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Younger and older adults’ susceptibility to the continued influence of inferences in memory was examined using a paradigm implemented by Wilkes and Leatherbarrow. Research has shown that younger adults have difficulty forgetting inferences they make after reading a passage, even if the information that the inferences are based on is later shown to be untrue. The current study examined the effects of these inferences on memory in the lab and tested whether older adults, like younger adults, are influenced by the lingering effects of these false inferences. In addition, this study examined the nature of these inferences, by examining younger and older adults’ subjective experiences and confidence associated with factual recall and incorrect inference recall. Results showed that younger and older adults are equally susceptible to the continued influence of inferences. Both younger and older adults gave primarily remember judgments to factual questions but primarily believe judgments to inference questions. This is an important finding because it demonstrates that people may go against what they remember or know occurred because of a lingering belief that the information might still be true. Also, the finding that participants do actually give more believe responses to inference questions is important because it demonstrates that there is a third state of awareness that people will readily use when making inferences. Participants were also more confident when making remember and know judgments compared to believe judgments. This is an interesting finding because it supports the theory that both remember and know judgments can be associated with high confidence.

This present study benchmarked the chloride resistance of concretes mixes at the limit state of BS 8500-1:2006 using the newly published CEN TS12390-11. Of the three allowed methodologies, the immersion test was carried out. At least two water-cement ratios were produced for each mix design to enable normalisation of the results. The performance of concrete was compared on the basis of equal compressive strength, i.e. 40 and 50 N/mm2 and an equal water-cement ratio of 0.45. In addition to the CEN TS 12390-11:2010, rapid test methods NT Build 492 and a steady-state migration test UNE 83987:2009 were also conducted. Selected concretes were also tested for cyclic wetting in artificial sea water and evolution of chloride diffusion over the test period. The ageing factor of concrete mixes, which describes the development of diffusion coefficient (D) from the unsteady to steady-state determined from this research was compared with those reported in The Concrete Society Technical Report 61. Test specimens for highway exposure were also produced for future research work. CEN has just agreed and published (at the time of the writing of this thesis) a test methodology for chloride resistance as a technical standard (CEN, 2010). The test method underpins the equivalent durability performance approach. Therefore, the use of this test was investigated in terms of evolution of the chloride diffusion, and effect of cyclic wetting and drying in artificial seawater exposure. As the test method is slow, (3 months to complete), other rapid test methods were also studied on the same specimens. The results from these tests were compared to look for the possibility of having a faster test methodology for chloride durability. Overall, the results showed that concrete mixes at the limiting value of BS 8500-1:2006 have a wide range of performance between 0.3 × 10-12 m2/s and 20 × 10-12 m2/s regardless of the test methods. Ranking of concrete according to performance shows that this changes with age. This is the same for all test methods although the rate of change is different between different test methods. However, the ranking of concrete at equal compressive strength and equal water-cement ratio follows the general order of (from best to worst) ggbs> fly ash> silica fume> limestone> CEM I. It was also postulated that there is a limit to the benefit of reducing water-cement ratio to improve durability. This is because of at very low water cement ratio, concrete may develop autogenous cracking that is detrimental to the porosity. Using the CEN TS 12390-11:2010 it was found that CEM I, fly ash and silica fume mixes follows the same ageing factor proposed by Concrete Society Technical Report 61 although ggbs shows a different ageing factor. The improvement of ggbs quality was attributed to this change. It was also found that 90 days test duration was optimum as a shorter period risks giving a non stable diffusion rate whilst longer than 90 days shows insignificant change in Dnss values. Exposure of selected concrete specimens to cyclic wetting and drying in artificial seawater elevated to 1 M NaCl equivalent shows reduced chloride diffusion. However, the mechanism controlling this is not clear. The thesis showed that some of the limiting value requirement for BS 8500-1:2006 does not meet the durability requirements for chloride resistance. There are some concrete mixes recommended that performs poorly in testing. The research reported also provides further understanding of the new CEN TS 12390-11:2010 in terms comparative ranking of cements up to the point of comparative performance between other tests methods. Validation of the ageing factor for chloride durability is also provided as well as the need for updates in the age factor values due to changes in the nature of cements.

The purpose of this examination was to evaluate relative age effects among junior elite wrestlers across gender, weight class, and competitive rule sets. Using biographical data, this thesis explores trends representing an oversampling of athletes born earlier in the year, accompanied by potential effects for success in sport and an impact on retention rates. Currently, the use of chronological age is the most common form of classifying sports participants, though this type of classification may have potentially negative long- and short-term implications. Thus, the results may provide an evaluation of weight categorization as a less discriminatory competitive format in junior elite wrestlers.

The overall aim of the thesis was to determine the prevalence and magnitude of relative age effect (RAE) in European female sport via examination of published data spanning 2011-2021. The PRISMA systematic search guidelines were used to identify 14 studies out of 68 containing 53 independent samples across 9 sport types. Based on frequency, percentages were moderated by age group, competitive level, sport type, sport context, and study quality. Additionally, this study analysed whether RAE was present or not by comparing relatively older (born in the first quarter of the year; Q1) with younger (born in the last quarter of the year; Q4) girls and women across all European female sport contexts. The thesis shows that the overall estimate identified a small-moderate RAE among European female sports, within subgroup revealed RAE magnitude was higher in pre-adolescent (≤ 11 years) and adolescent (12-14 years) age groups and at higher competition levels. The results show that RAEs in females’ sports are common across the European contexts. A major factor influencing RAE magnitude are developmental levels, competition levels, and sport context demands. To prevent RAE-related participation and attainment inequalities, it is recommended that sport policy, organizational structure, and athlete development system structures be changed as well as practitioner intervention.

