This thesis reports upon the findings of a study into the socioeconomic and ecological drivers of plant resource utilisation, and dynamics of woody plants used by rural people in the Northern Province, South Africa. The key components were to (1) quantify the range of socioeconomic drivers of plant resource utilisation in rural communities, (2) identify plant species highly preferred by people and their uses, (3) quantify the impacts of plant resource harvesting, (4) seek relationships between spatial distribution patterns of plants and productivity, (5) determine the responses of trees to harvesting regimes, and (6) elucidate the impacts of selected management actions on plant resource supply and hence sustainability. Each of these was pursued through a combination of surveys and empirical experimentation. High unemployment rate, low educational levels, large family sizes and most importantly low overall family income are characteristic of this rural community. As a result, many people are still reliant on wild growing plants for their household and economic needs. The three main use categories associated with people in this rural village, in order of their importance, are: construction, food and energy. It is construction and energy uses that are associated with very few species. Harvesting of plant materials for these two use categories is destroying the preferred species in communal land. Two plant species, Colophospermum mopane and Androstachys johnsonii, are the most preferred plant species for construction and energy purposes. In a protected area the C. mopane population is stable, an indication that recruitment balances mortality. The same applies to A johnsonii. However, in communal land the size class frequency distribution of C. mopane varies at three distances from the village, suggesting that communal patterns of C. mopane utilisation are unfavourable to this species. This is probably so because of intense browsing within the village and high levels of harvesting. However, A johnsonii at two harvest zones in communal land show the same trend as in the protected area: the inverse J-shaped curve which is a characteristic feature of a stable population. Selective harvesting therefore, has little impact on recruitment of young A. johnsonii trees. Conflicting results were evident with respect to the role of competition in tree populations. Spatial distribution methods (i.e. nearest-neighbour analysis and departure from randomness approach) from a number of plots suggested that competition was not important at most plots. Yet, the strong negative relationship between loge mean stand basal area and log0 stand density indicated that competition is a significant factor affecting individual tree and stand woody productivity. Most plots from the communal land, when plotted on the same graph of plots from the protected site, lay far below the thinning line, suggesting that harvesting is promoting rapid growth of trees in communal land. The five species harvested responded differently from each other. Full and partial harvesting of C. mopane trees during December at ~30 cm above ground level resulted in 100% survival rate after one year. The equivalent diameter of coppice shoots was significantly positively related to stump size and light availability. The former suggests that harvesting bigger trees will result in rapid diameter growth of coppice shoots while the latter suggests that shoots are suppressed by shade from neighbouring trees. The equivalent shoot diameter was significantly negatively related to sum of neighbour size divided distance ratios, an indication of competition between neighbouring trees. All big trees and 70% of the small trees of A johnsonii species died when the same season, height of cutting and harvesting regime applied to C. mopane was used. Partial harvesting resulted in 60 and 45% survival rates for big and small trees respectively. Coppice shoot production of the surviving stems was also very low compared to C. mopane. A static transition model was developed to simulate requirements for sustainable harvesting of Colophospermum mopane woodlands. The model predicts that a combination of high levels of harvesting and browsing will result in the depletion of the resource base within three decades.

THE AREA OF CONCERN This thesis looks at two actual neighbourhoods within Vancouver - a high density urban, and a low density suburban environment. Using these neighbourhood environments, an attempt is made to see if children act or are affected in ways which can be traced to the layout and amenities of the physical environment. Data has been gathered concerning the physical structure of the environments, and is examined in relation to how the children use these environments, and in relation to the attitudes that parents, or institutions responsible for child socialization, have towards the effect of these environments on the children and themselves. THE METHODS OF INVESTIGATION This data has been gathered by my own observations, by interviewing children and key resource people who work or reside in the neighourhood, and by handing out questionnaires to parents involved with raising children in the sample areas. CONCLUSIONS The data shows that in different types of neighbourhood communities, children use and interact with the environment in different ways. It shows that the behaviour of children is modified because of the physical environment they grow up within. It shows that children of different ages and sexes have differing needs, and that their use of the environment is constantly changing as they grow and search for ways to satisfy these needs. The analysis of this data begins to show deficiencies and strengths in the planning and layout of the physical environments, and how these potentially affect children. From this analysis certain proposed solutions have been arrived at - solutions which the author feels can make the child’s environment more appropriate to his developmental needs,and more in keeping with the desires of his family and self. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

Work environment has been an important part of the Swedish working life for a long time and with the help of the Working Environment Law the work environment is mandatory. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper insight into how the system of middle managers systematic work environment looks like. The question was: How do six middle managers perceive and deal with systematic work environment? A qualitative study was conducted with six middle managers from a global company. During the analysis, there were three main themes to be recognized (cooperation and support facilitates the work environment, problem with the systematic work and difficulties with staff) and six sub themes. The results showed that respondents felt great support from management and safety representatives, which according to the respondents made ​​their systematic work environment easier. In contrast, respondents indicated that work environment was extensive and because of that the experience was that the work never gets finished. It also emerged in the results that the systematic work environment is about trying to change staff attitudes. The conclusion is that systematic work environment is not an easy task for middle managers. Moreover, it seems that systematic work environment also involve working to change attitudes and behaviors. The study wants to contribute to a greater understanding of how the system of middle managers work with the systematic work environment looks like.

ABSTRACT Title: The environment as a tool in nursing - School nurses experiences from using the physical environment in their office supporting schoolchildren Author: Egnell, Maria Department: School of Health and Education, University of Skövde Course: Master Degree project in Nursing, OM854A, 15 ECTs Supervisor: Thorstensson, Stina Examiner: Larsson, Margareta Pages: 28 Keywords: School nurses, environment, health environment, nursing, children       Background: According to research, the physical environment effects children’s well-being. School nurses offer a range of nursing activities promoting health to schoolchildren and to support school performances. The nursing activities occur at school in a psychosocial as well as a physical environment. The school nurses office as a health environment, affects meetings and schoolchildren that occur within it. School nurses take support in the physical environment in their work with schoolchildren. The field has not yet been researched as an important part of nursing at school.   Aim: The aim of this study was to elucidate the school nurses perceptions of using the ward atmosphere at their office, as a tool in nursing.   Method: A qualitative research method was selected for the study. The result emerged through qualitative content analysis. Five school nurses from various schools in Gothenburg were interviewed, using semi structured interviews.   Results: Three major categories and six subcategories emerged during the analysis. Major categories were: offering a health environment for well-being, to be present in the environment for the children and to use the environment for health education.   Conclusion: The school nurses strived to make the office a place for well-being. They also used it for health information, as a sanctuary and as a connection point that considers children’s need for integrity. How the school nurses used the environment depended on who they were as individuals, as the field until now, not has gone through research. Obstacles depended on all those around, with too little knowledge in what school nurses work consist of and also from a complexity in being available to the children.

The purpose of this master thesis is to implement the requirements of standards (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001) for integrated management system in a selected company as a need of follow-up certification. Theoretical part of the thesis presents management systems of quality, environment, health and security at work, approaches to these systems and their requirements, use and contribution of their implementation in an organization. Practical part describes stages concerning implementation of an integrated system in a small company: management decisions, expectations related to the certification, insuring of necessary resources, analysis of the initial stage with regard to fulfilling the requirements of standards, solutions of an implemented system. The conclusion assesses the implemented system, including problematic parts and benefits for the company. The company is ready for the certification. The appendix shows the most important documented procedures of integrated management system in the company.

This study focuses on the computer laboratory class as a learning environment in university courses. It involved the development and validation of two instruments, the Computer Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI) and the Attitude towards Computing and Computing Courses Questionnaire (ACCC). The CLEI has five scales for measuring students' perceptions of aspects of their laboratory environment. These are Student Cohesiveness, Open-Endedness, Integration, Technology Adequacy and Laboratory Availability. The ACCC has four scales, Anxiety, Enjoyment, Usefulness of Computers and Usefulness of the Course. The instruments were administered at three universities, one in Australia, one in England and one in the United States. The classes surveyed included those in which the development of software was the focus of study, such as Information Systems and Computer Science, and others in which the computer was used as a tool. With the exception of Laboratory Availability, all the environment variables were found to correlate significantly with all attitudinal variables. The only environment variable with significant association with achievement was Student Cohesiveness. However, the results showed that there were significant associations between the attitudinal variables, Anxiety, Enjoyment and Usefulness of the Course and achievement. Regression analysis supported the findings that the environment variables made a significant contribution to the attitudinal variables, and these in turn made a significant contribution to achievement. Further analysis using structural equation modelling suggests that computer laboratory environment affects achievement indirectly by directly affecting students' attitudes towards computers but even more so their attitude towards the course.The significance of this study is, that it is one of the first that has investigated the effectiveness of ++ / computer laboratory classes in a university setting in which the computer is central to the discipline being studied. The results demonstrate the importance of the laboratory environment in those courses in which the computer plays a major role. The CLEI will prove useful in the design and implementation of the laboratory component of a course and in the formative evaluation of such a course.

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Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2003.

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