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Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone / The goal of this research is to define self sufficiency for mountain communities, understand the resources that make up a mountain community, and describe how current and future mountain communities can take steps toward self sufficiency. What the report explores and finds is that most mountain communities have all the resources available to become autonomous, sustainable areas able to support human, wildlife, and environmental health. This conclusion came from an extensive literature review on the resources of mountain communities, followed by analysis of the resources held in the mountain community of Summerhaven, Arizona. A list of prescriptive steps based on Summerhaven’s current needs is discussed, giving the community a ranked order of how they can utilize their resources to full potential and become autonomous to any outside resources. While further research into other communities is needed to more effectively understand the different scope of resource issues mountain communities are facing, this report has a general view of what effects all mountain communities. No two mountain communities will be the same in their resource needs, but the analysis on Summerhaven can be repeated in all existing communities. Self sufficiency in mountain communities is entirely possible and should be explored in order to make the mountain a healthy, sustainable, and beautiful landscape to be enjoyed by people for the rest of the time that they will be occupying Earth.

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The practice of linking Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and natural resource models has greatly increased in the recent past. Cheaper and more powerful computing resources have allowed us to build systems that minimize the effort and labor involved in parameterizing simulation models. However, by using computerized means to minimize the effort needed to facilitate model parameterization we have increased the complexity in these links between the two components. We have also increased the amount of knowledge required to build the link and have increased the need to understand the consequences of building the links between two systems. The practice of linking these two components creates new issues that affect both the GIS analyst and the researcher. The goal of this research project has been to develop an application linking GIS-based geo-processing tools developed in the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool to an internet-based map interface. The application allows a user to develop a management scenario by delineating a watershed based on one or more outlet points. The application uses the delineation and other input data sets to develop input parameter files for a hydrologic model, which then runs and produces output for the user. The development of the application produced many interesting issues, but the one identified as most important in terms of this dissertation research was an issue related to using current software development tools such as the Universal Modeling Language (UML) and software design patterns as a way to communicate about system requirements and system functions between programmers and project stakeholders. This research will examine how these software development tools were used to develop DotAGWA, the consequences of using the tools and an analysis of why these tools may be an important component in developing natural resource projects that rely heavily on GIS tools.

Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, shows promise for commercial development as a marine baitfish species. Significant markets for F. grandis already exist throughout the Gulf Coast, with the vast majority of supply coming from wild-harvests, which can be hampered by seasonal availability and inconsistent fish health and size. The genus Fundulus also represents an important group of model vertebrates for biological study. A recent review paper described this genus as the premier teleost model for environmental biology. New information generated as a result of the work contained in this dissertation may be more broadly applicable to sister species of F. grandis, enhancing the primary goal of improving reproductive output and fitness in cultured individuals of this species. Results of this dissertation include optimization of culture salinity, female broodfish body size, and dietary lipid composition. Optimal salinity for culture of juvenile F. grandis was 12.0, with growth incrementally increasing between 0.5, 5.0, 8.0, and 12.0. Survival was negatively affected at 0.5. Optimal body size for female broodfish was 12-13 g. Minimum size recommended for broodfish was 7 g and per-unit-mass fecundity begins to level off in females greater than 13 g. Fecundity of F. grandis was less sensitive to manipulations of dietary lipid content than many other fishes. No difference in fecundity was found among fish fed isonitrogenous diets ranging in lipid content from 4.0 to 13.8%. Excess lipid was mostly stored in the intraperitoneal cavity, rather than being partitioned for reproduction. Dietary lipid composition produced very little effect on overall fecundity in F. grandis, despite experimental diets with very different fatty acid (FA) composition. Differences did occur in subsequent larvae at extreme physiological conditions, but these variations were unlikely to have any effect on survival in culture or natural settings. Examinations of FA dynamics across time revealed that F. grandis likely utilizes a combination of mobilization from somatic reserves and de novo biosynthesis of long chain polyunsaturated FAs to compensate for dietary FA deficiency. Overall, the characteristic physiological plasticity of F. grandis also applied to lipid dynamics.

