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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Halden, Rolf
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterial use is becoming more prevalent as is the likelihood of human exposure and environmental release. The goal of this thesis is to develop analytical techniques to quantify the level of TiO2 in complex matrices to support environmental, health, and safety research of TiO2 nanomaterials. A pharmacokinetic model showed that the inhalation of TiO2 nanomaterials caused the highest amount to be absorbed and distributed throughout the body. Smaller nanomaterials (< 5nm) accumulated in the kidneys before clearance. Nanoparticles of 25 nm diameter accumulated in the liver and spleen and were cleared from the body slower than smaller nanomaterials. A digestion method using nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and hydrogen peroxide was found to digest organic materials and TiO2 with a recovery of >80%. The samples were measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the method detection limit was 600 ng of Ti. An intratracheal instillation study of TiO2 nanomaterials in rats found anatase TiO2 nanoparticles in the caudal lung lobe of rats 1 day post instillation at a concentration of 1.2 ug/mg dry tissue, the highest deposition rate of any TiO2 nanomaterial. For all TiO2 nanomaterial morphologies the concentrations in the caudal lobes were significantly higher than those in the cranial lobes. In a study of TiO2 concentration in food products, white colored foods or foods with a hard outer shell had higher concentrations of TiO2. Hostess Powdered Donettes were found to have the highest Ti mass per serving with 200 mg Ti. As much as 3.8% of the total TiO2 mass was able to pass through a 0.45 um indicating that some of the TiO2 is likely nanosized. In a study of TiO2 concentrations in personal care products and paints, the concentration of TiO2 was as high as 117 ug/mg in Benjamin Moore white paint and 70 ug/mg in a Neutrogena sunscreen. Greater than 6% of Ti in one sunscreen was able to pass through a 0.45 um filter. The nanosized TiO2 in food products and personal care products may release as much as 16 mg of nanosized TiO2 per individual per day to wastewater.
ContributorsWeir, Alex Alan (Author) / Westerhoff, Paul K (Thesis advisor) / Hristovski, Kiril (Committee member) / Herckes, Pierre (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Since its launch by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification has been postured as the "gold standard" for environmentally conscious, sustainable building design, construction and operations. However, as a "living measurement", one which requires ongoing evaluation and reporting of attainment and compliance with LEED certification requirements, there is none. Once awarded, LEED certification does not have a required reporting component to effectively track continued adherence to LEED standards. In addition, there is no expiry tied to the certification; once obtained, a LEED certification rating is presumed to be a valid representation of project certification status. Therefore, LEED lacks a requirement to demonstrate environmental impact of construction materials and building systems over the entire life of the project. Consequently, LEED certification is merely a label rather than a true representation of ongoing adherence to program performance requirements over time. Without continued monitoring and reporting of building design and construction features, and in the absence of recertification requirements, LEED is, in reality, a gold star rather than a gold standard. This thesis examines the lack of required ongoing monitoring, reporting, or recertification requirements following the award by the USGBC of LEED certification; compares LEED with other international programs which do have ongoing reporting or recertification requirements; demonstrates the need and benefit of ongoing reporting or recertification requirements; and explores possible methods for implementation of mandatory reporting requirements within the program.
ContributorsCarpenter, Anne Therese (Author) / Olson, Larry (Thesis advisor) / Hild, Nicholas (Committee member) / Brown, Albert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The handling of waste encompasses the following processes: recycling, collection, treatment, and disposal. It is crucial to provide a cost-effective waste management system that improves public health and reduces environmental risks. In developing countries, proper handling of solid and hazardous wastes remain severely limited in urban cities if the industries and hospitals producing it do not take responsibility. Recycling and reusing of 12% of total waste in Phnom Penh is an active industry in Cambodia, driven by an informal network of waste pickers, collectors, and buyers. This thesis examines the environmental situation of solid and hazardous wastes in Phnom Penh. The socio-economic background of waste pickers and their current practices for handling solid and hazardous wastes will be mainly discussed in order to understand health and sanitation impacts and risks for disposal of solid and hazardous waste by these informal waste pickers. Surveys and interviews with the following sources are conducted: waste pickers, community members, observation at local dumpsites, governmental officials, and other non-government organization agencies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This thesis reports the external and internal factors that hinder safety and cost-effective management for disposal of solid and hazardous wastes. Multiple literature reviews are assessed in regards to the health effects, economic, and social impacts in developing countries. Evidentially, after attending several training and environmental awareness-raising programs, waste pickers expressed concerns about their health and the environment. Instead of receiving support, waste pickers are under economic pressure to use improper tools for waste picking, to stop working, get access to health care/service, to change their career, and prevent contact to limit serious communicable diseases and disability. As a result, the government and other related government agencies have made an effort to establish sanitation handling, treatment, and disposal systems by closing the old dumpsite. Due to limited entrepreneurship and business experience after training, most waste pickers cannot initiate micro business or find new jobs and then resume their waste picking. In conclusion, this thesis proposed that there are alternative technologies and management methods that will allow waste pickers to maintain employment while minimizing hazardous waste. Some examples of alternatives for waste pickers are establishing a material recovery center and alternative higher income occupation.
