Ministry research project (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004. / Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Ministry Degree. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142).

Ministry research project (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004. / Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Ministry Degree. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 139-142).

When the eigenvalues of a given eigenvalue problem are symmetric with respect to the real and the imaginary axes, we speak about a Hamiltonian eigenvalue symmetry or a Hamiltonian structure of the spectrum. This property can be exploited for an efficient computation of the eigenvalues. For some elliptic boundary value problems it is known that the derived eigenvalue problems have this Hamiltonian symmetry. Without having a specific application in mind, we trace the question, under which assumptions the spectrum of a given quadratic eigenvalue problem possesses the Hamiltonian structure.

Cette thèse vise à développer des méthodologies originales et appropriées pour modéliser la propagation des ondes EM dans des tunnels de forme quelconque et à proposer des méthodologies pour optimiser les spécifications, la conception et le positionnement des antennes en tunnel. Nous avons proposé une méthode originale d’analyse modale full-wave pour traiter le cas de la propagation des ondes EM dans des structures de grandes dimensions électriques ou en milieux confinés de forme quelconque tels que les tunnels. Cette méthode consiste en une approche modale qui s’appuie sur l’algorithme 2,5D TLM et l’algorithme Matrix Pencil pour la discrimination des modes dans des structures à pertes dans lesquelles la densité modale est élevée et les modes se superposent. Nous avons considéré de nouvelles conditions aux limites appelées SIBC (Surface Impedance Boundary Condition) pour les guides d’ondes diélectriques à pertes. Afin de pouvoir analyser les cas généraux et plusieurs configurations de tunnel réalistes, nous avons proposé une nouvelle nomenclature des modes. En effet, la nomenclature des modes existante n’est plus applicable en raison des effets de dépolarisation des modes dans certains cas réalistes. Une nouvelle méthodologie pour la détermination des spécifications et des positions des antennes en milieux confinés ou guidés a ensuite été développée. Cette méthodologie repose sur la combinaison d’une analyse modale et de techniques d’optimisation afin d’ajuster le poids des différents modes dans le tunnel. Cette approche est utilisée dans le cas des antennes adaptatives mais elle n’a jamais été appliquée au cas de la propagation multi modes en tunnel. / This thesis aims to develop original and appropriate methodologies to model the propagation of EM waves in tunnels of any shape and to propose methodologies to optimize the specification, design and positioning of the antenna in the tunnel. We proposed a novel method for full-wave modal analysis to treat the case of EM wave propagation in structures of large electric dimensions or confined environments of any shape such as tunnels. This method is a modal approach which is based on the 2.5D TLM algorithm and Matrix Pencil algorithm for the discrimination of modes in lossy structures in which the modal density is high and the modes overlap. We considered new boundary conditions called SIBC (Surface Impedance Boundary Condition) for dielectric waveguides with losses. To analyze the general case and several realistic tunnel configurations, we proposed a new classification of modes. Indeed, the classification of existing methods is no longer applicable due to depolarization effects in some realistic cases. A new methodology for determining the specifications and positions of antennas in confined or guided structures was then developed. This methodology is based on a combination of modal analysis and optimization techniques to adjust the weights of the different modes in the tunnel. This approach is used in the case of adaptive antennas, but it has never been applied to the case of multipath propagation modes in the tunnel.

Radiotherapy delivered using scanned beams of protons enables greater conformity between the dose distribution and the tumour than conventional radiotherapy using X rays. However, the dose distributions are more sensitive to changes in patient anatomy, and tend to deteriorate in the presence of motion. Online dose calculation during treatment delivery offers a way of monitoring the delivered dose in real time, and could be used as a basis for mitigating the effects of motion. The aim of this work has therefore been to investigate how the computational power offered by graphics processing units can be harnessed to enable fast analytical dose calculation for online monitoring in proton therapy. The first part of the work consisted of a systematic investigation of various approaches to implementing the most computationally expensive step of the pencil beam algorithm to run on graphics processing units. As a result, it was demonstrated how the kernel superposition operation, or convolution with a spatially varying kernel, can be efficiently implemented using a novel scatter-based approach. For the intended application, this outperformed the conventional gather-based approach suggested in the literature, permitting faster pencil beam dose calculation and potential speedups of related algorithms in other fields. In the second part, a parallelised proton therapy dose calculation engine employing the scatter-based kernel superposition implementation was developed. Such a dose calculation engine, running all of the principal steps of the pencil beam algorithm on a graphics processing unit, had not previously been presented in the literature. The accuracy of the calculation in the high- and medium-dose regions matched that of a clinical treatment planning system whilst the calculation was an order of magnitude faster than previously reported. Importantly, the calculation times were short, both compared to the dead time available during treatment delivery and to the typical motion period, making the implementation suitable for online calculation. In the final part, the beam model of the dose calculation engine was extended to account for the low-dose halo caused by particles travelling at large angles with the beam, making the algorithm comparable to those in current clinical use. By reusing the workflow of the initial calculation but employing a lower resolution for the halo calculation, it was demonstrated how the improved beam model could be included without prohibitively prolonging the calculation time. Since the implementation was based on a widely used algorithm, it was further predicted that by careful tuning, the dose calculation engine would be able to reproduce the dose from a general beamline with sufficient accuracy. Based on the presented results, it was concluded that, by using a single graphics processing unit, dose calculation using the pencil beam algorithm could be made sufficiently fast for online dose monitoring, whilst maintaining the accuracy of current clinical systems.

