Natural resource decisions require consideration at many levels, ranging from how one invertebrate will be affected by a nearby road, to how an entire watershed will be transformed by a massive clearcut. Considerations reach farther than just the local ecological community-human communities, economies, and future impacts on the communities and economies must also be considered. Integral to decision-making is having the correct information, which best comes from effective communication. Because scientific results are frequently used in natural resource decision-making, communicating science effectively is particularly important. In the context of natural resource decision-making, this study examines how Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) scientists in the Pacific Northwest view communication actions for disseminating scientific research results. Secondary survey data were used with over 150 surveys returned for an 82% response rate. Perspectives on the importance of communication were analyzed with data illustrating socio-demographic information and theoretical scientific attitudes. The results support the proposition that many scientists find more participatory, holistic communication actions involving the extended peer community to be very important. Certain variables, including age, theoretical attitude, and organization of employment, significantly affect the degree of importance reported by the scientists and can be used to predict responses for specific areas of communication. / Graduation date: 2004

Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems.)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between strategic information system planning (SISP) and environmental uncertainty in the South African small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME) sector. The independent variable was strategic information systems planning process (SISPP) with five phases, namely: strategic awareness, situation analysis, strategy conception, strategy formulation and strategy implementation. The results suggested that some SISPP phases are more effective in different environments, and these phases can lead to SISPS. For example, strategy implementation was fully supported in the context of this study, which means that more strategy implementation leads to SISPS in SMMEs. The South African SMME sector is not immune to the influence of environmental uncertainty.

This thesis examines the concepts of reliability, authenticity and documentary form as defined by archival diplomatics and their relation to moving image records, for the purpose of exploring the possibility of using them to develop a method for the preservation of the moving image's intellectual integrity over time. To achieve this purpose, the study establishes a correspondence between the tenriinology and the theories used to express these concepts in the two fields through an examination of archival diplomatics and moving images glossaries, dictionaries and literature. Notwithstanding the different understandings of the concepts examined, the thesis finds that when moving images can be regarded as records - that is, as contextual mediated visual and aural representations compiled for the purpose.of.entering into communication - it is possible to use archival diplomatics methodology to analyze them successfully. On the strength of this finding, the thesis proceeds to establish a correspondence between the diplomatic elements of documentary form and the components of an ideal moving image record, demonstrating parallels and explaining and reconciling differences, in order to build a template for the analysis of all kinds of moving image records. This diplomatic instrument is to be used for the identification of the formal elements of a moving image that allow for the maintenance, verification and preservation of its reliability and authenticity over the long term. The necessity of such an instrument derives from the fact that the use of digital technologies for the making, exhibiting and storing of moving images will render the ability to prove their integrity and their preservation increasingly more difficult. The thesis is concluded by a discussion relating the effects of the pervasive use of digital technologies in the field of moving images, and a demonstration of the substantial threat they present for the continuing reliability and authenticity of moving images. This discussion shows the advantages of a close cooperative effort by archivists and moving image theorists in developing interdisciplinary methods for addressing such threats that are rooted in archival diplomatics and fully respect the nature of the moving image record.