ContributorsChhun, Gina (Author) / Parmentier, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Grossman, Gary (Committee member) / Maneepong, Chuthatip (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Plastics continue to benefit society in innumerable ways, even though recent public focus on plastics has centered mostly on human health and environmental concerns, including their endocrine-disrupting properties and the long-term pollution they represent. The benefits of plastics are particularly apparent in medicine and public health. Plastics are versatile, cost-effective, require less energy to produce than alternative materials like metal or glass, and can be manufactured to have many different properties. Due to these characteristics, polymers are used in diverse health applications like disposable syringes and intravenous bags, sterile packaging for medical instruments as well as in joint replacements, tissue engineering, etc. However, not all current uses of plastics are prudent and sustainable, as illustrated by the widespread, unwanted human exposure to endocrine-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), problems arising from the large quantities of plastic being disposed of, and depletion of non-renewable petroleum resources as a result of the ever-increasing mass production of plastic consumer articles. Using the health-care sector as example, this review concentrates on the benefits and downsides of plastics and identifies opportunities to change the composition and disposal practices of these invaluable polymers for a more sustainable future consumption. It highlights ongoing efforts to phase out DEHP and BPA in the health-care and food industry and discusses biodegradable options for plastic packaging, opportunities for reducing plastic medical waste, and recycling in medical facilities in the quest to reap a maximum of benefits from polymers without compromising human health or the environment in the process.
ContributorsNorth, Emily Jean (Co-author) / Halden, Rolf (Co-author, Thesis director) / Mikhail, Chester (Committee member) / Hurlbut, Ben (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Microplastics are defined as small pieces of plastics that are less than five millimeters in size. These microplastics can vary in their appearance, are known to be harmful to aquatic life and can threaten life cycles of marine organisms because of their chemical make-up and the toxic additives used in their manufacture. Although small in size, it is hypothesized that microplastics can serve as an example of how human activities can alter ecosystems near and far. To investigate the implications and determine the potential impact of microplastics on a protected atoll’s ecosystems, red-footed booby (Sula sula) guano samples from six locations on Palmyra Atoll were acquired from North Carolina State University via The Nature Conservancy and were inspected for the presence of microplastics. Each of the guano samples were weighed and prepared via wet oxidation. Microplastic fibers were detected via stereoscope microscopy and analyzed for chemical composition via Raman spectroscopy. All six sampling locations within Palmyra Atoll contained microplastic fibers identified as polyethylene terephthalate, with North-South Causeway and Eastern Island having the highest average number of microplastic fibers found per gram of guano sample (n = 0.611). These data provide evidence that seabirds can serve as vectors for the spread of microplastic pollution. This research lends context to the widespread impact of plastic pollution and states possible implications of its presence in delicate ecosystems.
