Thesis (MMed) -- Stellenbosch University, 2010. / Bibliography / Chronic wounds afflict millions worldwide, incurring significant health care costs and chronic suffering. Clinicians are often unsure about treatment, resulting in poor outcomes. Objective To determine the scope of knowledge possessed by fifth year medical students, general practitioners (GP’s) and surgical registrars, concerning chronic wound management. Design Cross sectional study Methods Deans of eight South African medical schools received letters requesting information regarding time devoted to wound-care training. Knowledge-based questionnaires were distributed to final-year students at two universities, surgical registrars at three universities and general practitioners attending refresher courses. Result. Four medical schools replied, of whom only two offered formal teaching. 162 medical students, 45 GP’s and 47 surgical registrars completed questionnaires. The overall median (25th–75th percentiles) knowledge scores for registrars, GP’s and students were 65%;(55%–70%), 55%;(45%–65%) and 45%;(35%–50%) respectively. Whereas the scores of registrars and GP’s did not differ, the student scores were significantly less. Only 32% of registrars and 18% of GP’s attained scores of 70% or more. 96% considered training to be inadequate. Interest in wound-care was only mild to moderate, with more GP’s than registrars requesting literature. Conclusions Very little, if any training on chronic wounds is offered in South Africa. The levels of knowledge cannot be considered adequate for successful treatment, nor for teaching to undergraduates. This preliminary study cannot reflect the attitudes and knowledge throughout the country; however it is clear that there is a need for improved education about these conditions that have huge clinical and economic consequences.

Data streams are a recent processing model where data arrive continuously, in large quantities, at high speeds, so that they must be processed on-line. Besides that, several private and public institutions store large amounts of data that also must be processed. Traditional batch classi ers are not well suited to handle huge amounts of data for basically two reasons. First, they usually read the available data several times until convergence, which is impractical in this scenario. Second, they imply that the context represented by data is stable in time, which may not be true. In fact, the context change is a common situation in data streams, and is named concept drift. This thesis presents rcd, a framework that o ers an alternative approach to handle data streams that su er from recurring concept drifts. It creates a new classi er to each context found and stores a sample of the data used to build it. When a new concept drift occurs, rcd compares the new context to old ones using a non-parametric multivariate statistical test to verify if both contexts come from the same distribution. If so, the corresponding classi er is reused. If not, a new classi er is generated and stored. Three kinds of tests were performed. One compares the rcd framework with several adaptive algorithms (among single and ensemble approaches) in arti cial and real data sets, among the most used in the concept drift research area, with abrupt and gradual concept drifts. It is observed the ability of the classi ers in representing each context, how they handle concept drift, and training and testing times needed to evaluate the data sets. Results indicate that rcd had similar or better statistical results compared to the other classi ers. In the real-world data sets, rcd presented accuracies close to the best classi er in each data set. Another test compares two statistical tests (knn and Cramer) in their capability in representing and identifying contexts. Tests were performed using adaptive and batch classi ers as base learners of rcd, in arti cial and real-world data sets, with several rates-of-change. Results indicate that, in average, knn had better results compared to the Cramer test, and was also faster. Independently of the test used, rcd had higher accuracy values compared to their respective base learners. It is also presented an improvement in the rcd framework where the statistical tests are performed in parallel through the use of a thread pool. Tests were performed in three processors with di erent numbers of cores. Better results were obtained when there was a high number of detected concept drifts, the bu er size used to represent each data distribution was large, and there was a high test frequency. Even