Rapid Synthesis of Thiol-Co-Capped CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe Multi-Core-Shell QDs and Their Encapsulation in Liposomes and Chitosan Nanoparticles; Comparative Bio-compatibility Studies Using Hela and Vero Cells
- Authors: Daramola, Olamide Abiodun
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422617 , vital:71962 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422617
- Description: The common method that has been used to reduce the toxicity posed to living cells by CdTe Quantum Dots (QDs) is through the synthesis of CdTe multi-core-shells nanoparticles. In this process, the surface of CdTe QDs is usually coated by less toxic ZnS or ZnSe shells. This heterostructure compound does not only reduce the toxicity of CdTe QDs but can also be used in applications such as deep tissue imaging. The heterostructures can be in numerous forms such as CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe or CdTe/CdSe/ZnS or CdTe/CdS/ZnS multi-core-shell QDs. However, the drawbacks attributed to the fabrication of these compounds is long synthesis times (6- 24 h) in achieving the highest wavelength emission maxima. Others are the use of toxic reagents and poor reproducibility of synthesized materials. An additional problem is that the ZnSe or ZnS coating is insufficient to completely protect the highly toxic Cd metal from escaping into immediate solution. This limits their use in biochemistry and with living systems. Liposomes and biopolymers such as chitosan are known to be environmentally friendly compounds that have been used in various studies as delivery systems for QDs and model drugs for drug delivery applications. They are generally non-toxic and highly bio-compatible. In this study, the rapid synthesis of thiol-co-capped CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe multi-core-shell QDs with a maximum reaction time of 35 mins, gave reliable QDs with emission maxima at 625 nm. The multi-core-shell QDs were encapsulated in two different bio-compatible environments, namely liposome and chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) at 14 different formulations (F) for liposome and 12 different formulations for CNP. Cytotoxicity and florescence imaging studies using HeLa and Vero cells, were used to investigate the improved bio-compatibility. Various characterization techniques were used to elucidate the optical properties, morphology and physico-chemical properties of the QDs and nanocomposites. Two of the best formulations, QD-liposome vesicles (LVs)-F12 and QD-CNP-F9 (with chitosan), demonstrated high loading efficiencies of 42 ± 6 % and 59 ± 5 %, respectively. While the plain CdTe QDs showed high toxicity, some of the encapsulated materials, QD-LVs-F1 and F12, depicted no-toxicity against the cells (IC50 > 0.5 mg/ml). The QDs also retained most of their fluorescence and properties and could easily be tracked in cells and visualized around the nucleus, indicating the successful internalization of the QDs in the cytosol. These results shows that encapsulation of CdTe multi-core-shell QDs in liposomes produce better bio-compatibility compared to multi-core-shell QDs and better than CNP coating. These particles therefore show good promise in cell-labelling, drug delivery studies. Their core-shell nanoparticles have also shown good behavior in enhancing the memory of a device which is based on some recent collaborated works. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Chemistry, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
- Authors: Daramola, Olamide Abiodun
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422617 , vital:71962 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422617
- Description: The common method that has been used to reduce the toxicity posed to living cells by CdTe Quantum Dots (QDs) is through the synthesis of CdTe multi-core-shells nanoparticles. In this process, the surface of CdTe QDs is usually coated by less toxic ZnS or ZnSe shells. This heterostructure compound does not only reduce the toxicity of CdTe QDs but can also be used in applications such as deep tissue imaging. The heterostructures can be in numerous forms such as CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe or CdTe/CdSe/ZnS or CdTe/CdS/ZnS multi-core-shell QDs. However, the drawbacks attributed to the fabrication of these compounds is long synthesis times (6- 24 h) in achieving the highest wavelength emission maxima. Others are the use of toxic reagents and poor reproducibility of synthesized materials. An additional problem is that the ZnSe or ZnS coating is insufficient to completely protect the highly toxic Cd metal from escaping into immediate solution. This limits their use in biochemistry and with living systems. Liposomes and biopolymers such as chitosan are known to be environmentally friendly compounds that have been used in various studies as delivery systems for QDs and model drugs for drug delivery applications. They are generally non-toxic and highly bio-compatible. In this study, the rapid synthesis of thiol-co-capped CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe multi-core-shell QDs with a maximum reaction time of 35 mins, gave reliable QDs with emission maxima at 625 nm. The multi-core-shell QDs were encapsulated in two different bio-compatible environments, namely liposome and chitosan nanoparticles (CNP) at 14 different formulations (F) for liposome and 12 different formulations for CNP. Cytotoxicity and florescence imaging studies using HeLa and Vero cells, were used to investigate the improved bio-compatibility. Various characterization techniques were used to elucidate the optical properties, morphology and physico-chemical properties of the QDs and nanocomposites. Two of the best formulations, QD-liposome vesicles (LVs)-F12 and QD-CNP-F9 (with chitosan), demonstrated high loading efficiencies of 42 ± 6 % and 59 ± 5 %, respectively. While the plain CdTe QDs showed high toxicity, some of the encapsulated materials, QD-LVs-F1 and F12, depicted no-toxicity against the cells (IC50 > 0.5 mg/ml). The QDs also retained most of their fluorescence and properties and could easily be tracked in cells and visualized around the nucleus, indicating the successful internalization of the QDs in the cytosol. These results shows that encapsulation of CdTe multi-core-shell QDs in liposomes produce better bio-compatibility compared to multi-core-shell QDs and better than CNP coating. These particles therefore show good promise in cell-labelling, drug delivery studies. Their core-shell nanoparticles have also shown good behavior in enhancing the memory of a device which is based on some recent collaborated works. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Chemistry, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
South African supratidal microbialites: prokaryote communities, metabolic capabilities, and biogeochemical processes
- Authors: Isemonger, Eric William
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422641 , vital:71964
- Description: Access restricted. Embargoed until 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
- Authors: Isemonger, Eric William
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422641 , vital:71964
- Description: Access restricted. Embargoed until 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
The development of ionic zinc(II) phthalocyanines for sono-photodynamic combination therapy of cervical and breast cancer
- Authors: Nene, Lindokuhle Cindy
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422565 , vital:71958 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422565
- Description: This study focuses on the development of the sono-photodynamic combination therapy (SPDT) activity of phthalocyanines (Pcs) on the cervical and breast cancer cell lines in vitro. The SPDT technique utilizes ultrasound in combination with light to elicit cytotoxic effects for cancer eradication. In this work, a selection of tetra-peripherally substituted Zn(II) cationic and zwitterionic Pcs were prepared. The photophysical parameters of the Pcs were determined including their fluorescence behaviours and efficiency of the triplet excited state population. The effects of the ultrasonic parameters (frequencies (MHz) and power (W.cm-2)) on the stability of the Pcs were evaluated. Four parameters were evaluated: Par I (1 MHz: 1 W.cm-2), Par II (1 MHz: 2 W.cm-2), Par III (3 MHz: 1 W.cm-2) and Par IV (3 MHz: 2 W.cm-2). The stability of the Pcs reduced with the increase in the ultrasonic power (for Par II and Par IV). The Par I showed the least degradation compared to the other parameters and was therefore used for the SPDT treatments. The sonodynamic (SDT), photodynamic (PDT) therapy activities of the Pcs were studied and compared to their SPDT efficacies. The Pcs showed reactive oxygen species generation during the SDT, PDT and SPDT treatments. For the SDT and SPDT, singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radicals (•OH) were detected. For PDT, only the 1O2 were detected. The cell cytotoxicity studies for the Pcs showed relatively higher therapeutic efficacies for the SDT treatments compared to the PDT treatments, where the SPDT showed higher therapeutic efficacies compared to both the SDT and PDT monotreatments on both the cell lines in vitro. Overall, the combination treatments were better compared to the monotreatments. The activities of the Pcs were compared by their differences in structures, including the type of R-group, type of quaternizing agent and type of nanoparticle conjugates. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Chemistry, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
- Authors: Nene, Lindokuhle Cindy
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422565 , vital:71958 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422565
- Description: This study focuses on the development of the sono-photodynamic combination therapy (SPDT) activity of phthalocyanines (Pcs) on the cervical and breast cancer cell lines in vitro. The SPDT technique utilizes ultrasound in combination with light to elicit cytotoxic effects for cancer eradication. In this work, a selection of tetra-peripherally substituted Zn(II) cationic and zwitterionic Pcs were prepared. The photophysical parameters of the Pcs were determined including their fluorescence behaviours and efficiency of the triplet excited state population. The effects of the ultrasonic parameters (frequencies (MHz) and power (W.cm-2)) on the stability of the Pcs were evaluated. Four parameters were evaluated: Par I (1 MHz: 1 W.cm-2), Par II (1 MHz: 2 W.cm-2), Par III (3 MHz: 1 W.cm-2) and Par IV (3 MHz: 2 W.cm-2). The stability of the Pcs reduced with the increase in the ultrasonic power (for Par II and Par IV). The Par I showed the least degradation compared to the other parameters and was therefore used for the SPDT treatments. The sonodynamic (SDT), photodynamic (PDT) therapy activities of the Pcs were studied and compared to their SPDT efficacies. The Pcs showed reactive oxygen species generation during the SDT, PDT and SPDT treatments. For the SDT and SPDT, singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radicals (•OH) were detected. For PDT, only the 1O2 were detected. The cell cytotoxicity studies for the Pcs showed relatively higher therapeutic efficacies for the SDT treatments compared to the PDT treatments, where the SPDT showed higher therapeutic efficacies compared to both the SDT and PDT monotreatments on both the cell lines in vitro. Overall, the combination treatments were better compared to the monotreatments. The activities of the Pcs were compared by their differences in structures, including the type of R-group, type of quaternizing agent and type of nanoparticle conjugates. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Chemistry, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
The role of optimism bias in susceptibility to phishing attacks in a financial services organisation
- Authors: Owen, Morné
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Mixed methods research , Phishing , Optimism bias , Information security , Information storage and retrieval systems Financial services industry , Risk perception
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419257 , vital:71629 , DOI 10.21504/10962/419257
- Description: Researchers looking for ways to change the insecure behaviour that results in successful phishing have considered multiple possible reasons for such behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the role of optimism bias (OB – defined as a cognitive bias), which characterises overly optimistic or unrealistic individuals, in order to ensure secure behaviour. Research is considered that has focused on issues such as personality traits, trust, attitude and information security awareness training (ISAT). We used a mixed methods design to investigate OB behaviour, building on a recontextualised version of the theory of planned behaviour to evaluate the influence that OB has on phishing susceptibility. To model the data, an analysis was performed on 226 survey responses (systematic random sampling method) from the employees of a financial services organisation using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling. To evaluate OB behaviour, we conducted an experiment consisting of three ISAT sessions and three simulated phishing attacks. After each phishing experiment, we conducted interviews to gain a better understanding of why people succumbed to the attacks. It was subsequently found that overly optimistic individuals are inclined to behave insecurely, while factors such as attitude and trust significantly influence the intention to behave securely. Our contribution to practice is to enhance the effectiveness of ISAT by identifying and addressing the OB weakness to deliver a more successful training outcome. Our contribution to theory enriches the Information Systems literature by evaluating the effect of a cognitive bias on phishing susceptibility and, through research, offering a contextual explanation of the resultant behaviour. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Commerce, Information Systems, 2023 , Navorsers op soek na ‘n antwoord om onveilige gedrag te verander wat lei na uitvissing het verskeie moontlike redes oorweeg vir sulke gedrag. Daarom is die doel van hierdie verhandeling om die rol van optimistiese vooroordeel (OB - gedefinieer as 'n kognitiewe vooroordeel) te verstaan, wat te optimistiese of onrealistiese individue kenmerk om veilige gedrag te verseker. Navorsing was oorweeg wat gefokus het op kwessies soos persoonlikheidseienskappe, vertroue, gesindheid en inligtingsekuriteitsbewustheidsopleiding (ISAT). Die navorser het gemengde metodes gebruik om OB-gedrag te ondersoek. Daar was voortgebou op 'n gerekontekstualiseerde weergawe van die theory of planned behaviour om die invloed wat OB op uitvissing-vatbaarheid het, te evalueer. Om die data te modelleer, is 'n analise gedoen waar 226 opname antwoorde verkry is van 'n finansiële dienste organisasie en is partial least squares (PLS) path modelling gebruik. Om OB-gedrag te evalueer, het ons 'n eksperiment uitgevoer wat bestaan uit drie ISAT-sessies en drie gesimuleerde uitvissing-aanvalle. Na elke uitvissing-eksperiment het ons onderhoude gevoer om 'n beter begrip te kry waarom mense aan die aanvalle geswig het. Te optimistiese individue is geneig om onveilig op te tree, terwyl faktore soos gesindheid en vertroue die voorneme om veilig op te tree, aansienlik beïnvloed het. Die studie se bydrae tot die praktyk is om die doeltreffendheid van ISAT te verbeter deur die OBswakheid te identifiseer en aan te spreek om 'n meer suksesvolle opleidingsuitkoms te lewer. Verder verryk die studie die Inligtingstelsels-literatuur deur die effek van 'n kognitiewe vooroordeel op uitvissing-vatbaarheid te evalueer en deur navorsing bied dit 'n kontekstuele verduideliking van die gevolglike gedrag.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
The role of optimism bias in susceptibility to phishing attacks in a financial services organisation
- Authors: Owen, Morné
- Date: 2023-03-31
- Subjects: Mixed methods research , Phishing , Optimism bias , Information security , Information storage and retrieval systems Financial services industry , Risk perception
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419257 , vital:71629 , DOI 10.21504/10962/419257
- Description: Researchers looking for ways to change the insecure behaviour that results in successful phishing have considered multiple possible reasons for such behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the role of optimism bias (OB – defined as a cognitive bias), which characterises overly optimistic or unrealistic individuals, in order to ensure secure behaviour. Research is considered that has focused on issues such as personality traits, trust, attitude and information security awareness training (ISAT). We used a mixed methods design to investigate OB behaviour, building on a recontextualised version of the theory of planned behaviour to evaluate the influence that OB has on phishing susceptibility. To model the data, an analysis was performed on 226 survey responses (systematic random sampling method) from the employees of a financial services organisation using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling. To evaluate OB behaviour, we conducted an experiment consisting of three ISAT sessions and three simulated phishing attacks. After each phishing experiment, we conducted interviews to gain a better understanding of why people succumbed to the attacks. It was subsequently found that overly optimistic individuals are inclined to behave insecurely, while factors such as attitude and trust significantly influence the intention to behave securely. Our contribution to practice is to enhance the effectiveness of ISAT by identifying and addressing the OB weakness to deliver a more successful training outcome. Our contribution to theory enriches the Information Systems literature by evaluating the effect of a cognitive bias on phishing susceptibility and, through research, offering a contextual explanation of the resultant behaviour. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Commerce, Information Systems, 2023 , Navorsers op soek na ‘n antwoord om onveilige gedrag te verander wat lei na uitvissing het verskeie moontlike redes oorweeg vir sulke gedrag. Daarom is die doel van hierdie verhandeling om die rol van optimistiese vooroordeel (OB - gedefinieer as 'n kognitiewe vooroordeel) te verstaan, wat te optimistiese of onrealistiese individue kenmerk om veilige gedrag te verseker. Navorsing was oorweeg wat gefokus het op kwessies soos persoonlikheidseienskappe, vertroue, gesindheid en inligtingsekuriteitsbewustheidsopleiding (ISAT). Die navorser het gemengde metodes gebruik om OB-gedrag te ondersoek. Daar was voortgebou op 'n gerekontekstualiseerde weergawe van die theory of planned behaviour om die invloed wat OB op uitvissing-vatbaarheid het, te evalueer. Om die data te modelleer, is 'n analise gedoen waar 226 opname antwoorde verkry is van 'n finansiële dienste organisasie en is partial least squares (PLS) path modelling gebruik. Om OB-gedrag te evalueer, het ons 'n eksperiment uitgevoer wat bestaan uit drie ISAT-sessies en drie gesimuleerde uitvissing-aanvalle. Na elke uitvissing-eksperiment het ons onderhoude gevoer om 'n beter begrip te kry waarom mense aan die aanvalle geswig het. Te optimistiese individue is geneig om onveilig op te tree, terwyl faktore soos gesindheid en vertroue die voorneme om veilig op te tree, aansienlik beïnvloed het. Die studie se bydrae tot die praktyk is om die doeltreffendheid van ISAT te verbeter deur die OBswakheid te identifiseer en aan te spreek om 'n meer suksesvolle opleidingsuitkoms te lewer. Verder verryk die studie die Inligtingstelsels-literatuur deur die effek van 'n kognitiewe vooroordeel op uitvissing-vatbaarheid te evalueer en deur navorsing bied dit 'n kontekstuele verduideliking van die gevolglike gedrag.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-31
