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For several years, blooming of algae around the Caribbean islands, including Grenada, has been an issue. This influenced AlgaeFuel Technology into looking at the possibility of biogas production with macroalgal biomass in Grenada. Grenada is dependent on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs. Using the algae for producing biogas could possibly decrease greenhouse gas emissions. There are different factors affecting the production of biogas and therefore, the purpose of this project is to optimize a biogas plant with the use of macroalgal biomass, with focus in Grenada. A literature review was made to gain more knowledge about biogas production through anaerobic digestion, particularly by using macroalgae as biomass. An experiment was made through building four biogas plants in mini format with guidelines from the Swedish University of Agriculture Science. Each plant was fed with different combination of biomass to be compared in biogas production. The result from the experiment gave no clear differences in biogas production which most likely was due to errors during the experiment. Optimizing of a biogas plant includes several aspects. Pretreatment has shown to be an effective way of increasing the methane yield and the biogas production rate. Temperature regulation is significant in order to achieve a more efficient biogas production. The effect of pretreatment and temperature regulation needs to be compared with their energy consumption for a sustainable biogas production. Continues supply of biomass need to be secured which can be done by storing of algae in seasons with abundance and utilization of alternative types of biomass. A combination of biomass through co-digestion is an effective way of increasing the methane yield and also make the biogas plant more efficient in the longer run. In Grenada it is important to prioritize sustainable solutions that can fulfill Grenada’s vision towards 2030, with 100 percent renewable energy. Utilization of macroalgal biomass for biogas production in Grenada can be a solution to both decrease the negative impact of algae bloom and increase the share of renewable energy. / Under flera år har algblomning runt de Karibiska öarna, däribland Grenada, varit ett problem. Detta influerade AlgaeFuel Technology till att se närmare på möjligheterna för biogasproduktion med makroalger som biomassa i Grenada. Grenada är beroende av fossila bränslen för att möta sitt energibehov. Att använda algerna för produktion av biogas kan möjligtvis minska utsläpp av växthusgaser. Det finns olika faktorer som påverkar biogasproduktion och syftet med detta projekt är därför att optimera en biogasanläggning med användning av makroalger som biomassa, med fokus i Grenada. En litteraturstudie gjordes för att få mer kunskaper om biogasproduktion genom syrefri rötning, särskilt med användning av makroalger som biomassa. Ett experiment gjordes genom att bygga fyra biogasanläggningar i miniformat med riktlinjer från Svenska lantbruksuniversitetet. Varje anläggning var matad med fyra olika kombinationer av biomassa för att bli jämförd i produktion av biogas. Resultatet från experimentet gav inga tydliga skillnader i biogasproduktion vilket troligen berodde på felkällor under experimentet. Vid optimering av en biogasanläggning inkluderas flera aspekter. Förbehandling har visat sig att vara ett effektivt sätt att öka utbytet av metan och hastigheten av biogasproduktionen. Temperaturreglering är viktigt för att uppnå en mer effektiv biogasproduktion. Effekten av förbehandling och temperaturreglering behöver jämföras med deras energikonsumtion för att få en hållbar biogasproduktion. En kontinuerlig tillgänglighet av biomassa behövs, vilket kan uppnås genom lagring av alger under säsonger med överflöd samt användning av alternativ biomassa. En kombination av biomassa genom samrötning är ett effektivt sätt att öka metanutbytet och även göra biogasanläggningen mer effektiv i det långa loppet. I Grenada är det viktigt att prioritera hållbara lösningar som kan uppnå deras vision fram mot 2030 med 100 procent förnyelsebar energi. Att använda makroalger som biomassa för biogasproduktion i Grenada kan vara en lösning för att båda minska dom negativa effekterna från algblomning och öka andelen förnyelsebar energi.

