After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

After facing the economic recession, the South–African and global business sectors started revaluating their human capital and the positions they represent within an organisation. Each individual now had to prove that they contributed towards the organisation’s bottom line, as each and every cent had to be counted and accounted for. Some functions within organisations could easily prove their contribution towards the bottom line by providing production or sales outputs. The public relations practitioners and the corporate communication efforts they offered, however, faced a bleak future, as their contribution towards the tangible assets was very rarely recognised (Kim, 2000:276). The financial services sector however, in which an advisor’s contribution towards the organisational bottom line is easily quantified, started to acknowledge the need for this sector to improve upon its ‘softer’ intangible assets such as client communication and client relationships. The sector believes that communication establishes relationships, and sound client relationships is the only way to sell financial products and services, as people seldom entrust their life earnings or financial dreams to strangers (Christiansen & DeVaney, 1998:7). Public relations practitioners know how to use communication optimally in the quest for building client relationships, and financial services need those skills in order to sell their products and contribute towards the bottom line. These two functions could thus work together towards the achievement of their goals - public relations to prove their bottom line contribution, and the financial services sector towards improving client relationships. These statements led to the general Research Question of this study: “What is the nature of the relationship between (i) corporate communication efforts, (ii) client communication satisfaction and (iii) client relationship satisfaction, and these concepts’ relationship to (iv) client economic contribution, within a financial services organisation?” This Research Question is answered from the systems theory as meta–theory with the support of the strategic communication, excellence and relationship management theories, and Futurum Financial Group (FFG) services as the financial services organisation for this study. A qualitative and quantitative research approach was followed to establish the constructs, and the relationships between the constructs. The Financial Advisors and public relations practitioner in FFG have a good understanding of the need for strategic communication efforts, and a relationship between their efforts and the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction could therefore be indicated. A further relationship between the client communication satisfaction and client relationship satisfaction and the client economic contribution was also established. Recommendations to improve the situation within FFG included a better focus on database administration, corporate communication consistency, Financial Advisor diligence, and providing clients with more frequent updates regarding their financial situation. The greatest strengths were client–advisor trust and corporate communication professionalism. This study thus contributes to the argument that communication efforts add tangibly, by means of client economic contribution, to the organisation’s bottom line, within the financial services industry. The study furthermore provides some recommendations for the financial services industry to improve their communication skills in order to build client relationships. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Text in Afrikaans, abstract in Afrikaans and English / Different methods of calculation of the loss of support of minor children, are investigated. According to one method (A), one first has to establish that the deceased's income was not all absorbed for his/her own maintenance. Only if there is surplus income available, it can be inferred that the deceased contributed towards the maintenance of the minor children and that the children have suffered a loss. According to another method (B) both parents' income are added and then divided between the family members. The minor child's loss of support is an amount which represent his/her share in the deceased's own income - a child automatically suffers a loss according to this method, in the event of death of a parent. Method B ought to be applied, because it is consistent with the reciprocal duty of support between spouses and the duty of spouses to maintain children. / Verskillende metodes om die verlies aan onderhoud van afhanklike kinders te bereken word ondersoek. Volgens een benadering (A) moet eers vasgestel word of die oorledene se inkomste nie alles geabsorbeer is vir sy /haar eie onderhoud nie. Slegs indien daar surplusinkomste was, kan aanvaar word dat die oorledene bygedra het tot die onderhoud van die minderjarige kinders en dat die kinders 'n verlies ly. Volgens die ander benadering (B) word beide ouers se inkomste bymekaar getel en dan tussen die gesinslede verdeel. Elke minderjarige kind se verlies aan onderhoud is 'n bedrag wat sy/haar aandeel in die oorlede ouer se afsonderlike inkomste verteenwoordig - 'n kind ly outomaties volgens hierdie metode 'n verlies. Metode B behoort meestal aanwending te vind, aangesien dit in ooreenstemming is met die wederkerige onderhoudsplig tussen gades en die plig van ouers om hul kinders te onderhou. / Private Law / LL. M. (Law)

