Matching Items (45)
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Global climate change (GCC) is among the most important issues of the 21st century. Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change are some of the salient local and regional challenges scientists, decision makers, and the general public face today and will be in the near future. However, designed adaptation and

Global climate change (GCC) is among the most important issues of the 21st century. Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change are some of the salient local and regional challenges scientists, decision makers, and the general public face today and will be in the near future. However, designed adaptation and mitigation strategies do not guarantee success in coping with global climate change. Despite the robust and convincing body for anthropogenic global climate change research and science there is still a significant gap between the recommendations provided by the scientific community and the actual actions by the public and policy makers. In order to design, implement, and generate sufficient public support for policies and planning interventions at the national and international level, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the public's perceptions regarding GCC. Based on survey research in nine countries, the purpose of this study is two-fold: First, to understand the nature of public perceptions of global climate change in different countries; and secondly to identi-fy perception factors which have a significant impact on the public's willingness to sup-port GCC policies or commit to behavioral changes to reduce GHG emissions. Factors such as trust in GCC information which need to be considered in future climate change communication efforts are also dealt with in this dissertation. This study has identified several aspects that need to be considered in future communication programs. GCC is characterized by high uncertainties, unfamiliar risks, and other characteristics of hazards which make personal connections, responsibility and engagement difficult. Communication efforts need to acknowledge these obstacles, build up trust and motivate the public to be more engaged in reducing GCC by emphasizing the multiple benefits of many policies outside of just reducing GCC. Levels of skepticism among the public towards the reality of GCC as well as the trustworthiness and sufficien-cy of the scientific findings varies by country. Thus, communicators need to be aware of their audience in order to decide how educational their program needs to be.
ContributorsHagen, Bjoern (Author) / Pijawka, David (Thesis advisor) / Brazel, Anthony (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Guhathakurta, Subhrajit (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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This dissertation is a detailed rhetorical analysis of interviews with rice farmers in central Java, Indonesia and documents published by the global NGOs United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR. Using theories of materiality, literacies, and environmental rhetorics, I examine how seemingly distinct and disparate humans, organizations, and

This dissertation is a detailed rhetorical analysis of interviews with rice farmers in central Java, Indonesia and documents published by the global NGOs United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR. Using theories of materiality, literacies, and environmental rhetorics, I examine how seemingly distinct and disparate humans, organizations, and inanimates are actually entangled agents in a dynamic conversation. I have termed that conversation the discourse of rice farming. Studying local and global together challenges conventional dichotomous thinking about farming and food. Looking at this conversation as an entanglement reveals what Karen Barad has defined in Meeting the Universe Halfway as the intra-relatedness of all agents. I focus on rice farming because rice is a food staple around the world and a major component of global agriculture initiatives by FAO and CGIAR. I argue that farmers construct their jobs in terms of production, food sovereignty, and community. The NGOs construct agriculture in terms of consumption, food security, and poverty alleviation. In my project I emphasize the need for global agents to better account for how farmers construct agriculture. Accounting for how all agents impact the discourse of rice farming is the only way to come to an objective understanding rice farming's impact on local and global scales. My argument adds to the field of environmental rhetorics because most published case studies are about the United States and thus are limited in their applicability. And it enriches global conversations about food security and food justice because it shares accounts from actual farmers who are often conspicuously absent from literature on those topics.
ContributorsCooney, Emily (Author) / Goggin, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Hannah, Mark (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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With the ongoing drought surpassing a decade in Arizona, scholars, water managers and decision-makers have heightened attention to the availability of water resources, especially in rapidly growing regions where demand may outgrow supplies or outpace the capacity of the community water systems. Community water system managing entities and the biophysical

