Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human-plant relationship'

Despite the considerable emphasis on improving maintenance reliability in the petroleum industry by adopting an engineering approach (International Standards Organization, 2006b), production losses, ineffective maintenance, and major disasters continue to occur (Urbina, 2010; Pidgeon, 2000). Analyses of these events have indicated that a failure to consider the human factors in the design (Taylor, 2007), operation (Øien, 2001a), or maintenance (Bea, 1998) of hazardous process technologies is often an important contributor. Based on research to evaluate the influence of these human factors on organisational performance, various models (Rasmussen, 1982; Dekker 2005) and taxonomies (Reason, 1998) for analysing organisational processes at the individual-, group- and organisational-level have been developed.By using these models, the current research was designed to determine the influence of human factors on maintenance reliability in petroleum operations. Three studies were conducted in petroleum operations with the objective in the first two studies of identifying the most-frequent contributors to maintenance-related failures, and in the third study, determining if group differences between higher and lower reliability work areas could be differentiated on the basis of these human factors.In Study 1, the First Priority incident database of the target organisation was used to determine the most frequently reported human factors in maintenance-related, lost-production failures. The most-frequent factors in the incidents (N=194) were found to be Violations, Design & Maintenance, Detection, and Decision-making. These results accorded with earlier studies in the field of human factors (Hobbs & Williamson, 2003; Lawton 1998), which frequently identified human error and violations as the causes of failures. Study 2 provided a more rigorous investigation of the organisational contributors to failures through structured interviews with maintenance personnel. The results of these interviews (N=38) using the Human Factors Investigation Tool (HFIT) (Gordon, 2005) demonstrated that Assumption, Design & Maintenance, and Communication were the most frequent contributors to maintenance-related failures.Based on the predominant factors identified in Study 2, a survey of the perceptions of maintenance personnel (N=178) was conducted for Study 3. Scales measuring Problem-solving (Morgeson & Humphrey, 2006) and Vigilance (Mann, Burnett, Radford, & Ford, 1997) were used to measure the processes that provoke assumptions. Design & Maintenance items from HFIT (Gordon, 2001), and scales from Wiio’s (1978 a&b) Organisational Communication Development questionnaire (OCD/2) were used to test the factors identified in Study 2. Exploratory Factor Analysis indicated that the responses to the Design & Maintenance items loaded onto a single variable, while the Communication items loaded onto two variables, which were named Job-related feedback and Information about change.The perceptions of personnel in lower and higher reliability work areas across the target organisation were compared using these scales, with reliability level ranked according to the monthly Mean Time Between Deferments of petroleum production. Significant between-group differences were found between work areas on Design & Maintenance and Problem-solving. These results suggest that better maintainability in the design of plant is predictive of higher reliability level. In addition, greater requirements for Problem-solving were associated with lower reliability level. There were no significant effects of reliability on Vigilance or either communication measure.The quantitative data was triangulated with comments in response to an open-ended question asking about factors that help or hinder maintenance activities. Respondent’s comments indicated that Communication was not significantly associated with reliability at the group-level. The reason appeared to be that Communication was an organisation-level property of the employing company. Many comments indicated that access to information was difficult, explaining the high occurrence of assumptions reported in Study 2. In addition, although maintenance personnel generally agreed in the survey that they were vigilant in decision-making, personnel in lower reliability facilities provided a higher proportion of comments indicating that the decision-making of supervisors and management had a negative impact on their work.The results of the three studies support past research demonstrating that problem-solving skills (Tucker, 2002) and the design of socio-technical facilities (Reiman, Oedewald & Rollenhagen, 2005) have an important influence on organisational performance. The findings further extend research in the field of human factors by demonstrating a significant relationship between these two factors and group-level performance. The findings also demonstrated the importance of organisational communication, but as an organisational-level dimension that might not influence group-level measures. This research has implications for organisations that operate complex, hazardous technologies and that are attempting to improve organisational processes by utilising a human factors approach.

Today, ecology-oriented thinking is increasing in people’s minds. However, urbanisation, with its accompanying character of environmental depletion, impacts on society, ecology, and economy. It makes me think about where places in nature are situated in our everyday lives. What is nature in our lives? In our mind now, how do we think about nature? My project, How Plants Think is to address the question how city inhabitants can begin to recognise a new way of looking at plants, the human relationship to nature in everyday life in the urban domestic space. This thesis examines the design field in the context of sustainability on the environmental and societal aspects. Observing relationships between humans and plants makes a different design perspective from emotion and design to posthumanism and design that enables designers to engage with complex issues. The resulting project displays a space where people to rethink about human-plant relationships, as well as the meaning of we, humans and nature, are tangled. It is not so much about design does itself, itis about what it can show us about what it has not been done.