The White Paper for Social Services (1997) is the foundation upon which the transformation of social services is built. In order to assist organizations in the paradigm shift which has to be made from the remedial approach to a developmental approach in the rendering of social services, the Financing Policy for Developmental Social Welfare Services was implemented in 1999. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Financing Policy (1999) on the social services of a particular community, Atteridgeville in the Gauteng Province. In order to research the impact of the Financing Policy (1999) on the social services in the above mentioned community this study used both social workers and members of the community as respondents. Eight social workers of Non- governmental Organisations (NGOs) as well as twenty four members of the community participated in the study. Data was collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings of the research showed that, although social workers in Atteridgeville endorse the principles of the Financing Policy (1999) the principles are not clearly discernible in the services rendered in the community. Although social workers are very positive about implementation of the Financing Policy (1999), research showed quite clearly that social services rendered in the community focus primarily on statutory services and not on prevention or early intervention. The primary recommendation of this study is that the Department of Social Development take cognicance of the limitations in the implementation of the Financing Policy (1999) as indicated by this study. This knowledge can be implemented in processes being used to reformulate the Financing Policy (1999) as is currently being done. / Dissertation (MSD (Social Development and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

In this dissertation a method for the classification of emotion in speech recordings made in a customer service call centre of a large business is presented. The problem addressed here is that customer service analysts at large businesses have to listen to large numbers of call centre recordings in order to discover customer service-related issues. Since recordings where the customer exhibits emotion are more likely to contain useful information for service improvement than “neutral” ones, being able to identify those recordings should save a lot of time for the customer service analyst. MTN South Africa agreed to provide assistance for this project. The system that has been developed for this project can interface with MTN’s call centre database, download recordings, classify them according to their emotional content, and provide feedback to the user. The system faces the additional challenge that it is required to classify emotion notwith- standing the fact that the caller may have one of several South African accents. It should also be able to function with recordings made at telephone quality sample rates. The project identifies several speech features that can be used to classify a speech recording according to its emotional content. The project uses these features to research the general methods by which the problem of emotion classification in speech can be approached. The project examines both a K-Nearest Neighbours Approach and an Artificial Neural Network- Based Approach to classify the emotion of the speaker. Research is also done with regard to classifying a recording according to the gender of the speaker using a neural network approach. The reason for this classification is that the gender of a speaker may be useful input into an emotional classifier. The project furthermore examines the problem of identifying smaller segments of speech in a recording. In the typical call centre conversation, a recording may start with the agent greeting the customer, the customer stating his or her problem, the agent performing an action, during which time no speech occurs, the agent reporting back to the user and the call being terminated. The approach taken by this project allows the program to isolate these different segments of speech in a recording and discard segments of the recording where no speech occurs. This project suggests and implements a practical approach to the creation of a classifier in a commercial environment through its use of a scripting language interpreter that can train a