Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cy-dy Augusto Alves Filho.pdf: 1241998 bytes, checksum: 66cb09913a17b5fa16a6a396fd35a871 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-29 / The literature on analytical methods of accounting and corporate financial analysis models and cr edit indicators is large , and among the methods of credit risk classification is the classification model ratings, through which institutions classifie s customers according to their risk. However, the classical models of modeling credit risk using statisti cal techniques widely disseminated, as is the case of simple linear regression, the least squares method, among others. The quantile regression, evaluated in disseminated by Koenker and Basset (1978) has it as a main characteristic , analyzing the sample by the median and allow the analysis of subpopulations through the quantiles of the sample, which allows more specific inferences in according to the needs of the study. In recent years the concern with social and environmental issues have become increasing present in both the practical means and academia and in society in general, which brings up the idea of including the analysis of social indicators in environmental analysis credit, as already proposed in previous studies. However, the combined use of ec onomic, financial, social and environmental indicators, together with quantile regression, is an innovative proposal, and the subject of this academic study. This work is an exploratory and descriptive study , objective verify the possible contribution of t he inclusion of social and environmental variables, combined with the use of quantile regression for ratings classification and hence prediction of default. To fulfill this goal, we devel oped a database on panel, with the total of 561 observations, consist ing of data from publicly traded, its ratings, economic indicators, financial, social and environmental, the years 2007 to 2012 companies. With use of quantile regression was possible to infer that the social environmental variables are relevant for classi fication ratings and, consequently, to predict default. / A literatura a respeito de métodos de análise de indicadores co ntábeis e financeiros empresariais e modelos de análise de crédito é vasta, e dentre os métodos de classificação de risco de crédito, encontra - se o modelo de classificação de ratings , através do qual as instituições classificam seus clientes em função de s eu risco. Entretanto, os modelos clássicos de modelagem de risco de crédito se utilizam de técnicas estatísticas amplamente difundidas, como é o caso da regressão linear simples, método dos mínimos quadrados, entre outras. A regressão quantílica, estudada em difundida por Koenker e Basset (1978) tem como principal característica analisar a amostra através da mediana, e permitir a análise de subpopulações através dos quantis da amostra, o que permite realizar inferências mais específicas, de acordo com as ne cessidades do estudo. Nos últimos anos a preocupação com questões sociais e ambientais tem se tornado cada vez mais presente, tanto no meio prático quanto no meio acadêmico e na sociedade de maneira geral, o que traz à tona a ideia de incluir a análise de indicadores sócio ambientais na análise de crédito, como já foi proposto em estudos anteriores. No entanto, a utilização, de forma combinada, de indicadores econômicos, financeiros, sociais e ambientais, aliada à regressão quantílica, é uma proposta inovad ora, e o mote deste estudo acadêmico . Este trabalho exploratório, de natureza descritiva, objetiva verificar a possível contribuição da inclusão de variáveis sócio ambientais, aliada à utilização da regressão quantílica, para classificação de ratings e, consequentemente, previsão de default . Para cumprir tal objetivo foi desenvolvido um banco de dados em painel, com um total de 561 observações, formado por dados de empresas de capital aberto, seus ratings , indicadores econômicos, financeiros, sociais e ambi entais, dos anos de 2007 a 2012. Com a utilização da regressão quantílica foi possível inferir que as variáveis sócio ambientais são relevantes para a classificação de ratings e, consequentemente, para a previsão de default.

