Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This study focuses on a critical analysis of sustainability of Local Economic Development (LED) projects in Mutale Municipality in Limpopo Province of South Africa. It furthermore investigates the extent to which the projects sustain project members. Based on an extensive review of the literature, the study explains an understanding of the emerging trends and challenges in sustainability of LED projects nationally and internationally. A mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods is used. The data were collected by means of unstructured interviews and questionnaires from purposively sampled project members and local economic development officers who came from randomly selected projects. The study demonstrates that while there are some benefits derived by LED project members, to a large extent, the projects are not sustainable. LED is not prioritized in terms of resource allocation by the Municipality. In addition, inadequacies of members‘ capacity in leadership and management also retard sustainability. It is therefore recommended that the Municipality has to prioritise LED in terms of resource allocation and building capacity of beneficiaries in management and other business-related competencies.

This diploma deals with development strategy of company. Subject of analysis is one of the world’s biggest car rental company, it’s Czech part to be more specific. This thesis analyses company according to analytics methods taught during the study, most important is The Strategic analysis. Results of the analysis part reveals a weak spot – absence of utility vehicles, which are offered by company’s foreign offices also by local competitors. Method of minimal costs was used for developing and presenting one specific solution to eliminate the weak spot.

The Master´s thesis deals with specifics of personal leadership or management in companies with advanced technologies, called high-tech. Using questionnaire investigation in addition to structured interview is analyzed situation in personal area in the high-tech company . Theoretical part defines high-tech sector, describes activities and purpose of personal unit and modern conception of development of human resources. Below is entertained about influence of corporate culture on the strategy of human ressource development. Furthermore there are mentioned elements of leadership including theory of generation and diversity management. Practical part involves analytical and recommendation part, including variants

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of career in teaching, which has many specific characteristics compared to the classical concept of career. The thesis focuses on the group of kindergarten teachers who stand at the beginning of the education system as important influencers on the life-long educational journey of each of us. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the view of the kindergarten teacher career by teachers and principals and to look for support from the school management level. The theoretical part deals with three basic areas, which are professional development, professional career and career system. The first chapter shows the connection between the professional development of teachers and their career, it also focuses on its individual components, especially continual education of teachers. The second chapter is devoted to the career itself and compares the theoretical background of the career with its specifics in the teaching career. It looks at the teaching profession in terms of its attractiveness and individual stages of the teachers' career. The third chapter reflects the need for a career system, characterizes its benefits and presents the current state of its setting in the Czech Republic and abroad. The research part uses a questionnaire survey to find out how teachers...

Infrastructure systems around the world face immediate crises and smoldering long-term challenges. Consequently, system owners and managers must balance the need to repair and replace the aging and deteriorating systems already in place against the need for transformative investments in deep decarbonization, climate adaptation, and transportation that will enable long-term competitiveness. Complicating these decisions are deep uncertainties, finite resources, and competing objectives. These challenges motivate the integration of “hard” investments in physical infrastructure with “soft” instruments like insurance, land use policy, and ecosystem restoration that can improve service, shrink costs, scale up or down as future needs require, and reduce vulnerability to population loss and economic contraction. A critical advantage of soft instruments is that they enable planners to adjust, expand, or reduce them at regular intervals, unlike hard instruments which are difficult to modify once in place. As a result, soft instruments can be precisely tailored to meet near-term needs and conditions, including projections of the quasi-oscillatory, regime-like climate processes that dominate seasonal to decadal hydro-climate variability, thereby reducing the need to guess the needs and hazards of the distant future. The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate how potentially predictable modes of structured climate variability can inform the design of soft instruments and the formulation of adaptive infrastructure system plans. Using climate information for sequential adaptation requires developing