A gestão e gerenciamento de riscos naturais têm sido aprimorados à medida que as perdas associadas a desastres assumem proporções insustentáveis do ponto de vista socioeconômico. As inundações graduais são os desastres que mais provocam perdas materiais e humanas mundialmente. Assim, esse trabalho objetiva propor uma metodologia para zoneamento de risco a inundações graduais para áreas urbanas localizadas em grandes bacias hidrográficas. A aplicabilidade da sistemática proposta foi na área urbana do município de Uruguaiana. A metodologia foi estruturada primeiramente para definir os tempos de retorno, ou seja, os graus de perigo, através de modelos matemáticos. Na análise da vulnerabilidade incluíram-se parâmetros associados às características socioeconômicas, estrutura das edificações, infraestrutura urbana, doenças de veiculação hídrica e o impacto emocional. A combinação entre os graus de perigo a inundações e a vulnerabilidade, permitiu a construção de “Mapas de Risco”. Assim, foram gerados três níveis de perigo identificando-se 1664 edificações, dessas 857 possuem baixo padrão estrutural, sendo estruturalmente muito frágeis. Consequentemente as áreas com alta vulnerabilidade são predominantes envolvendo muitas residências de baixo padrão urbano, deficiência na infraestrutura urbana, um grande número de pessoas atingidas, aproximadamente 4300, e com uma baixa capacidade resiliente (baixa renda nominal). São os locais que mais impactam psicologicamente a população em pré-evento e pós-evento. A zona de média vulnerabilidade é pequena e concentra-se na parte Centro/Norte da área urbana, a faixa de baixa vulnerabilidade também ocupa uma pequena área e está distribuída por toda a zona de perigo, nela encontramos setores com uma renda média nominal superior a R$ 600,00, ultrapassando os R$ 2000,00. Apesar de possuir um numero significativo de pessoas afetadas (aproximadamente 1000) as condições das edificações e a renda permite uma total recuperação, mesmo em médio prazo. Em relação ao risco, assim como ocorreu na vulnerabilidade, na faixa de alto risco, encontram-se um total de 832 edificações, com aproximadamente 2900 pessoas, constituindo-se a maioria de residências de baixo padrão estrutural com um sistema de esgoto, água e drenagem pluvial inexistente e viário deficitário. A faixa de risco médio possui 490 edificações, dessas duas são para usos comerciais e três são institucionais, e possui em torno de 1500 pessoas. Nas áreas caracterizadas de baixo risco predominam edificações com médio e alto padrão construtivo, com 334 residências e aproximadamente 800 pessoas. Nesse sentido, o conhecimento teórico, técnico e prático sobre as áreas de perigo, vulnerabilidade e risco de inundações graduais é, indiscutivelmente, fundamental para o desenvolvimento de técnicas adequadas para estabelecer planos de proteção civil e programar sistemas de vigilância dos fenômenos e alerta a população de Uruguaiana. / The management of natural hazards have been enhanced as the losses associated with disasters assume unsustainable proportions of the socioeconomic point of view. Gradual floods are the disasters that cause material losses and more human world. Thus, this paper aims to propose a methodology for risk zoning the gradual flooding to urban areas located in large river basins. The applicability of the methodology proposed was in the urban area of the municipality of Uruguaiana. The methodology was first structured to set the return time, namely the degree of danger, by mathematical models. The vulnerability analysis included up parameters associated with socioeconomic characteristics, the structure of buildings, urban infrastructure, waterborne diseases and the emotional impact. The combination of the degrees of danger and vulnerability to floods, allowed the construction of "Risk Maps". Therefore, we generated three hazard levels identifying buildings in 1664, 857 of these have low structural pattern, being structurally very fragile. Consequently areas with high vulnerability are prevalent involving many low standard urban residences, deficiency in urban infrastructure, a large number of people affected, about 4300, and with a low resilient capacity (low nominal income). Are the places that most psychologically impacting the population in pre-event and post-event. The average vulnerability zone is small and focuses on the Center/North