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• 1. [Article] Reducing the Negative Human-Health Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Emissions through Region-Specific Crop Selection

  An expected global increase in bioenergy-crop cultivation as an alternative to fossil fuels will have consequences on both global climate and local air quality through changes in biogenic emissions of ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Reducing the Negative Human-Health Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Emissions through Region-Specific Crop Selection Author: Porter, William Christian, Rosenstiel, Todd N., Guenther, Alex, Lamarque, Jean-Francois, Barsanti, Kelley Year: 2015 An expected global increase in bioenergy-crop cultivation as an alternative to fossil fuels will have consequences on both global climate and local air quality through changes in biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). While greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced through the substitution of next-generation bioenergy crops such as eucalyptus, giant reed, and switchgrass for fossil fuels, the choice of species has important ramifications for human health, potentially reducing the benefits of conversion due to increases in ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels as a result of large changes in biogenic emissions. Using the Community Earth System Model we simulate the conversion of marginal and underutilized croplands worldwide to bioenergy crops under varying future anthropogenic emissions scenarios. A conservative global replacement using high VOCemitting crop profiles leads to modeled population-weighted O3 increases of 5–27 ppb in India, 1–9 ppb in China, and 1–6 ppb in the United States, with peak PM2.5 increases of up to 2 μg m−3 . We present a metric for the regional evaluation of candidate bioenergy crops, as well as results for the application of this metric to four representative emissions profiles using four replacement scales (10–100% maximum estimated available land). Finally, we assess the total health and climate impacts of biogenic emissions, finding that the negative consequences of using high-emitting crops could exceed 50% of the positive benefits of reduced fossil fuel emissions in value. Title: Reducing the Negative Human-Health Impacts of Bioenergy Crop Emissions through Region-Specific Crop Selection Author: Porter, William Christian, Rosenstiel, Todd N., Guenther, Alex, Lamarque, Jean-Francois, Barsanti, Kelley Year: 2015 An expected global increase in bioenergy-crop cultivation as an alternative to fossil fuels will have consequences on both global climate and local air quality through changes in biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). While greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced through the substitution of next-generation bioenergy crops such as eucalyptus, giant reed, and switchgrass for fossil fuels, the choice of species has important ramifications for human health, potentially reducing the benefits of conversion due to increases in ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels as a result of large changes in biogenic emissions. Using the Community Earth System Model we simulate the conversion of marginal and underutilized croplands worldwide to bioenergy crops under varying future anthropogenic emissions scenarios. A conservative global replacement using high VOCemitting crop profiles leads to modeled population-weighted O3 increases of 5–27 ppb in India, 1–9 ppb in China, and 1–6 ppb in the United States, with peak PM2.5 increases of up to 2 μg m−3 . We present a metric for the regional evaluation of candidate bioenergy crops, as well as results for the application of this metric to four representative emissions profiles using four replacement scales (10–100% maximum estimated available land). Finally, we assess the total health and climate impacts of biogenic emissions, finding that the negative consequences of using high-emitting crops could exceed 50% of the positive benefits of reduced fossil fuel emissions in value. Close

• 2. [Article] Agricultural Classification of Multi-Temporal MODIS Imagery in Northwest Argentina Using Kansas Crop Phenologies

  Subtropical deforestation in Latin America is thought to be driven by demand for agricultural land, particularly to grow soybeans. However, existing remote sensing methods that can differentiate crop types ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Agricultural Classification of Multi-Temporal MODIS Imagery in Northwest Argentina Using Kansas Crop Phenologies Author: Keifer, Jarrett Alexander Year: 2014 Subtropical deforestation in Latin America is thought to be driven by demand for agricultural land, particularly to grow soybeans. However, existing remote sensing methods that can differentiate crop types to verify this hypothesis require high spatial or spectral resolution data, or extensive ground truth information to develop training sites, none of which are freely available for much of the world. I developed a new method of crop classification based on the phenological signatures of crops extracted from multi-temporal MODIS vegetation indices. I tested and refined this method using the USDA Cropland Data Layer from Kansas, USA as a reference. I then applied the method to classify crop types for a study site in Pellegrini, Santiago Del Estero, Argentina. The results show that this method is unable to effectively separate summer crops in Pellegrini, but can differentiate summer crops and non-summer crops. Unmet assumptions about agricultural practices are primarily responsible for the ineffective summer crop classification, underlining the need for researchers to have a complete understanding of ground conditions when designing a remote sensing analysis. Title: Agricultural Classification of Multi-Temporal MODIS Imagery in Northwest Argentina Using Kansas Crop Phenologies Author: Keifer, Jarrett Alexander Year: 2014 Subtropical deforestation in Latin America is thought to be driven by demand for agricultural land, particularly to grow soybeans. However, existing remote sensing methods that can differentiate crop types to verify this hypothesis require high spatial or spectral resolution data, or extensive ground truth information to develop training sites, none of which are freely available for much of the world. I developed a new method of crop classification based on the phenological signatures of crops extracted from multi-temporal MODIS vegetation indices. I tested and refined this method using the USDA Cropland Data Layer from Kansas, USA as a reference. I then applied the method to classify crop types for a study site in Pellegrini, Santiago Del Estero, Argentina. The results show that this method is unable to effectively separate summer crops in Pellegrini, but can differentiate summer crops and non-summer crops. Unmet assumptions about agricultural practices are primarily responsible for the ineffective summer crop classification, underlining the need for researchers to have a complete understanding of ground conditions when designing a remote sensing analysis. Close

