Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / Data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) show that homicide is the major cause of death with firearms and sharp objects as the main external causes of death in South Africa. The current study is a descriptive study, describing the epidemiology of sharp object fatalities in the city of East London (also known as Buffalo City) in South Africa. It is a secondary data analysis of mortuary data collected by morticians trained in data collection methods according to World Health Organisation standards. This descriptive study aimed to develop the profile of sharp object fatalities in East London. Most of the findings were consistent with other literature on sharp object violence/homicide and on homicide in general using rates per population denominator data. It also combined variables to arrive at more complex descriptions. The following risk factors were identified: male, between the ages 30-34, being from a disadvantaged population group, alcohol consumption, weekend, between the times 20h00 and 23h59 and if we discount the place of death, 'unknown' then the greatest percentage of deaths occurred in a private house. The results were interpreted within an ecological and contextual theoretical framework to hypothesize possible etiological factors. The conclusion was that there were multiple variables which all interact and influence one another across all ecological levels and as other studies have recommended, this study too also recommends that more work is needed in order to identify the multiple pathways leading to fatalities, perhaps by way of multivariate studies as well as qualitative studies with perpetrators of sharp object fatalities. / South Africa

Please read the abstract in the dissertation. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Civil Engineering / Unrestricted

Today, social media applications are used not only as a means to communicate but also as a means to exert power. In some cases, it even has gone so far that specific social media applications have been accused of constituting a threat against national security. This is the case with TikTok, today’s fastest-growing social media application in the world. TikTok is a video-sharing platform used by approximately 800 million individuals every month, developed and owned by a Chinese company named ByteDance Ltd.. The purpose of the following study is to explain how a seemingly innocent social media application like TikTok, used by individuals and owned by a private company, can constitute a threat against national security. This is performed by using the term "sharp power". The study concludes that TikTok can be used by the Chinese government to exert sharp power, enabling the state access to the global information environment.

<p> Manufacturing processes such as cold-bending flat sheet to a small radius produces a rather complex residual stress state through the thickness of light gauge structural steel sections. When the load-application device is released the sheet exhibits a phenomenon called "spring-back".</p> <p> The purpose of this research was to develop an exact method of computing the residual stresses in a wide sheet of ideal plastic metal after spring back and subsequently to study their effect on the behaviour of cold-formed sections. An approximate analysis based on the assumption of elastic spring back is presented for comparison purposes. It is demonstrated that plastic flow occurs within a thin core of sheet below the neutral axis and that the spring back is not completely elastic beyond a certain curvature. Such behaviour is particularly significant in cases where the radius of bend is of the same order as the thickness. An exact analysis based on a more realistic approach is then performed considering the adjustments in the stress components due to the plastic core. Computer programs have been developed to calculate the residual stresses associated with any given radius of bend. It is found that the choice of one yield criterion rather than the other does not have any effect on the present analysis and the stress components for Von Mises' material are (2/√3) times the components for Tresca's material. Furthermore, the effect of lateral stretching on the behaviour of cold-formed sections is briefly viewed.</p> <p> The purpose of the experimental work in this thesis was to verify the validity of some of the assumptions made in the analysis.</p> <p> Conclusions are drawn and suggestions made for further research.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

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This essay presents a comparative analysis of the characterizations of the female protagonists Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen̕ s Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Becky Sharp in William Makepeace Thackeray̕ s Vanity Fair (1847-1848). The analysis is conducted from a gender perspective, and with the use of feminist criticism. The two novels complement each other since they are both satirical images of society, concerning aspects such as class and gender. Also, both novels  portray women climbing the class ladder, during the period of the Napoleonic wars. In the comparison, the main focus lies on the social satire constructed around the heroines of these novels. I come to the conclusion that Austen̕ s and Thackeray̕ s characterizations are very different from each other, mainly due to their different satirical approaches. This conclusion is put in relation to a patriarchal context and to feminist values. / I denna uppsats presenteras en komparativ analys av karaktäriseringarna av de kvinnliga huvudkaraktärerna Elizabeth Bennet i Jane Austens Stolthet och Fördom (1813), och Becky Sharp i William Makepeace Thackerays Vanity Fair (1847-1848). Analysen är utförd från ett genusperspektiv, och med användning av feministisk samhällskritik. De två romanerna kompletterar varandra då de båda är satiriska illustreringar av samhället, och både rör aspekter såsom klass och genus. Dessutom porträtterar båda novellerna klassklättrande kvinnor under tiden för Napoleonkrigen. I jämförelsen ligger största fokuset på samhällssatiren konstruerad kring hjältinnorna i de båda romanerna. Jag når slutsatsen att Austens och Thackerays karaktäriseringar skiljer sig mycket från varandra, främst på grund av författarnas skilda förhållningssätt till sin satir. Denna slutsats relateras till en patriarkal kontext, samt till feministiska värderingar.