As part of a multinational project and with the help of other professionals, I gathered and analyzed 110 samples of dental calculus (fossilized plaque) from human remains discovered at Paquimé and the Convento site in the Casas Grandes River valley to identify various microfossils still present in the silica matrix. Once identified, I used the results to reconstruct human/plant relationships present during the Viejo (700-1250 CE) and Medio (1250-1450 CE) periods in and around Paquimé. My data suggest that maize was used throughout both time periods, supplemented by wild plants, and possible marine resources. Further, evidence for cultural food modification methods such as fermentation, roasting, grinding, and nixtamalization (an alkaline treatment of the grain) was present. The data suggest prehistoric plant use went beyond simple subsistence, being modified for use as part of non-subsistence activities.

As knowledge about the constellating set of environmental and social crises stemming from the neoliberal global food regime becomes more pressing and popularized among US consumers, it has brought Indigenous actors asserting their political sovereignty and treaty rights with regards to their homelands into new collaborations, contestations, and negotiations with settlers in emerging food politics domains. In this dissertation, I examine solidarities and affinities being forged between Coast Salish and settler food actors in Puget Sound, attending specifically to how contested sovereignties are submerged but at play in these relations and how settler desires for belonging on and to stolen Indigenous lands animate liberal and radical food system politics. The dissertation presents my ethnographic fieldwork in South Puget Sound over a period of 18 months with two related Coast Salish food sovereignty projects that brought Indigenous and settler food actors into weedy collaborations. One was a curriculum development project for Native and regional youth focused on the revitalization of Coast Salish plant landscapes, knowledge, pedagogies, and systems of reciprocity. The other was a campaign to counter the introduction of genetically engineered salmon into US food markets and coastal production facilities across the Western Hemisphere, which I situate within longstanding salmon-centered social and political struggles in Coast Salish territories in the context of Indigenous/settler-state relations. Throughout these engagements, I identified how multicultural, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist food movement frameworks share in common with neoliberal nature privatization schemes modes of disavowing the geopolitics of Indigenous sovereignty within the US settler state. The research reveals patterns in how Coast Salish food actors push back against the ways settler food actors are plugged into settler colonial governmentality. These insights, in turn, helped to make legible how inherited liberal mythologies of the nation-state and legal orders rooted in the doctrine of terra nulliuslimit the stakes of food system work in terms of inclusion and equality, and miss their collusion with structures that unmake the human-land relationships that Coast Salish people define as existential and (geo)political. In my analysis, I engage Indigenous critiques of settler colonialism to complicate Marxian, Deleuzian, and Foucauldian analyses of North American alternative food politics, while doubling back to consider the ways the disavowal of ongoing Indigenous dispossession functions across these literatures and the social practices they influence, ultimately to consider how food-centered scholarship, environmentalism, and politics in North America stand to be transformed by what I argue is a Coast Salish ‘politics of refusal’. This project is unique in attending to how settler colonial theory, Indigenous critical theory, and Indigenous politics in North America enrich and complicate the literatures provincializing the Nature-Culture divide, as well as a largely Marxian and antiracist critical food studies literature. It contributes to settler colonial studies as a project of redefinition for the study of US politics and society while specifically bringing that interdisciplinary project into the ambit of North American critical food studies scholarship.

Looking at the use of plants as food reflects how humankind has fashioned nature. There has been a significant change in production patterns from hunter-gathering through subsistence agriculture to technologically advanced commercial agriculture with a subsequent reduction in the diversity of plants used as food. A parallel trend in consumption patterns has occurred, from home-based food processing for subsistence through small- scale production to large-scale industrial processing and the commodification of food. The overall result of such trends is a narrowing of the food resource base and an increasing reliance on processed foods at the expense of traditional diets, accompanied by increasing diet-related health risks. This research is an ethnographic case study on the use of indigenous food plants by the community of Tuku A village in the Eastern Cape using interviews and observations as the main data collecting strategies. A nutritional analysis of some wild food plants was also carried out. An inventory of more than 70 food plant species was compiled, with the knowledge of such plants found among both the elderly and the youth. The incorporation of this knowledge into education systems is recommended. Of the wild food plants documented, some were non-indigenous indicating the dynamic nature of indigenous knowledge. Some wild spinach were left to grow amongst cultivated food plants, hinting at some form of ‘domestication’ in process. This observation together with the observation that wild fruit trees were selectively conserved highlights the possibility of the continued use of wild food contributing to conservation of botanical diversity. Community use of indigenous food was found to be diminishing. Stigmatisation of indigenous food plants, urbanisation, formal education, changes in lifestyle, and media were some of the factors possibly influencing this dietary shift. The community made links between diet and health, which correspond to modern scientific knowledge, with modern diet being lamented for ill health. The nutritional analysis revealed that wild food plants do contain essential dietary nutrients, an area recommended for further research.

