Optimistiese self-evaluasies oor die vermoë om take uit te voer is belangrik vir sukses in verskeie aspekte van menswees. Wanneer mense sulke self-evaluasies doen en selfdoeltreffendheids-persepsies vorm maak hulle van inligting uit verskeie bronne gebruik. Volgens teorieë wat spesifiek verband hou met self-evaluasie is mense tydens die vorming van sulke persepsies omtrent die self veral afhanklik van inligting bekom deur sosiale vergelyking. Hierteenoor beklemtoon teorieë wat meer met selfdoeltreffendheid verband hou, die belangrikheid van self-verwysende inligting soos gevorm tydens prestasie-ervarings. Die doel met hierdie navorsing is om die ordening van die bronne van inligting, wat tydens die vorming van selfdoeltreffendheids-persepsies gebruik word, te ondersoek. Die resultate sal bydra om belangrike vrae te beantwoord oor die voorbereiding van mense vir die uitvoering van uitdagende take. In 'n eksperiment (N=1 723) wat op 'n Solomon-vier-groep-ontwerp geskoei is, is drie vorme van inligting wat persepsies kan beïnvloed aan drie eksperimentele groepe verskaf terwyl daar vyf kontrolegroepe was. Die effek van die ingrepe is met 'n vraelys gemeet. Die resultate toon dat selfdoeltreffendheidspersepsies meer deur selfverwysende inligting as deur sosiale vergelykings-inligting beïnvloed word. Dit is ook bevind dat die verskaffing van addisionele inligting nie 'n kumulatiewe effek tydens die vorming van selfdoeltreffendheidspersepsies het nie. Die implikasies van die resultate ten opsigte van die praktyk en teoretiese beskouinge is in die laaste instansie bespreek. / Optimistic self-evaluation regarding the ability to cany out tasks is important for success in various fields ofhuman endeavour. When people do such self-evaluations and fmm self-efficacy perceptions, they make use of information from various sources. According to theories related to self-evaluation, people engaged in forming such perceptions about themselves largely depend on information gained through social comparison. However, theories of self-efficacy emphasize the importance of self-referenced information, such as those formed through enactive attainments. The purpose of this research is to examine the collation of sources of information used in forming self-efficacy perceptions. The results will help to answer important questions about preparing people to perform challenging tasks. In an experiment (N=l 723) modelled on the Solomon Four Group Design, three types of information likely to influence perceptions were supplied to three experimental groups, while there were five control groups. The effects of the interventions were measured by means of a questionnaire. Results confirmed that perceptions of self-efficacy are more profoundly influenced by self-referenced information than by social comparisons. It was also found that additional information did not have a cumulative effect dming the forming of self -efficacy perceptions. The implications of the results with respect to practical and theoretical viewpoints are discussed in the final instance. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Sielkunde)

Optimistiese self-evaluasies oor die vermoë om take uit te voer is belangrik vir sukses in verskeie aspekte van menswees. Wanneer mense sulke self-evaluasies doen en selfdoeltreffendheids-persepsies vorm maak hulle van inligting uit verskeie bronne gebruik. Volgens teorieë wat spesifiek verband hou met self-evaluasie is mense tydens die vorming van sulke persepsies omtrent die self veral afhanklik van inligting bekom deur sosiale vergelyking. Hierteenoor beklemtoon teorieë wat meer met selfdoeltreffendheid verband hou, die belangrikheid van self-verwysende inligting soos gevorm tydens prestasie-ervarings. Die doel met hierdie navorsing is om die ordening van die bronne van inligting, wat tydens die vorming van selfdoeltreffendheids-persepsies gebruik word, te ondersoek. Die resultate sal bydra om belangrike vrae te beantwoord oor die voorbereiding van mense vir die uitvoering van uitdagende take. In 'n eksperiment (N=1 723) wat op 'n Solomon-vier-groep-ontwerp geskoei is, is drie vorme van inligting wat persepsies kan beïnvloed aan drie eksperimentele groepe verskaf terwyl daar vyf kontrolegroepe was. Die effek van die ingrepe is met 'n vraelys gemeet. Die resultate toon dat selfdoeltreffendheidspersepsies meer deur selfverwysende inligting as deur sosiale vergelykings-inligting