Bob Stewart

Irrigation of agricultural crops

Irrigation of agricultural crops , Irrigation of agricultural crops , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

Soil erosion and crop productivity

Soil is a natural resource of great importance in agriculture, especially because it provides crops with water, nutrients and rooting space. Nevertheless, soil degradation is accelerating, with negative effects on human health, natural ecosystems and climate change, as well as on the economy. Recently, researchers have estimated soil loss from farmlands at about 6 tonnes per hectare, per year. In this context, the Commission adopted in September 2006, a comprehensive EU strategy specifically dedicated to soil protection.

The Travelling Fan: Understanding the Mechanisms of Sport Fan Consumption in a Sport Tourism Setting

The relationship that sport fans and consumers construct with sport teams and leagues is central to their decisions to engage in sport-related experiences, and travel long distances to do so. A number of factors have been identified as pivotal to this relationship, including (a) the underlying drives of fans; (b) factors that mediate fan motivation; (c) factors that impact upon fan identification and team attachment; and (d) contextual influences that are linked to the team, game or league fixture. These factors have been independently demonstrated to contribute to sport consumption but are less often considered as variables influencing the behaviour of sport tourists. This paper explores the different relationships that fans construct with their favourite sports, teams, and events and examines the impact of moderating factors and contextual influences on the fan–sport relationship. It aims to categorise the mechanisms affecting sport consumption in order to better understand the central factors driving sport tourism, particularly as it relates to travelling to attend sport events.

Australian Sport - Better by Design? : The Evolution of Australian Sport Policy

Section 1 - Context 1. Sport and Australian Society 2. Sport Policy Foundations Section 2 -Evolution 3. Benign Indifference: 1920-1971 4. Crash-through: 1972-1982 5. Augmentation: 1983-1996 6. Integration: 1996-2003 Section 3 - Practice 7. Backing Australias Sporting Ability: themes and assumptions 8. Elite Sport Development : Targeting High Performance 9. Community Sport Development: Targeting Participation 10. Junior Sport Development: Pathways and Retention 11. Management Improvements in Sport: Performance Measurement 12. Fair Play in Sport: Drugs, Discrimination, Disadvantage and Disability 13. Regulating Sport. The Case of Sport Broadcasting section 4 - Evaluation 14. How should outcomes be monitored and measured? 15. What does it all mean?

Drug Use in Sport: Implications for Public Policy

Many of the models and theories that aim to explain drug use in sport are limited by a focus on individual athlete decision-making that centers on the socioeconomic costs and benefits of using drugs. However, this limitation narrows the debate to how various penalties and sanctions might curb use. The authors suggest that to broaden the debate the investigation should include an exploration of the context in which drug use occurs and a situational diagnosis of the assumptions, values, and beliefs that underpin drug use in sport. To this end, the authors have developed a model of drug use in sport that combines the micro orientation of individual athlete and interpersonal behavior with the macro orientation of sporting context, structure, and culture. They use this contextualized model to contrast a use-reduction policy with a harm-minimization policy that allows sport organizations and athletes to manage their drug use in a safe and secure environment.

Drug policy in sport: hidden assumptions and inherent contradictions

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS This paper considers the assumptions underpinning the current drugs-in-sport policy arrangements. DESIGN AND METHODS We examine the assumptions and contradictions inherent in the policy approach, paying particular attention to the evidence that supports different policy arrangements. RESULTS We find that the current anti-doping policy of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) contains inconsistencies and ambiguities. WADAs policy position is predicated upon four fundamental principles; first, the need for sport to set a good example; secondly, the necessity of ensuring a level playing field; thirdly, the responsibility to protect the health of athletes; and fourthly, the importance of preserving the integrity of sport. A review of the evidence, however, suggests that sport is a problematic institution when it comes to setting a good example for the rest of society. Neither is it clear that sport has an inherent or essential integrity that can only be sustained through regulation. Furthermore, it is doubtful that WADAs anti-doping policy is effective in maintaining a level playing field, or is the best means of protecting the health of athletes. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The WADA anti-doping policy is based too heavily on principals of minimising drug use, and gives insufficient weight to the minimisation of drug-related harms. As a result drug-related harms are being poorly managed in sport. We argue that anti-doping policy in sport would benefit from placing greater emphasis on a harm minimisation model.

Amateurism to Professionalism: Modelling Organisational Change in Sporting Organisations

The growth of professionalism in sport in Australia has had a significant impact on players and administrators in many sporting organisations. This changing environment has caused sporting organisations to review their organisational goals and objectives. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Laughlins (1991) model of organisational change can illuminate our understanding of the differing impacts of environmental disturbances on sporting organisations. This is achieved by examining the organisational change processes that have occurred within the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) during its recent history. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews with individuals at differing functional levels within the QRU were used to examine change and its impacts on the QRU. These data were analysed using Laughlins model of organisational change. Although Laughlins model succinctly describes historical changes in the QRU, its capacity to explain fully the current change process is limited. The shortcomings of Laughlins model are considered from the standpoints of critical theory and postmodern approaches to the study of organisations. It is concluded that organisational change is a complex phenomenon that filters through the organisation with differing ramifications at different levels. It is demonstrated that Laughlins model can be modified to reflect more fully and adequately the complexity of changes across differing levels of the QRU. It is suggested that similar modifications will prove useful for the description of change in other sport organisations.

The Special Features of Sport

Abstract While most sport administrators acknowledge the advantages of managing sport organisations as businesses, or at least the need to use good management practices, they are frequently unaware of the features that distinguish sport from other forms of business (Smith, 1998). This paper aims to review these distinct features which make sport a special enterprise. These features include an intense emotional relationship between members, fans and their clubs, and ongoing tension between the sometimes competing goals of on-field success and profitability. The other major features are the importance of a balanced competition, the difficulties in ensuring constant quality, the frequent need for collaboration between competing clubs, the desire of members and fans to publicly display their club and player affiliations, and the difficulty in meeting sharp increases in demand.

Organizational Rituals: Features, Functions and Mechanisms

This review identifies the defining features of rituals and their functions in organizations, culminating in two key claims. First, organizational rituals can be described on a spectrum based on the fullness and degree of their expression. Complete or ‘full’ organizational rituals possess a greater number and intensity of ritual features than ‘ritual-like’ activities. The efficacy of an activity corresponds to its alignment with the features of full rituals. Ritual-like activities are therefore less powerful and more frequent organizational events than full rituals. Second, it is theorized that rituals work through three mutually reinforcing mechanisms: cognitive capture, emotional anchoring and behavioural prescription. It is proposed that rituals work by channelling (1) cognitive content, (2) affective responses and (3) behavioural activity toward the cultural expectations of organizations and their members. Organizational rituals may be characterized as standardized, rule-bound, predictable and repetitive behaviours undertaken in conditions demanding explicit performance expectations. Rituals are physically enacted to conform to a specified and invariable sequence, and are invested with added significance through a combination of formality and symbolism. Nine inter-dependent functions of rituals are specified, which are to: (1) provide meaning; (2) manage anxiety; (3) exemplify and reinforce the social order; (4) communicate important values; (5) enhance group solidarity; (6) include and exclude others; (7) signal commitment; (8) manage work structure; and (9) prescribe and reinforce significant events. These functions underline the role that rituals play as communication and learning systems, drawing attention to what is important and helping to funnel the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of organizational members. Organizational rituals are particularly important because they not only illuminate organizational behaviour, but also entrench or challenge existing cultural values.

The Australian Football League's Recent Progress: A Study In Cartel Conduct And Monopoly Power

Over the last twenty-five years, the Australian Football League (AFL), and its predecessor, the Victorian Football League (VFL) has become a central feature of the Australian sporting landscape by creating and managing a national competition. However, in the 1980s it was a Melbourne-based league facing serious structural and financial problems as player costs exploded. At the same time, a number of clubs were unable to trade profitably, and the richer clubs were toying with the idea of forming a break-away competition. The transformation of the AFL from a parochial suburban competition to heavily commercialised national league is analysed through the prism of cartel structure and conduct. It is concluded that first, even in its previous guise as the VFL, it adopted many cartel-like features, including controls over player transfers, fixed admission prices, and gate equalisation policies. Second, the establishment of a governing Commission in 1984 strengthened its monopoly power, and enabled it to set a singular vision for the games development. This vision, in turn, enabled the AFL to create a national participation program that became the envy of every other sport association in Australia. Third, in achieving this outcome, the AFL tightened its authority over its member teams, administrators, coaches and players. Finally, within this cartel arrangement, member clubs surrendered their autonomy in return for an assurance that they would share the benefits from the AFLs growth and national expansion. In short, the AFL has strategically exploited its cartel features and monopoly power to become Australias dominant sports league.