Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Environmental assessment and monitoring'
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Dickerson, David Stanley. "Particulate monitoring in environmental pollution assessment." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/a66c8b21-c61f-4da7-bca8-5bd7547198b3.
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Geraghty, Peter James. "Computer based decision support systems for environmental assessment." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.367243.
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Ojo, Temitope O. "Development of environmental and oceanographic real-time assessment system for the near-shore environment." Texas A&M University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/3875.
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The coupling of real-time measurements and numerical models will be important
in overcoming the challenges in environmental and oceanographic assessments in
surface waters. Continuous monitoring will take advantage of current state-of-the-art in
sensor development, remote sensing technology. The numerical modeling tools available
exist in many different forms and varying levels of complexity from depth integrated
one-dimensional (1-D) models to full three-dimensional (3-D) models. Common to all
are the constraints and forcing required in driving the models. These include
hydrodynamic and barometric information, which are relatively difficult to obtain given
the time scale of the bio-chemical and physical processes governing the fate and
transport of the constituents of interest.
This study is focused on the development of a framework that couples real-time
measurements and numerical simulation for tracking constituents in surface waters.
The parameterization of the mixing and turbulent diffusion impacts the formulation of
the constituent-transport governing equations to the extent that the numerical model is being driven by near real-time observations of hydrodynamic data and the consequent
evaluation of model coefficients. The effects of shear-augmented diffusion processes in
shallow embayment and near-shore waters are investigated in order to develop
algorithms for obtaining a shear diffusion coefficient, Ke from shear-current
measurements and turbulent diffusion-coefficient, Kz measured by the auto-correlation
function, Rτ of the velocity time-series.
Typically, the diffusion coefficients are measured through tracer experiments as
determined by the time rate of change of the variance of a growing patch (K = ½ dσ2 /dt),
which introduces the concept of diffusion length-scale (or time-scale). In this study, the
dye-tracer experiment was used, not so much in the context of evaluation of a diffusion
coefficient, but within a modeling framework to validate a numerical scheme driven by
real-time hydrodynamic observations. Overall, the effect of shear-currents in shallow
wind-driven estuaries is studied using a prototype bay typical of the Texas Gulf-coast. A
numerical model was developed and used in testing these hypotheses through a series of
dye-tracer experiments under varying meteorological conditions.
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Київ, Вікторія Олегівна. "Environmental Impact Assessment when Building Materials Open Mining." Thesis, Національний авіаційний університет, 2020. https://er.nau.edu.ua/handle/NAU/49659.
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Робота публікується згідно наказу ректора від 21.01.2020 р. №008/од "Про перевірку кваліфікаційних робіт на академічний плагіат у 2019-2020 навчальному році". Керівник проекту: доцент, к. геол.-мін. н. Дудар Тамара Вікторівна.Object of research – Horodenkivske deposit of brick raw materials in Ivano-Frankivsk region, as a threat to the ecology of society, mining industry. Aim оf work – assessment of technogenic loads and the analysis of ecological safety. Mehods of research: estimation by type and amount of expected waste, emissions (discharges), water, air, soil and subsoil pollution, noise, vibration, light, heat and radiation pollution, as well as radiation resulting from preparatory and construction work and planned activities.
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Київ, Вікторія Олегівна. "Environmental Impact Assessment when Building Materials Open Mining." Thesis, Національний авіаційний університет, 2020. http://er.nau.edu.ua/handle/NAU/43484.
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Робота публікується згідно наказу ректора від 21.01.2020 р. №008/од "Про перевірку кваліфікаційних робіт на академічний плагіат у 2019-2020 навчальному році". Керівник проекту: доцент, к. геол.-мін. н. Дудар Тамара Вікторівна.Object of research – Horodenkivske deposit of brick raw materials in Ivano-Frankivsk region, as a threat to the ecology of society, mining industry. Aim оf work – assessment of technogenic loads and the analysis of ecological safety. Mehods of research: estimation by type and amount of expected waste, emissions (discharges), water, air, soil and subsoil pollution, noise, vibration, light, heat and radiation pollution, as well as radiation resulting from preparatory and construction work and planned activities.
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Rheem, Sungsue. "Multivariate nonparametric trend assessment with environmental applications." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40145.
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Leung, Kai-fai Edward. "A study of the system of the Annual Assessment of Urban Environmental Quality in China." Thesis, Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31572352.
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Kwan, Cheuk Hung. "Biosensors for biological nutrient monitoring /." View abstract or full-text, 2004. http://library.ust.hk/cgi/db/thesis.pl?AMCE%202004%20KWAN.
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Choi, Kai-hang, and 蔡啓恒. "The role of environmental monitoring and audit in the environmental impact assessment process in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31255449.
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Furberg, Dorothy. "Satellie Monitoring of Urban Growth and Indicator-based Assessment of Environmental Impact." Licentiate thesis, KTH, Geodesi och geoinformatik, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-157669.
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One of the major consequences of urbanization is the transformation of land surfaces from rural/natural environments to built-up land that supports diverse forms of human activity. These transformations impact the local geology, climate, hydrology, flora and fauna and human-life supporting ecosystem services in the region. Mapping and analysis of land use/land cover change in urban regions and tracking their environmental impact is therefore of vital importance for evaluating policy options for future growth and promoting sustainable urban development. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the extent of urban growth and/or sprawl and its potential environmental impact in the regions surrounding a few selected major cities in North America, Europe and Asia using landscape metrics and other environmental indicators to assess the landscape changes. The urban regions examined are the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada, Stockholm region and County in Sweden and Shanghai in China. The analyses are based on classificatons of optical satellite imagery (Landsat TM/ETM+ or SPOT 1/5) between 1985 and 2010. Maximum likelihood classification (MLC) under urban/rural masks, objectbased image analysis (OBIA) with rule-based classification and support vector machines (SVM) classification methods were used with grey level cooccurrence matrix (GLCM) texture features as input to help obtain higher accuracies. Based on the classification results, landscape metrics, selected environmental indicators and indices, and ecosystem service valuation were calculated and used to estimate environmental impact of urban growth. The results show that urban areas in the GTA grew by nearly 40% between 1985 and 2005. Results from the landscape metrics and urban compactness indicators show that low-density built-up areas increased significantly in the GTA between 1985 and 2005, mainly at the expense of agricultural areas. The majority of environmentally significant areas were increasingly surrounded by urban areas between 1985 and 2005, furthering their isolation from other natural areas. Urban areas in the Stockholm region increased by 10% between 1986 and 2006. The landscape metrics indicated that natural areas became more isolated or shrank whereas new small urban patches came into being. The most noticeable changes in terms of environmental impact and urban expansion were in the east and north of the study area. Large forested areas in the northeast dropped the most in terms of environmental impact ranking, while the most improved analysis units were close to the central Stockholm area. The study comparing Shanghai and Stockholm County revealed that urban areas increased ten times as much in Shanghai as they did in Stockholm, at 120% and 12% respectively. The landscape metrics results show that fragmentation in both study regions occurred mainly due to the growth of high density built-up areas in previously more natural environments, while the expansion of low density built-up areas was for the most part in conjunction with pre-existing patches. The growth in urban areas resulted in ecosystem service value losses of approximately 445 million USD in Shanghai, mostly due to the decrease in natural coastal wetlands, while in Stockholm the value of ecosystem services changed very little. This study demonstrates the utility of urban and environmental indicators derived from remote sensing data via GIS techniques in assessing both the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban growth and its environmental impact in different metropolitan regions. High accuracy classifications of optical medium resolution remote sensing data are achieved thanks in part to the incorporation of texture features for both object- and pixel-based classification methods, and to the use of urban/rural masks with the latter. The landscape metrics calculated based on the classifications are useful in quantifying urban growth trends and potential environmental impact as well as facilitating their comparison. The environmental indicator results highlight the challenges in terms of sustainable urban growth unique to each landscape, both spatially and temporally. The next phase of this PhD research will involve finding valid methods of comparing and contrasting urban growth patterns and estimated environmental impact in different regions of the world and further exploration of how to link urbanizing landscapes to changes in ecosystem services via environmental indicators.QC 20141212
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Jennings, Patricia Jean. "An assessment of the formulation of permit conditions associated with environmental authorisations and implications for compliance monitoring." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/437.
