Unsafe sanitation systems poses a risk for pathogen transmission, wherefore it is important to both inactivate pathogens present in human excreta and conduct safe sanitation systems from use to end-use. The Peepoo toilet, using ammonia sanitisation, have been suggested as a low-cost sanitation solution and is implemented in schools in Kibera, an urban slum in Kenya. This master thesis aim to study the inactivation efficiency of ammonia sanitisation when treating human excreta with urea, and to quantify the risks of exposure to microbial hazards from the Peepoo sanitation system using faecal indicator bacteria. Excreta was collected from four schools in Kibera. After adding urea to mimic the inactivation of the Peepoo in the laboratory, the inactivation rate was correlated to temperature and free ammonia concentration for Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp.. Campylobacter spp. and E. coli both had a high inactivation rate even at low temperature and low addition of urea. Inactivation rate of Enterococcus spp. was lower and close to zero when 1.87 % urea was added for 15 °C. For Enterococcus spp. a lag-phase was observed, which was not affected by temperature but by concentration of free ammonia. For investigated bacteria, inactivation rate increased with increased temperature and free ammonia concentration. Along the Peepoo management chain, several hazardous events were identified such ascontamination during usage, handling and transportation. Sampling showed a higher contamination of Enterococcus spp. than of E. coli. Enterococcus spp. was used as a faecal indicator for Ascaris and E. coli was used as an indicator of E. coli O157:H7 in a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). Through the QMRA, the risk of infection of Ascaris and E. coli O157:H7 for one exposure event was simulated based on a Exponential and a Beta-Poisson dose-response model respectively. The risk of infection of Ascaris was around 12 % regardless of where exposure occurs, if Ascaris eggs were present. For risk for infection with E. coli O157, the simulated risks were below 10 % at almost all exposure points, with most of the high risk exposure points located in the schools. There are risks of pathogen transmission in the Peepoo management chain that should be further investigated. Ammonia sanitisation permits a high degree of microbial inactivation but to secure a safe end-product it is recommended to be kept in room temperature (24.05±0.62 °C) or higher.

Balancing increasing elephant numbers with biodiversity conservation in small reserves has become a concern for many protected area managers. Elephants are considered important agents of disturbance creating heterogeneity and thus contributing to the maintenance of biodiversity. However elephants also damage vegetation through their destructive feeding habits, and this has led to pressure to reduce elephant populations in many reserves. Quantitative data on the impact of elephants on invertebrates, the main component of biodiversity at the species level, are lacking. The aim of this project was to assess the effect that habitat alteration by elephants has on the diversity of selected ground-dwelling invertebrates (ants, centipedes, millipedes, spiders, scorpions and termites) through the provision of logs and dung as a potential refuge niche for these invertebrate communities, and to determine the effect of spatial (vegetation types) and temporal (season and age of dung) variation on the invertebrates using these refugia. Variation in impacts was considered important because savanna is not homogenous and the impact of the refugia is likely to be dynamic in terms of seasonal trends in invertebrate populations, and in terms of changes in the environmental conditions offered by the refugia. Elephant impact on vegetation, quantity of refugia (logs and dung) produced and invertebrate diversity associated with refugia were determined for 115 transects within Madikwe Game Reserve in the North Western Province, South Africa. Invertebrate abundance, species richness and diversity were always higher under refugia than in areas without refugia. Vegetation utilisation, frequency of refugia production and invertebrate diversity showed strong temporal variation (seasonal); elephant impact and production of logs were higher in winter than in summer because elephants are more likely to feed on woody vegetation in winter when grass nutrient levels are low. Invertebrate diversity under the logs was higher in summer than in winter, and this probably reflected the higher abundance and diversity of invertebrates that are usually associated with the warmer, wetter summer months. The effect of adding refugia to three vegetation types on invertebrate diversity was tested experimentally at Makalali Private Game Reserve in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Logs and elephant dung were set out in five plots each measuring 20m x 20m within Govender - iii mixed bushveld, riverine and mopane woodland. Significant differences were observed in invertebrate abundance, species richness and diversity between the refugia and control plots that lacked refugia and between the three vegetation types sampled. Similarity between invertebrate communities utilising the different refugia types and between the three different vegetation types were tested using the Jaccard similarity coefficient. The three vegetation types shared fewer than 50% of their species, as did the logs, dung and control sites. However the results obtained do illustrate a higher degree of similarity between the refugia substrates (logs and dung) than the control sites and between the more heterogeneous vegetation types (mixed bushveld and riverine) than the mopane veld. This indicated that invertebrate communities associated with refugia were not uniform, but were influenced by vegetation type. An experimental test of temporal changes in