L’âge est un paramètre du profil biologique des individus immatures que l’on peut estimer de manière suffisamment fiable et précise. Les méthodes utilisées ne respectent pas toutes des critères méthodologiques valides et sont donc relativement critiquables. Une analyse de 256 méthodes utilisées en anthropologie biologique a qualifié et quantifié les biais et limites de construction et d’application et propose une classification objective des méthodes mettant en évidence celles qui sont valides. Cette analyse a servi à élaborer le protocole d’une nouvelle méthode standardisée. Les surfaces de l’os iliaque, la cinquième vertèbre lombaire et la clavicule ont été reconstruites à partir de CT scans avec le logiciel AVIZO®. Des variables biométriques et non-biométriques ont été obtenues sur ces trois os. Des équations non-paramétriques de type Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) prédisant l’âge à partir des variables ont été calculées avec le logiciel statistique R®. Les variables iliaques, les hauteurs latérales vertébrales et la longueur maximale de la clavicule ont donné les meilleures prédictions de l’âge. Aucune différence significative entre les âges réels et estimés n'a été observée sur trois échantillons-test de Marseille, Toulouse et la collection ostéologique Luis Lopes. Les résultats sont meilleurs ou comparables à ceux d’autres méthodes. Des probabilités d’âge en fonction des indicateurs non-biométriques ont donné des résultats suffisamment fiables, mais pas assez précis pour être valides. Notre méthode d’estimation de l’âge a 95% de fiabilité et 90% de justesse. Elle est statistiquement valide et utilisable en contexte médico-légal et archéologique. / Age is one of the parameters of a juvenile biological profile that can be estimated with sufficient reliability and precision. Many juvenile age estimation methods do not follow valid methodological criteria. A critical analysis of 256 methods used in physical anthropology was done to qualify and quantify biases and limitations of method construction and application. An objective and practical classification of methods highlighting those respecting valid sampling protocols and statistical criteria was constructed. This analysis provided a protocol for a new standardised juvenile age estimation method. Surfaces of the iliac bone, fifth lumbar vertebra and clavicle were reconstructed from CT scans of individuals from Marseilles using the AVIZO® software. Biometric growth variables and non-biometric maturation indicators were taken on the three bones. Non-parametric Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) models were calculated with the R® software to predict age using the variables. The best models were obtained with variables of the ilium, left and right vertebral heights and maximal clavicular length. These models were validated on three samples from Marseilles, Toulouse and the Luis Lopes osteological collection. They were comparable or better than other age estimation methods. Posterior probabilities of age were calculated using maturation stages of four iliac epiphyses. Results were reliable, but precision was too low for validation. Our new juvenile age estimation method can predict age with 95% reliability and 90% accuracy. It is standardised, statistically valid, integrates changes in variability and is applicable in a forensic or bioarchaeological context.

Currently, South African editors do not have a prescribed set of professional editing standards. The absence of standards is cause for concern because it reflects the largely unregulated status of the South African editing industry. An important problem arising from the lack of standards is that there is no way in which the industry can determine the competence of its practitioners. In addition, the absence of standards also affects other areas of the industry, such as training, accreditation, regulation and professionalisation. As a consequence, editors struggle to obtain professional recognition for their work. Against this background, this study postulates that the development of standards for South African editors is possible and necessary. However, because the South African editing industry is highly diversified in terms of the various contexts in which editors may work, the development of standards needs to be based on the identification of shared or core tasks and skills that are essential for the everyday work of all editors, together with the identification of tasks and skills specific to certain sectors. This may lead to the development of a set of core standards for editors, supplemented by sector-specific standards. The focal point of this study is the first of these two aspects: the development of core standards for editors in South Africa. In order to develop core standards for South African editors, this study comprises a literature review and empirical investigation. The literature review analyses the status of the South African editing industry, and also contributes to the identification of a comprehensive list of tasks and skills involved in editing. The empirical investigation is based on a survey questionnaire (utilising the tasks and skills identified in the literature review) designed to collect data on which tasks and skills form an essential part of South African editors' work. The questionnaire was sent to a stratified sample of South African editors, reflecting the four sectors identified for the purposes of this study: editing for book publishing, editing for mass media, technical editing and academic editing. The data collected from the questionnaire was analysed utilising various statistical methods, in order to extrapolate core (or shared) tasks and skills among South African editors. These core tasks and skills were used to draft a document outlining core standards for South African editors, which was tested for accessibility and clarity by means of a semi-Delphi study. / M.A., Language Practice, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