inner city, low vulnerability group also occupies a small area and is distributed throughout the danger zone, there we find sectors with an average nominal income above R$ 600,00, surpassing the R$ 2.000,00. Despite having a significant number of affected people (about 1000) the conditions of the buildings and the income allows a full recovery, even in the medium term. Regarding the risk, as occurred in vulnerability in high-risk group, there are a total of 832 buildings, with about 2900 people, constituting the majority of low structural pattern residences with a sewer system, water and nonexistent storm drainage and road deficit. The medium-risk group has 490 buildings, these two are for commercial uses and three are institutional, and has around 1500 people. Characterized in low-risk areas predominate buildings with medium and high construction standards, with 334 homes and approximately 800 people. In this sense, the theoretical, technical and practical knowledge about the areas of risk, vulnerability and risk of progressive flooding is arguably crucial to the development of appropriate techniques to establish civil protection plans and program of phenomena surveillance systems and alert the population Uruguaiana.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Estatística, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estatística, 2015. / Submitted by Fernanda Percia França (fernandafranca@bce.unb.br) on 2016-03-24T13:44:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_RaquelAraújodeAlmeida.pdf: 4445488 bytes, checksum: 710ab230eeeec1cf3e7badbab7edc655 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marília Freitas(marilia@bce.unb.br) on 2016-05-26T16:28:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_RaquelAraújodeAlmeida.pdf: 4445488 bytes, checksum: 710ab230eeeec1cf3e7badbab7edc655 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-26T16:28:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_RaquelAraújodeAlmeida.pdf: 4445488 bytes, checksum: 710ab230eeeec1cf3e7badbab7edc655 (MD5) / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor um método alternativo de pontuação para as questões do tipo A das provas do vestibular da UnB elaboradas pelo CEBRASPE. Esse novo método de pontuação consiste em aplicar o Modelo de Resposta Gradual (MRG), da Teoria da Resposta ao Item, ao considerar como uma alternativa de resposta a “não resposta” do aluno às questões do tipo A das provas do vestibular da UnB, nas quais os indivíduos ganham um ponto ao acertarem a questão, perdem um ponto ao errarem a questão e ganham zero pontos por não responderem a questão. Este método de pontuação foi proposto com o intuito de melhorar a avaliação dos indivíduos, visto que a teoria da resposta ao item apresenta inúmeras vantagens em relação ao método convencionalmente utilizado pelo CEBRASPE. Os resultados mostraram uma alta proximidade das notas estimadas pelo modelo de resposta gradual e das notas obtidas pelo método convencional. Dessa forma, pôde-se concluir que o método proposto é eficiente em avaliar os indivíduos com o aditivo das vantagens que a Teoria da Resposta ao Item oferece. Porém, tanto os resultados como algumas limitações evidenciaram oportunidades futuras de pesquisas sob a proposta apresentada, ainda não exaustivamente exploradas. / This paper aims to propose an alternative scoring method for questions of type A of the UnB vestibular entrance exam prepared by CEBRASPE. This new correction method applies the Graded Response Model (GRM) from Item Response Theory. We consider “no answer” as an additional response class to the regular possibilities “right” or “wrong”. in the UnB vestibular entrance exam, individuals score 1 for each question with right answer, -1 for each question with wrong answer, and 0 for no answer. This scoring method has been proposed in order to improve the evaluation of individuals' proficiencies, as the item response theory has many advantages compared to the conventional method used by CEBRASPE. The results showed a high correlation between the scores obtained with the use of the graded response model and the scores given by the conventional method. We concluded that the proposed method is effective in evaluating individuals' proficiencies with the advantages of the Item Response Theory. However, the results show opportunities for future research in the studied problem.