Délices et négation: une approche de l’écriture féminine à travers quelques romans Africains Francophones
- Authors: Anjugu, Taimako Ajigo
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: African fiction (French) History and criticism , Literature Women authors , Women authors, African , Reader-response criticism , Womanism in literature
- Language: French
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409779 , vital:70629 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409779
- Description: From the onset, it is worthy to note that, nowadays, just as after the independence of most African countries, several writers from the African continent have been preoccupied with the fate of women. This is because, the African continent was since ancient times characterized by certain traditions and cultures which mainly have contributed to the plight of the women. This goes to emphasise that women in most cases are the victims of misdeeds such as early marriage, forced marriage, prejudices, violence, marginalisation, exploitation, discrimination; in short, vices that lead to devalorisation of African women in Africa. Over time, some contemporary French-speaking African writers have responded to the devaluation and valuation of women in their novels using 21st century objective view. With regard to the theme that we decided to address in this research, it is worth knowing that the preponderant task is based on the socio-critical theory, postulated by Claude Duchet. Meanwhile, recourse is also made to the comparative method by Rens, Bod et al. However, since the author’s message could be understood by the reader through the use of some expressions or terms that speak directly to the themes of the research, and that a reader’s role in reading experience cannot be overemphasised, we have been able to also lean on the Reader-response theory of Louise Michelle Rosenblatt. The three methods were used concurrently especially that the analysis of each text is based on how characters are being depicted leading us to realizing that our findings on how the African woman is devalued in the first part of the research, while in the second part of the thesis, our findings demonstrate that a lot of tributes are showered on the African woman due to her numerous outstanding qualities. In effect, our findings also reinforce a significant shift in the narrative that concerns the contemporary view on womanhood. Hence, moving from a dogmatic overconcentration on her lot to the new era woman whose lot is now redefined via the new wave feminist perspective on the negation of the African woman. This could be said to be in line with Amadiume Ifi’s contributions and pioneering work in feminist discourse towards new ways of thinking about sex and gender, the question of power, and women’s place in history and culture. , Pour commencer, il est nécessaire de se souvenir qu’à l’époque actuelle, comme juste après les indépendances de la plupart des pays africains, bon nombre des écrivains venant du continent africain décident de se préoccuper des méfaits sociaux tels que le mariage précoce et/ou forcé, les préjugés, la violence, la marginalisation, l’exploitation, la discrimination, entre autres. Tous ces vices sont issus de la négation de la femme africaine. Ceci se justifie par le fait que le continent africain était depuis l’antiquité caractérisé par certaines traditions et cultures qui ont contribué principalement aux dégâts ci-dessus soulignés subis par les femmes. En effet, nous estimons que beaucoup de femmes sont victimes de ces méfaits qui sont encore pratiqués dans certaines parties de l’Afrique. Avec le temps, certains écrivains africains francophones contemporains représentent la dévalorisation et la valorisation de la femme dans leurs romans en se servant d’une vision contemporaine, celle du XXIe siècle. En ce qui concerne le thème que nous avons décidé d'aborder dans cette recherche, il faut savoir que la tâche prépondérante repose sur la théorie sociocritique, postulée par Claude Duchet. Parallèlement, on a également recours à la méthode comparative de Bod Rens Et ses coauteurs. Cependant, puisque le message de l’auteur pourrait être compris aussi par le lecteur à travers l’usage de certaines expressions ou termes qui sont directement liés aux thèmes de la recherche, le rôle du lecteur dans l’expérience de lecture ne peut pas être surestimé, nous avons également pu nous appuyer sur la théorie de la réponse du lecteur de Louise Michelle Rosenblatt. Les trois méthodes ont été utilisées simultanément d'autant plus que l'analyse de chaque texte est basée sur la façon dont les personnages sont représentés ; ceci nous a amené à tirer nos conclusions sur la façon dont la femme africaine est dévalorisée dans la première partie de la recherche, tandis que dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nos résultats démontrent que de nombreux hommages sont rendus à la femme africaine grâce à ses nombreuses qualités exceptionnelles. En effet, nos résultats renforcent également un changement important dans le récit qui concerne la vision contemporaine de la féminité. Par conséquent, passer d’une surconcentration dogmatique sur son sort à la femme de la nouvelle ère dont le sort est maintenant redéfini via la perspective féministe par rapport à la négation de la femme africaine telle a été la démarche. On pourrait dire que cela est au diapason avec les contributions d’Amadiume Ifi et avec son travail dans le discours féministe vers de nouvelles façons de penser le sexe et le genre, la question du pouvoir et la place de la femme dans l’histoire et la culture. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
- Authors: Anjugu, Taimako Ajigo
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: African fiction (French) History and criticism , Literature Women authors , Women authors, African , Reader-response criticism , Womanism in literature
- Language: French
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409779 , vital:70629 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409779
- Description: From the onset, it is worthy to note that, nowadays, just as after the independence of most African countries, several writers from the African continent have been preoccupied with the fate of women. This is because, the African continent was since ancient times characterized by certain traditions and cultures which mainly have contributed to the plight of the women. This goes to emphasise that women in most cases are the victims of misdeeds such as early marriage, forced marriage, prejudices, violence, marginalisation, exploitation, discrimination; in short, vices that lead to devalorisation of African women in Africa. Over time, some contemporary French-speaking African writers have responded to the devaluation and valuation of women in their novels using 21st century objective view. With regard to the theme that we decided to address in this research, it is worth knowing that the preponderant task is based on the socio-critical theory, postulated by Claude Duchet. Meanwhile, recourse is also made to the comparative method by Rens, Bod et al. However, since the author’s message could be understood by the reader through the use of some expressions or terms that speak directly to the themes of the research, and that a reader’s role in reading experience cannot be overemphasised, we have been able to also lean on the Reader-response theory of Louise Michelle Rosenblatt. The three methods were used concurrently especially that the analysis of each text is based on how characters are being depicted leading us to realizing that our findings on how the African woman is devalued in the first part of the research, while in the second part of the thesis, our findings demonstrate that a lot of tributes are showered on the African woman due to her numerous outstanding qualities. In effect, our findings also reinforce a significant shift in the narrative that concerns the contemporary view on womanhood. Hence, moving from a dogmatic overconcentration on her lot to the new era woman whose lot is now redefined via the new wave feminist perspective on the negation of the African woman. This could be said to be in line with Amadiume Ifi’s contributions and pioneering work in feminist discourse towards new ways of thinking about sex and gender, the question of power, and women’s place in history and culture. , Pour commencer, il est nécessaire de se souvenir qu’à l’époque actuelle, comme juste après les indépendances de la plupart des pays africains, bon nombre des écrivains venant du continent africain décident de se préoccuper des méfaits sociaux tels que le mariage précoce et/ou forcé, les préjugés, la violence, la marginalisation, l’exploitation, la discrimination, entre autres. Tous ces vices sont issus de la négation de la femme africaine. Ceci se justifie par le fait que le continent africain était depuis l’antiquité caractérisé par certaines traditions et cultures qui ont contribué principalement aux dégâts ci-dessus soulignés subis par les femmes. En effet, nous estimons que beaucoup de femmes sont victimes de ces méfaits qui sont encore pratiqués dans certaines parties de l’Afrique. Avec le temps, certains écrivains africains francophones contemporains représentent la dévalorisation et la valorisation de la femme dans leurs romans en se servant d’une vision contemporaine, celle du XXIe siècle. En ce qui concerne le thème que nous avons décidé d'aborder dans cette recherche, il faut savoir que la tâche prépondérante repose sur la théorie sociocritique, postulée par Claude Duchet. Parallèlement, on a également recours à la méthode comparative de Bod Rens Et ses coauteurs. Cependant, puisque le message de l’auteur pourrait être compris aussi par le lecteur à travers l’usage de certaines expressions ou termes qui sont directement liés aux thèmes de la recherche, le rôle du lecteur dans l’expérience de lecture ne peut pas être surestimé, nous avons également pu nous appuyer sur la théorie de la réponse du lecteur de Louise Michelle Rosenblatt. Les trois méthodes ont été utilisées simultanément d'autant plus que l'analyse de chaque texte est basée sur la façon dont les personnages sont représentés ; ceci nous a amené à tirer nos conclusions sur la façon dont la femme africaine est dévalorisée dans la première partie de la recherche, tandis que dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nos résultats démontrent que de nombreux hommages sont rendus à la femme africaine grâce à ses nombreuses qualités exceptionnelles. En effet, nos résultats renforcent également un changement important dans le récit qui concerne la vision contemporaine de la féminité. Par conséquent, passer d’une surconcentration dogmatique sur son sort à la femme de la nouvelle ère dont le sort est maintenant redéfini via la perspective féministe par rapport à la négation de la femme africaine telle a été la démarche. On pourrait dire que cela est au diapason avec les contributions d’Amadiume Ifi et avec son travail dans le discours féministe vers de nouvelles façons de penser le sexe et le genre, la question du pouvoir et la place de la femme dans l’histoire et la culture. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
Izit? Hoe lyk hulle? Kom ons ǂXoa – A South African Khoe-San narrative
- Authors: Gabie, Sharon
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: San (African people) , Khoikhoi (African people) , Identity politics , Self-perception , Convention for a Democratic South Africa , Free, prior, and informed consent (Indigenous rights) , Epistemic injustice
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409790 , vital:70630 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409790
- Description: The foundation of the South African narrative is framed by identity politics; a politics instituted at the intersection of race and class to exclude all people considered non-White concerning the socioeconomic and political landscape of the country. The preamble of the Freedom Charter signed in 1955 declared that the country belongs to all who live in it: Black and White people. The dominant constructivist narratives of addressing the racial dichotomy obliterate the injustice suffered by the Khoe-San people whose identity was overshadowed under the homogeneous term, Coloured people. Following the first democratic elections, at the negotiations of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in 1996, Khoe-San people were once again excluded and played no significant role in deciding the future of the new South Africa. The epistemic injustice suffered by the Khoe-San people, the loss of land, language, and cultural heritage were glanced over in the new democratic dispensation. In this thesis, I hone into the identity politics and identity formation of the Khoe-San people, after 1994. The self-identifying Khoe-San people became visible to the democratic state through various forms of activism and networking across provinces foregrounding the concept of indigeneity to address issues of exclusion and marginalisation. The phenomenon of indigeneity, bestowed on Khoe-San people by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) created a path for the Khoe-San people to be in conversation with state organs to address their plight of the loss of land linked to identity, language, culture, heritage, and other social ills experienced in their communities. The thesis illustrates the vagueness of Coloured identity under the Apartheid state, and the preconceived narrative that Coloured people were a privileged group; precludes and obliterates the epistemic injustice suffered by Khoe-San people. The transnational conceptualisation and global politics of indigenous peoples; the particularity of indigeneity in relation to First Nation Status, in the South African context, destabilises identity politics and the four-tier racial categorisation system used by the Apartheid state carried through by the national government under democracy. The conceptualisation of this global discourse on indigeneity brought a new consciousness in sections of the Coloured community where self-identifying Khoe-San people question their place in the democratic dispensation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
- Authors: Gabie, Sharon
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: San (African people) , Khoikhoi (African people) , Identity politics , Self-perception , Convention for a Democratic South Africa , Free, prior, and informed consent (Indigenous rights) , Epistemic injustice
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409790 , vital:70630 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409790
- Description: The foundation of the South African narrative is framed by identity politics; a politics instituted at the intersection of race and class to exclude all people considered non-White concerning the socioeconomic and political landscape of the country. The preamble of the Freedom Charter signed in 1955 declared that the country belongs to all who live in it: Black and White people. The dominant constructivist narratives of addressing the racial dichotomy obliterate the injustice suffered by the Khoe-San people whose identity was overshadowed under the homogeneous term, Coloured people. Following the first democratic elections, at the negotiations of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in 1996, Khoe-San people were once again excluded and played no significant role in deciding the future of the new South Africa. The epistemic injustice suffered by the Khoe-San people, the loss of land, language, and cultural heritage were glanced over in the new democratic dispensation. In this thesis, I hone into the identity politics and identity formation of the Khoe-San people, after 1994. The self-identifying Khoe-San people became visible to the democratic state through various forms of activism and networking across provinces foregrounding the concept of indigeneity to address issues of exclusion and marginalisation. The phenomenon of indigeneity, bestowed on Khoe-San people by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) created a path for the Khoe-San people to be in conversation with state organs to address their plight of the loss of land linked to identity, language, culture, heritage, and other social ills experienced in their communities. The thesis illustrates the vagueness of Coloured identity under the Apartheid state, and the preconceived narrative that Coloured people were a privileged group; precludes and obliterates the epistemic injustice suffered by Khoe-San people. The transnational conceptualisation and global politics of indigenous peoples; the particularity of indigeneity in relation to First Nation Status, in the South African context, destabilises identity politics and the four-tier racial categorisation system used by the Apartheid state carried through by the national government under democracy. The conceptualisation of this global discourse on indigeneity brought a new consciousness in sections of the Coloured community where self-identifying Khoe-San people question their place in the democratic dispensation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
Saul Msane: friend or foe of the people? The life of the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries South African politician and journalist
- Authors: Mokoatsi, Thapelo
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: Saul Msane , Elite (Social sciences) , African National Congress , Politicians South Africa Biography , Political dispute , Abantu-Batho , Enemy of the people
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409799 , vital:70631 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409802
- Description: Saul Msane was a prominent founding member of the ANC and an active journalist and editor of the ANC newspaper Abantu-Batho. His career generated controversy. Towards the end of his life, he had a feud with his colleagues in the African National Congress (henceforth Congress) that led to him being labelled isitha sabantu, “the enemy of the people” for his refusal to support the Shilling strike of 1918, an accusation which was retracted a year after his death in 1919. The label of isitha sabantu levelled against Msane, had the effect of ending his political prominence in the Transvaal, forcing him to relocate to kwaNongoma where he died shortly thereafter. Msane’s years in the Congress amounted to about seven years, between 1912, the founding of the Congress, and the demise of his career in 1919. Msane’s seven years in Congress were characterised by controversies, clashes, and conflicts owing to his perceived elitism. In Congress historiography Msane is an obscure and elusive figure, he lives here and there in a footnote, as a supporting statement or a mentioned in mere passing. His marginalisation reveals some of the gaps within the history of Congress and invites us to write about those who did not emerge from the history of Congress necessarily as heroes. This thesis sets out to write a biography of Msane and document his political career beyond that one moment in which he came to be “isitha sabantu”. While Msane’s Congress career was comparably short and filled with tensions, an archive of his life exists. This study is an exploration of that archive to reconstruct the biography of a once prominent leader who dies in political exile from the Congress movement. This thesis sets out to do two key things in relation to reconstructing Msane’s life: Firstly, it reconstructs the longer biography of Msane’s political life by drawing on the existing archives, and thus filling in the South African historical record in that regard. Secondly, at the broader conceptual and historiographical level, it argues that the controversies surrounding Msane’s persona and character illustrate that conceptions of elitism and the nature of being ‘elite’ were key to the politics of Congress at the time. , U-Saul Msane wayengomunye wabasunguli beqembu lika-African National Congress (uKhongolose) futhi eyIntatheli nomhleli wephephandaba i-Abantu-Batho. Umsebenzi ayewenza waba nezingqinamba eziningi ngokwezepolitiki. Ngasekugcineni kwempilo yakhe waba nokungazwani nabaholi ayesebenza nabo kuKhongolose okwadala ukuba abizwe ngesitha sabantu ngenxa yokuba engavumelananga nesiteleka sango-1918 lapho abasebenzi babelwela ukukhushulelwa amaholo. Leligama lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu lahoxiswa ngo 1919 sekudlule unyaka engasekho emhlabeni. Lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu kwalilimaza igama lakhe kwezepolitiki e-Transvaal waze wathutha wayohlala kwaNongoma nokuyilapho ashonela khona. Iminyaka uMsane ayisebenzele uKhongolose yaba isikhombisa, kusukela ekusungulweni kwayo ngo 1912 kuze kufike ekulimaleni komsebenzi wakhe wezepolitiki ngo 1919. Kuleminyaka eyisikhombisa umsebenzi wakhe kuKhongolose wawubhekene nokugxekwa okukhulu nokubukeka njengomuntu onokuzenza ngcono kunabanye abantu. Emlandweni kaKhongolose uMsane akavezwa ngendlela emfanele, kukhulunywa ngaye kudlulwa nje. Lokunganakwa kukaMsane emlandweni kaKhongolose kusiphoqa ukuba sibhale ngabaholi abangaqakanjiswa. Lolucwaningo luveza umlando kaMsane ngokujulile ngaphezu kwangalesikhathi abizwa khona ngesitha sabantu. Noma umsebenzi kaMsane kuKhongolose wabamfushane kunabanye futhi ugcwele izinto kodwa noko ingobo yawo ikhona. Lolucwaningo lucubungula lengobo ukuhlaziya nokubhala kabusha umlando wengqalabutho eyagcina ishonela ngaphandle kombutho kaKhongolose. Loluphando lifisa ukwenza izinto ezimbili: Okokuqala, ibhala kabusha umlando omude wezepolitiki kaMsane kusetshenziswa ulwazi olukhona. Loku kuzosiza ukunothisa umlando wezepolitiki wezwe laseNingizimu Afrika. Okwesibili, ezingeni lobunzululwazi, lolucwaningo luveza ukuthi izinkinga uMsane ahlangabezana nazo zazisukele endleleni okwakubukwa ngayo indaba yokucwasana ngazinga empilo abantu, kwakuyinto ejulile kuKhongolose ukubukeka kwabanye sengathi bazenza ngcono. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
- Authors: Mokoatsi, Thapelo
- Date: 2023-03-30
- Subjects: Saul Msane , Elite (Social sciences) , African National Congress , Politicians South Africa Biography , Political dispute , Abantu-Batho , Enemy of the people
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/409799 , vital:70631 , DOI 10.21504/10962/409802
- Description: Saul Msane was a prominent founding member of the ANC and an active journalist and editor of the ANC newspaper Abantu-Batho. His career generated controversy. Towards the end of his life, he had a feud with his colleagues in the African National Congress (henceforth Congress) that led to him being labelled isitha sabantu, “the enemy of the people” for his refusal to support the Shilling strike of 1918, an accusation which was retracted a year after his death in 1919. The label of isitha sabantu levelled against Msane, had the effect of ending his political prominence in the Transvaal, forcing him to relocate to kwaNongoma where he died shortly thereafter. Msane’s years in the Congress amounted to about seven years, between 1912, the founding of the Congress, and the demise of his career in 1919. Msane’s seven years in Congress were characterised by controversies, clashes, and conflicts owing to his perceived elitism. In Congress historiography Msane is an obscure and elusive figure, he lives here and there in a footnote, as a supporting statement or a mentioned in mere passing. His marginalisation reveals some of the gaps within the history of Congress and invites us to write about those who did not emerge from the history of Congress necessarily as heroes. This thesis sets out to write a biography of Msane and document his political career beyond that one moment in which he came to be “isitha sabantu”. While Msane’s Congress career was comparably short and filled with tensions, an archive of his life exists. This study is an exploration of that archive to reconstruct the biography of a once prominent leader who dies in political exile from the Congress movement. This thesis sets out to do two key things in relation to reconstructing Msane’s life: Firstly, it reconstructs the longer biography of Msane’s political life by drawing on the existing archives, and thus filling in the South African historical record in that regard. Secondly, at the broader conceptual and historiographical level, it argues that the controversies surrounding Msane’s persona and character illustrate that conceptions of elitism and the nature of being ‘elite’ were key to the politics of Congress at the time. , U-Saul Msane wayengomunye wabasunguli beqembu lika-African National Congress (uKhongolose) futhi eyIntatheli nomhleli wephephandaba i-Abantu-Batho. Umsebenzi ayewenza waba nezingqinamba eziningi ngokwezepolitiki. Ngasekugcineni kwempilo yakhe waba nokungazwani nabaholi ayesebenza nabo kuKhongolose okwadala ukuba abizwe ngesitha sabantu ngenxa yokuba engavumelananga nesiteleka sango-1918 lapho abasebenzi babelwela ukukhushulelwa amaholo. Leligama lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu lahoxiswa ngo 1919 sekudlule unyaka engasekho emhlabeni. Lokubizwa ngesitha sabantu kwalilimaza igama lakhe kwezepolitiki e-Transvaal waze wathutha wayohlala kwaNongoma nokuyilapho ashonela khona. Iminyaka uMsane ayisebenzele uKhongolose yaba isikhombisa, kusukela ekusungulweni kwayo ngo 1912 kuze kufike ekulimaleni komsebenzi wakhe wezepolitiki ngo 1919. Kuleminyaka eyisikhombisa umsebenzi wakhe kuKhongolose wawubhekene nokugxekwa okukhulu nokubukeka njengomuntu onokuzenza ngcono kunabanye abantu. Emlandweni kaKhongolose uMsane akavezwa ngendlela emfanele, kukhulunywa ngaye kudlulwa nje. Lokunganakwa kukaMsane emlandweni kaKhongolose kusiphoqa ukuba sibhale ngabaholi abangaqakanjiswa. Lolucwaningo luveza umlando kaMsane ngokujulile ngaphezu kwangalesikhathi abizwa khona ngesitha sabantu. Noma umsebenzi kaMsane kuKhongolose wabamfushane kunabanye futhi ugcwele izinto kodwa noko ingobo yawo ikhona. Lolucwaningo lucubungula lengobo ukuhlaziya nokubhala kabusha umlando wengqalabutho eyagcina ishonela ngaphandle kombutho kaKhongolose. Loluphando lifisa ukwenza izinto ezimbili: Okokuqala, ibhala kabusha umlando omude wezepolitiki kaMsane kusetshenziswa ulwazi olukhona. Loku kuzosiza ukunothisa umlando wezepolitiki wezwe laseNingizimu Afrika. Okwesibili, ezingeni lobunzululwazi, lolucwaningo luveza ukuthi izinkinga uMsane ahlangabezana nazo zazisukele endleleni okwakubukwa ngayo indaba yokucwasana ngazinga empilo abantu, kwakuyinto ejulile kuKhongolose ukubukeka kwabanye sengathi bazenza ngcono. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-30
A Pedagogy of Love: reflections on 25 years of informal vocational education and training practices in the commercial fishing industry in South Africa
- Authors: Ferguson, Robin Anne
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366189 , vital:65841 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366189
- Description: This thesis is a reflection of informal vocational education and training (IVET) practices conducted by the Researcher in the commercial fishing industry between 1995-2021. Fourteen interventions took place during this time which involved several hundred sea-going employees who are disadvantaged by low levels of literacies and low/no Internet Computer Technology connectivity. The Production Programme was chosen as the focus of study and draws upon the influence of the other thirteen programmes. The purpose of the Production Programme was to teach technical fish processing skills to the production management teams and factory hands who work in the factories on board the vessels. The programme ran for five years and evolved through three distinct generations. At the heart of this work lies the question: ‘What made these programmes successful?’ This is an intra-programmatic study and seeks to identify the pedagogical practices which promoted or confounded the efficacy of the Production Programme; and based upon this understanding how such programmes could be improved, transferred, and taken to scale. These questions are both descriptive and explorative in nature. IVET is regarded as training which takes place outside of the formal South African National Qualifications Framework. This work is relevant because approximately 80% of sea-going staff neither finish school, nor get the opportunity of Post School Education and Training by going to a university, a technical institution, or a community college. This statistic is reflected in the general population (Department of Higher Education and Training [DHET], 2022). There is a fine line between being employed and unemployed for people working at this level in the formal economy which makes this project relevant to youth or persons who are ‘not in employment, education or training’ too. This means that for most South African adults IVET presents a significant opportunity for post-school education. Therefore, it is important to answer the questions raised above to rapidly improve inclusion of the majority of South Africans into meaningful education which improves livelihoods. The Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA), from the collection of social-material practice theories, is the conceptual framework for this thesis. The smallest unit of analysis of TPA are practices which may be ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’, or ‘relatings’. These practices bundle together into practice arrangements and form practice architectures. The reason that TPA was chosen was that practices were the only data available as we (learners, managers, facilitators, and me) knew what we had said/thought or done, and we were aware of the relationships between us over the years as the fourteen interventions played out. Under conventional research circumstances data would be collected in real time, however in this project, most of the data is historical. In addition to the fundamental building blocks of TPA, the theory is embedded in a Theory of Education. There have also been contemporary enhancements to the TPA which were significant to this study, for example, the Ecologies of Practices, a Trellis of Practices which Support Professional Learning, Middle Leadership, Travelling Practices, and moves towards transformative or transgressive education using the TPA in IVET. This is empirical, qualitative research and an ethnographic case study was chosen as the research design which is a methodology particularly suited to answering both descriptive and explorative questions. Nine methods for data collection were used, namely an historical reflective narrative; two focused-group interviews; three individual interviews; four Whatsapp videos; one WhatsApp voice note; two mobisodes; ten questionnaires; 29 documents; and 16 photographs. Because this data was collected under Covid-19 pandemic conditions, two conceptions were employed to guide the generation of data under these uncertain and constrained conditions. These were firstly, the ‘methodology of chance’ which allowed for a ‘methodological agility’; and secondly, the idea of ‘information power’ which is helpful in deciding on how much data is enough. In order to be explicit concerning a key research activity, the approach and method used to review the literature is explicated. Key practices were identified in the data set and described; and then the data was analysed using heuristics provided by TPA theorists. Seven Tables of Invention were used to synthesise the data arising from these practices. An eighth Table of Invention was used to synthesise all the practices and practice arrangements characterised; and to indicate how these evolved over time and space. The data description and analysis is supported by eight Analytic Memos, a comprehensive Data Code Table and a hyperlink to a data repository which provides access to oral and video material. The findings distinguished five key practices and practice arrangements which were: Practices of the Creation of Courseware; Practices of Teaching and Learning; Practices of Assessment; Practices of Love; Practices of Management. The thesis title is reflective of the impact which love has upon the pedagogical process of IVET. Based upon the analysis and synthesis of the corpus of data, practices which either promoted or confounded the Production Programme became visible; it is these insights which inform future improvements to similar programmes. Emanating from these findings, two overarching practice architectures (PA) were identified which restrained the Production Programme in the same manner that the banks of a river restrain a river, and yet simultaneously, are changed by the river over time. These are the PA of Methodology and Methods and the PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices. The inferences drawn from the data were achieved through the use of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. My claim to new knowledge is a lamination of a practical contribution on one side of the coin, and a theoretical contribution on the other side of the coin. The PA of Methodology and Methods provides a practical mechanism to create, deliver and assess IVET. This is done by explicating the three practice architectures which constitute the overarching PA of Methodology and Methods which are, the PA of Informality; the PA of Range, and the PA of Relationality. An IVET programme constitutes Ecologies of Practices. The theoretical conception of the overarching PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices provides a conceptual tool which enables the transferring and scaling of IVET programmes. It does this by providing theoretical indicators to establish the ‘state’ of an IVET programme as it matures over time from a pioneer state to a settler state. An IVET educator can then work towards creating a PA which is conducive for a mature ecologies of practices to form; and the programme can then be transferred and/or taken to scale, if this is desirable in the particular context. The power of my claim to new knowledge does not lie on one side or the other of the coin, but in the lamination of the practical and theoretical contributions put to use in the service of IVET. This thesis concludes with a number of theoretical and practical recommendations which are loosely grouped according to ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’ and ‘relatings’ in deference to the value of TPA to this thesis. An urgency is conveyed in these recommendations as there is an immediate need to improve the livelihoods of ordinary South Africans. One of the ways of doing this is through informal ‘education for living well’ which contributes to a ‘world worth living in’. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Ferguson, Robin Anne
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366189 , vital:65841 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366189
