Environmental Health Commons^™

Quemando Leña En Guatemala: Salud, Sostenibilidad Y Costumbres, Sydney Underhill

World Languages and Cultures Senior Capstones

In the Central American country of Guatemala, firewood is an important fuel source. Eighty-eight percent of households in rural areas use wood stoves and open fires to cook and heat their homes. This tradition has fundamental roots in the culture and customs of Guatemala. Unfortunately, these methods contribute to air pollution. Consequently, it also results in smoke inhalation, which causes health problems. Additionally, the massive agriculture of other crops decreases the amount of firewood available to these households, affecting the sustainability of the resource. Some communities resist changing their use of firewood due to the profound nature that firewood holds …

Co-Crystallization Of Urea Granules For Slower Dissolution, Vidya Nagaraju, Carl Wassgren, Kingsly Ambrose

Graduate Industrial Research Symposium

Co-crystals are multicomponent crystals formed through hydrogen bond interactions. Co-crystallization, the process of developing cocrystals, serves as a versatile approach for discovering new solid forms of active ingredients (AIs) that can alter physical properties such as solubility, dissolution rates, and stability. These co-crystals can be produced through three main methods: solid-state methods, solution-based methods, and supercritical fluid methods. Recently, the solid-state (mechanochemical) method of developing cocrystals has gained more attention from researchers in the development of slow-release urea fertilizers. This technique can also be applied to the development of urease inhibitors. These multicomponent crystals present a potential solution to the …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Teaching Agroecology: Preparing Students For Navigating Uncharted Territory, Charles A. Francis, Steve Gliessman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Agroecologists understand that farming and food systems are more complex than the aggregation of their components. This realization drives our choices of learning strategies and activities that will prepare students for complexity and uncertainty. Our quest for a just, sustainable, and nutritious food system adequate to equitably serve everyone on the planet today and into the future is an enormous challenge. An undertaking of this magnitude will be met only with major adjustments informed by thoughtful teaching and practicing problem solving skills through a new educational lens. The principles of agroecology help us focus this lens on the wicked problems …

Soil Carbon Storage And Sequestration In Vermont Agriculture, Alissa C. White, Heather M. Darby, Donald Ross

UVM Extension Faculty Publications

In 2021, The State of Soil Health (SOSH) project measured indicators of soil health on 221 farm fields across the state of Vermont through a collaborative effort among many organizations. Soil carbon stocks to 30 cm depth were assessed on 191 of those fields. In this brief we share a summary of this new soil carbon stock data alongside data from a national assessment of soil carbon stocks performed by the NRCS from 2010 and highlight its relevance to current policy conversations within the state of Vermont.

Key Ideas

• The protection of existing soil carbon stocks and support for increased …

Effects Of Foliar Application Of Zno Nanoparticles On Lentil Production, Stress Level And Nutritional Seed Quality Under Field Conditions, Marek Kolenčík, Dávid Ernst, Matej Komár, Martin Urík, Martin Šebesta, Ľuba Ďurišová, Marek Bujdoš, Ivan Černý, Juraj Chlpík, Martin Juriga, Ramakanth Illa, Yu Qian, Huan Feng, Gabriela Kratošová, Karla Čech Barabaszová, Ladislav Ducsay, Elena Aydın

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Nanotechnology offers new opportunities for the development of novel materials and strategies that improve technology and industry. This applies especially to agriculture, and our previous field studies have indicated that zinc oxide nanoparticles provide promising nano-fertilizer dispersion in sustainable agriculture. However, little is known about the precise ZnO-NP effects on legumes. Herein, 1 mg·L⁻¹ ZnO-NP spray was dispersed on lentil plants to establish the direct NP effects on lentil production, seed nutritional quality, and stress response under field conditions. Although ZnO-NP exposure positively affected yield, thousand-seed weight and the number of pods per plant, there was no statistically significant …

Production And Characterization Of Twelve Different Biochars And Evaluating Their Effects On Soil Health And Plant Growth, Shagufta Gaffar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biochar has been a topic of growing interest in the scientific community. It is a product derived from carbon rich organic materials through the process of pyrolysis. It has received wide attention as a means to improve soil fertility and crop productivity, absorb pollutants in soil, and sequester carbon to mitigate climate change. Recent research on biochar explores its impacts on the environment with particular focus on use as a soil amendment in agriculture. Biochar produced from different biomass and under different production process effects the environmental and agronomic impacts of its application in different ways. This means biochar can …

Extreme Fire As A Management Tool To Combat Regime Shifts In The Range Of The Endangered American Burying Beetle, Alison K. Ludwig, Daniel R. Uden, Dirac Twidwell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study is focused on the population of federally-endangered American burying beetles in south-central Nebraska. It is focused on changes in land cover over time and at several levels of spatial scale, and how management efforts are impacting both the beetle and a changing landscape. Our findings are applicable to a large portion of the Great Plains, which is undergoing the same shift from grassland to woodland, and to areas where the beetle is still found.

