Search
Now showing items 141-150 of 163
Aufsatz
Water for Food: Feeding what?
(Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture at the University of Kassel, Germany and Federation of German Scientists (VDW), 2014-06-10)
Key Findings: “Water for food” is not necessarily synonymous with “water for food security. Countries with similar geological conditions face very different geopolitical realities; national water policies and agricultural motivations reflect this. Water policies and research should seek to understand “water for food” and its connections with economics, the environment, and securities more broadly
Aufsatz
Smallholder pig production systems along a periurban-rural gradient in the Western provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(Kassel University Press, 2014)
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pigs are raised almost exclusively by smallholders either in periurban areas of major cities such as Kinshasa or in rural villages. Unfortunately, little information is available regarding pig production in the Western part of the DRC, wherefore a survey was carried out to characterize and compare 319 pig production systems in their management and feeding strategies, along a periurban - rural gradient inWestern provinces of the DRC. Pig breeding was the main source of ...
Aufsatz
The diversity of postharvest losses in cassava value chains in selected developing countries
(Kassel University Press, 2014)
The extent of physical and economic postharvest losses at different stages of cassava value chains has been estimated in four countries that differ considerably in the way cassava is cultivated, processed and consumed and in the relationships and linkages among the value chain actors. Ghana incurs by far the highest losses because a high proportion of roots reach the consumers in the fresh form. Most losses occur at the last stage of the value chain. In Nigeria and Vietnam processors incur most of the losses while ...
Aufsatz
Smallholder farmers’ access to credit in the Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
(Kassel University Press, 2014)
Provision of credit has being identified as an important instrument for improving the welfare of smallholder farmers directly and for enhancing productive capacity through financing investment by the farmers in their human and physical capital. This study investigated the individual and household characteristics that influence credit market access in Amathole District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, using a cross sectional data from smallholder farmers’ household survey. The aim is to provide a ...
Aufsatz
Symptoms and causes of poverty in a rural Vietnamese commune: Does ethnicity matter?
(Kassel University Press, 2014)
This study uses data from a sample survey of 200 households drawn from a mountainous commune in Vietnam’s North Central Coast region to measure and explain relative poverty. Principal components analysis is used to construct a multidimensional index of poverty outcomes from variables measuring household income and the value of domestic assets. This index of poverty is then regressed on likely causes of poverty including different forms of resource endowment and social exclusion defined by gender and ethnicity. The ...
Aufsatz
Assessing the users’ need for a spatial decision support system of smallholder farming in Kenya
(Kassel University Press, 2014)
Accurate data of the natural conditions and agricultural systems with a good spatial resolution are a key factor to tackle food insecurity in developing countries. A broad variety of approaches exists to achieve precise data and information about agriculture. One system, especially developed for smallholder agriculture in East Africa, is the Farm Management Handbook of Kenya. It was first published in 1982/83 and fully revised in 2012, now containing 7 volumes. The handbooks contain detailed information on climate, ...
Dissertation
Punching Shear Behavior of UHPC Flat Slabs
(2014-09-25)
At the Institute of Structural Engineering of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Kassel University, series tests of slab-column connection were carried out, subjected to concentrated punching load. The effects of steel fiber content, concrete compressive strength, tension reinforcement ratio, size effect, and yield stress of tension reinforcement were studied by testing a total of six UHPC slabs and one normal strength concrete slab.
Based on experimental results; all the tested slabs failed in punching shear as a ...
Dissertation
Numerical Feasibility Study for Treated Wastewater Recharge as a Tool to Impede Saltwater Intrusion in the Coastal Aquifer of Gaza – Palestine
(2014-04-02)
The ongoing depletion of the coastal aquifer in the Gaza strip due to groundwater overexploitation has led to the process of seawater intrusion, which is continually becoming a serious problem in Gaza, as the seawater has further invaded into many sections along the coastal shoreline.
As a first step to get a hold on the problem, the artificial neural network (ANN)-model has been applied as a new approach and an attractive tool to study and predict groundwater levels without applying physically based hydrologic ...
Dissertation
Elimination in Operator Algebras
(2014-08-08)
A large class of special functions are solutions of systems of linear difference and differential equations with polynomial coefficients. For a given function, these equations considered as operator polynomials generate a left ideal in a noncommutative algebra called Ore algebra. This ideal with finitely many conditions characterizes the function uniquely so that Gröbner basis techniques can be applied.
Many problems related to special functions which can be described by such ideals can be solved by performing ...