<p>Stress responsive genes play a key role in shaping the manner in which plants process and respond to environmental stress. Their gene products are linked to DNA transcription and its consequent translation into a response product. However, whilst these genes play a significant role in manufacturing responses to stressful stimuli, transcription factors coordinate access to these genes, specifically by accessing a gene&rsquo / s promoter region which houses transcription factor binding sites. Here transcriptional elements play a key role in mediating responses to environmental stress where each transcription factor binding site may constitute a potential response to a stress signal. Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism, can be used to identify the mechanism of how transcription factors shape a plant&rsquo / s survival in a stressful environment. Whilst there are numerous plant stress research groups, globally there is a shortage of publicly available stress responsive gene databases. In addition a number of previous databases such as the Generation Challenge Programme&rsquo / s comparative plant stressresponsive gene catalogue, Stresslink and DRASTIC have become defunct whilst others have stagnated. There is currently a single Arabidopsis thaliana stress response database called STIFDB which was launched in 2008 and only covers abiotic stresses as handled by major abiotic stress responsive transcription factor families. Its data was sourced from microarray expression databases, contains numerous omissions as well as numerous erroneous entries and has not been updated since its inception.The Dragon Arabidopsis Stress Transcription Factor database (DASTF) was developed in response to the current lack of stress response gene resources. A total of 2333 entries were downloaded from SWISSPROT, manually curated and imported into DASTF. The entries represent 424 transcription factor families. Each entry has a corresponding SWISSPROT, ENTREZ GENBANK and TAIR accession number. The 5&rsquo / untranslated regions (UTR) of 417 families were scanned against TRANSFAC&rsquo / s binding site catalogue to identify binding sites. The relational database consists of two tables, namely a transcription factor table and a transcription factor family table called DASTF_TF and TF_Family respectively. Using a two-tier client-server architecture, a webserver was built with PHP, APACHE and MYSQL and the data was loaded into these tables with a PYTHON script. The DASTF database contains 60 entries which correspond to biotic stress and 167 correspond to abiotic stress while 2106 respond to biotic and/or abiotic stress. Users can search the database using text, family, chromosome and stress type search options. Online tools have been integrated into the DASTF&nbsp / database, such as HMMER, CLUSTALW, BLAST and HYDROCALCULATOR. User&rsquo / s can upload sequences to identify which transcription factor family their sequences belong to by using HMMER. The website can be accessed at http://apps.sanbi.ac.za/dastf/ and two updates per year are envisaged.</p>

<p>Stress responsive genes play a key role in shaping the manner in which plants process and respond to environmental stress. Their gene products are linked to DNA transcription and its consequent translation into a response product. However, whilst these genes play a significant role in manufacturing responses to stressful stimuli, transcription factors coordinate access to these genes, specifically by accessing a gene&rsquo / s promoter region which houses transcription factor binding sites. Here transcriptional elements play a key role in mediating responses to environmental stress where each transcription factor binding site may constitute a potential response to a stress signal. Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism, can be used to identify the mechanism of how transcription factors shape a plant&rsquo / s survival in a stressful environment. Whilst there are numerous plant stress research groups, globally there is a shortage of publicly available stress responsive gene databases. In addition a number of previous databases such as the Generation Challenge Programme&rsquo / s comparative plant stressresponsive gene catalogue, Stresslink and DRASTIC have become defunct whilst others have stagnated. There is currently a single Arabidopsis thaliana stress response database called STIFDB which was launched in 2008 and only covers abiotic stresses as handled by major abiotic stress responsive transcription factor families. Its data was sourced from microarray expression databases, contains numerous omissions as well as numerous erroneous entries and has not been updated since its inception.The Dragon Arabidopsis Stress Transcription Factor database (DASTF) was developed in response to the