- Description: This thesis is a reflection of informal vocational education and training (IVET) practices conducted by the Researcher in the commercial fishing industry between 1995-2021. Fourteen interventions took place during this time which involved several hundred sea-going employees who are disadvantaged by low levels of literacies and low/no Internet Computer Technology connectivity. The Production Programme was chosen as the focus of study and draws upon the influence of the other thirteen programmes. The purpose of the Production Programme was to teach technical fish processing skills to the production management teams and factory hands who work in the factories on board the vessels. The programme ran for five years and evolved through three distinct generations. At the heart of this work lies the question: ‘What made these programmes successful?’ This is an intra-programmatic study and seeks to identify the pedagogical practices which promoted or confounded the efficacy of the Production Programme; and based upon this understanding how such programmes could be improved, transferred, and taken to scale. These questions are both descriptive and explorative in nature. IVET is regarded as training which takes place outside of the formal South African National Qualifications Framework. This work is relevant because approximately 80% of sea-going staff neither finish school, nor get the opportunity of Post School Education and Training by going to a university, a technical institution, or a community college. This statistic is reflected in the general population (Department of Higher Education and Training [DHET], 2022). There is a fine line between being employed and unemployed for people working at this level in the formal economy which makes this project relevant to youth or persons who are ‘not in employment, education or training’ too. This means that for most South African adults IVET presents a significant opportunity for post-school education. Therefore, it is important to answer the questions raised above to rapidly improve inclusion of the majority of South Africans into meaningful education which improves livelihoods. The Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA), from the collection of social-material practice theories, is the conceptual framework for this thesis. The smallest unit of analysis of TPA are practices which may be ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’, or ‘relatings’. These practices bundle together into practice arrangements and form practice architectures. The reason that TPA was chosen was that practices were the only data available as we (learners, managers, facilitators, and me) knew what we had said/thought or done, and we were aware of the relationships between us over the years as the fourteen interventions played out. Under conventional research circumstances data would be collected in real time, however in this project, most of the data is historical. In addition to the fundamental building blocks of TPA, the theory is embedded in a Theory of Education. There have also been contemporary enhancements to the TPA which were significant to this study, for example, the Ecologies of Practices, a Trellis of Practices which Support Professional Learning, Middle Leadership, Travelling Practices, and moves towards transformative or transgressive education using the TPA in IVET. This is empirical, qualitative research and an ethnographic case study was chosen as the research design which is a methodology particularly suited to answering both descriptive and explorative questions. Nine methods for data collection were used, namely an historical reflective narrative; two focused-group interviews; three individual interviews; four Whatsapp videos; one WhatsApp voice note; two mobisodes; ten questionnaires; 29 documents; and 16 photographs. Because this data was collected under Covid-19 pandemic conditions, two conceptions were employed to guide the generation of data under these uncertain and constrained conditions. These were firstly, the ‘methodology of chance’ which allowed for a ‘methodological agility’; and secondly, the idea of ‘information power’ which is helpful in deciding on how much data is enough. In order to be explicit concerning a key research activity, the approach and method used to review the literature is explicated. Key practices were identified in the data set and described; and then the data was analysed using heuristics provided by TPA theorists. Seven Tables of Invention were used to synthesise the data arising from these practices. An eighth Table of Invention was used to synthesise all the practices and practice arrangements characterised; and to indicate how these evolved over time and space. The data description and analysis is supported by eight Analytic Memos, a comprehensive Data Code Table and a hyperlink to a data repository which provides access to oral and video material. The findings distinguished five key practices and practice arrangements which were: Practices of the Creation of Courseware; Practices of Teaching and Learning; Practices of Assessment; Practices of Love; Practices of Management. The thesis title is reflective of the impact which love has upon the pedagogical process of IVET. Based upon the analysis and synthesis of the corpus of data, practices which either promoted or confounded the Production Programme became visible; it is these insights which inform future improvements to similar programmes. Emanating from these findings, two overarching practice architectures (PA) were identified which restrained the Production Programme in the same manner that the banks of a river restrain a river, and yet simultaneously, are changed by the river over time. These are the PA of Methodology and Methods and the PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices. The inferences drawn from the data were achieved through the use of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. My claim to new knowledge is a lamination of a practical contribution on one side of the coin, and a theoretical contribution on the other side of the coin. The PA of Methodology and Methods provides a practical mechanism to create, deliver and assess IVET. This is done by explicating the three practice architectures which constitute the overarching PA of Methodology and Methods which are, the PA of Informality; the PA of Range, and the PA of Relationality. An IVET programme constitutes Ecologies of Practices. The theoretical conception of the overarching PA of Maturing Ecologies of Practices provides a conceptual tool which enables the transferring and scaling of IVET programmes. It does this by providing theoretical indicators to establish the ‘state’ of an IVET programme as it matures over time from a pioneer state to a settler state. An IVET educator can then work towards creating a PA which is conducive for a mature ecologies of practices to form; and the programme can then be transferred and/or taken to scale, if this is desirable in the particular context. The power of my claim to new knowledge does not lie on one side or the other of the coin, but in the lamination of the practical and theoretical contributions put to use in the service of IVET. This thesis concludes with a number of theoretical and practical recommendations which are loosely grouped according to ‘sayings/thinkings’, ‘doings’ and ‘relatings’ in deference to the value of TPA to this thesis. An urgency is conveyed in these recommendations as there is an immediate need to improve the livelihoods of ordinary South Africans. One of the ways of doing this is through informal ‘education for living well’ which contributes to a ‘world worth living in’. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
An in-depth investigation of an early literacy intervention in Grade R in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Hodgskiss, Jennifer Adelé
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366222 , vital:65844
- Description: Thesis embargoed. Expected release date early 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Hodgskiss, Jennifer Adelé
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366222 , vital:65844
- Description: Thesis embargoed. Expected release date early 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
Exploring aspects of Community of Inquiry (CoI) in Afrophilia learning processes for transformative education using an Afrophilic ‘Philosophy for Children’ approach: a case of Sebakwe resettlement primary schools in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe
- Authors: Bhurekeni, John
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Culturally relevant pedagogy Zimbabwe , Curriculum change Zimbabwe , Philosophy Study and teaching (Elementary) Zimbabwe , Critical thinking , Decolonization Zimbabwe , Technology Political aspects , Representation (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366178 , vital:65840 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366178
- Description: This study focused on investigating and developing an Afrophilic orientation to a sociocultural approach to philosophy for children. The main aim was to foster a critical and generative approach to considering the heritage-based curriculum foundations of Zimbabwean primary schools, focusing on Sebakwe resettlement primary schools (the case study area). Afrophilia foundations in the study are regarded as “the discourses that are the medium of philosophical reflexion” (Rettova, 2004, p. 4) in each African society. As articulated in the study, such discourses include African proverbs, poems, stories, music, and folktales which are useful in the initiation of philosophical engagements with children in a community of inquiry approach. A community of inquiry is a framework that reflects a collaborative-dialogical approach to teaching and learning. Curriculum reviews in postcolonial Zimbabwe have revealed an unconscious misalignment of the Zimbabwean education system's philosophical underpinnings because it has continued to align itself with imperial British colonial philosophy, which contradicts the country's developmental needs (Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training [CIET], 1999, Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education [MoPSE], 2014). The philosophical misalignment is an extension of the colonial history of Zimbabwe showing that vestiges of colonial rule still shape the education sector. This leaves the education system focusing mainly on abstracted concepts with continued marginalisation of local cultures, discourses, and knowledge. Consequently, it leaves Zimbabwe together with other postcolonial education systems with the task of dealing with the phenomenon of colonial continuity. One implication of these colonial continuities, is learner disinterest in learning, which affects the educational process negatively, affecting the learning of critical reflexive thinking, an issue which I have observed in the Sebakwe resettlement schools involved in this study where I have been teaching for 15 years. To address, this, the study sought to answer the following questions: What historical and contemporary barriers are affecting the promotion of a culture of learning in Zimbabwean resettlement primary schools, particularly as they relate to learners' underdevelopment of critical reflexive thinking skills? In addition, How can the Philosophy for Children Afrophilia curriculum intervention promote a culture of learning in Sebakwe resettlement primary schools that is oriented toward the development of critical reflexive thinking skills in children? In approaching the research questions, I applied postcolonial and decolonisation theory, sociocultural learning theory and curriculum theory aimed at transformative change, that is oriented towards achieving a more contextually oriented approach to teaching and learning, and a paradigm of ‘learning as connection’ (Lotz-Sisitka & Lupele, 2017; Shumba, 2017). This has been identified as a ‘missing’ discourse in mainstream educational quality discourses in southern Africa (Lotz-Sisitka & Lupele, 2017). Furthermore, to create space for curriculum development using multi-actor groups in a community of inquiry, I used decolonial research methodologies in the data generation process. The study is constituted as an interventionist case study, and I applied a four-stage process comprising document analysis, workshops, participant observations involving children between 8-11 years, and reflective interviews with parents, educators and children as instruments for data gathering. I also used process-based analytical tools developed in Philosophy of Children research to analyse the processes of critical reflexive thinking development that emerged from the Philosophy for Children pedagogy involving ten lessons which I facilitated, and videorecorded. Moreover, I used postcolonial and decolonial discourse analysis to provide the broader analytical insights that informed the interpretations of the lesson analysis data from the perspective of the research problem that I address across the research project. This PhD is produced as a PhD by publication, which involves publishing of papers, and orientation to, and interpretation of the papers. The main findings of this study are reported in articles that I prepared for publication, three of which have already been published (see Appendices A1, A4 and A5), and four which have been submitted for publication (A2, A3, A6, A7) with some already at an advanced stage of finalisation via review. The conceptual paper (A1) that served as the foundation for the publication journey revealed that, in addition to the weight of cultural technologies of domination, the curriculum is shaped by the paradox of a superficial interpretation of unhu/ubuntu educational philosophy. As a result, the curriculum becomes disconnected from the learners' real-world experiences. The second paper (A2), which focuses on why Zimbabwe needs the Philosophy for Children approach with a sociocultural medley, unveils Zimbabwe's complex decolonial curriculum reforms and their many contradictions and paradoxes. However, it also emerged that the approach used in this study empowers teachers, is relevant to the emerging constellation of practices in the Sebakwe resettlement, and influences power sharing beyond teacher-child relationships. The third paper (A3), based on children’s philosophy for children practice, defends the study’s decision to bring children’s heritage and cultural lens to bear on curriculum and pedagogical praxis. In essence, the article explores a synergy between philosophy for children and the Zimbabwean heritage-based educational curriculum, serving to enrich both. The fourth paper (A4) makes the case that philosophy for children could be a viable pedagogy for transformative education, and it provides evidence-based implementation of a context-based philosophy for children. According to this paper, the approach is effective in strengthening strong community relationships, instilling pride in local heritage, and advancing curriculum transformation. The fifth paper (A5) focusses on the approach's implications for teachers' roles, practices, and competencies. Six dimensions of teacher roles, practices, and competences surfaced, including the role of the teacher as a decoloniser and pedagogical innovator, among others. The sixth paper (A6), influenced by the previous papers' findings, focused on decolonisation and improving learning opportunities for children in the Sebakwe area using the philosophy for children approach. This paper's data depicts a ‘third space’ in which learners consolidate their cultural capital and curriculum content into their own meaning construction. The implication is that schools become neutral sites that improve learners' interdependence and inclusivity while also taking contextual realities into account. The findings of the seventh and final paper (A7) presented in this write-up advance the idea that a Philosophy for Children approach with a sociocultural medley influences an ethics of care by demonstrating how Afrophilia experiences influence a new path to wildlife conservation and sustainability. The study highlights that integrating Philosophy for Children and Afrophilia foundations of knowledge into the school curriculum promotes critical reflexive thinking skills, helps to address real-life problems and adds relevance to the curriculum. The study further shows that the integration of philosophy for children in the advancement of curriculum transformation in Zimbabwe is a successful formative interventionist approach in the resettlement schools that are characterised by a critical shortage of teaching and learning resources. In essence, the research opens an understanding that curriculum transformation and decolonisation are context-based and multi-actor processes, as showcased in the experiences of parents, teachers, education inspectors, and children in this study. Furthermore, this study posits that situating curriculum decolonization and transformation within unhu/ubuntu dialectical rationality and advancing diversity in reasoning necessitates deeper engagement with heritage-based curriculum and provides teachers with appropriate agency to modify and adapt their pedagogies in alignment with the learners' life world. According to the study, this emerged as a rational possible solution to the problem of curriculum decontextualisation. Curriculum decontextualisation as highlighted in the study via the problem of colonial continuity mentioned above, appears to be further influenced by the emphasis on examination assessment scores which seem to widen the gap between the adult and child worlds, as well as the gap between contextual realities and [curriculum] examination content. Overall, the study offers an approach that can deepen an unhu/ubuntu foundation for the heritage-based curriculum reform in Zimbabwe, and strengthen the learning of children in the resettlement schools, where the case was explored. Implications for further research are elaborated, as are possible implications for policy and practice. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Bhurekeni, John
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Culturally relevant pedagogy Zimbabwe , Curriculum change Zimbabwe , Philosophy Study and teaching (Elementary) Zimbabwe , Critical thinking , Decolonization Zimbabwe , Technology Political aspects , Representation (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366178 , vital:65840 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366178
