A critical investigation of the relevance of theories of feminist jurisprudence to African women in South Africa
- Authors: Mangwiro, Heather K
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Feminist theory Feminist jurisprudence Women -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa Women's rights -- South Africa Sex discrimination against women -- South Africa Sex role -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3712 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007328
- Description: Feminist theories emerged out of the revolutionary enthusiasm that swept the Western world during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Based on the assumption that all persons have "inalienable or natural" rights upon which governments may not intrude, feminists in Europe and America advocated that equal rights should be extended to women who up to this point were not considered legal beings separate and deserving of these rights. Most African writers and feminists have argued that since most of the theories of feminist jurisprudence have their roots in this Euro-centric context, they cannot be applicable to African women and should therefore be discarded. The thesis acknowledges that to a certain extent their assertions are true. For years feminist jurisprudence has been restricted to an academic engagement with the law failing to take into account the practices and customs of different communities. It has largely been the realm of the middle class bourgeois white female and therefore has been inaccessible to the African woman. The thesis aims, however, to prove that these theories of feminist jurisprudence although Euro-centric have a place in the understanding and advancement of African women's rights in South Africa. In Chapter One the writer traces the history of South African women's rights and the laws that affect African women. Chapter Two presents the emergence of feminist theories and categories of feminism. The writer then seeks to identify the misunderstandings and tensions that exist between the two. The narrow conception of Euro-centric feminism has been that its sole purpose has been the eradication of gender discrimination, however, for African women in South Africa they have had to deal with a multiplicity of oppressions that include but are not restricted to gender, race, economic and social disempowerment. This is dealt with in Chapter Three. It is the opinion of the writer that despite these differences feminism does play a critical role in the advancement of women's rights in South Africa. Taking the South African governments commitment to the advancement of universal rights, the writer is of the opinion that African women can look to the example set by Western feminists, and broaden these theories to suit and be adaptable to the South African context. The answer is not to totally discard feminist theories but to extract commonalities that exist between African and European women, by so doing acknowledging that women's oppression is a global phenomenon. This is the focus of Chapter Four. To avoid making this work a mere academic endeavour, the writer in Chapter Five also aims, through interviews, to include the voices of African women and to indicate areas that still need attention from both the lawmakers and women's rights movements (Feminists). Finally, the writer aims to present a way forward, one that is not merely formal but also substantively attainable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Mangwiro, Heather K
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Feminist theory Feminist jurisprudence Women -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa Women's rights -- South Africa Sex discrimination against women -- South Africa Sex role -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:3712 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007328
- Description: Feminist theories emerged out of the revolutionary enthusiasm that swept the Western world during the late eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe. Based on the assumption that all persons have "inalienable or natural" rights upon which governments may not intrude, feminists in Europe and America advocated that equal rights should be extended to women who up to this point were not considered legal beings separate and deserving of these rights. Most African writers and feminists have argued that since most of the theories of feminist jurisprudence have their roots in this Euro-centric context, they cannot be applicable to African women and should therefore be discarded. The thesis acknowledges that to a certain extent their assertions are true. For years feminist jurisprudence has been restricted to an academic engagement with the law failing to take into account the practices and customs of different communities. It has largely been the realm of the middle class bourgeois white female and therefore has been inaccessible to the African woman. The thesis aims, however, to prove that these theories of feminist jurisprudence although Euro-centric have a place in the understanding and advancement of African women's rights in South Africa. In Chapter One the writer traces the history of South African women's rights and the laws that affect African women. Chapter Two presents the emergence of feminist theories and categories of feminism. The writer then seeks to identify the misunderstandings and tensions that exist between the two. The narrow conception of Euro-centric feminism has been that its sole purpose has been the eradication of gender discrimination, however, for African women in South Africa they have had to deal with a multiplicity of oppressions that include but are not restricted to gender, race, economic and social disempowerment. This is dealt with in Chapter Three. It is the opinion of the writer that despite these differences feminism does play a critical role in the advancement of women's rights in South Africa. Taking the South African governments commitment to the advancement of universal rights, the writer is of the opinion that African women can look to the example set by Western feminists, and broaden these theories to suit and be adaptable to the South African context. The answer is not to totally discard feminist theories but to extract commonalities that exist between African and European women, by so doing acknowledging that women's oppression is a global phenomenon. This is the focus of Chapter Four. To avoid making this work a mere academic endeavour, the writer in Chapter Five also aims, through interviews, to include the voices of African women and to indicate areas that still need attention from both the lawmakers and women's rights movements (Feminists). Finally, the writer aims to present a way forward, one that is not merely formal but also substantively attainable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
How policy discourses and contextual realities influence environmental teaching and learning processes in early childhood development: a case study of the Raglan Road child care centre
- Authors: Vallabh, Priya
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Early childhood education -- South Africa , Health education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Day care centers -- South Africa , Child development
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1559 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003441 , Early childhood education -- South Africa , Health education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Day care centers -- South Africa , Child development
- Description: This case study considers the relationship between context, school policy and environmental teaching and learning processes at a community-based early childhood development centre in South Africa. The study recognises that educational practices in the early childhood development field are shaped by historical, cultural, economic and political realities at both local and national levels. It is from the understanding that each school is a unique composition of these shaping factors that the research was designed to consider the community-based school participating in this study. By compiling a contextual profile, this study attempts to consider dominant contextual factors affecting the school. Through the critical discourse analysis of a school policy document, this study considers local level policy, and through the literature chapter, national policy. Teacher interviews provide insight into teacher understanding of school policy in response to contextual issues, as well as providing insight into how teachers perceive their translation of policy into teaching practice. Observations of lessons in the centre provided an. opportunity to see how context and policy translated into and influenced environmental teaching and learning processes. This study looks at how environmental education is addressed in the Raglan Road Child Care Centre, and provides insight into how environmental education within the context of the school and in relation to school policy may be strengthened. It comments on the tensions and ambivalences arising from the relationships between context, policy and environmental teaching and learning processes and makes recommendations to address these ambivalences in ways that are contextually relevant. The main recommendations were designed to be practically useful for the school involved in the study and are focused around engaging the ambivalences emerging from this study to open up 'spaces' for deliberating environmental teaching and learning processes and other tensions arising out of the study at an ECD level. Recommendations included: 1) engaging with the strong development focus in school policy and the educational focus in national policy and teacher discourse; 2) deliberating the ways in which school policy and national policy respond to risk; 3) engaging with the ambivalence in the school-parent relationship; 4) the re-alignment of the explicit curriculum and broadening the contextually-based view of whole child development; and 5) engaging the ambivalence in approaches to education at the centre.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Vallabh, Priya
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Early childhood education -- South Africa , Health education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Day care centers -- South Africa , Child development
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1559 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003441 , Early childhood education -- South Africa , Health education -- South Africa , Environmental education -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Day care centers -- South Africa , Child development
- Description: This case study considers the relationship between context, school policy and environmental teaching and learning processes at a community-based early childhood development centre in South Africa. The study recognises that educational practices in the early childhood development field are shaped by historical, cultural, economic and political realities at both local and national levels. It is from the understanding that each school is a unique composition of these shaping factors that the research was designed to consider the community-based school participating in this study. By compiling a contextual profile, this study attempts to consider dominant contextual factors affecting the school. Through the critical discourse analysis of a school policy document, this study considers local level policy, and through the literature chapter, national policy. Teacher interviews provide insight into teacher understanding of school policy in response to contextual issues, as well as providing insight into how teachers perceive their translation of policy into teaching practice. Observations of lessons in the centre provided an. opportunity to see how context and policy translated into and influenced environmental teaching and learning processes. This study looks at how environmental education is addressed in the Raglan Road Child Care Centre, and provides insight into how environmental education within the context of the school and in relation to school policy may be strengthened. It comments on the tensions and ambivalences arising from the relationships between context, policy and environmental teaching and learning processes and makes recommendations to address these ambivalences in ways that are contextually relevant. The main recommendations were designed to be practically useful for the school involved in the study and are focused around engaging the ambivalences emerging from this study to open up 'spaces' for deliberating environmental teaching and learning processes and other tensions arising out of the study at an ECD level. Recommendations included: 1) engaging with the strong development focus in school policy and the educational focus in national policy and teacher discourse; 2) deliberating the ways in which school policy and national policy respond to risk; 3) engaging with the ambivalence in the school-parent relationship; 4) the re-alignment of the explicit curriculum and broadening the contextually-based view of whole child development; and 5) engaging the ambivalence in approaches to education at the centre.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Population dynamics of selected ichthyofaunal components in the temperate, temporarily open/closed Kasouga Estuary, South Africa
