Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Primary health care telemedicine services require the acquisition and transmission of patient data including high quality still and video images via telecommunication networks. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the implementation of a generalpurpose medical camera as an alternative to the complex and costly CCD based cameras generally in use at present. The design is based on FillFactory’s SXGA (1280 ×1024) CMOS image sensor. A low-cost Altera Cyclone FPGA is used for signal interfacing, filtering and colour processing to enhance image quality. A Cypress USB 2.0 interface chip is employed to isochronously transfer video data up to a maximum rate of 23.04 MBytes per second to the PC. A detailed design and video image results are presented and discussed; however the camera will need repackaging and an approval for medical application by medical specialists and concerned bodies before releasing it as full-fledged product. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Primêre gesondheidssorg telemedisyne dienste moet hoëkwaliteit televisiebeelde van hul pasiënte verkry deur van telekommunikasienetwerke gebruik te maak. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om die toepassing van n meerdoelige mediese kamera te ondersoek as n alternatief tot duur, komplekse CCD-gebaseerde kameras wat huidiglik gebruik word. Die ontwerp is gebaseer op n hoëkwaliteit CMOS beeldsensor. n Goedkoop Altera Cyclone FPGA word gebruik vir seinkoppelvlak, filtering en kleurprosessering om die kwaliteit van die beeld te verhoog. n Hoëspoed USB 2.0 poort word gebruik om die data teen die nodige spoed te versend. n Gedetailleerde ontwerp, en die beeldresultate word voorgelê en bespreek. Die kamera moet egter eers deur mediese spesialiste en relevante beheerliggame goedgekeur word voordat dit as n volledige produk vrygestel kan word.

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The thesis deals with ways of increasing efficiency in retail with focus on logistics from theoretical as well as practical perspective. Application of the practical part is demonstrated on the example of Dotcom, online store project of Tesco Stores ČR a.s. First aim of the thesis is to identify areas with the biggest potential in increasing efficiency with respect to financial demands of the eventual investment and to propose a potential solution. Second aim is to verify a hypothesis that the delivery of goods to customers is inefficient given that the planning system is not being linked to the tracking system.

Researchers have studied adolescent bullying behavior since the 1970s, however, today's technological advances have opened the door to a new form of abuse. Teens can no longer escape the wrath of their bullies once they have left the school grounds, because bullies are following them home. Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon in which bullies use computer-mediated communication (CMC) to torment their victims. This research project focused on uncovering some of the mysteries surrounding this new means of bullying. A grounded theory analysis of stories written by victims revealed cyberbullies often use synchronous chat tools, e-mail, web sites, and cell phone text messages to reach their victims. Data analysis also revealed victims use of contextualization, descriptions of their bullying episodes, and discussions of their responses and outcomes to characterize their experiences. Interestingly, the researcher found victims of cyberbullying generally were also victims off face-to-face bullying as well.

Telehealth is needed urgently nationwide, given the COVID-19 pandemic. It isespecially urgent in rural and less populated areas where healthcare access is limited. Currently, because there are no pediatric handwriting assessments validated for telehealth use, the TeleWrite assessment would fill an unmet service need and expand the use of telehealth-based occupational therapy (OT) assessment in pediatric practice. This dissertation explored the preliminary psychometric properties of TeleWrite, a handwriting assessment tool designed to measure the legibility and fluency of handwriting for children in first through third grade administered via telehealth. A series of studies were completed to determine initial interrater reliability, content validity, and clinical utility using classical test theory. The Rasch model of measurement was used to determine the preliminary psychometric properties of TeleWrite using Winsteps® (v. 4.7.0). The quantitative Rasch analysis of TeleWrite included administration of the tool to 148 children from first to third grade. This study tested the initial construct validity (internal validity) and test reliability of TeleWrite using the Rasch model of measurement. The Partial Credit Model (PCM) was used for rating scale analysis because TeleWrite is composed of three distinct scales (handwriting rate, accuracy, and fluency) that differs per task (near point or far point) and per grade level. The Rasch analysis showed a generally good fit with the Rasch unidimensional model, indicating strong construct and internal validity and moderate ability to separate abilities of students reliably in terms of handwriting skills. However, following the Rasch model, a larger sample is necessary to obtain improved calibration, reliability, and validity measures. This study and supported by the literature described the need for a new handwriting evaluation tool validated for telehealth use. The findings of the current research contribute to the literature and OT practice as the first handwriting assessment specifically designed and validated for telehealth use that assesses all pertinent variables of handwriting associated with handwriting difficulties.

The remarkable increase in the use of sensors in our daily lives has provided an increasing number of opportunities for decision-making and automation of events. Opportunities for decision-making have further risen with the advent of smart technology and the omnipresence of sensors. Various methods have been devised to detect different events in a driving environment using smart-phones as they provide two main advantages: they remove the need to have dedicated hardware in vehicles and they are widely accessible. Rewarding safe driving has always been an important issue for insurance companies. With this intention, they are now moving toward implementing plans that consider current driving usage (Usage-based-drive plans) in contrast with traditional history-based-plans. The detection of driving events is important in insurance telematics for this purpose. Events such as acceleration and turning are good examples of important information. The sensors are capable of detecting whether a car is accelerating or braking, while through fusing services we can detect other events like speeding or the occurrence of a severe weather phenomenon that can affect driving. This thesis aims to look at the telematics from a new angle that employs smart-phones as the sensing platform. We proposed a new hybrid classification algorithm that detects acceleration-based events with an F1-score of 0.9304 and turn events with an F1-score of 0.9038. We further performed a case study on measuring the performance of driving utilizing various measures. This index can be used by a wide range of benefactors such as the insurance and transportation industries.

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Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Research Problem: Research commences at the point where within our department we begin to reflect on penetrating a new market. At first this reflection can be a very unstructured thought, a conjecture, a question, or hypothesis. In our case, it was about entering the Brazilian telematics or more commonly known the ‘tracking’ market. One of the most competitive markets in the world in terms of lower margins and a high number of competitors. Thus, the need to conduct research and CI analysis was paramount; this was because we had no idea about the Brazilian Telematics market. Therefore, we used research primarily to identify key issues relating to telematics (segment, competitors, customers etc) in Brazil. Like most companies however, our resources was limited in terms of investment and manpower. Apart from commissioning a very specific research, a great deal of desk, or secondary research was undertaken, this proved very valuable when formulating our strategy and achieving actionable results. Overall Objectives: The aim was to utilise mostly Competitive Intelligence and Market Research, two key components within Knowledge Management, to obtain and analyse competitive information from multiple sources to aid DigiCore’s international expansion. For the International team Competitive Intelligence was more than analyzing competitors - it was about making DigiCore more competitive relative to its existing set of competitors and potential competitors in international markets. Predictive analysis - analysing and documenting the likely moves of foreign markets and competitors was a key objective, especially in aiding our final strategy in Brazil. Various aspects of CI and Knowledge Management became indispensable to formulate and implement our strategy in Brazil. Research Design/Methodology: sampling, representativeness and data collection, CI, analysis and interpretation were key activities we conducted. In essence, for DigiCore a well-defined research problem is a precondition for our Brazilian project. The development of a research design thus follows logically from the research problem. A set of guidelines and instructions needed to be followed in order to address our research problem. Main Results: there is the misconception that CI and market research duplicate activities, whilst there may be some truth, for DigiCore CI was undertaken to understand our environment better – beyond percentages, graphs and statistic analysis. CI helped us to forecast, validate industry rumours and ultimately make effective decisions and thus being able to act rather than react. In fact, beginning any competitive intelligence project is a daunting task, but the end results made the whole process worth it. A further component was Managing Information Systems - Our technology is based on ‘complicated’ internal and external environments that need to be considered. So whilst, market research and competitive analysis may aid in the final decision making and ongoing strategies, without juxtaposing these efforts within an information systems environment, the whole project would be futile. Conclusion: there is no doubt in our minds, that by using CI, Market Research, and Knowledge Management in all of our key stages and activities we came closer to our overall objective of penetrating the Brazilian telematics market. Whilst it is too soon to evaluate our success and overall long-term growth, without the above tools we know for certain that there would not have been any success at all.

This thesis deals with a specific area of telematics systems - intelligent transport systems for private vehicles. The main objective is to compare telematics services in the insurance industry in the Czech Republic and in selected foreign countries (UK, USA, Germany and Russia) and propose an extension of these services, which could be implemented in a particular society dedicated to the insurance industry. Proposal to extend the product service from the insurance telematics is drawn through two project plans. The main goal is accomplished through several other sub-objectives, in identifying the theoretical concepts related to these issues and overall definition of telematics for analysis of telematic services. Another sub-goal is to monitor the Czech market providers of navigation systems and vehicle monitoring, comparison and evaluation of the products aimed at this issue. Contribution of the work is mainly mapping market, what products and services are offered. The solution also helps to compare the chosen methodology through the evaluation criteria. Evaluation of this situation will be reflected as a recommendation for a specific provider from the insurance industry. Analysis of products and services is also beneficial for the customer, provides an overview of the products and their evaluation, which basically points out what is appropriate to focus on making these products.

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