Life-patterns on the periphery : a humanities base for development imperatives and their application in the Chicago city-region

Life-Patterns on the Periphery: A Humanities Base for Development Imperatives and their Application in the Chicago City-Region is informed by the need to bring diverse fields together in order to tackle issues related to the contemporary city-region. By honouring the long-term economic, social, political, and ecological imperatives that form the fabric of healthy, productive, sustainable communities, it becomes possible to setup political structures and citizen will to develop distinct places that result in the overlapping of citizen life patterns, setting the stage for citizen action and interaction. Based in humanities scholarship, the four imperatives act as checks on each other so that no one imperative is solely honoured in development. Informed by Heidegger, Arendt, deCerteau, Casey, and others, their foundation in the humanities underlines their importance, while at the same time creating a stage where all fields can contribute to actualizing this balance in practice. For this project, theoretical assistance has been greatly borrowed from architecture, planning theory, urban theory, and landscape urbanism, including scholarship from Saskia Sassen, John Friedmann, William Cronon, Jane Jacobs, Joel Garreau, Alan Berger, and many others. This project uses the Chicago city-region as a site, specifically the Interstate 80 and 88 corridors extending west from Chicago. Both transportation corridors are divided into study regions, providing the opportunity to examine a broad variety of population and development densities. Through observational research, a picture of each study region can be extrapolated, analyzed, and understood with respect to the four imperatives. This is put to use in this project by studying region-specific suggestions for future development moves, culminating in some universal steps that can be taken to develop stronger communities and set both the research site specifically and North American city-regions in general on a path towards healthy, productive, sustainable development.

Performance evaluation of VIP latrines in the Upper West Region of Ghana

The prevalence of Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines in Ghana suggests that the design must have a high user acceptance. The two key factors attributed to user acceptance of a VIP latrine over an alternative latrine design, such as the basic pit latrine, are its ability to remove foul odors and maintain low fly populations; both of which are a direct result of an adequate ventilation flow rate. Adequate ventilation for odorless conditions in a VIP latrine has been defined by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Bank, as an air flow rate equivalent to 6 air changes per hour (6 ACH) of the superstructure’s air volume. Additionally, the UNDP determined that the three primary factors that affect ventilation are: 1) wind passing over the mouth of the vent pipe, 2) wind passing into the superstructure, and 3) solar radiation on to the vent pipe. Previous studies also indicate that vent pipes with larger diameters increase flow rates, and the application of carbonaceous materials to the pit sludge reduces odor and insect prevalence. Furthermore, proper design and construction is critical for the correct functioning of VIP latrines. Under-designing could cause problems with odor and insect control; over-designing would increase costs unnecessarily, thereby making it potentially unaffordable for benefactors to independently construct, repair or replace a VIP latrine. The present study evaluated the design of VIP latrines used by rural communities in the Upper West Region of Ghana with the focus of assessing adequate ventilation for odor removal and insect control. Thirty VIP latrines from six communities in the Upper West Region of Ghana were sampled. Each VIP latrine’s ventilation flow rate and micro-environment was measured using a hot-wire anemometer probe and portable weather station for a minimum of four hours. To capture any temporal or seasonal variations in ventilation, ten of the latrines were sampled monthly over the course of three months for a minimum of 12 hours. A latrine usage survey and a cost analysis were also conducted to further assess the VIP latrine as an appropriated technology for sustainable development in the Upper West Region. It was found that the average air flow rate over the entire sample set was 11.3 m3/hr. The minimum and maximum air flow rates were 0.0 m3/hr and 48.0 m3/hr respectively. Only 1 of the 30 VIP latrines (3%) was found to have an air flow rate greater than the UNDP-defined odorless condition of 6 ACH. Furthermore, 19 VIP latrines (63%) were found to have an average air flow rate of less than half the flow rate required to achieve 6 ACH. The dominant factors affecting ventilation flow rate were wind passing over the mouth of the vent pipe and air buoyancy forces, which were the effect of differences in temperature between the substructure and the ambient environment. Of 76 usable VIP latrines found in one community, 68.4% were in actual use. The cost of a VIP latrine was found to be equivalent to approximately 12% of the mean annual household income for Upper West Region inhabitants.

Ecology of larval fishes and large zooplankton in the Keweenaw Current region of Lake Superior, with special focus on lake herring, Coregonus artedi

