Thesis (M.S. in Soil Science)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-127).

Thesis.

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2010. / "A report for the Community Development Department of the city of San Luis Obispo" Title from PDF title page; viewed on April 27, 2010. Major professor: Cornelius Nuworsoo, Ph.D., AICP "Presented to the faculty of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Joint Transportation Planning degree [of] Master of City and Regional Planning/Master of Science in Engineering (Transportation Planning Specialization)." "March 2010." Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-138).

No description available.

The broad objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of grazing and housing management systems on greenhouse gas emissions, blood profiles and meat quality of Nguni goats. A total of 64 castrated Nguni goats were used and a housing structure was designed to accommodate the goats as well as evaluate effects of type of floor on greenhouse gases, meat quality, blood metabolites and fatty acid profiles. In the first experiment: Forty-eight castrated Nguni goats, at 6-7 months old were used for herding (H) or tethering (T) management systems and randomly allocated to pens with earth (E) or slatted (S) floors. Gas sampling was done using static chambers and analysed using a SRI 8610C gas chromatography machine. The highest CH4 fluxes were from the manure of herded goats on earth floors (HE). The highest CO2 fluxes were from manure of herded goats that were housed on slatted floors (HS): The highest N2O fluxes were from the manure of tethered goats that were sheltered on slatted floors (TS). It was concluded from the first experiment that goat manure is an important source of GHG that is influenced by grazing and floor type management systems. The second experiment was done to evaluate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from disused (DP) vs occupied goat pens (OP) with earth (EF) or slatted (SF) floors. Eight previously occupied pens were used in this study. Sixteen goats were randomly put in the pens labelled occupied pens with earth floors (OPEF) and occupied pens with slatted floors (OPSF) resulting in four goats per OP. There were month by pen use; month by floor type; and use by floor type interaction effects (P < 0.05) on CH4 production. Floor type, use (DP vs OP) and month affected (P < 0.05) CH4 production. Manure on earth floors of occupied pens (OPEF) emitted the highest (P < 0.05) methane followed by earth floors of disused pens (DPEF). The least CH4 was emitted from DPSF. There was pen use (DP vs OP) by floor type interaction effect (P < 0.05) on CO2 emission. Floor type and pen use affected (P < 0.05) CO2 production. Manure in occupied pens with slatted floors (OPSF) produced the highest CO2 and the least CO2 was from disused pens with slatted floors (DPSF). Floor type and month influenced (P < 0.05) N2O production. It was concluded that continued use of goat pens increased GHG emissions. However, disused goat pens with manure remain an important source of GHG as they continued to emit quantifiable levels of CH4, CO2 and N2O. The third experiment was done to determine the effects of grazing and housing management systems on the concentrations of blood metabolites, activity of creatine kinase, body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS) and carcass characteristics using 48 castrated Nguni goats. Tethered goats had higher (P<0.05): urea, creatinine, total protein, globulin concentrations and more activity of CK than herded goats. On the other hand, herded goats had higher (P<0.05) plasma glucose (H: 3.39±0.020 vs T: 3.23±0.020 mmol/L), serum albumin (H: 15.30±0.147 vs T: 14.82±0.144 g/L) concentration. It was concluded that serum concentrations of all the metabolites and the activity of CK were sensitive to grazing system. Herding of goats promoted more glucose concentration and preservation of muscle protein and hence superior body weights and BCS than tethered goats. The fourth experiment was done to determine the effects of grazing and housing management systems on the activity of creatine kinase (CK) and cortisol concentration, and chevon quality. Further, the effect of muscle type [Muscularis longissimus thoracis et. Lumborum (LTL) and triceps brachii (TB)] on chevon quality was also investigated. Forty eight castrated Nguni goats aged 6- 7 months were randomly allocated to tethering (n=24) and herding (n=24) treatments. Floor type affected meat (P<0.05) pH24. Tethered goats had higher (P < 0.05) L* and CL percent than herded goats. Muscle type had a significant influence (P < 0.05) on a*, WBSF and pH. It was observed and concluded that T resulted in higher L* and more CL percent whilst SF lowered the pH24 of chevon; at the same time meat from the TB muscle was more tender, despite having a higher pH24 and more CL percent relative to LTH cuts. The fifth experiment was done to determine the effect of grazing and floor type on fatty acid composition of chevon from tethered and herded Nguni goats. Floor type had no effect on fatty acid composition. Oleic, stearic, palmitic and linoleic were the major fatty acids. Chevon from tethered goats had higher (P < 0.05) proportions of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs): eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and more total SFA, total PUFA, total Omega- 6 and total omega 3 fatty acids than herded goats. On the other hand, chevon from herded goats had more (P < 0.05) C18:1c9, C18:2t9, 12 (n-6), C20:3c11, 14, 17 (n-3) and total MUFA than tethered goats. However, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in the PUFA: SFA and n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratios between the herded and tethered goats. It was concluded that tethering promoted higher proportions of beneficial PUFAs which were more in TB than LTH muscle. The overall conclusions from the whole study were that goat manure is an important source of GHG with high CH4 being emitted from earth floors of herded goats. High CO2 and N2O are emitted from SF of herded and tethered goats, respectively. There were no major differences in meat quality between herded and tethered goats. However, herding promoted more live weight gain than tethering. On the other hand, tethering promoted more beneficial fatty acids. Therefore depending on the objective of the enterprise, smallholder farmers can safely tether or herd their goats. Further, there is need to develop technologies to harness CH4 from goat manure.

ABSTRACT Investigation of Microalgae Growth Kinetics using Coal-Fired Flue Gas as a Carbon Source Bryan Daniel Brooker Energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions make up the majority of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions must be alleviated to reduce the effects of global climate change. Microalgae cultivation sequesters CO2 while producing biomass. Algal biomass can provide a renewable feedstock for biofuel and electricity production, and ingredients for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, pigments and cosmetics. Utilizing microalgae to mitigate CO2 emissions encourages energy independence by providing a feedstock for biofuels and offers other potentially profitable avenues for the uses of biomass. This study focused on investigating the algal growth kinetics of microalgae cultivated with artificial coal-fired flue gas. Two algal strains, Chlorella vulgaris and Tetraselmis sp. were cultivated in lab scale photobioreactors to assess the feasibility of using flue gas as a carbon source for microalgae growth. The microalgae growth kinetics were compared between flue gas and pure CO2 treatments for each algal strain. Both microalgae species were able to grow under flue gas dosing. The differences in growth characteristics for Chlorella were statistically insignificant between the two gas dosing treatments. Tetraselmis yielded identical maximum specific growth rates among the two gas treatments, while the biomass production was greater using CO2. At a 95% confidence interval, the difference in biomass production between the gas treatments ranged from 45 to 225 mg/L. The decrease in biomass production for Tetraselmis was the only sign of growth inhibition from flue gas. Overall, Chlorella vulgaris and Tetraselmis sp. are capable of fixating CO2 from coal-fired flue gas.

Abstract not available

The Quebec City - Windsor corridor is the busiest and most important trade and transportation corridor in Canada. The transportation sector is the second largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emission category in the country. Governments around the world, including Canada, are considering increased mode share by rail as a way to reduce transportation emissions. To understand whether freight mode shift is a realistic means to reduce transportation emissions, an analytical model is needed that can predict the effect of government policy on mode split. / This thesis provides background on the freight transportation-GHG nexus in Canada and describes the development, implementation, reasoning behind, and results of, a Stated Preference shipper carrier choice survey for the Quebec City - Windsor corridor conducted during the fall of 2005. It then describes how the resulting carrier choice models are used to estimate the potential to displace truck traffic to rail (premium-intermodal) under current conditions, as well as to test the effectiveness of different possible future policy or service offering scenarios. / The results show that premium-intermodal has the potential to capture a substantial share of traffic between the main destinations in the Quebec City - Windsor Corridor. However, its ability to contribute significantly to reducing CO2 emissions is limited. According to the analyses conducted, potential reductions are considered to be in the range of nil to 0.413 Mt---a fraction of what the federal government was hoping to be able to achieve through "further public-private collaboration to promote the use of intermodal freight opportunities and to increase the use of low-emission vehicles and modes" (Government of Canada 2002). / At the same time, these potential reductions are based on a small proportion of total truck-related emissions and a few city-pairs. Extension of the current analysis to more city-pairs separated by longer distances might arrive at different conclusions.

No description available.