- Authors: Tweddle, Gavin Paul
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine fishes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5742 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005428 , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine fishes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The spatial and temporal pattern of ichthyofaunal community composition in relation to selected physico-chemical (temperature and salinity) and biological variables (chlorophyll-a and zooplankton) was investigated at ten stations in the temperate temporarily open/closed Kasouga estuary. In addition, the food web structure in the estuary was investigated using stable carbon isotope analysis. Results of the 5 metre seine net survey indicated that ichthyofaunal composition and biomass in the Kasouga estuary was largely determined by seasonality and mouth condition. Maximum abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna was recorded during summer or during those periods when overtopping occurred. Overtopping coincided with the recruitment of marine estuarine dependant species, which dominated the catches both numerically and in biomass. The recruitment of these species resulted in an increase in diversity of the ichthyofaunal community. There were no significant spatial patterns in the distribution of smaller ichthyofauna (<50mm SL) identified in Bray-Curtis similarity matrices using cluster analysis (Primer 5 v5.2.4). Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed that there were no significant correlations between abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna and selected physico-chemical and biological variables other than salinity (P>0.05 in all other cases). There were two distinct spatial patterns in the distribution of the larger ichthyofauna (>50mm SL). These corresponded to a grouping associated with the mouth region and a grouping associated with the remaining regions of the estuary. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the primary source of carbon utilised by the ichthyofauna of the Kasouga estuary was derived from the channel, most likely microphytobenthic algae. The contributions of the riparian and salt marsh vegetation to the total carbon flow appear to be minimal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Tweddle, Gavin Paul
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine fishes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5742 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005428 , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine fishes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Estuarine ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The spatial and temporal pattern of ichthyofaunal community composition in relation to selected physico-chemical (temperature and salinity) and biological variables (chlorophyll-a and zooplankton) was investigated at ten stations in the temperate temporarily open/closed Kasouga estuary. In addition, the food web structure in the estuary was investigated using stable carbon isotope analysis. Results of the 5 metre seine net survey indicated that ichthyofaunal composition and biomass in the Kasouga estuary was largely determined by seasonality and mouth condition. Maximum abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna was recorded during summer or during those periods when overtopping occurred. Overtopping coincided with the recruitment of marine estuarine dependant species, which dominated the catches both numerically and in biomass. The recruitment of these species resulted in an increase in diversity of the ichthyofaunal community. There were no significant spatial patterns in the distribution of smaller ichthyofauna (<50mm SL) identified in Bray-Curtis similarity matrices using cluster analysis (Primer 5 v5.2.4). Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed that there were no significant correlations between abundance and biomass of ichthyofauna and selected physico-chemical and biological variables other than salinity (P>0.05 in all other cases). There were two distinct spatial patterns in the distribution of the larger ichthyofauna (>50mm SL). These corresponded to a grouping associated with the mouth region and a grouping associated with the remaining regions of the estuary. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the primary source of carbon utilised by the ichthyofauna of the Kasouga estuary was derived from the channel, most likely microphytobenthic algae. The contributions of the riparian and salt marsh vegetation to the total carbon flow appear to be minimal.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
A decade of changes Eastern Cape white commercial farmers' discourses of democracy
- Authors: Böhmke, Werner
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2934 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002443 , Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This paper deals with an analysis of the discursive accounts of Eastern Cape white commercial farmers on the subject of Democracy. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of Social Constructionism and Discourse Analysis – which view individuals’ accounts of their realities as produced and informed by their particular social and historical context – the paper seeks to provide an analysis of the content of, and rhetorical strategies within the participants’ accounts and explanations. Such accounts of the social, historical and political circumstances in which Eastern Cape commercial farmers find themselves are thought to provide valuable insights into the manner in which the process of democratisation has been received by members of the agricultural sector. Data collection was conducted via brief, audio taped, semi-structured interviews. The participants were all white men and women, living in a commercial farming region of the Eastern Cape Province. Responses to the interviews were subjected to the Discourse Analytical procedure advanced by Ian Parker. Analyses reveal that participants are critical of the notion of democracy; utilize specific rhetorical and argumentation strategies; make use of notions and techniques of ‘Othering’; and subscribe to a colonial / patriarchal ideology which attempts to idealize pre-democratic South Africa. These findings illustrate what is in many ways still an ongoing political and ideological struggle in the rural regions of the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Böhmke, Werner
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2934 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002443 , Farmers -- Psychology , Agriculture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Democracy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Political culture -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Social psychology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This paper deals with an analysis of the discursive accounts of Eastern Cape white commercial farmers on the subject of Democracy. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of Social Constructionism and Discourse Analysis – which view individuals’ accounts of their realities as produced and informed by their particular social and historical context – the paper seeks to provide an analysis of the content of, and rhetorical strategies within the participants’ accounts and explanations. Such accounts of the social, historical and political circumstances in which Eastern Cape commercial farmers find themselves are thought to provide valuable insights into the manner in which the process of democratisation has been received by members of the agricultural sector. Data collection was conducted via brief, audio taped, semi-structured interviews. The participants were all white men and women, living in a commercial farming region of the Eastern Cape Province. Responses to the interviews were subjected to the Discourse Analytical procedure advanced by Ian Parker. Analyses reveal that participants are critical of the notion of democracy; utilize specific rhetorical and argumentation strategies; make use of notions and techniques of ‘Othering’; and subscribe to a colonial / patriarchal ideology which attempts to idealize pre-democratic South Africa. These findings illustrate what is in many ways still an ongoing political and ideological struggle in the rural regions of the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Environmental policy processes surrounding South Africa's plastic bags regulations : tensions, debates and responses in waste product regulation
- Authors: Nhamo, Godwell
- Date: 2013-06-07
- Subjects: Environmental policy -- South Africa Plastic bags -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Environmental protection -- South Africa Environmental law -- South Africa Waste products -- South Africa Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1944 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008051
- Description: This study was conducted in South Africa. South Africa is the first country within the Southern African Development Community to have regulated plastic shopping bags waste through the imposition of both a standard on thickness and a levy. Given this scenario, the Plastic Bags Regulations present an illustrative case for researching complexity, uncertainty and controversies surrounding a new trend in environmental policy making, namely waste product regulation. The thesis focuses on understanding and investigating tensions, debates and responses emerging from the policy process as actors and actor-networks put not only the Plastic Bags Regulations asfocal actant (token) but also other actants and actant-networks as well. To this end, a research question that addressed environmental policies, tensions, debates and responses that informed the development of South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations was spelt out. The research objectives included the need to: (I) analyse selected international environmental policy processes surrounding plastic shopping bags litter and waste regulation and how these influenced developments in South Africa; (2) identify actors, actants and actor/actant-networks that shaped and were being transformed by South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations and explain the tensions, debates and responses arising in the policy processes; (3) identify environmental policy outputs and assess outcomes emerging from the formulation and implementation of South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations; and (4) establish patterns in environmental policy process reforms around South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations. The language of actors (human), actants (non-human) and actor/actant-networks brings to the fore the aspects of processes and relationships that exist around them. As such, insights from the actor/actant-network theory (AANT) were drawn upon to inform the research. AANT enquiry framework collapses binaries such as nature/society, art/science, structure/agency and global/local historically associated with a particular type of social theory. AANT also denies that purely technical, scientific or social relations are possible (the notion of quaSi-objects or token). Data sets were generated following' the Plastic Bags Regulations as token actant with time frames ranging from prior to, during and after the formulation of the regulations. Similarly, data analysis drew insights from AANT's four moments of translation namely problematisation, interessement, enrolment and mobilisation, with the intervention theory providing an evaluative perspective that complemented AANT. The findings were that after the promulgation of the first draft of the Plastic Bags Regulations in May 2000, tensions emerged around the nature of regulation (whether command and control - preferred by government or self regulation - preferred by industry and labour). In this regard the latter group raised concerns about jobs, income and equipment loss as well as the need to have a holistic approach to waste management rather than targeting a single product at a time whilst the former maintained that this would not be so. As such, education, awareness and stringent antilitter penalties were proposed by industry and labour as sustainable responses to the problem of plastic shopping bags waste rather than regulation. These debates continued and resulted in minor amendments to the original regulations as finalised by Government