invertebrate community composition illustrated the importance of elephant dung as a microhabitat for different invertebrate groups over different ages of dung (three days, two, four, 12 and 32 weeks old). Colonisation of the dung, by dung beetles was immediate but as the microclimate of the dung changed with time, the new conditions were ideal for other invertebrate taxa. Over a period of eight months, the change of invertebrate communities utilising the dung included dung beetles, followed by millipedes and [mally ant and termite communities. The results of this study illustrated the importance of refugia (logs and dung) produced by elephants for ground-dwelling invertebrate species in the savanna environment. The extent of the influence of the refugia varied both spatially and temporally and this should be considered in future monitoring or in measuring impacts. While further research on a broader range of organisms and at larger scales is necessary, elephants do have a positive impact on at least some components of biodiversity, through the process of facilitation of refugia. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This thesis analyses individual and societal relations to human excrement by looking at historical and contemporary examples of symbolics and management systems of human shit and piss. It furthermore connects urban culture to a particular type of perception of the meaning of human waste. End-of-pipe, large scale sewerage solutions for densely populated areas and cities are analysed for their historical origins and contemporary ramifications, and contrasted with examples of classical, mediaeval, early modern and contemporary times in different regions of Europe and India. The cases were presented in a non-chronological order to avoid simple narratives of progress. The focus is on questions of agricultural recycling of excrement and the relevance of human waste for public health issues. Analytical tools during the cross-temporal and cross-cultural case comparison are the categorisations of human excrement as e.g. waste, threat or resource, the technique of dualism-deterritorialisation and occasionally the Entanglement approach. Main results are that the large-scale introduction of sewerage systems in European cities around the world coincides with urbanisation and industrialisation, that pre-industrial dense settlement faced essentially the same excrement management challenges as modern cities do and that the stability of certain management systems has been severely influenced by factors such as power structures, paradigms of purity and piety as well as economic developments. The future relevance of this topic is seen in the predicted rise of urban regions worldwide, but especially in the developing world, a development which is expected to complicate human excrement management issues considerably.

Syftet med litteraturstudien är att sammanfatta vilken gensekvens som används vid genetisk barcoding av växter och hur väl metoden i fråga tillämpas i tre biologiska yrkesområden: dietanalyser i ekologin, analys av pollensporer i forensisk biologi samt analys av uråldrigt DNA (ancient DNA) i paleontologin. Vidare var det även av intresse att se hur genetisk barcoding kan användas i den gymnasiala undervisningen och hur väl den passar in med de svenska styrdokumenten för skolan. Hur elever har gynnats av den valda metoden samt vilka begränsningar som har uppstått har också berörts. Litteraturstudien baseras på vetenskapliga artiklar som har sökts fram med de nedan listade nyckelorden. Resultaten visar att en kombination av gensekvenser, däribland rbcL, matK, trnH-psbA och ITS, fungerar bäst vid identifiering av växter. I dagsläget är genetisk barcoding fortfarande i utvecklingsfasen, där metoden begränsas av antalet referenssekvenser i databaserna, vilket gör det svårt att utesluta morfologiska identifieringsmetoder i de tre yrkesområdena. Vid användning av barcoding i den gymnasiala undervisningen visar det sig att det stämmer väl överens med de svenska styrdokumenten och ökar elevers intresse för de naturvetenskapliga ämnena, då de kan bidra med värdefull forskning genom tillägg av referenssekvenser i databaserna. De största begränsningarna är att det blir ett stort arbetslass för läraren, att läraren i fråga måste vara bekväm med de olika laboratiska momenten och att skolan ska ha tillgång till nödvändig apparatur. / The purpose of the literature study is to conclude which gene sequences are being used in DNA barcoding on plants and how the method in question is being used in three different biological occupations: diet analysis in ecology, analysis of pollen in forensics and analysis of ancient DNA (aDNA) in paleontology. Further it was also of interest to study how DNA barcoding can be used in high school settings and how the method correlates with the Swedish curriculum. How pupils have benefited from the chosen method and what limitations have arisen have also been touched upon. This literature study is based on scientific articles that have been sought with the keywords listed below. The results show that a combination of gene sequences, including rbcL, matK, trnH-psbA and ITS, works best in plant identification. At present, genetic barcoding is still in the developmental phase, where the method is limited by the number of reference sequences in the databases, which makes it difficult to exclude morphological-based methods in the three occupational fields. When using barcoding in upper secondary education it turns out that it’s in good agreement with the Swedish curriculum and increases the students' interest in the scientific subjects, since they can contribute with genuine research when adding reference sequences in the databases. The main limitations are the workload for the teacher, the teacher in question must be comfortable with the different laboratory steps and that the school must have access to necessary equipment.

