Thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of master of management (in the field of public sector monitoring and evaluation) to the faculty of commerce, law, and management, university of the Witwatersrand. March 2016 / Generally, we can trace the Science Park idea to the 1950s when Silicon Valley, with the support of Stanford University, transformed an agricultural valley into a semiconductor industry. Science parks offer infrastructure and incubation support to entrepreneurs for the development of new technology based companies (Lindelöf & Löfsten, 2002; Durão et al., 2005). Specifically, The Innovation Hub project in Gauteng province is an economic development intervention, modelled on the science park idea with the aim of promoting socioeconomic development and competitiveness of the province through innovation. The Innovation Hub project delivers its services through the incubation programme whose purpose is to provide a catalytic incubator that facilitates commercialisation of research and technology ideas into new business ventures. Similar to any other development intervention, it is important to determine whether the Gauteng science park incubation programme is delivering on its objectives of creating jobs and promoting small and medium enterprises, as mandated by the Gauteng government. This study examines the evaluability of the incubation programme based on the theory of change and results chain framework to determine if the programme can achieve its desired outcomes and if the programme has adequate information to enable a credible and meaningful evaluation of the programme. A qualitative study is undertaken to clarify a theory of change for the incubation programme based on the understanding of the programme stakeholders from the Department of Economic Development and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency as well as the perspectives of The Innovation Hub Management Company’s internal managements. The study reveals that results-based management is not used within the incubation programme. The study tests if the theory of change of the programme is plausible, do-able and testable and we find that these conditions are currently not in place. The evaluability assessment recommends that the incubation programme improve by adapting results based management planning techniques to redesign as well as determine performance information for the programme. Programme implementation should improve with emphasis on providing a capacitated management team for the entrepreneurs and improving the services rendered in the programme. Author: Kutala Pangwa Thesis title: Evaluability assessment of the Gauteng science park incubation programme / GR2018

Orientador: Rogério Gomes / Banca: Ana Paula Macedo Avellar / Banca: Tatiana Massaroli de Melo / Resumo: Pretende-se, por meio desta pesquisa, apresentar a política Novo Marco Legal da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação e sua importância dentro do Sistema Nacional de Inovação no Brasil. Através de um comparativo com indicadores de países selecionados será possível verificar que o Marco Legal é um impulso dentro do que se entende por políticas de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação. Para realização dos comparativos foi utilizado dados do Banco Mundial e do Índice Global de Inovação. A política Marco Legal surgiu em 2016 e foi sancionada em 2018 para fortalecer a Lei da Inovação de 2004 que enfrentava instabilidade institucional e entraves na transferência do fluxo de conhecimento. Ficou claro que eram necessárias reformulações, pois as complexidades entre os setores públicos e privados permaneciam. Neste sentido, o Marco Legal de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação surge com intuito de desburocratizar as parcerias público-privadas, disciplinar as relações entre governo, empresas e universidades para facilitar a transferência de conhecimento buscando um arcabouço legal e eficaz para estimular o desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico do Brasil. Por fim, a contribuição desta pesquisa dar-se-ia no sentido de apresentar a política Marco Legal e sua relevância para o Sistema Nacional de Inovação brasileiro e para o desenvolvimento social e tecnológico do Brasil. / Abstract: It is intended, through this research, to present the policy New Legal Framework of Science, Technology and Innovation and its importance within the National System of Innovation in Brazil. Through a comparison with selected country indicators, it will be possible to verify that the Legal Framework is an impulse within what is meant by Science, Technology and Innovation policies. To make comparisons, we used data from the World Bank and the Global Innovation Index. The Legal Framework policy came into being in 2016 and was enacted in 2018 to strengthen the 2004 Innovation Law that faced institutional instability and impediments in transferring the flow of knowledge. It was clear that reformulations were necessary because the complexities between the public and private sectors remained. In this sense, the Legal Framework for Science, Technology and Innovation arises with the aim of reducing bureaucratic public-private partnerships, disciplining relations between government, companies and universities to facilitate the transfer of knowledge, seeking a legal and effective framework to stimulate scientific and technological development. technological development in Brazil. Finally, the contribution of this research would be to present the Legal Framework policy and its relevance to the Brazilian National Innovation System and to the social and technological development of Brazil. / Mestre