classifier in one script and use the trained classifier in another script to classify unknown recordings. The project also examines the practical issues involved in implementing an emotional clas- sifier. It addresses the downloading of recordings from the call centre, classifying the recording and presenting the results to the customer service analyst. AFRIKAANS : n Metode vir die klassifisering van emosie in spraakopnames in die oproepsentrum van ’n groot sake-onderneming word in hierdie verhandeling aangebied. Die probleem wat hierdeur aangespreek word, is dat kli¨entediens ontleders in ondernemings na groot hoeveelhede oproepsentrum opnames moet luister ten einde kli¨entediens aangeleenthede te identifiseer. Aangesien opnames waarin die kli¨ent emosie toon, heel waarskynlik nuttige inligting bevat oor diensverbetering, behoort die vermo¨e om daardie opnames te identifiseer vir die analis baie tyd te spaar. MTN Suid-Afrika het ingestem om bystand vir die projek te verleen. Die stelsel wat ontwikkel is kan opnames vanuit MTN se oproepsentrum databasis verkry, klassifiseer volgens emosionele inhoud en terugvoering aan die gebruiker verskaf. Die stelsel moet die verdere uitdaging kan oorkom om emosie te kan klassifiseer nieteenstaande die feit dat die spreker een van verskeie Suid-Afrikaanse aksente het. Dit moet ook in staat wees om opnames wat gemaak is teen telefoon gehalte tempos te analiseer. Die projek identifiseer verskeie spraak eienskappe wat gebruik kan word om ’n opname volgens emosionele inhoud te klassifiseer. Die projek gebruik hierdie eienskappe om die algemene metodes waarmee die probleem van emosie klassifisering in spraak benader kan word, na te vors. Die projek gebruik ’n K-Naaste Bure en ’n Neurale Netwerk benadering om die emosie van die spreker te klassifiseer. Navorsing is voorts gedoen met betrekking tot die klassifisering van die geslag van die spreker deur ’n neurale netwerk. Die rede vir hierdie klassifisering is dat die geslag van die spreker ’n nuttige inset vir ’n emosie klassifiseerder mag wees. Die projek ondersoek ook die probleem van identifisering van spraakgedeeltes in ’n opname. In ’n tipiese oproepsentrum gesprek mag die opname begin met die agent wat die kli¨ent groet, die kli¨ent wat sy of haar probleem stel, die agent wat ’n aksie uitvoer sonder spraak, die agent wat terugrapporteer aan die gebruiker en die oproep wat be¨eindig word. Die benadering van hierdie projek laat die program toe om hierdie verskillende gedeeltes te isoleer uit die opname en om gedeeltes waar daar geen spraak plaasvind nie, uit te sny. Die projek stel ’n praktiese benadering vir die ontwikkeling van ’n klassifiseerder in ’n kommersi¨ele omgewing voor en implementeer dit deur gebruik te maak van ’n programeer taal interpreteerder wat ’n klassifiseerder kan oplei in een program en die opgeleide klassifiseerder gebruik om ’n onbekende opname te klassifiseer met behulp van ’n ander program. Die projek ondersoek ook die praktiese aspekte van die implementering van ’n emosionele klassifiseerder. Dit spreek die aflaai van opnames uit die oproep sentrum, die klassifisering daarvan, en die aanbieding van die resultate aan die kli¨entediens analis, aan. Copyright / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

Informationen für URZ-Nutzer, in dieser Ausgabe speziell der 'Jahresrückblick 2010' - eine Übersicht zur Entwicklung der zentralen IT-Dienste und der IT-Infrastruktur der TU Chemnitz.:Jahresrückblick 2010 - Der URZ-Beirat - Projekte des Jahres 2010 - Lernmanagement und E-Learning an der TU Chemnitz - Entwicklung der Voice-Over-IP-Dienste - Campusnetz-Infrastruktur und Netzdienste - Koordinierung und Entwicklung zentraler Webangebote (Internet-AG) - Nutzung öffentlicher Rechner - Administrationsdienste - Virtual Private Server Hosting (VPSH) - Server Housing - IT-Dienste für die Zentrale Universitätsverwaltung - IT-Dienste für Universitätsbibliothek und Patentinformationszentrum - Speicherdienste - User-Management und Accounting - Software-Dienste - Hardware-Dienste - Ticketsystem OTRS - Aus- und Weiterbildung Kurzinformationen Software-News

Mit dem Wandel des Internets zu einer universellen Softwareplattform sind die Möglichkeiten und Fähigkeiten von Webanwendungen zwar rasant gestiegen. Gleichzeitig gestaltet sich ihre Entwicklung jedoch zunehmend aufwändig und komplex, was dem Wunsch nach immer kürzeren Entwicklungszyklen für möglichst situative, bedarfsgerechte Lösungen entgegensteht. Bestehende Ansätze aus Forschung und Technik, insbesondere im Umfeld der serviceorientierten Architekturen und Mashups, werden diesen Problemen bislang nicht ausreichend gerecht. Deshalb werden in dieser Dissertation neue Konzepte für die modellgetriebene Entwicklung und Bereitstellung von Webanwendungen vorgestellt. Die zugrunde liegende Idee besteht darin, das Paradigma der Serviceorientierung auf die Präsentationsebene zu erweitern. So sollen erstmals – neben Daten- und Geschäftslogik – auch