Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2002. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2959. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as preliminary leaves [1-2]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Waste generated by the health care industry has been cited as a major source of toxic pollution, including mercury and dioxins, which poses a serious threat to public health. The purpose of this study was to investigate pollution prevention activities of health care facilities in Oregon related to environmentally preferable purchasing practices, recycling, mercury reduction efforts, and written policy. Surveys were sent to 57 hospitals in Oregon, 24 facilities responded (42.1 %). Results indicate that the following environmentally-preferable purchasing practices are being implemented: purchasing reduced hazardous material (92%); using recycled packaging (75%); and, using products made from recycled content material (83%). Other practices, such as the purchasing of cadmium-free red bags (25%), supplies shipped in reusable shipping containers (34%), and using minimal packaging (46%) are being implemented in a few hospitals. None of the hospitals are purchasing chlorine-free office paper. The majority of participating Oregon hospitals are recycling paper (96%), cardboard (96%), clear glass (67%), linens (87.5%), batteries (67%) and X-ray film (83%). Fewer hospitals are recycling plastics: #1 PET and #6 polystyrene (37.5%), #2 HDPE (42%), #5 polypropylene (33%). Fewer hospitals are also composting food (46%), computers and equipment (42%), fluorescent lamps (21%) and solvents/fixers (29%). Major barriers to recycling in hospitals include lack of established markets for some materials, limited space to collect the materials, and low employee participation. The majority of participating hospitals are reducing the purchasing of mercury containing products, replacing mercury blood pressure units and gauges, replacing lab and housekeeping chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Fewer than 50% of then participating hospitals are replacing switches, recycling batteries and conducting an inventory of mercury sources. Few hospitals are checking drains and pipes for mercury contamination (13%), recycling fluorescent lamps (21%) and requiring vendors to disclose mercury content below 1% (17%). While most hospitals no longer purchase new mercury-containing devices, the cost associated with disposal of mercury as a hazardous waste is a major barrier to elimination. Hospitals located in urban areas in Oregon are more likely to implement pollution prevention strategies than rural hospitals. Nearly all Oregon hospitals lack a corporate policy on pollution prevention/source reduction, or written goals on waste volume reduction or waste toxicity reduction efforts. The few hospitals (8%) that have put policies in place have done so voluntarily, and with the full support from upper-level management. Based on theses findings recommendations include the following: 1) Establish a "Green Team" of hospital staff from diverse departments. This group can then strategize about courses of action for the facility with input from all responsible sectors. 2) Conduct a waste audit. This establishes a baseline of existing hospital waste and will help determine how to shape a waste minimization program and pollution prevention plan. 3) Pollution prevention education should be a top priority for all departments within each hospital including purchasing, nursing, housekeeping and top management. Many health care professionals are not aware of the link between the products and practices they choose and the environmental consequences of these choices. 4) Rural hospitals can join pollution prevention email list serves such as the Oregon Health Care Without Harm list (HCWHoregon-health.org) or the H2E list serve (www.h2e-online.org) to share, learn and identify practical strategies for pollution prevention and waste minimization. 5) Approach and involve upper level management to work with hospital "green teams" to develop and implement a hospital policy on pollution prevention. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Tufts University, 2000. / Cover title. "Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering Tufts University." "May 2000."

No description available.

Experiments were to study the effects of anionic polyacrylamide (PAM) on viruses and bacteria movement in soil. A water pollution problem which affects all areas with significant rainfall is soil erosion and subsequent transport of soil and all land-based pollutants. In recent year, high molecular weight polymers, such as anionic polyacrylamides (PAMs), have been used for soil erosion control and subsequent environmental problems. PAM is found to enhance infiltration. Land application of manure, sludge, and wastewater is common in many areas of the world, including the United States. Bacteria, viruses and other pathogens can be found in these waste materials. Studies must be conducts to evaluate if the use of polymers will allow water pollution constituents such as chemicals, pesticides, and microbial pathogens to reach groundwater in aquifer. / Water Resources Research Center; Civil Engineering Department of University of Hawaii at Manoa

Thesis (M.S.)--Portland State University, 1993. / Computer-produced typeface. "Technical report EWR-003-93."--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76). Also available on the World Wide Web.

No Abstract Provided, see paper for executive summary

This dissertation consists of three essays each of which revolves around a group of environmental engineers/scientists who have a different vision of how science should be done and who are seeking to work side-by-side with non-scientific partners to find alternative pollution prevention strategies and technologies. Their goal is to address environmental and social problems by "democratizing" science and redefining expert-lay collaboration so as to involve all participants in the design and application of ecologically friendly technologies and pollution prevention strategies. These scientists and engineers, who call themselves the "Learning Alliance," reflect a trend that researchers in the area of the social study of science and technology call a shift from Mode 1 to Mode 2 science. The first essay focuses on how the Learning Alliance attempts to enact Mode 2 science. I present an ethnographic study that analyzes how the Learning Alliance goes about establishing the kind of collaboration with end-users on which their vision of science depends. I show that successful negotiations between the Learning Alliance and a particular corporate group of end-users with whom they were working took place only after a series of failed attempts. I argue that both the failures and the successful project they were finally able to establish, can be explained in terms of what Learning Alliance learned about the prerequisites for successful collaborations. More specifically, using social worlds theory and the concept of boundary objects, I make the case that only once effective boundary objects are found can lines of action between social actors in different social worlds be fit together. In the second essay I draw parallels between the emergence of a Mode 2 model of science and debates within sociology about the need to move towards a public sociology, that is, a sociology that is more socially engaged. I discuss how the demands of a more publicly oriented sociology presented itself as a dilemma in my own research and how this ultimately led to both a repositioning of myself as an analyst and a re-negotiated relationship with the Learning Alliance I was studying. The third essay serves as an example of the kind of product that can result when sociologists step outside of their role as detached observers of the groups they study and instead, collaborate with those groups in promoting their collective agendas. The essay is a paper I wrote together with a member of the Learning Alliance. The paper deals with the question of how to involve end-users in all phases of technological development within water and sanitation sectors. The paper builds on the trading zone metaphor frequently used in the sociology of science to explain expert-lay collaborative ventures. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)