Distance education as delivery mode is currently attracting more and more learners globally who want to improve their skills and qualifications. This is necessitated by especially the limited components of existing contact universities, financial expenditure and working learners. The presenting of open distance learning by existing contact universities in South Africa is relatively unknown. Consequently the aim of this study is also to investigate a model for Open Distance Learning used at the NWU, an existing contact university. In order to achieve this aim, several other aims were set as well. The most important findings of these aims are subsequently summarized. Aim one was to determine how distance education, open distance learning and e-learning have been conceptualized in the literature. It emerges clearly from the literature that various barriers and challenges accompany the implementation and delivery of distance and open distance learning program. These barriers particularly concern matters such as academic, cultural and technical aspects like the student’s experience, the position of the lecturer regarding the program, the design of the program, the fact that development in technology is constantly kept in mind and kept up with, as well as problems with financial aspects. The second aim intended to compare open distance learning in developed and developing countries as far as contact classes and e-learning are concerned, in order to establish the best practices for a suitable management model. The open distance learning models of twelve universities were examined separately and compared to one another. From these comparisons the following components of open distance learning were indentified which would be applicable to both developing and developed countries: (i) the use of traditional paper-based study material; (ii) the use of various forms of technology; (iii) the use of e-learning, and (iv) voluntary supporting contact classes. From the literature it has been shown that, despite limited infrastructure, poverty, illiteracy and geographical isolation, e-learning and m-learning are increasingly implemented as delivery modes in open distance learning programmes in developing as well as developed countries. Aim three was to establish, from within the literature, the nature of management models with specific reference to the innovations within managing business models in the context of open distance learning. Firstly variables which play a role in new business models were considered. Secondly the levels according to which the innovation of new models should take place were investigated, and also how these could possibly be implemented within the NWU, as well as the principles applicable to the innovation and implementing of a new model from an existing mother company. Factors which could play a part in the plans to present distance learning programs were also considered, whether these would imply a new distance education unit or the continued presentation of such programs. The most important aspects to consider for such a management model are addressed in aim seven. Aim four investigated the effect of attendance or non-attendance of contact classes on the academic achievement of open distance learning students within selected Advanced \certificate in Education (ACE) programs. This aim referred to an empirical investigation which comprised five phases. A consecutively progressing research design was used, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods, known as the multi-mode design. Phases one to three address aim four. Spearman’s rank order correlations, one-way ANOVAs (t-tests) and two-way tables (Cramer’s effect sizes) were calculated in order to identify significant correlation (effect sizes) between variables. It was found that students who attended contact classes did not achieve significantly better during examinations than students who did not attend. The average module mark in the examination of students who did not attend contact classes was 49.5%. The average mark of students who attended three or more contact classes was 52.6%. Considering the examination results, the passing rate of students who attended contact classes was 89% as opposed to 82% for those who did not attend any contact classes. Upon comparing data of students attending vacation school and those who did not, it emerged that students who attended vacation school achieved an average module mark (for all modules) of 42.4% as opposed to 52.7% of those who did not attend any vacation school. Aim five considered the open distance learning student’s opinions on and experience of attending contact classes and not attending, within selected ACE programs. Questionnaires were distributed to a number of students who attended contact classes, and to some who did not attend. The following findings emerged: reasons why students do not attend contact classes are (i) distance from tuition centre; (ii) personal reasons such as family responsibilities or funerals; (iii) because classes are not presented by full-time NWU lecturers; (iv) medium of instruction, limited time and class sizes also seemed to pose problems. Aim six investigated the readiness of the open distance learning student for e-learning within selected ACE programs. Focus group interviews regarding this aim were conducted with three groups of students. The following was found: (i) the vast majority of students (62.1%) do not have computers at home; (ii) 80.4% indicated that that they could not access the Internet, and that (iii) cell phone communication seemed to be the solution, since 93.1% of students own cell phones. Aim seven investigated the opinions of management experts at the NWU concerning the components and practice of an ODL model at the NWU. In order to comply with this aim, an intensive literature study was done on open distance learning models internationally. In the second place an empirical investigation was conducted regarding attendance of contact classes and e-learning as teaching method for the teaching and learning component of an open distance learning model. Thirdly focus group interviews were conducted with senior management of the NWU regarding challenges, risks and components of an open distance learning model. According to the data obtained from these interviews, various matrix analyses were done, which could serve as basis for a management model in open distance learning. The matrix analyses identified the following eleven components as important for a management and practice model for open distance learning: (i) Teaching and learning pertaining to development and quality of study material, effective assessment, the required program designers, training of lecturers and facilitators for presenting open distance learning programs, and efficient quality evaluation. (ii) ITC for open distance learning refers to technological support for processes such as assessment, interactive presentation of lessons, using Internet, cell phone technology and the use of the web page. (iii) Support practice for management which involves matters such as the policy of administrative processes regarding registration, cooperation with consortiums, assessment of assignments and examinations, and dealing with administrative processes different from on-campus. (iv) Finances which refer to compiling annual budgets, remuneration of facilitators, determining the profitability of programs presented, as well as financing technological development. (v) Tuition centres: coordination between the university and tuition centres is crucial as far as contact classes, interactive presentations, group discussions as well as examinations are concerned. (vi) Short courses and projects, especially as far as continuing professional development is concerned, as well as the development of a preparatory college for prospective students and cooperation with private institutions. (vii) Quality processes which include compulsory evaluation of program content and of the effect of programs as evaluated by the private sector, identifying new programs and cooperation with other faculties. (viii) Marketing which can be done by the university itself or by a consortium of collaborators. (ix) A structure for open distance learning with its own, unique and particular structure according to need. Factors which may be significant are the number of students studying through open distance learning, the nature of the programs presented and cooperation between consortiums. (x) Hierarchical structure which in the first place requires effective management of an open distance unit, and secondly also that such unit functions in cooperation with and within existing structures. Especially executive authority and lines for reporting should be outlined clearly. (xi) Research must be done in collaboration with other faculties in order to acquire a particular distance education entity. Research regarding the management of, e.g. the effect of programs, contact class attendance, readiness for e-learning and technology at tuition centres, can also be conducted. The exigency for development of an o pen distance learning unit within the NWU, together with a management model for effective management and practice of distance programs, was the main theme of this study. This study has succeeded in suggesting a management model which could be utilized profitably in endeavoring to attain the strategic aim of presenting programs by means of distance education. It also addresses the national need in South Africa of access to tertiary education for more learners. / PhD (Education Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Les constructeurs automobiles sont tenus de respecter des minima sécuritaires vérifiés lors de crash-tests normalisés, d'où un nombre de scénarios de tests limité ne tenant pas compte des particularités individuelles. Ce mémoire propose d'évaluer le comportement humain réel en phase de pré-crash sur simulateur de conduite. L'expérimentation, intégrant un scénario d'accident difficilement évitable, a permis d'étudier le comportement de 76 conducteurs dont 40 sur simulateur dynamique. Pour ce groupe, 43 voies de mesures centrées sur le conducteur ont été intégrées au protocole. Parmi les résultats obtenus, on retiendra la possible détection précoce de l'accident, pour la moitié des conducteurs, sur la base de leur interaction avec le véhicule. Les manœuvres d’évitement amènent 25% des sujets à positionner l'avant-bras devant le volant au moment de l’impact. Cette situation peut compromettre l'efficacité des airbags, ce qui est vérifié sur banc statique, par le déploiement d'airbags face à un mannequin de type Hybrid III-50%. La projection du bras entraine un impact de 120g à la tête. De plus, l'intégration de membres supérieurs issus de SHPM montre que la situation provoque des fractures de l'avant-bras. Un modèle numérique a été conçu pour estimer les effets de la position atypique lors d'un crash frontal à 50km/h. L'accélération de la tête atteint 270g, synonyme de risques lésionnels élevés. Enfin, une modification technologique des airbags est proposée, basée sur l'hypothèse que la détection à distance peut permettre un déclenchement anticipé et plus lent des airbags. Testée expérimentalement et numériquement, cette évolution permet de respecter les critères lésionnels. / Automakers are lawfully required to achieve a minimum level of security which is checked during standardized crash tests. This results in a limited number of scenarios, which do not take individual specificities into account. This dissertation evaluates real human behaviour during the pre-crash phase, by means of a driving simulator. The experiment, integrating an unavoidable accident, studied the behaviour of 76 drivers, of which 40 drivers on a dynamic simulator. Concerning this group, 43 acquisition channels dedicated to drivers were added. From the results, one can retain that the crash can be predicted for half of the drivers through the observation of their behaviour and their interaction with the car. Due to swerving manoeuvres, 25% of the drivers have their forearm just in front of the steering wheel at the time of crash. This situation may compromise the efficiency of the airbags, that is verified experimentally on a static bench, by the deployment of airbags in front of a Hybrid III-50% dummy. The throwing of the arm causes an impact of 120 g to the head. In a second stage, the integration of left upper limbs from PMHS reveals that the situation is likely to generate fractures in the forearm. A numerical model has been designed to estimate the consequences of the atypical position during a frontal crash at 50km/h. The head acceleration reaches 270 g, synonymous with high lesion risks. Finally, a technological modification of the airbags is proposed to reduce this risk. The assumption is made that the use of remote sensors technologies can allow an early detection of the crash and therefore slower triggering of airbags. Tested experimentally and then numerically, this technical evolution reduces the violence of the impact to respect the injury criteria.

Embedded real-time applications have to allow interaction between the control computer and the controlled environment. Controlling the environment requires in particular to take into account its time constraints and critical logical conditions. One of the main programmer efforts in real-time application's development is to trace the incoming events, and to perform reactions based on the current system status, according to the application requirements. All this have to be handled, although external events may come in the middle of a critical reaction, which may disturb it. This problem involves two difficulties: „X The cognitive efforts to percept the problem, and consequently to express the solution. „X The correct translation of this solution to code. Two requirements were defined in this research in order to achieve high-quality performance: clearness and robustness, clearness in the design, and robustness in the execution. In this work the author proposes a methodology and a tool for real-time application's development that uses or implies an innovated form of design based on natural-cognitive researches. This design method has clear compilation's rules to produce an Object-Oriented light-code, suitable for embedded platforms. These compilation's rules introduce to the code implicit security and synchronization's elements, to support robust execution. In this methodology, clear development phases were defined, using a high-degree of reuse and even polymorphism, which were emphasized in the research. Several existing ideas were improved/adapted and synthesized together with the author's innovation, creating the Arts'Codes method for real-time application development. The work includes cognitive evaluations, assuring the natural skills of the design. Arts'Codes method proposes a natural VPL (Visual Programming Language) for real-time applications, based on hierarchic components. This VPL is built on a minimum of diagrams: one for the static architecture and one for the dynamic behaviour, with a similar restricted notation at all levels. These two diagrams (static architecture and dynamic behaviour) are interleaved in a unified view. This method was implemented by building a suitable graphic editor, which automatically compiles the applications diagrams in a light and robust Object-Oriented code (based on Parallel Automata FSM), and by building an execution compact software platform. Furthermore, the parallel automata FSM are translated automatically in PTL temporal formula defining the goals and the behaviours of the components, permitting to prove a-priory that the components behaviours are consistent to their goals. The execution platform is based on a restricted implementation of the synchrony hypothesis and on a powerful model of execution: the parallel automata FSM. These Parallel Automata describe the dynamic behaviours of the components and allows implementing run-time exceptions handling too. In addition, the research proposes a tri-processor execution hardware platform, which supports a hybrid synchronous/multi-threading execution. This method will contribute to versatile, clear and robust real-time application's development.

