3,482 research outputs found
A study of the hydrological and sedimentological characteristics of two catchments of contrasting land use : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Soil Science at Massey University
The hydrological and sedimentological characteristics of two catchments of contrasting land use were studied for a period of one year. Both catchments were situated in the Northern Tararua Ranges, near the Manawatu Gorge, some 27 km from Palmerston North, New Zealand. The 10 ha Ballance Catchment has native forest vegetation, whereas the 180 ha Tuapaka Catchment is part of a mixed sheep and cattle farm. The water balance estimated for the catchments indicated that a small amount of deep percolation occurred in both. Streamflow and rainfall were recorded at both catchments. During the study year approximately 26% and 14% of total rainfall was discharged as streamflow from the Tuapaka and Ballance Catchments, respectively. Throughfall and stemflow were also recorded at Ballance. The average monthly throughfall was 54% of total rainfall; the equivalent stemflow, was 16% of total rainfall. An attempt was made to identify and quantify the inputs of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) forms to the two catchments. Phosphate fertilizer application, N - fixation by clovers, and rainfall, were considered as the inputs of P and N forms in the Tuapaka Catchment. In the Ballance Catchment, rainfall was assumed to be the only input of P and N forms. The output of suspended sediment, dissolved material, and P and N forms, was measured during the study year. The output of sediment was 1.4 x 10³kg/ha and 1.6 x 10² kg/ha from the Tuapaka and Ballance Catchments, respectively. The output of dissolved material from the Tuapaka Catchment was only 13% of the sediment output. Significant quantities of P and N output were associated with suspended sediment. Of the annual loss of total P (1.6 kg/ha) from the Tuapaka Catchment, 76% was in the particulate form. At Ballance, 52% of the annual loss of total P (0.2 kg/ha) was in particulate form. Within the bounds of error, the Ballance Catchment appeared to be slightly conservative of P and strongly conservative of N. At the Tuapuka Catchment, however, inputs of P and N balanced outputs, within the bounds of error. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether a particular catchment is conservative for P and N unless adequate attention is paid to the errors involved. The differences obtained for the output of sediment and P and N forms, from the two catchments, are interpreted in terms of the effects of agricultural activities, particularly vegetation differences, on the inputs of particulate and dissolved phases to the streams
Leadership development programme: a multi-method evaluation
This report investigates findings arising from a variety of forms of feedback provided by the first cohort of participants (2012-2013) in Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust’s “Leadership Development” Programme (LDP). The report summarises both quantitative and qualitative feedback, and synthesises findings to provide a more three-dimensional overview of participant experience and systemic impact. Feedback reflects, throughout, the diversity of the participating cohort in terms of professional roles and levels of seniority
Learning Leaders: a multi-method evaluation, final report
This report investigates findings arising from a variety of forms of feedback on Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust’s “Learning Leaders” Programme (henceforth LLP) running from 2012-2013
Mobility Management in beyond 3G-Environments
Beyond 3G-environments are typically defined as environments that integrate different wireless and fixed access network technologies. In this paper, we address IP based Mobility Management (MM) in beyond 3G-environments with a focus on wireless access networks, motivated by the current trend of WiFi, GPRS, and UMTS networks. The GPRS and UMTS networks provide countrywide network access, while the WiFi networks provide network access in local areas such as city centres and airports. As a result, mobile end-users can be always on-line and connected to their preferred network(s), these network preferences are typically stored in a user profile. For example, an end-user who wishes to be connected with highest bandwidth could be connected to a WiFi network when available and fall back to GPRS when moving outside the hotspot area.\ud
In this paper, we consider a combination of MM for legacy services (like web browsing, telnet, etc.) using Mobile IP and multimedia services using SIP. We assume that the end-user makes use of multi-interface terminals with the capability of selecting one or more types of access networks\ud
based on preferences. For multimedia sessions, like VoIP or streaming video, we distinguish between changes in network access when the end-user is in a session or not in a session. If the end-user is not in a session, he or she needs to be able to start new sessions and receive invitations for new sessions. If the end-user is in a session, the session needs to be handed over to the new access network as seamless as possible from the perspective of the end-user. We propose an integrated but flexible solution to these problems that facilitates MM with a customizable transparency to applications and end-users
Perceived self-other differences in persuasibility: the effects of interpersonal and group-based similarity
Two experiments examined the effects of interpersonal and group-based similarity on perceived self-other differences in persuasibility (i.e. on third-person effects, Davison, 1983). Results of Experiment 1 (N=121), based on experimentally-created groups, indicated that third-person perceptions with respect to the impact of televised product ads were accentuated when the comparison was made with interpersonally different others. Contrary to predictions, third-person perceptions were not affected by group-based similarity (i.e. ingroup or outgroup other). Results of Experiment 2 (N = 102), based an an enduring social identity, indicated that both interpersonal and group-based similarity moderated perceptions of the impact on self and other of least-liked product ads. Overall, third-person effects were more pronounced with respect to interpersonally dissimilar others. However, when social identity was salient, information about interpersonal similarity of the target did not affect perceived self-other differences with respect to ingroup targets. Results also highlighted significant differences in third-person perceptions according to the perceiver's affective evaluation of the persuasive message. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
The gatekeeper: individual differences are key in the chain from perception to behaviour
A basic assumption in mainstream social cognition is that the path from perception to behaviour is often automatic and direct, as supported for example by several experimental studies showing that priming can lead directly to a congruent behaviour without any need of conscious awareness of the process. However, we argue that the priming of a goal or an object activates individual differences in automatic evaluations at the associative level that in turn are the key predictors of action (gatekeeper model). A study (n = 90) on the American stereotype is presented to support the model. The results show that individual differences of the American stereotype as assessed with the IAT predicts a relevant action (essay evaluation) but only under condition of priming. Broader implications for predictive validity of implicit measures are also discussed
Information dynamics shape the networks of Internet-mediated prostitution
Like many other social phenomena, prostitution is increasingly coordinated
over the Internet. The online behavior affects the offline activity; the
reverse is also true. We investigated the reported sexual contacts between
6,624 anonymous escorts and 10,106 sex-buyers extracted from an online
community from its beginning and six years on. These sexual encounters were
also graded and categorized (in terms of the type of sexual activities
performed) by the buyers. From the temporal, bipartite network of posts, we
found a full feedback loop in which high grades on previous posts affect the
future commercial success of the sex-worker, and vice versa. We also found a
peculiar growth pattern in which the turnover of community members and sex
workers causes a sublinear preferential attachment. There is, moreover, a
strong geographic influence on network structure-the network is geographically
clustered but still close to connected, the contacts consistent with the
inverse-square law observed in trading patterns. We also found that the number
of sellers scales sublinearly with city size, so this type of prostitution does
not, comparatively speaking, benefit much from an increasing concentration of
people
Are you insulting me? Exposure to alcohol primes increases aggression following ambiguous provocation
Considerable research has shown that alcohol consumption can increase aggression and produce extremes in other social behaviors. Although most theories posit that such effects are caused by pharmacological impairment of cognitive processes, recent research indicates that exposure to alcohol-related constructs, in the absence of consumption, can produce similar effects. Here we tested the hypothesis that alcohol priming is most likely to affect aggression in the context of ambiguous provocation. Experiment 1 showed that exposure to alcohol primes increased aggressive retaliation but only when an initial provocation was ambiguous; unambiguous provocation elicited highly aggressive responses regardless of prime exposure. Experiment 2 showed that alcohol prime exposure effects are relatively short-lived and that perceptions of the provocateur’s hostility mediated effects of prime exposure on aggression. These findings suggest modification and extension of existing models of alcohol-induced aggressio
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