Regional thickening as game-changing: examining transnational activities of gender and women-focused civil society actors for region-building in Southern Africa
- Authors: Nedziwe, Cecilia Lwiindi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: International relations , Southern Africa Development Community , Regionalism -- Africa, Southern , Africa, Southern -- Foreign relations -- 1994- , Women in development -- Africa, Southern , Women -- Social conditions -- Africa, Southern , Women -- Political activity -- Africa, Southern , Women in public life -- Africa, Southern , Civil society -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95420 , vital:31154
- Description: This thesis argues that norms, in general, have proliferated in a neo-liberalising context since the 1990s, in particular norms on gender, and how they have changed to indicate new agency and influence, amounts to game change. Despite growing transnational activities, regionalisation and the increasing interface between state and non-state regionalism in a transnational context since the advent of liberalisation and democratisation, analyses in regional International Relations (IR) studies, so far, largely maintain linear logic. The increasing non-state processes, and their connection to state processes in norm creation, norm adaptation, norm diffusion and implementation around broad questions of security including in the area of gender, amount to regional thickening. Regional thickening revealed in terms of increasing regionalisation, regionalism, and region-ness whose effect is game-changing challenges mainstream linear approaches in regional IR studies. Game-changing here, refers to, processes promoting the development of norms mentioned above in the interest of contributing to improved security across a region. This study is focused on Southern Africa, defined here, as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. This study’s analytical approach is informed by alternatives to mainstream approaches, emphasising processes, rather than linearity inherent in regional IR studies. By privileging the actual game-changing processes, interactions, and agency around the norm development cycle, this study examines how regional thickening in a transnational context promotes game-changing activities, promoting the development of the norm cycle, seeking to have improved security. A mixed method approach involving gathering of information from multiple primary and secondary sources are used. The study found transnational activities and regionalisation of gender and women-focused civil society actors, game-changing. These civil society actors organised in two ways. First, by way of advocacy and in seeking representation within intergovernmental policymaking structures at a regional level. Second, by way of organising around transnational communities in a transnational context in the interest of addressing gendered insecurities at localised levels. Regional thickening as game-changing here pointed to a growing recognition and participation of civil society actors in intergovernmental policymaking spaces as having created a groundswell for game change at localised levels. This led to policy development, adaptation, diffusion, and implementation by both state and non-state actors contributing to norm changes, improved social policies, and to greater security. The actual changes emerging from these actors’ activities on the ground are in terms of unlearning patriarchal behaviours, opening up development for women, and increasing their living standards, education, health, and their freedom. In assessing the transnational environment on gendered insecurity in Southern Africa, this thesis developed an innovative framework of regional thickening as game-changing. This framework plots how game-changing developed, evolved, and its importance in addressing gendered insecurity. The thesis has proposed that game-changing transnational activities and regionalisation that change, and diffuse norms to break learnt behaviour, have helped disrupt rigid institutionalisation, and are aiding to bring non-linear discourses to the fore.
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Reimagining constructions of gender dysphoria: a dual systematic review using analytical psychology’s concept of individuation
- Authors: Couch, Matthew
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Gender identity disorders , Gender identity , Individuation (Psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MScoSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/95184 , vital:31125
- Description: The process of conceptualization has long served to capture and represent our perceptions of the social world. Conceptual categories help to make sense of subjective experiences, and through discursive practices may come to construct conventional frameworks of knowledge. Consequently, frameworks operating as natural and immutable run the risk of ignoring the dynamic and diverse experiences of many individuals. Today, conceptual frameworks for gender identity are found as inadequately representing progressive social views on the existence of gender identities manifesting outside of the prevailing male-female binary. Within this space of conceptual contention, the diagnostic category of gender dysphoria has received considerable inspection and critique. In particular, it has been criticised as fundamentally controversial by classifying issues of identity within a clinical framework and, consequently, as contributing to the pathologization of all gender diverse individuals. Thus, efforts to reconceptualise and reimagine gender dysphoria may be found. In this research the concept of individuation, as understood within a framework of analytical psychology, is discussed as a potential consideration in reimagining the concept of gender dysphoria. An overarching framework of social constructionism was adopted within this research in examining how constructions of conventional knowledge come about through regulatory discursive and performative practices. The theoretical orientation of analytical psychology was used to frame the concept of individuation and its application to gender dysphoria. This perspective consulted queer theory as a further critical orientation toward the construction of gender identity. The chosen methodology took form as a dual systematic review using critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) to construct representative frameworks. Psychological literature on gender dysphoria (review 1) and individuation (review 2) was reviewed and synthesised. Review 1 identified conceptual inferences within the literature and assessed their role toward problematic gender discourse, while review 2 served as a contributory tool to critically assess whether the conceptual space was accommodating of the concept of individuation. Findings in review 1 identified contemporary gender dysphoria literature as reinforcing of problematic gender discourse. The prevailing clinical framework on gender dysphoria and gender nonconformity was iterated through conceptual constructs emphasising an experience of pathological distress or life dissatisfaction. As such, a cyclical pathologization of gender diversity is reconstructed through current representations within the literature. However, it was deduced that there are signs of resistance in the literature to the clinical model which challenge and counter the impact of problematic gender discourse. In review 2, individuation was framed by the literature as an intrapsychic facilitator supporting the integration of all aspects particular to the individual personality so that conscious identity becomes congruent with internal nature. Resultantly, one may experience psychosocial maturation and contribute to collective societal progression. For some, individuation prompts a differentiation from collective expectations in integrating one‘s inherent nature into expressed identity. Thus, gender nonconformity may be viewed as an expression of this differentiation when individuation drives the realization of this feature to be intrinsic and natural for the individual. Individuation was determined as incompatible with the category of gender dysphoria, but of value within the conceptual space where efforts to reimagine gender dysphoria are in place.
