This thesis is concerned with the recent trends within church gatherings where it is reported that there are growing numbers of 15-35 year olds missing from many evangelical churches. This is the generation commonly labelled as postmodern, and is even associated with the most up to date reaction of post-post modernism. The startling facts around this missing generation are explored in this thesis. This investigation looks at the present status of church services (Chapter 2) where the research identifies this problem of attendance of the younger generation at church gatherings, as well as the danger of the irrelevance of the church in its postmodern context. From here the study moves to suggest the basis of authority (Chapter 3), which is the biblical model for church gatherings. Once this foundation is established we move to detect the specific gaps between the current status (Chapter 4) and the biblical model. This leaves the application (Chapter 5) of what the church needs to do to get back to the original scriptural shape, and to be relevant to the postmodern era in which it finds itself. Due to the nature of the topic, the thesis discusses the characteristics of emerging generations, and what it means to be relevant to postmodern society in the way that a church gathering worships, preaches and styles itself. Other elements of liturgy are examined, such as the Lord’s Supper. In this manner, this thesis moves the reader to a point where they are able to see that the church at large needs to make some drastic changes to the way that it designs its gatherings. The author is careful to show that being relevant to culture is an endless quest, and that church leaders are wise to understand that this pursuit must be secondary to the main issue of seeking Jesus Christ and sticking to the power of the unchanging gospel. This must come before trendy worship music, flashy lights, big loud sound systems and professionally designed web pages. All these are simply smoke and no flames if the church is simply passionate about the superficial surface stylistic features of its gatherings. Therefore, in moving towards relevant church services for the postmodern era, the author takes the reader on a journey where he encourages the church to take some bold steps into adapting and “redesigning the packaging” of Christian ministry in church gatherings. Church meetings cannot just be about being social, creative and communal. They must be defined by the biblical framework that calls for a spiritual gathering of believers that come to worship together as God ordained, to participate in a reverent, powerful, experiential, participative, creative, multi-sensory meeting where they meet with God. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

In the era of a pandemic, public spaces have been reshaped for better, but also for worse. Humans are social beings. We need interaction with others to thrive, but doing this over a screen over a long period of time has proven we must adapt in new ways. “As society begins to build the “new normal” of emergence from the pandemic, efforts to rebuild and strengthen trust and solidarity are of as much importance as the ongoing distribution of vaccines and vigilance against coronavirus variants,” (The EditorsFebruary, 2022, Unpaginated). The transitional restart for issues relating to public spaces in the post pandemic period has highlighted the challenge of making public spaces not only safe to gather, but also vibrant. There is much room for society to start exploring new systems to create safe spaces for the public that veer away from the stale solutions we have implemented. What would happen if we shy away from digital as a social distancing method and instead explore craft or nature as a way of rethinking the new normal?  The EditorsFebruary, et al. “The Key to a Post-Pandemic 'New Normal'? Solidarity.”America Magazine, 17 Feb. 2022, https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/02/17/covid- omicron-normal-masks-242404.

