Earth Observations in Social Science Research for Management of Natural Resources and the Environment: Identifying the Contribution of the U.S. Land Remote Sensing (Landsat) Program

This paper surveys and describes the peer-reviewed social science literature in which data from the U.S. land remote sensing program, Landsat, inform public policy in managing natural resources and the environment. The Landsat program has provided the longest collection of observations of Earth from the vantage point of space. The paper differentiates two classes of research: methodology exploring how to use the data (for example, designing and testing algorithms or verifying the accuracy of the data) and applications of data to decisionmaking or policy implementation in managing land, air quality, water, and other natural and environmental resources. Selection of the studies uses social science-oriented bibliographic search indices and expands results of previous surveys that target only researchers specializing in remote sensing or photogrammetry. The usefulness of Landsat as a basis for informing public investment in the Landsat program will be underestimated if this body of research goes unrecognized.natural resources policy, environmental policy, Landsat, social science, environmental management

Combining Biosensing Technology and Virtual Environments for Improved Urban Planning

The Urban Emotions initiative uses biosensing technology to determine how people feel in the city, which is of particular relevance for architecture and urban planning. While past experiments focused more on pedestrian or bicycle traffic, accessibility and wayfinding, this paper proposes the use of virtual models as a basis for human sensorial measurement. Virtual space offers the possibility of minimizing external (environmental) influences to focus on the evaluation of design impressions. Inspiration for the method was ‘Q-sorting’ according to Stephenson (1953) and, in the context of urban planning, Krause (1974). Virtual models of real situations are used to determine whether test participants respond positively or negatively to the architecture or their environment. 360° videos, virtual reality ambience and VR glasses are used as output devices. In this virtual environment, it is possible to create standardized, comparable laboratory situations allowing researchers to draw more reliable and focused conclusions about human responses to their physical environment. The challenge for the future will be to transfer this knowledge of citizens’ responses to the built environment into real design processes

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

Maize open-pollinated populations physiological improvement: validating tools for drought response participatory selection

Participatory selection—exploiting specific adaptation traits to target environments—helps to guarantees yield stability in a changing climate, in particular under low-input or organic production. The purpose of the present study was to identify reliable, low-cost, fast and easy-to-use tools to complement traditional selection for an e ective participatory improvement of maize populations for drought resistance/tolerance. The morphological and eco-physiological responses to progressive water deprivation of four maize open-pollinated populations were assessed in both controlled and field conditions. Thermography and Chl a fluorescence, validated by gas exchange indicated that the best performing populations under water-deficit conditions were ‘Fandango’ and to a less extent ‘Pigarro’ (both from participatory breeding). These populations showed high yield potential under optimal and reduced watering. Under moderate water stress, ‘Bilhó’, originating from an altitude of 800 m, is one of the most resilient populations. The experiments under chamber conditions confirmed the existence of genetic variability within ‘Pigarro’ and ‘Fandango’ for drought response relevant for future populations breeding. Based on the easiness to score and population discriminatory power, the performance index (PIABS) emerges as an integrative phenotyping tool to use as a refinement of the common participatory maize selection especially under moderate water deprivationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Use of visual representation in natural resource management

The increasing use of visual representation in natural resource management is signed as a promising tool for enhancing the communication with bidirectional flow of information among stakeholders. Some targets are the transfer o f scientific knowledge to non-scientific groups and the study o f perception that local communities have about their environment. Both of them have critical importance in developing countries. The objective of this thesis was to get further knowledge on some topics and concerns related to the use o f photographic material as surrogates of natural grassland areas among shepherds and extension advisers. The thesis developed studies in two main grassland areas of Peru. The first study was carried out in Azangaro, Puno, in the Peruvian High Plateau. This study explored the reliability and validity o f the use of visual material in performing assessments about common concepts used in grassland management by extension advisers, whose role in the chain o f technology transfer is important in this area. The second area o f study was the SAIS Pachacutec, which involves a significant grassland area in Junin, located in the central mountain region of Peru. Two main research topics were investigated in this area. First, there were comparisons in the use o f different techniques (random and participatory approaches) for visual sampling in rangelands. And second, the use o f photographic material combined with Q methodology was explored for the elicitation of environmental perceptions among shepherds and local administrations. Implications o f results for future use of visual representation in natural resource management are discussed

A Framework for Teaching Computational Thinking in Primary Schools: A Namibian Case Study

Several professional development programs have been designed to train in-service teachers on a computational thinking (CT) curriculum, but few researchers have examined how these affect primary school teachers\u27 self-efficacy and knowledge of CT in emerging economies. This study\u27s objective was to create a framework for the professional development of primary school in-service teachers for the teaching of CT (referred to as professional development for primary computational thinking - PD4PCT) to be integrated into teachers\u27 professional development programs. An initial framework was refined after implementing it at a Namibian school with a group of 14 teachers from five different disciplines (social studies, English, natural science, mathematics, and Afrikaans). Literature reviews, pre- and post-intervention questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and self-reporting diaries were used to collect data. The framework was evaluated by experts via an online questionnaire. The findings show that teachers who participated in the professional development program improved their perceived CT knowledge, beliefs, and confidence to teach CT

In search for urban landscape development tools: Street View Imagery (SVI) Analysis

Streets hold up to 90% of public space in densely built urban areas, they are ubiquitous and thus hold considerable spatial potential to fulfill various functions. This paper presents a comparative study on main streets, squares, or spaces on a micro scale within Budapest and compared to similar European streets. A goal to transform streets into sufficient public spaces for a growing number of people are investigated along with how residents view those spaces from their own point of view. A motive and evidence for its importance is focused on how half of the world’s population is now covered by Street View Imagery (SVI), which provides a valuable large-scale source of urban data, often replacing field visits with virtual audits and it can be a vital resource to help us design and understand how we could perceive our landscape and urban spaces especially. The questions of this paper are the following: Could we use street images and analysis for urban and landscape development? Are our perspectives and what we see from images efficient tools to develop our surroundings? Is Google Street View Imagery (GSVI) an effective tool to analyse, categorize and compare our public spaces and streets in relation to landscape and urban developments? Finally, this paper will take a look at how GSVI works, its positives and negatives, then use previous literature and studies to apply a practical analysis using GSVI. A figure with an assessment method to see how we could use GSVI and image editing programs to end up with quantitative results that could be used for landscape development and comparative analysis within our streets and public spaces. The importance and historical use of GSVI is evident in research and literature, the questions lie in how and what methods could make it of good assistance and use in our profession and its applications. Key words: Landscape assessment; Street greenery; Google Street View Imagery (GSVI); Visual quality, public participatio