- Description: This study focused on investigating and developing an Afrophilic orientation to a sociocultural approach to philosophy for children. The main aim was to foster a critical and generative approach to considering the heritage-based curriculum foundations of Zimbabwean primary schools, focusing on Sebakwe resettlement primary schools (the case study area). Afrophilia foundations in the study are regarded as “the discourses that are the medium of philosophical reflexion” (Rettova, 2004, p. 4) in each African society. As articulated in the study, such discourses include African proverbs, poems, stories, music, and folktales which are useful in the initiation of philosophical engagements with children in a community of inquiry approach. A community of inquiry is a framework that reflects a collaborative-dialogical approach to teaching and learning. Curriculum reviews in postcolonial Zimbabwe have revealed an unconscious misalignment of the Zimbabwean education system's philosophical underpinnings because it has continued to align itself with imperial British colonial philosophy, which contradicts the country's developmental needs (Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training [CIET], 1999, Zimbabwe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education [MoPSE], 2014). The philosophical misalignment is an extension of the colonial history of Zimbabwe showing that vestiges of colonial rule still shape the education sector. This leaves the education system focusing mainly on abstracted concepts with continued marginalisation of local cultures, discourses, and knowledge. Consequently, it leaves Zimbabwe together with other postcolonial education systems with the task of dealing with the phenomenon of colonial continuity. One implication of these colonial continuities, is learner disinterest in learning, which affects the educational process negatively, affecting the learning of critical reflexive thinking, an issue which I have observed in the Sebakwe resettlement schools involved in this study where I have been teaching for 15 years. To address, this, the study sought to answer the following questions: What historical and contemporary barriers are affecting the promotion of a culture of learning in Zimbabwean resettlement primary schools, particularly as they relate to learners' underdevelopment of critical reflexive thinking skills? In addition, How can the Philosophy for Children Afrophilia curriculum intervention promote a culture of learning in Sebakwe resettlement primary schools that is oriented toward the development of critical reflexive thinking skills in children? In approaching the research questions, I applied postcolonial and decolonisation theory, sociocultural learning theory and curriculum theory aimed at transformative change, that is oriented towards achieving a more contextually oriented approach to teaching and learning, and a paradigm of ‘learning as connection’ (Lotz-Sisitka & Lupele, 2017; Shumba, 2017). This has been identified as a ‘missing’ discourse in mainstream educational quality discourses in southern Africa (Lotz-Sisitka & Lupele, 2017). Furthermore, to create space for curriculum development using multi-actor groups in a community of inquiry, I used decolonial research methodologies in the data generation process. The study is constituted as an interventionist case study, and I applied a four-stage process comprising document analysis, workshops, participant observations involving children between 8-11 years, and reflective interviews with parents, educators and children as instruments for data gathering. I also used process-based analytical tools developed in Philosophy of Children research to analyse the processes of critical reflexive thinking development that emerged from the Philosophy for Children pedagogy involving ten lessons which I facilitated, and videorecorded. Moreover, I used postcolonial and decolonial discourse analysis to provide the broader analytical insights that informed the interpretations of the lesson analysis data from the perspective of the research problem that I address across the research project. This PhD is produced as a PhD by publication, which involves publishing of papers, and orientation to, and interpretation of the papers. The main findings of this study are reported in articles that I prepared for publication, three of which have already been published (see Appendices A1, A4 and A5), and four which have been submitted for publication (A2, A3, A6, A7) with some already at an advanced stage of finalisation via review. The conceptual paper (A1) that served as the foundation for the publication journey revealed that, in addition to the weight of cultural technologies of domination, the curriculum is shaped by the paradox of a superficial interpretation of unhu/ubuntu educational philosophy. As a result, the curriculum becomes disconnected from the learners' real-world experiences. The second paper (A2), which focuses on why Zimbabwe needs the Philosophy for Children approach with a sociocultural medley, unveils Zimbabwe's complex decolonial curriculum reforms and their many contradictions and paradoxes. However, it also emerged that the approach used in this study empowers teachers, is relevant to the emerging constellation of practices in the Sebakwe resettlement, and influences power sharing beyond teacher-child relationships. The third paper (A3), based on children’s philosophy for children practice, defends the study’s decision to bring children’s heritage and cultural lens to bear on curriculum and pedagogical praxis. In essence, the article explores a synergy between philosophy for children and the Zimbabwean heritage-based educational curriculum, serving to enrich both. The fourth paper (A4) makes the case that philosophy for children could be a viable pedagogy for transformative education, and it provides evidence-based implementation of a context-based philosophy for children. According to this paper, the approach is effective in strengthening strong community relationships, instilling pride in local heritage, and advancing curriculum transformation. The fifth paper (A5) focusses on the approach's implications for teachers' roles, practices, and competencies. Six dimensions of teacher roles, practices, and competences surfaced, including the role of the teacher as a decoloniser and pedagogical innovator, among others. The sixth paper (A6), influenced by the previous papers' findings, focused on decolonisation and improving learning opportunities for children in the Sebakwe area using the philosophy for children approach. This paper's data depicts a ‘third space’ in which learners consolidate their cultural capital and curriculum content into their own meaning construction. The implication is that schools become neutral sites that improve learners' interdependence and inclusivity while also taking contextual realities into account. The findings of the seventh and final paper (A7) presented in this write-up advance the idea that a Philosophy for Children approach with a sociocultural medley influences an ethics of care by demonstrating how Afrophilia experiences influence a new path to wildlife conservation and sustainability. The study highlights that integrating Philosophy for Children and Afrophilia foundations of knowledge into the school curriculum promotes critical reflexive thinking skills, helps to address real-life problems and adds relevance to the curriculum. The study further shows that the integration of philosophy for children in the advancement of curriculum transformation in Zimbabwe is a successful formative interventionist approach in the resettlement schools that are characterised by a critical shortage of teaching and learning resources. In essence, the research opens an understanding that curriculum transformation and decolonisation are context-based and multi-actor processes, as showcased in the experiences of parents, teachers, education inspectors, and children in this study. Furthermore, this study posits that situating curriculum decolonization and transformation within unhu/ubuntu dialectical rationality and advancing diversity in reasoning necessitates deeper engagement with heritage-based curriculum and provides teachers with appropriate agency to modify and adapt their pedagogies in alignment with the learners' life world. According to the study, this emerged as a rational possible solution to the problem of curriculum decontextualisation. Curriculum decontextualisation as highlighted in the study via the problem of colonial continuity mentioned above, appears to be further influenced by the emphasis on examination assessment scores which seem to widen the gap between the adult and child worlds, as well as the gap between contextual realities and [curriculum] examination content. Overall, the study offers an approach that can deepen an unhu/ubuntu foundation for the heritage-based curriculum reform in Zimbabwe, and strengthen the learning of children in the resettlement schools, where the case was explored. Implications for further research are elaborated, as are possible implications for policy and practice. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
Integrating music and mathematics for connecting across multiple constructs of fractional understanding: an RME task design journey
- Authors: Lovemore, Tarryn Shirley
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Communities of practice , Interdisciplinary approach in education , Fractions , Mathematics Study and teaching , Music in mathematics education , Number line
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366200 , vital:65842 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366200
- Description: Two South African curricular aims: appreciating creativity in mathematics and developing conceptual understanding, motivated this study. Negative views towards mathematics and challenges in teaching and learning fractions at primary school level are reported in literature, with the part-whole construct of fractions often the sole teaching focus. Despite challenges in curriculum integration (high demands on teachers and diluting disciplines), benefits, such as motivation and creative thinking, are noted. I recognised music-mathematics integration as an opportune context for designing tasks to support learners in moving flexibly between the fraction as ratio, fraction as measure and part-whole constructs. Guided by Realistic Mathematics Education principles, I embarked on a participatory dual-design experiment in task design, grappling within three micro-Communities of Practice (micro-CoPs) and across two planes: the Design-Theorising Plane and the Grounded-Practice Plane. In the Design-Theorising Plane, I worked with my two doctoral supervisors, grappling with design obstacles and finding resolutions. COVID-19 restrictions shifted our meetings to online platforms, allowing documentation and analysis of the task design process through recording functions. In the Grounded-Practice Plane, I worked within two separate micro-CoPs, both at independent schools (eight and two participating teachers respectively). Data on the teachers’ interrogation and implementation of the designed tasks were obtained via formal and informal interviews. Their reflections informed ongoing adaptations to the task design. Data were analysed in a matrix I designed and via NVivo coding. Findings include both the product of the task design journey (eight music-mathematics lessons, resources, and representations) and the process (ten groupings of Obstacle-Resolution Cycles). Three key questions (relating to music-mathematics fidelity; to task simplification for implementation; and to appropriate music-mathematics representation) were used in addressing each Obstacle-Resolution Cycle. Designing tasks to teach the part-whole construct of fractions was relatively straightforward, but designing tasks to teach the fraction as ratio and fraction as measure constructs was more challenging. These constructs could not be conflated by superimposing the music and mathematical linear representations. Aligning them, however, allowed for moving flexibly between the constructs. The teachers reported that the integrated music-mathematics tasks and supporting resources enhanced their learners’ fractional problem-solving abilities, simultaneously promoting more positive learner dispositions towards mathematics. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Lovemore, Tarryn Shirley
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Communities of practice , Interdisciplinary approach in education , Fractions , Mathematics Study and teaching , Music in mathematics education , Number line
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366200 , vital:65842 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366200
- Description: Two South African curricular aims: appreciating creativity in mathematics and developing conceptual understanding, motivated this study. Negative views towards mathematics and challenges in teaching and learning fractions at primary school level are reported in literature, with the part-whole construct of fractions often the sole teaching focus. Despite challenges in curriculum integration (high demands on teachers and diluting disciplines), benefits, such as motivation and creative thinking, are noted. I recognised music-mathematics integration as an opportune context for designing tasks to support learners in moving flexibly between the fraction as ratio, fraction as measure and part-whole constructs. Guided by Realistic Mathematics Education principles, I embarked on a participatory dual-design experiment in task design, grappling within three micro-Communities of Practice (micro-CoPs) and across two planes: the Design-Theorising Plane and the Grounded-Practice Plane. In the Design-Theorising Plane, I worked with my two doctoral supervisors, grappling with design obstacles and finding resolutions. COVID-19 restrictions shifted our meetings to online platforms, allowing documentation and analysis of the task design process through recording functions. In the Grounded-Practice Plane, I worked within two separate micro-CoPs, both at independent schools (eight and two participating teachers respectively). Data on the teachers’ interrogation and implementation of the designed tasks were obtained via formal and informal interviews. Their reflections informed ongoing adaptations to the task design. Data were analysed in a matrix I designed and via NVivo coding. Findings include both the product of the task design journey (eight music-mathematics lessons, resources, and representations) and the process (ten groupings of Obstacle-Resolution Cycles). Three key questions (relating to music-mathematics fidelity; to task simplification for implementation; and to appropriate music-mathematics representation) were used in addressing each Obstacle-Resolution Cycle. Designing tasks to teach the part-whole construct of fractions was relatively straightforward, but designing tasks to teach the fraction as ratio and fraction as measure constructs was more challenging. These constructs could not be conflated by superimposing the music and mathematical linear representations. Aligning them, however, allowed for moving flexibly between the constructs. The teachers reported that the integrated music-mathematics tasks and supporting resources enhanced their learners’ fractional problem-solving abilities, simultaneously promoting more positive learner dispositions towards mathematics. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
Leveraging a peer-learning community and expert community members in the integration of indigenous knowledge into the learning and teaching of Grade 10 Chemistry on the rate of reactions
- Authors: Simasiku, Fredrick Simataa
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Chemical kinetics Study and teaching (Secondary) Namibia , Ethnoscience Namibia , Scientific knowledge , Peer teaching Namibia , Pedagogical content knowledge , Culturally relevant pedagogy Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366211 , vital:65843 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366211
- Description: The integration of indigenous knowledge (IK) in science teaching in Namibia is part of the transformation agenda that hopes to revitalise and make science accessible and relevant to learners’ everyday life experiences. However, there seems to be contradictions between the intended curriculum, the enacted curriculum and the attained curriculum. This disjuncture is exacerbated in part by the fact that science teachers seem to be struggling to be cultural knowledge brokers. It is against this backdrop that this formative interventionist study sought to leverage a peer-learning community and expert community members in the integration of IK into the learning and teaching of Grade 10 Chemistry on the rate of reactions. To achieve this, we mobilised the indigenous technologies of preserving and pounding Mahangu and making Oshikundu to mediate learning of the rate of reactions. The study was guided by the broad overarching research question: How does a peer-learning community and expert community members leverage the integration of indigenous knowledge into the learning and teaching of Grade 10 Chemistry on the rate of reactions? In this study, I used two complementary paradigms, viz. the transformative research paradigm and the indigenous research paradigm. Within these paradigms, I employed a qualitative case study research design using the community of practice and participatory action research as research approaches. Five Grade 10 Chemistry teachers from three schools in the Ohangwena region were involved in this study. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, co-analysis of curriculum documents, workshop presentations and discussions, practical demonstrations, participatory observation, lesson observation, stimulated recall interviews, and participants’ reflections. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Shulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) were employed as theoretical frameworks in this study. Additionally, within PCK, Mavhunga and Rollnick’s Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge components were used as an analytical framework. I used an inductive-deductive approach to data analysis to come up with sub-themes and themes. The main finding of this study revealed that leveraging a peer-learning community and the expert community members (ECMs) empowered the Chemistry teachers involved in this study to be cultural knowledge brokers and their understanding of how to integrate IK in their teaching improved. Both their subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge improved through co-developing and enacting exemplar lessons that integrated IK from the expert community members as well as from their own environments. A main insight of this study is that Chemistry teachers should seek opportunities to create peer-learning communities that engage with expert community members who are the custodians of the cultural heritage. The study also shows that this approach will support them to become better cultural knowledge brokers and help their learners bridge the divide between school science and what they have learnt in their homes or community. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Simasiku, Fredrick Simataa
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Chemical kinetics Study and teaching (Secondary) Namibia , Ethnoscience Namibia , Scientific knowledge , Peer teaching Namibia , Pedagogical content knowledge , Culturally relevant pedagogy Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366211 , vital:65843 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366211
- Description: The integration of indigenous knowledge (IK) in science teaching in Namibia is part of the transformation agenda that hopes to revitalise and make science accessible and relevant to learners’ everyday life experiences. However, there seems to be contradictions between the intended curriculum, the enacted curriculum and the attained curriculum. This disjuncture is exacerbated in part by the fact that science teachers seem to be struggling to be cultural knowledge brokers. It is against this backdrop that this formative interventionist study sought to leverage a peer-learning community and expert community members in the integration of IK into the learning and teaching of Grade 10 Chemistry on the rate of reactions. To achieve this, we mobilised the indigenous technologies of preserving and pounding Mahangu and making Oshikundu to mediate learning of the rate of reactions. The study was guided by the broad overarching research question: How does a peer-learning community and expert community members leverage the integration of indigenous knowledge into the learning and teaching of Grade 10 Chemistry on the rate of reactions? In this study, I used two complementary paradigms, viz. the transformative research paradigm and the indigenous research paradigm. Within these paradigms, I employed a qualitative case study research design using the community of practice and participatory action research as research approaches. Five Grade 10 Chemistry teachers from three schools in the Ohangwena region were involved in this study. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, co-analysis of curriculum documents, workshop presentations and discussions, practical demonstrations, participatory observation, lesson observation, stimulated recall interviews, and participants’ reflections. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Shulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) were employed as theoretical frameworks in this study. Additionally, within PCK, Mavhunga and Rollnick’s Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge components were used as an analytical framework. I used an inductive-deductive approach to data analysis to come up with sub-themes and themes. The main finding of this study revealed that leveraging a peer-learning community and the expert community members (ECMs) empowered the Chemistry teachers involved in this study to be cultural knowledge brokers and their understanding of how to integrate IK in their teaching improved. Both their subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge improved through co-developing and enacting exemplar lessons that integrated IK from the expert community members as well as from their own environments. A main insight of this study is that Chemistry teachers should seek opportunities to create peer-learning communities that engage with expert community members who are the custodians of the cultural heritage. The study also shows that this approach will support them to become better cultural knowledge brokers and help their learners bridge the divide between school science and what they have learnt in their homes or community. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
Making the personal political: understanding the impacts of participation in an anti-rape protest for women who have experienced sexual violence
- Authors: Barker, Kim Elise
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422590 , vital:71960 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422590
- Description: South Africa is recognised as a country with unusually high levels of rape and sexual violence. The majority of those who experience sexual violence do not acknowledge, disclose or report it, and do not access support. Many factors have been identified which can inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. While silence is to be honoured as a chosen response, unwanted silencing is of concern. The annual Silent Protest at Rhodes University is a day-long anti-rape protest which draws attention to the attitudes and practices which silence victim-survivors, and enacts solidarity with victim-survivors of sexual violence. I conducted a three year “critically engaged, activist ethnography” with the community of Silent Protestors and organisers. My focus was on the stories that victim-survivors told about the impacts of participating in the protest. Changes in the research context allowed for a participatory action research cycle to be incorporated into the methodology. This offered an opportunity to implement and evaluate some changes suggested by my research contributors. My contributor’s narratives highlighted the ways in which as a society we position those who have been subjected to sexual violence in ways that are limited and limiting and which diminish victim-survivors’ sense of agency and value. This malignant positioning restricts the choices available to victim-survivors. The anticipation of being positioned in negative ways can inhibit victim-survivors from disclosing a violation and accessing care and justice. Participation in the Silent Protest seems to stand against some of the factors which inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. Through their participation many women took up opportunities to share their story with at least one other person and to receive and offer care. Most described participation as having been beneficial and having helped them move towards living well again. The ways in which the Silent Protest positioned victim-survivors and the choices they were offered in relation to that positioning seemed to open up opportunities for thinking, feeling and acting in ways that they preferred. This suggests that interventions which mobilise both political resistance and mutual care hold promise for developing more accessible and effective services to those affected by sexual violence. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Barker, Kim Elise
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422590 , vital:71960 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422590
- Description: South Africa is recognised as a country with unusually high levels of rape and sexual violence. The majority of those who experience sexual violence do not acknowledge, disclose or report it, and do not access support. Many factors have been identified which can inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. While silence is to be honoured as a chosen response, unwanted silencing is of concern. The annual Silent Protest at Rhodes University is a day-long anti-rape protest which draws attention to the attitudes and practices which silence victim-survivors, and enacts solidarity with victim-survivors of sexual violence. I conducted a three year “critically engaged, activist ethnography” with the community of Silent Protestors and organisers. My focus was on the stories that victim-survivors told about the impacts of participating in the protest. Changes in the research context allowed for a participatory action research cycle to be incorporated into the methodology. This offered an opportunity to implement and evaluate some changes suggested by my research contributors. My contributor’s narratives highlighted the ways in which as a society we position those who have been subjected to sexual violence in ways that are limited and limiting and which diminish victim-survivors’ sense of agency and value. This malignant positioning restricts the choices available to victim-survivors. The anticipation of being positioned in negative ways can inhibit victim-survivors from disclosing a violation and accessing care and justice. Participation in the Silent Protest seems to stand against some of the factors which inhibit acknowledgement and disclosure. Through their participation many women took up opportunities to share their story with at least one other person and to receive and offer care. Most described participation as having been beneficial and having helped them move towards living well again. The ways in which the Silent Protest positioned victim-survivors and the choices they were offered in relation to that positioning seemed to open up opportunities for thinking, feeling and acting in ways that they preferred. This suggests that interventions which mobilise both political resistance and mutual care hold promise for developing more accessible and effective services to those affected by sexual violence. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
The link between behavioural plasticity and aerobic scope 1 phenotypes in predicting the survival of Chrysoblephus laticeps 2 under climate variability
- Authors: Bailey, Lauren Ashleigh
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422606 , vital:71961 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422606
- Description: Thermal variability in the marine environment is likely to have a considerable effect on fishes as it impacts physiological performance and vital (i.e metabolism, foraging and swimming style) and non-vital (i.e. reproductive fitness) energetic processes. When fish are subjected to thermal stress, they may primarily respond by changing their behaviour. Species that have broad phenotypic behavioural plasticity (i.e. defined as the ability to adjust behavioural activity in presiding environmental conditions in order to remain within their optimal thermal range) may have a competitive advantage. Fish behavioural plasticity may take many forms. Some species may seek out thermal refugia by changing their phenology or distribution, while others alter the timing of their seasonal and spawning migrations in response to a changing environment. Although fishes can use behavioural changes to cope with climate change impacts, there does appear to be variability in the behavioural responses within species. However, if alterations in behaviour are insufficient to ensure that the individual remains within their optimal thermal range, physiological acclimation (i.e. defined as the process in which an organism adjusts to prevailing conditions by broadening their thermal performance curve so that their performance is maximized in the new thermal environment) may be required. Therefore, there is a critical link between the behaviour and thermal physiology of fishes, particularly in a world where they are facing increasing thermal stress. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
- Authors: Bailey, Lauren Ashleigh
- Date: 2023-03-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422606 , vital:71961 , DOI 10.21504/10962/422606
- Description: Thermal variability in the marine environment is likely to have a considerable effect on fishes as it impacts physiological performance and vital (i.e metabolism, foraging and swimming style) and non-vital (i.e. reproductive fitness) energetic processes. When fish are subjected to thermal stress, they may primarily respond by changing their behaviour. Species that have broad phenotypic behavioural plasticity (i.e. defined as the ability to adjust behavioural activity in presiding environmental conditions in order to remain within their optimal thermal range) may have a competitive advantage. Fish behavioural plasticity may take many forms. Some species may seek out thermal refugia by changing their phenology or distribution, while others alter the timing of their seasonal and spawning migrations in response to a changing environment. Although fishes can use behavioural changes to cope with climate change impacts, there does appear to be variability in the behavioural responses within species. However, if alterations in behaviour are insufficient to ensure that the individual remains within their optimal thermal range, physiological acclimation (i.e. defined as the process in which an organism adjusts to prevailing conditions by broadening their thermal performance curve so that their performance is maximized in the new thermal environment) may be required. Therefore, there is a critical link between the behaviour and thermal physiology of fishes, particularly in a world where they are facing increasing thermal stress. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-03-29
'ORPHEIOI HYMNOI' The generic contexts of the Orphic Hymns
- Malamis, Daniel Scott Christos
- Authors: Malamis, Daniel Scott Christos
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Orphic hymns , Poetics Early works to 1800 , Hymns, Greek (Classical) History and criticism , Literary form
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327177 , vital:61088 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327177
- Description: Uncertainty surrounds the circumstances of Orphic Hymns’ composition and their intended use. Their author has substituted their own identity for that of the mythological poet and there is no certain reference to the extant collection in any ancient source. They are, in this sense, decontextualised. This study aims to make a contribution to the ongoing debate concerning the hymns’ composition, and the original function they might have served, through an analysis of their poetic and generic contexts. Following a detailed survey of scholarship on the hymns, I reflect first on the collection as a unified text, the constitutive parts of the individual hymns and the methods they employ for addressing, describing and praying to the gods. I then study a select group of stylistic features that the hymns prominently display: their use of phonic effects, including etymological figures, of antithesis and symmetrical patterning, and their extensive repetition of poetic formulae. In each case I discuss the deployment and significance of these poetic elements within the collection and consider the intertextual parallels suggested by their recurrence in Greek literary texts of all periods. This analysis reveals the hymns’ engagement with an overlapping set of poetic traditions, including, most prominently, cultic hymns and oracles, gnomic poetry, the theological discourses of the Presocratic philosophers and, in particular, Orphic poetry in its many forms. It suggests moreover that the hymns engage deeply with the oral strategies of the earliest Greek poets, underscoring the conclusion reached by several recent scholars, that the extant collection is essentially performative and was intended to be recited and heard. I argue that the Orphic Hymns were not a unique text in their employment of the stylistic features studied here, but drew extensively upon earlier hymns composed in Orpheus’ name. I further consider, in the light of this argument, the bearing this study has on the unresolved questions of the hymns’ composition, whether by a single author or many, and the aims of the poet(s) who composed them. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literature Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Malamis, Daniel Scott Christos
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Orphic hymns , Poetics Early works to 1800 , Hymns, Greek (Classical) History and criticism , Literary form
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327177 , vital:61088 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327177
- Description: Uncertainty surrounds the circumstances of Orphic Hymns’ composition and their intended use. Their author has substituted their own identity for that of the mythological poet and there is no certain reference to the extant collection in any ancient source. They are, in this sense, decontextualised. This study aims to make a contribution to the ongoing debate concerning the hymns’ composition, and the original function they might have served, through an analysis of their poetic and generic contexts. Following a detailed survey of scholarship on the hymns, I reflect first on the collection as a unified text, the constitutive parts of the individual hymns and the methods they employ for addressing, describing and praying to the gods. I then study a select group of stylistic features that the hymns prominently display: their use of phonic effects, including etymological figures, of antithesis and symmetrical patterning, and their extensive repetition of poetic formulae. In each case I discuss the deployment and significance of these poetic elements within the collection and consider the intertextual parallels suggested by their recurrence in Greek literary texts of all periods. This analysis reveals the hymns’ engagement with an overlapping set of poetic traditions, including, most prominently, cultic hymns and oracles, gnomic poetry, the theological discourses of the Presocratic philosophers and, in particular, Orphic poetry in its many forms. It suggests moreover that the hymns engage deeply with the oral strategies of the earliest Greek poets, underscoring the conclusion reached by several recent scholars, that the extant collection is essentially performative and was intended to be recited and heard. I argue that the Orphic Hymns were not a unique text in their employment of the stylistic features studied here, but drew extensively upon earlier hymns composed in Orpheus’ name. I further consider, in the light of this argument, the bearing this study has on the unresolved questions of the hymns’ composition, whether by a single author or many, and the aims of the poet(s) who composed them. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literature Studies, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
A critical analysis of the Urban Food System, Urban Governance and Household Food Security in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Maphosa, Mandlenkosi
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Food security Zimbabwe Bulawayo , City planning Government policy Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Urban poor Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Urban agriculture Zimbabwe Bulawayo , COVID-19 (Disease) Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Agent (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327165 , vital:61087 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327165
- Description: Urbanisation is occurring on a massive scale globally and even more so in the less developed regions of the Global South including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Like other developing regions of the world, urbanisation in SSA is not occurring alongside a corresponding growth in urban economies. Resultantly, it is taking place in tandem with the rising scourge of urban poverty, including food insecurity. While urban food insecurity is a clear challenge in SSA, the challenge has however not been met with equal vigour in policy making and implementation circles and even in academia. Problematically, the urban food security literature often focuses on one element of the food system without giving due attention to other components of the system. Resultantly, broader systemic failures and the dynamics related to the different actors across the system-elements are missed. There has thus been recent calls to embrace urban governance in studying urban food systems, which this study does. The thesis examines the urban food system in Bulawayo (in Zimbabwe) with specific reference to urban governance and household food security to understand sociologically the complex multi-dimensional processes, structures, systems, and practices underpinning the urban food system. As a result of the complex nature of food systems, an eclectic analytical framework is employed encompassing Obeng Odoom’s DED framework, Clapp and Fuchs’ framework of power, Gaventa’s power cube and theories of everyday life derived from de Certeau and Lefebvre. Methodologically, the study is informed by a Critical Realism paradigm which accommodates the convergent mixed methods research design employed. The research strategy employed was that of a survey and case study. Key findings reveal that the Bulawayo food system, from production to consumption, is complex and is nested within broader national and international food systems. Although without a direct and explicit mandate on food security, the local authority is at the centre of urban governance processes as it employs a plethora of strategies to influence the nature of the food system. However, the study reveals that the food system is as much a construction from below through the agential activities of the urban poor. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Maphosa, Mandlenkosi
