Semilla: A Community-University Partnership for Environmental Education

This portfolio is a collection of pieces from a community-based participatory and action research project called Semilla: A community-university partnership for environmental education. Semilla is a project that began in February 2017 with communities in The Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor [ASBC] in Costa Rica and graduate students (Olivia Caravaggio and Natalie Cummins) from York University. The project aims to understand the impact of a community engagement initiative on community-university relations. The community engagement initiative is a partnership between graduate students and the community to develop an environmental education resource. To identify changes in university-community relations, we investigate: (1) community members’ perspectives of York University and community-university relations before participation in the development of the environmental education resource; (2) community members’ perspectives of developing the environmental education resource; (3) community members’ perspectives of York University and university-community relations after participation in the development of the environmental education resource. This portfolio includes a culmination of activities completed in (1) and includes voices from 49 community members and school staff and 143 students. In total, 192 participants contributed their ideas to this first phase of the project. This portfolio includes: (a) the environmental education resource developed with the community called Semilla: An environmental education resource; (b) a findings summary of community perspectives of York University and community-university relations called Community-university relations and partnerships in the ASBC: Community voices and recommendations; (c) a video that describes the development of the environmental education resource. The intended audience of (a) and (b) are the general community in the ASBC and at York University, while the intended audience of the video (c) is students. In the video, we aimed to demonstrate how students’ voices were used in the development of the project and honour their contributions. Community collaboration, honouring the voice of the child, and knowledge exchange and mobilization are all priorities in this project. For this reason, all project pieces shared in this portfolio have been translated and will be shared at a knowledge mobilization event at the York University’s EcoCampus on December 8th, 2017. The event is open to all community members in the ASBC. At this event, we will be sharing and distributing the environmental education resource and the community-university relations findings summary, as well as screening the video. Findings in phase one of this project contributes to knowledge surrounding environmental education curriculum and pedagogy and community-university partnerships. In the development of the environmental education resource we found that community members are interested and eager to continue and expand environmental education in their communities. We found that communities are interested in the following environmental topics: water, trees and plants, animals, waste, agriculture, and interconnectedness. In considering community-university relations we found that community members are interested and eager to partner with York University more. Community members also shared recommendations for York University’s work in the community. It is the hope that these findings will contribute to continued partnership, collaboration and knowledge exchange between communities in the ASBC and York University for environmental education and beyond

The emergence of nonlinear dynamics in three different economic models

A partire dai contributi seminali di Goodwin (1947), Hicks (1950) e Day (1982), nei modelli economici si \ue8 iniziato ad investigare il possibile insorgere di dinamiche non lineari. Uno dei progressi in quest'area di ricerca \ue8 stato quello di capire se tali dinamiche non lineari possono verificarsi quando si considerano comportamenti espliciti degli agenti, ovvero quando il processo decisionale di questi ultimi \ue8 definito attraverso ottimizzazione o un\u2019euristica decisionale. Lo scopo di questa tesi \ue8 quello di mostrare come l'emergere di dinamiche non lineari possa avvenire in diversi contesti economici. Nel secondo capitolo, (i) esaminiamo la letteratura sulla coevoluzione tra variabili economiche e ambiente analizzando sia modelli dinamici cruciali della teoria economica, come il modello Solow, il modello Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans, il lavoro di Day (1982) sia alcuni importanti modelli dinamici a tempo discreto; (ii) analizziamo un modello a generazioni sovrapposte in cui l'attivit\ue0 economica dipende dallo sfruttamento di una risorsa naturale ad accesso libero e nel quale inoltre si assume la presenza di una spesa pubblica per la manutenzione ambientale. Caratterizzando alcune propriet\ue0 della mappa ed eseguendo simulazioni numeriche, vengono analizzate le conseguenze dell'interazione tra spesa pubblica ambientale e settore privato e, pi\uf9 in dettaglio, discussi i diversi scenari nei quali sia equilibri multipli che dinamiche complesse (regimi caotici) possono apparire. Nel terzo capitolo, ricordando il lavoro pionieristico di Cournot (1838), si analizza un modello dinamico di duopolio in cui le imprese producono beni differenziati, i costi marginali sono assunti costanti e le funzioni di domanda microfondate. Inoltre, si suppone che le imprese adottino meccanismi decisionali diversi, basati su un grado ridotto di razionalit\ue0. In particolare, si considera che un'impresa adotti l'approccio Local Monopolistic Approximation (LMA) (Bischi et al., 2007), mentre il rivale adegua il proprio livello di produzione secondo la regola del gradiente (Bischi et al., 1999). Nell\u2019analisi vengono studiate le condizioni per la stabilit\ue0 dell'equilibrio di Nash ed alcuni scenari di biforcazione al variare dei parametri cruciali del modello. Inoltre, viene mostrato come sia un livello alto che basso di differenziazione di prodotto pu\uf2 avere un ruolo destabilizzante nel sistema. Infine, nell'ultimo capitolo, si utilizza un approccio evolutivo, come in Bischi et al. (2009), al fine di studiare l\u2019evoluzione nel lungo periodo delle decisioni delle donne riguardo l\u2019allocazione del loro tempo tra lavoro e famiglia. In particolare, si assume una popolazione composta da due sottogruppi: donne orientate alla famiglia (o family-oriented) e donne orientate alla carriera (o career-oriented). Le preferenze di entrambe le tipologie di donne sono influenzate da benefici estrinseci (ad esempio, un contratto di lavoro basato sulle performance), da costi intrinseci (cio\ue8 la loro innata propensione a trascorrere il tempo sul lavoro o con la famiglia) e dalle norme sociali. Secondo la word of mouth dynamics (Dawid, 1999), si assume inoltre che le donne interagiscano socialmente e confrontino le loro diverse posizioni, imparando su possibili differenziali di payoff. L'interazione sociale scatena quindi l'evoluzione della distribuzione dei tipi di donne (e dei comportamenti corrispondenti) nella popolazione. L'analisi permette di dimostrare come (i) siano ottenibili sia scenari in cui i due tipi di donne coesistono, sia scenari in cui uno dei due sottogruppi tende a scomparire dalla popolazione; e (ii) a causa del ruolo destabilizzante del parametro dell'intensit\ue0 di scelta (assunto come parametro esogeno), possano emergere sia cicli periodici che regimi caotici

