Social-ecological soundscapes: examining aircraft-harvester-caribou conflict in Arctic Alaska

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017As human development expands across the Arctic, it is crucial to carefully assess the impacts to remote natural ecosystems and to indigenous communities that rely on wild resources for nutritional and cultural wellbeing. Because indigenous communities and wildlife populations are interdependent, assessing how human activities impact traditional harvest practices can advance our understanding of the human dimensions of wildlife management. Indigenous communities across Arctic Alaska have expressed concern over the last four decades that low-flying aircraft interfere with their traditional harvest practices. For example, communities often have testified that aircraft disturb caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and thereby reduce harvest opportunities. Despite this longstanding concern, little research exists on the extent of aircraft activity in Arctic Alaska and on how aircraft affect the behavior and perceptions of harvesters. Therefore, the overarching goal of my research was to highlight the importance of aircraft-harvester conflict in Arctic Alaska and begin to address the issue using a scientific and community-driven approach. In Chapter 1, I demonstrated that conflict between aircraft and indigenous harvesters in Arctic Alaska is a widespread, understudied, and complex issue. By conducting a meta-analysis of the available literature, I quantified the deficiency of scientific knowledge about the impacts of aircraft on rural communities and traditional harvest practices in the Arctic. My results indicated that no peer-reviewed literature has addressed the conflict between low-flying aircraft and traditional harvesters in Arctic Alaska. I speculated that the scale over which aircraft, rural communities, and wildlife interact limits scientists' ability to determine causal relationships and therefore detracts from their interest in researching the human dimension of this social-ecological system. Innovative research approaches like soundscape ecology could begin to quantify interactions and provide baseline data that may foster mitigation discourses among stakeholders. In Chapter 2, I employed a soundscape-ecology approach to address concerns about aircraft activity expressed by the Alaska Native community of Nuiqsut. Nuiqsut faces the greatest volume of aircraft activity of any community in Arctic Alaska because of its proximity to intensive oil and gas activity. However, information on when and where these aircraft are flying is unavailable to residents, managers, and researchers. I worked closely with Nuiqsut residents to deploy acoustic monitoring systems along important caribou harvest corridors during the peak of caribou harvest, from early June through late August 2016. This method successfully captured aircraft sound and the community embraced my science for addressing local priorities. I found aircraft activity levels near Nuiqsut and surrounding oil developments (12 daily events) to be approximately six times greater than in areas over 30 km from the village (two daily events). Aircraft sound disturbance was 26 times lower in undeveloped areas (Noise Free Interval =13 hrs) than near human development (NFI = 0.5 hrs). My study provided baseline data on aircraft activity and noise levels. My research could be used by stakeholders and managers to develop conflict avoidance agreements and minimize interference with traditional harvest practices. Soundscape methods could be adapted to rural regions across Alaska that may be experiencing conflict with aircraft or other sources of noise that disrupt human-wildlife interactions. By quantifying aircraft activity using a soundscape approach, I demonstrated a novel application of an emerging field in ecology and provided the first scientific data on one dimension of a larger social-ecological system. Future soundscape studies should be integrated with research on both harvester and caribou behaviors to understand how the components within this system are interacting over space and time. Understanding the long-term impacts to traditional harvest practices will require integrated, cross-disciplinary efforts that collaborate with communities and other relevant stakeholders. Finally, my research will likely spark efforts to monitor and mitigate aircraft impacts to wildlife populations and traditional harvest practices across Alaska, helping to inform a decision-making process currently hindered by an absence of objective data

Short beam shear tests of polymeric laminates and unidirectional composites

The application of advanced composite materials in aerospace, ground transportation, and sporting industries are discussed. Failure theories for the design and mechanical behavior of composite materials are emphasized. Methods for detecting specific types of flaws are outlined. The effect of detected flaws on mechanical properties such as stiffness, strength, fatigue lifetime, or residual strength is described

Fatigue response of notched laminates subjected to tension-compression cyclic loads

