The phenomenal rise in the number of book clubs in the United States in the past twenty-five years has resulted in much being written and said on the subject of their value. The success of these clubs has raised fears in the minds of some people that books may soon be tailored less to art than to the requirements of the clubs' mass audience. The success that the clubs have had in getting the American people to buy books when the booksellers and others have failed, can probably be attributed to one key word that is found in the publicity of all the clubs: "free." A controversy about the use of the word "free" has been raging for the last few years between the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Federal Trade Commission. The Commissioners were unable to agree with the Book-of-the-Month Club's contention that statements contained in the advertisements, disclosing those things which the customer must do in order to receive the so-called "free" books, "neutralize the probability or possibility of deception." The purpose of this paper is not, however, to discuss the controversy of the Book-of-the-Month Club versus the Federal Trade Commission, or to be concerned with the free or bonus aspect of any club's promotional endeavors. Its purpose is to consider whether or not books so obtained are worth having, be they "free," bonus, or priced, and whether or not they are creditable selections. In considering the question of dividend books it obviously would be desirable to evaluate the books distributed by all book clubs, but this would not be a project with a range of accomplishment within the scope of this paper. It was, therefore, decided to take as a specimen the divident books of one such club and to attempt to adjudge on the basis of critical opinion their merits. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Robert G. Clapp, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-47).

The aim was to design a multifunctional building, which is located on undeveloped land, plot number 436/3, acreage 5700 m2. The plot is situated in Lipí, cadastral territory Náchod. The building is designed as a multifunctional house, designed for permanent living and administrative activies with built-in basement used for parking cars. The location of the building is given by a situation drawing. The shape of the building is rectangular, free-standing building with all-over basement, measuring 25.9 x 19 m. The house has overal six storeys.

[pt] Causa estranheza que as listas de livros de ficção mais vendidos no Brasil, publicadas em jornais e revistas nos últimos anos, sejam frequentadas quase que exclusivamente por autores estrangeiros, especialmente quando observamos que a situação não se repete nas listas de livros de não-ficção: nestas, autores brasileiros são maioria. Onde se encontra a explicação para este fenômeno? Será que os autores nacionais de ficção, com suas histórias e formas narrativas, não conseguem despertar o interesse dos leitores brasileiros como fazem os autores de não-ficção? Ou o problema se encontra nas editoras, que preferem investir em livros com sucesso já testado em outros países? E os leitores: por que preferem a ficção estrangeira? Pesquisa como esta daria um romance policial. E deu... / [en] Causes strangeness that best-selling fiction books lists published in Brazilian newspapers and magazines in the last years are almost exclusively frequented by foreign authors, especially when we observe that the situation doesnt repeat at the lists of no-fiction books. What explains this phenomenon? Will it be that national authors of fiction, with its histories and narrative forms, dont gather Brazilian readers interest, as non-fiction authors does? Or the problem lies on publishers, that prefers to invest in books with success already tested in other countries? And the readers: why do they prefer foreign fiction instead of national? This research intends to analyze the situation and to look for answers to all those subjects. I could write a novel with a research like this. And I did…

Text in Afrikaans / lnternasionale erkenning van die konsep van kinderregte skep die grondslag vir state om op nasionale vlak inisiatiewe te loads wat op die kweek van 'n kinderregtekultuur gerig is, wat sal meebring dat 'n sensitiwiteit vir kinderregte ontwikkel en prioriteit aan die beskerming van daardie regte verleen word. Dit is 'n omvattende taak wat grondwetlike bepalings raak en wetgewing en administratiewe programme vereis ten einde 'n balans te vind tussen ouers se aansprake op gesinsoutonomie en die strewe om in gepaste gevalle aan kinders die bevoegdheid te verleen om self besluite oar hul lewens te neem. Die belangeatweging vind plaas teen die agtergrond van die primere oorweging van die beste belange van kinders ten opsigte van aspekte wat hulle raak . . / International recognition of the concept of children's rights lays the foundation for states to launch initiatives on national level which are aimed at developing a culture of children's rights. This will lead to an increased sensitivity to children's rights and the fact that priority will be given to the protection of those rights. It is a wide·ranging task which affects constitutional provisions and requires legislation and administrative programmes in order to strike a balance between parents' claims to the autonomy of the family and the attempt to enable children, in suitable instances, to make decisions about their lives themselves. This weighing up of interests takes place against the background of the primary consideration of the best interests of children with respect to aspects which affect them. / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / (LL.M)

