Malfunctioning landfills are a globally sprawled problem. The Olusosun landfill in Lagos, Nigeria is not an exception. It is located in the middle of the city, nearby groundwater resources used to supply drinking water for the inhabitants in Lagos. When solid waste is thrown in a landfill with an inappropriate management, the groundwater may be contaminated by precipitation and surface runoff percolating the solid waste.  This report identifies if the groundwater fulfills both the Nigerian Standards for Clean Drinking Water and the World Health Organization’s International Water Quality Standards. This report also analyzes if precipitation and temperature affects groundwater quality, which later on becomes the inhabitants drinking water. The study focuses on the following water quality parameters: pH, hardness, total dissolved solids, conductivity, sodium, chlorine, sulphate, phosphate, nitrate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, lead, nickel and chromium.  Groundwater quality was assessed in 17 different sampling sites, including wells and boreholes, with samples collected once a month during the year of 2020. Further on, a spatial analysis and temporal analysis were made. The temporal analysis for precipitation and temperature in Lagos is analyzed together with the parameters to ascertain if some parameters depend on these two factors. The tables and diagrams in the results were analyzed by visually studying the data to find correlations between the parameters and temperature respectively precipitation. Lastly, a literature study was made to support the found correlations.  The overall groundwater in the vicinity to the Olusosun landfill does not achieve the standards for either the World Health Organization or Nigeria’s Standards for Drinking Water Quality. The results indicate that the Drinking Water Quality Standards for both Nigeria and the World Health Organization lack limits for some parameters. Not all the water quality parameters investigated have an established quality standard for drinking water use. However, none of the sites exceed the guideline values for the parameters for sulphate, conductivity, nitrate, sodium and copper.  The result presents that the locations with the lowest number of fulfilled parameters, and evidently with the least qualified drinking water, were locations 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. The majority of these locations are situated close to the landfill. The results also presented that the locations with the best water quality standards were locations 9 and 11, which are also the locations situated the furthest from the landfill. The result for the temporal analysis reveals that the temperature has a correlation to all the parameters except for calcium and that all the parameters have a correlation to all the parameters analysed.  The Olusosun landfill affects the groundwater quality negatively. The locations close to the landfill have the poorest water quality and vice versa. It is necessary to improve the water quality to secure the health of the people consuming it in Lagos, Nigeria. To do so, the landfill management must amend the current management directions. The focus should be on a remediation of the Olusosun landfill. Methods that can be used are solid washing, phytoremediation top-soil placement and establishing world leading practices in the area. / Dåligt fungerade deponier är ett globalt problem och deponin Olusosun i Lagos Nigeria är inget undantag. Deponin ligger i staden och nära grundvattenkällor som nyttjas som dricksvatten. När fast avfall placeras på en deponi med otillräcklig ledning kan grundvattnet bli förorenat av nederbörd och ytavrinning. Denna rapport identifierar om grundvattnet vid deponin Olusosun uppfyller Nigeria och WHOs dricksvattenstandarder. Rapporten studerar även om nederbörd och temperatur påverkar kvaliteten på vattnet i området.  Grundvattenkvaliteten undersöktes på 17 olika platser som bestod av brunnar och borrhål. Proverna togs en gång i månaden under år 2020. Sedan gjordes en rumslig och tidslig analys av proverna. Den rumsliga analysen undersökte huruvida vattenkvaliteten påverkas av avståndet till deponin och den tidsliga analysen undersökte om nederbörd och temperatur påverkar förändringarna av parametrarna över tid. För att bekräfta hittade samband i resultatet gjordes en litteraturstudie där bland annat litteratur från tidigare studier användes.  Ingen av platserna som proverna togs från uppfyller alla standarder från varken Nigeria eller WHO. Platserna som överskred flest vattenkvalitetstandarder var plats 3, 12, 14, 16 and 17. De platser som överskred minst antal parametrar av vattenkvalitetstandarder var plats 9 och 11. En koppling mellan avståndet till deponin och vattenkvaliteten kunde göras. Resultatet från den tidsliga analysen visar att alla parametrar utom kalcium påverkas av temperaturen och alla parametrar påverkas av mängden nederbörd.  Deponin Olusosun påverkar kvaliteten på grundvatten negativt och det är nödvändigt att förbättra vattenkvaliteten för att försäkra hälsan för invånarna i Lagos som konsumerar vattnet. För att göra det måste förvaltningen förbättras. Fokus borde ligga på att sanera deponin. Metoder som kan användas för detta är solid wasing och phytoremediation.

