SCHOOL CHANGE FOR SUSTAINABILITY

The welfare of current and future generations is diminished due to unprecedented levels of ecological degradation that is a result of accelerating levels of per capita consumption. Sustainability education is being widely embraced as an applied strategy for addressing both unchecked consumption and environmental degradation (Brown, 2003). Yet, little is known about how schools adopt and implement sustainability education. The means by which to engage and foster sustainability education is not well researched. This qualitative research study seeks to address the following research question: How did students and faculty at each school site go about the process of creating and implementing a sustainability education program? The study utilizes case study methodology to understand the process and experience of sustainability education programming in the context of secondary public education. Through participatory action research, this study explored the ways in which resilience, identity, culture and others factors determine sustainability education programming in an applied manner. The research was conducted at a comprehensive high school and an independent tribal school. The purpose of the study was to develop and provide an understanding of how schools engage in the process of school change for sustainability. The insights gained from this research project regarding the planning, development, and implementation of sustainability education programming can further school change for sustainability

Limited sampling strategies for monitoring tacrolimus in paediatric liver transplant recipients

Ce travail de recherche a été réalisé dans le laboratoire de pharmacologie clinique, au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, à Montréal. C'est une étude rétrospective basée sur le suivi thérapeutique du Tacrolimus prescrit chez les enfants après transplantation hépatique. Ce suivi est nécessaire car le Tacrolimus possède une importante variabilité pharmacocinétique inter et intra-individuelle ainsi qu'un index thérapeutique très étroit. Actuellement, l'individualisation des doses prescrites est basée sur la mesure de la concentration de base - du médicament dans le sang (C0), mais des études récentes montrent que cette mesure ne reflète pas précisément l'exposition du Tacrolimus dans l'organisme chez les enfants. Le meilleur reflet de cette exposition est la mesure de l'aire sous la courbe (AUC). Cependant, cette dernière implique la mesure de multiples concentrations tout au long de l'intervalle entre 2 doses de médicament (Tacrolimus: 12 heures) ce qui est long, cher et impraticable en ambulatoire. De nouvelles méthodes utilisant un nombre limité de prélèvements ont donc été développées pour prédire au mieux cette AUC. Ce sont les "Limited sampling strategies" ou LSS. La plupart de ces LSS pour le Tacrolimus ont été développées et validées chez des patients transplantés adultes et leur application directe chez les transplantés pédiatriques n'est pas possible en raison de différences importantes au niveau des paramètres pharmacocinétiques du médicament entre ces deux populations. Aussi, le but de ce travail était de développer et valider, pour la première fois, des LSS chez les enfants transplantés hépatiques. Pour cela, une analyse de 36 profils pharmacocinétiques de 28 patients transplantés hépatiques âgés de 0.4- 18.5 ans a été effectuée. Tous les profils ont été réalisés au Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine entre janvier 2007 et janvier 2009. Les LSS comportant au maximum 4 mesures de concentration ont été développées en utilisant une analyse de régression multiple. Parmi tous les modèles obtenus, cinq ont été sélectionnés sur la base de critères précis puis validés selon la méthode décrite par Sheiner et Beal.¦Les résultats montrent que ces cinq modèles peuvent prédire l'AUC du Tacrolimus avec une précision cliniquement acceptable de ± 15% alors que la C0 présente la plus faible corrélation avec l'AUC.¦En conclusion, cette étude confirme que la C0 ne permet pas de prédire de manière efficace l'exposition du Tacrolimus dans l'organisme dans notre population de patients pédiatriques contrairement aux LSS analysées qui offrent une méthode pratique et fiable. Par ailleurs, en permettant d'obtenir une estimation précise et simplifiée de l'AUC complète du Tacrolimus chez les patients, ces LSS ouvrent la porte à de futures études prospectives visant à mieux définir l'AUC cible du médicament et à déterminer si le suivi basé sur la mesure de l'AUC est plus efficace et plus sûr que celui basé sur la mesure de la C0

