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The purpose of this study was to examine the economic implications of a rapid population growth on Nigeria's economic development. It was particularly interesting to study the relationship, because at the present Nigeria is making some economic progress while undergoing a demographic transition. Apparently, despite the acceptable growth of the national income, the growth of the per capita output has not been encouraging. This output growth must have been hampered by the rather rapid population growth in Nigeria. The neoclassical growth theory was basically employed to explain the growth of output in the economy in terms of both capital and labor inputs. For instance, the short-run impact of a possible fertility decline could lead to increased savings capability, possible through the curtailment of the consumption of the dependent population. The long-run impact, on the other hand, could be the opportunity to increase the rate of structural transformation needed to raise labor productivity and personal income in the economy. The model revealed that economic growth rates in Nigeria have been declining with rising affluence. It is more likely that such a slowing would arise from the population pressure and resource limitation rather than from the propensity to invest.

This thesis uses gender as a lens of analysis for understanding the motivations of internal migrants in their decision to move to the 10 kilometer buffer zone of Carara National Park in Costa Rica. The thesis is in reaction to Wittemyer et al.’s (2008) article that statistically demonstrates that population levels at the borders of study selected national parks and protected areas across Africa and Latin America are growing due to in-migration. The study is composed of 30 interviews with Costa Rican migrants who live in three communities inside Carara’s buffer zone. This study used cultural consensus analysis and semi-structured interviews to elicit responses around their motivations to migrate. This study concludes that men and women migrate for similar reasons. Both men and women are influenced to migrate by their desire to access coastal development and the lifestyle amenities associated with living an ecologically rich and tranquil area.

This study investigates the potential impacts on soils from development practices associated with new single-family residential home construction in the extra territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of Pflugerville, Texas. My research question is: Are regulations that directly focus on soil conservation advisable within Pflugerville’s ETJ, and what areas of development ought to be primarily targeted by these regulations in order to better ensure the long-term stability of soil health and the minimization of soil loss? The rationale for this question is based on the city’s projected future population growth, the projected future demand for single-family residences, as well as the development and management practices typically associated with new single-family residential development in the ETJ of Pflugerville. I hypothesize that due to Pflugerville’s proximity to Austin and Round Rock, in addition to the relative abundance of available land to the east of the city of Pflugerville, that it is likely to continue experiencing sustained population and residential development growth, particularly in the form of new single-family residences in the ETJ. A population projection was conducted up to the year 2030, which in conjunction with average persons-per-household and single-family home permitting data, estimates potential consumer demand for single-family residences. The imperative to prevent soil loss is conceptually linked to ecosystem service benefits resulting from healthy and intact soils, such as improved water quality and the regulation of peak flow rates during storm events. Single-family residential development is evaluated in terms of conventional on-the-ground construction practices gathered from interviews with developers of single-family homes in the Pflugerville ETJ, as well as planning and regulatory specialists. These analyses are intended to inform regulatory and decision making processes regarding the importance and potential integration of soil preservation and conservation at the individual construction site level. / text

Throughout human history man has utilized the environment to varying degrees, depending on technology and population. These ¨ecosystem services¨ have suffered sustained degradation over the centuries, resulting in large investments having to be made to prevent and reverse further changes to the environment. Few studies have attempted to quantitatively compare how these changes, occurring long before modern environmental monitoring programs started, affected important ecosystem services such as species diversity, water quality, carbon burial and soil stability. The aims of this study were to i) assess whether human impact on ecosystem services have varied over time in perspective of relative change, and ii) to assess the individual (per capita) contributions. I used multiple sediment proxies from a 6 m C¹⁴-dated core collected from lake Ekoln, South-Central Sweden, to reconstruct environmental changes while tracking the population growth in the city of Uppsala during the last ten centuries. Through the use of pollen and diatom assemblages I reconstructed the changing terrestrial and aquatic diversities over time, while sediment accumulation rates and the X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy of the sediment was used to reconstruct soil stability, carbon burial and water quality, respectively. In the latter case, sediment phosphorus concentrations were used as a proxy for freshwater eutrophication while metals (mercury and lead) were used to infer inputs of toxic pollutants. Finally, I normalized (z) all data to create meta-data. The z-values and reconstructed population for Uppsala made it possible to differentiate 5 unique time periods based on anthropogenic induced change, which were not previously visible in the data, and all of which have been linked to the most likely historical causes, including the Black Death. The results show that the most significant anthropogenic impacts in terms of pollution volume occurred in the 1960s, while the period from 1200-1500 AD saw the most significant environmental change in terms per head of capita, most likely caused by the shift from woodland to open landscape through twiddening, a process of burning forest to create agricultural land, prior to 1500 AD. Moreover, rapid recovery is visible after the implementation of environmental policies from the 1970s onwards. / <p>Full surname: Kilpatrick van Houte</p>

