329 research outputs found
Focus Forward: Outcomes of a Brief Occupational Therapy Intervention for Cancer-Related Cognitive Dysfunction
No full textAbstract
Date Presented 3/30/2017
Results of this pilot and feasibility study indicate that women with breast cancer who received a brief occupational therapy intervention for cancer-related cognitive dysfunction experienced pre–post improvements in self-reported cognition and occupational functioning.
Primary Author and Speaker: Shayne Hopkins
Contributing Authors: Mary Vining Radomski, Marsha Finkelstein, Mattie Anheluk, Kristin Berling, Michele Darger, Kim Grabe, M. Tracy Morrison, Joette Zola, Nancy Hutchison</jats:p
Automatic Finite Element Modelling and Parameter Determination for Geotechnical Design
No full textThis article describes how efficiency in geotechnical engineering involving finite element (FE) modelling can be improved by automation. An important part of geotechnical FE modelling involves the creation of an underground model and the determination of soil and model parameters. It is explained how Automated Parameter Determination (APD) based on CPT data can be used in conjunction with geological modelling to create the necessary input for a FE model. An example demonstrates the entire workflow. The system is transparent and extendable. It supports the geotechnical engineer in the complex task of parameter determination, while retaining the responsibility at the user. Automation can help reducing the spread in results when different geotechnical engineers analyze the same problem, and hence, it can contribute to the confidence in the use of advanced numerical methods for geotechnical design.Geo-engineerin
Development of understanding of the virtuous values of 3–4 year–olds in the process of exploring literary works
No full textDarba nosaukums: 3–4 gadīgu bērnu tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanās literāro darbu iepazīšanas procesā. Darba autore: Aija Grabe. Darba vadītāja: Gunta Siliņa – Jasjukeviča. Darba saturs: 109 lapaspuses, 3 attēli, 3 tabulas, 18 pielikumi un 57 izmantotie literatūras un informācijas avoti. Pētījuma mērķis ir teorētiski un praktiski pētīt literāro darbu izmantošanas iespējas 3–4 gadīgu bērnu tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanā. Pētījuma objekts: Pedagoģiskais process pirmsskolā. Pētījuma priekšmets: Literāro darbu saturs un metodika tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanai. Pētāmais jautājums: Kā izmantot literāros tekstus, lai sekmētu 3–4 gadīgo bērnu tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanos? Bakalaura darba teorētiskajā pētījuma daļā analizētas latviešu un ārzemju pedagogu un psihologu, filozofu atziņas par pirmsskolas vecuma bērnu attīstību, 3–4 gadīgu bērnu tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanos un literāro darbu iepazīšanas procesu. Bakalaura darba empīriskajā pētījuma daļā ir veikts pedagogu pedagoģiskais novērojums un pedagoģiskā izmēģinājumdarbība ar mērķi noskaidrot, kā izmantot literāros tekstus, lai sekmētu 3–4 gadīgo bērnu tikumisko vērtību izpratnes veidošanos? Secināts, ka literārie teksti ir ļoti vērtīgs līdzeklis, lai tikumiski izglītotu un pozitīvi ietekmētu bērna personības veidošanos. Literārie tekstu izmantošana aktualizē tikumisku rīcību, vērtības, jūtas, palīdz apgūt elementāras pieklājības un kultūras normas. Literāro tekstu izmantošana pirmsskolas izglītībā palīdz bērniem ne tikai iepazīt vērtības, tikumus, normas, bet arī izkopt sociāli pieņemamus uzvedības modeļus. Pētījuma bāze: Cēsu novada X pirmskolas izglītības iestādē, 3–4 gadīgo bērnu grupa 20 bērni. 2 pirmsskolas izglītības iestādes skolotāji. Atslēgas vārdi: tikumi, vērtības, literārie darbi, 3–4 gadīgi bērni, pedagoģiskais process pirmsskolā.Title of work: Development of understanding of the virtuous values of 3–4 year–olds in the process of exploring literary works Author: Aija Grabe. Supervisor: Gunta Siliņa – Jasjukeviča. Content of work: 109 pages, 3 charts, 3 tables, 18 attachments and 57 sources of literature and information used. The study aims to study theoretically and practically the use of literary works in understanding the virtuous values of 3 – to 4–year–olds. Object of the study: pedagogical process in preschool. Subject matter of study: Content of literary works and methodology for understanding moral values. Question under study: How do I use literary texts to help raise awareness of the virtuous values of 3–4–year–olds? The theoretical study part of the Bachelor's work analyses the findings of Latvian and foreign educators and psychologists, philosophers regarding the development of children of pre–school age, the development of understanding of the virtuous values of 3–4 year olds and the process of familiarisation of literary works. In the empirical part of the Bachelor's work, pedagogical observation and pedagogical trial of educators has been performed with the aim of finding out how to use literary texts to promote understanding of the virtuous values of 3–4 year olds? It has been concluded that literary texts are a very valuable tool to educate and positively influence the formation of a child's personality. The zimanting of literary texts actuates moral action, values, feelings, helps to learn basic norms of civility and culture. The use of literary texts in pre–school education helps children not only to get to know values, virtues, norms, but to cultivate socially acceptable patterns of behaviour. Study base: Cesis County X at a primary education facility, a group of 3–4–year–olds 20 children. 2 preschool teachers. Keywords: virtues, values, literary works, 3–4 year olds, pedagogical process in pre–school
