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A case study of the readability of two grade 4 natural sciences textbooks currently used in South African schools

  • Authors: Sibanda, Lucy
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- Textbooks Reading comprehension -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- South Africa English language -- Textbooks for foreign speakers English language -- Study and teaching (Primary) -- Foreign speakers Education, Primary -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1892 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006083
  • Description: This thesis examines the readability of two grade 4 Natural Sciences textbooks currently used in South African schools. Being important sources of classroom input, particularly in grade 4 where learners are reading to learn, textbooks should be readable. That the Natural Sciences subject is only introduced in grade 4 makes the assessment of Natural Sciences textbooks at this level significant. The goal of this research therefore, is to assess the readability of two grade 4 Natural Sciences textbooks and their understandability by learners who speak English as an additional language. The goal of assessing the Natural Sciences textbooks is achieved by the use of cloze and traditional comprehension tests, classic readability formulae, textual analysis and teacher interviews. Cloze and traditional comprehension tests are used to test learners’ understanding of the textbooks and classic readability formulae are meant to assess the grade levels of the textbooks. The tests gauge learner understandability while readability formulae establish text readability. Textual analysis allows the assessment of text readability on the basis of more factors than those accommodated by readability formulae. The textual analysis also helps to identify the readability factors supporting or impeding readability. Teacher interviews are conducted to better understand the teachers’ perceptions on the readability of the Natural Sciences textbooks. The major findings of the study are that the two Natural Sciences textbooks used in the study are generally above the reading level of the intended readers, grade 4 learners and that the participating learners do not understand these textbooks. The challenges with the readability of the textbooks stem mainly from the vocabulary and concepts used in the textbooks which are not well explained.
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A case study of the research careers of women academics: constraints and enablements

  • Authors: Obers, Nöelle Marie Thérèse
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Career success , Research , Women college teachers , Women in higher education , Sex discrimination in higher education
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1313 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001575
  • Description: The purpose of this research is to investigate constraints that women academics experience in their research careers and how enablements, particularly in the form of mentoring relationships and support structures, can impact on their research career development in the context of the new knowledge economy of Higher Education. The research was a case study of one South African Institution and used a mixed method approach. Social realism underpinned the research. Data was collected and analysed within the spheres of structure, culture and agency, using critical discourse analysis, interpretation and abstraction strategies. I investigated how women researchers understand and experience career success and what they perceive and experience as enablements and constraints to their research careers. Institutional support structures and cultures were examined with a focus on the role of the Head of Department. I explored mentoring and questioned whether the agency of women academics is empowered by mentoring and supportive structures to overcome constraints to their research productivity and the development of their careers. Gender-based issues of inequity, low self-esteem and accrual of social capital appear to be the underlying factors affecting how women perform in the research arena and advance within the institution. It was found that mentoring is a generative mechanism that has a favourable impact on women academics as it enables them to overcome obstacles to research productivity and career advancement.
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A central enrichment-based comparison of two alternative methods of generating transcription factor binding motifs from protein binding microarray data

  • Authors: Mahaye, Ntombikayise
  • Date: 2013 , 2013-03-13
  • Subjects: Transcription factors , Bioinformatics , Protein binding , Protein microarrays , Cell lines
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:3890 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003049 , Transcription factors , Bioinformatics , Protein binding , Protein microarrays , Cell lines
  • Description: Characterising transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) is an important problem in bioinformatics, since predicting binding sites has many applications such as predicting gene regulation. ChIP-seq is a powerful in vivo method for generating genome-wide putative binding regions for transcription factors (TFs). CentriMo is an algorithm that measures central enrichment of a motif and has previously been used as motif enrichment analysis (MEA) tool. CentriMo uses the fact that ChIP-seq peak calling methods are likely to be biased towards the centre of the putative binding region, at least in cases where there is direct binding. CentriMo calculates a binomial p-value representing central enrichment, based on the central bias of the binding site with the highest likelihood ratio. In cases where binding is indirect or involves cofactors, a more complex distribution of preferred binding sites may occur but, in many cases, a low CentriMo p-value and low width of maximum enrichment (about 100bp) are strong evidence that the motif in question is the true binding motif. Several other MEA tools have been developed, but they do not consider motif central enrichment. The study investigates the claim made by Zhao and Stormo (2011) that they have identified a simpler method than that used to derive the UniPROBE motif database for creating motifs from protein binding microarray (PBM) data, which they call BEEML-PBM (Binding Energy Estimation by Maximum Likelihood-PBM). To accomplish this, CentriMo is employed on 13 motifs from both motif databases. The results indicate that there is no conclusive difference in the quality of motifs from the original PBM and BEEML-PBM approaches. CentriMo provides an understanding of the mechanisms by which TFs bind to DNA. Out of 13 TFs for which ChIP-seq data is used, BEEML-PBM reports five better motifs and twice it has not had any central enrichment when the best PBM motif does. PBM approach finds seven motifs with better central enrichment. On the other hand, across all variations, the number of examples where PBM is better is not high enough to conclude that it is overall the better approach. Some TFs bind directly to DNA, some indirect or in combination with other TFs. Some of the predicted mechanisms are supported by literature evidence. This study further revealed that the binding specificity of a TF is different in different cell types and development stages. A TF is up-regulated in a cell line where it performs its biological function. The discovery of cell line differences, which has not been done before in any CentriMo study, is interesting and provides reasons to study this further.
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A Comparative study of two copper(II) based metal-organic frameworks : Cu2¼(OH)½B4C•8H2O and Cu2Na(OH)B4C•7H2O