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Religious pluralism: an analysis of its practice and effect in four historical examples
- Authors: Groves, Samuel Peter
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Religious pluralism , Christianity and other religions , Freedom of religion -- History , Alexandria (Egypt) -- History , Athens (Greece) -- History , Alexandria (Egypt) -- Religion , Athens (Greece) -- Religion , Eusebius, of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea, approximately 260-approximately 340 , Constantine I, Emperor of Rome, -337 , Constantine I, Emperor of Rome, -337 -- Religion , Rome -- History -- Constantine I, the Great, 306-337 , Rome -- Religion , Jews -- Spain -- History -- Expulsion, 1492 , Spain -- History -- Ferdinand and Isabella, 1479-1516 , Spain -- Religion
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67709 , vital:29132
- Description: Despite the fact that religious freedom is considered a basic human right, provided for in the South African constitution, the practise of religious freedom is often denied in certain countries and discouraged in others. The goal of this thesis is to examine four historical examples in which religious freedom was practised or denied, and the effect this decision had on the countries or people concerned. The first example of Alexander's empire is a positive example of religious liberty. His practise of religious pluralism offered peace to the Greeks and Jews of Alexandria, and it prompted creative and intellectual pursuits that would have been impossible without religious freedom. The second example is of Paul the Apostle's approach to positive religious engagement, as recorded in Acts 17 of the New Testament. Paul models constructive religious debate as he engages with the Athenian philosophers. The third example is of Constantine's pursuit of unity through religious prescription. In his bid for one empire under one God, he created both a divided empire and a divided church. The final example is of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, who through the persecution of Jews and Muslims, caused the economic collapse of Spain and the division of the church within Spain. This thesis provides historical evidence that religious pluralism benefits humanity and it is my hope that it will encourage religious and political leaders to uphold religious pluralism for the good of society and for the good of religion.
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Repatriating Xhosa music recordings archived at the International Library of African Music (ILAM) and reviving interest in traditional Xhosa music among the youth in Grahamstown
- Authors: Madiba, Elijah Moleseng
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: International Library of African Music , Xhosa (African people) -- Music , Sound recordings in ethnomusicology -- South Africa , Ethnomusicology -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Cultural property -- Repatriation -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rap musicians -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76599 , vital:30611
- Description: This research looks at the feasibility of using repatriation as a tool for the revitalisation of indigenous music within a contemporary South African musical context. Using tracks from the International Library of African Music (ILAM), this investigation presents isiXhosa traditional and indigenous music to a group of musicians from a hip-hop background that would never have had access to this type of music before. The thesis then traces their creative use of the music within their own genres. Speaking to the legacy of the Hugh Tracey collection at ILAM and criticisms that have surfaced, this research also attempts to validate the efforts made by Hugh Tracey in collecting and documenting African music. Themes ranging from understanding the term “tradition” are addressed, as well as other technical terms in the vernacular while also exploring and analysing the results of the repatriation project. Practical issues regarding the sampling of indigenous music were interrogated carefully due to the fact that the complexity of African music was foreign to most of the participants. Their familiarity with the music, or lack thereof, either motivated or ended the musicians’ participation in the research project. An in-depth analysis of the results of the musicians’ interaction with the music is presented where this study finds, at the heart of this research, that the musicians performed as agents who easily took to revitalising the music.
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Reproductive isolation mechanisms of two cryptic species of Eccritotarsus (Hemiptera: Miridae), biological control agents of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach (Pontederiaceae)
- Authors: Mnguni, Sandiso
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Eccritotarsus , Meridae , Noxious weeds -- Biological control -- South Africa , Aquatic weeds -- Biological control -- South Africa , Water hyacinth -- Biological control -- South Africa , Biological pest control agents
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68133 , vital:29202
- Description: Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach (Pontederiaceae), is one of the world’s worst alien invasive plants. It is indigenous to the Amazon basin in South America but has become a problematic alien invasive in other parts of the world. As such, several host-specific biological control agents have been sourced from the native distributions in South America and have been released to control this plant where it has become problematic. Two of these agents include the geographically and reproductively isolated cryptic species of Eccritotarsus (Hemiptera: Miridae). One of these species was collected in the upper reaches of the Amazon River in Peru, while the other was collected over 3500km away from that site, in Florianopolis, southern Brazil. These cryptic species were thought to be a single species until recently, when DNA barcoding indicated that they were likely to be two species, and the species status has now been confirmed by interbreeding experiments and detailed morphological studies. The Brazilian population remains Eccritotarsus catarinensis (Carvalho), while the Peruvian population is now known as Eccritotarsus eichhorniae (Henry). The aim of this project was to investigate the mating behaviour and other behavioural traits of the two species that have resulted in reproductive isolation, and which could have led to speciation. In addition, investigations involving analysis of chemical compound compositions of the two species aimed to determine the extent to which the compounds played a role in the development and maintenance of reproductive isolation. To achieve the aims, behavioural-observation experiments were conducted in the form of no-choice, bi-choice and multi-choice tests in 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 sex ratio assessments, both within and between species. Chemical compound compositions of E. catarinensis and E. eichhorniae were also assessed using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) and Gas-Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques. In no-choice experiments, the highest number of single and multiple copula incidences, and average total copula duration was found within species while copulation between species was much rarer. In bi-choice experiments, E. eichhorniae females and E. catarinensis males only chose to mate with their respective conspecifics, and within species copulations continued to have higher average total copula duration. In multi-choice experiments, the highest number of single and multiple copula incidences and average total copula duration was also found within species. GC-MS analysis suggested that E. catarinensis females and E. eichhorniae males have unique chemical compounds missing in their conspecifics and same sex of the other species. Further analysis suggested that E. catarinensis females and E. eichhorniae males have similar chemical compound compositions, whereas as E. eichhorniae females and E. catarinensis males have similar chemical compound compositions. These results suggest that there are behavioural differences that led to the development and maintenance of prezygotic reproductive isolation mechanisms, and that this is probably driven by pheromones in chemical compound compositions. These two species were geographically isolated in the native range and the populations have diverged to the point that they are now reproductively incompatible and therefore, distinct species. The main driver of the speciation is most likely mate recognition and attraction, as only reproductively important traits such as pheromones, genitalia, the scent glands and antennae have changed, while other traits, including host range and morphology, have remained remarkably stable. This provides evidence that differences in sexual selection in isolated populations may be important drivers of speciation and reproductive isolation in cryptic species.
