Recent research findings have revealed that CSOs play very important hands on role to bring about social and economic change to developing countries like Tanzania. The CSOs are very diverse and unique in terms of set up, mission and mandate, there is therefore no single model on how should CSOs perform their functions in Tanzania. However, there are common held approaches that apply to effective management practices and so bring about good outcomes to the neediest people in Tanzania. This study has evidenced CSOs having a pivotal role to beef up service provision by the government and private sectors to spearhead socioeconomic development by explaining roles CSOs have been having in bringing such developments in Tanzania. This study has confirmed findings from previous studies that number, roles and diversity of CSOs increased significantly from 1980s to 1990s, and consequently involvement of CSOs in service provision has increased dramatically in recent years. Among the CSOs under this study, the ones which have been on board for more than five years have been seen to operate in coordinated multiple fields compared to the CSOs which have been on board for less than five years which operate in fewer fields. This study has evidenced increased annual budgets over time among the studied CSOs in Tanzania and this is an indication that CSOs’ performance capacity to manage projects and finances has improved over time. The current increased performance capacity of CSOs addresses the raised critique regarding managerial competence of CSOs in developing countries like Tanzania. The need for CSOs addressing issues in line with priority areas which are highlighted in the Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (NSGRP) for rapid socioeconomic development of Tanzania has come out clearly from the findings of this study. This study recommends a more comprehensive study of CSOs to capture more issues and cover bigger geographical areas than what was done by this study.. This will help identify more areas which need improvement in future to strengthen the CSO sector and benefit ultimate project beneficiaries in Tanzania. / +255 754 203386 +255 22 2421019

Management of urban stormwater is becoming increasingly difficult due to an anticipated increase in precipitation and extreme storm events that are expected under climate change. The goal of this research is to develop an approach that effectively accounts for the uncertain conditions that may occur under climate change and to develop best management practices to manage stormwater in urban areas. This presentation focuses on management of stormwater and combined sewage in Worcester, MA, where approximately four square miles of the downtown area is serviced by a combined sewer system. The EPA Stormwater Management Model was used to determine the impacts of storms on the urban environment for future conditions. This model was used to simulate discharges of selected design storms associated with a range of climate change scenarios. Various design storms were simulated in SWMM for 2010, 2040, and 2070 under high, moderate, and low climate change scenarios. Alternative best management practices were assessed in terms of specific metrics that included flood volumes and combined sewer overflow volumes through the Worcester sewer system. Cost evaluations were used to identify appropriate best management strategies for managing the combined sewer system under future scenarios. A design cost approach and net benefits approach were used to analyze different options for managing stormwater under climate change. Both of these approaches utilize the concept of risk analyze to determine expected values of both costs and benefits for different options under different climate change scenarios. Results for the design cost approach indicate that providing upstream underground storage in select locations throughout the Worcester combined sewer system is the most cost-effective strategy. In addition, increased pumping capacity at the Quinsigamond Avenue Combined Sewer Overflow Storage and Treatment Facility (QCSOSTF) should be included for this option. However, it was determined that only select upstream storage is the most beneficial option under the net benefits approach as increased pumping capacity at the QCSOSTF was determined to be too costly due to the additional costs of CSO treatment required at the facility. The Worcester case study provides an ideal context for assessing the relative advantages of full treatment at the wastewater treatment facility, limited treatment at a centralized CSO treatment facility, decentralized storage options, and low impact stormwater controls. It also allows for an assessment of decision making methods for controlling flows and loads from the Worcester system. Comparisons between Worcester and other case studies provide a foundation for understanding how stormwater and combined sewer systems can be managed given climate change uncertainty.

No description available.

As organized global actors, transnational advocacy networks (TANs) are an emerging way of people getting their voice heard and to make a change in global governance. Influencing policy-makers through advocacy has an identified connection to the legitimacy of the organization where the general assumption is that a higher legitimacy facilitates influence. In this thesis we have approached this situation from a strategic standpoint. Seeing as TANs – like most organizations – follow a strategy in order to achieve their goals, we wanted to see how legitimacy can be included as a part of the TANs strategy. This included describing the connections between the TAN as an organization and the legitimacy potential in both the organizational form and their actions. Our empirical findings suggested a close relationship between a TAN’s legitimacy and their stance with a policy-making institution, which led to a focus on these institutions as a target for TANs and their advocacy. We developed on this relation and outlined a suggestion for a strategic framework for TANs to consider when strategizing around legitimacy. We found that two main paths – named the Insider and the Outsider strategies – illustrate the options and implications a TAN is faced with on the topic of strategic legitimacy. The results constitute a contribution to the development of TAN strategy, a field that in the time of our writing this remains underexplored territory. We suggest that this field can be further developed by continuous research and we hope that this thesis is a contribution to that development.

