This research study is qualitative exploratory in nature, trying to gain insight into integrated communication at Eskom. The study presents the methodology of the investigation, the analysis of the data, the findings as well as the conclusion and recommendations. Data collection techniques include an online self-administered questionnaire, structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and content analysis of the organisations’ publications. The population selected consists of Eskom communication managers and professionals, human resources personnel and project managers to establish the extent to which integrated communication is practised within Eskom. Finally, the research findings are discussed and further recommendations proposed. The findings show that Eskom communication is predominantly top-down with the divisions still working in silos. Furthermore, a measuring instrument developed to evaluate the extent of integrated communication as proposed by Du Plessis and Scoonraad in Barker and Angelopulo (2006) were found to be applicable to the Eskom situation. / Communication Science / M.A. (Specialisation in Organisational Communication Research and Practice)

Innovation is one of the most important factors behind today´s global economic growth and prosperity. In the current economic climate, increasing global competition and rapidly changing environment, an organisations ability to innovate is regarded as a key factor for success. It is widely accepted that creating new processes, products and procedures are vital for productivity and growth in all sectors. The literature on innovation measurements areas and utilities is voluminous and diverse. Assessing and measuring the complex conditions that influence a firm’s innovation capability is a challenging task, due to the inconsistency, inaccessibility, and complexity of measures. An integrative and holistic innovation capability assessment framework should include all aspects of innovation. This study attempt to address this gap, the lack of a holistic innovation capability assessment framework (HICAF) in project-based firms, by (a) reviewing the literature on innovation, innovation assessment, and measurement areas (b) through a qualitative case study exploring the factors promoting innovation in project-based firms (c) integrating the findings into a holistic assessment framework (d) generating items, in form of a statement, to address the underlying construct of each identified factor (e) applying the proposed framework within an organisation and statistically validating the instrument to achieve item homogeneity. Internal consistency reliability estimates have been utilized to produce a final framework consisting of 57 statistically validated items and eight theoretically grounded categories with 19 corresponding factors promoting innovation, also called enablers, in technology-orientated project-based organisations. In addition to the identified literature findings, the case study resulted in two new enablers, time management, and quality, which are not necessarily specific for project-based organisations, rather specific for the observed organisation. The performed case study is insufficient for determining whether there are any specific enablers for project-based organisations. The advantages of HICAF lies in its simplicity due to practical applicability in a large scale and facilitates managers to diagnose the organisation and recognize true symptoms to then apply appropriate treatment and remedies. A frequent application of HICAF can also help to study the effect of specific treatment and remedies in relation to innovation capability.

<p>The risk assessment process and the subsequent risk management measures need tobe constantly evaluated, updated and improved. This thesis contributes to that workby considering, and suggesting improvements, regarding aspects like userfriendliness,transparency, accuracy, consistency, data reporting, data selection anddata evaluation.The first paper in this thesis reports from an empirical investigation of themotivations, intentions and expectations underlying the development andimplementation of a voluntary industry owned environmental classification systemfor pharmaceuticals. The results show that the purpose of the classification systemis to provide information, no other risk reduction measures are aimed for.The second paper reports from an evaluation of the accuracy and the consistency ofthe environmental risk assessments conducted within the classification system. Theresults show that the guideline recommendations were not followed in several casesand consequently alternative risk ratios could be determined for six of the 36pharmaceutical substances selected for evaluation in this study. When additionaldata from the open scientific literature was included the risk ratio was altered formore than one-third of the risk assessments. Seven of the 36 substances wereassessed and classified by more than one risk assessor. In two of the seven cases,different producers classified the same substance into different classificationcategories.The third paper addresses the question whether non-standard ecotoxicity data couldbe used systematically in environmental risk assessments of pharmaceuticals. Fourdifferent evaluation methods were used to evaluate nine non-standard studies. Theevaluation result from the different methods varied at surprisingly high rate and theevaluation of the non-standard data concluded that the reliability of the data wasgenerally low.</p> / QC 20100929

<p><strong><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if and how the presence of Fairtrade promotion can change the attitude towards the stores, ICA and Lidl. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Background: People‟s attitude towards the brand Fairtrade is predominantly positive and by providing these socially beneficial products, stores wish to strengthen their brand image by communicating their social responsibility through the message of Fairtrade. Previous research has shown that the socially responsible actions of a company can result in an enhanced brand attitude, but also in some cases, the actions taken have had a diminished effect on the attitude towards a brand. It is therefore of interest to research which stores that can gain from Fairtrade promotions in terms of an improved attitude towards the brand. </strong></p><p><strong><strong>Method: To answer the purpose, a mixed method sequential explanatory design was applied, by collecting quantitative data from an experiment, and qualitative data from a follow-up interview. The emphasis was put on the quantitative phase, where four different experimental groups were manipulated with different internet advertisement; ICA and Lidl, with the presence and absence of Fairtrade promotion. </strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong><strong>Conclusion: The outcome of the study signified that the attitude towards Lidl was somewhat negative with the absence of Fairtrade and declined with the presence of Fairtrade promotion while the attitude towards ICA did not change regardless of promotion. The results indicate that Fairtrade can not be successfully used as a system of changing brand attitude of a store, if customers do not consider it to be congruent with the initial brand image. It is supported that consistency is the key to success for a brand to be believable and enhance the brand attitude. </strong></strong></strong></p></strong></p>

