Child marriage as a hindrance to the realisation of child rights in Zimbabwe: consolidated approaches towards eradication
- Authors: Ndhlovu, Ntandokayise
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teenage marriage Children's rights
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , LLD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18359 , vital:42256
- Description: Child marriage is defined as any marriage where one of the spouses is younger than 18 years old. A number of deep, complex, interrelated and interlinked factors are responsible for the practice in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. These include the weak enforcement of existing laws, legal contradictions, slow alignment of laws to the Constitution and international child rights, entrenched harmful religious and cultural practices, and acute poverty. It was at the fulcrum of this dissertation thus to examine the unfair limitations caused by child marriage, on the realisation and enjoyment of child rights in Zimbabwe. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund reported an estimated 31 percent prevalence of the scourge in the country. These percentages translate to millions of children, and the numbers could be on the rise. Child marriage has intense consequences for the realisation and enjoyment of rights by many children in Zimbabwe. Of note, child marriage ends childhoods. It impairs the children’s right to education, minimises their economic opportunities and fair chances in life, and increases their vulnerability to domestic violence, marital rape and sexually transmitted diseases. The grave ramifications of child marriage, in terms of the realisation of child rights have led to a number of international, regional and national efforts to curb this scourge. However, owing to an array of multifaceted and complex causes, the practice remains highly prevalent in Zimbabwe. After decades of side-lining, child rights in Zimbabwe, have finally gained constitutional protection under the 2013 Constitution. While the comprehensive protection of child rights as justiciable rights is an acceptable standard, a plethora of practices such as child marriage are a practical and real threat to the realisation of these rights. Therefore, it is incumbent upon Zimbabwe to ensure that child rights as stipulated in the Constitution are respected, promoted, protected and fulfilled. The elimination of child marriage is a daunting yet possible task. Through desktop based qualitative research, this dissertation ascertained the main drivers of the practice in the country, and its impact on the realisation of fundamental child rights in Zimbabwe. The study further explored the contribution, as well as the insufficiencies of International and African Human Rights systems, to the protection of children from child marriage. It also assesses the prospects and challenges of the existing domestic (legislative and constitutional norms) in protecting child rights in the Southern African country. The impetus behind this iii examination is to recommend a comprehensive and holistic effort to curb child marriage and suggest a consolidated legal and non-legal approach to end it
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndhlovu, Ntandokayise
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teenage marriage Children's rights
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , LLD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18359 , vital:42256
- Description: Child marriage is defined as any marriage where one of the spouses is younger than 18 years old. A number of deep, complex, interrelated and interlinked factors are responsible for the practice in Zimbabwe and elsewhere. These include the weak enforcement of existing laws, legal contradictions, slow alignment of laws to the Constitution and international child rights, entrenched harmful religious and cultural practices, and acute poverty. It was at the fulcrum of this dissertation thus to examine the unfair limitations caused by child marriage, on the realisation and enjoyment of child rights in Zimbabwe. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund reported an estimated 31 percent prevalence of the scourge in the country. These percentages translate to millions of children, and the numbers could be on the rise. Child marriage has intense consequences for the realisation and enjoyment of rights by many children in Zimbabwe. Of note, child marriage ends childhoods. It impairs the children’s right to education, minimises their economic opportunities and fair chances in life, and increases their vulnerability to domestic violence, marital rape and sexually transmitted diseases. The grave ramifications of child marriage, in terms of the realisation of child rights have led to a number of international, regional and national efforts to curb this scourge. However, owing to an array of multifaceted and complex causes, the practice remains highly prevalent in Zimbabwe. After decades of side-lining, child rights in Zimbabwe, have finally gained constitutional protection under the 2013 Constitution. While the comprehensive protection of child rights as justiciable rights is an acceptable standard, a plethora of practices such as child marriage are a practical and real threat to the realisation of these rights. Therefore, it is incumbent upon Zimbabwe to ensure that child rights as stipulated in the Constitution are respected, promoted, protected and fulfilled. The elimination of child marriage is a daunting yet possible task. Through desktop based qualitative research, this dissertation ascertained the main drivers of the practice in the country, and its impact on the realisation of fundamental child rights in Zimbabwe. The study further explored the contribution, as well as the insufficiencies of International and African Human Rights systems, to the protection of children from child marriage. It also assesses the prospects and challenges of the existing domestic (legislative and constitutional norms) in protecting child rights in the Southern African country. The impetus behind this iii examination is to recommend a comprehensive and holistic effort to curb child marriage and suggest a consolidated legal and non-legal approach to end it
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Zimbabwean women online: an investigation of how gendered identities are negotiated in Zimbabwean women’s online spaces
- Authors: Ndlovu, Nonhlanhla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Woman -- Zimbabwe -- Social life and customs Social media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Facebook (Firm) Women -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140452 , vital:37890
- Description: This study is concerned with the construction of Zimbabwean women’s identities in this contemporary internet age. Two Facebook groups are of particular interest here due to the vibrant conversations that take place on a daily basis, that is, Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries. Conceiving these internet sites as discursive spaces, I unpack the contesting discourses and tensions in the different narratives offered by Zimbabwean women and identify and critique the competing sets of feminine subjectivities. I achieve this by drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonialist feminist theories in order to situate these groups as cultural sites that are particularly identity defining. I particularly draw on Foucauldian theories of discourse, power and the subject to conceptualise the formation of particular discursive gendered subjectivities. With an understanding that discourse is constitutive of power relations and contestations, and that discourse should be historically contextualised in order to take into account particular conditions of existence; I draw on Mamdani’s (1996) conceptualisation of how power is organised in Africa within a historical and institutional context, and identify the bifurcated nature of the postcolonial Zimbabwean state as a colonial residue as necessitating a particular kind of subjectivity. To this end, one can understand the different femininities on Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries as constituted within, and complexly negotiating, a traditional/customary discourse and a rights-based modern one. This qualitative inquiry is informed by an eclectic approach that combines methods of textual analysis that complements both critical linguistics and media studies and attends to lexical structure as well as narrative and rhetorical analysis respectively. Combined with an online ethnographic approach I employ these tools to analyse these particular Facebook groups with the understanding that as women converse daily on these platforms, they ‘govern’ each other’s conduct and thought processes in interesting ways. I argue that these conversations discursively constitute the performances of different femininities on both sites that also take into account the diasporic condition of Zimbabwean women. I show how they negotiate and mediate feminine performance and in so doing propose and contest certain ‘truths’ that are frequently validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndlovu, Nonhlanhla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Woman -- Zimbabwe -- Social life and customs Social media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Facebook (Firm) Women -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140452 , vital:37890
- Description: This study is concerned with the construction of Zimbabwean women’s identities in this contemporary internet age. Two Facebook groups are of particular interest here due to the vibrant conversations that take place on a daily basis, that is, Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries. Conceiving these internet sites as discursive spaces, I unpack the contesting discourses and tensions in the different narratives offered by Zimbabwean women and identify and critique the competing sets of feminine subjectivities. I achieve this by drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonialist feminist theories in order to situate these groups as cultural sites that are particularly identity defining. I particularly draw on Foucauldian theories of discourse, power and the subject to conceptualise the formation of particular discursive gendered subjectivities. With an understanding that discourse is constitutive of power relations and contestations, and that discourse should be historically contextualised in order to take into account particular conditions of existence; I draw on Mamdani’s (1996) conceptualisation of how power is organised in Africa within a historical and institutional context, and identify the bifurcated nature of the postcolonial Zimbabwean state as a colonial residue as necessitating a particular kind of subjectivity. To this end, one can understand the different femininities on Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries as constituted within, and complexly negotiating, a traditional/customary discourse and a rights-based modern one. This qualitative inquiry is informed by an eclectic approach that combines methods of textual analysis that complements both critical linguistics and media studies and attends to lexical structure as well as narrative and rhetorical analysis respectively. Combined with an online ethnographic approach I employ these tools to analyse these particular Facebook groups with the understanding that as women converse daily on these platforms, they ‘govern’ each other’s conduct and thought processes in interesting ways. I argue that these conversations discursively constitute the performances of different femininities on both sites that also take into account the diasporic condition of Zimbabwean women. I show how they negotiate and mediate feminine performance and in so doing propose and contest certain ‘truths’ that are frequently validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The taxonomic status of dolphins Tursiops spp. and Delphinus in South African waters
- Authors: Ngqulana, Sibusisiwe Gloria
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Dolphins -- Classification -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48566 , vital:40891
