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The vegetation of the sand dunes on Long Beach, Vancouver Island, was studied on 116 sample plots. The purpose of this study was to describe the floristic and edaphic characteristics of the plant associations, to determine the major environmental factors controlling the distribution of the plant communities and to study the successional trends of the vegetation. The vegetation was described using the analytical and synthetical methods of the Zurich-Montpellier school of phyto-sociology. This thesis describes seven plant associations and four variants. The vegetation units are as follow: A. Foreshore habitats 1. Cakiletum edentulae B. Blowout habitats 2. Poetum macranthae a. poosum macranthae , b. abroniosum latifoliae 3. Arctostaphyleto-Rhacomitrietum canescentis C. Habitats of the mobile dune ridge 4. Elymetum vancouverensis a. ammophilosum arenariae b. elymosum vancouverensis D. Habitats of the dune slack and stable dune ridge 5. Aireto-Ceratodontetum purpurei 6. Arctostaphyleto-Eurhynchietum oregani 7. Hetergenous communities i n moist dune slack habitats E. The dune forest habitat 8. Piceeto-Gaultherieto-Maianthemetum dilatati Important environmental factors which control the distribution of these associations are the level of winter and storm tides, wind, the amount of sand burial and blowout that occurs in the habitat and the amount of available soil water. The first stages of succession begins in the unstable habitats of the Elymetum vancouverensis and Poetum macranthae. With stabilization of the habitat, these associations are succeeded by the Aireto-Ceratodontetum purpurei and the Arctostaphyletum-Eurhynchietum oregani in exposed habitats and the Arctostaphyleto-Rhacomitrietum canescentis in habitats well protected from wind. All vegetation eventually reaches the climax Piceeto-Gaultherieto-Maianthemetum dilatati. / Science, Faculty of / Botany, Department of / Graduate

The structure of phytoplankton communities was examined seasonally across five rivers with a focus on small cells and their relative importance. Picophytoplankton (0.2-2 μm), previously considered insignificant in rivers, reached densities as high as those observed in lakes and oceans (~ 10e4-10e5 cells/mL). Their relative importance was not a function of trophic state with the highest contribution to algal biomass found in the most eutrophic river. Body size distributions were analyzed from both chlorophyll-a size fractions and taxonomic enumerations; no significant effect of river or season was detected, suggesting that phytoplankton size distribution is not a useful metric of change in rivers. Unlike lake ecosystems, the rivers were uniformly dominated by small cells (< 20 μm). Taxonomic analyses of the seasonal succession did not reveal a common periodicity of particular divisions (e.g. diatoms). However, strong dominance was more typical of eutrophic rivers even though taxa richness was similar.

This diploma paper researches ecological damage and recultivations before and after 1990. It follows the legislation progress and the financial funding concerning this area, endowment policy and abroad approaches comparism. It is focused on distinct opinions relating to human caused environmental damage slicking. The operative part describes one of the largest middle Europe dump recultivation -- Radovesická dump.

A unique process of fabricating a strained layer GexSi1-x on insulator is demonstrated. Such strained heterostructures are useful in the fabrication of high-mobility transistors. This technique incorporates well-established silicon processing technology e.g., ion implantation and thermal oxidation. A dilute GeSi layer is initially formed by implanting Ge+ into a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Thermal oxidation segregates the Ge at the growing oxide interface to form a distinct GexSi1-x thin-film with a composition that can be tailored by controlling the oxidation parameters (e.g. temperature and oxidation ambient). In addition, the film thickness can be controlled by implantation fluence, which is important since the film forms pseudomorphically below 2×1016 Ge/cm2. Continued oxidation consumes the underlying Si leaving the strained GeSi film encapsulated by the two oxide layers, i.e. the top thermal oxide and the buried oxide. Removal of the thermal oxide by a dilute HF etch completes the process. Strain relaxation can be achieved by either of two methods. One involves vacancy injection by ion implantation to introduce sufficient open-volume within the film to compensate for the compressive strain. The other depends upon the formation of GeO2. If Ge is oxidized in the absence of Si, it evaporates as GeO(g) resulting in spontaneous relaxation within the strained film. Conditions under which this occurs have been discussed along with elaborated results of oxidation kinetics of Ge-ion implanted silicon. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), ion channeling, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used as the characterization techniques.

