Managed forest ecosystems contribute to conservation of wildlife, and generally yield heterogeneous landscapes with patches that support different sessile organisms. Edges or boundaries between adjacent forest patches are often ecologically distinct from patch interiors and can have direct influences on community dynamics and ecosystem functioning near them. To quantify effects of edge and adjacent habitat conditions on avian metrics, I used a hierarchical multi-species occupancy model that considered individual species resource requirements to estimate community occupancy patterns, and used artificial nest surveys to model daily nest survival (DNS) using a Bayesian framework. Results indicated that adjacent forest conditions influenced bird population dynamics in focal forest stands, provided little evidence of an edge effect on avian community response patterns, and showed highest DNS in newly established forest stands. My results highlight the importance of considering type and spatial arrangement of different habitat patches for habitat planning operations on managed forest landscapes.

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This dissertation examines social, political, and cultural dimensions of displacement, resettlement planning, and climate change adaptation policy experimentation along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. I draw upon four years of ethnographic research alongside Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribal leaders, during a period just before and after their resettlement plans garnered $48 million in federal financial support. Through participant observation and interviews with Tribal leaders, their allies, media-makers who covered the Tribe’s experiences, and state planners tasked with administering the federal funds, I examined social encounters produced as the Tribe’s resettlement plans were embraced, circulated, and transformed throughout international media and policy. My analysis points to a number of tensions expressed as Tribal community-driven efforts to address historically produced vulnerabilities collided with government efforts to reduce exposure to coastal environmental hazards. I describe how policies, planning practices, and particular constructions of disaster and community encumbered Tribal leaders’ long-standing struggle for recognition, self-determination and sovereignty, land, and cultural survival. Ultimately, I argue that the state’s allocation of federal resettlement funds has reproduced a colonial frontier dynamic whereby redevelopment is rested upon the erasure of Indigenous histories; identities; and ongoing struggles for self- determination, land, and cultural survival. Using ethnography to interrogate the social encounters produced through adaptation may inform policies, planning processes, and activism in solidarity with those already regenerating social and ecological relationships threatened by racial capitalism, settler colonialism, and climate change. / Anthropology

Agency theory suggests that information asymmetry between mutual fund managers and mutual fund investors can be mitigated if managers are compensated for the private information that influences mutual fund risk and performance. This study investigates the role of active management in influencing returns and return volatility of mutual funds. Chapter 1 investigates whether real estate mutual funds (REMFs) outperform Carhart’s (1997) four-factor and index benchmarks using daily return data from the CRSP survivorship bias-free mutual fund database from September 1998 to December 2013. We employ generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (GARCH) volatility models to estimate more precise alphas than those generated in the extant studies. We document that risk-adjusted alphas of actively managed REMFs are statistically and economically significant, reflecting the informational advantage and skills of active managers. We also show that actively managed REMFs outperform the real estate index benchmark (Ziman Real Estate Index) and generate a yearly buy-and-hold abnormal return of 3.64%. Active management, therefore, provides value beyond the diversification benefits that can be generated by investing into the real estate index. While active managers of REMFs generate abnormal returns (gross of expenses), they capture the entire amount themselves, sharing none with investors (net of expenses). Accordingly, the average abnormal return to investors is close to zero due to expenses associated with REMFs, such as management fees, 12b-1 fees, waivers, and reimbursements. Finally, we find that passively managed REMFs do not generate abnormal risk-adjusted alphas in Carhart’s (1997) four-factor model. Chapter 2 examines managed volatility mutual funds (MVMFs) that utilize a range of investment strategies focused on portfolio volatility. These funds have increased in popularity in the wake of the financial crisis (December 2007 to June 2009) which introduced considerable volatility into the markets. We test whether MVMFs provide better performance during periods of recessions and expansions as compared to conventional mutual funds (MFs). We obtain several interesting results. First, MVMFs underperform compared to conventional MFs by more than 2% during the entire sample period. Second, MVMFs outperform conventional MFs in recessions by over 4% annually. Third, MVMFs underperform conventional MFs by more than 2.5% during expansions. Our results suggest that MVMFs can benefit investors during periods of recessions at the cost of performing worse during expansions. Chapter 3 studies MF return volatility patterns by testing a host of hypotheses for MFs with various style objectives. To conduct the tests, we use daily returns data from the CRSP survivorship bias-free mutual fund database from September 1998 to December 2013. We examine volatility patterns across the following nine styles: Passively Managed, Actively Managed, Sector, Capitalization, Growth and Income, Income, Growth, Hedged, and Dedicated Short Bias. We employ the exponential generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (EGARCH) volatility model. Several results are obtained. First, we show that the financial crisis of 2007-2009 had a positive or a negative impact on volatility, depending on the investment style. Second, MF volatility behavior exhibits significant cluster effects in all styles, indicating that larger return shocks lead to greater increases in return volatility. Third, shock-persistence patterns differ across various MF styles with shocks to Dedicated Short Bias MFs being the least persistent and Capitalization and Growth and Income being the most persistent. Lastly, there is considerable negative asymmetry in MF return volatility changes in response to good and bad news in the sense that negative shocks to MF returns increase volatility more than positive shocks of the same magnitude for many Actively Managed MF styles. Significant negative asymmetry of this type makes the industry vulnerable to market downturns and should be addressed by regulators, MF managers, and investors. / Business Administration/Finance

