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- Creators: Arizona State University
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Description
Consumer goods supply chains have gradually incorporated lean manufacturing principles to identify and reduce non-value-added activities. Companies implementing lean practices have experienced improvements in cost, quality, and demand responsiveness. However certain elements of these practices, especially those related to transportation and distribution may have detrimental impact on the environment. This study asks: What impact do current best practices in lean logistics and retailing have on environmental performance? The research hypothesis of this dissertation establishes that lean distribution of durable and consumable goods can result in an increased amount of carbon dioxide emissions, leading to climate change and natural resource depletion impacts, while lean retailing operations can reduce carbon emissions. Distribution and retailing phases of the life cycle are characterized in a two-echelon supply chain discrete-event simulation modeled after current operations from leading organizations based in the U.S. Southwest. By conducting an overview of critical sustainability issues and their relationship with consumer products, it is possible to address the environmental implications of lean logistics and retailing operations. Provided the waste reduction nature from lean manufacturing, four lean best practices are examined in detail in order to formulate specific research propositions. These propositions are integrated into an experimental design linking annual carbon dioxide equivalent emissions to: (1) shipment frequency between supply chain partners, (2) proximity between decoupling point of products and final customers, (3) inventory turns at the warehousing level, and (4) degree of supplier integration. All propositions are tested through the use of the simulation model. Results confirmed the four research propositions. Furthermore, they suggest synergy between product shipment frequency among supply chain partners and product management due to lean retailing practices. In addition, the study confirms prior research speculations about the potential carbon intensity from transportation operations subject to lean principles.
ContributorsUgarte Irizarri, Gustavo Marco Antonio (Author) / Golden, Jay S. (Thesis advisor) / Dooley, Kevin J. (Thesis advisor) / Boone, Christopher G. (Committee member) / Basile, George M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
To sustain world preeminence, 21st century university and college leaders in the United States are redesigning their institutions organizationally and culturally to align with the direction of local and global societies and markets. The New American University enterprise model at Arizona State University has become one of the leading organization and cultural redesigns in United States higher education since its inception in 2002. Yet, sustaining a 21st century model such as this one means every individual in the college or university must understand his or her specific role to further progress the new model forward. Therefore, to advance and sustain a 21st century higher education redesign model at a U.S. college or university, it becomes imperative that every master-level professional who works in the academic/student services field at the institution understand his or her specific role in helping to further progress the new model forward. To this end, there is a need to change the way graduate students in higher education/student affairs masters programs are educated to work in the 21st century institution. This change can prepare new professionals to understand these enterprise models and how to integrate them into their practice in order to meet the needs of the institution, local and global societies and markets. The purpose of this action research study is to highlight one program, the ASU M.Ed. Higher and Postsecondary program, and show how graduates from 2007 - 2011 understand New American University concepts and integrate them into professional practice within higher education. Through use of a quantitative approach, this action research study described how the ASU M.Ed. in Higher and Postsecondary program graduate students' understanding of New American University concepts informs their thinking and practice to lead and respond to changes and challenges facing today's 21st century higher education field.
ContributorsAntonucci, Mark J (Author) / Ewing, Kris M (Thesis advisor) / Denke, Mark (Committee member) / Rund, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This dissertation reports on an action research study that sought to discover how a new WiFi, tablet computing device, the Apple iPad, affected, enhanced, and impacted student engagement in an English Honors course at Scottsdale Community College. The researcher was also the instructor in the two semester, first-year, college composition sequence (English 101/102) in which all 18 students were provided the new Apple iPad tablet computing device. The researcher described how students adapted the Apple iPads to their academic lives, assessed iPad compatibility with current instructional technology systems, and interviewed participating students to document their beliefs about whether iPad activities enhanced the course. At the conclusion of the college composition sequence, 13 students agreed to participate in focus groups to describe how they made use of the iPad and to report on how the iPad influenced their engagement. Among other findings, students reported that there were compatibility problems with current SCC instructional technology systems, that the iPad increased their efficiency in completing informal educational tasks, but that the iPad was not useful for doing word processing and research. Recommendations for future use of the iPad in this course include reducing the number of iPads accessing the WiFi network at the same time, piloting the use of iPad word processing applications, researching more "mobile-friendly" web sites and documents, and developing innovative assignments that take advantage of iPad capabilities.
