The purpose of this master`s thesis has been to both describe the prevalence of collegial learning in a municipal principal's unit, as well as to contribute to an understanding of whether competition between schools can affect the development of the principal's profession, the operations of the schools and the chain of command of the municipality. As theoretical and methodological starting points I have used ethnography, nexus analysis and learning in practice communities. Six interviews and three observations of principals' meetings have been conducted. The results show that there are collegial work processes present during the principals' meetings, albeit to a small extent, and that competition between schools affects the development of the principals' profession, the activities of the schools and the chain of command of the municipality. My conclusions based on this study are that collegial learning between principals could develop the profession of principals, the operations of schools and the chain of command, if the collegial work processes have a clear common goal, which principals analyze, problematize and share their activities with others, which subsequently leads to a common understanding. Collegial learning could also help counteract competition and rivalry and instead be used to create a community where principals see each other as assets and possible work partners. / Syftet med denna  mastersuppsats har varit att dels beskriva förekomsten av kollegialt lärande i en kommunal rektorsenhet, dels att bidra med en förståelse om huruvida konkurrens mellan skolor kan påverka utvecklingen av rektors profession, skolornas verksamhet samt kommunens styrkedja. Etnografi, nexusanalys samt lärande i praktikgemenskaper har använts som teoretisk och metodologisk utgångspunkt. Sex intervjuer och tre observationer av rektorsmöten har genomförts. Resultatet visar att det förekommer kollegiala arbetsprocesser under rektorsmötena, om än i ringa mån, samt att konkurrens mellan skolor kan påverka utvecklingen av rektors profession, skolornas verksamhet samt kommunens styrkedja. Mina slutsatser utifrån denna studie är att kollegialt lärande mellan rektorer skulle kunna utveckla rektors profession, skolornas verksamhet och kommunens styrkedja om de kollegiala arbetsprocesserna har ett tydligt och gemensamt mål samt att rektorerna analyserar, problematiserar och delar sin verksamhet i syfte att nå en gemensam förståelse. Kollegialt lärande skulle också kunna hjälpa till att motverka konkurrens och rivalitet och istället skapa en gemenskap där rektorerna kan se varandra som en tillgång och en möjlig samarbetspartner.

This work deals with character-based DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding and character-based DNA barcoding methods are described in the introduction. Another part contains information of method CAOS (Characteristic Attributes Organization) and method BLOG (Barcoding with LOGic). Programs are described in the practical part. The end contains results.

