The subject of this thesis is the communicative practice of strategic storytelling. The aim of the study is to analyse how storytelling is used and handled by organizations to reach comprehensive organizational goals. Within the all-embracing cultural context of modern Western society, here discussed through the concept of the new economy, strategic storytelling is explored in four areas: organizational discourses of strategic storytelling, narrativity as a resource to create and express values connected to the organization, storytelling as a practice of recontextualization and storytelling as an interactive tool. The data consists mainly of strategic stories but also of interviews, observations and documents collected from four Swedish organizations: two companies, a municipality and a congregation of the Church of Sweden. Applying a narratological, social semiotic and dialogical perspective the study investigates how narrativity is used by organizations as a resource to create identification and relations with and among stakeholders. The analyses in the study indicate that meaning is created in different layers. The structural resources of stories are used in various combinations to make organizations appear in specific ways in different situations. Furthermore, the picture of the organization is shaped not only by the stories themselves but also by the very fact that the organization is using storytelling. The potential of recontextualization that is characteristic of narratives is shown to be essential in offering possibilities of identification and a sense of community through storytelling. Furthermore, the fact that a story is told by an individual is shown to play a crucial role in creating a personalized picture of the organization. In strategic storytelling the interpersonal function seems to dominate over the ideational. This is a major finding of the analysis. More specifically, ideation is used as a tool to create interpersonal relations. The study also indicates that strategic storytelling comes with different possibilities and complications depending on what kind of organization is using it. Moreover, it is proposed that narrative as a form of communication fits perfectly within the broader cultural context of the new economy, characterized by commercialization, informalization, individualization and management practices founded on the strategic use of values.

Permeable reactive barriers are considered among the most promising technologies for contaminated soil and groundwater remediation. Zero-valent iron (ZVI), hydroxyapatite (HA), and organic compost, with (OM) and without (OMx) dextrose/sulfate were assessed in column studies for their ability to attenuate chromium (Cr) or cadmium (Cd). PVC columns were packed with the reactive media and Cr or Cd solutions were pumped through the columns at concentrations of 5, 50 and 200 mg/l. These media were also assessed for their abilities to attenuate Cr and Cd from a contaminated soil. The order of Cr removal was: ZVI > OMx > OM > HA. The ZVI treatment maintained a removal rate of > 95% throughout the study. All treatments used for Cd removal had a removal rate of 98% across all treatments. The ZVI was the only treatment capable of retaining any of the mobile soil Cr and Cd from the contaminated soil. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

While the extent of grasslands in Southern Ontario has been greatly reduced, urban and suburban areas provide numerous potential sites for their restoration. Grassland restoration in cities can provide ecological and cultural benefits, but soil conditions may be less than optimal for native species recovery. This thesis explores the use of soil amendments in order to address nutrient deficiency on old-field meadow restoration sites. Five treatments were tested, namely the addition of (1) nitrogenous fertilizer, (2) native legume species, (3) biochar, (4) a combination of the previous three, and (5) an unaltered control. Each treatment was replicated four times on two different test plots in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada (Huron Natural Area and Springbank Farm), for a total of 40 subplots. The experimental plots were tilled in the fall of 2011, a randomly selected treatment was applied to each subplot, and then all were seeded with a mix of five native meadow species (2 grass, 2 forb, 1 sedge). Soil samples were taken from each subplot both before treatment application and also at the end of the growing season in 2012, and tested for nutrient levels (N, P, K), pH and organic matter. Species richness, as well as soil temperature and moisture, were regularly monitored over the growing season. In the fall of 2012, above-ground vegetation was harvested to assess accrued biomass. In order to detect differences in means, results were tested using one-way and repeated-measures ANOVAs, where appropriate. Pearson???s product-moment correlations were also employed to test for linear dependence between variables. There were no significant differences between treatments in terms of soil nutrients or pH at either site. At Huron Natural Area, post-treatment biochar-treated subplots had slightly higher levels of organic matter than controls (p=0.095). Values for species richness, above-ground biomass, soil temperature and soil moisture did not vary significantly between treatments. Species richness at Huron Natural Area was positively correlated with 2011 N (r=0.42; p=0.07) and organic matter (r=0.52; p=0.02) levels, while at Springbank Farm it was negatively correlated with 2012 N levels (r=-0.67; p<0.001). Above-ground biomass at Huron Natural Area was positively correlated with 2011 and 2012 P levels (both r=0.52; p=0.02), while at Springbank Farm it was positively correlated with 2011 N, P, K and organic matter, and 2012 N, P and K (all r>0.44; p<0.05). At Huron Natural Area, above-ground biomass was negatively correlated with soil temperature (r=-0.64; p<0.0001) and positively correlated with soil moisture (r=0.38; p=0.1). This study uncovered a strong, but variable, relationship between N concentration and species richness in old-field meadows. Furthermore, productivity was tightly correlated with different soil nutrient concentrations at each study site. The results demonstrate the need for restoration approaches to address local soil conditions on order to be effective. To date, there have been very few studies on meadow restoration, particularly in North America. More, and longer-term, multivariate studies are needed in order to test the effectiveness of different techniques.

