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The remove–compute–restore (RCR) approach is widely used in local quasi-geoid modeling. However, the classical RCR approach usually does not take into account the noise of the satellite-only global gravity field model (GGM), which may lead to a suboptimal result. This paper presents an approach for local quasi-geoid modeling based on spherical radial basis functions that combines local noisy datasets and a noisy satellite-only GGM. This approach includes an RCR procedure using a satellite-only GGM. This is a direct approach that takes the spherical harmonic coefficients of satellite-only GGM as a noisy dataset and includes the corresponding full-noise covariance matrix in the least-squares estimation, aiming to obtain a statistically optimal local quasi-geoid model. The direct approach goes beyond the indirect approach, which treats the height anomalies generated from the satellite-only GGM as a noisy dataset. However, the generated GGM height anomaly dataset is not an equivalent representation of the satellite-only GGM, which may result in the loss of information from the satellite-only GGM. Through mathematical deduction, we demonstrate the theoretical consistency between the direct approach and the indirect approach. The direct approach also has an advantage over the indirect approach in terms of computational complexity due to the simpler algorithm. We conducted a synthetic closed-loop test with a real data distribution in Colorado, and numerical results demonstrated the advantage of the direct approach in local quasi-geoid modeling. In terms of the root mean square of the differences between the predicted values and the true reference values, the direct approach provided an improvement of approximately 14% compared to the indirect approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a collection of four articles describing the San Luis Basin Sustainability Metrics Project. The Project developed a methodology for evaluating regional sustainability. This introduction provides the necessary background information for the project, description of the region, overview of the methods, and summary of the results. Although there are a multitude of scientifically based sustainability metrics, many are data intensive, difficult to calculate, and fail to capture all aspects of a system. We wanted to see if we could develop an approach that decision-makers could use to understand if their system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The goal was to produce a scientifically defensible, but straightforward and inexpensive methodology to measure and monitor environmental quality within a regional system. We initiated an interdisciplinary pilot project in the San Luis Basin, south-central Colorado, to test the methodology. The objectives were: 1) determine the applicability of using existing datasets to estimate metrics of sustainability at a regional scale; 2) calculate metrics through time from 1980 to 2005; and 3) compare and contrast the results to determine if the system was moving toward or away from sustainability. The sustainability metrics, chosen to represent major components of the system, were: 1) Ecological Footprint to capture the impact and human burden on the system; 2) Green Net Regional Product to represent economic welfare; 3) Emergy to capture the quality-normalized flow of energy through the system; and 4) Fisher information to capture the overall dynamic order and to look for possible regime changes. The methodology, data, and results of each metric are presented in the remaining four papers of the special collection. Based on the results of each metric and our criteria for understanding the sustainability trends, we find that the San Luis Basin is moving away from sustainability. Although we understand there are strengths and limitations of the methodology, we argue that each metric identifies changes to major components of the system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on various papers and posters which were presented during the 39th Annual Meeting of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD) in Denver, Colorado in 2009. They include "Long Term Results of Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency in Children," by Mitchell Scheiman, "Detection of Visual Efficiency Problems Using Vera School Screening Software," by Michael Gallaway and G. Lynn Mitchell and "Optometric Remediation of Amblyopia Post Unilateral Cataract Extraction," by Hadassa Rutman.

Wildfire risk is greatest during high winds after sustained periods of dry and hot conditions. This paper is a statistical extreme-event risk attribution study that aims to answer whether extreme wildfire seasons are more likely now than under past climate. This requires modeling temporal dependence at extreme levels. We propose the use of transformed-linear time series models, which are constructed similarly to traditional autoregressive–moving-average (ARMA) models while having a dependence structure that is tied to a widely used framework for extremes (regular variation). We fit the models to the extreme values of the seasonally adjusted fire weather index (FWI) time series to capture the dependence in the upper tail for past and present climate. We simulate 10 000 fire seasons from each fitted model and compare the proportion of simulated high-risk fire seasons to quantify the increase in risk. Our method suggests that the risk of experiencing an extreme wildfire season in Grand Lake, Colorado, under current climate has increased dramatically relative to the risk under the climate of the mid-twentieth century. Our method also finds some evidence of increased risk of extreme wildfire seasons in Quincy, California, but large uncertainties do not allow us to reject a null hypothesis of no change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodent pest species threaten many of the world’s resources, including those in agriculture, urban, and natural environments. Goodnature® A24 rat+stoat self-resetting traps (A24s) are used extensively for invasive rat control in several countries and environments, especially in island ecosystems. Unlike traditional single-set kill traps, A24s fire and reset up to 24 times per CO2 cartridge, and represent a nontoxic device for rodent pest control. Given the rapid rise in use of A24s as a management tool, our goal was to understand why A24s work in some cases and not others. To address this goal, we briefly review A24 literature, and then we: 1) introduce a special issue of A24 effectiveness and hazard studies, and 2) propose future research needs and recommended uses for A24s including a list of potentially susceptible rodent species for which further A24 testing is required. Most papers in the special issue focus on Rattus rattus control on islands in Hawaii and New Zealand. Additionally, A24 effectiveness was compared to toxic bait use against rats in California agricultural landscapes, and snap-traps against house mice (Mus musculus) in Colorado pens. Behavioral studies in this special issue demonstrated that both rats and mice repeatedly visit and pass by A24s much more frequently than they trigger A24s. Some large-scale trapping grids in Hawaiian forests reduced rat populations, but a few endangered birds were unintentionally killed by A24s, which stimulated research on bird excluder attachments for A24s. Understanding the duration of carcass persistence of rats and birds killed by A24s has helped trap users account for unobserved target and non- target kills. Future research may investigate A24 uses on rodent species other than Rattus, as the types of species potentially vulnerable to A24s range in size from mice (e.g., Apodemus, Mus, Peromyscus, Reithrodontomys; ≥ 14 g) to squirrels (e.g., Otospermophilus, Sciurus; 353–527 g). A24s can be used successfully to control rodent populations of some species in particular environments. Studies that compare A24s with alternative and synergistic rodent management methods will help determine the most effective and efficient rodent control methods that minimize non-target risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principle of reciprocity, called Maxwell–Betti