Translation Environment Tools (TEnTs) became popular in the early 1990s as a partial solution for coping with ever-increasing translation demands and the decreasing number of translators available. TEnTs allow the creation of repositories of legacy translations (translation memories) and terminology (integrated termbases) used to identify repetition in new source texts and provide alternate translations, thereby reducing the need to translate the same information twice. While awareness of the important role of terminology in translation and documentation management has been on the rise, little research is available on best practices for building and using integrated termbases. The present research is a first step toward filling this gap and provides a set of guidelines on how best to optimize the design and use of integrated termbases. Based on existing translation technology and terminology management literature, as well as our own experience, we propose that traditional terminology and terminography principles designed for stand-alone termbases should be adapted when an integrated termbase is created in order to take into account its unique characteristics: active term recognition, d one-click insertion of equivalents into the target text and document pretranslation. The proposed modifications to traditional principles cover a wide range of issues, including using record structures with fewer fields, adopting the TBX-Basic’s record structure, classifying records by project or client, creating records based on equivalent pairs rather concepts in cases where synonyms exist, recording non-term units and multiple forms of a unit, and using translated documents as sources. The overarching hypothesis and its associated concrete strategies were evaluated first against a survey of current practices in terminology management within TEnTs and later through a second survey that tested user acceptance of the strategies. The result is a set of guidelines that describe best practices relating to design, content selection and information recording within integrated termbases that will be used for translation purposes. These guidelines will serve as a point of reference for new users of TEnTs, as an academic resource for translation technology educators, as a map of challenges in terminology management within TEnTs that translation software developers seek to resolve and, finally, as a springboard for further research on the optimization of integrated termbases for translation.

Mine safety is of paramount concern to the mining industry. The generation of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which can administrate relevant spatial data and metadata of underground mining safety efficiently is a very vital issue in this sense. In an effort to achieve a balance of safety and productivity, GIS can contribute to the creation of a safe working environment in underground (U/G) mining. Such a system should serve to a continuous risk analysis and be designed for applications in case of emergency. Concept for safety should require three fundamental components, namely (i) constructive safety / (ii) surveillance and maintenance / and (iii) emergency. The implementation has to be carried out in a Web-Based Geographic Information System. The process comprises first the safety concept as the application domain model and then a conceptual model was generated in terms of Entity- Relationship Diagrams. After the implementation of the logical model a user interface was developed and GIS was tested. Finally, one should deal with the question if it is possible to extend the method of resolution used to a national GIS infrastructure.

As open access market principles are applied to power systems, significant changes are happening in their planning, operation and control. In the emerging marketplace, systems are operating under higher loading conditions as markets focus greater attention to operating costs than stability and security margins. Since operating stability is a basic requirement for any power system, there is need for newer tools to ensure stability and security margins being strictly enforced in the competitive marketplace. This dissertation investigates issues associated with incorporating voltage security into the unbundled operating environment of electricity markets. It includes addressing voltage security in the monitoring, operational and planning horizons of restructured power system. This dissertation presents a new decomposition procedure to estimate voltage security usage by transactions. The procedure follows physical law and uses an index that can be monitored knowing the state of the system. The expression derived is based on composite market coordination models that have both PoolCo and OpCo transactions, in a shared stressed transmission grid. Our procedure is able to equitably distinguish the impacts of individual transactions on voltage stability, at load buses, in a simple and fast manner. This dissertation formulates a new voltage stability constrained optimal power flow (VSCOPF) using a simple voltage security index. In modern planning, composite power system reliability analysis that encompasses both adequacy and security issues is being developed. We have illustrated the applicability of our VSCOPF into composite reliability analysis. This dissertation also delves into the various applications of voltage security index. Increasingly, FACT devices are being used in restructured markets to mitigate a variety of operational problems. Their control effects on voltage security would be demonstrated using our VSCOPF procedure. Further, this dissertation investigates the application of steady state voltage stability index to detect potential dynamic voltage collapse. Finally, this dissertation examines developments in representation, standardization, communication and exchange of power system data. Power system data is the key input to all analytical engines for system operation, monitoring and control. Data exchange and dissemination could impact voltage security evaluation and therefore needs to be critically examined.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2009. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Contemporary research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) highlights its disputed effect on firm profitability and the determinants of environmental disclosure. Largely missing from these accounts is a critical look at stakeholders — particularly agents in the public, market, and voluntary sectors — and how they influence corporate investment in environmental management systems (EMS). This study explores CSR trends in Taiwan’s private-sector steel industry, focusing on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with electric arc furnaces and contrasting them with the nation’s flagship industry conglomerate, China Steel. The research suggests that without a crisis of legitimacy or significant stakeholder pressure — particularly government pressure and pressure to retain ISO 14000 certification — SMEs see little incentive (and high costs) to build an effective EMS. Also, contextual factors in Taiwan pose both problems and opportunities for sustainable initiatives. Specifically, environmental laws are modern and strict, but administrative capacity to implement laws is not uniform island-wide. Also, activists and localized self-help groups pay less attention to SME steel firms and spend more effort over controversial industries like nuclear power, high-tech manufacturers and petrochemical companies. Still, government and cross-sector alliances sometimes take an active role in subsidizing EMS and promoting research and development. Using a mixed methods approach within the critical field of political ecology, the research concludes that economic concerns drive SME steel firm behavior, with changes in the scale of EMS development coming into play only in favorable cost-benefit scenarios and typically with substantial pressure emanating from the private and public sectors.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια η αυξανόμενη σημασία της πληροφορίας και της συνεχιζόμενης μάθησης έχει καταστήσει τη χρήση των τεχνολογιών πληροφορικής και επικοινωνιών (Τ.Π.Ε.) στην εκπαίδευση καθώς και την εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευση μέσω e-learning συστημάτων, ως επιτακτική ανάγκη. Το κυριότερο πλεονέκτημα των e-learning συστημάτων είναι ότι παρέχουν τη δυνατότητα στον κόσμο να παρακολουθήσει ένα μάθημα, ακόμα κι ένα ολόκληρο πρόγραμμα σπουδών εξ αποστάσεως, μέσω της σύγχρονης και παγκοσμίως πλέον διαδεδομένης μεθόδου των online courses. Τα περισσότερα μεγάλης εμβέλειας και αναγνωρισιμότητας, πανεπιστήμια του εξωτερικού προσφέρουν online μαθήματα μέσω τεχνολογιών του διαδικτύου, χρησιμοποιώντας διαφάνειες, βιντεο-διαλέξεις και online εκπαιδευτικές δραστηριότητες. Ένας τομέας όμως στον οποίο υστερεί η εκπαίδευση εξ αποστάσεως, ακόμα και στα πιο πρόσφατα ανεπτυγμένα e-learning συστήματα, είναι ο τομέας της προσωποποίησης του σπουδαστή και εξατομίκευσης του συστήματος στις ανάγκες του. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζει τις δυνατότητες που παρέχονται από τα ήδη υπάρχοντα συστήματα e-learning, την τωρινή κατάσταση με τα παρεχόμενα online μαθήματα από πανεπιστήμια του εξωτερικού και το ερευνητικό κενό που υπάρχει σχετικά με την «προσωποποίηση» (personalization) του σπουδαστή και την προσαρμογή (adaptation) του συστήματος στις ανάγκες του. Μελετάται η μοντελοποίηση του χρήστη (user modeling), τα μαθησιακά προφίλ, ο εμπλουτισμός του προφίλ του σπουδαστή ώστε να παρέχει περισσότερες και αξιόλογες πληροφορίες, καθώς και οι δυνατότητες εξατομίκευσης του συστήματος στον εκάστοτε σπουδαστή, ώστε να επιτευχθεί η επιτάχυνση και αποτελεσματικότητα της ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας σχεδιάστηκε και υλοποιήθηκε ένα σύστημα ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης, το οποίο στηρίζεται στο λογισμικό Moodle και έχουν αναπτυχθεί σε αυτό, νέες υπηρεσίες εξατομίκευσης και προσαρμοστικότητας του συστήματος στις ανάγκες και προτιμήσεις του εκπαιδευομένου. Το Moodle LMS (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) είναι ελεύθερο λογισμικό διαχείρισης εκπαιδευτικού περιεχομένου και χρησιμοποιείται από πολλά πανεπιστήμια παγκοσμίως. Είναι ευέλικτο, εύκολο στην εκμάθηση και αρκετά ασφαλές για την ασύγχρονη εκπαίδευση από απόσταση. Ενσωματώνει πληθώρα λειτουργιών και δυνατοτήτων που επιτρέπουν στο διδάσκοντα να διαμορφώσει ένα καλά οργανωμένο και ευχάριστο μάθημα με ευρεία κλίμακα δραστηριοτήτων. Στο εξατομικευμένο και προσαρμοστικό σύστημα ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης που αναπτύχθηκε, διαμορφώθηκε ένα μάθημα με πλούσιο εκπαιδευτικό υλικό, το οποίο απαρτίζουν πολλά και διαφορετικού τύπου μαθησιακά αντικείμενα (πηγές πληροφόρησης, δραστηριότητες, κ.α.). Εμπλουτίστηκε το προφίλ χρήστη με περισσότερες προσωπικές πληροφορίες γι αυτόν και στη συνέχεια αναπτύχθηκαν μαθησιακά μονοπάτια που στηρίζονται είτε στα πεδία προφίλ χρήστη, είτε στο μαθησιακό στυλ του εκπαιδευομένου, είτε σε άλλους παράγοντες που παρουσιάζονται αναλυτικά στην εργασία. Για την εξατομίκευση του συστήματος αναπτύχθηκε μία ενότητα «Pre-course test» η οποία περιλαμβάνει δύο νέες υπηρεσίες για την άντληση πληροφοριών του χρήστη, μορφωτικό υπόβαθρο, μαθησιακό στυλ, προηγούμενη γνώση στο αντικείμενο του μαθήματος κ.α. Τα αποτελέσματα που προκύπτουν από εκεί, αξιοποιούνται κατάλληλα για τη διαμόρφωση ομάδων των εκπαιδευομένων και για τις υπηρεσίες προσαρμοστικότητας του συστήματος. Επίσης, στο διαδικτυακό αυτό σύστημα ηλεκτρονικής μάθησης έχουν αναπτυχθεί μαθησιακά αντικείμενα που ενισχύουν στη συνεργατική μάθηση, βελτιώνουν την ποιότητα του μαθήματος και έτσι αυξάνεται το κίνητρο του σπουδαστή. / Nowdays, e-learning environments have become increasingly popular in educational establishments. The rapid growth of e-learning has changed traditional learning behavior and presented a new situation to both educators (lecturers) and learners (students). The majority of current e-learning systems are based on Learning Management Systems (LMS), which allow students attending courses free from space and time limitations. They can attend the class anytime they are available and regardless of the place. LMS are web-based educational systems that offer students an active role in their own education through a variety of learning activities