Matching Items (43)
Evaluation of sustainability in development projects utilizing renewable energy products in Zimbabwe
Description
The problem concerning the access to energy has become an increasingly acute matter of concern in low-income areas. Currently an estimated 1.2 billion people don't have access to energy (IEA, 2014). Following the declaration of 2012 as "The International Year of Sustainable Energy for All" by the United Nations General Assembly (UNDP, 2014), this alarming situation of energy poverty has resulted in the creation of new partnerships between governments, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization), and large multi-national corporations.
This study is focused on the evaluation of sustainability of a development project in Gutu, Zimbabwe that is initiated by Schneider Electric Corporation's BipBop Program. This program aims to provide access to energy via photo-voltaic cells and battery kits for daily use. It is expected that this project will have a high impact on sustainable development, and creation of value, which in turn is expected to allow participation in global supply chains.
The results gathered from the analysis show that the development project to be piloted in Gutu, Zimbabwe is likely to have a "high impact on sustainability". The project is therefore considered an effective sustainable development project that aims to promote, and develop local Zimbabwean markets through increased transactions and the creation of sustainable supply chains that are expected to recruit Zimbabwe into the global value chains.
This study is focused on the evaluation of sustainability of a development project in Gutu, Zimbabwe that is initiated by Schneider Electric Corporation's BipBop Program. This program aims to provide access to energy via photo-voltaic cells and battery kits for daily use. It is expected that this project will have a high impact on sustainable development, and creation of value, which in turn is expected to allow participation in global supply chains.
The results gathered from the analysis show that the development project to be piloted in Gutu, Zimbabwe is likely to have a "high impact on sustainability". The project is therefore considered an effective sustainable development project that aims to promote, and develop local Zimbabwean markets through increased transactions and the creation of sustainable supply chains that are expected to recruit Zimbabwe into the global value chains.
ContributorsDemirciler, Barlas (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis advisor) / Grossman, Gary (Committee member) / Maltz, Arnold (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
It is estimated there are tens of millions of street children throughout the world. Existing literature has identified the conditions street children live in; and additional research has shown how these conditions typically affect the self-esteem of children. There is also ample research to support self-esteem as a critical component to a healthy childhood development. Existing research suggests that street children should have a low self-esteem, however data has not yet been collected to examine if this is true. Existing literature has also not yet explored how the self-esteem of street children is a necessary component to economic development. Based on Amartaya Sen's development theory of capabilities, damaged self-esteem in street children could be considered a hindrance to development.
This paper will examine how the self-esteem of street children is important to overall economic development. To understand if the self-esteem of street children are affected how existing literature suggests, this research examines the self-esteem of street children (n=22) in the Philippines using the Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventories 3 tool, which quantifies self-esteem levels with the Global Self-Esteem Quotient (GSEQ). In comparison to the GSEQ standardized scale, almost all street children surveyed scored below average or lower. The mean GSEQ score for the street children in Manila was below average.
This paper will examine how the self-esteem of street children is important to overall economic development. To understand if the self-esteem of street children are affected how existing literature suggests, this research examines the self-esteem of street children (n=22) in the Philippines using the Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventories 3 tool, which quantifies self-esteem levels with the Global Self-Esteem Quotient (GSEQ). In comparison to the GSEQ standardized scale, almost all street children surveyed scored below average or lower. The mean GSEQ score for the street children in Manila was below average.
ContributorsWolfe, Alyssa (Author) / Grossman, Gary (Committee member) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Committee member) / Wang, Lili (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This dissertation examines the nexus of three trends in electricity systems transformations underway worldwide—the scale-up of renewable energy, regionalization, and liberalization. Interdependent electricity systems are being envisioned that require partnership and integration across power disparities. This research explores how actors in the Mediterranean region envisioned a massive scale-up of renewable energy within a single electricity system and market across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It asks: How are regional sociotechnical systems envisioned? What are the anticipated consequences of a system for a region with broad disparities and deep sociopolitical differences? What can be learned about energy justice by examining this vision at multiple scales? A sociotechnical systems framework is used to analyze energy transformations, interweaving the technical aspects with politics, societal effects, and political development issues. This research utilized mixed qualitative methods to analyze Mediterranean electricity transformations at multiple scales, including fieldwork in Morocco and Germany, document analysis, and event ethnography. Each scale—from a global history of concentrating solar power technologies to a small village in Morocco—provides a different lens on the sociotechnical system and its implications for justice. This study updates Thomas Hughes’ Networks of Power, the canonical history of the sociotechnical development of electricity systems, by adding new aspects to sociotechnical electricity systems theory. First, a visioning process now plays a crucial role in guiding innovation and has a lasting influence on the justice outcomes. Second, rather than simply providing people with heat and light, electrical power systems in the 21st century are called upon to address complex integrated solutions. Furthermore, building a sustainable energy system is now a retrofitting agenda, as system builders must graft new infrastructure on top of old systems. Third, the spatial and temporal aspects of sociotechnical energy systems should be amended to account for constructed geography and temporal complexity. Fourth, transnational electricity systems pose new challenges for politics and political development. Finally, this dissertation presents a normative framework for conceptualizing and evaluating energy justice. Multi-scalar, systems-level justice requires collating diverse ideas about energy justice, expanding upon them based on the empirical material, and evaluating them with this framework.