if none of these conditions apply, parallel and sequential execution still have very similar performances. Finally, a comparison between six di erent drift detection methods was also performed, comparing the predictive accuracies, evaluation times, and drift handling, including false alarm and miss detection rates, as well as the average distance to the drift point and its standard deviation. / Submitted by João Arthur Martins (joao.arthur@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-12T18:02:08Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Paulo Gonçalves Jr..pdf: 2957463 bytes, checksum: de163caadf10cbd5442e145778865224 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-12T18:02:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese Paulo Gonçalves Jr..pdf: 2957463 bytes, checksum: de163caadf10cbd5442e145778865224 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-23 / Fluxos de dados s~ao um modelo de processamento de dados recente, onde os dados chegam continuamente, em grandes quantidades, a altas velocidades, de modo que eles devem ser processados em tempo real. Al em disso, v arias institui c~oes p ublicas e privadas armazenam grandes quantidades de dados que tamb em devem ser processadas. Classi cadores tradicionais n~ao s~ao adequados para lidar com grandes quantidades de dados por basicamente duas raz~oes. Primeiro, eles costumam ler os dados dispon veis v arias vezes at e convergirem, o que e impratic avel neste cen ario. Em segundo lugar, eles assumem que o contexto representado por dados e est avel no tempo, o que pode n~ao ser verdadeiro. Na verdade, a mudan ca de contexto e uma situa c~ao comum em uxos de dados, e e chamado de mudan ca de conceito. Esta tese apresenta o rcd, uma estrutura que oferece uma abordagem alternativa para lidar com os uxos de dados que sofrem de mudan cas de conceito recorrentes. Ele cria um novo classi cador para cada contexto encontrado e armazena uma amostra dos dados usados para constru -lo. Quando uma nova mudan ca de conceito ocorre, rcd compara o novo contexto com os antigos, utilizando um teste estat stico n~ao param etrico multivariado para veri car se ambos os contextos prov^em da mesma distribui c~ao. Se assim for, o classi cador correspondente e reutilizado. Se n~ao, um novo classi cador e gerado e armazenado. Tr^es tipos de testes foram realizados. Um compara o rcd com v arios algoritmos adaptativos (entre as abordagens individuais e de agrupamento) em conjuntos de dados arti ciais e reais, entre os mais utilizados na area de pesquisa de mudan ca de conceito, com mudan cas bruscas e graduais. E observada a capacidade dos classi cadores em representar cada contexto, como eles lidam com as mudan cas de conceito e os tempos de treinamento e teste necess arios para avaliar os conjuntos de dados. Os resultados indicam que rcd teve resultados estat sticos semelhantes ou melhores, em compara c~ao com os outros classi cadores. Nos conjuntos de dados do mundo real, rcd apresentou precis~oes pr oximas do melhor classi cador em cada conjunto de dados. Outro teste compara dois testes estat sticos (knn e Cramer) em suas capacidades de representar e identi car contextos. Os testes foram realizados utilizando classi cadores xi xii RESUMO tradicionais e adaptativos como base do rcd, em conjuntos de dados arti ciais e do mundo real, com v arias taxas de varia c~ao. Os resultados indicam que, em m edia, KNN obteve melhores resultados em compara c~ao com o teste de Cramer, al em de ser mais r apido. Independentemente do crit erio utilizado, rcd apresentou valores mais elevados de precis~ao em compara c~ao com seus respectivos classi cadores base. Tamb em e apresentada uma melhoria do rcd onde os testes estat sticos s~ao executadas em paralelo por meio do uso de um pool de threads. Os testes foram realizados em tr^es processadores com diferentes n umeros de n ucleos. Melhores resultados foram obtidos quando houve um elevado n umero de mudan cas de conceito detectadas, o tamanho das amostras utilizadas para representar cada distribui c~ao de dados era grande, e havia uma alta freq u^encia de testes. Mesmo que nenhuma destas condi c~oes se aplicam, a execu c~ao paralela e seq uencial ainda t^em performances muito semelhantes. Finalmente, uma compara c~ao entre seis diferentes m etodos de detec c~ao de mudan ca de conceito tamb em foi realizada, comparando a precis~ao, os tempos de avalia c~ao, manipula c~ao das mudan cas de conceito, incluindo as taxas de falsos positivos e negativos, bem como a m edia da dist^ancia ao ponto de mudan ca e o seu desvio padr~ao.

