This study was designed to examine various aspects of information use a selected sample of Brazilian mechanical engineers (BMEs) working in academic institutions in Brazil and to relate these findings to the influence of their personal, work and environmental factors. A survey questionnaire was administered to groups of mechanical engineers working in four academic institutions (Federal and State) located in the central-south regions of Brazil. Data were gathered on the following aspects of information use: frequency of use of information sources and channels; number of hours spent reading and communicating; categories of locations consulted; categories of people consulted; problems encountered in information use; attitudes taken by engineers when information is needed but is not available; types of information used and the engineers perception of the availability and pertinence of various information services offered by the engineer's information system. Hypotheses on the interplay between information use and educational level, productivity, reading language ability, seniority, interinstitutional involvement, project type, accessibility of the source; problems on information use and institutional restrictions on the use of information were tested.

This thesis investigates the application. of fuzzy logic techniques and user modelling to the process of information retrieval (IR) from the World Wide Web (WWW). The research issue is whether this process can be improved through such an application. The exponential rise of information itself as an invaluable global commodity, coupled with .acceierating development in. computing and telecommunications, and boosted by networked information sources such as the WWW, has led to the development of tools, such as search engines, to facilitate information search and retrieval. However, despite their sophistication, they are unable effectively to. address users' information. needs. Also, as the-WWW can be seen as a dynamic, continuously changing global information corpus, these tools suffer from the problems of irrelevancy and redundancy. Therefore, in order to overcome these problems and remain effective, IR systems need to become 'intelligent' in some way. It is from this premise that the focus of this research has developed. Initially, theoretical and investigative research into the areas ofIR from electronic sources and the nature of the Internet (including the WWW) revealed that highly sophisticated systems are being developed and there is a drive towards the integration of, for example, electronic libraries, COROM networks, and the WWW. Research into intelligent IR, the use of AI techniques to improve the IR process, informed an evaluation of various approaches. This revealed that a munber of techniques, for example, expert systems, neural networks and semantic networks, have been employed, with limited success. Owing to the nature of the WWW, though, many of the previous AI approaches are inapplicable as they rely too much on extensive knowledge of the retrieval corpus. However, the evaluation suggested that fuzzy logic, with its inherent ability to capture partial knowledge within fuzzy sets, is a valid approach. User modelling research indicated that adaptive user stereotypes are a fruitful way to represent different types of user and their information need. Here, these stereotypes are represented as fuzzy sets, ensuring flexibility and adaptivity. The goal of the reported research. then, was not to. develop an 'intelligent agent' but to apply fuzzy logic techniques and user modelling to the process of user query formulation, in order to test the research issue. This issue was whether the application of these techniques could improve the IR process. A prototype system, the Fuzzy Modelling Query Assistant (FMQA), was developed that attempts intelligently to assist the user in capturing their information need. The concept was to refine the user's query before submitting it to an existing search engine, in order to improve upon the IR results of using the search tool alone. To address the research issue, a user study of the FMQA was performed. The design and conduct is reported in depth. The study results were analysed and the findings are given. The results indicate that,. for certain types of user especially, the FMQA does provide improvement in the IR process, in terms of the results. There is a critical review of the research aims in the light of the results, conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future research given.

The purpose of this research was to determine if differences exist between the young/old (55-74) and the old/old (75+) regarding external search behavior and the importance of information sources.

In this thesis, I analyse the recent trends in the evolution of political journalism in four different countries (England, France, Portugal, and the United States of America) during the past 25 years (1970-1995). For this purpose, I have studied the modifications occurring in the political sections of four daily `quality' newspapersD: iärio de Noticias (Lisbon), Le Monde (Paris), The New York Times (New York City), and The Times (London). The initial hypothesisis that political journalism, in its expressionin thesef our newspaperse,n tereda new paradigm in the early 1970s. This paradigm, which was defined by a strong emphasis on interpretative reporting, replaced a model of news production based on descriptive patterns of writing with long direct quotationso f sources.I argue that there are four main reasonsf or the paradigms hift: the deregulationa nd the globalisation of the media system;t he emergenceo f television as a major information provider; the specialisationo f the political reporter,a nd the developmenot f political marketing. Indeed since the 1970s, political journalism has been evolving inside a complex web of transformations which affect the nucleus of both the media system and the political system. This comparative analysis evaluatesth e trends of political journalism in different social, political, and cultural environments.T he objective is to detectp atternso f evolution and structural similarities among the four newspapersu nder study. I assessth e effect of this evolutiono n the idea of news during the past decadesa nd try to understandth e reasonsb ehindt he decline of the idea of objectiver eporting. The researchin cludesa contenta nalysiso f the structureo f political newss torieso f the four newspapersT. he aim is to detectt he mechanismso f changei n this area and to test the validity of explanations found in the bibliographical review. I also analyse the profile of the political reporter,t he recenth istory of the four newspapersa, nd the most important elements of the medias ystemin the four countries. This thesis revealst he following conclusionsp: olitical journalism is becomingm ore interpretative;t here is both a relation of conflict and of complicity between political journalists and politicians; there is a decline in the use of identified sources of information, and more diverse sources are used in news stories; political marketing is affecting the norms of journalistic proceduresp; restigen ewspapersi,n four different societies, are becoming much more alike among themselves.

Thesis (M.M. (Research))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2013. / This research investigated the way in which an academic library could add value to the research undertaken by the business community in Johannesburg. The research was qualitative and data was collected via interviews, both telephonic and face-to-face. Two research questions were examined: 1. Where does corporate South Africa access information? 2. Why does corporate South Africa access information? The results were collated and themes drawn to reach conclusions. It was initially thought that researchers in the business community used Google and social media extensively in order to trace information for innovation, the development of new products, and marketing. A significant theme that emerged during the research was that people actually prefer personal contact, either face-to-face or via conferences and telephonically. This contradicts the library literature which maintains that libraries need to maintain a profile in the social media since this is where people are looking for information. It was also discovered that while researchers are using Google extensively, they are not using libraries to any significant extent. It is recommended that libraries consider linking into communities of practice in order to ensure that they are part of the research process and, at the same time, part of the community of practice, and so are able to anticipate the research needs of their community. The research highlights the need for libraries to actively market their resources to their communities to increase their visibility in order to validate the value they can add to the bottom line of an organisation.

[pt] Esta dissertação estuda um meio de identificar e selecionar fontes de informação a serem utilizadas na fase de elicitação de requisitos. Utilizamos uma estratégia de identificação e seleção de fontes de informação baseada na modelagem de um Universo de Informações com o uso de uma linguagem de representação gráfica e uma técnica de classificação das fontes de informação que compõem este Universo. Todo o processo é feito com o uso de uma ferramenta de software que dá apoio à execução do método. A ferramenta auxilia no registro das fontes elicitadas e sua consolidação, além de auxiliar na geração de alguns artefatos reduzindo consideravelmente o retrabalho. Um estudo de caso foi efetuado em um problema real de uma empresa de energia, com o objetivo de avaliar os ganhos do uso de uma abordagem estruturada na identificação de fontes de informação ao invés do uso de uma abordagem ad hoc. / [en] This dissertation studies means to identify and select information sources to be used in the requirements elicitation phase. We used an information sources identification and selection strategy based on the modeling of a Universe of Discourse with the use of a graphical representation language and a classification technique of the sources which compose such Universe. The full process is done with the use of a software tool which supports the application of the method. The tool helps in the recording of elicited information sources and its consolidation, besides aiding in the production of some artifacts with a considerable rework reduction. A case study was carried out in a real world problem in an energy company, with the aim of evaluating the gains obtained from the usage of a structured approach for the identification of information sources instead of the use of an ad-hoc approach.

No description available.

Most of previous studies done on publicity were mainly focused on the positive and negative publicity. However, for the job applicants, while it is important to consider positive and negative publicity when making career choices, it is also important to note that there are other variables of publicity that should be considered when making these decisions. According to previous studies, publicity might play an important role in helping the job seekers to choose which company to work for. Based on these studies, a study was conducted to determine whether or not publicity has an impact on the attractiveness of an organization to the job seekers. Moreover, in this study, I also tried to explore the effects of publicity¡¦s impressiveness (which can be categorized into timeliness and coverage) and publicity¡¦s relatedness (which can be categorized into the level of concern and familiarity) on the organization¡¦s attractiveness to the potential job seekers. In this study, a scenario-based experiment was conducted mainly on 240 Business graduate students; those who were enrolled in part-time master program were excluded from this study. The results of the experiment indicated that publicity has significant impact on the attractiveness of the organization to the job seekers. The results of the study also supported that the publicity¡¦s impressiveness (both the timeliness and coverage) can influence, to a certain extent, the attractiveness of the organization. Moreover, with regards to publicity¡¦s relatedness (categorized into the level of concern and familiarity), the results have revealed that the level of concern does have a significant influence on the attractiveness of the organization to the job seekers whereas familiarity doesn¡¦t.

Context: A system of systems often exhibits heterogeneity, for instance in implementation, hardware, process and verification. We define a heterogeneous system, as a system comprised of multiple systems (system of systems) where at least one subsystem exhibits heterogeneity with respect to the other systems. The system of systems approach taken in development of heterogeneous systems give rise to various challenges due to continuous change in configurations and multiple interactions between the functionally independent subsystems. The challenges posed to testing of heterogeneous systems are mainly related to interoperability, conformance and large regression test suites. Furthermore, the inherent complexities of heterogeneous systems also pose challenge to the specification, selection and execution of tests. Objective: The main objective of this licentiate thesis is to provide an insight on the state of the art in testing heterogeneous systems. Moreover, we also aimed to investigate different test techniques used to test heterogeneous systems in industrial settings and their usefulness as well as to identify and prioritize different information sources that can help practitioners to define a generic search space for test case selection process. Method: The findings presented in this thesis are obtained through a controlled experiment, a systematic literature review (SLR), a case study and an exploratory survey. The purpose of systematic literature review was to investigate the existing state of art in testing heterogeneous systems and identification of research gaps. The results from the SLR further laid down the foundation of action research conducted through an exploratory survey to compare different test techniques. We also conducted an industrial case study to investigate the relevant data sources for search space initiation to prioritize and specify test cases in context of heterogeneous systems. Results: Based on our literature review, we found that testing of heterogeneous systems is considered a problem of integration and system testing. It has been observed that multiple interactions between the system and subsystems results into a testing challenge, especially when the configurations change continuously. It is also observed that current literature targets the problem of testing heterogeneous systems with multiple test objectives resulting in employing different test methods to reach a domain specific testing challenge. Using the exploratory survey, we found three test techniques to be most relevant in context of testing heterogeneous systems. However, the most frequently used technique mentioned by the practitioners is manual exploratory testing which is not a much researched topic in the context of heterogeneous systems. Moreover, multiple information sources for test selection process are identified through the case study and the survey. Conclusion: Companies engaged in development of heterogeneous systems encounter huge challenges due to multiple interactions between the system and subsystems. However, the conclusions we draw from the research studies included herein show a gap between literature and industry. Search-based testing is widely discussed in the literature but is the least used test technique in industrial practice. Moreover, for test selection process there are no frameworks that take in account all the information sources that we investigated. Therefore, to fill this gap there is a need for an optimized test selection process based on the information sources. There is also a need to study different test techniques identified through our SLR and survey and compare these techniques on real heterogeneous systems.

Textiles and clothing represent the world’s second largest industry, which also makes this industry one of the most polluting industries in the world, and therefore this industry should reconsider its practices in respect of the environmental impact it has. The entire life cycle of an apparel item has an impact on the environment, from the product design stage to the disposal of an apparel product. Environmentally friendly apparel products refer to apparel products which have been created with consideration of the environmental impact of the production process. The consumer’s apparel decision-making process consists of five stages, namely: awareness, interest, evaluation of alternatives, decision and post-buying response. Buyer behaviour is inherently determined by a consumer’s knowledge or extra information that a consumer obtains. The acquisition of environmentally friendly apparel is therefore influenced by environmental knowledge. It is consequently crucial to provide consumers with relevant information regarding the environmental impact of their apparel consumption choices in order to facilitate consumers in making more environmental friendly apparel decisions. Very limited research exists on consumers’ environmentally friendly apparel purchasing practices, especially in the South African context. Insufficient literature also exists regarding the role of environmental knowledge and information source exposure in the acquisition of environmentally friendly apparel. The purpose of the research was to explore and describe how environmental knowledge and exposure to information about environmental issues are reflected in consumers’ choice of apparel products. A qualitative approach was used to explore young female consumers’ existing levels of environmental knowledge, and whether that environmental knowledge is reflected in the evaluation and selection of apparel as well as the role environmental information plays on their purchase decision. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to ensure the inclusion of young female students (19–22 years old, n = 29). Participants first had to write an essay on the subject of pertinent environmental issues and then participated in a focus group discussion on the evaluation and selection of a t-shirt. Results suggest that the participants have general environmental knowledge. They have the ability to identify environmental problems as well as the causes and consequences of these environmental problems. However, participants’ environmental awareness and their knowledge pertaining to the actual production and supply of environment-friendly apparel in the South African context were very limited. The results also highlight the product attributes important to the participants when evaluating and selecting apparel such as price, aesthetics and functionality of the garment, but environmental attributes such as organic cotton, locally produced, reduced waste techniques and not using harmful chemicals did not feature high under the attributes participants considered. They prioritized price, aesthetics and fit above other attributes (including environmental attributes). Environmental knowledge was not consciously considered in their general apparel decision-making, even though participants indicated that they do care about the environment. It also seems that information source exposure relating to the environmental impact of clothing had no effect on their purchase decision process. When probed, certain barriers emerged that prevented the participants from using environmental knowledge or the information source exposure in their decision-making. These barriers are: the relevance of non-environmentally related product attributes, the availability of environmentally friendly apparel, a lack of relevant knowledge, and perceived consumer effectiveness. While the study had certain limitations, the findings should be valuable to manufacturers, retailers and marketers of environmentally friendly apparel and further research is needed, especially in the South African context, relating to environmentally friendly apparel and consumer behaviour. Copyright / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Consumer Science / unrestricted