M. Tech. (Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology. / In South Africa, the provision of equitable and accessible public transport is still in the early stage of development and growth. PRASA has adopted programmes that drive and promote the implementation and integration of a universal design that should meet the varying requirements of its customers. PRASA acknowledges that its facilities should be focused on the delivery of public service that acts as a catalyst and enabler within South Africa in overcoming differentiation in gender, race, income, opportunity and mobility. Facilities’ managers and especially rail managers, through facilities planning, should provide proactive service delivery to its stakeholders. In South Africa, the majority of train stations are not designed to cater for persons with special needs. Therefore, these facilities must comply with national imperatives; resulting in a need to design new facilities or redesign current train stations’ facilities so as to accommodate the diversity of human characteristics within the population, as a whole, in order to promote equal access to services and opportunities for persons with disabilities as expected in all spheres of government. This means that there are dynamic and heterogeneous elements that should be controlled in the commuter rail system design. The redesigning of some train stations had been undertaken and improvements achieved at some train stations e.g. Gautrain. The issue that arises is that there cannot be a one-to-one transfer of model to design another facilities. This is due to the constraints of space, monetary costs and information on customers or level of activeness in the facility. Companies don’t always have a lot of money at their disposal making money to become an issue. If there’s an abundance of space then one can design the train layout the way he/she wants. However this is not always the case and therefore, the available space has to be planned accordingly. Furthermore, one needs to know information on (the number of) their customers in order to plan and be able to meet their requirements. This project proposes the use of an improved flow-pattern measurement technique (i.e. integration of techniques), specifically improved From-To-Chart techniques, to assess the efficiency of the current layout while considering the constraints of variables expectations from customers and variable rewards for rendering services to different types of customers. An improved and effective layout was then proposed. The efficiency of the proposed new layout was compared with that of previous layout so as to ascertain on stakeholders’ confidence. Simulated Annealing was also used to compare different peak periods and their efficiencies so as to decide on the layout that is suitable for the commuter rail system under the different peak scenario. The Direct Clustering Algorithm was furthermore employed to try to group facilities that render similar services into cells so as to minimise movement or material handling. Results revealed that a flexible train station layout whose flow pattern can be regularly adjusted to minimize costs and to accommodate the ever-increasing expectations should be adopted. It is hoped that station managers who adopt such guides will improve on customer’s expectations.

В первой главе были рассмотрены концептуальные подходы к изучению адаптивной физической культуры и спорта. Автором были определены основные цели, задачи и принципы адаптивной физической культуры и спорта. Вторая глава посвящена проблеме развития адаптивной физической культуры посредством государственно-частного партнёрства. В ходе эмпирического исследования были выработаны актуальные сценарии решения проблем в развитии региональных и муниципальных программ адаптивной физической культуры и спорта. / In the first chapter, conceptual approaches to the study of adaptive physical culture and sports were considered. The author defined the main goals, objectives and principles of adaptive physical culture and sports. The second chapter is devoted to the problem of the development of adaptive physical culture through public-private partnership. During the empirical research, relevant scenarios for solving problems in the development of regional and municipal programs of adaptive physical culture and sports were developed.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 D34 / Master of Arts / Communication Studies

