The advantages associated with the use of sewage sludge in agricultural land have motivated many countries to use sewage sludge for soil amendment purposes. South Africa’s deteriorated agricultural soil could benefit from this nutritional and cost effective product. However, the major shortcoming of sewage sludge is the presence of various pathogenic microorganisms. This raised concern amongst researchers with regard to public safety. The focus of this study, was to investigate the prevalence of pathogens in a crop grown in soil enriched with sewage sludge and to determine risk of infection thereof and to suggest appropriate management practice for sewage sludge use. Potato (Solanum tuberrosum), which is a high risk crop was used, to simulate a worst case scenario. Both the low metal sludge (LMS) and high metal sludge (HMS) were found to have associated diverse numbers of bacteria. Using culture-based technique, E.coli and Salmonella spp were found to persist in soil throughout the experimental period. One treatment option (LMS 16 tons/ha) showed a prevalence of these microorganisms in potatoes. Subsequent molecular studies based on amplification of 16S rRNA gene, yielded limited contamination of potatoes with enteric pathogens, however diverse types of opportunistic, pathogens (mostly environmental pathogens) were isolated from the potatoes. Enteric pathogens were isolated from the sewage treated soil in which these potatoes were grown. This study has indicated that growing even high risk crops, may lead to limited infestation of produce with primary pathogens. However, proper treatment of sewage sludge prior to use in agriculture is recommended to ensure public safety. The management requirements indicated in this study serve as recommended actions that can be implemented to ensure human safety with regard to sludge application to agricultural land. / Thesis (PhD (Water Utilisation))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

The introduction of sustainable stormwater management in society has proved complex. Most cities do not operate jointly planned and owned stormwater facilities and institutional barriers have proved difficult to overcome. Experience from a Swedish project where extensive changes were made in the Augustenborg area in Malmö shows that it takes many years to overcome institutional obstacles when a society undergoes transformation.   Major part of research is still based on engineering and technical function although the social perspective is of great importance for the functioning of sustainable stormwater management. In-depth knowledge is needed about sustainable stormwater management and its connection with composition of population and socio-economic conditions. Research needs to be done on how information campaigns and cooperation are best designed to simplify planning, construction, and maintenance of stormwater facilities.

Using benthic macroinvertebrates to measure stream health has been widely used and accepted around the world. Macroinvertebrates are resident monitors of chronic impairment in a stream since they are relatively sessile and most commonly respond to disturbance by drift but can recolonize a restored stream reach very quickly. This study tested the effectiveness of macroinvertebrate metrics developed through the Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP) to detect changes in stream integrity as the result of placement of a best management practice (BMP), installed on a tributary of Roaring Branch, located in Columbus, Georgia. The BMP was designed to attenuate flow to reduce sediment suspension and downstream deposition. A sampling protocol derived from the Georgia Ecoregions Project was implemented to evaluate the macroinvertebrate community, located downstream of the BMP, and downstream of the confluence with Roaring Branch, both before and after the BMP installation. The resulting metrics were compared to a reference condition described for subecoregion 65c, sandhills-lower piedmont. A dramatic improvement or increase of macroinvertebrate populations suggests an improvement in water quality (via reduction in fine sediment deposition) due to improved physical habitat conditions for indicators (Trichoptera) of healthier streams. The results of this study suggests further restoration activities should continue and that re-evaluation of the sampling protocol should take into account a larger subsample size of benthic macroinvertebrates than currently recommended by the RBP.