[EN] The primary handling of food with robots calls for the development of new manipulation devices, especially when products are easily damaged and have a wide range of shapes and textures. These difficulties are even greater in the agricultural industry because the quality of the products is also checked during the manual handling process. This PhD dissertation provides solutions to these issues and helps to further introduce robotics into the handling of food. Several methods for handling food are included and analyzed, and specific solutions are proposed and then validated with prototypes. The research focuses on devices capable of adapting themselves to the shapes of the products without increasing the complexity of the mechanism. After analyzing several different solutions, the method chosen involves the use of under-actuated mechanisms, compliant mechanisms and fingers with pads filled with granular fluids. These fluids can behave as quasi-liquids or quasi-solids due to the jamming transition, which provides a soft initial grasp and can support high stresses during fast movements performed by the robot. The additive manufacturing process provides an opportunity to develop robot grippers that are lighter, simpler, more flexible and cheaper. By using this process elastic mechanisms are manufactured in a single part, which are equivalent to mechanisms with several rigid parts connected by joints. Laser sintering is employed to produce pneumatic actuators, with different types of motions, based on the elastic properties of the materials used in this manufacturing process. As a result, the systems can be simplified to achieve grippers, with several fingers, that are produced as a single part. In order to estimate the freshness and quality of agricultural products while they are being grasped, accelerometers are added to the fingers of several grippers. Accelerometers are economical and act as intrinsic tactile sensors. They can be easily embedded, thereby reducing the risk of getting damaged due to contact with the product, and allow each of the grasping phases to be identified. To achieve good performance of the accelerometers, a specific process is defined for the robot gripper, which touches the products a few times. In addition, several gripper prototypes are manufactured with diverse under-actuated mechanisms, jamming systems, and a new program that processes the signals from the accelerometers using different procedures in order to obtain parameters that can be used to estimate the quality of products. These parameters are correlated with data from destructive tests that are commonly used as a reference. The best performance of the accelerometers is achieved when the finger employs a granular fluid, a correlation coefficient of 0.937 being accomplished for the ripeness of mangoes and 0.872 for the firmness of eggplants. / [ES] La manipulación primaria de alimentos con robots precisa del desarrollo de nuevos sistemas de manipulación especialmente cuando los productos son sensibles al daño y presentan una amplia variabilidad de formas y texturas. En el sector agroalimentario las dificultades son aún mayores ya que la manipulación manual sirve además para inspeccionar los productos durante el proceso. Está tesis aporta soluciones a estos problemas facilitando la incorporación de la robótica. En la tesis se recopilan y analizan diversas soluciones para poder manipular alimentos proponiendo soluciones concretas que luego son validadas con prototipos. La investigación se centra en aquellos sistemas que son capaces de auto adaptarse a las formas de los productos sin incrementar la complejidad del mecanismo. Tras analizar diversas técnicas se propone el uso de mecanismos infra-actuados, mecanismos flexibles y dedos con fluidos granulares que, al estar encerrados dentro de una membrana, se comportan como cuasi-líquidos o cuasi-sólidos gracias a la transición jamming, permitiendo un agarre inicial suave y la posibilidad de transmitir esfuerzos elevados durante los movimientos del robot. En la búsqueda de garras más ligeras, sencillas, flexibles y económicas se aprovecha la oportunidad que brinda la tecnología de fabricación aditiva de material. Gracias a este proceso se fabrican mecanismos flexibles realizados en una única pieza y que equivalen a mecanismos de garras realizados con varias piezas rígidas unidos por articulaciones. Mediante el sinterizado por láser, se fabrican actuadores neumáticos, con diversos tipos de movimiento, basados en la flexibilidad del material empleado en su fabricación. En conjunto se simplifican los sistemas llegando a realizar garras flexibles de varios dedos fabricadas en una única pieza. Para evaluar la calidad y frescura de los productos agroalimentarios durante el agarre se emplean acelerómetros localizados en los dedos de varias garras. Los acelerómetros son económicos y se comportan como sensores táctiles intrínsecos, están fuera del contacto directo con el producto evitando desgastes por contacto y permiten identificar las distintas fases de agarre. Para lograr esto se desarrolla un proceso específico del robot con la garra, que palpa varias veces el producto. Se fabrican diversos tipos de garra con distintas tecnologías de mecanismos infra-actuados y sistemas jamming y se programa un algoritmo original de procesado de señal que con diversas técnicas es capaz de extraer parámetros de los acelerómetros que sirven para evaluar la calidad de los productos. Estos parámetros son correlacionados con los datos de ensayos destructivos que son habitualmente empleados como referencia. Las mejores capacidades se consiguen empleando garras con jamming lográndose coeficientes de correlación de 0.937 en índices de madurez con mangos y 0.872 en firmeza de berenjenas. / [CA] La manipulació primària d'aliments amb robots precisa del desenvolupament de nous sistemes de manipulació