Enumeration, conformation sampling and population of libraries of peptide macrocycles for the search of chemotherapeutic cardioprotection agents
- Authors: Sigauke, Lester Takunda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Peptides -- Synthesis , Macrocyclic compounds , Drug development , Drug discovery , Cardiovascular system -- Diseases -- Prevention , Proteins -- Synthesis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116056 , vital:34293
- Description: Peptides are uniquely endowed with features that allow them to perturb previously difficult to drug biomolecular targets. Peptide macrocycles in particular have seen a flurry of recent interest due to their enhanced bioavailability, tunability and specificity. Although these properties make them attractive hit-candidates in early stage drug discovery, knowing which peptides to pursue is non‐trivial due to the magnitude of the peptide sequence space. Computational screening approaches show promise in their ability to address the size of this search space but suffer from their inability to accurately interrogate the conformational landscape of peptide macrocycles. We developed an in‐silico compound enumerator that was tasked with populating a conformationally laden peptide virtual library. This library was then used in the search for cardio‐protective agents (that may be administered, reducing tissue damage during reperfusion after ischemia (heart attacks)). Our enumerator successfully generated a library of 15.2 billion compounds, requiring the use of compression algorithms, conformational sampling protocols and management of aggregated compute resources in the context of a local cluster. In the absence of experimental biophysical data, we performed biased sampling during alchemical molecular dynamics simulations in order to observe cyclophilin‐D perturbation by cyclosporine A and its mitochondrial targeted analogue. Reliable intermediate state averaging through a WHAM analysis of the biased dynamic pulling simulations confirmed that the cardio‐protective activity of cyclosporine A was due to its mitochondrial targeting. Paralleltempered solution molecular dynamics in combination with efficient clustering isolated the essential dynamics of a cyclic peptide scaffold. The rapid enumeration of skeletons from these essential dynamics gave rise to a conformation laden virtual library of all the 15.2 Billion unique cyclic peptides (given the limits on peptide sequence imposed). Analysis of this library showed the exact extent of physicochemical properties covered, relative to the bare scaffold precursor. Molecular docking of a subset of the virtual library against cyclophilin‐D showed significant improvements in affinity to the target (relative to cyclosporine A). The conformation laden virtual library, accessed by our methodology, provided derivatives that were able to make many interactions per peptide with the cyclophilin‐D target. Machine learning methods showed promise in the training of Support Vector Machines for synthetic feasibility prediction for this library. The synergy between enumeration and conformational sampling greatly improves the performance of this library during virtual screening, even when only a subset is used.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Sigauke, Lester Takunda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Peptides -- Synthesis , Macrocyclic compounds , Drug development , Drug discovery , Cardiovascular system -- Diseases -- Prevention , Proteins -- Synthesis
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116056 , vital:34293
- Description: Peptides are uniquely endowed with features that allow them to perturb previously difficult to drug biomolecular targets. Peptide macrocycles in particular have seen a flurry of recent interest due to their enhanced bioavailability, tunability and specificity. Although these properties make them attractive hit-candidates in early stage drug discovery, knowing which peptides to pursue is non‐trivial due to the magnitude of the peptide sequence space. Computational screening approaches show promise in their ability to address the size of this search space but suffer from their inability to accurately interrogate the conformational landscape of peptide macrocycles. We developed an in‐silico compound enumerator that was tasked with populating a conformationally laden peptide virtual library. This library was then used in the search for cardio‐protective agents (that may be administered, reducing tissue damage during reperfusion after ischemia (heart attacks)). Our enumerator successfully generated a library of 15.2 billion compounds, requiring the use of compression algorithms, conformational sampling protocols and management of aggregated compute resources in the context of a local cluster. In the absence of experimental biophysical data, we performed biased sampling during alchemical molecular dynamics simulations in order to observe cyclophilin‐D perturbation by cyclosporine A and its mitochondrial targeted analogue. Reliable intermediate state averaging through a WHAM analysis of the biased dynamic pulling simulations confirmed that the cardio‐protective activity of cyclosporine A was due to its mitochondrial targeting. Paralleltempered solution molecular dynamics in combination with efficient clustering isolated the essential dynamics of a cyclic peptide scaffold. The rapid enumeration of skeletons from these essential dynamics gave rise to a conformation laden virtual library of all the 15.2 Billion unique cyclic peptides (given the limits on peptide sequence imposed). Analysis of this library showed the exact extent of physicochemical properties covered, relative to the bare scaffold precursor. Molecular docking of a subset of the virtual library against cyclophilin‐D showed significant improvements in affinity to the target (relative to cyclosporine A). The conformation laden virtual library, accessed by our methodology, provided derivatives that were able to make many interactions per peptide with the cyclophilin‐D target. Machine learning methods showed promise in the training of Support Vector Machines for synthetic feasibility prediction for this library. The synergy between enumeration and conformational sampling greatly improves the performance of this library during virtual screening, even when only a subset is used.
- Full Text:
Examination of teacher mediation and its impact on foundational reading skills in Grade-R classrooms in Namibia
- Authors: Nzwala, Kenneth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Reading (Elementary) -- Namibia -- Case studies , Elementary school teachers -- Namibia -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- Curricula -- Namibia , Vygotskiĭ, L. S. (Lev Semenovich), 1896-1934
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92291 , vital:30700
- Description: Grounded in the Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of Lev Vygotsky, this study examined teacher mediation and its impact on development of foundational reading skills in six Grade-R classrooms in the Zambezi Region of Namibia. It was a multiple case study with a mixed methods approach. Six Grade R classes attached to primary schools were studied to facilitate following of the same learners to Grade One. A purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample of six Grade-R and Grade-One teachers. Learners were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected by means of interviews, observation of Grade R lessons, and an emergent Early Grade Reading Assessment (eEGRA) test. eEGRA facilitated benchmarking teacher efficacy in mediating Grade R learners’ foundational reading skills. Nine Grade One learners per teacher per school took part in the test at the beginning of Grade One. Three 35-minute lessons, per Grade-R teacher, were observed. Data were analysed statistically using ANOVA with thematic qualitative analysis of interview data against document analysis of curricula, teacher planning and learner exercise books. The study established that teachers had no understanding of ‘emergent literacy’, did not promote a love of books, or promote learning through play. There was evidence of a language barrier during lessons, which potentially reduced the efficacy of teacher mediation. The curriculum was found to be inappropriate as it lacked guidance relevant to Grade R teachers. This point was particularly pertinent as all teachers in this study had not received Grade-R training and were therefore looking to the curriculum for support. The difference between what teachers said and what they did was revealed in their classroom practice. Lesson planning was found to be superficial and non-reflective, with a marked discrepancy between what was planned and what was done. The style of pedagogy was primarily transmissive and authoritarian. Finally, the socio-economic distribution of the schools did not demonstrate significant impact on learner performance in the benchmark test. This study concludes that the Grade-R curriculum needs to be revised to be culturally and age appropriate. Teachers should be trained to understand the speciality of Grade R, and support should be given to current teachers to adopt a child-centred, play-based approach to pedagogy.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nzwala, Kenneth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Reading (Elementary) -- Namibia -- Case studies , Elementary school teachers -- Namibia -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- Curricula -- Namibia , Vygotskiĭ, L. S. (Lev Semenovich), 1896-1934
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92291 , vital:30700
- Description: Grounded in the Sociocultural Theory (SCT) of Lev Vygotsky, this study examined teacher mediation and its impact on development of foundational reading skills in six Grade-R classrooms in the Zambezi Region of Namibia. It was a multiple case study with a mixed methods approach. Six Grade R classes attached to primary schools were studied to facilitate following of the same learners to Grade One. A purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample of six Grade-R and Grade-One teachers. Learners were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected by means of interviews, observation of Grade R lessons, and an emergent Early Grade Reading Assessment (eEGRA) test. eEGRA facilitated benchmarking teacher efficacy in mediating Grade R learners’ foundational reading skills. Nine Grade One learners per teacher per school took part in the test at the beginning of Grade One. Three 35-minute lessons, per Grade-R teacher, were observed. Data were analysed statistically using ANOVA with thematic qualitative analysis of interview data against document analysis of curricula, teacher planning and learner exercise books. The study established that teachers had no understanding of ‘emergent literacy’, did not promote a love of books, or promote learning through play. There was evidence of a language barrier during lessons, which potentially reduced the efficacy of teacher mediation. The curriculum was found to be inappropriate as it lacked guidance relevant to Grade R teachers. This point was particularly pertinent as all teachers in this study had not received Grade-R training and were therefore looking to the curriculum for support. The difference between what teachers said and what they did was revealed in their classroom practice. Lesson planning was found to be superficial and non-reflective, with a marked discrepancy between what was planned and what was done. The style of pedagogy was primarily transmissive and authoritarian. Finally, the socio-economic distribution of the schools did not demonstrate significant impact on learner performance in the benchmark test. This study concludes that the Grade-R curriculum needs to be revised to be culturally and age appropriate. Teachers should be trained to understand the speciality of Grade R, and support should be given to current teachers to adopt a child-centred, play-based approach to pedagogy.
- Full Text:
Examining mathematical reasoning through enacted visualisation
- Authors: Dongwi, Beata Lididimikeni
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Visualization , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Audio-visual aids , Geometry -- Study and teaching , Reasoning , Mathematical ability
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68192 , vital:29217
- Description: This study sets out to analyse the co-emergence of visualisation and reasoning processes when selected learners engaged in solving word problems. The study argues that visualisation processes and mathematical reasoning processes are closely interlinked in the process of engaging in any mathematical activity. This qualitative research project adopted a case study methodology embedded within a broader interpretative orientation. The research participants were a cohort of 17 mixedgender and mixed-ability Grade 11 learners from a private school in southern Namibia. Data was collected in three phases and comprised of one-on-one task-based interviews in the first phase, focus group task-based interviews in the second, and semi-structured reflective interviews in the third. The analytical framework was informed by elements of enactivism and consisted of a hybrid of observable visualisation and mathematical reasoning indicators. The study was framed by an enactivist perspective that served as a linking mediator to bring visualisation and reasoning processes together, and as a lens through which the coemergence of these processes was observed and analysed. The key enactivist concepts of structural coupling and co-emergence were the two mediating ideas that enabled me to discuss the links between visualisation and reasoning that emerged whilst my participants solved the set word problems. The study argues that the visualisation processes enacted by the participants when solving these problems are inseparable from the reasoning processes that the participants brought to bear; that is, they co-emerged.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Dongwi, Beata Lididimikeni
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Visualization , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Audio-visual aids , Geometry -- Study and teaching , Reasoning , Mathematical ability
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68192 , vital:29217
- Description: This study sets out to analyse the co-emergence of visualisation and reasoning processes when selected learners engaged in solving word problems. The study argues that visualisation processes and mathematical reasoning processes are closely interlinked in the process of engaging in any mathematical activity. This qualitative research project adopted a case study methodology embedded within a broader interpretative orientation. The research participants were a cohort of 17 mixedgender and mixed-ability Grade 11 learners from a private school in southern Namibia. Data was collected in three phases and comprised of one-on-one task-based interviews in the first phase, focus group task-based interviews in the second, and semi-structured reflective interviews in the third. The analytical framework was informed by elements of enactivism and consisted of a hybrid of observable visualisation and mathematical reasoning indicators. The study was framed by an enactivist perspective that served as a linking mediator to bring visualisation and reasoning processes together, and as a lens through which the coemergence of these processes was observed and analysed. The key enactivist concepts of structural coupling and co-emergence were the two mediating ideas that enabled me to discuss the links between visualisation and reasoning that emerged whilst my participants solved the set word problems. The study argues that the visualisation processes enacted by the participants when solving these problems are inseparable from the reasoning processes that the participants brought to bear; that is, they co-emerged.
- Full Text:
Expanding learning in clergy leadership formation in an Anglican Church Province in Southern Africa: a critical realist study
- Authors: Chinganga, Percy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Leadership -- Africa, Southern -- Religious aspects -- Christianity , Church management -- Africa, Southern , Critical realism , Educational leadership , Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92258 , vital:30704
- Description: The focus of this study was to investigate the kind of learning that happened when participants involved in clergy leadership formation programmes and activities in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) engaged in their responsibilities as a collective. Further, the research sought to explore collaborative and transforming practices in ACSA clergy leadership formation programmes and activities which could be expanded through learning. The study is premised on an investigation of the historical foundations of Christian leadership formation processes which sought to establish clergy leadership formation models relevant to ACSA (the context of the study) from inception (1848) to date (2017). This entailed investigating how the developments which have happened in the church from its inception in the New Testament times through the Medieval and Reformation periods, have contributed to the emergence of distinct Christian leadership formation models which have formed the basis of clergy leadership formation in ACSA. Accordingly, the study highlighted key issues relating to clergy leadership formation which are discernible in the different historical phases of the life and work of the church with the objective of establishing how ACSA, through expansive learning, could transform her current clergy leadership formation model(s) towards collaborative and transforming practices. The concept of expansive learning, drawn from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), was used in the study as a methodological tool to create an environment where research participants (formators) from several dioceses would engage in collective work activities which would surface contradictions relating to how clergy leadership formation programmes and activities were understood and facilitated in ACSA. In response to the surfaced contradictions, the study engaged research participants in Change Laboratory Workshops whose goal was to transform the organisation (ACSA) in two particular ways: empowerment of participants (formators) with conceptual tools relevant to their responsibilities in clergy leadership formation programmes and activities in ACSA, and improvement of organisational cultural practices, that is, the manner in which ACSA ought to conceptualise, design, plan, facilitate and manage clergy leadership formation programmes and activities. The latter brought into the discourse the need for participants (formators) to select and employ methodologies, methods, approaches and resources relevant to the southern African context where ACSA is located even though the study also acknowledged the influence of other Anglican Church contexts on what happened at the local level. In order to decipher meaning out of investigated phenomena about clergy leadership formation in ACSA, the study employed the critical realist “underlabouring” philosophy advanced by theorists such as Bhaskar to surface underlying mechanisms that exist at the level of the “real” in order to understand the causes of particular events and experiences as they manifest in the “actual” and “empirical” domains of the world, ACSA in the case of the study. In particular, the study engaged critically the opinion deliberated by critical realists concerning the interplay between structure and agency in relation to the responsibilities of the research participants (formators) in ACSA clergy leadership formation programmes and activities. For instance, the study had an interest in investigating why bishops (principal formators in ACSA) exercised their episcopal authority in the manner they do and why individual formators were concerned about particular issues which relate to the facilitation of clergy leadership formation in ACSA (agential reflexivity/subjectivity). The study observed that, in the case of diocesan bishops, critical realists would argue that, by virtue of the authority which comes with their responsibilities (agency), they have the power to influence transformation of practices in clergy leadership formation in ACSA at any given point in time. The flip side of the discourse was also taken note of: that some bishops, for reasons known to themselves and their predecessors, are often reluctant to embrace new ideas relating to clergy leadership formation practices in their dioceses. Further, through critical realist lens, the study concluded that Canons, Vision and Mission statements, Acts, and structures such as Synod of Bishops, Provincial Synod, ABoTE, Cott, and TfM structurally shape ACSA, thus providing the organisation with a stable ontology which ought to direct, regulate and control the manner in which clergy leadership formation programmes and activities were conceptualised, designed, planned, facilitated and managed. As such, the study had an interest in establishing what would happen, in relation to clergy leadership formation practices in ACSA, when these structures would have been activated? Beyond that, in view of the goal of the study, it was enquired how expansive learning processes could be helpful in responding to the research findings towards exploring collaborative and transforming clergy leadership formation practices in ACSA. Drawing from the conceptual framework which was carved in the study on the basis of the theoretical tools (critical realism and educational leadership theory) and methodological tools (CHAT orientated concepts) undergirded by the Vygotskian theorisation of human consciousness development, the study concluded that clergy leadership formation is a collaborative activity which calls for the recognition, appreciation and utilisation of available expertise in ACSA and provision of a platform where participants (formators) could engage collectively on issues relating to their work with the objective of building each other up in knowledge and skills (expansive learning) towards realisation of the goals and objectives of the organisation. Diverse understandings (contradictions) of what needed to be prioritised in the facilitation of clergy leadership formation in ACSA would be considered as a positive rather than a negative. Ultimately, through the use of inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference, the study modelled a transforming, transformational, transformative, embodied and incarnational model of clergy leadership formation which ACSA could consider using in future deliberations on the object of study particularly in relation to the key research findings across the case studies which were used in the study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Chinganga, Percy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Leadership -- Africa, Southern -- Religious aspects -- Christianity , Church management -- Africa, Southern , Critical realism , Educational leadership , Anglican Church of Southern Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92258 , vital:30704
- Description: The focus of this study was to investigate the kind of learning that happened when participants involved in clergy leadership formation programmes and activities in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) engaged in their responsibilities as a collective. Further, the research sought to explore collaborative and transforming practices in ACSA clergy leadership formation programmes and activities which could be expanded through learning. The study is premised on an investigation of the historical foundations of Christian leadership formation processes which sought to establish clergy leadership formation models relevant to ACSA (the context of the study) from inception (1848) to date (2017). This entailed investigating how the developments which have happened in the church from its inception in the New Testament times through the Medieval and Reformation periods, have contributed to the emergence of distinct Christian leadership formation models which have formed the basis of clergy leadership formation in ACSA. Accordingly, the study highlighted key issues relating to clergy leadership formation which are discernible in the different historical phases of the life and work of the church with the objective of establishing how ACSA, through expansive learning, could transform her current clergy leadership formation model(s) towards collaborative and transforming practices. The concept of expansive learning, drawn from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), was used in the study as a methodological tool to create an environment where research participants (formators) from several dioceses would engage in collective work activities which would surface contradictions relating to how clergy leadership formation programmes and activities were understood and facilitated in ACSA. In response to the surfaced contradictions, the study engaged research participants in Change Laboratory Workshops whose goal was to transform the organisation (ACSA) in two particular ways: empowerment of participants (formators) with conceptual tools relevant to their responsibilities in clergy leadership formation programmes and activities in ACSA, and improvement of organisational cultural practices, that is, the manner in which ACSA ought to conceptualise, design, plan, facilitate and manage clergy leadership formation programmes and activities. The latter brought into the discourse the need for participants (formators) to select and employ methodologies, methods, approaches and resources relevant to the southern African context where ACSA is located even though the study also acknowledged the influence of other Anglican Church contexts on what happened at the local level. In order to decipher meaning out of investigated phenomena about clergy leadership formation in ACSA, the study employed the critical realist “underlabouring” philosophy advanced by theorists such as Bhaskar to surface underlying mechanisms that exist at the level of the “real” in order to understand the causes of particular events and experiences as they manifest in the “actual” and “empirical” domains of the world, ACSA in the case of the study. In particular, the study engaged critically the opinion deliberated by critical realists concerning the interplay between structure and agency in relation to the responsibilities of the research participants (formators) in ACSA clergy leadership formation programmes and activities. For instance, the study had an interest in investigating why bishops (principal formators in ACSA) exercised their episcopal authority in the manner they do and why individual formators were concerned about particular issues which relate to the facilitation of clergy leadership formation in ACSA (agential reflexivity/subjectivity). The study observed that, in the case of diocesan bishops, critical realists would argue that, by virtue of the authority which comes with their responsibilities (agency), they have the power to influence transformation of practices in clergy leadership formation in ACSA at any given point in time. The flip side of the discourse was also taken note of: that some bishops, for reasons known to themselves and their predecessors, are often reluctant to embrace new ideas relating to clergy leadership formation practices in their dioceses. Further, through critical realist lens, the study concluded that Canons, Vision and Mission statements, Acts, and structures such as Synod of Bishops, Provincial Synod, ABoTE, Cott, and TfM structurally shape ACSA, thus providing the organisation with a stable ontology which ought to direct, regulate and control the manner in which clergy leadership formation programmes and activities were conceptualised, designed, planned, facilitated and managed. As such, the study had an interest in establishing what would happen, in relation to clergy leadership formation practices in ACSA, when these structures would have been activated? Beyond that, in view of the goal of the study, it was enquired how expansive learning processes could be helpful in responding to the research findings towards exploring collaborative and transforming clergy leadership formation practices in ACSA. Drawing from the conceptual framework which was carved in the study on the basis of the theoretical tools (critical realism and educational leadership theory) and methodological tools (CHAT orientated concepts) undergirded by the Vygotskian theorisation of human consciousness development, the study concluded that clergy leadership formation is a collaborative activity which calls for the recognition, appreciation and utilisation of available expertise in ACSA and provision of a platform where participants (formators) could engage collectively on issues relating to their work with the objective of building each other up in knowledge and skills (expansive learning) towards realisation of the goals and objectives of the organisation. Diverse understandings (contradictions) of what needed to be prioritised in the facilitation of clergy leadership formation in ACSA would be considered as a positive rather than a negative. Ultimately, through the use of inductive, abductive and retroductive modes of inference, the study modelled a transforming, transformational, transformative, embodied and incarnational model of clergy leadership formation which ACSA could consider using in future deliberations on the object of study particularly in relation to the key research findings across the case studies which were used in the study.