Developing nations face insurmountable challenges to reliably and sustainably provide energy and water to the population. These resources are intricately entwined such that decisions on the use of one affects the other (energy-water nexus). Inadequate and ageing infrastructure, increased population and connectivity, urbanization, improved standards of living and spatially uneven rainfall are some of the reasons causing this insecurity. Expanding and developing new supply infrastructure is not sustainable due to sky high costs and negative environmental impact such as increased greenhouse gas emissions and over extraction of surface water. The exponentially increasing demand, way above the capacity of supply infrastructure in most developing countries, requires urgent mitigation strategies through demand side management (DSM). The DSM strategies seek to increase efficiency of use of available resources and reducing demand from utilities in the short, medium and long term. Renewable energy, rooftop rain water harvesting, pump-storage scheme and grey water recycling are some alternatives being used to curb the insecurity. However, renewable energy and rooftop water harvesting are spasmodic in nature hampering their adoption as the sole supply options for energy and water respectively. The built environment is one of the largest energy and water consuming sectors in the world presenting a huge potential towards conserving and increasing efficiency of these resources. For this reason, coupled with the 1970s energy challenges, the concept of green buildings seeking to, among other factors, reduce the consumption of energy and water sprung up. Conventionally, policy makers, industry players and researchers have made decisions on either resource independently, with little knowledge on the effect it would have on the other. It is therefore imperative that optimal integration of alternative sources and resource efficient technologies are implemented and analysed jointly in order to achieve maximum benefits. This is a step closer to achieving green buildings while also improving energy and water security. A multifaceted approach to save energy and water should integrate appropriate resource efficient technology, alternative source and an advanced and reliable control system to coordinate their operation. In a typical South African urban residential house, water heating is one of the most energy and water intensive end uses while lawn irrigation is the highest water intensive end use occasioned by low rainfall and high evaporation. Therefore, seamless integration of these alternative supply and most resource intensive end uses provides the highest potential towards resource conservation. This thesis introduces the first practical and economical attempt to integrate various alternative energy and water supply options with efficient devices. The multifaceted approach used in this research has proven that optimal control strategy can significantly reduce the cost of these resources, bring in revenue through renewable energy sales, reuse waste water and reduce the demand for grid energy, water and waste water services. This thesis is generally divided into cold and hot water categories; both of which energy-water nexus DSM is carried out. Open-loop optimal and closed-loop model predictive (MPC) control strategies that minimize the objective while meeting present technical and operational constraints are designed. In cold water systems, open-loop optimal and MPC strategies are designed to improve water reliability through a pump storage system. Energy efficiency (EE) of the pump is achieved through optimally shifting the load to off-peak period of the time-of-use (TOU) tariff in South Africa. Thereafter, an open-loop optimal control strategy is developed for rooftop rain water harvesting for lawn irrigation. The controller ensures water is conserved by using the stored rain water and ensuring only the required amount of water is used for irrigation. Further, EE is achieved through load shifting of the pump subject to the TOU tariff. The two control strategies are then developed to operate a grey water recycling system that is useful in meeting non-potable water demand such as toilet flushing and lawn irrigation and EE is achieved through shifting of pump's load. Finally, the two control strategies are designed for an integrated rain and grey water recycling for a residential house, whose life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is carried out. The hot water category is more energy intensive, and therefore, the open-loop optimal control strategy is developed to control a heat pump water heater (HPWH) and an instantaneous shower, both powered by grid-tied renewable energy systems. Solar and wind energy are used due to their abundance in South Africa. Thereafter, the MPC strategy is developed to power same devices with renewable energy systems. In both strategies, energy is saved through the use of renewable energy sources, that also bring in revenue through sale of excess power back to the grid. In addition, water is conserved through heating the cold water in the pipes using the instantaneous shower rather than running it down the drain while waiting for hot water to arrive. LCC analysis is also carried out for this strategy. Each of the two control strategies has its strengths. The open loop optimal control is easier and cheaper to implement but is only suitable in cases where uncertainties and disturbances affecting the system do not alter the demand pattern for water in a major way. Conversely, the closed-loop MPC strategy is more complicated and costly to implement due to additional components like sensors, but comes with great robustness against uncertainties and disturbances. Both strategies are beneficial in ensuring security and reliability of energy and water is achieved. Importantly, technology alone cannot have sustainable DSM impact. Public education and awareness on importance of energy and water savings, improved efficiency and effect on supply infrastructure and greenhouse gas emissions are essential. Awareness is also important in enabling the acceptance of these technological advancements by the society. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / National Hub for Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (EEDSM) / University of Pretoria / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

This study explores the portrayal of the climate-conflict nexus in global and national communications on climate change response. It utilizes a qualitative inductive approach and the IPCC AR5 (2014) was chosen to represent global communication documents, while two Afghan communications, the Initial as well as Second National Communication, on climate change and response were used to represent the national level. Through a content analysis, several themes were discerned through which the climate-conflict nexus is portrayed. It can be concluded that there are several differences between the global versus Afghan communication documents, as well as between the Initial National Communication (2012) and the Second National Communication (2017). The Second National Communication overall attempts to mirror the communication used by the IPCC by using the same themes but in a more indirect way. The analysis finds that the climate-conflict nexus is often portrayed through indirect communication and that this leads to a lack of conflict-sensitivity in the Afghan national documents, concluding by making suggestions on how to improve conflict-sensitivity in these documents.

