ABSTRACT South Africa, like numerous other developing countries throughout the world, faces increasing demands for public services in urban areas (Rondinelli and Kasarda, 1993). South Africa’s access to basic services such as water has clearly become part of social security/ citizenship. The research report investigates and elucidates the role of privatisation in the basic service delivery context. It argues that the GEAR policy framework blocks the resources required to achieve social citizenship (Cock 2000). This gave rise to community struggles concerning prepaid water meters in Phiri, Soweto. These struggles are examined and competing discourses surrounding public versus private sector participation in basic service (water) provision are also explored. The argument in this research report is two-fold. First, it establishes a view of water as an economic good, with the democratic government reducing the municipal problems of delivery to economic markets or private corporations. Second, it examines the perspective that water is a human right issue contained in the Bill of Rights. These two counter-arguments perpetuate struggles in relation to access, affordability and supply of water. The research seeks to examine these opposing arguments and further explores the impacts these struggles have on future delivery and access of such ‘life need’ as water. This exposure is done through the collection of Secondary data and empirical evidence obtained using various qualitative data gathering techniques. Although the advantages of prepaid water meters are recognised, the dominant argument in this report is in line with Dependency Theory. This maintains that the socio-economic inequalities as well as the socio-environmental injustices widespread in the policies of privatisation exclude various sectors of the population from full access to essential necessities such as water. These injustices are rooted in the fact that water is treated as a commodity to be sold and not as a basic human right (Maema 2003). To deny water to people reduces their citizenship and therefore the achievement of full citizens’ rights for the community of Phiri has become one of the crucial barometers for the realisation of the depth and sustainability of South Africa’s democracy (Khunou 2000). The research findings obtained suggest that the government does realise its responsibility to provide basic water services. Nevertheless, it delegates this responsibility to private institutions; hence making it an individual responsibility to gain access to water at a cost. This form of attempt in South Africa gives a clear reflection of Adam Smith’s “commercial society” which is viii encompassed and endorsed by privatisation and the capitalist endeavours. However, this is in contrast with the principles enshrined in the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which mandate the government to ensure the progressive realisation and maintenance of access to available basic services. The research report, however, suggests that some educational programmes need to be developed and promoted to inform and equip the public on how best to preserve water. This endeavour is gradually envisaged under the auspices of emerging corporatised utilities.

No description available.

The influence of monochromatic waves interacting with a submerged bar structure is investigated through laboratory experiments in a wave flume. Wave profiles for a range of non-breaking, spilling, and plunging waves were analyzed for three offshore water depths through the interpretation of wave gauge and video imagery data. Evolution of propagating waves was reflected in data which showed increased amplitudes due to shoaling with subsequent breaking, transfer of single frequency spectrum from lower to higher frequency harmonics, and dissipation of energy after breaking onset. Comparisons of collected experimental data with previous theory developed by Yao et al (2013), Smith & Kraus (1991), Galvin (1968) for wave classification showed to be relatively accurate for both relative submergence and surf similarity methods. Wave breaking onset identified by instability in the wave crests allowed for measurements of breaking wave height and depth at breaking. Theory by Johnson (2006) and Goda (1974) compared to experimental data showed little agreement for predicting breaking wave heights. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

by Liu Ah-chuen. / Bibliography: leaves 122-125 / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1982

Albert Y.C. Fung. / Thesis (M.S.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong.

