An investigation of the key mechanisms that promote whole school development in a secondary school pilot project context
- Authors: Westraad, Susan Fiona
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- South Africa Education and state -- South Africa School improvement programs -- South Africa Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1414 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003291
- Description: Providing relevant and quality schooling for all South African learners is the paramount goal of the South African National Department of Education. South Africa 's historical and current socio-economic contexts provide many challenges for both the Department of Education and schools in this endeavour to provide quality teaching and learning. These challenges impact directly and indirectly on what happens in the classroom. Since 1994 a plethora of education and training policy has been introduced in South Africa to redress historical imbalances; to introduce a new education and training framework and approach; and to provide guidelines, principles and procedures for addressing some of the challenges that impact on schools. The National Whole School Evaluation Policy provides the legislative framework for the establishment of a quality assurance process in South African schools based on accountability and support. The subsequent Integrated Quality Management System attempts to provide a framework for integrating school evaluation and performance measurement. Policy frameworks are in place to guide quality assurance and school improvement, however, the reality of implementing this at a grass roots level is particularly challenging. The General Motors (GM) South Africa Foundation, a non-governmental development organisation, established by General Motors (GM) South Africa, commenced with the piloting the Learning Schools Initiative to investigate some of the challenges of whole school development and evaluation. This research documents the Learning Schools Initiative's intervention with the initial two pilot secondary schools situated in Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) over a four-year period. It reviews the relevant school reform and school development literature and adopts a critical realist evaluative research approach to investigate the key mechanisms that promote whole school development and change in this context. In keeping with this approach, the results of the research are analysed and discussed within a context-menchanism-outcome configuration that involves the identification of the key mechanisms that bring about desired outcome/s in a specific context. Seven key generative mechanisms are identified as critical at a school and classroom level (i) school culture, (ii) school structures, (iii) effective leadership and management, (iv) personal growth and meaning, (v) restoration of relationships, (vi) professional development of educators, and development of capacity to work together, and (vii) support and accountability. The need to structure school development interventions around the triggering of identified key mechanisms is also identified as an important overarching mechanism. Suggestions are made for further research required to facilitate a deeper understanding of how to bring about meaningful change that results in quality teaching and learning in South African schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Westraad, Susan Fiona
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- South Africa Education and state -- South Africa School improvement programs -- South Africa Educational change -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1414 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003291
- Description: Providing relevant and quality schooling for all South African learners is the paramount goal of the South African National Department of Education. South Africa 's historical and current socio-economic contexts provide many challenges for both the Department of Education and schools in this endeavour to provide quality teaching and learning. These challenges impact directly and indirectly on what happens in the classroom. Since 1994 a plethora of education and training policy has been introduced in South Africa to redress historical imbalances; to introduce a new education and training framework and approach; and to provide guidelines, principles and procedures for addressing some of the challenges that impact on schools. The National Whole School Evaluation Policy provides the legislative framework for the establishment of a quality assurance process in South African schools based on accountability and support. The subsequent Integrated Quality Management System attempts to provide a framework for integrating school evaluation and performance measurement. Policy frameworks are in place to guide quality assurance and school improvement, however, the reality of implementing this at a grass roots level is particularly challenging. The General Motors (GM) South Africa Foundation, a non-governmental development organisation, established by General Motors (GM) South Africa, commenced with the piloting the Learning Schools Initiative to investigate some of the challenges of whole school development and evaluation. This research documents the Learning Schools Initiative's intervention with the initial two pilot secondary schools situated in Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) over a four-year period. It reviews the relevant school reform and school development literature and adopts a critical realist evaluative research approach to investigate the key mechanisms that promote whole school development and change in this context. In keeping with this approach, the results of the research are analysed and discussed within a context-menchanism-outcome configuration that involves the identification of the key mechanisms that bring about desired outcome/s in a specific context. Seven key generative mechanisms are identified as critical at a school and classroom level (i) school culture, (ii) school structures, (iii) effective leadership and management, (iv) personal growth and meaning, (v) restoration of relationships, (vi) professional development of educators, and development of capacity to work together, and (vii) support and accountability. The need to structure school development interventions around the triggering of identified key mechanisms is also identified as an important overarching mechanism. Suggestions are made for further research required to facilitate a deeper understanding of how to bring about meaningful change that results in quality teaching and learning in South African schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
An investigation of the principal's leadership role in a successful rural school in Namibia
- Authors: Tjivikua, Uerivangera Chris
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rural schools -- Namibia School principals -- Namibia School management and organization -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1656 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003539
- Description: Rural schools are faced with numerous challenges and are often perceived to be academically unsuccessful. However, in spite of this perception there are some which manage to beat the odds by being academically successful year after year. This peculiar phenomenon of ‘unequal performance’ among rural schools struck my interest; hence my decision to investigate what it is that successful rural schools do to keep afloat in a turbulent environment where others around them collapsed. As the literature suggests that leadership play a key role in the success of an organisation, I focused my study on how the leadership role of the principal makes a rural school thrive. The study is situated in the interpretive paradigm and attempts to reveal participants’ perceptions and experiences of the principal’s leadership. My participants were the principal, circuit inspector, the School Board Chairperson, a Head of Department and the LRC president. These people were purposefully selected; the principal was selected because he is the one executing the roles hence he would be better informed about them while the others due to the positions they occupy, work closely with the principal. The research is a case study as it focused on a single case, and for data generation I employed semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The study revealed various characteristics that describe the leadership role of the principal. An overarching characteristic that emerged is that the principal is a balanced leader - he focuses on both task completion and consideration for people. Different characteristics that emerged from this balance leadership portrayed the principal of Ruacana Senior Secondary School to be a transformational and an instructional leader who believes that teaching and learning are the central activities of a school. Moreover he has been painted to be a team player and a servant leader who holds and practices the principle of ubuntu. The principal has also been described as a strategic and exemplary leader. It emerged that his exemplary leadership has moulded the practices of teachers and learners into a shared culture that supports academic excellence. The findings also depicted a paradoxical picture of the principal in that while he exhibits democratic procedures he is also perceived to be autocratic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Tjivikua, Uerivangera Chris
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rural schools -- Namibia School principals -- Namibia School management and organization -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1656 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003539
- Description: Rural schools are faced with numerous challenges and are often perceived to be academically unsuccessful. However, in spite of this perception there are some which manage to beat the odds by being academically successful year after year. This peculiar phenomenon of ‘unequal performance’ among rural schools struck my interest; hence my decision to investigate what it is that successful rural schools do to keep afloat in a turbulent environment where others around them collapsed. As the literature suggests that leadership play a key role in the success of an organisation, I focused my study on how the leadership role of the principal makes a rural school thrive. The study is situated in the interpretive paradigm and attempts to reveal participants’ perceptions and experiences of the principal’s leadership. My participants were the principal, circuit inspector, the School Board Chairperson, a Head of Department and the LRC president. These people were purposefully selected; the principal was selected because he is the one executing the roles hence he would be better informed about them while the others due to the positions they occupy, work closely with the principal. The research is a case study as it focused on a single case, and for data generation I employed semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The study revealed various characteristics that describe the leadership role of the principal. An overarching characteristic that emerged is that the principal is a balanced leader - he focuses on both task completion and consideration for people. Different characteristics that emerged from this balance leadership portrayed the principal of Ruacana Senior Secondary School to be a transformational and an instructional leader who believes that teaching and learning are the central activities of a school. Moreover he has been painted to be a team player and a servant leader who holds and practices the principle of ubuntu. The principal has also been described as a strategic and exemplary leader. It emerged that his exemplary leadership has moulded the practices of teachers and learners into a shared culture that supports academic excellence. The findings also depicted a paradoxical picture of the principal in that while he exhibits democratic procedures he is also perceived to be autocratic.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
An investigation of the response of entities in the South African JSE ICT sector in 2005 to environmental sustainability reporting
- Authors: Rafferty, Kevin Lee
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Information technology -- South Africa Communication in organizations -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa Social responsibility of business -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003874