No description available.

L'œuvre d’Amelia Rosselli entend se dessiner, au sein de la poésie lyrique italienne, comme expérience de subversion du processus de sublimation et de stylisation du corps féminin. A travers la traduction et l’analyse de poèmes choisis contenus dans les recueil Cantilena (1953), La Libellula (1958) et Variazioni belliche (1964), nous avons conduit une tentative d’exégèse critique des textes. L’analyse des poèmes se poursuit à travers une pratique dialogique avec le texte poétique, à partir d'un positionnement critique à l’intérieur du comparatisme féministe.En partant de l'idée pétrarquiste d'élimination et de suppression du corps des femmes nous avons démontré comment la tentative d’apaiser la portée potentiellement dangereuse de l’affection amoureuse a donné lieu au déni de la sensualité. Le langage de la douleur transfigurée se traduit dans une poétique du « dispositif sursensuel », un processus semblable à celui que Gilles Deleuze avait repéré dans la personnalité littéraire de Sacher-Masoch. Le processus de subversion qu’on vient d’évoquer est accompagné du bouleversement des rôles traditionnels au sein du canon poétique européen. Ces déconstructions conduiraient à un rejet du corps organique et au même temps à la révélation d’une subjectivité excentrique. La révision des modèles littéraires du canon passe également par le réécriture d'un ensemble de figures féminines du répertoire mythique et littéraire au sein de l’antiquité gréco-romaine, lesquelles, prélevées de l’imaginaire patriarcal, sont réinterprétées et à nouveau poétisées au sein d'un Sujet poétique qui cherche à faire parler la voix d’une poète femme. / Amelia Rosselli’s work took shape, within Italian lyric poetry, as an experience of subversion of the process of sublimation and of stylisation of the female body. Through the translation and the analysis of the content of poems chosen from the collections Cantilena (1953), La Libellula (1958) and Variazioni belliche (1964), I conducted a critical exegesis of the texts. I performed an analysis according to suggestions of a dialogical practice with the poetical text and with a female subjectivity often hidden, anchored to my critical investment inside feminist comparatism. From petrarchist idea of deletion and “suppression” of women’s body – deletion, of which Pasolini talked already in relation to the genesis of Italian poetry and its characterisation of the lyrical canon – I analysed how the attempt to ease the impact potentially dangerous of love affection has caused the denial of sensuality. The language of camouflaged sorrow is then established as a deliberated choice included in some poetics where it is not the statement that reveals, but the poetical word, which in its cryptic canonical measure, is able to make resonate beyond declarations. We can observe the deployment of a “sursensual device”, similar process to what Gilles Deleuze perceived in Sacher-Masoch's literary personality. The process of subversion does not seem a reconstitution of identity roles, but rather a deconstruction of the traditional model. The starting point for the analysis of those deconstructions is based on the hypothesis that the non-functionality of the desiring organisms (desiring subject and desired object) will lead to a reject of the organic and at the same time to a revelation of an eccentric subjectivity. The revision of the literary model of the canon lies in the hypothesis that a set of female figures of the mythical and literary repertoire in Greco-Roman antiquity are placed in the imaginary practice of Amelia Rosselli's poetical writing, with a view to incorporate the nature of the characters born and conceived inside and by the patriarchal imaginary and to form the body of a subject that aims at making them speak through the voice of a female poet.

The failure of sewer pipes is a significant issue that can adversely affect the environment and public health. The problem is exacerbated by the additional burden it places on treatment plants, which must work harder to process the increased sewage flow resulting from pipe failures. The research in this thesis is based on an extensive review of the existing literature on sewer pipe failure and inspection, focusing on the proactive approach that can predict pipe failures to assist in effective maintenance. The study finds that several predictive models can accurately predict sewer deterioration with high accuracy (up to 95 % precision), making it possible to identify potential failures and address them before they cause significant damage or disruption. However, the research indicates that there has been relatively little work done on predicting blockage and CSO, two critical aspects of sewer pipe management that could be addressed more to manage sewer systems effectively. The thesis discusses that by developing an effective predictive model for prioritisation of monitoring sewer pipes, planners can save time and money on individual inspections while planning well ahead to avoid any service disruption. The study also summarised the data needs for the predictive models and found pipe age, material, diameter depth, and length to be the most commonly used input parameters by the existing model developers. The finding of this research can guide decision support in future efforts to improve sewer pipe inspection practices. / Fel på avloppsrör är en viktig fråga som kan påverka miljön och folkhälsan negativt. Problemet förvärras av den extra börda det innebär för reningsverken, som måste arbeta hårdare för att hantera det ökade avfallsflödet till följd av rörbrott. Forskningen i denna avhandling baseras på en omfattande genomgång av den befintliga litteraturen om fel på avloppsrör och inspektion, med fokus på det proaktiva tillvägagångssättet som kan förutsäga rörfel för att bidra till effektivt underhåll. Studien visar att flera prediktiva modeller kan förutsäga försämring av avlopp med hög noggrannhet (upp till 95 % precision), vilket gör det möjligt att identifiera potentiella fel och åtgärda dem innan de orsakar betydande skador eller störningar. Forskningen visar dock att det har gjorts relativt lite arbete för att förutsäga blockering och CSO, två kritiska aspekter av hantering av avloppsrör som skulle kunna hanteras mer för att hantera avloppssystemet effektivt. I avhandlingen diskuteras att genom att utveckla en effektiv prediktiv modell för prioritering av övervakning av avloppsrör kan planerare spara tid och pengar på enskilda inspektioner och samtidigt planera i god tid för att undvika eventuella driftstörningar. Studien sammanfattade även data behovet för de prediktiva modellerna och fann att röra ålder, material, diameter, djup och längd var de mest använda ingångs parametrarna av de befintliga modellutvecklare. Resultatet av denna forskning kan vägleda beslutsstöd i framtida ansträngningar för att förbättra praxis för inspektion av avloppsrör.

No description available.

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to human health. Clinical situations are the main focus for antibiotic resistance research, but understanding the spread of resistance in the environment is also vital. A major contributor to this spread is wastewater from combined sewer overflow (CSO) events. The effect of CSO events on antibiotic resistance in the James River near Richmond, Virginia was studied using genomic and microbiological approaches. The abundance of genes associated with resistance to quinolones (qnrA) and tetracycline (tetW) was strongly correlated with the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (E. coli abundance) as well as total nitrogen and phosphorus loads, which suggests an anthropogenic source of these genes. Abundance of the blaTEM gene, which confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, was elevated during CSO events and increased with precipitation and river discharge. Bacteria isolated during a CSO event were resistant to more antibiotics and had higher multi-drug resistance when compared to isolates from a non-event. This study demonstrated that CSO events are contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance.

La technologie photovoltaïque (PV) est considérée une solution très prometteuse à la crise de l'énergie. Bien que le marché du PV soit actuellement dominé par des dispositifs à base de minéraux, ces systèmes présentent des coûts de production élevés et de nombreux problèmes environnementaux. Ces aspects limitent leur application. Les cellules solaires organiques à base de polymères (OPV) sont de prometteuses sources d'énergie renouvelable en raison de leur faible coût de production et grâce à leur nature déformable. En raison de ses propriétés électroniques et de la haute mobilité d'électrons, de petites molécules dérivées du fullerène C60 sont largement utilisées dans la production OPV à grande échelle. Toutefois, les propriétés morphologiques des dérivés du C60 diminuent la stabilité des dispositifs. En effet, le C60 subit facilement le phénomène d’auto-agrégation lors de l'utilisation de la cellule. L'aptitude au traitement du C60 peut être améliorée en l’incorporant dans un polymère. Ces systèmes sont déjà décrits dans la littérature, mais reposent en général sur une synthèse en plusieurs étapes qui pourraient affecter les propriétés électroniques du C60 ainsi que donner des produits insolubles en raison de la réaction de réticulation. L'objectif de ce travail est de préparer des polymères innovants basés sur le fullerène (C60) pour les dispositifs photovoltaïques et électroniques, à l'aide d’une chimie du C60 bien connue et en se basant sur des procédés fiables. À l'Université de Pau (au sein de l’équipe EPCP), après les synthèses de petites molécules qui ont étés utilisées en tant que co-monomères, deux différentes voies de synthèse ont été exploitées afin d'obtenir oligo- et polyfullerènes contenant le C60 dans leur chaîne principale. La première voie exploitée, est basée sur la réaction « Atom Transfer Radical Addition Polymerisation » (ATRAP), qui a déjà été utilisée pour la préparation de main-chain polyfullerenes. Avec cette méthode, des composés très solubles ayant des poids moléculaires variables ont été préparés. La deuxième voie a été découverte dans ce travail de thèse et exploite une chimie du C60 bien connue pour obtenir des « main-chain » polyfullerènes qui présentent un haut poids moléculaire et qui sont bien solubles dans les solvants courants. Des études préliminaires ont été effectuées dans le but de comprendre les effets des paramètres de réaction et la cinétique de la polymérisation. Les matériaux ont été caractérisés par chromatographie d’exclusion stérique, SEC, spectroscopie RMN, et à travers spectroscopie UV-vis et IR. Des analyses thermiques (TGA et DSC) complètent les caractérisations. Le C60, ainsi que son dérivé, [6,6] -phényl-C61-butyrique ester méthylique d'acide (PCBM), ont été exploités en tant que monomères dans les réactions de polymérisation. Un séjour de neuf mois (cotutelle) à l'université de Tübingen, en Allemagne, a permis d'étudier les matériaux synthétisés par spectroscopies XPS et UPS. Le but de ces études était d'obtenir une meilleure compréhension des niveaux énergétiques des oligo- et polyfullerènes. Des couches minces de composés ont été déposées sur différents substrats par des procédés en solution (doctor blade ou spin coating) pour obtenir des échantillons ex-situ pour les analyses. Des échantillons de couches actives contenant des polyfullerène ont également été préparés lors d'un court séjour (une semaine) à BELECTRIC OPV GmbH, Nuremberg (Allemagne). Les échantillons ont été analysés par microscopie optique et microscopie AFM dans le cadre d’une étude sur la stabilité thermique de la couche active à l'Université de Tübingen. Ces études ont été réalisées aussi grâce à la collaboration avec des chercheurs de BELECTRIC OPV GmbH, qui ont intégré les composés dans des dispositifs et réalisé des expériences complémentaires et comparables. Comme tendances générales, les composés améliorent la stabilité des dispositifs quand les derniers sont soumis à un stress thermique. / Photovoltaic technology (PV) makes it possible to directly convert sunlight into electricity and it is seen as a very promising solution to the current energy crisis. Although the PV market is dominated by inorganic-based devices, those systems present high production costs and deployment issues that limit their application. Polymer-based organic solar cells (OPVs) are promising sources of renewable energy due to their facile, low cost production, and formable nature. Due to its electronic properties and high electron mobility, small molecule fullerene (C60 ) derivatives are widely used in large scale OPVs. However the morphological properties of C60 derivatives decrease device stability as C60 easily undergoes self-aggregation during OPV use. The processibility of C60 can be improved by incorporating it into a polymer. These systems are already described in literature but have in general a multistage synthesis that could affect the electronic properties of C60 as well as give insoluble products due to reticulative reactions. The objective of the work here presented was to prepare innovative polymers based on C60 for photovoltaic and electronic devices using reliable, well-known C60 chemistry. At the University of Pau (EPCP Lab), after the syntheses of small molecules to be used as co-monomers, two synthetic routes were used in order to obtain main- chain oligo- and polyfullerenes. The first route is based on the atom transfer radical addition polymerization (ATRAP), which has already been used for the preparation of main-chain polyfullerenes. With this method, soluble compounds with various molecular weights were prepared. The second route was discovered in this work and exploits a well-known fullerene chemistry to prepare soluble polyfullerenes with reasonably high molecular weights. Preliminary studies to understand the effect of the reaction parameters (reagents, reagents concentration, temperature, time and solvent) and the kinetics of the polymerisation were performed. Material characterisations were carried out via GPC chromatography, NMR spectroscopy, and UV-visible and IR spectroscopies. Thermal analyses (TGA and DSC) were also run to complete the characterisations. Both C60 and its derivative, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), have been exploited as monomers in the reactions. A nine-month (cotutelle) stay at Tübingen University, Germany, permitted a study of the synthesized materials by means of XPS and UPS spectroscopies. The aim of these studies was to obtain a better understanding of the energy levels pictures of the oligo- and polyfullerenes. Thin films of the compounds were deposited on different substrates via solution processes (doctor blade or spin coating) to obtain ex-situ samples for characterisation. Samples of polyfullerene-containing active layers were prepared during a short stay (1 week) at BELECTRIC OPV GmbH, Nuremberg (Germany), and analysed by optical microscopy and AFM microscopy during thermal-degradation studies at Tübingen University. These studies were completed thanks to collaborations with researchers at BELECTRIC OPV GmbH, who have incorporated the compounds into devices and performed complementary and comparable experiments. As general trends, the compounds are found to improve the stability of the devices upon thermal stresses.