Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:32:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AllysonFL_DISSERT.pdf: 1123137 bytes, checksum: 3d84751366d1e1beb2f044b6d4758c9b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-03 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / A an?lise de sobreviv?ncia param?trica estuda o tempo at? a ocorr?ncia de um evento com base no ajuste de modelos probabil?sticos fazendo uso frequente de modelos flex?veis para a escolha de um modelo mais simples e f?cil de interpretar. Nesse sentido, a distribui??o F generalizada tem a vantagem de incluir v?rias distribui??es importantes como casos especiais, com Weibull, Log-normal, log-logstica entre outras. Modelos de sobreviv?ncia que tratam de estudos em que um percentual dos indivduos n?o apresentam a ocorr?ncia do evento de interesse, mesmo acompanhados por um longo per?odo de tempo, s?o chamados de modelos de longa dura??o ou modelos de fra??o de cura e vem sendo estudados nos ?ltimos anos por diversos autores. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo o estudo de caracter?sticas te?ricas e computacionais associadas ao ajuste do modelo F generalizado com fra??o de cura

This master thesis focuses on selected concepts of air transport, which have a potential of increasing the competitiveness of the sector. The main objective of this paper is to analyze and quantify the economic and environmental benefits of introducing the electronic taxiing concept and the Free Route Airspace concept under conditions of use in the Czech Republic. First two parts of the thesis describe the theoretical background and important international aviation organizations. The main part describes the concepts, the methodology of benefit analyzes and presents the results. The results of analyzes show the main benefits of introducing both the concepts and the economic impact in case of airlines in the form of cost savings associated with fuel and environmental impact in terms of reducing the amount of produced gas emissions.

Information systems (IS) development represents a significant area of research interest in the IS discipline. Despite this interest, IS development projects consistently fall short in delivering anticipated outcomes within time, quality and cost constraints. Attempts by researchers to uncover contributors to high failure rates are complicated by fragmented views of the nature of the problem. These range from challenges to the validity of performance reports to contesting the conceptualization of success. Furthermore, there is a tendency in practice to address immediate symptomatic problems of IS project failure rather than resolve the fundamental issues. Consequently, recent measures indicate that 48% of IS projects fail to meet time commitments, 33% exceed their budget, 32% don’t achieve their business objectives and 15% fail outright. This PhD thesis presents research to explore and offer explanatory theory of how culture and leadership are implicated in the performance of IS development projects. Importantly, IS development is positioned as a form of social interaction. Thus, an understanding of the social context and the situated meanings that arise through social interaction are necessary conditions to effectively explore this research topic. Within this context the study reveals the performative nature of IS development work and offers explanations for the actions of organizational leaders and IS technical specialists involved in IS development. An interpretive research paradigm and inductive reasoning were adopted for this research and understanding is developed through a hermeneutic mode of inquiry. Two IS projects responsible for delivering strategic benefit to an organization in the financial services sector are the two cases in this study. Qualitative data were collected through interviews, observation and documentary evidence between January 2017 and June 2017. The nature of the relationships between culture, leadership and performance in the course of IS development work was revealed through two analytical iterations. The first iteration used the theory of Cultural Implications in Information Systems Development as a structural framework to support a thematic analysis of the data. A second iteration used frame analysis as a theoretical foundation to examine the interplay of culture, leadership and performance through a within-case and cross-case analysis of the two cases. Key contributions from this research include the development of a conceptual model explaining cultural implications in IS development, the development of an explanatory theory of the entangled nature of culture and leadership and the performance of IS projects, and 11 propositions that offer a basis for testing the emergent theory in future empirical studies. The findings from the research also reveal the performative nature of IS development work and identify concepts important to organizational managers and IS technical specialists. While the theory emerged in the context of IS development projects and the concepts in the emergent theory are central to the practice of IS development, each could be equally relevant to other IS phenomena where culture, leadership and performance are implicated, such as IS management and offshoring. The grounding of theoretical concepts to empirical data enabled the application of the theory to practice; practical guidelines are offered in respect of the influences of culture and leadership on the performance of IS development projects. This research supports the suitability of the Cultural Dynamics Model as a sensitizing lens for data collection in interpretive studies where culture is implicated.

