>Magister Scientiae - MSc / For a long time, fire dynamics has been misunderstood and viewed as either a destructive force or an ecological necessity. The Western Cape Province in South Africa experiences the frequent occurrence of fires, due to the prevailing Mediterranean climatic conditions. This climate is known for its hot and dry summers and its cold and wet winters, which, along with the highly flammable indigenous flora of the Western Cape, provide suitable conditions for the occurrence of fires. However, the local environmental and ecological variables that influence the occurrence of fires and that could assist with fire management practices remain poorly understood. The development of an integrated operational monitoring framework is therefore imperative for detecting and mapping the occurrence of fires in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Cougars (Puma concolor) have been recolonizing Midwestern North America over the past 2 decades with >950 cougar confirmations east of established populations. Management and public interest in habitat suitability and connectivity east of current cougar range have grown as confirmations increase and models predicting habitat connectivity and population viability for the Midwest show potential for breeding populations. However, although long-range dispersal and recolonization continues, no studies have assessed potential habitat associated with cougars throughout their historical range in eastern North America. I used ArcGIS, the Analytical Hierarchy Process, and geospatial data to model cougar habitat and potential dispersal corridors in eastern North America. The total amount of potential habitat was >2,400,000 km2 and mean patch size was 257,500 km2. Patches of habitat ranged in size from 3,868 km2 (Ozark Mountains) to >2,490,850 km2 (central and eastern Canada) with ≤53,643 km of dispersal corridors connecting patches. With cougars potentially recolonizing areas previously devoid of large carnivores, public acceptance of management efforts is pivotal for the success of their recolonization. However, targeted surveys assessing public perceptions and knowledge of cougars and red wolves (Canis rufus), who have faced similar extirpation in the Southeastern United States are limited. I mailed 20,000 questionnaires and 2,000 follow-up postcards to residents near areas of potential red wolf and cougar habitat in the Southeastern United States in 2020. I used cumulative link models to gauge the associations between sociodemographic predictor with respondent’s knowledge and attitude towards large carnivores. Total response rate was 4.6% with the majority of respondents identifying as male (53.6%), having a 4-year degree or above (54.1%), and 57 ± 16 (SE) years of age. Respondents’ knowledge and attitudes towards large carnivores were largely positive (≥63% positive) with higher education, older age, and current livestock ownership being largest predictors for responses. Attitudes towards red wolves were largely driven by knowledge of red wolves while attitudes towards cougars were primarily driven by livestock ownership. Livestock owners (71.5%) were concerned about safety of livestock in large carnivore habitat, and most respondents (61%) did not trust their local agency to effectively manage large carnivore populations. My research provides a foundation for wildlife managers to develop informed plans, educational programs, and policy decisions for potentially recolonizing large carnivore populations.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Terry Griffin / Weather uncertainty plays a large role in farm management decisions. Changes in weather trends or increased variability during the growing season may alter the optimal farm management choices regarding machinery purchases, crop allocation to available acreage, varietal trait selection, and crop management practices. These farm management decisions impact the expected length of time available from planting to harvest. The dates that farmers most actively plant and harvest crops changes from year to year based on annual weather patterns that affect the number of days suitable to conduct fieldwork. This research analyzed corn planting and harvest progress, as well as the number of days suitable for fieldwork in Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Variability of days suitable for fieldwork across crop reporting districts within each state was reported. The total number of days suitable for fieldwork during the ‘most active’ planting and harvest weeks in each state were then analyzed to determine if increasing or decreasing trends exist and estimated as ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The outcomes presented in this research indicated a statistically significant decreasing trend in days suitable for spring planting in Iowa, and positive trend in Missouri during fall harvest. However, no statistically significant trends were observed in Kansas for either time period. Farm management implications were examined in relation to the results of the days suitable for fieldwork analysis, specifically regarding machinery sizing decisions. Profit maximizing producers must manage machinery such that they are not over-equipped, but have adequate equipment capacity to plant and harvest all acreage within the available days suitable for fieldwork. Results of these analyses are directly of interest to farmers desiring to optimally equip their farms, agricultural lenders providing farmers with financing of equipment, and equipment manufacturers.

