Bird-vegetation associations are a base for bird conservation and management, as well as for predictions of the effects of resource management and climate change on wildlife populations. A recent shift in forest management priorities from timber production to native species' habitat conservation on federal lands has emphasized the need to understand the mechanisms underlying the effects of vegetation management on wildlife. The assumption of strong bird-vegetation relationships is rarely tested for forest birds, especially at large temporal extents, which are more likely to reveal instabilities in bird-vegetation relationships than short-term studies. This study aimed to quantify bird-vegetation relationships and investigate their strength in young thinned and unthinned Douglas-fir forest stands over ten to years post thinning. Additionally, this study investigated whether disturbance associated with forest thinning decoupled bird-vegetation relationships in the thinned and unthinned stands. I used abundance or occurrence data for eight bird species collected at 58 point count surveys, conducted during six breeding seasons over ten years following forest thinning. I obtained detailed local-scale vegetation characteristics associated with bird sampling points and modeled bird occurrence or abundance as a function of vegetation characteristics. Vegetation characteristics explaining individual species occurrence or abundance varied among species and among years for any given species. Six out of eight species showed responses to examined vegetation characteristics. For three out of six species, the effects of vegetation characteristics on bird occurrence or abundance remained consistently positive or negative over time. For the other three species the absolute effect of vegetation decreased over time to that of not statistically different from zero. The estimates of vegetation effects on bird response varied in size among years, though they were not statistically different among years. Magnitude of vegetation effect on bird occurrence or abundance did not increase with time, nor was it related to species prevalence or abundance. I found evidence of a response threshold for one species, Swainson's thrush. I suggest that changing abundance of resources, associated with thinning disturbance, demographic stochasticity associated with small population sizes, as well as large-scale demographic processes and possibly life history traits of examined species, mediate the strength of local-level bird-vegetation associations. Variability of vegetation effects on bird occurrence or abundance over time suggests a greater uncertainty of results of vegetation-related wildlife management efforts than has previously been suggested by short-term studies. Therefore, incorporation of the uncertainty of bird-vegetation relationships into predictive models and continued long-term monitoring of species response to management may be crucial for future successful and effective management decisions. / Graduation date: 2012

Thesis (M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Bakgrund: Historiskt har företag haft stora lager för att kunna möta kundernas efterfrågan. I takt med att kundanpassning och flexibilitet har ökat har det blivit allt dyrare och näst intill omöjligt att hålla lager som kan tillgodose kundernas behov. Att styra sitt lager så att det motsvarar efterfrågan har nästan varit en omöjlighet. En lösning på lagerstyrningsproblematiken är Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) som innebär ett tätare samarbete mellan kund och leverantör. Kunden tillhandahåller information om lager och efterfrågan och leverantören tar över ansvaret för att varorna i kundens lager inte ska ta slut. Litteraturen kring VMI tar upp många positiva effekter som kommer att inträffa vid ett VMI-samarbete. Dock är det skralt med empiriska undersökningar beträffande effekterna av införandet av ett VMI-samarbete. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka ett VMI-samarbete mellan en leverantör och en kund för att se om det finns empiriskt stöd för de kostnads- och leveransserviceeffekter som teorierna kring VMI tar upp. Genomförande: Vi har undersökt samarbetet mellan Abba Seafood och ICA Handlarna. Vi intervjuade personer på båda företagen. Respondenterna hade antingen ett övergripande ansvar för VMI-samarbetet eller kom i kontakt med VMI i det dagliga arbetet. Resultat: Efter att ha analyserat samarbetet mellan Abba och ICA så kan vi konstatera att många av de positiva effekter som kan förväntas av ett VMI- koncept har infriats och några inte. Vad vi inte kan fastställa i alla lägen, är om det är just VMI som är bakgrunden till förbättringarna, eller om det helt enkelt är den förbättrade informationsspridningen. En stor fråga har varit om det verkligen är nödvändigt för leverantören att ta över styrningen av kundens lager för att förbättringarna ska vara tydliga.

Der Anteil der externen Nachfolge bei eigentümergeführten bzw. Familienunternehmen nimmt stetig zu. Eine Möglichkeit ist dabei ein Management-Buy-In, bei dem ein externer Manager die Position des Altinhabers übernimmt. In einer solchen Situation kann die Nachfolge in Form einer Relay Succession erfolgen, eine zeitlich gestaffelte Übergabe vom alten an den neuen Inhaber. In dieser Arbeit werden die Relay Succession, ihre Vor- und Nachteile, relevante Einflussfaktoren und Prozessempfehlungen in qualitativen Fallstudien untersucht.

The supply and demand situation is crucial for the oil and gas industry during the first half of the 21st century. For the future, we will see two trends going in opposite directions: a decline in discoveries of conventional oil and gas reservoirs and an increase in world energy demand. Therefore, the need to develop and produce unconventional oil and gas resources, which encompass coal-bed methane, gas-shale, tight sands and heavy oil, will be of utmost importance in the coming decades. In the past, large-scale production from tight gas reservoirs occurred only in the U.S. and was boosted by both price incentives and well stimulation technology. A conservative study from Rogner (1997) has shown that tight gas sandstone reservoirs would represent at least over 7,000 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas in place worldwide. However, most of the studies such as the ones by the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) and Kuuskraa have focused on assessing the technically recoverable gas resources in the U.S. with numbers ranging between 177 Tcf and 379 Tcf. During the past few decades, gas production from tight sands field developments have taken place all around the world from South America (Argentina), Australia, Asia (China, Indonesia), the Russian Federation, Northern Europe (Germany, Norway) and the Middle East (Oman). However, the U.S. remains the region where the most extensive exploration and production for unconventional gas resources occur. In fact, unconventional gas formations accounted for 43% of natural gas production and tight gas sandstones represented 66% of the total of unconventional resources produced in the U.S. in 2006. As compared to a conventional gas well, a tight gas well will have a very low productivity index and a small drainage area. Therefore, to extract the same amount of natural gas out of the reservoir, many more wells will have to be drilled and stimulated to efficiently develop and produce these reservoirs. Thus, the risk involved is much higher than the development of conventional gas resources and the economics of developing most tight gas reservoirs borders on the margin of profitability. To develop tight gas reservoirs, engineers face complex problems because there is no typical tight gas field. In reality, a wide range of geological and reservoir differences exist for these formations. For instance, a tight gas sandstone reservoir can be shallow or deep, low or high pressure, low or high temperature, bearing continuous (blanket) or lenticular shaped bodies, being naturally fractured, single or multi-layered, and holding contaminants such as CO2 and H2S which all combined increase considerably the complexity of how to drill a well. Since the first tight gas wells were drilled in the 1940's in the U.S., a considerable amount of information has been collected and documented within the industry literature. The main objective of this research project is to develop a computer program dedicated to applying the drilling technologies and methods selection for drilling tight gas sandstone formations that have been documented as best practices in the petroleum literature.

This research presents the first coastal and marine protected areas specific quantitative management plan evaluation protocol. This critical research gap in the coastal and marine protected area (CMPA) research literature was addressed by creating a protocol for evaluating CMPA plan quality utilizing a combination of marine protected area (MPA) and land use planning techniques for the first time, then applying it to a sample of CMPAs providing both descriptive results of CMPA plan quality and analysis of factors that might influence plan quality. A sample of CMPAs (n=40) under the jurisdiction of Florida‟s Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas (CAMA) was evaluated for plan quality using 96 indicators scored as 0, 1, or 2 and then divided into five plan components: factual basis, goals and objectives, policies, tools and strategies, inter-governmental coordination and cooperation, and implementation and monitoring. Total CMPA plan quality averaged 29.40 out of a possible 50.00. CMPA plan quality ranged from 20.00 to 47.00 with a standard deviation of 7.07. Regression analysis examined the effects of CMPA context, participation, environmental threats and socioeconomic factors on CMPA plan quality. The age of CMPA plans was found to be a significant indicator of CMPA plan quality. Other significant indicators of plan quality included threatened biodiversity, participation, and percent of adjacent developed or agricultural land.

In the most of the drilling operations it is obvious that a considerable amount of money is spent for drilling related problems / including stuck pipe, lost circulation, and excessive mud cost. In order to decrease the percentage of non-productive time (NPT) caused by these kind of problems, the aim is to control annular frictional pressure losses especially in the fields where pore pressure and fracture pressure gradient is too close which is called narrow drilling window. If we can solve these problems, the budget spent for drilling the wells will fall, therefore enabling the industry to be able to drill wells that were previously uneconomical. Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) is a new technology that allows us to overcome these kinds of drilling problems by controlling the annular frictional pressure losses. As the industry remains relatively unaware of the full spectrum of benefits, this thesis involves the techniques used in Managed Pressure Drilling with an emphasis upon revealing several of its lesser known and therefore less appreciated applications.

Abstract Purpose This study is designed to determine whether managed care has had an influence on the number and distribution of procedures with demonstrated volume and outcome endogeneity in Florida healthcare markets; in addition, methods are developed to determine which measures of managed care activity best predict the impact of managed care on surgical procedure utiliation. Rationale A shift in surgical procedure volume on the basis of preferred provider arrangements has the potential to redistribute surgical procedures within hospital markets. The surgical procedures for which such a distribution could have the greatest impact on population health are those for which the volume of cases performed has a strong inverse influence on the outcomes observed. A shift in high risk surgical procedures to low volume hospitals could potentially reduce the number of cases performed at high volume centers and increase cases at low volume centers, adversely impacting quality in both. Methods A retrospective population based cohort design is used to capitalize on the variability among Florida metropolitan statistical areas between 1995 and 1999, a period which captured the full business life cycle of managed care plans in Florida. Multiple regression models are used to measure the impact of changes in managed care activity as measured by penetration, index of competition and consolidation on the change in the number and distribution of seven procedures for which volume is associated with patient outcome, controlling for socio-demographic and market factors known to influence surgical procedure utilization. Difference scores derived for each of the model variables were used to measure change from the baseline in 1995 to 1999. Post hoc analysis of the count data models was performed using the cases from all study years in a log linear generalized estimating equation to provide validation of the difference score approach. Key Findings Study procedure volume increased over the period, and remained a consistent proportion of the total inpatient surgical procedure volume. Procedure rate remained stable over the study period with substantial small area variation. Change in managed care concentration was consistently and negatively associated with procedure volume at both the MSA (&betaâ&beta = -19.67; p = 0.0489) and hospital level (&betaâ&beta = -4.088; p = 0.0027).Change in the total population and the number of specialty surgeons had a substantial, consistent and positive relationship to change in procedure volume at both the market and hospital level. The change in the index of competition was positively associated with change in hospital market share (&betaâ&beta = 0.1005; p = 0.05); whereas, neither change in managed care penetration nor change in managed care index of competition was predictive of change in procedure volume at the market level. The managed care variables were not correlated when difference scores were tested providing evidence that the managed care variables measure different constructs and behave differently. Implications As markets for managed care became more concentrated, the number of surgical procedures with volume and outcome endogeneity declined; the specific reasons for the observed decline require additional study. Competitive managed care markets have a favorable impact on hospital market share for these high risk, high margin procedures. Studies of managed care require consideration of the stage of managed care development in order to understand its influence and the use of difference scores as a method to measure change over time has substantial potential for the study of health care markets.

