Uppsatsen utgår ifrån en analys av 20 kilo animalosteologiskt material från kvarteret Gruvan 3 i Jönköping, vilket har daterats till medel- och stormaktstid (1000–1600 e.Kr.). Syftet har varit att undersöka förändringar i djurhållning och eventuella aktiviteter (kopplade till djurbenshantering), som ägt rum på platsen. Under analysarbetet har art och benelement bedömts. Osteologiska metoder för ålder, kön och mankhöjd har tillämpats i den mån detta varit möjligt på slaktdjuren i materialet, det vill säga nötkreatur (Bos taurus), får/get (Ovis aries/Capra hircus) och svin (Sus domesticus). Studien har visat att det förekommer vissa skillnader i artfördelning mellan slaktdjuren under periodens olika faser. Nöt har dock varit mest frekvent förekommande följt av får/get och gris. Resultatet av den osteologiska analysen har uppvisat stora likheter med andra tidigare undersökta medeltida stadsmaterial, när det gäller ålder, kön och mankhöjd hos djuren. Materialet från senare halvan av den undersökta tidsperioden har innehållit en större mängd bearbetade benfragment, vilka tolkats vara hantverksspill. / This paper is based on a study of 20 kilo animal bones, which were recovered from an excavation in 1994 in the quarter of Gruvan 3, Jönköping. The purpose of this essay was to investigate changes in animal husbandry and activity, related to animal bones, at the site during the period from AD 1000–1600. Osteological methods have been used to determine age, gender and height of the most common domestic animals, which are cattle (Bos taurus), sheep/goat (Ovis aries/Capra hircus) and pig (Sus domesticus). Some differences have been seen in the distribution of the domestic animals in the material from different time periods. Cattle has been the most common animal followed by sheep/goat and pig. The osteological material has also shown similarities with other materials from medieval Swedish towns based on the age, gender and height of cattle, sheep/goat and pig. The material from the later part of the investigated period has contained an increasing amount of bone fragments from crafting.

This study focuses on initial public offerings (IPOs), which are the process of making a company's shares available for public trading on a stock market. Despite global uncertainties in recent years, there has been a high demand for company listings in the market. Many IPOs have experienced a positive trend in share prices on the first day of trading as a publicly traded company.The objective of this study is to develop a multiple linear regression model to analyze the impact of various parameters on the first day return of IPOs. The generated model will be evaluated to create a reduced model with an optimal subset of variables. The study will specifically focus on IPOs listed on some Nordic marketplaces during the period 2017-2022.The results of the study suggest that the created models are not effective in capturing the variance of first day returns. The deficiency of the created models is likely due to both the complexity of the stock market and the difficulties of quantifying and capturing some of the factors impacting the initial performance of IPOs. However, the reduced model performs slightly better and indicates that variables such as NGM SME, First North, PreSubscribed, and AmountNewlyIssued explain most of the variance in the response variable. / Denna studie fokuserar på börsintroduktioner (IPO), processen i vilken ett företags aktier görs tillgänglig för allmän handel på börsen eller en annan marknadsplats. Trots omfattande globala osäkerheter under de senaste åren, så har efterfrågan på börsnoteringar varit hög. Många av dessa IPOs har upplevt en positiv aktietillväxt under första dagen som ett publikt handlat bolag.Målet med rapporten är att utveckla en multivariat linjär regressionsmodel med syfte att analysera påverkan olika variabler har på aktieprisets utveckling under första dagen som ett noterat bolag. Modellen kommer därefter utvärderas och en reducerad modell innefattande en optimal kombination av variabler kommer genereras. Rapporten kommer specifikt undersöka noteringar gjorda under perioden 2017-2022.\\Resultatet av studien visar på stora brister i modellernas prestationsförmåga. Troligen grundar sig deras oförmåga i både aktiemarknadens komplexitet samt svårigheter i att kvantifiera och fånga relevanta faktorer som påverkar de initiala aktieprisfluktuationerna efter en IPO. Den reducerade modellen presterar dock något bättre och indikerar att variabler som NGM SME, First North, PreSubscribed och AmountNewlyIssued förklarar det mesta av variansen i den beroende variabeln.