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Environmental impact assessment is a widely accepted planning tool used in environmental management. Internationally it has been adopted as a formal permitting requirement for development projects in many jurisdictions. Historically the focus has been on the pre-decision making stages of environmental impact assessment. It has, however, been widely acknowledged that post-decision environmental impact assessment follow-up is an important component in confirming initial predictions, enabling responsible adaptive management of environmental impacts and ensuring compliance with permit conditions. It is this last function which is the focus of this study. Specifically, the role of permit conditions in enabling compliance and facilitating compliance monitoring is addressed. Permit conditions of twenty-one environmental authorisations were examined and tested for conformance with legislated requirements, and practicality of monitoring for compliance (monitorability). It was found that there are many contributors to achieving monitorable permit conditions. Amongst the most significant of these are conformity in interpretation of the regulations specifying permit content by officials, gaps in guidance on the part of the regulations themselves, and a tendency to focus on construction related impacts. The lack of clarity regarding the roles and functions of environmental control officer and environmental auditor further contribute to poor monitorability of permit conditions. Specific areas of shortcoming and best practice in the permit conditions analysed were identified and discussed. Finally, recommendations are made for the improvement of permit condition monitorability.
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Clarke, Bradley, and Bradley clarke@student rmit edu au. "Persistent Organic Pollutants in Australian Sewage Sludge: Environmental Monitoring and Land Application Risk Assessment." RMIT University. Applied Sciences, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20081202.113842.
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Presented is a study of persistent organic pollutants in Australian sewage sludge, focusing on environmental monitoring and a sewage sludge land application human health risk contaminated with these compounds. The chemicals of concern were: Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and
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FACELLO, ANNA. "Environmental monitoring: landslide assessment and risk management (Test site: Vernazza, Cinque Terre Natural Park)." Doctoral thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2507377.
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Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as cyclones, floods, tornadoes and droughts or having geological nature such as earthquakes, volcanoes and landslide, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. Over recent decades, the people and the societies are becoming more vulnerable; although the frequency of natural events may be constant, human activities contribute to their increased intensity. Indeed, every year millions of people are affected by natural disasters globally and, only in the last decade, more than 80% of all disaster-related deaths were caused by natural hazards.
The PhD work is part of the activities for the support and development of methodologies useful to improve the management of environmental emergencies. In particular, it focused on the analysis of environmental monitoring and disaster risk management, a systematic approach to identify, to assess and to reduce the potential risks produced by a disaster. This method (Disaster Risk Management) aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities and deals with natural and man-made events.
In the PhD thesis, in particular, the slope movements have been evaluated. Slope failures are generally not so costly as earthquakes or major floods, but they are more widespread, and over the years may cause more property loss than any other geological hazard. In many developing regions slope failures constitute a continuing and serious impact on the social and economic structure. Specifically, the Italian territory has always been subject to instability phenomena, because of the geological and morphological characteristic and because of "extreme" weather events that are repeated more frequently than in the past, in relation to climate change. Currently these disasters lead to the largest number of victims and damages to settlements, infrastructure and historical and cultural environmental, after the earthquakes. The urban development, especially in recent decades, resulted in an increase of the assets at risk and unstable areas, often due to constant human intervention badly designed that led to instability also places previously considered "safe". Prevention is therefore essential to minimize the damages caused by landslides
The objectives of the conducted research were to investigate the different techniques and to check their potentiality, in order to evaluate the most appropriate instrument for landslide hazard assessment in terms of better compromise between time to perform the analysis and expected results. The attempt is to evaluate which are the best methodologies to use according to the scenario, taking into consideration both reachable accuracies and time constraints. Careful considerations will be performed on strengths, weaknesses and limitations inherent to each methodology. The characteristics associated with geographic, or geospatial, information technologies facilitate the integration of scientific, social and economic data, opening up interesting possibilities for monitoring, assessment and change detection activities, thus enabling better informed interventions in human and natural systems. This is an important factor for the success of emergency operations and for developing valuable natural disaster preparedness, mitigation and prevention systems.
The test site was the municipality of Vernazza, which in October 2011 was subject to a extreme rainfall which led to the occurrence of a series of landslides along the Vernazzola stream, which have emphasized the flood event that affected the water course.
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Battle, Kerissa. "Public Participation in Plant-Pollinator Conservation: Key Assessment Areas that Support Networked Restoration and Monitoring." PDXScholar, 2018. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4228.
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Environmental problems are growing at a pace and scale that traditional research methods alone can no longer tackle. Innovative research models that utilize contributory, participatory and crowdsourcing methods are rapidly emerging to fill this gap. For these participatory efforts to be effective and sustainable, however, closer attention must be paid to key components that can promote coordinated action and sustainability. Through the lens of public participation in plant-pollinator conservation, I have, with rigorous social-ecological inquiry, offered three foundational assessment areas that can provide scientific support to this nascent field: accuracy, ecological significance and scalability.
In the first study (Chapter 2), I explored a common concern about citizen science: that a lack of foundational knowledge, or familiarity with following scientific protocols could lead to inaccurate data collection. I evaluated the accuracy of plant phenology observations collected by citizen scientist volunteers following protocols designed by the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). Phenology observations made by volunteers receiving several hours of formal training were compared to those collected independently by a professional ecologist. Approximately 11,000 observations were recorded by 28 volunteers over the course of one field season. Volunteers consistently identified phenophases correctly (91% overall and 70% during transitions) for the 19 species observed. Accuracy varied significantly by phenophase and species (p<0.0001). Volunteers who submitted fewer observations over the period of study did not exhibit a higher error rate than those who submitted more total observations, suggesting that volunteers with limited training and experience can provide reliable observations when following explicit, standardized protocols. Overall, these findings demonstrate the ii legitimacy of phenology observations collected by volunteers, an important finding for the increasing number of analysts relying on data collected by citizen scientists.
In Chapter 3, I explored a common concern that restoration efforts implemented by the public may not have adequate ecological value. I addressed key ecological variables to determine how small-scale patches attracted pollinators and explored which of these variables might be best to prioritize for restoration efforts suited to public initiatives. This study demonstrated that in small-scale plant restoration sites, plant diversity and resource (nectar) availability significantly affects the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects. Specifically, the treatments which contained high-resource (nectar-rich) plant species increased pollinator abundance and diversity the most. Plant diversity increased pollinator diversity and abundance only in the absence of high-resource plants. Pollination facilitation was observed in high resource treatments, but varied among species. Competition for pollinators was observed in high diversity treatments but did not affect seed set for high-resource plants in any of the treatments. Together, these results suggest that managers or landowners who are restoring patches of native plants as habitat for pollinators should prioritize including species with high nectar production, and secondarily, a diverse mix of species if space and resources allow.
In Chapter 4, I explored an emergent approach to public participation in regional community science initiatives (and networks) through an exploratory case study of the New York Phenology Project. I demonstrated that local organizations have the opportunity to utilize existing data aggregation platforms to activate regional collaborative alliances to achieve what is often challenging for large-scale contributory projects. I describe our hands-on experience of conceiving and launching a regional network and outline a model that could serve as a guide for catalyzing networks. Drawing on direct experience and interviews with network partners, I developed a description of key categories related to network node success, and a linked assessment tool that could be used to evaluate network node capacity and project outcomes. The assessment tool will be used to test preliminary findings in a more formal quantitative and qualitative exploration in future studies.
