Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Environmental Association Analysis'
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Guzman, Martha Elva Ramierez. "Characterization of the association between short-term variations in daily mortality and adverse environmental conditions using time series methodology." Thesis, University of Reading, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.253129.
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Weston, William Christopher. "A SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF INVASIVE BREAST CANCER CLUSTERS IN ASSOCIATION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS: ILLINOIS 1996 TO 2000." OpenSIUC, 2012. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/896.
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This retrospective study assesses invasive breast cancer counts reported at the Illinois ZIP code scale during the study period of 1996 to 2000. The research objective is to evaluate the spatial and statistical associations between breast cancer risk and sources of potential environmental contamination. A thorough literature review illustrates a profound list of cancer risk factors within the study space. Public health principles are utilized to prepare breast cancer incidence for analysis, accompanied with the development of a case/control ecological model. Exploratory analyses suggest that breast cancer intensity is predominantly a rural problem. A generalized linear mixed model is employed, illustrating statistical associations between environmental risk factors and breast cancer risk. Coal Mines, Oil/Gas Wells, and Large Quantity Hazardous Waste Generators, display high statistical significance (p<0.001) in association with increased breast cancer risk. Unique socioeconomic attributes distinguish urban risk from rural risk, as can be seen in a discriminant function analysis. The modeling techniques utilized in this research display classic spatial epidemiological approaches that account for particular types of confounding effects, while also defining zones of disease risk through cluster detection. Results from this analysis are useful for future studies intended to account for epidemiological, clinical, chemical and biological disease-related information.
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Hall, Callyn. "An Analysis of the Association between Animal Exposures and the Development of Type 1 Diabetes in the TEDDY Cohort." Scholar Commons, 2013. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/4501.
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Research on exposure to animals and risk of type 1 diabetes (T1D) has had conflicting results with some researchers finding that animal exposure reduces the risk of T1D and others finding no association between animal exposure and T1D. Previously conducted studies on the association between animal exposure and T1D are case-control studies that have been limited by recall bias. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between early life animal exposure and the risk of persistent, confirmed islet autoantibodies (IA) and T1D diagnosis among an eligible cohort of genetically high T1D risk participants enrolled in the international prospective cohort study, The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY). It is hypothesized that children who are exposed to animals in early life will have a lower risk of developing IA and T1D than children who are not exposed to animals in early life.
A total of 7,432 TEDDY participants were included in the study. The associations between early life animal exposure and the outcomes of interest were explored using Cox proportional hazards models. In order to control for confounding, a propensity score analysis was applied by three different methods: adjustment for the propensity score variable in the Cox proportional hazards model, stratification on propensity score groups, and propensity score pair matching.
Early life animal exposure was not associated with diabetes autoimmunity or T1D onset in this genetically high T1D risk population. These findings were consistent across all three propensity score analysis methods and when directly adjusting for HLA type. The hypothesis that children who are exposed to animals in early life will have a lower risk of developing IA and T1D than children who are not exposed to animals in early life is not supported by this study.
The results of this study suggest that there is no association between early life animal exposure and development of T1D. Performing this analysis again after longer follow-up has been completed for the study population is recommended as it may elucidate the effect of animal exposure on T1D and IA risk. Further studies are also needed on animal exposure and T1D in different types of environments (e.g., high residential density) and the effect of different types of animal exposures (e.g., species, duration) on T1D and IA risk. Additionally, studies on differences in perceptions of pets across countries could also aid the interpretation of studies on animal exposure and health outcomes.
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Webbe, Jaime Alexandra. "An analysis of the feasibility of developing a network of residential outdoor schools within the Canadian Biosphere Reserve Association /." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=33947.
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Residential outdoor schools are multi-day learning camps that provide unique settings in which to deliver environmental education. However, such schools are also very complex to develop and difficult to maintain and operate. Within Canada though, there are many examples of successful outdoor school operations, three of which are considered here: the North Vancouver Outdoor School, the Olympic Park Institute and the Golden Ears Learning Centre. From these case studies lessons can be learned regarding issues such as: land tenureship, program design, staffing options, administrative systems, facility requirements, finance options and abilities to attract students. The discussion of these factors can then be applied to the development of a nation wide network of residential outdoor schools within the framework of Canadian Biosphere Reserves.Currently there are ten Biosphere Reserves in Canada which, when analyzed, prove to be very adequate sites for environmental education from both physical and social stand points. The Canadian Biosphere Reserve Association is the coordinating body which fosters communication and cooperation between individual Reserves. If a network of residential outdoor schools were to be developed within this association framework, it would serve, both to fulfill the Canadian Biosphere Reserve Associations mandate to support environmental education and would help partially alleviate the lack of adequate environmental education facilities in Canada today.
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Tamulis, Tomas. "Association between area socioeconomic status and hospital admissions for childhood and adult asthma." [Tampa, Fla.] : University of South Florida, 2005. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/SFE0001134.
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Singh, Sandeep Kumar. "A Case-Only Genome-wide Association Study of Gender- and Age-specific Risk Markers for Childhood Leukemia." FIU Digital Commons, 2015. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1832.
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Males and age group 1 to 5 years show a much higher risk for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We performed a case-only genome-wide association study (GWAS), using the Illumina Infinium HumanCoreExome Chip, to unmask gender- and age-specific risk variants in 240 non-Hispanic white children with ALL recruited at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Besides statistically most significant results, we also considered results that yielded the highest effect sizes. Existing experimental data and bioinformatic predictions were used to complement results, and to examine the biological significance of statistical results.