South Africa experiences some of the lowest water resource system yields in the world as a result of the high regional variability of rainfall and runoff. Population growth and economic development are placing increasing demands on the nation's scarce water resources. These factors, combined with some of the objectives of the new National Water Act (1998), are highlighting the need for efficient management of South Africa's water resources. In South Africa's National Water Act (1998) it is stated that its purpose is to ensure that the nation's water resources are protected, used, conserved, managed and controlled in a way, which takes into account, inter alia, i. promoting the efficient, sustainable and beneficial use of water in the public interest, and ii. managing floods and droughts. Efficient and sustainable water resource and risk management can be aided by the application of runoff forecasting. Forecasting thus fits into the ambit of the National Water Act and, therefore, there is a need for its operational application to be investigated. In this document an attempt is made to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Reliable and skilful hydrological forecasts have the ability to prevent loss of life, spare considerable hardship and save affected industries and commerce millions of Rands annually if applied operationally within the context of water resources and risk management. Hypothesis 2: Long to medium term rainfall forecasts can be made with a degree of confidence, and these rainfall forecasts can be converted into runoff forecasts which, when applied within the framework of water resources and risk management, are more useful to water resource managers and users than rainfall forecasts by themselves. The validity of Hypothesis 1 is investigated by means of a literature review. South Africa's high climate variability and associated high levels of uncertainty as well as its current and future water resources situation are reviewed in order to highlight the importance of runoff forecasting in South Africa. Hypothesis 1 is further examined by reviewing the concepts of hazards and risk with a focus on the role of effective risk management in preventing human, financial and infrastructural losses. A runoff forecasting technique using an indirect methodology, whereby rainfall forecasts are translated into runoff forecasts, was developed in order to test Hypothesis 2. The techniques developed are applied using probabilistic regional rainfall forecasts supplied by the South African Weather Service for 30 day periods and categorical regional forecasts for one, three and four month periods for I regions making up the study area of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. These forecasts where downscaled spatially for application to the 1946 Quaternary Catchments making up the study area and temporally to give daily rainfall forecast values. Different runoff forecasting time spans produced varying levels of forecast accuracy and skill, with the three month forecasts producing the worst results, followed by the four month forecasts. The 30 day and one month forecasts for the most part produced better results than the more extended forecast periods. In the study it was found that hydrological forecast accuracy results seem to be inversely correlated to the amount of rainfall received in a region, i.e. the wetter the region the less accurate the runoff forecasts. This trend is reflected in both temporal and spatial patterns where it would seem that variations in the antecedent moisture conditions in wetter areas and wetter periods contribute to the overall variability, rendering forecasts less accurate. In general, the runoff forecasts improve with corresponding improvements in the rainfall forecast accuracy. There are, however, runoff forecast periods and certain regions that produce poor runoff forecast results even with improved rainfall forecasts. This would suggest that even perfect rainfall forecasts still cannot capture all the local scale variability of persistence of wet and dry days as well as magnitudes of rainfall on individual days and the effect of catchment antecedent moisture conditions. More local scale rainfall forecasts are thus still needed in the South African region. In this particular study the methods used did not produce convincing results in terms of runoff forecast accuracy and skill scores. The poor performance can probably be attributed to the relatively unsophisticated nature of the downscaling and interpolative techniques used to produce daily rainfall forecasts at a Quaternary Catchment scale. It is the author's opinion that in the near future, with newly focussed research efforts, and building on what has been learned in this study, more reliable agrohydrological forecasts can be used within the framework of water resources and risk management, preventing loss of life, saving considerable hardship and saving affected industry and commerce millions of rands annually. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 97-99.

