Understanding and quantifying channel transmission loss processes in the Limpopo River Basin
- Authors: Mvandaba, Vuyelwa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Water-supply -- Management , Water-supply -- Limpopo River Watershed , Alluvium -- Limpopo River Watershed , Streamflow -- Limpopo River Watershed
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63797 , vital:28490
- Description: Water availability is one of the major societal issues facing the world. The ability to understand and quantify the impact of key hydrological processes on the availability of water resources is therefore integral to ensuring equitable and sustainable resource management. A review of previous hydrological studies conducted in the Limpopo River Basin has revealed a gap in the understanding of surface water-groundwater interactions, particularly channel transmission loss processes. These earlier studies, focused largely on the Limpopo River’s main stem, have attributed the existence of these streamflow losses to the presence of significant alluvial aquifers and indicated that the losses account for about 30 percent (or 1000 Mm3 a-1) of the basin’s water balance. The work conducted in this dissertation reports on the delineation of alluvial aquifers across three sub-basins of the Limpopo River Basin namely, the Mokolo (South Africa), Motloutse (Botswana) and Mzingwane (Zimbabwe) sub-basins and the estimation of potential channel transmission losses based on the alluvial aquifer properties. Additionally, an assessment of the different approaches that can be applied to simulate these channel transmission losses in the Pitman Model is presented. To delineate alluvial aquifers, general land cover classes including alluvial aquifers were produced from Landsat-8 imagery through image classification. The areal extent of the delineated alluvial aquifers was calculated using ArcMap 10.3. To quantify channel transmission losses and determine the effects on regional water resources, three approaches using the Pitman model were applied. The three approaches include an explicit transmission loss function, the use of a wetland function to represent channel-floodplain storage exchanges and the use of a ‘dummy’ reservoir to represent floodplain storage and evapotranspiration losses. Results indicate that all three approaches were able to simulate channel transmission losses, although with differing magnitudes. Observed monthly flow data were used to as a means of validating loss simulations however for each sub-basin, medium and low flows were over-simulated which accounts for water uses that were inefficiently represented due to lack of data. Knowledge of the structure of the transmission loss function dictates that it is better at representing the dynamics of channel transmission losses, as it takes into account the contribution of losses to groundwater recharge whereas the other two functions simply store water and release it back to the channel. Overall, the hydrological modelling results demonstrate the potential of each approach in reproducing the dynamics of channel transmission losses between channel and alluvial aquifer within an existing sub-basin scale hydrological model. It is believed that better quantification of losses and more efficient qualitative determination of the function which best represents transmission losses, can be attained with more reliable observed data. In conclusion, a study of this nature can be beneficial to water resource estimation programmes as it highlights the uncertainties related with quantifying channel transmission loss processes in a semi-arid environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Understanding Collective Learning and Human Agency in Diverse Social, Cultural and Material Settings
- Authors: Olvitt, Lausanne L , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Læssøe, Jeppe , Jordt Jørgensen, Nanna
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/127226 , vital:35979 , https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/172221/161620
- Description: The significance of environment and sustainability education research and practice, and its potential contribution to a sustainable future for humanity, is conveyed by the International Social Science Council (n.d.), which explains: People everywhere will need to learn how to create new forms of human activity and new social systems that are more sustainable and socially just. However, we have limited knowledge about the type of learning that creates such change, how such learning emerges, or how it can be scaled-up to create transformations at many levels.Here, the important shift is towards considering what social systems, forms of knowledge, learning processes and questions of justice are associated with perpetuating or halting the decline of Earth’s bio-geo-chemical systems. This edition of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education contributes three research papers and a themed Think Piece collection to these international deliberations about the role of education in enabling transformations to sustainability. Collectively, the articles highlight how relationality and the formation of human agency in socio-cultural and material settings in past–present–future configurations underpin all environment-oriented learning processes. The three research papers constituting the first part of this volume offer glimpses into how current unsustainable socio-cultural and material configurations might be transformed to address social inequalities and damaged people–nature relations. The Think Piece collection, introduced by Lotz-Sisitka, Læssøe and Jørgensen later in this editorial, focuses on how learning can foster and contribute to the development of change agents and collective agency for climate-resilient development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Understanding ongoing support for the African National Congress amongst the urban poor in national elections in South Africa: the case of Mlungisi, Queenstown
