The development of a recommended digital marketing strategy for Pan Macmillan, South Africa
- Authors: Conradie, Tessa Jane
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:865 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021247
- Description: This research attempts to create a recommended digital marketing strategy for Pan Macmillan, South Africa. As a result of the advance of technology and the increase of connectivity, digital marketing is becoming a highly important tool with regards to competitive advantage, differentiation and the overall marketing of a company and its product or service (Barwise and Farley, 2005, p. 68). Digital marketing is, in South Africa specifically, a relatively new concept (Sandmann, 2014, p. 1). If South African companies are able to efficiently utilise the gap in the market, they will ensure a significant competitive advantage (Sandmann, 2013, p. 1). In order to accomplish this successfully a digital marketing strategy must be created and adopted to ensure a full understanding of the requirements of effective digital marketing. This research focusses on understanding digital marketing requirements in relation to a South African book publisher and how those requirements can be met by the publisher through the development of a digital marketing strategy. The literature has been reviewed and previous research indicates that an established framework is needed to guide the development of a digital marketing strategy. The framework used in this research is the RACE framework (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2013, p. 14) which is used in conjunction to the SOSTAC planning system (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2014, p. 11) and the 7 steps to digital marketing strategy creation (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2014, p. 2). The literature suggests that a combination of the established traditional marketing strategy of a company and current digital marketing practices and tools is the most practical with regards to the development of a successful digital marketing strategy, implementation and evaluation. In order to understand the current marketing strategy and practices of Pan Macmillan, interviews with the Marketing Manager of the company were conducted as well as an analysis of marketing documents relating to Pan Macmillan’s current marketing actions. Results of the interviews and documentation analysis showed that Pan Macmillan had many elements digital marketing but no decisive digital marketing strategy. Using the selected frameworks and information gathered on the company’s marketing practices, digital marketing goals were established and a digital marketing strategy was created. The goals of the research were reached as a recommended digital marketing strategy was developed for Pan Macmillan based on the assessment made, using RACE, SOSTAC and the 7 steps to digital marketing creation, of the company’s current practices, challenges and opportunities with regards to digital marketing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Conradie, Tessa Jane
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:865 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021247
- Description: This research attempts to create a recommended digital marketing strategy for Pan Macmillan, South Africa. As a result of the advance of technology and the increase of connectivity, digital marketing is becoming a highly important tool with regards to competitive advantage, differentiation and the overall marketing of a company and its product or service (Barwise and Farley, 2005, p. 68). Digital marketing is, in South Africa specifically, a relatively new concept (Sandmann, 2014, p. 1). If South African companies are able to efficiently utilise the gap in the market, they will ensure a significant competitive advantage (Sandmann, 2013, p. 1). In order to accomplish this successfully a digital marketing strategy must be created and adopted to ensure a full understanding of the requirements of effective digital marketing. This research focusses on understanding digital marketing requirements in relation to a South African book publisher and how those requirements can be met by the publisher through the development of a digital marketing strategy. The literature has been reviewed and previous research indicates that an established framework is needed to guide the development of a digital marketing strategy. The framework used in this research is the RACE framework (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2013, p. 14) which is used in conjunction to the SOSTAC planning system (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2014, p. 11) and the 7 steps to digital marketing strategy creation (Chaffey and Bosomworth, 2014, p. 2). The literature suggests that a combination of the established traditional marketing strategy of a company and current digital marketing practices and tools is the most practical with regards to the development of a successful digital marketing strategy, implementation and evaluation. In order to understand the current marketing strategy and practices of Pan Macmillan, interviews with the Marketing Manager of the company were conducted as well as an analysis of marketing documents relating to Pan Macmillan’s current marketing actions. Results of the interviews and documentation analysis showed that Pan Macmillan had many elements digital marketing but no decisive digital marketing strategy. Using the selected frameworks and information gathered on the company’s marketing practices, digital marketing goals were established and a digital marketing strategy was created. The goals of the research were reached as a recommended digital marketing strategy was developed for Pan Macmillan based on the assessment made, using RACE, SOSTAC and the 7 steps to digital marketing creation, of the company’s current practices, challenges and opportunities with regards to digital marketing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An investigation of servant leadership within Rhodes University sports clubs
- Authors: Stiebel, Jessica Lee
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021317
- Description: This research investigates the level of servant leadership within Rhodes University sport clubs. The goals of this research are to assess the perception the club members have of their chairperson and to key identify areas of development. The sport clubs at Rhodes University are partially run by chairpersons who are voted into the position by his or her peers of a sports club. The chairpersons work alongside Rhodes University employees who are a part of the Sports Administration team to oversee the running, scheduling and finances of the club. The sports clubs are representative of Rhodes University and it is the chairperson’s responsibility to ensure the club is lead and run effectively. Robert Greenleaf coined the term servant leader in the 1970s (Greenleaf, 1997). The servant leader is a leader who is driven by his or her followers, as leadership involves a leader serving his or her followers first and foremost (Greenleaf, 1977). The leader takes on a role that is supportive and contributes to their personal as well as their professional achievements (Smith, Montagno and Kuzmenko, 2004). A questionnaire consisting of 27 questions was drafted, of which were four demographic questions. A 5-point Likert Scale was used in order for the participants to respond to the questions. The questionnaire was drawn from a number of questionnaires available in literature on leadership and adapted to suit Rhodes University sports clubs. The questionnaire was distributed personally by the researcher, as well as through an online questionnaire. There were a total of 153 candidates who participated in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The majority of the respondents had the perceptions that their chairperson displayed characteristics of a servant leader. Majority of the participants were in agreement of the questions asked in the questionnaire, which focused on many servant leadership qualities. The results will be handed over to the Head of Sports Administration in order for them to get an idea of their leaders’ characteristics and areas where they can improve upon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Stiebel, Jessica Lee
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021317
- Description: This research investigates the level of servant leadership within Rhodes University sport clubs. The goals of this research are to assess the perception the club members have of their chairperson and to key identify areas of development. The sport clubs at Rhodes University are partially run by chairpersons who are voted into the position by his or her peers of a sports club. The chairpersons work alongside Rhodes University employees who are a part of the Sports Administration team to oversee the running, scheduling and finances of the club. The sports clubs are representative of Rhodes University and it is the chairperson’s responsibility to ensure the club is lead and run effectively. Robert Greenleaf coined the term servant leader in the 1970s (Greenleaf, 1997). The servant leader is a leader who is driven by his or her followers, as leadership involves a leader serving his or her followers first and foremost (Greenleaf, 1977). The leader takes on a role that is supportive and contributes to their personal as well as their professional achievements (Smith, Montagno and Kuzmenko, 2004). A questionnaire consisting of 27 questions was drafted, of which were four demographic questions. A 5-point Likert Scale was used in order for the participants to respond to the questions. The questionnaire was drawn from a number of questionnaires available in literature on leadership and adapted to suit Rhodes University sports clubs. The questionnaire was distributed personally by the researcher, as well as through an online questionnaire. There were a total of 153 candidates who participated in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The majority of the respondents had the perceptions that their chairperson displayed characteristics of a servant leader. Majority of the participants were in agreement of the questions asked in the questionnaire, which focused on many servant leadership qualities. The results will be handed over to the Head of Sports Administration in order for them to get an idea of their leaders’ characteristics and areas where they can improve upon.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Social assistance strategies as means of addressing poverty: lessons for South Africa
- Authors: Mampuru, Tsebo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4098 , vital:20607
- Description: Poverty is a daily reality which a majority of South Africans live with. Social security in the form of cash grants has been the main poverty reduction instrument, albeit with limited success. The thesis aims to propose improvements which can be made in the government’s current social protection system and formulate alternative directions towards reducing poverty. An overview of the three most researched social security strategies around the world (i.e. Nordic, Latin American, and U.S. models) revealed two dominant instruments: conditionality and universalism. If applied in South Africa, universalism may be costly and unsustainable unless the right funding method is used. Attaching education and health attainment conditions to an adult grant would be inefficient and even burdensome to recipients. In terms of child grants, there is little evidence to suggest that the demand for and private levels of investment in education and health are insufficient. Therefore attaching health and education conditions to social grants may only serve to highlight the severe supply side inefficiencies in South Africa. Attaching marriage as an alternative condition may disadvantage poor and needy beneficiaries as marriage is an expensive institution in South Africa. Furthermore, enforcing the marriage condition would violate the constitutional rights of recipients who do not necessarily place a high value on the institution. To strengthen the poverty reduction efficiency of social grants and reduce dependency, the thesis suggests that social cash grants, regardless of whether universal and/or conditional or neither, should be temporary and used in conjunction with other strategies which encourage inclusive economic growth. Social assistance alone will not reduce poverty and ultimately, inclusive economic growth remains a more viable approach to reducing poverty. How to achieve the required inclusive economic growth in South Africa therefore provides further research opportunities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mampuru, Tsebo
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4098 , vital:20607
- Description: Poverty is a daily reality which a majority of South Africans live with. Social security in the form of cash grants has been the main poverty reduction instrument, albeit with limited success. The thesis aims to propose improvements which can be made in the government’s current social protection system and formulate alternative directions towards reducing poverty. An overview of the three most researched social security strategies around the world (i.e. Nordic, Latin American, and U.S. models) revealed two dominant instruments: conditionality and universalism. If applied in South Africa, universalism may be costly and unsustainable unless the right funding method is used. Attaching education and health attainment conditions to an adult grant would be inefficient and even burdensome to recipients. In terms of child grants, there is little evidence to suggest that the demand for and private levels of investment in education and health are insufficient. Therefore attaching health and education conditions to social grants may only serve to highlight the severe supply side inefficiencies in South Africa. Attaching marriage as an alternative condition may disadvantage poor and needy beneficiaries as marriage is an expensive institution in South Africa. Furthermore, enforcing the marriage condition would violate the constitutional rights of recipients who do not necessarily place a high value on the institution. To strengthen the poverty reduction efficiency of social grants and reduce dependency, the thesis suggests that social cash grants, regardless of whether universal and/or conditional or neither, should be temporary and used in conjunction with other strategies which encourage inclusive economic growth. Social assistance alone will not reduce poverty and ultimately, inclusive economic growth remains a more viable approach to reducing poverty. How to achieve the required inclusive economic growth in South Africa therefore provides further research opportunities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An investigation into the use of intuitive control interfaces and distributed processing for enhanced three dimensional sound localization
- Authors: Hedges, M L
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2992 , vital:20350