Teile der Anwendungsoberfläche in Form wiederverwendbarer Komponenten über Dienste bereitgestellt werden. Anwendungen sollen somit über alle Anwendungsebenen hinweg nach einheitlichen Prinzipien „komponiert“ werden können. Den ersten Schwerpunkt der Arbeit bilden die entsprechenden universellen Modellierungskonzepte für Komponenten und Kompositionen. Sie erlauben u. a. die plattformunabhängige Beschreibung von Anwendungen als Komposition der o. g. Komponenten. Durch die Abstraktion und entsprechende Autorenwerkzeuge wird die Entwicklung so auch für Domänenexperten bzw. Nicht-Programmierer möglich. Der zweite Schwerpunkt liegt auf dem kontextadaptiven Integrationsprozess von Komponenten und der zugehörigen, serviceorientierten Referenzarchitektur. Sie ermöglichen die dynamische Suche, Bindung und Konfiguration von Komponenten, d. h. auf Basis der o. g. Abstraktionen können genau die Anwendungskomponenten geladen und ausgeführt werden, die für den vorliegenden Nutzer-, Nutzungs- und Endgerätekontext am geeignetsten sind. Der dritte Schwerpunkt adressiert die Kontextadaptivität der kompositen Anwendungen in Form von Konzepten zur aspektorientierten Definition von adaptivem Verhalten im Modell und dessen Umsetzung zur Laufzeit. In Abhängigkeit von Kontextänderungen können so Rekonfigurationen von Komponenten, ihr Austausch oder Veränderungen an der Komposition, z.B. am Layout oder dem Datenfluss, automatisch durchgesetzt werden. Alle vorgestellten Konzepte wurden durch prototypische Implementierungen praktisch untermauert. Anhand diverser Anwendungsbeispiele konnten ihre Validität und Praktikabilität – von der Modellierung im Autorenwerkzeug bis zur Ausführung und dynamischen Anpassung – nachgewiesen werden. Die vorliegende Dissertation liefert folglich eine Antwort auf die Frage, wie zukünftige Web- bzw. Mashup-Anwendungen zeit- und kostengünstig entwickelt sowie zuverlässig und performant ausgeführt werden können. Die geschaffenen Konzepte bilden gleichermaßen die Grundlage für eine Vielzahl an Folgearbeiten.:Verzeichnisse vi Abbildungsverzeichnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Verzeichnis der Codebeispiele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Abkürzungsverzeichnis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x 1 Einleitung 1 1.1 Problemdefinition, Thesen und Forschungsziele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.1 Probleme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1.2 Thesen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.1.3 Forschungsziele . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.2 Abgrenzung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.3 Aufbau der Arbeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2 Grundlagen, Szenarien und Herausforderungen 12 2.1 Grundlagen und Begriffsklärung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2.1.1 Komposite und serviceorientierte Webanwendungen . . . . . . . 13 2.1.2 Mashups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.1.3 Modellgetriebene Software-Entwicklung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1.4 Kontext und kontextadaptive Webanwendungen . . . . . . . . . 18 2.2 Szenarien und Problemanalyse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.2.1 Dienstkomposition zur Reiseplanung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.2.2 Interaktive Aktienverwaltung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.2.3 Adaptive Touristeninformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.3 Anforderungen und Kriterien der Analyse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.3.1 Anforderungen an Komponenten- und Kompositionsmodell . . . 25 2.3.2 Anforderungen an die Laufzeitumgebung . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3 Stand der Forschung und Technik 30 3.1 SOA und Dienstkomposition zur Interaktion mit Diensten . . . . . . . . . 31 3.1.1 Statische Dienstkomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 3.1.2 Dynamische Dienstauswahl und -Komposition . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.1.3 Adaptionskonzepte für Dienstkompositionen . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 3.1.4 Interaktions- und UI-Konzepte für Dienstkompositionen . . . . . . 48 3.2 Web Engineering - Entwicklung interaktiver adaptiver Webanwendungen 50 3.2.1 Entwicklung von Hypertext- und Hypermedia-Anwendungen . . 51 3.2.2 Entwicklung von Mashup-Anwendungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 3.3 Zusammenfassung und Diskussion der Defizite existierender Ansätze . . 67 3.3.1 Probleme und Defizite aus dem Bereich der Dienstkomposition . 67 3.3.2 Probleme und Defizite beim Web- und Mashup-Engineering . . . 69 4 Universelle Komposition adaptiver Webanwendungen 73 4.1 Grundkonzept und Rollenmodell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 4.2 Modellgetriebene Entwicklung kompositer Mashups . . . . . . . . . . . 