As várzeas do Alto Tietê e do Alto Paraíba do Sul, na Mata Atlântica do sudeste brasileiro, têm sido severamente exploradas e ocupadas por cidades, agricultura, e mineração nos últimos 500 anos. Endêmico destas áreas, o bicudinho-do-brejo-paulista (Formicivora paludicola) passou muito tempo desconhecido para a ciência, até sua descoberta em 2005, quando sua situação de ameaça parecia preocupante. Esta ave (Thamnophilidae) foi descoberta à beira da extinção, e nada se sabe sobre sua distribuição, história natural, estrutura populacional e seleção de habitat, o que gera perspectivas de conservação pessimistas e desacreditadas. Este trabalho traz uma investigação da distribuição da espécie e das áreas mais adequadas à sua sobrevivência usando modelos ecológicos de nicho, amostragens de campo e modelos de ocupação. Nossos resultados mostram que a espécie deve ser considerada Criticamente Ameaçada de acordo com os critérios da IUCN. A ocupação humana na região resultou em uma perda de mais de 300 km2 de habitat adequado à ocorrência de F. paludicola, que agora apresenta uma área de ocupação severamente fragmentada de 1,42 km2. Além disso, esta espécie apresenta capacidade de dispersão limitada, alta especificidade de habitat e disponibilidade de habitat restrita. Também apontamos que brejos com menor densidade de taboa (Typha dominguensis) apresentam maiores probabilidades de ocorrência de F. paludicola, e que essas áreas devem ser priorizadas em futuros esforços de conservação. Usando estimativas geradas por Kernel, nós ainda mostramos que a espécie apresenta pequena área de vida de apenas 0,55 ha, e ocorre em altas densidades nas áreas ocupadas remanescentes, apresentando tamanho populacional entre 383 e 985 indivíduos maduros. Por fim, usando \"Torus shift\", nós demonstramos que a espécie exótica invasora, lírio-do-brejo (Hedychium coronarium) é evitada por F. paludicola, e que a invasão biológica representa mais uma ameaça às populações existentes. A conservação desta espécie reside na criação de uma rede de unidades de conservação conectadas, com áreas naturais e restauradas. Por causa de sua estrutura populacional marcada pela alta densidade, a espécie pode prosperar em áreas alagadas adequadas protegidas da ocupação humana, contaminação dos corpos d\'água e plantas exóticas invasoras. Estes esforços poderiam ajudar não só esta ave extremamente ameaçada, mas também restaurar uma parte das áreas alagadas da Mata Atlântica no estado de São Paulo / Wetlands in Upper Tietê and Upper Paraíba do Sul basins, in southeastern Atlantic Forest, Brazil, have been severely transformed by urbanization, agriculture and mining in the last 500 years. Endemic to these areas, the São Paulo Marsh Antwren (Formicivora paludicola) persisted through this period unknown to science until its discovery in 2005, when its threatened situation became worrying. This bird (Thamnophilidae) was discovered on the verge of extinction, and virtually nothing is known about its natural history, population structure and habitat selection, which made conservation perspectives pessimist and discredited. We investigated both the species distribution and the distribution of its suitable areas using ecological niche modeling, fieldwork surveys and occupancy models. Our results show that the species should be considered \"Critically Endangered\" according to IUCN criteria. Human occupation has resulted in a loss of more than 300 km2 of suitable habitat, so that it now occupies a total and severely fragmented area of only 1.42 km2. Additionally, F. paludicola has limited dispersal ability, narrow habitat specificity, and restricted habitat availability. Furthermore, we showed that marshes with lower cattail (Typha dominguensis) densities have higher probabilities of being occupied. Thus, these areas should be prioritized in future conservation efforts. Using Kernel home range estimations, we show that the species has a small home range of about 0.55 ha, and occurs in high densities in those areas where it is still present, with a total population size between 383 and 985 mature birds. Furthermore, using a novel tool for animal habitat selection studies, the Torus Shift, we showed that the alien invasive ginger lily (Hedychium coronarium) is avoided by the species, and that this invasion represents a serious threat to the remaining populations. The successful conservation of F. plaudicola rests on the creation of a series of interconnected protected areas, with natural and restored wetlands. Given the high density of their population structure, this species could thrive in a relatively small area of suitable wetlands protected from human occupation, water contamination and invasive plants. Such efforts would also greatly contribute to the general conservation and restoration of Atlantic Forest wetlands

O trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar técnicas de disciplinamento do uso do solo urbano visando a preservação do meio ambiente. Inicialmente, é discutido o interrelacionamento entre a urbanização e o meio ambiente, mostrando como as características ambientais influem no processo de urbanização ou são alteradas pelo mesmo. Entre as alterações resultantes do desenvolvimento urbano é ressaltada a poluição ambiental em suas diversas modalidades: do solo, da água, do ar, acústica e visual. A seguir, são propostas técnicas de disciplinamento do uso e ocupação do solo urbano a serem aplicadas como medidas de controle preventivo destas modalidades de poluição. São recomenadadas medidas de preservação do meio ambiente na disposição de resíduos sólidos e líquidos, para controle da erosão, como proteção da qualidade de águas superficiais e subterrâneas, como controle da poluição do ar e acústica, ou como proteção dos recursos de valor paisagístico, ambiental e cultural. Finalmente, é apresentada uma metodologia de planejamento urbano visando a preservaçao do meio ambiente onde são discutidos os aspectos técnicos, legais, institucionais, econômicos e sociais do processo. O trabalho baseia-se em pesquisa bibliográfica e na observação de programas de disciplinamento do uso do solo de cidades brasileiras e americanas. / This work discusses land use control techniques for urban environment preservation. First, the relatiohship between urbanization and environment is discussed. It is showed how environmental characteristics affect urbanizatioh and how urbanization affects environment. Some kinds of environmental pollution, are discussed: solid wastes disposal problems, water pollution, air pollution, noise, and visual quality impacts. After, some land use control techniques are proposed for the preventive control of these kinds of pollution, related solid and liquid wastes disposal, erosion control , groundwater and surface water protection, air pollution and noise control, landscape, environmental and historic resources preservation. Finaly, it is proposed an urban planning model for environmental protection. Technical, legal, economic and social aspects of planning are discussed. This work is based on bibliographic research and observatlon of land use control programs of brazilian and american cities.

This research is related to the control of energy consumption and efficiency in building Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems and is primarily concerned with controlling the function of heating. The main goal of this thesis is to develop a control system that can achieve the following two main control functions: a) detection of unexpected indoor conditions that may result in unnecessary power consumption and b) energy efficiency control regarding optimal balancing of two parameters: the required energy consumption for heating, versus thermal comfort of the occupants. Methods of both orientations were developed in a multi-zone space composed of nine zones where each zone is equipped with a wireless node consisting of temperature and occupancy sensors while all the scattered nodes together form a wireless sensor network (WSN). The main methods of both control functions utilize the potential of the deterministic subspace identification (SID) predictive model which provides the predicted temperature of the zones. In the main method for detecting unexpected situations that can directly affect the thermal condition of the indoor space and cause energy consumption (abnormal situations), the predictive temperature from the SID model is compared with the real temperature and thus possible temperature deviations that indicate unexpected situations are detected. The method successfully detects two situations: the high infiltration gain due to unexpected cold air intake from the external surroundings through potential unforeseen openings (windows, exterior doors, opened ceilings etc) as well as the high heat gain due to onset of fire. With the support of the statistical algorithm for abrupt change detection, Cumulative Sum (CUSUM), the detection of temperature deviations is accomplished with accuracy in a very short time. The CUSUM algorithm is first evaluated at an initial approach to detect power diversions due to the above situations caused by the aforementioned exogenous factors. The predicted temperature of the zone from the SID model utilized appropriately also by the main method of the second control function for energy efficiency control. The time needed for the temperature of a zone to reach the thermal comfort zone threshold from a low initial value is measured by the predicted temperature evolution, and this measurement bases the logic of a control criterion for applying proactive heating to the unoccupied zones or not. Additional key points for the control criterion of the method is the occupation time of the zones as well as the remaining time of the occupants in the occupied zones. Two scenarios are examined: the first scenario with two adjacent zones where the one is occupied and the other is not, and the second scenario with a multi-zone space where the occupants are moving through the zones in a cascade mode. Gama and Pareto probability distributions modeled the occupation times of the two-zone scenario while exponential distribution modeled the cascade scenario as the least favorable case. The mobility of the occupants modeled with a semi-Markov process and the method provides satisfactory and reasonable results. At an initial approach the proactive heating of the zones is evaluated with specific algorithms that handle appropriately the occupation time into the zones.