Our study identified novel risk variants for childhood ALL. The SNP, rs4813720 (RASSF2), showed the statistically most significant gender-specific associations (P < 2 x 10-6). Likewise, rs10505918 (SOX5) yielded the lowest P value (P < 1 x 10-5) for age-specific associations, and also showed the statistically most significant association with age-at-onset (P < 1 x 10-4). Two SNPs, rs12722042 and 12722039, from the HLA-DQA1 region yielded the highest effect sizes (odds ratio (OR) = 15.7; P = 0.002) for gender-specific results, and the SNP, rs17109582 (OR = 12.5; P = 0.006), showed the highest effect size for age-specific results. Sex chromosome variants did not appear to be involved in gender-specific associations.
The HLA-DQA1 SNPs belong to DQA1*01:07and confirmed previously reported male-specific association with DQA1*01:07. Twenty one of the SNPs identified as risk markers for gender- or age-specific associations were located in the transcription factor binding sites and 56 SNPs were non-synonymous variants, likely to alter protein function. Although bioinformatic analysis did not implicate a particular mechanism for gender- and age-specific associations, RASSF2 has an estrogen receptor-alpha binding site in its promoter. The unknown mechanisms may be due to lack of interest in gender- and age-specificity in associations. These results provide a foundation for further studies to examine the gender- and age-differential in childhood ALL risk. Following replication and mechanistic studies, risk factors for one gender or age group may have a potential to be used as biomarkers for targeted intervention for prevention and maybe also for treatment.
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Xin, Xiachi. "Architecture of human complex trait variation." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31549.
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A complex trait is a trait or disease that is controlled by both genetic and environmental factors, along with their interactions. Trait architecture encompasses the genetic variants and environmental causes of variation in the trait or disease, their effects on the trait or disease and the mechanism by which these factors interact at molecular and organism levels. It is important to understand trait architecture both from a biological viewpoint and a health perspective. In this thesis, I laid emphasis on exploring the influence of familial environmental factors on complex trait architecture alongside the genetic components. I performed a variety of studies to explore the architecture of anthropometric and cardio-metabolic traits, such as height, body mass index, high density lipoprotein content of blood and blood pressure, using a cohort of 20,000 individuals of recent Scottish descent and their phenotype measurements, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) data and genealogical information. I extended a method of variance component analysis that could simultaneously estimate SNP-associated heritability and total heritability whilst considering familial environmental effects shared among siblings, couples and nuclear family members. I found that most missing heritability could be explained by including closely related individuals in the analysis and accounting for these close relationships; and that, on top of genetics, couple and sibling environmental effects are additional significant contributors to the complex trait variation investigated. Subsequently, I accounted for couple and sibling environmental effects in Genome- Wide Association Study (GWAS) and prediction models. Results demonstrated that by adding additional couple and sibling information, both GWAS performance and prediction accuracy were boosted for most traits investigated, especially for traits related to obesity. Since couple environmental effects as modelled in my study might, in fact, reflect the combined effect of assortative mating and shared couple environment, I explored further the dissection of couple effects according to their origin. I extended assortative mating theory by deriving the expected resemblance between an individual and in-laws of his first-degree relatives. Using the expected resemblance derived, I developed a novel pedigree study which could jointly estimate the heritability and the degree of assortative mating. I have shown in this thesis that, for anthropometric and cardio-metabolic traits, environmental factors shared by siblings and couples seem to have important effects on trait variation and that appropriate modelling of such effects may improve the outcome of genetic analyses and our understanding of the causes of trait variation. My thesis also points out that future studies on exploring trait architecture should not be limited to genetics because environment, as well as mate choice, might be a major contributor to trait variation, although trait architecture varies from trait to trait.
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Horne, Murray R. "Associative analysis of spatial learning in environments with a distinctive shape." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2009. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55831/.
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The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the proposal by Miller and Shettleworth (2007) that learning about geometric cues in environments with a distinctive shape is governed by a competitive learning rule (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972). To do this, in all experiments, rats were trained to locate a hidden platform by reference to the shape of a swimming pool. Chapter 2 (Experiments 1 -4) assessed whether a landmark suspended above the platform would overshadow learning about geometric cues. No overshadowing was recorded, even when the salience of the geometric cues was reduced. These findings are inconsistent with the model of Miller and Shettleworth (2007). In Chapter 3 (Experiments 5-7), a blocking paradigm was used. When rats were given extended pre-training with a landmark above the platform, only then did the landmark successfully block learning about geometric cues. However, some unexpected findings suggested that perhaps the spatial cues were competing for attention rather than associative strength. The experiments in Chapter 4 (Experiments 8 and 9) successfully demonstrated superconditioning of geometric cues by an inhibitory landmark providing convincing evidence that learning about geometric cues is governed by the principles of associative learning. Miller and ShettlewortiVs (2007) model however, failed to predict this outcome. Experiments 10-13 in Chapters 5 and 6 showed that associations formed between geometric and non-geometric cues. This outcome provides the basis for a viable explanation for potentiation and for the past failures to find cue competition in the spatial domain. The empirical findings of this thesis show that learning about geometric cues is not entirely void of associative processes as once thought. A number of recent models of spatial learning are discussed.
