Digital Commons Network^™

E-Waste Recycling: The Dirty Trade Between The United States And China, Laura Edwards

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis explores the environmental and public health damages associated with the informal e-waste recycling industry in China and provides an overview of Chinese policies regulating e-waste. Furthermore, the thesis examines how the United States has contributed to these ecological and human health damages by exporting e-waste to China and failing to regulate the US e-waste recycling industry.

How Can We Have A Better Public Transportation System? –An Exploratory Agent Based Model, Boyu Liu

Pomona Senior Theses

Public transportation plays an integral part in a city's development, but transportation professionals disagree about whether it is feasible to increase the capacity of public transportation systems at a reasonable cost; and if it is, how. This study develops an agent based model that aims to answer this question and provide a framework to compare the effects of improvements in different aspects of the public transportation service. The results of this study show that it is possible to increase ridership enough to compensate for the increased operational cost, but only in certain circumstances. Interesting phenomenon that might have showed up …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Non-Linear Responses Of Glaciated Prairie Wetlands To Climate Warming, W. Carter Johnson, Brett Werner, Glenn R. Guntenspergen

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The response of ecosystems to climate warming is likely to include threshold events when small changes in key environmental drivers produce large changes in an ecosystem. Wetlands of the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) are especially sensitive to climate variability, yet the possibility that functional changes may occur more rapidly with warming than expected has not been examined or modeled. The productivity and biodiversity of these wetlands are strongly controlled by the speed and completeness of a vegetation cover cycle driven by the wet and dry extremes of climate. Two thresholds involving duration and depth of standing water must be exceeded …

Letter From The Dean, Lona Robertson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Tidal Forcing On Nutrient Fluxes In The Tidal, Freshwater James River Estuary, Va, Dana L. Devore

Theses and Dissertations

A 12-month study (January to December 2015) focused on the effects of tidal forcing on nutrient fluxes in the tidal, freshwater segment of the James River Estuary (JRE). Discrete sampling of nutrient chemistry and continuous monitoring of tidal discharge were used to determine the volume and timing of the tides, and differences in nutrient concentrations between incoming and outgoing tides. The goal of this study was to improve understanding of tidal influence on nutrient fluxes and their role in nutrient transport to the lower estuary. Results suggested that differences in nutrient concentrations between incoming and outgoing tides were small throughout …

Valuing Natural Space And Landscape Fragmentation In Richmond, Va, Lee Wyatt Carpenter

Theses and Dissertations

Hedonic pricing methods and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) were used to evaluate relationships between sale price of single family homes and landscape fragmentation and natural land cover. Spatial regression analyses found that sale prices increase as landscapes become less fragmented and the amount of natural land cover around a home increases. The projected growth in population and employment in the Richmond, Virginia region and subsequent increases in land development and landscape fragmentation presents a challenge to sustaining intact healthy ecosystems in the Richmond region. Spatial regression analyses helped illuminate how land cover patterns influence sale prices and landscape patterns that …

Genome Wide Epigenetic Analyses Of Araptus Attenuatus, A Bark Beetle, Chitra Seshadri

Theses and Dissertations

Phylogeographic studies have relied on surveying neutral genetic variation in natural populations as a way of gaining better insights into the evolutionary processes shaping present day population demography. Recent emphasis on understanding putative adaptive variation have brought to light the role of epigenetic variation in influencing phenotypes and the mechanisms underlying local adaptation. While much is known about how methylation acts at specific loci to influence known phenotypes, there is little information on the spatial genetic structure of genome-wide patterns of methylation and the extent to which it can extend our understanding of both neutral and putatively adaptive processes. This …

Seasonal Variation Of Fish And Macroinvertebrate Biomass Spectra In Southern West Virginia Streams, Andrew J. Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The biomass size spectrum - the power-law scaling relationship between average individual size and total biomass - has often been studied in lake and marine ecosystems, but rarely in lotic systems. The objective of this study was to test for characteristic biomass spectra in small temperate streams. Seasonal fish and macroinvertebrate data, including population abundance and biomass estimates, were collected in three wadeable, southern West Virginia streams from October 2013 to May 2015. Fish abundances were estimated with 3-pass electrofishing (depletion) surveys and individuals were weighed in the field. Macroinvertebrates were collected with a Hess sampler and returned to the …

