La présente thèse constitue le compte rendu de l'analyse menée auprès du détecteur ATLAS du LHC et concernant la recherche de processus de création résonante de nouvelles particules se désintégrant en une paire de quarks top. Elle s'articule principalement autour de la notion de jet de hadrons, dont l'identification et la reconstruction est un enjeu capital pour toute mesure essayant de signer l'apparition de quarks top lors de processus de collisions proton-proton. Après une mise en contexte portant sur une description générale des caractéristiques théoriques et expérimentales que présente la thématique de la détection de jets de hadrons dans le détecteur ATLAS, nous présentons une première tentative de validation de la méthode d'étalonnage hadronique local, dont le but est de corriger ces jets des imprécisions de mesure engendrées par le détecteur. Dans la deuxième partie du document figure l'analyse menée sur les 14~fb$^{-1}$ de données de collisions proton-proton à $sqrt{s} = 8$~TeV, récoltées lors de l'année 2012, à la recherche de l'apparition de processus de création résonante de nouvelle particules extit{lourdes} dans le spectre de masse invariante top-antitop. Pour des particules lourdes, les quarks tops produits lors de la désintégration de ces dernières possèdent une impulsion très grande par rapport à leur masse et la désintégration de tels quarks top conduit souvent à une topologie dans l'état final dite og boostée fg, où le quark top, s'il se désintègre de manière hadronique, est très souvent reconstruit comme un seul jet, de large paramètre de rayon. Le présent travail de thèse propose ainsi une étude préliminaire pour reconstruire et identifier le plus précisément possible ce type de signal, en se basant sur l'étude de la sous-structure des jets de hadrons.

This study looks at political culture and socialisation responses to Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). It identifies political culture and socialisation as part of a process, the development of a political culture with specific attitudes, cognitions, and feelings towards the political system. Political culture and socialisation impart the knowledge of how to act politically, i.e. how to apply values in formulating demands and making claims on the political system. They form a connecting link between micro- and macro-politics. The study maintains that political orientations are handed down from one generation to another, through the process of political socialisation. Top-down and bottom-up influences come into play to augment a discourse on the global nature of political socialisation and the political culture of international societies with regard to IWRM and governance ideologies. It is argued that these international ideas become relevant in the national political agenda, civil society organisations and trans-national networks. The IWRM aspects of water as an economic good and a basic human right have become a two-edged sword in the South African context. The study reveals that politics stand at the epicentre of water problems, and that IWRM is a political-ethical issue which challenges power bases in many communities. The IWRM global norms of equitable, efficient and sustainable use of water resources have become a major problem in a water-scarce country burdened with economic inequalities and abject poverty. This is a pressing issue because there is an increasing demand for water to sustain the development necessary to redress the draconian ills of the apartheid past. This becomes evident in the fundamental legislative overhaul that has taken place since 1994, embracing a transformation culture that glorifies the norm of water not only as a fundamental human right, but also as a commodity that is necessary to sustain human dignity. It is here that water is politicised. Violent protests have erupted in reaction to perceived neo-liberal attempts to deny the poor their access to this resource. The political culture and socialisation responses as far as IWRM is concerned appear within fragmented lines, i.e. mainly black and poor communities embrace a culture of non-payment for services and resort to violent protests as a viable method to raise their concerns. In contrast, the white and middle-class communities manifest a tendency to form parallel local government structures; they then withhold rate payments and provide services for themselves through ratepayer associations. Finally, the study considers the South African context with regard to the manifestations of political culture, and how this influences water resources. It is evident that there is too much emphasis on politics at the expense of discussions on IWRM. Civil society organisations make very little attempt to encourage public participation in water management structures. It also appears that political elites who are disillusioned with civil society organisations tend to derail their efforts to educate the public on water management structures. / MA, Political Studies, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