- Full Text:
From ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’ to ‘without perfect health, there is nothing’: discourses of healthy lifestyle in the construction of young adult identities in urban South Africa
- Authors: De Jong, Michelle
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Health , Cleanliness , Social structure -- Health aspects , Health behavior , Social medicine
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64940 , vital:28638
- Description: This research explores popular constructions of “healthiness” as individual lifestyle choices in the context of contemporary South African consumer culture, and how these constructions relate to formations of subjectivity. This is a qualitative study conducted within a social constructionist, theoretical framework. Data was collected using in-depth, semi structured interviews and are analysed using a Foucauldian inspired version of discourse analysis. A critical stance is taken towards the assumption in these discourses that their version of healthiness is always and unquestionably positive. Special attention is paid to the lifestyle and marketing media discourses appropriated in understandings of personal health through self-management, and of the optimization of health in the pursuit of well-being. The ways in which different discourses of healthiness facilitate the construction of specific identities are considered in order to untangle some of the problems created by the moralism underpinning popular consumer health discourse. How constructions of healthiness and aspirant healthy lifestyles support, and are supported by, the ideologies and practices of neoliberal capitalism are also explored. From this perspective, healthiness as lifestyle consumption choices can be seen as an ideological apparatus that produces the subjects necessary to reproduce the social order (Althusser, 2001), functioning not only positively amongst the social classes with the leisure and economic resources to pursue these options, but also negatively as victim-blaming of those who are excluded. The argument here is not that health is bad or that people should not be bothered with activities aimed at promoting good health, but that in a context where the concept of health is idealised as always positive and beneficial, the potentially harmful consequences of some of the health discourses we make use of may be occluded. This idealisation of health or ‘healthism’ may also function to divert attention away from some of the challenges to health that are not the direct result of personal behaviours and are unlikely to be remedied through individually focussed interventions, for example, inequality and inadequate access to basic resources. Six discourses which were used to construct understandings of health are analysed. These include Happiness, Freedom, Control, Care, Balance and Goodness. The ways in which these discourses played a role in constructing the kinds of subject positions which were made available to participants, and the possible implications this has, are explored in depth.
- Full Text:
- Authors: De Jong, Michelle
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Health , Cleanliness , Social structure -- Health aspects , Health behavior , Social medicine
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64940 , vital:28638
- Description: This research explores popular constructions of “healthiness” as individual lifestyle choices in the context of contemporary South African consumer culture, and how these constructions relate to formations of subjectivity. This is a qualitative study conducted within a social constructionist, theoretical framework. Data was collected using in-depth, semi structured interviews and are analysed using a Foucauldian inspired version of discourse analysis. A critical stance is taken towards the assumption in these discourses that their version of healthiness is always and unquestionably positive. Special attention is paid to the lifestyle and marketing media discourses appropriated in understandings of personal health through self-management, and of the optimization of health in the pursuit of well-being. The ways in which different discourses of healthiness facilitate the construction of specific identities are considered in order to untangle some of the problems created by the moralism underpinning popular consumer health discourse. How constructions of healthiness and aspirant healthy lifestyles support, and are supported by, the ideologies and practices of neoliberal capitalism are also explored. From this perspective, healthiness as lifestyle consumption choices can be seen as an ideological apparatus that produces the subjects necessary to reproduce the social order (Althusser, 2001), functioning not only positively amongst the social classes with the leisure and economic resources to pursue these options, but also negatively as victim-blaming of those who are excluded. The argument here is not that health is bad or that people should not be bothered with activities aimed at promoting good health, but that in a context where the concept of health is idealised as always positive and beneficial, the potentially harmful consequences of some of the health discourses we make use of may be occluded. This idealisation of health or ‘healthism’ may also function to divert attention away from some of the challenges to health that are not the direct result of personal behaviours and are unlikely to be remedied through individually focussed interventions, for example, inequality and inadequate access to basic resources. Six discourses which were used to construct understandings of health are analysed. These include Happiness, Freedom, Control, Care, Balance and Goodness. The ways in which these discourses played a role in constructing the kinds of subject positions which were made available to participants, and the possible implications this has, are explored in depth.
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Genetic characterisation of a range of geographically distinct Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV) isolates and evaluation of biological activity against South African populations of the African bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hu bner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
- Mtambanengwe, Kudzai Tapiwanashe Esau
- Authors: Mtambanengwe, Kudzai Tapiwanashe Esau
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Helicoverpa armigera -- Biological control -- South Africa , Baculoviruses -- Genetics , Agricultural pests -- Biological control -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97334 , vital:31426
- Description: The African bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a pest of economic and agricultural importance globally. It is a polyphagous pest that feeds on a wide range of host plants including economically important crops. The impact it has on agricultural systems makes its control a priority. The most common method of control is using chemical pesticides; however, continuous application of the pesticides has resulted in the development of resistance. The use of biological control has been investigated and established as an effective method of control as a standalone or part of an integrated pest management (IPM) system. The use of the baculovirus Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV), has shown promise in the control of H. armigera. Commercial formulations based on the virus are available in many global markets. However, the identification of novel HearNPV isolates will aid in the control of H. armigera as well as provide alternative isolates that may have better virulence. Three new HearNPV isolates were purified and identified from three distinct geographical South African locations H. armigera cadavers and named HearNPV-Albany, HearNPV-KZN and HearNPV-Haygrove. The genomes of two of the HearNPV isolates, namely HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN were genetically characterised and compared to other geographically distinct HearNPV isolates. Virulence studies were performed comparing the new HearNPV isolates against established commercial HearNPV formulations, Helicovir™ and Helicovex® and other geographically distinct isolated HearNPV, HearNPV-G4 and HearNPV-SP1. Two laboratory colonies were established using H. armigera collected from South African fields in the Belmont Valley near Grahamstown labelled as Albany colony and a colony provided from Haygrove Eden farm near George labelled as Haygrove colony. Biological studies were carried out using the Albany H. armigera colony comparing the rate of development, survival and fertility on bell green peppers, cabbage leaves and on artificial diet. From the biological studies, it was recorded that development and survivorship was best on artificial diet. Regular quality control was required for the maintenance of the colony and continuous generations of healthy larvae were eventually established. Diseased cadavers with signs of baculovirus infection were collected after bioprospecting from the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province in South Africa and were labelled KZN isolate; Belmont Valley near Grahamstown and were labelled Albany isolate; and Haygrove Eden farm near George and were labelled Haygrove isolate for the study. A fourth isolate made up of a crude extract of occlusion bodies (OBs) first described by Whitlock was also analysed and labelled Whitlock isolate. Occlusion bodies were extracted, purified and morphologically identified from the KZN, Albany, Haygrove and Whitlock isolates using TEM. Genomic DNA, which was extracted from the purified OBs. Using PCR, the identity of the OBs as HearNPV was confirmed. Genomic analyses were performed on HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN through genetic characterisation and comparison with other geographically distinct HearNPV genomes to confirm novelty and establish potential genetic relationships between the isolates through evolutionary distances. Full genomic sequencing of the isolated HearNPV and comparison with other geographically distinct HearNPV isolates identified genomic differences that showed that the HearNPV isolates were novel. HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN were successfully sequenced and identified as novel isolates with unique fragment patterns and unique gene sequences through deletions or insertions when compared to other geographically distinct HearNPV. This raised the potential for differences in biological activity against H. armigera larvae when tested through biological assays. HearNPV-Whit genome assembly had low quality data which resulted in many gaps and failed assembly. The biological activity of HearNPV isolates from Spain, China, South Africa and two commercial formulations were studied against the laboratory established H. armigera South African colony. The LC50 values of the different South African HearNPV isolates were established to be between 7.7 × 101 OBs.ml-1 for the most effective and 3.2 × 102 OBs.ml-1 for the least effective. The Spanish and Chinese HearNPV isolates resulted in LC50 values of 2.0 × 102 OBs.ml-1 and 1.2 × 101 OBs.ml-1 respectively. The commercial formulations resulted in the least virulence observed with an LC50 of 5.84× 102 OBs.ml-1 and 9.0 × 102 OBs.ml-1 for Helicovex® and Helicovir™ respectively. In this study, novel South African HearNPV isolates were isolated and identified. Through characterisation and bioassays against South African H. armigera populations the HearNPV isolates were shown to have different virulence in comparison to geographically distinct isolates. From this research, there is potential for development of new H. armigera biopesticides based on the novel isolates after field trial testing.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mtambanengwe, Kudzai Tapiwanashe Esau
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Helicoverpa armigera -- Biological control -- South Africa , Baculoviruses -- Genetics , Agricultural pests -- Biological control -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97334 , vital:31426
- Description: The African bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a pest of economic and agricultural importance globally. It is a polyphagous pest that feeds on a wide range of host plants including economically important crops. The impact it has on agricultural systems makes its control a priority. The most common method of control is using chemical pesticides; however, continuous application of the pesticides has resulted in the development of resistance. The use of biological control has been investigated and established as an effective method of control as a standalone or part of an integrated pest management (IPM) system. The use of the baculovirus Helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus (HearNPV), has shown promise in the control of H. armigera. Commercial formulations based on the virus are available in many global markets. However, the identification of novel HearNPV isolates will aid in the control of H. armigera as well as provide alternative isolates that may have better virulence. Three new HearNPV isolates were purified and identified from three distinct geographical South African locations H. armigera cadavers and named HearNPV-Albany, HearNPV-KZN and HearNPV-Haygrove. The genomes of two of the HearNPV isolates, namely HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN were genetically characterised and compared to other geographically distinct HearNPV isolates. Virulence studies were performed comparing the new HearNPV isolates against established commercial HearNPV formulations, Helicovir™ and Helicovex® and other geographically distinct isolated HearNPV, HearNPV-G4 and HearNPV-SP1. Two laboratory colonies were established using H. armigera collected from South African fields in the Belmont Valley near Grahamstown labelled as Albany colony and a colony provided from Haygrove Eden farm near George labelled as Haygrove colony. Biological studies were carried out using the Albany H. armigera colony comparing the rate of development, survival and fertility on bell green peppers, cabbage leaves and on artificial diet. From the biological studies, it was recorded that development and survivorship was best on artificial diet. Regular quality control was required for the maintenance of the colony and continuous generations of healthy larvae were eventually established. Diseased cadavers with signs of baculovirus infection were collected after bioprospecting from the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province in South Africa and were labelled KZN isolate; Belmont Valley near Grahamstown and were labelled Albany isolate; and Haygrove Eden farm near George and were labelled Haygrove isolate for the study. A fourth isolate made up of a crude extract of occlusion bodies (OBs) first described by Whitlock was also analysed and labelled Whitlock isolate. Occlusion bodies were extracted, purified and morphologically identified from the KZN, Albany, Haygrove and Whitlock isolates using TEM. Genomic DNA, which was extracted from the purified OBs. Using PCR, the identity of the OBs as HearNPV was confirmed. Genomic analyses were performed on HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN through genetic characterisation and comparison with other geographically distinct HearNPV genomes to confirm novelty and establish potential genetic relationships between the isolates through evolutionary distances. Full genomic sequencing of the isolated HearNPV and comparison with other geographically distinct HearNPV isolates identified genomic differences that showed that the HearNPV isolates were novel. HearNPV-Albany and HearNPV-KZN were successfully sequenced and identified as novel isolates with unique fragment patterns and unique gene sequences through deletions or insertions when compared to other geographically distinct HearNPV. This raised the potential for differences in biological activity against H. armigera larvae when tested through biological assays. HearNPV-Whit genome assembly had low quality data which resulted in many gaps and failed assembly. The biological activity of HearNPV isolates from Spain, China, South Africa and two commercial formulations were studied against the laboratory established H. armigera South African colony. The LC50 values of the different South African HearNPV isolates were established to be between 7.7 × 101 OBs.ml-1 for the most effective and 3.2 × 102 OBs.ml-1 for the least effective. The Spanish and Chinese HearNPV isolates resulted in LC50 values of 2.0 × 102 OBs.ml-1 and 1.2 × 101 OBs.ml-1 respectively. The commercial formulations resulted in the least virulence observed with an LC50 of 5.84× 102 OBs.ml-1 and 9.0 × 102 OBs.ml-1 for Helicovex® and Helicovir™ respectively. In this study, novel South African HearNPV isolates were isolated and identified. Through characterisation and bioassays against South African H. armigera populations the HearNPV isolates were shown to have different virulence in comparison to geographically distinct isolates. From this research, there is potential for development of new H. armigera biopesticides based on the novel isolates after field trial testing.