Identity can be considered to be socially constructed and developed through narratives about ourselves and our experiences. Having socially valued roles may thus facilitate a positive identity. This study aimed to explore how the experiences of service user involvement (SUI) in health and social care services (specifically, being involved in staff recruitment) influenced the narrative identities of people with learning disabilities. Interviews were conducted with seven people with learning disabilities who had been service user representatives on NHS interview panels. These were analysed using thematic narrative analysis as a framework. All described positive narrative identities, but the degree to which SUI featured in the construction of narrative identities varied. Whilst some found the experience transformative, for others it was not an important part of their narratives. The findings suggest that such experiences formed just one of many narratives that participants drew from to construct their narrative identity.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigated the association between functional status in fibromyalgia patients and helplessness, self-efficacy, social support and cognitive appraisal. Patients' assessments of their pain and global severity of illness (as rated on a visual analog scale) as well as a physician's rating of global severity, tended to correlate with helplessness and pain-related self-statements. Patients' perceived change in difficulty and satisfaction regarding activities of daily living (measured by means of the Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire) correlated negatively with self-efficacy beliefs and relationship strain, while patients' subjective assessment of their global improvement was related to self-efficacy. The objective rating by a physician of tender points correlated with catastrophizing self-statements and opportunity for confiding. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie is die verband tussen die funksionele status van pasiënte met fibromialgie en die belewing van hulpeloosheid, selfdoeltreffendheid, sosiale ondersteuning en bepaalde kognisies ondersoek. Pasiënte se beoordeling van hulle ervaring van pyn en die globale ems van hulle siekte (soos beoordeel met behulp van 'n visuele analoogskaal), asook die geneesheer se beoordeling van die ems van hulle siekte, het met hulpeloosheid en pynverwante kognisies gekorreleer. Hulle waarneming van die verandering in die uitvoerbaarheid van, en hulle tevredenheid met hulle daaglikse aktiwiteite (gemeet met die Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire) het negatief verband gehou met selfdoeltreffendheid en verhoudingstremmings, terwyl hulle globale beoordeling van die verbetering in hulle siekte met selfdoeltreffendheid gekorreleer het. Die objektiewe assessering deur 'n geneesheer van sensitiewe liggaamsareas het verband getoon met disfunksionele kognisies (katastrofering) en vertroue in ander.

Thesis (MScSportSc)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of a series of physical fitness tests for athletes with disabilities competing in sitting throwing events in athletics. All athletes competing in sitting throwing events during the South African National Championships April, 2001, were asked to take part in the research study. A total of 74 athletes in the classes F33, F34, F52, F53, F54, F55, F56, F57 and F58 took part in the research study. All the athletes completed the tests selected for their specific class. Their tests results and their performance in the events at the South African National Championships were correlated to determine the validity of the physical fitness tests. Results of the study revealed the following: ol' Certain physical fitness components are more important than others for achieving good results in the sitting throwing events. ol' Upper body power is the best predictor of performance in all the events and classes. ol' Technique is as important a factor in good performance as is fitness. ol' South African athletes' technique needs improvement. It can be concluded from this study that physical fitness, in particular upper body strength and power, plays a major role in performance of athletes with disabilities competing in sitting throwing events. Many of the athletes are currently top performers rely more on their physical fitness than on good technique to achieve success. If these athletes can combine physical fitness with good technique, much better performances will achieved and the world will need to take even more note of South Africa's athletes with disabilities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die geldigheid, van spesifieke fiksheidstoetse vir atlete met gestremdhede wat deelneem aan sittende velditems in atletiek, te bepaal. Al die atlete wat deelgeneem het aan sittende velditems tydens die Suid-Afrikaanse Atletiek Kampioenskappe vir persone met gestremdhede, is uitgenooi om deel te neem aan die navorsingsstudie. Altesaam 74 atlete van die klasse F33, F34, F52, F53, F54, F55, F56, F57 en F58 het deelgeneem aan die spesifieke fiksheidtoetsprotokol wat vir elke klas opgestel was. 