Thesis (D. Min.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, NC, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-196).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 100-103). Also available in print.

<p>In the early 2000’s scientists noticed an increase in biomass production in the Sahel for the period 1982-2002 (a process which is referred to as ‘greening’). The goal of this thesis was to investigate the greening phenomenon at the local scale in 4 villages in south-central Niger and compare results of the investigation with the already available regional scale studies. Theoretical starting points for this study were: the micro-macro scale paradox in the Sahelian studies and the critical research about ‘received wisdoms’ and environmental narratives of African landscapes. Methods for this study were: visual interpretation of remote sensing data (aerial photographs and satellite images) and collection of farmers’ knowledge during a fieldtrip (PRA and personal interviews). This study identified that greening was not a uniform or strong process in four villages. Greening primarily concerned appearance of new trees, whereas big old trees continued to disappear. Not only rainfall was a reason behind greening, but also human factor played a substantial role. The greening phenomenon should be investigated critically, as far as its meaning for the affected land users is not clear.</p>

This paper investigates the potential for a carbon tax to induce R&D, and for the consequent induced technical change (ITC) to lower the macroeconomic cost of abating carbon emissions. ITC is modelled within a general equilibrium simulation of the U.S. economy by the effects of emissions restrictions on the level and composition of aggregate R&D, the accumulation of the stock of knowledge, and the industry-level reallocation and substitution of intangible services derived therefrom. Contrary to other authors, I find that ITC's impact is large, positive and dominated by the latter "substitution effect," which mitigates most of the deadweight loss of the tax. / Abstract in HTML and technical report in PDF available on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change website (http://mit.edu/globalchange/www/). / This research was supported by the Offce of Science (BER), U.S. Department of Energy, Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63484, and by funding from the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, which is supported by a consortium of government, industry and foundation sponsors.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / 1 electronic text (218 p.) : digital, PDF file. Title from title screen. Mindy Stombler, committee chair; Elisabeth O. Burgess, Wendy Simonds, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 5, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-218).

In 1987, Burney and collaborators (Journal of Archaeological Science (1994) 21, 273–281) recovered a ca. 8 m sediment core from the western basin of Laguna Tortuguero, Puerto Rico that spanned the last ca. 7000 calibrated years. They produced a detailed microscopic charcoal record, and from an initial peak in charcoal at ca. 5300 cal yr B.P. suggested that humans had colonized the island some 2000 years earlier than documented by the archaeological evidence then available. In 2008, two sediment cores were recovered from the eastern basin of Laguna Tortuguero. AMS dates on macrofossils indicate the profile extends to 7600 calibrated years, but it includes an interval with missing sediment marked by a layer of shell hash and bracketed by radiocarbon dates of 5144 and 1648 cal yr B.P. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analyses show evidence for a drastic change in depositional environment following this event. Microscopic charcoal concentrations peak just below and at the contact of the shell hash, with the first of three high-charcoal levels positioned immediately above the date of 5144 cal yr B.P. The microscopic charcoal record appears to support the interpretations of Burney et al. (1994) of human colonization around 5300 cal yr B.P., although the fires recorded in the Laguna Tortuguero sediments may also be driven by regional climate shifts. Desiccation of Laguna Tortuguero, a hurricane or multiple hurricanes, or a tsunami could explain the missing sediments and the large change in depositional environment that occurs above the shell hash. AMS dating of sediment from the mud-water interface at the 2008 core site suggests a possible hard-water effect of ca. 1200 cal yr for dates on the algal gyttja above the shell hash, which if true would mean that the event that deposited the shell hash may have occurred as late as ca. 448 cal yr B.P. (A.D. 1502).

In the early 2000’s scientists noticed an increase in biomass production in the Sahel for the period 1982-2002 (a process which is referred to as ‘greening’). The goal of this thesis was to investigate the greening phenomenon at the local scale in 4 villages in south-central Niger and compare results of the investigation with the already available regional scale studies. Theoretical starting points for this study were: the micro-macro scale paradox in the Sahelian studies and the critical research about ‘received wisdoms’ and environmental narratives of African landscapes. Methods for this study were: visual interpretation of remote sensing data (aerial photographs and satellite images) and collection of farmers’ knowledge during a fieldtrip (PRA and personal interviews). This study identified that greening was not a uniform or strong process in four villages. Greening primarily concerned appearance of new trees, whereas big old trees continued to disappear. Not only rainfall was a reason behind greening, but also human factor played a substantial role. The greening phenomenon should be investigated critically, as far as its meaning for the affected land users is not clear.

