Submitted by ALEXANDRE ZUCCON null (alexandre.zuccon@gmail.com) on 2018-03-13T18:43:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ZucconA_tese.pdf: 2380193 bytes, checksum: edc82ec834fe6990d8e85db3314e4696 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Pizzani null (luciana@btu.unesp.br) on 2018-03-13T20:34:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 zuccon_a_dr_bot.pdf: 2380193 bytes, checksum: edc82ec834fe6990d8e85db3314e4696 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-13T20:34:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 zuccon_a_dr_bot.pdf: 2380193 bytes, checksum: edc82ec834fe6990d8e85db3314e4696 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-22 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Introdução: A luxação do quadril em uma criança pode interferir com a função dessa articulação, causando dor, limitação de movimento, entre outras consequências. Na redução aberta da articulação, diversas estruturas anatômicas são abordadas como o ligamento redondo (LR) que, tradicionalmente, é ressecado. Porém, existe controvérsia a respeito de sua importância funcional. Objetivo: Comparar através de análise biomecânica, bioquímica e histológica o LR de quadris instáveis (luxados e subluxados) com o ligamento de quadris normais. Métodos: Estudo experimental com coelhos esqueleticamente imaturos, utilizando um modelo para luxação do quadril. Oitenta e oito coelhos foram submetidos à fixação do joelho de uma das patas traseiras em extensão, o que leva à instabilidade do quadril ipsilateral, devido ao desequilíbrio muscular e à alteração em posicionamento no membro. Dezenove coelhos morreram, 28 foram excluídos por não evoluírem com a luxação e 5 foram excluídos pela impossibilidade de identificação do LR. Dos 36 coelhos que compuseram a amostra, estratificamos as análises em quantitativas: biomecânica (12 coelhos), zimografia (8 coelhos), histologia (14 coelhos) e qualitativa: imuno-histoquímica (2 coelhos). Realizamos análise estatística para comparação entre o lado luxado e o controle de cada coelho quanto às análises quantitativas. Resultados: No ensaio biomecânico, a média da força máxima do ligamento redondo no lado luxado foi de 43,25 ± 16,25N e 46,62 ± 15,56N para o lado normal (p=0,594) e a média da deformação máxima foi de 3,94 ± 1,88mm para o lado luxado e 4,55 ± 1,19mm para o normal (p = 0,328). Histologicamente foi quantificada a celularidade, mostrando em média, para o ligamento do lado luxado, 6,83 ± 3,47 células por campo e 3,87 ± 2,13 para o lado normal (p<0,001), além de 74,3 ± 10,5% de ocupação por colágeno no lado luxado e 84,5 ± 9,5% no lado normal (p<0,001). Na zimografia, a quantidade de metaloproteinase 2 (MMP2) em forma ativa foi 481,8 ± 228UA, em média, para o lado luxado e de 294,4 ± 78UA para o lado normal (p=0,068). Conclusão: Embora tenham ocorrido alterações significativas no LR dos quadris instáveis do ponto de vista histológico e com diferença importante na zimografia, esta sem significância estatística, isso não foi observado no ensaio biomecânico, no qual não houve diferença estatística entre os lados. / In the open reduction, used in the treatment of the hip dislocation in children, several structures are approached, such as the round ligament (RL) that has traditionally been resected. However, there is controversy regarding its possible maintenance as well as its functional importance. The aim of this study was to compare the RL properties of stable and unstable hips. Methods: Experimental study with young rabbits using a model for congenital hip dislocation. Eighty-eight rabbits underwent fixation of the knee of one hind leg in extension, which leads to ipsilateral hip instability. Nineteen rabbits died and 28 were excluded because they did not develop dislocation. Five additional rabbits also excluded because they did not present the RL. Thirty-six rabbits composed the sample that was stratified for quantitative analysis: biomechanical (12 rabbits), zymography (8 rabbits), histology (14 rabbits) and qualitative: immunohistochemistry (2 rabbits). We performed statistical analysis for comparison between the unstable side and the control of each rabbit. Results: Biomechanical assay showed the mean maximal strength of the RL on the unstable side was 43.25 ± 16,25N and 46.62 ± 15,56N for the control side (p = 0.594) and the mean maximum deformation was 3.94 ± 1,88mm for the unstable side and 4.55 ± 1,19mm for the control (p = 0.328). Histologically, there was an increase in cellularity on the unstable side showing, on average, 6.83 ± 3,47 cells per field and 3.87 ± 2,13 for the control side (p <0.001), in addition to 74.3 ± 10,5% of collagen occupancy on the unstable side and 84, 5 ± 9,5% on the control side (p <0.001). In zymography, the amount of metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) was 481.8 ± 228UA, on average, for the unstable side and 294.4 ± 78UA for the control side (p = 0.068). Conclusions: Although there were significant changes in the RL of the unstable hips from the histological analysis and there were an important diference in zymography without statistical significance, that was not observed in the biomechanical test.

