A social capital analysis of citizen participation and service delivery in metropolitan government in Zimbabwe: the case of Glenview, Harare since 2013
- Authors: Sachikonye, Tafadzwa I
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal services -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Public administration -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Citizen particpation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government --Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Harare (Zimbabwe). City Council
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96236 , vital:31253
- Description: Significant challenges exist in contemporary Zimbabwe with regard to urban government, including with specific reference to citizenship participation and service delivery capacities. One of the crucial factors considered in the existing literature when examining urban government is the extent to which the central government intrudes in the affairs of urban government. This is particularly important given that, in recent years, many urban governments have been controlled by the main opposition party in the country. In this context, the thesis offers a critical examination of urban government in contemporary Zimbabwe by focusing on urban government in Harare (the capital) and, even more specifically, on the high-density, low-income area of Glenview. Harare is one of two metropolitan urban areas in Zimbabwe, along with Bulawayo, and is governed by the Harare City Council. While the central state’s relationship with urban governments (including Harare) in Zimbabwe is important, and is examined in this thesis, the primary concern is how this and other factors affect citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare. In pursuing this, the thesis draws upon social capital theory (including questions around trust and networks) to facilitate a critical analysis of urban government, citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare and Glenview specifically. The fieldwork for this thesis involved a qualitative research methodology, including informal interviews with relevant local stakeholders in Harare and associated documents. The thesis concludes that localised political, social and other contextual factors in Harare undercut the prospects for meaningful citizenship participation (with forms of social exclusion existing) and that this has negative implications for effective and efficient service delivery mechanisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Sachikonye, Tafadzwa I
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social capital (Sociology) -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal services -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Public administration -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Citizen particpation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Local government --Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Harare (Zimbabwe). City Council
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96236 , vital:31253
- Description: Significant challenges exist in contemporary Zimbabwe with regard to urban government, including with specific reference to citizenship participation and service delivery capacities. One of the crucial factors considered in the existing literature when examining urban government is the extent to which the central government intrudes in the affairs of urban government. This is particularly important given that, in recent years, many urban governments have been controlled by the main opposition party in the country. In this context, the thesis offers a critical examination of urban government in contemporary Zimbabwe by focusing on urban government in Harare (the capital) and, even more specifically, on the high-density, low-income area of Glenview. Harare is one of two metropolitan urban areas in Zimbabwe, along with Bulawayo, and is governed by the Harare City Council. While the central state’s relationship with urban governments (including Harare) in Zimbabwe is important, and is examined in this thesis, the primary concern is how this and other factors affect citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare. In pursuing this, the thesis draws upon social capital theory (including questions around trust and networks) to facilitate a critical analysis of urban government, citizenship participation and service delivery in Harare and Glenview specifically. The fieldwork for this thesis involved a qualitative research methodology, including informal interviews with relevant local stakeholders in Harare and associated documents. The thesis concludes that localised political, social and other contextual factors in Harare undercut the prospects for meaningful citizenship participation (with forms of social exclusion existing) and that this has negative implications for effective and efficient service delivery mechanisms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A social realist account of constraints and enablements navigated by South African students during the four year professional accounting programme at Rhodes University, South Africa
- Authors: Myers, Lyndrianne Peta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students , Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93800 , vital:30946
- Description: This dissertation is an analysis of the enablements and constraints navigated by 43 students from different academic years within the Department of Accounting, Rhodes University, in their pursuit of obtaining the postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (DipAcc) qualification. Passing this diploma year entitles students to become Trainee Accountants, which is one of the requirements for their ultimate goal of becoming a chartered accountant. In the course of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted for this study, students from across the four years of the professional degree programme, shared what had helped or hindered them on their journeys to and through Rhodes University, and within the Department of Accounting at this university. Focus group discussions were then held with academics from the department, where the student participants’ experiences were shared. The responses of the members of the focus groups confirmed many of the student participants’ experiences as did interviews with representatives from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). These representatives also spoke about students’ experiences at other campuses. To determine how localised the student participants’ experiences were, selected individuals from a number of other Departments or Schools of Accounting at SAICA-accredited institutions in South Africa were also interviewed. SAICA representatives also discussed the ‘pervasive skills’ which trainee accountants are expected to acquire. The perspectives from these different groups, have provided validation of the student research participants’ experiences. Critical Realism and Social Realism were used as theoretical underpinnings while Social Realism, Bernstein’s Pedagogic Device, Legitimation Code Theory and New Literacies Theory were used as explanatory theories. Using these theories, the participants’ experiences were analysed and could be understood in a different way. This dissertation reveals how this unequal privileging of individuals as a result of the existing structures is perpetuated at university level. It is the poorer students from under-resourced schools who generally struggle with the language and the practices and ways of being required for success at university. Student participants’ experiences of constraint and enablement arose primarily in the areas of the finances required for tuition and living expenses while at university; having English as a language of learning; and difficulties experienced with taking advantage of the learning opportunities within the department. Research participants also spoke about their experiences of transformation in terms of both student protests, and a mentoring programme which assisted them in gaining access to the practises and ways of being required for the discipline. In so doing they were inducted into the discipline’s community of practice. This dissertation has assisted in providing an understanding of what has helped and what has hindered students at Rhodes University, on their journeys towards obtaining the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting qualification. It has also provided insight into the mechanisms which lie behind these experiences. This study will provide practitioners and policy-makers with the opportunity to be better informed about students’ struggles, to contemplate their interactions with students and to identify, remove or reduce unnecessarily burdensome hurdles. Equally and perhaps more importantly, this study and the work which emerges as a result of this research, will provide students with tools to assist them in their academic journeys, to manage essential hurdles, and to eliminate or avoid unnecessary hurdles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Myers, Lyndrianne Peta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Rhodes University -- Students , Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Finance -- South Africa , Higher education and state -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93800 , vital:30946
- Description: This dissertation is an analysis of the enablements and constraints navigated by 43 students from different academic years within the Department of Accounting, Rhodes University, in their pursuit of obtaining the postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (DipAcc) qualification. Passing this diploma year entitles students to become Trainee Accountants, which is one of the requirements for their ultimate goal of becoming a chartered accountant. In the course of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews conducted for this study, students from across the four years of the professional degree programme, shared what had helped or hindered them on their journeys to and through Rhodes University, and within the Department of Accounting at this university. Focus group discussions were then held with academics from the department, where the student participants’ experiences were shared. The responses of the members of the focus groups confirmed many of the student participants’ experiences as did interviews with representatives from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). These representatives also spoke about students’ experiences at other campuses. To determine how localised the student participants’ experiences were, selected individuals from a number of other Departments or Schools of Accounting at SAICA-accredited institutions in South Africa were also interviewed. SAICA representatives also discussed the ‘pervasive skills’ which trainee accountants are expected to acquire. The perspectives from these different groups, have provided validation of the student research participants’ experiences. Critical Realism and Social Realism were used as theoretical underpinnings while Social Realism, Bernstein’s Pedagogic Device, Legitimation Code Theory and New Literacies Theory were used as explanatory theories. Using these theories, the participants’ experiences were analysed and could be understood in a different way. This dissertation reveals how this unequal privileging of individuals as a result of the existing structures is perpetuated at university level. It is the poorer students from under-resourced schools who generally struggle with the language and the practices and ways of being required for success at university. Student participants’ experiences of constraint and enablement arose primarily in the areas of the finances required for tuition and living expenses while at university; having English as a language of learning; and difficulties experienced with taking advantage of the learning opportunities within the department. Research participants also spoke about their experiences of transformation in terms of both student protests, and a mentoring programme which assisted them in gaining access to the practises and ways of being required for the discipline. In so doing they were inducted into the discipline’s community of practice. This dissertation has assisted in providing an understanding of what has helped and what has hindered students at Rhodes University, on their journeys towards obtaining the Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting qualification. It has also provided insight into the mechanisms which lie behind these experiences. This study will provide practitioners and policy-makers with the opportunity to be better informed about students’ struggles, to contemplate their interactions with students and to identify, remove or reduce unnecessarily burdensome hurdles. Equally and perhaps more importantly, this study and the work which emerges as a result of this research, will provide students with tools to assist them in their academic journeys, to manage essential hurdles, and to eliminate or avoid unnecessary hurdles.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A sociological analysis of Rhodes University students’ understanding of depression
- Authors: Kadula, Tadala
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: College students -- South Africa -- Mental health , College students -- South Africa -- Mental health -- Case studies , Depression, Mental , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96258 , vital:31255
- Description: Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, this research sought to analyse and explore how Rhodes University students, both depressed and not depressed, understand depression, and how their understanding influences their interaction with people who do suffer from depression. For the purposes of this paper, eight participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of the eight participants, six of them suffered from depression while the other remaining two participants had never suffered from depression, but they were close to someone who had depression. The findings of this research varied, some understood depression as a mental disturbance, others understood it as a condition that affects your emotions, and others understood it as a multifaceted condition that is highly subjective and cannot be understood using standardized measures. The participants’ personal experience and introduction into a new environment, in this context, university, changed their understanding of depression. The change in how they understood depression correlated with the change in how they interacted with depressed people.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kadula, Tadala
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: College students -- South Africa -- Mental health , College students -- South Africa -- Mental health -- Case studies , Depression, Mental , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96258 , vital:31255
- Description: Using the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, this research sought to analyse and explore how Rhodes University students, both depressed and not depressed, understand depression, and how their understanding influences their interaction with people who do suffer from depression. For the purposes of this paper, eight participants were involved in an in-depth interview process. Out of the eight participants, six of them suffered from depression while the other remaining two participants had never suffered from depression, but they were close to someone who had depression. The findings of this research varied, some understood depression as a mental disturbance, others understood it as a condition that affects your emotions, and others understood it as a multifaceted condition that is highly subjective and cannot be understood using standardized measures. The participants’ personal experience and introduction into a new environment, in this context, university, changed their understanding of depression. The change in how they understood depression correlated with the change in how they interacted with depressed people.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A sociological analysis of the Rhodes University Students and staff members’ perceptions on the use of traditional medicine and biomedicine
- Authors: Mankantshu, Buncwanekazi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Traditional medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Ethnopharmacology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , College students -- Attitudes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , College students -- Medical care -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , Rhodes University -- Employees -- Medical care , Rhodes University -- Employees -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96280 , vital:31257
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to understand to the role that discourse on traditional medicine plays in the choices that Rhodes University students and staff make regarding who they consult when they are sick. A secondary objective was to explore the participants’ views on the Department of Health’s draft policy on the institutionalisation of African traditional medicine and potential collaboration with the biomedical health care system. This was a qualitative study that used in-depth interviews and questionnaires to collect data, which was interpreted using thematic data analysis. A key finding was that participants were mostly influenced by their families with regard to the health care choices – either biomedical or traditional medicine. And that affordability, accessibility and availability are not important factors in health care choices as suggested by literature. Participants also based their decisions on what they believed would help them, either biomedicine or traditional medicine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mankantshu, Buncwanekazi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Traditional medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Ethnopharmacology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , College students -- Attitudes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , College students -- Medical care -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social medicine -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , Rhodes University -- Employees -- Medical care , Rhodes University -- Employees -- Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96280 , vital:31257
- Description: The primary objective of this study was to understand to the role that discourse on traditional medicine plays in the choices that Rhodes University students and staff make regarding who they consult when they are sick. A secondary objective was to explore the participants’ views on the Department of Health’s draft policy on the institutionalisation of African traditional medicine and potential collaboration with the biomedical health care system. This was a qualitative study that used in-depth interviews and questionnaires to collect data, which was interpreted using thematic data analysis. A key finding was that participants were mostly influenced by their families with regard to the health care choices – either biomedical or traditional medicine. And that affordability, accessibility and availability are not important factors in health care choices as suggested by literature. Participants also based their decisions on what they believed would help them, either biomedicine or traditional medicine.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A sociological study to explore the knowledge of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis at Rhodes University
- Authors: Ntshinga, Throny
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Pre-exposure prophylaxis -- South Africa , HIV infections -- Prevention -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Prevention -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Government policy -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Health education (Higher) -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students -- Health and hygiene
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96247 , vital:31254
- Description: South Africa has a very high prevalence rate of HIV infections, this is why this exploratory qualitative study examines the Rhodes University’s HIV policy and its awareness programmes, with a specific focus on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). The World Health Organisation’s (2016-2017) recommendations for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis has been accepted and rolled-out nationwide by the South African Department of Health. This is to maintain the HIV-negative status of not only the general public, but specifically students at higher institutions of learning. PrEP has been integrated with other HIV prevention methods through the Higher Education and Training HIV/AIDS programme. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with five female and four male students, and six health care staff members at Rhodes University. Data was thematically analysed, and the findings show that there is a lack of knowledge of both the HIV policy and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among the participating students. However, the staff members are knowledgeable due to the fact that they work in health care.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ntshinga, Throny
