abstract: A model is presented for real-time, river-reservoir operation systems. It epitomizes forward-thinking and efficient approaches to reservoir operations during flooding events. The optimization/simulation includes five major components. The components are a mix of hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, short-term rainfall forecasting, and optimization and reservoir operation models. The optimization/simulation model is designed for ultimate accessibility and efficiency. The optimization model uses the meta-heuristic approach, which has the capability to simultaneously search for multiple optimal solutions. The dynamics of the river are simulated by applying an unsteady flow-routing method. The rainfall-runoff simulation uses the National Weather Service NexRad gridded rainfall data, since it provides critical information regarding real storm events. The short-term rainfall-forecasting model utilizes a stochastic method. The reservoir-operation is simulated by a mass-balance approach. The optimization/simulation model offers more possible optimal solutions by using the Genetic Algorithm approach as opposed to traditional gradient methods that can only compute one optimal solution at a time. The optimization/simulation was developed for the 2010 flood event that occurred in the Cumberland River basin in Nashville, Tennessee. It revealed that the reservoir upstream of Nashville was more contained and that an optimal gate release schedule could have significantly decreased the floodwater levels in downtown Nashville. The model is for demonstrative purposes only but is perfectly suitable for real-world application. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil Engineering 2015

<p>This thesis explores the ethnohistory of Church- and State-mediated tuberculosis treatment for Inuit of the Cumberland Sound region from 1930 to 1972. Pangnirtung’s St. Luke’s Mission Hospital sits at the centre of this discussion and at the nexus of archival evidence and regional Inuit knowledge about tuberculosis. Triangulating information gained from fieldwork, archives, and a community-based photograph naming project, this study brings together the perspectives of Inuit hospital workers, nurses, doctors, and patients, as well as of Government and Anglican-Church officials, during the tuberculosis era in the Cumberland Sound.</p> <p>The study arose from conversations with Inuit in Pangnirtung, who wondered why they were sent to southern sanatoria in the 1950s for tuberculosis treatment, when the local hospital had been providing treatment for decades. Canadian Government policy changes, beginning in the 1940s, changed the way healthcare was delivered in the region. The Pangnirtung Photograph Naming Project linked photos of Inuit patients sent to the Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium to day-book records of St. Luke’s, and culminated in an emotional ceremony in 2009, during which copies of the photographs were returned to survivors or relatives.</p> <p>Information in hospital day books was used to map the yearly distribution of tubercular Inuit in traditional camps, which were progressively abandoned as Inuit in-migrated to Pangnirtung, in response to increased Government incursions and concerns about Arctic sovereignty. Contrary to the pattern for Canadian Arctic Inuit, more tubercular Inuit were treated locally at St. Luke’s than were sent away for treatment to southern hospitals on board the Government-commissioned medical-patrol ship, <em>CGS CD Howe</em>.</p> <p>This thesis underlines the importance of linking archival sources to local Inuit knowledge, in a collaborative, community-based research environment. It also speaks to current concerns about the re-emergence of tuberculosis and the importance of developing culturally-appropriate community initiatives to manage infectious diseases in Nunavut.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Groundwater quality in karst systems is difficult to monitor because the extreme heterogeneity within the recharge area and complex subsurface flow network makes flowpaths and travel rates difficult to predict. Understanding how flowpaths vary during storm events is important because water transmitted through conduit flowpaths can travel fast, may come from long distances, and has little filtration of contaminants. The hypothesis tested in this project is that ion ratios in spring discharge will show the timing of changes from diffuse to quick flow depending on storm intensity and antecedent conditions and provide more detail than total ion conductivity. Cedar Run Spring is located in the Cumberland Valley of south-central Pennsylvania. The valley is part of the larger Great Valley Section and is composed of Cambro-Ordovician aged carbonate units, collectively known as the Cumberland Valley Sequence. Initial background monitoring with data loggers and monthly samples indicated that Cedar Run Spring had a conduit component within the flow network. An automated stormwater sampler was installed at the spring and collected twenty-four water samples for major-ion analysis. Storm-intensity conditions ranged from high to low for the four storm events collected. In addition, the antecedent conditions varied from wet to dry. The Mg/Ca ratio characterizes the flowpath through which the water moves. A higher ratio indicates more diffuse flow because slower flow paths are needed to dissolve dolomite (which contains Mg), while a lower ratio indicates more conduit flow because calcite (Ca dominant) dissolves more readily. Hysteresis loops of conductivity versus discharge rotated counterclockwise because conductivity decreased on the rising limb of storm response, followed by an increase on the falling limb for all but the winter storm, which was influenced by road salt. In contrast, hysteresis loops for Mg/Ca versus discharge rotated in a clockwise direction for all but one of the storm events because of an increase in Mg/Ca that indicated a flush of older matrix water. The storm event that did not display in initial increase in Mg/Ca was apparently flushed by a recent previous storm event. Mg/Ca hysteresis for the storm events that were diffuse displayed several sharp increases and decrease in addition to several smaller hysteresis loops in response to multiple slugs of recharge water. These variations were not indicated in overall conductivity. High intensity events displayed a quick switch in flowpaths, as indicated by the increase in Mg/Ca early on the rising limb, and a single hysteresis loop. The rapid change in Mg/Ca suggested that during storm events water was able to enter the karst system through sinkholes, then activated flowpaths with older matrix water. Mg/Ca proved to be better at tracking the variability in flowpaths during storm events than the overall conductivity, because Mg/Ca is directly related to water-rock interactions. / Geology

