Cultural Resource Investigations At The Proposed Montgomery County Wastewwater Treatment Plant Montgomery County, Texas

DESCO Environmental Consultants, LP conducted a cultural resource investigation on behalf of Imperial Promenade, Inc. on a privately owned 4.6 acre tract of land located on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Outlaw Pond Quadrangle 3095-124 in Montgomery County, Texas. The cultural resource investigation was conducted to meet Section 106 requirements as part of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) permitting process for a proposed wastewater treatment plant with a depth ranging from 36 (1 meter) to 48 inches (1.2 meters). The project area consisted of a pine/mixed hardwood area located on a terrace of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. A total of ten shovel tests were conducted on the property. Standard shovel testing was conducted in areas of potential effect not to exceeded 36 inches, supplemented by a power auger in the locations with an area of potential effect of up to 48 inches. Three shovel tests were extended to a depth of 48 inches using a power auger. All excavated fill was screened through ¼ inch hardware cloth. All of the investigations were negative and terminated in clay

Working with Students Living in Poverty: What Can School Counselors Do?

This literature review contains information about the impact of poverty on the development of children and young adults, as well as what school counselors can do to help. Poverty is something that impacts many individuals throughout their lifetime and it is important to develop an understanding about how to better help these individuals. School counselors have the ability to instill change and provide a positive and safe environment for not only all students, but students that are living in poverty as well. Additionally, information is provided on how to combat the effects of poverty to prepare students for a successful future

Resilience and transformation of heritage sites to accommodate for loss and learning in a changing climate

AbstractThe predicted increases in climate change vulnerability of heritage sites are alarming. Yet, heritage management focuses on enabling a steady state of heritage sites to ensure the continuity of values embedded within those properties. In this paper, we use the concept of resilience to demonstrate how expanding the heritage paradigm from solely a preservation perspective to one that also embraces a transformation perspective can accommodate for loss as well as promote learning. We argue that adaptation as currently conceptualized in the heritage field is limited, as it is not economically or ecologically feasible for all heritage sites or properties. When heritage properties are severely impacted by climatic events, we suggest that some remain damaged to serve as a memory of that event and the inherent vulnerabilities embedded in places. Moreover, when confronted with projected climatic impacts that exceed a financially viable threshold or ecological reality, or when rights holders or associated communities deem persistent adaptation unacceptable, we argue for transformation. We claim that transformation enables a reorganization of values focused on the discovery of future values embedded within changing associations and benefits. Therefore, we recommend that the heritage field adopts an alternative heritage policy that enables transformative continuity through applications of persistent and autonomous or anticipatory adaptation. We conclude by suggesting a pathway for such change at the international level; specifically, we call for the World Heritage Convention to develop a new grouping of sites,World Heritage Sites in Climatic Transformation

Economic Optimization of Historic Preservation in National Parks: Future Transitions for Climate Change and Cultural Resources

Climate change is increasingly posing great challenges to coastal cultural resources. Adapting from the Optimal Preservation (OptiPres) Model developed by Xiao et al. (2019) that prioritizes historic preservation for 17 historic buildings at Cape Lookout National Seashore across a 30-planning horizon, this study advances the OptiPres model to integrate a new management objective to identify the optimal adaptation plans to maximize the number of historical buildings receiving climate-focused adaptation actions and evaluate the trade-offs of adaptation actions under different budget scenarios. The results of this study not only calculate the changes in quantitative values of historical resources following preservation and adaptation treatments but also provide park managers guidance on how to prioritize climate adaptation decisions for historical resources under limited budgets. Moreover, the OptiPres Model enhances the transparency of values embedded in decision-making, supports the prioritization of climate-focused adaptation actions in historical preservation, and is transferable to other coastal parks

Examining the Complexities of Partnership Administration: Insight into the Programmatic Capacity of the USDA Forest Service