This work has as a main objective to perform a Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Housing Nucleus of Saint Marta (COHAB - Santa Marta), after twenty eight years of its implantation, comprehending two approaches. The first one evaluated the level of satisfaction of the users through a detailed questionnaire that pointed positive and negative aspects, emphasizing the deficient quality of some components of the housing units that presented deterioration within a short period of existence. As a consequence, court processes were judged to the reparation of the insurance prizes in almost six hundred houses, from the total of eight hundred and seventy two. The second approach was the technical evaluation of the project and of the found pathologies. The conclusion points to a project with housing area and internal dimensions smaller than the necessity of the users, and to little pathologies resultant to the residents intervention. As a positive aspect, the adopted constructive system - hollow bricks masonry reinforced with concrete braces - resulted in constructive stability throughout the dwellings existence. It was also detected the evolution of the land division, which is being directed to the decharacterization of the initial aesthetics, with the execution of reforms and increases in constructions, according to the demand of the families and the real estate market dynamics. Was included suggestions to enlargement in units of two and three bedrooms, and to futures projects. / Este trabalho tem com objetivo principal fazer uma Avaliação Pós-Ocupação do Núcleo Habitacional Santa Marta (COHAB - Santa Marta), após vinte e oito anos de sua implantação, compreendendo dois enfoques. O primeiro, avaliou o nível de satisfação dos usuários através de um detalhado questionário que apontou pontos positivos e negativos, com ênfase para a qualidade deficiente de alguns componentes das unidades habitacionais que apresentaram deterioração com pouco tempo de existência. Como conseqüência, foram ajuizados processos judiciais para ressarcimentos dos prêmios dos seguros em quase seiscentas casas, do total de oitocentas e setenta e duas. O segundo enfoque foi a avaliação técnica do projeto e de patologias encontradas. A conclusão aponta para um projeto com área e dimensões internas das moradias aquém da necessidade dos usuários e poucas patologias resultantes, após a intervenção dos moradores. Como aspecto positivo, o sistema construtivo adotado alvenaria de tijolos vazados com reforço de cintas de concreto - resultou em estabilidade construtiva no decurso da existência das habitações. Também foi constatada a evolução do loteamento, que está se dirigindo para a descaracterização da estética inicial, com efetivação de reformas e aumentos nas edificações, de acordo com a demanda das famílias e com a dinâmica do mercado imobiliário. Ainda, foram incluídas sugestões para melhorias nas unidades de dois e três dormitórios e para futuros empreendimentos habitacionais similares.

As habitat loss and fragmentation are major causes of decline in animal species, studying habitat requirements in these species is a key component of their recovery. I investigated the relationship between landscape composition and habitat use of Blanding’s turtles, Emydoidea blandingii, a freshwater turtle threatened by habitat loss and road mortality on most of its Canadian range. In 2010, I conducted a radio-telemetry survey of 44 Blanding’s turtles in southern Québec, Canada, and modelled their home range size from land cover proportions measured at many spatial scales. I also used data from a visual survey conducted in 2008 and 2009 to model wetland occupancy of the species at the landscape scale. Home range size of the Blanding’s turtle was significantly correlated to landscape composition, and the proportions of agriculture, open water and anthropogenic lands had the strongest relationships with home range size. However, those relationships were weak and the models were unable to predict home range size accurately. At the landscape scale, land cover and road density poorly predicted probability of occurrence, and Blanding’s turtles occupied wetlands in both disturbed and natural sites. Management of the species should focus on protecting sites of occurrence with high wetland density, low road density, and sufficient suitable habitat to cover their seasonal movement patterns.