Covid-19 är en global pandemi som har haft en stark påverkan på världen och dess befolkning på många olika sätt. Arbetslivet, företagsamhet och således även revisionsbranschen har inte undkommit att drabbas. En normal vardag bestående av fysiska möten och interaktioner förändrades snabbt till att nästintill vara helt digitaliserad. De införda restriktionerna ledde till att berörda revisorer i följande studies empiri varit tvungna att arbeta hemifrån i syfte att minska smittspridningen av Covid-19. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur revision och revisorns arbetsprocess i form av granskningsarbete samt informationsinsamling har påverkats av de omständigheter som pandemin medfört. Metoden som använts gällande insamling av empiri, vilket skall ligga till grund till besvarandet av studiens frågeställning och syfte, är kvalitativ. Intervjuer med fyra olika revisorer har genomförts. Erfarenheten som dem medverkande respondenter har inom revisionsbranschen varierar men samtliga har arbetat som revisorer innan, under samt efter pandemin. Medverkande respondenter var anställda på bland annat Moore AB samt Grant Thornton. Utöver genomförda intervjuer har även en litteraturundersökning genomförts där tidigare forskning undersökts i form av vetenskapliga artiklar samt teorier. Vidare har även en dokumentstudie genomförts gällande de fyra största revisionsbyråerna i världen, vilket är KPMG, E&Y, PWC samt Deloitte. Information kopplat till studiens syfte har inhämtats genom offentliga uttalanden och rapporter från respektive revisionsbyrås hemsida. Analys av insamlad empiri ledde till ett resultat som påvisade både negativa samt positiva aspekter för både medverkande respondenter men även för revisionsbyråerna i dokumentstudien. De negativa konsekvenserna som nämns till följd av distansarbetet är brister i kommunikation och informationsinsamling, vilket påverkar revisionsprocessen negativt i sin helhet. Anledningen till detta är utebliven kommunikation med kund och mellan medarbetare, vilket har resulterat i utebliven och ibland felaktig informationsinsamling. Även komplikationer gällande legala och skattemässiga aspekter tas upp som en konsekvens, samt problem i att upprätthålla en trygg cybersäkerhet. Positiva aspekter som tas upp under analysen av empirin är ökad flexibilitet och mer effektiva arbetsprocesser efter att revisionsarbetet digitaliserats. Dessutom har distansarbetet lett till minskade resor och således minskade resekostnader. Detta är dock ingenting som skedde direkt, utan något som revisorer fått anpassa sig till samt utveckla under pandemins gång. / Covid-19 is a global pandemic that has had a strong impact on the world and its population in many different ways. Working life, enterprise and the audit profession has not been unaffected. Everyday life consisting of physical meetings and interactions instantly changed to being almost completely digitized. Following restrictions led to the auditors being concerned in the empirical study being forced to work from home in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The purpose of the study is to investigate how auditing and the auditor's work process in the form of review process and information gathering have been affected by circumstances brought about by the pandemic. The method used regarding the collection of empirical evidence, which must be the basis for preserving the study's question and purpose, is qualitative where interviews with four different auditors have been carried out. Participating respondents have varying lengths of experience, but have all worked as accountants within, during and after the pandemic. Furthermore, the respondents are employed at, among others, Moore AB and Grant Thorn. In addition to the interview, a literature survey was also conducted where previous research was examined in the form of scientific articles and theories. Moreover, a document study has also been carried out regarding the four largest audit organizations in the world, which are KPMG, E&Y, PWC and Deloitte. Information linked to the purpose of the study has been obtained through public statements and reports from the respective audit firm's website. Analysis of collected empirical evidence led to a result that demonstrated both negative and positive aspects for participating respondents as well as for the audit organizations in the document study. The negative consequences mentioned as a result of remote work are deficiencies in communication and information gathering, which negatively affects the audit process as a whole. The reason for this is a lack of communication both with the customer and between employees, which resulted in missed and sometimes incorrect information gathering. Complications regarding legal aid and tax aspects are also addressed as a consequence, as well as problems in maintaining secure cyber security. Positive aspects that are taken up during the analysis of the empirical evidence are increased flexibility and streamlined work processes after the companies have been digitized. Other positive aspects were reduced travel time and reduced travel costs. However, these happenings did not occur immediately, the companies had to adapt to them and developed them during the course of the movement.

The secondary use of Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) data, if that data were held in a data warehouse, could contribute to global efforts in monitoring and improving dementia care quality. This qualitative study identifies requirements for the secondary use of DCM data within a data warehouse using a user-driven approach. The thesis critically analyses various technical methodologies and then argues the use and further demonstrates the applicability of a modified grounded theory as a user-driven methodology for a data warehouse. Interviews were conducted with 29 DCM researchers, trainers and practitioners in three phases. 19 interviews were face to face with the others on Skype and telephone with an average length of individual interview 45-60 minutes. The interview data was systematically analysed using open, axial and selective coding techniques and constant comparison methods. The study data highlighted benchmarking, mappers’ support and research as three perceived potential secondary uses of DCM data within a data warehouse. DCM researchers identified concerns regarding the quality and security of DCM data for secondary uses, which led to identifying the requirements for additional provenance, ethical and contextual data to be included in a warehouse alongside DCM data to meet requirements for secondary uses of this data for research. The study data was also used to extrapolate three main factors such as an individual mapper, the organization and an electronic data management that can influence the quality and availability of DCM data for secondary uses. The study makes further recommendations for designing a future DCM data warehouse.