and different kinds of learning content, that the educator has produced. Although this fact, most Learning Management Systems lack of personalization and adaptivity features. The modern trend in education is the production and organization of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) from large and internationally recognized Universities. So, they focus on gathering too many people in these courses (MOOCs) and not on personalization and adaptivity. Personalization in web-based systems means “attention to the user and his needs”. Web-based systems, such as e-commerce sites, focus on personalization by observing the user, his common actions and navigation paths, in order to understand his preferences and what he is looking for. So they differentiate each individual according to his interests, preferences, and generally his “profile”. Then, they adapt the content appropriately to his needs, and the user watches first the content that may interest him. Traditional and commonly used e-learning platforms offer to their users same educational content, same learning activities and possibilities, and generally exactly the same content, with no further personalization support. Some existing open source e-Learning systems may support, under certain circumstances adaptation and personalization features, but need extension and elaboration to acquire sufficiently these characteristics. Especially in the case of distance learning, that teacher and students have no face-to-face communication, learner’s personalization is essential in order the teacher to be aware of each learner’s characteristics. In e-learning systems, personalization could be achieved with an integrated user profile (student profile), which would include except from the classic information (name, surname, email) more specific and useful information. If the teacher had more information about each student, he could be able to guide him more effectively and evaluate him more correctly. In addition to that, if teacher was aware of each learner’s profile, meaning his learning style, interests, preferences and his previous knowledge of the course topics, he would be able to adapt the learning content to his needs. That would increase student’s satisfaction, motivation and consequently his participation in the course. In this master thesis, a personalized and adaptive e-learning system has been developed. The development of this integrated personalized e-learning system, is based on a very popular open source LMS, which in this case is used for further extension and development of new features. The most suitable LMS for implementing those new features is Moodle (Modular Object-oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), due to its modularity and extensibility as well as its vast community of users. There have been added new features in order to enrich student’s profile and adjust learning material to the learner, depending on his profile and learning progress. The teacher has the ability to organize suitable learning objects and learning paths for each student, depending on particular user profile fields, learning styles and student’s performance. This personalized and adaptive e-learning system increases student’s motivation and participation.

Η eXtensible Markup Language (XML) είναι εμφανώς το επικρατέστερο πρότυπο για αναπαράσταση δεδομένων στον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό. Αποτελεί μια γλώσσα περιγραφής δεδομένων, κατανοητή τόσο από τον άνθρωπο, όσο και από τη μηχανή. Η χρήση της σε αρχικό στάδιο περιορίστηκε στην ανταλλαγή δεδομένων, αλλά λόγω της εκφραστικότητάς της (σε αντίθεση με το σχεσιακό μοντέλο) μπορεί να αποτελέσει ένα αποτελεσματικό \"όχημα\" μεταφοράς και αποθήκευσης πληροφορίας. Οι σύγχρονες εφαρμογές κάνουν χρήση της τεχνολογίας XML εξυπηρετώντας ανάγκες διαλειτουργικότητας και επικοινωνίας. Ωστόσο, θεωρείται βέβαιο ότι η χρήση της σε επίπεδο υποδομής θα ενδυναμώσει περαιτέρω τις σύγχρονες εφαρμογές. Σε επίπεδο υποδομής, μια βάση δεδομένων που διαχειρίζεται την γλώσσα XML είναι σε θέση να πολλαπλασιάσει την αποδοτικότητά της, εφόσον η βάση δεδομένων μετατρέπεται σε βάση πληροφορίας. Έτσι, όσο οι εφαρμογές γίνονται πιο σύνθετες και απαιτητικές, η ενδυνάμωση των βάσεων δεδομένων με τεχνολογίες που φέρουν/εξυπηρετούν τη σημασιολογία των προβλημάτων υπόσχεται αποτελεσματικότερη αντιμετώπιση στο παραπάνω μέτωπο. Αλλά ποιος είναι ο καλύτερος τρόπος αποδοτικού χειρισμού των XML εγγράφων (XML documents); Με μια πρώτη ματιά η απάντηση είναι προφανής. Εφόσον ένα XML έγγραφο αποτελεί παράδειγμα μιας σχετικά νέας τεχνολογίας, γιατί να μη χρησιμοποιηθούν ειδικά συστήματα για το χειρισμό της; Αυτό είναι πράγματι μια βιώσιμη προσέγγιση και υπάρχει σημαντική δραστηριότητα στην κοινότητα των βάσεων δεδομένων που εστιάζει στην εκμετάλλευση αυτής της προσέγγισης. Μάλιστα, για το σκοπό αυτό, έχουν δημιουργηθεί ειδικά συστήματα βάσεων δεδομένων, οι επονομαζόμενες \"Εγγενείς XML Βάσεις Δεδομένων\" (Native XML Databases). Όμως, το μειονέκτημα της χρήσης τέτοιων συστημάτων είναι ότι αυτή η προσέγγιση δεν αξιοποιεί την πολυετή ερευνητική δραστηριότητα που επενδύθηκε για την τεχνολογία των σχεσιακών βάσεων δεδομένων. Είναι πράγματι γεγονός ότι δεν αρκεί η σχεσιακή τεχνολογία και επιβάλλεται η ανάγκη για νέες τεχνικές; Ή μήπως με την κατάλληλη αξιοποίηση των υπαρχόντων συστημάτων μπορεί να επιτευχθεί ποιοτική ενσωμάτωση της XML; Σε αυτήν την εργασία γίνεται μια μελέτη που αφορά στην πιθανή χρησιμοποίηση των σχεσιακών συστημάτων βάσεων δεδομένων για το χειρισμό των XML εγγράφων. Αφού αναλυθούν θεωρητικά οι τρόποι με τους οποίους γίνεται αυτό, στη συνέχεια εκτιμάται πειραματικά η απόδοση σε δύο από τα πιο δημοφιλή σχεσιακά συστήματα βάσεων δεδομένων. Σκοπός είναι η χάραξη ενός πλαισίου αναφοράς για την αποτίμηση και την αξιολόγηση των σχεσιακών βάσεων δεδομένων που υποστηρίζουν XML (XML-enabled RDBMSs). / The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is obviously the prevailing model for data representation in the World Wide Web (WWW). It is a data description language comprehensible by both humans and computers. Its usage in an initial stage was limited to the exchange of data, but it can constitute an effective \"vehicle\" for transporting, handling and storing of information, due to its expressiveness (contrary to the relational model). Contemporary applications make heavy use of the XML technology in order to support communication and interoperability . However, supporting XML at the infrastructure level would reduce application development time, would make applications almost automatically complient to standards and would make them less error prone. In terms of infrastructure, a database able to handle XML properly would be beneficial to a wide range of applications thus multiplying its efficiency. In this way, as long as the applications become more complex and demanding, the strengthening of databases with technologies that serve the nature of problems, promises more effective confrontation with this topic. But how can XML documents be supported at the infrastructure level? At a first glance, the question is rhetorical. Since XML constitutes a relatively new technology, new XML-aware infrastructures can be built from scratch. This is indeed a viable approach and there is a considerable activity in the research community of databases, which focuses on the exploitation of this approach. In particular, this is the reason why special database systems have been created, called \"Native XML Databases\". However, the disadvantage of using such systems is that this approach does not build on existing knowledge currently present in the relational database field. The research question would be whether relational technology is able to support correctly XML data. In this thesis, we present a study concerned with the question whether relational database management systems (RDBMSs) provide suitable ground for handling XML documents. Having theoretically analyzed the ways with which RDBMSs handle XML, the performance in two of the most popular relational database management systems is then experimentally assessed. The aim is to draw a frame of report on the assessment and the evaluation of relational database management systems that support XML (XML-enabled RDBMSs).

Disertacijoje tiriamas verslo taisyklių bei jų valdymo sistemų taikymas įmonių verslo valdymo informacinėse sistemose, nagrinėjamos šio taikymo problemos. Pagrindinis tyrimo objektas yra verslo taisyklių ir jų valdymo sistemų taikymas įmonių resursų valdymo (angl. Enterprise Resource Planning, toliau – ERP) sistemose. Darbo tikslas – patobulinti verslo taisyklių valdymo sistemų (angl. Business Rules Management Systems) integraciją į įmonių naudojamas resursų valdymo sistemas ir pasiūlyti integracijos metodą. Naudojant pasiūlytą metodą, verslo taisyklių valdymo sistemas į ERP sistemas galima integruoti naudojant aktyviųjų duomenų bazių valdymo sistemų (toliau – ADBVS) trigerius. Šis metodas tinka, kai kitų integracijos metodų naudojimas neįmanomas arba ekonomiškai nepagrįstas. Jis leidžia verslo taisykles kurti, keisti, valdyti ir diegti centralizuotai. Be to, galimybę keisti bei valdyti verslo taisykles turi ne tik programuotojai, bet ir verslininkai. Tai leidžia sumažinti verslo taisyklių kūrimo, keitimo bei administravimo kaštus. Šis metodas taip pat užtikrina sistemos judrumą. / The dissertation analyses problems of using business rules and business rules management systems in business management information systems of enterprises. The main subject of the study is the use of business rules and business rules management systems in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. The objective of this study is to improve integration of Business Rules Management Systems into current Enterprise Resource Planning systems. With the use of the method proposed for the integration of business rules into ERP systems, business rules may be integrated into ERP systems with the help of active database management system triggers. This method is suitable when the use of other methods of integration is either impossible or not cost-efficient. The method allows to create, edit, manage and install business rules centrally. Moreover, a potential to change and manage the rules is intended not only for programmers, but also for business people. This allows to reduce costs of creation, editing and administration of business rules. Also, this method ensures a better system agility.

The paper analyses topicalities of implementation of business rules and business rules management systems into enterprise business management information systems. It is rare nowadays to find a company which is not using an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system for its own needs. These systems are intended to perform a centralized accounting of enterprise activities, including financial, logistic, production, service management and human resource management accounting. / Darbe analizuojamas verslo taisyklių bei verslo taisyklių valdymo sistemų (angl. rule engine) taikymas įmonių verslo valdymo (angl. Enterprise Resource Planning – ERP) sistemose, nagrinėjamos šio taikymo problemos.

<p>Can a country function without a legislative framework able to inform decisionmaking processes taken at different spheres of government? To what extent would actions conducted at various&nbsp / spheres of government be efficiently coordinated and informed by appropriate channels of constitutional provisions and legislative amendments to consolidate financial and intergovernmental&nbsp / fiscal relations policy-making tools for the realization of an efficient local developmental state? Answers to the above mentioned two questions refer to normative fiscal policy principles and&nbsp / prescriptive instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfer design, whose orientation suggests better ways of framing sound and coherent programs and interventions that strengthen&nbsp / cooperative synergy and transfer knowledge of experience gained in empirical investigations and various South African environments of higher academic learning. Growing evidence&nbsp / acknowledges South Africa as one of the young democratic countries that has been going through a period of transition over the past three years as it changes its system of public finance from&nbsp / a structure suited to the old apartheid system to one consistent with the new South African Constitutional dispensation. While the former system was highly centralized, the newconstitution makes a clear commitment to municipal governments as important providers of government services, with greater tax and spending powers. Even as local autonomy has been substantially increased,&nbsp / there remains uncertainty as to the most appropriate design of a system of intergovernmental fiscal grants to metropolitan areas and townships. This study analyses this situation and further&nbsp / develops a generic design for intergovernmental transfers and its suitability to the realities of South African municipalities on the ground within the framework of Cooperative Government. This&nbsp / study concludes that fiscal&nbsp / management, as a cross-cutting discipline, is a&nbsp / powerful instrument for government&rsquo / s revenue sources at the national, provincial and local government levels.&nbsp / Financial management should be regarded as a co-coordinating mechanism managing government&rsquo / s expenditure and catalyzing sound financial relationship for an efficient management in the&nbsp / country, thus allowing government to budget effectively for the delivery of goods and services in order to attain the constitutional mandate of a developmental state.</p>