Dissertations / Theses: 'Integrated evaluation approach'

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Park, Jaewook. "An integrated approach to lifeline performance evaluation /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10196.

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Tagliafierro, Carolina. "An integrated approach to landscape economic evaluation." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2017. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.728672.

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Landscape is regarded as a multifunctional resource: it provides society with goods and services, which are valued differently by stakeholders. In a sustainable planning perspective, such values need to be taken into account if policy makers want to design effective instruments, like incentives, to steer landscape use towards sustainable management practices. Non-market valuation methodologies can prove a valuable support in this task, as long as they manage to represent landscape complex nature and the perception people have of it. Individuals interpret landscape in a holistic way, that is they perceive it as a whole through its single components. These components need to be identified and represented in f he economic models to interpret and understand the mechanisms behind people preferences and choices about landscape. This thesis addresses this problem and suggests a transdisciplinary approach based on landscape ecology and landscape economics methodologies integrated by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - based techniques. The case study is the Peninsula of Sorrento (Italy). A landscape ecology GIS-based analysis of the study area provides the spatial information on landscape structure, identifies landscape components and quantifies them through indicators. Using the view on the ground, the indicators are calculated in a three dimensional space to provide a more realistic representation of landscape components and are subsequently used as variables in the monetary valuation of the landscape in a contingent valuation framework. To our knowledge, such an intense integration of landscape ecology methodologies and GIS-based techniques is new in stated preference analysis. Final results are the estimates of economic value of landscape components and of individuals’ welfare changes related to the implementation of landscape preservation programs. Integration of analytical methodologies and information from different disciplines has proved useful in tackling landscape complexity and its representation in economic models by identifying the components of actual landscapes that determine individuals’ choice and quantifying them in variables.

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陳文興 and Man-hing Chan. "An holistic approach to selecting advanced manufacturing technologies." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31222262.

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Wolfs, Claire Aldegonda Gerarda. "An integrated approach to dementia a clinical and economic evaluation /." Maastricht : Maastricht : NeuroPsych Publishers ; University Library, Universiteit Maastricht [host], 2007. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=9455.

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Kishk, Mohammed El-Said. "An integrated fuzzy approach to whole life costing based decision making." Thesis, Robert Gordon University, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.369051.

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Barnes, Tomma Kay. "An Integrated Approach for Evaluation and Assessment of Ecosystem Management and Restoration." NSUWorks, 2006. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/88.

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Ecosystem restoration and management seek to repair, improve, or maintain a suite of desired environmental conditions for a specific ecosystem. However, when working on complex ecosystems, where do you start and how can you tell when you are successful? Forecasting ecological effects of restoration scenarios provides a basis for project evaluation and selection of restoration alternatives. Ecological monitoring is essential for assessing ecosystem condition over time. In an integrated approach to adaptive management a forecasting model simulates system response and is validated by monitoring programs to measure actual system response. Monitoring can then feed back as a passive adaptive management tool to modify restoration or management plans. Directed research driven by uncertainties in models and ecosystem response is an active adaptive management strategy for learning and provides a basis to calibrate models. Since all components of an ecosystem cannot be modeled or monitored effectively, scientists and managers rely heavily on ecological indicators to reveal information about ecosystem status and trends. As a result, modeling and monitoring programs focus on indicators that maximize information on ecosystem patterns and processes while minimizing cost and effort. InSouthwest Florida, conceptual ecological models were constructed to support the framework of an applied science strategy by identifying indicators for estuarine ecosystem assessment and evaluation. Forecasting models were created as a set of stressor response (habitat suitability) models for individual species and incorporated into a spatially explicit decision support system to guide selection of the most beneficial restoration alternative.

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Al-Khadra, Wesam Faisal. "R & D project management : approach to an integrated model for project evaluation." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.428838.

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Chang, Sungwon. "An integrated approach to outcome evaluation : incorporating patient reported outcomes in heart failure." Thesis, Curtin University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2606.

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Globally individuals and health care systems are facing the burden of chronic illness. The impact of the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases is experienced by individuals and health care systems. Across the globe health care systems are struggling to meet the increasing demands for services within the confines of rising costs and needs for accountability. Beyond costs and treatment allocations, there is an increasing mandate to provide care that is patient centred and appropriate to the needs of the individual. The Innovative Care in Chronic Condition (ICCC) framework has been successful in driving health care reforms to meet the needs of individuals with chronic illness internationally. Deriving metrics that allow monitoring of conditions at the level of the patient, provider and health care system are of increasing importance. Comprising this thesis is a series of studies to investigate outcomes that includes the patient’s perspective in the evaluation of clinical interventions. To achieve this, chronic heart failure, was used as an exemplar of a chronic condition.Chronic heart failure (CHF) is the final common pathway for many cardiac conditions. As a consequence has emerged as a major public health problem and represents as an excellent exemplar of living with a chronic illness. CHF patients commonly experience high levels of ill-health, disability and mortality placing a heavy burden on health care systems. Hospitalisations are frequent and costly to both CHF patients and to society. People with CHF live with a limited quality of life and physical ability and the prognosis for CHF is poor. Given the nature of debilitating symptoms, and their potential impact on physical, social and psychological aspects of life, patient’s perspective in outcome assessment is essential in providing effective care.Specifically this study sought to: •Examine patient reported outcomes in clinical management and in clinical research •Investigate patient important outcomes, their utility, relevance and acceptability amongst patients, clinicians, researchers and administrators •Test composite outcomes model that integrate patient important outcomes in clinical trials researchPatient reported outcomes (PROs) is a strategy to capture the patient perspective and experience on their health status. The use of PROs can be incorporated in clinical assessments, monitoring of clinical progress as well as clinical research. Despite their frequent use in research, evidence suggests that to date they have had a limited influence on clinical practice and policy. As part of this thesis an integrative review was conducted to explore the potential utility of PROs at the policy level. By using the ICCC framework, PROs were indeed essential to improve the management of CHF at the micro, meso and macro levels of decision making.One of the key challenges in using PROs and outcomes important to individuals in CHF is limited methodological and reporting quality. This is cited as a reason why many clinicians are sceptical of the utility of PROs. To explore issues in reporting a review was conducted on RCTs of pharmacological therapy in CHF that reported health related quality of life (HRQoL) as a primary or secondary outcome. Using the Minimum Standard Checklist for evaluating the quality of reporting of HRQoL outcomes resulted in 26 (19.1%) studies being considered ‘very limited’ in terms of methodological and reporting rigour, and 91 (66.9%) were evaluated as ‘limited’ and only 19 (14.0%) studies were considered to be of a ‘probably robust’ quality. In fact, the quality of HRQoL reporting has not improved over time. Some of the issues identified are limited discussions, methodological shortcomings, and poor HRQoL reporting. This review has underscored the importance of standardising of the reporting of HRQoL measures.Although capturing the patient’s perspective via PROs is important, they may not be the only outcome measures important to patients. Currently, no single CHF outcome measure captures all dimensions of the quality of care from the patient’s perspective. To identify outcome measures in CHF deemed important to patients, a structured literature review was undertaken. The conceptual and methodological challenges and opportunities in each outcome measure were identified as important to patients with CHF. That is mortality, hospitalisation and PROs were identified as important to patients but also meaningful and relevant to the provider and health care system as well. These outcome measures were proposed as a core outcome set that represent the minimum set of outcomes that should be measured and reported in CHF.A number of composite outcome measures have been developed to capture the perspective of the patient, clinician as well as including objective measures of health. Three validated composite outcomes, the Packer’s Score, Cleland’s Patient Journey and the composite endpoint used in the African American Heart Failure Trial (A-HeFT) were examined in a secondary analysis of a prospective, multi-center randomized controlled trial of 280 hospitalized CHF patients in the Which Heart failure Intervention is most Cost-effective & Consumer Friendly in Reducing Hospital Care (WHICH?) Trial in order to assess the comparability and interpretability of the measures in a pragmatic clinical trial. Correlation coefficients demonstrated substantial associations amongst all three composite endpoints. Although there was a considerable agreement across the three measures when estimating deteriorating condition, these was less when estimating improvements.This thesis has described both the importance and complexity of including outcome measures that are meaningful to patients in both the assessment of individuals’ needs, testing interventions, monitoring outcomes and assessing process and outcome measures at a health systems level. This thesis has also extended the discussion and debate around PROs to discuss Patient Important Outcomes, which is outcomes that patients notice and for which they would be willing to undergo a treatment with associated risk, cost, or inconvenience for it to be the only thing that changed. Using CHF as an exemplar has provided useful insights into the dimensions and complexities of measuring outcomes in chronic and complex conditions. As the burden of chronic disease continues to increase refining the metrics of outcome measurements will be equally as important as refining novel therapies. This will be critical to develop and implement interventions to meet the growing numbers of people living with chronic illness.

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Lockwood, Kelly L. "Repetitive impact training, an integrated evaluation in competitive figure skaters : a multi-disciplinary approach." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq21593.pdf.

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Barkley, Ellise Jane-Ann. "An integrated approach to evaluation: A participatory model for reflection, evaluation, analysis and documentation (the 'READ' model) in community arts." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2016. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/97728/3/Ellise%20Barkley%20Thesis.pdf.

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The research focuses on the development and critical review of the READ model, a dynamic and rigorous model for evaluation of community arts. The model's innovation lies in the integration of four key appraisal and learning strategies- Reflection, Evaluation, Analysis and Documentation (READ) - to cater for the multi-faceted demands of creative community partnership initiatives. Positioned within the contemporary debate on cultural value and impact measurement, the research contributes to the discourse on effective community arts evaluation and offers an integrated, stakeholder-oriented model of relevance to the Creative Industries, and the fields of evaluation, cultural development, project management and sustainability.

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Samouilidi, Maria. "Evaluation of the organizational effectiveness of the integrated multifarious lyceum in Greece : a process approach." Thesis, University of Hull, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.321872.

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Miller, Russell F. "An evaluation of the prime vendor support approach to U.S. Army weapon system sustainment." Thesis, View thesis, 1999. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/9802.

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Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1999.
Title from title screen (viewed Jan. 4, 2006). "June 1999." Includes bibliographical references (p. 101). Also issued in paper format.

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McCormick, Deirdre. "The development and evaluation of an integrated nursing approach to delivering targeted interventions based on health needs assessment." Thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.486488.

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The aim of this Action Research study was to evaluate the development of an integrated nursing team delivering targeted interventions based on Health Needs Assessment in one primary health care team. The study was located within a Local Health Care Cooperative in an urban area of Scotland. Participants included 6 general practitioners, 2 health visitors, 3 district nurses, 2 practice nurses, 2 nursing auxiliaries and a treatment room nurse. The introduction of the integrated community nursing approach was mapped across a four Cycle design which took place over two years and two months. This included illumination of the integrated nursing team concept and the nature of the change required for its introduction drawing on a normative re-educative model of change. Data collection approaches included 18 focus groups, 20 individual interviews, participant observation, nursing diaries, and the Team Climate Inventory Questionnaire. Although effort was taken to progress in the collaborative spirit of action research, evidence of team ownership of integrated nursing did not emerge until the fourth and final action cycle. The study illuminates the complexities of achieving integrated nursing approaches and determinants for success. For example, role differences and the differing underlying philosophies for each of the nursing disciplines presented specific challenges. Health needs assessment used as a tool to support the development of integrated nursing, has proved to be of value as a means to overcome boundary issues and securing commitment to integrated working. The findings suggest that for integrated nursing to be effective greater emphasis needs to be placed on the identification of priority areas using a comprehensive health needs assessment where nurses are motivated and can lead developments. The study has demonstrated that the integrated nursing approach may involve complete role overlap or the contribution of specific expertise in the delivery of targeted interventions. The complexity of achieving integrated approaches however demands resources, appropriate facilitation, protected time for key stakeholders to engage in the change process and to optimise opportunities for interprofessional learning.

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May, Nadine, Edeltraud Guenther, and Peer Haller. "Environmental Indicators for the Evaluation of Wood Products in Consideration of Site-Dependent Aspects: A Review and Integrated Approach." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2018. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-231574.

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On the way towards a more biobased economy, the sustainable use of global wood resources remains a challenge as several trade-offs arise, e.g., from an increased energetic use of wood, an increased use of innovative but probably less recyclable wood composites, or from the need to conserve other forest ecosystem services. The aim of this study is to identify existing environmental indicators and methods for an evaluation of the sustainability of wood products in consideration of all life cycle stages, site-dependent aspects and later use in corporate decision-making. We chose a systematic literature review to answer the research questions explicitly and comprehensively. Qualitative content analysis was used to code indicators and scientific methods according to the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. The sample (N = 118) is characterized by a high number of life cycle assessment (LCA) case studies. In 51% of all studies, the study authors use a combination of different methods. A total of 78 indicators and 20 site-dependent aspects could be identified in the sample. The study findings represent a first step towards a holistic environmental assessment of wood products.

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Kadiyala, Akhil. "Development and Evaluation of an Integrated Approach to Study In-Bus Exposure Using Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence Methods." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1341257080.