- Description: There is a need for identifying important sites, taxonomic units or populations and the usual criterion used is species identification. The species is the most important taxonomic unit to define in taxonomy, as it is the primary unit of concern in biodiversity, conservation and other biological issues. Thus, taxonomy plays an important role in conservation biology. Additionally, taxonomy can contribute to the development of analytical systems that will provide information on priorities for reaching defensible targets for established conservation. This poses a problem for cetaceans as basic information is frequently deficient and therefore not suitable for conservation planning purposes. This leads to difficulties in identifying and prioritizing areas for the monitoring, management and for the protection of species or populations. Morphological and geographic data used to be the primary means used by taxonomists to define species and subspecies, and due to this, most extant species have been classified by morphological characteristics. However, in the recent years, molecular analyses have been introduced and subsequently stable isotopes were also included to assist in interpreting results. Thereafter, it became a common approach to use more than one technique or a combination of independent datasets to resolve taxonomic uncertainties. This has resulted to a proposed term known as integrative taxonomy. Integrative taxonomy has recently been used in most studies that deal with taxonomy or population structure. The use of multiple lines of evidence, which is sometimes referred to as integrative taxonomy, raises the level of confidence in clearly delineating species. Cetaceans are the most taxonomically diverse group of aquatic mammals, with 93 living species accepted. Previously, their taxonomy was based on morphological characters. However, cetaceans have recently been subjected to intense phylogenetic investigations using both morphological and molecular data. These problems are not only prevalent in larger whales, but the small toothed whales also have these challenges, particularly family Delphinidae. This family is known to be the most diverse among the toothed whales. This is because this family diverged recently, and the divergence occurred relatively fast. This study aimed to clarify the taxonomic status of Tursiops spp. and Delphinus in the family Delphinidae, inhabiting the South African waters, using a combination of morphological and molecular methods. For skull morphology, geometric morphometrics were used, while for molecular methods, the D-loop region in the mitochondrial DNA was used to detect any differences within each genus. For the genus Tursiops, this study showed the consistency of results in all analyses used to investigate the presence of two species in the genus Tursiops in South African waters. This study only analysed sequences from the mitochondrial D-loop region and has re-confirmed the presence of the two species in South Africa. Skull and external morphology both show T. truncatus to be bigger and more robust, and to have a shorter rostrum compared with T. aduncus. These external observations are helpful when identifying the species in the field. Providing evidence supporting the presence of two Tursiops species in South Africa does not only contribute to the global context of the taxonomy of this genus, but also in the local context. This study also gives insight on the distribution of the two species in the region. For the genus Delphinus, molecular analysis did not reveal any clustering in South African Delphinus specimens, which suggested a single species, D. delphis, and that this species is morphologically highly variable. Both skull and external morphology did not reflect the molecular results, supporting suggestions that morphology in this genus does not reflect genetic differences. It has been shown that morphological variation reflects feeding specialization rather than speciation. This may also reflect local adaptations. Both skull and external morphology in this study showed no significant differences. This study did not investigate the phylogeographic details of the species in South Africa and further molecular work including a larger sample size from the west coast of South Africa is needed. By attempting to unravel the taxonomy of these dolphins in South African waters, the findings of this study will be very useful in the development of effective conservation and management strategies for these dolphins.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ngqulana, Sibusisiwe Gloria
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Dolphins -- Classification -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48566 , vital:40891
- Description: There is a need for identifying important sites, taxonomic units or populations and the usual criterion used is species identification. The species is the most important taxonomic unit to define in taxonomy, as it is the primary unit of concern in biodiversity, conservation and other biological issues. Thus, taxonomy plays an important role in conservation biology. Additionally, taxonomy can contribute to the development of analytical systems that will provide information on priorities for reaching defensible targets for established conservation. This poses a problem for cetaceans as basic information is frequently deficient and therefore not suitable for conservation planning purposes. This leads to difficulties in identifying and prioritizing areas for the monitoring, management and for the protection of species or populations. Morphological and geographic data used to be the primary means used by taxonomists to define species and subspecies, and due to this, most extant species have been classified by morphological characteristics. However, in the recent years, molecular analyses have been introduced and subsequently stable isotopes were also included to assist in interpreting results. Thereafter, it became a common approach to use more than one technique or a combination of independent datasets to resolve taxonomic uncertainties. This has resulted to a proposed term known as integrative taxonomy. Integrative taxonomy has recently been used in most studies that deal with taxonomy or population structure. The use of multiple lines of evidence, which is sometimes referred to as integrative taxonomy, raises the level of confidence in clearly delineating species. Cetaceans are the most taxonomically diverse group of aquatic mammals, with 93 living species accepted. Previously, their taxonomy was based on morphological characters. However, cetaceans have recently been subjected to intense phylogenetic investigations using both morphological and molecular data. These problems are not only prevalent in larger whales, but the small toothed whales also have these challenges, particularly family Delphinidae. This family is known to be the most diverse among the toothed whales. This is because this family diverged recently, and the divergence occurred relatively fast. This study aimed to clarify the taxonomic status of Tursiops spp. and Delphinus in the family Delphinidae, inhabiting the South African waters, using a combination of morphological and molecular methods. For skull morphology, geometric morphometrics were used, while for molecular methods, the D-loop region in the mitochondrial DNA was used to detect any differences within each genus. For the genus Tursiops, this study showed the consistency of results in all analyses used to investigate the presence of two species in the genus Tursiops in South African waters. This study only analysed sequences from the mitochondrial D-loop region and has re-confirmed the presence of the two species in South Africa. Skull and external morphology both show T. truncatus to be bigger and more robust, and to have a shorter rostrum compared with T. aduncus. These external observations are helpful when identifying the species in the field. Providing evidence supporting the presence of two Tursiops species in South Africa does not only contribute to the global context of the taxonomy of this genus, but also in the local context. This study also gives insight on the distribution of the two species in the region. For the genus Delphinus, molecular analysis did not reveal any clustering in South African Delphinus specimens, which suggested a single species, D. delphis, and that this species is morphologically highly variable. Both skull and external morphology did not reflect the molecular results, supporting suggestions that morphology in this genus does not reflect genetic differences. It has been shown that morphological variation reflects feeding specialization rather than speciation. This may also reflect local adaptations. Both skull and external morphology in this study showed no significant differences. This study did not investigate the phylogeographic details of the species in South Africa and further molecular work including a larger sample size from the west coast of South Africa is needed. By attempting to unravel the taxonomy of these dolphins in South African waters, the findings of this study will be very useful in the development of effective conservation and management strategies for these dolphins.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Localising the global: the use of a postmodernist aesthetic in the fiction of Alain Mabanckou
- Authors: Ngulube, Innocent Akilimale
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Blue, white, red , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- African psycho , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Broken glass , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Memoirs of a porcupine , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- The Lights of Pointe-Noire , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Tomorrow I'll be twenty , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- Black bazaar , Postcolonialism in literature , African fiction (French) -- History and criticism , Postmodernism (Literature)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167153 , vital:41442
- Description: This thesis explores the use of a postmodernist aesth etic in Alain Mabanckou’s oeuvre, namely Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I’ll Be Twenty, The Lights of Pointe-Noire, and Black Moses. In particular, I show how and why this Afrodiasporic author localises strategies associated with Western postmodernist writing in an African postcolonial context. My central argument is that if postmodernism is a critique of modernity in the West, then it must also be a respon se to enforced modernity in the African postcolonial context. In mounting this argument, I conduct a close reading of Mabanckou’s novels from within the theoretical frameworks of postmodernism and postcolonialism. I demonstrate that Mabanckou’s writing adu mbrates the possibility of a postcolonial postmodernism. Since he is a French-Congolese citizen, his writing evinces aesthetic glocalisation. That is, as a postcolonial writer, he conceives of, and inflects, postmodernism differently from a Western writer, for his experiences of and responses to modernity differ from the latter’s. Far from replicating a politics of disillusionment and despair that informs, even characterises, Western postmodernist fiction, Mabanckou invests hi s African postcolonial writing with a politics of decolonis ation which problematises the effects of enforced modernity. Postmodernism, in other words, accords Mabanckou an ambivalent position from which he interrogates both Western modernity and its African version. Significantly, in this regard, Mabanckou’s writing presents both an extension of and a departure from the pioneering influence of the first generation of African writers such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Wole Soyinka.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ngulube, Innocent Akilimale
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Blue, white, red , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- African psycho , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Broken glass , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Memoirs of a porcupine , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- The Lights of Pointe-Noire , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- -- Tomorrow I'll be twenty , Mabanckou, Alain, 1966- Black bazaar , Postcolonialism in literature , African fiction (French) -- History and criticism , Postmodernism (Literature)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167153 , vital:41442
- Description: This thesis explores the use of a postmodernist aesth etic in Alain Mabanckou’s oeuvre, namely Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I’ll Be Twenty, The Lights of Pointe-Noire, and Black Moses. In particular, I show how and why this Afrodiasporic author localises strategies associated with Western postmodernist writing in an African postcolonial context. My central argument is that if postmodernism is a critique of modernity in the West, then it must also be a respon se to enforced modernity in the African postcolonial context. In mounting this argument, I conduct a close reading of Mabanckou’s novels from within the theoretical frameworks of postmodernism and postcolonialism. I demonstrate that Mabanckou’s writing adu mbrates the possibility of a postcolonial postmodernism. Since he is a French-Congolese citizen, his writing evinces aesthetic glocalisation. That is, as a postcolonial writer, he conceives of, and inflects, postmodernism differently from a Western writer, for his experiences of and responses to modernity differ from the latter’s. Far from replicating a politics of disillusionment and despair that informs, even characterises, Western postmodernist fiction, Mabanckou invests hi s African postcolonial writing with a politics of decolonis ation which problematises the effects of enforced modernity. Postmodernism, in other words, accords Mabanckou an ambivalent position from which he interrogates both Western modernity and its African version. Significantly, in this regard, Mabanckou’s writing presents both an extension of and a departure from the pioneering influence of the first generation of African writers such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Wole Soyinka.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
An exploration of how Grade 3 Foundation Phase teachers develop basic scientific process skills using an inquiry-based approach in their classrooms
- Authors: Nhase, Zukiswa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Elementary school teaching-- South Africa , Elementary school teachers -- South Africa , Elementary school teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Learning, Psychology of , Cognition in children , Inquiry-based learning -- South Africa , Active learning -- South Africa , Pedagogical content knowledge -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Socio-cultural theory
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145181 , vital:38416
