No description available.

The recent development of culture-independent methods has revolutionized the study of complex microbial communities such as those present in activated sludge treatment systems. DNA probes that hybridize to genes coding for key enzymes that catalyze microbial processes have been widely used. Can such probes be used to quantify target genes and thus quantify the potential of a microbial community to carry out a reaction of interest? / Optimal conditions for DNA extraction, probe validation, hybridization, and activity measurements were determined for the pulp and paper treatment system environment under study. Using gene probes for key denitrification genes (nirS, nirK), the correlation between denitrifiers and denitrification activity in an enrichment culture and activated sludge samples was tested. The same correlation between nitrogen fixation and nitrogen-fixing bacteria in primary clarifiers was assessed using a probe for the gene encoding a component of the nitrogenase enzyme (nifH). This work was successful in establishing the correlation between gene numbers and their corresponding enzymatic activity and thus supports the quantitative hybridization approach for the monitoring of microbial communities. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Knowledge of price responsiveness of energy is important for designing effective price-based controls to curb the GHG emissions in Canada. The translog and logit models are developed in this study to analyze the demand for four types of energy inputs: coal, electricity, natural gas and refined petroleum products in Ontario's pulp and paper industry. The results suggest that the industry is inelastic to price change of energy consumed. Tests indicate that the translog model behaves slightly better than the logit model. The translog model was then applied to study the feasibility of imposing a carbon tax on energy inputs on Ontario's pulp and paper industry, which indicated that this sector does not seem to response to changes in energy inputs prices. Therefore, a carbon tax does not seem to be a good policy option for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in this sector.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 iii, 111 leaves / The purpose of this study was to determine the core competencies of Sappi Forest Product division as a basis for establishing future developments. The literature focused on the resource-based view where the analysis of the firm’s internal resources and capabilities can be used as the starting point of strategy.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis, from a "locality studies" perspective, examines the impact of industrial restructuring and employment decline on the relationship between locality, gender and patriarchy at the household level in Windsor, a pulp and paper mill town in South-Eastern Quebec. A detailed questionnaire/survey was deployed in May and June 1987, during a period of massive reorganization and automation of production by Domtar Fine Paper Mill, the dominant local employer. The primary empirical focus of this work is on the household impacts of job losses, incurred directly or indirectly by this restructuring. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between gender, employment and income and how this relationship is manifested among the differing material circumstances of Windsor households, and to attempts to adapt to the socio-economic impacts of restructuring via self-conscious "coping strategies". A secondary focus is communal coping strategies aimed at combatting declining industrial employment. Findings indicate an exacerbation of economic polarization between economically stable households of the remaining Domtar employees and households enmeshed in unstable economic and employment conditions.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Industrial Ecology and Environment))--Mahidol University, 2007. / LICL has E-Thesis 0022 ; please contact computer services.