  • Authors: Coombes, Matthew
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Copper , Organometallic compounds , Supramolecular organometallic chemistry
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:4533 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016245
  • Description: This study focussed on two copper(II)-containing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs): Cu2Na(OH)B4C•7H2O and Cu2¼(OH)½B4C•8H2O (B4C = 1,2,4,5- benzenetetracarboxylate). They are both covalent, three-dimensional metalorganic framework polymers containing voids filled with water molecules. Both were characterised by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry (both in situ and regular), thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These two MOFs are essentially identical, with the only difference being the substitution of sodium by copper at every 4th site (disordered throughout the crystal). The guest inclusion properties of both MOFs were studied and compared. Although both structures collapse on dehydration, it was observed that Cu2Na(OH)B4C•7H2O is able to take up signifcant amounts of water, methanol and ethanol. All these processes are fully reversible. Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics studies suggest that it is a strong interaction between the oxygen atoms on these molecules with the sodium cation of the MOF that is responsible for this signifcant uptake. In contrast, Cu2¼ (OH)½ B4C•8H2O, the MOF without a sodium cation, did not demonstrate any methanol or ethanol uptake, but was able to take up some water. The uptake of water, however, is not a fully reversible process. The absence of sodium likely results in insuffcient energy to draw methanol and ethanol into the framework, while a subtle rotation of a carboxylate group on dehydration decreases the ability of the framework to form hydrogen bonds, thus reducing the ability to take up water. A series of hydrothermal syntheses were performed in order to develop a method of synthesis superior to the current gel-based synthesis that requires several months and has poor yields. The hydrothermal products were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. It was shown that the MOF Cu2Na(OH)B4C•7H2O may be synthesised in almost 100% yield by using a temperature of 120°C over a period of 72 hours. It was not possible to synthesise Cu2¼ (OH)½ B4C•8H2O in a 100% yield - it was only obtained as a minor product.
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A cooperative benefits framework in South Africa's land redistribution process: the case of sugarcane farmland transfers

  • Authors: Mbatha, Cyril N , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142922 , vital:38176 , DOI: 10.1080/03031853.2012.741207
  • Description: A good indicator of successful land redistribution cases has to be the continuation of viable productivity rates in their post-transfer periods. Continued productivity benefits all the stakeholders that are involved in the process. Unfortunately, negative productivity levels have been reported in numerous South African land redistribution transfers in recent years. A game theoretic perspective is adopted to illustrate and argue that cooperation among key stakeholders, which could be enforced through long-term contracts between land buyers, sellers and new owners, may lead to maintenance and higher productivity levels and other benefits within the country's land redistribution process.
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A critical analysis of online Sesotho ICT terminology

