>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The sustainable use of natural resources is of utmost importance for every community. In particular, it is important for every given generation to plan in such a way that proper provision is made for future generations. The scientific understanding of resources use and appreciation for its life-supporting capacity is therefore essential. Mathematical modeling has proved useful to inform the planning and management of strategies for sustainable use of natural resources. Some specific topics in resource management has been studied intensively through many decades. In particular, mining, fisheries, forestry and water resources are among these. Instead of presenting a study of the latter topics, this dissertation presents a variety of cases of mathematical modeling in resource management. The aim is to improve the general understanding of the relevant problems. We expand on existing literature, papers of other authors, and add to such studies by focusing on specific items in the work, illuminating it with further explanations and graphs, or by modifying the models through the introduction of stochastic perturbations. In particular this dissertation makes contributions by giving more explanation, on the so-called environmental Fisher information or EFI for brevity (Section 2.4 and Chapter 6), and by introducing stochasticity into a pest control model (Chapter 4) and into a savanna vegetation model (Chapter 5). In Chapter 3 we present a model from the literature pertaining to the problem of shifting cultivation, i.e, the use of forest land when used for subsistence level agricultural purposes, until the land is so degraded that the occupants abandon it and move on to a new stand. The model used to study the shifting period is similar to the forest rotation problem. A model, already in the literature, for biological control of a pest is studied in Chapter 4. Onto the deterministic model we impose a stochastic perturii bation, so that we obtain a stochastic differential equation model. We prove stochastic stability of the disease-free state, when the basic reproduction number of the pest is below unity. We have performed simulations of solutions of the stochastic system. In Chapter 5 we review an existing ordinary differential equation model for the competition between trees and grass in savanna environment. The competition between them is for soil water, fed by annual rainfall. On the other hand, trees and grass are perturbed by fire, and some other environmental forcings such as herbivores. For this ODE model, we introduce stochastic perturbations. The stochastic perturbations are in the form of three mutually independent Brownian motions. Simulations to illustrate the effect of the stochasticity are shown. We present a three-tiered predator-prey model and consider its stability in terms of Fisher information. This appears as Chapter 6. The Fisher information is defined on the basis of the so-called sustainable measures hypotheses. The model is already in the literature and in the dissertation we present several computations to show the influence of carrying capacity of prey and of mortality rate on EFI. Another problem that we consider, in Chapter 7, is that of lake eutrophication caused by excessive phosphorus inflow. The computation illustrates the management of the runoff nutrients into or out of the lake. Necessary and the sufficient conditions for an optimal utility management are obtained using standard optimal control theory. The results of this dissertation demonstrate the modeling techniques in the sustainable use of natural resources. Sustainability is the quest for equal opportunities over all generations. The manner in which this sustainability is quantified in models is being debated and improved all the time. The discourse on sustainability is especially important in view of a growing world population, and with forcings such as climate change. The most important original contribution in this dissertation is the stochastic analysis on the pest control model and the savanna model.

