Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-65).

Lot’s of reasons are showing that outdoor life has a positive influence on the general publics health and studies are confirming this theory. On the other hand there are a few amount of Swedish science project’s regarding outdoor life. The aim of this study was to examine how people feel that their health influences by outdoor life. A qualitative content analysis was chosen and interviews was made with eleven individuals with outdoor experience. The main theme of the results showed that outdoor life creates well-being for the body and soul. The combination of challenge for the body and peace for the soul was the outdoor life’s biggest health benefit. Outdoor life gives a variety of physical activities, where everybody can take part and where it still doesn’t feel like exercise. Outdoor life gives personal growth, through both giving physical and mental challenges and also cooperative knowledge. Outdoor life gives harmony and ability to cope with stress in a natural environment. Recommendations of reviewed science shows how outdoor life practically can be used to promote health and also investigate what is needed to get the general public to choose outdoor life to promote health.

Syftet med vår studie var att bedöma om det fanns någon skillnad mellan gymnasieelever årskurs 3 på naturvetenskaplig inriktning och samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning i medvetenhet om vetenskapsteoretiska begrepp och samband. För att få svar på detta har vi intervjuat 19 elever från vardera inriktning med frågor som rör det vetenskapsteoretiska perspektivet. Frågorna har utformats för att få en förståelse av elevernas medvetenhet om vad som karakteriserar naturvetenskapen på det teoretiska planet, naturvetenskapliga experiment, lagar och teorier, forskares del av naturvetenskapen och elevernas förståelse av kausala samband. Strävansmål och mål att uppnå från kursplanen för Naturkunskap A och B har också de en grund till frågornas utformning. Vi har valt att göra en kvalitativ insamling av data via elevintervjuer, som därefter har analyserats kvantitativt. Resultaten visade en skillnad angående elevernas medvetenhet om vetenskapsteori, där naturvetarna överlag hade större medvetenhet. Även om det inom båda grupperna fanns elever med god medvetenhet, fanns det brister bland både natur och samhällsvetare. Det var främst att förklara experiment, förklara vad en naturvetenskaplig teori och vad en naturvetenskaplig lag är samt inse skillnaden mellan dessa som vållade problem. Detta kan vara en brist från grundskolan, där tidigare undersökningar visat att just detta har låg prioritet bland lärarna. Den undersökningen har även visat att lärarna inte hinner med att utföra de mål de önskar göra. Av denna studie anser vi oss fått god hjälp att veta vilka vetenskapsteoretiska samband elever finner är svårt, och har då möjlighet att lägga extra tonvikt på detta i vårt kommande yrkesutövande.

This thesis focuses on the creation and disposal of food waste in the United States. Food waste is a specific yet highly critical issue that implicates the large, incongruous systems of both food production and waste disposal. Waste is created throughout the food supply chain, with producers as well as consumers guilty of throwing away good food. Rather than repurpose food as compost or donate it to those in need, wasted food, although completely biodegradable and often edible, is mixed in with the rest of our garbage and disposed of in a landfill. By evaluating the systems of waste disposal and food production, I illustrate the ways in which both of these industries encourage the creation of food waste and conceal its harmful effects. I argue that it is necessary to prioritize source reduction of wasted food, rather than rely upon infrastructure that keeps waste “out of sight, out of mind.” Despite the factors that shelter it from our critical consideration, it has become necessary to prioritize food waste as a legitimate environmental, social, and economic concern.

This thesis places the values shared by recreational hikers, backpackers, kayakers, and others within the British Columbia Forest Debate in the second half of the twentieth century. Using the 1985-86 Wilderness Advisory Committee as a case study, it argues that the interpretation of the concept of “wilderness” expressed by these outdoor enthusiasts can only be understood through the study of North American consumer culture. They valued “wilderness” as a commodity, not unlike the ways that forest and mining companies did, yet also expressed environmentalist concerns about protecting “wilderness” areas from resource exploitation and overdevelopment.