beïnvloed word. Dit is ook bevind dat die verskaffing van addisionele inligting nie 'n kumulatiewe effek tydens die vorming van selfdoeltreffendheidspersepsies het nie. Die implikasies van die resultate ten opsigte van die praktyk en teoretiese beskouinge is in die laaste instansie bespreek. / Optimistic self-evaluation regarding the ability to cany out tasks is important for success in various fields ofhuman endeavour. When people do such self-evaluations and fmm self-efficacy perceptions, they make use of information from various sources. According to theories related to self-evaluation, people engaged in forming such perceptions about themselves largely depend on information gained through social comparison. However, theories of self-efficacy emphasize the importance of self-referenced information, such as those formed through enactive attainments. The purpose of this research is to examine the collation of sources of information used in forming self-efficacy perceptions. The results will help to answer important questions about preparing people to perform challenging tasks. In an experiment (N=l 723) modelled on the Solomon Four Group Design, three types of information likely to influence perceptions were supplied to three experimental groups, while there were five control groups. The effects of the interventions were measured by means of a questionnaire. Results confirmed that perceptions of self-efficacy are more profoundly influenced by self-referenced information than by social comparisons. It was also found that additional information did not have a cumulative effect dming the forming of self -efficacy perceptions. The implications of the results with respect to practical and theoretical viewpoints are discussed in the final instance. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Sielkunde)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates one of the central aspects of a Kenyan woman’s identity, namely the notion of sexuality, which unfortunately also underlies numerous socio-economic and developmental challenges currently confronting Kenyan women. The research shows that in Kenya, patriarchal ideologies are used to control the sexuality of women in the name of ‘our culture’. Thus, it is and has been difficult for many Kenyan women to live with dignity as beings equally created in the image and likeness of God. The study, therefore, sought to identify, expose, criticize, destabilize and to deconstruct patriarchal ideologies that deny Kenyan women the right to live with dignity. Patriarchal ideologies that have been used to mute the voices of Kenyan women on matters of sex and sexuality are challenged by introducing the voices of Kenyan women. The latter is done with reference to poetry that reflects the voices and experiences of Kenyan women as a means of expressing who they really are in the midst of a society that silences them. It is shown that, by means of poetry, the full power and energy of these women may be mobilized. Moreover, the voices and experiences of Kenyan women offer a contextual re-reading of the Song of Songs for their dignity. The study presents the female voice in the Song of Songs (a text from a male pen) as responding in a new way to the patriarchal Old Testament society on matters of sex and sexuality. In the process, a twofold strategy is proposed with which negative perceptions of the sexuality of women in the worldview of Kenya may be addressed: First, this study proposes that it is important to purposefully steer conversations regarding issues of sex and sexuality. The latter is done in the conviction that this is one way of creating a platform for addressing other gender-based injustices that deny Kenyan women the right to live with dignity. Second, by focusing on Kenyan poetry, as well as on the female voice in the Song of Songs, there is a possibility of reconstructing positive aspects of the sexuality of Kenyan women, which may allow them to live with dignity. To achieve the aim of this study, to re-read the Song of Songs for the dignity of Kenyan women, an African Women’s Theological approach is used within the broader context of feminist and womanist approaches to the Song. Through an African Women’s approach to the Song of Songs, the study asks how the female voice that spoke boldly in the patriarchal setting of the Old Testament can also be liberating in the Kenyan patriarchal setting. The female voice in Song of Songs presents issues of sex and sexuality in a new way. As such, it is proposed that the latter voice, read through the hermeneutical lens of Kenyan women’s poetry or poetry on Kenyan women, has the potential to inform and therefore to transform the patriarchal setting of the Kenyan society. It is only if Kenyan women are empowered to negotiate safe sex and to express their sexuality on their own terms and conditions, that this will be fully realized. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek een van die sentrale aspekte van ’n Keniaanse vrou se identiteit, naamlik die idee van seksualiteit, wat ongelukkig ook onderliggend is aan talle sosio-ekonomiese en ontwikkelingsuitdagings wat Keniaanse vroue tans konfronteer. Die navorsing toon in Kenia word patriargale ideologieë gebruik om die seksualiteit van vroue te beheer in die naam van ‘ons kultuur’. Dit is dus moeilik vir baie Keniaanse vroue om met waardigheid te leef as gelyk-geskape na die beeld en gelykenis van God. Hierdie studie poog om patriargale ideologieë wat Keniaanse vrouens die reg om met waardigheid te leef ontneem te identifiseer, te kritiseer, te destabiliseer en te dekonstrueer. Die studie daag patriargale ideologieë uit wat gebruik is en word om die stemme van Keniaanse vrouens oor seks en seksualiteit stil te maak. Dit word spesifiek gedoen deur die stemme en ervarings van Keniaanse vrouens in poësie te gebruik (soms in die gedigte van manlike digters!) as uitdrukking van hulle lewens te midde van ”’n patriargale samelewing. Dit word getoon hoedat hiedie gedigte die krag en energie van hierdie vroue kan mobiliseer. Meer nog, die stemme van Keniaanse vrouens bied die geleentheid tot ’n kontekstuele herlees van Hooglied met die oog op die erkening en beskerming van hulle waardigheid. Die vroulike stem in Hooglied word verstaan as ’n nuwe reaksie op die Ou Testamentiese samelewing met betrekking tot kwessies soos seks en seksualiteit. In die proses word daar met ’n tweeledige strategie voorendag gekom waarmee die negatiewe opvattings oor die seksualiteit van vroue in die wêreldbeeld van Keniaanse mans aangespreek kan word. Eerstens word die noodsaak voorgestel van ’n doelbewuste rigtinggewing aan gesprekke oor seks en seksualiteit. Dit word gedoen vanuit die oortuiging dat dit een manier is om ’n platform te skep waar gelsagsgebasseerde ongeregtighede wat Keniaanse vroue die reg op ’n menswaardige lewe ontsê aangespreek kan word. Tweedens, deur op Keniaanse poësie en die vroulike stem in Hooglied te fokus, word voorgestel dat dat posititewe aspekte van die seksualiteit van Keniaanse vroue herkonstrueer kan word, wat dan kan meewerk om hulle met waardigheid te kan laat leef. Ten einde bogenoemde doelwit van hierdie studie te bereik, word ’n Afrika-vrouebenadering toegepas in die lees van Hooglied. Dit vind plaas binne ’n breër konteks van Feministiese en sogenaamde “Womanist” benaderings tot die boek. Met ’n Afrika vroue benadering as leesstrategie, word aangedui dat en hoe die vroulike stem wat vreesloos in haar eie patriargale, Ou Testamentiese konteks spreek ook bevrydend kan funksioneer binne die Keniaanse patriargale konteks. Daar word dus getoon dat die vroulike stem in Hooglied seks en seksualiteit op ’n nuwe manier aanbied. Gevolglik stel hierdie studie voor dat die vroulike stem in Hooglied, gelees deur die hermeneutiese lens van Keniaanse gedigte oor of deur vroue, die potensiaal het om die patriargale konteks van die Keniaanse samelewing eendersyds te ontbloot en andersyds te transformeer. Dit is slegs wanneer Keniaanse vroue bemagtig word om vir veilige seks te kan onderhandel en hulle seksualiteit op hulle eie terme uit te kan druk, dat hulle menswaardigheid ten volle gerealiseer sal word.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / GSFC in keeping with the tenets of NASA has been aggressively investigating new technologies for spacecraft and ground communications and processing. The application of these technologies, together with standardized telemetry formats, make it possible to build systems that provide high-performance at low cost in a short development cycle. The High Rate Telemetry Acquisition System (HRTAS) Prototype is one such effort that has validated Goddard's push towards faster, better and cheaper. The HRTAS system architecture is based on the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and