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This research focuses on the development of spectroelectrochemical sensor formats based on thin film molecular architectures and electrochemical detection of sol-gel encapsulated macromolecular recognition elements. To achieve this goal, there were two major objectives: 1) to demonstrate and characterize conductive polymer grown electrochemically in porous sol-gel thin films with specific regard to the ability of the polymer to mediate charge transfer between sol-gel encapsulated molecules and the electrode surface, and 2) to develop a means to probe the spectroscopic properties of highly absorbent thin films as a function of applied potential. Toward the first objective, diffusion of a derivatized thiophene monomer into a sol-gel thin film and subsequent electropolymerization at an underlying indium-tin oxide (ITO) surface was found to produce a conductive network of polymer capable of mediating electron transfer from encapsulated redox centers in the bulk of the sol-gel film to the electrode surface. At high levels of polymer loading, emergent, sol-gel templated, polymeric structures are formed which extend from the sol-gel surface into the electrolyte solution and exhibit electrochemical properties of ultramicroelectrode arrays. To achieve the second objective, a polychromatic, electroactive attenuated total internal reflectance (EA-ATR) instrument was developed consisting of an indium-tin oxide (ITO) coated glass internal reflection element (IRE). In addition to a high degree of surface sensitivity relative to transmission geometries, this geometry affords acquisition of absorption anisotropy information, via polarization of the incident beam, to determine the orientation distribution in molecular adlayers. To demonstrate these abilities, the orientational distribution of monolayer and bilayer films of perylene and copper phthalocyanine derivatives, respectively, was determined. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the EA-ATR could be used in a potential-modulated mode (PM-ATR) to study the kinetics of electro-optical switching in conductive copolymer thin films.

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Recording a video sequence with a camera during movement often produces blurred results. This is mainly due to motion blur which is caused by rapid movement of objects in the scene or the camera during recording. By correcting for changes in the orientation of the camera, caused by e.g. uneven terrain, it is possible to minimize the motion blur and thus, produce a stabilized video. In order to do this, data gathered from a gyroscope and the camera itself can be used to measure the orientation of the camera. The raw data needs to be processed, synchronized and filtered to produce a robust estimate of the orientation. This estimate can then be used as input to some automatic control system in order to correct for changes in the orientation This thesis focuses on examining the possibility of such a stabilization. The actual stabilization is left for future work. An evaluation of the hardware as well as the implemented methods are done with emphasis on speed, which is crucial in real time computing. / En videosekvens som spelas in under rörelse blir suddig. Detta beror främst på rörelseoskärpa i bildrutorna orsakade av snabb rörelse av objekt i scenen eller av kameran själv. Genom att kompensera för ändringar i kamerans orientering, orsakade av t.ex. ojämn terräng, är det möjligt att minimera rörelseoskärpan och på så sätt stabilisera videon. För att åstadkomma detta används data från ett gyroskop och kameran i sig för att skatta kamerans orientering. Den insamlade datan behandlas, synkroniseras och filtreras för att få en robust skattning av orienteringen. Denna orientering kan sedan användas som insignal till ett reglersystem för att kompensera för ändringar i kamerans orientering. Denna avhandling undersöker möjligheten för en sådan stabilisering. Den faktiska stabiliseringen lämnas till framtida arbete. Hårdvaran och de implementerade metoderna utvärderas med fokus på beräkningshastighet, som är kritiskt inom realtidssystem.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) contributes to performance with an outlook on business growth as well as business development and improvement. It is predicted that the failure rate of small, medium and micro enterprises in South Africa is between 70% and 80%. Millions of rands are being lost on new venture creations because of mistakes and problems that could have been avoided. The survival rate of SMME‟s in South Africa is relatively low indicating that less than half of newly established businesses survive beyond five years. There are a number of similar undesired events surrounding entrepreneurs. These events called for a study on entrepreneurial orientation with the aim to improve on the current situation. The South African government Gazette (2009) indicates that small and medium-sized enterprises contribute positively to the South African GDP and it is essential to help these businesses to grow and to develop. The primary objective of this study is to investigate entrepreneurial orientation in small and medium-sized businesses in South Africa and to assess the awareness and application of the five EO-dimensions, in order to ultimately promote entrepreneurial orientation in the entrepreneurial environment so that businesses can be successful and sustainable. The field of study is entrepreneurship with reference to the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on business managers and entrepreneurs, managing and creating South African SMME‟s. The private sector with specifically regard to micro, small and medium sized-enterprises in South Africa is under investigation. The study was carried out on selected product and service suppliers in the region of the North-West and the Gauteng provinces. Only businesses older than one year was considered during the research process due to the fact that most businesses that have not yet reached the first year is still under establishment. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

There is consensus among entrepreneurship scholars regarding the importance of entrepreneurship toward the economies of countries. There is sufficient evidence to support the view that entrepreneurs are characterised by unique characteristics. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation have been widely studied and entrepreneurial orientation is considered instrumental for motivating individuals to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Previous research has also identified a correlation between entrepreneurial orientation and the performance of a firm. Many studies on the subject of entrepreneurial orientation have revealed that entrepreneurial orientation is multi-dimensional, for example, previous studies have identified autonomy, innovation, risk taking, competitive aggressiveness and pro-activeness as some of the factors that may influence entrepreneurial orientation. Given the importance of entrepreneurship with regard to job creation, the study attempted to identify the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students. South Africa is experiencing high unemployment levels among the youth and the need to identify the entrepreneurial perceptions of the youth is significant as future entrepreneurs will come from this cohort. The findings of this research study may assist different stakeholders such as government, businesses and higher education institutions among others to take appropriate actions to address the problem of unemployment and create a favourable environment where persons may engage in entrepreneurial activities. The purpose of this research study was to determine the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students in the Vaal Triangle area. Autonomy, innovation and risk taking were identified as factors that may possibly influence the entrepreneurial orientation of Generation Y students in this area. The findings in this research study indicate that students regard themselves as being autonomous, innovative and risk takers. No significant differences were found with regard to the entrepreneurial orientation of males and females. In comparing different designated groups in terms of the three constructs, significant differences were noted among certain items, for example, Coloureds and Indians tend to perceive themselves as more innovative compared to other groups. However, further research is needed because there is no sufficient evidence to suggest that one group is more entrepreneurial than the other. The findings in this research study revealed that Generation Y students perceive themselves as being autonomous, innovative and risk takers. This is encouraging because entrepreneurial activities, to a large extent, are known to be influenced by entrepreneurial orientation. It is evident that the youth can be encouraged to be job creators instead of job seekers. / Thesis (MCom (Entrepreneurship))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012.