Currently, South African editors do not have a prescribed set of professional editing standards. The absence of standards is cause for concern because it reflects the largely unregulated status of the South African editing industry. An important problem arising from the lack of standards is that there is no way in which the industry can determine the competence of its practitioners. In addition, the absence of standards also affects other areas of the industry, such as training, accreditation, regulation and professionalisation. As a consequence, editors struggle to obtain professional recognition for their work. Against this background, this study postulates that the development of standards for South African editors is possible and necessary. However, because the South African editing industry is highly diversified in terms of the various contexts in which editors may work, the development of standards needs to be based on the identification of shared or core tasks and skills that are essential for the everyday work of all editors, together with the identification of tasks and skills specific to certain sectors. This may lead to the development of a set of core standards for editors, supplemented by sector-specific standards. The focal point of this study is the first of these two aspects: the development of core standards for editors in South Africa. In order to develop core standards for South African editors, this study comprises a literature review and empirical investigation. The literature review analyses the status of the South African editing industry, and also contributes to the identification of a comprehensive list of tasks and skills involved in editing. The empirical investigation is based on a survey questionnaire (utilising the tasks and skills identified in the literature review) designed to collect data on which tasks and skills form an essential part of South African editors' work. The questionnaire was sent to a stratified sample of South African editors, reflecting the four sectors identified for the purposes of this study: editing for book publishing, editing for mass media, technical editing and academic editing. The data collected from the questionnaire was analysed utilising various statistical methods, in order to extrapolate core (or shared) tasks and skills among South African editors. These core tasks and skills were used to draft a document outlining core standards for South African editors, which was tested for accessibility and clarity by means of a semi-Delphi study. / M.A., Language Practice, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

Durant les vingt dernières années, l'intérêt pour la sécurité lors du développement et l'exploi\-tation des systèmes d'information n'a cessé de croître. Les méthodes de gestion des risques de sécurité sont des outils méthodologiques, qui aident les organisations à prendre des décisions rationnelles sur la sécurité de leur système d'information. Les retours d'expérience sur l'utilisation de telles approches montrent une réduction considérable des pertes liées aux problèmes de sécurité. Aujourd'hui, ces méthodes sont généralement construites autour d'un processus bien structuré. Cependant, le produit issu des différentes étapes de la gestion des risques est encore très largement informel et souvent pas assez analytique. Ce manque de formalisme est un frein à l'automatisation de la gestion des informations relatives aux risques. Un autre inconvénient des méthodes actuelles est qu'elles sont généralement destinées à évaluer a posteriori comment les systèmes d'information déjà existants gèrent les risques, et sont difficilement applicables a priori, pendant la conception de tels systèmes. Enfin, chaque méthode utilisant souvent une terminologie qui lui est propre, il est difficile de combiner plusieurs méthodes afin de profiter des points forts de chacune. Afin de répondre aux problèmes mentionnés ci-dessus, notre contribution propose une approche basée sur la modélisation de la gestion des risques, utilisable dans les phases amont de conception de systèmes d'information. Cette approche est fondée sur une étude des concepts propres au domaine.<br /><br />Notre démarche scientifique se compose de trois étapes successives. La première étape vise à définir un modèle conceptuel de référence relatif à la gestion des risques de sécurité. La méthode de recherche adoptée propose de fonder le modèle sur une étude approfondie de la littérature. Les différents standards de gestion des risques et/ou de sécurité, un ensemble de méthodes représentatives de l'état actuel de la pratique, ainsi que les travaux scientifiques se rapportant au domaine, ont été analysés. Le résultat est une grille d'alignement sémantique des concepts de la gestion des risques de sécurité, mettant en évidence les concepts-clés intervenant dans une telle démarche. Sur base de cet ensemble de concepts est ensuite construit le modèle du domaine de la gestion des risques. Ce modèle a été confronté aux experts du domaine, provenant du monde de la standardisation, des méthodes de gestion des risques et du monde scientifique. <br /><br />La deuxième étape de notre recherche enrichit ce modèle du domaine avec les différentes métriques utilisées lors de l'application d'une méthode de gestion des risques. La démarche proposée combine deux approches pour la détermination des métriques. La première est la méthode Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) appliquée sur notre modèle de référence. Elle permet de se focaliser sur l'atteinte du meilleur retour sur investissement de la sécurité. La seconde enrichit les métriques identifiées par la première approche, grâce à une étude de la littérature basée sur les standards et méthodes étudiés lors de la première étape. Une expérimentation sur un cas réel de ces métriques a été réalisée, dans le cadre de l'accompagnement d'une PME vers la certification ISO/IEC 27001.<br /><br />Enfin, dans une troisième étape, nous relevons dans la littérature un ensemble de langages de modélisation conceptuelle de la sécurité de l'information. Ces langages sont issus essentiellement du domaine de l'ingénierie des exigences. Ils permettent donc d'aborder la sécurité lors des phases initiales de la conception de systèmes d'information. Nous avons évalué le support conceptuel proposé par chacun d'eux et donc le manque à combler afin d'être à même de modéliser intégralement les différentes étapes de la gestion des risques. Le résultat de ce travail permet de formuler une proposition d'extension du langage Secure Tropos et une démarche d'utilisation de cette évolution dans le cadre de la gestion des risques, illustrée par un exemple.

