In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning.

In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning.

In order to extend ecological footprint analysis (EFA) to electronic products, new methods had to be developed which associate the world average bioproductive space per capita and year - the fair Earth share - with an individual product. The problem analysed in this thesis is the need for an environmental assessment tool for electronic products, which uses natural capital accounting. This need arose because so far, electronic products were mainly assessed using life cycle analysis with a focus on toxicity. Since the ecological footprint (EF) is a sustainability indicator, the sustainability discussion and in particular its relevance and implications with regard to the EF is reviewed. The electronic products assessed in this thesis are a personal computer (PC) in an exploratory study, and three mobile phones (two main case studies and one updated case study). To establish the land areas used by the mined materials used in electronic products, a database was developed based on site specific data found in the literature, and on approximations from the density of materials and their overburden. A life cycle energy approach was used to determine the burdens from producing and using a mobile phone. In order to estimate energy requirements for materials for which no data was available, the relationship between abundance and rucksack / overburden values was used in a regression analysis. Direct land use data and results from the energy analysis were used as an inventory for the subsequent EFA. An EF time series was applied to represent a more accurate picture of PC and phone use. This was also necessary since the EF reflects the instantaneous rate (a snapshot) of resource consumption. Key results are that the EF of electronic products are much larger than their actual size and that different electronic products have different EF. Our methodology proved sensitive enough to reveal differences even in small electronic products, given the high benchmark of a fair Earth share, and useful in monitoring space-efficient technology.

In a globalizing world, trade has become essential to supporting the needs and wants of billions of people. Virtually everyone now consumes resource commodities and manufactured products traded all over the world; the ecological footprints of nations are now scattered across the globe. The spatial separation of material production (resource exploitation) from consumption eliminates negative feedbacks from supporting eco-systems. Most consumers remain unaware of the impacts that their trade dependence imposes on distant ecosystems (out of sight out of mind). I take the first steps in developing a conceptual and practical framework for an ‘interregional ecology’ approach to exploring and analyzing sustainability in an increasingly interconnected world. Such an approach accounts for some of the ‘externalities’ of globalization and international trade. It underscores the increasing dependence and impact of almost any country on resources originating from others and recognizes that the sustainability of any specified region may be increasingly linked to the ecological sustainability of distant supporting regions. I empirically describe and quantify some of the interregional material linkages between selected countries. I document the flows of renewable resources into the U.S. and quantify the U.S. external material footprint (EF) on specific countries. I then document the physical inputs involved in production of most agricultural export products from Costa Rica and Canada. Finally, I focus on major export products such as bananas, coffee and beef in Costa Rica and agricultural activities in the Canadian Prairies and document some of the ecological consequences (loss of habitat, soil degradation, water contamination and biodiversity loss) of that production. My research findings show increasing U.S. imports, increasing reliance on external sources and growing external ecological footprints. They also show how production activities mostly for overseas consumption led to changes in ecological structure and function in the studied export countries. This dissertation adds a missing trans-national dimension to the sustainability debate effectively integrating the policy and planning domain for sustainability in one region with that in others. While my research focuses mainly on documenting the nature and magnitude of interregional connections I also consider some of the implications of the interregional approach for sustainability planning. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) is a technique that was first developed by Wackernagel as a Ph.D. thesis in 1994, then further developed in combination with Rees and published (Rees & Wackernagel, 1995). EFA is employed in this study to assess the resource utilisation of international tourists visiting New Zealand. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and the ecological sustainability of tourism is becoming more important term for managing tourism. This is becoming increasingly important with tourism identified as particularly as a significant contributor to carbon emissions. This study uses EFA to assess whether international tourists visiting New Zealand behave in a sustainable manner. Tourists are surveyed and classed into high, mid and low budget tourist types to gain a detailed account of their behaviour with particular reference to food, accommodation, transport, services, activities attractions, goods and waste. The EFA helps to identify areas of a tourist’s trip that have the greatest impact on the environment, thereby identifying ways to improve the sustainability of tourism in New Zealand. It was found that tourists generally consume more whilst on holiday than they do at home and more than New Zealand residents. The results show that international tourists’ behaviour is sustainable and New Zealand has the ecological carrying capacity to allow the number of international tourists to increase without incurring any significant ecological costs to the country. It was found that there is a positive relationship between ‘high’ income tourists and their ecological footprint and that independent travellers have a larger ecological footprint than the package travellers; however, package travellers have a larger food and housing ecological footprint than independent travellers. The energy footprint was the largest out of the six land types of a tourist’s ecological footprint. Food is the consumption category that is the largest contributor to a tourist’s ecological footprint.

This thesis focuses on addressing the challenge of managing the climate impact of system engineering projects within a large global industrial company. The research design is a case study within the selected company, and it integrates qualitative and quantitative methodologies to provide a holistic understanding of environmental challenges. The principal objective is to provide direction on efficient management of system engineering projects’ environmental footprint delivered by large global industrial companies. This is achieved by quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and identifying critical factors that significantly influence environmental outcomes. Based on the results together with the qualitative results from the interviews, effective countermeasures have been developed to reach set science-based emission reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement. The research has contributed to a better understanding of the climate impact of system engineering projects, provided guidance on measuring their environmental impact and offered strategies for reducing GHG emissions to mitigate climate change risks. The thesis further delves into various relevant concepts, including system engineering, science-based emission reduction targets, carbon footprint analysis, motivators and barriers for greenhouse gas emissions reductions and the decarbonization of system engineering projects.  The research underscores the importance of user-friendly calculations of CO2e emissions aligned with ISO standards. It also emphasizes the necessity of addressing emissions throughout the value chain and optimizing key components for achieving successful outcomes. Furthermore, standardization and incorporating environmental considerations during the design phases are highlighted as important aspects supporting science-based emission reduction targets. To conclude, this research aims to provide valuable insights into effectively managing the climate impact of system engineering projects in a large global industrial company. It offers practical strategies, recommendations, and considerations to support a company's sustainability goals and environmental commitments.

Glycogen phosphorylase 2 (gp-2) is a key enzyme during the development of Dictyostelium discoideum. The gp-2 enzyme breaks down glycogen into glucose monomers that are subsequently used to synthesize the terminal end products of cellular differentiation. This gene is an ideal candidate for studying the process of selective gene expression because its product figures so prominently in the development of this organism, implying a dependable control mechanism responsible for its developmentally regulated expression. I present in this thesis the identification of several putative cis-acting elements of gp-2 as revealed through footprint analysis. Due to the extreme AT-bias characteristic of Dictyostelium promoters, footprinting conditions required intensive optimization with respect to template, nonspecific competitor, source of protein extract and DNase I digestion. Using an endlabeled fragment containing seven repeated sequences (3 TA boxes [TAATTATA], 2 TAG boxes [TAAAAATGGT] and 2 C boxes [ACCCACT]), purified replication protein A and several developmental nuclear extracts were tested for DNA binding activity. Small footprints were observed on the TAG and C boxes of the promoter for both protein sources. However, using a more sensitive footprinting strategy involving multiple rounds of primer extension, larger footprints spanning the same promoter regions were detected. In both cases, the appearance of the footprints coincided with the documented transcriptional activity of the gene. It can be concluded from the data obtained that the TAG and C boxes are very likely cis-acting elements involved in the regulation of gp-2 expression. / Master of Science

Over the past decades, cost-effectiveness principle or cost-benefit analysis has been employed oftentimes as a typical assessment tool for the expansion of drinking water utility. With changing public awareness of the inherent linkages between climate change, population growth and economic development, the addition of global change impact in the assessment regime has altered the landscape of traditional evaluation matrix. Nowadays, urban drinking water infrastructure requires careful long-term expansion planning to reduce the risk from global change impact with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, economic boom and recession, as well as water demand variation associated with population growth and migration. Meanwhile, accurate prediction of municipal water demand is critically important to water utility in a fast growing urban region for the purpose of drinking water system planning, design and water utility asset management. A system analysis under global change impact due to the population dynamics, water resources conservation, and environmental management policies should be carried out to search for sustainable solutions temporally and spatially with different scales under uncertainties. This study is aimed to develop an innovative, interdisciplinary, and insightful modeling framework to deal with global change issues as a whole based on a real-world drinking water infrastructure system expansion program in Manatee County, Florida. Four intertwined components within the drinking water infrastructure system planning were investigated and integrated, which consists of water demand analysis, GHG emission potential, system optimization for infrastructure expansion, and nested minimax-regret (NMMR) decision analysis under uncertainties. In the water demand analysis, a new system dynamics model was developed to reflect the intrinsic relationship between water demand and changing socioeconomic iv environment. This system dynamics model is based on a coupled modeling structure that takes the interactions among economic and social dimensions into account offering a satisfactory platform. In the evaluation of GHG emission potential, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to estimate the carbon footprint for all expansion alternatives for water supply. The result of this LCA study provides an extra dimension for decision makers to extract more effective adaptation strategies. Both water demand forecasting and GHG emission potential were deemed as the input information for system optimization when all alternatives are taken into account simultaneously. In the system optimization for infrastructure expansion, a multiobjective optimization model was formulated for providing the multitemporal optimal facility expansion strategies. With the aid of a multi-stage planning methodology over the partitioned time horizon, such a systems analysis has resulted in a full-scale screening and sequencing with respect to multiple competing objectives across a suite of management strategies. In the decision analysis under uncertainty, such a system optimization model was further developed as a unique NMMR programming model due to the uncertainties imposed by the real-world problem. The proposed NMMR algorithm was successfully applied for solving the real-world problem with a limited scale for the purpose of demonstration.