The project was initiated by Eastern Cape Parks (ECP) as a request for the construction of inventories of priority species and their population levels inside three nature reserves on the Eastern Cape Wild Coast, South Africa, and to develop a strategic management plan to manage these natural resources in each reserve. Thirty key species were identified by local communities in and around Dwesa-Cwebe, Silaka and Mkambati Nature Reserves through community workshops. For forested areas belt transects of 100 m x 6 m where used. The basal circumference of key tree species within the belt transect was measured as well as the height of saplings (height < 150 m). Tree species were categorized based on densities, size class distribution (SCD) curves and values, and spatial grain. For grassland areas straight transects of 200 m long were used, along which ten 3 m x 3 m quadrates were placed at 20 m intervals. Within each grassland transect the height of herbs or tuft diameter of grasses was recorded and percentage cover estimated. Grassland species were categorized based on density, SCD curves and percentage cover. All species were placed into harvesting categories based on analysed ecological data that was collected in the field. Category 1 species were very rare or not found in the reserve and it was recommended that species be conserved and monitored. Category 2 species had low densities in the reserve indicating declining populations and was suggested that these be monitored and not harvested. Category 3 species had high densities and have potential for harvesting with strict limitations. Category 4 species were most abundant with very high densities and can be harvested within management guidelines. These categories were grouped further using social and ecological data such as harvesting risk, frequency of collection, use value and number of uses. This highlighted which species have conservation priority within each category and a decision can be made as to how intense or limited extraction should be. By incorporating GIS the distribution of each species was looked at and harvesting and non-harvesting zones established to determine where species can be extracted. Monitoring plans must consider the quantity of plant material collected, fire regimes, optimal harvesting rates and harvesting zones, and be able to pick up changes in populations. Also, it is important that the community be involved in conserving and monitoring these species. Adaptive monitoring and management must be used to steer harvesting practices in the Wild Coast reserves. This allows for the development of harvesting practices through ‘learning by doing’, and the evolution of good questions to guide monitoring decisions

Les populations du nord du Gabon consomment 39 taxons de champignons. Pour mieux connaître les taxons consommés et collecter des informations sur leur écologie, une étude fondée sur les connaissances mycologiques traditionnelles de ces populations et des observations de terrain a été entreprise dans les provinces de l’Ogooué-Ivindo et du Woleu-Ntem situées dans le nord du pays. Au cours de cette étude basée sur une enquête ethnomycologique menée sur les axes routiers Makokou-Mékambo et Oyem-Minvoul, ainsi que dans les villages pygmées des environs, deux cents personnes dont les Pygmées Baka et Bakoya, et les Bantu Fang, Kota et Kwélé ont été interrogées (100 personnes par province visitée).

Cette étude a permis non seulement d'établir la correspondance entre les noms scientifiques et les noms vernaculaires attribués aux champignons dans les cinq langues locales étudiées, mais aussi de recueillir d'autres informations liées aux connaissances mycologiques traditionnelles des populations enquêtées. Des descriptions macroscopiques et microscopiques détaillées ont été faites pour tous les taxons inventoriés.

L’étude a également révélé qu’il existe des différences significatives tant en ce qui concerne le nombre de taxons que les quantités de champignons consommés par les différents groupes ethniques: les Pygmées vivant uniquement de la chasse et de la cueillette consomment 96% des taxons inventoriés et des quantités élevées de champignons (environ 3 kg / jour / famille). Les Bantu vivant à l’écart de ces derniers consomment également des quantités de champignons assez élevées (environ 2 kg / jour / famille) mais un nombre réduit de taxons (56% des taxons inventoriés pour les Fang; 69% pour les Kota; 39% pour les Kwélé). Par contre, les Bantu vivant à proximité des Pygmées connaissent et consomment un grand nombre de taxons (environ 90% des taxons inventoriés) mais mangent de plus faibles quantités de champignons que leurs congénères éloignés des Pygmées (environ 800 g / jour / famille).

Plus généralement, l’étude a montré que les connaissances mycologiques traditionnelles de ces populations varient en fonction de l’activité pratiquée, de l’âge, de l’ethnie et du sexe. Les meilleures connaissances mycologiques sont détenues par les chasseurs et les pêcheurs qui identifient environ 80% des taxons. Chez les Pygmées, les connaissances mycologiques des hommes et des femmes sont très diversifiées et identiques, alors que chez les Bantu, les femmes connaissent mieux les champignons (plus de 50% des taxons identifiés) que les hommes (à peine 30% des taxons identifiés). Cependant, quel que soit le groupe ethnique, les représentants de la population active connaissent mieux les champignons (85% des taxons identifiés) que les jeunes et les personnes du troisième âge (environ 30% des taxons identifiés).

Les champignons les plus appréciés par ces populations appartiennent au genre Termitomyces dont les espèces les plus recherchées sont T. fuliginosus, T. robustus et T. microcarpus.