especialment quan els productes són sensibles al dany i presenten una àmplia variabilitat de formes i textures. En el sector agroalimentari les dificultats són encara més grans ja que la manipulació manual serveix a més per a inspeccionar els productes durant el procés. Aquesta tesi aporta solucions a aquests problemes facilitant la incorporació de la robòtica. En la tesi es recopilen i analitzen diverses solucions per a poder manipular aliments proposant solucions concretes que després són validades amb prototips. La investigació es centra en aquells sistemes que són capaços d'auto adaptar-se a la forma dels productes sense incrementar la complexitat del mecanisme. Després d'analitzar diverses tècniques es proposa l'ús de mecanismes infra-actuats, mecanismes flexibles i dits amb fluids granulars que, tancats dins d'una membrana, es comporten com quasi-líquids o quasi-sòlids gràcies a la transició jamming, permetent una prensió inicial suau i la possibilitat de transmetre esforços elevats durant els moviments del robot. En la recerca d'urpes més lleugeres, senzilles, flexibles i econòmiques s'aprofita l'oportunitat que brinda la tecnologia de fabricació additiva de material. Gràcies a aquest procés es fabriquen mecanismes flexibles realitzats en una única peça i que equivalen a mecanismes d'urpes realitzats amb diverses peces rígides unides per articulacions. Mitjançant el sinteritzat per làser, es fabriquen actuadors pneumàtics, amb diversos tipus de moviment, basats en la flexibilitat del material emprat en la seva fabricació. En conjunt es simplifiquen els sistemes arribant a realitzar urpes flexibles de diversos dits fabricades en una única peça. Per a avaluar la qualitat i frescor dels productes agroalimentaris durant la manipulació s'empren acceleròmetres localitzats en els dits de diverses urpes. Els acceleròmetres són econòmics i es comporten com a sensors tàctils intrínsecs, sense estar en contacte directe amb el producte evitant desgastos per aquest motiu, i permeten identificar les diferents fases d'prensió. Per aconseguir això es desenvolupa un procés específic del robot amb l'urpa, que palpa diverses vegades el producte. Es fabriquen diversos tipus d'urpa amb diferents tecnologies de mecanismes infra-actuats i sistemes jamming i es programa un algoritme original de processat de senyal que, amb diverses tècniques, és capaç d'extreure paràmetres dels acceleròmetres que serveixen per a avaluar la qualitat dels productes. Aquests paràmetres són correlacionats amb les dades d'assajos destructius que són habitualment emprats com a referència. Les millors capacitats s'aconsegueixen emprant urpes amb jamming assolint-se coeficients de correlació de 0,937 en índexs de maduresa amb mangos i 0,872 en fermesa d'albergínies. / Blanes Campos, C. (2016). Garras con sensores táctiles intrínsecos para manipular alimentos con robots [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/68481

Работа посвящена сравнению качества перевода технического текста с английского языка на русский, полученного с помощью различных систем машинного перевода (СМП), на примере научной статьи металлургической тематики “Fluid Dynamics Studies of Bottom-blown and Side-blown Copper Smelting Furnaces”. В первой части работы рассматриваются общие вопросы машинного и технического перевода: приводятся понятия машинного перевода и технического перевода, определяются основные способы и алгоритмы работы СМП, выделяются основные особенности и проблемы технического перевода. Особое внимание уделяется выявлению функциональных возможностей наиболее популярных сервисов машинного перевода, к которым относятся такие СМП как Google Translate, Яндекс Переводчик, Bing Microsoft Translator, SYSTRAN Translate, PROMT.One. Во второй части работы раскрываются особенности металлургической терминологии и специфика ее заимствования, разрабатывается методика оценки качества перевода технического текста металлургической направленности, проводится апробационное исследование переводов, выполненных с помощью различных систем машинного перевода и определяются перспективы использования СМП в металлургической отрасли. Большое внимание уделяется оценке качества переводов по представленным методикам, при этом все результаты приводятся в виде таблиц с указанием количества ошибок и итоговых баллов. Результаты исследования могут быть использованы на различных предприятиях металлургического сектора при работе с документацией на иностранных языках. / This paper is devoted to comparison of translation quality obtained as a result of using machine translation (MT) systems to translate technical documents from English into Russian in the case of a metallurgical article “Fluid Dynamics Studies of Bottom-blown and Side-blown Copper Smelting Furnaces”. The first part of the paper covers general issues of machine and technical translation, including concepts of machine and technical translation, the main operation methods and algorithms, and the main features of technical translation. Particular attention is paid to identification of core functionality of the most popular machine translation systems, which include Google Translate, Yandex Translate, Bing Microsoft Translator, SYSTRAN Translate, PROMT.One. The second part of the paper reveals the main features of metallurgical terminology and the specifics of its naturalization. It also contains several translation quality assessment methodologies and includes an analysis of machine translation quality. Moreover, it features the main prospects for using MT systems in metallurgy. Much attention is paid to translation quality assessment on methodologies presented in the paper. All the results are presented in the form of tables with the number of errors and final scores for each MT system. The results of the study may be used at various metallurgical enterprises working with documentation in foreign languages.