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Food security Zimbabwe Bulawayo , City planning Government policy Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Urban poor Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Urban agriculture Zimbabwe Bulawayo , COVID-19 (Disease) Zimbabwe Bulawayo , Agent (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327165 , vital:61087 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327165
- Description: Urbanisation is occurring on a massive scale globally and even more so in the less developed regions of the Global South including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Like other developing regions of the world, urbanisation in SSA is not occurring alongside a corresponding growth in urban economies. Resultantly, it is taking place in tandem with the rising scourge of urban poverty, including food insecurity. While urban food insecurity is a clear challenge in SSA, the challenge has however not been met with equal vigour in policy making and implementation circles and even in academia. Problematically, the urban food security literature often focuses on one element of the food system without giving due attention to other components of the system. Resultantly, broader systemic failures and the dynamics related to the different actors across the system-elements are missed. There has thus been recent calls to embrace urban governance in studying urban food systems, which this study does. The thesis examines the urban food system in Bulawayo (in Zimbabwe) with specific reference to urban governance and household food security to understand sociologically the complex multi-dimensional processes, structures, systems, and practices underpinning the urban food system. As a result of the complex nature of food systems, an eclectic analytical framework is employed encompassing Obeng Odoom’s DED framework, Clapp and Fuchs’ framework of power, Gaventa’s power cube and theories of everyday life derived from de Certeau and Lefebvre. Methodologically, the study is informed by a Critical Realism paradigm which accommodates the convergent mixed methods research design employed. The research strategy employed was that of a survey and case study. Key findings reveal that the Bulawayo food system, from production to consumption, is complex and is nested within broader national and international food systems. Although without a direct and explicit mandate on food security, the local authority is at the centre of urban governance processes as it employs a plethora of strategies to influence the nature of the food system. However, the study reveals that the food system is as much a construction from below through the agential activities of the urban poor. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
A social history of midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan, Nigeria, 1893 - 1960
- Olorunnibe, Folaranmi Flourish
- Authors: Olorunnibe, Folaranmi Flourish
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Midwifery Nigeria Ibadan , Nigeria History 1900-1960 , Nigeria Politics and government To 1960 , Nigeria Social conditions To 1960 , Maternal health services Nigeria Ibadan , Ibadan (Nigeria) Colonial influence
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408716 , vital:70519 , DOI 10.21504/10962/408716
- Description: This thesis examines the introduction and development of western medical practices in colonial spaces with particular reference to midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1893 to 1960. This has become necessary because of the importance placed on childbirth and maternal healthcare in the twentieth century. The trends and changes in midwifery and midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan are seen as reflections of other transformations in British African colonies at large. The study begins with a detailed historical analysis of the major metropolitan and local factors that informed the introduction and development of Western obstetrics in colonial Ibadan, Nigeria. It proceeds to examine the development of Western midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan; highlighting the contributions of the Ibadan people to the development of Western midwifery practices and emphasizing policies affecting development, and implementation of Western obstetrics. The thesis goes further to reveal the prejudiced nature of colonial medical policies, and the ways it shaped various responses especially from rural folks who were particularly marginalized since the 1920s when maternal healthcare policies was implemented in the urban areas till the 1950s when a reformed policy for rural medical service scheme was introduced to the rural folks. Thus, influencing the ways they imagined and appropriated ideas of western obstetrics alongside African traditional midwifery practices. The idea is to demonstrate in this thesis the extent to which the precincts in colonial medical policies, most especially the establishment of maternity hospitals, clinics and dispensaries, and the institutionalization of western obstetrics, inspired critical and ingenious responses from colonial doctors, colonial officials, the missionaries, patients, African trained midwives, traditional medical practitioners and the African population in general. Placing all of these historical events within a wider context, this thesis borrows insights from the social history of medicine in an attempt to reconstruct the colonial medical practices in Ibadan, Nigeria, through the sites of midwifery practices and maternal welfare services from 1893 to 1960. This is in addition to its dependence on a comparatively rich, but skewed historical evidence, including a plethora of annual medical reports, official reports of the department of medical and sanitary services, official correspondences within the colonial government in Ibadan and Nigeria, and between the colonial government and the colonial office in the United Kingdom. Details of African responses to medical policies were garnered from oral testimonies, newspaper publications and correspondences between the African public and the colonial government in Ibadan. In exploring this historical evidence, the thesis reveals very interesting details of colonial perceptions about African health and their underlining motives for introducing western medical ideas, the various medical schemes and policies used in driving colonial interest and the ways Africans imagined, re-imagined, and appropriated Western medical practices. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Olorunnibe, Folaranmi Flourish
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Midwifery Nigeria Ibadan , Nigeria History 1900-1960 , Nigeria Politics and government To 1960 , Nigeria Social conditions To 1960 , Maternal health services Nigeria Ibadan , Ibadan (Nigeria) Colonial influence
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/408716 , vital:70519 , DOI 10.21504/10962/408716
- Description: This thesis examines the introduction and development of western medical practices in colonial spaces with particular reference to midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1893 to 1960. This has become necessary because of the importance placed on childbirth and maternal healthcare in the twentieth century. The trends and changes in midwifery and midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan are seen as reflections of other transformations in British African colonies at large. The study begins with a detailed historical analysis of the major metropolitan and local factors that informed the introduction and development of Western obstetrics in colonial Ibadan, Nigeria. It proceeds to examine the development of Western midwifery practices in colonial Ibadan; highlighting the contributions of the Ibadan people to the development of Western midwifery practices and emphasizing policies affecting development, and implementation of Western obstetrics. The thesis goes further to reveal the prejudiced nature of colonial medical policies, and the ways it shaped various responses especially from rural folks who were particularly marginalized since the 1920s when maternal healthcare policies was implemented in the urban areas till the 1950s when a reformed policy for rural medical service scheme was introduced to the rural folks. Thus, influencing the ways they imagined and appropriated ideas of western obstetrics alongside African traditional midwifery practices. The idea is to demonstrate in this thesis the extent to which the precincts in colonial medical policies, most especially the establishment of maternity hospitals, clinics and dispensaries, and the institutionalization of western obstetrics, inspired critical and ingenious responses from colonial doctors, colonial officials, the missionaries, patients, African trained midwives, traditional medical practitioners and the African population in general. Placing all of these historical events within a wider context, this thesis borrows insights from the social history of medicine in an attempt to reconstruct the colonial medical practices in Ibadan, Nigeria, through the sites of midwifery practices and maternal welfare services from 1893 to 1960. This is in addition to its dependence on a comparatively rich, but skewed historical evidence, including a plethora of annual medical reports, official reports of the department of medical and sanitary services, official correspondences within the colonial government in Ibadan and Nigeria, and between the colonial government and the colonial office in the United Kingdom. Details of African responses to medical policies were garnered from oral testimonies, newspaper publications and correspondences between the African public and the colonial government in Ibadan. In exploring this historical evidence, the thesis reveals very interesting details of colonial perceptions about African health and their underlining motives for introducing western medical ideas, the various medical schemes and policies used in driving colonial interest and the ways Africans imagined, re-imagined, and appropriated Western medical practices. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
A sociological analysis of the experiences of Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa: the case of KwaZulu-Natal townships and township secondary schools
- Authors: Daki, Andile Lebohang
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Xenophobia South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Teachers, Foreign South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Zimbabweans South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Teachers, Foreign Social conditions , Marginality, Social , Culture conflict South Africa KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365953 , vital:65805 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365953
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand the social and cultural experiences of Zimbabwean teachers, as foreigners, in KwaZulu-Natal townships, and KwaZulu-Natal township secondary schools, in South Africa. It examines the ways in which Zimbabwean teachers negotiate the social, cultural, and institutional milieu of KwaZulu-Natal townships and secondary schools. In doing so, the thesis draws upon social interface theory, as this theory facilitates an examination and understanding of the ways in which the Zimbabwean teachers interpret the spaces (and lifeworld) of South Africans and, simultaneously, navigate their way in and through these spaces along social and cultural interfaces. While the focus is on the perspectives and practices of the Zimbabwean teachers, the thesis recognises and shows that their socio-cultural experiences are constituted and configured in significant ways by their daily encounters with South Africans. The fieldwork for the thesis involved primarily in-depth interviews with thirty Zimbabwean teachers residing in six selected KwaZulu-Natal townships (and teaching at six different secondary schools), as well as fifteen South African teachers, five school administrators and thirty other South African citizens. The sample of Zimbabwean teachers was stratified in relation to the different townships, as well as gender and the number of years teaching in South Africa, so as to investigate whether and how these variables may configure the socio-cultural experiences of these teachers. A consideration of variation in the number of years of teaching in South Africa in particular allowed for an examination of possible shifts in socio-cultural experiences over time, as negotiation along interfaces is an ongoing and contingent process. The findings demonstrate a range of experiences and challenges faced by Zimbabwean teachers in KwaZulu-Natal (with regard to both township and school life), some of which they share with South African teachers but many of which are unique to them. At the same time, there are important differences amongst Zimbabwean teachers in relation to how they interface with South African citizens and teachers. While some teachers negotiate local spaces through active socialising and assimilating into the lifeworld (township life of South Africans and the institutional culture of township schools), other teachers move through the space by way of isolation, withdrawal, and alienation. In general, in terms of adjusting to the lifeworld of South Africans in KwaZulu-Natal townships and schools, Zimbabwean teachers pursue different routes which, in the end, made sense to them and about which they express some degree of personal comfort. , Lo mbhalo wobuhlakani uzama ukuqonda inhlalo kanye namasiko abahlangabezana nako othisha baseZimbabwe njengabantu bokufika emalokishini akwaZulu-Natal, kanye nasezikoleni zamabanga athe thuthu zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal eNingizimu-Afrika. Uhlolisisa izindlela labo thisha ababonisana ngazo ngamasiko kanye nenhlalakahle yasezikoleni zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal. Ngokwenzanjalo, lo mbhalo udonsa umhlahlandlela wenhlalakahle nokuhlangana ngoba ukungena kwabo endaweni yakwaZulu-Natal, labo thisha bahumusha indawo baphinde babonisane bachushisane ngenqubekela phambili yabo nangenhlalo namasiko abahlangabezana nawo. Ukuhlanganisa othisha baseNingizimu-Afrika nezakhamuzi kumele kusebenzisane ngokulingana. Abahlangabezana nakho kwakhiwa ngokubambisana phakathi kwabaseZimbabwe kanye nabaseNingizimu-Afrika ukuze izwi labaseNingizimu-Afrika lingagqibeki ngoba sekunakekelwa kakhulu abseZimbabwe. Umsebenzi wasensimini walo mbhalo wobuhlakani uhlanganisa ucwaningo kothisha abangani-30 baseZimbabwe abahlala ezindaweni ezingu-6 ezikhethekile ezisemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal, nothisha abayi-15 baseNingizimu-Afrika kanye nabaphathi bezikole abayi-5. Kubuye kwenziwa ucwaningo kwizakhamuzi ezingama-30 zaseNingizimu-Afrika. Isampula lihlanganiswe ngokubuka indawo lapho aphuma khona umuntu, kanye neminyaka aseyifundisile eNingizimu-Afrika. Ucwaningo lubukisise kakhulu indlela ababuka ngayo inhlalakahle namasiko kube kubukisiswa nenani leminyaka aseyifundisile umuntu ngamunye ukuze kuhlolisiswe izinguquko zokuxoxisana ezidalwe yisikhathi asihlalile umuntu phakathi kothisha abasebancane nalabo asebekhulile. Imiphumela yocwaningo iveza iznselele ezahlukene ababhekene nazo othisha baseZimbabwe njengoba bengabahlali baseNingizimu-Afrika. Ezinye zalezi nselele ziqhamuka ngokwehlukana kwemiphakathi kwabaseZimbabwe kanye nabaseNingizimu-Afrika. Ngokunjalo kunomehluko obalulekayo kothisha baseZimbabwe mayelana nendlela ukuxoxisana nokubonisana okuqhubeka ngayo. Kukhona labo ukungena bathi khaxa emiphakathini nasezimpilweni abakuzo eNingizimu-Afrika nasezikoleni abakuzo namasiko nenhlalakahle yakulezo zindawo ngakolunye uhlangothi abanye othisha bazithole bephila njengenhlwa bephila ngabodwana eNingizimu-Afrika. Kodwa ekugcineni kwakho konke, lolu cwaningo luthola ukuthi othisha baseZimbabwe ezikoleni zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal lapha eNingizimu-Afrika bazakhela impilo eyenza umuntu ngamunye azizwe ehlaliseke kahle eNingizimu- Afrika ngendlela ephelele nethokomalisa yena ngo kwakhe. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Daki, Andile Lebohang
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Xenophobia South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Teachers, Foreign South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Zimbabweans South Africa KwaZulu-Natal , Teachers, Foreign Social conditions , Marginality, Social , Culture conflict South Africa KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365953 , vital:65805 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365953
