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Part 1: The emergence of environmentally friendly commercial products and their impact on fire debris analysis. Environmentally friendly products (i.e. green products) are environmentally preferable choices relative to comparable commercial products. They are readily available to the public, often highly flammable, and can be used by criminals as accelerants to facilitate the start and/or spread of fire. It is critical for analysts to have an understanding of their composition and chromatographic characteristics. Green products include paint thinners, solvents, removers, and cleaning and surface preparation products. As the composition of commercial products continually change over time, the fire debris community needs to be aware of the variety of environmentally friendly ignitable liquids that could be encountered during casework. Traditionally, when fire debris analysts have been trained, they are taught that most of the ignitable liquid residues they will encounter in casework are petroleum-based products. With the increasing emergence of non-petroleum based green products in the consumer marketplace, such products may be encountered more often than ever before in fire debris evidence submitted to forensic laboratories. Analysts should become familiar with the chromatographic features of these products as neat liquids as well as when present in fire debris samples. The purpose of this study is to introduce fire debris analysts to the prevalence of green products and increase knowledge regarding a variety of green product compositions and the characteristics they exhibit when analyzed as neat liquids and in "mock" fire debris samples. Several green products were analyzed as neat liquid samples and subsequently extracted from fire debris samples using typical fire debris extraction and analysis techniques in order to familiarize fire debris analysts with the chromatographic and mass spectral features of these products. General information about different types of green commercial products, their chromatographic and mass spectral characteristics, and their interpretation will be summarized. Analytical methods were developed for the analysis of environmentally friendly products and included considerations of gas chromatography oven temperature and ramp rate, hold times, and flow rate, as well as the scan rate and range of the mass spectrometer. Analyses involving common substrates were performed, including spiking green products onto various substrates with subsequent analysis and comparison of burned and unburned samples. Part 2: Application of fast GC/MS analysis for the identification of ignitable liquids in fire debris samples. Fire debris samples that contain ignitable liquid residues undergo a two-step process of extraction, most commonly via passive adsorption elution (PAE) onto an activated carbon strip, and instrumental analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Upon completion of PAE, adsorbed compounds are eluted from the adsorbent with a suitable solvent and analyzed using (GC/MS) for the potential identification of ignitable liquid residues. A thorough evaluation of the literature revealed the average run time for gas chromatography of fire debris samples that contain hydrocarbon or petroleum based ignitable liquids to be 30 minutes. Additionally, a blank sample is run before an evidentiary sample to ensure solvent purity and to ensure any chromatographic carry over has not occurred between subsequent injections. The average run time, along with case volume, extraction times and case reviews contributes significantly to the backlog of samples to be analyzed in most crime laboratories around the country. Fast-GC/MS would significantly reduce analysis time, lower operating costs and would use less consumables. Based on a process known as pattern recognition, an initial goal of a fire debris analyst is to identify a pattern that is consistent with an ignitable liquid class. The standard method followed by most fire debris analysts use or base standard operating procedures (SOPs) on the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) E1618, which defines the classes of commercial ignitable liquids based on chemical composition and boiling point range (or volatility). This study was conducted to optimize current methods of ignitable liquid detection and to optimize fast-GC/MS conditions for the identification of ignitable liquids in fire debris samples. Additionally, this study was conducted to determine if fast-GC/MS can reduce chromatographic separation times without sacrificing peak resolution and subsequently allow for ignitable liquid discrimination. Method development included considerations of flow rate, initial GC oven temperature, ramp rate, and mid and end temperature hold times. Fast-GC/MS conditions were tested on neat ignitable liquids from all nine ASTM E1618 classes. Optimizing fast-GC/MS method parameters led to an increase in sample throughput in comparison to traditional GC/MS methods. As a result, the GC/MS identification of ignitable liquids and their residues was performed in a quarter of the amount of time when compared to traditional methods.

