This thesis offers a comprehensive account of the history, forms and content of playbills and theatre programmes; of the different contexts of their physical production, dispersal and varied uses; and, beyond their immediate utility as a record of author, work, cast, place and time of performance, considers the evidence they yield of the social contexts of theatregoing. Chapter one demonstrates the ways in which diverse approaches to the classification of playbills and programmes facilitate an understanding of their most basic ingredients. Chapter two offers an account of the production and distribution of playbills and programmes from the mid-sixteenth through the early-twentieth centuries. Chapter three explores the relationship between bills of the play and other theatrical documentation. The historical considerations undertaken in the second section, chapters four through six, represent a chronological overview of the numerous developments to the form and content of the British theatre bill occurring between 1564 and 1914. The functional considerations undertaken in the final section offer an analysis of the duties fulfilled by the British theatre bill, before, during and after a production. Chapter seven is concerned with the role of the playbill in anticipation of the future, as a source of both allure and information. Chapter eight examines the role of the programme in conjunction with the present, as a guide to both the play and the theatre. Chapter nine concludes the study, discussing the role of the bill of the play in reflection on the past, as a chronicler of both theatre history and social history.

With human society becoming increasingly computerised, the use of biometrics to automatically establish the identity of an individual is of great interest in a wide variety of applications. Facial appearance is an appealing biometric, on account of its relatively non-intrusive nature. As such, automated face recognition systems have been the subject of much research in recent years. This dissertation describes the development of a fully automatic face recognition system, and provides an analysis of its performance under various di erent operating conditions, in comparison with results published in prior literature. In addition to giving a detailed description of the mathematical underpinnings of the techniques used by the system, we discuss the practical considerations involved in implementing the described techniques. The system presented here uses the eigenface approach to representing facial features. A number of di erent recognition techniques have been implemented and evaluated. These include a number of variants of the original eigenface technique proposed by Turk and Pentland, as well as a related technique based on the probabilistic approach of Moghaddam et al. Due to the wide range of datasets used to evaluate face recognition systems in the literature, it is di cult to reliably compare the performance of di erent systems. The system described here has been tested with datasets encompassing a wide range of di erent conditions, allowing us to draw conclusions about how the characteristics of the test data a ect the results that are obtained. The performance of this system is comparable to other eigenface-based systems documented in the literature, achieving success rates in the region of 85% for large datasets under controlled conditions. However, performance was observed to degrade signi cantly when testing with more free-form images; in particular, the e ects of ageing on facial appearance were noted to cause problems for the system. This suggests that the matter of ageing is still a fruitful direction for further research. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

<p>The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular, impact increasingly on the activities of commerce and industry and in the process also change the manner in which courses are delivered in higher education. The aim of this study ws to investigate the relationship between certain antecedent factors and the adoption of a specific technology called WebCT among lecturers within a business faculty at a higher education institution.</p>

This thesis argues that contemporary visual media culture is characterised by unique forms that enable and increasingly demand qualitatively distinct viewing relations. I offer historical and theoretical explorations of various media technologies and genres, and propose that todays visual culture may be described as participatory, primarily in the sense that its modes of address function to blur the line between the production and consumption of imagery. Furthermore, I suggest that these participatory relations, underpinned by real time media, are productive of performative subjects composed, under the prevailing media imaginary, of increasingly individualised exchanges. Thus, I argue that the phenomenon of media participation must be considered in relation to defining characteristics of contemporary capitalism namely its user-focused, customised and individuated orientation. Organised in terms of historical, theoretical and generic sections, two opening chapters establish, respectively, the technological and theoretical context of the inquiry, preparing for four subsequent chapters concerned with media genres. Chapter 1 argues that contemporary media are home to new image forms that are, as a result of their participatory and networked character, more performative than merely representational. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of indivisualisation referring to participatory visual environments in which the performance of the individual viewing subject is crucial to the nature of the viewing relationship. Drawing on a wide range of media theorists including Jonathan Crary, Margaret Morse, Lev Manovich and Manuel Castells, as well as contemporary sociologists Ulrich Beck and Zygmunt Bauman, I make a connection between the personalised address and coextensive temporal performances characteristic of participatory media and a pervasive social demand for compulsory, ongoing self-transformation. Performative subjectivity, I argue, is the logical counterpart to real-time screens, and its prevailing mode is individualised. The remaining four chapters seek to elaborate and substantiate the dynamics of participation and indivisualisation by exploring a series of exemplary real-time media genres,news media, reality entertainment media (reality television and webcams), computer games, and media art. As these chapters demonstrate by a breadth of example, what is at stake in contemporary realtime media may be nothing less than our relation to mortality and otherness.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America. / Bibliography: p. 106-116.

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université Laval, 1997. / Résumé en français et en portugais. Bibliogr.: f. [160]-167. Publié aussi en version électronique.

Title: How can loyalty programmes improve brand loyalty? Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Author: Anna Kapetanakis, and Gideon Mekonnen Jonathan Supervisor: Sarah Philipson (Assistant Professor) Date: June, 2015 Aim: To investigate how customers loyalty can be improved through loyalty programmes. Method: Mixed approach, both qualitative and quantitative data, is chosen for this study. The qualitative data using telephone interviews with customers and the firm was carried out at the beginning of the study to formulate the survey. Online survey with closed questions, based on responses from the qualitative interviews and the theoretical framework, was designed and sent to 3500 potential respondents. The contact list from IvyWear’s CRM database was used to distribute the survey. 309 respondents (9%) completed the survey, which was available online for 7 days. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and cluster analysis. Result &amp; Conclusions: The empirical data and analysis has shown that IvyWear customers can be categorised as “true loyals”, “latent loyals”, “spurious loyals”, and “not loyals”. It was also found that “bonuses and points” are the most preferred reward among customers that can be used to improve loyalty toward IvyWear. Suggestions for future research: The findings may not reflect brand loyalty and effects of loyalty programmes on loyalty beyond the clothing retail industry. Comprehensive study covering other industries and targeting respondents outside membership registers would provide deeper understanding of brand loyalty among customers. Contribution of the thesis: The study adds to the debate on loyalty programmes and how members of these programmes can be managed in the way that they can not only choose the brand, but also attract new customers through positive word of mouth. The results are particularly important for managers and marketers in the retail industry, who are under pressure to show the benefits of loyalty programmes. The results will be invaluable in the design of loyalty programmes to impact on the long-term profitability of firms.

Il est évident que l’Union européenne fait partie de la réalité politique d'aujourd'hui. Au fur et à mesure que des compétences nationales sont transmises au niveau européen, l'Union européenne concerne la vie et le quotidien des jeunes. Malgré de ce fait, il faut constater un certain scepticisme à l'égard de la politique européenne parmi les jeunes : Bien que les optimistes considèrent cette génération comme une « Europe vécue », les sondages les plus récents mettent au jour une autre réalité : Les jeunes français et allemands se distinguent par un manque d’intérêt allant de pair avec un manque de connaissance à l’égard de l'entité européenne à la fois politique, économique et culturelle. Ainsi, il est important que les jeunes aient la possibilité de se pencher sur l'Union européenne d'une manière critique pour qu'ils connaissent ses instituions et son fonctionnement, ses aspects contestés ainsi que les possibilités d'influencer la politique au niveau européen. Dans le cadre du projet, nous avons analysé si l'Union européenne est ancrée dans les programmes scolaires en France et en Allemagne. En plus, nous avons relevé son importance par rapport aux autres sujets. Lors de l'analyse des manuels scolaires, nous avons relevé comment le processus d'apprentissage est structuré au niveau didactique et méthodique. Les résultats de la recherche scientifique dans les domaines de la pédagogie, de la psychologie ainsi que de la pédagogie des médias ont donné des critères pour l'analyse des manuels concernant leur faculté d'attirer et de motiver les jeunes à aborder l'Union européenne / It is obvious that the European Union is part of today's political reality. As national competences are transmitted at European level, the European Union concerns daily life of the young people. In spite of that, the most recent opinion polls bring another reality to light: The French and German young people share a lack of interest going hand in hand with a lack of knowledge regarding the European Union. So, it is important that the young people are given the oppotunity to learn about the fundamentals of the European Union, its controversial aspects as well as the possibilities of participation. In the present work, we analysed if the European Union is anchored in the curriculums in France and in Germany. On top of that, we elicited its importance in comparison to other topics. During the analysis of the school textbooks, we focused on the didactical and methodical structure of the learning process. The results of scientific research in the domains of pedagogy, of psychology as well as of pedagogy of media led to criteria for the analysis of textbooks concerning their ability to attract and to motivate the young people to approach the European Union

The research attempted to demystify the Zimbabwean land reform that was spear headed by war veterans’ in Zimbabwe. This research investigated the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in 2000 on Household Food Security. It was generally assumed that the programme did not improve Household Food Security. To verify that assertion the research used questionnaires in a survey research design. The questionnaires were administered to 322 household heads that had been selected by the random stratified sampling method in Mutare District. The results established that Household Food Security in Mutare District improved after the implementation of the FTLRP. The national grain storage however was depleted because the new farmers reduced the production levels set by the former white farmers. The research therefore recommends an orderly and sustainable transition of Land Reform in future programmes to enhance national grain reserves. This also further improves the Household Food Security.

MELO, Claudiana Maria Nogueira de. Programas de formação de professores alfabetizadores de crianças: análise dos aspectos políticos e pedagógicos. 2015. 165f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Brasileira, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-31T10:39:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_cmnmelo.pdf: 916031 bytes, checksum: 9627d3c961685c8acffd77ed819a76b7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-31T14:19:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_cmnmelo.pdf: 916031 bytes, checksum: 9627d3c961685c8acffd77ed819a76b7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-31T14:19:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_cmnmelo.pdf: 916031 bytes, checksum: 9627d3c961685c8acffd77ed819a76b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / A constituição teórica e metodológica dos programas de formação de alfabetizadores de crianças, Formação de Professores Alfabetizadores (PROFA), Pró-Letramento e Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização na Idade Certa (PNAIC), é o objeto desta tese. O objetivo é investigar, por meio de um estudo comparativo, tanto os modelos de formação como as intenções que referendam os procedimentos e práticas alfabetizadoras. O referencial teórico está organizado em temáticas agrupadas nas discussões sobre formação docente, políticas educacionais e alfabetização/letramento/gêneros textuais. A metodologia é de natureza qualitativa do tipo bibliográfica e documental, com o uso do método de análise de conteúdo. Assente em uma perspectiva comparativa, a análise revelou-nos que o PROFA, PRÓ-LETRAMENTO e PNAIC são estruturados de acordo com as orientações do Banco Mundial, sob a padronização internacional de políticas seguindo os princípios de focalização e descentralização. Os programas apresentam mais semelhanças do que diferenças: apesar de utilizarem denominações diferentes para os modelos de formação, apresentam em comum o conceito de formação centrado na prática docente, esta baseada na teoria da epistemologia da prática. A reflexão, eixo estruturador do processo de aprendizagem dos professores, é apresentada na dimensão individual, voltada, sobretudo, ao mundo privado da aula. Nessa direção, os professores são vistos como práticos reflexivos. Em relação ao processo de alfabetização, os três programas têm a teoria da psicogênese da língua escrita como base epistemológica para a compreensão da aquisição da linguagem escrita pela criança. Contudo, apenas o PRÓ-LETRAMENTO e PNAIC assumem de forma mais explícita uma sistematização do processo de aquisição da escrita e sobre a temática do letramento. Metodologicamente, as similaridades se concentram nas propostas de trabalhos colaborativos, promovidos por meio da formação de grupos de discussão, na socialização e na proposição de atividades permanentes nos encontros presenciais. Em suma, a análise comparativa dos materiais do PROFA, PRÓ-LETRAMENTO e PNAIC nos fez inferir: estes programas representam avanço quanto à possibilidade de constituição de saberes dos docentes, visto a especificidade da área e as fragilidades relativas à formação inicial. Mas, por outro, representam a clara intenção do Estado em tratar a formação de alfabetizadores e a educação da criança sem perspectivas de realmente transformar a realidade social com vistas a uma vida humanizada e mais justa. / La constitution théorique et méthodologique des programmes de formation d’enseignants responsables de l’alphabétisation d’enfants, Formation d’Enseignants Responsables de l’Alphabétisation (PROFA), “Pró-Letramento” et Pacte National pour l’Alphabétisation au Bon Âge (PNAIC), c’est le sujet de cette thèse dont le but est d’enquêter, grâce à une étude comparative, tant les modèles de formation que les intentions qui réaffirment les processus et les pratiques d’alphabétisation. Sa base théorique est organisée dans des thématiques recueillies des discussions sur la formation de l’enseignant, les politiques de l’éducation et l’alphabétisation/genres textuels. La méthodologie est fondamentalement qualitative du type bibliographique et documentaire, avec l’utilisation de la méthode d’analyse de contenu. Fondée sur une perspective comparative, l’analyse nous a dévoilé que les programmes PROFA, PRÓ-LETRAMENTO et PNAIC sont structurés selon les orientations de la Banque Mondiale, sous la standardisation internationale de politiques conformément aux principes de focalisation et décentralisation. Les programmes présentent plus de ressemblances que de différences: malgré l’utilisation de différentes terminologies donnéés aux modèles de formation, ces trois projets ont en commun l’idée de formation basée sur la pratique de l’enseignant, celle-ci conçue à partir de la théorie de l’épistémologie de la pratique. La réflexion, axe structurant du processus d’apprentissage des enseignants, est envisagée individuellement, tournée vers, surtout, le monde privé de la classe. À cet égard, les enseignants sont vus comme des êtres pratiques réfléchis. Par rapport au processus d’alphabétisation, les trois programmes adoptent la théorie de la psychogènese de la langue écrite comme base épistémologique pour la compréhension de l’acquisition du language écrit par l’enfant. Cependant, seulement le PRÓ-LETRAMENTO et PNAIC ont de façon plus explicite une systématisation du processus d’acquisition de l’écriture et sur la thématique de l’alphabétisation. Méthodologiquement, les similitudes se concentrent sur les propositions de travaux collaboratifs, grâce à la formation de groupes de discussion, à la socialisation et à la proposition d’activités permanentes pendant les rencontres face à face. Enfin, l’analyse comparative des matériels du PROFA, PRÓ-LETRAMENTO et PNAIC nous a permis déduire: ces programmes indiquent un progrès en ce qui concerne la constitution de savoirs des enseignants, étant donné la spécificité du domaine et les fragilités concernant la formation initiale. Mais, d’autre part, ils représentent la nette intention de l’État d’aborder la formation d’enseignant responsables de l’alphabétisation et l’éducation de l’enfant sans aucune perspective de transformer la réalité solciale visant une vie humanisée et plus équitable.