Les objectifs de ce travail de thèse ont été: d’une part de détecter automatique-ment les images gelées dans des vidéos télédiffusées; et d’autre part de mesurer sans référencela qualité des vidéos télédiffusées (IP et DVB-T). Ces travaux ont été effectués dans le cadred’un projet de recherche mené conjointement par le LaBRI et la société Audemat WorldCastSystems.Pour la détection d’images gelées, trois méthodes ont été proposées: MV (basée vecteurde mouvement), DC (basée sur les coefficients DC de la DCT) et SURF (basée sur les pointscaractéristiques SURF). Les deux premières méthodes ne nécessitent qu’un décodage partieldu flux vidéo.Le second objectif était de mesurer sans référence la qualité des vidéos télédiffusées (IP etDVB-T). Une métrique a été développée pour mesurer la qualité perçue lorsque le flux vidéoa été altéré par des pertes de transmission. Cette métrique "Weighted Macro-Block ErrorRate" (WMBER) est fondée sur la mesure de la saillance visuelle et la détection des macro-blocs endommagés. Le rôle de la saillance visuelle est de pondérer l’importance des erreursdétectées. Certaines améliorations ont été apportées à la construction des cartes de saillancespatio-temporelle. En particulier, la fusion des cartes de saillance spatiale et temporelle aété améliorée par rapport à l’état de l’art. Par ailleurs, plusieurs études ont montré que lasémantique d’une scène visuelle avait une influence sur le comportement du système visuelhumain. Il apparaît que ce sont surtout les visages humains qui attirent le regard. C’est laraison pour laquelle nous avons ajouté une dimension sémantique aux cartes de saillancespatio-temporelle. Cette dimension sémantique est essentiellement basée sur le détecteurde visage de Viola Jones. Pour prédire la qualité perçue par les utilisateurs, nous avonsutilisé une méthode par apprentissage supervisé. Cette méthode offre ainsi la possibilité deprédire la métrique subjective "Mean Opinion Score" (MOS) à partir de mesures objectivestelles que le WMBER, PSNR ou SSIM. Une expérience psycho-visuelle a été menée avec 50sujets pour évaluer ces travaux. Cette base de données vidéo Haute-Définition est en coursde transfert à l’action COST Qualinet. Ces travaux ont également été évalués sur une autrebase de données vidéo (en définition standard) provenant de l’IRCCyN / The goal of this Ph.D thesis is to design a no-reference video quality assessment method for lossy net-works. This Ph.D thesis is conducted in collaboration with the Audemat Worldcast Systemscompany.Our first no-reference video quality assessment indicator is the frozen frame detection.Frozen frame detection was a research topic which was well studied in the past decades.However, the challenge is to embed a frozen frame detection method in the GoldenEagleAudemat equipment. This equipment has low computation resources that not allow real-time HD video decoding. Two methods are proposed: one based on the compressed videostream motion vectors (MV-method) and another one based on the DC coefficients from thedct transform (DC-method). Both methods only require the partial decoding of the com-pressed video stream which allows for real-time analysis on the GoldenEagle equipment.The evaluation shows that results are better than the frame difference base-line method.Nevertheless, the MV and the DC methods are only suitable with for MPEG2 and H.264video streams. So a third method based on SURF points is proposed.As a second step on the way to a no-reference video quality assessment metric, we areinterested in the visual perception of transmission impairments. We propose a full-referencemetric based on saliency maps. This metric, Weighted Mean Squared Error (WMSE), is theMSE metric weighted by the saliency map. The saliency map role is to distinguish betweennoticeable and unnoticeable transmission impairments. Therefore this spatio-temporal saliencymaps is computed on the impaired frame. Thus the pixel difference in the MSE computationis emphasized or diminished with regard to the pixel saliency. According to the state of theart, several improvements are brought to the saliency map computation process. Especially,new spatio-temporal saliency map fusion strategies are designed.After our successful attempt to assess the video quality with saliency maps, we develop ano-reference quality metric. This metric, Weighted Macro-Block Error Rate (WMBER), relies on the saliency map and the macro-block error detection. The macro-block error detectionprovides the impaired macro-blocks location in the frame. However, the impaired macro-blocks are concealed with more or less success during the decoding process. So the saliencymap provides the user perceived impairment strength for each macro-block.Several psycho-visual studies have shown that semantics play an important role in visualscene perception. These studies conclude that faces and text are the most attractive. Toimprove the spatio-temporal saliency model a semantic dimension is added. This semanticsaliency is based on the Viola & Jones face detector.To predict the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) from objective metric values like WMBER,WMSE, PSNR or SSIM, we propose to use a supervised learning approach. This approach iscalled Similarity Weighted Average (SWA). Several improvements are brought to the originalSWA.For the metrics evaluation a psycho-visual experiment with 50 subjects has been carriedout. To measure the saliency map models accuracy, a psycho-visual experiment with aneye-tracker has also been carried out. These two experiments habe been conducted in col-laboration with the Ben Gurion University, Israel. WMBER and WMSE performances arecompared with reference metrics like SSIM and PSNR. The proposed metrics are also testedon a database provided by IRCCyN research laboratory.

The dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the issue of quality in simultaneous interpreting. The theoretical part explores general questions related to quality in interpreting, namely the inherent difficulties encountered in defining quality, the issue of subjectivity in the assessment of quality, the different perspectives on quality and the issues surrounding the various quality criteria as suggested by different authors. The work focuses on the cognitive processes involved in simultaneous interpreting; concepts of working memory and cognitive load are discussed as well as their connection to the concept of interpreting as a decision-making process and a strategic behaviour. Quality is therefore understood as the capacity to efficiently and effectively manage available cognitive resources and to choose appropriate strategies to solve a particular problem in a specific interpreting situation, while taking into account the overall working conditions and the individual predispositions of the interpreter. The empirical part includes an analysis of actual interpreting of technical (legal) speeches. The technical nature of the speeches and the resulting linguistic and conceptual difficulties of the input material is considered to be a factor that increases cognitive load. The aim is to...

Text in English / The study sought to assess the quality of library services by investigating the gaps between various service quality variables using the LibQUAL, SERVQUAL and SERVPERF models. The pragmatic paradigm formed the basis of this study while the mixed methods approach was adopted. The convergent parallel mixed methods design where both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and data were integrated was adopted. Using the side-by-side comparison style, both sets of data were separately analysed and presented. The results were then compared to establish if they confirm or disconfirm each other. Questionnaires were administered to 94 users of the library. To calculate the level of service quality, the study measured the service adequacy gap (SAG), service superiority gap (SSG), zone of tolerance (ZoT), and D-M scores. Followup focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to validate, supplement and further explore the issues that arose from data collected using the questionnaires. The findings revealed a gap between the users’ expectations and perceptions of service quality and that library services were not meeting users’ expectations. The users’ expectations exceeded their perceptions since all service quality scores (SAG, SSG, ZoT and D-M scores) were either low or negative. Generally, the library performed well in the dimensions that touch on human aspects of the library but did poorly in the aspects that touch on information collections, library space and equipment. There were no significant differences between the protocols, with the overall gaps between perceptions and desires being all negative. The findings of the FGDs confirmed those of the questionnaires. The study recommended that the Court should allocate resources in a way that ensures human aspects of the library remain at high levels of service quality, while the shortcomings on aspects of information control, library space and equipment addressed. However, while addressing the physical space aspects, the library should bear in mind that users did not rate them as important for their purposes. This means that the library will need to invest in electronic content that can be accessed remotely by users. In view of the findings, the study concluded by developing a service quality framework on quality improvement and its sustenance at the library and the Court at large. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

A soja geneticamente modificada tolerante ao herbicida glifosato foi testada em ensaio nutricional. A qualidade protéica da soja foi avaliada durante 14 dias de experimento com ratos machos tipo Wistar recém desmamados. Além de um grupo controle aproteico, quatro dietas testadas continham cerca de 10% de proteínas de diferentes fontes: caseína, soja comercial, soja parental e soja GM. Resultados similares entre os grupos demonstraram o baixo aproveitamento da proteína ingerida, conforme esperado para todas as dietas com soja não suplementadas com metionina e expressos pelos valores de PDCAAS. As análises hematológicas realizadas demonstraram a síntese comprometida de células eritrócitárias e imunológicas nos mesmos grupos experimentais. Este comportamento fisiológico dos animais indica que a ingestão da variedade GM não causou diferença significativa no desenvolvimento dos animais entre as três amostras de soja ensaiadas e tampouco foram observados efeitos adversos em órgãos dos animais e nos parâmetros químicos analisados. / A glyphosate tolerant soybean obtained by genetic modification was tested on a nutritional essay. The quality of the soy protein was assessed by a 14-day long experiment with Wistar male rats, three weeks old. Besides the control free protein group, four different diet groups containing about 10 % protein were pooled out: casein, commercial, parental and GM soybeans. Similar results showed the regular low biological value of the consumed soy proteins not supplemented by methionine displayed by PDCAAS values. The hematological analysis pointed to a commitment of the synthesis of erythrocytic and immunologic cells at the experimental soy groups. The overall behavior of the animals indicate the ingestion of the GM variety of soybean did not cause significant differences for the rat development when compared to the other soybean groups, neither side effects on inner organs and chemical analyzed parameters.