With the ongoing drought surpassing a decade in Arizona, scholars, water managers and decision-makers have heightened attention to the availability of water resources, especially in rapidly growing regions where demand may outgrow supplies or outpace the capacity of the community water systems. Community water system managing entities and the biophysical and social characteristics of a place mediate communities' vulnerability to hazards such as drought and long-term climate change. The arid southwestern Phoenix metropolitan area is illustrative of the challenges that developed urban areas in arid climates face globally as population growth and climate change stress already fragile human-environmental systems. This thesis reveals the factors abating and exacerbating differential community water system vulnerability to water scarcity in communities simultaneously facing drought and rapid peri-urban growth. Employing a grounded, qualitative comparative case study approach, this thesis explores the interaction of social, biophysical and institutional factors as they effect the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of community water systems in Cave Creek and Buckeye, Arizona. Buckeye, once a small agricultural town in the West Valley, is wholly dependent on groundwater and currently planning for massive development to accommodate 218,591 new residents by 2020. Amid desert hills and near Tonto National Forest in the North Valley, Cave Creek is an upscale residential community suffering frequent water outages due to aging infrastructure and lack of system redundancy. Analyzing interviews, media accounts and policy documents, a narrative was composed explaining how place based factors, nested within a regional institutional water management framework, impact short and long-term vulnerability. This research adds to the library of vulnerability assessments completed using Polsky et al.'s Vulnerability Scoping Diagram and serves a pragmatic need assisting in the development of decision making tools that better represent the drivers of placed based vulnerability in arid metropolitan regions.
ContributorsZautner, Lilah (Author) / Larson, Kelli (Thesis advisor) / Bolin, Bob (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Since the Convention on Biological Diversity was established in 1992, more importance has been given to the conservation of genetic resources in the international community. In 2001, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) focused on conserving plant genetic resources, including crop wild relatives (CWR).

Since the Convention on Biological Diversity was established in 1992, more importance has been given to the conservation of genetic resources in the international community. In 2001, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) focused on conserving plant genetic resources, including crop wild relatives (CWR). Some of these genetic resources hold desirable traits--such as transfer of plant disease resistance, improvement of nutritional content, or increased resistance to climate change--that can improve commercial crops. For many years, ex situex situ conservation was the prevalent form of protecting plant genetic resources. However, after PGRFA was published in 1998, in situ techniques have increasingly been applied to conserve wild relatives and enhance domesticated crops.In situ techniques are preferred when possible, since they allow for continued evolution of traits through natural selection, and viability of seed stock through continuous germination and regeneration. In my research, I identified regions in Bolivia and rated them according to their potential for successful programs of iin situ conservation of wild crop relatives. In particular, I analyzed areas according to the following criteria: a) The prevalence of CWRs. b) The impacts of climate change, land use change, population growth, and economic development on the continued viability of CWRs in an area. c) The socio-political and economic conditions that might impede or facilitate successful conservation programs and outcomes. This work focuses on three genera of particular importance in Bolivia: Peanut (Arachis spp.), Potato (Solanum spp.) and Quinoa (Chenopodium spp.). I analyzed the above factors for each municipality in Bolivia (the smallest scale for which appropriate data were available). The results indicate which municipalities are most likely to successfully engage in CWR conservation projects. Finally, I present guidelines for the creation of conservation projects that pinpoint some of the potential risks and difficulties with in situ conservation programs in Bolivia and more generally.
ContributorsGonzalez-Paredes, Cecilia (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Thesis advisor) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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This dissertation focuses on traditional arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) as a form of place-based education by asking the question, what is the role of traditional arts at IAIA? Through a qualitative study students, faculty, staff, and alumni were interviewed to gain their perspectives on education,

This dissertation focuses on traditional arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) as a form of place-based education by asking the question, what is the role of traditional arts at IAIA? Through a qualitative study students, faculty, staff, and alumni were interviewed to gain their perspectives on education, traditional arts, and the role of traditional arts at IAIA. Through analysis of these interviews, it was found that participants viewed traditional arts as a form of place-based education and that these practices should play an important role at IAIA. This study also looks at critical geography and place-based practice as a form of anti-colonial praxis and an exercise of tribal sovereignty. Colonization restructures and transforms relationships with place. Neo-colonialism actively seeks to disconnect people from their relationship with the environment in which they live. A decline in relationship with places represents a direct threat to tribal sovereignty. This study calls on Indigenous people, and especially those who are Pueblo people, to actively reestablish relationships with their places so that inherent sovereignty can be preserved for future generations. This study also looks at the academic organization of IAIA and proposes a restructuring of the Academic Dean and Chief Academic Officer (AD&CAO) position to address issues of transition, efficiency, and innovation. The extensive responsibilities of this position cause several serious concerns. The policy paper proposes that the academic programs be divided thematically into 2 schools that will allow greater flexibility and adaptive practices to emerge out of the academic division at IAIA. The combination of restructuring the academic division at IAIA, my theoretical argument promoting place-based praxis as anti-colonial practice, and my research into the application of place-based programming at IAIA all support my overall goal of supporting Pueblo communities through my own work.
ContributorsSwentzell, Porter (Author) / Sumida-Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Lomawaima, K. Tsianina (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Climate change impacts are evident throughout the world, particularly in the low lying coastal areas. The multidimensional nature and cross-scale impacts of climate change require a concerted effort from different organizations operating at multiple levels of governance. The efficiency and effectiveness of the adaptation actions of these organizations rely on