- Description: Pressure is on organisations the world over to report to their stakeholders, not only on their economic performance, but also on their environmental and social performance. In South Africa the King II code of corporate governance provides the guidance and impetus for this integrated “triple bottom line” sustainability reporting. The ICT sector in South Africa has been cited as lagging behind other sectors with regards to sustainability reporting, particularly in environmental sustainability reporting. Many ICT organisations would appear to be using their office and service based existence as reasons for having little or no impact on the environment. The study of the impacts of ICT on environmental sustainability in this research suggests that this is not necessarily the case. An assessment tool based on the internationally recognised Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines was developed in this research to investigate the level of environmental sustainability reporting in the South African ICT sector. The investigation showed the level of environmental sustainability reporting in the sector’s 2005 annual reports to be low. To get an indication of the level of reporting in more developed countries, a small sample of international ICT and service organisations was assessed using the tool, which showed significantly higher levels of environmental sustainability reporting. A set of ICT specific environmental sustainability performance indicators are proposed to enhance and encourage more significant levels of environmental sustainability reporting in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Rafferty, Kevin Lee
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Information technology -- South Africa Communication in organizations -- South Africa Sustainable development -- South Africa Social responsibility of business -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:753 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003874
- Description: Pressure is on organisations the world over to report to their stakeholders, not only on their economic performance, but also on their environmental and social performance. In South Africa the King II code of corporate governance provides the guidance and impetus for this integrated “triple bottom line” sustainability reporting. The ICT sector in South Africa has been cited as lagging behind other sectors with regards to sustainability reporting, particularly in environmental sustainability reporting. Many ICT organisations would appear to be using their office and service based existence as reasons for having little or no impact on the environment. The study of the impacts of ICT on environmental sustainability in this research suggests that this is not necessarily the case. An assessment tool based on the internationally recognised Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines was developed in this research to investigate the level of environmental sustainability reporting in the South African ICT sector. The investigation showed the level of environmental sustainability reporting in the sector’s 2005 annual reports to be low. To get an indication of the level of reporting in more developed countries, a small sample of international ICT and service organisations was assessed using the tool, which showed significantly higher levels of environmental sustainability reporting. A set of ICT specific environmental sustainability performance indicators are proposed to enhance and encourage more significant levels of environmental sustainability reporting in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
An investigation of the sustainability of the Imbewu Project at Phiwe Primary School
- Authors: Maselana, Thobeka
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Project method in teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies Educational change -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1924 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007509
- Description: Sustainable development and projects are relatively new terms In the South African context. This study explores these concepts as they relate to a school that is piloting a project in the Eastern Cape. A number of projects have been introduced in disadvantaged schools to redress imbalances of the past. Funders invest a lot of money, but when they leave, schools struggle to sustain these initiatives. This study aims to investigate whether the Imbewu Project, an educational development pilot project meant to improve schools in the Eastern Cape, made provision for long-term sustainability and whether the school sustained the project. Very little research seems to have been conducted on sustainability, especially in South Africa (SA). The study is conducted in the interpretive paradigm. A single case study involving a number of stakeholders at Phiwe Primary School (PPS) was conducted through observations, interviews, focus groups and document analysis. The study found that the action research strategy intended for the project was constrained by the limited time allowed. In addition, the approach did not address processes which are important for sustainability. Also, the cascade approach to learning is not successful in organisations that have not reached the status of being learning organisations. PPS is still struggling to change its culture and therefore one can say that they cannot sustain the changes that are brought by the project. Firstly, they did not involve the parents in most modules as the project suggested. Secondly, some facilitators did not understand the project. Thirdly, although the project provided for monitoring and support, the study found that there was inadequate support from the project team and district officials. There was a shortage of district officials because the Eastern Cape Department of Education did not invest in appointing people that could sustain the project. However, there are areas where the school is doing an outstanding job despite the fact that there was very little support. The school performed well in implementing and sustaining the project in the following areas: learner welfare, community involvement and involvement of staff members in committees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Maselana, Thobeka
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Project method in teaching -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape School improvement programs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies Educational change -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Education and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1924 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007509
- Description: Sustainable development and projects are relatively new terms In the South African context. This study explores these concepts as they relate to a school that is piloting a project in the Eastern Cape. A number of projects have been introduced in disadvantaged schools to redress imbalances of the past. Funders invest a lot of money, but when they leave, schools struggle to sustain these initiatives. This study aims to investigate whether the Imbewu Project, an educational development pilot project meant to improve schools in the Eastern Cape, made provision for long-term sustainability and whether the school sustained the project. Very little research seems to have been conducted on sustainability, especially in South Africa (SA). The study is conducted in the interpretive paradigm. A single case study involving a number of stakeholders at Phiwe Primary School (PPS) was conducted through observations, interviews, focus groups and document analysis. The study found that the action research strategy intended for the project was constrained by the limited time allowed. In addition, the approach did not address processes which are important for sustainability. Also, the cascade approach to learning is not successful in organisations that have not reached the status of being learning organisations. PPS is still struggling to change its culture and therefore one can say that they cannot sustain the changes that are brought by the project. Firstly, they did not involve the parents in most modules as the project suggested. Secondly, some facilitators did not understand the project. Thirdly, although the project provided for monitoring and support, the study found that there was inadequate support from the project team and district officials. There was a shortage of district officials because the Eastern Cape Department of Education did not invest in appointing people that could sustain the project. However, there are areas where the school is doing an outstanding job despite the fact that there was very little support. The school performed well in implementing and sustaining the project in the following areas: learner welfare, community involvement and involvement of staff members in committees.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Apprenticing learners in the context of the Grade 10 physical science classroom
- Authors: Gray, Wesley Barclay
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa. Education, Bilingual -- South Africa Language and education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1423 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003304
- Description: The number of African learners who participate and succeed in physical science is recognized to be ‘disturbingly low’. One of the factors attributed to the low levels of enrolment and performance in physical science is language. In this study, teaching and learning through the language of science is examined in the context of the bilingual classroom. A model of analysis is constructed that (1) extends the notion of the language of science to include the mathematical and visual ‘languages’ of science, (2) takes recognition of the manner in which language, content, and values and beliefs construct the science learner, and (3) moves beyond the characterization of teaching and learning according to the dichotomy of the ‘traditional’/ the ‘progressive’. The model of analysis draws upon the central concepts of a sociocultural model of pedagogy, namely the ‘developmental model’. In addition, the model of analysis makes use of Systemic Functional Linguistics to examine teaching and learning at the micro level of classroom interaction. This study reveals the complex nature in which the language, content, and values and beliefs change as a lesson unfolds: teaching and learning through the language of science has been shown in these classrooms to be marked by features of both a ‘traditional’ and a ‘progressive’ model – each of which appears to serve different functions in the overall construction of the science learner. In addition, this study begins to uncover how a ‘successful’ teacher equips his/ her learners in the context of the bilingual physical science classroom: teaching and learning through the language of science has been shown in these classrooms to incorporate complex and varied strategies that depend upon choices made by both the teacher and learners. These findings substantiate the need to understand the challenges teachers and learners face in the bilingual physical science classroom in ways that acknowledge the complexity of the teaching and learning process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Gray, Wesley Barclay
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa. Education, Bilingual -- South Africa Language and education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1423 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003304
- Description: The number of African learners who participate and succeed in physical science is recognized to be ‘disturbingly low’. One of the factors attributed to the low levels of enrolment and performance in physical science is language. In this study, teaching and learning through the language of science is examined in the context of the bilingual classroom. A model of analysis is constructed that (1) extends the notion of the language of science to include the mathematical and visual ‘languages’ of science, (2) takes recognition of the manner in which language, content, and values and beliefs construct the science learner, and (3) moves beyond the characterization of teaching and learning according to the dichotomy of the ‘traditional’/ the ‘progressive’. The model of analysis draws upon the central concepts of a sociocultural model of pedagogy, namely the ‘developmental model’. In addition, the model of analysis makes use of Systemic Functional Linguistics to examine teaching and learning at the micro level of classroom interaction. This study reveals the complex nature in which the language, content, and values and beliefs change as a lesson unfolds: teaching and learning through the language of science has been shown in these classrooms to be marked by features of both a ‘traditional’ and a ‘progressive’ model – each of which appears to serve different functions in the overall construction of the science learner. In addition, this study begins to uncover how a ‘successful’ teacher equips his/ her learners in the context of the bilingual physical science classroom: teaching and learning through the language of science has been shown in these classrooms to incorporate complex and varied strategies that depend upon choices made by both the teacher and learners. These findings substantiate the need to understand the challenges teachers and learners face in the bilingual physical science classroom in ways that acknowledge the complexity of the teaching and learning process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Aspects of delictual liability in pharmacy practice