- Description: This thesis investigates the feasibility of using gestures as a means of control for localizing three dimesional (3D) sound sources in a distributed immersive audio system. A prototype system was implemented and tested which uses state of the art technology to achieve the stated goals. A Windows Kinect is used for gesture recognition which translates human gestures into control messages by the prototype system, which in turn performs actions based on the recognized gestures. The term distributed in the context of this system refers to the audio processing capacity. The prototype system partitions and allocates the processing load between a number of endpoints. The reallocated processing load consists of the mixing of audio samples according to a specification. The endpoints used in this research are XMOS AVB endpoints. The firmware on these endpoints were modified to include the audio mixing capability which was controlled by a state of the art audio distribution networking standard, Ethernet AVB. The hardware used for the implementation of the prototype system is relatively cost efficient in comparison to professional audio hardware, and is also commercially available for end users. The successful implementation and results from user testing of the prototype system demonstrates how it is a feasible option for recording the localization of a sound source. The ability to partition the processing provides a modular approach to building immersive sound systems. This removes the constraint of a centralized mixing console with a predetermined speaker configuration.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Hedges, M L
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2992 , vital:20350
- Description: This thesis investigates the feasibility of using gestures as a means of control for localizing three dimesional (3D) sound sources in a distributed immersive audio system. A prototype system was implemented and tested which uses state of the art technology to achieve the stated goals. A Windows Kinect is used for gesture recognition which translates human gestures into control messages by the prototype system, which in turn performs actions based on the recognized gestures. The term distributed in the context of this system refers to the audio processing capacity. The prototype system partitions and allocates the processing load between a number of endpoints. The reallocated processing load consists of the mixing of audio samples according to a specification. The endpoints used in this research are XMOS AVB endpoints. The firmware on these endpoints were modified to include the audio mixing capability which was controlled by a state of the art audio distribution networking standard, Ethernet AVB. The hardware used for the implementation of the prototype system is relatively cost efficient in comparison to professional audio hardware, and is also commercially available for end users. The successful implementation and results from user testing of the prototype system demonstrates how it is a feasible option for recording the localization of a sound source. The ability to partition the processing provides a modular approach to building immersive sound systems. This removes the constraint of a centralized mixing console with a predetermined speaker configuration.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Epistemological access in a science foundation course: a social realist perspective
- Authors: Ellery, Karen
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1335 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021309
- Description: This dissertation examines how educational practices of a multidisciplinary, integrated science foundation course, Introduction to Science Concepts and Methods (ISCM), at Rhodes University in South Africa, enable and/or constrain epistemological access to a range of mainstream science disciplines. Students in the ISCM course are mainly African, working-class, first-generation higher education learners whose home language is seldom English. This study is motivated firstly by poor success of working-class African students in higher education in South Africa in general and in the sciences in particular, and secondly by the need for closely theorised, empirical work to guide necessary transformational change that will contribute to equity and, thus, to greater social justice. Since I teach in ISCM and coordinate the programme in which it is located, I also have a personal and professional interest in improving my own practice. Conceptually the study draws on Morrow’s (2007, 2009) and various literacy theorists interpretations of the concept of epistemological access, which in this study is about becoming and being a participant in an academic practice by virtue of learning both the knowledge as well as the norms, values and beliefs that constitute the practice. Theoretically and analytically the study draws on Maton’s (2014a) Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and on various aspects of Bernstein’s (2000) code theory work. Codes are the organising principles or ‘rules of the game’ of practices and code theory is premised on the idea that power and control in education systems manifest themselves through the structural and interactional aspects of educational practices, and therefore have the capacity to include or exclude. Analysing educational practices using code theory enables characterisation of the practices, highlights their underpinning principles, and allows for their effects to be considered. This layered approach to analysis indicates that a critical realist depth ontology serves as an underlabourer to code theory. The desired ‘effect’ of educational practices in this study, is students gaining epistemological access to science, or science disciplines, in higher education. The overall approach is a single, in-depth, qualitative case study with a primary focus on what is legitimated in ISCM educational practices (curriculum, pedagogy, assessment) and how students respond to these practices. A lesser focus is how ex-ISCM students are responding to educational practices in the first-year, first-semester Cell Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics mainstream courses, and whether they are attaining epistemological access. To examine educational practices in ISCM and mainstream courses data from document analysis, interviews, observations and critical reflections are analysed through developing external languages of description. The two LCT code dimensions of Specialisation (what or who specialises a practice) and Semantics (how meaning relates to context and empirical referents) are used to examine curriculum, Bernstein’s (2000) framing of the regulative and instructional discourses are drawn on in considering pedagogy, and an adapted cognitive process level model assists in analysing assessment practices. To examine student responses to educational practices Bernstein’s (ibid.) concept of acquisition of recognition and realisation rules is used. Since ISCM serves the dual purpose of developing scientific conceptual knowledge, as well as supporting student learning in an academic context, a complex picture of practices and underpinning codes emerges. Based on epistemological concerns of developing students as scientists, ISCM legitimates an epistemic-context knowledge code and a rhizomatic/worldly curriculum code. If students produce the legitimated epistemic-context scientific ‘text’, they have attained epistemic access. Based on axiological concerns of the learning context, ISCM also legitimates a learning-context knower code. By producing the legitimate learning-context ‘text’ of an autonomous, self-regulated science learner, students demonstrate they have attained learning-context access. Both forms of access are key for student success, and combined they constitute epistemological access. The findings of the study indicate that framing and legitimation of educational practices in ISCM, by most accounts, should be promoting epistemological access. When epistemological access is not attained in ISCM it is suggested this is likely due to both a code clash at the learning-context level and competing code demands between epistemic-context and learning-context concerns. Poor access in mainstream courses appears to be exacerbated by both a narrow-based knowledge code and little or no support for a learning-context knower code. The study concludes by outlining a two-tiered conceptual model of epistemological access in the sciences based on the mutually integrative components of epistemic- and learning-context access. Because of inequitable outcomes in science mainstream courses at Rhodes University based on race and/or class I argue for far-reaching transformative pedagogies throughout the faculty, and in the broader South African science higher education sector, that address and accommodate issues of diversity and difference. This should include, amongst other things, a weakening of epistemic relations to create space for a strengthening of learning-context social relations. This is not a suggestion to move away from a science knowledge code, which I argue is based on powerful knowledge to which all students must gain access, but instead a shift in emphasis to better support previously educationally disenfranchised students and to understand in a more rigorous manner what epistemological access means to them as individuals. In light of the recent disruptive and angry student calls for decolonisation of the curriculum, this is an urgent imperative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Ellery, Karen
