Food and Nihilism :a Nietzschean and Deleuzian exploration of contemporary dominant food discourses
- Authors: Du Plessis, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Nihilism (Philosophy) -- History , Food culture -- Religious Aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46870 , vital:39718
- Description: This study is based on the proposition that the respective philosophies of Nietzsche and Deleuze, including his collaborative work with Guattari, provide a way to rethink the underlying structures that inform ways of thinking about food and eating. In Nietzschean and Deleuzian terms, many of the dominant ways that humans currently think about food and eating are fraught with multiple anxieties that lead to passivity and despair, as well as obsessive concerns and feelings of guilt. This can be understood as various ways to say No to life and to difference‘. For the sake of overcoming (or at least addressing) such forms of eating-related nihilism, or life-denying attitudes, I argue that there is an urgent need for philosophical research that deals critically with the underlying food values‘ that lead to contemporary nihilistic ways of thinking about food. Further, I argue that critiquing contemporary dominant nihilistic food discourses and values from a Deleuzian and Nietzschean perspective, as well as exploring what produces nihilism, opens up Avenues/possibilities for shifts in approaching the problem of food and eating in a more life-affirming way. Specifically, Nietzsche‘s work on active and reactive forces, coupled with Deleuze and Guattari‘s account of concepts, allows for an exploration of what a starting point for overcoming nihilism might look like. In this case I argue that in order to think in a new way about the different aspects of eating, a more life-affirming and active concept of a body‘ should be produced.
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- Date Issued: 2020
A "lean-led-evaluation" of infrastructure development improvement programme in South Africa
- Authors: Monyane, Thabiso Godfrey , Emuze, Fidelis
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction industry -- Accounting , Construction industry -- South Africa Project management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44929 , vital:38189
- Description: A doctoral study was embarked upon with the intentions of addressing cost management problems encountered on Infrastructure Delivery Projects in South Africa. Given that poor cost performance constitute hindrance to the realization of project goals, it is imperative to eliminate it from project delivery. The prevalence of cost overrun in public sector projects is a call to all stakeholders to address cost management issues in the construction industry. The predominance of cost overruns in public sector construction projects in South Africa has been observed. With the decline of the current economic conditions in South Africa, project performance is a great concern that needs attention. In addition, ineffective initiatives to curb the abuse of the procurement processes are directly affecting the outcomes of construction projects, and if these status quo remains, the sector will continue to have a bad image and continued waste of taxpayers’ money will not cease until the public sector remove non-value adding activities in their operations. Study adopted a mixed methods designed that collected both textual and statistical data. Semistructured interviews were undertaken to determine the outcomes of current project management practices in South Africa. In terms of performance of projects, the status quo paints a disconsolate picture. Findings reveal protracted processes, and the use of unqualified and inexperienced contribute to poor performance of public sector projects. Poor performance continues to dominate the construction sector, especially in the public sector. Interviews data were contrasted with evidence from project-related documents. Based on the data, the study produces a vignette of existing cost management frameworks applied to such projects. Encompassing various stages of the project delivery lifecycle, this vignette will enable an identification of the challenges afflicting cost management on projects. Accordingly, this study identified Lean opportunities from existing cost management practices. Such opportunities will enable identification of effective cost management during project delivery. There appears a need for collaborative cost management practices. Lean tools mentioned for improvement include the 5Whys, the big room, target value design, and the integration of design and construction. A collaborative cost management framework was developed through relevant theories to improve the cost management process of public sector projects.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Geomorphological connectivity and sensitivity examined in a recently degraded gravel-bed stream: implications for river-floodplain rehabilitation
- Authors: Powell, Rebecca
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/53722 , vital:26313