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is composed of a large number of sensor nodes that are densely deployed in an area. One of the main issues addressed in WSNs research is energy efficiency due to sensors' limited energy resources. WSNs are deployed to monitor and control the physical environment, and to transmit the collected data to one or more sinks using multi-hop communication. Energy efficiency protocols represent a key mechanism in WSNs. This dissertation proposes several methods used to prolong WSNs lifetime focusing on designing energy efficient communication protocols. A critical issue for data gathering in WSNs is the formation of energy holes near the sinks where sensor nodes participate more in relaying data on behalf of other sensors. The solution proposed in this dissertation is to use mobile sinks that change their location to overcome the formation of energy holes. First, a study of the improvement in network lifetime when sinks move along the perimeter of a hexagonal tiling is conveyed. Second, a design of a distributed and localized algorithm used by sinks to decide their next move is proposed. Two extensions of the distributed algorithm, coverage and time-delivery requirement, are also addressed. Sensor scheduling mechanisms are used to increase network lifetime by sending redundant sensor nodes to sleep. In this dissertation a localized connected dominating set based approach is used to optimize network lifetime of a composite event detection application. A set of active nodes form a connected set that monitor the environment and send data to sinks. After some time, a new active nodes set is chosen. Thus, network lifetime is prolonged by alternating the active sensors. QoS is another main issue encountered in WSNs because of the dynamically changing network topology. / This dissertation introduces an energy efficient QoS based routing for periodic and event-based reporting applications. A geographic routing mechanism combined with QoS support is used to forward packets in the network. Congestion control is achieved by using a ring or barrier mechanism that captures and aggregates messages that report the same event to the same sink. The main operations of the barrier mechanism are presented in this dissertation. / by Mirela Ioana Fonoage. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a wearable device, developed by the author, to detect different types of epileptic seizures and monitor epileptic patients. The device uses GSR, Pulse, EMG, body temperature and 3-axis accelerometer sensors to detect epilepsy. The device first learns the signal patterns of the epileptic patient in ideal condition. The signal pattern generated during the epileptic seizure, which are distinct from other signal patterns, are detected and analyzed by the algorithms developed by the author. Based on an analysis, the device successfully detected different types of epileptic seizures. The author conducted an experiment on himself to determine the effectiveness of the device and the algorithms. Based on the simulation results, the algorithms are 100 percent accurate in detecting different types of epileptic seizures. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Collaborative filtering (CF), a very successful recommender system, is one of the applications of data mining for incomplete data. The main objective of CF is to make accurate recommendations from highly sparse user rating data. My contributions to this research topic include proposing the frameworks of imputation-boosted collaborative filtering (IBCF) and imputed neighborhood based collaborative filtering (INCF). We also proposed a model-based CF technique, TAN-ELR CF, and two hybrid CF algorithms, sequential mixture CF and joint mixture CF. Empirical results show that our proposed CF algorithms have very good predictive performances. In the investigation of applying imputation techniques in mining incomplete data, we proposed imputation-helped classifiers, and VCI predictors (voting on classifications from imputed learning sets), both of which resulted in significant improvement in classification performance for incomplete data over conventional machine learned classifiers, including kNN, neural network, one rule, decision table, SVM, logistic regression, decision tree (C4.5), random forest, and decision list (PART), and the well known Bagging predictors. The main imputation techniques involved in these algorithms include EM (expectation maximization) and BMI (Bayesian multiple imputation). / by Xiaoyuan Su. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

With the increasing demands of rising medical costs in combination with a boom in elderly patients in need of quality patient care medical practices are being stressed. Patient to nurse ratios are increasing and government spending in the medical domain is at an all-time high threatening the futures of government medical programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In this thesis we propose a framework for the monitoring of a patient's vital statistics in a home-based setting using a mobile smart device. We believe that in taking advantage of the wireless sensor technology which is readily available today we can provide a solution that is both economically and socially viable offering a solid quality of healthcare in a comfortable and familiar environment. Our framework exposes both 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless protocol transmitting medical sensor devices using an Android platform device as a monitoring hub. / by Mark Conaster. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using learner self-assessment and multifaceted instructional strategies on student achievement and retention in online mathematics classes. The study used a quasi-experimental design. The study sample consisted of 35 students who were enrolled during the fall term 2010 in online Precalculus or Trigonometry classes at Palm Beach State College. Both treatment and comparison groups were taught by the researcher. Since the subjects in the study were not randomly assigned, the design was one of nonequivalent groups where the treatment group was compared to a similar group from the previous year. To limit researcher bias, the course exams were the same for both treatment and comparison groups. Five hypotheses were developed to examine the relationships between preferred learning strategies, the use of online tools, and achievement and retention. The five hypotheses were investigated with the following procedures respectively: ANOVA, linear regression, Pearson correlations, t-test and chi-square, and linear regression analysis with dichotomously coded variables. The findings indicated that the ATLAS groups did not show a preference for online tools, except for ebook. In addition, the use of most tools predicts achievement. The ebook is the only tool that is not significantly related to all the other tools. Achievement was not significantly different among treatment and comparison groups, but retention was. Retention for the treatment group surpassed retention for the comparison group by 15%. Results also pointed out that the ATLAS groups moderate the relationship between some of the online tools predicting achievement. / by Ana M. Porro. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Delay tolerant networks (DTNs) are occasionally-connected networks that may suffer from frequent partitions. DTNs provide service despite long end to end delays or infrequent connectivity. One fundamental problem in DTNs is routing messages from their source to their destination. DTNs differ from the Internet in that disconnections are the norm instead of the exception. Representative DTNs include sensor-based networks using scheduled intermittent connectivity, terrestrial wireless networks that cannot ordinarily maintain end-to-end connectivity, satellite networks with moderate delays and periodic connectivity, underwater acoustic networks with moderate delays and frequent interruptions due to environmental factors, and vehicular networks with cyclic but nondeterministic connectivity. The focus of this dissertation is on routing protocols that send messages in DTNs. When no connected path exists between the source and the destination of the message, other nodes may relay the message to the destination. This dissertation covers routing protocols in DTNs with both deterministic and non-deterministic mobility respectively. In DTNs with deterministic and cyclic mobility, we proposed the first routing protocol that is both scalable and delivery guaranteed. In DTNs with non-deterministic mobility, numerous heuristic protocols are proposed to improve the routing performance. However, none of those can provide a theoretical optimization on a particular performance measurement. In this dissertation, two routing protocols for non-deterministic DTNs are proposed, which minimizes delay and maximizes delivery rate on different scenarios respectively. First, in DTNs with non-deterministic and cyclic mobility, an optimal single-copy forwarding protocol which minimizes delay is proposed. / In DTNs with non-deterministic mobility, an optimal multi-copy forwarding protocol is proposed. which maximizes delivery rate under the constraint that the number of copies per message is fixed . Simulation evaluations using both real and synthetic trace are conducted to compare the proposed protocols with the existing ones. / by Cong Liu. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Provision of complete and responsive solution to healthcare services requires a multi-tired health delivery system. One of the aspects of healthcare hierarchy is the need for nursing care of the patient. Nursing care and observation provide basis for nurses to communicate with other aspects of healthcare system. The ability of capturing and managing nursing practice is essential to the quality of human care. The thesis proposes knowledge based decision making and analyzing system for the nurses to capture and manage the nursing practice. Moreover it allows them to monitor nursing care quality, as well as to test an aspect of an electronic healthcare record for recording and reporting nursing practice. The framework used for this system is based on nursing theory and is coupled with the quantitative analysis of qualitative data. It allows us to quantify the qualitative raw natural nursing language data. The results are summarized in the graph that shows the relative importance of those attributes with respect to each other at different instances of nurse-patient encounter. Research has been conducted by the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for the College of Nursing. / by Shubhang Tripathi. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In this study, DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) institutional model of isomorphic change is hypothesized to explain the changes witnessed in educational organizations with regard to the acceptance, implementation and institutionalization of distance learning. In order to show the power of institutional theory in explaining organizational change over time, a comparative qualitative case study methodology is utilized. Document analysis and interviews are used to explore the utility of this isomorphic change model. Each research question seeks to explore different influences of institutional isomorphism, coercive, normative, and mimetic. DiMaggio and Powell (1983) suggest organizations converge on similar practices and behaviors and appear similar to like organizations over time. The appearance of change toward homogeneity is explored through the isomorphic change theory which indentifies three forces, coercive, normative and mimetic, influential in determining how adopted behaviors and pr actices become isomorphically accepted by the organizational field. Coercive isomorphism stems from political influence and organizational legitimacy, often conveyed through laws, regulations, and accreditation processes (or outside agency requirements); normative isomorphism is associated with professional values; and mimetic isomorphism is copying or mimicking behaviors that is a result of organizational response to uncertainty. By examining the organizational field for the presence of these forces and measuring the extent of these forces at various points in time one is able to explain convergence on regularized practices and institutionalized behaviors, or how an organizational field becomes institutionalized, around a particular idea or practice. / The coercive, mimetic, and normative forces present in the field dictate institutionalization and theoretically produce an environment that induces organizational conformity, or homogeneity, through pressure to appear legitimate, competition, mandates associated with funding, and influential professional group and network values. / by Kristi D. Caravella. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.