A presente pesquisa procura contribuir para a Gestão Ambiental Municipal através dos seguintes objetivos: a investigação dos problemas ambientais em uma cidade de médio porte, São Carlos, e a viabilidade de aplicação do modelo de Sistema de Gestão Ambiental proposto pela ISO 14001, na Prefeitura da mesma cidade. O levantamento dos problemas ambientais munucipais foi feito através do uso de indicadores ambientais, baseados em algumas diretrizes estipuladas pela ISO 14031 - Avaliação do Desempenho Ambiental (ADA). Esta etapa do estudo foi comprometida pela carência de valores de referência, para a maioria dos indicadores urbanos, considerando as particularidades das cidades. Apesar disto foi possível conhecer a dinâmica e alguns problemas ambientais municipais. Já a viabilidade de aplicação da ISO 14001 na Prefeitura, foi estudada através da aplicação de questionário em diversas Secretarias Municipais, abordando procedimentos comuns em um Sistema de Gestão Geral e um Sistema de Gestão Ambiental. Foi constatado que apesar da existência de alguns procedimentos bem desenvolvidos na Prefeitura de São Carlos, a maioria não está completamente implantada. / The goal of this work was to contribute to Municipal Environmental Management assessing the following aspects: the investigation of the environmental problems of a medium sized city, São Carlos, and determining if an environmental management system based on ISO 14001 could be applied to the Prefecture of this city. The investigation of the environmental problems was carried out using environmental indicators, based on guidelines stated in the ISO 14031 - Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE). This stage was compromised by a lack of reference values, for most urban indicators, considering cities\' particularities. But this stage allowed us to know the process of some environmental problems. The application of ISO 14001 at São Carlos Prefecture was assessed using a questionnaire addressing common procedures of both the General Management System and the Environmental Management System. Although the existance of some well implemented procedures in São Carlos Prefecture was detected, the majority of then was not fully implemented.

Currently, southern Louisiana faces extreme land loss that could reach an alarming rate of about one football sized swath of land every hour. The combined effect of land subsidence and predicted sea level rise threaten the culture and livelihood of the residents living in this region. As the most vulnerable coastal population in Louisiana, the communities of south Terrebonne Parish are called to adapt by accommodating, protecting, or retreating from the impacts of climate change. For effective preparation planning, the state of Louisiana needs to 1) understand the adaptation preferences and responses of these residents and 2) involve these vulnerable communities in adaptation related decision making. The study uses a survey-based methodology to analyze current adaptation preferences. Findings suggest that protection is the preferred adaptation response. The present study additionally uses participatory techniques to develop a land loss awareness mobile application to illustrate the importance and benefits of community collaboration.

The anisotropy of the Biscayne Aquifer which serves as the source of potable water for Miami-Dade County was investigated by applying geophysical methods. Electrical resistivity imaging, self potential and ground penetration radar techniques were employed in both regional and site specific studies. In the regional study, electrical anisotropy and resistivity variation with depth were investigated with azimuthal square array measurements at 13 sites. The observed coefficient of electrical anisotropy ranged from 1.01 to 1.36. The general direction of measured anisotropy is uniform for most sites and trends W-E or SE-NW irrespective of depth. Measured electrical properties were used to estimate anisotropic component of the secondary porosity and hydraulic anisotropy which ranged from 1 to 11% and 1.18 to 2.83 respectively. 1-D sounding analysis was used to models the variation of formation resistivity with depth. Resistivities decreased from NW (close to the margins of the everglades) to SE on the shores of Biscayne Bay. Porosity calculated from Archie's law, ranged from 18 to 61% with higher values found along the ridge. Higher anisotropy, porosities and hydraulic conductivities were on the Atlantic Coastal Ridge and lower values at low lying areas west of the ridge. The cause of higher anisotropy and porosity is attributed to higher dissolution rates of the oolitic facies of the Miami Formation composing the ridge. The direction of minimum resistivity from this study is similar to the predevelopment groundwater flow direction indicated in published modeling studies. Detailed investigations were carried out to evaluate higher anisotropy at West Perrine Park located on the ridge and Snapper Creek Municipal well field where the anisotropy trend changes with depth. The higher anisotropy is attributed to the presence of solution cavities oriented in the E-SE direction on the ridge. Similarly, the change in hydraulic anisotropy at the well field might be related to solution cavities, the surface canal and groundwater extraction wells.

