This thesis gives an overview about innovations in organisations as well as the importance of a favourable organisational microclimate for the enhancement of creativity and innovation. Generating ideas is always a very fragile process for any organisation engaged in innovative activities. In order to support good and successful ideas the companies have to have a favourable organisational microclimate. This microclimate is discussed against the background of certain conditions which organisations or rather companies should obtain in order to prevail innovations and cope with them in a successful way. The main focus of this thesis is on the conditions, which can favour and support the process of emerging innovations. The conditions are teamwork, management participation, effective communication and information flow, as well as innovative culture. During the different chapters however, some interrelations can therefore be seen. Furthermore nine interviews with three different innovative Latvian companies support our theoretical framework of this thesis, how the different conditions are interrelated with each other in practice and their occurrence in the different companies. In the end a discussion about the results is started, where it can be seen whether more conditions emerged.

The ongoing search for energy conservation in built structures and during the construction process prompted this thesis work to explore the use of sustainable technologies for floor heating systems. The thesis work explores the use of thermoplastic material as a sustainable substitute material for future floor heating systems. Concrete materials are presently used extensively for floor heating systems. Thermoplastic materials are seldom used for floor heating and the primary focus of this thesis is to explore the suitability & adaptability of thermoplastics as an innovative energy saving floor heating material. A thorough study of energy demands and the impact on environment due to greenhouse gas emissions has been done. Thermoplastic materials are environmental friendly and light weight. They exhibit high thermal conductivity which is favourable for the floor heating systems. A design technique has been developed for the use of thermoplastic materials as an energy efficient floor heating material. The present technique creates a new modular floor heating system. The design technique uses thermoplastic material of size 2.4m x1.2m with embedded electric heaters. Thermoplastic foam panels act as a single building block. A numerical simulation has been carried out to study the heat transfer characteristics of the proposed material. Limited experiments were conducted to verify the validity of the simulation results. The results from the experiments indicate good agreement with simulation results. The energy savings from the thermoplastic floor heating systems have been compared with that of electrical floor heating systems. The adaptability of the new floor heating system in terms of energy savings and cost benefit analysis is also discussed. / sustainable floor heating system

The aim of this research was to identify how farmers learn how to farm using pluriactive lifestyle block ostrich farmers who are part of the New Zealand ostrich industry as a case study. Ostrich farming is comparatively new to New Zealand farmers and the industry has attracted innovative individuals who have developed informal learning strategies. Ostrich farmers use other farmers as their main resource which is mainly facilitated through events organised by the New Zealand Ostrich Association (NZOA) and aimed at lifestyle block farmers. Ostrich farmers' community of practice is centred around their membership to the Association which enables farmers to come together to learn and socialise. For learning to effectively take place the key is social interaction, where ideas can be transferred between farmers. This thesis illustrates the important events and structure of the industry and how this has shaped farmer learning. Through semi-structured interviews and participant observation on a chick rearing farm I was able to gain a picture of how lifestyle block farmers balance full time off-farm employment while running stock, in an attempt to satisfy their version of the rural idyll. The industry is now in decline as most of the early players have exited the industry and it is now focused around New Zealand Ostrich Export (NZOE) goals. By exploring the period called the breeder phase which was characterised by some farmers making a fortune as ostrich farming was the 'next big thing' and the history since then, I have identified how these particular farmers have learned how to farm.

This doctoral thesis contains three essays on the economics of climate change and the electricity sector. The first essay deals with the subject of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and economic growth. The second essay addresses the issues of climate change policies, especially the role of the emergent innovative technologies, and the restructuring of the electricity sector. The third essay presents a model of transmission investments in electric power networks. Chapter One studies the impacts of climate change on economic growth in the world economies. The paper contains explicit formalization of the depletion process of exhaustible fossil fuels and the phase of technology substitution. The impacts of climate change on capital flows and welfare across countries are also investigated. The restructuring of the electricity sector is studied in Chapter Two. It also analyzes how climate change policies can benefit from emergent innovative technologies and how emergent innovative technologies can lower GHG emissions. It is shown that the price of electricity is strictly rising before emergent innovative firms with zero GHG emissions enter the market, but strictly declining as the entry begins. In Chapter Three, a model of electricity transmission investments from the perspective of the regulatory approach is formulated. The Mid-West region of Western Australia, a sub-system of the South West Interconnected System is considered. In contrast with most models in the literature that deal only with network deepening, this model deals with both network deepening and network widening. Moreover, unlike the conventional investment models which are static and deal only with the long run, this model is dynamic and focuses on the timing of the infrastructure investments. The paper is a study of an optimal transmission investment program which is part of the optimal investment program for an integrated model in which investments in transmission and investments in generation are made at the same time.