在過去的幾十年中，人們越來越關心由致病微生物引起的水傳播疾病的爆發。作為一種綠色技術，太陽能光催化在不引起二次污染的殺滅各種致病微生物方面引起了廣泛關注。但是，目前最廣泛應用的TiO₂光催化劑僅在紫外光激發範圍內有效，而紫外光僅占太陽光譜的4%。因為太陽光譜中有45%是可見光，所以新型可見光催化劑的開發是現今光催化技術亟待解決的問題。另一方面，目前對於光催化殺菌機理的研究報導非常稀少而且主要集中于紫外-TiO₂光催化系統中，而對於可見光催化系統中的殺菌機理研究還鮮有報導。 / 本研究介紹三種新型可見光催化劑的殺菌性能。它們是B,Ni共摻TiO₂微米球（BNT），BiVO₄納米管（BV-NT）和CdIn₂S₄微米球（CIS）。其中一種是修飾的TiO₂催化劑，另兩種是新型的非TiO₂基催化劑。採用加入各種湮滅劑結合一種分離裝置的研究方法系統研究了三種催化劑的可見光殺菌機理。首先，研究發現當用BNT作為光催化劑的時候，可見光催化降解染料和殺菌之間存在巨大的差異。對於光催化降解染料，光催化反應主要發生在催化劑的表面，是由表面活性物質如h⁺, ・OHs和・O₂⁻參與，而細菌可以被擴散物種如・OH[subscript b]和H₂O₂，以不直接接觸催化劑表面的方式被殺死。可擴散的H₂O₂在這種殺菌過程中起了最重要的作用，而它可以在催化劑價帶以・OH[subscript b]溶液體相耦合和・OH[subscript s]催化劑表面耦合兩種方式產生。 / 其次，在用BV-NT作為光催化劑可見光殺滅大腸桿菌的過程中，光生空穴（h⁺）以及由空穴產生的氧化物種，如・OH[subscript s], H₂O₂和・HO₂/・O₂⁻，是主要的活性物種。但是這個殺菌過程只有很少量的H₂O₂可以擴散到溶液中，導致有效殺菌需要細菌和光催化表面直接接觸。研究還發現，細菌本身可以捕獲光生電子（e⁻）來降低空穴-電子複合率，這個作用在無氧氣參與的殺菌過程中尤為明顯。透射電鏡顯示，細菌的破壞是由細胞壁開始從外到內的被破壞。研究認為，表面羥基・OH[subscript s]比溶液體相羥基・OH[subscript b]更加重要，並且很難從BV-NT表面擴散進容易中。 / 最後，研究還發現CIS也具有不接觸細菌而有效可見光催化殺滅大腸桿菌的能力，這也歸結為可擴散H₂O₂，而不是・OH的作用。H₂O₂可以通過・O₂⁻從催化劑導帶和價帶同時產生。本研究提供了幾種具有應用前景的高效可見光催化殺菌催化劑，並對其光催化機理提出了新的思路，指出可見光催化殺菌機理與使用的光催化劑是密切相關的。更重要的是，本研究建立了一種簡便易行的研究方法，可用於對其他各種可見光催化殺菌系統進行深入的機理研究。 / During the last few decades, there has been an increasing public concern related to the outbreak of waterborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms. As a green technology, solar photocatalysis has attracted much attention for the disinfection of various microorganisms without secondary pollution. However, the most commonly used TiO₂ photocatalyst is only active under UV irradiation which accounts for only 4% of the solar spectrum. Therefore, new types of photocatalysts that can be excited by visible light (VL) are highly needed, as 45% of the solar spectrum is covered by VL. In addition, existing reports on the mechanisms of photocatalytic bacterial disinfection are rather limited and mostly based on TiO₂-UV irradiated systems, thus the mechanisms in visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalystic disinfection systems are far from fully understandable. / In this study, three different kinds of VLD photocatalysts were discovered for the photocatalytic bacterial disinfection. They were B-Ni-codoped TiO₂ microsphere (BNT), bismuth vanadate nanotube (BV-NT), and cadmium indium sulfide (CIS). One was modified TiO₂-based photocatalyst, and the other two were new types of non-TiO₂ based photocatalyst. The mechanisms of VLD photocatalytic disinfection were investigated by multiple scavenging studies combined with a partition system. Firstly, significant differences between VLD photocatalytic dye decolorization and bacterial disinfection were found in the case of BNT as the photocatalyst. For photocatalytic dye decolorization, the reaction mainly occurred on the photocatalyst surface with the aid of surface-bounded reactive species (h⁺, ・OH[subscript s] and ・O₂⁻), while bacterial cell could be inactivated by diffusing reactive oxidative species such as ・OH[subscript b] and H₂O₂ without the direct contact with the photocatalyst. The diffusing H₂O₂ played the most important role in the photocatalytic disinfection, which could be produced both by the coupling of ・OH[subscript b] in bulk solution and ・OH[subscript s] on the surface of photocatalyst at the valence band. / Secondly, when using BV-NT as the photocatalyst for Escherichia coli K-12 inactivation, the photogenerated h⁺ and reactive oxidative species derived from h⁺, such as ・OH[subscript s], H₂O₂ and ・HO₂/・O₂⁻, were the major reactive species. However, the inactivation requires close contact between the BV-NT and bacterial cells, as only a limited amount of H₂O₂ can diffuse into the solution to cause the inactivation. The bacterial cells can trap e⁻ in order to minimize e⁻-h⁺ recombination, especially under anaerobic condition. Transmission electron microscopic study indicated the destruction process of bacterial cell began from the cell wall to other cellular components. The ・OH[subscript s] was postulated to be more important than ・OH[subscript b] and was not supposed to be released very easily from BV-NT surface. / Finally, it was found that E. coli cells could be effectively inactivated without the direct contact with CIS, which was attributed to the function of diffusing H₂O₂ rather than ・OH. H₂O₂ was produced from both conduction and valance bands with the involvement of ・O₂⁻, which were detected by ESR spin-trap with DMPO trapping technology. While this study provided promising candidates of efficient VLD photocatalysts for water disinfection as well as deep insights into the disinfection mechanisms, it was notable that the photocatalytic disinfection mechanisms were quite dependent on the selected photocatalysts. Nevertheless, the research methodology established in this study was proved to be facile and versatile for the in-depth investigation of mechanisms in different VLD photocatalyst systems. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wang, Wanjun. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-170). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.vi / List of Figures --- p.xvi / List of Plates --- p.xxiii / List of Tables --- p.xxiv / List of Equations --- p.xxv / Abbreviations --- p.xxvii / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Water disinfection --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Traditional water disinfection methods --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Chlorination --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Ozonation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- UV irradiation --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Advanced oxidation process --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Photocatalysis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Fundamental mechanism for TiO₂ photocatalysis --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- Photocatalytic water disinfection --- p.12 / Chapter 1.5 --- Visible-light-driven photocatalysts for water disinfection --- p.16 / Chapter 1.5.1 --- Modified TiO₂ photocatalysts --- p.16 / Chapter 1.5.1.1 --- Surface modication of TiO₂ by noble metals --- p.16 / Chapter 1.5.1.2 --- Ion doped TiO₂ --- p.18 / Chapter 1.5.1.3 --- Dye-sensitized TiO₂ --- p.19 / Chapter 1.5.1.4 --- Composite TiO₂ --- p.20 / Chapter 1.5.2 --- Non-TiO₂ based photocatalysts --- p.22 / Chapter 1.5.2.1 --- Metal oxides --- p.22 / Chapter 1.5.2.2 --- Metal sulfides --- p.24 / Chapter 1.5.2.3 --- Bismuth metallates --- p.25 / Chapter 1.6 --- Photocatalystic disinfection mechanisms --- p.27 / Chapter 2 --- Objectives --- p.30 / Chapter 3 --- Comparative Study of Visible-light-driven Photocatalytic Mechanisms of Dye Decolorization and Bacterial Disinfection by B-Ni-codoped TiO₂ Microspheres --- p.32 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experimental --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Materials --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Characterizations --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Photocatalytic decolorization of RhB --- p.36 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Photocatalytic disinfection of E. coli K-12 --- p.37 / Chapter 3.2.5 --- Partition system --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.6 --- Scavenging study --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2.7 --- Analysis of ・OH and ・O₂⁻ --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2.8 --- Analysis of H₂O₂ --- p.43 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.44 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- XRD and SEM images --- p.44 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Photocatalytic decolorization of RhB --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3.2.1 --- Role of reactive species --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3.2.2 --- Partition system for dye decolorization --- p.49 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Photocatalytic bacterial disinfection --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Role of reactive species --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- Partition system for bacterial disinfection --- p.54 / Chapter 3.3.3.3 --- pH effects --- p.58 / Chapter 3.3.3.4 --- Role of H₂O₂ --- p.60 / Chapter 3.3.4 --- Role of ・O₂⁻ in RhB decolorization and bacterial disinfection --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4 --- Conclusions --- p.75 / Chapter 4. --- Visible-light-driven Photocatalytic Inactivation of E. coli K-12 by Bismuth Vanadate Nanotubes: Bactericidal Performance and Mechanism --- p.76 / Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.76 / Chapter 4.2 --- Experimental --- p.78 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Materials --- p.78 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation --- p.80 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Bacterial regrowth ability test --- p.82 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Analysis of reactive species --- p.82 / Chapter 4.2.5 --- Preparation procedure for bacterial TEM study --- p.83 / Chapter 4.2.6 --- Analysis of bacterial catalase activity --- p.84 / Chapter 4.2.7 --- Analysis of potassium ion leakage --- p.84 / Chapter 4.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.85 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation --- p.85 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Mechanism of photocatalytic inactivation --- p.87 / Chapter 4.3.2.1 --- Role of primary reactive species --- p.87 / Chapter 4.3.2.2 --- Role of direct contact effect --- p.96 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Destruction model of bacterial cells --- p.98 / Chapter 4.3.4 --- Analysis of radical production --- p.104 / Chapter 4.4 --- Conclusions --- p.109 / Chapter 5 --- CdIn₂S₄ Microsphere as an Efficient Visible-light-driven Photocatalyst for Bacterial Inactivation: Synthesis, Characterizations and Photocatalytic Inactivation Mechanisms --- p.111 / Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.111 / Chapter 5.2 --- Experimental --- p.113 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Synthesis --- p.113 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Characterizations --- p.114 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation --- p.116 / Chapter 5.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.117 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Characterizations of Photocatalyst --- p.117 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Photocatalytic bacterial inactivation and mechanism --- p.121 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Destruction process of bacterial cell --- p.128 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Analysis of radical generation --- p.131 / Chapter 5.4 --- Conclusions --- p.133 / Chapter 6 --- General Conclusions --- p.135 / Chapter 7 --- References --- p.140

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Using mixed methods and multiple sites, this thesis reflects on how water acts as a connective material through which socio-cultural, ritual, economic, and ecological relationships are formed and played out. By adopting a New Materialities approach the brute physicality of relationships is drawn into the foreground to illustrate the agency of materials and people as they co-produce each other together. By focusing on water's behaviours, this thesis demonstrates that distinctions typically placed between people and other materials are problematic and consequently require reconsideration. Therefore, in rejection of a human exceptionalist focus, this thesis attempts to level the representational 'playing field' between bodies and water so as to bring water into discourse as multi-species ethnographies have done for other entities. My research is geographically situated in both rural Wales and an outlying location in the Eastern Coastal Province of Kenya where creeping desertification is increasingly troubling subsistence for a group of Giriama horticultural-pastoralists. It examines the socio-economic, cultural and material consequences of regular piped water flowing into a community that until 2015 relied exclusively on a climatically governed water supply, alongside a series of phenomenological experiences had with water in Wales. I establish the role water plays in co-constructing Giriama authenticity and social life whilst simultaneously producing what can be loosely called an 'ethnography' of water. In combination, this thesis demonstrates how the material behaviours of water reveal it to be an active agent that co-produces the materiality, and the behaviours, of being human. The Wenner Gren Foundation supported the fieldwork for this research, under the title The Role of 'New' Water in Shaping and Regulating Futures in Rural Kenya.

Conventionally, the question of Egyptian water security focused on state-centric transboundary hydropolitics within the larger context of the Nile basin. The presented research explores 'water security' beyond this 'state-centric epistemology', typically focusing on a singular scale of hydropolitical analysis. This dissertation examines the water (hydro) politics of transnational land-water investments (LWI) within Egypt and the larger context of the Nile river basin. Adopting a multi-site case study methodology, it critically examines the changing role of the state and the engagement of non-state actors in the silent appropriation of land-water resources through investments in farmlands abroad. The research methodology contextualizes how land acquisitions take several shapes and forms within Egypt (Old-New Lands and New Lands/Mega Projects), as well as in other Nile basin countries (e.g. Sudan). They also manifest land-water-food nexus interdependencies for both; profit and larger strategic objectives, through the formation of 'State-Capital alliances'. Deploying a case study of an international Emirati investor in Egypt, it shows how land-water investments are rooted in a larger socio-political project as part of the state's vision of horizontal expansion and land reclamation, to address its ecological-demographic narrative of crisis. The research also draws linkages between Egyptian water security and transnational investments in other Nile basin countries with a particular focus on the case of Sudan as part of its larger vision of the 'breadbasket of the Arab World'. However, while these State-Capital alliances are rooted in narratives of state modernization, security, and profit, they entail various tensions and trade-offs amongst different resources nexi and actors, thus masking larger questions of social justice and equity. These tensions often reflect the manufacture of abundance and translate into water grabs transcending multiple hydropolitical scales. The thesis argues that the changing role of the "entrepreneurial state" and the engagement of non-state actors in transnational land-water investments manifest a transition from the hydraulic mission towards water security mercantilism. I argue that "water security mercantilism" denotes water grabbing, which overrides the conventional understanding of the hydraulic mission (water control by the state); towards a broader understanding of the role of non-state actors and international investors in accessing water, thus creating their own private resources security nexus. Hence, drawing on development studies, hydropolitics, and political economy scholarship, this dissertation broadens out the analysis of Egyptian water security beyond singular-scale state-centric hydropolitical debates; towards a multi-level polycentric analysis of water security, central to which are the farmers, the investors, and the state itself. This implies that transnational land-water investments not only influence small farmers through the reproduction of scarcity on the local level, but also influence the hydraulic mission of the state on the national level, and the larger Nile basin transboundary hydropolitics.

Wetland mitigation has become a 2.4 billion dollar per year industry in the U.S. and in Virginia it leads to the replacement of 77 ha of palustrine forested wetlands (PFWs) per year with mitigation wetlands, including created forested wetlands (CFWs). Mitigation hinges on the idea that compensation wetlands lead to “no net loss of wetland function” when compared to impacted wetlands. We assessed the functions of provision of habitat and biogeochemical functions associated with production of biomass, the retention and removal of nutrients and the accumulation of soil C over 8 years in seven CFWs of approximately 11 and 20 years and compared them to natural reference wetlands (NRWs). CFW plant communities were similar to NRWs in all measured parameters in the herbaceous and shrub/sapling strata and in all strata combined. However, non-native dominance showed a significant positive linear relationship with CFW age. In the tree strata, 11 year old (yo) CFWs had lower richness than NRWs and both age classes of CFWs had lower FQI than NRWs. NRWs held 10 to 20 times more carbon in woody biomass than CFWs. Tree species composition was significantly different between CFWs and NRWs, however NRW trees were similar to CFW saplings. 11 yo CFWs held lower percentages of C, N and P and had higher Db than NRWs in both the 0-10 and 10-20 cm depth. 20 yo CFWs developed similar levels of %C, %P, bulk density (Db), and nutrient ratios in the surface and displayed rapid increases in %C and %N over 8 years. However, CFWs offered 45% lower soil total soil C storage and 50% lower %N. Furthermore, all CFWs stored lower nutrient levels than NRWs in the 10-20 cm soil depth. We found that FQI correlated positively with total C accumulation rates in woody biomass and soil C, indicating that biogeochemical function and the provision of habitat can be complimentary in CFWs. Finally, 11 and 20 yo CFWs adhered to the regulatory performance standards established for Virginia in terms of stems per ha and wetland indicator status, but all wetlands (including NRWs) failed to achieve <5% non-native species cover.