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Neural conduction delay is a serious issue for organisms that need to act in real time. Perceptual phenomena such as the flash-lag effect (FLE, where the position of a moving object is perceived to be ahead of a brief flash when they are actually colocalized) suggest that the nervous system may perform extrapolation to compensate for delay. However, the precise neural mechanism for extrapolation has not been fully investigated. The main hypothesis of this dissertation is that facilitating synapses, with their dynamic sensitivity to the rate of change in the input, can serve as a neural basis for extrapolation. To test this hypothesis, computational and biologically inspired models are proposed in this dissertation. (1) The facilitatory activation model (FAM) was derived and tested in the motion FLE domain, showing that FAM with smoothing can account for human data. (2) FAM was given a neurophysiological ground by incorporating a spike-based model of facilitating synapses. The spike-based FAM was tested in the luminance FLE domain, successfully explaining extrapolation in both increasing and decreasing luminance conditions. Also, inhibitory backward masking was suggested as a potential cellular mechanism accounting for the smoothing effect. (3) The spike-based FAM was extended by combining it with spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), which allows facilitation to go across multiple neurons. Through STDP, facilitation can selectively propagate to a specific direction, which enables the multi-neuron FAM to express behavior consistent with orientation FLE. (4) FAM was applied to a modified 2D pole-balancing problem to test whether the biologically inspired delay compensation model can be utilized in engineering domains. Experimental results suggest that facilitating activity greatly enhances real time control performance under various forms of input delay as well as under increasing delay and input blank-out conditions. The main contribution of this dissertation is that it shows an intimate link between the organism-level problem of delay compensation, perceptual phenomenon of FLE, computational function of extrapolation, and neurophysiological mechanisms of facilitating synapses (and STDP). The results are expected to shed new light on real-time and predictive processing in the brain, and help understand specific neural processes such as facilitating synapses.

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Published Article / This article is based on reviewing literature as well as experiences in the fields of Radiography and Biochemistry. Major changes have occurred in the Higher Education environment over the recent past. The concept of learner-centeredness emerged with the implementation of OBET. Adaptations to traditional teaching methods will be necessary to prevent lowering of standards in teaching and learning. Mass-lecture, multiple choice questions and using the marking machine has so far been the response from the academe, thus very little deep, meaningful learning is taking place. Good facilitation should narrow the gap caused by student diversity. Facilitating improved learning requires a great deal of professional development as a facilitator. The learning process should strive to attain learning through a deep approach addressing the specific needs of the learners. To assist you to effectively facilitate learning, the article addresses some factors associated with academic achievement. Practical examples are also provided to facilitate effective learning in the classroom. The philosophy driving a good facilitator is also expounded. It is concluded that an excellent facilitator will not only make effort, but will make waves in facilitating his / her subject.

Magister Public Health - MPH (Public Health) / Background and rationale: Telehealth is a collection of methods for enhancing health care, public health, and health education delivery and support using telecommunications technologies. Despite the many reported benefits of telehealth, there are challenges to its continued and widespread use in South Africa. It remains unclear what facilitates or hinders the integration of telehealth into routine clinical practice. Study aim and objectives: Drawing on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study investigated factors affecting healthcare workers' acceptance and use of telehealth in hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Specifically, it described the frequency and nature of telehealth use and the factors associated with technology acceptance; and evaluated the influence of socio-demographic factors (age, experience, profession, qualification) and acceptance factors on use and behavioural intention to use telehealth. Methods: A quantitative survey in seven hospitals (2 tertiary, 3 regional, 2 district) with telehealth facilities falling under the KZN Department of Health, was conducted. 177 medical, nursing, pharmacy and allied staff consented to complete an on-line, closed ended and structured self-administered questionnaire based on the UTAUT model. The responses to the individual likert scale items were assigned a score (1-4), and from this, total scores calculated for each construct. Respondent characteristics were converted into binary variables and associations with total scores on each of the UTAUT acceptance domains were tested using t-test. The associations between behavioural intention and actual use (as binary dependent variables); and the respondent profiles, scores for performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions (independent variables) were assessed in two multivariate logistic regression models.

The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of why some mathematics classrooms in disadvantaged communities are successful and others not. The study was conducted in Limpopo Province in the northern part of South Africa. The central research question addressed in the study is: What factors facilitate achievement of Grade 12 mathematics learners in traditionally disadvantaged schools, particularly in Limpopo Province? The study included in an extensive literature survey in order to identify related studies in this and other countries. The analysis is based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered in schools with similar learner demographics and socioeconomic characteristics, including both high-achieving and low-achieving schools. The quantitative analysis was based on a questionnaire issued to learners whereas the qualitative analysis was based on focus group interviews with learners and individual interviews with teachers. A questionnaire issued to teachers was also included in the study. This investigation shows that factors such as learners’ and teacher’ commitment and motivation, attitudes and self-concept, learners’ career prospects, learners’ perceptions of peers and teachers, and teachers’ perceptions of learners appear to influence disadvantaged learners’ decisions to persist and achieve in mathematics in spite of their difficult circumstances. The conclusion is that there are no mysterious factors that lie at the root of the differences between high- and low-achieving schools. The application of sound teaching and learning principles fosters an environment where pupils are motivated to reach their full potential. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