This thesis examines the concepts of reliability, authenticity and documentary form as defined by archival diplomatics and their relation to moving image records, for the purpose of exploring the possibility of using them to develop a method for the preservation of the moving image's intellectual integrity over time. To achieve this purpose, the study establishes a correspondence between the tenriinology and the theories used to express these concepts in the two fields through an examination of archival diplomatics and moving images glossaries, dictionaries and literature. Notwithstanding the different understandings of the concepts examined, the thesis finds that when moving images can be regarded as records - that is, as contextual mediated visual and aural representations compiled for the purpose.of.entering into communication - it is possible to use archival diplomatics methodology to analyze them successfully. On the strength of this finding, the thesis proceeds to establish a correspondence between the diplomatic elements of documentary form and the components of an ideal moving image record, demonstrating parallels and explaining and reconciling differences, in order to build a template for the analysis of all kinds of moving image records. This diplomatic instrument is to be used for the identification of the formal elements of a moving image that allow for the maintenance, verification and preservation of its reliability and authenticity over the long term. The necessity of such an instrument derives from the fact that the use of digital technologies for the making, exhibiting and storing of moving images will render the ability to prove their integrity and their preservation increasingly more difficult. The thesis is concluded by a discussion relating the effects of the pervasive use of digital technologies in the field of moving images, and a demonstration of the substantial threat they present for the continuing reliability and authenticity of moving images. This discussion shows the advantages of a close cooperative effort by archivists and moving image theorists in developing interdisciplinary methods for addressing such threats that are rooted in archival diplomatics and fully respect the nature of the moving image record. / Arts, Faculty of / Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of / Graduate

<p>The significance of the role of virtues in guiding people’s behaviours has been extensively discussed in the ethics literature. In leadership research, however, the concept of virtues has not been systematically examined. In this thesis, I propose two concepts, leader virtues and virtuous leadership, positioning the former as antecedent to the latter. I then identify six cardinal leader virtues (i.e., courage, temperance, justice, prudence, humanity and truthfulness) and develop an 18-item scale to measure them. Furthermore, I propose and empirically test a virtues-based model of leadership. Based on a sample of 230 leader-follower dyads, I found that virtuous leadership associates positively with followers’ perceptions of ethical leadership and leader effectiveness, and with follower ethical behaviours and in-role and extra-role performance as evaluated by leaders. Moreover, virtuous leadership positively predicts leader and follower self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. A discussion of the limitations to this research, applied implications of my findings, and future research directions conclude this thesis.</p> / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

電子資源與傳統印刷館藏不同的特質，使其必須以不同與傳統印刷館藏的新模式進行管理，但是館員、館藏和技術三個因素影響了圖書館的電子資源管理工作，造成了許多電子資源難以管理的結果，當館員試著解決這些問題時，卻發現了傳統的整合性圖書館系統無法提供所需的支援，於是電子資源管理系統應運而生。 本研究透過文獻探討國內外電子資源管理與系統的相關議題，並透過深度訪談，以了解國內八所大學圖書館和三家廠商電子資源管理所面臨的問題與解決方法，是否能夠符合圖書館的電子資源管理需求。 根據研究發現，提出結論如下：1.確認不同於傳統印刷館藏之電子資源管理新模式；2.建構大學圖書館電子資源管理系統功能要件及標準；3. 國內大學圖書館電子資源管理負責單位與工作流程；4.我國大學圖書館電子資源管理工作遭遇之困難；5.我國大學圖書館電子資源管理系統與功能；6.我國大學圖書館使用現有電子資源管理系統之困難與對未來新系統之期望；7.廠商電子資源管理系統功能與未來發展方向；8.提升我國大學圖書館使用電子資源管理系統使用率之方向。 最後針對前述研究結果提出建議： 對圖書館的建議：1.簡化、重整現有電子資源管理的作業流程；2.發展電子資源使用評鑑；3.訂定電子資源館藏發展政策；4.電子資源管理的新模式；5.提升圖書館對於電子資源管理的主導性。 對廠商的建議：1.以使用者為導向設計電子資源管理系統；2.發展合作機制，整合圖書館新舊系統；3.提高系統與國內大學圖書館使用環境的整合度；4.加強推廣、行銷電子資源管理系統。 / The electronic resources have many different characteristics with traditional print collections, so it must be managed with new model different from traditional print collections, but the librarian, collection and technical caused the difficulties of electronic resources management. When the librarians tried to resolve these problems, they found that the traditional integrated library system is unable to provide the necessary support, so the electronic resource management systems came into being. The study is explored through literary reviews and in-depth interviews in order to understand the problems and solutions with electronic resources management in eight libraries and three vendors in Taiwan and see if they can support the function required of the electronic resources management. Based on the research findings, the conclusions of this study are: 1.identify the new model of the electronic resources management different from traditional print collections; 2.construction of the university libraries’ electronic resources management function required and standards; 3.the departments are responsible for electronic resources management of university libraries in Taiwan; 4.the difficulties of university libraries’ electronic resources management in Taiwan; 5.university libraries’ electronic resources management systems and their functions in Taiwan; 6.the difficulties of using electronic resources management systems and the expectations of new system; 7.the vendors’ electronic resources management products and their future direction of development; 8.the direction of increasing Taiwan's university libraries use of electronic resources management system usage. Finally, according to the results of the study, several suggestions are provided: For the library: 1.simplified and reorganized the existing electronic resource management workflow; 2.the development of electronic resource usage evaluation; 3. construct the electronic resources collection development policy; 4.the new model of electronic resources management; 5.upgrading the libraries’ dominant of electronic resources management. For the vendors: 1.their systems should support user-centered access; 2.intergrated with the existing systems; 3.intergrated with the other vendors’ systems; 4.appropriated the use of the environment in Chinese; 5.to enhance the promotion and marketing of electronic resources management system.

