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Yes / The trust and confidence of citizens in their governments has been declining in recent decades. Electronic government (e-government) is seen as a means to reverse this trend. Despite conflicting conclusions in the literature, there is a consensus that e-government-led transformation can improve citizen confidence and trust in government. This research investigates the influence of e-government-led transformation on citizen trust and confidence in the context of a developing country, the Kingdom of Bahrain. A conceptual model is developed, tested and validated using an online survey targeting ordinary citizens of the country. Based on 313 responses, the findings suggest that citizen trust and confidence is positively influenced by a government transformation, and this relationship is mediated by both government performance and citizen satisfaction. In addition, the results show that key factors must be met to achieve transformed government through the use of e-government systems: transparency, accountability, and meeting citizens’ expectations.

Yes / In light of the heterogeneity of scholarly publications on the subject of transformational government (T-Gov), this paper examines research trends and assesses methodologies used to investigate the topic with the aim of analysing directions for future research. A comprehensive analysis of T-government research published in four Chartered Association of Business Schools ranked journals within the field of Public Administration, e-Government and Information System is presented. The paper outlines research directions for further inquiry to promote the formulation of much needed theoretical constructs and approaches to research that would help bridge the existing gaps in knowledge in the area of T-Gov.

Yes / For the development of applications and novel uses for peptide nanostructures, robust routes for their surface functionalization, that ideally do not interfere with their self‐assembly properties, are required. Many existing methods rely on covalent functionalization, where building blocks are appended with functional groups, either pre‐ or post‐assembly. A facile supramolecular approach is demonstrated for the formation of functionalized nanofibers by combining the advantages of biocatalytic self‐assembly and surfactant/gelator co‐assembly. This is achieved by enzymatically triggered reconfiguration of free flowing micellar aggregates of pre‐gelators and functional surfactants to form nanofibers that incorporate and display the surfactants’ functionality at the surface. Furthermore, by varying enzyme concentration, the gel stiffness and supramolecular organization of building blocks can be varied. / FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission. Grant Number: 289723; EPSRC; HFSP; ERC; Leverhulme Trust

This report examines how digitalization affects payment and settlement institutions that conductcurrency exchanges, which are their main business activities. The focus is on strategies used toadapt to the decline in cash usage. The study aims to analyze the challenges and opportunitiesthat digitalization presents companies within this sector. To conduct the study, a qualitativemethod was adopted, based on semi-structured interviews with key representatives of thepayment institution and an analysis of corporate yearly financial statement. The theoreticalbasis of the study includes the theory of digital transformation and organizational adaptation.Analysis shows that digitization requires extensive technical and strategic coordination.Payment institutions need not only to improve their technical systems, but also to develop newbusiness models to remain competitive. The results suggest that successful adaptation requiresa balance between technical upgrades and changes in internal thinking. / Denna rapport undersöker hur digitaliseringen påverkar de betalningsinstitutioner vars huvudsakliga verksamhet innefattar att ägna sig åt valutahandel. Fokuset ligger på de strategier som används för att anpassa företaget till en framtid där användningen av kontanter har minskat. Studien syftar till att analysera de största utmaningarna och möjligheterna som digitaliseringen innebär för verksamheten inom denna bransch. För att utföra denna studie genomfördes en kvalitativ metod baserad på semi-strukturerade intervjuer med nyckelpersoner från en av betalningsinstitutionerna och en analys av företagets årsredovisning. Teoretiska utgångspunkter i denna studie inkluderar teorier om digital transformation och anpassningsarbetet inom organisationen. Analysen visar att digitalisering kräver omfattande tekniska och strategiska omställningar. Betalningsinstitutionerna måste inte bara förbättra sina tekniska system utan också utveckla nya affärsmodeller för att förbli konkurrenskraftiga. Resultaten tyder på att framgångsrik anpassning kräver en balans mellan teknisk uppgradering och ett förändrat mindset inom företaget.

