Purpose: Hearing loss is a prevalent condition among older adults. Structural changes at the auditory periphery, changes in central audition and cognitive function are all known to influence speech understanding in older adults. Biological aging also alters speech and voice characteristics from the age of 50 years. These changes are likely to reduce the clarity of speech signals received by older adults with age-related hearing loss. Recent findings suggest that older adults with hearing loss subjectively find listening to the speech of other older adults more effortful than listening to the speech of younger adults. However, the observations of listener effort were subjective and follow up using an objective measure was recommended. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of speaker age (young versus older) on speech understanding and listener effort in older adults with hearing loss. In addition, the relationships between these parameters, and age and working memory was investigated. It is hypothesised that older adults with hearing loss will recognise less speech, and expend more effort, while listening to speech of an older adult relative to a younger adult. Method: A dual task paradigm was used to measure speech understanding and listening effort in 18 older adult listeners with hearing loss. The primary task involved recognition of target words in sentences containing either high or low contextual cues. The secondary task required listeners to memorise the target words for later recall following a set length of sentences. Listeners performed speech understanding (primary task) under six experimental conditions: For each speaker (i.e., older adult and younger adult) there were 3 listening backgrounds: quiet, and noise at 0 dB SNR and +5 dB SNR. Results: Speech understanding in older adults with hearing loss was significantly improved when the speaker was an older adult, especially in noise. The ability to recall words from memory was also significantly better when the speaker was an older adult. Age was strongly correlated with speech understanding with contributions from hearing loss. Age and working memory had moderate correlations with word recall. Conclusion: The findings provide further evidence that peripheral hearing loss is not the only contributor to speech understanding and word recall ability in older adults. The naturally occurring speech signal also has the potential to influence speech understanding and listening effort in older adults.

There is an apparent disagreement between recent commentators who find in Nietzsche both a constructive philosophy and a compatibilist account of freedom, and Brian Leiter’s reading that rejects both. The reason for this disagreement, I argue, is that Leiter’s “illiberal” view is limited in scope to Nietzsche’s critical philosophy, while Nietzsche also has a constructive philosophy aimed at select readers. I read Nietzsche’s critical philosophy as targeting the metaphysical entities that underpin asceticism and herd values, not the mental states and processes with which these entities are associated. The “no such entity” reading preserves the resources needed to read Nietzsche as offering a replacement for the ascetic ideal—and an alternative source for life’s meaning. Although few of his readers will have been born with the drives needed to throw off herd values and enjoy compatibilist freedom, these readers are the intended audience for Nietzsche’s constructive philosophy.

The aim of the study was to analyse the survival strategies of the poor households in Boitumelo township. The research methodology used herein was two fold: Firstly, a literature research based on economic journals, previous research projects, books and internet was done in order to develop a better understanding of poverty. Secondly, an empirical research survey using questionnaires was undertaken. Over the years there have been competing theories which provide an understanding of poverty. Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Poverty captures a wide range of meanings, depending on who is defining it. Although various technical solutions have been suggested for differentiating the poor and non-poor using the monetary approach, there is no theory of poverty that clearly differentiate the poor from the non-poor. The survey results showed that 41% of all households in Boitumelo are poor and on average have an income shortage of 63% to the poverty line. Poverty within the area has a gender bias as 76% of the poor are females. The large number of households below the poverty line provided ample opportunity for further analysis to find out about the activities that they use to sustain themselves. Being unemployed in government or manufacturing industries, the urban poor are compelled to create some sort of jobs for themselves. Street vending, odd jobs, gambling, seeking credit on exploitative terms, income from state welfare, begging for survival are just a few of the activities urban poor adopt to survive / Thesis (MCom (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

