ASU Scholarship Showcase

This study dealt with emotional responses elicited by certain products, which helped to understand the attributes of the product leading to emotional responses. Emotional Design is a way of design that is using emotions generated by people as reference and measurement. Making good use of emotional design could let the user discover resonance in the interaction between user and product, which could help the product to be more attractive to users. This research proposes to apply qualitative research method to uncover the secrets of emotional bonds between users and products This study also offered an useful tool to examine the strength and weakness of a certain product from perspective of emotion, and the insights could help designers to refine the product to become emotional attractive, thus create better user experience and bigger opportunity for the product on the market in the future.

An urban forest assessment is essential for developing a baseline from which to measure changes and trends. The most precise way to assess urban forests is to measure and record every tree on a site, but although this may work well for relatively small populations (e.g., street trees, small parks), it is prohibitively expensive for large tree populations. Thus, random sampling offers a cost-effective way to assess urban forest structure and the associated ecosystem services for large-scale assessments. The methodology applied to assess ecosystem services in this study can also be used to assess the ecosystem services provided by vacant land in other urban contexts and improve urban forest policies, planning, and the management of vacant land. The study’s findings support the inclusion of trees on vacant land and contribute to a new vision of vacant land as a valuable ecological resource by demonstrating how green infrastructure can be used to enhance ecosystem health and promote a better quality of life for city residents.

Perchloroethylene (PCE) is a highly utilized solvent in the dry cleaning industry because of its cleaning effectiveness and relatively low cost to consumers. According to the 2006 U.S. Census, approximately 28,000 dry cleaning operations used PCE as their principal cleaning agent. Widespread use of PCE is problematic because of its adverse impacts on human health and environmental quality. As PCE use is curtailed, effective alternatives must be analyzed for their toxicity and impacts to human health and the environment. Potential alternatives to PCE in dry cleaning include dipropylene glycol n-butyl ether (DPnB) and dipropylene glycol tert-butyl ether (DPtB), both promising to pose a relatively smaller risk. To evaluate these two alternatives to PCE, we established and scored performance criteria, including chemical toxicity, employee and customer exposure levels, impacts on the general population, costs of each system, and cleaning efficacy. The scores received for PCE were 5, 5, 3, 5, 3, and 3, respectively, and DPnB and DPtB scored 3, 1, 2, 2, 4, and 4, respectively. An aggregate sum of the performance criteria yielded a favorably low score of “16” for both DPnB and DPtB compared to “24” for PCE. We conclude that DPnB and DPtB are preferable dry cleaning agents, exhibiting reduced human toxicity and a lesser adverse impact on human health and the environment compared to PCE, with comparable capital investments, and moderately higher annual operating costs.

We designed and evaluated an active sampling device, using as analytical targets a family of pesticides purported to contribute to honeybee colony collapse disorder. Simultaneous sampling of bulk water and pore water was accomplished using a low-flow, multi-channel pump to deliver water to an array of solid-phase extraction cartridges. Analytes were separated using either liquid or gas chromatography, and analysis was performed using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Achieved recoveries of fipronil and degradates in water spiked to nominal concentrations of 0.1, 1, and 10 ng/L ranged from 77 ± 12 to 110 ± 18%. Method detection limits (MDLs) were as low as 0.040–0.8 ng/L. Extraction and quantitation of total fiproles at a wastewater-receiving wetland yielded concentrations in surface water and pore water ranging from 9.9 ± 4.6 to 18.1 ± 4.6 ng/L and 9.1 ± 3.0 to 12.6 ± 2.1 ng/L, respectively. Detected concentrations were statistically indistinguishable from those determined by conventional, more laborious techniques (p > 0.2 for the three most abundant fiproles). Aside from offering time-averaged sampling capabilities for two phases simultaneously with picogram-per-liter MDLs, the novel methodology eliminates the need for water and sediment transport via in situ solid phase extraction.

Communicating climate risks is crucial when engaging the public to support climate action planning and addressing climate justice. How does evidence-based communication influence local residents’ risk perception and potential behavior change in support of climate planning? Built upon our previous study of Climate Justice maps illustrating high scores of both social and ecological vulnerability in Michigan’s Huron River watershed, USA, a quasi-experiment was conducted to examine the effects of Climate Justice mapping intervention on residents’ perceptions and preparedness for climate change associated hazards in Michigan. Two groups were compared: residents in Climate Justice areas with high social and ecological vulnerability scores in the watershed (n=76) and residents in comparison areas in Michigan (n=69). Measurements for risk perception include perceived exposure, sensitivity, and adaptability to hazards. Results indicate that risk information has a significant effect on perceived sensitivity and level of preparedness for future climate extremes among participants living in Climate Justice areas. Findings highlight the value of integrating scientific risk assessment information in risk communication to align calculated and perceived risks. This study suggests effective risk communication can influence local support of climate action plans and implementation of strategies that address climate justice and achieve social sustainability in local communities.