Data streams are a recent processing model where data arrive continuously, in large quantities, at high speeds, so that they must be processed on-line. Besides that, several private and public institutions store large amounts of data that also must be processed. Traditional batch classi ers are not well suited to handle huge amounts of data for basically two reasons. First, they usually read the available data several times until convergence, which is impractical in this scenario. Second, they imply that the context represented by data is stable in time, which may not be true. In fact, the context change is a common situation in data streams, and is named concept drift. This thesis presents rcd, a framework that o ers an alternative approach to handle data streams that su er from recurring concept drifts. It creates a new classi er to each context found and stores a sample of the data used to build it. When a new concept drift occurs, rcd compares the new context to old ones using a non-parametric multivariate statistical test to verify if both contexts come from the same distribution. If so, the corresponding classi er is reused. If not, a new classi er is generated and stored. Three kinds of tests were performed. One compares the rcd framework with several adaptive algorithms (among single and ensemble approaches) in arti cial and real data sets, among the most used in the concept drift research area, with abrupt and gradual concept drifts. It is observed the ability of the classi ers in representing each context, how they handle concept drift, and training and testing times needed to evaluate the data sets. Results indicate that rcd had similar or better statistical results compared to the other classi ers. In the real-world data sets, rcd presented accuracies close to the best classi er in each data set. Another test compares two statistical tests (knn and Cramer) in their capability in representing and identifying contexts. Tests were performed using adaptive and batch classi ers as base learners of rcd, in arti cial and real-world data sets, with several rates-of-change. Results indicate that, in average, knn had better results compared to the Cramer test, and was also faster. Independently of the test used, rcd had higher accuracy values compared to their respective base learners. It is also presented an improvement in the rcd framework where the statistical tests are performed in parallel through the use of a thread pool. Tests were performed in three processors with di erent numbers of cores. Better results were obtained when there was a high number of detected concept drifts, the bu er size used to represent each data distribution was large, and there was a high test frequency. Even if none of these conditions apply, parallel and sequential execution still have very similar performances. Finally, a comparison between six di erent drift detection methods was also performed, comparing the predictive accuracies, evaluation times, and drift handling, including false alarm and miss detection rates, as well as the average distance to the drift point and its standard deviation. / Submitted by João Arthur Martins (joao.arthur@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-12T19:25:11Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese Paulo Mauricio Gonçalves Jr..pdf: 2957463 bytes, checksum: de163caadf10cbd5442e145778865224 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-12T19:25:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese Paulo Mauricio Gonçalves Jr..pdf: 2957463 bytes, checksum: de163caadf10cbd5442e145778865224 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-23 / Fluxos de dados s~ao um modelo de processamento de dados recente, onde os dados chegam continuamente, em grandes quantidades, a altas velocidades, de modo que eles devem ser processados em tempo real. Al em disso, v arias institui c~oes p ublicas e privadas armazenam grandes quantidades de dados que tamb em devem ser processadas. Classi cadores tradicionais n~ao s~ao adequados para lidar com grandes quantidades de dados por basicamente duas raz~oes. Primeiro, eles costumam ler os dados dispon veis v arias vezes at e convergirem, o que e impratic avel neste cen ario. Em segundo lugar, eles assumem que o contexto representado por dados e est avel no tempo, o que pode n~ao ser verdadeiro. Na verdade, a mudan ca de contexto e uma situa c~ao comum em uxos de dados, e e chamado de mudan ca de conceito. Esta tese apresenta o rcd, uma estrutura que oferece uma abordagem alternativa para lidar com os uxos de dados que sofrem de mudan cas de conceito recorrentes. Ele cria um novo classi cador para cada contexto encontrado e armazena uma amostra dos dados usados para constru -lo. Quando uma nova mudan ca de conceito ocorre, rcd compara o novo contexto com os antigos, utilizando um teste estat stico n~ao param etrico multivariado para veri car se ambos os contextos prov^em da mesma distribui c~ao. Se assim for, o classi cador correspondente e reutilizado. Se n~ao, um novo classi cador e gerado e armazenado. Tr^es tipos de testes foram realizados. Um compara o rcd com v arios algoritmos adaptativos (entre as abordagens individuais e de agrupamento) em conjuntos de dados arti ciais e reais, entre os mais utilizados na area de pesquisa de mudan ca de conceito, com mudan cas bruscas e graduais. E observada a capacidade dos classi cadores em