theorem, initially used in mechanics in an elastic structure, establishes a relation of equality between two distinct strains under different loads. In this paper, we extend and apply this principle to flow and solute transport equations in porous media, in order to perform the pollution sources identification in aquifers. We developed general 2D expressions of the reciprocity principle for transient transport problems. This model leads to a linear equations set, with point sources coordinates, concentrations and associated water fluxes as unknowns The proposed model is then applied to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal aquifer (Konikow in Modeling Chloride Movement in the Alluvial Aquifer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado. Technical Report Water-Supply Paper 2044, USGS, 1979), where polluted water is injected into a well in the domain. The used inverse technique successfully recovered the position and the pollutant concentration in addition to the associated water flux. In addition, we developed and implemented the inverse method for different knowledge levels of the degrees of the aquifer contamination, i.e. more or less data available in the field. Multiple pollution point sources and noisy data situations are also developed and tested with high efficiency. The proposed method would be easy and useful to be implemented in the modeling software now widely used by researchers and groundwater managers. It can thus be applied in real case studies, to help authorities and regulators to efficiently identify the polluters and the contamination process, i.e. its location, onset, duration and the associated mass and water fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Aria cryogenic distillation plant, located in Sardinia, Italy, is a key component of the DarkSide-20k experimental program for WIMP dark matter searches at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. Aria is designed to purify the argon, extracted from underground wells in Colorado, USA, and used as the DarkSide-20k target material, to detector-grade quality. In this paper, we report the first measurement of argon isotopic separation by distillation with the 26 m tall Aria prototype. We discuss the measurement of the operating parameters of the column and the observation of the simultaneous separation of the three stable argon isotopes: 36 Ar , 38 Ar , and 40 Ar . We also provide a detailed comparison of the experimental results with commercial process simulation software. This measurement of isotopic separation of argon is a significant achievement for the project, building on the success of the initial demonstration of isotopic separation of nitrogen using the same equipment in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodent pest species threaten many of the world's resources, including those in agriculture, urban, and natural environments. Goodnature® A24 rat+stoat self-resetting traps (A24s) are used extensively for invasive rat control in several countries and environments, especially in island ecosystems. Unlike traditional single-set kill traps, A24s fire and reset up to 24 times per CO2 cartridge, and represent a nontoxic device for rodent pest control. Given the rapid rise in use of A24s as a management tool, our goal was to understand why A24s work in some cases and not others. To address this goal, we briefly review A24 literature, and then we: 1) introduce a special issue of A24 effectiveness and hazard studies, and 2) propose future research needs and recommended uses for A24s including a list of potentially susceptible rodent species for which further A24 testing is required. Most papers in the special issue focus on Rattus rattus control on islands in Hawaii and New Zealand. Additionally, A24 effectiveness was compared to toxic bait use against rats in California agricultural landscapes, and snap-traps against house mice (Mus musculus) in Colorado pens. Behavioral studies in this special issue demonstrated that both rats and mice repeatedly visit and pass by A24s much more frequently than they trigger A24s. Some large-scale trapping grids in Hawaiian forests reduced rat populations, but a few endangered birds were unintentionally killed by A24s, which stimulated research on bird excluder attachments for A24s. Understanding the duration of carcass persistence of rats and birds killed by A24s has helped trap users account for unobserved target and nontarget kills. Future research may investigate A24 uses on rodent species other than Rattus, as the types of species potentially vulnerable to A24s range in size from mice (e.g., Apodemus, Mus, Peromyscus, Reithrodontomys; = 14 g) to squirrels (e.g., Otospermophilus, Sciurus; 353-527 g). A24s can be used successfully to control rodent populations of some species in particular environments. Studies that compare A24s with alternative and synergistic rodent management methods will help determine the most effective and efficient rodent control methods that minimize non-target risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a non-invasive inspection technique for the estimation of longitudinal stress in continuous welded rails (CWR) to infer the rail neutral temperature (RNT), i.e., the temperature at which the net longitudinal force in the rail is zero. The technique is based on the use of finite element method (FEM), vibration measurements, and machine learning (ML). FEM is used to model the relationship between the boundary conditions and the longitudinal stress of any given CWR to the vibration characteristics (mode shapes and frequencies) of the rail. The results of the numerical analysis are used to train a ML algorithm that is then tested using field data obtained by an array of accelerometers polled on the track of interest. In the study presented in this article, the proposed technique was proven in the field during an experimental campaign conducted in Colorado. A commercial FEM software was used to model the rail track as a short rail segment repeated indefinitely and under varying boundary conditions and stress. Three datasets were prepared and fed to ML models developed using hyperparameter search optimization techniques and k-fold cross validation to infer the stress or the RNT. The frequencies of vibration were extracted from the time waveforms obtained from two accelerometers temporarily attached to the rail. The results of the experiments demonstrated that the success of the technique is dependent on the accuracy of the model and the ability to properly identify the modeshapes. The results also proved that the ML was also able to predict successfully the neutral temperature of the tested rail by using only a limited number of experimental data for the training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since early 2020, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)—implemented at varying levels of severity and based on widely-divergent perspectives of risk tolerance—have been the primary means to control SARS-CoV-2 transmission. This paper aims to identify how risk tolerance and vaccination rates impact the rate at which a population can return to pre-pandemic contact behavior. To this end, we developed a novel mathematical model and we used techniques from feedback control to inform data-driven decision-making. We use this model to identify optimal levels of NPIs across geographical regions in order to guarantee that hospitalizations will not exceed given risk tolerance thresholds. Results are shown for the state of Colorado, United States, and they suggest that: coordination in decision-making across regions is essential to maintain the daily number of hospitalizations below the desired limits; increasing risk tolerance can decrease the number of days required to discontinue NPIs, at the cost of an increased number of deaths; and if vaccination uptake is less than 70%, at most levels of risk tolerance, return to pre-pandemic contact behaviors before the early months of 2022 may newly jeopardize the healthcare system. The sooner we can acquire population-level vaccination of greater than 70%, the sooner we can safely return to pre-pandemic behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an