- Description: Some studies have looked at Foundation Phase teachers’ perspectives on the teaching of science in this phase. Such studies have highlighted various challenges on the teaching of science in the Foundation Phase. They pointed out issues such as large class numbers, lack of resources and lack of science knowledge from Foundation Phase teachers. However, none of these studies have looked at how Foundation Phase teachers are using an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms instead few studies have looked at the Foundation Phase teachers’ perspectives about scientific inquiry in this phase. Even though many scholars have presented several challenges to the teaching of science both at secondary and primary level, the argument is strongly made that Foundation Phase learners should be exposed to the learning of science. Generally, children at the Foundation Phase level naturally enjoy observing and thinking about nature; exposing learners to science develops positive attitudes towards science; the use of scientifically informed language at an early age influences the eventual development of scientific concepts; children can understand scientific concepts and reason scientifically; and science is an efficient means for developing scientific thinking. It is within these arguments and discussions that this interpretive case study research sought to explore the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of four Foundation Phase teachers in developing the Scientific Process Skills using an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms and subsequently, the significance of this research study. The socio-cultural theory, Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Zaretskii’s six conditions for development during mediation and the principles of an Inquiry-Based Approach were used as analytical lenses in this research. To use an Inquiry-Based Approach, generally teachers have to understand its principles and know how to develop basic Scientific Process Skills while teaching the science content. In the Foundation Phase, the Natural Sciences component or content is embedded in the Beginning Knowledge study area of the Life Skills subject and this can create difficulties for teachers to even recognise the scientific concepts in the Life Skills. The four IsiXhosa female teachers used the home language of learners as the language of instruction to implement an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms. Data were generated in four phases. Phase one was baseline data through document analysis. Three of the phases were directed by the research question asked. Data were generated using questionnaires, interviews (semi-structured and stimulated recall), lesson observations (videotaped) and group reflections and discussions. From the work of Vygotsky, Zaretskii formulated six conditions that can be used to develop learners’ zone of proximal development in learning and these were used as analytical lenses to analyse data to understand how teachers mediated learning and development of Scientific Inquiry in their Grade 3 classrooms. In addition, the principles of an Inquiry-Based Approach were used as analytical lenses as to how teachers implemented the scientific inquiry approach. The categories or components of Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge were used as analytical lenses as to how these teachers dealt with science concepts or content when using an inquiry-based Approach in their classrooms. Using the home language of learners as an instructional tool, data showed that learners were afforded the opportunity to freely engage in activities and as a result, the context of learning was non-threatening for both teachers and learners. Although learning activities could be improved, teachers created social spaces for learners to take part in learning. In addition, the use of learners’ environments in the observed lessons made it comfortable for learners to act as young scientists. The new knowledge in this research was presented by the use of the adapted analytical tool, which combined diverse components of theory and literature that aligned with each other. The reflection space for the participants did not only afford the participants to discuss about each other’s lessons or experiences in this research, it allowed the participants to engage with the research objectives. The reflection space strengthened the research ethics if this study. Hence, the concept that says, ‘Absenting the absences’. In conclusion, the study thus recommends further professional development spaces that promote community of practice in using an Inquiry-Based Approach in the Foundation Phase.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nhase, Zukiswa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Elementary school teaching-- South Africa , Elementary school teachers -- South Africa , Elementary school teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa , Science -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa , Learning, Psychology of , Cognition in children , Inquiry-based learning -- South Africa , Active learning -- South Africa , Pedagogical content knowledge -- South Africa , Educational change -- South Africa , Socio-cultural theory
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145181 , vital:38416
- Description: Some studies have looked at Foundation Phase teachers’ perspectives on the teaching of science in this phase. Such studies have highlighted various challenges on the teaching of science in the Foundation Phase. They pointed out issues such as large class numbers, lack of resources and lack of science knowledge from Foundation Phase teachers. However, none of these studies have looked at how Foundation Phase teachers are using an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms instead few studies have looked at the Foundation Phase teachers’ perspectives about scientific inquiry in this phase. Even though many scholars have presented several challenges to the teaching of science both at secondary and primary level, the argument is strongly made that Foundation Phase learners should be exposed to the learning of science. Generally, children at the Foundation Phase level naturally enjoy observing and thinking about nature; exposing learners to science develops positive attitudes towards science; the use of scientifically informed language at an early age influences the eventual development of scientific concepts; children can understand scientific concepts and reason scientifically; and science is an efficient means for developing scientific thinking. It is within these arguments and discussions that this interpretive case study research sought to explore the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of four Foundation Phase teachers in developing the Scientific Process Skills using an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms and subsequently, the significance of this research study. The socio-cultural theory, Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Zaretskii’s six conditions for development during mediation and the principles of an Inquiry-Based Approach were used as analytical lenses in this research. To use an Inquiry-Based Approach, generally teachers have to understand its principles and know how to develop basic Scientific Process Skills while teaching the science content. In the Foundation Phase, the Natural Sciences component or content is embedded in the Beginning Knowledge study area of the Life Skills subject and this can create difficulties for teachers to even recognise the scientific concepts in the Life Skills. The four IsiXhosa female teachers used the home language of learners as the language of instruction to implement an Inquiry-Based Approach in their classrooms. Data were generated in four phases. Phase one was baseline data through document analysis. Three of the phases were directed by the research question asked. Data were generated using questionnaires, interviews (semi-structured and stimulated recall), lesson observations (videotaped) and group reflections and discussions. From the work of Vygotsky, Zaretskii formulated six conditions that can be used to develop learners’ zone of proximal development in learning and these were used as analytical lenses to analyse data to understand how teachers mediated learning and development of Scientific Inquiry in their Grade 3 classrooms. In addition, the principles of an Inquiry-Based Approach were used as analytical lenses as to how teachers implemented the scientific inquiry approach. The categories or components of Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge were used as analytical lenses as to how these teachers dealt with science concepts or content when using an inquiry-based Approach in their classrooms. Using the home language of learners as an instructional tool, data showed that learners were afforded the opportunity to freely engage in activities and as a result, the context of learning was non-threatening for both teachers and learners. Although learning activities could be improved, teachers created social spaces for learners to take part in learning. In addition, the use of learners’ environments in the observed lessons made it comfortable for learners to act as young scientists. The new knowledge in this research was presented by the use of the adapted analytical tool, which combined diverse components of theory and literature that aligned with each other. The reflection space for the participants did not only afford the participants to discuss about each other’s lessons or experiences in this research, it allowed the participants to engage with the research objectives. The reflection space strengthened the research ethics if this study. Hence, the concept that says, ‘Absenting the absences’. In conclusion, the study thus recommends further professional development spaces that promote community of practice in using an Inquiry-Based Approach in the Foundation Phase.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The international community’s implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) Principle: a Comparative Study of Sudan and Libya
- Authors: Nizeimana, John Bosco
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Responsibility to protect (International law) , Humanitarian intervention -- Libya , Libya -- Foreign relations -- 1969- , Libya -- Politics and government -- 1969- , Humanitarian intervention -- Sudan , Sudan -- Foreign relations , Sudan -- Politics and government -- 1985-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162631 , vital:40962
- Description: In the history of international relations, the adoption of the R2P principle in 2005 was widely understood to be a break-through in the international community’s efforts to respond to massive human rights violations and atrocities. Despite this, the international community’s implementation of the R2P has been widely contested, including in relation to its application in Sudan and Libya. There is agreement in the literature that, in both cases, the implementation of the R2P failed to achieve its intended purpose of protecting civilian populations. This thesis addresses the question of why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya. Most explanations concerning the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya tend to focus on the politics of big power countries. The study argues that the failure to implement the R2P is related to the interactions between regional organisations and the international community (global organisations like UN) in attempting to solve large-scale human rights violent conflict. The study is firmly embedded in scholarly debates about humanitarian intervention so as to demonstrate the fact that this study is part of efforts to advance knowledge of scholarly debates on humanitarian intervention in this contemporary world order. The study combines a case study approach and qualitative research approach to achieve a nuanced understanding of the reason why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya. The study relied on the use of documentary reviews and in-depth interviews of experts to collect data which was analysed using critical discourse analysis. The thesis demonstrated that the implementation of the R2P was characterised by a breakdown of the relationship between regional actors like the AU and global institutions like the UN. This breakdown contributed to the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya. The lack of financial and operational capacity for rapid deployment, the internal divisions with the AU, and the lack of political will within the AU members states were also cited as obstacles to the realisation of the R2P efforts in Sudan. To establish in-depth knowledge the study revealed other factors related to the politics of big power countries and how they played a part in the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya. Among these factors include implementation inconsistencies, the ICC factor, the absence of UNSC consensus in the response over Darfur and Libya, and the veto power factor and its implications in the efforts of the international community in both cases. This study also showed that the implementation of the R2P may not work effectively if left only to international actors to implement. Regional and sub-regional actors are important stakeholders of the R2P, and their interactions with the international community in actualising the implmementation of the R2P on the ground are essential. The manner in which the R2P was applied in Sudan and Libya is an indication its implementation requires improved interaction between regional actors and the international community at all level of collaboration including at global, regional and sub-regional level. This can build a strong foundation to drive the effective implementation of the R2P in future interventions. The findings of this thesis will significantly improve the available literature on the reason why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya, particularly by paying much attention to the role of regional and sub-regional actors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nizeimana, John Bosco
