Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Environmental research'

The article looks over the situation and management of the environmental research in Peru, with regard to the national politic to increase the budget for research. Moreover, the characteristics and methodology of the environmental sciences research are addressed and its difficulties are discussed. The national efforts and strategy to improve the management of environmental research are analyzed, establishing the need to emphasize efforts in the promotion of applied environmental research. Finally, the institutional roles and progress in the matter are described, and a proposal to improve the environmental research management is presented.
El artículo revisa la situación de la investigación ambiental en el Perú a la luz del aumento nacional de presupuesto destinado a la investigación. Se resaltan las peculiaridades y metodología científica que utilizan las ciencias ambientales y se discuten sus dificultades. Se analiza la estrategia para mejorar la gestión de la investigación ambiental, sosteniendo la necesidad de poner mayor énfasis en la investigación ambiental aplicada. Finalmente, se describen los roles institucionales y avances en la materia y se plantean propuestas para la mejora de la gestión.

Human activity leads to environmental changes which threaten the vegetation. Global warm ing trends, deforestation and land cover, or modified Earth's surface albedo, are sorne examples of these environmental changes. Additionally, natural hazards such as droughts and wildfires may increase their frequency and intensity in sorne regio ns of the globe due to climate shifts. In this context, remole sensing missions are needed to further our knowledge of the Earth's system, to monitor global ecosystems, and ultimately quantify changes in vegetation, carbon stocks and water resources. In particular, satellite pass ive microwave sensors provide a unique mea ns to regularly obtain global maps of the Earth's surface soil moisture (SM) and of the attenuation of the soil m icrowave em ission through the vegetation canopy (represented by the vegetation optical depth parameter; VOD). VOD is linked to the vegetation water content (WVC) and can also be related to the above-ground carbon density lmportantly, low microwave frequencies (L-band) are more sensitive to high densities of vegetation canopy and to soil moisture than higher frequencies. The first two space missions carrying an L-band radiometer on-board for measuring the Earth's SM have been launched in the last decade: the European Space Agency's (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS, in 2009) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP, in 2015). The main goal of this Thesis is to assess the applicability of L-band satellite retrievals of SM and VOD on vegetation studies. The first part of this Thesis applies SM information -complementarily to other data sources- to assess and preven! drought­derived impacts on vegetation in the lberian Península: Soil moisture and land surface temperature (LST) data are applied to study the soil conditions before fire ignitions in the region. A tire risk index is developed. The forest decline in Catatonia after a severe drought in summer 2012 is modelled as a function of species, climate variables and SM. The second part of this Thesis presents the capacity to infer vegetation conditions and carbon density from VOD with two dedicated research studies: The sensitivity of L-band VOD to carbon stocks in tropical regions is compared with VOD at higher frequency bands and with optical-infrared vegetation indices. The L-band VOD shows enhanced sensitivity to carbon density in most regions. Seasonal metrics of VOD have been proposed for crop yield assessment. Results over the US Corn Belt show that VOD explains up to 78% of yield variance. The results presented in this Thesis contribute to improve present capabilities of predicting wildfires, forest decline and crop yield, as well as of monitoring forest carbon stocks, using new global information from L-band Earth observation sensors. SM and VOD are very valuable indicators to support food security and ecosystem preservation decision making, as well as to enhance present capabilities of mapping carbon stocks.
Actualment, les condicions ambientals estan canviant i això amenaça els ecosistemes i, més concretament, la vegetació. Aquests canvis són induïts principalment per l’activitat humana, ja sigui directament o indirecta. En són exemples l’escalfament global causat per l’increment en la concentració atmosfèrica de gasos d’efecte hivernacle, la desforestació i els canvis en les cobertes del sòl provocats per l’expansió de l’agricultura, o els canvis en les propietats de les superfícies de la terra, dels oceans i del gel que alteren l’albedo de la superfície del planeta. A més a més, la freqüència i la intensitat de riscos mediambientals com les sequeres o els incendis forestals poden augmentar en algunes regions degut als canvis en el clima. En aquest context, els satèl·lits per a l’observació de la Terra són necessaris per a estudiar el medi ambient, mesurant la vegetació i els recursos hídrics, així com el carboni emmagatzemat en la vegetació. En concret, els sensors passius de microones permeten obtenir, de manera regular, mapes globals de la humitat del sòl i de l’atenuació de les microones (emeses pel sòl) quan travessen la coberta vegetal. Aquesta atenuació s’expressa com la profunditat òptica de la vegetació, o VOD per les seves sigles en anglès. El VOD està relacionat amb el contingut d’aigua de la vegetació, i també amb la densitat de carboni de la fracció aèria de les plantes. Les microones de baixa freqüència (banda L) són més sensibles per a mesurar les cobertes vegetals més denses i la humitat del sòl, i en canvi les microones de freqüències més altes ho són menys (per exemple les bandes C o X). Les primeres missions espacials que porten radiòmetres en banda L a bord per a mesurar la humitat del sòl s’han llençat en els darrers deu anys. Són la Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS; la missió per a l’estudi de la humitat del sòl i la salinitat dels oceans llençada per l’Agència Espacial Europea l’any 2009), i la Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP; la missió per a l’estudi de la humitat del sòl de forma activa i passiva, llançada per la NASA, l’agència espacial dels Estats Units, l’any 2015). L’objectiu principal d’aquesta Tesi Doctoral és valorar l’aplicabilitat de les dades d’humitat i VOD en banda L per a estudiar la vegetació. La primera part d’aquesta Tesi aplica informació d’humitat del sòl –complementàriament amb altres fonts de dades- per a analitzar i prevenir impactes de les sequeres en la vegetació de la Península Ibèrica: - S’apliquen dades d’humitat i de temperatura de la superfície del sòl per a estudiar l’estat dels sòls prèviament a la ignició dels incendis a la regió. Es desenvolupa un índex de risc d’incendis per a predir l’extensió que els focs poden arribar a tenir, sota determinades condicions d’humitat i temperatura. Els resultats mostren com la humitat explica més d’un 30% de l’àrea potencial dels incendis. - Es realitza un model per a explicar el decaïment forestal a Catalunya després d’una important sequera que va tenir lloc l’estiu de 2012. El decaïment s’estudia en funció de les espècies, de la humitat del sòl, i de variables climàtiques. L’efecte de la humitat en el decaïment dels boscos és coherent amb l’efecte que mostren les altres variables estudiades, i explica aproximadament un 5% de la variància. La segona part d’aquesta Tesi Doctoral analitza la capacitat per a inferir les condicions de la vegetació i la densitat de carboni amb dos estudis específics: - Es compara la sensibilitat a la densitat de carboni del VOD de la banda L amb la de freqüències més altes i amb la d’índexs de vegetació en l’òptic i l’infraroig. El VOD en banda L mostra major sensibilitat en la majoria de regions, independentment de l’altitud i dels tipus de vegetació. L’ús complementari de VOD a diferents freqüències i d’índexs de vegetació en l’òptic-infraroig pot millorar les estimacions de carboni. - Es proposen mètriques estacionals de VOD per a avaluar el rendiment dels cultius. Els resultats en la regió del “US Corn Belt” (nord dels Estats Units) mostren com el VOD explica un 78% de la variància del rendiment, i que el VOD és una eina amb potencial per a millorar les prediccions en el rendiment dels cultius. Els resultats que es presenten en aquesta Tesi Doctoral contribueixen a millorar la capacitat de predir els incendis, el decaïment forestal, i el rendiment dels cultius, així com a millorar el monitoratge de la densitat de carboni als boscos, utilitzant nova informació a escala global provinent de sensors d’observació de la Terra que mesuren en banda L. La contribució de la humitat del sòl i del VOD en banda L pot ser una eina molt valuosa per a prevenir la degradació d’ecosistemes i les situacions de risc alimentari, i per a millorar les estimacions del contingut de carboni a la Terra.