Introducción a la Economía de Comunión

This work aims to present an alternative economic rationality called Economy of Communion. It is a leading idea that invites to participate in economic activity by looking, in addition to our own interest, to those around us. Today, more than eight hundred companies in Argentina and the world adhere to this proposal that has among its main objectives the elimination of poverty.Este trabajo se propone presentar una racionalidad económica alternativa llamada Economía de Comunión. Se trata de una idea fuerza que invita a participar de la actividad económica mirando, además del propio interés, el de quienes nos rodean. Hoy en día, más de ochocientas empresas en la Argentina y en el mundo adhieren a esta propuesta que tiene entre sus principales objetivos la eliminación de la pobreza

La economía y la felicidad

La economía y la felicida

“Winning” the Pacific War: The Masterful Strategy of Commander Minoru Genda

Criticisms leveled at the Japanese for their “ill conceived” or “poorly planned” attack at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 have failed to consider the true depth of vision and professional intellect of its principal architect, Commander Minoru Genda.1 Charges of failure to execute follow-on attacks against the harbor facilities, if any such attacks were planned at all, or to exploit the immediate advantages created in the Central Pacific after the attack are commonly made by both academic and professional military scholars. Genda has suffered the brunt of this criticism. But in fact Genda’s plans were neither ill conceived nor poorly assembled—they were just not executed as originally envisioned

Commanding the Green Centre Line in Normandy: A Case Study of Division Command in the Second World War

This thesis examines the experiences of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division as it prepared for and carried out its role in the battle of Normandy and the libeation of France in 1944. The factors that limmited opportunities to practice the formation in large-scale exercises are noted as are the methods used by the General Officer Commanding, Major-General George Kitching, to compensate for the limitations. This thesis argues that through the development of an effective commander-staff dynamic Kitching, his staff and his subordinates commanders, were able to meet the challenges and chaos of combat in the final stages of the Normandy campaign and in the subsequent pursuit phase of operations into Belgium

Nonlinear Dynamics in Coevolution of Economic and Environmental Systems

The goal of this paper is to review some of the works on the dynamics of economic models in which the environmental variable is introduced. In particular, we will focus on models that in addition to giving some analytical insights into the coevolution of economic and environmental systems, they can give rise to nonlinear dynamic effects as the emergence of chaotic dynamics, multistability and (local and global) indeterminacy. However, several questions on this issue remain open and we hope that our paper may attract researchers to contribute to this topic

Environmental sustainability, nonlinear dynamics and chaos reloaded: 0 matters!

n this paper, we reconsider the overlapping generations (OLG) environmental model in- troduced in John and Pecchenino (1994) and Zhang (1999) by adopting the specification of the environmental dynamics proposed by Naimzada and Sodini (2010). The model is characterized by two different regimes that may alternate: one in which environmental evolution and economic growth co-evolve in the same direction; the other in which the environmental problem is not internalized by the agents, that is, the agents do not devolve any private resource to the environmental quality, leading to a possible trade-off between environment and economic growth. The analysis of the equilibrium dynamics, described by a two dimensional piecewise smooth map, shows that starting from a parametric configuration in which the dynamics are eventually driven by a unique regime, the increase of the negative effect of the agents’ consumption activity ends up in scenarios where the two regimes alternate, determining the rise of stable cycles or the occurrence of chaotic regimes. It is interesting to notice that because of the nonsmoothness of the map, the rise in environmental harm produced by economic activity may induce a sudden transition to chaotic regime

EMISSÕES DE GEE RELACIONADAS À BIOMASSA NAS USINAS HIDRELÉTRICAS DE TUCURUÍ E BELO MONTE: UMA COMPARAÇÃO INTUITIVA COM A ENERGIA ELÉTRICA TÉRMICA

Brazil, the 7th world economic power according with the IMF, is one of the Country in the world with the cleanest energy matrix. Since the 80s public opinion and official debates have been more and more concerned about the pollution generated from any kind of source of energy and now new commitments in that sense are contained into the ten-year plan (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento). The main part of energy production in Brazil nowadays is based on hydroelectricity but the water source is well concentrated, especially in the Amazon Region, and the hydroelectricity impact is so far not well known. Thus simple and new methods to calculate how much hydroelectricity is clean are needed, indeed. In this sense a method based on the evaluation of GHG emissions of Tucuruí and Belo Monte (two of the main projects all over the Country) is going to be presented. Every result has to be compared with the performance of other source of energy that could actually represents an alternative (the thermoelectricity in the Amazon Region), also facing the challenge of the increasing demand of energy by diversify the energy matrix. KEYWORDS: GHG emissions, Hydroelectric, Thermo electrical.Brasil, la 7ª potencia económica mundial según el FMI, es uno de los países del mundo con la matriz energética más limpia. Desde la década de los 80, la opinión pública y los debates oficiales han estado cada vez más preocupados por la contaminación generada por cualquier tipo de fuente de energía y ahora nuevos compromisos en este sentido están contenidos en el programa de aceleración del crecimiento. La principal parte de la producción de energía en Brasil actualmente se basa en la hidroelectricidad, pero la fuente de agua está bien concentrada, especialmente en la región amazónica, y el impacto de la hidroelectricidad no es tan conocido hasta el momento. Así, métodos simples y nuevos para calcular cuánta hidroelectricidad está limpia son necesarios. En este sentido, se presentará un método basado en la evaluación de las emisiones de GEI de Tucuruí y Belo Monte (dos de los principales proyectos en todo el país). Todo resultado tiene que ser comparado con el desempeño de otra fuente de energía que pueda, en realidad, representar una alternativa (la termoelectricidad en la Amazonia), enfrentando también el desafío de la creciente demanda de energía por diversificar la matriz energética. PALABRAS CLAVE: Emisiones de GEI, Hidroeléctrica, Termoeléctrica.O Brasil, a 7ª potência econômica mundial segundo o FMI, é um dos países do mundo com a matriz energética mais limpa. Desde a década de 80, a opinião pública e os debates oficiais têm estado cada vez mais preocupados com a poluição gerada por qualquer tipo de fonte de energia e agora novos compromissos nesse sentido estão contidos no programa de aceleração do crescimento. A principal parte da produção de energia no Brasil atualmente é baseada na hidroeletricidade, mas a fonte de água está bem concentrada, especialmente na região amazônica, e o impacto da hidroeletricidade não é tão conhecido até o momento. Assim, métodos simples e novos para calcular quanta hidreletricidade está limpa são necessários. Nesse sentido, será apresentado um método baseado na avaliação das emissões de GEE de Tucuruí e Belo Monte (dois dos principais projetos em todo o País). Todo resultado tem que ser comparado com o desempenho de outra fonte de energia que possa, na verdade, representar uma alternativa (a termoeletricidade na Amazônia), enfrentando também o desafio da crescente demanda de energia por diversificar a matriz energética. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Emissões de GEE, Hidroelétricas, Termoelétricas