I assessed the influence of the Keweenaw Current and spring thermal bar on the distribution of larval fishes and large zooplankton in Lake Superior. In 1998 and 1999, samples were collected from inshore (0.2 – 3.0 km from shore) and offshore (5.0 – 9.0 km from shore) locations on three transects off the western coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan. For larval fishes, density and size distribution patterns of lake herring (Coregonus artedi), rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax), burbot (Lota lota), deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsoni), and spoonhead sculpin (Cottus ricei) suggest a seasonal inshore to offshore movement. For zooplankton, seasonal warming appeared to be the major factor that limited planktonic catches of the primarily benthic Mysisrelicta and Diporeia spp., while simultaneously stimulated growth and reproduction of the cladocerans Daphnia spp., Holopedium gibberum, and Bythotrephes cederstroemi. In contrast, calanoid copepods as a group were abundant throughout the entire sampling season. The greatest abundances of zooplankton were generally encountered offshore, even for the cladocerans, which apparently expanded from inshore to offshore locations with seasonal warming. In 2000, sampling efforts focused on lake herring. Samples were collected from surface waters at 0.1 – 17.0 km from shore on two transects. Lake herring larvae were also reared in the laboratory from eggs in order to validate the use of otolith microstructure for aging. Increment deposition was not statistically different from a daily rate starting from 28 days after hatching, near the time of yolk-sac absorption, but larvae with lower growth rates could not be aged as accurately. In Lake Superior, lake herring tended to be slightly more abundant, larger, and older at inshore locations, but a dense patch of younger larvae was also encountered 7 – 13 km from shore. The distribution iiipatterns suggest that larvae were transported by prevailing currents into the study region, possibly from the more productive spawning regions in western Lake Superior. Growth rates were suppressed at offshore locations where temperatures were less than 8°C. These results indicate that lake herring larvae may be transported far distances from spawning concentrations by longshore currents, and water temperatures may largely control their growth.

Critical evaluation of diameter increment modelling in the Great Lakes region

Simulations of forest stand dynamics in a modelling framework including Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) are diameter driven, thus the diameter or basal area increment model needs a special attention. This dissertation critically evaluates diameter or basal area increment models and modelling approaches in the context of the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. A set of related studies are presented that critically evaluate the sub-model for change in individual tree basal diameter used in the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), a dominant forestry model in the Great Lakes region. Various historical implementations of the STEMS (Stand and Tree Evaluation and Modeling System) family of diameter increment models, including the current public release of the Lake States variant of FVS (LS-FVS), were tested for the 30 most common tree species using data from the Michigan Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. The results showed that current public release of the LS-FVS diameter increment model over-predicts 10-year diameter increment by 17% on average. Also the study affirms that a simple adjustment factor as a function of a single predictor, dbh (diameter at breast height) used in the past versions, provides an inadequate correction of model prediction bias. In order to re-engineer the basal diameter increment model, the historical, conceptual and philosophical differences among the individual tree increment model families and their modelling approaches were analyzed and discussed. Two underlying conceptual approaches toward diameter or basal area increment modelling have been often used: the potential-modifier (POTMOD) and composite (COMP) approaches, which are exemplified by the STEMS/TWIGS and Prognosis models, respectively. It is argued that both approaches essentially use a similar base function and neither is conceptually different from a biological perspective, even though they look different in their model forms. No matter what modelling approach is used, the base function is the foundation of an increment model. Two base functions – gamma and Box-Lucas – were identified as candidate base functions for forestry applications. The results of a comparative analysis of empirical fits showed that quality of fit is essentially similar, and both are sufficiently detailed and flexible for forestry applications. The choice of either base function in order to model diameter or basal area increment is dependent upon personal preference; however, the gamma base function may be preferred over the Box-Lucas, as it fits the periodic increment data in both a linear and nonlinear composite model form. Finally, the utility of site index as a predictor variable has been criticized, as it has been widely used in models for complex, mixed species forest stands though not well suited for this purpose. An alternative to site index in an increment model was explored, using site index and a combination of climate variables and Forest Ecosystem Classification (FEC) ecosites and data from the Province of Ontario, Canada. The results showed that a combination of climate and FEC ecosites variables can replace site index in the diameter increment model.

Carbon in the Peatlands in the Great Lakes Region

Peatlands cover only ~3% of the global land area, but store ~30% of the worlds' soil carbon. There are many different peat types that store different amounts of carbon. Most inventories of carbon storage in northern peatlands have been conducted in the expansive Sphagnum dominated peatlands. Although, northern white cedar peatlands (NW cedar, Thuja occidentalis L.) are also one of the most common peatland types in the Great Lakes Region, occupying more than 2 million hectares. NW cedar swamps are understudied, due in part to the difficulties in collection methods. General lack of rapid and consistent sampling methods has also contributed in a lack of carbon stock quantification for many peatlands. The main objective of this thesis is to quantify: 1) to evaluate peat sampling methods 2) the amount of C-stored and the rates of long-term carbon accumulation in NW cedar peatlands. We sampled 38 peatlands separated into four categories (black ash, NW cedar swamp, sedge, and Sphagnum) during the summers of 2011/2012 across northern MN and the Upper Peninsula of MI. Basal dates of peat indicate that cedar peatlands were between 1970-7790 years old. Cedar peatlands are generally shallower than Sphagnum peat, but due to their higher bulk density, hold similar amounts of carbon with our sites averaging ~800 MgC ha-1. We estimate that NW cedar peatlands store over 1.7 Gt of carbon in the Great Lakes Region. Each of the six methods evaluated had a different level of accuracy and requires varying levels of effort and resources. The depth only method and intermittent sampling method were the most accurate methods of peatland sampling.