Fat as a Feminist Issue: Activism and Agency in the Body Positive Movement

This thesis examines the way hashtag networks impact the expression of contemporary activism and agency, focusing on the #BodyPositive movement (BPM). It investigates the new possibilities for fat identity formation introduced by the Instagram imaging platform. My study historically contextualises the fat female body within Western culture to enable appreciation of the systemic discrimination and policing imposed within a patriarchal society. This retrospective applies an intersectional approach, with particular emphasis on the structural inequalities encountered by black women of colour (BWOC) along the axes of weight, gender and racial identity.The research is based on responses from over five hundred online survey participants. The survey provided an opportunity to critically interrogate Instagrammers about their protest habits and any underlying feminist motivations. Participant observation fieldwork was also undertaken at three offline body positive events. These descriptive accounts advance current debates querying the political inclinations of those engaged in so-called ‘slacktivism.’ Qualitative research is used to challenge traditional conceptualisations of activism and assert the integral role the body occupies in claims-making. A feminist lens is deployed to investigate how hashtaggers use Instagram’s photographic processes to re-represent the fat female body for protest purposes. Analysis is further supported by the application of social movement theory (SMT) to determine whether social media activity can be classified as social movement activity.Feminist debate is taken in a new direction through recognising the camera as a significant campaign instrument and not merely a source of objectification. Content creators are understood as agentic subjects reclaiming their fatness from conventionally derogative discourses. Research found body exhibitionism can be experienced as empowering by fat women occupying femininities associated with stigma and shame. However, it makes an important contribution to feminist scholarship in highlighting the drawbacks to digital activism, such as algorithmic bias, which diminishes the visibility of already marginalised groups

Adaptive Process Distribution at the Edge of IoT using the Integration of BPMS and Containerization

Täna levivad pilvepõhised värkvõrgu (asjade interneti) süsteemid tuginevad protsesside halduseks kaugel asuvatel andmekeskustel, mis toob endaga kaasa latentsusprobleeme. Vastusena sellele probleemile on varem välja pakutud servaarvutuse lähenemine, kus arvutused viiakse läbi asjade interneti süsteemi võrgule füüsiliselt lähemal. Mitmete servaarvutuse metoodikate seas on uduarvutus lähenemine, kus rõhk on arvutuste liigutamisel värkvõrgu seadmetele endile. Ehkki uduarvutusel põhinev arhitektuur on paljutõotav, tõstatab see küsimuse – kuidas värkvõrgu protsessihaldussüsteemid (BPMS4IoT-süsteemid) äriprotsesse heterogeensetele värkvõrgu seadmetele jaotama peaksid? Levinud on lähenemine, kus protsesside töövooülesannete käituseks tuginetakse ühisele platvormile. Näiteks, kui haldusserver defineerib teatud töövoo ülesandena Pythoni skripti ja määrab selle seadmele, siis peab seadme töövookäitusmootor toetama vastavat mehhanismi skriptide jooksutamiseks. Selline nõue ei ole paindlik, arvestades värkvõrgu seadmete heterogeensust. Käesolevas magistritöös pakub autor välja raamistiku, mis eraldab töövoo ülesannete käitusmeetodi käitusmootorist kasutades selleks konteinertehnoloogiat. Töö käigus arendati välja raamistiku prototüüp ning viidi läbi katseid mikroarvutitel põhinevail seadmetel. Lisaks võrreldi väljapakutud uduarvutuse raamistiku jõudlust pilvearvutusel põhineva süsteemiga.Emerging cloud-centric Internet of Things (IoT) system relies on distant data centers to manage the entire processes, which raises the issue of latency. To address the issue, researchers have introduced the Edge computing methodologies that carry out computation closer to the edge network of IoT system. Among the numerous Edge computing approaches, Mist computing paradigm emphasises the mechanism that moves the computation further to the front-end IoT devices. Although the architecture of Mist computing is promising, it raises a new challenge in how the Business Process Management System for IoT (BPMS4IoT) distributes the business process workflow to the heterogeneous IoT devices? In general, executing business process workflows relies on the common platform for executing customized tasks. For example, if the management server defines a Python script task in a workflow, which has been allocated to an IoT device, the workflow engine of the IoT device must have the compatible execution method. Such a requirement is less flexible when one considers the heterogeneity of the IoT devices. Therefore, in this thesis, the author proposes a framework to decouple the workflow task execution method from the workflow engines using the containerization technology. A proof-of-concept prototype has been developed and has been tested on several single-board computers-based IoT devices. Further, a case study has been performed to demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework comparing to the cloud-centric system

Scaling Up Robotic Process Automation Capabilities Organisation-Wide

This research uses explanatory case study as the research strategy to examine how robotic process automation (RPA) operating models have evolved over time in RPA environment, how companies have approached internal capability building for robotic process automation, and what kind of roles are typically established in a cross-functional setting in a mature organisation. Research material was collected using semi-structured interviews and literature review. RPA is a type of service automation that aims to automate “swivel chair” processes – tasks where human takes data from a source and inputs the same or similar data into one or multiple systems. In RPA software agents are harnessed to do these rule-based manual tasks. On the basis of the data collected operating models was built for a cross-functional RPA implementation setting, as well as typical roles needed. Shifting focus on internal capability building in different stages of RPA maturity was observed and the preferred roles to concentrate when building this capability. Based on the literature review RPA center of excellence three capability stages are also introduced. Managerial implications on RPA internal capability building, organisational models, and internal information sharing are presented. Many of the observations follow findings of the existing literature. Nevertheless, these findings are positioned and expanded in the scope of mature RPA organisations.Tässä tutkimuksessa käytetään selittävää tapaustutkimusta tutkimusstrategiana. Tutkimuksessa pyritään selvittämään kuinka ohjelmistorobotiikan toimintamallit ovat kehittyneet ajan myötä ohjelmistorobotiikassa, miten yritykset ovat lähestyneet ohjelmistorobotiikassa sisäisten valmiuksien kehittämistä ja millaiset roolit muodostuvat ristiin - toimintaympäristö kehittyneessä ohjelmistorobotiikka organisaatiossa. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin käyttämällä osarakenteisia haastatteluja ja kirjallisuuskatsausta. Ohjelmistorobotiikka on eräänlainen palveluautomaatio, jonka tarkoituksena on automatisoida kääntötuoliprosessit - tehtävät, joissa ihminen ottaa tietoja lähteestä ja syöttää samat tai samanlaiset tiedot yhteen tai useampaan järjestelmään. Ohjelmistorobotiikka ohjelmistoagentteja käytetään näiden sääntöihin perustuvien manuaalisten tehtävien suorittamiseen. Kerättyjen tietojen perusteella rakennettiin roolit ja toimintamallit organisaatiorajat ylittävälle ohjelmistorobotiikka ympäristössä. Sisäisten valmiuksien kehittämisen merkitys havaittiin ohjelmistorobotiikan eri vaiheissa, sekä missä rooleissa näillä sisäisillä resursseilla olisi eniten hyötyä. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella esitellään myös kolme kyvykkyysvaihetta ohjelmistorobotiikan huippuosaamisen keskukselle. Tämän lisäksi esitellään johtajien vaikutuksia ohjelmistorobotiikan sisäiseen valmiuksien rakentamiseen, organisaatiomalleihin ja sisäiseen tiedon jakamiseen. Monet havainnot seuraavat olemassa olevan kirjallisuuden havaintoja. Tässä kyseisessä tutkimuksessa nämä havainnot on sijoitettu ja laajennettu kehittyneiden ohjelmistorobotiikka organisaatioiden piiriin

Business intelligence – enabling self-service: A case study in a global manufacturing company

Business intelligence (BI) is an information process that includes the activities and applications used to transform business data into valuable business information. Today’s enterprises are collecting detailed data which has increased the available business data drastically. In order to meet changing customer needs and gain competitive advantage businesses try to leverage this information. However, IT departments are struggling to meet the increased amount of reporting needs. Therefore, recent shift in the BI market has been towards empowering business users with self-service BI capabilities. The purpose of this study was to understand how self-service BI could help businesses to meet increased reporting demands. The research problem was approached with an empirical single case study. Qualitative data was gathered with a semi-structured, theme-based interview. The study found out that case company’s BI system was mostly used for group performance reporting. Ad-hoc and business user-driven information needs were mostly fulfilled with self-made tools and manual work. It was felt that necessary business information was not easily available. The concept of self-service BI was perceived to be helpful to meet such reporting needs. However, it was found out that the available data is often too complex for an average user to fully understand. The respondents felt that in order to self-service BI to work, the data has to be simplified and described in a way that it can be understood by the average business user. The results of the study suggest that BI programs struggle in meeting all the information needs of today’s businesses. The concept of self-service BI tries to resolve this problem by allowing users easy self-service access to necessary business information. However, business data is often complex and hard to understand. Self-serviced BI has to overcome this challenge before it can reach its potential benefits.siirretty Doriast

Un pre Diagnóstico para implementar BMP en una identidad BANCARIA

Este articulo deriva de un trabajo de fin de máster (TFM) del Máster de Diseño y Gestión de Proyectos Tecnológicos y corresponde a la elaboración de un plan de trabajo para el desarrollo de una herramienta de software aplicando la metodología BMP al proceso de otorgamiento de crédito al consumo en una entidad bancaria en Ecuador

The Impact of Business Process Management Values on Enterprise Content Management Workflow Systems Performance

Improving an enterprise’s operations, services, policies and rules using information systems and business process management is a continuance decision-makers role. This research explores how business process management values impact on enterprise content management (ECM) workflow system performance and how business process management values can be incorporated as part of a measurement model for improving ECM workflow system performance to achieve business objectives and organisational goals. The research focuses on establishing a set of variables for the measurement of CERT business process management values and further explores the impact of these CERT values on ECM workflow system performance. The CERT values are customer orientation (C), excellence (E), responsibility (R) and teamwork (T). These values can be applied using the three round structure of the Delphi method to validate key performance indicators, which are used to implement a performance measurement and management framework in order to measure workflow information system performance. Through this process, the current ECM workflow system performance (i.e. “Now” situation) and the desired future system performance (i.e. “Preferred” situation) can be described using a performance profile development model based on the concepts and variables of CERT values. This thesis contributes to business practice studies, information systems literature and the informatics body of knowledge in several ways: First, it explains how CERT values can support decision-making by finding their impact on ECM workflow systems performance. Second, it formulates a performance profile development model, which is a decision-making process to measure ECM workflow systems performance. Third, it shows how to implement the research strategic procedures using Delphi’s rounds. Fourth, it demonstrates the quality of mixed methods as the research choice for this type of information systems enquiry. The research promotes the use of the Delphi method for the implementation of such decision-making processes, the application of the performance profile development model for scientific decision studies and the analysis of the relationships between variables to recognise other key performance indicators within business process management and the performance measurement and management research contexts

Dubbin\u27 the Literary Canon: Writin\u27 and Soundin\u27 A Transnational Caribbean Experience

In the mid-1970s, a collective of Jamaican poets from Kingston to London began to use reggae as a foundational aesthetic to their poetry. Inspired by the rise of reggae music and the work of the Caribbean Artists Movement based London from 1966 to 1972, these artists took it upon themselves to continue the dialogue on Caribbean cultural production. This research will explore the ways in which dub poetry created an expressive space for Jamaican artists to complicate discussions of migration and colonialism in the transnational Caribbean experience. In order to do so, this research engages historical, ethnomusicological, and literary theories to develop a framework to analyze dub poetry. It will primarily pose the question, how did these dub poets expand the archives of Caribbean national production? This paper will suggest that by facilitating a dialogue among Jamaicans located between London and Kingston, dub poetry expanded the archives for Caribbean cultural production. In this expansion, dub poetry\u27s simultaneous combination of literary and sound genius not only repositioned geographical boundaries of Jamaican identity but also grounded the intersecting spaces of the written, spoken, recorded, and performed word

A Biosymtic (Biosymbiotic Robotic) Approach to Human Development and Evolution. The Echo of the Universe.

In the present work we demonstrate that the current Child-Computer Interaction paradigm is not potentiating human development to its fullest – it is associated with several physical and mental health problems and appears not to be maximizing children’s cognitive performance and cognitive development. In order to potentiate children’s physical and mental health (including cognitive performance and cognitive development) we have developed a new approach to human development and evolution. This approach proposes a particular synergy between the developing human body, computing machines and natural environments. It emphasizes that children should be encouraged to interact with challenging physical environments offering multiple possibilities for sensory stimulation and increasing physical and mental stress to the organism. We created and tested a new set of computing devices in order to operationalize our approach – Biosymtic (Biosymbiotic Robotic) devices: “Albert” and “Cratus”. In two initial studies we were able to observe that the main goal of our approach is being achieved. We observed that, interaction with the Biosymtic device “Albert”, in a natural environment, managed to trigger a different neurophysiological response (increases in sustained attention levels) and tended to optimize episodic memory performance in children, compared to interaction with a sedentary screen-based computing device, in an artificially controlled environment (indoors) - thus a promising solution to promote cognitive performance/development; and that interaction with the Biosymtic device “Cratus”, in a natural environment, instilled vigorous physical activity levels in children - thus a promising solution to promote physical and mental health