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May, Nadine, Edeltraud Guenther, and Peer Haller. "Environmental Indicators for the Evaluation of Wood Products in Consideration of Site-Dependent Aspects: A Review and Integrated Approach." Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2017. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A30691.

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On the way towards a more biobased economy, the sustainable use of global wood resources remains a challenge as several trade-offs arise, e.g., from an increased energetic use of wood, an increased use of innovative but probably less recyclable wood composites, or from the need to conserve other forest ecosystem services. The aim of this study is to identify existing environmental indicators and methods for an evaluation of the sustainability of wood products in consideration of all life cycle stages, site-dependent aspects and later use in corporate decision-making. We chose a systematic literature review to answer the research questions explicitly and comprehensively. Qualitative content analysis was used to code indicators and scientific methods according to the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. The sample (N = 118) is characterized by a high number of life cycle assessment (LCA) case studies. In 51% of all studies, the study authors use a combination of different methods. A total of 78 indicators and 20 site-dependent aspects could be identified in the sample. The study findings represent a first step towards a holistic environmental assessment of wood products.

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Gillani, Sayed Tamiz ud din. "A life cycle assessment and process system engineering integrated approach for sustainability : application to environmental evaluation of biofuel production." Thesis, Toulouse, INPT, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013INPT0069/document.

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La méthode de l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie (ACV) est devenue ces dernières années un outil d’aide à la décision « environnementale » pour évaluer l’impact des produits et des processus associés. La pratique de l’ACV est documentée comme un outil pour l’évaluation d’impacts, la comparaison et la prise de décisions « orientée produit ». L’exploitation d’une telle méthode pour les procédés de l’industrie bio-physico-chimique a gagné récemment en popularité. Il existe de nombreux faisceaux d’amélioration et d’expansion pour sa mise en oeuvre pour l’évaluation des procédés industriels. L’étude s’attache à la production de biocarburant à partir de la plante Jatropha curcas L. selon une approche « attributionelle ». Cette étude présente l’évaluation environnementale d’un agro-procédé et discute de l’opportunité de coupler les concepts, les méthodes et les outils de l’ACV et de l’IPAO (Ingénierie des Procédés Assistés par Ordinateur). Une première partie présente l’ACV appliquée à l’agrochimie. L’état de la littérature apporte des enseignements sur les diverses études qui mettent en évidence le rôle et l’importance de l’ACV pour les produits et les différents agro-procédés. La substitution des carburants classiques par les biocarburants est considérée comme une voie potentielle de substitution aux énergies fossiles. Leur processus se doit d’être évalué au regard de l’impact environnemental et du paradigme du développement durable, en complément des critères classiques, économiques et politiques. La deuxième partie aborde notre étude ACV de la production du biocarburant à partir de la plante Jatropha. Cette évaluation englobe la culture et la récolte en Afrique, l’extraction de l’huile et la phase de production de biocarburants, jusqu’à son utilisation par un moteur à explosion. À cet effet, les normes ISO 14040 et 14044 sont respectées. Basée sur une perspective « midpoint » avec les méthodes de calcul d’impacts, Impact 2002+ et CML, nous fournissons les premiers résultats de la phase d’interprétation (GES, appauvrissement des ressources, la couche d’ozone, l’eutrophisation et l’acidification). Cette étude démontre le potentiel de production de biocarburants de deuxième génération à réduire l’impact environnemental. Dans le même temps, elle révèle que l’unité de transesterification est le plus impactant. Nous identifions les limites de notre application selon une approche ACV « pure ». Dans la troisième partie, nous discutons des bénéfices attendus du couplage de l’ACV et des méthodes de modélisation et de simulation de l’ingénierie des procédés. Nous suggérons alors une amélioration de l’approche environnementale des systèmes de production. Nous fournissons un cadre de travail intégrant les différents points de vue, système, processus et procédé afin d’évaluer les performances environnementales du produit. Un outil logiciel, SimLCA, est développé sur la base de l’environnement Excel et est validé par l’utilisation de la solution ACV SimaPro et du simulateur de procédés Prosim Plus. SimLCA permet un couplage ACV-simulation pour l’évaluation environnementale du système complet de production de biocarburant. Cette intégration multi-niveaux permet une interaction dynamique des données, paramètres et résultats de simulation. Différentes configurations et scénarios sont discutés afin d’étudier l’influence de l’unité fonctionnelle et d’un paramètre de procédé. La quatrième partie établit la conclusion générale et trace les perspectives
With the rise of global warming issues due to the increase of the greenhouse gas emission and more generally with growing importance granted to sustainable development, process system engineering (PSE) has turned to think more and more environmentally. Indeed, the chemical engineer has now taken into account not only the economic criteria of the process, but also its environmental and social performances. On the other hand LCA is a method used to evaluate the potential impacts on the environment of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle. The research here focused on coupling of PSE domain with the environmental analysis of agricultural and chemical activities and abatement strategies for agro-processes with the help of computer aided tools and models. Among many approaches, the coupling of PSE and LCA is investigated here because it is viewed as a good instrument to evaluate the environmental performance of different unitary processes and whole process. The coupling can be of different nature depending on the focus of the study. The main objective is to define an innovative LCA based on approach for a deep integration of product, process and system perspectives. We selected a PSE embedded LCA and proposed a framework that would lead to an improved eco-analysis, eco-design and eco-decision of business processes and resulted products for researchers and engineers. In the first place we evaluate biodiesel for environmental analysis with the help of field data, background data and impact methodologies. Through this environmental evaluation, we identify the hotspot in the whole production system. To complement the experimental data this hotspot (i.e. transesterification) is selected for further modeling and simulation. For results validation, we also implement LCA in a dedicated tool (SimaPro) and simulation in a PSE simulation tool (Prosim Plus). Finally we develop a tool (SimLCA) dedicated to the LCA by using PSE tools and methodologies. This development of SimLCA framework can serve as a step forward for determination of sustainability and eco-efficient designing

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Fiedler, Kathryn. "Integrated Approach to Understanding Tomato Sour Rot and Improving Disease Management on the Eastern Shore of Virginia." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/49117.

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Sour rot of tomatoes, caused by Geotrichum candidum, occurs in the field and postharvest settings regularly, although postharvest losses are severe only in some years on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (ESV) and other tomato production regions. Fungicide products and cultural control methods are tested for efficacy utilizing a traditional wounding technique that does not properly reflect natural sour rot infections. A new inoculation technique was optimized for G. candidum using negative pressure to infiltrate the tomato stem scar with pathogenic spores. This new method creates consistently high rates of infection and more successfully creates infections in mature green and breaker fruit. The population of G. candidum on the Eastern Shore of VA (ESV) was characterized using multilocus sequencing technique. The resulting phylogenetic tree defines four distinct groups, including two with uncommon loci that distinguish them from the majority of the population. Thirty-seven G. candidum isolates were inoculated to media amended with ten fungicides and antimicrobial compounds commonly used in tomato production and postharvest treatments. Propiconazole and tebuconazole completely inhibited growth of all colonies. Cultivar trials were conducted to determine if resistance or tolerance to G. candidum occurs. Ten commonly grown round and Roma cultivars on the ESV were similarly susceptible to G. candidum, even at low inoculum levels. Field and postharvest surveys of sour rot on tomato fruit attempted to correlate disease incidence with weather conditions in order to better understand the cause of sporadic infection. Few patterns were seen consistently throughout harvest periods and years. Rainfall was positively correlated with disease 2-3 days before surveys and temperature was negatively correlated with disease 5-7 days before surveys. No in-field weather conditions were correlated with postharvest disease incidence. Greenhouse trials were conducted to assess the influence of water congested tomato fruit on susceptibility to sour rot. Tomato plants were exposed to water inundation to mimic rainfall and varying levels of irrigation, both in order to congest tomato fruit. Though water congestion was achieved, tomato fruit were equally susceptible to sour rot infections.
Ph. D.

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Featherstone, Daniel. "Connected, Creative and Cultural Communities: Developing an Integrated Approach to Policy and Evaluation for Remote Australian Indigenous Media and Communications." Thesis, Featherstone, Daniel (2015) Connected, Creative and Cultural Communities: Developing an Integrated Approach to Policy and Evaluation for Remote Australian Indigenous Media and Communications. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2015. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/29208/.

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This research project seeks to develop appropriate policy and evaluation frameworks to support the development of the remote Indigenous media and communications sector and build digital inclusion and capacity within remote Australian Indigenous communities. This project reviews existing policy and theory pertaining to Indigenous media and communications and identifies and assesses the applicability and limitations for the contemporary remote Indigenous Australian context. Some key policy aspects have remained the same since the 1990s. These include: cultural and linguistic maintenance, self-representation, community access, rights and justice, and employment opportunities. However, in the context of significant technological and socio-political change, there are a range of contemporary issues yet to be effectively incorporated into policy, including: digital convergence; digital inclusion; organisational and industry development; and sustainability. There is a growing divide between and within remote communities in terms of digital inclusion; access to appropriate information and services. Despite billions of dollars being spent on ‘closing the gap’ for Indigenous Australians, and numerous reviews over recent decades, the potential role of Indigenous media and communications in remote Indigenous communities remains largely unrecognised and under-utilised. At a time when the debate is re-emerging about the viability of remote Indigenous communities, the effectiveness of media and communications services and connectivity will increasingly become key determinants for community sustainability, effective service delivery, community capacity building, cultural maintenance and individual capability. The research included a review of literature in the fields of Communications, Media Anthropology, Community Development and Development Communications. Summaries of issues were then prepared. Relevant past and current government policies in Indigenous affairs and Indigenous broadcasting and communications were also reviewed and key issues summarised, along with an historic overview of the development of remote Indigenous media and communications in Australia and potential future directions and challenges. This led to the preparation of a draft set of Policy and Evaluation frameworks to be reviewed using a series of case studies. Using an Ethnographic Action Research methodology, the author undertook research over a nine year period while working as Manager at Ngaanyatjarra Media, the remote Indigenous media organisation for 15 remote communities in the Western Desert region of eastern WA. He worked closely with Yarnangu (Central/Western Desert Aboriginal people) media workers and communities, building on the existing BRACS network and cultural maintenance agenda to establish a range of innovative and integrated media and communications programs in the region. Six Ngaanyatjarra Media case studies were used to assess and revise the draft Policy and Evaluation frameworks. While the unique context and ‘communicative ecology’ of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands differs from other parts of remote Australia, the evaluation outcomes suggest that the integrated approach to media and communications delivery can have broader application. The research found that a bottom-up approach to program development that considers the social, cultural, political and technological context promotes community ownership and participation and delivers locally relevant solutions and outcomes. In contrast, top-down initiated programs had significantly lower participation and outcomes. It proposes a consultative approach to program development that incorporates community strategic planning and locally specific delivery strategies. It also proposes an evaluation model that includes three sets of performance indicators: those specified by the funding agencies (typically Government); indicators considered relevant by the local delivery agencies (e.g. media organisations); and those that meet the needs of Indigenous community recipients to understand and evaluate the impact of the program. A further key finding is the need for a ‘contingent’ approach to application of both the Policy and Evaluation frameworks; that is, selection and prioritisation of particular potential aspects to match the specific policy or evaluation need. The thesis provides justification for this approach and indicates how it may be developed. This thesis seeks to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in this field by documenting the growth of a little known remote Indigenous media organisation situated in the Ngaanyatjarra region of WA during a time of technological, political and social change within Australia. It brings together a deep understanding of community and cultural values and determinants as well as a solid knowledge of relevant government policy and programs. It helps fill a gap in field research and observation of remote Indigenous media activities in Australia since the 1990s. While aimed at the Australian context, the findings of this research may also have relevance for the international communications development sector. The project’s objective was to develop appropriate Remote Indigenous Media and Communications Policy and Evaluation frameworks for use within the contemporary technological, social and political context. The proposed integrated delivery approach involves the use of existing and new media and communications activities that engage and empower remote Indigenous people and help build connected, creative and cultural communities.

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Kyung, Gyouhyung. "An integrated human factors approach to design and evaluation of the driver workspace and interface: Driver perceptions, behaviors, and objective measures." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/27939.

