KM is the process of creating value from the intangible assets of an enterprise. It deals with how best to leverage knowledge internally in the enterprise (in its individual employees, and the knowledge that gets built into its structures and systems) and externally to the customers and stakeholders. As KM initiatives, projects and systems are just beginning to appear in organisations, there is little research and empirical field data to guide the successful development and implementation of such systems or to guide the expectations of the potential benefits of such systems. In addition, about 84 per cent of KM programmes failed or exerted no significant impact on the adopting organisations worldwide due to inability to consider many critical factors that contribute to the success of KM project implementation. Hence, this study is an exploratory investigation into the KM implementation based on an integrated approach. This includes: (1) a comprehensive review of the relevant literature; (2) a comprehensive analysis of secondary case studies of KM implementations in 90 organisations presented in the literature, in order to arrive at the most critical factors of KM implementation and their degree of criticality; (3) exploratory global survey of 92 organisations in 23 countries that have already implemented or are in the process of implementing KM; (4) in-depth case studies of four leading organisations to understand how KM implementation processes and the critical factors identified are being addressed. Based on the empirical findings of the study, 28 critical factors were identified that must be carefully considered in the KM implementation to achieve a successful project. Moreover, the study proposes an integrated model for effective KM implementation which contains essential elements that contribute to project success. / Government of Saudi Arabia represented by King Saud University.

In the last decade, the rapid economic development in the Middle East has encouraged organisations to implement modem quality management and strategic initiatives such as Six Sigma to ensure continuous improvement and achieved excellence. Six Sigma is a comprehensive business strategic quality programme and a systematic process improvement methodology for achieving, sustaining and maximising business success. The proper implementation of Six Sigma leads to breakthrough in profitability through ensuring quantum gains in product/service quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. This research presents an empirical exploratory and comparative study that aims and attempts to bridge the gap in the existing literature of Six Sigma by investigating the current implementation status of Six Sigma in organisations of three Middle East countries (namely, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and United Arab Emirates (UAE)). The reasons/benefits that encourage Middle East organisations to implement Six Sigma projects, the challenges commonly faced during implementation, the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective implementation and the organisations’ satisfaction with the implementation are investigated. The key issues of Six Sigma implementation and their criticality relating to the experience of the implementing process of Six Sigma projects are explored through an extensive review of the relevant literature. The data were collected from a combination of quantitative (232 questionnaires) and qualitative (74 semi-structured interviews) methodologies. The research covered 44 organisations from manufacturing and services sectors and large, small, and medium enterprises (SME) sizes, which have implemented or were implementing Six Sigma projects in the selected countries at the time of study. The study findings identified 15 significant reasons/benefits which encourages Middle East organisations to implement Six Sigma projects, 13 major challenges commonly faced during implementation, 19 CSFs for effective implementation and level of the organisations’ satisfaction with the implementation. Based on the research findings, a generic model for successful and effective implementation of Six Sigma in Middle East organisations is developed and proposed. The research concludes that Six Sigma implementation in Middle East organisations still in early stage, most organisations have outstanding opportunities to implement the Six Sigma project successfully and effectively with tangible and intangible benefits. In addition, all the responding organisations, which are actively implementing Six Sigma programme, regardless of their countries, sectors and sizes are highly satisfied with the implementation results. However, the research output highlights that an improvement culture must be developed and promoted throughout the organisation to ensure long-term benefit and sustainable success. Furthermore, the research makes recommendations on development of an implementation strategy in Middle East organisations. Finally, a number of suggestions are made for future research.

[pt] A avaliação de desempenho em operações humanitárias é questão-chave, pois possibilita melhores resultados e rapidez no atendimento. Uma das perspectivas de avaliação está relacionada a quanto as operações humanitárias podem ser efetivas e eficientes na ajuda aos beneficiários. Nesse sentido, o objetivo principal deste estudo é propor um framework para avaliação de desempenho de operações humanitárias, a partir da percepção dos beneficiários. Para isso, 22 artigos são selecionados e 130 indicadores são identificados por meio de uma revisão sistemática da literatura. Com base nestes resultados, são propostos uma taxonomia de critérios pré e pós-desastres, uma agenda de pesquisa específica para aprimoramento do tópico e um framework para avaliação do desempenho. Em seguida, um estudo empírico abordando o caso sobre a queda da área de lazer de um prédio é conduzido, composto por uma survey, com os moradores do prédio e um estudo de caso com a empresa responsável pela obra. A survey apresenta 44 respostas com satisfações, insatisfações, pontos positivos e negativos da operação pós-desastre, onde os principais resultados apontam que existem insatisfações relacionadas a questão de adaptação ao novo local de moradia e o principal ponto positivo diz respeito a rapidez nos primeiros atendimentos as pessoas afetadas. Os resultados do estudo de caso apontam que a empresa se preocupa com a satisfação dos seus clientes e é flexível para atendimento das necessidades dos mesmos. Assim, os resultados conferem uma primeira validação do framework, sendo sugerido como pesquisas futuras o desenvolvimento de estudos aprofundando outros tipos de desastres. / [en] Performance evaluation in humanitarian operations is a vital issue, as it enables better results and faster service. One of the evaluation perspectives is related to how humanitarian operations can be effective and efficient in helping beneficiaries. In this sense, the main objective of this study is to propose a framework for evaluating the performance of humanitarian operations, based on the beneficiaries perception. For this, 22 articles are selected and 130 indicators are identified through a systematic review of the literature. Based on these results, a taxonomy of pre- and post-disaster criteria, a specific research agenda for topic improvement, and a framework for performance evaluation are proposed. Then, an empirical study addressing the case about the fall of the leisure area of a building is conducted, consisting of a survey, with the residents of the building and a case study with the company responsible for the work. The survey presents 44 responses with satisfactions, dissatisfactions, positives, and negatives of the post-disaster operation, where the main results indicate that there are dissatisfactions related to the issue of adaptation to the new place of residence and the main positive point concerns the speed of the first visits affected people. The results of the case study indicate that the company is concerned with the satisfaction of its customers and is flexible to meet their needs. Thus, the results give a first validation of the framework, being suggested as future research the development of studies deepen other types of disasters.

In September 2014, a new regulation was proposed in Sweden, which indicates aset of rules of giving way under different types of bicycle intersections. Meanwhile,new definitions were endued to bicycle passages and bicycle crossings. After thepriority of cyclists is guaranteed at bicycle crossings, potential delay for motorvehicles in the mainstream should not be ignored as well.Therefore, inspired by the previous study from Movea, this thesis project is goingto focus on unsupervised bicycle passages and bicycle crossings, with the aim ofassessing and inspecting the impacts of different bicycle intersections on vehicledelays.The relationship between delay and flows at bicycle intersections has beenresearched in detail. Initially, an empirical study has been carried out on the basisof data from field measurements. In addition, a microscopic traffic simulationmodel has been constructed for the analysis of theoretical situations. The delay isproved to have a linear relationship with vehicle flow and bicycle flow. However,the linear relationship based on field data turns out to be different from the onefrom simulation output.

Most research on the effects of race on people’s lived experiences focuses on how race affects the lives of people of color. Since the 1990’s, a growing body of literature has focused on “Whiteness” in society. Most “Whiteness Studies” focus on how “White” developed as a racial category and how various ethnic/national groups (e.g., Irish, Italians, Jews, Germans) came to be included under that racial label. However, nearly a century ago, in 1935, sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois referred to the public and psychological wage for Whiteness—in part, meaning the societal gravity or weight that the label “White” tends to carry. Du Bois’ oft-quoted proposition has never been empirically tested. The present study used the experimental method to empirically test Du Bois’ proposition. Using mock job applications that were identical except that (1) the applicant’s photograph had been electronically manipulated to vary race (Black or Caucasian) and sex (male or female) and (2) the application either did or did not suggest the applicant had a pending criminal charge. Each participant evaluated one mock applicant on a variety of employment and personality scales. Major findings show a main, usually negative, effect of criminal records status on ratings. Interaction effects show that participants ranked Black applicants with a pending criminal record higher than Whites with a pending record, while the reverse was true when applicants had no criminal record. Social desirability bias, and other possibilities (e.g., heightened socio-political consciousness and identification) – are discussed as possible explanation effects, including absence of prominent race or sex effects. / African American Studies

The research sought to investigate the Critical Excellence Factors (CEFs) that drive Excellence in banking industry. Moreover, it examines whether customers perceive the service of an excellent bank differently from a less-excellent bank. Three hypotheses were formed then tested through case study and survey strategy (triangulation), within the Saudi banking industry context. The study combines the EFQM excellence model as an internal assessment tool (case studies), with the SERVQUAL gap model for external assessment (questionnaires). Analysing and contrasting the two sets of results allowed the study to achieve its main objective. Based on the empirical work, the study identifies several CEFs that must be carefully considered when driving excellence in banking. These factors were proposed in a generic integrated model for driving Excellence in Banking.

Autostereoskopische Monitore ermöglichen das spontane dreidimensionale Betrachten des gezeigten Inhaltes, ohne dass zusätzliche Betrachtungshilfen notwendig sind. Eine solche räumliche Wahrnehmung kann auch für die Kartographie vielfaltige neue Visualisierungsmöglichkeiten bieten. Allerdings wurden dafür bisher kaum Gestaltungsregeln formuliert. Gerade das ist aber notwendig, um das Potential dieser 3D-Monitore richtig nutzen zu können. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Gestaltung kartographischer Inhalte auf autostereoskopischen Monitoren und soll damit einen Beitrag leisten, solche Monitore in naher Zukunft optimal für kartographische Zwecke einsetzen zu können. Nach der Beschreibung des Forschungsstandes hinsichtlich 3D-Visualisierungstechniken und Minimaldimensionen kartographischer Inhalte an Monitoren behandelt die vorliegende Arbeit zwei empirische Untersuchungen. Im ersten Teil werden verschiedene graphische Elemente hinsichtlich ihrer Mindestgröße untersucht. Angelehnt an bereits vorhandene Empfehlungen für 2D-Monitore sowie Untersuchungen an gedruckten Lentikulardisplays werden Schrift, Linien und einfache Zeichen verschiedener Größe bzw. Strichstarke bezüglich ihrer Lesbarkeit an einem Lentikularmonitor getestet. Um eine Mindestgröße sinnvoll festzulegen, soll hierbei das Kriterium erfüllt sein, dass 90 % der Befragten die gezeigten Wörter, Linien bzw. Zeichen in mindestens dieser Größe lesen konnten. Neben den Mindestgrößen wird in dieser ersten Studie zudem die Erkennbarkeit und Unterscheidbarkeit von verschiedenen Tiefenebenen untersucht. Anhand von Positionssignaturen, die sich blockweise in unterschiedlichem Abstand zum Betrachter befinden, d.h. in verschiedenen Tiefenebenen liegen, wird ermittelt, ob und wie gut eine Unterscheidung dieser Ebenen möglich ist. Insgesamt werden in dieser ersten Studie neun Hypothesenpaare überprüft. Die zweite empirische Untersuchung, die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellt wird, befasst sich mit der Wahrnehmungsleistung in thematischen Karten an 2D-Monitoren und an 3D-Monitoren. Anhand von einfach gestalteten thematischen Karten werden die Antwortzeit und die Antwortgenauigkeit bei der Lösung einfacher Aufgaben analysiert. Getestet wird an dem gleichen Monitor, der bereits für die Untersuchung zu den Minimaldimensionen genutzt wurde und vergleichend dazu an einem ähnlich großen 2D-Monitor. In dieser zweiten Studie werden zwei Hypothesenpaare überprüft. Darüber hinaus werden die Ergebnisse mit einer parallel am Geografischen Institut der Ruhr-Universität Bochum stattgefundenen Studie verglichen. Die Projektpartner testeten unter sehr ähnlichen Bedingungen einen zweiten Lentikularmonitor. Anhand des Vergleichs beider Studien werden erste Schlussfolgerungen gezogen, die für eine Gestaltung kartographischer Inhalte an Lentikularmonitoren im Allgemeinen gültig sind. Die Ergebnisse der ersten Untersuchung zeigen, dass die Minimaldimensionen von Schrift, Linien und einfachen Zeichen am untersuchten 3D-Monitor weniger stark von den Empfehlungen für normale 2D-Monitore abweichen als im Vorfeld vermutet wurde. Bei der zweiten Studie hingegen lässt sich anhand der untersuchten thematischen Karte hinsichtlich der Wahrnehmungsleistung schlussfolgern, dass eine Visualisierung am 3D-Monitor zwar keine Verbesserung der Antwortgenauigkeit bewirkt, wohl aber eine deutliche Reduzierung der Antwortdauer. In der zweiten empirischen Untersuchung liegen Daten zu weiteren Testkarten vor, die die in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Ergebnisse verifizieren konnten. In weiterer Analysearbeit sollen diese Erkenntnisse in naher Zukunft zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Darüber hinaus wird empfohlen, die Untersuchungen auf verschiedene 3D-Monitore auszuweiten, um eine Allgemeingültigkeit der ermittelten Erkenntnisse verifizieren zu können bzw. um detailliertere Empfehlungen zur Gestaltung thematischer Inhalte auf 3D-Monitoren geben zu können. / Autostereoscopic monitors allow spontaneous three-dimensional perception of the visualised content without the need of any additional viewing aids. Such a kind of spatial perception can also allow multiple new visualisation options in the field of cartography. So far, there are hardly any rules given for an optimal design of such cartographic visualisations. But, this is essential in order to use the potential of these 3D monitors correctly. Therefore, this work deals with the design of cartographic content on autostereoscopic monitors. Thus, it shall contribute to an optimal use of such a monitor for cartographic purposes in the near future. After describing the state of research regarding 3D visualisation techniques and minimum dimensions of cartographic content on monitors in general, the present work discusses two empirical studies. In the first study, several graphic elements are analysed regarding their minimal legible size. Some lettering, lines and simple symbols are tested regarding their legibility on a monitor which uses the lenticular foil technology. The test patterns are based on existing recommendations for 2D monitors and studies on printed lenticular foil displays. A simple rule was chosen to be able to specify minimum sizes for the tested elements: at least 90 % of the test persons have been able to read the test words, lines or symbols in this size. Furthermore, the first study investigated the ability to differentiate several depth planes. With the help of point symbol blocks which are located in different distances to the viewer, i.e. which are located in different depth planes, it is examined if the participants can differentiate these planes easily. Altogether, nine pairs of hypotheses are analysed during this study. The second empirical study which is presented in this work, deals with the map reading performance in thematic maps visualised on 2D monitors and on 3D monitors. Using thematic maps of simple design the response time and response accuracy are analysed for solving simple map reading tasks. The used 3D monitor was the same as for the first study. Further, the same questions were asked for the thematic maps shown on a normal 2D monitor with nearly the same size as the 3D monitor. In this second study two pairs of hypotheses are analysed. Moreover, the findings are compared with a similar study which was conducted at the Geographic Institute of the Ruhr University Bochum. The project partners tested the thematic maps on a second lenticular monitor under very similar conditions. Based on a comparison of both studies an attempt will be made to draw some conclusions that are generally valid for a design of cartographic content on lenticular monitors. The results of the first study show that for the examined 3D monitor the minimum dimensions of lettering, lines and simple symbols differ less from the recommendations for normal 2D monitors than assumed before the studies. The findings of the second study for map reading efficiency on thematic maps show that the visualisation on a 3D monitor reduces the response time of the questions. However, the correctness of the answers does not improve between the 2D monitor and the 3D monitor. In the second empirical study data of more test maps than used in this work is available. It shall be used in further analyses for trying to verify the results presented here. In addition, it is recommended to extend the studies on different 3D monitors to verify a general applicability of the findings or to give more detailed recommendations for the design of thematic content on 3D monitors.