current lack of stress response gene resources. A total of 2333 entries were downloaded from SWISSPROT, manually curated and imported into DASTF. The entries represent 424 transcription factor families. Each entry has a corresponding SWISSPROT, ENTREZ GENBANK and TAIR accession number. The 5&rsquo / untranslated regions (UTR) of 417 families were scanned against TRANSFAC&rsquo / s binding site catalogue to identify binding sites. The relational database consists of two tables, namely a transcription factor table and a transcription factor family table called DASTF_TF and TF_Family respectively. Using a two-tier client-server architecture, a webserver was built with PHP, APACHE and MYSQL and the data was loaded into these tables with a PYTHON script. The DASTF database contains 60 entries which correspond to biotic stress and 167 correspond to abiotic stress while 2106 respond to biotic and/or abiotic stress. Users can search the database using text, family, chromosome and stress type search options. Online tools have been integrated into the DASTF&nbsp / database, such as HMMER, CLUSTALW, BLAST and HYDROCALCULATOR. User&rsquo / s can upload sequences to identify which transcription factor family their sequences belong to by using HMMER. The website can be accessed at http://apps.sanbi.ac.za/dastf/ and two updates per year are envisaged.</p>

Tekniska innovationer förknippas alltmer med modernt, utvecklade IT-komponenter i dagens samhällsutveckling. Detta framträder framförallt inom fordonsindustrin där självkörande/automatiserade fordon tagit ett rejält språng på den globala fordonsmarknaden. Automatiserade fordon anses av många som framtidens teknik inom områden som framförallt berör kollektivtrafik och varutransporter, men visionen om en helt automatiserad trafik lämnas inte oberörd. Men då ny, främmande teknologi även kan ses som avskräckande för gemene man - vad krävs då för att ändra på detta synsätt? Hur kan det säkerställas att tekniska innovationer såsom automatiserade fordon accepteras av allmänheten och används i praktiken? Dessa är frågor som legat till grund för föreliggande rapport som syftat till att presentera en studie som undersöker vilka faktorer som har en inverkan på användningen av automatiserade fordon. Detta har genomförts genom en omfattande litteratursökning av tidigare och aktuell forskning inom ämnet, samt intervjuer och enkätundersökningar för att ta del av synpunkter och erfarenheter från befintliga användare av automatiserad teknologi. Forskningen har resulterat i en kunskapsprodukt som utgörs av en tabell innehållandes ovan nämnda faktorer med en kort beskrivning, typ av faktor, samt en motivering till varför de bedömts till att ha en inverkan på användningen av automatiserade fordon. Tabellen har därtill kompletterats av en relationsmodell som beskriver hur faktorer samverkar och är beroende av varandra. Resultatet ska med förhoppningar kunna användas som stöd till framtida studier och forskningsprojekt, samt ge inspiration till företag och organisationer som bedriver verksamhet med koppling till automatiserade fordon och dess användning. / Technological innovations are increasingly associated with modern, developed IT-capabilities in today’s societal evolution. This is seen primarily in the automobile industry where self-driving/automated vehicles has taken a great leap on the global automobile market. Automated vehicles are considered by many to be the technology of the future which mainly involves public transport and transport of goods, but the vision of a completely automated traffic is not left untouched. But because new, foreign technology also can be seen as detrimental to people - what is then required to change this approach? How can it be ensured that technical innovations such as automated vehicles are accepted by the public and used in practice? These are issues that gave rise to the following report with a purpose to present a study that investigates which factors that has an impact on the use of automated vehicles. This has been accomplished through an extensive literature search of previous and current research of the topic, along with interviews and surveys to acquire personal opinions and experiences from existing users of automated technology. The research has eventuated in a knowledge product represented by a table of above mentioned factors including a brief description, type of factor, and a justification to as why they have been assessed as having an impact on the use of automated vehicles. Furthermore, the table has been supplemented with a relational model that describes how factors interact and depend on each other. Hopefully, the result can be used as support for future studies and research projects, as well as inspire companies and organizations engaged in automated vehicles and their use.

