2199 research outputs found
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Working Backwards: Enhancing Forest Restoration by Reversing Effects of Reclamation on Soil Bulk Density
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10069/10188-thumbnail.jpgCuyahoga Valley National Park is readily accessible and located only 15 miles from Kent State University. My study focuses on one of more than 40 legacy mines in the park. Before the 1970’s, these mines were used for gravel to build nearby highways. After mining, reclamation efforts were minimal. Industrial rollers were used to compress the soil in an effort to stop nutrient runoff and prevent further pollution. Although this brought life back to the sites, the compaction made it nearly impossible to grow woody plants due to inability to spread roots. Recently the National Park Service and Kent State has become interested in reintroducing hardwood trees to return these sites to their natural form. The national park adopted a soil ripping method to reduce the soil bulk density to allow roots to expand and grow. Large shanks were dug into the ground and “ripped” through the soil in a 2x2 meter grid pattern throughout the field site. To determine its effectiveness, we dug pits and took soil bulk densities at varying depths to 60cm. The bulk density of the soil was generally lower in the rips than in the non-rips at depths deeper than 20cm. This helped to reverse the previous compaction resulting from land remediation. The lower bulk densities lead us to believe that the roots of hardwood trees will penetrate soils easier in the rips than in the non-rips. We hope that this soil ripping technique will have a lasting positive effect on the root penetration of our trees.</p
Effect of Bioturbation by Freshwater Invertebrates on Nutrient Fluxes and Sediment Bacterial Community Composition
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10071/10190-thumbnail.jpgBioturbation is a process by which certain animals, including, burrowing invertebrates alter sediment nutrient (only N is considered here) dynamics as well as bacterial community composition. In this study, two burrowing bioturbators (Hexagenia bilineata and Lumbriculus variegatus) with distinct modes of burrows formation were used. Sieved wetland sediment from Observatory Wetlands at Kent State University campus was used since pilot studies revealed it to be conducive for burrowing by the bioturbators of choice. The experiment was for 7 days and microcosms (transparent PVC pipes of 20 cm height and 5 cm inner diameter) were set up in triplicates for respective bioturbators and control treatments. Microcosms were filled with sediment (10cm) and topped with site water (5cm). Surface and interstitial water samples were taken every alternate day for nitrate and ammonium analysis. Sediment cores of all the microcosms were sliced at different depths at the end of the experiment and subsamples were used for potential denitrification rate (using acetylene inhibition technique) assessment, bacterial enumeration and DNA extraction (to examine bacterial community composition). Surface water nitrate data shows that H. bilineata facilitates nitrate uptake while L.variegatus releases nitrate in respect to controls, and nitrate concentrations varied significantly over dates (P<0.01) and burrower species (P<0.001). Sediment potential denitrification rate was highest for H. bilineata followed by L.variegatus and control. Presence of bioturbators increased denitrification rates and bacterial counts at greater depths. Ongoing work is focusing on assessing bacterial community composition. In conclusion, we can state that bioturbation impacts nutrient fluxes and bacterial communities.</p
How Literate Responses to Technical Communication Can Promote Practical Responses to Environmental Change
No full textThe latest scientific reports published by the United Nations and the U.S. Global Change Research Program show evidence that environmental change is occurring. Gaining political momentum to deal with the problem is one issue, but beyond this hurdle is the need to communicate complex scientific information to the public so that they may help make informed decisions about responses to environmental change through the public decision-making process. Communicating this need to the public is challenged by the constraints of transcultural communication (Flower, 2008; Frost, 2013; Ding, 2014) and ideological conceptions of environmental collapse (Latour, 2018). In addition, people must be able to read and write in increasingly technical genres in order to make their voices heard regarding scientific issues surrounding environmental change (Brandt, 2001, 2015). The bar has been set higher for civic participation (Grabill, 2007; Simmons 2008), which precipitates a need for advanced literacies that support transcultural empathy, cooperative decision-making, critical analysis of scientific data, and organizational prototyping for future-oriented planning (Sauer, 2003; Potts, 2013; Gross, 2016). My dissertation research project is studying public communication surrounding development of one of the first freshwater offshore wind farms in North America, on Lake Erie. Methods for the study are mixed and include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis. Through this study, I will synthesize information surrounding contemporary environmental communication that will help push the next iteration of policy to better address environmental problems in ways that attend to the concrete manifestations of environmental change.</p
Using VPCA Spectral Decomposition to Analyze Optical Components Off the USVI With Sentinel – 3A/B OLCI
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10097/10210-thumbnail.jpgThe oceans are a diverse soup of organic life and are major regulators of the earth\u27s many systems. Tracking ocean systems is necessary for the regulation of healthy habitats, maintaining clean recreational environments, and monitoring pollutants. Using satellite sensors, we have access to tons of real-time public data of the world\u27s surface, which can be used to do all these things. In this project, a statistical approach to remote sensing called varimax--rotated, principal component analysis (VPCA) was utilized to identify the suspended matter in the water. This approach takes the derivative of the reflectance spectra and unmixes it to give us a more accurate reading of materials that influence the reflected light. Mainly we are looking for any color-producing agents (CPAs) suspended in the water i.e., phytoplankton, detritus, and dinoflagellates or sediment or sediment minerals. By comparing the values to an existing spectral library, we can identify the components. In 2017, Hurricane Irma struck the US Virgin Islands leaving behind a wake of destruction. By comparing images before and after the hurricane, we can track how pigment distribution changed after the event. We observe that all the same components were identified between both dates, but that their distributions vary. Possible further applications to this project include creating seasonal time series to understand distributions year-round and validating our data with samples collected in the USVI from around these dates.</p
The Potential of the Fusion of Autonomous Vehicles and Architecture for Environmental Welfare
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10137/10368-thumbnail.jpgFrom primitive wheels to a contemporary autonomous vehicle, modes of transportation played a pivotal role to create the artery of town and cities. Once the streets were for pedestrians are now for the cars and the city is for parking infrastructure. Regardless of the user and context, the space for people inside a city has been and is being marginalized. Autonomous technology has created a new window to re-think the built environment to recreate humane habitat that is sensitive to the environment for both present and future cities by taking the advantage of the technology but not being dominated by the technology.
The thesis explores the mutual feedback between the built environment and autonomous vehicles that will promote community and environmental welfare inside a city. The thesis presents a design proposition based on ‘unconventional shared autonomous vehicles’ that responds to user-specific needs and a new typology of urban planning and architecture addressing these autonomous vehicles. At the same time, a new typology of shared autonomous vehicles and supporting infrastructure is proposed that incorporates the basic packaging of the vehicles and range of services.
The Google Transit Village at San Jose in California will serve as a case study to explore the fusion of AV technology that eliminates the needs for dedicated traffic and parking infrastructure but promotes more greenery and a new typology for a sustainable office environment. The proposition can be adapted or extended in macro and micro scale.</p
Teaching Sustainability: How Educators Can Impact the Industry
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10436/10606-thumbnail.jpgThis research investigates to what extent integration of the topic sustainability in education at a fashion and textiles course at the undergraduate level is related to students’ choice for graduation topics related to sustainability. A mixed method approach was applied, analyzing a total of 463 graduation reports from the last four years; secondary data on course materials; and interviewing lecturers, course supervisors, and program managers. Furthermore, a questionnaire for students was administered. Data was gathered in order to determine integration of the topic of sustainability in education, the number of graduation topics related to sustainability, and the student views on and knowledge of the topic. Results show that the integration of the topic sustainability in the curriculum has steadily increased since 2015, when the program started actively working toward receiving a DHO (Sustainable Higher Education) certificate. The inclusion of sustainability in the curriculum has been paired with an increase in the amount of graduation assignments related to sustainability. Although causal relations cannot yet be drawn, results do indicate that we as educators can impact the fashion and textile industry in a meaningful way.</p
“Untapped”: Exploring Craft Potential of Urban Women Through Technology Intervention
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10452/10623-thumbnail.jpgIn the past decade, India’s metropolitan areas have seen a huge surge in job opportunities in the craft and design sector, yet women remain largely unrecognized and undervalued. This research focuses on urban women, largely in the 30-70 age group, who are stuck in the conventional setup of their nuclear or joint families. A good number of these women were found to be seasoned in craft skills like knitting, crocheting, darning, mending, embroidery, etc. They make products for family members but fail to make substantial earnings or get any recognition for their skill. Despite a huge market for people who practice such skills, there is no platform for them to connect with individuals, designers, or retail companies.
Untapped, a skill-sourcing app model, can connect these home-based makers to designers and buyers. Through the app, makers can build a profile highlighting their skills and subsequently connect with prospective customers. The app provides better recognition to local communities and their unrecognized skills, as well as help sustain their craft and associated skill. The aim of this paper is to define the needs of these women, explore the nuances of their craft, and propose how the intervention of technology through an app model can help them procure more clients and generate sufficient revenue in return. Through research methodologies such as personal interviews, as well as a review of existing apps, the paper seeks to build the context further by recording and analyzing varied narratives of home-based makers.</p
Liposomal Formulations of a Cholesterol-Tethered Pt(IV) Prodrug with Prolonged Circulation Time in Blood and Reduced Toxicity In vivo
No full textPlatinum based drugs play a crucial role as anticancer agents which are currently being used in clinic. Efficacy of this anticancer drugs are restricted by several side effects and drug resistance. Different drug targeting and delivery strategies have been applied to overcome these drawbacks over years. One of them is utilizing EPR (Enhanced Permeability and Retention) effect for targeting tumor cells including nanoparticles, liposome, macromolecules, micelles etc. Current work describes a strategy for loading the liposomal formulation with newly designed Platinum (IV) pro-drug and studies related to its therapeutic efficacy. The formulation being biodegradable and biocompatible, is efficient in cytotoxicity against various cell line was tested for its stability through human plasma, toxicity in-vivo, preferred accumulation in tumor cells at a higher ratio compared to cisplatin and finally activation to cisplatin initiating DNA damage and apoptosis in cancer cells
Effects of an Aeration System on the Water Quality of an Urban Pond
No full texthttps://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/10083/10200-thumbnail.jpgLily Pond is a man-made urban pond located within Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, OH. The park is surrounded by suburban residential neighborhoods with Lily Pond having residential homes situated atop steep inclines to the north and the west. This year, park staff installed an aeration system within the pond in an attempt to reduce occurrences of fish die offs that happen once every few years. It is hypothesized that the addition of the aeration system will improve dissolved oxygen and overall quality of the pond for wildlife. Field readings from May to October were sampled at four location, three in the pond and one at the small creek outflow. Water quality parameters were measured using standard methods including dissolved oxygen at various depths, temperature, pH, solids, phosphorus, and E. Coli. The first three sampling times were prior to installation of the aeration system which showed a trend of decrease dissolved oxygen (DO) levels. After the aeration system was installed, DO levels increased and were maintain to greater than 6 mg/L for most of the summer. Soluble phosphorus as well as total volatile solid levels spiked in late July. The cause behind this spike is still being investigated. Preserved samples were analyzed for diatoms in December. Further sampling and analysis will aid park officials in management practices for future pond activities.</p
Effects of Road Salt Cations on Dissolved Metals in a Constructed Stormwater Control Measure
No full textConsiderable amounts money and resources are spent managing urban stormwater runoff. Stormwater control measures (SCMs), like water retention ponds and basins, are typically constructed to manage stormwater runoff in urban settings. These SCMs have historically been designed for short term water retention to prevent flooding. Generally, SCMs are also relied on to “treat” stormwater and remove contaminants. A new generation of SCMs (NGSCMs) are being constructed to look and act like natural wetlands so natural biological processes improve water quality. In many cases these NGSCMs are not evaluated on how well they improve water quality. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of a recently completed NGSCM on road salt and metals in runoff. We hypothesize that increased road salts cause dissolution of Cu, Zn, Pb, Fe, Ni, and Mn from suspended sediments and into surface water. Preliminary results demonstrate the NGSCM receives high salt loads that are attenuated along the system’s flow path. This suggests that the wetland is retaining salt, preventing discharge to downstream systems. Our results will contribute to broader understanding of the efficacy of NGSCMs for water quality improvement