The role of visual communication design continues to increase in importance around the world. In Bahrain, organisations are increasingly considering visual communication design as a means of accomplishing organisational goals. The research aims to understand the process by which design managers in organisations in Bahrain manage and evaluate visual communication designs to gain strategic advantage. Even though the management of visual communication design has not yet been recognised as a separate category of design management in Bahrain, its processes and approaches may differ from other management applications. This research opens with a contextual overview of the visual communication design management field, before presenting an understanding of how visual communication design can be utilised as an innovative approach to the strategic structuring organisational thinking. Methods have been developed for investigating how Bahraini client design managers manage visual communication design projects. Observational studies and interviews with client design managers and creative directors have been conducted to obtain an understanding of the visual communication design process, together with evaluation procedures in the Bahraini context. These empirical investigations have led to the development of a conceptual framework that describes the visual communication design management process and the evaluation procedure that is carried out by client design managers in Bahrain. The remainder of this thesis explains the outcomes of each phase of the research. The unique contributions of this study are embodied in a discussion of the findings together with reflections and recommendations for those involved and interested in design management in Bahrain.

Despite major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, there remains a paucity of biomarkers for early detection (poor selectivity and specificity). Legumain [asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP); EC 3.4.22.34] is a potential cancer biomarker and molecular target for imaging and therapy. Legumain is a lysosomal protease, active at acidic pH (4.0 - 6.5) with a remarkably restricted substrate specificity, uniquely cleaving an asparagine (Asn) at the P1 position, and is overexpressed in various solid tumours. A novel legumain-targeted first generation fluorogenic rhodamine-B based peptide substrate Rho-Pro-Ala-Asn~PEG-AQ (SM9) has been developed for diagnostic application in the early detection of tumours, which exploits the enzyme's proteolytic specificity. The fluorogenic probe SM9 is an efficient FRET substrate, in which an aminoanthraquinone acts as a ‘black hole' quencher of rhodamine fluorescence that is restored on incubation with recombinant (rh)-legumain. Importantly, confocal microscopy studies have revealed localization of SM9 in the lysosomes of PC3 prostate cancer cells. The design principles have been extended to a second generation orthogonally functionalised, legumain-activated dual fluorogenic gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Rho-Pro-Ala-Asn~Lys-[DOTA-(Gd3+)]-PEG-AQ (SM32). Furthermore, towards the development of selective and targeted theranostic (therapeutic and diagnostic) anticancer agents, a novel third generation fluorogenic legumain substrate prodrug Rho-Pro-Ala-Asn~Propyl-Pip-Propyl-AQ (ALS5) that incorporates a cytotoxic, lysosomotropic anthracenedione ALS1, has been designed. Activation of prodrug ALS5 by rh-legumain in vitro directly afforded the cleavage product and active drug ALS1. Confocal microscopy studies have shown that ALS5 and active ALS1 (at 1 μM) were also localized in the lysosomes of PC-3 cells. Furthermore, ALS1 induced morphological changes and apoptosis in PC-3 cells, as measured by fluorescence microscopy, and staining with Annexin V and DAPI using flow cytometry. All novel legumain-activated oligopeptide substrates and intermediate compounds have been fully characterised by high resolution mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Selected compounds have been further characterised by HPLC. The molecular probes and prodrugs have the potential to be used as diagnostic tools to define the legumain expression in tumour biopsies and provide prognostic information of value in determining patient-focussed treatment options, with extension to therapeutic strategies to improve tumour targeting.

The development of cost-effective circuits is primarily a matter of economy. To achieve it, design errors and circuit flaws must be eliminated during the design process. To this end, considerable effort must be put into all phases of the design cycle. Effective CAD tools are essential for the production of high-performance digital systems. This thesis describes a CAD tool called LOVERD, which consists of ATPG, fault simulation, design verification and diagnosis. It uses test patterns, developed to detect single stuck-at faults in the gate-level implementation, to compare the results of the functional level description and its gate-level implementation. Whenever an error is detected, the logic diagnosis tool can be used to provide useful information to designers. It is shown that certain types of design errors in combinational logic circuits can be detected and allocated by LOVERD efficiently.

