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Abstract

Students in an introductory inorganic chemistry course conducted a semester-long literature-based research project on the then-ongoing drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, USA. Students presented their findings at a poster session that was open to the public. The implications of choosing an ongoing news story as a focus and the ability for such a project to shape the curriculum in a broad introductory course is discussed.

Introduction

If organic chemistry is the study of carbon, inorganic chemistry is the study of all the other elements on the periodic table. The breadth of possible topics in an undergraduate introductory inorganic chemistry course can thus present a challenge for the instructor. In fact, the topics actually taught in inorganic chemistry vary substantially from one institution to another (Raker et al. 2015). At Oklahoma City University, Inorganic Chemistry is a one-semester, lecture-only course for upper-level chemistry and biochemistry majors. The course covers orbitals, periodic trends, bonding, symmetry, transition metal complexes, acid-base chemistry, redox chemistry, and solid state chemistry.

The addition of a research project with societal implications to this course came about because of the demise of another course. For several years students in our college were required to take a senior seminar in which they would investigate and write policy proposals for problems facing humanity in the 21st century, e.g., pollution or climate change. The course proved difficult to staff, and departments were instead asked to offer upper-level courses with a strong research component. However, this research project, initially an “add-on,” became central to the course experience.

A number of factors made the Flint crisis a good choice for an inorganic chemistry research project, including

• A sense of immediacy due to the ongoing nature of the crisis
• Strong curricular overlap
• Availability of information from journalistic sources
• Availability of independent data from the Flint Water Study (2016)
• Strong social justice aspect
• A story impacting a diverse urban area not unlike our own

Several other recent chemistry-related events were considered, including the explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas (Chemical Safety Board 2015) and the Gold King Mine contaminated water release impacting the Navajo reservation (Environmental Protection Agency 2015), but neither had all of the advantages listed above. Local cases were also considered. The abandoned Tar Creek mine in far northwest Oklahoma (Barringer 2004) lacked the timeliness of Flint, while the recent earthquakes in Oklahoma stemming from wastewater injection at well sites required knowledge deemed to be beyond the scope of the course.

Overview of the Flint Water Crisis

In 2012, the city of Flint began investigating cheaper alternatives to its water purchasing agreement with Detroit. At the time, Flint was under the administration of a state-appointed emergency manager due to ongoing fiscal difficulties. Flint officials decided to join a regional effort to construct a treatment plant on Lake Huron by 2016 with an anticipated savings of $200 million over 25 years (Kennedy 2016). In the interim, the city would  treat its own water from the Flint River beginning in April, 2014. Residents quickly complained of yellow and brown water. The city had trouble regulating, alternately, E. coli bacteria and chlorination by-products. Corrosion found on newly made parts prompted the General Motors engine plant in Flint to discontinue use of city water in October 2014. In January 2015, the first elevated lead levels in drinking water were found. Michigan state officials dismissed independent results showing elevated lead levels until October 2015, when residents were told to stop using Flint city water for drinking, cooking, or bathing. A more thorough overview of the crisis can be found elsewhere (Flint Water Advisory Task Force 2016; Kennedy 2016; Wisely and Erb 2015).

Mechanics of the Project

Students in the inorganic chemistry course were assigned to research and present a poster on some aspect of the Flint water crisis. Learning objectives for the project are listed in Table 1. Posters were chosen as the final research product so that students could present their research in a forum that encouraged community engagement and discussion. A poster session would also give students an authentic experience in explaining their findings to both scientists and non-scientists who might be in attendance.

In the second week of the semester the students read a newspaper article (Wisely and Erb 2015) and a trade journal article (Torrice 2016) in class. Students were given two additional days in class for research and consultation but were mostly expected to complete their research on their own. Halfway through the semester students were required to turn in a summary of their research up to that point.

Results

Students’ topics fell into two broad categories that we referred to as “people” and “pipes.” Most students in the “people” group focused on the mechanism of lead toxicity. Two students examined biological pathways in which lead ions displace calcium ions. Another looked at using the common ligand molecule EDTA as a treatment for acute lead exposure. Those focusing on “pipes” looked at the chlorination byproducts acting as oxidizing agents that converted lead metal to soluble lead ions. Several others focused on whether treating water with phosphates might have prevented pipe corrosion by creating and maintaining a solid layer of iron/lead phosphate on the interior of city and residential pipes.

Each of the thirteen students in the class presented a poster at the end-of-semester poster session (Figure 1). In addition to students, faculty, and staff who attended, a reporter from the local independent weekly newspaper, the Oklahoma Gazette, also attended, resulting in an article in her newspaper (Estes, 2016) and providing students an authentic experience in explaining science to the public.

Discussion

There were two unplanned benefits of this project. First, many of the students addressed the social justice aspect of the crisis. While students had been instructed to be sensitive to the fact that real people were affected, many decided that it was important to discuss the injustice of the situation. One student’s poster prominently displayed a quote by Mayor Dayne Walling declaring the Flint River “good, pure drinking water, and it’s right in our backyard.” Another student expressed to the Oklahoma Gazette reporter her incredulousness upon realizing that city and state officials “were really letting this happen to people.”

Another unplanned benefit was how the project motivated study and reinforced course material. Student research projects discussed redox chemistry, electrochemistry, chelation, and periodicity. This made it easier to motivate students to study these subjects and gave the course a sense of coherence. In this way, the project, which was originally an addition, became a focal point for the entire course. As one student put it, “Once we found the water reports and the results had shown a high chlorine residue, I felt like the chemistry became real for me.”

We missed one opportunity when we failed to reach out to Oklahoma City community members with specialized knowledge in water treatment and water quality to add a local dimension to the project. Although the students showed a remarkable capacity to empathize with the citizens of Flint, a local connection would have added greater relevancy to their research. Providing students a rubric for the poster at the beginning of the semester and additional checkpoints throughout the semester would have ensured that expectations were better understood. A formal method of assessing students’ perception of learning during the project (rather than an assessment for the entire course) should have been established also.