'n Pearson korrelasie is getref tussen die toetsresultate en die prestasie van elke atleet in die verskillende items tydens die Suid- Afrikaanse kampioenskappe, om sodoende die geldigheid van elke fiksheidstoets te bepaal. Die volgende bevindinge is gemaak: ./ Seker fiksheidskomponente (in sittende velditems) is meer belangrik as ander vir deelnemers met gestremdhede . ./ Prestasie in sittende velditems van al die klassifikasie groepe kan die beste bepaal word deur plofkrag in die boonste ledemate . ./ Korrekte tegniek is net so belangrik vir prestasie as fisieke vermoë . ./ Suid-Afrikaanse atlete se tegniek kan beslis verbeter. 'n Gevolgtrekking kan gemaak word dat krag en plofkrag van die boonste ledemate, van atlete met gestremdhede wat deelneem aan sittende velditems, 'n belangrike fisieke komponent is vir prestasie. Baie atlete wat tans toppresteerders is, presteer nie noodwendig omdat hulle die beste tegniek het nie, maar weens hulle fisieke vermoëns. Indien daaarin geslaag word om die tegniek en fisieke vermoëns van sittende veldatlete te verbeter, sal nog meer Suid-Afrikaanse atlete internasionaal presteer.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines depictions of disability in selected African films, novels and memoirs. Central to the thesis is the concept of narrative enablement, which is discussed as a property that texts have for enabling the recognition of disability by the reader or viewer. In the thesis, I investigate the ways in which narrative enablement manifests in the texts. The motivation for the study comes from the recognition of several trends in current literary disability studies. Firstly, the study attempts to expand the theoretical base of current literary disability studies, which consists of ideas formed from a narrow epistemic archive. Similarly, the study also recognises that scholarship in the field mostly relies on a limited canon of texts, almost wholly drawn from the Western world. This study therefore allows a glimpse at an under-acknowledged archive of disability representation, which is then used to suggest the possibility of alternative ways of understanding disablement on the African continent and globally. The first chapter is meant as an entry point into some of the complex lives depicted in the thesis. In this chapter, I explore the intersection that the texts draw between disability and masculinity, illustrating the way this intersection evokes questions about how we understand the relationship between the two concepts. In the second chapter, I examine the way socio-political violence on the continent is represented as a cause of both disablement and disenablement. This chapter is an exploration of how disability is enmeshed with other social realities in people’s lives. The term disenablement is employed in order to capture the presentation of disablement amidst various forms of violent oppression. As it is portrayed in the majority of the texts studied in the thesis, disablement is a factor of social attitudes. My third chapter examines how these texts create dis/ability zones, areas where the reader/viewer witnesses the fluidity of socially constructed disablement in particular societies. As it is portrayed in the texts, and discussed in the thesis, this zone is a space where disabled characters encounter the ableist world. It is a space that allows the destabilization of entrenched notions about disability, and consequent recognition of disabled characters. The most explicit manifestation of narrative enablement occurs through creative intervention, which is the focus in the fourth chapter. In this chapter, I examine the role of various forms of creativity as they are enacted by the characters, arguing that they are manifestations of the characters making use of narrative enablement. In the texts, the disabled characters use unique modes of storytelling – not exclusively verbal – to narrate their story, but also to assert their belonging to particular familial, cultural, as well as national worlds. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek uitbeeldings van gestremdheid in geselekteerde films, romans en memoirs uit Afrika. Die konsep van narratiewe bemagtiging – ‘n konsep wat ondersoek word as ‘n kapasiteit van tekste wat die erkenning van gestremdheid bemoontlik vir die leser of kyker – staan sentraal in hierdie studie. In my tesis ondersoek ek die maniere waarop narratiewe bemagtiging in die tekste manifesteer. Die beweegrede vir hierdie studie kom uit die realisering van verskeie strominge in kontemporêre letterkundige gestremdheidstudies. In die eerste plek onderneem hierdie studie die taak om die teoretiese basis van huidige literêre gestremdheidstudies, wat bestaan uit idees wat op hul beurt uit ‘n enge epistemiese argief gevorm is, uit te brei. Op soortgelyke wyse erken die studie dat akademiese navorsing binne hierdie studieveld meestal berus op ‘n relatief klein kanon van tekste, feitlik geheel-en-al uit die Westerse wêreld. Hierdie studie bied dus ‘n kyk op ‘n onder-erkende argief van gestremdheidsvoorstellings, wat op sy beurt gebruik word om die moontlikheid van alternatiewe maniere waarop gestremdheid binne Afrika asook wêreldwyd begryp kan word, aan te toon. Die doel van die eerste hoofstuk is om ‘n intreepunt te skep waardeur sommige van die komplekse ervaringswêrelde wat in die tesis ondersoek word, betree kan word. In hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek ek die oorvleuelings tussen gestremdheid en manlikheid wat deur die tekste uitgebeeld word, om sodoende aan te toon dat hierdie oorvleueling vrae oproep in verband met hoe ons die verhouding tussen hierdie twee konsepte kan verstaan. In my tweede hoofstuk ondersoek ek die manier waarop sosio-politieke geweld op die kontinent uitgebeeld word as ‘n oorsaak van gestremdheid sowel as van ontmagtiging. Hierdie hoofstuk ondersoek die wyses waarop gestremdheid verwikkeld is met ander sosiale werklikhede in mense se lewens. Die term disenablement [hier: ‘ontmagtiging’] word gebruik om die uitbeelding van gestremdheid midde-in verskillende vorme van gewelddadige onderdrukking vas te vang. Soos uitgebeeld in die meeste van die tekste wat in die studie ondersoek word, is gestremdheid ‘n aspek van sosiale houdinge. My derde hoofstuk ondersoek hoe die gekose tekste areas van be/ontmagtiging skep; gebiede waar die leser/kyker die vloeibaarheid van sosiaal-gekonstrueerde ontmagtiging in spesifieke gemeenskappe waarneem. Soos uitgebeeld in die tekste en soos wat die studie die saak bespreek, is hierdie zone ‘n gebied waarbinne gestremde persone die bemagtigde wêreld ervaar. Dit is ‘n area waarbinne die versteuring van vasgelegde konsepte van gestremdheid, en gevolglike erkenning van gestremde persone, kan plaasvind. Die mees eksplisiete ontplooiïng van narratiewe bemagtiging gebeur deur middel van skeppende intervensies, wat die fokus vorm van my vierde hoofstuk. In hierdie hoostuk ondersoek ek die rol wat gespeel word deur verskillende vorme van kreatiwiteit soos beoefen deur die karakters, in die loop van my argument dat hiedie skeppingsvorme voorbeeelde is van hoe narratiewe bemagtiging plaasvind. In die tekste gebruik die gestremde karakters unieke metodes van vertelling – nie uitsluitlik verbaal nie – om hulle verhale te vertel, maar ook om aan te toon dat en hoe hulle aan partikuliere familiale, kulturele en nasionale wêrelde behoort.

The environmental transactions of mentally retarded adults were investigated in three community-based programs as a measure of client adjustment to community living. Specific features of the interaction between clients and the physical and social environment were identified and evaluated. The research settings and subjects were: a group home (7 clients/4 staff); a semi-independent apartment setting (13 clients/4 staff); and a work adjustment program (11 clients/5 staff). Methodological procedures were: observational procedures, including the Community Interaction Assessment instrument, a form of behavior mapping which emphasized social interaction, and the Bales Interaction Process Analysis, an observational technique for structured groups; the structured questionnaires which make up the Moos Multiphasic Environmental Assessment Procedure (MEAP); and unstructured observations and interviews, used as procedures in the various settings in the larger community. Results were presented in terms of the particular features of the physical and social environment which were related to the incidence of social interaction. Rank order correlations of the MEAP residential and staff data revealed a significant positive relationship among all three settings, indicating similarities across all research settings in staff and resident characteristics. A significant positive correlation was also found in the group home and apartment environmental evaluations, indicating strong similarities in staff attitudes in the two residential settings. An analysis of variance indicated a significant difference in the MEAP policy data obtained for the three settings, suggesting important differences primarily in the areas of policy choice, resident control, and provision for privacy. Normative data was presented for the residential programs based on MEAP findings. Results were discussed in terms of the implications of findings for design, program, and community integration issues and suggestions for future research were presented.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy