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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Environmental health'
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Wilson, Jodie Sarah Maria. "Environmental endocrine disruptors : their effects on the environment and health." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709860.
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Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) can disrupt normal hormone signalling and production, and potentially contribute to a range of adverse effects on the environment and health. In vitro bioassay analysis was performed (mammalian reporter gene assays; RGAs) to assess the hormone receptor activity of common wastewater contaminants at environmentally relevant concentrations. The estrogenic enhancing capabilities of three parabens, 4-tert-octylphenol, carbamazepine and ketoconazole were identified; carbamazepine also disrupted glucocorticoid receptor (GR) transcriptional activity. In addition, RGAs were used, coupled with a high content analysis (HCA) assay, to investigate the potential for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to induce stress responses via disruption of the GR. PFOS, PFDA, BDE-47 and p,p’-DDE altered mammalian stress responses. HCA was also used to investigate chemically defined POP mixture induced toxicity on a liver cell model and successfully detected early signs of cellular stress. While it is important to understand and classify the effects of contaminants, it is also crucial to gain information about their presence in the environment. To this end a UPLC MS/MS method was developed to monitor fifteen common aquatic contaminants. Screening of wastewater treatment work effluent revealed 10 of the 15 contaminants were still detectable after WWTW treatment. Furthermore anthropogenic pollution was evident in the rural catchment rivers. These catchments also have the phenomenon of unexplained static biological water recovery. The prevalence of EDC activity was investigated using an effect-directed bioassay analysis approach. Areas of concern were highlighted (androgen receptor and GR antagonism). Furthermore a statistically significant association between GR antagonism and average score per taxon (ASPT) values (a measure of biological water quality) was highlighted for one catchment. The use of novel techniques as HCA can help advance knowledge on mixture effects due to the ability to incorporate multiple parameters. The ability to detect pre-lethal signs of cellular stress is important for risk assessment. Furthermore, this thesis shows the importance of constant and updated screening methods of environmental waters. The inclusion of bioassays for screening water samples gives valuable information which targeted methods are unable to provide.
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Vaidyanathan, Ambarish. "Environmental and health impacts of extreme heat events." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54021.
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In the United States (U.S.), extreme temperature-related deaths account for far more deaths than hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes combined. An extreme heat event (EHE) or a heat wave is a sustained period of substantially hotter and/or more humid weather. EHEs cause a wide range of health problems such as rashes, cramps, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and, in some instances, death. Further, meteorology plays a dominant role in the formation of air pollutants. In particular, extremely high temperatures are conducive to the formation of certain air pollutants. In order to understand the adverse health impacts of extreme heat and air pollution levels prevailing during EHEs, it is necessary to define what constitutes a heat episode; however, there is a lack of scientific consensus on definitions and procedures to accurately identify EHEs. This work employs a hierarchical clustering technique to group 92 different EHE definitions into homogeneous sets and uses negative binomial rate regression approach to identify those definitions that are most strongly associated with mortality. Our findings suggest that definitions with thresholds that are either too extreme or too moderate are poorly associated with heat-related mortality for most climate regions. Additionally, the association between air pollution and health, especially mortality, is well understood. However, the role of air pollutants in modifying the relationship between EHEs and mortality is not well characterized in the U.S., yet is critical to generating accurate estimates of health burden. Our results indicate that air pollution confounds the relationship between EHE and mortality, and the extent of confounding varies with climate regions. Further, through this work, the sensitivities associated with selecting an EHE definition is taken into consideration when providing region-specific health and economic burden associated with EHEs. Ideally, the excess deaths and costs presented in this work could be useful to study and quantify the public health risk associated with EHEs, either in a prospective or a retrospective setting.
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David, Baylah 1942. "Addiction and environment: A test of restricted environmental stimulation therapy." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282129.
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The research reported consists of the study of the application of Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST), a form of sensory restriction, as a technique to supplement conventional outpatient treatment of alcohol and drug dependence in preventing relapse to substance abuse. Through a thorough review of the literature in several addictions, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, the proposition is put forth that there may be a neurological relationship between anomalous laterality, field dependency and addiction. By applying REST, a technique which has been already researched in the treatment of various forms of tobacco addiction and eating disorders, as a treatment to reinforce new found abstinence from alcohol and drug abuse, a test is made indirectly of the hypothesis that there is a commonality to the spectrum of addictions which is impacted by the application of 24 hours of sensory restriction. Thirty-one subjects, who had been enrolled for 3 to 8 weeks in outpatient treatment for alcohol and/or drug dependence, were recruited from several treatment programs in Tucson, Arizona, and participated in the study's pre-test. Through severe attrition a total of 12 subjects completed three questionnaires over a two month follow-up period. Of those, seven subjects, randomly selected, spent 24 hours in a soundproof, dark room. Five control subjects completed all questionnaires while participating in their pre-existing treatment programs. A disproportionate percentage of the twenty males completing the pretest were found to be mixed laterals while ten females reported an inordinate number of left-handed male relatives. Findings support the thesis that various addictions share a common neurological basis. Two months after the pre-test the treatment group reported having more confidence they would be able to resist the urge to use drugs than did the control group. Due to the small sample size, no other statistically significant effects of the REST treatment were found. In spite of that fact, results are promising in support of the thesis that REST is a viable tool in reinforcing abstinence from alcohol and drugs.
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Harvey, Harold D. "Enabling new agenda environmental health." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.398267.
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Mingotti, Nicola. "Passive environmental design for health." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709015.
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Dine, Garry Y. B. "Occupational health and safety hazards affecting environmental health officers." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2023. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2743.
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Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with the relationships between humans and their environment, and environmental health officers (EHOs) are entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and mitigating factors in the environment that can affect peoples’ health and wellbeing. Their work includes investigating, sampling, measuring and assessing hazardous environmental agents in various environmental media and settings.This essential service can expose them to numerous physical, chemical, biological and psychosocial hazards. The multifaceted and diverse working environments of EHOs thus make them acritical professional group for understanding workplace hazards. Although almost every occupation entails potential exposure to hazards and risks of illnesses and injuries, little is known about how the trend and magnitude of workplace health and safety (WHS) affects EHOs.
This thesis investigates the occupational health and safety (OHS) hazards that affect EHOs in Australia, the United States and New Zealand—and the outcomes of this thesis will be used to inform potential OHS and WHS guidelines for managing the workplace hazards that EHOs face. This thesis’s mixed methods research adopted a methodological triangulation design, which allowed the researcher to use different methods to approach the intended research topic.Additionally, a single paradigm was adopted to inform the entirety of the mixed methods study: the realistperspective. The realist perspective does not limit the range of topics to be researchedor the methods that can legitimately be used to conduct research. In the case of this thesis, the realist perspective involved the researcher understanding the underlying factors and mechanisms that influenced WHS among EHOs in terms of their immediate work environments, individual perception and behaviour. Further, these factors were explored in the context of EHOs’ OHS management systems.