This research study is qualitative exploratory in nature, trying to gain insight into integrated communication at Eskom. The study presents the methodology of the investigation, the analysis of the data, the findings as well as the conclusion and recommendations. Data collection techniques include an online self-administered questionnaire, structured questionnaire, focus group discussions and content analysis of the organisations’ publications. The population selected consists of Eskom communication managers and professionals, human resources personnel and project managers to establish the extent to which integrated communication is practised within Eskom. Finally, the research findings are discussed and further recommendations proposed. The findings show that Eskom communication is predominantly top-down with the divisions still working in silos. Furthermore, a measuring instrument developed to evaluate the extent of integrated communication as proposed by Du Plessis and Scoonraad in Barker and Angelopulo (2006) were found to be applicable to the Eskom situation. / Communication Science / M.A. (Specialisation in Organisational Communication Research and Practice)

Title: Internal consistency of assessment set of clinical features of patients with multiple sclerosis and its correlation with the degree of neurological impairment. Objectives: The aim of this work is to verify the internal consistency of Assessment set of clinical features in patients with multiple sclerosis and its correlation with the degree of neurological disability that would comprehensively and objectively judged effect of physiotherapy in patients with MS. Method: Clinical Examination set of functions includes well-known, standard and validated assessments that evaluate the function associated with the central movement disorders focusing on the clinical manifestations of RS (Low-Contrast Letter Acuity Test contrasting vision, Motricity Index assesses muscle strength, spasticity Modified Ashworth Scale, Berg balance Scale equilibrium, Nine Hole Peg Test investigate fine motor skills, Timed 25 - Foot Walk assess walking speed over a distance of 7.5 m, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test investigates cognitive function, and auditory information processing speed, simple computational skills and ability to concentrate after the duration of the test. Belong to this set as evaluation of righting, equilibrium and protective reactions, examination dysdiadochokinesia, ataxia, and test evaluation...

Les granulats naturels alluvionnaires sont utilisés actuellement à hauteur de 70 à 80% en volume dans la composition d'un béton et représentent désormais une ressource non renouvelable dont l'accessibilité diminue. Les formulations actuelles de béton visent à augmenter la part de granulats de roche massive concassés. Ces matériaux, de par leur histoire de fabrication, n'ont pas du tout la même morphologie. La substitution des granulats roulés par des granulats concassés affecte considérablement la mise en œuvre du matériau. Dans un premier temps, nous étudions spécifiquement l'influence de la morphologie des granulats sur les propriétés d'empilement des grains. Nous montrons que, le facteur d'aspect des grains affecte fortement la compacité dense et lâche aléatoire. À l'inverse, pour des grains de facteur d'aspect identique, l'impact de la convexité sur la mesure de la compacité dense est faible. Nous étendons, dans un deuxième temps, notre étude au comportement rhéologique de nos systèmes composés d'émulsion inverse et de sables monodisperses. Pour cela, nous construisons des courbes d'écoulement à l'échelle locale grâce à un imageur à résonance magnétique. Nous montrons que cette méthode est, de nos jours, la plus précise pour des mesures de viscosités, car elle prend en compte la migration et la localisation du matériau durant l'écoulement. Nous montrons également que le facteur d'aspect contrôle tout d'un point de vue rhéologique dans le régime où il n'y a pas de réseau percolé de contacts entre grains / Natural alluvial aggregates compose up to 70 at 80% of the volume of today's concrete and now represent for a non-renewable resource whose accessibility is reduced. Actually, concrete mix designs tend to increase the share of aggregate crushed rock mass. These materials have a very different morphology because of their manufacturing process. The substitution of rolled aggregates by crushed aggregates affects the concrete workability. At first, we study specifically the influence of the morphology of the aggregates on the packing properties. We show that the aspect ratio strongly affects the dense and random loose packing. However, for particles of the same aspect ratio, the impact of the convexity of the measure of dense packing is low. In a second step, we go further in our study by measuring the rheological behavior of our systems composed of inverse emulsion and monodisperse sands. To that purpose, we construct flow curves at the local scale thanks to a magnetic resonance imager. We show that this method is, nowadays, the most accurate for viscosity measurements because it takes into account the migration and location of the material during flow. We also show that the aspect ratio control everything of a rheological point of view in the regime where there is no percolated network of contacts between particles

