This thesis looks at the role of wild pollinators in providing services to crops. Two data chapters (2 and 3) are accompanied by a modelling chapter (4) which build on the findings of the field studies. The thesis ends with an overview of the trends in pollinator populations and how these relate to the needs of farmers in the UK (chap-ter 5). It is often assumed that commercial pollinators are appropriate substitutes of wild pollinators on farms; however this view neglects the differing roles that particular pollinator taxa might play in providing pollination services. For example, crops with a long growing system may require multiple pollinators to ensure pollination throughout the season. Strawberries in Scotland have an extremely long growing season, flowering from April to August. Chapter 2 presents a study showing season-al complementarity between different pollinating taxa across strawberry farms in Scotland. Pollinators of strawberries also differed in their responses to weather pa-rameters indicating that preserving multiple pollinator taxa could ensure yields un-der different weather scenarios. The requirements of a long-growing season and ad-verse weather may be specific to strawberry production in Scotland, but the valua-tion of multiple taxa can be generalised to systems with differing needs, and also to different ecosystem services. Wild bees are not only valuable for providing complementary services to commercial pollinators, but are also valuable in the longer term as it is unknown whether com-mercial pollinators will be available in the future. There are threats to the supply of honeybees which have already triggered price rises; such supply shocks could force farmers to leave production or to seek other ways of providing pollination, including supporting wild pollinators. However farm management pressures, in particular pes-ticide use, could threaten the ability of wild pollinators to continue to support crop production. The interplay of pesticides and pollination is discussed in chapter 3 and 4. Chapter 3 presents an experiment undertaken on soft-fruit farms which had and had not used the neonicotinoid, thiacloprid, and shows that nests exposed to thia-cloprid had higher worker mortality, and lower male production than those at con-trol farms. This has implications both for pollination services now, as worker mor-tality will reduce the number of bees visiting farms, and also for the maintenance of future pollination services through decreased reproductive capacity of exposed nests. Chapter 4 uses a theoretical model to link pesticide use and habitat use to pollina-tion services, and shows that the use of commercial pollinators could mask the de-cline in wild populations, making local extinctions more likely. Chapter 5 sets out the status and extent of pollinators in the UK, along with popu-lation trends, trends in habitat and trends in pesticide use to provide an overview of how well pollination services are likely to meet the ongoing needs of crop farmers.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Emerging global trends towards sustainable development have placed emphasis on the need to create sustainable food value chains. Many food value chains are becoming weakened through their reliance on eco-systems that are deteriorating. Furthermore, while food systems are under threat, global food consumption is on the rise. The conundrum seems inescapable. Humanity’s food supply methods have moved on from hunter-gatherer characteristics apart from the exception of the fishing industry. The current generation may be the last to witness the wide-spread practice of fishing. Aquaculture, and in particular fish-farming, has begun to show much potential as a method of producing sustainable sources of protein. Whether this can be utilized in the South African context is a challenge that needs to be verified. This research, presented as two articles, explores the potential for the development of the fish-farming sector in South Africa, and recommends suitable species. Although there is some literature on how fish-farming may have a place in South Africa’s sustainability quest, it is scarce. This research aims to enhance the literature base on fish-farming in South Africa, as well as provide further evidence on what the true potential is for fish-farming in South Africa. This was done through a series of primary and secondary data collection methods that allow for a thorough analysis of fish-farming in South Africa and the species involved. The analysis revealed that the fish-farming sector and the cultivatable species in South Africa are met with an array of opportunities and challenges. Overcoming these challenges will open the doors to exploit the opportunities available. / AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Opkomende globale tendense weerspieël dat dit noodsaaklik is dat klem gelê moet word op volhoubare ontwikkeling en dat dit van uitterste belang is om volhoubare voedsel waardekettings te skep. Verskeie voedsel waardekettings raak verswak deur hul afhanklikheid van eko-stelsels wat vernietig word. Verder, terwyl voedsel stelsels bedreig word, is globale verbruik van voedsel besig om te verhoog. Dié raaisel lyk onvermydelik. Mensdom se huidige voedselvoorraad metodes het aansienlik ontwikkel van dié van die jagter-versamelaars, met die uitsondering van die visbedryf. Die huidige generasie mag die laaste wees, wat die wyd verspreide praktyk van visvang beoefen, om daarvan te getuig. Akwakultuur, in besonder vis-boerdery, het begin om potensiaal te wys as 'n volhoubare bron in die vervaardiging van proteïen. Of dit in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks gebruik kan word, is 'n uitdaging wat geverifieer moet word. Hierdie navorsing, wat aangebied word as twee tydskrifartikels, ondersoek die potensiaal vir die ontwikkeling van vis-boerdery in Suid-Afrika, en beveel ook gepaste spesies aan. Alhoewel daar sommige artikels is oor hoe vis-boerdery kan in pas in Suid-Afrika se soeke na volhoubaarheid, is dit skaars te vinde. Die navorsing beoog om die literatuur basis van vis-boerdery in Suid-Afrika op te skerp, en ter selfde tyd verdere bewys te gee oor die ware potensiaal van vis-boerdery in Suid-Afrika. Dit was gedoen deur 'n reeks van primêre en sekondêre data-insameling metodes wat voorsiening maak vir 'n deeglike ontleding van visboerdery in Suid -Afrika en die spesies betrokke. Die ontleding het getoon dat die vis-boerdery bedryf en die aankweek spesies in Suid-Afrika verskeie geleenthede en uitdagings in die gesig staar. Oorwinning van hierdie uitdagings sal dit moontlik maak om die beskikbare geleenthede te ontgin.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-17T13:18:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 André Nardy.pdf: 1963684 bytes, checksum: a82de1fcbde856de94ee26d68549f774 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T13:18:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 André Nardy.pdf: 1963684 bytes, checksum: a82de1fcbde856de94ee26d68549f774 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-07-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The objective of this work is to contribute to the discussion of culture as an independent variable in Finance. The relationship between economic and financial attitudes and conceptual models of culture is analyzed; so as the relationship between financial behaviors of saving and borrowing and conceptual models of culture, from the Brazilian sample of the World Values Survey in its last available wave (2014). Individuals are considered as social agents and their context is considered in this analysis. The models of culture tested are based on the literature of anthropology, sociology, psychology, finance and economics: Religious denomination, Religious practices, Practices and denominations, Religious values and denominations, Schwartz personal values scale and Capitalist Culture and Hierarchism. Binary logistic regression is used as the main analysis tool. There is evidence of a Protestant ethic for attitude toward work and wealth generation for the individuals of this denomination, in different models, even in a historically Catholic society such as Brazil. The same is not true for evangelicals. Social capital, in its dimensions of trust in group, network connectivity and cooperation also present statistical significance in the lastly mentioned model. Hierarchism presents little evidence of contributing to the understanding of attitudes and behaviors analyzed / O objetivo do presente trabalho é contribuir para a discussão da cultura como variável independente em estudos de Finanças. Analisa-se a relação entre atitudes econômicas e financeiras e modelos conceituais de cultura; e entre comportamentos financeiros de economizar e tomar emprestado e modelos conceituais de cultura, a partir da amostra brasileira da Pesquisa Mundial de Valores em sua última onda disponível (2014). Considera-se os indivíduos como agentes sociais e seu contexto para esta análise. Os modelos de cultura testados baseiam-se na literatura de antropologia, sociologia, psicologia, finanças e economia: Denominação religiosa, Práticas religiosas, Práticas e denominações religiosas, Valores e denominações religiosas, Escala de valores pessoais de Schwartz e Cultura Capitalista e Hierarquismo. Emprega-se regressão logística binária como principal ferramenta de análise. Verifica-se indícios de uma ética protestante para a atitude perante trabalho e geração de riqueza para os indivíduos desta denominação, em diferentes modelos, mesmo em sociedade historicamente católica como a brasileira. O mesmo não se verifica para evangélicos. Capital social, em suas dimensões de confiança in group, conectividade em rede e cooperação também apresentam significância estatística no último modelo citado. Hierarquismo apresenta poucos indícios de contribuir para o entendimento das atitudes e comportamentos analisados

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-07-11T12:42:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandro Antonio da Silva.pdf: 2256415 bytes, checksum: 91e964be8341ff7b95ece00a7e9f9a3b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-11T12:42:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alessandro Antonio da Silva.pdf: 2256415 bytes, checksum: 91e964be8341ff7b95ece00a7e9f9a3b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the Nacional Cultural Plan PNC [Plano Nacional de Cultura] considering the detection of some reasons that are preventing the establishment of a cultural policy by the plan in Brazil. With the support of some works of Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984), specially the Biopolitics Course; by Pascal Gielen (1970) about Creativity and other Fundamentalisms; of political action present at Homo Sacer figure, by Giorgio Agamben (1942); of Immunity approach at Roberto Esposito (1950) work; and the concept of Multitude by Antonio Negri (1933), the thesis starts with the governmentality idea and the analyse of economy and politics relations fortification to search the comprehension of the problems not only in the PNC constitution, but also at neoliberals contexts that engender it (and that emerge from it). Besides, authors that analyse Brazilian cultural policy and cultural economy are mentioned. The research corpus also assembles some cultural actions proposed in small Brazilian cities (not big ones, like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), where the situation is much more difficult. The expected result is the study of the problems that are preventing the construction of a national cultural policy, acting in several directions that involve communication, economy and politics nets, promoting desubjetivation and thanatopolitics effects instead of politics for life / O objetivo desta tese é fazer uma análise do PNC ⎯ Plano Nacional de Cultura ⎯ tendo em vista detectar alguns motivos que tem impedido esse plano de estabelecer uma política cultural no país. Com o apoio de algumas obras de Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984), especialmente o seu Curso de Biopolítica; de Pascal Gielen (1970) acerca do Fundamentalismo da Criatividade; da ação política presente na figura do Homo Sacer de Giorgio Agamben (1942); da abordagem Imunitária presente na obra de Roberto Esposito (1950); e do conceito de Multidão de Antonio Negri (1933), a tese parte da noção de governamentalidade e da análise do fortalecimento das relações entre economia e política para buscar compreender os problemas envolvidos, não apenas na constituição do PNC, mas nos contextos neoliberais que o engendram (e que dele emergem). Além disso, são citados autores que analisam a história da política cultural e da economia da cultura no Brasil. O corpus da pesquisa reúne também algumas ações culturais propostas fora do eixo das grandes cidades brasileiras (sobretudo Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo), onde a situação apresenta-se ainda mais difícil. O resultado esperado é o levantamento de problemas que tem impedido a construção de uma política cultural nacional, agindo em diversas frentes que envolvem redes de comunicação, de economia e de política, promovendo efeitos de dessubjetivação e tanatopolítica ao invés de políticas para a vida

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The main millennium development goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in the world by 2015. South Africa is one of the countries that signed this pledge at the millennium summit in 2000. The Department of Agriculture, has initiated a number of projects to assist farmers and communities with reaching this goal. In the Northern Cape, the commercialization of goats is one such anchor project. The major activities of this project is to train farmers in applied and appropriate production practices, assist them with accessing markets and supporting them with improved livestock. The main aim of this research was to evaluate whether the project has achieved its outcome and whether this outcome, is having an impact on the livelihoods of the farmers involved in the project. After reviewing the literature on evaluation research and programme evaluation across time, the different paradigms and approaches, participatory methodology was used in this study. A case study approach was applied to evaluate the outcomes and effects of the training received by farmers, as part of the commercialization of goats programme. The results of the study proved that the training received by members of the Campbell Agricultural Co-operative Enterprises, changed their goat production practices. The training also had a secondary impact. Trained farmers were imparting (technology transfer) their acquired knowledge to other members of the co-operative. This appeared very effective as all members of the cooperative were farming more scientifically. These changes to the production practices had a positive impact on the livelihoods of the farmers, as their animals were of a better quality and they were able to sell their animals at different markets and for better prices. This has however not commercialized their farming operations as they are still faced with many challenges. These challenges are the lack of a proper marketing structure, access to financial assistance, proper infrastructure and adequate transport for the animals to mention a few. If the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs is serious about assisting these farmers to move from the status of “emerging farmer” to “commercial farmer” they will have to look at addressing the problems experienced with financial access and access to adequate and appropriate transport.

Films, séries télévisées ou jeux vidéo, les fictions audiovisuelles populaires encouragent et alimentent la consommation de produits culturels variés, apparentés instinctivement à un univers fictif, une marque, un genre ou une organisation spécifique. L’analyse de ce réflexe au moment de la réception permet de mettre au jour les mécanismes établissant les liens entre les œuvres, au moyen du concept central de marqueur, élément en apparence anodin dans la fiction mais fondant une allusion compréhensible sous certaines conditions. L’étude des stratégies de réduction du risque mises en place par les organisations produisant les fictions audiovisuelles montre que les marqueurs jouent un rôle essentiel dans la conception, la production et la mise sur le marché de ces produits culturels, sans en garantir systématiquement le succès, difficilement mesurable. Ces stratégies autorisent, voire encouragent un usage et une appropriation ludique des marqueurs qui conditionnent l’exploration des univers fictifs (parfois génériques) de la culture populaire par ses publics, et sa réutilisation par ses créateurs. / Be they video games, movies or TV shows, popular audiovisual fictions encourage the consumption of diverse cultural works, instinctively linked to a specific fictitious universe, brand, genre or organisation. Analyzing this audience’s reflex leads to the inner working of how cultural products are linked together, thanks to an apparently innocuous element which indeed supports an allusion. This marker, as we will call it, can be understood as such only under certain conditions. When it is, it can play a central role in the risk-reduction strategies implemented by entertainment industries during the design, production and marketing of mainstream fictions, with no guarantees of of a success that can hardly be summed up by box-office numbers. These strategies, in turn, promote a playful use of markers in fictions, allowing the audience’s exploration of popular culture universes, and their recycled use as allusions by creative teams in the TV show, film and video game industries.