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Nutsford, Daniel. "An exploration of the associations between urban natural environments and indicators of mental and physical health." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Geography, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/9279.
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Natural environments, namely green and blue spaces, have been found to have positive influences on mental health outcomes globally. As the contribution of poor mental health to the disease burden increases, the mechanisms through which natural environments may improve health are of growing importance. This study creates a novel visibility index methodology and investigates whether i) views of natural environments and ii) access to natural environments, are associated with psychological stress and physical activity in Wellington, New Zealand. It also builds upon the work conducted in New Zealand as the first study to investigate links between blue space and mental health and provides an insight into the mechanisms through which increased natural environments may improve health.
Individual level data for 442 individuals from the New Zealand Health Survey was obtained and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were used to investigate whether area-level exposure to natural environments influenced their psychological stress and levels of physical activity. Results from regression analysis indicate that increased distant visible green space (beyond 3km), visible blue space, and a combination of green and blue spaces from neighbourhood centroids reduce psychological stress. Some access measures to natural environments were found to have positive associations with psychological stress, however increased proximal access to green space was associated with decreased physical activity.
The findings conclude that the visibility of natural environments appears to have stronger associations with stress reduction than access to them. The findings of this paper should influence urban development and inform decision and policy making, particularly the development and/or relocation of health related facilities.
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Tribby, Calvin P. "Activity Spaces, Route Choices, and Neighborhoods: Assessing the Built Environment Associations with Walking Trips." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1459856961.
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Wilkinson, Cross Kate P. "The environment as a commodity? : an ecofeminist analysis of the extent to which associations between security and the environment have altered the perception of the environment in international law." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13772/.
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The growing evidence that humanity has entered the Anthropocene raises significant concerns over the existential survival of individuals, states, and of life on Earth itself. In response to the increasingly global nature of environmental problems, international environmental law (IEL) has emerged to facilitate collective efforts by states to mitigate ecological harm. In more recent times, the role of IEL has centred on addressing the balance between development, economic growth, and the need to protect the environment for future generations. In light of mounting evidence over the role of environmental degradation and the negative impact of humanity’s activities on the Earth, concerns over how such destruction can exacerbate conflict and undermine security, development, and economic growth have been raised by the United Nations Security Council and other international forums. The increasing associations between environment and security in international circles and by states poses the questions of how states perceive the ‘environment’ and for what reasons do they protect it? This thesis examines the extent to which this convergence between environment and security alters the way in which the international community seek to protect the environment, and in turn, what this suggests about their perception of the environment. Drawing on ecofeminist theory to develop an analytical framework, it examines the preparatory reports and outcome texts from eight environmental regimes in relation to three areas of international environmental law-making. It examines who participates in the development of IEL in order to reveal any tensions between the principle of participation included in sustainable development, and the exclusionary practices in some environmental areas that are closely connected to the environment and national interests. It then considers the justifications for the integration of other non-environmental considerations, such as development, economic, security, and technology into IEL, and their influence on states’ perception of the environment. The thesis concludes that despite the broader participation by NSAs in the development of IEL, changes in states’ priorities over time, and the growing convergence between security and environment, the western anthropomorphic perception of the environment prevails in law-making at an international level.
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Rawat, Rakesh. "User behaviour modelling in a multi-dimensional environment for personalization and recommendation." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2010. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/48135/1/Rakesh_Rawat_Thesis.pdf.
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Handling information overload online, from the user's point of view is a big challenge, especially when the number of websites is growing rapidly due to growth in e-commerce and other related activities. Personalization based on user needs is the key to solving the problem of information overload. Personalization methods help in identifying relevant information, which may be liked by a user. User profile and object profile are the important elements of a personalization system. When creating user and object profiles, most of the existing methods adopt two-dimensional similarity methods based on vector or matrix models in order to find inter-user and inter-object similarity. Moreover, for recommending similar objects to users, personalization systems use the users-users, items-items and users-items similarity measures. In most cases similarity measures such as Euclidian, Manhattan, cosine and many others based on vector or matrix methods are used to find the similarities. Web logs are high-dimensional datasets, consisting of multiple users, multiple searches with many attributes to each. Two-dimensional data analysis methods may often overlook latent relationships that may exist between users and items. In contrast to other studies, this thesis utilises tensors, the high-dimensional data models, to build user and object profiles and to find the inter-relationships between users-users and users-items. To create an improved personalized Web system, this thesis proposes to build three types of profiles: individual user, group users and object profiles utilising decomposition factors of tensor data models. A hybrid recommendation approach utilising group profiles (forming the basis of a collaborative filtering method) and object profiles (forming the basis of a content-based method) in conjunction with individual user profiles (forming the basis of a model based approach) is proposed for making effective recommendations. A tensor-based clustering method is proposed that utilises the outcomes of popular tensor decomposition techniques such as PARAFAC, Tucker and HOSVD to group similar instances. An individual user profile, showing the user's highest interest, is represented by the top dimension values, extracted from the component matrix obtained after tensor decomposition. A group profile, showing similar users and their highest interest, is built by clustering similar users based on tensor decomposed values. A group profile is represented by the top association rules (containing various unique object combinations) that are derived from the searches made by the users of the cluster. An object profile is created to represent similar objects clustered on the basis of their similarity of features. Depending on the category of a user (known, anonymous or frequent visitor to the website), any of the profiles or their combinations is used for making personalized recommendations. A ranking algorithm is also proposed that utilizes the personalized information to order and rank the recommendations. The proposed methodology is evaluated on data collected from a real life car website. Empirical analysis confirms the effectiveness of recommendations made by the proposed approach over other collaborative filtering and content-based recommendation approaches based on two-dimensional data analysis methods.
