Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004-07-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:21:04Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 dimaio_ac_dr_rcla.pdf: 7208216 bytes, checksum: b807084d55f2e96d80b4a7024da95d17 (MD5) / A informatização está sendo introduzida na educação básica; contudo, ainda são limitadas, no País, as análises objetivas sobre sua real contribuição no ambiente escolar. Esta pesquisa se insere neste contexto, obtendo, a partir de teste na área de Geografia, indicadores do desempenho e da aceitação da educação informatizada no âmbito formal do ensino médio. Desta forma, este trabalho avaliou o ensino informatizado e pela Internet envolvendo geotecnologias, bem como gerou em ambiente digital o meio para esta avaliação. Foram desenvolvidas unidades instrucionais digitais, abrangendo cartografia, sensoriamento remoto e sistemas de informação geográfica, em consonância com os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Enfocou-se, por exemplo, aspectos da vegetação e ocupação urbana. Em tempo real, podem ser acessados dados de previsões meteorológicas e de queimadas, entre outros. Realizou-se a avaliação do material gerado junto aos professores e alunos de duas escolas públicas de São José dos Campos, SP, que indicou aproveitamento geral positivo e aceitação desta nova opção de ensino. O protótipo de Ensino Digital gerado, denominado GEODEM, utiliza versão simplificada do aplicativo SPRING na realização de exercícios. As informações dos alunos e professores forneceram indicadores e orientações quanto à incorporação de novas tecnologias para melhoria do ensino médio, em particular, na escola pública... / Computers are being introduced in basic education; however, objective analyses in the country regarding their effective contribution in the school environment are still limited. This research is related to this context, and from a test in the field of Geography obtained performance and acceptance indicators of digital education within the formal scope of secondary education. Computer-aided teaching, including Internet access and uses of geotechnologies were evaluated, and to do so the media needed for the evaluation was also produced. Digital educational units were developed, including cartography, remote sensing and a geographic information system, in accordance to the national official curricular guidelines. Focused were, among other subjects, vegetation and urban occupation changes; these tools allowed real-time access to weather forecasts and occurrences of forest fires data. The digital material evaluation was carried out with teachers and students of two public schools in Sao Jose dos Campos, SP; and indicated a general positive use and acceptance of this contemporary education option. The education prototype developed, called GEODEM, used the SPRING software base for the exercises. Information supplied by the students and teachers provided indicators and orientations for the incorporation of new technologies to improve secondary education, particularly in the public school...(Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2003-05-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:33:59Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 napoleao_rp_me_rcla.pdf: 3421790 bytes, checksum: 06666fbe30cc8c667b1737d893641378 (MD5) / Esse trabalho corresponde a um zoneamento ambiental da bacia hidrográfica do rio Capivari-SP com base em critérios dedutivos que levam em consideração aspectos ambientais relativos à área de estudo. Os aspectos ambientais considerados para a realização do zoneamento foram o elemento climático precipitação, a geologia, a geomorfologia, a pedologia, o uso e ocupação do solo e a cobertura vegetal. Com base nas informações ambientais disponíveis foi possível a elaboração de mapas de integração ambiental. Foram realizados três mapas de integração, o mapa de compartimentos ambientais, o mapa de vulnerabilidade aos processos erosivos e o mapa de potencial de retenção hídrica. O primeiro mapa corresponde a um mapa síntese dos aspectos ambientais da área de estudo e os outros correspondem a mapas elaborados partir de critérios dedutivos aplicados à base de informações e que consideram aspectos teóricos produzidos sobre os temas. O mapa final de zoneamento ambiental foi realizado considerando a aplicação de critérios sobre os mapas de integração e sobre o mapa de uso e ocupação dos solos e cobertura vegetal. Fez-se uso de técnicas de sistemas de informações geográficas para a integração e elaboração das informações referentes as etapas para a realização do zoneamento ambiental. / This work corresponds of an environment zoning of Capivari vale in the State of São Paulo. This zoning have with base deductive criterions that admit environment aspects of study area. The environment aspects use for realization of zoning was the element climatic precipitation, the geology, the geomorphology, the pedology, the use and occupation of soils and the vegetable cover. With base in available environment information was possible the construction of environment integration maps. Was constructed three integration maps: the map of environment compartments, the map of risk of erosion processes and the map of potential of water retention. The first map correspond of one synthesis map of environment aspects of study area and the others, correspond maps constructed with base in deductive criterions and with theoretical aspects about the theme. The final map of environment zoning was realized with the application of criterions over the integration maps and over the map of use and occupation of soils and vegetable cover. In this work was used techniques of geographical information systems for integration and construct of information referring to the stages for realization of the environment zoning.