Par rapport aux exigences de plus en plus importantes relatives au Maintien en Condition Opérationnelle d'un système industriel, le processus de maintenance joue un rôle fondamental pour l'amélioration de la disponibilité, de la productivité, etc. Pour essayer de contrôler au mieux ces performances, les responsables de maintenance doivent donc être capables de choisir les stratégies de maintenance et les ressources à mettre en oeuvre les plus adaptées aux besoins. Dans un objectif d'aide à la prise de décisions en maintenance, les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire ont pour objet de proposer une méthodologie pour l'élaboration d'un modèle support permettant par simulation d'évaluer les différentes stratégies. La valeur ajoutée de la méthodologie réside dans l'unification, à base de modèles relationnels probabilistes (PRM), des différents types de connaissance nécessaires à la construction de ce modèle d'évaluation. Ce dernier est ainsi construit à partir de motifs génériques et modulables représentatifs des variables décisionnels du système industriel (système principal) et de son système de maintenance. Ces motifs, par instanciation, facilitent la construction des modèles d'applications spécifiques. Cette méthodologie, issue du projet ANR SKOOB, est testée sur le cas applicatif de la maintenance d'un système de production de ferment. / Nowadays, the importance of the maintenance function has increased, due to the requirements on the maintain in operational conditions phase (MCO) of the system-of-interest (SI). As well as for the relevant role of maintenance in improving availability, performance efficiency, total plant availability, etc. To control performances, maintenance managers should be able to make some choices about the maintenance strategies and the resources that can fulfil the requirements. Within this context, we propose a methodology to formalize a model allowing to perform simulation to assess maintenance strategies. The scientific contribution of our work is that this approach unify by using a probabilistic relational model (PRM), different kind of knowledge needed to assess maintenance strategies. Knowledge is presented as generic and modular patterns based on PRM. These patterns integrate relevant decisional variables of the system of interest and of its maintenance system. This approach eases the modeling phase for a specific application. This methodology is one of the results of the project ANR SKOOB. This approach was tested on an industrial case for the maintenance of a harvest production process

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess digital geo-referenced information and standards for exchanging such information, especially the South African National Exchange Standard (NES). The process of setting up a standard is exacting. On the one hand, the process demands a thorough scrutiny and analysis of the objects to be standardised and of all related concepts. This is a prerequisite for ensuring that there is unanimity about their meaning and inter-relationships. On the other hand, the process requires that the standard itself be enunciated as succinctly, comprehensibly and precisely as possible. This dissertation addresses both these facets of the standards process in the context of standards for exchanging digital geo-referenced information. The dissertation begins with an analysis of geo-referenced information in general, including digital geo-referenced information. In chapters 2 and 3, the various aspects of such information are scrutinised and evaluated in more detail. The examination of concepts is backed up by a comprehensive Glossary of terms in the domain under discussion. Chapter 4 examines the nature of standards. It also proposes a novel way to approach a standard for the exchange of digital geo-referenced information: namely, that it can be viewed as a language and can accordingly be specified by a grammar. To illustrate the proposal, NES is fully specified, using the Extended Backus-Naur Form notation, in an Appendix. Apart from the advantages of being a succinct and precise formal specification, the approach also lends itself to deploying standard tools such as Lex and yacc for conformance testing and for developing interfaces to NES, as illustrated in a second appendix. As a final theme of the dissertation, an evaluation of such standards is provided. Other standards that have been proposed elsewhere for purposes similar to that of NES are surveyed in chapter 5. In chapter 6, features of NES are highlighted, including the fact that it takes a relational approach. Chapter 7 concludes the dissertation, summarising the work to date, and looking ahead to future work. AFRIKAANS : Die doel van hierdie verhandling is om versyferde geo-verwysde inligting en standaarde vir die uitruil van sulke inligting te ondersoek, met spesifieke verwysing na die Suid- Afrikaanse Nasionale Uitruilstandaard (NES). Die proses om ’n standaard op te stel is veeleisend. Aan die een kant vereis die proses ’n volledige bestudering en ontleding van die objekte wat gestandaardiseer gaan word, asook van al die verwante konsepte. Hierdie is ’n voorvereiste om te verseker dat daar oor hul betekenisse en onderlinge verwantskappe eenstemmigheid bestaan. Aan die ander kant vereis die proses dat die standaard so kernagtig, volledig en presies moontlik gestel moet word. Hierdie verhandeling spreek beide hierdie fasette van die standaardiseringsproses aan, en wel in die konteks van standaarde vir die uitruil van versyferde geo-verwysde inligting. Dié verhandling begin met ’n oorhoofse analise van geo-verwysde inligting, insluitend versyferde geo-verwysde inligting. In hoofstukke 2 en 3 word verskeie aspekte van dié inligting in meer detail ondersoek en geëvalueer. Hierdie ondersoek van konsepte word deur ’n omvattende woordelys van terme in die veld onder bespreking gesteun. Hoofstuk 4 ondersoek die aard van standaarde. Dit stel ook ’n nuwe manier voor om ’n standaard vir die uitruil van versyferde geo-verwysde inligting te benader, naamlik dat dit as ’n taal beskou kan word, en dat dit gevolglik deur middel van ’n grammatika gespesifiseer kan word. Om die voorstel te illustreer, word NES volledig in ’n aanhangsel deur middel van die Uitgebreide Backus-Naur Vorm notasie gespesifiseer. Afgesien van die voordeel van ’n kernagtige en presiese formele spesifikasie, ondersteun die benadering ook standaardgereedskap soos Lex en yacc wat vir konformeringstoetsing en vir NES koppelvlakke gebruik kan word, soos in ’n tweede aanhangsel illustreer word. As ’n finale tema van die verhandeling word ’n evaluasie van tersaaklike standaarde voorsien. Standaarde wat elders vir soortgelyke doeleindes aan dié van NES voorgestel is, word oorsigtelik in hoofstuk 5 beskou. In hoofstuk 6 word kenmerkende eienskappe van NES uitgelig, insluitend die feit dat dit op ’n relasionele benadering gebaseer is. Hoofstuk 7 sluit die verhandeling af met ’n opsomming van werk tot op datum en ’n blik op toekomstige werk. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 1993. / Computer Science / unrestricted

No description available.

Since the mid 1990s, the momentum behind Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has increased. CSR has become an important issue at political, academic and business level. Already since the beginning of the last decade, commentators have suggested that CSR seems to differ between European countries and that said differences appear to be shaped by the country context. Nevertheless, in general, so far, only few empirical cross-country studies have been conducted. In addition, said studies focused mainly on the comparison between Europe as a region and the US. The latter are biased by the selection of only few specific European countries, which are regarded as a proxy for Europe as a whole. Hence, said studies deliver partially contradictory results, since they do not consider that CRS is supposed to be Non-Pan-European. Moreover, cross-country studies of international character, going beyond that regional comparison, have been rather superficial in view of CSR issues to be investigated. And finally, only recently, cross-country research in CSR has started to establish a systematic link between CSR patterns and the country specific institutional context. Also in view of the latter, the focus has been set on the comparison between countries of Anglo American/Saxon tradition and Europe, considering again some specific European countries as a proxy for the region as a whole. <p>Given that lack in the literature, the following explicit calls for empirical cross-country research of CSR in Europe have been formulated: First, to explore differences in view of CSR; and second, to find out if country specific institutional mechanisms are influential in shaping said differences. <p><p>Hence, the dissertation aims at filling this gap and to answer said calls for research by presenting a cross-country research involving two European countries, Germany and Spain. The research aims at exploring differences in view of a variety of CSR issues and at finding out if the national institutional contexts are influential in shaping said differences. <p><p>The dissertation consists of five main parts. In part one, the introductory part, the following is pointed out: motivation, main theoretical frameworks of CSR and main CSR issues in CSR literature. Moreover, a detailed overview on the research design of the three papers, which form part two, three and four, is provided. <p><p>In part two, which is composed of one paper, differences in view of CSR concepts and CSR drivers (analytical framework) between Germany and Spain are explored. The methodology applied was a questionnaire-based postal survey among the 500 largest companies in both, Germany and Spain. <p>The results of the study suggest important differences between the two countries over the analytical framework. In comparison to Spanish companies, the German ones seem to be more attached to the "sustainability" concept of CSR, whereas the Spanish companies favour to a major extent the CSR concept, formulated by the EC and the "Triple Bottom Line" concept. In view of CSR drivers, the results imply that German corporations are to a major extent than their Spanish counterparts driven by secondary stakeholders, whereas corporations in both countries seem to be equally pressured by primary stakeholders to become engaged in CSR. In addition, the findings suggest that CSR in Spain seems to be more "voluntary", whereas, in Germany, it seems to be more "regulated". The analysis of the results with regard to "expectations on positive internal" and "positive external effects" as drivers to CSR suggests a "more competitive advantage centred" approach to CSR among Spanish companies than among German ones, where the corresponding approach is "less competitive advantage