La mise au point d'une cellule de SOFC haute performance de configuration anode support pour un fonctionnement sous méthane pur nécessite l'élaboration d'un film mince d'électrolyte et le développement d'une architecture innovante permettant le reformage d'hydrocarbures. La première partie du travail a consisté en l'élaboration de films minces d'électrolyte de zircone stabilisée à l'oxyde d'yttrium par atomisation électrostatique sur un substrat composite poreux NiO-8YSZ. Cette technique originale a permis l'obtention de films minces, denses et étanches à partir d'une suspension, présentant des propriétés électriques comparables à celles d'un échantillon massif de même composition. La seconde partie du travail a porté sur la mise au point d'une cellule de SOFC optimisée dont l'architecture innovante intégrant une membrane anodique catalytique est basée sur le concept associant le reformage interne progressif et le découplage électro-catalytique. Une séquence d'élaboration établie spécifiquement conditionne l'assemblage des éléments optimisés de la cellule. L'adaptation de la cellule dans un banc de mesures a permis la réalisation de tests électrochimiques sous hydrogène et méthane à haute température. Le fonctionnement stable du dispositif pendant plus de 1000 h sous méthane pur avec un taux d'utilisation optimisé, sans apport extérieur d'eau et sans dépôt de carbone a validé le concept étudié. / The design of a high performance anode supported SOFC operating under pure methane requires the elaboration of a thin film of electrolyte and the development of an original architecture adapted to the reforming of hydrocarbons. The first part of this work was dedicated to the elaboration of yttria stabilized zirconia thin films of electrolyte by ESD onto a NiO-8YSZ porous substrate. This original technique has allowed the fabrication of thin, dense and gas-tight films starting from a suspension, with good electrical properties comparable to that of a bulk sample of the same nature. The second part of this work concerned the design of an optimized SOFC cell with an original architecture integrating an anodic catalytic membrane based on a concept gathering the gradual internal reforming and the electro-catalytic dissociation. The assembly of the optimized components is conditioned by an elaboration sequence specifically established. The adjustment of the cell in a test bench led to the achievement of electrochemical tests in hydrogen and methane at 800°C. The stable operating of the cell fueled by pure and dry methane with optimized faradaic efficiency for more than 1000 h without carbon deposition proved the viability of the studied concept.

A gestão e gerenciamento de riscos naturais têm sido aprimorados à medida que as perdas associadas a desastres assumem proporções insustentáveis do ponto de vista socioeconômico. As inundações graduais são os desastres que mais provocam perdas materiais e humanas mundialmente. Assim, esse trabalho objetiva propor uma metodologia para zoneamento de risco a inundações graduais para áreas urbanas localizadas em grandes bacias hidrográficas. A aplicabilidade da sistemática proposta foi na área urbana do município de Uruguaiana. A metodologia foi estruturada primeiramente para definir os tempos de retorno, ou seja, os graus de perigo, através de modelos matemáticos. Na análise da vulnerabilidade incluíram-se parâmetros associados às características socioeconômicas, estrutura das edificações, infraestrutura urbana, doenças de veiculação hídrica e o impacto emocional. A combinação entre os graus de perigo a inundações e a vulnerabilidade, permitiu a construção de “Mapas de Risco”. Assim, foram gerados três níveis de perigo identificando-se 1664 edificações, dessas 857 possuem baixo padrão estrutural, sendo estruturalmente muito frágeis. Consequentemente as áreas com alta vulnerabilidade são predominantes envolvendo muitas residências de baixo padrão urbano, deficiência na infraestrutura urbana, um grande número de pessoas atingidas, aproximadamente 4300, e com uma baixa capacidade resiliente (baixa renda nominal). São os locais que mais impactam psicologicamente a população em pré-evento e pós-evento. A zona de média vulnerabilidade é pequena e concentra-se na parte Centro/Norte da área urbana, a faixa de baixa vulnerabilidade também ocupa uma pequena área e está distribuída por toda a zona de perigo, nela encontramos setores com uma renda média nominal superior a R$ 600,00, ultrapassando os R$ 2000,00. Apesar de possuir um numero significativo de pessoas afetadas (aproximadamente 1000) as condições das edificações e a renda permite uma total recuperação, mesmo em médio prazo. Em relação ao risco, assim como ocorreu na vulnerabilidade, na faixa de alto risco, encontram-se um total de 832 edificações, com aproximadamente 2900 pessoas, constituindo-se a maioria de residências de baixo padrão estrutural com um sistema de esgoto, água e drenagem pluvial inexistente e viário deficitário. A faixa de risco médio possui 490 edificações, dessas duas são para usos comerciais e três são institucionais, e possui em torno de 1500 pessoas. Nas áreas caracterizadas de baixo risco predominam edificações com médio e alto padrão construtivo, com 334 residências e aproximadamente 800 pessoas. Nesse sentido, o conhecimento teórico, técnico e prático sobre