Speech technologies such as text-to-speech synthesis (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) have recently generated much interest in the developed world as a user-interface medium to smartphones [1, 2]. However, it is also recognised that these technologies may potentially have a positive impact on the lives of those in the developing world, especially in Africa, by presenting an important medium for access to information where illiteracy and a lack of infrastructure play a limiting role [3, 4, 5, 6]. While these technologies continually experience important advances that keep extending their applicability to new and under-resourced languages, one particular area in need of further development is speech synthesis of African tone languages [7, 8]. The main objective of this work is acoustic modelling and synthesis of tone for an African tone,language: Yorùbá. We present an empirical investigation to establish the acoustic properties of tone in Yorùbá, and to evaluate resulting models integrated into a Hidden Markov model-based (HMMbased) TTS system. We show that in Yorùbá, which is considered a register tone language, the realisation of tone is not solely determined by pitch levels, but also inter-syllable and intra-syllable pitch dynamics. Furthermore, our experimental results indicate that utterance-wide pitch patterns are not only a result of cumulative local pitch changes (terracing), but do contain a significant gradual declination component. Lastly, models based on inter- and intra-syllable pitch dynamics using underlying linear pitch targets are shown to be relatively efficient and perceptually preferable to the current standard approach in statistical parametric speech synthesis employing HMM pitch models based on context-dependent phones. These findings support the applicability of the proposed models in under-resourced conditions. / PhD (Information Technology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Background: The study examined the effects of the determinants of under-five mortality in Malawi. It therefore aimed to estimate the rate or prevalence of under-five mortality in Malawi and to examine differentials in infant and child mortality by socio-economic, demographic, environmental, health-seeking behaviour and nutritional value. Methods: This study involved a secondary data analysis of the 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) data set of children under five years old and women who had given birth in the five years preceding the survey. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariate hazard analysis were used to examine the relationship between under-five mortality and socio-economic. demographic, environmental, health-seeking behaviour and nutritional factors. Results: The results show that birth order, mother's education, place of residence. region and exclusive breastfeeding were significantly associated with under-five mortality. The results also show that there was no significant association between under-five mortality and other indicators of socio-economic. demographic. environmental, health-seeking behaviour. The results also show that more deaths of under-fives occurred during infancy than during childhood. Conclusion: The results show that more deaths occurred during the first months after birth than after 12 months of age. This showed that mother's education, birth order, place of residence, region and breastfeeding had a greater influence on the survival of the child. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. Population Studies) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2014

This study seeks to investigate factors influencing gender representation patterns in educational leadership positions in high schools around Phokeng. In South Africa and some other countries, teaching in schools remains a profession where women are highly represented, but women continue to be under-represented in educational leadership p9sitions. Male over-representation in the leadership and management of educational institutions is internationally known and documented and persists despite the availability and implementation of gender equity acts and policies. The study used the case study approach, underpinned by feminist theory to investigate factors that influence gender representation patterns in high schools around Phokeng. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended, qualitative questionnaires were used to collect data. A total of 12 purposefully selected participants were included in the study: four principals, four deputy principals and four heads of departments. Data was collected on the following areas: The nature and extent of gender representation patterns in educational leadership positions; possible reasons for the current gender representation patterns in educational leadership positions in high schools in areas around Phokeng; strategies that can be applied to address the current gender representation patterns in order to suit gender equity concerns in education. The findings reveal that women represent a high percentage of employees of the education system, but women continue to be under-represented in educational leadership positions. Furthermore, the study found that gender stereotypes, family responsibilities, low self-image and self-esteem as well as lack of confidence are some of the reasons for under-representation of women in educational leadership positions. The investigation also established that the implementation of the Employment Equity Act and similar policies should be intensified in all educational institutions as one of the strategies to close the gap of under-representation of women in educational leadership positions. The main recommendations emanating from the study are that women teachers need training to equip them with appropriate knowledge and skills; therefore they should be capacitated to improve their self-image, self-esteem and should acquire strategies to balance their family responsibilities with their work life. In that case, society can improve its perception about women, practical affirmative action strategies could be employed to improve the representation of women in educational leadership and to promote non-discriminatory working relationships and respect for diversity in a job situation. / Thesis (M.Ed) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

