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Bitten

- Sullivan, Louella

Authors: Sullivan, Louella
Date: 2015
Subjects: Creative writing (Higher education) , South African poetry (English) -- Study and teaching (Higher) , South African poerty (English) -- 21st century
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
Identifier: vital:5994 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017778
Description: My poetry investigates the extraordinary in the everyday, exploring my life as a mother and wife, to find the quiet truths that lie there. Using fresh ways of describing familiar experiences, the poems describe tiny, almost-missed moments and voices that have shaped me. Throughout the collection, I imagine my younger selves commenting on my current self and vice versa. Ultimately, my poems use simple words and clean lines to evoke how I feel (and how I want the reader to feel) in each of the moments they describe.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Black-boxing and the politics of parliamentary oversight in South Africa

- Siebörger, Ian, Adendorf, Ralph D

Authors: Siebörger, Ian , Adendorf, Ralph D
Date: 2015
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book chapter
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433497 , vital:72976 , ISBN 978-9027206565 , https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.65
Description: We investigate a parliamentary committee meeting overseeing a randomly chosen state-owned entity, in order to track the processes of knowledge production that occur in parliamentary oversight. The entity’s representatives use “epistemological condensation” (Maton 2014:130) to present the information they give to the MPs as incontestable, effectively “black-boxing” it. “Black-boxing” (Latour 1987) is a process which presents knowledge in such a way that very little room is left for questioning it. The committee members also use “epistemological rarefaction” (Maton 2014:130) to open the black box of the presentation and question its contents, challenging the practices of the entity.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Book Review Growing the next generation of researchers: A handbook for emerging researchers and their mentors, Holness, L

- Motshoane, Puleng, Muthama, Evelyn, McKenna, Sioux

Authors: Motshoane, Puleng , Muthama, Evelyn , McKenna, Sioux
Date: 2015
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187205 , vital:44579 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.14426/cristal.v3i2.56"
Description: South Africa urgently needs more researchers (NRF, 2008; NDP, 2011). We also need a transformation in the demographics of our researchers. One indicator of this is that currently only 14% of university professors are black African, and only 2% are black African females (DHET, 2012). The Staffing South Africa's Universities Framework includes a number of initiatives to drive the process of growing the next generation of academics. For example, the nGAP project has inserted 125 new posts into the higher education system in 2015, with more to follow. This project allows for new academics to undertake postgraduate study and develop as teachers and researchers through mentorship, a reduced teaching load and so on.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Book Review: A Renegade called Simphiwe

- Magadla, Siphokazi

Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
Date: 2015
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298595 , vital:57719 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909614533638"
Description: A Renegade called Simphiwe is a “creative-intellectual portrait” of the public (and private) life of the musician Simphiwe Dana (p. 150). Gqola defines the book as “one writer’s engagement with the Simphiwe Dana of the South African public imagination [who]… troubles many categories of belonging in the South African public imagination in remarkable ways” (pp. 17, 32). The book comes at a poignant time as South Africa reflects on the success and challenges of the first 20 years of democracy. Fittingly, Gqola positions Dana within a long tradition of griots in Africa whose art always spoke truth to power.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Book Review: Global Governance and the New Wars

- Magadla, Siphokazi

Authors: Magadla, Siphokazi
Date: 2015
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298640 , vital:57723 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2015.1008676"
Description: Mark Duffield's second edition of ‘Global Governance and the New Wars’ offers an important and biting critique of how different actors within the security and development discourse have adapted to the various transformations of war in the post-cold war era. In this picture drawn by Duffield, the power of states in the South continues to be eroded by an exclusionary market that is driven by the global political economy wherein state's development and security responsibilities are increasingly assumed by non-state actors (predominately constituted by Western aid agencies). Those who fall outside the bounds of the state, development and humanitarian aid agencies can be found operating in an expanding shadow economy that is also shaped by a global dynamics which make the conditions for ‘network war' possible. In this context, the lines between ‘war' and peace” are difficult to distinguish. Overall, the book paints a depressing picture on the lack of substantive changes in the livelihoods of the poor as attention has been directed to discussions about ‘new wars' or altered forms of violence that have characterized the post-cold war era. The book unforgivingly exposes the failures of the discursive changes post-cold war to reconceptualize development and security in terms that move beyond description and into substantive change especially regarding shifting the development discourse from its historic modernizing impulses.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Britain after the Romans : an interdisciplinary approach to the possibilities of an Adventus Saxonum