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Responsibility to protect (International law) , Humanitarian intervention -- Libya , Libya -- Foreign relations -- 1969- , Libya -- Politics and government -- 1969- , Humanitarian intervention -- Sudan , Sudan -- Foreign relations , Sudan -- Politics and government -- 1985-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162631 , vital:40962
- Description: In the history of international relations, the adoption of the R2P principle in 2005 was widely understood to be a break-through in the international community’s efforts to respond to massive human rights violations and atrocities. Despite this, the international community’s implementation of the R2P has been widely contested, including in relation to its application in Sudan and Libya. There is agreement in the literature that, in both cases, the implementation of the R2P failed to achieve its intended purpose of protecting civilian populations. This thesis addresses the question of why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya. Most explanations concerning the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya tend to focus on the politics of big power countries. The study argues that the failure to implement the R2P is related to the interactions between regional organisations and the international community (global organisations like UN) in attempting to solve large-scale human rights violent conflict. The study is firmly embedded in scholarly debates about humanitarian intervention so as to demonstrate the fact that this study is part of efforts to advance knowledge of scholarly debates on humanitarian intervention in this contemporary world order. The study combines a case study approach and qualitative research approach to achieve a nuanced understanding of the reason why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya. The study relied on the use of documentary reviews and in-depth interviews of experts to collect data which was analysed using critical discourse analysis. The thesis demonstrated that the implementation of the R2P was characterised by a breakdown of the relationship between regional actors like the AU and global institutions like the UN. This breakdown contributed to the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya. The lack of financial and operational capacity for rapid deployment, the internal divisions with the AU, and the lack of political will within the AU members states were also cited as obstacles to the realisation of the R2P efforts in Sudan. To establish in-depth knowledge the study revealed other factors related to the politics of big power countries and how they played a part in the failure of the R2P in Sudan and Libya. Among these factors include implementation inconsistencies, the ICC factor, the absence of UNSC consensus in the response over Darfur and Libya, and the veto power factor and its implications in the efforts of the international community in both cases. This study also showed that the implementation of the R2P may not work effectively if left only to international actors to implement. Regional and sub-regional actors are important stakeholders of the R2P, and their interactions with the international community in actualising the implmementation of the R2P on the ground are essential. The manner in which the R2P was applied in Sudan and Libya is an indication its implementation requires improved interaction between regional actors and the international community at all level of collaboration including at global, regional and sub-regional level. This can build a strong foundation to drive the effective implementation of the R2P in future interventions. The findings of this thesis will significantly improve the available literature on the reason why the R2P failed in Sudan and Libya, particularly by paying much attention to the role of regional and sub-regional actors.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The lived experiences of women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Malawi: an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
- Authors: Nkhalamba, Mathero Michelle
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: HIV-positive women -- Malawi , HIV infections -- Sex factors -- Malawi , HIV infections -- Social aspects -- Malawi , HIV-positive women -- Malawi -- Social conditions , HIV-positive women -- Malawi -- Economic conditions , Poverty -- Malawi , Antiretroviral agents -- Malawi , Phenomenological psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145291 , vital:38425
- Description: Research on African women and HIV, particularly research that investigates their experiences of living with the virus, has been relatively peripheral. As a response to the apparent knowledge and research gaps, this project is a qualitative study involving women living with human immunodeficiency virus (WLHIV) and attending an anti-retroviral treatment (ART) clinic at Zomba Central Hospital in Southern Malawi. The study utilised an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, which informed all aspects of the data-collection and data-analysis processes. Using purposive sampling, 12 women were recruited and interviewed on three occasions over a period of six months. The interviews were conducted in Chichewa and audio recorded and later transcribed into English. Fourteen superordinate themes emerged from the analysis representing the women’s prominent life experiences, how they received their diagnosis, and how they contained the trauma of their diagnosis. The analysis also developed themes regarding how they coped with the challenges of living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and made sense of their experiences. The results showed that the women struggled with multiple challenges experienced through their various identities as WLHIV. The findings also pointed to interlocking disadvantages that put the women at risk of infection, and which were present from childhood. This has implications for more structural and multidisciplinary interventions for WLHIV.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nkhalamba, Mathero Michelle
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: HIV-positive women -- Malawi , HIV infections -- Sex factors -- Malawi , HIV infections -- Social aspects -- Malawi , HIV-positive women -- Malawi -- Social conditions , HIV-positive women -- Malawi -- Economic conditions , Poverty -- Malawi , Antiretroviral agents -- Malawi , Phenomenological psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145291 , vital:38425
- Description: Research on African women and HIV, particularly research that investigates their experiences of living with the virus, has been relatively peripheral. As a response to the apparent knowledge and research gaps, this project is a qualitative study involving women living with human immunodeficiency virus (WLHIV) and attending an anti-retroviral treatment (ART) clinic at Zomba Central Hospital in Southern Malawi. The study utilised an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, which informed all aspects of the data-collection and data-analysis processes. Using purposive sampling, 12 women were recruited and interviewed on three occasions over a period of six months. The interviews were conducted in Chichewa and audio recorded and later transcribed into English. Fourteen superordinate themes emerged from the analysis representing the women’s prominent life experiences, how they received their diagnosis, and how they contained the trauma of their diagnosis. The analysis also developed themes regarding how they coped with the challenges of living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and made sense of their experiences. The results showed that the women struggled with multiple challenges experienced through their various identities as WLHIV. The findings also pointed to interlocking disadvantages that put the women at risk of infection, and which were present from childhood. This has implications for more structural and multidisciplinary interventions for WLHIV.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Radical transformation and sustainability for an advanced manufacturing industry: a progressive model
- Noor, Richard, Van der Merwe, Karl
- Authors: Noor, Richard , Van der Merwe, Karl
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Manufacturing industries -- South Africa , Leadership Organisational learning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46849 , vital:39669
- Description: The manufacturing industry in one of the most significant contributors to a countries GDP across the world. South Africa is no different and yet it remains an interesting challenge for the country. Power and greed seem to have overtaken the moral fibre of our society and has inflicted pain and suffering to millions across the country. The manufacturing has not been immune to this challenge and appears to be in free fall on so many levels. The primary objective of this research was to develop a model for the manufacturing industry which would assist the role players to navigate the challenges and obstacle in this ever changing and demanding industry. An extensive review of literature was conducted which informed and guided the process of gathering information and data using a questionnaire and a survey conducted across the manufacturing industry. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the relationships between the various factors identified during the literature review. Leadership Impact was confirmed as a significant contributor as well as the Economic Impact having a significant impact on both Radical Transformation and Sustainability. This study scientifically added to the body of knowledge having taken several factors within the manufacturing industry and analysed its impact on radical transformation and sustainability, the integration of these factors within one study has not been previously conducted and has contributed to the manufacturing industry, business leadership and management fields of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Noor, Richard , Van der Merwe, Karl
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Manufacturing industries -- South Africa , Leadership Organisational learning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46849 , vital:39669
- Description: The manufacturing industry in one of the most significant contributors to a countries GDP across the world. South Africa is no different and yet it remains an interesting challenge for the country. Power and greed seem to have overtaken the moral fibre of our society and has inflicted pain and suffering to millions across the country. The manufacturing has not been immune to this challenge and appears to be in free fall on so many levels. The primary objective of this research was to develop a model for the manufacturing industry which would assist the role players to navigate the challenges and obstacle in this ever changing and demanding industry. An extensive review of literature was conducted which informed and guided the process of gathering information and data using a questionnaire and a survey conducted across the manufacturing industry. Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the relationships between the various factors identified during the literature review. Leadership Impact was confirmed as a significant contributor as well as the Economic Impact having a significant impact on both Radical Transformation and Sustainability. This study scientifically added to the body of knowledge having taken several factors within the manufacturing industry and analysed its impact on radical transformation and sustainability, the integration of these factors within one study has not been previously conducted and has contributed to the manufacturing industry, business leadership and management fields of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Making South African tertiary education multilingual: the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SANTED Multilingualism Projects 2007 – 2010
- Authors: Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South Africa-Norway Tertiary Education Development Programme , Language policy -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PHD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140513 , vital:37895
