In the real world, many problems are continuous in nature. In some cases, finding the global solutions for these problems is di±cult. The reason is that the problem's objective function is non convex, nor concave and even not differentiable. Tackling these problems is often computationally too expensive. Although the development in computer technologies are increasing the speed of computations, this often is not adequate, particularly if the size of the problem's instance are large. Applying exact methods on some problems may necessitate their linearisation. Several new ideas using heuristic approaches have been considered particularly since they tackle the problems within reasonable computational time and give an approximate solution. In this thesis, the variable neighbourhood search (VNS) metaheuristic (the framework for building heuristic) has been considered. Two variants of variable neighbourhood search metaheuristic have been developed, continuous variable neighbourhood search and reformulation descent variable neighbourhood search. The GLOB-VNS software (Drazic et al., 2006) hybridises the Microsoft Visual Studio C++ solver with variable neighbourhood search metaheuristics. It has been used as a starting point for this research and then adapted and modified for problems studied in this thesis. In fact, two problems have been considered, censored quantile regression and the circle packing problem. The results of this approach for censored quantile regression outperforms other methods described in the literature, and the near-optimal solutions are obtained in short running computational time. In addition, the reformulation descent variable neighbourhood search variant in solving circle packing problems is developed and the computational results are provided.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of Master's Degree in Technology: Biotechnology, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004. / M

The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of registered nurses regarding the factors that influence service delivery in expansion programmes in a primary health care setting. A qualitative approach was used to conduct this study. Purposive sampling methods were used to select participants from the registered nurses who had been working in the clinics for more than two years and had been exposed to the expansion programmes in the clinics. The researcher collected data by means of focus group interviews, conducted in a neutral setting. Data were analysed,according to the Tesch method of data analysis, by the researcher and an independent co-coder. Categories, sub-categories and themes were identified. The categories that form the basis of the discussion are: disabling factors, enabling factors, client related factors, service related factors and solutions of problems. It was recommended that the integration and coordination of programmes at provincial level should be planned in conjunction with the training. The regional information system should introduce an electronic recordkeeping system, which links all clinics to one database, allowing these clinics to monitor clients who shop around and move between clinics. Training in expansion programmes should be continually conducted in the region in the form of in-service training. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

