Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 186-196). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at Dallas, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-40)

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (January 12, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-55)

<p> Ecosystem services (ES), payments for ecosystem services (PES), and the development of markets for PES are transformational concepts and practices that emerged from environmental and ecological economics. Although the establishment of regulatory markets tends to be &ldquo;top down,&rdquo; there is evidence that more locally acceptable and successful markets tend to come from the community, from the &ldquo;bottom up.&rdquo; This meta-analysis analyzes 20 recent articles that examined approximately 454 PES cases from around the world, most organized from the bottom up. Cross-case analysis reveals possible best practices. Involving communities in design, decision-making, governance, and operation of local PES programs is found in many cases to contribute to improvements in both ecosystems and community livelihoods. Devolving project administration and ES provision monitoring to the local level is found to lower costs, increase project legitimacy, community equity, and leaves efficiency and fairness tradeoff decision-making in the hands of local communities. This in turn adds to feelings of competence, autonomy, and control. The experience of cooperative learning, skill acquisition, and enhanced individual and community capacities that results from participation in PES program design is found to positively influence social, cultural, economic, and multilevel political dynamics, allowing local sustainable resource use and management to emerge. In several cases, there are indications that this leads to a changed local and regional political economy due to successful value capture of enhanced ES resulting from restored ecosystems, as well as indications of other transformative changes in communities. These findings are used to provide recommendations to a watershed restoration initiative in the borderlands of Southern Arizona. </p><p>

The reforms initiated in the global energy industry since the late 1980s have been seen as phenomenal and radical. In the main, the changes are perceived as the manifestation of the inexorable retreat of the state, apparently due to its failings, from the energy business. This thesis argues that the real position in the industry is not conterminous with that postulate. The unique character of the energy industry guarantees that the state's influence may change, but not swept away. Even when methods change, the objectives of state participation - efficiency, equity and stability - remain unalterable. This is demonstrated in three forms: First, domestic regulation of the industry, second, the exploitation of energy resource from a source shared by two or more countries, and third, international trade in energy. Indeed, the ubiquitous presence of the state in the energy industry has yielded varying results in different countries, and as in the case of Ghana, for different utilities. This thesis proposes that good governance is the critical variable that accounts for the difference. The need for stable governance, not characterised by the endurance of dictatorship, but exhibited in the form of competitive democracy, effective bureaucracy, rule of law, discretion and decentralisation, form the macro foundation for the efficient, equitable and stable operation of the energy business.

<p> The disappointing economic performance of Nigerian, Ghanaian, and the Togolese economies, coupled with the globalization of activities in the world economy, have forced them to look outward for development strategies. Many studies have been attempted to estimate the impact of natural resources on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows around the world, but very few have been focused on Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. This study departed from previous studies and employed a gravity-type framework to explicitly explore the question of whether natural resource endowments was a more relevant factor that explained the FDI&rsquo;s attraction to the countries under study. The study also included other FDI determinants. Accordingly, this study served to investigate whether natural resources attracted FDI inflows in Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. Using time series data from 1980&ndash;2015, the study was conducted to answer two research questions. Two models were established utilizing the pooled ordinary least square method to estimate the coefficients of the models. Preliminary results were obtained using both the random effect and fixed effect models. The results of the study yielded by both techniques registered natural resources to be significant as a driven factor for FDI inflows to the countries under review. Other factors such as GDP per capita, trade openness, political stability, and economic liberalization were also found to be significant in FDI determination. </p><p>

<p> A large body of literature finds a negative relationship between natural resource abundance and economic efficiency. With few notable exceptions, this literature does not account for variations in the ownership and control of the resources. Through an analytical interpretation of results from a game-theoretic political economy model, this study examines how economic rents, the opportunity cost of firms, potential cost or market access advantages of the private sector and time preferences of politicians combine to affect a politician&rsquo;s preferences for ownership and control of a non-renewable resource. I find that the resulting choice of ownership type, public or private, is context-specific and that no generalisations can be made: among other factors politicians will consider the size of the resource, expected price paths, whether the private sector has a cost or market access advantage over the state when making its decision, prices and the degree to which the government holds a non-controlling equity stake in the firm. With respect to the efficiency of public versus private ownership, I find that either model can be efficient and that the result is driven mainly by: (i) the differences in time preferences between politicians, the private sector and the social optimum; and (ii) the degree to which the private sector holds a non-appropriable competitive advantage over the government. The model provides a rich and nuanced interpretation of the incentives governments face in making ownership decisions over non-renewable resources. The results act as a reminder to advisers to take into consideration country specifics when making recommendations to governments about which forms of ownership and control lead to a more efficient outcome. Results are corroborated by observations in empirical literature and the model&rsquo;s explanatory power is highlighted through a range of country case studies.</p><p>

<p> Reservoirs throughout the country exhibit degraded shorelines and simplified littoral habitats because of aging. This study evaluated the establishment of agricultural plantings on reservoir mudflats and the effectiveness of supplemental brush pile structures in providing recruitment habitat for juvenile fish. The mudflats of Enid Reservoir, Mississippi were seeded during the winter drawdown in October of 2016 and 2017 with agricultural plantings. Monitoring of plantings found grasses performed best in terms of establishment and providing potential fish habitat. During Summer 2017 brush piles and control sites, without brush, were sampled in Enid Reservoir using rotenone to evaluate juvenile fish use. Juvenile fish exhibited greater abundances and larger sizes, on average, in brush pile sites. Larger brush piles placed in shallower water provided the greatest benefit to juvenile fish.</p><p>

This thesis aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of human resource management (HRM) within cruise ship organizations. The cruise ship industry is one of the fastest developing sectors within the tourism industry. Therefore, it should come as little surprise that the demand for seafaring human resources has also grown. Assuming that effective management of crew members is key to the effective operation of cruise ships, the specifics and challenges for HRM in this particular organisational context are identified and analysed as well as the realities of the roles and relations of the shipboard HR function examined. The present study is original in its theoretical approach, as it brings two approaches together which obviously are not linked. Ulrich’s model talks about roles and the study used aspects of this framework in terms of the position of HRM. Goffman’s concept of total institutions was also consulted in order to frame internal business-specific conditions and social relations. The combination of both approaches allows for the examination of HR roles and professional relations in a much more detailed and contextualised manner. The cruise industry is acknowledged as being under-researched, and this is all the more true for research on HRM in this specific sector. Therefore, the nature of the research in this study is empirical and framed within an explorative approach. The analysis is based on a single case study within one cruise ship owner company, in which 23 semi-structured interviews were performed; there is also the use of ethnographic field notes recorded during a three-month assignment on one of the company’s cruise ships. The thesis contributes to the existing literature in three ways. Firstly, the research analyses shoreside HR and how it is coping with various business-specific challenges, i.e. high growth rates, a high demand for new cruise ship employees, high turnover rates of crew members and a distinctive context of ethnic and national diversity. The analysis reveals that the HRM approach of the cruise shipowner company could be characterised as generally reactive and short-term in focus, a pure strategic orientation is absent. Secondly, the thesis examines the content of shipboard HR work. The study reveals that the main focus of the shipboard HR function is on tactical HR work, especially training and development, employee relations, and advisory role in relation to shipboard leaders. The shipboard HR role includes HR activities that are not usually provided by HR business partners, such as the facilitation of training. This and the intense liaison between the shipboard HR function and its shoreside HR partners make shipboard HR work somewhat unique. Whereas a huge amount of transactional HR work does not necessarily add value to the business, strategic HR work is practically non-existent on cruise ships. Finally, the thesis examines the realities of HR roles and relations on board cruise ships. The analysis demonstrated that HRM on board cruise ships can currently be summarised as reactive and short-term in focus, and the strategic partner role is practically non-existent. It is more a series of functions with different stakeholders contributing to it in a variety of ways and with overlap in terms of task executions. This shared nature of HR adds complexity to the HRM approach. Furthermore, strong influential links from shoreside HR were identified, which undermines the ability of the shipboard HR function to become a stronger partner of the business. Nevertheless, the analysis revealed the potential in this specific sector for enhancements and for the further development of HRM on cruise ships.

abstract: In riparian ecosystems, reptiles and amphibians are good indicators of environmental conditions. Herpetofauna have been linked to specific microhabitat characteristics, microclimates, and water resources in riparian forests. My objective was to relate herpetofauna abundance to changes in riparian habitat along the Virgin River caused by the Tamarix biological control agent, Diorhabda carinulata, and riparian restoration. During 2013 and 2014, vegetation and herpetofauna were monitored at 21 riparian locations along the Virgin River via trapping and visual encounter surveys. Study sites were divided into four stand types based on density and percent cover of dominant trees (Tamarix, Prosopis, Populus, and Salix) and presence of restoration activities: Tam, Tam-Pros, Tam-Pop/Sal, and Restored Tam-Pop/Sal. Restoration activities consisted of mechanical removal of non-native trees, transplanting native trees, and introduction of water flow. All sites were affected by biological control. I predicted that herpetofauna abundance would vary between stand types and that herpetofauna abundance would be greatest in Restored Tam-Pop/Sal sites due to increased habitat openness and variation following restoration efforts. Results from trapping indicated that Restored Tam-Pop/Sal sites had three times more total lizard and eight times more Sceloporus uniformis captures than other stand types. Anaxyrus woodhousii abundance was greatest in Tam-Pop/Sal and Restored Tam-Pop/Sal sites. Visual encounter surveys indicated that herpetofauna abundance was greatest in the Restored Tam-Pop/Sal site compared to the adjacent Unrestored Tam-Pop/Sal site. Habitat variables were reduced to six components using a principle component analysis and significant differences were detected among stand types. Restored Tam-Pop/Sal sites were most similar to Tam-Pop/Sal sites. S. uniformis were positively associated with large woody debris and high densities of Populus, Salix, and large diameter Prosopis. Restored Tam-Pop/Sal sites likely supported higher abundances of herpetofauna, as these areas exhibited greater habitat heterogeneity. Restoration activities created a mosaic habitat by reducing canopy cover and increasing native tree density and surface water. Natural resource managers should consider implementing additional restoration efforts following biological control when attempting to restore riparian areas dominated by Tamarix and other non-native trees. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Biological Sciences 2014