• 3. [Article] Agricultural Management Decisions Impact Isoprene Emission and Physiology of Arundo donax, an Emerging Bioenergy Crop

  Arundo donax (Giant Reed) is quickly being developed as a rapidly-growing, robust, and highly productive bioenergy crop, with large scale cultivation of this species planned for the Columbia River basin ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Agricultural Management Decisions Impact Isoprene Emission and Physiology of Arundo donax, an Emerging Bioenergy Crop Author: Maxfield, Jason Charles Year: 2014 Arundo donax (Giant Reed) is quickly being developed as a rapidly-growing, robust, and highly productive bioenergy crop, with large scale cultivation of this species planned for the Columbia River basin of the Pacific Northwest (USA). Despite its potential as a next generation biomass crop, relatively few studies have examined the physiological performance of A. donax under agricultural conditions. Unlike traditional crops, A. donax is known to be a high-emitter of the volatile compound isoprene, which may significantly impact regional air quality, but it has not been widely cultivated in North America and little is known about how this species will perform in the Pacific Northwest. Over two field seasons, we measured isoprene fluxes from A. donax plants in both greenhouse conditions and in an agricultural field setting under a variety of conditions and fertilizer treatments. We also measured several other attributes of A. donax productivity and leaf physiology including chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, specific leaf mass, water use efficiency and gas exchange. We found that A. donax physiologically performs well under cultivation in the Columbia River basin, but that it also emits isoprene at significantly higher rates than previous reports indicate. We also found that both isoprene emission and leaf physiology were highly affected by agricultural management decisions, including nitrogen and irrigation management. Our findings indicate that crop management strategies can be developed that simultaneously seek to minimize isoprene emission while maximizing biomass production in this newly emerging bioenergy crop. Title: Agricultural Management Decisions Impact Isoprene Emission and Physiology of Arundo donax, an Emerging Bioenergy Crop Author: Maxfield, Jason Charles Year: 2014 Arundo donax (Giant Reed) is quickly being developed as a rapidly-growing, robust, and highly productive bioenergy crop, with large scale cultivation of this species planned for the Columbia River basin of the Pacific Northwest (USA). Despite its potential as a next generation biomass crop, relatively few studies have examined the physiological performance of A. donax under agricultural conditions. Unlike traditional crops, A. donax is known to be a high-emitter of the volatile compound isoprene, which may significantly impact regional air quality, but it has not been widely cultivated in North America and little is known about how this species will perform in the Pacific Northwest. Over two field seasons, we measured isoprene fluxes from A. donax plants in both greenhouse conditions and in an agricultural field setting under a variety of conditions and fertilizer treatments. We also measured several other attributes of A. donax productivity and leaf physiology including chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, specific leaf mass, water use efficiency and gas exchange. We found that A. donax physiologically performs well under cultivation in the Columbia River basin, but that it also emits isoprene at significantly higher rates than previous reports indicate. We also found that both isoprene emission and leaf physiology were highly affected by agricultural management decisions, including nitrogen and irrigation management. Our findings indicate that crop management strategies can be developed that simultaneously seek to minimize isoprene emission while maximizing biomass production in this newly emerging bioenergy crop. Close

• 4. [Article] Collecting Image Cropping Dataset: A Hybrid System of Machine and Human Intelligence

