Dissertationen zum Thema „Urban background“

This project develops an approach towards the arrangement and design of the primary elements - public facilities and spaces - that necessarily complement the provision of subsidised housing in South Africa. The historical response to the housing shortage in South Africa has been the provision of a remarkable number of individual housing units, but with insufficient funds and attention given to the urban infrastructure, public spaces and facilities that go hand in hand with housing in livable urban environments. This project considers a subsidy housing project where the social facilities are considered upfront, and are seen as an opportunity to create interesting, people-centred places in the development - this thesis is the search for an architecture which forms the backdrop, and framework for growth, for collective urban life. This paper is structured around six sections: thinking, siting, urban design, programming, making and designing. These sections explore, respectively, the theoretical proposal with regards to social facilities and public spaces, the strategic siting of an area of subsidised housing and its associated primary elements, an urban design proposal for the whole development, the programming of the whole site and the individual cluster of facilities that I consider in more detail, the spatial and technological realisation of the public fronts of three case study buildings, and finally the exploration and manifestation of these ideas through a design. My project is being done in conjunction with another student, Rob Richardson, who is looking at creative housing within the limit of the government subsidy. Together we make a proposal for an overall living environment which takes the form of an acupunctural insertion of subsidised housing and the associated primary elements into an area of Wynburg, Cape Town.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the relationship between educational attitudes and certain background features of Native Americans, in particular, where they were raised and what type of school they attended. The sample used consisted of 120 completed mail out-mail back surveys that were used primarily as a Needs Assessment for the Portland Indian Health clinic. The sample was randomly selected from the Portland Indian Health Clinic client/patient mailing list. The findings of this thesis indicate that the attitudes of Native Americans toward education in general are positive. The findings also indicate that older Native Americans who experienced being sent to a B.I.A. boarding school off the reservation have the least positive attitudes towards Indian Education programs. Implications and recommendation for further research are discussed.

The aim of this project report is to investigate and identify the needs of the historic area (focus area) in the City of Milpitas, to positively contribute to the City’s planning process, and to make recommendations for the focus area’s future development. In the first chapters, City and focus area research results are presented. Currently, there is a lack of exclusive regulatory standards for attractive development in the City’s historic core. The project report then discusses the results of a short empirical everyday user survey, a parcel-by-parcel land use survey, and a walkability analysis. Research results indicate that the focus area could benefit from historic identity preservation, additional public open space and recreation, and economic development. The project report then identifies three case studies and analyzes each under an urban design framework regarding walkability and gateway development. Here, the project report draws on a number of sources regarding positive place making and urban design to highlight the focus area’s opportunities and constraints. In conclusion, the project report argues that the City’s location in the Bay Area and proximity to Silicon Valley requires accommodation and competition for development while coordinating current focus area development to contribute to an overall well-designed site plan with a focus on walkability and an attractive gateway image. Recommendations are provided in the form of design guidelines.

Epidemiological evidence has shown that increased levels of respirable particulate air pollution leads to adverse cardiorespiratory health effects although the exact mechanism of damage is unknown. In the UK the largest single source of respirable air particulates is road transport. Currently the background levels of respirable air particulates are measured by stationary monitoring stations. However, traffic volumes often vary considerably within a city and hotspots of densely trafficked areas may give rise to microenvironments with increased respirable particulate levels. The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate whether a high density of local motor traffic would give rise to microenvironments with increased levels of respirable air particulates. A selection of streets in Cardiff city were allocated into exposed and control group according to traffic volumes. Levels of respirable air particulates were measured for each residential location both indoor and outdoor, and individual residents provided blood, urine, and hair samples for the analysis of trace elements, which may serve as biomarkers of exposure to air particulates from motor vehicles. Results showed that for both indoor and outdoor respirable air particulate concentrations, the levels were found to be higher in exposed areas than controls, and there was a moderately high correlation between indoor and outdoor concentrations. However, the study failed to demonstrate any differential uptake of trace elements as reflected by the lack of differences in the levels of biomarkers in the biological samples of subjects residing in different exposure areas. A separate study was carried out to investigate whether short-term changes in respirable air particulate levels would lead to acute exacerbation of disease symptoms in individuals with asthma, chronic respiratory diseases excluding asthma, and chronic cardiac diseases. Subjects were recruited through specialist hospital outpatient clinics located in South Wales and disease specific questionnaires were sent out during different episodes of respirable particulate air pollution. Results showed that symptoms of most subjects were not affected by short-term changes in air particulate levels, although individuals with more severe asthma and cardiac disease appeared to have benefited relatively more from lower levels of respirable air particulates than those with less severe disease symptoms as well as those suffering from chronic respiratory disease.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited
This study evaluated the sensitivity of TAWS detection range calculations to the spatial resolution of scenario backgrounds. Sixteen independent sites were analyzed to determine TAWS background. Multispectral satellite data were processed to different spatial resolutions from 1m to 8km. The resultant imagery was further processed to determine TAWS background type. The TAWS background type was refined to include soil moisture characteristics. Soil moisture analyses were obtained using in situ measurements, the Air Force's Agricultural-Meteorological (AGRMET) model and the Army's Fast All-seasons Soil Strength (FASST) model. The analyzed imagery was compared to the current default 1o latitude by 1o of longitude database in TAWS. The use of the current default TAWS background database was shown to result in TAWS ranges differing from the 1m standard range by 18-23%. The uncertainty was reduced to 5% when background resolution was improved to 8km in rural areas. By contrast, in urban regions the uncertainty was reduced to 14% when spatial resolution was reduced to 30m. These results suggest that the rural and urban designations are important to the definition of a background database.
First Lieutenant, United States Air Force

