Research has shown that children with Language Impairment (LI) struggle with social communication skills in addition to their characteristic syntactic difficulties. This pilot study analyzed the potential change in grammatical complexity in narratives of five children with LI when enrolled in a social communication intervention. The intervention itself focused on teaching emotion understanding by reading and reenacting children’s stories and journaling. Grammatical limitations were indirectly addressed by clinician modeling of complex forms during the intervention sessions. Each child’s productions were assessed and analyzed for grammatical complexity during retelling a book in the Mercer Mayer “a boy, a dog, and a frog” series. The children performed this task once a week during the course of the intervention. Specific measures used included the average length of terminable unit (T-unit) and the number of subordinate clauses used in each narrative. Three students’ productions remained steady throughout the course of the interventions; their grammatical complexity neither increased nor decreased. One student’s production showed a clear decrease in complexity but was explained by an obvious and arguably more creative change in her language output. One student’s grammatical complexity increased throughout the sessions as indicated by a steady increase in the average length of T-unit. Thus, the results of this study were equivocal. There were several limitations, however, that might be addressed in future intervention studies.

The present study investigates the effect of genre on lexical and syntactic complexity. The corpus used for this study is made up of argumentative and narrative texts from the TRAWL (Tracking Written Learner Language) online corpus. The study analyses texts written by 22 Norwegian EFL learners, 10 in year 8 and 12 in year 9. One narrative text and one argumentative text from each student is analysed using an automated method to calculate complexity based on one measure of lexical complexity, the Guiraud Index and two measures of syntactic complexity, mean length of sentence and mean length of t-unit. A qualitative analysis, comparing outlying results to the Swedish National curriculum, also gave insight into different levels of complexity. Previous studies suggest that narrative texts have more lexical complexity while argumentative texts are more syntactically complex. The results of this study support this hypothesis though not all correlations were found to be statistically significant.

Through a slow developmental process driven by learning and neural maturation, humans can flexibly combine a limited number of sounds into words and then into sequences (i.e., ‘combined utterances’), following syntactical rules. This enables the creation of an infinite number of utterances to convey an unlimited range of information. Whether this capacity is unique to humans or evolved from related species remains uncertain. Comparative research with non-human primates (hereafter: primates) is crucial for understanding this. In contrast to humans, the development of primate repertoires appears to be largely innate and fixed from birth. However, there is some evidence of limited vocal plasticity in certain primate species, with developmental changes linked to acoustic variations and usage learning, likely influenced by social dynamics. A recent study has revealed that adult chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives, possess an unusual complex vocal repertoire with hundreds of non-random vocal utterances. This lead me question: are these hundreds of vocal utterances innate and present from birth or do they develop through ontogeny? If so, what processes underlie this vocal development, and do they mirror those seen in the development of human language? Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate the ontogeny of vocal sequence acquisition and their potential function in chimpanzees, using a full repertoire approach. To this aim, I conducted 9 months of focal animal sampling on 98 wild chimpanzees (0-55 years old), living in Ivory Coast. I analysed 11,397 vocal utterances from 1,807.3 hours of vocal recordings. First, I found that chimpanzees require about 10 years to reach the adult repertoire, which extends beyond the age when single vocal units emerge. The developmental trajectory of vocal sequence acquisition aligned with key developmental social milestones, supporting social complexity as a driver of vocal complexity. Moreover, neuro-muscular maturation also appears to drive vocal development. Second, I found that the combinatorial flexibility, ordering and re-combinatorial patterns are limited at birth but increase with age. Last, I found that vocal sequences may function to routinely convey combined information about juxtaposed daily life events, a crucial step in the evolution of generalised combinatorial communication. This thesis underscores the importance of studying entire vocal repertoires, including sequences, and their development. It enhances our understanding of chimpanzee communication and suggests likely shared origins and functions of complex communication systems, ultimately contributing to our knowledge of the evolution of human language.

The Rijndael cipher was chosen as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) in August 1999. Its internal structure exhibits unusual properties such as a clean and simple algebraic description for the S-box. In this research, we construct a scalable family of ciphers which behave very much like the original Rijndael. This approach gives us the opportunity to use computational complexity theory. In the main result, we generate a candidate one-way function family from the scalable Rijndael family. We note that, although reduction to one-way functions is a common theme in the theory of public-key cryptography, it is rare to have such a defense of security in the private-key theatre. In this thesis a plan of attack is introduced at the circuit level whose aim is not break the cryptosystem in any practical way, but simply to break the very bold Rijndael security claim. To achieve this goal, we are led to a formal understanding of the Rijndael security claim, juxtaposing it with rigorous security treatments. Several of the questions that arise in this regard are as follows: ``Do invertible functions represented by circuits with very small numbers of gates have better than worst case implementations for their inverses?' ``How many plaintext/ciphertext pairs are needed to uniquely determine the Rijndael key?'

