In 2009 Operation Clean Audit was launched with the objective that all municipalities must achieve a clean audit by the 2014 financial year. A clean audit is an audit opinion when the financial statements are unqualified; no adverse findings were identified on compliance with laws and regulations as well as on predetermined objectives. The overall aim of the programme is to clean up the governance of municipalities and to enhance service delivery. In both the public and the private sector internal control is crucial. It is seen as one of the key elements of good governance, it provides assurance of the rendering of reliable financial statements, of compliance with legislation and it also indicates how the organisation performs against its objectives. Budgetary control in local government can be used as an effective internal control method by legally limiting the authorised expenditure and to monitor the actual service delivery against the budgeted targets. If variances are identified in the budget or with regard to service delivery objectives, remedial action can be taken. If municipalities do not provide services to communities in a sustainable manner, it contravenes its constitutional mandate as stipulated in section 152(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa. The qualitative research method, in the format of a case study of the Tlokwe City Council, a local municipality in the North West Province, was chosen for this research. In the 2010 financial year, the Auditor General reflected that the Tlokwe City Council experienced deficiencies in the key fundamentals of internal control: leadership, financial and performance management, and governance which could directly be linked to the basis of the qualification of the financial statements, findings on predetermined objectives and compliance with legislation. The material underspending of the capital budget was also found to be affecting service delivery negatively. The purpose of this study is to benchmark the internal budgetary control systems of municipalities in South Africa, which have already achieved clean audit reports for consecutive years, to improve the internal budgetary control system of the Tlokwe City Council. This research was formulated in such a way that — through the findings obtained in the literature study with regard to the legislative framework regulating the budget formulation, internal and budgetary control of the local government sphere in South Africa, analysis of the internal budgetary control deficiencies at the Tlokwe City Council and the benchmarking exercise with the Swartland and Steve Tshwete local municipalities — a strategy can be developed to provide for effective budgeting and to improve the internal control system of the Tlokwe City Council. Potential benefits that can arise from the implementation of the recommended strategy to improve the internal budgetary control system of the Tlokwe City Council are the attainment of a clean audit opinion by the Auditor General and subsequently the enhancement of service delivery to the community. / MCom (Management Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In 2009 Operation Clean Audit was launched with the objective that all municipalities must achieve a clean audit by the 2014 financial year. A clean audit is an audit opinion when the financial statements are unqualified; no adverse findings were identified on compliance with laws and regulations as well as on predetermined objectives. The overall aim of the programme is to clean up the governance of municipalities and to enhance service delivery. In both the public and the private sector internal control is crucial. It is seen as one of the key elements of good governance, it provides assurance of the rendering of reliable financial statements, of compliance with legislation and it also indicates how the organisation performs against its objectives. Budgetary control in local government can be used as an effective internal control method by legally limiting the authorised expenditure and to monitor the actual service delivery against the budgeted targets. If variances are identified in the budget or with regard to service delivery objectives, remedial action can be taken. If municipalities do not provide services to communities in a sustainable manner, it contravenes its constitutional mandate as stipulated in section 152(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa. The qualitative research method, in the format of a case study of the Tlokwe City Council, a local municipality in the North West Province, was chosen for this research. In the 2010 financial year, the Auditor General reflected that the Tlokwe City Council experienced deficiencies in the key fundamentals of internal control: leadership, financial and performance management, and governance which could directly be linked to the basis of the qualification of the financial statements, findings on predetermined objectives and compliance with legislation. The material underspending of the capital budget was also found to be affecting service delivery negatively. The purpose of this study is to benchmark the internal budgetary control systems of municipalities in South Africa, which have already achieved clean audit reports for consecutive years, to improve the internal budgetary control system of the Tlokwe City Council. This research was formulated in such a way that — through the findings obtained in the literature study with regard to the legislative framework regulating the budget formulation, internal and budgetary control of the local government sphere in South Africa, analysis of the internal budgetary control deficiencies at the Tlokwe City Council and the benchmarking exercise with the Swartland and Steve Tshwete local municipalities — a strategy can be developed to provide for effective budgeting and to improve the internal control system of the Tlokwe City Council. Potential benefits that can arise from the implementation of the recommended strategy to improve the internal budgetary control system of the Tlokwe City Council are the attainment of a clean audit opinion by the Auditor General and subsequently the enhancement of service delivery to the community. / MCom (Management Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis investigates policy formulation and implementation processes in Zambia. A number of issues emerge with respect to the weaknesses of the system and how policy decisions worsened Zambia's economic performance instead of improving it. The Kaunda era policies of nationalization had an adverse impact on productivity of industries as well as affecting the resource flow from donors and business houses. On the other hand President Chiluba's reforms in the 1990s have had both positive and negative impacts on the people of Zambia. The rapid privatization and liberalization affected employment levels thereby worsening the poverty levels. Further, the liberalization brought in stiff competition from other countries forcing most manufacturing companies to close down. The policy environment based on the Bretton Woods Institutions seems not to be working as result of not taking into account the local Zambian situation. On the other hand, there were positive macroeconomic developments such as growth in GDP, lowering of inflation and stabilizing of exchange rates as from 1996. This has however not improved the living standards of the people. In Zambia, the shifts back and forth between strong and weak planning institutions have negatively affected policy development and implementation. There has been uncoordinated policy development; as a result, some policies in the major sectors are contradictory while in other cases policies are not linked to the resource envelope, making them un-implementable. Secondly, the institutional framework for policy development is not effective. There is generally lack of coordination among ministries, provinces and other stakeholders in planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of development programmes. This thesis urges that the improving planning capacities at the national, provincial and district levels should improve the processes of policy development and implementation in Zambia, which will in turn help to reduce poverty. Further, the districts should be the centre for the bottom-up process. In order to carryout this responsibility, efforts should be made to improve their capacities. As for the top-down process, the Sector Advisory Groups should continue to participate in the planning, monitoring and evaluation so as to contribute to policy formulation and implementation. These should be coordinated by the National Development Coordinating Committee (NDCC) through a Planning Bureau. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Recent studies on human cognition have presented credible evidence that learners are not tabula rasa as previously conceived by traditional theorists, rather they enter new lessons with some preconceptions, most of which are resistant to change in spite of teachers' efforts to assuage them. As such the challenges confronting science educators and educational psychologists are to understand the nature of learners' preconceptions, designing and implement appropriate instructional interventions that would enable the learners become aware of and reconcile their conceptions that are inconsistent with accepted views of science. Several perspectives have been advocated on how learners' preconceptions can be modified through instructions. While traditional theorists subscribe to substitution of inaccurate conceptions with accurate ones, the constructivists identify with giving the learners autonomy to inquire and re-evaluate their own ideas. The former has been confronted with widespread criticism and is becoming less and less tenable. This research identifies with the latter. Conceptual change entails restructuring of ideas. It is a cognitive process that involves change in attitude toward learning. Based on the theoretical assumption that learning is facilitated through teaching that give the learners autonomy search to new ideas, verify them, and restructure existing ideas, I developed a model of conceptual change from where I deduced the four sub variables of the conceptual change that this study explored. The sub variables include formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. My assumption was that conceptual change can be facilitated through instructions that engage learners in experiences relevant to the four sub variables that I have mentioned. This conceptual framework served as my reference point for the designing of the Constructivist Teaching Model that consists of four instructional phases. Judging that I was resident and working in Seychelles as a teacher trainer at a time I developed the Constructivist Teaching Model, I chose to implement and evaluate it first in Seychelles. Hence this study is titled `The implementation and evaluation of a constructivist intervention in secondary school science teaching in Seychelles'. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the constructivist teaching model as an intervention to facilitate conceptual change. Basically, there are two main aims of this study. First, to investigate to what extent the constructivist teaching model facilitates conceptual change. Secondly, to investigate if the paradigms shift from the traditional method to the constructivist method of science teaching is welcomed in Seychelles. This study was carried out in two phases Pretest and Evaluation. Pretest was aimed at identifying the weaknesses of the initial version of my model of constructivist teaching with a view to eliminate those weaknesses to further strengthen the model. In a nutshell pretest was a step taken to enhance the validity of the model. Evaluation on the other hand was aimed at making a judgment whether a difference actually exists between the learners that received constructivist instruction and those that received traditional lecture instruction in terms of the four sub variables of conceptual change. To enable for this judgment necessitated an experiment. The experiment was conducted with a total of six secondary schools selected from the ten secondary schools on the island. The participants included 178 learners, 6 science teachers and 8 independent persons. The learners were constituted into three Bands; 1, 2 and 3. Each Band consisted of a Control group and an Experimental group. Altogether six groups were formed, with 3 Control groups and 3 Experimental groups. There were 59 learners in Band 1, comprising of 29 learners in the Control group and 30 learners in the Experimental group; Band 2 comprised a Control group of 25 learners and an Experimental group of 28 learners; and Band 3 consisted of 33 learners in each group. The learners in Band 1 were used for pretest that lasted for five week. The learners in Bands 2 and 3 were used in the evaluation that lasted for thirteen weeks. The groups were non-equivalent, suggesting that randomisation was not possible as the learners were in intact classes. Learners in the experimental groups received constructivist instruction while their counterparts in the control groups received traditional lecture instruction. Both groups were exposed to the same experimental conditions except in the methods of teaching. Data was collected through teacher interviews, independent observation, measurement of learners' achievement, and analysis of documents. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analysed on the basis of content or meaning of the information given by the respondents. Following the design of this study the performance and achievements of learners that received constructivist instruction were compared with their counterparts who received traditional instruction. Guiding this study are two main assumptions. The first is the assumption of equality of the variance, and the second is the assumption of normality of the distribution. The results of Levene's test of equality of variances indicated a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of the variances of TI and CI groups while the results of test of skewness and kurtosis give the indication of normality of distribution of scores in both groups. The results of descriptive statistics analysis showed that the learners who received constructivist instruction performed better than the learners that received traditional instruction in terms of formulation of ideas, search for new ideas, review of meaning, and transfer of knowledge. The results of inferential statistics showed that the difference in the means of the two groups on each of the sub variables of conceptual change is significant. This evidence indicates that my model of constructivist teaching produced an effect measuring 0.86 and a power of 0.85 based on Cohen's Blueprint, and a reliability of 0.72 based on Cronbach's test of internal consistency. Besides statistical evidence, analysis of the opinions of science teachers who implemented the Constructivist Teaching Model in their respective classes and the independent persons who observed teaching and learning in both the experimental and control groups showed a preference for the constructivist approach over the traditional approach. On the grounds of the evidence gathered through observation and measurement this study concludes that the constructivist approach to science teaching is more effective than traditional lecture approach in facilitating the ability of secondary school learners in Seychelles to reconstruct ideas. This study also found that science educationists in Seychelles welcome the paradigm shift from the traditional approach to the constructivist approach. / Educational Studies / D. Educ. (Psychology of Education)

The sequence-dependent curvature and flexibility of DNA is critical for many biochemically important processes. However, few experimental methods are available for directly probing these properties at the base-pair level. One promising way to predict these properties as a function of sequence is to model DNA with a set of base-pair parameters that describe the local stacking of the different possible base-pair step combinations. In this dissertation research, we develop and study a computational model for predicting the diffusion coefficients of short, relatively rigid DNA fragments from the sequence and the base-pair parameters. We focus on diffusion coefficients because various experimental methods have been developed to measure them. Moreover, these coefficients can also be computed numerically from the Stokes equations based on the three-dimensional shape of the macromolecule. By comparing the predicted diffusion coefficients with experimental measurements, we can potentially obtain refined estimates of various base-pair parameters for DNA. Our proposed model consists of three sub-models. First, we consider the geometric model of DNA, which is sequence-dependent and controlled by a set of base-pair parameters. We introduce a set of new base-pair parameters, which are convenient for computation and lead to a precise geometric interpretation. Initial estimates for these parameters are