During this period of high technology, designers are eager to create environments that have strong emotional appeal to people's physiology and psychology. Our exploration of the natural living space has become all the more an elusive search as modern technology advances. Interior design, in its concern for environmental engineering, endeavors to exploit the spiritual aspect of human resources. Through this message, people are inspired to higher planes of existence.A. PROJECT To design a Chinese Cultural center. B. PURPOSE 1. To introduce the traditional and contemporary Chinese culture to western people. 2. To illustrate and describe the philosophies of Chinese life and thinking to visitors of the center. 3. To create a new space and form combining oriental and western design. 4. To incorporate the use of contemporary materials, structure and technology. 5. To integrate the interior and exterior environment, and the building into a total design concept. 6. To satisfy the functional requirements needed in an exhibition area, guest house facility, restaurant, gift shop, and office area.

Title: Creation and verification of educational programs for students of lower secondary education in ZOO Pilsen The diploma thesis is focused on the ZOOs in the Czech Republic and their educational activities. The most examined one is Zoological and botanical garden in Pilsen, for which I created two educational programs including worksheets for students and teachers. The educational programs were then tested at a selected group of students from 8th grade of lower secondary school. The evaluation was based on the success of students in solving tasks in the worksheets. The practical output of this thesis are designed educational programs (methodology for teacher) and worksheets for ZOO Pilsen (programs Mysterious Africa, Far Australia) including correct solution.

Theoretical part of this Diploma Thesis is attend to movement of a children in the pre-school, availness of scholl garden and its facilities from technical and purpose matter. Practical part of this Diploma Thesis is attend to research of Analysis Pre-school gardens, which has and object to ascertain that garden's facilities are conform to pedagogue and children's needs. Key words 1. Child 2. Movement 3. Kindergarden 4. Scholl garden 5. Games elements

I devoted in the diploma thesis a theme natural gardens in kindergarten, which is starting gaining popularity in Czech republic from abroad's model. I define in theoretical section how the garden should look like and also significance of environmental effects on child's personality development. And I approximate history of open-air teaching. I describe into the details process creating garden in natural style and her elements focusing on plants, especially trees and shrumbs. The work includes also practical experience from process of creating natural gardens in selected kindergarten. I mention at the end of theoretical section options for funding garden. I based research section on questionnaire method and I evaluated data qualitatively. I had adressed kindergarten teachers throughout Czech republic by online questionnaire. 302 respondents answered. The object of research section was to find facts relate climbing children the trees between kindergarten teachers throughout Czech republic. I analyzed the obtained data and after I evaluated them. I found that children are usually not allow to climb the trees on garden in kindergarten (75,1% respondents). The main reason is the fear of children's security, inappropriate trees for climbing or trees absence. Surprising finding is, that out of...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Division of Biology / John Blair / The feasibility of restoration, which traditionally targets historical conditions, is questionable in the context of global change. To address this, my dissertation investigated (Chapter 2) the patterns of restoration establishment along a chronosequence of restored prairies with respect to nearby remnant prairies, (Chapters 3-4) responses of plant communities in restorations initiated using different methods (levels of species richness and sowing density) to drought, which is projected to increase in frequency, and (Chapters 5-6) the effects of propagule source and variation (mixing among sources) on restoration establishment and the generality of restoration outcomes across variable environments using reciprocal common gardens of multi-species restoration seedings. Chapter 2, published in Restoration Ecology, showed that restoration led to the recovery of desirable characteristics within several years, but restorations utilizing primarily fall-collected seeds likely diminished the representation of early phenology species, so biodiversity may be further enhanced by including early phenology species in seeding mixes. Chapters 3 and 4, published respectively in Ecological Applications and Applied Vegetation Science, examined the establishment of native plant communities after seeding and their responses to experimentally imposed drought. Both high seed mixture richness and high density seeding resulted in greater establishment of native, seeded species compared to low richness and low density treatments, and exotic species were less prevalent in high richness and high density treatments. However, we found little evidence of differential drought resistance, recovery, and resilience among treatments. This result coupled with increases in exotic species following drought suggest that other forms of active management may be needed to produce restored plant communities that are robust to climate change. Chapter 5 (published in Ecosphere) iii and Chapter 6 found that seed source affects individual species establishment, community structure, and productivity. However, there was no consistent advantage for any source, including local sources, across sites or species. This suggests that source effects on single species or effects observed at single locations should not be broadly generalized. Together, this dissertation shows that restoration can recover many characteristics of native prairies and that manipulation of seeding practices (seed mixture richness, seeding density, seed source) influence grassland establishment in terms of productivity, community structure, invasion, and the abundance and survival of individual species.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Hikaru H. Peterson / Aleksan Shanoyan / Nurseries and garden centers face challenges to stay economically viable, particularly in rural areas. Their efforts to advertise horticultural products through traditional methods seem insufficient to increase their sales. Marketing through new media is receiving more attention by businesses across various industries. In order to assess whether this growing interest in new-media is applicable to the green house industry, it is important to determine their impact on business performance and the factors driving its adoption. Few studies report the impact of social media on nurseries and garden centers performance. The literature on technology adoption shows that network and learning effects play a critical role in agricultural technology adoption (Bandiera and Rasul, 2006; Baerenklau, 2005), while perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have been identified as the major factors of adoption of information technology (Davis, 1989; Lorenzo-Romero et al., 2014). This study builds on the known factors of agricultural and information technology adoption to determine the key variables affecting the extent of use of new-media marketing in the green industry. Using a survey, data were collected from 161 nurseries and garden centers across the United States. Results indicate that the network effect had a robustly, positive effect on the extent of use of new-media marketing in the green industry. The estimated network effect was statistically significant in the models using frequency of online marketing use, frequency of social media use and hours of social media use as the respective dependent variables measuring the use of new media. Other statistically significant factors include the percentage of retail sales, the perceived usefulness, and the city population. The study also found that new-media marketing, measured by the number of hours spent on social media, had a positive impact on sales for nurseries and garden centers making more than $200,000 a year. By providing evidence of new-media marketing effectiveness, these results contradict the belief that sales do not increase immediately after a social media campaign, suggesting a low return on investment. Besides this evidence, the magnitude of the network effect and the differences in critical factors driving adoption across firm size are key information to tailor training programs and make informed policy decisions to support marketing efforts.

Garden Banks field 236, known as Pimento, is part of a lower middle Pleistocene submarine-fan deposit in the north central Gulf of Mexico. Pimento field represents a classic example of a prograding fan across the continental shelf continuing across the continental slope filling and spilling minibasins. Channel complexes cut through the field as sediment migrated across the shelf and slope to the basin floor. This thesis consists of two papers which utilized donated 3D seismic data on six of the blocks in Pimento field. Public domain data was incorporated with these data to explore the producing reservoir sand in the field. Mapped horizons revealed the overall structural elements of the field including the fill and spill facies of the minibasin that directly influences the deposition of the field. In these papers, channel complexes have been resolved using seismic geomorphological techniques and cross sections. Two potential drilling targets have also been discovered and one has been initially investigated as a drilling target.

The main aim of the thesis was to create functional and practical worksheets that would be used on excursions by secondary school students to the Botanical Garden Teplice. Based on a study of secondary school textbooks, questions were created that repeated subject matter taught at the school, but also expanded it. The questions were incorporated into three types of worksheets dealing with phytogeography, outdoor exhibits and greenhouse exhibits. Guides were created for each type of worksheet to help the person accompanying students, who can be both an employee of the Botanical Garden or a teacher. The test versions of the worksheets were tried out on 131 students from four secondary schools during field trips. The results obtained by completing the worksheets were analysed to identify the shortcomings of questions. This and substantive comments by the supervisor led to an amendment of the questions that required it, resulting in the final version of the worksheets to be used for educational activities at the Botanical Garden Teplice. Keywords Worksheets, phytogeography, Botanical Garden Teplice, guide.

Esta pesquisa propõe analisar o papel o dos artefatos na promoção da sociabilidade no Jardim da Luz, entre os anos de 1870 a 1930. As decisões políticas sobre os espaços públicos verdes tiveram suma importância, pois eram responsáveis pela inserção, reforma ou demolição de artefatos no espaço. Os artefatos, por sua vez, foram muito utilizados na composição das imagens presentes nos cartões postais e circularam pela cidade com o objetivo de exaltar os pontos modernos de São Paulo. No caso do Jardim da Luz, os postais circulados colaboraram para criar o imaginário a respeito do espaço como um local moderno e de sociabilidade. O local passou a ser usado para apresentações musicais, festas e encontros. Foram estudados três principais grupos no espaço: a elite paulistana, os trabalhadores e os fotógrafos lambe-lambe. O Jardim se tornou local representativo para esses grupos, um espaço de festas para alguns e para outros, ambiente de trabalho. Esta pesquisa, pelo estudo da cultura material, pretende compreender os usos dos espaços do Jardim da Luz como um espaço de sociabilidade e suas transformações ao longo do período em questão. / This research intends to analyse urban artifacts\' influence on Jardim da Luz\'s sociability from 1870 to 1930. Political decisions concerning green public spaces had extreme importance on it, as responsibles for artifacts insertion, reform or demolition ion the garden. Artifacts, in turn, were largelly used as background for postcard\'s which circulated through the city to exalt São Paulo\'s modern sights. In Jardim da Luz, Tthose postcards helped to create the ideia of a modern and social place in Jardim da Luz. It had begun to host musical presentations, parties and meetings. In this workstudy, were studied examined three major social groups which attended those events: elite from São Paulo, workers and street photographers. Jardim da Luz became a representative local for those groups, a party place for some and a work site for others. This research, through the study of material culture, intendsaims to understand Jardim da Luz\'s social usage and its transformation through the study of material culture through during the time studied.

O crescimento da população urbana aumenta a demanda por recursos escassos e interdependentes como alimentos, e a agricultura urbana tem se mostrado uma alternativa a essa questão, atenuando a pressão sobre os ecossistemas. Esta pesquisa teve como principal objetivo analisar o potencial e as adequações de uma pesquisa-ação na implantação de uma horta em comunidade periférica, na perspectiva da construção de saberes colaborativos, empoderamento comunitário, estabelecimento de parcerias e busca de alternativas viáveis à sustentabilidade e à promoção da saúde. E para dar concretude à implantação da horta, objetivou-se produzir um livro colaborativo. O método utilizado foi a pesquisa-ação, voltada para a mobilização da comunidade do Novo Recreio, em Guarulhos - SP, por meio da aplicação de instrumentos como painel integrado, mapa-falante, livro comunitário (adaptado do jornal comunitário), reuniões e observação participante. Pode-se considerar que a partir do método da pesquisa-ação obteve-se sucesso na construção da horta, e apresentar-se-á algumas evidências de empoderamento e sustentabilidade da horta. Além da horta em si e da formação do grupo \"Germinando o futuro\", outro resultado foi o livro \"Horta na comunidade: participação social e técnicas de cultivo\"; e com isso, espera-se contribuir ao desenvolvimento de espaços públicos, incentivar práticas comunitárias de horta ou outros movimentos. / Urban population growth increases the demand for scarce and interdependent resources as food, and urban agriculture has been an alternative to this, mitigating the pressure on ecosystems. The main objective of this research was to analyze the potential and adequacy of an action research in the implementation of a garden in a peripheral community, with a view to building collaborative knowledge, community empowerment, establishing partnerships and seeking viable alternatives to sustainability and promotion of health. And in order to concretize the implantation of the garden, it was aimed to produce a collaborative book. The method used was the action research, aimed at mobilizing the community of Novo Recreio, in Guarulhos, SP, through the application of instruments such as integrated panel, talking map, community book (adapted from the community newspaper), meetings and participant observation. It can be considered that from the method of action research success was obtained in the construction of the garden, and some evidence of empowerment and sustainability of the garden will be presented. In addition to the garden itself and the formation of the group \"Germinando o futuro\", another result was the book \" Horta na comunidade: participação social e técnicas de cultivo\"; and with this, it is expected to contribute to the development of public spaces, encourage community gardening practices or other movements.