ContributorsAnderson, Alyssa Cerise (Author) / Lisenbee, Cayle (Thesis director) / Halden, Rolf (Committee member) / Rolsky, Charles (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
In the United States, some 94 million people (29% of the US population) live in areas immediately adjacent to a coast. The global phenomenon of climate-induced environmental change is largely framed as a one-way cause-and-effect relationship, where individuals, communities, and populations inhabiting at-risk locations are either forced to relocate or do so of their own accord. Yet residents of such at-risk areas are increasingly actively choosing to remain, even as risk intensifies. Using a mixed-methods approach, this dissertation examines environmental perceptions, the internalization of risk, the influence of information sources, and how individuals residing in coastal locations process their migration decisions. Established migration and hazard frameworks and theory are poorly positioned to understand the environments’ role in migration decisions. From these perspectives, environmental factors are near exclusively framed as negative affective biophysical push factors. Migration frameworks also fail to adequately incorporate reasons for non-migration. This dissertation directly addresses both these gaps in understanding. This research utilizes data from across the Gulf Coast, with a focus on fieldwork from Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, and a dataset of 123 surveys and 63 interviews across a diverse group of coastal residents. Residents perceive of their environment in much more robust terms than just the biophysical. A majority of terms incorporated social and cultural aspects of environment, and environmental meaning was expressed across a continuum of proximal (most important/close) to more distal (less important/distant) scales. Little support is found for the traditional idea that economic or natural-environmental factors are more influential in decisions to migrate away from ones’ home. In predicting migration intention, socially and environmentally derived variables improved migration model performance. This dissertation demonstrates that internalization of risk by coastal residents is not a straightforward relationship, but rather one mediated by; social-environmental factors, personal experience, sense of place, and trust, which in turn influences intention to migrate, move locally, or remain in place. Residents perceive of their environment far more broadly than current risk-management planning allows. Results provide coastal residents, as well as community leaders and emergency managers who perceive environment differently, new tools for productive engagement and future policy development within coastal landscapes.
ContributorsTill, Charlotte Emma (Author) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Thesis advisor) / Tsuda, Takeyuki (Committee member) / White, Dave (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
An Earned Value Management System (EVMS) is an organization’s system for project/program management that integrates a defined set of associated work scopes, schedules and budgets, allowing for effective planning, performance, and management control. A mature EVMS that is compliant with standards and guidelines, and that is applied in a positive social environment is critical to the overall success of large and complex projects and programs. However, a comprehensive and up-to-date literature review revealed a lack of a data-driven and consistent rating system that can gauge the maturity and the environment surrounding EVMS implementation. Therefore, the primary objective of this dissertation focuses on the EVMS maturity and environment, and investigates their impact on project performance. The author was one of the 41 research team members whose goal was to develop the novel rating system called Integrated Project/Program Management (IP2M) Maturity and Environment Total Risk Rating (METRR). Using a multi-method research approach, the rating system was developed based on a literature review of more than 600 references, a survey with 294 responses, focus group meetings, and research charrettes with more than 100 subject matter experts from the industry. Performance data from 35 completed projects and programs representing over $21.8 billion in total cost was collected and analyzed. The data analysis showed that the projects with high EVMS maturity and good EVMS environment outperformed those with low maturity and poor environment in key project performance measures. The contributions of this work includes: (1) developing definitions for EVM, EVMS and other research related terms, (2) determining the gaps in the EVMS literature, (3) determining the EVMS state of the practice in the industry, (4) developing a scalable rating system to measure the EVMS maturity and environment, (5) providing quantified evidence on the impact of EVMS maturity and environment on project performance, and (6) providing guidance to practitioners to gauge their EVMS maturity and environment for an enhanced project and program management integration and performance.
ContributorsAramali, Vartenie Mardiros (Author) / Gibson Jr., George Edward (Thesis advisor) / El Asmar, Mounir (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Aggressive and violent behavior is expressed differently across development, but for some adolescents, this behavior leads to criminal justice involvement through arrests and incarceration. Further, according to the biopsychosocial model, aggressive behavior is influenced by both genetics and the environment. This study sought to examine the differential impacts of early childhood environmental cumulative risk and genetic risk on the developmental cascade from middle childhood behavioral aggression and lack of control to adolescent antisocial behavior or callous-unemotional traits, to emerging adult involvement with the criminal justice system, and whether the effects of risk were mitigated by receiving the Family Check-Up (FCU) prevention program in childhood. The sample included high-risk youth (N = 731; 50% female, 50% White, 28% Black, 13% Hispanic, 9% Indigenous, Native Hawaiian, or Asian; of these 13% were multiracial; Mincome = $28,993; representative 515 genotyped) involved in a randomized-controlled trial of the Family Check-Up and followed longitudinally across 11 waves from ages 2 through 19 years. Behavioral measures included parent-report of behavioral aggression and observational lack of control in middle childhood, self-report of antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional (CU) traits in adolescence, and self-report of involvement with the legal system at age 19. Results of longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM) supported a developmental cascade from middle childhood behavioral aggression to antisocial behavior in adolescence to legal system involvement. Early cumulative environmental risk and polygenic risk tolerance (RT PGS) significantly predicted involvement with the legal system at age 19, while RT PGS also predicted antisocial behavior in adolescence. Further, intervention effects were found for the FCU, such that the FCU disrupted the effects of RT PGS and middle childhood aggression on antisocial behavior and CU traits in adolescence. This study showed that the FCU can mitigate polygenic risk, supporting the benefit of early psychosocial prevention programs. Importantly, this study showed initial evidence that prevention programs targeting early childhood conduct problems could potentially reduce rates of justice system involvement, including arrests and incarceration, by the age of 19.
ContributorsOstner, Savannah Grace (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis advisor) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Davis, Mary C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
The Philippine Sea refers to the East and West Philippine Sea that are within the sovereign territory of the 7,641 islands of the Philippine archipelago. Historically, Spain, the United States, and Japan have colonized the islands, and the United States and China continue to maintain imperial interests in the area. Filipino/a/x diasporic activists in the U.S. and allies have participated in the anti-imperial struggle in support of demilitarization of the Pacific and of neo-colonized states across the globe. Responding to the problematics of anti-imperialism and solidarity, this dissertation advances the concept of agos or moving relations to attune to the sea as an analytic in theorizing activism, communication, and performance. This project was written on the unceded ancestral homelands of the Onk Akimel O’odham and Xalychidom Piipash, was inspired by the works of Black and Indigenous communities and scholars, and was influenced by Kale Fajardo’s notion of crosscurrents and Loma Cuevas-Hewitt’s concept of archipelagic poetics. Across critical organizational communication, critical intercultural communication, and performance studies, agos theorizes the relationalities of movements and the movements of relationalities. Utilizing critical qualitative, rhetorical, and performance methods, this project develops three instantiations of agos. In “Whirlpool Organizing,” the processes of anti-imperial organizers’ relationship and coalition building are examined to demonstrate the liquidities that animate dialectics and differences. In “Anchored Relationality,” U.S. diasporic Filipino/a/x’ varied and complex reconnections with Philippine waters are explored to illustrate the fluidities of positions and relations. In “Archipelagic Performance,” the staged production of “What sounds do turtles make?” is analyzed to showcase the flows of a decolonial and relational mode of performance.
ContributorsLabador, Ma Angela San Luis (Author) / LeMaster, Loretta (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Heewon (Thesis advisor) / Leong, Karen (Committee member) / Hastings, Rachel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Black Americans and Black folks across the globe continue to proclaim variousunfreedoms we experience specifically due to our Blackness. As we struggle against and
survive through the unfair structures, ways of being, and conditions that are killing us, we
have been creating new survival strategies for living. One of our primary arguments is
that state entities and the anti-Black carcerality embedded in them (e.g., policing, prisons,
hospitals, welfare systems, military, the foster care system educational institutions etc.)
are the primary arbitrators weaponizing violence, injustice, and unfreedom in our lives.
Since the Black Lives Matter uprising in 2013 due to the murder of Trayvon Martin,
leading up to the largest global uprising in 2020 due to the murder of George Floyd, and
the ongoing activism around anti-Black police violence, we who are organizers and
activists have found ourselves seeking out alternative ways to be principled in our
struggles for abolition, transformative justice, and Black liberation. A part of being in
principled struggle is building a praxis (when theory meets practice) of how to conduct
oneself in community with others, and with the state in a way that is aligned with stated
values and beliefs. Much of the organizing work geared towards eradicating anti-Black
violence pulls from the theoretical and practiced interventions of the Black radical
tradition, Black feminist thought, and abolitionism(s) to inform their praxis. This
dissertation will seek out a Black radical queer feminist praxis by conducting an auto-
ethnography using critical art-based Black feminist-womanist storytelling to measure
data collected from my lived experiences as an organizer and activist to uplift the
liberation strategies of an era.
ContributorsAraya, Miriam (Author) / Anderson, Lisa (Thesis advisor) / Duarte, Marisa (Committee member) / Alhassan, Shamara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024