VLSI Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). These ASICs perform frame synchronization, bit-transition density decoding, cyclic redundancy code (CRC) error checking, Reed-Solomon error detection/correction, data unit sorting, packet extraction, annotation and other service processing. This processing in performed at rates of up to and greater than 150 Mbps sustained using a high-end performance workstation running standard UNIX O/S, (DEC 4100 with DEC UNIX or better). ASICs are also used for the digital reception of Intermediate Frequency (IF) telemetry as well as the spacecraft command interface for commands and data simulations. To improve the efficiency of the back-end processing, the level zero processing sorting element is being developed. This will provide a complete hardware solution to extracting and sorting source data units and making these available in separate files on a remote disk system. Research is on going to extend this development to higher levels of the science data processing pipeline. The fact that level 1 and higher processing is instrument dependent; an acceleration approach utilizing ASICs is not feasible. The advent of field programmable gate array (FPGA) based computing, referred to as adaptive or reconfigurable computing, provides a processing performance close to ASIC levels while maintaining much of the programmability of traditional microprocessor based systems. This adaptive computing paradigm has been successfully demonstrated and its cost performance validated, to make it a viable technology for the level one and higher processing element for the HRTAS. Higher levels of processing are defined as the extraction of useful information from source telemetry data. This information has to be made available to the science data user in a very short period of time. This paper will describe this low cost solution for high rate data processing at level one and higher processing levels. The paper will further discuss the cost-benefit of this technology in terms of cost, schedule, reliability and performance.

The Solomon Islands (SI), a small developing nation in the South Pacific, demonstrates an emergent community-based kindergarten model with the potential to promote context and culture relevant early learning and development. SI early childhood education (ECE) particularly rose in prominence with a 2008 national policy enactment requiring all children to attend three years of kindergarten as prerequisite for primary school entry. However, these ECE programs remain severely challenged by faltering community support. Internationally, many ECE programs dramatically resemble a universalized Western-based model, with a decidedly specific discourse for “high quality” programs and practices for children ages 0-8. Often these uncritical international transfers of Euro-American ideologies promote restricted policies and practices. This has resulted in a self-perpetuating set of practices and values, which arguably prevent recognition of, and efforts to reinvent, more culturally-relevant, sustainable programs for the Majority World. Based on the Kahua region (est. pop. 4,500) of Makira-Ulawa Province, this collaborative, ethnographically-inspired, case study explores how community characteristics have affected the cultural and contextual sustainability of community-based ECE in remote villages. The study traces historical and cultural influences to present-day SI ECE. Subsequently, it explores the re-imagined SI approach to formal ECE program design, remaining challenges preventing these programs from being sustained by communities, and potential community-wide transformations arising from these initiatives. To achieve this, the study collaborated with stakeholders from all levels of SI society through extensive participant-observations, interviews, and participatory focus groups. Findings aspire to enlighten regional sustainable developments and resilient behaviors relating to ECE. Key research findings suggest five overarching principles influencing kindergarten sustainability: presence of “champion” for the ECE vision; community ownership-taking, awareness-building, and cooperation-maintenance; and program cultural/contextual sensitivity and relevance. These elements were found to be strongly linked with an intergenerational cultural decay in the Kahua region, as conceptualized through a model of Cyclically-Sustained Kindergarten Mediocrity.

Title: Goppa codes and their applications Author: Bc. Jaroslav Kotil Department: Department of algebra Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Aleš Drápal, CSc., DSc. Abstract: In this diploma paper we introduce Goppa codes, describe their para- metres and inclusion in Alternant codes, which are residual Generalized Reed- Solomon codes, and Algebraic-geometry codes. Aftewards we demonstrate deco- ding of Goppa codes and introduce Wild Goppa codes. We also describe post- quantum cryptography member: McEliece cryptosystem for which no effective attacks with quantum computers are known. We outline a usage of this crypto- system with Goppa codes and describe the security of the cryptosystem together with possible attacks of which the most effective ones are based on information- set decoding. Keywords: Goppa codes, Generalized Reed-Solomon codes, Algebraic-geometry codes, Post-quantum cryptography, McEliece cryptosystem 1

Submitted in the partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Arts to the Department of African Literature University of the Witwatersrand, 2017 / Sol Plaatje’s novel Mhudi revisits prominent events detailing the relationship between the various clans that occupied the South African Landscape in the 1800’s. This story is a reflection of the conflict that arises between the different groups, how it is overcome and prospects of a new harmonious beginning. Plaatje writes his novel in the light of the occurrences in South Africa following the 1913 Natives Land Act. Plaatje uses various elements of culture and literary aesthetics to pose Mhudi as an allegory of the 1913 Natives Land Act. Literature is a carrier of culture and knowledge that can be used as a credible source to assess the past, the present and the future. Plaatje uses a story of love to elucidate how love conquers evil, the story of land and the knowledge and cultural significance it holds. Through this he highlights the wisdom that lies in the knowledge and application of culture through reverence. / XL2018

Literary scholars frequently analyze the allusions to Western Christianity apparent in Toni Morrison's novels, but these studies overlook the ways in which some of her novels are informed by a Caribbean presence. This study argues that Rastafari themes, symbols, and ideologies are recurrent in Toni Morrison's Tar Baby, Beloved, and Song of Solomon. Rastafari is a social movement primarily concerned with restoring the image of Africa to a holy place. A Rastafari analysis of these texts broadens the literary spectrum to suggest that these novels highlight Morrison's attempt to write about the multifaceted element of the black community, which remains deeply connected to its American, African, and Caribbean roots. / by Nicole Racquel Carr. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Cette thèse examine la façon dont les villageois de la lagune de Lau rurale, dans la province de Malaita, aux îles Salomon, font l'expérience de l'usage des téléphones portables. J'examine l'impact réciproque exercé par la technologie de téléphonie mobile récemment adoptée vis-à-vis des technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) déjà en vigueur localement. Je m'interroge également sur l'incidence que la place marginale de Lau dans l'économie capitaliste peut avoir sur l'adoption et l'usage des téléphones portables. En outre, j'analyse les principales controverses locales autour de l'adoption et de l'utilisation des téléphones portables, la conceptualisation par les indigènes du fonctionnement des technologies numériques, la moralité associée aux téléphones portables ; j'explore enfin ce pour quoi ils sont et/ou ne sont pas destinés à être utilisés. Je me concentre ainsi sur les deux fonctions principales des téléphones portables à Gwou'ulu : d'un côté, on les emploie comme des téléphones, et de l'autre comme des dispositifs pour visionner des films. En 2014, sur environ 250 adultes habitant à Gwou'ulu, 100 possédaient un téléphone portable à titre individuel, et un plus grand nombre de villageois partageait l'usage de téléphones portables avec d'autres.Mon approche théorique approfondit l'analyse technographique permettant d'étudier les technologies numériques et la consommation des médias numériques. La technographie (c'est-à-dire l'ethnographie des technologies) est une approche pluridisciplinaire qui combine l'étude des conditions historiques, économiques, politiques, religieuses, environnementales et matérielles constituant les possibilités qui à la fois limitent et facilitent les choix des individus lors de l'adoption de nouvelles technologies, y compris les téléphones portables. Mon analyse se fonde sur l'observation participante et sur des entretiens semi-directifs menés avec les locaux et centrés sur la question de leur utilisation des téléphones portables.Les conclusions de ma recherche démontrent que la vie au village se situe dans une période de transition sociale et s'achemine vers une nouvelle forme de numérisation technologique. Ma thèse souligne comment, dans la lagune de Lau, les téléphones portables transforment les TIC d'un secteur public à un secteur privé. Elle démontre aussi qu'un usage largement individualisé des téléphones portables nourrit les incertitudes locales relatives à la façon dont les téléphones portables, en tant que téléphones et que dispositifs