Introdução: Na Doença de Alzheimer, o comprometimento no desempenho nas Atividades de Vida Diária (AVD) impacta diretamente a autonomia e independência do indivíduo. A capacidade funcional determina o nível de auxílio que uma pessoa irá necessitar no cotidiano para uma vida em segurança e com autonomia. Dentre os domínios cognitivos, a Função Executiva tem sido relatada como a mais associada com o desempenho de funcionalidade. Há a necessidade de instrumentos válidos para avaliar os déficits das funções executivas no desempenho de tarefas de mundo real em pacientes com doença de Alzheimer (DA) no Brasil. Objetivo: Validar a versão brasileira do teste Executive Performance Test (EFPT) em pacientes com doença de Alzheimer (DA). Métodos: Adaptação cultural do EFPT para o português do Brasil. Os estudos de confiabilidade e validade foram realizados com três grupos de idosos: controles, DA leve e DA moderada. Este estudo examinou a estabilidade do instrumento, a consistência interna (alfa de Cronbach), a validade de constructo e de critério e análises de precisão. Resultados: A amostra foi composta de 83 participantes com 60 anos ou mais, distribuídos em três grupos: controle, DA leve e DA moderada. A confiabilidade inter examinadores foi alta (ICC = 0,985), com alta consistência interna (Cronbach ? = 0,967). Houve forte correlação entre EFPT-Br Total e DAFS-BR (r = -0.762), correlação fraca a moderada com a bateria cognitiva e correlação moderada a forte com a bateria funcional. Foi realizado o cálculo da da ROC multiclasse área sob a curva de 0,8933, a pontuação sugerida para diferenciar os grupos : menor que 8 para controles; entre 9 e 27 para DA leve; e acima de 28 para DA moderada, para discriminar grupos. Conclusão: O EFPT-BR é um teste válido, com parâmetros psicométricos satisfatórios, para discriminar pacientes saudáveis, com DA leve e DA moderada na realização de tarefas instrumentais. O teste fornece informações consistentes para auxiliar a compreensão do desempenho de pacientes com DA na realização de atividades de vida diária com mais autonomia e segurança / Background: In Alzheimer\'s disease, the impairment in performing Activities of Daily Life (ADL) directly affects the autonomy and independence of the individual. The functionality determine a person needs for a safe and autonomous life. Among the cognitive domains, Executive Function has been reported as the most associated with functionality performance. There is a need for valid assessments to evaluate the deficits of executive functions in performing of real world tasks with patients with Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) in Brazil. Objective: To validate to Brazilian Portuguese version of the Executive Function Performance Test (EFPT) in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Methods: Cultural adaptation of EFPT to Brazilian Portuguese. The reliability and validity studies were performed with three groups of elderly: controls, mild AD and moderate AD. This study examines instrument stability, an internal consistency (Cronbach\'s alpha), a construct and criterion validity, and precision analyzes. Results: The sample consisted of 83 participants aged 60 years and over, divided into three groups: control, mild AD and moderate AD. The inter-examiner reliability was high (ICC = 0.985), with high internal consistency (Cronbach ? = 0.967). There was a strong correlation between EFPT-Br Total and DAFS-BR (r = -0.762), weak to moderate correlation with a cognitive battery and moderate to strong correlation with the functional battery. We performed the calculation of the ROC multiclass area under the curve of 0.8933, a score suggested to differentiate the groups: less than 8 for controls; between 9 and 27 for mild AD; and above 28 for moderate AD, to discriminate groups. Conclusion: EFPT-BR is a valid test with satisfactory psychometric parameters to discriminate healthy patients with mild AD and moderate AD in performing instrumental tasks. The test provides consistent information to assist in understanding the performance of AD patients in carrying out more autonomous and safe daily life activities

