Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / In this study I investigate what performance as a medium can contribute to our understanding of shame's affect. Given the difficulty of defining and concretising affect according to set parameters and outcomes, critical and dynamic debates about its nature continue. Most recently, New Affect theorists such as Brian Massumi have explored the role of the body in affective meaning-making. Our current social context requires a critical engagement with the forms of affect in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the intangible structures of power and oppression, as well as of desire, interest and pleasure. My aim is to determine the ways in which performance – as a medium through which to navigate an often difficult, evasive and deeply subjective experience – can facilitate a knowledge of how bodies experience, relate to and process shame.

I interconnect artist's body with objects of daily use in my work. I'm looking for a new contact and connection where is possibility of contact with disinterested spectator. The result is a series of photo performances

-researching the issue of documentation in performance art -realization of a performance in nature -mediating the experience of nature

Si la relation entre anxiété et performance a fait l’objet de nombreuses études en psychologie du sport, la diversité des résultats obtenus rend difficile de conclure quant à la nature précise de cette relation, notamment au vu de la prise en compte de l’existence des différentes formes d’anxiété (anxiété cognitive, anxiété somatique, confiance en soi) ainsi que de la diversité des méthodes employées pour leur mesure. Ce travail de recherche, réalisé auprès d’un échantillon de sportifs marocains composé de footballeurs et de coureurs de demi-fond court (800 et 1500 mètres), propose par conséquent d’approfondir les connaissances relatives à la relation entre l’anxiété situationnelle précompétitive (ASP) et la performance sportive tout en tenant compte, dans plusieurs études spécifiques, des principales limitations identifiées et des recommandations formulées dans la littérature scientifique.Une étude préliminaire permettra en premier lieu d’apprécier les qualités psychométriques des différentes mesures de l’anxiété ainsi que des états affectifs positifs, de tester l’existence de liens entre ces mesures, et de déterminer si elles peuvent être liées à certaines caractéristiques sportives. Une seconde étude proposera de déterminer si les facteurs prédicteurs de l’ASP peuvent être considérés comme stables ou au contraire s’ils varient en fonction du contexte de réalisation de la performance, distinguant ici les bonnes performances des contre-performances. Une troisième étude visant identifier les principaux prédicteurs de la performance sportive tentera de déterminer le poids respectif des caractéristiques dispositionnelles, des expériences et performances antérieures ainsi que des états émotionnels tout en différenciant des indicateurs de performance objective et des indicateurs de performance subjective. Enfin, une quatrième étude proposera de tester l’efficacité d’un programme spécifique de préparation sur l’anxiété et les états affectifs positifs des sportifs ainsi que sur leurs performances.Les résultats, basés sur la prise en compte des mesures de l’ASP les plus valides, montrent que (1) les prédicteurs de l’ASP ne sont pas les mêmes lorsque le sportif se trouve en situation de bonne performance ou de mauvaise performance ; (2) l’ASP cognitive permet beaucoup mieux de prédire la performance sportive que les caractéristiques de personnalité ou les performances antérieures et (3) les programmes de préparation mentale de type VMBR semblent s’avérer efficace afin de réduire le niveau d’ASP des sportifs et améliorer leur performance subjective.Ces résultats, discutés au vu des connaissances scientifiques disponibles sur ce sujet et des limitations inhérentes aux méthodologies employées dans le cadre de cette recherche, permettront de proposer des recommandations quant à l’amélioration de la préparation psychologique des sportifs marocains. / If the relationship between anxiety and performance has been the subject of numerous studies in sports psychology, diversity of results makes it difficult to