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The aim of this study is to indicate the necessity for training Christian workers and to formulate suitable criteria for undergraduate study. The central theoretical argument is that criteria regarding the effective training of Christian workers are lacking and should therefore be formulated. An increasing demand for healthy reformed-theological and ministry oriented undergraduate training of Christian workers, calls for an interesting and new challenge for the departments of Practical Theology at Theological Faculties in South Africa and worldwide. The first aim of this study was to determine which possible Scriptural perspectives exist on the intra- and interpersonal development of the believer. The basis-theoretical perspective showed a distinct relationship and interdependency between the development of emotive and spiritual skills. Both form an integral part of the believer's process of growth towards spiritual maturity and maturity of faith. The second aim was to examine the contributions of other relevant disciplines. Regarding the metatheoretical perspective, emotive training is considered increasingly important. Disciplines such as Sociology. Psychology, Psycho Neurology and Social Work contributes interesting perspectives on the intra- and interpersonal development of the individual. This knowledge has to be taken into account when a scientifically answerable training course for Christian workers is to be developed. Empirical research clearly showed the need for ministry oriented undergraduate training of Christian workers, which should include the development of intra- and interpersonal skills. The third goal was reached by integrating the basis- and meta-theoretical perspectives, and by laying down guidelines for this new field of practice. The researcher evaluated relevant study material of the above-mentioned disciplines and integrated the information into criteria for a new theo-psychosocial study course for undergraduate training of Christian workers. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

La diversité spatiale nécessitant des réseaux d’antennes à l’émission et/ou à la réception, connue sous la terminologie MIMO pour « Multiple Input Multiple Output », est intégrée dans les derniers standards des réseaux sans fil et fait déjà son apparition sur le marché des téléphones portables et des stations Wi-Fi. Au delà des solutions offertes pour augmenter le débit des communications, les techniques MIMO offrent la possibilité de retrouver, à l’aide d’algorithmes de traitement du signal, quelques paramètres physiques des signaux reçus et/ou transmis. Cette propriété va être exploitée pour offrir, par exemple aux terminaux Wi-Fi, la possibilité de se localiser dans des milieux confinés où les techniques développées pour la localisation des mobiles en extérieur ne sont pas aisément transposables.La demande est très forte pour ce genre d’application, notamment dans les lieux publics tels que les gares ou zones d’échanges multimodales, puisque la technologie pourrait permettre le développement de nouveaux services en rendant le voyage « intelligent » et en proposant l’accès à une vaste gamme de services en temps réel. L’objectif général de cette thèse est donc de proposer une solution de localisation pour aider le voyageur dans ses déplacements dans une zone d’échanges ou des gares.Le procédé de localisation développé est basé sur l’utilisation des paramètres angulaires et temporels d’au moins deux trajets entre le mobile à localiser et au moins deux réseaux de récepteurs. On suppose que ces trajets ont subi au maximum une interaction avec l’environnement. L’estimation des paramètres nécessaires à la localisation est effectuée à l’aide d’algorithmes à haute résolution de problèmes inverses tels SAGE et plus récemment RIMAX. Les études paramétriques sur les performances des algorithmes ont permis de déterminer les ressources nécessaires pour l’estimation des retards et des paramètres angulaires avec des précisions compatibles avec des applications de localisation. L’algorithme de localisation a été testé et validé dans différentes configurations, en utilisant les paramètres exacts des signaux ou ceux estimés par RIMAX. / Spatial diversity exploits antenna array at the transmitter and the receiving station. The resulting technology, known as MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), has already been implemented in latest generation equipments and standards like Wi-Fi 802.11n. Excepting the advantage of increased data throughput, the technology allows extracting physical parameters of the received signals via signal processing algorithms. This property can be used to develop localization applications in indoor environments.The request for such applications continued increasing in the last decade. In the public transportation systems domain, the technology allows the development of intelligent solutions giving access to a wide range of real time services. The objective of this PhD is the development of an indoor localization solution in the context of public transportation systems.The proposed localization method is based on the exploitation of time domain and angular domain parameters of 2 or more LOS or NLOS of first order paths between the mobile object being localized and 2 or more receiving stations. Both the transmitter and the emitters are equipped with antenna arrays. The estimation of the parameters exploited in the localization method is obtained through high resolution signal parameter algorithms like SAGE and RIMAX. The parametric studies on the performance of parameter estimation algorithms allowed us to set a basis for the configuration allowing us to estimate the delays and the directions of arrival and departure within the limits set by the localization application. The localization algorithm has been tested and validated in different setups using the exact parameters of the signals or the parameters estimated by SAGE and RIMAX.

The freedom of movement within the European Union is one of the pillars in which the EU is built and is encouraged as a mean to create a European citizenship. Even though economic reasons for moving within the union are most common, other reasons such as family or education is important in migration decisions. As immigration from member states of the Union have raised since the Swedish accession, many also returns to their country of origin and emigration rates from Sweden are high. Besides economic reasons for leaving Sweden, the family context also plays an important role in immigrants’ decision to emigrate. The aim of this study is to explore what impact family life and especially the presence of children might have on out-migration but also to look into socio-economic determinants of emigration. To analyze this, I use longitudinal population register data on EU-15 migrants in Sweden to apply an event-history analysis. The results suggest that economic integration in Sweden plays an important part as unemployed and having a low income means higher emigration propensities. Having no partner or a partner not born in Sweden means a higher risk of leaving compared to those with a Swedish-born partner, but when information about children is included, having children or not seems to matter more than being in a relationship or not. A closer look at the country of birth of the children shows that having Swedish-born children inhibits emigration while having foreign born children increases the probability to emigrate. The results indicate that having a Swedish born child provides motives to stay on in Sweden.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in clinical practice, occurring in 1% of the adult population of North America. Although AF does not typically lead to risk of immediate mortality, it is a potent risk factor for ischemic stroke. When left untreated AF reduces quality of life, functional status, cardiac performance and is associated with higher medical costs and an increased risk of death. Catheter ablation is a commonly used treatment method for those who suffer from drugrefractory AF. Prior to ablation, intra-cardiac mapping can be used to determine the activation sequence of cardiac tissue, which may be useful in deciding where to place ablation lesions. However, the electrical potential that is recorded during mapping is not a direct reflection of the current density across the tissue because the potential recorded at each point above the heart tissue is influenced by every cell in the tissue. This causes the recorded potential to be a blurred version of the true tissue current density. The potential that is observed can be described as the convolution of the true current density with a point spread function. Accordingly, deconvolution can, in principle, be used in order to improve the resolution of potential maps. However, because the number of electrodes which can be deployed transvenously is limited by practical restrictions, the recorded potential field is a sparsely sampled version of the actual potential field. Further, an electrode array cannot sample over the entire atrial surface, so the potential map that is observed is a truncated version of the global electrical activity. Here, we investigate the effects of electrode sampling density and edge extension on the ability of deconvolution to improve the resolution of measured electrical potentials within the atria of the heart. In particular, we identify the density of sensing electrodes that are required to allow deconvolution to provide improved estimation of the true current density when compared to the observed potential field.

In this dissertation I examine the informational externalities of going public decisions for industrial and banking sector. The results show that industrial rivals have positive valuation effects only in response to venture backed IPOs and no significant reaction in response to non-venture backed IPOs. I also find evidence that the effect on rival firms is stronger if they operate in low concentrated industries (i.e. high competition) and have low growth opportunities. The relative size of IPO firm seems to play an important role in the direction and magnitude of industry rivals' valuation effects. Negative information revealed in the form of downward price revisions adversely affect rival firms' valuation. Positive information is also conveyed at the IPO announcements in banking industry. Bank rivals experience wealth gains if they are headquartered in the same state and no valuation effects if they are headquartered in the same region as the announcing bank. However, positive and significant reactions are noted in Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions and negative reaction in Midwest region. Overall, these findings confirm that IPOs convey valuable information to the market and investors use this information to reassess the value of the rival firms.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science in Medicine in Pharmaceutical Affairs. / Many will be disappointed to learn that pharmacoeconomic evaluations provide information, not answers. Although pharmacoeconomics broadens the perspective taken in evaluating drug therapies, the final drug therapy decision is still influenced by clinician preferences, patient desires, and the working and politics of the healthcare delivery system”. 1 Globally and in South Africa there is an increasing pressure on healthcare resources. These pressures have exponents both in the supply and demand arms of the economic equation and have set the scene for the development of a new discipline in healthcare. Pharmacoeconomics can be defined as “the description and analysis of the cost of drug therapy of health care systems and society”. 2 Pharmacoeconomics assesses the ratio of the cost to the consequences of specific drug therapies using a technique called Cost Effective analysis which uses tools such as Cost Minimisation analysis, Cost Effective analysis and Cost Benefit analysis / IT2018

Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Recently, some authors point to value creation from the structure and behaviours associated with competition and collaboration inside the organisation (Helfat and Eisenhardt, 2004; Birkinshaw and Lingblad, 2005). While both competition and collaboration have been studied extensively between organisations, less attention has been focused on them and their interaction between units inside the organisation, particularly within complex and heterogeneous multinational corporations. The question is how to achieve the coordination and collaboration that is necessary for a multinational organisation to reap the benefits that international expansion has to offer and yet balance the propensity for competition that exists as business units struggle for scarce resources or new opportunities. In order to answer this question, the aim of this review is to first of all know what the factors and mechanisms are that influence competition and collaboration between organisational units within multinational organisations. Methodology: This study has been conducted using a systematic review methodology with the aim of producing a search of extant literature which can be trusted by others as being thorough, transparent, replicable and clear. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques have been used to achieve this. Findings: This review finds that the there is minimal extant literature that addresses competition and collaboration between business units within the multinational corporation and that it also fails to provide a comprehensive understanding of the factors and mechanisms that influence the co-existence of intraorganisational competition and collaboration. They are typically viewed as mutually exclusive or at opposite ends of a continuum. While there has been some recent research attention given to intraorganisational collaboration and competition, each in their own right, there has not been an extensive review of the factors and mechanisms when looking at their coexistence within the multinational corporate environment. By bringing the two literatures into view and investigating the paradoxical nature of the influences on andthe interactions between competition and collaboration, insights into an optimal mix based on the corporations strategy and value creation logic can be gained for both academics and business unit leaders.

Detta arbete har undersökt pedagogisk dokumentation och har fokuserat på reflektion, då det är en del av vad som gör att dokumentationen blir pedagogisk. Syftet var att undersöka hur reflektion kunde gå till. Arbetet har utgått från ett posthumanistiskt perspektiv, vilket innebar att det inte enbart fokuserade på vad barnen gjorde och sa, utan även tingen omkring barnen. Tingen sågs som medkonstruktörer av kunskap, som barnen samhandlade med. Som metod användes videoobservationer, som användes för att samla material vid fem olika tillfällen. Det första tillfället var en skapande aktivitet, där barnen arbetade med lera. De fyra andra tillfällena var alla reflektionstillfällen, där reflektion skedde kring den skapande aktiviteten. Vid dessa fem videoobservationstillfällen deltog jag själv, fem barn, en pedagog och en student. Resultatet delades in i olika typer av situationer; uppgiftsstyrda, fritt skapande och utmanande situationer. Deltagarna tittade på och reflekterade kring materialet. Utifrån reflektionerna behandlar arbetet vad det var som verkade vara meningsfullt och meningsskapande för barnen.