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1335 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021309
- Description: This dissertation examines how educational practices of a multidisciplinary, integrated science foundation course, Introduction to Science Concepts and Methods (ISCM), at Rhodes University in South Africa, enable and/or constrain epistemological access to a range of mainstream science disciplines. Students in the ISCM course are mainly African, working-class, first-generation higher education learners whose home language is seldom English. This study is motivated firstly by poor success of working-class African students in higher education in South Africa in general and in the sciences in particular, and secondly by the need for closely theorised, empirical work to guide necessary transformational change that will contribute to equity and, thus, to greater social justice. Since I teach in ISCM and coordinate the programme in which it is located, I also have a personal and professional interest in improving my own practice. Conceptually the study draws on Morrow’s (2007, 2009) and various literacy theorists interpretations of the concept of epistemological access, which in this study is about becoming and being a participant in an academic practice by virtue of learning both the knowledge as well as the norms, values and beliefs that constitute the practice. Theoretically and analytically the study draws on Maton’s (2014a) Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and on various aspects of Bernstein’s (2000) code theory work. Codes are the organising principles or ‘rules of the game’ of practices and code theory is premised on the idea that power and control in education systems manifest themselves through the structural and interactional aspects of educational practices, and therefore have the capacity to include or exclude. Analysing educational practices using code theory enables characterisation of the practices, highlights their underpinning principles, and allows for their effects to be considered. This layered approach to analysis indicates that a critical realist depth ontology serves as an underlabourer to code theory. The desired ‘effect’ of educational practices in this study, is students gaining epistemological access to science, or science disciplines, in higher education. The overall approach is a single, in-depth, qualitative case study with a primary focus on what is legitimated in ISCM educational practices (curriculum, pedagogy, assessment) and how students respond to these practices. A lesser focus is how ex-ISCM students are responding to educational practices in the first-year, first-semester Cell Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics mainstream courses, and whether they are attaining epistemological access. To examine educational practices in ISCM and mainstream courses data from document analysis, interviews, observations and critical reflections are analysed through developing external languages of description. The two LCT code dimensions of Specialisation (what or who specialises a practice) and Semantics (how meaning relates to context and empirical referents) are used to examine curriculum, Bernstein’s (2000) framing of the regulative and instructional discourses are drawn on in considering pedagogy, and an adapted cognitive process level model assists in analysing assessment practices. To examine student responses to educational practices Bernstein’s (ibid.) concept of acquisition of recognition and realisation rules is used. Since ISCM serves the dual purpose of developing scientific conceptual knowledge, as well as supporting student learning in an academic context, a complex picture of practices and underpinning codes emerges. Based on epistemological concerns of developing students as scientists, ISCM legitimates an epistemic-context knowledge code and a rhizomatic/worldly curriculum code. If students produce the legitimated epistemic-context scientific ‘text’, they have attained epistemic access. Based on axiological concerns of the learning context, ISCM also legitimates a learning-context knower code. By producing the legitimate learning-context ‘text’ of an autonomous, self-regulated science learner, students demonstrate they have attained learning-context access. Both forms of access are key for student success, and combined they constitute epistemological access. The findings of the study indicate that framing and legitimation of educational practices in ISCM, by most accounts, should be promoting epistemological access. When epistemological access is not attained in ISCM it is suggested this is likely due to both a code clash at the learning-context level and competing code demands between epistemic-context and learning-context concerns. Poor access in mainstream courses appears to be exacerbated by both a narrow-based knowledge code and little or no support for a learning-context knower code. The study concludes by outlining a two-tiered conceptual model of epistemological access in the sciences based on the mutually integrative components of epistemic- and learning-context access. Because of inequitable outcomes in science mainstream courses at Rhodes University based on race and/or class I argue for far-reaching transformative pedagogies throughout the faculty, and in the broader South African science higher education sector, that address and accommodate issues of diversity and difference. This should include, amongst other things, a weakening of epistemic relations to create space for a strengthening of learning-context social relations. This is not a suggestion to move away from a science knowledge code, which I argue is based on powerful knowledge to which all students must gain access, but instead a shift in emphasis to better support previously educationally disenfranchised students and to understand in a more rigorous manner what epistemological access means to them as individuals. In light of the recent disruptive and angry student calls for decolonisation of the curriculum, this is an urgent imperative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Facebook, youth and political action: a comparative study of Zimbabwe and South Africa
- Authors: Mare, Admire
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3553 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021259
