The relative contribution of non-timber forest products, agriculture and off-farm sources of income to rural households in Koloni and Guquka, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mtati, Nosiseko
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Income -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4785 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018193
- Description: [Partial abstract]: This study was carried out to determine the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to household total income, other livelihood sectors were also examined simultaneously. The contribution of agriculture involved livestock and crop production. Wages and government grants were other livelihood sectors that were looked into. This study was important in determining the change in livelihood strategies in the last decade and to quantify the NTFPs used at the two sites. It was carried out in Guquka and Koloni, both part of the central Eastern Cape. Information on direct use value of the NTFPs used, the quantities and local price; crop production outputs and inputs and the costs. Data were collected via a questionnaire.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Mtati, Nosiseko
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Informal sector (Economics) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rural poor -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Households -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Non-timber forest products -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Income -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4785 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018193
- Description: [Partial abstract]: This study was carried out to determine the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to household total income, other livelihood sectors were also examined simultaneously. The contribution of agriculture involved livestock and crop production. Wages and government grants were other livelihood sectors that were looked into. This study was important in determining the change in livelihood strategies in the last decade and to quantify the NTFPs used at the two sites. It was carried out in Guquka and Koloni, both part of the central Eastern Cape. Information on direct use value of the NTFPs used, the quantities and local price; crop production outputs and inputs and the costs. Data were collected via a questionnaire.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of civil society in advancing education rights : the case of Gadra Education, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Authors: Msindo, Esteri Makotore
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Gadra Education (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Right to education -- South Africa , State departments of education -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Social justice -- South Africa , Civil society -- South Africa , Social contract
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016500
- Description: This thesis has identified and analysed the role of an NGO called Gadra Education in advancing education rights to the less advantaged people of Grahamstown in South Africa. Gadra Education’s role has been identified as twofold. Firstly as an educational NGO, Gadra Education’s initiatives directly impact on the lives of the less economically and socially privileged learners who, due to their previous learning environment in state schools, do not achieve academic results that ensure entry into tertiary level. Secondly its role is identified in its nature as an organisation that emerged due to the deficiencies in the state schooling system. It therefore stands de facto as a critical institution for critique of the state’s education system. The thesis concludes that without confronting the Department of Education or collaborating with it, Gadra Education offers a significant alternative approach which can potentially influence the state to improve the state schooling system. Its strategy of non-confrontation to the state, informal and non-corporatist is advantageous as an NGO that focuses on the actual provision of education. It focuses on instilling Ubuntu values of sharing and giving that are of critical significance in teaching and learning. The context of the thesis is located broadly within socio-economic rights and specifically on education rights. In South Africa where the state has not adequately met the educational obligations for the economically and socially less privileged citizens, the emergence of educational NGOs that focus on providing education to the poor is of vital importance. Although other NGOs that confront the state are important in pushing the state to deliver especially on school infrastructure, teacher deployment and other educational challenges, Gadra Education model ensures academic success for the learner. Lessons can be drawn from Gadra Education which can be potentially useful to state schools and other NGOs that seek to advance education rights to disadvantaged communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Msindo, Esteri Makotore
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Gadra Education (Grahamstown, South Africa) , Right to education -- South Africa , State departments of education -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Social justice -- South Africa , Civil society -- South Africa , Social contract
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3392 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016500
- Description: This thesis has identified and analysed the role of an NGO called Gadra Education in advancing education rights to the less advantaged people of Grahamstown in South Africa. Gadra Education’s role has been identified as twofold. Firstly as an educational NGO, Gadra Education’s initiatives directly impact on the lives of the less economically and socially privileged learners who, due to their previous learning environment in state schools, do not achieve academic results that ensure entry into tertiary level. Secondly its role is identified in its nature as an organisation that emerged due to the deficiencies in the state schooling system. It therefore stands de facto as a critical institution for critique of the state’s education system. The thesis concludes that without confronting the Department of Education or collaborating with it, Gadra Education offers a significant alternative approach which can potentially influence the state to improve the state schooling system. Its strategy of non-confrontation to the state, informal and non-corporatist is advantageous as an NGO that focuses on the actual provision of education. It focuses on instilling Ubuntu values of sharing and giving that are of critical significance in teaching and learning. The context of the thesis is located broadly within socio-economic rights and specifically on education rights. In South Africa where the state has not adequately met the educational obligations for the economically and socially less privileged citizens, the emergence of educational NGOs that focus on providing education to the poor is of vital importance. Although other NGOs that confront the state are important in pushing the state to deliver especially on school infrastructure, teacher deployment and other educational challenges, Gadra Education model ensures academic success for the learner. Lessons can be drawn from Gadra Education which can be potentially useful to state schools and other NGOs that seek to advance education rights to disadvantaged communities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of leadership style and organisational structure in organisational effectiveness: a case study
- Authors: Messaris, Annette
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54452 , vital:26566
- Description: This research explores the role leadership style and organisational structure play in organisational effectiveness. Organisational effectiveness is one of the more complex terms to define although essential to understand in order for an organisation to grow and develop. A small to medium wine sales and distribution organisation, its leadership style and organisational structure were chosen as a focus of this case study. Organisational effectiveness in this study is understood by the terms growth and development using the Greiner Theory of Evolution and Revolution (1983). The literature explores the role of leadership style in organisational effectiveness by exploring various theories and focusing on The Full Range Leadership Model by Bass and Avolio (1994). In order to analyse the role of organisational structure in organisational effectiveness, the different forms of organisational structure and the role they have on the organisation’s ability to grow and develop are explored. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the role leadership style and organisational structure play in organisational effectiveness. A qualitative content analysis paradigm was used with a Case Study method. The data was gathered using structured interviews conducted on all 39 permanent staff members, day to day observation and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The MLQ is used as a supporting tool to verify the leadership findings in the interviews. The data was analysed using NVivo10 and STATISTICA to gain insight into the leadership style and organisational structure of the organisation. The findings reflected that certain themes were repeatedly mentioned in the interviews and the definition of organisational effectiveness: structured leadership, more active leadership, lack of communication, staff motivation, staff training and development and organisational culture. As regards organisational structure, the following themes arose: The need for regular meetings, increased team work and more structured job descriptions. Through the analysis of all the components, leadership style and organisational structure were identified as having a significant role in organisational effectiveness which will be further analysed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Messaris, Annette
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54452 , vital:26566
- Description: This research explores the role leadership style and organisational structure play in organisational effectiveness. Organisational effectiveness is one of the more complex terms to define although essential to understand in order for an organisation to grow and develop. A small to medium wine sales and distribution organisation, its leadership style and organisational structure were chosen as a focus of this case study. Organisational effectiveness in this study is understood by the terms growth and development using the Greiner Theory of Evolution and Revolution (1983). The literature explores the role of leadership style in organisational effectiveness by exploring various theories and focusing on The Full Range Leadership Model by Bass and Avolio (1994). In order to analyse the role of organisational structure in organisational effectiveness, the different forms of organisational structure and the role they have on the organisation’s ability to grow and develop are explored. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the role leadership style and organisational structure play in organisational effectiveness. A qualitative content analysis paradigm was used with a Case Study method. The data was gathered using structured interviews conducted on all 39 permanent staff members, day to day observation and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). The MLQ is used as a supporting tool to verify the leadership findings in the interviews. The data was analysed using NVivo10 and STATISTICA to gain insight into the leadership style and organisational structure of the organisation. The findings reflected that certain themes were repeatedly mentioned in the interviews and the definition of organisational effectiveness: structured leadership, more active leadership, lack of communication, staff motivation, staff training and development and organisational culture. As regards organisational structure, the following themes arose: The need for regular meetings, increased team work and more structured job descriptions. Through the analysis of all the components, leadership style and organisational structure were identified as having a significant role in organisational effectiveness which will be further analysed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of non-governmental organisations in land reform and post-settlement support in the Albany district of the Eastern Cape : a case study of Masifunde
- Nkosi, Nolwazi Nontombi Maria
- Authors: Nkosi, Nolwazi Nontombi Maria
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Masifunde Educational Project , South Africa -- Department of Agriculture , South Africa -- Department of Rural Development and Land Reform , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform -- South Africa -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform beneficiaries -- South Africa -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020321
