Regular physical activity can help prevent chronic conditions and it is positively linked to health-related quality of life (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). Unfortunately, many older adults do not engage in leisure time activity (USDHHS, 2000); making it important to design and test physical activity interventions for this population. The purpose of this dissertation was to review the external validity of theory-based physical activity interventions and to examine the efficacy of a mail-based physical activity intervention. The review included 54 theory-based interventions and overall the studies focused on internal rather than external validity. The hypotheses of the experimental study were that the psychological mediators and physical activity participation would significantly increase among the treatment group as compared to the control group, and that the changes in the mediators would be related to the changes in activity levels. The intervention included 4 weekly stage-matched packages targeting population specific physical activity beliefs (Antikainen et al., 2009) and weekly phone calls to reassess stages of change. Physical activity participation, stages of change, and theory of planned behavior constructs were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Differences in activity levels and theory-based constructs were assessed with repeated measures mixed analysis of variance. Stage of change progression was examined with chi-square analysis. Measured variable path analysis was used to determine associations between the theory constructs, stages of change, and physical activity participation. The participants were 55 older adults, ages 54 to 96 years. Most of the participants were female, Black, and reported low levels of education and income. The treatment group reported statistically significantly greater physical activity after the intervention than the control group that reported lower levels of activity at follow-up. Although not statistically significant, there was a trend in SOC progression after the intervention in the treatment group. Finally, the integrated model was found to have a good fit at follow-up and perceived behavioral control emerged as a significant predictor of physical activity. This research provides important information for the design of physical activity interventions based upon the integrated framework for translation to community-based organizations.

Due to the complicated nature of medical information needs, the time constraints of clinicians, and the linguistic complexities and sheer volume of medical information, most medical questions go unanswered. It has been shown that nearly all of these questions can be answered with the presently available medical sources and that when these questions get answered, patient health benefits. In this work, we design and describe a framework for Evidence-Based medical information research and delivery, MedicInfoSys. This system leverages the strengths of knowledge-based workers and of mature knowledge-based technologies within the medical domain. The most critical element of this framework, is a search interface, PifMed. PifMed uses gold-standard MeSH categorization (presently integrated into medline) as the basis of a navigational structure, which allows users to browse search results with an interactive tree of categories. Evaluation by user study shows it to be superior to PubMed, in terms of speed and usability.

According to Goldstuck (2008), there were 4.6 million Internet users in South Africa for 2008 year-end. This corresponds to a penetration rate of 10.5% based on an estimated South Africa population of 43.8 million (.internetworldstats.). Given this popularity, this qualitative case study has analysed the design of Web-Based Teaching and Learning (WBTL) environments designed by Educational Technology facilitators in South African higher education institutions. The conceptual and theoretical framework for this study presents Activity Theory (AT) as a theoretical framework together with constructivist learning. It also presents the different qualities and skills utilised for WBTL facilitators. AT involves three levels in a form of a hierarchy. The three levels are “the uppermost level of activity is driven by an object-related motive (or objective) [activity level]; the middle level of individual or group action is driven by a goal [action level]; and the bottom level of automatic operations is driven by the conditions and tools of action at hand [automatic operation]” (Engestrom, Miettenin & Punamaki, 1999) Constructivism is used as a theory of inquiry. The strength of constructivism was found to be in the five basic themes identified by Mahoney (2005), six elements of constructivism discovered by Gognon and Collay (1999), levels of interaction identified by Anderson and Elloumi (2004) and components of effective Web learning and characteristics of projects or tasks. The main components of effective Web learning are student preparation, student activities, student interaction and student transfer. While working with the Web in teaching and learning this study proposed the concept of considering The Tree Three Rings Theory (TTTRT) to be used as a solution for the practice. TTTRT works with the three schools of thought (behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism). The three rings are: (1) the use of search engines in teaching and learning (easiest ring), (2) use of Learning Management System in teaching and learning (LMS) (easier ring) and (3) designing the Web for learning (programming) (the most challenging ring). The analysis of Web for learning was done by incorporating the theoretical frameworks and theories of learning; the facilitators’ frames of reference; objects; tools; rules; community; division of labour; levels of operation; and the pedagogical issues. It can be concluded that South Africa has a special need for Web-Based Teaching and Learning (WBTL) or Web learning to take the formal education to those citizens that cannot attend full-time classes. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Traditionally, education has been considered as the territory of educators and the participation of parents has been very limited. Nowadays, however, parents are considered as co-partners in the education of their children. In this regard, they have an important role to play both at home and school. Both educators and parents now believe that effective education requires the cooperation between educators and parents without any reservation. Changes that have taken place .in education in this country over the past decade require parents to assume greater responsibilities in the education of their children. This study was aimed at analysing the responsibilities of parents for the effective implementation and management of Curriculum 2005 in the Phokeng Circuit of Education of the North-West province. The study was further intended to find out the problems, difficulties, and challenges faced by parents, with the advent of the Curriculum 2005, the Outcome-based Education program in South Africa. The subjects involved in this study included 240 parents and 60 educators. Two separate questionnaires (Appendix A and Appendix B) were designed and administered to the respondents. The study revealed that parents have taken up their role in education very seriously, though it was discovered through the empirical investigation that some parents are still clinging to their traditional beliefs about education, that it is confined to educators. Several recommendations based on literature and empirical investigations were made in an attempt to involve more parents in the education and school life of their children. The study recommended regular and prompt communication between parents and the school, assisting parents who have difficulties in helping their children with homework and parent training. / Thesis (MBA) North-West university, Mafikeng Campus, 2003

The design of analog and complex mixed-signal circuits in a deep submicron CMOS process technology is a big challenge. This makes it desirable to shift data converter design towards the digital domain. The advantage of using a fully digital ADC design rather than a traditional analog ADC design is that the circuit is defined by an HDL description and automatically synthesized by tools. It offers low power consumption, low silicon area and a fully optimized gate-level circuit that reduces the design costs, etc. The functioning of an all-digital ADC is based on the time domain signal processing approach, which brings a high time resolution obtained by the use of a nanometer CMOS process. An all-digital ADC design is implemented by using a combination of the digital Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) and a Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC). The VCO converts the amplitude-domain analog signal to a phase-domain time-based signal. In addition, the VCO works as a time based quantizer. The time-based signal from the VCO output is then processed by the TDC quantizer in order to generate the digital code sequences. The fully digital VCO-based ADC has the advantage of superior time resolution. Moreover, the VCO-based ADC offers a first order noise shaping property of its quantization noise. This thesis presents the implementation of a VCO-based ADC in STM 65 nm CMOS process technology using digital tools such as ModelSim simulator, Synopsys Design Compiler and Cadence SOC Encounter. The circuit level simulations have been done in Cadence Virtuoso ADE. A multi-phase VCO and multi-bit quantization architecture has been chosen for this 8-bit ADC. The power consumption of the ADC is approximately 630 μW at 1.0 V power supply and the figure of merit is around 410 fJ per conversion step.

Evidence-based policy and practice (EBPP) in population health in Australia has been promoted largely without sound research. In response, this thesis presents a series of studies undertaken to assess and inform enhancement of capacity for EBPP in Australia. It comprises linked studies designed to examine different yet complementary aspects of capacity for EBPP. Research was conducted at various levels of Australian health care system, from local to national, in order to better understand EBPP and to make a series of recommendations about effective and synergistic response.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-204). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-204). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: John M. Keller, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 26, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 129 pages. Includes bibliographical references.