Appropriate measurement of broiler behaviors is critical to optimize broiler production efficiency and improve precision management strategies. However, performance of different precision tools on measuring broiler behaviors of interest remains unclear. This dissertation systematically developed and evaluated radio frequency identification (RFID) system, image processing, and deep learning for automatically detecting and analyzing broiler behaviors. Then different behaviors (i.e., feeding, drinking, stretching, restricted feeding) of broilers under representative management practices were measured using the developed precision tools. The broilers were Ross 708 in weeks 4-8. The major findings show that the RFID system achieved high performance (over 90% accuracy) for continuously tracking feeding and drinking behaviors of individual broilers, after they were customized and modified, such as tag sensitivity test, power adjustment, radio wave shielding, and assessment of interference by add-ons. The image processing algorithms combined with a machine learning model were customized and adjusted based on the experimental conditions and finally achieved 85% sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detecting bird number at feeder and at drinkers. After adjusting labeling method and hyperparameter tuning, the faster region-based convolutional neural network (faster R-CNN) had over 86% precision, recall, specificity, and accuracy for detecting broiler stretching behaviors. In comprehensive algorithms, the faster R-CNN showed over 92% precision, recall, and F1 score for detecting feeder, eating birds, and birds around feeder. The bird trackers had a 3.2% error rate to track individual birds around feeder. The support vector machine behavior classifier achieved over 92% performance for classifying walking birds. Image processing model was also developed to detect birds that were restricted to feeder access. Broilers had different behavior responses to different sessions of a day, bird ages, environments, diets, and allocated resources. Reducing stocking density, increasing feeder space, and applying poultry-specific light spectrum and intensity were beneficial for birds to perform behaviors, such as feeding, drinking, and stretching, while using the antibiotics-free diet reduced bird feeding time. In conclusion, the developed tools are useful tools for automated broiler behavior monitoring and the measured behavior responses provide insights into precision management of welfare-oriented broiler production.

No description available.

No description available.

The overall goal of this study was to develop a comprehensive tool for assessing the effectiveness of selected BMPs on both hydrology and water quality and to demonstrate the applicability of the system by considering 1) temporally and spatially changing land use management practice in an agricultural watershed and 2) interaction between surface and ground water over the entire system. A user interface and Dynamic Agricultural Non-point Source Assessment Tool (DANSAT) were developed to achieve this goal. DANSAT is the only distributed-parameter, physically-base, continuous-simulation, and multi-soil layer model for simulating impacts of agricultural BMPs on hydrology and water qulality in small agricultural watersheds. DANSAT was applied to QNB plot (18m à 27m) and two agricultural watersheds in Virginia, including Owl Run watershed (1140 ha) and QN2 in the Nomini Creek watershed (216 ha), to evaluate the model components and its performance in predicting runoff, sediment yield, and pesticide load. DANSAT performed well in predicting total runoff and temporal variations in surface runoff for both field-scale and watershed-scale applications. Total percent errors between the measured and predicted results were less than 10% except for one case (39.8% within a subwatershed of Owl Run watershed), while the daily Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiencies were greater than 0.5 in all applications. Predicted total sediment yields were within ±35% of observed values in all applications. However, the performance of DANSAT in predicting temporal trend and spatial distribution of sediment loads was acceptable only within Owl Run watershed, where high correlations between flow rates and sediment loads exist. The predicted total pesticide loads were within ±100% of observed values. DANSAT failed to simulate the temporal occurrence of pesticide loads with a 0.42 daily Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency value. The Dual-Simulation (DS) was developed within the linked ground water approach to resolve problems encountered due to the existence of different temporal scales between DANSAT and the existing ground water models such as MODFLOW and MT3D. The linked approach performed better in predicting the seasonal trend of total runoff compared to the integrated approach by showing an increase in monthly Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency value from 0.53 to 0.60. Surface and subsurface output variables were sensitive to the changes in spatially distributed soil parameters such as total porosity and field capacity. A maximum grid size of 100 m was recommended to be appropriate for representing spatial distribution of topographic, land use, and soil characteristics based on accuracy analysis during the GIS manipulation processes. Larger time-step based on predefined acceptable maximum grid size, decreased the computational time dramatically. Overall sensitivity to different grid sizes and time-steps was smallest for hydrology components followed by sediment and pesticide components. Dynamic crop rotation was considered by DANSAT, and the model successfully simulated the impacts of temporal and spatial changes in crop rotations on hydrology and water quality for both surface and subsurface areas. DANSAT could prove to be a useful tool for non-point source pollution managers to assess the relative effectiveness of temporally and spatially changing BMPs on both surface and ground water quantity and quality. / Ph. D.