A great deal of attention has been given to global climate change by the hydrologic community. Temperature, precipitation and streamflow trend analysis, on different spatial and temporal scales, is important in understanding the impact of climate change. Midwest region is the heartland of agriculture production in U.S., and change in hydrologic variables may affect both quantity and quality of production. In the study, mean, maximum and minimum temperature along with mean precipitation for 106 climate divisions in the Midwest were analyzed to test the existence of monotonic trend and shift changes in the seasonal hydrological time series. In addition to that, trend and shift in 88 streamflow stations in the Midwest and its relation with temperature and precipitation were analyzed. Mann Kendall test with and without considering lag-1 auto-correlation were employed to analyze the trend. Non-parametric Pettitt test was used to analyze the shift; Sen’s slope estimator was used to identify the magnitude of hydrological trend. Discrete Wavelet analysis was done to analyze the effect of periodicities on trends and shifts in hydrological variables. In addition, association between the occurrence of shifts and phases of climate indices, such as El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), was investigated. The results indicated significant increasing trend in mean and minimum temperature for majority of the climate divisions in all the seasons studied. While, increase in maximum temperature in winter and spring was observed, majority of the climate divisions showed decreasing trend in summer and fall. Increasing trend in precipitation was detected mostly in spring, summer and fall as compared to winter. Persistence was mostly observed for all the variables during the summer season and when accounted for, trend remained for most of the climate divisions. Spatially prevalent shifts were noticed, which were in agreement with gradual trend for most of the hydrologic variables. The results of the wavelet analysis indicated D2 (dyadic scale of 4 years) and D3 (dyadic scale of 8 years) to be the most effective periodic component in detecting trend in winter, spring and summer. D1 (dyadic scale of 2 years) and D3 proved to be the most effective in detecting trend in temperature data in fall. Likewise, precipitation and streamflow showed the dominance of D3 component in detecting real trend in the data. Majority of shift changes coincided with PDO and ENSO phases. The use of wavelet helped in detecting the typical timescale of ENSO and the effect of coupled climate indices on hydrologic variables. A possible linkage between streamflow, temperature and precipitation trend across some regions were detected clearly corroborating the importance of exploring the synergism between meteorological, climatic and hydrologic factors to assess the changing character of the variables. The contribution from this research include a better understanding of the changes in the hydrology of the Midwest that can help in better water management decisions.

This study examines commonalities and differences in leadership choices preferred by female leaders in Kazakhstan, Sweden and the United States of America. The results of the study show that all respondents (1) value the same leadership traits; (2) recognize the importance of mentorship; (3) share the same opinion about what is the most common mistake that can derail a leader's career and (4) face the same challenges at the workplace. The study revealed differences in following categories: (1) family-work balance issue; (2) conflicts at the workplace; (3) leadership development practices; (4) choosing among equally - qualified candidates. Since the entire Central Asian region is largely overlooked in cultural analysis of managerial styles, I also suggest an original cultural metaphor for Kazakhstan and an original dimensional analysis of Kazakh culture. I also argue that leadership choices develop and transform over the time adjusting to the changes of the social reality.

Text in English, abstract in English and Afrikaans / Information is one of the most important resources in organizations today. The role of Marketing Information Systems (MKIS) is to facilitate the efficient and effective use of information in marketing decision-making. Service organizations are especially reliant on decision-support information, due to the complex nature of their environment. However, indications are that they are not utilizing information to their best benefit, despite the considerable advantages they might gain from it. In fact, it could be said that service organizations often seem to lack a culture of market orientation. In measuring the satisfaction with the quality of market intelligence, it becomes obvious that marketing decision-makers are generally dissatisfied with the results of MKIS. Some of the reasons are: • The 'disconnect' between information technology and marketing in organizations, which results in marketing decision-makers not getting information in the format they require, and feeling as if their requirements are not taken into account when MKIS are developed. • The lack of availability of usable customer and competitor data, which are regarded by marketing decision-makers as the most important categories of information. • The focus on generating data, but not adding value to it. Marketing decisionmakers have indicated that they require analysis, and not raw data. In order to bridge these problems, South African service organizations need to focus on the successful integration of MKIS into the organization. This requires an understanding of marketing decision-makers' requirements, closer cooperation between IT and marketing and the establishment of a culture of information sharing. / lnligting is een van die belangrikste hulpbronne van hedendaagse organisasies. Die rol van bemarkingsinligtingstelsels (BMIS) is die fasilitering van die doelmatige en effektiewe gebruik van inligting in bemarkingsbesluitneming. Diensorganisasies is veral afhanklik van besluitsondersteunende inligting, as gevolg van die komplekse aard van hulle omgewing. Tog is daar aanduidings dat hulle inligting nie tot die beste voordeel aanwend nie, ten spyte van die aansienlike voordeel wat hulle daaruit kan trek. In werklikheid kan dit gestel word dat diensorganisasies skynbaar nie 'n markgerigte kultuur het nie. In die meting van tevredenheid met die kwaliteit van markintelligensie blyk dit dat bemarkingsbesluitnemers in die algemeen ontevrede is met die resultate van BMIS. Sommige redes hiervoor: • Die gaping tussen inligtingstegnologie en bemarking in organisasies, wat daartoe lei dat bemarkingsbesluitnemers nie inligting ontvang in die formaat wat hulle vereis nie, en voel dat hulle behoeftes nie in ag geneem word wanneer BMIS ontwikkel word nie. • Die gebrek aan bruikbare inligting oor kliente en mededingers, wat deur benarkingsbesuitnemers beskou word as die belangrikste kategoriee van inligting. • Die fokus op die genereer van data, sonder om waarde daaraan toe te voeg. Bemarkingsbesluitnerners het aangedui dat hulle ontleding vereis en nie slegs 'rou' data nie. Ten einde hierdie probleme te oorbrug moet Suid-Afrikaanse diensorganisasies fokus op die suksesvolle integrasie van BMIS in die organisasie. Dit vereis begrip vir bemarkingsbesluitnemers se behoeftes, nader samewerking tussen inligtingstegnologie en bemarking en die daarstel van 'n kultuur van gedeelde inligting. / Business Management / D. Comm. (Business Management)