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Responding to iconic images of risk through reflexive and narrative enquiry represented in a stratified text for environmental education readers
- Authors: Murphy, Mary
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Sustainability -- Study and teaching , Environmental education -- Philosophy , Environmental degradation -- Study and teaching , Environmental degradation -- Philosophy , Reflection (Philosophy) , Archer, Margaret S (Margaret Scotford). Structure, agency, and the internal conversation
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96768 , vital:31318
- Description: This thesis presents a stratified textual strategy to represent meaning developed through reflexive and narrative enquiry of environmental risk. Meaning that emerged in responses to iconic images of risk. Umberto Eco cautioned that iconic images over time become conventional taking over from that which they represent. Representations of risk become embedded through cultural coding. Semiotic theory provided access to the contextual and cultural content of environmental education as experienced during professional work as a radio presenter of “Environmental Matters”, as an environmental educator and activist. Methodological rigour was applied through the application of Margaret Archer's theory of the internal conversation and use of an online content management system. Both the reflexive tool of the internal conversation and the textual mechanism of the blog encouraged commitment to Paul Hart's criteria of trustworthiness and authenticity in the process of building the semiotic structure of the PhD. The Internal Conversation was used as a mediating tool in the PhD process and is presented in practice. Rethinking environmental risk from other species' perspectives through imagined experience was achieved through narrative enquiry. A noted anthropocentric limitation of the inability to interview animals for their experience of human-imposed risk was mitigated through representing the imagined, possible perspectives through story, which invites the reader to join the meaning-making process and open up discussions for and about environmental issues and action. This noted anthropocentrism was evident in debates among the characters about violence and non-violence as a conditioned theme and topic discussed in previous academic research about terrorism in divided societies. The story illustrates how the main character, a penguin called Polo, navigates through emerging meaning within a structure that confronts him with choices that end with a decision to become an agent for change. This story is a narrative example of the morphogenetic process. The multi-textual strategy presents possible methods for the exploration of risk (Vol. 1), reflexivity (Vol. 2) and representation (Vol. 3) for the application and contribution in/to environmental education.
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Rural food security in Mutare District, Zimbabwe, 1947-2010
- Authors: Kusena, Bernard
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mutare (Zimbabwe) -- History , Zimbabwe -- History , Food security -- Zimbabwe , Poverty -- Zimbabwe , Rural pooer -- Zimbabwe , Crop losses -- Zimbabwe , Food relief -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92865 , vital:30757
- Description: By taking Mutare District as its lens to explore the dynamics of rural food security in Zimbabwe, this thesis assesses the role of the state in tackling hunger among its rural populations. It examines the impact of colonial and post-colonial food policy on efforts to combat food insecurity. The thesis explores the uneasy options pursued by rural communities in response to droughts and other threats of hunger. It identifies and ranks crop failure as the chief culprit to the district’s efforts towards food security. The thesis illustrates the contestations between the state and its rural people over which sustainable approaches to adopt in order to end hunger and how such debates continually shaped policy. It grapples with questions about the various understandings of food security advanced by scholars within the rural African context. It demonstrates, for instance, that the post-colonial state inherited an erstwhile crop production structure which shunned food crops in favour of cash crops. There was obvious bias against local preferences for a robust, home-grown food regime which did not put rural livelihoods at risk of starvation. The thesis also argues that food can be used as an instrument of war as evidenced during the liberation struggle when the vast majority of people residing in rural areas, particularly women and children, were pushed to the edges of survival. In addition, the thesis demonstrates that the infamous Marange diamonds turned out to be a curse rather than a blessing due to the state’s lack of transparency in the beneficiation chain. It concludes by a detailed examination of the political economy of food aid, demonstrating why donors have not succeeded for long to combat hunger in the district. In light of this background, the thesis provides a more nuanced analysis of the whole question of rural food security using archival material, newspapers, government and civil society reports, interviews and field observation. The thesis benefits from the use of a multi-pronged theoretical framework to capture the disparate themes that form the bedrock of this study.
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Selected Namibian secondary school geography teachers’ pedagogical thinking and practices: the case of mapwork
- Authors: Naxweka, Johanna Ndamononghenda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , Cartography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia , Maps -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76969 , vital:30651
- Description: Learner performance in mapwork in secondary school geography in Namibia has been consistently poor. Examiners’ reports provide detailed feedback on the difficulties learners demonstrate with little, if any, attention paid to teachers’ perceptions, experiences and pedagogical practices of mapwork. This qualitative study generated insights to understand selected geography teachers’ perceptions and pedagogical practices of mapwork. Data were generated through a questionnaire administered to thirty geography teachers in fifteen secondary schools in the Ohangwena Circuit in the Ohangwena Region of Namibia. The teachers’ responses were coded and analyzed and patterns and trends identified. Based on what emerged, a purposive sample of three teachers was chosen for in-depth interviews to probe their responses and to observe their classroom practices. The study draws on learner centred pedagogy (LCP), the official educational policy in Namibia, and Shulman’s perspectives of teachers’ content and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (1986, 1987) to interpret what teachers say about the teaching of mapwork and how they teach it. The qualities of teachers’ PCK that support student learning in mapwork are not yet fully understood because there has been little research on teachers’ PCK for teaching mapwork and spatial thinking in geography classrooms (Jo & Bednarz, 2014). The study sheds light on the teachers’ qualifications and experience, their perceptions and attitudes towards the teaching of mapwork, their teaching strategies and the resources they use. The findings reveal that the teachers are conscientious but ill-equipped to teach mapwork. The study illuminated a disjuncture between the rhetoric and practice of learner centred pedagogy. There is evidence which suggests that the teachers’ knowledge of the curriculum is superficial and limited to content. Their practices are focused on teaching map skills and procedural knowledge with little, if any, attention given to spatial and map conceptual understanding and application of knowledge to solve problems. The study concludes that teachers’ map and spatial conceptual understanding and pedagogical content knowledge should be strengthened if the persistent problem of poor learner attainment is to be resolved. It provides insights that may be of value to Namibian teachers, teacher educators, curriculum policy developers and Senior Education Officers when addressing this problem.