- Authors: Lewis, Melissa Geane
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Pharmacy -- Practice Pharmacist and patient Pharmacy -- Social aspects Pharmacists -- Malpractice Pharmacy -- Law and legislation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3706 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005963
- Description: The thesis explores the various instances in which pharmacists may incur delictual liability for harm suffered by their patients or third parties. As such, it is primarily concerned with the field of professional negligence. The work focuses specifically on the wrongfulness, fault and causation enquiries in pharmacy malpractice cases. The discussion is set against the backdrop of the pharmacy profession's shift towards patient-orientated service in recent years and explores whether this change in the profession's social role has had any effect on the legal duties and standard of care to which pharmacists are currently bound. It is argued that, in light of the dangers posed by modern medicines and the extent to which pharmacists are professionally expected to involve themselves in patient care, pharmacists can no longer escape liability simply by accurately dispensing pharmaceutical products. Rather, they are expected to participate actively in avoiding drug-related injury by, for example, providing patient counselling, detecting invalid or erroneous prescriptions and monitoring prescription refills. Although the thesis places particular emphasis on the role of pharmacists in achieving risk management, it also argues that pharmacists are, in very limited circumstances, required to participate in the risk assessment process traditionally thought to fall exclusively into the realm of physicians. It is furthermore demonstrated that pharmacists can incur liability regardless of whether a patient's harm can also be partially attributed to the blameworthy conduct of another healthcare professional. Although the thesis concludes that pharmacists are currently exposed to greater risks of liability than they were in the past, it also shows that plaintiffs who seek damages from pharmacists will usually experience a number of difficulties in establishing liability. In particular, problems are likely to be encountered in satisfying a court as to the presence of factual causation, which is notoriously difficult to establish in drug-related cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Lewis, Melissa Geane
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Pharmacy -- Practice Pharmacist and patient Pharmacy -- Social aspects Pharmacists -- Malpractice Pharmacy -- Law and legislation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3706 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005963
- Description: The thesis explores the various instances in which pharmacists may incur delictual liability for harm suffered by their patients or third parties. As such, it is primarily concerned with the field of professional negligence. The work focuses specifically on the wrongfulness, fault and causation enquiries in pharmacy malpractice cases. The discussion is set against the backdrop of the pharmacy profession's shift towards patient-orientated service in recent years and explores whether this change in the profession's social role has had any effect on the legal duties and standard of care to which pharmacists are currently bound. It is argued that, in light of the dangers posed by modern medicines and the extent to which pharmacists are professionally expected to involve themselves in patient care, pharmacists can no longer escape liability simply by accurately dispensing pharmaceutical products. Rather, they are expected to participate actively in avoiding drug-related injury by, for example, providing patient counselling, detecting invalid or erroneous prescriptions and monitoring prescription refills. Although the thesis places particular emphasis on the role of pharmacists in achieving risk management, it also argues that pharmacists are, in very limited circumstances, required to participate in the risk assessment process traditionally thought to fall exclusively into the realm of physicians. It is furthermore demonstrated that pharmacists can incur liability regardless of whether a patient's harm can also be partially attributed to the blameworthy conduct of another healthcare professional. Although the thesis concludes that pharmacists are currently exposed to greater risks of liability than they were in the past, it also shows that plaintiffs who seek damages from pharmacists will usually experience a number of difficulties in establishing liability. In particular, problems are likely to be encountered in satisfying a court as to the presence of factual causation, which is notoriously difficult to establish in drug-related cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Assessing the duty to exhaust internal remedies in the South African law
- Authors: Madebwe, Tinashe Masvimbo
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Remedies (Law) -- South Africa Judicial review of administrative acts -- South Africa Administrative law -- South Africa Administrative law -- England Dispute resolution (Law) -- South Africa Justice, Administration of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3709 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007253
- Description: Since the incorporation of the separation of powers doctrine into the South African Constitution, the problem has arisen that, each of the three tiers of government, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature, has sought to protect exclusive jurisdiction over matters that fall within what constitutes that tier's own realm of authority. The effects of this are especially apparent in the field of dispute resolution in administrative law. The administration is predominantly the province of the Executive, and to a lesser extent, the Legislature. Thus, the acceptability of judicial review in dispute resolution and generally, the intrusion by the Judiciary in matters of the administration is perennially questioned and challenged by both the Executive and the Legislature. In this context, the duty to exhaust internal remedies assumes a pivotal role. It offers a compromise, by prescribing qualified exclusion of judicial review as a first port of call for dispute resolution while simultaneously entrusting initial dispute resolution to the administration. Often, this approach yields tangible results, but from a constitutional and fundamental rights perspective, the duty to exhaust internal remedies is problematic. Its exclusion of judicial review goes against, not only the right of access to court in section 34 of the Constitution, but also the rule of law, to the extent that the rule of law allows for the challenging, in court, of illegal administrative action as soon as it is taken. This thesis analyses the constitutionality of the duty to exhaust internal remedies in section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act by assessing the consistency of section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act with the right of access to court in section 34 of the Constitution. The thesis initially examines the origins and historical development of the duty to exhaust internal remedies in the English law, and the subsequent adoption of the duty to exhaust internal remedies into the South African common law for the purpose of interpreting and comprehending the duty to exhaust internal remedies as it is appears in section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. Ultimately, the study focuses on and identifies the deficiencies in the current approach to the question of the constitutionality of section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, and offers suggestions on how the law might be developed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Madebwe, Tinashe Masvimbo
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Remedies (Law) -- South Africa Judicial review of administrative acts -- South Africa Administrative law -- South Africa Administrative law -- England Dispute resolution (Law) -- South Africa Justice, Administration of -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3709 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007253
- Description: Since the incorporation of the separation of powers doctrine into the South African Constitution, the problem has arisen that, each of the three tiers of government, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature, has sought to protect exclusive jurisdiction over matters that fall within what constitutes that tier's own realm of authority. The effects of this are especially apparent in the field of dispute resolution in administrative law. The administration is predominantly the province of the Executive, and to a lesser extent, the Legislature. Thus, the acceptability of judicial review in dispute resolution and generally, the intrusion by the Judiciary in matters of the administration is perennially questioned and challenged by both the Executive and the Legislature. In this context, the duty to exhaust internal remedies assumes a pivotal role. It offers a compromise, by prescribing qualified exclusion of judicial review as a first port of call for dispute resolution while simultaneously entrusting initial dispute resolution to the administration. Often, this approach yields tangible results, but from a constitutional and fundamental rights perspective, the duty to exhaust internal remedies is problematic. Its exclusion of judicial review goes against, not only the right of access to court in section 34 of the Constitution, but also the rule of law, to the extent that the rule of law allows for the challenging, in court, of illegal administrative action as soon as it is taken. This thesis analyses the constitutionality of the duty to exhaust internal remedies in section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act by assessing the consistency of section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act with the right of access to court in section 34 of the Constitution. The thesis initially examines the origins and historical development of the duty to exhaust internal remedies in the English law, and the subsequent adoption of the duty to exhaust internal remedies into the South African common law for the purpose of interpreting and comprehending the duty to exhaust internal remedies as it is appears in section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. Ultimately, the study focuses on and identifies the deficiencies in the current approach to the question of the constitutionality of section 7(2) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, and offers suggestions on how the law might be developed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Bones of contention : contestations over human remains in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mkhize, Nomalanga
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Dead -- Political aspects -- South Africa Human body -- Symbolic aspects Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2597 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007665
- Description: This thesis examines three contestations involving human remains which have arisen in the Eastern Cape over the past fifteen years. It shows that the value or meaning attached to human remains is constructed through the socio-historical dynamics out of which these contestations arise. The meaning and value of human remains is neither inherent nor neutral. In Ndancama's case, the need for housing in Fingo Village led hundreds of poor residents to settle on the township's Old Cemetery in 1972. Basic material needs trumped concerns for those buried in the cemetery. When the post-apartheid municipality sought to provide sewerage and housing infrastructure for Ndancama in 2003, its development plans were constrained by new heritage legislation which protects historic cemeteries. Residents insisted that their infrastructural needs were of primary importance. In 1993, the unearthing of human remains at the Old Military Cemetery in King William's Town created a thirteen year long saga which was only resolved with the reburial of the remains in 2006. The presence of the remains proved problematic for a number of reasons. Local authorities failed to rebury the remains speedily. The burden to store them fell on the Kaffrarian Museum which came under fire because this was considered unethical in the postapartheid era. The identity of the remains became a bone of contention in 2006 when the new Amathole District Municipality concluded that the remains were those of victims who died in the 1856-57 Great Cattle Killing. The remains and their reburial became symbols of past injustice and present restoration of African heritage. The 1996 quest by 'Nicholas Gcaleka', a 'self-styled' chief and traditional healer, to search for King Hintsa's skull in the United Kingdom provoked unprecedented public engagement with the incomplete narrative on the fate of Hintsa's body. The power to represent history, and the methods through which historical truth is discovered were at the heart of the contestation. Elites such as the Xhosa Royal and the white scientific establishment were considered neither credible nor authoritative on this historical matter. Public support for Gcaleka revealed that many South Africans sought just recompense for colonial injustices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Mkhize, Nomalanga
