The farm to school movement is partially supported by unofficial actors in the policymaking process who promote legislation to encourage activities such as local procurement, school gardening, and agricultural education. However, farm to school legislation can vary in its level of effectiveness and implementation throughout the United States. Research shows that Virginia has a low level of support and advocacy for farm to school activities when compared to other states. Unofficial actors, such as advocates, producers, and school nutrition professionals are uniquely qualified to identify challenges, opportunities, and suggestions on improving the policymaking process, due to their experiences with farm to school. This study addressed a gap in scholarly literature as there is limited research on the role that unofficial actors play in promoting farm to school during the legislative process. In this qualitative, case-study, the Stages Heuristic Model was used as a theoretical framework to explore unofficial actors' experiences as they participate in the agenda-setting and policy formulation stages of policy cycle in the Northern Virginia Region. The findings uncovered experiences that unofficial actors believed either prevented or made their engagement in policymaking more challenging. Opportunities and successes during these stages of advocacy were also examined. Further, participants provided suggestions to all policymaking actors to improve the process in the future. Key findings revealed the importance of themes such as collaboration, connectedness, and relationship building in the policymaking process. Additionally, unofficial actors generally found success in the "small wins'' of advocacy, such as increasing farm to school awareness, as opposed to more extensive legislative outcomes. / The farm to school movement is partially supported by active citizens in the policymaking process who promote legislation to encourage activities such as purchasing local foods, school gardening, and agricultural education. However, farm to school legislation can vary in its level of effectiveness and implementation throughout the United States. Research shows that Virginia has a low level of political advocacy for farm to school activities when compared to other states. Individuals such as advocates, farmers, and school nutrition professionals are uniquely qualified to identify challenges, opportunities, and suggestions on improving the policymaking process, due to their experiences with farm to school. This study addressed a gap in the academic community as there is limited research on the role these individuals play in promoting farm to school during the legislative process. In this study, a policymaking model was used as a foundation to explore individuals' experiences as they participate in the farm to school legislative process in the Northern Virginia Region. The findings uncovered experiences that respondents believed either prevented or made their engagement in policymaking more challenging. Opportunities and successes during these stages were also examined. Further, respondents provided suggestions to all policymakers for improving the process in the future. Key findings revealed the importance of collaboration, connectedness, and relationship building in the policymaking process. Additionally, respondents generally found success in "small wins," such as increasing farm to school awareness, as opposed to more extensive legislative outcomes.

Em qualquer setor onde exista fornecimento de materiais, as decisões da recuperação do material não conforme são relevantes. Este trabalho estuda as decisões da recuperação de material não conforme na indústria Aeronáutica, onde o seu produto final tem um longo ciclo de fabricação e de suprimento e elevado custo o que exige que o tempo dessa recuperação seja o mínimo possível. O material não conforme tem diferentes destinos, podendo ser recuperado através do retorno ao fornecedor ou oficina autorizada, ou ainda ser destruído. Esse trabalho utiliza o conhecimento da Logística Reversa como suporte para essa decisão de recuperação, porém sob a ótica do cliente e não do fornecedor como a maioria da literatura apresenta. Muitas vezes, o custo dessa recuperação é muito maior que o de uma nova aquisição e nesse tipo específico de indústria 95% do material comprado é importado tornando a logística ainda mais difícil. Este trabalho propõe a utilização de um modelo heurístico, que decide o destino do material não conforme. Os parâmetros para medidas de desempenho desse modelo é a comparação de dados do histórico de itens recuperados pela empresa estudada com os dados obtidos pelo modelo heurístico. / In any company where supply of materials exists, the decisions of recovering non-conform materials are relevant. This paper studies these decisions in an aerospace company, which its finished product has a long production and supply cycles with a high cost, what demands that the time of this recovery be as short as possible. The non-conform material has different destinies, being recovered through the return to the supplier or authorized workshop, or still to be destroyed. This paper uses the knowledge of the Reverse Logistics as a support for that recovery decision, however under the customer’s point of view and not of the supplier as most of the literature presents. A lot of times, the cost of that recovery is much larger than the one of a new acquisition and in that specific type of industry 95% of the bought material is imported turning the reverse logistics still more difficult. This work proposes the use of a heuristic model, which decides the destiny of the non-conform materials. The parameters for measures of acting of that model are the comparison of data of the report of items recovered by the company studied against the data obtained by the heuristic model.

This study aims to show the importance of Landslide Susceptibility Map as a tool for land use planning, prevention and risk mitigation. This will be shown through MM evaluation processes affecting high sector of El Paraíso gorge - Villa María del Triunfo (Lima - Peru).The work consisted of two phases: in the first one (field) the intrinsic characteristics of geology and geomorphology were identified. The second one, included the Landslide Susceptibility Map generation, using the multivariate Heuristic Model consisting of overlapping maps variables (Carrara et al. 1995, Lain et al. 2005), developed in a GIS environment through algebra layer (geoprocessing operations).The results of Landslide Susceptibility Map in general, give us geoscience information that will contribute to land management, and in a timely manner, with the development of specific studies, prevention and / or mitigation measures to ensure the physical stability of identified critical areas. / El presente estudio tiene por objetivo mostrar la importancia del Mapa de Susceptibilidad a MM, como herramienta para la planificación territorial, prevención y mitigación de riesgos. Para ello, se muestra como ejemplo la evaluación geodinámica del sector alto de la quebrada El Paraíso – Villa María del Triunfo (Lima – Perú).El trabajo consistió de dos fases: en la primera (campo) se identificaron los características intrínsecas de geología y geomorfología. La segunda (gabinete), comprendió la elaboración del mapa de susceptibilidad aplicando el modelo heurístico multivariado que consiste en la superposición de mapas de variables (Carrara et al. 1995; Laín et al. 2005), desarrollado en un entorno SIG a través del álgebra de capas (operaciones de geoprocesamiento).Los resultados del mapa de susceptibilidad de manera general, nos presentan información geocientífica que contribuirá con el ordenamiento territorial (OT); y de manera puntual, con el desarrollo de estudios específicos, medidas de prevención y/o mitigación para asegurar la estabilidad física de las áreas críticas identificadas.

Em qualquer setor onde exista fornecimento de materiais, as decisões da recuperação do material não conforme são relevantes. Este trabalho estuda as decisões da recuperação de material não conforme na indústria Aeronáutica, onde o seu produto final tem um longo ciclo de fabricação e de suprimento e elevado custo o que exige que o tempo dessa recuperação seja o mínimo possível. O material não conforme tem diferentes destinos, podendo ser recuperado através do retorno ao fornecedor ou oficina autorizada, ou ainda ser destruído. Esse trabalho utiliza o conhecimento da Logística Reversa como suporte para essa decisão de recuperação, porém sob a ótica do cliente e não do fornecedor como a maioria da literatura apresenta. Muitas vezes, o custo dessa recuperação é muito maior que o de uma nova aquisição e nesse tipo específico de indústria 95% do material comprado é importado tornando a logística ainda mais difícil. Este trabalho propõe a utilização de um modelo heurístico, que decide o destino do material não conforme. Os parâmetros para medidas de desempenho desse modelo é a comparação de dados do histórico de itens recuperados pela empresa estudada com os dados obtidos pelo modelo heurístico. / In any company where supply of materials exists, the decisions of recovering non-conform materials are relevant. This paper studies these decisions in an aerospace company, which its finished product has a long production and supply cycles with a high cost, what demands that the time of this recovery be as short as possible. The non-conform material has different destinies, being recovered through the return to the supplier or authorized workshop, or still to be destroyed. This paper uses the knowledge of the Reverse Logistics as a support for that recovery decision, however under the customer’s point of view and not of the supplier as most of the literature presents. A lot of times, the cost of that recovery is much larger than the one of a new acquisition and in that specific type of industry 95% of the bought material is imported turning the reverse logistics still more difficult. This work proposes the use of a heuristic model, which decides the destiny of the non-conform materials. The parameters for measures of acting of that model are the comparison of data of the report of items recovered by the company studied against the data obtained by the heuristic model.

Homeownership is widely advocated and believed to contribute towards economic activity, employment, wealth creation, economic, political, and neighbourhood stability and financial independence. Despite government’s interventions to advance homeownership there is currently a declining trend in homeownership and an increase in renting experienced in South Africa. As the government does not have the resources to provide adequate housing to all South Africans, identifying the factors which attribute to non-subsidised homeownership will assist in implementing interventions and strategies to increase access to non-subsidised homeownership and reduce reliance on government subsidised housing. The main objective of this study was to determine the comparative odds of variables contributing to non-subsidised homeownership in South Africa from secondary data obtained from a South African household survey. Compared to the heuristic model, the following variables were found to align closely with the expectation created; non-subsidised homeownership attainment was most likely for households within high-income groups and least for households within the low-income groups, more likely for households who have access to credit than those without, more likely for households with no accounts in arrears than those with accounts in arrears, more likely for households with an ability to save than those without, most likely for households consisting of seven or more household members and least likely for single member households, most likely for households where FKP (Financially Knowledgeable Person) has completed a tertiary education level and least likely for households with primary not completed education levels, most likely for households where the FKP is older (aged 65 and older) and least likely for young FKP households (aged between 18 and 24), most likely for households residing in rural areas and least likely for households residing in metropolitan areas, most likely for female FKP households and least likely for male FKP households. Unexpectedly the regression model indicated that non-subsidised homeownership is most likely for households where the Financially Knowledgeable Person (FKP) is not economically active (for example pensioners) and least likely for employed households, most likely for households from the African population group and least likely for Indian households, most likely where the FKP is never married or single and least likely for separated or divorced FKP households (which is expected) and most likely for households residing in Limpopo (which is expected) and least likely for households residing Western Cape. / Financial accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Science)

The master thesis deals with the joint EEG-fMRI analysis based on a heuristic model that describes the relationship between changes in blood flow in active brain areas and in the electrical activity of neurons. This work also discusses various methods of extracting of useful information from the EEG and their influence on the final result of joined analysis. There were tested averaging methods of electrodes interest, decomposition by principal components analysis and decomposition by independent component analysis. Methods of averaging and decomposition by PCA give similar results, but information about a stimulus vector can not be extracted. Using ICA decomposition, we are able to obtain information relating to the certain stimulation, but there is the problem in the final interpretation and selection of the right components in a blind search for variability coupled with the experiment. It was found out that although components calculated from the time sequence EEG are independent for each to other, their spectrum shifts are correlated. This spectral dependence was eliminated by PCA / ICA decomposition from vectors of spectrum shifts. For this method, each component brings new information about brain activity. The results of the heuristic approach were compared with the results of the joined analysis based on the relative and absolute power approach from frequency bands of interest. And the similarity between activation maps was founded, especially for the heuristic model and the relative power from the gamma band (20-40Hz).