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Articles 1 - 16 of 16
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Institutional Changes In Western Michigan University For Incorporation Of Education For Sustainability, Saman Khan
Institutional Changes In Western Michigan University For Incorporation Of Education For Sustainability, Saman Khan
Dissertations
Higher Education institutions (HEIs) have the potential to be significant contributors in the pursuit of a sustainable world through the incorporation of Education for Sustainability (EFS). However, HEIs are entrenched with structures and values that are often resistant to change. The literature reveals that instructors’ beliefs and institutional contexts are the two main factors that impact the implementation of institutional change for sustainability education. Western Michigan University (WMU) has created new required curriculum “WMU Essential Studies” (WES) for undergraduate students and they have targeted sustainability as an essential learning outcome, by integrating and applying it in content courses. Using a …
Building Institutional Knowledge Into Student Leaders: A Repository Of Student-Led Climate Change Initiatives At Wmu, Aida Amirul Bahri
Building Institutional Knowledge Into Student Leaders: A Repository Of Student-Led Climate Change Initiatives At Wmu, Aida Amirul Bahri
Honors Theses
Students and registered student organizations (RSO) at Western Michigan University (WMU) have increasingly shown interest in climate change and environmental issues. However, student leadership roles are often held short-term due to the rapid displacement cycle of student bodies caused by graduation, institution transfers and other factors. New leaders often struggle with picking up where former students left off and advancing previously established efforts. WMU student groups lack an effective system of maintaining institutional knowledge, including student-led campaigns and accomplishments, to support a smoother transition that would empower student leaders and build upon prior progress. The goal of this project is …
Is Niagara Falls Fake?, Daniel Macfarlane
Is Niagara Falls Fake?, Daniel Macfarlane
Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA)
Niagara Falls became a type of machine blending the organic and mechanical, a hybrid envirotechnical infrastructure that is as much artificial as natural.
Rain Gardens: The Return Of Ecosystem Services, Katie Dehaan
Rain Gardens: The Return Of Ecosystem Services, Katie Dehaan
Honors Theses
In the modern world impervious surfaces, especially in urban areas, abound. These include roads, highways, sidewalks, parking lots, and roofs that have replaced permeable surfaces, mainly open land, forests, and wetlands. Rainwater runs off of these surfaces collecting pollutants on its way to permeable areas. Rain gardens collect and process rainwater. Native plants with deep root systems process large volumes of rainwater and the microorganisms living in the soils and roots can process pollutants. The purpose of my research was to find out what variables affect species presence or absence in rain gardens. Species presence or absence at the time …
A Comparison Of Frankenbrew And Traditionally Manufactured Brewing Equipment, Daniel King
A Comparison Of Frankenbrew And Traditionally Manufactured Brewing Equipment, Daniel King
Honors Theses
Opening a new business can be a daunting task. Between the legal paperwork, securing the best perceived location, hiring new employees, the investment can require the use of a life savings. In the brewing industry, this investment can be amplified by the cost of purchasing production scale brewing equipment. Because of this, many start-up brewing operations have turned to the use of Frankenbrew equipment within their brewing process. The term “Frankenbrew” was coined by Tom Hennessy of Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery. The term refers to any equipment incorporated into a brewery that was not originally intended for that purpose, …
Assessing Land Deformation And Sea Encroachment In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Esayas Gebremichael
Assessing Land Deformation And Sea Encroachment In The Nile Delta, Egypt, Esayas Gebremichael
Research and Creative Activities Poster Day
Persistent scatterer interferometric analyses were conducted on a stack of 84 Envisat ASAR scenes spanning 7 years (2004 to 2010) over the entire Nile Delta of Egypt and surroundings to monitor the ongoing spatial and temporal land deformation, identify the factors controlling the deformation, and model the interplay between sea level rise and land subsidence to identify areas and populations threatened by sea encroachment by the end of the 21st century. Findings include: (1) general patterns of subsidence in the northern delta, near-steady (none) subsidence in the southern delta, separated by a previously mapped flexure zone undergoing uplift; (2) high …
Biodiversity Of Larval And Adult Dragonflies And Damselflies (Odonata) Of Interdunal Wetlands At Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area, Devon Volz
Honors Theses
The effects of climate change on insects in the United States have yet to be fully understood. Research on the insect populations of Lake Michigan’s interdunal wetlands has been particularly limited. As these vibrant habitats are already at risk of destruction due to increased development, it is vital to have a working knowledge of the species that are living in the habitat. However, to date, there have been no studies on assemblages of interdunal wetlands in Michigan. Examining community compositions is critical to understanding the ecological problems that could occur in the future. This study is the first to look …
How To Plan, Budget, Write, And Implement A Student Sustainability Grant, Annalisa Wilder
How To Plan, Budget, Write, And Implement A Student Sustainability Grant, Annalisa Wilder
Honors Theses
The Student Sustainability Grant program was created to give students valuable grant writing experience and to promote a culture of sustainability on Western Michigan University’s campus. Despite the enormous opportunity that this program provides, few students apply for the grants with their sustainable ideas. Even fewer students are able to fully complete the projects, research, and initiatives that receive funding. In order to help increase the number of grants that are fully implemented and to provide students interested in writing a grant with a useful resource, this guide was created. This ‘how-to manual’ provides an undergraduate student’s perspective on the …
Wind Oscillator For Power Genration, Rs Vewen Ramasamy
Wind Oscillator For Power Genration, Rs Vewen Ramasamy
