The purpose of this study is to analyse the level of good governance understanding implementation in Indonesia regional governments, identify impeding variables to good governance implementation, and evaluate the extent of international good governance standards alignment. The influence of economic and political transition, decentralisation and regional autonomy regime, bureaucracy culture, and political history is analysed to reflect the degree of good governance implementation and level of convergence to international good governance standards. The methodological approach involves a triangulation of in-depth interview, document analysis, and International Good Governance Standard comparison. Findings from the study reflect disparities in good governance understanding and implementation between Indonesia regional governments, nine main impeding variables to good governance implementation including bureaucratic culture and political history, and a positive response to convergence towards international good governance standard alignment. Findings also act as an in depth study and analysis of current Indonesia regional government situation, resulting in inputs and recommendations geared towards public policy development and good governance implementation guidelines.

[pt] A oportunidade ímpar da construção do primeiro laboratório subterrâneo no Hemisfério Sul precisa ser alicerçada com importantes objetivos científicos, de maneira a competir com os demais laboratórios já existentes ao redor do planeta. Assim, no intuito de auxiliar na solidificação desta ideia, esta tese tem o propósito de verificar o potencial de um detector de neutrinos no futuro laboratório de ANDES para a observação de neutrinos vindos da próxima Supernova Galáctica. A observação de tais partículas é de fundamental importância para a compreensão do mecanismo de explosão de estrelas e para inferir ou desvendar propriedades dos neutrinos. Para tal, simulamos o número de eventos para o decaimento Beta inverso e para o espalhamento elástico v - p que seriam obtidos com a próxima supernova com o detector de ANDES considerando diferentes tipos de cintiladores líquidos, levando em conta o efeito MSW. Mostramos que através do espalhamento elástico v - p é possível reconstruir o fluxo total de todos os sabores de neutrinos, energia média e total liberados por neutrinos não-eletrônicos. Além disso, a comparação da razão dos números de eventos que vem de corrente carregada (depende da oscilação) e de corrente neutra (independente de oscilação), nos permite inferir a hierarquia de massa para alguns casos. Adicionalmente, estudamos a contribuição do laboratório de ANDES para a observação do efeito de matéria da Terra ao compararmos dados com outros detectores do Hemisfério Norte. Finalmente, investigamos a precisão angular para determinar a direção de uma supernova apenas usando o registro de neutrinos, que pode ser o caso de Supernovas que formam buracos negros ou sofram efeito de obscurecimento devido a poeira interestelar. / [en] The unique opportunity of construction of the first underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere must be grounded with important scientific goals in order to compete with others already existing laboratories around the word. In order to compete with idea as much as possible, this PhD Thesis aims to investigate the potential of a future neutrino detector at the ANDES laboratory to the observation of such particles is of fundamental importance to understanding the mechanism and starbust inferred or unravel properties of neutrinos as mass hierarchy, for example. To this end, we simulate the number of events for inverse beta decay and the elastic scattering of v - p that would be obtained with nearby supernova at the ANDES detector taking into account different types of liquid scintillator ande the phenomenon of MSW effect. We show that through the v - p elastic scattering is possible to reconstruct the total flux of all flavors of neutrinos, total and average energy released by non-electron neutrinos. furthermore, comparison of the ratio of observed and theoretical prediction, the number of the ANDES laboratory to the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, we investigate the angular precision for determining the direction of the supernova only using its neutrinos, which can be the situation when either supernovae collapses forming black holes or obscuration due to interstellar dust.

