Dans l'entreprise, un certain nombre de risques sont mal cernés et non assurés. Ce sont par exemple les contrefaçons, les fraudes mais également les campagnes de désinformation qui peuvent déstabiliser durablement l'entreprise. On essayera dans la thèse de définir les manipulations : désinformation, propagande, rumeur, d'abord en référence à l'Histoire, puis en examinant un certain nombre d'exemples tirés des domaines militaires et diplomatiques. A partir du XIXème siècle, l'économie entre en jeu et les mêmes campagnes de désinformation touchent alors  l'entreprise. On examinera alors au travers de divers exemples puisés dans l'actualité récente les méthodes employées pour toucher un marché. A partir des cette analyse on tentera de mettre en place une méthode de prévention. Se tournant vers les cindyniques ou sciences du danger dont les modèles et hyperespace sont utilisés au quotidien dans l'industrie pour prévenir les accidents, on tentera de voir si ces concepts peuvent être utilisés dans une prévention des manipulations. / In the industry, a lot of risks are unknown or not insured. Among them are, for example, counterfeiting, fraud, but also manipulation of information, which can destabilize firms for a long time. In this work, we shall try to define what is disinformation, propaganda, rumor, first by looking at historical references, and then by analyzing examples taken from military and diplomatic fields. In the 19th century, as economy becomes a major factor, one starts seeing disinformation campaigns being launched against firms. We shall examine through recent examples different methods used to rig a market. Based on this analysis we shall attempt to find ways and means to prevent these types of dangers. Finally, we shall investigate how the models and hyperspace concepts of the new science of risks (or cindynics), frequently used by the industry to prevent accidents, can be used in the prevention of disinformation.

M.Tech. (Chiropractic) / The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of lower back pain in registered pharmacists in Johannesburg, in terms of workplace and individual factors, in order to establish under which circumstances workplace and individual factors could influence the prevalence of lower back pain in pharmacists. The sample population of registered pharmacists in Johannesburg (N=300) was selected from the register of pharmacists of Gauteng and a questionnaire was sent to the relevant pharmacists. A total of 92 questionnaires were returned and represented a 30,7% response rate. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding : The prevalences of previous and current lower back pain; the intensities and frequencies of previous and current lower back pain; the location of previous and current lower back pain; the radiation of pain occurring in the lower extremities during previous and current lower back pain; the weakness or numbness perceived in the lower extremities during previous and current lower back pain; the professionals consulted for previous and current lower back pain; the medication administered for previous and current lower back pain. The questions asked regarding individual factors included : age; gender; anthropometry; exercise and smoking; the workplace factors included : number of years in practice; number of hours and days worked per week; bending, twisting and lifting; static work postures and repetitive work. The results were statistically analysed using frequency distributions, cross-tabulations and the Kruskal-Wallis.Chi-squared approximation test. The results were represented by pie charts, frequency tables and cross-tabulations, and descriptively analysed. The overall prevalence of lower back pain in registered pharmacists in Johannesburg was 41,3%. Among other findings, the weight and build were found to be significantly associated with the respondents increased lower back pain. Other significant findings were that respondents who worked more days per week as well as those who had an increased frequency of reaching above shoulder height at work, had an increased incidence of lower back pain. It must be emphasised that great caution should be exercised in attempting to generalise the findings of this survey, 'since workplace and individual factors associated with the lower back pain were based on the respondent's subjective evaluations. This study was not designed to establish cause and effect relationships between individual and workplace factors, and prevalence of lower back pain among pharmacists.

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the effects of Diversified Manipulation versus Sacro-Occipital Technique in the management and treatment of Sacroiliac Syndrome. Method: This study consisted of two groups, a Diversified group consisting of 15 subjects with Sacroiliac Syndrome and a Sacro-Occipital Technique group consisting of 15 subjects with Sacroiliac Syndrome. The subjects were between the ages of 18 and 55 years. Potential candidates were examined and accepted based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Diversified group received Diversified Manipulative therapy to the sacroiliac joint, while the Sacro-Occipital group received SOT Category 2 blocking, from which the subjective and objective findings were based. Procedure: Each successful candidate was treated six times over a two-week period. Before the commencement of the treatment one, three and six, the candidate completed the Oswestry Back Pain and Disability Index questionnaire and the Numerical Pain Rating Scale. Digital Inclinometer readings were taken of the thoracolumbar and lumbosacral regions of the spine. Sacroiliac Manipulation was then administered to the Diversified group based on the restrictions obtained during motion palpation. Category 2 blocking was administered to the Sacro-Occipital Technique group based on the SOT Category 2 categorization test findings. The same treatment was administered at each of the six treatment sessions. Results: Objective statistically significant differences were noted on lateral flexion range of motion, in favour of the Sacro-Occipital Technique group. Subjective readings also showed statistically significant differences with regards to Oswestry Back Pain and Disability Index and Numerical Pain Rating Scale in favour of both the Diversified group and the Sacro-Occipital Technique group. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that both Sacro-Occipital Technique and Diversified have a positive effect on patients suffering from Sacroiliac Syndrome. However, Sacro-Occipital Technique proved to have a greater overall benefit compared to Diversified manipulation in the treatment and management of Sacroiliac Syndrome. It should be emphasized that the present study was a pilot study to determine the effects of Diversified manipulation versus Sacro-Occipital Technique in the management of Sacroiliac Syndrome. Accurate conclusions could not be formulated due to the remainder non-significant statistical findings obtained from the study; therefore further research needs to be conducted on this comparative study. / Dr. B. Losco Dr. C. D. Losco

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT) in the resolution of the persistent or chronic middle ear effusion that is associated with otitis media. This treatment was compared to the insertion of tympanostomy tubes with regards to parent perception and satisfaction. Methods: Thirty patients under the age of seven that were diagnosed as having persistent or chronic middle ear effusion were assigned to receive either tympanostomy tubes or chiropractic treatment according to parental choice. Results: After chiropractic treatment, an objective improvement in the middle ear status was noted by serial tympanography, demonstrating resolution of middle ear effusion. This was noted in 64.3% in the right ear, where a type B tympanogram improved to a type A or type C tympanogram, and in 58.3% in the left ear, where a type B improved to a type A or C tympanogram, or a type C improved to a type A tympanogram. After chiropractic treatment, subjective improvements were noted in the patient’s health, hearing, speech and language, behaviour and social skills, balance, gross and fine motor skills, otalgia and the amount of disturbed nights. Additional benefits from chiropractic treatment were noted in 93.3% of cases. Conclusions: The manner in which the middle ear effusion was resolved by chiropractic manipulation is by normalising the function of the eustachian tube. Eustachian tube dysfunction is a commonly reported aetiological factor in the development of otitis media with effusion, yet previously there was no treatment type to address this problem. Improvement of middle ear effusion occurred in 58.3-64.3% of cases, indicating that chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy could be a viable treatment option to correct the eustachian tube dysfunction. / Dr. Harold Humphries Dr. Chris Yelverton

M.Tech.

Redundant robotic systems, in terms of manipulators with one or twoarms, mobile manipulators, and multi-agent systems, have received an in-creasing amount of attention in recent years. In this thesis we describe severalways to improve robotic system performance by exploiting the redundancy. As the robot workspace becomes increasingly dynamic, it is common towork with imperfect geometric models of the robots or its workspace. Inorder to control the robot in a robust way in the presence of geometric uncer-tainties, we propose to assess the stability of our controller with respect to acertain task by deriving bounds on the geometric uncertainties. Preliminaryexperimental results support the fact that stability is ensured if the proposedbounds on the geometric uncertainties are fulfilled. As a non-contact measurement, computer vision could provide rich infor-mation for robot control. We introduce a two step method that transformsthe position-based visual servoing problem into a quadratic optimization prob-lem with linear constraints. This method is optimal in terms of minimizinggeodesic distance and allows us to integrate constraints, e.g. visibility con-straints, in a natural way. In the case of a single robot with redundant degrees of freedom, we canspecify a family of complex robotic tasks using constraint based programming(CBP). CBP allows us to represent robotic tasks with a set of equality andinequality constraints. Using these constraints we can formulate quadraticprogramming problems that exploit the redundancy of the robot and itera-tively resolve the trade-off between the different constraints. For example, wecould improve the velocity or force transmission ratios along a task-dependent direction using the priorities between different constraints in real time. Using the reactiveness of CBP, we formulated and implemented a dual-armpan cleaning task. If we mount a dual-arm robot on a mobile base, we proposeto use a virtual kinematic chain to specify the coordination between the mobilebase and two arms. Using the modularity of the CBP, we can integrate themobility and dual-arm manipulation by adding coordination constraints intoan optimization problem where dual-arm manipulation constraints are alreadyspecified. We also found that the reactiveness and modularity of the CBPapproach is important in the context of teleoperation. Inspired by the 3Ddesign community, we proposed a teleoperation interface control mode thatis identical to the ones being used to locally navigate the virtual viewpoint ofmost Computer Aided Design (CAD) softwares. In the case of multiple robots, we combine ideas from multi-agent coopera-tive coverage control, with problem formulations from the resource allocationfield, to create a distributed convergent approach to the resource positioningproblem. / <p>QC 20160224</p>

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Thesis (M.Ost.)--Unitec New Zealand, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-53).

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