credible projections of climate variables at relevant time scales. PartI considers the drivers of river floods in large river basins, which is used throughout this dissertation as an example of a high-impact hydroclimate extreme. First, chapter 2 opens by exploring the strengths and limitations of existing methodologies, and by developing a statistical-dynamical causal chain framework within which to consider flood risk on interannual to secular time scales. Next, chapter 3 describes the physical mechanisms responsible for heavy rainfall (90th percentile exceedance)and flooding in the Lower Paraguay River Basin (LPRB), focusing on a November-February(NDJF) 2015-16 flood event that displaced over 170 000 people. This chapter shows that: 1. persistent large-scale conditions over the South American continent during NDJF 2015-16 strengthened the South American Low-Level Jet (SALLJ), bringing warm air and moisture to South East South America (SESA), and steered the jet towards the LPRB, leading to repeated heavy rainfall events and large-scale flooding; 2. while the observed El Niño event contributed to a stronger SALLJ, the Madden-JulienOscillation (MJO) and Atlantic ocean steered the jet over the LPRB; and 3. while numerical sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) and seasonal models projected an elevated risk of flooding consistent with the observed El Niño event, they had limited skill at lead times greater than two weeks, suggesting that improved representation of MJO and Atlantic teleconnections could improve regional forecast skill. Finally, chapter 4 shows how mechanistic understanding of the physical causal chain that leads to a particular hazard of interest – in this case heavy rainfall over a large area in the Ohio River Basin (ORB) – can inform future risks. Taking the GFDL coupled model, version 3 (CM3) as a representative general circulation model (GCM), this chapter shows that 1. the GCM simulates too many regional extreme precipitation (REP) events but under-simulates the occurrence of back to back REP days; 2. REP days show consistent large-scale climate anomalies leading up to the event; 3. indices describing these large-scale anomalies are well simulated by the GCM; and 4. a statistical model describing this causal chain and exploiting simulated large-scale in-dices from the GCM can be used to inform the future occurrence of REP days. Even the best climate projections must confront epistemic uncertainties. Part II of this dissertation explores how intrinsically flawed projections should inform sequential adaptation.First, chapter5reviews approaches for planning under uncertainty, considering the role of classical decision theory, optimization, probability, and non probabilistic approaches. Next, chapter 6 considers how different physical mechanisms impart predictability at different timescales and the implications of secular, low-frequency cyclical, and high-frequency cyclical variability for selection between instruments with long and short planning periods. In particular, this chapter builds from three assertions regarding the nature of climate risk: 1. different climate risk mitigation instruments have different project lifespans; 2. climate risk varies on many scales; and 3. the processes which dominate this risk over the planning period depend on the planning period itself. Defining M as the nominal design life of a structural or financial instrument and N as the length of the observational record (a proxy for total informational uncertainty), chapter 7 presents a series of stylized computational experiments to probe the implications of these premises. Key findings are that: 1. quasi-periodic and secular climate signals, with different identifiability and predictability, control future uncertainty and risk; 2. adaptation strategies need to consider how uncertainties in risk projections influence the success of decision pathways; and 3. stylized experiments reveal how bias and variance of climate risk projections influencerisk mitigation over a finite planning period. Chapter 7 elaborates these findings through a didactic case study of levee heightening in the Netherlands. Integrating a conceptual model of low-frequency variability with credible projections of sea level rise, chapter 7 uses dynamic programming to co-optimize hard (levee increase) and soft (insurance) instruments. Key findings are that 1. large but distant and uncertain changes (e.g., sea level rise) do not necessarily motivate immediate investment in structural risk protection; 2. soft adaptation strategies are robust to different model structures and assumptions while hard instruments perform poorly under conditions for which they were not de-signed; and 3. increasing the hypothetical predictability of near-term climate extremes significantly lowers long-term adaptation costs. Finally, part III seeks to unpack the conceptual experiments of parts I and II to inform policy and future research. Chapter 8 describes how constructive narratives about climate change can discourage climate fatalism. Instead, chapter 8 emphasizes that while climate change is and will be a critical stressor of infrastructure systems, individuals, communities, and regions have agency and can mitigate its consequences. Finally, chapter9concludes by discussing the key findings of this dissertation and exploring how future work on decision under uncertainty, technology, and earth systems science can aid the design and management of effective infrastructure services.

