Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Framework RWA'

In a recent model of employability, Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Kaiser (2013) defined employability as the ability to gain and maintain employment and find new employment when necessary. The authors presented employability as a formative construct containing an ability dimension (the ability to do the job), a social skills dimension (being rewarding to work with), and a motivational dimension (being willing to work hard). There is no question as to whether these three dimensions affect one’s level of employability; research is abundant on the positive relationships between intelligence, social and emotional skills, motivation and career success. However, little research has been conducted to empirically test employability models in their entirety. Thus, the purpose of this research was to test the RAW model of employability, using various indicators of the three RAW dimensions of employability using structural equation modelling. Surveys were administered electronically eliciting both a student and community sample. Marginal support was found for the hypothesized model with post hoc modifications producing an acceptable fitting model. Findings suggest that having the ability and motivation to do the job are related to being employable. However, being rewarding to work may not impact levels of employability, suggesting that employers may be asking for one thing while rewarding another.

Mestrado em Gestão de Sistemas de Informação
A tecnologia está em constante evolução, aparecendo diariamente novas formas de simplificar as atividades humanas, contribuindo para a evolução do tecido empresarial. O impacto desta evolução é visível em todas as áreas de negócio, não sendo diferente na área de auditoria, onde o grande recurso para o efetivo desempenho da função, é o recurso humano. Esta dissertação usa uma nova tecnologia denominada Robotic Process Automation (RPA) e estuda a possibilidade de desenvolver e implementar um protótipo, aplicado a um subprocesso específico do processo de auditoria, com o propósito de combinar a Inteligência Artificial e o RPA. Tendo isto em consideração, o projeto tem os seguintes objetivos: i) propor uma abordagem de implementação de um RPA no processo de auditoria (Framework); ii) validar e analisar a metodologia proposta através da utilização da ferramenta UiPath; e iii) estudar o impacto da implementação desta ferramenta nas diversas fases, desde o seu desenvolvimento até a pós-implementação. De forma a atingir estes objetivos, o projeto tem por base a metodologia Design Science in Information Systems Research que visa resolver um problema permite propor uma solução para um problema organizacional relacionado com a alocação dos recursos humanos a tarefas padrão e repetitivas libertando esforço para atividades cognitivas, mais produtivas e orientadas à criação de valor. Este estudo conclui que é possível desenvolver e implementar um RPA efetivamente no processo de auditoria, recorrendo a um recurso externo.
Technology is constantly evolving, with new ways of simplifying daily human activities, contributing to the evolution of the business. The impact of this evolution is visible in all business areas, even in the audit area, where the greatest resource for the effective performance of the function, is the human resource. This thesis uses a new technology called Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and studies the possibility of developing and implementing a prototype, applied to a specific sub-process of the audit process, with the purpose of combining Artificial Intelligence with RPA. Having this in mind, the project has the following objectives: i) propose an RPA implementation approach in the audit process (Framework); ii) validate and analyse the proposed methodology using the UIPATH tool; and iii) study the impact of implementing this tool at different levels, from development to post-implementation. In order to achieve this, the project uses a Design Science in Information Systems Research methodology that aims to solve an issue related to repetitive and standard tasks executed by human resources in an organisation, towards more productive, value-oriented and cognitive tasks. Furthermore, it develops a prototype for a sub-process selected together with the said company, using UiPath (RPAs development tool), according to a framework developed by us. This study concludes that it is possible to effectively develop and implement an RPA in the audit process resorting to an external source, and without changes to previous procedures and documentation.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The advance of high-throughput sequencing technologies and their application on mRNA transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) have enabled comprehensive and unbiased profiling of the landscape of transcription in a cell. In order to address the current limitation of analyzing accuracy and scalability in transcriptome analysis, a novel computational framework has been developed on large-scale RNA-seq datasets with no dependence on transcript annotations. Directly from raw reads, a probabilistic approach is first applied to infer the best transcript fragment alignments from paired-end reads. Empowered by the identification of alternative splicing modules, this framework then performs precise and efficient differential analysis at automatically detected alternative splicing variants, which circumvents the need of full transcript reconstruction and quantification. Beyond the scope of classical group-wise analysis, a clustering scheme is further described for mining prominent consistency among samples in transcription, breaking the restriction of presumed grouping. The performance of the framework has been demonstrated by a series of simulation studies and real datasets, including the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) breast cancer analysis. The successful applications have suggested the unprecedented opportunity in using differential transcription analysis to reveal variations in the mRNA transcriptome in response to cellular differentiation or effects of diseases.

In object oriented programming, a Call Graph represents the calling relationships between the program’s methods. To be more precise, a Call Graph is a rooted directed graph where each node of the graph represents a method and each edge (u, v) represents a method call from method u to method v.

Focus of this thesis is on building a framework for Call Graph construction algorithms which can be used in program analysis. Our framework is able to be initialized by different front-ends and constructs various Call Graph algorithms. Here, we instantiate framework with two bytecode readers (ASM and Soot) as front-ends and implement three Call Graph construction algorithms (CHA, RTA and CTA).

At first, we used two above mentioned bytecode readers to read the bytecode of a specific Java program, then we found reachable methods for each invoked method; meanwhile we kept obtained details on our own data structures.  Creating data structures for storing required information about Classes, Methods, Fields and Statements, gives us a great opportunity to implement an independent framework for applying well known Call Graph algorithms. As a result of these data structures, Call Graph construction will not depend on bytecode readers; since, whenever we read the bytecode of a program, we accumulate all necessary points in pre-defined data structures and implement our Call Graphs based on this accumulated data.

Finally, the result is a framework for different Call Graph construction algorithms which is the goal of this thesis. We tested and evaluated the algorithms with a variety of programs as the benchmark and compared the bytecode readers besides the three Call Graph algorithms in different aspects.

