<p>Stress responsive genes play a key role in shaping the manner in which plants process and respond to environmental stress. Their gene products are linked to DNA transcription and its consequent translation into a response product. However, whilst these genes play a significant role in manufacturing responses to stressful stimuli, transcription factors coordinate access to these genes, specifically by accessing a gene&rsquo / s promoter region which houses transcription factor binding sites. Here transcriptional elements play a key role in mediating responses to environmental stress where each transcription factor binding site may constitute a potential response to a stress signal. Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism, can be used to identify the mechanism of how transcription factors shape a plant&rsquo / s survival in a stressful environment. Whilst there are numerous plant stress research groups, globally there is a shortage of publicly available stress responsive gene databases. In addition a number of previous databases such as the Generation Challenge Programme&rsquo / s comparative plant stressresponsive gene catalogue, Stresslink and DRASTIC have become defunct whilst others have stagnated. There is currently a single Arabidopsis thaliana stress response database called STIFDB which was launched in 2008 and only covers abiotic stresses as handled by major abiotic stress responsive transcription factor families. Its data was sourced from microarray expression databases, contains numerous omissions as well as numerous erroneous entries and has not been updated since its inception.The Dragon Arabidopsis Stress Transcription Factor database (DASTF) was developed in response to the current lack of stress response gene resources. A total of 2333 entries were downloaded from SWISSPROT, manually curated and imported into DASTF. The entries represent 424 transcription factor families. Each entry has a corresponding SWISSPROT, ENTREZ GENBANK and TAIR accession number. The 5&rsquo / untranslated regions (UTR) of 417 families were scanned against TRANSFAC&rsquo / s binding site catalogue to identify binding sites. The relational database consists of two tables, namely a transcription factor table and a transcription factor family table called DASTF_TF and TF_Family respectively. Using a two-tier client-server architecture, a webserver was built with PHP, APACHE and MYSQL and the data was loaded into these tables with a PYTHON script. The DASTF database contains 60 entries which correspond to biotic stress and 167 correspond to abiotic stress while 2106 respond to biotic and/or abiotic stress. Users can search the database using text, family, chromosome and stress type search options. Online tools have been integrated into the DASTF&nbsp / database, such as HMMER, CLUSTALW, BLAST and HYDROCALCULATOR. User&rsquo / s can upload sequences to identify which transcription factor family their sequences belong to by using HMMER. The website can be accessed at http://apps.sanbi.ac.za/dastf/ and two updates per year are envisaged.</p>

The purpose of this study is to design a database of resources for rational therapy. An investigation of the current health situation and reorientation towards primary health care (PHC) in South Africa evidenced the need for a database of resources which would meet the demand for rational therapy information made on the Helderberg College Library by various user groups as well as make a contribution to the national health information infrastructure. Rational therapy is viewed as an approach within PHC that is rational, common-sense, wholistic and credible, focusing on the prevention and maintenance of health. A model of the steps in database design was developed. A user study identified users' requirements for design and the conceptual schema was developed. The entities, attributes, relationships and policies were presented and graphically summarised in an Entity-Relationship (E-R) diagram. The conceptual schema is the blueprint for further design and implementation of the database. / Information Science / M.Inf.

This diploma thesis covers the design and implementation of changes and extension modules of a chosen information system, used in JUDr. Ján Bartánus's attorney office in Ružomberok. The system, implemented as a web application based on the Symfony framework, is dedicated to the simplyfing, monitoring and organization of the work processes in a generic attorney office located in the Slovak Republic. For the purposes of a correct design, the thesis contains an analysis of the current state of the given attorney office, the environment in which it operates, its information system and existing solutions. Tools that were used to conduct the analysis were the SLEPT method, Porter's five forces, model 7S and SWOT matrix. Based on the results of the analyses, a change of the system has been designed, which entails an upgrade of the system, its user interface, integration of the register of companies of Slovak Republic and an extension module intended for the financial valuation of work performed by an attorney. The application has been developed utilizing the PHP and JavaScript programming language. The valuation module integrates the Google Maps API. The stability and speed of the system were tested by functional tests and profiling of the duration of HTTP requests. The main contribution of this thesis is the design and implementation of an extension of the information system, which can be used in any arbitrary attorney office situated in the Slovak Republic, and its practical application in the chosen company. This thesis builds on a previous thesis dedicated to the design and implementation of the information system, which is being extended in this diploma thesis.

My diploma thesis is focused on a comprehensive analysis of a selected company, its business environment and possible risks associated with the implementation of the proposed change in the supply process using a mobile application. My proposed solution includes a risk reduction method, a complex view of the processes in the application and its graphic design, along with the estimated costs of implementing the change.

The dissertation is devoted to the analysis of the environment and the future prospects of special libraries. Knowledge has been achieved by direct observation, conceptual modeling and content analysis of scientific documents. Universum of special library can be expressed as an entity- relational model. Document services, which are based on the theoretical framework of information management, are proving to be the most important service in special libraries. Management of special libraries is based on knowledge of the information needs of the user community and the methodology of library processes. Library services are interconnected and the system can be expressed in the form of mind maps. Processes and services of special libraries can provide data for information-science research.