The geographic variation of taxonomic richness may be directly determined by climate through contemporaneous/ecological processes, versus other (e.g., historical/evolutionary processes) that happen to be collinear with contemporaneous climate. In Chapter 1 I evaluated hypotheses from both groups of explanations in North America. If contemporaneous climate controls patterns of richness, then richness should vary with climate through time in the same way that richness varies with current climate through space. Over the last ca. 11,000 yr, richness-temperature relationships remained reasonably constant. Between 12,000 and 14,000 yr BP, when climate fluctuated rapidly, richness gradients as a function of temperature were significantly shallower. If historical climate over the last 21,000 years determines patterns of richness, then historical climate should be a better predictor of richness than contemporaneous climate. I rejected historical-climate as a better predictor of richness. Contemporaneous climate stands as the most plausible explanation for contemporaneous patterns of richness, at least over the last 11,000 yr. In Chapter two, I tested the prediction that richness of most taxa should increase with temperature in all but the warmest and driest areas. Climate warming during Pleistocene-Holocene transition led richness increases in wet areas, but richness declines in dry regions, as expected from current richness-climate relationships. A decline in small mammal species richness in Northern California since the late Pleistocene was expected from the current richness-climate relationship for this group in North America. These results contest the view that future global warming may lead to species extinction rates that would qualify as the sixth mass extinction in the history of the earth. In chapter three, I first tested the hypothesis that richness gradients mainly reflect the sum of individual species climatic tolerances. I tested this hypothesis for birds, mammals and trees native to eastern North America (ENA, where there are no major barriers to dispersal). The number of species present in any given area in ENA is usually much smaller than the number of species in the continental pool that tolerate the climatic conditions in that area. Second, I tested several explanations for patterns of unfilled potential richness. Unfilled potential richness is inconsistent with postglacial dispersal lags, climatic variability since the Last Glacial Maximum, or with biotic interactions. In contrast, unfilled richness is highly consistent with a probabilistic model of species climate occupancy. Individual species climatic tolerances is not the process generating the main current patterns of richness, nor are post-glacial dispersal lags, climatic variability since the LGM or biotic interactions. This thesis is consistent with the hypothesis that contemporaneous climate directly controls spatial patterns of richness. Generally, there seems to be little need to invoke historical processes as determinants of current gradients of richness.

It is well established that acquiring large amounts of range data with vision sensors can quickly lead to important data management challenges where processing capabilities become saturated and pre-empt full usage of the information available for autonomous systems to make educated decisions. While sub-sampling offers a naïve solution for reducing dataset dimension after acquisition, it does not capitalize on the knowledge available in already acquired data to selectively and dynamically drive the acquisition process over the most significant regions in a scene, the latter being generally characterized by variations in depth and surface shape in the context of 3D imaging. This thesis discusses the development of two formal improvement measures, the first based upon surface meshes and Ordinary Kriging that focuses on improving scene accuracy, and the second based upon probabilistic occupancy grids that focuses on improving scene coverage. Furthermore, three selection processes to automatically choose which locations within the field of view of a range sensor to acquire next are proposed based upon the two formal improvement measures. The first two selection processes each use only one of the proposed improvement measures. The third selection process combines both improvement measures in order to counterbalance the parameters of the accuracy of knowledge about the scene and the coverage of the scene. The proposed algorithms mainly target applications using random access range sensors, defined as sensors that can acquire depth measurements at a specified location within their field of view. Additionally, the algorithms are applicable to the case of estimating the improvement and point selection from within a single point of view, with the purpose of guiding the random access sensor to locations it can acquire. However, the framework is developed to be independent of the range sensing technology used, and is validated with range data of several scenes acquired from many different sensors employing various sensing technologies and configurations. Furthermore, the experimental results of the proposed selection processes are compared against those produced by a random sampling process, as well as a neural gas selective sensing algorithm.