- Description: The study of river complexity and sensitivity to future human land-use activities and climate change is a fast growing field within the discipline of fluvial geomorphology. Associated with this is a need to improve river rehabilitation and catchment management approach, design and effectiveness. This study aimed to investigate drivers of the recent geomorphological sensitivity of the Baviaanskloof River-floodplain, an upland system in South Africa, by integrating the concepts of geomorphological connectivity and Panarchy. The understanding generated was used to evaluate the approach of the State agency, Working for Wetlands (WfWet), to river-floodplain rehabilitation in the catchment.The concepts of geomorphological connectivity and Panarchy provide useful frameworks for understanding interactions between geomorphological processes and structure across scales of space and time. Geomorphological connectivity explains the degree to which water and sediment is linked in a river landscape, determined by the distribution of erosional and depositional landforms (Brierley et al. 2006; Fryirs et al. 2007a; Fryirs et al. 2007b). Panarchy attempts to explain lagged response to disturbances, non-linear interactions, and sudden shifts in system state, and has been applied largely to ecological systems. Panarchy theory, when combined with the concept of geomorphological connectivity, provides a guiding framework for understanding river complexity in greater depth. The first results chapter of this study investigated river long-term and recent geomorphological history, towards understanding the nature and timing of river geomorphological cycling between erosion and deposition. Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating of alluvial fan and floodplain sedimentary units was conducted, for analysis of river-floodplain long-term history (100s to 1 000s of years). Interviews with 11 local landowners, combined with analysis of historic aerial imagery and river-floodplain topographic surveys, provided a means of describing recent (last few decades) geomorphological dynamics. The results indicated that the Baviaanskloof is naturally a cut- and-fill landscape over scales of several hundred to thousands of years, characterized by the alternation between phases of high fluvial energy and alluvial fan expansion, and low energy conditions associated with floodplain accretion. Recent and widespread river-floodplain degradation was compressed into a short period of approximately 30 years, suggesting that one or more drivers have pushed the system beyond a threshold, resulting in increased water and sediment connectivity. The second results chapter investigated the role of human land-use activities and flooding frequency and magnitude, as drivers of recent river-floodplain degradation. Human impacts were investigated by describing land-use activities for the preceding 80 years, and relating these activities to changes in river-floodplain form and behavior. Temporal trends in flood events of different frequency and magnitude were investigated by analyzing rainfall data, integrated with landowner reports of flood-inducing rainfall magnitudes. The findings indicated that human land-use activities have been an important driver of recent river- floodplain degradation, through the enhancement of water and sediment connectivity across spatial scales of the catchment. Episodic and high magnitude floods synergized with human driven increased connectivity, precipitating stream power and geomorphological threshold breaches, resulting in a shift in river behaviour. The third results chapter investigated the influence of tributary-junction streams and fans on the geomorphological form, behavior and sensitivity of the Baviaanskloof River. Local- scale topographic impacts of tributary fans and streams were described using topographic surveys and geomorphological mapping techniques. Tributary streams form a major control on the behaviour of the river, by influencing the degree of coarse sediment connectivity with the main channel. Although tributary fans buffer the river from disturbances occurring in the wider catchment, they initiate topographic variations along the floodplain, influencing local-scale patterns of deposition and erosion along the river. The main river responds to water and sediment inputs from tributary junction streams by locally adjusting longitudinal slope, maintaining an overall constant slope of 0.0066 m/m. The response of the Baviaanskloof River to tributary junction fans and streams is however variable, and is fashioned by complex interactions between geomorphological and anthropogenic factors. The final two chapters of the thesis evaluate the findings of the study within the context of river-floodplain rehabilitation approaches in South Africa, and within the theoretical, philosophical and methodological context of the research. The first of these two chapters evaluates the approach of the WfWet programme to river-floodplain rehabilitation in the Baviaanskloof. The chapter indicates that the present practice of WfWet is to reinstate a pre-degradation state, which is not suited to the Baviaanskloof River-floodplain, since the river-floodplain has passed a geomorphological threshold, resulting in a new set of interacting processes and landforms. The author presents a conceptual model illustrating the existence of geomorphological adaptive cycles interacting across spatial and temporal scales, thereby attempting to explain a river Panarchy specific to the Baviaanskloof. From this conceptual model, a hierarchical rehabilitation framework, targeting geomorphological processes and structure situated at different spatial and temporal scales of the landscape is suggested. The final chapter discusses the implications of integrating the concepts of geomorphological connectivity and river Panarchy theory in studies of river complexity and sensitivity to geomorphological change. The author suggests that there is scope for further investigation of the application of the two concepts within the discipline of fluvial geomorphology, particularly with regard to developing quantitative approaches to measuring and describing connectivity and Panarchy.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Reconfiguring international pharmaceutical patent protection principles to combat linkage evergreening :|b'de-linking the evergreen' and proposing a solution for developing countries