Актуальность исследования развития производственной системы зависит от конкретного контекста, в котором развивается производственное предприятие, в настоящее время к числу таких условий можно отнести значительную технологическую перестройку производственных процессов, связанных с внедрением цифровых технологий и смену производственной культуры, соответствующей подобным изменениям. В целом развитие производственных систем является важной темой в различных отраслях и секторах, поскольку она может оказать существенное влияние на эффективность, производительность и конкурентоспособность. В данном исследовании рассматриваются актуальные вопросы по управлению культурой и цифровыми компетенциями при развитии производственного предприятия и предлагается методический подход к управлению развитием производственной системы, принимающий во внимание социальные факторы внутренней среды металлургического предприятия. Цель исследования – развитие методических основ управления развитием металлургического предприятия на основе формирования и развития производственной культуры и цифровых компетенций персонала. / The relevance of the study of the development of the production system depends on the specific context in which the manufacturing enterprise develops, at present, such conditions include a significant technological restructuring of production processes associated with the introduction of digital technologies and a change in the production culture corresponding to such changes. In general, the development of production systems is an important topic in various industries and sectors, as it can have a significant impact on efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. This study discusses topical issues of managing culture and digital competencies in the development of a manufacturing enterprise and proposes a methodological approach to managing the development of a production system that takes into account the social factors of the internal environment of a metallurgical enterprise. The purpose of the study is to develop the methodological foundations for managing the development of a metallurgical enterprise based on the formation and development of a production culture and digital competencies of personnel.

High levels of water stress and increased demand for potable water generated via desalination pose significant challenges for sustainable waste brine management in arid regions. Electrochemical techniques, like brine electrolysis, offer an approach for treating brine, preventing environmentally harmful disposal, and facilitating the recycling of valuable ions found in brine. As the large concentration of ions can precipitate and degrade conventional electrolyzer components, membraneless electrolyzers, which lack membranes, can be an alternative for direct brine electrolysis. The absence of membranes enables operation in the presence of impurities and a wide range of pH environments. However, membraneless electrolyzers suffer from a trade-off between current density and current utilization that stems from undesired back-reactions that arise from the crossover of gaseous and aqueous products between the anode and cathode. In this dissertation work, a combination of in situ high-speed video, colorimetric pH imaging, modeling, and electroanalytical methods were used to evaluate how the performance of a porous flow-through cathode is affected by operating current density, electrolyte flow rate, and choice of catalyst placement on a porous support. It was found that catalyst placement is a key knob to control the location of product generation and thereby minimize product crossover and maximize pH differential. Placing the catalyst on the outer surface of the cathode resulted in an average increase of 51% in current utilization, a metric for measuring crossover, compared to the opposite configuration. This finding is explained by the ability of the porous electrode support to serve as a barrier to suppress crossover for the outward-facing catalyst configuration. In addition, the outward-facing catalyst configuration leads to more stable operation while incurring minor increases (90-170 mV) in overpotentials. For both catalyst configurations, it was also shown that the Damköhler number (𝐷𝑎) is a practical descriptor for predicting operating conditions that maximize the concentration of OH⁻ in the cathode effluent stream. Furthermore, this dissertation evaluated the performance of a platinized cathode within a membraneless electrolyzer in the presence of Mg²⁺ impurities. In a 3-hour stability test at 50 mA cm⁻² during brine electrolysis, electrolytes with Mg²+ concentration below 5 mM showed a negligible influence on cathode performance. Electrolytes with Mg²⁺ concentration below 1.2 mM at similar operating conditions exhibited improved cathode performance compared to Mg-free brine. All learnings during this study were captured in a mathematical model that predicts the tolerance threshold at which the cathode would cease to operate due to accumulations of Mg(OH)₂ deposits at different current densities and superficial velocities. Overall, these studies demonstrated the potential of membraneless electrolyzers as an emerging technology for treating brine and converting it into high-value products. Finally, applying an oxide overlayer to planar electrodes has been demonstrated to improve their stability, activity, and/or selectivity. This is relevant for direct brine electrolysis, as brine contains many impurities that can compromise the integrity of electrodes and promote undesirable reactions, generating toxic products like chlorine gas. However, given that high-surface electrodes are required for industrial applications, it is necessary to develop a method to encapsulate high-surface-area electrodes. Applying nanoscopic oxide encapsulation layers to high-surface-area electrodes such as nanoparticle-supported porous electrodes is not an easy task. This dissertation work demonstrated that the recently developed condensed layer deposition (CLD) method can be used for depositing nanoscopic (sub-10 nm thick) titanium oxide (TiO₂) overlayers onto high surface area platinized carbon foam electrodes. Characterization of the overlayers by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) showed they are amorphous, while X-ray photoelectron microscopy confirmed that they exhibit TiO₂ stoichiometry. Electrodes were also characterized by hydrogen underpotential deposition (Hupd) and carbon monoxide (CO) stripping, demonstrating that the Pt electrocatalysts remain electrochemically active after encapsulation. Furthermore, copper underpotential deposition (Cuupd) measurements for bare Pt and TiO₂-encapsulated Pt electrocatalysts revealed that the TiO₂ overlayer effectively prevented Cu₂+ from reaching the buried, allowing this method to determine the coverage of the TiOx coating. In summary, this portion of the dissertation demonstrated that CLD is a promising method for applying nanoscopic overlayers on high-surface electrodes.

For more than three decades, the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Reports have studied and benchmarked the many factors underpinning national competitiveness. The quality of higher education and training is considered particularly crucial to ensure national competitiveness. The globalizing economy requires countries to nurture pools of well-educated workers who are able to perform complex tasks and adapt rapidly to their changing environment and the evolving needs of the economy. Vocational and continuous on-the-job training and the constant upgrading of workers’ skills is critical to sustain the economical status of the country. Despite the acknowledgement that education, training and development (ETD) is a key driver for a country's economical sustainability and growth, the contributions that companies make to this effect are a concern. This is ascribed to the difficulties experienced in companies regarding the management of ETD. In this study it is postulated that communication problems are at the heart of the challenges which are experienced in managing ETD. Strategic conversation is proposed as one of the methods to address the communication and performance shortcomings experienced by business and ETD managers. It is argued that if the level of conversations is raised to make them strategic, the potential to optimise results and make an impact at organisational and national level is increased. Hence, the purpose of this study was to propose a Strategic ETD Conversation (SETDC) model to optimise Return on Occupational Training Expectations (ROTE) that would contribute towards the achievement of organisational and national strategic goals. In lieu of the limited empirical research available on the strategic conversation phenomenon in general, the purpose of this study was inter alia to conduct empirical research to explore the essence of strategic ETD conversations in order to propose a model of practical value to ETD managers. Hence, the empirical research was situated in both an explorative paradigm and a pragmatic paradigm with the aim to provide practical solutions and an instrument to successfully engage in strategic ETD conversations which would enhance the quality of ETD and thus contribute to global competitiveness. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Thesis (MAdmin)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis attempts to provide alternative solutions to housing and developmental problems faced by the government in South Africa's urban/metropolitan areas in general and in Khayelitsha in particular. The root causes of the problems have been identified and linked to urbanisation-related government policies of the past. The Group Areas "urban model of development" influenced the planning, management and development (spatial policies) in the urban/metropolitan areas. The rural-urban migration process through the migrant labour system during the industrialisation period was engineered by the "Corporate State" and consolidated by the introduction of tax systems and laws regulating land ownership by the African people (Natives). These have impoverished the African people both in rural and urban/metropolitan areas. The existing gap in development between rural and urban/metropolitan areas, in particular in the peri-urban areas, is evident in persistent poverty and unemployment as effects of the conditions which generate increased migration. In this context, Khayelitsha is used as a case study to illustrate study variables (urban policies and management, rapid urbanisation and their impact on housing and development) at grassroots level. Comparison is made undertaken between South African housing and developmental problems and those of other developing countries. Tanzania and Zimbabwe as African countries and former British Colonies (African connection) have been chosen for this purpose. Data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews and participatory observation. This makes the study objective, but also subjective. The research concludes that there is a need to devote more resources to rural development programmes accompanied by decentralisation strategies. This will help to reduce the gap between rural and urban development. It is hoped that the information contained in this thesis will provide a basic background to meet the social and economic challenges by addressing housing and developmental problems, in Khayelitsha in particular and South Africa in general. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word daar gepoog om moontlike oplossings te vind vir die behuisings en ontwikkelingsprobleme wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse regering en stedelike/metropolitaanse gebiede oor die algemeen en Khayelitsha in die besonder ondervind word. Die kernoorsake van die probleme word geïdentifiseer en verbind aan die vorige regering se verstedelikingsbeleide. Beplanning, bestuur en ontwikkeling (ruimtelike beleide) in die stedelike/metropolitaanse gebiede is beïnvloed deur die Groepsgebiede-model vir stedelike ontwikkeling. Die landelike-stedelike migrasieproses, geïnisieer deur die trekarbeidstelsel gedurende die industrialiseringsera, is deur die "Korporatiewe Staat" bewerkstellig en gekonsolideer deur die instelling van belastingstelsels en wette ter regulering van grondbesit deur swart mense. Dit het gelei tot die verarming van swart mense in landelike en stedelike/metropolitaanse gebiede. Die bestaande gaping in ontwikkeling tussen landelike en stedelike gebiede, in die besonder in buitestedelike gebiede, blyk duidelik uit gevestigde armoede en werkloosheid as uitvloeisels van die omstandighede wat tot toenemende migrasie lei. In hierdie konteks is Khayelitsha gebruik as 'n gevallestudie om die studieveranderlikes (stedelike beleide, stedelike bestuur, snelle verstedeliking en die impak daarvan op behuising en ontwikkeling) op voetsoolvlak te illustreer. Vergelykings is getref ten einde Suid-Afrikaanse behuisings- en ontwikkelingsprobleme met ander ontwikkelende lande te vergelyk. Vir die doel is Tanzanië en Zimbabwe as Afrikalande en eertydse Britse kolonies (Afrika-konneksie) gekies. Data is ingesamel deur middel van vraelyste, onderhoude en deelnemende waarneming. Dit het daartoe gelei dat die studie nie alleen objektief nie, maar ook subjektief is. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat meer hulpbronne tesame met desentraliseringstrategieë gerig op landelike ontwikkelingsprogramme benodig word. Dit sal bydra tot vernouing van die gaping tussen landelike en stedelike ontwikkeling. Daar word derhalwe gehoop dat die inligting vervat in hierdie tesis basiese agtergrond sal verskaf om die sosiale en ekonomiese uitdagings die hoof te bied deur die bestaande behuisings - en ontwikkelingsprobleme in Khayelitsha in die besonder en Suid-Afrika oor die algemeen aan te spreek.

[Truncated abstract] The application of reductionism, breaking down problems to simpler components that can be solved and then aggregating the results, is one of the bases of classical science. However, living organisms, ecosystems, social and economic structures are complex systems, characterised by non-linear interactions between their elements and exhibit emergent properties that are not directly traceable to their components. Sustainability assessment frameworks oversimplify system interactions, achieving limited predictive capacity and causing managerial behavior that may reduce system's ability to adapt to external disturbance. Intrigued by the importance of complexity, we explore the central theme of how complex thinking can influence the understanding and progress towards sustainability. The purpose is to conceptualize the relationship of key terms (such as sustainability, functionality and resilience), and consecutively develop new or adjust existing sustainability frameworks to take into account complex systems interactions. We aim at developing theory and frameworks that can be used to raise awareness of the pitfalls of the growth paradigm and direct towards modest positions when managing complex systems. We seek to define the structural elements that influence system adaptive capacity, allowing identification of early signs of system rigidity or vulnerability and the development of knowledge and techniques that can improve our predictive and managerial ability. The focus has been on a variety of system scales and dynamics. At the collective community level, a number of stakeholder engagement practices and frameworks are currently available. However, there is limited awareness of the complexity challenges among stakeholders, who are commonly directed to a triple bottom line analysis aiming at maximizing a combination of outputs. An attempt is conducted to measure the functionality of the processes underlying a standing stock, in contrast to sustainability measures that only assess the variations of the standing stock itself. We develop the Index of Sustainable Functionality (ISF), a framework for the assessment of complex systems interactions within a large-scale geographic domain and apply it to the State of Western Australia. '...' Finally, we focus on smaller systems scales and develop a methodology for the calculation of Product Ecological Footprint (PEF) including elements from the accounting method of activity based costing. We calculate PEF for three apple production systems and identify significant differences from first stage calculations within the same industry. Cross-industry application will provide a practical way to link individuals' consumption with their ecological impact, reduce misperceptions of products' ecological impacts and develop a market-driven approach to internalizing environmental externalities. At the firm level PEF can be compared with investment costs, resulting in the opportunity to optimize both functions of financial cost and ecological impact in decision making. We have developed methods for incorporating complexity in sustainability assessment frameworks. Further work is required in testing and validating these methodologies at multiple system scales and conditions. Integrating such tools in decision making mechanisms will enhance long-term management of socioecological systems performance.