Si l’avenir de notre planète dépend en effet, comme le confirme Roberts et al. (2009), de la maitrise d’une “jeune discipline”, la restauration écologique, il est de notre devoir d’investir pour assurer un maintien et amélioration des services des écosystèmes, des connectivités écologiques et des cycles biologiques qui dépendent du fonctionnement des écosystèmes dégradés. Si la connaissance des écosystèmes méditerranéens, la maitrise des techniques d’ingénierie écologique témoignent d’importantes avancées au courant des dernières décennies, le transfert sur le terrain et la mise en œuvre de ces techniques reste assez lacunaire notamment dans les milieux où de fortes interactions avec les communautés humaines nécessitent une appropriation et adoption des méthodes d’intervention. Le contexte du bassin méditerranéen, hot spot de biodiversité, contexte socio-politique tendu et souvent instable, développement démographique intense, urbanisation souvent peu planifiée et de surcroît une histoire de coévolution des hommes et des paysages qui date depuis le néolithique, rend ce transfert encore plus complexe. Comment abaisser les résistances et mieux faire accepter les solutions techniques proposées ? Comment faire de sorte que les gens acceptent mieux une modification portant sur leur environnement de vie? Est- il possible d’initier un changement d’attitude et une modification comportementale portant sur les solutions proposées ? En d’autres termes, sommes-nous en mesure de mieux faire accepter les techniques et les méthodes d’intervention sur un environnement/ écosystème lorsque celles-ci heurtent les a priori des communautés humaines concernées? En partant de ces grandes questions, le travail de thèse s’inscrit dans une problématique bien particulière : Comment modifier les attitudes des individus vis-à-vis les modifications de leur environnement proche? L’hypothèse de départ étant qu’en agissant sur les processus sous jacents au changement d’attitude, on devrait améliorer la possibilité d’accepter le principe et les techniques d’intervention relatifs à une action sur l’environnement. Si on souhaite initier un changement d’attitude, il faut modifier les relations d’action à l’objet dont le frein principal est la consistance des individus. Il faut donc modifier à la fois la flexiblité cognitive, l’expérience émotionnelle et l’affordance. Les hypothèses opérationnelles se déclinent donc comme suit : H1 : Flexibilité cognitive et changement d’attitude: En améliorant la flexibilité cognitive Il est possible d’augmenter l’acceptabilité vis-à-vis le principe et les techniques d’intervention relatifs à une action sur l’environnement H2 : Expérience émotionnelle et changement d’attitude: l’expérience émotionnelle d’une personne et sa perception de l’espace peuvent induire un changement d’attitude vis-à-vis le principe et les techniques d’intervention relatifs à une action sur l’environnement H3 : Affordances et changement d’attitude : Un changement d’affordance peut contribuer à initier un changement d’attitude chez une personne vis-à-vis le principe et les techniques d’intervention relatifs à une action sur l’environnement. Ces hypothèses seront testées sur l’exemple de réhabilitation des carrières d’extraction au Liban- contexte méditerranéen. / If the future of our planet depends indeed on the mastering of the « young discipline” that is ecological restauration, as confirmed in Roberts et al. (2009), it is our duty to invest in the preservation and improvement of ecosystem services, ecological connectivity and biological cycles that rely on the functioning of corrupted ecosystems. Mediterranean ecosystems knowledge and the mastering of ecological engineering techniques have made substantial progress during the last decades. Unfortunately, the transfer of these techniques on the field and their implementation are still sparse, and notably in environments where consistent interactions with human communities require the appropriation and adoption of intervention methods. The Mediterranean basin, which is considered a hotspot for diversity, evolves in tense and often unstable sociopolitical conditions, along with huge demographic increase, poorly-planned urbanization and a long history of coevolution of men and landscapes dating back to the Neolithic period. This makes this transfer of techniques yet more complex. In this context, how can we overcome the resistance and win acceptance on the proposed technical solutions? How can we bring people to better accept modifications relating to their life environments? Is it possible to initiate an attitude and behavioral change towards the proposed solutions? In other words, can we induce acceptance for the intervention techniques and methods on an environment/ecosystem when these are met with the stereotypes disseminated by the concerned human communities? Starting from these questions, this thesis wishes to address a specific problematic: how can we change the behaviors of individuals towards the modifications of their close environment? The original hypothesis is the following: by influencing the processes underlying behavioral change, we can improve the acceptation of the principle and intervention techniques relating to environmental action. Should we wish to initiate a change in attitude, we need to modify the “action to object” relations, which are mainly slowed down by the consistency of individuals. We therefore need to modify, not only their cognitive flexibility, but also their emotional experience and affordance. Thus, the operational hypotheses break down as follows: H1: Cognitive flexibility and attitude change: by improving cognitive flexibility, it is possible to increase acceptability towards the principle and techniques of intervention relating to environmental action. H2: Emotional experience and attitude change: A person’s emotional experience and their space perception can induce a change in attitude towards the principle and techniques of intervention relating to environmental action. H3: Affordance and attitude change: A change in affordance can contribute to initiate a change in attitude in a person towards the principle and techniques of intervention relating to environmental action. These hypotheses will be tested on the example of quarries rehabilitation in Lebanon – in a Mediterranean context.

