Environmental Studies Commons^™

Synergies Among Environmental Science Research And Monitoring Networks: A Research Agenda, J. A. Jones, Peter M. Groffman, J. Blair, F. W. Davis, H. Dugan, E. E. Euskirchen, S. D. Frey, T. K. Harms, E. Hinckley, M. Kosmala, S. Loberg, S. Malone, K. Novick, S. Record, A. V. Rocha, B. L. Ruddell, E. H. Stanley, C. Sturtevant, A. Thorpe, T. White, W. R. Wieder, L. Zhai, K. Zhu

Advanced Science Research Center

Many research and monitoring networks in recent decades have provided publicly available data documenting environmental and ecological change, but little is known about the status of efforts to synthesize this information across networks. We convened a working group to assess ongoing and potential cross-network synthesis research and outline opportunities and challenges for the future, focusing on the US-based research network (the US Long-Term Ecological Research network, LTER) and monitoring network (the National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON). LTER-NEON cross-network research synergies arise from the potentials for LTER measurements, experiments, models, and observational studies to provide context and mechanisms for interpreting NEON …

Transnational Privilege During The Climate Crisis, Joanna Falla

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The idea of man-made climate change has been common knowledge in America for decades, yet there is still a significant number of people who are stead-fast climate deniers, regardless of scientific understanding. Past research has covered possible factors in one’s upbringing to cause climate change denials, such as political parties or religion. We seek to answer the curiosity of climate change denial with a much simpler variable: location. The Earth is covered in a myriad of ecosystems, each with its own regional climate. People live across the globe, so each has different values and principles about the environment based on …

Puerto Rico’S Electric Power System: An Analysis Of Contemporary Failures And The Opportunity To Rebuild A More Resilient Grid, Including The Development Of A Utility-Scale Solar Farm On The Island Municipality Of Culebra, Federico Sotomayor

Sustainability and Social Justice

Puerto Rico’s grid was decimated in 2017 after experiencing back-to-back hurricanes – Maria and Irma. Although the hurricanes caused tremendous damage and hardship to the island, it also created the right circumstances for the local energy landscape to transition toward a more resilient and sustainable model. Through an analysis of recent challenges by the local electric utility PREPA, and subsequent fallout from the hurricanes, we see that they now hold a unique opportunity to redeem themselves by taking advantage of catalyzed resources to rebuild a better system. One region that could greatly benefit from an improved and reimagined grid are …

Environmental Hygiene For Covid-19: It's All About The Mask, Daniel B. Oerther, Mona Shattell

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Uniformity In Place-Making: How A Focus On Image And Tradition Can Restrict Personal Expression And Repress Queer Identities, Julia Funk

Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Projects

This study looked at the University of Richmond campus, a campus built in a collegiate gothic style of and comprised of uniform buildings and highly managed landscaping. Specifically, it surveyed queer students at UR to ask about their experiences and feelings being on the UR campus. The survey found that a majority of the 44 surveyed students felt pressure to be or act straight, felt there was a lack of queer visibility on campus, felt most uncomfortable in the settings such as the Business School and Greek Life locations and most comfortable in personal housing. Overall, students liked how the …

On The Plastic-Free Path: Plastic-Free Living, Hannah Natzke

Honors Projects

What is living plastic-free like? This project explores the trials and triumphs of living a plastic-free life. Although this project is only mandates that the participant lives plastic-free for a month, it still investigates the challenges faced by longer plastic-free living.

Using Social Media To Assess The Impact Of Weather And Climate On Visitation To Outdoor Recreation Settings, Emily J. Wilkins

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

When people post photos on social media, these photos often contain information on the location, time, and date the photo was taken; all of this information is stored as metadata and is often never seen or used by the individuals posting the photos. This information can be used by researchers however, to understand the total number of visitors to parks and protected areas, as well as specific places people visit within those parks and protected areas. The first study in this dissertation reviews all the ways social media has been used to understand visitation and visitors’ experiences in parks. Researchers …

Constructing And Experiencing The Medieval Waddenland, Hugh R. Milner

Masters Theses

Part of the intertidal zone along the southeast portion of the North Sea, the Wadden Sea Coast runs from modern Friesland and Groningen in the Netherlands, through Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, and up the west coast of Jutland to just past Ribe. This project seeks to understand medieval responses to an environment in constant contact with the sea via documentary and historical sources. The people of the Wadden Sea Coast defined their landscape and their history in part with earthworks and water infrastructure, negotiating control of both anthropogenic and natural environments.

