This research aims to understand the role images currently play within the design process, in order to develop a classification of image types and reference keywords to construct an electronic image database for professional use in product design. Images play an important role in the design process, both in defining the context for designs and in informing the creation of individual design. They are also used to communicate with clients, to understand consumers, to assist in expressing the themes of the project, to understand the related environments, or to search for inspiration or functional solutions. Designers usually have their own collections of images, however for each project they still spend a significant amount of time searching images, either looking within their own collection or searching for new images. This study is based on the assumption that there is a structure that can show the relationship between the image itself and the information it conveys and can be used to develop the database. A product-image database will enable designers to consult images more easily and this will also facilitate communication of visual ideas among designers or between designers and their clients, thus augmenting its potential value in the professional design process. Also, the value of an image may be enhanced by applying its linguistic associations through descriptions and keywords which identify and interpret its content. Through a series of interviews, workshops, and understanding relevant issues, such as design method, linguistic theory, perception psychology and so on, a prototype database system was developed. It was developed based on three information divisions: SPECIFICATION, CHARACTERISTIC, and EMOTION. The three divisions construct a model of the information which an image conveys. The database prototype was tested and evaluated by groups of students and professional designers. The results showed that users understand the concept and working of the database and appreciated its value. They also indicated that the CHARACTERISTIC division was most valuable as it allows users to record images through their recollection of feelings.

In the post-war period, Italy has been plagued by different forms of organised crime (such as the Sicilian Mafia, the Neapolitan Camorra, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and the Pugliese Sacra Corona Unita) which have managed in their individual ways to infiltrate both the State (in the form of political parties and local administrations) and society (businesses, cultural and voluntary organisations). In Campania, until 1991, the relationship between the Camorra and the local political elite (based on the exchange of votes for state contracts and protection) was tacitly accepted by the population and could not be studied by political scientists due to the lack of reliable source material. In 1991, a law was introduced which gave generous remission of sentences to criminals who became state-witness. Many members of the Camorra revealed important aspects of criminal, economic and political activities in Campania. This new material permitted a reexamination of the Camorra. This thesis on the Camorra hopes to fill a gap in the study of the relationship between politics and criminal organisations which so far has concentrated on the Sicilian Mafia. Part One is a general introduction and presents the theoretical model and methods adopted. The documentation available allowed us to adopt an agency-structure approach derived from Giddens's structuration theory (1984). This was complemented by Easton's systems analysis (1965) to understand the wider, macro-environment. We elaborated an 'interaction model' to analyse the changing nature of the Camorra's activities: from a simple social-criminal practice in the 1930s to a dynamic and secret cartel enacting a political-criminal practice in the 1980s. To test this model we applied it to case-studies of criminals using original judicial documents. In Part Two we look at the possible motives of people who join the Camorra. We analysed the agent's internal and external structure in both decades and concluded that the macro-environment as an influencing factor had changed more than the individual-agent. Part Three examines the lives of camorristi in the 1950s and 1980s in order to determine how far their criminal practice has been transformed. Part Four investigates the wider picture of system-interaction between the Camorra's social subsystem and the political system. Focussing on the relationship between camorristi and the political elite in the 1950s and 1980s we highlight the radical changes that occurred. This thesis presents a theoretical discussion of how to study organised crime and social behaviour in general and at the same time a detailed empirical study, in particular of the political role of a criminal organisation in a concrete historical situation, that of Naples over the last forty years.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-89). Also available in print.

Please read the abstract (Summary) in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Mathematics Education))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

No description available.

