This thesis is a report of an empirical investigation into the twin processes of adoption and rejection as they operate in the diffusion of a specific controversial technological innovation. The innovation, the aerial application of phenoxy herbicides, and its pattern of diffusion throughout the Alsea, Oregon area are examined. The processes involved are analyzed utilizing as a theoretical framework the Classical Diffusion of Innovation Model. This model is discussed in detail with particular attention being called to the social, economic, and political factors that contributed to its development and popularity. This specific model was utilized in this study for two purposes: (1) to systematically guide the attempt to understand and interpret important aspects of the controversy in the Alsea area, and (2) to ascertain the utility and flexibility of this perspective through hypothesis testing.

In 2000, a small group of refugees from Sudan were sponsored by three local churches in Maryville, Tennessee. The churches worked with the Bridge Organization in order to orchestrate the refugees' departure from Africa to Maryville. At the time of their sponsorship, it was believed that the Sudanese population in Maryville would be self-sufficient within two years of arrival. This study uses one-on-one, open-ended interviews and a paper-pencil questionnaire with the Sudanese population and a focus group with the American sponsors to assess the extent that the Sudanese refugee population in Maryville has become self-sufficient. While individual success depends on multitude of variables, the results indicate that in general, the Sudanese community is still struggling with American norms and culture, and, as a result, has not become self-sufficient.

Studies have shown that traditional food packaging for the fast food industry leach toxic chemicals into the food products. Some of these toxins are known endocrine disruptors, which results in reproductive issues as well as hormone imbalances. Alternatives to traditional food packaging have been addressed with special attention to bioactive, biopolymers, and biodegradable packaging in addition to active and intelligent packaging. The hypothesis states that customers will have high demand for more environmentally sustainable fast food packaging, while the alternative hypothesis states that demand will not be high enough to financially support the costly introduction of more environmental packaging products. The data attained suggest that the hypothesis will not be rejected. However, there are not conclusive results in terms of the alternative hypothesis, as further studies that address economical concerns must be completed. In terms of consumer demand, 94.92% preferred environmentally sustainable packaging over traditional packaging materials.

The research was to examine the issue of environmental determinism. It was an ideology that was prevalent throughout the early decades of the 20th century that held that the natural environment was responsible for virtually all human development. It helped bring the study of geography into the venue of postsecondary education, where it was viewed as a tool for study of human activities. It was a new science inspired by Darwinism that viewed human adaptation to the natural environment as critical to socialization. Relying on historical sources, the purpose of the study was to reveal how environmental determinism became a controversial extension of an ancient belief system. It played a role in religious thought, philosophy, and the rise of the social sciences. It likely dates back to the Neolithic epoch in which cultures explained the mysteries of the natural world in terms of fearsome anthropomorphisized elements. Today, the gods and goddesses have fallen by the wayside, while environmental determinism has not. Eventually, the ideology lost its major supporter and then became a topic of disapproval. However, it was never entirely disproven, but it did fall from grace. And, it is a belief that has persisted for centuries. It was central to Calvinism and some versions of Protestantism that were relocated to North America where it took root. In view of the evidence, it is proposed that environmental determinism be reopened for reassessment and debate. It is manifest that future generations be apprised of the potential problems that it may inspire. To paraphrase Ellen Churchill Semple, the study of humans without consideration of the earth, would be like studying cactus without consideration of the desert.

This study was undertaken to better understand inmate concerns of the prison environment across 8 dimensions. The 8 dimensions examined in this study were activity, emotional feedback, freedom, privacy, safety, social, structure, and support. To determine the importance of these dimensions among inmates, secondary data were used in an attempt to replicate and validate the findings from Wright's (1985) study which used a prison environment inventory instrument to assess inmate concerns. The secondary data consisted of an inmate sample of 1,054 taken from 30 prisons of minimum, medium, maximum and close security across the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. Principal component analysis did not support Wright's findings of 8 dimensions but indicated that safety was the primary dimension of concern. Confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling did find support for Wright's thesis.

An area can be torn by the competition between the preservation of its character and the desire for new development. Cayucos’ downtown area is recognized by both residents and visitors as a special place with a strong, small, coastal town feel. However, issues such as accessibility, public amenities, parking, maintenance, and general development needs have to be dealt with. This thesis deals with the issue of how to plan for change while maintaining the character of Cayucos, and presents an enhancement plan proposal for its downtown. The development of this plan was based on a research-based design methodology, which included a literature review on sense of place, a review of five case studies, and fieldwork with surveys, interviews, and on-site observations and analysis. The research included the understanding of the needs, interests, and expectations of the stakeholders, including local business owners, residents, and visitors, in order to help define core issues and to inform the vision and a series of responsive goals for the area’s enhancement. The final enhancement plan proposal followed a design approach that was responsive to site, context, and stakeholders, and will contribute to Cayucos’ quest for the increase of the quality of its downtown while responding to market and development needs.

Several studies and local accounts have documented elevated levels of air pollution and toxics on or near US public schools. The low cost of brownfield lands and lands near major sources of air pollution have made siting schools on these areas enticing. Histories of using toxic chemicals in building materials explain their presence in school environments. The impacts to academic achievement associated with air pollution and exposure to lead as well as the health implications of regular, high exposure to air pollution and toxic chemicals necessitate policy changes. In this paper, the extent of these health and achievement impacts will be analyzed along with the current work being done by government and nongovernmental organizations to mitigate pollution in public schools. This study will also offer policy recommendations to address these issues and advance environmental equity in public schools.

As tourism expands across the globe, tourists seek “undeveloped” areas to explore. This influx of visitors has lasting impacts on the natural environment and the socio-economic structures of host communities. Ecotourism has the potential to positively implement tourism that values the natural environment and its’ people. I argue that ecotourism initiatives led by outside agents prioritize natural environment over the indigenous peoples who have lived on the lands for centuries. Indigenous-led tourism inherently is ecotourism, and in Aymara culture ties to Pachamama and their way of live are more sustainable than green tourists traveling to their communities. This thesis draws on the recognized need for local communities to lead tourism initiatives, and examines the difference in outside involvement. An analysis of Isla de la Luna (Coati) and Isla del Sol (Challapampa) in Lake Titicaca, I argue that autonomy and respect of the Aymara people and their cultures should be prioritized as the tourism industry develops in Bolivia. Safeguarding against reproducing and increasing class divisions amongst community members is necessary to preserving sustainable cultural and communal relationships.

There is much potential to decrease energy consumption in the U.S. by encouraging compact, centralized development. Although many studies have examined the extent to which built environment and demographic factors are related to household energy use, few have considered both building and transportation energy together. We hypothesized that residents living further from city centers, or urban cores, consume more energy for both purposes than their inner city counterparts, resulting in a direct relationship between building and transportation energy usage. This hypothesis was tested with two case studies. The first focused on New York City. Annual building energy per unit of parcels, or tax lots, containing large multi-family structures was compared to the daily transportation energy use per household of traffic analysis zones (TAZs) (estimated with a regional travel demand model). Transportation energy showed a strong spatial pattern, with distance to urban core explaining 63% of variation in consumption. Building energy use was randomly distributed, resulting in a weak negative correlation with transportation energy. However, both correlation with distance to urban core and transportation energy became significant and positive when portion of detached single-family units for TAZs was used as a proxy for building energy. Structural equation models (SEMs) revealed a direct relationship between log lot depth and both uses of energy, and inverse relationship between portion of attached housing units and transportation energy. This supports the notion that sprawling development increases both the building and transportation energy consumption of households. For the second analysis, annual building and automobile energy use per household were estimated for block groups across the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan regions with Esri Consumer Expenditure Data. Both forms of energy consumption per household were lowest in inner cities and increased at greater distances from urban cores. Although there may be some error in estimates from modeled expenditure data, characteristics associated with lower energy use, such as portion of attached housing units and commuters that utilize transit or pedestrian modes, were negatively correlated with distance to urban core. Overall, this work suggests there are spatial patterns to household energy consumption, with households further from urban cores using more building and transportation energy. There is the greatest gain in efficiency to be had by suburban residents.

Biodiesel use and production has significantly increased in the United States and in other parts of the world in the past decade. This change is driven by energy security and global climate legislation mandating reductions in the use of petroleum-based diesel. Recent air quality research has shown that emission of some pollutants such as CO, particulate matter (PM), SO2, hydrocarbons, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is greatly reduced with biodiesel. However, studies have also shown that some unregulated emissions, such as gas-phase carbonyls, are increased with biodiesel combustion. Very limited research has been done to investigate the particle-phase carbonyl and quinone emissions from biodiesel combustion. Also, very limited studies have investigated the ozone oxidation of biodiesel exhaust PM. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) are found in high abundance in biodiesel exhaust PM. The presence of these FAMEs in biodiesel exhaust PM can potentially alter the kinetics of the reactions between ozone and particle-phase PAHs. In this study, an Armfield CM-12 automotive light-duty diesel engine operated on a transient drive cycle was used to generate PM from various waste vegetable oil (WVO) and soybean biodiesel blends (containing 0%, (B00), 10% (B10), 20% (B20), 50% (B50), and 100% (B100) biodiesel by volume). The primary PM emissions were sampled using Teflon-coated fiberfilm filters. Laboratory PAHs, FAMEs, and B20 exhaust PM were exposed to ~0.4 ppm ozone for time periods ranging from 0-24 hours in order to study the effect of FAMEs and biodiesel exhaust PM on the ozonolysis of PAHs. Organic chemical analysis of samples was performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). PAHs, carbonyls, FAMEs, and n-alkanes were quantified in the exhaust PM of petrodiesel, WVO and soybean fuel blends. The emission rates of the total PAHs in B10, B20, B50, and B100 exhaust PM decreased by 0.006-0.071 ng/µg (5-51%) compared to B00, while the emission rates for the FAMEs increased with increasing biodiesel content in the fuel. The emission rates of the total n-alkanes in B10, B20, B50, and B100 exhaust PM decreased by 0.5-21.3 ng/µg (4-86%) compared to B00 exhaust PM. The total emission rates of the aliphatic aldehydes in biodiesel exhaust PM (B10, B20, B50, and B100) increased by 0.019-2.485 ng/µg (36-4800%) compared to petrodiesel. The emission rates of the total aromatic aldehydes, total aromatic ketones, and total quinones all generally decreased with increasing biodiesel content in the fuel. With the exception of benzo[a]pyrene, the pseudo-first order ozone reaction rate constants of all the PAHs decreased by 1.2-8 times in the presence of the FAMEs. Phenanthrene, fluoranthene, and pyrene were the only PAHs detected in the B20 exhaust PM, and their ozone reaction rate constants were about 4 times lower than those obtained when the PAHs alone were exposed to ozone. The findings of this study indicate that there are both positive and negative effects to emissions associated with biodiesel use in light-duty diesel engines operating on transient drive cycle.