Bio-climatic design is essential to all architecture because buildings consume large amount of energy to maintain comfortable indoor environments. To achieve this goal, we need a model that can be a source of inspiration as well as knowledge to motivate and help architects in creating such architecture.Many designers have taken inspiration from nature and explored various ways of mimicking its models. In this creative project, I looked at various entities in nature to understand how they acclimatize to respective climatic settings. Based on several observations, I extracted Nature's design principles and applied those to the bio-climatic design of buildings. These principles are helpful in developing a general understanding for making our buildings responsive to climate. / Department of Architecture

Unplanned and rapid growth of tourism can be perilous to the natural and socio-cultural environment of communities and regions. Unplanned tourism can destroy the unique landscapes upon which it depends. This problem is particularly severe in third world nations which are hosting a new generation of tourism in hopes of economic survival.This paper presents a case study which supports the above contentions by identifying changes that have taken place in Negril, Jamaica, through a discussion of the causes and effects of rapid, poorly planned tourism development in that town. This provides the basic framework within which the author raises questions suggest ideas to promote more appropriate and culturally and sensitive changes in present land use policies in the city of Negril. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The effects of the insecticide diflubenzuron (DFB) on the growth characteristics of two gram negative soil bacterial isolates were examined. The bacterial isolates were grown in the presences of varying amounts of DFB and showed no apparent change in cell numbers, over time, when compared to control cultures. However, one of the two isolates tested showed a delayed response in chitinase production, over the same time period, as determined by radioisotopic methodology. Chitinase fractions obtained from cell free culture supernatants, concentrated by ultrafiltration and purified by affinity chromatography, were examined for activity in the presence of DFB. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques were utilized in the identification and quantification of products from control and experimental samples. Due to the loss of overall chitinase activity in the supernatants, this technique proved ineffective in determining chitinase response to DFB. / Department of Biology

The thesis explores links between resources and conflict in contemporary Somalia. The central research questions were: Why did a society which is believed to be resilient and adaptive to its harsh environment become vulnerable? To what extent did environmental factors contribute to the emergence of conflict? How can natural resource scarcity and abundance be related to the existence of, or potential for, violent conflict, bearing in mind the historical, political, economic and cultural context of conflict? Can other determining factors such as power-relations, access to trade, or clan affiliation be linked to lower economic, institutional, and social performance and associated with higher levels of violent conflict? If a link can be made, this will help to forecast where conflict might take place. Because Somalia is largely an arid country, highly susceptible to natural disasters, and because its people have been victims of severe famine in recent decades, my starting point for this research was to investigate literature on the supposed environmental causes of conflict. Analysis of the literature which links environmental degradation and scarcity to state-collapse or civil war suggested, however, that such linkages are problematic. I argue instead that people engage in violent conflict in Somalia because they struggle to establish control over valuable resources. These resources are likely to be renewables, such as cash crops in the form of plantations in riverine areas, cereals in the Bay region, and charcoal in the coastal region of Brawa. Conflict arose over the struggle to monopolise these resources, and over the distribution of profits. Clan leaders sought to expand a source of 'tax' revenue by controlling trade networks, seaports and airports. This general approach may explain why southern Somalia has experienced continuous insecurity over the past decade.

The dimensions of airborne fibres collected at various stages of fibre processing in mines and mills producing crocidolite, amosite and chrysotile asbestos were measured by using light optical and electron microscopy. Airborne fibres of different asbestos types had markedly different size and shape distributions. For a given asbestos type, airborne fibres collected at various stages of processing differed in their size distributions but the differences were considerably less than between fibre types. Most of the airborne fibres to which miners and millers were exposed were short, thin and thus respirable. The proportions of long fibres in the air of crocidolite and chrysotile mines and mills were small compared to those in amosite mining and milling environments. The physical parameters which best differentiated crocidolite fibres from other asbestos fibre types were aspect ratio, which was higher, and proportions of long thin fibres (0.06 - 0.2 (mu)m in diameter and > 5 (mu)m in length). Median mass of amosite fibres was more than 108 and 13 times higher than the median mass of chrysotile and crocidolite fibres respectively. Median true diameter of amosite fibres was approximately 4 and 3 times higher than median true diameters of chrysotile and crocidolite fibres respectively. Median true length of amosite fibres was more than 4.5 and 1.9 times higher than median true lengths of chrysotile and crocidolite fibres respectively. / The differences in size and shape of airborne fibres have important implications for setting of work environmental standards and explaining differences in health risks associated with different fibre types.

The objective of this study was to determine whether low-level flying military aircraft affected the reproductive success of Osprey (Pandion haliaetus), and if so, to determine the optimal avoidance distance to minimize these effects. I studied 49 nests in 1995, and 68 nests in 1996 within the military low-level flying zone. Nest occupancy, clutch size, number of hatchlings, and number of young at 41 days of age were assessed at each nest. GIS flight track records provided frequency of aircraft at given distances and altitudes from the nest. Logistic regression analysis assessed the impact of flight frequency in four distance categories and four altitude categories on Osprey reproduction. The frequency of flights within each category were not accurate predictors of Osprey reproductive output. Nests were then randomly assigned to a buffer-zone radius of either 0, 1.85, 3.7, or to a control of 7.4 km, and reproductive output was compared among treatments, and between years. No significant differences were discovered among the reproductive parameters within either 1995 or 1996, but reproductive output was significantly higher in 1995, likely due to adverse weather conditions experienced in 1996.

This research focuses on the involvement of chemists in professional Canadian environmentalism. We confront opposed research and development sector perspectives (government, industry, and university) to describe how incompatabilities between them resist cross-sectoral interaction and limit disciplinary greening. We then refer to original questionnaire and interview data to discuss the greening force of professional associations on a multisectoral discipline (chemistry). Finally, we consider plausible research avenues in the sociology of environment to address the current and future status of environmental chemistry.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-102). / x, 102 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-179). / vii, ii, ii-iii, 193 leaves, bound ill., map 29 cm