The aim of this research is to test the effect of different project complexities and project management competence of project managers in public sector mega engineering projects of Pakistan and their effect on project performance. This research study is applied in Pakistan. Complexities in a project are inevitable. These cannot be controlled or eliminated but one can have their better understanding to counter them resulting in better project performance.  Quantitative research techniques have been applied for this particular research study. A total of 100 questionnaires were handed out among respondents, of which 82 survey questionnaires were useful for further analysis. Hypotheses have been developed to test the effect of variables of  project management competence on project performance and subsequently the effect of Technical, Organizational and environmental complexity on project performance.   Results show that project management competence have a positive effect on project performance, like leadership, management skills, communication, ethics, honesty have a strong impact on project performance. Secondly, Technical and organizational complexity have a negative effect on project performance whereas hypothesis of environmental complexity has not supported the project performance.  Further, a number of complexities were high ranked. For instance, goals, tasks and market conditions were ranked very high with respect to their impact on project performance.  This study contributes theoretically in the field of project management and on practical level study will not only help the Practioners in the field of PM, but also helpful for project managers of mega engineering projects. On societal level this study may help the Government intuitions in formulating rules and regulations such as PM certifications that can improve the project performance.

Bugs in software is a very common problem, code reviews can help to catch bugs early on and detect which code is the most complex and may introduce bugs but when the code base is very large it can be costly to review all the code. Cyclomatic complexity can be used to give an indication of how complex the system source code is and help the developers to select which code they should review. But when measuring cyclomatic complexity on code written according to the functional paradigm, McCabe’s formula will not be sufficient since it is a formula most suitable for imperative code. Therefore we are making adaptations to a formula suited for pure functional languages in order to fit functional JavaScript. We are using an inductive empirical quantitative measurement method to calculate cyclomatic complexity on a directed graph implementation in order to define adaptations for functional JavaScript. Our results show a working adapted version of the formula. We have measured on a graph implemented in Haskell and on a corresponding functional JavaScript version which results in a cyclomatic complexity difference at only 0.375.

Bakgrund och problem: En tilltagande globaliseringen, teknisk utveckling och ökad konkurrens har gjort att företag behöver anpassa sig till den föränderliga miljön för att förbli lönsamma och konkurrenskraftiga. Projekt är ett effektivt sätt att anpassa sig till en föränderlig och osäker omvärld. Därför har det skett en ökning av antalet projekt som bedrivs, samtidigt som en allt högre andel projekt misslyckas på grund av faktorerna i projektets miljö som orsakar komplexitet i projektet. Komplexiteten behöver således hanteras för att kunna driva projektet framåt.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera hur faktorerna i projektets föränderliga miljö orsakar komplexitet samt att skapa bättre förståelse för hur faktorerna hanteras i projektstyrningen. Vidare är det praktiska syftet att skapa vägledning och insikt i hur företag kan hantera komplexiteten som orsakas av dessa faktorer.  Metod: Forskningsstrategin är baserad på ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt med en abduktiv ansats. Forskningsdesignen bygger en insamling av empiriska data genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer på sex olika verksamheter, där fallen består av både traditionella branscher där det traditionella projektstyrningsidéerna kan tänkas dominera och modernare företag som tar avstamp i mer agila projektstyrningsmetoder.  Slutsats: Studiens resultat visade att komplexitetsfaktorerna i slutändan påverkar en eller flera variabler i projekttriangeln, som är tid, kostnad och kvalitet/resultat. Komplexitetsfaktorerna som identifierades är begränsad tid, begränsade resurser, intressenternas inflytande, kompetensbrist, motstånd för förändring, lagar och regleringar samt teknisk utveckling. Studiens resultat visade också på att komplexitetsfaktorerna hanteras genom effektivare kommunikation, långsiktighet, effektiv planering, samt viljan att förändras. / Background and problem: Increasing globalization, technological development and increased competition have made it necessary for companies to adapt to the changing environment in order to remain profitable and competitive. Projects are an effective way to adapt to a changing and uncertain world. Therefore, there has been an increase in the number of projects carried out, at the same time as an increasing proportion of projects fail due to the factors in the project environment that cause complexity in the project. The complexity thus needs to be managed in order to be able to drive the project forward.  Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify how the factors in the project's changing environment cause complexity and to create a better understanding of how the factors are handled in project management. Furthermore, the practical purpose is to create guidance and insight into how companies can handle the complexity caused by these factors.  Method: The research strategy is based on a qualitative approach with an abductive approach. The research design builds a collection of empirical data through semi-structured interviews of six different companies, where the cases consist of both traditional industries where the traditional project management ideas may dominate and modern companies that are based on more agile project management methods.  Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the complexity factors ultimately affect one or more variables in the project triangle, which are time, cost and quality/results. The complexity factors identified are limited time, limited resources, stakeholder influence, lack of competence, resistance to change, laws and regulations and technical development. The results of the study also showed that the complexity factors are managed through more efficient communication, strategic and effective planning and the willingness to change.

P(p)ublic A(a)dministration is influenced by multiple factors, inclusive of complex policy issues, multi-faceted forms of accountability and hybrid governance models. Consequently, public administration organisations must strengthen their adaptive and complexity capacity to deal with environmental complexity through adopting a different leadership model that is characterised by distinct but complementary leadership functions. Complexity leadership theory (CLT) is thus adopted as an appropriate theoretical lens for the study due to its integrative, collective and relational approach to leadership, in spite of its limited application in the public administration context. Against this background, the purpose of the study is to apply CLT as the basis to determine the required leadership competencies that should underpin a complex adaptive system such as the Governance and Administration (G&A) Cluster of the South African government because of concerns regarding the unevenness or lack of appropriate leadership competencies, behaviours and skills to make the government cluster system effective. To address the purpose of the study and the underlying research problem, a mixed methods research approach was adopted to investigate the leadership competency implications of Public Administration reforms plus their links with intergovernmental relations developments, and the implications of the transition from leader-centric practices to collective and hybrid forms of leadership. An analysis of existing literature in these areas leads to the conclusion that the G&A Cluster, which is an intergovernmental relations structure, is an integral part of hybrid organisational arrangements whose effectiveness requires a different approach to leadership. The literature analysis further identifies a disjuncture between leader-centric practices and conceptions of leadership as a collective, collaborative and hybrid phenomenon. The disjuncture is attributed to the scarcity of leadership and competency-based management (CBM) literature to guide the development of complexity leadership practice, especially in inter-organisational arrangements, and reliance on theoretical analysis as the basis to propose competencies for complexity leadership. Thus, the study addresses the research question and simultaneously contributes towards knowledge and practice by providing an empirical lens to the dynamics of collective leadership in a government inter-organisational structure and advancing CBM through articulating seven adaptable principles and six competency clusters that inform the development of a meso level leadership competency framework for inter-organisational arrangements. The study is also contributing to the application of CLT in P(p)ublic A(a)dministration and improved understanding of CLT’s leadership functions by clarifying its competency dimensions. The study concludes with an outline of implications and recommendations for inter-organisational leadership competency development and practice as well as recommendations for further research. / Thesis (PhD (Public Administration and Management))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (2019-20210) Office of the Public Service Commission (2021) / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / PhD (Public Administration and Management) / Unrestricted

The quantity and variety of product information available online today has increased significantly in recent years. This situation has exacerbated user information overload perceptions and made it difficult for online shoppers to choose between various online products and services. This is especially true for older adults, who typically have limitations in cognitive abilities due to the natural aging process and, as such, may perceive additional difficulties processing large amounts of information online. In response, Recommendation Agents (RAs) have become popular as decision support tools for online consumers in general, and older adults in particular. However, in the information systems literature, there is a lack of understanding regarding the design of RAs to suit the needs of different segments of the population, including older adults. Grounded in the theory of planned behaviour, and the “aging and IS adoption” literatures, this study investigates the impact of cognitive age and RA comprehensiveness on user perceptions towards the complexity of the input and output stages of an RA, and their subsequent impact on the antecedents of a user’s intention to utilize the RA for online shopping. This experimental study finds that: (i) an individual’s cognitive age significantly increases perceived RA input and output complexity perceptions; (ii) higher levels of RA comprehensiveness increases a user’s RA input and output complexity perceptions significantly; (iii) RA output complexity plays a more critical role than RA input complexity in shaping user perceptions of the overall complexity of an RA; and, (iv) increased levels of RA comprehensiveness increases individual perceptions of RA usefulness. Additionally, and as expected, cognitive age moderates the relationship between RA comprehensiveness and input/output complexity such that the effect is stronger for older adults. Surprisingly, however, cognitive age also moderates the relationship between RA comprehensiveness and perceived RA usefulness such that it is stronger for older adults. Theoretically, this study helps us to better understand how different levels of RA comprehensiveness, in terms of both the input and output stages of the RA operation, impact the intention of users of different cognitive ages to use online RAs. For practitioners, the results highlight the importance of customizing the design of RAs, in both their input and output stages, for consumers with different cognitive ages. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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