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim …

Cloning And Characterization Of A Pyrethroid Pesticide Decomposing Esterase Gene, Est3385, From Rhodopseudomonas Palustris Psb-S, Xiangwen Luo, Deyong Zhang, Xuguo Zhou, Jiao Du, Songbai Zhang, Yong Liu

Entomology Faculty Publications

Full length open reading frame of pyrethroid detoxification gene, Est3385, contains 963 nucleotides. This gene was identified and cloned based on the genome sequence of Rhodopseudomonas palustris PSB-S available at the GneBank. The predicted amino acid sequence of Est3385 shared moderate identities (30–46%) with the known homologous esterases. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Est3385 was a member in the esterase family I. Recombinant Est3385 was heterologous expressed in E. coli, purified and characterized for its substrate specificity, kinetics and stability under various conditions. The optimal temperature and pH for Est3385 were 35 °C and 6.0, respectively. This enzyme could …

Investigating The Toxicity And Accumulation Of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D) And Glyphosate In Eisenia Fetida, Caitlin Lazurick, Nicole Lidzbarski, Rachel Owings, Jeff Brotherton, Edna Steele

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup^®, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It is also used in combination with another effective herbicide, 2,4-D, in the formulation called Enlist Duo^®. The EPA approved the use of Enlist Duo^® on certain crops including those genetically modified to be resistant to both herbicides. The predicted significant increase in the use of these herbicides raised concerns from the general public because both compounds have been classified as possibly or probably carcinogenic. Since herbicides are applied directly to vegetation, the safety of organisms that come in contact …

Reducing The Negative Human-Health Impacts Of Bioenergy Crop Emissions Through Region-Specific Crop Selection, William Christian Porter, Todd N. Rosenstiel, Alex Guenther, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Kelley Barsanti

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An expected global increase in bioenergy-crop cultivation as an alternative to fossil fuels will have consequences on both global climate and local air quality through changes in biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). While greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced through the substitution of next-generation bioenergy crops such as eucalyptus, giant reed, and switchgrass for fossil fuels, the choice of species has important ramifications for human health, potentially reducing the benefits of conversion due to increases in ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels as a result of large changes in biogenic emissions. Using the Community Earth System …

Soil Total Organic Carbon And Farmers’ Perceptions Associated With Bokashi Application In Cerro Punta, Panama, Emma Searson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sustainable use and maintenance of agricultural soils are important for maintaining long-term agricultural productivity and environmental quality. These issues are especially important in Cerro Punta, known as the breadbasket of Panama, which is experiencing severe erosion. While current practices and agrochemical usage damage soil health and function over time, application of organic material improves soil physic-chemical properties such as nutrient and total organic carbon (TOC) content. Bokashi, a fermented organic soil amendment with effective microorganisms (EM), is thought to be especially beneficial due to its ability to augment populations of soil microbes, which deliver plant-available nutrients to crops and improve …

Buckwheat As A Cover Crop In Florida: Mycorrhizal Status, Soil Analysis, And Economic Assessment, Daria Boglaienko

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyses buckwheat as a cover crop in Florida. The study was designed to demonstrate: soil enrichment with nutrients, mycorrhizal arbuscular fungi interactions, growth in different soil types, temperature limitations in Florida, and economic benefits for farmers. Buckwheat was planted at the FIU organic garden (Miami, FL) in early November and harvested in middle December. After incorporation of buckwheat residues, soil analyses indicated the ability of buckwheat to enrich soil with major nutrients, in particular, phosphorus. Symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increased inorganic phosphorus uptake and plant growth. Regression analysis on aboveground buckwheat biomass weight and soil characteristics showed …

Agricultural Development In The Northern Savannah Of Ghana, Tara N. Wood

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Since declaring independence in 1957, the Republic of Ghana has become a stable constitutional democracy. Ghana’s economy has grown substantially over the past decade, yet remains primarily agrarian, accounting for 50% of the total employment and 25% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Smallholder rain-fed farming using rudimentary technologies dominates the agricultural sector accounting for 80% of total agricultural production. Approximately 90% of smallholder farms are less than two hectares in size, and produce a diversity of crops. The major crops cultivated in Ghana include numerous cereal, root and tuber, leguminous, fruit, vegetable and industrial crops. Maize is the most …

Cadmium Accumulation And Distribution In Lettuce And Barley, Fardausi Akhter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential trace element and its environmental concentrations are increasing due to human activities. Edible plants can accumulate high concentrations of Cd, which could be toxic to humans. Understanding how and where Cd is stored in plants is important for ensuring lower concentration of Cd in the food. In this thesis, the accumulation and distribution of Cd in three agricultural plants, namely lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and radish (Raphanus sativus L.), were investigated with a focus on the potential mechanisms involved in the localization of Cd in the root. The …

Mycotoxins In Grains – Causes, Prevention And Control, Hester F. Vismer

INTSORMIL Presentations

Discusses mycotoxins, their effect on grain, mitigation considerations, and resulting human toxicology.

Science-Based Organic Farming 2006: Toward Local And Secure Food Systems, Charles A. Francis, Katja Koehler-Cole, Twyla Hansen, Peter Skelton

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Organic farming includes growing food and fiber—animals, agronomic crops, horticultural fruits and vegetables, related products—as one dynamic and rapidly evolving component of our complex U.S. food system. Even as more farmers are moving toward organic certification and participation in an environmentally sound and economically lucrative market, questions arise about the long-term social impacts and sustainability of a set of practices that has gone from a movement to an industry. Consolidations in the organic trade have brought multinational corporations to the table, as they have observed a grassroots activity that has grown by 20% per year for the past two decades, …

Atrazine Runoff In The Blue River Basin: Geomorphology, Rainfall, And Agronomic Practices, Kundan Dhakal

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Atrazine concentrations in the Big Blue River Basin (BRB) in Nebraska and Kansas periodically exceed the U.S. EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 3 µg L^-1. The present study is focused on watershed variables influencing surface runoff of atrazine. The assessment includes the impact of corn and sorghum planting progress (indicating atrazine application), rainfall, antecedent soil water content, and soil restrictive layer on stream-measured weekly atrazine load in independent BRB subwatersheds for 1997 - 2004. Maximum atrazine loading occurred after most of the corn had been planted but during sorghum planting from mid-May to early June, immediately following …

Pesticide Safety: A Photonovel, M. Susan Jones, The Kentucky Partnership For Farm Family Health & Safety

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.