- Authors: Makwetu, Ncebakazi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: African National Congress , Urban poor -- South Africa -- Queenstown , Elections -- South Africa , Political campaigns -- South Africa , Political capital -- South Africa -- Queenstown , Political psychology -- South Africa -- Queenstown , Postcolonialism -- South Africa , Allegiance -- South Africa -- Queenstown
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62582 , vital:28209
- Description: The main objective of the thesis is to understand the ongoing support for the African National Congress (ANC) amongst the urban poor in national elections in South Africa with specific reference to Queenstown. The study involved 50 residents in Mlungisi in Queenstown, the vast majority of whom are shack dwellers. The use of semi-structured interviews allowed for an indepth understanding of why people vote for the ANC. The research participants have always voted for the ANC and have no intentions of voting for any other political party. Since 1994, the ANC has in the main pursued a neo-liberal project with a limited focus on redistribution. Because of this, most blacks living in urban areas continue to live under conditions of extreme poverty. The abject material conditions of people living in Mlungisi does not provide a strong basis for why they would vote almost unreservedly for the ANC. In seeking to offer an explanation, the thesis turns to theories of the post-colony, including the work of Frantz Fanon and Partha Chatterjee, as these theories provide an analysis of the character of the post-colonial state and the ways in which the government engages with its citizens. These macro-level theories are complemented by middle-level theories about voting and voting patterns in seeking to understand why Mlungisi residents vote for the ANC, raising questions of identity, loyalty and clientelism in the process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Understanding the extension capacity needs of the CapeNature Stewardship Programme in the Western Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Coetzee, Johannes Christiaan
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Conservation projects (Natural resources) , Psychometrics , Adaptive natural resource management , Biodiversity conservation , CapeNature Stewardship Programme
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63220 , vital:28383
- Description: There is an increasing call for conservation programmes to provide sound evidence of effectiveness, and employing empirical evaluations can assist in the transition to evidence-based conservation practices. The objectives of this research were to develop a logic model for the CapeNature Stewardship Programme which would articulate the programme's theory of operation with respect to its Stewardship Programme landholders. The second major objective was to develop psychometric instruments for assessing the motivations and satisfactions of the programme's stewardship landholders. Both objectives included the aim to provide robust and repeatable instruments for exploring landholder's psychology, and developing a programme's theory of operation to understand the programme and improve with understanding the needs of the landowners. In this regard the processes and methodologies employed represent a major component of this research. A mixed methods approach was utilized, including stakeholder and volunteer surveys, conducted via mailing hardcopies and the internet, together with three focus groups held with the programme's management, extension staff and the stewardship landholders. Analysis of the data thus collected included both qualitative and quantitative approaches, specifically coding and content analysis, together with statistical tests of internal consistency, factor analysis and doubling correspondence analysis. Robust indices for example validity and internal consistency were developed for assessing landholder’s satisfaction with extension and level of satisfaction with the stewardship programme (Babbie 2007). These indices revealed that landholders in the Stewardship Programme are not satisfied with the programme, and exhibit behaviours suggesting they act as advocates for the programme. Demographic data and additional information provided further insights into the programme. The development of a method for articulating the programme's theory of operation is represented, together with four logic models which graphically illustrate this theory. This process and theory allowed for recommendations to be provided for the programme's improvement. A platform for adaptive management and further evaluations of this, and similar programmes, represents a major outcome of this research, understanding the extension capacity needs for the conservation of biodiversity in the CapeNature Stewardship Programme to function as a model for improving the implementation of the programme across the Western Cape, South Africa. This research feeds into an evaluation of CapeNature’s Biodiveristy Stewardship programme and demonstrates the importance of incorporating psychology into conservation interventions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Understanding the role of social capital in enhancing community resilience to natural disasters: a case study of Muzarabani District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Kasimba, Rosemary
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe -- Social aspects , Resilience (Personality trait) -- Zimbabwe , Food security -- Climatic factors -- Zimbabwe , Social sciences -- Network analysis , Cooperativeness -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60292 , vital:27763
