Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Seismic Successes And Failures In 1886 Charleston, James Stevenson Lyles

All Theses

The Charleston Earthquake of 1886 damaged every recorded masonry building on the Charleston Peninsula. Newer unreinforced masonry buildings experienced more extensive damage than older ones. A USGS survey of this phenomenon, produced in 1889 by Captain C. E. Dutton, concluded that this variation in damage was caused by the difference in seismicity between “made” ground and solid ground. A more recent study by Robinson and Talwani (1983) concluded that quality of materials and craftmanship in construction caused the variation in damage. This thesis assesses Charleston’s masonry buildings’ susceptibility to seismic damage by their orientation, date of construction, brick bond, use, …

Dis/Orienting 'Middle East': A Cart-Rhetorical Rhizomatic Mapping, Eda Ozyesilpinar

All Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the association between the geopolitical region Middle East and the unjust profiling of Islamic terrorism. I examine this connection from the lens of border-politics and deconstruct Western cartographic discourses that constructed the current misrepresentative and extensively totalizing identity of Middle East as the land of Muslim terrorists. My conjecture is framed around Karen Culcasi’s argument on how Middle East was re-invented in the discourse of Orientalism during the early twentieth century. To challenge the region’s current misrepresentative and unjust socio-spatial identity, I map how the region’s inherently othered identity under the European gaze of Orientalism has …

Evaluation Of Animal Manure-Based Compost As An Environmental Source Of Clostridium Difficile, Muthu Dharmasena

All Dissertations

The number of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) cases associated with healthcare and community is increasing. Increased isolation of this pathogen from environmental samples of soil, water, livestock animals and their feces, and produce suggests its dissemination in the environment. Identification, molecular characterization, and revealing the relationship of those isolates with human pathogenicity would be very helpful in understanding the epidemiology of CDI. Livestock manure is a rich source of nutrients for the growth of many crops, and composted manure is widely used as a fertilizer in organic farming. Microbial activities increase the temperature of composting materials, providing sufficient heat to …

U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Summer Fellowship: Gis Study Of Threatened And Endangered Species In Colorado, Jeanie Lai

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report provides a detailed account of my fellowship experience with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 6 Office in Lakewood, CO during the summer of 2017 made possible by the Student Conservation Association (SCA) sponsored by Directorate Fellows Program. The internship was completed in the Region 6’s Branch of Decision Support in Ecological Services under the direction of Spatial Ecologist John Guinotte. I was a GIS Technician tasked with work responsibilities involving listed threatened and endangered species relevant to the region. Those work responsibilities included refining spatial Area of Influence (AOI) ranges, updating databases, and creating a …

Examining The Effects Of National Monument Establishment On Surrounding Communities, Sarah Maloney

Sustainability and Social Justice

The Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, located in northern Maine just outside the town of Millinocket and created by President Obama in August 2016, has elicited vocal support and opposition. It has been heralded on one hand as a massive victory for conservation in Maine, and on the other hand, as an overreach by the federal government. This controversy was so widespread that it resulted in the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument being included in a Department of the Interior review of twenty-seven National Monuments during the summer of 2017, which was conducted by Secretary of the Interior …

Outbreak And Extinction Dynamics In Stochastic Populations, Garrett T. Nieddu

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Each piece of work herein examines nonlinear population dynamics using methods from deterministic dynamical systems, stochastic processes and statistical mechanics. This dissertation is the compilation of three independent – but related – pieces of work: the first investigates an isolated population that is capable of maintaining multiple carrying capacities; the second project examines a stochastic Ebola model with a zoonotic disease reservoir; and the third looks at a basic disease-invasion model to characterize outbreak vulnerability and the connectedness of supposedly separate populations.