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Shifting contexts, shifting identities: a realist exploration of transnational mobility, change and identity construction in South African Higher Education expatriates in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- Authors: Reid, Gillian Janet
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: College teacher mobility , College teacher mobility -- Abū Ẓaby (United Arab Emirates) , College teachers, Foreign -- Abū Ẓaby (United Arab Emirates) , College teachers -- Psychology , Expatriation -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92898 , vital:30760
- Description: Positioned in relation to the globalization of higher education, this realist study is approached from an interest in identity and focuses on nine South African academics professional contexts in South Africa and Abu Dhabi, UAE. As the context of identity formation and emergence is always local, the intention of this research was never to generalize. Rather, in using Bhaskar’s critical realism as its underpinning philosophy, and Archer’s social realism, theories on self, personal and the development and attainment of social identity - her concept of analytical dualism and her morphogenetic framework, this qualitative case study was designed to explore how global and national powers and mechanism effected change in this sub-group of academic’s respective higher education sectors and institutions in post- 1994 South Africa and in Abu Dhabi between 2008 and 2016. The study suggests that participants perceived their academic roles and role-incumbent professional identities to have been negatively impacted by the changes that were implemented in the South African higher education sector as a result the countries reintroduction to the global stage. Their response to become transnational educators in Abu Dhabi’s presented them with conditions that allied their professional experiences of the transformation of South African’s higher education sector. This led to a continued sense of loss of academic agency and powerlessness. This effecting the emergence, through the personal power of reflectivity, combined with discourse and affinity powers and mechanisms, in a social identity that supplanted their academic identities.
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Shifting white SADF veteran identities from apartheid to contemporary South Africa
- Authors: Weich, Francois
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South Africa -- History -- 1961-1994 , Angola -- History -- South African Incursions, 1978-1990 -- Veterans , South Africa -- History, Military -- 1961- , Veterans -- South Africa -- Personal narratives , South Africa -- Armed forces , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1961-1978 , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1978-1989 , South Africa. South African Defence Force
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76106 , vital:30504
- Description: The ideologies and structures of the apartheid state have received extensive academic attention, but the legacies of the militarisation of white South African men – a group that exists at a unique intersection of apartheid privilege and exploitation – have not been sufficiently addressed. Even as beneficiaries of apartheid, white men were militarised through structures of coercion and the mobilisation of identity constructions that resulted in the widespread submission to conscription and support for apartheid militarism. This thesis explores the relationship between those militarised identities and the historical processes of apartheid through a consideration of a broad range of white SADF veteran narratives from the Missing Voices Oral History Project archive. This consideration of the role of identity mobilisation in apartheid can shed light on the effect of historical processes of militarisation on white men in South Africa, as well as address the persistence of values and behaviours that may present barriers to the social transformation of South Africa towards a true constitutional democracy. The thesis explores identity in SADF veteran narratives through the application of social constructionism in order to determine the effect of coercive structures and identity mobilisation on individuals, and to gauge the persistence militarised identities after the social and political structures underpinning them had become defunct. The identity content of the narratives is contextualised in relation to structures of coercion employed by the apartheid state and the SADF alongside a consideration of the effect of political transition on veterans. The legacy of the historical environment and the impact of political transition on SADF veterans’ constructed identities is investigated in relation to these veterans’ own visions of their roles in post-apartheid South Africa. Therefore, this thesis endeavours to contribute to the expansion of the field of historical and identity study by considering the construction and renegotiation of military identities that maintained, benefited from, and were exploited by the apartheid state.
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Social movements and economic development in post apartheid South Africa: lessons from Latin America
- Authors: Makoni, Tinotenda Charity
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Social movements -- South Africa , Social movements -- Latin America , Economic development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76420 , vital:30561
- Description: The aim of this research is to bring the literature on political agency and economics together in an analysis of whether social movements can play an important role in economic development in post-apartheid South Africa. The entrenched discourse of sluggish growth and high inequality in post-apartheid South Africa can largely be attributed to the political decision to implement a neoliberal economic development orthodoxy. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to shift the economic development model to an alternate developmentalist model. However, no clearly articulated alternative developmental model has emerged. As a result, economically, South Africa is seemingly stuck. On the other hand, the selection of an economic development model and change in macroeconomic policies requires a political shift. Politically, formal politics has assumed the form of neoliberal democracy, characterised by a largely centralised state and the usurpation of the state and institutions by a national bourgeoisie. Social movements have emerged in response to the failure of neoliberalism to fulfil the promises of early post independent periods. They have been largely successful at highlighting the injustices and the inequalities in the country. However their ability to influence structural economic development has come into question. Firstly, social movements and their “politically destabilising distributive demands” have faced repression from the state as the state and institutions are aligned behind the interests of capital under a neoliberal democracy. Secondly, social movements in South Africa have been largely ideologically under-developed. They have been largely fragmented and tended to contest specific single issues rather than aiming to shift the deeper underlying systemic drivers behind the symptomatic immediate discomforts. The economic dimensions of such a shift are particularly unclear. This fragmentation and apparent lack of economic pragmatism make management or suppression of disruptive movements by the state relatively easy. The research uses a contrast between the Latin American social movements against a South African background in order to see what lessons South Africa can draw from social movements in Latin America. The Latin American case is cautiously more positive and provides comparably more sanguine lessons. In this way, this research seeks to construct a more comprehensive framework for the further study of social movements in South Africa and their potential impact on economic development in South Africa.