as áreas de perigo, vulnerabilidade e risco de inundações graduais é, indiscutivelmente, fundamental para o desenvolvimento de técnicas adequadas para estabelecer planos de proteção civil e programar sistemas de vigilância dos fenômenos e alerta a população de Uruguaiana. / The management of natural hazards have been enhanced as the losses associated with disasters assume unsustainable proportions of the socioeconomic point of view. Gradual floods are the disasters that cause material losses and more human world. Thus, this paper aims to propose a methodology for risk zoning the gradual flooding to urban areas located in large river basins. The applicability of the methodology proposed was in the urban area of the municipality of Uruguaiana. The methodology was first structured to set the return time, namely the degree of danger, by mathematical models. The vulnerability analysis included up parameters associated with socioeconomic characteristics, the structure of buildings, urban infrastructure, waterborne diseases and the emotional impact. The combination of the degrees of danger and vulnerability to floods, allowed the construction of "Risk Maps". Therefore, we generated three hazard levels identifying buildings in 1664, 857 of these have low structural pattern, being structurally very fragile. Consequently areas with high vulnerability are prevalent involving many low standard urban residences, deficiency in urban infrastructure, a large number of people affected, about 4300, and with a low resilient capacity (low nominal income). Are the places that most psychologically impacting the population in pre-event and post-event. The average vulnerability zone is small and focuses on the Center/North inner city, low vulnerability group also occupies a small area and is distributed throughout the danger zone, there we find sectors with an average nominal income above R$ 600,00, surpassing the R$ 2.000,00. Despite having a significant number of affected people (about 1000) the conditions of the buildings and the income allows a full recovery, even in the medium term. Regarding the risk, as occurred in vulnerability in high-risk group, there are a total of 832 buildings, with about 2900 people, constituting the majority of low structural pattern residences with a sewer system, water and nonexistent storm drainage and road deficit. The medium-risk group has 490 buildings, these two are for commercial uses and three are institutional, and has around 1500 people. Characterized in low-risk areas predominate buildings with medium and high construction standards, with 334 homes and approximately 800 people. In this sense, the theoretical, technical and practical knowledge about the areas of risk, vulnerability and risk of progressive flooding is arguably crucial to the development of appropriate techniques to establish civil protection plans and program of phenomena surveillance systems and alert the population Uruguaiana.

abstract: The early-16th-century manuscript commonly known as the Geese Book (New York, Morgan Library, M. 905) contains the entire Mass liturgy sung by the boys choir of the parish church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg, Germany prior to the Reformation. This thesis addresses the location and function of the sometimes enigmatic marginalia and the decorated or historiated initials in this large two-volume gradual. The paper begins with an analytical case study of a scene within the margins in which a wild woman, wielding a club, confronts a female dragon who has taken a child. Subsequently the size, subject matter, and physical positioning of the illuminations and decorations within the book and on its pages are examined with respect to the gradual's liturgical contents. It is hoped that through such methods, new conversations may begin as to the roles that marginalia and decoration may play within the multiple organizational schemes within a musical text of this kind. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Art History 2013

Submitted by Napoleana Barros Martins (napoleana_martins@hotmail.com) on 2016-08-08T14:31:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Fernanda Cardoso de Freitas.pdf: 1555586 bytes, checksum: f8768ffe8e726c40104ded747abbd2fd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2016-08-26T14:13:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Fernanda Cardoso de Freitas.pdf: 1555586 bytes, checksum: f8768ffe8e726c40104ded747abbd2fd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2016-08-26T14:17:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Fernanda Cardoso de Freitas.pdf: 1555586 bytes, checksum: f8768ffe8e726c40104ded747abbd2fd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-26T14:18:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Fernanda Cardoso de Freitas.pdf: 1555586 bytes, checksum: f8768ffe8e726c40104ded747abbd2fd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Before the plants remain completely submerged, the seasonal flooding occurs gradually in the várzea floodplain forests of the Amazon. The adaptive features developed by the plants to cope with the anaerobic conditions caused by the flooding period may vary according to the species, flooding duration, plant age and water column height. Therefore, we evaluated in Vitex cymosa 1-year follow-up seedlings