Establishing and implementing a long-term environmental monitoring programme in PolarRegions is both a complex and multidisciplinary field which requires participation andinvolvement of a great number of specialists on diverse and varied topics.The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, responsible to promote and coordinate polarresearch, has always had the ambition to protect the Antarctic’s environment and theassociated and dependent ecosystems. In accordance with the Protocol on environmentalprotection in Antarctica, the secretariat has implemented an environmental monitoringprogramme since the beginning of the 1990’s. However, the output is not fullycomprehensive: on the one hand, it has provided necessary information on the understandingof the area and permitted to take mitigation measures, on the other hand, sporadic measuresand inappropriate data management system has left gaps in the environmental knowledge ofthe area.That is why, within the International Polar Year framework, the secretariat has decided toimplement a complete long-term environmental monitoring programme to not only evaluateimpacts from anthropogenic activities around the Swedish polar stations Wasa and Svea butalso to estimate their trend.The success of such programme depends on several key elements: feasible and clearly definedobjectives, a standardized sampling programme and an efficient data management system.Moreover, this programme should be strongly linked with the decision-making process andinternational cooperation would make this programme even more valuable.As science advancement continues, the need to protect the Antarctic’s environment becomemore and more obvious, indeed, we know that this continent maybe keeps in its ice answers totomorrow’s environmental questions.
Att genomföra ett miljöövervakningsprogram i polarområdena är en komplex disciplin sombehöver medverkan och engagemeng av ett stort antal specialister inom många ämnen.Polarforskningssekretariatet är en myndighet som har till uppgift att främja och samordnasvensk polarforskning. Sekretariatet har alltid haft en hög ambitionsnivå för att beskydda ochbevara miljön i Antarktis och i dess sammanhängande ekosystem. I överensstämmelse medMadridprotokollet beträffande miljöskyddet i Antarktis, har sekretariatet infört ettmiljöövervakningsprogram i början av 1990-talet. Emellertid är programmet som det ärutformat idag inte helt opitmalt: å ena sidan har programmet försett miljöansvariga mednödvändig bakgrundsinformation för att förbättra förståelsen av området och gett möjlighetatt vidta skyddande åtgärder för miljön de svenska polar stationerna Wasa och Svea. Å andrasidan har de tillfälliga provtagningarna i kombination med ett svagt system för att bearbetatidigare data orsakat luckor i kunskaperna kring miljön i lokalområdet. Det är darför sekretariatet har bestämt sig för att ta fram och införa ett mer omfattandemiljöövervakningsprogram som kan användas till att både utvärdera effekterna från demänskliga aktiviteterna runt omkring de svenska forskningsstationerna, och förutsägatendenser kring miljötillståndet.Förutsättningarna för att det nya miljöprogrammet ska få önskat utfall är att det harväldefinierade målsättningar, standardiserade provtagningsmetoder och ett effektivtdatabehandlingssystem. Dessutom behöver programmet införlivas ibeslutsfattandesprocessen. Dessutom, internationellt samarbete med stationer i områdetkommer att göra programmet mer värdefullt.Allteftersom forskningen gör framsteg och projekten i Antarktis blir fler och samtidgt meravancerade, så blir behovet för att beskydda Antarktismiljö mer och mer påtagligt. Vi vet att iAntarktis is kan det finnas svar på flera av framtidens miljöfrågor.
Établir un monitoring environnemental à long terme dans un environnement polaire est unediscipline à la fois complexe et transversale qui demande la participation et l’implication d’ungrand nombre de spécialistes dans des domaines divers et variés.Le Secrétariat de Recherche Polaire Suédois, responsable de la promotion et de lacoordination de la recherche dans les régions polaires a toujours eu la volonté de protégerl’environnement en Antarctique ainsi que les écosystèmes associés et dépendants. En accordavec le Protocole de Madrid relatif à la protection de l’environnement en Antarctique, lesecrétariat a mis en oeuvre un monitoring environnemental autour de ses stations de rechercheWasa et Svea dès le début des années 1990. Cependant, le bilan de ce programme est plutôtcontrasté ; d’un coté, il a fourni les informations nécessaires à la compréhension du milieu eta permis de prendre les mesures indispensables à sa préservation. D’un autre coté, leséchantillonnages et mesures sporadiques et un système de management des donnéesinapproprié laissent subsister des inconnus dans la perception environnementale de la région.C’est pourquoi, profitant de l’année polaire internationale, le secrétariat à décider d’établir unmonitoring environnemental sur le long terme permettant non seulement d’évaluerconcrètement les impacts d’origine anthropogénique autour des stations de recherche suédoisemais aussi d’en prévoir la tendance.La réussite d’un tel programme repose sur quelques éléments clés : des objectifs réalisables etclairement définis, des méthodes d’échantillonnages standardisées et un système demanagement des données efficace. De plus, pour être efficace, le monitoring environnementaldoit être en étroite relation avec le système de prise de décision dans l’organisme. Enfin, cemonitoring environnemental ne pourra qu’être valorisé par une collaboration internationale.Au fur et à mesure des progrès de la science, il apparait de plus en plus évident de protégerl’Antarctique qui garde probablement dans ses glaces les réponses aux questionsenvironnementales d’aujourd’hui et de demain.
www.ima.kth.se

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Ambiente, pela Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
This research aimed at studying the facilitating pro-environmental behavior problem by approaching new pro-environmental interventions. The following elements make this study particularly relevant: a) the actual debate concerning the impact of scientific and technological innovations and b) the consideration of new emotional research findings, which stress that emotion is an essential part of information processing. However, the role of emotions is still largely absent from most pro-environmental studies. This situation highlights the importance of conceiving personal and professional initiatives aimed at encouraging reflection and supporting proenvironmental behaviors research while focusing on emotional issues. The study involved an interpretative approach of a qualitative nature, organized in two complementary phases. The first phase evaluated the possible impact of the purposed research. It involved different collaborations and the first experimental research study was implemented as a proof-of-concept approach. In addition, this phase research advanced a new model of proenvironmental behavior and a design framework. The second phase of the study, motivated by the results of the first phase, led to advancing emotion-oriented interventions scenarios and also planning and implementing their evaluation. This initiative showed two technological opportunities to consider for future developments: Affective images rewarding systems using digital material and sensorial feedback tools using non-digital material. The planned qualitative research included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, panels, observation and the analysis of documents. The results of this study have several implications. Among the most relevant are: a) the potential of combined research methods in investigating individuals conceptions and perceptions about environmental behavior; b) the importance of discussions about new pro-environmental interventions for facilitating pro-environmental behavior; c) the importance of multi-disciplinary research approaches for advancing new technological options; and d) the relevance of considering an emotion-oriented approach.
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES)- (SFRH/BD/21408/2005)

This research study examines the Flint water crisis to determine if Flint residents were the target of a degenerative policy. The study employs critical ethnography to explore the development and implementation of environmental water policy and investigate state-appointed legislator's decision to switch water sources in the city of Flint, Michigan, a predominantly low-income and minority community. In addition to using critical ethnography as a method, the study is interdisciplinary, integrating secondary data from news reports, governmental and nongovernmental documents, and budgets. The residents in Flint, Michigan water source was switched from Lake Huron (Detroit) a source used for more than 50 years to the Flint River. The water switch resulted in lead-contaminated water that poisoned more than 7,900 children and caused a widespread outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references (leaf 63).
Underground and surface arteries for vehicle or railway traffic can create vibrations that travel to nearby buildings. These vibrations can cause structural damage or human discomfort. Displacement time histories collected from buildings abutting the central surface artery were used to drive mathematical models so that asphaltic and polymeric bearings could be studied as possible passive mitigators of such vibrations. Neither material attenuated vibrations to below threshold levels for human annoyance, but they could dampen levels to resist structural damage if enough material was used to bring the apparent natural frequency away from the range characteristic of traffic vibration. In addition, for resonant cases, the materials did not create enough damping force to counter the inertia of heavy structures, because the materials were too stiff and the displacements and velocities too small. For new construction, it is suggested that these vibrations should be prevented from entering the foundation area by surrounding the foundation with a concrete wall or absorbent foam blocks. For retrofits, polymeric or asphaltic pads could be used and would be relatively easy to install.
by Diane Lee Bosuego Floresca.
M.Eng.

