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Molecular simulations of potential agents and targets of Alzheimer’s disease

  • Authors: Carlisle, Tanya
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Alzheimer's disease -- Treatment , Alzheimer's disease -- Molecular aspects , Amyloid beta-protein precurs , Amyloid beta-protein
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140025 , vital:37825
  • Description: The World Alzheimer Report statedin 2016 that approximately 46.8 million people were living with dementia and this figure is expected to triple by 2050. Alzheimer’s Disease was discovered to be a precursor to dementia in 1976 and since then efforts to understand Alzheimer’s have been prioritized. To date, there are very few effective forms of treatment for Alzheimer’s, many are known to offer only mild calming of the symptoms and have side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, loss of appetite and sleep disturbances. This has been due to lack of understanding on how Alzheimer’s is caused. With the two main hallmarks of the disease now being more understood it has opened the doorway into the discovery of new treatments for this disease. This study focuses on the hallmark involving the aggregation of the β-amyloid protein to form plaques surrounding the neurons of the brain. Copper, Zinc and Iron have also been found in high concentrations in and surrounding these plaques. This study focused on the screening of the South African Natural Compound database (SANCDB) to discover hits that have potential destabilizing action against the Beta-amyloid aggregate. If one of these compounds could prove to have destabilizing action on the aggregate it could open the doorway to new potential forms of treatment. Over 700 SANCDB compounds were docked, and the top hits were taken to molecular dynamics to further study the interactions of the compounds and the aggregate. However, the hits identified had strong binding to the aggregate causing it to become stable instead of the desired effect of destabilizing the structure. This information, however, does not rule out the possibility of these compounds preventing the formation of the aggregates. Further, interactions of copper with β-amyloid and copper were determined by solubilizing the aggregate and introducing copper ions in a dynamics simulation. Possible interactions between copper and the methionine residues were visualised.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Molecular simulations of potential agents and targets of Alzheimer’s disease

  • Authors: Joli, Luxolo
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Alzheimer's disease -- Chemotherapy , Alzheimer's disease -- Treatment , Ligands (Biochemistry) , Proteins -- Chemistry , Molecular dynamics -- Simulation methods
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146411 , vital:38523
  • Description: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that was first discovered in 1901 by Dr Aloïs Alzheimer and was later reported publicly in 1906. The German doctor had a 51-yearold woman patient called Auguste Deter, who was suffering from a rare brain disorder with early signs of memory loss and cognition. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common type of dementia that affects people with the age of 65 years and older. There is no single known cause of Alzheimer’s disease however, amyloid β-peptide (Aβ1–40/42) was found to be at the centre of AD pathogenesis and this connection was referred as “amyloid hypothesis”. It is suspected that an accumulation of amyloid β-peptide is a major contributor to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration. Alzheimer’s disease is complex and therefore, currently there is no medication available that treats the disease. However, there are approaches that focus on helping people maintain mental function, manage behavioral symptoms, and slow down the symptoms of disease. According to South Africa’s 2011 census, there are approximately 2.2 million people in South Africa with some form of dementia and therefore there is a need to find a treatment for the disease. This study aims to find agents and targets of Alzheimer’s Disease by using different computational techniques such as molecular modelling. The study will use compounds from the South African Compounds Database (SANCDB) and the following therapeutic targets α-, β- and γ-secretase, acetylcholinesterase, tau protein and neprilysin. A successful High-throughput Virtual Screening (HTVS) study to determine lead compounds was performed using a computational program called KNIME. Molecular docking was achieved with GLIDE as it allows for exhaustive ligand flexibility. The docking calculations were carried out using the high level of precision XP (extra precision) for enhanced docking accuracy. The binding affinities (docking scores) for the best bound ligands obtained from docking were in the order of -5 kcal/mol or less. The ligandSANC00370 was the best binding ligand against the protein 1J1C_B and had the best binding energy of -13.94 kcal/mol compared to others. The receptor-ligand complexes were analyzed using the interaction diagrams obtained from the Discovery Studio Visualizer and Maestro programs. Molecular Dynamics simulations were performed on the complexes obtained from docking to help in optimizing their interactions. The simulations were performed using the Desmond tool with the OPLS3 force field. 100 ns simulations were performed for six systems with the best docking score results epresenting each of the therapeutic targets and for the other complex systems, 50 ns simulations were performed. The Desmond simulations were analyzed using the Simulations Interaction Diagrams such as PL-RMSD, L-RMSF, P-RMSF, L-Torsions, P-SSE, LP-Contacts and L-Properties. Maestro was used to visualize the stability of the ligands in the active site during the simulation. All 13 Desmond simulations were successful however, there were 9 simulations which produced satisfactory results while the others were nsatisfactory. Based on the molecular docking and Molecular Dynamics results of this study, 9 potential targets and 6 potential agents were obtained successfully and can be studied further as therapeutics for Alzheimer’s Disease.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Monitoring and evaluation in a changing world: A Southern African perspective on the skills needed for a new approach

  • Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Kotschy, Karen
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370711 , vital:66369 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/ 10.4102/aej.v8i1.472"
  • Description: Background: As science and modern technology have brought many advances, we have also come to overshoot planetary boundaries, while still falling short of development goals to eradicate poverty and inequality. A growing recognition of the complexity of development problems and contexts calls for new framings, including a new approach to monitoring and evaluation (M and E) as one of the mechanisms by which modern societies aim to steer towards a more sustainable future. New approaches to M and E mean new skills for the M and E practitioner. Objectives: This article proposed a framing for M and E skills, comprising of technical, relational and transformational (T-R-T) competences. Method: Adapted from the literature, this competence framework was tested in a broader learning needs assessment and then applied retrospectively to author’s experience in developmental evaluations in complex social–ecological contexts in southern Africa. Results: The emerging insights were that not only technical competence is needed, but also relational competence that goes beyond interpersonal skills, to enable the production and uptake of evaluation findings. In addition, the limitations of mainstream M and E methods in the face of complexity seemed to create a need for ‘transformational’ competence, which included evaluators’ ability to develop credible M and E alternatives. Conclusion: The T-R-T framework helped to advance the notions of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills and expanded on existing M and E competence frameworks. Recommendations included a call for innovative educational and professional development approaches to develop relational and transformational competencies, in addition to training for technical competence.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

More than a century of biological control against invasive alien plants in South Africa: a synoptic view of what has been accomplished

Mothers’ perceptions of the effects of the babies in mind programme on maternal mental health and mother-infant attachment: a South African narrative study

  • Authors: Naicker, Samantha , Cronje, Johan
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Mother and infant
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46414 , vital:39590
  • Description: The focus of this study is on mothers, motherhood and the Babies in Mind programme as an early intervention strategy for mothers in South Africa. The rate of maternal mental ill health in our country is alarming. Research consistently confirms that maternal mental health directly affects infant and child mental health. One of the major determinants of mental health is mother-infant attachment. Studies have indicated the range of deleterious effects that maternal mental ill-health and mother-infant attachment issues have on offspring from infancy to adulthood. This has implications for the mental health of future generations and society at large. Researchers have called for evidence-based interventions that address maternal mental health and mother-infant attachment, especially in developing countries. South Africa has no national prevention or treatment programme to address these needs. This study investigated the Babies in Mind programme as an early intervention option to address the gap in promoting maternal mental health and mother-infant attachment. A social constructionist, narrative study was employed to meet the objectives of the study. The aim was to explore mothers’ perceptions of the impact of the Babies in Mind programme, with particular reference to their mental health and their relationships to their infants. Focus was placed on understanding the social constructions of motherhood at the community level and how these constructions were reconstructed through the programme. Purposive sampling was employed and focus groups were conducted to collect the relevant data. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that mothers’ experiences of the Babies in Mind programme were positive and there were improvements in their mental health and relationships to their infants. A relationship model for mothers was developed based on the themes that emerged from the data analysis. A platform for continued support and discussion was organised via a social media (Whatsapp) support group. Twelve 7guidelines were suggested for the implementation of intervention programmes such as the Babies in Mind programme at the community level.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Movement patterns of the epizoic limpet Lottia tenuisculpta on two host snails Omphalius nigerrimus and Reishia clavigera:

