Business processes can be divided into standardisable and non-standardisable processes. Such processes are characterised by their activities, events, states and time-points. The conditions in which process activities, events, states and time-points occur determines how they are observed, recorded and acted upon. Under predictable and stable conditions an observer can record them by predetermining them and this can be done using existing process design approaches and methodologies. Such processes are termed standardisable processes; for example a process for manufacturing cars. However, under unpredictable and unstable conditions an observer cannot record them by predetermining all the possible events, because uncertainty leads to unpredictable events occurring. Such processes are termed non-standardisable processes and in this thesis as emergent processes; for example special engineering projects like building the Channel Tunnel. Therefore, a new approach is required for designing non-standardisable processes. Process events are significant because the observer notices and records them. Significantly, the observer of events also has to act on them. Whether process events occur in predictable and stable conditions or unpredictable and unstable conditions, makes a difference to how an observer notices, records and acts on them. This is highly significant for this thesis argument, because as non-standardisable process events can be unexpected and unpredictable or emergent a new approach is required to design them. This thesis advances knowledge of designing non-standardisable processes by conceptualising them as emergent business processes (EBP) and contributing a new approach for designing them using action research and the deferred design approach as a process design methodology. Uncertain and unpredictable conditions is characterised here as emergence. The observer cannot predetermine all the possible process events for processes that operate in emergent conditions and cannot determine how to act upon unpredictable process events, because some events will be predictable and others unpredictable. The pragmatist research methodology was used to research to identify and resolve the problem with EBP in the Foreign Procurement Division (FPD) of the Kuwait Ministry of Defence. It was also used an approach for designing EBP. The research contributes the new understanding of non-standardisable processes as emergent business processes. This is a significant contribution because it is conceptualisation that is not found in the literature. This conceptualisation recognises the need to find new approaches for designing and implementing EBP. Therefore, the research also contributes a new approach for designing EBP using the action research methodology as a process design methodology.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Lester C. Loschky / While watching a film, the viewer begins to construct mental representations of it, which are called events. During the opening scene of a film, the viewer is presented with two distinct pieces of information that can be used to construct the event, namely the setting and an action by the main character. But, which of these two constructs are first cognitively represented by the viewer? Experiment 1 examined the time-course of basic level action categorization with superordinate and basic level scene categorization using masking. The results indicated that categorization occurred in a course-to-fine manner, inconsistent with Rosch et al.’s (1976) basic level theory. Interestingly, basic level action categorization performance did not reach ceiling when it was processed for a 367 ms SOA, suggesting that additional scene information and processing time were required. Thus, Experiment 2 examined scene and action categorization performance over multiple fixations, and the scene information that was fixated for each categorization task. Both superordinate and basic level scene categorization required only a single fixation to reach ceiling performance, inconsistent with basic level primacy, whereas basic level action categorization took two to three fixations, and led to more object fixations than in either scene categorization task. Eye movements showed evidence of a person bias across all three categorization tasks. Additionally, the categorization task did produce differences in the scene information that was fixated (Yarbus, 1967). However, could basic level theory still be correct when subjects are given a different task? When the same scene images were named, basic level action terms were used more often than basic level scene category terms, while superordinate level action terms were used relatively less often, and superordinate level scene category terms were hardly ever used. This shows that linguistic categorization (naming) is sensitive to informative, middle-level categories, whereas early perceptual categorization makes use of coarse high level distinctions. Additionally, the early perceptual advantage for scene categorization over basic level action categorization suggests that the scene category is the first construct that is used to represent events in scene images, and maybe even events in visual narratives like film.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Socorro Herrera / The primary purpose of this study was to explore ways in which teachers can increase their second language (L2) learners’ reading comprehension through constructing situation models. The author incorporated theoretical frameworks, including the situation model theory (Kintsch, 1998/2007), the event index model (Zwaan & Radvansky, 1998), and the linguistic threshold hypothesis (Clark, 1980; Aldersen, 1984; Carrell, 1991). As an educational intervention, a set of adjunct questions were asked during reading to elicit readers’ explanations of causality and intentionality to promote coherent comprehension. A total of 117 L2 readers’ ability to make appropriate inferences based on situation models was assessed through both quantitative (experimental-control design) and qualitative (think-aloud) methods. This experimental study examined the effect of explaining to target situation models, while also looking at the relationship between the readers’ inferential ability and their L2 proficiency. In addition to the main effects of the intervention and L2 proficiency, the interaction between the intervention and L2 proficiency were discussed as results of the quantitative analysis. Also discussed was the nature of the L2 readers’ responses to adjunct questions, which were designed to measure the quality of their explanations based on the underlying situations in the text that they were reading. This study extended existing research on situation model-level comprehension to L2 literacy, which has not previously been well studied. This made the study theoretically interesting as well as highly applicable to L2 reading instruction. The main findings of this study were: (1) there was a strong effect of question types (inferential vs. non-inferential questions) with greater accuracy overall for non-inferential questions, (2) there was a suggestive trend of question type interacting with L2 proficiency, such that higher proficiency participants showed little difference between question types, (3) there was no statistically significant main effect of the adjunct question manipulation on accuracy, and (4) there was a trend suggesting an interaction between experimental condition and L2 proficiency, with higher proficiency participants showing a somewhat larger effect of the adjunct question manipulation. Additionally, both quantitative and qualitative data trended in the direction consistent with the linguistic threshold hypothesis.

Lake Superior is a forcing factor for local weather systems, causing substantial amounts of lake effect snow in the winter (particularly on the south shore). This study assesses decreasing ice cover of Lake Superior and its effects upon synoptic weather factors. Data were collected from eleven National Weather Service (NWS) stations located on the south shore of the lake. Rainfall and snowfall amounts from December to May were regressed on percent ice coverage and average monthly temperatures from 1972-2002. Ice coverage and average monthly temperature had a negative relationship with snowfall and rainfall.

Thesis. (M. Tech. (Dept. of Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences)) -- Vaal University of Technology, 2011. / Spectators are key constituents of sport organisations’ success as a large spectator base attracts sponsors. Once a spectator enters a sport stadium, the physical environment and the experience of the game may lead to a relationship with the environment and a team resulting in the spectator either revisiting a sport stadium, recommending the venue to others or avoiding the environment. Spectator attendance at sports stadia is also a primary sources of revenue for sport events. Stadium attendance also brings different benefits for spectators as a stadium can add excitement and atmosphere to an event experience and opportunities for socialisation within the environment. The main purpose of this study was to determine the role of servicescapes in spectators’ attendance at selected sport stadiums in Gauteng. Since sport depends on the facility for its production and service delivery, place (distribution) is an essential component in the marketing mix, as it can lead to approach or avoidance behaviours. The study was conducted at two different stadiums namely (Soccer City (formerly FNB) and Orlando stadiums) in the Gauteng Province. A quantitative research approach was used. A structured questionnaire was administered to 200 spectators using non-probability convenience sampling. Data from a total of 170 completed questionnaires were analysed. Data analysis was undertaken in two phases: firstly by pilot testing the questionnaire and secondly by the consolidation of the main survey findings through a more detailed analysis. The data was analysed with a view to address the objectives of the study. In order to ensure high quality analysis, all evidence was considered and all major rival interpretations were also addressed. Factor analysis was used to determine the various servicescape dimensions. Seven factors of servicescape were extracted, namely scoreboard quality, refreshment provisioning, facility aesthetics, space allocation, stadium accessibility, seating comfort and stadium cleanliness. The findings in this study indicate that there is significant positive correlation between the seven factors and future attendance and also a desire to stay within the stadium. The regression analysis reported significant predictive relationships between the stadium servicescape, future attendance and also a desire to stay within the stadium. Regression models depict that spatial allocation and functionality followed by stadia cleanliness made the greatest impact on spectators’ desire to stay within a servicescape and seating comfort and facility aesthetics significantly contributes to future patronage. Recommendations in this study suggest that stadium management and sport marketers should not concentrate on one factor but on several servicescape factors in order to maintain spectator patronage on sport stadium. By fulfilling spectators’ expectations, sport marketers and stadium management should ensure that spectators are satisfied with the stadium facilities and the physical environment to maintain their retention and loyalty to the stadium. / Central Research Committee. Vaal University of Technology.

The thesis deals with the assessment of the sporting events impact. The main aim is to assess the impact of the running races organized by Prague International Marathon objectively and to verify the hypothesis that organizing sporting events can have a positive impact on tourism of the country. The theoretical part explains the basic approaches of sport tourism and deals with the typology of the sporting events. The practical part analyses the impact of the PIM running races on tourism. The aim is to quantify the number of participants, to examine their structure, to calculate the economic impact, to examine media coverage and the social impact of the events.

The probability that a sum of random variables (RVs) exceeds (respectively falls below) a given threshold, is often encountered in the performance analysis of wireless communication systems. Generally, a closed-form expression of the sum distribution does not exist and a naive Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is computationally expensive when dealing with rare events. An alternative approach is represented by the use of variance reduction techniques, known for their efficiency in requiring less computations for achieving the same accuracy requirement. For the right-tail region, we develop a unified hazard rate twisting importance sampling (IS) technique that presents the advantage of being logarithmic efficient for arbitrary distributions under the independence assumption. A further improvement of this technique is then developed wherein the twisting is applied only to the components having more impacts on the probability of interest than others. Another challenging problem is when the components are correlated and distributed according to the Log-normal distribution. In this setting, we develop a generalized hybrid IS scheme based on a mean shifting and covariance matrix scaling techniques and we prove that the logarithmic efficiency holds again for two particular instances. We also propose two unified IS approaches to estimate the left-tail of sums of independent positive RVs. The first applies to arbitrary distributions and enjoys the logarithmic efficiency criterion, whereas the second satisfies the bounded relative error criterion under a mild assumption but is only applicable to the case of independent and identically distributed RVs. The left-tail of correlated Log-normal variates is also considered. In fact, we construct an estimator combining an existing mean shifting IS approach with a control variate technique and prove that it possess the asymptotically vanishing relative error property. A further interesting problem is the left-tail estimation of sums of ordered RVs. Two estimators are presented. The first is based on IS and achieves the bounded relative error under a mild assumption. The second is based on conditional MC approach and achieves the bounded relative error property for the Generalized Gamma case and the logarithmic efficiency for the Log-normal case.

Social media is impacting the practice of public relations inmany different ways, but the focus of this dissertation is on the power of big data from social media to identify and assess the relationship that stakeholders have with the organization. Social media analytics have tended to measure reactions to messages, rather than the strength of the relationship, even though public relations is responsible for building strong relationships with the organization’s stakeholders. Yet, social media provides insight into the conversations that stakeholders have with other stakeholders about the organization and thus can reveal insight into the quality of the relationship they have with the organization.<div><br></div><div>This dissertation takes a networked approach to understandthe strength of the relationship that the organization has with its stakeholders, meaning it acknowledges that the relationships two entities have with each other are influenced by the relationships those entities have with others in common. In this case, the relationship that a stakeholder has with the organizationis influenced by the relationship the stakeholder has with other stakeholders. Thus, one way to study the relationship that a stakeholder has with the organization is to look at the conversation and the postings on social media among the various stakeholders. The ultimate aim of the dissertation is to show how the relationship can be assessed, so the organization can create strategies that develop mutually beneficial relationships over time.