Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / A favourable school atmosphere, in which adolescents behave positively, is one of the greatest concerns for teachers, administrators and parents. Although there are several different pressures leading to adolescent misbehaviour at school, the most contributing factors are peer pressure and the socio-economic status of the school. As adolescents enter the school, the peer group then functions as an important socializing agent for them. As peers socialize within their different school environments, individuals are forced to conform to the practices and opinions of the group. Usually this conformity is unconstructive and clashes with the parents’ and teachers’ expectations. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of peer pressure on adolescent misbehaviour in advantaged and disadvantaged schools. A quantitative methodological approach was used to conduct the study. The study was conducted with adolescents aged from 13 to 17 years in both advantaged and disadvantaged secondary (high) schools in Windhoek,Namibia. A sample of 300 participants was randomly stratified across the schools. The Exposure to Peer Pressure Control Scale (Allen & Yen, 2002) and Child Behaviour Checklist questionnaires (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1987) were used to collect the data.Ethical considerations were carefully considered before and during the research procedure of data collection. The reliability of the instruments was checked by means of a pilot study. The data was analysed by means of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 to reveal descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed a significant positive relationship between peer pressure and adolescent misbehaviour in schools. In addition, misbehaviour was also positively predicted in both advantaged and disadvantaged schools, with disadvantaged schools being significantly more influential. When comparing peer pressure and adolescent misbehaviours in both advantaged and disadvantaged schools, adolescents in disadvantaged schools engaged significantly more in misbehaviour activities and also responded positively more to peer pressure than their counterparts in advantaged schools. Implications for further research were suggested.

The Right to a Favourable Environment in Case-law of the Czech Courts Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the right to a favourable environment as it is contained in the decisions of the Czech courts. The main objective was to provide a complete overview of the development of case-law in this area, with an emphasis on some related problems. Presented diploma thesis points out especially on the unclear conception of the holders of the substantive right to a favourable environment in contrast to the substantive rights belonging to participants in environmental protection proceedings and strives for illustrating the interpretative difficulties associated with this double-track which occurs actually in the Czech legal order. Apart from other things, this thesis aims to point out to the current question, which was submitted to the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, i.e. whether the amendment to the Act of the Czech National Council no. 114/1992 Coll. on Nature and Landscape Protection is consistent with constitutional principles on the protection of public interests and assumptions of international law, especially whether it complies with the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (hereinafter also referred to as...

The current study investigated the factors that have a positive impact on reading development by examining the influence of the home and school environment on students who started school already able to read (early readers). The reading proficiency of the students in the study was determined by a variety of reading tests conducted at the beginning of the school year and students were identified as “early readers”, “average readers”, or “non readers”. The intent was to provide a comprehensive picture of early readers with an emphasis on historical, cultural, and social factors. Many factors influence the development of reading, but this study concentrated on the learning environment at home and in the school. Several methods were used to facilitate a broad description of the reading development of early readers, including observations, interviews, questionnaires, and reading tests. The theoretical concepts were derived from a social constructivist perspective and build on Vygotsky’s theories of learning and development. Among the factors considered were formal reading instruction and literacy. The results demonstrated that the early readers’ reading ability greatly exceeded that of their classmates at the start of the formal school experience. The early readers maintained this advantage through the first three years of school, but the gap was reduced over time. A comparison of the timing of the reading development showed that the early readers developed primarily before the start of school, while the average readers developed during school years one and two, and the non readers, during school year two. A comparison of the learning environments in home and school showed considerable differences. Learning in the home came about as a result of the child’s interests and occurred in the zone of proximal development. Parents gave support without controlling the activities and, along with older siblings, served as good models for reading. In the school setting, the national curriculum and the goals set in the syllabus determined the content of the instruction. The child’s interest did not guide the learning and early readers often worked on concepts they had already mastered. Early readers also worked independently more often, facilitated by their ability to read instructions. As a result, the individualization that occurred was often simply that children accomplished the same tasks in different amounts of time. This study concluded that the stimulation and support that parents provide can have a significant impact on reading learning and development. It is important that teachers take into account the prior knowledge and experiences that children have, since this can greatly impact their motivation to learn. Reading development does not occur at any one specific age, but can be influenced by a number of factors including the child’s development in other areas, and historical, social, or cultural influences.

The South African government announced in 2008 that it intends to promote South Africa as a suitable company headquarter jurisdiction for investment in Africa in general and the sub-Sahara region in particular. The 2010 Taxation Laws Amendment Bill introduced a number of tax changes to lure headquarter companies to South Africa. The new South African headquarter company regime attempts to attract foreign direct investment through these changes. The government plans to make South Africa a gateway for African investments. In order to achieve this goal the regulatory, economic and legal frameworks need to be suitable for international investment. This study analyses the tax characteristics of an ideal holding company regime and investigate the importance that is placed on tax considerations compared to non-tax considerations by companies when faced with investment decision making and whether tax is a primary driver of such decisions. A single source ethnographic case study is used to analyse the process followed by an organisation, and the considerations used by the key decision makers within this organisation, for setting up a holding company in South Africa to drive an investment and business expansion. The case study consists of an investigation into the process followed, the strategy formulated and the structuring of the business for making the investment in selected African countries. It further investigates where the ultimate holding company will be located as a headquarter company for all further Africa business expansion. It was found that the tax considerations are mainly a favourable capital gains tax regime, low income taxes, no or low tax on dividends, a favourable tax treaty network, the absence of controlled foreign company legislation and a liberal thin capitalisation and transfer pricing regime. Non-tax factors also play a significant role in decision making when considering the investment destination. These factors include: economic and political stability; adequate physical, business, accounting and legal infrastructure; the absence (or limited presence) of bureaucratic obstacles; adequate communication channels; the ability to repatriate profits freely; an effective banking system; and the availability of an adequate dispute resolution mechanism. There is a definite distinction between tax specific strategies where enterprises are set up to take advantage of tax incentives provided by certain jurisdictions and where an investment decision is taken and aligned with business decisions to align these strategies to take advantage of a favourable tax regime Jurisdictions that only concentrate on tax incentives will find it difficult to attract foreign direct investment. Decision makers that are held responsible for investors’ capital will take tax as well as non-tax aspects into account when deciding to invest in a country and to set up holding company in that jurisdictions. It is therefore important for a jurisdiction to provide an environment that is conducive to do business in order to attract foreign direct investment. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmchunu2014 / Taxation / unrestricted

1 The Right to a Favourable Environment Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the right to a favourable environment. The main objective of the thesis is to answer the question of how this fundamental human right is applied nowadays and what is the role of international treaties by which the Czech Republic is legally bound in its interpretation. These findings are then critically evaluated and possible directions of the future development of this right are suggested. The thesis is divided into four parts. The introductory part of the thesis defines the basic concepts and introduces the fundamental principles of the environmental protection. The second part of the thesis approaches the possible forms of the relationship between environmental protection and the protection of human rights following the way they were defined by Dinah Shelton in 1991. The third part of the thesis focuses on the right to a favourable environment in the European legal area. First, on the example of the case-law of the ECHR one of the discussed approaches consisting in extending traditional human rights with environmental aspect is presented in more detail. Furthermore, this part deals with the Aarhus Convention and its significance for the right to a favourable environment. The last part of the thesis is devoted to the way in...

Judicial Protection of a Right to the Protection of Health and Favourable Environment with focus on the Region of Ostrava Abstract This diploma thesis deals with legal means of legal protection of the right to the protection of health and favourable environment with focus on the Ostrava region. The aim of this work is to map out judicial means of protection and analyze whether these means are in accordance with their purpose of ensuring the protection of persons against interference with their rights and the public interest in protection of health and the environment. The main methods used in this diploma thesis were the research of legal literature, case law of Czech and foreign courts and legal regulations. Subsequent use of synthesis and the analysis of the acquired information and the use of linguistic, systematic, logical and theological interpretative methods led to the generalization of the main and partial conclusions. This diploma thesis is divided into an introduction and a conclusion and six main chapters, some of which are further divided into subchapters and individual points. The first chapter deals with on the constitutional basis of health protection and a favourable environment. The second chapter focuses on the current condition of the environment in the Ostrava region, its causes and...

This thesis is focused on direct numerical simulation (DNS) of compressible and incompressible fully developed and developing turbulent flows between isothermal walls using a discontinuous Galerkin method (DGM). Three cases (Ma = 0.2, 0.7 and 1.5) of DNS of turbulent channel flows between isothermal walls with Re ~ 2800, based on bulk velocity and half channel width, have been carried out. It is found that a power law seems to scale mean streamwise velocity with Ma slightly better than the more usual log-law. Inner and outer scaling of second-order and higher-order statistics have been analyzed. The linkage between the pressure gradient and vorticity flux on the wall has been theoretically derived and confirmed and they are highly correlated very close to the wall. The correlation coefficients are influenced by Ma, and viscosity when Ma is high. The near-wall spanwise streak spacing increases with Ma. Isosurfaces of the second invariant of the velocity gradient tensor are more sparsely distributed and elongated as Ma increases. DNS of turbulent isothermal-wall bounded flow subjected to favourable and adverse pressure gradient (FPG, APG) at Ma ~ 0.2 and Reref ~ 428000, based on the inlet bulk velocity and the streamwise length of the bottom wall, is also investigated. The FPG/APG is obtained by imposing a concave/convex curvature on the top wall of a plane channel. The flows on the bottom and top walls are tripped turbulent and laminar boundary layers, respectively. It is observed that the first and second order statistics are strongly influenced by the pressure gradients. The cross-correlation coefficients of the pressure gradients and vorticity flux remain constant across the FPG/APG regions of the flat wall. High correlations between the streamwise/wallnormal pressure gradient and the spanwise vorticity are found near the separation region close to the curved top wall. The angle of inclined hairpin structure to streamwise direction of the bottom wall is smaller (flatter) in the FPG region than the APG region. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2009-12-21 13:59:53.084

