This research considers a person’s ontological fabric woven from experiences of and in (trans)formative childhood and adolescent places through three conceptual frameworks: complexity theory, endogeny, and i/Indigenous ways of knowing. By re-visiting the (trans)formative places of four exemplary citizens with them, creating an interactive website and iBook, and exploring ten online public participants’ posts, I gained an understanding of how childhood and adolescent outdoor places act as catalysts of community, ecological, and civic environmental engagement. To achieve this, I asked the question: Does learning that occurs in childhood and adolescent outdoor places inform civic, emotional, physical, and/or spiritual engagement or connectedness over the course of people’s lives? If so, how? Tsartlip (Coast Salish First Nations) Elder, May Sam, Hua Foundation co-founder Claudia Li, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis, and former Lieutenant Governor of BC, Iona Campagnolo, all exemplary individuals, shared personal relationships with their childhood and adolescent places. They engaged though participatory action research by taking me to these places, contributing to the interview process, and supporting the analysis of the results. As a way to engage decolonizing methodologies and encourage authentic voice within this research, I took great care in using interview and discourse techniques that were respectful, engaging, and empowering. Each of these visits were filmed and appropriate sections were shared through online social media as a way to invite participation from the larger North American public (www.transformativeplaces.com). Ten more participants’ experiences were analyzed based on their submissions to this website. Data were explored through a hybrid of phenomenological and participatory analysis and participants were invited to help discern meaning through post-filming interviews and dialogue. The concept (trans)formative places was defined as sites that engage humans in biophysical, emotional, spiritual, and civic engagement. Major notions included the development of a memetic group of concepts that help describe the processes, characteristics, and relationships that occur from, in, and with (trans)formative places. I found that my participants’ relationship to places were formed through family and community bonds, where learning occurs through shared stories, collective healing, and respect-building. Places transformed my participants through identity development, memory and anxiety, resiliency behaviour, nostalgia, and loss. Finally, my participants related to places through connective processes like knowing a place and being home, engendering bliss and appreciation, development of pride and hope and emotionality. The final section of this dissertation is articulated as a manifesto for creating, sustaining, and engaging in (trans)formative places. To download the interactive iBook of this dissertation search for it in iTunes. / Graduate / 0350 / 0525 / 0534 / 0740 / 0768 / 0620 / 0727 / nstanger@nicholasstanger.ca

The scope of this study focuses on the concept of In Between with the intention of creating a space of transition and connection between inside and outside, and the simultaneous perception of the two environments. This study will explore the idea of the In Between within the context of a proposed student garden for Edmonton Clinic North, located within the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The intention is to present a design idea that responds to transitioning from one environment to the other as well as exploring opportunities in creating a place that creates the sense of In Between. The concepts of inside | outside, materiality and precedents are researched and analyzed to inform the understanding of the In Between. This research will contribute to the schematic design of the site that exhibits the sense of In Between.

This research considers a person’s ontological fabric woven from experiences of and in (trans)formative childhood and adolescent places through three conceptual frameworks: complexity theory, endogeny, and i/Indigenous ways of knowing. By re-visiting the (trans)formative places of four exemplary citizens with them, creating an interactive website and iBook, and exploring ten online public participants’ posts, I gained an understanding of how childhood and adolescent outdoor places act as catalysts of community, ecological, and civic environmental engagement. To achieve this, I asked the question: Does learning that occurs in childhood and adolescent outdoor places inform civic, emotional, physical, and/or spiritual engagement or connectedness over the course of people’s lives? If so, how? Tsartlip (Coast Salish First Nations) Elder, May Sam, Hua Foundation co-founder Claudia Li, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis, and former Lieutenant Governor of BC, Iona Campagnolo, all exemplary individuals, shared personal relationships with their childhood and adolescent places. They engaged though participatory action research by taking me to these places, contributing to the interview process, and supporting the analysis of the results. As a way to engage decolonizing methodologies and encourage authentic voice within this research, I took great care in using interview and discourse techniques that were respectful, engaging, and empowering. Each of these visits were filmed and appropriate sections were shared through online social media as a way to invite participation from the larger North American public (www.transformativeplaces.com). Ten more participants’ experiences were analyzed based on their submissions to this website. Data were explored through a hybrid of phenomenological and participatory analysis and participants were invited to help discern meaning through post-filming interviews and dialogue. The concept (trans)formative places was defined as sites that engage humans in biophysical, emotional, spiritual, and civic engagement. Major notions included the development of a memetic group of concepts that help describe the processes, characteristics, and relationships that occur from, in, and with (trans)formative places. I found that my participants’ relationship to places were formed through family and community bonds, where learning occurs through shared stories, collective healing, and respect-building. Places transformed my participants through identity development, memory and anxiety, resiliency behaviour, nostalgia, and loss. Finally, my participants related to places through connective processes like knowing a place and being home, engendering bliss and appreciation, development of pride and hope and emotionality. The final section of this dissertation is articulated as a manifesto for creating, sustaining, and engaging in (trans)formative places. To download the interactive iBook of this dissertation search for it in iTunes. / Graduate / 0350 / 0525 / 0534 / 0740 / 0768 / 0620 / 0727 / nstanger@nicholasstanger.ca

This is a qualitative study with four interviews, in four different preschools, in the same municipality. By making it so, it becomes a case study to describe a phenomenon in a municipality which also is the definition for this investigation. The purpose of my study is to examine what it means, in a municipality, to have different types of introduction at preschool. Where I ask the question why preschools choose to have a specific method of introduction and what are the basics and ideas behind the choice of the method? What significance do these different methods have to attachment theory? What do teachers think about the advantages and disadvantages with their choice of method? The versions of introductions are many and may vary; the duration of the introduction may vary from 1-3 days up to 3 weeks. The introduction is about getting to know and introduce adults and children in a preschool. The methods covered in this study are the parent active introduction methods and the traditional method of introduction on 2 – 3 weeks. Introduction is something that evolves into something particular to each preschool and department, and how good the introduction is does not have to do with the type of model or method used by the teacher but rather how teachers relate to parents and children. Which method teachers choose to use in their introduction does not matter as long as preschools find an approach or method that suits the department, parents and children. My conclusion is that there is a difference between the preschools in the municipality in regard to which method of introduction they choose to work with. Regardless of the method the teachers of the different preschools have chosen to work with, they still work towards the same goal, that parents and children should feel calm and secure, and that the teachers create a good connection to the parents and children in order to give the children a good start of preschool. What differentiates the various introduction methods is just how long each preschool believe that it takes for the children and parents to get sufficiently introduced. The most important thing is that the teachers have a strong commitment to the introduction and that they have a common approach, which is the common factor in all types of introductions.

Facades are popular in modern buildings and are made of different materials such as pre-cast concrete, glass, aluminium, granite or marble and steel. During recent times seismic activity in densely populated areas has resulted in damage and a consequent loss of life. There were many types of building failure, including failure of building facade systems. Facade systems are highly vulnerable and fail more frequently than the buildings themselves with significant devastating effects. During an earthquake building frames suffer large interstorey drifts, causing racking of the building facade systems. The facade systems may not be able to cater for such large deformations and this can result in either functional or total failure at the facade connections or damage by pounding (impact) with adjacent facade panels. Façade failure and collapse can cause serious damage to buildings and injury to people in the vicinity. Moreover, facade represent between 10- 20 % or more of the total building cost depending on the size and importance of the facility and facade material (Facades1980). Considering the cost and safety issues, the importance of a well designed facade system on a building needs to be emphasised. In modern buildings, energy absorbing passive damping devices are very commonly used for energy absorption in order to manage the vibration response of multistorey buildings in an earthquake event. A number of manufactured dampers such as Viscoelastic and viscous, friction and yielding dampers are available. These dampers use a range of materials and designs in order to achieve diverse levels of damping and stiffness. This thesis is an investigation of the seismic behaviour of building facade systems and studies the effects of facade and connection properties on this response. The objectives with energy absorbing connections of the study are to determine and control facade distortions and to establish the required connection properties. Finite Element techniques have been used for modelling and analysis of the building frame, facade and connections. Time history analyses under earthquake loadings were carried out to determine the system response in terms of inter-storey drifts, facade distortions, differential displacement between facades and frames and the axial force in horizontal connections. Connection properties with respect to stiffness and energy absorption capability (or damping) have been modelled and varied to obtain the desired response. Findings illustrate the influence of these connection properties on system response and show that it is possible to control facade distortions to within acceptable limits. They also demonstrate that energy absorbing connections are able to reduce inter-storey drifts and mitigate the detrimental seismic effects on the entire building facade system.

This research is an investigation into the phrase 'intermediate landscape' and tests this concept in the re-development of the Sanya waterfront, China. The phrase is based on the 'missing link' in the current disconnection between the landscape and urban development in Sanya city. If the landscape is considered as a connection across scales and urban systems rather than an isolated system, then how can landscape affect the structure and function of urban development? The 'intermediate landscape' considers the impact of understanding landscape not as an additional layer, but as a structure that can connect the urban context at different scales while at the same time addressing its function. This project attempts to formulate strategies of 'intermediate landscape' to coordinate the transformation of developing cities.

Thesis (M.A.)--Cincinnati Christian University, 2007. / Abstract and vita. "Christian Connexion" is spelled two ways in the thesis: Christian Connexion and Christian Connection. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-108).

Thesis (M.A.)--Cincinnati Christian University, 2007. / Abstract and vita. "Christian Connexion" is spelled two ways in the thesis: Christian Connexion and Christian Connection. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-108).

Αντικείμενο της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η μελέτη Υποσταθμού ΜΤ – ΧΤ. Αναλύονται τα μέσα που χρησιμοποιούνται για την υλοποίηση ενός ιδιωτικού Υ/Σ ΜΤ, ενώ μελετάται εκτενέστερα η διαδικασία επιλογής των μέσων εκείνων που είναι αναγκαία για την ηλεκτροδότηση ενός Μηχανουργείου, το οποίο αποτελείται από φορτία κίνησης και φωτισμού. Η εργασία χωρίζεται από δύο μέρη. Στο πρώτο μέρος, που είναι η εισαγωγή, παρατίθενται τα απαραίτητα θεωρητικά στοιχεία για την μελέτη και την σχεδίαση ενός Υ/Σ. Συγκεκριμένα, αναλύονται τα μέσα ζεύξης – απόζευξης και προστασίας ΜΤ καθώς και ο εξοπλισμός για το δίκτυο ΜΤ. Παρουσιάζονται οι τύποι παροχής των ιδιωτικών Υ/Σ, τα κατάλληλα είδη γείωσης για προστασία των ατόμων που εργάζονται σε αυτούς ή βρίσκονται κοντά, από επικίνδυνες τάσεις επαφής και βηματικές τάσεις, όπως επίσης και η απαραίτητη προστασία του Υ/Σ έναντι υπερτάσεων. Στην συνέχεια, επισημαίνονται τα χαρακτηριστικά στοιχεία, καθώς και οι τρόποι επιλογής και προστασίας των Μ/Σ ισχύος, οι οποίοι έχουν τον ρόλο του μετασχηματισμού της τάσης από ΜΤ σε ΧΤ. Γίνεται μια αναφορά στα καλώδια ΜΤ και ΧΤ και αναλύονται τα μέσα ζεύξης – απόζευξης και προστασίας ΧΤ. Επιπλέον περιγράφονται οι ηλεκτρικοί πίνακες μέσα στους οποίους τοποθετούνται τα μέσα ζεύξης και προστασίας. Επισημαίνεται η αναγκαιότητα της αντιστάθμισης αέργου ισχύος και γίνεται μια αναφορά στα συστήματα πυροπροστασίας και στην επιβεβλημένη συντήρηση του Υ/Σ. Τέλος παρουσιάζονται τα απαραίτητα εκείνα στοιχεία για τον υπολογισμό των ηλεκτρικών εγκαταστάσεων ισχυρών ρευμάτων των βιομηχανικών χώρων, οι οποίοι αποτελούνται από εγκαταστάσεις κίνησης και φωτισμού. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, πραγματοποιείται μια μελέτη εγκατάστασης κίνησης και φωτισμού ενός Μηχανουργείου καθώς επίσης και η μελέτη επιλογής των μέσων υλοποίησης του ιδιωτικού Υ/Σ ΜΤ – ΧΤ παροχής τύπου Α1 που θα το τροφοδοτήσει. Ακολουθούν τρία σχέδια, της χωροθέτησης των μηχανών παραγωγής έργου του Μηχανουργείου, της κάτοψης του κτιρίου του Υ/Σ ΜΤ και το μονογραμμικό του διάγραμμα στο οποίο φαίνονται όλα τα απαραίτητα στοιχεία για την κατασκευή των ηλεκτρικών πινάκων και την σχεδίαση της ηλεκτρολογικής εγκατάστασης. / Intention of the present diplomatic essay is the study of a Middle/Low Voltage’s Substation. The means used for the implementation of a private Middle Voltage’s Substation are being analyzed, whereas there is a further study of the procedure used to choose the specific means that are necessary for the power supply of a machine shop, which is consisted of movement and lighting loads. This essay is divided into two parts. In the first part, which is the introduction, all the essential theoretical information for calculating and designing a Substation is given. More specific, there is an analysis of the means of connection-disconnection and Middle Voltage protection structures, as well as the equipment for The M/V network. There is a presentation of the types of supplying private Substations and the proper grounding methods which protect people who work at them or stand close to them from dangerous types of voltages. Also the necessary protection of the Substation from overvoltage is mentioned. The technical characteristics, and the ways to select and to protect the Transformers, whose role is to transform the Middle Voltage to Low Voltage are presented next. There is a reference to the M/L Voltage cables and to the means of connection-disconnection and Low Voltage protection structures. Furthermore there is a description of the electrical boards, in which the means of connection and protection are placed. The necessity for counterbalancing the reactive power is highlighted and also the fire protection systems and the obligatory maintenance of the Substation are referred. Concluding the first part there is a presentation of the information needed to estimate electrical installations of industrial buildings, which are composed of motion and lighting installations. In the second part, there is an installation study for motion and lighting of a machine shop as well as a case study of the different structures available for setting up a private Substation M/L Voltage type A1 that will provide electrical power. Then there are three drawings. The first is about placing the different types of product machines of the machine shop, the ground plan of the M/V Substation’s building and the monoline diagram, in which all the essential information for constructing the electrical board and designing the electrical installation are showed.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται το σχεδιασμό ενός Φωτοβολταϊκού Συστήματος, και τη σύνδεση αυτού στο δίκτυο διανομής. Η εργασία αυτή εκπονήθηκε στο Εργαστήριο Παραγωγής, Μεταφοράς, Διανομής και Χρησιμοποίησης Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας του Τμήματος Ηλεκτρολόγων Μηχανικών και Τεχνολογίας Υπολογιστών της Πολυτεχνικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Σκοπός, πέρα από την εγκατάσταση του εξοπλισμού, είναι η μελέτη του συστήματος που σχεδιάστηκε ώστε να λειτουργεί με 3 διαφορετικούς τρόπους: α) Μονοφασικό Σύστημα συνδεδεμένο στο δίκτυο διανομής, β) Τριφασικό Σύστημα συνδεδεμένο στο δίκτυο διανομής και γ) Μονοφασικό αυτόνομο Σύστημα. Αρχικά, γίνεται μια εκτενής αναφορά στις Ανανεώσιμες Πηγές Ενέργειας και περιγράφεται η κατάσταση στην Ελλάδα σχετικά με αυτές. Στη συνέχεια παρουσιάζονται τα χαρακτηριστικά μεγέθη της ηλιακής ακτινοβολίας, καθώς επίσης και ο τρόπος με τον οποίο καθορίζεται ο βέλτιστος τρόπος τοποθέτησης των φωτοβολταϊκών πλαισίων. Επιπλέον, εξηγείται ο τρόπος λειτουργίας των φωτοβολταϊκών κυττάρων και αναφέρονται οι διάφορες τεχνολογίες των φωτοβολταϊκών κυττάρων που έχουν αναπτυχθεί μέχρι σήμερα. Συνεχίζοντας, παρατίθενται τα στοιχεία ενός συνδεδεμένου στο δίκτυο φωτοβολταϊκού συστήματος και οι γενικές αρχές σχεδίασής του. Έπειτα, παρουσιάζεται η μελέτη, ο τρόπος λειτουργίας και ο εξοπλισμός του συστήματος που εγκαταστάθηκε στο Εργαστήριο, και καταγράφονται οι μετρήσεις που ελήφθησαν και τα σχετικά διαγράμματα για μονοφασική και τριφασική συνδεδεμένη στο δίκτυο λειτουργία. Τέλος, γίνεται αναφορά στις δυσκολίες που αντιμετωπίστηκαν κατά την εκπόνηση της διπλωματικής εργασίας. / The Scope of this thesis is the design of a Photovoltaic System, and its connection to the distribution grid. The project was conducted at the Power Systems Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the School of Engineering at the University of Patras. An additional aim of the thesis is the study of the commissioned system, designed to operate in three different functions: a) Single-phase system connected to the distribution grid, b) Three-phase system connected to the distribution grid, and c) Stand-alone Single-phase system. The opening chapter of this study contains a detailed presentation of the existing Renewable Energy Sources, followed by a description of the current situation in Greece. In the next chapter, the variables concerning solar irradiance are analyzed, and the optimal principles of mounting photovoltaic modules are extrapolated. Furthermore, the photovoltaic phenomenon and the electrical behavior of photovoltaic cells is explained, and the photovoltaic technology employed today is concisely mentioned. Also, the components of a photovoltaic system are presented, and the categories and general design principles are covered in detail. Moreover, the study, mode of operation and components of the commissioned system are presented, along with the measurements and the relevant diagrams concerning the Single-phase and Three-phase, grid-connected operation. In conclusion, there is a description of the difficulties and problems that were encountered during the installation of the components.