This thesis investigates whether the financial and non-financial performance of organizations is influenced bye-business strategy planning. Four strategic planning parameters of Formality, Participation, Sophistication and Thoroughness are examined when applied to e-business strategy planning. We try to establish if relationships exist between these parameters and Financial and Non-Financial Performance, and if so we examine the directions of these relationships. A conceptual model has been constructed and quantitative research methods are used to test the four hypotheses. The model was tested in two EU countries, the United Kingdom and Greece. The conclusions of this research study, including numerical results and statistical analysis, show that in both countries Participation has a positive relationship with Financial Performance. Furthermore, Formality has a positive relationship with Non-Financial Performance. In Greece, all of the independent variables of Formality, Participation, Sophistication and Thoroughness were found to have a positive relationship with Financial and Non-Financial Performance. In the UK, Participation had a positive relationship with Financial Performance and Formality had a positive relationship with Non-Financial PerfOlmance. This research study brings together elements of e-business strategy planning, strategy planning and performance management. It demonstrates . how strategy planning components have a positive relationship with e-business strategy management and performance. It is also shown that this model is extendable and valid in countries other than the UK, thus being able to be easily adapted to and used in other national environments.

Formality quasi-isomorphisms Cobar(C) -> O are a necessary component of the machinery used in deformation quantization to produce quantized algebras of observables, however they are often constructed via transcendental methods, resulting in computational difficulties and quasi-isomorphisms defined over extensions of Q We will show that these formality quasi-isomorphisms can be "demystified" for a large class of dg-operads, by showing that they can be constructed recursively via an algorithm that builds them from systems of linear equations over Q, given certain assumptions on H(O). / Mathematics

This report presents a new way of applying cultural scripts (a form of reductive paraphrase) to the study and description of culturally specific linguistic behavior. Cultural scripts are used to define levels of formality in German culture. This is done by describing typical situations that range from formal to informal in terms of how members of German culture typically conceive of them. The purpose of these levels is to create a scale of formality that can be used to rate particular linguistic expressions in a reference source, thus approximating native speaker intuitions about linguistic formality, and helping readers understand the norms of (in)formal linguistic behavior in German culture. Such a reference source would be immeasurably helpful for students of German, as register variation, particularly formality variation, can be quite difficult for foreign language learners to master. This reference source should help students determine when it is appropriate to use one linguistic expression over another with a similar meaning (and a different level of formality). It would inform students, for example, that a word like “Bulle” in German (“cop” or “pig”) is not appropriate in an academic presentation on European law enforcement agencies, and that the less colloquial terms, “Polizist” or “Polizeibeamte”, would be better suited to such a context. / text

The aim of this essay was to investigate whether pupils with higher grades based on formative assessment were more successful at adapting informal texts into formal texts.Six pupils in English 7 were asked to write an informal blog entry about their favorite hobby/pastime and a formal entry also about their favorite hobby/pastime intended for an English encyclopedia. The pupils that were selected were assessed as havingformative grades A-E. The ability to transform informal into formal texts was assessedquantitatively by counting a number of lexical and grammatical features. The results showed that pupils with a higher formative grade did not experience significant difficulties in adapting their language and switching from informal to formal language. The results also showed that the usage of slang and contractions among the pupils with lower grades was maximized.

This thesis investigates the relationship between prosody and formality in spoken Japanese, from the standpoints of both speech production and perception. The previous literature on this topic has often produced inconsistent or contradictory results (e.g. Loveday, 1981; Ofuka at al., 2000; Ito, 2001; Ito, 2002), and this thesis therefore seeks to address the research question of whether speakers and listeners use prosody in any predictable way when expressing or judging formality in spoken Japanese. Chapter 2 describes a pilot study which aimed to determine which prosodic variables were worth investigating in a larger corpus-based study. Speech of different levels of formality was elicited from subjects indirectly via the inclusion of indexical linguistic items in carrier sentences. Analysis of the relationship between mean f₀ and duration shows a significant correlation with the categories of formal and informal speech where both variables are higher in informal speech. Consequently, in Chapter 3 f₀ and articulation rate were analyzed in the corpus-based study. Corpus data for the study was collected via one-on-one conversations recorded at NINJAL in Tachikawa-shi, Japan. The speech data from the corpus was analyzed in order to test the hypothesis that the prosodic variables of mean f₀, articulation rate, and f₀ range would all be consistently higher in informal speech. Analysis using mixed effects models and a functional data analysis shows that all three prosodic variables are significantly higher in informal speech. These results were then used to inform the design of a speech perception study, which tested how manipulation of mean f₀, articulation rate, and f₀ range upwards or downwards affect listeners' judgments of de-lexicalized speech as formal or informal. Results show that manipulation of all three variables upwards or downward leads to listeners' judging recordings as more informal or formal respectively. However, manipulation of individual variables does not have a significant correlation with changes in listeners' judgements. This result led to the theory that categorization tasks in speech perception are probabilistic, with listeners accessing distributions of acoustic cues to the categories in order to make judgments. Chapter 5 of the thesis describes a probabilistic Bayesian model of formality formulated based on the theory of the cognitive process of category judgment described in Chapter 4, which attempts to predict a recording's level of formality based only on its prosody. Given information on the overall and speaker-specific distributions of the prosodic cues to the different levels of formality, the model is able to discriminate between categories at a rate better than chance (~63% accurate for formal speech, ~74% accurate for informal speech), performing better than human listeners - who could not predict formality based on only prosodic information at a rate above chance in the study in Chapter 4. The studies in this thesis show a consistent, significant relationship between prosody and formality in spoken Japanese in both speech production and perception, which can be modeled probabilistically using a Bayesian statistical framework.

