M.A. (Research Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis brings a comprehensive view on the construction, usage and interpretation of composite indicators. Methods and techniques, which can be used for constructing composite indicators, are introduced. The focus is on their contribution to the transparent solution of the problem of correlation and compensability among underlying indicators. Transparency in construction of composite indicators is a crucial requirement for obtaining reliable results and their correct interpretation. The thesis consists of two main parts. The first part is theoretically oriented. First, the problem of adequacy and subsequently a measurement of the phenomenon by means of statistical indicators are discussed. Different methods for data normalization, setting a weighting scheme and aggregation are introduced and compared. These three steps are considered to be crucial in a process of constructing a composite indicator and thus, they are the core of the thesis. The aim is to investigate an interaction of normalization methods, weight-setting and aggregation methods, since these steps are not separate. The second part of the thesis consists of two comprehensive cases. Theoretical findings are applied and empirically verified in these cases. I investigated a robustness of the composite indicator depending on a combination of selected methods of normalization, setting weights and aggregation on a set of Europe 2020 indicators. Whereas this first case dealt with the comparative analysis of methods, the second case is focused purely on one issue -- university ranking. The proposed method reacts to criticism of currently published university rankings and takes into account specifics of the particular university as well as the exogenous background characteristics. The main added value rests in a contribution to a discussion about the improvement of construction and overall quality of composite indicators including their interpretation. I pointed out the main concerns and difficulties of composite indicators that often remain unnoticed by users and even constructors. The conclusion brings several beneficial findings, which can be used for the construction of a composite indicator and an interpretation of final scores and ranking. This work can also serve as a scientific ground for further research and development of the methodology of constructing composite indicators.

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[pt] A modelagem de processos de negócio é utilizada por empresas que desejam documentar detalhes do fluxo de execução de seus processos, resultando em um documento rico em detalhes sobre o negócio. Este artefato também é utilizado pela Engenharia de Software para elicitação de requisitos de sistema. A modelagem intencional possui foco na modelagem de objetivos - definidos como metas e metas flexíveis - e registra as estratégias que podem ser seguidas por um ator de forma a melhor atender suas necessidades, mapeando tarefas e recursos necessários, além disso, também aborda as dependências entre atores. É importante que os modelos de processos de negócio estejam alinhados aos objetivos da organização de forma a prover fonte de informações confiável que gere consequentemente requisitos alinhados ao negócio. Diversas ferramentas estão disponíveis no mercado com o objetivo de apoiar a modelagem dos processos de negócio e dos objetivos organizacionais, entretanto, percebe-se que as soluções disponíveis ainda são incompletas quando se fala na integração de modelos de processos e modelo de objetivos e formas de verificação do alinhamento entre processos e objetivos organizacionais a partir da modelagem. Na arquitetura organizacional, processos de negócio e objetivos são intrinsecamente interdependentes, porém, as linguagens de modelagem atuais não oferecem recursos suficientes para tratar processos e objetivos de forma alinhada, uma vez que existem deficiências na integração entre a camada de modelagem de objetivos e a de processos. Assim, o uso do ferramental disponível que se apoia nessas linguagens e métodos dificulta sobremaneira a tarefa de identificar se os processos utilizados para gerar serviços e produtos, verdadeiramente atingem os objetivos da organização, bem como o impacto que as mudanças nos objetivos causariam nos processos de negócio. Neste trabalho integramos uma linguagem de modelagem de objetivos a uma linguagem de processos de negócio e provemos os elementos e métodos necessários para ampliar a capacidade de análise do alinhamento dos processos de negócio às estratégias organizacionais. / [en] The business processes modeling is used by companies who wish to document details of the execution flow of their processes, resulting in a document rich in details about the business. This artifact is also used by the Software Engineering for system requirements elicitation. The intentional modeling is focused on objectives - defined as goals and softgoals - and registers the strategies that may be followed by an actor in a way to better meet their needs, mapping the tasks and resources needs, in addition, it also addresses the dependencies between actors. It is important that business processes models are aligned to the objectives of the organization in order to provide reliable information source that generates consequently requirements aligned to business. Several tools are available on the market in order to support the business processes and organizational objectives modeling, however, it’s possible to realize that the available solutions are still incomplete when it comes to the integration of process models and goals models and ways to check the alignment between organizational goals and processes using the models. In the organizational architecture, business processes and goals are intrinsically interdependent, however, the current modeling languages treat process and goals in a misaligned way, since there are deficiencies in the integration between the modeling layer of objectives and processes. Thus, the use of the available tools that supports these language and methods greatly complicates the task of identify if the processes used to generate products and services truly achieve the organizational goals as well as the impact of the changes in the goals would cause in business processes. In this paper we integrated a goal modeling language to a business processes modeling language and proved the elements and methods needed to expand the capacity of analysis of the alignment between the business processes and the organizational strategies.

