Matching Items (181)
Description
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
Description
More than 90 million Americans suffer from low health literacy levels that can lead to detrimental health practices. One of the greatest issues stemming from low health literacy is the misuse of medication, which results in 125,000 deaths per year and close to $200 billion dollars in health care funds (Ngoh 2009). With their implementation into neighborhood settings and consequently the everyday lives of individuals, pharmacies show potential in being great assets towards increasing health literacy on an individual and societal level. However, pharmacists must first be made aware of the opportunities and challenges that exist concerning this effort. Through a three step literature review and corresponding comparative analysis, the results of this study show that pharmacists should focus on four main areas: overall assessment of health literacy in a pharmacy setting, individualization and tailoring of health/ medication plans, development of verbal and written communication tools, and the pharmacist-patient relationship. Each area presents a set of opportunities and challenges that must be accounted for in order to design more effective initiatives and tools in the pharmacists' aim to increase health literacy.
ContributorsMergens, Rianna Lynn (Author) / Robert, Jason Scott (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Sustainable urbanism offers a set of best practice planning and design prescriptions intended to reverse the negative environmental consequences of urban sprawl, which dominates new urban development in the United States. Master planned developments implementing sustainable urbanism are proliferating globally, garnering accolades within the planning community and skepticism among social scientists. Despite attention from supporters and critics alike, little is known about the actual environmental performance of sustainable urbanism. This dissertation addresses the reasons for this paucity of evidence and the capacity of sustainable urbanism to deliver the espoused environmental outcomes through alternative urban design and the conventional master planning framework for development through three manuscripts. The first manuscript considers the reasons why geography, which would appear to be a natural empirical home for research on sustainable urbanism, has yet to accumulate evidence that links design alternatives to environmental outcomes or to explain the social processes that mediate those outcomes. It argues that geography has failed to develop a coherent subfield based on nature-city interactions and suggests interdisciplinary bridging concepts to invigorate greater interaction between the urban and nature-society geographic subfields. The subsequent chapters deploy these bridging concepts to empirically examine case-studies in sustainable urbanism. The second manuscript utilizes fine scale spatial data to quantify differences in ecosystem services delivery across three urban designs in two phases of Civano, a sustainable urbanism planned development in Tucson, Arizona, and an adjacent, typical suburban development comparison community. The third manuscript considers the extent to which conventional master planning processes are fundamentally at odds with urban environmental sustainability through interviews with stakeholders involved in three planned developments: Civano (Tucson, Arizona), Mueller (Austin, Texas), and Prairie Crossing (Grayslake, Illinois). Findings from the three manuscripts reveal deep challenges in conceptualizing an empirical area of inquiry on sustainable urbanism, measuring the outcomes of urban design alternatives, and innovating planning practice within the constraints of existing institutions that facilitate conventional development. Despite these challenges, synthesizing the insights of geography and cognate fields holds promise in building an empirical body of knowledge that complements pioneering efforts of planners to innovate urban planning practice through the sustainable urbanism alternative.
ContributorsTurner, Victoria (Author) / Gober, Patricia (Thesis advisor) / Eakin, Hallie (Committee member) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Talen, Emily (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation investigates the condition of skeletal muscle insulin resistance using bioinformatics and computational biology approaches. Drawing from several studies and numerous data sources, I have attempted to uncover molecular mechanisms at multiple levels. From the detailed atomistic simulations of a single protein, to datamining approaches applied at the systems biology level, I provide new targets to explore for the research community. Furthermore I present a new online web resource that unifies various bioinformatics databases to enable discovery of relevant features in 3D protein structures.