Les réseaux neuronaux, pendant leur période de développement, génèrent des patrons d’activité immatures qui sont supposés participer à la formation des circuits neuronaux. Ces activités synchronisées créent des conditions favorables pour la plasticité hebbienne qui soutient la formation des circuits locaux. Les travaux menés notamment sur les systèmes sensoriels ont montré que les circuits pauci-neuronaux locaux sont capables de présenter une activité synchrone tout en étant isolés du reste des structures cérébrales. La moelle épinière isolée produit des bursts qui sont à l’origine des secousses musculaires, la rétine insensible à la lumière génère des ondes d’activité, d’autres régions cérébrales génèrent des activités synchrones avant de remplir la fonction à laquelle ils sont destinés. De manière similaire, l’hippocampe du rat nouveau-né ou primate prématuré in vitro, ainsi que les néocortex immature in vitro, génèrent une activité neuronale synchronisée, appelée giant depolarising potentials (GDPs). En se basant uniquement sur ces études et en prenant en compte la maturation tardive de certaines projections neuronales à distance, il serait tentant de conclure que le cerveau immature fonctionne comme un ensemble de petits modules fonctionnels qui auto-entretiennent leur activité intrinsèque avant de se connecter entre eux pour créer un cerveau fonctionnel adulte. Cependant, certaines connexions à longue distance sont formées très tôt pendant le développement et permettent la propagation des oscillations immatures entre les structures connectées. En effet, les ondes rétinales se propagent au noyau géniculé latéral et ensuite jusqu’au cortex visuel ; les GDPs hippocampiques se propagent à l’hippocampe controlatéral, septum et cortex entorhinal et finalement, les secousses musculaires, en créant un feed-back sensoriel, déclenchent des oscillations gamma immatures ainsi que les spindle bursts dans le réseau thalamo-cortical. Un fonctionnement similaire est décrit chez le nouveau-né prématuré. Il paraît donc plus probable, que le cerveau soit, dès les stades précoces du développement, organisé en sous-systèmes fonctionnels reliés entre eux anatomiquement et fonctionnellement. Au sein des unités fonctionnelles sont générés des patrons d’activité immatures synchrones afin de créer des connexions organisées topographiquement qui serviront de base anatomique de la fonction finale. Si ces étapes développementales sont perturbées pendant les périodes critiques, le système ne pourra pas assurer sa fonction de manière adéquate au stade mature. L’hippocampe mature, ou plus exactement les circuits cortico-hippocampiques, jouant un rôle primordial dans la mémoire déclarative, l’orientation spatiale et l’inhibition du comportement. L’établissement de ces fonctions est progressif au cours du développement. Par exemple les adultes humains n’ont que rarement des souvenirs personnels datant avant l’âge de trois ans. Or, nous savons aujourd'hui que le bébé humain est capable de garder des souvenirs dans la mémoire déclarative (dépendante de l’hippocampe) au cours de la première année de vie avec une efficacité croissante, mais il ne se rappellera pas ces souvenirs à l’âge adulte (Bauer, 2006). Nous ne savons pas s’il s’agit d’un encodage différent d’emblée ou d’un processus secondaire supprimant l’accès à ces souvenirs précoces. Nous pouvons présumer qu’il existe des modifications des activités électrophysiologiques pendant le développement qui soutiennent la modification de ces fonctions. Au cours de ce travail de thèse, nous voulions savoir comment et à partir de quand l’hippocampe, qui reçoit des informations convergentes de nombreuses régions néocorticales, acquiert son mode de fonctionnement adulte. Afin de répondre à cette question nous avons étudié le système cortex entorhinal – hippocampe, le cortex entorhinal étant la principale entrée excitatrice de l’hippocampe et recevant des afférences de nombreuses régions du néocortex. (...) / Neuronal networks spontaneously generate “immature” patterns of activity during development, which are thought to participate on the formation of neural circuits. Local neocortical as well as hippocampal circuits generate synchronised neuronal discharges providing support for Hebbian plasticity. Studies of sensory systems showed that local pauci-neuronal circuits were able to generate synchronous activity while isolated from other brain structures. Isolated spinal cord produces bursts evoking muscle twitching, light insensitive retina generates waves of activity, as well as other brain regions generate synchronous activities before fulfilling the function for which they are intended. Similarly, the hippocampus of newborn rat or premature primate in vitro, as well as immature neocortex in vitro, generates synchronised neuronal activity called giant depolarising potentials (GDPs). Based solely on these studies and taking into account the delayed maturation of certain long-distance neuronal projections, it would be tempting to conclude that the immature brain functions as a set of small functional modules that self-maintain their intrinsic activity before connecting together to create a functional adult brain. However, some long-distance connections are formed very early during development and allow the propagation of oscillations between immature connected structures. Indeed, retinal waves propagate to the lateral geniculate nucleus and then to the visual cortex, hippocampal GDPs propagate to the contralateral hippocampus, septum and entorhinal cortex, and finally, twitching, creating a sensory feedback, triggers immature gamma oscillations and spindle bursts in the thalamo-cortical network. A similar functioning is described in the premature newborn. It therefore seems more likely that the brain is, during the early stages of development, organised into functional subsystems interconnected anatomically and functionally. Within functional units are generated immature patterns of synchronous activity to create topographically organised connections that serve as anatomical basis of the final function. If these developmental stages are disturbed during critical periods, the system cannot perform its function adequately in mature stage. The mature hippocampus, or more precisely the cortico-hippocampal circuits, plays a key role in declarative memory, spatial organisation and behavioural inhibition. The establishment of these functions is progressive during development. For example, human adults rarely have personal memories dating before the age of three years. However, we now know that the human baby is able to keep memories in declarative memory (hippocampus-dependent) during the first year of life with increasing efficiency, but will not remember them in the adulthood. We do not know if the encoding of the memories is different or a secondary process inhibits the access to the early memories. We can assume that changes in electrophysiological activity during development support modification of these functions. In this thesis, we wanted to know how and from when the hippocampus, which receives convergent information from many cortical areas, acquires his adult mode of functioning. To answer this question we studied the entorhinal cortex-hippocampus system, entorhinal cortex being the main excitatory input to the hippocampus and receiving afferents from many parts of the neocortex. We were able to distinguish several periods in the development of the immature hippocampus: Period from P1 till P12 characterised by the sole presence of immature sharp waves triggered by the entorhinal cortex. Period from P13, when two types of sharp waves coexisted: the immature sharp waves and sharp waves as described in the adult animals newly emerged. The mature sharp waves, unlike the immature, can be accompanied by ripples. (...)

I denna studie skall Java och C# ställas mot varandra och köras på en Raspberry Pi för att se vilken av dem som kan sortera heltalsvektorer snabbast. Som Java-motor kommer Hot-Spot att användas och Mono för C# och de ska sortera vektorer med sorteringsalgoritmer från språkens stödbibliotek och en implementerad algoritm baserad på urvalssortering. Detta arbete är till för att dem som vill arbeta med ett objektorienterat språk på Raspberry Pi, men inte har bestämt sig än för vilket som skall användas. Resultatet visar att Java presterar bättre än C# i de flesta fall och att det finns undantag då C# presterar bättre. / In this study, Java and C# is set against each other and running on a Raspberry Pi to see if they have similar processing times, or if there is a clear difference between the two languages. As Java-engine HotSpot will be used and Mono for C# and they will sort vectors with sorting algorithms from the language's support library and one implemented algorithm based on selection sort. This work is for those who want to work with an object-oriented language on Raspberry Pi, but has not decided yet on which one to choose. The result shows that Java performs better than C# in most cases, but in some cases C# is performing better.