- Full Text:
Governing pregnancy in South Africa: political and health debate, policy and procedures
- Authors: Du Plessis, Ulandi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South Africa. Department of Health (1994- ) , Maternal health services -- South Africa , Mothers -- Mortality -- South Africa , Prenatal care -- South Africa , African mothers -- Mortality -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76552 , vital:30600
- Description: South Africa democratised in 1994. However, due to the discriminatory and segregationist character of the preceding regime, vast swathes of the country’s spaces and people entered the democratic period heavily deprived of essential government services. This was the case with health care in general, including maternal health care. There were also little to no national data available on maternal deaths, especially among the black population. One of the first tasks of the new National Department of Health (NDoH) was to target the high maternal mortality rate. The NDoH made maternal deaths notifiable by law and instituted auditing and information gathering systems in the health sector; health infrastructure was expanded exponentially, and maternal health care was made free. Despite this, the last 24 years have seen the maternal mortality escalate. The latest statistics show that between 1200 and 1300 women die in the South African public health sector each year during pregnancy and the puerperium. This puts the current institutional maternal mortality rate (MMR) at around 154/100 000 live births. The international target for ‘developing’ countries was to reduce the MMR rate by three quarters by 2015, which would have meant a reduction to 38/100 000 live births. The aim of this dissertation is to examine how the democratic South African government (influenced heavily by global health thinking) has laboured to reduce that statistic. I analyse, using Foucauldian discourse analysis, all relevant health and maternal health policies, procedural documents and reports produced by and for the NDoH in the last 24 years. I draw on Foucauldian concepts, specifically those related to Foucault’s work on governmentality. In this dissertation I introduce a new perspective towards the maternal health practices implemented in South Africa, practices that have generally remained unquestioned, been perceived as self-evident, and thus often escaping critical analysis. Through an analysis of the intended operation of the public antenatal clinic (within the larger institutional system) I show how ‘development’ has come to operate as a truth regime in South Africa – facilitating the introduction of liberal governmentality (including some advanced liberal practices) into public health service provision.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Du Plessis, Ulandi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South Africa. Department of Health (1994- ) , Maternal health services -- South Africa , Mothers -- Mortality -- South Africa , Prenatal care -- South Africa , African mothers -- Mortality -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76552 , vital:30600
- Description: South Africa democratised in 1994. However, due to the discriminatory and segregationist character of the preceding regime, vast swathes of the country’s spaces and people entered the democratic period heavily deprived of essential government services. This was the case with health care in general, including maternal health care. There were also little to no national data available on maternal deaths, especially among the black population. One of the first tasks of the new National Department of Health (NDoH) was to target the high maternal mortality rate. The NDoH made maternal deaths notifiable by law and instituted auditing and information gathering systems in the health sector; health infrastructure was expanded exponentially, and maternal health care was made free. Despite this, the last 24 years have seen the maternal mortality escalate. The latest statistics show that between 1200 and 1300 women die in the South African public health sector each year during pregnancy and the puerperium. This puts the current institutional maternal mortality rate (MMR) at around 154/100 000 live births. The international target for ‘developing’ countries was to reduce the MMR rate by three quarters by 2015, which would have meant a reduction to 38/100 000 live births. The aim of this dissertation is to examine how the democratic South African government (influenced heavily by global health thinking) has laboured to reduce that statistic. I analyse, using Foucauldian discourse analysis, all relevant health and maternal health policies, procedural documents and reports produced by and for the NDoH in the last 24 years. I draw on Foucauldian concepts, specifically those related to Foucault’s work on governmentality. In this dissertation I introduce a new perspective towards the maternal health practices implemented in South Africa, practices that have generally remained unquestioned, been perceived as self-evident, and thus often escaping critical analysis. Through an analysis of the intended operation of the public antenatal clinic (within the larger institutional system) I show how ‘development’ has come to operate as a truth regime in South Africa – facilitating the introduction of liberal governmentality (including some advanced liberal practices) into public health service provision.
- Full Text:
I want them to be confident, to build an argument: an exploration of the structure of knowledge and knowers in Political Studies
- Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli Nkosingphile
- Authors: Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli Nkosingphile
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Political science -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Curricula -- South Africa , Rhodes University. Department of Political Studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92392 , vital:30719
- Description: The 2015-2016 student movements in South African higher education sharply critique what was perceived to be the slow pace of institutional transformation and decolonisation in institutions of higher learning (see Badat, 2016; Heleta, 2016b; Mbembe, 2016). One of the academic fields that has come under scrutiny is Political Studies, which has been accused of being un-transformed, irrelevant and not reflecting local, indigenous scholarship in curricula or pedagogy (see for example Matthews, 2018; Mngomezulu & Hadebe, 2018; Tselapedi, 2016). Although this literature critiques neo-colonial predominance of western thought within the field, and the need to re-centre non-Western modes of being, thinking and intellectualising, I argue that this literature actually considers epistemologies without necessarily making a razor sharp critique at the underlying mechanisms and processes of Political Studies knowledge, and the extent to which it can be decolonised and transformed. It is on this gap that I make a contribution to the field.This study is positioned in the field of higher education decolonisation, with a specific focus on exploring knowledge and knower structures in Political Studies. I explore the various ways in which knowledge is valued and legitimated in the field of Political Studies by asking the “how” question – that is, how is knowledge legitimated in Political Studies? This includes a consideration of how the Postgraduate Diploma in International Studies (PDIS) programme, designed to promote and enable an “expert in African International Studies”, legitimates a certain kind of knower in the field. I employ Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device as a theoretical foundation for exploring 1) what the field of Political Studies knowledge production looks like, 2) how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production and into the PDIS curriculum, and 3), how that knowledge is legitimated and evaluated through the programnme’s assessment documents, and what they revel as valued and legitimate curriculum knowledge in the field. Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code theory (LCT), specifically Specialisation, is called upon to offer sharp analytical tools for investigating the underlying mechanisms and processes of the knower and knowledge structures that the programme legitimates. It particularly sheds some insight on the kinds of gazes that are valued in the field of Political Studies in general, and in the PDIS programme in particular. The case study for this research is Rhodes University, a historically white university which offered insight and contested history into the kinds of being, knowledges and knowers that were historically legitimated and valued in the institution, as well as the current institutional landscape, and challenges that the institution is grappling with. The data generation included the formally planned curriculum as contained in the programme’s curriculum documents. These included course outlines, seminar critiques, presentations, class participation; class discussions; essay questions and exams/exam portfolio. The data generation also included semi-structured interviews with the lecturers who were regarded as the “recontextualising agents”, who taught in the programme and who offered key insights on some of the curriculum choices regarding selection, pacing, sequencing and evaluation of the curriculum knowledge in the PDIS programme.This study revealed that that the PDIS programmes values and legitimates curriculum knowledge by ensuring that students have a critical understanding of African political economy, war and conflict on the African continent, as well as the challenges of peacekeeping and peace building in new and fragile African states. This was also seen in how the attributes and dispositions of knowers were also valued in how students needed to have social and cultural gazes in order to access the curriculum and to successfully participate as knowers in the field. This suggested that access to both curriculum knowledge and to being a valued knower in the field, could be said to be relatively open and unrestrictive. In this study, I first argue that looking critically at how Political Studies knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production and into the PDIS curriculum can be seen as a decolonising process as it enables us to see the underlying mechanisms and processes of how Political studies knowledge and knowers are valued and legitimated in the field. This offers us an insightful space to see to what extent the fields of production, recontextualisation, as well as reproduction of Political Studies in general, and the PDIS programme in particular, could be said to have a colonising gaze. It also offers insight on how we can go about exploring, transforming and decolonising Political Studies and the PDIS programme. Secondly, exploring the knowledge and knower structures of the PDIS programme can help curriculum designers, lecturers and students identify the knowledge and knower codes of the curriculum, and to critically reflect on their curriculum codes and how to enable epistemological access to students. Furthermore, this study can help lecturers and curriculum designers construct their curriculum in ways that are inclusive, open, and socially just, by being critically aware of the kind of knowledge that they choose to legitimate, and those they choose to disregard in their knowledge recontextualisation and its evaluation. , Unyaka wezi 2015-2016 wombhikisho wabafundi eningizimu afrika zemfundo ephakeme umcwaningi nokungabikhona kakhulu ukuthi kube kancane awuhambi zesikhungo kanye decolonisation ezikhungweni of higher learning (bheka badat, nowezi-2016; Heleta, 2016b; Mbembe, nowezi-2016). Enye yenkambu yezemfundo ephakeme ethe yaba ngaphansi kokuhlolisiswa kabanzi izifundo zezombusazwe, ebhekene nezingqinamba zokungashinsthi, ukungabi lusizo endaweni, ukungabi yisithombe somphakathi, nokukungangeneleli isifundo somdabu kwezemfundo noma i-pedagogy (bheka isibonelo Matthews, 2018; Mngomezulu & Hadebe, 2018; Tselapedi, nowezi-2016). Nakuba lo mbhalo ugxeka ineo-kholoni ikakhulukazi imicabango yasentshonalanga, nokudinga ukubuyekezwa indlela yokucabanga nobuhlakani okungasibo baseNtshonalanga. Ngiyaphikisana nokuthi lo mbhalo ubuyekeza i-epistomology ngempela ngaphandle kokucwaninga kabanzi ukusetsenziswa kobuhlakani nolwazi lwezemfundo yombusazwe, kanye nokwandisa izinguquko noshintsho. Ngizophonsa esivivaneni kulolu gebe olulapho. Lolu cwaningo lusesimeni sokwenza izinguquko kwinkundlazwelo yemfundo ephakeme, ikakhulu ukuhlola ulwazi kanye nezakhiwo ze-knower kwezemfundo yombusazwe. Ngibheka izindlela ezahlukene ngolwazi kanye nokuba semthethweni kwinkundlazwelo yezemfundo zombusazwe ngokubuza umbuzo “kanjani”-ngokuthi, ulwazi lubekwa kanjani ngokomthethwo wezemfundo yombusazwe? Lokhu kubandakanya inkokhelo yombuzo wokuthi kwenzakala kanjani ukuthi ipostgraduate Diploma in International Studies (pdis), yenzelwe ukukhuthaza kanye nokuba wumpetha kwi African International studies”, ukwenza semthethweni eminye yenkundlazwelo yama-knower. Ngisebenzisa ithiyori ya Basil Bernstein ukuhlola 1) Ibukeka kanjani inkundla yokuhkiqiza yezemfundo zezombusazwe, 2) ngolwazi lobuhlakani enkundleni lapho nasesikhathini uhlelo lwezemfundo PDIS yenza umkhiqizo kanye 3), futhi ukwazi ukuthi khona lusemthethweni uhlelo nokuhlola, nokuthi yini abayiveza ukuthi isemthethweni kwizifundo zolwazi. Ithiyori ka Karl matonâ legitimation code theory (lct), ikakhulu Specialisation, yiyona enganikeza kafuphi izinsiza zokuphenya indlela kanye nenqubo ye-knower kanye nolwazi lwesakhiwo esisemthethweni. Iveza kabanzi izindlela zokubheka ezisemqoka nezisematheni kwinkundla yezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS ikakhulukazi Indawo lapho ngizoqhuba khona lolu cwaningo iNyuvesi yaseRhodes, ngokomlando iNyuvesi yabamhlophe enikezana ukuqonda nokuncintana komlando kokungena kwezinhlobo, ubuhlakani kanye nama-knower omlando osemthethweni kanye nokhethekile kulesi sikhungo, kanjalo ne-Landscape yesikhungo samanje, kanye nezinselelo lesi sikhungo sikahulumeni esibheke nazo. Idatha equkethwe ifaka izifundo ezihleliwe ngokomthetho njengokuba zitholakala ezifundweni ezihleliwe kumbhalo. Lokhu, kubandakanya isifundo esinye, amasemina abuyekeziwe, izethulo, nokubamba iqhaza ekilasini; izingxoxo zekilasi; imibuzo yendaba kanye nezivivinyo / nokuhlolwa kwezivivinyo. Idatha yesizukulwane iphinde ibandakanye izingxoxo ezihleliwe kanye nabafundisi abathathwa njengabantu abayizingcithabuchopho, abafundisiwe kulo mkhakha kanye naba neso ekukhethweni kwamanye amakharikhulamu abhekelele ukuhlunga, i-pacing, ukulandelela kanye nokuhlolwa kwekharikhulamu kulwazi lohlelo i-PDIS Lolu cwaningo ludalule ukuthi izinhlelo ze-PDIS zikubeka emqoka kanye nokubeka emthethweni ubuhlakani bekhurikhulamu ngokucophelela ukuthi abafundi bakuqonda ukubaluleka okulunzulu ngezomnotho wombusazwe wase Afrika, yimpi nokungqubuzana ezwenikazi lase-Afrika, ukugcina ukuthula kanye nezinkinga ekwakheni uxolo kanye nobuthakathaka / nophukayo kwezwekazi i-Afrika. Lokhu futhi kubonakele ngendlela yokubambisana kanye nokuziqhathulula kwama-knower aabalulekile ekufundiseni abafundi ngokudinga kokuba nezenhlalo kanye nesiko ukuze bakwazi ukuthola ikhurikhulamu kanye nokubamba iqhaza ngempumelelo njengama-knower kule nkundla. Lokhu kuchaze ukuthi ukufinyelela kuhlelo lokufunda kanye nokuba yilunga lama-knower, kungaba ukuba babonisane ngendlela evulelekile kanye nengenamkhawulo. Kulolu cwaningo, ngaqala ngabheka kabanzi ngokubalulekile ukuthi izifundo zezombusazwe ngolwazi lobuhlakani kwinkundlazwelo yokukhiqiza kanye nePDIS kungabonwa njengenguquko eyenza ukuba sikwazi ukubona ezinye izindlela zokusebenza kwezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nokubeka phambili ama-knower. Lokhu kusenza sibone ukubaluleka komkhiqizo wale nkundla, ukubuyekezwa kwezobuhlakani, kanye nomkhiqizo wezemfundo zombusazwe, kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS ikakhulukazi, kungathiwa ingaba nokubanjwa kokubheka. Iphinde isambulele kabanzi ukuthi singahlola, sense izinguquko kanye noshintsho kwezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS. Okwesibili, ukuhlola ulwazi kanye nezakhiwo ze-knower ze-PDIS kungasiza abaklami bekhurikhulamu, abafundisi kanye nabafunsi ukukwazi ukuhlonza ulwazi nekhurikhulamu yekhodi ye-knower, kanye nokwazi ukubuyekeza kabanzi amakhodi ekhurikhulami yabo kanye nokwazi ukwenza i-epistemology ukuba abafundi bafinyelele kuyo. Ngaphezu kwalokhu, lolu cwaningo lungasiza abafundisi kanye nabaklamu bekhurikhulamu ukuba bakwazi ukwakha ikhurikhulamu yabo ngendlela ekhethekile, evulelekile, ngokwenhlalo nje, okubalulekile ukuthi uhlobo lophi lolwazi abakhetha lube semthethweni, kanye nalabo abakhetha ukungayilandeli inqubomgomo yolwazi kanye nokuhlola.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Hlatshwayo, Mlamuli Nkosingphile
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Political science -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Curricula -- South Africa , Rhodes University. Department of Political Studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92392 , vital:30719
- Description: The 2015-2016 student movements in South African higher education sharply critique what was perceived to be the slow pace of institutional transformation and decolonisation in institutions of higher learning (see Badat, 2016; Heleta, 2016b; Mbembe, 2016). One of the academic fields that has come under scrutiny is Political Studies, which has been accused of being un-transformed, irrelevant and not reflecting local, indigenous scholarship in curricula or pedagogy (see for example Matthews, 2018; Mngomezulu & Hadebe, 2018; Tselapedi, 2016). Although this literature critiques neo-colonial predominance of western thought within the field, and the need to re-centre non-Western modes of being, thinking and intellectualising, I argue that this literature actually considers epistemologies without necessarily making a razor sharp critique at the underlying mechanisms and processes of Political Studies knowledge, and the extent to which it can be decolonised and transformed. It is on this gap that I make a contribution to the field.This study is positioned in the field of higher education decolonisation, with a specific focus on exploring knowledge and knower structures in Political Studies. I explore the various ways in which knowledge is valued and legitimated in the field of Political Studies by asking the “how” question – that is, how is knowledge legitimated in Political Studies? This includes a consideration of how the Postgraduate Diploma in International Studies (PDIS) programme, designed to promote and enable an “expert in African International Studies”, legitimates a certain kind of knower in the field. I employ Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device as a theoretical foundation for exploring 1) what the field of Political Studies knowledge production looks like, 2) how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production and into the PDIS curriculum, and 3), how that knowledge is legitimated and evaluated through the programnme’s assessment documents, and what they revel as valued and legitimate curriculum knowledge in the field. Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code theory (LCT), specifically Specialisation, is called upon to offer sharp analytical tools for investigating the underlying mechanisms and processes of the knower and knowledge structures that the programme legitimates. It particularly sheds some insight on the kinds of gazes that are valued in the field of Political Studies in general, and in the PDIS programme in particular. The case study for this research is Rhodes University, a historically white university which offered insight and contested history into the kinds of being, knowledges and knowers that were historically legitimated and valued in the institution, as well as the current institutional landscape, and challenges that the institution is grappling with. The data generation included the formally planned curriculum as contained in the programme’s curriculum documents. These included course outlines, seminar critiques, presentations, class participation; class discussions; essay questions and exams/exam portfolio. The data generation also included semi-structured interviews with the lecturers who were regarded as the “recontextualising agents”, who taught in the programme and who offered key insights on some of the curriculum choices regarding selection, pacing, sequencing and evaluation of the curriculum knowledge in the PDIS programme.This study revealed that that the PDIS programmes values and legitimates curriculum knowledge by ensuring that students have a critical understanding of African political economy, war and conflict on the African continent, as well as the challenges of peacekeeping and peace building in new and fragile African states. This was also seen in how the attributes and dispositions of knowers were also valued in how students needed to have social and cultural gazes in order to access the curriculum and to successfully participate as knowers in the field. This suggested that access to both curriculum knowledge and to being a valued knower in the field, could be said to be relatively open and unrestrictive. In this study, I first argue that looking critically at how Political Studies knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production and into the PDIS curriculum can be seen as a decolonising process as it enables us to see the underlying mechanisms and processes of how Political studies knowledge and knowers are valued and legitimated in the field. This offers us an insightful space to see to what extent the fields of production, recontextualisation, as well as reproduction of Political Studies in general, and the PDIS programme in particular, could be said to have a colonising gaze. It also offers insight on how we can go about exploring, transforming and decolonising Political Studies and the PDIS programme. Secondly, exploring the knowledge and knower structures of the PDIS programme can help curriculum designers, lecturers and students identify the knowledge and knower codes of the curriculum, and to critically reflect on their curriculum codes and how to enable epistemological access to students. Furthermore, this study can help lecturers and curriculum designers construct their curriculum in ways that are inclusive, open, and socially just, by being critically aware of the kind of knowledge that they choose to legitimate, and those they choose to disregard in their knowledge recontextualisation and its evaluation. , Unyaka wezi 2015-2016 wombhikisho wabafundi eningizimu afrika zemfundo ephakeme umcwaningi nokungabikhona kakhulu ukuthi kube kancane awuhambi zesikhungo kanye decolonisation ezikhungweni of higher learning (bheka badat, nowezi-2016; Heleta, 2016b; Mbembe, nowezi-2016). Enye yenkambu yezemfundo ephakeme ethe yaba ngaphansi kokuhlolisiswa kabanzi izifundo zezombusazwe, ebhekene nezingqinamba zokungashinsthi, ukungabi lusizo endaweni, ukungabi yisithombe somphakathi, nokukungangeneleli isifundo somdabu kwezemfundo noma i-pedagogy (bheka isibonelo Matthews, 2018; Mngomezulu & Hadebe, 2018; Tselapedi, nowezi-2016). Nakuba lo mbhalo ugxeka ineo-kholoni ikakhulukazi imicabango yasentshonalanga, nokudinga ukubuyekezwa indlela yokucabanga nobuhlakani okungasibo baseNtshonalanga. Ngiyaphikisana nokuthi lo mbhalo ubuyekeza i-epistomology ngempela ngaphandle kokucwaninga kabanzi ukusetsenziswa kobuhlakani nolwazi lwezemfundo yombusazwe, kanye nokwandisa izinguquko noshintsho. Ngizophonsa esivivaneni kulolu gebe olulapho. Lolu cwaningo lusesimeni sokwenza izinguquko kwinkundlazwelo yemfundo ephakeme, ikakhulu ukuhlola ulwazi kanye nezakhiwo ze-knower kwezemfundo yombusazwe. Ngibheka izindlela ezahlukene ngolwazi kanye nokuba semthethweni kwinkundlazwelo yezemfundo zombusazwe ngokubuza umbuzo “kanjani”-ngokuthi, ulwazi lubekwa kanjani ngokomthethwo wezemfundo yombusazwe? Lokhu kubandakanya inkokhelo yombuzo wokuthi kwenzakala kanjani ukuthi ipostgraduate Diploma in International Studies (pdis), yenzelwe ukukhuthaza kanye nokuba wumpetha kwi African International studies”, ukwenza semthethweni eminye yenkundlazwelo yama-knower. Ngisebenzisa ithiyori ya Basil Bernstein ukuhlola 1) Ibukeka kanjani inkundla yokuhkiqiza yezemfundo zezombusazwe, 2) ngolwazi lobuhlakani enkundleni lapho nasesikhathini uhlelo lwezemfundo PDIS yenza umkhiqizo kanye 3), futhi ukwazi ukuthi khona lusemthethweni uhlelo nokuhlola, nokuthi yini abayiveza ukuthi isemthethweni kwizifundo zolwazi. Ithiyori ka Karl matonâ legitimation code theory (lct), ikakhulu Specialisation, yiyona enganikeza kafuphi izinsiza zokuphenya indlela kanye nenqubo ye-knower kanye nolwazi lwesakhiwo esisemthethweni. Iveza kabanzi izindlela zokubheka ezisemqoka nezisematheni kwinkundla yezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS ikakhulukazi Indawo lapho ngizoqhuba khona lolu cwaningo iNyuvesi yaseRhodes, ngokomlando iNyuvesi yabamhlophe enikezana ukuqonda nokuncintana komlando kokungena kwezinhlobo, ubuhlakani kanye nama-knower omlando osemthethweni kanye nokhethekile kulesi sikhungo, kanjalo ne-Landscape yesikhungo samanje, kanye nezinselelo lesi sikhungo sikahulumeni esibheke nazo. Idatha equkethwe ifaka izifundo ezihleliwe ngokomthetho njengokuba zitholakala ezifundweni ezihleliwe kumbhalo. Lokhu, kubandakanya isifundo esinye, amasemina abuyekeziwe, izethulo, nokubamba iqhaza ekilasini; izingxoxo zekilasi; imibuzo yendaba kanye nezivivinyo / nokuhlolwa kwezivivinyo. Idatha yesizukulwane iphinde ibandakanye izingxoxo ezihleliwe kanye nabafundisi abathathwa njengabantu abayizingcithabuchopho, abafundisiwe kulo mkhakha kanye naba neso ekukhethweni kwamanye amakharikhulamu abhekelele ukuhlunga, i-pacing, ukulandelela kanye nokuhlolwa kwekharikhulamu kulwazi lohlelo i-PDIS Lolu cwaningo ludalule ukuthi izinhlelo ze-PDIS zikubeka emqoka kanye nokubeka emthethweni ubuhlakani bekhurikhulamu ngokucophelela ukuthi abafundi bakuqonda ukubaluleka okulunzulu ngezomnotho wombusazwe wase Afrika, yimpi nokungqubuzana ezwenikazi lase-Afrika, ukugcina ukuthula kanye nezinkinga ekwakheni uxolo kanye nobuthakathaka / nophukayo kwezwekazi i-Afrika. Lokhu futhi kubonakele ngendlela yokubambisana kanye nokuziqhathulula kwama-knower aabalulekile ekufundiseni abafundi ngokudinga kokuba nezenhlalo kanye nesiko ukuze bakwazi ukuthola ikhurikhulamu kanye nokubamba iqhaza ngempumelelo njengama-knower kule nkundla. Lokhu kuchaze ukuthi ukufinyelela kuhlelo lokufunda kanye nokuba yilunga lama-knower, kungaba ukuba babonisane ngendlela evulelekile kanye nengenamkhawulo. Kulolu cwaningo, ngaqala ngabheka kabanzi ngokubalulekile ukuthi izifundo zezombusazwe ngolwazi lobuhlakani kwinkundlazwelo yokukhiqiza kanye nePDIS kungabonwa njengenguquko eyenza ukuba sikwazi ukubona ezinye izindlela zokusebenza kwezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nokubeka phambili ama-knower. Lokhu kusenza sibone ukubaluleka komkhiqizo wale nkundla, ukubuyekezwa kwezobuhlakani, kanye nomkhiqizo wezemfundo zombusazwe, kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS ikakhulukazi, kungathiwa ingaba nokubanjwa kokubheka. Iphinde isambulele kabanzi ukuthi singahlola, sense izinguquko kanye noshintsho kwezemfundo zombusazwe kanye nohlelo lwe PDIS. Okwesibili, ukuhlola ulwazi kanye nezakhiwo ze-knower ze-PDIS kungasiza abaklami bekhurikhulamu, abafundisi kanye nabafunsi ukukwazi ukuhlonza ulwazi nekhurikhulamu yekhodi ye-knower, kanye nokwazi ukubuyekeza kabanzi amakhodi ekhurikhulami yabo kanye nokwazi ukwenza i-epistemology ukuba abafundi bafinyelele kuyo. Ngaphezu kwalokhu, lolu cwaningo lungasiza abafundisi kanye nabaklamu bekhurikhulamu ukuba bakwazi ukwakha ikhurikhulamu yabo ngendlela ekhethekile, evulelekile, ngokwenhlalo nje, okubalulekile ukuthi uhlobo lophi lolwazi abakhetha lube semthethweni, kanye nalabo abakhetha ukungayilandeli inqubomgomo yolwazi kanye nokuhlola.
- Full Text:
In-betweenness: a postcolonial exploration of sociocultural intergenerational learning through cattle as a medium of cultural expression in Mpembeni, KwaZulu-Natal
- Authors: Masuku, Lynette Sibongile
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Postcolonialism , Environmental education -- South Africa , Community education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Non-formal education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Agricultural education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Livestock -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle herding -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Life skills -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68181 , vital:29213
- Description: This case study was conducted in a small rural community called Mpembeni, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. It was motivated by my observation of high levels of competence in ‘cattle knowledge’ amongst children coupled with a simultaneous failure at school. I view schools as integral parts of the community and consider them as being influenced by the community, which they in turn influence. This study set out to understand that which embodied informal learning in home/pasture-based contexts as well as formalised learning processes in schools. I used Sociocultural theory as the most congruent of educational theories to surface and illuminate the intergenerational learning processes that were taking place in the area. This warranted my use of research investigation methods that could, in non-intrusive ways, expose the everyday community practices that related to cattle as a particular medium of cultural expression. Ethnography, sourced from anthropology, aided by ethnomethods, was not only compatible with my study and the way in which I wanted to write out the research report, but also with my educational theory and its counterhegemonic intents. To understand the colonialities that framed the discord that embodied home and school as learning contexts, I used postcolonial theory, not only as a lens but as a counterhegemonic response. This theory also informed my research methodology as well as afforded me the reflexivity tools for an examination of my own intergenerational learning and the relational identities of myself as ‘Other’ in the lives of the research participants. It further facilitated the exploration of the potential for potential hybrid third spaces within the bubbling meeting nodes of the socio-cultural context of school and home/pasture based settings of learning. I observed cattle herding related practices, interviewed children, their parents and/or carers, dipping tank managers, livestock inspectors, community elders and members. I also analysed some of the written and unwritten content that made up the formal and informal based learning processes and reviewed some of the most recent South African Curriculum Statements and related texts on the representations of cattle. I sought views from teachers on their interactions with the people of Mpembeni, whose children they taught. I also explored axes of tension, silences and presences on anything related to cattle in schools. I argue and make a case for the development of thought by African scholars to advance Africa’s education rather than aid mimicry and the importation of theories of little congruence and relevance to the African context and Africa’s future. The study has made some contributions to new knowledge. This is in its exploration of sociocultural intergenerational methods and techniques that are employed for learning in community contexts, highlighting the importance of surfacing and understanding of children’s knowledge and experiences. The study has gone further to deliberate the in-betweenness of school and home learning environments, highlighting and unsilencing silenced, peripherised, new, old, considered irrelevant in the past, context and time congruent and liberatory knowledges. I propose that the knowledges located in these cleavages of difference be utilised to transform and create learning bridges between home and school environments. I propose that those ways of knowing that see others as nothings, be exposed and unlearned. Methods of learning that naturally unfold at home could be replicated at school with a recognition of the intergenerational methods, techniques, practices and the learning values in a critically constructive manner that narrows difference and othering.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Masuku, Lynette Sibongile
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Postcolonialism , Environmental education -- South Africa , Community education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Non-formal education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Agricultural education -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Livestock -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle -- Handling -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Cattle herding -- South Africa -- KwaZulu Natal , Life skills -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68181 , vital:29213
- Description: This case study was conducted in a small rural community called Mpembeni, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. It was motivated by my observation of high levels of competence in ‘cattle knowledge’ amongst children coupled with a simultaneous failure at school. I view schools as integral parts of the community and consider them as being influenced by the community, which they in turn influence. This study set out to understand that which embodied informal learning in home/pasture-based contexts as well as formalised learning processes in schools. I used Sociocultural theory as the most congruent of educational theories to surface and illuminate the intergenerational learning processes that were taking place in the area. This warranted my use of research investigation methods that could, in non-intrusive ways, expose the everyday community practices that related to cattle as a particular medium of cultural expression. Ethnography, sourced from anthropology, aided by ethnomethods, was not only compatible with my study and the way in which I wanted to write out the research report, but also with my educational theory and its counterhegemonic intents. To understand the colonialities that framed the discord that embodied home and school as learning contexts, I used postcolonial theory, not only as a lens but as a counterhegemonic response. This theory also informed my research methodology as well as afforded me the reflexivity tools for an examination of my own intergenerational learning and the relational identities of myself as ‘Other’ in the lives of the research participants. It further facilitated the exploration of the potential for potential hybrid third spaces within the bubbling meeting nodes of the socio-cultural context of school and home/pasture based settings of learning. I observed cattle herding related practices, interviewed children, their parents and/or carers, dipping tank managers, livestock inspectors, community elders and members. I also analysed some of the written and unwritten content that made up the formal and informal based learning processes and reviewed some of the most recent South African Curriculum Statements and related texts on the representations of cattle. I sought views from teachers on their interactions with the people of Mpembeni, whose children they taught. I also explored axes of tension, silences and presences on anything related to cattle in schools. I argue and make a case for the development of thought by African scholars to advance Africa’s education rather than aid mimicry and the importation of theories of little congruence and relevance to the African context and Africa’s future. The study has made some contributions to new knowledge. This is in its exploration of sociocultural intergenerational methods and techniques that are employed for learning in community contexts, highlighting the importance of surfacing and understanding of children’s knowledge and experiences. The study has gone further to deliberate the in-betweenness of school and home learning environments, highlighting and unsilencing silenced, peripherised, new, old, considered irrelevant in the past, context and time congruent and liberatory knowledges. I propose that the knowledges located in these cleavages of difference be utilised to transform and create learning bridges between home and school environments. I propose that those ways of knowing that see others as nothings, be exposed and unlearned. Methods of learning that naturally unfold at home could be replicated at school with a recognition of the intergenerational methods, techniques, practices and the learning values in a critically constructive manner that narrows difference and othering.
