Using Multiple Sources of Knowledge to Investigate Northern Environmental Change: Regional Ecological Impacts of a Storm Surge in the Outer Mackenzie Delta, N.W.T.

ARCTIC ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve V. Kokelj ◽  
Trevor C. Lantz ◽  
Steve Solomon ◽  
Michael F.J. Pisaric ◽  
Darren Keith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Storm Surge ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge

Arctic coastal freshwater ecosystem responses to a major saltwater intrusion: A landscape-scale palaeolimnological analysis

The Holocene ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1451-1460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua R Thienpont ◽  
Daniel Johnson ◽  
Holly Nesbitt ◽  
Steven V Kokelj ◽  
Michael FJ Pisaric ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Storm Surge ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystem ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Sea Ice Extent ◽  
The Impact

Because of decreasing sea-ice extent and increasingly frequent Arctic storms, low-lying coastal ecosystems are at heightened risk from marine storm surges. A major Arctic storm event originating in the Beaufort Sea in September 1999 resulted in the flooding of a large area of the outer alluvial plain of the Mackenzie Delta (Northwest Territories, Canada), and has been previously shown to have caused unprecedented impacts on the terrestrial ecosystems on a regional scale. We use diatoms preserved in lake sediment cores to gain a landscape perspective on the impact of the storm on freshwater systems, and to determine if other such events have occurred in the recent past. Our results indicate that five lakes located at the coastal edge of the low-lying Mackenzie Delta show strong, synchronous, and previously unobserved increases in the relative abundance of brackish-water diatom taxa coincident with the timing of the 1999 storm surge. These changes were not observed at a control site located farther inland. The degree to which the storm surge impacted the chemical and biological limnology of the lakes varied, and was not explained by measured physical variables, suggesting the degree of impact is likely related to a combination of factors including distance from the coast, the size:volume ratio of the lake and its catchment, and water residence time. We show that the 1999 storm surge resulted in unmatched broadscale impacts on the freshwater ecosystems of the outer Mackenzie Delta, and that while minimal recovery may be occurring in some of the systems, the lakes studied remain chemically and biologically impacted more than a decade after the inundation event.

An AI-Based Approach for the Integration of Multiple Sources of Knowledge to Aid Engineering Design

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Mayer ◽  
S. C.-Y. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Knowledge Sources ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Knowledge Engineer ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
System User ◽  
Basic Ideas

A model for integrating multiple sources of knowledge within engineering expert systems is presented. It allows possible conflicts between multiple knowledge sources to be logically resolved at run-time rather than during the knowledge acquisition stage. Unlike the traditional approach in which the knowledge engineer is responsible for resolving conflicting views, resolutions are dynamically accomplished by the knowledge sources themselves and/or by system users. The system user is included as a problem-solving colleague to select a proper strategy from those offered by different experts. Both qualitative and quantitative constraints are traced during problem solving and can be retracted if necessary. The model has been successfully implemented in an engineering design domain to demonstrate the basic ideas. This research is our first step in a long-term effort to develop a cooperative problem-solving paradigm for knowledge-based engineering systems.

scholarly journals Using Multiple Sources of Knowledge to Reach Clinical Understanding of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Chew-Graham ◽  
G. Cahill ◽  
C. Dowrick ◽  
A. Wearden ◽  
S. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ◽  
Chronic Fatigue ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Fatigue Syndrome ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge

scholarly journals Energy flow and functional compensation in Great Basin small mammals under natural and anthropogenic environmental change

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (31) ◽  
pp. 9656-9661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca C. Terry ◽  
Rebecca J. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Great Basin ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Small Mammal Community ◽  
Mammal Community

Research on the ecological impacts of environmental change has primarily focused at the species level, leaving the responses of ecosystem-level properties like energy flow poorly understood. This is especially so over millennial timescales inaccessible to direct observation. Here we examine how energy flow within a Great Basin small mammal community responded to climate-driven environmental change during the past 12,800 y, and use this baseline to evaluate responses observed during the past century. Our analyses reveal marked stability in energy flow during rapid climatic warming at the terminal Pleistocene despite dramatic turnover in the distribution of mammalian body sizes and habitat-associated functional groups. Functional group turnover was strongly correlated with climate-driven changes in regional vegetation, with climate and vegetation change preceding energetic shifts in the small mammal community. In contrast, the past century has witnessed a substantial reduction in energy flow caused by an increase in energetic dominance of small-bodied species with an affinity for closed grass habitats. This suggests that modern changes in land cover caused by anthropogenic activities—particularly the spread of nonnative annual grasslands—has led to a breakdown in the compensatory dynamics of energy flow. Human activities are thus modifying the small mammal community in ways that differ from climate-driven expectations, resulting in an energetically novel ecosystem. Our study illustrates the need to integrate across ecological and temporal scales to provide robust insights for long-term conservation and management.

scholarly journals Autonomy-supportive learning with VaKE (Values and Knowledge Education) in teacher education. Fostering empathy and cognitive complexity.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Weinberger ◽  
Jean-Luc Patry ◽  
Sieglinde Weyringer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Autonomy Support ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Constructivist Teaching ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Cognitive Autonomy ◽  
Dependent Variables

The aim of this study is to examine enhanced autonomy-supportive teaching with VaKE (Values and Knowledge Education) in teacher education. VaKE is a constructivist teaching and learning approach which combines values and knowledge education, providing possibilities for autonomous learning. A quasi-experiment was applied with N = 43 pre-service teachers in an Austrian university of teacher education. The standard VaKE was compared with VaKE focusing on enhanced autonomy-supportive teaching by providing option choices. Dependent variables were the capacity to take the perspective of others (empathy) and the capacity to deal adequately with multiple sources of knowledge (cognitive complexity). The results indicate that empathy and cognitive complexity can be increased when providing enhanced cognitive autonomy support with VaKE. The main conclusion is that pre-service teachers can benefit in their moral as well as knowledge-related capacities when learning according to VaKE with provided option choices.

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