representar cada contexto, como eles lidam com as mudan cas de conceito e os tempos de treinamento e teste necess arios para avaliar os conjuntos de dados. Os resultados indicam que rcd teve resultados estat sticos semelhantes ou melhores, em compara c~ao com os outros classi cadores. Nos conjuntos de dados do mundo real, rcd apresentou precis~oes pr oximas do melhor classi cador em cada conjunto de dados. Outro teste compara dois testes estat sticos (knn e Cramer) em suas capacidades de representar e identi car contextos. Os testes foram realizados utilizando classi cadores tradicionais e adaptativos como base do rcd, em conjuntos de dados arti ciais e do mundo real, com v arias taxas de varia c~ao. Os resultados indicam que, em m edia, KNN obteve melhores resultados em compara c~ao com o teste de Cramer, al em de ser mais r apido. Independentemente do crit erio utilizado, rcd apresentou valores mais elevados de precis~ao em compara c~ao com seus respectivos classi cadores base. Tamb em e apresentada uma melhoria do rcd onde os testes estat sticos s~ao executadas em paralelo por meio do uso de um pool de threads. Os testes foram realizados em tr^es processadores com diferentes n umeros de n ucleos. Melhores resultados foram obtidos quando houve um elevado n umero de mudan cas de conceito detectadas, o tamanho das amostras utilizadas para representar cada distribui c~ao de dados era grande, e havia uma alta freq u^encia de testes. Mesmo que nenhuma destas condi c~oes se aplicam, a execu c~ao paralela e seq uencial ainda t^em performances muito semelhantes. Finalmente, uma compara c~ao entre seis diferentes m etodos de detec c~ao de mudan ca de conceito tamb em foi realizada, comparando a precis~ao, os tempos de avalia c~ao, manipula c~ao das mudan cas de conceito, incluindo as taxas de falsos positivos e negativos, bem como a m edia da dist^ancia ao ponto de mudan ca e o seu desvio padr~ao.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and suffers from recurring disasters but no ongoing conflicts. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working there must therefore take relief, rehabilitation, and development into account as shifting between these stages is the reality of the rights-holders. What approaches that should be used while doing this is unique in each context. The aid structure is however clearly divided between those working with relief and those working with development, and even though the conceptual development suggest that the aid structure should join there has been no change towards this. At the same time Result Based Management (RBM) as a principle for aid effectiveness has been heavily criticized for focusing on short term results, among others. This qualitative study has contributed to closing two research gaps; in identifying that Disaster Risk Reduction, Human Rights Based Approach, economic empowerment, and sustainable relief interventions are the approaches that CSOs in Malawi tend to focus on when working close to a community where there is a need to link relief, rehabilitation, and development (LRRD); and in identifying that not only can the pressure from a divided aid structure be blamed for the challenges facing CSOs implementing LRRD approaches, but RBM is also a contributing part. This results in CSOs being torn between accountability issues towards donors and staying legitimate towards rights-holders and that because of these challenges they cannot live up to their potential and provide the most effective aid. / Malawi är ett av de fattigaste länderna i världen och lider av återkommande katastrofer men inga pågående konflikter. Perioder av humanitära katastrofer, återuppbyggnad, och utveckling, skiftar och växlar fram och tillbaka i olika stadier och eftersom det är rättighetsbärarnas verklighet så är det också något civilsamhällsorganisationer som arbetar med olika typer av utvecklingssamarbete måste ta hänsyn till att. Vilka metoder som bör användas när organisationer arbetar i detta klimat är unikt för varje kontext. Biståndet är emellertid tydligt uppdelad mellan de som arbetar med humanitärt arbete och de som arbetar med utveckling, och trots att den konceptuella utvecklingen föreslår att biståndet bör kopplas samman så har det inte skett någon strukturell förändring. Samtidigt har resultatbaserat arbete som är en princip för biståndseffektivitet starkt kritiserats, bland annat för att det fokuseras för mycket på kortsiktiga resultat. Denna intervjubaserade studie har bidragit till att minska två forskningsgap; genom att identifiera att katastrofförebyggande arbete, rättighetsbaserat arbete, ekonomisk empowerment, och hållbara humanitära insatser som de tillvägagångssätt som civilsamhällesorganisationer i Malawi tenderar att fokusera på när de arbetar nära ett samhälle där det finns ett behov av att koppla samman humanitärt arbete med rehabilitering och utveckling (LRRD); och genom att identifiera att det inte bara är trycket från en uppdelad biståndsstruktur som förklarar de utmaningar som organisationer står inför när d arbetar med LRRD utan att resultatbaserat arbete också är en bidragande del. Lokala civilsamhällesorganisationer balanserar mellan ansvaret de har mot gentemot givare och legitimiteten de måste ha gentemot rättighetsinnehavare. I slutändan kan de på grund av dessa utmaningar inte leva upp till sin potential och tillhandahålla det mest effektiva stödet.

