Thesis (M.Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / Population development planning has continued to be a battle for both developed and developing countries, as such it has been used as an exploitative tool and a political instrument to manipulate societies. China has offered a perfect example with its one-child policy. Although china’s one-child policy has been in use for over 35 years, and this approach was to control the fertility rate under the notion of planned and facilitated economic growth. The temporary brake measure saw its epic fail in the current 21st century; this resulted in the loosening and relaxed approach of the two-child policy as a measure towards population development planning. The relaxed policy and the Chinese withdrawal from controlling the reproductive systems of communities came soon after the realisation of the current underdevelopment within the country. The support from political allies and the rushed policy implementation was likely fuelled by the lack of understanding in terms of population development and planning. To solicit the incision of the study, qualitative data analysis, thick descriptions and classifications were utilised. Thick descriptions involved the expressions of meaning, contexts and, where relevant, intentions relating to conceptions, approaches and determinants of population development were planned. Contexts included the geographic, cultural, policy, historical, demographical, legislative, social, economic, political, and environmental and so on for Southern Africa and its states. Planning is value-laden; therefore, intentions relating to the adoption of family planning policies and their confusion with population development planning in Southern Africa will be discussed. For quantitative data, PCA was used to analyse the data into a variety of summary statistics. Irrespective of varied reasons presented as the culprit of ineffective population development in planning, this study argues that determinants of population development should be primate to attendant planning in Southern Africa.

This dissertation explores the determining effects of non-economic factors on economic growth of developed versus developing nations. While earlier economic theories have traditionally focused on land, labor, capital and technology as the principle determining factors of economic growth, latter-day normative theorists demonstrated the importance of cultural forces and human capital variables on economic growth of nations. This dissertation is an extension of this emphasis put on economic growth by the latter-day normative theorists. Economic activities for developed and developing nations have been used as a proxy stock variable (for economic growth) for three points in time ? 1980, 1990 and 2000. The data for economic activities has been obtained from Jerry Dwyer?s dataset while the independent variables such as economic freedom has been obtained from the Fraser Institute and that of social capital variables have been obtained from the World Values Survey for the years 1980, 1990 and 2000. The central focus of the research has been to observe the correlations between the several components of economic freedom and social capital variables (such as trust and membership) among developed and developing nations followed by multiple regression analyses of the economic freedom and social capital variables on economic growth of developed and developing nations. The findings of this research suggest that physical capital and economic freedom and unequivocally significant determinants of economic growth in both the developed and developing nations. Trust on the other hand has been understood to be a limited variable in the way it is conceptualized in the World Values Survey. Within this limitation, ?personal trust? has been found to be declining over the years for all the nations, has very little association with membership categories over the years and is negatively correlated with economic activities/economic growth or output per worker. The impact of membership or belongingness on economic activities is very different in developed versus developing countries. Overall, this research has helped to broaden the boundaries of economic growth with the extension of sociological variables (such as trust and membership) into the field of Economics. The research has broad-based implications on the public policies of government across nations.

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A computer program based on the discrete-element method has been developed to compute friction factors and Nusselt Numbers for fully-developed turbulent flows with randomly-rough surfaces. Formulations of the discrete-element model for fully-developed turbulent flows inside circular pipes and between infinite parallel plates with the necessary adaptations for randomly-rough surfaces are provided. Utilizing the output of a three-dimensional profilometer, proper description of the randomly-rough surface is necessary for use within the discrete-element model. Proper description of the randomly-rough surface is achieved by the McClain (2002) method of characterization. Predictions from the discrete-element model computer program are compared with the classical, laminar and turbulent, smooth-wall results. In addition to the smooth-wall evaluations, predictions are compared with experimental results for turbulent internal flows with deterministic surface roughness. Predictions from the model demonstrated excellent agreement in all cases. Friction factor and Nusselt Number predictions for fully-developed flows over randomly-rough surfaces are also presented. With the friction factor and Nusselt Number data, velocity profiles for flows over randomly-rough, deterministically-rough and smooth surfaces are provided for comparison.

The present thesis focuses on evaluating a conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulation in a ribbed cooling passage with a fully developed flow assumption using LES with the immersed boundary method (IBM-LES-CHT). The IBM with the LES model (IBM-LES) and the IBM with CHT boundary condition (IBM-CHT) frameworks are validated prior to the main simulations by simulating purely convective heat transfer (iso-flux) in the ribbed duct, and a developing laminar boundary layer flow over a two-dimensional flat plate with heat conduction, respectively. For the main conjugate simulations, a ribbed duct geometry with a blockage ratio of 0.3 is simulated at a bulk Reynolds number of 10,000 with a conjugate boundary condition applied to the rib surface. The nominal Biot number is kept at 1, which is similar to the comparative experiment. As a means to overcome a large time scale disparity between the fluid and the solid regions, the use of a high artificial solid thermal diffusivity is compared to the physical diffusivity. It is shown that while the diffusivity impacts the instantaneous fluctuations in temperature, heat transfer and Nusselt numbers, it has an insignificantly small effect on the mean Nusselt number. The comparison between the IBM-LES-CHT and iso-flux simulations shows that the iso-flux case predicts higher local Nusselt numbers at the back face of the rib. Furthermore, the local Nusselt number augmentation ratio (EF) predicted by IBM-LES-CHT is compared to the body fitted grid (BFG) simulation, experiment and another LES conjugate simulation. Even though there is a mismatch between IBM-LES-CHT prediction and other studies at the front face of the rib, the area-averaged EF compares reasonably well in other regions between IBM-LES-CHT prediction and the comparative studies. / Master of Science / The present thesis focuses on the computational study of the conjugate heat transfer (CHT) investigation on the turbine internal ribbed cooling channel. Plenty of prior research on turbine internal cooling channel have been conducted by considering only the convective heat transfer at the wall, which assumes an iso-flux (constant heat flux) boundary condition at the surface. However, applying an iso-flux condition on the surface is far from the realistic heat transfer mechanism occurring in internal cooling systems. In this work, a conjugate heat transfer analysis of the cooling channel, which considers both the conduction within the solid wall and the convection at the ribbed inner wall surface, is conducted for more realistic heat transfer coefficient prediction at the inner ribbed wall. For the simulation, the computational mesh is generated by the immersed boundary method (IBM), which can ease the mesh generation by simply immersing the CAD geometry into the background volume grid. The IBM is combined with the conjugate boundary condition to simulate the internal ribbed cooling channel. The conjugate simulation is compared with the experimental data and another computational study for the validation. Even though there are some discrepancy between the IBM simulation and other comparative studies, overall results are in good agreement. From the thermal prediction comparison between the iso-flux case and the conjugate case v using the IBM, it is found that the heat transfer predicted by the conjugate case is different from the iso-flux case by more than 40 percent at the rib back face. The present study shows the potential of the IBM framework with the conjugate boundary condition for more complicated geometry, such as full turbine blade model with external and internal cooling system.

In a world marked by climate change, globalization, and rapidly increasing population growth food security is a crucial factor for the survival of both individuals and states. To meet these challenges m countries, develop food security strategies to cope and create a resilience. This study aims to apply a resilience perspective on food security strategies in developed countries, like Sweden and Norway. Through a thematic analysis has expressions of resilience been identified and together with a theoretical typology of resilience diverse types of resilience has emerged. The results show that ecological resilience is the dominant type in these national food security strategies followed by elements of social-ecological resilience. The results also highlight what actions the countries strategies consider to be resilient. Furthermore, the strategies expressions of resilience are mostly similar but also shows differences between the methods of creating resilience within food security.

The literature on the experience of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been growing in recent years. However, most studies have been conducted in Western countries. This study aimed to address this gap by conducting a thematic analysis on childhood experiences of typically developed (TD) siblings of children with ASD in Iran, exploring their challenging and positive experiences along with the support they received and would have needed. In this regard, five adult TD siblings who grew up with an ASD sibling in Iran were interviewed about their childhood experiences. The analysis of the interviews resulted in six main themes: Experience of distress and personal growth, Complex sibling dynamics: challenges and joys, Challenges within the family, Informal support as the main resource, Inadequate formal support, and Social and cultural barriers This study indicated that the Iranian TD siblings experienced emotional difficulties, challenges in interactions with their ASD siblings, and challenges in their families. Despite these issues, positive outcomes such as personal growth and enhanced empathy were also reported. This study also underscored the critical role of both informal and formal support systems, highlighting a significant gap in professional support and a lack of societal understanding of ASD within the Iranian context. Recommendations include developing formal supports adjusted to the unique needs of TD siblings considering their social and cultural context.

In dynamic landscape of global business, the role of Management Accounting Practices (MAPs) has become increasingly pivotal, especially in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This thesis investigates the utilization and frequency of MAPs within SMEs, focusing on a comparative analysis between a developed country, and a developing country. Drawing upon existing literature, this study delves into the similarities and differences in MAP adoption and frequency of implementation between the two countries. The findings reveal significant distinctions in the adoption rates and sophistication of MAPs between Swedish and Indian SMEs. Swedish SMEs demonstrate a more mature and comprehensive integration of advanced MAPs, facilitating strategic decision-making, cost control, and performance evaluation. In contrast, Indian SMEs exhibit lower adoption rates and face challenges in fully integrating these practices into their operations, primarily due to external factors such as infrastructure limitations and economic instability. Despite these differences, the study underscores the importance of standardizing and adapting MAPs to suit diverse economic contexts. By understanding the unique challenges and adoption patterns in different regions, SMEs can better leverage these tools to enhance their sustainability and overall business performance.