- Authors: Omino, Akinyi Melissa Anne
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Patent medicines--Developing countries Drugs--Developing countries Patent laws and legislation--Developing countries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , Law
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11663 , vital:39094
- Description: Recent remarks made by the current South African Minister of Health describing as a plot to ‘genocide’ a leaked document allegedly authored by a group of multinational pharmaceutical companies in response to the country’s Draft IP Policy is evidence of the importance of both pharmaceutical patents and the national intellectual property policies underpinning their legislative landscape. The proliferation of linkage evergreening provisions through multilateral agreements has also recently become a trend globally. Evergreening has been described as the various ways in which pharmaceutical patent owners use the law and related regulatory processes to extend the patent term of their high profit-making pharmaceuticals. The evergreening phenomenon has also been referred to as patent evergreening, which involves the practice of obtaining multiple patents that cover different aspects of the same product. Linkage evergreening however specifically refers to the phenomenon where generics pharmaceutical manufacturers cannot receive regulatory approval or marketing authorization for developing a pharmaceutical product that is still protected by a patent. The evergreening phenomenon is achieved through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which require participating nations to incorporate linkage and other intellectual property provisions in their national patent systems in exchange for preferential trade terms. These agreements generally provide for stronger provisions than the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and are thus referred to as “TRIPS Plus". Not surprisingly, these “TRIPS Plus” FTAs are negotiated outside the purview of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This thesis examines the role, legality and impact of bilateral free trade agreements which include wide ranging provisions that allow the proliferation of linkage evergreening and thereby frustrate and delay generic medicines’ market entry, prolong and expand patent protections and constrain the exercise of TRIPS flexibilities intended to support access and promote public health. The free trade agreements discussed include the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the US - Australia Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) and the US - Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUSFTA). This study also examines the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in the context of access to medicines and linkage evergreening in developing countries and LDCs in Africa, with a focus on the recently concluded EU – SADC EPA and the EU-EAC EPA still under negotiation. Relevant legislation, policy documents and case law from South Africa, India, the EAC and ARIPO are also explored in this study to gauge their potential to effectively address the challenges of access to medicines and evergreening. This thesis offers a solution to evergreening through the recommendation of guidelines which show law and policy makers how to curtail linkage evergreening. More specifically, it is hoped that the said guidelines as well as the discussion and analyses presented in this thesis will assist in the development of national and regional intellectual property policies, amendment of national and regional legislative instruments as well as the negotiation of regional trade agreements aimed at securing the interests of LDCs and developing countries. It is further hoped that the recommendations made will contribute to ongoing efforts to improve access to affordable medicines in the developing world.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Self-reflection practices of school-management teams in the Capricorn District : towards a reflective management strategy for South African schools
- Authors: Malatji, Khashane Stephen
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: School management teams -- South Africa Educational leadership -- South Africa School management and organization -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/3021 , vital:28238