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An ergonomic driver workspace and interface design is essential to ensure a healthier and comfortable driving experience in terms of driver perceptions, postures, and interface pressures. Developing more effective methods for driver-side interior design and evaluation, hence, requires thorough investigation of: 1) which perceptual responses are more relevant to ensuring ergonomic quality of a design, 2) the interrelationships among perceptual responses and objective measures, and 3) whether current assumptions regarding driver behaviors, and tools for specifying these behaviors, are valid for the design and evaluation. Existing studies, however, have rarely addressed these topics comprehensively, and often have been conducted with unsubstantiated assumptions. In contrast, this work sought to address these topics in a way that jointly considers characteristics of driver perceptions, behaviors, and objective measures to develop an improved design and evaluation methodology for driver workspace and interface, and that can also investigate the validity of implicit assumptions regarding perceptual relevance and driversâ behaviors. The first part of this work investigated driversâ perceptions in relation to driver workspace design and evaluation. Specifically, it examined the efficacy of several perceptual ratings, when used for evaluating automobile interface design. Results showed that comfort ratings were more effective at distinguishing among interface designs, in contrast to the current common practice of using discomfort ratings for designing and evaluating interface designs. Two distinct decision processes to relate local to global perceptions were also identified (i.e., global comfort as an average of local comforts, and global discomfort predominantly influenced by maximal local discomforts). These findings were observed consistently across age and cultural groups. In addition, this work provided empirical support for an earlier hypothetical comfort/discomfort model, which posited comfort and discomfort are complementary, yet independent entities. In order to facilitate the integration of driver perceptions and dynamic behaviors into driver workspace design and evaluation, the second part of this work clarified the relationships between perceptual ratings and various types of driver-seat interface pressure. Interface pressure was found to be more strongly related to overall and comfort ratings than to discomfort ratings, which is also in marked contrast with existing work that has focused on identifying association between discomfort and interface pressure. Specific pressure interface requirements for comfortable driver workspace design and evaluation were also provided. Lastly, this work specified more rigorous driving postures for digital human models (DHMs), based on actual driversâ perceptions, postural sensitivity, and static behavioral characteristics, to facilitate proactive design and evaluation that enables cost/time efficient vehicle development. Driversâ behavioral characteristics observed in this work were applied to the driver workspace design. First, postural sensitivity obtained by using a psychophysics concept has been applied to determination of core seat track ranges. Second, postural data have been used: 1) to review relevant industry standards on driver accommodation, 2) to investigate whether driving postures are bilaterally asymmetric, 3) to provide comfortable joint ranges, and lastly 4) to identify driversâ postural strategies for interacting with a vehicle. Overall, this work identified three important behavioral characteristics, specifically a bilateral imbalance in terms of interface pressure, bilaterally asymmetric joint posture, and postural strategies identified by cluster analysis. Such characteristics can be embedded in DHMs to describe more accurately actual driver behaviors inside a driver workspace, which is deemed to be a fundamental step to improved virtual ergonomic vehicle design and evaluation. In addition, the strategy-based classification method used in this work can be extended to simulate and predict more complex human motions. Practical and fundamental findings of this work will facilitate efficient and proactive design and evaluation of driver workspace and interface, and will help provide a healthier driving experience for a broader range of individuals.
Ph. D.

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Henne, Donald Charles. "Evaluation of an integrated management approach for the control of purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria L., in southern Manitoba, biological control and herbicides." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape2/PQDD_0014/MQ53101.pdf.

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FORLIANO, Canio. "The role of system dynamics to unveil the complexity of academic missions. An integrated approach for entrepreneurial universities’ performance evaluation and management." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2023. https://hdl.handle.net/10447/580154.

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The third mission concept implies that universities are expected to perform several diversified activities besides teaching (first mission) and scientific research (second mission). Third mission efforts may include activities such as knowledge dissemination, technological innovation, social innovation, advisory services, or entrepreneurship. Through third mission activities, universities engage in sustainable, inclusive development and/or territorial competitiveness by interacting with a wide range of subjects far beyond their students and reference scientific communities. The third mission’s activities vary a lot according to the specific characteristics of each university, the territory in which it is located, and the intricate nature of the relations with the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems’ actors. Since these missions can be reciprocally complementary or conflicting, they can result in paradoxical tensions and competition around allocating key resources and leveraging specific drivers to enhance universities’ performance. Both the management literature and national and international ranking agencies have made huge efforts to build effective performance measurement systems. However, there are still no shared frameworks that can effectively overcome the above-mentioned difficulties and solve the possible tensions that can exist at various organisational levels. By considering how those organisations respond to logics' multiplicity, this research project primarily aims to advance a conceptual model for evaluating and managing the performance of entrepreneurial universities and the role they can play in contributing to the development of modern complex, dynamic, and knowledge-intensive societies. To achieve these objectives, the relevant literature regarding entrepreneurial universities’ role and impact is analysed in the first phase. To do so, a bibliometric analysis was conducted by applying performance and network analysis techniques. Interestingly, from the conducted analysis, three different thematic clusters have emerged as shaping the current scientific debate: (1) knowledge management and innovation; (2) performance management and economic growth; and (3) technology transfer and knowledge commercialisation. Subsequently, leveraging the institutional logics meta-theory, a cross-country comparative case study was conducted in order to identify the different institutional logics that characterise entrepreneurial universities' activities. In particular, considering entrepreneurial universities as submersed complex organisational fields, three logics have been identified in association with each of their three academic missions. So, the inclusiveness, vocational, and excellence logics emerged in relation to the first mission. The focalisation, materiality, and excellence logics were identified in relation to the second mission. Third, the dissemination, translational, and entrepreneurial logics were distinguished concerning the third mission. In the end, those nine different logics have been reconciled to the different key performance indicators used to evaluate entrepreneurial universities' performance in pursuing the three academic missions. Then, leveraging system dynamics principles, those results have been used to build a causal loop diagram to offer a dynamic viewpoint of the intertwined relationships existing between the three different academic missions and how their associated institutional logics can result in mutually complementing or conflicting with each other. Finally, a dynamic performance management chart is leveraged to offer some concluding remarks on the interrelationships existing between the strategic resources, intermediate results (i.e., performance drivers), and short-term (i.e., output) and long-term (i.e., outcomes) end results that are related to entrepreneurial universities’ activities. Hence, the proposed model contributes to the literature regarding entrepreneurial universities’ management and their performances and impact assessment, with a particular focus on their intangible resources and those organisations’ role in contributing to societal and economic developments.

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Hannay, Karen F. "A depth approach to teaching drawing during middle childhood: A case study curriculum evaluation." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2000. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36635/1/36635_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of implementing a depth approach to teaching drawing to an intact year four class: specifically, the effect that instruction had on the character of the children's drawings and their attitude towards drawing and their drawing ability. A definition of 'a depth approach' was derived from the literature. An educational evaluation of a depth drawing program was conducted in a Queensland state school. A pilot study, conducted with a year three class assisted in the development of a drawing program and design of the data collection methods. Participant-observation, interviews, children's written comments and analysis of the children's drawings constituted the data collection methods. The researcher participated as a visiting art teacher. The children were interviewed individually before and after the teaching intervention in order to ascertain their attitude to drawing and any change in attitude. Informal discussions during classes and student comments on their drawings also contributed to the data. A pre-intervention drawing was solicited from the children so as to assist in the evaluation of drawing development resulting from the lessons. The findings of this study suggest that the implementation of a depth approach to teaching drawing that: provides sequential and cumulative learning; considers the developmental readiness of the children; draws on a variety of teaching/learning strategies that assist children to develop a variety of skills and provides opportunities for children to apply these skills expressively can assist children to develop outside the stages described by developmentalists and to retain and develop a positive attitude towards drawing.

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Matschewsky, Johannes. "What’s in it for the Provider? : A Lifecycle-Focused Approach towards Designing for Value in Product-Service Systems." Licentiate thesis, Linköpings universitet, Industriell miljöteknik, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-130977.

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Combining products and services into Product-Service Systems (PSS), which are often owned and even operated by the company offering them, is seen as an important element of conducting more sustainable business. The prospective environmental benefits of PSS lie mainly in the improved resource- and operational efficiency. This is achieved by way of a critical shift in incentive structure: If an industrial company assumes responsibility for an offering throughout the lifecycle, the terms on which that company operates are changed substantially in comparison to traditional product sales. Instead of benefiting from a short lifetime through additional sales opportunities or making profit through the sale of spare parts, in highly integrated PSS, each parts exchange, each technicians’ visit and each day the lifetime of the offering is reduced directly affects the bottom line of the provider. Due to that, solely as a result of economic rationality, a provider of these offerings has an incentive to design in such a way that the life of this offering is prolonged, need for spare parts is reduced, service activities are facilitated and simplified, and that the conditions are in place to allow for a second or third life of the offering through remanufacturing. Regardless of this compelling logic, at times, industrial companies fail to establish the preconditions to capturing these benefits as they continue to rely on product and sales-centric design processes even though they provide PSS. This thesis aims to examine this unexploited opportunity from two vantage points. On the one hand, methods conceived in academia to support industry in implementing and executing joint, lifecycle-focused design of products and services, and the use of these methods in practice, are examined. Here, the focus firstly lies on understanding how PSS are designed today, and secondly, on what should change about PSS design methods to improve their implementability and usability in industrial practice, so that they can fulfill their supposed role as facilitators of efficient PSS design and operation. On the other hand, the possible benefits of providing specifically designed and lifecycle-focused PSS as an industrial company are in focus. To this end, the value attained by providers throughout the use phase of PSS is investigated, to then identify possible approaches towards enhancing this value. Eventually, both focus-areas are joined in an effort to examine the interaction between method-supported, lifecycle-oriented PSS design and the value attained by providers of such offerings. As a result of the research, a lacking adaptation of design processes to PSS is identified in the case companies. Further, shortcomings of PSS design methods conceived in academia, e.g. excessive complexity, lacking clarity and rigidity, are found in both literature as well as in a study with an industrial company. To take a first step towards rectifying this issue, six characteristics intended to enhance implementability and usability of PSS design methods, are presented. The value attained by PSS providers has been found to be a complex but important subject. In a case study, value determinants of high relevance to the use phase of the lifecycle have been identified and assessed for their utility as indicators in the evaluation and enhancement of PSS offerings in the design phase. The practitioners involved were supportive of the applicability of the systematic approach presented to capture more value through offering PSS. In joining both the value- and method-oriented approach, the mutual dependency of both aspects is discussed. In order to provide PSS in an economically and environmentally efficient fashion, adapting the existing design processes is imperative. The value attained by the provider can, complementary to existing customer-centric approaches, serve as an important goal for the adaptation of design processes. Ultimately, through understanding the change in incentive structure at the core of PSS, and through implementing a value-driven design process supported by efficient and effective methods aimed at providing both customer value and capturing provider benefits throughout the lifecycle, there is a genuine potential of conducting more sustainable business.

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Malan, Sharon Brenda. "The development of an integrated problem-based learning (PBL) approach in a post-matriculation programme at the University of Stellenbosch." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1231.

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Thesis (PhD (Educational Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
It is evident that many students admitted to higher education in South Africa are ill-prepared for tertiary study. The predominantly behaviorist school system encourages learner dependency and superficial understanding and fails to encourage reflection and self-direction. Changing times and a more diverse student population have heightened the need for a broader range of teaching and learning approaches at tertiary level. As a result, many departments, faculties and institutes such as SciMathUS have explored the merits of problem-based learning (PBL) which supports students as self-directed, independent learners. Problem-based learning is a different philosophical approach to the whole notion of teaching and learning where problems drive the learning and is one of the best examples of a constructivist learning environment. Thus far, problem-based learning has mainly been implemented in long-term medical curricula, so research findings focus mainly on the development of PBL for longer programmes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether introducing a Hybrid PBL approach in a shorter one-year foundation programme can create conditions for learners to develop and sustain self-directed learning skills and gain more control of the learning process. This interpretive-constructivist study may be broadly termed evaluation research. A mixedmethod approach that involved collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data was chosen. Evaluation findings indicate that introducing students to a Hybrid PBL approach does promote more meaningful learning patterns, typified by processing the subject matter critically and self-regulating learning processes. However the sustainability of the meaningdirected learning activities is questionable if student beliefs do not support the activities employed. Findings also reveal that the Hybrid PBL approach contributes to overall programme improvement by promoting understanding in mathematics and science and improved staff relationships and subject knowledge. PBL helps to establish a learner-centered learning environment that emphasizes relations in mathematics and science, promotes deep approaches to learning which may lead to higher levels of achievement and success in Higher Education.

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DATOLA, GIULIA. "Toward resilient cities: assessing urban resilience performance using a System Dynamics Model-based approach." Doctoral thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2966341.

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Wicaksono, Hendro Verfasser], and Jivka [Akademischer Betreuer] [Ovtcharova. "An Integrated Method for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supported Energy Efficiency Evaluation and Optimization in Manufacturing: Knowledge-based Approach and Energy Performance Indicators (EnPI) to Support Evaluation and Optimization of Energy Efficiency / Hendro Wicaksono ; Betreuer: J. Ovtcharova." Karlsruhe : KIT-Bibliothek, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1117701913/34.

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Wicaksono, Hendro [Verfasser], and Jivka [Akademischer Betreuer] Ovtcharova. "An Integrated Method for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supported Energy Efficiency Evaluation and Optimization in Manufacturing: Knowledge-based Approach and Energy Performance Indicators (EnPI) to Support Evaluation and Optimization of Energy Efficiency / Hendro Wicaksono ; Betreuer: J. Ovtcharova." Karlsruhe : KIT-Bibliothek, 2016. http://d-nb.info/1117701913/34.

