Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Constructability issues cause dire repercussions in the industry and often pose as overwhelming threats to the successful delivery of projects. Constructability issues mainly arise from a design, which does not sufficiently embody the knowledge and expertise of the construction phase. Subsequently this creates a variety of negative secondary effects during project execution, which eventually manifest as time-, budget- and quality-risks to the project. The research thesis explores the status quo of constructability issues in South Africa, with specific reference to the relationship between construction and design. It is well known that close collaboration between consultants and contractors has the potential to lead to more effective construction processes, improved construction safety and to cost effective structural solutions. Not all contract forms allow sufficient collaboration between these parties at the time of conceptual design, nor at the detailed design stage. For this reason it is imperative that a designer has sufficient experience and knowledge of construction processes to produce suitably constructible designs. In principle, constructability issues can be regarded as the result of poor coherence, and thus poor communication, between construction and design. The problem therefore lies in the transfer of knowledge between project participants, which can be described as poor knowledge management, in particular, of constructability knowledge. This research aims to address the topic of constructability and to demonstrate how structural knowledge management between contractors and designers can lead to improved construction processes. The concept of constructability is defined, through the identification of technical traits to explicitly describe constructability, concurrently with input from industry expertise and professional experience in the field. Knowledge management principles are also studied in detail and the status quo of current knowledge management initiatives in the industry is investigated. The investigations are done through a series of questionnaire surveys, personal interviews and correspondences. The principle conclusions from the study are that designers do not always understand what constitutes a constructible design. Furthermore, although constructability knowledge is found to exist in complex tacit forms, some explicit guiding principles can indeed be formulated to aid designers. In addition, considering the unique characteristics of each project, these guiding principles should be supported by proposed knowledge management initiatives to facilitate structured forums of knowledge sharing between different parties to develop and transfer constructability knowledge. This will assist to accelerate the learning process towards becoming an accomplished designer, and empower the capacity of both designers and contractors to manage constructability problems. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Boubaarheidsprobleme veroorsaak ernstige gevolge in die bedryf en hou dikwels oorweldigende bedreigings in vir die suksesvolle lewering van projekte. Boubaarheidsprobleme ontstaan hoofsaaklik as gevolg van „n ontwerp wat nie genoeg kennis van die konstruksiefase behels nie. Gevolglik, word „n verskeidenheid van negatiewe sekondêre effekte geskep tydens die projek uitvoering, wat risikos uiteindelik veroorsaak in aspekte van tyd, geld en kwaliteit. Heirdie navorsing ondersoek die status quo van boubaarhiedsprobleme in Suid Afrika, met spesifieke verwysing na die verhouding tussen konstruksie en ontwerp. Dit is bekend dat geskikte samewerking tussen konsultante en kontrakteurs kan lei tot meer effektiewe bouprosesse, verbeterde bouveiligheid en goedkoper strukturele oplossings. Kontraktuele ooreenkomste laat nie altyd toe vir behoorlike samewerking tussen die partye gedurende ontwerp stadiums nie. Om hierdie rede, is dit noodsaaklik dat „n ontwerper voldoende ervaring en kennis van die konstruksie prosesse bevat, om behoorlike boubare ontwerpe te kan poduseer. In beginsel, kan boubaarheidsprobleme beskou word as „n gevolg van swak kommunikasie tussen konstruksie en ontwerp. Die problem lê dus in die oordrag van kennis tussen projek deelnemers, wat ook beskryf kan word as swak kennis-bestuur, in die geval, van boubaarheidskennis. Hierdie navorsing beoog om die onderwerp van boubaarheid aan te spreek en te demonstreer hoe strukturele kennis-bestuur tussen die kontrakteurs en ontwerpers tot verbeterde konstruksie prosesse kan lei. Die konsep van boubaarheid word gedefinieer, deur die idenfisering van tegniese eienskappe wat boubaarheid eksplisiet kan beskryf, gelyktydig met die insette van industrie kundigheid en professionele ondervinding. Kennis-bestuur beginsels word ook in diepte bestudeer en die status quo van die huidige kennis-bestuur inisiatiewe in die bedryf word ondersoek. Die ondersoeke word gedoen deur middel van vraelys opnames, persoonlike onderhoude en korrespondensies. Die algemene gevolgtrekkings uit die studie is dat ontwerpers nie altyd die implikasies van „n boubare ontwerp verstaan nie. Verder, alhoewel boubaarheidskennis bestaan in komplekse vorms in die gedagtes van konstruksie personeel, eksplsiete riglyne kan wel geformuleer word om die ontwerp prosses to steun. Aangesien projekte uniek is, moet hierdie riglyne ondersteun word deur die voorestelde kennis-bestuur inisiatiewe, om oop platforms van kennis oordrag te fasiliteer tussen verskillende partye. Dit sal help om die leer prosess te versnel en sal die kapasiteit van beide ontwerpers en kontrakteurs bemagtig, sodat hulle boubaarheidsprobleme beter te kan hanteer.

