The focus of this paper is on cross-region R&D collaboration funded by the 5th EU Framework Programme (FP5). The objective is to measure distance, institutional, language and technological barrier effects that may hamper collaborative activities between European regions. Particular emphasis is laid on measuring discrepancies between two types of collaborative R&D activities, those generating output in terms of scientific publications and those that do not. The study area is composed of 255 NUTS-2 regions that cover the pre-2007 member states of the European Union (excluding Malta and Cyprus) as well as Norway and Switzerland. We employ a negative binomial spatial interaction model specification to address the research question, along with an eigenvector spatial filtering technique suggested by Fischer and Griffith (2008) to account for the presence of network autocorrelation in the origin-destination cooperation data. The study provides evidence that the role of geographic distance as collaborative deterrent is significantly lower if collaborations generate scientific output. Institutional barriers do not play a significant role for collaborations with scientific output. Language and technological barriers are smaller but the estimates indicate no significant discrepancies between the two types of collaborative R&D activities that are in focus of this study. (authors' abstract) / Series: Working Papers in Regional Science

Le domaine de l'interaction fluide-structure regroupe l'étude de tous les phénomènes présentant le couplage du mouvement d'une structure avec celui d'un fluide. La gamme des phénomènes étudiés est très étendue, allant de l'étude de cylindres vibrants dans des écoulements comme c'est le cas dans l'industrie nucléaire, à des structures vibrantes dans des écoulements turbulents, en passant par des phénomènes de surface libre dans des réservoirs. Cependant, la complexité des phénomènes étudiés se répercute par des coûts de calculs prohibitifs, ce qui nous amène à rechercher des modèles réduits dont le temps de calcul serait plus réaliste. Dans cette thèse, on va présenter les différents modèles d'interaction fluide-structure et on va mettre en avant le modèle adopté dans notre étude. La réduction du modèle ainsi que l'optimisation des structures vont être introduites dans un contexte de couplage. En introduisant les incertitudes, l'étude fiabiliste de même qu'une approche d'optimisation basée fiabilité vont être proposées. Les différentes méthodologies adoptées vont être validées numériquement et comparées expérimentalement / The domain of the fluid-structure interaction includes the study of all phenomena presenting the coupling of the motion of a structure with the one of a fluid. The range of the phenomena being studied is very extensive, going from the study of vibrating cylinders in the flow as is the case in the nuclear industry, to vibrating structures in turbulent flows, through the free surface phenomena in reservoirs. However, the complexity of the phenomena studied is reflected by the cost of the prohibitive calculations, which leads us to look for models with the computation time would be more realistic. In this thesis, we will present different models of fluid-structure interaction and we will put forward the model adopted in our study. Reducing the model as well as the optimization of the structures will be introduced into a coupling setting. By introducing uncertainties, the reliability study as well as an optimization based reliability approach will be proposed. The different methodologies adopted will be validated numerically and experimentally compared

[pt] Devido à popularização dos computadores pessoais, torna-se cada vez mais importante construir interfaces de usuário com alta usabilidade, levando em consideração as características, preferências e necessidades dos usuários. Diversos modelos têm sido propostos para lidar com a complexidade do projeto de interação humano-computador (IHC). No entanto, a maioria destes modelos englobam elementos que deveriam ser contemplados por modelos distintos. Além disto, geralmente baseados em teorias cognitivas, eles se concentram no indivíduo interagindo com uma aplicação, sem explorar o fato de que a aplicação é produto de um processo racional de tomadas de decisão conduzido por um projetista. Esta lacuna é preenchida pela Engenharia Semiótica, uma teoria de IHC que considera a interface como uma mensagem enviada pelo projetista aos usuários. Esta mensagem representa a solução do projetista ao que ele acredita que sejam as necessidades e preferências dos usuários. Nesta mensagem, ele diz aos usuários o que tinha em mente ao conceber a aplicação. No âmbito desta teoria, este trabalho estende a representação de cenários, adapta um modelo de tarefas existente e propõe um modelo de interação. O objetivo é que estas representações sirvam como ferramentas epistêmicas que apóiem a reflexão do projetista sobre a solução interativa sendo concebida. Foi conduzido um estudo de caso para obter indícios sobre o uso dos modelos de tarefas e interação propostos, em comparação com a abordagem CTT, amplamente difundida em IHC. / [en] Due to the propagation of personal computers, it is increasingly important to build highly usable user interfaces, taking into account users characteristics, preferences, and needs. Diverse models have been proposed to cope with the complexity of human-computer interaction (HCI) design. However, most of them deal at once with elements that should be addressed by distinct models. Moreover, many of these models are based on cognitive theories, which focus mainly on the individual interacting with an application, without exploring the fact that an application is the product of a rational decision-making process carried out by a designer. This gap is dealt with by Semiotic Engineering, a theory of HCI which views the interface as a designer-to-users message, representing the designers solution to what he believes are the users problems, needs, and preferences. In this message, he is telling users, directly or indirectly, what he had in mind when he conceived the application. Within Semiotic Engineering, this work extends scenarios, adapts an existing task model and builds a model which treats interaction as conversation. Our goal is to conceive models and representations that serve, each under a clear perspective, as epistemic tools that support the designers reflection about the interactive solution being conceived. A small case study was conducted to evaluate the quality of an interactive solution designed using the proposed task and interaction models, in comparison with CTT, a widely used task model.

The aim of this study is to gain insight into the leadership processes and dynamics operative in the early Pauline churches. The study is based on Paul’s Early Letters (i.e. 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 & 2 Corinthians, and Romans) and uses a combination of socio-historical and exegetical approaches. The idea that leadership in the early Pauline churches was determined by wealth, social status, and patronage is prominent in the literature, and is examined in detail. Recent research on the economic stratification of first-century Graeco-Roman society challenges the idea that leadership in the early Pauline churches was exercised by wealthy patrons. It can be observed in the Early Letters that Paul’s leadership role was the most prominent one, and that other leaders, both local and itinerant, were regarded as his coworkers. The study therefore examines Paul’s thinking about his own leadership role, especially his ministry aims and methods. Two aims stand out: (a) that believers appear blameless at the return of Christ; and (b) that the body of Christ be built up. Paul saw himself as an apostle and as God’s coworker; he was convinced that the gospel, as God’s power for salvation, received through faith, was the means by which these aims would be accomplished. Therefore his ministry was first and foremost a ministry of the gospel which aimed to establish people in faith. Passages relating to Paul’s coworkers show that they were ministers of the gospel in their own right, and that they shared in all aspects of Paul’s ministry except those pertaining specifically to his apostleship. Paul often refers to his ministry as a grace that he has received from God. The ministry of others is similarly understood in terms of grace (Rom 12:3-6). This observation leads to a study of divine equipping in the ministry of Paul and his coworkers. I conclude that, for Paul, the work of the Holy Spirit in empowering leaders and making their work effective was fundamental to authentic ministry/leadership. Finally, theoretical perspectives from leadership studies and social psychology are used to bring conceptual unity to the exegetical results. A definition of leadership is formulated and the wellknown power/interaction model of French and Raven is adapted and used to analyse leadership in the early Pauline churches. The aim is to understand both theological and socio-historical aspects of leadership and how they interacted in the early Pauline communities. I conclude that leadership in these communities entailed a social process in which the most important forms of influence were spiritual and empowering. A local leadership role had begun to develop, but was not yet formalized into an official structure. Overall, I conclude that the gospel of Jesus Christ, as God’s power for the salvation of all who believe, was the central dynamic of leadership in the early Pauline churches. / PhD (New Testament), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

With the ever-increasing trend in the number of social interactions getting intermediated by technology (the world wide web) as the backdrop, this thesis focuses on the design of mechanisms for online communities (crowds) which strive to come together, albeit in ad-hoc fashion, to achieve a social objective. Two examples of such web-based social communities which are of central concern in this thesis are crowdsourcing markets and crowdfunding platforms. For these settings which involve strategic human agents, we design mechanisms that incentivize contributions (effort, funds, or information) from the crowd and aggregate these contributions to achieve the specified objective. Our work is thus concerned with the challenge of designing mechanisms which encourage social coordination and cooperation among large groups of (of-ten) anonymous users to achieve group efficiency (social welfare). We address the following four related challenges: • Can we design mechanisms to solve the free-rider problem in public goods settings? Can large anonymous groups of individuals be incentivized to contribute to create public goods? • Can we design mechanisms that harness social networks to achieve coordination of contributions towards a public good to ensure that publicly desirable goods are successfully funded via private contributions? How do we make such mechanisms fair • Can we design mechanisms that improve the efficiency of markets by expanding the set of individuals who participate in the market? Can these individuals be incentivized to increase the group efficiency and, if so, at what cost? • Can we design mechanisms that make crowdsourcing markets more equitable by offering participation opportunities to novices and higher incentives to agents with high reliability? What is the price of reliability? Using mechanism design as the principal design tool, the thesis attempts to offer rigorous solutions to the above challenges

Det fria kriget är ett doktrinärt begrepp som beskriver hur svaga avskurna reguljära förband ska genomföra sin krigföring. Det finns ingen entydig teori som kan förklara vad som leder till framgång i denna form av krigföring då den teoretiskt ligger mellan forskningsområdena landkrigföring och små krig. Denna teoriutvecklande uppsats gör en ansats att från land- och gerillakrigföringsteorier utveckla en teori för att förklara framgångsfaktorer för det fria kriget. Teoriutvecklingen sker genom att en hypotes tas fram genom en hypotetisk-deduktiv metod. Hypotesen operationaliseras och prövas i en tvåfallstudie. Prövningen leder till en förfinad hypotes som kan anses vara en normativ teori som förklarar hur framgång i det fria kriget kan nås. Teorin för att förklara ett framgångsrikt förande av fria kriget: Genom att utsätta motståndaren för ett taktiskt dilemma med ett hot på djupet, kan tid skapas för den egna strategiska nivån genom motståndarens kraftsplittring eller kulmination. Indirekt metod används för att kompensera för asymmetrin i styrkeförhållanden. Genom att slå mot identifierade svaga delar och kommunikationer skapas möjligheter till att nå lokal överlägsenhet. Dessa svaga delar påverkar motståndarens förmåga till krigföring och därmed kan tid skapas på den strategiska nivån. Terrängens möjlighet för att ge skydd och uthållighet samt dess förutsättningar för den svage att kompensera asymmetrin är avgörande för det avskurna förbandets uthållighet. Genom att anpassa förbandet och styra med uppdragstaktik kan sannolikt leda till framgång i det fria kriget. Denna teori ger en förklaring till framgång men behöver ytterligare prövning då delar av förklaringen kan ligga i för uppsatsen avgränsade områden.

The aim of this study is to investigate the interaction in sign language in a classroom in the special school for deaf and hard of hearing pupils. Three questions are of particular interest: What characterizes interaction in educational situations where the whole class is present compared to half the class and when the pupils in small groups are solving problems given by the teacher? How are a hearing and a deaf teacher interacting in the classroom? And How are boys and girls interacting in different educational situations? Theoretically the study is based on an educational interaction model. Of particular interest in this model are restrictive and permissive aspects of teaching and factors stimulating pupil participation. Symbolic interactionism has been used in the interpretation of face-to-face interaction in sign language. Video recordings of classroom interaction in natural sciences were documented in a class in the special school comprising 17 pupils and three teachers. A total of seven lessons were recorded consisting of whole class teaching, half class teaching and problem solving in small groups. Of the pupils ten were girls and seven were boys and of the teachers one was hearing and one was deaf. The third teacher was only temporarily in the class and was not included in the analysis. The recorded material was transcribed and analyzed in six steps. The results show that the teachers are most restrictive in whole class teaching while there is more participation from the pupils in half class teaching. In the small group problem solving the teachers seem to be more interested in the group process than in getting an answer to the problem. This gives a lot of room for individual actions and interaction of a relational kind rather than educational. There tend to be some visible differences between the hearing and the deaf teacher. The former uses a more individual approach towards the pupils, I-Gaze, which leaves room for the pupils to be engaged in other activities. The deaf teacher on the other hand keeps all the pupils engaged by using a group approach, G-Gaze. Other differences are the use of literacy tools where the deaf teacher situates the material and keeps the attention of the pupils by telling a narrative. Concerning differences between boys and girls it is evident that the boys are more dominant in whole class and half class interactions while the girls tend to take over the teacher role in small group interaction. These results are discussed in relation to theoretical background and research on classroom interaction in the compulsory school and in schools for deaf pupils.

[pt] A área de Computer Supported Collaborative Work (Trabalho Colaborativo Apoiado por Computador) se foca na compreensão de sistemas colaborativos e em metodologias para o projeto e desenvolvimento desses sistemas. O Modelo 3C divide o processo de colaboração em comunicação, coordenação e cooperação. Na área de Interação Humano-Computador, diferentes modelos de interação buscam auxiliar o designer no projeto de interação dos usuários com o sistema, através de sua interface. A Engenharia Semiótica contribui com propostas de modelos de interação como um processo baseado na comunicação, como é o caso da MoLIC, uma linguagem que permite definir a interação entre usuário e preposto do designer (interface). A MoLIC atualmente não dá suporte para a modelagem de sistemas colaborativos, apontando a necessidade de um trabalho que considere estas limitações, endereçando questões que buscam o entendimento do design de interação de sistemas colaborativos com base no Modelo 3C utilizando a MoLIC. O presente trabalho apresenta uma revisão da MoLIC com foco em sistemas colaborativos, apresentando a extensão MoLICC (MoLIC Colaborativa), cuja eficácia para o design de sistemas colaborativos foi avaliada através de um estudo empírico com usuários e uma análise da linguagem utilizando um framework de dimensões cognitivas de notações. / [en] The field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work focuses on the understanding of collaborative systems and methodologies for the design and development of such systems. The 3C Collaboration Model divides the collaboration process into communication, coordination and cooperation. Regarding Human-Computer Interaction, different interaction models aim to support designers in the user and system interaction design. Semiotic Engineering views the design and use of technology as communication processes. It contributes with interaction design models, such as MoLIC, a language that supports the design of the interaction between the user and the designer s deputy (the user interface). The original MoLIC language provides no support for collaborative systems design, raising the need for a study that considers these limitations, addressing questions in order to understand the interaction design of collaborative systems based on the 3C Model using MoLIC. The present work presents a review on MoLIC focusing collaborative systems, presenting the extension MoLICC, whose effectiveness for collaborative systems design we evaluated by conducting an empirical study with users and analyzing the language using the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework.

