The United States has the highest college attrition rate among industrialized nations. Community college students face a much higher risk, particularly those who lack requisite reading/writing skills. Using the theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory, this study explored the relationship between persistence in college for students in traditional or corequisite remediation. Person factors under study were frustration discomfort, academic motivation, and self-reported symptoms of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After 7 semesters, 72 adult student volunteers from the 2 remediation programs were recruited from 2 community colleges. They completed an online survey, which included a demographics questionnaire, the Frustration Discomfort Scale, the Academic Motivation Scale, and the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist (ASRS-V1.1). Based on the results of Chi square, t-test, and MANOVA analyses (as appropriate per research question), type of remediation indicated a slight, albeit statistically nonsignificant effect on persistence. Persisters and nonpersisters did not differ on frustration discomfort nor academic motivation. However, persisters demonstrated significantly lower levels of adult self-reported ADHD symptoms than those who did not persist. The positive social change implications of this study include using the findings to promote early testing and diagnosis of ADHD, active monitoring of students in remediation, and proactive (i.e., intrusive) advising for students with this disability, in order to facilitate the best outcomes for their academic pursuits.

Underprepared students desiring to enter teacher education programs struggle to achieve minimum state-required Praxis I exam scores. This problem affects teacher education programs, student success, and university enrollment and retention. With proper resources and support, these students may experience personal and academic success that may be transferred to their own students once they are certified teachers. At the participating mid-South university, the effectiveness of the existing remedial program was unknown. The study's purpose, rooted in the constructivist learning principles of Dewey and Bruner, was to address the effectiveness of the local university's existing remedial program in assisting the teacher education students in meeting state testing requirements. In this qualitative case study, existing deidentified student Praxis I scores (n = 41), archived remedial course information and departmental records, and deidentified course grades were analyzed descriptively and collectively to determine the effectiveness of the remedial program. All data were coded and analyzed for patterns to reveal problems or resources relative to student performance. Key findings indicated that although the remedial courses addressed many Praxis I concepts, a redesign of the content and instructional approach may benefit underprepared students. Recommendations included using the data-based white paper produced from this study as a guide to improve remedial courses. This study may affect social change by providing an innovative approach to improve remedial programs to affect student achievement outcomes.

Extractive processes can permanently and significantly reduce the volume, toxicity and mobility of contaminated materials at affected sites. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), N-2 (acetamido)iminodiacetic acid (ADA), pyridine2,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDA), and hydrochloric acid (HC1) were evaluated in batch studies for their ability to remove lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) from a Superfund soil. The extraction of Pb as a function of time was limited and the order of Pb removal was EDTA > ADA > PDA > HC1. Repeated extractions did not treat the soil below the Pb regulatory limit (1,000 mg/kg); however, the Pb remaining occurs in an immobile form. All extractants treated the soil below the proposed Cd regulatory limit (40 mg/kg) within 1 h. Lead recovery from solution was accomplished by hydroxide precipitation in the presence of excess calcium, and recovery at pH 11 was 70%, 98%, and 97% from the EDTA, ADA, and PDA complexes, respectively. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on November 6, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Resource Development, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 27, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-106). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 418-432). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Currently there are about 3 700 contaminated sites that used to host commercial- and nursery gardens.  Mainly due to the extensive use of pesticides at these sites a great part of them now pose a significant environmental- and health risk. This study aimed to compare how Swedish municipalities has worked with the clean-up of contaminated soil at these kinds of sites. This has been done by sending out a questionnaire to the municipality’s environmental management office. This study’s results have indicated that the most used remediation technology was excavation. The methods relative speed and simplicity was the usual motivation behind this choice. The results also showed that mostly Swedish guideline values where used in the remediation process. Furthermore, the most common remediation goal at these sites was that the remediated soil would live up to the Swedish environmental protection agency’s guideline values for sensitive land usage. The most common answer regarding why their remediation goal was set was because of the planned or present land usage at the site. The most common method for initial risk assessment was the comparison of contamination levels from soil samples to relevant guideline values or based on previous risk classification. Finally, the results showed that in most cases where remedial action had been taken, contaminants had been left in the soil. The most common reason for this was because the remaining pollution levels did not exceed the guideline values. For the most part, Swedish municipalities have a coherent way of working with these problems.

Major challenges concerning climate change are facing the world and action needs to be taken by the entire society to prevent serious consequences. Contaminated sites are another wide spread environmental and health issue and the need for remediation is great. Unfortunately, remediations often cause high climate impact due to many and long transports, as well as other factors, in order to treat or deposit the contaminated soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate if and how Swedish municipalities take the climate issue into consideration when selecting a soil remediation method and to identify factors that could increase the climate consideration. To accomplish this, a survey was created and directed to the departments of land and exploitation, in 276 municipalities of Sweden. The results showed that it was not very common to set goals concerning limited climate impact or to calculate it. Rather many deposit contaminated soil and rather many also think that more climate friendly remediation techniques could lead to equal risk reduction. Increased technical feasibility and increased knowledge, as well as increased guidance on risk balancing and changed requirements from authorities, were most often believed to have the highest potential of increased climate consideration. Cost and time consumption were often limiting factors. Conclusions were that the development of sustainable remediation techniques needs to continue. Also, authorities are suggested to offer more guidance as well as a more holistic approach in order for the remediation sector to better meet climate goals.

No description available.

The magnitude of contaminant mass flux reduction associated with a specific amount of contaminant mass removed is a key consideration for evaluating the effectiveness of a source-zone remediation effort. Thus, there is great interest in characterizing, estimating and predicting relationships between mass flux reduction and mass removal. Intermediate-scale flow- cell experiments and published data for several field studies were examined to evaluate factors controlling the mass-flux-reduction/mass-removal relationship. Flow-cell experiments evaluated the impact of source-zone architecture and flow-field heterogeneity on mass-flux-reduction/mass-removal behavior. Significant reductions in mass flux occurred for systems wherein immiscible-liquid mass was present at both residual saturation and in high saturation pools. For a system with immiscible liquid present in multiple zones of different permeability, an increase in mass flux was observed for late stages of mass removal. Image analysis confirmed that the late stage increase in mass flux was attributed to changes in relative permeability. Early reductions in mass flux were also observed for systems wherein immiscible-liquid mass was poorly accessible to flowing water. End-point analysis, based on comparing masses and mass fluxes measured before and after a source-zone remediation effort, conducted for 21 field remediation projects ranged from slightly less than to slightly greater than one-to-one. Time-continuous analysis, based on continuous monitoring of mass removal and mass flux, performed for two sites illustrated the dependence of the mass-flux-reduction/mass-removal relationship on source-zone architecture and mass-transfer processes. Minimal mass flux reduction was observed for a system wherein mass removal was relatively efficient. Conversely, a significant degree of mass flux reduction was observed for a site wherein mass removal was inefficient. A simple mass-removal function was used to evaluate the measured data at both the intermediate and field scales. This function was unable to capture the complex behavior observed for some of the systems unless specific measurable system parameters were incorporated into the function. Finally, mathematical models of varying complexity used to simulate immiscible liquid dissolution illustrated the dependence of the calibrated dissolution rate coefficient on implicit and explicit consideration of larger-scale factors influencing immiscible liquid dissolution.