Similarities can be observed in the environmental health practices and workplace hazards that affect EHOs in the three chosen countries. EHOs in all three countries reported that work-related psychological stress, musculoskeletal demands, exposure to chemical and biological agents, driving incidents and workplace violence were the major OHS hazards. EHOs were also dissatisfied with their current employers’ approach to OHS management, as well as the lack of commitment and support in implementing safe work practices. Further, strong elements of negative OHS culture can also be observed in the environmental health workforce, and they iii influence OHS implementation, practices and compliance. These include a negative attitude towards safe work practices, poor OHS leadership, a lack of resources and OHS training, poor risk awareness and cognitive bias.
Although this research has limitations, significant evidence has suggested serious and more complex OHS issues within the broader environmental health profession. The product of this research is a novel profile of OHS issues that affect EHO workforces in Australia, the United States and New Zealand, which can be used to inform preventive actions.Additionally, this thesis’s findings provide a catalyst for further research into the WHS of EHOs.
NB: OHS and WHS both describe the health and safety of individuals in a workplace setting. They share the same meaning and are used interchangeably throughout this thesis.
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Belford, Angel. "How Are Environmental Health Risks Communicated?" Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1148305230.
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Beattie, James John, and james beattie@stonebow otago ac nz. "Environmental anxiety in New Zealand, 1850-1920 : settlers, climate, conservation, health, environment." University of Otago. School of Liberal Arts, 2004. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20051020.183413.
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Using a series of interlocking case-studies, this thesis investigates environmental anxieties in New Zealand�s settler society in the period 1830-1920. A central premise of this study is that the rapid environmental transformation of New Zealand stimulated widespread anxieties and reforms within settler society. These anxieties focussed as much on the changes already begun as on apprehensions of the results of these changes. Applying the concept of environmental anxiety to settler New Zealand expands understandings about colonial culture and its environmental history. It moves debate beyond simple narratives of colonial environmental destruction. Instead, this thesis highlights the ambiguities and complexities of colonial views of the natural world. This thesis points to the insecurities behind seeming Victorian confidence, even arrogance, in the ability of science and technology to bring constant material improvement. Europeans recognised that modern living brought material advantages but that the rapid environmental changes that underpinned these improvements also brought and threatened to bring unwanted outcomes.
A diverse range of settlers worried about the effects of environmental changes. Individuals, institutions, committees, councils, doctors, scientists, artists, governments, engineers and politicians expressed environmental anxieties of one kind or another. Some farmers, politicians and scientists held that deforestation decreased rainfall but increased temperatures. Other scientists and politicians feared that it brought devastating floods and soil erosion. Some Maori, travellers, politicians and scientists held that it destabilised sand that would inundate fertile fields. Councillors, engineers and doctors constantly debated ways of improving the healthiness of towns and cities, areas seen as particularly dangerous places in which to live. Doctors� and settlers� anxieties focused on the effects of New Zealand�s climate on health and racial development. The impact of environmental change on the healthiness of certain areas, as well as the role played by humans in climate change, also provoked lively discussion.
The effects of these anxieties are evident in some of the land policies, artworks, legislation, parliamentary and scientific debates, and writings of this period. Settlers believed curbing pollution, laying out parks, planting trees and restricting the construction of unhealthy properties improved living conditions in cities. Some scientists and politicians thought setting aside forest �climate reserves� in highland areas, tree-planting legislation and sustainable forestry practices prevented flooding and climate change. Individuals and authorities also established sanatoria and spas in particularly healthy spots, such as at the seaside and in high, dry places.
In investigating these topics, this thesis expands the discipline of environmental history, bringing to light the importance of studying urban environments, aesthetics, climate change, desertification and health. It expands the largely �national� narratives of New Zealand�s environmental histories by acknowledging that local environments, events and attitudes as well as global environments, events and attitudes shaped anxieties and policies. Global ideas, often operating at a local level, played a role in reinforcing and providing solutions to New Zealand�s environmental anxieties. This thesis also acknowledges the on-going significance of Christianity in under-girding ideas about improvement and environmental protection. Most significantly, perhaps, this study underlines both that many settlers displayed an emotional attachment to the New Zealand environment and that most colonists wanted to ensure the long-term productivity of its lands.
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Ramirez-Andreotta, Monica, Julia Brody, Nathan Lothrop, Miranda Loh, Paloma Beamer, and Phil Brown. "Improving Environmental Health Literacy and Justice through Environmental Exposure Results Communication." MDPI AG, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/621420.
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Understanding the short-and long-term impacts of a biomonitoring and exposure project and reporting personal results back to study participants is critical for guiding future efforts, especially in the context of environmental justice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate learning outcomes from environmental communication efforts and whether environmental health literacy goals were met in an environmental justice community. We conducted 14 interviews with parents who had participated in the University of Arizona's Metals Exposure Study in Homes and analyzed their responses using NVivo, a qualitative data management and analysis program. Key findings were that participants used the data to cope with their challenging circumstances, the majority of participants described changing their families' household behaviors, and participants reported specific interventions to reduce family exposures. The strength of this study is that it provides insight into what people learn and gain from such results communication efforts, what participants want to know, and what type of additional information participants need to advance their environmental health literacy. This information can help improve future report back efforts and advance environmental health and justice.
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Thomson, Jennifer Christine. "From Wilderness to the Toxic Environment: Health in American Environmental Politics, 1945-Present." Thesis, Harvard University, 2013. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10876.
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This dissertation joins the history of science and medicine with environmental history to explore the language of health in environmental politics. Today, in government policy briefs and mission statements of environmental non-profits, newspaper editorials and activist journals, claims about the health of the planet and its human and non-human inhabitants abound. Yet despite this rhetorical ubiquity, modern environmental politics are ideologically and organizationally fractured along the themes of whose health is at stake and how that health should be protected. This dissertation traces how these competing conceptions of health came to structure the landscape of American environmental politics. Beginning in the early 1950s, an expanding network of environmental activists began to think in terms of protecting the health of the planet and its inhabitants from the unprecedented hazards of nuclear energy and chemical proliferation. They did this by appropriating models and metaphors of health developed by postwar ecologists, philosophers, epidemiologists and nuclear physicians. Through this process of appropriation, scientists and philosophers were likewise drawn into environmental activism. Through five case studies, this dissertation traces the collaborations between scientists, environmental activists, philosophers, and medical doctors which enabled a broad range of articulations of health: the health of the wild, the health of the environment, the health of the planet, and the health of humans within the environment. Each case study attends to the intersection of political thought and practice, and explores how science and environmental activism were in constant dialogue in the postwar period. Drawing on archival materials and extensive oral history interviews, this dissertation demonstrates the centrality of health to American environmental politics from the end of World War Two until the present day.<br>History of Science
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Hanna, Elizabeth Gayle (Liz), and lizhanna@netc net au. "Environmental health and primary health care: towards a new workforce model." La Trobe University. School of Public Health, 2005. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20061110.152550.
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Public health was once synonymous with environmental health. However, as living conditions improved the two fields diverged. Environmental factors are again re-emerging as hazards human health. Increasing global reliance on agricultural and veterinary chemicals (AgVets) over recent decades has is now a serious public health concern. Evidence of their toxicity has prompted international efforts to minimize, monitor and manage exposure risks. Direct involvement of the primary health care workforce is seen as critical to this process, yet little data exists on the health burden on Australian rural communities imposed by these chemicals.