ContributorsMielke, Clinton (Author) / Mandarino, Lawrence (Committee member) / LaBaer, Joshua (Committee member) / Magee, D. Mitchell (Committee member) / Dinu, Valentin (Committee member) / Willis, Wayne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
While exercising mammalian muscle increasingly relies on carbohydrates for fuel as aerobic exercise intensity rises above the moderate range, flying birds are extraordinary endurance athletes and fuel flight, a moderate-high intensity exercise, almost exclusively with lipid. In addition, Aves have long lifespans compared to weight-matched mammals. As skeletal muscle mitochondria account for the majority of oxygen consumption during aerobic exercise, the primary goal was to investigate differences in isolated muscle mitochondria between these species and to examine to what extent factors intrinsic to mitochondria may account for the behavior observed in the intact tissue and whole organism. First, maximal enzyme activities were assessed in sparrow and rat mitochondria. Citrate synthase and aspartate aminotransferase activity were higher in sparrow compared to rat mitochondria, while glutamate dehydrogenase activity was lower. Sparrow mitochondrial NAD-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase activity was dependent on phosphate, unlike the mammalian enzyme. Next, the rate of oxygen consumption (JO), electron transport chain (ETC) activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were assessed in intact mitochondria. Maximal rates of fat oxidation were lower than for carbohydrate in rat but not sparrow mitochondria. ETC activity was higher in sparrows, but no differences were found in ROS production between species. Finally, fuel selection and control of respiration at three rates between rest and maximum were assessed. Mitochondrial fuel oxidation and selection mirrored that of the whole body; in rat mitochondria the reliance on carbohydrate increased as the rate of oxygen consumption increased, whereas fat dominated under all conditions in the sparrow. These data indicate fuel selection, at least in part, can be modulated at the level of the mitochondrial matrix when multiple substrates are present at saturating levels. As an increase in matrix oxidation-reduction potential has been linked to a suppression of fat oxidation and high ROS production, the high ETC activity relative to dehydrogenase activity in avian compared to mammalian mitochondria may result in lower matrix oxidation-reduction potential, allowing fatty acid oxidation to proceed while also resulting in low ROS production in vivo.
ContributorsKuzmiak, Sarah (Author) / Willis, Wayne T (Thesis advisor) / Mandarino, Lawrence (Committee member) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Harrison, Jon (Committee member) / Gadau, Juergen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Waste generation in the U.S. has reached new heights, but the exploitation of Native American lands for waste disposal is nothing new. Many of the negative effects of massive waste production and toxic pollution, such as poor health outcomes and decreased property values, disproportionately burden impoverished, minority communities inside and outside the United States (Brulle and Pellow, 2006). Native American communities have long been exploited for their natural resources and land-use, but in recent decades Indian country has also become a common place to store nuclear, hazardous and municipal wastes. This project is a case study of a local Indian reservation, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and examined the socio-historical context of the landfill operations in terms of five principles of environmental justice. Each principle was defined and key moments from the SRPMIC's landfill history were discussed to demonstrate ways that the situation has improved, stayed the same or worsened with regard to the rights outlined in each principle. It was concluded that there needs to be an acknowledgement by involved municipalities and industries of the historical context that make the SRPMIC and other nearby Native American communities "ideal" contractors for waste management. Additionally, while the SRPMIC could currently benefit from looking into the principles of environmental justice as a guide to manage past and operating landfills, the Community will have a specific opportunity to revisit these issues under closer scrutiny during the closure of the Salt River Landfill in 2032 in order to ensure more environmentally just outcomes. Finally, it was concluded that scholarship at the intersection of environmental justice and Native American communities should continue because looking closer at the ways that local Native American communities are facing and resisting environmental injustice can serve to develop future models for other communities facing similar challenges to achieving environmental justice.
ContributorsScott, Nicole Danielle (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Thesis director) / Harlan, Sharon (Committee member) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Leadership styles in the U.S. have gone through great changes in the past decades. New leadership styles have proven to be more effective than those of the past. There are certain characteristics that leaders today must have in order to effectively motivate their employees intrinsically. This report explains how certain leadership characteristics can lead to desirable or undesirable behaviors from employees. The information provided in this report was retrieved from a study I conducted with Peter Hom, Professor of Management of Arizona State University, and articles on servant leadership written by two extremely knowledgeable individuals on this topic, Adam Grant, Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania, and Robert Liden, Professor of Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Several other articles from credible sources were also used to provide support for this report. The report also includes numerous diagrams that help interpret the information provided.