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Dead -- Political aspects -- South Africa Human body -- Symbolic aspects Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation Human remains (Archaeology) -- Repatriation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Social life and customs Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2597 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007665
- Description: This thesis examines three contestations involving human remains which have arisen in the Eastern Cape over the past fifteen years. It shows that the value or meaning attached to human remains is constructed through the socio-historical dynamics out of which these contestations arise. The meaning and value of human remains is neither inherent nor neutral. In Ndancama's case, the need for housing in Fingo Village led hundreds of poor residents to settle on the township's Old Cemetery in 1972. Basic material needs trumped concerns for those buried in the cemetery. When the post-apartheid municipality sought to provide sewerage and housing infrastructure for Ndancama in 2003, its development plans were constrained by new heritage legislation which protects historic cemeteries. Residents insisted that their infrastructural needs were of primary importance. In 1993, the unearthing of human remains at the Old Military Cemetery in King William's Town created a thirteen year long saga which was only resolved with the reburial of the remains in 2006. The presence of the remains proved problematic for a number of reasons. Local authorities failed to rebury the remains speedily. The burden to store them fell on the Kaffrarian Museum which came under fire because this was considered unethical in the postapartheid era. The identity of the remains became a bone of contention in 2006 when the new Amathole District Municipality concluded that the remains were those of victims who died in the 1856-57 Great Cattle Killing. The remains and their reburial became symbols of past injustice and present restoration of African heritage. The 1996 quest by 'Nicholas Gcaleka', a 'self-styled' chief and traditional healer, to search for King Hintsa's skull in the United Kingdom provoked unprecedented public engagement with the incomplete narrative on the fate of Hintsa's body. The power to represent history, and the methods through which historical truth is discovered were at the heart of the contestation. Elites such as the Xhosa Royal and the white scientific establishment were considered neither credible nor authoritative on this historical matter. Public support for Gcaleka revealed that many South Africans sought just recompense for colonial injustices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Breaking the silence : Zanele's journey to recovery
- Authors: Payne, Charmaine
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rape victims -- Counseling of -- South Africa Rape victims -- Counseling of -- South Africa -- Case studies Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients -- Rehabilitation Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3161 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007651
- Description: This study employed a case-based research design to document the psychological assessment and treatment of Zanele, a 15-year-old black Xhosa speaking female who was raped twice in 2006 by the same perpetrator. The aim of the study was to explore whether, the model for assessment and intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) developed by Ehlers and Clark (2000) was effective and transportable to the South African context. Zanele had a sufficient understanding of English for assessment to proceed without use of an interpreter. She reported a number of PTSD symptoms which were causing her significant distress and had impacted on her social and educational functioning. These included flashbacks of the perpetrator's face when she looked at the faces of black men, nightmares about the traumas she had endured and feeling isolated from others. A number of cognitive techniques were utilised in this study, however the central interventions included working with triggers, imagery rehearsal techniques with a focus on nightmares, and reliving with cognitive restructuring within and outside reliving. Psychoeducation and increasing her social support were also important components of the intervention. Her progress was monitored by means of several self-report measures which were displayed in graphic and tabular form. In addition, a thematically selective narrative of the assessment and first 23 sessions of the intervention was written which documents some of the central processes set in motion by the interventions. These results provide evidence that this model was both effective and transportable to the South African population. In addition, the study demonstrated that it is possible for a white English speaking clinician to work with a black Xhosa speaking individual and make substantial therapeutic gains.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Payne, Charmaine
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rape victims -- Counseling of -- South Africa Rape victims -- Counseling of -- South Africa -- Case studies Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients -- Rehabilitation Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3161 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007651
- Description: This study employed a case-based research design to document the psychological assessment and treatment of Zanele, a 15-year-old black Xhosa speaking female who was raped twice in 2006 by the same perpetrator. The aim of the study was to explore whether, the model for assessment and intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) developed by Ehlers and Clark (2000) was effective and transportable to the South African context. Zanele had a sufficient understanding of English for assessment to proceed without use of an interpreter. She reported a number of PTSD symptoms which were causing her significant distress and had impacted on her social and educational functioning. These included flashbacks of the perpetrator's face when she looked at the faces of black men, nightmares about the traumas she had endured and feeling isolated from others. A number of cognitive techniques were utilised in this study, however the central interventions included working with triggers, imagery rehearsal techniques with a focus on nightmares, and reliving with cognitive restructuring within and outside reliving. Psychoeducation and increasing her social support were also important components of the intervention. Her progress was monitored by means of several self-report measures which were displayed in graphic and tabular form. In addition, a thematically selective narrative of the assessment and first 23 sessions of the intervention was written which documents some of the central processes set in motion by the interventions. These results provide evidence that this model was both effective and transportable to the South African population. In addition, the study demonstrated that it is possible for a white English speaking clinician to work with a black Xhosa speaking individual and make substantial therapeutic gains.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Camphor-derived chiral auxiliaries: a synthetic, mechanistic and computational study
- Authors: Duggan, Andrew Robert
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Camphor Chirality Asymmetric synthesis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006772
- Description: A broadly based approach has been undertaken to the development and use of camphor derivatives as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis – an approach which has embraced synthetic, mechanistic and computational studies. The unambiguous characterization of mono- and dihydroxy-derivatives, obtained by reduction of chiral camphor ether dimers, has been achieved through detailed one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic analysis. The resulting data has been used to establish both the regio- and stereochemistry of the hydroxyl groups. A camphor-derived cyclic iminolactone has been shown to provide a convenient platform for the synthesis of chiral α-amino acids, stereoselective monoalkylation of the iminolactone affording a range of products in yields of 52 - 65 % with up to 85 % d.e. The attempted development of chiral bifunctional Morita-Baylis-Hillman substrates has revealed an unexpected equilibration between isomeric bornane 2,3-diol monoacrylates via acid-catalysed intramolecular transesterification. A detailed [superscript 1]H NMR-based kinetic study of the rearrangement in various media and at various temperatures has permitted the determination of the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters. A computational study at the DFT level has been used to explore the potential energy surfaces of the acid-catalysed and uncatalysed transesterification of the monoacrylate esters. The theoretical data supports the involvement of cyclic intermediates and has provided a rational basis for predicting the favoured reaction pathways. Novel camphor-derived phenyl sulfonate esters and N-adamantylsulfonamides have been synthesised for use as chiral auxiliaries in the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction. Modeling at the Molecular Mechanics level has provided useful insights into possible conformational constraints and an adamantyl sulfonate auxiliary has been successfully used in the stereoselective synthesis of a range of products, generally in excellent yield and with up to 95 % d.e.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Duggan, Andrew Robert
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Camphor Chirality Asymmetric synthesis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006772
- Description: A broadly based approach has been undertaken to the development and use of camphor derivatives as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis – an approach which has embraced synthetic, mechanistic and computational studies. The unambiguous characterization of mono- and dihydroxy-derivatives, obtained by reduction of chiral camphor ether dimers, has been achieved through detailed one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic analysis. The resulting data has been used to establish both the regio- and stereochemistry of the hydroxyl groups. A camphor-derived cyclic iminolactone has been shown to provide a convenient platform for the synthesis of chiral α-amino acids, stereoselective monoalkylation of the iminolactone affording a range of products in yields of 52 - 65 % with up to 85 % d.e. The attempted development of chiral bifunctional Morita-Baylis-Hillman substrates has revealed an unexpected equilibration between isomeric bornane 2,3-diol monoacrylates via acid-catalysed intramolecular transesterification. A detailed [superscript 1]H NMR-based kinetic study of the rearrangement in various media and at various temperatures has permitted the determination of the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters. A computational study at the DFT level has been used to explore the potential energy surfaces of the acid-catalysed and uncatalysed transesterification of the monoacrylate esters. The theoretical data supports the involvement of cyclic intermediates and has provided a rational basis for predicting the favoured reaction pathways. Novel camphor-derived phenyl sulfonate esters and N-adamantylsulfonamides have been synthesised for use as chiral auxiliaries in the Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction. Modeling at the Molecular Mechanics level has provided useful insights into possible conformational constraints and an adamantyl sulfonate auxiliary has been successfully used in the stereoselective synthesis of a range of products, generally in excellent yield and with up to 95 % d.e.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Catalytic activities of metallophthalocyanines towards detection and transformation of pollutants
- Authors: Agboola, Bolade Oyeyinka
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Phthalocyanines Electrochemistry Pollutants -- Biodegradation Pollutants -- Measurement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4427 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006922
- Description: Syntheses, spectral, electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies of new thiol-derivatised MPc complexes were satisfactorily carried out. For the first time, spectroelectrochemistry gave evidence for the formation of Ni²⁺/Ni⁺ process in a NiPc complex. Significant insights as to the nature of Fe⁺Pc and Ni⁺Pc spectra were obtained. Transformations of chlorophenols using chemical and photochemical methods are presented. For cobalt tetrasulphophthalocyanine catalysed oxidation of chlorophenols using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant, types of oxidation products formed depended on the solvent conditions. Photolysis of aqueous solutions of chlorophenols in the presence of immobilised non-transition metal phthalocyanine photosensitisers onto Amerlite® was carried out. For the first time, MPcS[subscript mix] complexes were immobilised on Amberlite® for use in heterogeneous photocatalysis. Photolysis of the chlorophenols resulted mainly in the formation of chlorobenzoquinone derivatives. The generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) by these immobilised MPc photosensitisers was found to play a major role in their photoactivities. Modifications of gold electrodes with the newly synthesised thiol-derivatised MPc complexes via electropolymerisation and SAM techniques are presented. Cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy (NiPcs only) and spectroelectrochemical techniques (NiPcs only) confirmed that the complexes formed films on gold electrodes. Stable and well packed SAM films as evidenced by the voltammetric characterisation were obtained. For the first time, optimisation of the time for SAM formation based on CV technique was studied. First example of a formation of MnPc-SAM was achieved. Catalytic activities of the NiPc towards chlorophenol depended on the nature of the NiPc in the polymer films and also anti-fouling ability of the films depended on polymer film thickness. The FeTBMPc polymer modified gold electrode showed the best catalytic activity in terms of peak potential, E[subscript p] when compared to reported work in literature for nitrate electrooxidation. Cyclic voltammetry and spectroscopy studies showed that the CoPcs, FePcs and NiPcs catalysed nitrite oxidation involve 2 electrons in total while that of McPcs involve 1 electron. Better catalytic performance towards sulphite electrooxidation were obtained for the CoPcs, FePcs and MnPcs which have metal based redox processes within the range of the sulphite electrooxidation peak while the NiPcs which did not show metal based oxidation reaction performed less.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Agboola, Bolade Oyeyinka
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Phthalocyanines Electrochemistry Pollutants -- Biodegradation Pollutants -- Measurement
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4427 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006922
- Description: Syntheses, spectral, electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies of new thiol-derivatised MPc complexes were satisfactorily carried out. For the first time, spectroelectrochemistry gave evidence for the formation of Ni²⁺/Ni⁺ process in a NiPc complex. Significant insights as to the nature of Fe⁺Pc and Ni⁺Pc spectra were obtained. Transformations of chlorophenols using chemical and photochemical methods are presented. For cobalt tetrasulphophthalocyanine catalysed oxidation of chlorophenols using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant, types of oxidation products formed depended on the solvent conditions. Photolysis of aqueous solutions of chlorophenols in the presence of immobilised non-transition metal phthalocyanine photosensitisers onto Amerlite® was carried out. For the first time, MPcS[subscript mix] complexes were immobilised on Amberlite® for use in heterogeneous photocatalysis. Photolysis of the chlorophenols resulted mainly in the formation of chlorobenzoquinone derivatives. The generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂) by these immobilised MPc photosensitisers was found to play a major role in their photoactivities. Modifications of gold electrodes with the newly synthesised thiol-derivatised MPc complexes via electropolymerisation and SAM techniques are presented. Cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy (NiPcs only) and spectroelectrochemical techniques (NiPcs only) confirmed that the complexes formed films on gold electrodes. Stable and well packed SAM films as evidenced by the voltammetric characterisation were obtained. For the first time, optimisation of the time for SAM formation based on CV technique was studied. First example of a formation of MnPc-SAM was achieved. Catalytic activities of the NiPc towards chlorophenol depended on the nature of the NiPc in the polymer films and also anti-fouling ability of the films depended on polymer film thickness. The FeTBMPc polymer modified gold electrode showed the best catalytic activity in terms of peak potential, E[subscript p] when compared to reported work in literature for nitrate electrooxidation. Cyclic voltammetry and spectroscopy studies showed that the CoPcs, FePcs and NiPcs catalysed nitrite oxidation involve 2 electrons in total while that of McPcs involve 1 electron. Better catalytic performance towards sulphite electrooxidation were obtained for the CoPcs, FePcs and MnPcs which have metal based redox processes within the range of the sulphite electrooxidation peak while the NiPcs which did not show metal based oxidation reaction performed less.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Causes of persistent rural poverty in Thika district of Kenya, c.1953-2000
- Authors: Kinyanjui, Felistus Kinuna
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Poverty -- Kenya -- History Rural poor -- Kenya -- History Agriculture -- Kenya -- History Kenya -- History Kenya -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2547 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002399
- Description: This study investigates the causes of poverty among the residents of Thika District in Kenya over the period 1953-2000. Using the articulation of modes of production perspective, the study traces the dynamics of poverty to the geography, history and politics of Thika District. The thrust of the argument is that livelihoods in the district changed during the period under investigation, but not necessarily for the better. Landlessness, collapse of the coffee industry, intergenerational poverty, and the ravages of diseases (particularly of HIV/AIDS) are analysed. This leads to the conclusion that causes of poverty in Thika District during the period under examination were complex as one form of deprivation led to another. The study established that poverty in Thika District during the period under review was a product of a process of exclusion from the centre of political power and appropriation. While race was the basis for allocation of public resources in colonial Kenya, ethnicity has dominated the independence period. Consequently, one would have expected the residents of Thika District, the home of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, to have benefited inordinately from public resources during his rule. Kenyatta’s administration, however, mainly benefited the Kikuyu elite. The study therefore demonstrates that during the period under examination, the Kikuyu, like any other Kenyan community, were a heterogeneous group whose differences were accentuated by class relations. Subaltern groups in Thika District therefore benefited minimally from state patronage, just like similar groups elsewhere in rural Kenya. By the late 1970s, the level of deprivation in rural Kenya had been contained as a result of favourable prices for the country’s agricultural exports. But in the subsequent period, poverty increased under the pressures of world economic recession and slowdowns in trade. The situation was worse for Kikuyu peasants as the Second Republic of President Daniel Moi deliberately attempted undermine the Kikuyu economically. For the majority of Thika residents, this translated into further marginalisation as the Moi regime lumped them together with the Kikuyu elite who had benefitted inordinately from public resources during the Kenyatta era. This study demonstrates that no single factor can explain the prevalence of poverty in Thika District during the period under consideration. However, the poor in the district devised survival mechanisms that could be replicated elsewhere. Indeed, the dynamics of poverty in Thika District represent a microcosm not just for the broader Kenyan situation but also of rural livelihoods elsewhere in the world. The study recommends land reform and horticulture as possible ways of reducing poverty among rural communities. Further, for a successful global war on poverty there is an urgent need to have the West go beyond rhetoric and deliver on its promises to make poverty history.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Kinyanjui, Felistus Kinuna
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Poverty -- Kenya -- History Rural poor -- Kenya -- History Agriculture -- Kenya -- History Kenya -- History Kenya -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2547 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002399
- Description: This study investigates the causes of poverty among the residents of Thika District in Kenya over the period 1953-2000. Using the articulation of modes of production perspective, the study traces the dynamics of poverty to the geography, history and politics of Thika District. The thrust of the argument is that livelihoods in the district changed during the period under investigation, but not necessarily for the better. Landlessness, collapse of the coffee industry, intergenerational poverty, and the ravages of diseases (particularly of HIV/AIDS) are analysed. This leads to the conclusion that causes of poverty in Thika District during the period under examination were complex as one form of deprivation led to another. The study established that poverty in Thika District during the period under review was a product of a process of exclusion from the centre of political power and appropriation. While race was the basis for allocation of public resources in colonial Kenya, ethnicity has dominated the independence period. Consequently, one would have expected the residents of Thika District, the home of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, to have benefited inordinately from public resources during his rule. Kenyatta’s administration, however, mainly benefited the Kikuyu elite. The study therefore demonstrates that during the period under examination, the Kikuyu, like any other Kenyan community, were a heterogeneous group whose differences were accentuated by class relations. Subaltern groups in Thika District therefore benefited minimally from state patronage, just like similar groups elsewhere in rural Kenya. By the late 1970s, the level of deprivation in rural Kenya had been contained as a result of favourable prices for the country’s agricultural exports. But in the subsequent period, poverty increased under the pressures of world economic recession and slowdowns in trade. The situation was worse for Kikuyu peasants as the Second Republic of President Daniel Moi deliberately attempted undermine the Kikuyu economically. For the majority of Thika residents, this translated into further marginalisation as the Moi regime lumped them together with the Kikuyu elite who had benefitted inordinately from public resources during the Kenyatta era. This study demonstrates that no single factor can explain the prevalence of poverty in Thika District during the period under consideration. However, the poor in the district devised survival mechanisms that could be replicated elsewhere. Indeed, the dynamics of poverty in Thika District represent a microcosm not just for the broader Kenyan situation but also of rural livelihoods elsewhere in the world. The study recommends land reform and horticulture as possible ways of reducing poverty among rural communities. Further, for a successful global war on poverty there is an urgent need to have the West go beyond rhetoric and deliver on its promises to make poverty history.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Characterisation of Human Hsj1a : an HSP40 molecular chaperone similar to Malarial Pfj4
- Authors: McNamara, Caryn
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Heat shock proteins , Protein folding , Proteins -- Analysis , Proteins -- Structure , Plasmodium , Malaria , Molecular chaperones
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4083 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007603
- Description: Protein folding, translocation, oligomeric rearrangement and degradation are vital functions to obtain correctly folded proteins in any cell. The constitutive or stress-induced members of each of the heat shock protein (Hsp) families, namely Hsp70 and Hsp40, make up the Hsp70/Hsp40 chaperone system. The Hsp40 J-domain is important for the Hsp70-Hsp40 interaction and hence function. The type-II Hsp40 proteins, Homo sapiens DnaJ 1a (Hsj1a) and Plasmodium falciparum DnaJ 4 (Pfj4), are structurally similar suggesting possible similar roles during malarial infection. This thesis has focussed on identifying whether Hsj1a and Pfj4 are functionally similar in their interaction with potential partner Hsp70 chaperones. Analysis in silico also showed Pfj4 to have a potential chaperone domain, a region resembling a ubiquitin-interacting motif (UIM) corresponding to UIM1 of HsjIa, and another highly conserved region was noted between residues 232-241. The highly conserved regions within the Hsp40 J-domains, and those amino acids therein, are suggested to be responsible for mediating this Hsp70-Hsp40 partner interaction. The thermosensitive dnaJ cbpA Escherichia coli OD259 mutant strain producing type-I Agrobacterium tumefaciens DnaJ (AgtDnaJ) was used as a model heterologous expression system in this study. AgtDnaJ was able to replace the lack of two E coli Hsp40s in vivo, DnaJ and CbpA, whereas AgtDnaJ(H33Q) was unable to. AgtDnaJ-based chimeras containing the swapped J-domains of similar type-II Hsp40 proteins, namely Hsj1Agt and Pfj4Agt, were also able to replace these in E. coli OD259. Conserved J-domain amino acids were identified and were substituted in these chimeras. Of these mutant proteins, Hsj IAgt(L8A), Hsj1Agt(R24A), Hsj1Agt(H31Q), Pfj4Agt(L 11A) and Pfj4Agt(H34Q) were not able to replace the E. coli Hsp40s, whilst Pfj4Agt(Y8A) and Pfj4Agt(R27A) were only able to partially replace them. This shows the leucine of helix I and the histidine of the loop region are key in the in vivo function of both proteins and that the arginine of helix II is key for Hsj1a. The histidine-tagged Hsj1a protein was also successfully purified from the heterologous system. The in vitro stimulated ATPase activity of human Hsp70 by Hsj1a was found to be approximately 14 nmol Pí[subscript]/min/mg, and yet not stimulated by Pfj4, suggesting a possible species-specific interaction is occurring.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: McNamara, Caryn
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Heat shock proteins , Protein folding , Proteins -- Analysis , Proteins -- Structure , Plasmodium , Malaria , Molecular chaperones
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4083 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007603
- Description: Protein folding, translocation, oligomeric rearrangement and degradation are vital functions to obtain correctly folded proteins in any cell. The constitutive or stress-induced members of each of the heat shock protein (Hsp) families, namely Hsp70 and Hsp40, make up the Hsp70/Hsp40 chaperone system. The Hsp40 J-domain is important for the Hsp70-Hsp40 interaction and hence function. The type-II Hsp40 proteins, Homo sapiens DnaJ 1a (Hsj1a) and Plasmodium falciparum DnaJ 4 (Pfj4), are structurally similar suggesting possible similar roles during malarial infection. This thesis has focussed on identifying whether Hsj1a and Pfj4 are functionally similar in their interaction with potential partner Hsp70 chaperones. Analysis in silico also showed Pfj4 to have a potential chaperone domain, a region resembling a ubiquitin-interacting motif (UIM) corresponding to UIM1 of HsjIa, and another highly conserved region was noted between residues 232-241. The highly conserved regions within the Hsp40 J-domains, and those amino acids therein, are suggested to be responsible for mediating this Hsp70-Hsp40 partner interaction. The thermosensitive dnaJ cbpA Escherichia coli OD259 mutant strain producing type-I Agrobacterium tumefaciens DnaJ (AgtDnaJ) was used as a model heterologous expression system in this study. AgtDnaJ was able to replace the lack of two E coli Hsp40s in vivo, DnaJ and CbpA, whereas AgtDnaJ(H33Q) was unable to. AgtDnaJ-based chimeras containing the swapped J-domains of similar type-II Hsp40 proteins, namely Hsj1Agt and Pfj4Agt, were also able to replace these in E. coli OD259. Conserved J-domain amino acids were identified and were substituted in these chimeras. Of these mutant proteins, Hsj IAgt(L8A), Hsj1Agt(R24A), Hsj1Agt(H31Q), Pfj4Agt(L 11A) and Pfj4Agt(H34Q) were not able to replace the E. coli Hsp40s, whilst Pfj4Agt(Y8A) and Pfj4Agt(R27A) were only able to partially replace them. This shows the leucine of helix I and the histidine of the loop region are key in the in vivo function of both proteins and that the arginine of helix II is key for Hsj1a. The histidine-tagged Hsj1a protein was also successfully purified from the heterologous system. The in vitro stimulated ATPase activity of human Hsp70 by Hsj1a was found to be approximately 14 nmol Pí[subscript]/min/mg, and yet not stimulated by Pfj4, suggesting a possible species-specific interaction is occurring.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Co-engaged learning : Xhosa women's narratives on traditional foods
- Authors: Jolly, Rachel
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Women, Xhosa -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Nutrition -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Grahamstown AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown HIV infections -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1450 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003331
- Description: This interpretive case study examines Grahamstown East Xhosa women's narratives on the nutritional value of traditional foods. It reviews reflexive learning interactions apparent in the co-engaged narratives of food preparation practices. The research design incorporates methods of reflective co-engagement through which a small team of women were approached as 'co-researchers' in order to work together on shared, local knowledge capital and nutrition concerns. It draws on findings generated using a combination of semi-structured interviews, cooking demonstrations, videography, photographs and field observations as methods of data collection. Data were member-checked and reviewed in a rural context before the emerging evidence was analyzed using Bassey's (1999) analytical statements. Contextual factors influencing the study are high poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS prevalence where nutrition levels have been found to be low. The women making up the study have spent the majority of their lives in the peri-urban area of Grahamstown and in some cases, are more than one generation removed from rural living and its associated knowledge. The accompanying shift to modernization was found to influence the interplay between their narratives and practice. Indigenous Knowledge is often characterized by being situated in practice with the knowledge-holders often not 'knowing that they know.' This study concludes that it is not possible to assume that knowledge can always be consciously expressed, especially when that knowledge is embedded in practice. Related to this, co-engagement and diversity among the group gave rise to greater disequilibrium as well as making the knowledge more explicit and hence, available for reflection. The study suggests that through the process of co-engagement and deliberation around indigenous ways of knowing, agency and cultural identity appears to be enabled and strengthened.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Jolly, Rachel
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Women, Xhosa -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Nutrition -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Grahamstown AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown HIV infections -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Environmental education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1450 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003331
- Description: This interpretive case study examines Grahamstown East Xhosa women's narratives on the nutritional value of traditional foods. It reviews reflexive learning interactions apparent in the co-engaged narratives of food preparation practices. The research design incorporates methods of reflective co-engagement through which a small team of women were approached as 'co-researchers' in order to work together on shared, local knowledge capital and nutrition concerns. It draws on findings generated using a combination of semi-structured interviews, cooking demonstrations, videography, photographs and field observations as methods of data collection. Data were member-checked and reviewed in a rural context before the emerging evidence was analyzed using Bassey's (1999) analytical statements. Contextual factors influencing the study are high poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS prevalence where nutrition levels have been found to be low. The women making up the study have spent the majority of their lives in the peri-urban area of Grahamstown and in some cases, are more than one generation removed from rural living and its associated knowledge. The accompanying shift to modernization was found to influence the interplay between their narratives and practice. Indigenous Knowledge is often characterized by being situated in practice with the knowledge-holders often not 'knowing that they know.' This study concludes that it is not possible to assume that knowledge can always be consciously expressed, especially when that knowledge is embedded in practice. Related to this, co-engagement and diversity among the group gave rise to greater disequilibrium as well as making the knowledge more explicit and hence, available for reflection. The study suggests that through the process of co-engagement and deliberation around indigenous ways of knowing, agency and cultural identity appears to be enabled and strengthened.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Combined and additive effects of assembly tasks and constrained body postures
- Authors: Skelton, Sarah Anne
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Musculoskeletal system -- Diseases , Human engineering , Posture , Posture disorders , Work -- Physiological aspects , Occupational diseases , Manual work , Job stress
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005185 , Musculoskeletal system -- Diseases , Human engineering , Posture , Posture disorders , Work -- Physiological aspects , Occupational diseases , Manual work , Job stress
- Description: Despite extensive research into musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) they continue to plague workers. Manual materials handling (MMH), in particular the concurrence of load manipulation and awkward body posture, has been identified as a key factor in the onset of MSDs. Only a few studies have looked at the interaction between manipulation tasks and working posture during assembly tasks and as a result their relationship has not been widely explored. Assessing the stresses resulting from individual task factors and body posture in isolation and adding them together may be too simplified to estimate an overall risk profile, since this does not take into account that there may be a non-linear interaction in strain responses when manipulation task and body posture interact. Therefore, the present study investigated biophysical, physiological and psychophysical responses to combined tasks, rather than individual tasks of body posture and manipulative tasks. The objective of the research was to establish the interactive effects of constrained body postures and manipulative tasks and to identify whether a cumulative or compensatory reaction occurs during this interaction. Nine conditions were assessed in a laboratory setting, which included combinations of three working postures (standing, sitting and stooping) and three assembly tasks (torque wrenching, precision and no task). Thirty-six subjects were required to complete all nine conditions, with each condition lasting ninety seconds. Muscle activity was recorded for seven muscles from the upper extremity, trunk and lower extremity regions and was complemented by physiological (heart rate, tidal volume, minute ventilation, oxygen consumption, energy expenditure and breathing frequency) and psychophysical (body discomfort) data. At the completion of all nine conditions subjects completed a retrospective psychophysical rating questionnaire pertaining to discomfort felt during the conditions. Responses obtained for the different task and posture combinations revealed compensatory reactions (additive > combined) for most of the conditions assessed for the biomechanical and physiological responses. In the majority of cases for muscle activity, no significant differences were found between the combined and the additive effects (p < 0.05), while for the physiological responses there were mostly significant differences observed. Psychophysical responses indicated that there was a significant difference overall between the additive and combined effects. The results of this study demonstrate that in order to identify risk areas, manipulation tasks and constrained working postures may be considered either in isolation and added together (additive) or as a combined task, since there were very few significant differences observed between these two effects. Further studies are required, however, to provide conclusive evidence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Skelton, Sarah Anne
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Musculoskeletal system -- Diseases , Human engineering , Posture , Posture disorders , Work -- Physiological aspects , Occupational diseases , Manual work , Job stress
