This thesis is a case study of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Louisiana court system and the response of the court system to the aftermath of these two hurricanes. Although this thesis focuses on one states court systems response to two natural disasters, the research, conclusions and recommendations are transferable to other states. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast in 2005 devastating large areas in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. Millions of people, including judges and attorneys, were forced to evacuate their homes, courts and law offices. The Hurricanes caused interruptions to both federal and state courts in Louisiana. Existing literature, both published and unpublished, was reviewed to determine how courts have responded to natural and man-made disasters in the past. Interviews with court personnel in Louisiana were conducted and available publications were reviewed to determine how courts in Louisiana were impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and how these courts responded to the aftermath of these two hurricanes. The broad geographic scope of the damage from the hurricanes created impediments to rapid resumption of court operations; however courts in Louisiana were able to resume most operations within a matter of months. Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, both federal and state courts in Louisiana have refined their emergency preparedness plans; however, further improvements are warranted. This thesis examines the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Louisiana court system and concludes with several recommendations for future emergency preparedness of the courts including implementation of electronic filing and record management systems, passage of legislation providing for extra-territorial exercise of jurisdiction in civil proceedings and additional training for stakeholders to better prepare for emergency conditions.

The research examines patterns of likely support for urban wetland restoration in the Greater New Orleans area. Through multi-variate statistical analysis of responses derived from an original survey of homeowners in New Orleans, key factors are identified that explain variation in residents willingness to accept such areas and their perceptions of ecological benefits associated with a theoretical wetlands restoration design for the Gentilly area. Further, the analysis determines the extent to which direct experience with Hurricane Katrina may influence public support for this and other green infrastructure projects. The results of the data collected show that many people in New Orleans understand the beneficial functions of wetlands overall, and in an urban setting. There is a trend that shows citizens would like to live in such created wetland/urban habitats. Those who went through the experience of Hurricane Katrina were more likely to have favorable inclinations toward urban wetlands. Implications of the results can be used by coastal planners and the stakeholders of coastal or flood-prone areas. Planners can design green infrastructure projects based on how the public views wetlands, especially following major disasters when the public may be more likely to support such changes.

Multitudes of pathogenic and infectious microbes are known to spread via contaminated aerosols. Dental personnel have an increased incidence of respiratory infections. Ultrasonic scaling procedures are reported to produce the largest amounts of contaminated aerosols of any dental procedure. The goal of the current study was to see if dental hygienists are at an increased risk of respiratory infections during the performance of their job and to see if certain dental procedures had a significant effect on this risk. This study was conducted at the Dental Hygiene Clinic of the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry in New Orleans, LA. An air monitor collected air composition data during various dental hygiene procedures, and a survey was given to dental hygiene students. The current study found significant increases in particle counts, aerosols and particulates, during ultrasonic scaling procedures. This significant increase in particle counts for a range of particles, 0.5-5.0 micron in diameter, was shown at the onset (p=0.0002) as well as throughout ultrasonic scaling procedures (p=0.0063). Aerosols of the 0.5-1.0 micron size range produced by dental procedures presents an important transportation mechanism since pathogenic bacteria and viruses can easily be carried by these size particles. Therefore, these results clarify the potential for significant risk of respiratory infection in dental hygienists. Recommendations are provided to help reduce this increased risk of aerosol mediated pathogen exposure during dental procedures. Survey analysis determined that receiving a flu shot the previous year had a significant effect on the likelihood of experiencing respiratory symptoms.

Understanding and assessing the spatial and temporal changes of quality of life and environment of a community is critical to its sustainable development, especially after a disaster strikes. This study explores an approach that integrates remote sensing with socioeconomic data to assess the temporal changes in quality of life and environment (QOL) using Orleans Parish as an example. Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005, has had vast implications economically, socially, and environmentally for this city and the surrounding area. Empirically quantifying these concepts will help to rebuild the city more sustainably. This study investigated change in environmental quality pre- and post-Katrina using Landsat-TM imagery. Environmental quality was measured by means of vegetation productivity as an indicator, using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Tasseled Cap Index (T-cap) of greenness, wetness, and brightness derived from the Landsat images. Factor analysis was employed to create a QOL index at the zip code level that incorporated both environmental (vegetation, flood depth) and socioeconomic variables. The factor analysis yielded four factors with 95.3% of the variance explained. A weighted QOL index was created that included seven variables from the four factors: NDVI, median household income, population density, housing density, median home value, educational attainment, and flood depth. Validation of the QOL indices with households receiving mail post-Katrina resulted in correlations of 0.546 and 0.510 for the pre- and post-Katrina QOL indices, respectively. The QOL index maps demonstrated spatial contiguity pre- and post-Katrina. Areas that exhibited high QOL included Downtown, Uptown, Garden District, West Bank, and Lakefront. Low QOL was found in New Orleans East, Lower Ninth Ward, and Central Business District. Four years after Katrina, much of the city experienced a decrease in QOL. Zip codes with high wealth tended to maintain or even increase their high QOL, such as in Uptown and the Garden District. This study suggests that higher values of income, education, home value, and vegetation contribute to higher QOL and increase resilience to natural disturbances. These QOL indices link human and natural systems and provide an effective means for comparing changes in a region after a disaster.

