Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-232).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-232).

There is problematic flow of Knowledge among rice farmers in Ghana, which constitutes one of the critical challenges that is face in rice production in country. Effective knowledge sharing, therefore, offers great potential for addressing the challenges of rice production in Ghana. The current study explores the knowledge sharing practices among rice farmers in the Eastern Region of Ghana in order to develop strategies to enhance knowledge sharing. The study was underpinned by the pragmatic paradigm where concurrent triangulation mixed-method design was used for the study. Data was gathered with survey and interviews. A total sample of 110 was used; involving 101 survey respondents and 9 interview participants. The survey data was analyse descriptively using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 26. The interview finding was analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed informal and elementary knowledge sharing practices among the rice farmers, which are mostly face-to-face. The study suggests coherent and structured strategy for knowledge sharing. It established that a successful implementation of knowledge sharing would depend on identifying and linking knowledge sharing enablers to tools and technologies. The proposed strategies would not only improve knowledge sharing among rice farmers in Ghana and add to the body of knowledge. The findings of the study may also be adopted by rice farming communities in other African countries whose rice farming context is similar to the context in Ghana. / Information Science / Ph. D. (Information Science)

俄羅斯開發其遠東地區，旨在挹注其總體經濟發展，而開發其遠東地區，則需要引進大量中國勞力；至於引進中國勞力，則是俄中戰略協作夥伴關係雙邊合作機制的一環；然而，一旦中國勞力大量湧進俄羅斯屬遠東地區，勢必對俄羅斯的國家安全造成一定程度的威脅，此一地緣政治考量，無可避免對俄羅斯引進中國勞力的政策產生制約；在此矛盾因素考量之下，對於在遠東地區引進中國勞力的政策，產生正反兩面針鋒相對的爭論；因此，俄羅斯對遠東地區中國移民政策是上述經濟發展、勞動力問題、國際戰略與地緣政治等因素，透過克里姆林政治的互動形塑而成。 上述假設命題又可以引申出下列邏輯相關子命題: (一)俄羅斯為了挹注其總體的經濟發展，需要大量外來勞力來開發其遠東地區。 (二)俄羅斯引進大量中國勞力，乃是俄中戰略協作夥伴關係雙邊合作機制的一環。 (三)俄羅斯引進大量中國勞力，勢必對俄羅斯安全構成威脅。 (四)俄羅斯遠東地區的中國移民政策，乃是克里姆林政治互動的結果。 / The purpose of this study is aimed at exploring the driving forces behind Russia’s policies on Chinese immigration in its Far East in terms of geopolitics, international strategy and the Kremlin politics. It is hypothesized in this study that with the development of Russia’s Far East region, it will help the overall economic development, and, in order to development its Far East, it is necessary for Russian government to recruit a large number of Chinese labors; as for the introduction of Chinese labors, it constitutes a link of Sino-Russian partnership of strategic coordination. However, once Chinese labor forces enter into the Russian Far East, it would create a threat to Russian national security. Under this geo-political consideration, it inevitably constitutes constraints for Russia on the introduction of Chinese labor forces. With these kinds of contradictory considerations, therefore, the formulation of Russia’s policy on Chinese immigration in its Far East should be analyzed in terms of economic, population, international strategy and geopolitics factors through the Kremlin political interaction. The above assumption can also derive the following logically related propositions: (1) In order to inject the overall economic development, Russian government needs a large number of foreign labors to develop the Far East. (2) Importing large quantities of Chinese labors is an integrated link of Sino-Russian partnership of strategic coordination. (3) Introducing a large number of Chinese labor forces constitutes a threat to Russian security. (4) Russia’s policy on Chinese immigration in its Far East is formulated as a result of Kremlin political interaction in terms of economic, population, international strategy and geopolitics factors.

Selecting the design ground motion parameters for future earthquakes is a challenging task in earthquake engineering. The intensity of ground shaking depends on the physics of the earthquake process, the seismic wave characteristics, damping and density of the elastic medium. The important parameters commonly used in engineering application are Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) and response spectrum. This thesis addresses the question of how the above parameters can be rationally estimated for a very highly Seismic zone like North Eastern Region of India (NERI). A detailed literature review and necessity of engineering seismic hazard estimation for NERI is presented in Chapter 1.The geological and seismotectonic setup of NERI has been described. The seismic status of NERI has also been discussed in this chapter. In Chapter 2, three region specific seismological model parameters namely stress drop, quality factor and soil (kappa factor) parameters are estimated. These earthquake model parameters represent the source, path and site parameters respectively. Reliable estimates of these parameters for NERI have been presented here for the first time. The model parameters are computed for this region from time histories of past earthquake records. These parameters are used in developing reliable ground motion attenuation relation for NERI. In chapter 3, the thesis proposes a new attenuation relation for ground motion at the bedrock level for NERI. This region has very few recorded strong motion data though it has experienced more than 2000 earthquakes in the past 600 years. Attenuation relations for PGA and 5% damping Spectral acceleration(Sa) have been developed for NERI by stochastic simulation of ground motion based on the seismological model of Boore (1983, 2003). Seismological model parameters namely stress drop, quality factor and kappa factor calculated in chapter 2 are used in simulation of ground motion samples. Twenty thousand ground motion samples are simulated for different range of magnitudes and hypocentral distances. These simulated ground motion samples are used to derive attenuation relation using two stage regression analyses. The developed regional attenuation relation is validated with available recorded data. In chapter 4, the attenuation relation developed in the previous chapter is utilized to carry out Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) for two important cities in NERI. Seismic hazard for 100, 500 and 2500 year return period for Guwahati and Shillong cities has been calculated considering all the seismotectonic sources within 300 'km radius around these two cities. Limited PSHA results are presented for eight important cities namely Aizawl, Agartala, Silchar, Karimganj, Jorhat, Itanagar, Kohima and Imphal of NERI corresponding to faults within the boundaries of India. Earthquake hazard microzonation maps at the bedrock level for a region of 200 km X 200 km centered around Guwahati city have been prepared in this chapter. In chapter 5, the results of chapter 3 and 4 are further used to compute city level hazard for Guwahati accounting for local site effects. For studying soil effects borehole data from 508 sites have been collected. Shear wave velocity has been estimated empirically. Based on this the city is divided in to four broad zones. PSHA has been carried out for the sites including the effect of soil layering. For routine design of structures, PGA and the response spectrum are sufficient. However, for very important structures such as bridges, dams and industrial plants ground motion histories are required in time domain. In chapter 6, the ground motion time histories for high magnitude earthquakes in NERI are simulated based on record of small events using Empirical Green's function (EGF) approach. Simulated ground motion samples valid for Assam Valley region, Shillong Plateau region and Eastern Himalayan region corresponding to magnitude Mw= 8.5 are presented. Similarly simulated ground motion records applicable for Arakan Yoma Belt region corresponding to magnitude Mw= 8.0 are presented. Also, simulated ground motion samples valid for Surma Valley region corresponding to magnitude Mw= 7.5 are presented. In the present study, simulated high magnitude strong motion records obtained by EGF approach have been compared with those obtained from the attenuation relation developed in chapter3. A summary of the work done in this thesis and a few suggestions for further research are presented in chapter 7. The data of past earthquakes used in this thesis for hazard analysis is presented in the Appendix.

Étudier la mise en œuvre de la décentralisation forestière au Cameroun est l’objet de cette recherche dont la question principale est de savoir si le transfert de la gestion des forêts aux communes et communautés villageoises conduit à de nouvelles formes de gouvernance concourant au développement socio-économique local et à la conservation des forêts dans la région Est. Les résultats de cette étude, basée sur une méthodologie pluridisciplinaire et utilisant la gouvernance comme cadre d’analyse, indiquent des relations complexes d’interdépendances inégales entre les communes et les communautés villageoises vis-à-vis des exploitants forestiers. Ils montrent également des rapports de dépendance de ces trois catégories d’acteurs vis-à-vis de l’État dont le pouvoir autoritaire reste fort et prégnant. Quant au développement socio-économique et à la conservation des forêts escomptés, les résultats obtenus sont en-deçà des espérances dans les communes de Gari Gombo et de Yokadouma. Certes l’on note quelques retombées socio-économiques pour les populations locales mais de nombreuses faiblesses limitantes pour une gouvernance efficace sont mises en lumière. Des perspectives pour une gouvernance efficace, au Cameroun en général et dans la zone d’étude en particulier, suggèrent l’organisation d’une action collective autour d’un objectif partagé, relatif au développement socio-économique et/ou à la conservation des forêts, entre les différents acteurs stratégiques pertinents. Il est également important que les bénéficiaires des forêts communales et communautaires en tirent des revenus suffisants pour réaliser des projets de développement local et assurer la régénération forestière. / Study the implementation of forest decentralization in Cameroon is the subject of this research that the main issue is whether the transfer of forest management to councils and local communities led to new forms of governance contributing to the socio-economic local development and the conservation of forests in the Eastern region. The results of this study, based on multidisciplinary methodological approach and using governance as a framework for analysis, indicate unequal interdependence relationship between the councils and logging companies on the one hand and between village communities and loggers in the other. They also indicate the dependency of these three categories of actors toward state institutions whose authoritarian power remains strong and meaningful. With regard to the local development and the conservation of forests expected, the analysis shows results below expectations in the councils of Gari Gombo and Yokadouma. Although we note some socio-economic benefits for local people, but overall many weaknesses limiting for effective governance are highlighted. The prospects for the effectiveness of governance in Cameroon in general, and in the study area in particular, suggest an organisation of collective action around a shared goal, for the local development and the forest biodiversity conservation, between relevant strategic actors. In addition, it is also necessary that the council and community forests generate sufficient incomes to their beneficiaries, to achieve local development projects and to ensure forest regeneration.