in May 2002. However, industry and labour continued lobbying government resulting in the conclusion of the Plastic Bags Agreement in September 2002 and the ultimate repulsion of the May 2002 regulations in May 2003. As revealed by this research, these responses led to broader social responses and further tensions as demand for plastic shopping bags went down by about 80% although an estimated 1000 jobs were lost and a number of companies lost equipment and business (with some closing down) following the implementation of the regulations. During implementation, debates emerged around the need to promote locally made carry facilities with two alternatives in sight namely: the Green Bag and the Biodegradable Plastic Bag. Debates also took place regarding enforcement of the new law resulting in the amendments of various pieces of legislation including the Environmental Conservation Act, Environmental Management Act and the Revenue Laws Act. Overall, a 15-year policy reform cycle and sub-cycles was determined. The research also established that the government considered the regulations a success and was already implementing simi lar initiatives to regulate other waste products, among them, used tyres, used oil and glass, confirming the trend towards waste product regulation in South Africa. From these research findings, a series of conceptual frameworks were drawn up to clarify the nature of tensions, debates and responses surrounding certain lead actors, actants and actorlactant-networks. Some of the conceptual frameworks that emerged around the actors and actor-networks include Organised Government, Organised Industry and Organised Labour. Conceptual frameworks that emerged around key actants and actant-networks include the Integrated Pollution and Waste Management, Plastic Bags Regulations as well as the discourses surrounding the Green bag and biodegradable plastic bags. The thesis concludes by reflecting on how the above and the grand actor/actant-network conceptual frameworks emerging from this research might be adopted with varying degrees of flexibility to research environmental and waste management policy processes in different waste product regulation set-ups. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nhamo, Godwell
- Date: 2013-06-07
- Subjects: Environmental policy -- South Africa Plastic bags -- Law and legislation -- South Africa Environmental protection -- South Africa Environmental law -- South Africa Waste products -- South Africa Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1944 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008051
- Description: This study was conducted in South Africa. South Africa is the first country within the Southern African Development Community to have regulated plastic shopping bags waste through the imposition of both a standard on thickness and a levy. Given this scenario, the Plastic Bags Regulations present an illustrative case for researching complexity, uncertainty and controversies surrounding a new trend in environmental policy making, namely waste product regulation. The thesis focuses on understanding and investigating tensions, debates and responses emerging from the policy process as actors and actor-networks put not only the Plastic Bags Regulations asfocal actant (token) but also other actants and actant-networks as well. To this end, a research question that addressed environmental policies, tensions, debates and responses that informed the development of South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations was spelt out. The research objectives included the need to: (I) analyse selected international environmental policy processes surrounding plastic shopping bags litter and waste regulation and how these influenced developments in South Africa; (2) identify actors, actants and actor/actant-networks that shaped and were being transformed by South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations and explain the tensions, debates and responses arising in the policy processes; (3) identify environmental policy outputs and assess outcomes emerging from the formulation and implementation of South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations; and (4) establish patterns in environmental policy process reforms around South Africa's Plastic Bags Regulations. The language of actors (human), actants (non-human) and actor/actant-networks brings to the fore the aspects of processes and relationships that exist around them. As such, insights from the actor/actant-network theory (AANT) were drawn upon to inform the research. AANT enquiry framework collapses binaries such as nature/society, art/science, structure/agency and global/local historically associated with a particular type of social theory. AANT also denies that purely technical, scientific or social relations are possible (the notion of quaSi-objects or token). Data sets were generated following' the Plastic Bags Regulations as token actant with time frames ranging from prior to, during and after the formulation of the regulations. Similarly, data analysis drew insights from AANT's four moments of translation namely problematisation, interessement, enrolment and mobilisation, with the intervention theory providing an evaluative perspective that complemented AANT. The findings were that after the promulgation of the first draft of the Plastic Bags Regulations in May 2000, tensions emerged around the nature of regulation (whether command and control - preferred by government or self regulation - preferred by industry and labour). In this regard the latter group raised concerns about jobs, income and equipment loss as well as the need to have a holistic approach to waste management rather than targeting a single product at a time whilst the former maintained that this would not be so. As such, education, awareness and stringent antilitter penalties were proposed by industry and labour as sustainable responses to the problem of plastic shopping bags waste rather than regulation. These debates continued and resulted in minor amendments to the original regulations as finalised by Government in May 2002. However, industry and labour continued lobbying government resulting in the conclusion of the Plastic Bags Agreement in September 2002 and the ultimate repulsion of the May 2002 regulations in May 2003. As revealed by this research, these responses led to broader social responses and further tensions as demand for plastic shopping bags went down by about 80% although an estimated 1000 jobs were lost and a number of companies lost equipment and business (with some closing down) following the implementation of the regulations. During implementation, debates emerged around the need to promote locally made carry facilities with two alternatives in sight namely: the Green Bag and the Biodegradable Plastic Bag. Debates also took place regarding enforcement of the new law resulting in the amendments of various pieces of legislation including the Environmental Conservation Act, Environmental Management Act and the Revenue Laws Act. Overall, a 15-year policy reform cycle and sub-cycles was determined. The research also established that the government considered the regulations a success and was already implementing simi lar initiatives to regulate other waste products, among them, used tyres, used oil and glass, confirming the trend towards waste product regulation in South Africa. From these research findings, a series of conceptual frameworks were drawn up to clarify the nature of tensions, debates and responses surrounding certain lead actors, actants and actorlactant-networks. Some of the conceptual frameworks that emerged around the actors and actor-networks include Organised Government, Organised Industry and Organised Labour. Conceptual frameworks that emerged around key actants and actant-networks include the Integrated Pollution and Waste Management, Plastic Bags Regulations as well as the discourses surrounding the Green bag and biodegradable plastic bags. The thesis concludes by reflecting on how the above and the grand actor/actant-network conceptual frameworks emerging from this research might be adopted with varying degrees of flexibility to research environmental and waste management policy processes in different waste product regulation set-ups. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
Investigation into the biological removal of sulphate from ethanol distillery wastewater using sulphate-reducing prokaryotes
- Authors: Smuts, Lizl
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Sewage -- Purification -- Biological treatment , Prokaryotes , Sulfates , Distilleries -- Waste disposal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3941 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004000 , Sewage -- Purification -- Biological treatment , Prokaryotes , Sulfates , Distilleries -- Waste disposal
- Description: Ethanol production wastewater is known to be toxic, and is not easily biodegradable. It also consists of a variety of coloured components adding to the complex composition of this wastewater. Disposal of this wastewater into water courses is not recommended and yet is performed all over the world. Investigation of this wastewater found that there was a high concentration of sulphate which, in the presence of sulphate-reducing prokaryotes can cause sulphide corrosion of cement. The concentration of sulphate in the wastewater was approximately 2770 mg/L. It was also found that the wastewater pH was very low and discharge of the wastewater into the wastewater treatment works caused a negative impact on the overall quality of the final wastewater discharged to sea. It was found using FISH techniques that there were no sulphate-reducing prokaryotes present in the wastewaters but that a sulphate-reducing population existed on the sewer wall. An anaerobic contact process was designed to treat this wastewater targeting sulphate reduction to sulphide, to be converted into elemental sulphur and to increase the wastewater pH. The process did not achieve this aim and only approximately 20-30 % reduction in sulphate from the wastewater was achieved with little to no change in the pH. A 95 % reduction in sulphate concentration was needed in order to reach acceptable discharge limits. Sulphate reduction could not be carried out, even under ideal laboratory conditions. It was found that the barrier causing the digester failure was the high concentration of phenols present in the wastewater (3.3 g/L) together with the production of high concentrations of volatile fatty acids (on average 13 g acetic/L). These two components are known to cause digester failure, especially phenols, and phenols are usually only degraded by fungal species. It was concluded that the wastewater itself was not amenable to this method of biological treatment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Smuts, Lizl
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Sewage -- Purification -- Biological treatment , Prokaryotes , Sulfates , Distilleries -- Waste disposal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3941 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004000 , Sewage -- Purification -- Biological treatment , Prokaryotes , Sulfates , Distilleries -- Waste disposal
- Description: Ethanol production wastewater is known to be toxic, and is not easily biodegradable. It also consists of a variety of coloured components adding to the complex composition of this wastewater. Disposal of this wastewater into water courses is not recommended and yet is performed all over the world. Investigation of this wastewater found that there was a high concentration of sulphate which, in the presence of sulphate-reducing prokaryotes can cause sulphide corrosion of cement. The concentration of sulphate in the wastewater was approximately 2770 mg/L. It was also found that the wastewater pH was very low and discharge of the wastewater into the wastewater treatment works caused a negative impact on the overall quality of the final wastewater discharged to sea. It was found using FISH techniques that there were no sulphate-reducing prokaryotes present in the wastewaters but that a sulphate-reducing population existed on the sewer wall. An anaerobic contact process was designed to treat this wastewater targeting sulphate reduction to sulphide, to be converted into elemental sulphur and to increase the wastewater pH. The process did not achieve this aim and only approximately 20-30 % reduction in sulphate from the wastewater was achieved with little to no change in the pH. A 95 % reduction in sulphate concentration was needed in order to reach acceptable discharge limits. Sulphate reduction could not be carried out, even under ideal laboratory conditions. It was found that the barrier causing the digester failure was the high concentration of phenols present in the wastewater (3.3 g/L) together with the production of high concentrations of volatile fatty acids (on average 13 g acetic/L). These two components are known to cause digester failure, especially phenols, and phenols are usually only degraded by fungal species. It was concluded that the wastewater itself was not amenable to this method of biological treatment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Animal suffering in factory farming and the best way to prevent it