Customer Relationship Management blir ett allt vanligare verktyg för att hantera kundvård för företag, det används främst för att hantera kundrelationer och lagra kundinformation. Customer Relationship Management, eller CRM, bygger på en affärsfilosofi som bör genomsyra hela organisationen. Denna filosofi blir en strategi för att hjälpa företag hantera sina nuvarande och kommande kunder. CRM uppkom först på 90-talet då förståelsen för kundvård startade i kombination med automatisering av försäljningsprocesser och analysering av kunddata. Idag är CRM också ett informationssystem som stödjer organisationens kundvårdsstrategi och som möjliggör dagens arbete med CRM. Det blir en knutpunkt i många organisationer och får en central roll för det dagliga arbetet. Men, precis som med alla informationssystem så kan även CRM bli felande. Studien kommer därför att presenter vilka delar av införandeprocessen som är kritiska och även presentera vilka misstag som bör undvikas vid införandet och det kontinuerliga arbetet med CRM. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och bygger på intervjuer från företag som arbetar med CRM, studien är fallstudie inspirerad. / Customer Relationship Management is an increasingly common tool to manage customer care for companies, it is mainly used to manage customer relationships and store customer information. Customer Relationship Management or CRM is based on a business philosophy that should permeate the entire organization. This philosophy is a strategy to help companies manage their current and future customers. CRM came in the 90s, when the understanding of the customer- care started in combination with the automation of sales processes and analyzing customer data. Today, CRM is also an information system that supports the organization's customer care strategy which enables them to work with CRM. It becomes a hub for many organizations and has a central role in the daily work. But, just like any information system it may also fail. The study will therefore present which parts of the implementation that is critical. The study will also present which mistakes to avoid during the implementation and the continuous work with CRM. This study is qualitative in nature and based on interviews of companies that work with CRM, the study is case study inspired.

The rising demand to be able to work and use applications wherever you go dictates the need to be able to connect remotely to desktops. This challenge is addressed by so called remote desktop applications that allow the user to locally view and control a remote computer. Such a solution requires installation of specialized software on both the remote computer and the local computer. The software on the local computer is the client software. Most implementations of such client software are native clients which are software packages installed on the client machine. A logical evolution path for remote desktop clients is the shift to a web browser version that will not require the installation of any specific software.HTML5 is an upcoming standard and markup language for the world wide web. HTML5 brings new features which open up new possibilities for web developers. The potential of HTML5 technologies draw remote desktop developers' attention. New HTML5 versions of remote desktop clients have started to appear due to this.However, these new realizations are limited and far from being powerful enough to replace native clients. Thus, it is still completely unknown whether an HTML5-based remote desktop client has possibilities to replace native remote desktop clients. This thesis aims to address this knowledge gap. Essential technical features such as audio and local printing for remote desktop solutions were investigated in the context of an HTML5 client. Functionality was implemented and tested, and future development was evaluated.The resulting features that were implemented along with the evaluated future features were subject to some limitations inherited by the HTML5 platform. As a result of this work, it was concluded that it is not possible to achieve features with the same level of functionality as the features seen in the native clients. In order to accomplish this, the browsers would have to implement specific interfaces for the required hardware and systems. These limitations prevent complete replacement of native remote desktop clients with a HTML5 based client in the near future. However, the HTML5 client has a dedicated area where its features suit their purpose. The HTML5 client is available where the native clients are not. The browser platform brings unprecedented accessibility advantages.