The study presented here attempts to explore the impact of these chemicals on two rural communities in Victoria, and ascertain the how the existing primary heath care system responds to AgVet exposure issues. Health determinants are complex, and inter-related, and the client �provider interface is not an entity acting in isolation from other frameworks. The provider-client service relationship has evolved against a background of legislation and provider training. Many external factors also impinge, such as the structure and focus of the health sector, and Australia�s systematic approach to environmental and chemical management. Examination of this underlying infrastructure in Australia provided the background against which the issue of exposure to agricultural and veterinary chemicals was explored. A brief summary of international developments in this area served to provide insight as to what interventions may be introduced to address the issue of chemical exposure.
A CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) survey of 1050 households sought the perspectives from two Victorian agricultural communities to gather self-reported AgVet exposure patterns and health data, and whether respondents perceived their health problems were linked to exposure. Respondents were also asked to comment on the primary health care service experiences from local providers, and which services they preferred to seek for health advice. Perspectives were then sought from all primary health care providers servicing these communities. Information was sought on their level of expertise in diagnosing, and managing exposure related illness, via face-to-face interviews, focus groups and paper surveys.
The study revealed rural communities have a long history of hazardous exposure to toxic AgVets. Awareness of toxicity risks is growing, yet further scope exists to improve safe handling of chemicals. High levels of illnesses known be associated with AgVet exposure exist among rural populations. Many believe their own ill-health is linked to exposure, and express strong dissatisfaction with the apparent lack of environmental health expertise especially among their GPs. Health providers demonstrated limited understanding of the health impacts of AgVet exposure.
The lack of environmental health expertise among the existing primary health care workforce means that health conditions associated with exposure to AgVets are not being identified, and the absence of health intelligence hampers health planning. In Australia, the health, environment and primary industries sectors function in effect, as distinct silos, with little cross-fertilisation. The United States has combined its agricultural chemical legislative authority to develop a focus on human health, establish direct links, and biomonitoring programs to protect human heath. The U.S. has also developed environmental health expertise at the primary health care level to address community needs as they arise. Strategies are required in Australia to connect the environment, chemical management and health portfolios, with respect to the emerging environmental issues of chemical exposure. There is a need also in Australia to inject environmental health capacity into the primary health care practice.
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Hanna, Elizabeth Gayle. "Environmental health and primary health care : towards a new workforce model /." Access full text, 2005. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/thesis/public/adt-LTU20061110.152550/index.html.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- La Trobe University, 2005.<br>Research. "A Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy [to the] School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria". Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-293). Also available via the World Wide Web.
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Maertens, Odría Luis R. "Essays in development, environmental, and health economics." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/420867.
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This thesis is composed of three independent essays. In the first chapter, I analyze the effect of a biofuel-favorable policy in the U.S. on fetal health. I show that the policy led to an expansion in the production of corn, a pesticide-intensive crop, and to increased risk of fetal conditions previously associated with exposure to corn pesticides. In the second chapter, I examine the role of agricultural productivity as a mechanism linking rainfall shocks to civil wars in African countries. I show that rainfall over agricultural land and during the growing season has a hump-shaped relationship with agricultural output, which is mirrored by a U-shaped relationship with civil war risk. In the third chapter, I examine the effect of various selling schemes for testing tubewell water for arsenic on test uptake and, conditional on adverse news, on health-protective behavior. I find that uptake is increased by fees that depend on test results, and that social networks and public information can promote health-protective behavior.<br>Esta tesis consta de tres ensayos independientes. En el primer capítulo, analizo el efecto de una ley estadounidense que favorece la producción de biocombustibles sobre la salud fetal. Demuestro que la ley aumentó la producción de maíz, un cultivo con altos requerimientos de pesticidas, y el riesgo de enfermedades fetales asociadas con la exposición a pesticidas. En el segundo capítulo, estudio cómo la productividad agrícola puede mediar la relación entre shocks de lluvia y guerras en países africanos. Midiendo el nivel de lluvia sobre el territorio agrícola y durante la fase de crecimiento, demuestro que éste tiene una relación en forma de U-invertida con la producción agrícola, y una relación en forma de U con la incidencia de guerras civiles. En el tercer capítulo, estudio el efecto de diversas modalidades de venta de pruebas de arsénico para agua de pozo sobre la demanda por las mismas y, para familias que reciben noticias adversas, sobre su comportamiento para evitar el arsénico. Encuentro que la demanda aumenta cuando el precio a pagar depende de los resultados de la prueba, y que las redes sociales e información pública pueden promover medidas para evitar el agua contaminada.
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Haucke, Florian [Verfasser]. "Essays in Environmental Health Economics / Florian Haucke." München : Verlag Dr. Hut, 2010. http://d-nb.info/1009972863/34.
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Xu, Yong. "Statistical Models for Environmental and Health Sciences." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3414.
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Statistical analysis and modeling are useful for understanding the behavior of different phenomena. In this study we will focus on two areas of applications: Global warming and cancer research. Global Warming is one of the major environmental challenge people face nowadays and cancer is one of the major health problem that people need to solve.
For Global Warming, we are interest to do research on two major contributable variables: Carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmosphere temperature. We will model carbon dioxide in the atmosphere data with a system of differential equations. We will develop a differential equation for each of six attributable variables that constitute CO2 in the atmosphere and a differential system of CO2 in the atmosphere. We are using real historical data on the subject phenomenon to develop the analytical form of the equations. We will evaluate the quality of the developed model by utilizing a retrofitting process. Having such an analytical system, we can obtain good estimates of the rate of change of CO2 in the atmosphere, individually and cumulatively as a function of time for near and far target times. Such information is quite useful in strategic planning of the subject matter. We will develop a statistical model taking into consideration all the attributable variables that have been identified and their corresponding response of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere in the continental United States. The development of the statistical model that includes interactions and higher order entities, in addition to individual contributions to CO2 in the atmosphere, are included in the present study. The proposed model has been statistically evaluated and produces accurate predictions for a given set of the attributable variables. Furthermore, we rank the attributable variables with respect to their significant contribution to CO2 in the atmosphere.
For Cancer Research, the object of the study is to probabilistically evaluate commonly used methods to perform survival analysis of medical patients. Our study includes evaluation of parametric, semi-parametric and nonparametric analysis of probability survival models. We will evaluate the popular Kaplan-Meier (KM), the Cox Proportional Hazard (Cox PH), and Kernel density (KD) models using both Monte Carlo simulation and using actual breast cancer data. The first part of the evaluation will be based on how these methods measure up to parametric analysis and the second part using actual cancer data. As expected, the parametric survival analysis when applicable gives the best results followed by the not commonly used nonparametric Kernel density approach for both evaluations using simulation and actual cancer data. We will develop a statistical model for breast cancer tumor size prediction for United States patients based on real uncensored data. When we simulate breast cancer tumor size, most of time these tumor sizes are randomly generated. We want to construct a statistical model to generate these tumor sizes as close as possible to the real patients' data given other related information. We accomplish the objective by developing a high quality statistical model that identifies the significant attributable variables and interactions. We rank these contributing entities according to their percentage contribution to breast cancer tumor growth. This proposed statistical model can also be used to conduct surface response analysis to identify the necessary restrictions on the significant attributable variables and their interactions to minimize the size of the breast tumor.