Tourism is promoted by the governments of many developing countries because it offers the potential for creating jobs, thus generating income for the country and revenue for the government. However, the tourism industry can also be viewed as a destructive force, associated with negative externalities such as the loss of natural landscapes, congestion, and environmental and cultural degradation. These problems are more likely to be exacerbated where there is a lack of well-designed planning and effective management of tourism development. An essential component of any management of tourism is the ability to engage with, and get a positive response from, the tourism industry. There are a wide range of enterprises involved in providing tourist products and experiences, and in many nations, both developing and developed, a large number of these businesses are small and medium in size and tend to operate at a local scale. The informal nature of tourism enterprises in the developing world can make it difficult to spread awareness of tourism policy and to measure moves towards more sustainable performance on the part of the industry. Using the case study of tourism in the city of Hue, this thesis argues that it is essential to understand both what tourism enterprises know about sustainable tourism practice and policy and also how they respond to its adoption, if we are to more fully understand tourism and its links to sustainable economic development. Located on the central northern coast of Vietnam, Hue is well known for its cultural resources and natural beauty, and the province has become a major tourism centre in Vietnam. The city of Hue itself is recognized as having international heritage value and was listed as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1993. During the last decade, tourism revenues have increased by nearly 35% per annum, and Hue has made great efforts to both stimulate and cater for increasing demand for its tourism products and services. The Vietnamese government has introduced a number of policies designed to enhance environmental quality generally and, more specifically, to improve the sustainability of enterprises in the tourism sector. This thesis examines the degree to which tourism enterprises in the city of Hue are aware of the broad concept of sustainable tourism and of the specific legislation designed to influence the sustainability of their businesses. I examine the structure and make-up of the industry and then analyse whether characteristics such as size, ownership type and sectoral focus play a role in influencing awareness of, and response to, government policy. The research triangulates data-gathering methods: secondary data, literature reviews, semi-structured interviews and an enterprise survey are all used to gain insights into the core research questions. Each method feeds into and is strengthened by the others, and their combination (including 50 interviews and 180 survey responses) provides a robust data set to work from. The findings reveal that many of the firms operating in the Hue tourism industry are characterized by weak institutional practices, low financial capacity, poor facilities and a lack of broader awareness of policies that influence sustainable tourism practice. The tourism industry’s awareness of general sustainable development issues is low, and much business practice focuses on short-term rather than long-term perspectives. This limits the use of environmentally friendly practices by firms, especially small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), in their daily business activities. The study reveals that there is no significant variation in the adoption of sustainable tourism practices according to the size of enterprises, especially if the practices in question are simple and can be introduced with cost savings. However, as the cost and complexity of introducing environmental measures increases, we see a greater ability on the part of larger enterprises to adopt such actions – partly because they are in a stronger position to bear the short-terms costs of implementing such approaches. There are a wide range of factors that constrain the Hue tourism industry from adopting more sustainable tourism practices. Internal constraints such as limited financial and human resources are combined with external constraints such as increasing cost-based competition, the lack of enforcement of government policies, and limited awareness of sustainable tourism pracitces. All of these factors play a crucial role in shaping the actions of enterprises in relation to sustainable tourism practices and policies. The results of this study also point to the fact that government sustainable tourism initiatives that rely on ‘command-and-control’ approaches will have limited effect; instead, a variety of institutional economic instruments offer greater potential to overcome deficiencies in the ability of the market to drive tourism enterprises towards more sustainable business practices. The thesis also argues that it is important to develop approaches that can cope with the special challenges attached to management of sustainable tourism development in destinations that are dominated by SMEs. The thesis contributes to the growing body of theory and literature in sustainable tourism development and tourism-enterprise behaviour. It also makes an important contribution to our understanding of tourism enterprises in the developing world. In particular, the findings add an important layer of understanding to those attempting to develop a more sustainable tourism industry in Vietnam. Specifically, it provides policy-makers with important insights into the ways in which different types of tourism enterprises respond to initiatives that relate to improved business sustainability.

The impact people and organizations have on the environment has been on the agenda in media for decades now. Still, very little research has been conducted in looking at what impact organizational culture can have when organizations attempt to become more environmentally friendly. For most organizations the environmental work is not part of their core business but rather something they work on at the side, if at all. Due to this, when an organization decides to implement an environmental vision and goals the employees may not adapt to it. This leads to the research question: How can an organizational culture be changed towards becoming environmentally friendly?To gain insight in the topic we researched general organizational cultural change theories which we used as a foundation for the deep, semi-structured interviews we conducted with five organizations that have worked towards becoming environmentally friendly for some time, and all consider themselves successful in having an environmentally friendly organizational culture. The respondents are very different from each other in regards to both industry and size, and some of them are Swedish while others are international. We chose maximum variation sampling as it would help us identify common methods organizations us across their variations.We found that to a large extent the same methods that are used for changing general organizational culture also can be used when changing the organizational culture towards becoming more environmentally friendly but that there are many adjustments to be made in which parts of the theories are most important. There is nonetheless a noticeable difference in the importance the different methods have and what the respondents emphasized as crucial. We found that the main drivers of motivation are communication and the importance of involving all employees in the environmental work. There is also a need to recognize and encourage employees for their work. All in all, however, the one method that stands above all other is what one of our respondents concluded with “The most important thing to do to create environmental change is to inform, inform and inform the employees”. The respondents highlighted the importance of making all employees feel like they are included in the process. That they understand the need for change is also something that seems crucial to getting people onboard. We also found that a lot of emphasis needs to be put on evaluation. Existing theory was however very weak in this area. We found tendencies of the organizations going through an environmental cultural life cycle where they start off the project, but maintain it poorly and hence every so often have to start over and therefore more focus therefore needs to be put into maintaining the cultural changes and not ever believe that the work is done. The work doesn’t end, but the environmental work and adaption is an ongoing process, even though the mindset of working environmentally can be permanently changed and built into the culture of employees.

Clay stabilizers are means to prevent fines migration and clay swelling, which are caused by the contact of formation with low salinity or high pH brines at high temperature. Previous clay stabilizers including: Al and Zr compounds and cationic polymers have several drawbacks. Al and Zr compounds can be removed by acids. Cationic polymers can cause formation damage in some cases. Quaternary amine-based chemicals have been used for many years as clay stabilizer, however, environmental profile of some has limited their use. There is a need to develop new clay stabilizers that can work following acid treatment and are environmentally acceptable. Laboratory studies were conducted on newly developed Al/Zr-based compound (Stabilizer A) to determine the optimum conditions for field application. Zeta potential was used to determine surface charge of different types of clays; and to optimize clay stabilizer concentration. Coreflood experiments were conducted on Berea and Bandera sandstone cores to assess the effectiveness of the new compound at high temperature, and determine the impact of acids on its performance. Also the effectiveness of this stabilizer was investigated at high pH medium and in low permeability cores. Inductively Coupled Plasma was used to measure the concentrations of e key cations in the core flood effluent. Three different commercial clay stabilizers (zirconium oxychloride, choline chloride and tetramethyl ammonium chloride) were also tested to validate the new chemical. The new clay stabilizer was very effective in mitigating fines migration. Zeta potential indicated that the isoelectric point at which complete shields of surface charge of clay particles was achieved at a stabilizer concentration of 0.2 wt%. Coreflood tests showed that this new chemical was effective, and unlike previous Al-based and Zr-based stabilizers (hydroxy aluminum and zirconium oxychloride solutions), it did not dissolve in acids and worked very well up to 300oF. Stabilizer A proved to be better than the three commercial stabilizers. Stabilizer A worked effectively at the high pH and no reduction in permeability was noticed after NaOH injection, unlike the other stabilizers. In addition, Stabilizer A is an inorganic-based fluid, environmentally friendly, in contrast to Quaternary amine chemicals.

Tourism is promoted by the governments of many developing countries because it offers the potential for creating jobs, thus generating income for the country and revenue for the government. However, the tourism industry can also be viewed as a destructive force, associated with negative externalities such as the loss of natural landscapes, congestion, and environmental and cultural degradation. These problems are more likely to be exacerbated where there is a lack of well-designed planning and effective management of tourism development. An essential component of any management of tourism is the ability to engage with, and get a positive response from, the tourism industry. There are a wide range of enterprises involved in providing tourist products and experiences, and in many nations, both developing and developed, a large number of these businesses are small and medium in size and tend to operate at a local scale. The informal nature of tourism enterprises in the developing world can make it difficult to spread awareness of tourism policy and to measure moves towards more sustainable performance on the part of the industry. Using the case study of tourism in the city of Hue, this thesis argues that it is essential to understand both what tourism enterprises know about sustainable tourism practice and policy and also how they respond to its adoption, if we are to more fully understand tourism and its links to sustainable economic development. Located on the central northern coast of Vietnam, Hue is well known for its cultural resources and natural beauty, and the province has become a major tourism centre in Vietnam. The city of Hue itself is recognized as having international heritage value and was listed as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1993. During the last decade, tourism revenues have increased by nearly 35% per annum, and Hue has made great efforts to both stimulate and cater for increasing demand for its tourism products and services. The Vietnamese government has introduced a number of policies designed to enhance environmental quality generally and, more specifically, to improve the sustainability of enterprises in the tourism sector. This thesis examines the degree to which tourism enterprises in the city of Hue are aware of the broad concept of sustainable tourism and of the specific legislation designed to influence the sustainability of their businesses. I examine the structure and make-up of the industry and then analyse whether characteristics such as size, ownership type and sectoral focus play a role in influencing awareness of, and response to, government policy. The research triangulates data-gathering methods: secondary data, literature reviews, semi-structured interviews and an enterprise survey are all used to gain insights into the core research questions. Each method feeds into and is strengthened by the others, and their combination (including 50 interviews and 180 survey responses) provides a robust data set to work from. The findings reveal that many of the firms operating in the Hue tourism industry are characterized by weak institutional practices, low financial capacity, poor facilities and a lack of broader awareness of policies that influence sustainable tourism practice. The tourism industry’s awareness of general sustainable development issues is low, and much business practice focuses on short-term rather than long-term perspectives. This limits the use of environmentally friendly practices by firms, especially small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs), in their daily business activities. The study reveals that there is no significant variation in the adoption of sustainable tourism practices according to the size of enterprises, especially if the practices in question are simple and can be introduced with cost savings. However, as the cost and complexity of introducing environmental measures increases, we see a greater ability on the part of larger enterprises to adopt such actions – partly because they are in a stronger position to bear the short-terms costs of implementing such approaches. There are a wide range of factors that constrain the Hue tourism industry from adopting more sustainable tourism practices. Internal constraints such as limited financial and human resources are combined with external constraints such as increasing cost-based competition, the lack of enforcement of government policies, and limited awareness of sustainable tourism pracitces. All of these factors play a crucial role in shaping the actions of enterprises in relation to sustainable tourism practices and policies. The results of this study also point to the fact that government sustainable tourism initiatives that rely on ‘command-and-control’ approaches will have limited effect; instead, a variety of institutional economic instruments offer greater potential to overcome deficiencies in the ability of the market to drive tourism enterprises towards more sustainable business practices. The thesis also argues that it is important to develop approaches that can cope with the special challenges attached to management of sustainable tourism development in destinations that are dominated by SMEs. The thesis contributes to the growing body of theory and literature in sustainable tourism development and tourism-enterprise behaviour. It also makes an important contribution to our understanding of tourism enterprises in the developing world. In particular, the findings add an important layer of understanding to those attempting to develop a more sustainable tourism industry in Vietnam. Specifically, it provides policy-makers with important insights into the ways in which different types of tourism enterprises respond to initiatives that relate to improved business sustainability.

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The earliest refrigerants used were R40, R764, R717, R290 and R600a but these had drawbacks of flammability, toxicity, unpleasant smell as well as a challenge of leakage through the shaft seals of compressors. In 1931, these were replaced by CFCs and HCFCs due to safety and reliabilty concerns. However in 1986, CFCs and HCFCs were confirmed to have an ozone depleting effect and their use discouraged under the Montreal Protocol. Manufacturers responded to this call by introducing HFCs with no ozone depleting effect. Today, there is immense pressure to shift to natural refrigerants after the discovery that emission of these substances to the atmosphere contributes to atleast 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions. The use of synthetic refrigerants has led to the breakdown of strastospheric ozone molecules and emission of greenhouse gases to the atmoshere causing global warming and global climate change. Today, there is increasing pressure from legislators, business partners and consumers to seek for new methods to achieve cooling that does not depend on global warming working fluids.  Therefore, companies are tasked to rethink established solutions  and implement environmentally friendly yet economically sensible technologies to seize their individual eco-advantage.  For that matter, the use of refrigerants free of ozone depleting and global warming characteristics in Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration continues to take a central role in measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study aimed at investigating the application of environmentally friendly solutions in refrigeration applications of Uganda with major emphasis on natural refrigerants. This was accomplished by ascertaining the current status of refrigeration in the country as well as computer simulation modelling of the available systems and comparison of the results with those of recommended systems. A field study was carried out to assess the current status of refrigeration in the country i.e refrigerants used and the type of systems currently in use. It was found that synthetic refrigerants predominate and the systems currently installed are single stage, vapor compression. Operating parameters of these systems were then measured and models of these systems developed using EES software and their efficiencies determined. Furthermore, models were developed and proposed  for each sector using an appropriate natural refrigerant and efficiencies determined. Comparisons were then made with installed systems and it was found that natural refrigerants offer a promising solution in the refrigeration applications of Uganda and should be adopted for energy, safety and environmental issues. However, for this transition to be realized, there is need to create awareness in industry as well as the government taking the lead in the development of a phase out plan with support from industry and research institutions.