ContributorsMoore, Sharlissa (Author) / Hackett, Ed J. (Thesis advisor) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Committee member) / Wetmore, Jameson (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This thesis examines why young Western Muslim women from the UK are drawn to join and support ISIS in its established territories in Syria and Iraq and identifies their role within these territories. The critical role of technology, specifically social media, in facilitating the recruitment, radicalization, and mobilization of young Muslim women online to join ISIS is also explored. Females emigrating from the UK appear equally drawn to ISIS's ideology and state-building mission as Muslim men. Claims from the media suggest women serve as 'fighters,' however this research finds that women are not permitted by ISIS to participate in fighting. Using Britain as a case study, this study analyzes the social media content of eight young British Muslim women, known as female migrants, for themes motivating them to mobilize. Themes, culled from the literature, include Muslim attitudes and perceptions in the UK regarding Islamophobia or religious discrimination, the erosion of multiculturalism, identity and belonging, and finding purpose in the ummah, and measures whether these variables influence women to mobilize. Excerpts from blog posts and original tweets from their Tumblr, Twitter, and ask.fm accounts provide the actual voices of British female migrants choosing to live within ISIS territory and offers insight on their role as female migrants. Research suggests that, for British Muslim women in the UK, Muslim identity and belonging, both individually and within the ummah, along with attitudes and perceptions of religious discrimination (Islamophobia) and the failing of multiculturalism are influencing them to join ISIS. Additional motives for migration found within the study are based on the following beliefs: that the ummah is under attack, a strong desire to help build a new society, their religious duty as a Muslim, and the opportunity to belong and find purpose in the new "caliphate sisterhood." The role of female migrants residing in ISIS territory is domestic in nature, where they primarily function as wives and mothers of jihadists, as well as serve in online roles as propagandists, proselytizers, and recruiters for ISIS. The strong online presence of women demands an effective counter narrative to deter prospective female migrants from emigrating.
ContributorsPooley, Elizabeth Garcia (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis advisor) / Robinson, Rebecca (Committee member) / Byrd, Denise (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This thesis develops a low-investment marketing strategy that allows low-to-mid level farmers extend their commercialization reach by strategically sending containers of fresh produce items to secondary markets that present temporary arbitrage opportunities. The methodology aims at identifying time windows of opportunity in which the price differential between two markets create an arbitrage opportunity for a transaction; a transaction involves buying a fresh produce item at a base market, and then shipping and selling it at secondary market price. A decision-making tool is developed that gauges the individual arbitrage opportunities and determines the specific price differential (or threshold level) that is most beneficial to the farmer under particular market conditions. For this purpose, two approaches are developed; a pragmatic approach that uses historic price information of the products in order to find the optimal price differential that maximizes earnings, and a theoretical one, which optimizes an expected profit model of the shipments to identify this optimal threshold. This thesis also develops risk management strategies that further reduce profit variability during a particular two-market transaction. In this case, financial engineering concepts are used to determine a shipment configuration strategy that minimizes the overall variability of the profits. For this, a Markowitz model is developed to determine the weight assignation of each component for a particular shipment. Based on the results of the analysis, it is deemed possible to formulate a shipment policy that not only increases the farmer's commercialization reach, but also produces profitable operations. In general, the observed rates of return under a pragmatic and theoretical approach hovered between 0.072 and 0.616 within important two-market structures. Secondly, it is demonstrated that the level of return and risk can be manipulated by varying the strictness of the shipping policy to meet the overall objectives of the decision-maker. Finally, it was found that one can minimize the risk of a particular two-market transaction by strategically grouping the product shipments.
ContributorsFlores, Hector M (Author) / Villalobos, Rene (Thesis advisor) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Maltz, Arnold (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Fish farming is a fast growing industry, which, although necessary to feed an ever growing worldwide population, has its share of negative environmental consequences, including the release of drugs and other waste into the ocean, the use of fish caught from the ocean to feed farm raised fish, and the escape of farm raised fish into natural bodies of water. However, the raising of certain types of fish, such as tilapia, seems to be an environmentally better proposition than raising other types of fish, such as salmon. This paper will explore the problems associated with fish farming, as well as offer a model, based on the literature, and interviews with fish farmers, to make small-scale fish farming both more environmentally, and more economically, sustainable. This paper culminates with a model for small-scale, specifically semi-subsistence, fish farmers. This model emphasizes education of the fish farmers, as well as educators learning from the fish farmers they interact with. The goal of this model is to help these fish farmers become both more environmentally and economically sustainable.