This thesis focuses on the role the police have played in Taiwan¡¦s political institutions from 1949 to 2005. This thesis will attempt to cover three main areas. The first is to understand the transformation Taiwan¡¦s politics went through going from an authoritarian regime through a period of transition and then on to democracy. The second is, to study the development of the police in different political institutions. The final is to analyze and compare the role of the police and their importance and influence during different periods. Documents studied while researching this thesis include both those that focused on the political change in Taiwan and also the development of police institutions. Documents dealing with the role of police, specialized writings, periodicals, thesis and other documents were also reviewed. In addition, by using a historical research approach and systematic theory, documents were thus analyzed and research compared to survey the political change and the development of police institutions. Furthermore, the effects on political institutions and police institutions at different periods were considered deeply in order to provide a realistic report of the role the police had. This thesis can be divided into two parts. The first is about political change in Taiwan, reviewing and understanding the domestic and international factors which affected Taiwan generally. The second part is about the development of police institutions. This includes the course of change and development, equipment, education and training, maintaining of political power, maintaining order, social service, and the transition from authoritarian rule. The police role would be changed by different dominating factors, for instance, maintaining political power, maintaining social order and carrying out public service. In conclusion, political institutions would be affected by both domestic and international factors. The nature of the police role was to carry out social control, but because the police were part of the political system, therefore, the role would also be affected by political institutions.

Background: Focus on processes within organisations emerged during the nineteen ninetees and has since then become the most dominant management method. The main aim and positive features of process orientation is the customer focus and increased flexibility/efficiency. There is not much academic research conducted to leadership combined with processorientation. With this thesis we will minor that gap. The change into a process oriented approach makes a drastic change and the leadership could be a key factor or problem when implementing it. Purpose with the thesis: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how leadership is affected, on a top managerial level, as a result of implementing a process oriented approach. Method: In this thesis we have used a qualitative method and a hermeneutic approach to increase the understanding of how the leadership is affected of process orientation. We have made a case study on the Swedish Road Administration, Vägverket who has done a process orientation. We have made six interviews with topmanagers at their headoffice. Conclusion: We have come up with a model that states that a leader within a process oriented organisation can be compared with a tour guide. The model is based on our five key findings of how leadership is affected by changing into process orientation. These are: lead change, achieve aims, increase teamwork, increase communication and increase holistic view. These characteristics applies on a leader when changing into a process oriented organisation. / Bakgrund: Fokus på processer inom organisationer började under 1990-talet och har sedan dess varit den dominerande ledarskapsmetoden. Det främsta målet och fördelarna med processorienteringen är kundfokuseringen samt ökad flexibilitet och effektivitet. Det finns inte mycket forskning beträffande ledarskap kombinerat med processorientering. Med denna uppsats vill vi bidra med en undersökning. Förändringen till ett processorienterat synsätt innebär en drastisk förändring och ledarskapet har en nyckelroll i samband med implementeringen. Syfte med uppsatsen: Syftet med denna uppsats är att öka förståelsen för hur ledarskapet påverkas, på högsta chefsnivån, med anledning av implementeringen av ett processorienterat synsätt. Metod: I denna uppsats har vi använt en kvalitativ metod och ett hermeneutiskt tillvägagångssätt för att öka förståelsen av hur ledarskapet påverkas av processorientering. Vi har genomfört en fallstudie av Vägverket som genomfört en processorientering och intervjuat sex chefer på deras huvudkontor. Slutsats: Vi har tagit fram en modell som säger att en ledare inom en processorienterad organisation kan jämföras med en turguide. Modellen är baserad på våra fem viktigaste områden om hur ledarskap påverkas vid en förändring till ett processorienterat synsätt. Dessa är : att leda förändring, uppnå mål, ökad teamwork, ökad kommunikation och ökad helhetssyn. Detta kännetecknar en ledare när man förändrar till en processorienterad organisation.

Introduktion Det har pågått en diskussion om konsultverksamhet är ett yrke eller en hel industri. Många tänkare har kommit fram till att det är både och. Konsultfirmorna erbjuder idag också många olika typer av service, den här uppsatsen har sitt fokus på förändringsledningsområdet samt att beskriva managementkonsultens roll som förändringsagent. Trots att det ofta är svårt att se vilka effekter förändringar har på organisationer så är det viktigt att förändra. Förändringsledning är dock mycket svårt och därför misslyckas många förändringsprojekt. Syfte Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva managementkonsultens roll som förändringsagent samt att identifiera problem i och omkring förändringsprocessen. Vidare hoppas man kunna hitta exempel på problem och framgångsfaktorer för att förbättra förändringsledning. Metod Den här studien är gjord utifrån ett deduktivt synsätt. De empiriska data har sedan insamlats genom användandet av kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det främsta skälet till valet av en kvalitativ undersökning var att få en djupare kunskap inom undersökningsområdet samt att det ansågs vara bästa sättet för att uppnå syftet. Författarna undersökte tre olika projekt genom att intervjua en konsult och en klient inom vart och ett av projekten. På grund av uppsatsens fokus på förändringsagenter så säkerställdes att alla tre konsulterna hade denna roll när de ansvarade för ledning av förändring. Resultat Många faktorer påverkar implementeringen av förändringar i organisationer. I konsultens roll som förändringsagent är det viktigt att inte bli en implementerare, i slutändan är det klientens organisation som ska förändras. För att uppnå framgångsrik förändring har författarna kommit fram till några slutsatser som är vitigare än andra, bland dessa finner man, skapandet av involvering och gemensamt engagemang för förändring, hitta det verkliga problemet samt att man inte glömmer vikten av att involvera chefer och ledare.