Material flow-based indicators play an important role in indicator sets related to green and resource-efficient growth. This paper examines the global flows of materials and the amounts of materials directly and indirectly necessary to satisfy domestic final demand in different countries world-wide. We calculate the indicator Raw Material Consumption (RMC), also referred to as Material Footprint (MF), by applying a global, multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model based on the GTAP database and extended by material extraction data. We examine world-wide patterns of material extraction and materials embodied in trade and consumption, investigating changes between 1997 and 2007. We find that flows of materials related to international trade have increased by almost 60% between 1997 and 2007. We show that the differences in Material Footprints per capita are huge, ranging from up to 100 tonnes in the rich, oil-exporting countries to values as low as 1.5 to 2 tonnes in some developing countries. We also quantify the differences between the indicators Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) and RMC, illustrating that net material exporters generally have a DMC larger than RMC, while the reverse is observed for net importers. Finally, we confirm the fact that most countries with stable or declining DMCs actually show increasing RMCs, indicating the occurrence of leakage effects, which are not fully captured by DMC. This challenges the world-wide use of DMC as a headline indicator for national material consumption and calls for the consideration of upstream material requirements of international trade flows.

This thesis is comprised of three parts. The first part describes a novel framework for computing importance measures on graph vertices. The concept of a D-spectrum is introduced, based on vertex ranks within certain chains of nested sub-graphs. We show that the D- spectrum integrates the degree distribution and coreness information of the graph as two particular such chains. We prove that these spectra are realized as fixed points of certain monotone and contractive SDSs we call t-systems. Finally, we give a vertex deletion algorithm that efficiently computes D-spectra, and we illustrate their correlation with stochastic SIR-processes on real world networks. The second part deals with the topology of the intersection nerve for a bi-secondary structure, and its singular homology. A bi-secondary structure R, is a combinatorial object that can be viewed as a collection of cycles (loops) of certain at most tetravalent planar graphs. Bi-secondary structures arise naturally in the study of RNA riboswitches - molecules that have an MFE binary structural degeneracy. We prove that this loop nerve complex has a euclidean 3-space embedding characterized solely by H2(R), its second homology group. We show that this group is the only non-trivial one in the sequence and furthermore it is free abelian. The third part further describes the features of the loop nerve. We identify certain disjoint objects in the structure of R which we call crossing components (CC). These are non-trivial connected components of a graph that captures a particular non-planar embedding of R. We show that each CC contributes a unique generator to H2(R) and thus the total number of these crossing components in fact equals the rank of the second homology group.
Doctor of Philosophy
This Thesis is divided into three parts. The first part describes a novel mathematical framework for decomposing a real world network into layers. A network is comprised of interconnected nodes and can model anything from transportation of goods to the way the internet is organized. Two key numbers describe the local and global features of a network: the number of neighbors, and the number of neighbors in a certain layer, a node has. Our work shows that there are other numbers in-between the two, that better characterize a node. We also give explicit means of computing them. Finally, we show that these numbers are connected to the way information spreads on the network, uncovering a relation between the network’s structure and dynamics on said network. The last two parts of the thesis have a common theme and study the same mathematical object. In the first part of the two, we provide a new model for the way riboswtiches organize themselves. Riboswitches, are RNA molecules within a cell, that can take two mutually opposite conformations, depending on what function they need to perform within said cell. They are important from an evolutionary standpoint and are actively studied within that context, usually being modeled as networks. Our model captures the shapes of the two possible conformations, and encodes it within a mathematical object called a topological space. Once this is done, we prove that certain numbers that are attached to all topological spaces carry specific values for riboswitches. Namely, we show that the shapes of the two possible conformations for a riboswich are always characterized by a single integer. In the last part of the Thesis we identify what exactly in the structure of riboswitches contributes to this number being large or small. We prove that the more tangled the two conformations are, the larger the number. We can thus conclude that this number is directly proportional to how complex the riboswitch is.

The problem of performance and scalability of web applications is challenged by most of the software companies. It is difficult to maintain the performance of a web application while the number of users is continuously increasing. The common solution for this problem is scalability. A web application can handle incoming and outgoing requests using blocking or non-blocking Input/Output operation. The way that a single server handles requests affects its ability to scale and depends on a web framework that was used to build the web application. It is especially important for Resource Oriented Architecture (ROA) based applications which consist of distributed Representational State Transfer (REST) web services. This research was inspired by a real problem stated by a software company that was considering the migration to the non-blocking web framework but did not know the possible profits. The objective of the research was to evaluate the influence of web framework's type on the performance of ROA based applications and to provide guidelines for assessing profits of migration from blocking to non-blocking JVM web frameworks. First, internet ranking was used to obtain the list of the most popular web frameworks. Then, the web frameworks were used to conduct two experiments that investigated the influence of web framework's type on the performance of ROA based applications. Next, the consultations with software architects were arranged in order to find a method for approximating the performance of overall application. Finally, the guidelines were prepared based on the consultations and the results of the experiments. Three blocking and non-blocking highly ranked and JVM based web frameworks were selected. The first experiment showed that the non-blocking web frameworks can provide performance up to 2.5 times higher than blocking web frameworks in ROA based applications. The experiment performed on existing application showed average 27\% performance improvement after the migration. The elaborated guidelines successfully convinced the company that provided the application for testing to conduct the migration on the production environment. The experiment results proved that the migration from blocking to non-blocking web frameworks increases the performance of web application. The prepared guidelines can help software architects to decide if it is worth to migrate. However the guidelines are context depended and further investigation is needed to make it more general.

This thesis analyzes and defines requirements of framework, which helps with quick and effortless development of business information systems. The main goal of the framework is development acceleration, price reduction and overall improvement of product quality. The thesis also compares and evaluates existing tools. The result is detailed design and implementation of own flexible solution that fulfills all defined requirements and removes disadvantages of existing solutions. In the scope for further studies framework development possibilities and directions are listed.