Sea level rise (SLR) is directly influenced by climate change through the processes of temperature affecting the growth and decay of continental ice (Barron and Thompson 1990). It is a significant environmental challenge that threatens coastal areas of many nations throughout the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report issued in 2007 states that SLR poses a serious challenge to sustainable development along many coastal areas. The objectives of this thesis are to examine the SLR management issue both in the P.R.C. and the U.S, identify the government agencies that are concerned with SLR issues in the two countries and the specific programs that have been conducted by these agencies, analyze the key obstacles to managing risks associated with SLR, and recommend actions to address some of these challenges. The research methods include reviewing the monitoring efforts, laws, and administrative systems dealing with SLR in the U.S. and the P.R.C., surveying a panel of experts consisting of government agency administrators and researchers in the two countries, and performing vulnerability analysis through case studies of two significant coastal areas in the U.S. and the P.R.C. The research findings indicate that the SLR monitoring efforts of the two countries are very similar, both in terms of technology used and the density of monitoring stations along the coastlines. However, different stages of policy development related to SLR were evident, with the U.S. having established a more integrated federal and state-level policy framework for incorporating SLR issues into coastal planning through the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. Currently, risk assessments and some planning activities similar to those conducted in the U.S. are being implemented or are under development by policy makers in the P.R.C.. The main obstacles reported by the experts in both countries to systematically incorporating SLR risks into coastal zone planning were limited budgets, public apathy and the presence of other pressing coastal management issues. Public education efforts designed to convey the potential risk of SLR to stakeholders of specific coastal communities, including possible socioeconomic and environmental consequences, would appear to be a logical strategy to address key reported obstacles to integration of SLR risks into long-term coastal planning.

Environmental pollution has become a steadily growing problem in todays society. East Baton Rouge alone has 13 chemical plants in the parish. The goal of this research is to find out if the chemical releases in the parish are having an effect on the cancer rates in East Baton Rouge Parish. I gathered data from all 64 parishes in Louisiana. The four chemicals I chose to study specifically, Benzene, Dioxin, Formaldehyde, and Xylene. Chemical release data was taken from the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) website and software from the years1988 to 2009, which was the last reporting year. The cancers I chose to study were Nasopharynx, Non Hodgkin Lymphoma, Leukemia, Lung and bronchus Cancer, and Soft Tissue Sarcomas. The cancer data was taken from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) programs software called SEERStat. Those data range from 1995 to 2009. I estimated a time lag of 10 years. Stata was used for the statistical analysis. I found that there is evidence that the chemical releases across the state have an effect on the cancer rates especially dioxin and formaldehyde. There were not enough cancer observations in East Baton Rouge parish to perform the analysis by parish and statistically say that chemicals in East Baton Rouge parish are having an effect on the cancer rates.

Due to the destruction of the damaging hurricanes of 2005, Katrina and Rita, more effort has gone into the rebuilding and prevention of future disasters along the Louisiana coast than ever before. This research focuses on the use of wetlands, in the ten coastal parishes of Louisiana, as a mitigation effort aiding in the protection of coastal communities. Using content analysis and decision support software, a wetland ranking was created that represents how wetlands are utilized and protected within each parish. Criteria gathered from the plans include how many times wetlands were mentioned, collaboration with the state and other agencies, and the occurrence of wetland mitigation projects within the plan or parish. This ranking shows Lafourche Parish having the highest wetland involvement and St. Bernard Parish the lowest. The next objective was to determine what factors may influence the wetland ranking. Collected data included 2000 socioeconomic, 2005 wetland, and 46 year hazard data for the ten parishes which was run against the wetland ranking in the SPSS program. The number of hazards the parish experienced over a 46 year period was the only factor shown to significantly impact the wetland involvement. Other interesting relationships include the percentage of wetlands in the parish and number of hazards along with hazard data and voting percentages. This research brings together protective and restorative measures in regards to wetlands along the coast. It is the first step in seeing how communities are adapting hazard mitigation plans to the specific needs of each area and opens the door to future research in which wetlands may be utilized as a way to decrease the vulnerability of coastal populations.

