Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-78). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2009. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. 5 June 2017 in Johannesburg / Global climate change and its related actual and potential impacts to society has called for studies that look to the past to better understand historical climate trends and how they may inform future climate trends. Specific in this area of research is environmental histories, wherein information on historical climate events and disasters are retrieved from historical documentary sources, i.e. archives, in order to study the potential causes and effects of these occurrences, as well as levels of vulnerability and resilience through the analysis of coping and adaptation strategies of societies. / MT 2017

鄧國章. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院地理學部. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 215-228). / Deng Guozhang. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan di li xue bu. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導論 --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- 研究目的 --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- 研究意義 --- p.7 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- 方法學上的意義 --- p.7 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- 地理學上的意義 --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- 應用上的意義 --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3 --- 研究範圍 --- p.10 / Chapter 1.4 --- 論文結構概述 --- p.12 / Chapter 第二章 --- 文獻簡讀 --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1 --- 分類與區劃的意義 --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- 分類與區劃 --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- 區域的類型 --- p.18 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- 區劃的方法　 --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2 --- 氣候分類 --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- 氣候分類的目的及意義　　 --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- 氣候分類的類型及方法 --- p.29 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- 柯本氏氣候分類法 --- p.31 / Chapter 2.3 --- 中國氣候區劃 --- p.41 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- 中國氣候區劃歷史概況 --- p.41 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- 應用柯本氏氣候分類法於中國氣候區劃的經驗 --- p.44 / Chapter 2.4 --- 糢糊集合論於分類及區畫間題上的應用 --- p.47 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- 糢糊集合論於分類及區劃上的應用 --- p.47 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- 糢糊集合論於氣候區劃的應用 --- p.50 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究方法 --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1 --- 應用模糊集合論於氣候分類之理論基璴 　 --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- 集合與區域 --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- 模糊集合的基本概念及運算 --- p.54 / Chapter 3.2 --- 氣候區的釐訂及區域界綫的劃定方法 --- p.68 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- 氣候區的描述 --- p.68 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- 氣候區的重疊與分割 --- p.75 / Chapter 3.3 --- 數據資料處理方法 --- p.80 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- 數據搜集方法 --- p.80 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- 站點分佈情況 --- p.80 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- 資料整理方法 --- p.82 / Chapter 3.4 --- 注釋 --- p.85 / Chapter 第四章 --- 柯本氏氣候分類系統的普通集合表示 --- p.86 / Chapter 4.1 --- 柯本氏氣候類型可視一組集合 --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2 --- 結果及分析 --- p.96 / Chapter 第五章 --- 柯本氏氣侯分類之模楜集合分析－隸屬度分析 --- p.99 / Chapter 5.1 --- 訂定隸屬涵數方法及區劃步驟 --- p.99 / Chapter 5.2 --- 結果及隸屬度分析 　　 --- p.108 / Chapter 5.3 --- 中國氣候區的劃定 --- p.125 / Chapter 5.4 --- 小結 --- p.140 / Chapter 第六章 --- 柯本氏氣類之模糊集合分析－分割度分析 --- p.143 / Chapter 6.1 --- 分割與區界 --- p.143 / Chapter 6.2 --- 結果及分析 --- p.146 / Chapter 6.3 --- 中國氣候區重疊地帶的劃訂 --- p.155 / Chapter 6.4 --- 小結 --- p.166 / Chapter 6.5 --- 注釋 --- p.169 / Chapter 第七章 --- 柯本氏氣候分類法的改進 --- p.170 / Chapter 7.1 --- 柯本氏氣候分類法的改善 --- p.170 / Chapter 7.2 --- 改良後的柯本氏範式之中國氣候區劃 --- p.186 / Chapter 7.3 --- 與中國植被區的劃配合情況 　 --- p.186 / Chapter 7.4 --- 與中國土壤區劃的配合情況　　 --- p.194 / Chapter 第八章 --- 後語 --- p.208 / Chapter 8.1 --- 研究結果要點重申 --- p.208 / Chapter 8.2 --- 研究限制 --- p.210 / Chapter 8.3 --- 研究展望 --- p.213 / 參考文獻 --- p.215 / 附錄 / Chapter I --- 中國各省、市、自治區志面　 --- p.229 / Chapter II --- 柯氏氣候類型的隸屬函數 --- p.235 / Chapter III --- 電腦計算程式 --- p.254 / Chapter IV --- 隸屬度計算結果 --- p.259 / Chapter （一） --- 原本的柯本氏氣候類型的隸屬度計算結果 --- p.259 / Chapter （二） --- 改良後的柯本氏氣候類型的隸屬度計算結果 --- p.265

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-120). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rice University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 416-433).

