In an effort to bridge the gap between public health practice and academia, the Health Resources and Services Administration–funded Tennessee Public Health Training Center (LIFEPATH) has supported establishment of an academic health department (AHD) involving the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health (COPH) and the Sullivan County Regional Health Department (SCRHD). The SCRHD identified a need to increase internal capacity to conduct ongoing community health assessment and community-centered practice. Similarly, the COPH recognized the need to expand evidence-based practice implementation and evaluation opportunities for public health students. Personnel from the SCRHD, LIFEPATH, and the COPH developed a formal AHD agreement during the summer of 2012 and launched the program the subsequent fall semester. One aspect of the COPH/SCRHD/LIFEPATH model that addresses financial barriers experienced by other AHDs is the competitive awarding of the coordinator position to a doctor of public health student from the COPH, demonstrating investment in the model by the college. The doctor of public health student gains leadership experience through project management, coordination of the local health council, and day-to-day facilitation of undergraduate and master's student interns. The SCRHD benefits from the formal academic background of graduate-level interns dedicated to working in the community. This AHD framework offers an opportunity for doctoral-level students to develop practical leadership skills in a health department while enhancing the capacity of the SCRHD and the COPH to serve their community and stakeholders.

Disposal of dredged material has been an on-going problem in the Auckland Coastal Marine Area (CMA) since the early 1980s in New Zealand. Many disposal grounds have been established and used, but public concern over adverse effects resulted in their ultimate closure. Presently, dredged material is disposed off-shore at a site simultaneously accessed by the Royal New Zealand Navy for disposal of WWII munitions recovered from coastal areas. As early as the mid-1990s, parliamentary focus groups established the need for a more suitable disposal option for dredged material. Establishment of a disposal site north of Cuvier Island in waters deeper than 100 m was one of the key recommendations presented by these groups. The need for a new site was compounded after the establishment of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park in 2000. Taking up the majority of the Auckland CMA this culturally significant Park makes the consent for open water disposal a complex process. A site east of Great Barrier Island in 140 m of water has been identified as a potential suitable site for disposal of dredged material. The main goal of the present study is to determine the suitability of this site and provide the necessary information required by enforcing authorities for permit submission. Investigations to determine the suitability of the site were undertaken in several ways. An extensive literature review of previous studies was carried out to gain insight into the physical and biological characteristics of the northeast coast and shelf. The main hydrodynamic features of the region and the observed behaviours were determined. Attentions were then directed at determining the more specific site characteristics. Analytical calculations were undertaken using known site parameters to estimate the potential for transport of sediment away from the site after disposal. Through analysis of known wave and current measurements it was estimated that only rarely would sediment be entrained off the seafloor. Samples were then collected from the site in November 2007, which were used for sediment textural analysis and benthic identification. It was determined that the main textural component of the site sediments is muddy/sand. Diversity of benthic species is relatively high, but abundance is low. Polychaetes were the most diverse and abundant taxon identified at sample locations across the site. Next, the 3DD model was used to numerically simulate 2-dimensional tidal currents. Depth-averaged spring tidal currents at the site were predicted to be less than 0.2 ms-1. The derived bottom velocity for such a current is 0.08 ms-1, which is much less than the velocity required for initiation of sediment movement in this case. The numerical simulation also showed that residual spring tidal flow is directed to the southeast. Finally, an assessment of potential impacts was done by reviewing previous studies of ecological impacts caused by disposal of dredged material. Based on the preliminary studies summarised above, the review of potential impacts indicates that there will only be minimal effects at and surrounding the proposed site. The result of this study is an encouraging step toward establishment of a new disposal option, but further research is required to confidently declare that the site is suitable for disposal operations.