- Description: This thesis focuses on multilingualism as it applies to education, particularly higher education in South Africa. The thesis suggests that language must be seen as critical in education (Obanya, 2004; Wolff, 2006). This thesis also suggests that there is a link between a person’s general competence in an educational environment, and that person’s language competence. In support of other scholars, this thesis also finds that learners from low social classes in society have a restricted linguistic code and therefore the learners from these social classes lack the ability to express themselves in an elaborative manner in a cognitive situation while learners from upper social class have an elaborate linguistic repertoire in the language of instruction, namely English. Even though general policy in South Africa and Africa as a whole recognises this relationship between language and education, this thesis finds that very little is being done to implement these well-meaning policies. The SANTED (South Africa-Norway-Tertiary-Education) programme, which forms the focus of this thesis, is seen as an exception. While there is an increase in the number of learners and students accessing centres of learning, especially those from historically-disadvantaged backgrounds (CHE Higher Education Monitor, 2008), there is at the same time rigorous debate in South Africa at the moment as to whether these learners and students benefit optimally from knowledge offered in centres of learning, and are therefore, not accomplishing success expected from them (Boughey, 2008). This thesis suggests that at the centre of this debate is the understanding that, while there are a variety of factors that might affect their success, for example social and economic status, schooling background in case of students in higher education, language plays a pivotal role. This thesis analyses the challenges and successes which faced the SANTED programme at a number of South African institutions where language issues were brought to the centre of the learning process. The thesis also assesses best practices in various African countries and makes recommendations regarding language-use in Higher Education, as part of a transformationprocess. The collaboration between the South African and Norwegian governments provided impetus to policy implementation. It also had other focus areas such as capacity building, access, success and retention and collaboration with Southern African Developing Countries (SADC). This thesis shows, through a critical analysis of SANTED, that it represented an important intervention regarding the promotion of multilingualism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nosilela, Bulelwa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: South Africa-Norway Tertiary Education Development Programme , Language policy -- South Africa , Multilingual education -- South Africa , Language and education -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Social aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PHD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140513 , vital:37895
- Description: This thesis focuses on multilingualism as it applies to education, particularly higher education in South Africa. The thesis suggests that language must be seen as critical in education (Obanya, 2004; Wolff, 2006). This thesis also suggests that there is a link between a person’s general competence in an educational environment, and that person’s language competence. In support of other scholars, this thesis also finds that learners from low social classes in society have a restricted linguistic code and therefore the learners from these social classes lack the ability to express themselves in an elaborative manner in a cognitive situation while learners from upper social class have an elaborate linguistic repertoire in the language of instruction, namely English. Even though general policy in South Africa and Africa as a whole recognises this relationship between language and education, this thesis finds that very little is being done to implement these well-meaning policies. The SANTED (South Africa-Norway-Tertiary-Education) programme, which forms the focus of this thesis, is seen as an exception. While there is an increase in the number of learners and students accessing centres of learning, especially those from historically-disadvantaged backgrounds (CHE Higher Education Monitor, 2008), there is at the same time rigorous debate in South Africa at the moment as to whether these learners and students benefit optimally from knowledge offered in centres of learning, and are therefore, not accomplishing success expected from them (Boughey, 2008). This thesis suggests that at the centre of this debate is the understanding that, while there are a variety of factors that might affect their success, for example social and economic status, schooling background in case of students in higher education, language plays a pivotal role. This thesis analyses the challenges and successes which faced the SANTED programme at a number of South African institutions where language issues were brought to the centre of the learning process. The thesis also assesses best practices in various African countries and makes recommendations regarding language-use in Higher Education, as part of a transformationprocess. The collaboration between the South African and Norwegian governments provided impetus to policy implementation. It also had other focus areas such as capacity building, access, success and retention and collaboration with Southern African Developing Countries (SADC). This thesis shows, through a critical analysis of SANTED, that it represented an important intervention regarding the promotion of multilingualism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The potential of Raman spectroscopy in distinguishing between wool and mohair fibres
- Authors: Notayi, Mzwamadoda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Textile fabrics , Textile fibers -- Mechanical properties Wool -- Dissertations Mohair -- Dissertations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49248 , vital:41614
- Description: The possible application of the FT Raman, Raman micro-spectroscopy and ATR-FTIR micro-spectroscopy, have been investigated for distinguishing between wool and mohair. Highly identical Raman and FTIR spectra were obtained from the two fibre types, indicating that indeed they share similar basic molecular structural chemistry. The analysis of the amide I through curve fitting of wool and mohair FT Raman spectra showed that the protein and polypeptide secondary structure exists mainly in the α-helical structural conformation with smaller proportions of β-pleated sheet and β-Turns. These proportions, however, could not be used to distinguish between wool and mohair, due to the significant overlap observed between the two fibres. This study also determined the disulphide contents for possibly distinguishing between wool and mohair fibres, with the average and standard deviation values of 0.20±0.04 and 0.17±0.03 for wool and mohair, respectively, being found. Despite the mean values being found to differ statistically significant (p<0.05), a considerable overlap was observed, posing a doubt in the possible application of the method for distinguishing between the two fibres and blend composition analysis of the two fibres. The application of ratiometric analysis, based on the relative peak heights of certain FT Raman bands, showed that a combination of ratios A (I2932/I1450) and D (I508/I1450) could hold great potential in distinguishing between wool and mohair fibre samples. The individual values of ratios A and D varied a great deal from one mohair sample to the other and even more from one wool sample to another, with the individual values for ratio A ranging from 2.71-3.68 and 2.35-3.08 for wool and mohair, respectively, while ratio D ranged from 0.18-0.32 and 0.17-0.22 for wool and mohair, respectively. An important observation from this study is that if, for an unknown sample, if individual values of ratios A and D exceed 3.1 and 0.22, respectively, are found then the sample is most likely to be either a pure wool or blend of wool and mohair, whereas if all the values fall below the two threshold values, then the unknown sample can be declared a pure mohair sample. A Raman spectral database or library of approximately 100 high quality Raman average spectra of wool and mohair fibres has been established for the Bruker 80V FTIR/Raman spectrophotometer at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Although this has not been fully validated due to the unforeseen frequent breakdown encountered with the FT Raman system, at this stage, it has been realized that verification of unknown materials is highly possible. A great need for the development of a classification model based on multivariate or chemometrics has been realized. An ATR-FTIR LUMOS micro-spectroscopic system was also investigated for the possible application in distinguishing between wool and mohair single fibres. The amide I/II band ratios were determined for both wool and mohair fibres to distinguish between the two fibre types. The mean and standard deviation values of 1.20±0.02 and 1.21±0.01 for mohair and wool, respectively, were found and were shown not to differ statistically significant (p˃0.05). The secondary structure analysis showed that the content of the α-helical secondary structure might be different between the two fibre types, with a great overlap of individual values, however, being observed between the two fibre types (wool and mohair), raising concerns in the possible application of the α-helical content for distinguishing the two fibres.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Notayi, Mzwamadoda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Textile fabrics , Textile fibers -- Mechanical properties Wool -- Dissertations Mohair -- Dissertations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49248 , vital:41614
- Description: The possible application of the FT Raman, Raman micro-spectroscopy and ATR-FTIR micro-spectroscopy, have been investigated for distinguishing between wool and mohair. Highly identical Raman and FTIR spectra were obtained from the two fibre types, indicating that indeed they share similar basic molecular structural chemistry. The analysis of the amide I through curve fitting of wool and mohair FT Raman spectra showed that the protein and polypeptide secondary structure exists mainly in the α-helical structural conformation with smaller proportions of β-pleated sheet and β-Turns. These proportions, however, could not be used to distinguish between wool and mohair, due to the significant overlap observed between the two fibres. This study also determined the disulphide contents for possibly distinguishing between wool and mohair fibres, with the average and standard deviation values of 0.20±0.04 and 0.17±0.03 for wool and mohair, respectively, being found. Despite the mean values being found to differ statistically significant (p<0.05), a considerable overlap was observed, posing a doubt in the possible application of the method for distinguishing between the two fibres and blend composition analysis of the two fibres. The application of ratiometric analysis, based on the relative peak heights of certain FT Raman bands, showed that a combination of ratios A (I2932/I1450) and D (I508/I1450) could hold great potential in distinguishing between wool and mohair fibre samples. The individual values of ratios A and D varied a great deal from one mohair sample to the other and even more from one wool sample to another, with the individual values for ratio A ranging from 2.71-3.68 and 2.35-3.08 for wool and mohair, respectively, while ratio D ranged from 0.18-0.32 and 0.17-0.22 for wool and mohair, respectively. An important observation from this study is that if, for an unknown sample, if individual values of ratios A and D exceed 3.1 and 0.22, respectively, are found then the sample is most likely to be either a pure wool or blend of wool and mohair, whereas if all the values fall below the two threshold values, then the unknown sample can be declared a pure mohair sample. A Raman spectral database or library of approximately 100 high quality Raman average spectra of wool and mohair fibres has been established for the Bruker 80V FTIR/Raman spectrophotometer at the Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Although this has not been fully validated due to the unforeseen frequent breakdown encountered with the FT Raman system, at this stage, it has been realized that verification of unknown materials is highly possible. A great need for the development of a classification model based on multivariate or chemometrics has been realized. An ATR-FTIR LUMOS micro-spectroscopic system was also investigated for the possible application in distinguishing between wool and mohair single fibres. The amide I/II band ratios were determined for both wool and mohair fibres to distinguish between the two fibre types. The mean and standard deviation values of 1.20±0.02 and 1.21±0.01 for mohair and wool, respectively, were found and were shown not to differ statistically significant (p˃0.05). The secondary structure analysis showed that the content of the α-helical secondary structure might be different between the two fibre types, with a great overlap of individual values, however, being observed between the two fibre types (wool and mohair), raising concerns in the possible application of the α-helical content for distinguishing the two fibres.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Girls here and boys there : participatory visual methodology as pedagogy to facilitate gender sensitive practices with pre-service foundation phase teachers
- Authors: Notshulwana, Robin Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gender identity -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49385 , vital:41700