We will utilize the Power Law process, also known as Non-homogenous Poisson Process and Weibull Process to evaluate the effectiveness of a given treatment for Stage I & II Ductal breast cancer patients. We utilize the shape parameter of the intensity function to evaluate the behavior of a given treatment with respect to its effectiveness. We will develop a differential equation that will characterize the behavior of the tumor as a function of time. Having such a differential equation, the solution of which once plotted will identify the rate of change of tumor size as a function of age. The structure of the differential equation consists of the significant attributable variables and their interactions to the growth of breast cancer tumor. Once we have developed the differential equations and its solution, we proceed to validate the quality of the proposed differential equations and its usefulness.
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Newbury, Brian. "Integrated health, safety and environmental management systems." Thesis, University of South Wales, 2000. https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/en/studentthesis/integrated-health-safety-and-environmental-management-systems(6a947bb5-bda0-4466-9cb6-f02ad514cb9a).html.
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The continued rise in accident and ill health statistics throughout the member states of the European Union indicate that the standards of occupational health, safety and environmental control require further improvement to minimise the current level of loss. Management systems are regarded as an effective means of reducing this loss by continuously improving standards. Whilst there is much discussion and debate about the possibilities of integrating management systems, at present, there are no national or international published integrated management standards, although some multi-national companies have introduced their own internal integrated standards. The research explored the development of an integrated health, safety and environmental (HSE) management system within a range of industrial organisations. This included the development of tools for successful implementation of integrated systems, specifically for significance review, risk assessment and auditing. Resources and accreditation constraints precluded exhaustive testing of all clauses within the proposed integrated management standard. However, analysis of key aspects of the standard revealed: 1. The introduction and use of separate health, safety and environmental (HSE) management systems improved the standards of risk control within organisations. 2. Organisations perceived that there were clear business advantages in some form of integration of existing standards. 3. The developed integrated HSE standard was technically possible in the area of policy development, process operations, working instructions and documentation. However, the integration of risk assessment and audit tools gave limited advantages compared to existing separate systems. 4. The proposed integrated HSE standard complied with both individual European member states national legislative requirements and European/World-wide management standard criteria. In summary this thesis represents an original contribution to the field of integrated management systems. The thesis also identifies areas of further work that will increase the knowledge base, scope of application of the work carried out.
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Mesa-Frias, M. "Modelling uncertainty in environmental health impact assessment." Thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London), 2015. http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/2391599/.
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Quantifying uncertainty in environmental health impact assessment models is important, particularly if the models are to be used for decision support. This thesis develops a new non-probabilistic framework to quantify uncertainty in environmental health impact assessment models. The framework takes into account two different perspectives of uncertainty: conceptual and analytical in terms of where uncertainty occurs in the model. The first perspective is concerned with uncertainty in the framing assumptions of health impact assessment, whereas the second perspective is concerned with uncertainty in the parameters of a model. The construction of the framework was achieved by focusing on five specific objectives: (i) to describe the complexity of how uncertainty arises in environmental health impact assessment and classify the uncertainty to be amenable for quantitative modelling;(ii) to critically appraise the strengths and limitations of current methods used to handle the uncertainty in environmental health impact assessment; (iii) to develop a novel quantitative framework for quantifying uncertainty from the conceptual and analytical perspectives; (iv) to formulate two detailed case-study examples on health impact assessment of indoor housing interventions; (v) to apply the framework to the two case-studies. After critiquing the uncertainty quantification methods that are currently applied in environmental health impact assessment, the thesis develops the framework for quantifying uncertainty, starting with the conceptual uncertainty (uncertainty associated with the framing assumptions or formulation of the model), then quantifying the analytical uncertainty (uncertainty associated with the input parameters and outputs of the model). The first case-study was concerned with the health impact assessment of improving housing insulation. Using fuzzy cognitive maps, the thesis identifies key indoor factors and their pathways highly sensitive to the framing assumptions of the health impact assessment. The second case-study was concerned with estimating the uncertainty in the health burdens in England, associated with three ventilation exposure scenarios using fuzzy sets and interval analysis. The thesis presents a wider uncertainty framework as a first step forward in quantifying conceptual and analytical uncertainty in environmental health impact assessment when dealing with limited information.
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Park, Eun Joo. "Metal Speciation, Mixtures and Environmental Health Impacts." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:23205169.
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Numerous applications of heavy metal have caused to their wide contamination in the environmental system and raised serious concerns over potential harmful effects on public health and the environment. Water, sediment, and dietary food are the main exposure media of heavy metal pollution and key determinants of adverse human and environmental health effects. Heavy metal(s) toxicity and speciation involve various mechanistic features with specific media and some of them are not clearly investigated. In particular, biological effects such as toxicity are not related to the total concentration of heavy metals in media, and many laboratory and field studies have supported this supposition. Organisms respond to the bioaccessible and bioavailable fraction of metals only, not the total concentration. The bioaccessibility and bioavailability of toxicants are dependent on chemical properties of the contaminant, the many exposure pathways, and temporal variability of these variables with respect to uptake by the target organism. Usually, bioavailable fractions are estimated using chemical or biological approaches. For this study, biological approaches were performed to better ascertain the toxic effects of heavy metals on organisms. A better understanding of bioaccessibility and bioavailability can be a useful tool in exposure and risk assessment. Therefore, this study presents experimental designs focusing on assessing of the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of metals in aquatic, benthic organisms and dietary food. This study also examines the role of metal mixtures on the adverse effects of metals.
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Wei, Honghong. "Essays in energy, environmental and health economics." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2020. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/202081/1/Honghong_Wei_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis comprises of three essays that explore issues related to energy economics, environmental economics and health economics. The first essay discusses the monetary policy response to commodity price shocks in the U.S., Canada and Mexico in the presence of NAFTA. The second essay investigates the relationship between carbon emissions and urbanization in different sectors across economies. The third essay studies the theoretical and empirical relationship between inequality aversion and public health expenditures. The common thread running through these essays is the use of cross-country analysis for deriving evidence-informed insights of relevance to policies in these domains.
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Pokhrel, Lok R., Brajesh Dubey, and Phillip R. Scheuerman. "Pharmaceuticals in the Aquatic Environment: A Critical Appraisal of Uncertainty and Knowledge Gaps in Human Health Risk Assessment." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2011. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2882.
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Seymour, Mary S. "Health promotion programs within the Navy Environmental Health Center : evolution and impact." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1998. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA359095.
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Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.<br>"December 1998." Thesis advisor(s): Richard Doyle, Frank Barrett. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-116). Also available online.
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Wall, Tamara. "A content analysis : health and environmental risk factors of children in methamphetamine living environments /." Available to subscribers only, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1559858731&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=1509&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Dijkstra, K. "Understanding healing environments effects of physical environmental stimuli on patients' health and well-being /." Enschede : University of Twente [Host], 2009. http://doc.utwente.nl/60753.