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand the social and cultural experiences of Zimbabwean teachers, as foreigners, in KwaZulu-Natal townships, and KwaZulu-Natal township secondary schools, in South Africa. It examines the ways in which Zimbabwean teachers negotiate the social, cultural, and institutional milieu of KwaZulu-Natal townships and secondary schools. In doing so, the thesis draws upon social interface theory, as this theory facilitates an examination and understanding of the ways in which the Zimbabwean teachers interpret the spaces (and lifeworld) of South Africans and, simultaneously, navigate their way in and through these spaces along social and cultural interfaces. While the focus is on the perspectives and practices of the Zimbabwean teachers, the thesis recognises and shows that their socio-cultural experiences are constituted and configured in significant ways by their daily encounters with South Africans. The fieldwork for the thesis involved primarily in-depth interviews with thirty Zimbabwean teachers residing in six selected KwaZulu-Natal townships (and teaching at six different secondary schools), as well as fifteen South African teachers, five school administrators and thirty other South African citizens. The sample of Zimbabwean teachers was stratified in relation to the different townships, as well as gender and the number of years teaching in South Africa, so as to investigate whether and how these variables may configure the socio-cultural experiences of these teachers. A consideration of variation in the number of years of teaching in South Africa in particular allowed for an examination of possible shifts in socio-cultural experiences over time, as negotiation along interfaces is an ongoing and contingent process. The findings demonstrate a range of experiences and challenges faced by Zimbabwean teachers in KwaZulu-Natal (with regard to both township and school life), some of which they share with South African teachers but many of which are unique to them. At the same time, there are important differences amongst Zimbabwean teachers in relation to how they interface with South African citizens and teachers. While some teachers negotiate local spaces through active socialising and assimilating into the lifeworld (township life of South Africans and the institutional culture of township schools), other teachers move through the space by way of isolation, withdrawal, and alienation. In general, in terms of adjusting to the lifeworld of South Africans in KwaZulu-Natal townships and schools, Zimbabwean teachers pursue different routes which, in the end, made sense to them and about which they express some degree of personal comfort. , Lo mbhalo wobuhlakani uzama ukuqonda inhlalo kanye namasiko abahlangabezana nako othisha baseZimbabwe njengabantu bokufika emalokishini akwaZulu-Natal, kanye nasezikoleni zamabanga athe thuthu zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal eNingizimu-Afrika. Uhlolisisa izindlela labo thisha ababonisana ngazo ngamasiko kanye nenhlalakahle yasezikoleni zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal. Ngokwenzanjalo, lo mbhalo udonsa umhlahlandlela wenhlalakahle nokuhlangana ngoba ukungena kwabo endaweni yakwaZulu-Natal, labo thisha bahumusha indawo baphinde babonisane bachushisane ngenqubekela phambili yabo nangenhlalo namasiko abahlangabezana nawo. Ukuhlanganisa othisha baseNingizimu-Afrika nezakhamuzi kumele kusebenzisane ngokulingana. Abahlangabezana nakho kwakhiwa ngokubambisana phakathi kwabaseZimbabwe kanye nabaseNingizimu-Afrika ukuze izwi labaseNingizimu-Afrika lingagqibeki ngoba sekunakekelwa kakhulu abseZimbabwe. Umsebenzi wasensimini walo mbhalo wobuhlakani uhlanganisa ucwaningo kothisha abangani-30 baseZimbabwe abahlala ezindaweni ezingu-6 ezikhethekile ezisemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal, nothisha abayi-15 baseNingizimu-Afrika kanye nabaphathi bezikole abayi-5. Kubuye kwenziwa ucwaningo kwizakhamuzi ezingama-30 zaseNingizimu-Afrika. Isampula lihlanganiswe ngokubuka indawo lapho aphuma khona umuntu, kanye neminyaka aseyifundisile eNingizimu-Afrika. Ucwaningo lubukisise kakhulu indlela ababuka ngayo inhlalakahle namasiko kube kubukisiswa nenani leminyaka aseyifundisile umuntu ngamunye ukuze kuhlolisiswe izinguquko zokuxoxisana ezidalwe yisikhathi asihlalile umuntu phakathi kothisha abasebancane nalabo asebekhulile. Imiphumela yocwaningo iveza iznselele ezahlukene ababhekene nazo othisha baseZimbabwe njengoba bengabahlali baseNingizimu-Afrika. Ezinye zalezi nselele ziqhamuka ngokwehlukana kwemiphakathi kwabaseZimbabwe kanye nabaseNingizimu-Afrika. Ngokunjalo kunomehluko obalulekayo kothisha baseZimbabwe mayelana nendlela ukuxoxisana nokubonisana okuqhubeka ngayo. Kukhona labo ukungena bathi khaxa emiphakathini nasezimpilweni abakuzo eNingizimu-Afrika nasezikoleni abakuzo namasiko nenhlalakahle yakulezo zindawo ngakolunye uhlangothi abanye othisha bazithole bephila njengenhlwa bephila ngabodwana eNingizimu-Afrika. Kodwa ekugcineni kwakho konke, lolu cwaningo luthola ukuthi othisha baseZimbabwe ezikoleni zasemalokishini akwaZulu-Natal lapha eNingizimu-Afrika bazakhela impilo eyenza umuntu ngamunye azizwe ehlaliseke kahle eNingizimu- Afrika ngendlela ephelele nethokomalisa yena ngo kwakhe. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
An in-silico study of the type II NADH: Quinone Oxidoreductase (ndh2). A new anti-malaria drug target
- Authors: Baye, Bertha Cinthia
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Malaria , Plasmodium , Molecular dynamics , Computer simulation , Quinone , Antimalarials , Molecules Models , Docking , Drugs Computer-aided design
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365633 , vital:65767 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365633
- Description: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. This study focuses on all 5 (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium knowlesi, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax) parasites that cause malaria in humans. Africa is a developing continent, and it is the most affected with an estimation of 90% of more than 400 000 malaria-related deaths reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2020, in which 61% of that number are children under the ages of five. Malaria resistance was initially observed in early 1986 and with the progression of time anti-malarial drug resistance has only increased. As a result, there is a need to study the malarial proteins mechanism of action and identify alternative treatment strategies for this disease. Type II NADH: quinone oxidoreductase (NDH2) is a monotopic protein that catalyses the electron transfer from NADH to quinone via FAD without a proton-pumping activity, and functions as an initial enzyme, either in addition to or as an alternative to proton-pumping NADH dehydrogenase (complex I) in the respiratory chain of bacteria, archaea, and fungal and plant mitochondrial. The structures for the Plasmodium knowlesi, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax were modelled from the crystal structure of Plasmodium falciparum (5JWA). Compounds from the South African natural compounds database (SANCDB) were docked against both the NDH2 crystal structure and modelled structures. By performing in silico screening the study aimed to find potential compounds that might interrupt the electron transfer to quinone therefore disturbing the enzyme‟s function and thereby possibly eliminating the plasmodium parasite. CHARMM-GUI was used to create the membrane (since this work is with membrane-bound proteins) and to orient the protein on the membrane using OPM server guidelines, the interface produced GROMACS topology files that were used in molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in the Centre for high performance computing (CHPC) cluster under the CHEM0802 project and the trajectories produced were further analysed. In this work not only were hit compounds from SANCDB identified, but also differences in behaviour across species and in the presence or absence of the membrane were described. This highlights the need to include the correct protein environment when studying these systems. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Baye, Bertha Cinthia
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Malaria , Plasmodium , Molecular dynamics , Computer simulation , Quinone , Antimalarials , Molecules Models , Docking , Drugs Computer-aided design
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365633 , vital:65767 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365633
- Description: Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. This study focuses on all 5 (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium knowlesi, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax) parasites that cause malaria in humans. Africa is a developing continent, and it is the most affected with an estimation of 90% of more than 400 000 malaria-related deaths reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2020, in which 61% of that number are children under the ages of five. Malaria resistance was initially observed in early 1986 and with the progression of time anti-malarial drug resistance has only increased. As a result, there is a need to study the malarial proteins mechanism of action and identify alternative treatment strategies for this disease. Type II NADH: quinone oxidoreductase (NDH2) is a monotopic protein that catalyses the electron transfer from NADH to quinone via FAD without a proton-pumping activity, and functions as an initial enzyme, either in addition to or as an alternative to proton-pumping NADH dehydrogenase (complex I) in the respiratory chain of bacteria, archaea, and fungal and plant mitochondrial. The structures for the Plasmodium knowlesi, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax were modelled from the crystal structure of Plasmodium falciparum (5JWA). Compounds from the South African natural compounds database (SANCDB) were docked against both the NDH2 crystal structure and modelled structures. By performing in silico screening the study aimed to find potential compounds that might interrupt the electron transfer to quinone therefore disturbing the enzyme‟s function and thereby possibly eliminating the plasmodium parasite. CHARMM-GUI was used to create the membrane (since this work is with membrane-bound proteins) and to orient the protein on the membrane using OPM server guidelines, the interface produced GROMACS topology files that were used in molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in the Centre for high performance computing (CHPC) cluster under the CHEM0802 project and the trajectories produced were further analysed. In this work not only were hit compounds from SANCDB identified, but also differences in behaviour across species and in the presence or absence of the membrane were described. This highlights the need to include the correct protein environment when studying these systems. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Bioinformatics tool and web server development focusing on structural bioinformatics applications
- Authors: Nabatanzi, Margaret
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Structural bioinformatics , Proteins Structure , Protein structure prediction , Proteins Conformation , Protein complex
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365700 , vital:65777 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365700
- Description: This thesis is divided into two main sections: Part 1 describes the design, and evaluation of the accuracy of a new web server – PRotein Interactive MOdeling (PRIMO-Complexes) for modeling protein complexes and biological assemblies. The second part describes the development of bioinformatics tools to predict HIV-1 drug resistance and support bioinformatics research and education. Recent technological advances have resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of sequences and protein structures deposited in the Universal Protein Resource Knowledgebase (UniProtKB) and the Protein Data Bank (PDB). However, the number of sequences has increased at a higher rate compared with the experimentally solved multimeric protein structures. This is partly due to advances in high-throughput sequencing technology. To fill this protein sequence-structure gap, computational approaches have been developed to predict protein structures from available sequences. Computational approaches include template-based and ab initio modeling with the former being the most reliable. Template-based modeling process can be achieved using either standalone software or automated modeling web servers. However, using standalone software requires familiarity with command-line interfaces as well as utilising other intermediate programs which could be daunting to novice users. To alleviate some of these problems, the modeling process has been automated, however, it still has numerous challenges. To date, only a few web servers that support multimeric protein modeling have been developed and even these provide little, if any user involvement in the process. To address some of these issues, a new web server – PRIMO-Complexes – was developed to model protein complexes and biological assemblies. The existing PRIMO web server could only model monomeric proteins. Part 1 of this thesis provides a detailed account of the development and evaluation of PRIMO-Complexes. The rationale for developing this new web server was based on the understanding that most proteins function as protein multimers and often the ligand-binding sites, and enzyme active sites are located at the protein-protein interfaces. It, therefore, necessitated developing capabilities for modeling multimeric proteins. PRIMO-Complexes web server was developed using the Waterfall system development life cycle model, is based on the Django web framework and makes use of high-performance computing resources to execute jobs. The accuracy of the algorithms embedded in PRIMO- Complexes was evaluated and the results were promising. Additionally, PRIMO-Complexes performs comparatively well in relation to other web servers that offer multimeric protein modeling. Another unique feature of PRIMO-Complexes is its interactivity. The webserver was developed with capabilities for allowing users to model multimeric proteins with an appreciable degree of control over the process. In the second part of the thesis several other bioinformatics tools are described, for example, a webserver for predicting HIV-1 drug resistance, the RUBi protein model repository, and a bioinformatics web portal for education and research resources. RUBi protein model repository stores verified theoretical models built using various modeling approaches. This enables users to easily access models to reproduce and/or further the research. This is described in chapter 5. Chapter 6 describes the design and development of the Human Immunodeficiency type 1 Resistance Predictor (HIV-1 ResPredictor), a web application that employs artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict drug resistance in patients infected with HIV-1 subtype B. The ANNs and subtype classifiers performed well making this web application potentially useful to both clinicians and researchers in this era of personalised medicine. Finally, chapter 7 describes a bioinformatics education web portal that equips students with information on how to use bioinformatics online resources. Being aware of these resources is not enough without a deeper understanding and guidance on how to apply bioinformatics methods to solve practical problems. This web portal was aimed at familiarising students with the basic terminology and approaches in structural bioinformatics. Students will potentially gain skills to conduct real-life bioinformatics research to obtain biological insights. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Nabatanzi, Margaret
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Structural bioinformatics , Proteins Structure , Protein structure prediction , Proteins Conformation , Protein complex
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/365700 , vital:65777 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/365700
- Description: This thesis is divided into two main sections: Part 1 describes the design, and evaluation of the accuracy of a new web server – PRotein Interactive MOdeling (PRIMO-Complexes) for modeling protein complexes and biological assemblies. The second part describes the development of bioinformatics tools to predict HIV-1 drug resistance and support bioinformatics research and education. Recent technological advances have resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of sequences and protein structures deposited in the Universal Protein Resource Knowledgebase (UniProtKB) and the Protein Data Bank (PDB). However, the number of sequences has increased at a higher rate compared with the experimentally solved multimeric protein structures. This is partly due to advances in high-throughput sequencing technology. To fill this protein sequence-structure gap, computational approaches have been developed to predict protein structures from available sequences. Computational approaches include template-based and ab initio modeling with the former being the most reliable. Template-based modeling process can be achieved using either standalone software or automated modeling web servers. However, using standalone software requires familiarity with command-line interfaces as well as utilising other intermediate programs which could be daunting to novice users. To alleviate some of these problems, the modeling process has been automated, however, it still has numerous challenges. To date, only a few web servers that support multimeric protein modeling have been developed and even these provide little, if any user involvement in the process. To address some of these issues, a new web server – PRIMO-Complexes – was developed to model protein complexes and biological assemblies. The existing PRIMO web server could only model monomeric proteins. Part 1 of this thesis provides a detailed account of the development and evaluation of PRIMO-Complexes. The rationale for developing this new web server was based on the understanding that most proteins function as protein multimers and often the ligand-binding sites, and enzyme active sites are located at the protein-protein interfaces. It, therefore, necessitated developing capabilities for modeling multimeric proteins. PRIMO-Complexes web server was developed using the Waterfall system development life cycle model, is based on the Django web framework and makes use of high-performance computing resources to execute jobs. The accuracy of the algorithms embedded in PRIMO- Complexes was evaluated and the results were promising. Additionally, PRIMO-Complexes performs comparatively well in relation to other web servers that offer multimeric protein modeling. Another unique feature of PRIMO-Complexes is its interactivity. The webserver was developed with capabilities for allowing users to model multimeric proteins with an appreciable degree of control over the process. In the second part of the thesis several other bioinformatics tools are described, for example, a webserver for predicting HIV-1 drug resistance, the RUBi protein model repository, and a bioinformatics web portal for education and research resources. RUBi protein model repository stores verified theoretical models built using various modeling approaches. This enables users to easily access models to reproduce and/or further the research. This is described in chapter 5. Chapter 6 describes the design and development of the Human Immunodeficiency type 1 Resistance Predictor (HIV-1 ResPredictor), a web application that employs artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict drug resistance in patients infected with HIV-1 subtype B. The ANNs and subtype classifiers performed well making this web application potentially useful to both clinicians and researchers in this era of personalised medicine. Finally, chapter 7 describes a bioinformatics education web portal that equips students with information on how to use bioinformatics online resources. Being aware of these resources is not enough without a deeper understanding and guidance on how to apply bioinformatics methods to solve practical problems. This web portal was aimed at familiarising students with the basic terminology and approaches in structural bioinformatics. Students will potentially gain skills to conduct real-life bioinformatics research to obtain biological insights. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14