The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop is part of a collaboration between Arizona State University Center for Nanotechnology in Society in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Security, LC Nano, and the Nano-enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Systems NSF Engineering Research Center. The Future of Wastewater Sensing workshop explores how technologies for studying, monitoring, and mining wastewater and sewage sludge might develop in the future, and what consequences may ensue for public health, law enforcement, private industry, regulations and society at large. The workshop pays particular attention to how wastewater sensing (and accompanying research, technologies, and applications) can be innovated, regulated, and used to maximize societal benefit and minimize the risk of adverse outcomes, when addressing critical social and environmental challenges.

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is a strong nonspecific reducing agent that is used for in situ degradation of chlorinated solvents and other oxidized pollutants. However, there are significant concerns regarding the risks posed by the deliberate release of engineered nanomaterials into the environment, which have triggered moratoria, for example, in the United Kingdom. This critical review focuses on the effect of nZVI injection on subsurface microbial communities, which are of interest due to their important role in contaminant attenuation processes. Corrosion of ZVI stimulates dehalorespiring bacteria, due to the production of H₂ that can serve as an electron donor for reduction of chlorinated contaminants. Conversely, laboratory studies show that nZVI can be inhibitory to pure bacterial cultures, although toxicity is reduced when nZVI is coated with polyelectrolytes or natural organic matter. The emerging toolkit of molecular biological analyses should enable a more sophisticated assessment of combined nZVI/biostimulation or bioaugmentation approaches. While further research on the consequences of its application for subsurface microbial communities is needed, nZVI continues to hold promise as an innovative technology for in situ remediation of pollutants It is particularly attractive. for the remediation of subsurface environments containing chlorinated ethenes because of its ability to potentially elicit and sustain both physical–chemical and biological removal despite its documented antimicrobial properties.

Using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, we determined the first nationwide inventories of 13 perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in U.S. biosolids via analysis of samples collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the 2001 National Sewage Sludge Survey. Perfluorooctane sulfonate [PFOS; 403 +/- 127 ng/g dry weight (dw)] was the most abundant PFAS detected in biosolids composites representing 32 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, followed by perfluorooctanoate [PFOA; 34 +/- 22 ng/g dw] and perfluorodecanoate [PFDA; 26 +/- 20 ng/g dw]. Mean concentrations in U.S. biosolids of the remaining ten PFASs ranged between 2 and 21 ng/g dw. Interestingly, concentrations of PFOS determined here in biosolids collected prior to the phase-out period (2002) were similar to levels reported in the literature for recent years. The mean load of Sigma PFASs in U.S. biosolids was estimated at 2749-3450 kg/year, of which about 1375-2070 kg is applied on agricultural land and 467-587 kg goes to landfills as an alternative disposal route. This study informs the risk assessment of PFASs by furnishing national inventories of PFASs occurrence and environmental release via biosolids application on land.

This study reviews scholarly papers and case studies on urban vacant land to gain a stronger understanding of its public value in terms of the ecological and social benefits it can bring. This literature review offers a conceptual overview of the potential benefits of vacant land with the goal of addressing gaps in knowledge about vacant land and to provide suggestions to planners and designers on how vacant properties can be integrated with other green infrastructure in cities. There are many opportunities to redevelop vacant land to enhance its ecological and social value, and many design professionals and scholars are becoming interested in finding new ways to exploit this potential, especially with regard to planning and design. A better appreciation of the public value of urban vacant land is vital for any effort to identify alternative strategies to optimize the way these spaces are utilized for both short-term and long-term uses to support urban regeneration and renewal. This study will help planners and designers to understand and plan for urban vacant land, leading to better utilization of these spaces and opening up alternative creative approaches to envisioning space and landscape design in our urban environments.

Using the City of Roanoke, Virginia as a study site, this paper quantifies the forest structure, ecosystem services and values of vacant and residential land. Single family residential land had more trees (1,683,000) than vacant land (210,000) due largely to the differences in land area (32.44 km² of vacant land vs. 57.94 km² residential). While the percentage of tree coverage was almost identical across land uses (30.6% in vacant to 32.3% in residential), the number of trees per ha is greater on residential land (290.3) than on vacant land (63.4). The average healthy leaf surface area on individual trees growing on vacant land was greater than that of individual trees on residential land. The fact that trees in vacant land were found to provide more ecosystem services per tree than residential trees was attributed to this leaf area difference. Trees on vacant land are growing in more natural conditions and there are more large trees per ha. Assessing the forest structure and ecosystem services of Roanoke’s vacant and residential land provides a picture of the current extent and condition of the vacant and residential land. Understanding these characteristics provides the information needed for improved management and utilization of urban vacant land and estimating green infrastructure value.