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005185 , Musculoskeletal system -- Diseases , Human engineering , Posture , Posture disorders , Work -- Physiological aspects , Occupational diseases , Manual work , Job stress
- Description: Despite extensive research into musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) they continue to plague workers. Manual materials handling (MMH), in particular the concurrence of load manipulation and awkward body posture, has been identified as a key factor in the onset of MSDs. Only a few studies have looked at the interaction between manipulation tasks and working posture during assembly tasks and as a result their relationship has not been widely explored. Assessing the stresses resulting from individual task factors and body posture in isolation and adding them together may be too simplified to estimate an overall risk profile, since this does not take into account that there may be a non-linear interaction in strain responses when manipulation task and body posture interact. Therefore, the present study investigated biophysical, physiological and psychophysical responses to combined tasks, rather than individual tasks of body posture and manipulative tasks. The objective of the research was to establish the interactive effects of constrained body postures and manipulative tasks and to identify whether a cumulative or compensatory reaction occurs during this interaction. Nine conditions were assessed in a laboratory setting, which included combinations of three working postures (standing, sitting and stooping) and three assembly tasks (torque wrenching, precision and no task). Thirty-six subjects were required to complete all nine conditions, with each condition lasting ninety seconds. Muscle activity was recorded for seven muscles from the upper extremity, trunk and lower extremity regions and was complemented by physiological (heart rate, tidal volume, minute ventilation, oxygen consumption, energy expenditure and breathing frequency) and psychophysical (body discomfort) data. At the completion of all nine conditions subjects completed a retrospective psychophysical rating questionnaire pertaining to discomfort felt during the conditions. Responses obtained for the different task and posture combinations revealed compensatory reactions (additive > combined) for most of the conditions assessed for the biomechanical and physiological responses. In the majority of cases for muscle activity, no significant differences were found between the combined and the additive effects (p < 0.05), while for the physiological responses there were mostly significant differences observed. Psychophysical responses indicated that there was a significant difference overall between the additive and combined effects. The results of this study demonstrate that in order to identify risk areas, manipulation tasks and constrained working postures may be considered either in isolation and added together (additive) or as a combined task, since there were very few significant differences observed between these two effects. Further studies are required, however, to provide conclusive evidence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Competitive strategies and entry strategies of low cost airline incumbent 1time Airline
- Authors: Potgieter, Diane
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: 1time Airline (South Africa) 1time Airline (South Africa) -- Planning Airlines -- South Africa -- Management Airlines -- South Africa -- Marketing Airlines -- South Africa -- Cost of operation Competition -- South Africa Strategic planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:810 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007606
- Description: This dissertation reports on the factors that contributed to the successful entry strategy of 1time Airline, a low cost carrier, into the South African airline industry as well as its competitive strategies within this context. Research interviews were conducted in November 2005 and research material gathered until end January 2006. Key issues include an evaluation of 1time's business model in relation to other low cost entrants as well as against material sourced through interviews with 1time Airline management, employees and consumers of the airline's product. Porter's Generic Strategies and Five Forces model are used as a framework in evaluating the airline. It is found that Nohria, Joyce and Robertson's "4+2 Formula" is effectively implemented at the airline, but that further implementation of Game Theory in terms of alliances should be investigated for continued success and sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Potgieter, Diane
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: 1time Airline (South Africa) 1time Airline (South Africa) -- Planning Airlines -- South Africa -- Management Airlines -- South Africa -- Marketing Airlines -- South Africa -- Cost of operation Competition -- South Africa Strategic planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:810 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007606
- Description: This dissertation reports on the factors that contributed to the successful entry strategy of 1time Airline, a low cost carrier, into the South African airline industry as well as its competitive strategies within this context. Research interviews were conducted in November 2005 and research material gathered until end January 2006. Key issues include an evaluation of 1time's business model in relation to other low cost entrants as well as against material sourced through interviews with 1time Airline management, employees and consumers of the airline's product. Porter's Generic Strategies and Five Forces model are used as a framework in evaluating the airline. It is found that Nohria, Joyce and Robertson's "4+2 Formula" is effectively implemented at the airline, but that further implementation of Game Theory in terms of alliances should be investigated for continued success and sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Conservation incentives for private commercial farmers in the thicket biome, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Cumming, Tracey Lyn
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Landowners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Invasive plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4745 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006953 , Landowners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Invasive plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study sought opportunities to mitigate the pressures of land transformation and alien invader plants on commercial farm land in the thicket biome in the lower reaches of the Fish Kowie Corridor. It had two aims. Firstly, to determine the role incentives could play in mitigating these pressures. Secondly, to determine the characteristics of an incentive programme that would most effectively achieve this. In order to do this, an understanding of landowner activities, needs, opinions and barriers to behaviour; the nature of the pressures on thicket and the nature of the required behaviour to reduce these pressures; and current and past institutional arrangements needed to be achieved. This was done predominantly through a current literature review and personal interviews with landowners and key informants. These findings were used to make recommendations for an effective incentive programme. Landowners showed a preference towards tangible incentives, in particular management assistance, financial compensation and law enforcement. They indicated an aversion to an incentive programme implemented by a government agency, particularly district and provincial government. Rather, landowners showed a propensity towards a nongovernment organisation (NGO) or a farmers group implementing an incentive programme. It was recommended that the two major pressures, namely land transformation and alien invader plants, required different interventions by different agencies in order to be mitigated. The pressure of land transformation required a stewardship model response, with the primary drive being a non-contractual environmental extension service to landowners. The extension service should focus on promoting pro-conservation practises, raising awareness and disseminating information. It should also build a relationship of trust between landowners and the implementing agency. The pressure of alien invader plants would be most effectively addressed through the Working for Water programme. Tangible incentives must be provided to the landowner to induce the costly exercise of alien invader plant control. In particular, the high cost of labour must be addressed. The regulatory incentive of applying laws requiring landowners to control alien invader plants on their land should also be enforced.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Cumming, Tracey Lyn
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Landowners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Invasive plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4745 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006953 , Landowners -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Invasive plants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study sought opportunities to mitigate the pressures of land transformation and alien invader plants on commercial farm land in the thicket biome in the lower reaches of the Fish Kowie Corridor. It had two aims. Firstly, to determine the role incentives could play in mitigating these pressures. Secondly, to determine the characteristics of an incentive programme that would most effectively achieve this. In order to do this, an understanding of landowner activities, needs, opinions and barriers to behaviour; the nature of the pressures on thicket and the nature of the required behaviour to reduce these pressures; and current and past institutional arrangements needed to be achieved. This was done predominantly through a current literature review and personal interviews with landowners and key informants. These findings were used to make recommendations for an effective incentive programme. Landowners showed a preference towards tangible incentives, in particular management assistance, financial compensation and law enforcement. They indicated an aversion to an incentive programme implemented by a government agency, particularly district and provincial government. Rather, landowners showed a propensity towards a nongovernment organisation (NGO) or a farmers group implementing an incentive programme. It was recommended that the two major pressures, namely land transformation and alien invader plants, required different interventions by different agencies in order to be mitigated. The pressure of land transformation required a stewardship model response, with the primary drive being a non-contractual environmental extension service to landowners. The extension service should focus on promoting pro-conservation practises, raising awareness and disseminating information. It should also build a relationship of trust between landowners and the implementing agency. The pressure of alien invader plants would be most effectively addressed through the Working for Water programme. Tangible incentives must be provided to the landowner to induce the costly exercise of alien invader plant control. In particular, the high cost of labour must be addressed. The regulatory incentive of applying laws requiring landowners to control alien invader plants on their land should also be enforced.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Constructing a low-cost, open-source, VoiceXML
- Authors: King, Adam
- Date: 2007 , 2013-07-01
- Subjects: VoiceXML (Document markup language) , Asterisk (Computer file) , Internet telephony , Open source software
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4585 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004735 , VoiceXML (Document markup language) , Asterisk (Computer file) , Internet telephony , Open source software
- Description: Voice-enabled applications, applications that interact with a user via an audio channel, are used extensively today. Their use is growing as speech related technologies improve, as speech is one of the most natural methods of interaction. They can provide customer support as IVRs, can be used as an assistive technology, or can become an aural interface to the Internet. Given that the telephone is used extensively throughout the globe, the number of potential users of voice-enabled applications is very high. VoiceXML is a popular, open, high-level, standard means of creating voice-enabled applications which was designed to bring the benefits of web based development to services. While VoiceXML is an ideal language for creating these applications, VoiceXML gateways, the hardware and software responsible for interpreting VoiceXML applications and interfacing with the PSTN, are still expensive and so there is a need for a low-cost gateway. Asterisk, and open-source, TDM/VoIP telephony platform, can be used as a low-cost PSTN interface. This thesis investigates adding a VoiceXML service to Asterisk, creating a low-cost VoiceXML prototype gateway which is able to render voice-enabled applications. Following the Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) paradigm, the VoiceXML gateway is divided into a set of components which are sourced from the open-source community, and integrated to create the gateway. The browser requires a VoiceXML interpreter (OpenVXI), a Text-To-Speech engine (Festival) and a speech recognition engine (Sphinx 4). The integration of the components results in a low-cost, open-source VoiceXML gateway. System tests show that the integration of the components was successful, and that the system can handle concurrent calls. A fully compliant version of the gateway can be used in the real world to render voice-enabled applications at a low cost. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.55 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: King, Adam
