Matching Items (45)
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- All Subjects: Sustainability
- Creators: School of Life Sciences
- Creators: Department of Information Systems
Description
This thesis project was conducted to create a practical tool to help micro and small local food enterprises identify potential strategies and sources of finance. Currently, many of these enterprises are unable to obtain the financial capital needed to start-up or maintain operations.
Sources and strategies of finance studied and ultimately included in the tool were Loans, Equity, Membership, Crowdfunding, and Grants. The tool designed was a matrix that takes into account various criteria of the business (e.g. business lifecycle, organizational structure, business performance) and generates a financial plan based on these criteria and how they align with the selected business strategies. After strategies are found, stakeholders can search through an institutional database created in conjunction with the matrix tool to find possible institutional providers of financing that relate to the strategy or strategies found.
The tool has shown promise in identifying sources of finance for micro and small local food enterprises in practical use with hypothetical business cases, however further practical use is necessary to provide further input and revise the tool as needed. Ultimately, the tool will likely become fully user-friendly and stakeholders will not need the assistance of another expert helping them to use it. Finally, despite the promise of the tool itself, the fundamental and underlying problem that many of these businesses face (lack of infrastructure and knowledge) still exists, and while this tool can also help capacity-building efforts towards both those seeking and those providing finance, an institutional attitude adjustment towards social and alternative enterprises is necessary in order to further simplify the process of obtaining finance.
Sources and strategies of finance studied and ultimately included in the tool were Loans, Equity, Membership, Crowdfunding, and Grants. The tool designed was a matrix that takes into account various criteria of the business (e.g. business lifecycle, organizational structure, business performance) and generates a financial plan based on these criteria and how they align with the selected business strategies. After strategies are found, stakeholders can search through an institutional database created in conjunction with the matrix tool to find possible institutional providers of financing that relate to the strategy or strategies found.
The tool has shown promise in identifying sources of finance for micro and small local food enterprises in practical use with hypothetical business cases, however further practical use is necessary to provide further input and revise the tool as needed. Ultimately, the tool will likely become fully user-friendly and stakeholders will not need the assistance of another expert helping them to use it. Finally, despite the promise of the tool itself, the fundamental and underlying problem that many of these businesses face (lack of infrastructure and knowledge) still exists, and while this tool can also help capacity-building efforts towards both those seeking and those providing finance, an institutional attitude adjustment towards social and alternative enterprises is necessary in order to further simplify the process of obtaining finance.
ContributorsDwyer, Robert Francis (Author) / Wiek, Arnim (Thesis director) / Forrest, Nigel (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
RecyclePlus is an iOS mobile application that allows users to be knowledgeable in the realms of sustainability. It gives encourages users to be environmental responsible by providing them access to recycling information. In particular, it allows users to search up certain materials and learn about its recyclability and how to properly dispose of the material. Some searches will show locations of facilities near users that collect certain materials and dispose of the materials properly. This is a full stack software project that explores open source software and APIs, UI/UX design, and iOS development.
ContributorsTran, Nikki (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Meuth, Ryan (Committee member) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Although sustainability as a concept and a science has been around for quite some time, it has only recently come into the common vernacular of citizens around the world. While there are a number of arguments that have been and can be made about the role of sustainability in developing countries, it can be said with certainty that sustainability education, especially at the pre-university level, is commonly neglected even in countries that have sustainability initiatives elsewhere in their systems. Education is an important part of development in any country, and sustainability education is critical to raising generations who are more aware of the connections in the world around them. Informal education, or education that takes place outside of a formal classroom, can provide an especially important platform for sustainability ideas. These factors take on unique characteristics within the environment of a small island with noble sustainability goals but limited resources and an economy that includes a significant domestic goat population. After providing basic background on sustainability and the nature of the educational process within the environment of the small island-nation of Grenada, I discuss the importance of informal education and follow my path with a local non-profit in Grenada leading to the development of a locally-relevant sustainability curriculum for implementation in a K-6 school.
