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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
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Planning Cities, Economically Or Communally: A Comparative Study Of Amsterdam And San Francisco, Raina Dawn Whittekiend
Planning Cities, Economically Or Communally: A Comparative Study Of Amsterdam And San Francisco, Raina Dawn Whittekiend
Master's Theses
Globalization has spun “community” off its axis. What once defined community is no longer the current state of the community. Increased economic transactions have led to the instability of communities that once depended on one another at the local level. These communities are now dependent on systems that do not know nor understand their actors. This lack of relationship between development and subject is witnessed and highly scrutinized in developing countries all over the world and has been intensely researched in academic literature. This thesis intends to better understand why in modernized global cities these same processes of development and …
Remediation Strategies For Mercury Contaminated Lakes And Reservoirs Within The State Of California, Emily Chortek
Remediation Strategies For Mercury Contaminated Lakes And Reservoirs Within The State Of California, Emily Chortek
Master's Projects and Capstones
Mercury is an environmental and public health concern due to its neurodegenerative effects and ubiquitous concentration within the environment. To mitigate these risks and reduce concentrations within the environment, remediation methods are necessary. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and evaluate the efficacy of a number of remediation options for mercury contaminated lakes and reservoirs in the State of California. This paper also identifies a number of challenges associated with the implementation of each method and provides recommendations for environmental managers to use when remediating mercury contaminated lakes. Hypolimnetic oxygenation (HOS) was found to be the least problematic …
Environmental Ngo-Private Sector Partnerships: A Tool To Generate Business Value And Protect The Natural World, Carolyn Nogy Nogy
Environmental Ngo-Private Sector Partnerships: A Tool To Generate Business Value And Protect The Natural World, Carolyn Nogy Nogy
Master's Projects and Capstones
Many environmental challenges are complicated by complex and social, cultural, economic and political interactions, which are difficult to address by a single entity. However, partnerships can offer the necessary depth and versatility to address them effectively. By working together, there is an opportunity for cross sector partners to leverage their unique expertise, while blending resources to achieve more comprehensive and sustainable solutions to existing environmental problems. This project examines the use of partnerships between environmental NGOs and the private sector to manage complex environmental problems, providing a critical assessment of the partnership attributes that generate the most mutual benefit. The …
Rethinking Urban Green Infrastructure As A Means To Promote Avian Conservation, Allen Lau
Rethinking Urban Green Infrastructure As A Means To Promote Avian Conservation, Allen Lau
Master's Projects and Capstones
There is an under-recognized potential for cities to use urban green infrastructure to contribute to avian biodiversity conservation. At the global scale, climate change and growing urbanization are primary global drivers leading to decline and homogenization in world bird populations. Birds are fundamental and intricate species in ecosystems, and even in urban areas, act as indicator and regulator species contributing to healthy ecosystem function. While many cities have recognized the economic and social benefits associated with green spaces, such as the vast benefits ecosystem services provide to the urban dweller, the use of green spaces to concurrently contribute to avian …
Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment For Nitrate Pollution In The Salinas Valley Using A Modified Drastic Model, Bernadette Boyle
Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment For Nitrate Pollution In The Salinas Valley Using A Modified Drastic Model, Bernadette Boyle
Master's Projects and Capstones
Groundwater is an integral piece of California’s groundwater resources. One of the most common contaminants present in groundwater is nitrate. Nitrate contamination is often a result of agricultural land use activities on the ground surface. The study area for this analysis is the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, an agriculturally dominated basin in coastal California. The Salinas Valley Basin is both one of the most agriculturally productive areas of the state, as well as one of the most nitrate-contaminated basins in the state. The purpose of this research was to develop a groundwater vulnerability map for nitrate pollution in the Salinas …
Embodied Carbon: A Framework For Prioritizing And Reducing Emissions In The Building Industry, Natalie C. Wheating
Embodied Carbon: A Framework For Prioritizing And Reducing Emissions In The Building Industry, Natalie C. Wheating
Master's Projects and Capstones
Global climate change is one of the most impactful environmental issues in modern times, and the construction industry is known to be one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions—one of the key causes of climate change. Embodied carbon emissions of buildings are an often overlooked, but significant, influencer of a building’s overall carbon footprint. This gives rise to the need for improved life cycle analysis of buildings and identification of opportunities to reduce the total carbon footprint of a building throughout its life cycle. This paper analyzes the current state of the building industry that limits the consideration of …
Opportunities And Constraints Of Sierra Nevada Meadow Restoration For The Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Species Complex, Allie E. Sennett
