The lack of existing guides or recommendations to design for touch is the cause of an opportunity to create a more efficient process for people designing a touch-based system. Today the process is highly time consuming and leads to inconsistency between products which impacts the user experience in a negative way. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to create tools to help UX-designers or developers in the process of constructing touch-based systems with consistency in between platforms. However, challenges arise in consideration of the degree of structure the guide should give to achieve a general yet user friendly experience, specifically in terms of the medical imaging field. To fulfill the aim, the approach of Research through Design is applied throughout the process, with a focus on user testing with the users in healthcare to validate the pairing of touch gestures in a medical imaging system. The conclusion of this thesis includes how to generally use touch gestures in different fields and the process of deciding which functions to assign a gesture to. The knowledge is applied in the result of the thesis work, which is the guidelines and the information cards, that concludes how to support UX-designers and developers in their work with touch gestures.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen Dienstleistung und dem zu ihrer Erbringung notwendigen Verkehr stellte in den vergangenen Jahren ein nur wenig diskutiertes und analysiertes Themenfeld dar. Als Teilelement des Wirtschaftsverkehrs, also jener Verkehre, die sich aus den produzierenden, handelnden und dienstleistenden Aktivitäten in einem Raum ergeben und in Ausübung des Berufs und zur Erbringung erwerbswirtschaftlicher Tätigkeiten durchgeführt werden, stellen Verkehre im Kontext der Dienstleistungserstellung eine bedeutende Größe hinsichtlich Verkehrsaufkommen und -leistung dar. Dieser Personenwirtschaftsverkehr, welcher die unterschiedlichen Aspekte des durch Dienstleistungen verursachten Verkehrs zusammengefasst und erklärt, bildet den thematischen Schwerpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit. Abgeleitet aus den generellen Eigenschaften und Merkmalen von Dienstleistungen wird in der Arbeit theoretisch dargelegt, welche grundlegenden verkehrlichen Schlussfolgerungen aus der notwendigen Interaktion zwischen dem Erbringer einer Dienstleistung und dem Kunden resultieren. Aufbauend auf dem umfangreichen Datensatz des Forschungsprojekts „Dienstleistungsverkehr in industriellen Wertschöpfungsprozessen“ werden inner- und zwischenbetrieblich erbrachte Dienstleistungen, die jeweils zum Einsatz kommende Form der Interaktion und der resultierende Personenwirtschaftsverkehr analysiert. Damit ist es mit den Ergebnissen der Arbeit möglich, Betrieben unterschiedlicher Branchen und Größenklassen nicht nur ein Portfolio an Dienstleistungen zuzuweisen, sondern darüber hinaus diese Dienstleistungen auch hinsichtlich der verkehrlichen Kennwerte zu differenzieren. Die Analysen stellen u. a. sektoral differenzierte Modal Split Werte für betriebliche Wege bereit. Auf dieser Grundlage können insbesondere für Städte und Metropolregionen neue Ansatzpunkt für Maßnahmen und Strategien zur verträglichen Gestaltung des Personenwirtschaftsverkehrs abgeleitet werden. Hier anzusetzen und die bestehenden Potenziale zukünftig zu realisieren, kann einen entscheidenden Beitrag zur Erhaltung der Qualität insbesondere städtischer Verkehrssysteme darstellen. / The interconnection between services and the required transport processes to provide these services has been a poorly addressed and analysed topic. As an element of commercial transport, therefore the traffic generated by professional or business activities, service related transport represents a significant amount of traffic and traffic volume. Service traffic, which refers to the German “Personenwirtschaftsverkehr”, serves as a main category that combines possible characteristics of service related transport. This service traffic is the thematic focus of the presented study. Derived from general qualities and characteristics of services, the study theoretically describes which conclusions for transport processes can be drawn from the interaction between the provider of a service and the customer during the production process and which are necessary. Based on extensive empirical datasets gathered within the research project “Service Traffic” the study covers questions about services internally produced and acquired from external sources just like the specific patterns of interaction during the service production process. With the study’s findings it will become possible to assign a specific service portfolio to companies, independent of economic section or company size. Furthermore a distinction in terms of characteristic transport related values for these services is possible. The results of the analyses provide, inter alia, the modal split for business activities differentiated by economic sectors. Upon this, cities and metropolitan regions may identify new approaches for measures and coherent strategies for an economical and ecologically sound organization of service traffic. To realize these existing optimization potentials in future will hopefully make a decisive contribution to maintain the high quality of urban transport infrastructure.

