Le Modèle Standard de la physique des particules décrit trois des quatre interactions fondamentales et toutes ses prédictions ont été confirmées expérimentalement. Cependant, il reste encore des questions auxquelles le Modèle Standard ne peut répondre. Plusieurs pistes théoriques sont explorées et certaines prédisent de nouvelles particules se désintégrant en paire de quarks top-antitop qui pourraient être observé par le détecteur ATLAS auprès du collisionneur LHC.À partir de 2026, le LHC redémarrera après avoir fait l'objet d'une importante phase d'amélioration afin d'augmenter sa luminosité. C'est dans ce contexte que s'inscrivent les études réalisées sur FATALIC, une puce qui a été proposée pour le remplacement de l'électronique frontale du calorimètre hadronique à tuiles d'ATLAS. Les études ont montré que FATALIC est capable de reconstruire les paramètres d'un signal analogique en utilisant trois canaux de gain et un changement de gain dynamique. Les simulations ont démontré que les performances attendues de la voie rapide de FATALIC entraient dans les spécifications demandées.Ensuite, a été présentée une recherche de nouvelles résonances se désintégrant en paire de quarks top-antitop, utilisant 36,1 fb-1 de données issues des collisions proton-proton à 13 TeV au LHC pendant les années 2015 et 2016. Cette recherche s'est concentrée sur le canal de désintégration semi-leptonique de la paire top-antitop, où l'état final possède une signature comprenant exactement un lepton, des jets hadroniques et de l'énergie transverse manquante. L'estimation du bruit de fond multi-jets a été présentée en détail. Une recherche dans le spectre de masse invariante de la paire top-antitop a été effectuée pour les deux topologies résolue et boostée et la compatibilité des données par rapport aux prédictions du Modèle Standard a été testée. Aucune déviation significative par rapport aux prédictions du Modèle Standard n'a été trouvée et des limites sur les sections efficaces de production de signaux issus des modèles considérés furent mises.Les difficultés rencontrées lors de l'estimation des bruits de fond et du pré-traitement des incertitudes systématiques pour l'analyse à 36,1 fb-1 ont motivé la recherche d'une nouvelle méthode pour l'estimation du bruit de fond globale. L'algorithme Décomposition Fonctionnelle (FD) est une nouvelle méthode permettant de rechercher de nouvelles particules dans un spectre de masse invariante, en séparant la contribution du bruit de fond de celles des contributions résonantes. FD a été testé dans le but de vérifier ses performances sur des pseudo-données des analyses top-antitop et « 4t BSM ». Dans un premier temps, des tests ont été menés sur la propension de FD à créer de faux signaux dans les spectres de masses invariantes. La première version s'est montrée sensible à ce problème. FD a ensuite été amélioré pour réduire la sensibilité à la création de faux signal. Enfin, des études d'injections de signal ont été réalisées et FD a montré des difficultés à modéliser la contribution du signal et à la séparer du bruit de fond pour des largeurs de signal supérieures à 3%. / The Standard Model of particle physics describes three of the four fundamental interactions and all of its predictions have been experimentally confirmed. However, there are still questions that the Standard Model cannot answer. Several theoretical models are being explored and some predict new resonances that would decay into a top-antitop quarks pair that could be observed by the ATLAS detector at the LHC collider.In 2026, the LHC will restart after a significant improvement phase to increase its luminosity. It's in this context that the studies on FATALIC, a chip that has been proposed for the replacement of the front-end electronics of the ATLAS hadronic tile calorimeter, were achieved. The studies showed that FATALIC was able to reconstruct the parameters of an analog signal using three gain channels and a dynamic gain switch. The simulations showed that the expected performance of FATALIC's fast channel was within the required specifications.Then, a search for new particles decaying into a top-antitop quarks pair was presented, using 36.1 fb-1 data from the proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV of the LHC for the years 2015 and 2016. This search concentrate on the semi-leptonic decay channel of the top-antitop quarks pair, where the final state has a signature with exactly one lepton, hadronic jets and missing transverse energy. The estimate of the multi-jets background noise was presented. A search in the top-antitop invariant mass spectrum was performed in the two topology resolved and boosted and the compatibility of the data with respect to the Standard Model predictions was tested. No significant deviation from the Standard Model's predictions was found and limits on benchmark models signal cross sections were set.The difficulties encountered in estimating the background noises and on the profiling of the systematic uncertainties for the 36.1 fb-1 analysis has motivated the search for a new method to perform the global background estimate. The Functional Decomposition (FD) algorithm is a new method to search for new particles in an invariant mass spectrum, separating the contribution of the background noise to those of the resonant contributions. FD has been tested to verify its performance on pseudo-data from the top-antitop and « 4t BSM » analyses. First, tests were conducted to check if FD was creating spurious signal. The first version suffered of this problem and FD was then improved to reduce the amount of spurious signal. Finally, signal injection studies were carried out and FD showed difficulties to model the signal's contribution and to separate it from the background noise for signal with widths greater than 3%.