User-product interaction is a multi-dimensional, multi-faceted and multi-modal everyday encounter. This study concentrates on the two most prominent actors of this interaction, namely, the user and the product, whereby user expertise and product innovativeness are given special attention. Prominence of user expertise in new product encounters, especially those with innovative products, is established through the findings of two case studies.

[Abstract]: The educational literature has popularised models of school leadership such as Instructional, Transformational, Strategic, Educative, and Servant Leadership. Whilst valuable as ways of conceptualising leadership styles, worldviews, traits, roles and functions of individual principals, these models fall short of capturing the dynamic between the outcomes of leadership and the leadership process in contemporary school contexts. Distributed leadership theory is held by many to be more attuned to the post-industrial needs of organisations, and its influence on educational research has seen the emergence of new ways of comprehending leadership in schools. One influential example is ‘parallel leadership’, a derivative of distributed leadership that describes teachers as leaders of curriculum and pedagogy and principals as metastrategic leaders. This study looks specifically at the leadership processes of a small sample of principals in the process of school revitalisation titled IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing the Achievements of Schools). A key motivation for this study was that the concept of ‘parallel leadership’ had been subjected to little serious critique. Uncertainty surrounded how principals in IDEAS schools conceptualised their leadership, and what impacts experience with the IDEAS Project has on conceptions of leadership. The purpose of this study was to tease out the meanings that a sample of principals gave to their highly complex role as principal, whilst engaging with the concept of ‘parallel leadership’ during their schools’ implementations of IDEAS. The Research Problem was stated as: What conceptions of principal leadership arise out of a sample of principals’ experiences with a process of school revitalisation that emphasises a distributed approach to school leadership? The overarching inquiry took the form of a multi-case or collective case study and comprised four principals who had engaged with IDEAS over a period of at least two years. Data collection strategies included the in-depth interview, which was chosen as the primary method for informants to describe their perceptions of their leadership, together with concept mapping and a structured interview that was utilised to gain staff perceptions of informants’ leadership. Methods of analysis involved detailed transcriptions of taped interviews and tools derived from the literature review that were used to code and categorise the texts of interviews.Crowther et al. (2001) proposed a Model of Successful School Revitalisation as a result of their research conducted under the auspices of the Australian Research Council and Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA). Source: (Crowther, Hann & McMaster 2001, p. 141). First, the Model identifies principal leadership and teacher leadership as each having concrete meaning and significance and that success occurs through a mutual and respectful association. This relationship is captured by the authors in the new concept of ‘parallel leadership’. Second, the Model makes clear a view that effective school leadership impacts three school processes that are conceptualised as culture building, shared approach to pedagogy and schoolwide learning. Third, the Model proposes that through the enrichment and integration of these three processes school outcomes are enhanced.This study focussed on the principal leadership aspect of ‘parallel leadership’ and resulted in a Model of Metastrategic Principal Leadership that conceptualises the intersection of principal leadership and the ideas process which Crowther et al. described as the Stimulus.The present study thereby extends the definition of ‘parallel leadership’ by describing how principals contribute to transformations of leadership, learning, and pedagogy through three principal-led processes. The proposed Model of Metastrategic Principal Leadership suggests that when activated by a principal’s continuous professional learning the combination of the interactions of personal style (Personal), the process of revitalisation (Processual), and personal conceptualisation of role (Conceptual) result in principal-led processes that support successful school revitalisation. The three principal-led processes that were uncovered are described as re-imaging school leadership, support of organisation-wide learning, and management of meaning.The researcher hopes the outcomes of the study will be of benefit to principals and teachers in the increasing numbers of schools now engaging with IDEAS across Australia and internationally. A further hope is that the present study’s descriptions of new ways of comprehending leadership in schools might be of assistance to school practitioners seeking to move from traditional to distributed forms of leadership and also educational theorists who are working in the field of school improvement.