There is a pharmacist shortage in British Columbia that is considered particularly acute in rural and remote locations. As a result, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia has increased enrolment from certain geographic areas, assuming that students will return to these areas on graduation. The main objectives of this study are to determine where pharmacy graduates take their first jobs and the factors that influence their selection of job location. Survey methodology was used, with a written questionnaire being administered to the Class of 2007 after a validation process involving volunteers from the Class of 2006. Mean values of responses on rating scales were compared to assess for statistically significant (p≤O.O5) effects of location size and the demographic variables of age, sex, marital status, and ethnicity. Of 93 respondents who reported both a primary home town and ajob location, only 33(35%) planned to take jobs where they grew up and only 42 (45%) were taking jobs in the same area of the province. The most common migration patterns were from smaller to larger communities and from all over the province into Metro Vancouver. Those who grew up in Metro Vancouver did not leave. However, the majority of those who did take jobs in other areas of the province had lived there previously. The strongest influences on job location were familiarity with the location, ability to get an enjoyable job, pace of life, proximity to significant others, and career and relationship plans. Smaller community size, ability to practice in the manner desired, and pace of work were more important, and access to cultural, entertainment, and/or social activities were less important to those taking jobs in rural rather than urban areas. There were no findings of practical significance associated with the demographic variables examined. The selective admission into 12 specially funded seats in the program of students from geographic areas other than the province’s one large urban centre is modestly effective in ensuring a supply of pharmacists for these areas. However, the use of geography as a criterion for all seats and an increase in the total number of seats would ensure that the student body is more representative of the provincial population and would address both supply and demand aspects of the pharmacist shortage.

This thesis comprises three essays on the management of nonrenewable resources. Pollution is often associated with the use of nonrenewable resources. Indeed, many of today's most pressing environmental problems are caused by these types of activities. Despite the connection between nonrenewable resource use and environmental degradation, the two issues have been, for the most part, analysed separately by economists. The first paper develops a framework to analyse the effects of a pure-flow externality on the competitive allocation of nonrenewable resources. For commonly- used specifications of consumer preferences, the competitive allocation is found to be fully optimal for pure-flow externalities exhibiting decreasing marginal disutility. Hence, the paper shows that the presence of a negative externality associated with the use or extraction of a nonrenewable resource need not result in inefficiency. The US 1990 Oil Pollution Act is the most significant attempt yet made by a nation to deal with pollution of its territorial waters. It significantly altered the rights and obli gations of tanker owners operating in US waters, effectively introducing unlimited liability and significantly expanding the definition of spill damages. The second paper analyses the effect of the Act on major pelagic oil spills occurring world wide. The hypothesis that the Act had a negligible effect on the number of spills occurring in North America's coastal waters is tested empirically. The results indicate that the Act significantly reduced the number of spills occurring in North American coastal waters and has had no discernible effect on spill frequencies elsewhere. There is a keen and growing interest in the properties of vertical relationships governing the pricing and transfer of intermediate goods. The third paper examines an unusual and commercially-important vertical relationship — the price participation system —which is used extensively in the zinc industry. The paper explores the conjecture that significant demand uncertainty and risk aversion on the part of zinc smelters might explain why the industry uses the price participation system rather than a more conventional contractual arrangement. The results indicate that these factors do go part way toward explaining why the industry uses the price participation system.