- Date: 2007 , 2013-07-01
- Subjects: VoiceXML (Document markup language) , Asterisk (Computer file) , Internet telephony , Open source software
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4585 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004735 , VoiceXML (Document markup language) , Asterisk (Computer file) , Internet telephony , Open source software
- Description: Voice-enabled applications, applications that interact with a user via an audio channel, are used extensively today. Their use is growing as speech related technologies improve, as speech is one of the most natural methods of interaction. They can provide customer support as IVRs, can be used as an assistive technology, or can become an aural interface to the Internet. Given that the telephone is used extensively throughout the globe, the number of potential users of voice-enabled applications is very high. VoiceXML is a popular, open, high-level, standard means of creating voice-enabled applications which was designed to bring the benefits of web based development to services. While VoiceXML is an ideal language for creating these applications, VoiceXML gateways, the hardware and software responsible for interpreting VoiceXML applications and interfacing with the PSTN, are still expensive and so there is a need for a low-cost gateway. Asterisk, and open-source, TDM/VoIP telephony platform, can be used as a low-cost PSTN interface. This thesis investigates adding a VoiceXML service to Asterisk, creating a low-cost VoiceXML prototype gateway which is able to render voice-enabled applications. Following the Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) paradigm, the VoiceXML gateway is divided into a set of components which are sourced from the open-source community, and integrated to create the gateway. The browser requires a VoiceXML interpreter (OpenVXI), a Text-To-Speech engine (Festival) and a speech recognition engine (Sphinx 4). The integration of the components results in a low-cost, open-source VoiceXML gateway. System tests show that the integration of the components was successful, and that the system can handle concurrent calls. A fully compliant version of the gateway can be used in the real world to render voice-enabled applications at a low cost. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.55 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Creative misreadings: allegory in Tracey Rose's Ciao Bella
- Authors: Bateman, Genevieve
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rose, Tracey, 1974- Artists -- South Africa Women artists -- South Africa Performance artists -- South Africa Women in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2473 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009506
- Description: This thesis will aim to investigate the extent to which Tracey Rose's Ciao Bella can be said to allegorically perform a dialectical enfolding of the dichotomous categories of meaning/nonmeaning; image/text; past/present and original/translation. The dual concepts of performance and performativity will be utilized as a means to explore the notion of interpretation as a meaning-making process and as an engagement between artist, artwork and viewer that is necessarily open-ended and in a state of constant change and flux. Rose's performance of Ciao Bella will be read as one that questions the illusion of unmediated representation by parodying and creatively misreading a multiplicity of visual, textual and musical representations so as to foreground the politics of representation. The representational figure of allegory, as one that defines itself in opposition to the Romantic conception of the unified symbol, will be put to work so as to reveal the ways in which Rose's performance works to critically undermine various positivistic attitudes toward self-identity, gender, race, politics, history, authorial intention and interpretation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Bateman, Genevieve
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Rose, Tracey, 1974- Artists -- South Africa Women artists -- South Africa Performance artists -- South Africa Women in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2473 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009506
- Description: This thesis will aim to investigate the extent to which Tracey Rose's Ciao Bella can be said to allegorically perform a dialectical enfolding of the dichotomous categories of meaning/nonmeaning; image/text; past/present and original/translation. The dual concepts of performance and performativity will be utilized as a means to explore the notion of interpretation as a meaning-making process and as an engagement between artist, artwork and viewer that is necessarily open-ended and in a state of constant change and flux. Rose's performance of Ciao Bella will be read as one that questions the illusion of unmediated representation by parodying and creatively misreading a multiplicity of visual, textual and musical representations so as to foreground the politics of representation. The representational figure of allegory, as one that defines itself in opposition to the Romantic conception of the unified symbol, will be put to work so as to reveal the ways in which Rose's performance works to critically undermine various positivistic attitudes toward self-identity, gender, race, politics, history, authorial intention and interpretation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Determination of the botanical composition of black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) dung using the rbcL gene as a molecular marker, and analysis of antioxidant and phenolic content of its browse
- Authors: Bulani, Siyavuya Ishmael
- Date: 2007 , 2013-06-25
- Subjects: Black rhinoceros -- Food , Black rhinoceros -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Browse (Animal food) -- Analysis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic markers , Black rhinoceros -- Manure -- Analysis , Phenols , Antioxidants
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006468 , Black rhinoceros -- Food , Black rhinoceros -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Browse (Animal food) -- Analysis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic markers , Black rhinoceros -- Manure -- Analysis , Phenols , Antioxidants
- Description: The black rhinoceros remains one of the world's extremely endangered species despite a variety of policies to protect it. The black rhinoceros population at the Great Fish River Reserve (GFRR) in the Eastern Cape in South Africa has increased steadily since their re-introduction in 1986. This megaherbivore is a browser, with a diet obtained largely from the short and medium succulent thicket of the GFRR. Knowledge of the preferential diet of the black rhinoceros on the reserve is an important factor for the effective management of the land and the herbivores that compete for its resources. The dietary preferences of the black rhinoceros at the reserve have been established using backtracking methods. In this study the rbcL gene was used to establish an rbcL gene database of the plants from the GFRR and determine the botanical composition of the black rhinoceros dung from the GFRR. Due to the limited number of rbcL gene plant sequences from the GFRR deposited in the GenBank database, 18 plant species from the GFRR were sequenced. Sequence analyses between the partial rbcL gene sequences generated were able to distinguish between plants down to species level. Plant species from the family Euphorbiaceae and Fabaceae showed sequence variation at intra-specific level compared to those of Tiliaceae which were more conserved. The generated rbcL gene sequences from seasonal dung samples were compared to the rbcL gene sequenced from 18 plant species obtained from the GFRR and those from the GenBank database. A wide range of plant species were identified from the dung samples. There were no major differences in botanical composition between the dung samples, except that Grewia spp. were found to dominate in almost all seasons. The results obtained on the free radical scavenging activity of the extracts against 2,2-Diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) increased in the order of methanol > ethyl acetate > chloroform. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the methanol plant extracts increased in the order Brachylaena elliptica > Plumbago auriculata > Grewia robusta > Azima tetracantha. Methanol extracts on the TLC plate sprayed with Fe³⁺-2,4,6-Tri-2-pyridyl-s-triazine (TPTZ) showed that the compounds present in the extracts react differently to ferric ion, with most compounds unable to reduce ferric ion. Furthermore the methanol extracts were able to exhibit reduction potentials vs. Ag/AgCl at low concentrations. The compounds in the extracts were shown to be phenolic acids and flavonoid glycosides.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Bulani, Siyavuya Ishmael
- Date: 2007 , 2013-06-25
- Subjects: Black rhinoceros -- Food , Black rhinoceros -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Browse (Animal food) -- Analysis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic markers , Black rhinoceros -- Manure -- Analysis , Phenols , Antioxidants
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006468 , Black rhinoceros -- Food , Black rhinoceros -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Browse (Animal food) -- Analysis -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Plant ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Genetic markers , Black rhinoceros -- Manure -- Analysis , Phenols , Antioxidants
- Description: The black rhinoceros remains one of the world's extremely endangered species despite a variety of policies to protect it. The black rhinoceros population at the Great Fish River Reserve (GFRR) in the Eastern Cape in South Africa has increased steadily since their re-introduction in 1986. This megaherbivore is a browser, with a diet obtained largely from the short and medium succulent thicket of the GFRR. Knowledge of the preferential diet of the black rhinoceros on the reserve is an important factor for the effective management of the land and the herbivores that compete for its resources. The dietary preferences of the black rhinoceros at the reserve have been established using backtracking methods. In this study the rbcL gene was used to establish an rbcL gene database of the plants from the GFRR and determine the botanical composition of the black rhinoceros dung from the GFRR. Due to the limited number of rbcL gene plant sequences from the GFRR deposited in the GenBank database, 18 plant species from the GFRR were sequenced. Sequence analyses between the partial rbcL gene sequences generated were able to distinguish between plants down to species level. Plant species from the family Euphorbiaceae and Fabaceae showed sequence variation at intra-specific level compared to those of Tiliaceae which were more conserved. The generated rbcL gene sequences from seasonal dung samples were compared to the rbcL gene sequenced from 18 plant species obtained from the GFRR and those from the GenBank database. A wide range of plant species were identified from the dung samples. There were no major differences in botanical composition between the dung samples, except that Grewia spp. were found to dominate in almost all seasons. The results obtained on the free radical scavenging activity of the extracts against 2,2-Diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) increased in the order of methanol > ethyl acetate > chloroform. The DPPH free radical scavenging activity of the methanol plant extracts increased in the order Brachylaena elliptica > Plumbago auriculata > Grewia robusta > Azima tetracantha. Methanol extracts on the TLC plate sprayed with Fe³⁺-2,4,6-Tri-2-pyridyl-s-triazine (TPTZ) showed that the compounds present in the extracts react differently to ferric ion, with most compounds unable to reduce ferric ion. Furthermore the methanol extracts were able to exhibit reduction potentials vs. Ag/AgCl at low concentrations. The compounds in the extracts were shown to be phenolic acids and flavonoid glycosides.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007