Conclusion

The project, which focused on a current news topic and culminated in a public poster session, presented students with a unique opportunity to experience the need for expert analysis on an ongoing news event. The chemistry was neither simple to understand nor to explain. Students needed to integrate their scientific knowledge with information gleaned from news reports to explain the salient chemistry to both scientists and non-scientists. Students were thus provided with an experience that lies outside the norm of most undergraduate programs and which might not have been possible with a more traditional case study or research project.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the students of the course for their hard work on their projects and to Rod Jones of the Oklahoma City University Communications and Marketing Department, for inviting the reporter to cover the poster session. Thanks also to Traci Floreani and Joe Meinhart for their work on the original “21st Century Problems” course.

About the Author

Stephen Prilliman, Ph.D., is an associate professor and department chairperson of Chemistry at Oklahoma City University. For the past ten years Stephen has taught both high school and college courses using the POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) method of teaching and is an active participant in the POGIL Project. His research is focused on the development and assessment of inquiry-based activities and labs that address persistent misconceptions.

References

Barringer, F. 2004. “Despite Cleanup at Mine, Dust and Fear Linger.” http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/12/us/despite-cleanup-at-mine-dust-and-fear-linger.html (accessed December 20, 2016).

Chemical Safety Board. 2015. “West Fertilizer Explosion and Fire.” http://www.csb.gov/west-fertilizer-explosion-and-fire-/ (accessed December 20, 2016).

Environmental Protection Agency. 2015. “Emergency Response to August 2015 Release from Gold King Mine.” https://www.epa.gov/goldkingmine (accessed December 20, 2016).

Estes, L. 2016. “Oklahoma City University Students Research Facets of Water Crisis.” Oklahoma Gazette, May 5, 2016, 4−5.

Flint Water Advisory Task Force. 2016. “Final Report.” http://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/FWATF_FINAL_REPORT_21March2016_517805_7.pdf (accessed December 20, 2016).

Flint Water Study. 2016. “Updates.” http://flintwaterstudy.org (accessed December 20, 2016).

Kennedy, M. 2016. “Lead-Laced Water In Flint: A Step-By-Step Look At The Makings Of A Crisis.” http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis (accessed December 20, 2016).

Raker, J.R., B.A. Reisner, S.R. Smith, J.L. Stewart, J.L. Crane,  L.Pesterfield, and S.G. Sobel. 2015. “Foundation Coursework in Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry: Results from a National Survey of Inorganic Chemistry Faculty.” Journal of Chemical Education 92: 973–979.

Torrice, M. 2016. “How Lead Ended Up in Flint’s Tap Water.” Chemical and Engineering News 94 (7): 26–29.

Wisely, J., and R. Erb. 2015. “Chemical Testing Could Have Predicted Flint’s Water Crisis.” Detroit Free Press, October 11, 2015. http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/10/10/missed-opportunities-flint-water-crisis/73688428/ (accessed December 20, 2016).

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Abstract

Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy caused severe damage to the Connecticut shoreline in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The close temporal succession of the two storms has intensified concerns about rising sea levels and storm intensification attributable to climate change. In response, students at Southern Connecticut State University who have taken a SENCER model course, “Science and the Connecticut Coast,” as well as students from similarly constructed courses that teach environmental science “through” issues of civic consequence, are conducting research on coastal vulnerability with the goal of impacting policy recommendations that could increase the state’s coastal resilience in the face of future storms. The results of these studies suggest that the presence of a wide buffering beach was the most common factor in reducing storm wave damage, and that the characteristics of the storm surge inundation pattern were unexpected. Among the recommendations stem- ming from this research are that management of beach sand become a priority for the state, that management of beach sand be prioritized according to locality and benefit, that the state provide a mechanism for towns to reclaim eroded beach sands that provide a buffer to storm waves, and, finally, that coastal emergency plans include accurate storm tide inundation maps that are accessible to the public.

Introduction

According to the National Council Population Report (NOAA 2013), the Connecticut shoreline has the fifth highest (non-freshwater) coastal population density in the United States and is one of the most intensively developed shorelines in the country. The ratio of the value of total insured coastal county property/km of linear shoreline length for Connecticut is $3.69 billion/km, second only to New York State (AIRWorldwide 2013). In the face of climate change and sea level rise, shoreline properties in Connecticut face increased risk of damage caused by hurricanes and other large storms. This is due in part to poorly informed policies that fail to recognize the regional beach dynamics of Connecticut’s formerly glaciated, fetch-limited shoreline (Tait and Ferrand 2014).

In particular, along many parts of the Connecticut shore, communities depend on the presence of sandy beaches to shelter coastal structures and infrastructure from storm damage. While the shoreline is periodically exposed periodically to erosive storm waves, the moderately large, long period swells that rebuild beaches are typically absent due to the sheltering effect of Long Island (Figure 1). As a result, Connecticut’s beaches are chronically erosive.

By connecting students with a multifaceted understanding of Connecticut shorelines and providing hands-on experience with storm damage, the class becomes a site of learning, both inside and outside the university walls. From statistics and coastal processes, to teamwork and presentation skills, SENCER courses in what is now the Department of the Environment, Geography and Marine Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University have become a departure point for students to both conduct coastal research and apply that research to coastal policy analysis.1 After learning important concepts and field and laboratory techniques in formal courses, highly motivated students go on to conduct research as fellows of the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies. It is interesting to note that the students involved in this research are not necessarily science majors but have developed an interest in science as a result of their experiences in these interdisciplinary science courses. Two such courses, “Science and the Connecticut Coast” and “Coastal Processes and Environments,” allow students to experience and understand various coastal environments, their origins, and the processes that shape them, as well as associated environmental issues. Although the focus of this article is research on storm impacts, department coursework and research at the Werth Center also focus on water quality monitoring and coastal sediment pollution by heavy metals.

