Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / David B. Mengel / Grain Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is one of the most drought and stress tolerant crops grown in Kansas. For this reason, much of the sorghum is grown in high risk environments where other crops are more likely to fail or be unprofitable. Efficient sorghum cropping systems should not only produce high yields and use inputs such as nitrogen efficiently, but they should also remove as much risk as possible for a successful crop, and give farmers more flexibility in making input decisions. The price of nitrogen (N) fertilizer has increased substantially in recent years. Current retail prices for commonly used N fertilizers range from $0.88 to $1.50 per kilogram of N in Kansas. Thus, a farmer could easily invest $50-$100 per hectare in N, depending on the rate of N needed and the source used. Practices which allow farmers to assess crop potential as late as possible after planting before applying costly inputs like fertilizer, can increase the potential for a profitable return on those inputs in risky environments. Currently, most sorghum growers routinely apply all the N fertilizer prior to planting, sometimes as much as 6 months prior. The current Kansas State University (KSU) nitrogen recommendation is yield goal based and performs well when the grower is able to predict yield six months or more in advance of harvest. However, yield is quite variable and difficult to predict. Because long range weather and yield predictions are not very reliable, could deferring making N application decisions until later in the season when yield can be more accurately predicted reduce risk? Can the use of active sensors provide a better estimate of yield potential and nitrogen needs sometime after planting? If they can, how late can the decision be made and how best should the fertilizer N be applied? Several studies were conducted throughout Kansas to look at the effect of N rate, N application timing (pre-plant, side dress, or combinations of the two) and method of application on sorghum yield and N use efficiency. The studies were also designed to examine the potential of using optical sensors to predict optimum N rate for post-planting applications as a means of avoiding the use of soil tests to estimate soil N contributions. The objectives of this research were: a. to validate the KSU N fertilizer recommendations for grain sorghum grown in rotation with crops such as soybeans and wheat, b. to determine the effect of both preplant and midseason N applications on the growth and yield potential of grain sorghum, and to determine the optimal timing and method for midseason N applications on grain sorghum, and, c. to assess the potential of optical sensing of the growing crop to refine N recommendations using in-season applications during the growing season. This thesis will summarize the results from the various experiments we completed to achieve these objectives. The KSU N fertilizer recommendations for grain sorghum may need some revisions. This research suggests that including coefficients relating to N use efficiency may be necessary to get more accurate N recommendations. Both pre-plant and midseason N applications increased the yield of grain sorghum whenever a response to N was observed. There was no negative effect of applying all the nitrogen midseason at 30-40 days after planting when compared to pre-plant applications. Injecting nitrogen fertilizer below the soil surface had higher yields than other methods of midseason N applications such as surface banding or surface broadcasting, especially when a significant rainfall event did not occur within a few days of application. The optical sensors used in this study were very effective at making N recommendations 30-40 days after planting. These sensors will provide for more accurate N recommendations compared to the current soil test and yield goal method.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Business strategy provides direction to Sasol Polymers PP and deserves the attention of all levels in the organization. Strategic management can be defined as an explicit guide that allows the organization to specify objectives, formulate plans to achieve these objectives and then allocate resources to execute the plans to achieve the desired outcomes. The business strategy process involves identifying Sasol Polymers PP's business environment, its resources, circumstances within which it operates and its competitive advantages. There is a basic three step process in formulating a business strategy. 1. Determine where Sasol Polymers PP currently stands. 2. Determine where Sasol Polymers PP wants to go. 3. Determine how Sasol Polymers PP will get there. The research report validates not only the importance of business strategy and the essential components of the strategic management process, but also the importance of strategy execution within Sasol Polymers PP. The implication is that managers within Sasol Polymers PP need to achieve synergy between the strategy of the organisation and the people that must execute the strategy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Bedryfstrategie voorsien rigting aan die organisasie en verdien die aandag van alle vlakke in die organisasie. Strategiese bestuur kan beskryf word as 'n eksplisiete gids wat die organisasie toelaat om doeleindes te spesifiseer, planne te formuleer om hierdie doeleindes te bereik en dan bronne aanwys om planne te implementeer om die verlangde uitkomstes te bereik. Die proses behels identifisering van Sasol Polymers PP se besigsheidsomgewing, sy bronne, omstandighede waarin die maatskappy opereer en sy mededingende voordele. Daar is 'n basiese drie stap proses in die formulering van 'n bedryfstrategie. 1. Bepaal waar Sasol Polymers PP nou staan. 2. Bepaal waar Sasol Polymers PP wil wees. 3. Bepaal hoe Sasol Polymers PP daar wil uitkom. Die navorsingsverslag valideer nie net die belangrikheid van bedryfstrategie en die noodsaaklike komponente van die bedryfstrategieproses nie, maar ook die belangrikheid van strategie uitvoering binne Sasol Polymers PP. Die implikasie daarvan is dat bestuurders binne Sasol Polymers PP sinergie tussen die strategie van die maatskappy en die mense wat die strategie moet uitvoer moet bereik.