In the development stages of a Digital twin of production assets, especially machine tools, real time process monitoring and data gathering proves to be vital. Having a monitoring system that monitors and updates the operators or managers in real time, helps improve productivity in terms of reducing downtime through predictive/preventive analytics and by incorporating in process quality assessment capabilities. When it comes to Real time monitoring of machine tools andprocesses, sensor technologies have proven to be the most effective and widely researched. Years of research and development have paved the way for many smart sensor technologies that come both in built with the machine tools as well as external applications. However, these technologies prove to be expensive and complicated to implement especially for Small and Medium Enterprises. This thesis focuses on evaluating and testing a simple, cost-efficient monitoring system using inexpensive sensor technologies that would help optimize an existing Digital twin setup for machine tools for Small and Medium Enterprises. Experiments with a 5 axis CNC machine tool using different tools and varying operating parameters, materials were performed,and the relevant sensor data were collected, mapped, analysed for accuracy and benchmarking. The thesis also evaluates the integration of this data with the information already collected from other sources, improve existing data reliability, and provides guidelines on this could be transformed usefully to create more value to SME’s.

Intelligence organizations and their operations are by their nature secretive and want to continue as such. This problematizes research around them and especially intelligence cooperation with other countries can be considered among the most secret parts of an intelligence organization. This is put in the context of the essay where Sweden and Finland have a long and extensive historical relationship. That relationship also includes military aspects with volunteer soldiers and even today with the joint decision to apply to NATO. Previous research on Swedish intelligence gathering and intelligence cooperation in Finland has been sparse and scattered in larger works that have focused largely on the Swedish intelligence organization and its operations. The purpose of the essay is twofold. One is to map the Swedish intelligence gathering in Finland by C-byrån and see how it changed during the course of the war. The second is to highlight and discuss the intelligence cooperation between the Swedish and Finnish intelligence services. Since the purpose is twofold, two different theoretical frameworks and researchers' thoughts will be used. The first is Agrell's thoughts on different types of intelligence, which will be used to analyze what is obtained in Finland. The second is Michael Herman's thoughts on intelligence cooperation, which will be used to explain and discuss the Swedish-Finnish intelligence cooperation. The method chosen for this essay is a qualitative text analysis with a close reading of reports carried out. The essay will also contain elements of quantitative methods in the form of a table and figures to more easily visualize some of the results. The end result of this essay is that the C-byråns intelligence gathering in Finland changed in volume and type of intelligence during the course of the war. Within the intelligence cooperation, it is established that the cooperation was at its greatest and in clarity during the Finnish Winter War. After the Finnish Winter War cooperation decreased and became discreet, then returned during the Lapland War in clarity. Intelligence cooperation with the Finnish intelligence service became a method of approach and a professional exchange for the C-byrån to obtain intelligence on active war experience of how Soviet troops fight and their tactics.

This dissertation employs management systems engineering principles, data science, and industrial systems engineering techniques to address pressing challenges in emergency department (ED) efficiency, infectious disease management at mass gatherings, and student self-efficacy. It is structured into three essays, each contributing to a distinct domain of research, and utilizes industrial and systems engineering approaches to provide data-driven insights and recommend solutions. The first essay used data analytics and regression analysis to understand how patient length of stay (LOS) in EDs could be influenced by multi-level variables integrating patient, service, and organizational factors. The findings suggested that specific demographic variables, the complexity of service provided, and staff-related variables significantly impacted LOS, offering guidance for operational improvements and better resource allocation. The second essay utilized system dynamics simulations to develop a modified SEIR model for modeling infectious diseases during mass gatherings and assessing the effectiveness of commonly implemented policies. The results demonstrated the significant collective impact of interventions such as visitor limits, vaccination mandates, and mask wearing, emphasizing their role in preventing health crises. The third essay applied machine learning methods to predict student self-efficacy in Muslim societies, revealing the importance of socio-emotional traits, cognitive abilities, and regulatory competencies. It provided a basis for identifying students with varying levels of self-efficacy and developing tailored strategies to enhance their academic and personal success. Collectively, these essays underscore the value of data-driven and evidence-based decision- making. The dissertation's broader impact lies in its contribution to optimizing healthcare operations, informing public health policy, and shaping educational strategies to be more culturally sensitive and psychologically informed. It provides a roadmap for future research and practical applications across the healthcare, public health, and education sectors, fostering advancements that could significantly benefit society. / Doctor of Philosophy / Divided into three essays, this dissertation uses industrial and systems engineering and data science to help make emergency departments more efficient, manage the spread of diseases at large events, and predict students' belief in their abilities. The first essay investigates factors that influence how long patients stay in emergency departments, including patient demographics, triage level, the complexity of care they receive, and number of emergency department staff when patient arrived. The essay offers suggestions to improve these services and better manage resources. The second essay models the spread of COVID-19 during the Hajj, a religious mass gathering, and evaluates the effectiveness of three safety measures: limiting the number of attendees, vaccinations, and wearing masks. This essay shows how different strategies can work together to prevent outbreaks. The third essay uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand what affects Muslim students' confidence in their abilities, focusing on emotional intelligence, thinking skills, and self-discipline. The findings could help to identify students who need extra support and to create more personalized programs that will help them succeed. Overall, this dissertation contributes to advancing industrial and systems engineering and data science knowledge by addressing complex issues in healthcare, public health, and education, leading to more informed decisions and better strategies. Its broader impact includes improving hospital operations, guiding public health decisions, and helping develop educational programs and interventions that consider cultural and psychological factors.