ContributorsMelkonoff, Natalie Anne (Author) / Eder, James (Thesis director) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The purpose of this project is to create an affordable and low-environmental impact housing model for high-density urban living. Detailed research was completed to select the Arizonan city of Tempe for the basis of this model such as author's preference and alarming demographic and economic factors. The finalized model will consist of shipping containers that will be converted into housing. These domiciles are ideal for a maximum of 1-2 occupants. The units will be stacked into communities to accomplish high density. These shipping containers will be used rather than brand new, the community landscape will consist of natural desert landscaping, a recycling program will be offered, and solar panels will be used to power the units. The decision for these features fulfills both the mission of the project and markets to the main demographic group of residents in Tempe, Millennials, who usually place sustainability in high regard. These units are meant to be purchased by the target market and other citizens to increase homeownership rates in Tempe. Their ownership rights will be analogous owning a condo, where they will own the converted shipping container itself, but not the property the unit is placed on. In addition, these units qualify for traditional loans and will appreciate similar to normal housing options. After conceptualizing the idea, various costs were analyzed for construction of the units. A critical component of the project is to receive government grants to fund the venture in order to continue the mission and keep prices of these units low. This model is expandable and could be moved to other cities within the state or potentially other states through future government grant attainment and success with the first installation. These communities will be managed by a company, Shipping Designs, which will be a limited liability company created by the author, Shauna Burgoyne.
ContributorsBurgoyne, Shauna Cheyenne (Author) / Kellso, James (Thesis director) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The idea of a packed promenade, crowded with busy shoppers and completely empty of cars may seem like a holdover from rustic 19th century Europe — but many present day examples can be found right here in the United States — in college towns like Madison, WI, big cities like Denver CO, and lots of places in between. In recent years, proposals to change Mill Ave. here in Tempe have been introduced to modify University Dr. to Rio Salado Pkwy. into just that type of pedestrianized shopping mall, closing it to all automobile traffic outside of emergency vehicles.
As two students who frequent the potentially affected area, we explore the feasibility of such a proposal to continue to grow the downtown Tempe economy. Our research focuses upon several different areas — exploring positive and negative cases of street pedestrianization (whether in Europe, the United States, or other countries), the impact a permanent street closure in Tempe would have both on personal traffic and on the city’s robust public transit system, potential security concerns, opinions of the business community on the proposed change, and the political feasibility of passing the proposal through the Tempe City Council.
As two students who frequent the potentially affected area, we explore the feasibility of such a proposal to continue to grow the downtown Tempe economy. Our research focuses upon several different areas — exploring positive and negative cases of street pedestrianization (whether in Europe, the United States, or other countries), the impact a permanent street closure in Tempe would have both on personal traffic and on the city’s robust public transit system, potential security concerns, opinions of the business community on the proposed change, and the political feasibility of passing the proposal through the Tempe City Council.
ContributorsBaker, Alex Anton (Co-author) / O'Malley, Jessica (Co-author) / King, David (Thesis director) / Kuby, Lauren (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Locusts are a major crop pest in many parts of the world and different species are endemic to different countries. In Latin America, the South American Locust (Schistocerca cancellata) is the predominant species found mostly in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, and southern Brazil with Argentina being the most affected. Several control and management practices, including biological control, have been implemented in these countries in the past to control the locusts and reduce their impact on crop and vegetation, however, effective long-term control and management practices will require a detail understanding of how the predominant locust species in this region responds to resource variation. Research has shown that there is strong evidence that locusts, and many other organisms, will actively balance dietary macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and lipids) to optimize growth, survival, and/or reproduction. A study by Cease et. al, 2017, on the dietary preferences of the Mongolian locust (Oedaleus asiaticus) showed that it prefers diets that are high in carbohydrates over diets that are high in protein, in this case locusts self-selected a 1:2 ratio of protein:carbohydrate. This and many other studies provide vital insight into the nutritional and feeding preferences of these locust species but the effects that this difference in protein: carbohydrate preferences has on growth, egg production, flight potential, and survival has yet to be fully explored, hence, this study investigates the effects that nitrogen fertilization of wheatgrass will have on the growth, egg production, survival, and flight muscle mass of the South American locust in a controlled, laboratory environment.