Speech technologies such as text-to-speech synthesis (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) have recently generated much interest in the developed world as a user-interface medium to smartphones [1, 2]. However, it is also recognised that these technologies may potentially have a positive impact on the lives of those in the developing world, especially in Africa, by presenting an important medium for access to information where illiteracy and a lack of infrastructure play a limiting role [3, 4, 5, 6]. While these technologies continually experience important advances that keep extending their applicability to new and under-resourced languages, one particular area in need of further development is speech synthesis of African tone languages [7, 8]. The main objective of this work is acoustic modelling and synthesis of tone for an African tone,language: Yorùbá. We present an empirical investigation to establish the acoustic properties of tone in Yorùbá, and to evaluate resulting models integrated into a Hidden Markov model-based (HMMbased) TTS system. We show that in Yorùbá, which is considered a register tone language, the realisation of tone is not solely determined by pitch levels, but also inter-syllable and intra-syllable pitch dynamics. Furthermore, our experimental results indicate that utterance-wide pitch patterns are not only a result of cumulative local pitch changes (terracing), but do contain a significant gradual declination component. Lastly, models based on inter- and intra-syllable pitch dynamics using underlying linear pitch targets are shown to be relatively efficient and perceptually preferable to the current standard approach in statistical parametric speech synthesis employing HMM pitch models based on context-dependent phones. These findings support the applicability of the proposed models in under-resourced conditions. / PhD (Information Technology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Current understanding of the hydraulic stability of a stacked geotextile tube structure under wave attack is limited. Failure mechanisms that lead to instability are complicated and there is, as yet, no generic approved design method. 2D physical modelling in the large wave/current flume of the Stellenbosch University was done to test various set-up and hydraulic conditions to determine the hydraulic stability of a stacked geotextile tube structure against wave attack. Sixty-five test runs of approximately 1,000 waves each were run. Modelling was done on two different scales that had good similitude, despite the fact that the same geotextile and fill material were used in both. The results provided by the physical modelling gave wave conditions larger than anticipated for hydraulic stability. It was found that the term ―failure‖ was too loosely defined in most cases and that, depending on the definition of structure failure the severity of the wave conditions at failure increased substantially. Sliding was found to be the key failure mechanism for a structure constructed from stacked, 80% sand filled, geotextile tubes. The crest tube receives the most severe loading and is the critical tube in the structure. Structures with double tube crests were found to be negligibly more stable than structures with single tube crests, but reduce energy transmission to the leeside of the structure. Impact loading of the structure combined with wave transmission over the structure explained the wave force on the crest tube of the structure. A modified Goda (1974) method incorporating a wave reduction factor for wave transmission and an angle descriptive of the crest tube position were used. The descriptive angle was derived from results obtained from the physical modelling. The use of this method provides results that correlate well with those found in the physical modelling and with results obtained in previous research. The method has the additional advantage that it is less constrained by limitations for application than those of previous studies / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die begrip van die hidroliese stabiliteit van ‘n struktuur gebou uit gepakte geotekstielsandbuise teen golf aanval, is tans beperk. Faal meganismes wat lei tot die onstabiliteit van ‘n struktuur is ingewikkeld en daar is geen generiese aanvaarde ontwerp metode tans in gebruik nie. 2D fisiesemodellering is in die groot golfkanaal van die Universiteit Stellenbosch uitgevoer. ‘n Verskeidenheid van struktuur-uitlegte en hidroliese toestande is getoets om die hidroliese stabiliteit van die struktuur teen golf aanval te bepaal. ‘n Totaal van 65 toetse van ongeveer 1,000 golwe elk is voltooi. Modellering is op twee verskillende skale gedoen, wat goed vergelyk het ten spyte van die feit dat dieselfde geotekstiel en vul materiaal in albei gebruik is. Resultate verkry vanaf die fisiese modellering het groter as verwagte golftoestande vir hidroliese stabiliteit gegee. Dit is gevind dat die definisie van faal (mislukking) in die meeste gevalle swak beskryf is en dat, afhangende van wat as faal van die struktuur beskou word, die golftoestande aansienlik beïnvloed word. Die skuif van die buise is die hoof faal meganisme vir ‘n gepakte geotekstielbuis-struktuur met ‘n vulpersentasie van 80%. Die buis op die kruin van die struktuur word die swaarste belas en is die kritiese buis in die struktuur. Strukture met dubbel buis kruine is onbeduidend meer stabiel as dié met slegs ‘n enkele buis as kruin. Die energie wat na die lysy van die struktuur oorgedra word, is egter beduidend minder. Impak belasting van die struktuur gekombineer met golf-transmissie oor die struktuur, verduidelik die stabiliteit van die buis op die kruin van die struktuur. ‘n Gemodifiseerde Goda (1974) metode met ‘n golfverminderigs faktor word gebruik om golf-transmissie oor die struktuur te akkommodeer, saam met ‘n hoek wat beskrywend is van die posisie van die kruin buis. Die beskrywende hoek is afgelei uit resultate verkry uit die fisiesemodellering. Hierdie metode gee resultate wat goed korreleer met dié verskaf deur die fisiese modellering en die resultate van vorige navorsing oor geotekstielbuis stabiliteit. Die metode het ‗n bykomende voordeel deurdat dit minder begrens is deur beperkings m.b.t. toepassing as die van vorige studies.