The prediction of RNA three-dimensional structures from its sequence only is a milestone to RNA function analysis and prediction. In recent years, many methods addressed this challenge, ranging from cycle decomposition and fragment assembly to molecular dynamics simulations. However, their predictions remain fragile and limited to small RNAs. In this work, we introduce RNA-MoIP, a new framework incorporating the novel local motif information available in databases for the prediction of RNA structures. We show that our approach (i) improves the accuracy of canonical base pair predictions, (ii) identifies the best secondary structures in a pool of sub-optimal structures, and (iii) predicts accurate 3D structures of large RNA molecules.
Un objectif principal de l'analyse fonctionnelle et prédictive de l'ARN est d'obtenir sa structure tridimensionnel à partir de sa séquence. Pour résoudre ce problème, plusieurs méthodes ont été développées durant les dernières années, telles la décomposition cyclique, l'assemblage de fragments et la simulation de dynamiques moléculaire. Cependant, leurs capacacités prédictives restent limitées. Nous avons mis au point un nouvel outil, RNA-MoIP, permettant d'incorporer l'information des motifs locaux nouvellement accessibles dans des bases de données pour la prédiction de structures d'ARN. Nous montrons que notre approche (i) améliore la prédiction des paire de bases canoniques (ii) identifie la meilleure structure secondaire dans un ensemble de sous-optimaux et (iii) prédit des structures 3D précises pour de large molécules d'ARN.

Global environmental problems have been manifesting themselves at such an alarming rate, that the international community decided at the Rio Conference in 1992 that these global problems must inter aha also be attended to at local government level. However, local governments in South Africa are faced with huge service delivery backlogs and limited financial resources, and these institutions need a motivational force to convince them to pay more attention to environmental issues in their daily operations. This motivational force is required despite the fact that existing legislation in South Africa already contain a host of requirements for environmental management at municipal level. This dissertation describes how municipalities can use The Natural Step framework as a motivational tool to raise their councils' awareness of the global environmental problems, and how to take steps to implement a system that will help them become sustainable organizations that function in an environmentally correct manner. In the process municipalities will enhance their primary function, namely to demonstrate responsible governance to their residents and being able to lead their communities by example. The steps taken by the municipalities with regard to responsible governance and implementation of environmental management systems will save them money, thereby enabling them to have more financial resources available to spend on critical issues like housing and infrastructure. The environmental management system that is advocated to be used by municipalities is the IS0 14001 standard, developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation. Emphasis is placed on how the use of The Natural Step Framework can enhance the implementation of this system, thereby creating benefits for the municipality, while at the same time transforming the organization into a learning organization that is working towards a vision of becoming sustainable.
Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Clinical practice guidelines are developed worldwide, at an ever increasing rate (Sandström et al., 2015) and accessed internationally without a full understanding as to whether they are applicable in cross cultural settings. Informed by a review of the literature which identified a range of theories, frameworks and models to guide knowledge translation, the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework (Kitson et al., 1998b), was selected as a suitable framework to explore evidence based clinical guideline development work in a cross cultural context. This research study was an exploration of the appropriateness and utility of the PARIHS framework, in the cultural translation and adaptation of an evidence based clinical practice guideline into clinical practice in the healthcare system in Malta. It also aimed to identify challenges and barriers to successful cultural translation and implementation to inform future cross cultural knowledge translation programs. A case study using an embedded single case was used. Data collection consisted of two focus groups with multidisciplinary healthcare professionals (n=11 and n=5), eighteen semi structured interviews (n=9 pre and n=9 post) and non-participant observation of two guideline development groups. Data was analysed both inductively and deductively using Framework Analysis. Findings of the study indicate that the components of the PARIHS framework of evidence, context and facilitation are useful to guide the cultural translation and adaptation of an evidence based clinical practice guideline. In addition, a number of challenges and barriers to successful translation and potential implementation were identified; the influence of politics, culture and context, stakeholder involvement including patient involvement, and resources, both human and financial. Overall the PARIHS framework is a useful tool to guide the cultural translation and adaptation of an evidence based clinical practice guideline. The study identified important additions to the PARIHS framework to improve its utility: expanding the use of culture in the PARIHS framework to include macro, meso and micro dimensions; the need for a definition of what context means within the PARIHS framework; the inclusion of politics as a sub element of context; the importance of resources, and acknowledging the role of the patient within the framework.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
In this dissertation three computational approaches are presented that enable optimization of reference-free transcriptome reconstruction. The first addresses the selection of bona fide reconstructed transcribed fragments (transfrags) from de novo transcriptome assemblies and annotation with a multiple domain co-occurrence framework. We showed that selected transfrags are functionally relevant and represented over 94% of the information derived from annotation by transference. The second approach relates to quality score based RNA-seq sub-sampling and the description of a novel sequence similarity-derived metric for quality assessment of de novo transcriptome assemblies. A detail systematic analysis of the side effects induced by quality score based trimming and or filtering on artefact removal and transcriptome quality is describe. Aggressive trimming produced incomplete reconstructed and missing transfrags. This approach was applied in generating an optimal transcriptome assembly for a South African isolate of V. inaequalis. The third approach deals with the computational partitioning of transfrags assembled from RNA-Seq of mixed host and pathogen reads. We used this strategy to correct a publicly available transcriptome assembly for V. inaequalis (Indian isolate). We binned 50% of the latter to Apple transfrags and identified putative immunity transcript models. Comparative transcriptomic analysis between fungi transfrags from the Indian and South African isolates reveal effectors or transcripts that may be expressed in planta upon morphogenic differentiation. These studies have successfully identified V. inaequalis specific transfrags that can facilitate gene discovery. The unique access to an in-house draft genome assembly allowed us to provide preliminary description of genes that are implicated in pathogenesis. Gene prediction with bona fide transfrags produced 11,692 protein-coding genes. We identified two hydrophobin-like genes and six accessory genes of the melanin biosynthetic pathway that are implicated in the invasive action of the appressorium. The cazyome reveals an impressive repertoire of carbohydrate degrading enzymes and carbohydrate-binding modules amongst which are six polysaccharide lyases, and the largest number of carbohydrate esterases (twenty-eight) known in any fungus sequenced to date

In this thesis, a synthesis is presented of the knowledge models required by clinical informa- tion systems that provide decision support for longitudinal processes of care. Qualitative research techniques and thematic analysis are novelly applied to a systematic review of the literature on the challenges in implementing such systems, leading to the development of an original conceptual framework. The thesis demonstrates how these process-oriented systems make use of a knowledge base derived from workflow models and clinical guidelines, and argues that one of the major barriers to implementation is the need to extract explicit and implicit information from diverse resources in order to construct the knowledge base. Moreover, concepts in both the knowledge base and in the electronic health record (EHR) must be mapped to a common ontological model. However, the majority of clinical guideline information remains in text form, and much of the useful clinical information residing in the EHR resides in the free text fields of progress notes and laboratory reports. In this thesis, it is shown how natural language processing and information extraction techniques provide a means to identify and formalise the knowledge components required by the knowledge base. Original contributions are made in the development of lexico-syntactic patterns and the use of external domain knowledge resources to tackle a variety of information extraction tasks in the clinical domain, such as recognition of clinical concepts, events, temporal relations, term disambiguation and abbreviation expansion. Methods are developed for adapting existing tools and resources in the biomedical domain to the processing of clinical texts, and approaches to improving the scalability of these tools are proposed and evalu- ated. These tools and techniques are then combined in the creation of a novel approach to identifying processes of care in the clinical narrative. It is demonstrated that resolution of coreferential and anaphoric relations as narratively and temporally ordered chains provides a means to extract linked narrative events and processes of care from clinical notes. Coreference performance in discharge summaries and progress notes is largely dependent on correct identification of protagonist chains (patient, clinician, family relation), pronominal resolution, and string matching that takes account of experiencer, temporal, spatial, and anatomical context; whereas for laboratory reports additional, external domain knowledge is required. The types of external knowledge and their effects on system performance are identified and evaluated. Results are compared against existing systems for solving these tasks and are found to improve on them, or to approach the performance of recently reported, state-of-the- art systems. Software artefacts developed in this research have been made available as open-source components within the General Architecture for Text Engineering framework.

This master's thesis deals with problems of testing, especially manual and beta testing. Further thesis discuss area of Human - Computer Interaction and looks for possibilities of effective managing of HCI projects. As solution project hosting area is proposed, explained and existing solutions are examined. In practical part of thesis system for managing HCI projects is designed and implemented based on previous research.

An IPTV Set-top box enables the possibility of doing much more than decodingtelevision content. Its Ethernet interface gives it the same possibilities to communicatewith the outside world as any network device. This enables a wide rangeof services from internet radio to acting as a digital media receiver in your homenetwork. These highly interactive services increase the demands for responsiveand visually attractive user interfaces.Due to the cost-sensitive market of IPTV STBs the preferred platform to developthe user interface is the HTML browser as it allows for fast developmenttimes and low costs. As a W3C standard it also offers high portability and hardwareabstraction making it easy to use more than one STB vendor. The cons ofHTML based GUIs are low performance and lacklustre graphics.This thesis aims to find out if SVG can be used to achieve rich, scalable and animatedgraphics with high performance and still keep the attractive characteristicsof HTML.To do this much effort was put into identifying the strenghts and weaknesses ofSVG. The lessons learned resulted in an SVG AJAX framework called TOIXSVGmaking it possible to develop SVG GUIs in the same manner as modern Rich InternetApplications, enabling component reuse to make sure development time scalespreferably with the scope and complexity of the user interface. Along with theframework several new widgets had to be developed to achieve the targeted functionality.As a proof of concept a mock-up GUI was created with the frameworkand widgets.

This diploma thesis describes how to create or convert traditional Java programs to desktop-like rich internet applications with the Google Web Toolkit. The Google Web Toolkit is an open source development environment, which translates Java code to browser and device independent HTML and JavaScript. Most of the GWT framework parts, including the Java to JavaScript compiler as well as important security issues of websites will be introduced. The famous Agricola board game will be implemented in the Model-View-Presenter pattern to show that complex user interfaces can be created with the Google Web Toolkit. The Google Web Toolkit framework will be compared with the JavaServer Faces one to find out which toolkit is the right one for the next web project
Diese Diplomarbeit beschreibt die Erzeugung desktopähnlicher Anwendungen mit dem Google Web Toolkit und die Umwandlung klassischer Java-Programme in diese. Das Google Web Toolkit ist eine Open-Source-Entwicklungsumgebung, die Java-Code in browserunabhängiges als auch in geräteübergreifendes HTML und JavaScript übersetzt. Vorgestellt wird der Großteil des GWT Frameworks inklusive des Java zu JavaScript-Compilers sowie wichtige Sicherheitsaspekte von Internetseiten. Um zu zeigen, dass auch komplizierte graphische Oberflächen mit dem Google Web Toolkit erzeugt werden können, wird das bekannte Brettspiel Agricola mittels Model-View-Presenter Designmuster implementiert. Zur Ermittlung der richtigen Technologie für das nächste Webprojekt findet ein Vergleich zwischen dem Google Web Toolkit und JavaServer Faces statt

碩士
國立中正大學
會計與資訊科技研究所
102
In the highly competitive environment, business environment and internal control has become a very important part to maintain the whole enterprises. Service industry becomes the biggest part in Taiwan’s economy. Retail industry is about 40 percent in the Service industry. The most important part of retail industry is revenue cycle, but most of them don’t care about the revenue cycle. The study’s question is to use internal control and process reengineering to rebuild the company’s credit process in the revenue cycle. First, the study interviews the manager to understand the company's revenue process and cycle. Then, using REA creates the original revenue process. Using process reengineering and internal control concepts rebuilds a new revenue process. Then, using the concept of intelligent agents helps the revenue process. After the company's simulation and verification, new REA sales process and system simulation is valid. The future research can be applied to REA and intelligent agent system in the different kinds of enterprises.

Self-amplifying RNA replicons are an attractive alternative to traditional nucleic acid therapeutics, providing high, sustained expression from a low dose, without the risk of genomic integration. Replicons are derived from a viral genome, but utilize viral self-amplification to produce heterologous genes instead of the structural proteins necessary to form virions. Despite a variety of therapeutic applications, ranging from vaccination to genetic reprogramming, regulating expression from replicons remains relatively unexplored, as the field continues to rely solely on constitutive expression. However, we will demonstrate that dose cannot be used to control constitutive expression levels from a replicon. Without any means of regulation, the inability to adjust expression is a major safety concern that must be addressed before this platform can be used for more clinically-driven specifications. In this dissertation, we have employed synthetic biology to expand the potential of replicon-based platforms to include sequence-level and small molecule mediated control of expression levels. Synthetic biology aims to create and characterize libraries of highly predictable and modular genetic parts that can be combined to produce genetic circuits. To this end, we generated a collection of parts that can modulate replicon subgenomic transcription, explored existing and novel replicon-based expression platforms, and designed small molecule responsive replicon circuits. We established sequence elements that can be used to predictably control constitutive expression levels of up to three genes driven from a single self-amplifying RNA strand. We verified that this regulatory framework was functional for multiple replicon-based platforms, including multi-SGP replicons, DNA-launched replicons, and a novel self-cleaving, amplifying RNA platform. Finally, we coupled these genetic parts with small molecule responsive elements to form RNA-only circuits delivered on a single replicon that could control expression of multiple proteins based on external inputs. By introducing regulatory genetic circuits to self-amplifying RNA, we demonstrate control over the strength, timing, and location of expression, enhancing the utility of RNA for gene delivery and establishing a framework for the next generation of RNA-based therapeutics.
2018-07-09T00:00:00Z

Tese mest. , Gestão da Água e da Costa, 2008, Universidade do Algarve
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to achieve a good quality status of all the European water bodies by the year 2015. The Directive demands that the ecological status is quantified based primarily on biological indicators. Seagrasses are one of the biological quality elements (BQE) to be used in defining the ecological quality status (EQS) of transitional and coastal waters. This thesis focuses on the application of seagrasses as BQE to assess the ecological status of the Ria Formosa lagoon. The sites of Ponte and Ramalhete, already registered as part of the European list of inter-calibration sites for the WFD, were assessed. The metrics established by the Directive for this BQE, i.e. the taxonomic composition and the seagrass abundance (bed area extent and shoot density), were determined and compared with the reference conditions. The Ponte and Ramalhete sites had a mean score of Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR) of 0.90 and of 0.97, respectively (both scores correspond to high ecological status). The main difference resulted from the lost of one seagrass species in the Ponte site. As a result Ria Formosa was considered at high ecological status using the seagrass biological quality element. However the classification provided by seagrasses was slightly higher than the classification obtained by other studies considering other BQE (phytoplankton, nutrients). This study was the first attempt to establish the EQS of Ria Formosa using seagrass as a BQE. Further research is required to establish a more accurate and integrated EQS of the Ria Formosa lagoon.

Num mundo em que a evolução das aplicações se tornou uma prioridade é essencial para o seu desenvolvimento que as ferramentas correspondentes possam acompanhar este crescimento. Este artigo baseia-se numa investigação feita como dissertação de mestrado em que o seu grande foco central é a evolução de uma framework para construção de Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), na sua utilização e resultados obtidos. O desenvolvimento em equipa, por vezes pode tornar-se bastante complicado quando pensamos em aplicações de grandes dimensões. Neste tipo de aplicações, o mais importante a considerar antes do inicio do desenvolvimento da mesma, para além das tecnologias que irão ser utilizadas, é a sua arquitectura e estruturação, para que o desenvolvimento conjunto da mesma possa ser feito em sincronia e sem entrar em conflitos aquando o código é cometido para repositórios. Como tal a utilização de uma framework que normalize a estruturação do código por ficheiros torna-se essencial, só assim é possível desenvolver uma aplicação de uma forma mais eficiente e coesa. Como desenvolvedor de RIAs, utilizando o Adobe Flex, decidi estudar mais aprofundadamente a framework Mate. Sendo que esta é uma estrutura baseada nos eventos e mapas de eventos, adaptou-se a mesma utilizando conceitos que eram usados em frameworks da primeira geração. Para complementar esta investigação, foi criada também uma aplicação que apenas configurando os nomes de mapas, gestores, eventos e respectivas variáveis, cria logo toda a estrutura já com a maior parte do código incluído, gravando também um ficheiro de configurações, para quem em futuras versões da aplicação esta estrutura possa também ser utilizada para outras linguagens.
In a world where the development of applications has become a priority is essential to its development as the corresponding tools to accompany this growth. This article is based on a research done as a dissertation of a masters degree in which the big focus is the evolution and development of a framework, for building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), in its utilization and the obtained results. The development in team, sometimes, can be very complicated when we talk about applications of big dimensions. In this kind of applications, the most important to consider before the beginning of the development of the same, beyond the technologies that will be used, it’s his architecture and structure, so that the collaborative development can be made in synchrony and without conflicts when the code is committed to repositories. So, the utilization of a framework that normalizes the structure of the code by logical files it’s essential to make possible to develop an application in a more efficient and correct form. As a RIA developer, using Adobe Flex, I decided to investigate more depth the Mate framework, as this is a very structure free, being only based on events and their maps, so I have tried to improve it. So, I decided to adapt it using concepts used on other Adobe Flex frameworks from the first generation. To complete this investigation, I’ve created an application that only configuring the names of maps, managers, events and respective variables, creates all the structure of the framework including all the code in his respective files, also saves a configuration file, so that other users, in future version, could load them and create the structure in other developing languages.

The objective of this study is to conduct a critical evaluation of the environmental law framework applicable to carbon capture and storage (hereafter CCS) in South Africa. The discussion begins by confirming that CCS has a place in environmental law as a mitigation measure. The inclusion of CCS in the clean development mechanism could incentivise the development of environmental law frameworks for CCS in South Africa. Implementation of CCS is gradual, with only eight large scale integrated CCS projects having been established around the world. An appreciation of key scientific concepts is helpful for an understanding of the CCS process. The CCS project life cycle and related impacts on the environment provide a context for discussion of the legal requirements accompanying the CCS life cycle. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 constitute appropriate framework legislation for CCS. Decision 3/CMP.1, Modalities and procedures for a clean development mechanism as defined in Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol adopted by the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol held at Montreal from 28 November to 10 December 2001 March 2006 provides international legal requirements accompanying the project life cycle against which the South African legal framework is examined. Some provisions of additional South African laws and policies will be applicable to CCS depending on the nature of the specific CCS project, but specific regulations may have to be developed for South Africa. Policy documents have been gradually bringing clarity to the way forward in arriving at a legal framework for CCS, and by reference to existing local legislation and international guidance, an environmental law framework for CCS can be developed for South Africa.
LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nos últimos anos, o setor financeiro tem sofrido profundas alterações a nível global, por influência do seu mercado envolvente, como o contexto macroeconómico, as pressões concorrenciais e as cres centes exigências dos clientes. Simultaneamente, este está sujeito às alterações que advém de condi cionantes internas, como a complexidade e a pressão regulatória inerentes aos processos de negócio, a descentralização das atividades e a rigidez dos seus modelos de gestão. Estas alterações têm atuado como estímulos, obrigando as instituições financeiras a reavaliar os seus planos estratégicos num con texto de promoção da excelência operacional e melhoria da qualidade dos serviços prestados. Com o potencial de integrar os fluxos informacionais entre as diversas aplicações revolucionando os atuais modelos de negócios do setor, o Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tem sido muito procurado pelas organizações que ambicionam restruturar as suas operações, no âmbito de projetos de transfor mação digital. Contudo, uma implementação incorreta de uma tecnologia de carácter disruptivo, a di versos níveis da organização, poderá suscitar novos desafios e adversidades, inclusive, comprometer a sustentabilidade de estratégia corporativa delineada através da geração de custos de transformação em vez de capturar os benefícios. Constatou-se, com base na revisão da literatura, que as frameworks propostas na literatura para uma implementação de RPA são na sua generalidade, desenvolvidas numa ótica dos processos de negócio. Contudo, não é avaliada a relevância de outros fatores e dimensões de análise, considerados significativos para uma implementação de sucesso das organizações. A presente dissertação propõe uma primeira iniciativa da framework que permite avaliar os fato res fundamentais para uma implementação de sucesso da tecnologia RPA, tendo sido baseada numa revisão bibliográfica relativa à temática da implementação de tecnologias de informação a diversos níveis da organização. Foram definidas três dimensões para a framework proposta, a nível da gestão, da organização e da tecnologia. Para cada uma das dimensões, foram reunidos e caracterizados os diversos fatores propostos para uma implementação de sucesso da tecnologia, tanto numa perspetiva individual, como relacional. Adicionalmente, realça-se que não é o objetivo desta dissertação definir as dimensões finais necessárias a uma implementação, mas sim, propor um ponto de partida para essa mesma exploração. Por fim, procedeu-se à aplicação da framework no contexto real de uma instituição financeira, sob a forma de estudo de caso, com o intuito de explorar e analisar as diferentes dimensões e fatores propostos pela framework desenvolvida, para uma implementação de sucesso da tecnologia RPA, quando aplicada na área de operações.
In recent years, the banking sector has undergone profound changes globally, due to the influ-ence of the market environment, such as the macroeconomic context, competitive pressures, and the growing demands of customers. At the same time, it is subject to changes that arise from internal con-straints, such as the complexity and bureaucracy inherent in business processes, the decentralizationof activities, and the rigidity of its management models. These changes have actedas stimulus, forcing financial institutions to reassess their strategic plans in the context of promoting operational excellence and improving the quality of services provided.With the potential tointegratethe information streams between applications,revolutionizingthe current business models in the sector, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been highly sought after by organizations that aim to restructure their operations, within the scope of digital transformation pro-jects. However, incorrect implementation of disruptive technology, at different levels of the organization, may raise new challenges and adversities, including compromising the sustainability of the corporate strategy outlinedby generating transformation costs instead of capturing benefits. It was found, based on the literature review, that the frameworks proposed in the literature for an RPA implementation are, in general, developed from abusiness process perspective. However, the relevance of other factors and dimensions of analysis is not evaluated, considered significant, for a successful implementation of organizations.This dissertation proposes afirst approach of theframeworkthat allows the assessment of the fundamental factors for a successful implementation of RPA technology, having been based on a bibli-ographic review on the theme of the implementation of information technologies at different levels of the organization. Three dimensions were defined for the proposed framework, in terms of management, organization, and technology. For each of the dimensions, the various factors proposed for a successful implementation of the technology were brought together and characterized, bothfrom an individual and a relational perspective. Additionally, it is emphasized that it is not the objective of this dissertation to define the final dimensions necessary for an implementation, but rather, to propose a starting point for that same exploration.Finally, the frameworkwas applied in the real context of a financialinstitution, in the form of a case study, in order to explore and analyze the different dimensions and factors proposed by the devel-oped framework, for an implementation of successof RPA technology, when applied to the area of operations.

Abstract in English, Tsonga and Zulu
Mitlumbo ya mifambafambo ya le magondzweni i xin’wana xa miringeto (risks) yo biha ku tlula hinkwayo ya swifambo swa le gondzweni emisaveni hinkwayo, leswi yimelaka xiphiqo lexikulu xa swohanyaswin’we-ikhonomi ngopfu-ngopfu eka matiko lama ya ha hluvukaka tanihi Afrika-Dzonga. Ku va ku nyikiwa masungulo yo tiya ya xiikhonomi eka swiboho swa mbekiso ku tirhana na ntlhontlho lowu, i swa nkoka swinene ku hlela ndhurho wa mitlumbo leyi. Mipimanyeto leyi yi tirha tanihi nxopaxopo wa swinghenisiwa swa mbuyelo wa ndhurheriwo ku endlela ku kuma mphakelo wa switirhisiwa wo tirha kahle eka ku nghenelela eka ku tirhana na mitlhontlho leyi vangiwaka hi mitlumbano ya le magondzweni. Tiko ra Afrika-Dzonga a ri nga ri ku pfuxeteni ka mahungu ya mipimanyeto ya midurho ya mitlumbano ya le magondzweni nkarhi na nkarhi, naswona leyi a yi endliwa a yi tirhisa maendlelo lamo soriwa ngopfu yo languta nkoka wa vanhu (human capital). Hikwalaho, mipimanyeto leyi nga kona a yi nga ta va leyi tshembekaka eka ku kunguhata na ku pimaniseka na mipimanyeto ya matiko man’wana. Hi le ka ku landzelela vundzhaku lebyi laha dyondzo leyi yi nga tumbuluka na ku kombisa matirhiselo ya rimba ra ntirho wo katsa (hybrid) ku kambela ndhurho wa mitlumbo ya swifambo swa le magondzweni eAfrika-Dzonga. Rimba leri ri tirhisa endlelo ro kongomisa eka nkoka wa vanhu na ku pfumela ku hakela (willingness-to-pay), eka dyondzo yi ri yin’we. Mipimanyeto ya midurho ya nkoka wa vanhu ya laveka ku va yi pfuna eka ku kunguhata leswaku yi tlakusa swinenenene swihumesiwa swa rixaka, loko hala tlhelo mipimanyeto yo pfumela ku hakela yona yi ri yona yi fanelaka swinene eka ku pfuneta minghenelelo yo tlakusa nhlayiseko wa vanhu hi ku hunguta ku vaviseka na ku fa. Endlelo ro pfumela ku hakela ri tirhisa maendlelo ya swo ka swi nga ri swa makete (contingent valuation) na ya maendlelo yo langa (preference). Khwexinere yo valanga leyi a yi ri na maendlelo yo ka ya nga ri ya swa makete na swilangiwa leswi a swi boxiwile, yi tirhisiwile hi magoza mambirhi ku sampula vaanguri va 273 eka ntirho wa swo tleketla. Eka mhaka ya endlelo ro kongomisa eka nkoka wa vanhu, mipimanyeto ya ndhurho eka xiviko xa 2016 xa Cost of Crashes in South Africa yi hundzuluxiwile hi ku katsa inifulexini, ku tirhisiwa mpimo wa 2017 wa 5.3% ku kuma mipimanyeto ya ndhurho ya 2017. Dyondzo leyi yi paluxile leswaku endlelo ro kongomisa eka nkoka wa vanhu ri kayiveta ku vona ndhurho wa mitlumbo ya le magondzweni. Dyondzo leyi yi hoxa xandla eka ntsengo wa vutivi hi ku tirhisa endlelo ro languta nkoka wa vanhu na endlelo ro pfumela ku hakela eka dyondzo yi ri yin’we ku kombisa ntirhiseko wa endlelo leri ra nkatso (hybrid)/nhlanganiso eka xiyimo xa Afrika-Dzonga. Ndzavisiso wa nkarhi lowu taka wu fanele ku engeta dyondzo leyi hi sampulu leyi humaka eka swifundzakulu hinkwaswo swa nkaye swa Afrika-Dzonga, leswaku mipimanyeto ya ndhurho yi yimela vanhu va tiko hinkwaro.
Road traffic crashes are one of the worst risks of road mobility worldwide, representing a huge socio-economic problem particularly in developing countries such as South Africa. In order to provide a sound economic basis for investment decisions to address this challenge, it is critical to assess the cost of these crashes. These estimates serve cost-benefit analysis inputs to facilitate a more efficient resources allocation for interventions to address the challenge posed by road crashes. South Africa has not been updating crash cost estimates on a regular basis, and those that were conducted used the much criticised human capital approach. Therefore, the available estimates could not be relied upon for planning purposes and comparison with the estimates of other countries. It is against this background that this study developed and illustrated the application of a hybrid framework for assessing the cost of road traffic crashes in South Africa. The framework uses the human capital approach and the willingness-to-pay approach in one study. Human capital approach cost estimates are needed to inform planning to maximize the national output, while the willingness-to-pay estimates are more suitable when the main concern is to inform interventions to increase social welfare by reducing injuries and fatalities. The willingness-to-pay approach uses the contingent valuation and the stated preference methods. A survey questionnaire with contingent valuation and stated preference questions was administered in two phases to a sample of 273 respondents within the transport industry. For the human capital approach, the cost estimates in the 2016 Cost of Crashes in South Africa report were adjusted for inflation using the 2017 rate of 5.3% to obtain 2017 cost estimates. This study revealed that the human capital approach underestimates the cost of road crashes. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by using the human capital approach and the willingness-to-pay approach in one study to illustrate the applicability of this hybrid/ combination within the South African context. Future research needs to replicate this study on a sample drawn from all nine provinces of South Africa, so that the cost estimates are representative of the country’s population.
Ukuphazamiseka komgwaqo kungenye yezingozi ezimbi kakhulu zokuhamba komgwaqo emhlabeni jikelele, ezimele inkinga enkulu yenhlalo nezomnotho ikakhulukazi emazweni asathuthuka njengeNingizimu Afrika. Ukuze unikeze isisekelo sezomnotho esizwakalayo ezinqumeni zokutshala izimali ukubhekana nale nselele, kubalulekile ukuhlola izindleko zalezi zingozi. Lezi zilinganiso zisebenza njengeziphakamiso zokuhlaziywa kwezindleko zokuhlomula ukuze kube lula ukunikezwa kwezinsiza ezenzelwe ukuxazulula inselele ebangelwa ukuphazamiseka komgwaqo. INingizimu Afrika ayizange ibuyekeze ukulinganisa izindleko zezingozi njalo, futhi lezo ezenziwa zisebenzise indlela enkulu yokugxeka ukusebenzisa abantu. Ngakho-ke, izilinganiso ezitholakalayo azikwazanga ukuthenjelwa kuzona ngezinjongo zokuhlela nokuqhathaniswa nezilinganiso zamanye amazwe. Lokhu kuphikisana nalesi sigaba ukuthi lolu cwaningo lusungulwe futhi luboniswe ukusetshenziswa kohlaka oluxubile lokuhlola izindleko zokuphazamiseka komgwaqo eNingizimu Afrika. Uhlaka lusebenzisa indlela yokusebenzisa abantu kanye nendlela yokuzimisela-ukukhokha ocwaningweni olulodwa. Ukulinganiselwa kwezindleko zokusebenzisa abantu kuyadingeka ukuze kwaziswe ukuhlela ukwandisa umkhiqizo kazwelonke, kanti ukulinganiselwa kokuzimisela-ukukhokhela kukulungele kakhulu ukwazisa ukungenelela ukwandisa inhlalakahle yomphakathi ngokunciphisa ukulimala nokubulawa kwabantu. Indlela yokuzimisela-ukukhokha isebenzisa ukuhlaziywa kwesilinganiso kanye nezindlela okukhethwa ngazo. Imibuzo yokuhlola ngokuhlaziywa kwesilinganiso kanye nemibuzo ekhethwe ngayo yenziwa ngezigaba ezimbili embonakalisweni yabaphendulile abangama-273 embonini yezokuthutha. Ngokwendlela yokusebenzisa abantu, izindleko ezilinganiselwa ku-2016 Izindleko Zokushayisana eNingizimu Afrika kubikwa ukuthi zalungiselwa ukwenyuka kwamandla emali, kusetshenziswa isilinganiso sango-2017 esingu-5.3% ukuthola izindleko zango-2017. Lolu cwaningo luveze ukuthi indlela yokusebenzisa abantu ithatha kancane izindleko zokuphazamiseka komgwaqo. Ucwaningo lunomthelela emzimbeni wolwazi ngokusebenzisa indlela yokusebenzisa abantu kanye nendlela yokuzimisela-ukukhokha ocwaningweni olulodwa ukukhombisa ukufaneleka kwalesi sivumelwano / inhlanganisela ngaphakathi komongo waseNingizimu Afrika. Ucwaningo lwesikhathi esizayo ludinga ukuphindaphinda lolu cwaningo embonakalisweni othathwe kuzo zonke izifundazwe eziyisishiyagalolunye zaseNingizimu Afrika, ukuze ukulinganiswa kwezindleko kummele abantu bezwe
Business Management
D. Phil. (Management Studies)

This project begins when I find myself writing a poem to express a sudden flow of painful feelings. My lover has cancer. He will die within two years. He asks that we do not talk about it. I see that in this first poem the dominant text is from earlier times. The cancer is subtext. His shocking news with its silencing injunction has fired dark images in my imagination. As I write more poems an autoethnography evolves where I observe and reflect on the conscious and unconscious unfolding of a grieving process. The poems comprise Volume 2 of the thesis. To carry out this study a framework is set up to use poetry in the form of autoethnography as a qualitative research method. As this thesis is based on creative practice, a poet, Geoff Page is added to my supervisory panel. The poems themselves are part of the framework, as are the synergistic works and the theoretical ideas from poetry, philosophy, anthropology and psychoanalysis. I dream, remember and discover, and write a series of relatively autonomous poems over four years. The chair of my panel responds to my ideas by proposing cross- cultural ethnographies and poems of loss to enrich my inquiry. In particular I focus on research that has been undertaken into Yolngu mortuary rituals. This dialogic process fires my creative work. I analyse the poems using psychoanalytic ideas, and anthropological writings. Building on the insights of the anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner, I look at what lies behind the veils of the metaphysical core of my poetry.* At the same time I discover a resonance with Yolngu philosophy, and the capacity of Yolngu rituals to transform death into life. This study generates knowledge of my unconscious grieving process. The poems show how my mind deals with the loss, and how I use my mind to free my spirit from the pull of death. I find much in common with grieving in other cultures. The poems show a way through the grieving process. They transform raw grief into unconscious elements of experience, which are linked and contained in metaphor and expressed like daytime dreams. In this way, as in the poetry of Yolngu crying ceremonies, sung by the woman who is the primary mourner, the unbearable becomes not only bearable but also expressible and inclusive. I discover that as I live and observe my own process I experience a surprising transformation. I go to the origins of shared cultural experience. Like the Yolngu, I am no longer waiting for death but anticipating birth.