  • Authors: Nteso, Thato Natasha
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Information technology -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Sotho language -- Terms and phrases Sotho language -- Orthography and spelling
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3556 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001654
  • Description: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has taken over every aspect of our daily lives, from commerce to leisure and even culture. Today, mobile phones, desktop computers, hand-held devices, emails and the use of the internet have become a central part of our culture and society. ICT has made us a global society, where people can interact and communicate efficiently. In order for South Africa to be competitive in the global economy, it will need to develop a workforce with appropriate Information Technology skills. Of necessity, these skills will extend to using a computers and developing appropriate software and technical support skills (DOE, 2008). This thesis represents a critical analytical study in that it explores the online Sesotho Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It aims at analysing terminology development in this area. The study aims to determine how Sesotho and ICT correlate and how the linguistic aspect plays a role in online ICT terminology. The focus is not on creating new terms but to analyze the already existing ICT terms available, with regards to linguistic rules and principles and to critique if they are of quality. Furthermore, the thesis explores whether there are other strategies that can be used in the development of this terminology. It also seeks to determine if the terms are easily accessible to students and if they are used at all. Terms will be sourced from the Department of Arts and Culture ICT term list, and the focus will be on extracting only terms that have to do with computer literacy. Other online sources that list Sesotho equivalents will also be considered. The study also assesses the quality of the terms created by the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) together with the Department of Communications (DOC) for a multilingual ICT terminology list. Furthermore, the thesis explores whether the Sesotho equivalents adhere to the linguistic rules and principles of the language. The other question asked is whether the terms are used by the intended users and if they are easily accessible to the speakers of the language. This entire aspect of the thesis speaks to the notion of the intellectualization of African languages and in this case Sesotho in particular. Not only does the thesis engage with computer literacy terminology, it also presents a detailed literature review of studies and work that has been done in this field. The thesis engagement is also done by linking the backdrop of the history of Sesotho and the Basotho peoples.
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A critical analysis of sustainable human settlement in housing: the case of Hlalani, South Africa

  • Authors: Nkambule, Sipho Jonathan
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
  • Identifier: vital:3334 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003740 , Human settlements -- South Africa , Black people -- Housing -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
  • Description: As a result of apartheid’s history, the current South African government was initially faced with two major challenges in the development of sustainable human settlement in urban areas: delivering the quantity of houses needed to reduce the massive housing backlog (notably in black townships) and overcoming the problem of racially-based spatial separation inherited from the apartheid era. To rectify the legacies of apartheid, the state has sought to pursue a massive housing programme in urban areas for poor urban blacks. In doing so, though, it has worked within the confines of the racially-segregated South African city and has adopted a macro-economic policy with a pronounced neo-liberal thrust. This thesis examines the South African state’s housing programme with reference to questions about social sustainability and specifically sustainable human settlements. It does so by highlighting social capital and the different forms it takes, notably bonding, binding and linking capitals. This is pursued through a case study of a small area of a black township in Grahamstown called Hlalani. The case focuses on the lived experiences of Hlalani residents and their intra-household and inter-household relations as well as their linkages with local state structures. It is concluded that social capital is weak and incipient in Hlalani and that Hlalani could not, by any definition or measurement of the term, be labeled as a sustainable human settlement.
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A critical analysis of the grammar of isiXhosa as used in the Revised Union version of the Bible

  • Authors: Oosthuysen, Jacobus Christiaan
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Bible -- Xhosa -- Revised Union -- 1942 Xhosa language -- Grammar -- Research Xhosa language -- Texts
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:3555 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001625
  • Description: This study provides a description and critical analysis of the grammatical structure of isiXhosa as used in the Revised Union Version of the Bible, published in 1942 and republished in 1975. This translation records what was regarded as proper isiXhosa at the beginning of the 20th century, reflecting the consensus inter alia of prominent isiXhosa writers, such as W.B. Rubusana, J.H. Soga, C. Koti, Y. Mbali and D. D. T. Jabavu, who served on the committee that produced the revision. In this study isiXhosa is described in its own right, without approaching it with preconceived ideas derived from other languages. That is to say this is a phenomenological analysis describing the grammatical structures of isiXhosa as they present themselves to the analyst. It is comprehensive, with no structure being overlooked or being described in such a manner that it complicates an understanding of other structures. In the first chapter the context of the research and a brief outline of the historical growth in understanding the structure of isiXhosa are set out and the goals and the method followed in this study are described. In the following chapters the findings of this study are presented. The initial focus is on isiXhosa phonology and the orthography used to put it to writing. Then isiXhosa morphology and syntax is set out. Initially the substantives, i.e. the nouns and pronouns in their distinctive classes and forms, and how they are qualified, receive attention. Then the predicates are explored, i.e. the verbs and copulatives, as linked to the substantives with concords, and reflecting various moods, tenses, actualities and aspects. Finally attention is given to ideophones and interjections and words that can be grouped together as adverbs, conjunctions, avoidance words and numerals. In the concluding chapter consideration is given to the question of whether this study has in fact achieved the aim of setting out a description of the structure of isiXhosa based solely on the language itself, free of preconceived ideas, and attention is drawn to insights gained in respect of the true nature of the isiXhosa grammatical structures, such as, for example, the variable prefix qualificative nouns, traditionally referred to as adjectives. This study is therefore a revisionist study in the sense that it reinvents isiXhosa as a language in its own right, free from Western influenced perspectives.
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A critical and intercultural analysis of selected isiXhosa operas in the East Cape Opera Company's repertory