This collection of research projects tells a story of the time I have spent with members of the Albany Working for Water team; including preparations made, lessons learned and insights gained. My first project was to analyse the methodology of a research paper. I chose the paper by Arjen Wals because I intended, like him, to examine people's perceptions of environmental issues. From this paper I gained ideas for a qualitative research process and learnt the importance of theoretical and methodological consistency. My next project was to present a report on my research into the perceptions of workrelated environmental issues among the Albany Working for Water workers. From this research I gained insight into the knowledge of the workers and also some of the misconceptions that they have about social and ecological issues. I made educational recommendations based on these insights. This experience inspired me to initiate a play with a group of the workers about alien plant eradication. The process of developing this play formed the basis for a research paper that I have submitted as another research project. Concurrent with the development of the play, I conducted a fourth research project that was a situational analysis of the Albany Workingfor Water Project. I hoped that this analysis would provide useful insight into the context of the above two projects. Overall, I hope the story reflects how I have grown through the learning experiences I shared with the Albany Working for Water team. I would like to extend to my thanks to all those who assisted and shared my journey with me.

The Vietnamese science and high education system plays a major role in the country’s social and economical development. Due to a mixed influence of international education systems, the contribution of the Vietnamese research to the international scientific landscape is still modest. Over the past decades, the most scientific programmes focused mostly on rather theoretical sciences and less on applied sciences. The results are reflected by a rather low rate of international publications on experimental science. Together with the country’s efforts on the efficient use of natural resources, there is an urgent demand for strengthening the scientific activity on environmental sciences. The new Journal of Vietnamese Environment was created to respond to the increasing interest in environmental research. The journal was founded as part of an academic network initiated by the Dresden University of Technology in the framework of Vietnamese-German cooperation programs on training and education. With multidisciplinary fields of interest and several types of manuscripts, the journal has a predominant academic character, the submission of manuscripts is open to students, graduates, researchers and staff members of research and academic institutions, as well as to any individual willing to disseminate the knowledge about the management of Vietnamese environment
Hệ thống khoa học và giáo dục đại học Việt Nam đóng vai trò quan trọng trong sự phát triển kinh tế và xã hội của đất nước. Trong xu hướng giao thoa mạnh mẽ giữa các hệ thống giáo dục quốc tế, đóng góp của các nhà nghiên cứu ở Việt Nam cho cộng đồng khoa học quốc tế còn khiêm tốn. Trong những thập niên qua, hầu hết các hoạt động khoa học tập trung vào khoa học lý thuyết hơn là các lĩnh vực khoa học ứng dụng. Điều này đã được phản ánh qua tỷ lệ khá thấp các ấn phẩm quốc tế về khoa học thực nghiệm. Cùng với những nỗ lực của đất nước để sử dụng hiệu quả các nguồn tài nguyên thiên nhiên, một nhu cầu cấp bách đặt ra là tăng cường các hoạt động nghiên cứu về khoa học môi trường. Tạp chí Môi trường Việt Nam ra đời nhằm hưởng ứng sự quan tâm ngày một gia tăng trong nghiên cứu môi trường. Tạp chí được thành lập như một phần của mạng lưới học thuật được đề xuất bởi Trường Đại học Tổng hợp Kỹ Thuật Dresden trong khuôn khổ chương trình hợp tác Việt Nam - CHLB Đức về đào tạo và giáo dục. Với mối quan tâm đa ngành và đa dạng trong ấn phẩm, tạp chí chủ yếu mang tính học thuật, cơ hội gửi đăng bài viết mở rộng cho cả sinh viên, kỹ sư / cử nhân, nghiên cứu viên và các thành viên của Viện nghiên cứu và giáo dục, các cá nhân có mong muốn phổ biến kiến thức về quản lý môi trường ở Việt Nam

The aim of this study was to validate the use of a virtual environment (VE) for psychological research. A study made by Maslow and Mintz (1956) in which they found that a room’s aesthetic affects how participants estimate pictures of people was replicated using a VE. A picture of a beautiful room and a picture of an ugly room were projected on an angled screen measuring 185 cm in height and 405 cm in width as to attempt to replicate the effect found in the original study. A total of 31 participants were tested in either the beautiful or the ugly environment. A t-test revealed no significant difference between the groups on the total score given on the pictures. However, a mixed-model ANOVA revealed several significant differences and interaction effects. The results of this study suggest that VE’s could be valid for psychological research, in particular environmental psychological experiments, but that more investigations are needed in order to understand this instrument better.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an algorithm by which mica motes can organize themselves into a network to relay packets as quickly as possible under energy constraints from environmental harvesting. This problem is part of a larger project to develop a means to monitor red wolves using a mica mote network. The network has three parts: sensor motes attached to collars on the wolves, a base station or base stations that receive packets and display them in useable form for scientists and relay motes that forward packets from the sensor motes to a base station. The proposed algorithm adapts Hohlt et al's Flexible Power Scheduling to work under Kansal et al's Environmental Harvesting power constraint. Employing this strategy changes energy consumption from a performance objective to a constraint, allowing me to add my own throughput maximizing piece to the algorithm, based on dynamic programming and microeconomics. I also discuss the ongoing development of a simulation of this algorithm, designed to test its performance and to solve implementation problems.

Despite a rich popular narrative that awe-inspiring nature experiences promote environmental behavior, empirical work on this subject is lacking. Recent research has determined that individuals often experience the emotion awe in nature, and that this emotion can lead to reliable shifts in cognition, interpersonal perception, and social behavior. In addition, although research has found that nature exposure can shift environmental behavior, the emotional pathways underlying this association, such as awe, are not yet clear. The current investigation explores through two studies the relationship between transcendent nature and awe experiences with environmental behavior. In study 1 (N = 405), a pre-post online survey assessed (1) the effect of describing a past nature-based transcendent experience in a value-based model of environmental behavior; and (2) what qualities of this experience, such as awe, were most prominent descriptively and as predictors in the model. Regression analyses revealed that describing a nature-based transcendent experience significantly improved the model, and increased participant’s openness to change values pre-post. Moreover, a sense of awe was the most prominent experience quality and was positively related to environmental behavior.

Study 2 employed an experimental design to more concretely explore the role of the transcendent emotion awe in nature on environmental behavior and engagement. A 2x3 factorial design (N = 277) explored whether two factors - (1) reading a climate change message or no message, and (2) viewing videos of awe-inspiring nature, an awe-inspiring built environment, or calming nature - influenced participant’s emotional state and environmental behavior intentions, including an in-situ measure of whether they signed a climate change petition presented outside of the building after leaving the lab session. Participants reported feeling less relaxed and interested after reading a climate message in the built (awe) condition compared to the nature conditions. Also, participants in the awe-nature condition reported feeling more relaxed when they were given the climate message to read. Although no significant interactions for environmental behavior intention emerged, for the in-situ measure, participants who viewed nature rather than awe videos were over three times more likely to sign the climate petition.

Overall, the results of study 1 suggest the theoretical value and interventional benefits of integrating transcendent nature experiences and the emotion awe into value-based models of environmental behavior. The results of study 2 begin to suggest that pro-environmental behavior may depend more on the setting participants are exposed to (nature versus built) rather than on the emotions induced by those settings, such as awe. Implications on education and nature protection policy and practices are discussed.

In regulated rivers, reservoir operation decisions largely determine downstream river temperature and flow. Computational methods can minimize the risk and uncertainty of making regrettable environmental release decisions and aid operations planning and performance prediction. Mathematical modeling in particular can optimize the timing and magnitude of reservoir release decisions for downstream benefit while accounting for seasonal uncertainty, water storage impact, and competing water demands. This dissertation uses optimization and modeling techniques, modifying traditional optimization modeling to include temporal correlation in outcome variables and incorporating long-term planning and risk management into prescribed reservoir operations. The proposed method is implemented in one case, a) with a state variable that tracks outcome benefits over time (fish population size) and, in another case, b) with a maximin stochastic dynamic program solution algorithm that maximizes net operational benefit and minimizes worst-case outcomes (for cold water habitat delivery). This method is particularly useful for environmental flow management, when the water quality and quantity of the river and reservoir in one time step affect the quantity and quality in the reservoir and the river for later periods. Better solutions with these methods internalize risk and hedge releases at the beginning of an operating season to maximize downstream benefit and reduce the probability of catastrophe for the season and future years. Maximizing the minimum cold-water habitat area over months of a season or multiple years, or maximizing a river indicator variable explicitly, could likely help, for example, maximize an out-migrating salmon smolt population downstream. The method is demonstrated with a case study optimizing environmental releases from Folsom Dam and another optimizing temperature management from Shasta Dam in northern California. These results inform general rules for environmental flow management and temperature management of reservoirs, with specific policy recommendations for both Folsom and Shasta reservoirs. In both cases, the added value from employing hedging rules help reservoir operations minimize the risk of environmental catastrophe and conserve storage both within an operating season and across years.

