Workflow systems orchestrate various business tasks to attain an objective. Web services can be leveraged to handle individual tasks. Before anyone intends to leverage service components, it is imperative and essential to evaluate the trustworthiness of these services. Therefore, choosing a trustworthy service has become an important decision while designing a workflow system. Trustworthiness can be defined as the likelihood of a service functioning as it is intended. Selection of a service that satisfies business goals involves collecting relevant information such as security mechanisms, reliability, performance and availability. It is important to arrive at total trustworthiness, which incorporates all of the above mentioned multi-facet values relevant to a service. These values can be gathered and analyzed to derive the total trustworthiness of a service. Measuring trustworthiness of a service involves arriving at a suitable value that would help an end-user make a decision for the given business settings. The primary focus of this thesis is to gather relevant details and measure trustworthiness based on inputs provided by the user. A conceptual model was developed after extensive literature review to identify factors that influence trustworthiness of a service. A mechanism was created to gather concept values for a given service and utilize those values to calculate trustworthiness index value. A proof-of-concept prototype was also developed. The prototype is a web-based application that implements the mechanism to measure the trustworthiness of the service. The prototype was evaluated using a scenario-based analysis method to demonstrate the utility of the trustworthiness mechanism using three different scenarios. Results of the evaluation shows that trustworthiness is a multidimensional concept, the relevant conceptual values can be collected, a trustworthiness index value can be calculated based on the gathered concepts, and a trustworthiness index can be interpreted to select the most relevant service for a given requirement.

Tandhygienistyrket är en relativt ung profession. Munhälsovården har ännu inte uppnått professionellt status som yrkesverksamhet. Inte heller har tandhygienistens disciplin – munhälsovetenskapen- status som vetenskaplig disciplin. Det som har saknats har framför allt varit teoribildning inom munhälsovård/munhälsovetenskap.1983 publicerades den första begreppsmodellen inom munhälsovård – The Human Needs Conceptual Model for Dental Hygiene – konstruerad av M L Darby (BSDH, MS) och M M Walsh (MS,EdD). Ett viktigt steg i en disciplins teoribildningsprocess är emellertid att begreppsmodeller analyseras och utvärderas. Då kan begreppsmodellens bidrag till professionaliseringsprocessen och utvecklingen av disciplinens vetenskapliga status bedömas.Föreliggande studie analyserar och utvärderar Darbys och Walsh’ begreppsmodell. Syftet är att beskriva och analysera de förutsättningar som begreppsmodellen vilar på samt att beskriva och utvärdera de förusättningar som begreppsmodellen har att fungera som ett ramverk vid forskning, praktik, utbildning och administration för tandhygienister.Beskrivningen av analysen och utvärderingen utgår från hermeneutisk tolkning där J Fawcetts instrument för analys och utvärdering av begreppsmodeller använts som tolkningsram.Studien utgår från ett vårdvetenskapligt perspektiv som bland annat betraktar munhälsovetenskap som en gren av vårdvetenskap där en kärna av kunskaper, färdigheter och attityder ses som gemensamma för alla de vårdande professioner där vårdandets humanistiska dimension är viktigare än dess tekniska dimension. Likaså utgår den från att munhälsovårdens främsta syfte är att främja hälsa, inte att förebygga eller bota sjukdom.Studien visar att Darbys och Walsh’ begreppsmodell är baserad på en behovsteoretisk grund. Detta medför en världsbild där människan befinner sig i en växelverkande interaktion med sin omgivning. Vidare innebär detta att munhälsovårdens unika fokus är klientens behov och att tandhygienistens uppgift är att reducera spänningar inom det system som klienten utgör. Begreppsmodellens behovsteoretiska grund är dockotydligt beskriven och därför är den svår att använda. Begreppsmodellens innehåll är också dåligt utvecklat på det sättet att den endast kan användas som ramverk för praktiken då den saknar riktlinjer för forskning, utbildning och administration.Darbys och Walsh’ begreppsmodell kan därför endast användas i den praktiska verksamheten och då av de tandhygienister som har ett livs- och yrkesparadigm som är baserat på behovsteori.Däremot bedöms begreppsmodellens bidrag till munhälsovetenskapen som mycket stort eftersom den är den första begreppsmodell som skapas och på så sätt öppnar vägen för fortsatt teoribildning inom tandhygienistens disciplin.

The implementation of electronic business (e-business) in organisations has led to a major improvement in business performance in both developed and developing countries. This improvement as well as market forces have put pressure on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt e-business. However, the e-business models adopted by SMEs are often abstruse and poorly represented, which leads to time consumption and miscommunication between the stakeholders involved, the business operations and Information Technology (IT) functions. These unclear e-business models make it difficult to evaluate its value. This research examines the elements necessary for this e-business value creation and draws from different disciplines and theories to create a comprehensive model for e-business evaluation in Southern African SMEs. Most studies done on e-business in Southern Africa have been found to be on challenges of technology, a lack of resources such as financial and user capabilities and challenges in business processes. Some gaps in the e-business literature have been found to exist on issues of alignment of business mission and strategy, entrepreneurial drive and management capabilities. The study adopted Gerbner’s theory of communication exchange for the data collection strategy and process, which posits that by studying the events of the communication exchange, one can infer about the state of the systems engaged in the exchange and their relationships. Consequently quantitative website content analysis of 100 Southern African SMEs was conducted to determine their e-business value. The results revealed that an SME that comprises of a properly aligned business mission and strategy, business processes that are enabled by e-business, an entrepreneurship orientation, management capabilities and employees as well as technology integration will achieve ebusiness value. This was seen by a positive influence of 68% on e-business value from these elements. Conversely 32% of this influence is from external elements, and future studies could explore more elements that influence e-business value. Also, a small employee size was found to not be a hindrance of e-business value. Lastly, overall infrastructural e-readiness is the same in Botswana and South Africa, which refutes claims that e-readiness is higher in South Africa than the rest of the Southern African countries. However, SMEs in Botswana lag behind when it comes to technological aspects such as technology equipment, successfully integrating their systems within the businesses; and their IT in their entire businesses and networks, forming technology interdependencies of processes with external businesses, and using online means to transfer information to clients/customers. The developed model (EBVE model) could help (1) stakeholders investigate, communicate and make appropriate decisions and (2) aid SMEs to successfully integrate e-business in their business processes and practices.

Growing regions and tighter zoning in urban areas are pushing the hydrological bal-ances to establish new equilibriums which are causing a stress on the groundwater. Urbanization can affect the groundwater in several ways in which both raising and lowering of groundwater tables are a possibility. Both ways, sudden changes may bring on socioeconomic costs for the unprepared. Hydrogeological modelling creates the possibilities to visualise processes that cannot be seen with the naked eye. By combin-ing knowledge about the studied area from tests and measurements a conceptual model and additionally a numerical model can be created. To study the magnitude groundwater sensitivity to changes in land-cover a hydrogeological model was created using COMSOL multiphysics within the frame of a case study concerning a horse racetrack located in Täby, north of Stockholm. The model was calibrated against known data and was the applied on a future scenario where both the land-use and climate were changed. The outcome of the model showed that hydrogeological mod-elling is sensitive to the amount and quality of the in-data. Several insecurities in the results can be traced back to a lack of base material and by changing one parameter the result of other calibrated parameters would also change. Equifinality could thus be established to be a major issue when performing groundwater modelling. Further studies of relevant data requirements for different model objectives are required.

The purpose of this study was to understand what knowledge and skills retired educators have and how these skills can be harnessed and utilised to benefit career development programmes in Botswana. The Tri-KCC conceptual model of career development was deductively and inductively developed from an interplay of the economics of knowledge management, the epistemology of constructivism, career psychology and gerontology. A mixed methods-sequential explanatory was used in this study, following assumptions of pragmatism. The participants of the study were retired educators in Botswana, with a convenience sample located in Gaborone. The participants had retired between 2000 and 2012. One hundred and eight participants (108), out of a sample of 200 responded to a survey questionnaire. Sixteen (16) participants from the survey formed focus group discussions of 5, 5 and 6 participants each. The participants were purposively selected through respondent directed and snowball techniques. The quantitative aspect of the study was conducted first, followed by the qualitative aspect. The quantitative phase helped to explore the concept of harnessing experiential knowledge of the retired educators. The survey questionnaire highlighted the following soft skills of retired educators: self-awareness and others-awareness, leadership, mentoring and counselling. The quantitative stage informed the qualitative stage during which the focus groups took place. Thus the qualitative phase had more weighting in the study. Quantitative data was analysed descriptively and inferentially, while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Results confirmed that retired educators have acquired a great wealth of knowledge and skills and that the success of being an educator is linked to both professional and personal identities. In addition, experiences that were meaningful to the retired educators were those where self-discovery boosted their self-esteem. Botswana is losing skilled resources to the early retirement age. In view of the findings, the Tri-KCC conceptual model was constructed to incorporate knowledge capture and management to guide practice. Career construction theory, through narratives of retired educators, was proposed to guide the practice of career development. Based on the results, it appears that an improved career development theory and practice that utilises retired professionals may not only benefit Botswana but other countries as well. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

