Mammalian pests are excluded from Maungatautari Ecological Island by an XcluderTM pest-proof fence. Inevitably, the fence integrity will be compromised at some point by mechanisms such as treefall and flood-scour: such events could lead to pest re-invasion. Knowledge of pest activity directly outside the reserve would assist reserve managers in developing optimal breach-response procedures. This thesis described baseline data on the presence, timing of activity and behaviour of mammalian pest animals found directly at the Maungatautari fence. Two seasonal video studies investigated the effects of season (summer and winter), exterior habitat (forest and pasture) and simulated breach type ('tree-fall' and 'flood scour') on the number of pest sightings. Significantly more sightings were recorded in summer (788) than in winter (428), particularly for rodents. Rabbits were sighted significantly more often at pasture sites, but habitat type did not significantly affect sightings of any other species; nor did breach type affect sightings of any species. Ship rats were commonly sighted within the fence hood gutter. Overall, rodent, possum and cat sightings were very high, and mustelid sightings extremely low, in both seasons. Over 95% of non-lagomorph sightings were nocturnal, and the greatest threat of invasion was found to come nocturnally, from mice, and in the summer. A probability model showed that although the cumulative probability of a mammalian pest encountering a fence breach increases dramatically after dark, in reality there is always a threat of encounter, and this is always increasing with time. Over the same two studies, the behaviour of pest mammals sighted was also described. Pests were found to show interest in and enter summer breaches more often than winter breaches (p lt 0.001). Simulated breaches were encountered by pests within the first 24 hours at a very high rate (95% summer, 92.5% winter), and most likely to enter a breach were rodents. Over 7 days, breaches were encountered and entered by increasing numbers of species and possibly by more individuals; all species were shown to be willing to enter. The threat of invasion by ship rats was probably underestimated because of their higher activity within the fence hood than at the fence base; mustelids may also offer a greater threat than the results suggest, because they almost always entered a breach. It was strongly recommended that when the fence integrity is compromised, physical response should be as quick as possible, especially at night. Future research was strongly encouraged, particularly to understand invasion behaviour of animals such as ship rats and stoats, and to describe pest behaviour at real breach events.

Electric fencing is commonly used on New Zealand's farms. Modern technology is used in farm management systems to solve old farming problems in a more efficient and simple way. Engineers have researched the use of the electric fence as a communication medium and new technologies based on transmission line theory are used at present to monitor and troubleshoot problems occurring in electric fences. The next stage of the development is to use wireless devices to accomplish those same tasks from remote locations. This project aims to develop a prototype that provides a wireless link between an electric fence and a personal computer in a remote location. This prototype is expected to prove concepts that lead to the future design of useful, marketable products. The project was supported by Gallagher Electronics and is implemented using their existing products where possible.

No description available.

This study is mostly based on previous research, which includes Sub-national actor’s attitudes and regional action towards the European Union. The purpose of the study is to investigate if four Swedish municipalities in Värmland operate internationally towards the European Union and deepen an understanding of their actions. The main research question is:   - How can we increase our understanding of municipal action against the European Union?   The research questions of this study are answered through qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Eight key informants in position either as politicians or official workers were selected for interviews whose position is either politicians or official workers. The results were then analysed based on theories such as Fusion and regional action. The study shows that the four Swedish municipalities in Sweden operate internationally in varied form. The actions of smaller municipalities seem to be dictated to large extend by the available resources.

Many contemporary states and historic political entities walled their borders stressing the idea that these barriers would protect their homelands from external threats and thus, achieve security. Although this security argument has prevailed, the political science literature fails to offer a systematic empirical examination of the relationship between barriers and cross-border threats. This research attempts to bridge this gap by answering the question: What are the actual security outcomes of physical barriers on borders? And thus, under what conditions do barriers succeed/fail to achieve security? This paper posits that, in some cases, building barriers on borders to stop non-state actors’ attacks escalate conflict. It demonstrates that when militants have supply institutions, they will manage to increase their attacks and shift to new tactics despite the barrier. It also studies the Israeli Gaza Strip Fence and offers an analysis based on patterns of the relationships between features of the barrier and the Gaza attacks. these patterns are derived from a quantitative dataset built by the researcher and are also supplemented by qualitative data about the case. / text

The sport of equestrian cross country eventing has seen many serious and even fatal injuries due to rotational horse falls in recent years. The sport originally consisted of horse and rider teams jumping stationary, wood fences. However, in a move towards increasing safety for horses and riders, frangible and deformable safety devices have been emerging in the field. This thesis provides an overview of safety designs that are currently available and those that are on the horizon. Also, a path-finder method of evaluating and developing safety fence designs was outlined and applied to two distinct designs, a hinged gate and a collapsible table fence. A full size prototype of the hinged gate was constructed and tested in the field in two different locations. The collapsible table fence design was developed and then a ½ geometric scale prototype was constructed to demonstrate design feasibility and to analyze design development challenges.

The purpose of this study is to assist wire companies to identify buying behaviour amongst consumers of their products. For the purpose of this study the product will be wire products and the specific target market will be farmers in the Eastern Free State. The primary objective of the study is to identify factors that play a role in the buying behaviour of farmers in the Eastern Free State when purchasing wire products. By knowing exactly the buying criteria of wire products amongst farmers and seasonable cycles of purchasing will form the basis of strategic marketing planning. This study was conducted in two phases. Phase one consisted of a literature review and phase two of an empirical research. The empirical research consisted of a quantitative research design; more specifically, descriptive research that employed cross–sectional analysis of the quantitative data collected from a sample by means of a structured questionnaire. The results show that 76% of the respondents are older than 41 years of age. The population for this study is, therefore, a more matured one. Regarding their buying behaviour, the purchase frequency shows that the majority purchase wire products on a monthly basis and 40% on an annual basis. Most of them (78%) purchase their wire products from the co–operative. Wire products are an integral part of farming activities and in general the respondents are very positive about the industry. Most important considerations identified are that the wire industry should keep in touch with its market, never be out of orders, keep up the fast service that is currently provided, and that reputable products should be kept in stock. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The purpose of this study is to assist wire companies to identify buying behaviour amongst consumers of their products. For the purpose of this study the product will be wire products and the specific target market will be farmers in the Eastern Free State. The primary objective of the study is to identify factors that play a role in the buying behaviour of farmers in the Eastern Free State when purchasing wire products. By knowing exactly the buying criteria of wire products amongst farmers and seasonable cycles of purchasing will form the basis of strategic marketing planning. This study was conducted in two phases. Phase one consisted of a literature review and phase two of an empirical research. The empirical research consisted of a quantitative research design; more specifically, descriptive research that employed cross–sectional analysis of the quantitative data collected from a sample by means of a structured questionnaire. The results show that 76% of the respondents are older than 41 years of age. The population for this study is, therefore, a more matured one. Regarding their buying behaviour, the purchase frequency shows that the majority purchase wire products on a monthly basis and 40% on an annual basis. Most of them (78%) purchase their wire products from the co–operative. Wire products are an integral part of farming activities and in general the respondents are very positive about the industry. Most important considerations identified are that the wire industry should keep in touch with its market, never be out of orders, keep up the fast service that is currently provided, and that reputable products should be kept in stock. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Continual advancements in technology have led to the development of reliable, efficient and economical farm management systems, many of which utilize electric fences for effective control of farm animals. An electric fence system constitutes a conducting fence structure that is energized by a high voltage signal generated from an electric fence energizer. Modern electric fence energizers employ a pulsed power supply together with an appropriate high voltage charging scheme to generate high voltage pulses that energize the fence structure. The high voltage pulse delivers a non-lethal electric shock to an animal that comes into contact with the fence, and the consequent psychological impact on the animal is such that it is less likely to come into contact with the fence again. The complexity associated with modelling electric fence systems has hindered the development of proper mathematical tools that aid their design and optimization, and as a consequence, electric fence systems are currently designed using empirical rules together with a trial and error design approach. This Thesis therefore aims to fulfil this need by presenting new technologies and mathematical tools that can be used to design both intelligent and optimized electric fence systems. It presents a comprehensive study on electric fencing systems, which includes a detailed mathematical analysis on pulse propagation properties of electric fence networks and the development of high performance fence energizers that incorporates new pulses power supply technologies and high voltage charging schemes. With regard to the pulsed power technologies, two novel topologies with the ability to adapt their output pulse shape according to the fence conditions are proposed. The performance of these technologies is analyzed mathematically, and verified experimentally. In comparison to the existing fence energizer technology, energizers that are based on the proposed pulsed power supply designs are superior in performance. Furthermore, a novel Buck-Boost pushpull parallel-resonant converter technique, which is suitable for charging high voltage storage capacitors in an energizer, is also presented. The proposed technique allows for the push-pull parallel-resonant converter to operate with a frequency dependent variable voltage gain over a wide load range while maintaining zero voltage switching (ZVS). The operation of the converter is analyzed mathematically and verified experimentally to validate the proposed technique. In order to gain an insight into the propagation characteristics of electric fence networks, the Thesis presents a comprehensive mathematical model. The model uses the propagation properties of fence networks with frequency dependent distributed line parameters to obtain analytical solutions for the propagation function in the frequency-domain. As these analytical solutions are complex in nature, they are solved numerically to obtain time-domain solutions, the accuracy of which are verified through experiments and simulations. The mathematical tools and new technologies proposed in the thesis can be used to design electric fence systems that are more efficient and effective than the existing systems. In addition, the tools proposed are also expected to aid the design of electric fence based communication channels for intelligent farm management systems.

In Cambodia, over 80% of the population is engaged in agricultural production, mostly in rice cultivation. The country, however, faces a lot of problems of rice crop damage. In Cambodia, rodents are considered to be one of the most important pests of rice, with the potential to cause severe damage during periodic plague events. As is seen in other developing countries, physical methods of rodent control are probably the most commonly used approaches. In general, the choice of methods varies with the availability of resources, season, the participation of farmers, the condition of the rice field, weather conditions, experience with the success of the techniques, likely level of rodent attack and other considerations. However, effective rodent control methods suiting farmers’ needs and applicable to the agricultural production environment in Cambodia are yet to be assessed. The aim of this research was to examine the socio-economic factors impacting on the implementation of several rodent control methods in comparison to the Trap-Barrier System (TBS) in order to improve rodent pest control in Cambodia. The research employed a constructivist approach in which the researcher played a role as a participant observer, to study the social setting and realities as constructed by the participants in the study sites. Rodent management was studied as a complex phenomenon, occurring within the milieu of family, village and commune life in rural Cambodia. The study looks into the beliefs and behaviours of the farming community and examines how Cambodian traditions affect the implementation of rodent management techniques and the management of rodents as a community activity. Participatory techniques were employed to gather information concerning the farmers’ assessments of the effectiveness of various rodent management options practiced in Samrong Commune. The level of adoption and adaptation of TBS in the commune was observed over a period of several years. This study is the first detailed study of farmer perceptions of alternative rodent control methods in Cambodia, especially the TBS. The study was based on long term trials involving a TBS application on a commune scale and investigations after the removal of all subsidies for purchase of materials. It was apparent that TBS use declined and eventually become limited to a few individuals who had worked closely with the project. The study also demonstrates how BBNs and Netica software can be applied as participatory tools to develop and explore the decision making structure of farmers. These tools can also be used as extension tools and can contribute to better decision making by communities. The study also shows how an understanding of traditional aspects of public goods management by communities can contribute to the design of effective contemporary solutions to problems involving the community and public goods management. In this sense its significance goes well beyond the specific context of rodent control, pest management and rice production and takes on wider significance in the field of community development generally. The study applied a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach to data collection and analysis, involving interviews, surveys, modelling, workshops, field notes, observations and document review. Five rodent control methods (TBS, rodenticide, electric fencing, netting and hunting) were found to be the most common rodent control methods used in the study sites. Some common factors were found to influence the effectiveness of these methods. Farmer participation was found to be the most widely influential factor affecting the rodent management techniques. Netting method was considered the most effective method of rodent control by farmers, as well as the method that had the best benefit-cost ratio. This technique was only found to be applicable in the wet season. In general, the effectiveness of TBS and its benefit-cost ratio was ranked fourth of the five methods, because it required high farmer participation, monitoring and maintenance as well as high material expense. Improvement of TBS can be made when it can be clearly demonstrated to farmers that TBS is an applicable method, being safe and able to catch more rats. To suit the farmers’ requirements for an effective rodent control method, TBS must be able to deal with migrating rats, situations of high rat abundance and the planting problems associated with an irregular rain regime. To achieve these conditions, some intervention policies are required in terms of research and extension support.