With the purpose of studying the mechanical properties of uncompacted rockfill and the creep deformation behaviour of rockfill under a load as well as finding a suitable method for estimation of creep deformation behaviour, a full scale embankment loading experiment was performed. The results of this experiment were then evaluated. During the course of this study it became evident to the author that the deformations which were seen in the collected data from the experiment could be classified as creep deformations due to the linear decrease of the deformation against the logarithm of time and the study therefore came to focus on creep. One constitutive equation and one model for estimation of creep deformations were studied, and parameters were obtained through back analysis of experiment data as well as calculation of soil stresses. The creep model was based on a logarithmic approximation of the creep deformations and the creep equation was based on a power function. The creep model could also be simplified and evaluated as an equation and when a comparison was made between the equations and the measured results this showed that the logarithmic equation resulted in estimates closer to the measured deformations than what the power function did, therefore a logarithmic function is a better approximation to the deformations of the rockfill at Norvik than the power function. When the creep model was evaluated as intended, based on the soil stresses, the resulting creep estimates were less accurate, they was however still within the limits of what can be considered as admissible. The conclusion is that a logarithmic function describes the creep deformation of the rockfill at Norvik better than a power function and that the creep model by Kristensen is suitable for estimating the creep deformations. This since the creep model also provides a way of estimating deformations occurring under stress conditions other than the ones for which the creep test was performed.

The user expectation from a digitized collection is that a full text search can be performed and that it will retrieve all the relevant results. The reality is, however, that the errors introduced during Optical Character Recognition (OCR) degrade the results significantly and users do not get what they expect. The National Library of Luxembourg started its digitization program in 2000 and in 2005 started performing OCR on the scanned images. The OCR was always performed by the scanning suppliers, so over the years quite a lot of different OCR programs in different versions have been used. The manual parts of the digitization chain (handling, scanning, zoning, …) are difficult, costly and mostly incompressible, so the library thought that the supplier should focus on a high quality level for these parts. OCR is an automated process and so the library believed that the text recognized by the OCR could be improved automatically since OCR software improves over the years. This is why the library has never asked the supplier for a minimum recognition rate. The author is proposing to test this assumption by first evaluating the base quality of the text extracted by the original supplier, followed by running a contemporary OCR program and finally comparing its quality to the first extraction. The corpus used is the collection of digitized newspapers from Luxembourg, published from the 18th century to the 20th century. A complicating element is that the corpus consists of three main languages, German, French and Luxembourgish, which are often present on a single newspaper page together. A preliminary step is hence added to detect the language used in a block of text so that the correct dictionaries and OCR engines can be used.

Ever since the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula there has been an intense scientific debate about how the Russian way of war should be defined and explained. Some argue that the way Russia is acting is something new and maybe could be defined for example as hybrid warfare. Others are not so convinced and argue that it is something old that the Russians have been doing before. After the annexation, a new concept emerged called full-spectrum conflict whose purpose was to define the Russian way of war in Ukraine.  The purpose of the thesis is to investigate Russia’s actions during the Georgian conflict 2008, to see if it is possible to trace the use of full-spectrum conflict there. This is to create a clearer picture of whether the Russian way of war is of innovative nature or if the actions in Ukraine were already used during the previous conflict. The method used in this investigation is a qualitative text analysis to either reject or support the theory. The results of the survey show that the Russian way of conducting warfare is presumably evolution of prior ways to conduct warfare and is nothing new. However, more research must be conducted to enhance this statement since a single survey cannot capture everything and needs to be strengthened for the result to be more representative.

Background: Preterm infants and neonates may present with dysphagia due to immaturity or the presence of medical conditions. Enteral feeds are used to ensure optimal nutrition is achieved while the neonates are developing appropriate oral feeding skills. Varied interventions may be used to transition neonates to full oral feeds as oral feeding is often a prerequisite for discharge from hospital. Aims: The main aim of this study was to summarize, interpret and analyse the literature on the different interventions used for the transition to full oral feeds in preterm infants and neonates to identify research gaps and to inform clinical practice on the best intervention options. A secondary aim was to validate the findings of the scoping review for the South African context. Methods: A scoping review was conducted. Relevant studies were identified by searching six databases, Google and Google scholar. Inclusion criteria included studies written in English, peer reviewed and published between 1998–2018, that described the interventions used to transition preterm infants and neonates to full oral feeds. Data were extracted from the articles using a data charting form and analysed descriptively and thematically. The findings were shared with health care professionals who work with premature infants and neonates who then participated in a semi-structured interview to provide feedback relevant to the South African context. Results: Forty-seven articles were included. Six broad intervention categories were identified: oral-motor, oral-sensory, other senses, timing, cue-based and utensils. Non-nutritive sucking (NNS) interventions were reported most frequently across single and combined interventions. Outcome measures reported included: time taken to full oral feeds, earlier hospital discharge, long-term feeding outcomes, weight and sucking proficiency. Improved outcomes were associated with NNS and NNS with oral stimulation. Nine health care professionals were interviewed. They confirmed using a number of the interventions, with NNS reported the most. Health care professionals also provided insight into the challenges of implementing some interventions due to limited resources and staffing in the South African context. Conclusions: There are a range of interventions reported in the literature and many of them are used in South Africa. Positive outcomes such as earlier transition to full oral feeds; earlier hospital discharge; improved weight gain and improved sucking proficiency have been reported with NNS and combined NNS and Oral Stimulation interventions, however further studies are needed.

The notion of mechanical computation has been revived in the past few years, with the advances of nanofabrication techniques. Although electromechanical devices are inherently slow, they offer zero or very low off-state current, which reduces the overall power consumption compared to the fast complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) counterparts. This energy efficiency feature is the most crucial requirement for most of the stand-alone battery-operated gadgets, biomedical devices, and the internet of things (IoT) applications, which do not require the fast processing speeds offered by the mainstream CMOS technology. In particular, using Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEM) resonators in mechanical computing has drawn the attention of the research community and the industry in the last decade as this technology offers low power consumption, reduced circuit complexity compared to conventional CMOS designs, run-time re- programmability and high reliability due to the contactless mode of operation compared to other MEM switches such as micro-relays. In this thesis, we introduce digital circuit design techniques tailored for clamped-clamped beam MEM resonators. The main operation mechanism of these circuit blocks is based on fine-tuning of the resonance frequency of the micro-resonator beam, and the logic function performed by the devices is mainly determined by factors such as input/output terminal arrangement, signal type, resonator operation regime (linear/non-linear), and the operation frequency. These proposed circuits include the major building blocks of any microprocessor such as logic gates, a full adder which is a key block in any arithmetic and logic operation units (ALU), and I/O interface units, including digital to analog (DAC) and analog to digital (ADC) data converters. All proposed designs were first simulated using a finite element software and then the results were experimentally verified. Important aspects such as energy per operation, speed, and circuit complexity are evaluated and compared to CMOS counterparts. In all applications, we show that by proper scaling of the resonator’s dimensions, MHz operation speeds and energy consumption in the range of femto-joules per logic operation are attainable. Finally, we discuss some of the challenges in using MEM resonators in digital circuit design at the device level and circuit level and propose solutions to tackle some of them.

The purpose of my study was to explore the different ways in which teachers in full-service and special needs schools implement inclusive education policy with learners who are visually impaired. My study was focused on 4 schools in the Gauteng province consisting of 2 full-service schools and 2 special needs schools. The study specifically focused on the teaching strategies which teachers used with learners who are visually impaired. I relied on an interpretivist meta-theory and employed a qualitative research approach to my study. I utilised a multiple case study design and relied on multiple sources of data collection which included participatory action research (PAR) based workshops, observations, field notes, audio-visual data and a research diary to document the research process. I conducted an inductive thematic analysis on the data that was collected. The findings of the study indicated that teachers in full-service schools and special schools both adopted similar implementation strategies such as having making various adaptations to the learning materials and the actions of the teacher in being an implementer. Some of the differences were also made mention of between the full-service and special schools. Teachers did also note some of their needs and challenges in relation to resources needed such as braille machines, embossing machines and various assistive devices. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Needs Education at the University Of Zululand, 2018 / The dispute of inclusion is one that has not only been a challenge for South African schools but for the country as a whole. The success of the implementation of the inclusion policy will not only talk to the progress at the schools in South Africa (SA), but it will also provide us with a glimpse of the nation’s progress towards the implementation of democracy itself. Considerable work has been done internationally with regards to the practicality of full-service schooling; however, a limited expanse locally. The objectives of the study were: (i) To determine the nature of experiences of primary school teachers in full service schools; and (ii) To establish if there is any relationship between the teachers’ experiences in full service primary schools and the variables of interest: gender, age, qualification, race and teaching experience. In order to address the study questions, a mixed method research design was employed. A sample of 63 teachers in Full Service Schools (FSSs) in Umlazi district was purposefully selected based on experience and expertise. For data collection, self-developed questionnaires comprising a demographic information section and a Likert-type inventory were used. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) accounted for statistical and descriptive analysis; and Thematic Analysis for qualitative analysis. The findings of this study revealed that a greater number of teachers had positive experiences within FSSs in Umlazi district. However, disabling conditions that prevent teachers to be completely convinced of Inclusive Education (IE) were found to be: Lack of support from the Department of Education (DoE), teachers’ perceived incompetency when dealing with impaired children, insufficient resources, maltreatment of disabled children by their non-disabled peers, lack of parental support, large class sizes and shortage of staff. With regards to the variables of interest in relation to the experiences of teachers in FSSs, it was discovered that: male teachers expressed more positive experiences than their female counterparts; it appeared that the higher the qualification, the more teachers felt confident about teaching in FSSs; more Indian teachers reported having favorable experience than black African teachers; and teachers with more years of teaching experience indicated optimism towards teaching in FSSs than teachers with less teaching experience. Recommendations from the current study suggest that teacher pre-service training be tailored in accordance with the requirements of teaching in a FSS. Workshops and conferences should be conducted to provide teachers with recent updated teaching material that will allow them to stay relevant with the IE curriculum. Furthermore, psycho-education around the maltreatment of disabled children should be provided to schools and communities in an attempt to bring awareness about disability and advocacy against the exclusion and the ill-treatment of the disabled. Again, psycho-education should be provided to families to bring awareness regarding the importance of the caregiver’s active role in the academic and personal life of a child. This would entail the process of providing education and information to families of children that attend FSSs. These recommendations would bridge a gap in the challenges that are experienced in FSSs.

Le mouvement est une composante primordiale et nécessaire de notre existence. Nous l’utilisons tous les jours pour accomplir des tâches simples et essentielles, mais également pour communiquer. Que cela soit intentionnel ou non, nos mouvements signent nos différences interindividuelles, mais aussi intra-individuelles liées à nos états émotionnels, notre status, et nos intentions. Au cours d’une même journée, la cinématique de nos mouvements tend inéluctablement à évoluer et à s’adapter en fonction de notre environnement social. Ce qui différencie le mouvement des robots et des personnages virtuels de celui des humains est sa capacité à varier, un humain ne reproduisant jamais deux mouvements identiques. Néanmoins, ce contraste est de moins en moins évident. Depuis Darwin et ses travaux sur l’impact des émotions dans le mouvement jusqu’aux plus récentes études sur l’expressivité du mouvement dans des contextes d’interactions (p. ex. homme femme, interaction professeur-élève) et d’applications variées (p. ex. autisme, exergame), les chercheurs et entreprises cherchent à implémenter la variabilité du mouvement biologique humain dans les interactions homme-machine (IHM). En s’appuyant sur les Sciences sociales, du mouvement et de l’informatique, ce travail doctoral multidisciplinaire contribue à la compréhension de l’action et de la perception de mouvement expressif à travers trois études dans un contexte sportif d’interaction coach-élève. La première étude a pour objectif de comprendre comment l’expressivité du mouvement humain signe l’émotion perçue. Dans la seconde étude, nous envisageons plusieurs dyades composées de participants dont les status de passations et les conditions expérimentales évoluaient. Enfin, une dernière expérience orientée IHM a été réalisée. Au cours de celle-ci, des personnages virtuels expressifs ont été conçus pour interagir non verbalement avec les participants. Les résultats de ces travaux permettent de mettre en évidence que certains paramètres de l’expressivité du mouvement issue de séries temporelles (ST) (Energie, Caratère direct, Rigidité et l’étendue) sont nécessaires pour discriminer les affects, les status et les ressentis des participants au sein des interactions. La visée applicative de ce travail doctoral est la création d’un coach virtuel qui, au moyen de ces mouvements expressifs, permet une interaction dynamique et crédible. / Movement is a major component of our daily life. Every day we use it to both perform simple and essential task and to communicate. Intentionnal or not our movements sign our intraindividual and interindividual differences liked to our status, intentions and affects. In the same day, the cinematic of our movements evolve and adapt according of our social environnement. Distinction between movements of robot – virtual character and human movement is that the latter can vary. Indeed an identical movement made twice by a human will not be perfectly the same. However this specificity tends to change. From Darwin’s first works studying the impact of affect on movement to recent studies about movement expressivity in various interactive context (e.g. man-woman, student-professor interaction) and various applications (e.g. Autism, Exergames) researchers and entreprises seek to implement this human specificity in human computer interaction (HCI). Based on social science, movement science and computer science, this multidisciplinary work contributes to the understanding of action and perception of expressive movements thanks to three studies in coach-student sport context interaction. The first study aims at understanding how the perceived affect impact the expressivity of human movement. In the second study we examine dyadic interactions involving different status of participants and social set-up. Finaly we desgined an expressive full-body virtual agent and used it in an interactive trask. The main contribution of this PhD thesis is to show that expressivity features computed from different time-series (Energy, Caractère franc,rigidité and sptatial extent) are relevant to discriminate participants’ affects, status and thoughts. One goal and possible application of this work is the design of a virtual trainer allowing credible and dynamic full-body interactions thanks to its expressive movements.

Police leadership has traditionally been dominated by the commander style, yet the more recent generation of police officers reject this style of leadership. Little, however, is known about whether the different leadership styles of the full range of leadership model result in positive outcomes in policing organizations. The purpose of this quantitative meta-analysis study was to examine the relationship between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles and the leadership outcomes in a policing context, such as subordinate satisfaction, perception of leadership effectiveness, and exerting extra effort. Data for this research synthesis derived from primary research studies, which included 9 U.S. and international correlational policing studies that together comprised 1,939 police officers who completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) instrument. The meta-analysis provided effect size estimates on the relationship between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles and perception of leadership effectiveness, extra effort, and subordinate satisfaction. The results of this meta-analysis indicate the transformational style has a stronger positive relationship with perception of leadership effectiveness, extra effort, and subordinate satisfaction, than the other 2 leadership styles. The positive social change implications of this study provide recommendations to police executives to include transformational leadership with contemporary law enforcement practices. The transformational style may result in improvements to police officer motivation, performance, and job satisfaction, thus offering opportunities to improve public safety outcomes.

Accelerated bridge construction has quickly become the preferred method for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) as well as many other DOT’s across the United States. This type of construction requires the use of full depth precast panels for the construction of the bridge deck. The segmented deck panels produce transverse joints between panels and have come to be known as the weakest portion of the deck. Cracking often occurs at these joints and is reflected through the deck overlay where water accesses and begins corrosion of the reinforcement and superstructure below. For this reason post-tensioning of the deck panels is becoming a regular practice to ensure that the deck behaves more monolithically, limiting cracking. The current post-tensioning used by UDOT inhibits future replacement of single deck panels and requires that all panels be replaced once one panel is deemed defective. The new curved bolt connection provides the necessary compressive stresses across the transverse joints but makes future replacement of a single deck panel possible without replacing the entire bridge deck. To better understand the behavior of the new curved bolt connection under loadings, laboratory testing was undertaken on both the curved bolt and the current post-tensioning used by UDOT. The testing specimens included full-scale, full-depth, precast panels that were connected using both system. The testing induced typical stresses on the panels and connections, subjecting them to negative bending and shear. The overall performance of the curved bolt proved satisfactory. The moment capacity of both connections surpassed all theoretical calculations. The yield and plastic moments were 17% and 16% lower, respectively, than the UDOT post-tension system while at those moments deflection was relatively the same. Due to the anchorage location of the curved bolts, the reinforcement around the transverse joint received up to 5 times the strain of that of the post-tension connections. Although both systems performed well when subjected to shear forces and as compared to the theoretical capacities, the post-tension connection greatly surpassed the curved bolt in shear capacity.