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Hall, Kimberlee K., Brian G. Evanshen, Kurt J. Maier, and Phillip R. Scheuerman. "Application of Multivariate Statistical Analyses to Microbial Water Quality Parameters in Four Geographically Similar Creeks in Northeast Tennessee to Identify Patterns Associating Land Use to Fecal Pollution Sources." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2008. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2947.
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Stokes, Shereitte C. IV. "An analysis of the associations between chemical threats in the physical environment and human health outcomes in Soweto,South Africa." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 2004. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/1552.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between chemical threats in the physical environment and adverse health conditions among the residents of Soweto, South Africa.
The chemical threats that were used in the analysis included lead, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (S02), and a chemical compound composed of silicon, oxygen, hydrogen, and various metal cations (asbestos). The adverse health outcomes and symptoms included heart attack or angina, stroke, emphysema/bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis, cancer, less breath, short of breath, wheezing or tightness of chest, wheezing only with a cold, sleep interrupted by coughing, sleep interrupted by wheezing with cough and phlegm, and phlegm everyday for three months.
The study demonstrated that, based on the available data, there are no statistically significant associations between exposure to chemical threats in the physical environment and adverse health outcomes in Soweto, South Africa. The study also demonstrated the importance of contributing factors and how limitations of the data on exposure to chemical threats and human health outcomes impacted statistical analysis. Further areas for investigation include analyzing exposure to agrichemicals and other chemicals; the role of the social environment and its impact on human health conditions; and the availability of data on chemical threats in the physical environment and adverse health conditions among the residents of Soweto, South Africa.
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Rajkumar, Abishankari. "Impact of Environmental and Genetic Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Metabolism on Metabolic Response in Women with Overweight or Obesity: Molecular and Cellular Analyses and Genetic Association Studies." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/37571.
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The following doctoral thesis focuses on genetic and environmental factors that influence skeletal muscle metabolism in women with overweight or obesity. The effects of Acyl-CoA Synthetase Long-Chain 5 (ACSL5) genotype on fatty acid metabolism was studied in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo. The effects of the environmental toxicant mono-(2ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) was also studied in vitro and in vivo.
Statistical analyses illustrated how ACSL5 rs2419621 [T] allele carriers, with overweight or obesity had a greater reduction in their fat mass and visceral fat and greater increases in their percentage lean mass post diet/exercise intervention vs. non-carriers. This was paralleled with increased in vitro and in vivo fatty acid oxidation and ex vivo mitochondrial respiration within [T] allele carriers vs. non-carriers. Interestingly, it was noted that carriers of the polymorphism had increased levels of the ACSL5 683aa isoform in skeletal muscle, which was found to be localized in the mitochondria to a greater extent, playing a greater role in fatty acid oxidation
vs. 739aa isoform. This explains in part why carriers of the polymorphism are more responsive to lifestyle interventions vs. non-carriers. Studies conducted in women with obesity who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) demonstrated an association between increased urinary MEHP and increased plasma fatty acid levels. In vitro work in C2C12 myotubes exposed to MEHP displayed a reduction in fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial respiration.
An increase in basal glycolysis was paralleled with increased levels of hexokinase II protein expression in C2C12 myotubes exposed to increasing levels of MEHP. Thus, these results suggest that increased exposure to MEHP as well as urinary MEHP contributes towards dysfunction in glucose and fatty acid utilization at both the muscle and whole-body level. Hence, women with obesity may be more susceptible to the metabolic effects of MEHP, increasing their chances of metabolic dysfunction. The following thesis, provides a more comprehensive view on the effects of both genetics and environmental factors on metabolic response within women with overweight and obesity. This provides insights into factors that should be considered for personalized medicine, to improve treatment options for combatting this disease.
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Cugny, Pierre. "Associations paleontologiques et paleoenvironnements : analyse quantitative des facies dans diverses formations cretacees des marges neotethysiennes et atlantique." Toulouse 3, 1987. http://www.theses.fr/1987TOU30162.
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On montre comment l'utilisation conjointe des methodes classiques d'etude des formations geologiques (analyse sequentielle, sedimentologie, paleontologie) et de methodes quantitatives (analyse des donnees multidimensionnelles, tests statistiques) permet de reconstituer les paleoenvironnements, leur evolution et de proposer des modeles paleoecologiques. Les exemples sont pris en domaine de plateforme, dans les series du cretace des marges neotethysiennes (pyrenees, espagne, bulgarie, maroc, algerie) et atlantique (portugal)
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McDonnell, Jeffrey Ailbe. "The role of interpersonal sensitivity in the association between childhood bullying and paranoid ideation, in a virtual environment, in those at ultra-high risk for psychosis : an investigation of mediation effects using path analysis." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2016. http://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-role-of-interpersonal-sensitivity-in-the-association-between-childhood-bullying-and-paranoid-ideation-in-a-virtual-environment-in-those-at-ultrahigh-risk-for-psychosis-an-investigation-of-mediation-effects-using-path-analysis(7d8344f5-02ef-448b-8ff4-b56522486f78).html.