A população mundial deverá atingir a marca de 9 bilhões de habitantes até a metade do século XXI, trazendo como consequência a elevação da demanda por alimentos. Evitar o uso de culturas para fins que não a alimentação humana, é uma estratégia para elevar a oferta de alimentos. As tortas e farelos gerados como coprodutos apresentam potencial para substituir o milho e a soja, fornecendo uma alternativa favorável à segurança alimentar. Neste sentido, o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar o potencial nutricional de alguns coprodutos e seus efeitos sobre a fermentação entérica de ruminantes. O primeiro ensaio foi realizado avaliando os farelos de, algodão (ALG), canola (CAN), girassol (GIR), e soja (CON, como tratamento controle), e as tortas de, macaúba (MAC), mamona (MAM), nabo forrageiro (NF), pinhão manso (PM), utilizando a técnica in vitro de produção de gases, assim como 3 dietas utilizando coprodutos, Dieta1 (60% feno de Tifton (FT), 30% GIR e 10% milho desintegrado (MD)), Dieta2 (60 % FT, 18% GIR, 16% MD e 6% ALG) e DietaCON (60% FT, 30% MD e 10% farelo de soja (FS)), para determinar a degradabilidade e a cinética fermentativa. Os tratamentos PM e MAM obtiveram menor performance fermentativa, diferentemente de CAN e NF, com degradabilidade similar a CON, e não foram observadas diferenças para a produção de metano entérico (CH4). A DietaCON foi superior as demais dietas; a Dieta 2 obteve melhor rendimento comparada a Dieta 1 Os resultados foram positivos e demonstraram a possibilidade de substituição do milho e da soja. O segundo ensaio teve por objetivo avaliar a digestibilidade aparente, balanço energético e proteico e emissão de CH4 em dieta utilizando coproduto na substituição a MD e FS. Duas dietas foram elaboradas na proporção 60% volumoso (Tifton 85, Cynodon ssp.) e 40% concentrado. Dieta com concentrado com coproduto (Dieta CPDT: 45% farelo GIR, 40% MD e 15% farelo ALG), e Dieta com concentrado controle (Dieta CON: 70% MD e 30% FS). Foram utilizados 7 carneiros, da raça Santa Inês, machos, com peso vivo (PV) médio de 63 ± 7,6 kg, em 2 períodos experimentais de 21 dias. As dietas (2 % PV) foram fornecidas em dois períodos, o sal mineral somente na refeição da tarde e a água fornecida ad libitum. Os animais ficaram em adaptação às dietas por 13 dias, então transferidos para gaiolas de metabolismo para o ensaio de digestibilidade (5 dias) e em câmara para troca de gases para quantificação do CH4 produzido (3 dias). Não foram encontradas diferenças para o balanço energético e proteico, e todos os parâmetros fermentativos com exceção na produção de acetato, butirato, produção total de ácidos graxos de cadeia curta, e a digestibilidade da matéria seca e orgânica, com a Dieta CON superior em todas as observações. No entanto, as emissões de CH4 não foram significativamente diferentes entre as dietas testadas. A substituição de alimentos tradicionais por coprodutos do biodiesel mostrou-se satisfatória, não sendo observados efeitos negativos sobre os parâmetros fermentativos / World population growth must reach 9 billion inhabitants until the half of XXI century, as consequence food demand is increasing. Avoiding the use of human edible food other than human feed is one of the strategies to increase food supply. Cakes and meals generated as a coproduct of biodiesel production has shown potential as replacement for corn and soybean, presenting a favorable alternative towards food security. In these sense, the aim of this work was to evaluate the nutritional potential of biodiesel coproducts and their effects on enteric fermentation by ruminants. First assay was performed assessing cottonseed (CS), rapeseed (RS), sunflower seed (SF), and soybean (CON, as control treatment) as meal, and macaw palm fruit (MP), castor bean (CB) radish seed (RD) jatropha seed (JS) as cake, all submitted to in vitro gas production technique, as well as 3 diets containing coproduct, Diet1 (60% Tifton hay (TH), 30% SF and 10% disintegrated corn (DC)), Diet2 (60% TH, 18% SF, 16% DC and 6% CS) and DietCON (60% TH, 30% DC and 10% soybean meal (SM)), for determine degradability and fermentative kinetics. JS and CB presented lower fermentative perfomence, differently to RS and RD, whosedegradability was similar to CON, and differences were not observed for enteric methane production (CH4). DietCON was superior to other ones; Diet2 had a better performance compared to Diet1. These were intersting results and showed that\'s possible to replace corn and soybean. The second assay aimed to evaluate apparent digestibility, energy and protein balance, and CH4 production in diets using coproducts as replacement for DC and SM. Two diets were formulated at the proportion 60% roughage (Tifton 85 hay, Cynodon ssp) 40% concentrate. Diet CPDT (45% of SF, 40% of DC and 15% of CS) and Diet CON (70% of DC and 30% of SM). Seven male Santa Ines sheep, with body weight (BW) average of 63 kg ± 7.6, were used in two experimental periods of 21 days. The diets were offered (2% BW) twice a day, mineral salt only in the afternoon and water ad libitum. The animals were kept for adaptation to diet for 13 days, then moved to metabolism cages for apparent digestibility assay (5 days) and then in gases exchange chamber for CH4 production quantification (3 days). No differences were observed for energetic and protein balance, and all fermentative parameters between experimental diets, except acetate, butyrate, total short fatty chain acids production and digestibility of dry and organic matter, when Diet CON showed greater values. However, CH4 emissions were not significant different. The replacement of traditional food by biodiesel coproducts was satisfying, with no negative effects observed upon ruminal fermentative parameters

