Focussing on Archaeozoological faunal analysis, this dissertation aims to investigate the animal food utilization practices of the Ndzundza Ndebele by combining archaeozoologcial methods, archaeological data, ethnographic and historic information. The Ndzundza Ndebele inhabited three different sites in the Steelpoort River Valley during c. 1700 AD – 1900 AD. They were forced to relocate from KwaMaza and Esikhunjini to KoNomtjarhelo as a result of continual fighting between themselves and contemporary Iron Age/Historic communities, the British and the Boers during this period. I aim to identify the animal species utilized by the Ndzundza Ndebele in addition to whether or not the hostile and politically unstable period had any effect on Ndzundza animal food procurement, use and discard. Additionally I investigate whether the faunal remains recovered from the three sites can be used to identify ethnic affiliations, gender roles and ritual use with regards to animals and/or animal parts. Ultimately, I aim to demonstrate that faunal remains cannot be fully understood and interpreted without incorporating relevant ethnographic and/or historic information and as comprehensive an archaeological context as possible. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Anthropology and Archaeology / unrestricted

Current design models, approaches and theories are highly fragmented, have seldom been compared with one another, and rarely attempted to be consolidated. Novelty is a measure of creativity of engineering products and positively influences product success. Using physical laws and effects for designing can improve the chances of creativity but they cannot be used directly owing to their inadequate current representations. It is important to address activities, outcomes, requirements and solutions in designing. Conceptual design is an early phase in engineering design and needs to be supported better. A systematic approach for designing often increases effectiveness and efficiency. Thus, the broad objective of this thesis is to develop and validate a comprehensive understanding of how designing occurs during the conceptual phase of engineering design, and to support variety and novelty of designs during this phase. The approach followed is: (a) formulate and validate an understanding of novelty and its relationships to the designing constructs, in current designing, and(b)develop and validate a support, founded on the current designing, to improve novelty. The understanding and the support are addressed, respectively, through an integrated model and a systematic framework for designing; the model and the framework comprise activities, outcomes(including laws and effects), requirements and solutions. An integrated model of designing, GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol is developed by combining activities(Generate, Evaluate, Modify, Select– GEMS), outcomes (State change, Action, Parts, Phenomenon, Input, oRgans, Effect–SAPPhIRE), requirements (req) and solutions (sol), identified from a comprehensive survey of existing design models and approaches. Validation of SAPPhIRE model with existing systems indicates that the model can be used to describe analysis and synthesis, both of which together constitute designing. Validation of the integrated model using existing videos of design sessions, to check if all its constructs are naturally used in designing, reveals that:(a) all the constructs are naturally used;(b) not all the outcomes are explored with equal intensity;(c) while high numbers of action and parts are observed, only low numbers of phenomenon, effects and organs are found. Empirical study using another set of design sessions to study the relationships between novelty and the outcomes reveals that novelty of a concept space depends on the variety of the concept space, which in turn depends on the variety of the idea space explored. Novelty and variety of a concept space also depend on the number of outcomes explored at each abstraction level. Thus, phenomena and effects are also vital for variety and novelty. Based on the above, GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol framework for designing is proposed. The framework is divided into: Requirements Exploration Stage(RES) and Solutions Exploration Stage(SES). In RES and SES, requirements and solutions respectively at all the abstraction levels including SAPPhIRE are generated, evaluated, modified and selected. The framework supports task clarification, conceptual and early embodiment phases of designing, and provides process knowledge. Comparison of the framework against existing design models, theories and approaches reveals that:(a) not all existing models, theories and approaches address activities, outcomes, requirements and solutions together;(b) those that address all these constructs together do not make a distinction between requirements and solutions; and(c) no model or approach explicitly addresses novelty. The usability of the framework and Idea-inspire is assessed by applying them in an industrial project for designing novel concepts of lunar vehicle mobility system. The use of this combined support enables identification of critical requirements, development of a large variety of ideas and concepts. One of these concepts is physically and virtually modelled, and tested, and is found to satisfy all the requirements. A catalogue of physical laws and effects is developed using SAPPhIRE model to provide assistance to designers, especially for phenomena, effects and organs. Observations found during this development are reported. A comparative validation of the framework and the catalogue for their support to design for variety and novelty is done using comparative observational studies. Results from the observational studies reveal that the variety and the novelty of concept space improve with the use of the framework, or with the frame work and the catalogue, as compared to variety and novelty with no support.