The report is divided into several sections:
• Traditional Leadership style and rewards
• Existing literature on job relational design
• Servant leadership
• Surveys
• Data analysis
• Conclusion
From this research, it can be concluded that certain leadership qualities can contribute to an increase in intrinsic motivation to subordinates. Also, there are certain traits that allow managers to have a positive impact on subordinates. This study also provides leaders with suggestions on how to increase subordinates’ concerns for customers, which will translate into more productive work from employees.
The report is divided into several sections:
• Traditional Leadership style and rewards
• Existing literature on job relational design
• Servant leadership
• Surveys
• Data analysis
• Conclusion
From this research, it can be concluded that certain leadership qualities can contribute to an increase in intrinsic motivation to subordinates. Also, there are certain traits that allow managers to have a positive impact on subordinates. This study also provides leaders with suggestions on how to increase subordinates’ concerns for customers, which will translate into more productive work from employees.
ContributorsPulley, Travon Larnell (Author) / Hom, Peter (Thesis director) / Adelheid, Thieme (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
This project examines a complex issue in urban ecology: the impact of biodiversity on ecosystem services, and considers how this varies across cities. Data were gathered on multiple economic and ecological parameters for a selection of seven cities around the world and analyzed via multiple linear regression in order to assess any relationships that may be at play. Significance values were then calculated to further define the relationships between the data. Analysis found that both biophysical and socioeconomic factors affected ecosystem services, although not all hypotheses regarding these relationships were met. Conclusions indicate that this model was fairly effective in describing physical drivers of ecosystem services, but were not as clear regarding social drivers. Further study regarding social parameters' effect on ecosystem services is recommended.
ContributorsMcDannald, Lindsay JoAnne (Author) / Perrings, Charles (Thesis director) / Kinzig, Ann (Committee member) / Grimm, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Smoke exposure in preterm infants can cause adverse health outcomes in these children. Preterm infants exposed to tobacco smoke have an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and metabolic syndrome, asthma, respiratory infections, ear infections and decreased cognitive function compared to healthy infants (Wilson 2011, Blizzard 2003, Bock 2008, Hutchison 1998). A smoking cessation program for parents of pre-term infants at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio was designed to help parents of pre-term infants cease smoking behavior. The outcomes of this program were intended to be the topic of my honors thesis; however, lack of participation in the program shifted my research focus to designing a program, based on a review of "best practices" in the literature, that might increase participation. Among those parents who were asked to participate (N=56), being of low socioeconomic status correlated highest with smoking behavior . Through a literature review, I determined that the best practices to enhance participation for this group would be to include motivational interviewing, the phone number to a toll free quit line, and alternate smoking resources (pamphlets, alternative DVD's) for these Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) parents at Aultman. By the parent's participation in the Aultman smoking cessation program, long-term health outcomes of their newborns may improve by reducing their exposure to tobacco smoke. These children may grow up in an environment with less smoke exposure, which may decrease their risk of disease (Bock 2008).
ContributorsLach, Laura Elizabeth (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Thesis director) / Oswalt, Krista (Committee member) / Mossman, Kenneth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The value of “diversity” in social and ecological systems is frequently asserted in academic and policy literature. Diversity is thought to enhance the resilience of social-ecological systems to varied and potentially uncertain future conditions. Yet there are trade-offs; diversity in ecological and social domains has costs as well as benefits. In this paper, we examine social diversity, specifically its costs and benefits in terms of decision making in middle range or tribal societies, using archaeological evidence spanning seven centuries from four regions of the U.S. Southwest. In these nonstate societies, social diversity may detract from the capacity for collective action. We ask whether as population density increases, making collective action increasingly difficult, social diversity declines. Further, we trace the cases of low diversity and high population density across our long-temporal sequences to see how they associate with the most dramatic transformations. This latter analysis is inspired by the claim in resilience literature that reduction of diversity may contribute to reduction in resilience to varied conditions. Using archaeological data, we examine social diversity and conformity through the material culture (pottery styles) of past societies. Our research contributes to an enhanced understanding of how population density may limit social diversity and suggests the role that this association may play in some contexts of dramatic social transformation.
ContributorsNelson, Margaret (Author) / Hegmon, Michelle (Author) / Kulow, Stephanie (Author) / Peeples, Matthew (Author) / Kintigh, Keith (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Author) / College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (Contributor)
Created2011