<br></div><div><br></div><div>The context for the study is based on two major events where companies deliberately gather together their stakeholders to interact in person and onsocial media about issues and products related to the organization’sfuture. The first event is Adobe Creative Max, which Adobe hosts each year for creative professionals. The second context for the study is Dreamforce, which is hosted by Salesforce.com and includes so many attendees that the company has to bring in cruise ships to dock in the San Francisco Bay during the event since all the hotels in the area sell out far in advance. These two events provide a specific situation where stakeholders interact with other stakeholders outside of a crisis, which represents the majority of day-to-day public relations practice. Twitter data was collected during for each week of each conference, and all company tweets were filtered out of the data sample. Atext-mining approach was then used to examine the conversations among the stakeholders at the events.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Findings indicate that the strongest relationship was developed by Salesforce.com with its stakeholders at the Dreamforce 2018 event in large part because ofthe CEO’s keynote andthe organizational commitment to social justice and sustainability. Granted, Salesforce hadalready worked to develop a culture among employees and customers based on the concept, “family,”or “Ohana.” However, the text of the conversations reveal that the focus at this conference was on societal issues presented by the CEO. In contrast, the findings from the Adobe conference suggest the organization has a transactional relationship with its stakeholders, in part because the CEO keynote focused heavily on products and technology. The implications of these findings indicate that big data from social media can be used to assess relationships, especially when social media data represents conversations and interactions among stakeholders. The findings also show the influence of CEO communications on the relationship and the vital role that public relations practitioners play in setting that CEO communications agenda.</div>

Background: Most current research on consumption events like Black Friday has been done in an US context. Black Friday do not have any cultural heritage or any other social connection to Sweden, however, it is already considered as the second most significant sales opportunity annually in the country. Additionally, research has confirmed that online retailing has been faster than offline retailing regarding adoption to consumption events. Therefore, to qualitatively investigate motivation towards Black Friday consumption online, in a Swedish context, would provide new insight in the field. Purpose: This research serves to contribute to the research of motivation towards consumption events online, viewed upon from the consumers perspective. By uncover meanings for utilitarian and hedonic motivation dimensions towards consumption events online, using Black Friday Weekend as an empirical example, this research aims to, besides adding to previous research, clarify ambiguous situations and provide valuable insights for online retailers that may lead to potential business opportunities. Method: In order to achieve in-depth understanding of the topic, a qualitative study with exploratory design was conducted. Data was gathered through focus group interviews with participants chosen through a purposive sampling technique. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis which generated the empirical findings. Conclusion: Throughout this research, sixteen themes related to motivation emerged, eight utilitarian and eight hedonic. The themes offer more accuracy and a deepened understanding of motivation towards consumption events online for the empirical foundation researched by explaining meanings of the motivation dimensions in this particular context, namely Black Friday Weekend in Sweden.

La persistance des bidonvilles en milieu urbain est un phénomène présent à l’échelle du globe et particulièrement dans les pays émergents. Elle s’affirme comme un enjeu majeur illustrant aussi bien les inégalités sociales, politiques et environnementale qu’une certaine non maîtrise de l’urbain par les autorités publiques. Au Brésil, le phénomène prend le nom de favelisation. Synonymes de pauvreté, de plaie urbaine et de violence, les favelas constituent un pan entier de la production urbaine que les politiques publiques et les acteurs privés ne parviennent pas à endiguer ou absorber. Depuis quelques années, les métropoles émergentes tentent de se distinguer par des événements à portée internationale. C’est le cas de Rio de Janeiro et de Curitiba au Brésil. La première s’inscrit dans l’agenda des méga-événements internationaux (Coupe du Monde de Football 2014, Jeux Olympiques 2016). La deuxième, intégrée dans le projet Coupe du Monde 2014, s’était déjà démarquée en devenant un modèle de développement urbain à l’échelle mondiale. La bonne réception des grands événements sportifs implique dès lors d’importantes transformations des territoires hôtes : constructions de stades, amélioration des infrastructures de transport. À Rio de Janeiro et Curitiba, où respectivement 22% et 9% de la population habite dans des favelas, la confrontation spatiale entre les deux phénomènes est inévitable. À travers cinq favelas (Vila Autodromo, Vidigal, Morro da Providência, Vila Torres, Vila Parolin) de deux métropoles différentes (Rio de Janeiro et Curitiba), la thèse montre que les interactions entre les favelas et les méga-événements sont protéiformes et dépendent fortement des contextes locaux. L’approche spatiale, articulée à la sociologie urbaine, offre une nouvelle grille de lecture à la confrontation entre méga-événements et favelas et qualifie les transformations : la favela évincée, la favela mondialisée, la favela trophée, la favela intégrée et la favela ordinaire. Au centre de cette confrontation, trois logiques apparaissent. L’invisibilisation des favelas, visuellement frappante, vise à faire disparaitre leur caractère embarrassant ; la logique de transfert évoque des déplacements de population et de modes de vie ; enfin la logique culturelle, spécificité brésilienne, renverse la dichotomie en s’appuyant sur la culture favelada pour promouvoir une certaine image du Brésil. La recherche combine de nombreuses observations et analyses spatiales in situ, une revue de presse (locale et internationale) et des entretiens semi-directifs. Les résultats montrent que la nature des confrontations dépend de la manière dont les méga-événements sont intégrés au développement urbain des métropoles-hôtes. Plus le méga-événement s’adapte au territoire dans une vision à long terme, plus la confrontation avec les favelas mène à leur intégration dans le maillage urbain. À l’inverse, lorsque c’est la ville qui s’adapte au méga-événement et coordonne ses transformations urbaines au calendrier événementiel, la nature des confrontations est plusbrutale. Les favelas sont dans ce cadre un perturbateur, mais aussi une opportunité de se distinguer positivement pour les métropoles qui parviennent à en pallier les carences. Elles interrogent profondément les ambitions et les modalités de production de la ville, tant en raison de leur persistance que par leur capacité à se transformer. / The persistence of shanty towns in urban areas is a worldwide phenomenon and more particularly in developing countries. It appears as a major issue, which illustrates both social, political and environmental inequalities and some difficulties of public authorities in mastering the development of urban background. In Brazil, the phenomenon is called « favelisation ». Synonymous with destitution, urban plague and violence, favelas constitute a whole part of urban production that city policies and economic agents fail to contain or absorb. For a few years, emerging metropolises have attempted to single out through events with a worldwide impact. This is the case of Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba in Brazil. The former is part of the agenda of global mega-events (2014 Soccer World Cup, 2016 Olympic Games). The latter, integrated in the 2014 World Cup, had already stood out by becoming a model for urban development on a worldwide scale. The good reception of major sporting events entails then significant transformations for host territories: building stadiums, improvement of transport facilities. In these metropolises, although they have different proportions of inhabitants to slum (22% in Rio de Janeiro and 9,3% in Curitiba), it's impossible to avoid spatial confrontation. Through five favelas (Vila Autodromo, Vidigal, Morro da Providência, Vila Torres, Vila Parolin) in two different conurbations (Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba ), the thesis shows that the interactions between the favelas and major woldwide events are shape-shifting and depend hugely on local backgrounds. The space approach, joined with urban sociology, provides a new reading of the confrontation between mega-events and favelas and brands the transformations: the excluded favela, the globalised favela, the trophy favela, the integrated favela and the ordinary favela. At the core of this confrontation there are three logics. That of making the favelas invisible, visually striking, aims at making their embarassing aspect disappear; the transfering logic causes people's relocation and lifestyle change; eventually the cultural logic, which is a Brazilian specificity, knocks over dichotomy by relying on the favela culture to promote a certain image of Brazil. The research combines many observations and area analysis in situ, a press review (local and global) and semi-guided interviews. The results show that the nature of the confrontations depends on the way the mega-events are integrated to the urban development of the host conurbations. The more the mega-event adapts to the territory in a long run vision, the more the confrontation with favelas leads to their integration in the city networking. Conversely, when the city adapts itself to the mega-event and ajusts its tranformations to the event agenda, the nature of confrontations is more violent. In this case favelas are a disruptive element as well as an opportunity to stand out positively for the conurbations that manage to make up for the deficiencies. They question in depth the urban ambitions and production modes, owing both to their persistence and their ability to transform.