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published_or_final_version / Earth Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

The present research has investigated the problem of energy management and conservation in the Hotel sector of Cyprus; one of the most important and most dynamic sectors of the island's economy. The methodology of the soft systems approach was considered as the most appropriate method for tackling the complexities involved in the problem situation. The outcome of the research demonstrated that the adoption of this methodology is suitable for investigating problems of energy management and conservation and can indeed be extended by use of "systemic" interactive computer simulation methods. The existing problem situation in the Hotel industry was investigated through design and execution of questionnaires addressed to the main human actors, energy audits, site visits, discussions and statistical analysis of energy related factors. Serious deficiencies were found at all levels. Energy consumption and use patterns were analysed with respect to quantity, quality and timing of energy use. Existing and new technologies were evaluated using life cycle cost-effective analysis methods. Evaluation of alternative energy supply "mixes" using computer simulation techniques were made, which demonstrated the viability of cogeneration, wind and solar collection approaches in some situations. The research concluded that: (a) there is good scope for energy conservation (in the range of 10-20%) by modifying user habits, hotel energy demand, remodeling of existing technology and introduction of new energy efficient technology. (b) there is an immediate need to provide training and education to all human factors involved. (c) there is a need to modify existing energy-policies. (d) there is need to introduce new energy management infrastructure at National level and below. (e) there is real need for changing the attitudes towards energy conservation of all "actors" involved. (f) there is need for further investigation of the energy supply and demand patterns of hotels. Recommendations concerning the introduction of training and education, and changes in policy, attitudes, practice and energy use, and infrastructure are made. All recommendations are based on conceptual models developed following the application of the soft systems methodology.

Migrant birds may be vulnerable to climate change at different stages of their annual cycles especially on the breeding grounds, where changes in phenology may affect their ability to synchronise breeding with the peak of resources availability. Understanding how phenology of breeding, survival and productivity varies between and within years is therefore crucial to understand migrant population dynamics. This thesis describes this variation in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca, with particular emphasis on a colour-ringed population at Troodos, Cyprus, 2010-2012. Our results suggest that the phenology of breeding of Cyprus Wheatear is variable with breeding onset and number of breeding attempts probably varying with annual temperature variation. Minimum true survival rates were very high for a small passerine migrant, although they were probably sufficiently annually variable to profoundly affect annual population dynamics. For productivity, nest survival was very high and did not vary between years, or nesting attempts, or with clutch initiation date but it was significantly higher in the chick stage versus the egg stage. Post-fledging survival in the first 4 weeks was very high. Renesting probability was significantly different in all years, yet total productivity per pair was the same in each of three years. Cyprus Wheatears at Troodos showed such high productivity and survival that the population must be a major source population and this was reflected in the very high density of breeding pairs at the study site. Finally we used altitude as a proxy for variation in temperature and investigated how abundance, productivity and phenology in Cyprus Wheatears varied between and within years, from sea level to 1952m, using transect surveys to record breeding birds across Cyprus. Cyprus Wheatears were common in all habitats and altitudes; altitudinal temperature variation probably affected the occurrence of double brooding and so the timing of chick production, but not the onset of breeding. The results suggest that Cyprus Wheatears are already very well adapted to high variation in temperature within and between seasons, changing investment accordingly.