The enterprise systems are built with a monolithic way of software architecture which may not be the very suitable and realistic solutions, due to the quantity and diversity of Internet of Things (IOT) devices connected to the internet. The large code is based as a single deployable unit; making it cumbersome and difficult to change, test, and deploy – typically in the monthly deployment cycles. Which could potentially be a large impact and high-risk for updates and deployment build up between releases.  The thesis aims to exploit Microservices Architecture in context of the Internet of Things. Because of scalability and rapid deployment, Microservices Architecture (MSA) naturally fits for M2M and IOT developments. Therefore, it has become increasingly popular and highly suited as a design choice in the context of developing IOT applications. We have proposed various ontologies for conceptual architecture designs. Our conceptual model encompasses all the essential elements and entities that constitute IOT; describing various characteristics of microservices and consideration to be used as a basis for developing a Reference Architecture model. The reference architecture is effectively exploiting Microservices Architectural Style for a diverse set of things composition like sensor devices, connectivity and transportation protocols for IP enabled IOT smart objects.  The thesis will contribute to the conceptual space of more successful reference architectures. The goal is to provide features and deployment information with instantiation guidelines to derive the software architecture instances in a given IOT application domain. Thus, it promises to become a valuable framework in the derivation of the Microservices IOT architectures.

Entrepreneurship in organizations is defined from different perspectives and subjects, leading to a fragmented body of knowledge when it comes to defining its key characteristics. Moreover, a holistic connection [sa1] between entrepreneurship within organizations and sustainability is yet to be made. This thesis aims at clearing up the numerous definitions of entrepreneurship within organizations and at exploring the relationship between entrepreneurship within organizations and sustainability. The thesis departs from considering the bottom-up approach of intrapreneurship and the top-down perspective of corporate entrepreneurship with their connection to a sustainability context. Methodologically, we [sa2] combine an exploratory research design with an abductive way of reasoning, where we analyze an in-depth case study of a well-established Swedish manufacturing company with the help of intrapreneurship- and corporate entrepreneurship literature. Our result is that, in a sustainability context, corporate entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are complexly intertwined and dependent on each other. Both concepts are also deeply and mutually connected to the industry environment, organizational issues and sustainability challenges. This leads to the conclusion that corporate entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in a sustainability context cannot be sensibly divided. Therefore, we contribute to theory by developing a conceptual model that promotes the term “corporate intrapreneurship” to reflect the complex and intertwined nature of entrepreneurship within organizations answering to sustainability challenges.

This thesis addresses the pressing need for an efficient public transport system in response to increasing urban population and rising fossil fuel costs. The research aims to satisfy that need by answering the research question guiding this study is: "How can developing an SDI-based conceptual model, leveraging cloud computing, optimize public transport by integrating multiple travel data sources and overcoming data fragmentation and interoperability challenges?". The thesis adopts a design science research methodology. The research strategy employed is theoretical research, utilizing various methods such as literature review, theoretical sampling, theory testing survey research, brainstorming, prototyping, cognitive walkthrough, and expert opinion. The outcome of this study is the development of an integrated conceptual model that leverages SDI and digitalization to optimize public transport systems. The model offers a comprehensive solution by addressing the limitations of traditional transport planning methods, integrating multiple data sources, technologies, and stakeholders within an SDI framework. The model demonstrates efficacy, efficiency, and practical significance, setting the stage for further research and advancements in transport planning and optimization. Limitations of the study include the absence of detailed technical specifications, the confinement to a conceptual model without implementation, and the need for further adaptation and validation in different contexts. In conclusion, this thesis offers a valuable contribution by providing a holistic solution that integrates multiple data sources and technologies within an SDI framework. Stakeholders such as PTAs, planners, and researchers can utilize the findings to enhance transport planning and address data and interoperability challenges.

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