Each of these three chapters explore the interplay between interconnected systems, without explicitly modeling the elements that are …

State-Reinforced Self-Governance Of Community-Managed Open Spaces In Chicago, Il And Louisville, Ky., Willow Sequoia Dietsch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As urban populations rise, small greenspaces, like gardens, are increasingly important to well-being of communities, and urban sustainability as a whole. However, past development, and current political and economic challenges encumber many cities in providing adequate greenspace. Cities like Chicago, IL and Louisville, KY have turned to the communities to manage greenspaces with help from partner organizations. This thesis examines these arrangements, and compares them in terms of several potential factors, (i.e. legal authority, responsibility, and support). Semi-structured interviews of important community greenspace stakeholders, and archival sources including original documents, news articles, and government reports, were used to understand the …

Hiding In The Archives: The History Of The Art History Department At Dominican University Of California, Maura Wilson

Senior Theses

When students register for classes, they often take for granted the subjects that they register for. To these students their classes represent a means to an end. However, in the midst of the registration rush, when the registering student takes a moment to consider the time and work that had to be invested in to establishing these subjects, they might find a new appreciation for the classes that they are taking. This work is a tribute to the work of Dominican University faculty members who had to work hard to bring to fruition the Art History department as it exists …

The Impact Of Student Engagement, Instructional Strategies, And Classroom Management On Self-Efficacy Of Christian Private School Teachers, Monica Cason

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to investigate variables that best predict Christian private school teachers’ efficacy. Specifically, the study addresses the question of how the predictor variables of gender, age, ethnicity, professional qualification, and school status relate to efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. The present study contributes to the limited resources for research concerning efficacy of a teacher. Approximately 138 teachers from northeast Florida Christian private schools completed the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale–Short Form. The instrument developed for assessing efficacy also targeted instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement. A target sample was …

The Environmental Effects Of Economic Growth Of China And India Its Impact On Brazil, Russia, India, China, And South Africa (Brics), Shonjira Chaiwat

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone discusses the environmental effects of economic growth, focusing on China and India and its relations with the BRICS pact. China and India have an impacted increasing population within their borders. With the increase of population and struggles for economic growth, these countries are creating a detrimental environment. In this capstone, I review the theory of ecological civilization as well as the Kuznet Curve Hypothesis. Although within the past few decades the BRICS have used unsustainable practices, they have signed the Paris Climate Agreement in order to combat climate change, which means they will use more sustainable methods for …

Morphologic Evolution Of A Nearshore Berm: One Year Monitoring At Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, Kristopher Jason Enfinger

Theses and Dissertations

Nourishment in the form of a nearhsore berm has become an important alternative method to protecting shorelines and introducing sediment back into the littoral system. In 2009, a nearshore berm was constructed at Ft. Myers Beach, Florida by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through maintenance dredging of a nearby navigational channel at Matanzas Pass. Constructed in the form of a nearshore bar, the berm was one of the shallowest placements in a low-wave energy setting. The Coastal Research Lab at the University of South Florida (USF-CRL) conducted field monitoring for the first four years after the construction. This project …

Full Circle: Building A Local Economy Through Pollinator Enterprises In The Food System, Catherine M. Demets

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

As the alternative food movement gains traction in mainstream American society, it is essential to document how enterprises in the movement are building robust local economies. As Eric Holt-Giménez (2010: 1) points out, the movement “has successfully shone the spotlight on hunger and food access in the US, created a drive for more local food, and gotten better policy from the federal to the local level,” yet no assurance exists that our society’s interest in food issues is not a passing fad. Rather, we should ask: “how do we turn initial reforms into lasting food system transformation?” (Holt-Giménez 2010: 1). …

Killing Martin County : Resiliency In A Central Appalachian Community., David Adam Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental stressors, anything that poses a threat to human and environmental health, are disproportionately located in marginalized communities. Coal extraction companies produce and concentrate environmental stressors in Central Appalachia, a sub-region of Appalachia with high poverty rates and economic hardship. Through destructive coal extraction methods, the coal industry has jeopardized Central Appalachian health and environmental quality. The coal industry’s power to cause destruction in Central Appalachia is a product of historical strategic initiatives. Since the late 1800s, the coal industry has forcefully altered the culture and ideology of Central Appalachians and developed relationships with local, state, and federal policymakers to …

There Is Water In The World For Us : The Environmental Theories Of Alice Walker., Janae Lewis Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of African-American Environmental thought responds to the ongoing erasure of Black experiences and their perspectives on nature. Mainstream environmentalism maintains a legacy of perceived innocence and incorruptibility towards the land, while Black Environmentalism demonstrates the limitations of that ideology. Limitations include the erasure of history in regards to stealing land from Indigenous people, the brutality of slavery, legalized lynching, forced removal from the land, exploitation in sharecropping, destruction of sacred lands, heavy pollution in urban centers, and harmful environmental policies. For Black and Indigenous peoples, it is impossible to view American soil as innocent. This project surveyed the …

