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- Creators: School of Sustainability
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
-see the additional "abstract.pdf" document for formatting
In arid environments like Phoenix, many professional and residential outdoor spaces are cooled by the use of misting systems. These systems spray a fine mist of water droplets that cool down the surrounding air through the endothermic evaporation process. When the water droplets evaporate, they leave behind dissolved material that is present in the water, generating ambient particulate matter (PM). Thus, misting systems are a point source of PM. Currently there is no information on their impact on air quality in close proximity to these systems, or on the chemical composition of the particulate matter generated by the evaporating mist.
In this project, PM concentrations are found to increase on average by a factor of 8 from ambient levels in the vicinity of a residential misting system in controlled experiments. PM concentrations in public places that use misting systems are also investigated. The PM10 concentrations in public places ranged from 0.102 ± 0.010 mg m-3 to 1.47 ± 0.15 mg m-3, and PM2.5 ranged from 0.095 ± 0.010 mg m-3 to 0.99 ± 0.10 mg m-3. Air quality index (AQI) values based on these concentrations indicate that these levels of PM range from unhealthy to hazardous in most cases. PM concentrations tend to decrease after remaining relatively constant with increasing distance from misting systems. Chemical data reveal that chloride and magnesium ions may be used as tracers of aerosolized water from misting systems. The average chloride concentration was 71 µg m-3 in misting samples and below the detection limit for Cl- (< 8.2 µg m-3) in ambient samples. The average magnesium concentration was 11.7 µg m-3 in misting samples and 0.23 µg m-3 in ambient samples.
Pedagogy and Place: Observations of place-based education in undergraduate sustainability curriculum
This thesis aims to examine vaccine preventable re-emerging infectious diseases in the United States with the objective of reaching vaccine hesitant populations and providing them with the tools to make informed decisions to seek out immunizations. This will be done by exploring five different diseases and infections, discussing why some individuals feel hesitant to get immunizations, examining how nonmedical vaccine exemptions are correlated to increased cases of disease outbreaks, looking into state laws specifically focused on countering nonmedical vaccine exemptions and the steps that can be taken moving forward.
This thesis conducted an evaluation of the performance and return on investment of a 2 x 6m, simple design greenhouse, as a climate control technology. Specifically, differences in internal microclimate conditions between a greenhouse treatment plot, and sun and shaded control plots were assessed and related to observed differences in crop yields across these plots. Growing conditions and productivity of two crops, tomato and swiss chard, which were grown over summer and winter growing seasons, respectively, were compared. It was found that the greenhouse was associated with improved growth conditions (as measured by the R-Index) for both crops but resulted in higher productivity only for tomatoes. Return on investment and food security impacts from the scaling of greenhouse agriculture were also explored.
Our solution, the “Category Landing Pages” would tackle this issue by re-organizing SPLC’s resources into category specific pages where any and all guidance SPLC has on a particular purchasing category can be easily accessed. Many procurement professionals often specialize and deal in a certain spend or commodity category, which makes a category organized page the most logical. This is certainly valuable to individuals and organizations who subscribe to a membership with SPLC, but there is also opportunity for SPLC to benefit from this restructuring.
When initially planning our project, we outlined a research process to conduct interviews with garden participants to determine the best practices for community garden connection-making. However, after our initial discussions with the CPCG Advisory Committee, it became clear that their goals could be better achieved through an applied project focusing on increasing community connection than from a research project. We have adopted our former research question--which asked how community gardens could serve as a means for community connection-- as our premise, and we seek to build upon it through the creation of programs, partnerships, and pieces of art that collectively expand the garden’s connection to its surrounding community. To begin this process, we worked with the leaders of the CPCG to identify the group’s main goals that they sought to achieve with our support. In collaboration with the CPCG Garden Advisory Committee, the three goals that we identified were: 1) increasing neighborhood participation in the space, 2) launching the site’s new subscription program, and 3) transforming the garden space into a place of community.