As the pressure on the chemical and process industries to improve environmental and economic performance increases, the need to move away from narrow system definitions and concepts in environmental system management is becoming more apparent. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been a gaining wider acceptance as a holistic tool that enables quantification of environmental interventions and evaluation of the improvement options throughout the life cycle of process, product or activity. The stringent environmental legislation, especially in developing countries has warranted the need for intensive research in this field. Moreover, the capital cost for mitigation of emissions have put enormous pressure on the industries to reduce the overall process economic performance. This has not exempted the Pulp and Paper industry, being the producers of highly variable emissions quality and quantity are the prime candidates for the application of the technique. The application of the LCA in process selection has been necessitated by the fact that sometimes a technology intended to reduce wastes has created unanticipated impacts in other media and/or stages of the life cycle. Thus, LCA has been developed as a means to identify and deal with these impacts before they can occur. It differs from other pollution prevention techniques in that it views all the resource and energy inputs to a product (Life Cycle Inventory), as well as the associated wastes, health and ecological burdens (Impact Assessment), and evaluates opportunities to reduce environmental impacts (Improvement Analysis) from cradle to grave. LCA is often confused with other assessment tools, such as life cycle cost (LCC) or sometimes referred to as "environmental life cycle costing." This study was conducted at Mondi Packaging South African-Piet Retief Mill, a producer of linerboard, since this site has ample opportunity to minimse the environmental burden presented by operation of both Copeland Reactor and Boilers with significant emissions of SOx and NOx, and water effluent. The current mill strategy that is based on tight procurement specification of raw material is unsustainable. The environmental and economic performance analysis for this study followed from a mass balance of the pulp plant, power station, and paper machine as well as black liquor incinerating plant, and it was found that the most significant emissions come from pulp and steam generating processes. These emissions can be reduced by improving the mill energy efficiency and optimizing the Copeland scrubber absorption efficiency. The optimization of the Copeland scrubbing system will surely lead to improved environmental performance, however, the furnace stacks have to be modified to include the scrubbing system for absorption of SOx and NOx. / Dissertation (MEng (Chemical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

The overarching purpose of this collected papers dissertation was to explore the best practices used by Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals to help working mothers who are experiencing postpartum depression symptoms after maternity leave. The first paper in this dissertation was an integrative literature review. The second paper in this dissertation investigated whether participation in online support groups served to moderate the effect of postpartum depression symptoms on work impairment (measured in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism). Both studies were undergirded by the stress-buffering hypothesis, which posits that social support can moderate the effect of experiencing a stressful event. Study #2 also included the self-labeling theory, which explains how a person with mental illness seeks voluntary support. Study #1 reviews studies that examine how to support women experiencing postpartum depression symptoms in the workplace. No studies were found in HRD literature. The stress-buffering hypothesis held weight in informing HRD professionals to help women experiencing postpartum depression symptoms. The majority of the studies pointed to social support, especially from coworkers and supervisors, as having a positive effect on postpartum depression symptom scores. Study #2 explores the effect of participation in online support groups on the work impairment of women experiencing postpartum depression symptoms. This study surveyed working mothers with children under the age of one from online support groups. The survey consisted of three measures: The Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987); the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI; Reilly, Zbrozek, & Dukes, 1993); and the Online Social Support for Smoking Cessation survey (OS4; Graham, Papandonatos, Kang, Moreno, & Abrams, 2011). This study did not support the hypothesis that online support group participation would moderate the effect of postpartum depression symptoms on work impairment. Overall, the findings of these studies are entry points into the HRD literature about how working women who are experiencing postpartum depression symptoms can be supported by their employers. Further research is necessary to examine the type of social support that is effective at helping working mothers.

Background. Developing countries are undergoing a process of epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable diseases, described by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as “a public health emergency in slow motion”. One of the most prevalent of these diseases, in sub-Saharan Africa, is hypertension, which is a complex chronic condition often referred to as the “silent killer” and a key contributor to the development of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Hypertensive patients in this setting are estimated to increase from 74.7 million in 2008 to 125.5 million in 2025, a 68% increase. There is however an important gap between emerging high-level policies and recommendations, and the near-absence of practical guidance and experience delivering long-term medical care for non-communicable diseases within resources-limited health systems. To address this gap, our study consisted of field investigations to determine the minimum health systems requirements necessary to ensure successful delivery of anti-hypertensive medications when scaling-up interventions. Methods/Design. A cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in the Western Cape Province of South Africa using a mixed method approach with two sets of semi-structured interviews and simulation modeling. One set of interviews was conducted with health professionals involved in the care of hypertensive patients within nine community health centers (five urban and four rural) to understand the challenges associated with their care. The other set was used to map and assess the current supply chain management system of antihypertensive medications and involved key informants at different levels of the process. Finally, modeling and simulation tools with ARENA Software were used to estimate minimum numbers of health workers required to ensure successful delivery of medications when scaling up interventions. Results. The study found numerous challenges affecting the care of hypertensive patients in primary health care facilities and categorized these into five interconnected dimensions: Management of the visits within the PHC facility, Adequacy of human resources, Standardization of patients’ care, Infrastructure limitations, and Patients’ responsibilities. Potential solutions to overcome these challenges were explored in order to improve the care of the hypertensive patients in the PHC facilities. Mapping of the drug supply chain management system highlighted the complexity of the system. In fact many of the issues reported fell outside of the control of the provincial health department. The need for a more single comprehensive computer system to handle most of the functions of the drug supply management system was heavily emphasized. The modeling and simulation tool with ARENA Software estimated the type and number of health care professionals needed to provide appropriate services to a certain patient population based on the set targets. The sample data used showed how one can test the impact of various changes in the processes and staffing levels to minimize waiting times while increasing the daily patients’ intake at the facility. We found that with few additional nursing staff, that are more affordable and quicker to train than medical doctors and pharmacists, one can considerably improve the performance of the facilities in the care of hypertensive patients. Discussion. This investigation has highlighted the detailed processes in place for the care of hypertensive patients in primary health care facilities, identifying the challenges in providing such care. The potential solutions suggested by the study results, if implemented, should help improve services offered and ensure that the system remains sustainable when patients’ intake increases exponentially as a result of scaled up interventions. The weaknesses of the drug supply chain management system demand immediate action. The modeling and simulation tools used in this study, if used on an ongoing basis, could create more effective planning of needed resources, although their proper utilization will require extra training for managers. Whether there is sufficient political support to ensure the resources necessary to reach the provincial health department’s hypertension target remains to be seen, and would benefit with further economic studies to estimate the cost associated with tackling the hypertension epidemic.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether and in what ways an intensive eight-week Mindfulness-Based Symptom Management (MBSM) program might shape the therapeutic experiences of therapists. I used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to interview and develop in-depth descriptions of four therapists’ experiences in relation to mindfulness and their therapeutic practices. The data collection consisted of: (1) a telephone screening interview; (2) pre-mindfulness training interview; (3) post-mindfulness training interview; (4) field notes based on my observations, subjective experiences, and beginning analyses; (5) and member-checks to verify the accuracy of my interpretations of participants’ interview responses. The results pointed to several common themes indicating the changes therapists described after participating in the mindfulness program. Themes denoting the reported changes were organized into three categories: (1) personal relationship with mindfulness; (2) relationship between mindfulness and therapeutic experiences; and (3) mindfulness-oriented interventions performed in therapy. The findings indicated that mindfulness training is associated with the enhancement of important relational attitudes and skills of therapists, including more acceptance of where clients are at, more presence in therapy, increased capacity to listen, openness and curiosity, and more compassion and empathy. In addition, mindfulness training may be linked to improved reflexive abilities, which has implications for more intentional and ethical decision-making in therapy. Further, the findings also indicated that mindfulness training may be linked to improvements in emotion regulation by decreasing stress, increasing feelings of relaxation and calmness, improving awareness of negative emotional and cognitive states as well as the ability to interrupt these negative cycles. As such, this study pointed to several potential benefits for the inclusion of mindfulness training in therapists’ self-care practices as well as in therapist education.