The aim with this report is to formulate a strategic method to optimize selection processes of DNA-samples from a faeces inventory to identify as many individuals in as few analyzes as possible, and by that keep down the costs of brown bear management. Brown bear management in Sweden founds today on results from faeces inventory and is substantially led by the county administration boards. Data from the years of 2004 and 2009´s inventories in Västerbotten was used to test and evaluate different methods in selection processes of which faeces that should be sampled. Comparison were made between making selection by chance, by spatial distribution and by calculating variations in logistic regressions coefficient b, in other words bear density and probability in finding same individual in several faeces. We can show making selection by chance is the most uncertain method. Making selection by spatial distribution, without take in account variations in b, provides the highest number of identified individuals at a low labour and thus a low cost. Therefor we strongly recommend future brown bear management to, if not possible to sample all faces in a dataset, make selection by spatial distribution to minimize the risk of sampling the same bear several times.

A flexible, scalable, and asynchronous middleware abstract is needed for business process management, which involves thousands of tasks and a large number of running instances of large business processes. The content-based publish/subscribe system is an ideal candidate to serve as enterprise service bus for these applications. In the publish/subscribe paradigm, information providers called publishers disseminate publications to all subscribers who have expressed interests by registering subscriptions through a loosely coupled interface. However, the traditional publish/subscribe paradigm only supports stateless subscriptions, that is, event correlation is ignored. Moreover, subscribers can only receive publications issued after their subscriptions. There are many application contexts, however, where access to publications from the past is necessary,such as for replaying a business process execution to debug it. Even more interesting uses arise when data from the past can be correlated with those in the future. Therefore, new languages and new functionalities are needed in the standard publish/subscribe model in order to support business process management. A new subscription language PADRES SQL(PSQL) which can express event patterns and unify both historic and future views for subscribers. PADRES allows a subscriber to access data published both in the past and in the future. Furthermore, complex event detection happens in the broker network. The main difficulties of distributed event detection are routing a composite subscription, including where and how to decompose the composite subscription, and routing the individual parts of the subscription. Our composite subscription routing decisions are based on a cost model which minimizes the routing and detection delay. An adaptive subscription routing protocol is proposed to determine efficient location with dynamic changing workloads. PADRES also provides robust message delivery by exploring alternative paths in a cyclic overlay. Routing optimizations and efficient matching algorithms are studied to improve the performance of the extended publish/subscribe model. With the above features, we propose the Ninos system, the distributed business process execution architecture as a case study,which uses light-weight activity agents to carry out business process execution in a distributed environment. Ninos proves that decentralized business process execution is the trend for next generation products, and the publish/subscribe model is ideal to serve as an enterpriser service bus (ESB) for distributed applications.

Objective. Family Therapy (FT) and Family Management (FM) approaches to psychosis have been divided by their understanding of causality. FM holds a biological understanding which has been identified as having negative consequences for the person with psychosis. FT, by exploring family interactions has been criticised for blaming families for causing their relations psychosis. These two approaches have now been integrated, but how causality is discussed in an integrated approach has only now been explored. Design and methods. This qualitative research asked clinicians working in the most established integrated service how they discuss causality. Four focus groups were conducted and a framework approach using thematic analysis was used. Results. Five themes were explored; uncomfortable discussion; constructing a shared understanding; therapeutic style; limiting exploration; and blame. Conclusion. Discussing causality with families was identified as uncomfortable. However, through the development of a therapeutic-relationship three identified tools can be used to construct a shared understanding of causality. The therapeutic style of explorative conversation--based in FT, integrated with the stress-vulnerability model--based in FM, was identified as an important aspect of an integrated model that resolved criticisms levied at each individual approach. Factors that limited exploration were identified as major challenges to causality discussions, but techniques to remedy these problems were also identified. The risk of families feeling blamed/blaming themselves and attempts to avoid/reduce blame made up a dominant theme of the research. The research concludes by challenging the need to avoid/reduce blame, arguing that blame should be openly explored within family interventions.