Une étude comparative des champignons consommés au Gabon et dans d’autres pays d’Afrique tropicale a montré que les champignons consommés au Gabon le sont également au Bénin, au Burundi, au Cameroun, en République centrafricaine, en RD Congo, au Malawi, en Tanzanie… et que, après la RD Congo (21 taxons inventoriés), le Gabon présente la plus grande diversité de taxons consommés dans le genre Cantharellus (14 taxons inventoriés). Par contre, sur une trentaine de taxons de Termitomyces signalés en Afrique tropicale, le Gabon est le pays qui présente la plus faible diversité (7 taxons inventoriés).

Une compilation des données bibliographiques a révélé que le nombre de champignons symbiontes comestibles signalés en Afrique tropicale est de loin plus élevé en forêt claire qu’en forêt dense (12 taxons de chanterelles sur les 28 inventoriés en Afrique tropicale sont propres à la forêt claire contre 2 taxons à la forêt dense; 15 taxons de Termitomyces sur 30 sont propres à la forêt claire contre 5 taxons à la forêt dense).

Mots-clés: champignons comestibles, Pygmées, Bantu, ethnomycologie, Gabon

Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Trees in natural forests are widely known for their essential contribution to rural livelihoods in developing countries, providing both consumptive and non-consumptive products to rural inhabitants. These benefits are also obtained from trees in urban forests and used by urban households. In the past decades, the role of urban trees to urban livelihoods, municipalities, local and global environment has often been overlooked by researchers and development agencies, and hence are poorly documented, especially in Africa. In South Africa, the increase in urbanisation and urban poverty means many urban residents are expected to be dependent on trees and tree products from homesteads, neighbourhoods and edges of towns. There is however a paucity of literature on the potential of trees in sustaining livelihoods and poverty alleviation in urban areas. This study determined the magnitude and nature of the direct contribution of trees and tree products to local livelihoods in different urban residential areas (informal, Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), and township) in three South African towns (Tzaneen, Bela Bela and Zeerust) which cover a rainfall gradient from relatively higher (775 mm p.a.) to low (575 mm p.a.). The results showed that most (90%) households had an interest in planting and managing trees on homesteads, given the high proportion (71%) of residents who had planted trees on their homesteads. The abundance of trees followed the moisture gradient, with Tzaneen having a larger share (46.4%) of trees, followed by Bela Bela (27.5%) and Zeerust (26.1%). Larger plots in the informal residential area accounted for the larger proportion (42.8%) of trees on homesteads, followed by the township (32.9%) and RDP households being the least because they were recently established. Tree density was also higher in the high rainfall town but the pattern did not follow the moisture gradient between Bela Bela and Zeerust due to little rainfall difference. However, tree density across residential areas was similar to the proportion of trees on homesteads in residential areas. The most common tree species were alien, and mainly exotic fruit trees made up two-thirds of the trees encountered. Most households collected various products from urban trees, particularly fuelwood, from edges of towns. This was especially by households with lower cash income. However, fruits were collected from homesteads regardless of the wealth status. Tree products had a significant contribution to the total annual household income, with fuelwood alone contributing up to R5 663 per household per annum, equivalent to two-three month household cash income. Tree products added 20% to total household income, which represents the amount of money households save by collecting tree products for free. Therefore, trees within and around urban areas contribute significantly to livelihoods and reduce poverty in urban areas. There is need therefore to encourage urban residents to plant trees on homesteads and policy makers to come up with policies that promote sustainable harvesting of tree products from areas surrounding urban areas.