Resumo: A informatização está sendo introduzida na educação básica; contudo, ainda são limitadas, no País, as análises objetivas sobre sua real contribuição no ambiente escolar. Esta pesquisa se insere neste contexto, obtendo, a partir de teste na área de Geografia, indicadores do desempenho e da aceitação da educação informatizada no âmbito formal do ensino médio. Desta forma, este trabalho avaliou o ensino informatizado e pela Internet envolvendo geotecnologias, bem como gerou em ambiente digital o meio para esta avaliação. Foram desenvolvidas unidades instrucionais digitais, abrangendo cartografia, sensoriamento remoto e sistemas de informação geográfica, em consonância com os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Enfocou-se, por exemplo, aspectos da vegetação e ocupação urbana. Em tempo real, podem ser acessados dados de previsões meteorológicas e de queimadas, entre outros. Realizou-se a avaliação do material gerado junto aos professores e alunos de duas escolas públicas de São José dos Campos, SP, que indicou aproveitamento geral positivo e aceitação desta nova opção de ensino. O protótipo de Ensino Digital gerado, denominado GEODEM, utiliza versão simplificada do aplicativo SPRING na realização de exercícios. As informações dos alunos e professores forneceram indicadores e orientações quanto à incorporação de novas tecnologias para melhoria do ensino médio, em particular, na escola pública...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Computers are being introduced in basic education; however, objective analyses in the country regarding their effective contribution in the school environment are still limited. This research is related to this context, and from a test in the field of Geography obtained performance and acceptance indicators of digital education within the formal scope of secondary education. Computer-aided teaching, including Internet access and uses of geotechnologies were evaluated, and to do so the media needed for the evaluation was also produced. Digital educational units were developed, including cartography, remote sensing and a geographic information system, in accordance to the national official curricular guidelines. Focused were, among other subjects, vegetation and urban occupation changes; these tools allowed real-time access to weather forecasts and occurrences of forest fires data. The digital material evaluation was carried out with teachers and students of two public schools in Sao Jose dos Campos, SP; and indicated a general positive use and acceptance of this contemporary education option. The education prototype developed, called GEODEM, used the SPRING software base for the exercises. Information supplied by the students and teachers provided indicators and orientations for the incorporation of new technologies to improve secondary education, particularly in the public school...(Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Orientador: Janine Gisele Le Sann / Coorientador: Alberto Waingort Setzer / Banca: Regina Araújo de Almeida / Banca: Tania Maria Sausen / Banca: Magda Adelaide Lombardo Fruehauf / Banca: Rosângela Doin de Almeida / Doutor

GIS has been used in Veterinary Science for a couple of year and the application thereof has been growing rapidly. A number of GIS models have been developed to predict the occurrences of certain types of insect species including the Culicoides species (spp), the insect vectors responsible for the transmission of the African horse sickness (AHS) virus. AHS is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and is carried by two midges called Culicoides Imicola and Culicoides Bolitinos. The disease causes severe illness in horses and has significant economic impact if not dealt with timeously. Although these models had some success in the prediction of possible abundance of the Culicoides spp. the complicated nature and high number of variables influencing the abundance of Culicoides spp. posed some challenges to these GIS models. This informs the need for models that can accurately predict potential abundance of Culicoides spp to prevent unnecessary horse deaths. This lead the study to the use of a combination of a GIS and an artificial neural networks (ANN) to develop a model that can predict the abundance of C. Imicola and C. Bolitinos. ANNs are models designed to imitate the human brain and have the ability to learn through examples. ANNs can therefore model extremely complex features. In addition, using GIS maps to visualise the predictions will make the models more accessible to a wider range of practitioners. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MSc / Unrestricted

Humankind’s survival is dependant on the sustainable availability and subsequent management of natural resources. Humans are central to ensuring the sustainable use of the natural resources and the administration of future development. South Africa is one of the signatories of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. This Declaration stipulates that development should occur in a way that it will fulfil the developmental and environmental needs of current as well as future generations (Aventis CropScience 2000:2). South Africa is continuously exposed to extremes, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from a land use and management perspective. The country is exposed to a wide range of climatic conditions as well as varied soil and terrain characteristics. Limited high potential agricultural land is available for cultivation purposes and the management and protection of this land is crucial for continued food security. The wide variety of animal and plant species unique to South Africa should all be protected. Continued pressure has negatively impacted on the natural resources and in several instances resulted in their loss. The management of these resources has received much attention over the years and many research projects have focused on a better understanding of the resources and how they should be managed. One of the primary requirements in the effective management of natural resources is accurate information. The development of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as well as spatial data sets and information systems focusing on natural resources have contributed to improved monitoring and management thereof. Through the use of GIS, improved, modelled data sets and decision support systems could be developed that assisted in the decision making, management and monitoring of the resources. The optimal utilization of South Africa’s resources has, to a large extent, contributed to the country becoming independent in terms of food production and therefore currently regarded as food secure. The commercial agricultural sector has adapted to risks through effective cultivation practices and the optimal utilization of the land’s resources. At the same time, however, the country’s land reform programme has given new farmers access to land, but through this process exposed them to challenges they are not equipped to deal with. Moreover, in some instances, agricultural production has also impacted negatively on the environment. For South Africa as a developing country, there is great emphasis on residential, industrial and economic development and the advancement of citizens through job creation and the alleviation of poverty. These developments are mostly financially driven without proper consideration as to their impact on the environment. Legislation, strategic objectives and policies have raised awareness of ensuring that environmental assessments should form part of any proposed development. Nevertheless, these directives are not fully implemented. The Gauteng Province, of special reference to this study, is regarded as the economic hub of the country and is therefore continuously faced with development pressures. However, this province also has a disproportional amount of high potential agricultural land. Against this background, the study focused on current legislation, policies and decision support systems in the protection and management of agricultural land for future production. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Thesis (Ph.D. (Statistics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / In spatial statistics, several methods have been developed to measure the extent of local and global spatial dependence (clustering) in measured data across areas in a region of research interest. These methods are now routinely implemented in most Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and statistical computer packages. However, spatial statistics for measuring joint spatial dependence of multiple spatial measurement and outcome data have not been well developed. A naive analysis would simply apply univariate spatial dependence methods to each data separately. Though this is simple and straightforward, it ignores possible relationships between multiple spatial data because they may be measuring the same phenomena. Limited work has been done on extending the Moran’s index, a commonly used and applied univariate measure of spatial clustering, to bivariate Moran’s index in order to assess spatial dependence for two spatial data. The overall aim of this PhD was to develop multivariate spatial clustering methods for multiple spatial data, especially in the health sciences. Our proposed multivariate spatial clustering statistic is based on the fundamental theory regarding canonical correlations. We firstly reviewed and applied univariate and bivariate Moran’s indexes to spatial analyses of multiple non-communicable diseases and related risk factors in South Africa. Then we derived our proposed multivariate spatial clustering method, which was evaluated by simulation studies and applied to a spatial analysis of multiple non-communicable diseases and related risk factors in South Africa. Simulation studies showed that our proposed multivariate spatial statistic was able to identify correctly clusters of areas with high risks as well as clusters with low risk.

The Jackson Prairie Region represents a rare, poorly understood and threatened ecosystem. A review of the literature concerning the ecology, physiography and geology of the Region was undertaken, along with a search of General Land Office (GLO) records for locations of historic prairie patches. The prairie patch location data was transcribed, digitized and inserted as a base map in a Geographical Information System (GIS). A set of current, local conditions indicating suitability for conservation or restoration, along with importance weights for each condition, was derived from stakeholder input. A simple additive weighting technique was used to rank the locations in terms of suitability for conservation or restoration. Historic patch locations were visited and the presence of prairie indicator species noted. The use of GLO records and GIS in this way improves the ability of landscape architects to enhance and preserve an imperiled habitat as they design across multiple scales.