An Analysis Of Urban Densification And On-Road Carbon Dioxide Emissions Within Los Angeles County, Michael Brown

Master of Science in Environmental Sciences and Management Projects

In 2015, Los Angeles County formalized its climate action goals, working to significantly reduce on-road CO2 emissions in unincorporated zones. A strategy outlined by the county’s Climate Action Plan, is to increase mixed-use development to significantly reduce on-road CO2 emissions. The goal of this study is to quantify the relationship between changes in urban density, population density and on-road emissions across 30 selected cities in Los Angeles County using time series data from 2013 to 2017. Per capita on-road CO2 emissions is calculated using commuting data as a proxy. Changes in urban development density is recorded in acres, categorized as …

The Effects Of Multiple Stressors On Stream Communities: The Convergence Of Drought, Nutrient Pollution, And Invasive Species, Robert Joseph Fournier Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Freshwater systems experience multi-faceted degradation from a variety of ecological and environmental stressors. Three common stressors in these systems, drought, nutrient pollution, and invasive species, have wide-ranging effects on stream population- community- and ecosystem dynamics. We have a broad understanding of how each of these stressors works to influence stream systems independently. However, we still know relatively little about if, and how, these stressors might interact when they co-occur. Though drought is a natural part of many stream systems, all three of these stressors can be exacerbated or facilitated by anthropogenic actions. Accordingly, as human population and resource use continue …

An Analysis Of Wildlife Strikes To Aircraft In Brazil: 2011-2018, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Julius Keller, Chenyu Huang Ph.D.

Publications

Purpose: Aircraft accidents due to wildlife hazards have become a growing safety and economic problem to the Brazilian and international aviation industries. These safety occurrences have resulted in significant direct and indirect economic losses as well injuries and fatalities worldwide. The purpose of this study was to develop empirical information obtained from the analysis of wildlife strike and aircraft operations data in Brazil that could be used for accident prevention efforts.

Design/methodology: The research team collected and analyzed aircraft operations as well as wildlife strike data from the 32 busiest commercial airports in Brazil, from 2011 through 2018. …

Sustainability Balanced Scorecard Architecture And Environmental Investment Decision Making: The Mediating And Moderating Effects Of Knowledge And Risk Indicators, Suaad Jassem

Student Works (2020-2029)

According to a survey by Bain and Company, the majority of the sustainability programs undertaken by global companies fail to meet their objectives. A part of the reason for such a dilemma is possibly due to the dearth of sufficient research on how investment and performance evaluation tools such as sustainability balanced scorecards architecture impact decisions taken by managerial decision-makers. Hence, this doctoral research endeavor extends the literature on sustainability balanced scorecards (SBSC) architecture by examining how they influence decision-makers when they attempt to achieve environmental goals of their organization through evaluation of environmental investment options. An experimental research model …

Rethinking Race In The 21st Century, A New Approach For Future World-Making: Looking Back To Move Forward, Dylan Tarleton

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Color blindness, the end of race, and white privilege are but a few phrases that begin to capture the messy confusion of a zeitgeist that is 21^st century discussions on race. At a time when race is such a necessary topic to delve into, it seems that there is a lack of history injected into the conversation. Race becomes an external motor of history, racism pathological and immovable. An unthinking decision. In other words, race and racism, from the standpoint of an organizer or academic in the 21^st century, becomes near impossible to break down and work against. …

توظيف تكنولوجيا المعلومات في إدارة المخاطر البيئية: دراسة تقويمية في الشركة العامة لصناعة الزيوت النباتية, Sahar Kaddouri

Al Jinan الجنان

Risks Environmental Management engage an increasing number of persons from different fields .The management and safeguarding of our environment by business not only an important issue in today’s society ,but also a challenge for the different enterprises to turn environmental concerns into new business opportunities .In this respect ,Risks Environmental Management is key element in achieving developing countries .Better access to good quality information and Environmental data is prerequisite for improved Risks Environmental Management .
This research aims to describe how information technology can be used in Risks Environmental Management ? Through the answers based on the questions that research …