In an ever-changing world where economic growth is inter-alia dependent on the export of bulk minerals, the risk and the severity of risk incidences in the bulk mineral supply chain should be minimised. In South Africa the export of coal is a large contributor to the GDP and any risk to this supply chain will directly affect its contribution to the GDP. Although all the stakeholders in the bulk coal export logistic chain manage the risk in their own domain, the bulk export logistic chain represents a supply chain structure where the risk of one stakeholder influences the risk of another stakeholder. Therefore, to reduce the total risk, an integrated risk management framework for the bulk coal export logistic chain is required. This study investigated the risks and the risk management processes in the bulk coal export supply chain. This logistic chain was chosen based on the monetary value the chain represents and the contribution to the GDP. A qualitative research design was used with one-on-one interviews and content analysis of risk management policies and procedures to obtain the data. The study revealed that there are risks that could not be managed on an individual stakeholder level and therefore an integrated risk management approach that considers the total bulk coal logistics export chain is required. / Entrepreneurship and Supply Chain, Transport, Tourism and Logistics Management / M. Com (Logistics Management)

The aim of this study was to ascertain the role of parental influence and, in particular, the parenting style on the development of academic responsibility in adolescence. The measurement instrument used to gauge the level of responsibility an adolescent attains was the evaluation of the individual's academic results in relation to a specific parenting style. Academic achievements were seen as a reflection of the individual's positive or negative behaviour towards his/her academic responsibilities and requirements. The research was done by means of a literature study and empirical research. The initial sample of participants consisted of adolescents between the age of fifteen and seventeen years. These individuals completed a questionnaire, which required their biographic details, their perceptions of their parents' parenting styles and their academic results. Two v learners were selected to participate in an in-depth study. One of the learners achieved academically, the other was a poor academic achiever. These individual's parenting styles to which they had been subjected, as well as their academic performances were evaluated. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Specialising in Guidance & Counselling)

The purpose of this study was to examine how male and female celebrities are represented on the 24 covers of e+, a weekly entertainment magazine that was published by Dubai-based Al Nisr Publishing. This cross-sectional, exploratory study used a qualitative visual semiotic analysis and quantitative content analysis to examine how male and female celebrities are constructed and represented on covers published between October 2010 and September 2011. In addition, the study explored whether the myths and ideologies found on the covers made an impression on the perceptions and tastes of teenagers living in the UAE. A subsequent self-administered questionnaire was completed by 30 teenagers living in the UAE aged between 16 and 19 with the purpose of determining how teenagers experienced representations of celebrities. Furthermore, to gain a deeper understanding of how teenagers experienced celebrity culture, three focus-group interviews, each comprising of six participants, are conducted. The study found that both male and female celebrities were represented in gender stereotypical roles. Results showed that male celebrities were represented as active, strong, decisive and dominant. Male celebrities were associated with success, fast cars and dangerous weapons. On the other hand, female celebrities were predominantly represented as submissive. The representations of female celebrities focused on beauty and fashion. The survey and focus-group results revealed that celebrity culture does have an influence on teenagers. Participants reported that they bought products that they saw celebrities wearing or using, emulated the celebrities’ behaviour and copied hairstyles and make-up looks. However, the study found that, in addition to celebrity culture, teenagers’ perceptions are also shaped by their peers, parents and other people they interact with such as teachers. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication Science)

In the realm of therapeutic horseback riding one becomes aware of the idiosyncratic way in which each unique individual depicts his or her experience of a therapeutic riding endeavor. This study focuses on the meanings attributed to therapeutic riding in the lives of children with cerebral palsy because the complementary use of horses in therapy with these children may be of great importance to the medical fraternity. This exploration investigated the influence of the children's relationship with a horse, and the parents' perception of horseriding as a complementary therapy to occupational- and physiotherapy. The theoretical background and a literature review on therapeutic horseback riding and cerebral palsy were presented in this study. This study followed a holistic, ecosystemic epistemology. Both a qualitative approach and a quantitative approach were adopted as two complementary sides of a more encompassing whole and provided rich descriptions of the context and research process. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Given a set of n points P ⊂ R2, the Delaunay graph of P for a family of geometric objects C is a graph defined as follows: the vertex set is P and two points p, p' ∈ P are connected by an edge if and only if there exists some C ∈ C containing p, p' but no other point of P. Delaunay graph of circle is often called as Delaunay triangulation as each of its inner face is a triangle if no three points are co-linear and no four points are co-circular. The dual of the Delaunay triangulation is the Voronoi diagram, which is a well studied structure. The study of graph theoretic properties on Delaunay graphs was motivated by its application to wireless sensor networks, meshing, computer vision, computer graphics, computational geometry, height interpolation, etc. The problem of finding an optimal vertex cover on a graph is a classical NP-hard problem. In this thesis we focus on the vertex cover problem on Delaunay graphs for geometric objects like axis-parallel slabs and circles(Delaunay triangulation). 1. We consider the vertex cover problem on Delaunay graph of axis-parallel slabs. It turns out that the Delaunay graph of axis-parallel slabs has a very special property — its edge set is the union of two Hamiltonian paths. Thus, our problem reduces to solving vertex cover on the class of graphs whose edge set is simply the union of two Hamiltonian Paths. We refer to such a graph as a braid graph. Despite the appealing structure, we show that deciding k-vertex cover on braid graphs is NP-complete. This involves a rather intricate reduction from the problem of finding a vertex cover on 2-connected cubic planar graphs. 2. Having established the NP-hardness of the vertex cover problem on braid graphs, we pursue the question of improved fixed parameter algorithms on braid graphs. The best-known algorithm for vertex cover on general graphs has a running time of O(1.2738k + kn) [CKX10]. We propose a branching based fixed parameter tractable algorithm with running time O⋆(1.2637k) for graphs with maximum degree bounded by four. This improves the best known algorithm for this class, which surprisingly has been no better than the algorithm for general graphs. Note that this implies faster algorithms for the class of braid graphs (since they have maximum degree at most four). 3. A triangulation is a 2-connected plane graph in which all the faces except possibly the outer face are triangles, we often refer to such graphs as triangulated graphs. A chordless-NST is a triangulation that does not have chords or separating triangles (non-facial triangles). We focus on the computational problem of optimal vertex covers on triangulations, specifically chordless-NST. We call a triangulation Delaunay realizable if it is combinatorially equivalent to some Delaunay triangulation. Characterizations of Delaunay triangulations have been well studied in graph theory. Dillencourt and Smith [DS96] showed that chordless-NSTs are Delaunay realizable. We show that for chordless-NST, deciding the vertex cover problem is NP-complete. We prove this by giving a reduction from vertex cover on 3-connected, triangle free planar graph to an instance of vertex cover on a chordless-NST. 4. If the outer face of a triangulation is also a triangle, then it is called a maximal planar graph. We prove that the vertex cover problem is NP-complete on maximal planar graphs by reducing an instance of vertex cover on a triangulated graph to an instance of vertex cover on a maximal planar graph.

The main aim of this research is to relate the theory of ISD discussed in Hirschheim’s and Klein’s article ”Four Paradigms of Information Systems Development” (ISD) to Churchman’s theory of ISD discussed in his book ”The Design of Inquiring Systems”. It has been important to relate those two assumptions of ISD in order to enhance both of them and to get a more explicit understanding of ISD. The main hypothesis in this research has been that it is possible to relate them to each other and to clarify and enhance them since they are both based on philosophical assumptions of knowledge generation i.e. epistemology. Epistemological and ontological aspects of knowledge generation and nature of societies are very important for understanding of IS since knowledge transfer is more and more common because of ICT development. The synthesis of those two well-known approaches to ISD is the main contribution of this research master thesis. The other contributions are the solution for double-loop learning through multi-agent system development and the solution for developing sustainable network societies through peer-to-peer networking combined with centralised networking functioning as a library. I also have given an explicit explanation of the differences between monism (holism) and pluralism, in this case regarding to Leibniz’s and Locke’s philosophical views. Singerian epistemology has been generated from his explanation of insufficiency of either rationalist or interpretative approaches for explanation of natural laws and this is also one of my contributions in this research. I also recommended a complementary use of the rationalist, empirical and interpretative research methodologies for research in theoretical, experimental, applied and social science fields. It has been also examined which methodologies are predominating at universities offering degrees in social informatics and it has appeared that on the most of universities offering degree in social informatics, proper research methodologies for studying societies are used what had been expected.

In this thesis, an approach is presented for the generation of grids suitable for the simulation of high Reynolds number viscous flows in complex three-dimensional geometries. The automatic and reliable generation of such grids is today on the biggest bottlenecks in the industrial CFD simulation environment.<p><p>In the proposed approach, unstructured tetrahedral grids are employed for the regions far from the viscous boundaries of the domain, while semi-structured layers of high aspect ratio prismatic and hexahedral elements are used to provide the necessary grid resolution inside the boundary layers and normal to the viscous walls. The definition of the domain model is based on the STEP ISO standard and the topological information contained in the model is used for applying the hierarchical grid generation parameters defined by the user. An efficient, high-quality and robust algorithm is presented for the generation of the unstructured simplicial (triangular of tetrahedral) part of the grid. The algorithm is based on the Delaunay triangulation and the internal grid points are created following a centroid or frontal approach. For the surface grid generation, a hybrid approach is also proposed similar to the volume.<p>Semi-structured grids are generated on the surface grid (both on the edges and faces of the domain) to improve the grid resolution around convex and concave ridges and corners, by aligning the grid elements in the directions of high solution gradients along the surface. A method is also developed for automatically setting the grid generation parameters related to the surface grid generation based on the curvature of the surface in order to obtain an accurate and smooth surface grid. Finally, a semi-structured prismatic/hexahedral grid generation algorithm is presented for the generation of the part of grid close to the viscous walls of the domain. The algorithm is further extended with improvements meant to increase the grid quality around concave and convex ridges of the domain, where the semi-structured grids are known to be inadequate.<p><p>The combined methodology is demonstrated on a variety of complex examples mainly from the automotive and aeronautical industry. / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The purpose of this research is to conduct an evaluation of the return on investment value of Employee Assistance Programmes within the South African context. Assistance to employees originated from the 19th century. The term Employee Assistance Programmes was however formulated in the 1970’s in the United States. The Employee Assistance field has since seen a paradigm shift in its focus, significant growth in its market value (amount of corporate clients internationally investing in EAPs for their employees), the establishment of a regulatory and ethical body through EAPA and its formalization as an academic discipline. This study takes the concept of return on investment value of EAPs further than the ratio of benefit-to-cost. The utilization of different data sources, inclusive of quantitative and qualitative instruments creates an opportunity to explore areas of value perception of different role players in the field. It furthermore maps the subjective and objective experience of behaviour change resulting from personal problems and the journey of change as a result of focused interventions. The consistency of views across different datasources as well as between different industries strengthens the value add claims of EAPs as contributing to the financial bottom line of companies. This study advocates for the importance of programme evaluation as a central part of EAP contracting. It furthermore also highlights the importance of documentation of employee performance for evaluation purposes. It illustrates a journey that can be complicated by the failure to agree to evaluative terms at program inception as well as unstructured data-capturing within companies. Employee behaviour consists of both computable and incomputable elements. Generally the focus of a return on investment study would be the computable components of human behaviour. This investigation however highlights significant elements of risk relating to employee performance challenges that is not easy to include in a ROI but holds significant financial and reputational risks for corporate clients. The influence of individual performance challenges on teams and the challenges it holds for line managers is also highlighted through the qualitative journey of this study. Employee behaviour seems vulnerable to internal and external forces and as a result companies’ productivity can be affected by how individual employees respond to these forces. It could be accepted that interventions that is aimed at stabilising and improving employee behaviour, will inevitably impact work performance and as a result the financial bottom-line of the company. Employee Assistance Programmes often operates in an arena where other programmes aimed at impacting employee behaviour are also present. It is thus difficult to isolate it’s intervention as being one of the main behaviour changing facilitators of the company. This study acknowledges this challenge and changes focus to different data-sources reporting on employee behaviour before and after EAP intervention. The consistency of data across these different data-sources becomes one of the main reporting areas for this study. Eventually the challenges encountered in this study guides the advocacy in the recommendations for a thorough agreement of programme evaluation at inception, the areas that will be included in such evaluations, the availability of Human Resource data to ensure effective evaluation inclusive of ROI assessments, targeted assessments at service provider level with effective software support. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted