This study has presented a comprehensive overview of environmental and economic conditions in the Cayman Islands. The project studied the development patterns of the nation's largest island, Grand Caymans. The thesis determines the impact of development and project impacts of future development; the analysis portion clarifies the overall implications of rapid development. The latter half of the thesis, the solution portion, utilizes current theories, which are recommended by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) such as Smart Growth and Green Development. The combination of the EPA's theories provides a compressive environmental plan that would ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability. / Department of Landscape Architecture

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Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on Aug. 25, 2009). "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta." Includes bibliographical references.

The remarkable economic success of the Cayman Islands is primarily driven by its large expatriate population. Expatriates make up over one-third of the total population of the Islands and half of the labor force. This has led some Caymanians to demand more opportunities for local individuals. However in April 2014, one of the two local newspapers commented that the problem was that the quality of local graduates was below the standard required by the private sector. This suggests that there is a serious dislocation between the Caymanian education system and the labor market. This also suggests that there may be increasing tension in the future between expatriates and locals with regard to job opportunities, hiring policies, the role of the educational system and the quality of its outputs. This case study examined how local higher education is perceived by the key stakeholders within the Cayman Islands, with a specific focus on its efficacy in preparing students for the labor force. The study also examined what the higher education institutions are doing to help students develop the skills that are required by employers and desired by the labor force; and where there might be opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of higher education systems and ensure a closer match to the needs of employers in the future. The study examined perceptions primarily through the viewpoint of employers, using human capital development theory, with additional perspectives from social theory and systems thinking. The primary sources of data were semi-structured interviews with employers in major industries in the islands, university faculty in higher education institutions, and recent graduates from these institutions. / Educational Leadership

In the Cayman Islands, one is raised to be the managers of someone else’s financial empire; the empire of the United Kingdom to be precise. Historically, whenever there are whispers about political independence among the population, they are abruptly quieted by a chorus of familiar rhetoric that attributes the success of business and tourism industries on island to its administrative financial connection to the United Kingdom. In a colony where most people rarely think of themselves as colonized, to the majority of Caymanians there is nothing improper about this relationship, it is simply the way things have been. On the few occasions where there is sustained conversation on the topic of political independence, like clockwork, the dialogue often takes a decidedly anti-Jamaican and anti-black tone that positions the so-called socioeconomic “struggles” of Jamaica as a cautionary tale on the perils of political independence. Perils that are then juxtaposed with the so-called socioeconomic success of Cayman which are framed as the prosperity of political dependency. It is this enduring conversation that warrants further interrogation; how and why African descended persons are actively choosing to not be self-determining. Much of the current literature interrogates the colonial presence in the Caribbean in a historical context. However, my interest is in how modern-day manifestations of colonialism (economic, cultural) impacted understandings of agency and freedom? Moreover, Caribbean scholarly discourses on colonialism tend to situate it in the past, instead a present, ongoing reality in the region today. This project centers Caymanians and their understanding of their own humanity outside of what they provide to others. My work seeks to disrupt the concept of ‘Paradise’ in the Caribbean; a concept evoked in order to provide leisure for tourists (mostly originating from North America and Western Europe) and make the financial management of the wealth of the ruling elite from the same places as those tourists desirable. This research interrogates a humanity that is agentic, self-conscious, and decolonial. / African American Studies

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The Oligocene Brac Formation is the oldest part of the Bluff Group that is exposed on Cayman Brac. Sediments of the Brac Formation were deposited on a small, open bank in shallow marine waters. Today, the formation is composed of limestone, finely crystalline dolostone, and coarsely crystalline sucrosic dolostone. The Pollard Bay member, defined herein, comprises the sucrosic dolomite that is exposed only on the south coast of Cayman Brac. Changes in sea level and subsequent groundwater chemistry mediated a complex diagenetic evolution that is responsible for the lithological heterogeneity that now characterizes the formation. Field, petrographic, and geochemical analyses indicate that dolomitization was probably mediated by normal to slightly modified seawater. Multiphase dolomite crystals represent different stages of textural and geochemical maturity, and attest to time-transgressive dolomitization processes that evolved in various hydrologic regimes through time.

Suite à la découverte récente des sources hydrothermales les plus profondes de la planète au niveau de laFosse des Caïmans, des échantillons hydrothermaux y ont été prélevés en vue de cultiver des microorganismes de ce site encore peu documenté. Des cultures d’enrichissement ont été réalisées à partir de ces échantillons en vue d’isoler de nouveaux taxons microbiens ayant des métabolismes clés des cycles biogéochimiques du soufre et du carbone ou une physiologie particulière (piézophilie). Parmi les isolats obtenus, il y avait notamment une nouvelle archée hyperthermophile anaérobie sulfo-réductrice, désignée comme CDGST, qui provenait du champ hydrothermal Beebe, à 4964 m de profondeur. Cette souche, affiliée au genre Thermococcus, présentait une certaine plasticité physiologique et se démarquait de ses plus proches parents du point de vue de sa physiologie.Elle a été caractérisée en détails aux niveaux métabolique, physiologique et génomique. Cette souche estpiézophile et possède la plus large gamme de pression de croissance jamais décrite pour un organisme. Elle se développe de manière optimale à 75°C, pH 6,0 et sous une pression hydrostatique de 50 MPa, la pression in situ de son habitat naturel. Elle appartient à une nouvelle espèce qui a été appelée Thermococcus piezophilus sp.nov. Son génome a été séquencé et annoté.La croissance de ce nouvel isolat est efficace de pression atmosphérique jusqu’à au moins 120 MPa, et la souche croît avec plus de difficultés jusqu'à 130 MPa. Aucun autre microorganisme, qu’il soit psychrophile, mésophile ou hyperthermophile ne possède une telle gamme de pression de croissance. Pour cette raison, les mécanismes d’adaptation de cette souche à la pression ont été étudiés par une approche de transcriptomique.Cette souche s’adapte aux variations de pression notamment en modulant sa production et sa conversion d’énergie (transporteurs, hydrogénases, etc.) en fonction de la pression. / Following the recent discovery of the world’s deepest hydrothermal vents at the Cayman Trough, hydrothermal samples were taken for culturing microorganisms of this site still poorly documented. Enrichment cultures were performed using these samples to isolate new microbial taxa having key metabolisms of biogeochemical cycles of carbon and sulfur or a particular physiology (piezophily). Among the isolates, there was a new hyperthermophilic and anaerobic sulfur-reducing archaea, designated as CDGST, originating from the hydrothermal field Beebe, at 4964 m depth. This strain belonged to the Thermococcus genus. It exhibited some physiological plasticity and was distinguishable from its closest relatives from the point of view of its physiology. It has been characterized in great details at metabolic, physiological and genomics levels. This strain is piezophilic and has the broadest range pressure for growth ever described for an organism. It grows optimally at 75°C, pH 6.0 and under a hydrostatic pressure of 50 MPa, the in situ pressure of its natural habitat. It belongs to a new species that was called Thermococcus piezophilus sp. nov. Its genome has been sequenced and annotated.The growth of this new isolate is effective from atmospheric pressure to at least 120 MPa, and the strain grows with more difficulties up to 130 MPa. No other organism, whether psychrophilic, mesophilic or hyperthermophilic has such a range of growth pressure. For this reason, the adaptation mechanisms to pressure of the strain were studied by a transcriptomic approach. This strain adapts to pressure variations, by modulating notably its energy production and energy conversion (carriers, hydrogenases, etc.) depending on the pressure.

This investigation posits the hypotheses: 1) Renewable energy is a viable economic alternative to current electricity sources on Grand Cayman and 2) focus on the water-energy nexus reveals positive synergies in water and energy economics on Grand Cayman.             These were investigated by examining the water-energy links of wastewater as a resource, and water produced from a hydrogen fuel cell. Conditions were varied including cost and efficiency factors to understand the limits of both links.             The results show that both hypotheses can be confirmed, though not in all circumstances. Longer project lifetimes increase the viability of renewable energy. Short lifetimes favour fossil-fuelled energy. Generally, water-energy linked thinking is economically favourable when the water is considered an additional product. The economic benefit of the hydrogen fuel cell is near-negligible due to low water flow rate. The economic benefit of wastewater as a resource is large, offsetting much of the costs of any project, particularly at long lifetimes. Both links provide societal benefits in the form of increased water availability. This increase is small for the hydrogen fuel cell water link, and large for the wastewater link. The wastewater link is however limited both by availability of wastewater, and acceptance of the direct reuse of treated wastewater.             It was determined that further investigation of these and other links are justified. The economic value of water-energy links is proven over a wide range of variabilities. Renewable energy has also been shown to be economically viable for the island of Grand Cayman.