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Background. Chronic exposure to stressors in childhood has been linked with heightened risk of developing symptoms of psychosis in both clinical and non-clinical populations. The association has been explicated with reference to developmental alterations in biological and psychological systems. One such stressor, being bullied in childhood, has been the focus of recent investigations. The current study endeavoured to systematically review the available evidence from studies purporting to investigate the association between childhood bullying and psychosis symptomatology. Method. A search of PubMed, Medline, PsycInfo, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science electronic databases, alongside manual searching and cross-referencing, was carried out. The quality of available evidence for and against the association was assessed using quality assessment tools found in the literature. Results. Meeting the study’s inclusion criteria were 30 studies (eighteen cross-sectional, twelve cohort). Longitudinal studies, by design, provided higher quality evidence - particularly those which examined specifically the association between the variables of interest. However, preselected key confounding variables were not always taken into account, highlighting that the association is not unequivocal and that further research is warranted. Cross-sectional studies provide lower quality of evidence (of greater variability) where severe limitations regarding the validity and generalisability of findings must be taken into account. Conclusions. Evidence suggests that the association between experience of bullying in childhood and onset of psychotic or psychotic-like symptoms of clinical and non-clinical severity is tenable. However, future research needs to re-examine the association while minimising methodological limitations including confounding variables and definitional issues. Establishment of an association warrants investigation of the mechanisms which potentially underlie it; the pre-existing, small research base on mediators and moderators of the relationships requires further attention.
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Buckallew, Robin Randolph Dickson Kenneth L. "Comparison of bare root vs. potted plants, species selection, and caging types for restoration of a prairie wetland, and quantitative analysis and descriptive survey of plant communities and associations at Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA), Lewisville, TX." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2007. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-3700.
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Buckallew, Robin R. "Comparison of Bare Root vs. Potted Plants, Species Selection, and Caging Types for Restoration of a Prairie Wetland, and Quantitative Analysis and Descriptive Survey of Plant Communities and Associations at Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA), Lewisville, TX." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2007. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3700/.
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Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) is an 809-hectare property in Denton County, TX. A study of the vegetation community identified 466 species in 104 families, with 25% of the species from only two families, Asteraceae and Poaceae. The property demonstrates the characteristics of an early successional community, dominated by weedy species. Prairie communities are dominated by Johnson grass and ragweed, with climax tall grass prairie communities only in areas that have been planted with native grass seed. Forest communities are similarly in an early successional stage, dominated by the hackberry-elm-ash alliance, with small remnants of native Cross Timbers found in isolated patches. Species richness and diversity were highest in the forests and lowest in the wetlands; evenness, though not different across ecosystems, demonstrated a strong seasonal component. The species list was compared with previously reported lists for Denton County, and 256 species identified had not been previously reported for the county. A wetland restoration study was conducted to determine if there was a difference in survival and growth between potted transplants with intact root systems and bare-root transplants. Two different mesh sizes were used for protection, and the success of the different caging was evaluated. Of eight species, only four survived through the second growing season. There was no significant difference in the success of the propagule types for Sagittaria latifolia. The treatments planted with intact root systems showed significantly higher growth and reproduction than the bare-root treatments for Eleocharis quadrangulata, Heteranthera dubia, and Vallisneria americana. There was no survival recorded in the coarse mesh cages, likely due to the presence of crayfish that are able to get through the coarser mesh and feed on the transplants.
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Ibanez, Thomas. "Dynamiques des forêts denses humides et des savanes en réponse aux incendies en Nouvelle-Calédonie." Phd thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2012. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00681865.
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La Nouvelle-Calédonie qui présente une biodiversité à la fois exceptionnelle et très menacée, fait partie des points chauds de biodiversités définis à l'échelle globale comme zones prioritaires pour la conservation. Les incendies, d'origines anthropiques et constituant l'une des principales menaces pesant sur les écosystèmes naturels néo-calédoniens, conduisent à un recul des forêts denses humides (forêts par la suite) principalement au profit des savanes sur substrats volcano-sedimentaires. Au cours de cette thèse, les processus écologiques mis en jeu dans les dynamiques des forêts et des savanes, liés aux variations du régime d'incendie, ont été étudiés à différentes échelles spatiales et temporelles. L'analyse de la distribution spatio-temporelle des forêts et des savanes à l'échelle du paysage a mis en évidence différents facteurs dirigeant la dynamique paysagères et identifié des zones de recolonisation forestière. Différents modèles de succession secondaire et cortèges d'espèces pionnières ont été identifiés à partir de l'analyse de ces zones de recolonisation. La mesure de traits fonctionnels et l'utilisation de modèles semi-physiques de dommages causés par les incendies ont révélé une faible tolérance aux incendies de ces espèces. Enfin, une analyse multivariée de la structure, de la composition floristique et des conditions micro-climatiques des zones clés de transitions entre la savane et la forêt a permis de mieux comprendre les processus d'expansion et de contraction forestière. Ces travaux de thèse ouvrent un nouveau champ de recherche en Nouvelle-Calédonie avec d'importantes implications en terme de restauration des écosystèmes forestiers et de gestion durable.
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Daly, Marwa El. "Challenges and potentials of channeling local philanthropy towards development and aocial justice and the role of waqf (Islamic and Arab-civic endowments) in building community foundations." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philosophische Fakultät III, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/16511.