conclude as to the exact nature of this relationship, particularly in view of taking into account the existence different forms of anxiety (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, self-confidence) and the variety of methods employed to measure. This research, conducted among a sample of Moroccan athletes consisting of footballers and middle distance runners short (800 and 1500 meters), therefore proposes to deepen the knowledge about the relationship between precompetitive situational anxiety (ASP) and athletic performance while taking into account, in several specific studies, the main limitations identified and recommendations made in the scientific literature. A preliminary study will primarily assess the psychometric properties of the different measures of anxiety and positive affective states, to test the existence of links between these measures and determine whether they can be linked to certain sports characteristics. A second study will propose to determine whether ASP predictors factors can be considered stable or on the contrary they depend on the performance of implementation context, distinguished by the good performance of poor performance. A third study to identify key predictors of athletic performance will attempt to determine the respective weight of dispositional characteristics, experiences and past performances and emotional states while differentiating the objective performance indicators and subjective performance indicators. A fourth study will propose to test the effectiveness of a specific program of preparation on anxiety and positive emotional states as well as sports performance.The results, based on the consideration of the most valid ASP measures, show that (1) the predictors of ASP are not the same when the sport is experiencing good performance or poor performance; (2) cognitive ASP allows much better to predict athletic performance that characteristics of personality or past performance, and (3) VMBR type of mental preparation programs appear to be effective to reduce the level of ASP sports and improve their subjective performance.These results, discussed in light of the available scientific knowledge on this subject and the limitations inherent in the methodologies used in the context of this research will provide recommendations for the improvement of the psychological preparation of Moroccan athletes.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / Performance measurement of supply chain in the healthcare environment has presented with a number of challenges, and studies exist to confirm this. These problems include rising costs, excessive demands, shortage of supply, and escalating level of customer dissatisfaction are the true reflection of supply chain issues faced by the hospitals. This study aims to find out an effective solution to measure supply chain performance within a hospital in Cape Town. The relation among trust, SCM/IT integration, firm’s performance, and knowledge exchange were investigated. A mixed research method (both qualitative and quantitative) was conducted involving five managers and 80 employees from the hospital. A number of interviews and a close-ended questionnaire were used for data collection. Content analysis was used for qualitative data and the descriptive results were generated through SPSS V25. Hospital and healthcare environment have been used interchangeable in this study. The research findings showed that trust levels between the hospital and its suppliers has no direct impact on supplier integration, but that its influence is interceded by knowledge exchange. Knowledge exchange plays an important role in influencing supply chain performance in the hospital. IT integration and knowledge exchange have a positive impact on hospital–supplier logistical integration between the hospital and its suppliers. In addition, knowledge sharing in supply chain may subsequently build strong relationships among SCM partners and may automatically influence hospital performance. This study recommended that the hospital should develop an approach that facilitates the dynamics of the hospital in order to manage the buyer-supplier relationship. Further research can be done on factors that contribute to buyer/supplier trust development in the healthcare environment.

The primary objective of this research was to determine the sources of tension during assessment processes and what could be done to improve employee performance in the Tshwane West District Office of the Gauteng Department of Education. In order to achieve the stated objective of the research, a sequential, explanatory, mixed method was employed in this research. The findings of the research reflected the sources of tension during the assessment process as a result of the lack of training on the part of managers on how to manage tension during the process. Managers are overburdened with work and they cannot cope with the number of employees under their supervision. This negatively affects the manner in which they conduct the assessments. Work balance and a distribution of tasks would assist in this regard. In addition, employees perceive the process as unfair and biased. Therefore, they have developed a negative attitude toward the system. To address the above challenges, this research proposes that managers involved in the performance management process should undergo training to equip them with skills to manage tension during assessments. An employee wellness programme should be made available to assist employees who are stressed about strained relations between them and their managers. A human resource representative could also be invited to sit in during performance reviews as a way of ensuring fairness and objectivity. It is also critical for managers to ensure that they are approachable to their own subordinates so that they have the opportunity to raise their concerns. / Public Administration and Management / M. (Public Administration)

Cloud datacenters comprise hundreds or thousands of disparate application services, each having stringent performance and availability requirements, sharing a finite set of heterogeneous hardware and software resources. The implication of such complex environment is that the occurrence of performance problems, such as slow application response and unplanned downtimes, has become a norm rather than exception resulting in decreased revenue, damaged reputation, and huge human-effort in diagnosis. Though causes can be as varied as application issues (e.g. bugs), machine-level failures (e.g. faulty server), and operator errors (e.g. mis-configurations), recent studies have attributed capacity-related issues, such as resource shortage and contention, as the cause of most performance problems on the Internet today. As cloud datacenters become increasingly autonomous there is need for automated performance diagnosis systems that can adapt their operation to reflect the changing workload and topology in the infrastructure. In particular, such systems should be able to detect anomalous performance events, uncover manifestations of capacity bottlenecks, localize actual root-cause(s), and possibly suggest or actuate corrections. This thesis investigates approaches for diagnosing performance problems in cloud infrastructures. We present the outcome of an extensive survey of existing research contributions addressing performance diagnosis in diverse systems domains. We also present models and algorithms for detecting anomalies in real-time application performance and identification of anomalous datacenter resources based on operational metrics and spatial dependency across datacenter components. Empirical evaluations of our approaches shows how they can be used to improve end-user experience, service assurance and support root-cause analysis. / Cloud Control (C0590801)

Manufacturers have in recent years become more and more aware of the benefits of offering more comprehensive value propositions. As the economic climate changes, more manufacturers are trying to capture value further downstream in the value chain by providing services. The field of performance management has been extensively adopted in production and the benefits of performance measurement have been widely praised both in literature and in business. The literature on performance management has also extended into service management and how to manage service performance. But how can performance measurement and performance measurement systems be implemented when the line between products and services becomes more and more unclear? Over a twenty week period, the researchers have studied, analyzed, and observed the procedures at Scania CV’s maintenance development and delivery organization. The study was conducted on Scania’s premises in Södertälje, Sweden. Scania’s Preventative Maintenance Development group develops and sets the requirements for the preventative maintenance programs Scania offers to its customers. The group had a desire to track and measure what effects changes made in the maintenance program have on the customer’s life cycle profit. At Scania’s Preventative Maintenance Development group, there is a developed performance measurement system, MPI-model, consisting of maintenance performance indicators (MPIs). The current MPI-model, however, lacks practical applicability. The master thesis has aimed at investigating how the MPI-model could be implemented in the preventative maintenance development by researching what criteria are set in literature for performance measures, how existing resources can be employed, and how performance measurement systems can be used. Apart from conducting a case study, in order to investigate how performance measurement systems could be implemented, an extensive literature review was also conducted to provide the necessary theoretical knowledge. The result of the study was a proposed three-step model that clarifies the requirements for the implementation of a performance measurement system.

Provision of an understanding of the complexes and implications associated with building performance measurement in relation to supporting the organizational objectives by Tanzania facility managers. The study involved the use of questionnaire sent to both public and private organizations and literature reviews in Tanzania with the aim of developing the process associated with the assessment of building performance and the way to improve its operational processes. The study observed that BPM practices are affected by managers control over the buildings facilites because there are no specific procedures that guide the formation of BPM process due to lack of Government attention to this growing industry. The other major finding of the study is that managers concentrate mostly on the financial performance instead of the operational performance of the building, which was contrary to the expectation of this study.

In my PhD thesis I investigate the relationship between corporates' financial and environmental performances. The concept of quantitative environmental performance measures was introduced to enable to compare and analyse environmental impacts of different socio­economic units e.g. companies, countries, regions. In my dissertation, I use environmental performance measures to examine their effect on the financial performance of different companies. In the first chapter, I apply a meta­analysis to examine the results of the previous studies which investigate the impact of firms' environmental performance on their financial performance. The outcomes propose that it is important to account for the omitted variable bias such as unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that it takes time for the environmental regulation to materialize into the financial performance, too. In the subsequent two chapters I study Czech firms over 2004­2008. First I study the intertemporal effects of corporates' environmental performance on financial ...