Numerical modelling of spatial variability and geotechnical uncertainty
No full textThe spatial variability of soil properties influences material behaviour and the performance of geotechnical structures. It also leads to uncertainty in design, because one can never be certain about what the ground conditions are at every location across a site. This article introduces the concept and implications of spatial variability, and illustrates some of the opportunities afforded by utilising numerical methods within a probabilistic framework.Geo-engineerin
Modeling and control of UAV bearing formations with bilateral high-level steering
No full textIn this paper we address the problem of controlling the motion of a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) bound to keep a formation defined in terms of only relative angles (i.e. a bearing formation). This problem can naturally arise within the context of several multi-robot applications such as, e.g. exploration, coverage, and surveillance. First, we introduce and thoroughly analyze the concept and properties of bearing formations, and provide a class of minimally linear sets of bearings sufficient to uniquely define such formations. We then propose a bearing-only formation controller requiring only bearing measurements, converging almost globally, and maintaining bounded inter-agent distances despite the lack of direct metric information.The controller still leaves the possibility of imposing group motions tangent to the current bearing formation. These can be either autonomously chosen by the robots because of any additional task (e.g. exploration), or exploited by an assisting human co-operator. For this latter 'human-in-the-loop' case, we propose a multi-master/multi-slave bilateral shared control system providing the co-operator with some suitable force cues informative of the UAV performance. The proposed theoretical framework is extensively validated by means of simulations and experiments with quadrotor UAVs equipped with onboard cameras. Practical limitations, e.g. limited field-of-view, are also considered. © The Author(s) 2012
"Unplanned" Language Policy and Planning
No full textThis chapter has as its focus "unplanned" language planning or covert language planning. It suggests four reasons why it is important to examine the unplanned (covert) as well as the planned (overt) instances of language planning. The chapter is an author version
Sexual cues emanating from the Anchorette chair : implications for perceived professionalism, fitness for beat, and memory for news
No full textThe experimental study reported here employed one of the most compelling visual cues
of female sexual attractiveness (low waist-to-hip ratio) to test the influence of news
anchor sexualization on audience evaluations of her as a professional and their memory
for the news that she presents. Male participants saw the sexualized version of the anchor
as less suited for war and political reporting. They also encoded less news information
presented by the sexualized than her unsexualized version. Conclusions were drawn in
line with evolutionary psychology expectations of men’s cognitive susceptibility to visual
sex cues. Women participants, on the other hand, did not vary across conditions in their
assessments of the anchor’s competence to report on war and political news. Moreover,
they encoded more news information presented by the sexualized than unsexualized
anchor condition.http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navnf201
Application and extension of a data-driven turbulence modeling method using Machine Learning
No full textIn recent years, many data-driven approaches which leverage high-fidelity reference data have been developed to augment the performance of Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) turbulence models by providing an improved closure to the governing fluid flow equations. The goal of this M.Sc. thesis is to apply and extend one such data-driven approach, “Field Inversion and Machine Learning”, to improve the negative Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, with specific application to the shock-induced boundary layer separation on a 2D airfoil profile. Field inversion procedure results in a corrective, spatially distributed discrepancy field for the baseline RANS model. Machine learning algorithms are trained on an appropriately chosen set of flow features from the field inversion solution. This work’s primary objectives are to identify flow features relevant to shock-induced flow separation. The improved RANS model is tested on unseen flow conditions to evaluate the generalisation capability of the machine learning augmentation.Aerospace Engineerin
Emissions in Gauteng
No full textDissertation (MEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2022.Emission reduction interventions assist decision-makers in setting targets for environmental regulations and policies. These are necessary to address the growing concern of air pollution. In the UK alone, £800m have been invested in an air quality programme to meet their net-zero emissions target by 2050 (World Economic Forum, 2020a). We recognise that informed decision-making is vital for capital investment into transport interventions, especially in a developing country like South Africa.
