The main goal of my work is to set the criteria which have an influence on the profit of the ski resorts. The topic deals with building valuation, public database and data about air temperature. The part of the thesis is about building valuation of two companies that own chosen ski resorts. The valuation is done by the definite valuation regulation, single objects in the way given by the valuation notice. For main influential criteria was needed to get the information about profit and expense, this information was necessary for assessment of the company profit. From this information we can say that gross profit relies on the rent which both companies have to pay for ski lift and lift area. Assessment of criteria is about the location of the ski resorts. The most important criteria are the accommodation capacity and the weather. The accommodation capacity is going together with attendance. Because of the possibility of sleeping over the visitors of the ski resorts, the weather and the air temperature have an influence on the snow quality and this is going together with the length of the skiing season.

The object of this thesis is to focus on the major influences of vehicle saleability in Czech Republic in terms of the most important criteria, such as price, fuel consumption, colour etc. Part of the work will be arranged questionnaires. The survey indicates desirability of cars back for the last five years. This creates sales trend with a hint of future development.

This diploma thesis deals with the evaluation of offers with the usage of fuzzy logic. It describes methods and processes of a model building. The aim is to make a decision – making model that helps a customer to make decisions between more properties.

On a daily basis critically ill paediatric patients are admitted in the Paediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU). Some of these paediatric patients require cardiothoracic surgery and is mechanically ventilated post-operatively. Chapter one of this study gives an orientation to this research and explains that in order to prevent ventilator associated complications and high hospitalisation costs, the mechanically ventilated paediatric patient following cardiothoracic surgery should be extubated as soon as he/she is ready. Chapter two is dedicated to the available literature on this topic and indicates that literature on extubation criteria for the mechanically ventilated paediatric patient is minimal. The methodology of this study is discussed in detail in Chapter three. Chapter four gives a detailed explanation of the research findings and the researcher included the developed clinical pathway for the extubation of the paediatric patient following cardiothoracic surgery in a private hospital in Gauteng. The relevant clinical pathway functions as a guideline and evidence-based tool in the PCCU. Lastly Chapter five gives a summary of this study and a few recommendations are made. The researcher has included a personal reflection in this Chapter. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Nursing Science / MCur / Unrestricted

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an automation technology that has become increasingly common in recent years, as demands have increased on the use of new technologies to compete in the global economy. RPA means that a software robot is placed on top of existing systems where it performs tasks in a similar way as a human being previously did. No changes need to be made to the underlying systems, which means that RPA is rather quick and easy to implement at a relatively low cost. There are many advantages to the usage of RPA, but not all processes are suitable for the implementation of robots. The purpose of the study has been to help businesses select the parts of the organization that can be automated by identifying criteria which means that RPA can be applied to a process. In order to fulfill the purpose of the study, information has been collected through a literature study and semi-structured interviews with consultants working in the RPA area. The result shows that there are several criteria that increase the suitability of an RPA implementation on a process, but also that the importance of different criteria varies from situation to situation. The study has also identified criteria that must be met in order to be able to implement robots at all. Since the appearance of different companies and processes varies greatly, the criteria should be seen as a guideline where each situation is examined individually to identify what is important right there. Initially, a detailed analysis needs to be done of a candidate process in order to determine the degree of suitability and whether RPA is a good solution in that case. / Robotic Process Automation (RPA) är en automatiseringsteknik som blivit allt vanligare de senaste åren. Kraven har ökat på användandet av nya teknologier för att kunna konkurrera i den globala ekonomin. RPA innebär att en mjukvarurobot placeras ovanpå befintliga system där den utför uppgifter på ett likadant sätt som en människa tidigare gjorde. Inga ändringar behöver göras på de underliggande systemen vilket medför att RPA är förhållandevis snabbt och enkelt att införa med relativt låg kostnad. Det finns många fördelar med användningen av RPA, men alla processer är inte lämpliga att implementera robotar på. Studiens syfte har varit att hjälpa verksamheter att välja ut de delar i organisationen som kan automatiseras genom att identifiera kriterier som medför att RPA går att använda på en process. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har information samlats in via en litteraturöversikt och semistrukturerade intervjuer med konsulter som arbetar inom RPA-området. Resultatet visar att det finns ett flertal kriterier som ökar lämplighetsgraden för införandet av RPA på en process, men också att vikten av olika kriterier varierar från situation till situation. Studien har även identifierat kriterier som måste uppfyllas för att det överhuvudtaget ska gå att implementera robotar. Eftersom utseendet på olika företag och processer varierar kraftigt så bör kriterierna ses som en riktlinje där varje situation utreds individuellt för att identifiera vad som är viktigt just där. Initialt behöver en utförlig analys göras av en kandidatprocess för att kunna fastställa lämplighetsgraden och om RPA är en bra lösning i det fallet.

Orientador: Valério Antonio Pamplona Salomon / Coorientador: Jorge Muniz Junior / Banca: Fernando Augusto Silva Marins / Banca: Marco Antonio Carvalho Pereira / Resumo: Avanços na tecnologia e maior facilidade na obtenção de informação impõem que as instituições de ensino ampliem o oferecimento de cursos. Ou seja, tem-se a necessidade de criar novos cursos para atender novos mercados de trabalho. Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar como uma instituição de ensino tecnológico, localizada na região norte, pode escolher um novo curso a ser implantado em um dos seus campi. Cinco alternativas foram consideradas. Para auxiliar na tomada de decisão, aplicou-se o método AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process). Assim, com o método AHP foi possível comparar os cursos, resultando no curso de Bacharelado em Zootecnia como a melhor alternativa / Abstract: Advances in technology and greater ease in obtaining information require that educational institutions expand the offering of courses. That is, there is a need to create new courses to meet new labor markets. This work aims to present as a technological teaching institution, located in the northern region, can choose a new course to be implanted in one of its campuses. Five alternatives were considered. To assist in decision making, the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method was applied. Thus, with the AHP method it was possible to compare the courses, resulting in the Bachelor of Animal Science course as the best alternative / Mestre

Loving God is our highest perfection for Leibniz. It secures our belief and trust in the Creator, which is integral to the sciences as well as faith. Those who love God have justification for reasoning, that is, they can rationally expect to arrive at truth. This is because love is a receptivity to the perfection all of things; loving God, then, is a disposition and tendency toward the most perfect being, the ens perfectissimum. Individuals who perceive the divine nature “do not merely fear the power of the supreme and all-seeing monarch,” Leibniz writes, “but are assured of his beneficence, and lastly—and what brings everything together—burn with a love of God above all else.”1 In my dissertation, I argue that Leibniz’s qualification should be taken seriously: love of God “brings everything together.” The subject of my dissertation can be stated schematically. It consists of two pairs of claims, one pair philosophical, the other theological: A moral quality is required to secure our reason. From a most perfect unity, a moral quality follows. Love of God is our highest perfection. Love of God secures our reasoning. Both concern the security of reason, by which I mean the rational motivation for reasoning itself. They are reasons we ought to expect reasoning to lead to truth. Yet they do not form a tight demonstration: while an inference is clearly at work in the first pair, there are no inferences in the second. Also, there is a distinction between a moral quality and love for God. Unless they are identified, Leibniz’s philosophy and theology secure reasoning apart from one another. In 1686, Leibniz wrote his well-known “Discourse on Metaphysics.” A few months after, he composed a theological treatise, Examination of the Christian Religion. These texts, I argue, should be read side by side, and the first chapter compares how divine perfection secures our reasoning in both texts. Some Moderns’ notion of perfection—namely, Descartes’, Spinoza’s, and Malebranche’s—fail to secure our reasoning because their views entail arbitrariness in the world and the divine nature. But a proper sense of perfection, one that includes a moral quality, secures our reasoning by ensuring that everything is amenable to reason. Descartes also sought to secure our reasoning, and for the second and third chapters I compare his account with Leibniz’s own, then draw out the latter’s criticisms. For Descartes, the deity’s moral quality is characterized by an indifferent will, which is eminently and formally revealed throughout creation. Although recognizing the infinite source of all things directs our attention appropriate in the Cartesian system, Leibniz criticizes Descartes’ detached and indifferent God. When our disposition toward God is not characterized by love, we are less rational than otherwise. Leibniz finds intolerable moral implications in the Cartesian system, and I work out these implications in chapter three. Descartes’ criteria of true and false ideas does not settle dispute, but relies on “interior testimony.” Proper reasoning, then, does not tend toward unity among persons, and this is especially problematic in religious debate. Descartes’ method is Stoic, which also leads to trouble when it comes to church unity: one remains in the church by a sheer act of will, which can violate reason. Leibniz views such a detachment of faith and reasoning as dangerous, besides impoverishing the concept of reason altogether. Leibniz’s notions of God and perfection secure our reason by engendering love for God. “Discourse” and Examen begin with a moral disposition and tendency. In the last chapter, I argue that this is the case by considering two criteria Leibniz adopts—his test for perfection and the kinds of knowledge—as well as the foundation of his logic at the time. Leibniz can tolerate provisional beginnings, hypothetical truths, and original sin because of his robust conception of love. He distinguishes two ways we love God: spes, or hope, is a disposition or tendency to natural perfection, and caritas, or esteem, affection, or love, regards divine perfection. These states orient us according to the divine plan. Miracles are within the world as an effect of the deity’s moral quality: they are a means God personally relates to rational beings. Miracles reveal the moral effects of our perception of phenomena generally, included the regularity observed and classified by science. So, to conclude, I compare Leibniz’s discussion of revelation in Examen with his discussion of miracles in “Discourse” to draw out the significance of miracles for him. Besides much debate on the implications of miracles for his conception of substance, I argue that there is a moral motivation for retaining miracles, even those of the second rank.

Purpose Idea Management as key activity in the front-end of innovation is crucial for not only targeting new products but also for new technologies. Nevertheless, the interrelations between Idea Management and Technology Development are still not fully understood. Due to the different abstraction levels of products and technologies, an in-depth investigation of evaluation criteria for Technology Development ideas is required. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to examine which evaluation criteria are pertinent for each phase of Idea Management, when applied for Technology Development. Design The research framework for Idea Management criteria in the context of Technology Development is built on data from 17 semi-structured interviews, two focus group interviews as well as participant observations. The participants of this study are experienced R&D experts from a large Swedish organization in the transport industry. Findings The results indicate that the evaluation of Technology Development ideas is more complex due to the high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability. In contrast to the common one-step evaluation process of New Product Development ideas, the findings suggest a three-step evaluation process for Technology Development ideas. Due to the lack of knowledge and maturity when an idea is generated, this three-step evaluation enables a continuous reduction of uncertainty. In addition to this, the result of this study contributes with the suggestion to attribute a focus dimension for each Idea Management phase, which in consequence is helping firms to direct their evaluation resources. The findings are presented in a generic evaluation framework that leads organizations through the assessment process. Theoretical contribution The present study contributes to the literature with an improved understanding of TD idea evaluations by suggesting a rather internally use-oriented perspective as well as advances prior research through knowledge about the right timing for the use of evaluation criteria. Practical implications Irrespectively of the origin or focus of an idea, evaluation criteria are helping to direct Technology Development initiatives. By having evaluation criteria, defined as pertinent for each phase of Idea Management, Technology Development ideas can be assessed appropriately regarding their contextual circumstances. Originality The study is among the first that differentiates Idea Management for Technology Development from the one targeting New Product Development. This study suggests a framework that considers the stages and criteria necessary in the context of TechnologyDevelopment.

The thesis deals with testing of radar-based hail detection methods and their use in hail climatology of Czechia. Data from C-band Doppler radars were used. There is described the testing of the selected algorithms in the first part of the thesis. The algorithms were chosen according to the data availability. On the basis of 25 well documented hail events, suitable threshold values were found to form hail criteria. Because of the hail events considered, the work concentrates on severe hail with diameter from about 2 cm. In addition, available data from Germany (Baden-Württemberg) were included in testing the detection criteria. The best performing criteria were used to form a new combined criterion (COMBI). The second part of the work applies the hail criteria, in particular the COMBI criterion. The performance of the COMBI criterion is shown in four case studies. Then the COMBI criterion was determined from the radar data of the six years 2007-2012. All the days from the months May to August were evaluated. The point maximum of about one day with severe hail was found for Czechia. For the most of the Czech territory the value was not higher than a quarter of a day in a year. In the seasonal distribution the maximum of hail days belongs to June. And the diurnal distribution showed the maximum of severe hail...

Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / As a means to assuage historical land inequities, resultant socio-economic disparities and poverty alleviation, the Namibian Government undertook to reform the land sector. Guided by the Constitution and the Resolutions of the 1991 Land Conference policy and legal framework, a fractured consensus is built on the rationale to redistribute land to a targeted group. Parallel to the reform agenda, systemic challenges to the resettlement process are growing amid questions on Government’s ability to respond to sustainable programme objectives embedded within land reforms. Literature coalesces on the issues of land-reform programmes having lost direction, being skewed in favour of a few, being biased towards commercial agriculture, and requiring review and re-configuration to be inclusive and to satisfy equity and poverty-alleviation concerns.