As a leading figure of “The Six Generation” directors, Jia Zhangke’s films focus on reality of contemporary Chinese society, and record the lives of people who were left behind after the country’s urbanization process. He depicts a lot of characters who struggle with their lives, and he works to explore one common question throughout all of his films: “where do I belong?” Jia Zhangke uses unique filmmaking techniques in order to emphasize the feelings of people losing their sense of home. In this thesis, I am going to analyze his cinematic style from three perspectives: photography, musical scores and metaphors. In each chapter, I will use one film as the main subject of discussion and reference other films to complement my analysis. / Graduate

The gut microbiome plays a vital role in human health. Disturbances of this microbial system is associated with diseases such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. In populations of microbial species, many organisms partake in byproduct cross-feeding interactions, where byproducts from one organism are consumed by other microbes. Using the digital evolution software Avida, I studied the effect of recurring perturbations and imperfect resource conversion on the evolution of byproduct cross-feeding chains in digital communities. To investigate the effect of perturbation and conversion rate on digital organisms, I evolved digital communities for 200,000 updates in an unperturbed environment that could hold 50 different resource types, each produced as a byproduct of consuming another resource. At 200,000 updates, 50 or 60 % of all organisms were removed at various intervals during periods of different lengths, with a conversion rate less than 100 % between resources in the byproduct chain. I found that 0.9 conversion rate caused communities to evolve longer cross-feeding chains. A conversion rate of 0.5 resulted in communities with much shorter chains, more similar in length to byproduct chains in the human gut. Perturbation events seem to affect chain length only under certain conditions when energy is lost between resources, for example when 60 % of all organisms were removed every 50th update on average. It appears that conversion loss makes digital communities more robust against the effects of perturbations, and that it might protect these communities from going extinct.

No description available.