Land resources are essential to the production of many goods and services, including food, fiber, housing, and recreation. Often, these alternate uses are thought to be incompatible, and the conventional wisdom holds that in a place such as Utah, where rapid population growth is occurring near farming activities, at least some agricultural land must be converted to developed uses. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strength of the relationship between population growth and change in farmland, especially cropland, in Utah. Theoretically, population growth has been assumed to affect the amount of land in agricultural use. An empirical model is formulated to explain changes in the quantity of various types of agricultural land as a function of four hypothesized explanatory variables, one of which is the percentage change in population. The conclusion reached is that population growth is not statistically related to changes in the amount of land in agriculture in Utah. Although some land at the urban fringes is converted to developed uses every year, it is replaced in other locations by new farmland . Therefore, the increase in population that resulted in some cropland conversion is not directly related to the change in cropland. Moreover, none of the other explanatory variables are consistently related. Even in a hypothetical "worst-case" scenario, in which all future development is assumed to take place on cropland, little of Utah's cropland would be lost by the year 2000. If Utah state and local planners desire to encourage retention of land in agriculture, further study should be directed towards finding the relevant explanatory variables, and policies should be based on an understanding of the significant relationships.

Harmony Landfill is a former industrial waste disposal site located adjacent to Harmony Creek in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. During active disposal, from 1957 until 1980, approximately 1 million tonnes of waste were land-filled at the site. Although past environmental monitoring had indicated localized contamination of ground and surface waters, the current level of impact remained unclear. In order to determine the potential of Harmony Landfill leachate to affect aquatic organisms in Harmony Creek, chemical analysis of field samples and laboratory toxicity testing were performed. Chemical analysis was completed on water samples from Harmony Creek and surface leachate samples collected seasonally at Harmony Landfill. Toxicity tests were conducted using the model freshwater invertebrate Green Hydra (Hydra viridissima). Hydra were pulse-exposed for 24 hours to varying concentrations (0%, 3.2%, 10%, 32%, 100%) of monthly field-collected leachate samples diluted with laboratory water. Population growth, Hydra morphology and survival were recorded daily for 7 days. Results showed that creek waters generally had comparable analyte levels upstream and downstream of Harmony Landfill. Leachate samples contained iron, manganese and zinc at levels which may be toxic to aquatic invertebrates. Population growth was significantly inhibited compared to lab water (0%) controls at the 100% leachate concentration in December 2008 and July 2009. Hydra morphology (32% and 100%) and survival (100%) were also affected by the December 2008 leachate. Findings indicate that leaching is occurring at Harmony Landfill and that the leachate sampled and tested during this research program had the potential to negatively affect Green Hydra (Hydra viridissima). / UOIT

The study contributes to the growing literature on the role of social economy enterprises on rural vitality, by examining the relationship between credit union activity and community population growth in rural Canada. A preliminary qualitative inquiry indicated that while most of the business policies and practices of a chartered bank and a credit union are similar, a credit union, in addition, extended non-traditional lending to their clients in the form of micro-lending and also participated actively in community development lending. Following the preliminary qualitative investigation, the impact of credit unions was examined using spatial regressions models in seven provinces in Canada using data at Consolidated Census Subdivisions (CCSs) level data to represent communities. Motivated by the potential role of credit unions as community based financial institutions, the quantitative analysis modeled credit unions as potentially reducing transactions costs for local businesses.<p> Regression results indicated that the presence of credit unions was statistically significant and positive in our most parsimonious models including only natural amenity factors, agglomeration measures and other social measures as explanatory variables. However, in the full model with economic variables added the credit union dummy lost its statistical significance. A possible interpretation is that the credit union dummy is an inadequate representation of credit union activity. More complete, high quality, quantitative data to reflect their activities in the community may have produced different results.<p> Recent credit union mergers are designed to increase their capacity and efficiency in providing services to their members. However, these new trends could aggravate the principal-agent problems. As credit unions become more bank-like though mergers, individual branches may lose their links with their local communities and their ability to perform their traditional functions.