This dissertation explores the adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) in the Kentucky River watershed. Through a survey of farmers in the Kentucky River watershed, chapter two investigates farmers’ current BMP adoption and their willingness to engage in additional adoption incentivized through a proposed Water Quality Trading (WQT) program. This chapter includes two parts: the first part is to investigate the factors influencing farmers’ current usage of BMPs; the second part is to estimate farmers’ willingness to implement BMPs given different levels of compensation specified in the survey. Farmers’ experiences about BMPs are more likely to persuade them to adopt additional BMPs. The activities of using riparian buffers, fencing off animals and building up waste storage facilities are found to be responsive to the levels of compensation offered. The third chapter discusses farmers’ expected economic benefits from BMP adoption, and addresses the missing data issue. In the survey, of those respondents who indicated that they accept the offered level of compensation, about 20% of them did not answer the follow-up question of how much they would adopt the practice, creating missing data. We compare three methods to handle the issue of missing data: deletion method, mean imputation, and multiple imputation method. Following these methods, we estimate factors affecting how much farmers may engage in BMPs using a Tobit or Poisson model. The results show that increasing the compensation for using BMPs is more likely to encourage farmers to adopt riparian buffers. Results obtained using the method of multivariate imputation by chained equation are more promising than using the deletion or mean imputation method. The fourth chapter examines whether wealth change and local community interaction may affect BMP adoption. Survey data on BMP adoption are combined with the local community data from publically available sources. Results show that the decrease in land values between 2007 and 2012 discouraged the adoption of riparian buffers; the equine inventory in local communities has positive impact on the adoption of animal fences and nutrient management; the more rural the local communities are, the less likely farmers would fence off livestock from water resources.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:49:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 780784 bytes, checksum: 629e25f61971f4498dcf22eb6d10ee1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The main goal of this work is to comprehend the learning process of the managers in Non Governmental Organizations in the Northeast of Brazil. In order to achieve this proposal some specific goals have been established: a) identify the learning process of the managers in NGOS in the Northeast of Brazil; b) identify the role of the experience in the management learning process; c) identify the domains of learning of the managers in NGOS in the Northeast of Brazil and d) describe the meaning of being a manager in a NGO. The theory that has supported the investigation considered studies on the following themes: NGOS, to manage and guide, the theoretical segments of learning, the domains of learning and management learning. The methodological path that has been followed, had its starting point from an empirical research, through interviews with 16 managers of NGOS in the Northeast of Brazil. The research was guided by an interpretative paradigm and has used a qualitative approach, making use of discourse analysis as a tool to support the comprehensive interpretative analysis. As a result, it has been noticed that the learning process in NGOS in the Northeast of Brazil occurs in a dynamic and linked way integrated to the practice and, mainly, due to the demands of the managers´ jobs. Besides, there were found some specific domains during the process: the organizational domain (the learning about the organization), the instrumental domain (the learning about the work) and the individual domain (the learning about the self) and, based on the research a fourth one has appeared, the relational domain (the learning acquired from sharing the experience with the workmates and professional relations). Indicating how managers learn from their professional relationships. From various reports of the managers surveyed were able to identify the contribution of this area for learning managers in NGOs. The practical knowledge of management learning in NGOS has been influenced by the work environment, by the interaction through professional relations and by the self-knowledge. The research has concluded that the managers learn in the daily practice not only as a tool of acquisition of data, facts and practical knowledge, but also by the amount of knowledge from individuals and organizations. One can say that managers of NGOs learn about their work environment on three levels: the internal, about themselves, in their external actions, managers learn, for example, to deal with the funding agencies and international agencies to maintain institutional projects in operation. And the level of the social environment in which your organization operates, managers learn to overcome the barriers imposed by society, these barriers that often hinder the work of these managers. Finally, some implications and recommendations were presented to new researches with the aim to contribute to the development of studies involving the management learning and the learning in Non Governmental Organizations. / O objetivo deste estudo é compreender o processo de aprendizagem de gerentes em Organizações Não Governamentais, no Nordeste brasileiro. Para alcançar este propósito foram estabelecidos os seguintes objetivos específicos: a) identificar o processo de aprendizagem dos gerentes em Organizações Não Governamentais, no Nordeste brasileiro; b) identificar o papel da experiência no processo de aprendizagem gerencial em Organizações Não Governamentais, no Nordeste brasileiro; c) identificar os domínios da aprendizagem dos gerentes em Organizações Não Governamentais, no Nordeste brasileiro e d) descrever o significado de ser gerente em uma Organização Não Governamental. A teoria que embasou esta investigação considerou estudos sobre: as Organizações Não Governamentais, gerenciar e liderar, as correntes teóricas da aprendizagem, os domínios da aprendizagem e sobre aprendizagem gerencial. O caminho metodológico percorrido partiu da realização de pesquisa empírica, por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 16 gerentes de ONG s situadas no Nordeste brasileiro. O caminho foi orientado por um paradigma interpretativo e utilizou uma abordagem qualitativa, empregando a análise de discurso como ferramenta para dar suporte a análise compreensiva interpretativa. Nos resultados verificou-se que o processo de aprendizagem em Organizações Não Governamentais no Nordeste brasileiro ocorre de forma dinâmica e integrada à prática e, principalmente, devido às demandas do próprio trabalho dos gerentes. Foram identificados nos resultados os domínios da aprendizagem dos gerentes de ONG s: domínio organizacional (aprendizado sobre a organização), o domínio instrumental (aprendizado sobre o trabalho) e domínio individual (aprendizado sobre si mesmo) e emergiu dos resultados um quarto domínio, o relacional, que ocorre por meio das trocas com os companheiros de trabalho, indicando como os gerentes aprendem com os relacionamentos profissionais. A partir de vários relatos dos gerentes pesquisados foi possível identificar a contribuição deste domínio para o aprendizado de gerentes em ONG s. O saber prático do processo de aprendizagem gerencial em ONG s é influenciado pelo ambiente de trabalho, pela interação nos relacionamentos profissionais e pelo autoconhecimento. Concluiu-se que os gerentes aprendem na prática do fazer diário não só como uma aquisição de dados, fatos e sabedoria prática, mas também pelo acúmulo dos saberes dos indivíduos e das organizações. Pode-se dizer que os gerentes de ONG s aprendem sobre seu ambiente de trabalho em três níveis: o nível interno, sobre a própria organização, no nível externo às suas ações, os gerentes aprendem, por exemplo, a lidar com os financiadores nacionais e das agências internacionais de cooperação, para manter os projetos institucionais em funcionamento. E no nível do ambiente social, no qual os gerentes aprendem a transpor as barreiras impostas pela sociedade, que muitas vezes dificultam o trabalho destes gestores. Por fim, foram apresentadas algumas implicações e recomendações, objetivando contribuir para o desenvolvimento de estudos envolvendo a aprendizagem gerencial e a aprendizagem em Organizações Não Governamentais.

Abstract The research idea emerged from the practical questions that the researcher encountered when acting as a HR director: How to ensure the ability of the organization to execute strategic goals? Which management processes and practices help strengthen the capability of the organization? With what kind of meters can Organizational Strategic Readiness be measured? The aim of the research is to construct a strategy-focused capability management model in order to improve the organization's capability faster than the rate at which overall development takes place in the industry and to strengthen Organizational Strategic Readiness. Two management models will be tested. Capability here means a combination that results from the process of integrating tangible and intangible assets and that is embedded in the organizational infrastructure and practices in the organization's operation. Capability reflects what an organization can do and refers to organizational, rather than human, expertise or technology-induced