Upper Thermal Limits Differ Among Component Species In A Host-Parasitoid-Hyperparasitoid System, Kanchan A. Joshi

Theses and Dissertations

Among the predicted impacts associated with global climate change, warming is of special interest because the rates of physiological processes are temperature-dependent. Insects and other ectotherms are likely to be affected due to their limited ability to control body temperature. In this study, I measured the tolerance to extreme high temperatures, i.e., critical thermal maximum (CT_max), of component species in a tri-trophic system, including an herbivore (Manduca sexta), a primary larval parasitoid (Cotesia congregata) and a hyperparasitoid (genus Silochalcis). For wild insects, the parasitoid had the lowest CT_max, the hyperparasitoid had …

Plant Functional Trait And Hyperspectral Reflectance Responses To Comp B Exposure: Efficacy Of Plants As Landmine Detectors, Paul V. Manley Ii

Theses and Dissertations

At least 110 million landmines have been planted since the 1970s in about 70 nations, many of which remain in place today. Some risk of detection may be mitigated using currently available remote sensing techniques when vegetation is present. My study focused on using plants as phytosensors to detect buried explosives. I exposed three species representing different functional types (Cyperus esculentus (sedge), Ulmus alata (tree), Vitis labrusca (vine)) to 500 mg kg^-1 of Composition B (Comp B; 60/40 mixture of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT)), a commonly used explosive mixture, and measured functional traits and reflectance over …

Multivariate Analysis And Geographic Modeling Of Archaeological Landscapes, J. Christopher Gillam

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in Geographic Information Science (GISci), archaeological databases and statistics enable the development and refinement of spatial applications of multivariate statistics and other quantitative methods for modeling ancient and historical cultural landscapes. Along the Central Savannah River of South Carolina, this research on prehistoric and historic site distributions, their environmental, temporal and cultural context, and geographic modeling explored methodologies for predicting site locations and modeling cultural landscapes to gain a better understanding of the distant and recent past. Methods for testing extant models, detecting changes in land-use through time, and for developing time-sliced and adaptation-based landscape models were demonstrated using …

Improving The Inference Of Some Experiemtal Studies By Using Ranked Auxiliary Covariates, Rajai Jabrah

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In many studies, the measurement of sampling units according to the response variable is costly or time consuming, however, it is possible to rank sampling units according to baseline auxiliary covariates, which are available, easily obtainable, and cost efficient. In these cases, when estimating the population mean, Ranked Set Sampling (RSS) can be a more efficient sampling method than the Simple Random Sampling (SRS) method. In this dissertation, we propose a modified approach of the RSS method to allocate units into an experimental study, aimed to compare two or more groups.

Ranked auxiliary covariates, which are typically correlated with the …

Assessing The Impact Of Industrial Oil Development, Human Population Growth, And Post-Conflict Regrowth In An African Biodiversity Hotspot, Nicholas Sean Dowhaniuk

Master's Theses and Capstones

Understanding the drivers of human population growth and landscape fragmentation surrounding protected areas is vital to the success of conservation initiatives worldwide. However, the drivers of land cover change and population growth can be complex. While natural population growth is a primary cause of population growth in Africa, migration due to major anthropogenic events is increasingly common in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unprecedented mineral and oil extraction is currently occurring in Africa, often in areas of high conservation importance. Additionally, conflict often plays a large role in human migration through refugee resettlement, and many people in the region are now moving in …

A Comparison Of Macrofaunal And Algal Communities In Oyster Aquaculture Gear, An Eelgrass Bed, Oyster Reef, And A Mudflat In Great Bay, New Hampshire, Megan Elizabeth Glenn

Master's Theses and Capstones

Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and eelgrass (Zostera marina) are important ecosystem engineers in Great Bay, NH, however despite restoration efforts they have been in decline. In addition to loss of the resource, this degradation results in loss of associated ecosystem services such as habitat provision. It is possible that the recent increase in oyster farming in Great Bay could help mitigate habitat loss. My research objective was to quantify the biotic communities present in three natural habitats (eelgrass beds, oyster reefs and mudflats) in Great Bay NH and compare those to communities living on the type of gear (“racks and bags”) …

2016 Alaska's Construction Spending Forecast, Pamela Cravez, Scott Goldsmith

ISER Reports

No abstract provided.

Weighing The Relative Potential Impacts Of Climate Change And Land-Use Change On An Endangered Bird, Betsy A. Bancroft, Joshua J. Lawler, Nathan H. Schumaker

Biology Faculty Scholarship

Climate change and land-use change are projected to be the two greatest drivers of biodiversity loss over the coming century. Land-use change has resulted in extensive habitat loss for many species. Likewise, climate change has affected many species resulting in range shifts, changes in phenology, and altered interactions. We used a spatially explicit, individual-based model to explore the effects of land-use change and climate change on a population of the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW; Picoides borealis). We modeled the effects of land-use change using multiple scenarios representing different spatial arrangements of new training areas for troops across Fort Benning. …

Rising Atmospheric Co2 Is Reducing The Protein Concentration Of A Floral Pollen Source Essential For North American Bees, Lewis H. Ziska, Jeffery S. Pettis, Joan Edwards, Jillian E. Hancock, Martha B. Tomecek, Andrew Clark, Jeffrey S. Dukes, Irakli Loladze, H. Wayne Polley

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

At present, there is substantive evidence that the nutritional content of agriculturally important food crops will decrease in response to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, C_a. However, whether C_a-induced declines in nutritional quality are also occurring for pollinator food sources is unknown. Flowering late in the season, goldenrod (Solidago spp.) pollen is a widely available autumnal food source commonly acknowledged by apiarists to be essential to native bee (e.g. Bombus spp.) and honeybee (Apis mellifera) health and winter survival. Using floral collections obtained from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, we quantified C_{a …}

Affective Responses In The Purchase Of Consumer Eco Products, Alma Maria Jennifer A. Gutierrez, Rosemary R. Seva

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study aims to investigate the affective attachment of consumers to ecological products. It also aims to determine the type of emotions elicited by these kinds of consumer products. It was hypothesized that buying eco products can elicit different kinds of emotions in consumers. These emotions are usually positive that cause attraction to consumers and eventually the actual purchase of the product. An exploratory pre-purchase affect survey was conducted through field and online survey to determine what shoppers feel while looking for eco products to buy. Results revealed that participants significantly experience more positive feelings/emotions than negative feelings/ emotions when …

Disability Disclosure In The Digital Age: Why The Human Rights Tribunal Of Ontario Should Reform Its Approach To Anonymized Decisions, Natalie A. Macdonnell

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This paper provides a critique of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario’s (HRTO) approach to the anonymization of applications brought on the ground of disability. First, I examine the test for obtaining an order for anonymity and the application of this test by the HRTO. The HRTO has consistently held that the importance of open justice outweighs an individual’s privacy concerns about disclosure of disability in a public decision unless there are "unique" or "exceptional" circumstances. I discuss social science evidence related to disclosure of disability and the potential deterring impact of the HRTO’s current approach to anonymization on applicants …

Extra Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta, Thomas Daniel Knight

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Vaqueros del Valle, a poem / Manuel Medrano -- Matamoros and the Tejanos of Victoria and Goliad in the Texas Revolution: conflicting loyalties and ‘Assiduous Collaborators’ / Craig H. Roell -- Antonio Canales Rosillo / James Mills -- The origins of Salome Balli McAllen / Thomas Daniel Knight -- Sally Skull: the legend / Sondra Shands -- The Kawahata Family comes to the Valley / Randall Sakai – The Battle of Reynosa / Jesus Ramos -- Los días siguientes a la toma de Matamoros por los Constitucionalistas / Andres Cuellar -- H-E-B: an American and Valley success story / Norman …

Hydrological Drought Analysis For Seven North Georgia Watersheds (1970-2000), Jessica L. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Drought is a prolonged reduction in precipitation which may result in significant effects on local ecosystems, watersheds, and water sources, with the potential to have negative impacts on human populations. Normalized indexes can be used to characterize drought magnitudes and frequencies using historical data records on temperature, rainfall, snowpack, soil moisture, streamflow, and/or other water supply indicators. This study examined the applicability of two drought indices: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Streamflow Drought Index (SDI). The SPI and SDI estimate the magnitude of observed rainfall (SPI) and discharge (SDI) deviations from the long-term average.

In this study, SPI and SDI …

Selecting Spatial Scale Of Area-Level Covariates In Regression Models, Lauren Grant

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have found that the level of association between an area-level covariate and an outcome can vary depending on the spatial scale (SS) of a particular covariate. However, covariates used in regression models are customarily modeled at the same spatial unit. In this dissertation, we developed four SS model selection algorithms that select the best spatial scale for each area-level covariate. The SS forward stepwise, SS incremental forward stagewise, SS least angle regression (LARS), and SS lasso algorithms allow for the selection of different area-level covariates at different spatial scales, while constraining each covariate to enter at most one spatial …

Dimension Reduction And Variable Selection, Hossein Moradi Rekabdarkolaee

Theses and Dissertations

High-dimensional data are becoming increasingly available as data collection technology advances. Over the last decade, significant developments have been taking place in high-dimensional data analysis, driven primarily by a wide range of applications in many fields such as genomics, signal processing, and environmental studies. Statistical techniques such as dimension reduction and variable selection play important roles in high dimensional data analysis. Sufficient dimension reduction provides a way to find the reduced space of the original space without a parametric model. This method has been widely applied in many scientific fields such as genetics, brain imaging analysis, econometrics, environmental sciences, etc. …

The Undergraduate 2016, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

Building A Foundation For Goal-Attainment And Problem-Solving In Interdisciplinary Studies: Reimagining Web-Based Core Curriculum Through A Classical Lens, Said Jardaneh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The core curriculum of interdisciplinary studies undergraduate programs represents interdisciplinarity as a consciously applied process, whether individually or collaboratively, of drawing and integrating insights from various disciplinary perspectives toward complex problem-solving and innovation. At the front-end of these programs students are often introduced to interdisciplinarity through terminology, metaphors, concepts, and context that are intended to familiarize them with the process. This initiation usually precedes what will ultimately entail a limited number of upper-division courses within the several disciplines or areas that will encompass a unique plan of study characterized by its breadth. The philosophy underlying current pedagogy in interdisciplinary studies …

Trade-Offs Between Three Forest Ecosystem Services Across The State Of New Hampshire, Usa: Timber, Carbon, And Albedo, David A. Lutz, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Mackenzie B. Murphy, Mark E. Borsuk

Dartmouth Scholarship

Forests are more frequently being managed to store and sequester carbon for the purposes of climate change mitigation. Generally, this practice involves long-term conservation of intact mature forests and/or reductions in the frequency and intensity of timber harvests. However, incorporating the influence of forest surface albedo often suggests that long rotation lengths may not always be optimal in mitigating climate change in forests characterized by frequent snowfall. To address this, we investigated trade-offs between three ecosystem services: carbon storage, albedo-related radiative forcing, and timber provisioning. We calculated optimal rotation length at 498 diverse Forest Inventory and Analysis forest sites in …

Checklist Of The Dolichopodidae (Diptera, Brachycera) Of Turkey, Alper Tonguç, Igor Grichanov, Stefan Naglis

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The first checklist of the Dolichopodidae of Turkey is presented. A total of 187 species and one subspecies belonging to 35 genera are listed. The type locality and the distribution in Turkey for each species are given.

Validation Of Trnsys Modelling For A Fixed Slope Photovoltaic Panel, Kant Kanyarusoke, Jasson Gryzagoridis, Graeme Oliver

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

TRNSYS stands for transient system simulation software. This paper describes a procedure that was used to validate a TRNSYS model for estimating electricity yields from a fixed slope photovoltaic (PV) panel. The objective was to find how close to reality predicted energy yield for a specified panel can be, at a location near one of the weather stations listed in the software's database. The software was used to predict daily total incident radiation on a horizontal plane and electrical energy yields from a 90 Wp panel when sloped at 34$^{\circ}$ facing north at a test site in Cape Town, South …

Tracing Hydrocarbon Contamination Through Hyperalkaline Environments In The Calumet Region Of Southeastern Chicago, Kathryn Ann Quesnell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Calumet region of Southeastern Chicago was once known for industrialization, which left pollution as its legacy. Disposal of slag and other industrial wastes occurred in nearby wetlands in attempt to create areas suitable for future development. The waste creates an unpredictable, heterogeneous geology and a unique hyperalkaline environment. Upgradient to the field site is a former coking facility, where coke, creosote, and coal weather openly on the ground. Hydrocarbons weather into characteristic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used to create a fingerprint and correlate them to their original parent compound. This investigation identified PAHs present in the …