Les cadriciels et les bibliothèques sont indispensables aux systèmes logiciels d'aujourd'hui. Quand ils évoluent, il est souvent fastidieux et coûteux pour les développeurs de faire la mise à jour de leur code. Par conséquent, des approches ont été proposées pour aider les développeurs à migrer leur code. Généralement, ces approches ne peuvent identifier automatiquement les règles de modification une-remplacée-par-plusieurs méthodes et plusieurs-remplacées-par-une méthode. De plus, elles font souvent un compromis entre rappel et précision dans leur résultats en utilisant un ou plusieurs seuils expérimentaux. Nous présentons AURA (AUtomatic change Rule Assistant), une nouvelle approche hybride qui combine call dependency analysis et text similarity analysis pour surmonter ces limitations. Nous avons implanté AURA en Java et comparé ses résultats sur cinq cadriciels avec trois approches précédentes par Dagenais et Robillard, M. Kim et al., et Schäfer et al. Les résultats de cette comparaison montrent que, en moyenne, le rappel de AURA est 53,07% plus que celui des autre approches avec une précision similaire (0,10% en moins). / Software frameworks and libraries are indispensable to today's software systems. As they evolve, it is often time-consuming for developers to keep their code up-to-date. Approaches have been proposed to facilitate this. Usually, these approaches cannot automatically identify change rules for one-replaced-by-many and many-replaced-by-one methods, and they trade off recall for higher precision using one or more experimentally-evaluated thresholds. We introduce AURA (AUtomatic change Rule Assistant), a novel hybrid approach that combines call dependency and text similarity analyses to overcome these limitations. We implement it in a Java system and compare it on five frameworks with three previous approaches by Dagenais and Robillard, M. Kim et al., and Schäfer et al. The comparison shows that, on average, the recall of AURA is 53.07% higher while its precision is similar (0.10% lower).

Mit Pfeilen lassen sich auf angemessene Weise im Physik- und Mathematikunterricht in verschiedenen Themenbereichen vektorielle Betrachtungen umsetzen. Solche Vektorpfeile stellen ein Symbolsystem dar, mit dem sich Situationen mathematisieren und Probleme modellieren lassen. Ist das Wissen um die Handhabung der Vektorpfeile nicht an spezielle Inhalte und Kontexte gebunden, eröffnen sich für den Agierenden auch in unbekannten, neuen Situationen erweiterte Handlungsoptionen. Vektorpfeile funktionieren dann als sogenannte mentale Werkzeuge. Es war das Ziel der im Mechanikunterricht der Mittelstufe umgesetzten Studie, einen entsprechenden Transfer von Wissen sichtbar zu machen. Die Studie ist als quasiexperimentelle Feldstudie mit drei Treatmentgruppen und einer Baselinegruppe angelegt worden. Die Treatments umfassen mehrstündige Lerneinheiten, in denen das Konzept der Vektorpfeile mit ein, zwei beziehungsweise ohne physikalische Anwendungen der Pfeile gelehrt wurde. Eine erhöhte Anzahl an Anwendungen betont die Inhaltsunabhängigkeit und Flexibilität der Pfeile und vermittelt sie im Sinne eines mentalen Werkzeugs. Hypothesenkonform wird bezüglich einer Skala des Nachtests sichtbar, dass der Unterricht, der mehrere Anwendungen umfasst, zu höheren Leistungen der Probanden bei ihnen unbekannten Anwendungen führt. Außerdem zeigt eine explorative Analyse, dass schwache Probanden besonders vom anwendungsreichen Unterricht profitieren. Es wird jedoch insgesamt deutlich, dass für die Nutzung der Vektorpfeile als mentales Werkzeug weitere Einflussfaktoren eine Rolle spielen. / Arrows can be used in an adequate way to carry out vector calculations in different subject areas of physics and mathematics education. Such vector arrows can be understood as a symbol system with which situations and problems can be modelled mathematically. If the knowledge about the usage of arrows is not attached to specific contents and contexts, additional options arise in new and unknown situations. In this case vector arrows act as so called mental tools. It was the aim of the implemented study to verify such a transfer of knowledge in mechanics education of middle school. The study was designed as a quasi-experimental field study with three treatment groups and one baseline group. The treatments consists of four lessons in which the concept of vector arrows was taught with one, two or without an embodiment of the arrows by physical quantity. An increased number of embodiments emphasizes the independence of contents and the flexibility of the arrows. Thus, arrows become a mental tool. In line with the hypothesis one scale of the post-test shows that the teaching, which involves multiple embodiments of arrows, leads to higher performance related to unknown embodiments.However, it becomes clear, that other factors play a role in the usage of arrows as mental tools.