Climate change must deal with two market failures: global warming and learning by doing in renewable energy production. The first-best policy consists of an aggressive renewables subsidy in the near term and a gradually rising and falling carbon tax. Given that global carbon taxes remain elusive, policy makers might have to rely on a second-best subsidy only. With credible commitment the second-best subsidy is higher than the social benefit of learning to cut the transition time and peak warming close to first-best levels at the cost of higher fossil fuel use in the short run (weak Green Paradox). Without commitment the second-best subsidy is set to the social benefit of learning. It generates smaller weak Green Paradox effects, but the transition to the carbon-free takes longer and cumulative carbon emissions are higher. Under first best and second best with pre-commitment peak warming is 2.1-2.3 °C, under second best without commitment 3.5 °C, and without any policy 5.1 °C above pre-industrial levels. Not being able to commit yields a welfare loss of 95% of initial GDP compared to first best. Being able to commit brings this figure down to 7%.

在資料庫的處理中，top-k查詢幫助使用者從龐大的資料中萃取出具有價值的物件，它將資料庫中的物件依照給分公式給分後，選擇出分數最高的前k個回傳給使用者。然而在多數的情況下，一個物件也許不只有一個分數，要如何在多個分數中仍然選擇出整體最高分的前k個物件，便成為一個新的問題。在本研究中，我們將這樣的物件用不確定資料來表示，而每個物件的不確定性則是其帶有機率的分數以表示此分數出現的可能性，並提出一個新的問題：Best-kGROUP查詢。在此我們將情況模擬為一個複合式競賽，其中有多個子項目，每個項目的參賽人數各異，且最多需要k個人參賽；我們希望能針對此複合式競賽挑選出最佳的k個球員組合。當我們定義一個較佳的組合為其在較多項目居首位的機率比另一組合高，而最佳的組合則是沒有比它更佳的組合。為了加快挑選的速度，我們利用動態規劃的方式與篩選的演算法，將不可能的組合先剔除；所剩的組合則是具有天際線特質的組合，在這些天際線組合中，我們可以輕易的找出最佳的組合。此外，在實驗中，對於在所有球員中挑選最佳的組合，Best-kGROUP查詢也有非常優異的表現。 / In a large database, top-k query is an important mechanism to retrieve the most valuable information for the users. It ranks data objects with a ranking function and reports the k objects with the highest scores. However, when an object has multiple scores, how to rank objects without information loss becomes challenging. In this paper, we model the object with multiple scores as an uncertain data object and the uncertainty of the object as a distribution of the scores, and consider a novel problem named Best-kGROUP query. Imagine the following scenario. Assume there is a composite competition consisting of several games each of which requires a distinct number of players. Suppose the largest number is k, and we want to select the best group of k players from all the players for the competition. A group x is considered better than another group y if x has higher aggregated probability to be the top ones in more games than y. In order to speed up the selection process, the groups worse than another group definitely should first be discarded. We identify these groups using a dynamic programming based approach and a filtering algorithm. The remaining groups with the property that none of them have higher aggregated probability to be the top ones for all games against the other groups are called skyline groups. From these skyline groups, we can easily compare them to select the best group for the composite competition. The experiments show that our approach outperforms the other approaches in selecting the best group to defeat the other groups in the composite competitions.