- Description: The study investigated the self-reflection practices of School Management Teams (SMTs) in the Capricorn District. The purpose of the study was to establish self-reflective practices employed by SMT in performing their management functions, and to suggest a reflective model for the enhancement of SMT performance. The study followed the qualitative approach with a case-study research design. The population consisted of SMTs from primary, secondary and special schools. Purposive sampling was utilised to select 8 Head of Departments from less experienced to more experienced in management positions, while 9 principal and 9 deputy principals were randomly selected. Literature reviewed focused on the aims of self-reflection; the functions of SMT; the strengths and weaknesses of self-reflection; self-reflective practices and enhanced performance; models of school management; challenges in school management; and previous studies on SMT and school management. Henderson’s Ethical Model of Enquiry on reflective practice was used. The theory discusses what characterises reflective practitioners. Data was collected from quest views, individual interviews and focus group interviews. The interpretation and understanding were organised in the form of descriptive accounts. Tape-recorded interviews and data from quest views were transcribed verbatim. After transcribing data a sense of the whole was obtained by reading carefully with understanding, and then summarizing the salient aspects. Themes were identified from the responses and discussed. The study found that SMT members were not fully aware of all of their daily functions and poor reflective practices made it difficult for them to effectively fulfil their management functions. Furthermore, the study revealed that SMT members experienced challenges, such as dealing with unprofessional teachers, poor parental involvement, poor communication, poor infrastructure and lack of resources amd these impacted negatively on their performance. The study provided insights into the practice of self-reflection and how SMT members could become reflective practitioners. A new framework was suggested that SMTs should continuously and critically reflect on their management practices and decisions. The study recommends that SMT be trained and oriented about management functions prior to their appointment in the positions. The study further recommends that SMTs consider self-reflection as part of their daily activities.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Aspects of the ecology of leopards (Panthera Pardus) in the Little Karoo, South Africa
- Authors: Mann, Gareth
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Leopard -- South Africa -- Little Karoo Leopard -- Monitoring -- South Africa -- Little Karoo Leopard -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Little Karoo Wildlife monitoring -- South Africa Wildlife conservation -- South Africa Animal populations -- South Africa -- Little Karoo Leopard -- Conservation -- South Africa -- Little Karoo
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5855 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012241
- Description: Leopards (Panthera pardus) are the most common large predators, free roaming outside of protected areas across most of South Africa. Leopard persistence is attributed to their tolerance of rugged terrain that is subject to less development pressure, as well as their cryptic behaviour. Nevertheless, existing leopard populations are threatened indirectly by ongoing transformation of natural habitat and directly through hunting and conflict with livestock farmers. Together these threats may further isolate leopards to fragmented areas of core natural habitat. I studied leopard habitat preferences, population density, diet and the attitudes of landowners towards leopards in the Little Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa, an area of mixed land-use that contains elements of three overlapping global biodiversity hotspots. Data were gathered between 2010 and 2012 using camera traps set up at 141 sites over an area of ~3100km², GPS tracking collars fitted to three male leopards, scat samples (n=76), interviews with landowners (n=53) analysed in combination with geographical information system (GIS) layers. My results reveal that leopards preferred rugged, mountainous terrain of intermediate elevation, avoiding low-lying, open areas where human disturbance was generally greater. Despite relatively un-fragmented habitat within my study area, the leopard population density (0.75 leopards/100km²) was one of the lowest yet recorded in South Africa. This may reflect low prey densities in mountain refuges in addition to historical human persecution in the area. Currently local landowners are more tolerant of leopards than other wildlife species with incidents of conflict involving leopards being rare relative to black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas), baboons (Papio hamadryas), caracals (Caracal caracal) and porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis). Although current levels of conflict between leopards and stock farmers are low, leopards do depredate livestock, which constitute 10-15% of their diet. Improved livestock husbandry measures and co-operation between conservation authorities and farmers are necessary to mitigate such conflict and balance economic security with biodiversity conservation in the region. Leopards are the only remaining top predators throughout much of the Little Karoo and the Western Cape and as such are predicted to play a critical role in ecosystem structure and the survival of other species. Current high levels of connectivity between areas of suitable leopard habitat bode well for the conservation status of leopards within this region and future conservation efforts need to ensure that narrow corridors linking such habitat are preserved. The potential for leopards to serve as both an umbrella and a flagship species for biodiversity conservation suggests that long term monitoring of this population would be a conservation priority for the Little Karoo.
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- Date Issued: 2014
"Museum spaces in post-apartheid South Africa": the Durban Art Gallery as a case study
- Authors: Brown, Carol
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Durban Art Gallery -- History Museums -- South Africa -- Durban Art museums -- South Africa -- Durban Art -- South Africa -- Durban -- Exhibitions Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Exhibitions Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Exhibitions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006231
- Description: This dissertation examines the history of the Durban Art Gallery from its founding in 1892 until 2004, a decade after the First Democratic Election. While the emphasis is on significant changes that were introduced in the post-1994 period, the earlier section of the study locates these initiatives within a broad historical framework. The collecting policies of the museum as well as its exhibitions and programmes are considered in the light of the institution 's changing social and political context as well as shifting imperatives within a local, regional and national art world. The Durban Art Gallery was established in order to promote a European, and particularly British, culture, and the acquisition and appreciation of art was considered an important element in the formation of a stable society. By providing a broad overview of the early years of the gallery, I identify reasons for the choice of acquisitions and explore the impact and reception of a selection of exhibitions. I investigate changes during the 1960s and 1970s through an examination of the Art South Africa Today exhibitions: in addition to opening up institutional spaces to a racially mixed community, these exhibitions marked the beginning of an imperative to show protest art. I argue that, during the political climate of the 1980s, there was a tension in the cultural arena between, on the one hand, a motivation to retain a Western ideal of 'high art' and, on the other, a drive to accommodate the new forms of people's art and to challenge the values and ideological standpoints that had been instrumental in shaping collecting and exhibiting policies in the South African art arena. I explore this tension through a discussion of the Cape Town Triennial exhibitions, organised jointly by all the official museums, which ran alongside more inclusive and independently curated exhibitions, such as Tributaries, which were shown mainly outside the country. The post-1994 period marked an opening up of spaces, both literally and conceptually. This openness was manifest in the revised strategies that were introduced to show the Durban Art Gallery 's permanent collection as well as in two key public projects that were started - Red Eye @rt and the AIDS 2000 ribbon. Through an examination of these strategies and initiatives, I argue that the central role of the Durban Art Gallery has shifted from being a repository to providing an interactive public space.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Synthetic and spectroscopic studies of 1,4-benzodiazepine analogues
- Authors: Mphahlele, Malose Jack
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Benzodiazepines Tranquilizing drugs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4384 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005049
- Description: In this project, an extensive range of benzodiazepine analogues have been synthesised via Schmidt reaction of specially prepared flavanone, 4-quinolone and l-thioflavanone precursors; nitrogen insertion being effected by use of trimethylsilyl azide in trifluoroacetic acid. In some cases, several of the benzodiazepine analogues have also been prepared by alternative cyclisation routes. A detailed kinetic-mechanistic study of the Schmidt reaction of flavanones has been carried out using 'H NMR spectroscopy to explain the observed regiochemistry of nitrogen insertion. The reaction rates, for the formation of both amide and tetrazolo derivatives have been found to be influenced by the electronic effects of the A- and B-ring substituents. A series of benzodiazepine analogues have been shown to undergo regioselective A-ring chlorination with t-butylhypochlorite; the products being characterised by 'H NMR, IR and mass spectroscopy. The mass spectrometric fragmentation patterns of series of 2-aryl-4-quinolones, and 2-aryl-l ,4-benzodiazepinones and their tetrazolo[l ,5-dl analogues have been elucidated using a combination of low-resolution, high-resolution and metastable-peak analyses. The binding affinities of various benzodiazepine analogues for rat brain benzodiazepine receptors have been evaluated using a radioreceptor assay technique. Structure-activity relationships were investigated to establish the effects of various A-, B- and Coring substituents on binding affinity. The conformational preferences of selected systems have been studied using a combination of multi-pulse 'H NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and computer modelling techniques with a view to establishing the influence of conformation on binding affinity.
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- Date Issued: 1994