The rapid development of corpus-based speech systems such as concatenative synthesis systems for under-resourced languages requires an efficient, consistent and accurate solution with regard to phonetic speech segmentation. Manual development of phonetically annotated corpora is a time consuming and expensive process which suffers from challenges regarding consistency and reproducibility, while automation of this process has only been satisfactorily demonstrated on large corpora of a select few languages by employing techniques requiring extensive and specialised resources. In this work we considered the problem of phonetic segmentation in the context of developing small prototypical speech synthesis corpora for new under-resourced languages. This was done through an empirical evaluation of existing segmentation techniques on typical speech corpora in three South African languages. In this process, the performance of these techniques were characterised under different data conditions and the efficient application of these techniques were investigated in order to improve the accuracy of resulting phonetic alignments. We found that the application of baseline speaker-specific Hidden Markov Models results in relatively robust and accurate alignments even under extremely limited data conditions and demonstrated how such models can be developed and applied efficiently in this context. The result is segmentation of sufficient quality for synthesis applications, with the quality of alignments comparable to manual segmentation efforts in this context. Finally, possibilities for further automated refinement of phonetic alignments were investigated and an efficient corpus development strategy was proposed with suggestions for further work in this direction. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Submitted by Ana Lúcia Torres (bfmhuap@gmail.com) on 2017-10-20T11:48:32Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação FABIANA PIRES.pdf: 1207335 bytes, checksum: 669e324ffbc84c17f230a4e593d9266e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Lúcia Torres (bfmhuap@gmail.com) on 2017-10-20T11:48:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação FABIANA PIRES.pdf: 1207335 bytes, checksum: 669e324ffbc84c17f230a4e593d9266e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-20T11:48:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação FABIANA PIRES.pdf: 1207335 bytes, checksum: 669e324ffbc84c17f230a4e593d9266e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Coordenadoria de Saúde da Área de Planejamento 3.1 (CAP 3.1) da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde e Defesa Civil ddo Rio de Janeiro / A questão da escassez de recursos para o adequado funcionamento do Sistema Único de Saúde Brasileiro (SUS) tem motivado o surgimento de diversas situações nas quais se faz necessário o estabelecimento de critérios de priorização dos serviços e cuidados em saúde aos usuários. Esta situação tem exigido dos profissionais envolvidos, especialmente os médicos, decisões baseadas não apenas em critérios técnicos, mas também em critérios morais. Este quadro ilustra a realidade dos médicos reguladores nas centrais de regulação que foram criadas com objetivo de garantir acesso equânime aos usuários do SUS, de forma atender da melhor forma possível suas necessidades de saúde. O presente trabalho - uma investigação teórica - propõe uma discussão sobre os critérios bioéticos que poderiam ser empregados pelos médicos reguladores neste contexto de escassez de recursos. Através de revisão bibliográfica e análise documental, e, diante de marcos históricos, pretende-se apresentar a implementação da Regulação e o surgimento do Complexo Regulador no Brasil e no Município do Rio de Janeiro. Em relação aos aspectos bioéticos da tomada de decisão clínica, propõe-se uma análise de tais aspectos através das correntes bioéticas - Principialismo e Utilitarismo - no âmbito da regulação e diante de um panorama de carência de meios. Além disso, todo este arranjo teórico será exemplificado por meio de um caso fictício envolvendo um dilema ético da regulação e a tomada de decisão do médico regulador fundamentada em aspectos bioéticos. O resultado da pesquisa está organizado em três capítulos articulados entre si e pôde ser observado que a regulação ainda não pode ser vista como garantia de acesso ordenado e equânime aos serviços de saúde disponibilizado pelo SUS aos seus usuários. Além disso, a insuficiência de recursos gera situações que podem ser consideradas dilemas éticos na rotina das centrais de regulação e podem trazer sérias dificuldades para a tomada de decisão do médico regulador / The issue of the lack of resources for the proper working of the Brazilian`s Unique Health Care System (UHCS) has caused the emergence of several situations and the need to establish prioritization rules for the services and health care for the users. This matter has required from the involved professionals, especially the physicians, decisions based not only on technical criteria but also on moral criteria. This framework reveals the reality of regulator physicians inside the regulator centers that were created in order to ensure an equal access for all UHCS’ users in a way to provide the best support for their needs. This study – a theoretical research – proposes a discussion about bioethical requirements that can be used by regulator physicians in this scarce resources background. By the agency of bibliographical review and documentary analysis, and, taking historical landmarks into account, it is intended to show the implementation of the Medical Regulation and the appearance of the Medical Regulation System in Brazil and in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Regarding of the bioethical aspects of clinical decision making process, it is proposed an analysis of such aspects through the following bioethical currents - Principialism and Utilitarianism - under the regulation scope and inside a context of scarce resources. In addition, all this theoretical arrangement will be exemplified through a fictitious case involving a regulation ethical dilemma and the decision-making process of the regulator doctor substantiated in bioethical requirements. The result of the research is organized into three chapters articulated each other and could be observed that the regulation system is not yet a guarantee of ordered and equitable access to the health care services offered by the UHCS to its users. In addition, the lack of resources generates cases that can be considered as ethical dilemmas in the regulation centers routine and can bring huge difficulties to the decision making process of the regulator physician

Human activities on land have a direct and cumulative impact on water and other natural resources within a catchment. This land-use change can have hydrological consequences on the local and regional scales. Sound catchment assessment is not only critical to understanding processes and functions but also important in identifying priority management areas. The overarching goal of this doctoral thesis was to design a methodological framework for catchment assessment (dependent upon data availability) and propose practical catchment management strategies for sustainable water resources management. The Nyangores and Ruiru reservoir catchments located in Kenya, East Africa were used as case studies. A properly calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model coupled with a generic land-use optimization tool (Constrained Multi-Objective Optimization of Land-use Allocation-CoMOLA) was applied to identify and quantify functional trade-offs between environmental sustainability and food production in the ‘data-available’ Nyangores catchment. This was determined using a four-dimension objective function defined as (i) minimizing sediment load, (ii) maximizing stream low flow and (iii and iv) maximizing the crop yields of maize and soybeans, respectively. Additionally, three different optimization scenarios, represented as i.) agroforestry (Scenario 1), ii.) agroforestry + conservation agriculture (Scenario 2) and iii.) conservation agriculture (Scenario 3), were compared. For the data-scarce Ruiru reservoir catchment, alternative methods using digital soil mapping of soil erosion proxies (aggregate stability using Mean Weight Diameter) and spatial-temporal soil loss analysis using empirical models (the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation-RUSLE) were used. The lack of adequate data necessitated a data-collection phase which implemented the conditional Latin Hypercube Sampling. This sampling technique reduced the need for intensive soil sampling while still capturing spatial variability. The results revealed that for the Nyangores catchment, adoption of both agroforestry and conservation agriculture (Scenario 2) led to the smallest trade-off amongst the different objectives i.e. a 3.6% change in forests combined with 35% change in conservation agriculture resulted in the largest reduction in sediment loads (78%), increased low flow (+14%) and only slightly decreased crop yields (3.8% for both maize and soybeans). Therefore, the advanced use of hydrologic models with optimization tools allows for the simultaneous assessment of different outputs/objectives and is ideal for areas with adequate data to properly calibrate the model. For the Ruiru reservoir catchment, digital soil mapping (DSM) of aggregate stability revealed that susceptibility to erosion exists for cropland (food crops), tea and roadsides, which are mainly located in the eastern part of the catchment, as well as deforested areas on the western side. This validated that with limited soil samples and the use of computing power, machine learning and freely available covariates, DSM can effectively be applied in data-scarce areas. Moreover, uncertainty in the predictions can be incorporated using prediction intervals. The spatial-temporal analysis exhibited that bare land (which has the lowest areal proportion) was the largest contributor to erosion. Two peak soil loss periods corresponding to the two rainy periods of March–May and October–December were identified. Thus, yearly soil erosion risk maps misrepresent the true dimensions of soil loss with averages disguising areas of low and high potential. Also, a small portion of the catchment can be responsible for a large proportion of the total erosion. For both catchments, agroforestry (combining both the use of trees and conservation farming) is the most feasible catchment management strategy (CMS) for solving the major water quantity and quality problems. Finally, the key to thriving catchments aiming at both sustainability and resilience requires urgent collaborative action by all stakeholders. The necessary stakeholders in both Nyangores and Ruiru reservoir catchments must be involved in catchment assessment in order to identify the catchment problems, mitigation strategies/roles and responsibilities while keeping in mind that some risks need to be shared and negotiated, but so will the benefits.:TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY........................................................................ i DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENT WORK AND CONSENT ............................. ii LIST OF PAPERS ................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... iv THESIS AT A GLANCE ......................................................................................... v SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ vi List of Figures......................................................................................................... x List of Tables........................................................................................................... x ABBREVIATION..................................................................................................... xi PART A: SYNTHESIS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 Catchment management ...................................................................................1 1.2 Tools to support catchment assessment and management ..............................4 1.3 Catchment management strategies (CMSs)......................................................9 1.4 Concept and research objectives.......................................................................11 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS................................................................................15 2.1. STUDY AREA ..................................................................................................15 2.1.1. Nyangores catchment ...................................................................................15 2.1.2. Ruiru reservoir catchment .............................................................................17 2.2. Using SWAT conceptual model and land-use optimization ..............................19 2.3. Using soil erosion proxies and empirical models ..............................................21 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION..............................................................................24 3.1. Assessing multi-metric calibration performance using the SWAT model...........25 3.2. Land-use optimization using SWAT-CoMOLA for the Nyangores catchment. ..26 3.3. Digital soil mapping of soil aggregate stability ..................................................28 3.4. Spatio-temporal analysis using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) 29 4. CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE METHODS USED ......................................31 4.1. Assessing suitability of data for modelling and overcoming data challenges...31 4.2. Selecting catchment management strategies based on catchment assessment . 35 5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................36 6. REFERENCES ............................ .....................................................................38 PART B: PAPERS PAPER I .................................................................................................................47 PAPER II ................................................................................................................59 PAPER III ...............................................................................................................74 PAPER IV ...............................................................................................................88

Because the development of resources in any language is an expensive process, many languages, including the indigenous languages of South Africa, can be classified as being resource scarce, or lacking in tagging resources. This study investigates and applies techniques and methodologies for optimising the use of available resources and improving the accuracy of a tagger using Afrikaans as resource-scarce language and aims to i) determine whether combination techniques can be effectively applied to improve the accuracy of a tagger for Afrikaans, and ii) determine whether structural semi-supervised learning can be effectively applied to improve the accuracy of a supervised learning tagger for Afrikaans. In order to realise the first aim, existing methodologies for combining classification algorithms are investigated. Four taggers, trained using MBT, SVMlight, MXPOST and TnT respectively, are then combined into a combination tagger using weighted voting. Weights are calculated by means of total precision, tag precision and a combination of precision and recall. Although the combination of taggers does not consistently lead to an error rate reduction with regard to the baseline, it manages to achieve an error rate reduction of up to 18.48% in some cases. In order to realise the second aim, existing semi-supervised learning algorithms, with specific focus on structural semi-supervised learning, are investigated. Structural semi-supervised learning is implemented by means of the SVD-ASO-algorithm, which attempts to extract the shared structure of untagged data using auxiliary problems before training a tagger. The use of untagged data during the training of a tagger leads to an error rate reduction with regard to the baseline of 1.67%. Even though the error rate reduction does not prove to be statistically significant in all cases, the results show that it is possible to improve the accuracy in some cases. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Because the development of resources in any language is an expensive process, many languages, including the indigenous languages of South Africa, can be classified as being resource scarce, or lacking in tagging resources. This study investigates and applies techniques and methodologies for optimising the use of available resources and improving the accuracy of a tagger using Afrikaans as resource-scarce language and aims to i) determine whether combination techniques can be effectively applied to improve the accuracy of a tagger for Afrikaans, and ii) determine whether structural semi-supervised learning can be effectively applied to improve the accuracy of a supervised learning tagger for Afrikaans. In order to realise the first aim, existing methodologies for combining classification algorithms are investigated. Four taggers, trained using MBT, SVMlight, MXPOST and TnT respectively, are then combined into a combination tagger using weighted voting. Weights are calculated by means of total precision, tag precision and a combination of precision and recall. Although the combination of taggers does not consistently lead to an error rate reduction with regard to the baseline, it manages to achieve an error rate reduction of up to 18.48% in some cases. In order to realise the second aim, existing semi-supervised learning algorithms, with specific focus on structural semi-supervised learning, are investigated. Structural semi-supervised learning is implemented by means of the SVD-ASO-algorithm, which attempts to extract the shared structure of untagged data using auxiliary problems before training a tagger. The use of untagged data during the training of a tagger leads to an error rate reduction with regard to the baseline of 1.67%. Even though the error rate reduction does not prove to be statistically significant in all cases, the results show that it is possible to improve the accuracy in some cases. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The main aim of this research study was to explore attraction factors pertaining to the literature and to the occupational context of nursing personnel who have exhibited employment interest in a managed care organisation. A qualitative research approach was adopted in which semi-structured interviews were held to collect rich exploratory data from the purposeful sample of nine applicants with nursing qualifications. Twenty-five themes were identified through interpretive data analysis as being important factors in the pre-interview attraction process. The highest ranking of these were identified to be opportunities for professional and personal growth and the relationship with the managed care client, followed by salary and working hours. This study contributes knowledge to Personnel and Career Psychology in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology and is pertinent to organisations recruiting nurses, advising them in the formulation of contextually appropriate attraction strategies that attend to the most notable attraction factors / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organizational Psychology)

