Ph.D. (Geography) / Skillful management and planning of the earth's natural resources and of agricultural production necessitates a great deal of Information regarding the resources and relevant soclo-economlc factors, as well as better Information on crop yield expectations throughout the year. These Intricate processes can often be simplified Into models. Most of Nature's systems (for example climatic systems) are, however, too complex to allow realistic models to be evaluated numerically and are therefore examined by means of simulation models through which the Interaction with time between physical processes Is established. The purpose Is to understand these processes In order to forecast the results of these changes and Interactions. The aim of this study Is to construct a composite climate model that (1) computes missing climate values, and (2) extrapolates climate values until the expected date of harvesting, by simulation using the random sampling of values from reference ("look-up") tables, In order that (3) the climate files, with simulated climate values, could be used with the parameter files as Input files for the CERES-Maize model. The CERES-Maize model uses dally values to simulate the growth, development and yield of the maize plant. The respective crop forecasting results obtained for actual and simulated climate values are then to be evaluated. Climate files, with four variables, were obtained on magnetic computer tape from the South African Weather Bureau for the study area In the Eastern Transvaal. The preliminary processing was done by the use of SA5-programmes and these files were then exported from the mainframe computer to a personal computer and stored on floppy disks. Climate reference flies were compiled from the original climate flies by sorting the climate data according to the Julian date. The missing values In the climate reference flies and the original climate files were restored from the files of neighbouring weather stations, as calculated orestimated values by.means of a suitable method of computation. Some of the methods used, were derived after comparing the graphs of the time-series of a number of climate files. Aclimate simulation model was compiled In which climatic elements were simulated by sampling values a set number of times randomly from the climate reference files. The mean of these sampled values were adjusted by multiplying It with a factor representing the climatic change over time. A climate file, also containing simulated values, and a theoretical parameter Input file were then used as the Input flies for a revised edition of the CERES-Maize model. A comparison of the results obtained for the 1986/87 growing season when the climate files, with actual and simulated values respectively, were used as Inputs for the CERES-Maize model, Indicated very promising results. The values predicted for two climate flies (1962-1987) differed by about 18%, whereas a difference of only about 8% between those predicted for two smaller climate files (actual and simulated values respectively), representing only the 1986/87 season, was recorded. The difference between values predicted for the climate file, mentioned last, and consisting only of simulated climate values, and those forecasted for the original and complete climate data file, was only 5%. As Indicated by the arithmetic mean, there is again a tendency towards the mean values.

M.Com. (Accounting) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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The awareness of social and environmental responsibility has increased among companies over the years. It has become increasingly important for companies to show the world that they are committed and do take responsibility towards communities. The clothing industry is sensitive to public opinion and has gotten critiqued for their negative impact on the environment and societies. Many companies have published their sustainability reports and disclose their sustainability activities.  Previous research is divided on why the companies voluntarily report on their sustainability. Why do companies in the clothing industry voluntarily publish their sustainability reports? What are the underlying motivations of the companies? Our suspicion was that the companies wanted to legitimize their business by imitating the competitors' sustainability activities in order to obtain legitimacy from their stakeholders. Through three interviews with sustainability managers from MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB and Ellos Group AB, and content analysis of the three companies' sustainability reports, we found that the primary reason why companies choose to report on their sustainability is because they want to legitimize their business. / Medvetenheten om ett socialt och miljömässigt ansvar har ökat bland företagen genom åren. Det har blivit allt viktigare för företagen att kunna visa omvärlden att det är ett engagerat företag som tar sitt ansvar gentemot samhällen. Klädindustrin är känslig för kritik från samhälle som har kritiserats företagen för deras negativa inverkan på miljön och samhället. Många företag har publicerat hållbarhetsredovisningar som beskriver deras hållbarhetsarbete. Tidigare forskning är splittrad på vad som egentligen är anledningen att företag hållbarhetsredovisar. Varför väljer företagen inom klädåterförsäljare industri att frivilligt utföra samt publicera hållbarhetsredovisning? Vilka underliggande motiv finns det hos företagen? Våra misstankar kretsade kring att företagen vill legitimera sin verksamhet genom att imitera konkurrenternas hållbarhets praxis för att erhålla legitimitet från sina intressenter. Genom tre intervjuer med hållbarhetsansvariga från MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB och Ellos Group AB samt en innehållsanalys av de tre företagens hållbarhetsrapporter kom vi fram till att främsta anledningen till att företagen väljer att hållbarhetsredovisa är för att de vill legitimera sin verksamhet.