Sediment samples were collected from 3 rock shelter sites and one natural pond on the Upper Cumberland Plateau. Samples were processed to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate pollen and charcoal abundance as well as other palaeobotanicals. The analysis was to determine when prehistoric Native Americans began controlled burns to enhance resources acquisition. Samples were also analyzed for the presence of pollen to determine vegetation changes that may accompany the use of controlled burns and to determine the onset of horticulture. The Upper Cumberland Plateau is often considered a marginal area used only seasonally by Native Americans; however, management practices may have been highly refined to maximize resources acquisition. Results show evidence of overt land management and usage of the area by Native Americans over several thousand years. Remains indicate reliance upon nut producing trees. This reliance led to land management practices designed to maximize availability of said resources.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Linda Saladin-Adams, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Humanities. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 30, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: This dissertation examines the development of grassroots environmental organizations between 1970 and 2000 and the role they played in the larger American environmental movement and civil society during that period. Much has been written about growth in environmental values in the United States during the twentieth century and about the role of national environmental organizations in helping to pass landmark federal-level environmental laws during the 1960s and 1970s. This study illuminates a different story of how citizen activists worked to protect and improve the air, water, healthfulness and quality of life of where they lived. At the local level, activists looked much different than they did in Washington, D.C.--they tended to be volunteers without any formal training in environmental science or policy. They were also more likely to be women than at the national level. They tended to frame environmental issues and solutions in familiar ways that made sense to them. Rather than focusing on the science or economics of an environmental issue, they framed it in terms of fairness and justice and giving citizens a say in the decisions that affected their health and quality of life. And, as the regulatory, political, and social landscape changed around them, they adapted their strategies in their efforts to continue to affect environmental decision making. Over time, they often connected their local interests and issues with more sophisticated, globalized understandings of the economic and political systems that under laid environmental issues. This study examines three case studies in the rural Great Plains, urban Southwest, and small-town Appalachia between 1970 and 2000 in an attempt to understand community-based environmental activism in the late twentieth century, how it related to the national environmental movement, the strategies local-level groups employed and when and why, the role of liberal democratic arguments in their work and in group identity formation, the limits of those arguments, and how the groups, their strategies, and the activists themselves changed overtime. These three groups were the Northern Plains Resource Council in Montana, Southwest Environmental Service in Southern Arizona, and Save Our Cumberland Mountains in Eastern Tennessee. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. History 2012

No description available.

A terrain analysis of the Shiloh Battlefield is presented in conjunction with a meteorological assessment of the conditions prevalent during the battle. The intent of the analysis was to ascertain the effect that conditions might have played upon the strategic and tactical actions prior to, and during the Battle of Shiloh, 1862. The significance of this study was to determine the influence of meteorological and geographical factors upon the two armies. Values for temperature and precipitation were estimated using the PDSI and data from NOAA. According to the model it was a very wet year. Weather and geography clearly played a role in how and when the Battle of Shiloh was fought. Due to the high number of casualties, however, the Battle of Shiloh would change how warfare would be conducted in the United States.

Nashville, Tennessee, is known as the Athens of the South because of its reputation as a center of learning. The city’s commitment to education goes back to the days of its founding as a village on the extreme Western frontier of the United States. In 1785, five years after Nashville was first settled, Davidson Academy, an advanced classical school, was established. At the same time, numerous private schools operated in the Nashville area, providing many of the region’s children with a basic education. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century Nashville moved closer to becoming a major educational center. In 1806 Davidson Academy was rechartered as Cumberland College. Financial problems forced Cumberland College to suspend operation in 1816, but it reopened in 1825 and was rechartered as the University of Nashville the following year. In 1817 the Nashville Female Academy, which by 1860 was the largest and one of the most renowned schools for females in the nation, opened. Other private schools served Nashville as well; most were simple grammar schools that taught the basics, but some advanced schools operated as well. During the 1820s and 1830s, there were some efforts to establish state supported schools for the poor, but they failed because many poor parents refused to send their children to these “pauper’s schools,” as the state supported schools were commonly called. By 1850 Nashville’s educational landscape was on the verge of change. Financial difficulties forced the University of Nashville to close in 1850, but in 1855 it resumed operation after merging with the Western Military Institute and flourished until the Civil War. During the 1850s, the Medical Department of the University of Nashville and Shelby Medical College opened. Both schools enjoyed great success, and by 1860 Nashville was second only to Philadelphia as a center of medical learning. Also, during the 1850s Nashville established a successful system of public schools for all the city’s children. However, the Civil War would interrupt the city’s progress in education. Despite Nashville’s prominence in education, no comprehensive study of the city’s antebellum educational development exists. Based on several primary sources, most of which are available in the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and numerous secondary sources dealing with antebellum Nashville, this thesis represents an attempt to describe antebellum Nashville’s educational development.

Ecosystem services, or the benefits humans obtain from natural ecosystems, have long been recognized as critical to human health. Efforts have been taken by many to determine the non-market values of these services but few have offered a direct market valuation. Increasing awareness, scarcity, and regulation have fostered transactions, and markets are emerging that can allow for direct valuation and could provide landowners the opportunity to merchandise this natural capital. This paper provides a valuation and comparison, as a case study, of a traditional management scheme, including the marketing of fiber and recreational leases, and an ecosystem services management scheme, including the marketing of fiber, recreational leases, carbon sequestration, watershed services, and biodiversity. The traditional forest management scheme had an estimated present value at three pricing scenarios ranging from “pessimistic” at $538,714.63 to “optimistic” at $868,528.27 for the entire 3,976-acre project area. The ecosystem services management scheme had an estimated present value at three pricing scenarios ranging from “pessimistic” at $621,508.61 to “optimistic” at $1,363,628.13 for the entire 3,976-acre project area. This paper concludes that even in these early stages of ecosystem markets, an ecosystem services management scheme may offer more revenue to landowners than a traditional management scheme.