The Mara River Basin (MRB) is endowed with pristine biodiversity, socio-cultural heritage and natural resources. The purpose of my study is to develop and apply an integrated water resource allocation framework for the MRB based on the hydrological processes, water demand and economic factors. The basin was partitioned into twelve sub-basins and the rainfall runoff processes was modeled using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) after satisfactory Nash-Sutcliff efficiency of 0.68 for calibration and 0.43 for validation at Mara Mines station. The impact and uncertainty of climate change on the hydrology of the MRB was assessed using SWAT and three scenarios of statistically downscaled outputs from twenty Global Circulation Models. Results predicted the wet season getting more wet and the dry season getting drier, with a general increasing trend of annual rainfall through 2050. Three blocks of water demand (environmental, normal and flood) were estimated from consumptive water use by human, wildlife, livestock, tourism, irrigation and industry. Water demand projections suggest human consumption is expected to surpass irrigation as the highest water demand sector by 2030. Monthly volume of water was estimated in three blocks of current minimum reliability, reserve (>95%), normal (80–95%) and flood (40%) for more than 5 months in a year. The assessment of water price and marginal productivity showed that current water use hardly responds to a change in price or productivity of water. Finally, a water allocation model was developed and applied to investigate the optimum monthly allocation among sectors and sub-basins by maximizing the use value and hydrological reliability of water. Model results demonstrated that the status on reserve and normal volumes can be improved to ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ by updating the existing reliability to meet prevailing demand. Flow volumes and rates for four scenarios of reliability were presented. Results showed that the water allocation framework can be used as comprehensive tool in the management of MRB, and possibly be extended similar watersheds.

An automated on-line SPE-LC-MS/MS method was developed for the quantitation of multiple classes of antibiotics in environmental waters. High sensitivity in the low ng/L range was accomplished by using large volume injections with 10-mL of sample. Positive confirmation of analytes was achieved using two selected reaction monitoring (SRM) transitions per antibiotic and quantitation was performed using an internal standard approach. Samples were extracted using online solid phase extraction, then using column switching technique; extracted samples were immediately passed through liquid chromatography and analyzed by tandem mass spectrometry. The total run time per each sample was 20 min. The statistically calculated method detection limits for various environmental samples were between 1.2 and 63 ng/L. Furthermore, the method was validated in terms of precision, accuracy and linearity. The developed analytical methodology was used to measure the occurrence of antibiotics in reclaimed waters (n=56), surface waters (n=53), ground waters (n=8) and drinking waters (n=54) collected from different parts of South Florida. In reclaimed waters, the most frequently detected antibiotics were nalidixic acid, erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin trimethoprim, sulfamethoxazole and ofloxacin (19.3-604.9 ng/L). Detection of antibiotics in reclaimed waters indicates that they can’t be completely removed by conventional wastewater treatment process. Furthermore, the average mass loads of antibiotics released into the local environment through reclaimed water were estimated as 0.248 Kg/day. Among the surface waters samples, Miami River (reaching up to 580 ng/L) and Black Creek canal (up to 124 ng/L) showed highest concentrations of antibiotics. No traces of antibiotics were found in ground waters. On the other hand, erythromycin (monitored as anhydro erythromycin) was detected in 82% of the drinking water samples (n.d-66 ng/L). The developed approach is suitable for both research and monitoring applications. Major metabolites of antibiotics in reclaimed wates were identified and quantified using high resolution benchtop Q-Exactive orbitrap mass spectrometer. A phase I metabolite of erythromycin was tentatively identified in full scan based on accurate mass measurement. Using extracted ion chromatogram (XIC), high resolution data-dependent MS/MS spectra and metabolic profiling software the metabolite was identified as desmethyl anhydro erythromycin with molecular formula C36H63NO12 and m/z 702.4423. The molar concentration of the metabolite to erythromycin was in the order of 13 %. To my knowledge, this is the first known report on this metabolite in reclaimed water. Another compound acetyl-sulfamethoxazole, a phase II metabolite of sulfamethoxazole was also identified in reclaimed water and mole fraction of the metabolite represent 36 %, of the cumulative sulfamethoxazole concentration. The results were illustrating the importance to include metabolites also in the routine analysis to obtain a mass balance for better understanding of the occurrence, fate and distribution of antibiotics in the environment. Finally, all the antibiotics detected in reclaimed and surface waters were investigated to assess the potential risk to the aquatic organisms. The surface water antibiotic concentrations that represented the real time exposure conditions revealed that the macrolide antibiotics, erythromycin, clarithromycin and tylosin along with quinolone antibiotic, ciprofloxacin were suspected to induce high toxicity to aquatic biota. Preliminary results showing that, among the antibiotic groups tested, macrolides posed the highest ecological threat, and therefore, they may need to be further evaluated with, long-term exposure studies considering bioaccumulation factors and more number of species selected. Overall, the occurrence of antibiotics in aquatic environment is posing an ecological health concern.

