The problem that Groenewald (1995: 4) mentions in connection with the Sepedi drama is that, it is not performable and that it is actually not a drama in the true sense of the word. In the African languages there is actually no theatre tradition and the written dramas are, with the exception of a few, plays that should be read. The few exceptions are small works that were written for schoolchildren and that were performed once or twice by them. Groenewald emphasises the fact that school and university syllabi demand that there be dramas in the these languages, but that they are never performed. This dissertation wants to scrutinise the main shortcomings related to performance so that the findings can serve as an incentive to prospective playwrights to improve on what already exists. In order to limit the magnitude of such an investigation, a specific drama, namely Nkadimeng's Ntšhutelele (1985) is concentrated on. This work is choosen because almost all shortcomings with regard to performance appear in it. Two authors have already discussed this drama and have pointed out a few problems. The first investigator is Mohlala who comments mainly on the dialogue and monologue. The second person is Mokwebu, and in his report he obliquely touches on the aspects of time and place in the course of events. Although they do bring up certain problems related to performability, their discussions deal mainly with the drama as a literary work. This dissertation, however, does not only want to discuss the problem related to the performability of the Sepedi drama, but also wants to explain why each specific problem hampers the performability of the work. In this discussion, the drama is discussed as a work that has two modes of existence, i.e. that it is a literary work as well as a stage play. As a drama it thus exists thanks to (a) the author and (b) a producer who is responsible only for the performance. The latter, amongst other things, must make sure that the performance does not take too long and that the stage that he uses has enough space to accommodate the reality that is being presented. The problems related to performance that will be discussed are classified under the following: time and place of the events that are presented, the dialogue and the monologue, and the role played by the author's directions. Structural errors that have implications for the performance are also pointed out in the work. The concepts that are used in the analysis of Ntšhutelele are defined comprehensively in advance. It stands to reason that literary concepts that are relevantto the discussion like content, structure and the author's vision are amongst these concepts. However, the concept of performance is explained in the greatest detail so that the requirements in such a case can be sketched clearly and that they can be used as evaluation criteria in the discussion of the drama Ntšhutelele. In the following analysis, the shortcomings with regard to performance as listed above are discussed comprehensively and critically. In a few cases, one or more merits are indicated in addition to the pointing out of the shortcomings. The concept of time is examined in the widest sense of the word, as is the duration of the performance as such. / Dissertation (MA (African Languages))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / African Languages / MA / unrestricted

Network failures can originate from or be located in any one of several network layers as described by the OSI model. This investigation focuses on the role of physical topological design parameters in determining network reliability and performance as can be expected from the point of view of a typical client-server based connection in an Ethernet local area network. This type of host-to-host IP connection is found in many commercial, military and industrial network based systems. Using Markov modelling techniques reliability and performability models are developed for common network topologies based on the redundancy mechanism provided by IEEE spanning tree protocols. The models are tested and validated using the OPNET network simulation environment. The reliability and performability metrics calculated from the derived models for different topologies are compared leading to the following conclusions. The reliability of the entry-nodes into a redundant network is a determining factor in connection availability. Redundancy mechanisms must be extended from the entry-node to the connecting hosts to gain a significant benefit from redundant network topologies as network availability remains limited to three-nines. The hierarchical mesh network offers the highest availability (sevennines) and performability. Both these metrics can be accurately predicted irrespective of the position of the entry-node in the mesh. Ring networks offer high availability (five to sevennines) and performability if the ring remains small to medium sized, however for larger rings (N≥32) the availability is highly dependant on the relative position of the entry-node in the ring. Performability also degrades significantly as the ring size increases. Although star networks offer predictable and high performability the availability is low (four-nines) because of the lack of redundancy. The star should therefore not be used in IP networked systems requiring more than four-nines availability. In all the topologies investigated the reliability and performability can be increased significantly by introducing redundant links instead of single links interconnecting the various nodes, with the star topology availability increasing from four-nines to seven-nines and performance doubling. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Network failures can originate from or be located in any one of several network layers as described by the OSI model. This investigation focuses on the role of physical topological design parameters in determining network reliability and performance as can be expected from the point of view of a typical client-server based connection in an Ethernet local area network. This type of host-to-host IP connection is found in many commercial, military and industrial network based systems. Using Markov modelling techniques reliability and performability models are developed for common network topologies based on the redundancy mechanism provided by IEEE spanning tree protocols. The models are tested and validated using the OPNET network simulation environment. The reliability and performability metrics calculated from the derived models for different topologies are compared leading to the following conclusions. The reliability of the entry-nodes into a redundant network is a determining factor in connection availability. Redundancy mechanisms must be extended from the entry-node to the connecting hosts to gain a significant benefit from redundant network topologies as network availability remains limited to three-nines. The hierarchical mesh network offers the highest availability (sevennines) and performability. Both these metrics can be accurately predicted irrespective of the position of the entry-node in the mesh. Ring networks offer high availability (five to sevennines) and performability if the ring remains small to medium sized, however for larger rings (N≥32) the availability is highly dependant on the relative position of the entry-node in the ring. Performability also degrades significantly as the ring size increases. Although star networks offer predictable and high performability the availability is low (four-nines) because of the lack of redundancy. The star should therefore not be used in IP networked systems requiring more than four-nines availability. In all the topologies investigated the reliability and performability can be increased significantly by introducing redundant links instead of single links interconnecting the various nodes, with the star topology availability increasing from four-nines to seven-nines and performance doubling. / MIng (Computer and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-07-08T15:39:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DissertacaoMestrado-LubnniaMorais.pdf: 1068810 bytes, checksum: 0fb0e8db76865a85052555adeb36a048 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-08T15:39:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) DissertacaoMestrado-LubnniaMorais.pdf: 1068810 bytes, checksum: 0fb0e8db76865a85052555adeb36a048 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-13 / A globalização e os avanços tecnológicos têm forçado as empresas a aumentar a produtividade e reduzir custos. Ao mesmo tempo, os clientes estão cada vez mais exigindo melhores produtos considerando atributos tangíveis (ex.: aroma, cor, sabor, textura, entre outros) e intangíveis (ex.: marca, comércio justo e responsabilidade ambiental). O café é um dos produtos agrícolas mais importantes do mercado mundial, considerado a força propulsora do desenvolvimento sócio-econômico para muitas regiões, além de ser produzido em todos os continentes. Vale ser ressaltado que o café é uma das bebidas mais consumidas no mundo, sendo a segunda maior commodity 1 negociada depois do petróleo. Para a economia brasileira, o café é uma atividade tradicional e de grande inserção no mercado internacional. É responsável pela geração de um grande número de empregos em todos os setores da economia, indo desde os setores de máquinas, equipamentos e insumos, passando pela produção no campo e pela indústria, até o setor de serviços, como logística e comércio. Atualmente o Brasil consolida a posição de maior produtor e exportador mundial de café, sendo responsável por 30% do mercado internacional de café. Logo é necessário analisar cada vez mais o processo de produção do café, a fim de aumentar a capacidade de produção do sistema, bem como reduzir simultâneamente os custos, sejam devidos à operação, manutenção, pontualidade na execução das tarefas ou ociosidade do equipamento. Tal análise quando corretamente aplicada, é capaz de evidenciar os principais pontos de gargalo, sobre os quais os gerentes de produção devem manter o foco e otimizá-los a fim de aumentar a vantagem competitiva de empresa. A avaliação do desempenho do processo de manufatura é de grande importância para detectar problemas no processo de produção (ex.: gargalos), bem como elementos para reduzir os custos, uma vez que as falhas geram custos durante o desenvolvimento, durante a produção e em serviço (B., 2008). A análise de desempenho puro de processos de fabricação assume que os processos não falham. Esta hipótese não é verdadeira, pois a maioria dos processos de fabricação podem continuar as suas operações, mesmo na presença de falhas. Logo, a realização da análise combinada de desempenho e disponibilidade, chamada performabilidade, é essencial. Este trabalho apresenta um modelo estocástico para avaliação de performabilidade e planejamento de processo do fabricação de café com o objetivo de reduzir o custo e o tempo do ciclo de produção. Um estudo de caso industrial mostra a utilidade prática dos modelos e metodologia proposta. Além disso, as estimativas obtidas a partir do modelo mostram que a abordagem proposta é de fato uma boa aproximação para as respectivas medidas obtidas a partir do processo real de fabricação do café. / Globalization and advanced manufacturing technologies have forced manufacturing firms to increase productivity while reducing costs. At the same time, customers are increasingly demanding better products considering tangible (e.g., smell, color, taste, texture, etc.) and intangible (e.g., mark, fair treading environmental responsability) attributes. Coffee is one of the most important agricultural products in the world market, considered the driving force of socio-economic development for many regions, besides being produced on every continent. Is worth be emphasized that coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world and is the second largest commodity traded after oil. For the Brazilian economy, the coffee is a traditional activity and of large insertion in the international market. It is responsible for generating a large number of jobs in all sectors of the economy, ranging from the sectors of machinery, equipment and supplies, through production in the field and industry to the service sector, such as logistics and trade. Currently, Brazil consolidates a position as the largest producer and exporter of coffee, accounting for 30% of the international coffee market. Therefore we analyze the coffee production process in order to increase the system’s production capacity and reduce costs simultaneously, are due to the operation, maintenance, on-time execution of tasks or idle equipment. Such analysis when properly applied, is able to show the main points of bottleneck, on which production managers must stay focused and optimize them in order to increase the competitive advantage of the company. The evaluation of the performance of the manufacturing process is very important to detect problems in the production process (ex .: bottlenecks), as well as elements to reduce costs, since faults generate costs in development, production and during service (B., 2008). The pure performance analysis of manufacturing processes assumes that the processes do not fail. This hypothesis is not true, since most manufacturing processes can continue to operate even in the presence of faults. Therefore, the performance of the combined analysis of performance and availability, call performability, is essential. This work presents a stochastic model for performability evaluation and planning of coffee manufacturing process aiming to reduce the cost and time of the production cycle. An industrial case study shows the practical usability of the proposed models and techniques. Besides, the estimates obtained from the model show that the proposed approach is indeed a good approximation to the respective measures obtained from the real coffee manufacturing process.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-10-31T13:02:48Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Bruno_Silva_Doutorado_Ciencia_da_Computacao_2016.pdf: 7350049 bytes, checksum: f6bc77a5446b293d932df5ac54dad560 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-31T13:02:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Bruno_Silva_Doutorado_Ciencia_da_Computacao_2016.pdf: 7350049 bytes, checksum: f6bc77a5446b293d932df5ac54dad560 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / CNPq / Cloud Computing Systems (CCSs) allow the utilization of application services for users around the world. An important challenge for CCS providers is to supply a high-quality service even when there are failures, overloads, and disasters. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is often established between providers and clients to define the availability, performance and security requirements of such services. Fines may be imposed on providers if SLA’s quality parameters are not met. A widely adopted strategy to increase CCS availability and mitigate the effects of disasters corresponds to the utilization of redundant subsystems and the adoption of geographically distributed data centers. Considering this approach, services of affected data centers can be transferred to operational data centers of the same CCS. However, the data center synchronization time increases with the distance, which may affect system performance. Additionally, resources over-provisioning may affect the service profitability, given the high costs of redundant subsystems. Therefore, an assessment that include performance, availability, possibility of disasters and data center allocation is of utmost importance for CCS projects. This work presents a framework for geographically distributed CCS evaluation that estimates metrics related to performance, availability and disaster recovery (man-made or natural disasters). The proposed framework is composed of an evaluation process, a set of models, evaluation tool, and fault injection tool. The evaluation process helps designers to represent CCS systems and obtain the desired metrics. This process adopts a formal hybrid modeling, which contemplates CCS high-level models, stochastic Petri nets (SPN) and reliability block diagrams (RBD) for representing and evaluating CCS subsystems. An evaluation tool is proposed (GeoClouds Modcs) to allow easy representation and evaluation of cloud computing systems. Finally, a fault injection tool for CCSs (Eucabomber 2.0) is presented to estimate availability metrics and validate the proposed models. Several case studies are presented and analyze survivability, performance and availability metrics considering multiple data center allocation scenarios for CCS systems. / Sistemas de Computação em Nuvem (SCNs) permitem a utilização de aplicações como serviços para usuários em todo o mundo. Um importante desafio para provedores de SCN corresponde ao fornecimento de serviços de qualidade mesmo na presença de eventuais falhas, sobrecargas e desastres. Geralmente, um acordo de nível de serviço (ANS) é estabelecido entre fornecedores e clientes para definição dos requisitos de disponibilidade, desempenho e segurança de tais serviços. Caso os parâmetros de qualidade definidos no ANS não sejam satisfeitos, multas podem ser aplicadas aos provedores. Nesse contexto, uma estratégia para aumentar a disponibilidade de SCNs e mitigar os efeitos de eventuais desastres consiste em utilizar subsistemas redundantes e adotar de centros de dados distribuídos geograficamente. Considerando-se esta abordagem, os serviços de centros de dados afetados podem ser transferidos para outros centros de dados do mesmo SCN. Contudo, o tempo de sincronização entre os diferentes centros de dados aumenta com a distância entre os mesmos, o que pode afetar a performance do sistema. Além disso, o provisionamento excessivo de recursos pode afetar a rentabilidade do serviço, dado o alto custo dos subsistemas redundantes. Portanto, uma avaliação que contemple desempenho, disponibilidade, possibilidade de desastres e alocação de centro de dados é de fundamental importância para o projeto de SCNs. Este trabalho apresenta um framework para avaliação de SCNs distribuídos geograficamente que permite a estimativa de métricas de desempenho, disponibilidade e capacidade de recuperação de desastres (naturais ou causados pelo homem). O framework é composto de um processo de avaliação, conjunto de modelos, ferramenta de avaliação e ferramenta de injeção de falhas. O processo de avaliação apresentado pode auxiliar projetistas de SCNs desde a representação do sistem de computação em nuvem até a obtenção das métricas de interesse. Este processo utiliza uma modelagem formal híbrida, que contempla modelos de SCN de alto nível, redes de Petri estocásticas (RPEs) e diagramas de bloco de confiabilidade (DBCs) para representação e avaliação de SCNs e seus subsistemas. Uma ferramenta de avaliação é proposta (GeoClouds Modcs) que permite fácil representação e avaliação de sistemas de computação em nuvem. Por fim, uma ferramenta de injeção de falhas em SCN (Eucabomber 2.0) é apresentada para estimar métricas de disponibilidade e validar os modelos propostos. Vários estudos de caso são apresentados e estes analisam a capacidade de recuperação de desastres, desempenho e disponibilidade de SCNs distribuídos geograficamente.

The subject of this dissertation is the analysis of possibilities for financing business projects in the tourism sphere. Partial aims are study and comparison of program documentations and also monitoring of procedure leading to acquisition of financial support and actual project proposal. I´ve developed the project according to the rules for regional operation program Jihozápad and according to the directions from the applicant´s handbook, which I´ve used for examining the study of performability, the Cost - Benefit Analysis, Cash flow, time schedule and other necessary analyses. The project focuses on the services development in water tourism sphere of given locality. A concrete task is set to establish a refreshment store with employees´ background. On the ground floor of the building there will be a new restroom, connected to a newly built sewage station. Last planned action is a drilled well with supplements. The specific task of the project is edulcorating and extending the time spent by the visitors in our camp and providing better conditions for the employees. The project is based on the presumption of enhancing the quality of services will attract both water sportsmen and local citizens, cyclotourists and other interest groups.

Nous nous intéressons à l'analyse des exigences de performabilité des systèmes communicants mobiles par model checking. Nous modélisons ces systèmes à l'aide d'un formalisme de haut niveau issu du π-calcul, permettant de considérer des comportements stochastiques, temporels, déterministes, ou indéterministes. Cependant, dans le π-calcul, la primitive de communication de base des systèmes est la communication en point-à-point synchrone. Or, les systèmes mobiles, qui utilisent des réseaux sans fil, communiquent essentiellement par diffusion locale. C'est pourquoi, dans un premier temps, nous définissons la communication par diffusion dans le π-calcul, afin de mieux modéliser les systèmes que nous étudions. Nous proposons d'utiliser des versions probabilistes et stochastiques de l'algèbre que nous avons défini, pour permettre des études de performance. Nous en définissons une version temporelle permettant de considérer le temps dans les modèles. Mais l'absence d'outils d'analyse des propriétés sur des modèles spécifiés en une algèbre issue du π-calcul est un obstacle majeur à notre travail. La définition de règles de traduction en langage PRISM, nous permet de traduire nos modèles, en modèles de bas niveau supports du model checking, à savoir des chaînes de Markov à temps discret, à temps continu, des automates temporisés, ou des automates temporisés probabilistes. Nous avons choisi l'outil PRISM car, à notre connaissance, dans sa dernière version, il est le seul outil à supporter les formalismes de bas niveau que nous venons de citer, et ainsi il permet de réaliser des études de performabilité complètes. Cette façon de procéder nous permet de pallier à l'absence d'outils d'analyse pour nos modèles. Par la suite, nous appliquons ces concepts théoriques aux réseaux de capteurs sans fil mobiles. / We are interested in analyzing the performability requirements of mobile communication systems by using model checking techniques. We model these systems using a high-level formalism derived from the π-calculus, for considering stochastic, timed, deterministic or indeterministic behaviors. However, in the π-calculus, the basic communication primitive of systems is the synchronous point-to-point communication. However, mobile systems that use wireless networks, mostly communicate by local broadcast. Therefore, we first define the broadcast communication into the π-calculus, to better model the systems we study. We propose to use probabilistic and stochastic versions of the algebra we have defined to allow performance studies. We define a temporal version to consider time in the models. But the lack of tools for analyzing properties of models specified with π-calculus is a major obstacle to our work and its objectives. The definition of translation rules into the PRISM language allows us to translate our models in low-level models which can support model checking, namely discrete time, or continuous time Markov chains, timed automata, or probabilistic timed automata. We chose the PRISM model checker because, in our best knowledge, in its latest version, it is the only tool that supports the low-level formalisms that we have previously cited, and thus, makes it possible to realize complete performability studies. This approach allows us to overcome the lack of model checkers for our models. Subsequently, we apply these theoretical concepts to analyse performability of mobile wireless sensor networks.

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)