The original and still a major purpose of ontologies in computer and information sciences is to serve for the semantic integration of represented content, facilitating information system interoperability. Content can be data, information, and knowledge, and it can be distributed within or across these categories. A myriad of languages is available for representation. Ontologies themselves are artifacts which are expressed in various languages. Different such languages are utilized today, including, as well-known representatives, predicate logic, subsuming first-order (predicate) logic (FOL), in particular, and higher-order (predicate) logic (HOL); the Web Ontology Language (OWL) on the basis of description logics (DL); and the Unified Modeling Language (UML). We focus primarily on languages with formally defined syntax and semantics. This overall picture immediately suggests questions of the following kinds: What is the relationship between an ontology and the language in which it is formalized? Especially, what is the impact of the formal semantics of the language on the formalized ontology? How well understood is the role of ontologies in semantic integration? Can the same ontology be represented in multiple languages and/or in distinct ways within one language? Is there an adequate understanding of whether two expressions are intensionally/conceptually equivalent and whether two ontologies furnish the same ontological commitments? One may assume that these questions are resolved. Indeed, the development and adoption of ontologies is widespread today. Ontologies are authored in a broad range of different languages, including offering equally named ontologies in distinct languages. Much research is devoted to techniques and technologies that orbit ontologies, for example, ontology matching, modularization, learning, and evolution, to name a few. Ontologies have found numerous beneficial applications, and hundreds of ontologies have been created, considering solely the context of biomedical research. For us, these observations increase the relevance of the stated questions and close relatives thereof, and raise the desire for solid theoretical underpinnings. In the literature of computer and information sciences, we have found only few approaches that tackle the foundations of ontologies and their representation to allow for answering such questions or that actually answer them. We elaborate an analysis of the subject as the first item of central contributions within this thesis. It mainly results in the identification of a vicious circularity in (i) the intended use of ontologies to mediate between formal representations and (ii) solely exploiting formal semantic notions in representing ontologies and defining ontology-based equivalence as a form of intensional/conceptual equivalence. On this basis and in order to overcome its identified limitations, we contribute a general model-theoretic semantic account, named \\\"ontological semantics\\\". This kind of semantics takes the approach of assigning arbitrary entities as referents of atomic symbols and to link syntactic constructions with corresponding ontological claims and commitments. In particular, ontological semantics targets the avoidance of encoding effects in its definition. Therefore we argue that this semantic account is well suited for interpreting formalized ontologies and for defining languages for the representation of ontologies. It is further proposed as a fundament for envisioned novel definitions of the intensional equivalence of expressions, in potential deviation from only being formally equivalent under set-theoretic semantics. The thesis is defended that a particular usage of a formalism and its respective vocabulary should be accompanied by establishing an ontological semantics that is tailored to that use of the formalism, in parallel to the formal semantics of the language, in order to capture the ontological content of