Aquesta recerca pretén descriure les estratègies argumentatives que els estudiants universitaris utilitzen en situació de debat per construir el coneixement. L'estudi s'ha dut a terme a partir de dos escenaris diferenciats d'aprenentatge; un primer debat de rol clàssic, en el qual uns participants adopten la posició a favor d'un dels components del dilema exposat i uns altres defensen la posició contrària. I un segon debat de role-playing, en el qual els participants adopten un rol professional i actitudinal en la dramatització d'una reunió professional amb la finalitat d'arribar a uns acords per a la resolució d'un cas pràctic. Els objectius d'aquesta recerca se centren en, a) conèixer quin és el coneixement declaratiu dels participants sobre el debat com metodologia per construir coneixement, b) analitzar les estratègies argumentatives tant escrites com orals en alumnes de primer curs d'educació superior, c) analitzar el contingut i l'estructura argumentativa oral entesa com la seqüència d'argument, contraargument i refutació, d) analitzar els tipus de contraarguments i refutacions, les seqüències argumentatives, els patrons d'interacció i e) analitzar la incorporació polifònica (o d'altres veus) en els textos inicials, els debats orals i els textos finals. Per assolir aquests objectius s'ha adoptat una metodologia ex post facto, amb un enfocament descriptiu-explicatiu i un disseny combinat d'anàlisi de dades amb tècniques quantitatives i tècniques qualitatives. Per cadascun dels objectius s'han dut a terme diversos nivells d'anàlisi: per la totalitat dels estudiants (n=77), per cadascun dels grups de seminari i segons els dos tipus de debat. Els resultats indiquen una millora en l'evolució de les estratègies argumentatives escrites com efecte de la interacció grupal, així com canvis significatius en els punts de vista sobre els temes debatuts. Pel que fa al discurs argumentatiu oral, els participants manifesten, en ambdós debats, la mateixa estructura argumental i similars seqüències i patrons d'interacció. Tot i així, en alguns episodis temàtics s'observa una adaptació a la demanda de la tasca que implica canvis en els patrons d'interacció. Alhora, també s'observen diferències significatives respecte la incorporació de diferents veus provinents de les lectures o dels debats, tant en les produccions escrites com orals dels estudiants. / Esta investigación pretende describir las estrategias argumentativas que los estudiantes universitarios utilizan en situación de debate parar construir el conocimiento. El estudio se ha llevado a cabo a partir de dos escenarios diferentes de aprendizaje; un primer debate de rol clásico, en el cual unos participantes adoptan la posición a favor de uno de los componentes del dilema expuesto y otros defienden la posición contraria. Y un segundo debate de role-playing, en el cual los participantes adoptan un rol profesional y actitudinal en la dramatización de una reunión profesional con la finalidad de llegar a unos acuerdos para la resolución de un caso práctico. Los objetivos de esta investigación se centran en, a) conocer cuál es el conocimiento declarativo de los participantes sobre el debate como metodología para construir conocimiento, b) el estudio de las estrategias argumentativas tanto escritas como orales en los alumnos de primer curso de educación superior, c) analizar el contenido y la estructura argumentativa oral entendida como la secuencia de argumento, contraargumento y refutación, d) analizar los tipos de contraargumentos y refutaciones, las secuencias argumentativas, los patrones de interacción y e) analizar la incorporación polifónica (o de otras voces) en los textos iniciales, los debates orales y los textos finales.Para conseguir estos objetivos se ha adoptado una metodología ex post facto, con un enfoque descriptivo-explicativo y un diseño combinado de análisis de datos con técnicas cuantitativas y técnicas cualitativas. Para cada uno de los objetivos se han llevado a cabo diversos niveles de análisis: para la totalidad de los participantes (n=77), para cada grupo de seminario y en función de los dos tipos de debates.Los resultados indican una mejora en la evolución de las estrategias argumentativas escritas como efecto de la interacción grupal, así como cambios significativos en los puntos de vista sobre los temas debatidos. En referencia al discurso argumentativo oral, los participantes manifiestan en ambos debates la misma estructura argumental y similares secuencias y patrones de interacción. Sin embargo, en algunos episodios temáticos se observa una adaptación a la finalidad de la actividad que implica cambios en los patrones de interacción. Al mismo tiempo, también se observan diferencias significativas respecto a la incorporación de diferentes voces provenientes de las lecturas o de los debates, tanto en las producciones escritas como orales de los estudiantes. / The scope of this study is to describe the argumentative strategies students use in a debate situation in order to construct knowledge. This study was carried out in two different learning contexts; a classic role in the first debate, where some participants take a position in favour of a component of the dilemma to be faced and others defend the contrary position. And a second debate of role-playing, in which participants adopt a professional role and attitude in the dramatization of a professional