Land transformation, highly governed landscapes and landscape health: A case study of the Lower Piave area of northeastern Italy

This dissertation examines the issue of biophysical landscape health. Its primary objective is to produce an interpretation of biophysical landscape health for the highly governed landscapes of the Lower Piave area of northeastern Italy. Highly governed landscapes are considered to be those which are highly controlled by humans to an even greater degree than normal cultural landscapes. An example is reclaimed agricultural landscapes such as those of the northeastern Italian coastal belt, from which the Lower Piave case study is drawn. These landscapes are highly governed because without constant human intervention, they would revert back to their former marsh state. The idea of landscape health is derived from ecosystem health, which is a metaphor drawn from human health. As with human health, a healthy system is one that is in a sound and complete state, and able to recover from distress and disease. “Health” concepts are increasingly viewed as more appropriate paradigms for measuring and assessing the state and condition of biophysical systems. The motivation for this research lies in the fact that traditional norms of land health (e.g. wilderness, climax) are not applicable to the unique biophysical and cultural nature of the Lower Piave. An interpretation of biophysical landscape health is derived through a series of sequential research and analytical stages listed in Chapter 4. Stage one is a review of the conceptual basis of health from the fields of ecosystem health and integrity, sustainability and landscape ecology. Stage two is an investigation of the historical and cultural context of landscape governance through a landscape history of the Venetian Plain. Stage three examines 20th century land transformation when the study area was reclaimed for agriculture, and thus transformed into a highly governed landscape. Further landscape transformation occurred with the modernization of agriculture. Stage four consists of a detailed study of the nature and condition of key landscape elements in the Lower Piave. These elements include agriculture, land drainage, water quality and vegetation. Stage five identifies critical landscape linkages and interrelationships. Stage six represents the interpretation of biophysical landscape health based on the integration of information from the previous steps. The interpretation of landscape health consists of a general definition and a series of defining characteristics. Biophysical landscape health is generally defined as a condition where human governance sustains a landscape character and structure that is relatively stable over time, allows for balance between system components, is free from damaging human-induced distress and risk factors, and which maintains the ability of the landscape to provide ecological functions beneficial to humans and other organisms. Specific characteristics of landscape health include absence of distress and risk factors, sustainability, resilience, biological diversity, equilibrium and balance, and structural stability. Key to this interpretation is that a condition of landscape health is not incompatible with traditional land uses and landscape governance. This interpretation and defining characteristics is considered to be significant in that it represents basic framework and starting point for landscape and health monitoring and assessment. This definition is also significant in that it is considered to be applicable to other similar highly governed landscapes

User fees for residential waste disposal: Issues, feasibility and a case study of decision-making (Ontario)

Canadian society generates huge quantities of solid waste, for which disposal is becoming more difficult. Landfill space is becoming scarcer and municipal jurisdictions are having to allocate greater and greater financial resources to this problem. The ultimate solution to the waste problem lies in reducing waste generation. Iii this area, there is considerable disagreement on how to achieve this goal. One school of thought advocates economic instruments such as user fees to induce people and societies to become more sustainable. This thesis examines the user-pay concept as a waste management tool. This thesis consists of a detailed examination of the theoretical and practical aspects of user-pay, the impact of existing user-pay systems on residential waste generation, and a case study analysis of a political and decision-making process associated with the issue. The main focus is a case study analysis of Peterborough Ontario\u27s experience with user-pay garbage collection. This community attempted to implement user-pay in 1991. The proposal was eventually put to a referendum and subsequently rejected by city residents. This case study reconstructs the events and process connected with the user-pay proposal, examines the issues which came out in the debate, and determines the reasons for the defeat of the proposal. Research for the case study involved interviewing the actors involved in the decision making and political process, analysis of city reports and documents, and an analysis of the print media. The results of this research confirm that user-pay is extremely controversial. The controversy stems from the fact that user pay is a political/philosophical issue as people perceive it as discriminatory and as an unfair tax. Overall, user-pay appears feasible from an operational and administrative point of view, but is restricted by political considerations. The greatest obstacle for user-pay appeals to be political resistance and political considerations will probably determine its future as a waste management tool in Ontario

The effects of motivational climate interventions on psychobiosocial states in high school physical education