Ce travail traite des méthodes de calcul numérique pour les simulations hydrodynamiques appliquées principalement sur des produits développés par ANDRITZ HYDRO. Il s’agit ici de mettre en place des schémas d’ordre élevé pour des simulations CFD en utilisant le code de calcul ASPHODEL développé et utilisé par ANDRITZ HYDRO. Les principales motivations sont l’augmentation de la fiabilité des résultats de calculs numériques avec un coût de calcul raisonnable. Cette fiabilité s’exprime à travers l’augmentation de la précision et de la robustesse des schémas numériques. Le code de calcul ASPHODEL est basé sur la méthode sans maillage SPH-ALE. Mélange entre les volumes finis et la méthode SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics), la méthode SPH-ALE emploie un ensemble de points appelés particules servant à la discrétisation du domaine fluide. Elle permet en particulier de par son caractère sans maillage, un suivi des surfaces libres sans effort de calcul supplémentaire. Cet aspect est véritablement attrayant pour bon nombre d’applications industrielles notamment la simulation des écoulements à surface libre se produisant dans une turbine Pelton, mais également le remplissage d’une turbine Francis. Cependant, le bémol à cette méthode est son manque de précision spatiale. En effet les points de calcul étant mobiles, les opérateurs spatiaux doivent être en mesure de conserver leur précision et leur robustesse au cours du temps. La qualité des résultats en est du coup impactée, en particulier le champ de pression souvent excessivement bruité. La montée en ordre et l’amélioration de la consistance des opérateurs pour un vaste panel de configurations géométriques sont donc les enjeux de ce travail. En utilisant des outils inspirés par les volumes finis non-structurés, il est possible d’améliorer les opérateurs spatiaux. En effet, la montée en ordre ou p-raffinement peut notamment se faire avec des reconstructions d’ordres élevés pour évaluer les états aux interfaces des problèmes de Riemann. La sommation des flux numériques résolus par un solveur de Riemann est ensuite retravaillée pour obtenir un schéma numérique d’ordre global cohérent. Le même soucis de cohérence avec les schémas en temps doit d’ailleurs être pensé. Le gain de précision apporté par les schémas numériques d’ordre élevé est comparé avec un raffinement spatial, c’est à dire une augmentation du nombre des particules de taille plus petite, aussi appelé h-raffinement. La méthode SPH-ALE améliorée est ensuite testée sur des cas représentatifs des applications visées. En conclusion, les développements effectués dans cette étude ont été guidés par l’application en turbine Pelton principalement mais il va de soi qu’ils sont applicables à des écoulements sans surface libre dans les turbines Francis par exemple. Ce travail montre les possibilités d’une méthode sans maillage pour des cas d’écoulements complexes autour de géométrie tournantes. / This work deals with numerical methods for hydrodynamic testing applied mainly on products developed by ANDRITZ HYDRO. This is to put in place high order schemes for CFD simulations using the ASPHODEL calculation code developed and used by ANDRITZ HYDRO. The main reasons are the increased reliability of the results of numerical calculations with a reasonable computational cost. This reliability is expressed through increasing the accuracy and robustness of numerical schemes. The ASPHODEL computer code is based on the meshfree method SPH-ALE. Mix between finite volume method and SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics), the SPH-ALE method uses a set of points called particles serving as the fluid domain discretization. It allows track free surfaces without additional computational effort. This is truly attractive for many industrial applications including the simulation of free surface flows occurring in a Pelton turbine, but also filling a Francis turbine. However, the downside of this method is its lack of spatial accuracy. Indeed calculation points are mobile, space operators must be able to keep their accuracy and robustness over time. The quality of results is impacted especially the pressure field is often excessively noisy. The rise in order and improving the consistency of the operators for a wide range of geometric configurations are the challenges of this work. Using tools inspired by the unstructured finite volume, it is possible to improve the spatial operators. Indeed, the increasing order or p-refinement particular can be done with reconstructions of high order to assess the conditions at the interfaces of Riemann problems. The summation of discret fluxes solved by Riemann solver is then reworked to obtain a coherent global order scheme. The same concern for consistency with temporal schemes should also be considered. The precision gain provided by numerical schemes of higher orders is compared with a spatial refinement ie an increase in the number of smaller particles ; also called h -refinement . Improved SPH -ALE method is then tested on representative cases of intended applications. In conclusion, the developments made in this study were guided in accordance mainly with the Pelton turbine but it goes without saying that they are applicable to non- free surface flows in Francis turbines for example. This work shows the possibilities of a free mesh method for cases of complex flow around rotating geometry.

