Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Wollongong, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 87-93.

Univ., Diss.--Paderborn, 2004.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2000. / Abstract in English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1992. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Ichthyology and Fisheries Science))--Rhodes University, 2006.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to extract elevation information (such as tree height) from stereo satellite imagery (IRS-I C), to scrutinise the performance of the DTM (Digital Terrain Model) tools as provided by the LH (LeicalHelava) Systems' softcopy system, and subsequently to perform a feasibility study on the application of a practically viable forest inventory design. A softcopy photogrammetry workstation (LH Systems DPW 770), IRS-I C stereo panchromatic satellite imagery, and digital aerial photography at a scale of 1:30000 (scanned at 15 micrometers) was used. The study was conducted over various sites in the Sabie area (province of Mpumalanga) in South Africa, where extensive man made forests with pine and eucalypts are to be found. The extraction of stand parameters such as tree height was performed manually, semi-automatically, and automatically. In addition, the compartment area was determined using a GIS tool. The Digital Surface Models (DSM), representing the canopy structure of the stands, was extracted from the IRS-I C imagery and validated through a comparison of the resulting contours with the corresponding contours generated by aerial photogrammetric methods. Due to the coarse spatial resolution of the IRS-IC imagery (5m) and the suboptimal BIH (BaselHeight) ratio (0.57), only objects featuring a height exceeding 20m could be manually measured with confidence. Furthermore, only the edges of the compartments proved to be suitable for the determination of tree heights (i.e. with a sufficiently large parallax difference and image contrast). The manual determination of tree heights in the IRS-I C imagery yielded accuracies of about 95% compared to the height values of the aerial photographs and the ground data. The application of image enhancement techniques had severe effects on the accuracy of the IRS-IC stereo model, resulting in deviations of about -57m from the 'true' value. It was observed that image matching was only a problem where features changed their appearance (e.g. clearfelled or burnt areas) during the acquisition period of the stereo pair of the satellite imagery. LH Systems' Adaptive Automatic Terrain Extraction (AATE) tool performed very well for the creation of digital terrain and surface models when using digital aerial photography with a high scanning rate. In contrast, the automatic creation of canopy surface models from various forest compartments did not yield any useful results when applied to IRS-l C imagery. AATE could not model the canopy structure properly. The coarse spatial resolution of the satellite imagery in conjunction with the sparse post spacing (20m) and matching errors are most likely to be responsible for this poor performance. Two-phase sampling and the Hugershoff method were chosen for automatically derived height values to be evaluated for possible application in forest inventory. Unfortunately, neither for the determination of the regression estimator for the first method, nor for the calculation of timber volume after application of the Hugershoff method could any useful result be obtained. This is mostly due to the fact that image matching errors and blunders (resulting in tree heights of -885m) were not properly accounted for in the terrain extraction software. However, the outcomes for the manual measurement of tree heights performed on the satellite imagery show that under optimal conditions accuracies can be achieved similar to those for the height determination in small scale aerial photographs, but at lower cost. The obtained height values can then be used for the calculation of timber volume according to Eichhorn's law. Keywords: AATE, blunders, digital photogrammetry, DPW770, forest inventory, Hugershoff IRS-l C, matching error, remote sensing, satellite imagery, two-phase sampling / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: N GANGBAARHEIDSTIIDIE VIR BOSINVENTARIS MET BEHULP VAN STEREO SATELLIETBEELDE MET GEBRUIK VAN SAGTEKOPIE FOTOGRAMMETRIESETEGNOLOGIE: Die doel van hierdie studie was om elevasie inligting (soos boomhoogtes) uit stereo satellietbeelde (IRS-I C) te ontrek, en die DTM (Digitale Terrein Modelle) funksies van die LH Systems se sagtekopie sisteem te evalueer en 'n ondersoek in te stel na praktiese toepassing van die tegnologie in bosvoorraadopname. 'n Sagtekopie fotogrammetriese werkstasie (LH Systems DPW 770), IRS-I C stereo panchromatiese satellietwaarneming en digitale lugfotografie is gebruik. Die studie is uitgevoer oor verskeie areas in die Sabie omgewing (Mpumalanga, Suid-Afrika), waar daar ekstensiewe mensgemaakte woude voorkom met denne en Eucalyptus soorte. Die ekstraksie van opstandparameters soos boomhoogte is uitgevoer met die hand, as ook met semi-outomatiese en outomatiese metodes. Die digitale oppervlakmodelle (wat die kroondakstrukture van die opstande voorstel) was vanaf die IRS-I C beelde onttrek en gevalideer deur vergelyking van die resulterende kontoere met die korresponderende kontoere wat deur lugfotogrammetriese metodes gegenereer is. As gevolg van die growwe ruimtelike resolusie van die IRS-IC waarneming (Sm) en die suboptimale BIH verhouding (0.57) kan slegs voorwerpe met 'n hoogte van meer as 20m met vertroue met die hand gemeet word. Slegs die rande van die vakke is bruikbaar vir die berekening van boomhoogtes (d.w. s. met 'n voldoende paralaksverskil en 'n sterk beeldkontras ). Boomhoogtes wat met die hand bepaal is vanaf IRS-I C beelde is 95% akkuraat in vergelyking met die hoogtewaardes verkry vanaf die lugfoto's en die veldmetings. Die toepassing van beeldverbeteringstegnieke het duidelike invloede op die akkuraatheid van die IRS-IC stereomodel met afwykings van ongeveer -57m vanaf die "werklike" waardes. Daar is ook waargeneem dat beeldooreenstemming slegs 'n probleem is waar terreinvorme se voorkoms verander het (weens afkappings of brande) gedurende die verkrygingsperiode waarin die stereo paar van die satellietbeelde verkry is. LH Systems se Aanpassende Outomatiese Terrein Onttrekkings (Adaptive Automatic Terrain Extraction - AATE) instrument het goed gevaar tydens die gebruik van digitale lugfotografie met Inhoë skanderingstempo. In kontras hiermee het die outomatiese skepping van kroondakoppervlakmodelle van verskeie plantasievakke geen nuttige resultate gelewer wanneer dit op IRS-I C beelde toegepas is nie. Die growwe ruimtelike resolusie van die satellietbeelde tesame met die wye paalspasïering (20m) en passingsfoute is waarskynlik vir hierdie swak resultate verantwoordelik. Twee-fase proefueming en die Hugershoff metode was gebruik vir die bepaling van outomaties afgeleide hoogtewaardes vir evaluering van moonlike toepassing in bosvoorraadopnames. Geen bruikbare resultate kon verkry word vir die vasstelling van die regressieskatter vir die eersgenoemde metode of vir die berekening van die houtvolume volgens die Hugershoff metode nie. Dit is meestal as gevolg van beeld-- ooreenkomsfoute en flaters, (wat tot boomhoogtes van -885m gelei het) wat nie voldoende in ag geneem word in die terreinekstraksie sagteware nie. Die resultate vir die handgemete ('manual') boomhoogtebepaling wat uitgevoer is op die satellietbeelde (op die sagtekopie werkstasie DPW 770), toon dat akkuraathede soortgelyk aan daardie vir hoogte bepaal op klein-skaal lugfotos onder optimale toestande verkry kan word, maar goedkoper. Die hoogtewaardes wat verkry is kan gebruik word vir die berekening van houtvolume volgens die wet van Eichhorn. Sleutelwoorde: AATE, afstandswaarneming, bosvoorraadopnames, digitale fotogrammetrie, DPW770, flaters, Hugershoff, IRS-! C, satellietbeelde, twee-fase proefueming