overview of SILLVR (Streaming Interlibrary Loan Video Resources), an innovative, collaborative pilot project that facilitates interlibrary loan (ILL) for streaming video. Conceived of by Auraria Library staff, SILLVR leverages partnerships with streaming video vendors and the Colorado Alliance for Research Libraries to enable library-to-library borrowing of streaming video media. This paper begins by briefly investigating the history and landscape of interlibrary loan, the loaning of electronic and "new" media, as well as how libraries collaboratively work towards increased ILL access and how this work supports equity. The second half of the paper details the creation of SILLVR, from its conception to the partnerships it has engendered and the workflows that will make it a reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate estimation of the potential "upper limit" for extreme precipitation is critical for dam safety and water resources management, as dam failures pose significant risks to life and property. Methods used to estimate the theoretical upper limit of precipitation are often outdated and in need of updating. The rarity of extreme events means that old storms with limited observational data are often used to define the upper bound of precipitation. Observations of many important old storms are limited in spatial and temporal coverage, and sometimes of dubious quality. This reduces confidence in flood hazard assessments used in dam safety evaluations and leads to unknown or uncertain societal risk. This paper describes a method for generating and applying ensembles of high-resolution, state-of-the-art numerical model simulations of historical past extreme precipitation events to meet contemporary stakeholder needs. The method was designed as part of a research-to-application-focused partnership project to update state dam safety rules in Colorado and New Mexico. The results demonstrated multiple stakeholder and user benefits that were applied directly into storm analyses utilized for extreme rainfall estimation, and diagnostics were developed and ultimately used to update Colorado state dam safety rules, officially passed in January 2020. We discuss how what started as a prototype research foray to meet a specific user need may ultimately inform wider adoption of numerical simulations for water resources risk assessment, and how the historical event downscaling method performed offers near-term, implementable improvements to current dam safety flood risk estimates that can better serve society today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of bridges and structures in Colorado are supported by drilled caissons and shafts socketed in weak clay-bearing rocks (e.g., Denver blue claystone and Pierre shale). During the construction of caissons using the wet drilling technique, drilling fluid gets in direct contact with the bedrock, potentially causing their slaking and degradation and, thus, undermining the foundation capacity. This paper evaluates the effect of water infiltration on the axial capacity of caissons embedded in claystone. The methodology of this research combines laboratory testing and coupled finite-element analysis for unsaturated porous materials. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the hydraulic characteristics and the strength-suction relations of the claystone samples obtained from three sites near Denver, Colorado. These parameters were then used in numerical studies of wet drilled caissons subjected to different wetting times (i.e., the time interval between the completion of drilling and the placement of concrete). Adopting the coupled unsaturated flow and mechanical analysis in ABAQUS, a workflow was developed for modeling the full process of drilling, fluid infiltration, caisson construction, and in situ axial loadings. The results showed that among the three sites, the immediate caisson capacity reduction was the highest (≈19%) for the most permeable and water-sensitive formation. On the other hand, the capacity reduction was found to be negligible (≈0%) if the rock was relatively intact with low permeability, regardless of its strength-suction characteristics. Parametric studies also showed that bedrocks with a lower initial degree of saturation experience more rapid and significant strength reduction upon wetting. These results provide the basis to establish practical guidance to evaluate and minimize the impact of wetting time on caisson constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fulfill digital preservation goals, many institutions use high-end scanners for in-house scanning of historical print and oversize materials. However, high-end scanner prices do not fit in many small institutions' budgets. As digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera technologies advance and camera prices drop quickly, a budget photography studio can help to achieve institutions' preservation goals. This paper compares images delivered by a high-end overhead scanner and a consumer-level DSLR camera, discusses pros and cons of using each method, demonstrates how to set up a cost-efficient shooting studio, and presents a budget estimate for a studio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new automated method to retrieve charge layer polarity from flashes, named Chargepol, is presented in this paper. Using data from the NASA Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) deployed during the Remote sensing of Electrification, Lightning, And Mesoscale/microscale Processes with Adaptive Ground Observations (RELAMPAGO) field campaign in Cordoba, Argentina, from November 2018 to April 2019, this method estimates the polarity of vertical charge distributions and their altitudes and thicknesses (or vertical depth) using the very‐high frequency (VHF) source emissions detected by LMAs. When this method is applied to LMA data for extended periods of time, it is capable of inferring a storm's bulk electrical charge structure throughout its life cycle. This method reliably predicted the polarity of charge within which lightning flashes propagated and was validated in comparison to methods that require manual assignment of polarities via visual inspection of VHF lightning sources. Examples of normal and anomalous charge structures retrieved using Chargepol for storms in Central Argentina during RELAMPAGO are presented for the first time. Application of Chargepol to five months of LMA data in Central Argentina and several locations in the United States allowed for the characterization of the charge structure in these regions and for a reliable comparison using the same methodology. About 13.3% of Cordoba thunderstorms were defined by an anomalous charge structure, slightly higher than in Oklahoma (12.5%) and West Texas (11.1%), higher than Alabama (7.3%), and considerably lower than in Colorado (82.6%). Some of the Cordoba anomalous thunderstorms presented enhanced low‐level positive charge, a feature rarely if ever observed in Colorado thunderstorms. Key Points: A new automated method to estimate the polarity, altitude, and vertical depth of charge layers from flashes is presentedThunderstorm charge structures in Central Argentina are characterized from months of Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data, with 13.3% anomalous charge structureCordoba anomalously charged thunderstorms have a distinct charge altitude distribution when compared to those in Colorado [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Implementation researchers are increasingly using economic evaluation to explore the benefits produced by implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) in healthcare settings. However, the findings of typical economic evaluations (e.g., based on clinical trials) are rarely sufficient to inform decisions about how health service organizations and policymakers should finance investments in EBPs. This paper describes how economic evaluations can be translated into policy and practice through complementary research on financing strategies that support EBP implementation and sustainment.Main Body: We provide an overview of EBP implementation financing, which outlines key financing and health service delivery system