Les Composés organiques volatils (COV) dont les hydrocarbures non méthaniques (HCNM) ont un rôle clé dans la chimie atmosphérique en tant que précurseurs de polluants secondaires tels que l’ozone (O3) et les aérosols organiques secondaires (AOS). Pourtant, les connaissances sur les émissions des HCNM restent insuffisantes provoquant de fortes incertitudes associées aux inventaires d’émissions et par conséquent sur les modèles de chimie-transport (CTM), essentiels pour la mise en place de politique de qualité de l’air efficace. Ce manque d’information est d’autant plus critique sur le bassin Méditerranéen, région particulièrement marquée par la pollution atmosphérique et le changement climatique. Dans le but d’apporter des connaissances nouvelles sur les sources et déterminants des COV sur cette région, une campagne d’observation de 18 mois a été menée de mars 2019 à août 2020 à Marseille. Elle a permis l’obtention d’une base de données unique de 70 composés hydrocarbonés pour l’étude de l’évolution de la composition en HCNM de l’atmosphère de Marseille. L’analyse des observations à l’aide du modèle source-récepteur PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization) a permis de déterminer huit sources majeures pour les composés mesurés. Le trafic routier est le premier émetteur de ces composés à Marseille pour toutes les saisons contribuant à 40 % des concentrations alors que le chauffage domestique contribue à 20 % en hiver. Une baisse marquée des émissions en HCNM dues au trafic routier a été constatée au printemps 2020 associée au confinement pour la crise sanitaire du COVID-19. Une source industrielle a été identifiée comme fortement émettrice de xylènes, espèces à fort impact potentiel sur la formation d’AOS. Enfin, les inventaires d’émissions à différentes échelles ont été comparés entre eux et avec l’évaluation issue des observations pour la zone d’étude. Il apparaît une forte variabilité sur les émissions en COV totaux mais une très bonne concordance pour les émissions en COV du trafic routier. Cette comparaison a montré que la spéciation chimique des sources d’émissions en COV est significativement plus élevée pour les inventaires dans le cas des HCNM issues de combustion (alcènes et aromatiques) ce qui est possiblement dû à une surestimation du chauffage résidentiel suivant les saisons. En outre, l’étude a montré une différence de composition chimique pour le trafic routier entre l’inventaire d’émission local et les observations
Volatil Organic Compounds (VOC) are key species because of their role as precursors of secondary pollutants such as ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). However, the knowledge on VOC emissions remains insufficient, leading to high uncertainties on emission inventories and consequently on chemistry-transport models (CTM) which are crucial for the successful implementation of efficient air quality policies. This lack of information is all the more critical in the Mediterranean basin since this region is particularly affected by air pollution and climate change. In order to provide new knowledge on the sources and factors controlling VOC in this region, an 18-months field campaign took place from March 2019 to August 2020 in Marseille. It allowed to obtain a unique database of 70 non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) compounds for the study of the evolution of the VOC composition of the atmosphere of Marseille. The analysis of observations using the source-receptor model PMF (Positive Matrix Factorization), allowed to determine eight major NMHC emission sources for the measured compounds. Road traffic is the main emitter of these compounds in Marseille in all the seasons contributing to 40% of concentrations whereas residential heating contributes to 20% in winter. A sharp decrease of the NMHC emissions due to road traffic has been observed in Spring 2020 associated to the lockdown due to the sanitary crisis of Covid-19. An industrial source has been identified as high emitter of xylenes, species with a high potential on SOA formation. Global, regional and local emission inventories were compared to each other with the observations in the Marseille area. A high variability on the total VOC emissions but a very good agreement on the VOC emissions from road traffic. This comparison showed the chemical speciation of VOC emission sources is significantly higher for the inventories in the case of HCNM emitted by combustion (alkenes and aromatics) possibly due to an overestimation of residential heating. In addition, the study showed a difference in chemical composition for road traffic between the local emission inventory and observations

Suite à un état de l'art détaillant la création et l'utilisation de l'espace sonore dans divers environnements urbains virtuels (soundmaps, jeux vidéo, réalité augmentée), il s'agira de déterminer une méthodologie et des techniques de conception pour les espaces sonores urbains virtuels du point de vue de l'immersion, de l'interface et de la dramaturgie.ces développements se feront dans le cadre du projet terra dynamica, tendant vers une utilisation plurielle de la ville virtuelle (sécurité et sureté, transports de surface, aménagement de l'urbanisme, services de proximité et citoyens, jeux). le principal objectif du doctorat sera de déterminer des réponses informatiques concrètes à la problématique suivante : comment, en fonction de leur utilisation anticipée, les espaces sonores urbains virtuels doivent-ils être structurés et avec quels contenus?la formalisation informatique des solutions étayées au fil du doctorat et la création du contenu sonore illustrant le projet seront basés sur l'analyse de données scientifiques provenant de domaines variés tels que la psychologie de la perception, l'architecture et l'urbanisme, l'acoustique, la recherche esthétique (musicale) ainsi que sur l'observation et le recueil de données audio-visuelles du territoire urbain, de manière à rendre compte tant de la richesse du concept d'espace sonore que de la multiplicité de ses déclinaisons dans le cadre de la ville virtuelle
In video gaming and interactive media, the making of complex sound ambiences relies heavily on the allowed memory and computational resources. So a compromise solution is necessary regarding the choice of audio material and its treatment in order to reach immersive and credible real-time ambiences. Alternatively, the use of procedural audio techniques, i.e. the generation of audio content relatively to the data provided by the virtual scene, has increased in recent years. Procedural methodologies seem appropriate to sonify complex environments such as virtual cities.In this thesis we specifically focus on the creation of interactive urban sound ambiences. Our analysis of these ambiences is based on the Soundscape theory and on a state of art on game oriented urban interactive applications. We infer that the virtual urban soundscape is made of several perceptive auditory grounds including a background. As a first contribution we define the morphological and narrative properties of such a background. We then consider the urban background sound as a texture and propose, as a second contribution, to pinpoint, specify and prototype a granular synthesis tool dedicated to interactive urban sound backgrounds.The synthesizer prototype is created using the visual programming language Pure Data. On the basis of our state of the art, we include an urban ambiences recording methodology to feed the granular synthesis. Finally, two validation steps regarding the prototype are described: the integration to the virtual city simulation Terra Dynamica on the one side and a perceptive listening comparison test on the other