The fatigue response of a ((0/45/90/-45)(sub s))(sub 4) T300-5208 graphite-epoxy laminate with a drilled center-hole subjected to various components of tensile and compressive cyclic loads was investigated. Damage evaluation techniques such as stiffness monitoring, penetrant-enhanced X-ray radiography, C-scan, laminate deply and residual strength measurement were used to establish the mechanisms of damage development as well as the effect of such damage on the laminate strength, stiffness and life. Damage modes consisted of transverse matrix cracks, initiating at the hole, in all plies, followed by delamination between plies of different orientation. A characteristic stiffness repsonse during cyclic loading at two load levels was identified and utilized a more reliable indicator of material and residual properties than accumulated cycles. For the load ratios of tension-compression loading, residual tensile strength increased significantly above the virgin strength early in the fatigue life and remained approximately constant to near the end of life. A technique developed for predicting delamination initiation sites along the hole boundary correlated well with experimental evidence

The Potential Link Between Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement

Abstract The push for educational accountability and standardization in the United States gained traction with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Uniformity in the curriculum, academic standards, testing, and accountability were some of the requirements that were being touted by politicians, educators, and special interest groups. School districts across the United States were forced to develop systems to prove that teachers were teaching and students were learning. New York State enacted reform legislation under Education Law section 3012-c, which included the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) to evaluate teachers and principals. One of the components of this evaluation system consisted of the use of New York State ELA and math scores for students as a means to measure student achievement and was incorporated into the overall ratings for teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the potential link between teacher effectiveness in New York State as measured by APPR scores and its possible relationship to student achievement as measured by New York State ELA and math scores. The study sought to examine and establish a definitive relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in New York State as a whole. Some of the essential questions of this research were as follows: What is the relationship between APPR and achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for student characteristics (enrollment, free lunch, reduced lunch, and economically disadvantaged)? What is the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for teacher qualifications (experience and highest degree)? What is the relationship between student achievement in ELA/math and teacher effectiveness (APPR ratings) at the school level? The study included schools within Orange County, Wyoming County, Westchester County, Nassau County, and Suffolk County regions in New York State. The study included a total of 37 school districts, 155 schools, 93,340 students, and 6,915 educators. Data from the 2015–2016 New York State Education Department for both teacher and student scores were used. In 2015, Governor Cuomo issued a moratorium on the use of student achievement scores to calculate teacher APPR scores. Thus, in this study, the teacher APPR scores did not include student achievement scores. This study explored and potentially identified the relationship between teacher effectiveness and students’ achievement. By understanding the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement, individual states, New York, in particular, maybe better equipped to direct resources and assistance to school districts that are most in need

The Potential Link Between Teacher Evaluation and Student Achievement

Abstract The push for educational accountability and standardization in the United States gained traction with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Uniformity in the curriculum, academic standards, testing, and accountability were some of the requirements that were being touted by politicians, educators, and special interest groups. School districts across the United States were forced to develop systems to prove that teachers were teaching and students were learning. New York State enacted reform legislation under Education Law section 3012-c, which included the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) to evaluate teachers and principals. One of the components of this evaluation system consisted of the use of New York State ELA and math scores for students as a means to measure student achievement and was incorporated into the overall ratings for teacher effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the potential link between teacher effectiveness in New York State as measured by APPR scores and its possible relationship to student achievement as measured by New York State ELA and math scores. The study sought to examine and establish a definitive relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in New York State as a whole. Some of the essential questions of this research were as follows: What is the relationship between APPR and achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for student characteristics (enrollment, free lunch, reduced lunch, and economically disadvantaged)? What is the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for teacher qualifications (experience and highest degree)? What is the relationship between student achievement in ELA/math and teacher effectiveness (APPR ratings) at the school level? The study included schools within Orange County, Wyoming County, Westchester County, Nassau County, and Suffolk County regions in New York State. The study included a total of 37 school districts, 155 schools, 93,340 students, and 6,915 educators. Data from the 2015–2016 New York State Education Department for both teacher and student scores were used. In 2015, Governor Cuomo issued a moratorium on the use of student achievement scores to calculate teacher APPR scores. Thus, in this study, the teacher APPR scores did not include student achievement scores. This study explored and potentially identified the relationship between teacher effectiveness and students’ achievement. By understanding the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement, individual states, New York, in particular, maybe better equipped to direct resources and assistance to school districts that are most in need

The development of literary blackness in the Dominican Republic

The concept of Dominican racial identity presents a problem in the investigation of Afro-Dominican literature. While Whiteness may be the cultural and physical standard for the Dominican, people of African descent have always been the majority in the Dominican Republic. This demographic and historical reality helps explain why Afro-Dominican literature has evolved despite efforts to erase their African ancestors from official history. Nineteenth-century Dominican literature forged the definition of Dominicanness that is still accepted today. By establishing the native Indian woman as the mother of Dominican identity, the nation\u27s foundational writers gave darker Dominicans a racial background that replaced their African, and therefore, inferior past. Consequently, much of contemporary Dominican culture and history reflect the nineteenth century\u27s literary campaign of denial

The development of literary blackness in the Dominican Republic

The concept of Dominican racial identity presents a problem in the investigation of Afro-Dominican literature. While Whiteness may be the cultural and physical standard for the Dominican, people of African descent have always been the majority in the Dominican Republic. This demographic and historical reality helps explain why Afro-Dominican literature has evolved despite efforts to erase their African ancestors from official history. Nineteenth-century Dominican literature forged the definition of Dominicanness that is still accepted today. By establishing the native Indian woman as the mother of Dominican identity, the nation\u27s foundational writers gave darker Dominicans a racial background that replaced their African, and therefore, inferior past. Consequently, much of contemporary Dominican culture and history reflect the nineteenth century\u27s literary campaign of denial

Fatigue Damage in Notched Composite Laminates Under Tension-Tension Cyclic Loads

The results are given of an investigation to determine the damage states which develop in graphite epoxy laminates with center holes due to tension-tension cyclic loads, to determine the influence of stacking sequence on the initiation and interaction of damage modes and the process of damage development, and to establish the relationships between the damage states and the strength, stiffness, and life of the laminates. Two quasi-isotropic laminates were selected to give different distributions of interlaminar stresses around the hole. The laminates were tested under cyclic loads (R=0.1, 10 Hz) at maximum stresses ranging between 60 and 95 percent of the notched tensile strength

Investigation and characterization of constraint effects on flaw growth during fatigue loading of composite materials

An investigative program is presented in an attempt to add to the current understanding of constraint effects on the response of composite materials under cyclic loading. The objectives were: (1) to use existing data and to develop additional data in order to establish an understanding and quantitative description of flaw growth in unidirectional lamina under cyclic loading at different load direction to fiber direction angles; (2) to establish a similar understanding and description of flaw growth in lamina which are embedded in laminates between other unflawed lamina; (3) to determine the nature of the influence of constraint on flaw growth by quantitatively comparing the results of the tests; and (4) to develop a model and philosophy of constraints effects based on our investigative results

Ultrasonic stress wave characterization of composite materials

The work reported covers three simultaneous projects. The first project was concerned with: (1) establishing the sensitivity of the acousto-ultrasonic method for evaluating subtle forms of damage development in cyclically loaded composite materials, (2) establishing the ability of the acousto-ultrasonic method for detecting initial material imperfections that lead to localized damage growth and final specimen failure, and (3) characteristics of the NBS/Proctor sensor/receiver for acousto-ultrasonic evaluation of laminated composite materials. The second project was concerned with examining the nature of the wave propagation that occurs during acoustic-ultrasonic evaluation of composite laminates and demonstrating the role of Lamb or plate wave modes and their utilization for characterizing composite laminates. The third project was concerned with the replacement of contact-type receiving piezotransducers with noncontacting laser-optical sensors for acousto-ultrasonic signal acquisition