- Lloyd-Jones, Glyn Francis Michael

Authors: Lloyd-Jones, Glyn Francis Michael
Date: 2015
Subjects: Great Britain -- History -- Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066 , Civilization, Anglo-Saxon , English philology -- Old English, ca. 450-1100 , English literature -- Old English, ca. 450-1100 , Anglo-Saxon race , Genetic genealogy
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
Identifier: vital:3657 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019806
Description: In the fifth century, after the departure of the Romans, according to tradition, which is based on the ancient written sources, Britain was invaded by the Angles and Saxons. This view has been questioned in the last century. The size of the ‘invasion’, and indeed its very existence, have come into doubt. However, this doubting school of thought does not seem to take into account all of the evidence. An interdisciplinary, nuanced approach has been taken in this thesis. Firstly, the question of Germanic raiding has been examined, with reference to the Saxon Shore defences. It is argued that these defences, in their geographical context, point to the likelihood of raiding. Then the written sources have been re-examined, as well as physical artefacts. In addition to geography, literature and archaeology (the disciplines which are most commonly used when the coming of the Angles and Saxons is investigated), linguistic and genetic data have been examined. The fields of linguistics and genetics, which have not often both been taken into consideration with previous approaches, add a number of valuable insights. This nuanced approach yields a picture of events that rules out the ‘traditional view’ in some ways, such as the idea that the Saxons exterminated the Britons altogether, but corroborates it in other ways. There was an invasion of a kind (of Angles – not Saxons), who came in comparatively small numbers, but found in Britain a society already mixed and comprising Celtic and Germanic-speaking peoples: a society implied by Caesar and Tacitus and corroborated by linguistic and genetic data.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Brown hyena habitat selection varies among sites in a semi-arid region of southern Africa

- Welch, Rebecca J, Tambling, Craig J, Bissett, Charlene, Gaylard, Angela, Müller, Konrad, Slater, Kerry, Strauss, W Maartin, Parker, Daniel M

Authors: Welch, Rebecca J , Tambling, Craig J , Bissett, Charlene , Gaylard, Angela , Müller, Konrad , Slater, Kerry , Strauss, W Maartin , Parker, Daniel M
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123277 , vital:35423 , https://doi.10.1093/jmammal/gyv189
Description: In the last 50 years, the human impact on ecosystems has been greater than during any other time period in human history (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2003). Large carnivores face anthropogenic threats worldwide, specifically persecution, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation (Everatt et al. 2014; Groom et al. 2014; Ripple et al. 2014; Wolfe et al. 2015). Because large carnivores often occupy high trophic levels, their presence influences species at lower levels through trophic cascades (Ripple et al. 2014). Natural experiments, taking advantage of large carnivore management, have shown that large predators provide fundamental ecosystem and economic services that help maintain healthy and diverse ecosystems (Ripple et al. 2014). Additionally, carnivores play an important role in other ecosystem processes, for example, scavenging carnivores may provide regulatory services, such as waste removal, nutrient cycling, and disease regulation. Such services add stability to ecosystems and ensure energy flow through multiple trophic levels (DeVault et al. 2003; Wilson and Wolkovich 2011).
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Date Issued: 2015

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Building an E-health system for health awareness campaigns in poor areas

