The purpose of this study was to determine professor and student knowledge of, attitudes towards, and experiences with graduate level collaborative writing in Canadian universities. Data were gathered from professors and students in Engineering, Business, Education, Biology, English, and History. A mixed methods approach using two surveys and eighteen interviews was employed to explore four research questions. The surveys were analyzed deductively. Interviews were analyzed inductively and deductively. Results indicated that collaborative writing is practiced at the graduate level in a variety of ways. Professors and students described collaborative writing as mentorship, in the context of coursework, and as coauthorship for publication. In addition, a significant relationship was found between graduate students writing collaboratively and discipline. The relationship between professors assigning collaborative writing and discipline was also significant. Disciplinary differences were supported by and explored through interview data. Views in the academy seem to be shifting. Although solitary writing is the norm and highly valued in the humanities, participants in this study indicated an openness and desire to include collaborate writing in their graduate level experiences. In fields where collaborative writing is the norm, participants noted areas to address in order to increase its effectiveness. This study has implications in the areas of pedagogical change, technology, and the mandate of higher education.

Eskom, the sole supplier of electricity in South Africa is facing an energy crisis. This is due to the steady increase in demand for electricity in South Africa. Low electricity prices in South Africa have helped the energy intensive industries of South Africa to be more competitive. Unfortunately this has resulted in poor energy efficiency practices and has hampered incentives to save energy. To address this problem, Eskom initiated a Demand Side Management (DSM) programme. DSM is beneficial to both Eskom and the client. However, due to the high cost of implementing such projects, it is feasible to implement it only on sites where the load shift potential is high enough for Eskom to benefit. The mining industry has been targeted for DSM programmes. This is due to the existence of a large mining sector in South Africa and to its energy intensive nature. Most mining operations require large amounts of water which is used to cool the underground environment and so ensure productivity and the safety of the workers. Due to the large amounts of water needed for mining, the electricity usage of these pumping systems is very high. If the use of this electricity can be optimised by implementing DSM principles, this will result in the long term savings of costs for the mines involved. The majority of pumping systems found on mines are single shaft systems. Individually these systems have a very high DSM potential. However, if multiple shaft systems can be used for DSM, the benefits will be far greater. Furthermore, combining several sites with an interconnected water pumping system will increase the potential for DSM and enable sites where individually the potential is too low to be feasible for a DSM project to raise their potential. This will result in more sites where DSM projects can be implemented and more clients who can benefit from the DSM programme. The purpose of this study is to investigate and implement a DSM project on an intricate multi-shaft mine pumping system which will be controlled from a single point. The project required a detailed investigation of the pumping systems on each shaft and how the water system is interlinked between the shafts. This project was carried out on Beatrix Mine Shafts 1, 2 and 3. The pumping systems were analysed and simulated according to the specific constraints and requirements that were specified by the mine. During the investigation and implementation of this project, possible efficiency improvements on certain pump stations were discovered and implemented. The improvements enabled both an increase in water flow to the surface and a decrease in power consumption. Due to this load reduction, the savings achieved were higher than those found in most load shifting projects. Moreover, additional infrastructures were installed to ensure communication between pumping systems. Once the simulation and optimisation of the control system was completed, the pumping system network was automated. The load shift resulted in a ± 3.5 MW shift in the morning peak demand period and a ± 6.0 MW shift in the evening peak demand period. This load shift has resulted in an average cost saving of R 80 000 per month during summer tariff period, and R 300 000 per month during winter tariff period. This saving result was calculated by taking load reduction into account. This project has shown that a DSM project can be implemented successfully, given the necessary historical data and expertise, on a pumping system that is interconnected between multiple shafts. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.A. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Health Sciences Centre (HSC) in Winnipeg is the major healthcare facility serving Manitoba, Northwestern Ontario, and Nunavut. An evaluation of HSC’s adult surgical patient flow revealed that one major barrier to smooth flow was their Operating Room (OR) scheduling system. This thesis presents a new two-stage elective OR scheduling system for HSC, which generates weekly OR schedules that reduce artificial variability in order to facilitate smooth patient flow. The first stage reduces day-to-day variability while the second stage reduces variability occurring within a day. The scheduling processes in both stages are mathematically modelled as multi-objective optimization problems. An attempt was made to solve both models using lexicographic goal programming. However, this proved to be an unacceptable method for the second stage, so a new multi-objective genetic algorithm, Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II – Operating Room (NSGAII-OR), was developed. Results indicate that if the system is implemented at HSC, their surgical patient flow will likely improve.