centred". And finally, the findungs further suggest, that the country context seems to be influential in shaping most of said differences. <p><p>Part three, which consists of one paper, deals with CSR reporting, which is assumed to deliver insights into the institutionalization of the leading reporting guidelines in CSR, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, CSR agendas and the communicated rationale behind CSR. The methodology applied was quantitative contents analysis of CSR reports. As sample served companies of the utility industry, listed in the main stock indexes in Germany and Spain. <p>The findings of the study suggest that the institutionalisation of the GRI indicators is low in the corporations investigated in both countries. But, it is especially low in German firms. With regard to CSR agendas, the focus of corporate activities appears to lie among German corporations on those attached to environmental responsibilities, whereas Spanish corporations appear to have in this regard a mixed approach, related to their economic, environmental and social responsibilities. But, in contrast to their German counterparts the economic responsibilities are more emphasized. With regard to the communicated rationale behind CSR, German corporations seem to be driven by normative reasons, the Spanish to a major extent by instrumental ones. And finally, the findings imply that the country context seems to be influential in shaping most of said differences. <p><p>In part four, which contains one paper, differences in the understanding of CG in view of its links to CSR are explored. Currently, scholars discuss the link between CG and CSR and their relational models in the theoretical literature. Hence, to explore the understanding of CG and its links to CSR ,an analytical framework was elaborated, based upon said current theoretical debate. The methodology applied was qualitative contents analysis, conducted in the framework of a web site research. The sample consisted of corporations listed in the main stock indexes in both countries. <p>The findings suggest differences between the two countries with regard to the understanding of CG and its links to CSR and the corresponding relational models. In Spain the understanding of CG seems to be to a major extent linked to the "narrow view" of CG, implied by a major focus on shareholders only in view of corporate responsibilities. In contrast, among German corporations the view appears to be "broad", including other stakeholders than exclusively shareholders in this regard. In addition, the results suggest, that the relational model favoured by German corporations consists of CSR being considered as a part of CG, whereas the Spanish companies seem to relate CG to CSR or at least consider both, CG and CSR, as complementary constituents. And finally, the findings suggest that most of the exposed differences seem to be shaped by mechanisms of the traditional national CG systems. <p><p>In the final main part, part five, the overall conclusions of the dissertation have been formulated. These can be summarized as follows. From an overall perspective the three essays contribute to fill the lack in the literature as already pointed out. They constitute an original answer to the calls for research expressed in this regard. Moreover, they contribute to increase the knowledge on differences in CSR between European countries. And furthermore, through paying attention to country specific institutional mechanisms, they enhance the understanding of said differences induced by the country context or country specificity of CSR. In addition, the three essays have raised important implications for managerial practice, public policies, international and (supra) national institutions and for further research. In view of the implications for managerial practice, the findings suggest to sensitize practitioners with regard to the country specificity of CSR and to undertake corresponding measures in e.g. corporate communication, product and market strategies, employer marketing and organizational and management development terms. With regard to the implications for public policies, international and (supra) national organizations, those with regulatory power should increasingly bear in mind to handle more carefully the outsourcing of said power to private institutions, including NGOs, which play an important role in the "oluntary" regulation of CSR. In addition, those institutions, without regulatory power, which issue e.g. voluntary guidelines, should consider the country specificity of CSR and the "one size does not fit all" problem. Concerning the implications of the findings for further research these are the following: 1) to expand the CSR issues to be investigated in cross-country studies; 2) to intensify cross-country research in Europe in view of the number of countries involved; 3) to consider longitudinal approaches in cross-country research in Europe; 4) to expand said research (1-3) also to SMEs; 5) to increase the scope of institutional mechanisms to be investigated; and 6) to intensify cross-country linguistics research in view of CG and CSR. And finally, the findings of the three essays have delivered substantial contributions to enliven the debate, at academic and practitioner level, in view of the international management of CSR in terms of complexity vs. simplicity. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished