Educação ambiental como estratégia para inserção da sustentabilidade na formação em odontologia

This thesis proposes environmental education as a strategy for the inclusion of sustainability in the academic education of higher level. The dentistry course has been the object of study, which is justified by the recognition of the need for reflection on environmental issues in the dental academia, initially based on professional experience of the author as a dental surgeon. The aim of this study is to investigate the scientific production of dentistry and its content related to environmental issues, in addition to expanding discussions and reflections on the need to insert environmental education as academic content. With the specific purpose of verifying the amount and analyze the content of scientific articles involving issues related to sustainability in dentistry, Chapter 01 presents research in leading journals portals available on the internet. Works were surveyed where sustainability and related issues were present and placed in a theoretical framework that analyzes the dental service inclusion in the dominant economic model. These procedures are intended to prove the hypothesis that the dental profession does not produce significant scientific content that relates the profession to the environment and sustainability. A literature review was conducted with the statement of dentistry changes from its origins to the front position to the dominant development model and exemplification of the deleterious effects of this model on the environment. In addition, there was a scientific research in journals portals available on the internet and investigated the amount and content of scientific articles involving issues related to sustainability in dentistry. Chapter 02 has the specific purpose of providing content to expand discussions and reflections on the need to insert environmental education in undergraduate courses in dentistry, such as insertion strategy into a new development model guided by sustainability. In this, students questionnaires were given the 8th dentistry course of the period the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), to be understood environmental perception of learners and were obtained grants for proof of the thesis that environmental education applied dentistry has the potential to make people aware and willing to act practicing and propagating sustainability in their conduct. The overall results indicate little scientific production, as the research and work that relates to dentistry to sustainability and the issues related to the environment have not significantly been present in the syllabus of the undergraduate courses in dentistry, despite the interest shown by survey respondents When such issues are addressed. In this context, it is proposed fostering actions to environmental education, so that dental professionals are engaged in the construction of a new development model based on sustainability, as despite the environmental theme seems to be little explored in the academic and scientific world of dentistry, there interest from students and great potential multiplier for appropriate environmental behavior. After proving the hypothesis that the environment-related content are poorly explored in the academic and scientific world of dentistry, the main conclusions were recognizing the importance of environmental education as an interdisciplinary tool for environmental thematic approach in undergraduate courses dentistry, in addition to implementing this new pedagogical proposal in the professional practice of dentists, given their potential multiplier for environmental knowledge.

Mobile Clinics & Bundled Healthcare: An Exploration of Patient Perceptions of the SughaVazhvu Approach to Chronic Care Management

As the burden of non-communicable diseases increases worldwide, it is imperative that health systems adopt delivery approaches that will enable them to provide accessible, high-quality, and low-cost care to patients that need consistent management of their lifelong conditions. This is especially true in low- and middle-income country settings, such as India, where the disease burden is high and the health sector resources to address it are limited. The subscription-based, managed care model that SughaVazhvu Healthcare—a non-profit social enterprise operating in rural Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu—has deployed demonstrates potential for ensuring continuity of care among chronic care patients in resource-strained areas. However, its effectiveness and sustainability will depend on its ability to positively impact patient health status and patient satisfaction with the care management they are receiving. Therefore, this study is not only a program appraisal to aid operational quality improvement of the SughaVazhvu Healthcare model, but also an attempt to identify the factors that affect patient satisfaction among individuals with chronic conditions actively availing services.

Education - research - practice

Through this paper we will look at links between architecture education, research and practice, using a current project as a vehicle to cover aspects of building, pilot and live project. The first aspect, the building project consists of the refurbishment and extension of a Parnell Cottage for a private client and is located near Cloyne, in East Cork, Ireland. The pilot project falls within the NEES Project, investigating the use of materials and services based on natural or recycled materials to improve the energy performance of new and existing buildings. The live project aims to hold a series of on site workshops and seminars for students of Architecture, Architects and interested parties, demonstrating the integration of the NEES best practice materials and techniques within the built project. The workshops, seminars and key project documents will be digitally recorded for dissemination through a web based publication. The small scale of the building project allowed for flexibility in the early conceptual design stages and the integration of the research and educational aspects.