- Description: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of NGOs in land reform and post-settlement support in the Albany district of the Eastern Cape using a qualitative case study of Masifunde. To discover this role, civil society, land beneficiaries, Department of Agriculture and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform were proved to have interwoven relationships. The interactions and relationships between these entities underpinned their perceptions of each other. This study is set against the backdrop of a weakening land reform program due to frequent policy changes. Evidence presented showed how out of sync land reform is with its original mandate whilst civil society organisations have remained firmly rooted by theirs. The inability to have twin perspectives on this matter diverges the direction civil society and institutions involved in land reform take on. This separation in direction demonstrates the need for engagement between government and civil society in an attempt to assist in areas government is unable to reach or address. This thesis contends that there is definitely a role that NGOs do play and need to take on when it is evident that relevant actors are unable to deliver. Themes emerging from interviews necessitate civil society and government departments to combine their resources so as to maximise the impact for desired outcomes. These are views of both civil society and government, demonstrating that NGOs indeed do play a role in land reform and post-settlement support and need to continuously do so in an attempt to cushion the blows of uneven implementation of land reform policies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Nkosi, Nolwazi Nontombi Maria
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Masifunde Educational Project , South Africa -- Department of Agriculture , South Africa -- Department of Rural Development and Land Reform , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform -- South Africa -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform beneficiaries -- South Africa -- South Africa -- Albany , Land reform -- Law and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020321
- Description: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of NGOs in land reform and post-settlement support in the Albany district of the Eastern Cape using a qualitative case study of Masifunde. To discover this role, civil society, land beneficiaries, Department of Agriculture and Department of Rural Development and Land Reform were proved to have interwoven relationships. The interactions and relationships between these entities underpinned their perceptions of each other. This study is set against the backdrop of a weakening land reform program due to frequent policy changes. Evidence presented showed how out of sync land reform is with its original mandate whilst civil society organisations have remained firmly rooted by theirs. The inability to have twin perspectives on this matter diverges the direction civil society and institutions involved in land reform take on. This separation in direction demonstrates the need for engagement between government and civil society in an attempt to assist in areas government is unable to reach or address. This thesis contends that there is definitely a role that NGOs do play and need to take on when it is evident that relevant actors are unable to deliver. Themes emerging from interviews necessitate civil society and government departments to combine their resources so as to maximise the impact for desired outcomes. These are views of both civil society and government, demonstrating that NGOs indeed do play a role in land reform and post-settlement support and need to continuously do so in an attempt to cushion the blows of uneven implementation of land reform policies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of seasonality, environmental correlates and edge effects on the diversity and abundance of small mammals in Afromontane forest patches, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Junkuhn, Kyle Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Upland ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Mammal populations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Adaptation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Climatic factors -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Effect of habitat modification on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4270 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018188
- Description: The Eastern Cape contains the majority of the remaining forested areas in South Africa (95.8 percent Coastal forests and 47.6 percent Afromontane forests), however these occur in fragments. Due to the rapid rise in the human population and its needs, conversion of forests to agricultural land and the extraction of timber increases, natural vegetation are lost and this therefore leads to forests becoming fragmented into small forest patches. One of the main consequences of forest fragmentation is loss of contiguous habitat, which is the dominant threat to species globally as it negatively affects both species richness and genetic diversity. This research investigates the effects that forest fragmentation has on small mammal diversity and abundance. The study sampled small mammals in Southern Mistbelt Afromontane forest patches in the Eastern Cape. The first aim of this study was to identify which environmental variable, or combinations of variables, affect the diversity and abundance of small mammals in fragmented forest patches in the Eastern Cape during the austral summer. The second aim was to compare seasonal changes in small mammal diversity and abundance at a forest edge compared to the forest core at Beggars Bush, an Afromontane forest in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. To identify the environmental impacts that different forests have on small mammals, nine different forests were chosen in the Eastern Cape and sampled during the summer in 2013. These nine forests were: Fort Fordyce Forest, Thaba Ndoda Forest, Hogsback Forest, Dassie Kraans Forest, Langeni Forest, Burchell’s Reserve Forest, Maiden Dam Forest and Kagaberg Forest. At each site, three transects of 30 Sherman Traps each were used. Trapping periods within each forest patch lasted between three to five consecutive nights and traps were inspected once a day in the morning. Nine environmental variables were initially identified and after being tested for normality and colinearity, five variables were chosen. These variables were Altitude, Mean Annual Temperature, Gradient, Patch Size and Mean annual potential evaporation. The number of individuals captures and species richness were then incorporated as dependent variables for best subset multiple regression model selection using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). For the second aim, the same trapping methods were used when comparing seasonal changes to diversity and abundance within the forest core. However at the forest edge, due to the small size of the forest, only 20 Sherman traps were used in each transect with five traps (25 percent) placed in the grassland and 15 (75 percent) placed in the forest along each transect. This study was one of few to survey small mammal diversity and abundance in fragmented forests in the Eastern Cape. Gradient, patch size and mean annual potential evaporation were the variables that best predicted the individual number of small mammal captures while only gradient best explained species richness. It does however, need to be noted that capture rates and species richness were very low and this would therefore effect the analysis of environmental variables. Future studies should have a larger sample size of forest patches and include more microhabitat environmental variables to determine their effects on small mammal diversity and abundance. However, it should be noted that through climatic extinction filtering, forest mammals are resilient generalists that can tolerate fragmentation effects. Furthermore, it was found that forest edges appear to play a significant role in small mammal diversity and abundance in the Beggars Bush Afromontane forest. Some species were habitat specialists such as Rhabdomys pumilio preferring the grassland habitat and Graphiurus murinus and Aethomys namaquensis the forest habitat, while Myosorex varius was the only species that was not habitat dependant. It was found that there was a greater diversity and abundance at the forest edge compared to within the forest core throughout most of the seasons. One possible flaw was that the sampling methods were different at the edge and within the forest and therefore future studies should ensure that the method stays uniform throughout the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Junkuhn, Kyle Peter
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Upland ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Mammal populations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Adaptation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Climatic factors -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Forest animals -- Effect of habitat modification on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4270 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018188
- Description: The Eastern Cape contains the majority of the remaining forested areas in South Africa (95.8 percent Coastal forests and 47.6 percent Afromontane forests), however these occur in fragments. Due to the rapid rise in the human population and its needs, conversion of forests to agricultural land and the extraction of timber increases, natural vegetation are lost and this therefore leads to forests becoming fragmented into small forest patches. One of the main consequences of forest fragmentation is loss of contiguous habitat, which is the dominant threat to species globally as it negatively affects both species richness and genetic diversity. This research investigates the effects that forest fragmentation has on small mammal diversity and abundance. The study sampled small mammals in Southern Mistbelt Afromontane forest patches in the Eastern Cape. The first aim of this study was to identify which environmental variable, or combinations of variables, affect the diversity and abundance of small mammals in fragmented forest patches in the Eastern Cape during the austral summer. The second aim was to compare seasonal changes in small mammal diversity and abundance at a forest edge compared to the forest core at Beggars Bush, an Afromontane forest in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. To identify the environmental impacts that different forests have on small mammals, nine different forests were chosen in the Eastern Cape and sampled during the summer in 2013. These nine forests were: Fort Fordyce Forest, Thaba Ndoda Forest, Hogsback Forest, Dassie Kraans Forest, Langeni Forest, Burchell’s Reserve Forest, Maiden Dam Forest and Kagaberg Forest. At each site, three transects of 30 Sherman Traps each were used. Trapping periods within each forest patch lasted between three to five consecutive nights and traps were inspected once a day in the morning. Nine environmental variables were initially identified and after being tested for normality and colinearity, five variables were chosen. These variables were Altitude, Mean Annual Temperature, Gradient, Patch Size and Mean annual potential evaporation. The number of individuals captures and species richness were then incorporated as dependent variables for best subset multiple regression model selection using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). For the second aim, the same trapping methods were used when comparing seasonal changes to diversity and abundance within the forest core. However at the forest edge, due to the small size of the forest, only 20 Sherman traps were used in each transect with five traps (25 percent) placed in the grassland and 15 (75 percent) placed in the forest along each transect. This study was one of few to survey small mammal diversity and abundance in fragmented forests in the Eastern Cape. Gradient, patch size and mean annual potential evaporation were the variables that best predicted the individual number of small mammal captures while only gradient best explained species richness. It does however, need to be noted that capture rates and species richness were very low and this would therefore effect the analysis of environmental variables. Future studies should have a larger sample size of forest patches and include more microhabitat environmental variables to determine their effects on small mammal diversity and abundance. However, it should be noted that through climatic extinction filtering, forest mammals are resilient generalists that can tolerate fragmentation effects. Furthermore, it was found that forest edges appear to play a significant role in small mammal diversity and abundance in the Beggars Bush Afromontane forest. Some species were habitat specialists such as Rhabdomys pumilio preferring the grassland habitat and Graphiurus murinus and Aethomys namaquensis the forest habitat, while Myosorex varius was the only species that was not habitat dependant. It was found that there was a greater diversity and abundance at the forest edge compared to within the forest core throughout most of the seasons. One possible flaw was that the sampling methods were different at the edge and within the forest and therefore future studies should ensure that the method stays uniform throughout the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The roles of black-backed jackals and caracals in issues of human-wildlife conflict in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Murison, Megan Kate
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Black-backed jackal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Predatory animals -- Control -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Black-backed jackal -- Food -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Black-backed jackal -- Effect of human beings on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5939 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018667