<p>In the coming years, organic food waste will be collected in the region of Gästrikland, Sweden. The collection is planned to cover the entire region by the end of year 2007. To start with, smaller amounts are being collected and transported to a central composting plant in Sala. However, a central composting plant in the region of Gästrikland is projected.</p><p>The objective of this thesis is to evaluate a number of possible methods for composting of organic food wastes regarding their environmental impacts and localization.</p><p>There are four scenarios for future composting of organic waste that have been evaluated. There are two that consist of membrane composting, either in Sala or in the region of Gästrikland. The other two scenarios consist of tunnel composting in the region of Gästrikland with two possible placements.</p><p>The result from the systems analysis shows a lower environmental impact when using tunnel composting, compared to membrane composting. As the tunnel compost uses technologies for treating the compost gas, the amount of substances that can contribute to acidification and eutrophication is considerably lowered. However, the use of electricity is higher since the automatic process demands a greater electricity input. At a membrane composting plant, vehicles are being used to move compost material. The combustion of diesel oil gives rise to gases that increase the global warming. According to future legislations, tunnel composting gives an easier control of the emissions and optimization of the compost process.</p> / <p>Under de kommande åren kommer organiskt avfall samlas in från Gästrikeregionen för att komposteras. Insamlingen beräknas täcka hela regionen vid årsskiftet 2007/2008. Till en början samlas mindre mängder in och transporteras till en komposterings-anläggning i Sala. I framtiden planeras dock en komposteringsanläggning i Gästrikeregionen.</p><p>Syftet med examensarbetet var att utvärdera ett antal tänkbara komposterings-anläggningar för matavfallet med avseende på deras miljöpåverkan, samt deras lokalisering.</p><p>Fyra framtidsscenarier för kompostering av det organiska avfallet har utvärderats. Två innefattar membrankompostering, antingen i Sala eller i regionen. De följande två scenarierna innebär tunnelkompostering i Gästrikeregionen, vid Forsbacka avfallsdeponi eller vid ett område söder om Forsbacka.</p><p>Resultaten från systemanalysen påvisar en lägre miljöpåverkan från en tunnelkompost än från en membrankompost. På grund av en högre rening av kompostgasen förhindras övergödande och försurande ämnen att släppas ut. Tunnelkompostering innebär dock en högre elförbrukning jämfört med membrankompostering eftersom stora delar av anläggningen är automatiserad. Membrankompostering förbrukar däremot mer diesel än tunnelkompostering vid förflyttning av kompostmaterialet, vilket ger högre utsläpp av framförallt klimatpåverkande gaser. Generellt kan sägas att tunnelkompostering innebär att anläggningens emissioner lättare kan kontrolleras. Dessutom kan styrningen av kompostprocessen lättare förändras i enlighet med framtida krav och bestämmelser.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to take a broad conceptual overview of the global energy system and investigate what the aims of sustainability might entail for such a system. The work presented uses a biophysical economic approach in that the dynamics of the global economy are investigated using the tool box of the physical sciences, including the laws of thermodynamics and the methods of energy analysis. Modern society currently uses approximately 500 exajoules (EJ = 10^18 J) of total primary energy supply (TPES) each year. This energy consumption has been increasing at roughly 2% per year for the past two hundred years. TPES is currently dominated by three non-renewable energy sources: coal, oil and gas which, together with energy from nuclear fission of uranium, make up around 85% of the energy market. Consumption of finite resources at a continuously growing rate is not sustainable in the long-term. A trend in policy direction is to seek a transition to renewable sources of energy. This thesis seeks to explore two questions: are the technical potentials of renewable energy sources enough to supply the current and/or projected demand for energy and what would be the effect on the physical resource economy of a transition to an energy supply system run entirely on renewable energy sources? The Global Energy Model using a Biophysical Approach (GEMBA) methodology developed here is compared and contrasted with other approaches that are used to study the global energy-economy system, including the standard neoclassical economic approach used in such models as MESSAGE and MARKAL. A number of meta-analyses have been conducted in support of the GEMBA model. These include: meta-analysis of historic energy production from all energy sources; meta-analysis of global energy resources for all energy sources; meta-analysis of energy-return-on-investment (EROI) for all energy sources. The GEMBA methodology uses a systems dynamic modelling approach utilising stocks and flows, feedback loops and time delays to capture the behaviour of the global energy-economy system. The system is decomposed into elements with simple behaviour that is known through energy analysis. The interaction of these elements is captured mathematically and run numerically via the systems dynamics software package, VenSim. Calibration of the model has been achieved using historic energy production data from 1800 to 2005. The core of the GEMBA methodology constitutes the description of a dynamic EROI function over the whole production cycle of an energy resource from initial development, through maturation to decline in production, in the case of non-renewable resources, or to the technical potential in the case of renewable resources. Using the GEMBA methodology, the global energy-economy system is identified as a self-regulating system. The self-regulating behaviour acts to constrain the amount of total primary energy supply that the system can produce under a renewable-only regime. A number of analyses are conducted to test the sensitivity of the system to such changes as: an increase of the technical potential of renewable resources; technological breakthroughs which would significantly increase the EROI of renewable resources; a decrease in the capital intensity of renewable resources and; an increase in the energy intensity of the economy, A statistical analysis reflecting the wide range of values of both the estimates of EROI and technical potentials of renewable energy sources has also been undertaken using a Monte Carlo approach. The results from the modelling suggest that not all levels of energy demand projected by the WEA can be supplied by an energy system running solely on renewable energy. The Monte Carlo analyses suggest that reduction in total energy yield over current (2010) levels might occur with a 20-30% possibility. The middle and high growth scenarios from the WEA are greater than 95% of all scenarios modelled, hence seem unlikely to be sustained by an energy system running solely on renewable energy. This finding has implications for the future direction of both engineering and technology research as well as for energy policy. These implications are discussed.

This paper describes an interactive computer program which simulates daily cell growth and differentiation in a single radial file of tree cells. The growth processes are controlled by 22 model parameters, half of which are constants, the remainder time-dependent. The program user specifies the constants and the form of the time variations desired. The program computes daily values for the time-dependent parameters, and applies these values to the calculation of cell diameters, cell division, cell wall thickness, and ring width for each day of the growing season. Output is in tabular and graphical form. The tabular listing consists of the cell diameter at each position in the radial file, and for the xylem it also prints cell wall thickness and a relative density for each cell. The graphical output plots cell diameter, wall thickness, and relative density vs. file position. The program was designed primarily as an instructional tool and has been used for this purpose with good results. Because of its flexibility it has potential for research, and some possibilities for such use are discussed.