In its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change estimated that global mean temperature will increase between 1.8 to 4.0°C by the end of the 21st century. An increase in global temperature by even a few degrees could have significant environmental and economic impacts, and mean that economic sectors that are better able to adapt to a changing climate will prosper, and those that are not may decline, relocate or disappear. Traditional resource sectors, which are highly reliant on environmental conditions, such as agriculture and forestry have been considering the implications of climate change for several decades. The tourism sector, which is also highly reliant on environmental factors, has only begun to consider the possible impacts of climate change over the past five to seven years. The integrated effects of a changing climate are anticipated to have far-reaching consequences for the rapidly growing global tourism economy and the communities that rely on the sector. In fact, the United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], United Nations Environment Program [UNEP] and World Meteorological Organization [WMO] identified climate change as the ‘greatest challenge to the sustainability of the global tourism industry in the 21st century’. The winter tourism sector has been repeatedly identified as vulnerable to climate change due mainly to the high susceptibility of mountain environments and the projected reduction in natural snow availability. The international ski industry has received the most detailed attention because of the sector’s high cultural and economic importance in many regions. The multi-billion dollar ski sector is highly vulnerable to changes in both regional and local climate and as a result has been projected to experience decreased natural snow reliability resulting in decreased season length, increased snowmaking requirements, increased operating costs, and decreased revenues in association with decreased visitation. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine climate change vulnerability (see glossary of terms, p. xi) (both- supply and demand-sides) for the entire US Northeast ski tourism sector in order to understand how the regional marketplace, as a whole, is likely to change in response to projected climate change. Previous research has been piecemeal in its approach (i.e. examining either supply or demand) and has largely neglected to examine climate change vulnerability of the ski sector from a systems-based perspective (i.e. examining both supply and demand for a single marketplace). Understanding how the US Northeast ski area marketplace may contract under climate change conditions including how ski area competitors may fair under future conditions, and how demand-side behavioural response is likely to occur, would allow ski area operators and managers to develop and implement appropriate adaptation strategies that can help reduce the negative impacts of change while taking advantage of any opportunities. The research revealed that there is likely to be a contraction of ski area supply, which favours those ski areas that are able to afford the increased cost of adapting to projected changes in climatic conditions. Ski areas that are situated at higher elevations or are located in the northern portion of the Northeast region, were found to be at an advantage due to lower temperatures and more precipitation falling as snow. Ski areas in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and northeastern New York were projected to maintain longer season lengths, require less snowmaking and be more likely to be operational during the economically important Christmas-New Year holiday than ski areas in Connecticut or Massachusetts. The extent to which skiers intend to change their skiing behaviour in response to the projected impacts on ski area supply were not significantly greater than the extent to which they already change their skiing habits when current conditions are poor. This suggests that the future response to climate change is likely to be similar to that which has been observed during marginal snow conditions of the past, and that demand for skiing opportunities is not likely to reduce proportionally to the expected reduction in supply. In which case, the ski areas that are able to remain operational under projected climate change, may be able to take advantage of a possible geographic market shift (i.e. greater demand/market share for ski areas that remain). If there is a net transfer of demand throughout the remaining marketplace, it would mean that some communities would need to prepare for development pressures (e.g. water use for snowmaking, real estate development, slope expansion, congestion) associated with the concentration of ski tourism in fewer areas, while others would need to prepare for economic diversification and investment in alternative industries (i.e. adapted snow-based industry or non-snow-based industry).