- Gremu, Chikumbutso David

Authors: Gremu, Chikumbutso David
Date: 2015
Subjects: National health services -- South Africa , Medical informatics , Public health -- Information services
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
Identifier: vital:4708 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017930
Description: Appropriate e-services as well as revenue generation capabilities are key to the deployment and the sustainability for ICT installations in poor areas, particularly common in developing country. The area of e-Health is a promising area for e-services that are both important to the population in those areas and potentially of direct interest to National Health Organizations, which already spend money for Health campaigns there. This thesis focuses on the design, implementation, and full functional testing of HealthAware, an application that allows health organization to set up targeted awareness campaigns for poor areas. Requirements for such application are very specific, starting from the fact that the preparation of the campaign and its execution/consumption happen in two different environments from a technological and social point of view. Part of the research work done for this thesis was to make the above requirements explicit and then use them in the design. This phase of the research was facilitated by the fact that the thesis' work was executed within the context of the Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL; www.siyakhulaLL.org), which has accumulated multi-year experience of ICT deployment in such areas. As a result of the found requirements, HealthAware comprises two components, which are web-based, Java applications that run in a peer-to-peer fashion. The first component, the Dashboard, is used to create, manage, and publish information for conducting awareness campaigns or surveys. The second component, HealthMessenger, facilitates users' access to the campaigns or surveys that were created using the Dashboard. The HealthMessenger was designed to be hosted on TeleWeaver while the Dashboard is hosted independently of TeleWeaver and simply communicates with the HealthMessenger through webservices. TeleWeaver is an application integration platform developed within the SLL to host software applications for poor areas. Using a core service of TeleWeaver, the profile service, where all the users' defining elements are contained, campaigns and surveys can be easily and effectively targeted, for example to match specific demographics or geographic locations. Revenue generation is attained via the logging of the interactions of the target users in the communities with the applications in TeleWeaver, from which billing data is generated according to the specific contractual agreements with the National Health Organization. From a general point of view, HealthAware contributes to the concrete realizations of a bidirectional access channel between Health Organizations and users in poor communities, which not only allows the communication of appropriate content in both directions, but get 'monetized' and in so doing becomes a revenue generator.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Bush encroachment in the semi-arid communal grazing lands of Eastern Cape and farmer's perception of causes and livelihood impacts

- Libala, Notiswa

Authors: Libala, Notiswa
Date: 2015
Subjects: Communal rangelands--South Africa--Eastern Cape Grazing--South Africa--Eastern Cape egetation management--South Africa--Eastern Cape
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , Pasture Science
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11817 , vital:39109
Description: The study was conducted in two communal rangelands of the Eastern Cape Province (Thorn and Mixed bush veld). The objective of the study was to investigate 1) the historical trends of bush encroachment, causes and impacts based on indigenous knowledge and perceptions of the communal people in two savannah vegetation types and 2) to determine the density and cover of woody species in the grazing areas. In each veld type, two villages were selected purposefully. A total of 120 households who own livestock were randomly selected from the four communal areas and a total of 48 elders were selected to provide information on bush encroachment and rangeland condition. For woody density and cover, grazing areas surrounding two homesteads (settlements) were selected from each communal rangeland, Two long transects radiating in the opposite direction from each homestead were established. The woody vegetation survey was conducted at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900m distance from each homestead. In each distance, 3 (10 m x 10 m) quadrates were laid to record individual woody plant species, the height, basal stem and canopy diameters. Woody species were classified into seedlings (>0 - 1 m), saplings (>1 - 1.5 m), young shrubs (>1.5 - 2.0 m), mature shrubs (>2 - 3.0 m) and mature trees (>3.0 m). The average household size in of goat was higher than that of other livestock species. A total of 40 woody plant species were identified in all study areas. Acacia karoo, Coddia rudis and Scutia myrtina were the most dominant woody species in all study areas. Most of the woody plant species had the highest abundance in the height class >0 - 1 m. The average total woody plant density in Thorn bush and Mixed bush were 3461 and 2416 number ha-1, respectively. In conclusion both study areas were highly encroached and it was also perceived by elder from both areas that bush encroachment is a problem in the rangelands.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Business events for the citizens of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Bay