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Malagnoux, Laure. "Evaluation des impacts environnementaux liés aux pratiques phytosanitaires en vergers de pommiers : approches écotoxicologique et écologique utilisant un auxiliaire des cultures, le forficule." Thesis, Avignon, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014AVIG0331/document.

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Dans le contexte européen actuel visant la réduction des risques et de l‘utilisation des pesticides, le développement d‘outils permettant d‘évaluer les impacts environnementaux est un objectif majeur. Cette thèse recouvre approche écotoxicologique et approche écologique sous forme d‘études de l‘échelle tissulaire à l‘échelle des populations. L‘espèce modèle est un prédateur généraliste, le forficule, et le site d‘étude les vergers de pommiers du Sud-est de la France. Les effets des pesticides ont été testés aussi bien en condition de laboratoire qu‘en conditions réelles (en vergers). Les études en laboratoire nous ont permis de caractériser et d‘étudier la localisation tissulaire des B-estérases (AChE et CbE) et d‘évaluer la capacité prédatrice chez Forficula auricularia après exposition, sur le puceron Dysaphis plantaginea. Les CbE sont plus sensibles que l‘AChE chez F. auricularia et les B-estérases des mâles sont toujours plus sensibles aux insecticides organophosphorés que celles des femelles. Ces résultats nous permettent de valider l‘utilisation des B-estérases comme biomarqueurs biochimiques chez F. auricularia. La capacité prédatrice de F. auricularia est diminuée par certains insecticides avec les mâles plus impactés que les femelles. Les mesures d‘activité des B-estérases ont corroboré les résultats validant le comportement de prédation comme un nouveau biomarqueur. A l‘échelle de l‘organisme, la reproduction et le développement des premiers stades larvaires ont été suivis grâce à un élevage mis en place à partir d‘insectes prélevés dans des vergers soumis à différentes pratiques phytosanitaires (agriculture biologique, raisonnée et conventionnelle). Le nombre d‘oeufs par ponte est réduit et la date de ponte retardée pour les forficules provenant des vergers à agriculture « conventionnelle ». Pour évaluer l‘effet des pesticides à l‘échelle des populations, l‘abondance et la diversité du forficule (F. auricularia et F. pubescens) ont été suivies en vergers en prenant également en compte des caractéristiques paysagères. L‘impact des pratiques phytosanitaires est plus important que celui des caractéristiques paysagères. L‘espèce F. pubescens est plus sensible que F. auricularia, avec la même différence de sensibilité entre sexes chez les deux espèces (mâles plus sensibles). Le forficule devient alors une espèce bioindicatrice pertinente de l‘utilisation des pesticides en verger de pommiers. Cette étude soulève le besoin de biomarqueurs complémentaires capables de mettre en évidence les modifications physiologiques et comportementales qui influencent les populations d‘auxiliaires et la régulation naturelle des ravageurs
In the European context which aims at reducing risk and uses of pesticides, the development of tools to evaluate environmental impacts is a major focus. This thesis uses ecotoxicological and ecological approaches, from tissue level to population level. The model species is a generalist predator, the earwig, and the study site is apple orchards in Southeastern France. Pesticides expositions were tested both in laboratory or real conditions (in orchards). Lab studies allowed us to characterize and investigate the tissular distribution of B-esterases (AChE and CbE) of Forficula auricularia and to study its predatory behavior on the aphid Dysaphis plantaginea after exposure. CbE were more sensitive than AChE and males B-esterases were more sensitive than females ones to organophosphorus pesticides. The overall results allowed us to validate the use of B-esterases as biochemical biomarkers on F. auricularia. The predation behavior of F. auricularia was impacted by some insecticides with males more sensitive than females. The behavior results were supported by inhibition of biochemical biomarkers (B-esterases) validating predation behavior as a new biomarker. Taking into account the individual level, the reproduction and development of first larval stages were carried out thanks to a breeding set up with earwigs trapped in orchards conducted under different pest management (organic, integrated and conventional management). Eggs number by clutch was reduced and clutch date was delayed for earwigs trapped in orchards conducted under conventional agriculture. To assess the impact of pesticides on population level, the abundance and diversity of earwig (F. auricularia and F. pubescens) were carried out in different orchard management considering small-scale landscape parameters. Pesticide use had clearly much higher effects on earwig abundances and diversity than landscape characteristics. F. pubescens was more sensitive than F. auricularia, with the same sensitivity difference between sex on both species (males more sensitive) making earwigs a relevant bioindicator species of pesticides use in apple orchards. This study enhances the need of complementary biomarkers able to highlight physiological and behavioral modifications which influence natural enemy populations and the natural regulation of pests

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Faramarzi, Ghazal, and Malin Torestam. "Development of evaluation tools as an approach to pre-design district energy systems : Qualitative modeling and performance simulation using OpenModelica." Thesis, KTH, Energiteknik, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-288104.

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Cities and districts contribute to a large fraction of the total energy consumption in Sweden. The residential- and service sector accounted for almost 40% of the total energy consumption in 2018. The increasing urbanization also puts more importance on the energy supply, distribution and consumption in these areas. One way of planning an energy system in urban areas is to have integrated energy systems where synergies between different technologies and energy carriers are utilized. Such a solution can increase the flexibility of the energy system and thus help integrate more intermittent renewable energy sources. The aim of this study was to suggest tools for planning energy systems in districts. This was done by performing a literature review regarding the design of energy systems and the identification of barriers and opportunities for the integration of different production- and distribution technologies. The focus was on systems for heating, cooling and electricity. The proposed tools are three Excel-based modules. The first module is a qualitative model that presents the reviewed technologies and their connections. It also includes synergies between different energy carriers and sectors for consumption and production. The second module is qualitative model related to market mechanisms, juridical, organizational and institutional aspects. The third module is a table containing the barriers and opportunities. Furthermore, relevant stakeholders are identified to be district heating companies, building owners, joint associations, municipalities, district cooling companies and photovoltaic plant owners. The proposed tools can be used in the first stage of planning when the technologies are selected. To show how the suggested tools can be applied, a case study was performed. The study case is a district being planned in Stockholm, Sweden. For the analysis, a model for a hypothetical heating system was required. Two models were developed for the heat supply system using the modelling environment OpenModelica. The main objective of the case study was to compare the techno-economic and environmental performance of different scenarios. Three different scenarios were considered for covering the total heating demand in the district. In the first scenario the total heating demand is covered only by local heat pumps. In the second scenario the space heating demand is covered by heat pump(s) coupled with a thermal energy storage (hot water tank). An electric boiler is used as backup. In the third scenario, the electric boiler is replaced by district heating as backup. A sensitivity analysis was included for different numbers of heat pumps and different sizes of thermal energy storage in the two last scenarios. The economic and environmental results in this study were strongly dependent on the assumptions regarding prices and emission factors. The result of the case study indicates that the third scenario causes the lowest CO2 emissions. An increased size of the thermal energy storage causes a higher compressor electricity consumption thus more emissions. However the total emissions from the system depends on the backup component. For this result, the emission factor related to Swedish electricity mix and the emission factor stated by a district heating company in Stockholm was used. The cheapest alternative in terms of annual operational cost of energy is the first scenario with only heat pumps. However, from the scenarios which also includes thermal energy storage, the second scenario with three heat pumps and a 100 m3 large thermal energy storage, presents the lowest cost. This system design in scenario 2 is only 0.6% more expensive than the first scenario. For the energy prices, the assumption for electricity is based on hourly values from Nordpol and for heat, the values presented in a normal price list from a district heating company is assumed. Regarding the technical performance of the system the result indicates that the contribution from the thermal energy storage as it is modelled in this case study is not significant on anannual basis. However it is observed that a larger thermal energy storage unit covers a higher fraction of the power demand during the hours it is utilized.
Städer och stadsdelar står för en stor del av totala energikonsumtionen i Sverige. Bostads- och servicesektor stod för ungefär 40% av totala energikonsumtionen under 2018. Den ökande urbaniseringen lägger också mer vikt vid energiproduktion, distribution och konsumtionen i dessa områden. Ett alternativ för planering av energisystem i urbana områden är att ha integrerade energisystem där synergier mellan olika teknologier och energibärare kan utnyttjas. Den typen av system skulle kunna öka flexibiliteten i energisystemet och därför förenkla integrering av oförutsägbara förnybara energikällor. Syftet med denna studie var att föreslå verktyg för planering av energisystem i stadsdelar. Detta gjordes genom en litteraturstudie angående utformningen av olika energisystem samt identifiera hinder och möjligheter för att integrera olika produktions- och distributions teknologier. Fokus låg på systemen för värme, kyla och elektricitet. Det föreslagna verktygen är tre Excel baserade moduler. Den första modulen är en qualitative modell som presenterar de studerade teknologier och deras kopplingar. Den innehåller också synergier mellan de olika energibärarna och konsumtions- och produktionssektorn. Den andra modulen är en qualitative modell, men relaterad till marknad mekanismer, juridiska, organisatoriska och institutionella aspekter. Den tredje modulen är en tabell som beskriver hinder och möjligheter för några av teknologierna. Utöver det de relevanta aktörerna identifierades. För värme-, kyla- och elektricitet marknaden är de fjärrvärmeföretagen, fastighetsägare, samfälligheter, kommuner, fjärrkyla företagen, solcells ägare. De föreslagna verktyget kan användas för planering av energisystem i ett första skede när teknologier ska väljas. En fallstudie genomfördes för att visa hur det föreslagna verktyget kan användas. Fallstudien en stadsdel som planeras i Stockholm, Sverige. För att genomföra en analys behövdes en modell för ett hypotetiskt värmesystem. Två modeller utvecklades för värmesystemet genom att använda modelleringsmiljön OpenModelica. Det huvudsakliga målet med fallstudien var att jämföra den teknoekonomiska- och miljöinriktade prestandan för olika scenarierna. Tre olika scenarier övervägdes för att täcka totala värmebehovet i stadsdelen. I det första scenariot täcks det totala värmebehovet endast av lokala värmepumpar. I andra scenariot täcks värmebehovet för uppvärmning av värmepump(ar) kopplade till en värmelagrings komponent (ackumulatortank). En elpanna användes för reserveffekt. I tredje scenariot är elpannan ersatt av fjärrvärme. En känslighetsanalys var utförd för olika antal värmepumpar kopplade till olika storlekar av värmelagrings-komponenten i de två sista scenarierna. De ekonomiska och miljörelaterade resultatet i den här studien är starkt beroende av antaganden gällande priser och utsläppsfaktorer. Resultatet indikerar att det tredje scenariot har de lägsta CO2 utsläppen. Ökad värmelagringsstorlek bidrar till att värmepumpen förbrukar mer elektricitet och därför ökar de relaterade utsläppen. Däremot beror de totala utsläppen i systemet på vilken reservkraft som används. För dessa resultat användes utsläppsfaktorn för svensk elmix samt utsläppsfaktorn från ett fjärrvärme företag i Stockholm. Den billigaste alternativet gällande årlig driftsenergikostnad är det första scenariot med endast värmepumpar. Däremot, bland de scenarion som innehåller värmelagring, har det andra scenariot med tre värmepumpar och 100m3 stor värmelagringsenhet den lägsta kostnaden. Detta system är endast 0.6% dyrare än det första scenariot. För energipriser har timvärden från Nordpol antagits för elektricitet och för värme har normalprislistan från ett fjärrvärmebolag i Stockholm antagits. Angående den tekniska systemprestandan, indikerar resultatet att bidraget från värmelagringsenheten som den är modellerad i den här fallstudien inte är signifikant på årsbasis. Det observeras emellertid att en större värmelagringsenhet täcker en större andel av effektbehovet under de timmar som enheten används.

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Verma, Anju. "Ontology based personalized modeling for chronic disease risk evaluation and knowledge discovery an integrated approach : a thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for [the] degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), 2009 /." Click here to access this resource online, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10292/784.

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Populations are aging and the prevalence of chronic disease, persisting for many years, is increasing. The most common, non-communicable chronic diseases in developed countries are; cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, obesity, arthritis and specific cancers. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity have high prevalence and develop over the course of life due to a number of interrelated factors including genetic predisposition, nutrition and lifestyle. With the development and completion of human genome sequencing, we are able to trace genes responsible for proteins and metabolites that are linked with these diseases. A computerized model focused on organizing knowledge related to genes, nutrition and the three chronic diseases, namely, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity has been developed for the Ontology-Based Personalized Risk Evaluation for Chronic Disease Project. This model is a Protégé-based ontological representation which has been developed for entering and linking concepts and data for these three chronic diseases. This model facilitates to identify interrelationships between concepts. The ontological representation provides the framework into which information on individual patients, disease symptoms, gene maps, diet and life history can be input, and risks, profiles, and recommendations derived. Personal genome and health data could provide a guide for designing and building a medical health administration system for taking relevant annual medical tests, e.g. gene expression level changes for health surveillance. One method, called transductive neuro-fuzzy inference system with weighted data normalization is used to evaluate personalized risk of chronic disease. This personalized approach has been used for two different chronic diseases, predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease and predicting the risk of type 2 diabetes. For predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease, the National Nutrition Health Survey 97 data from New Zealand population has been used. This data contains clinical, anthropometric and nutritional variables. For predicting risk of type 2 diabetes, data from the Italian population with clinical and genetic variables has been used. It has been discovered that genes responsible for causing type 2 diabetes are different in male and female samples. A framework to integrate the personalized model and the chronic disease ontology is also developed with the aim of providing support for further discovery through the integration of the ontological representation in order to build an expert system in genes of interest and relevant dietary components.

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Tang, Mei-sin, and 鄧薇先. "An action research on the introduction of the use of authentic tasks in assessment to support a new integrated curriculum." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1996. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31958850.

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Bello, George. "Is it possible to improve the analytical approach to the evaluation of cluster-randomised trials where the complexity of the intervention demands a small number of clusters? : the case of the triage plus 'Integrated TB-HIV community intervention project in Lilongwe Rural, Malawi'." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2015. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2014620/.

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Introduction In this thesis, analytical approaches for the design and evaluation of cluster randomised trials are presented and reviewed. In particular, statistical power/sample size issues relating to the design of cluster randomised trials for which only a limited number of clusters are available are assessed using a series of simulation studies. The use of computer simulation methods made it possible to investigate how well cluster randomised trials with limited numbers of clusters available can be optimised both in terms of statistical power and also the accuracy of parameter estimates. The study design conditions performing best in the simulation studies were then applied to a community intervention study involving informal healthcare providers: the 'Triage Plus integrated tuberculosis (TB) and human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) community intervention project in Lilongwe rural, Malawi'. Aims and objectives The general aims of this dissertation were to: 1. investigate if it is possible to improve the analytical approach to the evaluation of cluster-randomised trials where the complexity of the intervention demands a small number of clusters and in which the primary outcome measure is a count of events occurring in a specified time interval; 2. investigate the effectiveness of engaging informal healthcare providers in integrated TB and HIV community intervention in treatment initiation rates and testing access rates, a cluster randomised trial was conducted in Malawi for which only a limited number of clusters were available to the researchers. The specific objectives were: 1. to review cluster randomised trials and the statistical methods used in the assessment of the effectiveness of the intervention in this type of trial when the primary outcome measure is a count of events occurring in a specified time interval; 2. to assess the statistical efficiencies of different design conditions in terms of statistical power and the accuracy of parameter estimates when determining the effectiveness of complex interventions with a limited number of clusters in this situation; iii 3. to identify the circumstances under which each of the statistical methods would be most robust in detecting significant intervention effects or providing accurate estimates of intervention effects; 4. to apply these statistical approaches to the data collected in the cluster randomised clinical trial of community based interventions for TB and HIV (the 'Triage Plus' study); 5. to assess the effect of involving non-paid informal healthcare providers in integrated TB and HIV community interventions aimed at improving testing and treatment initiation rates for these two diseases. Methods Two research approaches were used in this dissertation: 1. Simulation studies were used to investigate statistical efficiencies in terms of statistical power and accuracy in parameter estimation under different study design conditions for cluster randomised trials in which the primary outcome measure is a count of the number of events occurring during a specified period of time. 2. These statistical approaches were then applied to obtain robust estimates of the effect of the test intervention using the data collected during the “Triage Plus” study. The Triage Plus intervention, implemented in rural areas of Lilongwe, involved informal healthcare providers in an integrated TB and HIV community intervention. This intervention specifically involved empowering the informal healthcare providers in disease recognition, sputum specimen collection, referral of presumptive TB cases, and conducting community TB and HIV awareness meetings. Results The simulation studies showed that statistical efficiency and power both varied considerably under the different design conditions investigated. Non-coverage rates within the nominal value of 5% and negligible biases in the estimated fixed effects parameters (regression coefficients) were observed for all scenarios investigated including the (minimal) 3 cluster per arm design. However, it was discovered that, in order to achieve adequate power in low incidence disease conditions such as TB treatment initiation rates, more repeated measurement times were required to achieve adequate power of 80% with a true effect size of 20% or lower (for example, 12 measurement times were needed to achieve adequate power in this situation in a 3 cluster per arm design when the ICC was 0.00154). With an ICC of 0.081 iv at least 9 clusters were needed to achieve adequate statistical power of ≥80% with an effect size of 20% with 6 and 12 measurement time points respectively for high and low incidence disease conditions. For an effect size of 40%, at least 3 clusters per arm were needed to achieve adequate power with 4 repeated measurement times in low incidence diseases and 3 measurement times for high incidence diseases. For ICCs of 0.321 and above, no adequate statistical power was achieved with an effect size of ≤40% in both high and low disease incidence conditions. In the analysis of the TB services access data from the Triage plus study, the intervention significantly increased the number of presumptive TB cases accessing testing sites by 15.2% (p=0.003) in the first 12 months of the intervention; however, this was followed by a statistically non-significant reduction of 18.3% (p=0.224) when the intervention was rolled-out into the control clusters. Overall, the intervention was associated with a non-significant increase in TB treatment initiation rates of 18% (p=0.112). In the analysis of HIV services access rates, antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation rates increased significantly by 34.7% (p=0.048) in the intervention clusters in the first 12 months of intervention, and the ART initiation rates were similar after rolling-out the intervention to the control clusters. Overall, the intervention was associated with a 61% increase in HIV testing uptake rates (p<0.001). Conclusion: To achieve adequate statistical power and improved precision in parameter estimation in cluster randomised trials with a count outcome measure, with the ICC of 0.00154 the simulation results suggested that a minimum of 3 clusters per arm is required with at least 12 measurement times for the estimation of an effect size of 20% (or higher) in low incidence disease situations. However, for high incidence outcomes, a minimum of 3 clusters per arm with 3 or more measurement times may be adequate to achieve a statistical power of at least 80%. For an ICC of 0.081, at least 3 clusters per arm were needed to achieve adequate power if the effect size was 40% after 4 repeated measurement times in low incidence diseases and 3 measurement times for high incidence diseases. With ICCs of 0.321 and above, no adequate statistical power was achieved with an effect size of ≤40% in both high and low disease incidence conditions. For the TB and HIV interventions in the “Triage Plus” study, engaging informal health care providers was clearly effective in improving TB and HIV testing uptake as well as ART v initiation. This reinforces the need for community participation in integrated TB and HIV interventions to combat the two diseases. However, for these providers to be effective in promoting TB treatment initiation, the number of sites offering TB testing and treatment initiation in rural areas should be increased to make them more accessible to the population.

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Rowe, Michael. "Blended learning in physiotherapy education: designing and evaluating a technology-integrated approach." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2012. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_1973_1365674895.

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Background: Practice knowledge exists as a complex relationship between questions and answers in a context of meaning that is often intuitive and hidden from the novice practitioner. Physiotherapy education, which aims to develop patterns of thinking, reflection and reasoning as part of practice knowledge, is often based on didactic teaching methods that emphasise the learning of facts without highlighting the relationships between them. In order to improve health outcomes for patients, clinical educators must
consider redesigning the curriculum to take into account the changing and complex nature of physiotherapy education. There is some evidence that a blended approach to
teaching and learning may facilitate the development of graduates who are more capable of reflection, reasoning and critical thinking, and who can adapt and respond to the
complex clinical environment. The purpose of this study was to develop principles that could be used to guide the design of blended learning environments that aim to develop
capability in undergraduate physiotherapy students. Method: The study took place in a university physiotherapy department in the Western Cape in South Africa, among
undergraduate students. Design research was used as a framework to guide the study, and included a range of research methods as part of that process. The problem was
identified using a systematic review of the literature and a survey of students. The design of the blended intervention that aimed to address the problem was informed by a
narrative review of theoretical frameworks, two pilot studies that evaluated different aspects of blended learning, and a Delphi study. This process led to the development of a set
of design principles which were used to inform the blended intervention, which was implemented and evaluated during 2012. Results: The final results showed that students had undergone a transformation in how they thought about the process and practice of learning as part of physiotherapy education, demonstrating critical approaches towards
knowledge, the profession and authority. These changes were brought about by changing teaching and learning practices that were informed by the design principles in the
preliminary phases of the project. These principles emphasised the use of technology to interact, articulate understanding, build relationships, embrace complexity, encourage
creativity, stimulate reflection, acknowledge emotion, enhance flexibility and immerse students in the learning space. Discussion: While clinical education is a complex undertaking with many challenges, evidence presented in this study demonstrates that the development of clinical reasoning, critical thinking and reflection can be enhanced through the intentional use of technology as part of a blended approach to teaching and learning. The design principles offer clinical educators a framework upon which to construct learning environments where the affordances of technology can be mapped to the principles, which are based on a sound pedagogical foundation. In this way, the use of technology in the learning environment is constructed around principles that are informed by theory. However, clinical educators who are considering the integration of
innovative strategies in the curriculum should be aware that students may initially be reluctant to engage in self-directed learning activities, and that resistance from colleagues
may obstruct the process. Conclusion: The development of clinical reasoning, critical thinking and reflection in undergraduate physiotherapy students may be enhanced through
the intentional use of appropriate technology that aims to fundamentally change teaching and learning practices. Design research offers a practical approach to conducting
research in clinical education, leading to the development of principles of learning that are based on theory.
iii

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Botha, Willings. "A broader economic evaluative space for public health interventions : an integrated approach." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8488/.

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Introduction: There is an increasing need for economic evaluation of public health interventions to ensure efficient allocation of resources. Outcomes of such interventions often consists of health and non-health and do not fit in the conventional economic evaluation of quality-adjusted life year (QALY) framework. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) could be appropriate but has concerns of assigning monetary values to health outcomes. Questions remain on how to consider the broad outcomes of a public health intervention in an economic evaluation. Objective: This thesis aimed to develop an integrated approach for an economic evaluation of a public health intervention that combines the standard cost-utility analysis (CUA) for health outcomes with the stated preference discrete choice experiment (SPDCE) approach for non-health outcomes on a single monetary metric. Methods: A natural experiment of the Woods In and Around Towns (WIAT) study in Scotland was used for empirical analysis. Costs were assessed using a top-down approach based on resources used. A difference-in-differences (DiD) approach was used to establish the impact. A CUA valued the health outcomes in terms of QALYs while a previously developed conceptual model of the WIAT was used to identify the SPDCE attributes and levels for the non-health outcomes. The WIAT study questionnaire was mapped to the SPDCE which generated relative willingness to pay (WTP) values from a general Scottish population. The WTP estimates were applied to the changes or improvements in the attributes and levels resulting from the intervention. A net monetary benefit (NMB) framework was then used to combine the CUA with the SPDCE on the same monetary scale, effectively deriving a CBA. Results: The WIAT interventions were of low cost despite the base case DiD analysis showing a statistically insignificant effect for interventions. The incremental cost-effective ratios (ICERs) for the interventions revealed that they were cost-effective. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) showed that the physical intervention was 73% likely to be cost-effective at WTP of £20,000 and £30,000. The combined physical and social interventions had 74% and 75% likelihood of being cost-effective at WTP of £20,00 and £30,000, respectively. There was a great deal of uncertainty around QALY results. Overall, the integrated approach revealed that the WIAT interventions were cost-beneficial in terms of both health and non-health outcomes. Conclusion: This thesis has proposed and demonstrated the integrated approach that combines the conventional QALY framework with the SPDCE on a single monetary scale, hence a broader economic evaluative space particularly suitable for an economic evaluation of a public health intervention.

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Yeo, Gi-Tae. "Port competitiveness in North East Asia : an integrated fuzzy approach to expert evaluations." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/441.

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Despite the fact that the Northeast Asia (NEA) region, which had four of the top five and 20 of the top 30 container ports in the world in 2003, can be regarded as holding a central position in liner shipping and the handling of container cargo volumes, very little research has been done into the evaluation of its port competitiveness (EPC). For this reason, the EPC in NEA can be regarded as a problematic and urgent issue to be solved, and worthy of academic attention. From this aspect, this research set out to attempt to address the above issue by means of utilizing expert knowledge. However, the EPC contains problems of complex multipleattributes and multiple-hierarchies (CMAMH). In addition, difficulties concerning certain characteristics of evaluation such as complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity are also involved. To deal with such problems, in this research, the employment of integrated fuzzy evaluation (IFE) as a methodology was decided upon. As a result of the adaptation of the methodology, certain indications from this research to the theory and practice for container ports have emerged and are clearly identifiable. With regard to theory, this study has contributed to theoretical development significantly in four ways. First, the factors and taxonomy of port competitiveness for the container ports in NEA have been provided for the first time. Second, this is the first integrated approach for the EPC in NEA, the most competitive area in the world. Third, this research was also the first to attempt extracting critical weak points and/or influential factors affecting current port competitiveness. Finally, the adoption of IFE made it possible for the first time to uncover the interactive relationships between the competing container ports. In terms of practice, this research has also provided certain contributions of utmost importance. First of all, the study has provided a suggestion for the most recent port ranking in respect of port competitiveness. Moreover, changes in competitiveness power, which are dynamically and interactively affected by the relationship between the ports, have been successfully estimated and suggested. Thus, such changes in the competitiveness in NEA can now be easily forecasted by port actors.