- Description: [Partial abstract]: Human-wildlife conflict is a widely observed phenomenon and encompasses a range of negative interactions between humans and wildlife. Depredation upon livestock and game species proves to be the prevalent form of this conflict and often results in the killing of carnivores. Within the South African context, despite intense lethal control, two sympatric mesopredators, the blackbacked jackal (Canis mesomelas) and the caracal (Caracal caracal), remain common enough to be considered a major threat to human livelihoods through depredation. Wildlife ranches and livestock farms dominate the landscape in the Eastern Cape Province. Moreover, human-predator conflict within the region is extensive as both the black-backed jackal and caracal are seen to be inimical by landowners. Understanding this conflict is essential for mitigating any potential adverse environmental reactions (i.e. range collapses or extinctions) and requires knowledge of anthropogenic, ecological and environmental factors. I interviewed 73 land owners across five municipal boundaries in the Eastern Cape to quantify perceptions of predator control methods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Murison, Megan Kate
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Black-backed jackal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human-animal relationships -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Predatory animals -- Control -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Black-backed jackal -- Food -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Black-backed jackal -- Effect of human beings on -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5939 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018667
- Description: [Partial abstract]: Human-wildlife conflict is a widely observed phenomenon and encompasses a range of negative interactions between humans and wildlife. Depredation upon livestock and game species proves to be the prevalent form of this conflict and often results in the killing of carnivores. Within the South African context, despite intense lethal control, two sympatric mesopredators, the blackbacked jackal (Canis mesomelas) and the caracal (Caracal caracal), remain common enough to be considered a major threat to human livelihoods through depredation. Wildlife ranches and livestock farms dominate the landscape in the Eastern Cape Province. Moreover, human-predator conflict within the region is extensive as both the black-backed jackal and caracal are seen to be inimical by landowners. Understanding this conflict is essential for mitigating any potential adverse environmental reactions (i.e. range collapses or extinctions) and requires knowledge of anthropogenic, ecological and environmental factors. I interviewed 73 land owners across five municipal boundaries in the Eastern Cape to quantify perceptions of predator control methods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The supervisor’s tale: postgraduate supervisors’ experiences in a changing Higher Education environment
- Authors: Searle, Ruth Lesley
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Graduate students -- Supervision of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Archer, Margaret Scotford -- Political and social views , Critical realism , Knowledge, Sociology of , Dissertations, Academic , Faculty advisors -- South Africa , Education -- Study and teaching (Graduate) -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Graduate work
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1331 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019952
- Description: The environment in which higher education institutions operate is changing, and these changes are impacting on all aspects of higher education, including postgraduate levels. Changes wrought by globalisation, heralded by rapid advances in technology have inaugurated a new era in which there are long term consequences for higher education. The shift towards more quantitative and measurable "outputs" signifies a fundamental change in the educational ethos in institutions. Effectiveness is now judged primarily on numbers of graduates and publications rather than on other aspects. The drive is to produce a highly educated population, especially through increasing postgraduates who can drive national innovation and improve national economies. This affects academics in a range of ways, not least in the ways in which they engage in teaching, what they are willing to do and how they do it. Such changes influence the kinds of research done, the structures and funding which support research, and thus naturally shapes the kinds of postgraduate programmes and teaching that occurs. This study, situated in the field of Higher Education Studies, adopting a critical realist stance and drawing on the social theory of Margaret Archer and the concepts of expert and novice, explores the experiences of postgraduate supervisors from one South African institution across a range of disciplines. Individual experiences at the level of the Empirical and embodied in practice at the level of the Actual allow for the identification of possible mechanisms at the level of the Real which structure the sector. The research design then allows for an exploration across mezzo, macro and micro levels. Individuals outline their own particular situations, identifying a number of elements which enabled or constrained them and how, in exercising their agency, they develop their strategies for supervision drawing on a range of different resources that they identify and that may be available to them. Student characteristics, discipline status and placement, funding, and the emergent policy environment are all identified as influencing their practice. In some instances supervisors recognise the broader influences on the system that involve them in their undertaking, noting the international trends. Through their narratives and the discourses they engage a number of contradictions that have developed in the system with growing neo-liberal trends and vocationalism highlighting tensions between academic freedom and autonomy, and demands for productivity, efficiency and compliance, and between an educational focus and a training bias in particular along with others. Especially notable is how this contributes to the current ideologies surrounding knowledge and knowledge production. Their individual interests and concerns, and emergent academic identities as they take shape over time, also modifies the process and how individual supervisors influence their own environments in agentic moves becomes apparent. Whilst often individuals highlight the lack of support especially in the early phases of supervision, the emergent policy-constrained environment is also seen as curtailing possibilities and especially in limiting the possibilities for the exercise of agency. Whilst the study has some limitations in the range and number of respondents nevertheless the data provided rich evidence of how individual supervisors are affected, and how they respond in varied conditions. What is highlighted through these experiences are ways pressures are increasing for both supervisors and students and changing how they engage. Concerns in particular are raised about the growing functional and instrumental nature of the process with an emphasis on the effects on the kinds of researchers being developed and the knowledge that is therefore being produced. As costs increase for academics through the environments developed and with the varied roles they take on so they become more selective and reluctant to expand the role. This research has provided insights into ideas, beliefs and values relating to the postgraduate sector and to the process of postgraduate supervision and how it occurs. This includes the structures and cultural conditions that enable or constrain practitioners as they develop in the role in this particular institution. It has explored some of the ways that mechanisms at international, national and institutional levels shape the role and practices of supervisors. The effects of mechanisms are in no way a given or simply understood. In this way the research may contribute to more emancipatory knowledge which could be used in planning and deciding on emergent policies and practices which might create a more supportive and creative postgraduate environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Searle, Ruth Lesley
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Graduate students -- Supervision of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Archer, Margaret Scotford -- Political and social views , Critical realism , Knowledge, Sociology of , Dissertations, Academic , Faculty advisors -- South Africa , Education -- Study and teaching (Graduate) -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Graduate work
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1331 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019952
- Description: The environment in which higher education institutions operate is changing, and these changes are impacting on all aspects of higher education, including postgraduate levels. Changes wrought by globalisation, heralded by rapid advances in technology have inaugurated a new era in which there are long term consequences for higher education. The shift towards more quantitative and measurable "outputs" signifies a fundamental change in the educational ethos in institutions. Effectiveness is now judged primarily on numbers of graduates and publications rather than on other aspects. The drive is to produce a highly educated population, especially through increasing postgraduates who can drive national innovation and improve national economies. This affects academics in a range of ways, not least in the ways in which they engage in teaching, what they are willing to do and how they do it. Such changes influence the kinds of research done, the structures and funding which support research, and thus naturally shapes the kinds of postgraduate programmes and teaching that occurs. This study, situated in the field of Higher Education Studies, adopting a critical realist stance and drawing on the social theory of Margaret Archer and the concepts of expert and novice, explores the experiences of postgraduate supervisors from one South African institution across a range of disciplines. Individual experiences at the level of the Empirical and embodied in practice at the level of the Actual allow for the identification of possible mechanisms at the level of the Real which structure the sector. The research design then allows for an exploration across mezzo, macro and micro levels. Individuals outline their own particular situations, identifying a number of elements which enabled or constrained them and how, in exercising their agency, they develop their strategies for supervision drawing on a range of different resources that they identify and that may be available to them. Student characteristics, discipline status and placement, funding, and the emergent policy environment are all identified as influencing their practice. In some instances supervisors recognise the broader influences on the system that involve them in their undertaking, noting the international trends. Through their narratives and the discourses they engage a number of contradictions that have developed in the system with growing neo-liberal trends and vocationalism highlighting tensions between academic freedom and autonomy, and demands for productivity, efficiency and compliance, and between an educational focus and a training bias in particular along with others. Especially notable is how this contributes to the current ideologies surrounding knowledge and knowledge production. Their individual interests and concerns, and emergent academic identities as they take shape over time, also modifies the process and how individual supervisors influence their own environments in agentic moves becomes apparent. Whilst often individuals highlight the lack of support especially in the early phases of supervision, the emergent policy-constrained environment is also seen as curtailing possibilities and especially in limiting the possibilities for the exercise of agency. Whilst the study has some limitations in the range and number of respondents nevertheless the data provided rich evidence of how individual supervisors are affected, and how they respond in varied conditions. What is highlighted through these experiences are ways pressures are increasing for both supervisors and students and changing how they engage. Concerns in particular are raised about the growing functional and instrumental nature of the process with an emphasis on the effects on the kinds of researchers being developed and the knowledge that is therefore being produced. As costs increase for academics through the environments developed and with the varied roles they take on so they become more selective and reluctant to expand the role. This research has provided insights into ideas, beliefs and values relating to the postgraduate sector and to the process of postgraduate supervision and how it occurs. This includes the structures and cultural conditions that enable or constrain practitioners as they develop in the role in this particular institution. It has explored some of the ways that mechanisms at international, national and institutional levels shape the role and practices of supervisors. The effects of mechanisms are in no way a given or simply understood. In this way the research may contribute to more emancipatory knowledge which could be used in planning and deciding on emergent policies and practices which might create a more supportive and creative postgraduate environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The tax consequences of a contingent liability disposed of as part of the sale of a business as a going concern
- Authors: Staude, Daylan
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Sale of business enterprises -- Taxation -- South Africa , Sale of business enterprises -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Tax deductions -- South Africa , Contingent liabilities (Accounting) -- Taxation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017544