Hurricane Sandy moved up the Atlantic coast in late October 2012, interacting with a strong short-wave, mid-latitude cyclone along the way. The combined storms created an extremely large and very low-pressure superstorm with intense winds on the northern side of the cyclone (Grumm and Evanego 2012). These winds, with attendant surge and storm waves, hit the coastal town of East Haven, Connecticut on October 29, 2012. The impacts of Sandy are convolved with those of Hurricane Irene, which had devastated the area just one year earlier in August 2011. While people were still recovering from Irene, Sandy intensified and and spatially extended the damages that already existed. In records of storm damage maintained by the town, specific damages were sometimes not even attributed to a particular storm, a clear indication of the overlapping impact of the two storms (Tait and Ferrand 2014). Superstorm Sandy was generally classified as more intense in terms of maximum storm surge, maximum wind speeds, diameter, and barometric pressure (Fischetti 2012). Prevailing conditions in Connecticut, however, served to moderate the storm’s impact relative to Irene. The storm’s direction shifted west, sending the eye into New Jersey, so that winds along the Connecticut shoreline blew alongshore rather than onshore, which reduced the magnitude of the surge in the East Haven area. Sandy’s forward speed accelerated from approximately 15 mph to 29 mph, so that the storm arrived in the East Haven area earlier than it would have otherwise. According to records from the NOAA New Haven CT tide gauge, Sandy arrived in East Haven at 8:06 p.m., just two hours after a spring low tide, resulting in a storm tide of 8.9 ft (2.7 m) relative to mean sea level, just 7.9 in (20 cm) higher than Irene. If not for these factors, the storm surge would have been higher and would have occurred nearer to a spring high tide, as was previously anticipated. Nevertheless, storm surge inundation, high winds and storm waves caused considerable damage (Figure 2).

To better understand the risk posed to structures and infrastructure, students who had gained research experience in SENCER courses investigated the various controls on wave damage and patterns of inundation in order to assess vulnerability to future storms. The shoreline characteristics investigated with respect to wave impacts included the elevations of houses and roads, beach width and beach erosion patterns, the presence or absence of sea walls, and the amount and types of damage sustained. Spatial patterns of inundation were examined using flood debris deposits, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping technology.

Research Activities

Methodology for these studies involved quantitative field observations followed by quantitative laboratory and geospatial analysis. Students were prepared by their classroom experiences to conduct rigorous fieldwork, gather reliable data, analyze the data carefully, and make reasonable interpretations. Collectively, the data constitute a detailed look at various characteristics of the East Haven coastline that contribute to the town’s vulnerability to wave damage and to inundation during large storms. Research activities included construction of coastal road elevation maps, measuring beach profiles and erosion patterns, a house-by-house wave damage assessment, and an inundation map series that included the actual inundation pattern and patterns for other potential scenarios. It should be noted that the research performed by the students has been used in the town of East Haven’s report to FEMA and will be used by the Town Engineering office for future risk assessment.

Wave Damages

Coastal road elevation maps

A series of road elevation maps were generated. Students used a CST/Berger 300-R total station to gather elevation data. The total station uses a modulated infrared laser beam and prism reflector to obtain highly accurate XYZ coordinates, which must then be assigned a coordinate system that includes a known elevation. Previously existing town engineering benchmarks served as points of known elevation. The locations of surveyed elevation points were recorded using geographic positioning technology (GPS) approximately every twenty feet or at every noticeable change in road elevation, whichever came first, in the centermost part of the road. Data were then visualized using ArcGIS by importing point locations and displaying them as XY point values. Spot elevations were then manually input into a new corresponding float point field. Elevation rasters of the same width as the roads were then created using spline and inverse distance weighting interpolation.

Beach profiles and erosion measures

Students also collected data on beach erosion (or stability) by measuring the difference in beach profiles over time. Profiles were measured and re-measured at fixed geographic locations. Over the past 3.5 years, beach profiles were measured along East Haven beaches to better understand longer-term erosion or accretion patterns. Where possible, profile measurements were spaced along the beach approximately 200 m apart. Profile locations were recorded and measured from the seaward-most edge of coastal structures, or from the edge of the beach, to maximum wading depth. These measurements were then plotted using Microsoft Excel to reveal spatial patterns of erosion over time. Calculated variables included the width of the beach to the mean higher high water (MHHW) intercept and the volume of beach sand under the profile and above the mean lower low water elevation. Volumetric measurements were given units of m3 per unit length of shoreline. This allowed total volume of sand calculations for specified reaches of beach.

Structural damage assessment

In addition to empirical quantitative research, one stu- dent conducted door-to-door interviews at each house along the East Haven coastline to determine the nature of wave damage to each structure. A set of questions was asked at each home including the cost of structural damage that occurred, what type of damages occurred, whether or not a sea wall was present, and whether or not the structures were raised at the time. A map was created using Google Earth to show the structural damages pattern. Structures were put into one of the following categories: severe damages requiring demolition, severe damages, moderate damages, minor damages, and no damages.

Inundation

Inundation map series

Immediately following the flooding that accompanied the storm surge of Superstorm Sandy, debris lines in the town of East Haven associated with the peak storm surge were located and photographed, and addresses were noted. Blue dots were spray painted to represent the upper boundaries of the debris line. These point locations were then recorded using GPS and their elevations were measured using laser-based surveying technology (total station) (Figure 3). An average elevation for the flood line point locations was then calculated along with a measure of variability (standard deviation). The average elevation for the flood debris was then compared with the peak storm surge water elevation measured at the nearby (~ 4 km) New Haven, CT tide gauge. The difference between the tide gauge elevation and the elevation determined by averaging debris elevations was just 1.5 cm, allowing a high level of confidence in the data collected.

Flood line locations and elevations were then visualized using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), resulting in a series of maps: (1) storm surge inundation of Superstorm Sandy, (2) storm surge inundation of Superstorm Sandy had it come at high tide instead of a couple of hours after low tide, and (3) storm surge inundation projections based on IPCC (2014) estimated sea level rise. This map series was created in ArcGIS utilizing high- resolution LIDAR imagery and 2010 USGS orthophotography. LIDAR imagery elevation information was extracted and displayed using a semi-transparent teal blue color to signify all areas that had been inundated during Superstorm Sandy (elevations at or below 8.9 ft (2.7 m)). A second semi-transparent layer displayed with purple color was added to signify the hypothetical Sandy at high tide storm tide elevation (elevations from 8.9 ft (2.7m) to 12 ft (3.7m)), as was originally predicted. Representation of these two scenarios were then overlain on USGS orthophotography. All remaining elevations were given no color to signify locations free from inundation. Flood debris point locations were then added and displayed as XY point values. These values matched up exceedingly well with the upper boundaries of the storm tide inundation determined from the LIDAR data.

