Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This work shows a study about the system efficiency of rainwater s usage in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul and it aims to evaluate the utilization of not potable waters´ potential that come from impermeable surfaces. The hydrological potential was classified very good, considering pluvial sources (rainwater) from 30 regions' station, with historical series higher than 15 years. The activities to exploitation and its respectively demands were chosen, determining the efficiency of the system usage, with the use of different areas of captation and commercial volumes of rainwater tanks. The volumetric reliability was calculated in single-family house with the use of daily and monthly precipitation from the historic series of Santa Maria (code 02953034), volumes of 10, 12 and 20 m³ and areas of 70, 100, 150, 200 and 300 m². It was verified that the use of daily or monthly sources (datas) of precipitation conducted to nearest results. There are coincidences to minimum values, including in the dimension of the area s captation and the volume of storage. However, it was observed that to maximum reliability, the volume s results and the areas are bigger when monthly sources (datas) were used. In order to compare the sources, it was analyzed the efficiency applying volumes of water tanks determined by Kobiyama and Hansen Method (2002) to Cacequi´station (code 02954001). In this case, it was also determinated the captation s area that resulted in better volumetric reliability. The comparative analysis between the studied stations showed that there is a significant efficiency s development in function to the increase of the area of captation to the same volume of storage in comparison to a small variation of efficiency to the enlargement to the volume of a constant area. The methodology in this study offers an interconnected vision of the influence of the different constituents of the system usage, simulating the behavior of the system as a whole. The demands of single-family house with area of 70 m2 and water tanks of 500 L the minimum of efficiency found was 20% and the maximum was 28.33%. To multi-store building with area of 300 m² and 15000 L of reservoir s volume, the minimum was 10% and the maximum was 17.33%. In Gas Stations with 1000 m² of area and volume of 20000 L, the minimum volume was 40% and the maximum 58%. In beer s industry with area of 7000 m² and reservoir volume of 20000 L, the results showed minimum of 25% and maximum of 38.65¨%. The method presented makes possible the graphic visualization of the efficiency to be obtained in the usage systems to determine captation area, rainwater tanks volume and the implemented demands. It also allowed to verify the dimension to be projected in relation to captation s area and the volume of storage, since the demands has been determinated to reach and determine the intended efficiency. The equation s adjustment to the reservoir s sizing was obtained from a R2 coefficient adjustment of 0.9925 and from Nash coefficient of 0.9914. The criteria showed and discussed revealed adequate, resulting in efficiencies quite satisfactory to partial demands to not potable waters in the analyzed cities. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo da eficiência do sistema de aproveitamento das águas pluviais na região central do Rio Grande do Sul e tem como objetivo geral avaliar o potencial de aproveitamento para fins não potáveis de águas provenientes de superfícies impermeáveis. O potencial hidrológico foi classificado considerando os dados pluviométricos de 30 estações da região, com séries históricas superiores a 15 anos e resultou Muito Bom . As atividades para aproveitamento e suas respectivas demandas foram escolhidas, determinando-se a eficiência do sistema de aproveitamento, com a utilização de diferentes áreas de captação e volumes comerciais de reservatórios. A confiabilidade volumétrica foi calculada em residência unifamiliar com a utilização de precipitações diárias e mensais da série histórica de Santa Maria (código 02953034), volumes de 10, 12 e 20 m³ e áreas de 70, 100, 150, 200 e 300 m². Foi verificado que o uso de dados diários ou mensais de precipitação conduziu a resultados próximos. Para valores mínimos há uma coincidência, inclusive, nas dimensões da área de captação e volume de armazenamento. Entretanto, para confiabilidade máxima observa-se que os resultados de volumes e áreas são maiores quando do uso de dados mensais. Por critérios comparativos procedeu-se, também, a análise da eficiência com o emprego de volumes de reservatório determinados pelo método de Kobiyama e Hansen (2002) para a estação de Cacequi (código 02954001). Neste caso, determinou-se também, as áreas de captação que resultavam em melhor confiabilidade volumétrica. A análise comparativa entre as estações estudadas demonstrou que existe um crescimento mais significativo da eficiência em função do aumento da área de captação para um mesmo volume de armazenamento em comparação a uma menor variação da eficiência para um aumento do volume a uma dada área constante. A metodologia proposta oferece uma visão interligada da influência dos diferentes constituintes do sistema de aproveitamento, simulando o comportamento deste como um todo. Para a demanda em residências unifamiliares com área de 70 m² e volume do reservatório