- Description: The sale of an entity as a going concern has a number of tax consequences for both the purchaser and the seller. The tax deductibility of a contingent liability upon its transfer from the seller to the purchaser, where the selling price has been reduced by the value of the contingent liabilities transferred, remains uncertain following the decision in Ackermans Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service. An expense is either deductible under a specific section of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962, or under the general expense provisions in terms of sections 11(a) and 23(g). The Act does not contain a specific section relating to contingent liabilities and therefore a contingent liability will need to be considered for deduction under these sections. The Act further disallows an expense as a deduction under section 23(e), where a reserve is created (for example a leave pay provision). This study analyses the tax deductibility of a contingent liability, where the contingent liability has been transferred from the seller to the purchaser in a sale of an entity as a going concern and the purchase price has been reduced to compensate for the transfer of the contingent liability. The deductibility of the contingent liability was first assessed in terms of the provisions of the Act (sections 11(a), 23(g) and 23(e)) and associated case law. The decision in the Ackermans case and its preceding Income Tax Case 1839 was then analysed in order to establish the principles arising from the decisions. Finally the proposals in the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, and the subsequent Discussion Document issued by the South African Revenue Service were discussed. The analysis revealed the continuing confusion surrounding the status quo, thus demonstrating the importance of legislative intervention to provide guidelines for taxpayers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Staude, Daylan
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Sale of business enterprises -- Taxation -- South Africa , Sale of business enterprises -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Tax deductions -- South Africa , Contingent liabilities (Accounting) -- Taxation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:918 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017544
- Description: The sale of an entity as a going concern has a number of tax consequences for both the purchaser and the seller. The tax deductibility of a contingent liability upon its transfer from the seller to the purchaser, where the selling price has been reduced by the value of the contingent liabilities transferred, remains uncertain following the decision in Ackermans Ltd v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service. An expense is either deductible under a specific section of the Income Tax Act, 58 of 1962, or under the general expense provisions in terms of sections 11(a) and 23(g). The Act does not contain a specific section relating to contingent liabilities and therefore a contingent liability will need to be considered for deduction under these sections. The Act further disallows an expense as a deduction under section 23(e), where a reserve is created (for example a leave pay provision). This study analyses the tax deductibility of a contingent liability, where the contingent liability has been transferred from the seller to the purchaser in a sale of an entity as a going concern and the purchase price has been reduced to compensate for the transfer of the contingent liability. The deductibility of the contingent liability was first assessed in terms of the provisions of the Act (sections 11(a), 23(g) and 23(e)) and associated case law. The decision in the Ackermans case and its preceding Income Tax Case 1839 was then analysed in order to establish the principles arising from the decisions. Finally the proposals in the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, and the subsequent Discussion Document issued by the South African Revenue Service were discussed. The analysis revealed the continuing confusion surrounding the status quo, thus demonstrating the importance of legislative intervention to provide guidelines for taxpayers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The transition of Rhodes University graduates into the South African labour market : a case study of the 2010 cohort
- Authors: Ntikinca, Kanyiso Lungani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Graduate students , Labor market -- South Africa , College graduates -- Employment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- Research -- South Africa , Market segmentation -- South Africa , Employability -- South Africa , Race discrimination -- South Africa , Sex discrimination -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3395 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018198
- Description: Recent studies have shown that graduates from historically White universities (HWUs) experience better labour market outcomes than graduates from historically Black universities (HBUs). This is a result of the legacy of apartheid which promoted racial inequality in all spheres of South African society, more especially in higher education and the labour market. Post-1994, government dedicated large amounts for the restructuring of the higher education sector of South Africa in order to level out the playing field. However, graduates from HWUs still experience better labour market success than graduates from HBUs. That said, there is limited information about the labour market outcomes and experiences of graduates from a former White university (especially graduates from Rhodes University). Therefore, the central aim of this dissertation is to show that graduates from a historically White university (Rhodes University) experience varying and unequal outcomes in the South African labour market on account of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex. This study is informed by the heterodox labour market approach, which is partly inspired by the critical realist account of the labour market. As a result, this theoretical framework allowed the researcher to use the Labour Market Segmentation (LMS) theory as a tool to inform this analysis. The study has adopted a quantitative survey design and has incorporated some of the key methodological lessons learned from the collection of international graduate tracer studies. The findings from this study indicated that ‘field of study’ is a strong determiner of the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the labour market. This was visible in the persistence of a skills bias towards commerce and science graduates. Evidently, even when we controlled for race and sex, graduates from the commerce and science faculties experience better labour market outcomes than humanities graduates. This is a result of a skills biased South African economy, which has a higher demand for certain skills over others. However, the findings from this study also show evidence of pre-labour market discrimination and inequality (based on race and sex) in the supply-side institutions such as the family, schooling and university. The findings also show continuities and discontinuities of labour market discrimination (based on race and sex) in the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the South African labour market. More importantly, this dissertation indicates that Rhodes graduates experience varying outcomes in the labour market as a result of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Ntikinca, Kanyiso Lungani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Graduate students , Labor market -- South Africa , College graduates -- Employment -- South Africa , Labor supply -- Research -- South Africa , Market segmentation -- South Africa , Employability -- South Africa , Race discrimination -- South Africa , Sex discrimination -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3395 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018198
- Description: Recent studies have shown that graduates from historically White universities (HWUs) experience better labour market outcomes than graduates from historically Black universities (HBUs). This is a result of the legacy of apartheid which promoted racial inequality in all spheres of South African society, more especially in higher education and the labour market. Post-1994, government dedicated large amounts for the restructuring of the higher education sector of South Africa in order to level out the playing field. However, graduates from HWUs still experience better labour market success than graduates from HBUs. That said, there is limited information about the labour market outcomes and experiences of graduates from a former White university (especially graduates from Rhodes University). Therefore, the central aim of this dissertation is to show that graduates from a historically White university (Rhodes University) experience varying and unequal outcomes in the South African labour market on account of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex. This study is informed by the heterodox labour market approach, which is partly inspired by the critical realist account of the labour market. As a result, this theoretical framework allowed the researcher to use the Labour Market Segmentation (LMS) theory as a tool to inform this analysis. The study has adopted a quantitative survey design and has incorporated some of the key methodological lessons learned from the collection of international graduate tracer studies. The findings from this study indicated that ‘field of study’ is a strong determiner of the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the labour market. This was visible in the persistence of a skills bias towards commerce and science graduates. Evidently, even when we controlled for race and sex, graduates from the commerce and science faculties experience better labour market outcomes than humanities graduates. This is a result of a skills biased South African economy, which has a higher demand for certain skills over others. However, the findings from this study also show evidence of pre-labour market discrimination and inequality (based on race and sex) in the supply-side institutions such as the family, schooling and university. The findings also show continuities and discontinuities of labour market discrimination (based on race and sex) in the outcomes of Rhodes graduates in the South African labour market. More importantly, this dissertation indicates that Rhodes graduates experience varying outcomes in the labour market as a result of (among other factors) their chosen fields of study, race and sex.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The trophic ecology of the endangered endemic Barau's Petrel (Pterodroma baraui) from Reunion Island, south-western Indian Ocean
- Authors: Danckwerts, Daniel Keith
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Petrels -- Réunion , Pterodroma baraui , Ecology -- Réunion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5925 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017803
- Description: Réunion is the only tropical island that supports two endemic gadfly petrels. Population modelling has indicated that the current threats to the Barau’s Petrel (Pterodroma baraui) may drive it to extinction; this fate is almost definite for the Mascarene Petrel (Pseudobulweria aterrima). Management interventions have therefore been implemented, but conservation potential is handicapped since virtually nothing is known about the former species’ at-sea biology. Thus, following numerous recommendations, this study aimed to combine stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid analyses so to provide new information on the at-sea ecology of Barau’s Petrel. Breeding colonies were repeatedly visited over the same season and samples gathered from adults, fledglings, and downy chicks. Stomach contents consisted mostly of accumulated cephalopod beaks whereas structures from fishes, molluscs, arthropods, and crustaceans were less frequently encountered. Fatty acid profiles of blood varied greatly among individuals and the lowincidences of monounsaturated and n-3 fatty acids discounted fish as an important dietary component. δ¹⁵N of blood indicated a niche between the fourth and fifth trophic levels, which proposes that these birds scavenge to a greater degree than other sympatric seabirds and suggests that adults are also reliant on their endogenous reserves during breeding. δ¹³C values confirmed the migratory behaviour of adults since birds returning from the non-breeding grounds were enriched relative to individuals sampled through the breeding period. Significant intra-breeding season variations in δ13C were also observed, which matched this species’ patterns of habitat use as have recently described. These results collectively indicate an opportunistic behaviour, which implies some degree of resilience against shifts in prey availability/accessibility, and suggest that this species’ reproduction isdependent on distant foraging areas. This breeding strategy is synonymous with great vulnerability as over-investing into a single breeding episode may jeopardize future survival and fecundity. Thus, in light of environmental conditions that are becoming increasingly more susceptible to dramatic changes, the birds could rather be prioritising adult survival, over reproductive output. Further work is obviously necessary and should benefit from databases of fatty acid profiles and isotope signatures of potential prey species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Danckwerts, Daniel Keith
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Petrels -- Réunion , Pterodroma baraui , Ecology -- Réunion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5925 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017803