Com o objetivo de identificar e discutir as inter-relações que aproximam os problemas de restrição de capacidades e liberdades humanas da questão da vulnerabilidade socioambiental, esta pesquisa buscou analisar indicadores de desenvolvimento, previamente selecionados, que refletissem as desigualdades sociais, econômicas e ambientais relativas aos noventa e seis distritos do município de São Paulo. Para discorrer sobre a questão das capacidades e liberdades humanas, a pesquisa bibliográfica levou em conta principalmente, os trabalhos do economista indiano Amartya Sen, em especial seus escritos sobre a abordagem das capacidades na teoria da justiça e do desenvolvimento como liberdade. O estudo de caso utilizou indicadores secundários separados em duas grandes dimensões: vulnerabilidade que corresponde aos indicadores de: condição de... e desenvolvimento que corresponde aos indicadores de: acesso a.... As categorias segundo as quais os indicadores foram classificados são: demografia, habitação, violência, condições de saúde e assistência social, educação, renda e susceptibilidade ao risco ambiental, na dimensão vulnerabilidade; e transportes, infraestrutura em saúde e assistência social, cultura e lazer, infraestrutura em educação, emprego, abastecimento e saneamento, e áreas verdes na dimensão desenvolvimento. Através do agrupamento dos indicadores e transformação das variáveis pela média, obtiveram-se valores de índices tanto para vulnerabilidade, quanto para desenvolvimento. Por meio da utilização de mapas e tabelas, o estudo mostra de que forma a vulnerabilidade e o desenvolvimento estão dispostos no território paulistano. O resultado da pesquisa quantitativa mostrou que cerca de 50% dos distritos paulistanos apresentaram índices de alta vulnerabilidade ou vulnerabilidade extrema, a grande maioria em áreas periféricas. Ao mesmo tempo, apenas dez distritos dos noventa e seis, apresentaram resultados bons de desenvolvimento, sete dos quais inseridos na porção sudoeste do município de São Paulo, área nobre e extremamente valorizada da cidade. Este resultado da análise mostrou que a capital paulista é extremamente desigual dos pontos de vista social, ambiental e econômico, e que os problemas associados à vulnerabilidade se expressam no próprio território do município, de forma que as periferias são o reflexo de espaços altamente segregados, com graves problemas sociais, riscos ambientais iminentes e ainda, baixos níveis de desenvolvimento devido, em especial, à insuficiente atuação do Estado como promotor de políticas públicas. A constatação da vulnerabilidade deveu-se, entre outros fatores, à precariedade de acesso a serviços como transporte, saúde e educação, incluindo demais equipamentos, sobretudo públicos, de acesso ao saneamento básico, lazer e cultura. Além disso, há baixa oferta de empregos locais com boa remuneração e níveis consideráveis de violência e pobreza características que limitam o empoderamento dos grupos sociais residentes, sobretudo dos mais vulneráveis como as mulheres, os jovens, os negros e os idosos. A todo este conjunto de características, atribui-se a responsabilidade pela restrição das capacidades e liberdades elementares dos indivíduos. Dessa forma verificou-se que as desigualdades de vulnerabilidade e desenvolvimento existentes representam as diferenças de capacidades e liberdades entre as populações, e que o enfrentamento desses problemas deve considerar princípios de justiça que