This dissertation examined how complexity theory might offer insight into the behavior of a population of large-scale networked organizational groups. Academic medical centers (AMCs), a large-scale social and policy system that plays a key role in the education of physicians, the conduct of research, and the provision of specialized clinical care, were chosen as an example to demonstrate the enhanced understanding that can be obtained from the application of complexity theory. Graphical and nonlinear mathematical tools were chosen to place this research study in contrast to studies that metaphorically apply the concepts of complexity theory to social systems. Complexity science suggests that AMCs will demonstrate both nonlinearity and the emergence of patterned behaviors characteristic of self-organization in complex adaptive systems. Changes in the fiscal environment of AMCs, influenced by federal policy and the health care delivery market, were hypothesized to be among the factors that mediated changes in AMCs' activities and organizational relationships during a twenty-year period. The collection and examination of multiple indicators within the framework of a study model allowed development of a rich description of the AMC system and identification of patterned behaviors. Graphical analysis was used to identify underlying periodic and chaotic attractors in the AMC system. A logistic equation was used to confirm the presence of nonlinearity. The presence of nonlinearity and the emergence of patterned behavior within schools in different managed care market groups suggested that it is appropriate to treat the population of AMCs as a complex adaptive system. The results of this research study also showed that AMCs have responded to the rise of managed care in the health care delivery marketplace by leveraging their institutional strengths. Identification of nonlinear properties offers a new perspective for understanding the behavior of a population of networked organizations, the management of large-scale systems, strategic planning, and policy formulation. Until researchers and managers recognize the coexistence of nonlinear and linear processes in social systems, they will make decisions on the basis of incomplete information. / Ph. D.

Soil aquifer treatment (SAT), the removal of contaminants during percolation through soil, is a strategy employed in managed aquifer recharge (MAR), one method of indirect potable water reuse. As part of Hampton Roads Sanitation District's (HRSD) MAR project, The Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT), a soil column study was performed using four columns filled with sand taken from the Potomac Aquifer System (PAS) as well as water from various stages in SWIFT's 1MGD demonstration facility. Two pairs of two columns were operated in series, simulating 3 days and 1 month of travel time through aerobic to anaerobic conditions. During Phase 1 of testing, each pair of columns was fed from different stages in the SWIFT treatment process. During Phase 2 of testing, one set of columns was spiked with a conservative tracer bromide, and several contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). The contaminants monitored during both phases included total organic carbon (TOC), nitrogen species, and the disinfection byproducts bromate and NDMA. During Phase 2 of testing, CECs, iron, arsenic, bromide, and sulfate were monitored in addition to those monitored during Phase 1. About 50% of the TOC was removed within 3 days of travel time, with no additional removal observed in 1 month. Nitrate was conserved in the 3-day columns, but completely removed after 1 month, indicating denitrification. Bromate and NDMA were reduced significantly in the 3-day columns and mostly non-detect in the 1-month effluent. Many of the spiked CECs were reduced significantly in the 3-day column indicating degradation. Three compounds exhibited some retardation through both columns but were not degraded. A few compounds, notably perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), showed no retardation or degradation. / Master of Science / In order to continue to meet the water demands of the future, potable reuse is a necessary and effective solution. HRSD's SWIFT project aims to create a sustainable source of drinking water through advanced treatment of its wastewater effluent and subsequent recharge of the Potomac Aquifer in a process known as managed aquifer recharge (MAR). During MAR, chemical and biological contaminants are attenuated or removed through a process known as soil aquifer treatment (SAT). HRSD installed pilot-scale soil columns at their 1MGD SWIFT demonstration facility to evaluate the potential removal of contaminants. During the study, removal of contaminants, both regulated and unregulated, was observed. This study demonstrated that SAT provides an effective environmental barrier against many contaminants and helped to inform the level of treatment necessary to protect public health during MAR potable reuse projects.

