Environmental Health and Protection Commons^™

Dust Control Examination Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling And Laboratory Testing Of Vortecone And Impingement Screen Filters, Ashish R. Kumar

Theses and Dissertations--Mining Engineering

Heavy industries, such as mining, generate dust in quantities that present an occupational health hazard. Prolonged exposure to the respirable dust has been found to result in many irreversible occupational ailments in thousands of miners. In underground mining applications, a variety of scrubbing systems are used to remove dust near the zones of generation. However, the wire-mesh type fibrous screens in the flooded-bed dust scrubbers used on continuous miners, are prone to clogging due to the accumulation of dust particles. This clogging results in a reduced capture efficiency and a higher exposure to the personnel. This research establishes the Vortecone, …

Conservation Limnogeology And Benthic Habitat Mapping In Central Lake Tanganyika (Tanzania), Joseph S. Lucas

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

Small scale protected zones are valuable for helping the health and productivity of fisheries at Lake Tanganyika (East Africa). Spatial placement of protected areas relies on accurate maps of benthic habitats, consisting of detailed bathymetry data and information on lake-floor substrates. This information is unknown for most of Lake Tanganyika. Fish diversity is known to correlate with rocky substrates in ≤ 30 m water depth, which provide spawning grounds for littoral and pelagic species. These benthic habitats form important targets for protected areas, if they can be precisely located.

At the NMVA, echosounding defined the position of the 30-m isobath …

Age-0 Walleye Growth Rates Following Spiny Water Flea Bythotrephes Longimanus Invasion, Joseph Amundson

Journal of Earth and Life Science

Within Voyageurs National Park, spiny water flea Bythotrephes longimanus has reduced Lake Kabetogama and Rainy Lake native zooplankton biomass during summer peak by 40-60%. Subsequently, planktivorous age-0 Yellow Perch Perca flavescens growth has decreased. A possible trophic cascade may influence predatory fish growth rates like that of age-0 Walleye Sander vitreus. Using seine net and electrofishing data, age-0 Walleye growth rates were modeled as a linear function of growing degree days (GDD) and the slope was compared between pre- and post-spiny water flea establishment. Nearby Lake Vermilion, assumed to have been unaffected by spiny water flea until 2015 and …

Examining The Issue Of Compliance With Personal Protective Equipment Among Wastewater Workers Across The Southeast Region Of The United States, Tamara L. Wright

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Wastewater workers are exposed to different occupational hazards such as chemicals, gases, viruses, and bacteria. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a significant factor that can reduce or increase the probability of an accident from hazardous exposures to chemicals and microbial contaminants. The purpose of this study was to identify wastewater worker’s beliefs and practices on wearing PPE and protections offered by PPE through the integration of the Health Belief Model (HBM). Participants were workers in the wastewater industry, which included wastewater operators, laboratory analysts, maintenance workers, wastewater collection workers, equipment operators, managers, and supervisors (n=272). The instrument was a self-administered …

Mchm (4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol) Influences The Predator-Prey Interaction Between Danio Rerio And Daphnia Magna, Anna C. Wagner

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Chemical contamination alters organism-level traits, such as activity and feeding, that can ultimately affect aquatic trophic interactions. Despite the importance of predator-prey relationships in aquatic communities, chemical toxicity is often tested on single species prior to use. For example, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) used in industrial coal-cleaning enters the environment regularly from low-level contamination during disposal and occasionally in high concentrations following accidental spills, but its effects on fish-zooplankton interactions remain unknown. It was hypothesized MCHM exposure affects zebrafish and D. magna swimming behavior differently when exposed individually or together, and ultimately affects their relationship. Zebrafish and D. magna were exposed …

Presence And Potential Sources Of Pharmaceutical And Personal Care Product Chemicals In Messalonskee Lake, Alyssa T. Kullberg

Honors Theses

Pharmaceuticals and personal care product chemicals (PPCPs) represent a large group of contaminants that are mostly not regulated in surface or drinking water and whose presence and environmental and health impacts are poorly understood. We investigated the presence and potential sources of 18 PPCPs in Messalonskee Lake. We collected samples four times over the summer of 2017 at 13 sites around the lake. Samples were tested for PPCPs using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We detected five out of the 18 PPCPs we tested for at the ng/L level: caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, acetaminophen, sulfachloropyridazine, and amphetamine. PPCPs showed a significant positive correlation …

Disproportionate Realities: The Climate Justice Implications Of Mitigation Policies Across Scales, Tinuviel Carlson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Global climate change will have disproportionate effects on low-income and minority communities around the world producing important justice challenges. As national governments increasingly rely on local governments, civil society, and private transnational actors to establish and implement climate actions policies, it is important to assess whether and how these newly emergent actors can address these justice challenges. First this thesis examines concepts of justice in relation to climate change across different scales in order to develop a comprehensive conceptual framework of climate justice. This conceptual framework expands the scale of the international climate justice movement address local concerns. Further, the …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Biochar For Treating Wsu Parking Lot Runoff, Alan-Christian Thomas

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2017-18

Various pollutants including pesticides, herbicides, automotive fluids, and excess nutrients from fertilizers are found in high concentrations in urban runoff. There are many technologies that can be used to control and redirect the water flow such as retention basins, constructed wetlands, and rain gardens; however, these methods are specifically focused on controlling water and not necessarily the nutrients and contaminants in the water. There has recently been an increased interest in the potential for using additional materials (e.g., compost, charcoal) to enhance the pollution treatment ability by either adding them to the soil or by engineering prefilters to remove pollutants …

Health Outcomes From Aggregate Particulate Matter, Anton Derbes

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Extreme Smoke Events: Climate Change And Human Health In Western Montana, Sarah Luth

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Abstract not available.

Existing Ecological Conditions And Management Recommendations For A Portion Of The Chehalem Ridge Nature Park, Oregon, Amanda Pole

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Effective land management and habitat restoration work rely on the collection of baseline information regarding the existing conditions of the planning area. Existing conditions assessments can include such information as hydrologic conditions, botanical species assessment, land use issues, wildlife surveys, habitat distribution/quality assessments, etc. This project provides Oregon Metro’s Parks and Nature department with updated information regarding the existing conditions of a portion of the Chehalem Ridge Nature Park (CRNP) as well as recommendations and supplemental maps to aid in future management planning.

Within the ~61-acre project area exist several habitat types: a developing seasonal wetland, riparian forest, Douglas-fir forest, …

2018 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

Could Official Climate Denial Revive The Common Law As A Regulatory Backstop?, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Articles

This Article makes two core arguments. First, it maintains that the common law of nuisance remains an essential backstop when existing regulatory authorities fail to address significant environmental problems. Second, reconnecting nuisance law to its historical roots, the Article maintains that common law litigation has served as an effective prod to help spur the development and implementation of new pollution control technology and to stimulate regulatory action to require its use, rather than serving as a vehicle for the judiciary to impose its own solutions for environmental problems.

This Article proceeds in four parts. Part I reviews the history of …

Pressure-Driven Stabilization Of Capacitive Deionization, Landon S. Caudill

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The effects of system pressure on the performance stability of flow-through capacitive deionization (CDI) cells was investigated. Initial data showed that the highly porous carbon electrodes possessed air/oxygen in the micropores, and the increased system pressure boosts the gases solubility in saline solution and carries them out of the cell in the effluent. Upon applying a potential difference to the electrodes, capacitive-based ion adsorption occurs in competition with faradaic reactions that consume oxygen. Through the addition of backpressure, the rate of degradation decreases, allowing the cell to maintain its salt adsorption capacity (SAC) longer. The removal of oxygen from the …

A Land Use Regression Model For Explaining Spatial Variation In Air Pollution Levels Using A Wind Sector Based Approach, Owen Naughton, Aoife Donnelly, Paul Nolan, Francesco Pilla, Bruce Misstear, Brian Broderick

Articles

Estimating pollutant concentrations at a local and regional scale is essential for good ambient air quality information in environmental and health policy decision making. Here we present a land use regression (LUR) modelling methodology that exploits the high temporal resolution of fixed-site monitoring (FSM) to produce viable air quality maps. The methodology partitions concentration time series from a national FSM network into wind-dependent sectors or “wedges”. A LUR model is derived using predictor variables calculated within the directional wind sectors, and compared against the long-term average concentrations within each sector. This study demonstrates the value of incorporating the relative position …

The Effect Of The Total Maximum Daily Loads(Tmdl) Management Implementation Plan On Total Phosphorus(Tp), Jaejeong Ma April

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea has been making efforts to improve water quality and the health of the aquatic ecosystems of the inland waters. Establishing water quality standards for point sources and permissible wastewater emission standards to achieve the target environmental standard were part of the efforts. Nevertheless, water quality indexes such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand(BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) has not improved significantly. Also, harmful cyanobacteria blooms have frequently been occurred, which, in particular, has brought people to lose faith in the environmental policy and has created anxiety about drinking water. As the solution, the …

The Role Of Environmental Filtering In Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences On Functional Diversity Are Mediated Through Soil Characteristics, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Biology Faculty Publications

Identifying the drivers of community assembly has long been a central goal in ecology, and the development of functional diversity indices has provided a new way of detecting the influence of environmental gradients on biotic communities. For an old-growth Appalachian forest, we used path analysis to understand how patterns of tree functional diversity relate to topography and soil gradients and to determine whether topographic effects are mediated through soil chemistry. All of our path models supported the idea of environmental filtering: stressful areas (high elevation, low soil moisture, low soil nutrients) were occupied by communities of low functional diversity, which …

Post-Fire Regeneration And Fuel Succession Patterns In Hesperocyparis Bakeri Forests, Bret Anthony Mcnamara

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Climate change is predicted to cause widespread redistribution of suitable tree habitats, as well as increase the size and frequency of wildfires in the western United States during the forthcoming century. Rare serotinous conifers may have heightened sensitivity to the impacts of both fire regime and climate shifts for multiple reasons. First, the rapid spatial rearrangement of suitable habitat will disproportionately affect trees with constrained seed dispersal capabilities, and limited dispersal is a trait associated with some genera of serotinous trees. Second, a number of serotinous conifers depend on fire disturbances for regeneration, though with the expected increase in annual …

Colonialism And Its Aftermaths In Vieques, Puerto Rico: How U.S. Hegemony Led To Contamination, A Superfund Site, And Local Mistrust, Kaya Mark

Scripps Senior Theses

After sixty-two years of U.S. military testing, the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques and its residents continue to fight against ongoing environmental and social effects of U.S. hegemony. Starting with the arrival of the Spanish, then with U.S. occupation and use of Vieques as a military stopover, Viequense residents are used to U.S. governmental presence on their land. Despite the military’s removal from Vieques in 2003, many local residents have a fundamental lack of trust for the U.S. government. Because of this lack of trust and transparency with U.S. governmental actions in the post- World War II period, residents …

Environmental And Genetic Factors Affecting Antibiotic Resistance Of Extended Spectrum Î?-Lactamase Bacteria From The Rio Grande River In El Paso, Tx And Cd. Juarez, Mexico, Maria D. Fuentes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: The Rio Grande River provides a major source of potable and agricultural water for the population of the Texas/Mexico border region. Cattle farming and ranching are the most prevalent activities, which may contribute to the microbial burden of pharmaceuticals into our state's water resources. Antibiotics, presumably released into the environment by discharges originating from waste-water treatment plants, septic disposal systems, animal feeding operations and urban runoff have a definite impact on the ecosystem and may contribute to an increase in antibiotic resistance. We hypothesized that waters of the Rio Grande River contained Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO) and mobile …