Since the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 and his subsequent election to the presidency in 1994, South Africa certainly has not achieved the hopes and dreams of its people or for the rest of the continent. But despite bleak conditions, there are many who still have hope for their country. One of those people is Zakes Mda, and his hope is reflected in his novels. Yet, his novels remain complex. They do not provide all-encompassing solutions or answers to the problems that face the nation. But they do address questions with possibilities, suggestions, and innovation. The South Africa he creates, both in the past and the present, embodies what the real South Africa is and isn’t, and what it has the potential to be. Mda is not afraid to be critical of his own people, he is not afraid to face the history of his country with an equally critical lens, and even more importantly, he is not afraid to face the future of his country with that same critical gaze. This open approach to the people of his country, to its history, and current policies opens up his narrative to imagination, allowing his characters to re-envision themselves more completely and form a more complete and encompassing cultural identity that was previously denied to them.

In photodynamic therapy a photosensitizer drug is administered and is irradiated with light. Upon absorption of light the photosensitizer goes into its triplet state and transfers energy or an electron to oxygen to form reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS react with biomolecules in cells leading to cell damage and cell death. PDT has interested many researchers because of its non-invasiveness as compared to surgery, it leaves little to no scars, it is time and cost effective, it has potential for targeted treatment, and can be repeated as needed. Different photosensitizers such as porphyrines, chlorophylls, and dyes have been used in PDT to treat various cancers, skin diseases, aging and sun-damaged skin. These second generation sensitizers have yielded reduced skin sensitivity and improved extinction coefficients (up to ~ 105 L mol-1 cm-1). While PDT based on small molecule photosensitizers has shown great promise, several problems remain unsolved. The main issues with current sensitizers are (i) hydrophobicity leading to aggregation in aqueous media resulting in reduced efficacy and potential toxicity, (ii) dark toxicity of photosensitizers, (iii) non-selectivity towards malignant tissue resulting in prolonged cutaneous photosensitivity and damage to healthy tissue, (iv) limited light absorption efficiency, and (v) a lack of understanding of where the photosensitizer ends up in the tissue. In this dissertation research program, these issues were addressed by the development of conducting polymer nanoparticles as a next generation of photosensitizers. This choice was motivated by the fact that conducting polymers have large extinction coefficients ( > 107 L mol-1 cm-1), are able to undergo intersystem crossing to the triplet state, and have triplet energies that are close to that of oxygen. It was therefore hypothesized that such polymers could be effective at generating ROS due to the large excitation rate that can be generated. Conducting polymer nanoparticles (CPNPs) composed of the conducting polymer poly[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyl-oxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) were fabricated and studied in-vitro for their potential in PDT application. Although not fully selective, the nanoparticles exhibited a strong bias to the cancer cells. The formation of ROS was proven in-vitro by staining of the cells with CellROX Green Reagent, after which PDT results were quantified by MTT assays. Cell mortality was observed to scale with nanoparticle dosage and light dosage. Based on these promising results the MEH-PPV nanoparticles were developed further to allow for surface functionalization, with the aim of targeting these NPs to cancer cell lines. For this work targeting of cancers that overexpress folate receptors (FR) were considered. The functionalized nanoparticles (FNPs) were studied in OVCAR3 (ovarian cancer cell line) as FR+, MIA PaCa2 (pancreatic cell line) as FR-, and A549 (lung cancer cell line) having marginal FR expression. Complete selectivity of the FNPs towards the FR+ cell line was found. Quantification of PDT results by MTS assays and flow cytometry show that PDT treatment was fully selective to the FR+ cell line (OVCAR3). No cell mortality was observed for the other cell lines studied here within experimental error. Finally, the issue of confirming and quantifying small molecule drug delivery to diseased tissue was tackled by developing quantum dot (Qdot) biosensors with the aim of achieving fluorescence reporting of intracellular small molecule/drug delivery. For fluorescence reporting prior expertise in control of the fluorescence state of Qdots was employed, where redox active ligands can place the Qdot in a quenched OFF state. Ligand attachment was accomplished by disulfide linker chemistry. This chemistry is reversible in the presence of sulfur reducing biomolecules, resulting in Qdots in a brightly fluorescent ON state. Glutathione (GSH) is such a biomolecule that is present in the intracellular environment. Experimental in-vitro data shows that this design was successfully implemented.

