Family reunification for unaccompanied refugee minors is one of the most debatable issues when it comes to deciding whether it should be viewed as a right or it can be justifiable for states to completely prevent it and rather provide it only as a privilege. The discussion in the legal sphere proved that the issue is still problematic in both international and European laws. In this thesis, I have analyzed this issue through assessing the three claims that were provided by the United Kingdom for its negative position on the case. Through the lens of the child’s best interests’ principle, the non-discrimination principle, and the global distributive justice theory, I argued for considering family reunification as a right rather than a privilege. Children should always be treated as children. It cannot be justifiable for states to completely prevent them from being reunited with their families for being refugees.

Denna studies syfte är att beskriva socialsekreterares upplevelse av utredningsarbetet när en eller båda föräldrarna har en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. För att svara på studiens syfte har vi intervjuat sex socialsekreterare som arbetar med och har erfarenhet av föräldrar med en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning. Studiens empiriska material bygger på en kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjuform. Studiens insamlade datamaterial har analyserats med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt socialkonstruktionism och stigma som är studiens två teoretiska perspektiv. Resultatet är uppdelat i två huvudtema, vilka är Föräldraförmåga och Utredningsarbete. Huvudtema A har två underteman och huvudtema B har tre underteman. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga av de intervjuade socialsekreterarna upplever att barnets bästa är ett komplext begrepp, då varje barn är unikt med unika behov. Resultatet visar även att det kan finnas svårigheter för en förälder med en intellektuell funktionsnedsättning att tillgodose sitt barns behov, men att det inte är knutet till den intellektuella funktionsnedsättningen utan alla bedömningar måste göras individuellt. / The purpose of this study is to describe the social secretary's experience of investigation work when one or both parents have an intellectual disability. To answer the study's purpose, we interviewed six social secretaries who work with and have experience with parents with an intellectual disability. The empirical material of the study is based on a qualitative semi-structured interview form. The study's collected data has been analyzed using previous research on social constructionism and stigma, which provide the study's two theoretical perspectives. Result are divided into two main themes: parental ability and investigation work. Main theme A has two sub-themes and main theme B has three sub-themes. The study shows that all of the interviewed social secretaries feel that the child's best interests are a complex concept, since each child is unique with unique needs. It may be difficult for a parent with an intellectual disability to meet their child's needs, but that this is not directly linked to the intellectual disability, therefor all assessments must be made individually.

The purpose of the study is to make preschool teachers’ experiences of the preschool's activities in relation to the best interests of the child visible. The study is based on the method of semi-structured interviews of a total of five preschool teachers.                             The results of the study show how the preschool teachers express the experience that the child should experience safety when they come to and stay in preschool. The preschool teachers describe how the attitude and sensitivity affect the child's opportunities for participation and influence. They express the importance of being present for the child to have influence, to be involved but also to have the opportunity to develop. At the same time, the results show how the preschool teachers expresses that it can be challenging to be sensitive to the child's expressions and feelings and not what the guardian thinks is the child's best interest in preschool. Furthermore, the results show how the reflection time varied among the preschool teachers and their experiences of more and less reflection time. What is prominent in the result is the preschool teachers' attitude towards the youngest preschool children. Some of the preschool teachers express the experience of working in a young children's department and how it includes that the youngest children have a harder time expressing themselves and having their own opinion. / Studiens syfte är att synliggöra förskollärarens upplevelser kring förskolans verksamhet i förhållande till barnets bästa. Till grund för studien ligger metoden semistrukturerade intervjuer av totalt fem förskollärare.                              Studiens resultat visar hur förskollärarna uttrycker upplevelser av att barnet ska uppleva tryggheten när de kommer till och vistas i förskolan. Förskollärarna beskriver hur förhållningssättet och lyhördheten påverkar barnets möjligheter till delaktighet och inflytande. De uttrycker vikten av att vara närvarande för att barnet ska få inflytande, vara delaktig men också för att få möjlighet att utvecklas. Samtidigt visar resultatet hur förskollärarna uttrycker att det kan vara utmanande att vara lyhörd för barnets uttryck och känslor och inte vad vårdnadshavaren menar är barnets bästa i förskolan. Vidare visar resultatet hur reflektionstiden varierade bland förskollärarna och deras erfarenheter av mer eller mindre reflektionstid. Det som är framträdande i resultatet är förskollärarnas förhållningssätt till de yngsta förskolebarnen. Enstaka förskollärare uttrycker erfarenheten av att arbeta på yngrebarnsavdelning och hur det innefattar att de yngsta barnen har svårare att uttrycka sig och ha en egen åsikt.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The objective of this research is to investigate the factors at plant level which impact on the diffusion of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques to enterprises in developing countries generally, and South Africa specifically. This informs the development of meaningful supply-side measures to improve the competitiveness of South African manufacturers. This has been achieved through both a thorough examination of the literature and through field research. The field research documents the implementation experiences in fifteen South African plants which participated in the Shopfloor Best Practice workshops of the Manufacturing Roundtable (MRT). I chose to examine these examples of transfer as I was a participant researcher, attached to the MRT. The central question which guided my research is what are the factors which affect the depth of systemic adoption of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques on the shopfloor in South Africa, and what this indicates for the breadth of diffusion of the techniques across the manufacturing sector as a whole. The research argument is that for sustainable adoption both social and technical aspects of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques need to be addressed. Focusing on the technical aspects only and presenting a universally applicable model obscures the realities of transfer, as the embeddedness of the techniques in the social and institutional context is ignored. The point of departure for analysis in this thesis is thus real examples of transfer, as opposed to a universally defined and abstracted model. The experience and opinions of the workshop participants, and those of managers in their plants, have been gathered through individual in-depth interviews and site visits. The evidence indicates that there are many factors both internal and external to the firm which are likely to constrain significantly the ability of some firms to move in the systemic direction. These include the poor primary education of much of the workforce, poor management skills, wage and social inequality and a lack of participation in the workplace. It becomes apparent that the process of diffusion amongst South African manufacturers is not likely to be rapid or steady, and that the most likely path is one of uneven diffusion.

Currently, development of the international investment market, the impact of the legislation of neighbouring countries and especially EU countries on property valuation is increasing. There is a need to unify not only the valuation procedures, but also terms, definitions, approaches, methods and requirements on the profession of the experts and assessors. One of the commonly used concepts of property valuation is the High and Best Use approach. This is a term that appears both in foreign and Czech literature, especially in connection to valuation of properties. When valuing a property and taking into account a valuation approach by considering the future use of the property, the consideration of the best use is crucial. When valuing using so called revenue way, i.e. we consider future property yields, the High and Best Use approach should be an indispensable part of the valuation. Although this is a very fundamental concept, there is no literature in the Czech Republic or abroad that would analyse in detail the process of property evaluation based on the High and Best Use method. The main aim of this dissertation thesis is to systematically elaborate the methods of valuation using the High and Best Use approach and to create a standard for experts, according to which it would be possible to process the valuation, respectively a part of the valuation of immovable properties. On the basis of such valuation, it would be possible to determine the market value of the immovable property in compliance with international standards and modern property valuation publications. The result of this dissertation thesis is both the proposal of a detailed procedure of a qualified expert´s work on an evaluation of the High and Best Use, including the influence of the easements on land and buildings, of a property and the proposal of an expert standard on this methodology. It includes a sample examples of an evaluation of the High and Best Use of the properties in the most common cases. The knowledge and information from this thesis have its contribution in Forensic engineering area in the field of theory and practice and pedagogical activities.

The introduction of sustainable stormwater management in society has proved complex. Most cities do not operate jointly planned and owned stormwater facilities and institutional barriers have proved difficult to overcome. Experience from a Swedish project where extensive changes were made in the Augustenborg area in Malmö shows that it takes many years to overcome institutional obstacles when a society undergoes transformation.   Major part of research is still based on engineering and technical function although the social perspective is of great importance for the functioning of sustainable stormwater management. In-depth knowledge is needed about sustainable stormwater management and its connection with composition of population and socio-economic conditions. Research needs to be done on how information campaigns and cooperation are best designed to simplify planning, construction, and maintenance of stormwater facilities.

This study sought to explore the utilization and perception of best practices by community-based technology training programs when instructing older adults to become technologically literate. The target population included adults age 55 years and older of the Baby Boomer generational cohort who ranged academically from possessing a high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) through a college degree and had enrolled in a local technology training program to improve their technological skill level with the goal of obtaining employment and/or to remain functionally independent. This study was conducted at three community technology training centers located in the southeast that offered computer training classes for both civilian and ex-military older adults and employed a mixed methods research design. Data was collected through a series of participant interviews, surveys, and class observations to establish an understanding of current participant computer literacy status, demographic details and experiences, class structure, the computer curriculum, and training execution. It was the intent of this study to help maintain increased focus on the necessity of reducing the present digital divide that exists between younger and older adults by highlighting the importance of designing technology training programs that incorporated both expert recommended best practices for instructing older adults, as well as the expressed benefit and personal needs of the Baby Boomer population being served by local technology training centers.

This thesis presents an alternative approach for the Best Estimate of Liabilities (BEL) approximation in life insurance. The work summarizes the basic theoretical knowledge about reserving in life insurance and deterministic or stochastic projection of future cash flows which is a method commonly used to model the value of BEL. This thesis also presents the theory about durations. We use partial key rate durations to approximate the value of BEL. The proposed approach is tested on a real example life insurance product with profit share. The resulting approximations are close to real values and when partial durations obtained by deterministic calculations are used, the preparation of the approximation is not computationally demanding. 1

I have written an essay about children's best interests in relation to sleep. As a starting point, I have used two stories and the dilemmas from my working life. The first story depicts asituation where I go against the guardians’ interests that their child should not sleep by lettingher fall asleep anyway when she is unable to stay awake. In the second, a situation is portrayed with a child who does not show any need for sleep but who I still received instructions to get to sleep. The purpose of this essay is to explore the term child's best interests and what it means in relation to children's sleep. The questions I have started fromare: How can the wording of the child's best be interpreted in relation to the sleep problems at preschool? Why is there so little trust in educators' professional opinions about sleep? Howcan I find the balance between my own experiential knowledge and what the family claims istheir best? This essay is divided into three different parts. A deep dive into the term the child's best interests and what it means to me as a preschool teacher seen from the perspective of laws and preschool governing documents. A scientific part where I explain the biological effects of sleep through research and scientific articles. Finally, there is a theoretical part where I start from Aristotle's concept of knowledge and Dreyfus & Dreyfus' theory of the acquisition of practical knowledge. Through these theories of practical knowledge, I land in proximityethical reasoning and its significance for my professional role. The term child's best interests according to laws and governing documents leaves no room for interpretation for me as a preschool teacher during the time I am responsible for the child inquestion. How collaboration between preschool and home should take place, however, isunspoken even if the goal of collaboration is clear. Research has reported that night sleep is disturbed by midday naps due the total sleep per day is constant. However, it has also shownthat sleep is important for learning and memory. Furthermore, I have emphasized the importance of good sleep hygiene as there has been no research that has shown that difficulty sleeping in the evening is due to loss of midday naps. The practical knowledge together with the proximity ethics is about being able to interpret a child's need for sleep and determine the balance between teaching and care.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The increase in overweight and obesity worldwide is described as a global health epidemic. A great proportion of this epidemic is now found in low- and middle-income countries with higher levels of prevalence, particularly in emerging economies. In sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa ranks high in the prevalence of obesity at all levels. Since the inception of democracy in 1994, the government is yet to overcome the burden of poverty and inequality routed in its apartheid past. Apartheid systematically and unjustly disintegrated and segregated black Africans and people of Colour, denying them access to economic opportunity, thus leaving them on a dependency status. Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain are the relics of apartheid policies. Obesity and associated diseases are highly correlated with gender dynamics, economic conditions, nutritional status, poverty, and urbanisation. It is increasingly evident that poor urban dwellers, especially women and children are at risk of obesity-related factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases. The increasing incidence of obesity especially amongst children is concerning. The prevalence of child poverty is in South Africa is a cause for concern. Over 18.5million children are in South Africa, 64% of which are dependent on CSG. With poverty and inequality affecting millions of households, access to food and quality food has reached crises level. Yet, it is a basic human right that has received little empirical response amongst policymaker in South Africa. The South African food system is complex, poverty is endemic and poor households are most vulnerable to unhealthy eating habits. This research critically analysis the link between food choices, overweight and obesity in adults and children living in urban peripheral communities in Cape Town. The study was designed to interrogate the kinds of food eaten by urban peripheral dwellers, their socioeconomic status and how the policy of the BIC addresses the problem of child obesity in South Africa. This research aimed to empirically explore the relationship between BMI and food choices of adults and children living in urban peripheries in Cape Town. The study also aimed at evaluating the BIC in urban townships in Cape Town in the context of child obesity, to understand the views of the children and to understand how poor households are ensuring the BIC in relation food access, food availability and child protection from obesity. The study further aimed at comparing the and contrasting the socioeconomic dynamics of the two population to understand the progress and gaps in their economic and health status. Empirical data were collected from households in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain using a two-stage sampling technic to identify clusters and households. A sample of about 4300 individuals in 1052 households was sampled. A 24H dietary recall was used to capture food types of the population. The World Health Organisation guidelines for BMI adults and children were applied through the study. A BIC Index was developed to assess the right to food from the views of the child. First, the study found significant differences in the socioeconomic and demographic profiles of the population. Poverty and the risk of falling into poverty were higher in Khayelitsha than in Mitchells Plain. Two-third of the population (65%) of adults we found to be overweight and obese. Overweight and obesity amongst children was 29% and 68% of children reported that they buy food at school or on their way to school. Over 83% children stated that their parents give them money to take to school. There was a significant association between children buying food and parents giving money at X2 91.4643, P<= 0.000. Carbohydrate represents 40% and sugar 35% of food types children eat away from home. In terms of the BIC, 43% of the children