Objetivos: Descrever as dimensões e a posição da crista fenestra no interior do nicho ósseo da janela redonda, assim como identificar sua presença através da tomografia computadorizada (TC) de alta resolução. Métodos: Uma amostra de 10 ossos temporais humanos adultos foi dissecada para o estudo microscópico do nicho ósseo da janela redonda. Resultados: Em todos os ossos estudados, a membrana da janela redonda foi totalmente visualizada somente após a remoção dos bordos do nicho ósseo. A crista fenestra revelou-se uma afilada saliência óssea situada sempre nos bordos anterior e inferior do nicho da janela redonda. Sua área variou entre 0,28 e 0,80 mm2 (média: 0,51 mm2). A proporção da área ocupada pela crista fenestra no lúmen da janela redonda variou entre 23 e 50% (média: 36%). Foi observada uma tendência de que nichos estreitos alberguem cristas de menores dimensões (coeficiente de Spearman: 0,491). Em todos os casos, a avaliação radiológica não foi capaz de definir a presença da crista fenestra. Conclusões: A crista fenestra ocupa uma variável porém significativa área no lúmen do nicho ósseo da janela redonda. Sua presença representa um expressivo obstáculo para o acesso à rampa timpânica. A TC de alta resolução não acrescenta informações pré-operatórias relevantes acerca da sua presença e das suas dimensões. / Objectives: To describe the dimensions and position of the crista fenestra within the round window niche and determine its presence by means of highresolution computed tomography (CT). Methods: A series of 10 adult human temporal bones were dissected for microscopic study of the round window niche. Results: In all specimens, the round window membrane was fully visualized only after complete removal of its bony overhangs. The crista fenestra was identified as a sharp bony crest located in the anterior and inferior borders of the niche, and its area ranged from 0.28 to 0.80 mm2 (mean, 0.51 mm2). The proportion of the area occupied by the crista fenestra in the whole circumference of the round window ranged from 23 to 50% (mean, 36%). Narrower niches tended to have smaller crests (Spearman coefficient: 0.491). In all cases, radiological assessment was unable to determine the presence of the crista fenestra. Conclusion: The crista fenestra occupies a variable but expressive area within the bony round window niche. Its presence is an important obstacle to adequate access to the scala tympani. High-resolution CT scan provides no additional preoperative information with regard to the presence of the crista fenestra or its linear dimensions.

Bakgrund: Ronden är en central punkt gällande planering och utvärdering av patientens vård. Sjukvårdspersonalen ansvarar för att personcentrera omvårdnaden där patienten sätts i fokus, och där vården byggs på respekt för patientens självbestämmande och integritet. Den traditionella ronden utförs i större del utan patientens närvaro. Bedside-rond (BR) syftar till att alla inblandade professioner rondar tillsammans med patienten vid patientens sängkant eller i ett avskilt rum för att göra patienten delaktig i sin egen vård.   Syfte: Litteraturstudiens syfte var att beskriva om BR bidrar till personcentrerad vård, delaktighet och förbättrat teamarbete, ur patienten och sjukvårdspersonalens perspektiv.   Metod: En litteraturstudie baserad på tio vetenskapliga originalartiklar. Databaser som användes i studien var PubMed, CINAHL och SveMed+. Resultatanalysen gjordes utifrån Graneheim och Lundmans (2004) kvalitativa innehållsanalys.   Resultat: Resultatet av denna studie indikerar på att patienten och sjukvårdspersonalen upplever en ökad delaktighet genom BR. Sjukvårdspersonal upplever förbättring i utfallet av vården eftersom hela sjukvårdsteamet får en helhetsbild av patienten. Flera studier styrker att samarbetet i teamet förbättrades, och att BR bidrog till en ökad förståelse för varandras yrkesroller. Oenigheter rörande rondens mål framkom, men även avsaknad av en tydlig struktur försvårade genomförandet. Kommunikationen förbättrades enligt flertal studier, vilket framförallt berodde på den direkta kommunikationen mellan berörda teamdeltagare.   Slutsats: BR skulle kunna införas som arbetsmodell istället för den traditionella ronden. Patienten blir mer delaktig i sin vård och samarbetet förbättras genom en effektivare kommunikation. Resultatet visar att patientens delaktighet ökar men för att kunna säkerhetsställa evidensen att patienten upplever att BR bidrar till en personcentrerad vård, behövs ännu mer forskning ur ett patientperspektiv. / Background: The round is a central part regarding planning and evaluating the patients’ health. Healthcare professional are responsible for the person-centered healthcare where the patient is the center of attention, and where the healthcare is based on the patient’s integrity and autonomy. The traditional round is carried out mainly without the patient’s presence. Bedside-round (BR) aims at all professions involved with the patient at the patient’s bedside or in a separate room to make the patient involved in his or her own care.   