Purpose: The purpose of this research program was three-fold. First it aimed to determine the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions in increasing cessation rates in smokers with cerebrovascular disease and whether smoking cessation reduces stroke recurrence. Second it aimed to determine the prognostic influence of smoking and its association with stroke severity, disability, length of stay in hospital and mortality. Third it aimed to identify multi-level correlates of smoking cessation in Canadians who reported stroke symptoms in a large population based survey. Methods: Two systematic reviews and meta-analyses were performed to achieve the first objective. For the second objective, a retrospective cohort study was undertaken using variables from the Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network. Finally, the third objective was achieved by analyzing respondents from the Canadian Community Health Survey. Results: There is a paucity of intervention studies examining the effectiveness of smoking cessation in smokers with cerebrovascular disease. Most intervention studies that were found, failed to employ evidence-based approaches to smoking cessation. No evidence was found in regards to the effect of smoking cessation on stroke recurrence. We found smokers had strokes at a younger age compared to non-smokers. We found that in transient ischemic attacks and intracerbral haemorrhage, smoking was a significant predictor of stroke severity, disability, length of stay in hospital and 1 year mortality. Correlates of smoking cessation among Canadians who have experienced symptoms of a stroke included: higher education and income, implementation of household and vehicle smoking restrictions, access to a general practitioner and the use of smoking cessation pharmacotherapies and counselling support. Co-morbidities such as depression and alcohol consumption reduced the likelihood of successful cessation. Conclusions: This three-phase research program elucidated the gaps in intervention research for this population along with co-morbidities that hinder success in cessation. Smoking negatively impacted outcomes such as disability, hospital length of stay and mortality in patients with transient ischemic attacks and intracerebral haemorrhage strokes. Future interventions should take into account modifiable smoking cessation correlates in order to increase cessation rates in smokers with cerebrovascular disease.

Eskom, the sole supplier of electricity in South Africa is facing an energy crisis. This is due to the steady increase in demand for electricity in South Africa. Low electricity prices in South Africa have helped the energy intensive industries of South Africa to be more competitive. Unfortunately this has resulted in poor energy efficiency practices and has hampered incentives to save energy. To address this problem, Eskom initiated a Demand Side Management (DSM) programme. DSM is beneficial to both Eskom and the client. However, due to the high cost of implementing such projects, it is feasible to implement it only on sites where the load shift potential is high enough for Eskom to benefit. The mining industry has been targeted for DSM programmes. This is due to the existence of a large mining sector in South Africa and to its energy intensive nature. Most mining operations require large amounts of water which is used to cool the underground environment and so ensure productivity and the safety of the workers. Due to the large amounts of water needed for mining, the electricity usage of these pumping systems is very high. If the use of this electricity can be optimised by implementing DSM principles, this will result in the long term savings of costs for the mines involved. The majority of pumping systems found on mines are single shaft systems. Individually these systems have a very high DSM potential. However, if multiple shaft systems can be used for DSM, the benefits will be far greater. Furthermore, combining several sites with an interconnected water pumping system will increase the potential for DSM and enable sites where individually the potential is too low to be feasible for a DSM project to raise their potential. This will result in more sites where DSM projects can be implemented and more clients who can benefit from the DSM programme. The purpose of this study is to investigate and implement a DSM project on an intricate multi-shaft mine pumping system which will be controlled from a single point. The project required a detailed investigation of the pumping systems on each shaft and how the water system is interlinked between the shafts. This project was carried out on Beatrix Mine Shafts 1, 2 and 3. The pumping systems were analysed and simulated according to the specific constraints and requirements that were specified by the mine. During the investigation and implementation of this project, possible efficiency improvements on certain pump stations were discovered and implemented. The improvements enabled both an increase in water flow to the surface and a decrease in power consumption. Due to this load reduction, the savings achieved were higher than those found in most load shifting projects. Moreover, additional infrastructures were installed to ensure communication between pumping systems. Once the simulation and optimisation of the control system was completed, the pumping system network was automated. The load shift resulted in a ± 3.5 MW shift in the morning peak demand period and a ± 6.0 MW shift in the evening peak demand period. This load shift has resulted in an average cost saving of R 80 000 per month during summer tariff period, and R 300 000 per month during winter tariff period. This saving result was calculated by taking load reduction into account. This project has shown that a DSM project can be implemented successfully, given the necessary historical data and expertise, on a pumping system that is interconnected between multiple shafts. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.A. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Multi-core programming presents developers with a dramatic paradigm shift. Where the conceptual models of sequential programming largely supported the decoupling of source from underlying architecture, it is now unwise to develop new patterns, abstractions and parallel software in complete isolation from issues of modern hardware utilization. Challenging issues historically associated with complex systems code are now compounded within the parallel domain. These issues are manifested at all stages of software development including design, development, testing and maintenance. Programmers currently lack the essential tools to even partially automate reasoning techniques, resource utilization and system configuration management. Current trial and error strategies lack a systematic approach that will scale to growing multi-core and multi-processor environments. In fact, current algorithm and data layout conceptual models applied to design, implementation and pedagogy often conflict with effective parallelization strategies. This disertation calls for a rethinking, rebuilding and retooling of conceptual models, taking into account opportunities to introduce parallelism for multi-core architectures from the ground up. In order to establish new conceptual models, we must first 1) identify inherent complexities in multi-core development, 2) establish support strategies to make handling them more explicit and 3) evaluate the impact of these strategies in terms of proposed software development practices and tool support. / Graduate