Educational psychologists are expected to offer real-world relevant services. One way to strive towards real-word relevance is for educational psychologists to facilitate resilience by using Ungar’s diagnostic criteria of resilience. However, at this time the usefulness of applying Ungar’s criteria is still unexplored. Thus, this study asked: ‘What insight into the resilience of vulnerable rural adolescents can be achieved by applying Ungar’s diagnostic criteria of resilience to the documents (i.e. paper-and-pencil activities) generated in psycho-educational assessments?’ In answering this question, a qualitative secondary data analysis was conducted of psycho-educational paper-and-pencil activities completed by 65 male and female IsiSwati-speaking Grade 9 learners at a secondary school in Mpumalanga, a remote province in South Africa, during the Flourishing Learning Youth (FLY) study. FLY, a project of the Centre for the Study of Resilience, is based at the University of Pretoria. The a priori categories were sourced from Ungar’s diagnostic criteria and the relevant a priori codes from the review of South African resilience literature. The analysis showed that adolescents were challenged by physical risk, emotional risk and poverty-related risk. Additionally, adolescents were protected by personal resources (agency, self-worth), family resources (role models, supportive parentchild interaction), community resources (role models, community belonging), school resources (teachers as role models and supporters) and macro resources (spirituality). These findings echo extant South African resilience studies and enabled the educational psychologist to ‘diagnose’ resilience for this group of adolescents to better understand the risks to their well-being, the resources that can be leveraged to buffer this risk, and the resources that are absent and must be negotiated. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

When the eigenvalues of a given eigenvalue problem are symmetric with respect to the real and the imaginary axes, we speak about a Hamiltonian eigenvalue symmetry or a Hamiltonian structure of the spectrum. This property can be exploited for an efficient computation of the eigenvalues. For some elliptic boundary value problems it is known that the derived eigenvalue problems have this Hamiltonian symmetry. Without having a specific application in mind, we trace the question, under which assumptions the spectrum of a given quadratic eigenvalue problem possesses the Hamiltonian structure.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / This work reports the use of a pencil graphite electrode (PGE) as inexpensive and sensitive electrochemical sensing platform fabricated by using electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) in conjunction with an in-situ plated thin mercury film. For the first time the ERGOHgF-PGE sensor is proposed for simultaneous detection of cadmium (Cd2+), copper (Cu2+), lead (Pb2+) and zinc (Zn2+) using N-Nitroso-N-phenylhydroxylamine (cupferron) as complexing agent by square-wave adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (SW-AdCSV). The technique is based on the adsorption of cupferron- metal ion complexes onto the surface of the ERGO-HgFPGE at 0.1 V for 60 s carried out in 0.1 M acetate buffer solution (pH 4.6). The synthesized graphene oxide (GO) and graphene nanosheets (GNs) were characterized using different analytical techniques such as FT-IR which confirms the presence of oxygen moieties embedded in the graphitic structure and further demonstrated by UV-Vis, validating the synthesis of GO / 2023

The thesis studies truncated moment problems and related reconstruction techniques. It transfers the main aspects of Prony's method from finitely-supported measures to the classes of signed or non-negative measures supported on algebraic varieties of any dimension. The Zariski closure of the support of these measures is shown to be determined by finitely many moments and can be computed from the kernel of moment matrices. Moreover, several reconstruction algorithms are developed which are based on the computation of generalized eigenvalues and allow to recover the components of mixtures of such measures.