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Pre-exposure prophylaxis -- South Africa , HIV infections -- Prevention -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Prevention -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Government policy -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Health education (Higher) -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students -- Health and hygiene
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96247 , vital:31254
- Description: South Africa has a very high prevalence rate of HIV infections, this is why this exploratory qualitative study examines the Rhodes University’s HIV policy and its awareness programmes, with a specific focus on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). The World Health Organisation’s (2016-2017) recommendations for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis has been accepted and rolled-out nationwide by the South African Department of Health. This is to maintain the HIV-negative status of not only the general public, but specifically students at higher institutions of learning. PrEP has been integrated with other HIV prevention methods through the Higher Education and Training HIV/AIDS programme. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with five female and four male students, and six health care staff members at Rhodes University. Data was thematically analysed, and the findings show that there is a lack of knowledge of both the HIV policy and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among the participating students. However, the staff members are knowledgeable due to the fact that they work in health care.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A sociological understanding of urban governance and social accountability: the case of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Sivalo, Delta Mbonisi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Municipal government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal government -- Sociological aspects-- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal government -- Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71515 , vital:29860
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand the ways in which urban governance and urban-based civic participation interact with each other in contemporary Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on the factors influencing and shaping social accountability and effective citizen involvement in urban governance processes. This main objective is pursued with specific reference to Bulawayo, which is one of two metropolitan centres in Zimbabwe. The focus is specifically on questions around social accountability, citizen participation and centralised urban governance. In this regard, it is important to recognise that social accountability and urban governance need to be understood in the context of their inherent relationship and how these both shape and determine each other. In this respect, there is need to probe the foundations that shape the lived experiences of communities, through social accountability and urban governance, and how these pattern development and social change. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on urban governance. With the economy in free-fall, local authorities have had to pursue a range of strategies to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have forced a change in relations between the state, cities and citizens. Many studies have examined this regarding the politics of contestation between the ruling party (ZANU-PF), the state, and the main opposition party (MDC) in urban governance in Zimbabwe. However, this study zeros in on social accountability and how it is shaped by the prevailing socio-economic and political environment in Zimbabwe. At the same time, the lived experiences of communities vary and this variance influences and affects social accountability interventions and outcomes in cities like Bulawayo. Importantly, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which can map the contextual factors affecting and influencing social accountability in Bulawayo over time. Though recognising the debilitating effects of centralised urban governance on social accountability, the thesis also raises questions about the shifting, and often tenuous, relationship between the city and the central state, on one hand, and the city and its citizens on the other. In doing so, it considers the role of citizens, institutions and actors in responding to the impacts of urban governance and social accountability. In pursuing this thesis, a range of mainly qualitative research methods were used, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observation and use of documents. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for social accountability in urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and thereby contributes to theorising social accountability and urban governance in Africa more broadly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Sivalo, Delta Mbonisi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Zimbabwe -- Politics and government -- 1980- , Municipal government -- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal government -- Sociological aspects-- Zimbabwe -- Harare , Municipal government -- Citizen participation -- Zimbabwe -- Harare
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71515 , vital:29860
- Description: This thesis seeks to understand the ways in which urban governance and urban-based civic participation interact with each other in contemporary Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on the factors influencing and shaping social accountability and effective citizen involvement in urban governance processes. This main objective is pursued with specific reference to Bulawayo, which is one of two metropolitan centres in Zimbabwe. The focus is specifically on questions around social accountability, citizen participation and centralised urban governance. In this regard, it is important to recognise that social accountability and urban governance need to be understood in the context of their inherent relationship and how these both shape and determine each other. In this respect, there is need to probe the foundations that shape the lived experiences of communities, through social accountability and urban governance, and how these pattern development and social change. Zimbabwe for over a decade now has gone through a series of economic and political crises which have impacted detrimentally on urban governance. With the economy in free-fall, local authorities have had to pursue a range of strategies to sustain themselves. These socio-economic conditions have forced a change in relations between the state, cities and citizens. Many studies have examined this regarding the politics of contestation between the ruling party (ZANU-PF), the state, and the main opposition party (MDC) in urban governance in Zimbabwe. However, this study zeros in on social accountability and how it is shaped by the prevailing socio-economic and political environment in Zimbabwe. At the same time, the lived experiences of communities vary and this variance influences and affects social accountability interventions and outcomes in cities like Bulawayo. Importantly, the thesis offers a longitudinal study which can map the contextual factors affecting and influencing social accountability in Bulawayo over time. Though recognising the debilitating effects of centralised urban governance on social accountability, the thesis also raises questions about the shifting, and often tenuous, relationship between the city and the central state, on one hand, and the city and its citizens on the other. In doing so, it considers the role of citizens, institutions and actors in responding to the impacts of urban governance and social accountability. In pursuing this thesis, a range of mainly qualitative research methods were used, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, observation and use of documents. In the end, the thesis offers a nuanced analysis of the everyday complexities and challenges for social accountability in urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and thereby contributes to theorising social accountability and urban governance in Africa more broadly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A spatio-temporal, landscape perspective on Acacia dealbata invasions and broader land use and cover changes in the northern Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Gouws, Aidan J, Prof.Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Gouws, Aidan J , Prof.Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179670 , vital:43156 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7204-y"
- Description: Biological invasions and human land use both have the potential to drastically alter the patterns and processes of landscapes, driving habitat fragmentation and altering natural disturbance regimes. The proliferation of an invasive species depends on composition and configuration of the landscape, as well as the invasiveness of the species. To effectively manage a highly invasive species, such as Acacia dealbata, it is crucial to understand the historical progression of the invasion within the landscape. This study sought to examine the landscape dynamics of biological invasions by tracking the historical spread of A. dealbata and broader land use/land cover (LULC) changes at different spatiotemporal scales in the northern Eastern Cape. A timeseries of aerial photographs were systematically classified according to designated A. dealbata and LULC categories in ArcGIS to track the changes in the extent and rate of spread of A. dealbata. Markedly dynamic, multi-directional, and spatio-temporally variable LULC transitions were observed across the northern Eastern Cape over the last six decades. A. dealbata frequently retained a high proportion of cover over time, and despite the loss of cover to other LULC classes, a net increase in A. dealbata cover occurred as it spread at an overall annual rate of 0.11–0.21%, occupying approximately 8–18% of land cover across all sampled sites by 2013.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Gouws, Aidan J , Prof.Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179670 , vital:43156 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7204-y"
- Description: Biological invasions and human land use both have the potential to drastically alter the patterns and processes of landscapes, driving habitat fragmentation and altering natural disturbance regimes. The proliferation of an invasive species depends on composition and configuration of the landscape, as well as the invasiveness of the species. To effectively manage a highly invasive species, such as Acacia dealbata, it is crucial to understand the historical progression of the invasion within the landscape. This study sought to examine the landscape dynamics of biological invasions by tracking the historical spread of A. dealbata and broader land use/land cover (LULC) changes at different spatiotemporal scales in the northern Eastern Cape. A timeseries of aerial photographs were systematically classified according to designated A. dealbata and LULC categories in ArcGIS to track the changes in the extent and rate of spread of A. dealbata. Markedly dynamic, multi-directional, and spatio-temporally variable LULC transitions were observed across the northern Eastern Cape over the last six decades. A. dealbata frequently retained a high proportion of cover over time, and despite the loss of cover to other LULC classes, a net increase in A. dealbata cover occurred as it spread at an overall annual rate of 0.11–0.21%, occupying approximately 8–18% of land cover across all sampled sites by 2013.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A study of malicious software on the macOS operating system
- Authors: Regensberg, Mark Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Malware (Computer software) , Computer security , Computer viruses , Mac OS
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92302 , vital:30701
- Description: Much of the published malware research begins with a common refrain: the cost, quantum and complexity of threats are increasing, and research and practice should prioritise efforts to automate and reduce times to detect and prevent malware, while improving the consistency of categories and taxonomies applied to modern malware. Existing work related to malware targeting Apple's macOS platform has not been spared this approach, although limited research has been conducted on the true nature of threats faced by users of the operating system. While macOS focused research available consistently notes an increase in macOS users, devices and ultimately in threats, an opportunity exists to understand the real nature of threats faced by macOS users and suggest potential avenues for future work. This research provides a view of the current state of macOS malware by analysing and exploring a dataset of malware detections on macOS endpoints captured over a period of eleven months by an anti-malware software vendor. The dataset is augmented with malware information provided by the widely used Virus. Total service, as well as the application of prior automated malware categorisation work, AVClass to categorise and SSDeep to cluster and report on observed data. With Windows and Android platforms frequently in the spotlight as targets for highly disruptive malware like botnets, ransomware and cryptominers, research and intuition seem to suggest the threat of malware on this increasingly popular platform should be growing and evolving accordingly. Findings suggests that the direction and nature of growth and evolution may not be entirely as clear as industry reports suggest. Adware and Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs) make up the vast majority of the detected threats, with remote access trojans (RATs), ransomware and cryptocurrency miners comprising a relatively small proportion of the detected malware. This provides a number of avenues for potential future work to compare and contrast with research on other platforms, as well as identification of key factors that may influence its growth in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Regensberg, Mark Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Malware (Computer software) , Computer security , Computer viruses , Mac OS
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92302 , vital:30701
- Description: Much of the published malware research begins with a common refrain: the cost, quantum and complexity of threats are increasing, and research and practice should prioritise efforts to automate and reduce times to detect and prevent malware, while improving the consistency of categories and taxonomies applied to modern malware. Existing work related to malware targeting Apple's macOS platform has not been spared this approach, although limited research has been conducted on the true nature of threats faced by users of the operating system. While macOS focused research available consistently notes an increase in macOS users, devices and ultimately in threats, an opportunity exists to understand the real nature of threats faced by macOS users and suggest potential avenues for future work. This research provides a view of the current state of macOS malware by analysing and exploring a dataset of malware detections on macOS endpoints captured over a period of eleven months by an anti-malware software vendor. The dataset is augmented with malware information provided by the widely used Virus. Total service, as well as the application of prior automated malware categorisation work, AVClass to categorise and SSDeep to cluster and report on observed data. With Windows and Android platforms frequently in the spotlight as targets for highly disruptive malware like botnets, ransomware and cryptominers, research and intuition seem to suggest the threat of malware on this increasingly popular platform should be growing and evolving accordingly. Findings suggests that the direction and nature of growth and evolution may not be entirely as clear as industry reports suggest. Adware and Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUAs) make up the vast majority of the detected threats, with remote access trojans (RATs), ransomware and cryptocurrency miners comprising a relatively small proportion of the detected malware. This provides a number of avenues for potential future work to compare and contrast with research on other platforms, as well as identification of key factors that may influence its growth in the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A tree cannot make a forest: looking inward, reaching out in African Art Studies
- Authors: Fọlárànmí, Stephen
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146090 , vital:38494 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00453
- Description: These proverbs from the Yorùbá of southwestern Nigeria and the Bemba of Zambia are a few examples that can be found in many Africa languages. While these proverbs are rich in philosophical sayings and muses, many are being forgotten because fewer and fewer people possess deep knowledge of languages, and in the arts, Africans tend to look to the Global North for theoretical frameworks to examine their art and other cultural properties. The title of this piece is therefore an identification with the potency of the proverbs because of the trends of collaboration that I have noticed in the last few years in African Art Studies. It could also be said to be a call to look into what could be shared within Global Souths in terms of an available knowledge base that could be used to forge ahead rather than subjecting thoughts and knowledge to the Global North.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Fọlárànmí, Stephen
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146090 , vital:38494 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00453
- Description: These proverbs from the Yorùbá of southwestern Nigeria and the Bemba of Zambia are a few examples that can be found in many Africa languages. While these proverbs are rich in philosophical sayings and muses, many are being forgotten because fewer and fewer people possess deep knowledge of languages, and in the arts, Africans tend to look to the Global North for theoretical frameworks to examine their art and other cultural properties. The title of this piece is therefore an identification with the potency of the proverbs because of the trends of collaboration that I have noticed in the last few years in African Art Studies. It could also be said to be a call to look into what could be shared within Global Souths in terms of an available knowledge base that could be used to forge ahead rather than subjecting thoughts and knowledge to the Global North.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Absent parent/s: Psychological implications on children
- Authors: Magqamfana, Simnikiwe Happy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Single parent families -- South Africa , Father and child -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa , Father figures -- Psychological aspects , -- Children, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology , Child development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96886 , vital:31343
- Description: The present study intends to explore the psychological implications on the university students who grew up in households where their biological fathers are absent. Most studies associate the absence of the biological fathers with psychological challenges which, among others, include negative emotions such as anger, challenges with maintaining romantic relationships and tend to perform poorly at school. Such research on absence of fathers tends to privilege the biological father discourse in its analysis and often mentions in passing the role played by ‘other’ family members as ‘fathers’. Since during data collection participants kept on referring to the role of other family members or father figures, the study then expanded its scope of inquiry to include this phenomenon. Semi-structured face to face interviews were used to collect data from five university students and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Psychoanalytic theory was used to specifically to understand or conceptualize the psychological implications on participants caused by the absence of the biological father. Black Social organization theory and Structural Functionalism theory were used to conceptualize the role of other family members/families or father figures in participants’ experiences and the influence of the society they grew up in. This study found that the participants accepted the role of the biological father as central in their lives and its absence resulted in psychological and economical difficulties. To cope with such difficulties, the support from other family members or other father figures was found to be significant in participants lives. Also, this study found that father absence motivates the participants to succeed to better their lives and majority of the participants regarded their grandmothers as father figures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Magqamfana, Simnikiwe Happy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Single parent families -- South Africa , Father and child -- Psychological aspects -- South Africa , Father figures -- Psychological aspects , -- Children, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology , Child development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96886 , vital:31343