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South African Trade Union responses to xenophobia in workplaces: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
- Authors: Gongqa, Nombulelo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Xenophobia , Xenophobia-- South Africa , National Union of Mineworkers , National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa , Labor unions -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115061 , vital:34074
- Description: This research looks at how trade unions relate to immigrants and how inclusive they are to immigrants who form part of the South African working class. South Africa has been an immigrants receiving country for decades, where most immigrants are from neighbouring countries within the South African region. It was the trade unions that empowered workers to gain back some of their basic rights during the apartheid era, and they did this for all workers who worked in sectors where they were exploited and mistreated by the apartheid regime on the basis of their skin colour. This research aims to understand how trade unions respond to xenophobia in the workplace, and the ways their strategies increase inclusion of immigrants in the trade unions. This research focuses on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), seeking to find whether they have strategies and planned ways to respond to xenophobia in South African workplaces. This research also looks at the impact of nationalism in South Africa on immigrants. It shows that whilst the concept of nationalism is to protect South Africans, it does exclude immigrants because it places South Africans before immigrants when it comes to benefiting from the resources of the country. This shows that protecting one section of the working class over another weakens the working class movement. To get views from the trade unions, trade union officials were interviewed and from the interviews, common themes were picked out. From the interviews, it can be identified that trade union officials believe that immigrants should be included in the trade unions, and they should be treated with dignity. However, there are some conflicting themes, which highlight the view that South African locals deserve to get the resources of the country, such as housing, before immigrants. The themes will be discussed in the research to highlight the different perspectives that came from the trade union officials.
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Stakeholder relationship management of a Chinese Mining Organisation in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chodokufa, Kudakwashe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Industrial management -- Zimbabwe , Mineral industries -- Zimbabwe -- Management , Investments, Chinese -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115127 , vital:34080
- Description: Media reports and research has pointed out problems in the way that Chinese mining organisations in Zimbabwe are managing stakeholder relationships. The problems ranging from disgruntled communities and allegations of labour violations. Taking into account the impact that China’s FDI has had on the ailing Zimbabwean economy research into the management of stakeholder relationships becomes imperative to understand how Chinese mining organisations build and manage stakeholder relationships. A review of stakeholder theory has revealed that there is not much emphasis by researchers on how organisations manage their stakeholder relationships, but rather on the identification and analysis of stakeholders. Research that has focused on stakeholder relationships has focused on different elements found in stakeholder relationship management and not necessarily on how stakeholder relationships should be managed. On the other hand, stakeholder theory does not seem to include social licence to operate which is important in stakeholder relationship management within the mining context. The purpose of this study is to develop a multidimensional stakeholder relationship management process for the Chinese mining organisation in Zimbabwe, showing dynamic interactions between multiple stakeholder networks with complementary, competitive and/or cooperative interests, while taking into account the possibility that interests may vary according to the underlying context. Thirteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with three stakeholder groups of a Chinese mining organisation as identified from the literature, namely employees, government and the community. The critical incident technique (CIT) was adopted in developing the interview questions and facilitated the data collection process. Participants described 36 critical incidents. According to multiple stakeholders, the findings suggest that, the Chinese managers built the relationship with multiple stakeholders through friendship, negotiation, pretend not to understand, referral, singing a contract, started with problems, they just arrived and through the government. With the same relationship being managed by the Chinese managers by being hard, rough and ruthless, authoritative, Chinese way of doing things, used avoidance, lack of competency, through a third party and resolving conflict when managing stakeholder relationships. Showing that the building and managing of stakeholder relationships is socially constructed and experienced differently by stakeholders. The positive and negative relationship characteristics influenced how stakeholder relationships are managed by the selected Chinese mining organisation. In the presence of positive relationship characteristics which included, friendship,there was flexibility, power dynamics, accountability depends on situations, commitment a show of investment, do cooperate to a certain extent, trust began with an open mind, shared values: hardwork and profit, shared values: culture was associated with the Chinese managing the relationship through being kind, supportive, motivating and understanding; complaint; through a third party; controlling; Chinese way of doing things; and performance and reward management of stakeholder relationships. Whilst negative relationship characteristics which included fear, their hearts were hardened, Chinese had power, intimidaton, not accountable, lack of commitment, communication understanding, connotations and intretations, communication done through a third party; no cooperation want to cut coners; trust are they conveying what is being said; deception and misrepresentation; trust depends on experience; being told lies and not transparent were associated with negative (being authoritative; hard, rough and ruthless; avoidance; blame shifting and pushy) stakeholder relationship management by the Chinese managers. Hence, a proposition that negative or positive relationship characteristics result in negative or positive stakeholder relationship management by the Chinese managers was propossed. The following challenges were experienced in the management of stakeholder relationships namely, communication, corruption, cheating, political environment, working conditions and broken promises. The dynamic multidimensional stakeholder relationship management process was subsequently revised to accommodate the new relationship characteristics and their positive and negative influence on how stakeholder relationships are managed. The main contribution of this study is the dynamic multidimensional stakeholder relationship management process which was developed within the context of a Chinese mining organisation in Africa. It is recommended that practitioners utilise the dynamic multidimensional stakeholder relationship management process to assist them in understanding and conducting research on stakeholder relationships. Further research is suggested on developing the research proposition made in the study and to empirically test the dynamic multidimension stakeholder relationship management process in other industries that posses different or similar contexts as this study.