<p>The purpose of the present thesis is to demonstrate in detail and by concrete example the construction of music as autonomous. It studies how the basic categories constituting the discourse of musical autonomy get reproduced in commercialized and mass-produced and at the same time institutionally authorized texts. The texts under examination consist of a number of sleeve-notes all concerned with the symphonies of Johannes Brahms.</p><p>In the first two chapters the purposes as well as the theoretical framework and the methodological procedures of the study are presented. The third chapter provides an historical account of the discourse of musical autonomy. In the fourth chapter the basic categories of this discourse are identified. Each of these categories is discussed at length and their implications clarified. The fifth chapter comprises a text- and discourse analysis that purports to elucidate the internal structure of the texts as well as the relation between text and context. The sixth chapter seeks to determine the extent to which the texts can be seen as structured in accordance with the central categories of musical autonomy. The chapter argues that the texts under examination must indeed be understood as representing the symphonies of Johannes Brahms as autonomous and self-sufficient objects. The seventh and last chapter is concerned with the complex relation between power, knowledge and the constitution of subjectivity in the discourse of musical autonomy. The chapter identifies and discusses some of the operations of power relating to the constitution of the listening subject and to the disciplining of the human body, operations inextricably tied to the production and communication of knowledge within the discourse of musical autonomy.</p><p>Thus, the real subject of this thesis is the discourse of musical autonomy itself. Its contribution to the ongoing discussion of musical autonomy lies at the level of exemplification: it picks out one of the places where this discourse gets reproduced and demonstrates in detail how that reproduction comes about. But it goes further than that in its attempt to highlight the power relations lying at the heart of the representation and communication of apparently autonomous musical works.</p>

The purpose of the present thesis is to demonstrate in detail and by concrete example the construction of music as autonomous. It studies how the basic categories constituting the discourse of musical autonomy get reproduced in commercialized and mass-produced and at the same time institutionally authorized texts. The texts under examination consist of a number of sleeve-notes all concerned with the symphonies of Johannes Brahms. In the first two chapters the purposes as well as the theoretical framework and the methodological procedures of the study are presented. The third chapter provides an historical account of the discourse of musical autonomy. In the fourth chapter the basic categories of this discourse are identified. Each of these categories is discussed at length and their implications clarified. The fifth chapter comprises a text- and discourse analysis that purports to elucidate the internal structure of the texts as well as the relation between text and context. The sixth chapter seeks to determine the extent to which the texts can be seen as structured in accordance with the central categories of musical autonomy. The chapter argues that the texts under examination must indeed be understood as representing the symphonies of Johannes Brahms as autonomous and self-sufficient objects. The seventh and last chapter is concerned with the complex relation between power, knowledge and the constitution of subjectivity in the discourse of musical autonomy. The chapter identifies and discusses some of the operations of power relating to the constitution of the listening subject and to the disciplining of the human body, operations inextricably tied to the production and communication of knowledge within the discourse of musical autonomy. Thus, the real subject of this thesis is the discourse of musical autonomy itself. Its contribution to the ongoing discussion of musical autonomy lies at the level of exemplification: it picks out one of the places where this discourse gets reproduced and demonstrates in detail how that reproduction comes about. But it goes further than that in its attempt to highlight the power relations lying at the heart of the representation and communication of apparently autonomous musical works.