meeting with the purpose of reaching agreement to solve a practical case.The aims of this research focuses on a) finding out the participants' declarative knowledge about debate as a methodology to contruct knowledge, b) studying written and oral argumentative strategies of firstyear undergraduate students, c) analyzing the content and structure of oral argumentation when it is understood as a sequence of argument, counterargument and refutation, d) analyzing the types of counterarguments and refutations, argumentative sequences, patterns of interaction and e) analyzing the polyphonic incorporation (other voices) in the initial texts, oral discussions and final texts.In order to achieve these aims, an ex post facto methodology has been adopted, with a descriptive-explanatory approach, and a combined design of data analysis with quantitative and qualitative techniques. For each aim several levels of analysis were carried out: for the whole students (n=77), for each seminary group and according to two types of debates. The results indicate an improvement in the argumentative writing strategies development due to group interaction effects, as well as significant changes in points of view on the issues discussed. In terms of oral argument speech, participants expressed the same argument structure and similar sequences and interaction patterns in both debates. However, in some thematic episodes there is an adaptation to the demands of the task that involves changes in the interaction patterns. Moreover, there are also significant differences between the different voices from the readings and discussions, both in written and oral students' production.

The topology of interactions in network dynamical systems fundamentally underlies their function. Accelerating technological progress creates massively available data about collective nonlinear dynamics in physical, biological, and technological systems. Detecting direct interaction patterns from those dynamics still constitutes a major open problem. In particular, current nonlinear dynamics approaches mostly require to know a priori a model of the (often high dimensional) system dynamics. Here we develop a model-independent framework for inferring direct interactions solely from recording the nonlinear collective dynamics generated. Introducing an explicit dependency matrix in combination with a block-orthogonal regression algorithm, the approach works reliably across many dynamical regimes, including transient dynamics toward steady states, periodic and non-periodic dynamics, and chaos. Together with its capabilities to reveal network (two point) as well as hypernetwork (e.g., three point) interactions, this framework may thus open up nonlinear dynamics options of inferring direct interaction patterns across systems where no model is known.

The topology of interactions in network dynamical systems fundamentally underlies their function. Accelerating technological progress creates massively available data about collective nonlinear dynamics in physical, biological, and technological systems. Detecting direct interaction patterns from those dynamics still constitutes a major open problem. In particular, current nonlinear dynamics approaches mostly require to know a priori a model of the (often high dimensional) system dynamics. Here we develop a model-independent framework for inferring direct interactions solely from recording the nonlinear collective dynamics generated. Introducing an explicit dependency matrix in combination with a block-orthogonal regression algorithm, the approach works reliably across many dynamical regimes, including transient dynamics toward steady states, periodic and non-periodic dynamics, and chaos. Together with its capabilities to reveal network (two point) as well as hypernetwork (e.g., three point) interactions, this framework may thus open up nonlinear dynamics options of inferring direct interaction patterns across systems where no model is known.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Development of new cancer drugs is increasingly costly and time-consuming. By exploiting massive amounts of biological data, computational repositioning proposes new uses for old drugs to reduce these development hurdles. A promising approach is the systematic analysis of structural data for identification of shared binding pockets and modes of action. In this thesis, I developed the Protein-Ligand Interaction Profiler (PLIP), which characterizes and indexes protein-ligand interactions to enable comparative analyses and searching in all available structures. Following, I applied PLIP to identify new treatment options in cancer: the heat shock protein Hsp27 confers resistance to drugs in cancer cells and is therefore an attractive target with a postulated drug binding site. Starting from Hsp27, I used PLIP to define an interaction profile to screen all structures from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The top prediction was experimentally validated in vitro. It inhibits Hsp27 and significantly reduces resistance of multiple myeloma cells against the chemotherapeutic agent bortezomib. Besides computational repositioning, PLIP is used in docking, binding mode analysis, quantification of interactions and many other applications as evidenced by over 12,000 users so far. PLIP is provided to the community online and as open source.

The rapid pace of scientific advances is enabling a greater understanding of diseases at the molecular level. In turn, the process for researching and developing new medicines is growing in difficulty, costs, and length as a result of the scientific, technical, and regulatory challenges related to the development process. In light of these challenges, drug repositioning, the utilization of known drugs for a new medical indication, has emerged as an increasingly important strategy for the new drug discovery. Availability of prior knowledge regarding safety, efficacy and the appropriate administration route significantly reduces the development costs and cuts down the development time resulting in less effort to successfully bring a repositioned drug to market. In another aspect, a protein’s shape is closely linked with its function; thereby, the ability to predict this structure unlocks a greater understanding of what it does and how it works. Nowadays, more than 10,000 biologically relevant protein structures are yearly released and available to the scientific community. A number suspected to triple over the following years due to the recent breakthroughs in structure prediction techniques. This work introduces a novel structure-based drug repositioning approach, exploiting the similarities of drugs’ binding mode via identification and virtual screening of interaction patterns. Such patterns are uncovered with the use of PLIP, an automated tool for the in silico detection of non-covalent interactions defining the binding mode between drugs and their protein targets. Besides, the approach has been applied to a series of case studies with tangible results: the uncovering of an antimalarial drug as potential chemoresistance treatment, the explained binding mode of ibrutinib to the target VEGR2 as potential B-cells deactivator in autoimmune diseases, and three over the counter drugs with a proved anti-trypanocidal activity as treatments for Chagas disease. Overall the structure-based approach with interaction patterns proved to be a suitable framework for identifying novel repositioning candidates. The uncovered candidates were structurally unrelated to the currently available treatments, and experimental assays successfully demonstrated their inhibitory activity on the protein targets of interest. Furthermore, the approach represents a promising option for the 'in high demand' diseases and all rare and neglected diseases for which no reliable treatment has yet been found and for which the pharmaceutical industry makes only a little investment.

The aim of the qualitative study was to explore the phenomenon of social networking and the possible influences it could have on adolescents‟ way of interacting socially. The study was conducted from a gestalt perspective and also incorporated aspects of developmental theory. Learners (12-18 years old) from a high school in the northern suburbs of Cape Town participated in semi-structured interviews voluntarily. Parents and teachers also participated in the study by forming part of focus groups. The study indicated that although social networking is a beneficial social tool for adolescents, it could become an obstacle during social interaction which is not mediated through an electronic or mobile network. From the study it can be concluded that social networking is a positive social tool, which could become dangerous for adolescents‟ social interaction abilities when used inappropriately. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

The aim of the qualitative study was to explore the phenomenon of social networking and the possible influences it could have on adolescents‟ way of interacting socially. The study was conducted from a gestalt perspective and also incorporated aspects of developmental theory. Learners (12-18 years old) from a high school in the northern suburbs of Cape Town participated in semi-structured interviews voluntarily. Parents and teachers also participated in the study by forming part of focus groups. The study indicated that although social networking is a beneficial social tool for adolescents, it could become an obstacle during social interaction which is not mediated through an electronic or mobile network. From the study it can be concluded that social networking is a positive social tool, which could become dangerous for adolescents‟ social interaction abilities when used inappropriately. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)