- Hastie, Dean

Authors: Hastie, Dean
Date: 2015
Subjects: Place marketing -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth. , Sightseeing business -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7554 , vital:21810
Description: The effective application of destination marketing strategies leads to increased business activity within a city. This in turn leads to higher attainment levels of social and economic development. It can therefore be said that destination marketing strategies are an essential factor in the growth and functioning of a city. The objective of destination marketing is the city’s image or identity which in turn is the starting point for developing the city’s brand. Cities require an identity. It is crucial that a city has a unique identity with which visitors, tourists and residents can relate to. Examples of these unique city identities are Los Angeles which is known as the City of Angels and Florence which is known as the City of Lilies. The image of a place influences people’s perceptions and choices when visiting, living and conducting business in a specific city. The city’s image and brand serves as a conduit for city residents to identify with their city. The essence of the brand must be discovered, identified, brought to the surface and not imagined, created or added from the outside through an artificial process. Cities that make use of effective destination marketing strategies have endured a considerable increase in business and leisure activities. Notably, business events are important attractions and drivers for activity in many destinations. Multiple parties designing a brand strategy for a city should thoroughly assess the resources and assets a city possesses. A city branding strategy can enable a city to leverage its ‘tangible and non-tangible assets‟. In order for business tourism to develop in South Africa, it is essential that players within the sector have a thorough understanding of international dynamics in order to capitalise on the opportunities that are provided in South Africa. Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa is a city with vast potential. The city is ideal as a tourist destination as it is situated along the Sunshine coast of South Africa. It could be said of the city that it is on the threshold of rising eminence in the coming decades. This treatise investigates the approach and success factors for a successful rebranding of Nelson Mandela Bay through business events as part of a destination marketing strategy. The treatise will ascertain which business events residents of the Nelson Mandela Bay would require and support. A survey was conducted among citizens of Nelson Mandela Bay using a questionnaire from which 952 responses were received. The questionnaire measured the respondents’ attitudes to which types of business events they would require and support their feelings on the brand identity of the city as well as the communication medium they would like to receive communication through. The findings of this study indicate that residents of Nelson Mandela Bay are open to the use of business events as the main driver in terms of business event attendance and support. Furthermore, the residents have made it clear they will support exhibitions, conventions and tradeshows. Facebook and local radio are identified as being the preferred communication method for hearing about events.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Can perceptions of environmental and climate change in island communities assist in adaptation planning locally?

- Aswani, Shankar, Vaccaro, Ismael, Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth, Albert, Simon, de Pablo, Javier Fernández-López

Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Vaccaro, Ismael , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Albert, Simon , de Pablo, Javier Fernández-López
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123310 , vital:35426 , https://doi.10.1007/s00267-015-0572-3
Description: Local perceptions of environmental and climate change, as well as associated adaptations made by local populations, are fundamental for designing comprehensive and inclusive mitigation and adaptation plans both locally and nationally. In this paper, we analyze people’s perceptions of environmental and climate-related transformations in communities across the Western Solomon Islands through ethnographic and geospatial methods. Specifically, we documented people’s observed changes over the past decades across various environmental domains, and for each change, we asked respondents to identify the causes, timing, and people’s adaptive responses. We also incorporated this information into a geographical information system database to produce broad-scale base maps of local perceptions of environmental change. Results suggest that people detected changes that tended to be acute (e.g., water clarity, logging intensity, and agricultural diseases). We inferred from these results that most local observations of and adaptations to change were related to parts of environment/ecosystem that are most directly or indirectly related to harvesting strategies. On the other hand, people were less aware of slower insidious/chronic changes identified by scientific studies. For the Solomon Islands and similar contexts in the insular tropics, a broader anticipatory adaptation planning strategy to climate change should include a mix of local scientific studies and local observations of ongoing ecological changes.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Capacity building for developmental local government in the Kicukiro District of Rwanda