75 4.2.1 Universelles Komponentenmodell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.2.2 Belangorientiertes Kompositionsmodell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4.3 Dynamische Integration und Laufzeitumgebung . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 4.3.1 Kontextsensitiver Integrationsprozess für Mashup-Komponenten . 79 4.3.2 Referenzarchitektur zur Komposition und Ausführung . . . . . . . 80 4.3.3 Unterstützung von adaptivem Laufzeitverhalten in Mashups . . . 81 5 Belangorientierte Modellierung adaptiver, kompositer Webanwendungen 83 5.1 Ein universelles Komponentenmodell für Mashup-Anwendungen . . . . 84 5.1.1 Grundlegende Eigenschaften und Prinzipien . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 5.1.2 Komponententypen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 5.1.3 Beschreibung von Komponenten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 5.1.4 Nutzung der Konzepte zur Komponentenentwicklung . . . . . . . 99 5.2 Ein belangorientiertes Metamodell für interaktive Mashup-Anwendungen 100 5.2.1 Conceptual Model – Modellierung der Anwendungskonzepte . . 102 5.2.2 Communication Model – Spezifikation von Daten- und Kontrollfluss 107 5.2.3 Layout Model – Visuelle Anordnung von UI-Komponenten . . . . 114 5.2.4 Screenflow Model – Definition von Navigation und Sichten . . . . 115 5.3 Modellierung von adaptivem Verhalten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 5.3.1 Adaptionstechniken für komposite Webanwendungen . . . . . . 117 5.3.2 Adaptivity Model – Modellierung von Laufzeitadaptivität . . . . . 119 5.4 Ablauf und Unterstützung bei der Modellierung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 5.5 Zusammenfassung und Diskussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 6 Kontextsensitiver Integrationsprozess und Kompositionsinfrastruktur 132 6.1 Ein kontextsensitiver Integrationsprozess zur dynamischen Bindung von Mashup-Komponenten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 6.1.1 Modellinterpretation oder -transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 6.1.2 Suche und Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 6.1.3 Rangfolgebildung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 6.1.4 Auswahl und Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 6.2 Kompositionsinfrastruktur und Laufzeitumgebung . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 6.2.1 Verwaltung von Komponenten und Domänenwissen . . . . . . . 146 6.2.2 Aufbau der Laufzeitumgebung (MRE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 6.2.3 Dynamische Integration und Verwaltung von Komponenten . . . 151 6.2.4 Kommunikationsinfrastruktur und Mediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 6.3 Unterstützung von Adaption zur Laufzeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 6.3.1 Kontexterfassung, -modellierung und -verwaltung . . . . . . . . . 163 6.3.2 Ablauf der dynamischen Adaption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 6.3.3 Dynamischer Austausch von Komponenten . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 6.4 Zusammenfassung und Diskussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 7 Umsetzung und Validierung der Konzepte 178 7.1 Realisierung der Modellierungsmittel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 7.1.1 Komponentenbeschreibung in XML und OWL . . . . . . . . . . . 179 7.1.2 EMF-basiertes Kompositionsmodell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 7.1.3 Modelltransformationen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 7.1.4 Modellierungswerkzeug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 7.2 Realisierung der Kompositions- und Laufzeitumgebung . . . . . . . . . . 185 7.2.1 Semantische Verwaltung und Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 7.2.2 Kompositions- bzw. Laufzeitumgebungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 7.2.3 Kontextverwaltung und Adaptionsmechanismen . . . . . . . . . 201 7.3 Validierung und Diskussion anhand der Beispielszenarien . . . . . . . . . 210 7.3.1 Reiseplanung mit TravelMash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 7.3.2 Aktienverwaltung mit StockMash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 7.3.3 Adaptive Touristeninformation mit TravelGuide . . . . . . . . . . . 216 7.3.4 Weitere Prototypen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 7.4 Zusammenfassung und Diskussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 8 Zusammenfassung, Diskussion und Ausblick 226 8.1 Zusammenfassung der Kapitel und ihrer Beiträge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 8.2 Diskussion und Bewertung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 8.2.1 Wissenschaftliche Beiträge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 8.2.2 Einschränkungen und Grenzen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 8.3 Laufende und zukünftige Arbeiten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Anhänge 242 A.1 Komponentenbeschreibung in SMCDL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 A.2 Komponentenmodell in Form der MCDO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 A.3 Kompositionsmodell in EMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Verzeichnis eigener Publikationen 246 Webreferenzen 249 Literaturverzeichnis 253

Electrophysiological measures such as impedance telemetry and Neural Response Telemetry (NRT™) were developed by Cochlear™ in 1992 as clinical tools allowing the objective setting of stimulus levels for cochlear implant users. Extensive research proved the usefulness of NRT™’s as an aid in the programming process of audible and comfortable stimulus levels for children younger than six years. The Nucleus® Freedom™, launched in 2005, introduced new developments in cochlear implantation. Approval from the FDA for this system was obtained in March 2005 and for the first time included children from age 12 months with profound hearing loss. The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing suggested that children be diagnosed and that treatment commenced by the age of six months. The new features of the Nucleus Freedom™ give clinicians the necessary tools to treat this challenging population. An urgent need exists to ascertain the stability and accuracy of the new features introduced by this system, especially the Auto-NRT™ software, to validate its use within the paediatric population. A longitudinal descriptive design was utilized implementing quantitative research methods to critically describe the behaviour of impedance telemetry and NRT™’s in a group of young cochlear implant users. The quantitative method included the application of the Custom Sound™ software and the Auto-NRT™ feature for this group at implantation, device activation, and then at determined follow-up visits. Nine young children between nine months and five years and eleven months were used as participants during the twelve months of research. Impedance telemetry was described in terms of the mean Common Ground (CG) and Monopolar 1+2 (MP1+2) values calculated from measurement data collected on the basal, medial, and apical electrodes of the electrode array. The electrodes identified for statistical procedures for both measurement types were E3, E6, E8, E11, E13, E16, E19 and E21. Friedman’s ANOVA was used as a statistical measure to determine the level of significance in changes among the measurement modes and conditions. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was indicated in the presence of significant changes identified by Friedman’s ANOVA to calculate the level of significance in a pair-wise comparison. Results indicate that impedance telemetry remained consistent over the electrode array and over time in both measurement modes. A slight increase in mean values was observed during the first three months, followed by a gradual decrease at the six months interval. These changes were statistically nonsignificant. No specific trends were evident in impedance telemetry over time. NRT™-measurements remained consistent across the electrode array over time. Significant changes were present between the intra-operative to device activation measurement intervals. This trend is also described in studies of adult cochlear implant users. NRT™-measurements were stable during the first year postimplantation within the paediatric population. A comparison between the mean impedance telemetry and NRT™’s disclosed an inverse trend during the first six months post-implantation. Most changes were non-significant, indicating that these measures can be used effectively in the new semi-automated fitting software. The implementation of these measurements can lead to streamlined and accountable service delivery to young cochlear implant users. AFRIKAANS : In 1992 is elektrofisiologiese metings soos impedanstelemetrie en Neurale Respons Telemetrie (NRT™) deur Cochlear™ ontwikkel as kliniese hulpmiddels om objektiewe instelling van stimulasievlakke vir kogleêre gebruikers moontlik te maak. Navorsing het bewys dat NRT™’s ‘n effektiewe hulpmiddel is tydens programmering van hoorbare en gemaklike stimulasievlakke by kinders jonger as ses jaar. Die Nucleus® Freedom™ met nuwe ontwikkelings ten opsigte van kogleêre inplantings is in 2005 bekendgestel. Die FDA het in Maart 2005 hierdie sisteem goedgekeur vir gebruik by kinders selfs so jonk as 12 maande met uitermatige gehoorverlies. Die Joint Committee on Infant Hearing het voorgestel dat diagnose en aanvang van rehabilitasie teen ses maande ouderdom moet plaasvind. Die nuwe funksies van die Nucleus® Freedom™ stel oudioloë in staat om hierdie uitdagende bevolking te hanteer. ‘n Dringende behoefte bestaan om te bepaal of hierdie sagteware, veral Auto-NRT™ wat saam met hierdie sisteem bekendgestel is, oor voldoende akkuraatheid en stabiliteit beskik om in die hantering van die pediatriese bevolking te gebruik. ‘n Longitudinale, beskrywende ontwerp, wat kwantitatiewe metodes implementeer, is