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Statistical Analysis of the Radio-Interferometric Measurement Equation, a derived adaptive weighting scheme, and applications to LOFAR-VLBI observation of the Extended Groth Strip
- Authors: Bonnassieux, Etienne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Radio astronomy , Astrophysics , Astrophysics -- Instruments -- Calibration , Imaging systems in astronomy , Radio interferometers , Radio telescopes , Astronomy -- Observations
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93789 , vital:30942
- Description: J.R.R Tolkien wrote, in his Mythopoeia, that “He sees no stars who does not see them first, of living silver made that sudden burst, to flame like flowers beneath the ancient song”. In his defense of myth-making, he formulates the argument that the attribution of meaning is an act of creation - that “trees are not ‘trees’ until so named and seen” - and that this capacity for creation defines the human creature. The scientific endeavour, in this context, can be understood as a social expression of a fundamental feature of humanity, and from this endeavour flows much understanding. This thesis, one thread among many, focuses on the study of astronomical objects as seen by the radio waves they emit. What are radio waves? Electromagnetic waves were theorised by James Clerk Maxwell (Maxwell 1864) in his great theoretical contribution to modern physics, their speed matching the speed of light as measured by Ole Christensen R0mer and, later, James Bradley. It was not until Heinrich Rudolf Hertz’s 1887 experiment that these waves were measured in a laboratory, leading to the dawn of radio communications - and, later, radio astronomy. The link between radio waves and light was one of association: light is known to behave as a wave (Young double-slit experiment), with the same propagation speed as electromagnetic radiation. Light “proper” is also known to exist beyond the optical regime: Herschel’s experiment shows that when diffracted through a prism, sunlight warms even those parts of a desk which are not observed to be lit (first evidence of infrared light). The link between optical light and unseen electromagnetic radiation is then an easy step to make, and one confirmed through countless technological applications (e.g. optical fiber to name but one). And as soon as this link is established, a question immediately comes to the mind of the astronomer: what does the sky, our Universe, look like to the radio “eye”? Radio astronomy has a short but storied history: from Karl Jansky’s serendipitous observation of the centre of the Milky Way, which outshines our Sun in the radio regime, in 1933, to Grote Reber’s hand-built back-yard radio antenna in 1937, which successfully detected radio emission from the Milky Way itself, to such monumental projects as the Square Kilometer Array and its multiple pathfinders, it has led to countless discoveries and the opening of a truly new window on the Universe. The work presented in this thesis is a contribution to this discipline - the culmination of three years of study, which is a rather short time to get a firm grasp of radio interferometry both in theory and in practice. The need for robust, automated methods - which are improving daily, thanks to the tireless labour of the scientists in the field - is becoming ever stronger as the SKA approaches, looming large on the horizon; but even today, in the precursor era of LOFAR, MeerKAT and other pathfinders, it is keenly felt. When I started my doctorate, the sheer scale of the task at hand felt overwhelming - to actually be able to contribute to its resolution seemed daunting indeed! Thankfully, as the saying goes, no society sets for itself material goals which it cannot achieve. This thesis took place at an exciting time for radio interferometry: at the start of my doctorate, the LOFAR international stations were - to my knowledge - only beginning to be used, and even then, only tentatively; MeerKAT had not yet shown its first light; the techniques used throughout my work were still being developed. At the time of writing, great strides have been made. One of the greatest technical challenges of LOFAR - imaging using the international stations - is starting to become reality. This technical challenge is the key problem that this thesis set out to address. While we only achieved partial success so far, it is a testament to the difficulty of the task that it is not yet truly resolved. One of the major results of this thesis is a model of a bright resolved source near a famous extragalactic field: properly modeling this source not only allows the use of international LOFAR stations, but also grants deeper access to the extragalactic field itself, which is otherwise polluted by the 3C source’s sidelobes. This result was only achieved thanks to the other major result of this thesis: the development of a theoretical framework with which to better understand the effect of calibration errors on images made from interferometric data, and an algorithm to strongly mitigate them. The structure of this manuscript is as follows: we begin with an introduction to radio interferometry, LOFAR, and the emission mechanisms which dominate for our field of interest. These introductions are primarily intended to give a brief overview of the technical aspects of the data reduced in this thesis. We follow with an overview of the Measurement Equation formalism, which underpins our theoretical work. This is the keystone of this thesis. We then show the theoretical work that was developed as part of the research work done during the doctorate - which was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Its practical application - a quality-based weighting scheme - is used throughout our data reduction. This data reduction is the next topic of this thesis: we contextualise the scientific interest of the data we reduce, and explain both the methods and the results we achieve.
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Statistical study of traveling ionospheric disturbances over South Africa
- Authors: Mahlangu, Daniel Fiso
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Ionosphere -- Research , Sudden ionospheric disturbances , Gravity waves , Magnetic storms
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76387 , vital:30556
- Description: This thesis provides a statistical analysis of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) in South Africa. The velocities of the TIDs were determined from total electron content (TEC) maps using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The periods were determined using Morlet function in wavelet analysis. The TIDs were grouped into four categories: daytime, twilight, nighttime TIDs, and those TIDs that occurred during magnetic storms. It was found that daytime medium scale TIDs (MSTIDs) propagated equatorward in all seasons (summer, autumn, winter, and spring), with velocities of about 114 to 213 m/s. Their maximum occurrence was in winter between 15:00 and 16:00 LT. The daytime large scale (TIDs) LSTIDs propagated equatorward with velocities of approximately 455 to 767 m/s. Their highest occurrence was in summer, between 12:00-13:00 LT. Most of the these TIDs (about 78%) were observed during the passing of the morning solar terminator. This implied that the morning terminator was more effective in instigating TIDs. Only a few nighttime TIDs were observed and therefore their behavior could not be statistically inferred. The TIDs that occurred during magnetically disturbed conditions propagated equatorward. This indicated that their source mechanism was atmospheric gravity waves generated at the onset of geomagnetic storms.
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Students’ perceptions of their employability as revealed by their understandings of the South African Labour Market
- Authors: Gabobegwe, Maoshadi Keletso
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71482 , vital:29857
- Description: The state of the South African labour market is characterized −among other things− by inequalities and the chronic issue of unemployment, with a rate that has come up to 27.7% in the third quarter of 2017. Considering this, unemployment in South Africa is explained by numerous authors as a structural issue. In a sense that unemployed people do not have the skills required by the labour market. But, since education attainment improves an individuals’ employment prospects and outcome. It would be expected that people with higher education would have high prospects of getting employment. Yet, people with higher education qualifications also face challenges of obtaining employment. Even though research finds that graduate unemployment is not as bad when compared to general and overall unemployment of the country. It still remains that skills shortages and/or mismatch are deemed to be the main contributor of the South African graduate unemployment. Existing research finds that just as the labour market is characterized with differences on the grounds of gender and race. This also reflects on how graduates enter the labour market. With the white race having more employment outcomes than blacks and males than females. It is against this background that this dissertation set out to explore what Rhodes University final-year students’ −who are nearing the transition from varsity to the labour market− perceive to be their employment prospects and outcomes. Taking into consideration the issue of unemployment and inequalities in the labour market. In essence, one of the key issues that the dissertation focuses on, is what students think of their employability based on their understanding of the labour market. More than that, the dissertation investigates how aspects such as the student’s field of study, race and gender factor into how students understand the labour market and ultimately how they perceive their employment prospects and outcomes. As a consequence, evidence suggests that students’ perceptions of the labour market influences how they perceive their employability. Over and above, the research finds that the students field of study especially, features significantly in how students perceive the labour market and their employability. While race and gender also factored in students’ responses, it was not as significant as compared to their field of study respectively. The general finding is that students are well aware of the issues of the labour market and are concerned about the implications of these issues on their employability. This awareness and concern varied based on students’ field of study, race and gender.
