Perception of scale is important to our activity within a space and to our experience of a landscape. This presents a problem if people cannot predict or convey the scale effects of large structures proposed in a landscape, as has been the case for recent wind turbine proposals in Scotland. To address this problem, this research explored how people perceive scale and scale effects in a landscape. It took wind turbines as an example structure and analysed how different scales of windfarm create different scale effects in different landscapes, as well as how to best assess and communicate these effects. The research applied three methods to address the research questions: Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA), which is a standard, structured process applied by professional landscape architects; experiential landscape assessment, which included semi-structured interviews with local people in addition to site assessment; and public attitude and preference study, which included Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint analysis (ACBC). These different methods allowed the research questions to be explored in different ways, while overlapping in some aspects and providing triangulation. The research findings revealed that our perception of scale and scale effects in a landscape is influenced by numerous attributes and depends on how these are experienced together. Building upon the theoretical background, an important difference between visual scale and spatial scale was highlighted, as well as alternative ways in which scale references are made. Throughout the research, the need for clear communication was emphasised and the findings included identifying the specific words that people use to describe scale effects in the most discriminating way. This research supported other studies in finding that consultation with local people (professionals and the public) was vital to understand in sufficient depth how a landscape was perceived, experienced and valued. In addition, the innovative development of Conjoint Analysis demonstrated how this method can reveal how people judge the relative importance of different attributes that influence landscape and visual effects and, by doing so, offer new possibilities as a tool in landscape research. Building upon the general findings concerning scale, specific findings regarding the scale effects of windfarms included: greater influence of the proximity of a windfarm than size or numbers of wind turbines; greater importance for being in private and/or fixed locations that offer a sense of refuge compared to public locations and/or when moving; the importance of collective effects perceived and experienced by a community; the importance of perceived spatial separation between a viewer and a windfarm (affecting sensitivity to scale effects within open settings); and differences in how people judge the importance of horizontal scale effects compared to vertical scale effects. The research findings contribute to the knowledge and understanding of people’s perception of scale and scale effects in a landscape and they counter some common assumptions and current practice in landscape architecture. They can be applied in practice and policy to help assess scale effects, convey more clearly to people the type of scale effects and how these will affect them, and minimise the adverse scale effects of windfarms through siting and design. The thesis also identifies how to build upon these findings in the future, including recommendations for additional research, new approaches to assessment (including the use of prompt lists) and thresholds for acceptability of scale effects.

Environment and its conservation is one of the key issues across the globe these days. It is even more important in the Scandinavian region.Swedenis one of the leading pro-environment nations in the world when it comes to environment-friendly or green automobiles. Introducing emissions tax, green car rebate, and congestion tax exemption for green cars on large cities have resulted in a surge of green car sales inSwedenover the past few years. The preferences of the Swedish green car consumers are examined in this study.   Consumer decision process and preferences related theories have been used for the theoretical understanding of this study and based on these understandings, the Adaptive Choice Based Conjoint Analysis has been selected to measure and understand the consumer preferences towards green cars. The Swedish green car market has been explained and understood as a prerequisite to conduct this study. Examinations of previous related studies, a small scale pre-screening survey, and expert interviews were carried out prior to formulating the conjoint experiment to ensure the inclusion of significant components into the study. The collected data were analyzed using advanced analysis software such as, SSI Web, SMRT, and SPSS, to understand and measure consumer preferences. The findings provide answers to the importance of different attributes in the purchase decision-making for green cars, the effect of each attribute to the decision-making process, the effect of prior purchase experience on the formation of preference, and the relationship between consumer’s green consciousness level and green decision-making process.   This study contributes to the theoretical field of green consumer behavior and to the practical field of marketing of green cars. The study also identifies and recommends key areas of interest that warrant further research.   Key Words: High Involvement Purchase, Green Consumer Behavior, Conjoint Analysis, Adaptive Choice Based Conjoint Analysis (ACBC), Green Preference, Green Car.

No description available.

Title: Adaptive choice of parameters in stabilization methods for convection- diffusion equations Author: Bc. Petr Lukáš (e-mail: luk.p@post.cz) Department: Department of Numerical Mathematics Supervisor: Doc. Mgr. Petr Knobloch, Dr. (e-mail: knobloch@karlin.mff.cuni.cz) Abstract: The aim of the work is to propose suitable approaches for adap- tive choice of parameters in stabilization methods for convection-difusion equations discretized by the finite element method. We introduce the L-SR1 method, compare it with other nonlinear methods of minimizing functions with large number of variables, and introduce and compare the adaptive methods based on minimizing of the error indicator. Keywords: Adaptive choice of parameters, finite element method, stabiliza- tion methods, convection-diffusion equation, L-SR1 method, error indicator