While studies have indicated the onset of fertility transition in Nigeria as in most Sub- Saharan countries, no systematic attempt has been made to identify the factors responsible for this trend. Existing explanation tends to draw from the demographic transition theory without exploring the value of other key variables. One of these variables is the degree of preference implementation. This study explores the role of fertility preference implementation on the onset of fertility transition in Nigeria. The study estimated the extent to which couples have been able to implement their fertility preferences with a view to better understand the factors that are responsible for the fertility changes in the country. This study was based on the socio-economic and microeconomic frameworks of fertility namely: the Bongaarts et al (1984) version and its Stover’s reformulation (1998) of the proximate determinants of fertility and the Bongaarts (1993) supply-demand framework for the analysis of the determinants of fertility, respectively. The proximate determinant of fertility frameworks holds that all demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, institutional, psychological, health and environmental factors (background variables) operate through the proximate or intermediate variables to affect fertility. The Bongaarts (1993) supply-demand framework posits that fertility (F) as measured by total fertility rate is an outcome of the interaction of supply of births (natural fertility), demand for births (wanted fertility) and degree of fertility preference implementation (an index, which measures the extent to which people have been able to implement their fertility preferences). The degree of preference implementation is in turn dependent on cost of fertility regulation and that of unwanted childbearing. The husbands’ family planning attitude and desired number of children were incorporated into the latter framework to recognize and bring out the crucial roles of the males in eventual fertility outcomes. The 1990, 1999 and 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data sets for men, women and couples were used. The methodology of the three NDHS is not too different from each other. They are nationally representative cross-sectional survey of women between the ages of 15 and 49 in 1990, 1999 and 2003 and men between 15 and 64 in 1999 and 15-59 in the 2003 survey. Twenty-four focus group discussions were also conducted among the sexes across the country to gain better insight and understanding into the issues examined. Focus group research is based on facilitating an organized discussion with a group of individuals selected because they were believed to be representative of some class. The discussion is used to bring out insights and understandings in ways, which cannot be captured by questionnaire. The focus group discussions (FGD) are also national in scope. Participants were drawn from the Northern, South Eastern and South Western regions of the country. The study population consisted of 8,781; 8,199 and 7,620 women aged 15-49 interviewed during the 1990, 1999 and 2003 NDHS, respectively. In addition, 2,584 men aged 15-64 and 2,346 men aged 15-59 interviewed during the 1999 and 2003 NDHS, respectively were used. One thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight (1,168) couples’ records derived from the 2003 NDHS and 1,280 (constructed) couples’ records for 1999 were also used. A total of eighty-nine (89) men and eighty-five (85) women participated in the twenty-four (24) focus group discussion sessions. To achieve the research objectives, a wide range of analysis was carried out in the study. In the estimation of all means and medians, the Kaplan Meier survival analysis is used. Some other estimations were done using specific formulations developed for the purpose. Thirty-six binary logistic regression models were also fitted to bring out spousal influences on each other’s attitude to family planning and desired number of children. Lastly, the focus group discussion sessions were analysed by themes to give better understanding into the issues examined. Five hypotheses were tested in the study. There was a general decline in the age specific fertility rates (ASFR) between 1990 and 2003 in all the age groups. This is reflected in the total fertility rate (TFR) for the country as a whole, which declined from 6.32 in 1990 to 5.82 in 2003. The national average masks large variations in the fertility levels between subgroups in the country. The women in the North generally have higher number of children than their Southern counterparts. This is particularly marked in the early childbearing years. Fertility levels are also higher among rural residents compared to those in the urban area. Substantial differences equally exist in the fertility levels of women by their level of education with fertility being negatively associated with level of education. A comparison of the past and current fertility also confirms that fertility has been on the decline in the country. Age at first and last births have been declining and the differentials between the two show that the number of years spent in childbearing is decreasing. Non-marital birth was also found to be increasing over time but at a level below six percent and with no identifiable educational or regional pattern. Teenage motherhood is equally declining both nationally and regionally and is relatively high among teenagers from the rural area and those with less than secondary level of education. The proportion of women that progress from one parity to another decreases as parity increases and no socially imposed optimum number of children is observed (although there is a political four-child policy in existence) among the Nigerian women. Apart from age of