Yes / Assessing and interpreting dental and skeletal age-related changes in both the living and the dead is of interest to a wide range of disciplines (e.g. see Bittles and Collins 1986) including human biology, paediatrics, public health, palaeodemography, archaeology, palaeontology, human evolution, forensic anthropology and legal medicine. ... This special issue of Annals of Human Biology arises from the 55th annual symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology in association with the British Association for Biological Anthropological and Osteoarchaeology held in Oxford, UK, from 9–11 December 2014. Only a selection of the presentations are included here which encompass some of the major recent advances in age estimation from the dentition and skeleton.

The Master's thesis deals with work-related stress in its context; preventing and managing it; and compares approaches to preventing and managing work-related stress in the Czech Republic and the Nordic countries. Work-related stress may have a negative impact on physical and mental health or overall quality of life of an individual and it may bring negative implications for an organization. The thesis follows theoretical basis for work- related stress, its factors and consequences from the point of view of an individual as well as an organization. The attention is concentrated on the approaches to preventing and managing work-related stress in organizations in regard to the nature of a work activity, the management level or particular activities carried out by human resources management. It is focusing on stress management precautions taken on the European and national level and describes the process conducted during the development of a programme for preventing and managing work-related stress and its effectivity evaluation. The thesis deals with an analysis of the approaches to preventing and managing work-related stress in the Czech Republic in comparison to those employed in the Nordic countries. The analysis and the follow-up comparison pursues situation in handling the matter in the Czech...

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related violence has been firmly established in a wide array of studies concerning various forms of violence including intimate partner violence, domestic violence as well as sexual assault. One factor which has been highlighted as having a moderating effect on the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression is the specific aggression-related alcohol expectancies concerning the effects of alcohol consumption on aggressive behaviour. In light of the prevalence of alcohol-related violence in South African communities it becomes important to examine the specific factors that moderate the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression and violence. The aim of this study was to examine aggressionrelated alcohol expectancies as a moderating factor in the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related aggression and to examine the possible influence of exposure to community alcohol-related aggression in the formulation of aggression-related alcohol expectancies. The main objectives of this were to examine aggression-related alcohol expectancies as well as exposure to community alcohol-related aggression as domains for intervention to prevent alcohol-related violence. / South Africa

The eastern margin of the Proterozoic Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan is host to several of the highest-grade unconformity-related (U/C-related) uranium deposits in the world. Many researchers agree that uranium deposition occurred due to oxidized basinal brines transporting uranium mixing with reducing fluids or interacting with reduced rock causing uranium to precipitate, although the source of the uranium is still an unresolved and highly debated subject. Boron isotopic signatures, preserved in refractory minerals such as tourmaline, can aid in determining the source of fluids and P-T conditions during crystallization whereas lithium isotopic fractionation is indicative of weathering, hydrothermal alteration, and/or igneous and metamorphic processes. For this study a suite of fresh to strongly altered basement samples were selected from multiple sites below the eastern Athabasca Basin to measure the bulk delta7Li, delta11B and Pb-Pb isotopic signatures. Kinetic modelling of the Li and B isotopic systems suggest that both systems are slightly conservative of their original fluid reservoir, and by calculating the Damkohler numbers (ND) it is predicted that delta11B will be more indicative of the fluid source whereas lithium isotopes will equilibrate over shorter distance. However, both isotopic systems will fractionate with large concentration changes. Significant variations were observed for both delta7Li and delta11B, delta7Li values ranged from 0 to 14 ‰, the range in delta7Li was interpreted to be representative of both partial melting of metasediments to form granitic pegmatites and hydrothermal fluids. In comparison the range for delta11B was much larger from -16 to +17‰, within the dataset there appeared to be regional isotopic differences but unfortunately this dataset was too small to determine regional isotopic patterns. For each region the delta11B for the pegmatites was often heavier than the metasedimentary samples suggesting a metasedimentary source for the granitic pegmatites. Elevated U concentrations and decreasing 207Pb/206Pb ratios in both altered and unaltered samples suggest radiogenic Pb and U are present both in the basement and in fluids transporting U through the basement. Partial digestion 207Pb/206Pb ratios range from the common 207Pb/206Pb ratios of 0.7 to radiogenic 207Pb/206Pb ratios of 0.1. The radiogenic 207Pb/206Pb are indicative of either resetting of residual material during fluid migration or radiogenic fluids sources interacting with the rocks of this study.