As cited in literature, the history of hospital design in both practice and theory is rife with proposals that lay claim to improving efficiency. The aim was to obtain not only lowest possible construction, maintenance and operational costs, but also highest possible patient satisfaction,comfort and privacy. Nested within this outlook, the design of hospital nursing units has claimed considerable priority. Significant in such an endeavour is timely feedback to the designer, especially as quantitative assessments of what has been achieved so far with respect to planimetric efficiency / i.e. utility value of built floor area, both in terms of its allocation to served, serving and circulation spaces and the relative proportions of these. Its particular focus was on the nursing units of public facilities in T&uuml / rkiye. The study was carried out on a random sample of hospitals operating under government jurisdictions. Sample size was roughly determined as 33%. The material consisted of production drawings. Data derived from these comprised planimetric measurements regarding their nursing units and of various germane ratios calculated. Analysis of variance, distributional aspects, scatter charts and t-tests were used to evaluate this data according to a number of relevant factors. Results for ratio of primary spaces to secondary spaces showed that there were significant differences by constructional area per bed, while other variables showed a central tendency that was independent of the factors considered. It was concluded that while the method used was appropriate to the assessment in question, further developments and investigations were needed to determine the causes underlying such differences.

The interest in the complex relationship between the behaviour of users and the design of interactive system has been significantly increased as the digital technology has advanced. This has led to usability becoming one of the key elements in user-centred interaction design. Systems need to be designed in a usable way; efficient, use-enhancing, flexible and learnable and the design should also meet the user’s needs and aspirations. This thesis aimed to develop a more usable prototype of the Maintenance Ground Support System (MGSS), using prototyping and a user-centred design approach. The prototype was developed using an adaptation on the evolutionary software development process that consisted of four iterative steps. The prototypes were created, tested and evaluated with surrogate and end-users. The design of the prototype is based on a customizable and simple dashboard application that supports multiple user needs and requirements, in a familiar environment where the user can feel confident and be in control. Based on usability testing, the prototype was concluded to be more efficient, understandable as well as easier to use than the existing system.

Most organisations nowadays want to build offices that are cost effective, but at the same time they forget to consider the impact of IEQ on the occupants’ wellbeing and performance. These offices are equipped with air-conditioners, which may impact negatively on performances if not monitored, controlled and maintained. An occupant’s performance may be accelerated or reduced, based on the effectiveness of IEQ in the office buildings. It is imperative that the employer or management create a work environment that is conducive to the occupants’ needs, so that the occupants may be able to improve their work performance that often yields increased productivity. The main aim of the study was to investigate the efficiency of a building’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and how it affects workers with regard to productivity. The objectives of the study were: to determine the level of satisfaction of the occupants in terms of the IEQ, evaluate the effects that the current IEQ of the building has on the productivity of the occupants, and proffer solutions to identified problems so that the building performance can be improved, and similar future buildings can be improved upon in terms of IEQ. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) was utilised to conduct the evaluation. This will help stakeholders and managements to ensure that past mistakes committed are not repeated in the future buildings. POE analyses IEQ related to Indoor Air Quality (IEQ), thermal comfort, occupant’s satisfaction and occupant performance and productivity. There is a correlation between different indoor parameters of the occupants’ satisfaction, health and productivity at the workplace. For these correlations to complement each other successfully, IEQ factors must be conducive to human wellbeing. Workplace environments are perceived as unsafe and unhygienic. This situation is caused by poor planning of workstations, low indoor air quality, inappropriate lighting in the office, lack of ventilation and insufficient safety measures. In particular, findings of this study demonstrate the low level of occupants’ satisfaction with regard to office buildings in the Country Club Estate, Johannesburg. The results from this study show that POE is perceived to be completely new to occupants of the Country Club Estate. Management or stakeholders have a huge task ahead to address the benefits of implementing POE and to face the consequences if POE is not implemented.