Thesis (MA (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Namibia’s environmental legislation is fragmented and outdated, and in particular mining and prospecting in parks of Namibia is poorly legislated. This problem was analysed with the Skeleton Coast Park being chosen as the study region, as it was considered to be a representative example for parks in Namibia. The Skeleton Coast Park offers both pre-mining and post-mining characteristics; therefore affording the possibility to ascertain the environmental impacts that mining and prospecting have on the environment. The aims of the study were to illustrate the gaps in legislation in regard to mining and prospecting in parks of Namibia and to provide management guidelines for mining and prospecting in these parks. Objectives of this study included gathering baseline environmental information for the Skeleton Coast Park; creating and analysing a spatial database for the occurrence and type of current prospecting and mining activities in the Skeleton Coast Park; analysing and documenting techniques currently practiced for prospecting and mining; and identifying shortcomings in legislation and policy guidelines regulating these activities. The study results highlight the extraordinary sensitivity and uniqueness of the natural environment in terms of physiography, ecological functioning and vulnerability to human interference of the life forms occurring here. Results confirm that mining and prospecting techniques can have detrimental environmental effects given the poor management practices recorded. Also, prospecting in the Skeleton Coast Park indicates no lucrative source of diamonds. Even though currently the entire coast line is given out to Exclusive Prospecting Licences, results do not indicate that any company is undertaking serious active prospecting. Regarding regulation it is evident that new, more encompassing legislation has been drafted, but that the promulgation of the legislation is hampered by the non-finalisation of the process. Several new draft bills currently in place contradict each other and need proper alignment.

Esta dissertação analisa os motivos da implantação do novo sistema de pagamentos brasileiro, descreve os impactos percebidos junto à sociedade e avalia o atual estágio do projeto. Procura mostrar que não houve redução de risco sistêmico, como se pretendia, em função da implantação do novo sistema de pagamentos. Também evidencia que não houve redução de tarifas bancárias com a implantação do mesmo. Descreve que, em função da redução de custos financeiros percebidos com a utilização de avanços tecnológicos, os bancos passaram a apropriar-se dos ganhos em função da forma como foi elaborado o novo sistema, não foi possível identificar qualquer redução de preço nas tarifas bancárias em função de uma maior concorrência. / This dissertation analyzes the motives of the implementation of the new system of Brazilian payments, describes the impacts perceived into the society and evaluates the current stage of the project. The study showed that there was neither reduction of systemic risk nor banking fees after the implementation of the new system of payments. It describes that banks kept the earnings acquired from of the reduction of financial costs perceived with the utilization of technological advancements. The way the new system was setup prevented an identification of any reduction of banking tariffs because of increased market competition.

The objective of this project is to link the statistical theory used in the ecological sciences with an actual project that was developed for the South African National Parks Scientific Services. It investigates the changes that have occurred in the herbaceous and woody structure due to the closure of artificial waterpoints; including the impacts that elephants and other herbivores have on the vegetation of the Kruger National Park. This project was designed in conjunction with South African National Parks (SANP) Scientific Services and it is a registered project with this department. The results of this project will be submitted to Scientific Services in accordance with the terms and conditions of a SANP research project. A major concern within the KNP is the declining numbers of rare antelope and numerous projects have been developed to investigate possible ways of halting this decline and thus protecting the heterogeneity of the Kruger National Park. Three different datasets were investigated, covering three aspects of vegetation structure and composition within the KNP. The first investigated the changes that have occurred since the N'washitsumbe enclosure in the Far Northern KNP was fenced off from the rest of the park. The results show that over the 40 years since the enclosure was built, changes have occurred which have resulted in a significant difference in the abundance of Increaser 2 and Decreaser grass species between the inside and the outside of the enclosure. Increaser 2 and Decreaser categories are the result of a grass species classification depending on whether the species thrives or is depressed by heavy grazing. The difference in grass species composition and structure between the inside and the outside of the enclosure indicates that the grazing animals within the KNP have influenced the grass composition in a way that favours the dominant animals. This has resulted in a declining roan antelope population - one of the species that is considered as a 'rare antelope'. Many artificial waterpoints (boreholes and dams) have also been closed throughout the KNP in the hope of resulting in a change in vegetation structure and composition in favour of the roan. Veld condition assessment data for 87 boreholes throughout the Park was analyzed to determine whether the veld in the vicinity is beginning to change towards a more Decreaser dominated sward which would favour the roan. The results were analyzed for the different regions of the Park; and they indicate that changes are becoming evident; however, the results are not particularly conclusive, yet. The majority of the boreholes were closed between 1994 and 1998 which means that not a lot of data were available to be analyzed. A similar study conducted in another 10 years time might reveal more meaningful results. However the results are moving in the direction hoped for by the management of the KNP. The results show that the grass composition has a higher proportion of Decreaser grasses since the closure of the waterpoints, and the grass biomass around these areas has also improved. The results were analyzed on an individual basis; and then on a regional basis as the minimal data meant that the individual analyses did not provide any significant results. A third study was then done on the impact that the rapidly increasing elephant population on the vegetation within the Riparian zone along three rivers in the Far Northern region of the KNP. The riparian zone is an important part of the landscape, in terms of providing food for many animals as well as shade. The elephant population has increased substantially since the termination of the culling program and this means that the feeding requirements of the population has increased which could result in severe damage upon the vegetation, as elephants can be very destructive feeders. The results show surprising differences between the three years of data that were analyzed; however the results indicate that the elephants are targeting specific height ranges of trees when feeding; however they do not seem to consistently target specific tree species. This is positive for the diversity of the Riparian zone as this region is very important both ecologically and aesthetically for the tourists who visit the Park.

A indústria de seguros é uma atividade econômica relativamente jovem, possuindo raízes na revolução industrial. O desenvolvimento dessa indústria ocorreu de forma bastante intensa durante o século passado, quando a atividade passou a ser inserida na área de gestão de riscos. As Companhias de Seguros que trabalham nesse ambiente de negócio fundamentam todo o processo de precificação dos seus produtos em rígidas bases técnicas e atuariais. O presente trabalho dedica-se ao estudo dessas questões, abordando especificamente os seguros de vida, com ênfase à cobertura de morte. A pesquisa tem por objetivo comparar duas modalidades distintas de seguros que são ofertadas ao mercado: o seguro de vida individual e o seguro de vida em grupo. Embora ofereçam aos consumidores coberturas bastante similares, ambas as modalidades devem obedecer a requisitos e princípios técnicos diferenciados por parte das instituições que fazem a sua gestão. / The insurance industry is a relatively young economic activity; its bases are found in the industrial revolution. The development of such industry occurred in a very intense way in the last century, when the activity started being placed in the area of management of risks. The insurance companies that work in this business environment base the whole pricing process of their products on rigid technical and actuarial bases. The present work aims at studying these questions, focusing on the life insurance, with emphasis on the death coverage. The research intends to explore and compare two distinct modalities of insurance that are offered to the market: the individual life insurance and the group life insurance. Even though they offer similar coverage, they must fulfill requirements and different technical principles ruled by the institutions which are responsible for their management.