Thesis (M.Ed.) --University of Limpopo, 2006. / This thesis is a study on the management of learner supervision through principals’ control of punctuality in primary schools in the Mopani District. The study investigated the ways in which primary school principals manage learner supervision through control of punctuality. The investigation has brought to the light what is happening in schools regarding the management of learner supervision through control of punctuality. The literature review highlighted why learner supervision is essential in schools. Particular areas in the school and activities which require supervision were discussed. The relevance of theory to the management of learner supervision was also highlighted. The study also attempted to look at policy initiative with regard to the implementation of management of learner supervision. An attempt was made to integrate some educational policies, laws and regulations with regard to the implementation of learner supervision. The empirical research was done by the questionnaires distributed to the randomly selected schools in Mopani District and the results were discussed. The questionnaires were analysed through tables. The aim was to find out how learner supervision is managed through control of punctuality by principals from learners, educators and principals. Finally, the researcher gave general recommendations for improving the management of learner supervision through control of punctuality.

Due to a number of reasons, black commuters In South Africa are often faced with long, timeous and complicated journeys to work. The purpose of this research report is to determine how these long commuting distances influence the punctuality and rate of absenteeism of black employers to the work-place. A survey was undertaken in Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Durban. The sample of 1238 respondents was divided into long and short-distance commuters and the answers of these two groups were compared. Respondents were questioned about factors causing them to be late or absent from work as well as . their attitudes towards punctuality. They were also questioned about their employers' attitude towards lateness. The results showed clearly that transport related problems constituted a major part of all late arrivals at the work place. Lateness due to transport problems was mainly influenced by the distance travelled to work, the total travel time, the number of transfers, the time the commuter had to leave his home, and the time he had to start work. Although absenteeism was also increased by the distance commuters had to travel and the difficulty of the journey, it was experienced much less than lateness. Lateness at the work-place due to transport problems is a big problem in South Africa, which is aggravated by the long distances faced by many commuters. It is important to try to minimize the problem and thereby cut the cost of lateness to industry.

The airline industry has become more competitive since the introduction of low fare airlines in the 1990s. Thus, requirement of optimized planning is nowadays essential in order to obtain high market shares. The planning behind an airworthy traffic program is complex and includes many different resources, as fleet, crew and maintenance, which have to be synchronized. With a constant risk of unforeseen disruptions and variances in the weather conditions, robustness in form of time buffers are necessary in order to give the system a chance of recovery. Generally, one delay often affects several flights due to the lack of time buffers. In order to achieve cost reductions and to maximize profit, airlines tends to create traffic programs maximizing airborne hours. This report culminates in a conclusion of where and when time buffers, in a cost efficient way, can be added in Scandinavian Airline´s traffic program in order to obtain a higher robustness. This is performed by analyzing historical flight data and by implementing a Monte Carlo simulation.

M. Tech. Education / The aim of the study is to identify the causes and challenges incurred from late coming in some selected high schools around Soshanguve with a view to providing solution to the problem within the province. Interviews were conducted with all the participants with the use of structured questionnaire and a review of document (class attendance records and late coming records book). The participants were also observed in their natural settings. Participants in the study were leaners from Grades 7 - 12, educators and principals from the selected schools.

Absenteeism, lateness, and work performance on the job were investigated. Pre-entry attitudes and self-reported behaviors in the three areas were assessed via RELY, a self-report instrument developed by Kurt Helm (1980). Subjects (N=282) were entry-level stock, bag and clerical personnel for a large grocery store chain. They were 91% Caucasian and 62% male. Results showed significant correlation between three empirically derived scales and criteria: total days absent, total occurrences of lateness, and supervisory performance ratings. However, these findings were considerably weaker under cross-validation. The findings indicate absence-proneness as a tenable concept. Further investigation may find a considerable amount of the variance in attendance to be the result of pre-entry attitudes.

Departure punctuality has increasingly gained attention over the last few years. This development is due to the realization what important role this issue plays in the economics of the airline industry. Punctuality is not just a sound performance indicator but also allows airlines to differentiate themselves from their competitors. In addition the issue holds a significant potential for cost savings. For this reason many airlines have started special programmes to improve their punctuality performance, and so did Lufthansa. However, despite this increasing attention, outbound punctuality levels have not yet reached satisfactory levels. Therefore, this study aimed at contributing to this process by identifying potential ontime performance improvements at the Lufthansa station at Frankfurt Airport. As an underlying framework, a Human Factors approach was chosen. Central issues in the focus of the study were the individual perceptions and attitudes towards punctuality by the relevant front line staff. In order to examine these issues a survey among the Flight Managers, Assistant Flight Managers, and Section leaders was carried out. The results of this survey were then put into correlation with the delay statistics published. The results of the survey indicate a potential lack of communication among the front line staff as well as between them and higher organizational entities. Moreover, certain distrust towards the delay statistics became evident. Although the staff members seem quite well motivated, they feel a lack of commitment by their superiors. In addition, the survey gathered some interesting ideas for punctuality improvements held by the front line staff members. Besides very concrete topics for discussion, the central outcome of the study was the recommendation to analyze all relevant processes at the Lufthansa station from a Human Factors perspective in order to improve the communicative situation. Moreover, the study suggests introducing appropriate incentive schemes in order to promote better on-time performance. Altogether these should result in a noticeable improvement of the punctuality situation at the Lufthansa station.

Based on an initiative to increase the punctuality on Swedish railways in the short term, this study on potential for increased punctuality by adjustments in the train time schedule on The Western Main Line was initiated. This was done by examining alternatives with different adjustments based on today’s timetable. The goal with the study was to increase the punctuality for the highspeed trains on The Western Main Line by five percentage points. Additionally, the study had a purpose of testing if the Swiss concept of Taktfahrplan could be applicable on a Swedish railway. The adjustments of the timetable were based on three parameters that have impact on the robustness of a timetable; dwell time, allowance and headway between trains. Those were the parameters that were tested. Based on a literature study and data on today’s delays, punctuality and dwell times for the highspeed trains, the current situation could be analyzed. The analysis showed that the trains of today’s timetable departed densely in the mornings, the biggest amounts of trains were near the big cities, punctuality had improved from 2019 to 2020, problematic points with large delays existed around Hallsberg and Falköping and the performed dwell times were longer than the planned ones for every station. Based on the analysis of today’s situation, three case alternatives as well as an alternative for comparison were created. In case alternative 1, dwell times were extended for the highspeed trains stops, in alternative 2, allowance was added and in alternative 3, headway was extended at the start stations. Time schedules for the alternatives were created in RailSys and were then simulated on a selected stretch with a disturbance filter that was based on real distributions of delay. The results did not show considerable difference in punctuality for the case alternatives. However, alternative 1 and 2 showed improvement, while the punctuality was reduced in alternative 3. A fourth alternative was created, where the two cases that had led to improvement were combined. After simulation of alternative 4, it could be established that it was the case that provided the highest improvement in punctuality. A Taktfahrplan (regular departures and station meetings) was made in RailSys that showed how well such a timetable was applicable for the highspeed trains on The Western Main Line. The results turned out well because meeting spots for these trains, at half hour traffic and the selected stopping patterns, occurred most evidently at Katrineholm C, but also at Södertälje syd, Skövde C and Herrljunga. The conclusions of the study were that none of the alternatives led to a 5-percentage increase in punctuality. However, three cases led to increased punctuality, while one case produced decreased punctuality. The parameters that produced the highest increase in punctuality was the combination of dwell time and allowance adjustments. The consequences of the adjustments were longer planned driving times for the trains and lower capacity utilization on the track. Lastly, it was established that Taktfahrplan was applicable for the highspeed trains on The Western Main Line, but further analysis would be required before implementation, especially with consideration to planning for practical introduction.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

In many languages, antipassive morphology is comprised of aspectual morphology (Polinsky 2008). This thesis presents an analysis of the syntax and semantics of antipassives in Inuktitut by exploring the link between aspectual morphology and antipassive morphology. It resolves the longstanding question as to the factors governing the distribution of the antipassive morpheme, showing that the presence of the antipassive morpheme is determined by the meaning of the construction, i.e. it does not merely change the grammatical function. It is proposed that the antipassive construction has imperfective viewpoint in contrast to the ergative construction. Antipassive morphology is obligatory with punctual telic verbs, i.e. achievements, which are verbs that have perfective viewpoint by default. Antipassive morphology is thus necessary to convey imperfective viewpoint for verbs that are by default perfective. Using a modified Reichenbachian (Reichenbach 1947) framework, it is shown that imperfective viewpoint does not allow for telic interpretations. Instead, punctuality determines the types of viewpoint, which coincide with the aspectual meaning of the antipassive marker. Viewpoint contrasts in Inuktitut are encoded not only in morphology but in changes of case and agreement configurations. They are derived using a version of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 2008). Imperfective viewpoint can either be default, in which case there is inherent case on the internal argument, or derived through the addition of antipassive morphology, in which case the construction closely parallels a nominative-accusative structure. Perfective viewpoint is encoded through absolutive case on the internal argument, either in an ergative construction or in a canonical intransitive construction with unaccusative verbs. The thesis provides insight into the relation between case-agreement configurations and aspectual contrasts in language and the nature of those aspectual contrasts. It also provides a new approach to the relation between lexical aspect and viewpoint by considering the role of punctuality.

Punktlighet är ett viktigt mätetal inom järnvägsindustrin, men också en stor utmaning. Ett övergripande mål i Sverige är att samtliga tåg, både person- och godståg, ska ha en punktlighet på 95% vid slutdestinationen, där tåg som anländer högst fem minuter efter utsatt tid räknas som punktliga. Under 2019 var godstågens punktlighet 77,9%. Försenade godståg innebär stora kostnader i form av kvalitetsavgifter för den part som orsakat förseningen, samhällsekonomiska kostnader samt ett förlorat förtroende för järnvägen där kunder väljer andra transportslag för att garantera att varorna anländer i tid. Syftet med examensarbetet är att identifiera vilka faktorer som påverkar godstågens punktlighet samt att ta fram rekommendationer för hur punktligheten kan förbättras. För att uppfylla examensarbetets syfte delades projektet upp i två delmål som besvarades genom att tillämpa problemlösningsmetodiken DMAIC. Det första delmålet var att identifiera hur godstågens punktlighet påverkades av att avgå utanför utsatt tid. Detta undersöktes genom att jämföra hur godstågens resor förändrades då de avgått punktligt samt tidigare eller senare än planerat. Genom att visualisera hur genomsnittet av respektive resa sett ut och jämföra dessa med varandra kunde det påvisas att avgångstiden inte är den mest betydande faktorn för godstågens punktlighet. Detta för att resan såg liknande ut oavsett då tågen avgick och den totala restiden skiljde sig inte åt nämnvärt. Det framkom även att tåg som avgår punktligt får färre merförseningar än tåg som avgår utanför gränserna för punktliga tåg. Det andra delmålet var att identifiera vad som påverkar godstågens punktlighet längs sträckan. Detta undersöktes genom att studera godstågens tidsavvikelse vid samtliga trafikplatser längs sträckan samt att analysera de orsakskoder som rapporterats in för respektive tågresa. Här påvisades att tågen inte körs enligt framtagen tågplan, vilket påverkar punktligheten negativt. Några identifierade orsaker till detta är att de olika tåguppdragen har olika förutsättningar att köra samma sträcka, trots att de har samma största tillåtna hastighet. Samt att det finns tåguppdrag som systematiskt reducerar den framförda hastigheten på grund av minskad bromsverkan, vilket i sin tur beror på dåliga vagnar eller för långt/tungt tågekipage. Utöver de två delmålen identifierades även att det fanns bristande datakvalitet i den inrapportering av orsakskoder som tillämpas idag. Exempelvis saknades dryga 40 % data för att förklara varför en merförsening uppstått. Examensarbetet resulterade i tre rekommendationer för hur godstågens punktlighet kan förbättras och dessa var: Kontinuerlig dialog mellan berörda parter för att ta fram en mer tillförlitlig tågplan. Systematiska avvikelser från tågplanen ska ha en högre kvalitetsavgift vid förseningar. Förbättra analysunderlaget genom en bättre inrapportering av orsakskoder. / Punctuality is an important measurement in the railway industry, but also entails some challenges. In Sweden there is an overall goal that both passenger- and freight trains should have a 95% punctuality when they arrive at their final destination, where trains who arrive at their final destination less than five minutes after scheduled arrival counts as punctual. During 2019 the punctuality for freight trains was 77,9%. Delayed freight trains are connected to large costs for both the railway industry and for the society. The purpose of this master thesis is to identify which factors affect freight train punctuality and to find recommendations on how to improve it. To fulfill this purpose, the project was divided into two milestones that were answered by applying the problem-solving methodology DMAIC. The first milestone was to identify how punctuality was affected by freight trains departing outside of their appointed departure time. This was done by comparing how journeys differentiated when trains departed punctually as well as earlier or later than planned. By comparing these with each other it was proven that departure time is not the most affecting factor when it comes to freight train punctuality. Because each trains journey had a similar pattern regardless of when they departed and the travel time for the trains did not differ significantly. Furthermore, it was found that trains that are punctual at their time of departure have less delays during the trains entire route than trains who depart outside of the time-window for punctual departure.  The second milestone was to identify what affected the freight train punctuality during the trains entire route. This was done by investigating the time deviation for each train at every measurement point during the route and by analyzing the reasons for time deviation. It turned out that the trains did not run according to the set timetable, which affected the punctuality in a negative way. A few identified reasons for this was that different trains had different prerequisites to drive the same route, even though they are planned for the same speed. And that some trains systematically reduced their speed due to a lack of breaking capacity, as a result of the train being too long or heavy. Beyond the two milestones it was identified a lack of data quality in the reporting of reasons for time deviation. For example, about 40 % of data was missing that could have further explained why the trains where delayed.  The master thesis resulted in three recommendations for how freight train punctuality can be improved, and these were: Continuous dialogue between affected parties to make a timetable that is more reliable. Systematic deviations from the timetable should have a higher cost for causing these. Improved data quality for further analysis of why delays occur.