mother at the birth of child, which has a positive association with median length of birth interval and the surviving status of preceding child (which is understandably shorter if the preceding child is dead), length of birth interval by other characteristics shows no significant variation across sub groups. Age at first marriage remained between 16 and 17 over the years. This is lower for respondents from the rural, the North and for those with less than secondary level of education. For age at first sexual intercourse, it increased over time in the age groups. Respondents from the North and rural area however initiated sexual intercourse earlier and age at first sexual intercourse increases with level of education. Among the proximate determinant indices, the index of postpartum insusceptibility has the greatest inhibiting effect, followed by that of marriage/sexually active, contraception and then sterility. In the Bongaarts model, the indices reduced total fecundity by 12.46 births in the total sample of married women in 1990; 8.90 births in 1999 and 9.45 births in 2003 while the indices jointly reduced potential fertility by 17.69 births in the total sample of sexually active women in 1990; 16.06 births in 1999 and 16.50 births in 2003 in the Stover’s reformulation. The number of children desired marginally increased over time. This could have been affected by the high proportion of non-response especially in the 1990 survey. The desired number of children is positively related to age and number of surviving children while it is negatively related to education. Number of children desired is found to be lower among urban residents and respondents from the Southern part of the country and highest among currently married women. The focus group discussion sessions also show that people have been revising the number of children they are having downward due to ‘supposed’ economic hardship in the country and the need to give quality education, training and care to the children. However, their desire remain high. The extent, to which fertility preference is achieved, is generally high and increasing over the years in the total sample of married women with some variations in the sub groups. It is higher in the urban compared to the rural; increases with level of education, lowest in the North East and highest in the South West. Surprisingly, the extent to which concordant couples achieve their fertility preferences was lower than that of discordant couples. The fitted logistic models showed no evidence of the husbands having an upper hand in the number of children desired by the wives or on their attitude to family planning and vice versa. While the husbands play greater role in fertility decision-making in households, who has the upper hand between the husbands and the wives in actual fertility outcome was not conclusive in this study. Knowledge about family planning methods and their availability is high. The costs of fertility regulation in terms of its social, economic and in particular health components as well as obstacles to the use of fertility regulation methods were highlighted. The psychological, health, social and more frequently the economic costs of unwanted childbearing were also brought out. The responses to questions on pregnancy wantedness was also validated in this study as people generally acknowledged the circumstance of the birth of additional child(ren) as accidental. Two of the five hypotheses proposed were confirmed. One, the hypothesis that ‘the degree of fertility preference implementation is higher in the south than in the North, higher among urban residents compared to the rural residents and increases as the level of education increases’ is supported by the results of the study. Two, that ‘the degree of fertility preference implementation is increasing and playing an increasing (a more positive) role in fertility changes in Nigeria’ is also supported. The study could not confirm that ‘the indices of marriage/sexual activity, postpartum insusceptibility and contraception (in that order) have the most inhibiting effect on fertility in Nigeria.’ The other two hypotheses could not be proven conclusively either. These were that ‘degree of fertility preference implementation is higher among couples with similar desired number of children than among discordant couples’ and ‘the Husbands have more influence on their wives’ family planning attitude and desired number of children than the wives have over their husbands’. These findings have programme and policy implications. For instance, although the reduction in the number of years spent in child bearing is welcome as a result of decline in the number of older women in active childbearing, the increasing entrance of women under the age of eighteen years is worrisome. This could impact negatively on school enrolment and retention as well as on the health of the women since it is recognised that women under the age of eighteen years is one of the four groups of women with higher risk of morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and childbirth. Despite the pertinent findings of this study, a number of study limitations can be identified. This include not identifying people who have achieved their desired fertility and those who have not and conducting in-depth interview with them to gain greater insight into their fertility decision-making, desire and behaviour. This aspect requires further detailed investigation. A number of programme, policy and research recommendations are made based on the findings of this study.