the formal representation for adequate reuse in other formalisms. Accordingly, we advocate ontological semantics as a useful framework for justifying translations on an intensional basis. Despite all deviations of ontological semantics from its set-theoretic blueprint, close relationships between the two can be shown, which allow for using established FOL and DL reasoners while assuming ontological semantics.:* Preface ** Abstract ** Contents ** Acknowledgments ** Foreword 1 Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Motivations 1.3 Theses, Objectives and Scope 1.4 Outline and Contributions 1.5 Formal Preliminaries 2 Foundations on Languages, Semantics, and Ontology 2.1 Formal Syntax and Formal Semantics 2.2 The Role of Ontologies in Semantic Integration 2.3 Ontological Analysis and Meta-Ontological Architecture 2.4 Conceptualization of Categories and Relations - CR 2.5 Summary of the Analysis and Next Steps 3 Views on Set-Theoretic Semantics of Classical Predicate Logics 3.1 Tarskian Model Theory and Set-Theoretic Superstructure 3.2 Formal Semantics and Choices for Entity Postulation 3.3 Theory View of Semantics 3.4 Aims for an Ontologically Neutral Semantic Account 4 Ontological Semantics 4.1 Definition of Ontological Structures by Analogy to the Set-Theoretic Approach 4.2 Properties and Further Background for Ontological Structures in General 4.3 Ontological Models & Signature Aspects 4.4 Semantics of Predication 4.5 Semantics of Connectives and Quantifiers & Semantic Notions 4.6 Relations between Ontological and Set-Theoretic Semantics 4.7 Ontological Neutrality 5 Ontological Engineering and Applications 5.1 Formalization Method for Ontology Representation in FOL 5.2 Ontological Usage Schemes 5.3 Glimpse on Characterizing Modular Representation 5.4 Applications in the Biomedical Domain 6 Contributions to Ontologies 6.1 Formalizations of Categories and Relations - CR 6.2 Remarks on Further Contributions 6.3 Ontologies of Time 7 Conclusion and Continuation 7.1 Resume 7.2 Related Work 7.3 Conclusions 7.4 Beginnings of Future Work Appendix A Additional Preliminaries A.1 Logical Notions A.2 Axiomatic Systems of Set and Number Theory B Axioms of the CR Taxonomy in OWL B.1 Asserted OWL Class Axioms B.2 Asserted OWL Object Property Axioms C Lists of Figures and Tables C.1 List of Figures C.2 List of Tables D Abbreviations, Acronyms and Names D.1 Abbreviations D.2 Acronyms and Names E References E.1 Literature References E.2 Web References/List of URLs F Work and Author Information ** Selbständigkeitserklärung (Declaration of Authorship) ** Bibliographic Data ** Scientific Record

(In English) The reaction of highly reactive oxygen radicals with protein solvent-accessible residues can be utilized to map protein landscape. Fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) is an MS- based technique, which utilizes highly reactive radical species to oxidize proteins and map protein surface or its interactions with their interaction partners. In this work, FPOP was employed to study protein-DNA interactions. First, a full-length of FOXO4-DBD was successfully expressed and purified. The ability of the protein to bind its DNA-response element was verified by electrophoretic and MS-based techniques, respectively. Optimal experimental conditions were achieved to oxidize the protein itself and in the presence of DNA, respectively. Oxidized samples were analyzed by bottom-up and top-down approach. In the bottom-up experiment, modification of individual residues was precisely located and quantified. Different extend of modification was observed for protein alone and in complex with DNA. To avoid experimental artifacts analyzing multiply oxidized protein, standard bottom up approach was replaced by a progressive top-down technology. Only a singly oxidized protein ion was isolated, and further fragmented by collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron-capture dissociation (ECD),...