- Ziele der Arbeit - Ziel vorliegender Arbeit ist, zu analysieren und zu beurteilen, in welchem Umfang autogene Moorregeneration nach anthropogenen Störungen auftritt, welche Voraussetzungen sie erfordert und welche Prozesse von Bedeutung sind. Forstliche und naturschutzfachliche Relevanz der Erkenntnisse sind zu prüfen. - Versuchsanlage und Methoden - Die Versuchsanlage umfasst verschiedene räumliche Skalenebenen und Zeitabschnitte. Im Untersuchungsraum sächsisches Erzgebirge befinden sich fünf Untersuchungsgebiete. Geschichtliche Aspekte werden auf Basis von Recherchen, der aktuelle Moorzustand anhand von Geländeerhebungen zu Vegetation und Standort analysiert. Langzeitbeobachtungen dienen dem Nachweis von Sukzessionsprozessen und den sie beeinflussenden Umweltfaktoren. Regenerationsprozesse werden anhand von Regenerationsmerkmalen, die eigens für diese Zwecke erarbeitet wurden, lokalisiert und im Kontext mit dem aktuellen Moorzustand und den Erfordernissen von Naturschutz und Forstwirtschaft interpretiert. - Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen - - Das Aufnahmematerial lässt die Differenzierung von 28 Vegetationstypen zu, die anhand von Artengruppen und Zeigerwerten charakterisiert und als Kartiereinheiten zur Bewertung der Moore verwendet werden. Die Moorfläche im Untersuchungsraum wird auf 8.500 ha geschätzt. Jedes untersuchte Moor weist eine spezifische Kombination abiotischer sowie biotischer Merkmale auf und ist deshalb individuell zu bewerten. Entwässerungen und Torfstiche führen zu starker Degeneration, Dominanz von Wald, Seltenheit moortypischer Pflanzenarten, Offengesellschaften, nässegeprägter hydromorphologischer Strukturen sowie ökosystemrelevanter Schlüsselarten. Hinzu kommt eine Schädigung der Baum- und Moosschicht durch SO2-Immissionen bis in die 1990er Jahre und eine nachfolgende Regeneration. - Wiedervernässungen durch Graben- und Torfstichverlandung sind anhand von Zeitreihen und aktuellen Regenerationsmerkmalen nachweisbar. Autogene Moorregeneration kommt selbst in stark degenerierten Mooren vor. Regenerationsbereiche sind häufig, erreichen aber nur einen geringen Anteil an der Moorfläche (Untersuchungsraum: 1 %, Untersuchungsgebiete: 12 %). Sie haben meist mesotrophen Charakter. Eine erhöhte Regenerationsdisposition tritt u. a. bei konvergenten Wasserströmen und geringen Neigungen auf. Lokale Prozesse wie die Bildung von Fließhindernissen beeinflussen das Unwirksamwerden von Gräben. Die Etablierung torfbildender Vegetation nimmt eine Schlüsselstellung ein. Verschiedene Stufen eines diskontinuierlichen Regenerationsfortschritts sind zu unterscheiden und in bisher bekannte Prozessabläufe einzuordnen. Häufigkeit und Flächenverhältnis initialer und fortgeschrittener Regeration legen nahe, dass Regenerationsprozesse auf größerer Fläche ablaufen, jedoch nicht erkannt werden. Regeneration führt zu Standortsdrift und Ausbreitung moortypischer Arten. Das Regenerationspotenzial ist abiotisch vorgegeben. Irreversible Veränderungen der hydromorphologischen Struktur durch Entwässerung oder Torfabbau setzen der Regeneration Grenzen. Anthropogene Stoffeinträge und Mangel an Schlüsselarten bewirken weitere Einschränkungen. - Soweit eine rentable Holzproduktion Ziel ist, stellen autogen regenerierende Moore schwer bis nicht bewirtschaftbare Standorte dar, die aufgrund von Standortsdrift und teils Gehölzfeindlichkeit ein hohes Produktionsrisiko bergen. Naturschutzfachlich sind Regenerationsprozesse eine Chance und ein bedeutendes Schutzgut, da sie zu höherwertigeren Moorlebensräumen führen. Bei fortgeschrittener Regeneration erübrigen sich kostenintensive Eingriffe. Ein statischer Schutz wird dem Prozesscharakter nicht gerecht. Initialstadien und Bereiche, die noch nicht regenerieren, aber ein hohes Potenzial aufweisen, lassen sich effizient fördern. Die starke Degeneration der Moore im Untersuchungsraum begründet bei geringem Anteil aktueller Regenerationsbereiche einen hohen Handlungsbedarf, einschließlich eines abschirmenden Schutzes sowie effizienter Kontrollmechanismen. - Geeignete Datengrundlagen zur Lokalisierung von Flächen mit einem hohen Regenerationspotenzial fehlen weitgehend. Eine Behebung dieses Defizits ist