No description available.

Gamification innebär att man använder element och tekniker från spel i annars icke-lekfulla miljöer för att öka användarnas engagemang. Arbetssättet har de senaste åren blivit allt mer förekommande i profesionella sammanhang som skolan och i arbetslivet. Vetenskapen är fortfarande relativt ung och det finns fortfarande mycket att utforska. Denna studie har undersökt effekten av videoklipp som en belöning i redan etablerad gamification-miljö. Studien har genomförts hos ett B2B säljkonsult-bolag och gjordes som ett 3 veckors experiment där korta videoklipp implementerades som belöningar vid utförda uppgifter för att se hur de kunde påverka antalet minuter som användarna aktivt lade på att ringa samt hur många möten de lyckades boka. Dessutom hölls intervjuer för att undersöka hur användarnas motivation och attityd på arbetet kunde påverkas. Resultaten pekar på ökad tid lagt på att ringa samt ökat antal möten bokade. Intervjuerna pekar på en positiv attityd i samband med filmklippen. / Gamification is the use of game elements and techniques in non-game environments in order to increase the users’ engagement with a product, brand or task. It is becoming more and more common in professional environments such as education and the workplace. It is still a pretty young field of science and there is much to explore. This research has studied the effects of implementing video clips as rewards in an already gamified CRM software. The study was conducted at a B2B sales consultant agency during a 3 week period where short video clips were implemented as rewards for completing actions in order to measure what effects they might have in the users time spent calling and successfully booked meetings. Data was gathered from the gamified software in order to measure the changes in productivity. Interviews were also conducted to study what effects the video clips had on the users’ motivation and attitude at work. The results point to an increased time spent calling and an increased number of meetings booked. The interview responses also point to a positive change in attitude.

Micro and nanofabrication technologies have been used extensively in many biomedical and biological applications. Integration of MEMS technology and biology (BioMEMS) enables precise control of the cellular microenvironments and offers high throughput systems. The focus of this research was to develop three dimensional (3-D) isotropic microstructures for comprehensive analysis on cell-substrate interactions. The aim was to investigate whether the normal and cancerous cells differentially respond to their underlying substrate and whether the differential response of the cells leads to a novel label-free technique to distinguish between normal and cancerous cells. Three different generations of 3-D isotropic microstructures comprised of curved surfaces were developed using a single-mask, single-etch step process. Our experimental model included HS68 normal human fibroblasts, MCF10A normal human breast epithelial cells and MDA-MB-231 metastatic human breast cancer cells. Primary findings on the first generation of silicon substrates demonstrated a distinct adhesion and growth behavior in HS68 and MDA-MB-231 cells. MDA-MB-231 cells deformed while the fibroblasts stretched and elongated their cytoskeleton on the curved surfaces. Unlike fibroblasts, MDA-MB-231 cells mainly trapped and localized inside the deep microchambers. Detailed investigations on cytoskeletal organization, adhesion pattern and morphology of the cells on the second generation of the silicon substrates demonstrated that cytoskeletal prestress and microtubules organization in HS68 cells, cell-cell junction and cell-substrate adhesion strength in MCF10A cells, and deformability of MDA-MB-231 cells (obtained by using AFM technique) affect their behavior inside the etched cavities. Treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with experimental breast cancer drug, SAHA, on the second generation of substrates, significantly altered the cells morphology, cytoarchitecture and adhesion pattern inside the 3-D microstructures. Third generation of silicon substrates was developed for comprehensive analysis on behavior of MDA-MB-231 and MCF10A cells in a co-culture system in response to SAHA drug. Formation of colonies of both cell types was evident inside the cavities within a few hours after seeding the cells on the chips. SAHA selectively altered the morphology and cytoarchitecture in MDA-MB-231 cells. Most importantly, the majority of MDA-MB-231 cells stretched inside the etched cavities, while the adhesion pattern of MCF10A cells remained unaltered. In the last part of this dissertation, using AFM analysis, we showed that the growth medium composition has a pronounced effect on cell elasticity. Our findings demonstrated that the proposed isotropic silicon microstructures have potential applications in development of biosensor platforms for cell segregation as well as conducting fundamental biological studies. / Ph. D.