Le droit de la santé réglemente les actions de santé lato sensu. En encadrant juridiquement une pluralité d'actes médicaux, comme l'AMP, l'interruption de grossesse, l'examen des empreintes génétiques ou encore les dons d'éléments et produits du corps humain, il influence le droit extra-patrimonial de la famille. Cette influence est protéiforme et se manifeste à la fois sur la détermination des liens familiaux et sur les droits et devoirs en découlant. Le droit comparé franco-suisse, dans sa fonction de connaissance du droit, permet de révéler les manifestations de cette influence. Le droit de la santé français exerce fréquemment un rôle moteur, subversif des concepts civilistes traditionnels. Le droit de la santé et le droit de la famille sont le plus souvent pensés séparément, le premier tendant parfois à s'autonomiser. À l'inverse, le droit de la santé suisse s'inspire régulièrement des constructions civilistes préexistantes, même si la finalité sanitaire justifie parfois un renouvellement des concepts. Ainsi, les deux champs du droit sont le plus souvent pensés globalement, approche dont le droit français gagnerait à s'inspirer. L'influence du droit de la santé sur le droit extra-patrimonial de la famille doit être repensée en tenant compte des objectifs poursuivis par les différentes règles de droit. La spécificité des actes médicaux à finalité familiale justifie que le droit de la santé soit cantonné à un rôle technique, suiveur de l'évolution du droit de la famille. En revanche, lorsqu'il réglemente les actes médicaux susceptibles d'influencer les droits et devoirs familiaux, le droit de la santé peut exercer un rôle complémentaire à celui du droit de la famille. / Health law regulates medical activity. By giving a legal framework to several medical acts, such as ART, abortion, DNA identification or donations of components and products of the human body, it influences extrapatrimonial family law. This influence is undeniably protean as it is exerted on both the definition and the legal regime of family ties. In its quest for improving knowledge of legal systems, French-Swiss comparative law can reveal and explain the manner in which this influence is expressed. In France, health law often plays a leading role, thus subverting traditional family law concepts and sometimes leading to inconsistencies. Health law and family law are usually viewed separately, with health law often taking an autonomous stance. In Switzerland, on the other hand, health law frequently draws on preexisting civil and family law concepts. Most of the time, these two fields of law are thought of together. This analysis incites us to rebuild French law in the light of Swiss law. The influence of health law on extrapatrimonial family law must be rethought, by taking into account the goal of each legal rule. The specificity of medical acts pursuing family interests justifies confining health law to a technical role, following the evolution of family law. Health law must be a tool for family law. However, health law can complement family law when it comes to the determination of family rights and duties. This complementarity is expressed either through the articulation of both branches of law when common goals are visible, or through the search for criteria capable of reconciling the conflicting goals pursued by these two subjects.

There are analyzed key departments of bank in my thesis, which come in contact with clients and which partake of formation of their relation to the Citibank. This thesis targets the contact center CitiPhone, which serves personal entities of the bank. The theoretical cognizances from the first part of my thesis are applied to the conditions of this contact center in the practical part of it. The topic of my thesis is, on the example of contact center CitiPhone, to show activities, which contact center perform, to point out its critical parts and assess its current position. The assessment of activities of contact center CitiPhone is substantiated by graphs and results from period under consideration, which is first half of the year 2008.