Purpose: To assess the treatment modalities of pediatric dentists for restoring Class II lesions in primary molars. Methods: A survey of eight cases was emailed to AAPD members, who were asked to choose a stainless steel crown (SSC) or composite resin. Treatment choice was associated with provider type, years in practice, behavior management, lesion detection, and patient age. Results: Clinically detectable caries restored under general anesthesia were treated more often with a SSC. Faculty and residents chose a SSC at a greater rate. Providers with 10 or more years experience chose a SSC more often. Conclusions: The scope of treatment planning encompasses numerous factors. Because of the multifactorial nature of treatment planning for the pediatric dental patient, it would be beneficial for the AAPD to produce a treatment planning decision tree in order to better direct practitioners in their development of patient-centered treatment plans.

The pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus, has been commonly described as widely distributed, but rare throughout its geographical range in the Caribbean. Having recently been listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, an understanding of population status is needed to promote species conservation and population recovery. Previous to this study the status of the pillar coral population in the state waters of Florida, U.S.A, was relatively unknown primarily due to few colonies being recorded and no comprehensive summary of population abundance, distribution or health being completed. Along with various environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting the pillar coral population on the Florida Reef Tract (FRT), it appears that reproductive limitations may also be contributing to species decline and limiting population recovery as evidenced by the lack of reported juvenile D. cylindrus colonies reported on the Florida Reef Tract (FRT) in the past 17 years. The factors contributing to this phenomenon are currently unknown, however are suspected to be derived from the pillar corals reproductive biology. Being described as a gonochoric, broadcast spawner, sexual reproduction relies on the synchronous release of gametes from colonies of separate sexes, and with low adult colony densities reported for the pillar coral on the FRT, gamete concentrations from both sexes may be too low for fertilization to occur. In 2014 submissions of pillar coral locations from the scientific and lay community were compiled and 610 D. cylindrus colonies along Florida Reef Tract were identified (Lunz et al. 2016). In my study, I describe the population structure of D. cylindrus for the southeast Florida region of the FRT which includes 65 of the total 610 colonies. For each of the 65 colonies, colony depth, demographic, and condition data were recorded including size (length, width, and height), percent of recent mortality, and presence and severity of disease and bleaching. Out of all locations identified in this region, about 50% contained only a single colony of D. cylindrus and the maximum number of colonies per site was 14. Throughout the duration of the study, devastating losses of live tissue were observed following the bleaching and disease events impacting the Florida Reef Tract in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and the status of the southeast Florida population of pillar coral is at serious risk of local extinction. To investigate the ability of colonies of D. cylindrus to sexually reproduce (referred to as sexual reproduction potential) tissue samples were collected from 95 colonies within 15 sites along the FRT and were prepared for histological analysis. The sex of each colony, sizes of gametes in mature developmental stages, the abundance of gametes per cm2 of tissue, and sex ratios for locations on the FRT were reported. All tissue samples from male and female colonies contained gametes that were ≥90% mature; however sex ratios were found to be skewed in all locations, deviating significantly from the 1:1 ratio expected for typical resource allocation in random mating. Hermaphroditic colonies of D. cylindrus are described for the first time throughout its geographical range in this study and comparisons to gonochoristic colonies confirmed that these hermaphrodites are sexually reproductive individuals. Results from this effort provide a more thorough understanding of the reproductive biology of D. cylindrus and essential data for the support of future conservation management and restoration strategies for this FRT population and comparative data for other Caribbean populations.

This research has led to a novel methodology for assessment and quantification of supply risks in the supply chain. The research has built on advanced Knowledge Discovery techniques and has resulted to a software implementation to be able to do so. The methodology developed and presented here resembles the well-known consumer credit scoring methods as it leads to a similar metric, or score, for assessing a supplier’s reliability and risk of conducting business with that supplier. However, the focus is on a wide range of operational metrics rather than just financial, which credit scoring techniques typically focus on. The core of the methodology comprises the application of Knowledge Discovery techniques to extract the likelihood of possible risks from within a range of available datasets. In combination with cross-impact analysis, those datasets are examined for establish the inter-relationships and mutual connections among several factors that are likely contribute to risks associated with particular suppliers. This approach is called conjugation analysis. The resulting parameters become the inputs into a logistic regression which leads to a risk scoring model the outcome of the process is the standardized risk score which is analogous to the well-known consumer risk scoring model, better known as FICO score. The proposed methodology has been applied to an Air Conditioning manufacturing company. Two models have been developed. The first identifies the supply risks based on the data about purchase orders and selected risk factors. With this model the likelihoods of delivery failures, quality failures and cost failures are obtained. The second model built on the first one but also used the actual data about the performance of supplier to identify risks of conducting business with particular suppliers. Its target was to provide quantitative measures of an individual supplier’s risk level. The supplier risk scoring model is tested on the data acquired from the company for its performance analysis. The supplier risk scoring model achieved 86.2% accuracy, while the area under curve (AUC) was 0.863. The AUC curve is much higher than required model’s validity threshold value of 0.5. It represents developed model’s validity and reliability for future data. The numerical studies conducted with real-life datasets have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology and system as well as its future potential for industrial adoption.

A reposição de perfilhos mortos ou consumidos pelo pastejo é ponto chave para manutenção da perenidade e produtividade da pastagem. Dentre outros fatores, a dinâmica com que esse processo ocorre é variável em função das estratégias de manejo utilizadas. Dessa forma, as estratégias de manejo do pastejo afetam a dinâmica do perfilhamento, gerando modificações em densidade populacional de perfilhos e em sua composição, nos padrões de ocupação horizontal da área e na estabilidade da população de perfilhos, características determinantes da perenidade e produtividade da planta forrageira. Com isso, o objetivo com este trabalho foi avaliar a frequência e o tamanho das touceiras, a dinâmica do perfilhamento, a densidade populacional de perfilhos e a participação relativa de perfilhos basais e aéreos na população de plantas de capim-elefante cv. Napier submetido a estratégias de pastejo rotativo de janeiro de 2011 a abril de 2012. Os tratamentos corresponderam a combinações entre duas condições pós- (alturas pós-pastejo de 35 e 45 cm) e duas condições pré-pastejo (95% e máxima interceptação luminosa - IL95% e ILMáx) e foram alocados às unidades experimentais segundo arranjo fatorial 2x2 e delineamento de blocos completos casualizados, com quatro repetições. Foram avaliadas características da estrutura horizontal dos pastos, dinâmica do perfilhamento e população de perfilhos totais e demografia de perfilhos basais e aéreos. Pastos manejados com a meta IL95% apresentaram ocupação mais uniforme da área caracterizada pela maior frequência de touceiras e menor frequência de espaços vazios relativamente àqueles manejados com a meta ILMáx. Independente da meta de IL pré-pastejo, os pastos passaram por um período de adaptação aos tratamentos impostos caracterizado pela redução da variabilidade do perímetro médio das touceiras do início do experimento até o início da primavera. Pastos manejados com a meta ILMáx apresentaram menor índice de estabilidade da população de perfilhos, consequência das maiores taxas de mortalidade relativamente aos pastos manejados com a meta IL95%. A densidade populacional de perfilhos aéreos (DPPa) foi maior que a de perfilhos basais (DPPb) para ambas as metas de IL pré-pastejo. De forma geral, não foi registrada diferença em DPPa entre as metas de IL pré-pastejo, mas a DPPb foi maior nos pastos manejados com a meta IL95%. A estratégia de manejo caracterizada pela meta IL95% favorece menor mortalidade de perfilhos e maior perfilhamento basal que, por sua vez, favorece ocupação mais uniforme da área, sugerindo possíveis benefícios para a habilidade competitiva e produtiva da pastagem. / Replacement of dead or consumed tillers during grazing is a key point for ensuring longevity and productivity of pastures. Among other factors, the dynamics of the tillering process is variable depending on management strategies used. In that context, grazing management strategies affect tillering dynamics causing changes in tiller population density and its composition, patterns of plant horizontal distribution and area occupation and in the stability of tiller population, all important