Oyster reefs have recently been identified as one of the most endangered coastal ecosystems, fueling efforts to restore and enhance these systems. Oyster reefs located in the northern Gulf of Mexico have been identified as some of the healthiest of reefs globally, and current efforts focus on devising an approach to Gulf-wide restoration of these reefs. As with all natural resource management and restoration, success is dependent on more than simply understanding the biological requirements of the resource; rather, they are equally dependent on understanding and working within the social and political context in which these management and restoration activities must occur. This project has developed a framework for setting Gulf-wide oyster reef restoration goals by identifying the geo-political, socio-economic, and spatial context in which restoration will occur. Specifically, this project assesses key political and socio-economic factors affecting oyster reef restoration in the Gulf by 1) exhibiting differences and similarities in state requirements for oyster reef restoration, and view points among oyster reef restoration project leaders in each state 2) determining stakeholder and various user groups perception of oyster reef restoration and 3) providing a spatial tool to aid decision making regarding oyster reef restoration in the Gulf. Results show that there are currently differences among the states in their oyster reef restoration policies and requirements, and differences in project leader goals that may make it difficult to create a region wide oyster reef restoration plan. There is also variation in how various stakeholder groups prefer for oyster reef restoration to occur, though there is unanimous stakeholder support for oyster reef restoration. Important biological and socio-economic spatial information identifies areas that are suitable for oyster reef restoration, allowing decision makers to more fully understand the potential success or effects of restored reefs. These studies show that there are socio-economic, geo-political and biological differences across the northern Gulf of Mexico that can ultimately create constraints as well as opportunities for a regional oyster reef restoration plan. This knowledge can help inform oyster reef restoration planners by guiding their restoration actions more efficiently and effectively, enabling them to achieve their desired outcomes.

Louisianas industrial corridor, the stretch of the lower Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, is one of the areas with the highest concentration of petrochemical facilities and chemical plants in the United States, as well as one of the most heavily polluted. In particular, the present study examined the associations of social vulnerability and potential exposure to environmental pollution in the upper section of the industrial corridor, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The study was based on the methodology developed by Cutter et al. (2003) to construct an empirically derived index to measure social vulnerability to environmental hazards. The data were collected at the zip code level for the year 2000. First, the underlying components of social vulnerability in the area were identified, that is, the socioeconomic factors that may result in unequal access to resources and that might affect the ability of communities to respond to hazard events. Poverty, urbanization, elderly, affluence, female and children, and race and ethnicity, were the six most relevant components in explaining the social vulnerability of the area at the zip code level. Second, the spatial distribution of social vulnerability was determined, with the most vulnerable zip codes clustered in the northwest portion of the region. Finally, the nature of the relationships between social vulnerability and environmental exposure risks was studied using Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data at the zip code level. Significant associations (á = 0.05) were found between environmental pollution and the urbanization and elderly components of social vulnerability. Furthermore, no significant correlation was found between toxic emissions and the overall social vulnerability index scores at the zip code level for the Baton Rouge MSA.

The estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals from the atmosphere at the county scale is an interest to many local decision makers and scientists looking to plan, track, mitigate, or reduce concentrations at the local or regional level. This thesis presents a new approach in downscaling state-level emissions to contiguous county levels using the state of Louisiana as an example. Here, we applied the volume- preserving principle in an attempt to improve existing methods and fully characterize accurate GHG emissions at the county (i.e., parish) level. All six Kyoto GHG emissions related to sources and sectors were assessed and consistent with prevailing national standards. The results, completed for the year 2005, addressed an accuracy issue by accounting for 97.74% of the states gross emissions, whereas previous existing methods were only able to account for approximately 79% of the total to Louisianas 64 parishes. A comparison of the volume-preserved results with a generally higher resolution bottom-up inventory for the City of New Orleans/Orleans Parish revealed consistent estimates across most sectors.