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Human production needs are met through the use of modern technology that is increasingly recognised as a threat to the planetary ecosystem and social sub-system. In light of this recognition, there is evidence that a planned transition towards more sustainable technological infrastructure is occurring across various production sectors. This change is often associated with re-orientating technology based on the concept of sustainable development and national-level strategies such as <i>ecological modernisation</i>, which prescribes phasing-out environmentally malignant conventional technology for cleaner post-industrial solutions. There is evidence, however, that a transition towards cleaner technological options is occurring at the local level. In southern Ontario, Canada ecological technology (<i>ecotechnology</i>) has been adopted in small-scale agricultural and educational facilities for the management of manure and domestic sewage. Ecotechnology is designed to meet human production requirements and to restore the environment through combining natural systems and engineered components to achieve cleaner production. Two types of ecotechnologies were investigated during this research: <i>constructed treatment wetlands</i> for the management of manure and <i>greenhouse-based biological technologies</i> for the management of domestic sewage. These options are novel and can be expected to encounter barriers resulting from a <i>selection environment</i> favouring pre-existing technological options that have previously become established. The overall objective of the research was <i>to identify key factors both driving and constraining the adoption and implementation of the ecotechnology</i> across four case studies. This objective was accomplished through employing a qualitative, collective case study approach. The case studies revealed the motivation behind the adoption of the ecotechnology arose from the environmental values of users and formed the basis for rejecting the conventional options because they were not viewed as capable of improving the environment. However, the ecotechnology also exceeded user's aesthetic and operational level expectations. Barriers to the implementation of ecotechnology were also identified. The investigation revealed the existence of a <i>perspective-gap</i> between the ecological engineering science and traditional engineering science, which constrained implementation of the ecotechnology. Skepticism was found to arise due to the unique performance parameters and <i>soft</i> operational characteristics of ecotechnology, which contrast the <i>hard</i> technological fixes that are familiar to traditional engineering science. This perspective-gap may account for the institutional inertia, which became clear after the 1996 provincial budget reductions decreased the level of support for research and environmental technology development programs in Ontario. These reductions also devolved authority for small-scale wastewater treatment to the municipal level where lack of technical expertise and reliance on standardised regulations has constrained the development of alternatives. Constructive technology assessment suggests that the development of technology must be guided in cooperative <i>social learning</i> processes capable of reflecting the needs and values of stakeholders in order to achieve beneficial social and technological change. Evidence from the case studies revealed that a significant amount of capacity was developed when stakeholders collaborated and legitimated the <i>social experiments</i> where the ecotechnology was applied. These experiments demonstrate the significance of creating settings where users, technology proponents and provincial and local approval agents can collaborate. Through collaboration, social learning can be facilitated during the development of alternative technological solutions that may be congruent with ecological modernisation and the re-orientation of technology towards options that are ecologically-oriented.

This study addresses factors driving the variation in the per capita Ecological Footprint (EF) in Dallas County, Texas. A main hypothesis was that scientifically estimated demography, environmental values, spatial attributes, and land-use patterns surrounding an individual are significant factors in the size of per capita EF. This study was based on the survey method and GIS routines. Additionally, a multiple regression method was employed to address the study question. The survey measured respondents?? EF using an ??Ecological Footprint Quiz?? consisting of sixteen questions regarding individual food, mobility, housing, and goods/services consumption. GIS technologies were used to objectively measure spatial attributes. The environmental values were measured by selected questions regarding ecological crises. This study found from the descriptive analysis that Dallas County??s average personal EF was 26.4 acres: food (5.1), mobility (3.3), shelter (8.3), and goods and services (9.8). The study indicates that the residents need ecologically productive land more than 105 times the area of the county. Based on the explanatory analysis, the following summary points can be made about the factors driving of the variance, not only in the per capita composite footprint but also in each of the personal footprint components: First, a highly educated, non-married, older male living in a high income household located in a low population density area is more likely to have a larger personal composite footprint. Second, a person with a weak environmental awareness living where the ratio of employment opportunities (places to work) is worse, and living far from freeways and major lakes but close to major malls, is more likely to have a larger personal food footprint. Third, a younger person living in a high income household located close to major malls but far from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is more likely to have a larger mobility footprint. Fourth, a highly educated non-married older male living in a highly developed area is more likely to have a larger shelter footprint. Fifth, a highly educated non-married older male living in a high income household located in a low population density area is more likely to have a larger goods and services footprint.

The Port of Kaohsiung is the biggest port of Taiwan. Because South Taiwan is full of industries, the port of Kaohsiung ranked world number three. And as the production industry moved to Mainland China, the port of Kaohsiung regressed to the sixth container harbor in the world in 2008. The president, Ma Ying-jeou, elected in 2008, proposed that the port of Kaohsiung would become Eco-port in the future. There are many migratory birds visiting the port of Kaohsiung every April and May. This research referred to the development module in other countries¡¦ eco-ports, and tried to do the feasibility study on the development of Eco-port Kaohsiung. The method includes documents study, expert interview, sites investigate and sum up. This research hopes to let the port of Kaohsiung become the first Eco-port of Taiwan. And let the human development and ecosystem conservation coexists, reach the win-win situation.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Oct. 23, 2009). Thesis advisor: R. Mark DeKay. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

School engagement is associated with higher achievement and lower school drop- out rates. Teacher, peer, and parent relationships are critical in the development of school engagement. However, most researchers have looked at the effects of these relationships on school engagement in isolation. Also, few studies have looked at how the impact of these relationships on school engagement may vary as the result of school attended, age, gender, and race. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the growing body of research exploring the mechanisms that underlie the socio-emotional antecedents of school engagement. A theoretical framework for the examination of school engagement as an assessment of how well family, teacher, and peer relationships are meeting students' needs drew from Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model and Catalano and Hawkins (1996) social development model. Latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze an archival data set that included 2,217 students in grades 6 through 8 attending three public middle schools in Texas. Results indicated that reported levels of school engagement were explained primarily by peer and teacher relationships. Family context played an indirect role on school engagement, via its influence on peer and teacher relationships. Grade, gender, and race also impacted how relational factors influenced school engagement. Results highlight the importance of positive relationships with family, peers, and teachers, in increasing the development of school engagement. Results also highlight taking into account the unique needs of the student based on his or her age, gender, and ethnic background when designing interventions for school engagement. / text

Individual specialization occurs when individuals selectively consume a subset of their population's diet. Intraspecific diet variation can stabilize population and community dynamics, promote species coexistence, and increase ecosystem productivity. Ecological variation also provides the variability necessary for natural or sexual selection to act. Individual threespine stickleback select different prey from a shared environment, and this variation is not simply a result of sex, size, or spatial heterogeneity. I use longitudinal observation of stickleback foraging microhabitat to support more commonly used cross-sectional metrics. Among recaptured individuals there were correlations between microhabitat use and functional morphology, and microhabitat use and long term dietary differences between individuals. I quantify individual specialization across populations using cross-sectional sampling to understand how and why ecological variation may itself be variable. All populations showed significant individual specialization. Specialization varied between populations and this variation seems to be a long-term property of populations. Overall morphological variance was positively correlated with ecological variation. Ecological variation, like all types of heritable variation, provides raw material for evolutionary change. For example, lacustrine populations of stickleback are commonly under disruptive selection due to intraspecific competition for prey resources. Speciation with gene flow may be driven by a combination of positive assortative mating and disruptive selection, particularly if selection and assortative mating act on the same trait. We present evidence that stickleback exhibit assortative mating by diet, using the isotopes of males and eggs within their nests. In concert with disruptive selection, this assortative mating should facilitate divergence. However, the population remains phenotypically unimodal, highlighting the fact that assortative mating and disruptive selection do not guarantee evolutionary divergence and speciation. There are several not-mutually-exclusive mechanisms by which assortative mating by diet may occur in these populations, such as shared microhabitat preference among individuals of similar diet. Stable isotopes reveal diet differences between different nesting areas and among individuals using different nest habitat within a nesting area. Spatial segregation of diet types may generate some assortative mating, but is insufficient to explain the observed assortment strength. We therefore conclude that sticklebacks' diet-assortative mating arises primarily from behavioral preference rather than from spatial isolation. / text