The aim of this study was to identify differences in how the service respite care in ordinary housing is offered to people who are caring for or supporting relatives with dementia in nine municipalities in a region in southern Sweden. The study has focused on organizational factors that may affect the use of the service and the theoretical aspects of professional discretion and assessment principles in social work. To examine this, data was collected from a semi-structured survey (n = 59) directed to assistance officers and chief managers. Secondary quantitative data from a mapping of the nine municipalities support for people with dementia and their relatives was also included in the study. The methods used to analyse data were statistical analysis and quantitative content analysis. The span between equal and individual care have been studied to gain perspective on how local assistance officers and chief managers can adapt the availability and configuration of the service, in relation to the guidelines and the individual's needs. The results of the study show that there are differences in how municipalities offer respite care in ordinary housing for the informal carers and on what grounds they have access to it. There are also differences in the range of the service in some of the municipalities. Respondents estimate that they have wide professional discretion to adapt the service to individual needs, while they feel that the municipality's guidelines should be followed. Furthermore, the results show that use of the service is relatively low in the studied municipalities. To increase the use, respondents believe that security, confidence and trust are especially important in the relationship between the staff in home care services and the carers.

This study sought to find out ways in which teachers can be supported to implement inclusive education at a primary school in the Kwaluseni district of Swaziland. The government of Swaziland introduced Free Primary Education ( F.P.E) also called mainstreaming. As per governments order, parents brought their learners for grade 1 and that was in 2010 January. That marked the beginning of the problem as teachers were not used to teaching disadvantaged learners in their classes but believed that such learners have to be transferred to specials schools of which the country only has four. The study is a case study using a qualitative approach. Purposive sampling was used in choosing the sample. The key informant were teachers from Kwaluseni primary school. For data collection a designed interview with semi structured and open ended items was used. Data was analysed using codes and there was a search for patterns of thinking or behaviour, words or phrases that appeared with regularity was the coding categories. A report was then written based on the findings. Then recommendations were stated. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Mathematical models have been used to capture the behaviour of biological systems, from low-level biochemical reactions to multi-scale whole-organ models. Models are typically based on experimentally-derived data, attempting to reproduce the observed behaviour through mathematical constructs, e.g. using Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) for spatially-homogeneous systems. These models are developed and published as mathematical equations, yet are of such complexity that they necessitate computational simulation. This computational model development is often performed in an ad hoc fashion by modellers who lack extensive software engineering experience, resulting in brittle, inefficient model code that is hard to extend and reuse. Several Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) exist to aid capturing such biological models, including CellML and SBML; however these DSLs are designed to facilitate model curation rather than simplify model development. We present research into the application of techniques from software engineering to this domain; starting with the design, development and implementation of a DSL, termed Ode, to aid the creation of ODE-based biological models. This introduces features beneficial to model development, such as model verification and reproducible results. We compare and contrast model development to large-scale software development, focussing on extensibility and reuse. This work results in a module system that enables the independent construction and combination of model components. We further investigate the use of software engineering processes and patterns to develop complex modular cardiac models. Model simulation is increasingly computationally demanding, thus models are often created in complex low-level languages such as C/C++. We introduce a highly-efficient, optimising native-code compiler for Ode that generates custom, model-specific simulation code and allows use of our structured modelling features without degrading performance. Finally, in certain contexts the stochastic nature of biological systems becomes relevant. We introduce stochastic constructs to the Ode DSL that enable models to use Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs), the Stochastic Simulation Algorithm (SSA), and hybrid methods. These use our native-code implementation and demonstrate highly-efficient stochastic simulation, beneficial as stochastic simulation is highly computationally intensive. We introduce a further DSL to model ion channels declaratively, demonstrating the benefits of DSLs in the biological domain. This thesis demonstrates the application of software engineering methodologies, and in particular DSLs, to facilitate the development of both deterministic and stochastic biological models. We demonstrate their benefits with several features that enable the construction of large-scale, reusable and extensible models. This is accomplished whilst providing efficient simulation, creating new opportunities for biological model development, investigation and experimentation.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In an otherwise broad literature on civil conflict little attention has so far been paid to actual conflict violence and variation in severity. Existing work is also hampered by a reliance on a ‘closed polity’ model of the state, leading to disregard of the transnational dimensions of internal conflict, and by a dependence on over‐aggregated data. The present inquiry expands on the existing explanatory framework for variation in civil conflict severity by including transnational factors and characteristics of sub‐national actors. Data on conflict battle deaths are combined with recently available data on transnational ethnic linkages, transnational support and neighbouring conflict as well as other actor and country characteristics. Results from ordinary least squares regression analysis indicate that support for rebel groups from external non‐state actors increase conflict severity, while rebel presence in other states is associated with less severe conflicts. In addition, severity increases with duration but with a diminishing marginal return. Internal armed conflicts are less severe in democratic and ethnically polarised countries but rebel territorial control increases the level of violence. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die andersins omvangryke literatuur oor burgerlike konflik is daar tot op hede min aandag geskenk aan werklike konflikgeweld en variasie in felheid (vernietigende omvang). Bestaande werk word ook belemmer omdat dit staat maak op ’n model van die staat as ‘geslote regering’, wat lei tot verontagsaming van die transnasionale dimensies van interne konflik, en staat maak op oor‐geaggregeerde data. Hierdie ondersoek brei uit op die bestaande verklarende raamwerk vir variasie in felheid van burgerlike konflik deur transnasionale faktore en eienskappe van subnasionale deelnemers in te sluit. Data oor konflikgevegsterftes is gekombineer met onlangse data oor transnasionale etniese koppelings, transnasionale steun en naburige konflik, sowel as ander deelnemer‐ en landeienskappe. Resultate van gewone kleinstekwadrate‐regressie‐analise dui daarop dat steun aan rebellegroepe deur eksterne nie‐staatsdeelnemers konflikfelheid laat toeneem, terwyl rebelleteenwoordigheid in ander lande geassosieer word met minder fel konflikte. Felheid neem ook toe saam met duur maar met ’n afnemende marginale opbrengs. Interne gewapende konflikte is minder fel in demokratiese en etnies gepolariseerde lande, maar rebellebeheer oor grondgebied verhoog die vlak van geweld.

本研究欲觀察人口老化與所得分配之關係，檢視人口老化對於所得分配之影響，而文中主要分別從「內政部統計年報」、「家庭收支調查表」、「人力統計資源年報」以及各縣市統計要覽獲得各種解釋變數，建立出台灣1998年至2005年總計8年台灣各縣市之資料，並且以各縣市之吉尼係數為被解釋變數，採用最小平方法之方式藉此觀察台灣各縣市所得分配與人口老化之關係。 根據實證結果發現，人口老化與所得分配為顯著並且呈現正相關，亦即當人口老化更加嚴重時，將會導致較大的吉尼係數，造成所得不均之惡化。 其他解釋變數為顯著者分別有：平均每人可支配所得、平均每人可支配所得平方項、婦女勞動參與率以及各區域變數，且除了平均每人可支配所得平方項為負相關外，其餘皆與吉尼係數為正相關，其中所得方面之變數顯示出台灣中存在著Kuznets曲線；婦女勞動參與率的擴張則會導致所得分配更加惡化；中部、南部以及東部地區相對於北部區域來說其所得分配之狀況皆較不平均。而其他解釋變數如社會福利變數、教育變數以及工業變數所得之結果皆不顯著，顯示上述三個變數對台灣各縣市所得分配之影響在本研究中無法確定。 / This research discusses the relationship between aging population and income distribution, and examines how the aging population affects income distribution. The independent variables were acquired from the Statistical Yearbook of the Interior, The Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, the Statistical Yearbook of Labor Force and the Statistical Yearbook from each twenty-three counties and cities in Taiwan to construct a data set from 1998 to 2005. Using the ordinary least squares method and choosing the gini coefficient as a dependent variable to observe the relationship between income distribution and aging population. According to the result of the empirical study, we discover that the effect of aging population is significant and has a positive relationship with income distribution. Income inequality is worse when the aging population increases. Other significant independent variables are disposable income per person, the square of disposable income per person, female labor participation rate and the regional dummy variables. Besides the square of disposable income per person, all variables have a positive relationship with the gini coefficient. In addition, the variable of income shows that Kuznets curve appears in Taiwan. The expansion of the female labor participation will cause the income distribution to change into inequality. Also the north region has the worst income distribution in Taiwan. The results of the social welfare variable, the education variable and the industry variable are insignificant so that in this article we can not observe how the three variables effect the income distribution in Taiwan.

