Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [64]-69).

Southern Africa faced a serious food security crisis after a three-year drought which started in the 1999/2000 season. In 2002, Zimbabwe and its neighbours declared food emergencies. With improved climatic conditions in 2003, Zimbabwe failed to recuperate from the crisis despite its neighbours showing signs of recovery. Instead, the food crisis in Zimbabwe intensified and has threatened the lives of many ordinary Zimbabweans. This paper argues that the land reform programme and its after effects, other government policies, international sanctions and intractable political posturing have all played a significant role in causing and prolonging the post 2000 food crisis in Zimbabwe. International and local food aid became a priority to feed the millions of hungry Zimbabweans. With severe food shortages, food aid became an important political tool used by the main players in the food distribution process to win support or discredit the other side. Drawing from the political theories of famine, this research argues that the food crisis in Zimbabwe is largely due to the failure of political accountability by the government of Zimbabwe, and also by the international relief organizations and other stakeholders who are in and outside Zimbabwe. With a thorough review of primary, secondary and scholarly literature, helped by informal discussions with people living in Zimbabwe, the research found out that the Zimbabwe food crisis has thus far failed to be resolved due to lack of political commitment and competence by the government of Zimbabwe; and an unwillingness by the international community to work with the Mugabe government which many in the west see as a dictatorship.

Complex foodborne threats to public health and safe food supplies are increasing with each passing day, serving as a great challenge to food corporations today. This thesis, selecting the Mengniu Dairy milk scandal as the subject of the study, is aimed to examine how newspapers reported and evaluated Mengniu milk crisis and crisis management in the 2008 Chinese milk scandal and to provide suggestions to Mengniu Dairy's crisis management, as well as the Chinese food industry in general. It is a significant step towards exploring the crisis management strategy of a food company in a non-Western setting under a circumstance in which crisis responsibility is ambiguous. To accomplish this, a content analysis of 253 articles ranged from September 11, 2008, to September 10, 2009, on 10 Chinese newspapers' Web sites was conducted. The results of the coding supported an argument that apology and product recall were not good enough for the milk crisis and identified the significant role of the Chinese government in food crisis management. Two suggestions are offered by the study. First, building a good external relationship and cooperating with the local government. Second, being proactive and addressing public safety during the pre-crisis stage. Further, recommendations for further study are enclosed.

I studied the community of lianas in the Yasuní Forest Dynamics Plot (YFDP), in Amazonian Ecuador. I found that species diversity of lianas in valley habitat was higher than in ridge habitat, but liana abundance was similar. I also found that community structure (species composition and their abundances) of lianas in ridge was distinct from that in valley because of the differential distribution and abundance of certain species along the topographic gradient. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon deterministically, I took two approaches: (1) to explore if trait expression of leaf-based traits, wood specific gravity and stem growth rate was different among species with ridge habitat association, species with valley habitat association, and generalist species; and (2) to explore if frequencies of different whole-plant growth strategies in the forest understory—defined by whether a liana was free-standing or already climbing, by its climbing mechanism, and by its understory appearance—were different between ridge and valley. My underlying rationale was that if certain trait expression or understory growth strategy can be associated to a given species, or group of species, and such species also drive the community structure difference between ridge and valley, then ecological insight on the biological deterministic mechanisms driving the difference can be gained. I end this one-page dissertation abstract right here and purposely leave you, the reader, perplexed—I invite you to seek answers to the liana distribution conundrum in the YFDP by perusing this dissertation.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Education and Dept. of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005. / "A dissertation in education and psychology." Advisor: Linda S. Garavalia. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed March 12, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-134). Online version of the print edition.

Selon la théorie de la sélection de la parentèle, les individus peuvent transmettre des copies de leurs gènes à la génération suivante sans accéder eux-mêmes à la reproduction, mais en aidant des apparentés à augmenter leur propre succès reproductif. Ce concept reste aujourd'hui l'explication la plus probable pour justifier l'évolution de l’altruisme de reproduction dans le règne animal. Les coefficients de corrélations génétiques entre les membres d’un groupe ont une importance capitale, puisqu'ils influencent directement les bénéfices génétiques indirects associés au comportement altruiste. Trois principaux facteurs sont cependant connus pour influencer profondément l'architecture des sociétés: (i) le nombre de reines présentes dans un nid (polygynie), (ii) le nombre d'accouplements des reines (polyandrie), et (iii) l’accouplement entre apparentés (consanguinité). Nous avons étudié les stratégies de reproduction de cinq espèces de fourmis du genre Plagiolepis. Nous avons d’abord déterminé l’origine endogène des signaux de reconnaissance responsables de la fermeture des sociétés (I). Nous avons également identifié les causes proximales de la forte consanguinité observée chez P. pygmaea : une éviction par les ouvrières des mâles étrangers tentant de s’introduire dans leur société et une préférence des femelles vierges à s’accoupler avec des mâles apparentés (II). A l’aide de marqueurs génétiques, nous avons estimé le degré de polygynie, le taux de polyandrie des reines, et le niveau de consanguinité pour quatre espèces libres : P. pygmaea, P. taurica, P. schmitzii et P. maura (III; IV). Enfin, nous avons testé l’hypothèse d’une réversion du nombre d’accouplements vers la monandrie chez les espèces parasites, au travers de P. xene. (V).

<p>For close to a decade, Zimbabwe has experienced a protracted socio-economic crisis. Although it is affecting both rural and urban areas, major forms of formal safety nets by the Government and Non-Governmental Organisations have been confined to rural areas. On the other hand the virtual collapse of the formal food marketing system in urban areas and the high formal unemployment rates have contributed to increased vulnerability of low income urban households to food insecurity. Using qualitative research methods, the study set out to understand livelihoods of low income urban households in Dzivaresekwa. In particular strategies low income households employ to cope with the negative macro-economic environment prevailing in Zimbabwe.</p>

Purpose: To explore how a company can make its marketing mix, the four Ps, greener. This is done with a case study of the Rockwool Group. Background: The Rockwool Group is the world’s leading producer of stone wool. It consists of twenty-one factories in three continents and its primary business area is within insulation. The Rockwool Group’s products improve the quality of life and helps to alleviate environmental problems, such as the greenhouse effect, smog and acid rain.   Problem: Today many companies want to improve their greenness. A way to do this is by greening the marketing mix. The current green marketing literature only touches upon certain aspects of the marketing mix, but there are no recognized studies that provide guidelines on how to green the marketing mix.   Methodology: The data collection consists of several semi-structured interviews with employees from different departments. The authors interviewed employees from three subsidiaries from different parts of the world – Scandinavia, North America and the Balkans. Conclusions: Through the case of the Rockwool Group the authors have explored how to green the marketing mix. This has shown that product, place and promotion have several factors that can be greened. However, this specific case study only shows how prices set a premium are greened. Another case focusing on standard prices can provide further suggestions to green the price.

The use of currency options has been grown widely during the latest years. This paper tries to answer whether hedge strategies using currency options are superior to forward exchange contracts or not.