<p> School-centric views of Latinx parent involvement value preexisting particular middle -class and Eurocentric forms of parent participation in the classroom and in the school. In contrast, there is a growing body of research that looks at Latinx parenting practices from asset-based perspectives. However, there are few studies that illustrate the Mexican immigrant mothers&rsquo; points of view. The purpose of this qualitative study was to document and understand what Mexican immigrant mothers perceived to be good approaches to parenting. The conceptual framework drew from Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998) and community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005). The study was conducted using <i>pl&aacute;ticas</i> as a method and methodology. The following themes emerged (1) <i>consejos</i>, (2) faith/catholicism (3) <i> estar al pendiente</i> (4) <i>educaci&oacute;n</i>, (5) setting bounderies and being consistent, and (7) obstacles. Results showed that Mexican immigrant mothers are deeply involved and do a series of parenting practices that help their children be ready to learn.</p><p>

Thesis (MTech(Human Resources Management))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 1996 / Even though performance appraisal is used in most South African organisations, the information acquired is often not used for the purpose to which it pertains, i.e. improving work performance and identifying career, promotion and development opportunities. The former, together with the lack of formal post structures and goal orientated career plans when appointments are made, often results in secretarial personnel (especially executive secretaries and personal assistants) never receiving the necessary acknowledgement in spite of their training, competence and experience. This group of employees plays a very important support- , ing role at all levels of management; yet they are often overlooked for promotion to lower and middle management levels, despite the crucial shortage of people with high level skills. Since the largest percentage of these employees are women, they experience even more discrimination because of their gender. In the first place this investigation attempted to establish to what degree secretarial personnel's performance is appraised and to what end the results are employed. Secondly, an attempt was made to determine the degree to which the enterprises involved in the investigation have established career programmes and whether the results obtained from performance appraisals are used as criterion for promotion and career planning. Furthermore, the obstacles in the way of the development and promotion of secretarial personnel were investigated. At the same time the degree of discrimination against women in management positions was surveyed. As background to the investigation, a comprehensive literature review was conducted.

abstract: Water resource management is becoming increasingly burdened by uncertain and fluctuating conditions resulting from climate change and population growth which place increased demands on already strained resources. Innovative water management schemes are necessary to address the reality of available water supplies. One such approach is the substitution of trade in virtual water for the use of local water supplies. This study provides a review of existing work in the use of virtual water and water footprint methods. Virtual water trade has been shown to be a successful method for addressing water scarcity and decreasing overall water consumption by shifting high water consumptive processes to wetter regions. These results however assume that all water resource supplies are equivalent regardless of physical location and they do not tie directly to economic markets. In this study we introduce a new mathematical framework, Embedded Resource Accounting (ERA), which is a synthesis of several different analytical methods presently used to quantify and describe human interactions with the economy and the natural environment. We define the specifics of the ERA framework in a generic context for the analysis of embedded resource trade in a way that links directly with the economics of that trade. Acknowledging the cyclical nature of water and the abundance of actual water resources on Earth, this study addresses fresh water availability within a given region. That is to say, the quantities of fresh water supplies annually available at acceptable quality for anthropogenic uses. The results of this research provide useful tools for water resource managers and policy makers to inform decision making on, (1) reallocation of local available fresh water resources, and (2) strategic supplementation of those resources with outside fresh water resources via the import of virtual water. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2013

A Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos acaba de completar dez anos, período ao longo do qual novos desafios se apresentaram ao gerenciamento dos recursos hídricos à medida que se consolidou a aplicação dos instrumentos de gestão, dentre eles a outorga de direito de uso. Os critérios comumente aplicados na determinação da disponibilidade hídrica para outorga, ao fixarem vazões muito restritivas como quantidade máxima outorgável, se mostraram inadequados à realidade de algumas bacias, que, em pouco tempo, se apresentaram com disponibilidade hídrica crítica ou em vias de criticidade, tendo a somatória das demandas consuntivas alcançado a restrita parcela destinada à outorga estabelecida em legislação. Neste trabalho buscou-se apresentar as inconveniências relacionadas ao uso da vazão mínima de 7 dias com 10 anos de recorrência - Q7,10 - e das vazões de permanência como referência para outorga. Através das leituras de vazões diárias de dois postos fluviométricos da bacia hidrográfica do rio Turvo, em São Paulo, já considerada crítica quanto à disponibilidade hídrica, foi calculada a Q7,10 por ajustes obtidos por quatro distribuições probabilísticas, e também foi construída a curva de permanência de vazões de ambos os postos. Os resultados foram usados no cálculo da vazão outorgável segundo os critérios estaduais baseados em vazão mínima e em vazão de permanência. Discutem-se, então, as imprecisões associadas à Q7,10 e às vazões de permanência em vários aspectos, bem como as inconveniências de se fixar um teto exíguo e universal de outorga a perfis de demandas distintos. Sugere-se, por fim, o abandono destes critérios de outorga e, a partir de algumas experiências de gestão de bacias críticas, apontam-se caminhos alternativos mais adequados, em especial a outorga negociada. / Through these ten years of the Water Resources Brazilian Policy, some difficulties have been presented to the water resources management in so far as the management instruments has becoming solid, mainly to the grant of right for using water resources. A problem of those refers to the low water availability in several water basins, where the total water demands exceed the maximum volume permitted in agreement with the law. This situation occurs by the state criteria which impose low limits for the surface outflows, expressed by minimum flow or flow according to duration curve. This work analyses the constraints when the hydrologic water availability is referred to the Q7,10 (minimum flow with duration of 7 days duration and 10 years of return period), to Q95% (flow equalized or overstated in 95% of the time) or to Q90%. These flows were calculated from the daily records in two hydrological stations located at Turvo River, State of São Paulo, where the consumptive uses are higher than the water availability. The Q7,10 flow was obtained through four probabilistic methods. Also the duration curves were obtained and the results was used to determine the maximum value granted according to state criteria referred to Q7,10, Q95% and Q90% flows. Then, it\'s argued the imprecision related to these three flows in several aspects and the inconvenience of fixing an scanty and universal ceiling to different demands profiles. In conclusion, it\'s suggested the substitution of these criteria and, through some cases of management of critical basins, it\'s pointed alternative methods of grant of right for using water resources.