Denna studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för hur en HR-funktion med hjälp av olika HR-aktiviteter, kan främja implementeringsprocessens resultat före, under och efter en större organisationsförändring. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod med kvantitativa inslag och bygger på en abduktiv ansats. Insamling av primärdata bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer och en enkätundersökning med medarbetare, förändringsledare, HR-funktion och ledning inom förvaltningen support och lokaler i Skellefteå kommun. Resultatet av studien tyder på att även om det finns en väletablerad HR-funktion inom organisationen, så återfinns barriärer som försvårar implementeringens senare del, där HR-aktiviteter har använts under förändringsprocessen. Studien kan därmed ses bidra till en djupare förståelse kring hur en HR-funktion tillsammans med HR-aktiviteter kan främja resultatet av större organisationsförändringar under hela processen. Vårt resultat belyser även att HR-aktiviteter kan ha en betydande roll för huruvida resultatet av en större organisationsförändring kan anses som lyckad eller ej. Vi ser därför att vårt resultat kan fungera som ett stöd för en ledning som har för avsikt att genomgå en större organisationsförändring med stöd från en HR-funktion. Vi ser också att studien kan fungera som ett hjälpmedel för chefer och ledning som utforskar möjligheten till att genomföra en större organisationsförändring med ett positivt resultat med hjälp av HR-aktiviteter. / Denna studie syftar till att öka förståelsen för hur en HR-funktion med hjälp av olika HR-aktiviteter, kan främja implementeringsprocessens resultat före, under och efter en större organisationsförändring. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod med kvantitativa inslag och bygger på en abduktiv ansats. Insamling av primärdata bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer och en enkätundersökning med medarbetare, förändringsledare, HR-funktion och ledning inom förvaltningen support och lokaler i Skellefteå kommun. Resultatet av studien tyder på att även om det finns en väletablerad HR-funktion inom organisationen, så återfinns barriärer som försvårar implementeringens senare del, där HR-aktiviteter har använts under förändringsprocessen. Studien kan därmed ses bidra till en djupare förståelse kring hur en HR-funktion tillsammans med HR-aktiviteter kan främja resultatet av större organisationsförändringar under hela processen. Vårt resultat belyser även att HR-aktiviteter kan ha en betydande roll för huruvida resultatet av en större organisationsförändring kan anses som lyckad eller ej. Vi ser därför att vårt resultat kan fungera som ett stöd för en ledning som har för avsikt att genomgå en större organisationsförändring med stöd från en HR-funktion. Vi ser också att studien kan fungera som ett hjälpmedel för chefer och ledning som utforskar möjligheten till att genomföra en större organisationsförändring med ett positivt resultat med hjälp av HR-aktiviteter.

