University | Catalogues for 2004/05 | for UGs | for PGs

Units for Natural Sciences Programmes 2004/05

XX20001: Environmental studies: A crisis in material resources? A

Credits: 6

Level: Intermediate

Semester: 2

Assessment: EX75CW25

Requisites:

While taking this unit you must take XX20085

Aims & Learning Objectives:
To develop an understanding of the renewable energy resources and technologies that can be used to substitute for conventional energy sources to assess the status, state of development and potential of the different technologies. To provide an understanding of the policy, economic and environmental issues connected with different renewable energy sources. After taking this course the students should be able to:
* assess the extent and availability of renewable energy resources;
* describe the characteristics of renewable energy technologies;
* understand the nature of the economic barriers to their implementation;
* understand the environmental barriers and issues of renewable energy.
Skills:
Practical applied problem solving; team work; essay skills.
Content:
Energy - introduction to renewable energy, context, status and potential, reasons for its increasing use, challenges and policy measures. For each of the eight different renewable energy sources, power equations, resources size, technology and economic and environmental issues are included. The topics included are solar energy, biomass energy, hydro electric power, tidal energy, marine current, wind energy, wave energy, geothermal energy, integration and availability and storage for intermittent sources.

XX20085: The Earth as an ecosystem

Credits: 6

Level: Intermediate

Semester: 1

Assessment: EX75ES25

Requisites:

Before taking this unit you must (take CH10056 and take CH10057) or (take CH10008 and take CH10007) or (take CH10089 and take CH10090) and while taking this unit you must take XX20001

Aims: To develop an understanding of the global impact of human agricultural and industrial activity and of the relationship between the technical and some social and economic aspects of the topic.
Learning Outcomes:
After studying this Unit students should be able to:
* Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of global environmental science topics;
* Recognise the experimental and analytical evidence for this knowledge;
* Consider the implications of current environmental problems for living organisms and their life support systems.
Skills:
Learning and studying (T/F/A), Information handling and retrieval (T/F/A), Written communication (T/F/A), Working independently (T/F).
Content:
Global human impact: population and consumption levels; Early mankind and the domestication of other species; The agricultural and industrial revolutions; Improvements in healthcare and education; Demographic trends; Sustainable economic development; Equitable distribution of resources; Policies and institutions; Biomagnification and heavy metals; Radioactivity and nuclear reactors; reprocessing and waste storage. Atmospheric and ground level pollution; Structure and dynamics of the atmosphere; Photochemical cycles involving O, N and Cl species; Factors affecting ozone concentrations; The Greenhouse effect; Photochemical smog and acid rain considered via case studies; Speciation of anionic and cationic water pollutants.

XX20171: The practice of science: how science works

Credits: 12

Level: Intermediate

Academic Year

Assessment: EX50ES40CW10

Requisites:

Aims & Learning Objectives: The course aim is to familiarise the student with the nature of scientific enquiry as a collective human enterprise, and the organisation, funding, communication, and ethics of contemporary science. Areas in which there are differences of opinion and potential conflict are emphasised.
After taking the unit students should be able to:
* discuss the nature and organisation of science, making reference to such aspects as scientific communication, funding, intellectual property and professional, social and environmental responsibility;
* work both as part of a team and independently to present a case;
* engage fairly with matters of controversy and formulate their own opinions.
Content:
* The nature of science as a method of human enquiry: a brief survey of ideas on philosophy of science.
* Funding and control: who decides what science should be done.
* Intellectual property and the public good.
* Publication of science: scientific writing, primary literature and reviews; the editorial process; peer review, good and bad; open access literature.
* Professional and social responsibility: the scientist's duties to the employer, the Public Interest, environmental preservation etc.
* Ethics and values: some principles and implications.
* Error and deception in science.

XX30172: State of the planet

Credits: 6

Level: Honours

Semester: 2

Assessment: EX75CW25

Requisites:

Before taking this unit you must (take XX20085 and take XX20001) or (take CH10056 and take CH10057) or (take CH10007 and take CH10008) or (take CH10089 and take CH10090) and while taking this unit you must take CE40044

Aims: To enable advanced study of the impact of human populations on the global environment, focusing specially on human population growth and its impact on food supply, human use of common resources, ecological services and biodiversity.
Learning Outcomes:
After taking this Unit students should be able to demonstrate that they:
* Have advanced knowledge of a range of scientific and technical problems concerning the current state of the global environment, and the evidential basis for such knowledge;
* Understand historic and current impacts on the global environment of human population growth and technological advance;
* Can access and analyse web-based governmental and NGO public databases of global environmental information;
* Appreciate the importance of detailed accounting of environmental indices in appraising global situation;
* Can evaluate the worth of predictive models of future environmental change, and their implications for Homo sapiens and the biosphere;
* Are aware of historic and current proposals to limit human population and economic growth and their scientific, technological, philosophical and political implications.
Skills:
Written communication (T/F/A), Oral presentation (T/F/A), Numeracy and computation (T/F/A), Data acquisition, handling and analysis (T/F/A), Information technology (T/F/A), Information handling and retrieval (T/F/A), Group working (T/F), Working independently (T/F).
Content:
Hardin's 'Tragedy of the Commons'; Ecosystem services and the state of the planet; Appraisal of the current global human population and the probable trajectory of its growth; Current states of the following global indices: Soils and food security; Biodiversity and the natural world; Fisheries and the oceans; Freshwater resources; Energy reserves; Air quality and pollution; Climate change.

XX30173: Environmental issues

Credits: 12

Level: Honours

Semester: 1

Semester: 2

Assessment: EX50ES30CW20

Requisites:

Before taking this unit you must (take XX20085 and take XX20001) or (take CH10056 and take CH10057) or (take CH10007 and take CH10008) or (take CH10089 and take CH10090)

Aims: To enable advanced study of a range of environmental issues of contemporary interest, integrating study of environmental science with policy issues.
Learning Outcomes:
After studying this Unit students should be able to:
* demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of a range of environmental science and policy issues;
* integrate across a range of different environmental science and policy issues;
* relate environmental science issues to the wider social, political and economic context;
* examine controversial issues from opposing standpoints;
* identify entrenched positions on environmental matters and understand how these have developed.
Skills:
Learning and studying (T/F/A), Written communication (T/F/A), Oral presentation (T/F/A), Information technology (T/F/A), Information handling and retrieval (T/F/A), Group working (T/F), Working independently (T/F).
Content:
A selected range of environmental issues of contemporary importance will be examined. Example topics are: poverty and environmental degradation, green politics, sustainable technologies, climate change and developing countries, implementing alternative energy sources, remote sensing and environmental assessment, development and conservation, poverty and fuel efficiency, economic growth and the environment, transport policy and the environment, risk perception and the environment (etc). NB This Unit is run in conjunction with the seminar programme of the International Centre for the Environment (ICE) The selection of topics will be decided in conjunction with ICE.

University | Catalogues for 2004/05 | for UGs | for PGs