It is widely accepted that the home environment may act as a socio-geographic focus of both disease transmission and of learned health behaviour. Households also appear to be units of convergence for factors identified in the literature as relating to the utilization of health services. This thesis is devoted to an examination of the role of the home environment, as well as of personal characteristics and accessibility, in the utilization of health services in Grenada, West Indies. The theoretical framework that informs this work is a holistic systems-orientated Socio-Ecological Model of Utilization. The empirical analysis draws upon the results of a detailed household survey conducted in five communities on the western portion of the island. Visits to homes containing children less than eight years of age isolated socio-demographic characteristics and information pertaining to residential mobility, household physical and behavioural environment, accessibility, self-reported morbidity and self-reported utilization. Records of patient visits over the previous two years for non-trauma events were abstracted from the medical records of area clinics, hospitals and physicians attending to the sample communities. Bivariate analyses between components of variables were conducted at both household and individual service use levels. These indicated that 1) service utilization was highly clustered around "high user" households and individuals; 2) considerable discrepancies emerged between self-reported and actual utilization; 3) the complexity of relationships between elements of the home environment was highlighted; and 4) there was a consistency with which certain elements of the home environment were statistically associated with health service use across a wide spectrum of illnesses. These observations were further confirmed in multivariate analyses, in which a small number of variables were able to retrospectively predict the presence or absence of service use by both adults and children with a high degree of model specificity and sensitivity. The implications of this work for development and health care planning in Grenada is discussed. The meaningful application of this work in Grenada is seen to hinge upon the extent to which relevant variables are amenable to change or act as proxy variables whose underlying nature of association with utilization remains to be adequately explored. A number of suggestions are advanced concerning the manner in which the study of health service utilization might be approached in the future. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Studien behandlar de motiv den amerikanske presidenten Ronald Reagan fann till att USA skulle intervenera på Grenada, samt hur denna motivbild skapades. Som teori användes John J Mearsheimers offensiva realism och metoden tog sin utgångspunkt i Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffes diskursanalys. Materialet som undersöktes bestod av texter och uttalanden med Reagan som avsändare. I analysen visade sig både motiv tillhörande den realistiska och liberala diskursen. Den liberala diskursen var dock underställd den realistiska, vilket visade på en hegemoni för den senare.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent Amanor-Boadu / Transforming Belmont Estate from a traditional agricultural production business into a profitable agri-tourism enterprise is the issue addressed in this thesis. The importance of this problem rests on the fact that the author is the general manager of this family business and needs to organize it in ways that facilitates its ability to keep growing in a rapidly changing market environment. Given the increasing positioning of Grenada as a preferred tourist destination and the increasing number of people who are responding to this positioning, the management of Belmont Estate believes that transforming this traditional agricultural production business into an agritourism business will create significant value for shareholders and stakeholders. The process of transforming the organization needs to start with a new way of envisioning it. Therefore, a strategic direction and a compelling value proposition were developed. An assessment of the business environment was conducted to develop a framework where specific strategies could be developed to support the new strategic direction that has been established. Additionally, a financial analysis that focused on the contribution of the different enterprises to the new strategic direction was conducted to assess the potential financial outcome of this effort. The results show that Belmont Estate is well-positioned to benefit from increasing tourism business in Grenada. If the management of Belmont Estate can implement the strategic plan, it can successfully transform Belmont Estate from an agricultural production business into an efficient agritourism business that not only creates value for its shareholders and stakeholders but offers a welcome diversity to Grenada’s growing tourism industry.

This thesis examines the nature and impact of the Reagan administration’s self-described projection of “peace through strength.” It argues that Reagan’s defense spending surge, “Star Wars” (SDI) missile shield policy, and 1983 invasion of Grenada gave the president confidence and political cover that allowed him to withdraw U.S. Marines from Beirut in early 1984. Analysts and commentators focus on his muscular power projection like defense spending, SDI, and the invasion of Grenada, but in practice Reagan exercised a high level of restraint in troop deployment. These projections of power and the avoidance of protracted war in Lebanon gave Reagan further confidence and cover to pursue arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union, against the protestations of anti-Soviet hardliners. Although Reagan supporters have credited the administration with either frightening or bankrupting the Soviets into disarmament, these policies—particularly his military restraint in Lebanon—did more to bring Reagan himself to the negotiation table. These power projection measures contributed to a “peace through strength” narrative embraced by much of Reagan’s domestic audience, allowing him to fend off accusations of Munich-style appeasement. While the defense spending surge helped give Reagan the confidence to ink an arms control agreement, the buildup created nonlinear consequences that will outlive arms control treaties.