- Full Text:
Intersectionality and complexity in the representation of ‘queer’ sexualities and genders in African women’s short fiction
- Authors: Du Preez, Jenny Boźena
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Sexual minority culture , Sexual minorities' writings , African fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism , Gender identity in literature , Short stories, South African , Feminism in literature , Political poetry , Eroticism in literature , Lesbianism in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119047 , vital:34697
- Description: This thesis sets out to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about queer sexualities and genders in Africa by examining their depiction in selected post-2000 African women’s short fiction written in English. Post-2000, the short story form has become the primary vehicle for queer representations by African women writers, and is thus an important development in the burgeoning body of queer literature by African writers. Broadly speaking, this literary formation can be defined as anti-homophobic, feminist and politically pragmatic. Using an intersectional lens, this thesis sets out to examine four significant strands in the political work these stories engage in. The chapters are structured around four main points of contention that have particular significance at the intersection of ‘queer’, ‘women’ and ‘Africa’. Firstly, I examine South African short stories that perform what I call queer conversations with history: imaginatively asserting a queer South African history, writing back against a male-dominated and heterosexist literary canon and, in doing so, contributing to the reimagination of the contemporary South African nation. Secondly, I analyse short stories from Africa that foreground the family, both as social formation and ideology. I examine how these stories ‘fracture’ this powerful and naturalised heterosexist concept by depicting the tensions and contradictions that queer characters experience in relation to family. Thirdly, I consider short stories from various African contexts that work to reconceptualise queer sexuality in relation to religious discourse in order to challenge homophobic and patriarchal religious authority. Finally, I examine queer, feminist erotic short stories by African women writers that challenges various colonialist, racist, sexist and lesbophobic discourses that have historically stifled the portrayal of sex and erotic experience between women.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Du Preez, Jenny Boźena
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Sexual minority culture , Sexual minorities' writings , African fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism , Gender identity in literature , Short stories, South African , Feminism in literature , Political poetry , Eroticism in literature , Lesbianism in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119047 , vital:34697
- Description: This thesis sets out to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about queer sexualities and genders in Africa by examining their depiction in selected post-2000 African women’s short fiction written in English. Post-2000, the short story form has become the primary vehicle for queer representations by African women writers, and is thus an important development in the burgeoning body of queer literature by African writers. Broadly speaking, this literary formation can be defined as anti-homophobic, feminist and politically pragmatic. Using an intersectional lens, this thesis sets out to examine four significant strands in the political work these stories engage in. The chapters are structured around four main points of contention that have particular significance at the intersection of ‘queer’, ‘women’ and ‘Africa’. Firstly, I examine South African short stories that perform what I call queer conversations with history: imaginatively asserting a queer South African history, writing back against a male-dominated and heterosexist literary canon and, in doing so, contributing to the reimagination of the contemporary South African nation. Secondly, I analyse short stories from Africa that foreground the family, both as social formation and ideology. I examine how these stories ‘fracture’ this powerful and naturalised heterosexist concept by depicting the tensions and contradictions that queer characters experience in relation to family. Thirdly, I consider short stories from various African contexts that work to reconceptualise queer sexuality in relation to religious discourse in order to challenge homophobic and patriarchal religious authority. Finally, I examine queer, feminist erotic short stories by African women writers that challenges various colonialist, racist, sexist and lesbophobic discourses that have historically stifled the portrayal of sex and erotic experience between women.
- Full Text:
Investigating and expanding learning across activity system boundaries in improved cook stove innovation diffusion and adoption in Malawi
- Jalasi, Experencia Madalitso
- Authors: Jalasi, Experencia Madalitso
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Stoves, Wood -- Technological innovations -- Malawi , Biomass stoves -- Malawi , Economic development projects -- Environmental aspects -- Malawi , Rural development projects -- Environmental aspects -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68170 , vital:29212
- Description: This study investigates and expands learning within and between activity systems working with Improved Cook Stoves (hereafter ICS) in Malawi. The study focuses on how existing learning interactions among ICS actors can be expanded using expansive learning processes, mobilised through Boundary Crossing Change Laboratories (BCCL) to potentially inform more sustained uptake and utilisation of the ICS technology. The ICS, as a socio-technical innovation, seeks to respond to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in the country. However, sustained uptake and utilisation has been problematic. The study is located in the field of Environmental Education, with emphasis on the diffusion and adoption of socio-technical innovations in the context of ICS technology. The study addresses societal environmental health risks faced by people using traditional biomass fuels indoors on open fires, commonly referred to as Three Stone Fire (hereafter TSF) through formative intervention supported by Developmental Work Research (hereafter DWR) or Expansive Learning. The study was conducted in three climate change hotspot districts in Malawi: Balaka, Dedza and Mzimba. The case studies are in each of the three administrative regions of the country. Chapita Village case study is in Balaka district, in the Southern region; Waziloya Makwakwa Village is in Mzimba district in the Northern region; and Chilije Village in Dedza district in the Central region. In order to engage the potential for transformation in study areas, I divided the study into two phases. The first phase involved collection of ethnographic data to more deeply understand the context of the problem including existing learning approaches. This informed the second phase, which focused on expansive learning processes in the Chapita and Waziloya Makwakwa case studies. The study used a formative intervention approach, which focused on supporting the actors to manage the challenges they were facing and work out the problematic situations in their joint activity. The study employed a qualitative intensive research design because it aimed at in-depth understanding of uptake and utilisation of ICS. This was an important foundation for improving the existing situations through co-creating solutions with research participants. With this generative and action-oriented approach, the study employed a multiple embedded case study design. CHAT and Critical Realism were the two main theories that I employed as they resonated with the transformative interest of the study through focusing on learning as an emancipatory process with potential for transformation of human practices. In addition, I used the methodological theory of Expansive Learning from CHAT to guide the expansive learning processes. With the critical realist framing of the study, I employed a critical realist analytical framework, and used inductive, abductive and retroductive analyses.The major findings of the study indicate that broadly, uptake and utilisation of ICS is problematic, hence unsustained. The findings indicate that the majority of end-users in Chapita and Chilije case studies switched between TSF and ICS, or abandoned the ICS, which was not the case in Waziloya Makwakwa case study. The underlying causal mechanisms that appear to explain and influence end-users’ actions in all the case studies were the search for convenience during the cooking activity. Further, findings revealed that learning interactions among activity systems were unidirectional which provides evidence for top-down approaches prevalent in cook stove dissemination. The findings also indicated that most of the learning taking place was informative, not transformative. It was also inadequate, particularly for end-users. A causal mechanism that appears to shape how actors are learning ICS technology is poverty, which results in over-reliance on donor-driven projects. Findings also reveal that contradictions in the learning, uptake and utilisation of ICS influence the profile of uptake and utilisation of ICSs. Further, the change-oriented learning processes, as carried out in the Chapita and Waziloya Makwakwa case studies, have shown their potential in expanding learning interactions among ICS actors, evoking and supporting their transformative agency and enhancing their reflexivity. These processes are crucial in development and sustaining learning and change in the uptake and utilisation of ICS innovation. The main contribution of the study is methodological. It contributes broadly to diffusion and adoption of socio-technical innovations through change-oriented expansive learning processes. The study generated an Innovative Extension and Communicative Methodology, which foregrounds interaction and learning and links the socio-technical innovation intention and socio-technical innovation uptake and utilisation that potentially informs the dissemination and implementation of ICS projects. Further, the study contributes to community education by mobilising communities to address contradictions, absences, or ills in the society via change-oriented learning processes. The societal ills facing the case study sites and the areas around them, caused by climate change and variability and deforestation exacerbate the lives of rural women who are afflicted by conditions of poverty. The study contributes to global and local efforts and initiatives to address environmental health risks faced by people using traditional biomass fuels indoors on TSF and climate change mitigation and adaptation. This study has found out that putting the agency of the end-user in the centre in socio-technical transitions through context-based problem resolution and rigorous deliberate1 mediated processes of participation and learning, which allows multivoicedness and takes power relations into account, catalyses transformative agency, reflexivity, collaboration and learning capacity of ICS actors for sustained uptake and utilisation of the ICS socio-technical innovation.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Jalasi, Experencia Madalitso
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Stoves, Wood -- Technological innovations -- Malawi , Biomass stoves -- Malawi , Economic development projects -- Environmental aspects -- Malawi , Rural development projects -- Environmental aspects -- Malawi
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68170 , vital:29212
- Description: This study investigates and expands learning within and between activity systems working with Improved Cook Stoves (hereafter ICS) in Malawi. The study focuses on how existing learning interactions among ICS actors can be expanded using expansive learning processes, mobilised through Boundary Crossing Change Laboratories (BCCL) to potentially inform more sustained uptake and utilisation of the ICS technology. The ICS, as a socio-technical innovation, seeks to respond to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in the country. However, sustained uptake and utilisation has been problematic. The study is located in the field of Environmental Education, with emphasis on the diffusion and adoption of socio-technical innovations in the context of ICS technology. The study addresses societal environmental health risks faced by people using traditional biomass fuels indoors on open fires, commonly referred to as Three Stone Fire (hereafter TSF) through formative intervention supported by Developmental Work Research (hereafter DWR) or Expansive Learning. The study was conducted in three climate change hotspot districts in Malawi: Balaka, Dedza and Mzimba. The case studies are in each of the three administrative regions of the country. Chapita Village case study is in Balaka district, in the Southern region; Waziloya Makwakwa Village is in Mzimba district in the Northern region; and Chilije Village in Dedza district in the Central region. In order to engage the potential for transformation in study areas, I divided the study into two phases. The first phase involved collection of ethnographic data to more deeply understand the context of the problem including existing learning approaches. This informed the second phase, which focused on expansive learning processes in the Chapita and Waziloya Makwakwa case studies. The study used a formative intervention approach, which focused on supporting the actors to manage the challenges they were facing and work out the problematic situations in their joint activity. The study employed a qualitative intensive research design because it aimed at in-depth understanding of uptake and utilisation of ICS. This was an important foundation for improving the existing situations through co-creating solutions with research participants. With this generative and action-oriented approach, the study employed a multiple embedded case study design. CHAT and Critical Realism were the two main theories that I employed as they resonated with the transformative interest of the study through focusing on learning as an emancipatory process with potential for transformation of human practices. In addition, I used the methodological theory of Expansive Learning from CHAT to guide the expansive learning processes. With the critical realist framing of the study, I employed a critical realist analytical framework, and used inductive, abductive and retroductive analyses.The major findings of the study indicate that broadly, uptake and utilisation of ICS is problematic, hence unsustained. The findings indicate that the majority of end-users in Chapita and Chilije case studies switched between TSF and ICS, or abandoned the ICS, which was not the case in Waziloya Makwakwa case study. The underlying causal mechanisms that appear to explain and influence end-users’ actions in all the case studies were the search for convenience during the cooking activity. Further, findings revealed that learning interactions among activity systems were unidirectional which provides evidence for top-down approaches prevalent in cook stove dissemination. The findings also indicated that most of the learning taking place was informative, not transformative. It was also inadequate, particularly for end-users. A causal mechanism that appears to shape how actors are learning ICS technology is poverty, which results in over-reliance on donor-driven projects. Findings also reveal that contradictions in the learning, uptake and utilisation of ICS influence the profile of uptake and utilisation of ICSs. Further, the change-oriented learning processes, as carried out in the Chapita and Waziloya Makwakwa case studies, have shown their potential in expanding learning interactions among ICS actors, evoking and supporting their transformative agency and enhancing their reflexivity. These processes are crucial in development and sustaining learning and change in the uptake and utilisation of ICS innovation. The main contribution of the study is methodological. It contributes broadly to diffusion and adoption of socio-technical innovations through change-oriented expansive learning processes. The study generated an Innovative Extension and Communicative Methodology, which foregrounds interaction and learning and links the socio-technical innovation intention and socio-technical innovation uptake and utilisation that potentially informs the dissemination and implementation of ICS projects. Further, the study contributes to community education by mobilising communities to address contradictions, absences, or ills in the society via change-oriented learning processes. The societal ills facing the case study sites and the areas around them, caused by climate change and variability and deforestation exacerbate the lives of rural women who are afflicted by conditions of poverty. The study contributes to global and local efforts and initiatives to address environmental health risks faced by people using traditional biomass fuels indoors on TSF and climate change mitigation and adaptation. This study has found out that putting the agency of the end-user in the centre in socio-technical transitions through context-based problem resolution and rigorous deliberate1 mediated processes of participation and learning, which allows multivoicedness and takes power relations into account, catalyses transformative agency, reflexivity, collaboration and learning capacity of ICS actors for sustained uptake and utilisation of the ICS socio-technical innovation.
- Full Text:
Investigating mathematical proficiency testing in Namibian school high stakes mathematics examinations: an exploratory study
- Authors: Ndjendja, Elizabeth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education and state -- Namibia , Educational tests and measurements -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Curricula -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Namibia. Ministry of Education -- Examinations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92887 , vital:30759
- Description: The Namibian government has put processes in place to continuously improve its education system in line with educational development in the world. The education reform efforts are administered and coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. At the centre of these reform efforts are curriculum policy documents and subject syllabuses with the intention of improving the teaching and learning process in the classrooms. These reform efforts appears to overlook the positive influence high stakes assessment has on the teaching and learning process. The study reported in this thesis was designed to investigate the feasibility of assessing separate elements of mathematical proficiency in the high stakes Mathematics assessment in Namibia. The study was designed as a developmental, exploratory research that collected and analysed both qualitative and quantitative data in order to respond to issues raised by five specific research objectives. The data collected enabled the adaptation of some assessment tools in order to distinctly assess selected mathematical proficiency categories. The results further indicated that the envisaged proficiency assessment system could be used to characterise the examination question papers and revealed insights into the conceptualisation of the current assessment system. The results further indicated the visible distinguishability of different elements of proficiency through the developed tools and the learners’ responses to the NSSCO examination. Finally, constrains and affordance which the original assessment system has in relation to the developed system were revealed and addressed. In closing, the research suggested changes and possible adaptation of assessment tools to ensure the proper assessment of mathematical proficiency aspects through high stakes assessment. Immerging issues that needed further research were also highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ndjendja, Elizabeth
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education and state -- Namibia , Educational tests and measurements -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Curricula -- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Namibia , Namibia. Ministry of Education -- Examinations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92887 , vital:30759
- Description: The Namibian government has put processes in place to continuously improve its education system in line with educational development in the world. The education reform efforts are administered and coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. At the centre of these reform efforts are curriculum policy documents and subject syllabuses with the intention of improving the teaching and learning process in the classrooms. These reform efforts appears to overlook the positive influence high stakes assessment has on the teaching and learning process. The study reported in this thesis was designed to investigate the feasibility of assessing separate elements of mathematical proficiency in the high stakes Mathematics assessment in Namibia. The study was designed as a developmental, exploratory research that collected and analysed both qualitative and quantitative data in order to respond to issues raised by five specific research objectives. The data collected enabled the adaptation of some assessment tools in order to distinctly assess selected mathematical proficiency categories. The results further indicated that the envisaged proficiency assessment system could be used to characterise the examination question papers and revealed insights into the conceptualisation of the current assessment system. The results further indicated the visible distinguishability of different elements of proficiency through the developed tools and the learners’ responses to the NSSCO examination. Finally, constrains and affordance which the original assessment system has in relation to the developed system were revealed and addressed. In closing, the research suggested changes and possible adaptation of assessment tools to ensure the proper assessment of mathematical proficiency aspects through high stakes assessment. Immerging issues that needed further research were also highlighted.
- Full Text:
La masculinité dans quelques oeuvres des romanciers Francophones Africains
- Joseph, Joy Ifeanyichukwu Osarumwense
- Authors: Joseph, Joy Ifeanyichukwu Osarumwense
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Masculinity in literature , Men in literature , African fiction (French) -- History and criticism , Bâ, Mariama. Chant écarlate , Fassinou, Adélaïde, 1955-.Modukpè le rêve brisé , Sanusi, Ramonu Abiodun, 1961-.Le bistouri des larmes , Sanusi, Ramonu Abiodun, 1961-.Un nègre a violé une blonde à Dallas , Baboni, Azaratou.Vie de femme, vie de sang
- Language: French
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97512 , vital:31446 , DOI 10.21504/10962/97512
- Description: This thesis is a sociocritic and comparative study in Francophone African Literature which examines how male and female authors depict masculinity amongst African men in selected works of Francophone authors and how it affects the emancipation of women in the society. These include Mariama Bâ’s Un chant écarlate (1981) from Senegal, Adelaïde Fassinou’s Modukpè le rêve brisé (2000) from Benin, Ramonu Sanusi’s Le bistouri des larmes (2005, 2010) from Nigeria, Azaratou Baboni’s Vie de femme, vie de sang, (2011) from Benin, Ramonu Sanusi’s Un nègre a violé une blonde à Dallas, (2016) from Nigeria. The study analyses the various forms of masculinity in the selected works of Francophone authors. The study also examines the notable similarities and differences in the portrayal of male characters in the novel and how prevailing environmental factors determine the themes in the novel. This study has demonstrated that hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity are the dominant forms of masculinity in West Africa. These forms of masculinity have negative effects not only on the woman but affects the society in general. Furthermore, the study pleads for a social change with respect to Molara Leslie-Oguundipe’s theory on stiwanism (Ogundipe 1994: 229-230) The thesis is made of six chapters. In the first chapter, we outlined the study’s subject matter, its aims and objectives, its significance, its assumptions and methodology. In the second chapter, we examined Raewyn Connell’s theory of Masculinity and Molara Leslie-Ogundipe’s theory of Stiwanism with respect to the selected novels. Raewyn Connell’s theory on masculinity a sociological theory was employed in analyzing the social patterns of societal relationships, social interaction and culture, while Molara Leslie-Ogundipe’s theory on stiwanism a literary theory mirrored the West African Society. Such analyses helped us in identifying how socio-cultural and religious contexts influence the attitude of men towards women. In the third chapter, we applied sociocritic and comparative analyses between Mariama’s Bâ’s Un Chant Écarlate and Adelaïde’s Fassinou’s Modukpè le rêve brisé. The study focuses on how hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity influences racial discrimination in mixed marriages, polygamy, unwanted pregnancy, secondary sterility and single motherhood. These masculinities had negative effects on women and the society. The study also analyzed how both male and female characters employed stiwanist strategy in enhancing peace and harmony in the society. In the fourth chapter, the study examined how hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity influenced domestic violence, primary sterility, female genital mutilation and its negative and permanent damage to the health of women, the loss of lives of women and children in Ramonu Sanusi’s Le bistouri des larmes and Baboni Azaratou’s Vie de femme, vie de sang. The study also examined how women can rise above traditional norms with respect to stiwanist activites. The fifth chapter analyzed the influence of socio-cultural and political challenges in a contemporary society with respect to marginalized form of masculinity. In the sixth chapter, the study concluded that hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity are the dominant forms of masculinity. These forms of masculinites have negative effects on both sexes (male and female) as well as the society.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Joseph, Joy Ifeanyichukwu Osarumwense
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Masculinity in literature , Men in literature , African fiction (French) -- History and criticism , Bâ, Mariama. Chant écarlate , Fassinou, Adélaïde, 1955-.Modukpè le rêve brisé , Sanusi, Ramonu Abiodun, 1961-.Le bistouri des larmes , Sanusi, Ramonu Abiodun, 1961-.Un nègre a violé une blonde à Dallas , Baboni, Azaratou.Vie de femme, vie de sang
- Language: French
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97512 , vital:31446 , DOI 10.21504/10962/97512
- Description: This thesis is a sociocritic and comparative study in Francophone African Literature which examines how male and female authors depict masculinity amongst African men in selected works of Francophone authors and how it affects the emancipation of women in the society. These include Mariama Bâ’s Un chant écarlate (1981) from Senegal, Adelaïde Fassinou’s Modukpè le rêve brisé (2000) from Benin, Ramonu Sanusi’s Le bistouri des larmes (2005, 2010) from Nigeria, Azaratou Baboni’s Vie de femme, vie de sang, (2011) from Benin, Ramonu Sanusi’s Un nègre a violé une blonde à Dallas, (2016) from Nigeria. The study analyses the various forms of masculinity in the selected works of Francophone authors. The study also examines the notable similarities and differences in the portrayal of male characters in the novel and how prevailing environmental factors determine the themes in the novel. This study has demonstrated that hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity are the dominant forms of masculinity in West Africa. These forms of masculinity have negative effects not only on the woman but affects the society in general. Furthermore, the study pleads for a social change with respect to Molara Leslie-Oguundipe’s theory on stiwanism (Ogundipe 1994: 229-230) The thesis is made of six chapters. In the first chapter, we outlined the study’s subject matter, its aims and objectives, its significance, its assumptions and methodology. In the second chapter, we examined Raewyn Connell’s theory of Masculinity and Molara Leslie-Ogundipe’s theory of Stiwanism with respect to the selected novels. Raewyn Connell’s theory on masculinity a sociological theory was employed in analyzing the social patterns of societal relationships, social interaction and culture, while Molara Leslie-Ogundipe’s theory on stiwanism a literary theory mirrored the West African Society. Such analyses helped us in identifying how socio-cultural and religious contexts influence the attitude of men towards women. In the third chapter, we applied sociocritic and comparative analyses between Mariama’s Bâ’s Un Chant Écarlate and Adelaïde’s Fassinou’s Modukpè le rêve brisé. The study focuses on how hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity influences racial discrimination in mixed marriages, polygamy, unwanted pregnancy, secondary sterility and single motherhood. These masculinities had negative effects on women and the society. The study also analyzed how both male and female characters employed stiwanist strategy in enhancing peace and harmony in the society. In the fourth chapter, the study examined how hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity influenced domestic violence, primary sterility, female genital mutilation and its negative and permanent damage to the health of women, the loss of lives of women and children in Ramonu Sanusi’s Le bistouri des larmes and Baboni Azaratou’s Vie de femme, vie de sang. The study also examined how women can rise above traditional norms with respect to stiwanist activites. The fifth chapter analyzed the influence of socio-cultural and political challenges in a contemporary society with respect to marginalized form of masculinity. In the sixth chapter, the study concluded that hegemonic and marginalized forms of masculinity are the dominant forms of masculinity. These forms of masculinites have negative effects on both sexes (male and female) as well as the society.
- Full Text:
Large scale spatio-temporal forcing of pelagic-coastal coupling: disentangling the effects of environmental change on intertidal invertebrate recruitment
- Authors: Muñiz, Carlota Fernández
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/75317 , vital:30400
- Description: Marine systems are driven by the relationships among organisms and environmental conditions. Anthropogenic-induced changes during the past decades have started to alter climatic drivers which have the potential to alter the physical, chemical and biological environment. In coastal systems, biogeography is influenced by the temporal variability in the conditions of the water mass. In addition, many marine benthic organisms develop in the water mass and rely on the conditions that link the pelagic and benthic systems for population maintenance. Such pelagic-coastal coupling indicates that changes in the trophic system during development can be transferred to the adult populations through changes in propagule supply. Thus, changes in environmental conditions can influence benthic populations directly (e.g. through larval advection) or indirectly, through their influence on the phytoplankton community (e.g. through the development of HABs). The South African coastline shows clear alongshore patterns of faunal biomass and species richness. On the south coast, strong longitudinal patterns of recruitment of intertidal organisms exist, with areas of particularly high recruitment. HABs of unprecedented spatio-temporal magnitude have recently developed along the south coast, including the areas where benthic recruitment is most intense. The present thesis used these blooms to study changes in intertidal recruitment directly or indirectly associated with their occurrence. Using a combination of remote sensing data to study the environmental conditions of the water mass in the innermost part of the Agulhas Bank, and estimates of mussel and barnacle recruitment rates to integrate the effects of conditions in the water mass during larval development, this thesis aimed to: (1) understand the conditions that triggered the development of an HAB of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum during summer of 2014, (2) determine the direct or indirect effects of that bloom on recruitment of intertidal organisms, and understand the factors that affect recruitment along the coast, (3) determine if the environmental factors during bloom development produced any carryover effects on recruit growth and mortality, and (4) determine the factors that drive changes in community biomass and composition along the south coast, the long-term trends in those factors, and possible changes experienced in recent years. Water column stability during spring, before the development of the red tide, followed by alternating periods of upwelling and relaxation during summer and autumn, seemed to promote the development and persistence of L. polyedrum. Recruitment of mussels and barnacles was estimated during the reproductive season of mussels in 2014, coinciding with the red tide, and during the following year. Alongshore patterns in recruitment were found, with higher mussel recruitment in the absence of the red tide and the opposite pattern in barnacles. Alongshore patterns in SST and chlorophyll matching those of recruitment were also found, with higher SSTs and lower chlorophyll during the red tide than the following year. Growth and mortality rates in barnacles did not differ between years during the first five months after settlement. This suggests that the factors which produced differences in recruitment between years did not produce carryover effects detectable at the temporal scales studied. Further analysis of 15 years of satellite-derived environmental data showed significant cooling trends potentially driven by a long-term seasonal acceleration of the Agulhas Current in autumn around two upwelling centres on the south coast, coinciding temporally with the reproductive period of mussels and barnacles, and spatially with the areas of highest recruitment. In addition, the comparison of SST and chl-a conditions during the first and the second half of the period of study showed that seasonality of both variables has changed in large areas over the shelf, with increasing importance of shorter-term variability, which would in turn decrease environmental predictability. Thus, the conditions observed during the present study, particularly during 2015, when upwelling seemed to be more intense, may presage the potential effects of identified long-term cooling trends at the upwelling centres. Although the general trend shows cooling around those areas, conditions can vary greatly among years, favouring different taxa. Changes in the Agulhas Current System are affected by changes in distant areas in the Indian Ocean basin. Such tele-connection is unlikely to be unique to this system and indicates the importance of understanding trends in major large scale climatic drivers and their regional effects in order to make predictions about coastal systems.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Muñiz, Carlota Fernández
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/75317 , vital:30400
- Description: Marine systems are driven by the relationships among organisms and environmental conditions. Anthropogenic-induced changes during the past decades have started to alter climatic drivers which have the potential to alter the physical, chemical and biological environment. In coastal systems, biogeography is influenced by the temporal variability in the conditions of the water mass. In addition, many marine benthic organisms develop in the water mass and rely on the conditions that link the pelagic and benthic systems for population maintenance. Such pelagic-coastal coupling indicates that changes in the trophic system during development can be transferred to the adult populations through changes in propagule supply. Thus, changes in environmental conditions can influence benthic populations directly (e.g. through larval advection) or indirectly, through their influence on the phytoplankton community (e.g. through the development of HABs). The South African coastline shows clear alongshore patterns of faunal biomass and species richness. On the south coast, strong longitudinal patterns of recruitment of intertidal organisms exist, with areas of particularly high recruitment. HABs of unprecedented spatio-temporal magnitude have recently developed along the south coast, including the areas where benthic recruitment is most intense. The present thesis used these blooms to study changes in intertidal recruitment directly or indirectly associated with their occurrence. Using a combination of remote sensing data to study the environmental conditions of the water mass in the innermost part of the Agulhas Bank, and estimates of mussel and barnacle recruitment rates to integrate the effects of conditions in the water mass during larval development, this thesis aimed to: (1) understand the conditions that triggered the development of an HAB of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum during summer of 2014, (2) determine the direct or indirect effects of that bloom on recruitment of intertidal organisms, and understand the factors that affect recruitment along the coast, (3) determine if the environmental factors during bloom development produced any carryover effects on recruit growth and mortality, and (4) determine the factors that drive changes in community biomass and composition along the south coast, the long-term trends in those factors, and possible changes experienced in recent years. Water column stability during spring, before the development of the red tide, followed by alternating periods of upwelling and relaxation during summer and autumn, seemed to promote the development and persistence of L. polyedrum. Recruitment of mussels and barnacles was estimated during the reproductive season of mussels in 2014, coinciding with the red tide, and during the following year. Alongshore patterns in recruitment were found, with higher mussel recruitment in the absence of the red tide and the opposite pattern in barnacles. Alongshore patterns in SST and chlorophyll matching those of recruitment were also found, with higher SSTs and lower chlorophyll during the red tide than the following year. Growth and mortality rates in barnacles did not differ between years during the first five months after settlement. This suggests that the factors which produced differences in recruitment between years did not produce carryover effects detectable at the temporal scales studied. Further analysis of 15 years of satellite-derived environmental data showed significant cooling trends potentially driven by a long-term seasonal acceleration of the Agulhas Current in autumn around two upwelling centres on the south coast, coinciding temporally with the reproductive period of mussels and barnacles, and spatially with the areas of highest recruitment. In addition, the comparison of SST and chl-a conditions during the first and the second half of the period of study showed that seasonality of both variables has changed in large areas over the shelf, with increasing importance of shorter-term variability, which would in turn decrease environmental predictability. Thus, the conditions observed during the present study, particularly during 2015, when upwelling seemed to be more intense, may presage the potential effects of identified long-term cooling trends at the upwelling centres. Although the general trend shows cooling around those areas, conditions can vary greatly among years, favouring different taxa. Changes in the Agulhas Current System are affected by changes in distant areas in the Indian Ocean basin. Such tele-connection is unlikely to be unique to this system and indicates the importance of understanding trends in major large scale climatic drivers and their regional effects in order to make predictions about coastal systems.
- Full Text:
Large scale spatio-temporal forcing of pelagic-coastal coupling: disentangling the effects of environmental change on intertidal invertebrate recruitment
- Authors: Muñiz, Carlota Fernández
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Dinoflagellates -- South Africa , Coastal ecology -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- South Africa , Benthic ecology -- South Africa , Agulhas Current , Ocean temperature -- Agulhas Current , Ocean temperature -- Physiological effect
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/151541 , vital:39140
- Description: Marine systems are driven by the relationships among organisms and environmental conditions. Anthropogenic-induced changes during the past decades have started to alter climatic drivers which have the potential to alter the physical, chemical and biological environment. In coastal systems, biogeography is influenced by the temporal variability in the conditions of the water mass. In addition, many marine benthic organisms develop in the water mass and rely on the conditions that link the pelagic and benthic systems for population maintenance. Such pelagic-coastal coupling indicates that changes in the trophic system during development can be transferred to the adult populations through changes in propagule supply. Thus, changes in environmental conditions can influence benthic populations directly (e.g. through larval advection) or indirectly, through their influence on the phytoplankton community (e.g. through the development of HABs). The South African coastline shows clear alongshore patterns of faunal biomass and species richness. On the south coast, strong longitudinal patterns of recruitment of intertidal organisms exist, with areas of particularly high recruitment. HABs of unprecedented spatio-temporal magnitude have recently developed along the south coast, including the areas where benthic recruitment is most intense. The present thesis used these blooms to study changes in intertidal recruitment directly or indirectly associated with their occurrence. Using a combination of remote sensing data to study the environmental conditions of the water mass in the innermost part of the Agulhas Bank, and estimates of mussel and barnacle recruitment rates to integrate the effects of conditions in the water mass during larval development, this thesis aimed to: (1) understand the conditions that triggered the development of an HAB of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum during summer of 2014, (2) determine the direct or indirect effects of that bloom on recruitment of intertidal organisms, and understand the factors that affect recruitment along the coast, (3) determine if the environmental factors during bloom development produced any carryover effects on recruit growth and mortality, and (4) determine the factors that drive changes in community biomass and composition along the south coast, the long-term trends in those factors, and possible changes experienced in recent years. Water column stability during spring, before the development of the red tide, followed by alternating periods of upwelling and relaxation during summer and autumn, seemed to promote the development and persistence of L. polyedrum. Recruitment of mussels and barnacles was estimated during the reproductive season of mussels in 2014, coinciding with the red tide, and during the following year. Alongshore patterns in recruitment were found, with higher mussel recruitment in the absence of the red tide and the opposite pattern in barnacles. Alongshore patterns in SST and chlorophyll matching those of recruitment were also found, with higher SSTs and lower chlorophyll during the red tide than the following year. Growth and mortality rates in barnacles did not differ between years during the first five months after settlement. This suggests that the factors which produced differences in recruitment between years did not produce carryover effects detectable at the temporal scales studied. Further analysis of 15 years of satellite-derived environmental data showed significant cooling trends potentially driven by a long-term seasonal acceleration of the Agulhas Current in autumn around two upwelling centres on the south coast, coinciding temporally with the reproductive period of mussels and barnacles, and spatially with the areas of highest recruitment. In addition, the comparison of SST and chl-a conditions during the first and the second half of the period of study showed that seasonality of both variables has changed in large areas over the shelf, with increasing importance of shorter-term variability, which would in turn decrease environmental predictability. Thus, the conditions observed during the present study, particularly during 2015, when upwelling seemed to be more intense, may presage the potential effects of identified long-term cooling trends at the upwelling centres. Although the general trend shows cooling around those areas, conditions can vary greatly among years, favouring different taxa. Changes in the Agulhas Current System are affected by changes in distant areas in the Indian Ocean basin. Such tele-connection is unlikely to be unique to this system and indicates the importance of understanding trends in major large scale climatic drivers and their regional effects in order to make predictions about coastal systems.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Muñiz, Carlota Fernández
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Dinoflagellates -- South Africa , Coastal ecology -- South Africa , Climatic changes -- South Africa , Benthic ecology -- South Africa , Agulhas Current , Ocean temperature -- Agulhas Current , Ocean temperature -- Physiological effect
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/151541 , vital:39140
- Description: Marine systems are driven by the relationships among organisms and environmental conditions. Anthropogenic-induced changes during the past decades have started to alter climatic drivers which have the potential to alter the physical, chemical and biological environment. In coastal systems, biogeography is influenced by the temporal variability in the conditions of the water mass. In addition, many marine benthic organisms develop in the water mass and rely on the conditions that link the pelagic and benthic systems for population maintenance. Such pelagic-coastal coupling indicates that changes in the trophic system during development can be transferred to the adult populations through changes in propagule supply. Thus, changes in environmental conditions can influence benthic populations directly (e.g. through larval advection) or indirectly, through their influence on the phytoplankton community (e.g. through the development of HABs). The South African coastline shows clear alongshore patterns of faunal biomass and species richness. On the south coast, strong longitudinal patterns of recruitment of intertidal organisms exist, with areas of particularly high recruitment. HABs of unprecedented spatio-temporal magnitude have recently developed along the south coast, including the areas where benthic recruitment is most intense. The present thesis used these blooms to study changes in intertidal recruitment directly or indirectly associated with their occurrence. Using a combination of remote sensing data to study the environmental conditions of the water mass in the innermost part of the Agulhas Bank, and estimates of mussel and barnacle recruitment rates to integrate the effects of conditions in the water mass during larval development, this thesis aimed to: (1) understand the conditions that triggered the development of an HAB of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum during summer of 2014, (2) determine the direct or indirect effects of that bloom on recruitment of intertidal organisms, and understand the factors that affect recruitment along the coast, (3) determine if the environmental factors during bloom development produced any carryover effects on recruit growth and mortality, and (4) determine the factors that drive changes in community biomass and composition along the south coast, the long-term trends in those factors, and possible changes experienced in recent years. Water column stability during spring, before the development of the red tide, followed by alternating periods of upwelling and relaxation during summer and autumn, seemed to promote the development and persistence of L. polyedrum. Recruitment of mussels and barnacles was estimated during the reproductive season of mussels in 2014, coinciding with the red tide, and during the following year. Alongshore patterns in recruitment were found, with higher mussel recruitment in the absence of the red tide and the opposite pattern in barnacles. Alongshore patterns in SST and chlorophyll matching those of recruitment were also found, with higher SSTs and lower chlorophyll during the red tide than the following year. Growth and mortality rates in barnacles did not differ between years during the first five months after settlement. This suggests that the factors which produced differences in recruitment between years did not produce carryover effects detectable at the temporal scales studied. Further analysis of 15 years of satellite-derived environmental data showed significant cooling trends potentially driven by a long-term seasonal acceleration of the Agulhas Current in autumn around two upwelling centres on the south coast, coinciding temporally with the reproductive period of mussels and barnacles, and spatially with the areas of highest recruitment. In addition, the comparison of SST and chl-a conditions during the first and the second half of the period of study showed that seasonality of both variables has changed in large areas over the shelf, with increasing importance of shorter-term variability, which would in turn decrease environmental predictability. Thus, the conditions observed during the present study, particularly during 2015, when upwelling seemed to be more intense, may presage the potential effects of identified long-term cooling trends at the upwelling centres. Although the general trend shows cooling around those areas, conditions can vary greatly among years, favouring different taxa. Changes in the Agulhas Current System are affected by changes in distant areas in the Indian Ocean basin. Such tele-connection is unlikely to be unique to this system and indicates the importance of understanding trends in major large scale climatic drivers and their regional effects in order to make predictions about coastal systems.