Aim: The purpose of the literature study was to describe whether BR contributes to person-centered care, participation and improved teamwork, from the patients’ and the healthcare professionals’ perspective.   Method: A literature study based on 10 scientific original articles. Databases used in the study were PubMed, CINAHL and SveMed +. The results analysis was based on Graneheim and Lundman's (2004) qualitative analysis method.   Results: The result of this study indicates that the patient and healthcare professionals experience increased participation through bedside-round. Healthcare professionals experience improvement in the outcome of care as the entire healthcare team gets an overall picture of the patient. Several studies confirm that team collaboration improved, and bedside-round contributed to an increased understanding of each other's professional roles. Disagreements concerning the goal of the round came true, but lack of a clear structure also complicated implementation. Communication improved according to several studies, mainly due to the direct communication between relevant team participants.   Conclusion: BR could be introduced as a working model instead of the traditional round. The patients becomes more involved in their care and the collaboration is improved through more effective communication. The result shows that the patient's participation increases but in order to ensure the evidence that the patient experiences that BR contributes to a person-centered care, even more research is needed from a patient perspective.

nÃo hà / O objetivo geral desse trabalho à avaliar o impacto do policiamento comunitÃrio (programa âRonda do QuarteirÃoâ) na distribuiÃÃo espacial e sÃcio econÃmica da criminalidade e da violÃncia na regiÃo metropolitana de Fortaleza atravÃs de uma metodologia quase-experimental. Em linhas gerais, a metodologia implementada para medir o impacto do programa RONDA à baseada nos modelos de AnÃlise de IntervenÃÃo. Esta metodologia assume que uma sÃrie temporal recebe uma intervenÃÃo em um marco especÃfico da sua dinÃmica, e assume que mudanÃas ocorridas apÃs a intervenÃÃo (ceteris paribus) sÃo motivadas pelo choque externo. No caso especÃfico a intervenÃÃo serà o inÃcio do programa RONDA que se deu em novembro de 2007. Das anÃlises feitas, verificou-se nos resultados obtidos atravÃs apenas de inspeÃÃes visuais e simples cÃlculos de mÃdias nos diferentes subperÃodos, prà e pÃs intervenÃÃo, que o programa RONDA nÃo afetou a sÃrie de roubo a pessoas e roubo a estabelecimento comercial, porÃm contribuiu para a diminuiÃÃo da quantidade de roubo a residÃncias. Em suma, o programa RONDA teve efeito estatisticamente significante em apenas um tipo de crime: roubo a residÃncias. AlÃm da pesquisa quantitativa, ainda faz parte dessa dissertaÃÃo uma pesquisa qualitativa que foi realizada seis meses apÃs a intervenÃÃo do programa. Nela foi constatado que 72% da populaÃÃo consideram o programa Ãtimo/bom e 66 % afirmam estarem mais seguros. Estes dados qualitativos corroboram para se afirmar que a intervenÃÃo do programa foi positiva. Este experimento à um marco na Ãrea de seguranÃa, pois usa mÃtodos cientÃficos, baseados em anÃlise estatÃstica, para avaliar um programa de governo, o Ronda do QuarteirÃo. Este à o maior ganho social que o Estado do Cearà pode obter nessa Ãrea, pois atravÃs dele abre-se uma porta onde os conhecimentos acadÃmicos somados à prÃtica policial terà como resultado um modelo de seguranÃa inteligente, moderno e otimizado. / General objective of this study is to assess the impact of community policing (the "Round Block") in the spatial and socio economic crime and violence in metropolitan Fortaleza through a quasi-experimental methodology. In general the methodology implemented to assess the impact of the program is based on models RONDA Analysis of Intervention. This methodology assumes that a series receives an intervention in a specific framework of its dynamics, and assumes that changes after the intervention (ceteris paribus) are motivated by external shock. Our case-specific intervention will be the start of RONDA that was in November 2007. Of the analysis, we found that the results only through visual inspection and simple calculations of averages in the different sub-periods, pre and post intervention, the program seems to have RONDA positively affected the number of people to theft and robbery to a business, not helped to decrease the amount of theft from residences. In short, the program had