Precision agriculture (AP) appears as a permissible tool to manage rationally the spatial and temporal variability of soil chemical attributes in order to effectively maximize the use of agricultural areas. However, in some situations visualized a low correlation between the chemical soil properties and crop productivity, emphasizing the need for development of AP to seek alternatives and tools for the definition of management zones. In recent years, they have gained prominence studies of parameter attributes of plant canopies, and the Vegetation Index (NDVI) the best known. This study aimed to evaluate the use of AP tools to define management zones in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul. The work was conducted with the culture of the agricultural year 2014/15 corn in an area of 15.1 hectares in the municipality of Julio de Castilhos, RS, managed with irrigation center pivot. The spatial variability of soil attributes and plants was characterized based on the collection of information on a sampling grid of 0.5 ha, totaling 32 points in the experimental area. The Landsat satellite images (NDVI) with a spatial resolution of 30 x 30 m were processed enabling the production of productivity map and the definition of management zones in the area. The soil properties have high variance in the standard deviation (S) and coefficient of variation (CV%) of phosphorus (18.16 and 42.46), potassium (38.263 and 25.80), aluminum saturation (4,63 and 130.14) sulfur (6.72 and 40.57) and manganese (7.32 and 30.23). The analysis of the statistical and geostatistical to dry mass (28,10% CV and r2 = 0.96) and corn (11.85% CV and r2 = 0.99). The Pearson correlation was significant positively to productivity of corn kernels indicated the clay, base saturation, calcium, SMP index, magnesium and NDVI; indicated dry weight organic material, SMP index CTC pH7 and magnesium. Among the different methods of zones positive correlation between dry matter areas of stubble and productivity with altitude zone, chemical attributes zone and NDVI zone. The use of satellite images made it possible to guarantee the evaluation of different management zones. / A agricultura de precisão (AP) surge como uma ferramenta permitindo manejar de forma racional a variabilidade espacial e temporal dos atributos químicos do solo com objetivo de maximizar eficientemente o uso das áreas agrícolas. Entretanto, em algumas situações visualiza-se uma baixa correlação entre os atributos químicos do solo e a produtividade das culturas, destacando-se a necessidade da evolução da AP em buscar ferramentas e alternativas para a definição de zonas de manejo. Nos últimos anos, têm ganhado destaque os estudos sobre parametrização de atributos dos dosséis vegetais, sendo o Índice de Vegetação por Diferença Normalizada (NDVI) o mais conhecido. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a utilização de ferramentas de AP na definição de zonas de manejo na região central do Rio Grande do Sul. O trabalho foi conduzido com a cultura do milho (Zea mays L.) ano agrícola 2014/15, numa área de 15,1 hectares no município de Júlio de Castilhos, RS, manejada com irrigação por pivô central. A variabilidade espacial de atributos de solo e de plantas foi caracterizada com base na coleta de informações numa malha amostral de 0,5 ha, totalizando 32 pontos na área experimental. As imagens de satélite Landsat (NDVI) com resolução espacial de 30 x 30 m foram processadas possibilitando a confecção de mapa de produtividade e a definição de zonas de manejo da área. Os atributos do solo possuem alta variância no desvio padrão (S) e coeficiente de variação (CV%) do fósforo (18,10 e 42,46), potássio (38,26 e 25,80), saturação por alumínio (4,63 e 130,14), enxofre (6,72 e 40,57) e manganês (7,32 e 30,23). A análise da estatística e geoestatísticos para produção de massa seca (28,10 CV % e r2=0,96) e produtividade grãos de milho (11,85 CV % e r2=0,99). A correlação linear de Pearson foi significativa positivamente para produtividade de grãos de milho indicou a argila, saturação por bases, cálcio, índice SMP, magnésio e NDVI; massa seca indicou matéria orgânica, índice SMP, CTC pH 7 e magnésio. Entre os diferentes métodos das zonas de manejo a correlação positiva entre as zonas de massa seca da resteva e produtividade com zona de altitude, zona atributos químicos e zona de NDVI. A utilização de imagens de satélites possibilitou a garantia da avaliação de diferentes zonas de manejo.

Empowerment é uma abordagem de projeto que objetiva a delegação de poder de decisão, autonomia e participação dos funcionários do empowerment através dos estágios evolutivos das áreas de gestão. Estudam-se as especificidades do empowerment em termos de suas dimensões, ciclo de implementação e tipologia. Analisa-se o desenvolvimento de empowerment através dos estágios evolutivos das áreas de gestão, configurações organizacionais, estratégias competitivas, gestão de recursos humanos e qualidade. Apresenta-se um estudo de casos em duas empresas manufatureiras do interior de São Paulo, a fim de analisar o grau de participação dos funcionários de acordo com o estágio evolutivo de suas áreas de gestão, configuração organizacional, estratégia competitiva, gestão de recursos humanos e gestão da qualidade da empresa. Nas conclusões, discutem-se os fatores favoráveis, as particularidades e limitações do empowerment com base nos estudos de casos. / Empowerment is an approach of work design which aims at delegating decision power, autonomy and employees\' participation in managing the company. This paper aims at analyzing the development of the empowerment through the evolution stages of management areas. The peculiarities of empowerment in terms of its dimensions, implementation cycle and typology are studied. The development of the empowerment is analyzed through the evolution stage of management area, organizational configurations, managerial strategy, human resource management and quality management. A case study in two industrial companies in the interior of São Paulo is presented in order to analyze the degree of the employees\' participation in agreement with the evolution stages of management areas, organizational configuration, competitive strategy, human resource management and quality management of each company. In the section of conclusions, the favorable aspects, peculiarities and limitations of empowerment which were found on the case study are discussed.

Marine issues develop in complex social contexts, usually involving a large number of sectors, actors, and users. Achieving sustainable marine governance requires a continued and context-specific structure of interdisciplinary knowledge, inter-sectorial interaction as well as inter-institutional coordination that generates daunting challenges to government, stakeholders and civil society. In this sense, it is imperative for marine governance structures to pay close attention to social sustainability factors, such as recognition of socio-cultural diversity, representation in decision-making and distribution of ‘goods’ and ‘bads’, which have commonly been overlooked in environmental governance in general and marine governance in particular. Costa Rica’s territorial sea is an important source of income for a myriad of communities on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. During 2019 and 2020, the Responsible Fishing Marine Area and Marine Management Area of Barra del Colorado were created under the expectation of serving the social and ecological needs of the community. Taking this into consideration, this study aims to examine how social sustainability was handled in the formation process of the two resource management areas, which involved participation of institutional and civil society actors from 2010 until 2019. This study first analyses the concept of marine governance and its relationship to social justice. The concept of social sustainability is explained and I then develop a social sustainability conceptual framework. Secondly, the methodology and methods are described. The choice of the empirical case is described in the next section and I next give a brief overview of Barra del Colorado’s social and economic characteristics and background. Further, an analysis of the process to consolidate the Responsible Fishing Marine Area and the Marine Management Area of Barra del Colorado through the social sustainability framework is conducted. Last, the results of the analysis are discussed and the main findings are presented. Through this analysis, the process of consolidation was assessed against the normative social sustainability theory, concluding that the process was found lacking regarding its social sustainability due to a series of government-related issues, that affected the representation, recognition and distribution of the process.

The Río Pláttano Biosphere Reserve, a tropical rainforest reserve in the northeastern corner of Honduras, is home to several subsistence-based indigenous groups, including the Miskito, Pech and Garifuna, as well as the non-indigenous Ladinos. Communities within the reserve depend on forest resources, swidden agriculture, marine resources and/or small-scale ranching as the foundations for local economies. Regulations placed on these subsistence practices, after establishment of the biosphere reserve in 1980, have created unique and new pressures and resulted in a blend of traditional and innovative resource use. A notable result is the promotion of ecotourism as a solution for meeting the economic needs of local populations while conserving local resources. This thesis documents current resource use in the Miskito and Ladino communities of Banaka, Brans, and Fuente de Jacob, in the Río Pláttano Biosphere Reserve and the potential of ecotourism to maintain both local economies and consumption of tropical rainforest resources in these communities. Analysis suggests that a community-based approach to ecotourism can result in economic benefits and maintain local culture. This thesis documents current resource use (agricultural crops and trees, gathered and cultivated plants, tree-use, and hunting), resident perspectives on ecotourism development and industry, and provides the foundation for long-term monitoring and analysis on the effects of ecotomism on forest resource and land-use in the greater Banaka region.