Violence against women (VAW) is the most prevalent human rights violation of our time, rooted in women’s unequal status in society. Aim: The present study investigated women´s awareness of preventative and protective legislation on domestic violence and women´s awareness of campaigns against VAW across the EU. Further, it explored how EU state members´ political efforts to combat VAW might affect women´s awareness. It also examined the correlation between gender equality within EU state members and women´s awareness. In addition, the relationship between socio-demographic factors and women´s awareness was examined, including possible affects correlated with states members’ political efforts. Method: A secondary data analysis was conducted with data drawn from the 2012 FRA-VAW Survey, carried out in all 28 EU member states. Results: Results indicated that women across the EU were more aware of protective legislation than preventative regarding domestic violence, and that almost 1 in 2 women were unaware of recent campaigns against VAW in their country of residence. Results indicated that defined legislation and higher levels of gender equality within EU member states were associated with higher levels of awareness among women. Results further suggested that women with socio-demographic characteristics previously associated with inter-partner violence had particularly low awareness. Conclusion: As political and legal norms are required for VAW to be perceived as a crime, an increased emphasis on clear definitions of VAW is essential. Legal definitions of VAW and awareness of legislation are undervalued key factors in societies’ attempts to fulfil the goal of total eradication of VAW.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:59:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosani Valeria M Matoso Silva.pdf: 2493800 bytes, checksum: c274b76a31f58fe821a3f98f2cabee11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-16 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / The purpose of this work was to evaluate the nutritional value of Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp) in response to nitrogen fertilization, in terms of bromatological composition and the nitrogen and carbohydrate fractions as defined by the Cornell University model. It also assessed the performace of a chlorophyll meter, as an indirect estimate of green dry matter production, and chemical bromatological traits fo the grass. This study was carried out during the period of november 2008 to january 2009, on Haplic Planosol at the campus of the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Experimental design was a randomized block desing with four repetitions. Main treatments consisted of N rates allocated in the plots and cutting number were allocated in the sbplots. There are three levels of N soil : low N; represented by soil N, medium N: 75 N / ha / cut, and high N: 150 kg N / ha / cut. Herbage harvested twice, the first on November 30 and the second 29 days later. Cutting dates were determined according to data from canopy light interception. In the first study results showed that N rates increased green dry matter and the crude protein CP per cent in the forage and decreased asid detergent fibrous fraction contents. It was also verified the feasibility of using a chlorophyll meter as a probe for CP content and forage availability. In a second study it was verified that N fertilization showed no consistent results in regard to crude protein fractions with the sole exception of C fraction (%CP), that increased with increasing N availability. / Objetivou-se com este experimento avaliar o valor nutritivo do capim Tifton-85 (Cynodon spp) em resposta ? aplica??o de diferentes n?veis de nitrog?nio (N), com base na composi??o qu?mico bromatol?gica e nas fra??es nitrogenadas e de carboidratos, utilizando-se o sistema desenvolvido na Universidade de Cornell (The Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System - CNCPS). Avaliou-se tamb?m o desempenho de um clorofilometro, como estimador indireto das disponibilidades de forragem, e das caracter?sticas qu?mico bromatol?gicas do capim. O experimento foi realizado durante o per?odo novembro de 2008 a janeiro de 2009, no campus da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, utilizando-se um Planossolo H?plico. Os tratamentos constitu?ram-se de doses de N, na forma de ur?ia e de n?mero de cortes. Foram definidos tr?s n?veis de N: baixo, representado pelo N do solo; m?dio: 75 de N/ha/corte; e alto: 150 kg de N/ha/corte. Foram realizados dois cortes, o primeiro em 30/11/2008 e o segundo 29 dias ap?s. As datas dos cortes foram determinadas de acordo com dados de intercepta??o luminosa dos doss?is. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados, com quatro repeti??es, em esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com as doses de N alocadas nas parcelas e a seq??ncia de cortes na subparcela. No primeiro estudo, verificou-se que a aduba??o nitrogenada aumentou a produ??o de massa verde seca e os teores de PB da forragem e reduziu os teores das fra??es fibrosas em detergente ?cido, mostrando ainda a factibilidade do uso do clorofil?metro como um estimador indireto da produ??o de forragem e dos teores de PB na mesma. No segundo estudo, verificou-se que a aduba??o nitrogenada n?o apresentou resultados consistentes quando relacionada ?s fra??es prot?icas e nitrogenadas, com a exce??o da fra??o C (%PB) que respondeu positivamente.