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Diese Arbeit bietet eine solide theoretische Grundlage zu Philanthropie und religiös motivierten Spendenaktivitäten und deren Einfluss auf Wohltätigkeitstrends, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und einer auf dem Gedanken der sozialen Gerechtigkeit beruhenden Philanthropie. Untersucht werden dafür die Strukturen religiös motivierte Spenden, für die in der islamischen Tradition die Begriffe „zakat“, „Waqf“ oder im Plural auch „awqaf-“ oder „Sadaqa“ verwendet werden, der christliche Begriff dafür lautet „tithes“ oder „ushour“. Aufbauend auf diesem theoretischen Rahmenwerk analysiert die qualitative und quantitative Feldstudie auf nationaler Ebene, wie die ägyptische Öffentlichkeit Philanthropie, soziale Gerechtigkeit, Menschenrechte, Spenden, Freiwilligenarbeit und andere Konzepte des zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements wahrnimmt. Um eine umfassende und repräsentative Datengrundlage zu erhalten, wurden 2000 Haushalte, 200 zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen erfasst, sowie Spender, Empfänger, religiöse Wohltäter und andere Akteure interviewt. Die so gewonnen Erkenntnisse lassen aussagekräftige Aufschlüsse über philanthropische Trends zu. Erstmals wird so auch eine finanzielle Einschätzung und Bewertung der Aktivitäten im lokalen Wohltätigkeitsbereich möglich, die sich auf mehr als eine Billion US-Dollar beziffern lassen. Die Erhebung weist nach, dass gemessen an den Pro-Kopf-Aufwendungen die privaten Spendenaktivitäten weitaus wichtiger sind als auswärtige wirtschaftliche Hilfe für Ägypten. Das wiederum lässt Rückschlüsse zu, welche Bedeutung lokale Wohltätigkeit erlangen kann, wenn sie richtig gesteuert wird und nicht wie bislang oft im Teufelskreis von ad-hoc-Spenden oder Hilfen von Privatperson an Privatperson gefangen ist. Die Studie stellt außerdem eine Verbindung her zwischen lokalen Wohltätigkeits-Mechanismen, die meist auf religiösen und kulturellen Werten beruhen, und modernen Strukturen, wie etwa Gemeinde-Stiftungen oder Gemeinde-„waqf“, innerhalb derer die Spenden eine nachhaltige Veränderung bewirken können. Daher bietet diese Arbeit also eine umfassende wissenschaftliche Grundlage, die nicht nur ein besseres Verständnis, sondern auch den nachhaltiger Aus- und Aufbau lokaler Wohltätigkeitsstrukturen in Ägypten ermöglicht. Zentral ist dabei vor allem die Rolle lokaler, individueller Spenden, die beispielsweise für Stiftungen auf der Gemeindeebene eingesetzt, wesentlich zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung beitragen könnten – und das nicht nur in Ägypten, sondern in der gesamten arabischen Region. Als konkretes Ergebnis dieser Arbeit, wurde ein innovatives Modell entwickelt, dass neben den wissenschaftlichen Daten das Konzept der „waqf“ berücksichtigt. Der Wissenschaftlerin und einem engagierten Vorstand ist es auf dieser Grundlage gelungen, die Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) zu gründen, die nicht nur ein Modell für eine Bürgerstiftung ist, sondern auch das tradierte Konzept der „waqf“ als praktikable und verbürgte Wohlstätigkeitsstruktur sinnvoll weiterentwickelt.This work provides a solid theoretical base on philanthropy, religious giving (Islamic zakat, ‘ushour, Waqf -plural: awqaf-, Sadaqa and Christian tithes or ‘ushour), and their implications on giving trends, development work, social justice philanthropy. The field study (quantitative and qualitative) that supports the theoretical framework reflects at a national level the Egyptian public’s perceptions on philanthropy, social justice, human rights, giving and volunteering and other concepts that determine the peoples’ civic engagement. The statistics cover 2000 households, 200 Civil Society Organizations distributed all over Egypt and interviews donors, recipients, religious people and other stakeholders. The numbers reflect philanthropic trends and for the first time provide a monetary estimate of local philanthropy of over USD 1 Billion annually. The survey proves that the per capita share of philanthropy outweighs the per capita share of foreign economic assistance to Egypt, which implies the significance of local giving if properly channeled, and not as it is actually consumed in the vicious circle of ad-hoc, person to person charity. In addition, the study relates local giving mechanisms derived from religion and culture to modern actual structures, like community foundations or community waqf that could bring about sustainable change in the communities. In sum, the work provides a comprehensive scientific base to help understand- and build on local philanthropy in Egypt. It explores the role that local individual giving could play in achieving sustainable development and building a new wave of community foundations not only in Egypt but in the Arab region at large. As a tangible result of this thesis, an innovative model that revives the concept of waqf and builds on the study’s results was created by the researcher and a dedicated board of trustees who succeeded in establishing Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) that not only introduces the community foundation model to Egypt, but revives and modernizes the waqf as a practical authentic philanthropic structure.
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Huang, Si-Yu, and 黃思瑀. "The Measurement of Environmental Energy Efficiency of Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Taiwan－The Application of Data Envelopment Analysis." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84025183029149163009.