- Description: This study explores how participatory visual methodology (PVM) might facilitate a deeper understanding of gender sensitive practices (GSP) in Foundation Phase (FP) pre-service teachers. Foundation Phase classrooms are not impervious to unequal gender practices and despite policies that promote gender equitable practices in schools and in society in general, most South African schools still engage in gendered practices that perpetuate inequality and gender based violence (GBV). While the topic of gender currently features in a South African university FP curriculum with the intention of promoting social justice, the pedagogy used to enable pre-service FP teachers to understand how gender works in schools seems to do nothing more than describe the problem and give cursory suggestions for creating gender equitable practices. Teachers are often unaware of how their own gendered identity influences their facilitation of the curriculum in a gendered way. This is important in South Africa, where gender inequality remains a problem and GBV is rife. This study adopted a qualitative approach and is located within the critical paradigm applying the principles of PVM. It drew on feminist poststructuralism and feminist pedagogy as theoretical lenses to frame the study and to make meaning of the data. Participants in the study were five female pre-service FP teachers who were purposively selected. Data were generated through the visual methods of family photo album, drawing and participatory video, which were first analysed using participatory analysis, and then using thematic analysis. The main purpose of the research was to explore how PVM can facilitate a deeper awareness of GSP in pre-service FP teachers. The secondary aim was to explore their understandings of gender and GSP and how these understandings might facilitate or inhibit GSP among pre-service FP teachers. The pre-service FP teachers’ understandings of gender were elicited using the self as an entry point to explore their own gendered identities which demonstrated their somewhat narrow understanding of how gender is reified in society through mechanisms such as dress and particular performances. They further understood that their own gendered selves can shift and change with time and context. Their understanding of gender further informed their understanding of GSP. The pre-service FP teachers understood GSP as going beyond interchanging roles of girls and boys and that it meant constantly engaging with their own understandings of gender; to review their constructions of FP learners, to see pedagogical moments to teach gender sensitivity, and to recognise that GSP extends beyond the classroom. Finally, the pre-service FP teachers articulated the circumstances that might enable or inhibit their GSP in their classrooms. They recognised how the powerful constructions of gender in a society influence their work, and how, in turn their work might influence society. This translated into them understanding how the ethos of the school might mirror and sustain the hegemonic discourse of society and at the same time how they might begin to question and disrupt the discourse sustained in school. The teacher education programme, with a vested interest in gender equality, is an important mechanism to begin disrupting hegemonic discourses perpetuated in schools. The findings suggest that through its potential for reflexivity and criticality, PVM enabled the pre-service FP teachers to see how their constructions of gender influence their own practices in schools. The findings have implications for FP teacher education programmes in the South African context. Faculties of education could revisit their curriculum to ensure that gender is infused throughout the curriculum, but more importantly, could consider ‘starting with the self’ (Kirk, 2009) as an impetus to learn about how gender is reified in society and in schools. In doing so, faculties of education could also consider tools of analysis such as a feminist poststructural theory to enable the pre-service FP teachers to deepen their understandings but also support the potential to articulate and make meaning of their experiences. Teacher educators could revisit their curriculum content to determine whether the content might perpetuate a narrow view of learning and learners especially with regards to gender and considering pedagogical choices that develop pre-service teachers’ ability to cultivate classroom environments that promote gender equality. Starting with the self is an entry point for pre-service FP teachers to examine their own understanding of gender and see how this might enable GSP in their professional work. PVM, aligned with a feminist pedagogy and feminist poststructuralism, facilitated such a process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Notshulwana, Robin Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gender identity -- Psychological aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49385 , vital:41700
- Description: This study explores how participatory visual methodology (PVM) might facilitate a deeper understanding of gender sensitive practices (GSP) in Foundation Phase (FP) pre-service teachers. Foundation Phase classrooms are not impervious to unequal gender practices and despite policies that promote gender equitable practices in schools and in society in general, most South African schools still engage in gendered practices that perpetuate inequality and gender based violence (GBV). While the topic of gender currently features in a South African university FP curriculum with the intention of promoting social justice, the pedagogy used to enable pre-service FP teachers to understand how gender works in schools seems to do nothing more than describe the problem and give cursory suggestions for creating gender equitable practices. Teachers are often unaware of how their own gendered identity influences their facilitation of the curriculum in a gendered way. This is important in South Africa, where gender inequality remains a problem and GBV is rife. This study adopted a qualitative approach and is located within the critical paradigm applying the principles of PVM. It drew on feminist poststructuralism and feminist pedagogy as theoretical lenses to frame the study and to make meaning of the data. Participants in the study were five female pre-service FP teachers who were purposively selected. Data were generated through the visual methods of family photo album, drawing and participatory video, which were first analysed using participatory analysis, and then using thematic analysis. The main purpose of the research was to explore how PVM can facilitate a deeper awareness of GSP in pre-service FP teachers. The secondary aim was to explore their understandings of gender and GSP and how these understandings might facilitate or inhibit GSP among pre-service FP teachers. The pre-service FP teachers’ understandings of gender were elicited using the self as an entry point to explore their own gendered identities which demonstrated their somewhat narrow understanding of how gender is reified in society through mechanisms such as dress and particular performances. They further understood that their own gendered selves can shift and change with time and context. Their understanding of gender further informed their understanding of GSP. The pre-service FP teachers understood GSP as going beyond interchanging roles of girls and boys and that it meant constantly engaging with their own understandings of gender; to review their constructions of FP learners, to see pedagogical moments to teach gender sensitivity, and to recognise that GSP extends beyond the classroom. Finally, the pre-service FP teachers articulated the circumstances that might enable or inhibit their GSP in their classrooms. They recognised how the powerful constructions of gender in a society influence their work, and how, in turn their work might influence society. This translated into them understanding how the ethos of the school might mirror and sustain the hegemonic discourse of society and at the same time how they might begin to question and disrupt the discourse sustained in school. The teacher education programme, with a vested interest in gender equality, is an important mechanism to begin disrupting hegemonic discourses perpetuated in schools. The findings suggest that through its potential for reflexivity and criticality, PVM enabled the pre-service FP teachers to see how their constructions of gender influence their own practices in schools. The findings have implications for FP teacher education programmes in the South African context. Faculties of education could revisit their curriculum to ensure that gender is infused throughout the curriculum, but more importantly, could consider ‘starting with the self’ (Kirk, 2009) as an impetus to learn about how gender is reified in society and in schools. In doing so, faculties of education could also consider tools of analysis such as a feminist poststructural theory to enable the pre-service FP teachers to deepen their understandings but also support the potential to articulate and make meaning of their experiences. Teacher educators could revisit their curriculum content to determine whether the content might perpetuate a narrow view of learning and learners especially with regards to gender and considering pedagogical choices that develop pre-service teachers’ ability to cultivate classroom environments that promote gender equality. Starting with the self is an entry point for pre-service FP teachers to examine their own understanding of gender and see how this might enable GSP in their professional work. PVM, aligned with a feminist pedagogy and feminist poststructuralism, facilitated such a process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Post-apartheid nostalgia and the future of the black visual archive
- Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Authors: Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Nostalgia in art , Memory in art , Africa -- In art , Africans in art , Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961. Peau noire, masques blancs. English , South Africa -- In art , Black people in art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167177 , vital:41444
- Description: The implications of nostalgia often strike a discordant note in post-apartheid discourse and this has opened up critical possibilities for research scholarship. For instance, Jacob Dlamini’s memoir Native Nostalgia entered the discursive fray in 2009, and it was subsequently followed by Derek Hook’s psychoanalytical approach in (Post) apartheid Conditions: Psychoanalysis and Social Formation in 2014. Notably, there is not yet a sustained and intensive research focus that has been conducted on post-apartheid forms of nostalgia within the discipline of art history and visual culture. I present this dissertation as a response to this gap. This thesis identifies mainly two competing nostalgias in post-apartheid South Africa. Through the analysis of selected artwork and media imagery, this dissertation critiques the connections of these nostalgias to the representation of the black figure in post-apartheid visual culture and the implications thereof. I argue that nostalgias for an apartheid-colonial-imperialist past operate through erasure and in the sanitisation of memory and as a result they render suffering indiscernible or in a sadomasochistic way consumes suffering as enjoyable. This thesis simultaneously critiques art work and visual representation that responds to South Africa’s nostalgia for the future: a restorative nostalgia that has emerged in the form of “rainbow nationalism”. This is a form of nostalgia that is underpinned by a dogged commitment to triumphalism and as a result erases the ongoing scenes of abjection. I use nostalgia and Afropessimism as analytical frameworks to argue that both real and visual representational forces work in tandem to restrain the future and this, I suggest is fulfilled by the transference of the black body from one state of unfreedom to next, resonating with a cyclical pattern. Frantz Fanon’s (1967) Black Skin White Mask forms the conceptual bedrock of my study, particularly his visual layout of “negrophobogenesis” and colonial temporality, which he describes as a “hellish cycle” or as an “infernal cycle” wherein the past overwhelms the present and ideas of the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Nostalgia in art , Memory in art , Africa -- In art , Africans in art , Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961. Peau noire, masques blancs. English , South Africa -- In art , Black people in art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167177 , vital:41444
- Description: The implications of nostalgia often strike a discordant note in post-apartheid discourse and this has opened up critical possibilities for research scholarship. For instance, Jacob Dlamini’s memoir Native Nostalgia entered the discursive fray in 2009, and it was subsequently followed by Derek Hook’s psychoanalytical approach in (Post) apartheid Conditions: Psychoanalysis and Social Formation in 2014. Notably, there is not yet a sustained and intensive research focus that has been conducted on post-apartheid forms of nostalgia within the discipline of art history and visual culture. I present this dissertation as a response to this gap. This thesis identifies mainly two competing nostalgias in post-apartheid South Africa. Through the analysis of selected artwork and media imagery, this dissertation critiques the connections of these nostalgias to the representation of the black figure in post-apartheid visual culture and the implications thereof. I argue that nostalgias for an apartheid-colonial-imperialist past operate through erasure and in the sanitisation of memory and as a result they render suffering indiscernible or in a sadomasochistic way consumes suffering as enjoyable. This thesis simultaneously critiques art work and visual representation that responds to South Africa’s nostalgia for the future: a restorative nostalgia that has emerged in the form of “rainbow nationalism”. This is a form of nostalgia that is underpinned by a dogged commitment to triumphalism and as a result erases the ongoing scenes of abjection. I use nostalgia and Afropessimism as analytical frameworks to argue that both real and visual representational forces work in tandem to restrain the future and this, I suggest is fulfilled by the transference of the black body from one state of unfreedom to next, resonating with a cyclical pattern. Frantz Fanon’s (1967) Black Skin White Mask forms the conceptual bedrock of my study, particularly his visual layout of “negrophobogenesis” and colonial temporality, which he describes as a “hellish cycle” or as an “infernal cycle” wherein the past overwhelms the present and ideas of the future.
- Full Text:
- 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
- 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
Formulation, development and assessment of devil’s claw loaded phyto-elastosomes in thermo-responsive hydrogels
- Authors: Ntemi, Pascal Vitalis
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164568 , vital:41139 , doi:10.21504/10962/164568
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutics, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ntemi, Pascal Vitalis
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164568 , vital:41139 , doi:10.21504/10962/164568
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutics, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Bioinformatic analysis of Aminoacyl tRNA Synthetases as potential antimalarial drug targets
- Authors: Nyamai, Dorothy Wavinya
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164579 , vital:41142 , doi:10.21504/10962/164579
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nyamai, Dorothy Wavinya
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164579 , vital:41142 , doi:10.21504/10962/164579
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Practices, dynamics and discourses of cross-racial adoption: the case of Buffalo city municipality in South Africa
- Authors: Nyasha, Kausi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Interracial adoption -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Adoption -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Social Work)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18009 , vital:42003
- Description: This study investigated the practices, dynamics, and discourses pertaining to crossracial adoption (CRA) in the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in South Africa. The researcher made use of qualitative methods to collect and analyse relevant data, which was made from both the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The research sample comprised of six adoption social workers, ten adoptive parents and ten adoptees, who were selected by means of purposive non-random sampling. The researcher also made use of observations, in order to that relevant, valuable, and rich information could be obtained. All the data was subsequently analysed by means of thematic analysis. The principal findings of the study revealed that although it has been legal since 1991, the practices of CRA in South Africa continues to be controversial and that, in the vast majority of cases, it entails black children being adopted by white parents. Relevant discourses covered cultural genocide, the best interests of adopted children, racial identity, colour-blindness, acculturation, and racial consciousness. The phenomenon of CRA needed to be evaluated from all of these standpoints, owing to the racial, cultural, and political perceptions which continue to linger after generations of enforced racial segregation in South Africa. It is evident from the findings that perceptions pertaining to race, culture, and politics exert a significant influence on social relations in the caring for and protection of vulnerable children and on family dynamics in adoptive families. It also emerged from the findings that CRA placements have begun to decline significantly, owing to factors such as long and tedious assessment processes, the xviii attitudes of social workers, a general lack of adequate pre- and post-adoption support for adoptive parents, and shortages of adoption social work staff and resources. The researcher endeavoured to assess the roles of adoption social workers within the adoption triad with respect to determining the adoptability of children and matching them with prospective adoptive parents, recruiting and selecting prospective adoptive parents, counselling prospective parents, counselling biological parents, counselling adopted children, and the providing of post-adoption services. It could be concluded from the findings that although the practice of CRA is an efficacious and desirable form of care for children who are in need of protection, despite any present shortcomings in relation to legislation pertaining to the practice, the phenomenon requires considerably more attention from relevant academics and researchers than it has received to date. The overarching conclusion which emerged from the findings was that although the practice of CRA has attracted controversy and denunciations from several racial groups, it has unlimited potential for erasing the racial stigmas which continue to haunt South African society as well as affording permanency care to those children who are in need of it. The study ends with some recommendations as well as a conceptual framework to deal with the issues of the practices, dynamics and discourses of CRA in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nyasha, Kausi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Interracial adoption -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Adoption -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Social Work)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18009 , vital:42003
- Description: This study investigated the practices, dynamics, and discourses pertaining to crossracial adoption (CRA) in the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in South Africa. The researcher made use of qualitative methods to collect and analyse relevant data, which was made from both the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The research sample comprised of six adoption social workers, ten adoptive parents and ten adoptees, who were selected by means of purposive non-random sampling. The researcher also made use of observations, in order to that relevant, valuable, and rich information could be obtained. All the data was subsequently analysed by means of thematic analysis. The principal findings of the study revealed that although it has been legal since 1991, the practices of CRA in South Africa continues to be controversial and that, in the vast majority of cases, it entails black children being adopted by white parents. Relevant discourses covered cultural genocide, the best interests of adopted children, racial identity, colour-blindness, acculturation, and racial consciousness. The phenomenon of CRA needed to be evaluated from all of these standpoints, owing to the racial, cultural, and political perceptions which continue to linger after generations of enforced racial segregation in South Africa. It is evident from the findings that perceptions pertaining to race, culture, and politics exert a significant influence on social relations in the caring for and protection of vulnerable children and on family dynamics in adoptive families. It also emerged from the findings that CRA placements have begun to decline significantly, owing to factors such as long and tedious assessment processes, the xviii attitudes of social workers, a general lack of adequate pre- and post-adoption support for adoptive parents, and shortages of adoption social work staff and resources. The researcher endeavoured to assess the roles of adoption social workers within the adoption triad with respect to determining the adoptability of children and matching them with prospective adoptive parents, recruiting and selecting prospective adoptive parents, counselling prospective parents, counselling biological parents, counselling adopted children, and the providing of post-adoption services. It could be concluded from the findings that although the practice of CRA is an efficacious and desirable form of care for children who are in need of protection, despite any present shortcomings in relation to legislation pertaining to the practice, the phenomenon requires considerably more attention from relevant academics and researchers than it has received to date. The overarching conclusion which emerged from the findings was that although the practice of CRA has attracted controversy and denunciations from several racial groups, it has unlimited potential for erasing the racial stigmas which continue to haunt South African society as well as affording permanency care to those children who are in need of it. The study ends with some recommendations as well as a conceptual framework to deal with the issues of the practices, dynamics and discourses of CRA in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A scheduling model for the charging of electric vehicles in photovoltaic powered smart microgrids
- Authors: Nyumbeka, Dumisani Joshua
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Electric vehicles , Photovoltaic power generation Photovoltaic power generation -- Developing countries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49259 , vital:41615
- Description: Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a viable option to advance sustainable mobility, but adoption is still relatively low. This has been largely due to the limited range one can travel on a single charge, leading to range anxiety, longer charge cycles and long wait times at charging stations. One solution to range anxiety is to erect charging stations on major roads and urban centres. There is also a lack of real-time information regarding the state of charging stations and charging ports in existing charging infrastructure. To increase the benefit of using EVs, using renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics (PV) to power EVs, can further increase the benefit of reduced carbon footprint. The main research objective was to design a Charge Scheduling Model for charging EVs using a PV-powered smart microgrid (SMG). The model addresses the lack of an integrated platform where EV drivers can schedule when and where to charge their EVs. The model also reduces the negative effects of the adoption of EVs, including range anxiety. The Charge Scheduling Model was developed using the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and was the main artefact of the study. A literature study was conducted of research related to SMGs, renewable energy, EVs and scheduling, to identify shortcomings that currently exist in EV charge scheduling (EVCS), and to identify the requirements of a potential solution. The literature study also identified the hard and soft constraints that are unique to EVCS, and the available energy in the SMG was identified as one of the hard constraints. Therefore, an Energy Forecasting Model for forecasting energy generated in PV-powered SMGs was required before the Charge Scheduling Model could be designed. During the first iteration of the design and development activities of DSR, four models were designed and implemented to evaluate their effectiveness in forecasting the energy generated in PV-powered SMGs. The models were Support Vector Regression (SVR), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Decision Trees, and Multilayer Perceptron. In the second iteration, the Charge Scheduling Model was designed, consisting of a Four Layered Architecture and the Three-Phase Data Flow Process. The Charge Scheduling Model was then used to design the EVCS prototype. The implementation of the EVCS prototype followed the incremental prototyping approach, which was used to verify the effectiveness of the model. An artificial-summative evaluation was used to evaluate the design of the Charge Scheduling Model, whereas iterative formative evaluations were conducted during the development of the EVCS prototype. The theoretical contribution of this study is the Charge Scheduling Model, and the EVCS prototype is the practical contribution. The results from both evaluations, i.e. the Energy Forecasting Model and the Charge Scheduling Model, also make a contribution to the body of knowledge of EVs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nyumbeka, Dumisani Joshua
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Electric vehicles , Photovoltaic power generation Photovoltaic power generation -- Developing countries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49259 , vital:41615
- Description: Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a viable option to advance sustainable mobility, but adoption is still relatively low. This has been largely due to the limited range one can travel on a single charge, leading to range anxiety, longer charge cycles and long wait times at charging stations. One solution to range anxiety is to erect charging stations on major roads and urban centres. There is also a lack of real-time information regarding the state of charging stations and charging ports in existing charging infrastructure. To increase the benefit of using EVs, using renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics (PV) to power EVs, can further increase the benefit of reduced carbon footprint. The main research objective was to design a Charge Scheduling Model for charging EVs using a PV-powered smart microgrid (SMG). The model addresses the lack of an integrated platform where EV drivers can schedule when and where to charge their EVs. The model also reduces the negative effects of the adoption of EVs, including range anxiety. The Charge Scheduling Model was developed using the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and was the main artefact of the study. A literature study was conducted of research related to SMGs, renewable energy, EVs and scheduling, to identify shortcomings that currently exist in EV charge scheduling (EVCS), and to identify the requirements of a potential solution. The literature study also identified the hard and soft constraints that are unique to EVCS, and the available energy in the SMG was identified as one of the hard constraints. Therefore, an Energy Forecasting Model for forecasting energy generated in PV-powered SMGs was required before the Charge Scheduling Model could be designed. During the first iteration of the design and development activities of DSR, four models were designed and implemented to evaluate their effectiveness in forecasting the energy generated in PV-powered SMGs. The models were Support Vector Regression (SVR), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Decision Trees, and Multilayer Perceptron. In the second iteration, the Charge Scheduling Model was designed, consisting of a Four Layered Architecture and the Three-Phase Data Flow Process. The Charge Scheduling Model was then used to design the EVCS prototype. The implementation of the EVCS prototype followed the incremental prototyping approach, which was used to verify the effectiveness of the model. An artificial-summative evaluation was used to evaluate the design of the Charge Scheduling Model, whereas iterative formative evaluations were conducted during the development of the EVCS prototype. The theoretical contribution of this study is the Charge Scheduling Model, and the EVCS prototype is the practical contribution. The results from both evaluations, i.e. the Energy Forecasting Model and the Charge Scheduling Model, also make a contribution to the body of knowledge of EVs.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Development of paper-based aptasensors for detection of Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase in malaria