Masters Theses
This thesis describes in detail the design, mechanical, electrical and software considerations in developing a working model for the non-conventional wind power converter called Wind Oscillator. This was based on the concept developed and patented by Tianshu Liu in the paper “Wind Oscillator and Rotor for Power Generation”[1]. In order to verify the practicality of this idea, a working model of the Wind Oscillator was designed, built and tested in the Western Michigan University wind tunnel facility. LabVIEW data acquisition and photogrammetry was performed on the model so as to evaluate the power generated by the Wind Oscillator and to …
Local Response To Climate Change: A Case Study Approach, Nora Gimpel
Local Response To Climate Change: A Case Study Approach, Nora Gimpel
Honors Theses
The scientific consensus on the causes and consequences of climate change is clear and experts continue to strongly recommend immediate mitigation and adaptation responses (IPCC, 2014). Responses to climate change are occurring at the international, national, and subnational level, but adaptation to climate change is also highly local. Local communities across the world are organizing groups and institutions to determine their best responses for local mitigation and adaptation actions. This study analyzed the formal local community organization, the Kalamazoo Climate Change Coalition (KCCC), and its structured activities in order to evaluate how Kalamazoo has responded to climate change. Methodology for …
An Integral Framework For Sustainable Building Design, Bushra Asfari
An Integral Framework For Sustainable Building Design, Bushra Asfari
Masters Theses
Selection of materials for building design is a delicate process hinged of a number of factors which can be cost or environmental related, depending on the objectives of the design. This process becomes more difficult when designers are faced with several material options for each building component. This thesis presents the design and development of a framework that enables designers understand the trade-off between cost and environmental related factors when selecting materials for building design. The framework is based on the integration of Autodesk Revit, Microsoft access, and modeling modified Harmony search multi-objective optimization tool adapted to account for material …
Increasing Sustainability By Going Paperless: A Wmu Case Study, James Amos, James Kison
Increasing Sustainability By Going Paperless: A Wmu Case Study, James Amos, James Kison
Research and Creative Activities Poster Day
This is a study analyzing the use of digital signatures to reduce paper consumption at WMU. The poster demonstrates ways in which technology promotes sustainability by saving time, fuel and paper.
The Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium’S (Gmic) Approach To Zero-Waste-To-Landfill (Zwtl), Nathan J. Christensen, Marylin Glass-Angeles
The Green Manufacturing Industrial Consortium’S (Gmic) Approach To Zero-Waste-To-Landfill (Zwtl), Nathan J. Christensen, Marylin Glass-Angeles
Research and Creative Activities Poster Day
Introduction: As organizations continually seek to reduce various forms of waste, some may seek to reduce their landfill impact and improve recycling and material disposal practices. Many organizations interested in reducing their landfill waste have embarked on a zero-waste-to-landfill (ZWTL) journey. This journey involves thoroughly exploring the landfill waste of an organization, reverse tracking the waste to its source, and establishing new practices and procedures for eliminating the source of waste from the landfill stream. The purpose of this poster is to describe the methodology used by the Green Manufacturing Initiative to assist companies on their ZWTL journey.
A Metaevaluation Of Energy Efficiency Evaluations, Brandy Brown
A Metaevaluation Of Energy Efficiency Evaluations, Brandy Brown
Dissertations
This study systematically reviews the methodological characteristics of energy efficiency evaluations and uses metaevaluation to assess its quality. Metaevaluation is used to systematically assess the quality of evaluation products, confirm that evaluations deliver sound findings and conclusions, are useful to the client, are credible, are ethically conducted, and are done as cost-effective as possible. The results of this study show that the ability to accurately assess evaluation for methodological quality using evaluations reports as a primary data source depends on the presence of detailed descriptions of evaluation methods. Furthermore, the study suggests that methodological variations of energy efficiency evaluations coalesce …
The Effects Of Replacing Dispersed Trash And Recycling Bins With Integrated Waste Receptacles On The Accuracy Of Waste Sorting In An Academic Building, Katherine J. Binder
The Effects Of Replacing Dispersed Trash And Recycling Bins With Integrated Waste Receptacles On The Accuracy Of Waste Sorting In An Academic Building, Katherine J. Binder
Masters Theses
Numerous researchers and theorists have attempted to explain the existence of the gap between the possession of environmental knowledge and awareness and the display of pro-environmental behavior (Glasser, 2007; Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002). Behavior analysis is uniquely aligned to contribute to this discussion through its emphasis on the role of controlling variables in behavior change. A growing number of behavioral research studies address the challenges of group-contingencies in an effort to solve real-world gaps (Lehman & Geller, 2004). This study was designed as a continuation of the line of behavioral research designed to increase recycling rates and also as an …
The Impact Of Driving Conditions On Phev Battery Performance, Nathan Christensen, John Patten, Steven Srivastava, Gary P. Nola
The Impact Of Driving Conditions On Phev Battery Performance, Nathan Christensen, John Patten, Steven Srivastava, Gary P. Nola
Green Manufacturing Research Journal
The battery performance of a modified Prius with a 5 kWh plug-in battery was documented for a year to determine the impact of environmental conditions and user attributes on vehicle performance. Both fuel economy and pure electrical efficiency were compared to ambient temperature. The fuel economy has a positive relationship with ambient temperature until approximately 70˚F where the efficiency begins to drop. Electrical performance has a positive linear relationship with ambient temperature. With the emergence of electric vehicles (EVs) and PHEVs from a variety of automotive manufacturers, information on EV and PHEV performance for consumers will become more important.