O propósito desta tese foi investigar como tem ocorrido o processo de sucessão em empreendimentos sociais no Brasil, com foco no associativismo produtivo, identificando quais fatores limitam e quais facilitam esse processo a partir das dimensões Indivíduo, Organização e Ambiente. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de caráter exploratório e descritivo, desenvolvida em duas etapas complementares. Na primeira etapa, o grupo amostral compôs-se de 378 empreendimentos, que foram objeto de um survey, para identificar as associações produtivas. Destas foram selecionadas para constituírem a amostra aquelas que já passaram ou estão passando por processo sucessório e cujos dirigentes demonstraram disposição em participar da pesquisa. Na segunda etapa, composta por uma amostra com 32 empreendimentos, buscou-se analisar como interagem as dimensões Indivíduo, Organização e Ambiente na configuração do processo sucessório, identificando quais os fatores que, em cada uma dessas dimensões, podem facilitar e aqueles que podem limitar o processo sucessório. Para analisar a estrutura e as principais características do processo sucessório, tomou-se por base os seguintes eixos orientadores: dimensão Indivíduo - papéis da liderança, habilidade da liderança e estilos de liderança; dimensão Organização - estrutura, planejamento, conselhos, comunicação (transparência), controle e avaliação; dimensão Ambiente - influências dos stakeholders (comunidade, fornecedores, clientes, parceiros) no processo sucessório. Os resultados obtidos apontaram que uma das principais características das associações produtivas pesquisadas é a existência de um entrelaçamento entre dimensões política, econômica e social. No entanto, tais iniciativas têm como um dos principais desafios, o de criar contextos favoráveis a essa organização socioeconômica e política entre cidadãos que compartilham mais carências que recursos para a construção e manutenção de um projeto associativo. Sobre o processo sucessório, os dirigentes das associações mostraram-se conscientes da importância de planejar e de gerenciar seu desenvolvimento, mas dispõem ainda de ferramentas pouco estruturadas para isso. As associações também atribuem importância à gestão compartilhada do processo sucessório como forma de conciliar expectativas tanto do público interno, quanto do público externo, porém, não dispõem de um sistema estruturado de administração desse processo. O processo sucessório nas associações pesquisadas encontra-se em fase de construção: adapta-se às demandas do cenário atual, mas apresenta evidentes necessidades de aprimoramento para uma condução mais efetiva do planejamento e da gestão compartilhada do processo. / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the succession process in Brazilian social enterprises have been executed, focusing on productive social activism. The study identifies which factors limit and facilitate this process, based on the following aspects: Individual, Organizational and Environmental. The nature of this research is exploratory and descriptive and was developed in two complementary stages. In the first stage the chosen group consisted of 378 enterprises that were the subject of a survey to identify the productive associations. The survey was set up to identify associations which are productive and within them, the enterprises which are active and those which are going through a succession process. The disposition of the leaders in taking part in the survey was also taken into consideration. The second stage was composed of a sample of 32 enterprises in which their interaction in an Individual, Organizational and Environmental level when going through a succession process was analyzed, identifying what facilitates and what limits this succession process. To analyze the structure and main characteristics of the succession process, these were taken as the base according to the following guidelines: Individual dimension leadership roles, leadership abilities and leadership styles; Organizational dimension structure, planning, counseling, communication (transparency), control and evaluation; Environmental dimension stakeholders influence (community, suppliers, clients, partners) in the succession process. The end results suggest that the main characteristics of those productive associations analyzed here is the intertwining of political, economic and social dimensions. However, one of the major challenges for these associations is to create positive outcomes in a socio-economic and political environment where community resources are scarce, rather than sufficient to build and maintain a cooperative project. Regarding the succession process, the associations leaders showed an understanding about the importance of planning and managing their progress, but still had tools with lack of structure to do so. The associations also attribute importance to the participative management in the succession process as a way of reconciling internal and external expectations, however they do not have a structured system to manage this process. The succession processes in the surveyed associations are in a constructive phase, whilst dealing with their day to day demands, but still show clear improving necessities for a more effective planning and participative management in the process.

Succession planning is the creation of a pool of high potential employees that receive specific training and developmental opportunities with the intention of promotion. There is a definite need to deepen our understanding of what implications there are from a psychological point of view for employees when a major process like succession planning is implemented. Employee engagement is the experienced commitment, which leads to discretionary effort. The purpose of this research is to explore an underlying factor structure for engagement drivers and understand how a major organizational initiative, succession planning, impacts employee engagement. This research was conducted at a petroleum organization in the Southwest United States (N = 2023) and compares engagement based on group membership in a succession planning process (Informed-High Status, Uninformed-High Status, and Uninformed-Low Status). The underlying factor structure of drivers was found to have one factor of engagement. There was a significant difference in the engagement levels based on membership within the succession plan (high status versus low status). However, communicating to an employee their involvement in the succession plan did not differentiate between engagement levels.