- Rutebuka, Balinda

Authors: Rutebuka, Balinda
Date: 2015
Subjects: Sustainable development -- Rwanda , Economic development -- Rwanda , Local government -- Rwanda
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
Identifier: vital:8490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020906
Description: This study investigated the capacity building for developmental local government with reference to the Kicukiro District of Rwanda. Its aim was to examine the contribution of capacity-building interventions towards a developmental local government and at the same time investigate factors that hinder their implementation in Kicukiro district. The study provides an extensive historical background on local government in Rwa-nda with a particular focus on its policy, legal and institutional framework, whereby the developmental local government environment has been analysed. Furthermore, this study explores the theoretical framework of capacity building in general, and in this regard particular emphasis was given to capacity building in relation to developmental local government. The study also argued that without appropriate capacity it would be difficult for the district to fulfil its developmental mandate. This research followed both qualitative and quantitative approaches of study. It involved a survey in which a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used as data gathering instruments. Through data analysis, findings of the study have shed light on the fact that capacity building constitutes an indispensable mechanism for local government to achieve its developmental mandate, despite challenges associated with the process of capacity building. The study found that the Kicukiro district has made a significant progress towards the implementation of capacity-building interventions despite the fact that these interventions are still fragmented, uncoordinated and still supply-driven. Furthermore, the study revealed that the capacities already built generated considerable impetus that contributed to socio-economic development within the Kicukiro district. The study also found that despite the progress made in both capacity building and development in Kicukiro district, there are capacity gaps and factors which are undermining further progress in this regard. Therefore, the study recommends, among others, an effective co-ordination of capacity-building interventions in order to avoid duplication and fragmentation of capacity-building efforts.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Capacity building for local economic development: an evaluation of training initiatives in the Cape Winelands district

- Kamara, Richard Douglas

Authors: Kamara, Richard Douglas
Date: 2015
Subjects: Economic development projects -- South Africa , Community development -- South Africa , Employees -- Training of
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7969 , vital:24331
Description: The paradigmatic shifts in development approaches epitomised by contemporary discourses about development confer a prominent role on localised and territorial development. A growing scepticism on the efficacy of traditional development approaches provides the impetus for a strong understanding of the need to reconceptualise development theory and practices and to manipulate policies so as to remedy the imbalances of antecedent development approaches. This dissertation investigates the extent to which the existing training interventions can build skill capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) projects in the Cape Winelands municipalities. This will improve our understanding about how, and under what conditions, capacity building for LED can contribute to more inclusive economic and social change. In discussing the theoretical perspective of the study, the relationship between development, LED and capacity building is conceptualised through the lens of contemporary development theory of human development and capability approach. This will improve our understanding on how the capability approach aspires to re-orient approaches to socio-economic development and public policy, away from welfare, which is based on income and expenditure to well-being. The dissertation applies these ideas triangulating diverse research methods and data sources. It combines a literature review and documentary analysis, observation, surveys conducted with municipal authorities in Cape Winelands District Municipality. In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with LED Portfolio Councillors in the municipality as well as with key Officers from Local Government Sector for Education and Training Authority, Department of Economic Development and Tourism in Western Cape, South African Local Government Association and Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The methodological findings reveals the following pitfalls: Flaws in LED enabling policy framework for capacitating municipal staff; poor policy implementations; training fund difficult to access; lack of competent staff in local municipalities to effectively and efficiently implement LED policies and strategies; and lack of supportive environment in workplace to enhance transfer of trained skill to the job. Various recommendations resulting from the outcomes of the empirical study, namely the responses made by the respondents during the empirical survey, are proposed in the final chapter. It is shown that this research has, as a result, contributed to the body of knowledge of development theory and practices by improving our understanding of how, and under which conditions, capacity building training can support processes of social change in localised and territorial development.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) habitat use and diet in the Bontebok National Park, South Africa

