10 research outputs found
Effects of environmental characteristics on the fish assemblages of high latitude kelp forests in South-central Alaska
No full textAlaskan kelp forests are patchy habitats, varying greatly in size, physical complexity, and biotic and abiotic characteristics, and are important to fish communities. Patchy habitats often support different communities on patch edges versus interiors, while patch size and physical complexity are typically correlated to the resident community structure. This study quantified the biological and physical heterogeneity within different sized kelp forests and identified which factors are important in structuring the associated fish communities. Fish and habitat surveys were conducted at ten kelp forests of varying sizes. Significantly different fish communities were found at edge compared to interior locations. The relative abundance of seven species explained 91.4% of the variability in the fish community. Fish community structure was not correlated with kelp forest size or the species composition of canopy forming kelps. Instead, it related to the abundances of two understory kelps, bottom rugosity, and water depth. Together these benthic attributes correlated with 53.6% of the fish community variability. These findings suggest that within patchy systems that are spatially and structurally non-uniform, associated fish species composition and abundance may be more directly linked to location within the patch and year-round habitat complexity rather than habitat patch size or foundational species composition
Stress concentration in a beam with a reinforced elliptical discontinuity
No full textU.S. Navy (U.S.N.) author.http://archive.org/details/stressconcentrat109452485
Service design : imperatives, processes and communication
No full textThis research was an investigation into the nature of new service design (NSD)
activity. The thesis researched literature on NSD and established limits of its
applicability. Also developed was NSD process and content theory outside such
limits.
The research was a multiple site case study. At the level of case-sites the study used
the interpretative approach called "explanation-building; " the development of
narratives that explained data using concepts from the literature review. The "crosscase"
analysis tested these theoretical concepts and allowed the emergence of new
empirical categories, and the development of new theoretical categories and
hypotheses.
Imperatives and stimuli for NSD were a mix of environmental pressure and pressure
to deploy resources. Demand-side pressure for variety and the propensity of the
resource-base to continually enhance capability mean that service organisations are
inevitably exposed to resource or market risk.
The organisational response should respect the nature and extent of risk exposure;
internal 'imbalances' between resource capability and market needs must be
redressed in the NSD response.
The applicability of "stage-gate" models of NSD is limited to those contexts where
the service is analogous to a manufactured good. In addition there are six other
contexts with corresponding process ideals.
Unless the outcome of the NSD process is holistic, implementation problems are the
result. Holistic NSDs include a strategic rationale, the proposed market offering,
process implications and structural or infrastructural resource implications.
The initial configuration of NSD communication devices is dependent on the nature
of the NSD process. If NSD is focussed on resource / process development then the
vernacular of NSD tends to be resource / process descriptions. If NSD addresses
exposure to market risk, then NSD constructs tend to be marketing devices. Thus
during the NSD process the NSD need not be holistic, by the end of the process it
should be