This thesis is a critical cultural investigation into the meaning of wilderness. It is based on the premise that as a constructed, imaginary landscape wilderness is an expression of cultural impulses. It suggests that the longing for wilderness is a manifestation of cultural malaise, which indicates an uncomfortable relationship between contemporary civilization and its citizens. Poetic reviews of the definitions of nature and wilderness, as well as of Canada, which draw on a collage of sources, are used to explore the meaning of these ideas. Accompanying the text are several series of photographs which confront landscapes that exist around us and explore our relationship with the material environment. The sites include wilderness and conservation areas, the Don Valley, the Lesley Street Spit, suburban construction sites, piles of discarded dirt, various farm fields, and fragments of woodland bordering roads and highways. An extended foreword defines the wider context of this work: An essay regarding topic specifies that though this thesis aims to be sympathetic to environmental or sustainable interests, its main goal is to examine the cultural, affective desire for wilderness as space. An essay regarding place discusses the thesis’ connection to a specifically Canadian context. A third essay regarding method reviews the fragmented compositional method and intuitive manner of working used in the thesis, as well as the photographic method used for the images. And finally, an essay on tradition suggests that the thesis work, both in topic and method, engages a continuing tradition of Romanticism, which remains both relevant and meaningful. The aim of this thesis is to speculate on the value of wilderness in contemporary times, particularly in a Canadian context. The ambition is to gain insight into the forces at work in contemporary culture. The thesis also aspires to offer a fertile, even if ambiguous, vision of wilderness that could suggest how to better respond, as architects, to the impulses that feed the longing for this landscape.

There is an increasing need for a local comprehensive cancer treatment centre that caters primarily to children. This design proposes a paediatric facility that will be located in Waterloo Region to meet the needs of the area’s rapidly increasing population. It will serve children under the age of eighteen, their families, and the surrounding community. The proposed site will be in Floradale, a small rural community in Waterloo Region, approximately 15 km from Kitchener/Waterloo. This site is located directly adjacent to the Woolwich Reservoir and was chosen because of its close proximity to this natural environment. Although it is located in a rural area, the proposed facility is still close to the urban core and the two existing general hospitals in the region. Based on the rapid population growth of the region, the city boundaries are quickly expanding outwards, closing the gap between Floradale and Kitchener/Waterloo. The thesis offers a series of design principles that have been applied to the proposed facility. The design principals were established by completing a historical review, researching a variety of architectural precedent studies, and through various site visits to healthcare facilities. In order for the proposed paediatric facility to be a successful, functioning component of the community, it will recognize and incorporate the existing services present in Floradale and Waterloo Region and build upon them. The design explores the existing community groups, organizations, services, and community needs in order to propose a holistic approach connecting services to the healthcare facility, which will in turn enhance community vitality. The purpose of a healthcare facility is to access, treat, and heal the patients and families that visit. This design creates a facility where the natural and the built environment will aid in the healing process.

This thesis is a critical cultural investigation into the meaning of wilderness. It is based on the premise that as a constructed, imaginary landscape wilderness is an expression of cultural impulses. It suggests that the longing for wilderness is a manifestation of cultural malaise, which indicates an uncomfortable relationship between contemporary civilization and its citizens. Poetic reviews of the definitions of nature and wilderness, as well as of Canada, which draw on a collage of sources, are used to explore the meaning of these ideas. Accompanying the text are several series of photographs which confront landscapes that exist around us and explore our relationship with the material environment. The sites include wilderness and conservation areas, the Don Valley, the Lesley Street Spit, suburban construction sites, piles of discarded dirt, various farm fields, and fragments of woodland bordering roads and highways. An extended foreword defines the wider context of this work: An essay regarding topic specifies that though this thesis aims to be sympathetic to environmental or sustainable interests, its main goal is to examine the cultural, affective desire for wilderness as space. An essay regarding place discusses the thesis’ connection to a specifically Canadian context. A third essay regarding method reviews the fragmented compositional method and intuitive manner of working used in the thesis, as well as the photographic method used for the images. And finally, an essay on tradition suggests that the thesis work, both in topic and method, engages a continuing tradition of Romanticism, which remains both relevant and meaningful. The aim of this thesis is to speculate on the value of wilderness in contemporary times, particularly in a Canadian context. The ambition is to gain insight into the forces at work in contemporary culture. The thesis also aspires to offer a fertile, even if ambiguous, vision of wilderness that could suggest how to better respond, as architects, to the impulses that feed the longing for this landscape.