- Strauss, Taniia

Authors: Strauss, Taniia
Date: 2015
Subjects: Habitat conservation -- South Africa -- Western Cape Zebras -- Habitat -- Conservation -- South Africa -- Western Cape
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11374 , vital:26917
Description: Cape mountain zebra habitat utilization and diet in the dystrophic fynbos habitat of the Bontebok National Park was found to be highly selective. Mountain zebra concentrated in specific sectors and habitat types in the park on a seasonal basis, preferring recently burnt habitat with a veld age younger than one year in all seasons, except during the warm, dry summer. Proteoid Fynbos with a veld age between one and five years was preferred in the cool winter, while Drainage Lines and the fringes of Inland Pans were preferred during summer. Asteraceous Fynbos was avoided, irrespective of veld age, as well as all other habitats with a veld age greater than five years. Within habitat types with a veld age greater than one year, specific sites were selected and avoided on a seasonal basis, which were found to differ in terms of habitat suitability, based on the availability of dietary plant species. The annual diet consisted of 72.6% grass, 11.8% restio, 5.9% sedge, 8.8% geophyte and less than 1% forb and shrub species. Three grass species formed the bulk of the annual diet, Themeda triandra, Cymbopogon marginatus and Eragrostis curvula, for which leaf use was greater than stem use. Themeda trianda was preferred throughout the year, but contributed to the diet in greatest proportion in the warm, dry summer, when it was available at greatest leaf height and diameter. Cymbopogon marginatus was preferred during the cool winter, when diet composition and greenness was also greater than in other seasons. Preference of Cymbopogon marginatus decreased as leaf height and diameter increased. Eragrostis curvula was preferred in the warm autumn, when it composed the largest proportion of the diet, and selection of this species at feeding sites was based on both greenness and volume. In summer mountain zebra also preferred grass stems and inflorescences of Aristida diffusa, Stipagrostis zeyheri and Briza maxima. During the cool spring the diet included stems and inflorescences of sedges and restios, primarily Ischyrolepis capensis, and in autumn, dry bulbs of the geophyte Moraea collina were utilized. Habitat utilization, as well as grass height and greenness surveys in the Recently Burnt Area, and the nutritional status of mountain zebra was found to be in line with the Summer Nutritional Stress Hypothesis. The hypothesis proposes that the harsh climatic conditions of the area during summer are linked to the low availability of C4 grass, on which grazers would depend in summer. This is supported by the avoidance of the Recently Burnt Area in summer, and the preference of species like Themeda triandra during summer despite low greenness levels. Faecal nitrogen and phosphorus for mountain zebra in Bontebok National Park and De Hoop Nature Reserve were at minimum levels during the warm seasons. Faecal nitrogen was below the threshold for dietary deficiency in all seasons except spring, and faecal phosphorus was above the threshold for deficiency during two seasons only. The findings of this study are in line with other recent work on mountain zebra in the Baviaanskloof suggesting that, due to a high required rate of forage intake, mountain zebra are limited by both poor resource quantity and quality in dystrophic fynbos ecosystems.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Carbonate petrography and geochemistry of BIF of the Transvaal supergroup : evaluating the potential of iron carbonates as proxies for palaeoproterozoic ocean chemistry