- Authors: Watkins, Gareth
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Vegetarianism -- Moral and ethical aspects Food animals -- Moral and ethical aspects Animal rights Animal welfare Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects Vegetarianism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2728 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003736
- Description: This thesis moves beyond the traditional approaches of how we ought to treat animals, and instead concentrates on the best strategy for preventing animal suffering in the farming industry. Chapter 1 considers the question of how we can know that animals feel pain, and concludes not only that it is rational to believe that they can, but also that this is a significant fact. Chapter 2 then analyses one possible strategy for helping to prevent animal suffering, namely demi-vegetarianism. For a number of reasons, however, this strategy is found to be flawed, therefore Chapter 3 analyses a second possible strategy, namely vegetarianism, and concludes that this is, in fact, the best strategy for helping to prevent animal suffering in the farming industry.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Watkins, Gareth
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Vegetarianism -- Moral and ethical aspects Food animals -- Moral and ethical aspects Animal rights Animal welfare Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects Vegetarianism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2728 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003736
- Description: This thesis moves beyond the traditional approaches of how we ought to treat animals, and instead concentrates on the best strategy for preventing animal suffering in the farming industry. Chapter 1 considers the question of how we can know that animals feel pain, and concludes not only that it is rational to believe that they can, but also that this is a significant fact. Chapter 2 then analyses one possible strategy for helping to prevent animal suffering, namely demi-vegetarianism. For a number of reasons, however, this strategy is found to be flawed, therefore Chapter 3 analyses a second possible strategy, namely vegetarianism, and concludes that this is, in fact, the best strategy for helping to prevent animal suffering in the farming industry.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
An exploration of the effect of market-driven journalism on The Monitor newspaper's editorial content
- Authors: Agaba, Grace Rwomushana
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3416 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002869 , Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Description: The media today are under pressure from various fronts including governments, businesses as well as cultural interests. In the developed world, this pressure that led to the emergence of a new form of journalism that puts the demands of the market at the forefront. This commercial oriented journalism gives priority to articles that attract mass audiences like entertainment while it downplays information that promotes debates that is necessary for citizens to be able to have a voice on the issues that affect them. And since participation and discussion are cornerstones of a democratic process, market-driven journalism undermines democracy because it narrows down the forum for debate. As a result, active citizens are turned into passive observers in society. Although several studies about this phenomenon have been done in the western world, the same is happening in Africa because the media face similar challenges as in the West; challenges of globalisation and media conglomeration facilitated by the rapid advancing technology. This study, which is informed by political economy and market-driven journalism theories, notes that the media in Uganda are also faced with these challenges. The study is focused on Uganda’s only independent newspaper, The Monitor. The findings indicate that market-driven journalism is taking root at the expense of journalism that promotes citizenship and debate such as political reporting and opinions. For example, there has been an increase of entertainment, sports and supplement articles in The Monitor as compared to declining political reporting and opinions. More so, investigative reporting has dwindled over the years at the expense of increasing use of press releases. This is because entertainment and sports articles can attract big audiences that the newspaper needs to sell to advertisers. Advertisers are important because they provide financial support to the newspaper. However, in a country where democracy is in its formative stages, public information is necessary not only for citizens to make informed decisions but also to spur economic as well as social development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Agaba, Grace Rwomushana
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3416 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002869 , Monitor (Uganda) , Journalism -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Journalism, Commercial -- Uganda , Mass media and public opinion -- Uganda , Mass media -- Political aspects -- Uganda , Freedom of the press -- Uganda , Press and politics -- Uganda , Journalism -- Social aspects
- Description: The media today are under pressure from various fronts including governments, businesses as well as cultural interests. In the developed world, this pressure that led to the emergence of a new form of journalism that puts the demands of the market at the forefront. This commercial oriented journalism gives priority to articles that attract mass audiences like entertainment while it downplays information that promotes debates that is necessary for citizens to be able to have a voice on the issues that affect them. And since participation and discussion are cornerstones of a democratic process, market-driven journalism undermines democracy because it narrows down the forum for debate. As a result, active citizens are turned into passive observers in society. Although several studies about this phenomenon have been done in the western world, the same is happening in Africa because the media face similar challenges as in the West; challenges of globalisation and media conglomeration facilitated by the rapid advancing technology. This study, which is informed by political economy and market-driven journalism theories, notes that the media in Uganda are also faced with these challenges. The study is focused on Uganda’s only independent newspaper, The Monitor. The findings indicate that market-driven journalism is taking root at the expense of journalism that promotes citizenship and debate such as political reporting and opinions. For example, there has been an increase of entertainment, sports and supplement articles in The Monitor as compared to declining political reporting and opinions. More so, investigative reporting has dwindled over the years at the expense of increasing use of press releases. This is because entertainment and sports articles can attract big audiences that the newspaper needs to sell to advertisers. Advertisers are important because they provide financial support to the newspaper. However, in a country where democracy is in its formative stages, public information is necessary not only for citizens to make informed decisions but also to spur economic as well as social development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Investigating call control using MGCP in conjuction with SIP and H.323
- Authors: Jacobs, Ashley
- Date: 2005 , 2005-03-14
- Subjects: Communication -- Technological innovations , Digital telephone systems , Computer networks , Computer network protocols , Internet telephony
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4631 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006516 , Communication -- Technological innovations , Digital telephone systems , Computer networks , Computer network protocols , Internet telephony
- Description: Telephony used to mean using a telephone to call another telephone on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and data networks were used purely to allow computers to communicate. However, with the advent of the Internet, telephony services have been extended to run on data networks. Telephone calls within the IP network are known as Voice over IP. These calls are carried by a number of protocols, with the most popular ones currently being Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.323. Calls can be made from the IP network to the PSTN and vice versa through the use of a gateway. The gateway translates the packets from the IP network to circuits on the PSTN and vice versa to facilitate calls between the two networks. Gateways have evolved and are now split into two entities using the master/slave architecture. The master is an intelligent Media Gateway Controller (MGC) that handles the call control and signalling. The slave is a "dumb" Media Gateway (MG) that handles the translation of the media. The current gateway control protocols in use are Megaco/H.248, MGCP and Skinny. These protocols have proved themselves on the edge of the network. Furthermore, since they communicate with the call signalling VoIP protocols as well as the PSTN, they have to be the lingua franca between the two networks. Within the VoIP network, the numbers of call signalling protocols make it difficult to communicate with each other and to create services. This research investigates the use of Gateway Control Protocols as the lowest common denominator between the call signalling protocols SIP and H.323. More specifically, it uses MGCP to investigate service creation. It also considers the use of MGCP as a protocol translator between SIP and H.323. A service was created using MGCP to allow H.323 endpoints to send Short Message Service (SMS) messages. This service was then extended with minimal effort to SIP endpoints. This service investigated MGCP’s ability to handle call control from the H.323 and SIP endpoints. An MGC was then successfully used to perform as a protocol translator between SIP and H.323.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Jacobs, Ashley
- Date: 2005 , 2005-03-14
- Subjects: Communication -- Technological innovations , Digital telephone systems , Computer networks , Computer network protocols , Internet telephony
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4631 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006516 , Communication -- Technological innovations , Digital telephone systems , Computer networks , Computer network protocols , Internet telephony
- Description: Telephony used to mean using a telephone to call another telephone on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and data networks were used purely to allow computers to communicate. However, with the advent of the Internet, telephony services have been extended to run on data networks. Telephone calls within the IP network are known as Voice over IP. These calls are carried by a number of protocols, with the most popular ones currently being Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and H.323. Calls can be made from the IP network to the PSTN and vice versa through the use of a gateway. The gateway translates the packets from the IP network to circuits on the PSTN and vice versa to facilitate calls between the two networks. Gateways have evolved and are now split into two entities using the master/slave architecture. The master is an intelligent Media Gateway Controller (MGC) that handles the call control and signalling. The slave is a "dumb" Media Gateway (MG) that handles the translation of the media. The current gateway control protocols in use are Megaco/H.248, MGCP and Skinny. These protocols have proved themselves on the edge of the network. Furthermore, since they communicate with the call signalling VoIP protocols as well as the PSTN, they have to be the lingua franca between the two networks. Within the VoIP network, the numbers of call signalling protocols make it difficult to communicate with each other and to create services. This research investigates the use of Gateway Control Protocols as the lowest common denominator between the call signalling protocols SIP and H.323. More specifically, it uses MGCP to investigate service creation. It also considers the use of MGCP as a protocol translator between SIP and H.323. A service was created using MGCP to allow H.323 endpoints to send Short Message Service (SMS) messages. This service was then extended with minimal effort to SIP endpoints. This service investigated MGCP’s ability to handle call control from the H.323 and SIP endpoints. An MGC was then successfully used to perform as a protocol translator between SIP and H.323.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