de 500 L a eficiência mínima encontrada foi 20% e a máxima de 28,33%. Já para residências multifamiliares com área de 300 m² e volume de 15000 L a mínima foi de 10% e a máxima de 17,33%.. Nos postos de combustíveis com área de 1000 m² e volume de 20000 L o valor mínimo foi de 40% e o máximo de 58%. Em indústria de cerveja com área de 7000 m² e volume do reservatório de 200000 L os resultados demonstraram um mínimo de 25% e máximo de 38,65%. O método apresentado possibilita a visualização gráfica da eficiência a ser obtida nos sistemas de aproveitamento para determinada área de captação, volume de reservatório e demanda já implantada. Permite ainda, verificar as dimensões a serem projetadas em termos de área de captação e volume de armazenamento, conhecida a demanda, para que se consiga atingir uma determinada eficiência pretendida. O ajuste da equação para dimensionamento do reservatório foi obtido para um coeficiente de ajuste R2 de 0,9925 e Coeficiente de Nash de 0,9914. Os critérios apresentados e discutidos mostraram-se adequados resultando em eficiências consideravelmente satisfatórias ao atendimento parcial das demandas para fins não potáveis nos municípios analisados.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

L’objectif de cette recherche est d’étudier l’influence du comportement et des affects sur l’intention de continuer l’usage d’une technologie de l’information, l’Internet Mobile. Un modèle conceptuel a été développé en se basant sur les recherches antérieures (notamment le modèle TAM et le modèle ECM) et une recherche qualitative. Ce modèle de la continuité d’usage permet d’étudier l’impact du comportement présent (usage et satisfaction) sur les réponses futures (intention de continuer l’usage). L’usage et la satisfaction sont influencés par les perceptions de l’Internet Mobile (utilité, facilité, amusement, valeur et qualité). Les relations du modèle sont modérées par un ensemble de variables modératrices (genre, âge et ancienneté d’usage). La collecte des données a été effectuée à l’aide d’un questionnaire en ligne. L’analyse des données par les équations structurelles a permis de valider empiriquement onze hypothèses de recherche issues de ce modèle. Les résultats suggèrent que l’intention de continuer l’usage de l’Internet Mobile est déterminée par l’usage de ce service et par la satisfaction des utilisateurs. La satisfaction des utilisateurs, à son tour, est influencée par la facilité, l’amusement et la qualité des services alors que l’usage est déterminé par l’utilité, la facilité, l’amusement et la valeur. Les implications managériales et théoriques, ainsi que les voies futures de recherche ont été mises en perspectives / The purpose of the current research is to investigate the influence of behavior and affect on the continuance intention of an information technology, the Mobile Internet. A conceptual model, based on a literature review (including the models TAM and ECM) and a qualitative research, is proposed. This post-adoption model examines the impact of the actual behavior (usage and satisfaction) on future responses (continuance intention). Usage and satisfaction are influenced by Mobile Internet post-adoption beliefs (usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment, value and quality). A number of moderating variables are included (gender, age and past experience). Data collection was performed using a web questionnaire. Data analysis by structural equation has empirically validated eleven research hypotheses derived from this model. The results suggest that mobile Internet continuance intention is determined by usage and satisfaction. User satisfaction, in turn, is influenced by ease of use, enjoyment and quality while usage is determined by usefulness, ease of use, enjoyment and value. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed. Finally, suggestions concerning future research about Mobile Internet are presented

The popularity that mobile games gained recently gives the opportunity to develop more mobile games. Limited by the scarce resources on mobile phones, developing good games becomes critical and requires special optimization while choosing the design approach.   Object-oriented Design (OOD) and Data-oriented Design (DOD) are two programming paradigms that have different ways of defining and structuring data. The purpose of this student thesis is to investigate the CPU and Memory performance differences between the two approaches.   To answer the research questions an experiment is conducted where two identical mobile games are built, one according to OOD and the other to DOD to collect empirical quantitative data and compare the results. The study limits the scope by  running the games on Android mobile phones.   The results of comparing the CPU Usage show significant differences especially when the amount of data is large. For instance, in the DOD version of the game, the CPU spends 20.9% of the time on updating data, while it spends 69.2% of the time on the same action in the OOD version of the game. No significant differences are observed regarding the total Memory allocated for the games in both versions. It can therefore be concluded that when the number of objects/data is big, a more optimized code should be written following the Data oriented Design approach with regard to better CPU and Memory Usage and    better game performance.