levem em conta a construção das capacidades das populações mais desfavorecidas a fim de se promover justiça social e igualdade de oportunidades. / With the objective to identify and discuss the interrelations that approximate the problems of human capabilities e freedoms restriction of issue social and environmental vulnerability, this study examined indicators, previously selected, that reflect the social, economic and environmental inequalities relative to ninety-six districts of the city of São Paulo. To discuss the issue about human capabilities and freedoms, the bibliographic research took into account, mainly, the works of the Indian economist Amartya Sen, in particular his writings about the capability approach, in the theory of justice, and the development as freedom. The case study used secondary indicators separated into two major dimensions: vulnerability, that corresponds to the indicators of \"condition of...\", and development that refers to the indicators of \"access to...\". The categories under which the indicators were classified are: demographics, housing, violence, health and social care, education, income and susceptibility to environmental risk, in the vulnerability dimension; and transport, health and social care infrastructure, culture and recreation, education infrastructure, employment, water and sanitation, and green areas in the development dimension. With the transformation of variables and the grouping of indicators, were obtained values for both indexes: vulnerability and development. Through the use of maps and tables, the study showed how the vulnerability and development are arranged in the São Paulo city. The result of the quantitative survey showed that nearly fifty percent of São Paulo districts have high levels of vulnerability or extreme vulnerability, the large majority in outskirts. At the same time, only ten of the ninety-six districts showed good results of development, seven of which inserted in the southwest portion of city the prime area and extremely rich. This showed that São Paulo is extremely unequal in the points of views social, environmental and economic, and that the problems associated with vulnerability are expressed in the territory, such that the outskirts are the reflection of highly segregated spaces, with serious social problems, imminent environmental risks, and yet, low levels of development, due to, in particular, the inadequate performance of the State as promoter of public polices. The verification of vulnerability is due, among other factors, to the limited access to public services as transport, health and education, including other equipment for access to basic sanitation, recreation and culture. In addition, there is low offer of local jobs with a good salary, and considerable levels of violence and poverty features that limited the empowerment of specific social groups, especially the most vulnerable like as women, younger, blacks and elderly. The whole this package of characteristics is attributed the responsibility for restricting the capabilities and freedoms of the individuals. Therefore, it was found that the inequalities of vulnerabilities and developing represent the difference of capabilities and freedoms between the populations and that for facing these issues, is necessary consider the principles of justice concerning the capacities construction of vulnerable groups, in order to promote social justice and equal opportunities.

