This essay examines community narratives around Keep Virginia Beautiful's Green
Grants initiative. Green Grants is a signature annual program that awards grants to organizations
throughout Virginia in support of projects aligned with one of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s three
pillars: recycling, litter prevention, and community beautification. The primary research
questions are...
Equitable access to primary health care is vital to the overall health and development of a country. Since its independence in 1967, Tanzania has established a clear objective of achieving primary health care for all. Yet achieving the goal of health care for all is especially difficult considering Tanzania’s poverty...
This thesis is one part of a study to compare and contrast 10 different proposals and finished projects for microgrids, and the associated community perceptions and response. It has been posited that microgrids have the potential to improve the resiliency and reliability of the electricity grid. In recent years, there...
Institutions of higher education face a global mandate, understanding and addressing the concept of internationalization in the 21st century. As the world becomes "smaller", there is a need for college students to expand their awareness and understanding of multinational cultures and issues. Recently, many four-year colleges and universities have taken...
Background. Total knee arthroplasty, or replacement, is a common, generally successful, and expensive procedure. Tools to predict outcomes following orthopedic procedures are abundant, yet no commonly used assessment accounts for an individual’s propensity to engage in adaptive health behavior. The 13-item Patient Activation Measure (PAM) questionnaire is a tool that...
Traditional robots have a long history in nuclear-related work because their integration decreases risk to humans in dangerous environments. Soft robotics is one promising new branch of traditional robotics with proposed applications in industry, medicine, and society. Collaborators from the Robotics mLab at Oregon State University (OSU) are currently working...
Concerns over climate change and energy security have spurred governments worldwide to encourage the development of renewable energy. Although public attitudes and macro-politics, in general, show moderate to strong support for renewables- in particular, wind power- largely because of the economic and environmental benefits associated with it. However, local politics...
As climate change forces energy policy to incorporate environmental impacts and fuel diversification into the traditional model of energy security, finding ways to site, develop, and deliver renewable energy has taken on increasing importance across the United States. With no consistent federal framework to implement these changes, much of the...
The promotion of democracy abroad has become a critical national security objective for the United States. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, newly independent states have received millions in aid to facilitate their transition to democracy. A significant portion of this funding has been administered by the United States...
Since the late 1990s accelerated growth in health care spending coupled with a cost shift of health insurance from employers to employees has created an increased financial burden for many families. Past research suggests that financial burden due to out-of-pocket (OOP) health care costs limits access to health care and...