Environmental Health Commons^™

Asia’S Waste Crisis, Havovi Joshi

Asian Management Insights

A festering issue.

Evidence For Multiple Potential Drivers Of Increased Phosphorus In High-Elevation Lakes, J. Scholz, Janice Brahney

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Total phosphorus (TP) concentrations have increased in many remote mountain waterbodies across the western United States, and reports of algal blooms in these systems have increased in frequency. Explanations for observed TP increases are uncertain, and typical landscape drivers, such as agricultural/urban runoff, are implausible. We investigated multiple atmospheric and terrestrial-P loading mechanisms to explain the observed decadal increase in TP, including a novel hypothesis that warming soils may lead to elevated P fluxes to receiving water bodies. Using northern Utah mountains ranges as a case study, we measured prospective inputs of total and bioavailable P via dust deposition. Terrestrial …

Understanding The Transport And Chemistry Of Indoor Air During Wildfire Smoke Events With Elliott Gall, Elliott T. Gall

PDXPLORES Podcast

Dr. Elliott Gall, Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Portland State University, studies indoor air quality in order to better understand how to improve building designs to promote health.

Wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity. So, too, are wildfire smoke events. Smoke from wildfires pose serious health risks. That is why the Environmental Protection Agency recommends individuals remain indoors during smoke events.

In this episode, Professor Gall discusses the importance of understanding the chemistry of wildfire smoke indoors and how smoke is transported into buildings.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Towards The Determination Of Estrone And 17Β-Estradiol In Dairy Cattle Waste Using Solid Phase And Stir Bar Sorptive Extractions With Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry And Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Pallavi Ragi

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Steroidal hormones are naturally produced as a part of many physiological processes and are excreted in the urine and feces of animals and humans. Farm animals in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are routinely implanted with synthetic and natural hormones to enhance growth and production, contributing significantly to environmental steroid hormone contamination. Every year around 49 tons of estrogens are generated by livestock waste in the United States alone. Due to rainfall and runoff, these steroid hormones reach the environment when animal waste is applied as manure. Studies show that estrogens and other steroidal hormones present in the surface waters …

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 …

Efficient Removal Of Lead Ions From Aqueous Media Using Sustainable Sources On Marine Algae, Hannah Namkoong, Erik Biehler, Gon Namkoong, Tarek M. Abdel-Fattah

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The goal of this project is to explore a new method to efficiently remove Pb(II) ions from water by processing Undaria pinnatifida into immobilized beads using sodium alginate and calcium chloride. The resulting biosorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Using immobilized U. pinnatifida, we investigated the effect of various factors on Pb(II) ion removal efficiency such as temperature, pH, ionic strength, time, and underlying biosorption mechanisms. For Pb(II) ion biosorption studies, Pb(II) ion biosorption data were obtained and analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. It …

Biofabrication Of Magnetic Nanoparticles And Their Use As Carriers For Pectinase And Xylanase, Shady S. Hassan, Brendan Duffy, Gwilym A. Williams, Amit Jaiswal

Articles

In this study, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized via exposure of fungal cell filtrate from Aspergillus flavus to aqueous iron ions. The extracellular synthesis of MNPs was monitored by UV–Vis spectrophotometry and showed an absorption peak at 310 nm. The morphology of MNPs was found to be flake-like, as confirmed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), while the average crystallite size was ∼16 nm, as determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was performed to confirm the presence of elemental Fe in the sample. Pectinase and xylanase were covalently immobilized on MNPs with efficiencies …

It Permeated Everything: A Lived Experience Of Slow Violence And Toxicological Disaster, Tara Jo Holmberg

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Impacts of disasters on individuals are dependent on numerous factors: local to international political dynamics, socioeconomics, geography, educational background, and outside support among others. Currently, much of disaster research focuses on those of natural origin, acute and large-scale environmental events, emergency management, and the ability of individuals, communities, and societies to prepare for, and recover from, likely known disasters in their region. However, there is a lack of data about individual experiences through ‘invisible’ anthropogenic disasters, especially those that fall under the umbrella of slow environmental violence (Davies, 2019; Rice, 2016). Through critical phenomenological autoethnography, I examine an individual experience …