Cladophora Sp. Biosorption Of Metal-Contaminated Water, Rosamond R.M.S. Tshumah-Mutingwende, Fumitake Takahashi, Ewa Cukrowska, Julien Lusilao-Makiese

Applied Environmental Research

Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) activities employing the mercury amal-gamationtechnique have resulted in a significant drop in the quality of water from Ngwabalozi River, Zimbabwe. Mercury levels as high as 0.31 mg L-1have been reported in its waters and the low river pH (pH 3) favors proliferation of microorganisms responsible for methylmercury (a potent neurotoxin) formation. Thus, removal of mercury from contaminated systems is a priority. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a low-cost batch reactor for the removal of mercury from mercury contaminated acidic waters tomeet the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 0.006 mg …

Nutrient Removal Performance On Domestic Wastewater Treatment Plants (Full Scale System) Between Tropical Humid And Cold Climates, Pongsak Noophan, Rawiwan Rodpho, Pimook Sonmee, Martha Hahn, Suthep Sirivitayaphakorn

Applied Environmental Research

Two full scale systems of oxidation ditches for domestic wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) were used as study sites: Phuket Province, southern Thailand (representative of tropical humid climates) and Plum Creek, Castle Rock, Colorado, USA (representative of cold climates). The treatment systems at both sites were designed for biological nutrient removal (BNR) fromextended activated sludge. Nitrogen is removed by nitrification-denitrification processes. The solid retention time (SRT) for both treatment plants was = 10 das recommended by theory for complete nitrification in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Influents and effluents from these sites were compared in respect to flow rate, biochemical oxygen …

Estimation Of Leachate Generated From Zimbabwe's Municipal Solid Wastes (Msw) Landfills Using A Simple Stochastic Water Balance Model, Andile B. Maqhuzu, Kunio Yoshikawa, Fumitake Takahashi

Applied Environmental Research

Landfilling remains the predominant component in the waste management hierarchy of most developing nations. The adoption of emerging waste management technologies and the use of recycling or composting is still in its infancy. Among several inadequacies of current waste management practices in Zimbabwe is the absence of sanitary disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills. As a result, the leachate generation rate and leachate characteristics are not routinely monitored. Such information is essential when assessing the impact of leachate on ground and surface water or a facility to which the leachate can be conveyed. Indiscriminate disposal of MSW at …

Geochemical And Sedimentological Analysis Of Marine Sediments From Odp Site 696 And Implications For The Onset Of Antarctic Glaciation, Allison Paige Lepp

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) approximately 34 million years ago (Ma) marks the shift from the warm greenhouse conditions of the Eocene to today’s icehouse, and was accompanied by the establishment of the East and West Antarctic Ice Sheets. Details surrounding the timing, magnitude, and regional expansion of glaciation are poorly constrained primarily due to low core recovery and lack of reliable age models, and therefore warrant continued investigation. A recently updated age model applied to Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 696, located in the northwest sector of the Weddell Sea, indicates Core 55R represents a high-recovery succession encompassing the EOT. …

Using Molecular Markers To Trace The Population History Of Volant Organisms At Differing Temporal Scales, Noah A. Burg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using molecular markers to test phylogenetic and phylogeographic hypotheses is critical for tracking the population origin of invasive, introduced species (Chapter 2, Chapter 4) and to identify the systematic relationships of disparate lineages at both shallow and deep evolutionary time scales (Chapters 3, Chapter 4). In this thesis, Sanger Sequencing was used to generate datasets based on fresh and preserved tissue from specimens collected in the field, as well as museum tissue vouchers granted from various institutions in the US and Europe. In combining these source materials, data were generated for three focal studies: 1) In the first research section …

Merging Subsistence Perspective And Buen Vivir: An Alternative To Damming The Mekong, Aaron B. Eisenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper will examine the planned development on the Mekong by looking at the historical, political, and economic reasons why largescale hydroelectric dams are now being pushed upon the river. It will then critique the international state sovereignty system focusing directly on the Mekong River Commission and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for their inabilities to mitigate environmental impact while pursuing development. I analyze how the “global city” discourse cannot rationally be applied to Southeast Asia and how the urban-rural divide in Southeast Asia creates only greater problems as dam production on the Mekong accelerates. I propose an alternative …

Speech Excerpts: Protecting Our Ancient Forests

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Excerpt from speeches by Governor Bill Clinton regarding the protection of the ancient forests of the Pacific North West and lumber industry jobs. . Printed on Bill Clinton for President Committee letterhead. No date given.