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Smith, David A. "An integrated approach to evaluating the environmental impact following a radiological dispersal event." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1148312072.

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Humphrey, Sarah. "Analysis of approaches for evaluating the success of coastal management in Europe." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289194.

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The study draws on experience in coastal management globally, and in particular in Europe where the recent demonstration programme in integrated coastal zone management has promoted coastal management initiatives at the local scale, to examine the applicability of different coastal management evaluation techniques for assessing the role of coastal management as a tool for achieving sustainable development; and for determining the success of European pilot projects in coastal management; identify and assess factors which influence “successful” ICM in the European context; and determine whether international guidance relating to good practice in coastal management is relevant in the European context. An analysis of different approaches to evaluation showed that these are based on largely untested assumptions of validity - in particular of internal validity (causality) in the case of outcome based evaluation and of external validity (generalisability) in the case of process evaluations. In view of their early stage of development and differing goals but common institutional challenges, a process based evaluation is most appropriate for the demonstration project. In this study, a triangulation approach is used to test the assumption of external validity which underlies process based evaluations in ICM. Using independently derived results from the European demonstration projects, the study examines the applicability in the European context of international experience relating to good practice in co-ordination and in ensuring viability of ICM projects. The results are particularly relevant in the light of new European legislation which is designed to move coastal management in Europe from the current project-by-project approach to a more strategic approach by the promotion of a better enabling environment at national level.

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Kwan, Joseph Shiu Kwong. "Integrated care pathways for acute stroke : an evaluation of their effects using multiple approaches." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/24798.

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Methods and results: I sought to evaluate the effects of ICPs for acute stroke using four approaches: 1) Assessment of the evidence from previous studies of ICPs for non-stroke conditions: I performed a review of the recent literature and found that there were a large number of randomised and non-randomised studies of ICPs for non-stroke conditions. Positive, neutral and negative findings have been reported. 2) Assessment of the evidence from previous studies of ICPs for acute stroke: I performed a Cochrane systematic review and found three randomised trials and seven non-randomised studies. There were substantial heterogeneity between the studies and most of the evidence came from non-randomised studies. I found that ICP care may significantly improve the process of care and reduce in-hospital complications, but patient satisfaction and quality of life may be lower. 3) Undertaking of a non-randomised study of the ICP introduced for acute stroke at the Western General Hospital (WGH): I performed a before-and-after study (total of 351 patients) to assess the effects of introducing an ICP in a stroke unit. I found that, after its introduction, there were significant improvements in the quality of documentation and certain aspects of patient care, and the risk of urinary tract infection was reduced. However, there was no significant difference in death or discharge destination. I also assessed in the process of care and outcomes between stroke unit care after the introduction of the ICP and general medical ward care (total of 285 patients). The results were consistent with those of the before-and-after study. 4) Undertaking of a questionnaire survey to assess the experience of the stroke unit staff regarding the use of the ICP for acute stroke at the WGH: I found that, when the ICP was first introduced, the staff expected the ICP to improve the process and quality of care, communication and the general working environment. I repeated the survey at seven months after its introduction and found that, although certain aspects of care were felt to have improved, many of the staff’s expectations were not realised.

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Nottingham, Louis B. "Development and Evaluation of Integrated Approaches for Managing of Mexican Bean Beetle, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/74881.

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The Mexican bean beetle, Epilachna varivestis Mulsant, is a major pest of snap beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L. in the Central Appalachian region of the United States. To develop pertinent research objectives, background information on this pest was gathered from literature sources and personal communications with growers, extension agents and other agricultural professionals. In objective one, Mexican bean beetle preference, developmental success and plant injury were compared among three snap bean and three lima bean cultivars in field and greenhouse trials. The cultivar 'Dragon's Tongue' was the most preferred, suitable for development, and prone to injury. Growers may benefit from growing less susceptible cultivars, or by using 'Dragon's Tongue' in trap cropping or push-pull strategies. In objective two, Mexican bean beetle densities, feeding injury, and yield were compared among snap beans grown on metallized plastic (highly reflective), white plastic, black plastic, and bare soil. Metallized plastic provided the greatest level of control, and resulted in the highest yields. Managing Mexican bean beetle by growing beans on metallized plastic may be used as a stand-alone method, or in a push-pull strategy. In the final objective, the effects of snap beans grown from thiamethoxam (a neonicotinoid insecticide)-treated seeds on Mexican bean beetle were assessed in greenhouse and field experiments. Thiamethoxam-treated plants killed 40 to 50% of Mexican bean beetle adults and larvae up to 16 days after planting. In the field, thiamethoxam-treated plants mitigated Mexican bean beetle densities and damage in one out of five experiments, resulting in a yield increase. In none of the five field experiments were differences detected in predatory arthropod species between thiamethoxam and non-insecticide treated beans. In summary, the results of this project suggest that non-chemical management methods, such as cultivar selection and planting beans on reflective mulch, can provide effective control of Mexican bean beetle. Thiamethoxam-treated seed may also provide control of this pest, but only within two to three weeks after planting; otherwise, there is typically no effect on beetles, injury or yield. This doctoral research has laid a foundation for an integrated pest management approach for Mexican bean beetle.
Ph. D.

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Noatch, Matthew R. "An Evaluation of Chemical, Biological, and Combined Chemical-Biological Approaches for Controlling Snails in Aquaculture Ponds." OpenSIUC, 2010. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/198.

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Digenetic trematodes are a common pest problem in aquaculture where their unappetizing appearance often reduces the marketability of food fish. Aquatic snails are intermediate hosts in the trematode lifecycle and are commonly targeted with control measures to prevent the crop fish from becoming infected. I evaluated several chemical and biological snail control strategies as alternatives to the potentially invasive black carp. Copper sulfate, hydrated lime slurry, and several fish and decapod species were tested for effectiveness against physid (Physa spp.) and planorbid (Helisoma spp.) snails in laboratory aquaria trials. Hydrated lime demonstrated effectiveness with the least potential to be toxic to cultured fish in regional application. Hybrid sunfish (redear × green sunfish) consumed large quantities of both snails in ad libitum feedings. The most effective biological (redear × green sunfish) and chemical (hydrated lime) control methods identified in the laboratory were evaluated further in research ponds. Hydrated lime applications of 9.07 kg over 9.14 m2 were found to be effective against Helisoma spp. confined to enclosures along the pond shoreline; average survival was 2%. When stocked in aquaculture ponds, hybrid redear sunfish did not significantly influence snail capture rates; however ponds stocked with redear sunfish experienced a gradual decrease in snail populations throughout the 2008 growing season. Hydrated lime and a combination of redear sunfish and hybrid redear sunfish were evaluated separately and in tandem as a combined chemical/biological treatment in the 2009 growing season. Evaluation occurred under mock production conditions in which hybrid striped bass were raised in the research ponds to determine snail treatment effects on trematode abundance. Ponds stocked with sunfish at 494 fish/ha had snail densities significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower than control ponds after two months. Ponds treated with hydrated lime at 31.7 kg/31.5 m of shoreline in a 1 m swath experienced 99% estimated reductions in snail densities following application, but snail populations rebounded to previous levels within two months. The mean snail density in ponds treated with both hydrated lime and sunfish was significantly lower than control one month post treatment; this mean rebounded slightly by the conclusion of the trial, but not as much as in the chemical treatment group. Hybrid striped bass examined thoroughly for trematodes revealed a positive relationship between trematode abundance in fish and increasing Helisoma densities. This relationship was most apparent when estimates of snail density from only the beginning of the trial were used. Based on these results, it appears that a nearly complete reduction of Helisoma, particularly at the time of stocking fingerlings, is necessary to avoid a high abundance of trematodes in cultured fish. To this end, an early-season application of molluscicides followed closely by stocking of predator sunfish has potential to achieve a uniformly low density of snails throughout the growing season.

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Siciliano, Giuseppina <1976&gt. "Integrated approaches for evaluating development strategies in rural areas: case studies from Italy and China." Doctoral thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/933.

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L’obbiettivo della presente tesi e’ duplice: (i) analizzare la possibile integrazione di modelli multiscala e multicriteriali per valutare l’efficacia di politiche di sviluppo rurale nel raggiungimento di obiettivi di sostenibilita’; (ii) esplorare, tramite l’applicazione dei suddetti modelli, gli impatti economici, ambientali e sociali di specifiche strategie di sviluppo rurale in due aree di studio localizzate in Italia e Cina. L’analisi si basa sulla selezione e valutazione di indicatori multidimensionali, che fanno riferimento ai principali obiettivi delle politiche studiate. Inoltre, un’analisi multiscala e’ realizzata per definire i possibili limiti e trade-off di future politiche di sviluppo a diverse scale di analisi. L’utilizzo delle due metodologie si e’ dimostrato particolarmente efficace per la realizzazione di uno studio integrato in grado di rappresentare, tramite analisi qualitative e quantitative, l’aspetto multidimensionale delle politiche di sviluppo rurale.
The objective of this thesis is twofold: (1) to investigate the synergies arising from the implementation of multi-scale and multi-criteria approaches in the evaluation of rural development policies (RDP); (2) to explore the impacts and trade-offs of RDP in two selected case studies located in Italy and China. The thesis argues that multi-criteria and multi-scale approaches can be combined to provide a useful framework with which to structure an integrated analysis of RDP in order to assess their effectiveness in achieving sustainability goals across scales. The analysis is performed by selecting and evaluating multidimensional criteria, which represent the main goals of development policies in the areas of study. Moreover, multi-scale analysis is performed to define boundary conditions and trade-offs for future local development. The use of the two methodologies appears to be very significant to capture both the multidimensional and multi-scale aspects of the Rural Development Policies analysed and to generate several sets of “view-dependent” representations of rural systems that are useful for trade-off assessments.

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Adekola, Solomon Adeniyi. "Integrated approach to solving reservoir problems and evaluations using sequence stratigraphy, geological structures and diagenesis in Orange Basin, South Africa." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2010. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_6861_1298537140.

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Sandstone and shale samples were selected within the systems tracts for laboratory analyses. The sidewall and core samples were subjected to petrographic thin section analysis, mineralogical analyses which include x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes geochemistry to determine the diagenetic alteration at deposition and post deposition in the basin. The shale samples were subjected to Rock-Eval pyrolysis and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) prior to gas chromatographic (GC) and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analyses of the rock extracts, in order to determine the provenance, type and thermal maturity of organic matter present in sediments of the Orange Basin. The results revealed a complex diagenetic history of sandstones in this basin, which includes compaction, cementation/micritization, dissolution, silicification/overgrowth of quartz, and fracturing. The Eh-pH shows that the cements in the area of the basin under investigation were precipitated under weak acidic and slightly alkaline conditions. The &delta
18O isotope values range from -1.648 to 10.054 %, -1.574 to 13.134 %, and -2.644 to 16.180 % in the LST, TST, and HST, respectively. While &delta
13C isotope values range from -25.667 to -12.44 %, -27.862 to -6.954% and -27.407 to -19.935 % in the LST, TST, and HST, respectively. The plot of &delta
18O versus &delta
13C shows that the sediments were deposited in shallow marine temperate conditions.

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Qasim, Lara. "System reconfiguration : A Model based approach; From an ontology to the methodology bridging engineering and operations Model-Based System Reconfiguration: A Descriptive Study of Current Industrial Challenges Towards a reconfiguration framework for systems engineering integrating use phase data An overall Ontology for System Reconfiguration using Model-Based System Engineering An Ontology for System Reconfiguration: Integrated Modular Avionics IMA Case Study A model-based method for System Reconfiguration." Thesis, université Paris-Saclay, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020UPAST031.

