Public Article / The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) and conclusive Acts record that effective human-resource management, career-development and training practices must be cultivated to maximise human potential. The unique nature and wide range of activities of the South African National Defence Force assign exceptional demands on the management expertise of military commanders. Therefore, the importance of effective training and for the purpose of this article, effective management training for mid-level commanders is indisputable. Against this background, a new management model is presented and the resulting training needs are empirically investigated in this article. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the survey, targeted 165 mid-level commanders in the South African National Defence Force. The empirical results of the study suggested that the existing management training for mid-level commanders fails to meet expectations primarily because of the non-existence of an appropriate management model. Thus, the article present a contemporary management model as foundation for management training of mid-level commanders in the South African National Defence Force. The management model also sanctions applicable standards for the development of management skills and appropriate competencies of military commanders.

No description available.

Internet Service Providers gather vast amounts of data in the form of trouble tickets created from connectivity related issues. This data is often stored and seldom used for proactive purposes. This thesis explores the feasibility of finding correlations in network support data through the use of data mining activities. Correlations such as these could be used for improving troubleshooting or staffing related activities. The approach uses the data mining methodology CRISP-DM to investigate typical data mining operations from the perspective of a Network Operation Center. The results show that correlations between the solving time and other ticket related attributes do exist and that support data could be used for the activities mentioned. The results also show that it exists a lot of room for improvement when it comes to data mining activities in network support data.

published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

The present research examined how individuals’ cultural orientations influenced the relationship between their construal level and temporal distance. There were two studies in this research. Study 1 was composed of two parts. In the first part, the relationship between culture and construal level was examined through the Behavioral Identification Form (BIF). In the second part, the influence of culture on temporal distance and individuals’ construal level was investigated by analyzing participants’ descriptions of their lives. In study 2, the three-way interaction between culture, temporal distance, and the construal-level frame of persuasive messages (desirability vs. feasibility focused message) was investigated. A total of 200 students from two different countries (Korea and the U.S.) participated in the study. A fictitious brand and advertisement were created to examine the interaction. The findings revealed that individuals from an individualistic culture (U.S.) prefer abstract thinking to concrete thinking and focus more on the desirability than the feasibility of an event or object. And the reverse was true for individuals from a collectivistic culture (Korea). When individuals are in a proximal temporal condition, those from a collectivistic culture have a more proximal temporal perspective, and they are more likely to represent the future event in low-level terms. In contrast, individuals from an individualistic culture have a more distal temporal perspective and tend to represent the future event in high-level terms. Consistent results were found in an advertising context. When individuals from a collectivistic culture were in a proximal temporal condition, they tended to show a more favorable attitude toward the advertisement emphasizing the feasibility features of the product. The reverse was true for individuals from an individualistic culture. / text

<p>Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in combination with density functional theory (DFT) the changes in electronic and geometric structure of hydrocarbons upon adsorption are determined. The chemical bonding is analyzed and the results provide new insights in the mechanisms responsible for dehydrogenation in heterogeneous catalysis.</p><p>In the case of alkanes, <i>n</i>-octane and methane are studied. XAS and XES show significant changes in the electronic structure upon adsorption. XES shows new adsorption induced occupied states and XAS shows quenching of CH*/Rydberg states in <i>n</i>-octane. In methane the symmetry forbidden gas phase lowest unoccupied molecular orbital becomes allowed due to broken symmetry. New adsorption induced unoccupied features with mainly metal character appear just above the Fermi level in XA spectra of both adsorbed methane and <i>n</i>-octane. These changes are not observed in DFT total energy geometry optimizations. Comparison between experimental and computed spectra for different adsorbate geometries reveals that the molecular structures are significantly changed in both molecules. The C-C bonds in <i>n</i>-octane are shortened upon adsorption and the C-H bonds are elongated in both <i>n</i>-octane and methane.</p><p>In addition ethylene and acetylene are studied as model systems for unsaturated hydrocarbons. The validity of both the Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson chemisorption model and the alternative spin-uncoupling picture is confirmed, as well as C-C bond elongation and upward bending of the C-H bonds.</p><p>The bonding of ethylene to Cu(110) and Ni(110) are compared and the results show that the main difference is the amount of back-donation into the molecular π* orbital, which allows the molecule to desorb molecularly from the Cu(110) surface, whereas it is dehydrogenated upon heating on the Ni(110) surface. </p><p>Acetylene is found to adsorb in two different adsorption sites on the Cu(110) surface at liquid nitrogen temperature. Upon heating the molecules move into one of these sites due to attractive adsorbate-adsorbate interaction and only one adsorbed species is present at room temperature, at which point the molecules start reacting to form benzene. The bonding of the two species is very similar in both sites and the carbon atoms are rehybridized essentially to sp².</p>

Sea level and the alongshore component of wind stress data at seven locations on the Pacific coast of Canada and the United States were analyzed. The effective data period was from August 1, 1973 to September 9, 1975. The seven locations were Tofino, British Columbia; Neah Bay and Toke Point, Washington; South beach (Newport) and Charleston, Oregon; and Crescent City and San Francisco, California. Sea level relative to the two year mean is higher at the northern locations during the winter months than it is at the southern stations. There appears to be an annual cycle in the sea level though the amplitudes are different for the two years. The monthly mean wind stress is northward during the winter months, and has a larger value at the northern locations. During the spring and summer the monthly mean wind stress is southward and has a larger value at the southern stations. Linear correlation analysis was performed on the sea level data and on the alongshore component of wind stress for the entire time period and seasonally. Auto-correlations and cross correlations were computed for the adjusted sea levels and wind stress. This analysis shows that the sea level and wind stress fluctuations among these seven locations are coherent. These show that the correlation is a function of location and that it has a seasonal variation. It also appears that by examining plots of correlation coefficients and of sea level slopes, that the region may be divided into two major regimes. This separation might be interpreted as the locale where the West Wind Drift impinges on the coast. / Graduation date: 1978

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.