<p>This thesis gives an overview about innovations in organisations as well as the importance of a favourable organisational microclimate for the enhancement of creativity and innovation. Generating ideas is always a very fragile process for any organisation engaged in innovative activities. In order to support good and successful ideas the companies have to have a favourable organisational microclimate. This microclimate is discussed against the background of certain conditions which organisations or rather companies should obtain in order to prevail innovations and cope with them in a successful way. The main focus of this thesis is on the conditions, which can favour and support the process of emerging innovations. The conditions are teamwork, management participation, effective communication and information flow, as well as innovative culture. During the different chapters however, some interrelations can therefore be seen.</p><p>Furthermore nine interviews with three different innovative Latvian companies support our theoretical framework of this thesis, how the different conditions are interrelated with each other in practice and their occurrence in the different companies.</p><p>In the end a discussion about the results is started, where it can be seen whether more conditions emerged.</p>

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of National Innovation System (NIS) as new conceptual framework appeared in the late 1980s. The framework of NIS not only focuses on the science and technology development of a country, but also on concerns about a nation’s demand and strategy. The best technology, as well as patents, can be found in developed countries. Their development leads world development in many ways and influences the development model in developing countries. Although it is not hard to see that they seem to be progressing well, the question is why development just happens in some countries. Even fast developing countries, like China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have fewer such well-known or successful business models, compared to developed countries. The thesis attempts to scrutinise the internal and external factors in NIS which may influence countries and the innovation of enterprises within South Africa and China. The thesis focuses on fundamental research of the NIS of South Africa and China. The objective of the thesis is to find out which factors are involved in the NIS and how the system works in South Africa and China. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the difference and gap between these two countries and other more innovative countries, as well as the differences between South Africa and China. The literature study and quantitative method will be used to research and compare the NIS of South Africa and China. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die konsep van Nasionale Innovasie Stelsels (NIS) as ʼn nuwe konsepsionele raamwerk het in die laat 1980s na vore gekom. Die raamwerk van NIS het beide op die wetenskap en tegnologiese ontwikkeling, asook nasionale strategie van ʼn land gefokus. Die beste tegnologie sowel as patentregte kan in ontwikkelde lande gevind word. Hul bydrae is aan die voor front van globale ontwikkeling en het ʼn direkte invloed op ontwikkelingsmodelle vir ander ontwikkelende lande. Die voorspoed in hierdie lande is vir almal duidelik, maar die vraag is waarom ontwikkeling slegs plaasvind in sommige lande. Lande soos China, Indië, Brasilië en Suid Afrika het minder goeie en suksesvolle besigheidsmodelle, in vergelyking met ontwikkelde lande, alhoewel ontwikkeling steeds vinnig plaasvind. Die tesis poog om interne en eksterne faktore van die NIS te ontleed wat sal bydra tot die innovasie van ondernemingsontwikkeling in Suid Afrika en China. Die tesis fokus op fundamentele navorsing op die NIS van Suid Afrika en China. Die doel van die tesis is om uit te vind watter faktore die NIS in beide Suid Afrika en China beïnvloed. Die besondere oogmerk van die studie is om verskille en gapings tussen die twee lande en ander innovasie georiënteerde lande te beklemtoon, asook die verskil tussen Suid Afrika en China. Die literatuurstudie en kwantitatiewe metode word geïmplementeer om die NIS in Suid Afrika en China te ondersoek en vergelyk.