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Osman, Katarina. "Health effects of environmental lead exposure in children /." Stockholm, 1998. http://diss.kib.ki.se/search/diss.se.cfm?19980529osma.
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Frame, Laura N. "Georgia Environmental Advocacy Groups Health Education Needs Assessment." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2012. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/iph_theses/218.
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Georgia State University’s Institute of Public Health along with the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Chemical Hazards Program conducted a needs assessment survey to learn more about the concerns of environmental advocates and other community leaders in Georgia regarding exposure to toxic chemicals. The purpose of the Georgia Environmental Advocacy Groups Health Education Needs Assessment was to better understand community concerns, to identify hazardous waste sites that might warrant some degree of public health evaluation, to find community leaders and personnel interested in assisting the Chemical Hazards Program in implementing public health interventions, to inform the community about the services offered to the public by the Georgia Department of Public Health and to better understand the best methods for distributing health education material. This is the first time the Chemical Hazards Program has conducted an environmental advocacy group leader needs assessment. The results of this pilot study will help the development of future needs assessments conducted by the CHP.
Survey development began in August of 2011 and Georgia State University Institutional Review Board approval was granted January 2012. Participants were selected due to their current leadership role of a Georgia environmental advocacy group/organization. Contact information was found for 137 environmental group leaders. Depending on available contact information, potential participants either received the survey through the mail or electronically via email. Surveys were distributed on January 13, 2012 and had to be returned by February 20, 2012.
Twenty-one Georgia environmental advocacy group leaders participated in the survey. A majority of participants cited protect/restore natural habitats as the main purpose of their organization, but the survey did reveal 10 environmental groups that focused on protecting human health. Seven of participants that were dedicated to protecting human health expressed interest in working further with the GDPH to develop or implement public health interventions. The survey was also successful in informing participants about the Chemical Hazards Program. Prior to the needs assessment, more than 80% of participants were not aware of the program. Many pertinent suggestions were also made to aid in the development of the brochure aimed at educating community members about the services offered by the CHP.
Although a variety of environmental health concerns were cited by the participants, water quality was most often mentioned. More participants reported they were very concerned about drinking water than any other environment. Ninety percent also reported being either concerned or very concerned about contamination in oceans, lakes and streams. A section of the survey also addressed hazards found within the home, unclean drinking water was selected by far the most often as being of greatest concern compared to all other indoor hazards. Many participants listed specific waste or industrial sites that are of concern among members of their community as a source of contaminants. A few contaminated environments were also listed including specific rivers and lakes. Though many did not list specific sources, the majority of participants cited water contamination as being a chemical contamination issue that has the greatest impact on human health.
The survey helped reveal specific community concerns regarding potential chemical contaminants and sites that may lead to the CHP conducting public health assessments/consultations and exposure investigations. The survey also revealed the need for general environmental health education and intervention activities based on concerns of the participants as well as the lack of concern by many. The survey was also successful in identifying individuals that may help the CHP gain future partnerships and identifying creative methods for distributing health education material. The CHP plans to follow-up with many of the participants and the survey will be further developed and used to survey other leaders, community members, and public health workers etc. to further investigate the needs and concerns of communities across Georgia.
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杜家榮 and Ka-wing To. "Environmental, cost and health benefits of district cooling." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B4257657X.
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Robinson, Andrew. "The management of local authority environmental health departments." Thesis, Leeds Beckett University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.261189.
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Abellán, Écija Alicia 1993. "Early life environmental exposures and childhood respiratory health." Doctoral thesis, TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa), 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/672670.
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The high prevalence and burden of asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases worldwide has raised concerns about the potential role of environmental exposures. However, the evidence is still inadequate. This Thesis is based on the hypothesis that being exposed to a harmful environment during prenatal life can have a long-term impact on disease later in life (the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease paradigm). The main aim of this doctoral Thesis was to investigate how early life environmental stressors, particularly ubiquitous chemical pollutants and the urban environment, influence children’s respiratory health.
In this Thesis we first reviewed the current evidence on the role of prenatal exposure to chemical pollutants, mainly organic pollutants, on children’s lung function. Then, we explored the associations of prenatal exposure to chemical pollutants, namely organochlorine compounds and bisphenols, on children’s respiratory health using 8 European population-based birth cohort studies. Last, we used a large longitudinal database, the Information System for Research in Primary Care, to establish a new birth cohort by linking electronic health records of parents and children.
Results of this Thesis show that 1) Evidence on prenatal exposure to organic pollutants on childhood lung function, especially organochlorine compounds and bisphenols, is limited. 2) Prenatal exposure to p,p′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p′-DDE) is prevalent and may decrease lung function during childhood. 3) Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A is prevalent and is associated with higher risk of wheeze and asthma among school-age girls. 4) The urban environment during pregnancy, mainly air pollution, road traffic noise, and availability of blue spaces can affect respiratory health in childhood. 5) We successfully linked the electronic health records of 719,858 children born from 2005 to 2018 to the electronic health records of at least one potential parent in the Information System for Research in Primary Care
In conclusion, prenatal exposure to organochlorine compounds, bisphenol A and to exposures of the urban environment is prevalent and influences children’s respiratory health. This Thesis highlights that early identification of the environmental determinants of children’s respiratory health is of utmost importance, given their long-term effect on disease throughout life, and provides a new large birth cohort from the linkage of parent’s and children’s electronic health records.<br>La gran prevalença d’asma i altres malalties respiratòries cròniques al món ha despertat preocupacions sobre el possible paper de les exposicions ambientals. Tot i així, l’evidència és inadequada. Aquesta Tesi es basa en la hipòtesi que postula que l’exposició a un ambient nociu durant l’etapa prenatal por tenir un impacte a llarg termini en la salut (el paradigma de l’origen durant el desenvolupament de la salut i la malaltia). L’objectiu principal d’aquesta Tesi doctoral és investigar com influeixen en la salut respiratòria infantil les exposicions ambientals, especialment els contaminants químics i el medi urbà, durant les primeres etapes de la vida.
En aquesta Tesi primer vam revisar l’evidència actual del paper de l’exposició prenatal a contaminants químics, principalment contaminants orgànics, sobre la funció pulmonar durant la infància. A continuació, vam explorar les associacions entre l’exposició prenatal a contaminants químics, principalment compostos organoclorats i bisfenols, i la salut respiratòria infantil mitjançant 8 estudis de cohort de naixement europeus. Per últim, vam utilitzar una gran base de dades longitudinal, el Sistema d’Informació per al Desenvolupament de la Investigació en Atenció Primària, per establir una nova cohort de naixement mitjançant la vinculació de la història clínica electrònica de pares i fills.