- Description: The central focus of the study was to seek an understanding of the role that Social Capital plays in enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the community to floods and droughts in Muzarabani District of Northern Zimbabwe. The study was conducted in two of the wards in Muzarabani District namely Chadereka and Kapembere. In addition, the study sought to understand the coping and adaptation strategies employed by the most vulnerable groups such as the elderly, child heads, women and single heads of households. The specific objectives of the study were: to understand the effects of floods and droughts on residents’ livelihoods and food security, examine residents’ perceptions on droughts andfloods and to document community-based strategies utilised by women, child-headed families and the elderly to improve their livelihood and food security in the face of floods and droughts, explore different types of Social Capital that exist in the study area especially with regard to household resilience to disasters, comprehend the basis of residents’ resilience to floods and droughts and the extent to which vulnerable groups rely on Social Capital when coping with these disasters and to examine the repercussions of residents’ strategies on the community’s institutional structures. The study was informed by Social Capital theory and the social network analysis. Social Capital plays a pivotal role in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts. Different types of Social Capital that exist and help people to deal with floods and droughts include linking, bonding, and bridging and victim Social Capital. Inhabitants within and outside villages support each other. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the government are also working hand in hand with community members to reduce the negative impacts of floods and droughts. Volunteerism, generalised reciprocity and mutual understanding are also at the centre of interventions. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches to achieve its objectives. Questionnaires, focus groups discussions, observations, transect walks, key informant interviews and some participatory methods were used to collect data. SPSS, content and thematic analysis were used to analyse data. The study found that floods and droughts negatively impact on human security, causing acute food shortages, intensifying poverty, spread of water related diseases, increasing divorce rates, children dropping out of school, reduced livestock and crop production, family disintegration, chaos in religion, exacerbating local unemployment as well as negatively affecting the wellbeing of community members. On a positive note, floods in Chadereka cause the deposition of alluvial soils that are good for crop production. However, in Kapembere, volunteerism is not very common; inhabitants are not yet trained about the concept. Community members have also formed cooperatives where they would give each other money or grain. In Chadereka, women have formed a mother-support-group to assist children with food in schools. Strategies being employed by the most vulnerable groups include casual labour, joining cooperatives, migration, taking children from school, hiring out cattle, selling of assets, riverine farming, growing drought-resistant crops, making use of indigenous knowledge systems, skipping meals and exploiting natural resources among others. Some women have resorted to prostitution to increase their resilience to floods and drought impacts such as poverty and acute food shortages. The elderly also hire out their cattle. They also rely on support from the government and NGOs. There are a number of challenges faced by residents in dealing with floods and droughts. Community social relationships, migration, casual labour and the sale of assets are the basis of the people’s resilience against the impacts of floods and droughts. The study identified the following issues which all stakeholders involved could take note of: the government should not always be suspicious of disaster-risk reduction strategies implemented by NGOs as this scares away some of them that are willing to offer untied or unconditional assistance; timely and impartial distribution of agricultural inputs to inhabitants would be extremely useful. Moreover, the government needs to provide resources that support local organisations (formed by the local people) to assist the most vulnerable people in communities. Community leaders, together with the government and NGOs, are encouraged to hold awareness campaign programmes that dispel tribal and ethnic stereotypes, to promote local Social Capital among members of the community. Further investigations in the following areas are critical: A more comprehensive assessment of the determinants of resilience to droughts and floods in Zimbabwe is necessary.A study on the challenges faced by the disabled people and women in polygamous marriages and how they are adapting to floods and droughts, needs to be conducted and a critical investigation on the Zimbabwean government’s strengths and weaknesses in enhancing the resilience of the community to floods and droughts is necessary among others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Unraveling the Motions behind Enterovirus 71 Uncoating:
- Authors: Ross, Caroline J , Atilgan, Ali R , Tastan Bishop, Özlem , Atilgan, Canan
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148158 , vital:38715 , DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.12.021
- Description: Enterovirus 71 can be a severe pathogen in small children and immunocompromised adults. Virus uncoating is a critical step in the infection of the host cell; however, the mechanisms that control this process remain poorly understood. We applied normal mode analysis and perturbation response scanning to several complexes of the virus capsid and present a coarse-graining approach to analyze the full capsid. We show that our method offers an alternative to expressing the system as a set of rigid blocks and accounts for the interconnection between nodes within each subunit and protein interfaces across the capsid. In our coarse-grained approach, the modes associated with capsid expansion are captured in the first three nondegenerate modes and correspond to the changes observed in structural studies of the virus. We show that the resolution of the analysis may be modified without losing information on the global motions leading to uncoating.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Urban street names: An opportunity to examine biocultural relationships?