Le modalità attuali di produzione, distribuzione e consumo dei servizi elettrico, idrico e d’igiene urbana sono largamente insostenibili. Alla luce del crescente impatto ambientale di tali attività, aziende di servizio, istituzioni e cittadini-consumatori si dichiarano preoccupati e disponibili a riorientare strategie, politiche e pratiche sulla base di principi di sostenibilità ambientale. Il presente lavoro si propone di analizzare i processi di trasformazione in senso ecologico di alcune filiere della produzione e del consumo di servizi pubblici locali secondo una prospettiva disciplinare di sociologia dell’ambiente, attraverso uno studio di caso avente per oggetto le politiche ambientali della maggiore local utility italiana e una indagine qualitativa delle pratiche sociali di consumo di servizi di un campione di stakeholders/clienti della medesima Società. La ricerca assegna ampio spazio all’analisi dell’attuale scenario socio-ambientale nel quale trovano posto discorsi e strategie ambientali di multiutilities orientate a un incremento della complessità organizzativa e delle performance sociali, economiche, ambientali, e cambiamenti nelle modalità di consumo/fruizione finale dei servizi che ridefiniscono, sul piano simbolico e pratico, gli importanti nessi tra produzione e consumo e tra fattori come tecnologia e stile di vita. In particolare dalla ricerca sembrano emergere con insistenza due percorsi che si propongono come obiettivo la sostenibilità ambientale. Uno di tipo istituzionale che prospetta cambiamenti secondo uno schema di intervento dall’alto verso il basso (top-down), e un altro, animato da priorità molto diverse, che è portatore di un rinnovamento partecipativo dal basso. A fronte di queste contrastanti vie della sostenibilità, il modello teorico più noto e diffuso nell’ambito della sociologia dell’ambiente per la lettura del mutamento in senso ecologico nel campo dei servizi pubblici locali mostra la propria inadeguatezza e l’esigenza di una riformulazione. Sul piano delle risultanze empiriche la separazione e il difficile riconoscimento tra i soggetti portatori di strategie top-down e quelli che elaborano percorsi bottom up mostra la problematica presenza di logiche di azione molto diverse in campo ambientale che sembrano difficili da conciliare. A un’ultima analisi emerge come nel conseguimento di principi di sostenibilità ambientale sia la via dall’alto che quella dal basso, accanto e indubbie potenzialità, possiedono rilevanti elementi di incertezza e ambiguità che per il momento sembrano rendere indefinibile da parte dei produttori e consumatori dei servizi elettrico, idrico e ambientale un percorso efficace e condiviso per la transizione verso un futuro sostenibile. / The sustainable management of common-pool resources will be among the main challenges that people will have to solve in the next years. In spite of all that, unsustainability of the current energy, water and waste production–consumption models are evident. In the last years socio-technical utility systems such as electricity, water and waste, have been subjected to many transformation in managerial (liberalization), organizational (multiutility model) and socio-cultural (new orientation for consumption) dimensions. Since the utility systems are closely intertwined with society and nature their transformation to play a leading role in the making of environmental sustainable future for society. In the first section this paper introduces an analysis of theoretic position on utility system’s transformation, and highlight weak point and perspective of this dynamic change’s riding. In the second section the paper proposes a sociological integrated framework for interpretation of the ecological transformation of the energy and water consumption and waste management. The sociological analysis shows that in socio-environmental field there are two sustainable paths (top down strategy versus bottom up way) but they seem weak and uncertain and don’t enough for building a sustainable future.

Health is a fundamental human right. Access to health care, which includes providing a population with safe, effective, good quality drugs at the least possible cost, is a prerequisite to realising that right. Drugs or medicines play a fundamental role in the effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness of health care systems. Drugs also constitute a major recurrent expense in both state-run and private sector health care. To ensure that health care workers prescribe the most cost-effective drugs through the essential drugs list, training, as well as evaluation and monitoring systems must be regarded as important elements of containing costs. Pharmaceutical benefit management programmes such as pharmacoeconomics, drug utilisation review (DUR), evidence-based medicine and disease management have emerged as tools to ensure cost-effective selection and use of drugs, particularly for chronic diseases. These managed care tools are often investigated to determine whether new technologies or interventions are appropriate and have "value". Affordable prices of medicines, on their own, however, do not ensure access to medicines. Also important are reliable procurement, distribution and storage systems, and appropriately trained personnel to manage these components of drug management. Poorly regulated drug supply systems can have serious consequences such as antibiotic resistance, problems with safety or quality and most importantly wastage, as it is believed that a significant proportion of drugs purchased by the state in South Africa find their way into the private sector market through a "grey market". The general objective of this study was to review and analyse the cost and medicine usage of the "top twenty" pharmaceutical products according to the monthly pharmaceutical purchasing reports of the Department of Health in the North West Province. The research can be classified as retrospective and quantitative. The data used for the analysis were obtained over a two-year study period (1 Apr 2000 - 28 Feb 2002) from the private provider operating the medical stores in the North West Province. The results of the empirical investigation, showed the total number of "top twenty" products appearing during the study period amounted to 460 different products having a total purchasing cost of R 66,263,674.51 representing 37.2% (n = R 178,163,061.50) of all pharmaceutical products purchased during the two-year period. Through analysis it was found, when classified according the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) therapeutic main group, antihypertensives had the highest quantity purchased for year one (20.69%; n = 134,515,640) with cough and cold preparations revealing the highest purchasing quantity for year two (40.55%; n = 103,567,031) of all "top twenty" pharmaceuticals during the study period. Antibacterials for systemic use presented with the highest cost percentages for both years, representing 20.68% (n = R35, 568,221.31) and 16.72% (n = R 31,370,435.51) respectively. Hydrochlorothiazide presented with the highest purchasing quantity for both years when classified according to chemical substance with, Methyldopa having the highest purchasing cost for year one followed by vaccine Hib-DTP 10 dose vial (Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine-diphtheria, pertusis and tetanus vaccine) for year two. Furthermore it was also found that the majority of the "top twenty" products were in the oral dosage form. Finally it was concluded that drugs used in the treatment of hypertension and cardiac failure were the most utilised in comparison to other "top twenty" products during the study period. Possible misappropriation based on the defined daily dose of the "top twenty" products might have occurred. In completion of this study, recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.Pharm.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This thesis examines the process of new product development for small firms, aiming to specify what separate top performers from the rest. Every year, thousands of new products are introduced to the market. Yet, 75 % to 90 % of all products launched suffer from failure. Prevailing theory is founded on examinations on large firms, which differ significantly from small firms in terms of financial and human capital. This gives reason to suspect that prevailing theory fail to serve the specific needs of a small firm. In this study, previous research is summarized in a theoretical framework. A set of survey questions was sent out to 2,287 managers in Swedish small manufacturing firms. A research model was developed to help analyze and interpret the 156 complete responses. 32 significant variables separating top performers from the rest were acknowledged and three factor areas were specified in a framework for small firm new product success. The findings of our study indicate that prevailing theory fail to serve small firms. We conclude that small firms benefit from focusing to simplify rather than adding to refine, and that this is strongly correlated to the limited financial and human resources of a small firm.

In this thesis the lateral resolution limits of the Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT) technique are being investigated. LIFT is a laser direct write process with micron and below resolution and is suitable for modifying, repairing and prototyping micro-devices. Single laser pulses with wavelength of 800 nm and duration of 130 fs from a Ti:Sapphire laser system were focused onto a transparent donor substrate coated with thin film to transfer the thin film material in the form of micro-disks through a small air gap onto an acceptor substrate. In this thesis, donor glass substrate coated with 80nm continuous Cr film and also Cr disks array patterned by photolithography or e-beam lithography were used as targets. The ablation threshold and transfer threshold were determined experimentally and compared to results from two-temperature model (TTM) simulations and reasonably agreement was obtained. For the continuous film target, the size of the LIFT disks depend on the laser fluences and the smallest sizes of around 700 nm were obtained near the transfer threshold. For the pre-patterned disks array targets, initially 1.3m Cr disks were fabricated on the donor substrates by photolithography. Small focused, larger defocused and large top-hat laser beams were used to transfer the pre-patterned Cr disks. The morphology of the transferred material and reliability of transfer were studied. It was found that the large top-hat beam gave the most reliable and high quality transfer results, resulting in mostly intact LIFT disks on the acceptor substrate. To push the resolution limit further, 500nm Cr disks fabricated on the donor substrate by e-beam lithography were used. The successful transfer of these 500 nm Cr disks gives a positive indication that LIFT can potentially be extended further to the nano-scale regime (usually defined as having sub-100 nm resolution).