The recognition of the close link between the lifestyles of 'indigenous' and 'local' people and biodiversity is widely acknowledged as crucial, not only for the survival of biological diversity but also for the protection of cultural diversity. Most discussions centre on the argument that cultural diversity can, through a wide variety of uses and practices, sustain and conserve biodiversity, particularly in many developing countries. However, local people's relationship with natural landscapes and the extent to which they value biodiversity has not been fully explored and is in most cases misunderstood, which in fact undermines the bio-cultural diversity link. This misunderstanding exists primarily because the majority of environmental or ecological research conducted so far has been oriented towards economic valuation, in quantifying the estimated value of plants and fauna utilised by local people. As a result, biodiversity is primarily treated as a commodity, with wild harvested plant products being classified as either having subsistence, or commercial and medicinal value. This approach is narrow and conceals the critical, profound noneconomic values of biodiversity among local communities in everyday life. Literature indicates that biodiversity and natural landscapes also include less tangible values such as spiritual, cultural, psychological and social values (e.g., sense of place, place attachment, and psychologically restorative effects) which are crucial to human well-being. This suggests that human-nature interaction is complex, and that the meanings and values that people ascribe to natural landscapes cannot be solely reduced to economic values. Nevertheless, to date, studies investigating these less tangible values have received little attention in South Africa. As a result, we have very little understanding of what local and indigenous communities value or appreciate with regard to natural landscapes, beyond their general economic significance. This study seeks to address this particular limitation by exploring non-economic values of natural landscapes and their significances to local people while illuminating the complexities inherent in human-nature interactions. I argue that the purely economic valuation of natural resources is simplistic and biased, and therefore does not represent the complete meaning and significance that natural resources may hold for local communities and households. Therefore, this study takes an innovative psychological approach to explore in detail the everyday lived experiences of the amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It seeks to investigate the cultural, spiritual, and psychological values that ordinary people attach to natural landscapes in the peri-urban and urban communities of Ndlambe Village l and Grahamstown respectively. This research also aims to study the general perceptions of and meanings ascribed to the natural landscape (referred to by the amaXhosa as ihlathi lesiXhosa). In addition, it carefully integrates the Phenomenological and Transactional approaches to investigate how the amaXhosa engage, interact, and find meaning within the natural landscape. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of such landscape experiences on local people's spiritual and psychological well-being, demonstrating it link to bio-cultural diversity and conservation. The major findings in this study reflect that ihlathi lesiXhosa provides a place for peace and tranquillity to enhance psychological restoration. Moreover, ihlathi contributes towards redefining and strengthening personal and cultural identity; and provides spiritual satisfaction in everyday life. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that i!liathi lesiXhosa plays a profound role in both the personal and social lives of many amaXhosa in the Eastern Cape in that it appears to improve their lives. Therefore, the evidence in this study suggests that, among the amaXhosa, biodiversity and natural landscape management processes should not aim to address and promote ecologicallbiological and economic values in a compartmentalized manner independent of other social, cultural, psychological, and more specifically the spiritual values of these features. An increased understanding of these more intangible values and local people's value system of biodiversity could help towards implementing improved biodiversity conservation and landscape management strategies in South Africa. These insights would not only help us to address the challenges of the previous conservation framework but would also encourage a more inclusive, mutual benefiting process that respects local people's values and needs.

This work is a school-based case study conducted amongst learners of a rural High School and the immediate community in Whittlesea in the Eastern Cape where I teach. The research was conducted by using different research methods such as worksheets, questionnaires, interviews, practical activities and observations as well as photographs to investigate three indigenous wild local vegetable food plants (imifino). The fundamental assumption of the research is that, imifino can be looked after and cared for, to become valuable vegetable food plants which can be used as supplements to the cultivated vegetable food plants (umfuno). The question was: How could this concept be brought into the curriculum? It had also been assumed that bringing knowledge of imifino into curriculwn contexts could be of benefit to South African learners. The study produced a variety of findings: • There is a general feeling that those who eat imifino are the poor. • There is a lack of interest among women interviewed in the preparation process, for example going to pick the food plants from the fields, washing them and preparing the leaves as food. • AmaXhosa males look upon eating imifino with contempt. • Some males among the younger generation are beginning to overlook tradition and are eating imifino. • Inclusion of indigenous agricultural knowledge in the curriculum was supported by learners and community members. Learners have interest in knowing about indigenous food plants. • Learners feel as Africans that they must learn about the indigenous food plants in school in order not to lose knowledge of these plants completely. • The study also identified that interpretation of learning outcomes with an indigenous knowledge focus, requires careful attention to socio-cultural factors, and not just technical/ practical factors. Previous knowledge of learners and community members about imifino was mobilized to develop a sample OBE learning programme unit (LPU /Lesson plan) for the Grade 10 FET of Agricultural Science curriculum. The case study illustrates that Learning outcome 3 of the Agricultural Science subject can be achieved if educators involve learners and community members in developing learning programmes.