El propósito de este trabajo es recopilar y contrastar investigaciones sobre la continuidad de las empresas familiares y el grado de importancia de la profesionalización y sucesión familiar de la gestión en sus cambios generacionales. El método científico utilizado es exploratorio con enfoque hermenéutico a través de la contrastación de 22 fuentes de Scimago y 12 bibliográficas. Sobre la base de los resultados se aborda la importancia de gestionar los procesos de las organizaciones con criterio profesional y también se evidencia las características de las empresas familiares que mantienen sus motivaciones particulares. Después del análisis a la información de los investigadores se determina que la profesionalización y la sucesión de la gestión en las empresas familiares no van separados, sino que por el contrario se complementan. El proceso de transición puede ser acertado por el fundador y el sucesor puede ser familiar y no familiar, sin obviar las complicaciones que puede generar una decisión no competente. Se encontró pocas investigaciones sobre continuidad en los últimos 5 años a pesar de ser un tema muy importante, las investigaciones datan de hasta 20 años de antigüedad por lo que se necesitan registros e indicadores actuales. Por último, investigar la continuidad de las empresas familiares en el contexto de otros componentes fuera de la propiedad familiar como la profesionalización y la sucesión de la gestión puede ampliar la comprensión sobre las crisis generacionales tan comunes a nivel mundial en este tipo de empresas. / The purpose of this work is to collect and contrast research on the continuity of family businesses and the degree of importance of professionalization and family succession of management in their generational changes. The scientific method used is exploratory with a hermeneutical approach through contrast of 22 Scimago and 12 bibliographic sources. Based on the results, the importance of managing the processes of organizations with professional criteria is discussed and the characteristics of family businesses that maintain their particular motivations are also evidenced. After analyzing the information of the researchers, it is determined that the professionalization and succession of management in family businesses are not separated, but instead complement each other. The transition process can be successful by the founder and the successor can be familiar and unfamiliar, without forgetting the complications that an unqualified decision can generate. There was little research on continuity in the last 5 years despite being a very important issue, the research dates up to 20 years old, so current records and indicators are needed. Finally, investigating the continuity of family businesses in the context of other components outside family property such as professionalization and management succession can broaden the understanding of generational crises so common worldwide in this type of business.

This thesis consists of three published articles and one submitted article, and is focused on the evaluation of the effects of vegetation on soil microbial communities and processes on brown coal post-mining sites. The research sites served as deposits of infertile waste material, by which the indigenous vegetation has been buried and thus the whole ecosystem was destroyed. The restoration of the ecosystem structure and functions at these areas was based on the improvement of biotic and abiotic properties of excavated soil substrate either using assisted afforestation or using spontaneous plant succession. In this work, biochemical and molecular techniques were employed in order to testify the effect of the vegetation on soil microbial processes, structure of soil microbial communities and to follow the chemical changes in the litter composition during its decomposition. Litter chemistry, enzymatic activities and microbial biomass were followed by standard biochemical procedures including spectrometry and HPLC. Bacterial microarray was used for assessing the composition of bacterial communities in the soil of successional plots. 454-pyrosequencing was employed for detailed identification of fungal and bacterial community composition in the litter layer and the bulk soil under different tree...

Ecological restoration that aims to reinstate indigenous processes may be constrained by regional and local conditions, especially those that drive dispersal and colonisation. Local conditions can be managed, while regional conditions cannot. The management of costly rehabilitation programmes is considered best practice when scientifically informed. My thesis documents the responses of biological communities to a range of local conditions developing in coastal dune habitats in response to ecological restoration. Here, landscape-level (spatial structure of patches of tree canopies) local conditions were distinguished from site-level (topography, soil nutrient content, woody plant community richness, microclimatic variables) local conditions. The spatial structure of tree canopies varied over time and differed between the mining lease site and the relatively undisturbed benchmark site prior to (1937- 1970), and after (1990-2006) mining. For example, approximately 20% of the mining lease site and 40% of the benchmark site was covered by tree canopies prior to mining. However, after mining and rehabilitation, the structure of tree canopies began to converge towards that of the benchmark. The topographic profile of coastal dunes was less heterogeneous after mining and rehabilitation than before. Aspect, elevation and gradient of dune slopes were also different and had shifted in space. Variability in the structure of tree canopies could not explain variability in species richness, forest-associated species richness and proportion of benchmark species for the millipede, dung beetle and bird communities ashad been expected. However, species composition did change (though idiosyncratically) with age-related changes in soil nutrient availability and tree species diversity. Temperature, relative humidity and light intensity varied with dune topography, but soil nutrient content (C: N ratio and pH) was better accounted for by the age of the regenerating forest than by dune topography. Similarly, analysis of covariance suggested that tree canopy density, woody plant richness and millipede species richness only responded to the aspect, elevation and gradient of restored coastal dunes when age was taken into account as a covariate. However, the response of keeled millipedes to dune topography, regardless of regeneration age, suggested that the microclimatic variability brought about by topographic heterogeneity may provide these specialists with suitable microhabitats. Throughout my thesis, the age of regenerating patches of indigenous canopies was often more important as an explanatory variable than habitat conditions per se. Age itself is not a determinant of biological communities, but merely the axis along which habitat conditions change with succession, and later, patch dynamics. Therefore, as elsewhere, my thesis has highlighted age as a useful proxy for the response of biological communities to local conditions. It seems that managing local variables such as those considered in my assessment is not an avenue through which to enhance restoration. After kick-starting initial conditions, best practice rehabilitation management should therefore focus on minimizing external disturbances rather than interfering with natural processes. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted