This thesis deals with logistics of the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys. Heuristic techniques, within the field of Operational Research (OR), for hard Combinatorial Optimization Problems (COPs), have been applied to the design of GPS surveying networks. The aim of a COP is to search and determine the most suitable solution for optimizing (minimizing or maximizing) an objective function (cost, accuracy time, distance etc) over a discrete set of feasible solutions. The designing of a GPS network as a COP consists of set of feasible schedules and the goal is to determine the cheapest schedule. When related to GPS, a network can be defined as a set of stations which are co-ordinated by placing receivers on them to determine sessions between them. A session can be defined as a period of time during which two or more receivers are simultaneously recording satellite signals. The required minimum number of receivers is two, and the problem of network designing becomes crucial as this number increases. The problem addressed is to search for the best order in which these sessions can be organised to give the best schedule (minimal cost) to complete all sessions. In practice this means determining how each GPS receiver should be moved between the stations to be surveyed in an efficient manner taking into consideration some important factors such as time, cost etc. Exact methods can solve only small networks and are not practical as the size of the network increases. Hence, it is important to have approximate techniques (heuristic techniques) which can provide an optimal or near-optimal schedule for large networks in a reasonable amount of computational time. In this thesis, new techniques of research based on effective computer based heuristic optimization techniques for the above mentioned problem have been researched, designed, developed, implemented and analysed theoretically and empirically. These heuristics, which are based on ideas from Artificial Intelligence (AI), are the most recent and powerful development techniques applicable to a wide range of important problems which occur in a variety of disciplines, such as, statistics, engineering, mathematical programming and operational research. A heuristic technique starts with an initial starting solution (within this context, an initial schedule). It iteratively attempts to improve upon the current schedule by a series of local improving changes (swapping sessions) generated by a suitably defined mechanism until a stopping criterion is met. The heuristics that have been implemented in this research are Local Descent Search(LDS), Simulated Annealing (SA) and Tabu Search (TS). The LDS method accepts only a schedule that generates a reduction in the objective function value. On the other hand, both SA and TS techniques combine different operational and organizational strategies based on robustness and computer models in order to obtain high-quality schedules. Computational results for several case studies are presented for these techniques. Within the GPS surveying and OR literature, this is the first attempt of its kind to have been carried out. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of the above heuristics for solving the GPS network logistics design problem. Their performance was investigated, evaluated and compared with networks with known optimal schedule with respect to schedule quality and the computational effort. The new concept of a sessions-interchange mechanism was developed and implemented. To assist in the evaluation, tests were carried out using two large and different types of networks observed in Malta and the Seychelles. For both networks, the developed SA and TS techniques yielded high-quality schedules than those actually observed. The main limitation with the SA method is the amount of computational time required. This is considerably improved by the use of the sequential sessions structure. The use of a new cooling optimization scheme is developed and implemented to remedy the most time consuming part of process, but the design of a network still needs higher computation times. It is concluded that the SA approach of finding the cheapest schedule for large networks is time consuming. The superiority of TS has been proven both with respect to the GPS schedule quality and computational effort on large GPS networks. For the GPS surveyor, it has been shown that the techniques developed can reduce significantly the cost of carrying out a GPS survey. As these techniques have both theoretical and practical interest, not only the best results have been reported, but some variants of these techniques have been proposed. This provides a strong motivation and fertile opportunity for innovation in adapting heuristics for solving other practical surveying optimization problems where feasibility and good solutions are difficult to obtain.

Background: Morphological changes of Human Immunodeficiency Virus lipodystrophy syndrome (HIV LDS) are said to be the new face of HIV / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) which may negatively influence the adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). Methods of assessing HIV LDS vary among researchers and practitioners who make it difficult to compare incidence and prevalence figures among clinics in South Africa. Instruments available in other countries to assess HIV LDS are costly and time consuming for the clinical setup. A standard, objective and practical instrument is needed for the South African clinical setup to address this problem. Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to assess the agreement between methods routinely used to classify HIV LDS in the clinical setup (i.e. National Cholesterol Education Programme [NCEP] criteria, subjective self-reporting and routine anthropometry) to a published, objective case definition using diagnostic testing. The secondary objective was to develop and cross-validate a classification instrument for HIV LDS utilising parameters from the studied test methods. Design and sample: The study was a cross-sectional, analytical and non-experimental analysis of 1421 HIV positive adult patients (69% female) enrolled on HAART. Of the 283 subjects who met the inclusion criteria, 253 consented to participate. Purposeful sampling was performed dividing the study population into a case (n=79) - and control (n=73) group according to a screening process. The dichotomous outcome (HIV LDS (+) or – Ө) of the tests – and reference method was statistically analysed by means of diagnostic testing. The new classification instrument was developed using logistic regression on all the variables and validated with a cross-validation technique. Setting: Outpatient clinic at Kalafong Hospital, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Results: Primary objective: The diagnostic properties (sensitivity, specificity, Kappa coefficient and p-value for McNemar’s test respectively) of the test methods were as follows: NCEP criteria: (45%, 83%, 0.29 and 0.54); subjective self-reporting (74%, 59%, 0.26 and 0.00); Kotler anthropometry (71%, 52%, 0.18 and 0.00); routine anthropometry (62%, 54%, 0.12 and 0.00); and Dong&Hendricks anthropometry: (10%, 88%, 0.00 and 0.00). Secondary objective: A new, simple classification instrument (with limited blood samples) had the following diagnostic properties: (sensitivity 81% [71% validated], specificity 79% [75% validated], Kappa 0.54 [0.41 validated], McNemar’s test of symmetry p=0.00, and the area under the receiver operating curve [AUC] was 0.88). A classification instrument without blood samples had a sensitivity of 69%, specificity of 67%, Kappa = 0.310, McNemar’s p= 0.00 and AUC= 0.75). Conclusion: In a resource limited setting the NCEP criteria appears to be the “best” among the methods tested for identifying HIV LDS. Two newly developed instruments showed even better diagnostic properties. Use of these might lead to an accurate, consistent detection of HIV LDS in the typical South African setting. However, practical implications to the individual and the health care system still need to be investigated further. The results can also be used in longitudinal studies. / Dissertation (MDietetics)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Human Nutrition / unrestricted

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have been compellingly counseled by church leaders that motherhood should be women’s greatest ambition, and as such that it should demand mothers’ full-time in the home; at the same time they have been taught to get all of the education that they can. Mothers with young families must decide if they should continue their educational pursuits, or spend their full-time in the home. This study sought to fill a gap in the literature and understand the lived experience of these women by researching how LDS mothers with young children experience the decision to achieve doctoral education given the counsel that women should spend their full-time in the home fulfilling their primary responsibility of mothering, while considering counsel that they should get all of the education that they can. A phenomenological approach was selected to study seven LDS women’s experiences of deciding to achieve doctoral degrees as mothers of young children. As a theoretical perspective, Women’s Ways of Knowing informed this study; the women seemed to occupy a constructed knowing position as they participated in making meaning from church directives concerning their lives. The women appeared to express that spiritual promptings and deep personal desire were most influential in their decisions. Encouragement from family was also emphasized. The women faced challenges of balancing multiple roles while meeting church and family members’ expectations concerning their perceived responsibilities. The women expressed that their greatest benefit from achieving their degree was the influence doing so had on their children.

This qualitative study investigated the religious motivation of college-age LDS young single adults. In particular, this study sought to answer the following question: “What are the contexts and social factors that influence religious motivation of collegeage LDS young adults to study religious texts?” To examine this question, a phenomenological approach was used to explore what participants had in common with feeling motivated to read religious texts. The primary sources of data came from one-on-one interviews that describe the personal experiences and perspectives of 10 college-age LDS young single adults. Sociocultural theory guided the analysis and interpretation of data and findings. Findings indicated the following: (a) regardless of the context, it appeared that involvement in discussions about the scriptures increased the likelihood of an individual feeling motivated to read, (b) even when other contexts included elements that encouraged scripture reading, it appeared that friends strongly influenced whether or not individuals felt motivated to read scriptures, (c) it appeared that environments of expectation influenced motivation to read, and (d) it appeared that individuals who spent time marking and writing in their scriptures felt motivated to read. Based on these findings, it is recommended that further research be done to explore the following: (a) What types of discussions influence motivation to read religious texts? (b) What other religious practices are influenced by friends? (c) How should expectations be communicated and maintained? (d) Is there a difference in motivation between marking (coloring) things in the scriptures and writing (journaling) in the scriptures? It is also important to examine these findings to see if they hold true within other religious contexts and denominations.

A charismatically created organization works to tear down the routine and the norm of everyday society, replacing them with new institutions. Max Weber has stated that a charismatic organization can only exist in the creation stage, after which it will either collapse under the weight of the changes it has made, or begin a move towards the routine, making it as well-established and routinized as the society it sought to replace. The changes to the seniority of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints demonstrate the movement of the church from charismatic to routinized leadership. They also show how the charismatic attributes of the first leader of the church were institutionalized in the office of President of the Church. The first change occurred in 1861, reversing the seniority of John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. The second change occurred in 1875, making Taylor and Woodruff senior to two original members of the Quorum of the Twelve, Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt. The final change occurred in 1900, making Joseph F. Smith senior to Brigham Young, Jr. The few scholars who have addressed these changes tend to focus on either the official explanations or personal relationships and motives of those involved. This thesis moves beyond these to explore the broader institutional motives. It also discusses the effects of changing the rules determining who would succeed to the presidency of the church. The 1861 and 1900 changes have not been examined in any substantial way before. All three changes affected who became president of the church, thus changing the direction of the church. More than satisfying personal vendettas or righting obvious problems in the rules of seniority, the three changes highlight difficult choices church leaders made that moved The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from a charismatically led organization to a highly routinized bureaucracy.