if there are differences in the early development of morpho-physiological and biochemical features according to the influence of different levels of water column. The seedlings (n=15 per treatment) were submitted to three treatments over 45 days: no flooding (everyday watered), gradual flooding (daily 5 cm water column increase till the total plant submersion at the 10º day) and abrupt flooding (sudden totalsubmersion). After the flooding, the seedlings were monitored within 60 days. Non-destructive parameters were evaluated, which encopassed height and diameter growth, analysis of the chlorophyll a fluorescence, leaf loss and production and destructive parameters which encopassed biomass, relative growth rates, stalk and leaf anatomy, starch content and total soluble sugar amount. Based on morpho-physiological, anatomy and biochemical analysis, the gradual inundation allowed the V. cymosa seedlings to a short acclimatization period to face the total submersion, which was not observed in the abrupt flooding / Nas florestas de várzea da Amazônia a inundação geralmente ocorre de maneira gradativa até que as plantas permaneçam completamente submersas. As adaptações e respostas apresentadas pelas plantas devido à redução de oxigênio no período de inundação podem variar de acordo com a espécie, a idade da planta, a duração da inundação e a coluna de água. Assim, foi avaliado se as primeiras respostas morfofisiológicas e bioquímicas apresentadas por plântulas de Vitex cymosa com um ano de idade seriam diferentes de acordo com o nível da coluna de água imposta. Plântulas de V. cymosa (n = 15 / tratamento) foram submetidas a três tratamentos: sem inundação (rega diária), inundação gradativa (5 cm de água por dia até a total submersão no 10º dia) e inundação abrupta (submersão total súbita das plântulas) por um período de 45 dias. Após a inundação as plântulas foram monitoradas por um período de recuperação de 60 dias. Foram mensurados parâmetros não destrutivos, como crescimento em altura, diâmetro do caule, fluorescência da clorofila a, perda e produção de folhas e parâmetros destrutivos como biomassa, taxa de crescimento relativo, anatomia do caule e raiz, teor de amido e o açúcar solúvel total nas plântulas. Com base na análise conjunta das respostas morfofisiológicas e bioquímicas apresentadas, a inundação gradativa permitiu um curto período de aclimatação para as plântulas de V. cymosa enfrentarem a submersão completa, o que não se observou para a inundação abrupta.

L'Extraction de connaissances dans les bases de données est un processus qui vise à extraire un ensemble réduit de connaissances à fortes valeurs ajoutées à partir d'un grand volume de données. La fouille de données, l'une des étapes de ce processus, regroupe un certain nombre de taches, telles que : le clustering, la classification, l'extraction de règles d'associations, etc.La problématique d'extraction de règles d'association nécessite l'étape d'extraction de motifs fréquents. Nous distinguons plusieurs catégories de motifs : les motifs classiques, les motifs flous, les motifs graduels, les motifs séquentiels. Ces motifs diffèrent selon le type de données à partir desquelles l'extraction est faite et selon le type de corrélation qu'ils présentent.Les travaux de cette thèse s'inscrivent dans le contexte d'extraction de motifs graduels, flous et clos. En effet, nous définissons de nouveaux systèmes de clôture de la connexion de Galois relatifs, respectivement, aux motifs flous et graduels. Ainsi, nous proposons des algorithmes d'extraction d'un ensemble réduit pour les motifs graduels et les motifs flous.Nous proposons également deux approches d'extraction de motifs graduels flous, ceci en passant par la génération automatique des fonctions d'appartenance des attributs.En se basant sur les motifs flous clos et graduels clos, nous définissons des bases génériques de toutes les règles d'association graduelles et floues. Nous proposons également un système d'inférence complet et valide de toutes les règles à partir de ces bases. / Knowledge discovery in databases is a process aiming at extracting a reduced set of valuable knowledge from a huge amount of data. Data mining, one step of this process, includes a number of tasks, such as clustering, classification, of association rules mining, etc.The problem of mining association rules requires the step of frequent patterns extraction. We distinguish several categories of frequent patterns: classical patterns, fuzzy patterns, gradual patterns, sequential patterns, etc. All these patterns differ on the type of the data from which the extraction is done and the type of the relationship that represent.In this thesis, we particularly contribute with the proposal of fuzzy and gradual patterns extraction method.Indeed, we define new systems of closure of the Galois connection for, respectively, fuzzy and gradual patterns. Thus, we propose algorithms for extracting a reduced set of fuzzy and gradual patterns.We also propose two approaches for automatically defining fuzzy modalities that allow obtaining relevant fuzzy gradual patterns.Based on fuzzy closed and gradual closed patterns, we define generic bases of fuzzy and gradual association rules. We thus propose a complet and valid inference system to derive all redundant fuzzy and gradual association rules.