There is an increasing need for a local comprehensive cancer treatment centre that caters primarily to children. This design proposes a paediatric facility that will be located in Waterloo Region to meet the needs of the area’s rapidly increasing population. It will serve children under the age of eighteen, their families, and the surrounding community. The proposed site will be in Floradale, a small rural community in Waterloo Region, approximately 15 km from Kitchener/Waterloo. This site is located directly adjacent to the Woolwich Reservoir and was chosen because of its close proximity to this natural environment. Although it is located in a rural area, the proposed facility is still close to the urban core and the two existing general hospitals in the region. Based on the rapid population growth of the region, the city boundaries are quickly expanding outwards, closing the gap between Floradale and Kitchener/Waterloo. The thesis offers a series of design principles that have been applied to the proposed facility. The design principals were established by completing a historical review, researching a variety of architectural precedent studies, and through various site visits to healthcare facilities. In order for the proposed paediatric facility to be a successful, functioning component of the community, it will recognize and incorporate the existing services present in Floradale and Waterloo Region and build upon them. The design explores the existing community groups, organizations, services, and community needs in order to propose a holistic approach connecting services to the healthcare facility, which will in turn enhance community vitality. The purpose of a healthcare facility is to access, treat, and heal the patients and families that visit. This design creates a facility where the natural and the built environment will aid in the healing process.

Den här studien undersöker kontinuiteten, vitaliteten, exponeringen och möjliga naturvårdsåtgärder i Solnas ekmiljöer. Enligt det 16:e miljökvalitetsmålet "ett rikt växt och djurliv" ska den biologiska mångfalden bevaras och nyttjas på ett hållbart sätt för nuvarande och framtida generationer. Gamla ekar har visat sig hysa en hög biologisk mångfald, men tyvärr minskar estånden av jätteträd kontinuerligt i Sverige samtidigt som föryngringen går långsamt eller i värsta fall helt avstannat. Åsikterna om jätteekarnas minskning verkar enstämmiga och bero på kontinuitetsglapp, upphörd hävd, igenväxning, plantering av gran på gamla odlingsmarker, brist på skötsel och ny bebyggelse i urbana miljöer. Kontinuiteten studerades genom att undersöka fördelningen mellan värdefulla ekar och ekefterträdare i hela Solnaområdet samt i fyra bestämda ektrakter. Kriteriet för god kontinuitet var 15 % värdefulla ekar och 85 % ekefterträdare. För att bedöma ekarnas vitalitet studerades andelen permanent döda grenar i trädkronan och för att bedöma ekarnas exponering struderades hur stor andel av trädkronan som täcktes av omgivande trädkronor. I varken hela Solnaområdet eller i trakterna observerades god ekkontinuitet. I hela Solnaområdet mår ekefterträdarna procentuellt sett sämre i samtliga vitalitetsklasser jämfört med de värefulla ekarna. För ekarnas exponeringstillstånd över hela Solnaområdet hade ekefterträdarna samma procentuella fördelning som de värdefulla ekarna när det gällde halvöppen exponering, men utöver det var ekefterträdarna jämförelsevis sämre exponerade. En viktig naturvårdsåtgärd för ekefterträdarna är att öka deras exponering, vilket kan göras med hjälp av frihuggning, slåtterhävd eller beteshävd.