In the face of rapid urbanization and global climate change, urban trees and green spaces (UTGS) can contribute to the welfare of people and the urban environment. Urban trees and green spaces can assist to address urbanization challenges related to environmental degradation. While functions of UTGS have been well documented in the developed world, they have not yet received full attention in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, UTGS are under threat from urban development and fragmentation. Notably, the problems associated with UTGS also fall into the governance realm and indications are that poor governance and management of UTGS can negatively influence the potential benefits of UTGS to local people and the environment. This formed a basis for this research. The main objective of the study was to determine the current governance and management approaches to UTGS in South Africa. Through document search and review, the study determined the governance institutions influencing UTGS at national level and at provincial level (in the Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces). Face-to-face and online survey methods were used to determine the extent to which 28 local municipalities had adopted planned, systematic and integrated management of UTGS. The snowball approach was used to determine the key actors involved in UTGS activities and interviews were conducted to establish the roles and capabilities of these actors. A total of 540 household interviews were conducted to determine the institutional factors influencing local peoples’ ability to access, plant and use UTGS. The findings of the study showed that UTGS have not been adequately covered in existing governance institutions and practice at national and provincial levels. Local government municipalities were not managing their UTGS in a planned or systematic manner due to constraining factors such as insufficient funds, insufficient personnel, lack of equipment and lack of political support. Only 7.1 % of the surveyed municipalities had an urban tree management plan and an estimate of the urban tree stock; 32.1 % had tree policies; 28.6 % had tree bylaws; 21.4 % had tree planting schedules; 10.7 % had tree maintenance schedules and only 3.6 % had tree inspection schedules. Key actors involved in UTGS activities differed among levels of government. The actors included national and provincial government departments, local government municipalities, Non-Governmental Organizations, private sector companies and local volunteers. Most of the actors, however, either planted trees or provided tree seedlings to municipalities and the local people. Tenure security was a key institutional factor affecting peoples’ ability to plant, use or even remove trees from their residential plots. The same applied to trees in the streets and public parks. Whereas most respondents did not require permission to plant (79.8 %) or remove (75 %) trees on their residential plots, a majority of them required permission to plant and remove trees from streets (over 70 %) and public parks (over 80 %). However, with regard to planting and removing urban trees in public open spaces, 54% of the respondents indicated that permission was not required suggesting a lack of clarity among local residents on the issue. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that there is no political recognition and support for UTGS at almost all levels of government. This has resulted in the lack of incorporation of UTGS in urban planning and development and has caused UTGS to receive limited funding to permit planned and systematic management. Given the current rates of urbanization and urban development, the lowly prioritised UTGS are vulnerable to exploitation. To conserve UTGS and promote their potential contribution to local people and the environment, UTGS must be recognized and placed on political and development agendas. There is a need to develop national guidelines for UTGS management, assess the extent of the urban forest resource in local municipalities, clearly define the roles and capabilities of different actors, integrate UTGS in the urban planning and development system, and most of all seek to involve the local people in overall management and governance of UTGS.

碩士
國立陽明大學
科技與社會研究所
103
The present study attempts to describe the relationships between nature and human society by carefully reviewing the case of a solar power plant development program in the Yungan wetland. In this case, one party proposed to build a solar power plant in Yungan wetland for the purpose of reducing global carbon dioxide emissions, while another party fought against this proposal in order to maintain the ecological environment in the wetland. Through this controversial process, environmental and consumer groups reached a consensus of nature conservation, yet had different perspectives in terms of what a role of “Nature” should play in this event. Literature reviews showed evidence that when issues of nature conservation were discussed, they have only focused on the human actors, with lack of consideration for non-human actors. This dissertation uses Actor Network Theory, which also called Material Semiotics, and the categorized methods that were mentioned in the book of Geographies of Nature as theoretic models. This present study aims to draw an overall picture of interactions among human actors and non-human actors in the program of the Yungan wetland. We especially focus on the processes of cooperation, negotiation, and competition among local camps when they encountered issues of nature conservation, technology policy, and renewable energy. We also analyze the activities from non-human actors to gain multiple points of view to define the role of nature. Finally, we propose a network system to describe relationships between human and nature. Our conclusion also try to describe what perspective we should have when we face the environmental controversy which related to clean-energy technology system.

Adults associate their childhood with playing outdoors, often in natural settings. This type of free play is valuable to child development. Children tend to use outdoor play areas in physically active ways, and time spent outdoors relates positively to increased physical activity in children. However, children today are spending an increasing amount of time indoors rather than outdoors. Recent research has shown that the amount of time children spend in outdoor play is directly related to parental concerns about their children's exposure to outdoor hazards. The purpose of this project was to investigate the relationship between parental attitude toward nature and the development of fine and gross motor skills in young children. The sample for this study was drawn from parents of children ages 3 to 5 years old enrolled at one of two University Child Development Centers. The assessment tool used was composed of sections that ask parents about their attitudes toward nature, about their young children spending time outdoors, how much time their children actually spend in outdoor and indoor activities, and standard demographic questions. The childcare centers independently assessed d correlations and ANOVA. Results from this study indicated that parents had positive views toward nature and towards their child's recreation. Children who participated in certain indoor activities tended to score higher in the area of fine motor skills. However, children who spent more time indoors in free play had lower gross motor skill scores. Parents who scored better on the Parental Attitude toward Their Child's Outdoor Recreation scale reported that their child spent more time in outdoor free play and outdoor organized sports and activities. Parents preferred outdoor play spaces when compared to indoor play spaces and specifically those outdoor spaces that were constructed with more nearby natural components.