This dissertation is about influence which is defined as the ability to move ideas forward within, and in some cases across, organizations. More specifically it is about an extraordinary organization called the Club of Rome (COR), who became advocates of the idea of greater use of systems analysis in the development of policy. The systems approach to policy required rational, holistic and long-range thinking. It was an approach that attracted the attention of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Commonality of interests and concerns united the disparate members of the COR and allowed that organization to develop an influential presence within Canada during Trudeau's time in office from 1968 to 1984. <br /><br /> The story of the COR in Canada is extended beyond the end of the Trudeau era to explain how the key elements that had allowed the organization and its Canadian Association (CACOR) to develop an influential presence quickly dissipated in the post-1984 era. The key reasons for decline were time and circumstance as the COR/CACOR membership aged, contacts were lost, and there was a political paradigm shift that was antithetical to COR/CACOR ideas. The broader circumstances that led to the rise and fall of the COR/CACOR's influential presence in Canada from 1968 to circa 1988 also provides a fascinating opportunity to assess political and intellectual tumult and change. <br /><br /> Specific organizations where the COR/CACOR's influential presence was felt included: the Ministry of State for Science and Technology, the International Development Research Centre, the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the Foundation for International Training, and the University of Guelph

A presente pesquisa, tipo descritivo, objetivou descrever o sistema de utilização de medicamentos em dois hospitais situados na cidade de Recife-PE. Com essa finalidade, buscou-se caracterizar a estrutura do sistema de medicação, descrever o processo de medicação e analisar os resultados sob a perspectiva do paciente e dos profissionais de enfermagem sobre o sistema. Para tanto, a população foi composta por 14 médicos, 14 enfermeiros, 22 farmacêuticos, 30 auxiliares de farmácia, 50 auxiliares de enfermagem, 63 pacientes e 372 folhas de prescrição de medicamentos e evolução de enfermagem. As técnicas utilizadas para coleta de dados foram a observação não participante e a entrevista, por meio de roteiros estruturados. Os resultados revelaram que, na estrutura, os ambientes do preparo de medicamentos se encontraram em discordância com a legislação vigente; os recursos materiais para o preparo e administração dos medicamentos precisam ser revisados e ajustados de modo a suprirem as necessidades do serviço e oferecerem mais segurança aos pacientes; os recursos humanos da farmácia e da enfermagem precisam ser dimensionados. Foi observado que os recursos humanos de nível médio não receberam treinamento e nem foram reciclados, nos últimos cinco anos, sobre o tema medicamentos. Na análise do processo foi observado o conteúdo das prescrições e constatou-se que nelas faltavam informações importantes sobre as especificações dos medicamentos. Quanto ao processo de preparo e administração dos medicamentos revelaram pontos críticos nos dois hospitais. Apesar do sistema ter apresentado esses aspectos que comprometem a qualidade da assistência, na opinião de 70% dos pacientes no Hospital 1 e 52,4% do Hospital 2, o sistema foi considerado bom e na opinião de 44% dos profissionais de enfermagem do Hospital 1 e 53,3% do Hospital 2 o consideraram regular. Diante dos resultados apresentados para se atingir a qualidade no sistema de medicação, mudanças são necessárias em termos da política dos recursos humanos e do incremento da educação continuada. / The present descriptive research had the goal of describing the medication –use utilization system in two teaching hospitals located in the city of Recife – State of Pernambuco. With this aim, it was sought to characterize the structure of the medication system, describe the medication process, and analyze the results under the perspective of both patient and nursing professionals about the system. In order to do this, the population was composed of 14 doctors, 14 nurses, 22 pharmacists, 30 pharmacy auxiliaries, 50 nursing auxiliaries, 63 patients, and 372 medication prescription and nursing evolution sheets. The techniques used for data collection were non-participating observation and interview by means of structured questionnaires. The results showed that, within the structure, the environments for medication preparation are in disagreement with current legislation; material resources for the preparation and administration of medication must be reviewed and adjusted in a way to meet the needs of this service and offer greater safety to patients; human resources of both pharmacy and nursing must be better dimensioned. It was observed that the medium level human resources did not receive training and have not been recycled in the last five years regarding the theme of medications. In the analysis of the medication process, in regards to the content of the prescription, it was observed that the prescriptions lacked important information about the specifications of the medications. In regards to the process of preparation and administration of medications, critical points were revealed in both hospitals. Among these, special attention is drawn to the deficiency in washing hands and infusion lines during the administration of more than one medication. Despite the system having presented such aspects that compromise the quality of assistance, in the opinion of 70% of patients in Hospital 1 and 52.4% of patients in Hospital 2 the system was considered to be good, and 44% of the nursing professions of Hospital 1 and 53.3% of Hospital 2 considered the system medium. In view of the presented results, in order to achieve the quality in the medication system, there is a need for changes in terms of policy of human resources, and an increase of continuing education