The study explored teacher educators’ utilization of constructivist education practices to develop ESL in a teacher training institution and student teachers’ engagement in the instructional practices. In light of Chomsky’s proposition in his Universal Grammar (UG) (Cook & Newson 2007) all humanity, under normal conditions, is wired with a language acquisition device (LAD), which is activated in any real-life context when individuals experience exposure to any language. In the formal learning context; teacher education in particular, student teachers experience academic language which presents challenges, resulting in poor academic performance. Cummins (2009) proposes context embedded communication to afford acquisition of academic language. This learning environment is supported for pedagogy in constructivist learning settings, thus constructivist theories of learning provided the study’s theoretical framework. This was a qualitative case study utilising lesson observations of a class of 150 first year student teachers and 4 of their teacher educators. The 4 educators and 5 of the student teachers also attended to open-ended survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, including reflective journals for the latter. Data were analysed through a discourse analysis approach to determine educators’ education practices and student teachers’ meta-learning actions. Findings indicated that student teachers could identify their ESL incompetence but rated it incorrectly. An overarching ESL challenge was with the writing mode. Teacher educators utilised student teachers’ real-life experiences but partially immersed them in independent exploration of tasks to foster meta-learning actions and acquire disciplinary discourses, thus the students relied heavily on their educators’ assistance than independent learning. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

Bakgrund: Fysisk aktivitet främjar hälsa generellt men kan upplevas svårt att få till förpersoner med långvarig smärta. Många utövar fysisk aktivitet trots smärta vilket även kan gesymptomlindring. Enkäten “Självskattade orsaksnätverk för fysisk aktivitet” undersökerunderlättande faktorer för fysisk aktivitet hos personer med långvarig smärta. Enkätensvaliditet är dock inte utforskad ännu. Syfte: För att utveckla enkäten undersöktes ytvaliditet, trovärdighet samt deltagarnas nöjdhet.Dessutom jämfördes resultaten för olika subgrupper hos personer med långvarig smärta. Metod: För att rekrytera deltagare publicerades enkäten i flertalet Facebook-grupper förpersoner med långvarig smärta. Det formulerades nio validitetsfrågor, inspirerat av andrapsykometriskt testade frågeformulär samt eget framtagna för att svara på frågeställningarna.Frågorna utvärderades genom en skattningsskala 0-10 samt ett fritextsvar. Data analyseradesmed deskriptiv statistik samt Mann Whiney U-Test. Resultat: Det inkluderades 48 personer. Genomförbarhet och frågan, om resultatetrepresenterar vardagslivet, skattades 6 till 7 i median. Smärtvariation, hindrande faktorer ochpsykiska faktorer saknades i enkäten enligt deltagarna. Det fanns inga signifikanta skillnaderi skattningen av enkätens egenskaper, varken vid jämförelser hos personer med låg respektivehög genomsnittssmärta eller hos personer som uppfyller respektive inte uppfyllerrekommendationer för fysiska aktivitet. Konklusion: Deltagarnas uppfattning om enkätens tydlighet, genomförbarhet samt relevansvar genomgående ganska bra. Ingen skillnad upptäcktes vid gruppjämförelser. För framtidastudier rekommenderas utvärdering av enkäten hos andra populationer samt vidare test avvaliditet och reliabilitet. / Background: Physical activity promotes health in general, but can be difficult to achieve forpeople with chronic pain. Many people are physically active despite pain. However, physicalactivity can also provide symptom relief. The questionnaire " Självskattade orsaksnätverk förfysisk aktivitet'' investigates facilitating factors for physical activity in people with chronicpain and its validity has not yet been explored. Aim: To develop the questionnaire, face validity, credibility and the participants' satisfactionwere investigated. In addition, the results were compared for different subgroups of peoplewith chronic pain. Method: To recruit participants, the questionnaire was published in several Facebook groupsfor people with chronic pain. Nine validity questions were formulated, including questionsinspired by previous psychometrically tested questionnaires as well as self-developedquestions. These were evaluated using a 0-10 rating scale and a free text answer. Data wereanalysed with descriptive statistics and Mann Whitney U-test. Results: 48 participants were included. Feasibility and the question whether the resultrepresents everyday life was rated 6 till 7 as median. Pain variation, complicating factors andpsychological factors were missing in the questionnaire according to the participants. Therewere no significant differences between people with low or high average pain or those whodid and did not meet recommendations for physical activity. Conclusion: The participants' perception of the questionnaire's clarity, feasibility andrelevance was consistently quite good. No significant differences were found in groupcomparisons. For future studies, evaluation of the questionnaire in other populations andfurther tests of validity and reliability are recommended.