  • Authors: Nakano, Tomoyuki , Okumura, Yousuke , Nakayama, Ryo , Seuront, Laurent
  • Date: 2020
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/160268 , vital:40429 , DOI: 10.1080/13235818.2020.1808280
  • Description: The tiny epizoic limpet Lottia tenuisculpta lives on rocky surfaces and shells of the snails Omphalius nigerrimus and Reishia clavigera. The movement patterns of the limpet on host snails was observed during 24 h under controlled laboratory conditions. A specific behaviour, referred to as returning behaviour and reminiscent of homing behaviour, was observed in seven out of 20 individuals, and two out of 15 individuals on O. nigerrimus and R. clavigera, respectively.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Multi-layered risk management in under-resourced antenatal clinics

  • Authors: Feltham-King, Tracey , Macleod, Catriona I
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/298561 , vital:57716 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13698575.2019.1697432"
  • Description: In this article we contribute to critical risk approaches to studying pregnancy and childbirth in the global South. Following Sarah Rudrum’s work, our approach focusses on sociocultural inequalities amid the regulation of individuals. We draw on data from our Foucauldian-inspired ethnography of two antenatal clinics in an under-resourced area of South Africa to illustrate how multi-layered risk management operates in these spaces. These data were collected over a period of six months in the form of semi-structured interviews, observations of consultations and waiting room interactions, documents used in the clinic, and posters appearing on the clinic walls. Our findings show how a scientific-bureaucratic approach to pregnancy risk management, as encoded in international, national and institutional guidelines, is well known, highly visible, and practised through surveillance and reporting mechanisms in clinics. This approach incites healthcare practitioners to achieve particular performance standards and to monitor their professional agency. Managing pregnancy risk thus entails regulating the healthcare practitioners themselves. In implementing approved pregnancy risk management strategies in an over-subscribed and under-resourced public healthcare setting, however, healthcare practitioners face potential risk to their professional reputation and integrity. In managing this risk, they resist the scientific-bureaucratic approach through: depicting themselves as victims of unfair institutional arrangements or unreasonable patients; instituting street-level bureaucracy to control access to the clinics; and controlling patients’ actions in authoritarian ways. Our research shows that without engagement with the on-the-ground realities of the antenatal clinic in resource-poor environments, a scientific-bureaucratic approach to pregnancy risk management is inevitably limited in its effectiveness.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Multilingualism, innovation, and productivity: an examination of the impact of multilingualism in the workplace, with reference to the BRICS countries

  • Authors: Leyne, Breda
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Multilingualism -- BRIC countries , Bilingual communication in organizations , Second language acquisition , Language in the workplace , Diversity in the workplace , Communication in organizations , Intercultural communication , Labor productivity , Organizational behavior , Technological innovations , BRICS countries
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148149 , vital:38714
  • Description: This study examined whether the choice of language in the workplace affects personal and workplace productivity. The study has focussed on those working in countries which come under the BRICS grouping, Brazil, Russia, India and China and South Africa, as this provided a rich comparison of historical, economic and linguistic contexts. The research undertaken sought to explore the impact of prevailing language usage amongst employees of multi-national companies operating within the BRICS countries. With the assumption that these workforces will include multilingual individuals, the study set out to ascertain whether multilingualism has been recognised as a factor that might impact upon personal productivity or progress, either in a positive or negative fashion. The study set out to consider how language use may affect economic behaviour, firstly on a personal level and then to extrapolate this more widely into organisational productivity and innovation. This was set against background research into; theoretical perspectives on the acquisition of additional language, perceived benefits of bilingualism for individuals, studies of the management of language use with multinational corporations and relationships between language and economics. The conclusion reached is that multilingualism could have a beneficial impact on wider workforce productivity, and that it is not just a ‘language problem’ as it often seems to be treated. The final conclusion is that this may be something that should be more carefully considered by organisations in an increasingly global workplace. The researcher considers that multilingualism could be better employed as a workplace productivity metric, in a way that arguably it is not at present.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Multiplexed Mass Spectrometry: Single, On-Bead, Detection Analysis Using MALDI-TOF MS

  • Authors: Twala, Busisiwe Victoria
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Uncatalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164693 , vital:41155 , doi:10.21504/10962/164693
  • Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2020
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  • Date Issued: 2020