Magister Curationis / The aim of the study was to explore the reasons why health workers reported their occupationally acquired needle stick injury. The secondary reasons for this study was to be able to identify the factors that contributed to the choice to report as well as the feelings health workers experienced during and after the injury. Methodology A qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach was used to gain understanding around why health workers reported the needle stick injury. Data was collected through a semi- structured interview. Population The 89 health workers at a Secondary Hospital in the Cape Town Metropole Health district who reported an occupational injury from 2001 to 2004. Sample Nine health workers were interviewed. Findings From the nine participants only six had needle stick injuries, while the other three had other blood and body fluid occupational exposures. The most common reason for reporting was that the health workers wanted to ensure their own physical well-being. Health workers and their families experienced emotional turmoil after the needle stick injury. / South Africa

In this research study, the researcher investigates obstacles faced by news journalists in investigative journalism in a democracy as experienced in Botswana. Investigative journalism and democracy have a symbiotic relationship. This relationship serves to make the public sensitive about, and aware of, injustices and undemocratic practices and it could, ultimately, contribute significantly to the process of democratization (Faure 2005: 155). Unfortunately, in their endeavor to keep up with the ethos of investigative journalism, journalists meet obstacles that range from legal to financial issues. The author investigates those factors that reporters in Botswana rate as having the greatest impact on their investigative efforts. The study also assesses the attitudes of journalists in the country towards the roles and responsibilities of the fourth estate, which supports investigative reporting. Investigative journalism is centered on disclosure, described by six elements: public interest, theme, accuracy, follow-up reports, consequences and questioning the status quo (Faure 2005:160; Marron 1995:1). The researcher interrogated the current practice of investigative journalism in newsrooms in the Botswana context, by means of a self-administered questionnaire. A cumulative sum of scores of each rank order for each obstacle was used to observe the one rated the most impeding by Botswana journalists. Elementary descriptive statistics in the form of percentages were used to assess attitudes of Botswana journalists towards investigative journalism. The same method was used to assess the proportion of investigative stories in four sampled Botswana newspapers. The contents of the respective newspapers were assessed against the five elements of investigative reporting that include: theme, public interest, questioning the status quo, accuracy, follow-up reports and consequences.

The data delivery architectures in most enterprises are complex and under documented. Conceptual business models and business analytics applications are created to provide a simplified, and easy to navigate view of enterprise data for analysts. But the construction of such interfaces is tedious, manually intensive to build, requiring specialized technical expertise, and it is especially difficult to map exactly where data came from in the organization. In this paper we investigate how two aspects (lineage and requests for data i.e. semantics and new reports) can be addressed by tying metadata documentation to a systematic data delivery architecture in order to support business analytics applications. We propose a tool framework that includes a metadata repository for each step in the data delivery architecture, a web based interface to access and manage that repository and mapping tools that capture data lineage to support step by step automation of data delivery.

Research suggests that reporting suicide has the potential to influence vulnerable individuals to emulate suicide behaviour. Media guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide have been developed and disseminated worldwide, but with mixed success. One factor that may influence guideline uptake is the degree to which health professionals have collaborated with the media professionals in guideline development, dissemination and implementation. The study used semi-structured interviews with media professionals to understand attitudes towards the guidelines, to explore the ways in the media were engaged in communication regarding the guidelines, and to identify whether this engagement bears upon media attitudes toward the guidelines. Findings indicate that media professionals view the guidelines as useful information within the bounds of normal reporting, but find them difficult to implement. Excellence theory indicates that the predominantly one-way and asymmetrical strategies used to engage the media in communication around the guidelines may play a role in these attitudes. The study echoes literature suggesting that collaborative guideline development and implementation is essential to meaningfully change suicide reporting practices.

Background: In September 2005, scientific journals began requiring trial protocol registration to increase transparency and accountability. Objective: My primary objectives were: develop a database of linked protocols and publications for surgical randomized control trials (RCTs); estimate the proportion published; and determine the proportion exhibiting selective outcome reporting. Methods: A systematic search of the clinicaltrials.gov database was conducted identifying surgical RCTs, completed between 2006 and 2012. Protocols were linked with publications. Primary outcomes were compared. Results: We identified a cohort of 743 surgical RCT protocols. The proportion of registered trials which published their primary results was 0.49 (n=364). The proportion of selective outcome reporting was estimated to be 0.244, significantly lower than the previous estimate (p<0.001). Conclusion: More than half of the completed surgical RCTs were unpublished, and one quarter of those published selectively reported their primary outcome. This supports the notion that significant bias is present in the surgical literature.