RONDA statistically significant effect in only one type of crime: theft from residences. Besides the quantitative research, is still part of this thesis a qualitative research that was conducted six months after the intervention program. It was found that 72% of the population considers the program excellent / good and 66% say they are safer. These qualitative data corroborate the claim that the program intervention was positive. This experiment is a milestone in the security area because it uses scientific methods based on statistical analysis to evaluate a government program, the Quarter Round. This is the greatest social gain that the state of Ceara in this area can get, because through it opens a door where academic knowledge coupled with the police practice will result in a security model smart, modern and optimized.

Desde a criação da OMC em 1995, países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento intensificaram a busca por uma ação coordenada mais efetiva e, principalmente durante a Rodada Doha, passaram a influenciar o processo de tomada de decisão por meio da criação de coalizões internacionais. A atuação paradigmática do Brasil no processo de formação e atuação do G20 fez com que o país se tornasse um eminente player nas negociações agrícolas da Rodada de Desenvolvimento de Doha e entrasse de maneira definitiva no alto nível decisório da Organização. Dessa forma, o objetivo deste trabalho é explorar o debate relacionado à atuação das coalizões internacionais, bem como identificar os elementos que constituem a liderança política nesse modo de ação coletiva, sobretudo no que se relaciona ao caso da atuação do Brasil no G20 durante as negociações da Rodada Doha da OMC. / Since the creation of the WTO in 1995, developed and developing countries intensified the demand for a more effective and coordinated action, especially during the Doha Round, and began to influence the decision making process through the creation of international coalitions. The paradigmatic role of Brazil in the formation and performance of the G20 has rendered the country a prominent position in the agricultural negotiations of the Doha Development Round. Thus, the objective of this paper is to explore the debate related to the performance of international coalitions, and to identify the elements that constitute the political leadership in this mode of collective action, especially with regard to the case of Brazil\'s role in G20 during negotiations of the WTO Doha Round.

Context: Global software development (GSD) can be defined as distributing the software development work among various teams, which are geographically distributed. Global software development is being widely used nowadays in software industries because of the numerous advantages offered. Follow-the-sun (FTS) approach is a sub-division of global software engineering where unfinished work is handed off every day from one development site to another development site, which are many time zones apart and hence development takes place round the clock instead of just eight hours per day. Objectives: The objective of this study is to explore whether by implementing follow-the- sun approach in the development phase of the software life cycle, the time-to-market can be reduced by 50% when compared to the traditional method of software development. Methods: In this research to fulfil the objectives, systematic literature review and an experiment were conducted. In literature review a number of papers that are related to this study were identified from the databases such as Engineering Village, IEEE Xplore, Springer Link, ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, ACM Digital Library and Wiley Inter Science Journal Finder. From these databases, all the related work on follow-the-sun approach that has been done so far was collected and the selection was done through tollgate approach. An experiment was conducted at Blekinge Tekniska Högskola with the students of the computer science engineering field as subjects of the experiment. The three software development scenarios that are tested in the experiment are co-located scenario, follow-the-sun with overlap scenario and follow-the-sun without overlap scenario. The experiment compares the results of the co-located scenario with the results of the follow-the-sun with overlap scenario and follow-the-sun without overlap scenario. Results: The results from the experiment showed that there is reduction in time-to-market by 22% when using follow-the-sun with overlap scenario and there is a reduction of 10% in the time-to-market when using follow-the-sun without scenario when compared to the co- located scenario. Conclusions: We conclude that follow-the-sun approach has an advantage of reduction in time-to-market when compared to