本研究係探討企業社會責任對高階主管薪酬、及對高階主管薪酬與績效關聯性之影響。以員工、社會和環境構面及此三構面之綜合表現來衡量企業社會責任。研究結果顯示，企業社會責任綜合表現、員工和社會構面表現愈好之公司，對高階主管薪酬有正向顯著影響。然而，在環境構面表現良好之公司，對高階主管薪酬則有負向顯著影響。 對高階主管薪酬與績效關聯性而言，企業社會責任表現良好之公司，可有效降低代理成本，亦即減少對薪酬誘因契約之依賴；然而，亦存在企業社會責任表現良好之公司，其薪酬誘因契約之依賴程度增加之情況。本研究認為，若將企業社會責任視為提升公司競爭能力之策略，則增加薪酬誘因契約可以督促高階主管謹慎考量企業社會責任，將其與公司經營績效連結。 / This study examines the effect of corporate social responsibility on top managements’ compensation and on the relationship between top managements’ compensation and firm’s performance. Corporate social responsibility is measured by several dimensions, including employees、community、environment、and the combined performance of these three dimensions. The first empirical results show that the better the dimensions of combined performance、employees、and community are, the more the top managements’ compensation are. However, good performance in environment dimension will lead to less top managements’ compensation. The second empirical results show the effect of corporate social responsibility on the relationship between compensation and firm’s performance. If combined performance was better, agency cost would be decreased efficiently. That is, the dependence on the compensation contracts would be reduced. However, there still exists that better combined performance will cause the increase in the dependence on the compensation contracts. The reason might be if we considered corporate social responsibility a strategy reinforcing firm’s competitive ability, increase in the dependence on the compensation contracts could urge top management to link corporate social responsibility and firm’s performance tightly.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

<p>The problem for women in the work market has been and is still being widely studied from different domains and fields, there is however still countless fissures linked to it. Even though the gender equality has comprehensively increased in recent decades, it is still apparent in high responsibility positions. This situation caught our attention and stimulated us to analyse the women’s condition within organizations.</p><p>Scholars have developed different theories linked to organizations, but our complex and fast developing society has surpassed most of these classical theories, making them either partially or totally irrelevant. For instance standards such as hierarchical organizations, individualism and aggressiveness are no longer considered as the most efficient values.</p><p>This work investigates the barriers that women have to overcome in order to break though leading positions, as well as the identification of female and male leadership and their stereotypes’ consequences. Accordingly, we intend to propose solutions and new approaches liable to help integrating more women in high profile positions. We are aspiring to create a new trend representing successful leadership that is no longer correlated to the male stereotype.</p><p>The theoretical part engages in theories surrounding female gender leadership as well as gender related barriers, while the empirical method involves the conduction of semi structured interview with women in high management positions, with the aim of setting up a solid ground for analysis and discussion. Due to this fact, we believe that the woman is the future of the organization, therefore we firstly call for the implementation and the reinforcement of the female “role model” and secondly encourage companies to adopt and promote our new concept of “the ecological organization” in order to achieve a more flexible, balanced and sane organizational culture in a foreseeable future.</p>

Medical Laboratories Accreditation is covered by ISO 15189:2012 - Medical Laboratories — Requirements for Quality and Competence. In Portugal, accreditation processes are held under the auspices of the Portuguese Accreditation Institute (IPAC), which applies the Portuguese edition (NP EN ISO 15189:2014). Accordingly, Medical Laboratories accreditation processes now require the estimate of measurement uncertainty (MU) associated to the results. The Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) describes the calculation of MU, not contemplating the specific aspects of medical laboratory testing. Several models have been advocated, yet without a final consensus. Given the lack of studies on MU in Portugal, especially on its application in the medical laboratory, it is the objective of this thesis to reach to a model that fulfils the IPAC’s accreditation regulations, in regards to this specific requirement. The study was based on the implementation of two formulae (MU-A and MU-B), using the Quality Management System (QMS) data of an ISO 15189 Accredited Laboratory. Including the laboratory’s two Cobas® 6000–c501 (Roche®) analysers (C1 and C2) the work focused three analytes: creatinine, glucose and total cholesterol. The MU-B model formula, combining the standard uncertainties of the method’s imprecision, of the calibrator’s assigned value and from the pre-analytical variation, was considered the one best fitting to the laboratory's objectives and to the study's purposes, representing well the dispersion of values reasonably attributable to the measurand final result. Expanded Uncertainties were: Creatinine - C1 = 9,60%; C2 = 5,80%; Glucose - C1 = 8,32%; C2 = 8,34%; Cholesterol - C1 = 4,00%; C2 = 3,54 %. ...[cont.].