- Ogunmolasuyi, Adewoyin Martin
- Authors: Ogunmolasuyi, Adewoyin Martin
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164601 , vital:41147 , doi:10.21504/10962/164601
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ogunmolasuyi, Adewoyin Martin
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/164601 , vital:41147 , doi:10.21504/10962/164601
- Description: Thesis (PhD)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
An audience perception of pentecostal churches’ television programmes on star times and dstv in lagos, Nigeria
- Authors: Olaoye, Adewale Titus
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Religious broadcasting -- Christianity Television in religion Mass media in religion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Communication)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11418 , vital:39070
- Description: Pentecostal churches in Nigeria are leveraging traditional and new media technologies such as cable or digital satellite television, to broadcast services and programmes to their regular and a growing community of virtual worshippers. Critics of this type of religious outreach now known as televangelism have challenged its predominant, if not exclusive focus on miracle and prosperity message. Using the mixed-method research design involving focus group discussions, key informant interviews and a survey of 255 respondents, this study sought to ascertain Lagos audiences‘ perceptions of Pentecostal Television programmes on two satellite stations, Start Times and DSTV. The findings revealed that audience members perceive Pentecostal churches programme as primarily focused on converting the audience members to the Christian faith. The result revealed that miracle sessions are a common feature of televangelism. Respondents see the miracles as manipulations largely intended to woo and often, hoodwink audience members. The findings revealed that although some of the Pentecostal churches‘ programmes dwell more on the word of God compared to the mainline churches, the programmes and teachings, however, often tended to promote the leadership of the church and not the gospel of Christ. Generally, the study indicates the majority of the audience members are aware of and identify with the atrocities the Pentecostal Churches are accused of perpetrating through their TV programmes. The findings revealed poor awareness and knowledge about the role of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The results suggest participants do not believe the NBC is living up to its responsibilities. The findings of this study highlight the need for the NBC, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to work together in formulating new regulations for controlling religious broadcast on television, Pentecostal TV broadcasts, in particular. This is the only way to safeguard vulnerable members of the audience from being manipulated and brainwashed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Olaoye, Adewale Titus
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Religious broadcasting -- Christianity Television in religion Mass media in religion
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Communication)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11418 , vital:39070
- Description: Pentecostal churches in Nigeria are leveraging traditional and new media technologies such as cable or digital satellite television, to broadcast services and programmes to their regular and a growing community of virtual worshippers. Critics of this type of religious outreach now known as televangelism have challenged its predominant, if not exclusive focus on miracle and prosperity message. Using the mixed-method research design involving focus group discussions, key informant interviews and a survey of 255 respondents, this study sought to ascertain Lagos audiences‘ perceptions of Pentecostal Television programmes on two satellite stations, Start Times and DSTV. The findings revealed that audience members perceive Pentecostal churches programme as primarily focused on converting the audience members to the Christian faith. The result revealed that miracle sessions are a common feature of televangelism. Respondents see the miracles as manipulations largely intended to woo and often, hoodwink audience members. The findings revealed that although some of the Pentecostal churches‘ programmes dwell more on the word of God compared to the mainline churches, the programmes and teachings, however, often tended to promote the leadership of the church and not the gospel of Christ. Generally, the study indicates the majority of the audience members are aware of and identify with the atrocities the Pentecostal Churches are accused of perpetrating through their TV programmes. The findings revealed poor awareness and knowledge about the role of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The results suggest participants do not believe the NBC is living up to its responsibilities. The findings of this study highlight the need for the NBC, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) to work together in formulating new regulations for controlling religious broadcast on television, Pentecostal TV broadcasts, in particular. This is the only way to safeguard vulnerable members of the audience from being manipulated and brainwashed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Exploring teaching and learning German as a foreign language at a South African institution of higher education: blended learning and collocations
- Authors: Ortner, Gwyndolen Jeanie
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Foreign speakers -- South Africa , German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- English speakers -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students , Rhodes University. German Studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167295 , vital:41465
- Description: German Studies students at Rhodes University have normally never studied the German language before enrolling for the first-year course and face the challenge of a fairly rapid linguistic advancement, in a context with very limited exposure to the foreign language outside the classroom. Free writing is an area which students find particularly challenging as it requires students to syndissertatione grammatical and vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, South African students are often underprepared for the challenges they face at university regarding language, technology and finance, as they try to to assimilate to the academic environment and gain epistemological access to their various subjects, in this case, language acquisition and the attendant modules of translation, literature and cultural studies. The use of technology in teaching and learning, known as blended learning, is said to produce better results than face-to face teaching alone, through creating opportunities for more autonomous student learning. Scholars of instructed second-language acquisition also suggest using technology to improve language instruction. One particular area which is gaining ground is teaching students collocational structures through exploring large language corpora, to improve students’ language competencies such as writing fluency. However, both blended learning practices and corpus-based teaching practices suggested by scholars are often not reported on in a particular teaching and learning context, taking into account factors such as institutional infrastructure, student and staff backgrounds and preparedness, and larger socio-political factors. Thus, it remains unclear how these practices (blended learning and corpus-based teaching of collocations) may be integrated into standard urricula, particularly for languages other than English, which have been severely under-researched. The purpose of this research is to take a context-based approach to language teaching and thereby investigate current blended learning practices for German Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa and explore through an action research approach how to integrate collocational awareness into the curriculum, within the blended learning model. Insights from corpus linguistics guide an adaptation of teaching practice, helping students develop skills to aid with writing fluency, seeking to make the patterned nature of language salient to our students. This is undertaken in a scaffolded way, within the curriculum, making use firstly of the texts to which students are exposed in the textbook (comprehensible input) as a source of collocational examples, and following this by making use of reallife language data from an online German corpus, DWDS. Findings from the study reveal a number of best practices related to the use of blended learning and teaching collocations in context of the German foreign language curriculum at a South African institution of higher education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ortner, Gwyndolen Jeanie
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa , German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Foreign speakers -- South Africa , German language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- English speakers -- South Africa , Rhodes University -- Students , Rhodes University. German Studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167295 , vital:41465
- Description: German Studies students at Rhodes University have normally never studied the German language before enrolling for the first-year course and face the challenge of a fairly rapid linguistic advancement, in a context with very limited exposure to the foreign language outside the classroom. Free writing is an area which students find particularly challenging as it requires students to syndissertatione grammatical and vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, South African students are often underprepared for the challenges they face at university regarding language, technology and finance, as they try to to assimilate to the academic environment and gain epistemological access to their various subjects, in this case, language acquisition and the attendant modules of translation, literature and cultural studies. The use of technology in teaching and learning, known as blended learning, is said to produce better results than face-to face teaching alone, through creating opportunities for more autonomous student learning. Scholars of instructed second-language acquisition also suggest using technology to improve language instruction. One particular area which is gaining ground is teaching students collocational structures through exploring large language corpora, to improve students’ language competencies such as writing fluency. However, both blended learning practices and corpus-based teaching practices suggested by scholars are often not reported on in a particular teaching and learning context, taking into account factors such as institutional infrastructure, student and staff backgrounds and preparedness, and larger socio-political factors. Thus, it remains unclear how these practices (blended learning and corpus-based teaching of collocations) may be integrated into standard urricula, particularly for languages other than English, which have been severely under-researched. The purpose of this research is to take a context-based approach to language teaching and thereby investigate current blended learning practices for German Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa and explore through an action research approach how to integrate collocational awareness into the curriculum, within the blended learning model. Insights from corpus linguistics guide an adaptation of teaching practice, helping students develop skills to aid with writing fluency, seeking to make the patterned nature of language salient to our students. This is undertaken in a scaffolded way, within the curriculum, making use firstly of the texts to which students are exposed in the textbook (comprehensible input) as a source of collocational examples, and following this by making use of reallife language data from an online German corpus, DWDS. Findings from the study reveal a number of best practices related to the use of blended learning and teaching collocations in context of the German foreign language curriculum at a South African institution of higher education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020