This study explores uses of educational technology as echoed in teachers' beliefs and classroom practices. The research is situated in Cyprus, where integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in schools remains in its infancy. The literature reveals that the 'impact' of ICT use on education has been limited; the overall scene is one of teachers unable to make advanced use of the range of possible applications and tools. This thesis is premised on the argument that these limited uses can be explained by the lack of incorporation of an effective pedagogy. On the basis that understanding teachers' pedagogical rationales and responses in depth is crucial for the successful implementation of an ICT initiative, especially when this is still at an early stage, as in Cyprus, I investigate teachers' philosophies and practices of ICT integration. In particular, my research is devoted to identifying the relationship between their beliefs and actual practices with technology in the classroom and the factors that influence this relationship. In view of the overabundance of survey studies measuring self-reported attitudes and practices, and taking into account that practice does not always reflect beliefs, direct evidence of practice beyond self-reports expecting to bridge research with school reality became an imperative. Moreover, the nature of my focus required in-depth understanding and exploration. Therefore a multi-case design was conducted, involving 11 primary school teachers serving in a unique, in terms of technological infrastructure, state school in Cyprus. A questionnaire, pre-lesson interviews, direct classroom observations, and post-lesson interviews cowprised the data collection methods. The Activity Theory model was employed as an analytical tool. Within- and cross-case thematic analyses indicated four main types of response which led to sample grouping; the responses and the groups which emerged were differentiated on the basis of teachers' beliefs about technology in education, their practice with ICT in the classroom, the level of (in)consistency between reported a; d observed practices, and the impact of the external factors on their practice. Following the analyses, an additional round of interviews with three Ministry officials, involved in the educational technology sector, was undertaken to shed more light on the main study findings. Moreover, most teachers encountered considerable difficulty in articulating and explaining the reasons behind their choices with ICT. This indicates that their reported acknowledgement of its benefits for teaching and learning might not have necessarily been informed by their personal experience but more by their inclination to respond 'properly'. The last point is also corroborated by the inconsistency identified in most of the cases between reported and observed practices, in terms of the frequency and sophistication of teacher and student interaction with technology. Several contextual factors, both school- and system-related, appear to have provoked this inconsistency; inadequate technical support and maintenance, lack of pedagogical support rn using ICT, time and curriculum constraints, and problematic communication between the involved agents, constitute the main ones. However, these external factors, which were the same for all participants, had varying impact on the four emerging groups, highlighting the influence of additional, teacher-related factors. These include teachers' limited ICT competence, lack of awareness of tools and support available to them, attachment to traditional teaching styles which enhanced existing (rather than resulting in a changed) pedagogy 'behind' ICT use, and perception of their role and professional responsibilities. The findings highlight the requirement for teachers to understand fully the affordances of a technology, which would encourage their engagement in pedagogical reason.ing with it, not necessarily aiming for higher, but, for more purposeful and 'integrational' technology uptake. The tensions, identified within the teachers' activity systems with the help of the Activity Theory model, have implications for change with ICT. These not only concern practitioners but also policy-makers who, having to inform and set the framework for classroom practice, need to justify a new national ICT initiative by clearly relating it to specific pedagogical aims and the curriculum. Implications also arise for the educational technology officials, who orchestrate the policy implementation, and who need to establish effective communication and cooperation between the agents involved. As for the ICT district coordinators, who are responsible for supporting teachers' classroom uses of technology, the findings suggest that they should tackle technical and maintenance issues promptly. Mo reover, 1�t 1� s i�m portant that they encourage teachers to make informed decisions by indicating the p~dagogical ~otential of the available tools to them. It would also be useful if, when possible, they situated the use of technology in specific lesson settings to encourage meaningful integration. Finally, the study offers recommendations to JCT t ram� m� g orgam�s ers and instructors to design and conduct training programmes in association with pedagogical approaches. Teachers need support not in advancing their isolated technology uses but in improving the quality of their teaching through integrating technology in their pedagogical practice.

Despite its long pre-existence, the issue of human trafficking (especially for sexual purposes) has become the epicentre of attention since the closing of the past century. The globe-wide attempt of politicians, academics, practitioners, technocrats, activists, and journalists to define, advocate, measure, and ‘control’ people trafficking has brought to the fore particular (re)actions. One such example is the EU and international law that aim to facilitate the legal framework within which national administrations should embark upon to ‘better deal’ with human trafficking. While EU and international law can only go so far as to lay the theoretical basis that signatory states must follow for dealing with human trafficking, ultimately, planning and implementing public policy become the prerogative of the individual state. In light of this, the central contribution of this study is the exploration of the application of EU and international law in concern with human trafficking within the Cypriot context. In other words, how EU and international law on human trafficking are applied in day-to-day interactions between state employees, civil groups, and trafficked women. For this purpose, the study examines the interpretation and application of the local legislation by the criminal justice agencies as well as the local NGOs. Notably, such undertakings are informed by past and present geopolitical and socio-economic developments that have been taking place since the British colonisation of Cyprus. Research findings (based on ethnographic fieldwork and documentary study), demonstrate that EU’s attempt to enforce legislative cohesion, common policies, and harmonised practices over the issue of human trafficking across its Member States is yet to materialise. The case of Cyprus, and at times of other EU States, are used as a paradigm in which both, the EU acquis and international law fail to impose legal prescriptions on national authorities. To illustrate, the dimensions of prevention, detection, identification, prosecution, and adjudication of human trafficking, as well as trafficking victims’ protection, rehabilitation, and repatriation are explored in piecemeal and they all testify of systemic deviations from EU and international guidelines. Both Cypriot public services and local NGOs assigned to handle human trafficking are not in a position to bear the standards laid out by the EU and the CoE. Consequently, victims of trafficking are often predisposed to adverse conditions and as a result, they are often undertreated. Moreover, it is often the case that law on paper—both EU and Cypriot— and law in practice are diametrically different.

No description available.

The Early-Middle Bronze Age in Cyprus (c. 2300-1650 BCE) is still poorly understood, in spite of Cyprus's strategic importance in the Mediterranean and the revolutionary cultural transformations that occurred at the end of this period. The west coast in particular, has remained a relatively blank spot on the map of the Eastern Mediterranean, where excavations have been entirely lacking until very recently. In the absence of excavated sites, a great deal of information regarding western Cypriot society from this period must be derived from pottery. This thesis aims to understand the nature of the ceramic material culture in the west through an analysis of the ceramics from the cemetery of Kissonerga-Ammoudhia, at present the largest corpus of western Cypriot funerary pottery from this period. The entire excavated assemblage is presented and a multidisciplinary approach to the ceramics is applied. A traditional typological study was conducted on the entire assemblage, and a microscopic petrographic analysis applied to a sample in order to identify the manufacturing techniques used by the potters. This corpus of information can be used to test the nature and validity of evidence for regional identity. Although there appears to be a broadly similar culture with the rest of the island, the ceramics from Ammoudhia nevertheless show significant differences to those from contemporary sites. This site contains a very large amount of Drab Polished ware; little known elsewhere, this poorly understood, but potentially vital type of pottery appears to be a western local tradition. Although originally dated to the late Middle Bronze Age, this thesis provides evidence for a considerably earlier date in western Cyprus. It also argues for this being a very long lived ware with particularly sophisticated manufacturing techniques, and is one of the technological precursors to Base Ring ware, the ubiquitous pottery vessels of the Late Bronze Age. This thesis places western Cyprus into an island-wide context, allowing for meaningful comparisons with contemporaneous sites and lays the foundations for a clearer understanding of the chronological and technological sequence, fitting into our understanding of the precursors to secondary state formation, in particular: funerary and ritual practices, trade and exchange and technological advances. This corpus from the Kissonerga Ammoudhia cemetery represents the first ever study of a large body of information from the Early-Middle Bronze Age of Western Cyprus. As such it can provide both the framework for further analyses, as well as the first glimpses of the unique culture of this area, and an understanding of how this region fits into the wider Bronze Age Mediterranean world.

In unstable landscapes, modern pedological research explores the role of soils as products and indicators of geomorphologic change. Understanding the dynamics of hill slope pedogenesis is especially important in regions with limited, poor, or threatened soil resources. The island of Cyprus, situated in the eastern Mediterranean, is claimed by many authors to exhibit signs of severe soil degradation and is a prime site for comparative soil geomorphologic research. This study strove to 1) identify the controls of soil genesis and landscape stability within the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus using image and GIS analysis; 2) compare toposequence data to expected soil thickness trends from traditional models of xeric soil toposequences prevalent in current scientific literature; and 3) develop a predictive model for hillslope pedogenesis based on measured soil properties within the field area. Study soils within the Troodos are thin, weakly developed Lithic and Typic Xerorthents formed in colluvium derived from fractured, igneous bedrock. Soil thickness was measured at 368 sites in seven transects across three watersheds in the Troodos, using interpretations of field profiles and image analysis of digital soil-bedrock profiles in photographed road-cuts along forestry paths. Soil thickness was compared through GIS and statistical analysis to landscape attributes derived from a 25-m DEM and other map data. Results indicate that lithology is the only factor of several studied to have a significant relationship with the variability of soil-profile thickness in the Troodos, and that soil thickness does not vary in a predictable manner across toposequences. These results, combined with differences between measured soil data and values predicted by the landscape stability model SHALSTAB, suggest that soil genesis in the Troodos is best described only within the context of a weathering-limited geomorphological system. Short-term disruptive processes such as forest fires, land sliding, tree throw, and raindrop impact, combined with long-term processes such as tectonic uplift and stream incision, are the most likely driving forces behind the rapid erosion of hill slope sediments and the weak development of Troodos hill slope soils. These findings have important implications for DEM-based, predictive soil mapping in weathering-limited geomorphologic systems. / Graduation date: 2005