African universities and the challenges of a developmental state
- Authors: Pandor, Naledi
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Academic Freedom -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa Equality Liberty Education and state -- South Africa Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/729 , vital:19985
- Description: Universities do not exist in vacuum; they are a fundamental part of the development structures of any society in which they exist. History has shown that it is impossible for universities to seek isolation or insulation from social forces that influence progress and development. In the developing world our experience of under development, colonialism and poverty creates a complex set of challenges to which governments, universities and other institutions must find adequate responses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Pandor, Naledi
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Academic Freedom -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa Equality Liberty Education and state -- South Africa Education, Higher -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/729 , vital:19985
- Description: Universities do not exist in vacuum; they are a fundamental part of the development structures of any society in which they exist. History has shown that it is impossible for universities to seek isolation or insulation from social forces that influence progress and development. In the developing world our experience of under development, colonialism and poverty creates a complex set of challenges to which governments, universities and other institutions must find adequate responses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
A study of current and potential future commuter transportation requirements in Kagiso township
- Authors: Lefutso, David
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Commuters -- South Africa -- Gauteng Urban transportation -- South Africa -- Gauteng Urban transportation -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003886
- Description: This study is intended to unpack the current and potential future commuter transport requirements in Kagiso Township within the context of transport planning and the ongoing transformation of the transport sector in South Africa. In order to meet the above challenges, it was felt that an investigation of the socio-economic profile of transport users in Kagiso Township was required, which would be indicative of potential needs and requirements in terms of current and future travel infrastructure. This study is significant, as it considers the impact of socio-economic factors and transport interactions by fully examining the impact of accessibility, urban development patterns, local mobility and planning. Mogale City’s Kagiso Township was selected for in-depth study because it has seen one of the highest urbanization rates in Gauteng Province, with people from all over Gauteng relocating to this suburb, either buying relatively moderately priced housing via mortgaging or, alternatively, trying to gain access to government low-cost housing. The study investigates the connection between socio-economic characteristics of a local population (inter alia, age, gender, household size, and vehicles per household, employment status and income) and their transport requirements (travel demand forecasting), within an urban transport context. Socio-economic characteristics of a population are important in transport demand forecasting because there is a general belief in transport planning that the predisposition to travel and trip generation vary with the characteristics of the traveller. A travel demand forecasting model by Bussière and Rice (1999) is used for the purposes of simulating existing and future travel patterns. The forecasted household mobility and needs of commuters in Kagiso Township are compared with current municipal plans to see whether such plans are realistic and can address existing needs. The evaluation of the current municipal plans is included to test the responsiveness of public policy and practice towards the needs of the affected local community. This evaluation extracted information on whether the relevant municipality has identified the problems and issues affecting the local community of Kagiso Township. In addition, it assessed whether the municipality has identified possible solutions to these problems and issues and whether it has prioritised any projects to improve transportation in Kagiso Township.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Lefutso, David
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Commuters -- South Africa -- Gauteng Urban transportation -- South Africa -- Gauteng Urban transportation -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Planning
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:765 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003886
- Description: This study is intended to unpack the current and potential future commuter transport requirements in Kagiso Township within the context of transport planning and the ongoing transformation of the transport sector in South Africa. In order to meet the above challenges, it was felt that an investigation of the socio-economic profile of transport users in Kagiso Township was required, which would be indicative of potential needs and requirements in terms of current and future travel infrastructure. This study is significant, as it considers the impact of socio-economic factors and transport interactions by fully examining the impact of accessibility, urban development patterns, local mobility and planning. Mogale City’s Kagiso Township was selected for in-depth study because it has seen one of the highest urbanization rates in Gauteng Province, with people from all over Gauteng relocating to this suburb, either buying relatively moderately priced housing via mortgaging or, alternatively, trying to gain access to government low-cost housing. The study investigates the connection between socio-economic characteristics of a local population (inter alia, age, gender, household size, and vehicles per household, employment status and income) and their transport requirements (travel demand forecasting), within an urban transport context. Socio-economic characteristics of a population are important in transport demand forecasting because there is a general belief in transport planning that the predisposition to travel and trip generation vary with the characteristics of the traveller. A travel demand forecasting model by Bussière and Rice (1999) is used for the purposes of simulating existing and future travel patterns. The forecasted household mobility and needs of commuters in Kagiso Township are compared with current municipal plans to see whether such plans are realistic and can address existing needs. The evaluation of the current municipal plans is included to test the responsiveness of public policy and practice towards the needs of the affected local community. This evaluation extracted information on whether the relevant municipality has identified the problems and issues affecting the local community of Kagiso Township. In addition, it assessed whether the municipality has identified possible solutions to these problems and issues and whether it has prioritised any projects to improve transportation in Kagiso Township.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The rural-urban interface: the ambiguous nature of informal settlements, with special reference to the Daggafontein settlement in Gauteng
- Authors: Kumalo, Sibongiseni
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Growth , Squatter settlements -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Urban anthropology -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Rural-urban migration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2091 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002654 , Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Growth , Squatter settlements -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Urban anthropology -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Rural-urban migration -- South Africa
- Description: The thesis is concerned with the rural-urban interface. It questions and argues against the validity of what used to be called the rural-urban divide, and presents the rural-urban interface as a single social field. The research makes use of Daggafontein informal settlement in Gauteng, providing a general socio-economic overview of this settlement by discussing the ways in which people in this settlement make a living. Most of the people come from rural areas and the patterns of their association within the settlement reveal that they associate themselves with people from their own rural homes of origin. Movement between Daggafontein and rural areas show some level of commitment to home areas. Perceptions of the urban-rural interface by people of Daggafontein informal settlement show that these two areas are not necessarily separate from each other, but are part of the same continuum as socio-economic relations continue to straddle the rural and the urban. As people, perceptions and values move in both directions along the rural-urban interface, the classification of the informal settlement becomes highly ambiguous, because it contains both rural and urban elements.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Kumalo, Sibongiseni
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Growth , Squatter settlements -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Urban anthropology -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Rural-urban migration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2091 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002654 , Cities and towns -- South Africa -- Gauteng -- Growth , Squatter settlements -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Urban anthropology -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Rural-urban migration -- South Africa
- Description: The thesis is concerned with the rural-urban interface. It questions and argues against the validity of what used to be called the rural-urban divide, and presents the rural-urban interface as a single social field. The research makes use of Daggafontein informal settlement in Gauteng, providing a general socio-economic overview of this settlement by discussing the ways in which people in this settlement make a living. Most of the people come from rural areas and the patterns of their association within the settlement reveal that they associate themselves with people from their own rural homes of origin. Movement between Daggafontein and rural areas show some level of commitment to home areas. Perceptions of the urban-rural interface by people of Daggafontein informal settlement show that these two areas are not necessarily separate from each other, but are part of the same continuum as socio-economic relations continue to straddle the rural and the urban. As people, perceptions and values move in both directions along the rural-urban interface, the classification of the informal settlement becomes highly ambiguous, because it contains both rural and urban elements.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Developing strategies for creating an environmental focus in a school: narrating the change process
- Authors: Hope, Megan Samantha
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Environmental education Educational change School environment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1946 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008093
- Description: Effective environmental education goes beyond raising environmental awareness and developing positive environmental values, to the encouragement of personal responsibility and action in response to contextual environmental issues in particular. The whole school approach has been advocated as the best approach to environmental education, based on the assumption that the values and attitudes espoused in the classroom need to be reflected in the day-to-day school practice. By practising what they teach, schools reinforce values with action. In contrast, inconsistencies between the formal and non-formal curriculum may lead young people to question the integrity of their teachers or condition them to accept such inconsistencies as cultural and social norms, which in turn may lead to apathy about the environment. Adjustments to the ethos of a school to foreground the environment, both within the curriculum , the management of the school and the behaviour of teachers, pupils and support staff, is not a straightforward undertaking. Institutional factors influence the change process in schools and each school presents a unique context. It is, therefore, difficult to develop a general strategy for the evolution of an environmental ethos. This case study narrates an attempt to implement a change towards an improved environmental focus in a school, and focuses on developing an understanding of how available resources can assist this process while engaging with complexity of change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Hope, Megan Samantha
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Environmental education Educational change School environment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1946 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008093
- Description: Effective environmental education goes beyond raising environmental awareness and developing positive environmental values, to the encouragement of personal responsibility and action in response to contextual environmental issues in particular. The whole school approach has been advocated as the best approach to environmental education, based on the assumption that the values and attitudes espoused in the classroom need to be reflected in the day-to-day school practice. By practising what they teach, schools reinforce values with action. In contrast, inconsistencies between the formal and non-formal curriculum may lead young people to question the integrity of their teachers or condition them to accept such inconsistencies as cultural and social norms, which in turn may lead to apathy about the environment. Adjustments to the ethos of a school to foreground the environment, both within the curriculum , the management of the school and the behaviour of teachers, pupils and support staff, is not a straightforward undertaking. Institutional factors influence the change process in schools and each school presents a unique context. It is, therefore, difficult to develop a general strategy for the evolution of an environmental ethos. This case study narrates an attempt to implement a change towards an improved environmental focus in a school, and focuses on developing an understanding of how available resources can assist this process while engaging with complexity of change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Fractured solidarities: labour regulation, workplace restructuring, and employment 'flexibility' in Namibia
- Authors: Klerck, Gilton
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Industrial relations -- Namibia Labor -- Namibia Labor unions -- Namibia Organizational change -- Namibia Labor laws and legislation -- Namibia Casual labor -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3343 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004898
- Description: A central concern of this thesis is the expansion, distribution and control of 'non-standard' employment in Namibia since independence. The employment relationship has assumed various historical forms under capitalism, each of which corresponds to a specific mode of regulation with distinct structural dynamics. An attempt is made to extend the regulation approach 'downwards' to account for the problem of order in the workplace and to place the employment relationship within its own regulatory framework. The point of departure in this study of the dynamics of labour regulation is the contradictory nature of labour's incorporation, allocation, control and reproduction within the labour market. The employment relationship is never only an economic exchange, but is also mediated through an institutional framework that connects the processes of production and social reproduction, and regulates conflicting interests inside and outside the workplace. This relationship, as critical realists have pointed out, is a product of the indeterminate intersection of several generative structures. The roots of these generative structures can be traced to three sets of social processes: the processes of production and the structuring of labour demand; the processes of social reproduction and the structuring of labour supply; and the forces of regulation. Non-standard employment is viewed as a particular social and spatio-temporal 'fix' for the various regulatory dilemmas generated by the standard employment relationship. This conception underscores the fact that a national system of labour regulation decisively shapes the conditions under which employers are able to casualise a part of their workforce. The differential experience across national boundaries suggests that analytical space needs to be provided for systems of labour market regulation which may either accentuate or moderate pressures for casualisation. Segmentation on the demand side of the labour market is explored through an analysis of the types of non-standard jobs created in different economic sectors. The various forms of employment 'flexibility' tend to vary in importance according to the specific manner in which a firm chooses to compete. Consequently, non-standard employees are distributed in a complex and uneven manner across industrial sectors and the occupational hierarchy, and face a diverse range of possibilities and liabilities that shape their levels and forms of participation in the labour market. By counteracting the homogenisation effects of labour law and collective bargaining, the mobilisation of cheap and disposable labour through non-standard employment contracts allows employers much greater discretion in constructing the wage-effort bargain. With non-standard employment, social and statutory regulation is weak or underdeveloped and hence managerial control is autocratic, with a significant contractual component. Although the changing social composition of the workforce associated with employment 'flexibility' poses serious challenges to the modes of organisation that have long served the labour movement, trade unions in Namibia and elsewhere have been slow to respond to the threats of casualisation. Of concern here, is the extent to which attempts to promote the security of existing union members is compatible with attempts to organise non-standard employees. This thesis shows that the unions have developed a complex amalgam of strategies in their efforts to regulate non-standard employment relationships.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Klerck, Gilton
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Industrial relations -- Namibia Labor -- Namibia Labor unions -- Namibia Organizational change -- Namibia Labor laws and legislation -- Namibia Casual labor -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3343 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004898
- Description: A central concern of this thesis is the expansion, distribution and control of 'non-standard' employment in Namibia since independence. The employment relationship has assumed various historical forms under capitalism, each of which corresponds to a specific mode of regulation with distinct structural dynamics. An attempt is made to extend the regulation approach 'downwards' to account for the problem of order in the workplace and to place the employment relationship within its own regulatory framework. The point of departure in this study of the dynamics of labour regulation is the contradictory nature of labour's incorporation, allocation, control and reproduction within the labour market. The employment relationship is never only an economic exchange, but is also mediated through an institutional framework that connects the processes of production and social reproduction, and regulates conflicting interests inside and outside the workplace. This relationship, as critical realists have pointed out, is a product of the indeterminate intersection of several generative structures. The roots of these generative structures can be traced to three sets of social processes: the processes of production and the structuring of labour demand; the processes of social reproduction and the structuring of labour supply; and the forces of regulation. Non-standard employment is viewed as a particular social and spatio-temporal 'fix' for the various regulatory dilemmas generated by the standard employment relationship. This conception underscores the fact that a national system of labour regulation decisively shapes the conditions under which employers are able to casualise a part of their workforce. The differential experience across national boundaries suggests that analytical space needs to be provided for systems of labour market regulation which may either accentuate or moderate pressures for casualisation. Segmentation on the demand side of the labour market is explored through an analysis of the types of non-standard jobs created in different economic sectors. The various forms of employment 'flexibility' tend to vary in importance according to the specific manner in which a firm chooses to compete. Consequently, non-standard employees are distributed in a complex and uneven manner across industrial sectors and the occupational hierarchy, and face a diverse range of possibilities and liabilities that shape their levels and forms of participation in the labour market. By counteracting the homogenisation effects of labour law and collective bargaining, the mobilisation of cheap and disposable labour through non-standard employment contracts allows employers much greater discretion in constructing the wage-effort bargain. With non-standard employment, social and statutory regulation is weak or underdeveloped and hence managerial control is autocratic, with a significant contractual component. Although the changing social composition of the workforce associated with employment 'flexibility' poses serious challenges to the modes of organisation that have long served the labour movement, trade unions in Namibia and elsewhere have been slow to respond to the threats of casualisation. Of concern here, is the extent to which attempts to promote the security of existing union members is compatible with attempts to organise non-standard employees. This thesis shows that the unions have developed a complex amalgam of strategies in their efforts to regulate non-standard employment relationships.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Ligand isotope vibrational spectroscopic and DFT studies of Pt(II) and Cu(I) complexes
- Authors: Medina, Gerardo Juan
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Ligands Spectrum analysis Vibrational spectra Infrared spectroscopy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4324 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004982
- Description: Ligand-isotope labelling studies were performed on Zeise’s salt derivatives with pyridine N-oxide and quinoline N-oxide, their perdeuterated and O-18 isotopomers, C₂D₄ and ¹³CO, and the results of the vibrational analyses are reported. The isotopomers are modelled utilizing DFT calculations at the B3LYP level with the 6-31 G** basis set, and a pseudopotential level for the Pt atom. The calculated and observed structure and vibrational spectra correlate well. The crystal structures of [Pt(C₂2H₄)(pyO)Cl₂] and [Pt(CO)(quinO)Br₂] are reported. The frequency for the νPt-O vibration, ambiguously assigned in the literature, is here assigned unequivocally at 400 cm⁻¹. Previously observed, but inadequately described phenomena are addressed: the νN-O vibration in substituted quinoline N-oxides has been assigned previously at significantly different frequencies, depending on the nature of the substituent. This suggests that there is no specific mid-ir band associated with a high N-O character. A suitable explanation is presented for this phenomenon, showing that in low symmetry systems (eg. quinO) the N-O stretch is dispersed among several modes, whereas in high symmetry systems (eg. pyO) only a few limited modes have a high N-O character. A theoretical study of Cu(I) carbonyl compounds with macrocyclic ligands is presented. Local and global HSAB parameters applied to the donor and Cu atoms are used to explain the observed reactivities and the available spectroscopic data. Extended to [Cu(CO){H₂N(CH₂)[subscript n]NH(CH₂)[subscript m] NH₂}] BPh₄ (where n = 2, m = 2, 3 and n =3, m = 3, 4) and their -d₅ and ¹³CO isotopomers, subtle differences obtained experimentally for the CO stretching frequency in this series have been reproduced in the DFT calculations at the B3LYP level, using the 6-31 G* and 6-31 G** basis sets. Several properties (ligand pK[subscript a] values, νCO frequencies, etc.) correlate with some HSAB descriptors. Vibrational analyses are presented of Cu(I) carbonyl Schiff-base derivatives of N-Benzylidene-N’-[2-(benzyilidene-amino)-ethyl]-ethane-1,2-diamine, {2,2N3(C₆H₄R)₂}, and their -d₅ and ¹³CO isotopomers. The crystal structure of [Cu(CO){2,2N3(C₆H₅)₂}]BPh₄ is reported. From geometry optimizations and the HSAB descriptors, spectroscopic trends ([n]Cu-N and [nu]CO) are related to calculated global hardness and the Hammett substituent parameters, and are discussed in terms of σ-donation and π-backbonding of Cu- CO.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Medina, Gerardo Juan
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Ligands Spectrum analysis Vibrational spectra Infrared spectroscopy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4324 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004982
- Description: Ligand-isotope labelling studies were performed on Zeise’s salt derivatives with pyridine N-oxide and quinoline N-oxide, their perdeuterated and O-18 isotopomers, C₂D₄ and ¹³CO, and the results of the vibrational analyses are reported. The isotopomers are modelled utilizing DFT calculations at the B3LYP level with the 6-31 G** basis set, and a pseudopotential level for the Pt atom. The calculated and observed structure and vibrational spectra correlate well. The crystal structures of [Pt(C₂2H₄)(pyO)Cl₂] and [Pt(CO)(quinO)Br₂] are reported. The frequency for the νPt-O vibration, ambiguously assigned in the literature, is here assigned unequivocally at 400 cm⁻¹. Previously observed, but inadequately described phenomena are addressed: the νN-O vibration in substituted quinoline N-oxides has been assigned previously at significantly different frequencies, depending on the nature of the substituent. This suggests that there is no specific mid-ir band associated with a high N-O character. A suitable explanation is presented for this phenomenon, showing that in low symmetry systems (eg. quinO) the N-O stretch is dispersed among several modes, whereas in high symmetry systems (eg. pyO) only a few limited modes have a high N-O character. A theoretical study of Cu(I) carbonyl compounds with macrocyclic ligands is presented. Local and global HSAB parameters applied to the donor and Cu atoms are used to explain the observed reactivities and the available spectroscopic data. Extended to [Cu(CO){H₂N(CH₂)[subscript n]NH(CH₂)[subscript m] NH₂}] BPh₄ (where n = 2, m = 2, 3 and n =3, m = 3, 4) and their -d₅ and ¹³CO isotopomers, subtle differences obtained experimentally for the CO stretching frequency in this series have been reproduced in the DFT calculations at the B3LYP level, using the 6-31 G* and 6-31 G** basis sets. Several properties (ligand pK[subscript a] values, νCO frequencies, etc.) correlate with some HSAB descriptors. Vibrational analyses are presented of Cu(I) carbonyl Schiff-base derivatives of N-Benzylidene-N’-[2-(benzyilidene-amino)-ethyl]-ethane-1,2-diamine, {2,2N3(C₆H₄R)₂}, and their -d₅ and ¹³CO isotopomers. The crystal structure of [Cu(CO){2,2N3(C₆H₅)₂}]BPh₄ is reported. From geometry optimizations and the HSAB descriptors, spectroscopic trends ([n]Cu-N and [nu]CO) are related to calculated global hardness and the Hammett substituent parameters, and are discussed in terms of σ-donation and π-backbonding of Cu- CO.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
"Feeling foggy?": an investigation into the self-reported post-concussive symptoms in rugby union players at university level
- Authors: Boulind, Melissa
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2938 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002447 , Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Description: A study was conducted on the self-reported symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury sustained in Rugby Union at the pre- and post-season stages. A full sample of 30 rugby players at Rhodes University was compared to 27 non-contact sport controls. A reduced sample of 20 rugby players and 9 control participants provided improved control for education and IQ and was compared. Measures included the WAIS-III Vocabulary and Picture Completion Sub-tests to estimate IQ level, the symptom checklist on a widely used computer-based program (ImPACT), and a paper and pencil self-report 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire. Independent and Dependent T-Test comparisons were conducted on the full and reduced samples. The symptoms reported by the rugby group appeared to be more pronounced on both the ImPACT Symptom Scale and the 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire when compared to the control group at both the pre-and post-season stages. It was concluded that the rugby players demonstrated evidence to support the hypothesis of having sustained more previous concussions and reporting more symptoms at the pre-season stage when compared to comtrol participants. No prevalent changes for either the rugby or control groups were seen in dependent comparisons from pre-to post-season.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Boulind, Melissa
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2938 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002447 , Brain damage , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Complications , Brain -- Wounds and injuries -- Psychology , Sports injuries -- Psychological aspects , Rugby football injuries , Rugby Union football players
- Description: A study was conducted on the self-reported symptoms of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury sustained in Rugby Union at the pre- and post-season stages. A full sample of 30 rugby players at Rhodes University was compared to 27 non-contact sport controls. A reduced sample of 20 rugby players and 9 control participants provided improved control for education and IQ and was compared. Measures included the WAIS-III Vocabulary and Picture Completion Sub-tests to estimate IQ level, the symptom checklist on a widely used computer-based program (ImPACT), and a paper and pencil self-report 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire. Independent and Dependent T-Test comparisons were conducted on the full and reduced samples. The symptoms reported by the rugby group appeared to be more pronounced on both the ImPACT Symptom Scale and the 31-Item Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire when compared to the control group at both the pre-and post-season stages. It was concluded that the rugby players demonstrated evidence to support the hypothesis of having sustained more previous concussions and reporting more symptoms at the pre-season stage when compared to comtrol participants. No prevalent changes for either the rugby or control groups were seen in dependent comparisons from pre-to post-season.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Developing an environmental education strategy framework: a case study of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT)
- Authors: O'Grady, Janis
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Endangered Wildlife Trust Environmental education -- South Africa Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa Biodiversity -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1494 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003375
- Description: The study focused on the development of an environmental education (EE) strategy framework in the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) of South Africa. Evidence shows that the roles of conservation and biodiversity education could potentially be merged towards producing a practical strategy, beneficial to the organisation and its individual staff members. Questionnaires, interviews and the individual perceptions of staff members, as well as the analysis of relevant documents, suggested that the potential for the practice of EE towards the development of an EE strategy within the organisation is substantial. EWT staff members can contribute towards a change in the way that South Africans think about conservation and nature. Environmental ethics need to be promoted and understood by all. Within the EWT, environmental education activities are in place and diverse, yet they lack any form of monitoring and evaluation. The Trust is already practicing a form of EE but the potential to do more and the opportunities for expansion are unlimited.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: O'Grady, Janis
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Endangered Wildlife Trust Environmental education -- South Africa Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa Biodiversity -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1494 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003375
- Description: The study focused on the development of an environmental education (EE) strategy framework in the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) of South Africa. Evidence shows that the roles of conservation and biodiversity education could potentially be merged towards producing a practical strategy, beneficial to the organisation and its individual staff members. Questionnaires, interviews and the individual perceptions of staff members, as well as the analysis of relevant documents, suggested that the potential for the practice of EE towards the development of an EE strategy within the organisation is substantial. EWT staff members can contribute towards a change in the way that South Africans think about conservation and nature. Environmental ethics need to be promoted and understood by all. Within the EWT, environmental education activities are in place and diverse, yet they lack any form of monitoring and evaluation. The Trust is already practicing a form of EE but the potential to do more and the opportunities for expansion are unlimited.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The degradation of lignocellulose in a biologically-generated sulphidic environment
- Authors: Roman, Henry James
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Lignocellulose Sulfides Lignin Lignocellulose -- Biodegradation Mines and mineral resources -- Waste disposal Acid mine drainage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004057
- Description: South Africa is renowned for its mining industry. The period over which the polluted waters from the existing and abandoned mines will require treatment has driven research into the development of passive treatment systems. These waters are characterised by a low pH, high concentrations of heavy metals, high levels of sulphate salts and low concentrations of organic material. The biological treatment of these waters has been a subject of increasing focus as an alternative to physicochemical treatment. The utilisation of lignocellulose as a carbon source has been restricted by the amount of reducing equivalents available within the lignocellulose matrix. After a few months of near 100% sulphate reduction, it was found that although there was a large fraction of lignin and cellulose remaining, sulphate reduction was reduced to less than 20%. The present study demonstrated that lignocellulose can be utilised as a carbon source for sulphate reduction. It was established that lignocellulose degradation was enhanced under biosulphidogenic conditions and that lignin could be degraded by a sulphate reducing microbial consortium. It was established using lignin model compounds synthesized in our laboratory, that the bonds within the lignin polymer can be cleaved within the sulphidic environment. The presence of cellulolytic enzymes, using CMCase as a marker enzyme, was detected within the sulphate reducing microbial consortium. Based on the results obtained a descriptive model was formulated for the degradation of lignocellulose under biosulphidogenic conditions. It was determined that the initial reduction in sulphate observed using lignocellulose as a carbon source was due to the easily extractable components. The degradation of which resulted in the production of sulphide, which aided in the degradation of lignin, allowing greater access to cellulose. Once the easily extractable material is exhausted, the cycle is halted, unless the sulphide production can be maintained. This is the focus of an ongoing project, testing the hypothesis that an easy to assimilate carbon source added after exhaustion of the easily extractable material, can maintain the sulphide production.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Roman, Henry James
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Lignocellulose Sulfides Lignin Lignocellulose -- Biodegradation Mines and mineral resources -- Waste disposal Acid mine drainage
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3997 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004057