Les bases de données orientées graphes (NoSQL par exemple) permettent de gérer des données dans lesquelles les liens sont importants et des requêtes complexes sur ces données à l’aide d’un environnement dédié offrant un stockage et des traitements spécifiquement destinés à la structure de graphe. Un graphe de propriété dans un environnement NoSQL est alors vu comme un graphe orienté étiqueté dans lequel les étiquettes des nœuds et les relations sont des ensembles d’attributs (propriétés) de la forme (clé:valeur). Cela facilite la représentation de données et de connaissances sous la forme de graphes. De nombreuses applications réelles de telles bases de données sont actuellement connues dans le monde des réseaux sociaux, mais aussi des systèmes de recommandation, de la détection de fraudes, du data-journalisme (pour les panama papers par exemple). De telles structures peuvent cependant être assimilées à des bases NoSQL semi-structurées dans lesquelles toutes les propriétés ne sont pas présentes partout, ce qui conduit à des valeurs non présentes de manière homogène, soit parce que la valeur n’est pas connue (l’âge d’une personne par exemple) ou parce qu’elle n’est pas applicable (l’année du service militaire d’une femme par exemple dans un pays et à une époque à laquelle les femmes ne le faisaient pas). Cela gêne alors les algorithmes d’extraction de connaissance qui ne sont pas tous robustes aux données manquantes. Des approches ont été proposées pour remplacer les données manquantes et permettre aux algorithmes d’être appliqués. Cependant,nous considérons que de telles approches ne sont pas satisfaisantes car elles introduisent un biais ou même des erreurs quand aucune valeur n’était applicable. Dans nos travaux, nous nous focalisons sur l’extraction de motifs graduels à partir de telles bases de données. Ces motifs permettent d’extraire automatiquement les informations corrélées. Une première contribution est alors de définir quels sont les motifs pouvant être extraits à partir de telles bases de données. Nous devons, dans un deuxième temps, étendre les travaux existant dans la littérature pour traiter les valeurs manquantes dans les bases de données graphe, comme décrit ci-dessus. L’application de telles méthodes est alors rendue difficile car les propriétés classiquement appliquées en fouille de données (anti-monotonie) ne sont plus valides. Nous proposons donc une nouvelle approche qui est testée sur des données réelles et synthétiques. Une première forme de motif est extrait à partir des propriétés des nœuds et est étendue pour prendre en compte les relations entre nœuds. Enfin, notre approche est étendue au cas des motifs graduels flous afin de mieux prendre en compte la nature imprécise des connaissances présentes et à extraire. Les expérimentations sur des bases synthétiques ont été menées grâce au développement d’un générateur de bases de données de graphes de propriétés synthétiques. Nous en montrons les résultats en termes de temps calcul et consommation mémoire ainsi qu’en nombre de motifs générés. / Graph databases (NoSQL oriented graph databases) provide the ability to manage highly connected data and complex database queries along with the native graph-storage and processing. A property graph in a NoSQL graph engine is a labeled directed graph composed of nodes connected through relationships with a set of attributes or properties in the form of (key:value) pairs. It facilitates to represent the data and knowledge that are in form of graphs. Practical applications of graph database systems have been seen in social networks, recommendation systems, fraud detection, and data journalism, as in the case for panama papers. Often, we face the issue of missing data in such kind of systems. In particular, these semi-structured NoSQL databases lead to a situation where some attributes (properties) are filled-in while other ones are not available, either because they exist but are missing (for instance the age of a person that is unknown) or because they are not applicable for a particular case (for instance the year of military service for a girl in countries where it is mandatory only for boys). Therefore, some keys can be provided for some nodes and not for other ones. In such a scenario, when we want to extract knowledge from these new generation database systems, we face the problem of missing data that arise need for analyzing them. Some approaches have been proposed to replace missing values so as to be able to apply data mining techniques. However, we argue that it is not relevant to consider such approaches so as not to introduce biases or errors. In our work, we focus on the extraction of gradual patterns from property graphs that provide end-users with tools for mining correlations in the data when there exist missing values. Our approach requires first to define gradual patterns in the context of NoSQL property graph and then to extend existing algorithms so as to treat the missing values, because anti-monotonicity of the support can not be considered anymore in a simple manner. Thus, we introduce a novel approach for mining gradual patterns in the presence of missing values and we test it on real and synthetic data. Further to this work, we present our approach for mining such graphs in order to extract frequent gradual patterns in the form of ``the more/less $A_1$,..., the more/less $A_n$" where $A_i$ are information from the graph, should it be from the nodes or from the relationships. In order to retrieve more valuable patterns, we consider fuzzy gradual patterns in the form of ``The more/less the A_1 is F_1,...,the more/less the A_n is F_n" where A_i are attributes retrieved from the graph nodes or relationships and F_i are fuzzy descriptions. For this purpose, we introduce the definitions of such concepts, the corresponding method for extracting the patterns, and the experiments that we have led on synthetic graphs using a graph generator. We show the results in terms of time utilization, memory consumption and the number of patterns being generated.

M.Ed (Curriculum Studies) / Department of Curriculum Studies / The transition of learners from Grade R to Grade 1 in a formal school is a significant stage. The purpose of the study was to investigate the transition of learners from Grade R to Grade 1 in Mutshindudi Circuit, Vhembe District. The researcher used qualitative method to conduct the study in order to get in-depth information to improve the teaching and learning of children in transition. It was a case study of one school where three Grade R and three Grade 1 teachers were selected. Individual interview and observation schedules were used to collect information from the informants during class visits. Learners were observed during teaching and learning in the classroom to see how teachers facilitate the transition between two grades The population of this study comprised with six teachers, three from Grade R and three from Grade 1. Purposive sampling of three Grade R and three Grade 1 teachers was based on the teachers’ knowledge and experience in these Grades. The findings revealed that Grade 1 teachers expected Grade R learners to know how to read and write. Teachers had experienced transition problems as the policy stipulates that all Grade R learners should progress from Grade R to Grade 1. Teachers should be inducted on how to assist learners to transit from Grade R to Grade 1 / NRF

The thesis aims at change-point estimation in gradual change models. Methods avail- able in literature are reviewed and modified for point-of-stabilisation (PoSt) context, present e.g. in drug continuous manufacturing. We describe in detail the estimation in the linear PoSt model and we extend the methods to quadratic and Emax model. We describe construction of confidence intervals for the change-point, discuss their interpre- tation and show how they can be used in practice. We also address the situation when the assumption of homoscedasticity is not fulfilled. Next, we run simulations to calculate the coverage of confidence intervals for the change-point in discussed models using asymp- totic results and bootstrap with different parameter combinations. We also inspect the simulated distribution of derived estimators with finite sample. In the last chapter, we discuss the situation when the model for the data is incorrectly specified and we calculate the coverage of confidence intervals using simulations. 1