In Chapter 5, I explored an exceptional long-term, community-level phenology data set that spans New York State, USA (1802-2017), and found interesting and significant patterns of phenological change over time. The data set provides statewide phenology and temperature data that extend further back in time than any previously known data set for the region, extending to years prior to or at the beginning of recent human-caused global warming. I found that most species are flowering and leafing earlier in recent years (2009-2017) than they did in the early 19th century (1802-1861). Plants are flowering 11 days earlier and leafing 18.8 days earlier, with some species flowering up to 27 days earlier and leafing up to 31 days earlier over that time period. Most of this change was driven by warming mean spring temperatures (MST) over that time; mean spring temperatures warmed by 1.0°C statewide (2.5°C in New York City) on average between the historical and contemporary periods. Seasonality, Life Form, and the interaction between Seasonality and Life Form explained variation in phenology among species. The large number of geographically distinct sites in this dataset permitted novel investigation into differential changes in phenology between urban and rural areas (urban areas have more advanced phenology than their rural counterparts) and between insect and wind pollinated trees by seasonal category (insect pollinated trees are showing more advanced phenology than wind pollinated trees in both early and late spring). This analysis has brought the efforts of a historical network into a modern context and has illustrated how organized long-term monitoring efforts can be valuable for ecological discovery.
This combined work provides a diverse contribution to the field of public participation in monitoring and conservation efforts. While thorough and disciplined ecological theories drive the design of the research, I simultaneously strove to help meet the ongoing demand for useable, purposeful insights into how to support public efforts to restore plant-pollinator habitats, monitor key ecological dynamics such as phenology, and scale networks capable of collecting data that address issues of global change.
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Kondamadugula, Ugandhar Reddy. "Hybrid approach for site selection using impact assessment and principal component analysis." To access this resource online via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ UTEP, 2009. http://0-proquest.umi.com.lib.utep.edu/login?COPT=REJTPTU0YmImSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=2515.
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Fajemila, Olugbenga Temitope [Verfasser]. "Benthic Foraminifera Assemblages from Shallow-Water Ecosystems: Implications for Environmental Assessment and Monitoring / Olugbenga Temitope Fajemila." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1154485854/34.
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Masamvu, K. S. "Satellite remote sensing for the monitoring of environmental hazards and assessment of disasters in Southern Africa." Thesis, University of Bristol, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.376614.
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Zonno, Giacomo. "Assessment of the influence of environmental conditions in historical adobe buildings through long-term structural monitoring." Doctoral thesis, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2018. http://tesis.pucp.edu.pe/repositorio/handle/123456789/13461.
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Historical earthen buildings are vulnerable to external solicitations, as earthquakes, tsunamis, environmental conditions and others, and, often, they are under unacceptable risks. For all these aspects, earthen buildings need an indispensable intervention but also an accurate diagnosis to respect the modern restoration principles. Nowadays, the research field related to the structural analysis of existing earthen buildings is very far from a complete and exhaustive knowledge. For studying these types of buildings, experimental investigations are mandatory. The thesis has the ambitious goal to fill the lack of knowledge about the dynamic behavior of historical earthen buildings. The work started with the study of effects of temperature and humidity on the “earth material”. For this reason, single adobe walls were built and analyzed by a continuous monitoring of the internal and external environmental parameters and dynamic properties to understand their behavior as simple adobe construction systems. The main challenges in this stage were the development of a suitable algorithm to automatically identify the dynamic parameters, the study of the internal distribution of temperature and humidity, and, the analysis of the environmental effects on the long-term monitoring of simple adobe systems. The results showed a good heat storing capacity of the walls and the existence of an internal thermal flow connected to a combined effect of air temperature, wind, solar radiation, and wall orientation. Furthermore, environmental seasonal and daily effects were first identified and subsequently isolated from the structural response, demonstrating a clear inverse relationship between temperature and dynamic properties. After this first stage, the application of the achieved knowledge was applied to a real case study to verify the obtained results in a larger scale. The Church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas was chosen as case study. This church was built in the sixteenth century and represents a suitable example of historical earthen building. This architecture is one of the most amazing and beautiful example of religious art, solemn testimony of the Andean culture. To this church, a long-term monitoring system was applied for a better understanding of the earthen building behavior. The results indicated that he environmental variable affect the structural behavior at two levels: a seasonal long-term influence was detected as well as a daily short- term one. Seasonal effects caused variations of up to 8% in natural frequencies, and shorter-term influences were also verified causing variations of up 3.8%. Daily results showed a delayed effect of the environmental conditions in the structural response. Finally, multiple linear regression models were developed using the absolute humidity as independent variable to successfully predict the long-term frequency variation of the analyzed case study for structural health assessment purpose.Los edificios históricos de tierra son vulnerables a solicitudes externas, como terremotos, tsunamis, condiciones ambientales y otros, por lo que están bajo riesgos inaceptables. Para todos estos aspectos, los edificios de tierra necesitan una intervención indispensable pero también un diagnóstico preciso para respetar los principios modernos de restauración. Hoy en día, el campo de investigación relacionado con el análisis estructural de los edificios de tierra existentes está muy lejos de un conocimiento completo y exhaustivo. Para el estudio de este tipo de edificios, las investigaciones experimentales son obligatorias. La tesis tiene el objetivo ambicioso de cubrir la falta de conocimiento sobre el comportamiento dinámico de los edificios históricos de tierra. El trabajo comenzó con el estudio de los efectos de la temperatura y la humedad en la tierra como material. Con este fin, se construyeron muros de adobe y se analizaron mediante un monitoreo continuo de los parámetros ambientales internos y externos y de las propiedades dinámicas con el objetivo de comprender su comportamiento como sistemas de construcción. Los principales desafíos en esta etapa fueron el desarrollo de un algoritmo adecuado para identificar automáticamente los parámetros dinámicos, el estudio de la distribución interna de la temperatura y la humedad, y el análisis de los efectos ambientales en el monitoreo a largo plazo. Los resultados mostraron una buena capacidad de almacenamiento de calor de los muros y la existencia de un flujo térmico interno conectado a un efecto combinado de la temperatura del aire, el viento, la radiación solar y la orientación. Además, los efectos ambientales estacionales y diarios fueron identificados primero y luego fueron aislados de la respuesta estructural, demostrando una clara relación inversa entre la temperatura y las propiedades dinámicas. El conocimiento obtenido en esta primera etapa se aplicó a un estudio de caso real para verificar los resultados obtenidos en una escala mayor. El caso de estudio elegido fue la iglesia San Pedro de Andahuaylillas. Este templo fue construido en el siglo XVI y es la muestra más emblemática de arte religioso, solemne testimonio de la cultura andina. Para esta iglesia, se aplicó un sistema de monitoreo a largo plazo para una mejor comprensión del comportamiento de los edificios de tierra. Los resultados indicaron que la variable ambiental afecta el comportamiento estructural de dos maneras: se detectó una influencia estacional a largo plazo y una diaria a corto plazo. Los efectos estacionales causaron variaciones de hasta 8% en las frecuencias naturales, y también se verificaron influencias a corto plazo, lo que causó variaciones de hasta 3.8%. Los resultados diarios mostraron un efecto retardado de las condiciones ambientales en la respuesta estructural. Finalmente, se desarrollaron modelos de regresión lineal múltiple utilizando la humedad absoluta como variable independiente para predecir con éxito la variación de frecuencia a largo plazo con el fin de evaluar la salud estructural.
Tesis
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Rogers, Mark Richard. "The Assessment of Stream Discharge Models for an Environmental Monitoring Site on the Virginia Tech Campus." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31123.
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In the Spring of 2012, hydraulic data was collected to calibrate three types of discharge models: stage-discharge, single-regression and multi-regression index velocity models. Unsteady flow conditions were observed at the site (â H/â t = 0.75 cm/min), but the data did not indicate hysteresis nor variable backwater effects on the stage-discharge relation. Furthermore, when corrected with a datum offset (α) value of -0.455, the stage-discharge relation r2 was equal to 0.98. While the multiple regression index velocity models also showed high correlation (r2 = 0.98) values, high noise levels of the parameter index velocity (Vi) complicated their use for the determination of discharge. Because of its reliability, low variance and accessibility to students, the stage-discharge model [Q = 5.459(H-0.455)^2.487] was selected as the model to determine discharge in real-time for LEWAS. Caution should be used, however, when applying the equation to stages above 1.0m. The selected discharge model was applied to ADCP stage (H) data collected during three runoff events in July 2012. Other LEWAS models showed similar discharge values (coefficient of variation = 0.14) while the on-site weir also produced similar discharge values. Precipitation estimates for July 19 and 24 rain events over the Webb Branch watershed were derived from IDW interpolated rain data and rainfall-runoff analyses from this data yielded an average ratio of 0.23, low for the urbanized watershed. However, since the three LEWAS models were very similar, and the on-site weir showed a lower value to LEWAS, it was concluded that any error in the ratio would be attributed to the precipitation estimate, and not the discharge models developed in this study.Master of Science
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Okoro, Hussein Kehinde. "Environmental assessment of heavy metals and organotin compounds in Cape Town harbour, monitoring geochemistry and toxicity." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/763.
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Analytical methods for speciation of targeted organotin compounds (TBT and TPT)
in water samples using SPE cartridge and liquid-liquid extraction has been carried out. Also,
sediment analysis using methanol - acid digestion and acid- sonication extraction methods
were also developed. Different parameters affecting extraction and peak resolution were
optimised. Also, three derivatisation procedures were optimised. The accuracy of the
extraction procedure was also verified on certified reference material (BCR - 462) certified for
TBT (54 ± 15 µg/kg) and DBT (68 ± 12 µg/kg). Freeze - dried mussel tissue (ERM - CE 477)
certified for TBT (2.20 ± 0.19 mg/kg), DBT (1.54 ± 0.12 mg/kg) and MBT (1.50 ± 0.28 mg/kg).
Good recoveries were obtained with methanol - acid digestion. The results were validated by
analysing the real water and sediment samples collected from Cape Town harbour and the
compounds were detected in both water and sediment samples, respectively.
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Jennings, Lize. "A user needs assessment of the state of the environment (SOE) report for the City of Cape Town." Thesis, Cape Technikon, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/798.
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Thesis (MTech( Environmental Health))-- Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2004The City of Cape Town (CCT) produced its first State of Environment report in 1999 as part of their Integrated Metropolitan Environmental Policy (IMEP) development process. The first report was developed by the City's Environmental Management Department, assisted by the Environmental Evaluation Unit at the University of Cape Town. It was developed through a synthesis of the findings of specialist baseline studies, information gathered from literature reviews, issues and indicators workshops and consultation with other specialists and authorities in order to obtain a suitable reporting approach and structure. Every year, the progress in each theme is assessed in the SoE report through the collection of information. This information is compared to the information in the previous year's SoE report and long-term trends are identified. The CCT has been producing the SoE report since 1999 and has to date produced five full reports and four accompanying summary reports. There is however limited knowledge of who the users of this report are as well as how they use the report in the future. This study attempts to provide the CCT with a better indication of the answers to these questions. The sample group was limited to those users with e-mail addresses. The data for this study were collected through a questionnaire sent to all the individuals and organisations on the IMEP database who received the SoE report in the past five years. The questionnaire asked the users how they used the report, what they liked and didn't like about the reports and how the report could be improved in order to meet their information needs and requirements. The report is used by a number of different sectors of society, especially individuals from government departments. There is however a need to reassess a number of the aspects of the report. These include the use of technical language in the summary report, the gap between the full and summary reports, the needs of the different users, the use of different products and which products are suitable for the different users, the need for a more interactive website, the need for the information in the report to be up-to-date and the assessment of the themes and indicators.
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Lundberg, Kristina. "Monitoring as an instrument for improving environmental performance in public authorities : Experience from Swedish Infrastructure Management." Doctoral thesis, Stockholm : Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-10117.
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Ellis, Joanne I. "Incorporation of spatial gradients into benthic impact assessment." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape16/PQDD_0009/NQ34715.pdf.
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Watkins, Deidre Ann. "An assessment of the environmental compliance monitoring capacity of the Department of Minerals and Energy, Eastern Cape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003848.
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One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is integrating industrial activities such as mining with environmental integrity and social concerns. Monitoring is fundamental to environmental management, both to assess the adherence to standards and to allow environmental managers to learn from practical experiences. However, a problem arises when the regulatory authorities cannot keep up with their mandate of enforcement and compliance monitoring. This research examined how the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) implements the concept of sustainable development in the mining sector of the Eastern Cape (EC) and, more specifically, the extent to which the Mine Environmental Management (MEM) section is able to effectively monitor compliance of mining operations with environmental legislation. This was the first systematic compilation of statistical data for the DME, and presents the first study in the EC regional office in terms of environmental sustainability. Results indicate that there has been a sustained increase in mining activity over the past three years, possibly as a result of the boom in the construction industry and the accelerated road maintenance and improvement programmes in the Eastern Cape. Mining applications received by the DME have increased by 47% from 2006 to 2007 (January-May) and by a further 100% from 2007 to 2008. In addition to the increasing number of mining concerns being established, 98 mining concerns will need to apply for the conversion of their old order rights to new order rights by the 1st May 2009. Mining in the province is predominantly small scale with mining permits (mined areas less than 1.5Ha) making up 52.3% of all applications, with larger mining concerns contributing 29.3% and prospecting contributing the remaining 18.4%. In terms of compliance inspections, the EC regional office is required to conduct 120 environmental compliance inspections annually in terms of contributing to sustainable development. The MEM section exceeded this target since 2003. However, when the number of operational mines is considered, 120 inspections per year equates to one mine being visited, on average once every four years (based on 2008 data). Based on projected figures (number of compliance audits and number of operational mines) for 2009, the DME’s target of 150 inspections for 2009/10 combined with the limited staff D. Watkins – MBA Dissertation 2008 capacity will, at best, mean that mines would be inspected once in seven years. However, the target of 150 inspections will not actually even cover the expected number of EMP evaluation inspections. This has serious implications in terms of regulating the compliance of the mining concerns with their EMPR’s. The low level of compliance monitoring can be directly related to staff capacity and logistics problems at the regional office as well as provincial targets being based on staff capacity rather than the number of operational mines. Thus, considering potential environmental damage associated with mining operations and the capacity constraints of the MEM to conduct frequent compliance audits, it is likely that mining operations will have negative implications for sustainable development in the region. Currently there are many challenges facing the DME in terms of contributing positively to sustainability in the mining sector and there is a need to base future actions on the idea of continuous improvement and ultimately progress.
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Azcarate, Juan. "Beyond impacts : Contextualizing strategic environmental assessment to foster the inclusion of multiple values in strategic planning." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Mark- och vattenteknik, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-167968.