“Temporary urbanism” is a concept that can go by a number of different names and can take different forms. This means that the concept has a dynamic and experimental character, it can represent different types of uses and needs of different target groups and users. The concept originates from New York, during the 20th-century, and usually involves an urban planning strategy that promotes social sustainability by reducing the car use in cities and instead shift the focus to the citizens. Temporary urbanism can therefore act as a catalyst to change the norm and meaning of urban spaces, and who they are for. In the Swedish context, information about the concept is not available to everyone, as it is limited to existing within urban planning and is therefore primarily aimed at top-down initiated projects. If temporary urbanism is to be represented in the right way, as a flexible and versatile tool, more target groups need to be able to use the concept, in order to create their own initiatives in urban spaces. If the public space, evaluated as a resource, is not used all year round in different ways and by a variation of target groups, it would become what we call wasted space. Hence, citizens must be given access to proper tools in order to influence the development of the urban spaces and what they contain. Throughout the bachelor's thesis, desk studies have been used, supplemented with interviews and an example of the trendy concept of “summer streets”. All this to understand how temporary urbanism commonly is expressed in Sweden and what potential development the concept has in the utilization in Swedish context. This thesis has resulted in a design proposal for a handbook. The handbook summarizes and analyzes the concept of temporary urbanism and its use in the Swedish context. It also showcases international examples of how the concept could be expressed broadly and diversified to inspire. The handbook results in an understanding of how awareness can increase, create an understanding of the concept, and promote citizen participation in the design of public spaces. It clarifies the concept of temporary urbanism and makes it accessible for all, so that more people can use the strategies it includes to curate urban spaces. / “Temporär urbanism” är ett begrepp som kan gå under en rad olika benämningar och kan ta olika skepnader. Det innebär att konceptet har en dynamisk och experimentell karaktär, det kan representera olika typer av användningar samt olika målgruppers och användares behov. Konceptet har sitt ursprung i New York, under 1900-talet, och innebär oftast en stadsplaneringsstrategi som främjar social hållbarhet genom att minska bilismens starka fäste i staden för att istället skifta fokuset till medborgarna. Temporär urbanism kan därför fungera som katalysator för att förändra normen för vad urbana rum innebär och vilka de är till för. I svensk kontext är informationen om detta koncept inte tillgängligt för alla, då den begränsas till att vara ett begrepp inom stadsplaneringen och riktar sig därför främst till top-down initierade projekt. Om temporär urbanism ska representeras på rätt sätt, som ett flexibelt och mångsidigt verktyg, behöver fler målgrupper kunna använda sig av konceptet för att ta egna initiativ i urbana rum. Om stadsrummet, sedd som resurs, inte utnyttjas året om på olika sätt och av varierande målgrupper, skulle det bli vad vi kallar ett outnyttjat utrymme. Därav måste medborgare ges tillgång till goda verktyg för att få påverka utvecklingen av stadsrummen och vad de innehåller. Genom uppsatsen har skrivbordsstudier använts, kompletterat med intervjuer och ett typexempel av det trendiga konceptet “sommargator”, även kallat “sommargågator”. Detta för att förstå hur temporär urbanism oftast uttrycker sig i Sverige och därmed vad konceptet har för utvecklingspotential i tillämpningen i den svenska kontexten.  Denna uppsats har mynnat ut i ett designförslag av en handbok. Handboken sammanfattar och analyserar konceptet temporär urbanism och dess användning i svensk kontext. Den tar även upp internationella exempel på hur konceptet skulle kunna uttryckas för att inspirera och visa på bredd och mångfald. Handboken resulterar i att förstå hur medvetenheten kan öka, skapa förståelse för konceptet, främja medborgarnas deltagande i utformningen av stadens offentliga rum. Den tillgängliggör och tydliggör konceptet för temporär urbanism för att fler ska kunna använda sig av strategierna som det innefattar, för att kurera urbana rum.