benefits. The products and servicing arising from such capabilities are of particularly high value to customers. Capability determines the ability of the organization to generate value, profitability and productivity trends, and future business opportunities. Strategic capabilities are necessary in order to achieve strategic aims and the strategy execution is based on them. However, strategic aims require always stretched efforts because, when they are set, the organization does not yet have the capabilities required to achieve them. Organizational capabilities must be developed to the level of the strategic aims in order to ensure that the latter can be achieved. Therefore, from the strategy implementation point of view, it is essential to manage the capabilities in the way and with the speed required by strategic challenges. To manage strategic capabilities is to manage strategy execution. The solution to the problem where a strategy has not been implemented is not necessarily to draw up a new strategy but rather to evaluate the gap between organizational capabilities and strategic aims and then to develop strategic capabilities. Organizational Strategic Readiness describes whether the organization has access to the necessary management processes and practices for strategy execution and capability improvement. The research sets out from the People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM), which was tested in collaboration with 19 organizations representing the energy, electronics, forest and metal industries, and healthcare and education, in the private and public sectors. The aim was to test how well the selected management model meets the requirements of capability management. The model was found to be insufficient for this purpose so it was extended into a strategy-focused capability management model in accordance with constructive research methodology. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimusidea virisi tutkijan kohtaamista käytännön kysymyksistä hänen toimiessaan henkilöstöjohtajana. Miten varmistaa, että organisaatio kykenee toimeenpanemaan strategiset tavoitteet? Millä johtamisprosesseilla ja -käytännöillä voidaan tukea organisaation kyvykkyyden vahvistumista? Millä mittareilla voidaan mitata organisaation strategista valmiutta? Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on luoda strategiakeskeinen kyvykkyyden johtamismalli, jonka avulla voidaan parantaa organisaation kyvykkyyttä toimialan kehitysvauhtia nopeammin sekä vahvistaa organisaation strategista valmiutta. Tutkimuksessa testataan kahta johtamismallia. Kyvykkyydellä tarkoitetaan aineettomien ja aineellisten pääomien integroitumisprosessin tuloksena syntynyttä yhteenliittymää, joka on kietoutunut organisaation infrastruktuuriin ja ilmenee organisaation toiminnassa vakiintuneina käytäntöinä. Kyvykkyys kuvaa, mitä organisaatio osaa tehdä ja viittaa organisaation ominaisuuteen, ei yksittäisten ihmisten osaamisiin tai teknologian tuomaan hyötyyn. Niiden tuottamilla tuotteilla ja palveluilla on erityisen paljon arvoa asiakkaille. Kyvykkyys määrittää organisaation suoritus- ja kilpailukyvyn sekä tulevaisuuden liiketoimintamahdollisuudet. Strategiset kyvykkyydet ovat kyvykkyyksiä, jotka ovat välttämättömiä strategisten tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi. Strategian toimeenpanosuunnitelma perustuu niihin. Strategiset tavoitteet ovat kuitenkin aina lähtökohtaisesti venymisen tavoitteita; tavoitteita asetettaessa organisaatiolla ei ole vielä kyvykkyyttä toimeenpanna niitä. Organisaation kyvykkyyden tulee kehittyä organisaation strategisten tavoitteiden tasolle, jotta strategiset tavoitteet toteutuvat. Siksi strategian toimeenpanon kannalta on oleellista kyky johtaa kyvykkyyksiä strategisten haasteiden edellyttämällä tavalla ja vauhdilla. Strategisten kyvykkyyksien johtaminen on strategian toimeenpanon johtamista. Toteutumattoman strategian ratkaisuna ei välttämättä ole uuden strategian määrittäminen, vaan organisaation kyvykkyyden ja strategisten tavoitteiden välisen kuilun arviointi ja strategisten kyvykkyyksien kehittäminen. Organisaation strateginen valmius kuvaa onko organisaatiolla strategian toimeenpanon ja kyvykkyyksien vahvistumisen edellyttämät johtamisprosessit ja -käytännöt. Tutkimuksen lähtökohtana oli kyvykkyyden johtamismalli (People Capability Maturity Model, P-CMM). Sitä testattiin yhteistyössä 19 eri organisaation kanssa. Organisaatiot toimivat energia-, elektroniikkateollisuus-, metsäteollisuus-, metalliteollisuus-, terveydenhuolto- ja koulutusaloilla sekä valtion, kunnan ja aluetoimijasektoreilla. Testauksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia johtamismallin toimivuutta kyvykkyyden johtamiseksi. Johtamismalli osoittautui kuitenkin riittämättömäksi. Siksi sitä laajennettiin konstruktiivisella menetelmällä strategiakeskeisen kyvykkyyden johtamismalliksi.