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Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has the potential to improve strategic planning. However, meeting this expectation is a major challenge since SEA practice still constraints itself to assess the impacts of strategic planning initiatives. To advance the role of SEA beyond impact assessment, it has been argued that SEA needs to adapt to strategic planning contexts. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on how SEA should adapt to strategic planning contexts as these are complex, vary considerably and carry high levels of uncertainty. Against this background, the aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of SEA by creating knowledge on ways in which it can be contextualized to different strategic planning situations. Three case studies addressing different values and strategic planning contexts were designed from which experiences on SEA conceptualization were drawn. The results show that developing strategic focused SEA frameworks that enhance dialogue, collaboration and knowledge generation on multiple values can address issues such as: the lack of data and objectives in developing planning contexts; gaps in knowledge and uncertainty associated to environmental monitoring in transboundary contexts; and the recognition of the importance of ecosystem services and their needed green qualities in urbanizing contexts. Based on the gained case study experiences, it is argued that SEA contextualization can mean addressing strategic planning intentions, identifying and engaging actors, deriving and prioritizing key values, collaborating to generate knowledge on key issues, and using this knowledge to shape strategic planning. Due to the complexity of the issues involved, contextualizing SEA is considered to be challenging to achieve and requires time and resources. However, based on the SEA case studies, it can be argued that the value added to strategic planning outweighs these requirements. Continuing to study the practice of context adaptable, strategic focused and participatory based SEA processes may contribute to advance SEA’s role beyond impact assessment and enable reaching its expected potentials.QC 20150525
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Thorp, Steven Gregory. "Environmental Assessment of Arsenic and Mercury Levels at the Garfield Mill Site, Calico, California." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/922.
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Environmental impacts of mining at Calico, California, are poorly understood in comparison to the details of its history of silver production. Human health risks associated with arsenic from the lode rock, as well as mercury from the silver milling process, include central nervous system damage, organ failure, and death. To quantify the potential human health risk and manage remediation of this site, tailings from the Garfield Mill site were digitally mapped and chemically analyzed by portable x-ray fluorescence, which permitted volumetric estimates of total mill tailings and the arsenic and mercury budget, as well as identification of anomalies in the distribution of these elements within the tailings deposit. Final products include a high-resolution digital orthomosaic map showing the extent of the tailings deposit, giving contours of arsenic and mercury distribution and identifying areas of high concern for future remediation. The information gathered during this study will be of immense use to the city of Barstow, providing a basis for future public health studies and assessments of human health risks in the area.
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Staples, Peter G. "Freshwater tortoises Chelodina Longicollis Shaw and Emydura SP (Cooper Creek) : their potential as bio-monitors of environmental heavy metal contamination /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1992. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AEVH/09aevhss794.pdf.
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Viljoen, Francois. "Sustainability indicators for monitoring tourism route development in Africa." Thesis, Link to the online version, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10019/729.
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Parsons, Robert Lee. "Assessment and optimization of site characterization and monitoring activities using geostatistical methods within a geographic information systems environment." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/32847.
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Torre, Cosio Jorge. "Inventory, monitoring and impact assessment of marine biodiversity in the Seri Indian territory, Gulf of California, Mexico." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280215.
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The conservation of marine ecosystems is at least 20 years behind terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems due to the difficulties in studying and monitoring these dynamic and complex environments. Furthermore, marine environment receive less attention because human impacts are less visible in the sea, and oceans are viewed as global commons. The purpose of the present dissertation is to contribute to the knowledge of marine conservation through the development of three components in natural resources management: inventory, monitoring, and assessment of impacts. I elaborate a multi-taxa inventory, identify key species to monitor, characterize one of the key species, and assess the impacts of the most important fishery in the community-based controlled marine area of the Seri Indians along the Sonoran desert coast of Mexico. A total 657 species of mollusks, echinoderms, sharks, rays, bony fish, sea turtles, sea snake, aquatic birds and marine mammals were recorded in the Seri territory through review of 30 scientific collections housed in museums and universities, literature, and field collections. The fish information was improved through the analysis of 151 traditional Seri names. Fifty species were identified for monitoring ecosystem health. They represent species with a legal status, rare, commercially important, taxa that dominate or characterize entire communities, common taxa, and species recognized in the Seri culture. The annual eelgrass (Zostera marina atam) was selected as a key species inside the Canal de Infiernillo in the Seri territory. Coverage of the eelgrass beds was estimated using aerial photographs, field mapping, and Seri traditional ecological knowledge. The total extent of the eelgrass beds was approximately 6687 ha, which regrew in the same areas during the three-year study, maintaining the same general shapes and sizes. Twenty-six percent of the eelgrass beds overlap with the swimming crab (Callinectes bellicosus) fishing zones. Major impact on this fishery are caused by "ghost" fishing traps, which continue to capture crabs and animals and modify the substrate as they are moved around by currents and accumulate on the sea bottom. Efforts to standardize the use of traps will reduce these impacts on this fishery in the long term.
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Shipigina, Ekaterina. "Remote sensing methods for environmental monitoring of human impact on sub-Arctic ecosystems in Europe." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/268066.
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The role and scale of human impact on the global environment is a question of special importance to the scientific community and the world as a whole. This impact has dramatically increased since the beginning of industrialisation, yet its understanding remains patchy. The sub-Arctic plays a central role in forming the global environment due to the vast territory of boreal forest and tundra. Severe climatic conditions make its ecosystems highly sensitive to any natural and human disturbances. In this context, the dynamics of boreal vegetation, and of the forest/tundra interface (the treeline), is the most representative indicator of environmental changes in the sub-Arctic. For some time now, monitoring land cover and vegetation changes using remote sensing techniques have been a powerful method for studying human impact on environment from landscape to global scales. It is particularly efficient when applied to the sub-Arctic ecosystems. Remote sensing gives access to accurate and specific information about distant and hard-to-reach areas across forest and tundra. Despite all the e orts, there is a lack of uniformity in studying human impact, a shortage of mapping of impact over large territories and a lack of understanding of the relation between human activity and environmental response. This dissertation develops a systematic approach to monitoring land cover and vegetation changes under human impact over northern Fennoscandia. The study area extends north and south of the treeline and covers around 400,000km2 reaching from Finnmark in Norway, through Norrbotten in Sweden, Lapland in Finland up to the Murmansk region in Russia. This is the most populated and industrially developed region of the whole sub-Arctic and, therefore, suffering most from human impact. This dissertation identifies industrial atmospheric pollution, reindeer herding, forest logging, forest fires and infrastructure development as the primary types of human impact close to the treeline. For each type characteristic hotspots are identified and human impact is analysed in the context of physical environment as well as cultural, economical and political development of the area. This dissertation presents an automated workflow enabling large-scale land cover mapping in northern Fennoscandia with high throughput. It starts with automated image pre-processing using image metadata and ends with automated mapping of classification results. A single classifier for multispectral Landsat data is trained on extensive field data collected across the whole region. Open source tools are used extensively to set up the processing scripts enabling rapid and reproducible analysis. Using the developed advanced remote sensing methodology land cover maps are constructed for all identified hotspots and types of human impact. Changes in vegetation are analysed using three or four historical land cover maps for each hotspot. More than 35 Landsat TM and ETM+ images covering the period from the 1980s until 2011 are processed in an automated manner. A strong correlation between the level of impact and the scale of vegetation change is confirmed and analysed. The structure and dynamics of the local treeline and the quality of environment are analysed and assessed in the context of changing levels of impact at each hotspot and regionally.
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Piper, Jaqueline Margaret. "Monitoring and assessment of platinum, palladium and rhodium in the urban environment." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.285833.
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Davies, David John Arwyn. "The monitoring and assessment of human exposure to lead in the environment." Thesis, Imperial College London, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/47402.
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Fanariotu, Ioanna N. "The role and function of monitoring within the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of reafforestation projects : a Greek case study." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1993. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU060609.
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The present thesis examines the role and function of monitoring of reafforestation projects within EIA process. The first part presents the development and evolution of research in the field of environmental monitoring within EIA processes. It sets out the problems encountered when reafforestation projects are considered in a monitoring framework. The first contribution of the thesis is to propose a monitoring design applicable to reafforestation projects. The proposed monitoring design overcomes certain difficulties and malfunctions of traditional designs by adopting a new approach to the problem of monitoring reafforestation impacts. The suitability of the proposed design is examined and tested in a case study area in Greece by monitoring impacts of reafforestation on soil, landscape and the local economy. Two sets of results are reached. The first concerns with detection of reafforestation impacts on the three parameters of environment that were examined. The second concerns with the role and function of the proposed monitoring design. Reafforestation was found to have several impacts on the three parameters of the environment. Impacts on soil include changes in selected physical and chemical properties. Impacts on the local economy refer to the financial and economic efficiency of reafforestation projects including a sensitivity analysis. Moreover, impacts on economic activity, economic equilibrium, individual welfare, and local government are assessed. Impacts on landscape refer to impacts on "near view" and "vista" scenes that follow reafforestation projects. It is considered that the proposed monitoring design is superior to the old traditional monitoring systems for reafforestation. The proposed design produces scientifically valid research due to the use of standard methodology. It produces very good forecasts of impacts and secures the decision making process of an EIA. Finally, a computerised database for environmental information retrieval and storage is designed and demonstrated.
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Garza, Martínez Paulina. "Mytilus edulis as Bioindicator for Coastal Zone Environmental Assessment : A study of Kosterhavets Marine National Park." Thesis, KTH, Industriell ekologi, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-33052.
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Mollusks growth is a very important and sensitive response to environmental stresses sincethey are good indicators of the available amount of contaminants in the water; reduced growth represents adverse environmental effects and possible effects on the population.Sweden has about 3,000 Natural Reserves and 28 National Parks. Kosterhavets is the first National Marine Park and it is located on the west coast of Sweden, it is also considered one of the most vulnerable areas since 6000 marine species can be found here and about200 are found nowhere else. It is not only a touristic destination; it is also a home and a work place to many people. The type of pollutants and environmental impacts that areproduced by recreation activities on marinas on such park depend very much on the amount of boats. Mytilus edulis has been widely used to monitor the biological effects of contamination by different ways, such as chemical analysis and biological responses. Themain goal of this project was to assess the status of three different marinas with high and low boat traffic and use the shell length of the blue mussel M. edulis as a potential bioindicator to detect effects from boating activities pressures. The main findings arising from this study are that the sizes of the mussels from the three areas with high boat traffic are significantly smaller than the area with little boat traffic.www.ima.kth.se
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Foster, Susan Ann. "Studies of ecological factors that affect the population and distribution of the western gray squirrel in northcentral Oregon." PDXScholar, 1992. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2383.
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The western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus griseus Ord) occur only in the Pacific states and in a small corner of extreme western Nevada. Field studies of aspects of the ecology of the most widely distributed subspecies of western gray squirrel (S. griseus) were conducted at three sites in the ponderosa pine-Oregon white oak zone on the eastern slopes of Mt. Hood, Wasco County, Oregon, between 1981 and 1989. From 1981 through 1987, a Hunter Cooperation Program provided remains of squirrels shot during the annual late summer-early autumn hunting season. Other data were gathered through capture and release studies, radiotelemetry, and habitat analysis.
The age structure of these populations, as revealed by examination of squirrels killed by hunters, is predominantly mature animals. Also, the population as estimated by hunter success during the Hunter Cooperation Program and by field observations appears to be declining.
In the sites studied, western gray squirrels have two seasons of reproductive activity annually. Some individuals mate from January through March; their young emerge from the nest in May and June. Other individuals mate during May and June; their young emerge in August and September. The latter matings are usually the most productive.
Analysis of nest trees and their surroundings revealed that nests are most likely to be located in mature trees that have well-developed crowns and occur in stands with a high degree of canopy closure. Nest trees were usually located within approximately 180 meters of permanent water and on sites with a south-southeasterly exposure.
Home ranges of squirrels examined in this study were usually large compared to home ranges reported for this species elsewhere in its range. Given the cost of having large home ranges, it seems possible that the squirrels at these study sites exist in less than optimal ecological circumstances.
Human factors that may have contributed to the decline of the populations in this study may include the nature of logging activities and the timing of the annual hunting season. Limiting factors other than human activities may include competition with other mast-consuming animals (mule deer, elk, wild turkeys, and three other species of squirrels) for limited and variable mast crops.
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Гладченко, Оксана Робертівна, Оксана Робертовна Гладченко, Oksana Robertivna Hladchenko, Любов Павлівна Ярмак, Любовь Павловна Ярмак, Liubov Pavlivna Yarmak, and J. O. Kaminskaya. "Risk assessment of non-carcinogenic effects of ambient air pollution in Donetsk region." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2014. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/42705.
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MANDIC-RAJCEVIC, S. "EXPLORING NOVEL APPROACHES TO PESTICIDE EXPOSURE AND RISK ASSESSMENT." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/232492.
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Introduction. Agrochemicals, short from agricultural chemicals, is a term used for various chemical products which are commonly used in agriculture. The most famous representative example of agrochemicals are pesticides, but it may also include fertilizers, hormones or similar chemical growth agents, as well as raw animal manure. Even as an active substance is authorized in European Union, and products containing this active substance are authorized and marketed, there is still a need for risk assessment to communicate and to manage risk with regard to the different risk groups, workers and the general population as a whole.
Overall Goal. The goal of this effort is the creation of Exposure and Risk Profiles, as a reliable, scientifically based way to forecast pesticide exposure and workers’ risk in typical scenarios from a minimum set of available information, aimed at performing a preliminary risk assessment even without the need of “in field” measurements.
Methodology. To reach our goal we have conducted a wide published literature search to define the process of pesticide application and the most common exposure determinants. Then we conducted two real-life field studies on exposure to pesticide in different use scenarios in the vineyards of the Region of Lombardy (one study in the framework of the ACROPOLIS project of the European Union, and another financed by INAIL). We collected field information in the form of a structured questionnaire, with a goal to record the variables previously identified as important modifiers of pesticide exposure. Also we collected exposure measurements, using two methodologies: skin pads and whole-body method, following in principle the OECD guidelines. Finally, we used the results from the field to develop a method that allows for a re-use of field data in risk assessment, by creating a Risk Assessment Scheme which can be used to assess risk in the field, without doing any measurements.
Results. We report the main phases of pesticide work and variables, together with their influence, as a result of our wide literature search. Also we report the results of two field studies, first on 7 workers applying Tebuconazole on 12 work-days, and second on 28 workers applying Mancozeb on 38 work-days. Finally, we show a proposed approach to using field measurements from our study in the Region of Lombardy to perform future risk-assessment in one defined scenario of closed and filtered tractors.
Discussion and Conclusions. Our work has tackled the problem of risk assessment for pesticide exposure in agriculture, which has been unfairly neglected in the past years. Through the use of literature data, field studies and computational modelling, we have managed to analyze and summarize the characteristics of pesticide application in agriculture, explore the real-life field conditions during pesticide application in vineyards in Italy, collect the field measurements necessary to do exposure and risk assessment, and to develop a method to use the data collected to produce a Risk Assessment Scheme. The study results and the above mentioned tool represent a step forward towards rapid, simple and scientifically based risk assessment in real-life conditions of pesticide application in agriculture.
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Gray, Michelle Anya. "Assessing non-point source pollution in agricultural regions of the upper St. John River basin using the slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus)." Thesis, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1882/48.