Results

Wave Damages

While the presence of seawalls and raised structures all influenced the degree of wave damage, they were not the primary determinants. For structures that were raised, elevation on pilings often proved effective. However, in some cases, the magnitude of elevation was insufficient relative to peak surge elevation. In other cases, minor damages occurred to fences or stairs to elevated decks. In general, however, few structures were elevated before Sandy. Seawalls were frequently overtopped, deflected energy onto adjacent structures, or increased the elevation of wave splash (Figure 4).

When the coastal road elevation maps (Figure 5), the damage assessment map (Figure 6), and beach profile measurements (Figure 7) were compared, it became apparent that beach dimensions and road elevation played the largest role in determining the severity of wave damage. In particular, older cottages which were not elevated and lacked structural robustness sustained only minor damages if they were sufficiently far back on the beach profile, i.e., had a broad protective beach. This was the case even if road elevation was relatively low. In other areas, road elevation played a key role. The central portion of Cosey Beach Avenue, for example, is the highest part of the road topographically. Damages here were minor to non-existent. In the western portion of Cosey Beach Avenue, houses were the most robustly built, typically had low seawalls, but were at a lower road elevation than those in the central portion, and more importantly, had no buffering beach at high tide (compare Figures 5 and 6).

Inundation

Inundation, while less dramatic than wave damage, also caused considerable damage and collectively may have been more costly. Sandy’s peak storm tide in East Haven was 8.9 feet (2.7 m). Mean higher high water in this area is 3.4 feet (1.0 m). On the morning of October 29, Sandy shifted its track westward toward New Jersey and accelerated to nearly twice its for- ward speed. As a result, the peak surge arrived in the East Haven (New Haven) area just after low tide. Using NOAA water level data for the New Haven station, the storm tide (predicted tide + the storm surge) elevation for the area was calculated and mapped (Figure 8). The storm tide for Sandy arriving at high tide was 12 feet (3.7 m). The areal extent of flooding and the depth of inundation would have been considerably worse. In addition, escape routes that functioned under the actual storm tide elevation might not have been accessible had Sandy’s forward speed not changed. The difference between the actual storm tide and the potential storm tide is similar to the rise in sea level (~3 feet). predicted for the end of the century by some climate models. The pathway of flooding was also an issue. In many places along the East Haven coast, salt marshes back areas of housing and other development. In most cases, flood waters moved landward from the marshes in addition to overtopping the beaches. As a result, distance from the shoreline was not a guarantee of safety. In one area, the flooding extended the shoreline of Long Island Sound ~1845 feet (~562 m) landward via marsh flooding.

Policy Discussion

In keeping with the ideals of SENCER courses, this student-driven research has substantially increased the fund of public knowledge of storm impact on the Connecticut coast and provided critical information on which

to ground public policy. Now more than ever, students, the general public, and politicians alike have come to realize that climate change is significantly impacting our lives. This is especially measurable in areas like the town of East Haven that were severely impacted by Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy in recent years. In fact, following Hurricane Irene the Connecticut State Legislature authorized the Shoreline Preservation Task Force, a bipartisan group that has made policy recommendations and called for the integration of climate change and sea level rise science into both resource development planning and municipal zoning regulations (Tait and Ferrand 2014).

When assessing coastal vulnerability, it is essential that we look closely at the characteristics of an area to understand how they combine to constitute that area’s vulnerability. In the case of East Haven, Connecticut, topographic elevation and the presence of seawalls and raised structures all play roles in determining the severity of wave damage. Data analysis, however, indicates that beach width and height were the primary determinants of the degree of wave damage to coastal structures during Irene and Sandy. With this information, locally proposed policy changes can be made to more easily and economically maintain the buffering capacity of beaches in the face of future storm waves and improve the accuracy of evacuation warnings.

For example, direct development of the shoreline should be strongly discouraged. The long-standing assumptions that the Long Island protects the Connecticut coast, or that erosion is random rather than methodical, need to be dispelled. In addition, a managed retreat from the coastline in areas of high vulnerability needs to become part of policy conversations (Tait and Ferrand 2014). Furthermore, less expensive alternatives to current beach nourishment projects, which consist of trucking in sand from other regions, should be explored. One such economical option would be to pull eroded sands back onshore. In general, regional planning to make coastal communities more sustainable in the face of future storms needs to be undertaken. Although the State of Connecticut has established an interdisciplinary research, outreach and education center (Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation) that offers support to local communities, response to Irene and Sandy still largely resides with individual communities.

One improvement to the current system might be a regional sand management plan. At present, beach restoration is discouraged and when replenishment does occur, sand is typically trucked in or shipped in from distant offshore borrow areas or regional quarries. Sand that was originally eroded from the beaches, however, typically accumulates just offshore. Using this sand source to replen- ish the most vulnerable beach areas according to a system of prioritization would be a significant improvement to the current system. In other areas, where replenishment is cost-prohibitive, prioritizing which assets to protect (i.e., which beaches to replenish), and which beaches should be surrendered to nature, would be another viable and more sensible option.

The results of these studies have been made available to the Engineering Department of the town of East Haven and to the Public Works Department of the town of West Haven to aid in their long-range and emergency planning efforts. Similar work is being done for the State Beach at Hammonasset. Recommendations based on the results of this work will be offered to the State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as well as to the Environment Committee of the State Legislature.

About the Authors

Michelle Ritchie recently graduated with honors from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and a concentration in Environmental Studies.   While at SCSU, she worked as a research assistant at the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies and as an intern at the Office of Sustainability and Recycling Center. She is currently attending Binghamton University in pursuit of a Master of Arts in Geography specializing in Environmental and Resource Management while working as a graduate research assistant at the Hazards and Climate Impacts Research Center. Her research primarily focuses on hazard mitigation, planning and recovery.