Die Bedingungen für die Vermarktung von Fischereierzeugnissen sind streng geregelt. Die Deutsche Fisch-Hygiene-Verordnung (VO) schreibt in den §§ 4 (1) und 6 vor, dass alle Fische unverzüglich nach dem Fang und der Tötung ausgenommen werden müssen. In diesem Punkt ist die deutsche VO strenger als das europäische Gemeinschaftsrecht (RL 91/493/EWG). Sowohl durch die in einzelnen Bundesländern unterschiedliche Auslegung des Begriffes "unverzüglich" als auch durch die in anderen EU-Ländern erlassenen Vorschriften ergibt sich eine gewisse Rechtsunsicherheit bei der Vermarktung von Ganzfischen. Im Gegensatz zu Seefischen gibt es bei Süßwasserfischen nur wenige Untersuchungen zum Vergleich der sensorischen und hygienischen Parameter von ausgenommen und unausgenommen gelagerten Fischen. Ziel der Untersuchungen war es daher, an den zwei Modellfischarten Regenbogenforelle (Oncorhynchus mykiss) und Ostsee-Zander (Sander lucioperca) gesundheitlich-hygienische als auch qualitative Gründe für bzw. gegen das Ausnehmen von Süßwasserfischen zu ermitteln. Zum einen wurde während der Lagerung bis zum Verderb wiederholt der Keimstatus der Fische bestimmt, wobei sowohl die Verderbsorganismen als auch potentiell humanpathogene Keime (Vibrio spp., Aeromonas spp., Clostridium spp., Salmonella spp., Listeria spp.) im Fischgewebe erfasst wurden. Zum anderen wurden fischartspezifische Frischegrad- und Kochprobenschemata entwickelt, die den Verderbsprozessen der beiden Süßwasserfischarten während der Lagerung angepasst sind und für eine Bestimmung der sensorischen Eigenschaften angewendet werden können. Darüber hinaus erfolgte bei den Zandern eine Untersuchung der Muskulatur und der Eingeweide auf einen Befall mit humapathogenen Nematoden und eine Bestimmung von flüchtigen Basenstickstoff (TVB-N) in der Filetmuskulatur. Die vorliegenden Ergebnisse lassen den Schluss zu, dass unausgenommene Fische, sofern eine optimale Lagerung gewährleistet ist, hygienisch unbedenklich sind und für einen Zeitraum von einigen Tagen qualitativ gleichwertig mit ausgenommenen Fischen bleiben, bevor autolytische Bauchhöhlenprozesse die Qualität des Ganzfisches beeinträchtigen. Dabei hängt der Zeitraum unter anderem von der Fischart und dem Nüchterungsgrad ab. Mikrobiologische Gründe sprechen eher gegen ein frühzeitiges Ausnehmen, da die bakterielle Belastung der Bauchhöhle durch die Schlachtung höher ausfällt als bei unausgenommen gelagerten Fischen. Demnach kann durch ein spätes Ausnehmen zwar ein schnellerer Qualitätsverlust bei Ganzfischen auftreten, aber aus hygienischer Sicht, auch im Zusammenhang mit humanpathogenen Keimen, ist eine erhöhte Gesundheitsgefährdung des Verbrauchers nicht zu erwarten. / Conditions for the marketing of fishery products are strictly regulated. In Germany, the fish hygiene regulations (§§ 4(1) and 6) demand the gutting of all fishes immediately after the catch. This regulation is more restrictive than the corresponding EU-legislation (RL 91/493/EWG). But several German counties interprete the term "immediately" differently, and most other EU-countries have more permitting regulations, thus creating legal ambiguities in the marketing of whole fishes. Unlike the situation in seafish there are only few surveys in fresh water fish comparing possible sensoric and hygienic effects of gutted and ungutted storage. The aim of this study therefore was to examine health and hygiene related as well as qualitative reasons for or against an immediate gutting of freshwater fish, using aquaculture rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and pike-perch (Sander lucioperca) from the Baltic Sea as model fish species. The bacterial load in several tissues of gutted and ungutted fish, spoilage organisms as well as potentially pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio spp., Aeromonas spp., Clostridium spp., Salmonella spp., Listeria spp), were determined repeatedly throughout the storage period and statistically compared. Furthermore, species-specific grading schemes for the whole fish as well as for steamed fillets were developed that allowed the assessment of spoilage and of the sensoric characteristics of gutted and ungutted fishes. In pike-perch, muscle tissue and guts were examined for pathogenic nematode larvae and the fillet content of total volatile basic nitrogen was determined. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that ungutted fish, as long as optimal storage conditions are guaranteed, bear no special hygienic risks and keep a quality comparable to gutted fish for at least some days before autolytic processes in the body cavity compromise the quality of the whole fish. The length of this storage period depends mainly on the fish species and the filling of the digestive tract. From a microbiological point of view early gutting is not advisable because the gutting process itself results in a higher bacterial contamination of the body cavity than that found in fish stored ungutted. Therefore, a later gutting may lead to a faster loss of quality in whole fish but a higher hygienic risk for the consumer, even in connection with bacteria pathogenic for humans, can not be stated.