Mit der vorliegenden Dissertation wollen wir einen Beitrag zur Theorie der konvexen Risikomaße und ihrer Dynamik leisten. Im Kapitel 1 beschäftigen wir uns zunächst mit unbedingten konvexen Risikomaßen. Wir erläutern die Eigenschaften dieser Funktionale und geben einen Überblick über die Möglichkeiten ihrer Darstellung. Anschließend diskutieren wir das Problem ihrer Fortsetzbarkeit. Im Kapitel 2 erklären wir, wie sich die Darstellungssätze auf bedingte konvexe Risikomaße übertragen lassen, und untersuchen, unter welchen Voraussetzungen eine reguläre bedingte Darstellung existiert. Auf polnischen Räumen beweisen wir die Existenz auf den Klassen der halbstetigen Funktionen. Für das bedingte Average Value at Risk zeigen wir, dass durch eine zugehörige Familie von unbedingten AVaR-Risikomaßen eine reguläre bedingte Darstellung sogar auf der Klasse aller beschränkten Auszahlungsprofile gegeben ist. Im Kapitel 3 untersuchen wir die intertemporale Struktur von dynamischen konvexen Risikomaßen. Zunächst analysieren wir verschiedene Formen der Akzeptanz- und Ablehnungskonsistenz, welche einem zeitlich rückwärts gerichteten Ansatz der Risikobewertung entsprechen und in der Regel zur Konstruktion von dynamischen konvexen Risikomaßen zu einer vorgegebenen Filtration verwendet werden. Als Alternative formulieren wir einen vorwärts gerichteten Ansatz, bei dem jedes bedingte konvexe Risikomaß als eine Konsequenz aus der vorherigen Risikobewertung und der eingehenden Information konstruiert wird. Dann diskutieren wir Aktualisierungsvorschriften für konvexe Risikomaße. Wir überprüfen, inwieweit die vorgestellten Bedingungen der zeitlichen Konsistenz in ihrer starken und schwachen Form oder die Bedingung der Konsequenz als Aktualisierungskriterium geeignet sind. In diesem Zusammenhang diskutieren wir abschließend auch das Problem der Unsicherheitsreduzierung nach dem Erhalt von Zusatzinformation. / This thesis is a contribution to the theory convex risk measures and their dynamics. In chapter 1 we consider unconditional convex risk measures. At first, we explain the properties of these functionals and present different possibilities of their representation. Then we discuss the extension problem for convex risk measures. In chapter 2 we study conditional convex risk measures and their representations. We also analyze under which conditions these functionals admit a regular conditional representation. On polish spaces we prove existence on the classes of semicontinuous functions. For the conditional Average Value at Risk, we show that a regular conditional representation is given by a corresponding family of unconditional AVaR risk measures on the class of all bounded payoff functions. In Chapter 3 we investigate the intertemporal structure of dynamic convex risk measures. We begin by considering different conditions of acceptance and rejection consistency which correspond to a backward approach of dynamic risk evaluation and which are used for the construction of dynamic convex risk measures with respect to some given filtration. We also introduce an alternative forward approach where each conditional convex risk measure is constructed as a consequence of the initial risk evaluation and the incoming information. Then we discuss update rules for convex risk measures. We analyze whether the conditions of strong and weak consistency and the condition of consecutivity are appropriate update criteria. In this context, we finally discuss how uncertainty may be reduced after receiving some additional information.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-12-04T11:49:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Carneiro Maia.pdf: 694956 bytes, checksum: 04bdb7eced269ebf6fdf0993140fdd48 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-04T11:49:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paulo Carneiro Maia.pdf: 694956 bytes, checksum: 04bdb7eced269ebf6fdf0993140fdd48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-10-18 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The following work revolves around the notion of Body Without Organs as it appears in Artaud and is taken up by Deleuze, Guattari and Uno. Going through different plans proposed by these authors (language, multiplicity, desire, body, theater, genesis, etc.), appears its transversal dimension and the conceptual variation that is its own. In the end, a scenic experimentation gives one of the possible implications in the field of theater / O trabalho a seguir gira em torno da noção de Corpo Sem Órgãos tal como aparece em Artaud e é retomada por Deleuze, Guattari e Uno. Ao percorrer distintos planos propostos por esses autores (linguagem, multiplicidade, desejo, corpo, teatro, gênese, etc.), aparece sua dimensão transversal e a variação conceitual que lhe é própria. Ao final, uma experimentação cênica dá a ver uma das implicações possíveis no campo do teatro