  Image cropping is a common tool that exists in almost any image editor, yet automatic cropping is still a difficult problem in Computer Vision. Since images nowadays can be easily collected through the ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Collecting Image Cropping Dataset: A Hybrid System of Machine and Human Intelligence Author: Mai, Uyen T., Liu, Feng Year: 2016 Image cropping is a common tool that exists in almost any image editor, yet automatic cropping is still a difficult problem in Computer Vision. Since images nowadays can be easily collected through the web, machine learning is a promising approach to solve this problem. However, an image cropping dataset is not yet available and gathering such a large-scale dataset is a non-trivial task. Although a crowdsourcing website such as Mechanical Turk seems to be a solution to this task, image cropping is a sophisticated task that is vulnerable to unreliable annotation; furthermore, collecting a large-scale high-quality dataset through crowdsourcing is expensive. Alternatively, we introduce a system that uses automatic methods and human inputs to generate and evaluate image crops. Our system is a hybrid of machine and human intelligence. Given an image, the hybrid system generates image crops in three steps: identify main objects in the image; automatically generate a set of potential good crops around the identified main objects following principle photographic composition; and assess the generated crops. The second step is automatic while the first and third steps require inputs from the human. We obtain these user inputs by designing an online game. In the user’s perspective, our system is a website where users can access to play games. In our perspective, by letting people play games, we have them annotate the images for us with no cost. The games are carefully designed so that users’ feedbacks are helpful to our main goal. The system is embedded with a quality control model that assesses the user’s accuracy and the quality of the annotation. Title: Collecting Image Cropping Dataset: A Hybrid System of Machine and Human Intelligence Author: Mai, Uyen T., Liu, Feng Year: 2016 Image cropping is a common tool that exists in almost any image editor, yet automatic cropping is still a difficult problem in Computer Vision. Since images nowadays can be easily collected through the web, machine learning is a promising approach to solve this problem. However, an image cropping dataset is not yet available and gathering such a large-scale dataset is a non-trivial task. Although a crowdsourcing website such as Mechanical Turk seems to be a solution to this task, image cropping is a sophisticated task that is vulnerable to unreliable annotation; furthermore, collecting a large-scale high-quality dataset through crowdsourcing is expensive. Alternatively, we introduce a system that uses automatic methods and human inputs to generate and evaluate image crops. Our system is a hybrid of machine and human intelligence. Given an image, the hybrid system generates image crops in three steps: identify main objects in the image; automatically generate a set of potential good crops around the identified main objects following principle photographic composition; and assess the generated crops. The second step is automatic while the first and third steps require inputs from the human. We obtain these user inputs by designing an online game. In the user’s perspective, our system is a website where users can access to play games. In our perspective, by letting people play games, we have them annotate the images for us with no cost. The games are carefully designed so that users’ feedbacks are helpful to our main goal. The system is embedded with a quality control model that assesses the user’s accuracy and the quality of the annotation. Close

• 5. [Article] Mapping Meaningful Places on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Landscape Values

  Landscape values mapping has been widely employed as a form of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in natural resource planning and decision-making to capture the complex array of values, uses, and interactions ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Mapping Meaningful Places on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Landscape Values Author: Cerveny, Lee, Biedenweg, Kelly, McLain, Rebecca J. Year: 2017 Landscape values mapping has been widely employed as a form of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in natural resource planning and decision-making to capture the complex array of values, uses, and interactions between people and landscapes. A landscape values typology has been commonly employed in the mapping of social and environmental values in a variety of management settings and scales. We explore how people attribute meanings and assign values to special places on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington, USA) using both a landscape values typology and qualitative responses about residents’ placerelationships. Using geographically referenced social values data collected in community meetings (n = 169), we identify high-frequency landscape values and examine how well the landscape values are reflected in open-ended descriptions of place-relations. We also explore the various interpretations of 14 landscape values used in the study. In particular, we investigate any overlapping meanings or blurriness among landscape values and reveal potentially emergent landscape values from the qualitative data. The results provide insights on the use of landscape values mapping typologies for practitioners and researchers engaged in the mapping of social values for PPGIS. Title: Mapping Meaningful Places on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Landscape Values Author: Cerveny, Lee, Biedenweg, Kelly, McLain, Rebecca J. Year: 2017 Landscape values mapping has been widely employed as a form of public participation GIS (PPGIS) in natural resource planning and decision-making to capture the complex array of values, uses, and interactions between people and landscapes. A landscape values typology has been commonly employed in the mapping of social and environmental values in a variety of management settings and scales. We explore how people attribute meanings and assign values to special places on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington, USA) using both a landscape values typology and qualitative responses about residents’ placerelationships. Using geographically referenced social values data collected in community meetings (n = 169), we identify high-frequency landscape values and examine how well the landscape values are reflected in open-ended descriptions of place-relations. We also explore the various interpretations of 14 landscape values used in the study. In particular, we investigate any overlapping meanings or blurriness among landscape values and reveal potentially emergent landscape values from the qualitative data. The results provide insights on the use of landscape values mapping typologies for practitioners and researchers engaged in the mapping of social values for PPGIS. Close