Atualmente, o consumidor está cada vez mais exigente. Além de procurar por produtos que tenham qualidade e conveniência, quer alimentos que sejam seguros do ponto de vista microbiológico e sanitário. Uma alternativa são produtos minimamente processados, que têm valor agregado, são atrativos ao consumidor, e por conseqüência, aumentam o lucro do produtor (e/ou intermediários), além de satisfazerem os desejos do consumidor de adquirir um produto de fácil e rápido preparo e que também apresente inocuidade, sendo que esta última poderia ser garantida por um certificado de rastreabilidade de toda cadeia produtiva do produto. Um sistema informatizado de rastreabilidade para um produto do pescado brasileiro, além de ser uma ferramenta de extrema necessidade, é uma inovação tecnológica, visto que poucos países no mundo avançam nesta direção. A rastreabilidade dos alimentos se apresenta de forma essencial e inevitável, como conseqüência de uma série de incidentes relacionados a segurança alimentar, ocorridas pelo mundo todo, durante os quais, os sistemas de informação disponíveis mostraramse inadequados, ausentes, demorados ou incapazes de assegurar aos consumidores a inocuidade dos produtos. Fica evidente, portanto, que o esforço conjunto dos setores produtivos e do governo para implementar e viabilizar o processo de rastreabilidade é um passo fundamental para garantir ao Brasil uma posição de destaque no cenário internacional do agronegócio. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo oferecer subsídios para tornar viável o desenvolvimento de um sistema informatizado de rastreabilidade aplicado à cadeia de produção de tilápia minimamente processada. Sendo assim, pretendeu-se padronizar o produto e o processo de obtenção de filés de tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus) minimamente processados refrigerados e embalados a vácuo. Para tal, fez-se necessário: determinar as etapas de produção, através do aferimento de todas as etapas envolvidas na cadeia produtiva; e protocolar um padrão de identidade e qualidade para este produto advindo da piscicultura. Esses dados poderão fornecer os parâmetros para possibilitar, em pesquisas futuras, a rastreabilidade do produto, partindo da qualidade da matéria-prima até o alimento embalado para consumo. Este trabalho integra um conjunto de 5 (cinco) subprojetos que compõem o projeto: Rastreabilidade da cadeia produtiva de pescado cultivado tilápia (Oreochromis niloticus), financiado pela FINEP/FUSP, sob o edital Aqüicultura Ação transversal 12/2005. / Currently, the consumer is increasingly demanding. In addition to searching for products with quality and convenience, they search products with standards of hygiene and microbiology. An alternative in the segment of convenient foods is fish minimally processed, which have value added, are attractive to consumers, and consequently, increase the profit of the producer (and/or intermediaries), in addition to meeting the desires of the consumer to purchase a product for easy and fast preparation and also provide safety, and that it could be guaranteed by a certificate of traceability throughout the production chain of the product. A system of traceability for a product of Brazilian fish, besides being a tool of extreme need, is a technological innovation, since few countries in the world are moving towards this direction. The traceability of food is so essential and inevitable, as a result of a series of food safety incidents that occurred throughout the world during which, the information systems available have proved inadequate, absent, or unable to provide lengthy to the safety of consumer products. Therefore, it is evident that mutual efforts from both the government and producers to implement and make a traceability process viable are a critical step forward to grant Brazil a position of reference in the agribusiness international scenario. Thus, the present research aimed to offer basis to provide viability for the development of a computerized traceability process applied to the production chain of tilapia minimally processed. This way, it is aimed to standardize the product and the process to obtain the tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) minimally processed. To do so, it is needed to: determine the phases of production, through the improvement of all steps involved in the production chain and establish quality and identification standards for the product deriving from fish farming. These data may provide the parameters to allow, in future research, the traceability of the product, starting from the raw material to the end wrapped product, including product labeling and also the possible ways to locate its paths along the distribution chain. This plan is part of 5(five) sub-projects which comprise the whole project: Traceability of production chain of farmed fish tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), sponsored by FINEP/MCT/SEAP edital aquaculture Ação Transversal 12/2005.

Organization Behavior Management (OBM) is a subfield within the discipline of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) involving the application of ABA principles and practices to organizational settings. One successful intervention used in OBM is the implementation of a performance improvement package. This approach has proven to be an effective problem solving strategy in a variety of settings, based on effective components such as goal-setting, prompting, and feedback. In this endeavor a performance improvement package was applied within an educational setting. In this school district, school psychologists are required to complete documentation for Medicaid reimbursement to the district, but were inconsistent in doing so. The purpose of this study was to improve the consistency of billing for Medicaid reimbursement by 74 school psychologists serving 102 schools. A multiple baseline across three areas was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention introduced in a sequential manner.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Soil Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Water scarcity poses significant risks to global food security. The use of treated wastewater for irrigation could be a sustainable remedy for water scarcity in arid to semi-arid regions. Furthermore, it has been the most readily available source of water which can serve as an adaptation strategy to shortage of irrigation water. The objectives of the study were to determine (1) whether different disposal points following wastewater treatment could have effects on the quality of treated wastewater used for irrigation at the University of Limpopo (UL) experimental farm and (2) the response of selected critical nutrients, microbial and enzyme activities on soils irrigated with treated wastewater at the UL Experimental Farm. Water samples were collected monthly at three disposal points, namely, the exit point of treated wastewater from the treatment plant (Pond 16), the entry point into the night-dam and the exit point from the night-dam at the UL Experimental Farm. The water samples were analysed for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), sodium (Na), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO42-), sulphate (SO42-), salinity, magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), chlorine (Cl), total dissolved solids (TDS), total soluble salts (TSS), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), Ascaris lumbricoides, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp. and Vibrio cholera. A field experiment was conducted on a separate 4-ha virgin field (VF), cultivated field (CF) and fallowed field (FF), with soil samples collected from 0- 5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm soil depth in each field and analysed for pH, EC, mineralisable P, NH4+, NO3-, organic carbon (OC), active carbon (AC), potential mineralized nitrogen (PMN), fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and phosphatase (PTS) enzyme activity. All data were subjected to ANOVA using Statistix 10.1. The treated wastewater had, at the three sampling points, significantly different EC, Na, NO3-, PO42-, SO42-, Cu, Zn, Shigella spp., V. cholerae, A. lumbricoides and E. coli, whereas salinity, pH, Mg, Ca, K, Cl and Cd were not affected by the sampling point. Generally, the night-dam entry and exit points had significant increases in PO42-, K and Ca when compared to Pond 16 exit. In contrast, the flow of wastewater from Pond 16 through the furrow to the entry and exit of the night-dam resulted in decreases of Na, NO3- and Cl. The exit point of water from the night-dam at UL Experimental Farm had the least harmful materials, rendering it the safest point with the best water quality for irrigation. In the field study, NH4+, NO3- and PMN were significantly different in soil depth. However, NO3- field × depth interaction effects were not significantly different. In contrast to all soil parameters, FDA and PTS activity for both soil depth and field × depth interaction effects were highly significantly different. The EC and pH were not affected by soil depth or field type. The negative effects of treated wastewater were mainly observed in the cultivated field. In conclusion, treated wastewater with fallowing could be used as the best approach to overcome water shortages, with the uses having the potential to reduce the need to apply high synthetic chemical fertilisers. Keywords: water reuse, disposal points, essential nutrients, microbial activities