In its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change estimated that global mean temperature will increase between 1.8 to 4.0°C by the end of the 21st century. An increase in global temperature by even a few degrees could have significant environmental and economic impacts, and mean that economic sectors that are better able to adapt to a changing climate will prosper, and those that are not may decline, relocate or disappear. Traditional resource sectors, which are highly reliant on environmental conditions, such as agriculture and forestry have been considering the implications of climate change for several decades. The tourism sector, which is also highly reliant on environmental factors, has only begun to consider the possible impacts of climate change over the past five to seven years. The integrated effects of a changing climate are anticipated to have far-reaching consequences for the rapidly growing global tourism economy and the communities that rely on the sector. In fact, the United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], United Nations Environment Program [UNEP] and World Meteorological Organization [WMO] identified climate change as the ‘greatest challenge to the sustainability of the global tourism industry in the 21st century’. The winter tourism sector has been repeatedly identified as vulnerable to climate change due mainly to the high susceptibility of mountain environments and the projected reduction in natural snow availability. The international ski industry has received the most detailed attention because of the sector’s high cultural and economic importance in many regions. The multi-billion dollar ski sector is highly vulnerable to changes in both regional and local climate and as a result has been projected to experience decreased natural snow reliability resulting in decreased season length, increased snowmaking requirements, increased operating costs, and decreased revenues in association with decreased visitation. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine climate change vulnerability (see glossary of terms, p. xi) (both- supply and demand-sides) for the entire US Northeast ski tourism sector in order to understand how the regional marketplace, as a whole, is likely to change in response to projected climate change. Previous research has been piecemeal in its approach (i.e. examining either supply or demand) and has largely neglected to examine climate change vulnerability of the ski sector from a systems-based perspective (i.e. examining both supply and demand for a single marketplace). Understanding how the US Northeast ski area marketplace may contract under climate change conditions including how ski area competitors may fair under future conditions, and how demand-side behavioural response is likely to occur, would allow ski area operators and managers to develop and implement appropriate adaptation strategies that can help reduce the negative impacts of change while taking advantage of any opportunities. The research revealed that there is likely to be a contraction of ski area supply, which favours those ski areas that are able to afford the increased cost of adapting to projected changes in climatic conditions. Ski areas that are situated at higher elevations or are located in the northern portion of the Northeast region, were found to be at an advantage due to lower temperatures and more precipitation falling as snow. Ski areas in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and northeastern New York were projected to maintain longer season lengths, require less snowmaking and be more likely to be operational during the economically important Christmas-New Year holiday than ski areas in Connecticut or Massachusetts. The extent to which skiers intend to change their skiing behaviour in response to the projected impacts on ski area supply were not significantly greater than the extent to which they already change their skiing habits when current conditions are poor. This suggests that the future response to climate change is likely to be similar to that which has been observed during marginal snow conditions of the past, and that demand for skiing opportunities is not likely to reduce proportionally to the expected reduction in supply. In which case, the ski areas that are able to remain operational under projected climate change, may be able to take advantage of a possible geographic market shift (i.e. greater demand/market share for ski areas that remain). If there is a net transfer of demand throughout the remaining marketplace, it would mean that some communities would need to prepare for development pressures (e.g. water use for snowmaking, real estate development, slope expansion, congestion) associated with the concentration of ski tourism in fewer areas, while others would need to prepare for economic diversification and investment in alternative industries (i.e. adapted snow-based industry or non-snow-based industry).

This study refers to developed ecological model abroad, and established the seagrass model with MATLAB compiler. I also took the seagrass meadows in south Taiwan-Nanwan for my studying case, and simulated the dynamic effect of seagrass and epiphyte biomass, as well as nutrient, and attempted to go on probing into the cause with northeast monsoon and typhoon. The simulating site of this study was Nanwan, which is located at Hengchun Peninsula, the southern tip of Taiwan. The dominant species in this area is Thalassia hemprichii. South Taiwan is situated at a tropical climate, and the variation of air temperature is small. Additionally, Kurshio embranchment cause the variation of water temperature smaller, about 24 (¢J) to 30 (¢J).The northeastern monsoonal winds, formed downhill winds, are extremely forceful from October to April, so the wind speed is greater during this period than the rest of the year. In South Taiwan, dry-wet season is clearly. The dry season is from November to April, and the wet season is from May to October. The main rainfall comes from southwest monsoon, especially summer typhoon (June to September). The wind speed is raised abruptly by typhoon and makes water agitate, which not only cause the mortality raising but also the sediment turbulence. By Lin¡¦s research (2005), the growing area of seagrass meadow in Nanwan is a half-closed tidal pool where human makes huge effect and there is a lot of drainage of house and inn sewage. Furthermore, these seagrasses in Nanwan would