- Description: Réunion is the only tropical island that supports two endemic gadfly petrels. Population modelling has indicated that the current threats to the Barau’s Petrel (Pterodroma baraui) may drive it to extinction; this fate is almost definite for the Mascarene Petrel (Pseudobulweria aterrima). Management interventions have therefore been implemented, but conservation potential is handicapped since virtually nothing is known about the former species’ at-sea biology. Thus, following numerous recommendations, this study aimed to combine stomach content, stable isotope, and fatty acid analyses so to provide new information on the at-sea ecology of Barau’s Petrel. Breeding colonies were repeatedly visited over the same season and samples gathered from adults, fledglings, and downy chicks. Stomach contents consisted mostly of accumulated cephalopod beaks whereas structures from fishes, molluscs, arthropods, and crustaceans were less frequently encountered. Fatty acid profiles of blood varied greatly among individuals and the lowincidences of monounsaturated and n-3 fatty acids discounted fish as an important dietary component. δ¹⁵N of blood indicated a niche between the fourth and fifth trophic levels, which proposes that these birds scavenge to a greater degree than other sympatric seabirds and suggests that adults are also reliant on their endogenous reserves during breeding. δ¹³C values confirmed the migratory behaviour of adults since birds returning from the non-breeding grounds were enriched relative to individuals sampled through the breeding period. Significant intra-breeding season variations in δ13C were also observed, which matched this species’ patterns of habitat use as have recently described. These results collectively indicate an opportunistic behaviour, which implies some degree of resilience against shifts in prey availability/accessibility, and suggest that this species’ reproduction isdependent on distant foraging areas. This breeding strategy is synonymous with great vulnerability as over-investing into a single breeding episode may jeopardize future survival and fecundity. Thus, in light of environmental conditions that are becoming increasingly more susceptible to dramatic changes, the birds could rather be prioritising adult survival, over reproductive output. Further work is obviously necessary and should benefit from databases of fatty acid profiles and isotope signatures of potential prey species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The use of hydrological information to improve flood management-integrated hydrological modelling of the Zambezi River basin
- Vilanculos, Agostinho Chuquelane Fadulo
- Authors: Vilanculos, Agostinho Chuquelane Fadulo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Hydrologic models -- Zambezi River Watershed , Watershed management -- Zambezi River Watershed , Water resources development -- Zambezi River Watershed , Flood control -- Zambezi River Watershed , Flood forecasting -- Zambezi River Watershed , Rain gauges -- Zambezi River Watershed
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6054 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018915
- Description: The recent high profile flooding events – that have occurred in many parts of the world – have drawn attention to the need for new and improved methods for water resources assessment, water management and the modelling of large-scale flooding events. In the case of the Zambezi Basin, a review of the 2000 and 2001 floods identified the need for tools to enable hydrologists to assess and predict daily stream flow and identify the areas that are likely to be affected by flooding. As a way to address the problem, a methodology was set up to derive catchment soil moisture statistics from Earth Observation (EO) data and to study the improvements brought about by an assimilation of this information into hydrological models for improving reservoir management in a data scarce environment. Rainfall data were obtained from the FEWSNet Web site and computed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climatic Prediction Center (NOAA/CPC). These datasets were processed and used to monitor rainfall variability and subsequently fed into a hydrological model to predict the daily flows for the Zambezi River Basin. The hydrological model used was the Geospatial Stream Flow Model (GeoSFM), developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). GeoSFM is a spatially semi-distributed physically-based hydrological model, parameterised using spatially distributed topographic data, soil characteristics and land cover data sets available globally from both Remote Sensing and in situ sources. The Satellite rainfall data were validated against data from twenty (20) rainfall gauges located on the Lower Zambezi. However, at several rain gauge stations (especially those with complex topography, which tended to experience high rainfall spatial variability), there was no direct correlation between the satellite estimates and the ground data as recorded in daily time steps. The model was calibrated for seven gauging stations. The calibrated model performed quite well at seven selected locations (R2=0.66 to 0.90, CE=0.51 to 0.88, RSR=0.35 to 0.69, PBIAS=−4.5 to 7.5). The observed data were obtained from the National Water Agencies of the riparian countries. After GeoSFM calibration, the model generated an integration of the flows into a reservoir and hydropower model to optimise the operation of Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams. The Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams were selected because this study considers these two dams as the major infrastructures for controlling and alleviating floods in the Zambezi River Basin. Other dams (such as the Kafue and Itezhi-Thezi) were recognised in terms of their importance but including them was beyond the scope of this study because of financial and time constraints. The licence of the reservoir model was limited to one year for the same reason. The reservoir model used was the MIKE BASIN, a professional engineering software package and quasi-steady-state mass balance modelling tool for integrated river basin and management, developed by the Denmark Hydraulic Institute (DHI) in 2003. The model was parameterised by the geometry of the reservoir basin (level, area, volume relationships) and by the discharge-level (Q-h) relationship of the dam spillways. The integrated modelling system simulated the daily flow variation for all Zambezi River sub-basins between 1998 and 2008 and validated between 2009 and 2011. The resulting streamflows have been expressed in terms of hydrograph comparisons between simulated and observed flow values at the four gauging stations located downstream of Cahora Bassa dam. The integrated model performed well, between observed and forecast streamflows, at four selected gauging stations (R2=0.53 to 0.90, CE=0.50 to 0.80, RSR=0.49 to 0.69, PBIAS=−2.10 to 4.8). From the results of integrated modelling, it was observed that both Kariba and Cahora Bassa are currently being operated based on the maximum rule curve and both remain focused on maximising hydropower production and ensuring dam safety rather than other potential influences by the Zambezi River (such as flood control downstream – where the communities are located – and environmental issues). In addition, the flood mapping analysis demonstrated that the Cahora Bassa dam plays an important part in flood mitigation downstream of the dams. In the absence of optimisation of flow releases from both the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, in additional to the contribution of any other tributaries located downstream of the dams, the impact of flooding can be severe. As such, this study has developed new approaches for flood monitoring downstream of the Zambezi Basin, through the application of an integrated modelling system. The modelling system consists of: predicting daily streamflow (using the calibrated GeoSFM), then feeding the predicted streamflow into MIKE BASIN (for checking the operating rules) and to optimise the releases. Therefore, before releases are made, the flood maps can be used as a decision-making tool to both assess the impact of each level of release downstream and to identify the communities likely to be affected by the flood – this ensures that the necessary warnings can be issued before flooding occurs. Finally an integrated flood management tool was proposed – to host the results produced by the integrated system – which would then be accessible for assessment by the different users. These results were expressed in terms of water level (m). Four discharge-level (Q-h) relationships were developed for converting the simulated flow into water level at four selected sites downstream of Cahora Bassa dam – namely: Cahora Bassa dam site, Tete (E-320), Caia (E-291) and Marromeu (E-285). However, the uncertainties in these predictions suggested that improved monitoring systems may be achieved if data access at appropriate scale and quality was improved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Vilanculos, Agostinho Chuquelane Fadulo
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Hydrologic models -- Zambezi River Watershed , Watershed management -- Zambezi River Watershed , Water resources development -- Zambezi River Watershed , Flood control -- Zambezi River Watershed , Flood forecasting -- Zambezi River Watershed , Rain gauges -- Zambezi River Watershed
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6054 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018915
- Description: The recent high profile flooding events – that have occurred in many parts of the world – have drawn attention to the need for new and improved methods for water resources assessment, water management and the modelling of large-scale flooding events. In the case of the Zambezi Basin, a review of the 2000 and 2001 floods identified the need for tools to enable hydrologists to assess and predict daily stream flow and identify the areas that are likely to be affected by flooding. As a way to address the problem, a methodology was set up to derive catchment soil moisture statistics from Earth Observation (EO) data and to study the improvements brought about by an assimilation of this information into hydrological models for improving reservoir management in a data scarce environment. Rainfall data were obtained from the FEWSNet Web site and computed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climatic Prediction Center (NOAA/CPC). These datasets were processed and used to monitor rainfall variability and subsequently fed into a hydrological model to predict the daily flows for the Zambezi River Basin. The hydrological model used was the Geospatial Stream Flow Model (GeoSFM), developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). GeoSFM is a spatially semi-distributed physically-based hydrological model, parameterised using spatially distributed topographic data, soil characteristics and land cover data sets available globally from both Remote Sensing and in situ sources. The Satellite rainfall data were validated against data from twenty (20) rainfall gauges located on the Lower Zambezi. However, at several rain gauge stations (especially those with complex topography, which tended to experience high rainfall spatial variability), there was no direct correlation between the satellite estimates and the ground data as recorded in daily time steps. The model was calibrated for seven gauging stations. The calibrated model performed quite well at seven selected locations (R2=0.66 to 0.90, CE=0.51 to 0.88, RSR=0.35 to 0.69, PBIAS=−4.5 to 7.5). The observed data were obtained from the National Water Agencies of the riparian countries. After GeoSFM calibration, the model generated an integration of the flows into a reservoir and hydropower model to optimise the operation of Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams. The Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams were selected because this study considers these two dams as the major infrastructures for controlling and alleviating floods in the Zambezi River Basin. Other dams (such as the Kafue and Itezhi-Thezi) were recognised in terms of their importance but including them was beyond the scope of this study because of financial and time constraints. The licence of the reservoir model was limited to one year for the same reason. The reservoir model used was the MIKE BASIN, a professional engineering software package and quasi-steady-state mass balance modelling tool for integrated river basin and management, developed by the Denmark Hydraulic Institute (DHI) in 2003. The model was parameterised by the geometry of the reservoir basin (level, area, volume relationships) and by the discharge-level (Q-h) relationship of the dam spillways. The integrated modelling system simulated the daily flow variation for all Zambezi River sub-basins between 1998 and 2008 and validated between 2009 and 2011. The resulting streamflows have been expressed in terms of hydrograph comparisons between simulated and observed flow values at the four gauging stations located downstream of Cahora Bassa dam. The integrated model performed well, between observed and forecast streamflows, at four selected gauging stations (R2=0.53 to 0.90, CE=0.50 to 0.80, RSR=0.49 to 0.69, PBIAS=−2.10 to 4.8). From the results of integrated modelling, it was observed that both Kariba and Cahora Bassa are currently being operated based on the maximum rule curve and both remain focused on maximising hydropower production and ensuring dam safety rather than other potential influences by the Zambezi River (such as flood control downstream – where the communities are located – and environmental issues). In addition, the flood mapping analysis demonstrated that the Cahora Bassa dam plays an important part in flood mitigation downstream of the dams. In the absence of optimisation of flow releases from both the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams, in additional to the contribution of any other tributaries located downstream of the dams, the impact of flooding can be severe. As such, this study has developed new approaches for flood monitoring downstream of the Zambezi Basin, through the application of an integrated modelling system. The modelling system consists of: predicting daily streamflow (using the calibrated GeoSFM), then feeding the predicted streamflow into MIKE BASIN (for checking the operating rules) and to optimise the releases. Therefore, before releases are made, the flood maps can be used as a decision-making tool to both assess the impact of each level of release downstream and to identify the communities likely to be affected by the flood – this ensures that the necessary warnings can be issued before flooding occurs. Finally an integrated flood management tool was proposed – to host the results produced by the integrated system – which would then be accessible for assessment by the different users. These results were expressed in terms of water level (m). Four discharge-level (Q-h) relationships were developed for converting the simulated flow into water level at four selected sites downstream of Cahora Bassa dam – namely: Cahora Bassa dam site, Tete (E-320), Caia (E-291) and Marromeu (E-285). However, the uncertainties in these predictions suggested that improved monitoring systems may be achieved if data access at appropriate scale and quality was improved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The use of probiotics in the diet of farmed South African abalone Haliotis midae L