The increasing availability of digitized biodiversity data worldwide, provided by an increasing number of sources, and the growing use of those data for a variety of purposes have raised concerns related to the \"fitness for use\" of such data and the impact of data quality (DQ) on outcomes of analyses, reports and decisions making. A consistent approach to assess and manage DQ is currently critical for biodiversity data users. However, achieving this goal has been particularly challenging because of the idiosyncrasies inherent to the concept of quality. DQ assessment and management cannot be suitably carried out if we have not clearly established the meaning of quality according to the data user\'s standpoint. This thesis presents a formal conceptual framework to support the Biodiversity Informatics (BI) community to consistently describe the meaning of data \"fitness for use\". Principles behind data fitness for use are used to establish a formal and common ground for the collaborative definition of DQ needs, solutions and reports useful for DQ assessment and management. Based on the study of the DQ domain and its contextualization in the BI domain, which involved discussions with experts in DQ and BI in an iterative process, a comprehensive framework was designed and formalized. The framework defines eight fundamental concepts and 21 derived concepts, organized into three classes: DQ Needs, DQ Solutions and DQ Report. The concepts of each class describe, respectively, the meaning of DQ in a given context, the methods and tools that can serve as solutions for meeting DQ needs, and reports that present the current status of quality of a data resource. The formalization of the framework was presented using conceptual maps notation and sets theory notation. In order to validate the framework, we present a proof of concept based on a case study conducted at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. The tools FP-Akka Kurator and the BDQ Toolkit were used in the case study to perform DQ measures, validations and improvements in a dataset of the Arizona State University Hasbrouck Insect Collection. The results illustrate how the framework enables data users to assess and manage DQ of datasets and single records using quality control and quality assurance approaches. The proof of concept has also shown that the framework is adequately formalized and flexible, and sufficiently complete for defining DQ needs, solutions and reports in the BI domain. The framework is able of formalizing human thinking into well-defined components to make it possible sharing and reusing definitions of DQ in different scenarios, describing and finding DQ tools and services, and communicating the current status of quality of data in a standardized format among the stakeholders. In addition, the framework supports the players of that community to join efforts on the collaborative gathering and developing of the necessary components for the DQ assessment and management in different contexts. The framework is also the foundation of a Task Group on Data Quality, under the auspices of the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and is being used to help collect user\'s needs on data quality on agrobiodiversity and on species distributed modeling, initially. In future work, we plan to use the framework to engage the BI community to formalize and share DQ profiles related to a number of other data usages, to recommend methods, guidelines, protocols, metadata schemas and controlled vocabulary for supporting data fitness for use assessment and management in distributed system and data environments. In addition, we plan to build a platform based on the framework to serve as a common backbone for registering and retrieving DQ concepts, such as DQ profiles, methods, tools and reports. / A crescente disponibilização de dados digitalizados sobre a biodiversidade em todo o mundo, fornecidos por um crescente número de fontes, e o aumento da utilização desses dados para uma variedade de propósitos, tem gerado preocupações relacionadas a \"adequação ao uso\" desses dados e ao impacto da qualidade de dados (QD) sobre resultados de análises, relatórios e tomada de decisões. Uma abordagem consistente para avaliar e gerenciar a QD é atualmente crítica para usuários de dados sobre a biodiversidade. No entanto, atingir esse objetivo tem sido particularmente desafiador devido à idiossincrasia inerente ao conceito de qualidade. A avaliação e a gestão da QD não podem ser adequadamente realizadas sem definir claramente o significado de qualidade de acordo com o ponto de vista do usuário dos dados. Esta tese apresenta um arcabouço conceitual formal para apoiar a comunidade de Informática para Biodiversidade (IB) a descrever consistentemente o significado de \"adequação ao uso\" de dados. Princípios relacionados à adequação ao uso são usados para estabelecer uma base formal e comum para a definição colaborativa de necessidades, soluções e relatórios de QD úteis para a avaliação e gestão de QD. Baseado no estudo do domínio de QD e sua contextualização no domínio de IB, que envolveu discussões com especialistas em QD e IB em um processo iterativo, foi projetado e formalizado um arcabouço conceitual abrangente. Ele define oito conceitos fundamentais e vinte e um conceitos derivados organizados em três classes: Necessidades de QD, Soluções de QD e Relatório de QD. Os conceitos de cada classe descrevem, respectivamente, o significado de QD em um dado contexto, métodos e ferramentas que podem servir como soluções para atender necessidades de QD, e relatórios que apresentam o estado atual da qualidade de um recurso de dado. A formalização do arcabouço foi apresentada usando notação de mapas conceituais e notação de teoria dos conjuntos. Para a validação do arcabouço, nós apresentamos uma prova de conceito baseada em um estudo de caso conduzido no Museu de Zoologia Comparativa da Universidade de Harvard. As ferramentas FP-Akka Kurator e BDQ Toolkit foram usadas no estudo de caso para realizar medidas, validações e melhorias da QD em um conjunto de dados da Coleção de Insetos Hasbrouck da Universidade do Estado do Arizona. Os resultados ilustram como o arcabouço permite a usuários de dados avaliarem e gerenciarem a QD de conjunto de dados e registros isolados usando as abordagens de controle de qualidade a garantia de qualidade. A prova de conceito demonstrou que o arcabouço é adequadamente formalizado e flexível, e suficientemente completo para definir necessidades, soluções e relatórios de QD no domínio da IB. O arcabouço é capaz de formalizar o pensamento humano em componentes bem definidos para fazer possível compartilhar e reutilizar definições de QD em diferentes cenários, descrever e encontrar ferramentas de QD e comunicar o estado atual da qualidade dos dados em um formato padronizado entre as partes interessadas da comunidade de IB. Além disso, o arcabouço apoia atores da comunidade de IB a unirem esforços na identificação e desenvolvimento colaborativo de componentes necessários para a avaliação e gestão da QD. O arcabouço é também o fundamento de um Grupos de Trabalho em Qualidade de Dados, sob os auspícios do Biodiversity Information Standard (TDWG) e do Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) e está sendo utilizado para coletar as necessidades de qualidade de dados de usuários de dados de agrobiodiversidade e de modelagem de distribuição de espécies, inicialmente. Em trabalhos futuros, planejamos usar o arcabouço apresentado para engajar a comunidade de IB para formalizar e compartilhar perfis de QD relacionados a inúmeros outros usos de dados, recomendar métodos, diretrizes, protocolos, esquemas de metadados e vocabulários controlados para apoiar a avaliação e gestão da adequação ao uso de dados em ambiente de sistemas e dados distribuídos. Além disso, nós planejamos construir uma plataforma baseada no arcabouço para servir como uma central integrada comum para o registro e recuperação de conceitos de QD, tais como perfis, métodos, ferramentas e relatórios de QD.

The study investigated the service quality of the Aga Khan University (AKU) library as an example of an academic library in Kenya using SERVQUAL, a user based assessment tool. Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy formed the basis of the study; a philosophy that is customer oriented and lays great emphasis on enhancing customer satisfaction. The study adopted a survey design and data was collected using a structured selfadministered questionnaire by the name of SERVQUAL. The study sample consisted of nursing and medical faculty; nursing and medical students. A total of 78 (63%) respondents responded to the questionnaire. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 17.0. Descriptive statistics was provided and univariate analysis was applied to examine the characteristics of the 2 main variables; perceptions and expectations. The findings of the study established that the expectations of AKU library users are higher than their perceptions. It is also evident from the findings that there are service quality gaps in a number of library services offered by AKU library. This is demonstrated through the gap analysis between the AKU library users‟ perceptions and the users‟ expectations of AKU library. The study recommends that AKU library as well as other academic libraries in Kenya adopt user based assessment tools such as SERVQUAL in the evaluation of library service quality. The study further recommends that AKU library needs to address gaps between the library users‟ perception and the users‟ expectation in order to enhance customer satisfaction through the provision of quality services. The study also recommends that AKU library needs to address the gaps in service attributes such as those relating to AKU library staff, reliability and efficiency of AKU library service delivery. In line with the findings the study further recommends more training for AKU library staff in areas such as customer service skills as well as the need for AKU library to invest more in its physical facility and equipment. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)