My crazy character

  • Authors: Sojini, Lungile
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: South African fiction (English) -- 21st century
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148217 , vital:38720
  • Description: My thesis is a metafictional novella. I am interested in fictionalising the processes that writers use when they sit down to plan, write and publish novels. Metafiction interests me because it breaks from the traditional way of writing fiction, particularly with regards to the appearance of the author in the fictional world created. Devin Gribbons’s metafictional story (titled A Short Story), in the anthology of innovative writing, 30 Under 30, was my inspiration for developing the metafictional approach to novella length. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Chief Fagunwa’s Forest of a Thousand Daemons, and Charles Bukowski’s autobiographical Ham on Rye, have for varying reasons, all influenced this writing.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Mycorrhizal Interventions for Sustainable Potato Production in Africa

  • Authors: Chifetete, Varaidzo W , Dames, Joanna F
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426021 , vital:72307 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.593053"
  • Description: The potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important tuber crop with high dietary value that could potentially help to alleviate malnutrition and hunger in Africa. However, production is expensive, with high fertilizer and pesticide demands that lead to environmental pollution, and tillage practices that negatively affect soil structure. Microorganisms of different types have increasingly been found to be useful as biofertilizers, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are an important crop symbiont. AM fungi have been shown to increase tolerance of crop plants to drought, salinity and disease by facilitating water and nutrient acquisition and by improving overall soil structure. However, the establishment and maintenance of the symbioses are greatly affected by agricultural practices. Here, we review the benefits that AM fungi confer in potato production, discuss the role and importance of mycorrhiza helper bacteria, and focus on how AM fungal diversity and abundance can be affected by conventional agricultural practices, such as those used in potato production. We suggest approaches for maintaining AM fungal abundance in potato production by highlighting the potential of conservation tillage practices augmented with cover crops and crop rotations. An approach that balances weed control, nutrient provision, and AM fungal helper bacterial populations, whilst promoting functional AM fungal populations for varying potato genotypes, will stimulate efficient mycorrhizal interventions.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Nano-biomimetic drug delivery vehicles: Potential approaches for COVID-19 treatment

  • Authors: Witika, Bwalya A , Makoni, Pedzisai A , Mweetwa, Larry L , Ntemi, Pascal V , Chikukwa, Mellisa T R , Matafwali, Scott K , Mwila, Chiluba , Mudenda, Steward , Katandula, Jonathan , Walker, Roderick B
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/183440 , vital:43991 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25245952"
  • Description: The current COVID-19 pandemic has tested the resolve of the global community with more than 35 million infections worldwide and numbers increasing with no cure or vaccine available to date. Nanomedicines have an advantage of providing enhanced permeability and retention and have been extensively studied as targeted drug delivery strategies for the treatment of different disease. The role of monocytes, erythrocytes, thrombocytes, and macrophages in diseases, including infectious and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and atherosclerosis, are better understood and have resulted in improved strategies for targeting and in some instances mimicking these cell types to improve therapeutic outcomes. Consequently, these primary cell types can be exploited for the purposes of serving as a "Trojan horse" for targeted delivery to identified organs and sites of inflammation. State of the art and potential utilization of nanocarriers such as nanospheres/nanocapsules, nanocrystals, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles/nano-structured lipid carriers, dendrimers, and nanosponges for biomimicry and/or targeted delivery of bioactives to cells are reported herein and their potential use in the treatment of COVID-19 infections discussed. Physicochemical properties, viz., hydrophilicity, particle shape, surface charge, composition, concentration, the use of different target-specific ligands on the surface of carriers, and the impact on carrier efficacy and specificity are also discussed.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Narratives of the commuter: experiences of commuting in the Port Elizabeth Northern Areas

  • Authors: Lingham, Rochin Shelley
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Commuters -- South Africa --Port Elizbeth , Traffic Safefty -- South Africa --Port Elizabeth
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46911 , vital:39731
  • Description: Transportation is a fundamental element of human existence. As urban areas continue to grow at a rapid speed public transport increasingly takes on the role of providing citizens with access to participate in activities of the city. Research has shown that individual perception of public transport is influenced by passenger response to collective mobility when on board modes of transport. This study aimed to investigate the minibus taxi commuters’ constructions and relevance of their taxi commuting experiences in the Port Elizabeth Northern Areas. Building on existing work it asks: How do commuters in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth describe and narrate their taxi commuting experiences? This thesis is interested in the experience of public transport as told by those who make use of the industry. The study focuses on both commuters and drivers and the way they characterize the social experience of commuting in taxis. These individuals provide first-hand experience and insight of the industry. The purpose of this study is to foreground the voices of those who have first-hand experience of dependency on the public transport industry.It is these voices that must be heard and considered in policy formation. The study found simultaneous vulnerabilities exist between taxi drivers and taxi commuters resulting in both groups being held captive by the taxi industry.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

National Wool Growers Association programme for communal farmers in Amahlathi local Municipality

  • Authors: Yeki, Precious Nomantande
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Farmers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Wool industry – South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/50676 , vital:42331
  • Description: By 2030, the majority of the world's population will live in urban areas and the farming populations we see today will be less. For the foreseeable future, meeting the needs of the future means confronting the problems that small farmers face in their daily struggle. The South African experience in relation to the agricultural sector is still principally dualistic, comprising of the large-scale commercial farming dominated by white farmers as well as small-scale sectors dominated by black farmers and this is distinctive in the local context of writings on agricultural and rural development. As a result, the government has adopted various approaches to promote Transformation in the sector, with mixed results. The well-known are the agricultural development programmes and black farmer empowerment programmes which also include land reform. This paper reviews one of the agricultural development programmes which seek to empower small holder farmers. The study assesses the impact of the National Wool Growers Association (NWGA) Wool Programme on the communal farmers productivity and agricultural income in Amahlathi Local Municipality. The NWGA has been the custodian for transformation and it has been a good vehicle to represent all wool producers in South Africa. The research discovered that the programme has a positive influence on productivity and agricultural income, yet there is a room for improvement both for the NWGA and the government. It was highlighted that the programme offers extension services, infrastructure for shearing shed, wool and carcass competition, shearing training to both shearers and wool farmers. The study also found that women and youth need to be included, in the programme.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Natural hair chronicles of black female vloggers: influences on their psychological well-being

  • Authors: Jacobs, Liezille , Kelemi, Anelisa
  • Date: 2020
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158354 , vital:40177 , https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2020.1796046
  • Description: This study explored how hair texture chronicles in a post-colonial country is influenced by psychological well-being and a sense of self in women. Our informants were 10 female, black, South African YouTube vloggers, with Afro-textured, frizzy, natural hair. The participants completed qualitative descriptions of their hair chronicles with vlogging. Thematic analysis of the data yielded the following themes: (i) untangling the politics of hair, identity, and race through transitioning hair stories; (ii) hair chronicles for psychological well-being; and (iii) empowerment from wearing natural hair.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Navigating Blackness in the African Diaspora

  • Authors: Yates, Sarah
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Ellison, Ralph. Invisible man , Everett, Percival. Erasure , Wicomb, Zoe. Playing in the light , Bulawayo, NoViolet. We need new names , Africans in literature , Race in literature , African fiction (English) -- History and criticism
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145720 , vital:38461
  • Description: This thesis offers a comparative reading of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Percival Everett’s Erasure, Zoë Wicomb’s Playing in the Light and NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names in order to explore the diversity of subjectivities included within the terms ‘African’ and ‘black’ and to argue for the necessity of renewed definitions of Africa(nness) and blackness which allow for diverse and fluid representations. The diverse historical and political contexts in which these novels are published, as well as the critical and theoretical discussions which surround them demonstrate an evolution in literary portrayals of identity politics. As the categories of race and nation become more fluid, so too do narrative forms. In particular, this thesis is interested in the textual strategies authors use to navigate the various ways in which depictions of blackness continue to be restricted by racism, stereotypes, and the dynamics of a global literary market. As portrayals and discussions of identity politics proliferate in popular culture, they become increasingly commodified, and therefore increasingly restricted by the market.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Needs analysis for a shared economy model within critical spare parts inventory management

  • Authors: Macfarlane, Shane
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Spare parts -- Management , Inventory control
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48775 , vital:41071
  • Description: The lack of spare parts is the predominant reason for machine downtime in organisations. The financial burden of holding spare parts coupled with long delivery times can severely hamper a factory’s attempt to prevent high levels of machine downtime. With the poor management of spare parts, breakdowns become lengthy as the lead times for the delivery of spare parts from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) may be very long. The productivity and profitability of an organisation are affected by the non-availability of spare parts. Mobley, Higgins and Wikoff (2008, p.2.64) describe critical spare parts (CSP) as spares used on critical machines that are always required to be in stock to receive reduced insurance premiums and hedge against lost production downtime due to machine failures. A shared economy model (SEM) was proposed as a possible solution to some of the problems related to spare parts availability. Botsman and Rogers (2010a) regard the shared economy as the innovative sharing of underutilised assets and facilities. The main research objective (ROM) of this study was to determine the viability and acceptance of using a shared economy model (SEM) within the realm of critical spare parts (CSP) management in the automotive manufacturing sector. To achieve the ROM several secondary objectives were set. A literature review discussed CSP, inventory management models and SEMs. This study used qualitative analysis as it was exploratory and appropriate for studies in which the researcher was unaware of the significant variables to investigate. Qualitative researchers tend to focus on a few participants who can clarify a phenomenon under investigation. To achieve the main research objective (ROM), interviews were conducted with relevant participants from the automotive manufacturing sector. The interviews were semi-structured and the researcher made use of an interview protocol. A sample size of eight was chosen for the research. The sample frame for this research was the East London automotive manufacturing sector. The sessions were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim into a text format for analysis via ATLAS.ti software. A grounded theory approach was used for the collection and analysis of the data. Empirical research and analysis revealed eight emergent themes pertinent to the ROM. Themes were categorised as Category 1 for critical spare parts (CSP) and Category for 2 for shared economy models (SEMs), and discussed in Chapter 4. The study concluded with the view that a shared economy model (SEM) for critical spare parts (CSP) inventory management in the East London automotive manufacturing sector was viable and acceptable, provided that it was managed correctly. Future research was suggested to address the economic feasibility of a SEM for CSP inventory management.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Negotiating family planning messages among Malawian men: A case study of vasectomy messages aimed at men in the Dedza and Karonga districts of Malawi

  • Authors: Ntaba, Jolly Maxwell
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Social marketing -- Malawi , Vasectomy -- Social aspects -- Malawi , Malawians -- Attitudes , Men -- Malawi -- Attitudes , Men -- Conduct of life -- Malawi , Men -- Sexual behavior -- Malawi , Masculinity -- Malawi , Reproductive health in mass media -- Malawi , Reproductive health services -- Malawi
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167200 , vital:41446
  • Description: Since the 1990s, vasectomy, the principal non-barrier method of contraception offered to men, has been vigorously promoted in Malawi, as a safe, effective and inexpensive form of birth control. Despite this marketing, the method has been chosen by only an estimated 0.01% of men in Malawi. This compares to about 11% of contraceptive using Malawian women, who have opted for tubal ligation, a more expensive and hazardous surgical procedure. Previous studies into this low uptake of vasectomy among men in Malawi, and other studies that have explored why no African country currently has a vasectomy rate of more than 1% of men, implicate cultural beliefs and traditional social practices among the key barriers to the diffusion of this particular innovation i.e. this method of contraception. Campaigns share new information in the hope that they will shift their audiences’ knowledge, and lead to changes in attitudes and practices, including the uptake of vasectomy. Social Marketing campaigns, even when they set out to explicitly accommodate these beliefs and challenge particular practices in order to promote various methods of contraception, are often inadequately conceived and sometimes poorly executed. Drawing on well-established theoretical perspectives developed by Cultural Studies scholars, including Reception Analysis and Thematic Analysis, this study investigates how men in two purposively selected districts of Karonga and Dedza in Malawi, interpret Social Marketing messages encouraging them to undergo vasectomies. The study examines key media texts and the nature of the involvement of a group of peer educators, dubbed ‘male champions’ in a 2017-2018 campaign by one of the leading Malawian providers of family planning services, the NGO Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM), to promote vasectomy. This is a purely qualitative case study that seeks to understand why these often-well-resourced campaigns have so little impact on the behaviour change they hope to inspire. Through individual interviews with the campaign’s designers, implementers, peer educators, focus group discussions with the campaign’s audiences, a close reading of texts used in the campaign, and observation, this study explores the circuits of communication and culture, through mechanisms of resonance, disconnection and even cognitive dissonance between the ‘encoders’ of the family planning messages and the decoders i.e. the intended audiences of the campaign. The study argues that as a result of several ‘modernist’ assumptions and outlooks, the campaign was unable to fully grasp the complex and contextually nuanced socio-cultural practices that factor into consideration of the campaign’s messages and the non-adoption of the proposed vasectomy method. The study further reveals, as many other studies have also observed, that the interpretation of the text promoting vasectomy is a complex process that is significantly shaped by the worldviews and lived experiences of the audiences. These views, as this study explores, are often complex and contradictory, interfacing aspirations of modernity with deeply held ‘traditional’ beliefs and practices. Although the campaigns are effective at transferring knowledge – it finds most targeted men have a relatively good understanding of the method and its efficacy – their prevailing socio-cultural attitudes and dispositions provide a strong countervailing discourse to the preferred reading of the campaign messages. This discourse exhorts having children, or the capacity to have children, even after a man has had several before, in current or previous marriages, or even in old age, as desirable and ‘rational’. The study therefore proposes, arising out of this detailed ethnographic research, a revised approach that argues that several social and cultural ‘vectors’ or ‘spheres of influence' need to be considered in new ways, in order to develop meaningful interventions in the promotion of vasectomy. This includes specific strategies to understand and challenge: 1. The enduring power of social stigma and scorn, and the notion of social shame. 2. The deep interplay between fertility and having children to notions of marriage, even in second or third marriages, and the interplay with perceptions of economic ‘value’ of children in the domestic political economy of marriage. 3. The embedded nature of provable fertility to notions of manhood. 4. The complex and nuanced involvement, at many levels, of broader social/family structures/personages in ‘personal’ decisions. 5. Forms of ‘hyperbolic discounting’, i.e. the calculating of precarious futures in various scenarios and its impact on current shorter-term calculations and gratifications. 6. Unusually high rates of infidelity in marriage, and seemingly low levels of trust in many partnerships. 7. The key role of interpersonal communication, i.e. the face-to-face elements of what are usually media-centric Social Marketing campaigns. The study recommends a more layered and nuanced approach to the promotion of vasectomy, propelled by a deeper understanding of these kinds of contexts and the interpretive power of the intended audience, as well as more nuanced segmentation of audiences, and more judicious use of peer-educators to support and deepen the mass media components of these communication campaigns.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2020

New difluoroboron complexes based on N, O-chelated Schiff base ligands: Synthesis, characterization, DFT calculations and photophysical and electrochemical properties

  • Authors: Sen, Pinar , Mpeta, Lekhetho S , Mack, John , Nyokong, Tebello
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/186207 , vital:44473 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlumin.2020.117262"
  • Description: The synthesis of new Schiff bases and their dinuclear boron complexes is described, along with their characterization by 1H and 13C NMR, FT-IR, and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and EDX for elemental analysis. The optical and photophysical properties were examined in terms of their absorption and emission behavior, fluorescence quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes. The flexible dinuclear boron complexes that are linked by a flexible carbon chain exhibited large Stokes shifts in the range from 92 nm to 115 nm in contrast to BODIPY dyes. Those properties make these complexes precious for applications in fluorescence materials. And also theoretical calculations were obtained by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2020

New directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology:

  • Authors: Aswani, Shankar
  • Date: 2020
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179028 , vital:40101 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/aman.13380
  • Description: Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid‐1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss their potential contribution to a public and actionable anthropology/scholarship that can better inform fisheries management and conservation. This is important because in the twenty‐first century, coastal peoples are facing socioeconomic and environmental challenges that are increasingly becoming hazardous. To create a more actionable discipline, anthropology needs to be more accessible, inform innovation, and recapture a more pluralistic scholarship that champions interdisciplinary work. This will require the consilience between the humanities and natural sciences for studying human–marine interactions more broadly and for protecting the marine environment.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2020
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