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is any connection between working hours, desired working hours and the worker ́s health. The study also aims to investigate if there are any differences over time. Earlier studies have shown that individuals need a balance in their life between worked hours and free time. This balance seems to be important for employees if they want to lead and remain a healthy lifestyle. If the employed doesn’t feel satisfied with his or her working hours then the balance can get disrupted which could lead to a number of health problems. There are a lot of studies that aim to explain the relationship between working hours and health. There is a missing area which examines the relation between desired working hours and the worker`s health. Therefore, this topic is interesting to study more closely. The study is conducted using data from the Swedish survey of living condition panel (ULF). The panels consist of people between 16 to 84 years old. The study started in 1975. Since 1979 the study has been conducted at 8 yearly intervals. The data is administrated by Statistic Sweden (SCB). Three hypotheses have derived from previous research 1; employees who are satisfied with their work hours are least fatigued 2; the relation between working hours and desired working hours has bigger effects on women than men. 3; women who are satisfied with their working hours are less fatigued over time. The results showed that people who are working fulltime or part time with a desire to work less are feeling most fatigued. People who are satisfied with their working hours are least fatigued. The relation between working hours and desired working hours has bigger effects on women then men. Women who are working part time are feeling less fatigued over time.

Plant efficiency and profitability are becoming increasingly important and operating at the most optimal point is a necessity. The definition of proper operational bounds on output variables such as product quality, production rates etc., is critical for plant optimisation. The use of operational bounds that do not lie within the region of the output operational space of the plant can result in the control system attempting to operate the plant in a non attainable region. The use of operational bounds that lie within the bounds of the output operational space of the plant and if the output operational space is non convex can also result in the control system attempting to operate the plant in a non attainable region. This results in non feasible optimisation. A numerical intersection algorithm has been developed that identifies the feasible region of operation known as the desired operational space. This is accomplished by finding the intersection of the required operational space and the achievable output operational space. The algorithm was simulated and evaluated on a case study under various scenarios. These scenarios included specifying operational bounds that lie partially within the bounds of the achievable operational space and also specifying operational bounds that lie within the bounds of the operational space which was non convex. The results yielded a desired operational space with bounds that were guaranteed to lie within an attainable region on the output operational space. The desired operational space bounds were also simplified into a rectangle with high and low limits that can be readily used in control systems. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

Multi-agent systems possess improved robustness properties over single agent systems, and hence, are more desirable for various engineering applications, where it is required for the multiple agents to move in a formation. These applications include, but are not limited to, tracking, surveillance, reconnaissance, environmental monitoring, searching, sensing and data collection. Motivated by these applications, various collective motions of multiple vehicles have been explored in the literature. This thesis studies a particular type of collective motion in multi-agent systems where the heading angles of the agents are either in synchronized or in balanced formation. These formations are characterized by the motion of the collective centroid of the group of agents, and serve as motion primitives to achieve general tracking patterns. Synchronization is achieved when the agents and their centroid move in a common direction. A complementary notion of synchronization is balancing, in which the position of the centroid remains stationary. In the existing literature, the problems of achieving synchronization and balancing in a multi-agent system have been studied under the assumption that the agents are coupled through controller gains that are identical or homogeneous. In this thesis, it is assumed that the controller gains are heterogeneously distributed, that is, they are not necessarily the same for each agent. This addresses a practical scenario where the gains may vary nominally due to minor implementation errors or drastically due to major faults or errors. The thesis first discusses synchronization and balancing of agents while allowing them to move either along straight line paths or around individual circular orbits. Conditions, under which heterogeneous controller gains result in synchronized or balanced formation, are derived. The effect of heterogeneous gains is analyzed on the common velocity direction at which the system of agents synchronizes, and on the location of the collective centroid about which balanced formation stabilizes. It is shown that heterogeneity in controller gains generalizes synchronized and balanced performances of a multi-agent system scenario. Next, we discuss synchronization and balancing of agents on a common circular orbit of prescribed radius and fixed center. Two cases, when the controller gains are bounded and when the control efforts are bounded, are also studied. In addition, all-to-all interaction and limited interaction among agents are also addressed in this thesis.

