This dissertation draws on ethnographic data and political ecological theory to analyze the experience of residents living in the IBM-Endicott Superfund site in Endicott, New York. Combining in-depth narratives and quantitative measures from a household survey, it highlights residents' perceptions of 1) environmental health risk, 2) risk mitigation, 3) deindustrialization...
The purpose of this study was to compare the self-perceived
leadership styles, range and adaptability of
women managers in higher education and non-education management positions. Specifically, the study sought to
investigate the: (1) self-perceived leadership styles and
adaptability of women managers in higher education and non-education,
(2) self-perceived leadership styles...
Nanoscale polymers (including nanoplastics) are widely present through commerce and make their way into the environment. As the improper disposal of plastic waste leads to continued accumulation and degradation of plastic pollution, the presence of plastic particles less than 1 micron (μm) in size (nanoplastics) will increase. Heightened concern over...
Nanotechnologies continue to permeate a multitude of industries, with diverse applications ranging from pesticides to fuel additives. The unusual behavior of nanomaterials that drives their innovation also complicates the job of toxicologists tasked with assessing their potential environmental and public health impacts. This dissertation investigates the underlying reasons for uncertainty...
Numerous studies have shown that some nanomaterials are highly toxic to aquatic organisms and can potentially disrupt overall community health; however, current methods to evaluate the nanomaterials environmental impacts rarely consider the environmental realism or provide sufficient detail on the impact at the community level. Here we demonstrate three approaches...
Nanoparticles (NPs), defined by their size (1-100 nm), are increasingly incorporated into commercial and industrial products due to their high surface area and unique properties. They can be designed for specific applications by manipulating composition, size, shape, and surface functionalization. As NP production and complexity increases, there is a need...
A pest management program for variegated cutworm (VC), Peridroma
saucia (Hubner), in Oregon peppermint was developed based on studies
of pheromone trapping, sampling methods, and economic thresholds.
Pheromone traps effectively trapped VC males and were used to
reflect development and oviposition trends. Trap height was linearly
correlated to moth catch...
The relationships of serum T₄
(thyroxine) levels and liver
nicotinamide nucleotide coenzyme (NAD and NADP) levels with production
of traits of beef cattle were investigated at both weaning (182
kg) and following performance testing (363 kg). In addition, the value
of these parameters as selection criteria for improved performance
was...
The dissertation introduces community-based adaptive watershed management (CAWM) as a holistic conservation framework. The CAWM
framework integrates social and ecological suitability to achieve conservation outcomes. The core theoretical concepts consist of adaptive management, adoption-diffusion,
symbolic interactionism, community-based conservation, spatial analysis and watershed management. The CAWM framework is applied to the...
An open area of research in complex systems is to move reliability and failure assessments earlier in the engineering design process. When compared to later design, early decisions are cost effective and have a large impact on the system. Standard methods are limited by the availability of data and often...