Els resultats d'aquesta Tesi mostren que 1) L’evidència sobre l'exposició prenatal a contaminants orgànics sobre la funció pulmonar infantil, especialment compostos organoclorats i bisfenols, és limitada. 2) L'exposició prenatal a p,p′-diclorodifenildicloroetilè (p, p′-DDE) és freqüent i pot disminuir la funció pulmonar durant la infància. 3) L’exposició prenatal al bisfenol A és freqüent i s’associa amb un major risc de sibilàncies i asma entre les nenes en edat escolar. 4) L’entorn urbà durant l’embaràs, principalment la contaminació atmosfèrica, el soroll del trànsit i la disponibilitat d’espais blaus, poden afectar la salut respiratòria durant la infància. 5) Hem vinculat amb èxit la història clínica electrònica de 719.858 nens nascuts del 2005 al 2018 amb les d’almenys un dels potencials progenitors al Sistema d’Informació per al Desenvolupament de la Investigació en Atenció Primària.
En conclusió, l’exposició prenatal a compostos organoclorats, bisfenol A i a exposicions del medi urbà és freqüent i influeix en la salut respiratòria dels infants. Aquesta Tesi posa en relleu que la identificació precoç dels determinants ambientals de la salut respiratòria infantil és de màxima importància, atès el seu efecte a llarg termini sobre les malalties al llarg de la vida, i proporciona una nova gran cohort de naixement creada a partir de la vinculació de la història clínica electrònica de pares i fills.
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Nekrasenko, L. "Population health and environmental tax policy in Ukraine." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2016. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/45334.
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Power engineering today is the most vulnerable point of Ukraine
economy. Energy Strategy of Ukraine aims to increase the share of
domestic fossil fuels in the energy balance of the country to 91.8% until
2030 (Energy Strategy of Ukraine till 2030).
High dependence Ukrainian industry on fossil fuels leads to significant
industrial and transport emissions. The carbon dioxide CO2, carbon
monoxide CO, nitrogen oxides NO, NO2, sulfur dioxide SO2 and
hydrocarbons are discharged into the air as a result of combustion are. The
largest contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector carries
out power industry. Its share is 76,06 % in 2011.
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Dodson, Jacob Christopher. "Guided Wave Structural Health Monitoring with Environmental Considerations." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/27070.
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Damage detection in mechanical and aerospace structures is critical to maintaining safe
and optimal performance. The early detection of damage increases safety and reduces cost
of maintenance and repair. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) integrates sensor networks
and structures to autonomously interrogate the structure and detect damage. The
development of robust SHM systems is becoming more vital as aerospace structures are
becoming more complex. New SHM methods that can determine the health of the structure
without using traditional non-destructive evaluation techniques will decrease the cost
and time associated with these investigations. The primary SHM method uses the signals
recorded on a pristine structure as a reference and compares operational signals to the
baseline measurement. One of the current limitations of baseline SHM is that environmental
factors, such as temperature and stress, can change the system response so the
algorithm indicates damage when there is none. Many structures which can benefit from
SHM have multiple components and often have connections and interfaces that also can
change under environmental conditions, thus changing the dynamics of the system.
This dissertation addresses some of the current limitations of SHM. First the changes
that temperature variations and applied stress create on Lamb wave propagation velocity
in plates is analytically modeled and validated. Two methods are developed for the
analytical derivative of the Lamb wave velocity; the first uses assumes a thermoelastic material
while the second expands thermoelastic theory to include thermal expansion and
the associated stresses. A model is developed so the baseline measurement can be compensated
to eliminate the false positives due to environmental conditions without storage
of dispersion curves or baseline signals at each environmental state. Next, a wave based
instantaneous baseline method is presented which uses the comparison of simultaneously
captured real time signals and can be used to eliminate the influence of environmental effects
on damage detection. Finally, wave transmission and conversion across interfaces in
prestressed bars is modeled to provide a better understanding of how the coupled axial
and flexural dynamics of a non-ideal preloaded interface change with applied load.<br>Ph. D.
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To, Ka-wing. "Environmental, cost and health benefits of district cooling." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B4257657X.
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To, Ka-wing. "Environmental, coat and health benefits of district cooling /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25436119.
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Iglar, A. F., and Phillip R. Scheuerman. "Computer Aided Instruction in the Environmental Health Curricula." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 1988. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2884.
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Arisido, Maeregu Woldeyes. "Functional Data Analysis for Environmental Pollutants and Health." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3424647.
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The adverse health effect of exposure to high pollutant concentration has been the focus of many recent studies. This is particularly true for ground level ozone which is considered in the present thesis. The effect has been estimated at different geographic locations, and it has been shown that it may be spatially heterogeneous. Within such widely accepted studies, two major issues arise which are the focus of this thesis: how to best measure daily individual exposure to a pollutant and how the health effect of the exposure is affected by geographic location both in strength and shape. The first issue is related to the fact that the concentration of ozone varies widely during the day, producing a distinctive daily pattern. Traditionally, the daily pattern of the pollutant is collapsed to a single summary figure which is then taken to represent daily individual exposure. In this thesis, we propose a more accurate approaches to measure pollutant exposure which address the limitations in the use of the standard exposure measure. The methods are based on principle of functional data analysis, which treats the daily pattern of concentration as a function to account for temporal variation of the pollutant. The predictive efficiency of our approach is superior to that of models based on the standard exposure measures. We propose a functional hierarchical approach to model data which are coming from multiple geographic locations, and estimate pollutant exposure effect allowing daily variation and spatial heterogeneity of the effect at once. The approach is general and can also be considered as the analogue of the multilevel models to the case in which the predictor is functional and the response is scalar.<br>Numerosi studi recenti hanno mostrato l'effetto dannoso che l'esposizione a elevate concentrazioni di inquinanti ha sulla salute umana.
In particolare, questo avviene per l'ozono, del quale ci occupiamo nel presente lavoro.
Stime ottenute in diversi siti mostrano che l'effetto è geograficamente eterogeneo.
Nel contesto degli studi menzionati emergono due aspetti di particolare importanza, e su cui è incentrato il presente lavoro: come misurare al meglio l'esposizione individuale e come e in che misura l'effetto vari geograficamente, sia quanto a intensità che a forma.
La prima questione è legata al fatto che la concentrazione di ozono mostra ampie variazioni nel corso di una giornata.
Di tale andamento giornaliero non si tiene conto nella maggior parte degli studi epidemiologici, e si assume che possa essere efficacemente riassunto da una statistica unidimensionale.
Nel presente lavoro proponiamo degli approcci che si basano sull'impiego di misure della concentrazione che tengono conto dell'andamento temporale della stessa.
Tali approcci sono basati sulla metodologia dell'analisi dei dati funzionali, che consiste nel trattare il dato sulla concentrazione giornaliera come una funzione, tenendo così conto delle sue variazioni durante la giornata.
In termini previsivi, si è verificato che tale approccio porta a un miglioramento rispetto ai modelli basati su una statistica giornaliera.
Questo approccio è poi esteso al caso di dati multisito, per i quali si propone un modello funzionale gerarchico, che consentono di stimare l'effetto dell'esposizione all'inquinante tenendo conto da un lato della variazione giornaliera della concentrazione dello stesso e dell'eterogeneità nello spazio di tale effetto.
Questo approccio può essere visto come l'analogo di un modello multilivello per il caso in cui il predittore è funzionale e la variabile risposta scalare.
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Zainy, Zainy M. Ali. "Primary care health centres : exploring the interface between patients' overall satisfaction with the primary health care environment, environmental factors, and non-environmental factors: case study Arriyadah City, Saudi Arabia." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.287913.