nÃo hà / This paper presents a proposal for the grant application as a management tool in the allocation to the valley of Curu river in the state of CearÃ. Were developed and presented historical series of simulations of reservoirs, as well as assumptions of using the grant as a tool for allocation, based on water demands of the Curu river valley. Were estimated by registering the demands of users conducted by COGERH in 2013 and the record of the grants awarded in the same year. Simulations with Sagreh and ACQUANET programs for the following year, including an estimate of growth in the region that still has a number of large areas into disuse were also made. Observing the variables found a study on the risk of not meeting the demands, based on historical series of scarcity and reduction of flow was made. This study applied if the demands: estimated, granted and maximum theoretically and tested a strategy for the grant application as a management tool to be considered in the allocation to systematize the use of water in the basin and the river valley Curu. / Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta para a aplicaÃÃo da outorga como um instrumento de gestÃo na alocaÃÃo para o vale do rio Curu, no estado do CearÃ. Foram trabalhadas e apresentadas sÃries histÃricas de simulaÃÃes dos reservatÃrios, assim como suposiÃÃes do uso da outorga como instrumento para alocaÃÃo, tendo por base as demandas de Ãgua do vale do rio Curu. Estimaram-se as demandas atravÃs do cadastro de usuÃrios realizado pela Cogerh no ano de 2013 e do registro das outorgas concedidas no mesmo ano. TambÃm foram efetuadas simulaÃÃes com os programas Sagreh e Acquanet para os anos seguintes, incluindo uma estimativa de crescimento da regiÃo que ainda possui um grande nÃmero de Ãreas em desuso. Observando as variÃveis encontradas foi efetuado um estudo sobre o risco do nÃo atendimento das demandas, baseado em sÃries histÃricas de escassez e reduÃÃo de vazÃo. Neste estudo aplicaram-se as demandas: estimadas, outorgadas e mÃximas e testou-se teoricamente uma estratÃgia para aplicaÃÃo da outorga como instrumento de gestÃo a ser considerada na alocaÃÃo de modo a sistematizar o uso da Ãgua na bacia hidrogrÃfica e no vale do rio Curu.

\"Geração Y\" é um tema que vem ganhando cada vez mais espaço no contexto organizacional. Com a entrada dos jovens desta geração nas empresas as discussões sobre este assunto vêm ganhando cada vez mais atenção. No entanto, existem poucos trabalhos acadêmicos publicados sobre esta questão. Em função disto, este trabalho é um estudo exploratóriodescritivo que tem por objetivo apresentar as principais características dos jovens da Geração Y que atuam em organizações complexas e apontar como os gestores conduzem estes jovens no cotidiano, aproveitando os pontos positivos e administrando as características não desejadas. Para isto, buscou-se analisar as habilidades do gestor como desenvolvedor de pessoas e o papel das ferramentas de gestão de pessoas disponibilizadas pela organização nesta condução. É importante delimitar o estudo à Geração Y que atua em organizações complexas, pois em função da desigualdade social e educacional observada em nosso país. Não é possível dizer que os resultados deste estudo abranjam todos os jovens classificados como Geração Y. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa que consultou 12 organizações e abordou 19 entrevistados, abordados a partir de um roteiro semiestruturado. Durante as entrevistas, aproveitou-se para observar o ambiente de trabalho, com intuito de trazer informações adicionais para a pesquisa. Além da visão geral, o autor segmentou as empresas participantes por setor para verificar a existência de alinhamento de características que se destacam em função da especificidade do setor. As análises das entrevistas indicam que é fundamental as organizações possuírem ferramentas e ações estruturadas de Gestão de Pessoas, pois estas apoiaram os gestores na condução dos profissionais, principalmente, os da Geração Y. Além disto, a pesquisa fala da importância do gestor atuar como \"Gestor de Pessoas\" conduzindo a equipe de forma a alinhar as expectativas da organização às dos jovens profissionais. / \"Generation Y\" is a theme that is gaining more space in the organizational context. With the entry of the young people from this generation in these companies the discussions on this subject have been gaining increasing attention. However, there are few published academic papers on this issue. Because of this, this work is an exploratory descriptive study that aims to present the main characteristics of young people of Generation Y who work in complex organizations and appoint how the managers lead these young people in everyday life, taking advantage of the strengths and managing features not you want. For this, we sought to analyze the manager\'s skill as a developer of people and the role of people management tools available for organizing this drive. It is important to delimit the study to Generation Y which operates in complex organizations, as a function of social and educational inequality observed in our country. It is not possible to say that the results of this study cover all young people classified as Generation Y. It is a qualitative study which consulted 12 organizations and 19 respondents, approached from a semi-structured script. During the interviews, used to observe the work environment, aiming to provide additional information for the research. In addition to the overview, the author segmented the companies by industry participants to check the alignment of features that stand out to the specific sector. The analysis of the interviews indicate that is critical to these organizations possess tools and structured actions of Personnel Management, as they supported the managers in the conduct of professionals, especially those of Generation Y. Furthermore, the research speaks of the importance of the manager to act as \"Manager People\" leading the team to align the organization to the expectations of young professionals.