The global anti-dyslipidemic market grew by 19% from 2000 to 2001, achieving sales of over $21 billion (Smith, 2004: 2). This market is currently well sewed by a number of effective and well-tolerated treatments. Lipid-lowering drugs are considered as the first choice drugs in control of dyslipidemias and they are well tolerated by most patients. As with many drug therapies, there should be a balance between the benefits of cholesterol lowering agents, increased medication cost and the overall risk of adverse drug reactions. According to Ballesteros (2001: 514), hypolipidemic drugs are consumed on a large scale and most consumers are elderly. This warrants a study of expenditure incurred because of inadequate prescribing of these agents. The general objective of this study was to determine the utilisation and cost of hypolipidemic drugs in the private health care environment in South Africa. A quantitative retrospective drug utilisation review was performed using a medicine claims database. Data for twenty-four consecutive months (May 1, 2001 to April 30, 2003) were used to determine and compare the utilisation patterns and cost of drugs associated with the management of dyslipidemia a year before (1st May 2001 to 30 April 2002) and a year after (1st May 2002 to 30 April 2003) the implementation of a medicine reference price system (MPL). Data analysis was done by calculating the average value, the standard deviation, effect size, and cost-prevalence indices. The results of this study revealed that hypolipidemic drugs constituted 2.70% (n = 21820911) and 2.78% (n =27277825) of the total number of all medicine items for the first and the second study years respectively. On the other hand, the total cost of all hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 6.33% (n= R3 097 604 602) and 6.23 % (n= R 4 053 280 295) of the total cost of all medicine items claimed during the first and the second study years respectively. The prevalence of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.89% (n=589036) and 4.88% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study year respectively. Innovator drugs, on the other hand, constituted 99.1 1% (n=589036) and 95.11% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study years respectively. It was found that R23 694.5 and R603 277.36 could have been saved for generic bezafibrate and generic simvastatin respectively if they had been sold at ME'L prices. The total cost of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.60% and 2.94%. The total cost of innovator hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 99.40% and 97.06% of the total cost of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first (n=R 196 076 050) and second (n=R 252 919 285) study year respectively. With respect to the prescribed daily dose, it was found that most prescriptions for individual hypolipidemic drugs did not conform to the defined daily dose. It was, however, found that most prescriptions whose prescribed daily dose was for one tablet once daily and whose strength was similar to the defined daily dose conformed to the defined daily dose. The conclusion is that there was an insignificant difference in both the prevalence and cost of hypolipidemic drugs a year before and after the implementation of MPL. It was further concluded that increased utilisation of generic hypolipidemic medicine items a year after the implementation of the MPL, could have been brought about by the introduction of generic simvastatin into the market as opposed to the implementation of the MPL. Recommendations for further studies will be formulated. / Thesis (M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

"Diabetes mellitus" refers to a spectrum of conditions, which all present with hyperglycaemia as a common medical finding. Diabetes was once thought of as a single disease, but according to Setter et a/. (2000:378), it includes a heterogeneous group of disorders that are secondary to various genetic predispositions and precipitating factors. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) accounts for 10 to 15% of all cases of diabetes mellitus and is clinically characterised by hyperglycaemia and a propensity to diabetic keto-acidosis. Its control requires chronic insulin treatment. Although it may occur at any age, it most commonly develops in childhood or adolescence and is the predominant type of diabetes mellitus diagnosed before age 30 (Beers & Berkow, 2004). Type 2 DM is usually the type diagnosed in patients older than 30 years of age. It is also commonly associated with obesity (Berkow, 1992:1108). The objective of this study was to review the usage and cost of antidiabetic drugs and to determine the influence of the pricing regulations on the cost of these drugs. This research can be classified as retrospective and quantitative. Data were obtained from a prescription claims database, and the study population consisted of all the antidiabetic prescriptions for the year 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2004. The one-year period was divided into three study periods, namely January to April, May to August and September to December. Firstly diabetes mellitus was investigated in order to understand the disease and to determine the prevalence and treatment thereof. It was found that diabetes mellitus is a heterogeneous disorder acquired from both genetic and environmental factors and that education for the general population, and in particular for the patients, is the key to preventing and controlling diabetes and reducing the complications arising from it. Secondly managed health care, pharmaco-economics and a drug utilisation review were investigated in order to understand these concepts. The influence of the South African Government on health care was discussed, including the new pricing regulations of medicine in South Africa. Thirdly, the utilisation patterns of antidiabetic drugs were reviewed, analysed and interpreted. It was determined that the oral antidiabetic agents are relatively less expensive than the insulins and that they are prescribed more frequently, and secondly that the biguanides presented almost half (49.4%, n = 116 138) of all the oral antidiabetic agents. It was also determined that the average cost of the oral antidiabetic drugs was between 21 .O% and 28.0% lower in 2004 than in 1996 - an indication that, despite inflation, the antidiabetic drugs were less expensive in 2004 than eight years ago in 1996. It was also calculated that the total cost savings in antidiabetic medication could have been R1 448 682.26 if the lower price of antidiabetic agents had been implemented during the period January to April. And finally it was also determined that further substantial "cost savings" could have been possible if all the innovator antidiabetic products had been substituted for less expensive generic antidiabetic products. Abstract / Thesis (M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.