This bachelor thesis in business administration investigates the employee branding process of Company X in order to gain an understanding of how the company works with and can utilize this as an efficient tool. Recent research shows that Swedish companies that focus on building their brands are more profitable than companies that do not. Furthermore, re- search show that relationship building is an increasingly important area of marketing, which means that employees have a key role in creating a brand through the relationships they build. As Company X to some extent relies on relationship building in a multi- stakeholder environment, where pharmaceutical companies traditionally have competed through innovation, employee branding could be used as a competitive advantage for Company X. The process of employee branding is used to align employee’s internal view of the com- pany brand with the desired brand image in order to make the employees project it consis- tently. According to the theories used, the key drivers to successful employee branding are, through consistent communication, (1) ascertaining employee knowledge of the desired brand image and (2) making sure employees want to project this image through an upheld psychological contract. This investigation therefore covers how Company X works with the process of employee branding, how employees perceive what the management wants to communicate and any potential discrepancies between management and employee views. From a qualitative and interpretative approach, four interviews have been conducted with the top management at Company X and a survey has then been distributed to employees with customer contact at the company. The findings show that Company X has successfully implemented its values in the minds of employees, but lacks a clear focus on building its brand. Therefore, while the psycho- logical contract in general is found to be upheld, to a high extent, the knowledge of the de- sired brand image does not seem to be at a satisfactory level.

An epicyclic gear mechanism for automobile transmissions is a device which is connected from engine to driving wheels, and the main purpose is to maintain the revolution speed of engine to be in a desired working range while accelerating or decelerating the automobile. The epicyclic gear mechanisms for automobile transmissions in production are mostly Ravigneaux-type, Parallel-connected type and Lepelletier epicyclic mechanisms, and the Lepelletier epicyclic gear mechanisms is a device which is connected with a simple epicyclic gear mechanism besides the input end to increase the total number of speed ratios of an automatic transmission. For the incompletion in the relative design methodology, a systematic methodology of designing Lepelletier epicyclic gear mechanisms for automobile transmission is described. At first, fundamental and gear-shifting operations of the Lepelletier-type automatic transmissions is introduced, and the basic principles of lever analogy is explained, the gear ratio¡¦s analysis for Lepelletier epicyclic gear mechanisms is illustrated to establish the design requirements. Secondly, gearing-sequence is devised base on the lever analogy diagrams, and a systematical procedure to arrange desired clutches and brakes into epicyclic gear mechanisms is provided, then the number of the teeth of all gears can be calculated. At last, the six-speed and eight-speed Lepelletier automatic transmissions are designed base on the above design procedure. The results of this work obtain 19 types of automatic transmission which could reach six-speed.