Evaluation of aerial photographs, LiDAR imagery and GPS survey points was conducted to characterise water vole habitat at Grains in the Water and Swains Greave, in the Peak District. Justification for the study is to explore an affective way to monitor water vole habitat in relation to water vole signs utilising GIS. The water vole is a rapidly declining native species (Strachan and Strachan, 2003). The geospatial data was evaluated in terms of integration and extraction. The aerial photography provided a basis for vegetation mapping after visual interpretation. The aerial photograph required geometric correction and an average control point RMSE of 4.17m for the Grains in the Water site, using a 2nd order polynomial model was achieved. Extraction of slope, aspect, stream proximity and elevation were achieved using LiDAR imagery. Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient highlighted a significant relationship between water vole latrine density with slope at the 0.01 significance level for 4m and 6m resolution data (Grains in the Water). The Swains Greave site supported this result with a 0.01 significance level for 6m resolution slope data. Elevation and aspect did not show a significant correlation with latrine density at Grains in the Water. The main conclusion is that water vole habitat cannot be solely characterised by aerial photography and LiDAR data, as other habitat variables could affect water vole distributions, which cannot be extracted from these geospatial data e.g. pH, bank exposure and stream depth.

Student Number : 0063608J - MSc(Eng) dissertation - School of Electrical and Information Engineering - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / “You can see the computer age everywhere except in the productivity statistics”. This offhand remark by Robert Solow, the Nobel prize-winning economist [1] has stimulated many other economists to conduct more rigorous analyses on the impact of information technology on productivity. The research presented in this dissertation has been conducted on a large telecommunications utility. An important business process of the utility, that of collecting information on its geographically dispersed network assets, was automated using mobile computing and wireless technologies. The research compared this newly developed automated process with the current, manual, process of sourcing the field network asset data using paper-based templates, and capturing the data manually from the templates. The results of the pilot for this automated business process were encouraging and demonstrated an improvement of over 50% in the productivity of the data collection process, and its integrity. An important aspect of the research outlined in this dissertation was to design and implement the mobile computer-based electronic data collection prototype to minimise user obstruction to the technology deployed. The prototype was tested for technology acceptance by the targeted field workers. This test also proved successful. The research demonstrated that an improvement in productivity of over 50% was achievable from a well-considered investment in information technology. The results from the research also pointed the way for the deployment of this data collection solution in other utilities, e.g. electricity distribution, water reticulation, and municipalities. Through user prototype tests and a cultural intervention process on the targeted users (field workers), the research also demonstrated how the automated business process can be geared for use by low-skilled field workers, so important to improve productivity in developing economies such as those in Africa.

