Despite mounting demand for a more sustainable worldwide water supply system, available reservoir capacity is relentlessly diminishing due to sedimentation. This fact, coupled with a decrease in the rate of dam construction, indicate an impending water supply dilemma. In the future, dams should be designed following a life cycle management approach rather than the typical short-sighted design life technique.Neither sustainable reservoir lifespans nor intergenerational equity is achieved through conventional cost-benefit analyses (CBA), which render all benefits and costs projected to occur more than several decades into a project as negligible. Consequently, future expenditures, including dam decommissioning or retrofitting with sediment management facilities, are regarded as non-factors in an analysis. CBAs have also historically failed to account for the impacts of sedimentation on infrastructure and the environment over time.Alternatives to the traditional application of the CBA do exist, however. These include dam owners establishing retirement funds or insurance policies, beneficiaries paying for rehabilitation or maintenance, and economists incorporating infrastructure damages and potentially declining discount rates into their analyses.To analyze the disadvantages of not managing sediment, a case study of costs caused from sedimentation impacts at Gavins Point Dam was performed. Impacts from sedimentation at Gavins Point Dam include, among many others, upstream municipal flooding and downstream bank stabilization and sandbar construction. The financial analysis considered the time value of money and showed that the value of expenditures to resolve sedimentation impacts is equivalent to 70% of the original construction cost. Including the costs of additional impacts would amplify this result. Design and operations decisions at Gavins Point Dam could have been drastically different, leading to a more sustainable project, if these expenditures from sedimentation impacts had been included in the initial economic analyses.It is recommended that multidisciplinary discussions occur at multiagency levels to consider changes to traditional CBAs for long-term water supply projects. These discussions should investigate the creation of funding to address sediment management at existing dams. The frequency of bathymetric surveys should also be increased, which would lead to a better understanding of the condition of our infrastructure. By pursuing these recommendations and integrating the aforementioned alternatives to the CBA, economic studies for reservoirs will be more accurate, reservoir lifespans will be more sustainable, profits will be extended indefinitely, and the economic burdens passed to future generations will be lessened.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / Road infrastructure is usually regarded as an economic backbone of the society. Local government has a responsibility to ensure that local roads are maintained in order to facilitate a movement of people, goods and services. The study was undertaken on the premise that local roads in Makhado Local Municipality are not promoting safety. That is, road infrastructure in this municipality is considered to be deteriorating. It is against this background that the researcher found it worthwhile to investigate critical challenges of maintaining road infrastructure in the Makhado Local Municipality focusing on the following towns, Makhado, Vuwani, Waterval and Dzanani only excluding unpaved communities and other small townships, namely Tshikota and Vleifontein. The objectives of the research were to determine the condition and effects of municipal road infrastructure within Makhado Local Municipality; to examine the legal framework governing the local municipality in the context of road infrastructure provision and maintenance as well as to recommend strategies to address challenges of road infrastructure within the municipality. The research employed both qualitative and qualitative in nature. A purposive research sampling approach was used to determine the inclusion of relevant respondents to the study. The research found out that the status of road infrastructure affect various people of different biographical background within the four towns of Makhado Local Municipality in a similar way. In the findings, the study highlight the fact that deteriorating roads conditions are often due to the following: a lack of professionals such as engineers to perform the necessary environmental scanning and identify problems in order to design the roads that suit the area, soil, landscape and climate and that other factors affecting the road infrastructure include corruption in procurement of road infrastructure projects; a lack of accountability of municipal officials; a lack or poor community involvement; and poor monitoring and maintenance of road projects. The study recommends that individuals with knowledge, expertise and skills be employed and further provide proper monitoring of the road projects.