This dissertation reviews the progress in climate, land, energy and water (CLEW) multi-scale models and proposes a framework for quantitative assessment of multi-sector long-term policies. The so-called CLEW nexus approaches have shown their usefulness in assessing strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the contexts of increasing demands, resource scarcity, and climate change. This thesis contributes to existing research by (1) focusing on the palette of feasible long-term sustainable solutions at different scales to face current and future sustainable development challenges; (2) improving understanding of how CLEW models can best advise on sustainable development research and highlighting the strengths and limitations of existing configurations; (3) inquiring what is needed for new tools to be accessible, transferable and successful in informing the final user. This dissertation first reviews a set of models that can meet the needs of decision makers discussing research gaps and critical needs and opportunities for further model development from a scientific viewpoint. Particular attention is given to model accessibility, usability, and community support. The review explores at different scales where and why some nexus interactions are most relevant, finding, for example, that both very small scale and global models tend to neglect some CLEW interactions. This dissertation also presents the Nexus Solutions Tool (NEST): a new open modeling platform that integrates multi-scale energy-water-land resource optimization with distributed hydrological modeling. The new approach provides insights into the vulnerability of water, energy and land resources to future socioeconomic and climatic change and how multi-sectoral policies, technological solutions and investments can improve the resilience and sustainability of transformation pathways while avoiding counterproductive interactions among sectors. Finally, a case study analysis of the Indus River Basin in South Asia demonstrates the capability of the NEST framework to capture important interlinkages across system transformation pathways towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The results show how the Indus countries could lower costs for development and reduce soil pollution and water stress, by cooperating on water resources, electricity and food production. / Graduate

The clothing industry can be linked to problematic issues of social equity and environmental sustainability worldwide. This is manifested in the every-day consumer behavior of industrialized societies, which heavily relies on geographically distant labor and resources. Therefore, this thesis looked at the interconnection of social equity and environmental sustainability from a nexus perspective. Nexus approaches are increasingly defining the pathway to sustainable development, yet they typically represent resource-efficient and technological solutions. This form of problematizing water sustainability can keep long-term societal justice problems ‘beneath the surface’, meaning that they are less considered. The WPR approach was used as an analysis tool to understand underlying implications of water sustainability problematizations in the clothing industry. An embedded single case study on the Sweden Textile Water Initiative (STWI) was conducted, which included and integrated literature review, brand document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The initiative’s goal is to help clothing brands to address water sustainability issues along the supply chain. The results show that water sustainability stands in connection to four overarching themes; environmental issues, economic issues, technological issues and socio-political issues. There is a consensus in the literature and amongst the industry representatives that the problems connected to water sustainability in the clothing industry mainly occur on factory level in producing countries. Additionally, the results show that brands have difficulties to act on their responsibility as strong influencers of the supply chain if there is not a business case. Overall this thesis concludes that the classical nexus approach is not a sufficient solution to water sustainability issues if resources make up the center of analysis and social implications are only considered secondary effects.