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of task- and ego-involving climate manipulations on students’ climate perception and psychobiosocial (PBS) states in a physical education setting. Method: Two subsamples of female students (N = 108, 14-15 years of age) participated for 12 lessons on either a task- or an ego-involving climate intervention as grounded in the TARGET model. Results: At the end of the treatment, the participants of the ego-involved group reported lower scores in perceived task-involving climate and higher scores in perceived ego-involving climate than their peers in the task-involved group. Lower scores in pleasant/functional PBS states and higher scores in unpleasant/dysfunctional PBS states were also observed in the ego-involved group as a consequence of the intervention. Conclusion(s): Findings suggested that teacher’s induced achievement motivational climates can influence students’ perceptions and prompt PBS states consistent with the motivational atmosphere

User fees for residential waste disposal: Issues, feasibility and a case study of decision-making (Ontario)

Canadian society generates huge quantities of solid waste, for which disposal is becoming more difficult. Landfill space is becoming scarcer and municipal jurisdictions are having to allocate greater and greater financial resources to this problem. The ultimate solution to the waste problem lies in reducing waste generation. Iii this area, there is considerable disagreement on how to achieve this goal. One school of thought advocates economic instruments such as user fees to induce people and societies to become more sustainable. This thesis examines the user-pay concept as a waste management tool. This thesis consists of a detailed examination of the theoretical and practical aspects of user-pay, the impact of existing user-pay systems on residential waste generation, and a case study analysis of a political and decision-making process associated with the issue. The main focus is a case study analysis of Peterborough Ontario\u27s experience with user-pay garbage collection. This community attempted to implement user-pay in 1991. The proposal was eventually put to a referendum and subsequently rejected by city residents. This case study reconstructs the events and process connected with the user-pay proposal, examines the issues which came out in the debate, and determines the reasons for the defeat of the proposal. Research for the case study involved interviewing the actors involved in the decision making and political process, analysis of city reports and documents, and an analysis of the print media. The results of this research confirm that user-pay is extremely controversial. The controversy stems from the fact that user pay is a political/philosophical issue as people perceive it as discriminatory and as an unfair tax. Overall, user-pay appears feasible from an operational and administrative point of view, but is restricted by political considerations. The greatest obstacle for user-pay appeals to be political resistance and political considerations will probably determine its future as a waste management tool in Ontario

Do psychobiosocial states mediate the relationship between perceived motivational climate and individual motivation in youngsters?

Grounded in achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, this cross-sectional study examined the relationship between perceived motivational climate and individuals’ motivation as well as the mediation effect of psychobiosocial states as conceptualized within the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model. Young students (N = 167, age range 14-15 years) taking part in physical education classes completed measures of teacher-initiated motivational climate, task and ego orientation, motivation, and psychobiosocial states. Simple and serial mediation analyses indicated that a perceived mastery climate and individuals’ task orientation were related to intrinsic motivation and identified regulation through the mediation of pleasant/functional psychobiosocial states. In contrast, a perceived performance climate was related to external regulation and amotivation through the mediation of unpleasant/dysfunctional psychobiosocial states. Regression analysis results also showed that discrete psychobiosocial states accounted for a significant proportion of variance in motivational variables. Taken together, findings highlight the role of psychobiosocial states as mediators of the relationship between motivational climate and an individual’s motivation, and suggest that educators should consider a wide range of individual’s functional and dysfunctional reactions deriving from their instructional activity

Towards semantic software engineering environments

Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they are a way towards Semantic SEEs. In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE

Neural markers of performance states in an Olympic athlete: An EEG case study in air-pistol shooting

This study focused on identifying the neural markers underlying optimal and suboptimal performance experiences of an elite air-pistol shooter, based on the tenets of the multi-action plan (MAP) model. According to the MAP model’s assumptions, skilled athletes’ cortical patterns are expected to differ among optimal/automatic (Type 1), optimal/controlled (Type 2), suboptimal/controlled (Type 3), and suboptimal/automatic (Type 4) performance experiences. We collected performance (target pistol shots), cognitive-affective (perceived control, accuracy, and hedonic tone), and cortical activity data (32-channel EEG) of an elite shooter. Idiosyncratic descriptive analyses revealed differences in perceived accuracy in regard to optimal and suboptimal performance states. Event-Related Desynchronization/Synchronization analysis supported the notion that optimal-automatic performance experiences (Type 1) were characterized by a global synchronization of cortical arousal associated with the shooting task, whereas suboptimal controlled states (Type 3) were underpinned by high cortical activity levels in the attentional brain network. Results are addressed in the light of the neural efficiency hypothesis and reinvestment theory. Perceptual training recommendations aimed at restoring optimal performance levels are discussed