The evolution of mountain permafrost in the context of climate change:: towards a comprehensive analysis of permafrost monitoring data from the Swiss Alps

In the Swiss Alps, permafrost occurs discontinuously and commonly has a temperature close to 0 °C. A reduction of Alpine permafrost area and volume is expected in the course of atmospheric warming, but to date, limited evidence is available for Alpine permafrost degradation. Permafrost warming or thaw is accompanied by structural changes in the subsurface, which endanger infrastructure by increasing kinematic activity or slope instability. Changes in the permafrost impact sediment transport to the valley bottom as well as gravitational natural hazards such as rock falls, landslides or debris flows. For these reasons, the quantitative analysis of past and potential future changes in the Alpine permafrost is of great interest and importance. The objective of this PhD project was to investigate observational data from the Swiss Permafrost Monitoring Network PERMOS using an interdisciplinary approach and to develop new methods for the homogenisation and quantitative analysis of long-term monitoring data. The main focus was on assessing changes in the energy fluxes at the ground surface as a function of the snow cover, as well as on evaluating permafrost response to different meteorological conditions and events. This PhD project was part of the research project The Evolution of Mountain Permafrost in Switzerland (TEMPS, 2011-2015), which used combined observational and model-based approaches and aimed at improving the consistency and completeness of permafrost monitoring data. One achievement of this PhD thesis consists of the development of data processing algorithms for filling data gaps in temperature time series and the quantification of resulting uncertainties. Moreover, algorithms for the approximation of the thermal insulation effect of the snow cover based on ground surface temperature (GST) data were developed. This was of particular importance because snow information is usually not available for the points of interest. Furthermore, possibilities for estimating temperature variations at depth based on GST data were evaluated. The information obtained about the propagation of the thermal signal into the ground led to new insights into the temperature dependency of rock glacier creep, which were supported by observational data. Data from more than 20 study sites were made comparable in order to quantify differences at the site- and the regional scale. The GST variability proved to be almost as high at the site scale as at the regional scale. This was explained by heterogeneous topo-climatic conditions as well as by the variable snow cover in the geographic context of the Swiss Alps. The roughness of the terrain played a key role, since it modifies the thermal insulation effect of the snow. Coarse-blocky terrains require more snow to be thermally insulated from the atmosphere and freeze more rapidly compared to smooth ground surfaces. The seasonal GST pattern showed that differences among sites and years were large in early winter, whereas GST were less variable in the summer season. Many locations showed similar snow conditions and therefore similar seasonal and inter-annual GST variations, which could not be explained by variations in air temperature. Although no overall increase in GST was found, the data indicate persistent warm conditions at the ground surface since 2009. Ground temperatures (GT) experienced an overall warming trend down to several tens of m depth over the past 10-25 years. This warming was most distinct in relatively cold permafrost with temperatures below -1 °C. Since the GT at depths between 10-30 m influences the kinematic activity of rock glaciers, the surface deformation rates of the majority of the observed rock glaciers reached maxima between 2013 and 2015. Surface deformation rates quantified by photogrammetry for selected rock glaciers showed an increase in the order of 200-600 % compared to 1990-1995 and 400-800 % compared to 1960-1980. Long-lasting warm conditions at the ground surface were identified to be the cause of the rise in ground temperature and the increased kinematic activity of rock glaciers. Compared with air temperature, where direct effect on the ground is limited to the snow-free period, the snow cover and its onset in early winter had a much greater influence on the heat and energy exchange at the ground surface. After one or two snow-poor winters, permafrost was able to regenerate thermally. Strong ground cooling occurred between 2005 and 2007, which caused a temporary trend reversal in the warming ground temperatures, limiting the effect of the particularly warm air temperatures between June 2006 and May 2007. Since Alpine permafrost is not in equilibrium with the current climatic conditions, recovery periods of efficient winter cooling will probably play a key role for its future evolution and preservation. Overall, the results of this PhD project contribute to an improved process understanding and put observed ground thermal and kinematic phenomena in the context of past and potential future changes of permafrost in the Swiss Alps