Water management is undergoing a transformation towards integration, source control and ecological thinking. In the EU, the Water Framework Directive can be considered as a driver towards this new approach to water management. Innovations are deemed necessary to deliver this ideal of water management. In this thesis efforts by water sewerage companies in England & Wales to rectify agricultural pollution at source are viewed as an organisational innovation towards more sustainable water management. These source control interventions can help achieving the goals of the Water Framework Directive by reducing diffuse pollution from agriculture, fostering participation in water management and by reducing overall cost of implementation. This thesis contributes to understanding the process of change in water management by developing a model of the innovation-decision process. Insights about how innovation and therefore change can be influenced is generated by applying this model to the process of source control intervention adoption by water and sewerage companies. This research employed a flexible research design using comparative case studies. Each of the 10 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales represented an individual case. Data were collected in two phases using semi-structured interviews with selected water and sewerage company representatives. Thematic analysis, recurrence counts and content analysis were applied to analyse interviews. It was found that water companies are likely to contribute towards integrated approaches to water management, since there is a trend to adopt source control intervention. Change in water management is influenced by the interaction of factors from the domains: ‗Natural-Physical‘, ‗Organisational Characteristics‘, ‗Regulatory- Institutional‘ and ‗Innovation Attributes‘. The rate of change by water and sewerage companies is governed by a combination of asset characteristics, environmental state changes and the funding cycle. Furthermore, innovation is triggered by direct regulation and regulation that requires the gathering of information. Contrary to this flexible or framework regulation performs better in guiding the direction of change.

This mixed-use space was designed to celebrate Richmond, Virginia’s arts and design communities. By creating a contemporary Richmond experience in a historic trolley shed, it is a space to create, relax, and inspire. This dynamic platform will showcase Richmond’s talented new creatives, from painters and sculptors to fashion designers and graphic artists. A central retail space featuring the wares of local designers is adjoined by an exclusive art gallery with exhibitions and live performances that change on a regular basis. The space also includes a sit-down restaurant and a smaller, more casual café, where patrons can dine with friends or chat over coffee. This project explores the idea of flexibility as it pertains to architecture and interior design. Strategies such as overlap versus separation, public versus private access, and the use of materiality to delineate hierarchy were all employed in this journey to create a space that remains flexible in both the organization of and interactions amongst its internal occupants and purposes to also serve as a venue for external events.

No description available.

Face à la forte concurrence internationale, de nombreuses entreprises manufacturières orientent leurs investissements vers les marchés africains pour accroître leur part de marché et rester compétitives sur le marché mondial. Ces marchés sont effet en plein essor mais demandent des produits de grande diversité. En dépit de cette attractivité, les flux commerciaux en Afrique demeurent faibles en raison de la faible qualité des infrastructures et de l’absence d’écosystèmes logistiques régionaux connectant les pays africains de manière fiable et efficace.C’est pourquoi cette thèse de doctorat s’intéresse à la modélisation et à la résolution du problème de conception de réseaux de distribution hybrides en Afrique, intégrant des plateformes de distribution et de personnalisation finale des produits. Ces réseaux incluent, en amont, des hubs régionaux servant de porte d’entrée vers les marchés d’une région continentale. Le report de la personnalisation finale en aval du réseau logistique permet de réduire les délais de livraison aux marchés et le coût de distribution tout en maintenant une économie d’échelle. La méthodologie que nous proposons repose sur deux grands axes de recherche :▪ Le premier axe vise à définir la localisation des hubs logistiques régionaux, sur la base d’une analyse multicritères floue, version améliorée de TOPSIS floue et d'AHP ;▪ Le deuxième axe aborde conception de réseaux de distribution hybrides servant des marchés fortement diversifiés (exemple : marchés des engrais). Nous avons proposé deux nouveaux modèles d'optimisation multi-objectifs minimisant le coût total d’exploitation et d’investissement, maximisant la proximité des produits aux marchés et minimisant les dommages sur les produits finis durant leur distribution. Le premier modèle est déterministe tandis que le deuxième propose une conception flexible alignée sur la dynamique et l’incertitude de l’évolution des marchés africains. / In the context of intense international competition, many manufacturing firms are directing their investments toward African markets to increase their market share and maintain their competitiveness in the global market. These markets are rapidly growing but require customized products. Despite their attractivity, trade flows in Africa remain low due to the poor quality of infrastructure and the lack of regional logistic ecosystems, connecting African countries through reliable and efficient services.This doctoral thesis therefore focuses on modelling and solving the problem of designing hybrid distribution networks in Africa, integrating distribution and final customization platforms. These networks incorporate, upstream, regional hubs that serve as gateways to regional markets. The postponement of final customization downstream of the logistics network reduces the delivery times and downstream distribution costs while maintaining upstream economies of scale.The methodology we suggest is based on two main areas of research:▪ The first axis aims to define the location of regional logistics hubs, based on a fuzzy multi-criteria analysis approach, which is an improved version of TOPSIS fuzzy and AHP;▪ The second axis focuses on the design of hybrid distribution networks serving highly diversified markets in Africa (for example: fertilizer markets). To this aim, we propose two new multi-objective optimization models minimizing total operating and investment costs, maximizing product proximity to markets and minimizing damage to finished products during their distribution. The first model is deterministic while the second one proposes a flexible design in response to the dynamics and uncertainty of the evolution of African markets.

The present thesis presents an informed by ethnography research that seeks to explore the privacy concerns and security risks that individuals perceive with regards to the electronic system of handling digital prescriptions. The research takes place in Athens, Greece and the participants are professionals who use daily the e-prescription platform and citizens whose data is being gathered and accessed. The paradiagm within which the research is unfolded is the interpretive one and a methodology of flexible design is followed. Thematic analysis of concepts produced by the data gathered is followed in order to offer an understanding of the concerns that the participants perceive. The methods that were used were interviews with professionals, focus groups with groups of citizens, individual interviews with citizens, observations and thinking aloud in pharmacies. The aim of the thesis is to illuminate those concerns with the aspiration that it be used as a basis for further research on the important issue of privacy of sensitive, medical data and suggest ways that could help ameliorate the identified concerns.