Regenerated cellulose nanoparticles (RCNs) including both elongated fiber and spherical structures were prepared from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and cotton using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride followed by high-pressure homogenization. The RCN has a two-step pyrolysis, different from raw MCC and cotton that had a one-step process. The crystalline structure of RCNs was cellulose II in contrast to the cellulose I form of the starting materials. Also, the RCNs have decreased crystallinity and crystallite size. The elongated RCNs produced from cotton and MCC had average lengths of 123 ± 34 and 112 ± 42 nm, and mean widths of 12 ± 5 and 12 ± 3 nm, respectively. The average diameter of spherical RCNs from MCC was 118 ± 32 nm. Cellulose nanocrystals and cellulose nanofibers with I and II crystalline allomorphs (designated as CNC I, CNC II, CNF I, and CNF II) were isolated from bleached wood fibers by alkaline pretreatment and acid hydrolysis. The effects of concentration, particle size, surface charge, and crystal structure on the lyophilization-induced self-assembly of cellulose particles in aqueous suspensions were studied. Within the concentration range of 0.5 to 1.0 wt %, cellulose particles self-organized into lamellar structured foam composed of aligned membrane layers with widths between 0.5 and 3 ì m. At 0.05 wt %, CNC I, CNF I, CNC II, and CNF II self-assembled into oriented ultrafine fibers with mean diameters of 0.57, 1.02, 1.50, and 1.00 ì m, respectively. Cellulose nanoparticle (CNP) reinforced Polyvinyl alcohol-borax (PB) hydrogels were prepared through a facile approach in an aqueous medium. The obtained stiff, high-water-capacity (~96%), low-density (~1.1g/cm3), translucence hydrogels exhibited birefringence textures. These free-standing, high elasticity and mouldable hydrogels also exhibited self-recovery under continuous step strain and thermo-reversibility under temperature sweep. The rheological tests and compression measurements confirmed the incorporation of well-dispersed CNPs to PB system significantly enhanced the compressive strength, viscoelasticity and stiffness of the hydrogels. Highly-crystalline CNPs not only tangled with PVA chains though numerous hydrogen bonds, but formed chemically crosslinked complexes with borax ions as well, thus acting as multifunctional crosslinking agents and nanofillers to physically and chemically bridge the 3D network hydrogels.

I sought to understand how forest fragmentation and secondary growth affect avian movement at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) near Manaus, Brazil. When deforested areas are abandoned, secondary forests regenerate, allowing rainforest animals to gradually recovery their ability to use formerly inhospitable habitat. My colleagues and I captured 2773 understory birds of ten foraging guilds along the edges of primary forest fragments and variable secondary forest. Age of secondary forest along edges was the most important variable driving capture rates on primary/secondary edges. Mean recovery to pre-isolation capture rates was 26 years after abandonment, but terrestrial insectivores took far longer to recover than other guilds, ¡Ý 54 years. I radio-tracked 73 understory insectivores of three species in variable landscapes to uncover patterns in avian movement in secondary growth¡ªspecifically evaluating space use (home range, movement rate, etc.), edge responses and habitat transition probabilities. Space use varied widely as secondary growth recovered, with species showing vastly different spatiotemporal strategies in returning to forest. Woodcreepers Glyphorynchus spirurus and Xiphorhynchus pardalotus recovered to primary-forest-level edge responses and transition probabilities after 11¨C15 and 15¨C20 years, respectively. En route to recovery, both woodcreepers increased home range sizes and movement rates in young secondary forests. Formicarius colma, a common terrestrial insectivore, had a far more rigid strategy, avoiding young secondary forest, then using space in older secondary forest similarly to the way it used space in primary forest. With bird ages pooled, F. colma showed a return to no edge response about 28¨C30 years after land abandonment, with some evidence for an edge response by young birds even 27¨C31 years post-abandonment. Further, through habitat transition probabilities, I showed that F. colma preferred primary forest over 27¨C31 year-old secondary forest (the oldest at the BDFFP), indicating that even after 27¨C31 years, secondary forest had not recovered for movements of this terrestrial insectivore. By quantifying how land-use patterns affect avian movement, connectivity, and community dynamics, we will be generating the understanding necessary to manage heterogeneous landscapes for biodiversity conservation in the 21st century and beyond.

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