- Description: This comparative multi-sited study examines how, why and when politically engaged youths in distinctive national and social movement contexts use Facebook to facilitate political activism. As part of the research objectives, this study is concerned with investigating how and why youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa use the popular corporate social network site for political purposes. The study explores the discursive interactions and micro-politics of participation which plays out on selected Facebook groups and pages. It also examines the extent to which the selected Facebook pages and groups can be considered as alternative spaces for political activism. It also documents and analyses the various kinds of political discourses (described here as digital hidden transcripts) which are circulated by Zimbabwean and South African youth activists on Facebook fan pages and groups. Methodologically, this study adopts a predominantly qualitative research design although it also draws on quantitative data in terms of levels of interaction on Facebook groups and pages. Consequently, this study engages in data triangulation which allows me to make sense of how and why politically engaged youths from a range of six social movements in Zimbabwe and South Africa use Facebook for political action. In terms of data collection techniques, the study deploys social media ethnography (online participant observation), qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews. Theoretically, this study jettisons the Habermasian theory of public sphere in favour of Fraser’s (1990) concept of the subaltern counter-publics, Scott’s (1985) metaphor of hidden transcripts and some insightful views on popular culture gleaned from African studies. Melding these ideas into a synthesised theoretical frame, this study argues that Facebook fan pages and groups can be conceptualised as parallel discursive arenas where marginalised groups (including politically active youths) have a political life outside the dominant mediated public sphere often in ways that are generally viewed as “irrational” and “non-political” in mainstream Western literature. This study also proposes ways of enriching Fraser’s concept of subaltern counter-publics by incorporating elements from Scott’s metaphor of hidden transcripts in order to analyse the various kinds of political discourses which are circulated on social media. The findings demonstrate that youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa are using Facebook to engage in traditional and alternative forms of political participation. Findings show that Facebook in both political contexts is deployed for transmitting and accessing civic and political information, as a conduit for online donations and fundraising, for contacting political decision makers, as a venue of political activism, as an advertising platform for social and political events and as a platform for everyday political talk. It demonstrates that the broader political context shapes and constraints the localised appropriations of Facebook for political purposes in ways that deconstructs some of the postulations of the cyber-optimist and pessimist approaches. The study also found that youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa used Facebook in their own unique ways as shaped and dictated by the broader political and mediated opportunity structures. It argues that youth’s engagement with social media platforms for political purposes should be understood in their own terms without necessarily imposing inflexible boundaries on what counts as political participation. Although Facebook like other social media platforms foster avenues for cognitive engagement, discursive participation and political mobilisation, these political practices are not immune to the influences of offline processes. Youth activists in all the six case organisations used Facebook as a complementary and supplementary space for political processes rather than as a standalone platform. The study also argues that compared to South Africa, the political uses of Facebook in Zimbabwe are largely influenced by practices of state surveillance. It also found that whilst youth activists in South Africa are deploying Facebook to supplement traditional methods of political activism, their counterparts in Zimbabwe are using the same technology to circumvent the restricted political and media environment. The findings also indicate that youth activists in both countries are using Facebook as a change agent tool within the broader media ecology which is characterised by the increasing interpenetration of older and newer media platforms. In terms of micro-politics of participation and discursive interactions, this study found that Facebook pages and groups should viewed as a “sites of power” where corporate forces and platform specific code coalesce together fostering “algorithmic” gatekeeping practices and the favouring of paid for content over non-paid for user-generated-content which ultimately affects activists’ visibility and reach within the online media ecology. These gatekeeping practices therefore further complicate claims by cyber-optimists that social media platforms are the sine qua non spaces for symmetrical and democratic participation. This study argues that “subtle forms of control” characterise the much glorified participatory cultures on Facebook in ways that defy optimistic accounts of the role of new media in political change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mare, Admire
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3553 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021259
- Description: This comparative multi-sited study examines how, why and when politically engaged youths in distinctive national and social movement contexts use Facebook to facilitate political activism. As part of the research objectives, this study is concerned with investigating how and why youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa use the popular corporate social network site for political purposes. The study explores the discursive interactions and micro-politics of participation which plays out on selected Facebook groups and pages. It also examines the extent to which the selected Facebook pages and groups can be considered as alternative spaces for political activism. It also documents and analyses the various kinds of political discourses (described here as digital hidden transcripts) which are circulated by Zimbabwean and South African youth activists on Facebook fan pages and groups. Methodologically, this study adopts a predominantly qualitative research design although it also draws on quantitative data in terms of levels of interaction on Facebook groups and pages. Consequently, this study engages in data triangulation which allows me to make sense of how and why politically engaged youths from a range of six social movements in Zimbabwe and South Africa use Facebook for political action. In terms of data collection techniques, the study deploys social media ethnography (online participant observation), qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews. Theoretically, this study jettisons the Habermasian theory of public sphere in favour of Fraser’s (1990) concept of the subaltern counter-publics, Scott’s (1985) metaphor of hidden transcripts and some insightful views on popular culture gleaned from African studies. Melding these ideas into a synthesised theoretical frame, this study argues that Facebook fan pages and groups can be conceptualised as parallel discursive arenas where marginalised groups (including politically active youths) have a political life outside the dominant mediated public sphere often in ways that are generally viewed as “irrational” and “non-political” in mainstream Western literature. This study also proposes ways of enriching Fraser’s concept of subaltern counter-publics by incorporating elements from Scott’s metaphor of hidden transcripts in order to analyse the various kinds of political discourses which are circulated on social media. The findings demonstrate that youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa are using Facebook to engage in traditional and alternative forms of political participation. Findings show that Facebook in both political contexts is deployed for transmitting and accessing civic and political information, as a conduit for online donations and fundraising, for contacting political decision makers, as a venue of political activism, as an advertising platform for social and political events and as a platform for everyday political talk. It demonstrates that the broader political context shapes and constraints the localised appropriations of Facebook for political purposes in ways that deconstructs some of the postulations of the cyber-optimist and pessimist approaches. The study also found that youth activists in Zimbabwe and South Africa used Facebook in their own unique ways as shaped and dictated by the broader political and mediated opportunity structures. It argues that youth’s engagement with social media platforms for political purposes should be understood in their own terms without necessarily imposing inflexible boundaries on what counts as political participation. Although Facebook like other social media platforms foster avenues for cognitive engagement, discursive participation and political mobilisation, these political practices are not immune to the influences of offline processes. Youth activists in all the six case organisations used Facebook as a complementary and supplementary space for political processes rather than as a standalone platform. The study also argues that compared to South Africa, the political uses of Facebook in Zimbabwe are largely influenced by practices of state surveillance. It also found that whilst youth activists in South Africa are deploying Facebook to supplement traditional methods of political activism, their counterparts in Zimbabwe are using the same technology to circumvent the restricted political and media environment. The findings also indicate that youth activists in both countries are using Facebook as a change agent tool within the broader media ecology which is characterised by the increasing interpenetration of older and newer media platforms. In terms of micro-politics of participation and discursive interactions, this study found that Facebook pages and groups should viewed as a “sites of power” where corporate forces and platform specific code coalesce together fostering “algorithmic” gatekeeping practices and the favouring of paid for content over non-paid for user-generated-content which ultimately affects activists’ visibility and reach within the online media ecology. These gatekeeping practices therefore further complicate claims by cyber-optimists that social media platforms are the sine qua non spaces for symmetrical and democratic participation. This study argues that “subtle forms of control” characterise the much glorified participatory cultures on Facebook in ways that defy optimistic accounts of the role of new media in political change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
An investigation into the interaction effects of simultaneous physical and cognitive task execution on performance, perceptual and physical responses
- Authors: Ross, Natalie
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3562 , vital:20525
- Description: Many modern day work environments require some degree of dual tasking, particularly the simultaneous performance of cognitive jobs alongside physical activity. The nature of such tasks is often job dependent and may require cognitive functions such as perception, decision making, memory, or response selection/execution in conjunction to task specific physical requirements. Previous research has indicated a possible relationship between concurrent physical and cognitive demands and task performance, safety and efficiency. However, this research is limited and inconsistent. The current study aimed to identify the interaction, if any, between concurrent physical and mental demands, and determine the impact of sensory modality and stage of information processing on this interaction, with specific focus on the performance, perceptual and physical responses during different types of cognitive tasks performed concurrently with a lifting task. 20 (10 male, 10 female) Rhodes University students participated in this study. Each participant performed 9 test conditions - a physical lifting task, a visual and an auditory memory task, and a visual and an auditory decision making task in isolation, as well as the lifting task concurrently with each of these cognitive tasks. Performance was recorded via accuracy and work output of cognitive tasks and the number of lifts for each condition. Perceptual measures were obtained via the Borg RPE and Subjective Workload Assessment Technique. Spinal kinematics were measured using the Lumbar Motion Monitor, while muscle activity of the Erector Spinae, Rectus Abdominis, Rectus Femoris and Biceps Femoris muscles were recorded using the Biometrix Data Logger surface EMG equipment. Mean results were analysed using a dependent T-test to observe any general interaction, and a Two-way ANOVA for the impact of sensory modality and stage of processing. Individual responses were also considered to gain better understanding of both intra and inter-human variability under the various test conditions. Results showed a significant decrease in cognitive performance, increased perception of physical effort, time pressure, mental effort and psychological stress under simultaneous physical and mental demands, while no significant differences in physical responses were observed. Further observations included increased dual-task interference during visual and decision-making tasks when combined with physical demands compared to that of auditory and memory tasks respectively. Individual responses showed large variability between individuals indicating the presence of positive, negative and non-responders to concurrent physical and mental demands. Results therefore imply an individual specific interaction between concurrent physical and mental demands that may or may not be detrimental to worker productivity, job error, injury rates and worker well-being, and that the type of cognitive task performed may impact this interaction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Ross, Natalie
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3562 , vital:20525
- Description: Many modern day work environments require some degree of dual tasking, particularly the simultaneous performance of cognitive jobs alongside physical activity. The nature of such tasks is often job dependent and may require cognitive functions such as perception, decision making, memory, or response selection/execution in conjunction to task specific physical requirements. Previous research has indicated a possible relationship between concurrent physical and cognitive demands and task performance, safety and efficiency. However, this research is limited and inconsistent. The current study aimed to identify the interaction, if any, between concurrent physical and mental demands, and determine the impact of sensory modality and stage of information processing on this interaction, with specific focus on the performance, perceptual and physical responses during different types of cognitive tasks performed concurrently with a lifting task. 20 (10 male, 10 female) Rhodes University students participated in this study. Each participant performed 9 test conditions - a physical lifting task, a visual and an auditory memory task, and a visual and an auditory decision making task in isolation, as well as the lifting task concurrently with each of these cognitive tasks. Performance was recorded via accuracy and work output of cognitive tasks and the number of lifts for each condition. Perceptual measures were obtained via the Borg RPE and Subjective Workload Assessment Technique. Spinal kinematics were measured using the Lumbar Motion Monitor, while muscle activity of the Erector Spinae, Rectus Abdominis, Rectus Femoris and Biceps Femoris muscles were recorded using the Biometrix Data Logger surface EMG equipment. Mean results were analysed using a dependent T-test to observe any general interaction, and a Two-way ANOVA for the impact of sensory modality and stage of processing. Individual responses were also considered to gain better understanding of both intra and inter-human variability under the various test conditions. Results showed a significant decrease in cognitive performance, increased perception of physical effort, time pressure, mental effort and psychological stress under simultaneous physical and mental demands, while no significant differences in physical responses were observed. Further observations included increased dual-task interference during visual and decision-making tasks when combined with physical demands compared to that of auditory and memory tasks respectively. Individual responses showed large variability between individuals indicating the presence of positive, negative and non-responders to concurrent physical and mental demands. Results therefore imply an individual specific interaction between concurrent physical and mental demands that may or may not be detrimental to worker productivity, job error, injury rates and worker well-being, and that the type of cognitive task performed may impact this interaction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The projection of gender based violence through characterisation and theme in Magqashela’s works, Isangxa siyawhuza, Umlindi and Amathaf’entandabuzo
- Authors: Somlata, B
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3971 , vital:20575
- Description: This study focuses on literature. The dissertation seeks to explore how Magqashela’s works Isangxa siyawhuza (2006), Amathaf’entandabuzo (2006) and Umlindi (2015) represent her characters to reveal gender based violence and stereotypes. As we, South Africans enfranchised and given the Act 108, a South African Constitution with Bill of rights, but it seems as if women and children do not enjoy these privileges because of high rate of violence against them. Through observation it is clear that theoretically every South African is free but practically some humans particularly women and young girls and discrimination. The researcher decided to choose female writer assuming that she is addressing women challenges as male writers are less interested to excavate women’s issues in their literary works. The reseacher also wanted to find out whether our female writer is disseminating women’s predicaments. By means of textual analysis the study investigates how gender based violence violates survivors and victims’ rights in chapter 3, and chapter 4 explores how unfaithful partners cause violence. It also explores the intervention of traditional justice and formal justice system in violent behavior caused by anger, jealousy and acquaintance of violent environment. Chapter 5 projects a stereotypical character in three selected literary texts. The whole thesis brings the prominent picture of how Gender Based Violence bodily harm the survivors and victims psychologically, physically and economically. It reveals rural women and young girls as the most vulnerable people and men as the worst perpetrators of Gender Based Violence in these literary texts. The thesis explains that the perpetrators are known by the survivors and victims hence there is a culture of silence. They are afraid of multiple abuses. The thesis relates character depiction of violence and stereotypes with current societal incidents quoting from newspapers, articles, journals and SABC online news as to disclose the accuracy of the author’s projection. Character analysis reveals that women are still discriminated and oppressed by their counterparts. The discussions succinctly elucidate that the underestimation of women and children are rooted by cultural traditional norms and values as well as Christian religion .These societal factors are promoting patriarchal perception which says men are dominant and women are submissive. It says men are obliged to take control over women. African feminist theory; Feminism, Womanism and Stiwanism and Motherism are employed as a theoretical framework. These theories are against gender inequality, they are against African women and children maltreatment .The changes of the current society including women’s independency propels insecurity, unemployed, illiterate and underprivileged men to use violence as the way of taking back control over their intimate partners and the whole family. Relevant quotations from selected texts are employed to project character portrayal of gender based violence and stereotypes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Somlata, B
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3971 , vital:20575
- Description: This study focuses on literature. The dissertation seeks to explore how Magqashela’s works Isangxa siyawhuza (2006), Amathaf’entandabuzo (2006) and Umlindi (2015) represent her characters to reveal gender based violence and stereotypes. As we, South Africans enfranchised and given the Act 108, a South African Constitution with Bill of rights, but it seems as if women and children do not enjoy these privileges because of high rate of violence against them. Through observation it is clear that theoretically every South African is free but practically some humans particularly women and young girls and discrimination. The researcher decided to choose female writer assuming that she is addressing women challenges as male writers are less interested to excavate women’s issues in their literary works. The reseacher also wanted to find out whether our female writer is disseminating women’s predicaments. By means of textual analysis the study investigates how gender based violence violates survivors and victims’ rights in chapter 3, and chapter 4 explores how unfaithful partners cause violence. It also explores the intervention of traditional justice and formal justice system in violent behavior caused by anger, jealousy and acquaintance of violent environment. Chapter 5 projects a stereotypical character in three selected literary texts. The whole thesis brings the prominent picture of how Gender Based Violence bodily harm the survivors and victims psychologically, physically and economically. It reveals rural women and young girls as the most vulnerable people and men as the worst perpetrators of Gender Based Violence in these literary texts. The thesis explains that the perpetrators are known by the survivors and victims hence there is a culture of silence. They are afraid of multiple abuses. The thesis relates character depiction of violence and stereotypes with current societal incidents quoting from newspapers, articles, journals and SABC online news as to disclose the accuracy of the author’s projection. Character analysis reveals that women are still discriminated and oppressed by their counterparts. The discussions succinctly elucidate that the underestimation of women and children are rooted by cultural traditional norms and values as well as Christian religion .These societal factors are promoting patriarchal perception which says men are dominant and women are submissive. It says men are obliged to take control over women. African feminist theory; Feminism, Womanism and Stiwanism and Motherism are employed as a theoretical framework. These theories are against gender inequality, they are against African women and children maltreatment .The changes of the current society including women’s independency propels insecurity, unemployed, illiterate and underprivileged men to use violence as the way of taking back control over their intimate partners and the whole family. Relevant quotations from selected texts are employed to project character portrayal of gender based violence and stereotypes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Do differences in personality traits affect how drivers experience music at different intensities?