be exposed to air during the period of poor tide and the emerged period is the longest of these three areas -Nanwan, Dakwan and Wanliton. The seasonal dynamic of seagrass, which is located in the high site of intertidal zone, is obvious, and the biomass is larger in summer than in winter; but that is not obvious in the low site and tidal pool. By the seasonal condition and some specially climate condition mentioned above, the analysis of simulate cases would be go on. Comparing of the modeling result and real measurement, the seasonal changing situation mostly match up. No matter high site (emerged and dried) or low site, there is the maximum of seagrass biomass (including above ground, below ground, or shoot density) in summer, and the minimum in winter. Typhoon causes the biomass losing abruptly in summer. R/S ratio (below-ground biomass division above-ground biomass) is bigger in winter than in summer. On one hand the inside nitrogen redistribution is larger in summer, because the larger growth rate occurs in summer, and the more nutrient is supplied from roots, on the other the redistribution is smaller in winter cause the less nutrient is supplied from roots. Epiphyte biomass has the maximum in summer, when the nutrient concentration of water is larger. In the section of the difference between low and high site seagrass, it is apparent that the high site seagrass would be exposed to air and dried by northeast monsoon. Although typhoon comes up, its influence is not so strong as northeast monsoon at high site. The maximum biomass still occurs in summer, and it is presumed that the living environment of high site seagrass is with more pressure by nature. The above-ground biomass of high site seagrass is smaller than low site, but the below-ground biomass is much lager at high site. Besides, shoot density is larger at high site. The biomass of epiphyte is larger at low site just opposite to shoot density. It is supposed that high site seagrass is emerged to air and limited by environment factors so above-ground biomass would be reduced and store up the sustenance to below-ground biomass. It is conjectured that the main factor with shoot density is affected by light density and below-ground biomass. In shallow water, the seagrass at high site could accept more light energy, moreover the below-ground biomass is sufficient and the recruitment rate is large, thus there are more shoots at high site. Epiphytes are also limited by water depth and wind, and the biomass of epiphyte at high site is smaller than at low site.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 234-250). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

This dissertation explores some of the ways in which precarity takes form in a reeling present. Many social and political analysts have described the contemporary socio-economic and political situation in the Northeastern states of India, marked by a situation of civil war for more than half-a-century, as an “impasse.” With particular focus on Manipur, one of the eight Northeastern states, this dissertation looks at some of the ways in which people live through this “impasse.” Through a series of extraordinary and ordinary scenes, brief encounters, public testimonies, biographical sketches and autobiographical accounts it speaks of the precariousness of life, relationships, rituals and cultural categories even as people suffer and respond to the ongoing “crisis” of law and order, a defining feature of the “impasse.” Inspired by the affective turn in Critical Theory, this dissertation does not see precarity as necessarily traumatizing, thereby keeping the trope of trauma at a critical distance while attending to the lives of people in a situation of low-intensity armed conflict of long duration. It does not claim to provide any final explanation of what is happening in Manipur today rather it offers an innovative way to revisit anew some of the old anthropological questions about people and places undergoing dramatic changes. / text

Meteorologists working for the state government in Ceara, Northeast Brazil claim that the kinds of forecasts they can currently produce are not useful for subsistence farmers, who lack resources to act on forecast-based decisions. I argue that scientific predictions do have meaning and consequences in rural communities. Official forecasts inform policies that affect farmers; therefore, farmers hold government accountable for predictions, even if they do not directly influence the farmers' own decision-making.My investigation takes the discussion beyond notions of "usefulness" as I demonstrate that prediction is more than a projection of the future based on the past and the present. In prediction discourse, people create understandings of their place in the social world, including their relationship to government. While government discourse constructs farmers as "non-users" and removes its responsibility to them, traditional "rain prophets" motivate farmers with optimistically-framed predictions and encourage autonomy from government.Prediction is a meaning-making endeavor―not just of ecological and atmospheric processes, but of who people are and how they live. Drawing on linguistic theories of performance and performativity, I analyze strategic language use within a cultural models framework, taking into account the emotions and motivations associated with experiences of living in a particular environment (both natural and material), and how these are crucial to understanding the meanings of prediction. Through prediction, people test the limits of their knowledge, judgement and faith. My examination of the connections between cultural models of 'prediction' and 'lie' explains how traditional predictions motivate farmers and build solidarity in opposition to exclusionary systems of government and science.This research furthers our understanding of how locally marginalized groups engage with government and the knowledge systems it privileges. After tracing constructions of "rain prophet" and "scientist" in the media, I show how rain prophets both oppose themselves to and align themselves with media representations of science, as they establish their authority and challenge meteorologists' expertise. Meanwhile, meteorologists work to authenticate science as the only legitimate authority. Thus, in prediction performances, meteorologists and rain prophets position themselves within local and global discourses about science and traditional knowledge.