Nas construções de caldeiras de força, vasos de pressão e outros tipos de equipamentos para os diversos segmentos industriais têm exigido da engenharia de materiais um desenvolvimento tecnológico para melhores processos na obtenção de materiais fundidos, forjados, laminados, e outros. Desenvolver recursos tecnológicos que minimizem a presença de imperfeições que possam comprometer a integridade estrutural dos equipamentos que operam com pressão tem sido uma busca constante tanto nas usinas como nas indústrias de bens de capital nas fases das construções. Uma construção implica em seleção de materiais, projeto, fabricação, exames, inspeção, testes, certificação e dispositivos de alívio que atendam aos requisitos dos códigos e normas. Estes requisitos estão cada vez maiores e estabelecem limites para a existência destas imperfeições vão de encontro à necessidade de lançar mão de métodos de ensaios não destrutivos que permitam sempre a melhor probabilidade de detecção. Os processos de controle da qualidade têm buscado por meio das novas tecnologias aumentarem a sua sensibilidade, visando à detecção de descontinuidades que hoje são detectadas pelos métodos convencionais. Em termos de ensaios não destrutivos, as exigências para o ensaio radiográfico convencional estão no limite da sensibilidade dos filmes radiográficos industriais disponíveis, além do compromisso de buscar um tempo de exposição menor ser sempre um fator importante a ser considerado na qualidade, segurança e produtividade tanto na fábrica como no campo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar e avaliar a técnica de radiografia computadorizada (RC) em relação à radiografia convencional para inspeção dos materiais, utilizando os parâmetros de avaliação, tais como, relação sinal ruído, resolução espacial, ferramentas para detectabilidade, sensibilidade ao contraste e tons de cinza, que são aplicáveis nas avaliações de imagens digitais. Para a avaliação da técnica de radiografia industrial digital foi utilizado um corpo-de-prova fabricada pelo processo de fundição com espessura de 75 a 150 mm, com defeitos típicos do processo. O corpo-de-prova foi radiografado com a técnica convencional e digital. Na técnica convencional foram utilizados os filmes radiográficos industriais tipos I e II do ASTM E 1815, um acelerador linear Varian modelo Linatron 400 de 4 MeV e duas fontes de Cobalto-60 com atividades diferentes. Na técnica computadorizada foram utilizados as mesmas fontes de radiação, uma placa de fósforo denominada IPX e um equipamento CR-50P ambos da GE IT. Pelos resultados obtidos pode-se verificar que a radiografia digital com os equipamentos avaliados, atende satisfatoriamente os códigos e normas que são utilizadas na avaliação de peças fundidas. A técnica mostrou-se mais qualitativa quando na avaliação das descontinuidades localizadas nas seções críticas, pois o sistema RC possibilita a utilização de ferramenta de perfil de linha que fornece os valores de nível de cinza ao longo de uma trajetória linear demarcada na área da imagem da descontinuidade. Com isto, mesmo em poucos experimentos e um único sistema de RC pode-se concluir que a técnica é bastante vantajosa na detecção de descontinuidades nos processos de fabricação e que atendeu tanto os requisitos do ASTM E 272 para o cobre ou o ASME Seção VIII Divisão 1, Apêndice 7 que referenciam os padrões radiográficos conforme as normas ASTM E-186 e ASTM E-280 para aços fundidos. / In the constructions of power boilers, pressure vessels and other equipment for several industries has required the development of materials engineering technology for better processes in obtaining materials cast, forged, rolled, and others. Develop technological resources that minimize the presence of imperfections that could compromise the structural integrity of the equipment operating pressure has been a constant search both in plants and in capital goods industries phases of construction. A construction involves materials selection, design, fabrication, testing, inspection, testing, certification, and relief devices that meet the requirements of codes and standards. These requirements are increasing and establish limits for the existence of these imperfections go against the need to resort to non-destructive testing methods that enable always the best probability of detection. The processes of quality control have sought through new technologies increase their sensitivity in order to detect discontinuities of today are detected by conventional methods. In terms of non-destructive testing, requirements for conventional radiographic testing are at the limit of sensitivity of available industrial radiographic films, besides the commitment to seek a lower exposure time is always an important factor to be considered in quality, safety and productivity both in the factory and in the field. The aim of this work was to study and evaluate the technical radiography Computed (RC) compared to conventional radiography for inspection of materials, using evaluation parameters such as signal to noise ratio, spatial resolution, and tools for detectability, contrast sensitivity and grayscale, which apply in evaluations of digital images. For the evaluation of industrial radiography technique it was used a test specimen manufactured by the casting process with thickness from 75 to 150 mm, with typical defects in the process. The test specimen was X-rayed with the conventional and digital techniques. In the conventional technique were used industrial radiographic films types I and II to ASTM E 1815, a linear accelerator Varian model 400 Linatron 4 MeV and two cobalt-60 sources with different activities. In the technique computed were used the same radiation source, a phosphor plate IPX and an apparatus called CR-50P both GE IT. From the results it can be seen that with digital radiography equipment evaluated satisfactorily meets the codes and standards that are used in the evaluation of castings. The technique was more qualitative evaluation when the discontinuities located in critical sections for the system to use RC allows tool profile line shows values of gray level along a linear path demarcated in the image area discontinuity. With this, even in a few experiments a single system and RC can be concluded that the technique is quite advantageous in the detection of discontinuities in the manufacturing processes and that both met the requirements of ASTM E 272 for copper or ASME Section VIII Division 1, Appendix 7 that reference radiographic patterns according to ASTM E-186 and ASTM E-280 for steel castings.

A functional spare parts management for a producing paper industry is a key to maintain an efficient production. A non functional component of a value-creating chain may lead to major financial losses. A downtime in a plant is normally costly and can amount to hundreds of thousands of swedish crowns. High stocks of spare parts will in turn generate high amount of tied up capital. A good way to reduce these inventory balances is to let facilities within the same geographical area have a pooling of identical spare parts. The purpose of this study is two-folded. First, through literature studies and interviews, find out what characteristics a spare part should fulfill to be suitable in a joint spare parts management. The second is to investigate, through practical studies, the value a joint management offers from an economic perspective. Interviews are conducted with key personnel for the spare parts management at each individual factory, all these over the telephone. The interviews are conducted so that the authors gain a deeper insight into how they collaborate today and get the respondent's views on future collaboration. The result from the literature study, what properties an article should have for use in a joint spare parts network are the following; high value, slow moving article, high process criticality and long delivery time from supplier. By applying poisson distribution and LCC analysis on twelve selected spare parts, the result shows that the case company can save up to SEK 915,000 by implementing a joint spare parts management. / En fungerande reservdelshantering för en producerande pappersindustrianläggning är en av nycklarna för att bibehålla en effektiv produktion. När en värdeskapande kedja upphör att fungera kan det leda till stora ekonomiska förluster. Ett driftstopp i en anläggning är normalt sätt kostsamma och kan uppgå till hundratusentals kronor. Detta medför höga lagersaldon av reservdelar som i sin tur genererar till mycket bundet kapital. Ett bra sätt att få ner dessa lagersaldon är att anläggningar inom samma geografiska area har en gemensam reservdelshantering för identiska reservdelar. Syftet med denna undersökning är tvådelat. Det första är att genom litteraturstudier och intervjuer upprätta ett underlag för att identifiera reservdelsartiklar att samarbeta med. Det andra är att påvisa vilken ekonomisk sparpotential som finns vid en gemensam reservdelshantering. Intervjuer genomförs med nyckelpersoner för reservdelshanteringen på varje enskilt bruk. Intervjuerna genomförs för att författarna ska få en djupare insikt i hur de samarbetar idag samt få respondenternas synpunkter på framtida samarbete. Resultatet utifrån litteraturstudien har medfört att de egenskaper en artikel bör inneha för att användas i ett gemensamt reservdelsnätverk är följande; högt ekonomiskt värde, låg omsättningshastighet, hög processkritikalitet samt lång leveranstid från leverantör. Genom att använda poissonfördelning och LCC-analys på tolv stycken artiklar blir resultatet att fallföretaget kan spara 915 000 kr vid implementering av gemensam reservdelshantering.

The thesis is about static analysis of moving skyscraper (inspired by The Dynamic Tower). There is a rotation of each particular floor around its axis independently on each other. In this thesis, moving skyscraper is solved as a whole piece with specialization in the moving floors and their mounting on the core of the building.

Thesis solves an issue of application unconventional materials used in horizontal boring machine design. Chosen problem is solved step by step from general selection of suitable material for supporting structure. The selected material is applicated on WFT 13 CNC machine design from production of Fermat and it is created 9 conceptual options of machine’s frame. Finite element method is used for analysis of conceptual options. Based on data from analyses, the best option is selected for constructional part with use of multi-criteria PATTERN method. Constructional part of thesis elaborates on the design of selected conceptual option and gives recommendation for essential processes used in development and production of sandwich structures. The master’s thesis comes with new construction solution for supporting structure of selected machine and especially insight in development and production of new unconventional materials in horizontal boring machines design.

The object of this master´s thesis is to analyse economic situation in the company Agroroservis s.r.o. by used methods. External and internal structure of the company as well as the financial situation is judged gradually. The last part of the master´s thesis is decided suggestion, which can help to improve actual conditions.

Diplomová práce se zabývá hodnocením únavové životnosti v okolí konstručního uzlu tlakové nádoby, kde vzniká výrazná koncentrace napětí a je zde předpoklad primárního vlivu na únavu materiálu. Konkrétně se jedná o místo přechodu kontrolního otvoru do pláště analyzovaného zařízení. Práce obsahuje teoretickou a praktickou část. V teoretické části jsou představeny pojmy a metody hodnocení, související s danou problematikou. Na základě těchto metod je provedena analýza konstrukčního uzlu tlakové nádoby. Analýza je provedena metodou konečných prvků na skořepinovém a objemovém modelu nádoby v softwaru ANSYS Workbench, její výsledky dále zpracovány a vyhodnoceny dle aktuálního návrhu úpravy evropské harmonizované normy EN 13445--3, kapitoly 18. Výsledky analýz jsou hodnoceny v závěru práce.