stakeholders and their points of decision-making. We then illustrate how economic evaluations have informed decisions about EBP implementation and sustainment with three case examples: (1) use of Pay-for-Success financing to implement multisystemic therapy in underserved areas of Colorado, USA, based in part on the strength of evidence from economic evaluations; (2) an alternative payment model to sustain evidence-based oncology care, developed by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through simulations of economic impact; and (3) use of a recently developed fiscal mapping process to collaboratively match financing strategies and needs during a pragmatic clinical trial for a newly adapted family support intervention for opioid use disorder.Conclusions: EBP financing strategies can help overcome cost-related barriers to implementing and sustaining EBPs by translating economic evaluation results into policy and practice. We present a research agenda to advance understanding of financing strategies in five key areas raised by our case examples: (1) maximize the relevance of economic evaluations for real-world EBP implementation; (2) study ongoing changes in financing systems as part of economic evaluations; (3) identify the conditions under which a given financing strategy is most beneficial; (4) explore the use and impacts of financing strategies across pre-implementation, active implementation, and sustainment phases; and (5) advance research efforts through strong partnerships with stakeholder groups while attending to issues of power imbalance and transparency. Attention to these research areas will develop a robust body of scholarship around EBP financing strategies and, ultimately, enable greater public health impacts of EBPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports developments related to research about the planet Saturn at the Space Science Institute (SSI) in Boulder, Colorado. It is stated that the Cassini spacecraft took seven years to reach Saturn. According to Carolyn Porco, who leads the Cassini imaging team at SSI, the images sent back were well worth the wait. She reveals that the most exciting was the finding that one of the planet's moon has the essential ingredients to support life. The spacecraft's images suggest one of the Saturn's moons may host water.

Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty often uses prohibitively large scenario ensembles to calculate robustness and rank policies' performance. This paper contributes a framework using subsampling algorithms and space-filling metrics to determine how smaller ensemble sizes impact the accuracy of robustness rankings. Subsampling methods create smaller scenario ensembles of varying sizes. We evaluate ranking sensitivity to the ensemble size and calculate accuracy relative to a baseline ranking. Then, metrics of scenario set quality predict ranking accuracy. Notably, the metrics and subsampling methods do not require additional model simulations. We demonstrate the framework with a case study of shortage policies for Lake Mead in the Colorado River Basin (CRB). Results suggest that fewer scenarios than previous studies can accurately rank Lake Mead policies, and results depend on the type of objective and robustness metric. Smaller ensembles could reduce the computational burden of robustness analyses in the ongoing CRB policy renegotiation. • Framework tests sensitivity of policy robustness rankings to scenario ensemble size. • Subsampling methods reevaluate policy rankings without additional simulations. • Model-free metrics of scenario ensemble quality predict rank accuracy. • Case study: shortage operation policies of Lake Mead in the Colorado River Basin. • Fewer scenarios than previous studies can accurately rank Lake Mead policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a method to identify the bending modes of vibration of railway tracks by using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) mounted on a moving platform. Two sets of experiments were conducted at Transportation Technology Center Inc. (TTCI) in Pueblo Colorado, in order to validate the proposed method. First, the bending vibration modes were identified using the signals collected from a rail span (rail section between two consecutive sleepers) by accelerometers under moving car excitation. Then, vibration measurements from rail spans were obtained by using an LDV mounted on the moving railcar. All tests were carried out at four different rail car speeds: 8 km/h (5 mph), 16 km/h (10 mph), 35 km/h (22 mph), and 45 km/h (28 mph). To find LDV signal segments corresponding to rail spans, a novel approach based on the sleeper passing frequency is introduced. Comparison of the results from both sets of tests demonstrated good agreement for all speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a 2018 paper by Bukovčić et al., polarimetric bivariate power-law relations for estimating snowfall rate S and ice water content (IWC), S ⁡ (K DP , Z) = γ K DP α Z β and IWC ⁡ (K DP , Z) = γ 2 K DP α 2 Z β 2 , were developed utilizing 2D video disdrometer snow measurements in Oklahoma. Herein, these disdrometer-based relations are generalized for the range of particle aspect ratios from 0.5 to 0.8 and the width of the canting angle distribution from 0° to 40° and are validated via analytical/theoretical derivations and simulations. In addition, a novel S(KDP, Zdr) polarimetric relation utilizing the ratio between specific differential phase KDP and differential reflectivity Zdr, K DP / ⁡ (1 − Z dr − 1 ) , is derived. Both KDP and (1 − Z dr − 1 ) are proportionally affected by the ice particles' aspect ratio and width of the canting angle distribution; therefore, the variables' ratio tends to be almost invariant to the changes in these parameters. The S(KDP, Z) and S(KDP, Zdr) relations are applied to the polarimetric S-band WSR-88D data obtained from three geographical locations in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Colorado, and their performance is compared with estimations from the standard S(Z) relations and ground snow measurements. The polarimetric estimates of snow accumulations from the three cases exhibit smaller bias in comparison with the S(Z), indicating good potential for more reliable radar snow measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the amenity value of legalized marijuana by analyzing the impact of marijuana legalization on migration to Colorado. Colorado is the pioneering state in this area having legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and recreational marijuana in 2012. We test whether potential migrants to Colorado view legalized marijuana as a positive or negative local amenity. We use the synthetic control methodology to examine in‐ and out‐migration to/from Colorado versus migration to/from counterfactual versions of Colorado that have not legalized marijuana. We find strong evidence that potential migrants view legalized marijuana as a positive amenity with in‐migration significantly higher in Colorado compared with synthetic‐Colorado after the writing of the Ogden memo in 2009 that effectively allowed state laws already in place to be activated, and additionally after marijuana was legalized in 2013 for recreational use. When we employ permutation methods to assess the statistical likelihood of our results given our sample, we find that Colorado is a clear and significant outlier. We find no evidence for changes in out‐migration from Colorado suggesting that marijuana legalization did not change the equilibrium for individuals already living in the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since May of 2000, Colorado State University's (CSU) Morgan Library has provided a laptop computer lending service. In five years the service had expanded from 20 to 172 laptops. Although the service was deemed a success, users complained about slow laptop startups, lost data, and lost wireless connections. In the fall of 2005, the program was formally assessed using a customer satisfaction survey. This paper discusses the results of the survey and changes made to the service based on user feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates an energy signal tool to assess the system-level and whole-building energy use of an office building in downtown Denver, Colorado. The energy signal tool uses a traffic light visualization to alert a building operator to energy use which is substantially different from expected. The tool selects which light to display for a given energy end-use by comparing measured energy use to expected energy use, accounting for uncertainty. A red light is only displayed when a fault is likely enough, and abnormal operation costly enough, that taking action will yield the lowest cost result. While the theoretical advances and tool development were reported previously, it has only been tested using a basic building model and has not, until now, been experimentally verified. Expected energy use for the field demonstration is provided by a compact reduced-order representation of the Alliance Center, generated from a detailed DOE-2.2 energy model. Actual building energy consumption data is taken from the summer of 2014 for the office building immediately after a significant renovation project. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a first look at the building following its major renovation compared to the design intent. The tool indicated strong under-consumption in lighting and plug loads and strong over-consumption in HVAC energy consumption, which prompted several focused actions for follow-up investigation. In addition, this paper illustrates the application of Bayesian inference to the estimation of posterior parameter probability distributions to measured data. Practical discussion of the application is provided, along with additional findings from further investigating the significant difference between expected and actual energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A case study based on the national BCycle bike-sharing program was presented. • The bike usage patterns were compared among different membership groups. • The spatio-temporal trends of empty and full bike stations were examined. • The current system configuration was optimized under three hypothetical scenarios. • This study has important implications to other cities in the BCycle program. Many cities around the world have integrated bike-sharing programs into their public transit systems to promise sustainable, affordable transportation and reduce environmental pollution in urban areas. Investigating the usage patterns of shared bikes is of key importance to understand cyclist's behaviors and subsequently optimize bike-sharing programs. Based on the historical trip records of bike users and station empty/full status data, this paper evaluated and optimized the bike-sharing program BCycle in the city of Boulder, Colorado, the United States, using a combination of different methods including the Potential Path Area (PPA) and the Capacitated Maximal Covering Location Problem (CMCLP). Results showed significantly different usage patterns between membership groups, revealed diverse imbalance patterns of bike supply and demand across stations in the city and provided three system upgrading strategies about maximizing the service coverage. This case study is committed to future energy conservation and sustainable energy systems nationwide and ultimately worldwide, by holding immerse potential to adapt the resulting optimization strategies to the cities with a similar urban context across the United States, as well as more emerging bike-sharing programs in other countries, such as China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common belief is that there are opportunities in the agricultural sector to use less irrigation water and thus make saved water available for municipal and industrial uses. The key is for farmers to maximize farm profit through optimizing water allocation between onfarm production and off-farm leases. A model to optimize water allocation for a single farm and crop using crop water production functions and the concept of deficit irrigation is presented in this paper. Using this model, optimal water allocation was determined based on maize and sunflower water productivity data collected during 2008-2011 growing seasons in eastern Colorado. According to the region's water leasing and yield prices during 2010-2016, deficit irrigation does improve farm income at moderate to high leasing prices. When crop prices are low relative to leasing prices, leasing all the available water and fallowing or planting unirrigated crops provides the highest income. The model can define the crop and water leasing prices for which deficit irrigation is worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the link between new immigration to Colorado (USA) mountain communities and public health service access with a case study focus on Lake County, Colorado. It utilizes a combination of key informant interviews--with county commissioners, health providers, locally-based organizations and civic leaders--and focus groups with community members, in order to examine how disparities in access and representation across sub-populations translate into health outcomes. This paper makes several arguments. Specifically, this paper recognizes important efforts taking place within the community to better integrate the Latino population, and to include its input on evolving public health and youth empowerment/well-being initiatives. Nevertheless, the Latino population remains isolated, based on a combination of economic and social factors that structurally limit the participation of the greater Latino population in civic affairs. Certain culturally-relevant attributes, and Latino agency, provide opportunity as well, however, and this paper isolates several pathways through which local governance can merge formal and informal processes in order to better bridge between the self-identified needs and desires of the Latino population and health access and outcomes. The paper concludes with a note on the emerging "socio-economic ecosystem" of Colorado mountain regions, which distinguishes employee-housing communities from resort communities, augmenting disparities in services and deepening the structural exclusion of minority immigrant communities from adequate healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the Participatory Framework for Assessment and Improvement of Tools (ParFAIT) as a way to address low uptake of Water Resources Systems Optimization (WRSO) tools. ParFAIT is a transdisciplinary process conducted in five stages, two of which are participatory modeling (PM) exercises. Herein we describe the framework, introduce our candidate tool- Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA)-assisted optimization, and present the results of our first PM workshop. MOEA-assisted optimization has been put forth as a planning and decision making aid for utilities facing a large number of decisions and highly uncertain futures. The PM workshop, designed to solicit input on a tool testbed, was held in February 2015 with representatives from six Front Range, Colorado, water utilities. Our results include an expanded characterization of the decision making landscape, feedback on water utility decisions and performance goals commonly employed in WRSO studies, and new questions that warrant future investigation by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework for an empirical parameterization (EP) of heterogeneous nucleation of ice crystals by multiple species of aerosol material in clouds was proposed in a 2008 paper by the authors. The present paper reports improvements to specification of a few of its empirical parameters. These include temperatures for onset of freezing, baseline surface areas of aerosol observed in field campaigns over Colorado, and new parameters for properties of black carbon, such as surface hydrophilicity and organic coatings. The EP's third group of ice nucleus (IN) aerosols is redefined as that of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAPs), replacing insoluble organic aerosols. A fourth group of IN is introduced-namely, soluble organic aerosols. The new EP predicts IN concentrations that agree well with aircraft data from selected traverses of shallow wave clouds observed in five flights (1, 3, 4, 6, and 12) of the 2007 