De la première mention d'une masse pour les neutrinos par B. Pontecorvo en 1957 jusqu'aux récentes expériences sur les neutrinos, la mise en évidence de leur comportement oscillatoire pointe vers la nécessité d'une physique au-delà du modèle standard. Heureusement, l'oscillation des neutrinos n'apporte pas uniquement son lot de problèmes ; ce phénomène, pouvant être expliqué par l'existence d'une masse pour ces particules, mène également à une piste de solution quant à la brisure de la symétrie CP. En considérant des masses aux neutrinos, il devient possible d'expliquer cette brisure de symétrie de la même manière que pour les quarks, c'està-dire par la présence de phases dans les matrices de mélange. Cependant, l'étude de ces phases n'est pas révélatrice de la brisure de la symétrie CP puisque celles-ci dépendent de la paramétrisation utilisée pour la matrice de mélange. De plus, les quantités qui sauraient remplir un tel rôle devraient également être invariantes sous changement de base. C'est pour répondre à ces besoins qu'en 1985, Jarlskog a développé un formalisme plus adéquat basé sur des quantités nommées invariants de rephasage qui sont l'objet principal de ce projet de recherche. Les objectifs sont de calculer et de déterminer les propriétés des distributions de ces invariants dans le cadre du principe anarchique. Ce cadre théorique permet l'étude des entrées de la matrice PMNS sans qu'aucune symétrie ne soit initialement imposée de sorte que celles-ci y apparaissent aléatoires à basse énergie. Il est possible de conclure que la mesure de Haar, qui apparaît naturellement à partir du principe anarchique, est susceptible de reproduire la matrice PMNS à basses énergies. On développe alors un formalisme permettant l'étude des distributions des invariants de rephasage sous la mesure de Haar. De là, on montre que pour un nombre fixe de générations de neutrinos, tous les invariants de rephasage d'un même type possèdent la même distribution sous la mesure de Haar. Puis, on calcule les distributions des invariants de rephasage quadratiques et quartiques sous cette même mesure à partir d'une nouvelle approche passant par la transformée de Mellin. On obtient alors des résultats complètement analytiques dont les implications physiques en fonction du nombre de générations de neutrinos sont finalement discutées. / From the first mention of massive neutrinos by Pontecorvo in 1957 to recent experiments with neutrinos, the demonstration of their oscillatory behavior indicates the need for a physics beyond the standard model. One way to solve neutrinos oscillation is by adding a mass to these particles. Fortunately, this deviation from the physics of the Standard Model is the solution to another problem, CP violation. Assuming massive neutrinos, one can add phases to the mixing matrix and then explain CP violation in the same way as for quarks. Those phases cannot inform about the amplitude of the CP violation since they depend on the chosen parametrization for the PMNS matrix, and they are not invariant under change of basis. That is why in 1985, Jarlskog developed a new formalism based on basis invariant quantity namely the rephasing invariants. This memoir aims to study those phases in the context of the anarchy principle. In this theoretical framework, the elements of the PMNS matrix are studied without any constraints being imposed on them so that they appear random in the low energy limit. It is possible to conclude that the Haar measure, which follows naturally from the anarchy principle, is likely to reproduce the PMNS matrix at low energies. A formalism is therefore developed to study the rephasing invariants under this measure. Moreover, we show that all the rephasing invariants of the same type have the same probability density function under the Haar measure for a fixed number of neutrinos. From these results, the probability density functions for all types of rephasing invariants under the Haar measure are easily obtained for an arbitrary number of neutrinos. Finally, the physical implications of our analytical results in terms of neutrino generation number are discussed.

Tableau d'honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2015-2016 / La formule de Schwarz–Christoffel permet de trouver une transformation conforme entre un domaine polygonal et un disque. Par contre, cette formule ne s’applique qu’aux domaines simplement connexes. Récemment, Darren Crowdy a obtenu une généralisation de cette formule pour les domaines multiplement connexes. Celle-ci envoie des domaines circulaires sur des domaines polygonaux. Ce mémoire vise à faire la démonstration de la formule développée par Crowdy. Pour ce faire, il faudra définir la fonction de Schottky–Klein ainsi que la fonction de Green modifiée. Il faudra aussi introduire les domaines canoniques.

In modern gas turbines, with the increase of inlet gas temperature to raise thework output, the importance of accurate aero-thermal analysis has become of vitalimportance. These analysis are required for temperature prediction throughoutthe turbine and to predict the thermal stresses and to estimate the cooling requiredfor each component.In the past 20 years, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods have becomea powerfool tool aero-thermal analysis. Due to reasons including numericallimitation, flow complications caused by blade row interactions and the effect offilm cooling, using simple steady state CFD methods may result in inaccuratepredictions. Even though employing transient simulations can improve the accuracyof the simulations, it will also greatly increase the simulation time and cost.Therefore, new methods are constantly being developed to increase the accuracywhile keeping the computational costs relatively low. Investigating some of thesedeveloped methods is one of the main purposes of this study.A simplification that has long been applied in gas turbine simulations hasbeen the absence of cooling cavities. Another part of this thesis will focus onthe effect of cooling cavities and the importance of including them in the domain.Therefore, all transient and steady state simulations have been examined for twocases; a simplified case and a detailed case. The results are then compared tothe experimental measurements to evaluate the importance of their presence inthe model. The software used to perform all simulations is the commercial codeANSYS CFX 15.The findings suggest that even though including cooling cavities would improvethe results, the simulations should be run in transient. One important finding wasthat when performing transient simulations, especially the Time Transformationmethod, not only is the pitch ratio between every subsequent blade row important,but also the pitch ratio between the stators is highly influential on the accuracyof the results.

This research comprises a comparative examination of the transformation of Afrikaans and Dutch youth narratives into drama texts. Attention has been paid to the story elements embodied in various narratives and dramas, and, in addition, to aspects related to narrative and drama. By means of the comparison of the constants and variants with regard to the four texts, the possibility of creating a transformation model has been examined. The transformation model derived from the research, is applicable, firstly, to the narratives and drama texts upon which this study has been based. It is therefore presented as a conception for the conversion of a narrative text into a drama text, but the uniqueness of each separate narrative is taken into consideration; hence the model is not prescriptive, and it is assumed that the model may be adjusted in line with each adaptation. The comparison is effected between Afrikaans and Dutch texts, in view of the existence in the Low Countries of an established culture of bookshops, publishers and theatrical companies, focused on youth literature and theatre. Some publishers and bookshops, moreover, exclusively publish and sell youth narratives and dramas. Theatre productions aimed at children and young adults are plentiful, and attract a large percentage of young people. Should the fact that some theatres specialise in youth theatre productions be taken into account, also, the contrast and the gaps pertaining to the Afrikaans literary system are marked. The research in respect of the transformation of prose texts into drama texts has identified those procedures employed to adapt the narrative aspects (narrator, focalization, character, event, time and space) in such a way that it is reconcilable with the unique nature of the dramatic aspects (didascalia, dialogue, character, action, time and space). By virtue of the transformation of youth narratives into drama texts (with the purpose of the eventual performance thereof), the adolescent reader is made aware in a different manner of the value of narrative. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003