Problem- An increasingly globalized world is a cause for highly competitive job markets, making the attraction and retention of young talents increasingly important (Wallace et al., 2014). Additionally, current studies have not been able to successfully frame possible needs and wishes of this cohort towards their future workplaces (Deal et al., 2010). Aim- Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of what these young talents, seek for from a workplace. Method- This study applies a qualitative, and inductive approach, to explore and simultaneously allow new in-depth insights into the study area. Therefore, 13 fictive stories were collected from current, and former students in Sweden. The fictive stories were used to ease the participants into the distancing of themselves from current social structures, and to express their actual needs and wants. Findings- With the findings five major dimensions could be identified, that concerns the study group when picturing a desirable workplace: Workplace structure & dynamics, Validation & acknowledgment, Acceptance and Freedom, Private & Work life balance, and Personal growth and the future. These dimensions further split into issues and seeking’s that concern equality and flat leader style, as well as an inhibited insecurity and the wish for support and acceptance. Limitations- This research is, as all qualitative studies greatly dependent on the researchers’ interpretation of the underlying material. Also, other factors as for example national culture could have possible effects on the outcomes of this study, however efforts were made to discuss the potential influences. Contribution- With the five dimension that were identified in our study, new knowledge on what it is that attracts and motivates young adults in Sweden to a certain company, could be collected. This knowledge might benefit businesses that regard these, when reaching out for new labor force. Also, further studies can be built upon this research, as for example an inductive testing on the applicability in other contexts, or generalizability of the model.

Masters of Science / The present study is an understanding of the relationship that exists between landholding and the reproductive behaviour of rural women in Kenya. Traditional women have rights to cultivate land as well as control income from the resulting crop production but rarely have rights to allocate or alienate land. Men are the rightful owners of the land. When the rightful owner person passes away, the eldest son of the family automatically takes ownership of the land and subsequent care of the family. This period of land ownership supported high fertility rates. However, in current spaces this practice has changed. Land is scarce and people are opting for other alternatives of limiting their family sizes. The aim of the study is to address the dissimilar changes of fertility behaviour among women in rural Kenya. Particularly, landholdings and low fertility behaviour, focusing on how this change happened. Data used is from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2008/2009. We acquire a representative sample size of 6761 women age 15-49 from the data. A multiplicity of statistical parameters like chi-square test, p-value, logistic regression, and multivariate analysis are adopted. In this regard, the relationship that exists between fertility and landholdings leads to large family sizes. In addition, land decrease has lead to the search of alternatives such as education, employment, and increase in age at marriage. The introduction of these factors has promoted smaller family sizes. This study is immensely useful for the policy makers, planners and other interested stakeholders in population and development spheres in this juncture.

Desired qualities of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) represent what potential users want, hope for, and expect of MaaS without having experienced the service yet. Knowledge about the desired qualities is essential to design MaaS to meet users’ needs. However, little attention has been paid to understand potential users' desired qualities in the literature on MaaS. This paper addresses this void in literature with an explorative study with potential MaaS users in Sweden. The results of the study are desired qualities of MaaS such as reliability, entertainment and inclusivity. The study contributes with a thematization and classification of desired qualities of MaaS. The themes are desired qualities that make life easier, desired qualities that provide assurance, desired qualities that reward, desired qualities that appeal to inclinations and desired qualities that maintain preferred habits. The four levels of classification are functional, emotional, life-changing, and social significance. Researchers and service designers could work backward from these desired qualities to design user-centred services towards user satisfaction.

Att uppleva sig som anställningsbar innebär inte en anställning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur unga män från Rinkeby med akademisk examen upplever deras anställningsbarhet, vilka eventuella stödjande strukturer de upplever kan öka deras möjligheter till arbete, samt vilken effekt arbetsmöjligheterna har på deras välbefinnande. Det genomfördes 8 semistrukturerade intervjuer som sedan tematiserades, där 8 centrala teman identifierades: fördomar under ytan, områdets begränsningar till önskat arbete, nätverkets betydelse, brist på vägledning, ekonomisk trygghet, känsla av exkludering, hopplösa drömmar och effekten på självförtroendet. Resultatet visade att männen upplever sig vara anställningsbara då de erhåller en examen, samt att de upplever sig ha kontakter, men inte väsentliga kontakter i förhållande till önskat arbete. Arbetsmöjligheterna har påverkat männens välbefinnande, men inte självförtroendet. Resultatet antyder att bristande ekonomi och känslan av exkludering har haft en effekt på välbefinnandet. Samt att de unga männens egen viljan och förmåga har en inverkan på deras anställningsbarhet.