Abstract Partnerships significantly augment the capacity of the USDA Forest Service to care for its lands and serve people using those lands. As part of the agency’s recreation program, partners perform diverse services such as trail building, interpretive programming, grant writing, monitoring, and general maintenance. However, the increasingly formal nature of agency partnerships has added administrative complexity to relationships that were once solidified by handshakes. This paper explores the programmatic capacity of recreation partnerships using data from a multi-phased study conducted with agency personnel. The study found that dedicated leadership cultivates vibrant partnership programs. However, agency personnel expressed concern for declining programmatic capacity due to staff turnover, job compression, and outsourcing. Strategies for building programmatic capacity are discussed, including formalizing work with partnerships as an accountable job duty. As reliance on agency partnerships are predicted to increase, the implications section addresses the specific administrative challenges of partnering

Practicing Sustainability: Evaluation and Redesign of a Capstone Course Entitled “Integrated Natural Resources Planning”

This paper presents our progress to-date in evaluating and redesigning a senior-level capstone course for the integrated core curriculum in the College of Natural Resources (CNR) at the University of Idaho. This course, entitled “Integrated Natural Resources Planning,” is now being taught for the 9th semester to all College seniors. The course focuses on: understanding complex issues such as sustainability and ecological integrity; assessing alternatives for management where issues are currently contentious; planning for programmatic implementation; and refining students’ skills in working in teams, critical thinking, writing, and speaking. We first describe the history of the course, and then report some key results of evaluation research to assess its past effectiveness. The purpose of this research has been to further develop and improve upon the course over the last semester. The paper also describes changes currently being made in the course and their perceived effectiveness to-date, which are founded on a teaching approach of a sequential, building process of reviewing and applying resource management topics, skills, and planning exercises

Institutional Support for Agency Partnerships: Exploring Personnel Perception and Website Content

1.0 Abstract The USDA Forest Service increasingly engages partners to accomplish agency goals and enhance public services. In an age of fiscal constraints, partnerships continue to be an alternative management strategy. Previous research on recreational partnership has primarily explored the key elements of partnership success. Knowledge is limited regarding the structure of agency partnership, including the institutional characteristics, conditions and mechanisms necessary to foster a vibrant partnership culture. This paper briefly summarizes results from an online questionnaire administered to agency personnel on 12 randomly selected forests. Findings reveal a norm of partnerships may be replacing the internal support characteristics necessary to maintain a vibrant partnership culture

New Qubit Codes from Multidimensional Circulant Graphs

Two new qubit stabilizer codes with parameters $[77, 0, 19]_2$ and $[90, 0, 22]_2$ are constructed for the first time by employing additive symplectic self-dual \F_4 codes from multidimensional circulant (MDC) graphs. We completely classify MDC graph codes for lengths $4\le n \le 40$ and show that many optimal \dsb{\ell, 0, d} qubit codes can be obtained from the MDC construction. Moreover, we prove that adjacency matrices of MDC graphs have nested block circulant structure and determine isomorphism properties of MDC graphs

The effect of co-ingesting beetroot juice and vitamin C on blood pressure in Hispanic women: a literature review and a proposal

Dietary nitrate supplementation is known for improving blood pressure through vasodilation and may favorably alter oral microbial populations related to cardiovascular health. Co-ingestion with vitamin C (VITC) may further potentiate these benefits but this remains unexplored. Additionally, this field has yet to examine the influence of sex and ethnicity, which is important given that physiological differences exist between populations. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of combining dietary nitrate, in the form of beetroot juice, and VITC on blood pressure and the oral microbiome in women of Hispanic, African American, and American descent across multiple institutions. In a double-blinded, randomized, crossover design, 12 Hispanic females will arrive to the laboratory at Pepperdine University, while 12 African American and 12 Caucasian women will arrive to the laboratory at Indiana University, for 4 visits over 4 months to receive nitrate-depleted beetroot juice and crystal light (PL+CL), PL and VITC (PL+VITC), nitrate-rich beetroot juice and CL (BR+CL), and BR and VITC (BR+VITC). During each experimental trial, resting blood and buccal cell samples will be obtained followed by body composition. Following this, blood pressure and heart rate will be measured at rest and during a protocol for assessing cardiovascular reactivity. Each visit will take place during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. The data have important implications for increasing the application of dietary interventions for cardiovascular health to benefit a wider population