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Ausgehend von der EU-Agrarreform 1992 hat der Freistaat Sachsen das Förderprogramm "Umweltgerechte Landwirtschaft" entwickelt. Die Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft hat dazu ein Untersuchungsprogramm erarbeitet, um eine Erfolgskontrolle über die Fördermaßnahmen für Umwelt und Landwirtschaft durchzuführen.

Problem. Approximately 400 000 children are in the year 2018 living in foster care in South Africa. Many of these children have wounds from neglect and abuse from their original family. Even though foster care is intended to be a safe haven many of the children instead end up drifting from one foster home to another, waiting to be placed in a permanent family. Because of the deficiencies in foster care it is of importance to investigate the social workers’ views of a suitable family, since we believe this will affect the assessment, which in the end will affect the child. This thesis explores what conceptions social workers at a child protection organization in South Africa have of a suitable family for vulnerable children. Method. We interviewed seven social workers at mentioned organization, working with formal foster care and reunification with parents or relatives. We use theme analysis to process our findings which we thereafter analyze using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Result. Our findings reveal that the emotional needs of the child are considered most important by the social workers, followed by the physiological needs. Criminal behavior and poor values and morals are thought to make a family unsuitable. Conclusion.  We found that there are some differences in the social workers’ conception of a suitable family for vulnerable children, although they all underlined the same factors as most important. They also state that these children are thought to have the same needs as any other child; it all comes down to what they consider is the best interest of the child. Regardless which values the individual social worker has, what they look for in every family is that the child will feel safe and loved. / Problem. Cirka 400 000 barn lever i fostervård i Sydafrika år 2018. Många av dessa barn är påverkade av den försummelse och våld deras familj har utsatt dem för. Även att syftet med fostervård är att det ska vara en fristad är det många av barnen som flyttar från familj till familj och hela tiden väntar på att komma till en permanent familj. På grund av bristerna i fostervården är det viktigt att undersöka socialarbetarnas syn på en passande familj, eftersom vi anser att detta kommer påverka utredningen, vilket i slutändan kommer påverka barnet. Den här uppsatsen utforskar vad socialarbetare på en barnskyddsorganisation i Sydafrika uppfattar som en passande familj för utsatta barn. Metod: Vi intervjuade sju socialarbetare på nämnd organisation, som arbetar med formell fostervård och återförenande med föräldrar eller släktingar. Vi använder tematisk analys för att bearbeta vårt undersökningsresultat vilket vi sedan analyserar med Maslows behovstrappa. Resultat. Våra undersökningsresultat visar att socialarbetarna anser att de emotionella behoven hos barnet är de viktigaste, vilka sedan följs av de fysiologiska behoven. Kriminellt beteende och olämpliga värderingar och moral tros utgöra en opassande familj. Slutsats. Resultatet visar att det är vissa skillnader i socialarbetarnas uppfattning av en passande familj för utsatta barn, samtidigt som de alla betonar samma faktorer som mest viktiga. De menar också att dessa barn anses ha samma behov som vilket annat barn som helst; allt handlar om vad de anser är det bästa för barnet. Oavsett vilka värderingar den individuella socialarbetaren har, vad de letar efter i varje familj är att barnet ska kunna känna sig säkert och älskat.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-07-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:07:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 morales_mud_me_bauru.pdf: 998995 bytes, checksum: 4f949e645e293db5c0a4902ece36da87 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O índice de criminalidade e desocupação e desocupação se faz crescente na cidade de Londrina, no que diz respeito à população de baixa renda, ou seja, famílias que apresentam um rendimento salarial inferior a dois salários mínimos. Diante disso, surge a necessidade de se apresentar alternativas ocupacionais para jovens, buscando o desenvolvimento de um perfil mais adequado para o engajamento social, com o desenvolvimento de habilidades específicas que sirvam de diferencial e de motivação para o futuro profissional. Foi proposto o Projeto Reciclar Recriando a Vida, locado no Centro Social Marista Irmão Acácio de Londrina, utilizando como matéria prima o retraço da indústria do vestuário. Com a finalidade da valorização da vida, promoção da auto-estima, produtos de design de moda foram desenvolvidos. Como resultado desta dissertação, a utilização de recursos de linguagem formulou uma metodologia própria adequando ao perfil dos jovens atendidos. O design de moda, o desenho da figura humana e a linguagem de moda promoveram o desenvolvimento de habilidades que favoreceram as mudanças sócio-culturais, buscando uma identidade, o caminho para a sustentabilidade por meio do design social ou tecnologia social. / Criminal and unemployment indexes are growing in the city of Londrina, concerning low outcome population, or better, families that receive less thantwo salaries a month. Due to this reality, it is necessary to come up with occupation alternatives to the youth, searching for the development of a profile more adequated with their social engagement, and for the development of specific abilities that could motivate and serve as diferrential skills for their professional future. For all these reasons, it was proposed on Marista Irmão Acácio Social Center, at the city of Londrina, the project Reciclar Recriando a Vida. Having as objectives the valorization of life and the promotion of self-esteem, the project worked on the creation of fashion draw products. As a result of this work, the utilization of language resources formulated a particular metodology wich was adequated to the profile of young people wich was attended. The fasion draw, the human body draw and the fashion language promoted the development of abilities that favor the social and cultural trends, the search for a identity and the path to the suitable conditions through social draw or social technology.