Nach den Ergebnissen der zweiten Nationalen Verzehrsstudie sind in Deutschland bereits 66 % der Männer und 51 % der Frauen übergewichtig (BMI > 25) oder adipös (BMI > 30) [BMELV, 2008]. Bisher auf dem Markt befindliche „Light-Lebensmittel“ mit Fettaustausch- bzw. Fettersatzstoffen weisen jedoch häufig sensorische Mängel auf. Im Kooperationsprojekt „Pflanzliche Fettaustauschstoffe aus sphärischen Proteinmizellen“ (Universität Leipzig: Institut für Lebensmittelhygiene; Freising: Fraunhofer IVV) wurde ein Lupinenproteinisolat entwickelt, welches micellare Strukturen mit hydrophober Oberfläche ausbilden kann und sich aufgrund seiner fettähnlichen Eigenschaften als neuer proteinbasierter Fettaustauschstoff in Lebensmitteln eignet. Aufgrund der geringen mikrobiologischen Stabilität und einer hohen Belastung mit sporenbildenden Bakterien, z. T. Bacillus cereus, waren jedoch Maßnahmen zur Entkeimung der Rohstoffe sowie des Proteinisolats notwendig. Die Arbeit stellt diese Maßnahmen und deren Einfluss auf die mikrobiologische Beschaffenheit sowie sensorische, technofunktionelle und ausgewählte ernährungsphysiologische Eigenschaften dar. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde eine physikalische Methode der Saatgutentkeimung etabliert (130 °C/60 min), welche die mikrobielle Stabilisierung des lupinenproteinbasierten Fettaustauschstoffes sicherstellte, wobei die sensorische Qualität (Geschmack, Cremigkeit, Farbe) nur minimal, die ernährungsphysiologische (in-vitro-Verdaubarkeit, Maillard-Produkte, Polyphenolgehalt) jedoch nicht beeinflusst wurde. Starke Veränderungen der technofunktionellen Eigenschaften (z. B. Gelbildung, Wasserbindung, Emulgierbarkeit, Schaumbildung etc.) konnten sowohl im positiven als auch im negativen Sinne nicht beschrieben werden. Lichtmikroskopische Aufnahmen und Untersuchungen der Proteine mittels SDS-PAGE und DSC bestätigten eine nur geringfügige Beeinflussung der micellaren Struktur und Proteinzusammensetzung. Die Anwendung als Fettaustauschstoff in Lebensmitteln würde somit nicht beeinträchtigt. Der Einfluss der Saatgutbehandlung auf das Protein war wesentlich geringer als eine direkte thermische Behandlung des Proteinisolats. Im Hinblick auf den Gesamtprozess sollte eine Pasteurisierung der feuchten Proteinisolate im nichtproteinschädigenden Temperaturbereich (75 °C/5 min) dennoch durchgeführt werden, um während des Prozesses eingetragene Mikroorganismen zu inaktivieren.

Customer relationship management includes all the sophisticated methodologies. It is a comprehensive way to manage the relationships which company has with its customers. There is a fierce competiton between companies, small businesses have to compete on equal terms with large organizations. This situation leads to discussion about customer oriented approach and diligence to prevent the loss of customer portfolio. Increase in the knowledge of customers is a key point of success. Information technology boosts customer relationship management. Companies face expensiveness of technologies and they try to find cheaper and more reachable solution. To find and evaluate criteria of success of CRM Software-as-a-Service in Czech Republic is the objective of my thesis. The goal is to define a method on how to find aspects of success, to research and to evaluate the results. Thesis contains insight into levels of CRM, summary of criteria of CRM choice, description of SaaS technology, research, results and final conclusion.

Research on policy implementation suggests that many education reforms designed to improve the quality of education in general have been more rhetorical than substantive in their impact on the organisation of schools and classrooms. Schools and classrooms do change, but the extent and directions of change are not always consistent with the intention of policy initiatives. This same argument applies to the South African education policy process, where a substantial body of literature has documented the gaps between the intention of policy makers (intended policy) and their implementation (implemented policy) in schools. The gap has been especially relevant for those policies focusing on the change of the knowledge, skills and competency levels of teachers through accountability and professional development policies. The purpose of this investigative and descriptive study originated in a hypothesis that the lack of orientation, knowledge sharing, understanding and the capacity building of teachers on policy intentions make it difficult for teachers to implement policies. I assumed therefore that through information and workshop sessions the gap between the policy intentions and the practice of teachers can be solved. In particular, my involvement in the drafting of the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) policy gave me the sense that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the policy, but that the lack of capacity building among teachers is what is undermining the implementation of the policy in schools. The study therefore intended to investigate the impact of a five-day information session on the implementation process of the DAS policy at Cape Flats Secondary School (CFSS) – this is a pseudo name. These sessions were facilitated by me during the last semester of 2001. Thereafter, the school was given a year to implement the policy during 2002. Regular contact with the chairperson of the Staff Development Team (SDT) to ascertain the progress of implementation brought me to the realisation after eighteen months