This research paper is submitted to the Department of Geography in fulfillment of the requirements of Geography 4C6. / This study examined the trade area of a Hamilton restaurant in an attempt to determine the relevance of theoretical models in predicting trade areas based on delivery records. Through the use of four trade area models, a comparative study was devise for 'Chicago Style Pizza' restaurant. The findings were based on delivery records. Since delivery records were used, the distance factor that is used in most models is eliminated. The models that were used were a population demand, Market Penetration Model, Intervening Opportunity Model and a Spatial Interaction Model. The use of a Geographical Information System was used to predict surface demands for the Market Penetration Model and the Spatial Interaction Model. It was determined that classical models of trade area analysis had only a slight relevance in delimitating the trade areas of the store in question when compared to the actual trade area of 'Chicago Style' based on delivery records. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Uganda is well endowed with economic quantities of mineral salts present in the interstitial brines and evaporite deposits of Lake Katwe, a closed (endorheic) saline lake located in the western branch of the great East African rift valley. Currently, rudimentally and artisanal methods continue to be used for salt extraction from the lake raw materials. These have proved to be risky and unsustainable to the salt miners and the environment and they have a low productivity and poor product quality. This work involves the investigation of the salt raw materials that naturally occur in the brines and evaporites of Lake Katwe. The purpose is to propose strategies for the extraction of improved salt products for the domestic and commercial industry in Uganda. The literature concerning the occurrence of salt and the most common available technologies for salt extraction was documented. Also, field investigations were undertaken to characterize the salt lake deposits and to assess the salt processing methods and practices. The mineral salt raw materials (brines and evaporites) were characterized to assess their quality in terms of the physical, chemical, mineralogical, and morphological composition through field and laboratory analyses. An evaluation of the potential of future sustainable salt extraction from the lake deposits was done through field, experimental, and modeling methods. Moreover, the mineral solubilities in the lake brine systems and dissolution kinetics aspects were investigated. The results reveal that the salt lake raw materials contain substantial amounts of salt, which can be commercialized to enable an optimum production. The brines are highly alkaline and rich in Na+, K+, Cl-, SO42-, CO32-, and HCO3-. Moreover, they contain trace amounts of Mg2+, Ca2+, Br-, and F-. The lake is hydro-chemically of a carbonate type with the brines showing an intermediate transition between Na-Cl and Na-HCO3 water types. Also, the evaporation-crystallization is the main mechanism controlling the lake brine chemistry. These evaporites are composed of halite mixed with other salts such as hanksite, burkeite, trona etc, but with a composition that varies considerably within the same grades. The laboratory isothermal extraction experiments indicate that various types of economic salts such as thenardite, anhydrite, mirabilite, burkeite, hanksite, gypsum, trona, halite, nahcolite, soda ash, and thermonatrite exist in the brine of Lake Katwe. In addition, the salts were found to crystallize in the following the sequence: sulfates, chlorides, and carbonates. A combination of results from the Pitzer’s ion-interaction model in PHREEQC and experimental data provided a valuable insight into the thermodynamic conditions of the brine and the sequence of salt precipitation during an isothermal evaporation. A good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results of the mineral solubilities in the lake brine systems was observed with an average deviation ranging between 8-28%. The understanding of the mineral solubility and sequence of salt precipitation from the brine helps to control its evolution during concentration. Hence, it will lead to an improved operating design scheme of the current extraction processes. The dissolution rate of the salt raw materials was found to increase with an increased temperature, agitation speed and to decrease with an increased particle size and solid-to-liquid ratio. Moreover, the Avrami model provided the best agreement with the obtained experimental data (R2 = 0.9127-0.9731). In addition, the dissolution process was found to be controlled by a diffusion mechanism, with an activation energy of 33.3 kJ/mol. Under natural field conditions, the evaporative-crystallization process at Lake Katwe is influenced by in-situ weather conditions. Especially, the depth of the brine layer in the salt pans and the temperature play a significant role on the brine evaporation rates. With the optimal use of solar energy, it was established that the brine evaporation flux can be speeded up in the salt pans, which could increase the production rates. Moreover, recrystallization can be a viable technique to improve the salt product purity. Overall, it is believed that the current work provides useful information on how to exploit the mineral salts from the salt lake resources in the future. / <p>QC 20151217</p>