adapted from crystallographic data. With these parameters, we can translate a DNA sequence into a curved tube of uniform radius with hemispherical end caps, which approximates the effective hydrated surface of the molecule. Second, we consider the solvent model, which captures the hydrodynamic properties of DNA based on its geometric shape. We show that the Stokes equations are the leading-order, time-averaged equations in the particle body frame assuming that the Reynolds number is small. We propose an efficient boundary element method with a priori error estimates for the solution of the exterior Stokes equations. Lastly, we consider the diffusion model, which relates our computed results from the solvent model to relevant measurements from various experimental methods. We study the diffusive dynamics of rigid particles of arbitrary shape which often involves arbitrary cross- and self-coupling between translational and rotational degrees of freedom. We use scaling and perturbation analysis to characterize the dynamics at time scales relevant to different classic experimental methods and identify the corresponding diffusion coefficients. In the end, we give rigorous proofs for the convergence of our numerical scheme and show numerical evidence to support the validity of our proposed models by making comparisons with experimental data. / text

<p align="justify">This work deals with the development of numerical methods for compressible flow simulation with application to the interaction of fluid flows and structural bodies.</p> <p align="justify">First, we develop numerical methods based on multidimensional upwind residual distribution (RD) schemes. Theoretical results for the stability and accuracy of the methods are given. Then, the RD schemes for unsteady problems are extended for computations on moving meshes. As a second approach, cell centered and vertex centered finite volume (FV) schemes are considered. The RD schemes are compared to FV schemes by means of the 1D modified equation and by the comparison of the numerical results for scalar problems and system of Euler equations. We present a number of two and three dimensional steady and unsteady test cases, illustrating properties of the numerical methods. The results are compared with the theoretical solution and experimental data.</p> <p align="justify">In the second part, a numerical method for fluid-structure interaction problems is developed. The problem is divided into three distinct sub-problems: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Solid Mechanics and the problem of fluid mesh movement. The problem of Computational Solid Mechanics is formulated as a system of partial differential equations for an anisotropic elastic continuum and solved by the finite element method. The mesh movement is determined using the pseudo-elastic continuum approach and solved again by the finite element method. The coupling of the problems is achieved by a simple sub-iterative approach. Capabilities of the methods are demonstrated on computations of 2D supersonic panel flutter and 3D transonic flutter of the AGARD 445.6 wing. In the first case, the results are compared with the theoretical solution and the numerical computations given in the references. In the second case the comparison with experimental data is presented.</p>

Dans ce manuscrit, un modèle complet pour la simulation de l'écoulement d'un fluide thermor éactif à travers un milieu poreux fortement compressible est présenté. Ce modèle est utilisé pour l'étude des procédés d'élaboration des matériaux composites par infusion à travers leur épaisseur (Liquid Resin Infusion-LRI et Resin Film Infusion-RFI ). Dans ces procédés, le mélange entre les renforts et la résine liquide est réalisé dans la direction transverse aux plans des préformes pendant la phase de mise en forme. Les coˆuts sont ainsi réduits et les problèmes de remplissage éliminés. Ces procédés sont néanmoins peu maîtrisés et les caractéristiques de la pièce finale difficilement prévisibles (principalement les épaisseurs et les porosités). La mise au point d'un modèle numérique constituerait un bon outil pour développer et finaliser de nouvelles solutions composites. D'un point de vue physique, l'infusion de la résine à travers l'épaisseur des préformes est une conséquence de la pression appliquée sur l'empilement résine/préforme. Dans cette analyse multi-physique deux types de problèmes sont rencontrés. Tout d'abord, on connait mal les conditions de couplage entre les zones liquides, gouvernées par les équations de Stokes, et les préformes imprégnées assimilées à des milieux poreux, gouvernées par une loi de Darcy et une loi de comportement mécanique non-linéaire. Par ailleurs, les interactions entre l'écoulement de la résine et la compression des préformes ne sont pas bien maîtrisées. Le modèle développé inclut donc une condition de Beaver-Joseph- Schaffman modifiée pour le couplage entre les zones de Darcy et de Stokes. Une formulation ALE pour l'écoulement de la résine dans un milieu poreux déformable subissant de fortes déformations est utilisée et couplée à une formulation Lagrangienne Réactualisée pour la partie solide. Ces deux mécanismes physiques sont couplés à des modèles thermo-chimiques pour traiter la réticulation de la résine sous l'action du cycle de température. Dans ce travail, un certain nombre d'outils numériques et de nouvelles formulations ont été développés en vue de simuler les procédés LRI et RFI. Chaque outil est étudié et validé analytiquement ou numériquement avant d'être intégré dans les modèles LRI /RFI. Des simulations numériques d'infusion sont ensuite présentées et commentées, puis une première comparaison avec des essais expérimentaux est proposée.