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碩士國立勤益科技大學
企業管理系
99
This study applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Malmquist productivity index (MPI), energy, capital and labor as inputs, while GDP and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) as outputs, to measure the environmental energy efficiency and productivity growth of Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Taiwan during 2005-2008. The results of this study find that (1) Brunei and Japan are rated technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency; (2) 12 countries are experienced most produc-tivity scale size over the years of 2006-2008; (3) some countries have to reduce capital, labor and energy consumption, and increase GDP and CO2 emissions; (4) Brunei and Japan have the highest reference number that inefficient countries referred for improving their inefficiencies; (5) Singapore and Taiwan having positive changes in productivity over a four years period; (6) ASEAN and Taiwan were not rated environmental energy efficiency, but Taiwan’s productivity is better than ASEAN. Finally, management implications and suggestions were proposed as a reference for ASEAN and Taiwan to improve the environmental energy effi-ciency and productive.
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LEE, CHIEN-MIN, and 李千民. "A Correlation Analysis of Social Network Indexes and Environmental Literacy on Low-Carbon Communities cadre of Home Owner’s Association in Taichung." Thesis, 2019. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/vjd4ph.
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碩士國立臺中教育大學
科學教育與應用學系環境教育及管理碩士班
107
This study explores whether social network structures in different communities are related to environmental literacy and energy conservation and carbon reduction through social network analysis methods. The research aims are: (1) to compare the social network indicators of organizational cadres in different low-carbon communities; (2) to analyze the relationship between social network indicators and environmental literacy of organizational cadres in different low-carbon communities; and (3) to explore the relationship between social network indicators and the effectiveness of energy conservation and carbon reduction in different low-carbon community organizations. The social network analysis software UCINET 6.0 was used to analyze the relationship data of the community network. The result shows that the density of the “neighbor relationship” is the highest and the relationship is the most common in the indicators of social network density in six low-carbon community organizations in Taichung City. To connect with community identity and collective participation is mainly through the "neighborhood relationship. The cardres of Community organizations have high proportion of participations, among "mind sharing", "help in life chores", "exchange of life messages" and "economic assistance" in the incident of private affairs network. In community public community affairs, community cadres were found to be "discussing community activities related matters", "exchange information on community work", "helping community industry sales" and "providing relevant project application information" and "providing relevant project applications" There are also a high percentage of participation in the five aspects of "message" and "promoting resource recovery related matters". However, Degree and environmental literacy are positively correlated in the private affairs network and public affairs network, which indicating more core role in the network has higher environmental literacy ability. The ability of environmental literacy shows a highly positive correlation in the low-carbon certified community.
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Lim, Elise. "Statistical methods for genetic association studies: detecting gene x environment interaction in rare variant analysis." Thesis, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/41993.
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Investigators have discovered thousands of genetic variants associated with various traits using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). These discoveries have substantially improved our understanding of the genetic architecture of many complex traits. Despite the striking success, these trait-associated loci collectively explain relatively little of disease risk. Many reasons for this unexplained heritability have been suggested and two understudied components are hypothesized to have an impact in complex disease etiology: rare variants and gene-environment (GE) interactions. Advances in next generation sequencing have offered the opportunity to comprehensively investigate the genetic contribution of rare variants on complex traits. Such diseases are multifactorial, suggesting an interplay of both genetics and environmental factors, but most GWAS have focused on the main effects of genetic variants and disregarded GE interactions. In this dissertation, we develop statistical methods to detect GE interactions for rare variant analysis for various types of outcomes in both independent and related samples. We leverage the joint information across a set of rare variants and implement variance component score tests to reduce the computational burden. First, we develop a GE interaction test for rare variants for binary and continuous traits in related individuals, which avoids having to restrict to unrelated individuals and thereby retaining more samples. Next, we propose a method to test GE interactions in rare variants for time-to-event outcomes. Rare variant tests for survival outcomes have been underdeveloped, despite their importance in medical studies. We use a shrinkage method to impose a ridge penalty on the genetic main effects to deal with potential multicollinearity. Finally, we compare different types of penalties, such as least absolute shrinkage selection operator and elastic net regularization, to examine the performance of our second method under various simulation scenarios. We illustrate applications of the proposed methods to detect gene x smoking interaction influencing body mass index and time-to-fracture in the Framingham Heart Study. Our proposed methods can be readily applied to a wide range of phenotypes and various genetic epidemiologic studies, thereby providing insight into biological mechanisms of complex diseases, identifying high-penetrance subgroups, and eventually leading to the development of better diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.
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Chen, Han. "Statistical methods for genetic association studies: multi-cohort and rare genetic variants approaches." Thesis, 2013. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/13141.
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Genetic association studies have successfully identified many genetic markers associated with complex human diseases and related quantitative traits. However, for most complex diseases and quantitative traits, all associated genetic markers identified to date only explain a small proportion of heritability. Thus, exploring the unexplained heritability in these traits will help us discover novel genetic determinants for these traits and better understand disease etiology and pathophysiology. Due to limited sample size, a single cohort study may not have sufficient power to identify novel genetic association with a small effect size, and meta-analysis approaches have been proposed and applied to combine results from multiple cohorts in large consortia, increasing the sample size and statistical power. Rare genetic variants and gene by environment interaction may both play a role in genetic association studies. In this dissertation, we develop statistical methods in meta-analysis, rare genetic variants analysis and gene by environment interaction analysis, conduct extensive simulation studies, and apply these methods in real data examples. First, we develop a method of moments estimator for the between-study covariance matrix in random effects model multivariate meta-analysis. Our estimator is the first such estimator in matrix form, and holds the invariance property to linear transformations. It has similar performance with existing methods in simulation studies and real data analysis. Next, we extend the Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT), a rare genetic variants analysis approach for unrelated individuals, to be applicable in family samples for quantitative traits. The extension is necessary, as the original test has inflated type I error when directly applied to related individuals, and selecting an unrelated subset from family samples reduces the sample size and power. Finally, we derive methods for rare genetic variants analysis in detecting gene by environment interaction on quantitative traits, in the context of univariate test on the interaction term parameter. We develop statistical tests in the settings of both burden test and SKAT, for both unrelated and related individuals. Our methods are relevant to genetic association studies, and we hope that they can facilitate research in this field and beyond.