- Full Text:
Learning to learn: a critical realist exploration into the home established learning practices of a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
- Full Text:
Livestock water productivity: towards improving rural livelihoods from livestock in semi-arid rangelands
- Authors: Gusha, Bukho
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Livestock -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Effect of drought on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Animals -- Food -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Effect of water quality on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Water requirements -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock productivity -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Stochastic analysis , Communal rangelands -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land degradation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Animal owners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock improvement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115171 , vital:34084
- Description: Communal rangelands in South Africa mainly occur in the former homelands. The former homelands constitute 13% of the land surface area and support a quarter of the country's human population with a wide range of goods and services, among them, grazing for livestock, mostly reared on communal rangelands. These rangelands are degraded and cannot sustain maximum livestock production because of poor species composition and low standing biomass, however research has been conducted on livestock production at household level (where all livestock goods and services are valued). This provides an opportunity to conduct a study describing livestock water productivity in the north of the Eastern Cape, where livestock production is a primary source of livelihood for rural communities from which many households generate cash but where different practices and factors undermine high livestock production. Many studies have focused on understanding the water productivity of a natural rangeland system for commercially oriented crop-livestock systems, but the aim of this study is to contribute towards improving rural livelihoods from livestock in the sub-humid rangelands of the north Eastern Cape. Here, unimproved native grasslands are the major source of feed for livestock and people do not have herders to take livestock to the most productive parts of the rangelands. Households were surveyed using a questionnaire on livestock household contribution, socioeconomic characteristics of the household, livestock holdings and livestock production strategies. Rangeland productivity was measured in the field. Experimental animals for livestock grazing distribution were identified and fitted with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) collars to identify the seasonal grazing areas. These activities shed light on the biophysical attributes of the ecosystem and livestock production in a communal rangeland system. Because continuous grazing in the rangelands of the north Eastern Cape reduces the standing biomass, there is no obvious aboveground biomass to provide a visual perspective of production nor is it possible to determine production without excluding the livestock. Thus, four parallel lines of evidence were employed to measure rangeland productivity: line intercept, grazing exclosures, net photosynthesis from earth observation and disc pasture meter. Earth observation products were used to derive the amount of water used by the landscape to produce this forage (i.e. evapotranspiration or ET) and these measurements of net primary production and landscape water use were used in preparing a value of livestock water productivity (LWP) for this farming system. There has been the perception that residents of the study area lack knowledge of technical efficiencies in the large stock sector at household level. The study used stochastic frontier analysis to assess livestock production and followed with a household survey to collect information on socio-economic characteristics and information on livestock practices. The data from the household survey were used to estimate the technical efficiency of households using a stochastic frontier analysis. Productivity and inefficiency variables that increase livestock production or increase technical difficulties were identified. The focus on livestock has mostly been on the direct value of livestock to owners with a poor understanding of their value to non-livestock owners, where cultural activities, such as livestock slaughtering, were documented as the only source of protein for non-livestock owners. However, the value that is available to non-livestock owners has not been quantified. This study assessed livestockbased livelihoods of communal people to improve their livelihoods through a household survey looking at the contribution of livestock to both livestock and non-livestock owners. Earlier work on LWP has focused on systems where animals were on ‘fed, cut and carry’ and irrigated systems. However, there is a need to describe LWP in a natural grazing system and this study set out to achieve this for these communal rangelands through a household survey that determined the value of livestock goods and services given the amount of water used (ET). Lastly, livestock grazing distribution across the landscape was assessed, using GPS collars that recorded livestock behaviour every five minutes during the daylight. This approach was necessary because livestock grazing patterns in these communal rangelands is poorly controlled by people, and animals are largely free-ranging, grazing selectively, based on their own preferences, which leads to localised overgrazing. This part of the study was achieved through experimental livestock collaring and weighing (both sheep and goats) for the wet and dry seasons. The collared livestock were weighed on the day of putting on collars and the day of removing the collars. The results on livestock grazing distribution were analysed using the R package, T-LoCoH. The major finding of this study was that communal rangelands of the north Eastern Cape can improve rural livelihoods from livestock if proper interventions for both livestock and rangeland production and productivity can be implemented. One of these interventions is fencing as it was found that exclosures that were fenced during the study yielded high aboveground productivity comparable to that achieved in commercial rangelands, yielding 220 g DM m-2 yr-1. Surveys using the calibrated disc pasture meter showed the need for proper rotation and resting of the rangeland. Net photosynthesis of 880.7 g C m-2 yr-1 for unimproved grassland in good condition was comparable to commercial rangelands in the region. Using the line intercept, vegetation cover was found to be a good predictor of aboveground standing biomass; thus a positive relationship was revealed. Lastly, annual ET of 270 mm yr-1 was calculated using the Penman Monteith Palmer (PMP) equation, while 379 mm yr-1 was extracted from the MOD16 product, suggesting that PMP ET may not be accurate in these grassland systems due to the slow response of MODIS Leaf Area Index (LAI). The average household technical efficiency (TE) score was found to be 0.79 on the study sites, indicating the potential for households to improve outputs from livestock. A range of household categories were identified, based on gender and an index of wealth, and households with lower and higher TE were identified. This analysis revealed that productivity variables such as holding higher livestock numbers and providing additional feed achieved high livestock outputs, suggesting high livestock productivity. However, in terms of inefficiency variables, gender (female-headed households), dwelling type (an index of homestead wealth), kraaling livestock at night and herding livestock during the day were found to improve technical efficiency. It was revealed in this study that households keep livestock to derive different goods and services including offtake, manure, milk, wool and services such as traction. The non-livestock owning households were reported to also benefit from the abovementioned goods and services in the study site and that the value of their contribution could be quantified, thus contributing significantly to rural livelihoods. The study showed that LWP was comparable with other studies such as those conducted in Ethiopia. This study compared its results with the studies conducted outside South Africa as there were limited comparable South African studies available; however, this does not necessarily mean we can use the same model as the value of livestock outputs varies based on the preferred outputs. This study developed an LWP model for the natural rangeland system. The LWP values were measured in ZAR and later converted in USD and were divided into three different categories based on the wealth index, such as better-off, middle wealth and poor households. Lastly, this study showed that livestock (both cattle and sheep) spend a high proportion of their grazing day, during both the wet and dry seasons, in a small physical area, immediately around the homesteads. These are areas where the active green growth occurs throughout the year, suggesting the need for livestock herders to move livestock around the landscape for more effective landscape use. Herding has the potential to improve landscape use and conserve grazing resource and the ability of a household to attain best outputs from livestock. Positive daily weight gains were reported in collared livestock during the wet season. However, both sheep and cattle lost weight during the dry season. This study recommends interventions such as labour for herding, and other animal husbandry-related activities including milking, handling, and vaccinating animals. Market opportunities for communal rangeland livestock should be facilitated by informing livestock owners about livestock market specifications to improve their livelihoods. Lastly, proper grazing management planning, such as fencing, which enables rotational grazing, and herding which moves animals to the most productive parts of the rangeland, should be implemented so that rangelands can be rested for plant growth, vigour, and improved aboveground net primary productivity. Based on the recommendations made in this study, a research development approach is necessary which prioritises female empowerment in agriculture and poor farmers as female-headed households were reported by this study to be more technically efficient.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Gusha, Bukho
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Livestock -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Effect of drought on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Animals -- Food -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Effect of water quality on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock -- Water requirements -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock productivity -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Stochastic analysis , Communal rangelands -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Land degradation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Animal owners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Livestock improvement -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115171 , vital:34084
- Description: Communal rangelands in South Africa mainly occur in the former homelands. The former homelands constitute 13% of the land surface area and support a quarter of the country's human population with a wide range of goods and services, among them, grazing for livestock, mostly reared on communal rangelands. These rangelands are degraded and cannot sustain maximum livestock production because of poor species composition and low standing biomass, however research has been conducted on livestock production at household level (where all livestock goods and services are valued). This provides an opportunity to conduct a study describing livestock water productivity in the north of the Eastern Cape, where livestock production is a primary source of livelihood for rural communities from which many households generate cash but where different practices and factors undermine high livestock production. Many studies have focused on understanding the water productivity of a natural rangeland system for commercially oriented crop-livestock systems, but the aim of this study is to contribute towards improving rural livelihoods from livestock in the sub-humid rangelands of the north Eastern Cape. Here, unimproved native grasslands are the major source of feed for livestock and people do not have herders to take livestock to the most productive parts of the rangelands. Households were surveyed using a questionnaire on livestock household contribution, socioeconomic characteristics of the household, livestock holdings and livestock production strategies. Rangeland productivity was measured in the field. Experimental animals for livestock grazing distribution were identified and fitted with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) collars to identify the seasonal grazing areas. These activities shed light on the biophysical attributes of the ecosystem and livestock production in a communal rangeland system. Because continuous grazing in the rangelands of the north Eastern Cape reduces the standing biomass, there is no obvious aboveground biomass to provide a visual perspective of production nor is it possible to determine production without excluding the livestock. Thus, four parallel lines of evidence were employed to measure rangeland productivity: line intercept, grazing exclosures, net photosynthesis from earth observation and disc pasture meter. Earth observation products were used to derive the amount of water used by the landscape to produce this forage (i.e. evapotranspiration or ET) and these measurements of net primary production and landscape water use were used in preparing a value of livestock water productivity (LWP) for this farming system. There has been the perception that residents of the study area lack knowledge of technical efficiencies in the large stock sector at household level. The study used stochastic frontier analysis to assess livestock production and followed with a household survey to collect information on socio-economic characteristics and information on livestock practices. The data from the household survey were used to estimate the technical efficiency of households using a stochastic frontier analysis. Productivity and inefficiency variables that increase livestock production or increase technical difficulties were identified. The focus on livestock has mostly been on the direct value of livestock to owners with a poor understanding of their value to non-livestock owners, where cultural activities, such as livestock slaughtering, were documented as the only source of protein for non-livestock owners. However, the value that is available to non-livestock owners has not been quantified. This study assessed livestockbased livelihoods of communal people to improve their livelihoods through a household survey looking at the contribution of livestock to both livestock and non-livestock owners. Earlier work on LWP has focused on systems where animals were on ‘fed, cut and carry’ and irrigated systems. However, there is a need to describe LWP in a natural grazing system and this study set out to achieve this for these communal rangelands through a household survey that determined the value of livestock goods and services given the amount of water used (ET). Lastly, livestock grazing distribution across the landscape was assessed, using GPS collars that recorded livestock behaviour every five minutes during the daylight. This approach was necessary because livestock grazing patterns in these communal rangelands is poorly controlled by people, and animals are largely free-ranging, grazing selectively, based on their own preferences, which leads to localised overgrazing. This part of the study was achieved through experimental livestock collaring and weighing (both sheep and goats) for the wet and dry seasons. The collared livestock were weighed on the day of putting on collars and the day of removing the collars. The results on livestock grazing distribution were analysed using the R package, T-LoCoH. The major finding of this study was that communal rangelands of the north Eastern Cape can improve rural livelihoods from livestock if proper interventions for both livestock and rangeland production and productivity can be implemented. One of these interventions is fencing as it was found that exclosures that were fenced during the study yielded high aboveground productivity comparable to that achieved in commercial rangelands, yielding 220 g DM m-2 yr-1. Surveys using the calibrated disc pasture meter showed the need for proper rotation and resting of the rangeland. Net photosynthesis of 880.7 g C m-2 yr-1 for unimproved grassland in good condition was comparable to commercial rangelands in the region. Using the line intercept, vegetation cover was found to be a good predictor of aboveground standing biomass; thus a positive relationship was revealed. Lastly, annual ET of 270 mm yr-1 was calculated using the Penman Monteith Palmer (PMP) equation, while 379 mm yr-1 was extracted from the MOD16 product, suggesting that PMP ET may not be accurate in these grassland systems due to the slow response of MODIS Leaf Area Index (LAI). The average household technical efficiency (TE) score was found to be 0.79 on the study sites, indicating the potential for households to improve outputs from livestock. A range of household categories were identified, based on gender and an index of wealth, and households with lower and higher TE were identified. This analysis revealed that productivity variables such as holding higher livestock numbers and providing additional feed achieved high livestock outputs, suggesting high livestock productivity. However, in terms of inefficiency variables, gender (female-headed households), dwelling type (an index of homestead wealth), kraaling livestock at night and herding livestock during the day were found to improve technical efficiency. It was revealed in this study that households keep livestock to derive different goods and services including offtake, manure, milk, wool and services such as traction. The non-livestock owning households were reported to also benefit from the abovementioned goods and services in the study site and that the value of their contribution could be quantified, thus contributing significantly to rural livelihoods. The study showed that LWP was comparable with other studies such as those conducted in Ethiopia. This study compared its results with the studies conducted outside South Africa as there were limited comparable South African studies available; however, this does not necessarily mean we can use the same model as the value of livestock outputs varies based on the preferred outputs. This study developed an LWP model for the natural rangeland system. The LWP values were measured in ZAR and later converted in USD and were divided into three different categories based on the wealth index, such as better-off, middle wealth and poor households. Lastly, this study showed that livestock (both cattle and sheep) spend a high proportion of their grazing day, during both the wet and dry seasons, in a small physical area, immediately around the homesteads. These are areas where the active green growth occurs throughout the year, suggesting the need for livestock herders to move livestock around the landscape for more effective landscape use. Herding has the potential to improve landscape use and conserve grazing resource and the ability of a household to attain best outputs from livestock. Positive daily weight gains were reported in collared livestock during the wet season. However, both sheep and cattle lost weight during the dry season. This study recommends interventions such as labour for herding, and other animal husbandry-related activities including milking, handling, and vaccinating animals. Market opportunities for communal rangeland livestock should be facilitated by informing livestock owners about livestock market specifications to improve their livelihoods. Lastly, proper grazing management planning, such as fencing, which enables rotational grazing, and herding which moves animals to the most productive parts of the rangeland, should be implemented so that rangelands can be rested for plant growth, vigour, and improved aboveground net primary productivity. Based on the recommendations made in this study, a research development approach is necessary which prioritises female empowerment in agriculture and poor farmers as female-headed households were reported by this study to be more technically efficient.