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Les évolutions des systèmes doivent être gérées de manière à garantir l'efficacité et l'efficience du système tout au long de son cycle de vie, en particulier lorsqu'il s'agit de systèmes complexes qui nécessitent des années de développement et des dizaines d'années d'utilisation. La reconfiguration des systèmes est primordiale pour la gestion des systèmes complexes, car elle permet d'assurer la flexibilité et l'adaptabilité des systèmes en ce qui concerne leur évolution. La reconfiguration des systèmes assure l'efficacité opérationnelle et augmente les qualités des systèmes (par exemple, la fiabilité, la disponibilité, la sécurité, etc.).Cette thèse a été effectuée en partenariat avec une entreprise évoluant dans les domaines de l’aérospatial, de l’espace, du transport, de la défense et de la sécurité. Les entreprises portent un intérêt croissant sur la reconfiguration des systèmes afin de garantir leurs efficacités opérationnelles. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une approche basée sur les modèles pour soutenir la reconfiguration de système.En effectuant une étude descriptive, basée sur une étude de terrain et l’analyse de l’état de l’art, le développement d’un support lié à la reconfiguration de système a été identifié comme enjeu industriel majeur. Le défi principal consiste à identifier les données relatives à la reconfiguration des systèmes et leurs mécanismes d’intégration afin d’atteindre cet objectif.Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une ontologie, que nous avons nommé OSysRec, qui intègre les données nécessaires pour la reconfiguration et gestion des systèmes. De plus, OSysRec agrège les trois aspects indispensables à la gestion des process de la reconfiguration de système: la structure, la dynamique, et la gestion.Nous présentons également une méthode basée sur les modèles (MBSysRec) qui intègre les données de reconfiguration et fait le lien entre les phases d’ingénierie et d’opération. Cette méthode est multidisciplinaire qui implique des générations combinatoires de configurations et des décisions multicritères pour leurs évaluations et sélections. Nous avons pu démontrer sur deux cas d’étude la validité de cette méthode pour trouver des solutions performantes et pertinentes.Cette thèse est un premier étape pour la mise en œuvre d’une approche basée sur les modèles pour la reconfiguration de système permettant leur flexibilité et leur adaptabilité
System evolutions have to be managed to ensure system effectiveness and efficiency through its whole lifecycle, particularly when it comes to complex systems that take years of development and dozens of years of usage. System Reconfiguration is key in complex systems management, as it is an enabler of system flexibility and adaptability regarding system evolutions. System reconfiguration ensures operational effectiveness and increases system qualities (e.g., reliability, availability, safety, and usability).This research has been conducted in the context of a large international aerospace, space, ground transportation, defense, and security company. This research aims at supporting system reconfiguration during operations.First, we conducted a descriptive study based on a field study and a literature review to identify the industrial challenges related to system reconfiguration. The main issue lies in the development of reconfiguration support. More specifically, challenges related to data identification and integration were identified.In this thesis, we present the OSysRec ontology, which captures and formalizes the reconfiguration data. The ontology synthesizes the structure, dynamics, and management aspects necessary to support the system reconfiguration process in an overall manner.Furthermore, we present a model-based method (MBSysRec) that integrates system reconfiguration data and bridges both the engineering and the operational phases. MBSysRec is a multidisciplinary method that involves combinatorial configuration generation and a multi-criteria decision-making method for configuration evaluation and selection.This thesis is a step towards a model-based approach for system reconfiguration of evolving systems, ensuring their flexibility and adaptability

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Pachera, Paola. "Integrated experimental and numerical approach to the biomechanics of surgical meshes evaluating interaction phenomena with regard to abdominal wall repair." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3424314.

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The research activity performed is addressed to the evaluation of the interaction phenomena between surgical meshes and native biological tissues and structures, with the aim to assess the biomechanical compatibility, which represents a mandatory factor for successful adoptions in different surgical procedures. The mechanical characterization of meshes for repairs is performed by means of an integrated experimental-numerical approach, in direct correlation with the surgical techniques. Surgical grafts can origin from different sources and they can be classified as synthetic or biological, characterized by peculiar biochemical and mechanical properties and, consequently, by different biomechanical performances. Biological grafts are derived from collagen-rich tissues and can be drawn from animal (xenografts) or human (allograft) sources, the latter are usually obtained from the fascial system. For this reason, the mechanical characterization of fascial tissues is performed, evaluating the in situ functional role in the interaction with surrounding biological structures. With the purpose to interpret fascial tissues mechanical behaviour, which is characterized by anisotropy, coupled geometric and material non-linearity and time-dependent phenomena, a specific fiber reinforced visco-hyperelastic model is provided. The constitutive parameters evaluation is performed through the minimization of a cost function that defines the discrepancy between experimental data and results from the model of the tensile tests. The optimization technique, based on the Simulated Annealing optimization algorithm, leads to the definition of the set of constitutive parameters to be adopted within the constitutive formulation and implemented in the model, with the purpose to achieve a suitable description of tissue in situ mechanical behaviour. The preliminary phase of fascial tissues performances is investigated through numerical analysis of the anterior compartment of the leg. The response in this region allow for a definition of the characteristic facial tissues behaviour and is of clinical interest in the several painful syndrome, as the compartment syndrome, also offering the possibility of several references in literature. As an example of xenograft, Permacol ™ is characterized through experimental analysis and constitutive modelling. It is derived from decellularized and cross-linked porcine skin and it is a graft commonly used in abdominal wall surgery. As far as synthetic meshes is concerned, Bard® Soft mesh is studied, as a lightweight, large pore monofilament polypropylene mesh, following the above mentioned procedure. The mechanical investigation of different kinds of surgical meshes is fundamental for the definition of the numerical model of the herniated and repaired human abdominal wall. The reconstruction of the abdominal region is based on MR images integrated with data from literature. Constitutive formulations of the different biological tissues of the anatomical region are provided. The numerical model allows the analysis of different configurations, firstly considering the healthy abdomen to assess its overall mechanical behaviour in physiological conditions. Then a hernia defect is introduced in the abdominal wall, with size and position defined in accordance with clinical evidences, virtually repaired by means of different kinds of grafts (biologic and synthetic). The purpose is to evaluate the mechanical interaction between native abdominal wall tissues and structures and surgical meshes, to assess the mechanical functional response and compatibility. The analysis allows the comparison between physiological and pathological conditions and between different kinds of meshes, by means of the estimation of the stress and strain fields within biological tissues and prosthesis. Attention is paid to the interaction at tissue-implant interface, providing a useful computational tool for the evaluation of surgical strategies in dependence on prosthesis configuration. The investigation entails a relevant experimental effort, essential for the extensive numerical analysis of the anatomical district considered, providing a result evaluation by direct correlation with surgical competences.
Lo scopo della presente ricerca consiste nella valutazione dei fenomeni di interazione che si vengono a creare nell’accoppiamento di mesh chirurgiche e tessuti e strutture biologiche. La valutazione della compatibilità meccanica tra tessuti e impianto rappresenta un fattore fondamentale per il buon esito dell’intervento. In quest’ottica, risulta necessaria la caratterizzazione meccanica delle mesh chirurgiche che viene condotta attraverso un approccio numerico-sperimentale integrato, in diretta correlazione con le tecniche chirurgiche. Le mesh chirurgiche hanno differente origine e possono essere classificate come sintetiche o biologiche, caratterizzate da particolari proprietà biochimiche e meccaniche e, conseguentemente, da differenti prestazioni. Le mesh biologiche sono ricavate da tessuti ricchi di collagene e possono essere di origine animale (xenograft) o umana (allograft), queste ultime sono principalmente ottenute dal sistema fasciale. Per questo motivo i tessuti fasciali vengono caratterizzati meccanicamente, valutandone il ruolo funzionale in situ in interazione con le circostanti strutture biologiche. Uno specifico modello visco-iperelastico e fibrorinforzato viene utilizzato allo scopo di interpretare il comportamento meccanico dei tessuti biologici, caratterizzati da proprietà di anisotropia, grandi deformazioni e fenomeni dipendenti dal tempo. I parametri costitutivi vengono definiti attraverso la minimizzazione di una funzione costo che esprime la differenza tra dati sperimentali e dati numerici. La tecnica di ottimizzazione, basata sull’algoritmo di ottimizzazione del Simulated Annealing, porta all’individuazione di un set di parametri costitutivi che vengono adottati nella formulazione costitutiva, successivamente implementata nel modello numerico, allo scopo di ottenere un’adeguata descrizione del comportamento meccanico del tessuto in situ. Analisi numeriche sul compartimento anteriore della gamba vengono utilizzate per lo studio della meccanica dei tessuti fasciali di questo distretto. Il compartimento anteriore è di particolare interesse clinico a causa delle diverse patologie a carico di tale regione come, ad esempio, la sindrome compartimentale. La mesh chirurgica Permacol™ viene studiata come esempio di xenograft e caratterizzata attraverso analisi sperimentale e modellazione costitutiva. Tale mesh, comunemente utilizzata nella ricostruzione della parete addominale, è ottenuta da derma suino debitamente decellularizzato e trattato al fine di ottenere cross-links. La mesh Bard® Soft viene studiata in quanto esempio di mesh sintetica leggera in polipropilene, caratterizzata da elevata porosità. L’analisi meccanica di diversi tipi di mesh è fondamentale per la definizione del modello numerico della parete addominale erniata e virtualmente riparata. La ricostruzione della geometria della regione addominale viene effettuata attraverso immagini diagnostiche (MR) e dati di letteratura. Nel testo viene specificata la formulazione costitutiva adottata per la descrizione dei diversi tessuti componenti la regione addominale. Il modello numerico permette una prima valutazione del comportamento meccanico globale della parete addominale integra in condizioni fisiologiche. Successivamente, nel modello, viene introdotta una porta erniaria di posizione e dimensioni compatibili con le evidenze cliniche. Tale difetto viene virtualmente riparato con mesh chirurgiche caratterizzate in diverso modo (biologica e sintetica). Lo scopo consiste nella valutazione dell’interazione meccanica tra mesh chirurgiche e i tessuti biologici, considerandone la compatibilità della risposta meccanica funzionale. Le analisi numeriche permettono di valutare il comportamento della parete addominale sana con quello della parete riparata confrontando i campi di tensione e deformazione di tessuti biologici e mesh chirurgica. Il modello numerico proposto fornisce una prima valutazione degli effetti, indotti dalla presenza della protesi, sul comportamento meccanico globale della parete addominale e fornisce gli strumenti per future valutazioni utili alla pianificazione chirurgica e alla configurazione della protesi. Lo studio proposto si fonda su una forte base sperimentale, essenziale per lo svolgimento delle successive analisi numeriche.

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Lawson, Jordan L. "Strengthening Causal Inferences: Examining Instrument-Free Approaches to Addressing Endogeneity Bias in the Evaluation of an Integrated Student Support Program." Thesis, Boston College, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:108595.

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Thesis advisor: Laura M. O'Dwyer
Education researchers are frequently interested in examining the causal impact of academic services and interventions; however, it is often not feasible to randomly assign study elements to treatment conditions in the field of education (Adelson, 2013). When assignment to treatment conditions is non-random, the omission of any variables relevant to treatment selection creates a correlation between the treatment variable and the error in regression models. This is termed endogeneity (Ebbes, 2004). In the presence of endogeneity, treatment effect estimates from traditionally used regression approaches may be biased. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal impact of an integrated student support model, namely City Connects, on student academic achievement. Given that students are not randomly assigned to the City Connects intervention, endogeneity bias may be present. To address this issue, two novel and underused statistical approaches were used with school admissions lottery data, namely Gaussian copula regression developed by Park and Gupta (2012), and Latent Instrumental Variable (LIV) regression developed by Peter Ebbes (2004). The use of real-world school admissions lottery data allowed the first-ever comparison of the two proposed methods with Instrumental Variable (IV) regression under a large-scale randomized control (RCT) trial. Additionally, the researcher used simulation data to investigate both the performance and boundaries of the two proposed methods compared with that of OLS and IV regression. Simulation study findings suggest that both Gaussian copula and LIV regression are useful approaches for addressing endogeneity bias across a range of research conditions. Furthermore, simulation findings suggest that the two proposed methods have important differences in their set of identifying assumptions, and that some assumptions are more crucial than others. Results from the application of the Gaussian copula and LIV regression in the City Connects school lottery admissions study demonstrated that receiving the City Connects model of integrated student support during elementary school has a positive impact on mathematics achievement. Such findings underscore the importance of addressing out-of-school barriers to learning
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation

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Liao, Lingrui. "Novel Approaches for Some Stochastic and Deterministic Scheduling Problems." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77109.