- Authors: Maliza, Siyabonga
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Haliotis midae -- South Africa , Abalones -- South Africa , Haliotis midae -- Feeding and feeds , Haliotis midae -- Effect of chemicals on , Haliotis midae -- Growth , Haliotis midae -- Immunology , Probiotics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5382 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018178
- Description: Physiological stress in farmed abalone can lead to immunosuppression and increase the susceptibility to bacterial, viral and parasitic disease, often followed by mortality. Thus, handling and poor water quality can reduce farm production efficiency. Probiotics in aquaculture have been effective in a wide range of species in enhancing immunity, survival, improving feed utilisation and growth. Three putative probionts identified as a result of in vitro screening had been beneficial to laboratory-reared abalone in a previous study. The aim of this study was to produce an abalone feed that contains a suite of probionts that may promote abalone growth and health under farming conditions. The objectives were to compare growth and physiological responses (i.e., haemocyte and phagocytosis counts) of abalone fed a commercial feed (Abfeed®S 34, Marifeed, Hermanus) supplemented with probiotics (i.e., the probiotic diet) to abalone fed the commercial feed without probiotic supplementation as a control treatment in a factorial design with handling method as an independent variable. This experiment was conducted at HIK Abalone Farm (Pty Ltd) for a period of eight months with initial weight and length 36.1 ± 0.05 g and 58.6 ± 0.06 mm abalone-1. Another experiment was carried out at Roman Bay Sea Farm (Pty) Ltd with initial weight and length 34.7 ± 0.17 g and 62.3 ± 0.18 mm abalone-1, but this experiment included one factor only, i.e. the presence and absence of the probionts in the feed. At HIK there was no significant interaction between diet and handling on average length and weight gain month-1 after four (p=0.81 and p=0.32) and eight (p=0.51 and p=0.53) months, respectively. Average length (additional handling = 73.9 ± 0.52 mm, normal farm handling = 75.8 ± 0.57 mm) and weight gain (mean: additional handling = 68.5 ± 1.20 g, normal farm handling = 74.3 ± 1.86 g) increased significantly in animals that were handled under normal farm procedure and were either fed probiotic or control diet after eight months (p=0.03 and p=0.02, respectively). There was no iii difference in length gain or weight gain of abalone fed the probiotic diet and those fed the control diet (ANOVA: F(1,16)=0.04, p=0.84; F(1,16)=0.14, p=0.71, respectively). After four months phagocytotic count was significantly different between dietary treatments with mean values of 74.50 ± 10.52 and 63.52 ± 14.52 % phagocytosis count per sample for the probionts and control treatment, respectively (p=0.04), there was no difference after eight months at HIK Abalone Farm. There was no effect of stressor application (p=0.14) and no interaction between dietary treatment and stressor application for this variable i.e., phagocytosis count (p=0.61). There was no difference in feed conversion ratio between treatments with values ranging from 2.9 to 3.8. At Roman Bay Sea farm, there was no significant difference in mean length gain between abalone fed the probiotic and control diet after eight months (repeated measures ANOVA: F(4,28)=16.54. Mean weight gain of abalone fed the probiotic diet was significantly greater than those fed the control diet after eight months (repeated measures ANOVA: F(4,28)=39.82, p(0.00001). There was no significant difference in haemocyte counts between animals fed either probiotic or control diet after four and eight months at Roman Bay Sea farm (p>0.05).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Maliza, Siyabonga
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Haliotis midae -- South Africa , Abalones -- South Africa , Haliotis midae -- Feeding and feeds , Haliotis midae -- Effect of chemicals on , Haliotis midae -- Growth , Haliotis midae -- Immunology , Probiotics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5382 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018178
- Description: Physiological stress in farmed abalone can lead to immunosuppression and increase the susceptibility to bacterial, viral and parasitic disease, often followed by mortality. Thus, handling and poor water quality can reduce farm production efficiency. Probiotics in aquaculture have been effective in a wide range of species in enhancing immunity, survival, improving feed utilisation and growth. Three putative probionts identified as a result of in vitro screening had been beneficial to laboratory-reared abalone in a previous study. The aim of this study was to produce an abalone feed that contains a suite of probionts that may promote abalone growth and health under farming conditions. The objectives were to compare growth and physiological responses (i.e., haemocyte and phagocytosis counts) of abalone fed a commercial feed (Abfeed®S 34, Marifeed, Hermanus) supplemented with probiotics (i.e., the probiotic diet) to abalone fed the commercial feed without probiotic supplementation as a control treatment in a factorial design with handling method as an independent variable. This experiment was conducted at HIK Abalone Farm (Pty Ltd) for a period of eight months with initial weight and length 36.1 ± 0.05 g and 58.6 ± 0.06 mm abalone-1. Another experiment was carried out at Roman Bay Sea Farm (Pty) Ltd with initial weight and length 34.7 ± 0.17 g and 62.3 ± 0.18 mm abalone-1, but this experiment included one factor only, i.e. the presence and absence of the probionts in the feed. At HIK there was no significant interaction between diet and handling on average length and weight gain month-1 after four (p=0.81 and p=0.32) and eight (p=0.51 and p=0.53) months, respectively. Average length (additional handling = 73.9 ± 0.52 mm, normal farm handling = 75.8 ± 0.57 mm) and weight gain (mean: additional handling = 68.5 ± 1.20 g, normal farm handling = 74.3 ± 1.86 g) increased significantly in animals that were handled under normal farm procedure and were either fed probiotic or control diet after eight months (p=0.03 and p=0.02, respectively). There was no iii difference in length gain or weight gain of abalone fed the probiotic diet and those fed the control diet (ANOVA: F(1,16)=0.04, p=0.84; F(1,16)=0.14, p=0.71, respectively). After four months phagocytotic count was significantly different between dietary treatments with mean values of 74.50 ± 10.52 and 63.52 ± 14.52 % phagocytosis count per sample for the probionts and control treatment, respectively (p=0.04), there was no difference after eight months at HIK Abalone Farm. There was no effect of stressor application (p=0.14) and no interaction between dietary treatment and stressor application for this variable i.e., phagocytosis count (p=0.61). There was no difference in feed conversion ratio between treatments with values ranging from 2.9 to 3.8. At Roman Bay Sea farm, there was no significant difference in mean length gain between abalone fed the probiotic and control diet after eight months (repeated measures ANOVA: F(4,28)=16.54. Mean weight gain of abalone fed the probiotic diet was significantly greater than those fed the control diet after eight months (repeated measures ANOVA: F(4,28)=39.82, p(0.00001). There was no significant difference in haemocyte counts between animals fed either probiotic or control diet after four and eight months at Roman Bay Sea farm (p>0.05).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The value of locally isolated freshwater micro-algae in toxicity testing for water resource management in South Africa
- Authors: Gola, Nontutuzelo Pearl
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Microalgae -- South Africa , Toxicity testing , Water resources development -- South Africa , Aquatic habitats -- South Africa , Water -- Pollution -- Toxicology , Water quality management -- South Africa , Sewage disposal in rivers, lakes, etc. -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6049 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017873
- Description: The ecological position of micro-algae at the base of the aquatic food web makes them critical components of aquatic ecosystems. Their short generation time also makes them useful biological indicators because they respond quickly to changes in environmental condition, enabling timely identification and assessment of water quality changes. The inclusion of micro-algae as indicators in water resource regulation and management in South Africa has started recently, their more extensive use in biomonitoring and ecotoxicology programmes for water resource management would contribute to the South African policy if water resource protection. The standard algal growth inhibition assay with the species Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata is currently used for monitoring toxicity of in-stream and industrial wastewater discharges to freshwater micro-algae. The relevance of the data generated by standard toxicity bioassays has been questioned, since micro-algae in particular are extremely variable in their sensitivity to a range of contaminants and these standard species used may not occur in the local aquatic environment. As a result, international regulatory agencies, have recommended algal growth inhibition tests be changed from a single standard species to tests with a number of species. One recommendation, in addition to the use of standard toxicity tests, is the use of species isolated from the local environment which may be more relevant for assessing site specific impacts. This study investigated the value and application of locally isolated South African freshwater micro-algae in toxicity tests for water resource management and was carried out in three phases. The first phase involved isolating micro-algae from South African aquatic resources. Micro-algae suitable for toxicity testing were identified and selected using as set of criteria. Three (Scenedesmus bicaudatus, Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella vulgaris) out of eight successfully isolated species satisfied the prescribed selection criteria and these were selected as potential toxicity test species. The second phase focused on refining and adapting the existing algal toxicity test protocol (the algal growth inhibition assay) for use on the locally isolated algal species. The refinement of the test protocol was achieved by exposing the locally isolated species to reference toxicants in order to assess and compare their growth and sensitivity to the toxicants under the prescribed toxicity test conditions with that of the standard toxicity test species (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) and a commercial laboratory species (Chlorella protothecoides). During this phase, one of the three local species (Scenedesmus bicaudatus) was eliminated as a potential toxicity test species due to inconsistent growth. The third phase of the study involved assessing the sensitivity of the two remaining species (C. vulgaris and C. sorokiniana) to a range of toxicants (reference toxicants, salts, effluents and a herbicide) and comparing it to that of the standard toxicity test species P. subcapitata and C. protothecoides. The toxicants were selected based on their relative importance in the South African context, as well as the practicality of using these local micro-algae to routinely determine the impact of these toxicants on local aquatic resources. The growth of the four micro-algae was stimulated by the selected effluents. The standard toxicity test species P. subcapitata was ranked the most sensitive and of the four species to two reference toxicants and two inorganic salts. Chlorella sorokiniana was ranked the most sensitive of the three Chlorella species to two reference toxicants and two inorganic salts. The herbicide stimulated the growth of C. vulgaris while inhibiting the growth of the other species. Pseudokirchneriela subcapitata and C. sorokiniana showed high intra-specific variability in growth, which made it difficult to determine the effective concentrations of the herbicide and therefore compare the sensitivity of the species. This varied response of micro-algal species to toxicants may result in the biodiversity shifts in aquatic ecosystems, and also supports the recommendation of using a battery of different species to support more informed decisions in water resource management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Gola, Nontutuzelo Pearl