Patient-specific biomechanical analysis is an important tool used to understand the complex processes that occur in the body due to physical stimulation. Patient-specific models are generated by processing medical images; once an object from the image is identified via segmentation, a point cloud representation of the object is extracted. Generating an analysis suitable representation from the point cloud has traditionally required generating a finite element mesh, which often requires a well defined surface to accomplish. Point clouds lack a well defined geometry, meaning that the surface definition is incomplete at best. Point clouds that have been generated from images have a fuzzy boundary, meaning that no direct sampling of the boundary is guaranteed to exist and any method for completing the geometry definition requires assumptions on the part of the modeler. The process of generating a finite element mesh of the point cloud is difficult and tedious often requiring manual editing to alleviate poorly constructed elements. An alternative to generating a finite element mesh is to use meshfree analysis to solve the boundary value problem. The geometric representation of meshfree analysis is a point cloud, thus making it a natural choice for patient-specific analysis. When using meshfree analysis, it is common to skip the geometric reconstruction and use the point cloud directly as an analysis suitable geometry. The lack of a well defined surface can be problematic for a variety of reasons, namely the visualization of results and solving contact driven problems. The goal of this dissertation is to exploit some characteristics of the meshfree analysis to generate a well defined geometry for point clouds. Meshfree methods are commonly used for the solution of boundary value problems; their lack of a well defined geometry representation is a hindrance that is often remedied by accompanying the meshfree particle distribution with a secondary geometry representation, such as a mesh. The present work outlines a framework that can be used to define and study meshfree geometry representations. A particular meshfree geometry representation called the Meshfree Correction Implicit Geometry is introduced and studied under the guidelines of the framework.

Alien invasive plants are of concern in the world because of their potential to spread into the natural environment. Invasion patterns observed in plant species can be attributed among other things to favourable environmental conditions. Understanding invasion dynamics of alien invasive plants can help in timely intervention initiatives. In Mpumalanga, Lilium formosanum (Liliaceae) appears to be an emerging plant invader and is spreading in the natural environment. The study investigated the invasion extent and predictor variables which could explain abundance patterns of L. formosanum in the invasive range in Mpumalanga province in South Africa and further predict regions of the world that could be climatically suitable. Lilium formosanum was surveyed along 11 major routes leading into the towns of Sabie and Graskop in Mpumalanga from a slow moving vehicle. A total of 241 kilometres was surveyed. Lilium formosanum was found to be invasive from the towns of Sabie and Graskop. Climatically suitable areas were predicted using DIVA-GIS and climate data was obtained from WORLDCLIM database while occurrence records were obtained from the Southern African Plant Invaders Atlas, Australia’s virtual herbarium and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In conclusion, distance, altitude and route were found to have an influence on the abundance of L. formosanum in Mpumalanga Province. Climatically suitable areas included the eastern coastal belt, northern provinces and the interior parts of South Africa including major parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Plant Production and Soil Science / MSc / Unrestricted

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