• 6. [Article] Property Values, Transit, and the Recession: A Case Study of L.A. Metro’s Gold Line in Pasadena, California

  30 pages

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Property Values, Transit, and the Recession: A Case Study of L.A. Metro’s Gold Line in Pasadena, California Author: Bernhardt, Adams Year: 2014 30 pages Title: Property Values, Transit, and the Recession: A Case Study of L.A. Metro’s Gold Line in Pasadena, California Author: Bernhardt, Adams Year: 2014 30 pages Close

• 7. [Article] Assessing Unique Core Values with the Competing Values Framework: The CCVI Technique for Guiding Organizational Culture Change

  Extensive research suggests organizations have unique guiding principles, called core values, which play a central role in strategic decision making, sustaining high-performance cultures, and guiding organizational ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Assessing Unique Core Values with the Competing Values Framework: The CCVI Technique for Guiding Organizational Culture Change Author: Santoriello, Anthony John Year: 2015 Extensive research suggests organizations have unique guiding principles, called core values, which play a central role in strategic decision making, sustaining high-performance cultures, and guiding organizational culture change. Although the Competing Values Framework (CVF) has been widely used to identify a standardized set of core values, it has not been used to identify unique core values at a given organizations. Unique core values help to distinguish organizations and drive market success. The present research focused on development of a technique to extend the application of the CVF to identify the core values unique to a given organization. The CVF-based Core Values Identification Technique (CCVI) was developed and empirically tested at three companies. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, review of documents, participant observation and the standard CVF-based Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The data analysis employed grounded theory methods in conjunction with the standard OCAI analysis. The primary research result is the iteratively developed and empirically tested tool, the CCVI Technique. Secondary research results include the identification of unique core values at each of the three participating companies. Lessons learned and the rationale for making modifications to the technique based on the case studies, along with best practices for utilization and opportunities for informing organizational change efforts are discussed. Title: Assessing Unique Core Values with the Competing Values Framework: The CCVI Technique for Guiding Organizational Culture Change Author: Santoriello, Anthony John Year: 2015 Extensive research suggests organizations have unique guiding principles, called core values, which play a central role in strategic decision making, sustaining high-performance cultures, and guiding organizational culture change. Although the Competing Values Framework (CVF) has been widely used to identify a standardized set of core values, it has not been used to identify unique core values at a given organizations. Unique core values help to distinguish organizations and drive market success. The present research focused on development of a technique to extend the application of the CVF to identify the core values unique to a given organization. The CVF-based Core Values Identification Technique (CCVI) was developed and empirically tested at three companies. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, review of documents, participant observation and the standard CVF-based Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The data analysis employed grounded theory methods in conjunction with the standard OCAI analysis. The primary research result is the iteratively developed and empirically tested tool, the CCVI Technique. Secondary research results include the identification of unique core values at each of the three participating companies. Lessons learned and the rationale for making modifications to the technique based on the case studies, along with best practices for utilization and opportunities for informing organizational change efforts are discussed. Close

• 8. [Article] Building a Values-Informed Mental Model for New Orleans Climate Risk Management

  Individuals use values to frame their beliefs and simplify their understanding when confronted with complex and uncertain situations. The high complexity and deep uncertainty involved in climate risk management ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Building a Values-Informed Mental Model for New Orleans Climate Risk Management Author: Bessette, Douglas L., Mayer, Lauren A., Cwik, Bryan, Vezer, Martin, Keller, Klaus, Lempert, Robert J., Tuana, Nancy Year: 2017 Individuals use values to frame their beliefs and simplify their understanding when confronted with complex and uncertain situations. The high complexity and deep uncertainty involved in climate risk management (CRM) lead to individuals’ values likely being coupled to and contributing to their understanding of specific climate risk factors and management strategies. Most mental model approaches, however, which are commonly used to inform our understanding of people's beliefs, ignore values. In response, we developed a “Values-informed Mental Model” research approach, or ViMM, to elicit individuals’ values alongside their beliefs and determine which values people use to understand and assess specific climate risk factors and CRM strategies. Our results show that participants consistently used one of three values to frame their understanding of risk factors and CRM strategies in New Orleans: (1) fostering a healthy economy, wealth, and job creation, (2) protecting and promoting healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, and (3) preserving New Orleans’ unique culture, traditions, and historically significant neighborhoods. While the first value frame is common in analyses of CRM strategies, the latter two are often ignored, despite their mirroring commonly accepted pillars of sustainability. Other values like distributive justice and fairness were prioritized differently depending on the risk factor or strategy being discussed. These results suggest that the ViMM method could be a critical first step in CRM decision-support processes and may encourage adoption of CRM strategies more in line with stakeholders’ values. Title: Building a Values-Informed Mental Model for New Orleans Climate Risk Management Author: Bessette, Douglas L., Mayer, Lauren A., Cwik, Bryan, Vezer, Martin, Keller, Klaus, Lempert, Robert J., Tuana, Nancy Year: 2017 Individuals use values to frame their beliefs and simplify their understanding when confronted with complex and uncertain situations. The high complexity and deep uncertainty involved in climate risk management (CRM) lead to individuals’ values likely being coupled to and contributing to their understanding of specific climate risk factors and management strategies. Most mental model approaches, however, which are commonly used to inform our understanding of people's beliefs, ignore values. In response, we developed a “Values-informed Mental Model” research approach, or ViMM, to elicit individuals’ values alongside their beliefs and determine which values people use to understand and assess specific climate risk factors and CRM strategies. Our results show that participants consistently used one of three values to frame their understanding of risk factors and CRM strategies in New Orleans: (1) fostering a healthy economy, wealth, and job creation, (2) protecting and promoting healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, and (3) preserving New Orleans’ unique culture, traditions, and historically significant neighborhoods. While the first value frame is common in analyses of CRM strategies, the latter two are often ignored, despite their mirroring commonly accepted pillars of sustainability. Other values like distributive justice and fairness were prioritized differently depending on the risk factor or strategy being discussed. These results suggest that the ViMM method could be a critical first step in CRM decision-support processes and may encourage adoption of CRM strategies more in line with stakeholders’ values. Close

• 9. [Article] Comparing Market Orientation and Success of Fresh Cod Value Chains

  Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Comparing Market Orientation and Success of Fresh Cod Value Chains Author: Nøstvold, Bjørg Helen, Voldnes, Gøril Year: 2016 Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 11-15, 2016. Compiled by Stefani J. Evers and Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2016. Title: Comparing Market Orientation and Success of Fresh Cod Value Chains Author: Nøstvold, Bjørg Helen, Voldnes, Gøril Year: 2016 Suggested Bibliographic Reference: Challenging New Frontiers in the Global Seafood Sector: Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, July 11-15, 2016. Compiled by Stefani J. Evers and Ann L. Shriver. International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), Corvallis, 2016. Close

• 10. [Article] Worldview-Based Scenarios Highlight Stakeholder Values and Assumptions

  In lake management, we have the privilege and responsibility to work with the public on highly visible resources. Everybody has an opinion based on his or her personal values and observations. While we ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Worldview-Based Scenarios Highlight Stakeholder Values and Assumptions Author: Rueter, John Year: 2016 In lake management, we have the privilege and responsibility to work with the public on highly visible resources. Everybody has an opinion based on his or her personal values and observations. While we might sometimes consider this plethora of value statements as the bane of our existence, we all realize that public engagement is crucial for the health and future of lakes. Poor lake health is often caused by many little insults that stem from a wide range of legitimate views for how the lake should be treated as a resource. We need a framework to be able to deal with these differing values and assumptions for how lakes should be managed. Title: Worldview-Based Scenarios Highlight Stakeholder Values and Assumptions Author: Rueter, John Year: 2016 In lake management, we have the privilege and responsibility to work with the public on highly visible resources. Everybody has an opinion based on his or her personal values and observations. While we might sometimes consider this plethora of value statements as the bane of our existence, we all realize that public engagement is crucial for the health and future of lakes. Poor lake health is often caused by many little insults that stem from a wide range of legitimate views for how the lake should be treated as a resource. We need a framework to be able to deal with these differing values and assumptions for how lakes should be managed. Close