This paper outlines the current state of environmental legislation and administration in Botswana, identifying the various problems with that system. Those problems include fragmented and overlapping administration and out-dated legislation that is not in keeping with modem, holistic approaches to environmental management, ineffective and unreliable enforcement, compounded by rampant non-compliance. The paper then considers some the developments that are being made to improve this situation, including: the conversion of the environmental agency into a department and the introduction of an over-reaching environmental Act, preparation of a wetlands conservation strategy, the introduction of environmental impact assessment legislation. The paper concludes by querying the effectiveness of those developments when unsustainable attitudes continue to predominate in the country / Law / LL.M.

This study focused on the management of the red sea urchin Loxechinus albus fishery in Chile. The main objective was to design, construct, implement and assess a computer-based simulation model to analyse the biological effects, socio-economic consequences and spatial dynamics resulting from coastal management plans applied to this resource under the system of AMEBR. This was accomplished by using systems dynamics (SD) and geographical information systems (GIS) modelling, in a process of model development, run, optimisation, sensitivity analysis and risk management, and a series of field-based activities carried out at the cove of Quintay. The GIS model developed for allocating sea urchins restocking sites offered a flexible, cost-effective, user-friendly and descriptive technique for support decision-making on management of this species and other benthic resources. Final site selection for restocking was based on the identification, quantification and selection of higher suitability¦availability combinations (site categories). This map showed 16 different suitability¦availability combinations or site categories, ranging from 4¦100 to 8¦100 (suitability points¦availability %). These had an average of 6.44¦69.37 (covering an area of 82.5 Ha overall equivalent to 81.21% of the study area. This site classification demonstrated high heterogeneity between options, and revealed the full variety of alternatives for decision-making. More importantly, the generally high suitability indexes as well as available area emphasised the prospects for restocking sea urchins in this study area. Over and above of the quantitative outcomes obtained from running the GISRM (suitable and available restocking sites) and the BSESM (alternative strategic management plans), the case study-based analysis made it possible to disclose the wider issues related to the red sea urchin coastal management. These results demonstrated the biological inefficiency of traditional size/seasonal restriction-based approach (macro-scenario 1) for sustainable management of the target species. More importantly, final outcomes strongly suggested that a combination of adaptive restocking-based enhancement activities and flexible exploitation constituted a highly attractive approach (macro-scenario 3) for stock management of this fishery in terms of harvestable stock and related incomes. However from the economic analysis, stocking was also found to be economically unfeasible, being a rather cost intensive exercise negatively affected by high natural mortality rates. A single-variable optimisation analysis demonstrated that a higher survival rate is needed to generate sufficient profits to cover major restocking costs and a positive payment, or a cost reduction is essential to make up for the loss. On top to these practical constraints, based on the distinctive modest economic situation prevailing for most Chilean coves and hence their limited capacity to pay for stocking material, unless adequate and constant funding is available to support artisanal associations, they are very unlikely to develop mass release programmes. Given the economic (i.e.: high operating costs) and technical (i.e.: low survival rates) limitations conditioning stocking-based management cost-effectiveness and applicability, wide implementation of mass releases as a major approach for management of the red sea urchin fishery is very unlikely to take place in Chile. This study presents a methodology and offers a tool to design, evaluate and optimise coastal management plans for the red sea urchin in a dynamic, interactive, systematic, integrated and flexible way. The optional strategic management plans proposed on this study may not be applied equally to any AMEBR, as they are the outputs arising from a single cove-specific analysis. Still, the complete methodological framework and analysis procedures developed may be applied to run the BSESM and optimise management of a red sea urchin fishery at any other AMEBR case of study.

This paper outlines the current state of environmental legislation and administration in Botswana, identifying the various problems with that system. Those problems include fragmented and overlapping administration and out-dated legislation that is not in keeping with modem, holistic approaches to environmental management, ineffective and unreliable enforcement, compounded by rampant non-compliance. The paper then considers some the developments that are being made to improve this situation, including: the conversion of the environmental agency into a department and the introduction of an over-reaching environmental Act, preparation of a wetlands conservation strategy, the introduction of environmental impact assessment legislation. The paper concludes by querying the effectiveness of those developments when unsustainable attitudes continue to predominate in the country / Law / LL.M.

The master's thesis describes the management of non-profit organizations. In the action research, data related to a particular human rights organization were collected. Based on the analysis, the organization was recommended potential management improvements. The thesis is formulated for non-profit organizations that want to get a complex overview of their management possibilities. In particular, this thesis is addressed to the mentioned non-profit organization dealing with human rights in the country and it should serve as a material for consideration of appropriate management methods in the future.

Traffic-related air pollution harms health, so whilst it would be advantageous to improve air quality, the socioeconomic impact of air pollution mitigation in Scotland is not fully understood. Evidence from research literature, current regulatory and policy directives and a socioeconomic analysis are required to assess the true health impact. This thesis presents the first health and socioeconomic analysis of traffic-related air pollution and health for Scotland. A critique of the literature was undertaken to determine the evidence base and the strength of evidence in terms of association and causation, between air pollution and ill health. The evidence was subsequently applied in epidemiological studies of Scottish residents, to assess the actual impact on health in Scotland. The perception of barriers and incentives for change were investigated to understand behavioural influences. Recent policy development in Scotland was reviewed, and a socioeconomic analysis of a proposed air pollution strategy in Scotland, was undertaken. The evidence from 30 cohort studies and nine literature reviews demonstrated a link between poor air quality, mortality and respiratory ill health, but the results for other health conditions were inconsistent. The links were associative rather than causal and therefore might be attributable to other factors other than air pollution. Furthermore, epidemiological studies on Scottish populations did not show health effects from traffic-related air pollution. The socioeconomic analysis suggested that an initial investment of between £27m and £44m to introduce Low Emission Zones (LEZ), and an effective active travel programme, might result in a saving of £38m in terms of Years of Life Lost (YLL) and reduction in sickness absence. It is unlikely that the Clean Air For Scotland Strategy will deliver improved air quality and health without substantial investment, better alignment of planning, and a greater public engagement to support public and active transport options.

Thesis (MA (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The Rural Aquaculture Development Programme (RADP) of the Division of Aquaculture at Stellenbosch University (DASU) has the objective of socio-economic development of farm workers and rural communities from previously disadvantaged communities through the provision of opportunities for sustainable economic development by establishing small-scale fish-farming systems on irrigation dams. The Small-Scale Aquaculture Farming Systems (SSAFS) is an initiative of RADP. DASU intends implementing 20 new projects by the end of 2005, 100 by 2010 and at least 200 by 2020. Thus far, sites which can accommodate 25 projects have been identified. The owners of the land on which these 25 possible projects are located are being contacted to gain permission to use the sites for the SSAFS. It is possible that some of the owners of the sites will not allow them to be used so that not all 25 projects will necessarily be implemented. At present the predominant search method employed by DASU to find new sites involves two steps. Initially knowledge is acquired through word of mouth about dams that may be suitable. Personnel then drive to these dams for further inspection, to see if they are indeed suitable. This method of search is clearly both expensive and time-consuming. Geographical information systems (GIS) have as yet not been considered as an alternative and/or supplementary site selection method for the SSAFS. GIS tools and principles can reduce both expenses and time in locating sites by reducing the number of dams to be visited to only those that are optimal (i.e. they present the least risk of the SSAFS projects failing). A new site selection methodology using GIS was developed which is faster and less expensive than existing site selection methods. The GIS site selection methodology revolves around the isolation and selection of dams in the Berg and Breede River water management areas, based on their ability to fulfil certain parameters of critical variables comprising dam dimensions, environmental issues, distance measures and site security, according to a priority hierarchy, that determine a successful site for trout farming according to methods employed by the SSAFS. Once this methodology was produced, it was presented to five people who are directly involved with the SSAFS as well as four others who are not involved with the SSAFS but who might find the methodology useful, to determine whether they hold that the methodology is indeed better than existing search methodologies. Those who were presented the GIS site selection methodology felt that it is very useful and that it could be employed in future to make more informed choices when locating new sites for the SSAFS as well as other aquacultural enterprises.