  • Authors: Kunju, Hleze Welsh
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: East Cape Opera Company Operas -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Performing arts -- Research -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Multiculturalism -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Apartheid -- Research -- South Africa Apartheid and art -- Research -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3557 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001861
  • Description: The East Cape Opera Company was founded by Gwyneth Lloyd in 1995 and has performed in various Eastern Cape venues and festivals as well as conducting a tour of the Netherlands. The Company has performed well known operas and operettas such as Mozart's The Magic Flute, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado as well as their own original isiXhosa operas such as Temba and Seliba, The Moon Prince - Inkosana Yenyanga and The Clay Flute. This thesis is situated within the context of apartheid and post-apartheid, and an emerging post-1994 South African’s operatic culture that embraces multiculturalism. The aim of this research is to explore and raise awareness regarding intercultural communication in relation to isiXhosa operas and examine the linguistic and dramatic characteristics of the construction of these operas. This involves an analysis of the integration of African cultural practices (dramatic and musical) within an essentially western art form. The thesis makes use of intercultural and literary theory as a point of departure to analyse not only the literary qualities of the isiXhosa operas performed by the East Cape Opera Company, but it also seeks to show how these operas reflect an emerging intercultural reality within the South African context. The thesis explores the mixing of genres, including African genres such as the folktale and oral poetry as part of Opera, which has previously been seen as a Western domain. It is argued that this mixing of genres and languages allows for the success of African Opera
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A critical discourse analysis of representations of the Niger Delta conflict in four prominent Western anglophone newspapers

  • Authors: Mushwana, Tinyiko
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Newspapers -- Political aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Newspapers -- Economic aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Newspapers -- Social aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Nigeria , Mass media -- Economic aspects -- Nigeria , Mass media -- Social aspects -- Nigeria , Insurgency -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Petroleum industry and trade -- Political aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Public opinion -- Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
  • Identifier: vital:2872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007745 , Newspapers -- Political aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Newspapers -- Economic aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Newspapers -- Social aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Nigeria , Mass media -- Economic aspects -- Nigeria , Mass media -- Social aspects -- Nigeria , Insurgency -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Petroleum industry and trade -- Political aspects -- Nigeria -- Niger River Delta , Public opinion -- Africa
  • Description: This thesis explores the manner in which the conflict in the oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria is represented in western Anglophone media. Large oil reserves in the Niger Delta have contributed millions of dollars towards the growth of Nigeria's export economy. Despite this, the Niger Delta is the least developed region in the country and is characterised by high rates of inequality. Residents of the Niger Delta have been outraged by the lack of action on the part of the Nigerian government and multinational oil corporations. Their discontent over the inequalities in the region has resulted in the proliferation of armed groups and militants who often use violent and criminal tactics to communicate their disgruntlement. This thesis closely examines the representations of the violent insurgency in the Niger Delta by conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis of 145 news texts selected from four western Anglophone newspapers from 2007 to 2011. The depiction of the conflict as it appears in the four newspapers is discussed in relation to an overview of scholarly literature which explores the portrayal of Africa not only in western media, but also in other forms of western scholarship and writing. The research undertaken in this study reveals that to a significant extent representations of the Niger Delta conflict echo and reflect some of the stereotypical and age-old negative imagery that informs meanings constructed about the African continent. However, the analysis of the news texts also shows that there are certainly efforts amongst some newspapers to move beyond simplistic representations of the conflict. The disadvantage however, is that these notable attempts tend to be marred by the use of pejorative language which typically invokes negative images associated with Africa. This study argues that the implications of these representations are highly significant as these representations not only affect the way in which the conflict is understood, but also the manner in which the international community responds to it.
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A critical realist exploration of the emergence, development, management and sustainability of a Christian private institution of higher education in Malawi

