No description available.

No description available.

Dairy farmers suffered substantially increased energy bills during the 1970's, at a time of herd expansion and modernisation of equipment to allow bulk milk refrigeration and storage on the farm. Little was known of the levels of electricity use in the dairy farming sector, but extrapolations had suggested a figure of 300 to over 400 kWh/cow/annum. Farmers were requesting quantitative estimates for the potential of conservation equipment, particularly plate heat exchangers and heat recovery units. An energy audit of dairy farms in South Devon is described. Over a period of two years, data were collected relating to energy use by each of the major components of a milking parlour and dairy, for a range of parlour sizes, levels of production and the ambient conditions. Analysis revealed the factors most influencing variations in energy use. An equation was developed to describe the energy use by a bulk milk tank, given the level of production and the ambient temperature. The bulk tank accounted for some 40% of the total energy used. The bulk tank has been studied in detail. The stages of heat transfer from the milk to the chilled water and the resulting effects upon the ice bank have been modelled. Laboratory investigations were carried out to determine some parameters empirically. The model's limits, sensitivity and validation are reported. Typical levels and ranges of energy use are suggested. A mean of approximately 250 kWh/cow/annum resulted from the audit, but 200 kWh/cow/annum was achieved by the most economical of farms without resort to conservation equipment, and this level is proposed as a target for the conscientious farmer. The factors affecting energy use in the farm dairy are identified as political, environmental, technical and managerial and these are discussed. The farmer's influence has to be directed mainly at the last of these categories. Investment in energy conservation equipment should not be considered until consumption is down to the proposed target level.

No description available.

For over two decades, epidemiological research has provided increasingly stronger evidence for a link between fruit and vegetable consumption and, cancer and heart disease. This has led health experts to recommend that people consume at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. In the UK, as in many European countries, the average consumption is approximately half the recommended level. Research has also shown that there are low levels of nutritional knowledge within the community, which might be one explanation for these low levels. The present studies examine the associations between cognitions and behaviour for intake of fruit and vegetables in two different populations, and then test the efficacy of a tailored intervention for changing eating behaviour, knowledge and attitudes in two randomised controlled studies. Two large studies were carried out in different samples of the population. The first study took place in a cancer screening setting with an older adult sample (n=1054), and showed that knowledge and attitudes were independent predictors of dietary behaviour. Data from the baseline survey were used to create a brief, personalised, tailored intervention designed to increase knowledge, improve attitudes and thereby modify behaviour. Results from the 6-week follow-up showed that the intervention was successful in improving nutritional knowledge, changing attitudes to fruit and increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Increases in intake were correlated both with increases in nutritional knowledge and positive change to attitudes. The second study was planned as a replication and extension of the first, with some improvements in measures and a more representative sample. It took place in a dental clinic setting (n=1846). Knowledge and attitudes were again shown to be independent predictors of fruit and vegetable intake, and variations in knowledge accounted for some of the demographic variations in intake. Subsequently a 3-group design was then used to test the effectiveness of the tailored intervention, comparing it this time to a general intervention and an untreated control group. The tailored intervention group produced significant changes in behaviour and knowledge compared to both the general intervention and control group, while the general intervention produced only significant increases to nutritional knowledge. The results suggest that tailored interventions can be a successful tool to use for changing knowledge and attitudes, and is more effective than a standard leaflet for everybody. Therefore it is important to consider the practicalities of using tailoring in the design of dietary interventions especially for improving fruit and vegetable intake which have previously been difficult to adjust. The two studies were limited by self-report measures of intake, and future work needs to consider incorporating some kind of objective validation. Also while medical settings proved feasible for carrying out interventions, participants were not representative of the general population, so any extrapolation to the general population must be cautious. Future research might examine setting effects for efficacy as well as feasibility. The recent developments in information technology could be used to assist future intervention studies in producing tailored interventions for larger groups of people.

No description available.

The aim of this thesis study is to enlighten the economic relationship among consumption, income and liquidity constraints in Turkish Economy. For this aim, generalized instrumental variables estimation technique (GIVE) is used to estimate reduced-form consumption equations derived by Hall (1978) and improved by Campbell and Mankiw (1989). Estimations are realized for two separate periods of Turkish Economy. For the sub-period of 1987 to 1995, it is observed that a significant part of households consume their current disposable income. It is thought that the presence of liquidity constraints forced households to determine their consumption simply according to their current disposable income. However, it is observed that the dependence of households to disposable income decreased substantially, when analyzed for the overall period of 1987 to 2002. Financial deepening in the economy and the rise of real credit volume contributed to the decline of the level of liquidity constraints and enabled households to allocate their income across subsequent periods evenly. Thus, it is concluded that private consumption behavior is consistent with the Permanent Income / Life- Cycle Consumption theory for 1987 to 2002 period in Turkish Economy.

Thesis (M.S. - Hydrology and Water Resources)--University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xvi, 222 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-207).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 1985. / Title from PDF t.p.