ContributorsTualla, Larry Tech (Author) / Clark, Christopher M. (Thesis advisor) / De Los Santos Jr., Alfredo G (Thesis advisor) / Young, Lisa C. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In 2005, the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act was signed into law by the Navajo Nation. Like the No Child Left Behind Act, this Navajo Nation legislation was as much a policy statement as it was a law. It marked the first time that the Navajo Nation linked sovereignty with education by expressing its intent to control all education within its exterior boundaries. The objective of the law was to create a department of education that would resemble the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in which the Navajo Nation resides. Through their department of education, the Navajo Nation would operate the educational functions for its populace. This study looked at the implications and impact that perspectives of this law would have on public schools within Arizona from the perspective of five superintendents in Arizona public schools within the Navajo Nation were gained through open-ended interviews. It examined the legal, fiscal, and curricular issues through the prism of sovereignty. Through the process of interviews utilizing a set of guided questions in a semi-structured format, five superintendents in Arizona public schools within the Navajo Nation shared their perspectives. Analysis of the five interviews revealed curriculum, funding, jurisdictional, and fear or mistrust as problems the Navajo Nation will need to overcome if it is to begin full control of all aspects of education within its boundaries. There is a strong need for the Department of Dine' Education to educate public schools with regards to the Navajo Nation Sovereignty in Education Act of 2005. Administrators need more training in tribal governments. Like the constitution, the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act will be interpreted differently by different people. But, without action, it will be ignored. Within the Act's pages are the hopes of the Navajo Nation and the dreams for our young Navajo students.
ContributorsRoessel, Karina A (Author) / Appleton, Nicholas (Thesis advisor) / Spencer, Dee Ann (Thesis advisor) / Wauneka, Jacquelyne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Over the past century in the southwestern United States human actions have altered hydrological processes that shape riparian ecosystems. One change, release of treated wastewater into waterways, has created perennial base flows and increased nutrient availability in ephemeral or intermittent channels. While there are benefits to utilizing treated wastewater for environmental flows, there are numerous unresolved ecohydrological issues regarding the efficacy of effluent to sustain groundwater-dependent riparian ecosystems. This research examined how nutrient-rich effluent, released into waterways with varying depths to groundwater, influences riparian plant community development. Statewide analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of effluent generation and release revealed that hydrogeomorphic setting significantly influences downstream riparian response. Approximately 70% of effluent released is into deep groundwater systems, which produced the lowest riparian development. A greenhouse study assessed how varying concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, emulating levels in effluent, influenced plant community response. With increasing nitrogen concentrations, vegetation emerging from riparian seed banks had greater biomass, reduced species richness, and greater abundance of nitrophilic species. The effluent-dominated Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona, with a shallow groundwater upper reach and deep groundwater lower reach, served as a study river while the San Pedro River provided a control. Analysis revealed that woody species richness and composition were similar between the two systems. Hydric pioneers (Populus fremontii, Salix gooddingii) were dominant at perennial sites on both rivers. Nitrophilic species (Conium maculatum, Polygonum lapathifolium) dominated herbaceous plant communities and plant heights were greatest in effluent-dominated reaches. Riparian vegetation declined with increasing downstream distance in the upper Santa Cruz, while patterns in the lower Santa Cruz were confounded by additional downstream agricultural input and a channelized floodplain. There were distinct longitudinal and lateral shifts toward more xeric species with increasing downstream distance and increasing lateral distance from the low-flow channel. Patterns in the upper and lower Santa Cruz reaches indicate that water availability drives riparian vegetation outcomes below treatment facilities. Ultimately, this research informs decision processes and increases adaptive capacity for water resources policy and management through the integration of ecological data in decision frameworks regarding the release of effluent for environmental flows.
ContributorsWhite, Margaret Susan (Author) / Stromberg, Juliet C. (Thesis advisor) / Fisher, Stuart G. (Committee member) / White, Dave (Committee member) / Holway, James (Committee member) / Wu, Jianguo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Economic development over the last century has driven a tripling of the world's population, a twenty-fold increase in fossil fuel consumption, and a tripling of traditional biomass consumption. The associated broad income and wealth inequities are retaining over 2 billion people in poverty. Adding to this, fossil fuel combustion is impacting the environment across spatial and temporal scales and the cost of energy is outpacing all other variable costs for most industries. With 60% of world energy delivered in 2008 consumed by the commercial and industrial sector, the fragmented and disparate energy-related decision making within organizations are largely responsible for the inefficient and impacting use of energy resources. The global transition towards sustainable development will require the collective efforts of national, regional, and local governments, institutions, the private sector, and a well-informed public. The leadership role in this transition could be provided by private and public sector organizations, by way of sustainability-oriented organizations, cultures, and infrastructure. The diversity in literature exemplifies the developing nature of sustainability science, with most sustainability assessment approaches and frameworks lacking transformational characteristics, tending to focus on analytical methods. In general, some shortfalls in sustainability assessment processes include lack of: * thorough stakeholder participation in systems and stakeholder mapping, * participatory envisioning of future sustainable states, * normative aggregation of results to provide an overall measure of sustainability, and * influence within strategic decision-making processes. Specific to energy sustainability assessments, while some authors aggregate results to provide overall sustainability scores, assessments have focused solely on energy supply scenarios, while including the deficits discussed above. This paper presents a framework for supporting organizational transition processes towards sustainable energy systems, using systems and stakeholder mapping, participatory envisioning, and sustainability assessment to prepare the development of transition strategies towards realizing long-term energy sustainability. The energy system at Arizona State University's Tempe campus (ASU) in 2008 was used as a baseline to evaluate the sustainability of the current system. From interviews and participatory workshops, energy system stakeholders provided information to map the current system and measure its performance. Utilizing operationalized principles of energy sustainability, stakeholders envisioned a future sustainable state of the energy system, and then developed strategies to begin transition of the current system to its potential future sustainable state. Key findings include stakeholders recognizing that the current energy system is unsustainable as measured against principles of energy sustainability and an envisioned future sustainable state of the energy system. Also, insufficient governmental stakeholder engagement upstream within the current system could lead to added risk as regulations affect energy supply. Energy demand behavior and consumption patterns are insufficiently understood by current stakeholders, limiting participation and accountability from consumers. In conclusion, although this research study focused on the Tempe campus, ASU could apply this process to other campuses thereby improving overall ASU energy system sustainability. Expanding stakeholder engagement upstream within the energy system and better understanding energy consumption behavior can also improve long-term energy sustainability. Finally, benchmarking ASU's performance against its peer universities could expand the current climate commitment of participants to broader sustainability goals.
ContributorsBuch, Rajesh (Author) / Wiek, Arnim (Thesis advisor) / Basile, George (Thesis advisor) / Williams, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Studies have demonstrated that anthocyanins can function as antioxidants, reduce inflammation, and improve dyslipidemia. Tart cherries are anthocyanin-rich, making them particularly attractive as a functional food to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. There have been few published studies to date examining the impact of tart cherries on biomarkers of dyslipidemia and inflammation, particularly in overweight and obese individuals at high risk for these conditions. This study evaluated the effect of consuming 100% tart cherry juice daily on blood lipids including total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), calculated very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and the CVD risk ratios, as well as the inflammatory biomarkers interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), C-reactive protein (CRP), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) following a 4-week period. Based on the high anthocyanin content of tart cherries, it was hypothesized that the lipid and inflammatory profiles would be significantly improved following the intervention. A total of 26 men and women completed this 4-week randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Participants were randomized to drink either 8 ounces of placebo beverage or tart cherry juice daily for 4 weeks. Following a 4-week washout period, the alternate beverage was consumed. Ultimately, this investigation demonstrated no statistically significant alterations in any of the lipid or inflammatory biomarkers when analyzed across time and between interventions (p > 0.05). As expected, glucose and insulin parameters remained stable over the duration of the study, as well as self-reported physical activity level, total calorie consumption, and macronutrient intake. However, trans-fat was reported to be significantly higher during the cherry arm of the study as compared to the placebo arm (p < 0.05), potentially confounding other results. Although the results of this study were equivocal, it is feasible that a higher dose, longer treatment duration, or more susceptible target population may be required to elicit significant effects. Consequently, further investigation is necessary to clarify this research.
ContributorsColes, Katie (Author) / Martin, Keith R. (Thesis advisor) / Traustadottir, Tinna (Committee member) / Vega-Lopez, Sonia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Sinaloa, a coastal state in the northwest of Mexico, is known for irrigated conventional agriculture, and is considered one of the greatest successes of the Green Revolution. With the neoliberal reforms of the 1990s, Sinaloa farmers shifted out of conventional wheat, soy, cotton, and other commodities and into white maize, a major food staple in Mexico that is traditionally produced by millions of small-scale farmers. Sinaloa is now a major contributor to the national food supply, producing 26% of total domestic white maize production. Research on Sinaloa's maize has focused on economic and agronomic components. Little attention, however, has been given to the environmental sustainability of Sinaloa's expansion in maize. With uniquely biodiverse coastal and terrestrial ecosystems that support economic activities such as fishing and tourism, the environmental consequences of agriculture in Sinaloa are important to monitor. Agricultural sustainability assessments have largely focused on alternative agricultural approaches, or espouse alternative philosophies that are biased against conventional production. Conventional agriculture, however, provides a significant portion of the world's calories. In addition, incentives such as federal subsidies and other institutions complicate transitions to alternative modes of production. To meet the agricultural sustainability goals of food production and environmental stewardship, we must put conventional agriculture on a more sustainable path. One step toward achieving this is structuring agricultural sustainability assessments around achievable goals that encourage continual adaptations toward sustainability. I attempted this in my thesis by assessing conventional maize production in Sinaloa at the regional/state scale using network analysis and incorporating stakeholder values through a multicriteria decision analysis approach. The analysis showed that the overall sustainability of Sinaloa maize production is far from an ideal state. I made recommendations on how to improve the sustainability of maize production, and how to better monitor the sustainability of agriculture in Sinaloa.
ContributorsBausch, Julia Christine (Author) / Eakin, Hallie (Thesis advisor) / Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis (Committee member) / Childers, Daniel L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Among the general US population, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of mortality for Mexican-Americans. CVD is less prevalent among Mexican-Americans than non-Hispanic Whites or African Americans. However, there is limited research regarding the factors associated with increased CVD risk among Mexican-Americans. Thus, this cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the effects of non-biological factors (income, education, employment, acculturation) and diet on CVD risk factors in 75 Mexican-American adults (26 males, 49 females; age=37.6±9.3 y, BMI=28.9±5.3 kg/m2, systolic BP=117±11 mmHg, diastolic BP=73±9 mmHg, LDL cholesterol=114±32 mg/dL, HDL cholesterol=44±11 mg/dL, triglycerides=115±61 mg/dL, serum glucose=92±7 mg/dL). Aside from collecting anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and measuring fasting blood lipids, glucose, and insulin, information about participants' socioeconomic status, income, employment, education, and acculturation were gathered using a survey. Diet data was collected using the Southwestern Food Frequency Questionnaire. Weight, BMI, and waist circumference were significantly greater for those with a monthly income of <$3000 than for those earning >$3000 (81±15 kg vs. 71±15 kg; 29.8±4.6 kg/m2 vs. 26.5±5.1 kg/m2; 98±12 cm vs. 89±14 cm; respectively) and with an education level of high school graduate or less than for those with some college (84±16 kg vs. 72±14 kg; 30.6±4.2 kg/m2 vs. 26.9±4.9 kg/m2; 100±11 cm vs. 91±13 cm; respectively). HDL-C was higher for those with a monthly income of >$3000 than those earning <$3000 (49±12 mg/dL vs. 41±10 mg/dL), those with some college education than those with high school or less (47±10 mg/dL vs. 37±9 mg/dL), and for those employed than those not employed (46±10 mg/dL vs. 40±12 mg/dL). There was no association between acculturation and CVD risk factors. Percent of energy consumed from fat was greater and percent of energy from carbohydrates was lower in those earning <$3000 monthly than those earning >$3000 (32±5% vs. 29±3%; 52±8% vs. 56±4%; respectively). Greater acculturation to the Anglo culture was negatively correlated with body fat percentage (r=-0.238, p=0.043) and serum glucose (r=-0.265, p=0.024). Overall, these results suggest that factors related to sociocultural and socioeconomic status may affect cardiometabolic disease risk in Mexican-Americans living in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
ContributorsFarr, Kristin Jennette (Author) / Vega-Lopez, Sonia (Thesis advisor) / Shaibi, Gabriel Q (Committee member) / Mayol-Kreiser, Sandra N (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Driven by concern over environmental, economic and social problems, small, place based communities are engaging in processes of transition to become more sustainable. These communities may be viewed as innovative front runners of a transition to a more sustainable society in general, each one, an experiment in social transformation. These experiments present learning opportunities to build robust theories of community transition and to create specific, actionable knowledge to improve, replicate, and accelerate transitions in real communities. Yet to date, there is very little empirical research into the community transition phenomenon. This thesis empirically develops an analytical framework and method for the purpose of researching community transition processes, the ultimate goal of which is to arrive at a practice of evidence based transitions. A multiple case study approach was used to investigate three community transitions while simultaneously developing the framework and method in an iterative fashion. The case studies selected were Ashton Hayes, a small English village, BedZED, an urban housing complex in London, and Forres, a small Scottish town. Each community was visited and data collected by interview and document analysis. The research design brings together elements of process tracing, transformative planning and governance, sustainability assessment, transition path analysis and transition management within a multiple case study envelope. While some preliminary insights are gained into community transitions based on the three cases the main contribution of this thesis is in the creation of the research framework and method. The general framework and method developed has potential for standardizing and synthesizing research of community transition processes leading to both theoretical and practical knowledge that allows sustainability transition to be approached with confidence and not just hope.
ContributorsForrest, Nigel (Author) / Wiek, Arnim (Thesis advisor) / Golub, Aaron (Thesis advisor) / Redman, Charles (Committee member) / White, Dave (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011