- Description: The present study intends to explore the psychological implications on the university students who grew up in households where their biological fathers are absent. Most studies associate the absence of the biological fathers with psychological challenges which, among others, include negative emotions such as anger, challenges with maintaining romantic relationships and tend to perform poorly at school. Such research on absence of fathers tends to privilege the biological father discourse in its analysis and often mentions in passing the role played by ‘other’ family members as ‘fathers’. Since during data collection participants kept on referring to the role of other family members or father figures, the study then expanded its scope of inquiry to include this phenomenon. Semi-structured face to face interviews were used to collect data from five university students and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Psychoanalytic theory was used to specifically to understand or conceptualize the psychological implications on participants caused by the absence of the biological father. Black Social organization theory and Structural Functionalism theory were used to conceptualize the role of other family members/families or father figures in participants’ experiences and the influence of the society they grew up in. This study found that the participants accepted the role of the biological father as central in their lives and its absence resulted in psychological and economical difficulties. To cope with such difficulties, the support from other family members or other father figures was found to be significant in participants lives. Also, this study found that father absence motivates the participants to succeed to better their lives and majority of the participants regarded their grandmothers as father figures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Abundance and correlates of the Acacia dealbata invasion in the northern Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Gouws, Aidan J, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Gouws, Aidan J , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179735 , vital:43165 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.09.048"
- Description: An increase in the density and biomass of woody invasive plants contributes to the intensification of ecological impacts and can often be met with dissatisfaction by local communities. Despite their reliance on Acacia dealbata as a source of livelihood, villagers in the northern Eastern Cape have expressed concerns about the high densities of the species. This study sought to quantify the current abundance and growth of A. dealbata in selected landscapes in the northern Eastern Cape, around nine villages in rural Matatiele, Mount Fletcher and Maclear. Standard vegetation survey techniques were adopted to quantify the density, biomass and growth rate of A. dealbata. Overall, the average density, biomass and productivity of A. dealbata were estimated at approximately 7000 stems ha−1, 12 Mg ha−1 and 4 Mg ha−1 year−1, respectively. However, the abundance and productivity of A. dealbata were spatially variable between study areas. Acacia dealbata stems experienced significant growth over the period of a single year, contributing to substantial biomass production at the landscape level, despite continued harvest. Furthermore, relatively few biophysical variables were significantly influential correlates with the abundance of A. dealbata. Indeed, the degree of biological invasion can be highly variable across the landscape, shaped by the interaction of local-scale biophysical conditions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Gouws, Aidan J , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179735 , vital:43165 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.09.048"
- Description: An increase in the density and biomass of woody invasive plants contributes to the intensification of ecological impacts and can often be met with dissatisfaction by local communities. Despite their reliance on Acacia dealbata as a source of livelihood, villagers in the northern Eastern Cape have expressed concerns about the high densities of the species. This study sought to quantify the current abundance and growth of A. dealbata in selected landscapes in the northern Eastern Cape, around nine villages in rural Matatiele, Mount Fletcher and Maclear. Standard vegetation survey techniques were adopted to quantify the density, biomass and growth rate of A. dealbata. Overall, the average density, biomass and productivity of A. dealbata were estimated at approximately 7000 stems ha−1, 12 Mg ha−1 and 4 Mg ha−1 year−1, respectively. However, the abundance and productivity of A. dealbata were spatially variable between study areas. Acacia dealbata stems experienced significant growth over the period of a single year, contributing to substantial biomass production at the landscape level, despite continued harvest. Furthermore, relatively few biophysical variables were significantly influential correlates with the abundance of A. dealbata. Indeed, the degree of biological invasion can be highly variable across the landscape, shaped by the interaction of local-scale biophysical conditions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Academic discourse: An inter-disciplinary dialogue
- Martin, J R, Maton, Karl, Doran, Y JR
- Authors: Martin, J R , Maton, Karl , Doran, Y JR
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/445880 , vital:74439 , ISBN 9780429280726 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429280726-1/academic-discourse-martin-karl-maton-doran
- Description: This volume has been designed to showcase the cutting-edge of the ever-growing dialogue between systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and the insights into academic discourse this brings. This opening chapter reviews the foundations of this dialogue and positions the work presented throughout the book within this context. First it steps through the development of SFL work in education, focusing on the register-variable field and how it has been impinged upon by successive developments in Bernstein’s code theory and subsequently LCT. It then introduces how LCT extends and integrates Bernstein’s work to embrace a greater range of phenomena within a more systematic framework. It does this by introducing the dimensions of Specialization and Semantics, and showing the insights these conceptual tools can bring to academic knowledge and academic discourse. Finally, it introduces the chapters that make up the volume and positions them in relation to the ways the LCT–SFL dialogue has driven their understandings. This opening chapter lays the foundations for what is to follow and gives a flavour of energy and explanatory power this dialogue generates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Martin, J R , Maton, Karl , Doran, Y JR
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/445880 , vital:74439 , ISBN 9780429280726 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429280726-1/academic-discourse-martin-karl-maton-doran
- Description: This volume has been designed to showcase the cutting-edge of the ever-growing dialogue between systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and the insights into academic discourse this brings. This opening chapter reviews the foundations of this dialogue and positions the work presented throughout the book within this context. First it steps through the development of SFL work in education, focusing on the register-variable field and how it has been impinged upon by successive developments in Bernstein’s code theory and subsequently LCT. It then introduces how LCT extends and integrates Bernstein’s work to embrace a greater range of phenomena within a more systematic framework. It does this by introducing the dimensions of Specialization and Semantics, and showing the insights these conceptual tools can bring to academic knowledge and academic discourse. Finally, it introduces the chapters that make up the volume and positions them in relation to the ways the LCT–SFL dialogue has driven their understandings. This opening chapter lays the foundations for what is to follow and gives a flavour of energy and explanatory power this dialogue generates.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Access and control of biodiversity in the context of biopiracy: the case of pelargonium sidoides in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality
- Authors: Doyle, Anastasia Roxane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Biopiracy -- South Africa , Traditional ecological knowledge -- South Africa , Plants, Cultivated -- Patents , Biodiversity -- Conservation -- South Africa , Pelargoniums -- Harvesting -- South Africa , Pelargonium sidoides -- Harvesting -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76321 , vital:30547