This thesis examines the Europeanization process with a focus on the structure of influence and the role of agency in influencing the domestic change of the EU candidate states. In order to understand these qualities of the Europeanization process I discuss the current literature on Europeanization and critically evaluate contemporary conceptualization of the structure of influence. An assessment of the five mechanisms of Europeanization first advanced by Heather Grabbe—models, financial and technical aid, benchmarking and monitoring, advice and twinning, and gate-keeping—is then conducted in order to show that Europeanization can be discussed both conceptually and empirically. The categories reveal the important role that the structure of influence and windows of opportunity play in influencing the outcome of Europeanization. Throughout this thesis I argue that the Europeanization process is governed by a multi-leveled structure of influence that is affected by the actors’ ability to capitalize on windows of opportunity. Moreover, I conclude that the outcomes of the Europeanization process are shaped by the structure of influence and windows of opportunity available to each level of actors. / Graduate

One advantage of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is the potential for bioremediation by organic-extractive organisms. In British Columbia, a number of marine invertebrate species are being considered for use in open-water IMTA with sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria). These include both filter-feeding bivalves (e.g. cockles, mussels, oysters, scallops) which would consume the finer suspended particulates from the finfish culture component and deposit/detrital feeders (e.g. sea cucumbers, sea urchins, prawns) which would feed on the heavier-settleable solids. The following candidate species were tested for their ability to consume sablefish faeces and uneaten sablefish feed in laboratory feeding trials: green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis), basket cockle (Clinocardium nuttallii), blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros), and California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus). Whether they can remove organic material from aquaculture wastes was tested by measuring ingestion rate or clearance rate and absorption efficiency when they were fed a diet of sablefish waste, relative to those fed a natural control diet. Egestion rates in the candidate species were quantified to estimate the potential amount of waste that may be lost from the organic-extractive component. Biophysical properties including shape, size, and settling velocity were measured in faecal pellets egested by the candidate species to provide input data for models to assess dispersal of faeces from IMTA sites. Results from the laboratory feeding trials demonstrate that all candidate species are capable of consuming wastes from sablefish aquaculture and absorbing the organic material. The relative merits and drawbacks of each candidate species are discussed with respect to the results and within the broader context of IMTA. The general conclusion is that, in order to achieve efficient removal of organic material and successful bioremediation, deposit feeders should be included in the organic-extractive component, whether alone or in conjunction with suspension feeders. / Graduate