Följande studie är en induktiv kvalitativ studie baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Syftet var att synliggöra europeiska naturvinsproducenters föreställningar om en certifiering av naturvin reglerad av EU. Studiens bakgrund belyser komplexiteten av begreppet naturvin samt certifieringar och deras effekt på marknaden. Även studiens teoretiska ramverk, Conscious Capitalism presenteras. Insamlade data transkriberades och analyserades med hjälp av en induktiv tematisk analys. Diskussionen använder det teoretiska ramverket för att lyfta resultatet i relation till marknaden och sedan certifieringar. Autenticitet, frihet och kontroll är några av de begrepp som resoneras kring. Resultatet visar på differenser i vinmakarnas föreställningar om naturvin vilket skapar svårigheter i att enas om en definition och certifiering. Möjligheten för en EU-reglerad certifiering av naturvin är utifrån producenternas föreställningar och drivkrafter begränsad som följd av deras varierande åsikter och arbetssätt. / The following study is an inductive qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews. The purpose was to explore European natural wine producers' perceptions of a certification of natural wine regulated by the EU. The background of the study illuminates the complexity of the concept of natural wine, as well as certifications and their effects on the market. Additionally, the study's theoretical framework, Conscious Capitalism, is presented. Collected data was transcribed and analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. The discussion utilizes the theoretical framework to contextualize the findings in relation to the market and certifications. Authenticity, freedom, and control are among the concepts that are reflected upon. The results reveal variations in the participants' perceptions of natural wine, which pose difficulties in reaching a consensus on a definition and certification. The possibility of an EU-regulated certification of natural wine is limited based on the producers' beliefs and motivations as a result of their varying opinions and working methods.

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Hållbar utveckling är ett omtalat ämne i dagens fastighetsbransch. Med flera färdplaner och globala mål som främjar en långsiktig hållbar utveckling har det framkommit system för hur man ska miljöanpassa byggnader. Miljöbyggnad och Svanenmärkning är två system som utvecklats i Sverige. För att följa ett hållbart strategiskt arbetet följer flera fastighetsbolag uppmaningen om ett netto noll utsläpp av växthusgaser 2045 i fastighetsbranschen. Detta föranleder ett ökat initiativ av att bygga hållbart och miljöanpassa redan befintliga byggnader.   Syftet med uppsatsen är att utföra en studie på hur de svenska miljöcertifieringssystemen, Miljöbyggnad och Svanen, förhåller sig till ett hållbarhetsarbete samt hur dessa certifikat värderas i fastighetsvärderingsprocessen. Studien kommer i förhållande till certifieringarna granska värderingsprocessen för att undersöka om certifikatet har ett ekonomiskt värde och analysera sambandet mellan miljöcertifiering och marknadsvärdet.  Resultatet av denna undersökning antyder att bostäder som är miljöcertifierade inte påvisar ett tydligt ekonomisk värde i relation till marknadsvärdet. Dock konstateras det att avgiften som erläggs på dessa bostadsrätter är betydligt lägre än de konventionella bostadsrätterna. Ett resultat av detta visar att miljö- och hållbarhets attributerna som existerar i dessa bostäder resulterar till en lägre avgift i jämförelse med de icke-miljöcertifierade bostadsrätterna. Småhusen påvisar ingen ökning av marknadsvärdet om en Svanenmärkning finns. Slutsatsen som tagits i detta arbete är att värderingen kring både bostadsrätter samt småhus vare sig dessa är miljöcertifierade eller ej ger en svår bedömning om det finns en tydligt korrelation mellan miljöcertifieringen och marknadsvärdet. / Sustainable development is an ongoing topic in today's real estate industry. With several roadmaps and global goals that promote a long-term sustainable development, systems for how to adapt buildings to the environment have emerged. Environmental Building and Nordic Swan Ecolabel are two systems developed in Sweden. In order to follow sustainable strategic work, several real estate companies follow the goal for a net zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2045 in the real estate industry. This leads to an increased initiative of sustainable development and adapting existing buildings to the environment. The purpose of the thesis is to carry out a study of how the Swedish environmental certification systems, Environmental Building and Nordic Swan Ecolabel, relate to sustainability work and how these certificates are valued in the property valuation process. In relation to the certifications, the study will investigate the valuation process to examine whether the certificate has an economic value and analyze the connection between environmental certification and market value. Results of this survey suggest that homes that are environmentally certified do not show a clear economic value in relation to the market value. However, it is noted that the fee paid on these condominiums is significantly lower than the conventional condominiums. A result of this shows that the environmental and sustainability attributes that exist in these homes result in a lower fee in comparison with the non-environmentally certified condominiums. The single-family homes do not show an increase in market value for houses with a Nordic Swan Ecolabel.  The conclusion drawn in this study is that the valuation of both a condominium and a single-family home, whether these homes are environmentally certified or not, is difficult to assess whether there is a clear correlation between the certification and the market value.

In Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach Deborah Britzman (2003) points out that teacher candidates enter their education programs with their own conceptions of teaching, “bring(ing) to teacher education their educational biography and some well-worn and commonsensical images of the teacher’s work” (p. 27). Similarly, teacher candidates bring their own preconceived ideas of literacy and community to their teaching as well. This study focuses on whether or not teacher candidates’ conceptions of literacy and community can change given a teacher education practicum focused on literacy and community, a community learning experience once a month, and two placements in local middle and high school classrooms. In doing so it inquires as to how each of these different classroom environments informs teacher candidates’ conceptions of literacy and community and how literacy and community is utilized in these different environments. Qualitatively and ethnographically based, the study took place at a state university in rural Pennsylvania. It focused on nine teacher candidates enrolled in a practicum course during their 16-week field experience. It utilized a card sort, surveys, e-mails, teacher candidate journals and assignments, audio taped transcripts of practicum classes and observations. All information was analyzed using constant comparison methods and journals and practicum classes were coded to identify changes over the semester and patterns in the data. The study found that teacher candidates’ conceptions of literacy and community changed over a sixteen week time period as a result of the three different environments that teacher candidates participated in during their field experience semester. Teacher candidates’ conceptions of literacy, once focused on more autonomous literacy practices, expanded to include more sociocultural, i.e. ideological literacy practices. Conceptions of community that were based on more homogeneous, relational conceptions of community grew to include more heterogeneous, geographic conceptions of community. Overall, given three environments focused on literacy and community teacher candidates’ expanded their ideas of literacy and overcame their fears of working with communities outside their own. Correlations were also uncovered relating to authority in each of the environments and the importance of teacher candidate/cooperating teacher relationship to placement success. / English

<p>In recent years, numerous multistate foodborne outbreaks have been reported that are often associated with low moisture foods (LMFs). The survival of microorganisms in low moisture conditions has become one of the major concerns in the food industry. With the increasing number of recalls, it is necessary to ensure food safety by developing and validating the process parameters. Establishing a thermal process requires a detailed understanding of the inactivation kinetics of the target pathogen with respect to both the process (temperature, time, equipment) and the product conditions (water activity, composition). Along with the most widely used conventional thermal processing, there has been an increase in the demand for natural or minimally processed foods. As a result, many alternative non-thermal processing approaches that provide antimicrobial benefits while retaining the quality attributes of the food product are under investigation. This research focused on studying the inactivation kinetics of foodborne pathogens <em>Salmonella enteritidis</em> PT30 and <em>Cronobacter</em> <em>sakazakii</em> in powdered LMFs using both the thermal and non-thermal (cold plasma) processing technologies. The efficacy of a dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma equipment was tested against pathogens <em>Salmonella</em> <em>enteritidis</em> PT30 and <em>Cronobacter</em> <em>sakazakii</em> in LMFs at 70 kV, resulting in 3.8 log reduction in <em>Cronobacter</em>, and 4.41 log reduction in <em>Salmonella</em> after 5 min of cold plasma treatment in pea protein. The cellular damage to the pathogens was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the reactive oxygen (ROS: OH, O) and nitrogen (RNS: N₂, N₂⁺) species were identified using optical emission spectroscopy. The RMSE for the model was found to be between 0.11 and 0.36 with the low standard error of the parameters (δ, n, and log N₀), which illustrated that the Weibull model was a good fit for the experimental inactivation data. </p> <p>In the thermal processing study, the inactivation kinetic parameters of these pathogens were estimated at 70, 80, and 90 °C at 0.11, 0.22, and 0.33 water activity in pea protein powder. The non-isothermal temperature profiles were simulated by building a two dimensional, axisymmetric heat transfer model of the test cell. The inactivation parameters D_ref, z_T, and z_aw were estimated in MATLAB by using a one-step non-linear regression analysis, which was a combination of the primary log-linear model with the secondary modified-Bigelow model. The model was found to be a good fit, showing lower root mean square error (RMSE) and residuals. Further, <em>Enterococcus</em> <em>faecium</em> was observed to have higher D-values at all the processing temperatures and water activity levels as compared to <em>Salmonella enteritidis</em> PT30 and <em>Cronobacter</em> <em>sakazakii</em>, which provides valuable evidence that <em>Enterococcus</em> <em>faecium</em> can be used as a surrogate microorganism for validating the thermal process for pea protein powder.</p>

This study examines the historical evolution and legislative valuation of the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This fund offers stipends to teachers who earn National Board Certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. This research project included three steps of data collection. First, the legislative history of Virginia's National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund, which covered the General Assembly Session in 1999, was reviewed. The second step was open-ended interviews with legislators and a representative from the Virginia Education Association who participated in the creation of the "Fund." The third step was to collect and report the incentives that are offered by the local education agencies for teachers who earn National Board Certification. The study reported that the initial plan devised by the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy in the report, A Nation Prepared (1986) that National Board Certification was not implemented with fidelity in the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to the intended design when it pertained to both how to strategically use the skills of NBCTs and how to ensure NBCTs are working with the students most in need of help. As supported by the interview data, the study shows those interviewed value great teachers and are willing to support them with financial incentives. / Ed. D.

Seventeen students' professional year performance variables were employed to predict their scores on the MT-ASCP certification examination. The purpose of the study was designed to address three principal questions: 1. What is relationship, if any, between students' theory section and combined grades in key subjects (blood bank, hematology, microbiology, and clinical chemistry) and analogous sub-scores on the MT-ASCP examination? 2. What is the relationship, if any, between the seventeen predictor variables and MT-ASCP total scores? and 3. Which of the seventeen predictor variables, individually or in combination, best predict MT-ASCP total scores at the different academic decision points? The sample consisted of 1985-1987 (N=103) and 1988-1991 (N=147) graduates from the six hospital-based medical technology programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Data required for analysis were taken from the graduates' academic records at the six institutions. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and stepwise regression analyses were used to test eight hypotheses, with results generally as follows: With the exception of numerical grades in hematology in 1985-1987, there were statistically significant relationships (p<.05) between the four major MT courses and MT-ASCP subsection scores. All seventeen independent variables were statistically (p<.05) correlated with 1985- 1991 MT-ASCP total scores, regardless of the method of reporting the scores. Four significant (p<.05) multiple linear regression equations were computed between the MT-ASCP total scores and the seventeen predictors included in the study at different critical points during professional year education for 1985-1987 and 1988-1991 graduates. About 50% of the total variance in the 1988-1991 MT-ASCP scaled scores was accounted for by three of the 17 potential professional year predictor variables. The addition of three preprofessional and personal predictors extended the variance explained to 61%. The research warranted the conclusion that the MT-ASCP examination validly reflects the content and laboratory methods offered in the hospital-based professional training Programs in the sample of Virginia institutions. / Ph. D.