When traditional linearised theory is used to study free-surface flows past a surface-piercing object or over an obstruction in a stream, the geometry of the object is usually lost, having been assumed small in one or several of its dimensions. In order to preserve the nonlinear nature of the geometry, asymptotic expansions in the low-Froude or low-Bond limits can be derived, but here, the solution invariably predicts a waveless free-surface at every order. This is because the waves are in fact, exponentially small, and thus beyond-all-orders of regular asymptotics; their formation is a consequence of the divergence of the asymptotic series and the associated Stokes Phenomenon. In this thesis, we will apply exponential asymptotics to the study of two new problems involving nonlinear geometries. In the first, we examine the case of free-surface flow over a step including the effects of both gravity and surface tension. Here, we shall see that the availability of multiple singularities in the geometry, coupled with the interplay of gravitational and cohesive effects, leads to the discovery of a remarkable new set of solutions. In the second problem, we study the waves produced by bluff-bodied ships in low-Froude flows. We will derive the analytical form of the exponentially small waves for a wide range of hull geometries, including single-cornered and multi-cornered ships, and then provide comparisons with numerical computations. A particularly significant result is our confirmation of the thirty-year old conjecture by Vanden-Broeck & Tuck (1977) regarding the impossibility of waveless single-cornered ships.

The performance modelling of large-scale systems using discrete-state approaches is fundamentally hampered by the well-known problem of state-space explosion, which causes exponential growth of the reachable state space as a function of the number of the components which constitute the model. Because they are mapped onto continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs), models described in the stochastic process algebra PEPA are no exception. This thesis presents a deterministic continuous-state semantics of PEPA which employs ordinary differential equations (ODEs) as the underlying mathematics for the performance evaluation. This is suitable for models consisting of large numbers of replicated components, as the ODE problem size is insensitive to the actual population levels of the system under study. Furthermore, the ODE is given an interpretation as the fluid limit of a properly defined CTMC model when the initial population levels go to infinity. This framework allows the use of existing results which give error bounds to assess the quality of the differential approximation. The computation of performance indices such as throughput, utilisation, and average response time are interpreted deterministically as functions of the ODE solution and are related to corresponding reward structures in the Markovian setting. The differential interpretation of PEPA provides a framework that is conceptually analogous to established approximation methods in queueing networks based on meanvalue analysis, as both approaches aim at reducing the computational cost of the analysis by providing estimates for the expected values of the performance metrics of interest. The relationship between these two techniques is examined in more detail in a comparison between PEPA and the Layered Queueing Network (LQN) model. General patterns of translation of LQN elements into corresponding PEPA components are applied to a substantial case study of a distributed computer system. This model is analysed using stochastic simulation to gauge the soundness of the translation. Furthermore, it is subjected to a series of numerical tests to compare execution runtimes and accuracy of the PEPA differential analysis against the LQN mean-value approximation method. Finally, this thesis discusses the major elements concerning the development of a software toolkit, the PEPA Eclipse Plug-in, which offers a comprehensive modelling environment for PEPA, including modules for static analysis, explicit state-space exploration, numerical solution of the steady-state equilibrium of the Markov chain, stochastic simulation, the differential analysis approach herein presented, and a graphical framework for model editing and visualisation of performance evaluation results.

Capillaries in tumours are often severely buckled (in a plane perpendicular to the axis) and / or chaotic in their direction. We develop a model of these phenomena using nonlinear solid mechanics. Our model focusses on the immediate surrounding of a capillary. The vessel and surrounding tissue are modelled as concentric annulii. The growth is dependent on the concentration of a nutrient (oxygen) diffusing from the vessel into the tumour interstitium. The stress is modelled using a multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient F=F_e F_g. The stress is determined by substituting the elastic deformation gradient F_e (which gives the deformation gradient from the hypothetical configuration to the current configuration) into a hyperelastic constitutive model as per classical solid mechanics. We use a Blatz-Ko model, parameterised using uniaxial compression experiments. The entire system is in quasi-static equilibrium, with the divergence of the stress tensor equal to zero. We determine the onset of buckling using a linear stability analysis. We then investigate the postbuckling behaviour by introducing higher order perturbations in the deformation and growth before using the Fredholm Alternative to obtain the magnitude of the buckle. Our results demonstrate that the growth-induced stresses are sufficient for the capillary to buckle in the absence of external loading and / or constraints. Planar buckling usually occurs after 2-5 times the cellular proliferation timescale. Buckles with axial variation almost always go unstable after planar buckles. Buckles of fine wavelength are initially preferred by the system, but over time buckles of large wavelength become energetically more favourable. The tumoural hoop stress T_{ThetaTheta} is the most invariant (Eulerian) variable at the time of buckling: it is typically of the order of the tumoural Young's Modulus when this occurs.

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maître en droit (LL.M.)" / La mesure d'exception de renvoi des adolescents vers les tribunaux pour adultes qui était prévue par la Loi sur les jeunes contrevenants, désormais abolie, est le sujet de cette recherche. Depuis quelques années, des modifications apportées à la mesure de renvoi sont venues faciliter la procédure permettant d'envoyer un adolescent devant la juridiction criminelle adulte. Les années qui se sont écoulées depuis les amendements législatifs apportés en 1992 et 1995 à la mesure de renvoi et les nouveaux changements apportés par la récente Loi sur le système de justice pénale pour les adolescents soulèvent inévitablement plusieurs questions. La question principale de recherche concerne plus particulièrement l'étude des perceptions des différents acteurs impliqués (juges, procureurs de la Couronne et avocats de la défense) dans le processus judiciaire quant aux changements sur leur pratique et ce, dans le contexte des amendements législatifs. Nous voulons vérifier si les changements apportés permettent toujours aux différents praticiens de privilégier en matière de renvoi les mesures de traitement, de réhabilitation, d'aide ou d'éducation. Par l'analyse des résultats d'entrevues que nous avons effectuées avec différents acteurs judiciaires, nous concluons que les perceptions sont à l'effet qu'il n'y a eu que peu de modifications aux pratiques. Les différents acteurs perçoivent qu'ils ont pu, malgré les amendements, privilégier la réhabilitation de l'adolescent et ce, malgré le fait qu'ils aient aussi la perception que les modifications apportées aient un caractère de plus en plus répressif. / The exceptional measure of youth transfer to ordinary court, which was prescribed by the recently abolished Young of Jenders Act, is the subject ofthis research. Over the last few years, some amendments thave modified the measure of transfer which has eased the procedure to transfer a youth to an ordinary court.The years that have passed since the legislative amendments enacted in 1992 and 1995 to the transfer provisions and the changes brought by the recent Youth Criminal Justice Act raise several questions. The principal question of this research particularly concerns the manner in which the actors (judges, Crown prosecutors and defense lawyer) involved in the judicial proceedings perceive the changes in their practices within the context of the amendments. We want to verify ifthe different actors are still able to give greater importance to the measures of treatment, rehabilitation, assistance and education despite the fact that the legislative provisions are more repressive. With the help ofthe results obtained from the interviews heId with differents actors, we conclude that the perceptions indicate that there is not much change in the practices. The different actors, despite the amendments, perceive that they were able to give greater importance to the measures of treatment, rehabilitation, assistance and education, even though they believe that the amendments are more and more repressive.

Swarms of animals exhibit aggregations whose behavior is a challenge for mathematicians to understand. We analyze this behavior numerically and analytically by using the pairwise interaction model known as the Morse potential. Our goal is to prove the global stability of the candidate local minimizer in 1D found in A Primer of Swarm Equilibria. Using the calculus of variations and eigenvalues analysis, we conclude that the candidate local minimizer is a global minimum with respect to all solution smaller than its support. In addition, we manage to extend the global stability condition to any solutions whose support has a single component. We are still examining the local minimizers with multiple components to determine whether the candidate solution is the minimum-energy configuration.