Um modelo dedicado ao planejamento da conservação e restauração de habitats deve incluir informações estratégicas para assegurar a eficácia e de fácil obtenção, para assegurar a agilidade necessária. Planos e estratégias para conservação usualmente são complexos e demandam informações detalhadas, difíceis de se obter, como inventários biológicos e certos tipos de mapeamento, o que traz limitações em termos de disponibilidade, qualidade e custo das informações. Assim, procurou-se testar a eficiência de métodos simples para a seleção, em escala local, de áreas prioritárias para conservação de habitats fortemente fragmentados e reduzidos, uma situação comum no sul do Brasil, usando dados de imagens LANDSAT e planos de informações disponíveis em mapeamentos comuns, e trabalho de campo. Inicialmente analisou-se a estrutura da paisagem e o padrão de fragmentação em parte da região norte do estado do Paraná, e testar se tamanho e forma são adequados para selecionar os fragmentos florestais mais importantes para a conservação, ou seja, as que contribuem para manter maior quantidade e melhor qualidade de habitats, bem como tenham maior impacto (positivo) na conectividade e em outras variáveis da paisagem. Os resultados mostram que a floresta madura cobre cerca de 3% da paisagem, e a cobertura florestal total atinge perto de 8%, consistindo principalmente de pequenos fragmentos (82% tem entre 1 e 10 ha). Fragmentos grandes (>100 ha) são apenas 1,4% dos remanescentes, mas somam 34% da área de floresta. Apesar de estarem sujeitos a efeitos de borda em toda ou quase toda a sua área, fragmentos pequenos mostraram ter um papel importante na conectividade da paisagem. Numa área maior, foi feita uma pré-seleção de áreas com potencial para estabelecimento de redes de conservação. A pré-seleção procurou responder às seguintes perguntas: 1-Quais são os sítios com maior potencial para a conservação da biodiversidade? 2-Quais são os sítios sob maior risco para objetivos de conservação? e 3-Quais sítios têm melhores oportunidades para o estabelecimento de zonas de conservação de uso múltiplo? Foi identificado um conjunto de 11 fragmentos pertencendo a 5 sub-regiões, sofrendo variados graus de pressão antrópica. Adicionalmente, usando medidas simples de estrutura da paisagem, relacionadas com tamanho, forma e conectividade dos fragmentos, procurou-se identificar tipos estruturais de fragmentos, como uma forma alternativa para auxiliar o estabelecimento de prioridades para conservação a partir do seu papel, efetivo ou potencial, na paisagem. Foram identificados 5 tipos de fragmentos, pequenos (ilhotas isoladas, trampolins), médios (núcleos auxiliares e corredores) e grandes (núcleos principais), que podem ser usados para subsidiar estratégias de conservação. Utilizando informações sobre a estrutura da paisagem, hidrografia e legislação ambiental, propõe-se aqui uma estratégia de conservação para o complexo das bacias dos ribeirões Apertados-Três Bocas (CATB), ordenando atividades de restauração e conservação de fragmentos florestais, criação e expansão de unidades de conservação, além da proposição de formas de uso do solo compatíveis com o entorno de unidades de conservação. / Models dedicated to habitat conservation, management and restoration planning must include information both strategic, to ensure effectiveness, and of easy collection, to ensure agility. Plans and strategies for conservation usually are complex and demand detailed data, such as biological inventories and fine scale mapping, which limits work due to information availability, quality and cost. Hence, as a first approach, we tested the efficacy of a simple methods for selection, in local scale, of conservation sites in strongly fragmented landscapes, a common situation in southern Brazil, using LANDSAT data, common mapping data layers, and fieldwork. First, we analyzed landscape structure and fragmentation patterns in the northern portion of Paraná state, looking for the suitability of using size and shape of forest fragments for selection of most important sites for conservation, i.e. fragments that contribute to encompass large and of best quality forest areas, as well have higher positive impact on connectivity and overall landscape structure. Results show that mature forest cover near 3% of landscape area, with total forest cover reaching near 8%, mostly small fragments (82% between 1 and 10 ha). Large fragments (>100 ha) are only 1,4% of fragment number, but encompass 34% of forest area. In spite of suffering of edge effects in almost or all their area, small fragments showed an important role in landscape connectivity. In a larger area we did a pre-selection of suitable areas for establishing conservation networks. Such pre-selection were intended to answer the following questions: 1-What sites have higher biodiversity conservation potential? 2-What sites have higher threats to conservation goals? and 3-What sites have better opportunity to establish multiple-use conservation zones? A set of 11 fragments over 500 ha were selected, being part of 5 conservation sites, of varying degree of development pressure. Using simple landscape structure measures, such as size, shape and connectivity, we tried to identify structural types of habitat fragments, as an alternative way of fragment prioritizing. We identified 5 fragment types, small (stepping-stones and small isolated islands), mid-sized (auxiliary nuclei and corridors) and large (main nuclei), that can be used for landscape conservation strategies. Finally, using information about landscape structure, hidrography, human impacts and environmental legislation, we proposed a integrated conservation strategy for the Apertados-Três Bocas river basin complex (CATB), near Londrina city, encompassing ordination of restoration activities, establishment of new conservation units and expansion of existing ones, as well as proposing land uses compatible with conservation goals.