IT-system kan delas upp i två huvudgrupper: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-system och Best of Breed (BoB)-system. Ett ERP-system definieras som ett system vars funktioner använder en gemensam databas och kan därigenom binda ihop olika IT-system. Användaren kan då enkelt komma åt data inom den egna organisationen från sin egen arbetsstation utan att söka igenom flera olika system, jämfört med system som arbetar parallellt och inte samlar data i en gemensam databas. BoB-system är inriktade på en specifik tjänst, men är utvecklade för att klara av att utföra den så bra som möjligt. De är inriktade på sina specifika uppgifter och använder inte någon gemensam databas, eftersom de är byggda av olika utvecklare och leverantörer. När ett företag ska investera i ett system finns det flera aspekter att ta hänsyn till, exempelvis om värdet systemet väntas ge kommer överstiga utvecklings- samt driftkostnaden och/eller vilken systeminvestering som kommer effektivisera arbetet mest. I denna uppsats presenteras en fallstudie som genomförts på Swedbank Robur AB, Sveriges största fondförvaltningsbolag. Fallstudien utfördes med syftet att påvisa centrala aspekter och problem vad gäller systemmiljö och val av systemtyp i relation till detta. Tre personer med olika positioner och arbetsuppgifter har intervjuats på Robur, för att erhålla en helhetsbild av systemmiljön från flera perspektiv, vilket säkerhetsställs genom det faktum att de personer som intervjuats har olika roller och ansvar i samband med systemnyttjandet. En mer generell intervju utöver fallstudien, har även genomförts med Microsofts utvecklingschef för att uppnå jämförbarhet med andra system och användare. Baserat på de fakta studien redovisat har det blivit uppenbart att det är mycket svårt för företag att enbart använda sig av ERP-system då viss funktionalitet är specifik för företaget. Studien har även funnit att begreppet ERP är väldigt vagt och kan tolkas på många sätt. / IT-systems can be divided into two distinct groups, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Best of Breed (BoB) systems. An ERP-system is defined as a system where a number of functions are brought together and use a common database, in order to link different IT-systems. It makes it easier to access data within the organization from the users own workstation without looking through several different systems, compared to systems that work in parallel and do not collect data in a common database. BoB-systems are geared towards a specific service and are developed to be able to perform their tasks as good as possible. They are focused on their specific tasks and are not joined together through a common database, since there are different developers or vendors for the different systems. When a company is going to invest in a system there are many aspects to consider, for example whether the expected value will exceed the associated development and operating costs, and/or which system will increase the efficiency of the tasks the most. This thesis presents a case study done at Swedbank Robur AB, Sweden’s largest fund management company. The case study was carried out with the aim to find central aspects and problems with different IT-environments and the choice of systems in relation to these. Three persons with different positions and work tasks were interviewed at Robur, to give their individual opinions and a good overall picture of their system environment. A more general interview was also carried out with Microsoft’s development manager to achieve comparability with other systems and users. This thesis shows that it is not possible for large companies to only use ERP-systems, when certain functionality is specific to the company. We have also seen that the concept of ERP is very vague and can be interpreted in different ways. It is also concluded that the definition of ERP is very vauge and can thus be interpreted in several ways.

The telecommunication industry is dominating the world. Most recently there have been technological advancements made in mobile telecommunication. There are currently a few telecommunication organizations in South Africa. These organizations each have their own unique approach to service delivery. The strong competitive nature of the telecommunication industry is taking telecommunications in South Africa to greater heights. All these advancements necessitate the need for better security and controls of the telecommunications networks. RICA legislation was brought into effect to accomplish just this. The research focuses on the contingent use of systems development methodologies in the telecommunication industry in South Africa. The study determines how these telecommunication organizations choose a systems development methodology when developing systems. This study looks at how these organizations are currently implementing system development methodologies to keep up with the changes and competition within the industry. An interpretive approach was used to conduct the research. Four of the leading telecommunication organizations in South Africa were studied by using case studies. Each case study focused on a single telecommunication organization to gain in depth data regarding the use of systems development methodologies. The case studies were conducted by using structured interviews to gain data from multiple sources within the organizations. The data was analyzed using ATLAS.ti and a cross case analysis was done to answer the research questions. The results indicate that there is a contingent use of systems development methodologies within telecommunication organizations. The telecommunication organizations each use criteria to determine which systems development methodology to use. The results of the study indicate that there are different levels of contingency, and it examines how this is accomplished by each organization individually. Each of the organizations has a unique approach when selecting systems development methodologies. The systems development methodologies that are used by the telecommunication organizations are also tailored in some cases. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The telecommunication industry is dominating the world. Most recently there have been technological advancements made in mobile telecommunication. There are currently a few telecommunication organizations in South Africa. These organizations each have their own unique approach to service delivery. The strong competitive nature of the telecommunication industry is taking telecommunications in South Africa to greater heights. All these advancements necessitate the need for better security and controls of the telecommunications networks. RICA legislation was brought into effect to accomplish just this. The research focuses on the contingent use of systems development methodologies in the telecommunication industry in South Africa. The study determines how these telecommunication organizations choose a systems development methodology when developing systems. This study looks at how these organizations are currently implementing system development methodologies to keep up with the changes and competition within the industry. An interpretive approach was used to conduct the research. Four of the leading telecommunication organizations in South Africa were studied by using case studies. Each case study focused on a single telecommunication organization to gain in depth data regarding the use of systems development methodologies. The case studies were conducted by using structured interviews to gain data from multiple sources within the organizations. The data was analyzed using ATLAS.ti and a cross case analysis was done to answer the research questions. The results indicate that there is a contingent use of systems development methodologies within telecommunication organizations. The telecommunication organizations each use criteria to determine which systems development methodology to use. The results of the study indicate that there are different levels of contingency, and it examines how this is accomplished by each organization individually. Each of the organizations has a unique approach when selecting systems development methodologies. The systems development methodologies that are used by the telecommunication organizations are also tailored in some cases. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-194) and index.