- Rafuza, Sipesihle

Authors: Rafuza, Sipesihle
Date: 2015
Subjects: Carbonate rocks -- South Africa -- Transvaal Supergroup , Petrology -- South Africa -- Transvaal Supergroup , Geochemistry -- South Africa -- Transvaal Supergroup , Petrology -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Petrology -- South Africa -- Griekwastad , Geology, Stratigraphic -- Proterozoic , Chemical oceanography , Iron
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
Identifier: vital:5089 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018611
Description: The subject of BIF genesis, particularly their environmental conditions and ocean chemistry at the time of deposition and their evolution through time, has been a subject of much contentiousness, generating a wealth of proposed genetic models and constant refinements thereof over the years. The prevailing paradigm within the various schools of thought, is the widespread and generally agreed upon depositional and diagenetic model(s) which advocate for BIF deposition under anoxic marine conditions. According to the prevailing models, the primary depositional environment would have involved a seawater column whereby soluble Fe²⁺ expelled by hydrothermal activity mixed with free O₂ from the shallow photic zone produced by eukaryotes, forming a high valence iron oxy-hydroxide precursor such as FeOOH or Fe(OH)₃. An alternative biological mechanism producing similar ferric precursors would have been in the form of photo-ferrotrophy, whereby oxidation of ferrous iron to the ferric form took place in the absence of biological O₂ production. Irrespective of the exact mode of primary iron precipitation (which remains contentious to date), the precipitated ferric oxy-hydroxide precursor would have reacted with co-precipitated organic matter, thus acting as a suitable electron acceptor for organic carbon remineralisation through Dissimilatory Iron Reduction (DIR), as also observed in many modern anoxic diagenetic environments. DIR-dominated diagenetic models imply a predominantly diagenetic influence in BIF mineralogy and genesis, and use as key evidence the low δ¹³C values relative to the seawater bicarbonate value of ~0 ‰, which is also thought to have been the dissolved bicarbonate isotope composition in the early Precambrian oceans. The carbon for diagenetic carbonate formation would thus have been sourced through a combination of two end-member sources: pore-fluid bicarbonate at ~0 ‰ and particulate organic carbon at circa -28 ‰, resulting in the intermediate δ¹³C values observed in BIFs today. This study targets 65 drillcore samples of the upper Kuruman and Griquatown BIF from the lower Transvaal Supergroup in the Hotazel area, Northern Cape, South Africa, and sets out to explore key aspects in BIF carbonate petrography and geochemistry that are pertinent to current debates surrounding their interpretation with regard to primary versus diagenetic processes. The focus here rests on applications of carbonate (mainly siderite and ankerite) petrography, mineral chemistry, bulk and mineral-specific carbon isotopes and speciation analyses, with a view to obtaining valuable new insights into BIF carbonates as potential records of ocean chemistry for their bulk carbonate-carbon isotope signature. Evaluation of the present results is done in light of pre-existing, widely accepted diagenetic models against a proposed water-column model for the origin of the carbonate species in BIF. The latter utilises a combination of geochemical attributes of the studied carbonates, including the conspicuous Mn enrichment and stratigraphic variability in Mn/Fe ratio of the Griquatown BIF recorded solely in the carbonate fraction of the rocks. Additionally, the carbon isotope signatures of the Griquatown BIF samples are brought into the discussion and provide insights into the potential causes and mechanisms that may have controlled these signatures in a diagenetic versus primary sedimentary environment. Ultimately, implications of the combined observations, findings and arguments presented in this thesis are presented and discussed with particular respect to the redox evolution and carbon cycle of the ocean system prior to the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). A crucial conclusion reached is that, by contrast to previously-proposed models, diagenesis cannot singularly be the major contributing factor in BIF genesis at least with respect to the carbonate fraction in BIF, as it does not readily explain the carbon isotope and mineral-chemical signatures of carbonates in the Griquatown and uppermost Kuruman BIFs. It is proposed instead that these signatures may well record water-column processes of carbon, manganese and iron cycling, and that carbonate formation in the water column and its subsequent transfer to the precursor BIF sediment constitutes a faithful record of such processes. Corollary to that interpretation is the suggestion that the evidently increasing Mn abundance in the carbonate fraction of the Griquatown BIF up-section would point to a chemically evolving depositional basin with time, from being mainly ferruginous as expressed by Mn-poor BIFs in the lower stratigraphic sections (i.e. Kuruman BF) to more manganiferous as recorded in the upper Griquatown BIF, culminating in the deposition of the abnormally enriched in Mn Hotazel BIF at the stratigraphic top of the Transvaal Supergroup. The Paleoproterozoic ocean must therefore have been characterised by long-term active cycling of organic carbon in the water column in the form of an ancient biological pump, albeit with Fe(III) and subsequently Mn(III,IV) oxy-hydroxides being the key electron acceptors within the water column. The highly reproducible stratigraphic isotope profiles for bulk δ¹³C from similar sections further afield over distances up to 20 km, further corroborate unabatedly that bulk carbonate carbon isotope signatures record water column carbon cycling processes rather than widely-proposed anaerobic diagenetic processes.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Caring for a child with disabilities: a psychosocial case study