Suite à un état de l'art détaillant la création et l'utilisation de l'espace sonore dans divers environnements urbains virtuels (soundmaps, jeux vidéo, réalité augmentée), il s'agira de déterminer une méthodologie et des techniques de conception pour les espaces sonores urbains virtuels du point de vue de l'immersion, de l'interface et de la dramaturgie.ces développements se feront dans le cadre du projet terra dynamica, tendant vers une utilisation plurielle de la ville virtuelle (sécurité et sureté, transports de surface, aménagement de l'urbanisme, services de proximité et citoyens, jeux). le principal objectif du doctorat sera de déterminer des réponses informatiques concrètes à la problématique suivante : comment, en fonction de leur utilisation anticipée, les espaces sonores urbains virtuels doivent-ils être structurés et avec quels contenus?la formalisation informatique des solutions étayées au fil du doctorat et la création du contenu sonore illustrant le projet seront basés sur l'analyse de données scientifiques provenant de domaines variés tels que la psychologie de la perception, l'architecture et l'urbanisme, l'acoustique, la recherche esthétique (musicale) ainsi que sur l'observation et le recueil de données audio-visuelles du territoire urbain, de manière à rendre compte tant de la richesse du concept d'espace sonore que de la multiplicité de ses déclinaisons dans le cadre de la ville virtuelle
In video gaming and interactive media, the making of complex sound ambiences relies heavily on the allowed memory and computational resources. So a compromise solution is necessary regarding the choice of audio material and its treatment in order to reach immersive and credible real-time ambiences. Alternatively, the use of procedural audio techniques, i.e. the generation of audio content relatively to the data provided by the virtual scene, has increased in recent years. Procedural methodologies seem appropriate to sonify complex environments such as virtual cities.In this thesis we specifically focus on the creation of interactive urban sound ambiences. Our analysis of these ambiences is based on the Soundscape theory and on a state of art on game oriented urban interactive applications. We infer that the virtual urban soundscape is made of several perceptive auditory grounds including a background. As a first contribution we define the morphological and narrative properties of such a background. We then consider the urban background sound as a texture and propose, as a second contribution, to pinpoint, specify and prototype a granular synthesis tool dedicated to interactive urban sound backgrounds.The synthesizer prototype is created using the visual programming language Pure Data. On the basis of our state of the art, we include an urban ambiences recording methodology to feed the granular synthesis. Finally, two validation steps regarding the prototype are described: the integration to the virtual city simulation Terra Dynamica on the one side and a perceptive listening comparison test on the other

Les grands réaménagements urbains génèrent d’importants volumes de terres excavées, dont la valorisation est désormais possible si elles sont compatibles avec le fond pédo-géochimique du site receveur. Afin de faciliter cette valorisation, cette thèse s’intéresse à des méthodologies de traitement de données acquises à d'autres fins que la détermination du fond pédo-géochimique, afin de fournir un référentiel de qualité géochimique des sols urbains à l'échelle d'un quartier ou d'une ville. Les premiers tests montrent les limites des calculs statistiques, usuellement utilisés avec des données dédiées au fond pédo-géochimique du fait de leur sensibilité à la limite de quantification, à la loi de distribution ou encore au pourcentage d'anomalie. Le découpage du territoire en entités géographiques cohérentes à partir de la nature des sols et sous-sols et des pressions anthropiques (actuelles ou passées) permet la constitution de différents niveaux de fond suivant la qualité géochimique des sols, mais une des difficultés concerne le renseignement de l'ensemble des entités. La classification statistique des échantillons, même spatialisée, n'apporte, actuellement pas de résultats exploitables pour la gestion des terres excavées. Enfin, le filtrage géostatistique via un modèle linéaire de corégionalisation présente une alternative solide pour le filtrage des anomalies et l'estimation du fond à l'échelle d'un quartier
Large urban redevelopments generate large volumes of excavated soils whose reusability is now possible if they are compatible with the pedo-geochemical background of the receiving site. In order to facilitate this valorization, this thesis focuses on processing methodologies on data acquired for other purposes than the determination of the pedo-geochemical background, in order to provide a geochemical quality reference system for urban soils at the scale of one neighborhood or city. The first tests show the limits of the statistical stresholds, usually used with data dedicated to the pedo-geochemical background because of their sensitivity to the limit of quantification, to the distribution law or to the percentage of anomaly. The segmentation of the territory into coherent geographical entities based on the nature of the soil and subsoil and the anthropogenic pressures (current or past) allows the constitution of different geochemical background levels according to the geochemical quality of the soils, but one of the difficulties concerns the information of all entities. The statistical classification of the samples, even if spatialized, does not currently provide usable results for the management of the excavated earth. Lastly, geostatistical filtering via a linear model of coregionalisation provides a solid alternative for anomaly filtering and background estimation at a neighborhood scale

Les grands réaménagements urbains génèrent d’importants volumes de terres excavées, dont la valorisation est désormais possible si elles sont compatibles avec le fond pédo-géochimique du site receveur. Afin de faciliter cette valorisation, cette thèse s’intéresse à des méthodologies de traitement de données acquises à d'autres fins que la détermination du fond pédo-géochimique, afin de fournir un référentiel de qualité géochimique des sols urbains à l'échelle d'un quartier ou d'une ville. Les premiers tests montrent les limites des calculs statistiques, usuellement utilisés avec des données dédiées au fond pédo-géochimique du fait de leur sensibilité à la limite de quantification, à la loi de distribution ou encore au pourcentage d'anomalie. Le découpage du territoire en entités géographiques cohérentes à partir de la nature des sols et sous-sols et des pressions anthropiques (actuelles ou passées) permet la constitution de différents niveaux de fond suivant la qualité géochimique des sols, mais une des difficultés concerne le renseignement de l'ensemble des entités. La classification statistique des échantillons, même spatialisée, n'apporte, actuellement pas de résultats exploitables pour la gestion des terres excavées. Enfin, le filtrage géostatistique via un modèle linéaire de corégionalisation présente une alternative solide pour le filtrage des anomalies et l'estimation du fond à l'échelle d'un quartier
Large urban redevelopments generate large volumes of excavated soils whose reusability is now possible if they are compatible with the pedo-geochemical background of the receiving site. In order to facilitate this valorization, this thesis focuses on processing methodologies on data acquired for other purposes than the determination of the pedo-geochemical background, in order to provide a geochemical quality reference system for urban soils at the scale of one neighborhood or city. The first tests show the limits of the statistical stresholds, usually used with data dedicated to the pedo-geochemical background because of their sensitivity to the limit of quantification, to the distribution law or to the percentage of anomaly. The segmentation of the territory into coherent geographical entities based on the nature of the soil and subsoil and the anthropogenic pressures (current or past) allows the constitution of different geochemical background levels according to the geochemical quality of the soils, but one of the difficulties concerns the information of all entities. The statistical classification of the samples, even if spatialized, does not currently provide usable results for the management of the excavated earth. Lastly, geostatistical filtering via a linear model of coregionalisation provides a solid alternative for anomaly filtering and background estimation at a neighborhood scale

El estudio de los niveles y composición del material particulado atmosférico (PM) medido simultáneamente en diferentes ambientes a escala regional se llevó a cabo en la cuenca del Mediterráneo Occidental con el fin de entender las fuentes y patrones de transformación y transporte de aerosoles en esta zona. Para esto, la medida de niveles y caracterización química de PM10, PM2.5 y PM1 se llevó a cabo en tres estaciones de monitoreo: Montsec (MSC, fondo continental, 1570 msnm), Montseny (MSY, fondo regional, 720 msnm) y Barcelona (BCN, fondo urbano, 68 msnm). Además, se midieron niveles de número de partículas (N) y carbono negro (BC) en BCN.
Durante el invierno, la frecuente estabilidad atmosférica induce el estancamiento de masas de aire produciendo importantes episodios de contaminación en BCN. Sin embargo, MSY y, más frecuentemente MSC, quedan aislados de la contaminación regional. En determinados escenarios, el desarrollo de la capa límite y las brisas resultan en el transporte de masas de aire contaminadas a zonas rurales, aumentando notablemente los niveles de PM en función de la altitud y la distancia a las zonas fuente.
Durante el verano, la circulación de brisas favorece la dispersión, mezcla y envejecimiento de contaminantes a escala regional y la reducción de las diferencias entre BCN, MSY y MSC. Se midieron niveles similares de algunos componentes (materia orgánica, sulfato) a escala regional. Los niveles de materia mineral aumentan en verano por una resuspensión favorecida y una mayor frecuencia de intrusiones africanas, más significativamente en el MSC, dado su impacto en altura.
La mayor contribución al PM10 en BCN se debe principalmente al tráfico (50% del PM10), resultante de las emisiones del tráfico primarias, nitrato y aerosoles secundarios envejecidos. La materia mineral se origina por resuspensión del polvo de carretera por vehículos pero también resuspensión por viento y obras. La contribución regional en BCN (25%) es principalmente materia mineral, nitrato y sulfato amónico.
La variabilidad horaria de los diferentes parámetros de medida de aerosoles en BCN (N, BC, PM10, PM2.5 y PM1) está muy marcada por emisiones de tráfico y meteorología (especialmente brisas). Sin embargo, algunos parámetros no se rigen solamente por emisiones directas del tráfico, como PM2.5-10 (resuspensión) y N (emisiones de partículas ultrafinas y procesos de nucleación fotoquímica).
La influencia de las emisiones del tráfico en los niveles de partículas finas en BCN se refleja en los niveles anuales de PM1, que aumentan de 2003 a 2007 relacionados con un aumento progresivo del tráfico y la flota diesel en BCN. Sin embargo se observó una tendencia decreciente en las fracciones gruesas en BCN y MSY, que se atribuye a la meteorología y a cambios en emisiones industriales.
El estudio simultáneo de diferentes parámetros ha mostrado que el control de PM1 (modos de nucleación y acumulación) y/o BC (procesos de combustión), y PM10, (combustión y aerosoles generados mecánicamente) puede ser una estrategia mejor que la combinación de PM2.5 y PM10 como estándares de medida de calidad del aire.
La medida en paralelo de aerosoles en fondos urbano, regional y continental ha sido una estrategia útil para entender la fenomenología de aerosoles en la cuenca del Mediterráneo Occidental. Las emisiones urbanas e industriales tienen un impacto considerable en los niveles y composición de PM en zonas rurales situadas a diferentes alturas, tanto en verano, con una importante recirculación y mezcla de masas de aire a escala regional, como en invierno, con transporte de contaminantes activado por brisas. El gran impacto de la contaminación urbana a escala regional demuestra la importancia de aplicar estrategias de reducción de emisiones de tráfico urbano, a fin de mejorar la calidad del aire no sólo a nivel local, sino también a escala regional.
A detailed study of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) levels and composition measured simultaneously in different environments at a regional scale was performed in the Western Mediterranean Basin in order to understand the sources, transformation and transport of tropospheric aerosols in this area. In this direction, the monitoring of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 levels and chemical characterization was carried out at three monitoring stations: Montsec (MSC, continental background, 1570 m.a.s.l.), Montseny (MSY, regional background, 720 m.a.s.l.) and Barcelona (BCN, urban background, 68 m.a.s.l.). In addition, number concentration (N) and black carbon (BC) levels were monitored at BCN.
During winter, the frequent anticyclonic atmospheric stability induces the stagnation of air masses that produce important pollution episodes at BCN. However, atmospheric decoupling leaves MSY and, more frequently MSC, isolated from regional pollution during several days. In specific scenarios, the growth of the boundary layer and development of mountain breezes, activated by solar radiation, result in the transport of polluted air masses accumulated in the valley to the rural sites, increasing markedly PM levels at a different rate depending on the altitude and distance to the source areas.
During summer, intense breeze circulations and atmospheric mixing favour the dispersion, recirculation and ageing of pollutants at a regional scale, reducing the differences between the urban and the rural sites. Similar levels of some components (organic matter or sulphate) were measured at a regional scale. Mineral matter levels increase during the summer, because of a favoured dust resuspension and higher frequency of African dust outbreaks, more significantly at MSC given the impact of African dust at higher altitudes.
The major contribution to PM10 in BCN was mainly related to road traffic (50% of PM10), resulting from primary traffic emissions, secondary nitrate and aged secondary aerosols. Anthropogenic dust may originate from road dust resuspension by vehicles, but also wind resuspension and construction/demolition works. The regional contribution at the urban site (25%) was mainly mineral dust, ammonium sulphate and nitrate.
The hourly variability of aerosol measurement parameters (N, BC, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1) at BCN is very influenced by road traffic emissions and meteorology (especially breezes). However, some parameters are not only governed by traffic exhaust emissions, as PM2.5-10 (dust resuspension processes) and N (direct ultrafine particle emissions but also photochemical nucleation processes).
The influence of road traffic emissions on the levels of fine PM at BCN is reflected in PM1 mean annual levels, showing an increasing trend from 2003 to 2007 and correlation with the progressive rise in road traffic flow and diesel fleet in BCN. However a decreasing trend was observed for the coarser fractions at BCN and MSY, attributed to meteorology and changes in industrial emissions.
The simultaneous study of different parameters showed that the monitoring of PM1 (nucleation and accumulation modes) and/or BC (combustion processes), and PM10 (combustion and mechanically-generated aerosols) may be a better strategy than the combination of PM2.5 and PM10 measurements as air quality standards.
The parallel monitoring of aerosols at urban, regional and continental backgrounds was a useful strategy in order to understand the phenomenology of aerosols in the WMB. Urban and industrial emissions have a considerable impact in PM levels and composition in rural areas at different altitudes, both in summer, with important atmospheric recirculation and mixing of air masses at a regional scale, and winter, with breeze-activated transport of stagnated urban pollutants. The high contribution of urban emissions and the transport of air masses at a regional scale demonstrate the importance of applying emission abatement strategies for urban road traffic, in order to improve air quality not only at a local, but also at a regional scale.

Doutoramento em Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente
During the last decades a significant number of studies was performed about the cycling of carbonaceous matter in the atmosphere. Despite the efforts of the scientific community, a full understanding about the composition and formation of carbonaceous aerosol in ambient air was not yet achieved, reflecting the great variety of emitting sources and the complexity of transformation processes in the atmosphere. In addition, very little is known about a specific type of carbonaceous aerosol: the indoor carbonaceous aerosol. Removal of particulate carbonaceous matter from the atmosphere is another component of the carbon cycle that has received poor attention from researchers. The main aim of this work was to contribute to a better understanding of the sources, transformation processes and removal of atmospheric carbonaceous matter. Particulate matter, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were measured simultaneously in the indoor and outdoor air of residences located in urban and sub-urban areas of northwestern Mainland Portugal. Average indoor to outdoor ratios (I/O) for OC were higher than 1 in occupied residences, showing that indoor sources, such as cooking, smoking, biomass burning and movement of people, strongly influenced indoor OC concentrations. In contrast, I/O ratios for EC were close to 1, except for a smokers’ residence, suggesting that indoor concentrations were mainly controlled by outdoor sources, most likely from vehicular emissions and biomass burning. Aerosol composition was also evaluated during one year in a kerbside site located in a busy road of Oporto. Road traffic, local dust and biomass burning were found to be the most important sources of aerosol particles. Most of the aerosol constituents exhibited well-defined temporal variations, which were related with the seasonal variability of source strengths, atmospheric processes and climatic conditions. In addition, precipitation samples were collected and characterized for chemical constituents at a background site in the Azores Islands and an urban site in the city of Oporto. Transport from continental areas bordering the North Atlantic Ocean were the main source of EC in the Azores. Both local emissions and long-range transport explained the levels of water soluble organic carbon found in the same samples. Concentrations of carbonaceous matter in Oporto were considerably higher than those measured before in other background areas in Portugal, indicating a significant atmospheric contamination by anthropogenic activities.
Nas últimas décadas foram desenvolvidos vários estudos sobre a circulação atmosférica da matéria carbonácea. Contudo, apesar dos esforços da comunidade científica, não se conseguiu ainda compreender detalhadamente a composição e a formação do aerossol carbonáceo no ar ambiente, o que reflete a grande variedade de fontes emissoras e a complexidade dos processos de transformação que ocorrem na atmosfera. Acresce ainda que se sabe muito pouco sobre um caso particular do aerossol de carbono: as partículas carbonáceas em suspensão no ar interior. Outra componente do ciclo do carbono que tem merecido pouca atenção da comunidade científica é a remoção das partículas carbonáceas da atmosfera. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal contribuir para um melhor conhecimento sobre as fontes, processos de transformação e remoção da matéria carbonácea presente na atmosfera. As concentrações de matéria particulada, carbono orgânico (CO) e carbono elementar (CE) foram medidas simultaneamente no ar interior e exterior de residências localizadas em áreas urbanas e sub-urbanas da região nordeste de Portugal Continental. Os valores médios da razão entre as concentrações no ar interior e exterior (I/E) para o CO foram superiores a 1 para as residências com ocupantes, mostrando que as fontes interiores, como a confeção de alimentos, a queima de biomassa e o movimento de pessoas, influenciaram fortemente os teores de CO. Pelo contrário, obtiveram-se valores médios próximos de 1 para a razão I/E do CE, excluindo uma residência de fumadores, sugerindo que as concentrações deste componente eram controladas por fontes externas, muito provavelmente o tráfego automóvel e a queima de biomassa. A composição do aerossol foi também avaliada durante um ano num local confinante com uma estrada de tráfego intenso na cidade do Porto. Verificou-se que as principais fontes emissoras de partículas eram o tráfego automóvel, as poeiras do solo e a queima de biomassa. Muitos dos constituintes do aerossol mostraram variações temporais bem marcadas, as quais foram relacionadas com a variabilidade sazonal das fontes emissoras, dos processos atmosféricos e das condições climáticas. Procedeu-se ainda à recolha de amostras de precipitação e posterior caracterização química num local de fundo do arquipélago dos Açores e num local urbano da cidade do Porto. A principal fonte do CE nos Açores é o transporte a longas distâncias a partir das áreas continentais que envolvem o Atlântico Norte. Os teores de carbono orgânico insolúvel tiveram origem tanto em emissões locais como no transporte a longas distâncias. As concentrações de matéria carbonácea no Porto mostraram-se substancialmente superiores às que tinham sido medidas em áreas remotas de Portugal, indicando uma contaminação significativa por atividades antropogénicas.

The topic of my master´s thesis was to create an architectural study of the Fakulty of Fine Arts in Brno - city part Veveří. The site lies near the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University and it´s bordered by streets Šumavská, Veveří, Bulínova and Akademická. The project ties together the architectural study from subject TG02 witch solved the second part of the programme "Academic Square" and it was a construction of the fakulty of Forensic Engineering and the background for both faculties. So the solution is a compex architectural study which sorts the urban and also the architectural aspects of both faculties and their background. The main idea of the urban concept is to také up the surrounding bulit-up-area which is typical for this part of Brno. The philosophy of the architectural solution comes from the concept of the traditional British universities. So the solution are two objects of the faculties with plane shape od the letter U which clutches the volume of the common background between each other.

This thesis aims at proposing vehicle license plate detection and recognition algorithms, suitable for vehicle re-identification. Simple urban traffic analysis system is also proposed. Multiple stages of this system was developed and tested. Specifically - vehicle detection, license plate detection and recognition. Vehicle detection is based on background substraction method, which results in an average hit rate of ~92%. License plate detection is done by cascade classifiers and achieves an average hit rate of 81.92% and precision rate of 94.42%. License plate recognition based on Template matching results in an average precission rate of 60.55%. Therefore the new license plate recognition method based on license plate scanning using the sliding window principle and neural network recognition was introduced. Neural network achieves a precision rate of 64.47% for five input features. Low precision rate of neural network is caused by small amount of training sample for some specific license plate characters.

Nano-particle aerosols are one of the major types of air pollutants in the urban indoor and outdoor environments. Therefore, determination of mechanisms of formation, dispersion, evolution, and transformation of combustion aerosols near the major source of this type of air pollution - busy roads and road networks - is one of the most essential and urgent goals. This Thesis addresses this particular direction of research by filling in gaps in the existing physical understanding of aerosol behaviour and evolution. The applicability of the Gaussian plume model to combustion aerosols near busy roads is discussed and used for the numerical analysis of aerosol dispersion. New methods of determination of emission factors from the average fleet on a road and from different types of vehicles are developed. Strong and fast evolution processes in combustion aerosols near busy roads are discovered experimentally, interpreted, modelled, and statistically analysed. A new major mechanism of aerosol evolution based on the intensive thermal fragmentation of nano-particles is proposed, discussed and modelled. A comprehensive interpretation of mutual transformations of particle modes, a strong maximum of the total number concentration at an optimal distance from the road, increase of the proportion of small nano-particles far from the road is suggested. Modelling of the new mechanism is developed on the basis of the theory of turbulent diffusion, kinetic equations, and theory of stochastic evaporation/degradation processes. Several new powerful statistical methods of analysis are developed for comprehensive data analysis in the presence of strong turbulent mixing and stochastic fluctuations of environmental factors and parameters. These methods are based upon the moving average approach, multi-variate and canonical correlation analyses. As a result, an important new physical insight into the relationships/interactions between particle modes, atmospheric parameters and traffic conditions is presented. In particular, a new definition of particle modes as groups of particles with similar diameters, characterised by strong mutual correlations, is introduced. Likely sources of different particle modes near a busy road are identified and investigated. Strong anti-correlations between some of the particle modes are discovered and interpreted using the derived fragmentation theorem. The results obtained in this thesis will be important for accurate prediction of aerosol pollution levels in the outdoor and indoor environments, for the reliable determination of human exposure and impact of transport emissions on the environment on local and possibly global scales. This work will also be important for the development of reliable and scientifically-based national and international standards for nano-particle emissions.

Nano-particle aerosols are one of the major types of air pollutants in the urban indoor and outdoor environments. Therefore, determination of mechanisms of formation, dispersion, evolution, and transformation of combustion aerosols near the major source of this type of air pollution - busy roads and road networks - is one of the most essential and urgent goals. This Thesis addresses this particular direction of research by filling in gaps in the existing physical understanding of aerosol behaviour and evolution. The applicability of the Gaussian plume model to combustion aerosols near busy roads is discussed and used for the numerical analysis of aerosol dispersion. New methods of determination of emission factors from the average fleet on a road and from different types of vehicles are developed. Strong and fast evolution processes in combustion aerosols near busy roads are discovered experimentally, interpreted, modelled, and statistically analysed. A new major mechanism of aerosol evolution based on the intensive thermal fragmentation of nano-particles is proposed, discussed and modelled. A comprehensive interpretation of mutual transformations of particle modes, a strong maximum of the total number concentration at an optimal distance from the road, increase of the proportion of small nano-particles far from the road is suggested. Modelling of the new mechanism is developed on the basis of the theory of turbulent diffusion, kinetic equations, and theory of stochastic evaporation/degradation processes. Several new powerful statistical methods of analysis are developed for comprehensive data analysis in the presence of strong turbulent mixing and stochastic fluctuations of environmental factors and parameters. These methods are based upon the moving average approach, multi-variate and canonical correlation analyses. As a result, an important new physical insight into the relationships/interactions between particle modes, atmospheric parameters and traffic conditions is presented. In particular, a new definition of particle modes as groups of particles with similar diameters, characterised by strong mutual correlations, is introduced. Likely sources of different particle modes near a busy road are identified and investigated. Strong anti-correlations between some of the particle modes are discovered and interpreted using the derived fragmentation theorem. The results obtained in this thesis will be important for accurate prediction of aerosol pollution levels in the outdoor and indoor environments, for the reliable determination of human exposure and impact of transport emissions on the environment on local and possibly global scales. This work will also be important for the development of reliable and scientifically-based national and international standards for nano-particle emissions.

L’étude présentée porte sur les niveaux et les variations des performances journalières et hebdomadaires de l’attention chez les enfants Chinois du Cours Préparatoire et du Cours Moyen deuxième année en situation scolaire. Et plus précisément chez les enfants de 6 à 7 ans et de 10 à 12 ans. Elle a pour objectif de démontrer, d’une part, dans une approche interculturelle et différentielle, l’effet des moments dans la journée et des jours de la semaine ainsi que les durées du sommeil sur les performances attentionnelles et les comportements scolaires des enfants selon leur ’âge, le niveau scolaire et l’origine géographique. D’autre part, l’incidence des lieux de vie (rural /urbain) sur la rythmicité scolaire
The introduced study appears in the framework of the research concerned with the levels and variations of the attention performance of Chinese children in CP and CM2 of primary school, specifically the children of 6 to 7 and 10 to 12 years old. It aims at showing, on the one hand, in an intercultural and differential approach, the effect of the moment of daily performance and weekly performance, as well as weekly variations of sleep duration according to age, educational level and geographic background of the children. On the other hand, the impact of life place (city/ country) on the school timetables

碩士
中原大學
電機工程學系
85
The magnetic-induction voltage of a conductor line will be reduced by the shielding effect of background environment. In this thesis, a terminology namely "background-magnetic-shielding factor" (BMSF) is defined to represent the shielding effects of background environment in the urban area, and the BMSFs of serval types of background environment in the urban area are evaluated via theoretical analysis and field measurements. Firstly, two equivalent circuit models namely, "ladder circuit model" and "distributed circuit model" are constructed for developing the computer program to simulate the induction current distributions of metal pipeline in the urban area and thus the shielding effects of metal pipeline can be calculated. Secondly, the pipeline system of various utilities in the urban area are surveyed, from which, five types of background environment in the urban area are categorized, and the BMSF of each types of background environment are simulated, respectively. Finally, the BMSFs of three positions in Taipei urban area are measured, respectively, and the measurement results of BMSF are compared with the computer simulation results, from which the value of BMSF of each type of background environment in the urban area are assessed and proposed for practical calculating induction voltage of a interested conductor line at low frequency situations.

The Chinese market transition has provided new opportunities for individuals to improve social status. In contemporary urban China, do people have equal access to opportunities to obtain occupational status? Following theories of human capital, social network and market transition, this study uses a dataset of the 2003 China General Social Survey and interviews, to explore different effects of human capital, family background and social network on occupational mobility from a perspective of work sector change. The first major finding is that the returns for education were highest for those whose first and second occupations were in the state sector. Work experience and party membership were significant only for workers remaining in the state sector and human capital was often considered equal to work ability. In the private sector, occupational status depended on recognition of the ability to work. Secondly, family background was meaningful for workers transferring within both sectors. In the state sector, the effects were mainly through the use of fathers’ political power to make occupational promotion whereas in the private sector, it came down to economic support or information transmission. Thirdly, social network was significant in the form of strong ties if workers stayed in the state sector or transferred there from the private sector. It mainly took the form of job information for those staying in or transferring to the private sector. And last, education significantly affected income for all groups but with the highest returns for stayers. I conclude that for one thing, human capital, family background and social network exert markedly different effects on occupational mobility in four subgroups in contemporary urban China. The use of political power is the main influence of family background and social network, especially for those transferring to the state sector. The institutionalization of occupational promotion based on political power may result in unequal opportunity for job and status mobility and consequently the stagnation of economic and social development. In order to establish a fair labour market, five policy proposals are made related to promotion of a market-oriented economy, disclosure of information in the labour market, law regulation, reform of distribution of socioeconomic benefits, and political system reform.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
生物產業傳播暨發展學研究所
99
This paper uses the Taiwan Integrated Postsecondary Education Database to examine the relationships among the wage of the first job, higher education and the difference in effect between growing up in the rural environment and the urban environment. The study also explores the influence of moving experience when high school students enter in the university on the wage of the first job. Two waves of data were merged; the first wave occurred in 2003 questioning freshmen students and the second wave occurred in 2006 questioning graduate students a year after they graduated. After controlling the factors of different family socioeconomic status at the individual level, the hierarchical linear model is used to identify the impact of having a higher education and the difference in background between growing up in the rural environment and the urban environment. The major findings are as follows: A. Higher education has significant effects on first job wage, and it is more influential than the family socioeconomic status. B. The urbanization of growth region results in the difference of attaining higher education. Therefore, students from less-urbanization regions tend to enter in public schools, vocational schools and technological department. C. The urbanization of growth region has a positive impact on the first job wage, and it also has positive interaction with higher education school type. This means that the wage of urban students are higher than the wage of rural students. Additionally, students who graduate from public schools earn more money than those from private schools. The gap of wage gets larger due to urbanization. D. The moving experience from rural to urban when high students enter in the university is positive for non-urban students’ first job wage. This means that moving experience is more positive for students from less-urbanization regions.

碩士
國立彰化師範大學
資訊管理學系所
99
The purpose of this study was to realize the internet behavior and internet literacy of the fifth and sixth graders in elementary schools in Taichung City. And the researcher also took the subjects’ backgrounds and their internet usage behavior as independent variables to compare the differences of their internet literacy. The primary findings of the study are as follows: 1.The distributions of the internet behavior Ⅰ．Elementary school students’ internet usage years varied significantly from school area, grade, and internet facilities at home. Ⅱ．Elementary school students’ internet using days per week varied significantly from sexuality, internet facilities at home, and to parents’ attitude towards the way how kids using internet. Ⅲ．The person who accompanies elementary school students varied significantly from grade, internet facilities at home, and to parents’ attitude towards the way how kids using internet. Ⅳ．Elementary school students’ “internet using period “ and “internet using place” both varied significantly from internet facilities at home, and to parents’ attitude towards the way how kids using internet. 2. The distributions of the internet literacy Ⅰ．Elementary school students’ four dimensions of internet literacy varied significantly from school area.The students in generally area outperformed those in remote districts on internet literacy. Ⅱ．Elementary school students’ internet skills, internet safety and internet law varied significantly from grade. Ⅲ．Elementary school students’ internet skills varied significantly from internet facilities at home. Ⅳ．Elementary school students’ internet skills and internet etiquette both varied significantly from parents’ attitude towards the way how kids using internet. 3. Elementary school students’ internet skills varied significantly from internet usage years, internet using days per week, and internet using period. According to the findings and conclusions above, some suggestions are made as following. 1.It is important to improve teachers’ and parent’s level of internet literacy first. And then they can help to strengthen students’ internet information and improve students’ internet literacy. 2.The internet equipment on those remote districts are not popular, therefore researcher suggested that the remote districts schools should open the school information classroom to provide parents and students with the internet equipment. It will improve the overall internet literacy by this way.

Pupils from a low SES differ in their development within the same school context. It is argued that the mechanisms through which education and the school environment as a whole can contribute to the successful development of children from a low SES should be identified and mapped. Therefore a focus on the mechanisms that lead to children with a low SES succeeding, in addition to discussing the reasons for these children not succeeding is proposed. The present research is drawn upon bio-ecological and symbolic interactionist theories of human development in an effort to understand resilience as involving person-context transactions. Specifically, the resilience of adolescents in the school context is studied as a joint function of personal characteristics and social contextual affordances that either promote or thwart the development of person-level, resilient-enhancing characteristics. The study employed inductive as well as deductive methods for knowledge development. Firstly, the concept of “resilience” was defined and operationalized in a Resilience Questionnaire (VVL). This questionnaire was validated on 399 middle-adolescents from five Educational Opportunity Schools in the Netherlands. Secondly, the inductive “Grounded Theory” method was followed with 21 middle-adolescents from three of the five Educational Opportunity Schools. In answer to the main question “How does the school environment contribute to the resilience of middle-adolescent students?”, the school environment can contribute to resilience through facilitating safety and good education. Resilient and Not-Resilient middle-adolescents differ in their dependence on the school environment for their access to these resilience-enhancing circumstances and factors. In relation to the first sub question, “What are resilient middle-adolescents’ perceptions of the contribution of the school environment to their resilience?”, the school environment contributes to the resilience of resilient middle-adolescents by challenging them (e.g with high expectations) and by offering opportunities to create constructive relationships with adults and fellow students in the school environment (e.g through informal conversations and through keeping order in the classroom). In answer to the second and third sub questions, “What are the perceptions of not-resilient middle-adolescents of the contribution of the school environment to their state of resilience?” and “How can the comparison between these two perceptions be explained?”, Not-Resilient middle-adolescents identify and utilise the services and potentially protective factors in the school enviroment less of their own accord than Resilient middle-adolescents do. The school environment can contribute to the resilience of Not-Resilient middle-adolescents by facilitating an overview, insight and positive future expectations in a very direct, controlling manner: An overview over risks for one’s own development and the presence of potential resources to assist one’s own development; insight into his or her own abilities to deal with possible risks; and positive future expectations on the improvement of a situation after a problem or risk has occurred. In summary, the daily situations in the school environment offer enough tools to contribute to the resilience of resilient and not-resilient middle-adolescents. These should, however, be recognised by both the middle-adolescent and the adults in the school environment as opportunities for development, which should subsequently be grasped in order to learn to deal with these challenges constructively.
Thesis (PhD (Learning Supoort, Guidance and Counselling))--University of Pretoria, 2007.
Educational Psychology
PhD
unrestricted