möglich. / - Objectives - The objective of this work is to analyse and to assess to which extent autogenous peatland regeneration occurs after anthropogenic disturbances, what preconditions it requires and what processes are important. Relevance of the findings for forestry and nature conservation is to be examined. - Experimental set-up and methods - The experimental set-up comprises various spatial scale levels and time periods. Five study sites are located in the study area Saxon Erzgebirge Mountains. Historical aspects are analysed based on investigations, the actual condition of the peatland is determined by ground surveys focusing on the vegetation and the site. Long-term observations serve to prove succession processes and the environmental factors influencing them. Regeneration processes are localized by means of regeneration characteristics, which were elaborated just for this purpose, localized, and interpreted in the context of the actual peatland condition and of the requirements of nature conservation and forestry. - Results and conclusions - - The material under survey allows distinguishing between 28 vegetation types which are characterised by means of species groups and indicator values and which are used as mapping units for evaluating the peatlands. The peatland area in the study area comprises an estimated 8500 ha. Each investigated peatland has a specific combination of abiotic and biotic characteristics and therefore needs to be evaluated individually. Drainage and peat cuttings lead to strong degeneration, dominance of forest, rarity of plants species typical of peatland, open-land associations, wetness-coined hydromorphological structures as well as ecosystem-relevant key species. In addition, the tree and moss layer had been damaged by SO2-pollution up to the 1990ies and a succeeding regeneration. - Recurring wetting due to filling-up of ditches and peat cuttings by sedimentation are verifiable by time sequences and actual regeneration characteristics. Autogenous peatland regeneration occurs even in heavily degenerated peatlands. Regeneration areas are frequent, accounting, however, only for a small share at the peatland area (study area: 1 %, study sites: 12 %). Often they are of mesotrophic nature. An increased disposition to regeneration is found, among others, in case of convergent water flows and slight inclinations. Local processes like the formation of obstacles for the flowing may cause ditches to become ineffective. Establishing of peat-forming vegetation is a crucial phenomenon. Various stages of a discontinuous regeneration progress can be differentiated and allocated to the processes that are known so far. Frequency and the area ratio of initial and progressed regeneration suggest that regeneration processes take place on a larger area, but that they are not recognised. Regeneration leads to site drifting and the distribution of peatland species. The regeneration potential is given by abiotic conditions. Irreversible changes of the hydro-morphological structure due to drainage or peat cutting are limiting factors for the regeneration. Anthropogenic input of matter and lack of key species bring about other restrictions. - If a profitable timber production is aimed at, autogenously regenerated peatlands are sites difficult to manage or that cannot be managed at all, involving a high production risk due to site drifting and partly inadequacy for woody plants. For nature conservation, regeneration processes are a chance and an important asset worth of protection, as they lead to high-grade peatland habitats. In the case of advanced regeneration cost-intensive operations are not necessary. A protection of static nature is inadequate for the process character. Initial stages and zones not yet under regeneration, implying, however, a high potential, can be promoted efficiently. Heavy degeneration of the peatlands in the study area, given a low proportion of actual regeneration zones, justifies a strong call for action, including a shielding protection as well as efficient control mechanisms. - An appropriate data basis for localisation of areas, having a high regeneration potential, is largely missing. Remedying this deficit is possible.