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) treatment among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infected TB patients, and identify factors associated with these outcomes. A quantitative cross-sectional analytic design was used. Patient level secondary data was collected and analysed for the study. A total of 575 TB patients, including 360 non-HIV infected, 169 HIV co-infected and 46 without a documented HIV status, were enrolled. The overall treatment success rate was 91.5%, and HIV co-infected TB patients had a high rate (11.8%) of unfavourable outcomes. The cure rate was significantly lower (10.1% versus 24.2%) and the death rate higher in HIV co-infected patients (8.3% versus 2.5%). Age and TB classification were significantly associated with treatment outcome. No association was found with starting ART, Cotrimoxazole prophylactic treatment or enrolment in HIV care, but 22% of HIV co-infected TB patients were taking ART when they developed TB disease / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)

The work reported in this thesis is an experimental and theoretical investigation of the so-called sink flow boundary layers. These are two-dimensional (in the mean), favourable-pressure-gradient (FPG) boundary layer flows where the boundary layers experience stream-wise acceleration inside a two-dimensional convergent channel with smooth and plane walls. The boundary layers studied are mainly turbulent with few cases that may be identified as reverse-transitional. The sink flow turbulent boundary layers (TBLs) are the only smooth-walled layers that are in ‘perfect equilibrium’ or ‘exact self-preservation’ in the sense of Townsend (1976) and Rotta (1962). The present boundary layer experiments were conducted in an open-return low-speed wind tunnel. The sink flow conditions were established on the test-plate by using a contoured test-section ceiling for creating a convergent channel with smooth and plane walls. The strength of the streamwise FPG was varied by changing the freestream speed in the test-section. Few zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layers were also measured in the same tunnel for which the contoured ceiling was replaced by a straight one. The velocity measurement techniques used include conventional Pitot-tubes for mean flow measurements and hotwire/crosswire probes for turbulence measurements. For measurement of skin friction in ZPG flows, Preston-tube was used while for the sink flows the so-called surface hotwire method was employed. Static pressures were measured on the test-surface using an alcohol-based projection manometer. Boundary layers were tripped at the beginning of the test-plate to ensure quick transition to turbulence. The mean velocity scaling in sink flow TBLs in the presence of strong FPG has been studied systematically, especially in view of the apparent pressure-gradient-dependence of the logarithmic laws reported in the literature (Spalart & Leonard, 1986; Nickels, 2004; Chauhan et al., 2007). The experimental study of sink flow TBLs carried out over a wide range of streamwise FPGs has shown that the mean velocity profiles (in inner coordinates) exhibit systematic departures from the universal logarithmic law as the pressure gradient parameter ∆p is varied. Even so, each of these profiles exhibits a logarithmic region, albeit non-universal, whose constants are functions of the pressure gradient. Systematic dependence of these constants on the pressure gradient parameter ∆p is observed. Moreover, the wake region is uniformly absent in all these profiles. In other words, each profile looks like a ‘pure wall-flow’, in the sense of Coles (1957), only if it is viewed in relation to its own non-universal logarithmic law. To support the experimental observation of the pressure-gradient-dependence of logarithmic laws in sink flow TBLs, a theory based on the method of matched asymptotic expansions has been applied to sink flow TBLs and this theory reveals a systematic dependence of inner and outer logarithmic laws on the pressure gradient parameter ∆p. This dependence is essentially a higher-order effect and therefore becomes significant only in the presence of relatively strong pressure gradients. Comparison of the theory with the experimental data demonstrates that the disappearance of the universal logarithmic law in strong FPG situations does not necessarily imply the absence of classical inner-outer overlap region. The overlap may still manifest itself as a logarithmic functional form with constants that are strongly influenced by the magnitude of the FPG. An immediate use of the non-universal log laws is towards the estimation skin friction in strong-pressure-gradient equilibrium and near-equilibrium TBL flows and this issue has been studied in some detail. It is shown that the conventional Clauser-chart method for estimation of skin friction (which gives fairly accurate results for ZPG or mild-pressure-gradient flows), originally proposed by Clauser (1954), can be modified to deal with the situations involving strong streamwise pressure gradients, provided that the equilibrium or near-equilibrium TBL under consideration is not very close to relaminarization or separation. In such cases, the overlap layer manifests itself in the form of non-universal logarithmic laws that are dependent on the local strength of the pressure gradient. Using these non-universal log laws in conjunction with the measured pressure distribution (necessary for obtaining the acceleration parameter K) and a measured mean velocity profile, it is possible to obtain the local skin friction coefficient to an accuracy which is typical of skin friction measurements. This modified Clauser-chart method (MCCM) employs a two-fold iterative procedure (one iteration on Cf and the other on ∆p) in contrast to the conventional method that involves only one iteration (on Cf alone). As a by-product of this MCCM, one obtains the local pressure gradient parameter ∆p and the slope 1/κ and intercept C of the non-universal log law for that profile. It is also demonstrated that the arm´MCCM is quite robust to the changes in the universal values of K´arman constant κ0 and intercept C0 for the ZPG turbulent boundary layer. Various aspects of the large-scale structure in turbulent and reverse-transitional sink flow boundary layers subjected to streamwise FPGs have also been investigated. The use of sink flow configuration allows systematic characterization of the large-scale structure with the strength of the FPG as a parameter where the characterization is not contaminated by the upstream history effects. The large-scale structure is identified by cross-correlating the wall-shear stress fluctuation with the streamwise velocity fluctuation. The structure orientation is found to be linear over a large wall-normal extent typically extending from y/δ of 0.1 to 0.6. Beyond y/δ =0.6, the correlation under consideration becomes very weak to allow any conclusive results. The average structure inclination angle αavg is found to decrease systematically with increase in the streamwise FPG. This result is important and has implications towards modeling of the near-wall region. Further it is found that the structure gets elongated considerably as the FPG is increased, i.e. the streamwise spatial extent of the structure increases. Taken together, it is observed that the structure becomes flatter and longer with the increase in FPG. Structural models are proposed for sink flow TBLs in the form of either the shape of individual hairpin vortices or the possible structural self-organization. These models are then discussed in the light of present experimental results. It is also shown that the process of relaminarization of a TBL by strong FPG may be better appreciated by appealing to these structural models. The validity of Taylor’s hypothesis for structure angle measurements in the present study has been established experimentally. This exercise is important since the flows under consideration are highly accelerated and sometimes even reverse-transitional. In most of the previous work on the validity of Taylor’s hypothesis, at least for the measurements similar to the present work, the emphasis has been on ZPG turbulent boundary layers. The present exercise is therefore crucial for accelerating flows. Possible reasons for the observed validity of Taylor’s hypothesis have also been identified − specifically it is seen that the condition ∆xp/L << 1 needs to be met for Taylor’s hypothesis to be valid in pressure gradient flows. Investigation of the structure convection velocity from the space-time correlations has revealed that the convection velocity of a typical structure in the present sink flow boundary layers is almost equal to the local mean velocity (more than 90%). This implies that the structure gets convected downstream almost along with the mean flow. Near-wall ‘active’ and ‘inactive’ motions in sink flow TBLs have been studied, discussed and compared with the corresponding results for ZPG turbulent boundary layers from five different aspects: (i) turbulent diffusion of TKE, (ii) quadrant statistics, (iii) profiles of the streamwise turbulence intensity, (iv) event correlation length scales obtained from conditional sampling on the instantaneous flux signal and (v) profiles of the Townsend parameter Tp =(−uv) /u2. Near-wall inactive motion is seen to be related to the strength of the large-eddy structure in the outer region of TBL flow. For APG flows the near-wall inactive motion is known to be more intense (Bradshaw, 1967b) than the ZPG flows, say at the same K´arman number δ+. This observation is consistent with a stronger large-eddy structure that may be perceived from the stronger wake component in the mean velocity variation and the larger mean entrainment in an APG turbulent boundary layer as compared to the ZPG flow at same δ+. In sink flow TBLs, the large-eddy structure is much weaker in comparison to the ZPG flow at same δ+ which is consistent with the absence of wake component in the mean velocity profile as well as the zero mean entrainment into the layer. A sink flow TBL represents, a state of weakest large-eddy structure and hence minimum intensity of inactive motion compared to any other equilibrium or near-equilibrium TBL flow having the same K´arman number δ+. All the analysis of the relevant experimental data seems to support this.

The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) treatment among Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infected TB patients, and identify factors associated with these outcomes. A quantitative cross-sectional analytic design was used. Patient level secondary data was collected and analysed for the study. A total of 575 TB patients, including 360 non-HIV infected, 169 HIV co-infected and 46 without a documented HIV status, were enrolled. The overall treatment success rate was 91.5%, and HIV co-infected TB patients had a high rate (11.8%) of unfavourable outcomes. The cure rate was significantly lower (10.1% versus 24.2%) and the death rate higher in HIV co-infected patients (8.3% versus 2.5%). Age and TB classification were significantly associated with treatment outcome. No association was found with starting ART, Cotrimoxazole prophylactic treatment or enrolment in HIV care, but 22% of HIV co-infected TB patients were taking ART when they developed TB disease / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health)