publisher version
Introduction: This year there has literally been a cacophony surrounding the implications of climate change, as the world geared up for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in Copenhagen, where it was expected that the largest ever gathering of world leaders would sign binding agreements to reduce carbon emissions to keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2⁰C. As we make the final contributions to the refinement of this editorial, late in December 2009, it is concerning to note that this did not happen, that civil society voices were marginalised at the COP 15 and that there has been little progress on a socially just and ecologically sound global climate change deal. The stark reality remains that developing countries – southern African countries in particular – remain most vulnerable to the risks associated with global climate change. Havnevik (2007) stated a while ago that: The ways in which poverty, consumption and climate change are addressed, tend to blur historical, structural and power features underlying global inequalities. This makes possible the focus on market forces, such as carbon trading, to resolve the problems. However, these market solutions will not suffice, and may only delay a real solution, which will then have to be developed in a situation of more acute global social injustice and possibly deeper conflicts … Issues related to inequality, energy and climate are of a global character: there is no longer one solution for the South and one for the North. (18,19) So where does the current state of climate change and the political failures surrounding responses to climate change leave education research in developing and developed nations? What are the implications for environmental education researchers in southern Africa and elsewhere? These are some of the questions pondered in this edition of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education (SAJEE). As one of us (Kronlid) reflects in a Think Piece in this journal: ‘the world is one and many and … the complexities associated with climate change means that we have a shared global systematic problem manifested in a myriad different concrete ways in people’s everyday life throughout the globe. We need many different kinds and modes of climate change education research’ (Kronlid, this edition).

As scientific understanding of the origin and order of coastal barrier islands continues to grow, designers are being forced to reevaluate their design strategies for the shore and near-shore areas. This project involves the design of an Environmental Research Laboratory on Back Bay, in the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The problems and possibilities associated with building on the barrier islands have been analyzed. and design solutions applicable to this and other sites have been presented. In the final design, the structure has been located in the bay, shoreward of the barrier islands and elevated to permit sunlight and rainfall to pass as uninterrupted as possible to the areas below. The object of such design is to have a minimum effect on the landscape (or waterscape) below the building, while creating new green space above. All these characteristics are intended as positive results, able to transfer to other water or land sites.
Master of Architecture

This study carries out an in-depth study of the issues involved in the implementation of a quality improvement programme in a developing country. It does this by taking, as a case study, a World Bank led programme to create a Centre of Excellence at the National Institute for Amazon Research - INPA, in Manaus, capital of Amazon state. Brazil, with the aim of improving scientific research in the Amazon. The programme at INPA does not use a recognised quality management theoretical framework for improvement, but we look at how it takes into account the issues that quality location, in a remote part of a developing country. In order to achieve this, we develop a framework based around the ideas of Total Quality Management (TQM), and Riggs' Theory of Prismatic Societies, which deals with the problems caused by the Institute's status. One of the frequent problems in public administration in developing countries is that prescribed norms do not correspond to actual behaviour, a characteristic defined by Riggs as 'formalism'. The research strategy adopted is qualitative, and is based primarily on formal interviews, with pre-set questions. Interviews were largely carried out in Portuguese, and took place in Brasilia and Manaus. Data was also collected from the analysis of documents. In general, data analysis was mainly qualitative, but some basic quantitative analysis was occasionally used. The analysis showed us that there were serious weaknesses in the Excellence Project. Several important changes that were required, such as in the level of salaries and in the scientific management could not be made. Insufficient attention was paid to difficulties that are common in developing countries, and the presence of 'formalism' proved to be significant in explaining the failures of the improvement process. A key point of a TQM approach, that progress must be assessed and measured, did not happen, leading to a situation where INPA could not say whether there had been significant progress or not.

Evaluation of Experimental Design Options in Environmental Nano-Science Research As an experimental research design plays a pivotal role in executing a research problem, it is imperative of a researcher to develop a suitable and sound research design. Utilizing robust statistical methods can further enhance the study power and thus allow drawing a logical conclusion. The same holds true for basic environmental science research, including research related to the effects of engineered nanomaterials in the environment.

Hawaii Island has the highest incidence of rat lungworm disease (RLWD) of all the Hawaiian Islands and the mainland United States. The relatively recent introduction of the semi-slug Parmarion martensi, an effective intermediate host, and the wide-spread use of rainwater catchment systems may play a role. Studies were designed to investigate the ability of drowned gastropods to shed larvae, the location in a water column where larvae would most likely be found, the potential for larval passage through a 20µm filter, and the ability of the larvae to survive outside the slug/snail host. Whole P. martensi shed many, viable A. cantonensis larvae with >90% of larvae found in samples taken from the bottom of the water column, suggesting they may settle near the bottom of a catchment tank. Larvae that were able to pass through a 20µm sieve could not survive acid, were active for at least 56 days outside the slug host, and tested positive for RLW by qPCR. Larvae that could not pass through a 20µm sieve were able to survive HCl-pepsin, were active for at least 21 days, and tested positive for RLW. First stage larvae can survive gut acid when swallowed after migration from the lungs but cannot withstand acid immersion again until they become third stage larvae.The study results merit further investigation into the potential link between poorly maintained rainwater catchment systems and the high incidence of RLWD on Hawaii Island, and the studies clearly demonstrate the need for control of hosts of Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

Hawaii’s remote location makes food security an important issue. State-wide efforts to promote the Grow Local, Eat Local movement are reflected in the growing number of residential gardens, small farms, farmers’ markets, school and youth garden projects, and the recent passage of the Farm to School Bill. However, efforts to educate farmers, food handlers, and consumers about rat lungworm disease and the need for disease prevention and host control has not been similarly supported. In collaboration with five partner schools on Hawaii Island, the University of Hawaii, Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy’s Hawaii Island Rat Lungworm Working Group worked with students and teachers to develop an integrated pest management plan for school garden projects. Integrated pest management allows for the careful consideration of applications available to control a pest event and chooses those practices that are least harmful to human and environmental health. These best practices include preventative cultural practices, monitoring, mechanical control, biological control, and the responsible use of pesticides. Students were intensively educated about RLWD, the parasite’s life cycle, and prevention measures. Using best management practices, we set up traps and collected data on gastropod species abundance, and shelter-type capture rate. Integrating STEM curriculum makes the project attractive to schools as it supports student academic success. Adoption of this management project by the many school and youth garden projects in areas of RLWD can exponentially increase community awareness, encourage control efforts, and potentially map disease risk.

