Student Number : 0414012 - MSc dissertation - School of Therapeutic Sciences - Faculty of Health Sciences / Aim: The aim of this study was to quantify the level of ability and in particular walking ability of a group of stroke survivors resident in Soweto, between 3-6 months post incident. Design: Descriptive study in which comfortable walking speed over ten metres is correlated with the distance covered in six minutes and two minutes. Subjects: Forty one subjects after stroke divided into two groups. Twenty six with a Barthel Index initial score of ≤60 and fifteen with a score >60. Main Outcome Measures: Walking speed and two and six minute distance were compared between groups. In addition actual distance walked in six minutes was compared with the distance predicted by the ten-metre walking speed test and the distance predicted by normative reference equations. Heart rate was measured during the six minute walking test. Functional ability was compared using the Barthel Index within ten days post stroke and three to six months. Results: Of those who survived 90% of subjects were able to walk independently after stroke. The mean walking speed of 0.55 m/s demonstrated a strong correlation with the distance walked in six minutes (R2=0.816). However it underestimated the distance walked in six minutes by 7.4%. There were no significant differences between groups for the walking tests. The two minute walking test distance accurately predicted the results of the six minute walking test distance (R2=0.97). The average distance walked in six minutes by subjects after stroke was 40% of the distance predicted for healthy adults. For the functional walk test 95.5% of subjects had a heart rate within normal recommended limits. The functional walk test together with a measure of exertion (heart rate) may indicate an individual's ability to sustain submaximal activity. Subjects had minimal rehabilitation training. Lower limb pain did not significantly lower the walking speed (p=0.18) or distance walked in six minutes (p=0.17). Mean Barthel Index score at three to six months was 85.78 indicative of independence with minimal assistance. Although the mortality rate for the Barthel Index group with a score less than 60 is 30.7%, the prognosis of survivors was not uniformly poor. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that though a high percentage of subjects recovered independent walking after stroke in the Soweto community with minimal rehabilitation, their walking speed and distance walked are indicative of limited walking capacity. Walking speed and the two minute walking test could be used to predict functional walk test performance. Pain in the paretic lower limb though commonly reported did not appear to affect walking speed or distance walked. The use of the Barthel Index to predict activities and/or survival merits further investigation.

M.P.H.(Health Policy and Management), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008 / The provision of rehabilitation services has received little attention within the context of health sector reforms in South Africa. This study explores the human resource (HR) management component of the National Rehabilitation Policy (NRP), formulated to improve access to rehabilitation services within the public health sector. Qualitative methodology was used to understand the alignment of policy to practice, with data derived from both the deductive approach (document reviews); and inductive approach (key informant interviews and focus group discussions). The findings reveal that there is a gap between policy and practice. Resistance to integration, problems with professional identity and capacity constraints at national, provincial and local levels hindered the implementation of an integrated rehabilitation service. In addition, polices and norms and standards that aim to guide HR in public health are not coherent. These directly influence HR performance, and have served to highlight the social and institutional phenomena impacting on service delivery.

Emotional Stroop task results have been shown to be inconsistent throughout the literature due to a multitude of factors including both stimulus and population factors. There are also several theories to explain the emotional Stroop effects, including the attentional control theory (Eysenck et al., 2007). This theory states that anxiety consumes attentional and memory resources, resulting in impairment in executive functions, and thus cognitive performance is lowered. Recently, Owens et al. (2014) reported that the effects of anxiety on cognitive performance might be moderated by working memory capacity (WMC). The present study explored whether Owens et al.'s (2014) paradigm fit the Stroop data. It also explored the role that WMC had in recognition memory for emotional and neutral words. Processing efficiency during the Stroop task and anxiety was expected to show a positive relationship for High WMC and a negative relationship for Low WMC. Furthermore, memory for emotional words were expected to be better for Low WMC due to longer processing times for emotional words. The results showed that WMC did not improve the model for both the emotional Stroop and the surprise recognition memory task, thereby contradicting Owens et al.'s (2014) proposed paradigm. Furthermore, an increase of anxiety scores showed a decrease in memory for emotional words but only for Low WMC.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / Capacity building is a process of building capabilities in individuals, groups, institutions, organisations, and societies at the local, national and international levels, to be more effectively prepared for and respond to public health threats of a crisis in a sustainable manner. This process is designed to reinforce or create strengths upon which communities can mitigate vulnerabilities as a result of emergencies and disasters. The main aim of the study was to assess capacity building in Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) funded projects in Capricorn District of Limpopo Province. The CASP programme was initiated to provide post-settlement support for farmers who have benefitted from the Land Reform programmes. Since zfthe inception of this programme, there has not been any assessment of capacity building as one of the pillars of CASP. The objective of the study was to assess capacity building on productivity and to determine the impact of capacity building on the CASP funded projects. The study hypothesed that an increase in the level of productivity of CASP funded projects depends on the level of capacity building. The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills. In land reform projects, training is provided as the planned and organised activity of a consultant to impart skills, techniques and methodologies to employers and their employees, to assist them in establishing and maintaining employment and a place of employment that is safe and healthy. The Farmer training is offered in two different methods, viz., on-farm and off-farm training. The on-farm training involves a service-provider visiting the farmer and rendering the training at the farm, whereas the off-farm training requires a farmer to go to the planned venue or institution of training to receive the planned training. iv

Automated Electric Transportation (AET) proposes a system of automated platooning vehicles electrically powered by the roadway via wireless inductive power transfer. This has the potential to provide roadway transportation that is less congested, more flexible, cleaner, safer, and faster than the current system. The focus of this research is to show how platooning can be accomplished in a safe manner and what capacities such an automated platooning system can achieve. To accomplish this, first two collision models are developed to show the performance of automated platoons during an emergency braking scenario: a stochastic model coded in Matlab/Simulink and a deterministic model with closed-form solutions. The necessary parameters for safe platooning are then defined: brake variances, communication delays, and maximum acceptable collision speeds. The two collision models are compared using the Student's t-test to show their equivalence. It is shown that while the two do not yield identical results, in most cases the results of the deterministic model are more conservative than and reasonably close to the results of the deterministic model. The deterministic model is then used to develop a capacity model describing automated platooning flow as a function of speed and platoon size. For conditions where platooning is initially unsafe, three amelioration protocols are evaluated: brake derating, collaborative braking, and increasing the maximum acceptable collision speed. Automated platooning flow is evaluated for all of these scenarios, compared both with each other and with traditional roadway flow patterns. The results of these models show that when platooning is initially safe, very high vehicle flows are possible: for example, over 12,000 veh/hr for initial speeds of 30 m/s and 10 vehicle platoons. Varying system paramaters can have large ramifications for overall capacity. For example, autonomous (non-platooning) vehicles do not promise anywhere near this level, and in many cases struggle to approach the capacity of traditional roadways. Additionally, ensuring safety under an emergency braking standard requires very small communication delays and, most importantly, tight braking variances between the vehicles within a platoon. As proposed by AET, a single type of electric vehicle, combined with modern wireless communications, can make platooning safer than was previously possible without requiring amelioration. Both brake derating and collaborative braking can make platooning safer, but they reduce capacity and may not be practical for real-world implementation. Stricter versions of these, cumulative brake derating and exponential collaborative braking, are also evaluated. Both can degrade capacity to near current roadway levels, especially if a large degree of amelioration is required. Increasing maximum acceptable collision speed, such as through designing vehicles to better withstand rear-end collisions, shows more promise in enabling safe intraplatoon interactions, especially for scenarios with small communication delays (i.e. under 50 ms).

The enactment of teacher leadership can be challenged by both policy initiatives and school contexts (Anderson & Cohen, 2015; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). However, teachers can have a positive influence on each other and their broader school community by building capacity for leadership, innovation, and student achievement through the relationships, or networks, they develop and maintain (Baker-Doyle, 2015; Hovardas, 2016; Hunzicker, 2012; Moolenaar, Sleegers, & Daly, 2012). This single exploratory case study takes place in a Title I elementary school and uses a combination of Social Network Analysis and content analysis to uncover patterns in teacher professional networks, the context in which they exist, and teachers’ perceptions of the influence of these networks on their sense of themselves as teacher leaders. The study focuses on four constructs: teacher leadership, teacher efficacy, instructional innovation, and professional networks. The concept of social capital is used to explore the connection between networks and teacher leadership. Symbolic interactionism frames the analysis of the nature of relationships that emerge within these networks. Findings indicate that teachers linked their identities as leaders with a culture of leadership, exchange of advice, shared values, and high expectations for themselves and their students. Interview responses demonstrated they believed in their collective capacity to accomplish a shared mission of student achievement; they trusted in and supported each other through their professional networks.

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by two principals in elementary schools and a principal coach in Hillsborough County, Florida. Each of the team members has a passion for the work of administrator and lead learner in a turnaround school. Through creating a culture of teacher leadership, especially in high poverty schools, we believe students will succeed. We were looking for what a high performing school culture would look like if teachers were leading the work through ongoing inquiry and personalized support. My individual focus was, in what kinds of work experiences did teachers feel they learned the most? What were those situations? Who else was involved, and what did they do? What did teachers do to foster their own development? What made these situations high point learning experiences? My review of selected literature was guided by an Appreciative Inquiry perspective. Themes in the literature reviewed included: teacher collaboration, teacher leadership, and job-embedded professional development. Key insights to my area of focus included strong confirmation of the need for differentiated professional development for teachers to foster and improve teacher leadership. The research reviewed examined different professional development models and their relationship to teacher needs. School leaders should pay attention to how teachers are supported, how time is allotted, the degree to which a leader is committed, the need for collaboration among teachers, and the need for job-embedded learning and teacher support.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to describe how to improve an organization’s desorptive capacity to facilitate knowledge transfer in transfer projects. Method - This research was conducted as a single case study, with an abductive approach, were the unit of analysis has been transfer projects. The empirical data collection has been qualitative and was conducted through 20 semi-structured interviews. The interviews were held at the case company with project managers, sub-project managers and project members to widen the experience of everyone involved in transfer projects. A thematic analysis was utilized to possess the empirical data. Result - We found that it is essential to evaluate critical factors in the identification of a transfer project and utilize managerial tools to facilitate the application of the knowledge transferred to the recipient. We have created a framework that show the correlations between the evaluation of the critical factors and the utilization of the managerial tools, categorized in organizational practices. Depending on the evaluation of the critical factors, resources need to be allocated to specific organizational practices. This will result in an improvement of an organization’s desorptive capacity. Theoretical contribution - This report contributes to the literature by filling the gap regarding how to improve organizations’ desorptive capacity to facilitate knowledge transfer in transfer projects. We have identified the critical aspects of desorptive capacity andcontributed with a framework that can be adapted by organizationsto improve their desorptive capacity. Managerial implications - The findings in this study have potential to increase the awareness among organizations about the initial phase of transfer projects and contribute to an increased understanding of how an organization can improve their desorptive capacity. It is recommended to utilize the presented framework in this report to take advantages of the correlations found between the critical factors and the organizational practices.

Increased urbanization causes pervious greenfields to be converted to impervious areas increasing stormwater runoff. Most of the urban floods occur because existing drainage systems are unable to handle peak flows during rainfall events. During a storm event, flood runoff will carry contaminants to receiving waters such as rivers and creeks. Engineers and scientists have combined their knowledge to introduce innovative thinking to manage the quality of urban runoff and harvest stormwater for productive purposes. The introduction of pervious pavements addresses all the principles in Water Sensitive Urban Design. A pervious pavement is a load bearing pavement structure that is permeable to water. The pervious layer sits on the top of a reservoir storage layer. Pervious pavements reduce the flood peak as well as improve the quality of stormwater at source before it is transported to receiving waters or reused productively. To be accepted as a viable solution, understanding of the influence of design parameters on the infiltration rate (both from the bedding and the sub-base) as well as strength of the pavement requires to be established. The design of a particular pavement will need to be customized for different properties of sub layer materials present in different sites. In addition, the designs will have to meet local government stormwater discharge standards. The design of drainage systems underneath pervious pavements will need to be based on the permeability of the whole pervious system. The objectives of the research project are to: • Understand the factors influencing infiltration capacities and percolation rates through the pervious surface as well as the whole pavement structure including the bedding and the sub-base using a laboratory experimental setup. • Obtain relationships between rainfall intensity, infiltration rate and runoff quantity based on the sub-grade material using a computational model to assist the design of pervious pavements. A laboratory scale pavement was constructed to develop relationships between the surface runoff and the infiltration volume from a pervious pavement with an Eco-Pavement surface. 2 to 5mm crushed gravel and 5 to 20mm open graded gravel were chosen as the bedding and sub-base material. Initial tests such as dry and wet density, crushing values, hydraulic conductivity, California Bearing Ratio tests for aggregate material were conducted before designing and constructing the pavement model. A rainfall simulator with evenly spaced 24 sprays was set up above the pervious pavement surface. The thesis presents design aspects of the laboratory scale pavement and the tests carried out in designing the pavement and the experimental procedure. The Green and Ampt model parameters to calculate infiltration were obtained from the laboratory test results from aggregate properties. Runoff results obtained from rainfall simulator tests were compared with the Green and Ampt infiltration model results to demonstrate that the Green and Ampt parameters could be successfully calculated from aggregate properties. The final infiltration rate and the cumulative infiltration volume of water were independent of the rainfall intensity once the surface is saturated. The model parameters were shown to be insensitive to the final infiltration capacity and to the total amount of infiltrated water. The Green and Ampt infiltration parameters are the most important parameters in designing pervious pavements using the PCSWMMPP model. The PCSWMMPP model is a Canadian model built specially for designing pervious pavements. This is independent of the type of sub-grade (sand or clay) determining whether the water is diverted to the urban drainage system (clay sub-grade) or deep percolation into the groundwater system (sand sub-grade). The percolation parameter in Darcy's law is important only if the infiltrated water recharges the groundwater. However, this parameter is also insensitive to the final discharge through the subgrade to the groundwater. The study concludes by presenting the design characteristics influencing runoff from a pervious pavement depending on the rainfall intensity, pavement structure and sub-grade material and a step-by step actions to follow in the design.

This thesis presents numerical techniques which have been developed to analyse three dimensional problems in offshore engineering. In particular, the three dimensional liquefaction analysis of offshore foundations on granular soils is the main subject of the thesis. The subject matter is broadly divided into four sections: 1)Development of an efficient method for the three dimensional elasto?plastic finite element analysis of consolidating soil through the use of a discrete Fourier representation of field quantities. 2)Validation of the three dimensional method through analyses of shallow offshore foundations subjected to three dimensional loading and investigation of the yield locus for foundations on purely cohesive soils. 3)Formulation of governing equations suitable for three dimensional liquefaction analyses of offshore foundations founded on granular soil, presentation of a method for liquefaction analyses, and application of the method in modified elastic liquefaction analyses of offshore foundations. 4)Application of a conventional elasto?plastic soil model in the liquefaction analyses of offshore foundations using the three dimensional finite element method. The finite element method developed in this thesis provides a rigorous and efficient numerical tool for the analysis of geotechnical problems subjected to three dimensional loading. The efficiency of the numerical tool makes it possible to tackle some of the problems in geotechnical engineering which would otherwise need enormous computing time and thus would be impractical. The accuracy of the numerical scheme is demonstrated by solving the bearing capacity problem of shallow foundations subjected to three dimensional loading. The generalized governing equations and the numerical method for liquefaction analyses presented in this thesis provide a solid base for the analysis of offshore foundations subjected to cyclic wave loading where they are founded on potentially liquefiable soil. The practicability of the numerical scheme is also demonstrated by a modified elastic liquefaction analysis of offshore foundations. The liquefaction phenomenon is redefined in the context of the conventional Mohr?Coulomb model, so that a relatively simple and practical model for elasto?plastic liquefaction analysis is presented. The three dimensional finite element method together with the numerical scheme for liquefaction analysis and the elasto?plastic soil model provide a suitable practical engineering tool for exploring the responses of offshore foundations subjected to cyclic wave loading.