A beta-tubulin gene (benA) is widely used in taxonomy and identification of Aspergillus spp. and other Fungi.Across Aspergillus spp. There is either one (benA) or two beta-tubulin paralogs (benA and tubC). The risk ofcontemporary use of sequences of paralogous genes with non-homologous function in the same phylogeneticanalysis is well known. It is evident that it had happened repeatedly in Aspergillus section Nigri. It is alarmingthat conventional primers for amplification of partial benA sequence can specifically amplify tubC paralog insome species. In this work, both paralogs were characterised in a set of species. The beta-tubulin primers in usewere revised and new, more benA specific primers were designed. Applicability of some markers such as basecomposition, codon usage and length of introns for distinguishing -tubulin paralogs benA and tubC is tested. Alarge study on molecular diversity of 349 isolates of Aspergillus (PCR-fingerprint, sequence data - ITS, benA,rpb2, caM) originating from Czech culture collections and from clinical material is also included. 82 specieswere identified, togetherwith nine tentative new taxa belonging to sections with high economic impact - Nigri,Fumigati or Aspergillus (Eurotium spp.). Five species from Section Aspergillus could be synonymised withexisting taxa. A study...

All embedded systems are unique, a design that is suitable for one system can rarely be copied over to another. This inherently makes designing embedded systems difficult. The difficulty is only amplified by the uncertainty of the future requirements as it is developed over time. Being able to continuously validate the performance and the reliability is of great importance to be able to ensure fault proof execution.This thesis explores two areas. A method of tracking the static and dynamic memory usage of a system is crucial to ensure correct functionality under all conditions, and that the implemented hardware will suffice. Multiple possible tools, each functioning uniquely, were developed and tested to find the most suitable for measuring the memory usage of the elevator system. Additionally the message usage, i.e. the way the different units within the studied system communicate with each other, was scrutinized for possible performance and reliability enhancements. A study was made for the most optimal communication protocol, and for how the transmissions could be improved upon.The results show that for this specific system, the best way of calculating the memory usage is with a tool developed within this project. Using this tool it was found that none of the modules in the elevator system use more than 30 % of the available memory during execution. The message usage study shows the most optimal protocol is CAN with the ISO 15765-2 upperlevel protocol, which is the one currently in use. However, improvements to the message transmissions are suggested, such as taking full advantage of the CAN protocol and by implementing message buffers on the receiving end.An important conclusion is that just as there is no unique system design that fits all, there is no memory measurement tool or message usage implementation that fits all systems. Each system has to be analyzed to find the most optimal solution for that particular system. / Alla inbyggda system är unika, en design som passar ett system kan sällan kopieras över till ett annat. Detta leder till att det är svårt att designa inbyggda system. Osäkerheten över framtida systemkrav då systemet utvecklas över tid gör inte designproblemet lättare. Att kontinuerligt kunna validera prestandan och pålitligheten är viktigt för att kunna garantera felfri körning.Detta examensarbete utforskar två områden. En metod för att mäta den statiska och dynamiska minnesanvändningen av systemet är nödvändig för att kunna säkerställa att systemet alltid fungerar som det ska, och att den tillgängliga hårdvaran är tillräcklig. Flera olika verktyg utvecklades och testades för att hitta det som bäst mäter hissens minnesanvändning. Utöver det granskades meddelandeanvändningen, hur de olika enheterna inom det studerade systemet kommunicerar med varandra, för potentiella förbättringar av prestandan och pålitligheten. En studie utfördes för att hitta det mest optimala kommunikationsprotokollet, och för hur av överföringarna kunde förbättras.Resultatet visar att för det här specifika systemet är bästa sättet att räkna ut minnesanvändningen med ett verktyg utvecklat under projektet. Med hjälp av det här verktyget visas att ingen av modulerna i hissystemet använde mer än 30% av det tillgängliga minnet under körning. Studien över minnesanvändningen påvisar att det mest optimala protokollet var CAN och ISO 15765-2 för det övre lagret, vilket är det som används för nuvarande. Dock föreslås förbättringar till hur meddelandena överförs, till exempel genom att utnyttja CAN protokollet till fullo och genom att implementera meddelandebufferts på mottagarsidan.En betydelsefull slutsats som drogs var att på samma sätt som det inte finns en unik systemdesign som passar alla system, finns det inte heller ett minnesanvändningsverktyg eller en meddelandeanvändning som passar alla system. Varje enskilt system måste analyseras för att hitta den mest optimala lösningen för det specifika systemet.

Thesis (M. A. (Language Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023 / This study investigated the challenges experienced by Grade 10 learners in the usage of English as the first additional language in classroom academic writing. Qualitative methodology was used to conduct this study where responses from a sample of 10 learners and 2 EFAL teachers were obtained. The participants were purposefully sampled from a secondary school in Tweefontein. The researcher collected data using the semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Selected teachers were interviewed and learners were given an essay writing task. The data was analysed using the inductive thematic data analysis method. The study‟s findings point to social media as the major factor that contributes to the learners‟ usage of social language in academic essay writing. Contraction was found to be the most common language issue in the learners‟ academic writing. The study recommends that stakeholders such as the Department of Education, teachers, parents and learners should work together in order to improve the learners‟ usage of language in academic writing.

Le dopage sportif se définit comme étant l’acte d’absorber une substance interdite pour améliorer ses performances sportives autant physiques que mentales. Le dopage sportif attire l’attention des médias et des chercheurs puisqu’il s’agit d’un phénomène qui prend de l’ampleur spécialement chez les jeunes et les adolescents, et notamment les garçons de 13 à 17 ans. Pour contrer ce problème, des programmes de prévention du dopage sportif ont été mis en place par plusieurs organisations. Toutefois, à notre connaissance, peu de ces programmes semblent avoir été évalués. L’objectif de l’étude est d’évaluer par une méthodologie qualitative une formation en ligne, destinée aux entraîneurs et visant à prévenir le dopage chez les joueurs de hockey de 13 à 17 ans au Québec. Des entrevues semi-dirigées ont été effectuées avec six entraîneurs ayant suivi la formation, afin d’obtenir leur perception et appréciation à l’égard de la mise en oeuvre de la formation, et de leur capacité à soutenir la mise en oeuvre d’interventions préventives auprès des joueurs. La méthode d’analyse de contenu de Paillé et Mucchielli (2012) a été utilisée pour conduire l’analyse des données. Un modèle adapté du cadre de Phillips (1996) ainsi que du Consolidated model Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) de Damschroder et ses collaborateurs (2009), a été utilisé comme référence pour l’analyse.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South African water service providers experience major problems with providing adequate water services to consumers. Water service providers in South African urban areas rely on traditional centralised infrastructure, such as bulk supply networks, to provide water services. Alternative supply and stormwater drainage methods should be encouraged to help mitigate these problems. The researcher thus aims to quantify the potential impact that three alternative methods may have on a given dwelling in terms of its dependence on traditional bulk water services. The three alternatives considered in this thesis are the construction of green roofs, rainwater harvesting and greywater re-use. An efficiency of dwelling water use index (EDWI) was developed during this research project. It was designed in such a way as to show what portion of municipal water services could be replaced within the given dwelling by using the proposed techniques. The final EDWI-rating is obtained by using the EDWI-software tool developed as a part of this research. The derived EDWI-rating ranges from 0 to 100, with a rating of 100 indicating a dwelling requiring only the removal of a portion of sewage by a municipality, but no external water supply. Such a dwelling would also not require any water from a municipal network to meet domestic demand and all stormwater from its roof would be utilised within the plot boundaries. Results presented in this thesis illustrate how different geographical regions require different system specifications to obtain optimal EDWI-ratings, thereby lowering their dependence on the respective municipal water services. Validation of the EDWI-system proved difficult as no similar index could be found during the literature review. It was therefore decided to benchmark the EDWI-system using three model dwellings with nine configurations producing a total of 27 analyses. The EDWI-system provides a conceptual foundation for sustainable water services to South African households in serviced urban areas. Future work could further improve the EDWI-system by testing its practical application so that it may be extended to act as a national barometer, used to compare decentralised water services in terms of sustainability. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:Suid-Afrikaanse waterdiensverskaffers ondervind groot probleme met die voorsiening van voldoende waterdienste aan verbruikers. Waterdiensverskaffers in Suid-Afrikaanse stedelike gebiede maak staat op tradisionele gesentraliseerde infrastruktuur, soos grootmaatvoorsienings netwerke, om waterdienste te verskaf. Alternatiewe voorsienings- en stormwater dreineringsmetodes moet aangemoedig word om hierdie probleme aan te spreek. Die studie poog dus om die potensiële impak wat drie alternatiewe moontlikhede kan hê op 'n gegewe woning in terme van sy afhanklikheid van die tradisionele waterdienste te kwantifiseer. Die drie alternatiewe moontlikhede wat in hierdie studie ingesluit word is die konstruksie van groendakke, reënwater oes en grys water hergebruik. 'n Huishoudelike water gebruik doeltreffendheids indeks (EDWI) is ontwikkel gedurende hierdie navorsingsprojek. Die indeks is ontwerp om aan te dui watter gedeelte van munisipale waterdienste deur die voorgestelde tegnieke vervang kan word. Die finale EDWI-gradering is verkry deur gebruik te maak van die EDWI-programmatuur wat ontwikkel is gedurende die navorsing. Die afgeleide EDWI- gradering wissel tussen 0 en 100, met 'n telling van 100 wat ‘n woning voorstel wat slegs die verwydering van 'n gedeelte van die riool deur die munisipaliteit vereis, maar wat geen eksterne watervoorsiening benodig nie. So 'n woning vereis dus geen water van ‗n munisipale netwerk nie, en alle stormwater van die dak word binne die erf gebruik. Resultate wat in hierdie studie voorgelê word illustreer hoe verskillende geografiese streke ander stelsel spesifikasies vereis om optimale EDWI-gradering te verkry. Die navorser kon geen indeks kry wat soortgelyk is aan die EDWI-stelsel om dit mee te vergelyk nie. Dit was gevolglik besluit om die indeks te standardiseer deur gebruik te maak van drie model huise met nege samestellings van alternatiewe, waardeur 27 ontledings ontwikkel was. Die EDWI-stelsel bied 'n konseptuele grondslag vir volhoubare waterdienste vir Suid-Afrikaanse huishoudings in gedienste stedelike gebiede. Toekomstige navorsing kan die EDWI-stelsel verder verbeter deur die praktiese toepassing te toets. Die stelsel kan uitgebrei word om ‗n nationale barometer vorm wat gebruik kan word om desentralisasie van waterdienste te meet in konteks van volhoubaarheid.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education