Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Constructing Planetary Citizens Through Ecopedagogy In U.S. Social Studies Standards, Madeline Anne Rainey

Master's Theses

The world is in the age of the Anthropocene, where humans are impacting the environment to disastrous effects. The capitalist economy, promoting neoliberal policies of mass consumption, has exacerbated the world's environmental deterioration and social inequity. The rights and responsibilities people hold have been rapidly changing with the fourth industrial revolution. Globalization and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have further expanded notions of citizenship. While there have been numerous attempts to bring the environment into schools, it has not emphasized what this crisis deserves. Ecopedagogy, as a critical theory, explicitly examines the interplay between environmental and social problems and challenges …

Valuing Angling On Reservoirs Using Benefit Transfer, Richard Melstrom, Mark A. Kaemingk, John C. Whitehead, Nicholas W. Cole, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Economic assessments are rarely applied to inland recreational fisheries for management purposes, especially when compared to fish, habitat, and creel assessments, yet economic assessments can provide critical information for management decisions. We provide a brief overview of economic value, key terminology, and existing economic techniques to address these issues. Benefit transfer, a technique used to measure economic value when an original analysis is not practicable, is conducted by drawing on existing estimates of economic value in similar contexts. We describe an application of benefit transfer to measure the economic value of several recreational fisheries in Nebraska, USA. We examine two …

Chicago Community Area Data, 1930-2010, Nate Falling, Jacob Nelson, Miguel Torres, Richard T. Melstrom

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We are releasing a set of community area
statistics collected from fact book and census
profile data series. These statistics are in the file
Chicago_Community_Area_Data_1930-2010,
which is available from the attached dataset. The statistics do not reflect all of the
data contained in the historical sources.
Additional digitized data can be found at
https://robparal.com/chicago-data/.

Healing Earth In A Time Of Crisis: Curriculum For Integral Ecology, Caleb Steindam

Dissertations

This intrinsic multiple case study examined secondary- and university-level educators’ experiences teaching with Healing Earth, a curriculum developed by the International Jesuit Ecology Project at Loyola University Chicago, which merges scientific, social, spiritual, and ethical analyses of pressing ecological issues. Based on the conceptual framework of integral ecology, Healing Earth is a response to Pope Francis’s (2015a) call for “a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature” (§215).

This study primarily consisted of in-depth interviews with educators who have used Healing Earth in a variety of secondary and post-secondary Catholic educational contexts. A …

Hemingway, Sartre, And Secularization: Finding Religion Without God, Marcos Antonio Norris

Dissertations

This dissertation intervenes in the critical debate over Ernest Hemingway’s religious orientation. One camp of Hemingway scholars argues that he was a practicing Catholic, while the other camp argues that Hemingway was an existential atheist. Rather than side with either camp in this binary debate, my research offers a third option that bridges the gap between these opposing positions. Examining Hemingway’s life and works through the eyes of contemporary political philosopher Giorgio Agamben, I argue that Hemingway is, properly speaking, neither a secularist nor a theist, but a secularized theist, whose “religion” takes the form of masculine volition, or sovereign, …

Secularism, The Oxford Movement, And Religious Aesthetics In John Keble, Christina Rossetti, Adelaide Anne Procter, And Gerard Manley Hopkins, Mary Harmon

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between secularism and the development of Oxford Movement poetry. The members of the movement sought to restore pre-Reformation religious practices in the Anglican Church while maintaining its distinctiveness from the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, which led to the development of unique liturgy, architecture, hymns, and poetry, among other art forms. I argue that secularism simultaneously made the movement more possible while also making it more unstable. Secularism gave the theologians and poets of the movement enough freedom to borrow from older Christian traditions, yet the movement failed to revive the Anglican Church (several members …

Addressing Environmental Gentrification: Improving Environmental Health For Children And Youth Without Displacement, Tania Schusler, Amy Krings

