Nowadays humans struggle to supply and attain longer and more appropriate life time. Introducing new technologies, which, speeded up by modernization and industrialization, is the main subject in many branches of science to improve the human’s life; but this rate of innovation is not always pleasurable. As seen in many cases, side effects of using new technology come up as warning signs, and lead to huge environmental and humanitarian disaster with irreversible impact. Moreover, most of these technologies might be applied in different kinds of warfare where nations use high-Tech as tools to reach other’s resources and raise their economic benefits. As in most wars that happened in the world, updated technologies have been applied to overcome the combatant, which finally shows up as damages on the environment, economy, civilians and soldiers. In this study we reviewed the reasons of shaping warfare and its consequences in different aspects of environment, civilians, soldiers and economy. The questions I followed to answer were: What are those main factors that induced by technology to form different kinds of warfare? And, can technology be altered as a tool to make a war more environmentally friendly? To answer these two main questions, we need to know reasons for shaping warfare a) Economy, b) Ideological/religious, and c) Power/pride/love which raise many theories such as Economic, Behavioural, Evolutionary, Demographic, Rational, and Political science theory. In 1990 members of the committee of environmental issue discussed development of technology in the future which should follow by consideration of global environmental issue. Therefore, new technology should bring solution to environmental problems. Nowadays technology creates some kind of competition, not only in combat, but also in cold war. According to reviews of many studies, the harshness of war increases and the aftermath becomes more severe on the environment and societies, consequently irreversible rehabilitation in short and long term. Applied technologies in some warfare have been considered by their impact on natural and human environment. As a case study I considered the recent war in Libya and its consequences, not only in the country, but also its impact on other nations and neighbours as well. Strict international laws is needed to explicit and declare the rights of each individual and nation to prevent and ban any activities in the term of war crime. Also groups of authentic authorities should set up to conduct an investigation into each activity in countries and survey on introduced technologies to ensure them about their result and consequences. Finally some reviews were released about how international committees and conventions, declarations and agreement has been set to prevent and prohibit crime in wars, and some international laws has been brought to guide nations about their rights and responsibility against each other.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death in Canada; however, physical activity (PA) has been shown to reduce mortality. Unfortunately, CHD patients are not engaging in enough PA. Purpose: To explore the association of the environmental variables (a) rurality, (b) access to PA opportunities, and (c) community socio-economic status (SES) with PA in CHD patients 3 months after discharge? And how does task self-efficacy may mediate these associations Results: Regressions showed that task self-efficacy predicted PA; however rurality, and SES did not predict PA at 3 months, nor did access to PA opportunities with the exclusion of pools. The lack of associations required no mediational analyses to be performed, except for pools, which demonstrated no mediational influence from self-efficacy. Conclusion: While task self-efficacy was a key PA correlate, there were no associations between the environment and PA (with the exclusion of access to pools).

This thesis addresses the City of Detroit`s transformation from a thriving center of trade and commerce to its present abandoned state. Due to the decentralization of industry and massive suburbanization since the 1950s, Detroit presently resembles a ‘middle landscape,’ somewhere between urban and rural. This thesis proposes an urban design strategy for Detroit that mediates between nature and culture, through the vehicle of a design for a new technical college campus. First, investigation into the ‘zone of in?uence’ explores the city`s present conditions including its infrastructure, buildings, and its current relationship with the natural environment. Secondly, the ‘zone of control’ proposes a new urban typology that is appropriate to the proposed college institution. Lastly, this thesis considers the ‘zone of effect,’ which displays the in?uence the proposed campus could have in promoting land development in the city`s residential areas, Eastern Market District, and Rivertown Warehouse District along the Detroit River waterfront.

Background: Less than half of Canadian youth meet recommended levels of physical activity. This is of concern given the health burden associated with physical inactivity. With the limited success of physical activity interventions, research has begun to focus on how physical and sociocultural environments affect physical activity. Investigation of school and neighbourhood characteristics that facilitate physical activity may identify environmental changes that could increase participation among adolescents. Objectives: The objectives of the two studies comprising the thesis were to examine, among youth in grades 6 through 10: 1) the association between school recreational characteristics and physical activity during free-time and class-time at school, and 2) the effects of perceptions of neighbourhood safety and availability of parks and recreational facilities on physical activity participation outside of school. Methods: Data from the 2006 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey (HBSC) were analyzed. Multilevel logistic regression was employed to quantify associations between school and neighbourhood characteristics and physical activity. For the first study, student responses to school-time physical activity scales were dichotomized (≥ 2 vs. <2 hours/week). A cumulative index that considered together policies, varsity and intramural athletics, presence and condition of fields, and condition of gymnasia was constructed based on principals’ reports. In the second study, physical activity outside of school was dichotomized (≥ 4 vs. <4 hours/week). A scale of individuals’ perceptions of safety was constructed. The number of parks and recreational facilities within a 5 km buffer of schools was abstracted from a geographical information system. Results: Objective 1. School recreational features were modestly positively related to adolescents’ physical activity at school, particularly that occurring during free-time. The cumulative effect of school recreational features exerted a stronger effect than any single feature. Objective 2. Perceptions of safety were associated with students’ physical activity, whereas increased availability of parks and recreational facilities neither prevented nor promoted physical activity. Conclusions: Objective 1. High levels of recreational support at schools might promote physical activity among young people. This could inform educational policies and support funding of school recreational opportunities. Objective 2. Improving perceptions of safety might promote physical activity participation among youth. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2008-05-22 15:44:36.541