  • Authors: Kadyakapita, Mozecie Spector John
  • Date: 2013 , 2013-03-24
  • Subjects: Christian universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Private universities and colleges -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Education, Higher -- Administration -- Research -- Malawi Higher education and state -- Research -- Malawi Universities and colleges -- Malawi -- History Educational planning -- Malawi
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001818
  • Description: This study was prompted by an interest in exploring ways in which the development of private higher education in Malawi could be more sustainable. It examines the challenges that private institutions of higher education face in different contexts and the underlying causes of these challenges. The aim of the study was to explore the emergence of private higher education (PHE) in Malawi, its management, development, the challenges it faces and the generative mechanisms of these challenges. The research is a case study of one of the earliest private institutions of higher education in Malawi. The institution is owned and operated by a Christian church organisation that has been operating a network of private primary and secondary schools and health centres since its establishment in Malawi in the early 1890s. Critical realism is used as an underlabourer for its stance on ontological, epistemological and ethical assumptions of reality and its views on agency and structure. Two theoretical frameworks - complexity theory and transformational leadership theories - are used as lenses to help make sense of the nature of social organisations and also as heuristic devices for organising and making sense of data. Data were collected using qualitative interviews, archival document content analysis and observation. Twenty participants were purposefully selected for interviews. The participants comprised a senior officer at the MoEST headquarters, proprietors, members of the top management team of the institution, administrative assistants, heads of academic and nonacademic departments, teachers and non-teaching staff and students. Abstracted data were analysed using inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference. The study established that the emergence of private higher education in Malawi was generated by a number of mechanisms. These include the need to survive the threat to socioeconomic development posed by global trends in scientific and technological issues that heavily rely on access to the knowledge economy; the need to respond to demand for equity and access to higher education; the need to carry out the mission of the Christian church; government’s failure to expand and widen access to higher education; and the agential need to survive economic demands. The research findings indicate that a critical challenge that the emergence of private higher education faced was the lack of adequate and efficient structures and systems in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to expeditiously process applications to establish and accredit, monitor and control the development of private higher education institutions. It was also found that the challenges that the private higher education faces include high level of authoritarian governance and management practices, weak institutional management and control systems and structure, secularisation, lack of adequate funds to meet operation and capital development costs, facilities and resources to support teaching – learning functions, learner support facilities and services and a critical shortage of appropriately qualified administrative and academic personnel. The underlying causes of the challenges include the perceived threat to personal power and survival; fear of apostasy and secularisation; cultural values, adverse socioeconomic conditions; lack of diverse sources of funding, ineffective communication skills; weak governance systems and structures; low level of self-control; unfavourable attitudes towards educational institutions and the need to restore equity. To make private institutions of higher learning more sustainable, the study recommends that governance practices be guided by clear structures, policies and guidelines in the interest of transparency and accountability. It also recommends that government works in close partnership with private providers, reviews unfair policies concerning government scholarships, subsidizes the cost of materials for instruction and infrastructure development, and provides technical assistance to prospective and active providers. Lastly, the study recommends that private providers form an association so as to share experiences and to collectively deal with issues of common interest and concern. , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
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A Crown on the Move: stylistic integration of the Luba-Lunda complex in Lunda-Kazembe performance

  • Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147524 , vital:38646 , https://doi.org/10.1162/afar.2006.39.3.26
  • Description: Carried on a scarlet and zebra-hide litter above the heads of a throbbing crowd, Mwata Kazembe XIX gloriously stretches out his arms as if to embrace a world that is his own (Fig. 1). As he parts the sea of well-wishers, splashes of red burst into view and the talking drum beats out its decree. Basking in a charged clamor where the senses blur in clouds of dust, Mwata gracefully sways from side to side, jangling the beads and cowries on the back of his akatasa crown. It is on this day that the Lunda-Kazembe Crown moves.
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A descriptive analysis of statements taken by police officers from child complainants in sexual offence cases that examines the degree to which the form and content of the statements accord with best practice across a range of variables