Submitted by Julio Cesar Prampero (julioprampero@gmail.com) on 2018-01-03T12:22:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Prampero Final.docx: 3342948 bytes, checksum: 0c54b7943bcafe48a5c9f4e8ebd1e22b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Cristina Alexandra de Godoy null (cristina@adm.feis.unesp.br) on 2018-01-03T16:12:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 prampero_jc_me_ilha.pdf: 2633899 bytes, checksum: a73c895b49de1331ba315bc5da611a42 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-03T16:12:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 prampero_jc_me_ilha.pdf: 2633899 bytes, checksum: a73c895b49de1331ba315bc5da611a42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O uso de inovações estruturais em reatores UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) para sua utilização no tratamento de esgoto doméstico, como a compartimentação, é uma alternativa para aprimorar um sistema de tratamento simples e eficiente. Projetado com configuração estrutural inovadora o Reator UASB Compartimentado (RUC) utilizado foi operado em fluxo contínuo com esgoto sanitário do município de Ilha Solteira- SP. Objetivando a avaliação da eficiência do RUC quanto a seus fatores operacionais, a pesquisa foi dividida em quatro etapas. O RUC foi submetido e operado a uma carga orgânica de 1,21kgDQO/d e temperatura ambiente média de 22,47°C, alcançando médias de 74% de remoção de DQO e até 87%. Para remoção de nutrientes foram atingidas médias de 36% para Nitrogênio Total e 44% para Fósforo Total, com máximas de 63 e 64%, respectivamente. Demandou pouca operação de manutenção e baixa produção de lodo. Durante todo período de atividade deparou-se com diversos problemas operacionais, tais como: acúmulo de gordura, tanto na câmara de gases quanto aderida ao lodo, os quais levaram a obstrução do sistema de saída e equipamento de monitoramento dos gases, resultando na perda de eficiência e consequentemente, necessitando de descarga completa e reinoculação do RUC. / The use of structural innovations in UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactors for use in the sewage treatment, such as compartmentation, is an alternative to improve a simple and efficient treatment system. In an innovative structural configuration, the Compartmented UASB Reactor (CUR) used was run in continuous, using Ilha Solteira - SP municipal sewage. To evaluate the CUR efficiency as for operational factors, this research was divided in four steps. The CUR was submitted to an organic load of 1.21kgCOD/day, operated at average temperature of 22.47°C, showed average COD removal of 74%, reaching up to 87%. The nutrient removal average were 36% for Total Nitrogen and 44% for Total Phosphorus reached maximums of 63 and 64%, respectively. The reactor presented low maintenance and sludge production. During all time CUR come across operational troubles such as: fat accumulation in gas chamber and adhered to the sludge, which causing the obstruction of the exhaust system and monitoring device, resulted in efficiency loss and the needed to sludge discard and re-inoculation to restart.

Orientador: Tsunao Matsumoto / Resumo: O uso de inovações estruturais em reatores UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) para sua utilização no tratamento de esgoto doméstico, como a compartimentação, é uma alternativa para aprimorar um sistema de tratamento simples e eficiente. Projetado com configuração estrutural inovadora o Reator UASB Compartimentado (RUC) utilizado foi operado em fluxo contínuo com esgoto sanitário do município de Ilha Solteira- SP. Objetivando a avaliação da eficiência do RUC quanto a seus fatores operacionais, a pesquisa foi dividida em quatro etapas. O RUC foi submetido e operado a uma carga orgânica de 1,21kgDQO/d e temperatura ambiente média de 22,47°C, alcançando médias de 74% de remoção de DQO e até 87%. Para remoção de nutrientes foram atingidas médias de 36% para Nitrogênio Total e 44% para Fósforo Total, com máximas de 63 e 64%, respectivamente. Demandou pouca operação de manutenção e baixa produção de lodo. Durante todo período de atividade deparou-se com diversos problemas operacionais, tais como: acúmulo de gordura, tanto na câmara de gases quanto aderida ao lodo, os quais levaram a obstrução do sistema de saída e equipamento de monitoramento dos gases, resultando na perda de eficiência e consequentemente, necessitando de descarga completa e reinoculação do RUC. / Abstract: The use of structural innovations in UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactors for use in the sewage treatment, such as compartmentation, is an alternative to improve a simple and efficient treatment system. In an innovative structural configuration, the Compartmented UASB Reactor (CUR) used was run in continuous, using Ilha Solteira - SP municipal sewage. To evaluate the CUR efficiency as for operational factors, this research was divided in four steps. The CUR was submitted to an organic load of 1.21kgCOD/day, operated at average temperature of 22.47°C, showed average COD removal of 74%, reaching up to 87%. The nutrient removal average were 36% for Total Nitrogen and 44% for Total Phosphorus reached maximums of 63 and 64%, respectively. The reactor presented low maintenance and sludge production. During all time CUR come across operational troubles such as: fat accumulation in gas chamber and adhered to the sludge, which causing the obstruction of the exhaust system and monitoring device, resulted in efficiency loss and the needed to sludge discard and re-inoculation to restart. / Mestre