characteristics determining longevity and productivity of forage grass communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency and size of tussocks, tillering dynamics, tiller population density and the relative contribution of basal and aerial tillers in elephant grass cv. Napier subjected to strategies of rotational stocking management from January 2011 to April 2012. Treatments corresponded to combinations between two post- (post-grazing heights of 35 and 45 cm) and two pregrazing conditions (95% and maximum canopy light interception during regrowth - LI95% and LIMax), and were allocated to experimental units (850 m2 paddocks) according to a 2x2 factorial arrangement in a complete randomised design, with four replications. The following response variables were measured: characteristics of sward horizontal structure, tiller dynamics and population, and demography of basal and aerial tillers. Swards managed with the LI95% target showed a more uniform occupation of the area characterised by higher frequency of tussocks and lower frequency of bare ground areas relat ive to those managed with the LIMax target. Regardless of LI pre-grazing target, swards underwent an adaptation period to treatments imposed characterised by reduction in the variability of the average tussock perimeter from the beginning of the experiment until early spring. Swards managed with the LIMax target had lower population stability index than those managed with the LI95% target, consequence of higher tiller death rates. Population density of aerial tillers (TPDa) was larger than basal tillers (TPDb) for both LI pre-grazing targets. In general, there was no difference in TPDa between LI pre-grazing targets, but TPDb was larger on swards managed with the LI95% target. the management strategy characterised by the LI95% target results in lower tiller death and larger production of basal tillers that, in turn, favours a more uniform occupation of the area, suggesting potential benefits to the competitive and productive ability of pastures.

This research studies the interaction between eHealth and implementation success. eHealth has become an important subject of discussion and evaluation for healthcare organisations over the last decade or so, and has also been the focus of national healthcare programs and plans. Billions of pounds are being spent on implementations of eHealth. Those implementations endeavour to cut costs, while at the same time, achieving enhanced efficiency and accuracy. Hence, understanding success in eHealth has become an attractive topic for research and a requirement in healthcare practice. This research aims to understand the definitions and factors of success in implementations of eHealth. In doing so, it examined the suitability of the Delone and McLean Information Systems (D&M IS) success model to explain eHealth success. A multistage research design was adopted. The first stage was composed of a thorough Systematic Literature Review that covered the origins and development of eHealth, the different themes in the research around eHealth, the concept of Critical Success Factors in IS, and the available frameworks for IS implementations, in general, and eHealth, in specific. As for the second stage, which constituted the core of this study, it was based on an exploratory, mixed-methods approach to research where a triangulation of research methods, data collection tools, and data sources was employed. As part of this approach, two case studies were conducted. Within the case studies, 20 semi-structured interviews were carried out; the outcomes of the interviews were analysed using framework analysis. In addition, a survey took place, and feedback from the survey respondents was analysed using different quantitative statistical methods. Finally, content analysis was relied on to examine all the relevant existing documentations. This research found that information systems success models, already in existence, can facilitate the understanding of implementation success in eHealth. The D&M IS success model, in particular, was chosen and applied. The results of the qualitative and quantitative research showed that the D&M model is suitable to explain and define success in eHealth. In addition to the constructs that define success in eHealth, such achievement is attributed to a number of factors. This research found that eHealth shares a number of success factors with other IS implementation frameworks. At the same time, eHealth success factors that emerged from the case study, like; clinical engagement, the role of eHealth leadership, and clinical champions are discussed. This research led to the exploration of new factors that require a better understanding, such as; the effects of a national eHealth policy, the role of critical champions, and innovative methods of eHealth training. Links between eHealth success definitions, and success factors were investigated, as part of this study. The results of this research revealed statistically significant links between the achievement of organisational goals and user satisfaction, and ultimately, with implementation success. This work has allowed for the development of a potential eHealth specific version of the D&M model as a provisional model to be confirmed with further research. It identified success factors that affect the implementations of eHealth. Some of the factors are eHealth specific, which can also be developed into a provisional model. In addition, this work has resulted in a number of recommendations for implementers and evaluators of eHealth in practice.