While there are powerful keyword search systems that index all kinds of resources including emails and web pages, people have trouble recalling semantic facts such as the name, location, edit dates and keywords that uniquely identifies resources in their personal repositories. Reusing information exasperates this problem. A rarely used approach is to leverage episodic memory of file provenance. Provenance is traditionally defined as "the history of ownership of a valued object". In terms of documents, we consider not only the ownership, but also the operations performed on the document, especially those that related it to other people, events, or resources. This thesis investigates the potential advantages of using provenance data in desktop search, and consists of two manuscripts. First, a numerical analysis using field data from a longitudinal study shows that provenance information can effectively be used to identify files and resources in realistic repositories. We introduce the Leyline, the first provenance-based search system that supports dynamic relations between files and resources such as copy/paste, save as, file rename. The Leyline allows users to search by drawing search queries as graphs in a sketchpad. The Leyline overlays provenance information that may help users identify targets or explore information flow. A limited controlled experiment showed that this approach is feasible in terms of time and effort. Second, we explore the design of the Leyline, compare it to previous provenance-based desktop search systems, including their underlying assumptions and focus, search coverage and flexibility, and features and limitations. / Graduation date: 2012

The public sector project is particularly a demanding undertaking, with the requirement to meet diverse demands. Despite huge investment, public sector projects tend to complete behind schedule, indicating shortfall in various project factors. This research was grounded on an empirical study of the Malaysian School Computer Laboratory Programme (SCLP) to examine the project success factors throughout the project life span. The extensive SCLP was divided into six zones, spanning urban and remote environment throughout Malaysia. Its implementation was staggered into several phases, two of which covered in this study, namely phase-1 and phase-2. This research aimed to fulfil three research objectives: i) to discover the project management’s success factors; ii) to determine the product’s success factors that encompass various stakeholders; and iii) to identify project characteristics that influenced the project success. A comprehensive review of literature suggested 20 relevant project success factors to be investigated. Those factors were examined using a newly constructed framework, whereby the project life span was clustered into two segments – project process and project product. The study adopted a qualitative paradigm; nevertheless it utilised both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data collection, which were triangulated to provide a wider scope of interpretation. The quantitative data for a total sample of 357 projects were sourced from Likert-type questionnaire and secondary resources, while qualitative data were sourced from combination of semi-structured interviews with 38 respondents representing 10 groups of project stakeholders and secondary data from various documents. The results demonstrated that the project management of the SCLP was improperly administered. Out of five success factors investigated to verify the project conceptualization, only two namely project goal and project scope, were reasonably defined. One factor, stakeholder participation, was inadequately defined, while the other two factors, resources assessment and risk management, were not even taken into consideration by the project decision-making committee. There were also some deficiencies in the project planning. From six success factors tested, two were acceptably planned, i.e. project design and project costing. The other four, namely distribution of authority and responsibility, contractor selection, project scheduling, and project documentation, were insufficiently planned. The inadequacies in the project definition and project planning were reflected in the project execution as only two out of six factors, i.e. administrator effectiveness and communication, contributed to the project success. The other four, known as supervising team efficiency, contractor competence, integrity and external influences were negatively affected the project. Despite some deficiencies in the project management, the outcome or product of the project was found to be successful particularly in the judgement of the target group, the users; they were satisfied with the SCLP deliverables. They also appreciated the benefit from the utilisation of the products, which greatly changed the approaches of teaching and learning. However, the SCLP completion time was not as successful as planned, believed to be a result of unrealistic scheduling during the planning stage. Nonetheless, there were cases of genuine delays due to various factors in the earlier stages. The results also suggested that some of the project success factors were particularly influenced by project characteristics explored in this studied. The influences of these two characteristics, geographical zone and the project award method, could be seen in both the project management process and the project’s product. Overall, this thesis contributed to extant body of knowledge in various ways. A newly constructed research framework, with the concept of duality of project process and product, added depth to the longstanding idea of project success and expanded premises of the existing theory. This framework offered a better platform to identify when particular factors take place and affect the project along the project life span. This study also added a new insight to the Malaysian public sector projects management strategies in particular and to the other countries with the similar situations in general. A new paradigm in project decision-making by adopting a bottom-up concept rather than traditionally top-down alone during the project conceptualisation and a more realistic resource-based approach during the project planning, is suggested. In addition, this research proposed an ideal way to deal with various critical success factors in a huge programme.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.