Opportunities And Constraints Of Sierra Nevada Meadow Restoration For The Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog Species Complex, Allie E. Sennett
Master's Projects and Capstones
Amphibian populations worldwide are experiencing precipitous declines as a result of disease, introduced species, habitat loss, and climate change. The mountain yellow-legged frog (MYLF), once considered the most abundant vertebrate in the Sierra Nevada, has suffered dramatic population declines in recent decades, and implications of their decline include biodiversity impacts throughout this region. Specifically, the distribution of MYLF has severely contracted within their geographic range, with an obvious shift in overall abundance to sites toward the upper reaches of their elevation range. MYLF occupying high-elevation habitats (i.e., lakes and ponds) must overwinter for especially prolonged periods, which decreases their ability …
Examining The Effects Of Policy Interventions On Increasing Electric Vehicle Adoption In California, Ethan G. Mcdermott
Examining The Effects Of Policy Interventions On Increasing Electric Vehicle Adoption In California, Ethan G. Mcdermott
Master's Projects and Capstones
Any significant effort to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gasses must address the growing concern of the transportation sector’s inability to meaningfully reduce its emissions contribution. A major shift in the primary fuel used in the sector away from petroleum-based fuel to electricity is one potential way the sector can lower its emissions and transition into a sustainable future. However, a number of barriers face the electric vehicle market, including competing against an already mature vehicle market, battling consumer preferences, and overcoming technical challenges. This paper examines several policy proposals to combat these barriers and examines the impact similar policies …
Rebuilding Silicon Valley - An Assessment Of The Silicon Valley Corporate Campus And The Potential For Suburban Sustainability, Eden Lindeman
Rebuilding Silicon Valley - An Assessment Of The Silicon Valley Corporate Campus And The Potential For Suburban Sustainability, Eden Lindeman
Master's Projects and Capstones
Silicon Valley is the San Francisco Bay Area’s economic powerhouse and is herald for its innovation and success. However, Silicon Valley’s urban design is unsustainable and characterized by remote and large corporate campuses that contribute to job sprawl and heavy traffic congestion. Many of the buildings are also not performing at an efficient level and are due for deep overhauls to cut back energy consumption and costs. The inevitable effects of climate change continue to loom large over the world, heightening the importance for the built environment to be reformed into an environment that can mitigate and adapt to climate …
Analysis Of Solar Community Energy Storage For Supporting Hawaii's 100% Renewable Energy Goals, Erin Takata
Analysis Of Solar Community Energy Storage For Supporting Hawaii's 100% Renewable Energy Goals, Erin Takata
Master's Projects and Capstones
Solar PV generation has become an integral part of the renewable energy industry. With state-level, renewable portfolio standards in place, solar power demand has substantially increased and become a competitive and economically viable energy solution throughout the world. Hawaii has one of the most aggressive renewable portfolio standards with a goal of 100 percent renewable generation by 2045. However, there are challenges that are preventing the growth of the solar PV market in Hawaii including equal accessibility to solar power and solar power overloading causing grid instability. With Hawaii’s high annual solar radiation, PV generation could play a significant role …
A Comparison Of Wildlife Monitoring Techniques In Riparian Ecosystems Of The Western United States, Shelan Zuhdi
A Comparison Of Wildlife Monitoring Techniques In Riparian Ecosystems Of The Western United States, Shelan Zuhdi
Master's Projects and Capstones
Many riparian restoration projects in the western United States have not implemented monitoring plans. This lack of wildlife monitoring has resulted in a loss riparian ecosystem services and missed opportunities to conserve them. Data collected from wildlife monitoring assists researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders in efficiently allocating time and resources to improve the effectiveness of resource management. This paper discusses the level of feasibility and practicality as a sum of the benefits, limitations, and financial costs for each of the following mammal and avian monitoring methods: wildlife camera trapping, GPS devices, mark-recapture, fecal DNA surveying, circular plot point counts, mist-net transects …
Attracting Beneficial Insects To Your Farm: A Comparison Of Habitat Modification Strategies, Kelly Rourke
Attracting Beneficial Insects To Your Farm: A Comparison Of Habitat Modification Strategies, Kelly Rourke
Master's Projects and Capstones
Thoughtful planning to enhance diversity in agricultural landscapes can present a multitude of ecological, cultural and economic benefits. Land managers have many options when considering which habitat modification techniques they can implement on their agri-environment schemes. This comparative analysis of 47 peer reviewed journal articles assesses which landscape enhancements are most effective in attracting beneficial insects, namely pollinators and natural enemies to pests. Through biological control, natural invertebrate predators inhibit vegetative pests that can be detrimental to croplands. The promotion of natural enemies can decrease the need for chemical use and maintenance on farms. Pollinators contribute tremendous benefits to crop …
The Relationship Between Wildfire Dynamics And Soil Carbon In Boreal Forests Of Alaska: Forest Management For Emissions Reduction In A Changing Climate, James D. Heaster
The Relationship Between Wildfire Dynamics And Soil Carbon In Boreal Forests Of Alaska: Forest Management For Emissions Reduction In A Changing Climate, James D. Heaster