The Value Of Urban Flood Modeling, Bernice Rosenzweig, Pablo Herreros Cantis, Yeowon Kim, Alan Cohn, Kimberly Grove, J. Brock, J. Yesuf, Prakash Mistry, Claire Welty, Timon Mcphearson, Jason Sauer, Heejun Chang

Advanced Science Research Center

Floods are important disturbances to urban socio-eco-technical systems and their meteorological drivers are projected to increase through the century due to global climate change. Urban flood models are numerical models that have the capability of representing the features of urban ecosystems and the mechanisms of flooding that impact them. They have the potential to play a critical role in flood risk assessment, operational response, and resilience planning, but existing models remain limited in their capability to represent integrated flooding processes in urban areas and provide the credible quantitative information needed to support risk assessment and resilience practice. Research to advance …

India’S Nuclear Energy Conundrum: An Assessment Of The Country’S Energy Futures, Sneha Thomas

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will assess the practicality of implementing nuclear energy into India’s power system by considering different security risks, political factors, and COVID-19 complications. Access to energy is essential to modern survival because it contributes to the safety, success, and overall well-being of individuals; allowing for a better acquisition of food, education, and industry necessities. A big concern for India has been the inability to give energy access to millions of citizens that live in no proximity to a power grid, and this has shown to correlate with a lower quality of life. Another concern for India is the search …

What Makes Green Parties Successful: A Comparative Analysis Of Germany, Austria, And France, Macy Miller

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Starting in the 1980s, green parties began to make their debut. Their establishment was considered to be largely in response to environmental and anti-nuclear movements. Although their history has been quite brief, these parties have been making waves throughout the world. Throughout this research, a pattern arises between economic stability and quality of life, mainstream party competition, policy positions, and green voters themselves when examining the success of the green parties. In particular, they have demonstrated great success in the European Union. In an attempt to explain this success, this research explores three specific green parties: the German, the Austrian, …

Lab Notes

Scientia

Paleo Showcase; Expert Opinions; School of Nursing Director Appointed; EPISTEM Porject; CSH Honors Award Recipients; Diversity Fellowship

Life Cycle Assessment To Demonstrate How Automation Improves The Sustainability Performance Of An Underground Mining Operation, Kyle Moreau, Corey Laamanen, Ron Bose, Helen Shang, John A. Scott

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The worldwide move to introduce more automation into underground metal ore mining is currently aimed at improving both operational productivity and safety. We have used a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) as a novel approach for the industry to determine the beneficial impacts automation can also have on environmental performance using data collected on mine site productivity and energy consumption. The LCA looked at four impact categories: global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, and human toxicity. When comparing key automated equipment to their traditional manual counterpart, all four impact categories experienced a reduction with automation and a subsequent improvement in sustainability …

Evaluating The Impact Of Common Fertilizers On Soil Properties After Planting Tomatoes And Marigolds, Rachel Stuckey, Iin Handayani

Scholars Week

There are many name brand fertilizers that are used today in gardening in the state of Kentucky. Due to the standardization of name brand fertilizer production in factories, this can cause the fertilizers to compromise the nutrients of soil, while all-natural fertilizers are seen as better quality for the consumers, plants and soils. Alaska, Miracle Grow, Monty’s, Pure Gold, Tiger Bloom are the top five fertilizers sold in the state of Kentucky. This study aims to determine the impact of five top commercial fertilizers on soil quality indicators including organic matter, acidity level and moisture content. These fertilizers were applied …

Implementation Of Music Therapy To Reduce Anxiety In Icu Patients, Calley Womack

Scholars Week

Current practice in intensive care units regarding anxiety commonly results in administration of an anxiolytic, which can potentially increase patient’s time admitted, increase costs due to adverse effects, and decrease patient involvement in care. An analysis of multiple research studies was conducted to explore the best practice for management of anxiety, particularly the implementation of music therapy. Studies have been conducted on the implementation of music therapy to reduce levels of anxiety in patients on intensive care floors. Specifically, extensive research with music therapy has been conducted on patients receiving ventilation in the ICU. Consequentially, these studies have shown that …

Using Stable Isotope ( 13c) And C/N Ratio To Study The Effects Of Climate Change On Olive Trees, Rezq Basheer-Salimia

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

In this research, the impact of some climate change effects on the olive tree was studied. Specifically, the research investigated the impact of the lack of water and drought on the physiology of olive trees using stable carbon isotopic (Delta13C) and C/N ratios. Four olive cultivars including Souri, Roomi, Improved-Nabali, and Nasouhi, planted in three geographical areas with different rainfall patterns were used. These locations are Yatta/Hebron area (dry and low rainfall area with less than 300 mm/year), Jab’a/Jerusalem area (semi-dry and medium rainfall zone), in addition to the Kufer Ra’e/Jenin area (area of high rainfall, higher than 550 mm/year). …

Landscape-Scale Differences Among Cities Alter Common Species’ Responses To Urbanization, Mason Fidino, Travis Gallo, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Maureen H. Murray, Cria Kay, Heather A. Sander, Brandon Macdougall, Carmen M. Salsbury, Travis J. Ryan, Julia L. Angstmann, J. Amy Belaire, Barbara Dugelby, Chris Schell, Theodore Stankowich, Max Amaya, David Drake, Sheryl H. Hursh, Adam A. Ahlers, Jacque Williamson, Laurel M. Hartley, Amanda J. Zellmer, Kelly Simon

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Understanding how biodiversity responds to urbanization is challenging, due in part to the single-city focus of most urban ecological research. Here, we delineate continent-scale patterns in urban species assemblages by leveraging data from a multi-city camera trap survey and quantify how differences in greenspace availability and average housing density among 10 North American cities relate to the distribution of eight widespread North American mammals. To do so, we deployed camera traps at 569 sites across these ten cities between 18 June and 14 August. Most data came from 2017, though some cities contributed 2016 or 2018 data if it was …

Improving Energy Efficiency In Warships : Environmental & Economic Incentive To Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Naval Operations, Abiodun Abidemi Folorunsho

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Using Hybrid Renewable Energy System For Electricity Generation To Reduce Cost And Greenhouse Gas Emission : Case Study Banjul Port, Bakary L. Camara

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Right To Urban Streams: Quantitative Comparisons Of Stakeholder Perceptions In Defining Adaptive Stream Restoration, Chang-Yu Hong, Eun-Sung Chung, Heejun Chang

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Assuring healthy streams in the urban environment is a major goal for restoration scientists, urban planners, and city practitioners around the globe. In South Korea, many urban stream restoration efforts are designed to provide safe water to society and enhance ecological functions. We examined the extent to which the individual interests and different values of multiple stakeholders were considered in previous decision-making in two urban stream restoration projects. The relevant data on stream restoration were collected through the nominal group technique (NGT) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for the two stream cases of a populated inland area and a …

Table Of Contents, Mssj Staff

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Self-Control Measures And Drug And Alcohol Use Among College Students, Brooke E. Mathna, Jennifer J. Roberts, Marthinus C. Koen

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Research has shown a link between drug and alcohol behaviors and self-control; however, much of the research focuses on only the general theory of crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990), without regard to Hirschi’s (2004) self-control theory. The purpose of the current study is to examine three measures of Hirschi’s self-control theory and to understand the link between Hirschi’s self-control theory and drug and alcohol behaviors. This study draws from a sample of undergraduate college students (N = 640) to examine the role of Hirschi’s self-control in the explanation of drug and alcohol behaviors. The current study uses a previous measure …

Diabetes Care In An Urban Indigenous American Community: Challenges And Suggestions For The Future, Margaret Pollak

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Indigenous Americans living with type 2 diabetes in urban areas like Chicago face significant challenges to meeting the care recommendations of their medical providers. Based upon mixed-methods research, including both qualitative and quantitative measures, in Chicago’s Indigenous community, I have found that diabetes-care and -prevention challenges faced by individuals in this community include (1) the high financial and time costs of care, (2) lack of recognition of or response to acute symptoms of high glucose levels, (3) prioritization of other life responsibilities, (4) distrust of western medicine, and (5) fatalistic views about diabetes development and prognosis. If we are to …

Michael Lewis’S The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds, David Mcclough

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

The Undoing Project examines the relationship between two psychologists, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, whose work altered how we understand the functioning of the mind. In this book, Lewis embarks on a journey to understand and explain psychological research to a popular audience. Lewis is an expert writer who knows what sells books. The Undoing Project is an informative, entertaining, and quick read. Lewis has produced a well-researched book that is accessible to a broad audience.