  • Authors: Johns, Alex
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Child sexual abuse -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Police -- South Africa Child witnesses -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
  • Identifier: vital:3664 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002611
  • Description: With over twenty thousand complaints reported annually to police of child sexual abuse in South Africa, specialist police nvestigators are practised at taking statements from child complainants. This thesis analyses the fit between actualpolice practice and that recommended by international best practice. Children are a special class of witness because of their inherent social, emotional, and cognitive immaturity, and they are universally acknowledged to be very difficult witnesses to interview without the interviewer lending a bias to the process and thereby contaminating the outcome. The first half of the thesis therefore provides a detailed account of the research basis of current international best practice and of the hallmarks of that best practice which result in reliable interview outcomes. The second half of the thesis presents a descriptive analysis of 100 police statements taken from children in the Eastern Cape who had been raped in the period between 2010 and 2012. The findings of the analysis are presented in detail and then compared to the best practice summarised from the international research.
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A discourse analysis of print media constructions of 'Muslim' people in British newspapers

  • Authors: Nanabawa, Sumaiya
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Muslims -- Great Britain -- Public opinion Islam -- Great Britain -- Public opinion Racism in mass media Mass media -- Political aspects -- Great Britain Mass media -- Social aspects -- Great Britain Journalism -- Social aspects Journalism, Commercial -- Great Britain
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3132 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006767
  • Description: This research study aimed to examine how the identity of ' Muslim' people is constructed in British print media today, and whether or not these constructions promote or undermine a xeno-racist project. The research draws on the idea that identity is partly constructed through representation, with an emphasis on how language can be used to construct and position people in different ways. Using a social constructionist paradigm, the study further considers the role that print media has in providing a discursive field within which the construction and reproduction of racist attitudes and ideologies in contemporary global society can take place. Sixty-five newspaper articles were selected from the online archives of British newspapers, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph using systematic random sampling. These were analysed using the six stages of Foucauldian discourse analysis outlined by Carla Willig. To provide a more fruitful account, the analysis also incorporated the methods of Potter and Wetherell whose focus is on the function of discourse, as well as van Langenhove and Harre's focus on subject positioning, and Parker's use of Foucauldian analysis which looks at power distributions. The analysis revealed that Muslims are discursively constructed as a direct politicised or terror threat, often drawing on discourses of sharia law, and Muslim-Christian relationships. They are also constructed as a cultural threat, drawing on discourses of isolation, oppressed women, the veil/headscarf, identity, visibility and integration. The analysis also showed some variation in constructions, and these extended from the racialization of Muslims to showing the compatibility between Islamic and western values. This study discusses the form these different constructions take and the possible implications these constructions might have in contributing toward a prejudiced and largely negative image of Islam and Muslims.
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A high-level architecture for efficient packet trace analysis on gpu co-processors

  • Authors: Nottingham, Alastair , Irwin, Barry V W
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429572 , vital:72623 , 10.1109/ISSA.2013.6641052
  • Description: This paper proposes a high-level architecture to support efficient, massively parallel packet classification, filtering and analysis using commodity Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) hardware. The proposed architecture aims to provide a flexible and efficient parallel packet processing and analysis framework, supporting complex programmable filtering, data mining operations, statistical analysis functions and traffic visualisation, with minimal CPU overhead. In particular, this framework aims to provide a robust set of high-speed analysis functionality, in order to dramatically reduce the time required to process and analyse extremely large network traces. This architecture derives from initial research, which has shown GPU co-processors to be effective in accelerating packet classification to up to tera-bit speeds with minimal CPU overhead, far exceeding the bandwidth capacity between standard long term storage and the GPU device. This paper provides a high-level overview of the proposed architecture and its primary components, motivated by the results of prior research in the field.
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A history of the German settlers in the Eastern Cape, 1857-1919