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Microalgae -- South Africa , Toxicity testing , Water resources development -- South Africa , Aquatic habitats -- South Africa , Water -- Pollution -- Toxicology , Water quality management -- South Africa , Sewage disposal in rivers, lakes, etc. -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:6049 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017873
- Description: The ecological position of micro-algae at the base of the aquatic food web makes them critical components of aquatic ecosystems. Their short generation time also makes them useful biological indicators because they respond quickly to changes in environmental condition, enabling timely identification and assessment of water quality changes. The inclusion of micro-algae as indicators in water resource regulation and management in South Africa has started recently, their more extensive use in biomonitoring and ecotoxicology programmes for water resource management would contribute to the South African policy if water resource protection. The standard algal growth inhibition assay with the species Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata is currently used for monitoring toxicity of in-stream and industrial wastewater discharges to freshwater micro-algae. The relevance of the data generated by standard toxicity bioassays has been questioned, since micro-algae in particular are extremely variable in their sensitivity to a range of contaminants and these standard species used may not occur in the local aquatic environment. As a result, international regulatory agencies, have recommended algal growth inhibition tests be changed from a single standard species to tests with a number of species. One recommendation, in addition to the use of standard toxicity tests, is the use of species isolated from the local environment which may be more relevant for assessing site specific impacts. This study investigated the value and application of locally isolated South African freshwater micro-algae in toxicity tests for water resource management and was carried out in three phases. The first phase involved isolating micro-algae from South African aquatic resources. Micro-algae suitable for toxicity testing were identified and selected using as set of criteria. Three (Scenedesmus bicaudatus, Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella vulgaris) out of eight successfully isolated species satisfied the prescribed selection criteria and these were selected as potential toxicity test species. The second phase focused on refining and adapting the existing algal toxicity test protocol (the algal growth inhibition assay) for use on the locally isolated algal species. The refinement of the test protocol was achieved by exposing the locally isolated species to reference toxicants in order to assess and compare their growth and sensitivity to the toxicants under the prescribed toxicity test conditions with that of the standard toxicity test species (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata) and a commercial laboratory species (Chlorella protothecoides). During this phase, one of the three local species (Scenedesmus bicaudatus) was eliminated as a potential toxicity test species due to inconsistent growth. The third phase of the study involved assessing the sensitivity of the two remaining species (C. vulgaris and C. sorokiniana) to a range of toxicants (reference toxicants, salts, effluents and a herbicide) and comparing it to that of the standard toxicity test species P. subcapitata and C. protothecoides. The toxicants were selected based on their relative importance in the South African context, as well as the practicality of using these local micro-algae to routinely determine the impact of these toxicants on local aquatic resources. The growth of the four micro-algae was stimulated by the selected effluents. The standard toxicity test species P. subcapitata was ranked the most sensitive and of the four species to two reference toxicants and two inorganic salts. Chlorella sorokiniana was ranked the most sensitive of the three Chlorella species to two reference toxicants and two inorganic salts. The herbicide stimulated the growth of C. vulgaris while inhibiting the growth of the other species. Pseudokirchneriela subcapitata and C. sorokiniana showed high intra-specific variability in growth, which made it difficult to determine the effective concentrations of the herbicide and therefore compare the sensitivity of the species. This varied response of micro-algal species to toxicants may result in the biodiversity shifts in aquatic ecosystems, and also supports the recommendation of using a battery of different species to support more informed decisions in water resource management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The ‘obesity epidemic’ : an analysis of representations of obesity in mainstream South African newspapers post-1997
- Authors: Malan, Chantelle Therese
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Obesity -- South Africa , Obesity -- Press coverage -- South Africa , Obesity -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Discrimination against overweight persons -- South Africa , Social medicine -- South Africa , Agent (Philosophy) , Social control -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2892 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019751
- Description: This study of 449 newspaper articles from South Africa from 1997 provides an analysis of the representations of obesity evinced in the corpus. The research argues that obesity is overwhelmingly framed as being diseased and that there are four main refrains within this frame, namely, statistics on obesity, the naturalisation of negative assumptions about fat, the social dysfunction of fat and the use of crisis metaphors to describe fatness. This framing lends itself to representations of obesity which are raced, gendered and classed. Fat bodies are portrayed as being in deficit and fat people as lacking agency. The disproportional focus on black bodies in the corpus can be attributed to assumptions of ‘incivility’ which are premised on racial stereotypes which construct black people as being unintelligent, irrational, lacking agency and being largely dependent on others to survive. This disproportional focus on black bodies can also be understood in the context of emerging markets. This study argues that the medicalisation of obesity has contributed to many oversimplifications and contradictions in the representation of obesity in the corpus, which seem to go unquestioned, such as the conflation of weight and health, something I argue is one of the main contributors to the negative consequences of the dominant framing of obesity. Framing obesity as medicalised also promotes fat shaming and acts as a form of social control which maintains existing power relations through the use of discursive practices for the identification and control of deviants. These representations are problematic chiefly because they promote the dehumanisation of fat people, but also because that they do not promote good health as they claim to do.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Malan, Chantelle Therese
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Obesity -- South Africa , Obesity -- Press coverage -- South Africa , Obesity -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Discrimination against overweight persons -- South Africa , Social medicine -- South Africa , Agent (Philosophy) , Social control -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2892 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019751
- Description: This study of 449 newspaper articles from South Africa from 1997 provides an analysis of the representations of obesity evinced in the corpus. The research argues that obesity is overwhelmingly framed as being diseased and that there are four main refrains within this frame, namely, statistics on obesity, the naturalisation of negative assumptions about fat, the social dysfunction of fat and the use of crisis metaphors to describe fatness. This framing lends itself to representations of obesity which are raced, gendered and classed. Fat bodies are portrayed as being in deficit and fat people as lacking agency. The disproportional focus on black bodies in the corpus can be attributed to assumptions of ‘incivility’ which are premised on racial stereotypes which construct black people as being unintelligent, irrational, lacking agency and being largely dependent on others to survive. This disproportional focus on black bodies can also be understood in the context of emerging markets. This study argues that the medicalisation of obesity has contributed to many oversimplifications and contradictions in the representation of obesity in the corpus, which seem to go unquestioned, such as the conflation of weight and health, something I argue is one of the main contributors to the negative consequences of the dominant framing of obesity. Framing obesity as medicalised also promotes fat shaming and acts as a form of social control which maintains existing power relations through the use of discursive practices for the identification and control of deviants. These representations are problematic chiefly because they promote the dehumanisation of fat people, but also because that they do not promote good health as they claim to do.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Thermal physiology and behavioural ecology of the white shark, carcharodon carcharias
- Authors: Gennari, Enrico
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64002 , vital:28522
- Description: Expected release date-May 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Gennari, Enrico
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64002 , vital:28522
- Description: Expected release date-May 2019
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Through the Camera Obscura : exploring the voyeuristic gaze through Grahamstown's architecture
- Authors: King, Taryn
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Architecture -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Camera obscuras -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Voyeurism in art , Gaze in art , Architecture and society -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Human figure in art , Women in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2511 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018937
- Description: My study explores the politics of viewing and the gaze. I argue that the gaze both arrests and objectifies the body, which in turn transforms subjects into objects therefore regulating social behaviour. The basic notion of the gaze will be explored throughout this thesis and thereby contextualizes my sculptures, which are casts of my naked body. My particular concern lies in how the ideas of surveillance have had an influence on architecture and buildings in Grahamstown. Throughout this mini thesis, I will explore a number of architectural spaces of Grahamstown such as the Provost prison, Fort Selwyn and the Camera Obscura which I argue were all designed based on the ideas of surveillance. The entanglement of Grahamstown architecture and the female form as a subject of voyeurism forms an important part of this thesis, as the context of Grahamstown architecture is centered on visibility, which in turn subjects people to a form of discipline. The Provost Prison, the Camera Obscura and the forts of Grahamstown are all good examples of this. Outside of this, the female body is also subjected to the gaze, which in turn suggests that the female body is also under surveillance and as a result also becomes disciplined. My installation is a response to Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon, in which he placed 33 steel and fibreglass casts of his own naked body at an elevated level on buildings around Manhattan and Brazil. In this discussion I have contextualized my work with reference to the ideas of different theorists. The three main theorists I have cited are Michel Foucault, Jonathan Crary and Laura Mulvey. Foucault is specifically cited due to his discussion on Panoptic power, surveillance and docile bodies. Crary makes a number of important points with regards to the ideological operations of the Camera Obscura as well as its history while Laura Mulvey’s writings form the basis of the voyeuristic gaze from the perspective of a feminist.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: King, Taryn
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Architecture -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Camera obscuras -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Voyeurism in art , Gaze in art , Architecture and society -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Human figure in art , Women in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2511 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018937
