Human and Nature in Lord of the Flies

<p>This paper presents the findings of a study based on students’ response to participating in an international project. This international project was a collaboration between Pakistan, the UK and Norway. Collaborative teaching techniques of using literature circles within each class and google circles across the three contexts (online) were used. Twelve participating students from Pakistan were interviewed to explore their reactions to the international study. Students felt that they learnt new things from the use of these innovative methods, were able to learn from foreigners and felt a sense of connectivity to their groups. It is recommended that students from Pakistan be given such exposure to overcome their hesitation. It is recommended that further research be carried out in other contexts as well to determine if the use of such teaching pedagogies can benefit other teachers of literature.</p>

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University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052538 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2538

Author(s):

Angel M. Dzhambov ◽

Peter Lercher ◽

Drozdstoy Stoyanov ◽

Nadezhda Petrova ◽

Stoyan Novakov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Online Education ◽

University Students ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Online Survey ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Single Item ◽

Acoustic Environment ◽

Self Rated Health ◽

Human And Nature

Background: Online education became mandatory for many students during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and blurred the distinction between settings where processes of stress and restoration used to take place. The lockdown also likely changed perceptions of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and raised its importance. In the present study, we seek to understand how indoor soundscape related to university students’ self-rated health in Bulgaria around the time that the country was under a state of emergency declaration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Between 17 May and 10 June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 323 students (median age 21 years; 31% male) from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Self-rated health (SRH) was measured with a single-item. Participants were asked how frequently they heard different types of sounds while at home and how pleasant they considered each of those sounds to be. Restorative quality of the home (the “being away” dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale) was measured with a single-item. A priori confounders and effect modifiers included sociodemographics, house-related characteristics, general sensitivity to environmental influences, and mental health. Our analysis strategy involved sequential exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multivariate linear and ordinal regressions, effect modification tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: EFA supported grouping perceived sounds into three distinct factors—mechanical, human, and nature sounds. Regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to mechanical sounds was consistently associated with worse SRH, whereas no significant associations were found for human and nature sounds. In SEM, exposure to mechanical sounds related to lower restorative quality of the home, and then to poorer SRH, whereas nature sounds correlated with higher restorative quality, and in turn with better SRH. Conclusions: These findings suggest a role of positive indoor soundscape and restorative quality for promoting self-rated health in times of social distancing.

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Study on Relative Carrying Capacity of Land Resources and Its Zoning in 31 Provinces of China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13031459 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 1459

Author(s):

Wei Zhou ◽

Ayman Elshkaki ◽

Shuai Zhong ◽

Lei Shen

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Carrying Capacity ◽

Coastal Region ◽

Land Resources ◽

Parameter Setting ◽

Single Factor ◽

Important Indicator ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Land Carrying Capacity ◽

Human And Nature

Land carrying capacity is an important indicator to quantitatively assess and judge the extents of sustainable economic developing and coexistent harmonizing between human and nature. The significance of land carrying capacity has been highlighted recently by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, which set clear requirements for arable, construction, and ecological lands. Theories and models of land carrying capacity, however, are suffering from the interference of artificial parameter setting and poor applicability. This paper attempts to overcome these limitations and propose a single factor assessment of the carrying capacity of cultivated land, construction land, and ecological land in terms of the relative carrying capacity from the perspective of a single factor assessment. Through mutual comparison, we found that the deviation caused by simulated parameter setting has been eliminated, and the relative status of each province and/or region in China has been obtained, which could provide a reference for the management and utilization of land resources. We argue that China can achieve basic self-sufficiency in both space capacity and food production without placing pressure on the global sustainable development. The results also indicate that carrying capacity state of the advanced development areas such as the eastern coastal region is relatively poor, while the carrying capacity state of the western region is relatively good.

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Research on Ecological Nodes of Campus Based on Eco-Network Planning for University

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.357-360.1719 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 357-360 ◽

pp. 1719-1723

Author(s):

Qi Fang Zeng ◽

Huang Bin Lin

Keyword(s):

Network Planning ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

University Campus ◽

Human And Nature ◽

Planning And Construction

Based on the mode of eco-network planning, this text expounds three aspects about ecological nodes in university campus, including two general features those are heterogeneity and mosaicism, three common types can be respectively named Intersectional, Affiliated and Separate and their three important planning and construction principles: strictly protect virgin nature ecological factors, create an symbiotic environment for both human and nature, regenerate ecological elements located on the key position in eco-network of campus such as planting a cluster of regional trees to be a grove for animals.

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