<p><strong> </strong><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><em>Aim:</em> Despite the domestic and international importance of services the research about the internationalization of services it is limited. Compared to products, services differ in nature. They are intangible and heterogeneous, meaning they are usually consumed at the point of purchase and are performed, as well as perceived differently. When a service provider wants to market its offerings in culturally distant country, the local country's culture is an important factor during the process of adaptation/standardization of the service. What is acceptable in one country might not be acceptable in another. Thus, this study aims to identify how adaptation/standardization of a service in a foreign country takes place, how the problems of intangibility and heterogeneity are handled.</p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Method: </em>This study presents the single case of the Swedish medical systems company Elekta and its efforts to market its Gamma Knife Technology, a neurosurgical method, to Brazil. It is based on secondary data, in form of topic related books, scientific articles and internet sources, only. For gathering primary data, an exploratory research design was chosen to conduct a qualitative research. Structured interviews were chosen to acquire data since they are particularly helpful when dealing with complex issues. The interviews were sent in form of email questionnaires to a contact person at Elekta's head quarter in Sweden, as well as the Swedish/Brazilian co-operation. However, both interviewees did not respond contrary to prior agreements.</p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Result & conclusion:</em> The analysis of the findings revealed that, according to Hofstede's  Five Cultural Dimensions both countries differ greatly in culture. Whilst some service characteristics are likely to be fully or mainly standardized, others will have to be adapted in order to fit the local culture. The service itself, as well as the service's process, its people involved and its physical evidence offer great potential for standardization, whereas pricing and promotion tend to be affected strongly by income and language and thus, is likely to require adaptation. Clearly, the local culture plays an important role during the process of adaptation/standardization. Cultural adaption can make service offering more tangible by reducing the gap of misunderstanding. Service providers should standardise service offerings, ideas, values and beliefs connected to the quality of a service and adapt factors related to the market. Standardisation and adaptation can both be implemented successfully in the market. A balanced combination makes services more homogenous and tangible.</p><p><em>Suggestion for further research: </em>There is limited research available concerning the internationalization of services, with special regards to the process of adaptation /standardization. This study is based only on a single case, without primary research. Further research in Trust and Networking is required to complete the model. Furthermore, lacking primary sources from both companies, further research regarding of how both companies are providing services are required.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Contribution of the thesis:</em> This work seeks to make a contribution towards a clearer understanding of international services marketing and the process of adaptation/standardization of services. It emphasizes on the importance of culture during the process of adaptation/standardization with regards to the intangibility and heterogeneity of services. It is based on previous research conduct by Hyder & Fregidou-Malama (2007) focusing on the adaptation/standardization of Elekta's services in Egypt.</p><p><em>Key words:</em> International services marketing, service, adaptation, standardization, culture, intangibility and heterogeneity</p><p> </p>