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Gao, Wei. "Sequence Kernel Association Test, gene-environment interaction test, and meta-analysis for family samples with repeated measurements or multiple traits." Thesis, 2015. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/15688.
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Genetic loci identified by single variant association tests account for only a small proportion of the heritability for most complex traits and diseases. Part of the unexplained heritability may be due to rare variants and their interactions with environmental factors. Different strategies have been taken to increase the power to detect genetic associations, such as increasing the sample size by including related participants and meta-analyzing multiple studies. Longitudinal data or repeated measurements are often available in prospective cohort studies. For complex diseases, multiple traits are usually collected to characterize affected individuals. Many of the existing statistical methods can only be applied to the scenarios when each participant has one measurement of a single trait. To take full advantage of the data and further improve power, multiple measurements per individual may be included in the analysis when available. In this dissertation we develop statistical methods for rare variant association testing and gene by environment interaction analysis, and discuss gene-based meta-analysis for studies with different designs. First, we propose the generalized Sequence Kernel Association Test (genSKAT) to deal with rare variants, familial correlation, and repeated measurements or multiple traits. This is an extension of the original SKAT and family-based SKAT that accounts for correlation between multiple measurements within each individual. In the second part of this dissertation, we discuss methods to test for the presence of gene-environment interaction effects in the genSKAT framework. Finally, we evaluate genSKAT meta-analysis methods to combine different types of studies: samples of unrelated individuals with one observation per person or with multiple observations per person, and family samples with one observation per person or with multiple observations per person. Combining all these projects together, we contribute methodologies to detect rare variant associations by taking advantage of additional information, improve the chance to detect novel rare variant associations, and help in understanding the role that genetic factors play in various diseases and traits.
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Onishi, Tamaki. "Institutional influence on the manifestation of entrepreneurial orientation: A case of social investment funders." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/4656.
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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Linking the new institutionalism to entrepreneurial orientation (EO), my dissertation investigates institutional forces and entrepreneurial forces—two contradicting types of forces—as main effects and moderating effects upon practices and performance of organizations embedded in the institutional duality. The case chosen observes unique hybrid funders that this study collectively calls social investment funders (SIF), which integrate philanthropy and venture capital investment to create and implement a venture philanthropy model for a pursuit of their mission. A theoretical framework is developed to propose regulative and normative pressures from two dominant institutions governing SIFs. Original data collected from 146 organizations are scrutinized by moderated multiple regressions for two empirical studies: Study 1 for effects on SIFs’ venture philanthropy practices, and Study 2 for effects on SIFs’ social and financial performance. Multiple imputations, diagnostic analyses, and several post hoc analyses are also conducted for robustness of data and results from multiple regression analyses. Results from these analyses find that EO and venture capital institutional forces both enhance SIFs’ venture philanthropy practices. A hypothesis postulated for a negative relationship between the nonprofit status and venture philanthropy practices is also supported. Results from moderated regression analyses, along with a subgroup and EO subdimension analyses, confirm a moderating effect between EO and the nonprofit status, i.e., a regulative institutional pressure. A positive relationship is found in EO- financial performance, but not in EO-social performance. While support is lent to hypotheses posited for a social/financial performance relationship with donors’/investors’ demand for social outcomes, and with the management team’s training in business, the overall results remain mixed for Study 2. Nonetheless, this dissertation appears to be the first study to theorize and test EO as a micro-level condition enabling organizations to strategically shape and resist institutional pressures, and it reinforces that organizations’ behavior is not merely a product of their passive conformity to environmental forces, but of the agency, also. As such, this study aims to contribute to scholarly efforts by the “agency camp” of the new institutionalism and EO, answering a call from the leading scholars of both EO (Miller) and the new institutionalism (Oliver).
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King, Steven M. "Predicting locations for urban tree planting." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1805/5942.
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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)The purpose of this study was to locate the most suitable blocks to plant trees within Indianapolis, Indiana’s Near Eastside Community (NESCO). LiDAR data were utilized, with 1.0 meter average post spacing, captured by the Indiana Statewide Imagery and LiDAR Program from March 13, 2011 to April 30, 2012, to conduct a covertype classification and identify blocks that have low canopies, high impervious surfaces and high surface temperatures. Tree plantings in these blocks can help mitigate the effects of the urban heat island effect. Using 2010 U.S. Census demographic data and the principal component analysis, block groups with high social vulnerability were determined, and tree plantings in these locations could help reduce mortality from extreme heat events. This study also determined high and low priority plantable space in order to emphasize plantable spaces with the potential to shade buildings; this can reduce cooling costs and the urban heat island, and it can maximize the potential of each planted tree.