and still no implementation that the focus of my study had to change to understand the challenges of implementation at the school. As a member of the Policy Formulation team, I could not understand why a policy with such immense potential in enhancing professional development among teachers could not be implemented in a school where staff members publicly stated their commitment to implement the policy. This school (CFSS) in particular, had a high number of union leaders involved at numerous levels within the union who researched and developed the initial ideas and proposals of the DAS policy. The study is therefore guided by the following questions: 1. What made it difficult for the staff of Cape Flats Secondary School to implement the DAS policy, despite a high level of stated commitment to implement the policy and a thorough five-day information session (both theoretical and practical) on how to implement the policy? a) What was the expected level, scope or depth of the policy change, envisaged by policy formulators, necessary by the school to implement the policy? b) Which elements of the policy and the conditions at the school needed to be supported by implementation support agents (national, provincial and district officials) to facilitate the implementation at school level? and c) What was the level of functionality of the school to facilitate the successful implementation of this policy? This research explains how the different levels of functionality of schools affect the potential of implementation of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy. In particular, I reflect on the deliberations which inform the features of the DAS policy, during the policy formulation stage. I furthermore pay special attention to what interviewees called the ‘what was going on’ at the school, as if ‘outsiders’ don’t know what was going on in the school. The research therefore focuses on the functionality of the school through the lenses of ten school functionality components. Teachers at CFSS believe that policy makers do not understand and know what is going on at their school and therefore the effect, relevance and implementability of their policies are disconnected from the operational implementation contexts of schools. The data was collected over a period of six months. In this regard, I used multiple methods of data collection which include critical engagement with the entire staff through information workshop sessions, semi-structured interviews, critical engagements with the strategic liaison team, structured questionnaires, document analysis and photographic records. The main insights of the study include the following: -- Policy makers have to re-assess and re-conceptualise the current policy making paradigm in operation in developing ‘professional’ policy; -- The influence and power relations of employers and employee parties in the policy-making process must be re-assessed and re-conceptualised in order to clarify the policy-making process in South Africa; -- The lack of systems (both technical and human), at different levels of education, makes it impossible to monitor and evaluate the effective and efficient implementation of the DAS policy; -- Understanding schools as individual organisations with unique characteristics, is a key pre-requisite for developing policies that are aimed at addressing real problems at specific schools; -- Leadership and management skills are seriously lacking at South African schools; -- Educators should implement reform policies around clear performance standards and accountability expectations; -- Intervention support agents should help schools make informed choices among a variety of implementation strategies; -- Policy makers should allocate target funding to encourage adoption of proven change practice; -- Policy makers should focus on schools that are ready for change with an expectation that many schools not ready for change this year may in the normal course of events become ready within a few years. The key insights of this research make this study unique and offer critical advice to policy makers. In particular, the re-organisation of the literature on policy-practice gaps (PPG) is insightful. The utilisation of both qualitative and quantitative data adds validity and reliability to the study. More importantly, the study shows that quantitative data can contribute towards understanding the policy implementation challenges in schools. Finally, my ‘insider’ experience of the policy-making process shares rare deliberations of what are the ‘trade-offs’ during the policy formulation stage. / Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Deux systèmes biologiques distincts, les muscles squelettiques et les sites d'adhésion de cellules kératocytes en mouvement, sont considérés dans un même cadre en raison de la similitude profonde de leur structure et de leur fonctionnalité. La réponse passive de l'un et de l'autre peut être modélisée à l'aide d'un grand nombre d'unités multi-stables couplées par des interactions à longue portée, et exposées à un désordre spatial fixé et un bruit thermique/mécanique. Les interactions à longue portée dans de tels systèmes conduisent à une synchronisation malgré les fluctuations temporelles et spatiales. Bien que les deux systèmes biologiques considérés présentent des différences structurelles importantes, nous montrons que l'on peut identifier une structure de verre de spin sous-jacente commune. À la lumière de cette analogie, ces systèmes vivants semblent être proches de points critiques et, à cet égard, le désordre gelé, reflétant l’incommensurabilité stérique des unités parallèles, peut être fonctionnel. Un autre paramètre important fixant la réponse est la rigidité interne du système qui couple les unités entre elles. / Two biological systems, a half-sarcomere of a skeletal muscle and an adhesive cluster of a crawling keratocyte, are considered in parallel because of the deep similarity in their structure and functionality. Their passive response can be modeled by a large number of multi-stable units coupled through long-range interactions, frustrated by quenched disorder and exposed to thermal noise. In such systems, long-range interactions lead to synchronization, defying temporal and spatial fluctuations. We use a mean-field description to obtain analytic results and elucidate the remarkable ensemble-dependence of the mechanical behavior of such systems in the thermodynamic limit. Despite important structural differences between muscle cross-bridges and adhesive binders, one can identify a common underlying spin glass structure, which we fully exploit in this work. Our study suggests that the muscle machinery is fine-tuned to operate near criticality, and we argue that in this respect the quenched disorder, reflecting here steric incommensuration, may be functional. We use the analogy between cell detachment and thermal fracture of disordered solids to study the statistics of fluctuations during cellular adhesion. We relate the obtained results to recent observations of intermittent behavior involved in cell debonding, also suggesting near-criticality. In addition to the study of the equilibrium properties of adhesive clusters, we also present the first results on their kinetic behavior in the presence of time-dependent loading.

This letter discusses a feasible variant of vertically integrated reconfigurable field effect transistors (RFET) based on top-down nanowires. The structures were studied by 3-D device simulations. Subdividing the structure into two vertical pillars allows a lean technological realization as well as simple access to the electrodes. In addition of enabling p- and n-FET operations like a horizontal RFET, the device delivers higher performance. We show that by the integration of additional vertical pillars and select gates, a higher device functionality and flexibility in interconnection are provided.

Les villes d’Europe centrale et orientale suscitent l’intérêt des chercheurs, car leur évolution a suivi des trajectoires particulières vu leur histoire complexe. Mais le plus souvent leurs transformations sont recensées à partir des changements politiques et socio-économiques et non pas du point de vue de l’évolution morphologique et fonctionnelle. Cette thèse propose une démarche d’analyse quantitative à la fois des changements morphologiques des villes d’Europe centrale et orientale avant et après l’effondrement de communisme, ainsi que des changements fonctionnels dans la période post-socialiste, les deux doublées par une analyse exploratoire de la capacité de résilience spatiale et socio-économique des villes à court et à long terme. Par conséquent, cette thèse vise à ajouter la dimension spatiale à l’analyse socio-économique et politique de la ville post-socialiste de l’Europe centrale et orientale, en questionnant les similarités et les dissimilarités qui les caractérisent. Nos résultats montrent un territoire d’Europe centrale et orientale assez hétérogène, avec des fractures ouest-est au niveau régional (dans l’ensemble du territoire), mais également au niveau national. La ville d’Europe centrale et orientale s’esquisse dans un modelé urbain conciliant l’héritage du passé, y compris l’héritage socialiste, avec les nouvelles demandes de l’économie de marché, ce qui se traduit spatialement par l’émergence d’une ville qui se rapproche du modèle de la ville d’Europe de l’Ouest, tout en restant différente. / Cities in Central and Eastern Europe are a subject of interest for researchers, as their evolution has followed particular trajectories in view of their complex history. However, often, the transformations of the cities of Central and Eastern European countries are analysed by taking into account only the political and socio-economic changes and not from the point of view of morphological and functional evolution. Thus, this thesis proposes a quantitative approach in what concerns the analysis of both the morphological changes of the cities of Central and Eastern Europe before and after the collapse of communism as well as the functional changes of the post-socialist period, both doubled by an exploratory analysis of spatial and socio-economic capacity of resilience of cities in the short and long term. Therefore, this thesis aims to add the spatial dimension to the socio-economic and political analysis of the post-socialist city of Central and Eastern Europe, by questioning the similarities and dissimilarities that characterize them. Our results show a rather heterogeneous territory of Central and Eastern Europe, with West-East fractures at the regional level, as well as at the national level. The city of Central and Eastern Europe is outlined as an urban model that seeks to reconcile the legacy of the past, including the socialist legacy, with the new demands of the market economy, which spatially translates into the emergence of a similar city, but in the same time different from that of Western Europe, which he seeks to match, fact that proves its complex context of evolution.