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[pt] Nas últimas décadas a Cooperação Sul-Sul tem se intensificado substancialmente acompanhando o processo de crescente atuação das potências emergentes no cenário internacional pós Guerra Fria. Tal intensificação tem gerado debates na disciplina das Relações Internacionais acerca do papel desses atores com importante destaque à observância dos desafios pertinentes às agendas de desenvolvimento e segurança cada vez mais convergentes. Nesse sentido, esta dissertação tem por objetivo central analisar a Cooperação Sul-Sul entre o Brasil e a Líbia durante os governos Lula e Dilma estabelecendo assim o recorte temporal que se inicia em 2003 e que se estende até 2014. Este recorte será dividido em dois momentos tendo como marco de inflexão fundamental o ano de 2011 quando ocorreu a Primavera Árabe e a subsequente intervenção da OTAN na Líbia bem como a transição de governos entre Lula e Dilma no Brasil. Esse momento é marcado pelos debates acerca da Responsabilidade de Proteger (R2P), princípio implementado pela primeira vez no caso da Líbia, e a crítica brasileira seguida da proposta de formulação da Responsabilidade ao Proteger (RwP). Portanto, será dado destaque à observação da política externa brasileira e os esforços do Brasil de inserção no cenário internacional enquanto potência regional e poder global emergente compreendendo este movimento sob a perspectiva da interseção entre políticas de desenvolvimento e segurança. Esta pesquisa insere-se no marco teórico do recente debate no campo das Relações Internacionais denominado security-development nexus debate esse motivado pelos desdobramentos do evento de 11 de setembro e da subsequente Guerra ao Terror e que mobiliza discussões acerca da convergência dos campos da segurança e do desenvolvimento no atual cenário internacional. Desse modo, argumenta-se que há uma dinâmica conflitiva e crescente na política externa brasileira que alterna contestação do e inserção no sistema internacional. Essa dinâmica permeia as relações do Brasil com a Líbia bem como o posicionamento brasileiro no que tange às agendas de desenvolvimento e segurança. / [en] In the last decades, the South South Cooperation has intensifying substancially following the process of increase role of the emerging powers on the international scene after Cold War. This intensification has improve the debate in International Relations discipline about the role of this players with focus on the challenges of development and security agenda convergence. In this sense, this dissertation has main goal to analyse the South-South Cooperation between Brazil and Libya in the Lula and Dilma governments setting the time frame that begins in 2003 and extends until 2014. This period will be divided in two moments with fundamental inflection point in 2011when happened the Arab Spring and the subsequente NATO intervention in Libya as well as the transition between Lula and Dilma government. This moment is marked for Responsability to Protect (R2P) debates in International Relations discipline, a principle implemented for the first time in the Libya case, and the Brazilian critics following for the Responsability while Protecting (RwP) proposal. Therefore, emphasis will be placed on Brazilian foreign policy and the Brazil efforts to insertion on international scene as a regional power and emerging global power understending this movement under the development and security policies intersection perspective. This research is based on recently theorical framework of International Relations field called security-develoment nexus. This debate was motiveted for 9/11 events and the Terror War as well as to mobilize the discussion about security and development fields convertion. In this sense, it will be argued that there is a conflitive and increase dynamics in Brazilian foreign policies that alternates contestations of and insertion on international sistem. This dynamics permeates the relations between Brazil na Libya as well as the brazilian position about development and security agendas.

The growing importance to finding workable solutions to the problem of unsustainable and inefficient resource use cannot be overstated.  In the world facing one of its critical sustainability periods, efficient resource utilization to ensure sustainable development is a problem policymakers should grapple with at a loc, regional and local levels. Because of this, the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus has seen a growing number of proponents and supporters worldwide.  This thesis examines the WEFE nexus and its relevance for sustainable resource management, focusing on South Africa’s Inkomati-Usuthu Water Management Area (IUWMA).  WEFE nexus criticizes existing sector-based approaches for their limited recognition of cross-sectoral linkages.  This thesis presents a systematic review of the WEFE nexus in the IUWMA, identifying policy gaps and making recommendations to enhance integrated resource and environmental management based on the WEFE nexus approach.  The findings highlight various factors affecting energy generation, agriculture, water quality and quantity, and ecosystem-related factors within the IUWMA.  The thesis also provides an overview of critical policies related to the WEFE nexus in the IUWMA, demonstrating coherence (or lack thereof) and environmental considerations, and international cooperation.  The implementation of the WEFE nexus policy faces opportunities in collaboration but challenges such as institutional barriers, knowledge gaps, and limited political will.  The IUWMA also presents a complicated case owing to its transboundary nature, to which special attention must be paid when considering WEFE nexus approaches.  The discussion emphasizes the need for a holistic WEFE nexus approach to avoid inefficiencies and conflicts and calls for strong governance structures and equitable resource allocation.  Implementing the WEFE nexus approach can foster collaboration, sustainable resource management, land resilience to climate change impacts with political support, regional cooperation, and stakeholder engagement.