Teachers are often in contact with children whose family members are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, or children themselves who are affected or infected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Often, it is teachers themselves who are suffering due to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. School training and tertiary training are one of the most important components, which need a lot of attention in a developing country. Teachers play a very important role in developing the youth’s thoughts. School training is often negatively impacted due to absenteeism of teachers, negative attitudes of teachers and the time wasted to replace teachers who are negatively impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic or who take medical discharge. Teachers often don’t know how to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and they are also unaware of resources available in this regard. The REds-programme is a support programme designed for teachers who are affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The aim of the REds-programme is to provide teachers with support so that they will be able to handle the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The focus is specifically on teachers, as they don’t live or work in isolation. Teachers form part of communities and school units whom are directly impacted by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The REds-programme was vi implemented in 2004. This programme is thus running, tested and still in the process of testing, for the past six years. Article 1 consists of the following: The nature and content of the REds-programme. The group work process, as well as a discussion of each group work session. Article 2 consists of the following: An evaluation of the REds-programme by means of the qualitative and quantitative results obtained. From the results, it is clear that the REds-programme is a very effective programme from which life orientation teachers can benefit. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Trying to ‘learn’ the spatial layout of an environment is a common problem in certain application domains, such as military and emergency personnel training. Until recently this training was accomplished solely by providing maps and briefings of an environment. These methods, however, only provide topological (survey) knowledge of the environment, which pays little attention to the details of routes and landmarks that can only be acquired through the acquisition of procedural knowledge via navigation. Unlike previous experiments concerning spatial knowledge acquisition this work does not attempt to determine whether spatial knowledge acquisition is feasible. Such investigations have yielded a variety of results, yet all agree that spatial knowledge acquisition from a virtual environment is feasible if given enough exposure time. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis is to contribute towards a better understanding of how various individual differences and environmental factors impact the exposure time requirements needed for a person to acquire spatial knowledge from a virtual environment. Although the results of our investigation should be used with caution, we show that a one-size-fits-all situation is not possible when estimating the required exposure time that a user needs to acquire spatial knowledge. Moreover we provide a guide that allows a trainer to predict the required exposure time a person will require, by using the person's personal profile, and the environment's particular factors. In addition, we found that one of the tests we used during our investigation caused unnecessary frustration and confusion to our participants. This test is a standard way of finding a participant's orientation skill, and is commonly used in the area of spatial knowledge acquisition. Therefore, by recreating a new electronic version of the test and comparing the scores from both the new test and the old one our investigation showed that the scores on the new test were significantly higher for all participants. The training time was also lowered significantly. Our updated electronic version will be useful in future research. This test is available online at: www.newgztest.com.

For human and animal vision, the perception of local visual features can depend on the spatial arrangement of the surrounding visual stimuli. In the earliest stages of visual processing this phenomenon is called surround modulation, where the response of visually selective neurons is influenced by the response of neighboring neurons. Surround modulation has been implicated in numerous important perceptual phenomena, such as contour integration and figure-ground segregation. In cats, one of the major potential neural substrates for surround modulation are lateral connections between cortical neurons in layer 2/3, which typically contains ”complex” cells that appear to combine responses from ”simple” cells in layer 4C. Interestingly, these lateral connections have also been implicated in the development of functional maps in primary visual cortex, such as smooth, well-organized maps for the preference of oriented lines. Together, this evidence suggests a common underlying substrate the lateral interactions in layer 2/3—as the driving force behind development of orientation maps for both simple and complex cells, and at the same time expression of surround modulation in adult animals. However, previously these phenomena have been studied largely in isolation, and we are not aware of a computational model that can account for all of them simultaneously and show how they are related. In this thesis we resolve this problem by building a single, unified computational model that can explain the development of orientation maps, the development of simple and complex cells, and surround modulation. First we build a simple, single-layer model of orientation map development based on ALISSOM, which has more realistic single cell properties (such as contrast gain control and contrast invariant orientation tuning) than its predecessor. Then we extend this model by adding layer 2/3, and show how the model can explain development of orientation maps of both simple and complex cells. As the last step towards a developmental model of surround modulation, we replace Mexican-hat-like lateral connectivity in layer 2/3 of the model with a more realistic configuration based on long-range excitation and short-range inhibitory cells, extending a simpler model by Judith Law. The resulting unified model of V1 explains how orientation maps of simple and complex cells can develop, while individual neurons in the developed model express realistic orientation tuning and various surround modulation properties. In doing so, we not only offer a consistent explanation behind all these phenomena, but also create a very rich model of V1 in which the interactions between various V1 properties can be studied. The model allows us to formulate several novel predictions that relate the variation of single cell properties to their location in the orientation preference maps in V1, and we show how these predictions can be tested experimentally. Overall, this model represents a synthesis of a wide body of experimental evidence, forming a compact hypothesis for much of the development and behavior of neurons in the visual cortex.