Climate change impacts are evident throughout the world, particularly in the low lying coastal areas. The multidimensional nature and cross-scale impacts of climate change require a concerted effort from different organizations operating at multiple levels of governance. The efficiency and effectiveness of the adaptation actions of these organizations rely on the problem framings, network structure, and power dynamics of the organizations and the challenges they encounter. Nevertheless, knowledge on how organizations within multi-level governance arrangements frame vulnerability, how the adaptation governance structure shapes their roles, how power dynamics affect the governance process, and how barriers emerge in adaptation governance as a result of multi-level interactions is limited. In this dissertation research, a multilevel governance perspective has been adopted to address these knowledge gaps through a case study of flood risk management in coastal Bangladesh. Key-informant interviews, systematic literature review, spatial multi-criteria decision analysis, social network analysis (SNA), and content analysis techniques have been used to collect and analyze data. This research finds that the organizations involved in adaptation governance generally have aligned framings of vulnerability, irrespective of the level at which they are operated, thus facilitating adaptation decision-making. However, this alignment raises concerns of a neglect of socio-economic aspects of vulnerability, potentially undermining adaptation initiatives. This study further finds that the adaptation governance process is elite-pluralistic in nature, but has a coexistence of top-down and bottom-up processes in different phases of adaptation actions. The analysis of power dynamics discloses the dominance of a few national level organizations in the adaptation governance process in Bangladesh. Lastly, four mechanisms have been found that can explain how organizational culture, practices, and preferences dictate the emergence of barriers in the adaptation governance process. This dissertation research overall advances our understanding on the significance of multilevel governance approach in climate change adaptation governance.
ContributorsIshtiaque, Asif (Author) / Chhetri, Netra (Thesis advisor) / Eakin, Hallie (Thesis advisor) / Myint, Soe W (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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This dissertation explores Brain Drain and Brain Circulation phenomena at Taos Pueblo, an Indigenous community located in northern New Mexico, USA. The study examines the push and pull factors that influence the migration of educated Taos Pueblo tribal members. The information contained in this dissertation was derived from a

This dissertation explores Brain Drain and Brain Circulation phenomena at Taos Pueblo, an Indigenous community located in northern New Mexico, USA. The study examines the push and pull factors that influence the migration of educated Taos Pueblo tribal members. The information contained in this dissertation was derived from a study that was completed from 2016-2017 in Taos Pueblo. It has become evident that Indigenous communities worldwide are currently experiencing massive migration away from reservations, rural, and communities of origin and towards urbanized centers. The research conducted in this dissertation was focused on both patterns and trends and possible distinct reasons for intellectual migration, especially in Indigenous communities. This dissertation is separated into three sections. The first part is a journal article that focused on Taos Pueblo intellectual migration patterns. The article draws from studies literature review, fieldwork methodology, methods, data and findings. The second part is a book chapter that centers on a literature review and theory development. The book chapter includes a discussion on the study findings and contains broad recommendations for addressing brain drain and promoting brain circulation in Taos Pueblo. The third and final section is a Policy Paper is aimed at two audiences, the first is Indigenous Leadership and secondly, college age students who are interested in working with Indigenous Communities. The policy brief provides solutions and recommendations that were gathered from secondary literature and from the data gathered during the various interviews that were conducted during the research period.
ContributorsMontoya, Amanda Jean (Author) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Chhetri, Netra (Thesis advisor) / Harjo, Laura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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This creative project created and implemented a seven-day STEM curriculum that ultimately encouraged engagement in STEM subjects in students ages 5 through 11. The activities were incorporated into Arizona State University's Kids' Camp over the summer of 2017, every Tuesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. with each activity running

This creative project created and implemented a seven-day STEM curriculum that ultimately encouraged engagement in STEM subjects in students ages 5 through 11. The activities were incorporated into Arizona State University's Kids' Camp over the summer of 2017, every Tuesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. with each activity running for roughly 40 minutes. The lesson plans were created to cover a myriad of scientific topics to account for varied student interest. The topics covered were plant biology, aerodynamics, zoology, geology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. Each lesson was scaffolded to match the learning needs of the three age groups (5-6 year olds, 7-8 year olds, 9-11 year olds) and to encourage engagement. "Engagement" was measured by pre- and post-activity surveys approved by IRB. The surveys were in the form of statements where the children would totally agree, agree, be undecided, disagree, or totally disagree with it. To more accurately test engagement, the smiley face Likert scale was incorporated with the answer choices. After implementation of the intervention, two-tailed paired t-tests showed that student engagement significantly increased for the two lesson plans of Aerodynamics and Chemistry.
ContributorsHunt, Allison Rene (Co-author) / Belko, Sara (Co-author) / Merritt, Eileen (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The importance of efficient design and development teams in in 21st century is evident after the compressive literate review was performed to digest various aspects of benefits and foundation of teamwork. Although teamwork may have variety of applications in many different industries, the new emerging biomedical engineering is growing significantly

The importance of efficient design and development teams in in 21st century is evident after the compressive literate review was performed to digest various aspects of benefits and foundation of teamwork. Although teamwork may have variety of applications in many different industries, the new emerging biomedical engineering is growing significantly using principles of teamwork. Studying attributes and mechanism of creating successful biomedical engineering teams may even contribute more to the fast paste growth of this industry. In comprehensive literate review performed, general importance of teamwork was studied. Also specific hard and soft attributes which may contribute to teamwork was studied. Currently, there are number of general assessment tools which assists managements in industry and academia to systematically bring qualified people together to flourish their talents and skills as members of a biomedical engineering teams. These assessment tools, although are useful, but are not comprehensive, incorporating literature review attributes, and also doesn't not contain student perspective who have experience as being part of a design and development team. Although there are many scientific researches and papers designated to this matter, but there is no study which purposefully studies development of an assessment tool which is designated to biomedical engineering workforce and is constructed of both literature, current assessment tools, and also student perspective. It is hypothesized that a more comprehensive composite assessment tool that incorporate both soft and hard team attributes from a combined professional and student perspective could be implemented in the development of successful Biomedical Engineering Design and Development teams and subsequently used in 21st century workforce.
ContributorsAfzalian Naini, Nima (Author) / Pizziconi, Vincent (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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The purpose of this study is to analyze the stereotypes surrounding four wind instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, and saxophones), and the ways in which those stereotypes propagate through various levels of musical professionalism in Western culture. In order to determine what these stereotypes might entail, several thousand social media and

The purpose of this study is to analyze the stereotypes surrounding four wind instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, and saxophones), and the ways in which those stereotypes propagate through various levels of musical professionalism in Western culture. In order to determine what these stereotypes might entail, several thousand social media and blog posts were analyzed, and direct quotations detailing the perceived stereotypical personality profiles for each of the four instruments were collected. From these, the three most commonly mentioned characteristics were isolated for each of the instrument groups as follows: female gender, femininity, and giggliness for flutists, intelligence, studiousness, and demographics (specifically being an Asian male) for clarinetists, quirkiness, eccentricity, and being seen as a misfit for oboists, and overconfidence, attention-seeking behavior, and coolness for saxophonists. From these traits, a survey was drafted which asked participating college-aged musicians various multiple choice, opinion scale, and short-answer questions that gathered how much they agree or disagree with each trait describing the instrument from which it was derived. Their responses were then analyzed to determine how much correlation existed between the researched characteristics and the opinions of modern musicians. From these results, it was determined that 75% of the traits that were isolated for a particular instrument were, in fact, recognized as being true in the survey data, demonstrating that the stereotypes do exist and seem to be widely recognizable across many age groups, locations, and levels of musical skill. Further, 89% of participants admitted that the instrument they play has a certain stereotype associated with it, but only 38% of people identify with that profile. Overall, it was concluded that stereotypes, which are overwhelmingly negative and gendered by nature, are indeed propagated, but musicians do not appear to want to identify with them, and they reflect a more archaic and immature sense that does not correlate to the trends observed in modern, professional music.
ContributorsAllison, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05