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In this dissertation, we develop novel approaches to independently address two issues that are commonly encountered in machine scheduling problems: uncertainty of problem parameters (in particular, due to job processing times), and batching of jobs for processing on capacitated machines. Our approach to address the uncertainty issue regards the indeterminate parameters as random variables, and explicitly considers the resulting variability of a performance measure. To incorporate variability into the schedule selection process, we develop a method to evaluate both the expectation and variance of various performance measures for a given schedule. Our method is based on the use of mixture models to approximate a variety of distribution types. The Expectation-Maximization algorithm of Dempster et al. (1977) is applied to derive mixture models of processing time distributions. Our method, then, utilizes these mixture models to calculate the distributions of other random variables in order to derive the expectation and variance of various scheduling performance measures, assuming that the job sequencing decisions are known a priori. To make our method more computationally efficient, we adapt a mixture reduction method to control the number of mixture components used in the intermediate steps. We apply our method to two different scheduling problems: the job shop makespan scheduling problem and the single machine total weighted tardiness scheduling problem, and compare its performance with that of Monte-Carlo method. The results show the efficacy of our mixture approximation method. It generates fairly accurate results while requiring significantly less CPU times. The proposed method offers a good compromise between the Monte Carlo method, which requires extensive effort, and use of simple normal approximation, which produces lower-quality results. Next, we introduce and demonstrate for the first time in the literature the use of conditional-value-at-risk (CVaR) as a criterion for stochastic scheduling problems in order to obtain risk-averse solutions. This criterion has the tendency of minimizing both the expectation and variance of a performance measure simultaneously, which is an attractive feature in the scheduling area as most of the literature in this area considers the expectation and variance of a performance measure separately. Also, the CVaR has an added advantage of maintaining a linear objective function. We develop a scenario-based mixed integer programming formulation to minimize CVaR for the general scheduling problem involving various performance measures, and employ a decomposition-based approach for its solution. Furthermore, a set of valid inequalities are incorporated to strengthen the relaxed master problem of this decomposition scheme. The proposed approach is demonstrated on the single machine total weighted tardiness scheduling problem. Our computational investigation reveals the efficacy of the proposed decomposition approach and the effectiveness of using the CVaR as an optimization criterion for scheduling problems. Besides providing an exact approach to solve our stochastic scheduling problem, we also develop an efficient heuristic method to enable the use of CVaR for large-sized problems. To that end, we modify the Dynasearch method of Grosso et al. (2004) to minimize CVaR for a stochastic scheduling problem. Furthermore, we extend the application of CVaR to a parallel-machine total weighted tardiness problem. The use of CVaR appears to be quite promising for simultaneously controlling both the expected value and variability of a performance measure in a stochastic scheduling environment. Scenario-based formulations have frequently been used for stochastic scheduling problems. However, the determination of a lower bound can be a time-consuming task for this approach. Next, we develop a new method for scenario generation that is computationally competitive and that assures attainment of an exact lower bound. Our approach is based on discretization of random parameter distributions of job processing times. We use the idea of Recursive Stratified Sampling to partition the probability space, so that the conditional expectations in each region yield scenario-wise parameter values. These scenarios are, then, used to formulate a two-stage stochastic program, which yields a lower bound for the original stochastic problem. We provide theoretical basis of our bounding approach for both the expectation and CVaR objectives. Our discrete bounding method generates exact lower bounds, as against the probabilistic bounds generated by Sample Average Approximation. We also present results of our numerical experimentation to compare the performances of these two approaches in terms of the bound value obtained and the CPU time required. The problem pertaining to integrated batching and scheduling of jobs on capacitated parallel machines that we consider arises in the primary manufacturing sector of a pharmaceutical supply chain. We, first, develop a comprehensive mathematical programming model that can accommodate various realistic features of this problem. These features include batch production, sequence-dependent setup time/cost, and inter-period carryover of setup status. We further derive several valid inequalities that are based on the embedded subproblem structure. We also consider an alternative formulation (termed the Plant Location model) based on the lot-sizing perspective of the problem. Noting the resemblance of the campaign sequencing subproblem to the high multiplicity asymmetric traveling salesman problem (HMATSP), we adapt various ideas from the HMATSP to enforce the connectivity of the sequencing graph. Due to the complexity of this problem, we also explore the possibility of applying column generation technique for its solution. Various schemes of problem decomposition are considered, along with the use of dual stabilization technique to improve the convergence of the column generation procedure. We also develop heuristic methods to generate initial feasible solutions that further enhance the performance of the column generation method. A computational experimentation has been conducted on a data set that mimics real-life problem instances. It illustrates the effectiveness of using the proposed column generation method.
Ph. D.

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Rönnbäck, Samuel. "Promoting sustainability by spreading the Integrated Profit and Loss (IP&L™) framework : A multiple case study approach in the forest- and water industry." Thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik och samhälle, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-74323.

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The integrated profit and loss (IP&L™) model is a model that provides a holistic performance evaluation of the organisation. The purpose of this study has been to explore how IP&L™ can be used in a wider setting and contribute towards more sustainable practices for an industry. The aim has therefore been to investigate advantages of having a widespread usage of the IP&L™ method, and to find out how the method can be spread to more companies. Based on this, the following three research questions was developed: What are the advantages of IP&L™ within an industry? What are the key factors in order to spread IP&L™ to other companies? What are the prerequisites for collaboration around IP&L™? The study has had a deductive and qualitative approach, investigating two different case companies. One company within the Australian water industry, and one within the Swedish forest industry. Data was collected through interviews with representatives from three different perspectives of working with IP&L™ within each company; the strategic perspective of sustainable development, the perspective of integrated reporting, and the market and customer perspective. It has been found that the main advantages of IP&L™ within an industry is that it develops consensus and new norms, enhances the external communication, and improves industry reputation. In order to spread IP&L™ to other companies, the study show that collaboration is an important factor, and to establish fruitful collaboration around IP&L™, it is important with leadership and dialogue. This study contributes to theory by providing knowledge around the specific IP&L™ model. It further has a practical contribution in the sense that it provides deeper knowledge around the IP&L™ and its usefulness, and can serve as a foundation for organisations in further developing how they use IP&L™.

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Kalantar, Katrina. "Combined Host and Microbial Metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing| Applying Integrated Analysis Approaches for a Comprehensive Evaluation of Infectious Disease Response to Inform Diagnosis, Surveillance, and Treatment." Thesis, University of California, San Francisco, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13428465.

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Infectious diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite significant advancement in our understanding of infectious disease biology, existing microbiologic diagnostic tests often fail to identify etiologic pathogens in cases of suspected infection. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) offers the potential for a universal pathogen detection method, but analysis and interpretation of findings are challenging. This is especially true for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) where mNGS data interpretation is complicated by the existence of a respiratory microbiome composed of pathobionts present in both health and disease.

To address the need for improved LRTI diagnostics, we first compared two fluid types commonly used for diagnosis of LRTI, showing that despite moderate microbiome differences, both mini-bronchioalveolar lavage (mBAL) and tracheal aspirate (TA) samples are suitable for identification of pathogens in the context of an infection. Then, we evaluated the utility of mNGS as a diagnostic for LRTI in a cohort of 92 TA samples from adults with acute respiratory failure. We developed methods for sifting putative pathogens from commensal microbiota as well as pathogen, microbiome diversity, and host gene expression metrics to identify LRTI-positive patients and differentiate them from critically ill controls with noninfectious acute respiratory illnesses. We applied the models developed for evaluation of LRTI status to several other cohorts and disease contexts to show their broad applicability.

The low sensitivity of existing clinical diagnostics results in an imperfect gold standard, complicating the development of mNGS-based biomarkers. We explored the impact of label noise on host gene expression classifiers and methods for circumventing the issue. First, we tested whether label-noise robust logistic regression approaches could improve classifier performance by enabling the use of a larger training set. Then, we tested whether variational autoencoders, an unsupervised dimensionality reduction approach, could generate novel insight from combined host and microbial mNGS data. Altogether, this work suggests that a single streamlined protocol offering an integrated genomic portrait of pathogen, microbiome, and host transcriptome may hold promise as a tool for diagnosis of infections and contextualization of patient response.

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Marins, Crounel. "A utilização da abordagem holística em administração: um estudo interpretativo das práticas gerenciais das empresas integrantes da Bolsa de Valores, mercadorias e futuros de São Paulo - BM&FBovespa - Brasil." Universidade de São Paulo, 2015. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-29062015-142952/.

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Esta tese teve como objetivos identificar indícios de uma abordagem holística nas práticas gerenciais das empresas, contribuir para a construção de um modelo com características holísticas para orientar o delineamento de práticas gerenciais, e classificar as empresas pesquisadas quanto ao estágio de institucionalização da utilização de elementos da abordagem holística em suas práticas. O holismo, já conhecido na Antiguidade, teve um significado moderno dado pelo pensador e estadista sul-africano J. C. Smuts, através da obra Holism and Evolution, de 1926. Para ele, holismo é um fator que orienta a evolução de todo o Universo, com a formação de estruturas que só podem ser devidamente tratadas como totalidades, numa sequência que começa com a matéria e a vida, passando pela personalidade humana, até chegar às organizações supra-individuais e aos sistemas de valores humanos. Epistemologicamente, o holismo é contraposto ao reducionismo, quer seja nas Ciências Naturais (atomismo), quanto nas Ciências Sociais (individualismo). Após Smuts, vários autores trataram do holismo, com diferentes propósitos, entre eles Quine (1951), Weil (1991), Esfeld (2001) e Descombes (2014). Em relação à Administração, Savory (1999), aborda o holismo com foco na questão ambiental. No Brasil, Almada et al (2004), Aligleri et al (2008), Cunha e Corrêa (2010), entre outros, com focos em atividades administrativas diversas, fizeram considerações que remetem à visão holística por parte da gestão, que consiste em enxergar totalidades, dentre as quais a própria empresa é uma delas, bem como as conexões que ligam estas totalidades. A pesquisa, qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva, utilizou a abordagem interpretativista, pela qual o pesquisador busca compreender uma realidade, que possui aspectos objetivos e subjetivos. As 20 empresas pesquisadas foram retiradas de amostra aleatória entre as empresas pertencentes do Novo Mercado da BM&FBovespa, que possuem requisitos mais rígidos quanto às práticas de Governança Corporativa. Os dados foram retirados dos relatórios anuais de atuação e de outros documentos disponibilizados nos sites das empresas, sendo constituídos por informações gerais, mais as práticas gerenciais orientadas para a sustentabilidade e a responsabilidade social corporativa. A Teoria da Institucionalização forneceu critérios para classificar as empresas nos vários estágios de institucionalização do uso de elementos da abordagem holísticas em suas práticas. Para esta classificação, foi necessário construir um primeiro modelo, ou protótipo, para avaliação holística, visto não ser encontrado, nas teorias analisadas, modelo que pudesse ser utilizado. Este protótipo, o primeiro resultado da pesquisa, foi elaborado contrastando princípios holísticos, deduzidos da obra de Smuts, com a Teoria dos Sistemas, Teoria da Complexidade e Cibernética, mais a Teoria dos Stakeholders. Feitas as análises das práticas e as considerações finais para as empresas, observou-se uma alocação com grande homogeneidade pelos estágios citados, permitindo que se coloque como hipótese a ser testada em futuros estudos, que as empresas apresentam, no seu conjunto, uma trajetória de evolução no que concerne à visão holística de suas atividades e atuações na sociedade. Também foram observados mecanismos de evolução diferenciados e fatores limitantes para esta evolução. Finalmente, foi possível apresentar, através de deduções baseadas nos dados e nas teorias, também como hipótese a ser testada, que as empresas podem alcançar ganhos em diversas dimensões, ao utilizar uma abordagem holística nas suas práticas. Este estudo ajuda a cobrir uma lacuna importante das teorias administrativas modernas, qual seja, lidar com um mundo complexo, com ferramentais racionais, sem destruir o que caracteriza esta complexidade, a natureza holística da realidade.
This thesis aimed to identify evidence of a holistic approach in the managerial practices of companies, contribute to the construction of a model with holistic characteristics to guide the design of managerial practices, and classify companies in regards to the the institutionalization stage of the use of elements of holistic approach in their practices. Holism has ancient roots, but its modern meaning was defined by South African thinker and statesman J.C. Smuts, in his book Holism and Evolution, published in 1926. Smuts considers holism as a factor that guides the evolution of the entire universe, with the formation of structures that can only be properly treated as wholes , in a sequence which starts with matter and life, continues through human personality, and finally reaches supra-individual organizations and human value systems. In epistemological terms, holism opposes reductionism, be it in Natural Sciences (atomism), and in Social Sciences (individualism). After Smuts, several authors explored holism, such as Quine (1951), Weil (1991), Esfeld (2001) and Descombes (2014). In regards to Administration, Savory (1999) approaches holism with particular focus on environmental issues. In Brazil, Almada et al (2004), Aligleri et al (2008), Cunha e Corrêa (2010), among others, with focus in different administrative activities, have made allusions which explore holistic approaches in management, such as viewing the companies as totalities, as well as the connections between those totalities. This qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research utilized an interpretative approach, which helped the researcher understand a reality which contains objective as well as subjective aspects. Twenty companies were researched, chosen randomly among companies within the Novo Mercado segment of the BM&F Bovespa (São Paulo Stock Exchange), which has strict corporate rules. Data was collected in the companies\' annual reports and other documents available in the companies\' websites. Information collected was not restricted to general data about the companies, but also included managerial practices, sustainability and corporate and social responsibility. The Theory of Institutionalization provided criteria to classify companies, in various stages of institutionalization, in regards to the use of holistic approach in their practices. In order to obtain this classification, it was necessary to build a model, or prototype for holistic evaluation, as no such model had been found in previous studies. This prototype, the first result of the research, was built through comparisons between holistic principles, taken from the work of Smuts, with the Theory of Systems, the Theory of Cybernetics and Complexity, and the Theory of Stakeholders. After careful analysis of the companies\' practices, the research suggests that future studies should include an evaluation of the companies\' holistic approach of their activities and social endeavors. Also observed were different evolution mechanisms and factors that could limit this evolution. Finally, it was possible to present, based on deductions on data and theories, a hypothesis to be tested that companies can benefit by utilizing holistic approach in their practices. This study fills an important void in modern business theories, helping companies deal with a complex world using rational tools, which do not harm the complexity of the holistic nature of reality.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Integrated evaluation approach'

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