The diploma work deals with the view of Prof. Dr. Albín Bráf on social politics. Albín Bráf, who wrote many works that treat social politics, was a distinguished Czech economist and politician living on the break of the 19th and 20th century. The aim of the work is to find out what were Bráf's theoretical opinions about social politics and whether he asserted any governmental intervention in this area. The work is divided into two chapters. The first one contains the biography of Bráf. The second chapter describes his view of social politics and is further subdivided into particular sections that deal with issues that Bráf was concerned with (e. g. the insurance of workers, the legislation for the protection of workers, the problematics of wages and alms). This work draws from the Bráf's works concerned with social politics chiefly and uses the method of analysis of original sources and the comparation of Bráf's view with actual Czech conception and understanding of social politics .

A main objective of my diploma paper is analysis of different growth strategies of economic policy in two africain countries in the time of their independency. The focus of this paper will be devoted to comparison of growth factors from the point of institucional economics. These factors will be investigated together with both economics -- Senegal and Kenya in 1960s and 1970s in connection with different colonial policies of Great Britain and France. In the final part, I 'd like to make some perspective strategies of both economic policies from the point of institutional economics.

The thesis focuses on the meanings and paradoxes of scrapping bonus in automobile industry. The automobile market includes very wide legislative which has a restrictive effect on production cars but the scrappage has inverse consequences. Scrappaing bonus as a state interventions and their impacts on the market price, the market equilibrium and the wealth of people is another aim of this dissertation. This is conected with the Kuznets Curve which descibes the relationship between the quality of the environment and the welth of the people. The main point of the thesis is the analysis of the positive and negative arguments for the implementation of the scrappage. The implementation is related with the calculation of the CO2 emissions of the new cars and the CO2 emissions of the old cars. The results of the calculation should be confirm or refute the posibility, that the scrapping bonus is improving to improve the environment. The thesis contains the facts about the average age fo the car fleet because the scrapagge is often joined with the turnover on road safety.

Telecommunications are nowadays vital part of every developed economy. Goal of this thesis is to analyze development of telecommunication in Czech Republic since the nineties of twenty century. Special attention is paid to the role of state in this process and effects of its behavior on forming and development of Czech telecommunication market. State behavior is mostly the topic of the first part of thesis. This part of thesis is divided into time period in which the most significant state interventions are analyzed in context with Czech telecommunication market development. Second part of thesis is focused on comparison of telecommunications market development in Western Europe and Czech Republic. Focus is specifically on differences and parallels in telecommunications development and their effect on current state of telecommunications market in specific countries. Last part of thesis analysis future development in telecommunications in Czech Republic and Europe in roughly five years horizon with focus on technology, services and regulation

stract Abstract The aim of this thesis is to compare the responses of the two largest economies in the world - the U.S. and the EU -- to economic, debt and financial crisis that began in 2007 on U.S. mortgage markets, respectively, confirm or disprove the hypothesis that the United States deal with the crisis better. For this purpose the thesis describes the causes and consequences of the crisis on which was applied measures at EU level and at the level of the USA. The list of these measures is also presented in the thesis. To decide whether the hypothesis is correct or not is at the thesis analyzed the impact of the measures implemented to both economics. This analysis is based on monitoring the development of statistical indicators of major macroeconomic aggregates - especially the GDP, unemployment and public debt, and quantification of bailouts for the financial sector. Based on the above analysis, the present work confirmed the hypothesis.

The paper deals with the comparison of the japanese and the german model of capitalism and the search for the answer to the question asking if these two models are becomming closer to each other thanks to globalization or not. The research is based on work with historical sources, reports published by international organizations and also articles available on the Internet. The first chapter defines the term of economic policy and globalization and describes historical development of japanese and german economy. The second chapter describes development between the world wars. In the third chapter I focus on the World War II and its influence on the economy of both states. The final chapter follows the development from the 70s of the 20th century to nowadays. At the end of each chapter I summarize the main features of both states in the researched period that enable me to answer the main question of my work.