Research has shown that social correlates of physical activity play an important role in individual participation in physical activity or sport, hence their link with associated health benefits. However, in spite of the health benefits associated with physical activity, many children do not meet the daily guidelines of being active for at least 30 minutes a day. This study investigated physical activity, health-related fitness and social correlates among 284 adolescents (111 boys and 173 girls) who are part of the on-going Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHLS). Height, weight, skinfold thickness (triceps, subscapular and calf skinfolds), waist and hip circumferences were measured through the standard procedures described by the International Standards of Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and percentage body fat (%BF) were used as measures of body composition. Health-related physical fitness (HRPF) was determined by measuring cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength and endurance, and flexibility using standardised tests according to the EUROFIT (1988) test protocol. The standardised International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-Short form) and Social Support for Physical Activity questionnaire were used to gather information on participation in physical activity and social correlates for physical activity respectively. The results show that 29.6% of the adolescents were underweight and 26.4% overweight. Girls were significantly (p<0.05) fatter (%BF and BMI) and shorter than the boys. A significant gender difference (p<0.05) was also observed in WHR. Thirty four percent (34%) participated in low PA with 35% in high PA. Boys were significantly (z-4.52; p=0.000) more highly active compared to the girls. Boys measured significantly higher than girls (p<0.05) in SBJ, BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • V O . Adolescents’ participation in physical activity was affected by ‘lack of support by friends’, ‘encouragement by friends or family members’ and ‘lack of support during engagement in physical activity’. A significant difference (p<0.05) was found between boys and girls regarding ‘friends’ encouragement to do physical activity or sports’, ‘participation in physical activity or sports with friends’ and ‘friends’ confirmation that the participant is doing a good job at physical activity’. Positive correlations were found between Total Physical Activity (TPA) and all social correlates of PA, with a significant relationship between total physical activity (TPA) and ‘how often do your friends tell you that you are doing a good job at physical activity?’, and ‘has someone told you that you are doing well in physical activity?’ percentage body fat was negatively associated with social correlates of physical activity with a significant relationship in contrast with ‘friends’ encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’. A significant positive correlation was observed between WC, WHR, SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O and ‘friends’ encouragement in a typical week to do physical activity or sports’. Further significant positive correlations were found with WC for ‘encouragement by someone in a typical week to do physical activity or sports’; WHR, SBJ, BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘participation in physical activity or sports with friends’; SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘friends’ encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’; SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘someone’s encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’; BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • VO for ‘someone’s participation in sport with one’; SUP, predicted 2max • VO for ‘one’s encouragement to friends to participate in physical activity or sport’; SUP for ‘provision of transportation to physical activity or sport’; and predicted 2max • V O for ‘someone watching one participate in physical activity or sport’. SAR, on the other hand, was negatively associated with all social correlates for physical activity. It can be concluded that the adolescent boys in the study were underweight and significantly more active when compared to the relatively overweight and inactive girls. Boys also have higher health-related fitness and higher social correlates compared to the girls. Social correlates for physical activity were positively associated with participation in physical activity and healthrelated physical fitness variables. Thirty six percent (36%) of the participants indicated lack of transport as a negative factor for their participation in physical activity and sport. Based on these findings, urgent strategic public health intervention by all stakeholders dealing with adolescents, as well as more research studies in the area, is required. / PhD (Human Movement Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Several researchers report that object control skills, health-related physical fitness and physical activity are not optimally developed in children. It is also evident from the literature that children, especially girls, are not active enough these days. These trends are disturbing as these are important factors that play a role in the health and sports development later in the child's life. Firstly, this dissertation attempts to examine the relationship between object control skills and health-related physical fitness in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa. Secondly, the relationship between object control skills and physical activity levels and patterns in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa was investigated. Data were collected by means of a stratified randomised sample of 408 girls with a mean age of 9,86 years (±0,42) who participated in the NW-CHILD study. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) strength sub-test (standing long jump, push-ups, sit-ups, wall sit and V-up) was used to determine the girls’ strength, the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) (Ulrich, 2000) was used to determine the learners’ object control skills and the FITNESSGRAM (Meredith & Welk, 2008) was used to evaluate the girls’ cardiovascular endurance. The Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) was used to evaluate the physical activity pattern of the girls. Stature, body mass and skinfolds (subscapular, triceps and calf) were measured according to standard kinantropometric protocols. The STATISTICA software package was used to analyse the data. Small but significant correlations were found between object control skills and strength, aerobic fitness and the body composition of the group. According to the healty fitness zone (HFZ) classification, 49.62% (n=198) of girls were categorised as being in the HFZ with regard to their BMI and 54.14% (n=216) in the HFZ with regards to the FAT%. This indicates that object control skills are influenced by factors that can contribute to the health of young girls. Participation in physical activities should therefore be increased. Appropriate development of object control skills (OC) and strength skills in girls is recommended to prevent delays in sports participation. Further investigation involved racial differences in activity performances. Ninety white and 318 black girls with a mean age of 9.86 years participated in this study. OC skills were assessed. Statistically (p≤0.001) and practically significant differences between the white and black girls were found, where the white girls participated more in ten of the moderate intensity physical activities than the black girls and the black girls participated more in three of these activities. Activities in which white girls mostly participated contributed significantly to higher moderate to high intensity. / MA (Kinderkinetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Research has shown that social correlates of physical activity play an important role in individual participation in physical activity or sport, hence their link with associated health benefits. However, in spite of the health benefits associated with physical activity, many children do not meet the daily guidelines of being active for at least 30 minutes a day. This study investigated physical activity, health-related fitness and social correlates among 284 adolescents (111 boys and 173 girls) who are part of the on-going Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHLS). Height, weight, skinfold thickness (triceps, subscapular and calf skinfolds), waist and hip circumferences were measured through the standard procedures described by the International Standards of Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and percentage body fat (%BF) were used as measures of body composition. Health-related physical fitness (HRPF) was determined by measuring cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength and endurance, and flexibility using standardised tests according to the EUROFIT (1988) test protocol. The standardised International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-Short form) and Social Support for Physical Activity questionnaire were used to gather information on participation in physical activity and social correlates for physical activity respectively. The results show that 29.6% of the adolescents were underweight and 26.4% overweight. Girls were significantly (p<0.05) fatter (%BF and BMI) and shorter than the boys. A significant gender difference (p<0.05) was also observed in WHR. Thirty four percent (34%) participated in low PA with 35% in high PA. Boys were significantly (z-4.52; p=0.000) more highly active compared to the girls. Boys measured significantly higher than girls (p<0.05) in SBJ, BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • V O . Adolescents’ participation in physical activity was affected by ‘lack of support by friends’, ‘encouragement by friends or family members’ and ‘lack of support during engagement in physical activity’. A significant difference (p<0.05) was found between boys and girls regarding ‘friends’ encouragement to do physical activity or sports’, ‘participation in physical activity or sports with friends’ and ‘friends’ confirmation that the participant is doing a good job at physical activity’. Positive correlations were found between Total Physical Activity (TPA) and all social correlates of PA, with a significant relationship between total physical activity (TPA) and ‘how often do your friends tell you that you are doing a good job at physical activity?’, and ‘has someone told you that you are doing well in physical activity?’ percentage body fat was negatively associated with social correlates of physical activity with a significant relationship in contrast with ‘friends’ encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’. A significant positive correlation was observed between WC, WHR, SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O and ‘friends’ encouragement in a typical week to do physical activity or sports’. Further significant positive correlations were found with WC for ‘encouragement by someone in a typical week to do physical activity or sports’; WHR, SBJ, BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘participation in physical activity or sports with friends’; SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘friends’ encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’; SBJ, SUP, predicted 2max • V O for ‘someone’s encouragement that one is doing a good job at physical activity’; BAH, SUP, predicted 2max • VO for ‘someone’s participation in sport with one’; SUP, predicted 2max • VO for ‘one’s encouragement to friends to participate in physical activity or sport’; SUP for ‘provision of transportation to physical activity or sport’; and predicted 2max • V O for ‘someone watching one participate in physical activity or sport’. SAR, on the other hand, was negatively associated with all social correlates for physical activity. It can be concluded that the adolescent boys in the study were underweight and significantly more active when compared to the relatively overweight and inactive girls. Boys also have higher health-related fitness and higher social correlates compared to the girls. Social correlates for physical activity were positively associated with participation in physical activity and healthrelated physical fitness variables. Thirty six percent (36%) of the participants indicated lack of transport as a negative factor for their participation in physical activity and sport. Based on these findings, urgent strategic public health intervention by all stakeholders dealing with adolescents, as well as more research studies in the area, is required. / PhD (Human Movement Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Several researchers report that object control skills, health-related physical fitness and physical activity are not optimally developed in children. It is also evident from the literature that children, especially girls, are not active enough these days. These trends are disturbing as these are important factors that play a role in the health and sports development later in the child's life. Firstly, this dissertation attempts to examine the relationship between object control skills and health-related physical fitness in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa. Secondly, the relationship between object control skills and physical activity levels and patterns in nine to ten-year old girls in the North-West Province of South Africa was investigated. Data were collected by means of a stratified randomised sample of 408 girls with a mean age of 9,86 years (±0,42) who participated in the NW-CHILD study. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) strength sub-test (standing long jump, push-ups, sit-ups, wall sit and V-up) was used to determine the girls’ strength, the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) (Ulrich, 2000) was used to determine the learners’ object control skills and the FITNESSGRAM (Meredith & Welk, 2008) was used to evaluate the girls’ cardiovascular endurance. The Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) was used to evaluate the physical activity pattern of the girls. Stature, body mass and skinfolds (subscapular, triceps and calf) were measured according to standard kinantropometric protocols. The STATISTICA software package was used to analyse the data. Small but significant correlations were found between object control skills and strength, aerobic fitness and the body composition of the group. According to the healty fitness zone (HFZ) classification, 49.62% (n=198) of girls were categorised as being in the HFZ with regard to their BMI and 54.14% (n=216) in the HFZ with regards to the FAT%. This indicates that object control skills are influenced by factors that can contribute to the health of young girls. Participation in physical activities should therefore be increased. Appropriate development of object control skills (OC) and strength skills in girls is recommended to prevent delays in sports participation. Further investigation involved racial differences in activity performances. Ninety white and 318 black girls with a mean age of 9.86 years participated in this study. OC skills were assessed. Statistically (p≤0.001) and practically significant differences between the white and black girls were found, where the white girls participated more in ten of the moderate intensity physical activities than the black girls and the black girls participated more in three of these activities. Activities in which white girls mostly participated contributed significantly to higher moderate to high intensity. / MA (Kinderkinetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Anil Pahwa, Sanjoy Das / Occurrence of outages in overhead distribution systems is a significant factor in determining distribution system reliability. Analysis of animal-related outages has practical value since animals cause a large number of outages in overhead distribution systems. This dissertation presents several different methods to investigate the impact of weather and time of the year on the animal-related outage rate. The animal-related outages from year 1998 to year 2007 for different cities in Kansas are provided by Westar Energy. From examinations of the historical data, two factors which influence the animal-related outages, the month type and the number of fair weather days are taken as inputs along with historical outage data for prediction models. Poisson regression model, neural network model, wavelet based neural network model and Bayesian model combined with Monte Carlo simulations are applied to the weekly data of different cites. Even though Poisson regression models, Bayesian models and neural network models are able to recognize the changing pattern of outage rates under different weather conditions, they are limited in their ability to follow the high peaks in the time series of weekly animal-related outages. The introduction of wavelet transform techniques overcomes this problem. Simulation results indicate that the wavelet based neural network models are able to capture the pattern of fast fluctuations in the weekly outages of different cities in Kansas of various sizes. A hyperpermutation method inspired by artificial immune system algorithm is used to solve the overtraining problem in the application of neural networks. Finally, Monte Carlo simulations based on conditional probability tables from Bayesian models are used to find out the confidence intervals of the predictions. We aggregate the weekly data and carry out the analysis on a monthly and yearly basis too. Simulation results indicate that the models are able to capture the pattern as at least 90% of the observed values are within the upper limits of 95% confidence in the predictions for weekly, monthly and yearly animal-related outages of different cities in Kansas. The results obtained from Monte Carlo simulations are compared with the wavelet based neural network model to indentify years with more than expected level of outages.

Hairdressers’ exposure to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) appears to be insufficiently described in the literature. Knowledge regarding musculoskeletal disorders in this group is also sparse. The purpose of the research was to investigate the status of work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases found in Taiwanese hairdressers and to develop user-centred, strategic solutions to prevent the accumulation of musculoskeletal disorders in this group, especially newcomers to the industry. The study involved a series of investigations into the status of WMSDs for hairdressers in Taiwan as a first step towards their prevention. A hairdresser-oriented, musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to discover the risk factors associated with WMSDs and a validated, on-line, rapid, upper-limb assessment tool was used to identify critical hairdressing working postures. Improvements to the main critical hairdressing working postures identified by the first stage of the research have been addressed by an ergonomics training programme. The effectiveness of this is validated using 3D-motion analysis based on a pre- and post-test evaluation of awkward movements. A scientific approach to 3D-motion analysis has been achieved specifically by the study of the awkward working postures of the upper extremity during hair-blow-waving and hair-straightening activities. The relationship between working postures and WMSDs in various body regions is discussed. In this regard, poor posture and movement can lead to local mechanical stress on the muscles, ligaments and joints, resulting in discomfort in the musculoskeletal system, particularly the neck, back, shoulder and wrist. This research has provided a WMSDs prevention framework as a strategic method of securing a continuous improvement in the awkward working postures adopted during various hairdressing activities. Topics for further studies are suggested.