Ice in Clouds Experiment-Layer Clouds (ICE-L). Selected traverses were confined to temperatures between about −25° and −29°C in layer cloud without homogeneously nucleated ice from aloft. Some of the wave clouds were affected by carbonaceous aerosols from biomass burning and by dust from dry lakebeds and elsewhere. The EP predicts a trend between number concentrations of heterogeneously nucleated ice crystals and apparent black carbon among the five wave clouds, observed by aircraft in ICE-L. It is predicted in terms of IN activity of black carbon. The EP's predictions are consistent with laboratory and field observations not used in its construction, for black carbon, dust, primary biological aerosols, and soluble organics. The EP's prediction of biological ice nucleation is validated using coincident field observations of PBAP IN and PBAPs in Colorado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A small but growing number of watershed investment programs in the western United States focus on wildfire risk reduction to municipal water supplies. This paper used return on investment (ROI) analysis to quantify how the amounts and placement of fuel treatment interventions would reduce sediment loading to the Strontia Springs Reservoir in the Upper South Platte River watershed southwest of Denver, Colorado following an extreme fire event. We simulated various extents of fuel mitigation activities under two placement strategies: (a) a strategic treatment prioritization map and (b) accessibility. Potential fire behavior was modeled under each extent and scenario to determine the impact on fire severity, and this was used to estimate expected change in post-fire erosion due to treatments. We found a positive ROI after large storm events when fire mitigation treatments were placed in priority areas with diminishing marginal returns after treating >50–80% of the forested area. While our ROI results should not be used prescriptively they do show that, conditional on severe fire occurrence and precipitation, investments in the Upper South Platte could feasibly lead to positive financial returns based on the reduced costs of dredging sediment from the reservoir. While our analysis showed positive ROI focusing only on post-fire erosion mitigation, it is important to consider multiple benefits in future ROI calculations and increase monitoring and evaluation of these benefits of wildfire fuel reduction investments for different site conditions and climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiologists often compare the observed number of deaths in a cohort with the expected number of deaths, obtained by multiplying person-time accrued in the cohort by mortality rates for a reference population (ideally, a reference that represents the mortality rate in the cohort in the absence of exposure). However, if exposure is hazardous (or salutary), this calculation will not consistently estimate the number of deaths expected in the absence of exposure because exposure will have affected the distribution of person-time observed in the study cohort. While problems with interpretation of this standard calculation of expected counts were discussed more than 2 decades ago, these discussions had little impact on epidemiologic practice. The logic of counterfactuals may help clarify this topic as we revisit these issues. In this paper, we describe a simple way to consistently estimate the expected number of deaths in such settings, and we illustrate the approach using data from a cohort study of mortality among underground miners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A practice embarks on a radical reformulation of how care is designed and delivered when it decides to integrate medical and behavioral health care for its patients and success depends on managing complex change in a complex system. We examined the ways change is managed when integrating behavioral health and medical care.Method: Observational cross-case comparative study of 19 primary care and community mental health practices. We collected mixed methods data through practice surveys, observation, and semistructured interviews. We analyzed data using a data-driven, emergent approach.Results: The change management strategies that leadership employed to manage the changes of integrating behavioral health and medical care included: (a) advocating for a mission and vision focused on integrated care; (b) fostering collaboration, with a focus on population care and a team-based approaches; (c) attending to learning, which includes viewing the change process as continuous, and creating a culture that promoted reflection and continual improvement; (d) using data to manage change, and (e) developing approaches to finance integration.Discussion: This paper reports the change management strategies employed by practice leaders making changes to integrate care, as observed by independent investigators. We offer an empirically based set of actionable recommendations that are relevant to a range of leaders (policymakers, medical directors) and practice members who wish to effectively manage the complex changes associated with integrated primary care. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity can have major detrimental impacts on soil health, crop yield, and environmental ecosystem services. In this paper we introduce SWAT-MODFLOW-Salt, a version of SWAT-MODFLOW that simulates the fate and transport of major salt ions (SO 4 2−, Cl−, CO 3 2−, HCO 3 −, Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, K+) in watershed systems, and focus on its development and application to irrigated stream-aquifer systems. The modeling code accounts for water and salt mass storage in soils, aquifer, and streams, and the movement of water and salt mass in surface runoff, soil lateral flow, percolation and recharge, groundwater flow, and groundwater-surface water exchange. The model is applied to a highly managed, irrigated 700 km2 region of the saline Lower Arkansas River Valley in Colorado, USA. The model is tested against groundwater salt concentrations and in-stream salt mass loadings, and then used to quantify the impact of soil salinity on crop yield. • We provide a new version of SWAT-MODFLOW that simulates salt ion transport in watershed systems • Salt ions are subject to all major hydrologic fluxes and precipitation-dissolution of salt minerals • The SWAT-MODFLOW-Salt code is applied to a saline stream-aquifer system in Colorado • The model can be used for salinity management scenario analysis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has two choices to meet the gap between its gas demand and supply in the short term: coal-based synthetic natural gas and imported natural gas. China currently faces the following question: between coal-based synthetic natural gas and imported natural gas, which is the better choice for China? To provide a reference for policy makers and investors, this paper compares the energy efficiency of the Datang coal gasification project, which is the first demonstration project in China, with that of imported natural gas by an energy return on investment analysis. The results show that when the environmental inputs are not considered, the energy return on investment values of coal-based synthetic natural gas with different boundaries range from 1.7:1 to 6.9:1. The values of the total imported natural gas decreased from 14.5:1 in 2009 to 7.5:1 in 2014 and then increased to 9.2:1 in 2015. When the environmental inputs are considered, the energy return on investment values of coal-based synthetic natural gas and that of imported natural gas decrease to 1.4:1–3.4:1 and 5.9:1–9.6:1, respectively. Regardless of whether the environmental inputs are considered, imported natural gas generally has a better energy return on investment than coal-based synthetic natural gas. These results suggest that from a net energy perspective, policy makers and investors should encourage to import more natural gas and be prudent about developing the coal gasification industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the cost-benefits and the return on investment of one consortium comprised of five separately administered libraries in the University of