Šiame magistro baigiamajame darbe lyginamos objektinių ir reliacinių duomenų bazių taikymo galimybės objektiškai orientuoto programavimo kontekste. Duomenų bazių ir objektiškai orientuoto programavimo naudojimas iškelia dvi pagrindines problemas. Pirma problema yra reliacinių duomenų bazių ir objektiškai orientuotų programavimo kalbų nesuderinamumas. Antra – duomenų bazių naudojimas judriųjų programų sistemų kūrimo metodikų aplinkoje. Norint palyginti reliacinių ir objektinių duomenų bazių taikymo galimybes buvo nuspręsta sudaryti metodų ir įrankių, skirtų iškeltoms problemoms spręsti, vertinimo modelį. Kadangi iškeltos problemos buvo per stambios vertinimo modelio sudarymui, jos buvo detalizuotos. Vertinami įrankiai ir metodai buvo suskirstyti į keturias kategorijas pagal prigimtį. Iš kiekvienos grupės buvo vertinamas vienas įrankis ar metodas. Darbo pabaigoje visi gauti rezultatai agreguoti ir pateiktos objektinių ir reliacinių duomenų bazių taikymo rekomendacijos, išskirti privalumai ir trūkumai. Beveik pagal visus vertinimo kriterijus objektinės duomenų bazės įvertintos maksimaliais balais. Tačiau iš vertinimo rezultatų paaiškėjo, kad ir jos turi tam tikrų taikymo apribojimų - tokių kaip lėtas duomenų išrinkimas esant dideliam transakcijų skaičiui. Automatinio atvaizdavimo įrankiai prastai tinka projektams, naudojantiems judriąsias programų sistemų kūrimo metodikas, ir sunkiai pritaikomi sudėtingoms hierarchinėms struktūroms atvaizduoti. Reliacinių koncepcijų integravimas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This MA paper aims at object and relational databases application comparison in the context of object oriented programming. Joint usage of databases and object oriented programming raises two problems relevant today. First problem is impedance mismatch of relational databases and object oriented programming languages. Second – database usage in agile software development process environment. In order to define application area of object and relational databases it was decided to compose assessment model to compare solutions available today. Since chosen problems were too bulky they were detailed. The evaluated methods and tools were categorized into four groups by their nature. One tool or method from each group was evaluated. In the end of this MA paper all results were aggregated into object and relational databases usage guidelines and databases usage pros and cons. Object databases got the best evaluations in almost all defined criteria. However, evaluation also showed that object databases have some restrictions in application, such as bad performance when using multiple transactions. Object-relational mappers are not suitable for storing complex hierarchical class structures and usage with agile software development processes. Relational concepts integration into intermediate objects can be used only for very simple object schemes. Linq, evaluated in relational concepts integration with object oriented programming languages category, is still in development, but in... [to full text]