Submitted by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2017-06-30T18:19:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_GREICE_DE_CARLI_ROMAN_COMPLETO.pdf: 9835425 bytes, checksum: aa605361de91b916006af4710a54365b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-30T18:19:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DIS_GREICE_DE_CARLI_ROMAN_COMPLETO.pdf: 9835425 bytes, checksum: aa605361de91b916006af4710a54365b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-15 / Em fevereiro de 2001, o Manifesto ?gil foi proposto tendo como princ?pio equipes pequenas e co-localizadas. No entanto, ao longo destes 16 anos, a agilidade tamb?m foi posta em pr?tica em outros contextos, como por exemplo: equipes distribu?das e sistemas complexos, utilizando-se o termo "Desenvolvimento ?gil em Larga Escala". N?o h? uma defini??o clara e compreensiva de como a agilidade est? presente neste contexto. Assim, nosso trabalho preenche essa lacuna com o objetivo de caracterizar a agilidade no Desenvolvimento ?gil em Larga Escala. Neste trabalho, realizou-se um estudo organizado em duas fases. Na Fase 1, denominada Base Te?rica, realizamos um estudo do estado-da-arte da ?rea. Na Fase 2, denominado Estudo Emp?rico, n?s realizamos duas investiga??es: um estudo de campo em uma empresa ?gil em larga escala, para identificar o desenvolvimento durante o processo de transforma??o da empresa para esta nova abordagem e, um grupo focal, para identificar como as equipes ?geis em larga escala que v?m utilizando os m?todos ?geis o quanto se percebem em termos de aspectos de maturidade ?gil. Estes resultados contribuem para os pesquisadores e profissionais entenderem melhor como a agilidade e definida e percebida nestes grandes ambientes. O conhecimento e ?til para aqueles que querem entender como o desenvolvimento ?gil se adapta a tais ambientes e para pesquisadores com o objetivo de se aprofundar sobre o tema. / The Agile Manifesto was proposed in February 2001 having in mind small and collocated teams. However, agile has also been put in practice in other settings (e.g. large teams, distributed teams, complex systems) under the term ?Large-Scale Agile Development' (LSAD). There is no clear definition for and understanding of how agility is present in this setting. Thus, our work fills in this gap aiming to characterize agility in LSAD. We conducted a study organized in two phases. In Phase 1, named Theoretical Base, we conducted the state-of-the-art of the area. In Phase 2, named Empirical Study, we conducted two investigations: a field study in a large-scale agile company to identify how agility was developed during the transformation process of the company to this new approach, and a focus group to identify how large-scale agile teams that have been using agile for a certain while perceive themselves in terms of maturity in agile aspects. Findings contribute to researchers and professionals better understand how agility is defined and perceived in large settings. This knowledge is useful for those who want to enter the agile journey in such similar environments and for researchers aiming to further explore the topic.