The World Health Organization classified carbaryl, glyphosate, and paraquat as hazardous to human health. In the Agriculture Health Study in the United States, health problems were associated with the use of these 3 agrochemicals 12 or more times per year. These 3 agrochemicals were commonly used in Grenada. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between the social and economic characteristics of the farmers who participated in the 2012 agriculture survey and the use of agrochemicals at frequencies that could pose health risks. Five constructs of the social cognitive theory were used as the premise to hypothesize relationships between the variables. Binomial regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses of relationships between the characteristics of 8,868 farmers and use of agrochemicals or herbicides -?¥12 timers per year. Statistically significant relationships were found between 16 characteristics of the farmers and use of agrochemicals. Significant relationships were also found between 8 characteristics of the farmers and use of herbicides -?¥12 timers per year. The findings of this study show that several characteristics of the farmers in Grenada were associated with the use of agrochemicals at frequencies that were hazardous to health. By demonstrating the need to implement preventive measures and adopt the precautionary principle in the use of agrochemicals, positive changes can be made in monitoring agriculture practices, health surveillance, and clinical practice.

The adaptive cycle metaphor provides insight into how and why social-ecological systems change. Literature on 'resilience thinking' has built upon this foundation and further developed the concepts of resilience, adaptation, and transformation to describe social-ecological system behavior. The resilience-thinking literature also describes systems that do not change, even when such change is desirable, as being in a trapped state. However, relatively little research has explored why such systems are trapped and how to free them. This thesis is the product of doctoral research which resolves how to identify, evaluate, and free a system caught in a maladaptive system trap. The study setting is water management in Grenada, a small island developing state in the southeastern Caribbean. Four research questions guide this study: (1) To what extent is Grenadian water management in a trap?, (2) To what extent is Grenadian water management transformable?, (3) Do current and recent interventions effectively foster or utilize transformability?, and (4) Which interventions should be pursued to facilitate transformation of water management in Grenada?. The study is informed by literature on social-ecological systems and integrated water resources management. Methodologically, the study is an explanatory single-case study of water management in Grenada, conducted from 2012 to 2013. The study utilizes data from semi-structured interviews (n=19), a questionnaire (n=180), a document review (n>200), and observation. The general strategy was to evaluate attempts to transform Grenadian water management within the 3-phase transformation framework described in the resilience-thinking literature. 'Points of failure' in transformation are defined as the cause(s) of a trap, and interventions to relieve the points of failure are proposed. Results indicate Grenadian water management is in a rigidity trap, although it exhibits some capacity to transform. A key point of failure of attempts to transform the Grenadian water sector into an integrated and holistic management system has been an inability to seize windows of opportunity to pass key legislation. I conclude the primary cause for this failure is poor fit among the problem, as perceived by various stakeholders, the proposed solution prescribed by water sector reform proponents, and political reality. In addition, reform proponents focus on advocating for reform to water sector professionals and do little to broker passage of legislation politically. Finally, reform proponents also assume legislation will be effectively implemented, which is not certain. Contributions specific to the Grenadian setting include a post-mortem on why efforts to reform the water sector have failed, described above. Five recommendations are made for future interventions to foster transformation of Grenadian water management: (1) engage residents as part of a vision to create political pressure for proposed solutions, (2) frame the problem with substantial resident input and focus, (3) craft solutions which take advantage of political realities such as funding restrictions, (4) anticipate and prepare for crises, and (5) enlist one or more people or organizations to serve as brokers. Empirical contributions include support for the three-streams framework of seizing windows of opportunity as fundamental to explain transformation of social-ecological systems. The primary conceptual contribution is the development of resilience thinking to illuminate ways to free trapped systems. I begin by providing a nomenclature to quantify and describe traps, which includes the type of trap, the degree of persistence and undesirability of the trap, and recent changes in these properties. Then, I develop a framework to assess transformability of a given system based on the existing 3-phase framework of transformation. When applied empirically, this framework illuminates points of failure of transformation, which I define as the cause of a given trap. Once identified, specific strategies can be devised to foster transformation and to break free of a trap.