Since prehistoric times medicinal plants have been an invaluable source of medicinal preparations to mankind due to their respective chemical constituents. The family of the Mesembryanthemaceae is almost entirely endemic to southern Africa, and the subfamily Mesembryanthemoideae is a key source of previous reports of plants with traditional uses, both medicinal and culinary. In this thesis, phytochemical investigations were performed on a representative sample of the Mesembryanthemaceae genera and species, with emphasis on the subfamily Mesembryanthemoideae. The aims of this study were to record all ethnobotanical information on the medicinal and culinary uses of the Mesembryanthemaceae, and to isolate and identify alkaloids from selected taxa (especially those of medicinal interest) with specific emphasis on mesembrane alkaloids A review on the structural classification, biosynthesis and biological properties of the mesembrane alkaloids is presented in this dissertation. Experimentally, extracts of the 67 plants encompassing 15 genera and approximately 26 species which were investigated were prepared using one of two alkaloid extraction procedures, following which the extracts were screened for the presence of alkaloids by thin-layer chromatography. The extracts in which alkaloids were detected were analysed further using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Where possible, pure alkaloids were isolated from the crude alkaloid extracts and the pure compounds characterised using 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Six of the mesembrane alkaloids as well as the tyrosine-derived non-mesembrane alkaloid hordenine were found to be distributed amongst the various genera and species of the Mesembryanthemoideae. The mesembrane alkaloids detected include mesembrine, mesembrenone, mesembrenol, mesembranol, 4’-Omethylsceletenone and 4,5-dihydro-4’-O-methylsceletenone. Within the genus Sceletium mesembrine, mesembrenone, mesembrenol, mesembranol and hordenine were identified. Mesembrine, mesembrenone, mesembranol and hordenine were also detected in Aridaria. The sceletenone derivatives 4’-Omethylsceletenone and 4,5-dihydro-4’-O-methylsceletenone as well as hordenine were identified as the major alkaloid constituents of the genus Aptenia. No alkaloids were detected in the species of Brownanthus and Prenia investigated in this study. Amongst the genera Mesembryanthemum, Phyllobolus and Psilocaulon, a random distribution of the alkaloid hordenine was observed. During the course of this study, the isolation and characterisation of 4’-O-methylsceletenone and 4,5-dihydro-4’-O-methylsceletenone from both Aptenia cordifolia and Aptenia lancifolia, as well as the non-mesembrane alkaloid hordenine from a number of species, was achieved. The two mesembrane alkaloids have been prepared synthetically, but this is the first report of the presence of the compounds in a natural source.
Prof. F.R. van Heerden

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Geography.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-324). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR32068

碩士
義守大學
管理研究所碩士班
96
Recently, the simplified and high-efficiency human resource management （HRM）strategy has become an important method for enterprises to gain competitive advantages when confronting the fierce competition and challenge from the global economic development. This challenge can be also applied to the military organization. This research aims at investigating an armament maintenance plant of the ROC Navy in light of its future requirement. Through reviewing relevant literature and analyzing the 295 questionnaire respondents from the plant by SPSS For Window regarding their perceptions of the Organizational Reformation, HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment, it is found that there are significant correlations between their perceptions of Organizational Reformation, HRM practices and Organizational Commitment. And their perceptions of Organizational Reformation has a significant impact on the HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment; the HRM Practices has a significant positive impact on the Organizational Commitment. Based on the above findings, three suggestions are put forward as follows: (1) wide participation in the reform communication to uphold the rights of employees; (2) developing human resource values to build up a clear vision for the organization; (3) exploring individual characteristics of the employees in order to take a differentiation management strategy. These suggestions should be useful for the military organization manager to promote the activities regarding the HRM and organizational reformation to upgrade the employees’ sense of commitment and cognition and to pursue higher performance.

M.Sc.
This study aimed to systematically record and thus preserve indigenous plant use information of the Agter-Hantam area in a scientifically accurate way and to make a contribution to the knowledge of Khoi-San ethnobotany. The research work met all the minimum standards for ethnobotanical research as proposed by Heinrich et al. (2009), which includes that field studies should be built on a clear conceptual framework and hypothesis testing, that ethical clearance should be obtained, the methodology/ research procedures should adhere to minimum requirements, and the research should comply with data standards that will make it possible to use specific information in future experimental and applied research. The study area was the Agter-Hantam region, Calvinia district, Northern Cape Province of South Africa, where the ancestors of the supervisor have had a well-recorded presence since the 1770’s. The rapid appraisal methodology was initially used and this was followed by a new rigorous and practical quantitative approach developed during this study ̶ here referred to as the Matrix Method in conducting ethnobotanical field work. The survey has revealed a wealth of traditional knowledge on useful plants amongst people of Khoi-San decent in the Agter-Hantam. The traditional and contemporary uses of 64 plant species were accurately recorded. Previously unpublished information on indigenous plant use revealed by this study includes 14 new species records of useful plants, 20 new vernacular names not recorded in literature, and 99 new uses for 46 of the plant species. Although some work has been done in what Prance et al. (1987) coined as “quantitative ethnobotany”, this study also introduced two new terms- the Ethnobotanical Knowledge Index (EKI), a quantitative measure of a person’s knowledge of local plant use (with a value between 0 and 1), and the Species Popularity Index (SPI), a quantitative measure of the popularity of each species (value between 0 and 1). In the Agter-Hantam, the EKI of participants varied from 0.20 to 0.93. The best known and most popular indigenous plants in the Agter-Hantam are Aloe microstigma (a new species record, with a SPI of 0.97), Hoodia gordonii (SPI = 0.94), Microloma sagittatum (0.94), Sutherlandia frutescens (0.92), Quaqua incarnata (0.92) and Galenia africana (0.85).

This study uses two independent surveys of the Alpine/Sub-alpine environmental zones of the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain to explore the nature of the archaeological record in the higher elevations of the Southern Interior Plateau of British Columbia. The archaeological site information is derived from the original site records as well as a lithic analysis of associated assemblages. The archaeological material is examined in relation to ethnographic subsistence and settlement patterns, archaeological pattering in Upland Valleys (Upper Hat Creek Valley), and to other investigated Alpine/Sub-alpine areas such as the Cornwall Hills and Potato Mountain. Neither the Ethnographic nor Upland Valley Models provided a perfect fit for the archaeological information, but these two models did provide the foundation upon which the archaeological site classes could be derived. The results were clear in that the Alpine/Sub-alpine zones were an important part of the seasonal round for both hunting and plant food gathering/processing activities and were not just an extension of the Upland Valley zones. The diagnostic artifacts recovered from the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain suggest that this area, and more specifically the Alpine/Sub-alpine environmental zones, have been used for hunting purposes for approximately 7000 years, though most of the dates are concentrated between 3500 and 200 BP. There are fewer dates for plant gathering and processing activities, but the radiocarbon dates suggest that plant processing started approximately 2000 BP. The majority of the archaeological sites for both the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain are situated within the Montane Parkland environmental zone. Even so, the Alpine/Sub-alpine zones in the Clear Range and Pavilion Mountain were used differently. The Clear Range was used for both hunting and plant gathering/processing activities, while Pavilion Mountain and the Cornwall Hills were used primarily for hunting activities. Only on Potato Mountain were the majority of sites related to plant gathering/processing activities.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Science. December 2015
Cervical cancer remains a global health related issue among females of Sub-Saharan Africa, with over half a million new cases reported each year. Different therapeutic regimens have been suggested in various regions of Africa, however, over a quarter of a million women die of cervical cancer, annually. This makes it the most lethal cancer amongst black women in this area, and makes it important to search for new effective therapeutic drugs through screening of medicinal plant extracts used by many in Sub-Saharan Africa as potential anti-cervical cancer agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-proliferative effects of Cannabis sativa extracts and its isolate, cannabidiol on cervical cancer cell lines HeLa, SiHa, and ME-180. To achieve our aim, phytochemical screening, MTT assay, cell growth analysis, flow cytometry, morphology analysis, Western blot, caspase 3/7 assay, and ATP measurement assay were conducted were conducted. Results obtained indicate that both plant extracts induced cell death at an IC50 of 50 – 100μg/ml and the Inhibition of cell growth was cell line dependent. Flow cytometry confirmed that, with or without cell cycle arrest, the type of induced cell death was apoptosis. Cannabis sativa extracts led to the up-regulation of apoptosis proteins (p53, Bax, caspase-3, and caspase-9) and the down regulation of anti-apoptosis proteins (Bcl-2 and RBBP6), signalling the execution of apoptosis. Apoptosis induction was further confirmed by morphological changes, an increase in Caspase 3/7 and a decrease in the ATP levels. In conclusion, this data implies Cannabis sativa crude extracts has the potential to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines, which may be due to the presence of cannabidiol. Key words: Apoptosis, cervical cancer cells, cannabidiol, and Cannabis sativa extracts

MSc (Botany)
Department of Botany
Since time immemorial plants have traditionally been used for various purposes in many parts of the world including Vhembe district, Limpopo province of South Africa. The use of C. abbreviata plants at Matsa village of Vhembe district also contributes significantly to the livelihood of the community. However, little work has been made in the past to properly document and promote the knowledge. The purpose of the present study was to record and analyse the ethnobotanical knowledge of C. abbreviata within the people of Matsa village around Nzhelele in Vhembe district. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered on 50 informants from different households selected randomly to gather data regarding the local name of C. abbreviata, the uses and its availability. Significantly higher number of medicinal use was reported by elderly people including both men and women as compared to middle-aged, younger people. Other use categories included firewood, furniture and joinery production and shade for people in the area. Awareness on the importance of the species should therefore be created amongst the people, especially the young ones. Understanding the ethnobotanical knowledge of indigenous species within an area is crucial towards development of its management plan.
NRF