Detta examensarbete har utförts på uppdrag av Ramböll RST i Luleå. Syftet har varit att beskriva metod och process för arbetet med väginventering. Det har lagts särskild vikt vid att beskriva för- och nackdelar med nuvarande metoder. Syftet med inventering är att klargöra det fysiska och funktionella tillståndet hos vägen och dess sidoområde. Inventering är underlag för planering och genomförande av åtgärder som erfordras för att säkerställa att kraven uppfylls på både kort och lång sikt. Inventeringen avser att identifiera homogena delsträckor för att möjliggöra projektering av lämplig åtgärd. (VVMB120 Inventering och värdering av befintlig väg, 2009) RST avdelning på Ramböll erbjuder en underhållsutredning som redovisar en detaljerad bild av tillståndet på gator, vägar och GC-nät. Resultatet ger politiker och tjänstemän ett viktigt underlag i budgetarbetet. Underhållsutredningen gör att insatserna kan optimeras för att ge största effekt och bästa funktion per satsad skattekrona. Företaget har som målsättning att deras metoder för inventering ska vara ledande i Sverige. Arbetet med inventering kan utföras ekonomiskt och effektivt med aktuella metoder, men det finns begränsningar hos nuvarande metoder som påverkar arbetets kvalitet. I detta examensarbete har jag behandlat:  Processen för arbete med inventering  Vad innebär arbetet med inventering  Vilka metoder har Ramböll RST för att utföra inventering I rapporten utreds för- och nackdelar med de aktuella metoderna. Det finns även en diskussion om hur inventeringen kan göras på kortare tid och ändå bevara hög kvalitet. Min förhoppning är att denna rapport kan vara underlag för en positiv utveckling av arbetet.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the reasons for the varying adaptation policies in place for coastal states that will experience flooding as result of climate change. Responses to excessive precipitation and worsened flooding differ widely between predominantly conservative and predominantly progressive states. The levels of flooding aren’t fully known, but they are predicted to be increasingly catastrophic as climate change worsens. Coastal populations will only grow more vulnerable to flooding without adaptive measures put in place. Increasing green infrastructure is one of the most effective methods. Adaptation measures vary widely by state and more progressive states have greater amounts of adaptive measures in place. Conservative states have a long history that results in their lack of climate policy and environmental governance.

India has ambitious targets to develop extensive renewable energy infrastructure by 2022. These targets are driven by the country’s pressing environmental and demographic concerns. While the development of such infrastructure can have many benefits, the costs of are often disproportionately borne by some of the most impoverished groups due to land acquisition and displacement. Land acquisition often occurs in rural areas, where the majority of the population are farmers or tribal groups. While there are laws to protect the rights of these groups, the effectiveness of these laws is often undermined by state governments that prioritize investment. Looking at the development of solar, wind, and small hydropower, the various impacts on rural communities are evident. Without adequate compensation for the loss of land and the suffering caused by displacement, these groups can often be left worse off than before. Government support needs to be carried out in a way that encourages maximum deployment, while also enforcing regulations that protect the rights of rural communities.

Research literature has documented Nigeria's leadership crisis since its independence from Great Britain in 1960. This crisis corresponds with political instability and infrastructure weaknesses, which have resulted in crime, corruption, poverty, lack of social cohesion and personal freedoms, environmental degradation, gender inequities, and deteriorating conditions of public works. No literature was located that addressed the impact of leadership on the governance and development of infrastructure in Nigeria. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate this phenomenon in Nigeria between 1960 and 2010. The theoretical framework comprised Burns' and Bass' theories of transformational leadership, and Davis' and Toikka's theories of transformation and transition in governance. Data were collected through personal interviews with a purposeful sample of 13 past presidents of Nigeria, public officials, and infrastructure development experts, and by reviewing secondary data on leadership and development in Nigeria during the period 1960-2010. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method to identify patterns and themes. Findings showed that (a) political instability and the Nigerian civil war have been obstacles to infrastructure development and implementation; (b) military dictatorships implemented improvements, although they neglected rural areas; (c) a new national infrastructure plan must be funded, developed, and implemented; (d) corruption must be combatted in awarding project contracts; and (e) Nigeria's governance should be based on a pragmatic-visionary form of leadership. The implications for positive social change include informing policy makers about the importance of infrastructure development in Nigeria in order to improve economic growth and the lives of citizens.

Dans le domaine du transport de fret, il est nécessaire d’assurer le suivi des wagons, d’identifier les wagons sensibles (transport de matières dangereuses, denrées périssables…) ainsi que de collecter les informations associées (contenu, poids, localisation) pour faciliter la gestion logistique. Le but de cette thèse est de proposer un système de communication sans fil à courte portée qui répond à ces besoins. Les contraintes de l’environnement ferroviaire et de l’embarqué telles que la flexibilité, le coût de l’installation, la faible consommation d’énergie, et le risque de présence de perturbations électromagnétiques rend l’insertion des technologies sans fil dans le milieu ferroviaire plus complexe. Une étude comparative des systèmes de communication existants a permis d’identifier la technologie ZigBee comme étant la plus adaptée au problème étudié. Une comparaison des différents scénarios possibles du positionnement des dispositifs ZigBee a été réalisée et validée par des mesures en présence de véhicules et de conteneurs. L’impact des perturbations électromagnétiques issues des installations d’alimentation ferroviaire et des émetteurs RF environnants, a été étudié. Une analyse d’autres types de perturbations générées intentionnellement pour nuire au système proposé à des fins malveillantes, a été également menée. / In railway freight transport, wagons tracking is necessary to identify sensitive elements (transport of hazardous materials, perishable goods ...) and the associated information (content, weight, location) could be useful for logistic management. The aim of this thesis is to propose a short-range wireless communication system, which meets these needs. The constraints of rail environment such as flexibility, technical installation difficulties, low energy consumption and the risk of electromagnetic disturbances, causes more difficulties to insert wireless technologies in railway environment. A comparative study of existing communication systems has identified the ZigBee technology as the most appropriate to design the communication between wagons and between wagon and infrastructure for the studied application. A comparison of different possibilities for positioning of ZigBee devices was carried out. Experimentations have been realized in presence of vehicles and containers. The impact of electromagnetic disturbances issued from rail power infrastructure and from surrounding RF transmitters, has been studied. Disturbances intentionally generated to damage the proposed system, have been also analyzed.

Scholars have suggested that landscape become the main ordering device in the development of the built environment. Traditional methods of urban planning have categorized landscape as a cosmetic application, the purpose of which is to beautify the urban environment after the planning and development phases. The problems associated with globalization and rapid urbanization at present includes the commoditization of urban form. As a result of this trend, many cities are becoming less and less distinguishable from one another, as urban form is generated without considering the particularities of site and context. The lack of a more specific understanding of a site in its environmental, social and cultural dimensions, has led to the phenomenon of "universal" urban form. Landscape has new found relevance in contemporary urbanism becoming the medium that defines urban form; inserting the built environment within the context of complex natural, social and cultural environments. Landscape has the potential to design relationships between dynamic environmental processes and urban form, and become more of a functional system. In the island of Trinidad there exists the opportunity to explore the potential of landscape as a driver of urban form. The island is currently experiencing rapid urbanization and dynamic growth due to a boost in the economy, and an unprecedented government agenda to take the island to a developed nation status by the year 2020. Due to this emerging urbanity, there is the need to implement urban development approaches that protect the environmental integrity of the island, and preserve the social and cultural influences that give identity to the island. The investigation led to the development of a landscape infrastructure that is implemented in an effort to achieve sustainable urban development and preserve the natural integrity of the site. Through an in-depth analysis of the landscape, identifying the natural, social and cultural processes occurring, a plan of intervention is developed that is integrated with the dynamics of the site, and serves as an example of the potential of landscape in urbanism.

This research provides an analysis of the disparate notions and ideas, to form an overview of the possible trends in residential property for the Victorian coastal areas of the Surf Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula. It examines the interaction of the consumers, space producers and infrastructure providers as they are influenced by the three key determinants of the market, the demographic factors, economic conditions and statutory factors. While examining the patterns of urban development on coastal Victoria over the next 20 years, the research also investigates the validity of myths that have emerged concerning the Sea Change experience, the investment market in coastal areas and the adequacy of the relevant infrastructure. The qualitative data used in this research comes from both primary and secondary sources. The primary qualitative and quantitative data was developed on the basis of the responses to a mail out questionnaire to residents from seven towns on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Surf Coast and from a number of interviews with local property experts from these areas. The secondary qualitative and quantitative data came from the results of various government surveys, demographers, the press and the census. The main thrust of this research is to answer the question

<p>This paper addresses the question of how to make use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in companies in the process industry were there is a pervasive need of process standardization. ERP systems have the potential to contribute with standardization and integration of organizational data through an of-the-shelf solution. In practice results of ERP systems implementation has varied greatly. Considering their implications on business processes and the complexity of the systems this should not come as a surprise. ERP systems do not only imply standardization of data but also standardization of key processes in the company. The consequences on the individual organization are therefore hard to predict. Making strategic choices between different degrees of in-house developed systems, integration of solutions from many different suppliers or to only rely on the ERP systems consultants and their proposed implementation of solutions, can be a troublesome balance act. This paper describes a case study of the Swedish diary company Norrmejerier and the implementation of the ERP system IFS analyzed from a perspective of complex system and standardization. The use of IFS at Norrmejerier can be characterized as a loosely coupled integration with the ERP system as a central integration facilitator. This solution allowed the company to make use of standardization benefits, filling the need of special functionality and at the same time limiting the negative unexpected consequences such as decreased activity support and increased complexity. The key contributions of this paper are that it shows how ERP´s can contribute to standardization and integration efforts in IT environments with peculiar demands on functionality. Secondly it demonstrates how negative side effects related to implementation of ERP systems can be managed and limited.</p>