- Description: The purpose of this research is to explore access and control of biodiversity in the context of biopiracy with specific reference to the case of pelargonium sidoides in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The research is informed by the increased appropriation of local biodiversity and indigenous knowledge by industry as well as global debates on promoting sustainable resource utilisation and sustainable rural livelihoods. This study adopts a two-pronged conceptual approach mainly, Marx’s Ecology and the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework (SRLF). The former provides useful insights into the processes and dynamics of power asymmetries between developed and developing countries, capital accumulation, inherent displacement and the predatory nature of capitalism. Whilst the latter addresses how livelihoods are fashioned in a holistic way. As a significant starting point the South African political economy is examined through the lens of the two economies debate. This research is primarily qualitative using in-depth interviews, observations and archival research as the primary data collection techniques. Preliminary site visits were conducted to negotiate access. Key informants of the study were representatives of the core groups (interested and affected stakeholders) involved in the case of pelargonium sidoides. Specifically, participants included representatives from the Imingcangathelo Community Development Trust and the Masakhane Community Property Association, local harvesters, local community members, monitoring and enforcement environmental officers, plant breeders (cultivators), scientists, local businessmen involved in natural resource trade, academics, legal representatives and non-governmental organisations. The Rhodes University research ethical guidelines were followed accordingly. The findings of the study suggest that trade in pelargonium sidoides is influenced by a complex and dynamic interplay between the state-industry-rural elite coalitions. Moreover, that this activity is largely centralised and exclusionary. This process is depicted in the unsustainable utilisation of pelargonium sidoides and other natural resources, the dismantling of local livelihoods, exploitation of harvesters and an incoherent environmental governance structure. At the core of this unequal system of exchange is industry, which effectively functions to generate profits whilst dispossessing peripheral communities such as the Masakhane community. The study therefore, argues that in order for local communities to access the trade there needs to be a shift in this system of unequal exchange. Not only regarding beneficiation, but in building community capacity and becoming involved as critical stakeholders in the governance of resources in the study area. The study found that there are competing narratives that inform the status and sustainability of pelargonium sidoides. Furthermore, given the current trajectory of the Masakhane community’s struggle for land, access to natural resources and exclusion from decision-making regarding pelargonium sidoides, the area will continue to be underdeveloped with concomitant poverty, inequality and comprised rural livelihoods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Doyle, Anastasia Roxane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Biopiracy -- South Africa , Traditional ecological knowledge -- South Africa , Plants, Cultivated -- Patents , Biodiversity -- Conservation -- South Africa , Pelargoniums -- Harvesting -- South Africa , Pelargonium sidoides -- Harvesting -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76321 , vital:30547
- Description: The purpose of this research is to explore access and control of biodiversity in the context of biopiracy with specific reference to the case of pelargonium sidoides in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. The research is informed by the increased appropriation of local biodiversity and indigenous knowledge by industry as well as global debates on promoting sustainable resource utilisation and sustainable rural livelihoods. This study adopts a two-pronged conceptual approach mainly, Marx’s Ecology and the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework (SRLF). The former provides useful insights into the processes and dynamics of power asymmetries between developed and developing countries, capital accumulation, inherent displacement and the predatory nature of capitalism. Whilst the latter addresses how livelihoods are fashioned in a holistic way. As a significant starting point the South African political economy is examined through the lens of the two economies debate. This research is primarily qualitative using in-depth interviews, observations and archival research as the primary data collection techniques. Preliminary site visits were conducted to negotiate access. Key informants of the study were representatives of the core groups (interested and affected stakeholders) involved in the case of pelargonium sidoides. Specifically, participants included representatives from the Imingcangathelo Community Development Trust and the Masakhane Community Property Association, local harvesters, local community members, monitoring and enforcement environmental officers, plant breeders (cultivators), scientists, local businessmen involved in natural resource trade, academics, legal representatives and non-governmental organisations. The Rhodes University research ethical guidelines were followed accordingly. The findings of the study suggest that trade in pelargonium sidoides is influenced by a complex and dynamic interplay between the state-industry-rural elite coalitions. Moreover, that this activity is largely centralised and exclusionary. This process is depicted in the unsustainable utilisation of pelargonium sidoides and other natural resources, the dismantling of local livelihoods, exploitation of harvesters and an incoherent environmental governance structure. At the core of this unequal system of exchange is industry, which effectively functions to generate profits whilst dispossessing peripheral communities such as the Masakhane community. The study therefore, argues that in order for local communities to access the trade there needs to be a shift in this system of unequal exchange. Not only regarding beneficiation, but in building community capacity and becoming involved as critical stakeholders in the governance of resources in the study area. The study found that there are competing narratives that inform the status and sustainability of pelargonium sidoides. Furthermore, given the current trajectory of the Masakhane community’s struggle for land, access to natural resources and exclusion from decision-making regarding pelargonium sidoides, the area will continue to be underdeveloped with concomitant poverty, inequality and comprised rural livelihoods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Acorn girl
- Authors: Kukard, Gina
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South African fiction (English)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96969 , vital:31382
- Description: My thesis encapsulates a coming-of-age novella told through short vignettes of flash fiction and prose poetry. It makes use of the distillation and fragmentation of these forms to explore themes such as the nature of violation, and works between genres to engage the tension between inner and outer realities, and the blurred lines between passivity and resistance. Moving fluidly between memoir and fiction and set in modern day South Africa, it draws inspiration from both my own experiences and the writing of others, especially Raul Zurita’s resistance poetry in Dreams for Kurosawa, Claudia Rankine’s subtle absurdity in Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, bizarro elements as seen in Athena Villaverde’s The Clockwork Girl and the use of physicality to explore the emotional world, as seen in Shelley Jackson’s The Melancholy of Anatomy: Stories.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kukard, Gina
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: South African fiction (English)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/96969 , vital:31382
- Description: My thesis encapsulates a coming-of-age novella told through short vignettes of flash fiction and prose poetry. It makes use of the distillation and fragmentation of these forms to explore themes such as the nature of violation, and works between genres to engage the tension between inner and outer realities, and the blurred lines between passivity and resistance. Moving fluidly between memoir and fiction and set in modern day South Africa, it draws inspiration from both my own experiences and the writing of others, especially Raul Zurita’s resistance poetry in Dreams for Kurosawa, Claudia Rankine’s subtle absurdity in Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, bizarro elements as seen in Athena Villaverde’s The Clockwork Girl and the use of physicality to explore the emotional world, as seen in Shelley Jackson’s The Melancholy of Anatomy: Stories.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Active vs passive portfolio management: an empirical analysis of selected South African equity funds
- Mphahlele, Phaswane Moatlegi
- Authors: Mphahlele, Phaswane Moatlegi
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97846 , vital:31493
- Description: Expected release date-April 2020
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
Active vs passive portfolio management: an empirical analysis of selected South African equity funds
- Authors: Mphahlele, Phaswane Moatlegi
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97846 , vital:31493
- Description: Expected release date-April 2020
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
Addressing geographical bias: A review of Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) in the Southern Hemisphere
- Authors: Martin, Grant D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423937 , vital:72107 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2019.08.01"
- Description: Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) is a medium-sized deciduous tree, native to the Southeastern United States. Due to a number of beneficial attributes, it has been widely planted and become naturalised in several countries. It has one of the largest distributions in Europe of any introduced plant and has increased its distribution into a number of Southern Hemisphere countries. In its introduced range, the species exhibits a number of invasive tendencies, which result in negative environmental and economic impacts. This review presents information on aspects of the plant's biology and ecology with emphasis on its status in the Southern Hemisphere. Topics covered include taxonomy, morphological attributes, distributions, habitats, relationships with other species, growth and development, reproduction, hybridisation, population dynamics, uses, toxicity and the invasive status of the plant in Southern Hemisphere countries This manuscript also provides insights into management options including biological control, which has never been intentionally implemented against this species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Martin, Grant D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423937 , vital:72107 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2019.08.01"
- Description: Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) is a medium-sized deciduous tree, native to the Southeastern United States. Due to a number of beneficial attributes, it has been widely planted and become naturalised in several countries. It has one of the largest distributions in Europe of any introduced plant and has increased its distribution into a number of Southern Hemisphere countries. In its introduced range, the species exhibits a number of invasive tendencies, which result in negative environmental and economic impacts. This review presents information on aspects of the plant's biology and ecology with emphasis on its status in the Southern Hemisphere. Topics covered include taxonomy, morphological attributes, distributions, habitats, relationships with other species, growth and development, reproduction, hybridisation, population dynamics, uses, toxicity and the invasive status of the plant in Southern Hemisphere countries This manuscript also provides insights into management options including biological control, which has never been intentionally implemented against this species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Advances in entomotoxicology: Weaknesses and strengths
- Campobasso, Carlo P, Bugelli, Valentina, Carfora, Anna, Borriello, Renata, Villet, Martin H
- Authors: Campobasso, Carlo P , Bugelli, Valentina , Carfora, Anna , Borriello, Renata , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442717 , vital:74027 , ISBN 9781351163767 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351163767-13/advances-entomotoxicology-carlo-campobasso-valentina-bugelli-anna-carfora-renata-borriello-martin-villet
- Description: Forensic entomotoxicology deals mainly with the analysis of the tissues of insects to identify toxicants present in their food sources. Insects feeding on human tissues can ingest all of the xenobiotic substances taken by living individuals, such as common prescription and illicit drugs. Ecotoxicology is a well-established scientific discipline from which environmental forensic entomotoxicology is derived as a relatively new branch. Entomotoxicology also addresses the effects of drugs and toxins on arthropod development, survival, morphology, and their implications for estimating postmortem intervals. The primary focus of a forensic toxicologist is the detection of toxicants from human tissue samples to help in determining the cause of death. Like nutrients, toxicants encountered by an insect may be assimilated, digested, absorbed, and either sequestered, metabolized, or excreted. Entomological samples are currently of limited quantitative value in forensic toxicology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Campobasso, Carlo P , Bugelli, Valentina , Carfora, Anna , Borriello, Renata , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/442717 , vital:74027 , ISBN 9781351163767 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351163767-13/advances-entomotoxicology-carlo-campobasso-valentina-bugelli-anna-carfora-renata-borriello-martin-villet
- Description: Forensic entomotoxicology deals mainly with the analysis of the tissues of insects to identify toxicants present in their food sources. Insects feeding on human tissues can ingest all of the xenobiotic substances taken by living individuals, such as common prescription and illicit drugs. Ecotoxicology is a well-established scientific discipline from which environmental forensic entomotoxicology is derived as a relatively new branch. Entomotoxicology also addresses the effects of drugs and toxins on arthropod development, survival, morphology, and their implications for estimating postmortem intervals. The primary focus of a forensic toxicologist is the detection of toxicants from human tissue samples to help in determining the cause of death. Like nutrients, toxicants encountered by an insect may be assimilated, digested, absorbed, and either sequestered, metabolized, or excreted. Entomological samples are currently of limited quantitative value in forensic toxicology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Aiding the education agenda? the role of non-governmental organisations in learner performance and retention in Joza, Grahamstown, South Africa
- Authors: Nomsenge, Sinazo Onela
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Joza Youth Hub (Makhanda) , Upstart Youth Development Project (Makhanda) , Village Scribe Association (Makhanda) , Ikamba Youth (Makhanda) , Access Music Project(Makhanda)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76468 , vital:30568
- Description: This thesis describes the network of complexities that characterise the world and work of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). It examines the ways in which organisations navigate different internal, sectoral and contextual intricacies while operating under the command of their chosen developmental mandates. This description is drawn from a sociological analysis of the internal workings of education NGOs, their external affiliations as well as the negotiations which underpin their operations and survival. Collectively, the careful illustration of these underpinnings outlines both the role that NGOs play in the performance and retention of learners in the Grahamstown-east township of Joza and also their position in the town’s basic education sector. Private and non-governmental interveners have, particularly from the closing decades of the 20th century, been conceptually and operationally deployed as panaceas of the socio-economic scarcities which continue to pervade much of the ‘developing’ world. Their involvement in the socio-economic missions of populations living in the Global South has grown both laterally and in the depth of how development is understood and defined, carried out and also measured. NGOs, as widely acclaimed institutional arms of global development imperatives, therefore assume prominent positions in framing policy and implementation models, prescribing performance benchmarks and pronouncing non-compliance. Likewise, education NGOs have obtained normative prescription status in global education policy and practice largely on the back of the Education for All (EFA) objectives, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the neo-liberal logics which have championed state retreat in favour of private sector ascendance in globalised development. This, in conjunction with the persistent struggles of educational transformation in the Global South, has given NGOs little trouble in legitimising their prominent presence in education and other sectors of socio-economic relief in these parts of the world. Little illusion remains however, in many commentary circles, of the role of NGOs in advancing development ideals, the honesty of their altruistic intents, their ideological leanings as well as their efficacy in carrying out their mandates. As such, the logics which have been used to dethrone developing state structures in order to expand the space for private intervention along with the prevailing and deepening markers of educational underperformance, have been central features of the criticisms levelled against NGOs. This thesis intervenes in these ongoing reflections by describing the role of NGOs in educational outcomes, particularly learner performance and retention in Joza. This analysis demonstrates the organisational, sector-level and broader community forces which influence not only the form which non-state interventions take on and the daily preoccupations of their carriers but broadly, the position they occupy in the town’s overall educational profile. By way of locating NGOs within Grahamstown’s educational landscape, this thesis first demonstrates, the conflicted nature of NGO operations from an international, sectoral, national, local and organisational level. The discussion then illustrates how the preoccupations of NGOs are scattered between the different communities which they occupy within these levels. Their reliance on these players demands that organisations be tactical in guarding both their survival and, at times, the conflicting allegiances which grant them different forms of legitimacy. Internal struggles which characterise this imbalance of forces results in a trade-off which often favours organisational preservation mechanisms over systemic educational overhaul. As such, while non-state interveners can be lauded for extending educational support to those who would otherwise not have such, the gains of NGO intervention are often absorbed by internal urgencies for organisational legitimacy and preservation. This, in a context which possesses a unique set of socio-economic and educational deficits that require, at the very least, radical and unbridled mediation, means that pre-existing inequalities in educational inputs and outcomes along with the resultant inequities in youth socio-economic prospects, can find refuge in the very sector whose support and intervention is sought out and justified for such. This thesis lays out the nuances of these tensions and contradictions and offers this case as a point of reference for further considerations of the persistent markers of underperformance which characterise developing communities that enjoy high concentrations of non-state educational intervention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nomsenge, Sinazo Onela
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Education -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Joza Youth Hub (Makhanda) , Upstart Youth Development Project (Makhanda) , Village Scribe Association (Makhanda) , Ikamba Youth (Makhanda) , Access Music Project(Makhanda)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76468 , vital:30568
- Description: This thesis describes the network of complexities that characterise the world and work of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). It examines the ways in which organisations navigate different internal, sectoral and contextual intricacies while operating under the command of their chosen developmental mandates. This description is drawn from a sociological analysis of the internal workings of education NGOs, their external affiliations as well as the negotiations which underpin their operations and survival. Collectively, the careful illustration of these underpinnings outlines both the role that NGOs play in the performance and retention of learners in the Grahamstown-east township of Joza and also their position in the town’s basic education sector. Private and non-governmental interveners have, particularly from the closing decades of the 20th century, been conceptually and operationally deployed as panaceas of the socio-economic scarcities which continue to pervade much of the ‘developing’ world. Their involvement in the socio-economic missions of populations living in the Global South has grown both laterally and in the depth of how development is understood and defined, carried out and also measured. NGOs, as widely acclaimed institutional arms of global development imperatives, therefore assume prominent positions in framing policy and implementation models, prescribing performance benchmarks and pronouncing non-compliance. Likewise, education NGOs have obtained normative prescription status in global education policy and practice largely on the back of the Education for All (EFA) objectives, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the neo-liberal logics which have championed state retreat in favour of private sector ascendance in globalised development. This, in conjunction with the persistent struggles of educational transformation in the Global South, has given NGOs little trouble in legitimising their prominent presence in education and other sectors of socio-economic relief in these parts of the world. Little illusion remains however, in many commentary circles, of the role of NGOs in advancing development ideals, the honesty of their altruistic intents, their ideological leanings as well as their efficacy in carrying out their mandates. As such, the logics which have been used to dethrone developing state structures in order to expand the space for private intervention along with the prevailing and deepening markers of educational underperformance, have been central features of the criticisms levelled against NGOs. This thesis intervenes in these ongoing reflections by describing the role of NGOs in educational outcomes, particularly learner performance and retention in Joza. This analysis demonstrates the organisational, sector-level and broader community forces which influence not only the form which non-state interventions take on and the daily preoccupations of their carriers but broadly, the position they occupy in the town’s overall educational profile. By way of locating NGOs within Grahamstown’s educational landscape, this thesis first demonstrates, the conflicted nature of NGO operations from an international, sectoral, national, local and organisational level. The discussion then illustrates how the preoccupations of NGOs are scattered between the different communities which they occupy within these levels. Their reliance on these players demands that organisations be tactical in guarding both their survival and, at times, the conflicting allegiances which grant them different forms of legitimacy. Internal struggles which characterise this imbalance of forces results in a trade-off which often favours organisational preservation mechanisms over systemic educational overhaul. As such, while non-state interveners can be lauded for extending educational support to those who would otherwise not have such, the gains of NGO intervention are often absorbed by internal urgencies for organisational legitimacy and preservation. This, in a context which possesses a unique set of socio-economic and educational deficits that require, at the very least, radical and unbridled mediation, means that pre-existing inequalities in educational inputs and outcomes along with the resultant inequities in youth socio-economic prospects, can find refuge in the very sector whose support and intervention is sought out and justified for such. This thesis lays out the nuances of these tensions and contradictions and offers this case as a point of reference for further considerations of the persistent markers of underperformance which characterise developing communities that enjoy high concentrations of non-state educational intervention.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Allosteric site modulators: a case study for falcipains as malarial drug targets
- Musyoka, Thommas, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Musyoka, Thommas , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162699 , vital:40974 , https://doi.org/10.21955/gatesopenres.1116459.1
- Description: Fighting against malaria is a never-ending battle. Plasmodium parasites continuously develop resistance to the drugs used against them including the artemisinin-based combination therapies as observed recently in Southeast Asia. The main concern now is whether the resistant parasite strains spread to Africa, where most malaria cases are located. To prevent this, we need to think outside the box. To date, there is no allosteric drug for malaria. Hence, allosteric drug targeting sites and modulators might be a new hope for malarial treatment. In Plasmodium falciparum two cysteine proteases, falcipain-2 (FP-2) and falcipain-3 (FP-3), have been identified as the main hemoglobinases, and are considered as attractive drug targets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Musyoka, Thommas , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162699 , vital:40974 , https://doi.org/10.21955/gatesopenres.1116459.1
- Description: Fighting against malaria is a never-ending battle. Plasmodium parasites continuously develop resistance to the drugs used against them including the artemisinin-based combination therapies as observed recently in Southeast Asia. The main concern now is whether the resistant parasite strains spread to Africa, where most malaria cases are located. To prevent this, we need to think outside the box. To date, there is no allosteric drug for malaria. Hence, allosteric drug targeting sites and modulators might be a new hope for malarial treatment. In Plasmodium falciparum two cysteine proteases, falcipain-2 (FP-2) and falcipain-3 (FP-3), have been identified as the main hemoglobinases, and are considered as attractive drug targets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An access control model for a South African National Electronic Health Record System
- Authors: Tsegaye, Tamir Asrat
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Medical records -- Data processing , Medical records -- Data processing -- Safety measures , Medical records -- Data processing -- South Africa , Medical records -- Data processing -- Access control , Medical informatics , Medical records -- Management -- South Africa , Health services administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97046 , vital:31390
- Description: Countries such as South Africa have attempted to leverage eHealth by digitising patients’ medical records with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of healthcare. This involves the use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) which is a longitudinal electronic record of a patient’s information. The EHR is comprised of all of the encounters that have been made at different health facilities. In the national context, the EHR is also known as a national EHR which enables the sharing of patient information between points of care. Despite this, the realisation of a national EHR system puts patients' EHRs at risk. This is because patients’ information, which was once only available at local health facilities in the form of paper-based records, can be accessed anywhere within the country as a national EHR. This results in security and privacy issues since patients’ EHRs are shared with an increasing number of parties who are geographically distributed. This study proposes an access control model that will address the security and privacy issues by providing the right level of secure access to authorised clinicians. The proposed model is based on a combination of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). The study found that RBAC is the most common access control model that is used within the healthcare domain where users’ job functions are based on roles. While RBAC is not able to handle dynamic events such as emergencies, the proposed model’s use of ABAC addresses this limitation. The development of the proposed model followed the design science research paradigm and was informed by the results of the content analysis plus an expert review. The content analysis sample was retrieved by conducting a systematic literature review and the analysis of this sample resulted in 6743 tags. The proposed model was evaluated using an evaluation framework via an expert review.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Tsegaye, Tamir Asrat
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Medical records -- Data processing , Medical records -- Data processing -- Safety measures , Medical records -- Data processing -- South Africa , Medical records -- Data processing -- Access control , Medical informatics , Medical records -- Management -- South Africa , Health services administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97046 , vital:31390
- Description: Countries such as South Africa have attempted to leverage eHealth by digitising patients’ medical records with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of healthcare. This involves the use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) which is a longitudinal electronic record of a patient’s information. The EHR is comprised of all of the encounters that have been made at different health facilities. In the national context, the EHR is also known as a national EHR which enables the sharing of patient information between points of care. Despite this, the realisation of a national EHR system puts patients' EHRs at risk. This is because patients’ information, which was once only available at local health facilities in the form of paper-based records, can be accessed anywhere within the country as a national EHR. This results in security and privacy issues since patients’ EHRs are shared with an increasing number of parties who are geographically distributed. This study proposes an access control model that will address the security and privacy issues by providing the right level of secure access to authorised clinicians. The proposed model is based on a combination of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). The study found that RBAC is the most common access control model that is used within the healthcare domain where users’ job functions are based on roles. While RBAC is not able to handle dynamic events such as emergencies, the proposed model’s use of ABAC addresses this limitation. The development of the proposed model followed the design science research paradigm and was informed by the results of the content analysis plus an expert review. The content analysis sample was retrieved by conducting a systematic literature review and the analysis of this sample resulted in 6743 tags. The proposed model was evaluated using an evaluation framework via an expert review.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019