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Li, Ying. "Improving Public Health through Reducing Fine Particulate Matter Pollution." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2015. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/19.
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Tjale, Lydia Mmapula. "Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding environmental health services in Hospital Hill, Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, South Africa." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/1277.
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Thesis (MPH. (Health Measurement)) --University of Limpopo, 2012<br>The purpose of this study was to establish the community’s knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding environmental health services (EHS) in the informal settlement of Hospital Hill. A qualitative, cross-sectional study was conducted using focus group discussions among study participants that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Each focus group discussion had varying duration ranging from one hour to one-and-half hours. The study revealed that there was lack of knowledge about EHS, with participants citing provision of water and sanitation facilities as the various roles that EHPs played. Participants’ attitude towards EHS and EHPs showed marked dissatisfaction due to their inaccessibility and unavailability. The lack of consultation, follow-up and community initiatives fuelled their negative attitudes towards EHS. Culture and beliefs, school dropout, human resources and lack of access to information discouraged the community from using EHS. A number of suggestions were made which revealed the community’s need and desire for EHS provision because environmental health problems were dealt with in different ways and these varied from one household to the other further signifying the need for a uniform approach was needed to deal with environmental health problems. The community of Hospital Hill was found to be experiencing discrimination evidenced by inexistence of EHS and consequent limited knowledge of EHS, negative attitudes and practices regarding EHS.
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Nishizawa, Mariko. "Public participation and the social environment in technological, environmental and health risk conflict in Japan." Thesis, Imperial College London, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.401680.
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Kersten, Ellen Elisabeth. "Spatial Triage| Data, Methods, and Opportunities to Advance Health Equity." Thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3686356.
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<p> This dissertation examines whether spatial measures of health determinants and health outcomes are being used appropriately and effectively to improve the health of marginalized populations in the United States. I concentrate on three spatial measures that have received significant policy and regulatory attention in California and nationally: access to healthful foods, climate change, and housing quality. I find that measures of these health determinants have both significant limitations and unrealized potential for addressing health disparities and promoting health equity. </p><p> I define spatial triage as a process of using spatial data to screen or select place-based communities for targeted investments, policy action, and/or regulatory attention. Chapter 1 describes the historical context of spatial triage and how it relates to ongoing health equity research and policy. In Chapter 2, I evaluate spatial measures of community nutrition environments by comparing data from in-person store surveys against data from a commercial database. I find that stores in neighborhoods with higher population density or higher percentage of people of color have lower availability of healthful foods and that inaccuracies in commercial databases may produce biased measures of healthful food availability. </p><p> Chapter 3 focuses on spatial measures of climate change vulnerability. I find that currently used spatial measures of "disadvantaged communities" ignore many important factors, such as community assets, region-specific risks, and occupation-based hazards that contribute to place-based vulnerability. I draw from examples of successful actions by community-based environmental justice organizations and reframe "disadvantaged" communities as sites of solutions where innovative programs are being used to simultaneously address climate mitigation, adaptation, and equity goals. </p><p> In Chapter 4, I combine electronic health records, public housing locations, and census data to evaluate patterns of healthcare utilization and health outcomes for low-income children in San Francisco. I find that children who live in redeveloped public housing are less likely to have more than one acute care hospital visit within a year than children who live in older, traditional public housing. These results demonstrate how integrating patient-level data across hospitals and with data from other sectors can identify new types of place-based health disparities. Chapter 5 details recommendations for analytic, participatory, and cross-sector approaches to guide the development and implementation of more effective health equity research and policy.</p>
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Couch, Robert Alexander. "Environmental health regulation in urban South Africa : a case study of the Environmental Health Practitioners of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality." Thesis, London South Bank University, 2016. http://researchopen.lsbu.ac.uk/1797/.
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Environmental health is concerned with relations between the environment and human health and their management and remains a considerable public health challenge into the 21st century, particularly for cities where more than half the world’s population now lives. In South Africa local government Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) have been regulating local environmental health since Victorian times and are well placed to bring protective and developmental laws to life but are confronted by challenges not dissimilar to their Victorian forebears. The main research question is therefore: how do the EHPs of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CoJ) regulate environmental health? A literature review developed an interdisciplinary model of governance to describe and explore how EHPs regulate environmental health (EH) and the factors that could influence this process. This model utilised a socio-legal framework grounded in theoretical perspectives from criminology, history, the law, organisational studies, political science and sociology. A multiple case study strategy was developed to test this model. Qualitative methods were conducted on 10 street-level case EHPs from four CoJ regional offices through observation, interviews, questionnaires and the analysis of regulatory documents. These were supplemented by observations and interviews with other street-level EHPs and their managers and the analysis of other relevant documents, including quantitative data on the activities of CoJ EHPs. A new model of governance was developed by this thesis to describe, analyse and explain how CoJ EHPs regulate and found most of their work focused on a traditional regulatory ‘law enforcement’ pathway alongside other activities, notably an EH monitoring role for other CoJ departments and provincial government. But contrary to their Victorian inspector stereotype, EHPs behaved as responsive regulators and used mainly persuasive approaches (e.g. education, advice, negotiation), with more punitive approaches generally used for serious cases or when persuasion fails. This responsiveness was limited by factors including resources and weaknesses in more punitive approaches. A second regulatory pathway involving EH project and promotion activities was documented but remained secondary to traditional regulatory work. In conclusion, the model of governance conceptualised urban EH regulation as the continuous circulation of power within and between EHPs and local government itself, other spheres of government and civil society. Power was unequally distributed between these actors, but there were many opportunities for challenging power that were rarely captured or closed. Local government EHPs are therefore contributing towards making cities more productive, inclusive, sustainable and better governed and the model of governance created by this thesis was a useful tool for exploring their work.
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Sturbaum, Gregory Dean. "Cryptosporidium parvum, molecular environmental detection and implications." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280454.
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Cryptosporidiosis is a major cause of diarrheal illness worldwide and characterized by several daily bowel movements, resulting in fluid loss and dehydration. Two species, Cryptosporidium hominis and C. parvum are the main causative agents in human infection. Complicating matters for disinfection, epidemiology, and treatment studies, C. parvum isolates infect multiple mammalian species while C. hominis solely infects humans. The purpose of this dissertation was to: (1) develop a C. parvum PCR based detection method and discuss its limitations; and (2) to extend current epidemiological and molecular data rationalizing the multiple C. parvum host specific infectivity patterns. To fulfill these two objectives, three separate experiments were designed and executed. The results from which are included in the appendix as peer reviewed published manuscripts and are the basis of this dissertation. The first manuscript outlines the use and validation of microscopic micromanipulation to isolate and deliver low numbers of C. parvum oocysts to a test vial of interest. In addition, a nested PCR primer set was developed targeting the 18S rRNA and tested for sensitivity using micromanipulation and specificity using isolated DNA from multiple different species. It was determined that micromanipulation is an accurate technique able to deliver low numbers of oocysts to a test vial of interest. The nested PCR protocol had LLOD, in replicates of 50 and laboratory grade water, of 100% with ten oocysts and 38% with a single oocyst. The second manuscript compared detection efficiencies of the EPA Method 1623 with the nested PCR protocol outlined in the first manuscript. Both methods had equal detection efficiencies giving positive detection at the five-oocyst level. In addition, non-specific PCR amplification results generated during the study revealed specificity issues that have implications effecting past, current and future molecular detection validation processes. The final manuscript describes nucleotide and deduced amino acid differences between the C. parvum and C. hominis attachment/invasion surface proteins Cpgp 40/15, p23, and GP900. This information has implications explaining host-specificity differences observed among Cryptosporidium spp.