Since the year 2000, younger workers born after 1980 have been entering the South African workforce in large numbers. The experienced Baby Boomer generation, born between 1945 and 1964 has started leaving the workplace in retirement. With organisations currently facing the challenge of skills shortages in some professions/trades, it is important for organisations to recognise the potential influence of work values on attitudes and behaviours at work in order to retain staff and groom future leaders. Different Generations are assumed to bring their own norms and values into the work place and an understanding of what motivates these different generations will ensure that organisations better plan retention strategies. As South Africa receives the latest generation of workers (Generation Y) into the work force, managers need to be encouraged to deal with the potential generational differences among workers. The purpose of this quantitative study was to research and examine the relationship between age, sources of motivation, work values, organisational commitment and job satisfaction across generations in the South African work force. A research model was developed to test theory on generational differences. Cohort membership was hypothesised to influence motivation, work values, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Work values and sources of motivation were also hypothesised to influence organisational commitment and job satisfaction. A quantitative study was conducted to investigate the association between age (which represented cohort membership) and sources of motivation, work values, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. The study was designed to answer the main question: Are there significant differences in sources of motivation, work values, organisational commitment and job satisfaction across the three generations found in the South African workforce today? Data were collected using both an on line and hard copy questionnaire distributed to corporate companies that participate in career exhibitions at the University of the Witwatersrand. Data were analysed using SPSS software version 19 and 20.The findings largely confirm previous findings which suggest that there are significant differences between generations in sources of motivation, work values, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Consistent with research, older workers, Baby Boomers were found to have higher job satisfaction than younger workers. An interesting finding of this study was that contrary to research literature, younger workers, generation Y, were found to have higher organisational commitment than Baby Boomers and generation X. Consistent with previous studies, Baby Boomers were found to have higher levels intrinsic work values than both generation X and Y. The results indicate that there are differences between generations and this has implications for Human Resource practitioners and researchers. Based on the findings of this research, further research is warranted specifically in understanding organisational commitment across generations.

L’objectif de cette thèse consiste en l’élaboration de deux méthodologies visant à révéler des effets jusqu’alors masqués en modélisation décisionnelle. Dans la première partie, nous cherchons à mettre en œuvre une méthode d’analyse locale des critères de choix dans un contexte de choix binaires. Dans une seconde partie, nous mettons en avant les effets de génération dans l’étude des comportements de choix. Dans les deux parties, notre démarche de recherche combine de nouveaux outils d’analyse prédictive (Support Vector Machines, FANOVA, PLS) aux outils traditionnels de statistique inférentielle, afin d’enrichir les résultats habituels par des informations complémentaires sur les effets masqués que constituent les effets locaux dans les fonctions de choix binaires, et les effets de génération dans l’analyse temporelle des comportement de choix. Les méthodologies proposées, respectivement nommées AEL et APC-PLS, sont appliquées sur des cas réels, afin d’en illustrer le fonctionnement et la pertinence. / The objective of this thesis is the development of two methodologies to reveal previously hidden effects in decision modeling. In the first part, we try to implement a method of local analysis in order to select criteria in the context of binary choices. In a second part, we highlight the effects of generations in the study of consumer behavior. In both parts, our research approach combines new predictive analytical tools (such as Support Vector Machines, FANOVA, PLS) to traditional tools of inferential statistics, to enrich the usual results by additional on the masked effects, which are the local effects in the binary choice functions, and the effects of generation in temporal choice behavior analysis.The proposed methodologies, respectively named AEL and APC- PLS are both applied to real cases in order to illustrate their operation and relevance.

It is generally accepted that the youth are overall apathetic towards political activities and that such apathy is evidenced in low voter turnout during elections. Such conventional wisdom seems to be based mainly on findings in Western democracies and generates concern as to the future nature and resilience of democracy. When a significantly large proportion of the voting population shows apathetic attitudes towards the processes that enable participation of the public in democracy, it questions the extent to which a democracy can be consolidated. In the past the South African youth played an important role in the process of transformation to democracy and thereby possibly left a legacy of youth involvement. However, in the developing world, which includes South Africa, the youth seems to show the same sort of abstaining behaviour as their Western counterparts towards elections. This is problematic as the South African youth comprises a significantly large proportion of the voting population. This dissertation focuses on South African university youth and their political and voting behaviour. They have been chosen for the focus of this study as they are widely considered to be the future elite and leadership of South Africa. The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which Western scholarly explanations of youth voting behaviour can be applied to South African university youth. Western literature on voting behaviour identifies various models of voting behaviour (which comprise the Sociological Model, Michigan Model, Party Identification Model, Media/Dominant Ideology Model and Rational Choice Model) and age effects on voting behaviour (Cohort Effect, Individual Ageing Effect and Life Cycle Effect). Each of these seeks to explain voting behaviour and in order to determine how applicable they are to South African university youth, an analytical framework was developed in order to analyse and interpret the data gathered by means of questionnaires and focus group discussions. Ultimately it was found that most Western models and age effects are to some extent applicable in explaining the voting behaviour of South African university youth (albeit to a greater or lesser extent). / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Political Sciences / unrestricted

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