The Statesman, V. 61, I. 27, Stony Brook University

Stony Brook Statesman-Sucolian

v. 61, i. 27;

Public Perception & The Planet: Correlation Between College Students’ Media Exposure To Contradictory News And Their Perceptions Of Climate Change, Kasey Andrade

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Public perception of global warming can be defined by a combination of factors, including certainty that most scientists think global warming is happening, certainty about the human causes of global warming, certainty about the occurrence of global warming, and concern about global warming impact (Feldman, Maibach, Roser-Renouf, & Leiserowitz, 2012). The media plays a critical role in communicating scientific findings to the public and can create an informational bias by providing coverage on viewpoints that do not align with the scientific consensus on climate change. The purpose of this project was to examine if there is a correlation between college …

Emerging Discourses Of Gender And Women In The National Park Service: An Ecofeminist Analysis Of Ranger Newsletter From 1979 To 1999, Emily Sapp

Honors Projects

The key focus of this research is based in ecofeminism, the worldview that the oppression of women is connected to the oppression of nature. This research studies the National Park Service, through the Association of National Park Ranger’s newsletter/magazine Ranger. The study attempts to answer the questions how do issues about gender equality emerge throughout the history of the National Park Service, as looking through the newsletter Ranger? How do ideas of femininity and masculinity emerge and are represented in Ranger throughout time? The study is significant in that it is representative of the NPS, and by revealing …

Nature Knows No Borders: International Law And Environmental Measures In Resolving Maritime Boundary Disputes, Achmad Gusman Siswandi

Indonesian Journal of International Law

Maritime boundary delimitation has always been a challenging issue at least for three reasons. Firstly, it has to take into account the expansion of territorial sovereignty and sovereign rights at sea, notably since the adoption of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Secondly, it does not only involve legal aspects but also technical ones, and not every state has adequate resources to deal with technical matters. Thirdly, it is politically sensitive at times given the strategic role of oceans in national defense and security. Thus, it is not surprising that many maritime boundary disputes …

Disequilibrium Of Fire-Prone Forests Sets The Stage For A Rapid Decline In Conifer Dominance During The 21st Century, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Charles Maxwell, Melissa S. Lucash, Robert M. Scheller, Danelle M. Laflower, Adam D. Miller, Alan J. Tepley, Howard E. Epstein, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Jonathan R. Thompson

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

As trees are long-lived organisms, the impacts of climate change on forest communities may not be apparent on the time scale of years to decades. While lagged responses to environmental change are common in forested systems, potential for abrupt transitions under climate change may occur in environments where alternative vegetation states are influenced by disturbances, such as fire. The Klamath mountains (northern California and southwest Oregon, USA) are currently dominated by carbon rich and hyper-diverse temperate conifer forests, but climate change could disrupt the mechanisms promoting forest stability– regeneration and fire tolerance— via shifts in the fire regime in conjunction …

Front Matter, Vol. 78 No. 1

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Urban Heat Islands In Kentucky, Logan Mitchell

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The purpose of this research is to increase understanding of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in Kentucky by studying its three largest cities: Louisville, Lexington, and Bowling Green. By examining the UHIs of these three cities, two major attributes can be determined: if there is a relationship between the size of the city by population and the UHI magnitude, and if UHI magnitude follows any diurnal and/or seasonal cycles. Data was collected from weather stations within the three major cities, as well as from weather stations located in the rural areas surrounding them. The length of the time series …

Table Of Contents

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding Hope In The Face Of Climate Change: Lessons From Costa Rican Activists, Lindsay Ashton

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Four years of Environmental Studies and Climate Change Studies classes have left me with a deep understanding of climate change and the ways it affects the world around us. However, recognizing the complexity and magnitude of this global problem is undeniably overwhelming. After long days in the classroom, learning about the latest news, statistics, economic roadblocks, political inaction, and social consequences of climate change it is difficult for me and my classmates to not feel discouraged and anxious about the future. Climate change education is essential, but these negative feelings aren’t productive to the actions we must take to solve …