Master's Projects and Capstones
The boreal region of Alaska has vast forests spanning hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in the central portion of the state that is prone to large stand replacing summer wildfires. The region stores considerable quantities of terrestrial carbon sequestered in soil horizons down to 1 meter in depth that are strongly influenced by a combination of climate change, permafrost dynamics, vegetative composition, and fire regimes. Data and literature establish that the boreal region of Alaska (and the rest of the Arctic) has been steadily warming at a rate nearly double that of lower latitudes. This warming has resulted in …
The Relationship Between Carbon Emissions, Land Use Change And The Oil Palm Industry Within Southeast Asia, Savanna L. Booth
The Relationship Between Carbon Emissions, Land Use Change And The Oil Palm Industry Within Southeast Asia, Savanna L. Booth
Master's Projects and Capstones
Tropical forests store the largest amount of carbon globally by sequestering up to 2.7 Gt of carbon every year in soils and vegetation. Deforestation and the conversion of tropical peatland soil have contributed to global anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, as well as significantly hindering tropical ecosystems and the natural carbon sequestration potential that could potentially help mitigate atmospheric CO2 levels. Deforestation has increased rapidly since the 1970’s across Southeast Asia with oil palm contributing to 61% of deforestation between 2010 and 2015 with emissions reaching 22.1 million tons CO2-eq during that time. The conversions of tropical peatlands …
California Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations’ Accessibility To Amenities: A Gis Network Analysis Approach, Jeremy Yun Li Chen
California Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations’ Accessibility To Amenities: A Gis Network Analysis Approach, Jeremy Yun Li Chen
Master's Projects and Capstones
In California, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads has been increasing over the past several years. As EVs continue to grow, additional electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) will be needed for EV drivers to utilize. However, before implementing EVCSs in the public, there are various criteria that need to be considered. One of these criteria is public EVCSs’ accessibility to amenities. When people are charging their EVs that require a significant amount of waiting time, having amenities nearby will provide them with the option to spend their time efficiently on worthwhile activities. To understand the accessibility of …
Can Community Structure Track Sea-Level Rise? Stress And Competitive Controls In Tidal Wetlands, Lisa M. Schile, John Callaway, K M. Suding, N M. Kelly
Can Community Structure Track Sea-Level Rise? Stress And Competitive Controls In Tidal Wetlands, Lisa M. Schile, John Callaway, K M. Suding, N M. Kelly
Environmental Science
Climate change impacts, such as accelerated sea-level rise, will affect stress gradients, yet impacts on competition/stress tolerance trade-offs and shifts in distributions are unclear. Ecosystems with strong stress gradients, such as estuaries, allow for space-for-time substitutions of stress factors and can give insight into future climate-related shifts in both resource and nonresource stresses. We tested the stress gradient hypothesis and examined the effect of increased inundation stress and biotic interactions on growth and survival of two congeneric wetland sedges, Schoenoplectus acutus and Schoenoplectus americanus. We simulated sea-level rise across existing marsh elevations and those not currently found to reflect …
Smoothing-Based Compressed State Kalman Filter For Joint State-Parameter Estimation: Applications In Reservoir Characterization And Co2 Storage Monitoring, Y. J. Li, Amalia Kokkinaki, E F. Darve, P K. Kitanidis
Smoothing-Based Compressed State Kalman Filter For Joint State-Parameter Estimation: Applications In Reservoir Characterization And Co2 Storage Monitoring, Y. J. Li, Amalia Kokkinaki, E F. Darve, P K. Kitanidis
Environmental Science
The operation of most engineered hydrogeological systems relies on simulating physical processes using numerical models with uncertain parameters and initial conditions. Predictions by such uncertain models can be greatly improved by Kalman-filter techniques that sequentially assimilate monitoring data. Each assimilation constitutes a nonlinear optimization, which is solved by linearizing an objective function about the model prediction and applying a linear correction to this prediction. However, if model parameters and initial conditions are uncertain, the optimization problem becomes strongly nonlinear and a linear correction may yield unphysical results. In this paper, we investigate the utility of one-step ahead smoothing, a variant …
A Self-Calibrating Runoff And Streamflow Remote Sensing Model For Ungauged Basins Using Open-Access Earth Observation Data, A Poortinga, W Bastiaanssen, G Simons, David Saah, G Senay, M Fenn, B Bean, J Kadyszewski
A Self-Calibrating Runoff And Streamflow Remote Sensing Model For Ungauged Basins Using Open-Access Earth Observation Data, A Poortinga, W Bastiaanssen, G Simons, David Saah, G Senay, M Fenn, B Bean, J Kadyszewski
Environmental Science
Due to increasing pressures on water resources, there is a need to monitor regional water resource availability in a spatially and temporally explicit manner. However, for many parts of the world, there is insufficient data to quantify stream flow or ground water infiltration rates. We present the results of a pixel-based water balance formulation to partition rainfall into evapotranspiration, surface water runoff and potential ground water infiltration. The method leverages remote sensing derived estimates of precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, Leaf Area Index, and a single F coefficient to distinguish between runoff and storage changes. The study produced significant correlations between …