This study concerns the use of character education practices in schools and how these practices can be integrated into the art education curriculum to benefit students from urban high-poverty backgrounds. I conducted a document analysis of research in character education referring to methods of integrating character education skills into classroom practice. I identified character education programs that provide instruction in the areas of the emotional resources that Payne (2013) suggests that students from high-poverty backgrounds lack. Then, I made connections between how these identified character education skills align to the studio habits of mind (Hetland, 2013) that the visual arts have been suggested to develop in students to create guidelines for art educators to implement in their classrooms.

Aims: 1) To determine the incidence or rates of fractures, the common sites of fractures, the causes of fractures and grades of trauma causing fractures in urban South African children of different ethnic groups from birth until 17/18 years of age. 2) To investigate the association between fracture prevalence, bone mass and physical activity in South African children. 3) To assess associations of fracture prevalence and bone mass in adolescents with maternal fracture history and bone mass and sibling fracture history. Design: Using the Birth to Twenty longitudinal cohort of children, we obtained retrospective information on fractures and their sites from birth to 14.9 years of age on 2031 participants. The ethnic breakdown of the children was black (B) 78%, white (W) 9%, mixed ancestry (MA) 10.5% and Indian (I) 1.5%. Using the Bone Health cohort of the Birth to Twenty longitudinal study, we retrospectively obtained information of lifetime fractures until age 14.9 years in 533 subjects. Bone mass (measured by DXA), anthropometric data, physical activity scores and skeletal maturity were obtained at age 10 and 15 years. Comparisons were made between those who did and did not fracture within the same sex and ethnic groups. The third component of the thesis utilized data from 1389 adolescent-biological mother pairs of the Birth to Twenty (Bt20) longitudinal study. Questionnaires were completed on adolescent fractures until 17/18 years of age and on sibling fractures. Biological mothers completed questionnaires on their own fractures prior to the age of 18 years. Anthropometric and bone mass data on adolescent-biological mother pairs were collected. Results: Twenty two percent of children had sustained a fracture one or more times during the first 15 years of life (males 27.5% and females 16.3%; p<0.001). The percentage of children fracturing differed between the ethnic groups (W 41.5%, B 19%, MA 21%, I 30%; p<0.001). Of the children reporting fractures, 20% sustained multiple fractures. The most common site of fracture was the upper limb (57%). In the second component of the thesis, white males who fractured were found to be significantly taller (10 years p < 0.05), more physically active (15 years p < 0.01) and had higher lean body mass (10 years p=0.001; 15 years p<0.05) than those who did not fracture; while white females, who fractured, were fatter (10 and 15 years p< 0.05), than their nonfracturing peers. White males who fractured had greater BA (bone area) and BMC (bone mineral content) at most sites at 10 and 15 years; BA and BMC were no different between fracturing and non-fracturing children in the other ethnic groups. No anthropometric or bone mass differences were found between black children with or without fractures. The third component of the thesis showed that an adolescent’s risk of lifetime fracture decreased with increasing maternal lumbar spine (LS) BMC (24% reduction in fracture risk for every unit increase in maternal LS BMC Z-score) and increased if they were white, male or had a sibling with a history of fracture. Adolescent height, weight, male gender, maternal BA and BMC, and white ethnicity were positive predictors of adolescent bone mass. White adolescents and their mothers had a higher fracture prevalence (adolescents: 42%, mothers: 31%) compared to the black (adolescents: 20%, mothers: 6%) and mixed ancestry (adolescents: 20%, mothers: 16%) groups. Conclusion: More than twice as many South African white children fracture compared to black and mixed ancestry children. This is the first study to show ethnic differences in fracture rates among children; a pattern that is similar to that found in South African postmenopausal women. The factor associated with fractures in white boys appears to be participation in sports activities, while in white girls obesity appears to play a role. We were unable to find any factors that could explain fractures in black children. Unlike the findings of some other studies, fractures in these children were not associated with lower bone mass or reduced skeletal size. Maternal bone mass also appears to play a role in determining fracture incidence in children, as the mother’s bone mass has a significant inverse association with their off-springs’ fracture risk throughout childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, there is a strong familial component in fracture risk among South African adolescents and their siblings, as evidenced by the increased risk of fracture in siblings of index children who have fractured during childhood and adolescence. Differences in fracture rates and bone mass between families and individuals of different ethnic origins may be due to differing lifestyles and/or genetic backgrounds.

This thesis analyzes the Cuban medical adaptation in Venezuela called Misión Barrio Adentro (MBA) and seeks to answer the question of whether MBA shows promise as a health system that improves medical accessibility for impoverished and marginalized populations. In many cases MBA succeeds by: utilizing a free universal health care system; locating health centres in previously underserved areas; providing medical education scholarships to populations from non-traditional backgrounds; creating a catchment system based on medical accessibility; scaling up the medical workforce to 60,000 community doctors by 2019; and broadening the very praxis of what health means in a Latin American social medicine approach. However, some challenges remain including issues of corruption, fragmentation, and polarization. Issues regarding internal and external migration of Misión Sucre-trained physicians remain to be comprehensively evaluated. However, the capacitation of non-traditional medical personnel, imbued with conciencia, is significant and could well become an important example for other countries.