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Stephens Lake, Manitoba is an example of a peatland reservoir that has undergone physical changes related to mineral erosion and peatland disintegration processes since its initial impoundment. In this thesis I focused on the processes of peatland upheaval, transport, and disintegration as the primary drivers of dynamic change within the reservoir. The changes related to these processes are most frequent after initial reservoir impoundment and decline over time. They continue to occur over 35 years after initial flooding. I developed a remote sensing approach that employs both optical and microwave sensors for discriminating land (i.e. floating peatlands, forested land, and barren land) from open water within the reservoir. High spatial resolution visible and near-infrared (VNIR) optical data obtained from the QuickBird satellite, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) microwave data obtained from the RADARSAT-1 satellite were implemented. The approach was facilitated with a Geographic Information System (GIS) based validation map for the extraction of optical and SAR pixel data. Each sensor’s extracted data set was first analyzed separately using univariate and multivariate statistical methods to determine the discriminant ability of each sensor. The initial analyses were followed by an integrated sensor approach; the development of an image classification model; and a change detection analysis. Results showed excellent (> 95%) classification accuracy using QuickBird satellite image data. Discrimination and classification of studied land cover classes using SAR image texture data resulted in lower overall classification accuracies (~ 60%). SAR data classification accuracy improved to > 90% when classifying only land and water, demonstrating SAR’s utility as a land and water mapping tool. An integrated sensor data approach showed no considerable improvement over the use of optical satellite image data alone. An image classification model was developed that could be used to map both detailed land cover classes and the land and water interface within the reservoir. Change detection analysis over a seven year period indicated that physical changes related to mineral erosion, peatland upheaval, transport, and disintegration, and operational water level variation continue to take place in the reservoir some 35 years after initial flooding. This thesis demonstrates the ability of optical and SAR satellite image remote sensing data sets to be used in an operational context for the routine discrimination of the land and water boundaries within a dynamic peatland reservoir. Future monitoring programs would benefit most from a complementary image acquisition program in which SAR images, known for their acquisition reliability under cloud cover, are acquired along with optical images given their ability to discriminate land cover classes in greater detail.

With rising concern about flooding and water pollution in the Red River and particularly in Lakes Manitoba and Winnipeg in recent years, building rain gardens in cities may become one solution with considerable potential for improving water quality. The literature illustrated the many benefits that can be provided by a rain garden system, not only aesthetically pleasing gardens with educational and biodiversity values, but they also can reduce storm water pollution and flooding in downstream water bodies. In order to address questions of public understanding and perceptions of their usefulness so as to better promote future implementation, the study examined social feedback about rain gardens through a survey at Ecole St Avila, an elementary school in Winnipeg. The findings from the survey indicated that the largest obstacles for rain garden development are funding and the lack of knowledge by the public.

This research project examines the application of mineral magnetic techniques to the characterisation of particulates and their sources in the urban highway environment and in stormwater runoff. A review of previous investigations into sources, levels and pathways of metals through the urban highway environment is presented. The principles upon which the mineral magnetic techniques are based and those parameters employed in this study are described. Previous environmental applications are reviewed. A representative sampling scheme was established in a small well-defined sub-catchment. Copper, Fe, Pb and Zn concentrations in highway associated sediments increased with proximity to the road centre and seasonal maxima occurred in summer. Heavy metal loadings were dominated by the sediment loadings. Strong linear relationships between the metals, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn, and magnetic mineral concentration related parameters, X and IRM3oomT, were observed. Mineral magnetic characterisation achieved complete discrimination between highway associated sediments and roof sediments allowing the derivation of equations defining the sediment groupings. Variations in metal-magnetic properties of sediments with particle size ,were investigated. Primary source materials and particulates were analysed. Metallic and magnetic mineral parameters indicated that atmospheric and vehicle derived· particulates were probably the dominant origins of source particulates. The variation of particulate associated heavy metals in stormwater runoff at the sub-catchment is discussed. Mineral magnetic parameters characterised the majority of stormwater particulates with the roof sediment grouping. The implications of these investigations is discussed. The study was expanded to encompass the parent c~tchment. The characterisation of source sediments from land use and road types other than that· represented by the sub-catchment was carried out. Stormwater particulates collected at the main catchment'· outfall were found to be generally characterised with soil and roof sediment groupings. The further application and use of mineral magnetic parameters in similar research is discussed.

The U.K. financial sector, being the largest contributor to the national economy, needs to have robust contingency arrangements to counter any major operational disruption. As such, this doctoral research identified the premise of the need to raise the status of BCM in financial organisations.

This thesis describes the methods by which individuals and associations give meaning to the concept of profession within the English building industry in the late modern period. The hypothesis is that professional associations control occupations. Whilst this might be accepted in a wider literature, building professionals identify with a far bleaker, late modern, interpretation of profession. The literature portrays a 'backwards' industry without a determinant authority, characterised by fragmented and servile professional associations. The thesis utilises Burrage's (2006) four-goal-framework to structure its investigation through semi-structured interviews with professionals and their associations. This proposes that associations control admission and training, define and defend a jurisdiction, set up a system to govern their own members and seek to improve their corporate status. This work concludes that professionals and associations strategically engage with these issues. There are problems facing professions, but their demise is not one of them. Indeed, rather than be defensive, associations are enhancing their controlling systems. This involves a looser coupling between associations and their membership, which creates some fracturing to the construction of identity. However, the result is new forms of occupational provision, in alliance with both clients and the state, that establish clear dialogues for identity and very specific types of service that are well separated from external 'quacks'. Faced with an environment that is ostensibly deeply sceptical, associations are selective in how they defend and enhance both their status and control systems. This has led, for example, to a withdrawal from controlling entry in the face of government demands to widen participation, to be replaced with strong regulatory schemes for members. This creates standardisation and practical guarantees of competency, a powerful executive in a quasi-judicial regulatory role, and clear rules of behaviour and permanent training through CPD. The result is 'competent', 'safe', 'good' and 'ethical' occupational jurisdiction.