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Missionaries serving in foreign countries provide a unique perspective on culture that they chronicle on public blogs. A content analysis of these blogs showed that missionaries use their own cultural and religious frame to make observations, some good and some bad, about cultural habits and beliefs foreign to their own. Through the medium of blogging, we see how missionaries use self-narratives to understand and make sense out of differences in culture and beliefs that ultimately impact how they identify themselves.

Researchers in this study set out to explore the young single adult male experience of being "older" in the LDS church where marriage by the age of 25 is emphasized. Guided by the Life Course Perspective, a qualitative study was designed that surveyed 43 single men in the greater Washington DC area between the ages of 25-31. The survey was administered electronically and consisted of 20 demographic and open-ended questions. Questions were geared towards understanding how LDS men make sense of their experience of being older and single in the Church as well as the influence their social groups have on their experience. Thematic analysis of participant responses revealed two major themes: "It just hasn't worked out yet," and "I'm failing." Further findings suggest themes of not fitting in, the clock is ticking, the women's role, and wanting to get married for the right reasons. Additional sub-themes are addressed as well as their clinical implications and suggestions for further research. / Master of Science

This dissertation studies a small American religious group that survived unscathed during the Third Reich. Some fifteen thousand members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, lived under National Socialism. Unlike persecuted Jews and Jehovah's Witnesses, and other small American-based sects that suffered severe restrictions, the Mormons worshiped freely under Hitler's regime. They survived by stressing congruence between church doctrine and Nazi dogma. Mormons emphasized their interest in genealogical research and sports, sent their husbands into the Wehrmacht and their sons into the Hitler Youth, and prayed for a Nazi victory in wartime. Mormon leaders purged all Jewish references from hymnals, lesson plans and liturgical practices, and shunned their few Jewish converts. They resurrected a doctrinal edict that required deference to civil authority, which the Mormons had not always obeyed. Some Mormons imagined fanciful connections with Nazism, to the point that a few believed Hitler admired their church, copied its welfare program, and organized the Nazi party along Mormon lines. This dissertation builds upon Christine Elizabeth King's theory of a common Weltanschauung between Mormons and Nazis, and Steven Carter's description of the Mormons' "accommodation" with National Socialism. Instead of a passive approach, however, the Mormons pursued aggressive and shameless "ingratiation" with the Nazi state. This work also examines memory. Mormons later tried to forget their pandering to the Nazis, especially when large numbers of Germans immigrated to Utah in the post-war period. When the story of a martyred Mormon resister, Helmuth Hubener, emerged in the 1970s, church officials interfered with the research of scholars at Brigham Young University. They feared that Hubener's example would incite Mormon youth to rebel against dictators abroad, hurt the church's relations with communist East Germany, and would offend recent German Mormon immigrants in Utah. A few Mormons shunned and harassed Hubener's surviving coconspirators. In recent years, Hubener?excommunicated for rebellion against the Nazis but later restored to full church membership?has been rehabilitated as a recognized hero of Mormonism. A new collective memory has been forged, one of wartime courage and suffering, while the inconvenient past is being conveniently discarded.

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Ten Commandments are very much in effect today. The fourth commandment, to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, is heavily emphasized within church doctrine and culture (Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12). This command to set apart the Sabbath is observed on Sundays for the LDS Church as well as the majority of the Christian world, rather than the traditional Saturday. Though the Ten Commandments collectively have both individual and societal implications, the spiritual outcome from following them is indeed an introspective pursuit. This thesis seeks to address how members of the Church seek to keep the Sabbath day holy in a profession that is heavily involved in Sunday work. With the universality of sports among Latter-day Saints, and large numbers of youth hoping to play sports professionally, this study is timely because it seeks to elucidate the effects that playing professional sports, particularly in the NFL, have on church activity. Chapter One details the history of the Sabbath from the Old Testament to the present day. It then discusses the doctrine of the Sabbath as taught by the LDS Church. It also discusses what the highest officers in the church, the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other auxiliary leaders have said about sports and Sunday play. It finishes off with a description of the research methodology and the interview process for thirty Latter-day Saints who played in the NFL. Chapter Two introduces the data and some of the main findings regarding Sabbath day worship in the NFL; it highlights the sacrament, church attendance, and other personal religious habits for these athletes. Chapter Three continues the discussion of the data and more particularly addresses some of the challenges more pertinent to LDS NFL players. It was apparent after the interview process that these participants found it challenging to be in an atmosphere so incompatible to their personal beliefs, including religious criticism from teammates, harsh language, lewdness in and out of the locker room, and many other difficult circumstances. Marriage is addressed and how it was a major factor for these players. It also includes quantitative information about the athletes' backgrounds and faith experiences leading up to their careers in the NFL. Chapter Four summarizes the thesis and draws conclusions upon the data. It also recommends areas for further research. In the Appendix, redacted interviews of all thirty NFL players are included.