- Full Text:
L’entre-deux identitaire dans quelques oeuvres d’écrivains francophones “immigrantsˮ, “cas de Dany Laferrière, d’Alain Mabanckou, de Calixthe Beyala et de Lottin Wekapeˮ
- Kayumba, Viviane Ngoie Banza
- Authors: Kayumba, Viviane Ngoie Banza
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: African literature (French) -- History and criticism , Immigrants in literature , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966-. Black bazaar , Laferrière, Dany. Je suis un écrivain japonais , Beyala, Calixthe. Le Petit prince de Belleville , Wekape, Lottin, 1968-. J’appartiens au monde
- Language: French
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150929 , vital:39018
- Description: This dissertation examines the theme of hybrid identities in Mabanckou, Laferrière, Beyala and Wekape’s novels : Black Bazar, Le Petit prince de Belleville, Je suis un écrivain japonais and J’appartiens au monde. Hybrid identity raises the issue of identity diversity and contemporary francophone literature is characterised by the emergence of fictional narratives increasingly numerous. This research undertaken is driven by the desire to extend the field of investigation in francophone literature by taking into account a varied corpus of Haitian, Congolese, and Cameroonian literatures. I have opted for writers who settled in a foreign country and have adopted a foreign language that they considered to be part of a foreign literary world; writers who are between two or more cultures which they depict in French. The few existing studies on hybrid identities on these four novels focused more on formal and linguistic analysis and omitted meaningful sociocritic analysis. It is clear that a full study on sociocritic approach on hybrid identity on these four authors remains to be done. The research is demonstrating how different characters created by these four postmodern immigrant French-speaking writers occasionally function similarly in their texts. This gives a clear understanding of the specific behaviour of immigrants characters, vis-à-vis their various situations in the novels, and how these immigrants seek to address the problems they encounter. As this research offers reflections related to the identities and nationalities of immigrants, Laferrière, Mabanckou, Beyala and Wekape’s texts are based on the search for social belonging and a literary membership in this modern world. Therefore, they are analysing their position in a literary field as well as in a social field. In their texts they highlight the Space real or imaginary. In which way and how this Space contribute to the evolution of francophone literature? To what extent does francophone literature takes into account this representation of the Space? These questions lead to a reflection on the position occupied by these authors in the francophone field and the source of their literary inspirations. My interest in these authors is motivated by the fact that, by living and writing in a country which is not their place of birth, they each reveal different aspects of hybrid identity. Each of them, has his or her personal and original way of tackling the problem of mixed identity. They present their characters in different situations and different contexts, showing that each has been in contact with several cultures which they have assimilated and each lived in his or her own way a particular story. My study’s focus is to understand the problems of contact of cultures and their consequences, and to explore how through the characters of the novel, immigrant French speaking writers understood their acculturation as themselves have experienced an identity crisis, resulting from the confrontation of the culture of their new homeland and the culture of their country of origin. For this reason, Bourdieu’s approach “la sociocritique” will help me to found out the origin of the author’s obsession with the question of hybrid identity. I have chosen these four immigrant speaking writers to explore the strategies implemented by the novels’ narrators to construct their identities and to find out how the narrators express the intentions of the authors. In their texts, Mabanckou, Beyala, Laferrière and Wekape have used various strategies to express the quest for identity which gives clear indications of the authors’ creativity such as humour, parody, or solemnity and gravity - and the narrative voices reveal distinctive attitudes in relation to hybrid identity. At this level, other approaches will also be called for, such as the work of Westphal, Doubrovsky, Genette, Colona, etc. Through my investigation, these works present similarities and dissimilarities. Each author tackled the questions of hybrid identities according to his own experience. From there, a different commitment emerges, depending on the degree of inquiry into questions about immigration. These authors all evoke the social precariousness of their characters or the immigrant and privilege an urban framework. The examination of these works allowed me to identify their place in Francophonie literature and to discover the importance of their texts. The four novels relate to the search for identity, an aesthetic way and a search for freedom. They possess aesthetic qualities, they have a high degree of coherence. Their romantic choice shows their creativity and their strategies engender a hybrid writing that stems from their position between several languages and place these novels within the world literature.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Kayumba, Viviane Ngoie Banza
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: African literature (French) -- History and criticism , Immigrants in literature , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966-. Black bazaar , Laferrière, Dany. Je suis un écrivain japonais , Beyala, Calixthe. Le Petit prince de Belleville , Wekape, Lottin, 1968-. J’appartiens au monde
- Language: French
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150929 , vital:39018
- Description: This dissertation examines the theme of hybrid identities in Mabanckou, Laferrière, Beyala and Wekape’s novels : Black Bazar, Le Petit prince de Belleville, Je suis un écrivain japonais and J’appartiens au monde. Hybrid identity raises the issue of identity diversity and contemporary francophone literature is characterised by the emergence of fictional narratives increasingly numerous. This research undertaken is driven by the desire to extend the field of investigation in francophone literature by taking into account a varied corpus of Haitian, Congolese, and Cameroonian literatures. I have opted for writers who settled in a foreign country and have adopted a foreign language that they considered to be part of a foreign literary world; writers who are between two or more cultures which they depict in French. The few existing studies on hybrid identities on these four novels focused more on formal and linguistic analysis and omitted meaningful sociocritic analysis. It is clear that a full study on sociocritic approach on hybrid identity on these four authors remains to be done. The research is demonstrating how different characters created by these four postmodern immigrant French-speaking writers occasionally function similarly in their texts. This gives a clear understanding of the specific behaviour of immigrants characters, vis-à-vis their various situations in the novels, and how these immigrants seek to address the problems they encounter. As this research offers reflections related to the identities and nationalities of immigrants, Laferrière, Mabanckou, Beyala and Wekape’s texts are based on the search for social belonging and a literary membership in this modern world. Therefore, they are analysing their position in a literary field as well as in a social field. In their texts they highlight the Space real or imaginary. In which way and how this Space contribute to the evolution of francophone literature? To what extent does francophone literature takes into account this representation of the Space? These questions lead to a reflection on the position occupied by these authors in the francophone field and the source of their literary inspirations. My interest in these authors is motivated by the fact that, by living and writing in a country which is not their place of birth, they each reveal different aspects of hybrid identity. Each of them, has his or her personal and original way of tackling the problem of mixed identity. They present their characters in different situations and different contexts, showing that each has been in contact with several cultures which they have assimilated and each lived in his or her own way a particular story. My study’s focus is to understand the problems of contact of cultures and their consequences, and to explore how through the characters of the novel, immigrant French speaking writers understood their acculturation as themselves have experienced an identity crisis, resulting from the confrontation of the culture of their new homeland and the culture of their country of origin. For this reason, Bourdieu’s approach “la sociocritique” will help me to found out the origin of the author’s obsession with the question of hybrid identity. I have chosen these four immigrant speaking writers to explore the strategies implemented by the novels’ narrators to construct their identities and to find out how the narrators express the intentions of the authors. In their texts, Mabanckou, Beyala, Laferrière and Wekape have used various strategies to express the quest for identity which gives clear indications of the authors’ creativity such as humour, parody, or solemnity and gravity - and the narrative voices reveal distinctive attitudes in relation to hybrid identity. At this level, other approaches will also be called for, such as the work of Westphal, Doubrovsky, Genette, Colona, etc. Through my investigation, these works present similarities and dissimilarities. Each author tackled the questions of hybrid identities according to his own experience. From there, a different commitment emerges, depending on the degree of inquiry into questions about immigration. These authors all evoke the social precariousness of their characters or the immigrant and privilege an urban framework. The examination of these works allowed me to identify their place in Francophonie literature and to discover the importance of their texts. The four novels relate to the search for identity, an aesthetic way and a search for freedom. They possess aesthetic qualities, they have a high degree of coherence. Their romantic choice shows their creativity and their strategies engender a hybrid writing that stems from their position between several languages and place these novels within the world literature.
- Full Text:
Modelling storm-time TEC changes using linear and non-linear techniques
- Authors: Uwamahoro, Jean Claude
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Magnetic storms , Astronomy -- Computer programs , Imaging systems in astronomy , Ionospheric storms , Electrons -- Measurement , Magnetosphere -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92908 , vital:30762
- Description: Statistical models based on empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis and non-linear regression analysis (NLRA) were developed for the purpose of estimating the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) during geomagnetic storms. The well-known least squares method (LSM) and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm (MHA) were used as optimization techniques to determine the unknown coefficients of the developed analytical expressions. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model, and the Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) tomographic inversion algorithm were also applied to storm-time TEC modelling/reconstruction for various latitudes of the African sector and surrounding areas. This work presents some of the first statistical modeling of the mid-latitude and low-latitude ionosphere during geomagnetic storms that includes solar, geomagnetic and neutral wind drivers.Development and validation of the empirical models were based on storm-time TEC data derived from the global positioning system (GPS) measurements over ground receivers within Africa and surrounding areas. The storm criterion applied was Dst 6 −50 nT and/or Kp > 4. The performance evaluation of MIDAS compared with ANNs to reconstruct storm-time TEC over the African low- and mid-latitude regions showed that MIDAS and ANNs provide comparable results. Their respective mean absolute error (MAE) values were 4.81 and 4.18 TECU. The ANN model was, however, found to perform 24.37 % better than MIDAS at estimating storm-time TEC for low latitudes, while MIDAS is 13.44 % more accurate than ANN for the mid-latitudes. When their performances are compared with the IRI model, both MIDAS and ANN model were found to provide more accurate storm-time TEC reconstructions for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. A comparative study of the performances of EOF, NLRA, ANN, and IRI models to estimate TEC during geomagnetic storm conditions over various latitudes showed that the ANN model is about 10 %, 26 %, and 58 % more accurate than EOF, NLRA, and IRI models, respectively, while EOF was found to perform 15 %, and 44 % better than NLRA and IRI, respectively. It was further found that the NLRA model is 25 % more accurate than the IRI model. We have also investigated for the first time, the role of meridional neutral winds (from the Horizontal Wind Model) to storm-time TEC modelling in the low latitude, northern and southern hemisphere mid-latitude regions of the African sector, based on ANN models. Statistics have shown that the inclusion of the meridional wind velocity in TEC modelling during geomagnetic storms leads to percentage improvements of about 5 % for the low latitude, 10 % and 5 % for the northern and southern hemisphere mid-latitude regions, respectively. High-latitude storm-induced winds and the inter-hemispheric blows of the meridional winds from summer to winter hemisphere have been suggested to be associated with these improvements.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Uwamahoro, Jean Claude
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Magnetic storms , Astronomy -- Computer programs , Imaging systems in astronomy , Ionospheric storms , Electrons -- Measurement , Magnetosphere -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92908 , vital:30762
- Description: Statistical models based on empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) analysis and non-linear regression analysis (NLRA) were developed for the purpose of estimating the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) during geomagnetic storms. The well-known least squares method (LSM) and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm (MHA) were used as optimization techniques to determine the unknown coefficients of the developed analytical expressions. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model, and the Multi-Instrument Data Analysis System (MIDAS) tomographic inversion algorithm were also applied to storm-time TEC modelling/reconstruction for various latitudes of the African sector and surrounding areas. This work presents some of the first statistical modeling of the mid-latitude and low-latitude ionosphere during geomagnetic storms that includes solar, geomagnetic and neutral wind drivers.Development and validation of the empirical models were based on storm-time TEC data derived from the global positioning system (GPS) measurements over ground receivers within Africa and surrounding areas. The storm criterion applied was Dst 6 −50 nT and/or Kp > 4. The performance evaluation of MIDAS compared with ANNs to reconstruct storm-time TEC over the African low- and mid-latitude regions showed that MIDAS and ANNs provide comparable results. Their respective mean absolute error (MAE) values were 4.81 and 4.18 TECU. The ANN model was, however, found to perform 24.37 % better than MIDAS at estimating storm-time TEC for low latitudes, while MIDAS is 13.44 % more accurate than ANN for the mid-latitudes. When their performances are compared with the IRI model, both MIDAS and ANN model were found to provide more accurate storm-time TEC reconstructions for the African low- and mid-latitude regions. A comparative study of the performances of EOF, NLRA, ANN, and IRI models to estimate TEC during geomagnetic storm conditions over various latitudes showed that the ANN model is about 10 %, 26 %, and 58 % more accurate than EOF, NLRA, and IRI models, respectively, while EOF was found to perform 15 %, and 44 % better than NLRA and IRI, respectively. It was further found that the NLRA model is 25 % more accurate than the IRI model. We have also investigated for the first time, the role of meridional neutral winds (from the Horizontal Wind Model) to storm-time TEC modelling in the low latitude, northern and southern hemisphere mid-latitude regions of the African sector, based on ANN models. Statistics have shown that the inclusion of the meridional wind velocity in TEC modelling during geomagnetic storms leads to percentage improvements of about 5 % for the low latitude, 10 % and 5 % for the northern and southern hemisphere mid-latitude regions, respectively. High-latitude storm-induced winds and the inter-hemispheric blows of the meridional winds from summer to winter hemisphere have been suggested to be associated with these improvements.
- Full Text:
Nonlinear optical responses of targeted phthalocyanines when conjugated with nanomaterials or fabricated into polymer thin films
- Authors: Nwaji, Njemuwa Njoku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Electrochemistry , Phthalocyanines , Nanoparticles , Bioconjugates , Thin films , Polymers , Nonlinear optics , Nonlinear optical spectroscopy , Nanostructured materials , Raman effect
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71625 , vital:29926
- Description: A number of zinc, gallium and indium metallophthalocyanines (MPcs) with diverse substituents have been synthesized and characterized using various characterization tools such as proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR), matrix assisted laser desorption time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, Fourier-transformed infra-red (FT-IR), Ultraviolet-visible (Uv-vis) spectrophotometry, magnetic circular dichroism and CHNS elemental analysis. The time dependent density functional theory was employed to probe the origin of spectroscopic information in these complexes. Complexes with gallium and indium as central metal showed higher triplet quantum yield compared to the zinc derivatives. Some of the MPcs were covalently linked to nanomaterials such as CdTe, CdTeSe, CdTeSe/ZnO, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as well as metallic gold (AuNPs) and silver (AgNPs) nanoparticles. Others were either surface assembled onto AuNPs and AgNPs or embedded into polystyrene as polymer source. The phthalocyanine-nanomaterial composites (Pc-NMCs) were characterized with FT-IR, UV-visible spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The thickness of the thin films was determined by utilization of the knife edge attachment of the A Bruker D8 Discover X-ray diffraction. The optical limiting properties (using the open-aperture Z-scan technique) of the MPcs and the Pc-NMCs were investigated. The investigated MPcs complexes generally showed good optical limiting properties. The nonlinear optical response of the MPcs were improved in the presence of nanomaterials such as the semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs), graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as well as metallic AuNPs and AgNPs with MPc-QDs showing the best optical limiting behavior. The optical limiting properties of the MPcs were greatly enhanced in the presence of polymer thin films.
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- Authors: Nwaji, Njemuwa Njoku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Electrochemistry , Phthalocyanines , Nanoparticles , Bioconjugates , Thin films , Polymers , Nonlinear optics , Nonlinear optical spectroscopy , Nanostructured materials , Raman effect
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71625 , vital:29926
- Description: A number of zinc, gallium and indium metallophthalocyanines (MPcs) with diverse substituents have been synthesized and characterized using various characterization tools such as proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR), matrix assisted laser desorption time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, Fourier-transformed infra-red (FT-IR), Ultraviolet-visible (Uv-vis) spectrophotometry, magnetic circular dichroism and CHNS elemental analysis. The time dependent density functional theory was employed to probe the origin of spectroscopic information in these complexes. Complexes with gallium and indium as central metal showed higher triplet quantum yield compared to the zinc derivatives. Some of the MPcs were covalently linked to nanomaterials such as CdTe, CdTeSe, CdTeSe/ZnO, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as well as metallic gold (AuNPs) and silver (AgNPs) nanoparticles. Others were either surface assembled onto AuNPs and AgNPs or embedded into polystyrene as polymer source. The phthalocyanine-nanomaterial composites (Pc-NMCs) were characterized with FT-IR, UV-visible spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The thickness of the thin films was determined by utilization of the knife edge attachment of the A Bruker D8 Discover X-ray diffraction. The optical limiting properties (using the open-aperture Z-scan technique) of the MPcs and the Pc-NMCs were investigated. The investigated MPcs complexes generally showed good optical limiting properties. The nonlinear optical response of the MPcs were improved in the presence of nanomaterials such as the semiconductor quantum dots (SQDs), graphene quantum dots (GQDs) as well as metallic AuNPs and AgNPs with MPc-QDs showing the best optical limiting behavior. The optical limiting properties of the MPcs were greatly enhanced in the presence of polymer thin films.
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