There are areas in Oaxaca, Mexico, where larger telephone operators have refused to install a cellular network, leaving mainly indigenous communities without connectivity. A minor field study was carried out in the affected areas with the aim to build an application tackling some of the existing connectivity problems.I present an application enabling low-cost phone calls through open source mobile networks. The app contains calling and messaging features compatible with residents mobile devices. Dialogues with the users were completed to understand their priorities and practices. A participatory design approach was used throughout the design process to encourage user appropriation. Ideas suggested by the end- users included using symbols for users who could not read and copying features from Mexico’s most popular communication app, WhatsApp. Usability testing showed that the design was usable and additionally allowed for natural dialogue and user appropriation. Furthermore, I discuss opportunities and limitations with the application.. / I Oaxaca, Mexiko, finns det områden där telefonoperatörer vägrat installera mobilnät vilket resulterat i att samhällen, framförallt ursprungsbefolkade, lever utan mobiltelefoni. En studie utfördes i de drabbade områdena för att utveckla en applikation som angriper några av de existerande anslutningsproblemen. Jag presenterar en app som möjliggör billiga telefonsamtal via öppna mobilnät. Appen innehåller samtal- och meddelandefunktioner som är förenliga med lokala telefonmodeller. Dialoger med användarna genomfördes för att förstå deras prioriteringar och vanor. En Participatory Design metod användes för att främja användarnas känsla av delaktighet och ägandeskap av appen. Användarna föreslog idéer som att inkludera symboler för användare som inte kan läsa och kopiera familjära element från Mexiko mest använda kommunikationsapp, WhatsApp. Användarvänlighetstesten visade att designen var användbar. Testen gav även rum för en naturlig dialog och appropriering av appen. Vidare, diskuterar jag möjligheter samt begränsningar med applikationen.

Yes / The evaluation of impact of collaborative research on robust design methodologies and methods is important to both academic and industry stakeholders. This paper introduces a framework for impact evaluation which combines the broader framework adopted for the academic research impact assessment with the organisation viewpoint centred on business results, process improvement and product development teams capability improvement. A large scale empirical study conducted with evidence from technical reports on workplace projects from an automotive OEM proved the validity of the proposed framework.

With increased pressures from governmental and insurance agencies, today's physician devotes less time to patient care and more time to administration. To alleviate this problem, Biological & Popular Culture, Inc. (Biopop) proposed the building of partnerships with healthcare professionals to provide high-quality, cost-effective medical care in a physician network setting. To assist Biopop in evaluating potential operating procedures, a discrete-event simulation model has been constructed. The model is built in an object-oriented, visual manner utilizing the Visual Simulation Environment (VSE). The model examines both internal Biopop operations and external clinic operations. The research presented herein describes the design of the simulation model and details the analysis of the clinical environment. A methodology for determining appropriate staffing and physical resources in a clinical environment is presented. This methodology takes advantage of several simulation-based statistical techniques, including batch means; fractional factorial design; and simultaneous ranking, selection, and multiple comparisons. An explanation of the experimental design is provided and results of the experimentation are presented. Based upon the experimental results, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made for an appropriate staffing and facility size for a two-physician family practice healthcare clinic. / Master of Science

Post occupancy evaluation is part of a design-evaluation-design cycle in which designers learn from their successes and mistakes and subsequently improve their designs. But, if designers want to make most effective use of information collected in such studies they must be done reliably and validly—few studies give evidence to justify such a claim. In the present study, two commonly and interchangeably used POE observation methods (direct observation and time-lapse photography) were comparatively tested in order to assess their reliability. Reliability concerns the extent to which different observers or the camera yield the same results in observing the same situation. The test case was conducted in a heavily used urban space and much of the data, from observer to observer, and observer to camera, was found unreliable. Reliability decreased as pedestrian frequency increased but not so uniformly that data from this study could be used to determine an exact number of persons that can be accurately mapped. Reliability "checks" should be made in pretesting of direct observations, also in retrieval of data from film. Direct observation and time-lapse photography can be used conjointly with the intent of using camera as an accurate basis against which to assess the reliability of direct observations, but with precaution taken to ensure the accuracy of camera data. Standards of reliability and validity, with simple tests or approaches to measuring them need to be developed in order to make it easier for researchers to “check” the reliability and validity of their findings. / Master of Landscape Architecture