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / Background: Veterinary medicines play an imperative role in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of animal diseases. Many veterinary stock remedies in South Africa are available to the public without the intervention or supervision of a veterinarian or healthcare worker. Therefore, the accompanying package insert with product information and directions for use is central in promoting the safe and effective use of stock remedies. Information such as the dosage, warnings, precautions and storage instructions are essential to assist the user in their treatment decision-making. While local regulatory authority guidelines prescribe and control the minimum information that should be available in the package insert or product label, it is questioned whether the information contained in package inserts of products on the market complies with these regulatory requirements. Methodology: Using simple random sampling of veterinary stock remedies, 159 package inserts or product labels from various animal health companies were selected and evaluated against the prescribed labelling guidelines of the local regulatory authority responsible for the registration and control of stock remedies. The contents of each package insert or label in the sample were assessed for the presence of the prescribed information statements and were accordingly classified as non-compliant, partially compliant or compliant. Results: Among the 159 package inserts, 48 were for antimicrobials, 49 for ectoparasiticides, 44 for anthelmintics and the remaining 18 for endectocides. It was observed that none of the package inserts met all of the criteria and that the package inserts were inadequate in many aspects. The average percentage of compliance was 69.43%, with a range of 36.21% to 87.93%. Conclusion: The study indicated that many package inserts do not fully comply with the prescribed regulatory guidelines and that information related to the safe and appropriate use of stock remedies is insufficient.

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá problémem bezpečné distribuce software. Je navrženo zlepšení s pomocí doménového systému, který je použit pro uložení verifikačních klíčů, potřebných pro ověření integrity balíků stáhnutých pomocí správce balíků. Navíc je navržena rozšířená verze, které se zabývá zabezpečením metadat repositářů. Obě verze jsou implementovány v jazyce Python a integrovány do správce balíků dnf. Tato implementace je otestována ve virtuálním prostředí, diskutována a zhodnocena z hlediska způsobené zátěže.

The aim of this diploma thesis is 3D package design study and elaboration of rules for effective thermal and electrical design. There are recommendations and equations for calculating parameters affecting design of modern SOP and SIP packages mentioned in this thesis. Advantages of modern technologies in thermal management of packages are demonstrated in the second part of thesis using ANSYS workbench.

The Master thesis deals with technology of mounting QFN packages on to the printed circuits boards. Describes also influence of shape and size of soldering pads and the amount of soldering paste with respect to the quality and the reliability. In first part overview of existing packages is summarised. Second part describes design of testing board and the factors which leads to eliminating errors during manufacturing process.