No Brasil, a Política Nacional de Recursos Hídricos apresenta a cobrança pelo uso da água como um instrumento de gestão de recursos hídricos de caráter econômico. Considerando esse caráter, a cobrança deve ter como objetivos: racionalizar o uso do recurso baseado na sua escassez; reconhecer a água como um bem de valor econômico, refletindo os custos ambientais advindos de sua utilização; e diminuir os conflitos entre os usos, induzindo uma alocação que considere o gerenciamento da demanda e as prioridades da sociedade. Além dessas metas, como instrumento de gestão de uma política que lista como primeiro objetivo \"assegurar à atual e às futuras gerações a necessária disponibilidade de água, em padrões de qualidade adequados aos respectivos usos\", a cobrança deve ser implementada de maneira que o agente usuário direcione seu comportamento no sentido da sustentabilidade ambiental. Mediante esses fundamentos, o que se pretende desenvolver neste trabalho é a aplicação de um modelo de cobrança sobre o uso da água que considera como princípio base a manutenção da qualidade ambiental medida pela adequada gestão da escassez de água e, compondo a busca dessa qualidade, a racionalização econômica e a viabilização financeira. Essa predominância do ambiente sobre aspectos econômicos vem no sentido de desqualificar argumentos segundo os quais, os impactos advindos dos usos da água serão corrigidos indefinidamente mediante investimentos financeiros em infra estrutura. Admitir que o desenvolvimento tem esse poder é supor equivocadamente que o meio econômico é limitante do meio ambiente e não o contrário. Esta constatação mostra qual é o problema da maioria das propostas de cobrança que valoram a água baseadas em custos de tratamento de resíduos e de obras hidráulicas. Por mais elaborados que sejam essas fórmulas de cobrança, chegando a ponto de se conseguir que fique mais caro, mediante um padrão ambiental corretamente definido, captar água ou lançar poluentes do que racionalizar usos, o preço da água não pode estar baseado em fatores cuja \"sustentabilidade\" pode acabar no curto prazo, dependendo do ritmo de crescimento econômico. A sustentabilidade dos recursos hídricos só será base da cobrança pelo uso da água se o valor cobrado for dificultando esse uso à medida que os recursos tornarem se escassos, e não quando os custos de medidas mitigadoras dessa escassez se tornarem muito elevados. Portanto, o modelo de cobrança proposto neste trabalho procura garantir que o agente econômico que está exaurindo o meio ambiente não possa ter capacidade de pagar por essa degradação, ajudando efetivamente a política de outorga do direito de uso da água na observância da capacidade de suporte do meio. / In Brazil, the Water Resources National Policy incorporates the water pricing as an economic tool for water resources management. Considering this definition, the water pricing must accomplish the following objectives: to promote the efficient use of the resource considering its shortage; to recognize the water as a good (commodity) with economic value, internalizing the environmental costs of externalities originated from the use of water resources; to reduce the conflicts of water use through an allocation system which balance the society priorities with the water demand management. The water pricing is included as a management tool in a policy whose primary objective is to \"ensure water availability for current and future generations with suitable quality standards according to its respective uses\". So besides the goals mentioned above, the water pricing must be implemented in a way to induce the user to behave towards the environmental sustainability. Based on these fundamentals, this research presents the conceptualization and application of a pricing model for water use that considers the principle of environmental efficiency evaluated by the adequate management of the water shortage. Following the environmental efficiency, the model also pursues the economic and financial efficiency of the water resource system. This predominance of the environment over the economy weakens arguments that the water use impacts would be compensated indefinitely by financial investments in infrastructure. To admit that economic development has this power is similar to mistakenly assume that the economic dimension is the limit for the environment, and not the opposite. This argument clarifies the problem of the majority of the water pricing methodologies, which define the value of water based on wastewater treatment costs and on hydraulic construction costs. Even if these pricing methods are very well defined in a way that they define prices for water diversion or wastewater discharges higher than prices for rational use, the price of water cannot be based on indicators whose sustainability may end in the short time, in accordance with the economic growth. The sustainability of the water resources as fundamental for the water pricing will be accomplished when the price charged for the water reflects the shortage of the resources, and not the cost for mitigation measures. So, the water-pricing model proposed in this research tries to guarantee that the economic agent who is degrading the environment will not be able to pay for the costs of this degradation.