Contact is a phenomenon faced in every day life, which is actually a complex problem to tackle for engineers. Most of the times, may be impossible to get analytic or exact results for the interaction of bodies in contact. In this thesis work, solution of the frictionless contact of an elastic body, touching to a rigid planar surface for two-dimensional elasticity / namely plane stress, plane strain and axi-symmetric formulations is aimed. The problem is solved numerically, with Finite Element Method, and an Object Oriented computer program in C++ for this purpose is written, and the results are verified with some basic analytic solutions and ABAQUS package program. It is not aimed in this thesis work to give a new solution in the area of solution of contact problems, but instead, it is aimed to form a strong basis, and computational library, which is extendible for further development of the subject to include friction, plasticity, and different material modeling in this advanced field of mechanics.

The goal of my thesis was to develop an application in the selected object environment as firmware for single-chip computer. I created prototype of monitoring unit for greenhouses, with two controlled outputs, that would be accessible over the local network. Prototype was based on Arduino platform and from freely available components. Theoretical part of thesis describes the Arduino platform, Wiring language and environment and other used programing languages and communication standards. Practical part of thesis describes prototype of the monitoring unit with it's program code and client side web interface. At the end of thesis is the economic comparison of the developed prototype and existing equivalents on the market.

The thesis focuses on developing prototype of e-commerce platform. This platform will be used as a base for a full-fledged e-commerce solution of specific trader in the future. The thesis deals with the analysis of the current state, analysis of available solutions, description of selected technologies, including a description of how these technologies were specifically implemented in the project. The result of this thesis is a functional prototype of e-commerce platform.

The work deals with the implementation of the specific architecture to detect anomalies in the classroom or in commercial use. The system consists of three parts: Measurement module, mobile applications and server part. Transmission between the measuring module of the server and the evaluation is carried out simultaneously with the visuals on the mobile device. All system components are implemented with the minimum cost and maximum expandability. All the necessary computing power is concentrated in the server part because of usability with multiple simultaneously operating mobile clients. Emphasis is placed on the solution architecture and the possibility of using the system as a whole, or selected portions separately. Finally, experiments are designed for the presentation of selected methods for anomaly detection.

Within the master’s thesis a design of the graphic module of database design for generate grawing documentation was worked out.

Wideband beamforming have been widely used in modern radar systems. One of the powerful wideband beamforming techniques that is capable of achieving a high selectivity over a wide bandwidth is the nested array (NA) beamformer. Such a beamformer consists of nested antenna arrays, 2-D spatio-temporal filters, and multirate filterbanks. Speed of operation is bounded by the speed of the hardware implementation. This dissertation presents the use of a systematic methodology for design space exploration of the NA beamformer basic building blocks. The efficient systolic array design in terms of the highest possible clock speed of each block was selected for hardware implementation. The proposed systolic array designs and the conventional designs were implemented in FPGA hardware to verify their functionality and compare their erformance. The implementations results confirm that the proposed systolic array implementations are faster and requires less hardware resources than the published designs. The overall beamformer FPGA implementation is constructed based on the analysis of efficient systolic arrays designs of the beamformer building blocks. The implemented overall structure is then validated to ensure its proper operation. Further, the implementation performance is evaluated in terms of accuracy and error analysis in comparison to the MATLAB simulations. The new methodology is based on the systematic methodology to close the gap between the modern wideband radar I/O rates and the silicon operating speed. This new metodology is applied to the interpolator block as an example. The proposed methodology is simulated and tested using MATLAB object oriented programming (OOP) to ensure the proper operation. / Graduate / 2020-11-17