permettant de visionner des films, contribuent à transformer les relations sociales à la fois au sein du village et entre les villageois et leurs proches installés en ville. J'avance l'idée que les téléphones portables et leurs diverses fonctions (de la télévision à la calculatrice de poche) sont mieux décrits comme des objets super-composés, parce que les téléphones portables embrassent et troublent un grand nombre de relations sociales et de valeurs culturelles qui sont les caractéristiques déterminantes d'un groupe donné dans un lieu donné. / This thesis explores the experiences of villagers in the rural Lau Lagoon, Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, as they adopt mobile phones. I discuss how the adoption of mobile phone technology affects and is affected by existing information-communication technologies; how and to what extent Lau adoption of mobile phones is circumscribed by the marginal place of the Lau in globalized capitalist economies; and I elaborate on the main controversies that surround the adoption and use of mobile phones, local conceptualizations of how digital technologies work, their morality, what they are meant to be used for and for what they are not to be used. Specifically, I focus on the two primary functions of mobile phones in Gwou’ulu: the mobile phone as (1) telephone and (2) as movie-watching device. Theoretically, I rework approaches to technography for an investigation of digital technology and media consumption with a focus on mobile phones—in 2014 of the approximate 250 adults living in Gwou’ulu, 100 owned a personal mobile phone and many more shared a mobile phone. Technography, or ethnographies of technology, offers a strategic multi-disciplinary combination that examines the historical, economic, political, religious, environmental and material conditions that constitute the realm of possibilities that constrain but also facilitate particular sets of choices made by individuals in response to the adoption of new technologies such as mobile phones. My methods for data collection are a combination of participant observation and open ended interviews on individual mobile phone usage. My findings show village life in a transition period of technological and social digitization. They highlight how, in the Lau Lagoon, mobile phones shift information-communication technologies (ICTs) from the public to the private realm and how an individualized consumption of mobile phones fuels uncertainties as to if and how mobile phones, as telephone or as movie-watching devices, transform social relationships among village residents as well as relationships between villagers and their urban relatives. I argue that mobile phones and their diverse functions—from telephony to movie player to calculator—are best described as super-compositional objects because they encompass and agitate so many of the social relationships and cultural values that are otherwise the defining features of a particular group of peoples in a particular place.

This research is concerned with the reliable delivery of scalable compressed data over lossy communication channels. Recent works proposed several strategies for assigning optimal code redundancies to elements of scalable data, which form a linear structure of dependency, under the assumption that all source elements are encoded onto a common group of network packets. Given large data and small network packets, such schemes require very long channel codes with high computational complexity. In networks with high loss, small packets are more desirable than long packets. The first contribution of this thesis is to propose a strategy for optimally assigning elements of the scalable data to clusters of packets, subject to constraints on packet size and code complexity. Given a packet cluster arrangement, the scheme then assigns optimal code redundancies to the source elements, subject to a constraint on transmission length. Experimental results show that the proposed strategy can outperform the previous code assignment schemes subject to the above-mentioned constraints, particularly at high channel loss rates. Secondly, we modify these schemes to accommodate complex structures of dependency. Source elements are allocated to clusters of packets according to their dependency structure, subject to constraints on packet size and channel codeword length. Given a packet cluster arrangement, the proposed schemes assign optimal code redundancies to the source elements, subject to a constraint on transmission length. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed strategies for correctly modelling the dependency structure. The last contribution of this thesis is to propose a scheme for optimizing protection of scalable data where limited retransmission is possible. Previous work assumed that retransmission is not possible. For most real-time or interactive applications, however, retransmission of lost data may be possible up to some limit. In the present work we restrict our attention to streaming sources (e.g., video) where each source element can be transmitted in one or both of two time slots. An optimization algorithm determines the transmission and level of protection for each source element, using information about the success of earlier transmissions. Experimental results confirm the benefit of limited retransmission.