ABSTRACT   Aim: Despite the domestic and international importance of services the research about the internationalization of services it is limited. Compared to products, services differ in nature. They are intangible and heterogeneous, meaning they are usually consumed at the point of purchase and are performed, as well as perceived differently. When a service provider wants to market its offerings in culturally distant country, the local country's culture is an important factor during the process of adaptation/standardization of the service. What is acceptable in one country might not be acceptable in another. Thus, this study aims to identify how adaptation/standardization of a service in a foreign country takes place, how the problems of intangibility and heterogeneity are handled.   Method: This study presents the single case of the Swedish medical systems company Elekta and its efforts to market its Gamma Knife Technology, a neurosurgical method, to Brazil. It is based on secondary data, in form of topic related books, scientific articles and internet sources, only. For gathering primary data, an exploratory research design was chosen to conduct a qualitative research. Structured interviews were chosen to acquire data since they are particularly helpful when dealing with complex issues. The interviews were sent in form of email questionnaires to a contact person at Elekta's head quarter in Sweden, as well as the Swedish/Brazilian co-operation. However, both interviewees did not respond contrary to prior agreements.   Result &amp; conclusion: The analysis of the findings revealed that, according to Hofstede's  Five Cultural Dimensions both countries differ greatly in culture. Whilst some service characteristics are likely to be fully or mainly standardized, others will have to be adapted in order to fit the local culture. The service itself, as well as the service's process, its people involved and its physical evidence offer great potential for standardization, whereas pricing and promotion tend to be affected strongly by income and language and thus, is likely to require adaptation. Clearly, the local culture plays an important role during the process of adaptation/standardization. Cultural adaption can make service offering more tangible by reducing the gap of misunderstanding. Service providers should standardise service offerings, ideas, values and beliefs connected to the quality of a service and adapt factors related to the market. Standardisation and adaptation can both be implemented successfully in the market. A balanced combination makes services more homogenous and tangible. Suggestion for further research: There is limited research available concerning the internationalization of services, with special regards to the process of adaptation /standardization. This study is based only on a single case, without primary research. Further research in Trust and Networking is required to complete the model. Furthermore, lacking primary sources from both companies, further research regarding of how both companies are providing services are required. Contribution of the thesis: This work seeks to make a contribution towards a clearer understanding of international services marketing and the process of adaptation/standardization of services. It emphasizes on the importance of culture during the process of adaptation/standardization with regards to the intangibility and heterogeneity of services. It is based on previous research conduct by Hyder &amp; Fregidou-Malama (2007) focusing on the adaptation/standardization of Elekta's services in Egypt. Key words: International services marketing, service, adaptation, standardization, culture, intangibility and heterogeneity

This thesis addresses conceptual and practical challenges in anticipating potential standardisation needs and developing relevant strategies throughout various stages of technological innovation. With increasing awareness of critical roles played by standardisation in supporting a variety of innovation activities, strategic foresight for timely and appropriate standardisation is becoming a crucial innovation policy interest in many countries. However, there are currently limited and fragmented studies on this issue, because of the complexity and variety involved in dynamic interplays between standardisation and other aspects of innovation. There are also increased challenges to develop coherent and long-term strategies for standardisation, due to modern technologies that are becoming more complex, interdisciplinary, and fast-evolving at the same time. Standards organisations and policymakers thus face significant challenges in developing standardisation strategies (in terms of what, why, when, how, and who) to support technological innovation more effectively. In this regard, the current research develops a systematic conceptual framework for more comprehensive understanding of standardisation – particularly highlighting its technological complexities – in the context of innovation, and a structured process model for using it to support strategic policy foresight. Building on the innovation systems perspective, preliminary framework and process model are first developed by adopting the holistic approach of strategic roadmapping as method, and incorporating a priori constructs drawn from existing literature relevant to standardisation. Then, multiple exploratory case studies covering various technology domains have been conducted to identify first order elements for their development. They are followed by an in-depth longitudinal case study on standardisation of photovoltaic technology, testing and refining the framework and process model by exploring complex dynamics between standardisation and innovation in greater detail. Interviews with experts across a broader range of domains and regions have then been carried out, to verify the framework and process model, including their utility and practicality. This thesis makes contributions to both theory and practice. With a systems perspective on standardisation, it provides a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of how standardisation supports innovation, highlighting its mediating roles between critical innovation activities and functions. It also presents a unified framework integrating various dimensions of standardisation with particular emphasis on technological elements, addressing challenges due to complex technological systems. Such new insights are expected to help standards organisations and policymakers with strategic foresight for standardisation in support of innovation, using the proposed framework and process model as practical tools for anticipating future standardisation needs and developing relevant strategies. In addition, the current research contributes to the roadmapping literature and practice, by presenting more structured and advanced frameworks and processes, and providing insights for using the roadmap-based approach as methods for data collection and analyses.