Center for the Human Rights of Children

This research brief aims to consider how community members and policies might improve environmental amenities within contaminated communities without displacing existing residents. To this end, we will first introduce a concept known as environmental gentrification. We will then summarize some of the existing literature that explores the relationships between urban greening and brownfield redevelopment projects in relation to gentrification. Brownfields refer to properties where the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant may complicate the property’s expansion, redevelopment, or reuse (https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/overview-brownfields- program). Our review of literature indicates that the degree of gentrification associated with sustainable development …

Responses Of Daphnia Magna To Chronic Exposure Of Cadmium And Nickel Mixtures, Edgar Pérez, Tham C. Hoang

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The present study assessed the chronic toxicity of cadmium (Cd) and nickel (Ni) mixtures to Daphnia magna. Using a titration design, Ni concentrations of 20, 40, 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 μg/L were tested alone and simultaneously titrated in increments against a constant concentration of 1.5 μg/L Cd. The results demonstrated that Cd at 1.5 μg/L was highly toxic to D. magna, and Ni alone concentrations ≥80 μg/L were toxic to D. magna survival, reproduction, and growth. No Ni alone concentration was found to induce a toxic effect on undeveloped embryos and the time to first brood. …

Rossby Wave Breaking And Isentropic Stratosphere‐Troposphere Exchange During 1981–2015 In The Northern Hemisphere, Ping Jing, Swarnali Banerjee

Mathematics and Statistics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

To better understand the potential effects of climate change on atmospheric dynamics, this paper studies Rossby wave breaking and isentropic stratosphere‐troposphere exchange (STE) in the Northern Hemisphere between 320 and 380 K during 1981–2015 using the Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application version 2 data. The isentropic STE is estimated using Contour Advection. Our results show that anticyclonic wave breaking events have become more frequent, especially in summer at higher isentropic surfaces, and cyclonic wave breaking events have become less frequent at 320 K. The anticyclonic wave breaking has shifted poleward in summer. The isentropic STE is found to …

Microplastic Ingestion By Daphnia Magna And Its Enhancement On Algal Growth, Patrick M. Canniff, Tham C. Hoang

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The rapid increase in plastic use over the last few decades has resulted in plastic pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems. However, more attention has been paid to plastic pollution in marine ecosystems than to freshwater ecosystems. This research determined microplastic ingestion by Daphnia magna and the potential effect of microplastics on the organism's survival and reproduction. The study also examined the potential of microplastics to enhance algal growth in support of understanding effects of microplastic ingestion on the organism. When exposed to 25, 50, and 100 mg/L fluorescent green polyethylene microbeads at size of 63–75 μm, D. …

Harvesting Invasive Plants To Reduce Nutrient Loads And Produce Bioenergy: An Assessment Of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands, Brendan D. Carson, Shane C. Lishawa, Nancy C. Tuchman, Andrew M. Monks, Beth A. Lawrence, Dennis A. Albert

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Laurentian Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCWs), dominant emergent invasive plants are expanding their ranges and compromising the unique habitat and ecosystem service values that these ecosystems provide. Herbiciding and burning to control invasive plants have not been effective in part because neither strategy addresses the most common root cause of invasion, nutrient enrichment. Mechanical harvesting is an alternative approach that removes tissue‐bound phosphorus and nitrogen and can increase wetland plant diversity and aquatic connectivity between wetland and lacustrine systems. In this study, we used data from three years of Great Lakes‐wide wetland plant surveys, published literature, and bioenergy analyses …

Organizing Under Austerity: How Residents’ Concerns Became The Flint Water Crisis, Amy Krings, Dana Kornberg, Erin Lane

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

What might it take for politically marginalized residents to challenge cuts in public spending that threaten to harm their health and wellbeing? Specifically, how did residents of Flint, Michigan contribute to the decision of an austerity regime, which was not accountable to them, to spend millions to switch to a safe water source? Relying on evidence from key interviews and newspaper accounts, we examine the influence and limitations of residents and grassroots groups during the 18-month period between April 2014 and October 2015 when the city drew its water from the Flint River. We find that citizen complaints alone were …

The Critically Endangered Forest Owlet Heteroglaux Blewitti Is Nested Within The Currently Recognized Athene Clade: A Century-Old Debate Addressed, Pankaj Koparde, Prachi Mehta, Sushma Reddy, Uma Ramakrishnan, Shomita Mukherjee, V. V. Robin

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Range-restricted species generally have specific niche requirements and may often have unique evolutionary histories. Unfortunately, many of these species severely lack basic research, resulting in poor conservation strategies. The phylogenetic relationship of the Critically Endangered Forest Owlet Heteroglaux blewitti has been the subject of a century-old debate. The current classifications based on non-phylogenetic comparisons of morphology place the small owls of Asia into three genera, namely, Athene, Glaucidium, and Heteroglaux. Based on morphological and anatomical data, H. blewitti has been alternatively hypothesized to belong within Athene, Glaucidium, or its own monotypic genus Heteroglaux. …

Chronic Effects Of Lead Exposure On Topsmelt Fish (Atherinops Affinis): Influence Of Salinity, Organism Age, And Relative Sensitivity To Other Marine Fish, Erik J. Reynolds, Tham C. Hoang, D. Scott Smith, Jasim M. Chowdhury

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of salinity and organism age on the chronic toxicity of waterborne lead (Pb) to Atherinops affinis and to compare the relative Pb sensitivity of A. affinis with other marine species. Chronic Pb exposure experiments were conducted in a water flow‐through testing system. Survival, standard length, dry weight, and tissue Pb concentration were measured and lethal concentrations (LC), effective concentrations (EC), and bioconcentration factor (BCF) were calculated. In general, increasing salinity and organism age decreased Pb toxicity. The LC50s for larval fish at 14 and 28 ppt salinity were 15.1 and …

Predicted Suitable Habitat Declines For Midwestern United States Amphibians Under Future Climate And Land-Use Change Scenarios, Brock Struecker, Joseph Milanovich

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

With current declines of vertebrate taxa meeting or exceeding those of historic mass extinction events, there is a growing need to investigate the main drivers of losses. Two of the main drivers of declines are global climate and land-use changes, both affecting multiple groups of taxa. Amphibians are at great risk from these two drivers of change and investigations into the impact of future change could assist with the formation of conservation plans to mitigate losses. Forecasting changes in suitable habitat with ecological niche modeling serves as a useful tool to begin to understand how species may respond to anthropogenic …

Multivariate Statistical Analyses Of Air Pollutants And Meteorology In Chicago During Summers 2010–2012, Katrina Binaku, Martina Schmeling

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Aerosol, trace gas, and meteorological data were collected in Chicago, Illinois during 2010–2012 summer air studies. Ozone, nitrogen oxides, acetate, formate, chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and oxalate concentrations as well as temperature, wind speed, wind direction, and humidity data were explored by both principal component analysis (PCA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Multivariate statistical techniques were applied to uncover existing relationships between meteorology and air pollutant concentrations and also reduce data dimensions.

In PCA, principal components (PC) revealed a relationship of ozone and nitrate concentrations with respect to temperature and humidity, coupled with transport of species from the south in relation …

Identifying Worldviews On Corporate Sustainability: A Content Analysis Of Corporate Sustainability Reports, Nancy E. Landrum, Brian M. Ohsowski

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Companies commonly issue sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. This study seeks to understand worldviews of corporate sustainability, or the corporate message conveyed regarding what sustainability or CSR is and how to enact it. Content analysis of corporate sustainability reports is used to position each company report within stages of corporate sustainability. Results reveal that there are multiple coexisting worldviews of corporate sustainability, but the most dominant worldview is focused on the business case for sustainability, a position anchored in the weak sustainability paradigm. We contend that the business case and weak sustainability advanced in corporate sustainability reports and …

Postitive Youth Development, Tania Schusler, Jacqueline Davis-Manigaulte, Amy Cutter-Mackenzie

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

• Positive youth development is an assets-based approach for cultivating competencies essential to personal well-being.

• When environmental education enables children and youths to contribute to improving urban environments, it can not only increase cities' sustainability and resilience but also foster young people's personal growth.

• Participatory action research, peer education, and youth civic engagement are three educational approaches that can lead to positive change for both urban environments and youths living within them.

Ecological Restoration, Elizabeth P. Mccann, Tania Schusler

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Ecological restoration involves revitalizing neglected, degraded, damaged, or destroyed habitats.

• Restoration-based education involves learners in ecological restoration with an intentional educational purpose.

• Urban restoration-based education can enhance personal and community well-being while improving ecosystem services in degraded environments.

• Restoration-based education can benefit from consciously forming partner ships, integrating local values alongside socioeconomic and ecological considerations, and being sensitive to issues of power and diverse cultures.

Chronic Toxicity Of Binary‐Metal Mixtures Of Cadmium And Zinc To Daphnia Magna, Edgar Pérez, Tham C. Hoang

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The present study characterized the chronic effect of binary‐metal mixtures of cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) on Daphnia magna. The titration design was chosen to characterize the 21‐d chronic effects of the binary‐metal mixtures on survival, growth, reproduction, and metal accumulation in D. magna. Using this design, increasing concentrations of Zn (10, 20, 40, 80, 120, 160, and 200 μg/L) were titrated against a constant concentration of 1.5 μg/L Cd. The results demonstrated that Cd was highly toxic to D. magna. In a mixture with Cd and Zn, sublethal concentrations of 10 and 20 μg/L Zn were …

Developing Integral Ecologists: Description And Analysis Of The State Of Environmental Education At Jesuit High Schools In Light Of Religious Ecological Commitments And Science Education Research, Philip Nahlik Nahlik

Master's Theses

This research responds to numerous calls to focus more immediately and deeply on environmental education in the context of local communities. Jesuit high schools offer a rich network to study this movement, as schools with long histories of scholarly and moral concerns for forming students to think about and act on worldwide problems. The key research question is: How can science education research inform environmental education in these schools? The research methodology includes data collection and analysis of publicly-accessible website data, phone interviews with teachers, and a literature review of science education research. Recommendations are given for vertically aligning the …

Wetland Invasion By Typha×Glauca Increases Soil Methane Emissions, Beth A. Lawrence, Shane Lishawa, Nancy Tuchman, Nia Hurst, Buck T. Castillo

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Wetland invasion by monotypic dominant plants can alter the physicochemical and biological properties of soils that affect methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. We examined the effects of Typha × glauca invasion on soil methane using laboratory incubation and controlled mesocosm experiments. Typha-invaded soils collected from three Midwestern (USA) wetlands had greater methane production potential during laboratory incubation than soils dominated by native wet meadow vegetation. Ten years post-invasion of native plant-dominated mesocosms, Typha increased methane emissions at least three-fold (native: 15.0 ± 10.5 mg CH₄-C m⁻² h⁻¹, median: 6.1 mg CH₄-C …

The Influence Of Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) Reef Restoration On Nitrogen Cycling In A Eutrophic Estuary., Michael Hassett

Master's Theses

Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are functionally extinct in the urbanized Hudson-Raritan estuary (HRE) in New York City, however, oyster restoration is promoted to mitigate nitrogen (N) pollution via oysters' filtration and excretion. Seasonally, I took 12 sediment cores (45 cm2) adjacent to and 10 m away from a recently constructed reef in the HRE. Cores were incubated in flow-through chambers with site water containing (1) no amendments, (2) 15N-ammonium, or (3) 15N-nitrate, from which I calculated coupled nitrification-denitrification and direct denitrification as isotope-enriched N2. Coupled denitrification was minimal at all sites while direct denitrification was elevated near the reef, suggesting organic …

Effects Of Contaminated St. Lucie River Saltwater Sediments On An Amphipod (Ampelisca Abdita) And A Hard-Shell Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria), Tham C. Hoang, Gary M. Rand

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The St. Lucie estuary (SLE) ecosystem in South Florida has been shown to be contaminated with metals and pesticides. Our earlier studies also showed that aquatic organisms, especially benthic species in the SLE ecosystem, might be potentially at high risk from copper (Cu) exposure. The objectives of this study were to conduct studies with separate groups of organisms exposed to seven field-collected sediment samples from the St. Lucie River according to standard procedures to evaluate toxicity and tissue concentrations of Cu and zinc (Zn). Short term and longer term whole sediment acute toxicity studies were performed with Ampelisca abdita and …

Network Technologies Used To Aggregate Environmental Data, Paul Stasiuk, Konstantin Läufer, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The goal of the Loyola Weather Service (lws) project is to design and build a system of functioning environmental monitoring widgets that can intelligently and autonomously control the environment around them based on set thresholds and triggers. The widgets will also have the ability to aggregate their data and easily display this data in various ways: through a user interface in the room that the widget is placed, via a web application, and programmatically via a RESTful web service.

Corporate Accountability: A Path-Goal Perspective, Nancy E. Landrum, Cynthia M. Daily

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Corporations are increasingly seeking corporate accountability. There have been a growing number of principles, standards, measurement tools, and guides for reporting, stakeholder engagement, and assurance to aid corporations; many of which are discussed here. Yet corporations are faced with a confusing array of competing protocols and a complex challenge in defining how to navigate the process to improve accountability. Path-goal theory offers a perspective which allows us to present a simplified 3-step path to guide corporations. However, path-goal theory also reveals problems inherent in the current approach, namely, an ambiguous situational context and lack of leadership that is directive, task-oriented, …

An Integral Theory Perspective On The Firm, Nancy E. Landrum, Carolyn L. Gardner

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We propose that Ken Wilber’s (2000) integral theory can serve as a new paradigm by which to view the organization and present a broader view of the roles and responsibilities of business. Through an integral theory of the firm, we see individual desires, capabilities and limitations, economic profit and humanitarian interest working in synergy to maximize firm performance. This holistic approach is innovative and is presented as a way to redefine the existence, boundaries, and organization of the firm and to show how organizations can become more ecologically sustainable, socially responsible, and economically competitive. An integral theory of the firm …

Is Strategic Management (Still) Responsible For The Demise Of Society?, Nancy E. Landrum, Sandra Edwards

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Over fourteen years ago, Bill Richardson stated that modern strategic management is leading to the demise of society with its profit-maximization focus. Furthermore, there is criticism that strategic management research is lacking relevance for practitioners. In contrast to this criticism of academia, practitioners are increasingly engaged in sustainability-related activities and reporting and are moving beyond the historical focus on profits. This study examined trends in strategic management academic and practitioner publications since Richardson's claim. Since academicians are charged with educating future managers for the workforce, we sought to determine if academic strategic management research publications are reflecting the practitioner sustainability …

Environmental Attitudes And Knowledge: An International Comparison Among Business Students, Raymond Benton Jr., G. Ray Funkhouser

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article investigates international differences in environmental knowledge and attitudes among business administration students. The Environmental Knowledge and Attitude Scale, developed by Maloney, Ward, and Braucht (1975) and used by Synodinos (1990), was administered to 85 upperdivision business administration students at Loyola University Chicago and 111 upperdivision business students at the National University of Singapore. No significant differences were found between the two samples on the Knowledge, Concern, or Willingness to Act subscales. The United States students' higher mean score on the Actual Behavior subscale was significant but may only reflect relative possibilities for participation in environmental activities. Overall, the …