James Tait is a professor of marine and environmental sciences in the Department of the Environment, Geography and Marine Sciences at Southern Connecticut State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Earth Science with a specialization in Oceanography and, in particular, Coastal Processes. Since 2011, his research has focused on the coastal impacts of large storms, including Irene and Sandy. Dr. Tait is a SENCER leadership fellow and a co-recipient of the William E. Bennett Team Award for Outstanding Contributions to Citizen Science. Along with his colleague, Dr. Vincent Breslin, he co-authored a course for the SCSU Honors College on Science and the Connecticut Coast. The course has students conduct scientific studies of storm impacts and coastal pollution in Connecticut. The course became a SENCER Model Course in 2007. Dr. Tait is also co-founder of the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies at SCSU. The Center employs talented students as research assistants working on problems such as coastal vulnerability and resilience, metal pollution of coastal sediments and organisms, microplastics in the marine environment, coastal water quality changes, and response of corals to climate change in Long Island Sound.

References

AIR Worldwide Corporation. 2013. The Coastline at Risk: 2013 Update to the Estimated Insured Value of U.S. Coastal Properties. http:// www.air-worldwide.com/Facet-Search/Search-Results/ (accessed January 2, 2016).

Fischetti, M. 2012. Sandy vs. Katrina, and Irene: Monster Hurricanes by the Numbers. Scientific American. Available: http://www. scientificamerican.com/article/sandy-vs-katrina-and-irene/ (accessed January 2, 2016).

Grumm, R.H., and C. Evanego. 2012. “Hurricane Sandy: An Eastern United States Superstorm.” NWS State College Case Examples. http://cms.met.psu.edu/sref/severe/2012/30Oct2012.pdf (accessed January 2, 2016).

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2014. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and

L.A. Meyer, eds.) Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 2013. National Coastal Population Report: Population Trends from 1970 to 2020. http://stateofthecoast.noaa.gov/features/coastal-population-report.pdf (accessed January 2, 2016).

Tait, J., and E.A. Ferrand. 2014. “Observations of the Influence of Regional Beach Dynamics on the Impacts of Storm Waves on the Connecticut Coast during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy.” In Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy, J.B. Bennington and E.C. Farmer, eds., 67–88. London: Academic Press.

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Abstract

Two of the greatest challenges facing humanity—climate change and the dramatic loss of biodiversity—are best understood through the lens of deep time. We applied SENCER principles to redevelop an introductory paleontology course at the University of Kansas (Geology 121, “Life through Time: DNA to Dinosaurs”) to help general education students understand the value of our discipline in the modern world. Our process included reducing content coverage and connecting geologic concepts to modern challenges, placing students in teams and implementing active learning in every class, and including a final research project that challenged students to mitigate the current mass extinction event. While students were initially uncertain about the new course since it would require more work on their part, final student comments on the class were overwhelmingly positive, and final grades improved dramatically over past semesters, despite a significant increase in the rigor of the course overall.

Introduction

Many students enroll in introductory geology classes merely to fulfill a distribution requirement (Gilbert et al. 2012). At the University of Kansas, all undergraduate students are required to take a natural science course regardless of their major, and this class is often their only college-level science class and the last science class they will ever take. Given that two of the most pressing issues facing humanity right now—climate change and the prospect of human-caused mass extinctions—can best be understood through a geological lens, we decided to redevelop Geol 121, “Prehistoric Life from DNA to Dinosaurs,” an introductory paleontology class for non- majors, according to the SENCER model. Although geology majors can take this class to supplement the required introductory geology course, the majority of the students are not majoring in a STEM field.

Traditionally, this course has been lecture-based, and student learning was gauged by measuring the student’s ability to memorize details about when various animals originated and went extinct through geological time. During the redesign process, we established two primary goals to guide our efforts: (1) geological and paleontological information would be interwoven with the interconnected civic issues of human-driven extinctions and climate change, and (2) students would actively explore and discover knowledge themselves, rather than passively receiving it. By teaching through these complex, controversial, and current issues, and by challenging students to directly engage with the science, we sought to increase student understanding of the scientific method and its impact on their everyday lives. This paper describes the redesign process and preliminary outcomes.

Methods

The redesigned class was offered in Fall 2014 to 60 students. This was the fifth time Olcott Marshall had offered this class, having taught the old version four times between Spring 2009and Spring 2013, to a total of 452 students. Olcott Marshall began the redesign process in March of 2014, and was guided and assisted from that time until the end of the semester by Bitting, whose role in the department was as a teaching specialist. To transform the class, three steps were necessary: (1) streamlining the material, (2) creating opportunities for active engagement, and (3) implementing a final project that allowed students not only to synthesize and evaluate all of the information they had explored during the semester, but to apply that information to matters of immediate societal importance.

Streamlining Material

The first modification was decreasing the amount of material the course would cover. The original version of the class covered 3.5 billion years of Earth history, with each day of the class dedicated to lecturing about a different period of geological time. This much material was overwhelming to the students and did not allow more than a superficial introduction. For the new course, we implemented a backwards design approach (Wiggins and McTighe 1998): First, we established two specific student learning outcomes related to human-driven extinctions and climate change: “Students will be able to

• analyze the extinction pressures acting on modern organisms in the context of those organisms’ geologic, evolutionary, and climatic history.
• construct an action plan for mitigating the current mass extinction event that is informed by their understanding of organisms’ roles in and relationships with the Earth system.”

Based on these intended outcomes, we determined what content material to cover in class and shifted the emphasis of the course from declarative to procedural knowledge to allow students to practice skills that would allow them to succeed in the complex tasks leading to the outcomes above. The material we identified for the redesigned course had previously been covered in only eight lectures, but now the students would explore the material in-depth over the course of 30 class meetings.

Active Engagement

In previous years, students were mostly passive recipients of knowledge in the class and were expected to study facts, dates, and terms on their own to prepare for exams. In 2009, 2011, and 2012, student grades were determined solely by four exams. In 2013, students did a short five- to ten-minute activity at the end of each lecture, but these were done individually, and since the students left when they were finished, there were few opportunities for the class to summarize, debrief, or reflect on what they were doing or why.

For the redesigned class, we wanted students to engage with the material from the very beginning, to recognize that their learning occurred through actively exploring the information, and to apply, analyze, and evaluate their newfound scientific knowledge continuously. Every class period, the students worked through a series of two or three related activities designed to scaffold them through the process of activating and building upon prior knowledge (Linn 1995; Vygotsky 1980). Some activities required students to summarize and explain the conclusions of figures from published paleontological studies, while at other times the students worked with raw data they downloaded from the Paleobiology Database (http://paleodb.org) to interpret, examine, and craft hypotheses. To leverage students’ social goals (Ford 1992), and to harness the power of peer instruction ( Johnson et al. 1991), some of the activities were done in groups of three or four, and others required the students to work individually before consulting with their groups (think-pair-share) (Table 1). By including a wide range of types of activities, we were able to provide instructional conditions that appealed to extroverted learners, such as interactive collaborative activities, and ones that appealed to introverted learners, such as solitary deductive sequences ( Jonassen and Grabowski 2012). Additionally, in order to help students integrate their knowledge into a more coherent framework, each class period included time for them to reflect individually, in groups, and as a class on what they were learning and why (Davis and Linn 2000).

Final Project

Although the activities provided the students opportunities to appraise and synthesize information, our ultimate goal for the course was for the students to generate and defend their own research into the twin civic issues underlying the course. To accomplish this, during the last third of the semester we implemented a series of assignments to scaffold students through their collaborative final class project, which culminated in an authentic public event dubbed “Paleocon.” This project required teams of students to choose a threatened modern animal and an extinct counterpart and research their habitats, ecosystems, and lifestyles. They evaluated and described how the ancient organism became extinct and extrapolated lessons learned from that extinction event to help the modern organism survive the twin specters of human-caused extinction pressure and climate change. In lieu of a final examination, the teams presented their findings to their classmates, the university, and the general public in a creative science-fair-style presentation.

Outcomes

Throughout the redesign process, we shifted the emphasis of the activities, assignments, and assessments away from simple memorization and understanding to build in more analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of ideas and information. This shift is well illustrated by a general analysis of exam questions by level on Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al. 1956) in the Spring 2012 (traditional) and Fall 2014 (redesigned) semesters, shown in Figure 1.

We acknowledge that grades are not a proxy for learning but it is striking that, although the redesign required the students to do more work and to understand the material on a deeper level than in previous years, student performance (as measured by grades) increased as well, eighty percent of the class earning an A or a B (Figure 2). Qualitatively comparing student written work from previous years with that produced by students in the new course demonstrates increases in student engagement and ability to synthesize material on their own (Table 2).

Although the two questions asked are slightly different each year, to answer either question, a student would need to know the age of the Earth and understand the principles of radioactive age dating. In the transformed class, student work reveals a deeper understanding of the material and increased ability to synthesize different types of information than in years past.

Student success, as well as the success of the redesign, are also reflected in the students’ attitudes towards the class and the material. Students were initially leery of the changes in the class, as they correctly surmised that they would be doing more work than a traditional lecture-based course would require. They also were, as one student put it,“shocked that they had to be in a group and do so much group work.” However, they quickly became much more engaged with the material than in previous years; one student commented that the class “motivates us to want to learn the information and apply it to things that interest us as opposed to just being in the library and studying and then going and taking a test.” Or, in the words of another student at the end of the semester: “I expected this class to be somewhat boring and easy but it was anything but that. It provides you with a lot of insight that you can carry on to a lot of career fields. It’s a strong base to the information that you will gain in the rest of your collegiate experience.”

About the Authors

Kelsey Bitting is a Visiting Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow for Course Redesign at the University of Kansas. She is a trained geomorphologist   and sedimentary geologist, but her current research interests center on geoscience learning and the implementation of active learning in introductory courses.

Alison Olcott Marshall is a paleobiogeochemist at the University of Kansas. Her research involves using chemistry to quest for and understand fossils, and she has recently become interested in transforming her classes with the hope that students will be excited and involved in their own learning.

References

Bloom, B.S., M.D. Engelhart, E.J. Furst, W.H. Hill, and D.R. Krathwohl, eds. 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay.

Davis, E.A., and M.C. Linn. 2000. “Scaffolding Students’ Knowledge Integration: Prompts for Reflection in KIE.” International Journal of Science Education 22 (8): 819–837.

Ford, M.E. 1992. Motivating Humans: Goals, Emotions, and Personal Agency Beliefs. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Gilbert, L.A., J. Stempien, D.A. McConnell, D.A. Budd, K.J. van der Hoeven Kraft, A. Bykerk-Kauffman, M.H. Jones, C.C. Knight, R.K. Matheney, D. Perkins, and K.R. Wirth. 2012. “Not Just ‘Rocks for Jocks’: Who Are Introductory Geology Students and Why Are They Here?” Journal of Geoscience Education 60 (4): 360–371.

Johnson, D.W., R.T. Johnson, and K. Smith. 1991. Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Jonassen, D.H., and B.L. Grabowski. 2012. Handbook of Individual Differences, Learning, and Instruction. New York: Routledge.

Linn, M.C. 1995. “Designing Computer Learning Environments for Engineering and Computer Science: The Scaffolded Knowledge Integration Framework.” Journal of Science Education and Technology 4 (2): 103–126.

Vygotsky, L.S. 1980. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Wiggins, G., and J. McTighe. 1998. Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

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Abstract

The preservation and conservation of cultural heritage material is matter of increasing civic importance, particularly in communities where public resources are scarce. Although this issue is generally considered a challenge for the humanities, scientific research also plays an invaluable and unique role in promoting and preserving cultural heritage in local communities. Because of recent advances in technology and methods of scientific analysis, a deeper understanding of fine art works can be achieved than was ever possible by a simple visual examination. Questions that were once difficult to answer, including precise materials and techniques or original and restored areas, can now be clarified through relatively straightforward scientific experiments using accessible technology. This development opens a new and fruitful avenue for enriching science education, in both formal and informal contexts, through the lens of a pressing civic issue: the investigation and preservation of endangered aspects of local history and culture.

This paper describes the scientific studies carried out on a cycle of 18th-century wall paintings discovered in 2012 in a small Italian village. An international team of research institutes (USA, Denmark, Portugal, and Italy) were involved in the technical examination of the cycle. The scientific findings, which were presented to the local community during a public conference, raised awareness of the value and significance of their unique cultural assets. This represents a successful model for civically engaged science that can bring international expertise to bear on a specific challenge to a local community.