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Students’ perspectives on the language question in South African Higher Education: the expression of marginalized linguistic identities on Rhodes University students’ Facebook pages
- Authors: Resha, Babalwa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Language policy -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Language and education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Sociolinguistics -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Linguistic rights -- South Africa , Translanguaging (Linguistics) , Multilingual education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Educational change -- South Africa -- Makhanda , South Africa – Makhanda -- Language and languages -- Political aspects , Student movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Online social networks -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Rhodes University -- Sociological aspects , Facebook (Firm) , UCKAR
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119813 , vital:34785
- Description: The study analyses students’ engagement with the language question in South African Higher Education (HE) and their use of African languages on the institutional Facebook pages, namely UCKAR and RHODES SRC, during the student protests of 2015 to early 2017. Extensive use of social media is a salient feature of the protests as indicated by the hashtag prefixes such as #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall. On these platforms, disgruntled students use their multiple languages to interact, establish a sense of belonging and power to challenge different forms of exclusionary institutional culture, including language policies and practices in HE. The research examines and explores students’ perspectives on the language question in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) on the two institutional Facebook pages, and how mother tongue speakers of indigenous African languages use these languages to express their marginalized linguistic identities in HEIs in South Africa. Theoretically, the study uses the notion of linguistic imperialism to provide a broad context for understanding the language question in South African HE and its significance in transformation. The engagement with the language question on the UCKAR and RHODES SRC Facebook pages is carried out from the lenses of citizen sociolinguistics while the new theory of translanguaging offers the analysis on language usage and alternative ways of addressing linguistic hegemony in educational environments. The translanguaging approach has the capacity to demonstrate multi-layered linguistic practices and reflections on the UCKAR and RHODES pages. It is the interest of the researcher to investigate how students with various linguistic and other backgrounds engage the language question and perform linguistic identities. Language usage on the two Rhodes University institutional Facebook pages and its implications on students’ engagement with issues, is used to provide insight towards the implementation of multilingualism in the university. The study is virtual ethnographic in nature. Virtual ethnography is an online research method that employs ethnographic research to study online social interactions. To analyse data, the study used a textual analysis technique as it looks at any analysis of texts broadly. Critical Discourse Analysis approach was used to analyse language debates. Purposive sampling was also used to select Facebook posts and comments on the language question and those written in African languages, and interviews were conducted with key members of Rhodes University, to bring forth their perspectives on the institution’s language policy and to figure out what plans are put into place to engage students in debates on the language question because students are important stakeholders of the university, and at the same time some of these students are also speakers of indigenous African languages. In general, the research findings have shown that students as users of languages in HEIs are capable of engendering debates that could be used as solutions to the language question and transformation in the South African HEIs. Thus, this study offers a different approach into engaging with students, their perspective and debates through institutional Facebook pages. In addition, it offers students’ perspectives on the curriculum of the university and how the university can go about its transformation. This study provides evidence that the use of indigenous African languages by mother tongue speakers of these languages in institutes of higher learning and their related institutional Facebook pages and social media in general, is an expression of marginalized linguistic identities of these language speakers. Sometimes these identities are multiple, and students use different modalities to express them, hence the notion of translanguaging.
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Substituent effects on the electrocatalytic activity of cobalt phthalocyanine in the presence of graphene quantum dots
- Authors: Centane, Sixolile Sibongiseni
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Phthalocyanines , Quantum dots , Electrocatalysis , Electrochemistry
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67614 , vital:29121
- Description: The electrocatalytic activity of metallophthalocyanines derivatives is explored. Cobalt monocarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine (1), cobalt tetracarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine (2), cobalt tetraaminophenoxy phthalocyanine (3) and cobalt tris-(tert-butylphenoxy) monocarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine (4) are the phthalocyanines employed in this work. The metallophthalocyanines were employed alone as well as in the presence of the carbon based graphene quantum dots. The electrocatalytic behaviour of functionalized GQDs is also explored herein. The catalytic processes studies were conducted on a glassy carbon electrode surface. Modification of the electrode was achieved by the adsorption method. The materials were adsorbed either alone, as premixed/covalently linked GQDs/Pc conjugates or sequentially. Sequentially adsorbed electrodes involved the phthalocyanines on top or beneath GQDs. Sequentially modified electrodes where the phthalocyanine had higher currents and low detection limits than when the phthalocyanine is underneath. Premixed conjugates showed better activity than the covalently formed conjugates. The nanomaterials synthesized and used in this work were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Atomic Force Microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The modified electrodes were characterized using cyclic voltammetry and scanning electrochemical spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic activity of the modified electrodes towards the oxidation of hydrazine was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Superior catalytic activity was observed for the conjugates compared to that of the individual conjugates.
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Sulphide textures and compositions associated with the hydrothermal/magmatic system of the Twangiza gold deposit (South Kivu, DRC)
- Authors: Busane, Emmanuel Aganze
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Gold mines and mining -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Geology -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Hydrothermal alteration -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Sulphide minerals -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Gold ores -- Geology -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Geochemistry -- Congo (Democratic Republic) , Twangiza Mine (Congo (Democratic Republic))
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76588 , vital:30610
- Description: Twangiza mine is a gold deposit situated in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The rock types at the Twangiza Mine consist of black shale, including carbonaceous mudstone and thin intercalated layers of siltstone, and feldspar-rich granitoid intrusive sills, referred to as albitite, folded into a major antiformal structure. The gold mineralization at the mine is commonly found associated with sulphides. The sulphide textures and compositions of mineralized and unmineralized samples of black shales, albitite sills and hydrothermal veins in the mine are considered for the understanding of the spatial association of gold with sulphides and gold mineralization history of the mine. The sulphides within the Twangiza mine consist of pyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and rare cobaltite. The primary pyrite texture occurs in unmineralized black shale and is interpreted to be diagenetic. It consists of fine-grained anhedral pyrite crystals aggregating into spherical nodules and formed in replacement of organic material during the diagenesis process. The secondary pyrite textures resulted from the hydrothermal fluids activity and include (i) aggregates of annealed anhedral crystals into sulphide-rich lenses; (ii) elongated anhedral pyrite in the form of short stringers; (iii) fine-grained subhedral to euhedral pyrite randomly distributed within the rock matrix; (iv) euhedral zoned pyrite crystals occurring within veins; (v) aggregations of fine-grained anhedral pyrite, locally distributed in the matrix; (vi) abundant dissemination of fine-grained subhedral to anhedral pyrite crystals within the vein selvedge in the host rock; (vii) and coarse-grained massive pyrite bodies. The pyrite major elemental composition does not vary significantly in the different textures and sample types. The Fe content ranges from 44.57 to 46.40 wt. %, and the S content ranges from 53.75 to 55.25 wt. %. Pyrite from mineralized black shale and hydrothermal veins contains relatively higher concentrations of As (~ 1 wt. %) than pyrite from other sample types. The arsenopyrite commonly occurs as fine-grained anhedral crystals as inclusions within pyrite, medium-grained crystal intergrowing with pyrite and/or as coarse-grained massive arsenopyrite bodies in the massive sulphide veins. The arsenopyrite composition is uniform in all textural and sample type with Fe content ranging from 33.44 to 35.20 wt. %, S content ranging from 21.13 to 22.55 wt. % and As content ranging from 42.20 to 43.97 wt. %. In mineralized black shale and unmineralized black shale, the arsenopyrite shows, however, minor concentrations of Ni with 0.39 and 0.70 wt. % respectively. The pyrrhotite occurs as fine-grained anhedral patchy crystals randomly distributed within the rock matrix of unmineralized black shale and unmineralized granitoid, and / or as inclusions within pyrite in mineralized granitoid. The pyrrhotite shows a uniform composition in all samples and textural types, though minor concentrations of Ni (2.06 wt. %) content are reported in unmineralized granitoid. Chalcopyrite occurs as fine-grained crystals in inclusions within pyrite; and cobaltite occurs as rare fine-grained anhedral crystals occasionally disseminated in the albitite sill matrix. The chalcopyrite composition does not vary considerably in all sample and textural types, and cobaltite shows minor concentrations of Ni (4.55 wt. %) and Fe (3.45 wt. %). Native gold grains are commonly found associated with the secondary pyrite texture especially within the sulphide-rich lenses and in the massive sulphide veins, and are almost pure with ~97 wt. %. A Na-rich hydrothermal fluid from low-grade metamorphism associated with the E-W compressive tectonic event, which caused formation of the antiform structure which control the mineralization in the deposit area, led to the albitization of the deposit rocks and specially the alteration of the granitic assemblage to form albitite, and the deposition of aggregates of fine-grained anhedral crystals and growth and annealing of pyrite in sulphide-rich lenses. Afterward, the CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids influx circulated through reactivated structures, including quartz veins, and led to the precipitation of dolomite, ankerite, siderite and magnesite. They also led to the precipitation of pyrite of secondary textures as well as arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite and formation of pyrrhotite from the desulphurization of early pyrite. The CO2-rich hydrothermal fluids probably leached gold and other trace elements such as As, Co, etc. from the sedimentary host rocks and deposited them into suitable traps, such as the sulphide-rich lenses and massive sulphide bodies, preferably within the hinge zone of anticline axis constituting a hydrothermal fluid pathway.
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Syntheses and photophysico-chemical properties of phthalocyanines in the presence of silica nanoparticles
- Authors: Peteni, Siwaphiwe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Phthalocyanines , Silica , Nanoparticles , Bioconjugates
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67592 , vital:29118
- Description: This thesis reports on the syntheses and characterizationof symmetrical (charged and neutral), asymmetrical (neutral) metallophthalocyanines (MPcs) and subphthalocyanines (SubPcs). The charged and neutral Pcs were physically doped onto silica nanoparticles (SiNPs). The asymmetrical MPc was also chemically linked to SiNPs. Spectroscopic and microscopic techniques were used to confirm the formation of SiNPs-MPc conjugates. The photophysics and photochemistry of the MPcs were assessed when alone and in conjugates (with SiNPs). The studies showed no significant changes in fluorescence quantum yields (ϕF) and fluorescence lifetimes (ϕF) of MPcs following doping except for 2-SiNPs (2 = Zn tetraaminophenoxyphthalocyanines) and 6-SiNPs (doped) (6 = Zn tris[(4-(pyridine-4-ylthio)2-thio-4-methylthiazol-5yl) acetic acid phthalocyanine) where there was a decrease in the ϕF value. Also for 1-SiNPs (1 = unsubstituted ZnPc) there was an elongation in τF which could be due to the protection offered by SiNPs. Both charged/neutral MPcs displayed high triplet quantum yields (ϕT) and singlet quantum yields (ϕΔ) following doping except for 2-SiNPs where there was a decrease in the latter. For 1-SiNPs there was an increase in ϕT but a decrease inϕΔ .There wasa decrease in ϕT and an increase in ϕΔfor4-SiNPs (4 = Zn tetrasulfophenoxyphthalocyanine), the decrease in ϕT could be due to the orientation of theMPc in SiNPs. An increase in both ϕT and ϕΔ for 6-SiNPs (linked) compared to 6-SiNPs (doped) was observed. Complex 5 (5 = Zn tetra-kis-(dodecylmercapto) phthalocyanine) showed a low ϕΔ value.
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