Soil aquifer treatment (SAT) during managed aquifer recharge has been studied as a method of providing additional environmental barriers to pathogens and contaminants in indirect potable reuse (IPR) applications. A soil column study was conducted by Hampton Roads Sanitation District in order to evaluate the effectiveness of SAT, as a component of its IPR project involving the replenishment of the Potomac Aquifer System (PAS), in providing a sustainable source of drinking water. Four packed soil columns were constructed with sand from the PAS and were designed to simulate the travel time of 3 days and 30 days. The tests conducted aimed at evaluating pathogen removal (MS2, E. coli and Cryptosporidium oocysts); evaluating attenuation of regulated (nitrate, nitrite, bromate, trihalomethane (THM), haloacetic acids (HAA), organic carbon) and unregulated contaminants of concern that affect drinking water quality. Effective pathogen removal was observed with 6 to 7-log removals of MS2 and E. coli and 3 to 5-log removals of microbeads, used as a surrogate for Cryptosporidium. Removal across 3 day columns was comparable to 30-day columns but the potential to achieve higher removal with longer retention time was acknowledged. Nitrate, bromate, THMs and HAAs were completely reduced in 30-day columns. Total organic carbon was removed at 25 – 35% in all four columns. Seven out of the 106 contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) tested were consistently detected in the column feed and effluent at concentrations greater than 100 ng/L; some compounds showed potential for removal while no conclusive results were drawn for the remaining compounds. / MS / Potable reuse is a sustainable solution to the increasing water demands of the present and more so the future. Hampton Road Sanitation District (HRSD) aims to treat effluent from its wastewater treatment plants using advanced treatment process for direct recharge of the Potomac aquifer system. This is a method of indirect potable reuse termed as managed aquifer recharge (MAR). MAR can provide additional environmental barriers to contaminants present in water through a process of natural attenuation called soil aquifer treatment (SAT). A soil column study was conducted at HRSD’s pilot scale facility in order to asses SAT under controlled conditions at a meaningful scale. Attenuation of pathogens; regulated contaminants (nitrate, nitrite, bromate, etc.) and contaminants of emerging concern was evaluated through the soil columns. The results showed effective removal of most contaminants of interest which demonstrated that SAT potentially improves water quality and meets public health standards in potable reuse applications.

As pollinators bumble bees play the crucial role of contributing to propagation of flowering plants in favour of food production as well as biodiversity. Over the course of a few decades bumble bees have seen a remarkable decline, with contributing factors being climate change, pesticides and pathogens such as viruses and parasites. In Sweden, commercially reared bumble bees are bought for the purpose of pollination in fruit and berry plantations. However, these reared bumble bees are a suspected contributor to a spillover of pathogens to wild bees in the same area. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of five viruses and five parasites in wild bumble bees nearby commercially reared bumble bees and to determine seasonal variation in pathogen distribution. qPCR was used for analysis of Acute bee paralysis virus, Deformed wing virus, Slow bee paralysis virus, Black queen cell virus and Sacbrood virus as well as the parasites Crithidia bombi, Apicystis bombi, Nosema bombi, Sphaerularia bombi and Locustacarus buchneri. The results showed a statistically significant, 4,8 times higher prevalence of A. bombi nearby commercially reared bumble bees in greenhouses compared to control landscapes. The results were also compared to pathogen prevalences in bumble bees caught in June the same year, showing a significantly higher prevalence in a majority of the parasites. It also showed a decrease in all viruses except Black queen cell virus, where the decrease might be explained by RNA degradation.

This thesis examines several recent transformations in the United States health care system and their effects on the role of physicians. Technology, specialization, ancillary health care workers, for-profit hospitals and managed care corporations have all expanded throughout the health care industry. These changes have resulted in an increase in bureaucratic, capitalist and corporate influences over the system. As a result of the increasing costs of medical practice, the corporatization of health care is occurring in which physicians must not only rely on corporations for access to the capital that they need, but also relinquish some of their power to the corporations. McKinlay and Arches (1985) assert that these changes have led to the proletarianization of the physician. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and other forms of managed care companies continue to grow throughout the United States. Therefore, physicians, who have historically dominated the health care system, no longer have the autonomy that they once had. To measure physicians' attitudes toward these changes, The Managed Care in the New River Valley survey was conducted. The findings show that although managed care is not as strong as it is in other parts of the country, physicians still believe that their control of health care is declining. The importance of managed care companies and other third party influences will continue to increase in the future, as they further extend to areas such as the New River Valley. / Master of Science