Growing awareness of the environmental risks associated with modernity has contributed to an increasing demand for information about the environment. Conservation and other environmental organisations receive many such requests for information. The research reported here was motivated first, by the view that these requests presented an opportunity for environmental education, and second, by a concern that this potential was not being realised. The research question was thus "How can environmental education be supported by optimally responding to requests for environmental information?" It is argued that social change is the raison d' etre of environmental education as a response to environmental risks. Further, it is proposed that this might be best achieved through an approach described here as socially critical environmental education. The study comprised an historical review of the Enviro Facts Project, a recent attempt to meet the need for environmental information; a questionnaire survey; interviews; and workshops. Results were collected from 115 questionnaire responses; 23 telephone interviews and nine face-to-face interviews; and six workshops. The research design was participative. It aimed to answer the research question through co-developing practical solutions with participants. Further, it endeavoured to be of practical relevance to those participants. Conclusions are drawn as to how the research question might be answered. Recommendations are made as follows. Responses to environmental information requests might best support socially critical environmental education through an approach characterised by: * a recognition of the importance of responding optimally to environmental information requests, as well as a recognition of existing structures and resource materials with which to respond; * the mobilisation of those structures and resource materials through, for example, the effective marketing and distribution of resource materials; informed and focused networking to make existing resources and capacities more accessible; and the effective use of libraries to provide environmental information; * the enhancement of the capacities of local sources of environmental information. The findings of this study could usefully inform both resource development in environmental education, and those who in their line of work respond to requests for environmental information.

Submitted by Irene Nascimento (irene.kessia@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-12T16:48:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE_JEANCERQUEIRA_PPGOM_CAC_UFPE_2016.pdf: 2814555 bytes, checksum: e1fcb2662a21ea4b892c5ca0f21b79c4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-12T16:48:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE_JEANCERQUEIRA_PPGOM_CAC_UFPE_2016.pdf: 2814555 bytes, checksum: e1fcb2662a21ea4b892c5ca0f21b79c4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-07 / Capes / Neste trabalho analisamos as representações dos discursos ambientais em animações brasileiras veiculadas em três dos mais relevantes festivais internacionais realizados no país e com foco no audiovisual ambiental: Festival Internacional de Cinema e Vídeo Ambiental (FICA), Festival Latino Americano de Cinema Ambiental (FestCineAmazônia) e Festival Internacional do Audiovisual Ambiental (Filmambiente). Considerando que no cinema de animação as questões ambientais ganharam maior atenção a partir do final do anos 1990, quando essa temática passou a ser representada de forma mais intensa em produções comerciais hollywoodianas, e com mais vigor na vertente autoral e independente, entendemos que a animação comporta, no seu conjunto, uma diversidade de discursos e de problemáticas ambientais, compondo filmes que representam as relações entre homem e natureza, cujas abordagens mais críticas foram convencionalmente chamadas de enviro-toons. Contudo, diante da polissemia do termo natureza, da complexidade e multidimensionalidade das questões ambientais e da diversidade de discursos acerca do ambiente, sustentamos a tese de que predomina nas animações uma representação significativa dos discursos orientada para a perspectiva hegemônica do meio ambiente, antropocêntrica e reformista, de acomodação ao capitalismo industrial globalizado. A análise das 40 animações do corpus, veiculadas nas edições dos festivais realizadas no período compreendido entre 1999 a 2014, reforça a hipótese aqui defendida. Pois apesar de revelar a emergência de uma animação ambiental brasileira caracterizada por uma diversidade técnica, estética, temática e autoral, torna evidente que as representações dos discursos ambientais valorizam histórias em que as relações homem/ambiente são desenvolvidas sem problematizações consistentes. Sendo predominantemente limitadas a responsabilizar o indivíduo, sem atribuir maiores responsabilidades à estrutura social. Por outro lado, observamos que as limitações discursivas observadas nesse corpus revelam a animação ambiental brasileira em sua capacidade de refratar e refletir as contradições e disputas que caracterizam o debate ambiental no contexto nacional. Fundamentalmente, a pesquisa adotou como suporte teórico os estudos de Rousseau, Descartes e Heidegger sobre a natureza, ambos no campo da filosofia, de Goldblatt, Dunlap e Hannigan sobre as causas estruturais da problemática ambiental, ambos no campo da sociologia ambiental, de Corbett, Hansen e Cox acerca das singularidades da comunicação ambiental, dos trabalhos de Ingram, MacDonald e Ivakhiv sobre o cinema ambiental, os estudos de Murray e Heumann, Starosielski, Whitley e Wells sobre a animação e o meio ambiente, além dos estudos de Dryzek e Corbett sobre os discursos ambientais, e de Fairclough e Maingueneau, acerca da constituição, circulação, poder e ideologia nos discursos. / This study analyzes the representations of environmental discourses of Brazilian animations broadcasted in three important international festivals of environmental audiovisual films held in Brazil: Festival Internacional de Cinema e Vídeo Ambiental (FICA), Festival Latino Americano de Cinema Ambiental (FestCineAmazônia) and Festival Internacional do Audiovisual Ambiental (Filmambiente). Considering that environmental issues have gained greater attention on animated cinema. From the late 1990s, when this issue started to be represented more often in Hollywood commercial productions, and strongly by independent audiovisual productions, we understand that animation movies have a diversity of discourses and environmental issues, making films that represent and question the relationship between man and nature, whose most critical approaches have been conventionally called enviro-toons. However, given the polysemy of the term nature, as well as the complexity and multidimensionality of environmental issues and the diversity of speeches about the environment, we maintain the hypothesis that the predominant representation of the discourses of animations have hegemonic, anthropocentric and environmental reformist perspectives that tend to accommodation to globalized industrial capitalism. The analysis of a corpus of 40 animations broadcasted in the editions of the festivals held in the period 1999- 2014 reinforces our hypothesis. Despite revealing the emergence of a Brazilian environmental animation characterized by a technical, aesthetic, thematic and authorial diversity, the analysis makes it clear that their representations of environmental discourses value stories in which the man/environment relationships are developed without consistent problematizations. The discourses are predominantly limited to blame the individual, without giving more responsibility to the social structure. On the other hand, we observed that the discursive limitations observed in this corpus reveal the Brazilian environmental animation in its ability to refract and reflect the contradictions and disputes that characterize the environmental debate in the wider context, the green public sphere. Fundamentally, we adopted as theoretical support studies about the nature of Rousseau, Descartes and Heidegger, both in the field of philosophy, Goldblatt, Dunlap and Hannigan about the structural causes of environmental problems, both in the field of environmental sociology, Corbett, Hansen and Cox about the singularities of environmental communication, of Ingram works, MacDonald and Ivakhiv about environmental cinema, of Murray and Heumann, Starosielski, Whitley and Wells about animation and environment, in addition to the Dryzek and Corbett studies about environmental discourses, and Fairclough and Maingueneau about the circulation, power and ideology in discourses.

The upgrading of facilities for the Music Department of the University of Pretoria has long been overdue. The Department is constantly growing in terms of enrolment numbers and academic expertise, however, the facilities for the Department are limited and obsolete. This dissertation will thus explore the possibilities of extending and converting the existing Music Department's facilities in an effort to provide sufficient venues for performances and tuition, as well as portray the Department's contemporary image and dynamics through its new facilities on Campus in an effort to revitalise the music precinct and provide more exposeure to a public audience for the Department. Copyright / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to investigate the social factors that affect the acceptability of the Enviro Loo sanitation technology in schools. The study adopted the anti-positivism theory. Phenomenology school of thought was used as one of the three schools of thoughts as marked under Anti-positivism. The qualitative research method had its foothold in the fact that social factors, as a human activity, occurs in a particular natural and social environment. Utilising the qualitative research design, the researcher focused on describing and understanding the social factors that influence the acceptability of the Enviro Loo sanitation technology at schools. The study utilised an interview guide to collect data. The advantage of this is that it allowed the researcher to probe and ask for clarification of some answers as given by the respondents The population of this study comprised 35 secondary schools in Limpopo Province that benefited from the implementation of the Enviro Loo sanitation technology system during the 2010/11 financial years. Non-probability sampling was used. The method used to select the schools was convenience sampling as a non-probability sampling technique where subjects are selected because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. This is because the researcher was bound by time, money and workforce and because of these limitations, it was almost impossible to randomly sample the entire population. Three sets of focus groups were used as sample, namely; the Provincial Sanitation Task Team (PSTT), School Governing Body (SGB) and Leaner’s Representative Council (LRC). All groups were gender balanced and members participated voluntarily. Nvivo was utilised to analyse data. The audio recordings from the digital voice recorder were transcribed, translated into English, typed into word and thematic analysis was used.

Il controllo in agricoltura delle malattie causate da patogeni fungini può essere effettuato attraverso l’uso di modelli di previsione che si basano comunemente sul monitoraggio in tempo reale di una serie di variabili di input. Queste informazioni generalmente combinano dati metereologici locali con modelli matematici costruiti allo scopo di predire il rischio di malattie. Il processo decisionale si attiva quando un avvertimento sul potenziale rischio viene riconosciuto da parte dei modelli. Diversi modelli epidemiologici sono stati sviluppati e validati nel mondo. Negli Stati Uniti d’America, ad esempio, l’università della California ha sviluppato un supporto decisionale on-line per gestire la coltura secondo i principi della lotta integrata (Integrated Pest Management - IPM). Ciascun agricoltore può consultare il proprio database informativo e prendere decisioni sui trattamenti da effettuare basandosi su dati sito-specifici. Le difficoltà sorgono quando non sono disponibili dati meteorologici da stazioni poste nelle vicinanze del sito in studio o per le zone montane caratterizzate da una forte variabilità altimetrica. Inoltre i dati meteorologici disponibili possono presentarsi in formato non adeguato rispetto alle esigenze del modello previsionale. Con l’intento di avere una visione regionale e una maggiore accuratezza nella gestione del controllo delle malattie, l’obiettivo della tesi è stato l’utilizzo contemporaneo di modelli epidemiologici (Lobesia botrana e Erysiphe necator, agente causale dell’oidio della vite) con modelli fenologici (cultivar di vite Chardonnay) utilizzando parametri meteorologici come la temperatura per creare mappe a livello regionale, a frequenza giornaliera e con una risoluzione spaziale di 200 metri. L’utilizzo contemporaneo di entrambi i modelli aiuta ad essere più precisi nel consigliare interventi colturali nel periodo di sensibilità dell’ospite nei confronti del patogeno o della malattia in modo da poterne stimare il reale rischio di diffusione o insorgenza. Dopo aver calibrato e validato i modelli in Trentino-Alto Adige (Nord Italia) con dati metereologici locali, basandoci sul modello del cambiamento climatico HadAM3 dell’Hadley Centre (Pope et al., 2000),l’andamento climatico previsto è stato proiettato e statisticamente portato. in scala, utilizzando lo scenario A2 e B2. L’algoritmo statistico utilizzato per ridurre la scala giornaliera di risoluzione è chiamato “transfer function” (Eccel et al., 2009). Per completare l’analisi, è stato inoltre utilizzato lo scenario ridimensionato di ENSEMBLES attraverso l’uso di set di dati provenienti da 49 stazioni meteorologiche della FEM e dal pacchetto “RMAWGEN” (Cordano et al., 2012) creato con il software statistico R. (Gentleman et al., 1997). Per mappare i modelli è stata sviluppata una semplice piattaforma modulare WEB-GIS chiamata ENVIRO. I moduli sono “Open Source” e seguono gli standard internazionali dell’“Open Geospatial Consortium” (OGC) e sono stati implementati come segue: i) enviDB è il database per i dati spazio-temporali, ii) enviGRID permette agli utenti di navigare attraverso i dati e i modelli nello spazio e nel tempo, iii) enviMapper è l’interfaccia web per prendere le decisioni, consiste in uno stato dell’arte per mappare la vulnerabilità del cambiamento climatico a diverse scale di aggregazione nello spazio e nel tempo, iv) enviModel è l’interfaccia web per i ricercatori a cui viene fornita una piattaforma per processare e condividere modelli di rischio ambientali utilizzando il “web processing Technologies” (WPS) seguendo gli standard OGC. Con l’obiettivo di diventare ancora più accurati nelle previsioni dei volumi per i trattamenti contro insetti e malattie, in accordo con la direttiva 2009/128/EC, il seguente lavoro dimostra che il sensore LIDAR può essere utilizzato per caratterizzare la geometria della pianta della vite e stimare l’area fogliare (LAI) ad ogni stadio di crescita. Inoltre permette di calcolare il volume da applicare (Tree Row Volume -TRV) visualizzato nelle mappe 3D in GRASS. (Neteler et al., 2008, Neteler et al., 2012). / Control of agricultural pests and diseases is often based on forecasting models commonly based on real time monitoring of inputs variables. This information generally combines meteorological local databases and mathematical models designed to forecast pest and disease risk. The decision process starts when an alert or a potential risk event from the outputs of the models is issued. Epidemiological models based on local datasets have been created and validated worldwide, for example in USA, the University of California developed the online Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program where each farmer can consult with his own database and make the pest management decision based on site-specific conditions. Difficulties arise when no data from a close weather station are available, in mountain areas where weather conditions highly depend on the altimetry, or if data are not in a standard format to feed the model. In a view of having a regional vision and an increased accuracy in the pest control management, the goal of this thesis was to run contemporaneously epidemiological (the pest Lobesia botrana and the pathogen causing Powdery mildew Erysiphe necator) and phenological models (grapevine cv. chardonnay) using environmental variables as temperature and to create maps at regional level, with 200 meters of resolution and daily scale or frequency. Running both models together helps to be more precise in the sensibility period of the host versus the pest or the disease and to understand the real final risk. After calibrating and validating the models in the Trentino-Alto Adige Region (Italy) with local weather data, the forecasted climate was projected and statistically downscaled, based on the output of the Hadley Centre climate model - HadAM3 (Pope et al., 2000) under scenarios A2 and B2. The statistical downscaling algorithm was “transfer function method” (Eccel et al., 2009) at daily resolution. In order to complete the analysis, the downscaled scenario from ENSEMBLES was also used with the datasets of 49 weather stations from FEM and the “RMAWGEN” packages (Cordano et al., 2012) created for this project in R statistical open source software (Gentleman et al., 1997). In order to map the models, a friendly modular WEB-GIS platform called ENVIRO was developed. Modules are Open Source, follow international Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards and were implemented as follows: i) enviDB is the database for spatial temporal data, ii) enviGRID allows users to navigate through data and model in space and time, iii) enviMapper is the web interface for decision makers, a state of the art client to map vulnerability to climate change at different aggregation scales in time and space; finally, iv) enviModel is the web interface for researchers that provides a platform to process and share environmental risk models using web geo-processing technologies (WPS) following OGC standards. With the aim of being even more accurate in pests and diseases spraying volumes and according with the Directive 2009/128/EC, the current work shows that the LIDAR sensor can be used to characterize the geometry of the grapevine and the Leaf Area Index (LAI) at each growth stage and calculate the Tree Row Volume (TRV) visualized in 3D maps in GRASS (Neteler et al., 2008, Neteler et al., 2012).

The purpose of this report is to get an overview of the CO2 reduction possibilities when adopting different renewable energy source, when the case studied building sustains a district heating network connection and when not, and how the renewable energy source flexibilities (Solar and Wind) differ depending on region. The method regards a ETC house that falls into the climate positive category and assesses the reduction when comparing CO2 emissions form the energy demand. The result for the flexibilities is then compared to the BBR demand. The result shows a difference of around 10% in production for the flexibilities when comparing the northern and middle region with the southern. And a decrease between 19-36% gCO2. Comparing a scenario with and without a connection to the district heating network showed that when the ground source heat pump offsets the energy demand, CO2, and cost reductions (6 and 4% respectively) can be seen. With an average installation cost, the payback period for the ground source heat pump can be estimated to be around 4 year. In conclusion the thesis project shows that the climate is a ruling factor when assessing energy questions for the residential sector. It also shows the difference in CO2 and cost that comes with it can be reduced and help mitigated the sectors effects on the environment. This in turn shows that the overall reduction of CO2 for the case studied building follows the demands and goals set by the European commission and gives motivation to expand the construction as cost is also reduced.

Thesis (M. Tech. - (Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology))--Vaal University of Technology, 2010. / During the last few years, concern has been growing among many stakeholders all over the world about declining levels of surface water bodies accompanied by reduced water availability predominantly due to ever increasing demand and misuse. Furthermore, overexploitation of environmental resources and haphazard dumping of waste has made the little water remaining to be so contaminated that a dedicated rehabilitation/remediation of the environment is the only proactive way forward. River Rwizi Catchment is an environment in the focus of this statement. The overall objective of this research was to plan, restore and rationally allocate the water resources in any river basin with similar attributes to the study area. In this research, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) methodology was applied through Watershed/Basin Simulation Models for general river basins. The model chosen and used after subjection to several criteria was DHI Model, MIKE BASIN 2009 Version. It was then appropriately developed through calibration on data from the study catchment, input data formatting and its adaptation to the catchment characteristics. The methodology involved using spatio-temporal demographic and hydrometeorological data. It was established that the model can be used to predict the impact of projects on the already existing enviro-hydrological system while assigning priority to water users and usage as would be deemed necessary, which is a significant procedure in IWRM-based environmental rehabilitation/remediation. The setback was that the available records from the various offices visited had a lot of data gaps that would affect the degree of accuracy of the output. These gaps were appropriately infilled and gave an overall output that was adequate for inferences made therefrom. Several scenarios tested included; use and abstraction for the present river situation, the effect of wet/dry seasons on the resultant water available for use, and proposed projects being constructed on and along the river. Results indicated that the river had insufficient flow to sustain both the current and proposed water users. It was concluded that irrespective of over exploitation, lack of adequate rainfall was not a reason for the low discharge but rather the loss of rainwater as evaporation, storage in swamps/wetlands, and a considerable amount of water recharging groundwater aquifers. Thus, the proposed remedy is to increase the exploitation of the groundwater resource in the area and reduce the number of direct river water users, improve farming methods and conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water - the latter as a dam on River Rwizi. The advantage of the dam is that the water usage can be controlled as necessary in contrast to unregulated direct abstraction, thus reducing the risk of subsequent over-exploitation. / Vaal University of Technology