I dagens samhälle är det allt viktigare för företag att behålla sina existerande kunder då konkurrensen blir allt hårdare. Detta medför att företag försöker vidta åtgärder för att vårda relationer med sina kunder. Detta problem är även högst relevant inom IT-branschen. Inom IT-branschen är det vanligt att arbeta agilt i IT-projekt. Vår samarbetspartner har sett ett ökat behov av att mäta servicekvalitet på ett återkommande sätt inom IT-projekt, detta för att mäta relevanta variabler som sträcker sig utanför kravspecifikationen. För att mäta framgång gällande detta arbetssätt vill man kunna mäta Nöjd Kund Index (NKI) för att kunna jämföra IT-projekt internt i företaget. Då tidigare forskning visat avsaknad av modeller innehållande både mätning av servicekvalitet samt NKI har lämplig litteratur studerats där det framkommit att modellen SERVQUAL är vedertagen för mätning av servicekvalitet och modellen American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) är vedertagen för mätning av NKI. Detta har legat till grund för arbetets problemformulering och syfte. Syftet med arbetet är att skapa en vidareutvecklad modell för mätning av NKI för att jämföra IT-projekt internt samt återkommande mätning av servicekvalitet inom IT-projekt. Framtagande av denna modell har sedan skett genom forskningsstrategin Design and Creation. Intervjuer har genomförts för kravfångst till den vidareutvecklade modellen. Resultatet av denna forskningsstrategi blev sedan en vidareutvecklad modell baserad på ovan nämnda modeller med återkommande förhållningssätt för mätning av servicekvalitet inom IT-projekt och mätning av NKI för att jämföra IT-projekt internt i företaget. Den framtagna modellen har sedan verifierats genom ytterligare intervjuer med respondenter som innehar god erfarenhet från kundsidan av IT-projekt. Från dessa intervjuer kunde sedan slutsats dras att denna modell är att anse som applicerbar i empirin gällande IT-projekt. / In today's society, it is increasingly important for companies to retain their existing customers when competition becomes increasingly fierce. This means that companies are trying to take steps to nurture relationships with its customers. This problem is very relevant in the IT industry. In the IT industry, it is common to work agile in IT projects. Our partner has seen an increased need to measure service quality with a regular approach in IT projects, in order to measure the relevant variables that extend beyond the specifications. To measure success regarding this approach would be to measure Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) of IT projects. As previous research demonstrated the absence of models containing both the measurement of service quality and CSI have literature studied where it emerged that the model SERVQUAL is established for the measurement of service quality and model the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is established for the measurement of CSI. This has been the basis of work problem and purpose. The aim is to create an improved model for the measurement of CSI between IT projects and recurring measurement of service quality in IT projects. Creation of this model has been made through research strategy Design and Creation. Interviews have been conducted for requirements capture to the refined model. The result of this research strategy was then a further developed model based on the above models with recurring approach for the measurement of service quality in IT projects and measurement of CSI between IT projects. The resulting model is then verified through further interviews with respondents holding good experience from the customer side of IT projects. From these interviews conclusion could be drawn that this model is considered to be applicable in the empirical data regarding IT projects.

This research explores constructions and understandings of fluctuating or recurring impairments in Higher Education in the UK. It considers ways in which institutional discourses within one UK University have shaped policy and provision for disabled students, and how students with fluctuating or recurring impairments negotiate and enact identities in this context. For many students, impairments such as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/ myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), epilepsy or diabetes, for example, have the potential to vary in intensity, and thus impact, on participation in learning activities and on self-perception/ identity. With increasing disclosure, yet limited recognition, of such types of impairment comes a need for institutions to better understand changing impact in terms of inclusion and in observing anticipatory aspects of legislation, as well as furthering insight into how student identities are negotiated and constructed in an educational context. This research uses a social constructionist framework to explore constructions and subjectivities as regards fluctuating or recurring impairments, and comprises both staff and student perspectives. The staff perspective is based on the thematic narrative analysis of interviews with three members of staff, and is presented in conjunction with an example of institutional policy to highlight discourses drawn upon in constructing disability and disabled students. The impact of these discourses on institutional constructions and practice is key to the analysis. The student perspective is based on two phases of data collection: firstly, 24 semi-structured interviews with students who self-described a fluctuating or recurring impairment; and secondly, five students’ responses to six bi-weekly emails over the course of one academic trimester (January – April 2011). Summary data from the first phase is used to frame discussion on issues raised by students regarding institutional constructions and support. A ‘hybrid’ narrative analysis framework incorporating positioning analysis as well as both ‘big’ and ‘small stories’ has been used in analysing the phase two data. The approach considers the influence of institutional discourses on how students are positioned institutionally and position themselves, as well as ways in which performances of identity may be shaped. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of the research outcomes for Higher Education. In so doing, it notes the significance of policy implementation and cultural change, and makes recommendations for areas of focus in raising institutional awareness of fluctuating or recurring impairments within existing constructions of disability.