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The overall objective of this research project was to assess whether fish populations in areas of potato cultivation responded to changes in environmental conditions. An effects-based assessment was conducted in the ‘potato belt’ of northwestern New Brunswick in the Little River catchment. From 1999-2001, the health and performance of slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) was monitored in agricultural and forested sections of the river. In the fall of 1999 and 2000, agricultural sites had fewer young-of-the-year (YOY) sculpin than the forested region. Adult sculpin were larger in the agricultural region, but had significantly smaller gonads, and female sculpin had smaller livers, and fewer and smaller eggs than the forested region. By the fall of 2001, only female gonad size showed a difference from the forested region. These results were used to design a follow-up study designed to investigate the relative importance of environmental factors influencing sculpin responses. The second study investigated the relative influence of temperature and sediment deposition on slimy sculpin populations across 20 sites on 19 streams in forested and agricultural catchments in northwestern New Brunswick. YOY sculpin were present at all forested sites, but only at 2 of 11 agricultural sites. There were no relationships between body size or density and sediment deposition in either the agricultural or forested regions, but sculpin density decreased and median YOY size increased with increasing temperatures. The variability in density of YOY sculpin at agricultural sites suggested that additional factors beyond temperature might be contributing to responses.
A secondary overall objective was to evaluate the slimy sculpin as a sentinel and indicator of site-specific conditions. Stable isotopes of muscle tissues showed little variability in isotopic signatures, and significant differences between adjacent sites. Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags implanted in 112 adult sculpin showed that 75% of sculpin captured over 10 months moved less than 30m. Both isotopes and PIT tags suggested high spatial and temporal residency of slimy sculpin.
This PhD project showed biological impacts on sculpin populations residing in streams influenced by non-point source agricultural stressors, and provided support for the ability of the slimy sculpin to reflect local environmental conditions.
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RAIMONDO, DANIELA. "Indoor and Energy quality assessment in buildings." Doctoral thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2501601.
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Interest on Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) increased more and more in the last years. This attention is evidenced by the fact that nowadays maintaining a certain level of comfort in the building, as it is prescribed by the standards, means to deal with a rising energy demand. For this reason increasing attention needs to be spent in the envelope and systems building design, as well in the building robustness at the occupants actions. Further than the design phase it becomes necessary to shift the focus on to the building management and maintenance too. To this aim energy and environmental long term monitoring are introduced in the building life cycle, with the objective to optimize the building-plant system and to look for a good balance between different levels of comfort and energy consumption.
Main objective of the research is the critical analysis of the indoor environment quality assessment existing methods, within the evaluation of the energy consumptions required to maintain specific comfort levels, and suggesting new methods of analysis and representation of data from monitorings or simulations. In order to reach high level of IEQ, the study also focuses on the performance evaluation of energy saving by radiant systems, through tests in thermostatic room or in situ. Research is therefore conceived in three deepening phases.
The first phase is based on the indoor environment quality assessment through the use of categories. Comfort, and particularly thermal comfort, is regulated by the standards ISO 7730/2005, EN 15251/2007, and ASHRAE 55/2004. Methods for data elaboration and representation suggested by the standards (specifically by EN 15251) are in this work compared and discussed, investigating, also through the use of a case study, the effective utility of these instruments, of their applications and limitations.
Maintaining specific comfort categories in a building often comport to spend energy. Energy demand can be varied depending on the envelope characteristics and quality, and from the systems controls and the outdoor climate conditions. With the aim to demonstrate what enounced, the second phase of the study is explained through an office room energy simulation, conducted with the aim to assess the heating and cooling energy demand variation with the thermal and air quality variation, as well as for different climate zones. Buildings energy simulation is however only one of the tools that can be used for this kind of analysis. Direct monitoring of the energy consumptions is in fact another method that is becoming more and more important. Energy monitoring plans, with IEQ monitoring plans, give a detailed overview about levels of comfort and related costs in a building, moreover investigating on the correct or wrong systems operation and controls. The correlation between the two measurements conducted simultaneously allows to give, as output of the analysis, a complete building energy and environment evaluation. In addition to the data processing, the study also addresses the results representation, through the analysis of energy and environmental data from one year of monitoring in an office building.
As mentioned above, the connecting element between ICQ in a room and the related energy consumptions, beyond the building thermo physical properties, is the installed plants system. In recent years many studies in literature about comfort in buildings treated the topic of low energy radiant systems to reach the indoor environmental quality objective. Among the many typologies of radiant systems, this work faces with two kinds of them, very different one from each other, and both object of analysis and experimentation: the first is represented by vertical electric radiant plates for heating, and the second is about TABS (Thermal Active Building System) for cooling. In both cases energy and environmental measurements were carried out. In the first case the experiments took place in test rooms, in the second case they were performed in situ (office room). Differences between the two analysis and strategies adopted for the measurements during the operational time of the building using TABS are shown.
Results of the work are shown and widely explained in internationals journals and international conference papers.
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Iverson, David R. "An examination of environmental assessment, screening, and its relation to monitoring and cumulative effects at St. Lawrence Islands National Park." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0020/MQ27513.pdf.
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Zhao, Huijin. "Assessment of Personal Exposure to Particulate Matter Based on a Space-time Method for a Student Residing near a Large Urban Campus." The Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1316462387.
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Hils, Abigail L. "A comparison of methods for improving ecological monitoring of coral reefs." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1366309896.
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Nedvidek, Daniel C. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regulatory Stormwater Monitoring Protocols on Groundwater Quality in Urbanized Karst Regions." TopSCHOLAR®, 2014. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1407.
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Non-point pollution from stormwater runoff is one of the greatest threats to water quality in the United States today, particularly in urban karst settings. In these settings, the use of karst features and injection wells for stormwater management results in virtually untreated water being directed into the karst aquifer. Currently, no policies exist specifically to provide water quality protections to karst environments. This study utilized a combination of karst stormwater quality data, along with survey data collected from MS4 Phase II communities, and an analysis of current federal, local, and state water quality regulations, to assess the need for karst-specific water quality regulations. Water quality data indicate that significant levels of contamination are mobilized during storm events, and often are directed into the karst system via Class V injection wells. Survey data collected from MS4 stakeholders in the karst regions of Kentucky indicate stakeholders are generally unable to explain local karst regulations or the steps taken to develop them. This confusion comes in part from insufficient progress on evaluation criteria available for the MS4 Minimum Control Measures (MCMs). Karst waters are often placed into the legal “gray zone” due in part to differences in definitions of key terms in state and federal regulations. This study recommends the development of regulations specific to karst waters at the state and federal levels through either the adaptation of existing or creation of new policies, which place an emphasis on the integration of water quality monitoring and karst education.
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Alsarawi, Hanan Ahmad. "Developing an integrated strategy for the assessment of hazardous substances in Kuwait's marine environment." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10603.
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Kuwait is undergoing rapid economic growth involving substantial developments along its coastal shores and the marine environment. Many of the activities in the region are associated with oil industry, which can pollute the shores leading to contamination from oil residues, tar balls and trace metals. About 2 million barrels of oil are spilled annually from routine discharges into the Gulf, which derives mainly from dirty ballast waters and tank washing. The comprehensive literature review of hazardous substances in Kuwait’s marine environment has concluded that for the majority of these pollutants, contamination is localized around industrialised areas, and elsewhere is generally below the permitted international standards. These finding have been supported by a fieldwork. This has been conducted to assess the use of biomarkers (bile metabolites and EROD activities) for 60 fish consisting of two native species Giant sea catfish (Arius thalassinus) and (Pelates quadrilineatus) to demonstrate the potential for the concentrations of oil based contaminants present to induce detectable levels of biological effects in fish species living in Kuwait’s marine environment. Therefore, the focus of this research has shifted its attention to another anthropogenic source that chronically pollute Kuwait’s marine environment. One of the main sources of contaminants is the continuous discharge of sewage, which impacts many locations around Kuwait. Sewage is known to contain wide array of substances that could pose an ecotoxicological impact at different levels of the ecosystem. One such threat is posed by antimicrobial agents that contribute to the growing global concern surrounding the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria. Therefore, a major theme of this research project was to conduct a novel survey of the prevalence of AMR bacteria isolated from Kuwait’s marine environment. The AMR screening, including 598 E.coli isolated from seawater and bivalves samples during summer and winter seasons against 23 frontline antibiotics, revealed that resistance was observed from a number of locations (particularly associated with sewage outlets) for the majority of antibiotics (seawater: summer 89 - 64%; winter 90 - 57% and bivalves: summer 77%; winter 88%). A baseline screening for the class 1 integron which is known to be implicated in disseminating the antimicrobial resistance among bacteria was conducted for the isolated 598 E.coli. The findings highlighted the prevalence of such molecular genetic elements especially around the sewage outlets (36% of tested E.coli). The whole genome sequencing was conducted for a representative E.coli (26 E.coli) and it showed that E.coli derived from Kuwait’s marine environment possessed a variety of genes implicated in antimicrobial resistance potential against wide spectrum of antibiotics and suggesting that genes are exchanged via the horizontal gene transfer. These observations and recording of antimicrobial resistance phenomenon support the notion that marine environment could act not only as a reservoir for antimicrobial resistance but could also play a significant role in driving it. The AMR bacteria is considered as an effective tool for monitoring the impacts of sewage pollution. Furthermore, it highlights one of the key human health risks sewage pollution poses and its assessments allows a fully integrated health assessment of Kuwait’s marine environment to be undertaken. This will ultimately lead to recommendations outlining the future monitoring and remediation requirements required by Kuwait to tackle this issue including rational antibiotics consumption and stewardship; developing effective wastewater treatment processes to improve removal efficiency of these pollutants in sewage treatment plants; more researches on this area will provide scientific information for responsible authorities to make up regulatory standards and guidelines to control environmental dissemination of these emerging contaminants.
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Gerber, Liezel. "Biodiversity risk assessment of South Africa’s municipalities." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1614.
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Thesis (MSc (Botany and Zoology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.South Africa is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and even with conservation initiatives in place continues to face biodiversity loss. There is a need to prioritise areas for conservation as resources for conservation purposes are limited in South Africa. From prioritisation methods reviewed it was found that prioritisation indices normally use one or a combination of variables that measure stock; and/or variables that measure threat.
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Pujol, Abajo Marta. "Development of molecular monitoring methods and assessment of the environmental fate of the biological control agent of fire blight Pseudomonas fluorescens EPS62e." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Girona, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/7928.
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Pseudomonas fluorescens EPS62e es va seleccionar com a agent de biocontrol del foc bacterià per la seva eficàcia en el control de Erwinia amylovora. En aquest treball es van desenvolupar mètodes de traçabilitat que van permetre la seva detecció específica i quantificació. Mitjançant les tècniques RAPD i U-PCR es van obtenir fragments d'amplificació diferencial per EPS62e que es van seqüenciar i caracteritzar com marcadors SCAR per dissenyar una PCR en temps real. La PCR a temps real es va utilitzar simultàniament amb mètodes microbiològics per estudiar l'adaptabilitat epifítica de EPS62e en pomera i perera. L'ús combinat de mètodes microbiològics i moleculars va permetre la identificació de tres estats fisiològics de EPS62e: la colonització activa, l'entrada en un estat de viable però no cultivable, i la mort cel·lular. Aquest treball mostra que EPS62e està ben adaptada a la colonització de flors a camp, encoratjant la seva utilització dins d'una estratègia de control biològic contra el foc bacterià.Pseudomonas fluorescens EPS62e was selected as a reliable biological control agent of fire blight for its high efficacy controlling Erwinia amylovora infections. In the present work, monitoring methods which allowed EPS62e specific detection and quantification were developed. RAPD and U-PCR fingerprints were used to obtain differential amplified fragments from EPS62e that were sequence characterized as SCAR markers. A real-time PCR was developed on the basis of the strain-specific SCAR markers, and was used simultaneously with microbiological methods to study the environmental fate of EPS62e in apple and pear orchards. The combined use of both microbiological and molecular methods permitted the identification of three physiological states for EPS62e, which consisted of active colonization, survival and entry into a viable but nonculturable state, and cell death. The present work shows that EPS62e is well adapted for blossom colonisation in the field, and encourages its utilisation in a fire blight.
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Banik, Apu. "Condition assessment of high voltage insulators in different environments with non-sinusoidal excitation." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2020. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/206148/1/Apu_Banik_Thesis.pdf.
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This project was a step forward in investigating the effect of supply voltage harmonic contents on the measured leakage current of polluted insulators operating in different environments. This study was then used as a basis for developing a sound theoretical understanding of the effects of supply voltage harmonic contents on the measured leakage current characteristics. This study was also used to develop a new condition monitoring index for the polluted insulator under harmonically distorted supply voltage.
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Galicia, Oswaldo. "Development and Application of Decision-Making Tool for Rural Spring-Sourced Gravity-Fed Community Managed Water Systems." Scholar Commons, 2019. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7790.
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People all over the world still lack access to safe drinking water service. Those with access experience several issues during the first few years of installation that impede on their overall access. In order to improve water services, not only is a proper decision-making tool necessary, taking into account key factors that impact sustainable water service, but proper monitoring and evaluation is also important in ensuring service for the long term. There are several developed assessment tools used for monitoring and evaluation of water systems post-construction, applicable in various scenarios. However, there are only few tools available to facilitate the decision-making process for stakeholders implementing water systems in the field. Ideally, one tool could be used across various life-cycle stages, like planning (decision-making) and post-construction (monitoring and evaluation).
Currently, several stakeholder groups are working in Panama to improve the access of safe drinking water for rural and indigenous populations living in mountainous areas, where spring-sourced gravity-fed community-managed systems are common. Effective sustainability assessment tools including Rural Water and Sanitation Information System, SIASAR in Spanish, provide useful frameworks to create a decision making tool for this development context.
This research focused on developing a Decision-Making Tool using three key assessment tools (SIASAR, Peace Corps Panama WASH Index, & Schweitzer’s Sustainability Assessment Tool), field experience, and relevant literature incorporating technical, social, economic, and environmental factors. The Decision-Making Tool was developed to build or rehabilitate a rural spring-sourced gravity-fed community-managed water system and also serve as a practical monitoring and evaluation tool. The tool has a total of 10 indicators and 20 measures used to score various scenarios or alternatives as sustainability unlikely, sustainability possible, or sustainability likely.
The tool was successfully applied as a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tool for the rural indigenous community of Quebrada Cacao in the province of Bocas del Toro in Panama. A total of 5 alternatives scenarios with estimated costs, labor expenditure and environmental impact were developed using EPANET and SimaPro to help improve the community’s rural spring-sourced gravity-fed community managed water system. Using analytical hierarchy process with weights set by three stakeholder groups in Panama (Quebrada Cacao’s water committee, Panama’s Ministry of Health, and Peace Corps Panama), these five alternative scenarios were scored using the Decision-Making Tool.
As a result, a feasible alternative was recommended for the community of Quebrada Cacao using the developed Decision-Making Tool. The tool was also successfully applied as a monitoring and evaluation tool, providing a baseline to develop applicable alternatives to improve the community’s sustainability score. This Decision-Making Tool fulfills an important gap useful for both planning and monitoring and evaluation. It provides a successful tool for application in Panama for building or rehabilitating rural spring-sourced gravity-fed community managed water systems and for other countries with a similar context. Finally, the tool also considers technical, economic, social, and environmental factors, ensuring a more holistic definition of sustainability when building or rehabilitating these water systems. Overall, this Decision-Making Tool can help reduce the number of people without access to safe drinking water around the world and also help ensure systems function sustainably for the long term.
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Agnew, Robert J. "Assessment of the variablity of indoor viable airborne mold sampling using the Anderson N-6 single stage impactor." Oklahoma City : [s.n.], 2002. http://library.ouhsc.edu/epub/theses/Agnew-Robert-J.pdf.
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