening of February 28, Alan Parker, director, writer, and producer, met with students at Columbia College and discussed his film Mississippi Burning and his experience in the field. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film and Video Department. Interview photographers: G. Joseph Guichard, Charles Celander. Film Still courtesy of Scott E. Marks. 31 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1007/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With John Cassavetes

On the evening of March 5, John Cassavetes spoke with the students of Columbia College. Mr. Cassavetes was in Chicago for the opening of his new movie A Woman Under the Influence. This discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb chair of the Film Department. It includes a filmography. Photographer: Lou Rociola. 16 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1000/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With Jonathan Demme

On the evening of May 18, Jonathan Demme spoke to students at Columbia College about his experience in the fields of film directing and producing while visiting Chicago for the 16th Annual Festival of Illinois Film and Video Artists. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film and Video Department. Photographer: Pamela Susmiehl. 27 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1008/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With Jane Alderman, Ron Clasky, David Hansen, Gordon Quinn, Sharon Lloyd Spence, Daniella Violet-Green

This panel, sponsored by the Department of Film and Video at Columbia College, introduced students to work in fields of film through the experience of mid-career discipline professionals: producers, directors, writers, cineatographers, casting, and editors. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film and Video Department. 43 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1005/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With Charles Robert Carner: A Columbia Graduate Leaves Chicago to Work as a Screenwriter in L.A.

During May, Charles Robert Carner, a Columbia College Chicago 1978 graduate, returned to campus to talk with students about a career in screenwriting while in town for a screening of Seduced, a film he wrote for television. The discussion was moderated by Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film and Video Department. Photographer: Jack Rodriguez. 32 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1006/thumbnail.jp

A Conversation With a Cinematograher: Bill Butler

On the evening of November 15, Bill Butler met with the film and television students at Columbia College. Butler is one of the major cinematographers workign today, with credits such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u27s Nest, Jaws, and Grease.The discussion was moderated by Thaine Lyman, chair of the Television Department and Anthony Loeb, chair of the Film Department. Photographer: Joy Caniglia. 29 pages.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/conversations/1004/thumbnail.jp

Bianchi Model CMB Polarization and its Implications for CMB Anomalies

We derive the CMB radiative transfer equation in the form of a multipole hierarchy in the nearly-Friedmann-Robertson-Walker limit of homogeneous, but anisotropic, universes classified via their Bianchi type. Compared with previous calculations, this allows a more sophisticated treatment of recombination, produces predictions for the polarization of the radiation, and allows for reionization. Our derivation is independent of any assumptions about the dynamical behaviour of the field equations, except that it requires anisotropies to be small back to recombination; this is already demanded by observations. We calculate the polarization signal in the Bianchi VIIh case, with the parameters recently advocated to mimic the several large-angle anomalous features observed in the CMB. We find that the peak polarization signal is ~ 1.2 micro K for the best-fit model to the temperature anisotropies, and is mostly confined to multipoles l<10. Remarkably, the predicted large-angle EE and TE power spectra in the Bianchi model are consistent with WMAP observations that are usually interpreted as evidence of early reionization. However, the power in B-mode polarisation is predicted to be similar to the E-mode power and parity-violating correlations are also predicted by the model; the WMAP non-detection of either of these signals casts further strong doubts on the veracity of attempts to explain the large-angle anomalies with global anisotropy. On the other hand, given that there exist further dynamical degrees of freedom in the VIIh universes that are yet to be compared with CMB observations, we cannot at this time definitively reject the anisotropy explanation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Minor grammatical and typographical changes to reflect version in press. 13 pages, 6 figure