碩士
國立政治大學
科技管理研究所
87
Abstract Out of strict environmental law, intensive market competition, and the trend toward sustainable development, the environmental responsibility has now become one of the essential elements in doing business. Under the pressure of stakeholders, such as employees, shareholders, and environmental groups, there are more and more enterprises trying to have their own presentation of environmental performance. Among the enterprises of Fortune 500, Three hundreds of them have environmental reports. They believe the environmental report is a good instrument for promoting their image of environmental protection as part of marketing strategy. In Taiwan, both the academic and the public have known very little about environmental report. In the meantime, there are only a few enterprises have their own environmental reports. Consequently, it is necessary for us to systemically examine the environmental reports of the leading company in the world to understand the contents and the level of the information they disclosed. The study collected and analyzed eighty-four standalone corporate environmental reports from different industries around world. Four major issues - management systems, input∕output inventory, finance, and stakeholder relations, and twenty more detail disclosure subjects of environmental report suggested by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) are used as our research units. Via content analysis, we categorized content of these disclosure subjects into four degrees according to their qualitative, quantitative and systematic levels. The eight industries we studied are electrical & gas utilities, automobiles, energy, consumer goods, capital equipment, chemical, service, forest products and papers. We draw the best practice of each disclosure subject in electrical & gas utilities and automobiles as benchmark. In addition to analyze each industry, we compared the industries, summarized the average and the deviation of the disclosure in these twenty subjects, explored the priority of disclosure choice and discuss the differences cause of the industry''s differences. We also analyzed by four regions - America-Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan, to observe and analyze the differences of the reports by the companies in different regions. The main findings of this research are: (1) Currently, the contents covered by most of the environmental reports are: 1. The "Environmental Policy" which declares the organization''s determination to preserve the environment. 2. The operational "Environmental Management System". 3. The "organizational framework" which is responsible for environmental matters. 4. "The data of energy consumption and the effects of energy saving" which response the concerns of the scarcity of energy resource. 5. "The data of air emission and the reducing method " which response the greenhouse gas, global climate changes and local air pollution. 6. "The method of wastes disposal and the result of wastes reduction". 7. "The real effect to environment and consumers" by the operations and the products of business. (2) The disclosure by different industries in four main observed issues are: n Environmental Management Systems 1. Presentation environmental policy is a common consensus, but disclosure of the other three subjects - environmental management system, management responsibility and legal compliance has large variance. 2. The level of disclosure in the management system is not related to the nature of industry''s character. 3. Energy industry has the most disclosure on legal compliance subject, and automobiles industry is least one. 4. Chemical and service industries'' disclosures in this area are more conservative, and the rest six industries are at same level. n Input／Output Inventory Unit 1. Wastes disposal, air emission, and energy consumption are the top three subjects most disclosed by all industries. Accidents and emergency response, water consumption, health and safety are the least three. 2. The nature of the industry will effect the disclosure priority. For example, automobiles industry pays much attention on reducing material and disposing with the wastes because it dealing with thousands of components. n Related Financial issues 1. The sequence of industry''s disclosure in finance is forest products and papers, energy, consumer goods, chemical, service, electrical & gases utilities, capital equipment and automobiles. 2. Companies'' disclosures of environmental spending have wide variance in each industry. n Stakeholder Relations Unit 1. Employees, industry association and local community are the top three stakeholders thought by all industries, so the disclosure information are mostly relevant to them. 2. The industry, which affects the environment badly, like energy and automobiles, will be monitored usually by the government agencies, regulators, or environmental protection group. Therefore, their disclosure performance about the issues is much better than others. (3) The disclosure performance differences of regions are: 1. Companies in Scandinavia region have better environment disclosure in management systems and input∕output inventory issues, but the average performance in stakeholder relations unit is not as good in four regions, it appears that they have a large room to improve on that. 2. Companies in America-Canada region have the best disclosure performance in finance issues, but for those high pollution industry like chemical or energy industry still do not disclose their input and output information sufficiently. 3. The Japan companies'' disclosure performance is not as good currently, but we found their environmental management system are established in most companies, they also interacted with stakeholders actively. So we think Japanese companies have the potential to perform better in the future and reach the world class. Finally, we make some suggestions about how to encourage companies in Taiwan to prepare their environmental reports. (1) Reasons and motivations for company to disclose its environmental information, such as: 1. The responsibility to the environment. 2. Response to the unavoidable trend. 3. Direct and indirect business benefits. 4. The demands from the stakeholders (2) Making corporate environmental report step by step First, establishes a web site, put the most important environmental information (like air emission or wastes disposal). Second, the company must establish its environmental management system, environmental department, and go a step further to report the more extensive input/output data. Third, connection with the shareholders includes employees, investors, legislators, regulators, industry associations and local communities, and keep well interaction with them. As long as you "say what you do, do what you say", then to publish an standalone environmental report with relevant content will be easy!

碩士
東吳大學
法律學系
105
The occurrence of environmental pollution incidents, always bring huge influences to industry, residents and government. Especially to the industry, they have to take responsibility to clean up and remediation, and make up the residents. That means it is a hard financial problem to the industry, it may collapse at anytime. If it really does, resident will get no reparation, and they will ask government to pay--- but that is not a good solution. In order to distribute risk of pollution, industry can insure its property against from environmental liabilities. Environmental Liability Insurance not only can reduce the burden of finance, but also comply to clean up and remediation immediately. The damage of resident (or other problem which is made by pollution from the industry) can be solved, and government can supervise the industry through Environmental Liability Insurance. Foreign country had already developed integral Environmental Liability Insurance to deal with environmental pollution problems. On the other hand, our Environmental Liability Insurance policy is just in beginning. Only a few insurance companies can underwrite Environmental Liability Insurance, and just a few regulations ask industry to insure Environmental Liability Insurance or encourage doing so. Environmental Protection Administration in order to deal with environmental problems, develop Draft Law of Environmental Liability, including insurance of environmental liability, until now this draft is not ready to put into practice. Environmental Protection Administration had already investigated potential pollution of gas stations. According to the result of investigation, soil and groundwater pollution liability insurance had been established. It can be purchased by gas station industry now. Insurance company can assemble similar pollution potential industry, in order to provide various Environmental Liability Insurance. Even further, all kind of industry environmental problem can be solved by Environmental Liability Insurance. According to experience of foreign country and local regulation, there are three key points to promote Environmental Liability Insurance. First, insurance company must have ability to underwrite Environmental Liability Insurance. It needs time to develop environmental risk database and ability of insurance company. Second, the policy must have short-term and long-term planning. Industry can choose purchase Environmental Liability Insurance at the first time, in order to reduce opposition of industry. After that it can enforce all industry to purchase when all elements are ready to meet the long-term policy. Third and the last, about Draft Law of Environmental Liability, Environmental Liability Insurance should been placed in top priority than other issue. In order to achieve consensus, Government should gather multi-profession to discuss and product the solution of environmental problem. It is the only way to put Law of Environmental Liability into practice. Key Word: Environmental Liability Insurance, Draft Law of Environmental Liability, Regulations Governing Collection of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fees

碩士
實踐大學
企業創新與創業管理研究所
97
Title of Thesis: Environmental Uncertainties and Entrepreneurship Research Name of Institute: Graduate Institute of Management Fu Jen Catholic University Name of Student:Hui Pen ChangTT Advisor: TDr. Po Wen Tsai Total Page: 79 Abstract Factors that affect entrepreneurs , such as entrepreneurs inherent quality of character and knowledge will affect the success or failure of business. The motive of this study is to see if there is any relationship between the external environment of business uncertainties and the entrepreneurial activities . An increasingly complex environment uncertainties is an important factor multiplier. In this paper, uncertainties on the environment of the classification and measurement, as well as environmental uncertainty and the theory of entrepreneurial activity are important business points of view . 　　Successful entrepreneurs do not always base on the clear business objectives to choose the appropriate means to achieve the strategic objectives of business. At the same time, their researches also show that the process of entrepreneurship is the continuous process of trial and error. In this paper, under such a perspective on a variety of environmental uncertainties and practical dimensions of micro-entrepreneurs as the research object, use the depth interviews to verify the relevant topics. The main proposition in the study: in different circumstances, a variety of environmental factors can impact the operator summary in environmental awareness and sensitivity, as well as a variety of entrepreneurs in response to uncertainties capacity. In this study, the use of the above-depth interview research methods is important.The research is for micro-entrepreneurs.Through depth interviews, the induction draw some conclusions that the uncertainties of environmental micro-entrepreneurs have far-reaching effects. Keywords: business environment, environmental uncertainty, entrepreneurial activities

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
設計研究所
101
Environment Signage Design acts an important role in out life, they just like an GPS to help us understand where we are. Environment Signage Design is not only about the looking style, it also should include information and meaning of culture. Signage Design should relate with environment. The major goal for this study is to better understand the relationship between signage and human sense, and I used Children Educational Environment to be an example. In this study, I made chart by research of international children signage systems and analyzed it to get results about characteristic of children usage. Those researches are the basic principle of this study and I hope the conclusion of this study could be a reference for future researcher. Before designers start to design signage, it is important to understand culture and information of the environment. Every different signage has differents characteristics and standard and those differences need to be care about by designer, therefor, user can have a connection with environment. In order to have a best connection of environment and user, designers need to define a clear stander of type, color, images, language, materials, etc. Those rules are important and necessary for a successful Environment Signage Design.

碩士
國立臺北大學
資源管理研究所
89
Abstract By the ways of observation and investigation as well as the Production Space Theory by Lefebvre, Shen-Mu (神木村) villagers’ environmental risk perception of debris flow has been probed into in this research. It is discovered that in the Production Space Theory, “Spatial Praxis” and “Space of Representation” can be used to explain the environmental risk of debris flow in the aspect of society, and that “Spatial Praxis” and “Representation of Space” can be taken to explicate the villagers’ environmental risk perception. Shen-Mu village was built in the history of making camphor balls. Owing to the rapid growth of economy in Taiwan these years, Shen-Mu village, on the edge position of Taiwan society, has been easily confronting the environmental risk, as Beck (1992) said, “Risk has tendency to flow downwards.” Shen-Mu village was the last village on “New Central Horizontal Highway (新中橫公路).” Its position, on the edge of society, makes it more easily suffer risk that is brought by the “reflexive of modernization.” And the formation of the position is not made simply for a day but via a long process of time. When the knowledge power from outside society arbitrarily put the pressure of “environmental risk” on the villagers, under the historical complex and self-pity emotion, they request the indemnification of agricultural products by the means of “events of debris flow disasters.” Furthermore, they claim their ownership of the land. The dynamic power of risk thus unveils in the “Representation of Space.” In the research, it is discovered that Shen-Mu villagers tend to reason themselves the cause of debris flow disasters since they have been suffering the disasters for a long time. Therefore, there is an obvious gap about the concept of environmental risk between the villagers and the “outside” society. Under the pressure of their space being allocated, villagers have to struggle with the environments for the living, which reveals their sense of urge for catching up with the pace of the development of Taiwan economy. And thus their environmental risk perception divulges in their daily life. As Xiao Xin-huang (蕭新煌，1987) said, “Victims of natural disasters will learn from the experience of disasters and develop an ability of dealing with the disasters in daily life.” Similarly, Shen-Mu villagers tend to do so, and easily ignore the harms that disasters would bring and decrease the environmental risk perception.

碩士
國立中山大學
企業管理學系研究所
100
The Green factory mark system validated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs will be officially launched in 2012. The assessment of green plants covers not only in the prohibition of harmful substances during the manufacturing process, reduction of unnecessary waste and promotion of environmental protection policies, but also extends to the whole supply chain from raw materials, parts suppliers to proceed with the environmental protection policies, and ultimately helps to achieve the objective of the green supply chain. However, there are no related laws to require part suppliers to adhere to green production plant objective currently in car industry. This study focuses on how customers affect and influence suppliers’ environmental commitment based on its own environmental strategies and environmental performance requirements. The study is mainly from the constructs of customer’s environmental strategy and customer’s environmental performance requirements which includes moderators of contract, evaluation, and encouragement to investgae the relationship with suppliers environmental commitment. The study takes 246 suppliers of Honda Taiwan Motor Co., Ltd as sampling and utilizes Likert five-level scaling method from 1 to 5, from 「Strongly disagree」、「Disagree」、「Neither agree nor disagree」、「Agree」、「Strongly agree」to confirm hypothesises of the study. According to the results of this study, the predictive factors for improving suppliers’s environmental commitment are customer environmental performance requirements; customer environmental strategy and contract in order. The statistical results are significant. In other words, suppliers will raise its environmental commitment according to its major customers’ environmental performance requirements and environmental strategies. Suppliers also agree that contract restrictions signed with major customers would enhance and raise its environmental commitment. The study takes Honda Taiwan Motor Co., Ltd. as an example trying to see how to raise suppliers’ environmental commitment without any laws reinforcement and expects to set the standard for other companies in Taiwan.

碩士
南華大學
環境管理研究所
89
Abstract This investigation focuses the attribution in Taiwanese environmental protection organizations and their trends in environment concerns. Since the environment problems are increasing seriously, the conscious of environment protection are stronger followed the information develop and spread. We still have no efficiency functions to solve the entanglements even now. The sufferers always depend on their own efforts without compromise, and cause the society’s great damage. Scholar Jiunn-Shiow Wang（1999）thought, the roles research of neutrality form is of great worth in Taiwanese environmental protection organizations. We use the content analysis and Questionnaire survey in this research at the same time and the results are showed below: 1.Most of the 51 environment protection organizations are registered or located in the northern Taiwan, and independent to each other. The ratio of full-time position to voluntary is 1:2. 2.Taiwanese environmental protection organizations are most concern in nature conservation and less concern in environmental pollution of the five problem levels. 3.Most Taiwanese environmental protection organizations are most concern the water pollution and land improper acts. Even the natural resources exhausted, air pollution and environmental pollution are also in serious danger. 4.From the action in environment protection organizations, the internal and external pressures are almost the same. 5.The civil environment protection organizations play the educator and detector roles in environmental protection. They also play the roles in moderator, educator. We are all expecting Taiwanese environment organizations play the intermediary and moderator role in the future environmental entanglements. 6.Trends in environment concern are high related to role perform exactly. It means different roles have different attribution in environment concern. 7.From the Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Analysis data. Attribution in Science and technology is great different to conservation of nature. Attribution in economical development is great different to conservation of nature. And attribution in environmental pollution concern is different to the policy. 8.From One Way AVONA, there is no remarkable difference of exercise performance in all of the environment protection organizations. From the Scheffe Rule of Post Hoc Tests, the exercises in different environment protection organizations have different performance. 9.From the Scheffe Rule of Post Hoc Tests, we found great attribution differences from the environmental protection organizations, especially in the environment concern.

博士
國立臺灣師範大學
化學系
104
"Environmental hormone" refers to exogenous chemicals that interfere with endocrine organism. These chemicals may mimic native hormones and bind with hormone receptor. The impact is to change the content of hormones or direct stimulation, inhibition of the endocrine system, endocrine system disorders, thereby impeding the reproductive, developmental and other functions, even extinctions caused by cancer and harm. For example, some of commonly used plasticizer phthalate esters (PAEs), which have been restricted around the world such as: Japan, the United States, and the European Union as suspected endocrine disrupting substances. Due to the development of its petrochemical industry and oil refining, they may be easily transferred to human bodies through inhalation or ingestion. In 2011, Taiwan has an outbreak of food plasticizer event which causes the harm for numerous people health and international attentions. In this research, phthalates, triclosan (TCS), and 4-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) have been detected in various matrices such as soil, water, daily life products by using our developed analytical schemes. The technique, stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), is the approach of solid phase micro-extraction (SPME). This approach uses less solvent and sample amount to achieve the goal of greener, simpler, and environmental friendly of analytical method. The targeted analytes could be rapidly determined with limits of quantification (LOQs) ranging from 1.2 (DBP) to 90.8 (DEHP) ng/mL in real samples such as bottled waters, personal care products, soaps, lotions, and urine. The developed analytical scheme is solvent-saving, efficient, and capable of fast screening samples for these common endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In the further, we hope it can be expectedly utilized for the material approach in the methods of dispersive SPE) or QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe). The most common way of human exposure to environmental hormones is indirect ingestion of contaminated food. Although the new age types of product announced that there were non-toxic plasticizers inside, our research results indicate that up to 10 different plasticizers were detected in 22 samples even in non-PVC food wraps through the developed GC-MS method. We even discovered the non-targeted plasticizers present in the certain samples. We used subcritical water with the conditions of 250℃、100 bar to treat the PAE-contaminated soils for the remediation process. Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) coupled with HPLC-UV were utilized for the evaluation of removal efficiencies. The results indicated removal efficiency ranges of 80–90% for PAEs spiked in soil samples. In this research, most common matrices such as waters, soils, and life products were selected to be samples for the development of analytical method. Unfortunately, some of targeted environmental hormones were presented in different sample sources, which showed that the developed analytical schemes were suitable and permanent for those various samples. Nowadays, there are contaminates and chemicals around our surrounding, we hope the development of analytical scheme can be more precise, greener for the applications of life science.