We focus on emissions generation in the Gauteng province to understand how the actual traffic emissions vary from our estimations with the tools at our disposal. The tool we utilise is the Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim) emissions model based on the Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA). MATSim is a powerful modelling framework that can produce transport simulations of an entire city with a high level of detail (Fourie, 2009; Van Velden, 2012; Zhuge et al., 2014; Ziemke et al., 2019).
The problem we face is that the European-based emissions model does not account for the driving conditions and vehicle types affecting real-world driving emissions on South African road networks. We address the diversity of our local driver population by creating a synthetic population representing the Gauteng vehicle population. MATSim’s Agent-Based Model (ABM) enables us to model emission profiles for each vehicle represented as an agent. In the synthetic population, we include passenger cars and heavy vehicle types. We estimate the aggregate CO2, CO and NOx emitted on a provincial level and the individual emissions per vehicle type.
We use PEMS equipment to conduct Real Driving Emissions (RDE) tests with which we validate our MATSim emissions model for Gauteng. We conduct these tests for both vehicle types represented in our synthetic population: a passenger car and a heavy vehicle. By comparing the PEMS data to MATSim’s estimations on a predetermined test route in Pretoria, we find that the emissions model accounts for ±80% of the CO2 emissions from these vehicle types. Furthermore, the observed CO emissions are 2.3–2.9 times higher than the simulation. MATSim also underestimates NOx emissions for the heavy vehicle type and overestimates these pollutant emissions for the light vehicle.
Our investigation of the emissions on the test route reveals that different road types and driving conditions factor into the variance we observe in our local emissions model. MATSim struggles more to estimate the emissions on steep suburban roads than on urban or freeway sections. Regarding driver behaviour, aggressive drivers might cause more carbon and NOx emissions than conservative drivers. Weather conditions also influence this behaviour, and we heed the notable difference between our warm South African and wet European weather.
We accomplish our research goals of building a representative Gauteng emissions model in MATSim, investigating how this model performs “out-of-the-box” and quantifying the gap between our local simulation and the reality of traffic emissions in South Africa.The Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) equipment used in collecting the emissions data (chapter 4) was funded from several sources. The author would like to acknowledge the University of Pretoria (UP) as the primary contributor, as well as contributions from the Department of Science and Innovation through their Waste RDI Roadmap (Grant CSIR/BEI/WRIU/2019/028) and the National Research Foundation (through the National Equipment Programme, Grant EQP180425324146).
The author would also like to acknowledge Prof P.J. (Hannes) Gräbe, Centre for Transport Development and the Chair in Railway Engineering, loving father and colleague, for the use of the Road-Rail Vehicle (RRV) in this research.
Special thanks to Prof J.W. (Johan) Joubert at the Center for Transport Development – a supervisor, mentor, colleague and friend to the author. The expertise he displays in his field intrigued the author at a campus tour five years before he would complete his final year project under Joubert’s supervision, leading into the journey to a Masters in Industrial Engineering. His dedication to his students, passion for his work and love for his family inspired the author on numerous occasions. Joubert’s active interest, support and influence propelled the author with great ambition into his future career.Industrial and Systems EngineeringMEng (Industrial Engineering)Unrestricte
Effect of the Interaction between Childhood Abuse and rs1360780 of the FKBP5 gene on Gray Matter Volume – a multi-cohort replication study
No full textIn this work, we intend to replicate the study "Effect of the interaction between childhood abuse and rs1360780 of the FKBP5 gene on gray matter volume in a general population sample" by Grabe et al. (2016).
In a Gene × Environment approach, we will be looking at a genotype of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that was found to be crucial for an adequate response to stress exposure. The FKBP5 gene encodes a protein regulating activity of, among others, glucocorticoid receptors, thereby ensuring a negative feedback loop of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis (Kim et al., 2019).
Environmental influence will be modeled through childhood maltreatment (CM). There is evidence that CM contributes to the development, severity and chronification of depression (Nelson et al., 2017). Studies also show that CM can affect brain morphology, specifically GM volume (Lim et al., 2014).
With regard to the current replication crisis in psychological research (Open Science Collaboration, 2015) the replication of past findings in sufficiently large samples is one of our central duties as researchers in psychology. Especially in the field of brain imaging, replication rates continue to be too low to lead to credible results (Marek et al., 2022). We take this as motivation to dedicate this work to a replication attempt of the findings of Grabe et al. (2016)
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