一般人總以為電視新聞攝影記者的主要任務，只是拍攝影像。倘若換個角度觀察，記者既要擷取新聞畫面、又要編輯影像，以配合文字語音敘事。因此電視新聞攝影工作，既是建構新聞內涵，也是發現與解決實務問題的過程。攝影記者最困擾的問題之一，在於當畫面影像不足以搭配文字和語音時，如何適時彌補「破口」(Gap)。因此，攝影記者工作重點之一在彌補素材不足。 本研究所關注的問題是：攝影記者工作的主要情境為何？他們如何運用策略和情境互動，以解決素材不足的困境？本研究從資訊尋求、配置智能，以及活動理論等觀點切入，並透過深度訪談和參與觀察，以蒐集資料，以解答本研究關注的問題。 記者尋找畫面資料素材，是知識、策略和情境互動的歷程；一方面，攝影記者累積工作知識，定義資訊缺口、並選擇資料來源；另一方面，記者也因應情境變化、隨時取捨資料、並調整先前資料蒐集策略。 攝影記者能力並不應該只是呈現在操控機具、或卡位、搶拍畫面的能力；更重要的或許是臨機應變、運用資源彌補畫面與文字落差的資訊蒐集能力。研究成果可以讓我們重新思考未來電視新聞攝影教育和訓練的課程內涵。 / The Cameramen gathers visual formation for TV news. They gather not only “fresh” clips on the spot, but also “classic” ones from archives and other sources. Both requires cameramen to find resources surround and make decisions. Clip seeking can be identified as one of the major characteristics of cameramen’s work. The purpose of this study is to find how cameramen fill up insufficient resources for their daily reporting activities: mainly, what contexts are they situated and how they develop the strategies to respond the contexts? This researcher collected data, in two critical cases, by employing depth interviews as well as participant observation. Controlling cameras and capturing visuals may only count for a small part of cameramen’s required talents. Finding discontinuity and meeting the gap requires cameramen solve problems by identifying and organizing resources in order to in changing environment. Cameramen are more reflexive practitioners than device operator. This result may lead us to revisit design of TV journalism curriculum.

La métropole est polychronique. L'isolement d'un de ses rythmes permet de nuancer les théories de la modernité liquide et de la ville en continu. À travers l'étude de trois événements festifs métropolitains à Paris et Bruxelles, nous proposons une lecture de l'histoire urbaine par ses temps partagés, une description des mécanismes par lesquels les rythmes sociaux émergent et une analyse de leur rôle social et spatial. Réinterrogé par le concept de rendez-vous collectifs, les rythmes urbains sont une co-production entre un urbanisme temporaire et une urbanité événementielle. Ces deux éléments explique le double rôle spatial et social des rythmes événementiels. Les institutions municipales instrumentalisent l'urbanisme temporaire pour signifier le temps, organiser le rassemblement et produire du lieu. L'urbanité événementielle est le résultat des interprétations individuelles des événements comme signe temporel qui produit du lien social et un sens commun des lieux. La répétition de la rencontre entre l'urbanisme temporaire et l'urbanité événementielle provient d'une part, de la décision politique de d'instrumentaliser le rendez-vous dans l'organisation urbaine, d'autre part de la synchronisation des individus qui organisent leurs temps pour participer au rassemblement. La rationalité qui anime les participants est motivée par la valorisation des interactions de face-à-face et la production de liens sociaux associatifs, dans une société interrogée par la différenciation et la désynchronisation des modes de vie. L'individu ne se passe pas de rassemblements rituels, dans des lieux et selon des temporalités saisonnières. Ces rythmes collectifs sont adaptés à la métropole, à la complexification de ses territoires, à l'hybridation de ses représentations culturelles et à l'individualisation de ses temporalités. Au-delà, le concept de rythme est une théorie de morphologie sociale qui rend compte du fonctionnement des sociétés de façon multiscalaire et dynamique. Elle s'inscrit dans les théories sociologiques intermédiaires qui lient l'individu et le collectif, l'habitant et les institutions, la morphologie spatiale et temporelle de groupements humains de toutes tailles. Le fait métropolitain, influençant et influencé par l'individu et le global, constitue une échelle mésociale heuristique / The city is polychronic. We qualify liquid modernity theory and the twenty-four hour city model by isolating one of its rhythms. Based on a diachronic study of three festive urban events in Paris and Brussels, we propose a new reading of urban history through planned gatherings, a description of the mechanisms by which social rhythms emerge and the role they play in building urban space and society. The planned gathering concept is applied to urban social rhythms, which are seen as the product of an interaction between temporary urbanism and event sociability. Institutions instrumentalise temporary urbanism to signify units of social time, and implicitly plan gatherings by producing a conducive physical place. Event sociability is the collective result of individual interpretations of this sign, which produce social ties and create a corresponding social place. These places become periodic through political decisions to reproduce the sign, as w ell as individuals' efforts to organize and synchronize their time to participate. The resultant planned gatherings are in turn instrumentalized to organize the metropolis. In a society whose groups are increasingly differentiated and desynchronized, face-to-face interaction and the production of discretionary social ties are highly valued. Individuals apply value rationality and thus continue to participate in ritual, seasonal gatherings at fixed places and times. Despite historical continuities, these rhythms are specifically modern in that they have adapted to the contemporary city's territorial complexity, cultural hybridization, and idividualized temporality. Using the semantic duality of rhythm (flowing / periodic) we outline a more general theory of social morphology which provides a multiscale, dynamic account of societies, covering interactions between the individual and the collective, inhabitants and institutions, the spatial and temporal patterns in human groups of varying size. The mesosocial metropolitan scale is situated between the indivual and the global

Les réseaux de capteurs sans fil sont maintenant un moyen crédible de collecte de données sur les cultures. L'installation d'une structure de communication fixe pour relayer les données surveillées depuis la tête de grappe jusqu'à sa destination finale peut être soit impraticable en raison de la topologie du terrain, soit prohibitive en raison du coût initial élevé. Une solution plausible consiste à utiliser des véhicules aériens sans pilote (UAV) comme moyen alternatif de collecte de données et de contrôle de supervision limité de l'état des détecteurs. Dans cet article, nous considérons le cas des parcelles agricoles disjointes comprenant chacune des grappes de capteurs, organisées de manière prédéterminée en fonction des objectifs d'élevage. Cette recherche vise à trouver une solution optimale pour la recherche de UAV et la collecte de données à partir de tous les capteurs installés dans un champ de culture. En outre, le protocole de routage des capteurs tiendra compte d'un compromis entre la gestion de l'énergie et les frais généraux de diffusion des données. Le système proposé est évalué en utilisant un modèle simulé et il devrait trouver une classe parmi toutes les sous-considérations. / Wireless sensor networks are now a credible means for crop data collection. The installation of a fixed communication structure to relay the monitored data from the cluster head to its final destination can either be impractical because of land topology or prohibitive due to high initial cost. A plausible solution is to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as an alternative means for both data collection and limited supervisory control of sensors status. In this paper, we consider the case of disjoint farming parcels each including clusters of sensors, organized in a predetermined way according to farming objectives. This research focuses to drive an optimal solution for UAV search and data gathering from all sensors installed in a crop field. Furthermore, the sensor routing protocol will take into account a tradeoff between energy management and data dissemination overhead.The proposed system is evaluated by using a simulated model and it should find out a class among all under consideration.