ContributorsManneh, Balanding (Author) / Cease, Arianne (Thesis director) / Overson, Rick (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
DescriptionThis paper provides an analysis of the differences in impacts made by companies that promote their sustainability efforts. A comparison of companies reveals that the ones with greater supply chain influence and larger consumer bases can make more concrete progress in terms of accomplishment for the sustainability realm.
ContributorsBeaubien, Courtney Lynn (Author) / Anderies, John (Thesis director) / Allenby, Brad (Committee member) / Janssen, Marco (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Consumption of seafood poses a substantial threat to global biodiversity. Chemical contamination found in both wild-caught and farmed seafood also presents significant health risks to consumers. Flame retardants, used in upholstery, plastics, clothing, and other products to reduce fire danger, are of particular concern as they are commonly found in the marine environment and permeate the tissues of fish that are sold for consumption via multiple pathways. By summarizing various metrics of sustainability and the mercury content in consumed species of fish and shellfish, researchers have found that high levels of chemical contamination was linked with lesser fishery sustainability. I conducted a literature review of flame retardant content in seafood to further compare contamination and sustainability in addition to the initial analysis with mercury. My review suggests that the widespread issue of fishery collapse could be alleviated by demonstrating to stakeholders that many unsustainable fish stocks are mutually disadvantageous for both human consumers and the environment. Future research should address the need for the collection of data that better represent actual global contaminant concentrations in seafood.
ContributorsNoziglia, Andrea Joyce (Author) / Gerber, Leah (Thesis director) / Smith, Andrew (Committee member) / Pratt, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
In the face of the world's most pressing sustainability challenges, such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, and loss of biodiversity, the following questions must be explored: Why are these situation occurring? How can we understand their complexity? How can we research these challenges to mitigate negative outcomes? This thesis investigates the relationships between people and nature through coupled human and natural systems, or CHANS, and argues for a transdisciplinary research approach for sustainability science. The following questions and topics are discussed: 1. The Complexity of Sustainability and Implications for Traditional Research Approaches 2. Coupled Human and Natural Systems Research 3. What is Transdisciplinary Research, and How Does it Relate to the Living With Locusts Team's Coupled Human and Natural Systems Research? This thesis uses the case of a team researching international locust plagues to argue for this approach. The team's project is titled "Living With Locusts" and is directed by Arianne Cease of Arizona State University's School of Sustainability.
ContributorsLantz, Kayna Mishelle (Author) / Cease, Arianne (Thesis director) / Campbell, Jacob (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Chronic stress often leads to cognitive deficits, especially within the spatial memory domain mediated by the hippocampus. When chronic stress ends and a no-stress period ensues (i.e., washout, WO), spatial ability improves, which can be better than non-stressed controls (CON). The WO period is often the same duration as the chronic stress paradigm. Given the potential benefit of a post-stress WO period on cognition, it is important to investigate whether this potential benefit of a post-stress WO period has long-lasting effects. In this project, chronic restraint (6hr/d/21d) in Sprague-Dawley rats was used, as it is the minimum duration necessary to observe spatial memory deficits. Two durations of post-stress WO were used following the end of chronic restraint, 3 weeks (STR-WO3) and 6 weeks (STR-WO6). Immediately after chronic stress (STR-IMM) or the WO periods, rats were tested on various cognitive tests. We corroborated past studies that chronic stress impaired spatial memory (STR-IMM vs CON). Interestingly, STR-WO3 and STR-WO6 failed to demonstrate improved spatial memory on a radial arm water maze task, performing similarly as STR-IMM. Performance outcomes were unlikely from differences in anxiety or motivation because rats from all conditions performed similarly on an open field task and on a simple object recognition paradigm, respectively. However, performance on object placement was unusual in that very few rats explored, suggesting some degree of anxiety or fear in all groups. One possible interpretation of the unusual results of the 3 week washout group may be attributed to the different spatial memory tasks used across studies or external factors from the study. Further exploration of these other factors led to the conclusion that they did not play a role and the STR-WO3 RAWM data were anomalous to other studies. This suggests that a washout period following chronic stress may not be fully understood.
ContributorsFlegenheimer, Aaron Embden (Author) / Conrad, Cheryl (Thesis director) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Committee member) / Ortiz, J. Bryce (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05