yes / The last few years have seen the emergence of a series of regulatory initiatives that have been developed, partly in response to the twin agendas of human security and strong states, but which represent a specific reaction to the political economies deemed to underpin contemporary civil conflicts ¿ most notably the way in which local and global markets in everything from diamonds to drugs have been exploited to fund often vicious civil conflicts, particularly in environments characterised by endemic corruption. This new body of local and global regulation, what might loosely be characterised as new laws and new codes to address the political economies of the new wars, include: UN embargoes on diamonds and timber being used to fund conflicts, the development of regimes such as the Kimberley certification system, and initiatives to ensure the transparent and effective use of natural resource revenues. Generally represented as a progressive response to the political economies that drive contemporary civil conflicts, these new initiatives have produced a set of formal and informal regulatory frameworks that are, in fact, profoundly asymmetric in their scope and application. Indeed, one of the defining features of these initiatives is not so much the impartial application of regulations to firms and corrupt elites but either their selective application or, alternatively, their selective relegation in favour of an emphasis on far weaker norms and voluntary codes. The aim of this paper then, is first, to examine the operation of the new codes and regulations in general and to demonstrate the problems in their implementation. Second, the paper will then go onto examine one specific innovation ¿ the Kimberley Certification Scheme designed to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds in order to demonstrate the asymmetries that exist in current regulatory mechanisms designed to introduce ethical markets. It will do this in particular by focussing on the impact of certification for the diamond sector in Sierra Leone. A key argument in this section will be that whilst this new regime for conflict diamonds aims to transform behaviour through transparency and policing, and whilst it appears to have had some success, it has not in fact transformed the conditions that gave rise to the illicit diamond trade in Sierra Leone prior to conflict. Along with the problems inherent in broader development policy on Sierra Leone this raises serious questions. In particular, whilst there may be little short-term risk of conflict, the planned departure of UNAMSIL, continued regional instability, persistent corruption and the failure to fundamentally transform the nature of the diamond market in Sierra Leone, all raise question marks regarding the nature (and indeed sustainability) of the peace that is being created.

Climate change is a wicked problem and finding solutions to revert the negative trend of global warming remains one of the dominant global issues. Coffee production contributes to global warming significantly, due to its high greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, Sweden is among the top three coffee consuming countries and Vietnam remains the world’s second biggest coffee producing country. The presented research examines perceptions on sustainability and social responsibility within the global coffee value chain. Further, this paper investigates challenges to increase sustainability and a more common ground within the network of stakeholders. This research consists of three different methods to collect data from three stakeholders amongst the coffee value chain: (i) qualitative interviews with Vietnamese farmers, (ii) a quantitative questionnaire with Swedish consumers, and (iii) a document analysis on Swedish coffee companies’ presentation on their sustainability work. Our findings show the difficulty of finding a consistent definition and views by the stakeholders on what sustainable coffee is, and on the distribution of responsibilities in the field. Due to the complexity of the global value chain network, and despite rising awareness and interest, a knowledge-gap remains between the stakeholders. While sustainability certification standards are one attempt of spreading more knowledge, they have been identified as one of the main challenges. Closing this gap and creating a more common ground is necessary to ensure more sustainability and environmentally friendly practices along the global coffee value chain.

Sustainability is viewed as a solution to climate change and social unrest, yet the systems we use to understand and implement it often contribute to the very problems they aim to solve. This thesis investigates how stakeholders in the German construction sector integrate sustainability into their daily practices. Using James Lovelock’s concept of Earth as a self- regulating system, the study explores stakeholders’ perceptions of sustainability. Based on qualitative interviews, the research identifies three main themes: certification systems, economic pressures, and the intrinsic connection of stakeholders to Gaia. Findings suggest that while certification systems guide sustainable practices, they are often used due to other motivations than for genuine environmental efforts. Economic pressures further hinder the adoption of sustainable practices, as stakeholders prioritize short-term gains over long-term ecological benefits. However, a strong connection to Gaia and could inspire deeper engagement with sustainability. The thesis concludes that adopting the interconnectedness emphasized by the Gaia hypothesis could lead to more effective and authentic sustainability practices in the construction sector.