Civically Engaged Science to Preserve Local Art and Archaeology

The preservation of cultural heritage is a critical civic responsibility, especially in Italy where the vast array of cultural treasures ranges from the renowned mega-cities of Rome, Florence, and Venice to almost every village. This rich distribution of material culture demands local civic engagement simply because national and governmental institutions alone cannot effectively manage the sheer quantity and scope of artistic and archaeologic heritage sites. Consequently, the role played by local advocates and organizations is critical, though not always obvious to communities faced with other pressing needs. Advocacy and public education is needed to shed light on the connection between civic and economic wellbeing and the preservation and protection of cultural heritage (Bonacini et al. 2014). In Italy, as well as in other European countries, there have been significant cuts to public funding for art conservation. It is therefore more urgent than ever that local communities mobilize and provide adequate financing to appropriately conserve and maintain their cultural heritage.

Cultural Heritage Science (CHS) is a discipline that examines works of art and archaeology by means of technical and scientific methodologies. Information derived from these studies is used to understand not only when these artifacts were made, who made them, and how they were made but also, more importantly, how are they to be preserved, and what conservation treatment represents the best option and why. As a scientific practice CHS must draw on a wide range of disciplines and fields beyond the sciences, including history, art history, archeology, ethics, public policy, and law. This article outlines a project in Italy to promote the conservation of a cycle of early 18-century mural paintings. It discloses the role of Cultural Heritage Science in raising community awareness of material culture as a civic asset, as well as awareness of the importance of science and technology to the preservation of cultural heritage.

Innovative, Affordable, and Sustainable Scientific Methods

Scientific examination and documentation of art is notoriously expensive. The most important and recognizable works of art are subjected to extensive scientific examination by highly trained experts, using state-of-the-art equipment that costs millions of dollars. This is clearly an impossible goal for the conservation and preservation of the vast majority of cultural heritage objects, which may not be rare or distinguished by global standards but are nonetheless critical to the identity and history of local communities, most of which lack the financial and technical resources of major capitals and their world-class museums. These large museums house “priceless” collections and maintain conservation departments equipped with cutting-edge technologies. In contrast, small to medium-sized cultural institutions have relatively limited access to advanced science and technology and conservation expertise.

Cultural Heritage Science Open Source (CHSOS) was launched in 2012 to bridge this technological divide, to develop and disseminate affordable and sustainable methodologies for art examination that can reach a much larger constituency of local cultural institutions This search for low-cost art examination and documentation is a rapidly expanding research topic, and a growing number of scholars are exploring affordable technical solutions for historical architecture documentation (Santagati et al. 2013). CHSOS disseminates methods for art examination in three significant ways, focusing specifically on low-cost technical solutions: through its popular blog, through publications in open access peer reviewed journals, and through training programs. The CHSOS blog has attracted a growing network of art conservation professionals interested in introducing Cultural Heritage Science concepts into their work. The blog has also inspired collaborative field projects with local stakeholders, such as the Catacombs in Syracuse (Cosentino et al. 2015; Stout et al. 2014) and the Sicilian carts museum (Cosentino and Stout 2014).

The Crucifix Chapel

A cycle of 18-century mural paintings was revealed in 2012 during maintenance work in the Crucifix Chapel of the Mother Church in Aci Sant’Antonio, Italy. The paintings have survived along the corners of the originally square chapel that was later altered, acquiring the current octagonal-shaped construction. All of the murals except the scenes on the corners have been destroyed and irretrievably lost (Figure 1).

CHSOS Studio is located in Aci Sant’Antonio. This discovery in the local chapel was selected as a pilot study to determine whether scientific research can promote better care of cultural heritage, even when financial resources are limited and the heritage material is of local, rather than regional or national, significance. From the moment of their discovery it was clear that the newly discovered murals were in critical need of conservation treatment. CHSOS advertised and solicited the international academic community for help in performing an accurate scientific assessment of the murals, which ultimately resulted in a well documented, informed conservation treatment strategy. The mural paintings were first   documented in 2013 by CHSOS using technical photography (TP) (visible, raking light, infrared, ultraviolet fluorescence, and infrared false color).

TP represents a collection of broadband spectral images realized with a modified full spectrum digital camera and using different lighting sources and filters to acquire images useful for art diagnostics. TP imaging methods are non-destructive, fast, and use relatively inexpensive equipment and tools. CHSOS donated the time needed to perform the initial examination. The results served as a catalyst that gained the cooperation of three universities. A doctoral candidate at University of California San Diego (USA), Samantha Stout, provided on-site analytical pigment studies, which used a portable XRF spectroscopy system; analysis of paint fragments were provided by researcher Milene Gil from the Hercules laboratory at the University of Evora (Portugal), using optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy with x-ray spectrometry (SEM- EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and µFT-IR; and finally, Terahertz examination of the plaster work was performed by Danish Technical University (Denmark) doctoral student Corinna Koch Dandolo.

This international collaboration has resulted in peer- reviewed publications (Cosentino et al. 2014a; Cosentino et al. 2014b). The data were subsequently used to formulate a conservation intervention strategy that was presented in 2015 to the community of Aci Sant’Antonio at a conference where the project collaborators reported their findings.

Participants greatly benefited from all aspects of this unique research endeavor. International graduate students and scholars were drawn to Italy because of the abundance of cultural heritage objects and locations, which represent a unique opportunity to test their technical methodologies and learn first-hand about traditional western historical art materials. In turn, members of the local community benefited from their expertise and were informed of the significant artistic features present within the discovered cycle. The scientific research effectively engaged the local community, and the conference helped raise funds for the eventual cleaning and conservation of the paintings. This project, then, represents a successful model of the public communication of science: the active process of scientific inquiry raised local community awareness and appreciation to a level that generated the financial support that was needed to professionally treat and preserve the art object (figure 2).

The local community setting encouraged an explanation of the findings that was straightforward and avoided unnecessary technical jargon. More significantly, in this scientific investigation context, it was TP (technical photography) that led the way. TP proved to be the most cost effective of the methods used and is capable of providing a great deal of information on the painting technique (figure 3). TP is also the most appealing for a non-specialized audience, as the images convey the findings more easily.

