The present article presents the outcomes of an environmental perception survey conducted in a Brazilian Federal University, as well as addresses the relation between the culture identified in the studied community and the public policies developed to encourage sustainability. It is a descriptive study based on a quantitative approach wherein a structured instrument was applied to assess the daily habits of 387 individuals from the institution's internal community. The outcomes have shown that this community tends to have a positive environmental perception, although it does not pay much attention to the environmental impacts resulting from its own habits. Based on this construct, the discussion about the government expectations intrinsic to the implemented public policies was addressed, as well as the degree of environmental awareness in the studied group. It was concluded that the socio-environmental scenario in the university is featured by the theory/practice dichotomy, which is a barrier to the local sustainability culture development dynamics and also a challenge to the articulation of legal dictate purposes and the potential arrangements identified in this internal community.

Numerical simulations via COMSOL Multiphysics software are used to describe the behavior of electrical resistivity of several samples with rectangular shape typically used in the Montgomery method. The simulation data obtained using four isotropic conductors allowed us to understand in detail the behavior of the electric potential and electric field of the samples. The results provide an analytical method, which can substitute the four-probe method with much more simplicity and precision.