Digging Deeper than Platinum: South Africa's Participation in an Emergent Fuel Cell Industry

South’s Africa’s position as global platinum supplier provides a unique opportunity for an emergent fuel cell industry. The innovative technology’s reliance on platinum has sparked interest in the mining sector, promoting the clean energy-producing devices in their own operations. This research focuses upon contemporary structures of racial oppression within the industry, to analyse how these dynamics influence the development and implementation of innovative technology. It also challenges the sustainability discourse associated with fuel cell technology in South Africa. The study follows a qualitative research approach, incorporating a political ecology focus to highlight the politicized nature of these interactions. The methodology incorporates a literature review, key informant interviews, fieldwork observations and document analysis. Findings indicate that the implementation of fuel cell technology in South Africa’s platinum mines will disproportionately burden historically disadvantaged South Africans, with the lack in technical knowledge-base considered a major challenge. Additionally, it was found that sustainability claims surrounding fuel cell technology are largely based on environmental characteristics. This has resulted in an oversimplification and a depoliticised account of the impacts of the technology. This study looked critically at the convergence of history and innovation, placing emphasis on context, power relations and knowledge to provide a more holistic account of the research problem. Opportunities exist for making a meaningful and viable contribution towards development and sustainability by means of investing in a South African fuel cell industry. The challenge will be in deliberately seeking pathways which address the more complex components of sustainability, benefitting all stakeholders and paying particular attention to the historical, political and social contexts from which the technology emerges. It is this particular context which allows for a questioning and perhaps even a re-evaluation of the sustainability narratives broadly applied to fuel cell technology.

An empirical study of the variability in the composition of British freight trains

As part of the broader sustainability and economic efficiency agenda, European transport policy places considerable emphasis on improving rail’s competitiveness to increase its share of the freight market. Much attention is devoted to infrastructure characteristics which determine the number of freight trains which can operate and influence the operating characteristics of these trains. However, little attention has been devoted to the composition of the freight trains themselves, with scant published data relating to the practicalities of this important component of system utilisation and its impacts on rail freight viability and sustainability. This paper develops a better understanding of the extent to which freight train composition varies, through a large-scale empirical study of the composition of British freight trains. The investigation is based on a survey of almost 3,000 individual freight trains, with analysis at four levels of disaggregation, from the commodity groupings used in official statistics down to individual services. This provides considerable insight into rail freight operations with particular relevance to the efficiency of utilisation of trains using the available network paths. The results demonstrate the limitations of generalising about freight train formations since, within certain commodity groupings, considerable variability was identified even at fairly high levels of disaggregation.

D7.3 - Summary Report RAGE Stakeholder Consultation Pocess

This report presents a summary of the RAGE Stakeholder consultation methodology, process, instruments and activities, which inform parallel work packages in the RAGE project; specifically workpackage 8 (responsible for development of the evaluation framework) and workpackage 9 (concerned with exploitation and sustainability).

The evolution of public–private partnership in Ireland: a sustainable pathway?

Ireland is a latecomer to Public Private Partnership (PPP) having only adopted it in 1998. Prior to the credit crisis, Ireland followed the UK model with PPPs being implemented in transport, education, housing/urban regeneration and water/wastewater. Having stalled during the credit crisis, PPP has been reactivated recently with the domestic infrastructure stimulus programme . The focus of this paper is on Ireland as a younger participant in PPP and the nexus between adoption patterns and sustainability characteristics of Irish PPP. Using document analysis and exploratory interviews, the paper examines the reasons for Ireland’s interest in PPP which cannot be attributed to economic rationales alone. We consider three explanations: voluntary adoption – where the UK model was closely followed as part of a domestic modernisation agenda; coercive adoption – where PPP policy was forced upon public sector organisations; and institutional isomorphism – where institutional creation and change around PPP was promoted to help public sector organisations gain institutional legitimacy. We find evidence of all three patterns with coercive adoption becoming more relevant in recent years, which is likely to affect sustainability adversely unless incentives for voluntary adoption are strengthened and institutional capacity building is boosted.

Démocratie et justice sociale : Arrow-Harsanyi- Rawls-Sen, un quatuor dissonant

Full Text / Article complet

Doctoral Supervisor: Coach, Mentor or Master? Developing an Alternative Paradigm for Doctoral Supervision

This working paper is the second in a series of working papers presenting the on-going findings from a longitudinal research project grounded in exploring the experience of doctoral supervision and developing practice. In the first paper and phase one of this research study, Cook, Nichol and Loon (2014) explored the existing context for doctoral supervision and, drawing from literature on the problematic nature of doctoral supervision and coaching and mentoring, considered the value of drawing on coaching and mentoring models in formulating alternative paradigms for doctoral supervision. This paper reports the findings of phase one, a mixed methods study of experiences of doctoral supervision with supervisors and students in one UK university business school, from which the Collaborative Action Doctoral Supervision conceptual model emerged. The paper also introduces phase two, a collaborative action research study with doctoral supervisors and students who are applying, reflecting on and developing further this doctoral supervision model. We are aiming to answer the question of whether the use of coaching and mentoring in doctoral supervision enables the transfer and sustainability of learning from the doctoral supervision session to outside the experience and improves the quality. Is the doctoral supervisor coach, mentor or master? Key words Doctoral supervision, coaching, mentoring, collaborative action research.

Changing times, changing stories: generational differences in climate change perspectives from four remote indigenous communities in Subarctic Alaska

Indigenous Arctic and Subarctic communities currently are facing a myriad of social and environmental changes. In response to these changes, studies concerning indigenous knowledge (IK) and climate change vulnerability, resiliency, and adaptation have increased dramatically in recent years. Risks to lives and livelihoods are often the focus of adaptation research; however, the cultural dimensions of climate change are equally important because cultural dimensions inform perceptions of risk. Furthermore, many Arctic and Subarctic IK climate change studies document observations of change and knowledge of the elders and older generations in a community, but few include the perspectives of the younger population. These observations by elders and older generations form a historical baseline record of weather and climate observations in these regions. However, many indigenous Arctic and Subarctic communities are composed of primarily younger residents. We focused on the differences in the cultural dimensions of climate change found between young adults and elders. We outlined the findings from interviews conducted in four indigenous communities in Subarctic Alaska. The findings revealed that (1) intergenerational observations of change were common among interview participants in all four communities, (2) older generations observed more overall change than younger generations interviewed by us, and (3) how change was perceived varied between generations. We defined “observations” as the specific examples of environmental and weather change that were described, whereas “perceptions” referred to the manner in which these observations of change were understood and contextualized by the interview participants. Understanding the differences in generational observations and perceptions of change are key issues in the development of climate change adaptation strategies.

Partnering for bioregionalism in England: a case study of the Westcountry Rivers Trust

The adoption of bioregionalism by institutions that are instrumental in river basin management has significant potential to resolve complex water resource management problems. The Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT) in England provides an example of how localized bioregional institutionalization of adaptive comanagement, consensus decision making, local participation, indigenous technical and social knowledge, and “win-win” outcomes can potentially lead to resilient partnership working. Our analysis of the WRT’s effectiveness in confronting nonpoint source water pollution, previously impervious to centralized agency responses, provides scope for lesson-drawing on institutional design, public engagement, and effective operation, although some evident issues remain.

Conservation narratives in Peru: envisioning biodiversity in sustainable development

In the mega-diverse country Peru, a resource intensive development model collides with the interest of conserving biodiversity. Peruvian biodiversity experts have developed different lines of argumentation as to how to integrate conservation into the sustainable development of their country. Applying grounded theory, I define five groups of conservation narratives based on the analysis of 72 qualitative interviews with experts working in areas of biodiversity conservation. I have labeled them: biodiversity protectionists, biodiversity traditionalists, biodiversity localists, biodiversity pragmatists, and biodiversity capitalists. These groups are each discussed in connection with what they have to say about biodiversity in relation to human life, valuation and knowledge systems, participation and leadership, substitutability of natural capital, and its predominant political strategy. In a second step, a comparative analysis of the dominant and diverging political perspectives is made. I argue that by deconstructing underlying premises and ideologies, common ground and possible opportunities for collaboration can be identified. Moreover, although the presented results can serve as a discussion scaffold to organize conservation debates in Peru, this example demonstrates how the terms biodiversity and sustainability are operationalized in conservation narratives.

From local scenarios to national maps: a participatory framework for envisioning the future of Tanzania

Tackling societal and environmental challenges requires new approaches that connect top-down global oversight with bottom-up subnational knowledge. We present a novel framework for participatory development of spatially explicit scenarios at national scale that model socioeconomic and environmental dynamics by reconciling local stakeholder perspectives and national spatial data. We illustrate results generated by this approach and evaluate its potential to contribute to a greater understanding of the relationship between development pathways and sustainability. Using the lens of land use and land cover changes, and engaging 240 stakeholders representing subnational (seven forest management zones) and the national level, we applied the framework to assess alternative development strategies in the Tanzania mainland to the year 2025, under either a business as usual or a green development scenario. In the business as usual scenario, no productivity gain is expected, cultivated land expands by ~ 2% per year (up to 88,808 km²), with large impacts on woodlands and wetlands. Despite legal protection, encroachment of natural forest occurs along reserve borders. Additional wood demand leads to degradation, i.e., loss of tree cover and biomass, up to 80,426 km² of wooded land. The alternative green economy scenario envisages decreasing degradation and deforestation with increasing productivity (+10%) and implementation of payment for ecosystem service schemes. In this scenario, cropland expands by 44,132 km² and the additional degradation is limited to 35,778 km². This scenario development framework captures perspectives and knowledge across a diverse range of stakeholders and regions. Although further effort is required to extend its applicability, improve users’ equity, and reduce costs the resulting spatial outputs can be used to inform national level planning and policy implementation associated with sustainable development, especially the REDD+ climate mitigation strategy.

Constructing stability landscapes to identify alternative states in coupled social-ecological agent-based models

The resilience of a social-ecological system is measured by its ability to retain core functionality when subjected to perturbation. Resilience is contextually dependent on the state of system components, the complex interactions among these components, and the timing, location, and magnitude of perturbations. The stability landscape concept provides a useful framework for considering resilience within the specified context of a particular social-ecological system but has proven difficult to operationalize. This difficulty stems largely from the complex, multidimensional nature of the systems of interest and uncertainty in system response. Agent-based models are an effective methodology for understanding how cross-scale processes within and across social and ecological domains contribute to overall system resilience. We present the results of a stylized model of agricultural land use in a small watershed that is typical of the Midwestern United States. The spatially explicit model couples land use, biophysical models, and economic drivers with an agent-based model to explore the effects of perturbations and policy adaptations on system outcomes. By applying the coupled modeling approach within the resilience and stability landscape frameworks, we (1) estimate the sensitivity of the system to context-specific perturbations, (2) determine potential outcomes of those perturbations, (3) identify possible alternative states within state space, (4) evaluate the resilience of system states, and (5) characterize changes in system-scale resilience brought on by changes in individual land use decisions.

U.S. wildfire governance as social-ecological problem

There are fundamental spatial and temporal disconnects between the specific policies that have been crafted to address our wildfire challenges. The biophysical changes in fuels, wildfire behavior, and climate have created a new set of conditions for which our wildfire governance system is poorly suited to address. To address these challenges, a reorientation of goals is needed to focus on creating an anticipatory wildfire governance system focused on social and ecological resilience. Key characteristics of this system could include the following: (1) not taking historical patterns as givens; (2) identifying future social and ecological thresholds of concern; (3) embracing diversity/heterogeneity as principles in ecological and social responses; and (4) incorporating learning among different scales of actors to create a scaffolded learning system.