Colorado (CU) System. With a long history of collaboration, the libraries have developed an ideal cooperative arrangement for acquiring electronic content that is accessible across all campuses. The size and flexibility of this institution-based consortium allows it to be responsive and successful in collaborating across four campuses despite different sized budgets and unique local and institutional constraints. To demonstrate the value of jointly leveraging library budgets to university administrators, the authors conducted a consortium level cost-benefit analysis and describe the methodology used to quantify return on the university's investment. This paper addresses both qualitative and quantitative outcomes and underscores how consortial participation has become an essential way of doing business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification and mitigation of anomalous propagation (AP) and normal propagation (NP) ground clutter is an ongoing problem in radar meteorology. Scatter from ground-clutter targets routinely contaminates radar data and masks weather returns causing poor data quality. The problem is typically mitigated by applying a clutter filter to all radar data, but this also biases weather data at near-zero velocity. Modern radar processors make possible the real-time identification and filtering of AP clutter. A fuzzy logic algorithm is used to distinguish between clutter echoes and precipitation echoes and, subsequently, a clutter filter is applied to those radar resolution volumes where clutter is present. In this way, zero-velocity weather echoes are preserved while clutter echoes are mitigated. Since the radar moments are recalculated from clutter-filtered echoes, the underlying weather echo signatures are revealed, thereby significantly increasing the visibility of weather echo. This paper describes the fuzzy logic algorithm, clutter mitigation decision (CMD), for clutter echo identification. A new feature field, clutter phase alignment (CPA), is introduced and described. A detailed discussion of CPA is given in Part I of this paper. The CMD algorithm is illustrated with experimental data from the Denver Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) at the Denver, Colorado, Front Range Airport (KFTG); and NCAR’s S-band dual-polarization Doppler radar (S-Pol). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual-polarization weather radars typically measure the radar reflectivity at more than one polarization state for transmission and reception. Historically, dual-polarization radars have been operated at copolar and cross-polar states defined with respect to the transmit polarization states. Recently, based on the improved understanding of the propagation properties of electromagnetic waves in precipitation media, the simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) mode has become common to simplify the hardware. In the STAR mode of operation, horizontal and vertical polarization states are transmitted simultaneously and samples of both horizontal and vertical copolar returns are obtained. A drawback of the current implementation of STAR mode is its inability to measure parameters obtained from cross-polar signals such as linear depolarization ratio (LDR). In this paper, a technique to obtain cross-polar signals with STAR mode waveform is presented. In this technique, the horizontally and vertically polarized transmit waveforms are coded with orthogonal phase sequences. The performance of the phase-coded waveform is determined by the properties of the phase codes. This orthogonal phase coding technique is implemented in the Colorado State University–University of Chicago–Illinois State Water Survey (CSU–CHILL) radar. This paper outlines the methodology and presents the performance of the cross-polar and copolar parameter estimation based on the simulation as well as data collected from the CSU–CHILL radar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cherry Creek Reservoir in the Denver Metropolitan area is subject to the Cherry Creek Reservoir Control Regulation (control regulation), which establishes a total maximum annual load for the reservoir of 6,473 kg(14,270 lb) of phosphorus. The load is distributed among phosphorus sources including background, nonpoint, and regulated storm water, municipal and industrial wastewater facilities, individual sewage disposal systems, and industrial sources. As a part of the control regulation, the Cherry Creek Basin Water Quality Authority (CCBWQA) is authorized to implement and maintain a trading program that allows phosphorus trading and the sale of phosphorus (kg/lb) in the Cherry Creek watershed. The trading program allows dischargers seeking new or increased phosphorus waste load allocations to obtain additional kilograms/pounds of phosphorus by constructing nonpoint source projects meeting certain criteria to immobilize phosphorus. This paper provides an overview of the CCBWQA trading program guidelines and describes two Arapahoe County Water and Wastewater Authority (ACWWA) trade credit projects: Lone Tree Creek Pond L-3 and Windmill Creek Pond W-6/W-7. The Pond L-3 and Pond W-6/W-7 projects are unique because they are the first two (and only two to date) projects that have successfully obtained trade ratios and estimated trade credits under the CCBWQA trading program. This paper describes the administrative and technical process for determining trade ratios and estimating trade credits for nonpoint-source-to-point-source phosphorus trades in the Cherry Creek watershed. The process for going from an established trade ratio and estimated trade credits to actual trade credits applied to a point source discharge presents its own set of challenges. Actual trade credits must be demonstrated by monitoring, which can be very expensive. The monitoring results must be reviewed and approved by CCBWQA before trade credits are awarded, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Water Quality Control Division must amend the facility’s discharge permit before additional phosphorus can be discharged. Therefore, establishing a trade ratio and estimating trade credits for CCBWQA approval of a phosphorus trading project is only the first step in a potentially expensive and time-consuming process for actually discharging additional phosphorus through a nonpoint-source-to-point-source trade in the Cherry Creek watershed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents work on developing speech corpora and recognition tools for Turkish by porting SONIC, a speech recognition tool developed initially for English at the Center for Spoken Language Research of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The work presented in this paper had two objectives: The first one is to collect a standard phonetically-balanced Turkish microphone speech corpus for general research use. A 193-speaker triphone-balanced audio corpus and a pronunciation lexicon for Turkish have been developed. The corpus has been accepted for distribution by the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) of the University of Pennsylvania in October 2005, and it will serve as a standard corpus for Turkish speech researchers. The second objective was to develop speech recognition tools (a phonetic aligner and a phone recognizer) for Turkish, which provided a starting point for obtaining a multilingual speech recognizer by porting SONIC to Turkish. This part of the work was the first port of this particular recognizer to a language other than English; subsequently, SONIC has been ported to over 15 languages. Using the phonetic aligner developed, the audio corpus has been provided with word, phone and HMM-state level alignments. For the phonetic aligner, it is shown that 92.6% of the automatically labeled phone boundaries are placed within 20ms of manually labeled locations for the Turkish audio corpus. Finally, a phone recognition error rate of 29.2% is demonstrated for the phone recognizer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cultural resource databases represent the single largest compilations of archaeological site data, but these databases are seldom used in research because they were designed for management purposes, evolved