The Cougar Creek / Northeast Interceptor Canal watershed is located within the Corporation of Delta and the City of Surrey. Urbanization has been affecting the natural dynamic and environmental conditions of this watershed. This study was conducted to provide a preliminary evaluation of the health of the Cougar Creek, which includes physicochemical and biological aspects of water quality, and to serve as the basis for the design of a more complex water quality monitoring program. A three-tiered methodological approach, which included a literature review, field measurements and statistical analyses, was used. The stream was monitored from Fall 2010 to Fall 2011 at Westview Drive and at Nicholson Road. Chemical constituents were monitored monthly and benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled in Spring 2011. Physical parameters were recorded continuously using automated samplers. Concentrations of constituents did not exceed the BC criteria for the protection of aquatic life, except for total cadmium. Parameters such as dissolved oxygen and temperature at Nicholson Road, and streamflow at both locations during the dry season were recorded at levels that can harm aquatic life. Statistic analysis indicated that differences in streamflow are associated with concentration changes in some of the constituents between the two sites. Analysis of the benthic community indicated that only tolerant organisms were present at the sites. Differences in habitats between the sites were identified which limited the stream’s health comparability. The study identified the need for collecting first flush events data in future research and recommends BMP that could enhance the stream’s environmental condition.

Family day care providers operate at the interface of the private and the public. They are self-employed and work at home, yet their 'suitability' to provide childcare is scrutinised by officials and rules and regulations operating on different levels which can restrict their business opportunities. Family day care takes place in a particular cultural context concerning ideas of childrearing and against the backdrop of other childcare and educational provision. The focus of the thesis is the family day care provider, one of the members in the childcare triangle of child, parents and childcare worker. Previous research was mainly interested in the quality of childcare provided and parents' satisfaction. Here working conditions, such as hours worked, workload, income are examined, as are career prospects. Who are the women who become family day care providers and how do they see their future? The daily routines of family day care providers are examined and possible detenninants investigated. However, perceived needs of children may differ from demands arising out of parents' reason for using this kind of childcare service. Family day care providers accounts are examined in order to identify the various aspects of childcare arrangements and how to develop relationships that promote successful arrangements. Since family day care takes place in the home other family members are part of the setting and are affected by their mother's or wife's work. At the same time their contribution to the work of a family day care provider has to be included in the investigation ofthe working conditions. The comparison of family day care providers living in two different locations, four local authorities in the Northeast of England and one town in the Northeast of Germany allows the influence of family and childcare policies and the impact of cultural perceptions of good childrearing practices to be traced. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. Apart from new insights into the actual working conditions of family day care providers, a better understanding of the intended and unintended effects of policies regulating family day care has been gained. The findings contribute to the debate on paid and unpaid work, and paid and unpaid care, as well as to the debate over equal opportunities, showing a more complicated relationship than just a gendered division.