Historical gold mine tailings at several sites in Nova Scotia, Canada are publicly accessible and may pose a threat to human and ecosystem health because of high arsenic (As) concentrations in the tailings (max 25 wt.%) and associated pore waters (up to 100 mg/L). Two of these sites, Montague and Goldenville, are under consideration for remediation. Similar tailings sites have been cleaned up by covering the mine wastes with soil. However, the tailings at Montague and Goldenville have been weathering for at least 70 years, leading to a wide range of As-bearing secondary minerals which may dissolve under a soil cover, releasing As to local waters. The challenge of remediating these heterogeneous tailings lies in the different Eh-pH niches in which iron arsenates (oxidizing, acidic), calcium-iron-arsenates (oxidizing, alkaline), and sulfides (reducing) are stable. The main objectives of this study were to: 1) characterize pre-remediation geochemical controls on As mobility in subsurface tailings; 2) establish hydrogeological influences on As mobility; and 3) identify geochemical changes that result when a low organic soil cover is applied to the tailings. Pore water measurements were combined with bulk chemistry, scanning electron microscopy, and synchrotron micro-X-ray diffraction analyses, which were used to characterize the mineralogical composition of the tailings. Groundwater and surface water flow regimes throughout the tailings were defined through the use of piezometers and hydraulic conductivity measurements. Laboratory leaching experiments were used to assess the effects of a soil cover on the tailings. Variable weathering conditions over time have resulted in a continuum of saturation and redox environments and a range of As hosts in the tailings. In some areas, tailings pore waters are mixing with stream waters leading to As transport beyond the tailings. Applying a low organic soil cover does not induce reducing conditions in the tailings or cause dissolved As concentrations to increase compared to field pore water concentrations. This type of soil cover is effective in slowing sulfide mineral oxidation while maintaining stable conditions for secondary As-phases. The results of this research can be used to inform remediation decisions and guide ongoing environmental management of historical gold mine sites. / Thesis (Ph.D, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2014-06-04 10:22:43.838

Alexandre Dumas fils' La Dame aux Camélias has existed in various media for more than 150 years, originating from life events that were mediated through the novel and remediated via theater, opera, and film. I examine in my thesis how this particular narrative has survived the centuries and how each depiction relates the social expectations, desires, and fears of the time period in which the revised story is generated. The relationship between Dumas and the famous courtesan Marie Duplessis and its fictional recreations in Dumas' novel La Dame aux Camélias, his play Camille, Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata, and Baz Luhrmann's film Moulin Rouge! reflects a human compulsion to create narratives in order to grasp daily events and to potentially escape those events or comment upon those which do not fit concisely into their socially expected codes of understanding.