  • Authors: Zipp, Gisela Lesley
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Colonists -- Eastern Cape -- 19th Century Immigrants -- Germany -- History Immigrants -- Germany -- Social life and customs
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3609 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004215
  • Description: This thesis came into being as the result of a question innocently posed to me three years ago: Why do some towns in the Eastern Cape have German names? This thesis is not so much an answer to that question (which is answered in the following paragraphs) as an attempt to answer the questions that followed: Were the Germans really as benevolent and hard-working as much of the most readily available literature implies? Why did the military settlers leave and the peasant farmer settlers remain? What was the nature of relationships between the German settlers and other groups in the area? How did the German settlers see themselves? The existing literature provides the historic details, more or less, but not the context and explanations I sought. As such, I set out to find them and document them myself, addressing three main questions: 1. What was the (changing) nature of the German settlers' day-to-day lives between 1857 and 1919? 2. How was a German identity maintained/constructed within the German communities of the Eastern Cape between 1857 and 1919? 3. How did the Germans interact with other groups in the area? In answering these questions, I have also provided the necessary background as to why these settlers chose to come to South Africa, and why some of them left. I have limited this study to the period between 1857 and 1919 so as to include the First World War and its immediate aftermath, a time when enmity between Great Britain and Germany would have made life difficult for German descendants in the Union of South Africa. Introduction, p. 7.
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A kernel-driven framework for high performance internet routing simulation

  • Authors: Herbert, Alan , Irwin, Barry V W
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429585 , vital:72624 , 10.1109/ISSA.2013.6641048
  • Description: The ability to provide the simulation of packets traversing an internet path is an integral part of providing realistic simulations for network training, and cyber defence exercises. This paper builds on previous work, and considers an in-kernel approach to solving the routing simulation problem. The inkernel approach is anticipated to allow the framework to be able to achieve throughput rates of 1GB/s or higher using commodity hardware. Processes that run outside the context of the kernel of most operating system require context switching to access hardware and kernel modules. This leads to considerable delays in the processes, such as network simulators, that frequently access hardware such as hard disk accesses and network packet handling. To mitigate this problem, as experienced with earlier implementations, this research looks towards implementing a kernel module to handle network routing and simulation within a UNIX based system. This would remove delays incurred from context switching and allows for direct access to the hardware components of the host.
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A marine chemical ecology study of the sea hare, Bursatella leachii in South Africa

  • Authors: D'Souza, Nicole
  • Date: 2013 , 2013-03-22
  • Subjects: Sea hares (Mollusks) -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Defenses -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:4283 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002952 , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea , Sea hares (Mollusks) -- Defenses -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Kenton-on-Sea
  • Description: The large cosmopolitan sea hare Bursatella leachii is a common resident in Eastern Cape river mouths during summer and late autumn where they congregate in beds of Zostera capensis to breed. In this thesis, the previously known toxic formamide marine secondary metabolite (-)-bursatellin (2.2), which may deter predators of South African specimens of the globally distributed sea hare Bursatella leachii, was isolated and identified (Chapter 2). There have been no previous chemical ecology studies of B. leachii and the latter half of this thesis is devoted to chemical ecology studies of this organism. Interestingly, the isolation of the (-)-diastereomer of 2.2 from specimens of B. leachii collected from the Kariega River mouth (near Kenton-on-Sea) suggests that the South African specimens of this species are similar to specimens collected from Puerto Rico and from the Mediterranean Sea. Two different chromatographic techniques for isolating 2.2 were compared in order to maximize the amount of 2.2 isolated from the Kariega River mouth sea hares. The doubling of selected resonances observed in both the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra of the bursatellin isolated in this study suggest one of three possibilities; either firstly, the presence of closely related compound(s), secondly, the presence of diastereomers or thirdly the presence of rotamers. Through NMR kinetic studies, we were able to establish that the presence of rotamers was very unlikely due to no change in the relative ratio (3:1) of the ¹H NMR signals with an increase in temperature. Although the attempted synthesis of the acetate derivative (2.28), as a means of separating a diastereomeric mixture was successful, the chromatographic separation of the proposed acetylated diastereomers was not successful. Preparation of the camphanate ester derivatives (e.g. 2.30) proved to be unsuccessful. Five B. leachii specimens were dissected, their organs separated and individually extracted with methanol. The methanol extracts were individually chromatographed on HP-20 media, and the distribution of bursatellin determined by isolation and NMR. It was evident from this investigation that the distribution of 2.2 within individual B. leachii specimens was found to be highest within the B. leachii ink gland. The lower amounts of 2.2 contained in the digestive system, relative to other organs, was hypothesized to occur because 2.2 is sequestered from the diet of the sea hare and efficiently moved from the gut to various organs around the body where it is stored. The absence of 2.2 from the skin was surprising and may be a result of a smaller mass of skin relative to other organs coupled with the limitations of the chromatographic separation techniques employed. Surprisingly, no bursatellin was found within juvenile sea hares. Chapter three discusses the isolation of ilimaquinone (3.1) and pelorol (3.19) from the sponge Hippospongia metachroma and the structure elucidation of each compound using computer modeling to illustrate the conformation. It was deemed necessary to isolate these well known and abundant bioactive marine natural products from a sponge as standard compounds in the bioassays given the paucity of 2.2 available for this study. Chapter four describes the assays used to test the biological activity of the bursatellin 2.2 compared to the generally bioactive ilimaquinone and the structurally related and commercially available broad spectrum antibiotic chloramphenicol. B. leachii, a shell-less marine mollusc inhabits a variety of intertidal habitats and, therefore, is exposed to several different predators, yet does not appear to have any specific predators. Potential predators of this sea hare in the Kariega Estuary could be fish and amphipods which are found in close proximity to these sea hares. Results of the assays showed that at roughly natural concentrations, (calculated from the isolated chromatographic yield) feeding was deterred by the fish and amphipods, which implied that 2.2 may confer a defensive role within the organism. The relatively high concentration present within the ink gland of B. leachii may support this hypothesis. Surprisingly, given its structural similarity to chloramphenicol, 2.3 did not show any antimicrobial action against five of the six bacterial strains against which it was screened [chloramphenicol inhibited the growth of all the bacterial strains at very low concentrations (0.25 mg/mL)]. Bursatellin was found to be only active against Staphylococus aureus at high concentrations ca. 2 mg/mL when compared to chloramphenicol. Neither bursatellin nor chloramphenicol showed anti-fungal activity. Although this study suggests that the sea hares may use chemical defences in addition to opaline ink to defend themselves, they also live within the seagrass Z. capensis, which possibly provides the sea hare with a cryptic form of physical defence against several predators that are unable to swim freely within the weed beds in the littoral zone of the estuary. , Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-in
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A maturing manifesto: the constitutionalisation of children’s rights in South African jurisprudence 2007-2012

  • Authors: Sloth-Nielsen, Julia , Kruuse, Helen
  • Date: 2013
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68972 , vital:29344 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15718182-02102005
  • Description: Pre-print , This article represents the next in a series of five-year overviews of children’s rights in the courts in South Africa. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Welfare of Children as a point of departure, the study suggests that it is in the public sphere that children’s rights have had their most impact in the period under review. The article highlights eight areas of distinction in this five-year period: these include judicial approval of resource mobilisation for the fulfilment of children’s rights, emphasis on the quality of and standards in education; the development of innovative remedies to deal with unreasonable state measures affecting children, and an increasing focus on the right to dignity of the child. The authors conclude that the scope of the cases cited points to the growing insertion of children’s rights considerations in increasingly diverse areas of legal interaction. Furthermore, the authors posit that the CRC and ACRWC – together with non-binding sources of international law – have substantively informed and enriched the jurisprudence of South African courts.
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A mobile toolkit and customised location server for the creation of cross-referencing location-based services

  • Authors: Ndakunda, Shange-Ishiwa Tangeni
  • Date: 2013
  • Subjects: Location-based services -- Security measures , Mobile communication systems -- Security measures , Digital communications , Java (Computer program language) , Application software -- Development -- Computer programs , User interfaces (Computer systems)
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: vital:4703 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013604
  • Description: Although there are several Software Development kits and Application Programming Interfaces for client-side location-based services development, they mostly involve the creation of self-referencing location-based services. Self-referencing location-based services include services such as geocoding, reverse geocoding, route management and navigation which focus on satisfying the location-based requirements of a single mobile device. There is a lack of open-source Software Development Kits for the development of client-side location-based services that are cross-referencing. Cross-referencing location-based services are designed for the sharing of location information amongst different entities on a given network. This project was undertaken to assemble, through incremental prototyping, a client-side Java Micro Edition location-based services Software Development Kit and a Mobicents location server to aid mobile network operators and developers alike in the quick creation of the transport and privacy protection of cross-referencing location-based applications on Session Initiation Protocol bearer networks. The privacy of the location information is protected using geolocation policies. Developers do not need to have an understanding of Session Initiation Protocol event signaling specifications or of the XML Configuration Access Protocol to use the tools that we put together. The developed tools are later consolidated using two sample applications, the friend-finder and child-tracker services. Developer guidelines are also provided, to aid in using the provided tools.
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