This paper investigates communication between speakers with different first languages in a business setting, referred to as BELF, Business English as a lingua franca. The present paper investigates politeness strategies in BELF e-mail correspondence, and the interplay between them. Politeness strategies play an important role in e-mail correspondence, and this has been identified through studying formality in greetings and closings, and directness in requests. The dataset consists of 46 naturally-occurring e-mails, which have been grouped into internal or external correspondence to accordingly answer the research question, which aims to investigate whether or not there is a difference in the communicative approach depending on who the receiver is. This has been analysed in terms of the politeness strategies formality and directness, and the results show that the internal and external correspondence are very similar to each other, hence the level of formality and directness rather appears to depend on the sender him/herself. The results furthermore present that greetings are mainly informal, closings mainly formal and requests predominantly direct, for both internal and external correspondence. This would conventionally indicate that the e-mails are impolite; however, in accordance with some recent scholars it has been agreed that, along with the development of e-mails, the requirements for politeness have changed, and the e-mails in the present study are primarily considered polite.

In Mabopane’s core, designers have, in an idealistic, static and utopian fashion, created environments for a society that does not exist, which has resulted in a tension between formal environments and informal activities. Because of the nature of formal institutions, informality (which is the backbone of identity of place) is suffering and being encroached upon by formal developments. In reality, in all formality lies some informality, and vice versa. The intention is not to formalise the informal or informalise the formal, but rather to create a hybrid space where the two extremes (which are dependent on each other for survival) can co-exist and form a symbiotic relationship. How does one create this landscape of co-dependence? The answer is firstly sought in a programmatic approach . An apprenticeship workshop inherits current site activities and forges a new relationship between the two extremes by sourcing the by-products of retail from the formal structure (i.e. the shopping centre) and utilising the evident resource effi ciency of the community in order to solve a series of urban problems. The programme consists of two branches: the larger product manufacturing (where a current modular housing system with added recycled insulation is produced); and the smaller workshops (where fi ner crafts are practised, such as sewing and mending). These spaces are aimed at creating social, economic and knowledge-exchange environments. The programme is used as a vessel to illustrate the concept that three types of spaces are required: the necessary, the optional and the spontaneous. The programme is designed in such a way that it compliments existing activities, introduces new ones where necessary and capitalises on established networks. The built form is thus required to create a hybrid landscape of exchange. In order to create this landscape, a visual language is extracted from the context, deciphered and applied to the proposed site and activities. The designer is only capable of creating the formal and not in control of the informal, but one can learn from the fabric by deciphering some of the visible patterns on how to create successful space. This understanding of “anonymous architecture” aims to stimulate the narrative between the two extremes. By examining the context, understanding what works and why it works in that specifi c way, a decision on what formal intervention is needed, could be supported to compliment and refl ect the dynamic properties of the context. This familiarity of form is used to create an architecture that is region specifi c in its message and use. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This licentiate thesis consists of two papers treating subjects in rational homotopy theory. In Paper I, we establish two formality conditions in characteristic zero. We prove that adg Lie algebra is formal if and only if its universal enveloping algebra is formal. Wealso prove that a commutative dg algebra is formal as a dg associative algebra if andonly if it is formal as a commutative dg algebra. We present some consequences ofthese theorems in rational homotopy theory. In Paper II, we construct a differential graded Lie model for the universal cover of the classifying space of the grouplike monoid of homotopy automorphisms of a space that fix a subspace. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript.</p>

A widespread phenomenon on dumpsites in the developing world, subsistence waste picking is also a common practice at the city-owned Coastal Park Landfill (CPL) in Muizenberg. Poor unemployed people from the townships of Capricorn, Vrygrond and Hillview, situated at the foot of the tip “skarrel for scrap” every day. The word skarreling is an Afrikaans term meaning to rummage or scrabble, scuttle or scurry. Thus, if one talks of “skarreling for scrap”, it generally refers to poor peo-ple trying to eke out a living by looking for recyclables in the waste that can be put to personal use or turned into money.In the two decades since the transition to democracy, South Africa and the City of Cape Town (CCT) have formulated a number of framework and subordinate policies which express their commitment to sustainable development (SD). SD aims to achieve a balance between its three components, econom-ic, environmental and social sustainability. Thus, SD is not only about increased economic efficiency and stability, while at the same time reducing pollution and handling natural resources more thought-fully; it is also about promoting social equity by reducing poverty and empowering the poor. This study is guided by the assumption that waste pickers in developing countries play an important part in recycling efforts, and that recycling in turn is an integral component of SD, which is the guid-ing principle of South African policy-making. In an ideal scenario – as implicitly promised by the policies on SD – the management of solid waste should pursue the economic and environmental goals of SD by promoting recycling and should be aligned with the goal of creating sustainable livelihoods.However, the reality in the CCT is a different one. Landfill skarreling in the CCT, and particularly at CPL, is accompanied by conflict and a criminalisation of the skarrelaars. The CCT decided to phase out landfill salvaging in 2008, and subsequently has put a lot of effort into keeping skarrelaars away from its landfills. The implications of this decision – job losses for poor people and a potential in-crease in crime – have not been thought through. There is thus a dysfunctional triangular relationship around waste recycling in the CCT, leading to tensions between (1) the City’s commitment to SD; (2) its approach towards recycling (as part of solid waste management) in policy and practice; and (3) the livelihoods of the poor in adjacent townships. In the CCT the goals of SD are undermined by the City’s recycling strategies, with adverse effects for the livelihoods of the people who live off skarrel-ing.There are several causes for this disjuncture between policy and reality. The first has to do with igno-rance on the side of the policymakers. They seem to be badly informed about the extent and nature of skarreling, perhaps assuming that this activity is performed only by a few people who need quick cash for drugs. The second cause can be attributed to the neoliberal macro-policies pursued in South Africa, as well as to the global competition between cities for investment. This neoliberal urbanism leads cities like Cape Town to re-imagine themselves as “world (-class) cities”, in which poor waste pickers are perceived as a disturbing factor. In the CCT, this goes hand in hand with an approach reminiscent of the apartheid mindset, which saw the need to control poor, black (and potentially unru-ly) people.The dissertation therefore focuses on the core themes of sustainable development, (urban) neoliberal-ism, and informality in combination with a case study of the informal waste pickers at the chosen landfill site. Writing from a political studies angle, this study is framed as a policy critique: it argues that the policies around SWM ignore South African realities, and that the SD policies and their im-plementation lack coherence. Moreover, the conflict between the skarrelaars and the CCT at the CPL is rooted in inadequate national and local legislation which does not acknowledge the role of informal waste pickers in SWM and aims at excluding rather than including them. If waste pickers were sup-ported in their recycling efforts in both policy and practice, this would be a win-win situation for the state/city (economic benefits and less crime), the skarrelaars (regular employment and incomes) and the environment (less waste buried on landfills).The case study is primarily designed as a qualitative study, but also includes quantitative elements as it attempts a first quantification of the extent and nature of skarreling at the CPL site, one of only three operating dumpsites in Cape Town. The aim on the one hand is to estimate the contribution of the skarrelaars to waste reduction (and therefore to sustainability) in the City, especially since the waste they collect is not buried on the landfill, thereby prolonging the operational life span of the landfill. The other aim is to assess the role of the skarrelaars as an economic factor in the township, in particular the question of how important the incomes generated from skarreling are for their individu-al livelihoods and for the community as a whole. / Magister Artium - MA

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T21:16:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 25 / Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Esta tese trata de uma pesquisa sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem de trabalhos manuais com mulheres negras em Rio Grande (RS – Brasil) e Capitán Bermúdez (Santa Fe – Argentina). Tal pesquisa foi elaborada a partir da temática “Pedagogias da não-formalidade ou das tramas complexas (re)inventadas por mulheres negras através do ensino e da aprendizagem de trabalhos manuais e a busca por emancipação”. Foram promovidos encontros, no Brasil, município de Rio Grande, com mulheres pertencentes ao grupo étnico afro possuidor de experiências em profissões destinadas historicamente às mulheres e, em particular, às mulheres negras: o trabalho doméstico (domésticas, lavadeiras, cozinheiras, etc.), o cuidado de crianças pequenas e o embelezamento capilar vinculado às tranças. Também participaram desta investigação, na Argentina, município de Capitán Bermúdez, mulheres que, mesmo não expressando o grupo étnico ao qual pertencem, apresentam fenotipicamente indícios de serem descendentes de indígenas argentinas, atuantes nas me / This thesis is a survey about the teaching and learning of Manual Works (Handicrafts) with black women in Rio Grande (RS – Brazil) and Capitán Bermúdez (Santa Fe – Argentina). Such survey was elaborated from the following theme: “Non-formalities Pedagogy or Complex plots (re)invented by black women through teaching and learning of manual works (handicrafts) and the seek for emancipation”. There were held meetings in Brazil – city of Rio Grande – with women belonging to the Afro ethnic group that have experience in professions historically destined to women and particularly to black women, being: domestic labour (housekeepers, washers, cooks …), babysitting and hair embellishment linked to hair plaits (corn rolls). Also took part in this investigation, in Argentina – city of Capitán Bermudez, women that, even not expressing the ethnic group which they are part of, demonstrate phenotypically pointers of being descendents from Argentinean Indians, acting in the same professions. At a first sight it may seem wron