Purpose/Aim: To find power structures within the blog network. Material/Method: Using keywords to find all available blog posts about the National Defence Radio Establishment from the blog search engine Twingly, and thereafter using the same blog search engine to find inlinks from other blogs, to those posts. The data is set into the context of the small-world networks models of Duncan J. Watts and rich-club models of Sergi Valverde och Ricard V. Sole. Main results: 5183 unique blogs have written about the subject in 22779 blog posts to which 28128 inlinks from other blogposts are made. Just over one fifth of the blogs are linkted to each other in one big network, where the remaining blogs stand without any ingoing or outgoing links. The first bloggers are the one who continue to write for longer period of time and also the ones who attracts most inlinks. The blogosphere around this subject is highly connected, shows features as one would find in a small-world network, displays a power-law distribution for inlinks and is highly clustered around a few rich- club nodes.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:02:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IzabellyLL_TESE.pdf: 7496453 bytes, checksum: d39fc896ff5d9d4982952835ef786c26 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-12 / The molecular distillation is show as an alternative for separation and purification of various kinds of materials. The process is a special case of evaporation at high vacuum, in the order from 0.001 to 0.0001 mmHg and therefore occurs at relatively lower temperatures, preserves the material to be purified. In Brazil, molecular distillation is very applied in the separation of petroleum fractions. However, most studies evaluated the temperature of the evaporator, condenser temperature and flow such variables of the molecular distillation oil. Then, to increase the degree of recovery of the fraction of the distillate obtained in the process of the molecular distillation was evaluated the use nonionic surfactants of the class of nonylphenol ethoxylate, molecules able to interact in the liquid-liquid and liquid-vapor interface various systems. In this context, the aim of this work was to verify the influence of commercial surfactant (Ultranex-18 an Ultranex-18-50) in the molecular distillation of a crude oil. The physicochemical characterization of the oil was realized and the petroleum shown an API gravity of 42?, a light oil. Initially, studied the molecular distillation without surfactant using star design experimental (2H ? ) evaluated two variables (evaporator temperature and condenser temperature) and answer variable was the percentage in distillate obtained in the process (D%). The best experimental condition to molecular distillation oil (38% distillate) was obtained at evaporator and condenser temperatures of 120 ?C and 10 ? C, respectively. Subsequently, to determine the range of surfactant concentration to be applied in the process, was determined the critical micellar concentration by the technique of scattering X-ray small angle (SAXS). The surfactants Ultranex-18 an Ultranex-18-50 shown the critical micelle concentration in the range of 10-2 mol/L in the hydrocarbons studied. Then, was applied in the study of distillation a concentration range from 0.01 to 0.15 mol/L of the surfactants (Ultranex- 18 and 50). The use of the nonionic surfactant increased the percentage of hydrocarbons in the range from 5 to 9 carbons in comparison to the process carried out without surfactant, and in some experimental conditions the fraction of light compounds in the distilled was over 700% compared to the conventional process. The study showed that increasing the degree of ethoxylation of Ultranex18 to Ultranex-50, the compounds in the range of C5 to C9 reduced the percentage in the distilled, since the increase of the hydrophilic part of the surfactant reduces its solubility in the oil. Finally, was obtained an increase in the degree of recovery of light hydrocarbons, comparing processes with and without surfactant, obtained an increase of 10% and 4% with Ultranex-18 and Ultranex-50, respectively. Thus, it is concluded that the Ultranex- 18 surfactant showed a higher capacity to distillation compared with Ultranex-50 and the application of surfactant on the molecular distillation from petroleum allowed for a greater recovery of light compounds in distillate / A destila??o molecular apresenta-se como uma alternativa para separa??o e purifica??o de diversos tipos de materias. O processo ? um caso especial de evapora??o a alto v?cuo, na ordem 0,001 a 0,0001 mmHg, e consequentemente, ocorre ? temperaturas relativamente mais baixas, preservando ao m?ximo o material a ser purificado. No Brasil, a destila??o molecular ? muito aplicada na separa??o de fra??es de petr?leo. No entanto, boa parte dos estudos relacionados a destila??o molecular de petr?leo avalia apenas as vari?veis do processo, tais como: a temperatura do evaporador, temperatura do condensador, vaz?o e etc. Dessa forma, com o prop?sito de favorecer a destila??o molecular, visando aumentar o grau de recupera??o da fra??o do destilado obtido no processo, avaliou-se a aplica??o de tensoativos n?o i?nicos da classe do nonilfenol etoxilado, uma vez que tais mol?culas apresentam a capacidade de interagir na interface l?quido-l?quido e l?quido-vapor de diversos sistemas. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a influ?ncia de tensoativo comerciais do tipo Ultranex-18 e Ultranex-50 na destila??o molecular de um petr?leo bruto. Nesse estudo, realizou-se a caracteriza??o f?sico-qu?mica do petr?leo a ser destilado, determinando-se que o mesmo apresentava um grau API de 42?, o que confere a amostra a ser destilada uma caracter?stica de fra??o leve. Na etapa do estudo das destila??es moleculares realizadas sem tensoativo, aplicou-se um planejamento estrela (2K ? ) com duas vari?veis (temperatura do evaporador e temperatura do condensador), tendo como resposta a porcentagem de destilado obtida no processo (%D). Verificou-se que a melhor condi??o experimental para a destila??o molecular do petr?leo estudado foi aplicando uma temperatura do evaporador de 120?C e do condensador de 10?C, obtendo-se uma porcentagem de destilado de 38 %. Posteriormente, para determinar uma faixa de concentra??o de tensoativo a ser aplicado no processo determinou-se a concentra??o micelar critica aplicando a t?cnica de espalhamento de raio-X de baixo ?ngulo (SAXS). Atrav?s da t?cnica, constatou-se que para os tensoativos da classe do nonilfenois etoxilados a concentra??o micelar cr?tica encontra-se na faixa de 10-2 mol/L para os hidrocarbonetos estudados. A partir dessa constata??o, aplicou-se no estudo das destila??es com tensoativo (Ultranex-18 e 50) uma faixa de concentra??o entre 0,01 a 0,15 mol/L. Nesta etapa, verificou-se que a presen?a do tensoativo n?o i?nico aumentou a destila??o de hidrocarbonetos na faixa de 5 a 9 carbonos em compara??o ao processo realizado sem tensoativo, e que em alguns casos a fra??o de compostos leves no destilado do processo foi superior a 700 % em rela??o ao processo convencional. O estudo mostrou que o aumento do grau de etoxila??o do Ultranex-18 para o Ultranex-50, reduziu a porcentagem de compostos destilados na faixa de C5 a C9, uma vez que o aumento da parte hidrof?lica do tensoativo reduz sua solubilidade no petr?leo. Finalmente, verificou-se que o aumento no grau de recupera??o de hidrocarbonetos leves, comparando os processos com o tensoativo e sem tensoativo, resultou em um aumento de 10 % para o processo empregando o Ultranex-18 e 4% para o Ultranex-50. Dessa forma, conclui-se que o Ultranex-18 apresentou maior capacidade de destila??o frente ao Ultranex-50 e que a aplica??o de tensoativo na destila??o molecular de petr?leo favoreceu o processo, j? que houve o aumento da concentra??o de compostos leves obtidos

The need to collect electronic communications for foreign intelligence purposes has increased in the past two decades, primarily due to the increase of international threats such as terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, digitalization and technical innovation have given rise to new possibilities for government surveillance and expanded the scope of the types of communications that may be collected. This gives rise to issues concerning the balance between effective foreign intelligence activities and the protection of personal integrity. This thesis performs a comparative analysis of the protection of personal integrity in signals intelligence in Sweden and the United States, by examining the protection of personal integrity under the Swedish Instrument of Government and Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (European Convention) compared to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the requirements for signals intelligence under the Swedish Act (2008:717) on Signals Intelligence in Defense Intelligence Operations (the Surveillance Act) and § 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, as amended). The analysis further includes a review of the safeguards adopted in each legal system to limit the collection of communications and to ensure that personal integrity is considered in signals intelligence operations. In regard to the protection of personal integrity, the analysis concludes that Swedish law, combined with the European Convention, offers a wider and more extensive protection for individuals when compared to the United States’ framework. However, all provisions include a requirement of proportionality or reasonableness intended to balance the need for effective law enforcement with the protection of personal integrity. The analysis further concludes that the Fourth Amendment has limited impact on signals intelligence carried out under § 702 FISA due to its limitations to the people of the United States, and that individuals' ability to exercise their rights is greater under the European Convention. The European Convention further offers protection beyond Sweden's borders, resulting in some protection for non-Swedish persons. As for the signals intelligence conducted under the Surveillance Act and § 702 FISA, several similarities and differences are identified. Both regulations limit the signals intelligence to be carried out for certain purposes. However, a notable difference is that, while signals intelligence under both the Surveillance Act and § 702 FISA are limited to foreign conditions, Swedish signals intelligence may be conducted on communications that cross Sweden’s borders. Meanwhile, collection under § 702 FISA may only target non-US persons outside of the United States. Despite this difference, signals intelligence under both regulations result in the collection of communications of the country’s own citizens. To limit the collection, both the Swedish National Defense Radio Establishment (Sw. Försvarets Radioanstalt, FRA) and the United States National Security Agency (NSA) apply certain safeguards. These include the use of search terms in Swedish signals intelligence and selectors in American signals intelligence. While they are both used to make relevant selections in the collection of communications, there are some notable difference between the two. For example, selectors consist of, inter alia, an email address or phone number, while search terms should not, as a general rule, target a specific individual. Further, there is no warrant requirement for collections under § 702 FISA compared to the Surveillance Act, which requires court approval. Lastly, in regard to the control and review of Swedish and American signals intelligence, the analysis concludes that such activities are conducted in different manners in both legal systems. This includes both internal and external controls. However, the Swedish control units appear to have greater opportunities to intervene by, for example, controlling the FRA's access to signal carriers and interrupting an ongoing collection if needed.

The objective of this study investigated the successful prediction of business failure of JSE listed companies using financial ratio analysis. During the research, financial statement data of failed and non-failed JSE listed companies during 2007-2012 financial periods were analysed, compared and interpreted. The interpretation of the trends and comparisons is of a quantitative nature, together with a qualitative genre which examines the tables, figures and equations in order to get the entire picture of the company’s performance for a five year period. The combination of literature on various failure predictor models and experience of these models resulted in the development of a modified model. The conclusion from the study indicated that financial ratio analysis successfully predicts failure and non-failure of the 16 companies that were investigated. These companies were grouped into eight delisted (failed) and eight listed (non-failed) JSE companies, which were paired in accordance to industry, fiscal period and closest asset size. The adoption of the traditional ratio analysis methods and EMS model yielded some interesting findings. The traditional ratio analysis methods (trend and comparative ratio analysis) were used with the Emerging Market Score (EMS) Model. The outcomes indicated the traditional methods are viable company failure prediction tools and the EMS model points out companies at a score of 2.60 and above as being financially stable. Between 2.60 and 1.10 the results are not very dependable because it is known that the company is in distress, yet uncertain whether the company has financially failed and below 1.10 the company has failed. It was concluded that a combination of the various prediction models enhances the accuracy of failure prediction. Therefore further research is required to assist stakeholders of South African companies to predict business failure by developing an adjusted model in a South African context. / MCom (Accountancy)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

The objective of this study investigated the successful prediction of business failure of JSE listed companies using financial ratio analysis. During the research, financial statement data of failed and non-failed JSE listed companies during 2007-2012 financial periods were analysed, compared and interpreted. The interpretation of the trends and comparisons is of a quantitative nature, together with a qualitative genre which examines the tables, figures and equations in order to get the entire picture of the company’s performance for a five year period. The combination of literature on various failure predictor models and experience of these models resulted in the development of a modified model. The conclusion from the study indicated that financial ratio analysis successfully predicts failure and non-failure of the 16 companies that were investigated. These companies were grouped into eight delisted (failed) and eight listed (non-failed) JSE companies, which were paired in accordance to industry, fiscal period and closest asset size. The adoption of the traditional ratio analysis methods and EMS model yielded some interesting findings. The traditional ratio analysis methods (trend and comparative ratio analysis) were used with the Emerging Market Score (EMS) Model. The outcomes indicated the traditional methods are viable company failure prediction tools and the EMS model points out companies at a score of 2.60 and above as being financially stable. Between 2.60 and 1.10 the results are not very dependable because it is known that the company is in distress, yet uncertain whether the company has financially failed and below 1.10 the company has failed. It was concluded that a combination of the various prediction models enhances the accuracy of failure prediction. Therefore further research is required to assist stakeholders of South African companies to predict business failure by developing an adjusted model in a South African context. / MCom (Accountancy)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015