A utilização do fio diamantado na lavra de granitos ornamentais no Brasil é uma técnica de corte relativamente recente e, por esta razão, alguns problemas são decorrentes, principalmente do uso incorreto dos equipamentos, assim como também da falta de experiência dos operadores. Os casos aqui apresentados se reportam a observações em pedreiras localizadas no estado do Espírito Santo, nas quais as imperfeições no corte se relacionam à velocidade de corte, à torção do cabo, à refrigeração do fio, à retirada antecipada das polias auxiliares e à execução inadequada das emendas. A estes fatores técnicos se somam outros, de natureza geológica, como a necessidade de melhor conhecimento das características dos maciços rochosos e da petrografia dos granitos. / The use of the diamond wire in quarries of ornamental granites in Brazil is a relatively recent technique of cut and, for this reason, some problems are decurrent, mainly, of the incorrect use of the equipment, as well as of the lack of experience of operators. The cases here presented report the observations in quarries located in the state of Espirito Santo, in which the imperfections in the cut if regard the speed of cut, the twist and refrigeration of the wire and to the inadequate execution of the amendings. To these technical factors others are added, of geologic nature, like the necessity of better knowledge of the characteristics of the rocky bulks and the petrography of granites.

ABSTRACT Granite Butterfly is a novel about three women—grandmother, mother, and daughter—and the unusual attachments that break apart their family. Tuula Laine is a Rockport, Massachusetts, native of Finnish descent, whose parents moved to Cape Ann for work in the area’s granite quarries. Her life changes one afternoon when her son Henri, a brilliant surgeon who has never seriously dated anyone before, visits with his pregnant girlfriend, Coreen. Tuula immediately senses that Coreen not the right match for him in terms of age, education, or temperament, and as the couple separates and unites over the course of one summer, Tuula witnesses, for the first time, the pattern of desire and abandonment that will define their relationship. By the time Tuula’s granddaughter, Suvi, is fourteen years old, she, too, has established a destructive relationship pattern with Coreen: whenever Coreen and Henri separate, Suvi’s mother clings to her until they develop a bond closer to that of sisters than a mother and child. In the final movement of the novel, this bond, and the bond between Suvi’s parents, is finally put to the test. Granite is cut into precise blocks—dynamite is never used, lest it shatter the stone. In a few short weeks, the Laine family is pulled apart, but unlike with quarrying, there is no way to divide them in a careful manner, no way to detach them that isn’t violent and abrupt, no way to predict, or guide, where they will split.

This thesis is mainly about how we read city as whole. City is a simple word with extremely complex information that interacts to each other. City is where we live. Though this thesis will not be in touch with some deeper topics about city, we can still read city in an unusual way. And this is the purpose for this thesis. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

Dwyka tillite quarries in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal have shown remarkable stable slopes faces even though some of them were quarried over 30 years ago. This can be attributed to their resistance to weathering, the high degree of joint surface roughness, the general lack of any joint infill and the limonitic staining found on most weathered joint surfaces. The latter appears to increase joint roughness. The high percentages of joints terminating within the rock mass or against other discontinuities as well as their low persistence results in a high degree of joint interlocking. These are shown to be very important factors contributing to the overall slope stability. Detailed discontinuity surveys were carried out at five different quarries located throughout the KwaZulu-Natal region. Only three of these quarries are presently being quarried. This allowed the study and comparison of joint and slope stability characteristics for both the older, more weathered rock faces and those of the recently quarried, and thus fairly unweathered rock faces. Joint orientation data from the various sites show that two to three sets of high angle joints and one low angle joint set are common. The potential of wedge and planar failure is therefore very high. The steeply dipping discontinuities also promote the potential for flexural toppling failure and this was noted in several of the quarry faces. Recognised geotechnical techniques and computer models were used to establish potential modes of failure and to estimate factors of safety. Wedge failure, at partially saturated and saturated conditions, was identified as being the main source of potential slope instability on the quarry rock faces. The quality of the rock mass of each slope was also classified according to various rock mass classification systems. The rock mass quality generally was rated as being 'fair' to 'good', meaning that slopes are partially stable to stable. The results of each rating system were also compared. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The purpose of this creative project was to derive and communicate the design process for the reclamation of an active quarry site to a residential community. An examination of existing land reclamation and housing design knowledge was conducted to form the basis for original design theories. The communication and presentation of study recommendations was applied to a case study site: an active sand, gravel, and limestone quarry located near Muncie, Indiana. A methodology was developed to analyze the site for its mining, housing and visual potential. Environmentally responsive strategies to determine rural community structure, lake form design, and housing character were developed. An integration of analyses and design strategies yielded the final land use concept and the associated site development concept. The final product of the study was a reclamation concept plan directing mineral extraction and reclamation efforts toward optimal mining and housing potential. It was the intention of this study to discuss and present its design theories, recommendations, and process in map form capable of explaining the study in its entirety without additional verbal or written communication. / Department of Landscape Architecture

Since the Vredefort Dome‟s listing as a World Heritage Site in June 2005, the area has seen a steady increase in tourists to both the local towns of Parys and Vredefort and the Vredefort Structure. Tourists venturing into the field in an attempt to explore the area have an insatiable appetite for information. By unfolding the gold and granite mining heritage of the area, a world of interesting facts and fables is exposed. The special geological character of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site is enhanced by the mining interventions which started in the 1800s. The mines provide a glimpse into the earth‟s fresh crust which would otherwise have been obscured form the eye of the scientist/researchers, young potential earth scientists and the enquiring tourist. This study is aimed at identifying, for the first time, the localities of the major mining and quarrying sites in the area. This enabled investigation into and characterization of the exposed sites on the basis of their tourism and academic value. These sites were classified in order to identify those sites that should be made safe, rehabilitated and allowed access to tourists and scientists and those where access should be restricted but made safe in such a way that will allow access to animals and birds. The value of this initiative with regard to the stimulation of learners‟ scientific needs should not be under-estimated. The wide spectrum of natural, biological and physical sciences can be inspiring. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Since the Vredefort Dome‟s listing as a World Heritage Site in June 2005, the area has seen a steady increase in tourists to both the local towns of Parys and Vredefort and the Vredefort Structure. Tourists venturing into the field in an attempt to explore the area have an insatiable appetite for information. By unfolding the gold and granite mining heritage of the area, a world of interesting facts and fables is exposed. The special geological character of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site is enhanced by the mining interventions which started in the 1800s. The mines provide a glimpse into the earth‟s fresh crust which would otherwise have been obscured form the eye of the scientist/researchers, young potential earth scientists and the enquiring tourist. This study is aimed at identifying, for the first time, the localities of the major mining and quarrying sites in the area. This enabled investigation into and characterization of the exposed sites on the basis of their tourism and academic value. These sites were classified in order to identify those sites that should be made safe, rehabilitated and allowed access to tourists and scientists and those where access should be restricted but made safe in such a way that will allow access to animals and birds. The value of this initiative with regard to the stimulation of learners‟ scientific needs should not be under-estimated. The wide spectrum of natural, biological and physical sciences can be inspiring. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 855-881).