Physical and financial evaluation of a group of high producing dairy farms in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science (MApplSc) in Pastoral Science, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Traditionally, New Zealand dairy production has been based on high pasture utilisation at high stocking rates, which resulted in low animal performance. Recently, a group of farmers (AGMARDT - Dairy Farm Monitoring Programme) gradually changed their production policy to a high production per hectare system achieved through high animal performance. The system is based on pre and post grazing herbage mass targets, strategic use of supplements to overcome pasture deficit and moderate stocking rates (2.7 cows/ha). This project evaluated the physical and financial characteristics of nine case study farms in the Southern North Island of New Zealand, involved in these changes. A one-year system study was conducted (2000/2001) in which physical and financial data were obtained to identify factors affecting farm production, efficiency and profitability. The results showed that the systems were effective and profitable, under the conditions in the 2000/2001 year. Average annual milksolids production per cow (411 kg MS/cow/year) and per hectare (1,100 kg MS/ha/year) for the case study farms were 33% higher than the national average. Average annual total intake for all farms was 5,257 kg DM/cow, 14,035 kg DM/ha, 59,656 MJ ME/cow and 159,232 MJ ME/ha. Mean economic farm surplus per ha for all case study farms (NZ$3,077/ha) was higher than regional averages (by 622 = 0.71) and per hectare (R 2 = 0.74) were closely correlated with pasture intake. Supplements (24$5.00/kg MS will probably not remain in the future, control of production costs should receive more emphasis, particularly supplement costs. Keywords: dairy system, pasture management, feed quality, pasture intake, supplement intake, animal performance, stocking rate, feed conversion efficiency, cost of milksolids production, profitability

Planning and Policymaking for Transit-Oriented Development, Transit, and Active Transport in California Cities

This report provides research findings from the first year of a two-year research project on patterns of local policymaking in California to support transit-oriented development (TOD), transit, and active transport. The project aims to assess motivations, perceived obstacles, and priorities for development near transit, in relation to patterns of local policy adoption, from the perspective of city planners in the state’s four largest regions: the San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento metropolitan areas. This first-stage report discusses research and policy context that informed the methodology, findings from the analysis of results from an online survey of city planning directors administered in the spring of 2019, and findings from two case studies of TOD policymaking in urban central cities, namely Los Angeles and Sacramento. A sampling methodology for conducting further case studies of TOD policymaking during the upcoming second phase of the project is also described, based on findings from the first year of the research.View the NCST Project Webpag

Software reliability and dependability: a roadmap

Shifting the focus from software reliability to user-centred measures of dependability in complete software-based systems. Influencing design practice to facilitate dependability assessment. Propagating awareness of dependability issues and the use of existing, useful methods. Injecting some rigour in the use of process-related evidence for dependability assessment. Better understanding issues of diversity and variation as drivers of dependability. Bev Littlewood is founder-Director of the Centre for Software Reliability, and Professor of Software Engineering at City University, London. Prof Littlewood has worked for many years on problems associated with the modelling and evaluation of the dependability of software-based systems; he has published many papers in international journals and conference proceedings and has edited several books. Much of this work has been carried out in collaborative projects, including the successful EC-funded projects SHIP, PDCS, PDCS2, DeVa. He has been employed as a consultant t

Towards a Theory of Systems Engineering Processes: A Principal-Agent Model of a One-Shot, Shallow Process

Systems engineering processes coordinate the effort of different individuals to generate a product satisfying certain requirements. As the involved engineers are self-interested agents, the goals at different levels of the systems engineering hierarchy may deviate from the system-level goals which may cause budget and schedule overruns. Therefore, there is a need of a systems engineering theory that accounts for the human behavior in systems design. To this end, the objective of this paper is to develop and analyze a principal-agent model of a one-shot (single iteration), shallow (one level of hierarchy) systems engineering process. We assume that the systems engineer maximizes the expected utility of the system, while the subsystem engineers seek to maximize their expected utilities. Furthermore, the systems engineer is unable to monitor the effort of the subsystem engineer and may not have a complete information about their types or the complexity of the design task. However, the systems engineer can incentivize the subsystem engineers by proposing specific contracts. To obtain an optimal incentive, we pose and solve numerically a bi-level optimization problem. Through extensive simulations, we study the optimal incentives arising from different system-level value functions under various combinations of effort costs, problem-solving skills, and task complexities

Code for sustainable homes: opportunities or threats for offsite manufacturing and mass-customization?

This study intends to, firstly, discuss current status of zero carbon homes in the UK, and secondly, to investigate the feasibility of using offsite construction methods to deliver mass customised zero carbon homes. The study concludes that mass customised offsite housing could be an answer to overcome the current barriers to achieve zero carbon homes in the UK; however, more work is required to increase the confidence of stakeholders including clients, designers, and housebuilders in offsite manufacturing in order to increase the share of such methods in the construction industry

Using Eco-schemes in the new CAP: a guide for managing authorities

This guide has been developed primarily for policy makers and Member State officials involved in the national and regional programming processes of the CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs). This process might involve different administrative levels (national, regional, local), different political fields (agriculture, environmental, food and health ministries), different public bodies (paying agencies, environmental agencies, rural development offices) depending on the administrative setting of each MS. In addition, the guide provides support to other stakeholders and practitioners from the public and private sectors and civil society (including agricultural, environmental, food, health and consumer NGOs), with a direct or indirect involvement in the programming and evaluation process of the CSPs. Since these new plans will have a strong impact on MS environments, agricultural sectors, rural areas, etc., the engagement of all stakeholders will be an important asset for supporting an effective implementation of the CSP objectives. There are many others with potential interests in the contents of this guide. EU citizens have demonstrated their increasing interest in the contents of the CAP objectives and policy framework, as demonstrated both by civil society initiatives and consumption decisions. The contents of this guide may therefore also be of interest to other societal actors with interests in agricultural and environmental policies, such as researchers, journalists, trade unions, and civil society organizations. However, the guide is intentionally more focused on the technical needs of those involved in CSP development and implementation