the traditional co-located approach. But more research needs to be done in finding out the challenges and their mitigation strategies that will be beneficial for the organizations in order to adopt this process. From the findings of the literature review we have observed that due to the communication and collaboration problems, organizations are finding it difficult to achieve the desired benefits from the follow-the-sun approach. As a part of this study we conducted an experiment and we report the various challenges that have been noticed during the execution. From the experiment results we observe that there is a difference in the results between the theory and the practical implementation. We conclude that though the time-to-market can be certainly reduced when using follow-the-sun approach, but the reduction in the development time by 50% is questionable. This may be achieved by emphasizing on the challenges and by mitigating the same thereby bringing it closer to 50%. / Bakgrund: Global utveckling av programvara (GSD) kan definieras som distribuerar programvaran utvecklingsarbetet mellan olika team, som är geografiskt fördelade. Global mjukvaruutveckling är i stor utsträckning används i dag inom programvaruföretag på grund av många fördelar. Follow-the-sun (FTS) tillvägagångssätt är en underavdelning av den globala programvaruteknik där halvfärdiga arbeten delas ut varje dag från en utveckling plats till en annan utveckling webbplats, som är många tidzoner isär och därigenom utveckling sker dygnet runt istället för att bara åtta timmar per dag. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om genom att implementera follow-the- Sön förhållningssätt i utvecklingsfasen av programvaran livscykel, tiden till marknaden kan reduceras med 50% jämfört med den traditionella metoden för mjukvaruutveckling. Metoder: I denna forskning för att uppfylla de mål, systematisk litteraturstudie och en Experimentet utfördes. I litteraturen ett antal uppsatser som är relaterade till denna studien identifierades från databaser såsom Engineering Village, IEEE Xplore, Springer Link, ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, ACM Digital Library och Wiley Inter Science Journal Finder. Från dessa databaser, alla relaterade arbetet efter-the-sun strategi som har gjort hittills har samlats in och urvalet gjordes genom tollgate strategi. En Experimentet utfördes på Blekinge Tekniska Högskola med eleverna av datorn vetenskap teknikområde som ämnen av försöket. De tre mjukvaruutveckling scenarier som testas i experimentet är samlokaliserade scenariot, follow-the-solen med överlappning scenario och follow-the-solen utan överlappning scenario. Experimentet jämför Resultatet av samarbetet ligger-scenario med resultaten av follow-the-solen med överlappning scenario och följ-the-solen utan överlappning scenario. Resultat: Resultatet från experimentet visade att det finns minskning av tiden till marknaden genom 22% vid användning av follow-the-solen med överlappning scenario och det är en minskning med 10% i time-to-market när du använder follow-the-solen utan scenario jämfört med co- ligger scenario. Slutsatser: Vi drar slutsatsen att följa the-sun metoden har en fördel av minskning av time-to-market jämfört med traditionella samlokaliserade strategi. Men mer forskning behöver göras för att hitta de utmaningar och deras strategier för riskminskning som kommer att fördelaktigt för organisationer för att anta denna process. Från resultaten av litteraturstudie har vi sett att på grund av kommunikation och samarbete problem, organisationer svårt att uppnå önskad nytta av follow-the-sun strategi. Som en del av denna studie har vi genomfört ett experiment och vi rapporterar de olika utmaningar som har märkt under utförandet. Från experimentet resultat vi konstatera att det finns en skillnad i resultat mellan teori och praktiska genomförandet. Vi drar slutsatsen att även om tiden till marknad kan säkert nedsatt vid användning följ-the-sun synsätt, men minskningen av utvecklingstiden genom 50% är tvivelaktig. Detta kan uppnås genom att betona på de utmaningar och genom att mildra samma sätt föra den närmare 50%.

Architecture is a key factor to the success of the software product, but at least the state of art is not the state of practice. The connection between the completed system and the architecture has often been damaged after the original implementation. Reverse architecting is a method to recover the software architecture by analyzing the artifact. Since reverse architecting is not mature yet, the paper studies methods, tools, and major issues which hinder the person performing reverse architecting all together from knowing whether the reverse architecting method is repeatable and possible to apply on the different releases of the same product.

Denna rapport undersöker krav, tagna från ett ramverk för evaluering av CASE-verktyg i ett kontextuellt sammanhang, i två representativa CASE-verktyg. Ramverket utnyttjar en modell som föreslagits av Lundell och Lings för att extrahera både krav och förväntningar som en organisation (www.it.volvo.com) hade på vad ett CASE-verktyg är och kan utföra. Ramverket extraherar krav i ett organisationell kontext, dvs. utvärderingen utfördes innan verktyget som evaluerades användes i organisationen. Detta indikerar på att kraven inte är knutna till ett specifikt verktyg, samt att CASE-verktyg inte säkert stödjer dessa krav. Resultatet för denna rapport är att viss semantisk förlust uppstod vid transformering av kod och modeller.

With the increasing demand of computation capabilities, many-core processors are gain-ing more and more attention. As a communication subsystem many-core processors, Network-on-Chip (NoC) draws a lot of attention in the related research fields. A NoC is used to deliver messages among different cores. For many applications, timeliness is of great importance, especially when the application has hard real-time requirements. Thus, the worst-case end-to-end delays of all the messages passing through a NoC should be concerned. Unfortunately, there is no existing analysis tool that can support multiple NoC architectures as well as provide a user-friendly interface.This thesis focuses on a wormhole switched NoC using different arbitration policies which are Fixed Priority (FP) and Round Robin (RR) respectively. FP based arbitration policy includes distinct and shared priority based arbitration policies. We have developed a timing analysis tool targeting the above NoC designs. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) in the tool can simplify the operation of users. The tool takes characteristics of flow sets as input, and returns results regarding the worst-case end-to-end delay of each flow. These results can be used to assist the design of real-time applications on the corre-sponding platform.A number of experiments have been generated to compare different arbitration mecha-nisms using the developed tool. The evaluation focuses on the effect of different param-eters including the number of flows and the number of virtual-channels in a NoC, and the number of hops of each flow. In the first set of experiment, we focus on the schedulabil-ity ratio achieved by different arbitration policies regarding the number of flows. The sec-ond set of experiments focus on the comparison between NoCs with different number of virtual-channels. In the last set of experiments, we compare different arbitration mecha-nisms with respect to the worst-case end-to-end latencies.

This study attempts to define more clearly the concepts 'flat character' and 'round character' by examining instances of Sepedi literature. Definitions provided by theorists are in most cases vague and may lead to unsatisfactory interpretations. The best examples in this instance are the definitions provided by Forster - they create problems particularly with references to the concept 'round character'. Forster's definition creates the impression that the difference can be based on the manner of characterization. In this investigation, attention is thus paid to characterization, while it is pointed out that these concepts are not to be confused with the concepts 'antagonist', 'protagonist' and 'tritagonist'. The latter types of characters are classified as structural elements while the former are thematically important. The Sepedi literary works chosen for the purposes of this study represent the four most important prose genres in Sepedi. Tsebe's Noto-ya- Masogana ( 1954) is the representative of the category 'love story'; Kekana's Nnete Fela (1989) is a detective story; Rammala's Lukas Motsheletshele (1963) and Mphahlele's Letsogo Ia Molao (1984) are tragic narratives , while Phatudi concentrates on and describes elements of pathos in his Tladi wa Dikgati (1971 ). The characters in Tsebe and Kekana's narratives are flat. Whereas Tsebe's Lesibana is portrayed as a multidimensional character, Ariel in Kekana's detective story is presented as one - dimensional. According to the definitions of Forster, Lesibana could be classified as a round character and Ariel as a flat character. The problem that surfaces in this instance also becomes manifest in the investigation into Rammala, Mphahlele and Phatudi's works. Rammala's Lukas Motsheletshele and Mphahlele's Faro are multidimensional characters as opposed to Phatudi's Tladi who is onedimensional, yet all of them are round characters. The distinction that can be drawn between the concepts 'flat character' and 'round character' has to do with humaneness. The reader's identification with the flat charater is based on the reader's ability to distinguish between good and evil, while an understanding of and a feeling for fellow human beings determine identification with the round character. The author brings about this identification process by using a variety of literary devices. In this thesis, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the theme of each of the mentioned works and on how this theme determines the character types. The concept of 'identification' is a central issue in this study and has thus been explained in detail. The specific literary devices used by the author to bring about this identification have thus also been carefully investigated and discussed. It was discovered that characterization as such does not determine whether characters are flat or round; instead, this is determined thematically. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / gm2014 / African Languages / unrestricted