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Die Arbeit untersucht den Einfluss von strukturellem Wissen auf individueller Ebene sowie den Einfluss der Wissensheterogenität auf Gruppenebene auf komplexes Problemlösen. Zur Erhebung von strukturellem Wissen wird ein computerbasiertes Verfahren, der Assoziations-Strukturtest (AST), entwickelt. Die Wissensheterogenität in Gruppen wird mit dem Wissensmanagementsystem skillMap berechnet. Der AST erhebt zu einer Wissensdomäne einen Graphen, der mit Kennwerten beschreiben wird. Für Leistungsvorhersagen mit dem AST werden komplexe Problemlöseaufgaben gewählt. Da komplexe Probleme oft von Gruppen bearbeitet werden, wird ein Gruppensetting gewählt. Dabei wird ein umgekehrt-u-förmiger Zusammenhang zwischen der Wissensheterogenität in der Gruppe und ihrer Leistung angenommen. 150 Versuchsteilnehmer wurden in Dyaden eingeteilt. Die Teilnehmer erhielten je einen Lerntext mit sieben Wissenselementen zur Steuerung eines komplexen Problemlöseszenarios. Die Heterogenität des Wissens in der Dyade wurde variiert (gering, mittel, groß). Nach der Lernphase schätzten die Teilnehmer ihr Wissen ein, woraus mit der skillMap zu ein Ähnlichkeitsmaß berechnet wurde. Es folgte eine Diskussionsphase, in der die Dyadenmitglieder sich gegenseitig das Erlernte beibrachten. Ihr strukturelles Wissen wurde dann mit dem AST getestet. Im anschließenden Szenario waren die Dyaden mit mittlerer Heterogenität den beiden anderen signifikant überlegen: Die Wissensheterogenität zeigt einen kurvenlinearen Zusammenhang mit der Gruppenleistung. Die gewichtete Dichte der AST-Wissensgraphen korreliert gering mit der Problemlöseleistung und erklärt einen eigenständigen kleinen Anteil ihrer Gesamtvarianz. Das Ähnlichkeitsmaß korreliert signifikant mit der Problemlöseleistung. Computerbasierte Wissensdiagnoseverfahren sind somit potentiell dazu geeignet, Leistungsvorhersagen zu treffen. Die Problemlöseleistung von Gruppen ist zum Teil durch die Verteilung des Wissens innerhalb der Gruppe determiniert. / This thesis analyzes the influence of structural knowledge on the individual level and the influence of knowledge heterogeneity on the group level on complex problem solving (CPS) performance. For the elicitation of structural knowledge, a computer based method, the association structure test (AST), is developed. Through term associations, measurement of thinking times, and through pairwise concept comparisons, the AST elicits a graph for each participant. The AST is tested in the domain of CPS. As complex problems are usually addressed by groups, a group setting is chosen. A curvilinear n-shaped connection between the group''s knowledge heterogeneity and its CPS performance is assumed. In an experiment, 150 participants were divided into dyads. Each participant received a text with seven knowledge elements on the control of a complex scenario. The heterogeneity of knowledge in a dyad was varied (small, medium, and large). After learning, dyad members self-assessed their knowledge. Knowledge similarity was calculated with knowledge management system (the skillMap). The knowledge similarity was also used for performance prediction. A discussion followed, during which dyad members taught each other what they had learned. Their structural knowledge was then assessed with the AST. In the following CPS task, dyads with medium heterogeneity exhibited a significant superior performance in comparison with the other two conditions. Knowledge heterogeneity exhibited a curvilinear relationship with the dyad''s CPS performance. The weighted density of AST-elicited knowledge graphs weakly correlated with CPS performance and explained a small but unique fraction of its variance. The skillMap similarity measure correlated significantly with CPS performance. Computer-based knowledge elicitation tools are thus potentially suited for performance prediction. CPS performance of groups is partially determined by the way in which knowledge is distributed inside the group.

個人結構知識是區辨閱聽人讀取電子報介面效能的重要因素之一。結構知識較豐富的閱聽人，使用總覽目錄選取電子報內容的時間和正確性較高。反之，結構知識程度較低者，瀏覽時間較多、正確性較低。但是如果設計者能夠利用總覽目錄作為先導組體理論，讓閱聽人透過總覽目錄，而增進他們對電子報內容結構的認識。那麼，原先結構知識程度較低的閱聽人，或許可以減少他們的閱讀時間，或提高檢索正確度。 本研究使用實驗法，企圖證明上述假設。研究人員模擬一份電子報，設計兩種不同介面：具有總覽功能的下拉式選單目錄，以及不具總覽功能的階層式目錄。研究人員透過電腦紀錄與紙面問卷蒐集103位受試者的使用時間和答題內容，並進行統計分析。 研究結果發現，總覽目錄設計有助於減少「瀏覽頁數」的數量，使用者藉由總覽目錄設計，能有效減少其瀏覽電子報時的點選次數。但是在資料正確程度和態度方面則未發現顯著差異。 / Designing effective and efficient user interface is one of the most important issues for the designers of electronic newspapers. Audience with better structural knowledge may use news index more effective and efficient than those with poorer structural knowledge. With this thread, news index with multiple-layer, pull-down menu bars may serve as "advance organizer." Therefore, this study hypothesized that the audience with poorer structural knowledge may improve their performance in using news index by taking advantage of "advance organizer." An experiment was performed to test the hypothesis. The 103 college students were directed to "read" the a web-based electronic newspaper. Two set of stimuli were used: pull-down news indexes and non pull-down ones. Data were collected through computer logs and survey questionale. The result indicated that subject indexes design to serve as "advance organizer" may reduce the time audience spent. However, the subjects no significant difference in terms of the accuracy.