This thesis poses a number of questions about research and pedagogy with young children under three, with a particular focus on the opportunities for children’s ‘voices’ to be heard and for them to participate in the planning of the curriculum in early years’ settings. The persistent division between education and care has been an issue in many European countries for a long time (OECD, 2006). The thesis reports on the findings of a research project in both England and Greece. The research aims were to consider how the meaning of children’s participation is defined in the settings in the two countries; whether children use the resources provided according to adult expectation and initial planning and how practitioners react to children’s choices by supporting, ignoring or disapproving them. The theoretical underpinning for the thesis is drawn particularly from the work of Rogoff and Corsaro. Research focused on six children in both England and Greece who were observed during their involvement in both adult directed and child initiated activities in the settings. An ethnographic approach together with a range of ‘participatory’ methods were used including data gathered through video recordings made by both children and adults.This study has found that children express their perceptions during an activity in a very complicated way, elaborating and examining all the parameters that could place them in trouble. Additionally, the findings have shown that what the child is doing during an activity is not always what he is thinking, while many times children appeared to have their own agenda, thus ignoring or subverting adult plans. The main finding is that no matter what the differences and similarities in early years’ education and care between the two countries are, there is an urgent need to promote the children’s participatory rights, as adult’s authority and power is generally taken for granted. This thesis argues for ethical tensions in research with young children and for balanced pedagogy where both adults’ and children’s voices influence the curriculum.

Background: People in Cameroon are experiencing a dietary transition characterized by changing from traditional food habits to increased intake of highly processed sweet and fatty food. The rapid change in food pattern combined with an increased sedentary lifestyle has resulted in a rather high prevalence of obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Nutritional intake is important during adolescence for growth spurt, health, cognitive development and performance in school. Objective: The aim of this thesis was to assess dietary intake, anthropometry and physical activity of adolescents according to sex and socioeconomic status (SES) and to investigate food perceptions of adolescents living in urban and rural areas of Cameroon. Methods: Girls and boys, 12-16 years of age, were randomly selected from schools in urban and rural areas. Food frequency questionnaire, 24-hour dietary and physical activity recalls, anthropometric measurements, qualitative interviews and a background questionnaire were used for data collection. Results: The proportion of overweight was three times higher in girls (14%) compared to boys (4%). Stunting and underweight were more common among boys (15% and 6%) than girls (5% and 1%). The prevalence of stunting was two times higher among the urban adolescents with low SES (12%) compared to those with high SES (5%). The rural adolescents had the highest proportion of stunting but more muscle that the urban adolescents. The rural adolescents ate in order to live and to maintain health. Urban adolescents with low SES ate in order to maintain health, while those with high SES ate for pleasure. More than 30% of the adolescents skipped breakfast in the urban area. Urban adolescents with high SES and girls reported a more frequent consumption of in-between meals and most food groups compared to the rural adolescents, boys and those with low SES. Over 55% of the adolescents had a protein intake below 10% of the energy (E%). Twenty-six percent of the adolescents had fat intake below 25 E%, and 25% had fat intake above 35 E%. A large proportion of the adolescents had an intake of micronutrients below the estimated average recommendation. Boys and the adolescents with low SES reported a higher energy expenditure and physical activity level than girls and the adolescents with high SES, respectively. Both under- and over-reporting of energy intake were common among the adolescents. Conclusions: The present study showed that nutrient inadequacy, stunting, underweight, as well as overweight and obesity were common among the adolescents in Cameroon. Therefore an intervention program targeting both under- and overnutrition among school adolescents is needed. Sex and socioeconomic differences also need to be considered.

No description available.