PhDRDV / Institute for Rural Development / In other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, Traditional Councils (TCs) have always been central to the governance of rural communities. In South Africa, they were restructured in 2003 in order to promote effective leadership and good governance. According to the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act 41 of 2003, TCs are responsible for land administration, promotion of peace and stability, facilitating service delivery and building sustainable social cohesion in rural communities, among others. In Vhembe District, for example, land disputes, violent protests and xenophobic attacks are experienced. This situation raises the question whether TCs are really functional. Multi stage stratified random sampling was used to select six out of the 43 TCs in the Vhembe District for the purpose of the current study. Age, gender and degree of rurality were considered when selecting respondents. Using the exploratory sequential mixed methods design, a series of studies were conducted to suggest a functionality index for TCs. The first study was conducted to clarify the meaning of rural development as perceived by grassroots communities. Focus group discussions, observation and preference ranking were used to collect data in the six TCs. Using Atlas Ti version 7.5 software, standard of living, service provision, empowerment, agricultural practice, economic development, shopping malls, indigenous culture and traditions, competent human resource and spatial planning were identified as key elements of rural development. The Friedman test of the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used to calculate the mean ranks of the identified themes. Most respondents (mean rank 7.57) defined rural development in terms of service delivery with construction of shopping centres (mean rank 3.90) and promotion of culture ( mean rank 3.65) being the least popular views. Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < 0. 01) confirmed service delivery and standard of life to be the most preferred indicators of rural development. The second study was to explain the roles of TCS in developing rural communities. In addition to reviewing previous literature and legislations, focus group discussions, observations and preference ranking techniques were used to explain the roles of TCs in rural development. Service delivery, land administration, management of resources, social welfare, administration of justice, economic development, records keeping, recruitment of investors, moral regeneration, culture and tradition, and communication were identified as key roles of TC in developing rural communities. The Friedman test was performed to calculate the mean ranks of each of the identified roles. The results indicated that provisioning of service delivery (mean rank 7.34) was the most preferred role TCs are expected to perform in developing rural communities with communication (mean rank 4.75) being the least preferred. Wilcoxon signedrank test (P=0.00) indicated that there was a remarkable significance difference between the most recognised role of TC (service delivery) and the other three (communication, culture and moral regeneration) which were identified as less important in the current study. It was evident in the study that various government policies that defines the roles of TCs did not provide specific duties traditional councillors should perform within the listed fields of functional domains. The third study was carried out to determine the major attributes of functional TCs in the Vhembe District of South Africa. Leadership and governance, resources, organisational structure, development programmes and social cohesion were the main five attributes of functional TCs identified in the study. Friedman test was computed to establish the mean ranks of each of the identified attributes. The study revealed that effective leadership and good governance (mean rank 3.71) was the most attribute contributing to the functionality of TCs in Vhembe rural communities with social cohesion (mean rank 2.03) being the least identified. The results of Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < 0.01) indicated a significance difference only to those pairs of variables including social cohesion. Therefore, the study concluded that social cohesion was the least preferred attribute of functional TCs. The results of the study were used to develop an index for measuring the functionality of TCs in rural development. The equation is in the form: 􀜻􀯜 􀵌 􀟤 􀵅 􀟚􀬵􀜴 􀵅 􀟚􀬶􀜵 􀵅 􀟚􀬷􀜦􀜲 􀵅 􀟚􀬸􀜵􀜥 􀵅 􀟚􀬹􀜮􀜩 􀵅 􀟳 To become functional, traditional councillors should be equipped with leadership and governance skills for rural development. Based on the findings of the current study, it is further recommended that provisioning of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity in Vhembe rural communities be prioritized over other programmes for development discussed in the study. Furthermore, the study recommends for establishment of guidelines explaining the roles of TCs and to be translated in local languages. / NRF