River restoration projects are being installed worldwide to rehabilitate degraded river habitat. Many of these projects focus on stream habitat improvement (SHI), and an estimated 60%of the 37,000 projects listed in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Program focus on SHI for salmon and trout species. These projects frequently lack a sufficient monitoring program or account for the environmental costs associated with SHI. The present study used life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and topographic effectiveness monitoring to quantify environmental costs on the basis of geomorphic change. This methodology was a novel approach to assessing the cost-benefit relationship of SHI. To test this methodology, two phases of the Lower Scotts Creek Floodplain and Habitat Enhancement Project (LSCR) were used as a case study. The LSCR was a SHI project installed along the northern coast of Santa Cruz County, California, USA. A limited scope LCA was used to quantify the life cycle impacts of raw material production, materials transportation, and on-site construction. Once these baseline results were produced, a topographic monitoring program was used to quantify the topographic diversity index (TDI) in pre- and post-project conditions. The TDI percent change was used to scale the baseline LCA results, which quantified the environmental impacts based on geomorphic change. Phase II outperformed phase I. Phase I had greater cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.7 % TDI increase from pre- to post-project conditions. Phase II had 43% less cumulative environmental impacts and experienced a 7.9% TDI increase from pre- to post-project conditions. The impacts in phase I were greater because of the amount of material excavated to create off-channel features, which were a key feature of the LSCR. A scenario analysis also was conducted within the LCA component of this study. The scenario analysis suggests that life cycle impacts could be reduced by 30%-65% by using the accelerated recruitment method in place of importing materials to build large wood complexes. The results of this study suggest that managers may improve the environmental performance of SHI projects by: (1) using the accelerated recruitment method to introduce larger key pieces to the channel, reducing the need to import materials; (2) using nursery grown plants as opposed to excavating plants for revegetation; (3) minimizing fuel combustion in heavy equipment and haul trucks by ensuring clear access to the channel and streambank, using small engine equipment to clear access corridors during site preparation, running more fuel-efficient machinery or bio-fuel powered machinery, and by attempting to minimize haul distances by sourcing materials locally; and (4) utilizing a “franken-log” design (a ballasted LWC configuration with a rootwad fastened to the downstream end of a log) in LWCs which led to favorable TDI change. This study concluded that LCA could be a valuable tool for monitoring SHI and river restoration projects and that further research of the TDI analysis is justified.

Swedish companies have invested a lot of time, effort and resources into becoming moreenvironmentally friendly. The primary focus of this on-going process has been to implementenvironmental management systems and to develop more environmentally friendlytechnologies. Measuring the effects of these actions has proven more difficult. Theintroduction of environmental indicators is emerging as a simple, yet effective way forcompanies to measure their environmental performance, increase the control of theirenvironmental activities and help the decision making process when developing new productsand processes. The aim of the project is to study to what extent eight Swedish companies in three differentbranches of industry use environmental indicators, if there are any similarities and differenceswithin and between branches and if any conclusions can be drawn. The companies chosen arethree companies within the pulp- and paper producing industry, three companies within theiron- and steel producing industry and two companies within the car manufacturing industry.The primary method of analysis is to study the environmental report from one factory of eachcompany, the environmental section of the financial report and/or the environmental report ofthe entire company or business group and environmental information on each company’s website. No interviews were conducted with any of the companies, since it was deemed that therewas not enough time if they were to be meaningful. Before the evaluation, the concept of environmental indicators needs further examination. Theindicators are comparative, comparing an environmental quantity to a financial one. Examplesof common indicators are energy use per quantity of produced product or emissions of CO2-equivalents per tonne of produced product. Since the denominator is the same, companieswith significantly different sizes of production can easily be compared to each other. Today itis hard if even possible to compare companies within the same branch to each other and evenharder to compare ones in different branches to each other or to branch indexes. The lack ofcommon guidelines for measuring, processing and presenting the results of environmentalperformance data is the biggest problem when using environmental indicators today. The environmental indicators can be used in a number of different roles. Today they are usedto measure and compare the environmental performance of a company as well as tools forcommunication to various stakeholders. If the companies continue to develop the indicators,they can be used pro-actively in the decision making process as well as to highlight problemareas and to track the progress towards goals set by the