- Description: My study explores the politics of viewing and the gaze. I argue that the gaze both arrests and objectifies the body, which in turn transforms subjects into objects therefore regulating social behaviour. The basic notion of the gaze will be explored throughout this thesis and thereby contextualizes my sculptures, which are casts of my naked body. My particular concern lies in how the ideas of surveillance have had an influence on architecture and buildings in Grahamstown. Throughout this mini thesis, I will explore a number of architectural spaces of Grahamstown such as the Provost prison, Fort Selwyn and the Camera Obscura which I argue were all designed based on the ideas of surveillance. The entanglement of Grahamstown architecture and the female form as a subject of voyeurism forms an important part of this thesis, as the context of Grahamstown architecture is centered on visibility, which in turn subjects people to a form of discipline. The Provost Prison, the Camera Obscura and the forts of Grahamstown are all good examples of this. Outside of this, the female body is also subjected to the gaze, which in turn suggests that the female body is also under surveillance and as a result also becomes disciplined. My installation is a response to Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon, in which he placed 33 steel and fibreglass casts of his own naked body at an elevated level on buildings around Manhattan and Brazil. In this discussion I have contextualized my work with reference to the ideas of different theorists. The three main theorists I have cited are Michel Foucault, Jonathan Crary and Laura Mulvey. Foucault is specifically cited due to his discussion on Panoptic power, surveillance and docile bodies. Crary makes a number of important points with regards to the ideological operations of the Camera Obscura as well as its history while Laura Mulvey’s writings form the basis of the voyeuristic gaze from the perspective of a feminist.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Towards a framework for building security operation centers
- Authors: Jacobs, Pierre Conrad
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Security systems industry , Systems engineering , Expert systems (Computer science) , COBIT (Information technology management standard) , Computer security
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4710 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017932
- Description: In this thesis a framework for Security Operation Centers (SOCs) is proposed. It was developed by utilising Systems Engineering best practices, combined with industry-accepted standards and frameworks, such as the TM Forum’s eTOM framework, CoBIT, ITIL, and ISO/IEC 27002:2005. This framework encompasses the design considerations, the operational considerations and the means to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of SOCs. The intent is to provide guidance to consumers on how to compare and measure the capabilities of SOCs provided by disparate service providers, and to provide service providers (internal and external) a framework to use when building and improving their offerings. The importance of providing a consistent, measureable and guaranteed service to customers is becoming more important, as there is an increased focus on holistic management of security. This has in turn resulted in an increased number of both internal and managed service provider solutions. While some frameworks exist for designing, building and operating specific security technologies used within SOCs, we did not find any comprehensive framework for designing, building and managing SOCs. Consequently, consumers of SOCs do not enjoy a constant experience from vendors, and may experience inconsistent services from geographically dispersed offerings provided by the same vendor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Jacobs, Pierre Conrad
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Security systems industry , Systems engineering , Expert systems (Computer science) , COBIT (Information technology management standard) , Computer security
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4710 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017932
- Description: In this thesis a framework for Security Operation Centers (SOCs) is proposed. It was developed by utilising Systems Engineering best practices, combined with industry-accepted standards and frameworks, such as the TM Forum’s eTOM framework, CoBIT, ITIL, and ISO/IEC 27002:2005. This framework encompasses the design considerations, the operational considerations and the means to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of SOCs. The intent is to provide guidance to consumers on how to compare and measure the capabilities of SOCs provided by disparate service providers, and to provide service providers (internal and external) a framework to use when building and improving their offerings. The importance of providing a consistent, measureable and guaranteed service to customers is becoming more important, as there is an increased focus on holistic management of security. This has in turn resulted in an increased number of both internal and managed service provider solutions. While some frameworks exist for designing, building and operating specific security technologies used within SOCs, we did not find any comprehensive framework for designing, building and managing SOCs. Consequently, consumers of SOCs do not enjoy a constant experience from vendors, and may experience inconsistent services from geographically dispersed offerings provided by the same vendor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Towards a Mobile Bioethanol Unit for point of source conversion of sugar sources to bioethanol: design and feasibility study for South Africa
- Authors: Cech, Alexandra Louise
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59141 , vital:27439
- Description: Restricted access-thesis embargoed for 5 years
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Cech, Alexandra Louise
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59141 , vital:27439
- Description: Restricted access-thesis embargoed for 5 years
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Towards an evaluation and protection strategy for critical infrastructure
- Authors: Gottschalk, Jason Howard
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Computer crimes -- Prevention , Computer networks -- Security measures , Computer crimes -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Public works -- Security measures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4721 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018793
- Description: Critical Infrastructure is often overlooked from an Information Security perspective as being of high importance to protect which may result in Critical Infrastructure being at risk to Cyber related attacks with potential dire consequences. Furthermore, what is considered Critical Infrastructure is often a complex discussion, with varying opinions across audiences. Traditional Critical Infrastructure included power stations, water, sewage pump stations, gas pipe lines, power grids and a new entrant, the “internet of things”. This list is not complete and a constant challenge exists in identifying Critical Infrastructure and its interdependencies. The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of protecting Critical Infrastructure as well as proposing a high level framework aiding in the identification and securing of Critical Infrastructure. To achieve this, key case studies involving Cyber crime and Cyber warfare, as well as the identification of attack vectors and impact on against Critical Infrastructure (as applicable to Critical Infrastructure where possible), were identified and discussed. Furthermore industry related material was researched as to identify key controls that would aid in protecting Critical Infrastructure. The identification of initiatives that countries were pursuing, that would aid in the protection of Critical Infrastructure, were identified and discussed. Research was conducted into the various standards, frameworks and methodologies available to aid in the identification, remediation and ultimately the protection of Critical Infrastructure. A key output of the research was the development of a hybrid approach to identifying Critical Infrastructure, associated vulnerabilities and an approach for remediation with specific metrics (based on the research performed). The conclusion based on the research is that there is often a need and a requirement to identify and protect Critical Infrastructure however this is usually initiated or driven by non-owners of Critical Infrastructure (Governments, governing bodies, standards bodies and security consultants). Furthermore where there are active initiative by owners very often the suggested approaches are very high level in nature with little direct guidance available for very immature environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Gottschalk, Jason Howard
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Computer crimes -- Prevention , Computer networks -- Security measures , Computer crimes -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Public works -- Security measures
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4721 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018793
- Description: Critical Infrastructure is often overlooked from an Information Security perspective as being of high importance to protect which may result in Critical Infrastructure being at risk to Cyber related attacks with potential dire consequences. Furthermore, what is considered Critical Infrastructure is often a complex discussion, with varying opinions across audiences. Traditional Critical Infrastructure included power stations, water, sewage pump stations, gas pipe lines, power grids and a new entrant, the “internet of things”. This list is not complete and a constant challenge exists in identifying Critical Infrastructure and its interdependencies. The purpose of this research is to highlight the importance of protecting Critical Infrastructure as well as proposing a high level framework aiding in the identification and securing of Critical Infrastructure. To achieve this, key case studies involving Cyber crime and Cyber warfare, as well as the identification of attack vectors and impact on against Critical Infrastructure (as applicable to Critical Infrastructure where possible), were identified and discussed. Furthermore industry related material was researched as to identify key controls that would aid in protecting Critical Infrastructure. The identification of initiatives that countries were pursuing, that would aid in the protection of Critical Infrastructure, were identified and discussed. Research was conducted into the various standards, frameworks and methodologies available to aid in the identification, remediation and ultimately the protection of Critical Infrastructure. A key output of the research was the development of a hybrid approach to identifying Critical Infrastructure, associated vulnerabilities and an approach for remediation with specific metrics (based on the research performed). The conclusion based on the research is that there is often a need and a requirement to identify and protect Critical Infrastructure however this is usually initiated or driven by non-owners of Critical Infrastructure (Governments, governing bodies, standards bodies and security consultants). Furthermore where there are active initiative by owners very often the suggested approaches are very high level in nature with little direct guidance available for very immature environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Towards large scale software based network routing simulation
- Authors: Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Routers (Computer networks) , Computer software , Linux
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4709 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017931
- Description: Software based routing simulators suffer from large simulation host requirements and are prone to slow downs because of resource limitations, as well as context switching due to user space to kernel space requests. Furthermore, hardware based simulations do not scale with the passing of time as their available resources are set at the time of manufacture. This research aims to provide a software based, scalable solution to network simulation. It aims to achieve this by a Linux kernel-based solution, through insertion of a custom kernel module. This will reduce the number of context switches by eliminating the user space context requirement, and serve to be highly compatible with any host that can run the Linux kernel. Through careful consideration in data structure choice and software component design, this routing simulator achieved results of over 7 Gbps of throughput over multiple simulated node hops on consumer hardware. Alongside this throughput, this routing simulator also brings to light scalability and the ability to instantiate and simulate networks in excess of 1 million routing nodes within 1 GB of system memory
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Routers (Computer networks) , Computer software , Linux
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4709 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017931
- Description: Software based routing simulators suffer from large simulation host requirements and are prone to slow downs because of resource limitations, as well as context switching due to user space to kernel space requests. Furthermore, hardware based simulations do not scale with the passing of time as their available resources are set at the time of manufacture. This research aims to provide a software based, scalable solution to network simulation. It aims to achieve this by a Linux kernel-based solution, through insertion of a custom kernel module. This will reduce the number of context switches by eliminating the user space context requirement, and serve to be highly compatible with any host that can run the Linux kernel. Through careful consideration in data structure choice and software component design, this routing simulator achieved results of over 7 Gbps of throughput over multiple simulated node hops on consumer hardware. Alongside this throughput, this routing simulator also brings to light scalability and the ability to instantiate and simulate networks in excess of 1 million routing nodes within 1 GB of system memory
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015