<p dir="ltr">This thesis details the development of a multidisciplinary design analysis (MDA) framework intended to evaluate a rocket-powered, reusable hypersonic vehicle. In particular, the analysis framework computes the design closure of a coupled system resembling Stratolaunch Systems’ Talon-A reusable hypersonic test vehicle. The resulting analysis framework differs from available literature due to its focus upon payload-related design considerations. The presented framework, too, avoids the use of proprietary technical information and/or export-controlled analysis tools. The framework’s geometric analysis, for example, employs a reverse-engineered geometry resembling Talon-A. An open-source aerothermal package, too, was selected to evaluate the vehicle’s aerothermodynamic characteristics. Quick-to-implement methods were prioritized to expedite the development of the MDA framework. Notably, a regression-based structural analysis model was used, as well as an interpolative thermal protection system (TPS) sizing procedure. A quasi-steady trajectory model, too, was implemented within the MDA framework, to determine the vehicle’s mission performance. The resulting analysis takes the form of a six-discipline MDA framework that can calculate, among other parameters, the vehicle’s cruise duration. Initial design closure results for a vehicle resembling Talon-A, using an assumed TPS size, are currently available. These results report an estimated total vehicle mass within thirty percent of Talon-A’s true gross mass, as well as a cruise duration of approximately 445 seconds. These design closure results were also evaluated under a perturbed specific impulse of ±10%, with a resulting change in cruise duration of ±12.3%. Results for a cruise-condition design exploration procedure were also obtained within a simplified, sequential analysis chain. These design exploration results report a maximum cruise lift-to-drag ratio of approximately four. Future work has been identified, too, including the integration of more rigorous analysis tools for use within future iterations of the MDA framework. Notably, these tools include an open-source optimal control library, as well as a physics-based TPS sizing tool</p>

La capacidad de comunicación e integración que ofrece Internet, está facilitando el establecimiento y automatización de relaciones entre los participantes de los nuevos Modelos de Negocio electrónico. Aunque no existe una clasificación definitiva de éstos, es posible distinguir la integración de datos y funcionalidad como un requisito fundamental para la implementación de los mismos. Algunos de los casos más significativos lo constituyen empresas como Google y Amazon que ofrecen a sus socios sus plataformas tecnológicas a través de interfaces (APIs) basadas en servicios Web. Estas compañías establecen contratos de negocio que brindan la posibilidad de integración de sus plataformas con las aplicaciones Web de los socios. Así, los diversos servicios que ofrecen les están disponibles y establecen con ello una relación que redunda en beneficio mutuo. Tres actores básicos se pueden distinguir para lograr esta integración: los servicios Web, las aplicaciones Web y los procesos Negocio-a-Negocio. Los primeros, al facilitar la producción y consumo de datos y funcionalidad independientemente de la implementación tecnológica de los sistemas; los segundos, al ser el tipo más dominante de aplicación que se ejecuta en Internet; y los terceros, al definir los pasos necesarios para la realización de los diversos procesos del negocio. Desde el punto de vista del modelado conceptual, se encuentran diversas propuestas, la mayoría basadas en modelos UML, para la especificación de estos tres actores. No obstante que en múltiples casos es necesaria su participación mutua, se observa que en muchas de estas propuestas se focalizan en sólo alguno y escasamente se encuentran opciones que los incluyan a los tres. Por ejemplo, desde el punto de vista de la Ingeniería Web, se encuentra un número mínimo de métodos que consideran de manera conjunta en sus propuestas los servicios Web y los procesos Negocio- a-Negocio. La mayoría de los métodos se centran en aplicaciones Web que ofrecen un espacio de navegación sobre grandes colecciones de datos, pero no permiten la integración de datos y funcionalidad de aplicaciones externas, como tampoco la exposición de su funcionalidad para consumo de otras. Por otro lado, desde el punto de los servicios Web, la mayor parte de las aproximaciones considera su especificación sin considerar su inclusión en aplicaciones Web o el papel que juega la interacción humana. La presente tesis ofrece una propuesta para el modelado conceptual de aplicaciones Web que integran datos y funcionalidad a partir de servicios Web, con consideraciones adicionales a los procesos Negocio-a-Negocio. La solución se expone en el contexto del método de Ingeniería Web Object Oriented Web Solutions (OOWS). Este método es la extensión para el modelado conceptual de aplicaciones Web del método clásico OO-Method. En su concepción original, OOWS ha sido diseñado para la consulta y actualización de datos, pero no para la integración de aplicaciones externas. La propuesta de esta tesis incluye un conjunto de adecuaciones y extensiones a sus primitivas conceptuales para la especificación de este tipo de aplicaciones. / Quintero Meza, RR. (2008). Desarrollo dirigido por modelos de aplicaciones web que integran datos y funcionalidad a partir se servicios web [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/1988

In the field of Game Design, multiple frameworks have emerged to give an ontological understanding of iterative Game Design and game creation. However, following critique of the MDA framework in regards to how it treats narratives, our group in this paper utilized the alternative DDE framework, as a tool to investigate any of deeper detail in player-game interactions within the game Cities: Skylines II as compared to the MDA framework. The study was done as an inductive narrative analysis of recorded gameplay found on video-hosting websites, such as YouTube where we would discuss the ways the two frameworks operate in terms of narratives.

No description available.

L'évolution rapide des besoins dus entre autres à l'innovation technique, la concurrence ou la réglementation conduit souvent à décrire le cadre d'étude des systèmes d'information dans des modèles conceptuels, pour faciliter l'évolution du fonctionnement des systèmes. La mise au point de ces modèles s'effectue en plusieurs phase au cours desquelles collaborent plusieurs équipes de nature différente, chaque intervenant apportant sa perception du système à construire en se limitant à la partie de son domaine de spécialisation. Il faut alors concilier les différentes perceptions. L'objectif essentiel de la thèse est de concevoir les mécanismes permettant d'une part d'obtenir le modèle factorisant les concepts communs à plusieurs modèles et, d'autre part, de proposer aux concepteurs une méthodologie de suivi de l'évolution de la factorisation. Pour réaliser la factorisation, nous avons mis en œuvre l'Analyse Formelle de Concepts et l'Analyse Relationnelle de Concepts (ARC) qui sont des méthodes d'analyse de données basées sur la théorie des treillis. Dans un ensemble d'entités décrites par des caractéristiques, les deux méthodes extraient des concepts formels qui associent un ensemble maximal d'entités à un ensemble maximal de caractéristiques partagées. Ces concepts formels sont structurés dans un ordre partiel de spécialisation qui les munit d'une structure de treillis. L'ARC permet de compléter la description des entités par des relations entre entités. La première contribution de la thèse est une méthode d'analyse de l'évolution de la factorisation d'un modèle basée sur l'AFC et l'ARC. Cette méthode s'appuie la capacité de l'AFC et de l'ARC à faire émerger au sein d'un modèle des abstractions thématiques de niveau supérieur, améliorant ainsi la sémantique des modèles. Nous montrons que ces méthodes peuvent aussi être employées pour suivre l'évolution du processus d'analyse avec des acteurs. Nous introduisons des métriques sur les éléments de modélisation et sur les treillis de concepts qui servent de base à l'élaboration de recommandations. Nous effectuons une expérimentation dans laquelle nous étudions l'évolution des 15 versions du modèle de classes du système d'information SIE-Pesticides. La seconde contribution de la thèse est une étude approfondie du comportement de l'ARC sur des modèles UML. Nous montrons l'influence de la structure des modèles sur différentes variables étudiées (comme les temps d'exécution et la mémoire occupée) au travers de plusieurs expérimentations sur les 15 versions du modèle SIE-Pesticides. Pour cela, nous étudions plusieurs configurations (choix d'éléments et de relations dans le méta-modèle) et plusieurs paramètres (choix d'utiliser les éléments non nommés, choix d'utiliser la navigabilité). Des métriques sont introduites pour guider le concepteur dans le pilotage du processus de factorisation et des recommandations sur les configurations et paramétrages à privilégier sont faites. La dernière contribution est une approche de factorisation inter-modèles afin de regrouper au sein d'un modèle l'ensemble des concepts communs à différents modèles sources conçus par différents experts. Outre le regroupement des concepts communs, cette analyse produit de nouvelles abstractions généralisant des concepts thématiques existants. Nous appliquons notre approche sur les 15 versions du modèle du SIE-Pesticides. L'ensemble de ces travaux s'inscrit dans un cadre de recherche dont l'objectif est de factoriser des concepts thématiques au sein d'un même modèle et de contrôler par des métriques la profusion de concepts produits par l'AFC et surtout par l'ARC. / The rapidly changing needs among other things due to technical innovation, competition and regulation often leads to describe the context for the study of conceptual models in information systems to facilitate the evolution of operating systems. The development of these models is carried out in several phases during which several working teams of different nature, providing each participant's perception of the system to be built is limited to the part of his area of specialization. It must then reconcile the different perceptions.The main objective of the thesis is to design mechanisms to obtain a share of the model factoring concepts common to several models and, secondly, to provide designers with a methodology for monitoring the evolution of factorization.To perform the factorization, we have implemented the Formal Concept Analysis and Relational Concepts Analysis (RCA), which are methods of analysis based on the theory of lattice data. In a set of entities described by features, both methods extract formal concepts that combine a maximum of entities to a maximum set of shared characteristics together. These formal concepts are structured in a partial order of specialization that provides with a lattice structure.The CRA can complement the description of the entities by relationships between entities.The first contribution of the thesis is a textbf {method a model for analyzing the evolution of the factorization based on the FCA and the RCA}. This method builds the capacity of the AFC and the CRA to emerge in a model of thematic abstractions higher level, improving semantic models. We show that these methods can also be used to monitor the analytical process with stakeholders. We introduce metrics on the design elements and the concept lattices which are the basis for the development of recommendations. We conduct an experiment in which we study the evolution of the 15 versions of the model class of information-Pesticides EIS system.The second contribution of this thesis is a textbf {depth study of the behavior of the RCA on UML models.} We show the influence of model structure on different variables studied (such as execution time and memory used) through several experiments on 15 versions of the EIS-Pesticides model. For this, we study several configurations (choice of elements and relations in the meta-model) and several parameters (choice of using unnamed elements, choice of using airworthiness). Metrics are introduced to guide the designer in managing the process of factoring and recommendations on the preferred configurations and settings are made.The last contribution is a textbf {approach to inter-model factorization} to group in a model all the concepts common to different source models designed by different experts. In addition to the consolidation of common concepts, this analysis produces new abstractions generalizing existing thematic concepts. We apply our approach on 15 versions of the model EIS-Pesticides.All this work is part of a research framework which aims to factor thematic concepts within a model and control metrics by the profusion of concepts produced by the FCA and especially by RCA.