archives@tulane.edu / The overall goal of this dissertation is to study the effects of environmental exposures on respiratory health and determine if there are more complex relationships between simultaneous exposures that lead to more severe morbidity. Three specific objectives over three manuscripts are proposed to achieve this goal. The first manuscript focuses on assessing the impact of pesticide exposure (i.e., pesticide metabolites in urine) on asthma outcomes in children residing in low-income urban housing. The second manuscript focuses on assessing the dual impact of cockroach allergen exposure and pesticide spray use on asthma morbidity. Finally, the third manuscript utilizes publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to conduct an Environment Wide Association Study (EWAS) to assess the factors associated with a marker of eosinophilic inflammation. The proposed dissertation has the potential to increase the understanding of the effect of pesticides on asthma morbidity in a highly vulnerable group and to assess factors associated with eosinophilic inflammation in the general population. / 1 / Derek Werthmann

Doctor Scientiae / Living organisms are constantly being exposed to nanoparticles (NPs) in the environment via air, water, soil. Routes of exposure are usually in the form of industrial, occupational exposure, as well as therapeutic applications. This exposure could result in toxicity with potential harmful effects. The toxicity of nanoparticles depends on various factors such as surface interaction, shape, size, composition, aggregation and interaction with various cellular components. Nanotoxicity refers to the possible harmful effects of environmentally generated and man-made nanoparticles on biological and environmental system. Assessing potential toxicity is vital for the probable use and safety of nanoparticles as well as understanding the routes of entry into organisms and their mechanism of action. Proteomics is a developing field of science that is being explored to understand protein composition, structure and interaction at the cellular level. This helps in detecting the presence, quantity, alteration and regulation of proteins within the biological system. The proteome analysis brings an additional information as it enables measurement of wholeprotein (enzyme) expression levels, facilitating the construction of metabolic pathways and biomarker discovery for early disease diagnosis. Essentially, proteomic analysis reveals the consequence of stress on metabolic pathways necessary to maintain the energy homeostasis within the cells.

Golf courses are part of the built environment. As such, they relate to the landscape and have impacts on the larger environment. This paper explores those relationships and impacts. Growing environmental awareness coupled with the projected construction of 400 courses per year in the United States, can produce significant impacts for both the golf industry and the environment. The aim of this thesis is to create an environmental design frame of reference for approaching out-of-play areas on the golf course. An extensive literature review identifies the major environmental issues involved. Interviews with three leading golf course architects explore those issues through soliciting opinions and experiences. Site visits to nine golf courses built by these architects correlate the initial findings to physical form. Through triangulating the three research vehicles, the literature review, interviews, and site visits, a frame of reference for out-of-play areas begins to take shape. Interpretations made and conclusions reached lead to an understanding that the relationship between golf and the environment is not a simple balancing act. An interplay of sometimes conflicting forces emanating from both golf and the environment determine the eventual configuration of the landscape. However, the overall findings support a view that sensitively designed out-of-play areas can have beneficial consequences for the environment. This paper further suggests other areas and methods of study to confirm and advance an environmental frame of reference for designing out-of-play areas on the golf course. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is acclaimed as an important paradigm in the sustainable management of water resources. While the logic of IWRM is largely undisputed, it is often criticised for lacking sufficient guidance on its practical implementation. The gap between theory and practice in IWRM is mainly attributed to divergent interpretations of integration and how implementation should be practically pursued in water governance regimes. This research contributes to the on-going discussion around IWRM by investigating an integrated management initiative in the Berg River Catchment, in the Western Cape, South Africa. The Berg River Partnership (BRP) is a collective of government and non-government actors and stakeholders working together in an effort to improve the Berg River. The Berg River is a socially and economically important water system within the region, supporting a number of crucial industries. The Berg River is also under serious environmental stress due to polluted urban runoff, wastewater effluent discharges, agricultural runoff and the presence of alien invasive flora. The Management and Transition Framework (MTF) is adopted in this study as the framework that underpins the structured analysis of the Berg River Partnership, allowing the principles of IWRM to be identified and assessed in the governance structures and processes of the BRP. The study demonstrates how some principles of IWRM are practically implemented within the Berg River Partnership, while confirming some of the limitations of implementing IWRM.

This study conducted an evaluation of farmer and shepherd perceptions on Anatolian Shepherd dogs, used as livestock guarding dogs to mitigate farmer–wildlife conflict and meet conservation ends. The case study involved Anatolian Shepherd dogs bred at the Anatolian Shepherd Dog Breeding Project in the Namaqua National Park, and placed mostly on farms and at stock posts near the Namaqua National Park in the Northern Cape. The data were collected during structured and semi-structured interviews with livestock farmers and shepherds that received Anatolian Shepherd dogs from the Breeding Project. Anatolian Shepherd dogs were evaluated in terms of their contribution to reduce livestock losses and conservation of wildlife species. In terms of effectiveness in preventing or reducing livestock losses, 84% of the dogs eliminated or reduced livestock losses. Respondent satisfaction with the dogs was high, with 95% of respondents willing to recommend the Breeding Project and the use of Anatolian Shepherd dogs. Of the respondents, 95% perceived their dogs to be economically beneficial. Another 48% of respondents reported some form of behavioural problems at least once during the placement of the dogs. The most common reported problem was resting in the shade rather than accompanying the livestock. However, corrective training was effective in all cases where training was undertaken immediately. In terms of conservation, fewer respondents used lethal predator control methods in the years after placement of the dogs than before their placement. The overall perception regarding the use of lethal control methods (e.g. gin traps, shooting and poison) was that such control is cruel and that it is better to use non-lethal control methods only. However, a few respondents reported that lethal control measures were occasionally necessary to make a living when no other control measures were available, especially when the herd was relatively large. The effects of Anatolian Shepherd dogs on non-predator species in this study were minimal. The presence of the dogs therefore aided predator conservation and improved farmer tolerance of predators, especially by effectively reducing livestock losses.

This research focuses on the potential convergence between the 'form' of corporate sustainability (CS), represented by selected South African companies' integrated reports (IRs), and the underlying 'substance' of CS, being the integration of sustainability into companies' strategy and operations. The research also explores the extent to which organisational culture and management systems underpin and operationalise integrated reporting (IR) and CS. The research is approached from two perspectives: firstly, the research investigates the strategies and implementation of IR and CS independent of one another, and aims to reveal contemporary IR and CS practice and challenges; secondly, the research focuses on the potential relationship between IR and CS by seeking to identify any synergies between the IR and CS, and aims to provide insight into whether IR can further a company's CS ambitions, and if so, how this occurs. The research follows a case study research methodology, which is considered suitable for research into new fields given its predisposition to theory building. The cases were selected from those included in Ernst & Young's Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards for 2012 (EY 2012 survey), which reviewed and rated the IRs of the top 100 companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). The sample includes a total of six companies selected from the above-mentioned top 100 companies, being two companies from each of three JSE super-sectors. Of the two companies in each super-sector, one company was recognised by the EY 2012 survey as having produced a superior integrated report and the other company had not achieved such recognition. A detailed review of each company's two most recent IRs and sustainability report was undertaken to inform and facilitate meaningful and insightful interviews with appropriate personnel from various departments within each company, including corporate affairs and communication; environmental; strategy and business development; finance; sustainability; human resources; governance, risk and compliance; and corporate social investment. Primarily open-ended questions were posed to allow for the collection of qualitative, company- specific information on companies' IR and CS strategies and implementation. The broad-based adoption of IR in South Africa, in response to the JSE regulation requiring listed companies to produce an integrated report or explain why they have not, has provided a sound platform for revealing the early stages of IR practice. Although CS is not a new corporate discipline, it remains a somewhat contested corporate practice, evident from the broad spectrum of companies' approaches to CS: these range from a basic compliance standpoint to more holistic synergistic strategies aimed at integrating CS into all parts of the business. Given the differing approaches to, and appetites for, IR and CS amongst the researched companies, the findings identify certain dominant themes of contemporary practice, and reveal opportunities for expanding and improving IR and CS. Indications are that management systems play an important role in the implementation of IR and CS strategies. IR, a relatively stand-alone corporate function, shows limited dependence on organisational culture, which is a key determinant for CS given its extensive reach within companies and reliance on employee buy-in for engaging with CS. The findings also uncover other key insights into the multi-faceted relationships between IR, CS, organisational culture and management systems. Finally, although there are some synergies between IR and CS, these represent a more subtle, constrained IR and CS relationship. To conclude, although the findings recognise that IR can stimulate a focus on CS in companies that have yet to seriously engage with CS, succeeding in IR does not appear for the most part to provide an indication of proficient CS capability, reflecting a decoupling of IR practice and success from that for CS.

Increased urban development has resulted in increased impervious landcover and the removal of natural vegetation. The continued anthropic modification of the Earth's surface towards an urban state, has had profound effects on the surrounding natural systems (Thompson et al., 2008). Consequently, recent studies have highlighted a strong link between expanding urbanisation and thermal impacts on streams and rivers draining urban catchments (Roa-Espinosa et al., 2003; Arrington, 2003; Herb et al., 2009b). Anthropogenic perturbations such as thermal pollution can adversely disturb the natural thermal regime of a river (Boothe and Bledsoe, 2009). An important source of thermal pollution is thermally enriched stormwater runoff. During a rainfall event, runoff temperature is elevated as it makes contact with, and passes over surfaces which have a large heat storage capacity, such as pavements, roofs and roads (Young et al., 2013). However, the extent of impervious surfaces and resulting thermal pollution produced by them is poorly understood, although it is thought to be a major contributor to stream degradation. Previous research has focused on investigating the thermal effects of removing riparian vegetation. Additionally, a recent research approach has been to develop models of the urban surface-water-atmosphere systems. Finally, research in the field of fresh-water ecology has investigated the effects of temperature on aquatic biota. Water temperature affects all aspects of freshwater ecosystems and plays an important role in regulating physical and biological characteristics of a river (Olsen et al. 2011). Consequently, any anthropogenic modification to temperature can have devastating effects on the ecological functioning of a river and biodiversity of species within the river habitat. Important findings by Young et al. (2013) suggest the need for a detailed study of stormwater temperature changes in relation to rainfall events, at a catchment scale. Furthermore, data is required to show the point source effects of stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces on the temperature of the receiving water body. Therefore, the aim of this study is: To determine the extent and risk of thermal pollution at site specific discharge points, along the Liesbeek River. In order to achieve this aim, variables which cause temperature variations needed to be identified. The primary research method makes use of Thermocron iButton Temperature Loggers. These were placed in four stormwater outlet pipes, which frequently discharge event-based stormwater runoff into the Liesbeek River. Additionally, iButton loggers were placed in the river channel, to provide a reference temperature to compare stormwater discharge temperature. In addition, hourly rainfall and air temperature was acquired from the South AfricanWeather Service (SAWS) and was used in conjunction with the iButton temperature data.

Living in impoverished urban areas, female headed households are most vulnerable to food insecurity. In order to reduce the risk and abate the experience of household food insecurity, civil society (NGO) and government have established numerous poverty reduction programmes and initiatives. However, in spite of ongoing efforts, the proportion of South African households experiencing food insecurity has not decreased but rather plateaued (SANHANES-1, Shisana et al, 2013). In order to address this plateau, the research has answered the question - how do food insecure female headed households experience the contributions of poverty reduction programmes in meeting their food security needs? The purpose of the study has been to add to relevant literature, with the aim of describing what food insecure households consider the contribution of poverty reduction programmes to be in meeting their food security needs. The research had four objectives - to describe (1) what food insecure households believe food in/security is, (2) how food insecure households experience food insecurity, (3) the characteristics of effective poverty reduction programmes from the perspective of food insecure households, and (4) the characteristics of ineffective poverty reduction programmes from the perspective of food insecure households. A descriptive qualitative methodology was used with data gathered through the methods of Photovoice with photo-elicitation interviews, semi-structured interviews, collage, observation field notes and a self-constructed questionnaire. The research participants, five female heads of households, were purposively sampled from a low-income Cape Town community. The research found that participant's food insecurity could not be separated from their lived experience of poverty. Making use of and influenced by Internal and External Drivers, participants were found to actively engage their living conditions with the use of social networks to be of particular importance. Participants experienced the contributions of programmes as 'half a help'. While programmes did help the participants and their households, that help served to only sustain rather than uplift them out of poverty and towards food security. If the plateau is to be addressed, then this study has argued that local programmes need to better engage their users and join with other multi-scale actors to form integrated poverty reduction programmes which offer more comprehensive, collaborative and dynamic approaches to the realization of household food security in South Africa.

Tourism is increasingly seen as a panacea for the problems of rural areas, especially in developing countries. It is promoted by governments and international development organizations as a vehicle for achieving development, poverty reduction and economic growth. However, tourism has resulted in many unwanted economic, social, cultural and environmental consequences for local communities. Through a case study conducted in Ponta do Ouro, Southern Mozambique, this research sought to investigate the contribution of tourism to coastal livelihoods. The research assessed the extent to which tourism contributes to livelihoods of coastal communities of Ponta do Ouro, and their perception of benefits and negative impacts associated with tourism. Qualitative methods were used to collect data and included five focus group meetings, 46 key informant interviews, and participant observation. Findings of this study reveal that despite providing employment and other economic benefits to the livelihoods of the community of Ponta do Ouro, tourism also resulted in negative impacts on community livelihoods. These included overcrowding during high tourism seasons, loss of access to public land, rising prices of properties, goods and services, and an increase in crime, alcohol use and pollution. Therefore a pro-poor tourism approach is recommended as an attempt to ensure that benefits of tourism are better distributed and serve the needs of the local and broader community in terms of infrastructure development and improvement of social services and facilities.

This study identified the need to provide a proof of concept of the use and disaggregation of existing health data in order to study the cross-sectional and spatial distribution of HIV, tuberculosis and noncommunicable disease multimorbidity and the association with socioeconomic disadvantage at a South African, Western Cape Province and urban/intra-urban scale for 2008 and 2012. This study was framed within a health geography context and draws attention to the reality of health variations which are influenced by place-based effects, including the surrounding social, cultural and economic structural factors and mechanisms that, together, constitute the social determinants of health. However, in order to identify and understand these variations in health, access to health data that is able to be disaggregated by key characteristic and spatial scales, is essential. Therefore, this study utilised existing health data from the National Income Dynamics Study, a longitudinal study with a sample of approximately 28 000 people, to perform secondary data analysis using a positivist approach to research. This study found that the coupling of geospatial and health data is able to produce new health information and the graphical representation of data provides unique insights in health variations. Secondly, the burden of disease is not consistent between spatial scales which suggests variations in epidemiological profiles between sub-national geographies, thereby supporting the argument for the need of data disaggregation. Finally, the cross-sectional analysis of this study found multimorbidity to be associated with age, socioeconomic deprivation, obesity and urban areas, while the spatial analysis showed clusters (hot spots) of higher multimorbidity prevalence in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, which compared with the socioeconomic disadvantage spatial pattern. Therefore, this study provides an example of the research needed to provide information to support policy improvement and enable the urban planning and public health professions to work together.