We introduce a new description logic that extends the well-known logic ALCQ by allowing the statement of constraints on role successors that are more general than the qualified number restrictions of ALCQ. To formulate these constraints, we use the quantifier-free fragment of Boolean Algebra with Presburger Arithmetic (QFBAPA), in which one can express Boolean combinations of set constraints and numerical constraints on the cardinalities of sets. Though our new logic is considerably more expressive than ALCQ, we are able to show that the complexity of reasoning in it is the same as in ALCQ, both without and with TBoxes. / The first version of this report was put online on April 6, 2017. The current version, containing more information on related work, was put online on July 13, 2017. This is an extended version of a paper published in the proceedings of FroCoS 2017.

Accounting transactions are becoming more complex, and more extensive accounting guidance is provided on a continuous basis in the accounting standards. In addition, accounting guidance changes often and additional guidance is added to the standards regularly. In view of this immense amount of accounting knowledge that an accountant can be expected to have, exacerbated by often multifaceted structures in accounting problems, it can be challenging and onerous to solve certain accounting problems. The premise of this study is that accounting problems can also be solved in a less complex manner with reference to the foundational accounting concepts included in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (CF). The solution to the accounting problem using the CF should result in a similar answer had the detailed, complex accounting guidance been consulted. This is based on the understanding that the detailed guidance is consistent with the CF and that the CF is not underdeveloped. In the experience of the author of this dissertation, however, the CF is rarely used to consider the accounting treatment of specific transactions and the first point of reference is usually the detailed, specific guidance. In order to impart a practice of incorporating the CF in problem-solving, the study in this dissertation is underpinned by educational philosophies rooted mainly in constructivism, and specifically in Ausubel’s subsumption theory. Applied to accounting education, this theory suggests a frameworkbased approach whereby educators first instil a detailed knowledge of the CF in an Accounting course and thereafter present details of specific accounting transactions by building and crossreferencing to the foundational concepts in the CF. In addition, the paradigm in Accounting courses should also incorporate problems and experiments through which students can construct their own knowledge, rather than being passive recipients of an educator’s teaching style. Recent literature on framework-based teaching suggests that such an approach is beneficial as it enhances lifelong learning. This study reported on a framework-based approach incorporated in an Accounting course and aimed to determine students’ ability to solve complex accounting problems by referring only to the CF, as well as to determine the factors that could influence their ability to solve the problems and the preferred problem-solving approach of students in facing future accounting problems. In order to address the broad aim of this study, it was divided into two sections, each to identify and analyse a different aspect of accounting problem-solving that incorporated the CF. The study in this dissertation focused mainly on an interpretive research paradigm. The first project had the primary objective of determining whether students have the ability to solve complex accounting problems by using only the CF and determining which factors could influence their ability. This was established by analysing the content and results of an assignment administered to third-year Accounting students at a South African university in which students were required to solve problems using only the CF. The second project had the objective of determining the preferred future approach students will take in solving accounting problems after they have been exposed to a framework-based assignment. This was established through qualitative measures and augmented by a questionnaire to analyse the students’ perceptions. The contributions of this dissertation are manifold and include, but are not limited to, the realisation that a conceptual approach to accounting education is beneficial in Accounting courses. The results in this study indicate that the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems by referring only to the CF may depend on the complexity of the scenario and the students’ familiarity with the problem. In addition, after being exposed to a framework-based assignment, students may tend to prefer a mixed approach in solving accounting problems, which entails a combination of the concepts in the CF and specific accounting guidance governing a particular transaction. The author also believes that this study makes a practical contribution by providing an actual framework-based assignment which can be used or adapted by other Accounting educators to use in similar courses, or to help them develop similar assignments or case studies or to replicate the study. From an educational perspective, it is recommended that Accounting educators incorporate an emphasis on the CF in their teaching approach. As students are exposed to opportunities to exercise their judgement using the concepts included in the CF, they will gain experience in this and be able to exercise better judgement in future. Each time a student is exposed to a problem requiring to be solved using the CF, or is required to make necessary judgements with regard to the CF, it will lead to the creation of new knowledge which the student can constantly link and cross-reference to existing knowledge and experiences. It also appears that, when students are exposed to problem-solving using the CF, it may lead to accountants adopting a more balanced approach by considering more CF constructs in solving future accounting problems. Although the study in this dissertation was conducted at only one university, its implications are by no means limited to this institution. Extrapolation of results cannot be attempted due to the nature of the research design, but the results in this study are valuable and enhance accounting education literature in better understanding students’ problem-solving abilities and their preferred problemsolving approach. The research is therefore valuable to any Accounting educator, as well as the institutional bodies guiding accounting education and its syllabi. It is hoped also that some of the findings will inspire other educational institutions to promote a framework-based approach in an innovative manner. / MCom (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Accounting transactions are becoming more complex, and more extensive accounting guidance is provided on a continuous basis in the accounting standards. In addition, accounting guidance changes often and additional guidance is added to the standards regularly. In view of this immense amount of accounting knowledge that an accountant can be expected to have, exacerbated by often multifaceted structures in accounting problems, it can be challenging and onerous to solve certain accounting problems. The premise of this study is that accounting problems can also be solved in a less complex manner with reference to the foundational accounting concepts included in the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting (CF). The solution to the accounting problem using the CF should result in a similar answer had the detailed, complex accounting guidance been consulted. This is based on the understanding that the detailed guidance is consistent with the CF and that the CF is not underdeveloped. In the experience of the author of this dissertation, however, the CF is rarely used to consider the accounting treatment of specific transactions and the first point of reference is usually the detailed, specific guidance. In order to impart a practice of incorporating the CF in problem-solving, the study in this dissertation is underpinned by educational philosophies rooted mainly in constructivism, and specifically in Ausubel’s subsumption theory. Applied to accounting education, this theory suggests a frameworkbased approach whereby educators first instil a detailed knowledge of the CF in an Accounting course and thereafter present details of specific accounting transactions by building and crossreferencing to the foundational concepts in the CF. In addition, the paradigm in Accounting courses should also incorporate problems and experiments through which students can construct their own knowledge, rather than being passive recipients of an educator’s teaching style. Recent literature on framework-based teaching suggests that such an approach is beneficial as it enhances lifelong learning. This study reported on a framework-based approach incorporated in an Accounting course and aimed to determine students’ ability to solve complex accounting problems by referring only to the CF, as well as to determine the factors that could influence their ability to solve the problems and the preferred problem-solving approach of students in facing future accounting problems. In order to address the broad aim of this study, it was divided into two sections, each to identify and analyse a different aspect of accounting problem-solving that incorporated the CF. The study in this dissertation focused mainly on an interpretive research paradigm. The first project had the primary objective of determining whether students have the ability to solve complex accounting problems by using only the CF and determining which factors could influence their ability. This was established by analysing the content and results of an assignment administered to third-year Accounting students at a South African university in which students were required to solve problems using only the CF. The second project had the objective of determining the preferred future approach students will take in solving accounting problems after they have been exposed to a framework-based assignment. This was established through qualitative measures and augmented by a questionnaire to analyse the students’ perceptions. The contributions of this dissertation are manifold and include, but are not limited to, the realisation that a conceptual approach to accounting education is beneficial in Accounting courses. The results in this study indicate that the ability of students to solve complex accounting problems by referring only to the CF may depend on the complexity of the scenario and the students’ familiarity with the problem. In addition, after being exposed to a framework-based assignment, students may tend to prefer a mixed approach in solving accounting problems, which entails a combination of the concepts in the CF and specific accounting guidance governing a particular transaction. The author also believes that this study makes a practical contribution by providing an actual framework-based assignment which can be used or adapted by other Accounting educators to use in similar courses, or to help them develop similar assignments or case studies or to replicate the study. From an educational perspective, it is recommended that Accounting educators incorporate an emphasis on the CF in their teaching approach. As students are exposed to opportunities to exercise their judgement using the concepts included in the CF, they will gain experience in this and be able to exercise better judgement in future. Each time a student is exposed to a problem requiring to be solved using the CF, or is required to make necessary judgements with regard to the CF, it will lead to the creation of new knowledge which the student can constantly link and cross-reference to existing knowledge and experiences. It also appears that, when students are exposed to problem-solving using the CF, it may lead to accountants adopting a more balanced approach by considering more CF constructs in solving future accounting problems. Although the study in this dissertation was conducted at only one university, its implications are by no means limited to this institution. Extrapolation of results cannot be attempted due to the nature of the research design, but the results in this study are valuable and enhance accounting education literature in better understanding students’ problem-solving abilities and their preferred problemsolving approach. The research is therefore valuable to any Accounting educator, as well as the institutional bodies guiding accounting education and its syllabi. It is hoped also that some of the findings will inspire other educational institutions to promote a framework-based approach in an innovative manner. / MCom (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

MARQUES, Marcelo Santos. A qualificação profissional no foco da crítica ao sistema do capital: em busca dos egressos do CEFETCE. 2009. 387f. Tese (Doutorado em Sociologia) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Ciências Sociais, Programa de Pós- Graduação em Sociologia, Fortaleza-CE, 2009. / Submitted by Liliane oliveira (morena.liliane@hotmail.com) on 2012-01-10T15:37:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-01-11T15:21:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-01-11T15:21:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2009_TESE_MSMARQUES.pdf: 2445595 bytes, checksum: afc1130426010f7be2f1cd4b4ee7be05 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / The present Thesis comprises a critical examination of the structure of the working of the system of the capital, in the light of the central contradiction indicated by Karl Marx in the Grundrisse. The expression of the contradiction gets visibility with the substitution for dead labor (machines) of live labor (human direct labor). Therefore, the substance of value becomes empty and the direct laborers are reduced to the condition of appendix of machines they work with, remaining to them the activities of regulating and supporting the automatic complexes. The logical movement of value and the historical course of the process of subsumption of labor to capital provide the hypothesis that the working class were being submitted to a perverse trend that qualifies in a disqualifying manner its aptitudes and abilities. At the same time, that process simplifies the labor and devaluates labor-force. In order to investigate such process of disruption of the world of labor it was crucial to choose an object of research that allowed checking the performance of workers recognized by common sense as highly qualified. That is the reason for which the “search of the egresses of the CEFETCE” in the labor market was the core of the investigation. Technological assets of mechathronics and telematics technicians were investigate. The basic question of the inquiry is to verify to what extent these high-tech operators activate, the gamma of knowledge acquired during theoretical and practical formation at CEFETCE, to their everyday professional activities. Sixty technologists were interviewed, as well as, professors, industrial managers and laborers of various branches of merchandise production. The interviews always were seconded by visits to some productive plants. As a result, the researcher was awarded with a fertile sociological material, pregnant of symbolic expressions and technological constructs. The materiality and the immateriality of the experiences evidenced “the contradiction in process” in the heart of automatic systems of production. In those systems, fetishist production acts are set aside for the direct workers, in the form “caring of” (machines), “watching” (production lines), “looking at” (monitors) and “changing plates” (electronics) etc. / A presente Tese compreende um exame crítico da estrutura de funcionamento do sistema do capital, à luz da contradição central assinalada por Karl Marx nos Grundrisse. A contradição vai se tornando visível com a substituição do trabalho vivo (trabalho humano direto) pelo trabalho morto (máquinas). Em decorrência, esvazia-se a substância do valor e os trabalhadores diretos são reduzidos à condição de apêndice de máquinas que trabalham, restando-lhes as atividades de reguladores e de suportes para complexos automáticos. O movimento lógico do valor e o transcurso histórico do processo de subsunção do trabalho ao capital, propiciam a hipótese de que o conjunto dos trabalhadores estaria sendo submetido a uma tendência perversa que qualifica desqualificando suas aptidões e habilidades. Ao mesmo tempo, simplifica o trabalho e desvaloriza a força-de-trabalho. A fim de averiguar tal processo de disrupção do mundo do trabalho, constituiu-se um objeto de pesquisa que permitisse checar a atuação de trabalhadores tidos, pelo senso comum, como altamente qualificados. Eis a razão pela qual se tomou como plano investigativo, a “busca dos egressos do CEFETCE” no mercado de trabalho, centrando a investigação nos haveres tecnológicos de mecatrônicos e telemáticos. A questão básica é verificar até que ponto esses operadores high-tech ativam a gama dos conhecimentos obtidos em sua formação teórico-prática cefeteana, no dia-a-dia das atividades profissionais. Foram entrevistados sessenta tecnólogos, além de professores, administradores industriários e operários de fábrica vinculados a díspares ramos de produção de mercadorias. As entrevistas foram sempre secundadas por visitas a várias plantas produtivas. Como resultado, o pesquisador foi premiado com um fértil material sociológico, prenhe de expressões simbólicas e de constructos técnicos. A materialidade e a imaterialidade das experiências, explícita e implicitamente vivenciadas, evidenciaram a “contradição em processo” no coração de sistemas de produção automáticos. Nestes, estão reservados para os trabalhadores imediatos atos fetichistas como “cuidar” (de máquinas), “assistir” (linhas de produção), “olhar” (supervisórios) e “trocar placas” (eletrônicas) etc.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also called drones, are used for Search And Rescue (SAR) missions, mainly in the form of a pilot manoeuvring a single drone. However, the increase in labour to cover larger areas quickly would result in a very high cost and time spent per rescue operation. Therefore, there is a need for an easy to use, low-cost, and highly autonomous swarm of drones for SAR missions where the detection and rescue times are kept to a minimum. In this thesis, a Subsumption-based architecture is proposed, which combines multiple behaviours to create more complex behaviours. An investigation of (1) what are the critical aspects of controlling a swarm of drones, (2) how can a combination of different behavioural algorithms increase the performance of a swarm of drones, and (3) what benchmarks are necessary when evaluating the fitness of the behavioural algorithms. The proposed architecture was simulated in AirSim using the SimpleFlight flight controller through experiments that evaluated the individual layers and missions that simulated real-life scenarios. The results validate the modularity and reliability of the architecture, where the architecture has the potential for improvements in future iterations. For the search area of 400×400meters, the swarm consistently produced an average area coverage of at least 99.917% and found all the missing people in all missions, with the slowest average being 563 seconds. Compared to related work, the result produced similar or better times when scaled to the same proportions and higher area coverage. As comparisons of results in SAR missions can be difficult, the introduction of Active time can serve as a benchmark for others in future swarm performance measurements.