ContributorsLongoni, Robert A (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis advisor) / Grossman, Gary (Committee member) / Macia, Narciso (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This social media network (SMN) study regarding youth of Saudi Arabia, focused on the effect of the SMN on youth with their families and their traditions. The significance of this study is to have an understanding of the effect of the SMN on the youths' families. Furthermore, recommendations were given from the perspective of the youth to help improve Saudi Arabian society using SMN. A total of 617 students from University of Dammam, ages from 18-24, have participated in the survey. The results of the survey showed that the effect of the SMN on the youth and their relations with their families are resilient in some aspects. However, the outcome of involvement with the SMN is obvious on other aspects as well, such as the gained ability of self-decision making and the ability to accept opposing opinions. Moreover, the research findings specific to women indicate that they are more active in the SMNs. The results also demonstrate women gained knowledge of their rights and gained freedom of speech. Finally, the findings led to a conclusion that there is potential social change in the Saudi Arabian society, even though the family structure is not changing significantly.
ContributorsAlsharkh, Yousef Naser (Author) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Thesis advisor) / Grossman, Gary (Committee member) / Lim, Merlyna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
With various gaps remaining in business incubation literature, developing scales that capture the multi-dimensional constructs of the incubation process remains a necessity. While living and traveling within Brazil, this author journeyed within Brazil's well-developed incubation ecosystem in order to investigate the reproducibility and validity of scales whose authors propose measure the constructs that capture the process of business incubation which were defined in their options-driven theory of business incubation as "selection performance", "monitoring and business assistance intensity", and "resource munificence". Regression analysis resulted in the data suggesting that there is no statistically significant predictive ability of the Hackett and Dilts scales when used to predict incubatee outcomes from this study's sample of incubators. The results of the analysis between total score in each of the three constructs and incubatee outcomes suggested that when the total score within the construct of selection performance increases, there tends to be a decrease in incubatee outcomes where the incubatee was surviving and growing profitably at the time of its exit from the incubator. Also, there tends to be a decrease in incubatee outcomes where the incubatee was surviving and growing on a path toward profitability at the time of the incubator exit. The results show no predictive ability of the remaining two constructs of "monitoring and business assistance intensity" and "resource munificence" to capture business incubation performance. The item specific analysis of all correlating and inter-correlating variables for each of the dependent variables, resulting in several significant relationships, however, many demonstrate negative relationships which also run contrary to the relationships proposed by Hackett and Dilts. These results have challenged both the validity of the Hackett and Dilts scale as a tool for investigating the constructs of the incubation process, and the ability of the options-driven theory to explain and predict business incubation outcomes.
ContributorsBejarano, Thomas (Author) / Grossman, Gary (Thesis advisor) / Waissi, Gary (Committee member) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The history of Koreans in the former Soviet Union dates back to more than a century ago. Yet little was known about them during the existence of the USSR, and even less as the first decade of the Newly Independent States unfolded. This current study is one of the first attempts to quantitatively measure the national and ethnic identity of this group. The research was conducted via an online survey in two languages, English and Russian. Three main variables -- ethnic identity, national identity and information technology -- were used to test the hypothesis. The data collection and survey process revealed some interesting facts about this group. Namely, there are some strong indicators that post-Soviet Koreans belong to a category of their own within the larger group known as the "Korean diaspora." Secondly, a very strong sense of ethnic group belonging, when paired with higher education and high to medium levels of proficiency with Internet technology, indicates the potential for further development and sustainability of these ethnic and national identities, particularly when nurtured by the continued progress of information technology.
ContributorsLi, Veronika (Author) / Grossman, Gary (Thesis advisor) / Parmentier, Mary Jane (Committee member) / Thor, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Every year, more than 11 million maritime containers and 11 million commercial trucks arrive to the United States, carrying all types of imported goods. As it would be costly to inspect every container, only a fraction of them are inspected before being allowed to proceed into the United States. This dissertation proposes a decision support system that aims to allocate the scarce inspection resources at a land POE (L-POE), to minimize the different costs associated with the inspection process, including those associated with delaying the entry of legitimate imports. Given the ubiquity of sensors in all aspects of the supply chain, it is necessary to have automated decision systems that incorporate the information provided by these sensors and other possible channels into the inspection planning process. The inspection planning system proposed in this dissertation decomposes the inspection effort allocation process into two phases: Primary and detailed inspection planning. The former helps decide what to inspect, and the latter how to conduct the inspections. A multi-objective optimization (MOO) model is developed for primary inspection planning. This model tries to balance the costs of conducting inspections, direct and expected, and the waiting time of the trucks. The resulting model is exploited in two different ways: One is to construct a complete or a partial efficient frontier for the MOO model with diversity of Pareto-optimal solutions maximized; the other is to evaluate a given inspection plan and provide possible suggestions for improvement. The methodologies are described in detail and case studies provided. The case studies show that this MOO based primary planning model can effectively pick out the non-conforming trucks to inspect, while balancing the costs and waiting time.
ContributorsXue, Liangjie (Author) / Villalobos, Jesus René (Thesis advisor) / Gel, Esma (Committee member) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Maltz, Arnold (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012