碩士
國立東華大學
自然資源與環境學系
105
Environmental volunteering group in Hualien County was created 17 years ago. Since 2000, the environmental volunteers have been cleaning up beaches, mountains, streets and recycling resources. In 2004, new teams started to scout rivers to prevent the potential pollution. In 2007, other volunteers were trained to serve as office guides. Finally in 2010, these three teams were integrated and restructured into an “Environmental Volunteering Group, Hualien County”. Nonetheless, as time goes by, several problems emerged. The average age of volunteers were gradually increasing and volunteers started to feel stale when conducting the routine work of environmental cleaning and recycling. Furthermore, environmental issues have become more and more complicated, which makes the volunteers feel unable to fulfill the expectation of society. Therefore, activation of organization and innovation are required for this group to move on. To solve the problem, action research was applied in this study. An action research team was formed in 2016-2017 to engage in four stages of process, namely problem diagnosis, strategy searching, action and reflection/revision. For the first stage, a survey aimed at strengthening and activating environmental volunteering group was conducted to help diagnose the root causes of problem of organization management, and searching for alternative solutions. For the second stage, the strategies for change were decided by action research group. As for the third stage, the structure of volunteering group was reorganized, and a new environmental education ambassador team was recruited and trained. The logistics for operating ambassador team were also addressed. For the fourth stage, the alternatives for future improvement and development for volunteering group were proposed based on result of in-depth interviews of ambassador and reflections of action research group. The research revealed the issue why the environmental volunteering group failed to function well on environmental service is due to the dysfunction of organization management and lack of innovation as well as integration ability. Hence, through evaluation process of internal administration, the Environmental Protection Bureau, Hualien County has progressively solved the problem by reelecting commanders, extending deputy commander position and creating of environmental education ambassador service team. Some initiativeshave started to show positive effects on environmental volunteering group; however, there should be more capacity building programs for volunteering group and more monitoring process on examining the interaction, linkage and integration between volunteers and ambassadors. In addition, how to engage more appropriately a professional group to help adjusting operation model that can drive both teams of environmental volunteering group and environmental education ambassadors toward more sustainable management is also needed to be thought of carefully in the next step.

碩士
國立中正大學
課程研究所
102
The purpose of study was to discover the track of how nature environment inspired environmental education course through different methods such as analyzing course development structure under various circumstances, vision construction, course development, course operation and course evaluation to understand the problem, effect, introspection and result on driving environmental education in order to provide relevant data and reference to participates in the field of environmental education. To achieve the purposes above, this research would adopt Case Study method by interviewing various participants who had related with environmental education development within Fushan Research Center, Forestry Research Institute. The interview would also combined with third-party observation and profile evaluation before processed data analysis, evaluate and summarize. According to this research, I had concluded following results as below: 一、During field analysis stage this research indicated that the team leader and members of Fushan Research Center did not discuses and analysis the advantages and disadvantages of research field. As the concluded results pointed that the advantage of Fushan Research Center was its nature and friendly eco-environment, plentiful research results, free entrance and experimental in eco-environmental events. For the disadvantages site, including location, traffic, tour number restriction, no independent finance and professional resources that these could all be solved and turned into advantages for used and attracted points. 二、For further construction stage, Fushan Research Center had not won the support from management level regarding its environmental course development. As the result, the development and plan for further goal and target did not process, moreover, team members were hold different prospects for the development, which caused unstable atmosphere around. In the point, they can only relied on current resources and budget based on their leaders given to take further step. 三、On the course development stage it adopted a way to corporate with education institute to build up a basic model, which include course content, practice course for teachers, course design and trial course, and adjust it through members from institute to process further trial course to reach the complete of course proposals. During the corporation, teachers, leaders and members of institute could not align theirs course concepts which lead a lake process to the goal which center set, furthermore resulted in a huge different between course design concepts and in practice. 四、During the course practice stage, through the corporation with elementary school, this research had not provided the exact practice contents and information, relevant resource and practice demonstration and students’ attitudes and learning atmosphere which has been seen as three major effect to the course process. The adjustment had been made included increase observation and common period, decrease explain time and method. 五、In course evaluation stage, Fushan Research Center had been hold various events like Fushan deep breath, 福山植物人and 福山真水劇場courses to describe specific course targets and evaluation methods which demonstrated the basic model. However, it did not provide more specific recommendation regarding data collection, summary mechanism and presentation of teaching results. After study three courses, the results demonstrated that students had positive increased their sense and attitude toward environmental values. In conclusion, researcher had proposed this unofficial environmental course to the field for study and reference for Fushan Research Center, authority level, courses development department and further research use.

碩士
國立中興大學
環境工程學系所
94
Environmental Engineer''s system of our country has already had quite a long time,Cause is changed fast in the domestic construction environment, cause engineer''s system to produce a great deal of questions of using on the practice in recent years. Not only having a lot of technological questions to still treat improvement, it is urgent to also has many and must cooperate and revise in the relevant decree of the policy. This main purpose of research lies in probing into the current connected law, regulations ,examine environmental engineer’s system, and with the discussion and investigating of documents, finding out about the present situation of engineer’s operation of environmental Engineer, its operation predicament faced lie in the visa remuneration is relatively low relatively , so under the malignant competition, its visa quality goes from bad to worse. The decree system that the reason of probing into its has nothing more than already had is limited, the engineer’s own operation quality is different , the concept that the market and competent authority should be responsible for to engineer’s visa is not clear, malignant competition and between competent authority and decree or manpower that follow-up check ,etc. apparent to raise mechanism of technician. And because the visa remuneration is low, the visa becomes a mere formality, is not carried out this business in person by the technician, cause a few people to contract in a large amount at low price, match engineer and carry on the visa again, make the due quality of the visa file unable to promote all the time . In the present society of our country,the doctor and lawyer have its certain societies to make a reservation, relatively respected too. But it is equally special job and the technical staff''s ring engineering technician to review, there are certain visa markets in engineer’s classification, but because operation quality is unable to promote and malignant competition, cause the visa to become the form , can''t implement mechanism of checking on of visa, so social status generally high to let environmental protection to be competent authority impressions good. Advanced revision of environmental engineer’s visa rule now,and engineer’s society of environmental project of Taiwan Professional environmental engineer association is commissioned water pollution permit censorship of all counties and cities, namely hope through examining the mechanism , set up the quality of permitting the file , expect the engineering technician of the ring to realize this reform opportunity , selfdiscipline , and show professional ability , compiling quality and supervising of real improvement environmental protection file , expect too that engineer’s operation environment of environmental construction can be improved greatly in the future , the status of the environmental engineer can be improved further too.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
環境教育研究所
89
Abstract One of the ultimate goals of environmental education is to solve present and future environmental problems; however, environmental actions to save the planet are affected by people’s environmental awareness and attitudes. Therefore, to nurture students’ environmental awareness is a key step for preparing their environmental actions. However, most of previous researches on environmental awareness are confined in the awareness of environmental problems in cognitive or psychomotor domains. There are few studies focusing on the affective domain and the beauty of urban nature and creatures. For environmental education in school, there are few programs designed to arouse students’ environmental awareness. So, the purposes of this research are as followed: 1. To figure out the content of environmental awareness through activities of interpreting what students are aware of on school grounds. 2. To figure out students’ development through designed activities of environmental awareness and advantages and disadvantages of activities. 3. To figure out difficulties and progress in practicing activities of environmental awareness from the perspective of teachers. The research was proceeded for a semester with qualitative methodology. The activities were designed into subjective and casual parts for 33 fifth-grade students in a big urban school by two participants and a researcher. The researcher observed, interviewed students, and collected recordings, field notes / research diaries, dialogue journals and activity sheets of students as data to be analyzed and interpreted. Triangulation was adopted to increase the research validity. The findings show that the content of environmental awareness can be categorized into four sets: existence, appearance, affection, and reflection. Teachers can arouse students’ environmental awareness by inquiry, share, encouragement, longstanding contact with nature. Activities can be refined by designing them more lively and experientially, and enhancing students’ motives to try. Students make progress in their abilities of environmental awareness, group cooperation, and having better relationship with nature and people. This research suggests teachers need to acquire more professional knowledge and pedagogy in environmental awareness education, abilities of adapting to changes. It’s also important for teachers to emphasize on student-first education and fellows learning. Keywords: environmental awareness, environmental education, experiential education

碩士
國立勤益科技大學
機械工程系
103
This research applied Microsoft Studio Visual C ++ to design a window interface for controlling the i-90 robot. The infrared sensors and sonar sensors were used to sense the environmental information and identify the size and distance of obstacles. The main function for sonar sensors is to avoid the obstacles and to recognize the target position. In this research, three sonar sensors were installed in the front side, the right side, and the left side of the robot, respectively. The Visual C++ window interface was used to plan the robot’s trajectories as a rectangular cosed path. Consequently, the distances between the environment obstacles and the robots were measured. The gathered data was then used to recognize the unkown circumstance and to setup the environment’s map.

碩士
國立清華大學
幼兒教育學系
105
This study is a kindergarten teacher’s action on improving young children’s environmental education design and practice. By using the circling process of plan-act-observe-reflect, the acting teacher worked with children and her colleagues to examine the goals, curricular design and teaching strategies of environmental education of a class of 3- and 4-years-olds, hoping to improve children’s perception and caring of their environment. When selecting our education goals, we considered children’s age, the main purpose of environmental education, and the core abilities in Taiwan’s new curricular standards for young children. Our goals were developing children’s perceptions and caring of their environment. We employed the growing process of rice to illustrate the progress of our curriculum. Our teaching strategies focused on providing various opportunities for autonomous, hands-on activities for 3- and 4-year-olds in order to enhance their first-hand experiences with rice and its surroundings. Our study found that (1) Choosing the appropriate goals is important, and (2) A constant adjustment of teaching strategies is necessary. Finally, we suggest that (1) Teachers should choose environmental issues that they consider important in young children’s life, (2) Teachers should examine the availability of resources before they decide their teaching theme, and (3) Look for professional support from ones colleagues.

碩士
國立勤益科技大學
化工與材料工程系
106
This study aims to understand the pollution generated during the manufacture of the precision components. Analyze and estimate the environmental impact of the materials, packaging, processing power and transportation of tapered roller bearings and precision lock nuts. Three types of tapered roller bearings and three precision lock nut samples were used in this study. Use the power supplied by the power generation method in Taiwan for the manufacture process, and use the database data in the life cycle SimaPro software related to environmental impact. The impact of samples on environmental impact is explored by the industry's in-house manufacturing analysis. The analysis results show that the tapered roller bearing and the precision solid nut sample material have considerable influence on human health and consume no life resources. For packaging materials, there are also consumptions that affect human health and resources. The transportation process when raw materials are imported must not neglect the impact on human health, also the impact of non-cancer on human health, water resource, ecotoxicity and global warming. The results of this study can help manufacturers in Taiwan understand the environmental impact of the manufacture of precision lock nut and tapered roller bearing products. And let the industry think further and improve.

碩士
樹德科技大學
電腦與通訊系碩士班
107
In Kaohsiung City, the outdoor air quality has deteriorated over the years. Air quality become one of the greatest environmental issues in the Kaohsiung city. This research project designed a complete micro-environment monitoring system. In the experiment, Arduino Mega 2560 was used as the core of the environment sensing network system. The obtained micro-environmental monitoring data such as temperature, humidity, PM2.5 dust concentration and CO2 concentration, is saved by a SD card. the sampling location is fixed in a classroom of the school. We took a continuous measurement at the position for 3 months from November 2018 to January 2019. According to the measurement results, the air quality of the campus is affected by the Ren Da Industrial Park and traffic condition nearby. The experimental results show that a green wall improve air quality and reduce about 10% of PM2.5.

碩士
國立臺北大學
法學系
93
After the industrial revolution, the governments of various countries are devoted to economic development. Under the priority of economic policy, the environmental protection problem is neglected seriously. However, because the environmental problems possess characteristics of technological complication, extensive conflict of interests, the interests of future generation, and decision-making under uncertainties, the purpose of environmental protection can't be achieved by lawsuit. The purpose of environmental protection could be more effective by deliberating in advance. In essence, Environmental Impact Assessment is a process, a systematic process that examines the environmental consequences of develop actions in advance. The emphasis comparing with many other mechanisms for environmental protection is on prevention. After adopting Environmental Impact Assessment in 1994, many develop actions have implemented the process of Environmental Impact Assessment, but the practice of Environmental Impact Assessment has not achieved the purpose to reconcile dispute. On the contrary, people adopt all sorts of outside-the-system and rely on their selves’ relief instead. We wonder why an enactment of citizen participation in Environmental Impact Assessment can’t achieve the purpose to reconcile dispute. Has not the law of environmental impact assessment given an adequate opportunity to participate? Or is the content of the law not proper? The research focuses on the citizen participation in the environmental law. First of all, this article focuses on the definition of what citizen participation is. Then, we focus on the foundation of citizen participation of Environmental Impact Assessment on the constitution and the process of Environmental Impact Assessment. Chapter 5 mainly illustrates the necessity and the measure of citizen participation. Chapter 6 discusses about imperfection of citizen participation of Environmental Impact Assessment. Finally we propose the suggestion of citizen participation of Environmental Impact Assessment.

M.Sc.
Proteinases are involved in many cellular reactions involving protein degradation, such as degradation of storage proteins and protein degradation during senescence processes. Their action can be inhibited by proteinase inhibitors. Information is still limited about the regulation of these inhibitors in plants and their possible interaction with proteinases under stress conditions. To obtain a better understanding of the physiological role of a proteinase inhibitor in plants under stress, the expression of a papaya cysteine proteinase inhibitor (cystatin) and its relation to proteinase expression was investigated in more detail. For this purpose, expression of the inhibitor was studied in papaya plants exposed to different physiological stress conditions, such as high/low temperature, and treatment with selected chemicals, such as glutathione, OTC (L-2- Oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate), bestatin ([(2S, 3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxy-4-phenyl butanoylj-L-leu) and 2.4-D (2,4-dichiorophenoxyacetic acid). Using detection tools like activity gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting and enzymatic assays, the production of the cystatin under stress was monitored in different papaya explants, such as roots, leaves and embryos. Inhibitor production increased under different stress conditions when compared to untreated controls. However, this increase was not dramatic in any of the stresses applied. Exact quantification of the increase by using immunoblotting as the only specific tool to determine cystatin expression, was difficult. Neither activity gel electrophoresis nor enzymatic assays were successful to further quantify the exact cystatin levels. Higher cystatin expression was accompanied with a decrease in proteinase activity. Transgenic tobacco plants carrying the gene for a rice cystatin had a significantly lower cysteine proteinase activity when compared to non-transgenic tobacco plants after prolonged cold stress. Furthermore, protein degradation and leaf yellowing as a consequence of cold treatment were prevented in transgenic plants. An attempt to obtain a transformed papaya plant to study silencing of cystatin expression under stress was unsuccessful. In this study, the protective role of a cystatin in cold stress was described for the first time.

碩士
國立新竹教育大學
進修部音樂教學碩士班
93
This research has based classical music as the teaching material for the hearing environment, and its main objective is to test whether this approach is capable of achieving the environmental effect on teaching. The design of this kind of campus musical environment has originally coming from the aspiration of the campus teaching material in the subject of science that has been popularized in the elementary school setting, at the same time, it has combined with the concept that “Campus is the Classroom”, which with the intention of selecting appropriative classical music as the environmental teaching material for this “Large Classroom”, hopefully to construct a set of musical environmental design model that is feasible on elementary campus, which can be used as reference for the administrator to plan out the campus environment. This research has first discussed through the literary reviews with the intention of seeking a theoretical foundation for the environmental teaching, then to aim at the teachers and administration staff on the actual site of the education, in order to proceed with an interview for a qualitative investigation; which everyday would regularly broadcast a classical music through the broadcasting system as an experiment, then to conduct a quantification analysis comparison before and after the experiment. The research result has shown, the schools that have been advocating classical music as selection for environmental teaching, have actually been able to demonstrate the effect on environmental teaching, such as elevating the frequency for music appreciation after class; increase the students to express their association and affection for the music; and to indirectly improve classroom order and students’ concentration ability, etc. The affirmation that teachers have shown with regards to the artistic and educational value of classical music, and the relative degree of recognition that both the teachers and students have shown for the effect of classical music, which in promoting classical music as the environmental teaching, has become the greatest assistance. This research has based classical music as the design for the environmental teaching material, it has included principles on song selection, time schedule for the broadcast, length of time for the broadcast, number of times for broadcast a song, in doing so, hopefully this research can provide a referencing model for the elementary school in applying classical music as a way of promoting environmental education.