- Description: South Africa is renowned for its mining industry. The period over which the polluted waters from the existing and abandoned mines will require treatment has driven research into the development of passive treatment systems. These waters are characterised by a low pH, high concentrations of heavy metals, high levels of sulphate salts and low concentrations of organic material. The biological treatment of these waters has been a subject of increasing focus as an alternative to physicochemical treatment. The utilisation of lignocellulose as a carbon source has been restricted by the amount of reducing equivalents available within the lignocellulose matrix. After a few months of near 100% sulphate reduction, it was found that although there was a large fraction of lignin and cellulose remaining, sulphate reduction was reduced to less than 20%. The present study demonstrated that lignocellulose can be utilised as a carbon source for sulphate reduction. It was established that lignocellulose degradation was enhanced under biosulphidogenic conditions and that lignin could be degraded by a sulphate reducing microbial consortium. It was established using lignin model compounds synthesized in our laboratory, that the bonds within the lignin polymer can be cleaved within the sulphidic environment. The presence of cellulolytic enzymes, using CMCase as a marker enzyme, was detected within the sulphate reducing microbial consortium. Based on the results obtained a descriptive model was formulated for the degradation of lignocellulose under biosulphidogenic conditions. It was determined that the initial reduction in sulphate observed using lignocellulose as a carbon source was due to the easily extractable components. The degradation of which resulted in the production of sulphide, which aided in the degradation of lignin, allowing greater access to cellulose. Once the easily extractable material is exhausted, the cycle is halted, unless the sulphide production can be maintained. This is the focus of an ongoing project, testing the hypothesis that an easy to assimilate carbon source added after exhaustion of the easily extractable material, can maintain the sulphide production.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Marine biotechnology : evaluation and development of methods for the discovery of natural products from fungi
- Authors: Pather, Simisha
- Date: 2005 , 2013-06-18
- Subjects: Marine biotechnology , Marine fungi -- South Africa , Natural products -- South Africa , Marine plants -- South Africa , Marine metabolites -- South Africa , Cancer -- Treatment , DNA
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3839 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007652 , Marine biotechnology , Marine fungi -- South Africa , Natural products -- South Africa , Marine plants -- South Africa , Marine metabolites -- South Africa , Cancer -- Treatment , DNA
- Description: One of the major impediments in the development of marine natural products is the provision of biologically active natural products in sufficient quantity for complete pharmacological evaluation, clinical trials and eventual commercial production. Marine microorganisms show great promise in providing a renewable source of biologically active natural products. The main aim of this study was to develop and evaluate methods for the isolation, identification and cultivation of marine fungi from the South African marine environment for the production of biologically active secondary metabolites. Twenty-four species of fungi were isolated from marine algae collected from the intertidal zone near Port Alfred, South Africa. The fungi were cultivated in small-scale under static and agitated conditions and their crude intra- and extracellular organic extracts were screened by ¹H NMR and a series of bioassays. Using this as a basis, one isolate was selected for further study. By analyses of the lTS1 region of the ribosomal DNA, the fungal isolate was identified as a marine-derived isolate of Eurotium rubrum (Aspergillus ruber). Although E. rubrum has been isolated from the marine environment, no investigations have been undertaken to determine the adaptation of these isolates to the marine environment. In order to optimise productivity, creativity and incubation time, the fungus was cultivated in small-scale using a variety of carbon (glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, marmitol and maltose) and nitrogen sources (ammonium tartrate, urea, peptone and yeast extract). An HPLC-DAD method was developed to assess the metabolic creativity and productivity under different fermentation conditions. Distinctive variations in the range and yield of metabolites produced as well as morphology and growth time were observed. The crude extracts from all fermentations were combined and six known compounds were isolated by reversed-phase chromatography and their structures elucidated by spectroscopic techniques. The known compounds were fIavoglaucin, aspergin, isodihydroauroglaucin, isotetrahydroauroglaucin, neoechinuline A and physcion. Neoechinuline A, isodihydroauroglaucin and isotetrahydroauroglaucin showed activity against oesophageal and cervical cancer cell lines.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Pather, Simisha
- Date: 2005 , 2013-06-18
- Subjects: Marine biotechnology , Marine fungi -- South Africa , Natural products -- South Africa , Marine plants -- South Africa , Marine metabolites -- South Africa , Cancer -- Treatment , DNA
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3839 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007652 , Marine biotechnology , Marine fungi -- South Africa , Natural products -- South Africa , Marine plants -- South Africa , Marine metabolites -- South Africa , Cancer -- Treatment , DNA
- Description: One of the major impediments in the development of marine natural products is the provision of biologically active natural products in sufficient quantity for complete pharmacological evaluation, clinical trials and eventual commercial production. Marine microorganisms show great promise in providing a renewable source of biologically active natural products. The main aim of this study was to develop and evaluate methods for the isolation, identification and cultivation of marine fungi from the South African marine environment for the production of biologically active secondary metabolites. Twenty-four species of fungi were isolated from marine algae collected from the intertidal zone near Port Alfred, South Africa. The fungi were cultivated in small-scale under static and agitated conditions and their crude intra- and extracellular organic extracts were screened by ¹H NMR and a series of bioassays. Using this as a basis, one isolate was selected for further study. By analyses of the lTS1 region of the ribosomal DNA, the fungal isolate was identified as a marine-derived isolate of Eurotium rubrum (Aspergillus ruber). Although E. rubrum has been isolated from the marine environment, no investigations have been undertaken to determine the adaptation of these isolates to the marine environment. In order to optimise productivity, creativity and incubation time, the fungus was cultivated in small-scale using a variety of carbon (glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, marmitol and maltose) and nitrogen sources (ammonium tartrate, urea, peptone and yeast extract). An HPLC-DAD method was developed to assess the metabolic creativity and productivity under different fermentation conditions. Distinctive variations in the range and yield of metabolites produced as well as morphology and growth time were observed. The crude extracts from all fermentations were combined and six known compounds were isolated by reversed-phase chromatography and their structures elucidated by spectroscopic techniques. The known compounds were fIavoglaucin, aspergin, isodihydroauroglaucin, isotetrahydroauroglaucin, neoechinuline A and physcion. Neoechinuline A, isodihydroauroglaucin and isotetrahydroauroglaucin showed activity against oesophageal and cervical cancer cell lines.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Contending issues in South Africa's foreign policy : universalism versus economic national interest : the case of South Africa's arms sales to 'pariah states' 1994-1999
- Authors: Othieno, Timothy
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: South Africa -- Foreign relations -- 1994- South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- South Africa -- Foreign economic relations Arms transfers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2868 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007712
- Description: This study examines post-apartheid South African foreign policy under former President Nelson Mandela, and the apparent ambiguities that were its recurrent feature in the period from 1994 to 1999. Its focus is on the inherent irreconcilability of the economic national interests and the foreign policy principles which included the promotion of and respect for universalist principles and interests such as human rights, democracy, international peace and security. In examining South African foreign policy during this period, it would appear that the country was trapped between two competing priorities: the need to promote "universalist" principles and the need to satisfy its national economic interests. The main aim of the study is to explain how this "irreconcilability" between universalist principles and national economic interests would later create ambiguities and contradictions in South Africa's foreign policy, weaken respect for its foreign policy principles, and ultimately lead to ideological failure among politicians who employed 'short-term gain' policy decision-making in dealing with 'pariah states'. The study further demonstrates that "realist" national interests are frequently short-term, realizable and vital for a country, while universalist interests are long-term, idealistic and usually not easily realizable. It will be argued, therefore, that a country faced with making decisions about its vital national interests, will not make efforts to pursue long-term universalist interests if that choice would in any way endanger its fundamental national interests. In order to better assess this ambiguity, this thesis will provide a case study of Pretoria's arms sales to 'pariah states' during the period. The purpose of this study is not to attempt to explain all of the issues around post-apartheid foreign policymaking, or even to argue whether the sale of arms to 'pariah states' was 'politically incorrect', but to provide a 'piece of the puzzle' which might explain how the social and economic situation may have compelled Pretoria to sell arms when these actions disregarded universalist principles of foreign policy. The conclusion seems to confirm the realist view that universal values and principles can be regarded only when they are in harmony with a state's perceived self-interests.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Othieno, Timothy
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: South Africa -- Foreign relations -- 1994- South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- South Africa -- Foreign economic relations Arms transfers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2868 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007712
- Description: This study examines post-apartheid South African foreign policy under former President Nelson Mandela, and the apparent ambiguities that were its recurrent feature in the period from 1994 to 1999. Its focus is on the inherent irreconcilability of the economic national interests and the foreign policy principles which included the promotion of and respect for universalist principles and interests such as human rights, democracy, international peace and security. In examining South African foreign policy during this period, it would appear that the country was trapped between two competing priorities: the need to promote "universalist" principles and the need to satisfy its national economic interests. The main aim of the study is to explain how this "irreconcilability" between universalist principles and national economic interests would later create ambiguities and contradictions in South Africa's foreign policy, weaken respect for its foreign policy principles, and ultimately lead to ideological failure among politicians who employed 'short-term gain' policy decision-making in dealing with 'pariah states'. The study further demonstrates that "realist" national interests are frequently short-term, realizable and vital for a country, while universalist interests are long-term, idealistic and usually not easily realizable. It will be argued, therefore, that a country faced with making decisions about its vital national interests, will not make efforts to pursue long-term universalist interests if that choice would in any way endanger its fundamental national interests. In order to better assess this ambiguity, this thesis will provide a case study of Pretoria's arms sales to 'pariah states' during the period. The purpose of this study is not to attempt to explain all of the issues around post-apartheid foreign policymaking, or even to argue whether the sale of arms to 'pariah states' was 'politically incorrect', but to provide a 'piece of the puzzle' which might explain how the social and economic situation may have compelled Pretoria to sell arms when these actions disregarded universalist principles of foreign policy. The conclusion seems to confirm the realist view that universal values and principles can be regarded only when they are in harmony with a state's perceived self-interests.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005