A need exists to assist South Africans to make better informed food choices. The food label has the potential to assist consumers during food purchasing; however, consumers should be able to understand and use the information provided on food labels. Objective: To investigate adult consumers' understanding regarding the information on food labels and to determine whether they use the information on food labels in making food choices. Design: A cross-sectional and descriptive research approach was followed and data were collected by means of questionnaires. Combined stratified and judgemental sampling methods recruited 174 respondents involved in the purchasing of household food products. Setting: Selected supermarkets in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the North West Province, South Africa, were targeted. Subjects: Consumers of African descent and Caucasian consumers, 18 years or older, who are involved in the purchasing of household food products. Results: Information mostly used on food labels includes the expiry date, ingredient list and nutritional information, such as fat and cholesterol content. Consistently, greater use of "low in fat" and "low in cholesterol" nutrient content claims were cited. Difficulties associated with food labels were mainly indicated as the font size of the print, whereas reasons for not reading food labels were related to product attributes, demographic characteristics and situational factors. Conclusions: Findings indicate that the food choices of the majority of respondents who read food labels are influenced by the information on the food label, although respondents' understanding of the information revealed an inability to apply food label information to make food choices. Reasons for not reading food labels included opinions like the "taste and price are more important than the nutritional content of the food product", "experiencing time constraints", and "lack of education and nutritional knowledge". This study highlighted barriers in consumers' understanding and use of information on food labels. Improvements to the current food labels in South Africa are suggested, as well as guidelines for consumer education regarding the use of food labels. / Thesis (M. Consumer Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

A need exists to assist South Africans to make better informed food choices. The food label has the potential to assist consumers during food purchasing; however, consumers should be able to understand and use the information provided on food labels. Objective: To investigate adult consumers' understanding regarding the information on food labels and to determine whether they use the information on food labels in making food choices. Design: A cross-sectional and descriptive research approach was followed and data were collected by means of questionnaires. Combined stratified and judgemental sampling methods recruited 174 respondents involved in the purchasing of household food products. Setting: Selected supermarkets in Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp in the North West Province, South Africa, were targeted. Subjects: Consumers of African descent and Caucasian consumers, 18 years or older, who are involved in the purchasing of household food products. Results: Information mostly used on food labels includes the expiry date, ingredient list and nutritional information, such as fat and cholesterol content. Consistently, greater use of "low in fat" and "low in cholesterol" nutrient content claims were cited. Difficulties associated with food labels were mainly indicated as the font size of the print, whereas reasons for not reading food labels were related to product attributes, demographic characteristics and situational factors. Conclusions: Findings indicate that the food choices of the majority of respondents who read food labels are influenced by the information on the food label, although respondents' understanding of the information revealed an inability to apply food label information to make food choices. Reasons for not reading food labels included opinions like the "taste and price are more important than the nutritional content of the food product", "experiencing time constraints", and "lack of education and nutritional knowledge". This study highlighted barriers in consumers' understanding and use of information on food labels. Improvements to the current food labels in South Africa are suggested, as well as guidelines for consumer education regarding the use of food labels. / Thesis (M. Consumer Science)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Being able to predict the goal of other people’s actions is an important aspect of our daily lives. This ability allows us to interact timely with others and adjust our behaviour appropriately. The general aim of the present thesis was to explore which processes best explain our ability to predict other people’s action goals during development. There are different theories concerning this ability. Some stress the fact that observation of others actions activate the same areas of the brain involved in our own action production, this way helping us to understand what they are doing. Other theories suggest that we understand actions independently of our own motor proficiency. For example, the ability to predict other peoples’ action goals could be based on visual experience seeing others actions acquired trough time or on the assumption that actions will be performed in a rational way. The studies included in this thesis use eye tracking to study infants’ and adults’ action prediction during observation of goal directed actions. Prediction is operationalized as predictive gaze shifts to the goal of the action. Study I showed that infants are sensitive to the functionality of hand configuration and predict the goal of reaching actions but not moving fists. Fourteen-month-olds also looked earlier to the goal of reaching actions when the goal was to contain rather than displace, indicating that the overarching goal (contain/displace) impact the ability to predict local action goals, in this case the goal of the initial reaching action. Study II demonstrated that 6-month-olds, an age when infants have not yet started placing objects into containers, did not look to the container ahead of time when observing another person placing objects into containers. They did, however, look to the container ahead of time when a ball was moving on its own. The results thus indicate that different processes might be used to predict human actions and other events. Study III showed that 8-month-old infants in China looked to the mouth of an actor eating with chopsticks ahead of time but not when the actor was eating with a spoon. Swedish infants on the other hand looked predictively to the mouth when the actor was eating with a spoon but not with chopsticks. This study demonstrates that prediction of others’ goal directed actions is not simply based on own motor ability (as assumed in Study I and II) but rather on a combination of visual/cultural experience and own motor ability. The results of these studies suggest that both own motor proficiency as well as visual experience with observing similar actions is necessary for our ability to predict other people’s action goals. These results are discusses in the light of a newer account of the mirror neuron system taking both statistical regularities in the environment and own motor capabilities into account.

Rule following is a central concept in the philosophy of Wittgenstein who was one of the pioneers of modern philosophy. Wittgenstein criticizes the traditional concepts of rule, because they were vague, ambiguous, and idealized. He thinks that it is not possible to isolate rules from practice and that a rule takes its meaning in a certain context or in practice. Wittgenstein&rsquo / s concept of rule following is closely related to a set of concepts: internal relation, understanding, criterion. These concepts explains the intimate relation between rule following and practice. Wittgenstein believes that his theory of rule following does not generate some problems such as paradox of interpretation and regression. Furthermore, the concept of practice plays a central role in Wittgenstein&rsquo / s view of rule following. He removes metaphysical speculations that are put forward concerning the &ldquo / essence&rdquo / of rule following and locates rule following in a form of life, that is in a natural context. With this, he provides an explanation that clarifies misuses of language and establishes a correct relation between theory and practice.

This study investigates small firm internationalisation from an individual owner-manager’s perspective. Despite advancing our understanding of small firm internationalisation, process-based theories including the Uppsala, innovation-related and networks explanations, and more recently entrepreneurial-based theories remain vague in relation to what characterises and constitutes the internationalisation practices of small owner-managed firms. Process theories overlook the owner-manager and their practices, while entrepreneurial explanations focus on individual characteristics to the exclusion of their internationalisation practices. Furthermore, existing explanations are constrained by rationalistic assumptions prevalent in small firm internationalisation research which de-emphasise comprehensiveness, connectedness and complexity in favour of de-contextualised parsimonious causal relationships, thereby limiting investigations into how owner-managers understand and practice firm internationalisation. As a way forward, an alternative interpretive lens is adopted using a phenomenographic approach to explore how owner-managers understand and practise firm internationalisation. Consequently, the owner-manager’s lived experiences of firm internationalisation provide the point of departure for this study. In-depth interviews with owner-managers of small internationalising wineries, together with observations, field notes, documentation and secondary data formed the basis of my empirical material which was analysed in two-stages. The material was initially analysed in terms of what constituted firm internationalisation practice, and was subsequently examined to explore how owner-managers understand firm internationalisation. A small firm internationalisation activity cycle comprising: assessing and knowing markets, prospecting and attracting agent interest, assessing agent compatibility, supporting and sustaining agent relationships and termination or failure of agent relationships emerged as what constituted their internationalisation practice. Subsequent analysis revealed how owner-managers understood firm internationalisation by identifying four qualitatively different understandings of firm internationalisation practices: seeking market knowledge, competing on price, portraying distinctiveness and storytelling. The internationalisation activity cycle and the understandings of firm internationalisation were later connected to form an understanding-based theory of small firm internationalisation. This study contributes to small firm internationalisation theory in two ways: first, the articulation of an on-going and inter-connected internationalisation activity cycle of the small firm extends existing theories by providing a more complete and accurate explanation of how owner-managers of small firms conduct their internationalisation practices. It makes visible the activities, processes and relationships obscured by existing theories. The internationalisation activity cycle, through the inter-relatedness of each of the activities concurrently, combines market knowledge processes with processes of attracting, building and replacing network relationships with domestic and foreign-based actors. Second, revealing different understandings of internationalisation practices of small owner-managed firms, and associating these understandings of internationalisation with their internationalisation activity cycle not only extends existing theories but offers a new explanation of small firm internationalisation. An understanding-based theory of small firm internationalisation advocates that variations in conduct and activities undertaken by owner-managers are determined by their different understandings of firm internationalisation. As a result, owner-managers attach different meanings to the activities within the internationalisation activity cycle as they conduct their internationalisation practices. Consequently, the variability and idiosyncratic nature of small firm internationalisation is captured as one of multiplicity, rather than demanding universal explanation proposed by existing theories. Keywords: small firm, internationalisation, understanding-based theory, internationalisation activity cycle, phenomenography Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC): 150304 entrepreneurship 10%, 150308 international business 70%, 150314 small business management 20%

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