This dissertation reflects the results of a study during which the 2006 annual reports of the top-40 JSE listed companies, were assessed for their disclosure of the required corporate governance statements. Content analysis was used to identify the information. The results obtained indicate that the majority of the JSE's top-40 listed companies adhere to good corporate governance disclosure practices. However, there are areas in which the non-disclosure of information was prevalent. These include the disclosure of information on the selection of external auditors and whistle blowing. Future research, employing sources such as SENS announcements, press releases, trading updates, cautionary announcements and websites together with annual reports should be conducted. / Financial Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

This thesis investigates policy formulation and implementation processes in Zambia. A number of issues emerge with respect to the weaknesses of the system and how policy decisions worsened Zambia's economic performance instead of improving it. The Kaunda era policies of nationalization had an adverse impact on productivity of industries as well as affecting the resource flow from donors and business houses. On the other hand President Chiluba's reforms in the 1990s have had both positive and negative impacts on the people of Zambia. The rapid privatization and liberalization affected employment levels thereby worsening the poverty levels. Further, the liberalization brought in stiff competition from other countries forcing most manufacturing companies to close down. The policy environment based on the Bretton Woods Institutions seems not to be working as result of not taking into account the local Zambian situation. On the other hand, there were positive macroeconomic developments such as growth in GDP, lowering of inflation and stabilizing of exchange rates as from 1996. This has however not improved the living standards of the people. In Zambia, the shifts back and forth between strong and weak planning institutions have negatively affected policy development and implementation. There has been uncoordinated policy development; as a result, some policies in the major sectors are contradictory while in other cases policies are not linked to the resource envelope, making them un-implementable. Secondly, the institutional framework for policy development is not effective. There is generally lack of coordination among ministries, provinces and other stakeholders in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of development programmes. This thesis urges that the improving planning capacities at the national, provincial and district levels should improve the processes of policy development and implementation in Zambia, which will in turn help to reduce poverty. Further, the districts should be the centre for the bottom-up process. In order to carryout this responsibility, efforts should be made to improve their capacities. As for the top-down process, the Sector Advisory Groups should continue to participate in the planning, monitoring and evaluation so as to contribute to policy formulation and implementation. These should be coordinated by the National Development Coordinating Committee (NDCC) through a Planning Bureau. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Increasing involvement with students at the University of Namibia has indicated their overall difficulty with comprehending and recalling information from oral content lectures. It has also been observed that in general very little attention is given to the development of listening skills in L2 ESP and EAP courses. For this study, I conducted a quasi-experiment to determine whether the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers will enhance students' listening comprehension in academic lectures. Students were tested to determine their comprehension of content information in a video-taped lecture. Qualitative data were collected by means of a questionnaire. After an intervention period of eight weeks, where the experimental group received strategy training in the recognition and interpretation of discourse markers in spoken texts, both groups were again tested. Their results were statistically compared. I also looked at related findings of other researchers. Finally, aspects for possible future research will also be considered. / English Studies / MA - (Specialisation in TESOL)

The aim of this study was to investigate sexual activity as well as contraceptive knowledge and use among termination of pregnancy (TOP) clients at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital’s TOP clinic in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). This was a non-experimental quantitative study in the form of a cross sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires were used for collecting data from 61 respondents selected non-randomly. The majority of the respondents were single young women between 18 and 27 years of age. Sexual intercourse frequency was mostly once a month (91.8%). Most were unemployed and dependent on government grants and had heard of both contraception in general and emergency contraception. Only 44 (78.6%) had used contraceptives before and the most frequently used method of contraception was the injection (36.6%). Despite the respondents having heard of contraception, the median score of the knowledge of contraception was only 16%. The distribution of knowledge was very wide, but on the whole the level of knowledge of contraception was very low / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / For the last 40 years, academics advocated the use of the traditional Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) techniques but these suggestions were ignored by practitioners for a long time. The Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Present Value Payback Period (PVPP) are now some of the more widely used traditional DCF-based techniques, especially among large firms. However, academics are now criticising these techniques as they are based on rigid assumptions that ignore the management of flexibility in projects. The Real Option Valuation (ROV) is suggested as an alternative technique because it implicitly incorporates this flexibility in project valuation. With ROV, opportunities in projects are treated as real options and are therefore valued using financial option principles. Real options give the firm the opportunity to act on an investment project (invest, abandon, rescale) at a later date, when more information is available. As with the traditional DCF-based techniques in the past, few firms seem to have adopted ROV despite academics’ recommendations. This study is thus aimed at determining through a survey, whether the largest firms in South Africa, specifically those included in the JSE/FTSE Top 40 index, are using ROV. Based on the results of the survey, it is concluded that firms generally do not use ROV as only nine percent of the respondents were found to be using it. This is largely attributed to managers being unaware of the technique, and to some extent, to the technique’s complexity. On the other hand, managers were generally found to recognise the flexibility despite not using ROV, although it was not confirmed whether they quantify this flexibility.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: During the period of change in South Africa in the year of the first democratic elections, 1994, the first King Report on Corporate Governance appeared. For the first time in South Africa, companies had a good reference for corporate practice and conduct. A second King report, commonly referred to as King II, appeared in March 2002 and expanded on the earlier Code to produce, what was considered at the time to be, a world-class code of corporate governance. In addition to the acceptance and incorporation of King II into corporate governance practice, the JSE included compliance with the King Code as part of its listing requirements. The code itself is not an enforceable set of rules, but rather guidelines to assist companies in implementing principles of good governance. In similar vein, the JSE has given companies the flexibility to justify non-compliance. This underscores the socalled comply or explain philosophy to which corporate governance in South Africa subscribes. Studies have found the level of corporate governance in South Africa to be high, especially for an emerging market. Compliance with corporate governance principles and transparency go hand in hand. In a comply or explain regime, where the regulation is considered to be done by the market, disclosure of compliance is especially important. The goal of this research project was to conduct a survey of the top listed South African companies to ascertain what the level of disclosure of corporate governance was, with specific reference to the recommendations contained in the King Code. For the purposes of this study, the top companies were defined as the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index companies. The supposition was that most companies, having been confronted with the King Code for almost six years, would be compliant to a large degree and will disclose their compliance. This was expected to be more evident amongst top companies who have the resources and influence to effect changes sooner and take the lead on high profile issues. The study confirmed the supposition that companies, at least in the sample, were highly compliant. There were however some areas where improvements can be made to be more in line with global best practices. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gedurende die periode van vernuwing in Suid-Afrika en die jaar van die eerste demokratiese verkiesing, 1994, het die eerste King verslag op korporatiewe bestuur verskyn. Vir die eerste keer het maatskappye in Suid-Afrika ‘n goeie verwysing gehad in die bepaling van hul korporatiewe bestuurspraktyke en gedrag. ‘n Tweede King verslag, alombekend as King II, het in Maart 2002 verskyn en op die eerste verslag uitgebou om ‘n kode te voorskyn te bring wat ten tyde van publisering as wêreldklas bestempel is. Bo en behalwe die aanvaarding en toepassing van King II in die korporatiewe bestuurspraktyk, het die JSE ook nakoming van die Kode as deel van die noterings vereistes ingesluit. Die King Kode opsigself is nie ‘n afdwingbare stel reëls nie, maar eerder riglyne wat maatskappy bystaan in die implementering van beginsels van goeie bestuur. In ‘n soortgelyke manier gee die JSE ook aan maatskappye die buigsaamheid om gevalle van nie-nakoming te regverdig en verdedig. Dit onderskryf die sogenaamde voldoen of verduidelik filosofie wat korporatiewe bestuur in Suid Afrika aan gehoor gee. Studies het gevind dat die vlak van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag in Suid-Afrika hoog is, veral vir ‘n ontluikende mark. Nakoming met korporatiewe bestuurgedragskodes en deursigtigheid gaan hand aan hand. In ‘n voldoen of verduidelik regime, waar die mark geag word om te reguleer, is openbaarmaking van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag van kardinale belang. Die doel van hierdie navorsingsprojek was om ‘n peiling te maak van die voorste Suid-Afrikaanse maatskappye om te bepaal wat die vlak van openbaarmaking in terme van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag was, met spesifieke verwysing na die King Kode. Vir die doeleindes van die studie is die voorste maatskappye gedefiniëer as die FTSE/JSE Top 40 Indeks. Die veronderstelling was dat meeste maatskappye, gegewe die feit dat die Kode al ses jaar in omgang is, tot ‘n groot mate aan die Kode sal voldoen en inligting rakende die voldoening openbaar maak. Dit is ook verwag dat dit veral die geval onder die voorste maatskappye sou wees aangesien hulle oor die hulpbronne en invloed beskik om veranderinge vroeër teweeg te bring en leierskap te neem met hoë profiel kwesssies. Die studie het die veronderstelling korrek bewys dat maatskappye, ten minste in die geval van die ingeslote groep, ‘n hoë vlak van voldoening en openbaarmaking ten toon stel. Daar is egter nogtans areas waar verbeterings gedoen kan word om meer in lyn met internasionale beste praktyke te kom.