The adaptive cycle metaphor provides insight into how and why social-ecological systems change. Literature on 'resilience thinking' has built upon this foundation and further developed the concepts of resilience, adaptation, and transformation to describe social-ecological system behavior. The resilience-thinking literature also describes systems that do not change, even when such change is desirable, as being in a trapped state. However, relatively little research has explored why such systems are trapped and how to free them. This thesis is the product of doctoral research which resolves how to identify, evaluate, and free a system caught in a maladaptive system trap. The study setting is water management in Grenada, a small island developing state in the southeastern Caribbean. Four research questions guide this study: (1) To what extent is Grenadian water management in a trap?, (2) To what extent is Grenadian water management transformable?, (3) Do current and recent interventions effectively foster or utilize transformability?, and (4) Which interventions should be pursued to facilitate transformation of water management in Grenada?. The study is informed by literature on social-ecological systems and integrated water resources management. Methodologically, the study is an explanatory single-case study of water management in Grenada, conducted from 2012 to 2013. The study utilizes data from semi-structured interviews (n=19), a questionnaire (n=180), a document review (n>200), and observation. The general strategy was to evaluate attempts to transform Grenadian water management within the 3-phase transformation framework described in the resilience-thinking literature. 'Points of failure' in transformation are defined as the cause(s) of a trap, and interventions to relieve the points of failure are proposed. Results indicate Grenadian water management is in a rigidity trap, although it exhibits some capacity to transform. A key point of failure of attempts to transform the Grenadian water sector into an integrated and holistic management system has been an inability to seize windows of opportunity to pass key legislation. I conclude the primary cause for this failure is poor fit among the problem, as perceived by various stakeholders, the proposed solution prescribed by water sector reform proponents, and political reality. In addition, reform proponents focus on advocating for reform to water sector professionals and do little to broker passage of legislation politically. Finally, reform proponents also assume legislation will be effectively implemented, which is not certain. Contributions specific to the Grenadian setting include a post-mortem on why efforts to reform the water sector have failed, described above. Five recommendations are made for future interventions to foster transformation of Grenadian water management: (1) engage residents as part of a vision to create political pressure for proposed solutions, (2) frame the problem with substantial resident input and focus, (3) craft solutions which take advantage of political realities such as funding restrictions, (4) anticipate and prepare for crises, and (5) enlist one or more people or organizations to serve as brokers. Empirical contributions include support for the three-streams framework of seizing windows of opportunity as fundamental to explain transformation of social-ecological systems. The primary conceptual contribution is the development of resilience thinking to illuminate ways to free trapped systems. I begin by providing a nomenclature to quantify and describe traps, which includes the type of trap, the degree of persistence and undesirability of the trap, and recent changes in these properties. Then, I develop a framework to assess transformability of a given system based on the existing 3-phase framework of transformation. When applied empirically, this framework illuminates points of failure of transformation, which I define as the cause of a given trap. Once identified, specific strategies can be devised to foster transformation and to break free of a trap.

Thesis focuses on the possibility of setting up business entities in tax havens and their utilization in tax optimization. Reader is introduced to the most interesting Offshore and Onshore localities, their advantages, risks and possibilities of use. I will clarify the nature of the tax advantages of various types of companies including explanations of terms come from angloamerican jurisdictions. I will describe the specific steps which are required to set up the company in Grenada, including Sample documents and a model example demonstrating the tax optimization of the hypothetical bussines company. The resulting structure of the company will be subject to lower tax burden and consequently increase competitiveness of its products in global markets.