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182285 , vital:43817 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200891"
- Description: With increasing urbanisation there is concern regarding loss of experience and knowledge of biodiversity amongst urban populations. Yet biodiversity representations are retained in many art and functional forms, including names of places, buildings, institutions and streets. These manifestations offer a window to examine the relationship between humans and their experienced or imagined environment using a biocultural lens. I quantified the current prevalence of urban streets named after animals or plant species, the diversity of species represented, whether they are native or non-native, whether representative of the biome in which the town was situated and the change in prevalence through time. The street names of 48 towns in a one degree wide south-north belt across seven of South African’s biomes were captured and analysed. Of the 4,359 street names, 11.1% were named after plants (218 species) and 5.3% after animals (131 species), although some towns had none and others more than 40%. Approximately half of the plants were native to South Africa, whereas over 80% of the animals were. There was no correspondence between the species composition reflected in street names and the biome in which towns were located. The proportion of streets named after plants or animals has generally increased over the last two hundred years. These results provide insights into the bioculturally defined plants and animals that are valued by past and present urban communities, showing that they are generally from a wider array than can be found or experienced in the local setting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Using action cameras to assess habitat use by Pseudobarbus afer and Sandelia capensis in the Swartkops River, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Hannweg, Bianca
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Freshwater biodiversity -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Freshwater biodiversity conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Freshwater ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Freshwater fishes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Freshwater fishes -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Freshwater fishes -- Habitat -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Underwater videography , Anabantidae -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Cyprinidae -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Pseudobarbus afer , Sandelia capensis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62039 , vital:28098
- Description: Currently, freshwater systems are facing various threats, freshwater biota are declining and there is an increased need to monitor freshwater fauna and flora using non-invasive methods. This thesis aimed to evaluate the potential of using action cameras as a tool for the monitoring of freshwater fish populations and the collection of habitat utilisation data. This evaluation was conducted in headwater tributaries of the Swartkops River in South Africa, using two threatened species that have not been extensively studied, Pseudobarbus afer (Peters, 1864) and Sandelia capensis (Cuvier, 1831). The aims of this study were to: (1) assess the use of underwater video analysis (UWVA) using action cameras (videos and still photographs) in comparison to estimates derived from snorkel surveys, to estimate the abundance of P. afer in headwater streams; (2) use estimates derived from UWVA (videos and photographs) to assess the habitat use of two imperilled species, P. afer and S. capensis; and (3) assess habitat use by these two species in the presence of an artificial habitat. This work demonstrated that: (1) estimates derived from videos and photographs were strongly correlated to estimates derived from snorkel surveys, provided multiple cameras were used; (2) estimates derived from videos and photographs were not significantly different to estimates derived from snorkel surveys; (3) a filming period of 15 minutes was sufficient at detecting 0.9 of the cumulative mMaxN (mean MaxN) within one of the five habitats; and (4) still photographs, which are less time consuming to process than videos, could be used in preference to videos. Based on these findings, techniques using action cameras to assess habitat utilisation and behaviour in situ of the two-focal species, were developed using six habitat types (inflow, outflow, woody debris, fern root, middle and artificial) in four pools. It was demonstrated that: (1) there was a significant difference in proportional occupancies across habitats for both P. afer and S. capensis; (2) Pseudobarbus afer were mainly observed schooling in the middle of the pool and feeding on detritus material in fern root, woody debris and off the artificial structure; and (3) Sandelia capensis rapidly colonised the artificial structure and were observed utilising it for refuge. In conclusion, this work demonstrated that still photographs from action cameras can be used in place of videos to estimate the abundance of freshwater fishes and assess their habitat use and behaviour in clear headwater streams. This work also demonstrated how action cameras could be used to evaluate the effect of the introduction of artificial habitat as a restoration measure for headwater fish communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Using reading to learn pedagogy to enhance the English first additional language teachers’ classroom practice
- Authors: Mawela, Rethabile Rejoice
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Reading to learn , Language transfer (Language learning) -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language teachers -- South Africa -- Kuruman , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Bilingual method , Second language acquisition
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63415 , vital:28409
- Description: Drawing from the Hallidayan, Bernsteinian and Vygotskyan theories of Systemic Functional Linguistics, Pedagogic Discourse and Social Learning, this study examined the role that Rose's (2005) Reading to Learn (RtL) pedagogy could play in the development of teachers’ pedagogic practices in the teaching of English First Additional Language. The study participants teach English First Additional Language in Black, materially and economically disadvantaged rural primary schools in Kuruman, the Northern Cape Province, South Africa. As study participants, 4 intermediate phase and 4 senior phase teachers of English First Additional Language were purposively selected from 6 rural schools. Located within the Critical Paradigm, Subjective Epistemology and Mixed-Method approach, the study used documentary evidence, semi- structured interviews and RtL pedagogy as research instruments. Research findings reveal that RtL enriched and advanced teachers’ pedagogic practice in the teaching of reading and writing. As a consequence, teachers’ classroom practice of the 8 study participants improved as evidenced as their content knowledge expanded, the quality of teaching developed and their perceptions of themselves as professionals was transformed. An accompanying finding is that teachers acquired the tools to teach reading and the reading and writing proficiencies of learners in their classrooms improved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Vachellia erioloba (camel thorn) and microbial interactions
- Authors: Van Aswegen, Sunet
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas , Cadmium , Rhizobacteria , Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria , Acacia erioloba
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63716 , vital:28475
- Description: Vachellia erioloba (camel thorn) is one of South Africa’s economically important tree species and therefore requires further investigation to improve its health and growth. Beneficial soil microbes have positive effects on plants through various mechanisms such as nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilisation, indole acetic acid and siderophore production and biofilm formation. These traits enhance plant growth and protect the host plant against parasitic organisms that are present in soil. The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are well known for their beneficial symbiotic effects on host plants. The objective of this study was to determine the role of AM fungi and associated beneficial rhizobacteria in improving the growth of V. erioloba seedlings. Soil and root samples were collected from a farm in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Fifty-seven bacterial cultures were isolated from the soil and tested for plant growth promoting characteristics. Fourteen isolates showing at least four beneficial traits were molecularly identified using the GenBank database. The AM fungal and bacterial populations in the soil samples were assessed using Illumina sequencing. Sequences were identified using the MaarJAM and GenBank databases, respectively. Three separate pot trials were conducted to determine; 1) the effects of cadmium (Cd) on seedling growth; 2) the individual effects of three selected bacterial isolates and AM fungi alone and combined on seedling growth, and 3) the combined effects of the selected bacteria on AM fungal inoculated and uninoculated seedlings. Of the fourteen isolates the Enterobacter genera was the dominant species identified, with Acinetobacter, Pantoea and Bacillus each having one isolate. All were described as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria. One isolate from each genus, excluding Pantoea, was used in the pot trials. Three genera were identified in the AM fungal population that was assessed, namely Ambispora, Paraglomus and Glomus with Ambispora being the dominant genus. The bacterial population assessed showed a high diversity of bacteria from the Actinobacteria phylum being the dominant group. The results of the heavy metal pot trial showed that the symbiotic relationship between the seedlings and AM fungi increased the seedlings’ health and growth during heavy metal stress. The combination of bacteria and AM fungi increased growth parameters in all the inoculated seedlings, but not when compared to uninoculated seedlings indicating a possible competition for nutrients. The results were influenced by the presence of a nematode, which was suspected to have been seed borne. Further investigations on these interactions are required. Inoculation of AM fungi and selected PGPR is recommended for V. erioloba seedling production. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2018
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Variation in perception of environmental change in nine Solomon Islands communities: implications for securing fairness in community-based adaptation
- Authors: Ensor, Jonathan Edward , Abernethy, Kirsten Elizabeth , Hoddy, Eric Timothy , Aswani, Shankar , Albert, Simon , Vaccaro, Ismael , Benedict, Jason Jon , Beare, Douglas James
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145380 , vital:38433 , DOI: 10.1007/s10113-017-1242-1
- Description: Community-based approaches are pursued in recognition of the need for place-based responses to environmental change that integrate local understandings of risk and vulnerability. Yet the potential for fair adaptation is intimately linked to how variations in perceptions of environmental change and risk are treated. There is, however, little empirical evidence of the extent and nature of variations in risk perception in and between multiple community settings. Here, we rely on data from 231 semi-structured interviews conducted in nine communities in Western Province, Solomon Islands, to statistically model different perceptions of risk and change within and between communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Violations of good security practices in graphical passwords schemes: Enterprise constraints on scheme-design
- Authors: Vorster, Johannes , Irwin, Barry V W , van Heerden, Renier P
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430324 , vital:72683 , https://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/bitstream/handle/10204/10919/Vorster_22337_2018.pdf?sequence=1isAllowed=y
- Description: During the past decade, the sophistication and maturity of Enterprise-level Information Security (EIS) Standards and Systems has increased significantly. This maturity, particularly in the handling of enterprise-wide capability models, has led to a set of standards – e.g. ISO/IEC 27001, NIST 800-53, ISO/IEC 27789 and CSA CCM – that propose controls applicable to the implementation of an Information Security Manage-ment System (ISMS). By nature, the academic community is fruitful in its endeavour to propose new password schemes; and Graphical Passwords (GPs) have had many proposals for schemes. In this paper, we explore the impact of good security standards and lessons-learnt over the past decade of EID as a model of constraint on GPs schemes. The paper focuses on a number of GP schemes and points out the var-ious security constraints and limitations, if such schemes are to be im-plemented at the enterprise level.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Wagon bridges of the Eastern Cape, c. 1840 – 1900: the contribution of engineering to infrastructural development
- Authors: Walters, Dennis Evelyn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Bridges Design and construction 19th century , Civil engineers South Africa Cape of Good Hope , Great Britain. Crown Agents' Office , Public works Great Britain Colonies , Wagon trains South Africa Cape of Good Hope
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63877 , vital:28500
- Description: This thesis examines an aspect of economic and technological history which has been little explored in South African history. It argues that the military subjugation and the economic development of the Cape Colony, and particularly of the Eastern Cape, were contingent upon good transportation. The geography of the country, which included relatively impassable mountains and numerous often flooded rivers, necessitated bridges as well as roads. Both were expensive. As a leader in industrial technology, Britain was well placed to extend bridge-building skills to its colonies. This thesis examines the processes by which a small and undeveloped colony strove to create an efficient technological infrastructure. As wagon traffic increased through progress, delays in crossing rivers became a hindrance leading to agitation for bridges. It will be shown that the construction of wagon bridges over the numerous rivers encountered in the Eastern Cape Colony was imperative for the initial free flow of military forces and for later commercial expansion as new towns were established. The eastward expansion was led by the military during the frontier wars followed by the Royal Engineers who built roads and bridges along the eastern frontier. The new Colonial Secretary John Montagu, who arrived in 1843, boosted the colonial finances by overhauling the administration. He established the Central Road Board, an organisation that would drive the building of mountain passes, roads and bridges. The Public Works Department succeeded the Central Road Board and with the financial intervention of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, carried on with an extensive programme of road and bridge building. From the 1870s wagon bridge building lagged behind the huge railway building enterprise in response to the opening up of the diamond and gold mines. The final quarter of the 19th century saw increased bridge building activity in the Eastern Cape with the construction of many iron lattice girder, stone masonry arch and timber trestle bridges. The surviving bridges remain as mute testimony to the skill and expertise of British engineers such as Lewis, Woodifield, Robinson, Fforde, Wakefield, Berkley, Grier, Newey, Westhoven and others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Waste management knowledge, its production, recontextualisation and circulation in Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) training programmes
- Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
- Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Water quality, biomass and extracellular polymeric substances in an integrated algae pond system
- Authors: Jimoh, Taobat Adekilekun
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Water -- Purification , Sewage -- Purification -- Anaerobic treatment , Sewage lagoons , Sewage disposal plants , ASPAM model (Acid mine drainage) , Integrated algae pond systems (IAPS)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/57307 , vital:26871
- Description: Integrated algae pond systems (IAPS) combine the use of anaerobic and aerobic bioprocesses to effect wastewater treatment. Although, IAPS as a technology process offers many advantages including efficient and simultaneous N and P removal, no requirement for additional chemicals, O2 generation, CO2 mitigation, and a biomass with potential for valorization, a lack of technological advancement and the need for large land area, has limited the reach of this technology at industrial scale. In mitigation, peroxonation was introduced as a tertiary treatment unit and its effect on COD and TSS of IAPS treated water investigated. An effort was made to characterize the soluble but persistent COD in IAPS treated water and, productivity of the HRAOP mixed liquor was investigated to gain insight into the potential use of this biomass. Results show that peroxone treatment effectively reduced COD, TSS, and nutrient load of IAPS water without any significant impact on land area requirement. Indeed, summary data describing the effect of peroxone on quality of IAPS-treated water confirmed that it complies with the general limit values for either irrigation or discharge into a water resource that is not a listed water resource for volumes up to 2 ML of treated wastewater on any given day. Extraction followed by FT-IR spectroscopy was used to confirm albeit tentatively, the identity of the soluble but persistent COD in IAPS treated water as MaB-floc EPS. Results show that MaB-flocs from HRAOPs are assemblages of microorganisms produced as discrete aggregates as a result of microbial EPS production. A relationship between photosynthesis and EPS production was established by quantification of the EPS following exposure of MaB-flocs to either continuous light or darkness. Several novel strains of bacteria were isolated from HRAOP mixed liquor and 16S ribosomal genomic sequence analysis resulted in the molecular characterization of Planococcus maitriensis strain ECCN 45b. This is the first report of Planococcus maitriensis from a wastewater treatment process. Productivity and change in MaB-flocs concentration, measured as mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) between morning and evening were monitored and revealed that MLSS is composed of microalgae and bacteria but not fungi. Concentration varied from 77 mg L-1 in September (winter) to 285 mg L-1 in November (spring); pond productivity increased from 5.8 g m-2 d-1 (winter) to 21.5 g m-2 d-1 (spring); and, irrespective of MLSS concentration in late afternoon, approximately 39% was lost overnight, which presumably occurred due to passive removal by the algae settling pond. The outcomes of this research are discussed in terms of the quality of treated water, and the further development of IAPS as a platform technology for establishing a biorefinery within the wastewater treatment sector.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
When an Editor Decides to Listen to a City: Heather Robertson, The Herald, and Nelson Mandela Bay
- Authors: Garman, Anthea , Malila, Vanessa
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158427 , vital:40185 , ISBN 9781351664363
- Description: This book provides case studies, many incorporating in-depth interviews and surveys of journalists. It examines issues such as journalists’ attitudes toward their contributions to society; the impact of industry and technological changes; culture and minority issues in the newsroom and profession; the impact of censorship and self-censorship; and coping with psychological pressures and physical safety dilemmas. Its chapters also highlight journalists’ challenges in national and multinational contexts. International scholars, conducting research within a wide range of authoritarian, semi-democratic, and democratic systems, contributed to this examination of journalistic practices in the Arab World, Australia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Samoa, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
When the students are revolting: the (im) possibilities of listening in academic contexts in South Africa
- Authors: Garman, Anthea
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158416 , vital:40182 , ISBN 978-3-319-93958-2 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1007/978-3-319-93958-2
- Description: Student activists in South Africa have put the decolonisation of higher education firmly on the agenda, demanding that researchers and teachers pay attention to something in particular that is very hard to hear and very possibly unhearable. These young, black South Africans are the intellectual force upon whom we are depending for the altered future of our country. We cannot change the circumstances which continue to frustrate and anger them without paying particular attention to them. Taking on the knowledge bases and knowledge generation in the Global South, they are demanding that we rethink the logos-based project of universities in South Africa. Their struggle is critically about how knowledge is implicated as a shaping force in lives which are still defined by colonial governmentality.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Whose PARty was this? The dilemmas of a participatory action research process of evaluating a social enterprise.
- Authors: Lovell, Jacqueline , Akhurst, Jacqueline
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436926 , vital:73317 , ISBN 978-3-319-74721-7 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74721-7_24
- Description: Participatory action research aims to reduce power differentials in research. In this chapter we problematise the blurred boundaries when a participant becomes a researcher. We re-flect on a PhD undertaken by the first author who was a mem-ber of a social enterprise in the UK that provided user-led re-search and training with a diversity of communities. Experienc-es of ten members of the collective were gathered through creative arts-based methodologies designed to be inclusive. We describe three tensions that arose when trialling participa-tory video production, when data analysis could not be under-taken collaboratively, and when reflecting on the solitary nature of PhD thesis writing. We outline the ways these tensions were worked through and explore ways of writing about participatory research in a PhD thesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Witches & villains: the nasty tales
- Authors: Dalldorf, Tamaryn
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century , Short stories, South African (English) -- 21st century , Fairy tales -- 21st century
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63087 , vital:28362
- Description: My thesis compromises a variety of short stories which are modern re-writes of dark fairy tales. Fairy Tales often explore the dark side of human nature and in these stories I focus on the voices of female villains and the strange psychology which drives them. I find Fairy Tales absorbing because they reveal the vulnerabilities, dreams and fears of the human consciousness. My stories contain some satirical expositions of human nature and society. My influences are the anthology of short stories, “My mother She Killed Me and My Father He Ate Me”, The Grimm Fairy Tales (original) and The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault as well as the writing of Horacio Moya, Angela Carter and Alissa Nutting for their dark satire and mockery of social eccentricities. Kate Bernheimer’s “Form is Fairy Tale and Fairy Tale is Form” is very influential in terms of the style it recommends in writing such as: “every day magic”, “flatness” (a form of narration), abstraction and intuitive logic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning
- Authors: Durrheim, Meghan
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Women -- Retirement -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Retirement -- Planning , Retirement income -- Planning , Women -- Finance, Personal , Retired women -- Finance, Personal , Regression analysis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60339 , vital:27771
- Description: Financial retirement planning is an important component in ensuring that individuals accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement. Previous research suggests that many individuals are unable to accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement with the problem being particularly acute for women as they tend to spend less time planning financially for retirement when compared to men. Consequently, many women are unable to accumulate sufficient wealth for retirement. Despite the growing need to investigate women’s financial retirement planning, much research tends to focus on financial retirement planning for males. Consequently, there is a growing need to investigate women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning, particularly in Grahamstown. After conducting an in-depth literature study and using the study done by Doa (2014), six independent variables were identified: values, time horizon, attitudes, working life-cycle, risk tolerance and financial literacy. These independent variables were identified as factors which could potentially influence women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning. A set of hypothesis were formulated to test the relationship between these independent variables and the dependent variable (women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning). The study comprised of 101 participants. A principle component analysis was performed to determine the key variables, with the relevant independent factors being renamed: cultural values, personal values, affective attitudes, time horizon knowledge, time horizon consideration, risk tolerance, financial literacy. An ordinal logit regression analysis was then conducted on these renamed variables to determine the influence of these key independent variables on the dependent variable. After controlling for a set of demographic variables the results of the ordinal logit regression analysis revealed that only affective attitudes, time horizon knowledge, and personal values had a significant relationship with women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning. Cronbach’s alpha revealed that the measuring instrument of the significant extracted factors was reliable, while Pearson product moment was used to determine correlations between extracted key independent variables and the dependent variable. The investigation into women’s perceptions of successful financial retirement planning enabled insightful information to be gathered which adds to the body of knowledge. In addition, recommendations were formulated in an attempt to assist women when making financial retirement decisions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018