aangewend om die beweging van impedanstelemetrie en NRT™’s by ‘n groep jong gebruikers van kogleêre inplantings krities te beskryf. Dit het die gebruik van die Custom Sound™ sagteware en die ingeslote Auto- NRT™ funksie behels. Dit is tydens inplantering, by aktivering van die toestel, en bepaalde opvolgsessies uitgevoer. Nege jong kinders tussen die ouderdomme van nege maande en vyf jaar en 11 maande is tydens die 12 maande navorsingsperiode as proefpersone benut. Die impedansmetings is beskryf in terme van die Common Ground (CG) en Monopolar 1+2 (MP1+2) stimulasiemodaliteite. Data is verkry vanaf geselekteerde elektrodes op die basale, mediale en apikale gedeeltes van die elektrode. Vir statistiese ontledings van impedans en NRT™ is hierdie elektrodes geselekteer: E3, E6, E8, E11, E13 E16, E19 en E21. As statistiese ontledingsmetode, is Friedman se ANOVA toegepas om die vlakke van beduidenheid van beweging tussen die verskillende toetsmodaliteite en -omstandighede te bepaal. Die Wilcoxon signed-rank toets is aangedui in die teenwoordigheid van statisties beduidende veranderinge. Die doel van hierdie toets was om die vlak van beduidenheid paarsgewys te verifieer. Resultate dui op konstante impedansmetings oor die elektrode asook oor tyd in beide toetsmodaliteite. ‘n Geringe, statisties nie-beduidende, verhoging in gemiddelde waardes is waargeneem tydens die eerste drie maande na inplantering, waarna die waardes weer geleidelik afgeneem het tot en met die ses maande opvolginterval. Geen spesifieke neiging kon vir impedanstelemetrie bepaal word nie. NRT™-metings het konstant gebly oor die elektrode en met tyd. Statisties beduidende veranderinge is gemeet tussen die intra-operatiewe en aktiveringsintervalle. Hierdie neiging is ook beskryf in studies van volwasse gebruikers van kogleêre inplantings. NRT™-metings, binne die pediatriese populasie, het dus stabiel gebly oor die 12 maande periode post-inplantering. ‘n Vergelyking tussen die gemiddelde impedans- en NRT™-metings het ‘n inverse neiging geïdentifiseer gedurende die eerste ses maande na inplantering. Veranderinge was oor die algemeen statisties nie-beduidend, wat daarop dui dat hierdie metings effektief gebruik kan word. Die implementering van hierdie metings kan meer doeltreffende dienslewering aan die jong gebruikers van kogleêre inplantings tot gevolg hê. / Dissertation (MCommunication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / unrestricted

Telemedical methods enable remote patient monitoring and healthcare at a distance. Besides, fitness tracker and sport watches are currently trending electronic products to generate awareness of health parameters in daily life. Especially, the long-term and continuous measurement of electrophysiological signals such as electrocardiogramm (ECG) becomes increasingly attractive for telemedical applications. Typically used disposable Ag/AgCl wet electrodes for good skin-electrode contact can potentially cause skin irritation and rashes. This paper presents a low cost, individual and flexible substrate for skin electrodes to be applied in future consumer electronic or professional applications. It enables an alternative contact method of the electrode to the skin by applying a pressure during the measurement and hence good contact. If no measurement is needed pressure can be released and the electrode loses skin contact. The 3D printed polymer module is 4 mm thick and comprises a pressure chamber, silver electrodes and insulation layer. The airtight printed membrane of flexible filament, which expands when inflating the chamber, may be printed in different thicknesses and shapes, much thinner than the present 4mm. This enables a high individuality for various applications. Pressure up to 150 kPa was applied and leads to dilatation of 1400 μm. First tests on skin when measuring electrodermal activity (EDA) show promising results for future applications.

Modern Web or ¿Eternal-Beta¿ applications necessitate a flexible and easy-to-use data management platform that allows the evolutionary development of databases and applications. The classical approach of relational database systems following strictly the ACID properties has to be extended by an extensible and easy-to-use persistency layer with specialized DB features. Using the underlying concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) also enables an economic advantage based on the ¿economy of the scale¿, where application and system environments only need to be provided once but can be used by thousands of users. Within this tutorial, we are looking at the current state-of-the-art from different perspectives. We outline foundations and techniques to build database services based on the SaaS-paradigm. We discuss requirements from a programming perspective, show different dimensions in the context of consistency and reliability, and also describe different non-functional properties under the umbrella of Service-Level agreements (SLA).