- Saville Young, Lisa, Berry, Jessie

Authors: Saville Young, Lisa , Berry, Jessie
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143860 , vital:38289 , https://ischp.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/ischp_2015_abstract_booklet.pdf
Description: This paper presents a psychosocial analysis of an interview with a mother of a child with disabilities. A psychosocial perspective (conceptualizing the subject as both discursively and psychically constituted) has been argued for recently in critical disability studies by Goodley (2011) who advocates for psychoanalysis’ rich vocabulary for affective processes to explore the emotional elements of disablism, where disablism refers to ways in which society discriminates against people with disabilities (‘barriers out there’). While rejecting the use of psychoanalytic theory to pathologise and individualise people with disabilities, Goodley argues that how “oppression is felt psychically, subjectively and emotionally” (p.716) (‘barriers in here’) should not be overlooked, alongside subjectivity as always socially, politically, culturally and economically produced. This psychosocial analysis of a carer’s perspective thickens our understanding of how the caregiver is a social being, both not disabled but at the receiving end of disablism, and an interpersonal subject who may also be an ‘agent’ or ‘carrier’ of disablism.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Celebrating libraries in 20 years of democracy : an overview of library and information services in South Africa

- Satgoor, Ujala

Authors: Satgoor, Ujala
Date: 2015
Subjects: Libraries , Library administration -- South Africa , Information services -- South Africa , Public libraries -- South Africa , Library science -- South Africa
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019841 , ISSN ISSN: 0340-0352 , http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0340035215585100
Description: Since the establishment of the first public library in 1818, the South African library and information services landscape has also been a reflection of the socio-political order and developments in the country. This article presents an historical perspective as well as an overview of libraries in South Africa since 1994, the context within which libraries function, library governance and legislative framework, government funding for redress, library technologies, library and information services education and the professional association. The article further highlights the importance of libraries in meeting the goals of the national development agenda towards entrenching a strong democracy and an educated and informed nation , Original publication is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0340035215585100
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Date Issued: 2015

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Challenges faced by Teachers in applying reading strategies when teaching English reading in the foundation phase in the Mthatha District

- Cweba, Vuyokazi

Authors: Cweba, Vuyokazi
Date: 2015
Subjects: Reading(Foundation phase) English language -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
Language: English
Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D Ed
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/856 , vital:29938
Description: This study sought to investigate challenges faced by teachers in applying reading strategies when teaching reading in the Foundation Phase in the Mthatha District in South Africa. The study was conducted at Four Junior Secondary Schools. It was prompted by a deep concern about challenges faced by teachers in applying reading strategies required in the Foundation Phase. While studies have been carried out on applying reading strategies in the Foundation Phase, few studies have looked at the factors impacting on reading in South African schools, especially in the Mthatha District where isiXhosa is the mother tongue. The method used in this study involved a qualitative approach. The study addressed the following research questions: What strategies are used in the Foundation Phase? What type of challenges are faced by teachers? To what extent are educators trained to teach reading in the Foundation Phase? Does the lack of resources affect the performance of learners? To what extent does the use of a second language affect the performance of Foundation Phase learners? Do teachers receive enough support from the Department of Education to teach reading? The study is a multiple-case study and data were collected through individual interviews and focus group interviews (sixteen teachers were interviewed). Content analysis guided the data analysis through themes derived from the subsidiary questions. Data reporting took the form of thick description and verbatim quotations in line with the qualitative approach of the study. A pilot study was conducted in two Junior Secondary Schools for the purpose of validity and reliability. ii The study`s findings revealed that: Different reading strategies were used by teachers in the Foundation Phase, teachers faced many challenges in applying reading strategies such as teacher training in the teaching of reading. This suggests that intervention is needed by the Department of Education such as providing relevant resources which are essential in order to address the problem of reading. Improvisation by teachers to improve reading material, insufficient allocation of time, multilingualism, teacher competence, lack of motivation and parental involvement in relation to learner performance in reading all need attention in order to solve problems. Furthermore, lack of resources hinders the reading ability of learners. The use of home language as a medium of instruction in teaching reading is highlighted. There is insufficient support by the Department of Education for Foundation Phase teachers to teach reading. Based on the study findings, the researcher has recommended that teachers should be urged to use reading strategies in a way that benefits learners. The use of reading strategies, therefore, needs more attention. Libraries should be built in these schools to enable learners to develop a culture of reading. Education development officers, subject advisors, lead teachers and parents should work together to improve the reading ability of Foundation Phase learners.
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Date Issued: 2015

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