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, to examine mixed-use development outside of the downtown core as a means to increase the housing stock of Vancouver by determining why this form of development is occurring and to assess the habitability of the housing provided in these projects. Secondly, the survey methodology utilized in the study was designed to obtain information in an exploratory manner, to both assist in the future design and management of mixed-use projects, and to provide the basis for speculating on the potential role for mixed-use projects in commercial districts outside of the Central Business District. Chapter One outlines the scope of the study. Four objectives are established for the thesis: to determine why mixed-use projects are being developed; to derive a profile of mixed-use building residents; to evaluate the level of housing satisfaction expressed by these residents; and, to discuss the implications for commercial districts if mixed-use development was to be encouraged. Two hypotheses are presented to explain why this form of development is occurring: first, there is likely an excess of commercially zoned land relative to market demand for space above the ground floor; and second, a mixed-use building possibly offers investment diversification by combining two different uses in a single building. As well, the study sought to test hypotheses regarding mixed-use residential rent levels, building security and the type of residents attracted to this form of housing. The second chapter traces the practice of land use separation from its initial emphasis on segregating non-compatible activities through to the recent reassessment of strictly separating uses with the widening acceptance of permitting and encouraging mixed-use. Based on a review of land development trends and planning policies implemented in Vancouver, the study finds that while the inducement of a floorspace bonus offered in certain areas of the downtown core has met with limited success, mixed-use development has occurred for some time in many of the commercial districts outside of the CBD. The survey-questionnaire methodology utilized in the study is described in Chapter Three. Of the 144 mixed-use projects built in the study area between January 1, 1974 and June 1, 1983, 50 were randomly selected for the two-stage sampling procedure. Questionnaires were first distributed to the developer/owners of the sample group. With the permission of those owner respondents participating in the survey, a second questionnaire was then delivered to the residential occupants. Both questionnaires were pre-tested through a pilot survey. The survey-questionnaire methodology was found to be difficult and time-consuming, but the only means available to obtain the data necessary to address the research objectives of the study. The results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented in Chapter Four. The study hypotheses are re-examined in light of the research findings discussed in Chapter Five. The results of the developer/owner survey are found to validate the two hypotheses suggested to explain the occurrence of mixed-use development outside of the downtown. Developer/owner respondents reported few problems in either developing or managing a mixed-use building and stressed the importance of careful design, quality construction, and good management practices in ensuring the success of these projects. The resident survey indicated that combining residential with commercial uses appears to provide a satisfactory housing environment. Athough the residents surveyed indentified several problems with living in a mixed-use building (noise, inadequate security, lack of parking), the overall level of satisfaction reported was high and corresponds closely with the findings of other medium density housing evaluation studies. The resident survey group was found to be similar demographically to an apartment comparison sub-population, though the sample group contained proportionately fewer residents in the elderly age cohorts. The study found little support for the assumption that mixed-use building rents would be discounted due to location and combination of uses. The hypothesis that combined uses would enhance building security due to mutual surveillance was likewise rejected. In the concluding chapter the implications of the research findings are discussed. Conclusions drawing upon the results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented to assist in future mixed-use project design and development. It is suggested that mixed-use, in addition to being a viable form of development as demonstrated through the developer/owner survey, may offer several public benefits: the more intensive use of scarce urban land; a broadened choice of housing; and, increased market support and added diversity in existing commercial districts. The need to critically examine these various arguments in favour of mixed-use is emphasized. Lastly, the role of the public sector vis-a-vis mixed-use development is discussed and the need for further research is identified. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Species conservation initiatives play an important role in ecological studies. Occupancy models have been a useful tool for ecologists to make inference about species distribution and occurrence. Bayesian methodology is a popular framework used to model the relationship between species and environmental variables. In this dissertation we develop a Gibbs sampling method using a logit link function in order to model posterior parameters of the single-season spatial occupancy model. We incorporate the widely used Intrinsic Conditional Autoregressive (ICAR) prior model to specify the spatial random effect in our sampler. We also develop OccuSpytial, a statistical package implementing our Gibbs sampler in the Python programming language. The aim of this study is to highlight the computational efficiency that can be obtained by employing several techniques, which include exploiting the sparsity of the precision matrix of the ICAR model and also making use of Polya-Gamma latent variables to obtain closed form expressions for the posterior conditional distributions of the parameters of interest. An algorithm for efficiently sampling from the posterior conditional distribution of the spatial random effects parameter is also developed and presented. To illustrate the sampler's performance a number of simulation experiments are considered, and the results are compared to those obtained by using a Gibbs sampler incorporating Restricted Spatial Regression (RSR) to specify the spatial random effect. Furthermore, we fit our model to the Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) dataset obtained from the 2nd South African Bird Atlas Project database in order to obtain a distribution map of the species. We compare our results with those obtained from the RSR variant of our sampler, those obtained by using the stocc statistical package (written using the R programming language), and those obtained from not specifying any spatial information about the sites in the data. It was found that using RSR to specify spatial random effects is both statistically and computationally more efficient that specifying them using ICAR. The OccuSpytial implementations of both ICAR and RSR Gibbs samplers has significantly less runtime compared to other implementations it was compared to.

Orientador: Mauro Galetti / Resumo: As palmeiras são consideradas um recurso chave para os mamíferos terrestres tropicais. Entretanto, como as hiper-diversas guildas de frugívoros das florestas tropicais exploram recursos de palmeiras e coexistem, ainda é pouco compreendido. Neste trabalho, avaliamos como três espécies de mamíferos frugívoros terrestres, o queixada (Tayassu pecari), seu parente próximo, o cateto (Pecari tajacu) e a cutia (Dasyprocta azarae) interagem entre si e com os frutos de três espécies de palmeiras em uma floresta tropical da Mata Atlântica do Brasil. Utilizamos armadilhas fotográficas e modelos de ocupação para examinar as interações competitivas entre eles. Ao contrário de nossas expectativas, não encontramos evidências de exclusão competitiva entre esses frugívoros. Os queixadas exploraram principalmente as áreas de grande abundância da palmeira hiper-dominante Euterpe edulis, enquanto as cutias concentraram seu forrageamento em áreas com grande abundância de Syagrus oleracea e, em menor escala, Syagrus romamzoffiana. Os queixadas também responderam positivamente a Syagrus oleracea, mas apenas na ausência de cutias. Os catetos preferiram áreas de alta abundância de Syagrus romamzoffiana onde as outras duas espécies apresentaram baixa detecção ou estavam ausentes. Estes resultados sugerem que, apesar de ocuparem habitats semelhantes, estarem ativos durante as mesmas horas e compartilharem recursos de palmeiras semelhantes, as estratégias comportamentais dessas espécies permitem que elas... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Palm fruits are considered a key resource for tropical terrestrial forest-dwelling mammals. Yet, how hyper-diverse assemblies of frugivores in tropical forests exploit palm resources and coexist despite high diet overlap remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate how three species of terrestrial frugivorous mammals, the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), their close relative the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) and the agouti (Dasyprocta azarae), interact with each other, and with the fruits of three palm species in a tropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil. We used cameras-traps and occupancy models to examine competitive interactions amongst them. Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence of competitive exclusion amongst these frugivores. White-lipped peccaries primarily exploited areas of large abundance of the hyper-dominant palm Euterpe edulis, whilst agoutis concentrated their foraging on areas with large abundances of Syagrus oleracea and, to a lesser extent, Syagrus romamzoffiana. White-lipped peccaries also responded positively to Syagrus oleracea, but only when agoutis were absent. Collared peccaries preferred areas of high abundance of Syagrus romamzoffiana where the other two species showed low detection or were absent. These results suggest that despite occupying similar habitats, being active during the same hours and sharing similar palm resources in an isolated forest fragment, behavioural strategies of these species allow them to coexist. / Mestre