Humans rely on plants for their survival in a multitude of ways. Plants provide nutritive value to organisms throughout the food chain and support a life-sustaining atmosphere. The idea that plants provide non-nutritive value is less established. In this paper, we will outline a variety of ways in which plants have been shown to have positive (nonnutritive) impacts on humans such that the potential application of plants as a countermeasure for diffi culties experienced by humans living in isolated or extreme environments is established and evaluated. A literature review on the topic of the non-nutritive benefi ts of plants is drawn from a wide variety of disciplines; a framework is offered to organize and provide structure for addressing the potential of plants to serve as effective countermeasures in isolated/extreme environments.

Transportation infrastructure in national parks has historically been designed for the automobile. With more vehicles in the parks, visitors found themselves in circumstances more reminiscent of a city than a park. Traffic jams, overcrowding, illegal parking, horn honking, and idling vehicles became common, creating stress and contributing to air and noise pollution, the very things visitors were hoping to get away from. Park managers began searching for alternatives, including shuttle systems. Many national parks have implemented optional shuttle systems, but relatively few have completely closed roads to vehicles, transporting visitors on mandatory shuttles. Zion National Park instituted a mandatory shuttle system in May 2000 to relieve crowding and congestion in the main canyon and to protect natural resources. Taking a longitudinal approach, attributes of the shuttle (e.g., crowding, accessibility, freedom, efficiency, preference, and success) were assessed with experiential park factors (e.g., scenic beauty, naturalness, solitude, tranquility, air quality, and soundscape) in 2000, 2003, and 2010 by surveying shuttle-riding park visitors. While visitors initially reported a few reservations about the shuttle system, by 2003, the majority rated the system successful. Ratings of all shuttle-related variables, except crowding, improved over the decade. Improvements were greatest for freedom, accessibility, and efficiency. Multiple regression found overall shuttle success to be mediated by preference, freedom, accessibility, efficiency, and comfort. Experiential variables assessing park conditions followed a similar pattern, with improved ratings as the decade progressed. Results provide important insights into the visitor experience with mandatory alternative shuttle systems in national parks.

No abstract

is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. She instructs undergraduate engineering courses via distance delivery to students at regional campuses located throughout Utah. She is a registered professional mechanical engineer and has more than 15 years industry experience as a practicing engineer. Angie's research interests include understanding barriers to entry and persistence in engineering, diversity issues in engineering, and distance delivered engineering education. She is member of ASEE, ASME and IEEE.

No abstract