Title: Effect of the range of the shoulder joint rotation in volleyball players on the development of functional changes. Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to confirm the presence of the glenohumeral internal rotation deficit in beach volleyball players and to determine whether it affects the development of functional changes of the shoulder joint located in the dominant upper limb. Methods: The thesis was a quantitative study with the character of an experiment. There were 60 active volleyball players aged 18-30 years who were deliberately selected for the purposes of the study. The essence was to ascertain whether GIRD affects the pain in the shoulder joint of volleyball players and whether it was deemed positive for all participants of the study. In order to examine the range of motion, the goniometer in the external and internal rotation according to Janda and Pavla, Janda and Sachse was used, as well as hypermobility tests and a shoulder joint pain questionnaire. The statistical data processing was performed by Microsoft Excel 2010. The sum and average functions were used. Subsequently, graphs and tables were created from the results Results: The established hypotheses were confirmed in two cases. GIRD is determined positive for beach volleyball players. From the results of hypermobility...

Author: Bc. Jan Vocásek Thesis title: Analysis of the shoulder girdle injury and therapy of overhead athletes in Czech republic Cíl: The aim of the thesis was to create a literal research for the shoulder girdle injuries of overhead athletes, theoretically to write the anatomical and kinesiological characteristics of the shoulder girdle, to analyze the biomechanics, injury mechanisms in individual overhead sports, rehabilitation treatment and to find out how frequent the injuries of athletes in the Czech Republic follow-up treatment varies from abroad. Methods: For the purpose of this research was established a non-standardized questionnaire, based on literature studied and research questions, and then was distributed to 6 selected physicians dealing with this issue in the Czech Republic, who anonymously filled out questions regarding the shoulder joint injury based on their own clinical experiences. Results: Four of the six hypotheses were confirmed from the data obtained. The number of patients with shoulder girdle injuries in overhead sports in the Czech Republic has risen year- on-year and the most common injury is SLAP lesion. It has also been confirmed that the most common injury is caused by ball overhead sports and on the dominant upper limb. Key words: shoulder girdle, overhead sports,...

Edge cloud is a distributed computing architecture that is growing in popularity. It aims to bring the cloud closer to the edge of a network, reducing latency and improving performance through the use of distributed servers (edge nodes) spread out geographically. However, in the case of sudden increases in user requests, a node may run short of resources and need to implement a strategy that allows the node's service to degrade its service quality to a level that requires fewer resources so that the service can still be delivered. One such strategy is brownout, a control theory-based algorithm that dynamically controls the node's service quality in order to meet e.g., a latency goal. This thesis explores the use of brownout, previously used in combination with load balancing in the cloud, in conjunction with load balancing in an edge-cloud environment. In this thesis, four load-balancing strategies are evaluated in a Kubernetes-based edge-cloud environment, along with an application that implements the brownout feature. Two of the strategies are originally designed to be used with brownout but made for the regular cloud, one is a recently introduced strategy that performs well in the edge cloud but is brownout unaware, and the last is a random load balancer used as a baseline (also brownout unaware). The goal of the evaluation is to determine the efficiency of these strategies in different edge-cloud scenarios, with regard to service quality-weighted throughput, average latency, adherence to a set latency goal, and outsourcing (requests load balanced to another edge node). The results show that the first two strategies perform worse than the random load balancer in many regards. Their performance is also less predictable and tends to get worse with increasing network delays. The edge cloud strategy, however, shows an improvement in performance when the brownout is introduced in the majority of the test scenarios.  Furthermore, the thesis introduced three possible modifications to make one of the cloud-based strategies perform better in the edge cloud. These modifications were tested in the same environment as the other load-balancing strategies and compared against each other. The first modification consisted of making the load-balancing logic treat its own node differently from other edge nodes.  The second version was devised to only outsource when a certain resource threshold is exceeded and the last version was designed to prioritize its own node when below a certain resource threshold. The last version improved on the others and performed better than the base version in all measured metrics. Compared to the edge cloud strategy with brownout, it performed better with regard to service quality-weighted throughput but was outperformed in all other metrics.

External post-tensioning is an attractive technique for strengthening reinforced concrete structures because of its ability to actively control stresses and deflections, speed of installation, minimum interruption for the existing structure, and ease of inspection under service conditions. However, external prestressing implies exposing the tendons to the environment outside the concrete section, which may lead to corrosion in steel tendons. Therefore, the interest in using fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) tendons, which are corrosion resistant, has increased. The present work investigated, experimentally and analytically, the flexural performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with externally post-tensioned Carbon FRP (CFRP) tendons, under monotonic and fatigue loadings. Initially, tensile fatigue tests were carried out on CFRP tendon-anchor assemblies to assess their response under repeated cyclic loads, before implementing them in the beam tests. New wedge-type anchors (Waterloo anchors) were used in gripping the CFRP specimens. The assemblies exhibited excellent fatigue performance with no premature failure occurring at the anchorage zone. The fatigue tests suggested a fatigue limit of a stress range of 10% of the tendon ultimate capacity (approximately 216 MPa). Monotonic and fatigue experiments on twenty-eight beams (152x254x3500 mm) were then undertaken. Test parameters included the tendon profile (straight and double draped), the initial loading condition of the beam prior to post-tensioning (in-service and overloading), the partial prestressing ratio (0.36 and 0.46), and the load ranges applied to the beam during the fatigue life (39% to 76% of the yield load). The CFRP tendons were post-tensioned at 40% of their ultimate capacity. The monotonic tests of the post-tensioned beams suggested that overloading the beam prior to post-tensioning increased the beam deflections and the strains developed in the steel reinforcing bars at any stage of loading. However, overloading had no significant effect on the yield load of the strengthened beam and the mode of failure at ultimate. It also had no discernable effect on the increase in the tendon stress at yielding. The maximum increase in the CFRP stress at yield load was approximately 20% of the initial post-tensioning stress, for the in-service and overloaded beams. A very good performance of the strengthened beams was observed under fatigue loading. The fatigue life of the beams was mainly governed by the fatigue fracture of the internal steel reinforcing bars at a flexural crack location. Fracture of the bars occurred at the root of a rib where high stress concentration was likely to occur. No evidence of wear or stress concentration were observed at the deviated points of the CFRP tendons due to fatigue. The enhancement in the fatigue life of the strengthened beams was noticeable at all load ranges applied. Post-tensioning considerably decreased the stresses in the steel reinforcing bars and, consequently, increased the fatigue life of the beams. The increase in the fatigue life was slightly affected by the loading history of the beams. At the same load range applied to the beam, increasing the amount of the steel reinforcing bars for the same post-tensioning level decreased the stress range in the bars and significantly increased the fatigue life of the strengthened beams. In the analytical study, a monotonic model that predicts the non-linear flexural response of the CFRP post-tensioned beams was developed and implemented into a computer program. The model takes into account the loading history of the strengthened beams prior to post-tensioning (in-service and overloading). Good agreement was obtained between the measured and the predicted monotonic results. A strain-life based fatigue model was proposed to predict the fatigue life of the CFRP post-tensioned beams. The model takes into consideration the stress-strain history at the stress raisers in the steel bars. It accounts for the inelastic deformation occurring at the ribs during cycling and the resulting changes in the local mean stresses induced. Good agreement between the experimental and predicted fatigue results was observed. A step-by-step fatigue design approach is proposed for the CFRP externally post-tensioned beams. General conclusions of the study and recommendations of future work are given.

D. Tech. (Business, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / Organisational performance in the public sector has emerged as a critical topic in the post-1994 era in South Africa. This could ostensibly be attributed to the inability of the majority of most public organisations in the country to deliver a satisfactory standard of service to the public. An intense controversy has also emerged the world over on the selection of performance measures that are appropriate for use in public organisations. This debate is actuated by the existence of a multiplicity of performance measurement indices as well as frameworks that can be applied to manage performance in organisations. The existence of these multiple measurement mechanisms tends to confound the entire process of managing organisational performance. Another unresolved controversy focuses on the extent to which various organisational resources impact on organisational performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organisational performance and three organisational resources; specifically, the human factor, organisational systems and organisational processes. A quantitative design was adopted in which a survey questionnaire was administered to 272 managers and employees of a South African National Government Department. Respondents were selected using a blend of purposive sampling and convenience sampling approaches. Data were analysed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). Reliabilities were measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the human factors, organisational systems and organisational processes. Spearman’s correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between organisational performance and the sub-elements under each of the three organisational resources. The impacts of each of the three factors on organisational performance were compared using the mean-score ranking technique. Performance of the National Government Department was measured using the four performance yardsticks of the Balanced Scorecard; namely, customer satisfaction, financial performance, innovation and learning, and internal processes The findings of the study revealed that performance of the National Government Department was highest in four strategic areas; which are the promotion of good corporate ethics and values, client satisfaction, service quality and relations with external organisations. However, performance shortfalls were observed in four key areas; namely, organisational speed, attrition of manpower, overloading of employees and the overburdening of divisions with high workloads. Correlation analysis showed that there were positive relationships between organisational performance and the five human factor components; life satisfaction, quality of work life, ability utilisation, creativity and autonomy. Regression analysis indicated that there were significant and predictive relationships between organisational performance and three human factor elements; namely, quality of work life, ability utilisation and life satisfaction. Among the five human factor elements, life satisfaction exerted the greatest impact on organisational performance. Significant, positive and predictive associations were also found between organisational performance and three organisational system factors; quality, innovation and inter-organisational systems, with quality exerting the greatest impact on organisational performance. Significant, positive and predictive relationships were further observed between organisational performance and the four organisational process factors identified in the study; namely, organisational structure, organisational change, team processes and organisational change. Among these, team processes exerted the greatest influence on organisational performance. Overall, the human factor applied the greatest impact on organisational performance, followed by organisational processes with organisational systems having the least impact. Based on these findings, recommendations were made and implications for further studies were suggested. The findings of the study provide empirical confirmation of the effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool for the measurement and management of performance in public sector organisations. Additionally, managers in different public organisations may enhance the performance of their organisations by optimising the sub-elements of the three organisational resources examined in this study.