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The need for economic development is a pressing reality for many developing countries. Developing cities with a high urbanisation rate in water-scarce regions face tougher conditions in meeting their development targets according to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Creating a balance between water scarcity and the need for economic development is of the utmost importance if such regions are to grow. The City of Windhoek experienced this firsthand when Ramatex Textile was introduced. The Government of Namibia did everything in its power to secure Ramatex’s operation in Windhoek. Windhoek, however, is known for being a water-scarce area. This created competition amongst the different water users, and future establishments of such water-intensive factories became questionable. This research report studies the extreme case of Ramatex’s establishment and gives guidelines on future handling of such water-intensive establishments. The study also gives an example of how to make decisions using Multicriteria Decision Making tools, specifically the Analytical Hierarchy Process method using Ramatex’s information. The judgement values given in the MCDM process are fictitious and do not represent the true views of any of the stakeholders. The process was only conducted to demonstrate that such tools can be used to aid decision making. Surveys and workshops need to be conducted to solicit the true reflections of the stakeholders involved in any envisaged development projects. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die behoefte aan ekonomiese ontwikkeling is vir baie ontwikkelende lande ’n neerdrukkende realiteit. Ontwikkelende stede met ’n hoë verstedelikingskoers wat in waterskaars landstreke geleë is, kom voor groot uitdagings te staan om hul ekonomiese ontwikkelingsdoelwitte volgens die Millennium-ontwikkelingsdoelstellings te bereik. Die daarstelling van ’n balans tussen waterskaarste en die behoefte aan ekonomiese groei is van kardinale belang indien sulke stede wil groei. Windhoek, die hoofstad van Namibië het eerstehandse ondervinding hierin opgedoen met die opening van die Ramatex-tekstielfabriek. Die regering van Namibië het alles binne sy vermoë gedoen om die tekstielfabriek se bedrywighede in Windhoek te beskerm. Windhoek is egter bekend vir sy waterskaarste, wat tot mededinging tussen die verskillende waterverbruikers gelei het, en ook daartoe aanleiding gegee het dat toekomstige waterintensiewe ondernemings bevraagteken is. Hierdie navorsingsverslag ondersoek die besluit vir die oprigting van die Ramatex-tekstielfabriek en gee riglyne vir die toekomstige hantering van soortgelyke waterintensiewe ondernemings. Die studie gee ook ’n voorbeeld van die gebruik van multikriteria-besluitnemingsinstrumente om besluite te neem, met spesifieke verwysing na die analitiese hiërargieproses deur die gebruik van inligting aangaande Ramatex. Die beoordelende waardes in die multikriteriabesluitnemingsproses is denkbeeldig en verteenwoordig nie die ware standpunte van enige van die belanghebbendes nie. Die proses is bloot uitgevoer om aan te toon dat soortgelyke instrumente in toekomstige besluitneming gebruik kan word. Opnames en werksessies moet gehou word ten einde te verseker dat alle belanghebbendes se insette en menings aangaande toekomstige ontwikkelingsprojekte in ag geneem word.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of manager behaviour on the turnover intentions of employees with scarce and critical skills in the mining industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A purposive sample (n = 505) was used to collect the data at a platinum operation. Questionnaires were given to employees with scarce and critical skills who fall within the C1 - D1 Patterson level range. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. All the factors relating to manager's behaviour proved reliable, with the exception of feedback, and recommendations were made to improve the reliability of this specific scale. Results indicated statistically significant relationships between job satisfaction, recognition, feedback, communication from the manager and supervisor support, while a lack of job satisfaction, recognition, feedback, communication from the manager and supervisor support could be applied to predict turnover intentions of employees with scarce and critical skills. The moderating effect of supervisor social support between levels of recognition and turnover intention was supported. Based on the results obtained, conclusions were made after which recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of manager behaviour on the turnover intentions of employees with scarce and critical skills in the mining industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A purposive sample (n = 505) was used to collect the data at a platinum operation. Questionnaires were given to employees with scarce and critical skills who fall within the C1 - D1 Patterson level range. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. All the factors relating to manager's behaviour proved reliable, with the exception of feedback, and recommendations were made to improve the reliability of this specific scale. Results indicated statistically significant relationships between job satisfaction, recognition, feedback, communication from the manager and supervisor support, while a lack of job satisfaction, recognition, feedback, communication from the manager and supervisor support could be applied to predict turnover intentions of employees with scarce and critical skills. The moderating effect of supervisor social support between levels of recognition and turnover intention was supported. Based on the results obtained, conclusions were made after which recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The main aim of this research study was to explore attraction factors pertaining to the literature and to the occupational context of nursing personnel who have exhibited employment interest in a managed care organisation. A qualitative research approach was adopted in which semi-structured interviews were held to collect rich exploratory data from the purposeful sample of nine applicants with nursing qualifications. Twenty-five themes were identified through interpretive data analysis as being important factors in the pre-interview attraction process. The highest ranking of these were identified to be opportunities for professional and personal growth and the relationship with the managed care client, followed by salary and working hours. This study contributes knowledge to Personnel and Career Psychology in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology and is pertinent to organisations recruiting nurses, advising them in the formulation of contextually appropriate attraction strategies that attend to the most notable attraction factors / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organizational Psychology)