Context:The interface development is increasing in complexity and applications with a lot of functionalities that are reliable, understandable and easy to use have to be developed. To be able to compete, the time-to-market has to be short and cost effective. The development process is important and there are a lot of aspects that can be improved. The needs of the development and the knowledge among the developers are key factors. Here code reuse, standardization and the usability of the development tool plays an important role which could have a lot of positive impact on the development process and the quality of the final product. Objectives: A framework for describing important properties for HMI development tools is presented. A representative collection of two development tools are selected, described and based on the experiences from the case study its applicability is mapped to the evaluation framework. Methods: Interviews were made with HMI developers to get information from the field. Following that, a case study of two different development tools were made to highlight the pros and cons of each tool. Results: The properties presented in the evaluation framework are that the toolkit should be open for multiple platforms, accessible for the developer, it should support custom templates, require non-extensive coding knowledge and be reusable. The evaluated frameworks shows that it is hard to meet all the demands. Conclusions: To find a well suited development toolkit is not an easy task. The choice should be made depending on the needs of the HMI applications and the available development resources. / Sammanhang: Human-Machine-Interface (HMI) utvecklingen ökar i komplexitet och behovet av att snabbt producera funktionella, intuitiva och lättanvända applikationer ökar. Det finns flera aspekter som kan öka effektiviteten av utvecklingen och det är viktigt att veta vilka behov som ställs på applikationerna och vilka begränsningar som finns bland utvecklarna. Återanvändning av kod, standardisering och hur användarvänligt utvecklingsverktyget är är viktiga faktorer som påverkar utveckling och slutproduktens kvalité. Mål: Att jämföra olika HMI utvecklingsverktyg baserat på olika kriterier som, efter intervjuer, visade sig var viktiga. Två representativa utvecklingsverktyg har valts för utvärderingen. Metod: Intervjuer hölls för att höra om erfarenheter från HMI-utveckling. Efter det så gjordes en fall studie av två olika utvecklingsverktyg för att utvärdera deras för och nackdelar. Resultat: Intervjuerna resulterade i att flera viktiga kategorier kunde tas fram. De visade att utvecklingsverktyget bör kunna användas för att utveckla applikationer för flera plattformar, vara lättillgängligt för utvecklare, tillåta egna mallar och designer, inte kräva mycket programmering och att komponenter ska kunna återanvändas. Fallstudien visade att det är svårt att till fullo uppfylla alla krav. Slutsats: Det går inte att hitta ett utvecklings verktyg som är bäst i alla situationer. Det är därför viktigt att man tar hänsyn till vad man vill utveckla och vilken kunskap som finns tillgänglig och väljer ett utvecklingsverktyg som passar behoven.

Volcano early warning systems are used globally to communicate volcano-related information to diverse stakeholders ranging from specific user groups to the general public, or both. Within the framework of a volcano early warning system, Volcano Alert Level (VAL) systems are commonly used as a simple communication tool to inform society about the status of activity at a specific volcano. Establishing a VAL system that is effective for multiple volcanoes can be challenging, given that each volcano has specific behavioural characteristics. New Zealand has a wide range of volcano types and geological settings, including rhyolitic calderas capable of very large eruptions (>500 km 3 ) and frequent unrest episodes, explosive andesitic stratovolcanoes, and effusive basaltic eruptions at both caldera and volcanic field settings. There is also a range in eruption frequency, requiring the VAL system to be used for both frequently active ‘open-vent’ volcanoes, and reawakening ‘closed-vent’ volcanoes. Furthermore, New Zealand’s volcanoes are situated in a variety of risk settings ranging from the Auckland Volcanic Field, which lies beneath a city of 1.4 million people; to Mt. Ruapehu, the location of popular ski fields that are occasionally impacted by ballistics and lahars, and produces tephra that falls in distant cities. These wide-ranging characteristics and their impact on society provide opportunities to learn from New Zealand’s experience with VAL systems, and the adoption of a standardised single VAL system for all of New Zealand’s volcanoes following a review in 2014. This chapter outlines the results of qualitative research conducted in 2010–2014 with key stakeholders and scientists, including from the volcano observatory at GNS Science, to ensure that the resulting standardised VAL system is an effective communication tool. A number of difficulties were faced in revising the VAL system so that it remains effective for all of the volcanic settings that exist in New Zealand. If warning products are standardised too much, end-user decision making and action can be limited when unusual situations occur, e.g., there may be loss of specific relevance in the alert message. Specific decision-making should be based on more specific parameters than the VAL alone, however wider VAL system standardisation can increase credibility, a known requirement for effective warning, by ensuring that warning sources are clear, trusted and widely understood. With a credible source, user groups are less likely to look for alternatives or confirmation, leading to faster action. Here we consider volcanic warnings within the wider concept of end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems including detection, evaluation, notification, decision-making and action elements (based on Carsell et al. 2004).

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.