Sites contaminated with polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pose serious health and safety risks to the surrounding environment due to their toxicity, persistence and accumulation in the environment. Because certain members of this class have been demonstrated to be both carcinogenic and mutagenic, PAHs are considered as environmental priority pollutants (US EPA). The studies in this thesis provide an efficient, economical and environmentally benign technique for the remediation of PAH contaminated soil/sediment by means of PAH mobilization with surfactant followed with a catalytic hydrogenation in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2). / Catalytic hydrogenation of naphthalene, acenaphthylene, ancenaphthene, anthracene, phenanthrene, chrysene and benzo[a]pyrene over alumina supported palladium (5% Pd0/gammaAl2O3) commercial catalyst were investigated in either a batch reaction mode or a continuous reaction system in H2-scCO2 (&sim;5% v/v). The hydrocarbon compounds were efficiently reduced to their corresponding fully saturated polycyclic hydrocarbon homologs with mild conditions of temperature (90&deg;C) and pressure (60 psi H2 or 3000 psi H2-scCO2). The bacterial reverse mutation assay demonstrated that both the fully and partially hydrogenated products of chrysene and benzo[a]pyrene were devoid of mutagenic activity. / A laboratory study was conducted on the surfactant-assisted mobilization of PAH compounds combined with reagent regeneration and detoxification steps to generate innocuous products. Five minutes of ultrasonication of field contaminated soil with a 3% (w/v) surfactant suspension mobilized appreciable quantities of all PAH compounds. Formulating the Brij 98 surfactant in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) mobilized the largest quantities of PAH compounds and the recovery of surfactant (>90%) but soil residues exceeded permissible maxima for five- and six-ring analytes. Five successive washes were required to reduce the residual fraction to permissible levels. The mobilized PAH compounds were then detoxified at line by catalytic hydrogenation in a 5% H2-scCO2 (v/v) atmosphere. / New palladium hydrogenation catalysts were fabricated in the laboratory with specific processes on various supports. The hydrogenation of phenanthrene and benzo[a]pyrene in a fixed bed micro reactor demonstrated that the catalyst that was fabricated from organosoluble precursor loaded on aluminum oxide (2.5% Pd0/gammaAl2O3) was four times more efficient than the commercial catalyst that was used for PAH hydrogenations.

The efficacy of injection-driven remediation techniques for non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) source zones is limited by the principle that fluid flow is focused along paths of least hydraulic resistance. The pressure pulse technology stands among a number of innovative methods that have been developed with the aim of overcoming or mitigating this limitation. The objective of this research was to observe and document differences in saturated groundwater flow and solute transport between an injection using a conventional or continuous pressure delivery approach and an injection using a pressure pulsing instrument. The underlying motivation was to identify engineering opportunities presented by pressure pulsing with the potential to improve remediation efficiency at contaminated sites. A series of tracer injections were conducted in the unconfined aquifer at the University of Waterloo Groundwater Research Facility at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Borden near Alliston, ON (homogeneous fine sand), and in the shallow aquifer at a groundwater research site located on the North Campus at the University of Waterloo (moderately heterogeneous with discrete layers varying from fine sand to silt). A single injection well was used at each site for both the conventional and pressure pulsing injections. Different tracers were used for consecutive injections. Bromide, Lithium, Chloride, and fluorescent dyes (Rhodamine WT and Sulforhodamine B) were used. Formation pressurization data was captured by pressure transducers. The spatial distribution of the injected tracers was monitored at a series of multilevel wells. A groundwater flow and solute transport modeling exercise (MODFLOW and MT3DMS numerical engines) simulating the rapid boundary pressure modulation that occurs in association with pressure pulsing was conducted to complement the field injections. A two-dimensional domain was used to conduct a parametric investigation of pressure modulation and its effect on flow and transport. A three-dimensional domain served to scale-up the two-dimensional results and for benchmarking against field observations. Pressure pulsing simulation results reveal that repeated sudden onset of injection cessation produces brief periods of gradient reversal near the injection well and the development of a mixing zone around the injection well. The spatial extents of this mixing zone are highly dependent upon the hydraulic diffusivity of the medium. Greater heterogeneity in combination with presence of high hydraulic diffusivity pathways maximized the extent of the mixing zone and the magnitude of transverse and reversal hydraulic gradients. Lower pulsing frequency and higher pulsing amplitude favoured a more significant mixing zone, though these effects were secondary to geologic properties. Use of the pressure pulsing tool did not manifest into distinct changes in tracer breakthrough at either field research site. Comparison between tracer tests was complicated by sorption of fluorescent dyes and ongoing well development. Solute transport simulation results demonstrated augmentation of dispersion arising from the mixing zone phenomenon, but no distinct changes in advection.

Progressive spatial segregation of Whites from other ethnic races in South Africa started in 1886. Apartheid rulers evicted three and a half million Blacks, Coloureds and Indians from white urban and residential areas between 1904 and 1994. Apartheid planners used natural, mining, industrial, and infrastructural buffer zones to spatially enforce segregation. They based their apartheid spatial governance on separation and control and not on urban development. Today remnants of apartheid remain deeply embedded in the urban framework, where large buffer zones continue to enforce segregation and disrupt economic growth. Victims of apartheid legislation believed the eradication of apartheid in 1994 meant the right to live in the city and the end of forced evictions. Since then the post-Apartheid government has conducted 2 million evictions, reminiscent of the 3.5 million evictions during the apartheid years. In an attempt to make Johannesburg a `world class city`, the municipality forcefully removed the poor from the city, and relocated them to rural locations where their livelihoods are severely challenged. To many, a new ``apartheid` has been born; one that segregates the rich and the poor. The government has released several strategies to provide land for the poor near the city, but the high cost of land in urban areas has disrupted implementation. The thesis proposes a three-fold strategic design intervention to provide land for the poor near the city and dissolve the apartheid-designed buffer zone between Soweto and Johannesburg. The site, a landmark from the apartheid spatial legacy and part of the Witwatersrand gold mining belt, separates Soweto, home to four million Blacks, from the city of Johannesburg. About one and a half million people commute to the city each day passing by the 14 km stretch of this toxic mining land. The thesis proposes three urban design strategies to transform the site into a community, which the local people would build: Remediation strategies to address the toxic mining landscape, infrastructural strategies to provide basic services and economic strategies to promote economic growth. These strategies operate in a codependent structure. Co-op centres implement these strategies, transfering strategy technologies to the local community.

Ligand I- along with nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100 or anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were applied as soil washing agents to desorb Cd from both naturally and artificially contaminated soils. After seven consecutive washings, up to 90% of Cd was desorbed from both soils. Triton X-100 with I- showed a higher capacity to desorbing Cd than did SDS with I-. The increase of ligand concentration was a critical factor for increasing leaching capacity. Without the ligand, surfactant alone could not desorb Cd effectively from either soil. After seven consecutive washings, a sequential extraction experiment was performed for soil residuals to define the soil fraction of Cd removed by the washing agent. Among the washing agents, only Triton X-100/I- could remove Cd from the exchangeable fraction of both soils. / Various ligands including I-, SCN-, and I-/SCN- in combination with Triton X-100 were tested for their efficacy in desorbing heavy metals such as Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb from a field contaminated soil. Cadmium was preferentially desorbed by Triton X-100/I- whereas Zn and Cu were preferentially desorbed by Triton X-100/SCN-. The mixture of I- and SCN- with Triton X-100 desorbed the most Cd and Cu, but not for Zn, as I- inhibited Zn desorption. Sequential extraction experiments after seven washings showed that metals held in the exchangeable fraction can be desorbed only by a combination of ligand and surfactant. / Nonionic surfactants having different alkyl chain lengths in combination with ligand I- were tested for the desorption of Cd and PCBs from soil. Cadmium desorption was increased at the lower surfactant concentration and higher ligand concentration. The increase in the hydrophilic alkyl chain length of the surfactant adversely affected Cd desorption. Up to 100% of PCBs were successfully removed by most of surfactant-ligand combinations and the desorption was less dependent, compared to heavy metals, on the concentration of washing agents and length of alkyl chain. The linear relationships between number of washings and Cd desorption, and between alkyl chain length and Cd desorption was defined. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Hydrogen production by photosynthetic bacteria occurs under illumination in the presence of anaerobic atmosphere from the breakdown of organic substrates, which is known as photofermentation. In this study, single-stage and two-stage process development were investigated for photofermentative hydrogen production from olive mill wastewater by Rhodobacter sphaeroides O.U.001 within indoor and outdoor photobioreactors. It was proven that diluted olive mill wastewater (OMW) could be utilized for photobiological hydrogen production as a sole substrate source. However, pretreatment of the system is needed to reduce the dark color and bacteriostatic effects of OMW. In this study, several two stage processes including pretreatment of OMW followed by photofermentation were investigated to increase the hydrogen production yields in addition to the significant remediation of OMW. Explored pretreatment methods contain chemical oxidation with ozone or Fenton&rsquo / s reagent, photodegradation by UV radiation, adsorption with clay or zeolite and dark fermentation with acclimated or non-acclimated sewage sludge. Among these different two-stage processes / clay treatment method resulted the highest hydrogen production capacity. As a result of clay pretreatment, 65% of the initial color and 81% of the phenolic content were decreased. Hydrogen production capacity was 16 LH2/LOMW without pretreatment, while it was enhanced up to 29 LH2/LOMW by two-stage processes. Moreover, clay pretreatment process made it possible to utilize highly concentrated OMW (50% and 100%) media for hydrogen production and for remediation. On the aspects of environment, treatment of OMW was achieved in the present work. The final composition of the organic pollutants in the effluent of two-stage processes was below the wastewater discharge limits. The overall results obtained throughout this study may open a new opportunity for the olive oil industry and for the biohydrogen area as a result of the effective biotransformation of OMW into hydrogen gas and valuable by-products.