from paper-based inventories, contain significant interobserver variation, and record information inconsistently. In this paper we present methods designed to alleviate these problems in an analysis of more than 3,000 ancestral Pueblo habitation sites from southwestern Colorado. Our methods draw heavily upon Bayesian statistical concepts and utilize the rich excavation records of our study area to quantify the relationship between surface evidence and excavation results using probabilities. This approach offers a number of advantages over ad hoc, judgmental approaches, and produces a more empirically justified history of ancestral Pueblo settlement in our study area. We believe methods like these have great potential for reconstructing settlement patterns from survey, data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study conducted at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) to assess the extent to which its catalogers were using Classification Web (Class Web), the subscription-based, online cataloging documentation resource provided by the Library of Congress. In addition, this paper will explore assumptions made by management regarding CU-Boulder catalogers' use of the product, possible reasons for the lower-than-expected use, and recommendations for promoting a more efficient and cost-effective use of Class Web at other institutions similar to CU-Boulder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City and County of Denver (CCD) Public Works Department owns, inspects, and maintains 531 bridges in its inventory of which 264 are considered major structures spanning over 6.1 m in length. In this paper, a methodology using the CCD major bridge network for the application of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods in bridge inspections is explained. The methodology, called Bridge Evaluation using Nondestructive Testing (BENT) helps systematically integrate NDE methods and conventional bridge management systems by using a Markovian deterioration model. Although the BENT method can be applied to timber, steel, and concrete bridges, in this paper the application of the method will be restricted to concrete bridges. The BENT system is part of a comprehensive geographic information system whereby database queries can be completed using a map interface. The database contains a wide array of information in the CCD infrastructure inventory including bridges, pavements, alleys, and street subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about a symposium on "Aggression Across Species," held in July 2002 at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association in Keystone, Colorado. Presentations varied from the genetic analysis of aggression in fruit flies to aggression in mice and men and the result is this collection of papers, which cover five different species, including zebrafish, dog, rat, mouse, and humans, and various tools for the genetic analysis of aggression. The papers in this issue have in common the objective of exploring the genetic influences on aggressive behavior. Different vertebrate species exhibit aggressive behavior with some common features, and by taking advantage of the experimental opportunities that each offers we can gain insights into the largely common underlying biology and biochemistry.

• This paper shows automated conversion from detailed cost estimates to primary cost estimates without human experts involved. • The primary cost estimate suggests which parameters are major contributors to the total cost. • The primary cost estimate plays a key role in decision-making between clients and constructors. • The proposed method can improve the prediction accuracy using converted primary estimates. In general, preliminary or primary cost estimates are used to select contractors from among bidders in Japan. The primary cost estimate must be accurate, otherwise the contractor selected from the bidding process will lose profit. A general contractor in the world does not have a super-skilled engineer who can achieve the accurate primary cost estimates. The conventional primary estimate has a high error range and low reliability. An automated system converting detailed estimates to primary estimates has been highly demanded in the world. This paper presents a prototype AI converter that can accurately and automatically convert detailed cost estimates into primary estimates. Converting detailed cost estimates to primary estimates lies in a regression problem. This paper proposes a feature-elimination based data augmentation method for regression problems. The empirical experiment shows that the proposed data augmentation method is quite effective with an Extra-Trees ensemble method. The proposed method was empirically examined by using Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) dataset for accurately predicting constructions costs with the Extra-Trees algorithm and random forest algorithm respectively. The CDOT dataset is one and only one of the largest datasets available in public for constructions costs quotation/estimation of roads, bridges and buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology that combines the power of an Artificial Neural Network and Information Theory to forecast variables describing the condition of a regional system. The novelty and strength of this approach is in the application of Fisher information, a key method in Information Theory, to preserve trends in the historical data and prevent over fitting projections. The methodology was applied to demographic, environmental, food and energy consumption, and agricultural production in the San Luis Basin regional system in Colorado, U.S.A. These variables are important for tracking conditions in human and natural systems. However, available data are often so far out of date that they limit the ability to manage these systems. Results indicate that the approaches developed provide viable tools for forecasting outcomes with the aim of assisting management toward sustainable trends. This methodology is also applicable for modeling different scenarios in other dynamic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As human interactions with Earth systems continue to intensify, understanding the complex relationships among human activity, landscape change, and societal responses to those changes becomes increasingly important. Interdisciplinary research centered on the theme of “feedbacks” in human–landscape systems serves as a promising focus for unraveling these interactions. This paper examines the specific case of the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire of Colorado, where human responses after the fire to perceived threats of hydro-geomorphological hazards included construction of tall fences at the base of a burned watershed. These actions prompted feedbacks that promoted further landscape change that ultimately increased those hazards, rather than dampening the hydro-geomorphological effects of fire. Geomorphic analysis showed that the fences trapped particles that would naturally move through the system by flows with recurrence intervals greater than 3.3 years. With the particles blocked by the fences, the channel downstream became erosive, because it was devoid of large particles that produce substantial hydraulic resistance. Channel incision prompted a second human response to pave the eroding channel, which led to further incision downstream. This cycle of positive feedbacks between human decision-making and landscape change eventually led to a complete channelization of the stream channel downstream of the fences. The explanation for the transformation of the post-fire landscape therefore lies in the interacting human impacts and feedbacks, rather than the expected post-fire hydro-geomorphological adjustments. An initial agent-based model, capable of integrating social and hydro-geomorphological data, simulates these interacting impacts and feedbacks. Further refinement with more complete data input, especially pertaining to human decision making at individual or local levels, is required to fully demonstrate the utility and promise of this tool for application to geomorphic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]