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Li, Ying. "Heat-Related Mortality under Two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) Emission Scenarios: Projections for the United States and China." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/2631.
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Public health effects associated with rising temperatures resulting from global climate change are expected to increase significantly in this century. Projecting future heat-related mortality is challenging due to considerable uncertainties, and national-level, large-scale impacts under the latest greenhouse gas emission scenarios remain largely unexplored. Here I estimate excess heat-related mortality in the continental United States and in 50 largest metropolitan areas in China in the 2050s under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) emission scenarios: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Using model-simulated future and present climate variables that were dynamically downscaled by regional meteorology models, this study quantifies the potential increase in heat-related mortality during the warm season (May-September) in mid-century relative to the base period of 2000s. The projections are based on an integrated assessment framework that combines high-resolution climate model outputs, location specific temperature-mortality relationships, population projections and baseline mortality rates. Heat mortality risk estimates for both countries are derived from systematic reviews of current literature on temperature-mortality relationships. Potential human adaptation is likely to decrease heat-related mortality in the future. I evaluate future adaptation assumption with a scenario analysis based on empirical evidence of adaptation to heat in both countries. Findings from this study will provide valuable information to support climate policy decision making and heat-related risk management in both countries and globally
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Albering, Harmina Jannette. "Environmental health risk assessment evaluation of some default assumptions /." [Maastricht : Maastricht : Universiteit Maastricht] ; University Library, Maastricht University [Host], 1998. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=8395.
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Truong, Khoa Dang. "Essays on environmental determinants of health behaviors and outcomes." Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, 2008. http://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs%5Fdissertations/RGSD228/.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pardee Rand Graduate School, 2007.<br>Title from title screen (viewed on June 13, 2008). This website links to the complete document in PDF format. Includes bibliographical references.
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Otter, Robert. "Aspects of environmental public health in Portsmouth, 1764-1864." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.387284.
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Cil, Gulcan. "Effects of Behavioral and Environmental Factors on Infant Health." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/19316.
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Health at birth is considered an important indicator of health outcomes in adulthood. It is also shown to have a strong association with future educational attainment and labor market outcomes. I examine the effects of behavioral and environmental factors on infant health. The factors I focus on include alcohol consumption during pregnancy, extreme weather events associated with climate change, and pollution that may result from unconventional oil and natural gas development.
In Chapter II, I examine the effects of point-of-sale alcohol warning signage that alcohol retailers are required to post in some states on alcohol use during pregnancy and on birth outcomes. I find that point-of-sale warning signs discourage alcohol consumption among pregnant women and are associated with a decrease in the odds of newborns having very low birth weight or being very pre-term. The findings of this research inform decision makers about a potentially effective mechanism through which alcohol consumption among pregnant women can be reduced. They also suggest causal evidence for the link between prenatal alcohol exposure and inferior health at birth.
Chapter III documents that exposure to heat waves during pregnancy is associated with increased likelihood of the mother experiencing an adverse health condition during pregnancy and the newborn having an abnormal condition at birth. The results provide an assessment of the magnitude and timing of the effects of extreme heat events associated with climate change on infant health which is potentially helpful in enhancing the effectiveness of adaptation efforts.
Finally, Chapter IV provides an empirical investigation of the link between unconventional oil and natural gas development and infant health. The results indicate that unconventional drilling activity is associated with a small, but statistically significant, decline in birth outcomes, especially for those living in rural areas. Given that it is estimated that the rapid expansion in unconventional oil and gas extraction will continue for at least a few more decades, the results of this study may contribute to the discussions related to initiation or tightening of regulations and monitoring efforts to control pollution.
This dissertation includes previously unpublished co-authored material.
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Marshall, Shaun A. "Environmental Resuspension and Health Impacts of Radioactive Particulate Matter." Digital WPI, 2020. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-dissertations/594.
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Surface-bound particulates containing radionuclides in the environment can become airborne through the process of resuspension. Once airborne, these radionuclides can be inhaled or ingested to deliver an internal dose of ionizing radiation. To that end, the resuspension factor method is a powerful tool for predicting a person's exposure to airborne particles from surface contaminations, and therefore is used to determine protective and intervening measures. The resuspension factor is calculated as the ratio measured airborne to surface mass concentration and has been found to generally decrease exponentially with time. Current models of the resuspension factor are empirical and have failed to predict recent measurement, motivating a stronger basis and physical model for the system. Additionally, federal guidances conservatively suggest an unphysical model of particulate radioactivity impact wherein the entirety of the radiation is absorped. For this dissertation, two- and three-compartment catenary models were derived which build on measured resuspension rate constants under various influences. These models were fit to a set of historic observations of resuspension factors using an instrumental uncertainty-weighting to resolve the large variances early in time which otherwise inflate calculations. When compared to previous resuspension models, our physical models better fit the data achieving reduced-chi-squared closer to 1. An experiment was undertaken to validate our basic environment resuspension models in an urban environment without wind. A resuspension chamber is constructed by placing an acrylic tube atop a poured concrete surface and lowering a low-volume air sampler head from above. Europium oxide powder was dispersed upon the surface or from above the air sampling height to emulate ideal compartmentalized release scenarios, and air is sampled on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Sampler filters then were evaluated for Europium content using neutron activation and gamma spectroscopy. Hourly measurements following airborne release are within an order of magnitude of early-timeframe historic resuspension factors (~10^−6 m^−1), whereas daily and weekly measurements from surface release demonstrate a gradual decrease in resuspension factor (∼10^−8 m^−1). These results support a need to critically assess the resuspension factor definition and its relationship to "initial suspension" and the indoor background, non-anthropogenic resuspension. Finally, a simulated model was generated to demonstrate loss of alpha radiation from relevant transuranic radioparticles. This was accomplished using the Geant4 Monte Carlo particle transport code. This basic model demonstrated a clear loss of average intensity and energy of exiting particles which are both directly related to the absorped dose. The data shows a loss from 10 to 90% of intensity to occur at particle sizes approaching the range of alphas within them, and a loss of roughly half the initial alpha energy at around the same particle sizes. The results establish a first-order baseline for a particulate self-absorption model which complement existing dosimetry models for inhaled radionuclides.
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ZHU, XIANGDONG. "WAVELET-BASED SIGNAL ANALYSIS FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1085064472.
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Obrycki, John F. "Managing Soils For Environmental Science And Public Health Applications." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469014282.
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Kim, Sang-Hoon. "Health effects of environmental pollution caused by electricity generation." Kyoto University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/136088.
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