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to explore a possible relationship between the number of students in grades 9-12 classified as chronically absent and the inclusion of the Chronically Out of School indicator in Tennessee’s accountability model for schools and school districts. Using publicly available data from the Tennessee Department of Education, the research study examined 6 years of data from the 2014-2015 to 2019-2020 school years. Data were divided into 3 years before and 3 years after implementation. Results of the study indicated that the mean number of chronically absent students in grades 9-12 were significantly lower during the 3 years after implementation of the Chronically Out of School indicator. Data was further disaggregated and analyzed based on the following subgroups: Black/Hispanic/Native American, Economically Disadvantaged, and Students with Disabilities. Results indicated a significant difference in the number of chronically absent Black/Hispanic/Native American subgroup after implementation, but there were no significant differences found in the Economically Disadvantaged and Students with Disabilities subgroups. In addition to a summary of the research findings, implications, and recommendations for future research and current practice are discussed.

The master´s thesis deals with the determination and assessment of the complete costs of reconstruction and renovation of kindergarten in the village Blažovice, located in Brno – venkov, in the South Moravian Region. Two options were chosen to assess the complete costs. The first option contains the condition of preserving the existing building with subsequent reconstruction or modernization of the building to such an extent that the building can continue to be used for the operation of the kindergarten. The costs of reconstruction are determined using the itemized budget compiled according to the project documentation of the actual state. The second option contains the demolition and the construction of a completely new building of kindergarten. In the second option, budgets are implemented by using budget indicators combined with an itemized budget. In the end, the results of the mentioned variants are evaluated.

The overall objective of the study is to plan and recommend the most appropriate city environment that can foster the dynamic interactions necessary to implement sustainable and adaptable smart city projects for the purpose of enhancing the quality of the natural environment. Specific research approaches have been applied to answer the separate research questions, which is a performance indicator approach combined with a literature review. The Smart City level of Tshwane is measured, and it is further analysed how this contributes towards environmental sustainability on a city level. Even though environmental issues persist in the City of Tshwane, it was observed that there exists a direct correlation between smart city implementations and the improvement of environmental sustainability, from international examples. It is thus evident from the study that smart city initiatives applied in all city activities facilitate the enhancement of resource efficiency within a city. This ultimately contributes to improving the environmental performance, quality, liveability and sustainability within the cityscape. In order to achieve this, the Smart City level of a city needs to be measured and evaluated to establish a baseline supported by existing data to best inform an integrated approach in planning and implementation procedures (Bosch, et al., 2017). Smart city technologies and implementations create the setting for possible significant changes towards environmental sustainability. Key Terms: City of Tshwane, Smart City, ICT, environmental sustainability, environmental performance, evaluation, EUROCITIES CITYkeys’ Key Performance Indicator Framework, Key Performance Indicators, city-level, and literature review. / Mini Dissertation (MA (Environment and Society))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MA (Environment and Society) / Unrestricted

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá testováním vhodných indikátorových inkoustů k ohodnocení fotokatalytické aktivity. V teoretické části jsem studovala literaturu související s možnostmi stanovování fotokatalytické aktivity a zaměřila se také na kinetiku, kterou je zmíněnou fotokatalýzu možné ohodnotit. V experimentální části jsem mnou vybraná barviva natiskla na skleněný substrát obsahující vrstvu oxidu titaničitého a následně je otestovala. Došlo také k úpravě aparatury, aby bylo možné měřit větší škálu barev. Po otestování a vybrání vhodných barviv jsem se pokusila o optimalizaci podmínek tisku. Nakonec jsem optimalizovala i samotnou aparaturu.

This thesis focuses on the explanation and description of selected methods used to optimize the costs involved in the construction industry. The main objective of the work is to directly apply one chosen method at a given construction company and by use of this process recommend changes ultimately leading to cost optimization. Company data, based on defined indices, was compared with the data from public institutions. The merit of the indices were individually evaluated resulting in recommended proposals for future development.

The aim is to comprehensively describe the problems of land consolidation plans and prepare budgets of joint facilities performed in a frame of the landscaping. For individual plans of common facilities, cards of budgetary indicators will be processed. Finally, we will evaluate the resulting processed budgets and budget indicators.