company. Some of the companies inthis report are already using indicators in one or more of the advanced roles. All the companies were evaluated in two different ways, qualitatively and quantitatively atthree levels of reporting. The three levels were the environmental report from a single factory,the environmental report for the entire company/business group and the environmentalinformation on the Internet from each company. The qualitative evaluation analysed how the companies used environmental indicators, if thecompanies used them explicitly, if they used them to track goals and if there were differencesbetween the different levels of reporting. The analysis showed that only a few companies usedenvironmental indicators at the single factory level, but that all companies used them in thebusiness group reports and on the Internet. There was also a much higher degree of coherencybetween the companies financial reporting than there was in their environmental one. Thequalitative evaluation also showed that the pulp- and paper companies used the mostenvironmental indicators, the iron- and steel companies used them most effectively and thatthe car companies used them to their fullest extent. The quantitative evaluation analysed each company by itself to examine how each individualcompany used the environmental indicators. The differences between the use of indicators atthe different levels of reporting also became more evident. The pulp- and paper companieswere the most consistent while the iron- and steel companies had the biggest differences withthe car companies somewhere in between. The analysis also showed that companies that werepart of bigger business groups had bigger differences, especially if they were not part of themother company. There are two major conclusions that can be drawn from the report. The first one is thatcompanies use environmental indicators to measure and present their environmentalperformance because they see them as effective tools. The second one is that commonguidelines are necessary to develop the indicators further. The first conclusion can be drawn from the fact that all the companies use environmentalindicators as a tool for reporting their environmental performance in their primary channels ofinformation, the business group reports and on the Internet The second conclusion can be drawn from the fact that even though the companies werechosen because they produced different products, they turned out to have very similar types ofemissions but very different environmental indicators. Since all the companies are verysincere in their efforts to limit their impact, on the environment and the fact that they have allchosen environmental indicators to measure their impact the need for coherency is great forfurther development. It is doubtful that the companies themselves can develop the indicatorson their own which means that the authorities and possibly the branch organisations have towork together to develop common guidelines. The biggest challenges are to decide on thecommon rules of reporting and to put financial values on the environment. If these problemscan be resolved, environmental indicators can be used to their fullest potential in the future. / www.ima,kth.se

As plastic pollution increases, top marine predators such as marine mammals are becoming increasingly susceptible to plastic particles and their additives. Plastic particles have been found in gastrointestinal tracts and scat of many marine mammals, and quantifying plastic pollution in those that are pelagic can provide insight into plastic pollution in mesopelagic ecosystems that are just beginning to be analyzed. Adapting well-developed laboratory techniques for microplastic (MP) isolation (i.e. density separation and chemical digestion), I isolated MPs from the scat of the deepest diving pinniped, the northern elephant seal (NES), and found that100% of scat samples (n=11) contained high counts of MPs compared to other pinnipeds. Further, as plastic particles move through the digestive tract and potentially translocate into the circulation, body cells may be exposed to these plastic particles. Nanoplastics (NPs;<1μm) have been shown to affect cell viability and redox homeostasis in fish and human cells, while the lipophilic additives bisphenol-a (BPA) and bisphenol-s (BPS) used in plastics production are known endocrine disruptors. However, the effects of plastics (NPs) and plastics additives (BPA and BPS) have not been well-studied in marine mammals. To assess the direct impacts of NPs on marine mammal cells, I exposed fibroblasts isolated from NES skin (n=6 experiments) to polystyrene NPs of two different sizes (0.05μm and 0.5μm) and concentrations (3.64x109 and 3.64x1010 particles/mL) and did not find consistent effects on morphology and viability. Cell viability, which was quantified by an MTT assay, decreased as a result of NP exposure in two experimental replicates, but these results were not reproducible. I found that NPs did not have consistent effects on the morphology or viability of NES fibroblasts, regardless of their size or concentration. Lastly, I examined the effects of plastic additives on the physiology of marine mammal blubber tissue, the primary energy depot and reservoir of lipophilic pollutants. Precision-cut NES blubber slices were exposed to BPA and BPS, alone and in combination with the lipolytic hormone epinephrine, and I assessed their effects on the blubber transcriptome. I found that while BPA and BPS treatments alone did not have a pronounced effect on gene expression, they altered the expression of several genes associated with lipid homeostasis and adipogenesis. These data suggest that NES likely ingest MPs and maybe physiologically affected by exposure to plastic particles and their associated contaminants.