This study is based on ethnographic research that was conducted in the villages of Santa María de Rivas and San Gerardo de Rivas in the coffee farming region of Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. While these two villages are in close proximity to each other, the economy of San Gerardo is based more on tourism than the economy of Santa María, although both towns still engage in agricultural activities. Within each village, I conducted 15 preliminary interviews, followed by ten follow-up interviews with the main food preparers of the households. From in depth discussions, I found that food consumption patterns of people in both towns were being affected by seasonal variations in incomes due to the cyclical nature of employment in both tourism and agriculture. A number of households from these villages were experiencing periods of food worries throughout the year that were linked to the seasonality of tourism as well as agriculture, and in particular coffee production. Seasonal availability of particular food items also shaped consumption patterns; however, perceptions of food insecurity in this context appear to be primarily related to problems of access.

No description available.

No description available.

Graduation date: 1988

The vulnerability and movement behaviour of slow moving slides are investigated. The study focuses on slides moving at rates ranging from a few millimetres a year like extremely slow slides, to 13 meters per month, the upper velocity range of slow slides. An extensive review of the effect of pore pressure changes on movement reactivation of shallow and moderately thick slides is presented. The time dependent behaviour of fine geotechnical materials is also reviewed. Although the literature has reported many cases where the accumulation of slow movements led to a complete collapse of buildings, failure of embankment slopes carrying highways or railways and serviceability problems for dams and bridges, little attention has been paid to the vulnerability to slow moving slides. Hence, this thesis aims to provide more insight into the actual damage to facilities founded on slow moving slides. More than fifty cases of extremely slow, very slow and slow slides adversely affecting urban communities, highways, railways, bridges, dams and linear infrastructure are reviewed. The survey enables the development of new damage-extent scales that use the slide velocity to help assess the degree of damage to a facility founded on a landslide-prone area. Vulnerability is an important component of the specific risk. The other component is the hazard or the probability of occurrence of a certain damaging phenomenon like landslides. Defining the causal factors of the landslide movements and their contributions to the total movement is an important step towards the evaluation of the hazard. Hence, the geomechanical behaviour of two typical deep-seated and moderately thick slides, the Little Chief Slide and the Little Smoky Slide, respectively, are investigated. The objective is to determine all the triggers and causal factors of movement and to quantify their contribution to the total movement. The study involves groundwater flow modeling of one of the two slides, an extensive field monitoring of pore pressures and displacements and an investigation of the creep behaviour both in the field and in the laboratory. The outcome of the study shows that the total movement of each of the two slides can be separated into creep and seasonal movements. The contribution of each component is quantitatively defined. The quantification of the different causal factors aids in choosing the proper mitigation option in addition to predicting the future movement rates after the chosen remedial measures have been installed. / Geotechnical Engineering

ABSTRACT The Southern Rocklobster, Jasus edwardsii, supports a commercial fishing industry worth $180 million AUD per annum, the majority of which is exported live to Asia. The current market demands for smaller rocklobsters can sometimes result in discounting of the larger individuals, a significant financial loss for the industry. Value adding of large rocklobster into processed product may help combat this loss; however, there is financial risk associated with the development of new products for new markets without first understanding the product variability. The aims of this thesis were to quantify raw product flesh characteristics using physical, biochemical and sensory approaches, determining the extent of variation in those characteristics, and finally to investigate the potential biological and post-harvest sources of that variation. One of the initial requirements was the establishment of previously undefined key descriptors of sensory properties for raw rocklobster flesh, which were texture (chewiness and crunch), flavour (metallic, lobster and sweetness) and appearance (pinkness and translucency) (Chapter 2). These were tested using a combination of triangle tests and a hybrid descriptive test using a trained sensory panel. The trained panel found no significant difference in the texture, flavour or appearance of raw flesh between large and small rocklobster (Chapter 4). However, differences in the sensory descriptors of flesh translucency, pinkness and lobster flavour were significantly influenced by frozen storage of the product and the section of tail from which a sample was sourced (Chapter 4). Biochemically, these differences were largely associated with variation in flesh adenylates, with AEC, IMP load, total adenylate pool and K value being identified as the key contributors. Of all the potential sources contributing to variation in flesh biochemical properties, post-harvest factors such as �batch� (i.e. rocklobsters processed on a single day) had a dominant influence (Chapter 3). The difference detected in flesh characteristics between batches was greater than any seasonal pattern such as moult stage. Biological variables such as rocklobster condition and shell colour had no significant influence on flesh properties (Chapters 3 & 4). White rocklobsters are currently discounted in the live export trade; however this does not appear to be necessary for value added product owing to the lack of significant differences to red rocklobsters across a range of biochemical parameters (Chapter 3). Rocklobster physical condition (which has previously been associated with prior stress) was not shown to affect flesh biochemistry or sensory properties (Chapter 4). This result was not expected and may reflect the potential recovery of rocklobsters sampled in this study prior to processing. These findings suggest that commercial rocklobsters, which have had similar recovery, are unlikely to show reduced sensory properties. Recent commercial interest has focussed on holding rocklobster in tanks to provide year-round supply. As a result, the impacts of tank-holding and feeding on rocklobster flesh sensory properties were investigated (Chapter 5). Rocklobsters that were tank-held and fed for up to four months produced flesh with similar physical, biochemical and sensory properties to freshly caught rocklobster. Tank-holding therefore offers a viable solution to operators wanting a year-round supply of fresh product from a resource which is subjected to a restricted fishing season. A Japanese consumer panel was established to assess the greatest differences in flesh properties as detected by the trained sensory panel. The Japanese consumer panel assessed raw flesh from fresh, short and long-term frozen storage treatments (Chapter 4). This consumer panel detected similar differences in taste, texture and flavour as the trained panel, and whilst no significant overall preference was detected, half of the panellists showed a preference for rocklobster product that had been stored frozen for 18 months. The findings from this research are useful for the commercial industry as they indicate that raw rocklobster flesh has little variation associated with discounting factors such as size and shell colour. Although the greatest variation in flesh biochemistry was seen with frozen storage, even long term storage produced rocklobster flesh properties which were favourable for some panellists. The commercially caught Southern Rocklobster appears to have raw flesh properties well suited for a value added product.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [188]-213).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1993.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 117 p.; also includes graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-81). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center