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Johannesburg March 2018 / Poverty and environmental degradation are two serious challenges facing developing countries. The poor are often blamed for causing degradation, and degradation is assumed to worsen poverty. This relationship between the two has been referred to as the Poverty Environment Nexus (PEN). The PEN is known to be complex and multidimensional, and is surrounded by a number of theories and controversies. Although the co-occurrence of poverty and degradation has been well explored across the developing world, it has received modest attention in the literature especially on how wealth differentiation within these communities shapes the way in which local people conceptualise, experience, and cope with degradation. The intersection between the PEN and local environmental governance is also under-studied. This study addresses these knowledge gaps by investigating how household wealth status influences 1) local perceptions about woodland degradation, 2) household vulnerability to degradation, and 3) awareness and attitudes about local environmental governance, in three rural villages in Limpopo Province, South Africa. A mixed-methods approach was used, combining focus groups, a household survey (n=213), an individual survey (n=213) and key informant interviews. The influence of household wealth status score (derived from assets and income sources using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)) on individual perceptions, awareness, and attitudes, and household vulnerability to degradation, after controlling for confounding factors, was analysed statistically using multivariate logistic regression models. Focus groups and key informant interviews were useful for identifying themes and adding qualitative insights to the quantitative results. Perceptions: Woodland degradation was perceived both in terms of physical aspects, such as reduction in large trees, and experiential aspects, namely having to travel further to collect resources. The latter perception was influenced by wealth status. Perceived causes of degradation included environmental, socio-economic, and governance factors, and these perceptions were mostly associated with increasing wealth status. However, poorer respondents were more aware of their own household’s contribution to local degradation. For potential solutions, wealthier respondents focussed on using alternatives to harvested resources (such as other energy sources), while the poorer respondents focussed on reducing daily resource consumption. Vulnerability: Poorer households were more likely to use most of 13 woodland resources. Poorer households were thus more likely to report being impacted by degradation, especially by having to travel further to collect resources. Coping responses of the poor were typically inward-looking, focusing on modifying their natural resource use, such as by reducing quantities used or harvesting around other villages. By contrast, the wealthy were more outward-looking and focused on external coping mechanisms such as seeking employment and buying commercial alternatives from shops. The use of social capital to cope with degradation emerged as an important response strategy cross wealth status. Governance: Traditional authorities were widely recognised as important institutional structures for local woodland management. Awareness of relevant government agencies was relatively low. Poorer respondents were more aware of customary environmental laws and penalties, while wealthier respondents were more aware of those of government agencies. Wealth status also influenced attitudes about the benefits of the various institutions for managing local communal woodlands. It was widely agreed that local woodland governance could be improved by delegating more power to traditional authorities and communities, and improving monitoring by government agencies. These views were not influenced by wealth status Key insights from this study include: Even within poor communities, there is wealth differentiation in environmental perceptions that has consequences for addressing the poverty-environment nexus. The poor are hit by a “double whammy” when it comes to vulnerability to degradation – first, they are more at risk to impacts because they are more dependent on natural resources, and secondly, they are less able to adapt in ways which do not undermine human wellbeing or environmental sustainability. Despite their weaknesses, traditional governance structures and institutions have an important role to play in managing the poverty-environment nexus in common property systems, but they need support from government. / MT 2019

Soil organic matter (SOM) is important to the environment. Its carbon content is the largest reservoir in the global terrestrial ecosystem and decomposition of it emits greenhouse gases including CO2, CH4 and N2O. The current status of GB SOM is under debate because recent observation programmes suggested different findings. Independent and parallel computer simulations of SOM dynamics could provide useful information for the science debate and that is the objective of this thesis. A newly coupled land surface -- SOM dynamics model, JULES-ECOSSE, was applied for the computer simulations in this Ph.D study. The details of this coupled model are described in Chap. 2. Before the simulation studies in Chap. 6, three other studies were done to (1) derive a new algebraic method to spin up the content of SOM pools such that their equilibrium values can be found efficiently; (2) evaluate the model's capability in simulating various gas fluxes using the observed data from the NitroEurope project. This evaluation study provided important information about how well the model works in different aspects; (3) find better performing parameter sets for GB vegetation using a factorial experiment as sensitivity analysis followed by a multi-objective calibration scheme. After the aforementioned studies, the model was applied in Chap. 6 to answer three environmental questions. The simulations suggest that climate change over 1978-2007 had minor impacts on GB SOM, however the future impacts of climate change could potentially be big. The exact magnitudes vary between ecosystems and will also depend on the representative concentration pathway that the world will follow. Inclusion of other observed environmental changes (i.e. changing age structure and composition in woodlands, nitrogen eutrophication effect, changing soil pH and its impact on DOC mobility, soil erosion, non-equilibrium status of SOM) could better match observed changes with simulated changes. This suggests that they could be the candidates explaining the recent observed trends in GB SOM.

No description available.