The analysis of seven plaster wall fragments revealed that an a secco technique (use of an organic binder rather than the fresco method) was used for the wall paintings (figure 4). The analysis also revealed large areas of repainting using modern pigments applied directly over the original paint layer (figure 5).

Conclusions and Implications for Science Education

Scientific research on the newly discovered wall painting cycle in Aci Sant’Antonio (Italy) illustrates that cultural heritage science methodologies can be used successfully to promote the conservation of art and archaeology, even in poorly funded local communities. The initial findings, detailed visually through technical photography coupled with portable and benchtop spectroscopic methods, proved a successful means to raise awareness of the relevance of science to the community’s identity and history, and to the preservation needs of its specific cultural heritage material. The ability of modern scientific methods to provide evidence and increase public knowledge provided the political and financial leverage needed to take action.

Appropriately, the public conference was held in the same church where the mural paintings are located. Here in this setting the local community participated in an integrated learning experience that spanned both science and humanities, providing information about the painting technique and materials used by the original painter and by the others who, centuries later, retouched the paintings. In this specific case the research for this project was achieved without a direct financial contribution from the community. Indeed, the case study was such a compelling educational opportunity that three major foreign universities donated financial resources and provided Ph.D. students to perform the examination. All participants benefited. The conservation scientists worked together as an international team, comparing notes on the data they obtained with complementary equipment. Today the local community better understands the importance of their newly discovered cultural treasure and is justifiably more proud of it. And the results have proven contagious. Soon after the papers were published, CHSOS was contacted by the community of another village in Sicily, which had followed the Crucifix Chapel studies and now desired to replicate the same model to promote the conservation of mural paintings in one of their medieval churches.

The next step for CHSOS will be to integrate the formal and informal learning environments by extending the academic participation in this initiative through a summer school program for undergraduate students. This project, which will teach rigorous science content“through” the civic challenge of preserving local cultural heritage, will be offered to U.S. college students who are interested in integrating the study of science with art history, archeology, and material culture studies. It will be based on the training programs that CHSOS has offered to professionals and graduate students, and it will be fully hands-on, bringing students to work on selected field projects that conserve Italian art and archaeology while engaging communities in the preservation of their cultural heritage.

About the Author

Dr. Antonino Cosentino founded CHSOS in 2012. Before directing CHSOS he taught“Scientific Methods for Art Investigation” in Italy and at the Pratt Institute in New York and carried out scientific examinations of important works of art as a researcher for European and American institutions such as the European Mobile Laboratory for Art investigation (MOLAB), the New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (A.W. Mellon Fellow in Conservation Science) and the University of California San Diego.

References

Bonacini, E.M., M. Marcucci, and F. Todisco. 2014. “#DIGITALINVASIONS. A Bottom-up Crowd Example of Cultural Value Co-creation.” In Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Digital Cultural Heritage: Proceedings of the First EAGLE International Conference, S. Orlandi, R. Santucci, Casarosa, and P.M. Liuzzo, eds., 265–84. Sapienza: Università Editrice.

Cosentino, A. 2013a. “Eventually I Got Viral.” News in Conservation 34 (February): 20–22.

Cosentino, A. 2013b. “Get Out of the Lab, Now!” News in Conservation 39 (December): 14–16.

Cosentino, A. 2013c. “Macro Photography for Reflectance Transformation Imaging: A Practical Guide to the Highlights Method.” e-conservation journal 1: 70–85.

Cosentino, A. 2013d. “A Practical Guide to Panoramic Multispectral Imaging” e-conservation magazine 25: 64–73.

Cosentino, A. 2014a. “FORS Spectral Database of Historical Pigments in Different Binders.” e-conservation journal 2: 53–65.

Cosentino A. 2014b. “Identification of Pigments by Multispectral Imaging: A Flowchart Method.” Heritage Science 2: 8.

Cosentino, A. 2014c. “Panoramic Infrared Reflectography. Technical Recommendations.” International Journal of Conservation Sci- ence 5 (1): 51–60.

Cosentino A., and S. Stout. 2014. “Photoshop and Multispectral Imaging for Art Documentation.” e-Preservation Science 11: 91–98.

Cosentino, A., M.C. Caggiani, G. Ruggiero, and F. Salvemini. 2014a. “Panoramic Multispectral Imaging: Training and Case Studies.” Belgian Association of Conservators Bulletin, 2nd Trimester: 7–11.

Cosentino A., S. Stout, R. Di Mauro, and C. Perondi. 2014b. “The Crucifix Chapel of Aci Sant’Antonio: Newly Discovered Frescoes.” Archeomatica 2: 36–42.

Cosentino A., M. Gil, M. Ribeiro, and R. Di Mauro. 2014c. “Technical Photography for Mural Paintings: The Newly Discovered Frescoes in Aci Sant’Antonio (Sicily, Italy).” Conservar Património 20: 23–33.

Cosentino A. 2015. “Multispectral Imaging and the Art Expert.” Spectroscopy Europe 27 (2): 6–9.

Cosentino A., S. Stout, and C. Scandurra. 2015. “Innovative Imaging Techniques for Examination and Documentation of Mural Paintings and Historical Graffiti in the Catacombs of San Giovanni, Syracuse.” International Journal of Conservation Science 6 (1): 23–34.

Hogan, H. 2015. “Spectroscopy: Going Small to Get the Whole Picture.” Photonics Spectra, March 2015.

Santagati, C., L. Inzerillo, and F. Di Paola. 2013. “Image-Based Modeling Techniques For Architectural Heritage 3D Digitalization: Limits and Potentialities.” International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL-5/W2: 555–60.

Stout S., A. Cosentino, C. Scandurra. 2014. “Non-invasive Materials Analysis Using Portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) in the Examination of Two Mural Paintings in the Catacombs of San Giovanni, Syracuse.” Digital Heritage. Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection. 5th International Conference, EuroMed 2014, M. Ioannides, N. Magnenat-Thalmann, E. Fink, R. Žarnić, A.-Y. Yen, E. Quak, eds., 697–705. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

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