Die Anwendbarkeit der Verdünnungsmethode mit Hilfe des Markers Deuteriumoxid (D2O) zur in vivo-Erfassung der sich ändernden Körperzusammensetzung wurde an 53 Ziegenlämmern der Rasse Bunte Deutsche Edelziege im Gewichtsabschnitt von 4 kg bis 20 kg LM überprüft. Bei einer Lebendmasse von 4, 8, 12, 16 bzw. 20 kg wurde den Tieren nach einer 13- bis 18stündigen Nüchterung D2O injiziert und nach weiteren vier bis fünf Stunden Blutproben gezogen. Bei jeweils einem Teil der Tiere erfolgte anschließend die Schlachtung und die chemische Analyse der Körper zur Bestimmung des Ganzkörperwassergehaltes, der Chymusmasse und der Leerkörperzusammensetzung. Die Messungen der D2O-Konzentrationen in den Blutproben und die chemische Analyse der Ganzkörper ergaben eine Überschätzung des Ganzkörperwassergehaltes durch die Verdünnungsmethode um im Mittel 3,99 %. Zwischen dem chemisch bestimmten und dem geschätzten Wert besteht eine enge lineare Beziehung. Die Schätzung des Inhaltes des Gastro-Intestinaltraktes (Chymus) dient zur Schätzung der Leerkörpermasse. Dessen Variabilität lässt sich im Wesentlichen durch die Lebendmasse erklären. Die chemische Analyse der Tierkörper zeigte, dass die Zusammensetzung des fettfreien Leerkörpers im hohen Maß von der Leerkörpermasse abhängt. Anhand von allometrischen Regressionsgleichungen wurden die Bestandteile der fettfreien Leerkörpermasse geschätzt und daraus die Zusammensetzung des fetthaltigen Leerkörpers ermittelt. Der Vergleich der mittels chemischer Analyse bestimmten bzw. der Verdünnungsmethode geschätzten Leerkörperzusammensetzung ergab eine hohe Übereinstimmung beim Wasser-, Rohprotein- und Rohaschegehalt. Der Rohfettgehalt wies dagegen größere Abweichungen auf. Als Ursache wurde die Streuung der geschätzten Chymusmasse bzw. Chymuswassermasse aufgedeckt. Das Fazit ist, dass sich die D2O-Verdünnungsmethode zur in vivo-Bestimmung der sich ändernden Körperzusammensetzung von Ziegenlämmern im Gewichtsabschnitt von 4 kg bis 20 kg LM eignet. / On young goats (breed Bunte Deutsche Edelziege) with a live weight range of 4 kg up to 20 kg the suitability of the dilution method using the marker deuterated water (D2O) was checked in order to measure the changes of body composition during growth on living animals (in vivo). At a live weight of 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 kg the animals received an intrave¬nous dose of D2O after a fastening time of 13 to 18 hours. Blood samples were taken after a waiting period of 4 to 5 hours. In connection with the last blood sample in each period a part of the animals were slaughtered to determine the total body water content, the digesta mass and the empty body composition by chemical analysis. The determination of the marker concentration in the blood samples and the chemical analysis of the total bodies showed that the dilution method overestimated total body water content by 3,99 %. There is a close linear relationship between the estimated and the chemically determined content of total body water. The estimation of the digesta mass serves for the estimation of the empty body mass. Its variation mainly depends on the live weight. The chemical analysis of the animal bodies revealed that the composition of the fat-free empty body is mainly dependent on the empty body mass. Using allometric equations the components of the fat-free empty body mass were estimated and thus the composition of the empty body could be calculated. The comparison of the chemically determined components with the estimated components of the empty body showed a high agreement concerning the content of water, protein and ash. However estimation of the fat content is less accurate. The reason is the variation of the estimated digesta mass and the digesta water mass. It can be concluded that the dilution technique using deuterated water is a practicable method to determine in vivo the changing body composition of growing kids with a live weight range of 4 kg up to 20 kg.