http://hdl.handle.net/10222/10559 2013-05-23T06:27:44Z 2013-05-23T06:27:44Z DeBow, Christopher http://hdl.handle.net/10222/21989 2013-05-22T04:15:16Z 2013-05-21T00:00:00Z

Sewage Treatment Plant Contamination of the Annapolis River: Economic Implications for the Soft-shell Clam Industry DeBow, Christopher The Annapolis Basin soft-shell clam fishery has been impacted by frequent closures due to sewage contamination from overflow at the Town of Digby sewage treatment plant. The harvesters that derive a livelihood from this traditional fishery have suffered economic losses that have not been widely acknowledged, addressed, or quantified. For years, individuals and organizations in the Annapolis Basin area pushed to have the sewage treatment plant in Digby upgraded to remediate the environmental damage that its under-capacity was causing. The investment in the upgrade was estimated at $2.2 million, while the cost of doing nothing was never measured. The objective of this thesis is to examine the economic implications for the soft-shell clam industry of the contamination of the Annapolis Basin using a simple cost-benefit framework. By isolating the interaction between the sewage treatment plant upgrade and the soft-shell clam fishery, the analysis identifies and estimates principal costs and benefits, measuring the net present value of the prevention of fishery closure resulting from the upgrade. Results of the analysis demonstrate that the investment in the upgrade is justified under a range of closure scenarios and deviations in key assumptions and variables.

2013-05-21T00:00:00Z Murphy-Novak, Jennifer http://hdl.handle.net/10222/21928 2013-05-16T04:15:16Z 2013-05-15T00:00:00Z

Caring for Persons with Problematic Alcohol Use in a Hospital Setting: Nurses and their Experiences Murphy-Novak, Jennifer Registered Nurses (RN) care for individuals living with problematic alcohol use on a daily basis. There is limited knowledge available that describes the nurse-patient relationship in the context of problematic alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to describe the RNs' experiences caring for persons with problematic alcohol use on a medical inpatient hospital unit. Qualitative Descriptive Methodology guided by Peplau's theory of Interpersonal Relations was used to conduct this inquiry. Nine participants were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Two themes with related subthemes were identified through thematic analysis: Nurse Patient Relationship Harmony and Disharmony, and Struggling to Care. Study participants acknowledged that stigmatizing attitudes persist in the care of persons living with problematic alcohol use, and did not associate the establishment of the nurse-patient relationship with reducing stigma. Participants called for improved knowledge of the disease, and the the use of evidence-based protocols to improve care.

2013-05-15T00:00:00Z Sylvestre, Paul Andre http://hdl.handle.net/10222/21924 2013-05-14T04:15:17Z 2013-05-13T00:00:00Z

Multiple Visions of Sustainability as an Organizing Principle for Change in Higher Education: How Faculty Conceptualizations of Sustainability in Higher Education Suggest the Need for Pluralism Sylvestre, Paul Andre As the United Nation Decade of Education for Sustainable Development draws to a close, there are growing calls for a critical reappraisal of the state of sustainability in Higher Education. The emerging literature suggests that despite modest gains in some areas, Higher Education’s overall engagement with the principles of sustainability has been both piecemeal and accommodatory leading many to ask: what is blocking this transformation? The questions that guided this research were: how do academics conceptualize 1) sustainability, 2) sustainable universities, and 3) the role they see for the university in envisioning a sustainable future. The purpose was to better understand what a culturally sensitive vision of organizational change for sustainability at the university could resemble and to offer insight into how to negotiate cultural or values-based barriers to change. This thesis discusses how culturing a perspective of critical ‘sustainabilities,’ based in pluralism and critical openness, as a vision of change for sustainability at the university is likely to be more aligned with academic culture while concomitantly helping to foster the development of diverse and transformative notions of sustainability.

2013-05-13T00:00:00Z Hammad, Ahmed http://hdl.handle.net/10222/21920 2013-05-10T04:15:17Z 2013-05-09T00:00:00Z

Evaluation of Soil-Cement Properties With Electrical Resistivity Hammad, Ahmed The quality control of soil-cement during construction would benefit from a cost and time efficient tool for evaluating the soil-cement performance. The degree of cement mixing in ground improvement applications is key to the outcome of the engineering performance of cement-based barrier systems for remediation systems (i.e. strength and hydraulic conductivity) as well as the control of cement and water in the mixture. The potential to use simple, yet accurate, rapid sensors to determine the mixing quality of soil-cement would allow for confidence that the final quality of the soil-cement system will perform as intended. The objective of this research was to examine Electrical Resistivity (ER) measurements of mixed and uncured soil-cement samples and assess whether it can be used to predict strength and hydraulic conductivity properties for hardened soil cement samples. To fulfill this objective, a series of hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compressive strength tests were performed on hardened samples in parallel with ER testing on uncured soil-cement samples with the same mix designs and bulk densities of the samples used in the hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compressive strength testing. It is generally found that ER is very sensitive to the changes in water content, cement content and density but it is difficult to distinguish between simultaneous changes in cement content and water content. Results of hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compressive strength testing suggest that the molding water play a large role in the resulting hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compression strength for a given cement content. The results show that although ER could detect changes in water content in soil-cement mixtures for given cement content, it would be difficult to relate ER measurements to hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compressive strength tests.

2013-05-09T00:00:00Z