- Authors: Tlhoaele, Kebaabetswe
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3695 , vital:20536
- Description: Various researchers have investigated contributing factors towards the number of acute traffic incidences in and around Southern Africa. Some of these contributing factors include: the skills component of the driver predominately attributed to driving experience as well as the behavioural component influenced by the driver’s natural predisposition, individual differences and personality traits. In order to manage these factors drivers have developed varying coping mechanisms. One of these coping mechanisms is listening to music while driving, which is readily available in most cars and extensively used predominately during long duration driving. Listening to music neither increases one’s driving duration (as opposed to taking several breaks), nor does it interfere with the physical movements of driving (in the manner that eating and drinking may), but it might impact the concentration and attention of some drivers. This is based on the notion that music is assumed to impact arousal and cognitive ability. While there are several studies on the effect of music on driving performance and personality traits very few studies have looked at whether music has a positive or negative effect on driving performance based on differences in personality traits; and whether the extent of this effect might differ for different intensities of music? Consequently, this study aims to understand and determine the extent to which different personality traits predict the effect that listening to different music intensities has on driving performance. The impact of differing music conditions on the different personality traits used a repeated measures design and a between group design with respect to the personality traits with a sample size of (n=25)-16 females and 9 males-and their ages ranged between 19-35 years of age. The average age and standard deviation for this sample size was 22 years±2. A low-fidelity driving simulator task was utilised in order to provide a controllable, repeatable and a safe environment as compared to a real road situation. Personality was assessed using an online Big-Five Inventory scale (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness). All the different personality groups completed three conditions (45 minutes each) in a randomised order (without music, moderately loud music and loud music). Psychophysiological parameters i.e. heart rate frequency (HRF), heart rate variability (HRV) and eye movements (pupil diameter, eye speeds, fixation duration, blink frequency and blink duration) and driving performance were measured continuously. Subjective performance Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory was measured once-off prior to completion of the testing sessions, whilst the NASA-Task Load Index scale and Perceived control of participants were assessed after each condition. The expected outcomes revealed that music had an effect on objective driving performance (tracking deviation and reaction time) and psychophysiological measures only for participants of certain personality types while other personality types were unaffected by music. The subjective performance measures did not follow the same trend as objective performance measures. The conditions did not reveal an effect on driving performance, for most of the psychophysiological parameters and subjective measures. There was mainly a significant time on task effect and interactional effects on the psychophysiological measures (physiological and oculomotor) parameters at (p<0.05), but not on the subjective measures as anticipated. The study illustrated that the there are differences between personality traits. There was difficulty in the interpretation of the results based on the complexity of the findings for which each hypothesis was partially accepted. The research may establish practical implications for traffic safety campaigns in South Africa, as well as influence driving education for citizens. Assessing the personality trait would help to form an understanding as to which of the personality traits might be affected negatively from listening to music while driving and those that might benefit. Moreover, this study may assist motorists in understanding the implications of listening to music while driving as this may sometimes elicit risky driving behaviour and possibly cause an accident that may result in death.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Tlhoaele, Kebaabetswe
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3695 , vital:20536
- Description: Various researchers have investigated contributing factors towards the number of acute traffic incidences in and around Southern Africa. Some of these contributing factors include: the skills component of the driver predominately attributed to driving experience as well as the behavioural component influenced by the driver’s natural predisposition, individual differences and personality traits. In order to manage these factors drivers have developed varying coping mechanisms. One of these coping mechanisms is listening to music while driving, which is readily available in most cars and extensively used predominately during long duration driving. Listening to music neither increases one’s driving duration (as opposed to taking several breaks), nor does it interfere with the physical movements of driving (in the manner that eating and drinking may), but it might impact the concentration and attention of some drivers. This is based on the notion that music is assumed to impact arousal and cognitive ability. While there are several studies on the effect of music on driving performance and personality traits very few studies have looked at whether music has a positive or negative effect on driving performance based on differences in personality traits; and whether the extent of this effect might differ for different intensities of music? Consequently, this study aims to understand and determine the extent to which different personality traits predict the effect that listening to different music intensities has on driving performance. The impact of differing music conditions on the different personality traits used a repeated measures design and a between group design with respect to the personality traits with a sample size of (n=25)-16 females and 9 males-and their ages ranged between 19-35 years of age. The average age and standard deviation for this sample size was 22 years±2. A low-fidelity driving simulator task was utilised in order to provide a controllable, repeatable and a safe environment as compared to a real road situation. Personality was assessed using an online Big-Five Inventory scale (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness). All the different personality groups completed three conditions (45 minutes each) in a randomised order (without music, moderately loud music and loud music). Psychophysiological parameters i.e. heart rate frequency (HRF), heart rate variability (HRV) and eye movements (pupil diameter, eye speeds, fixation duration, blink frequency and blink duration) and driving performance were measured continuously. Subjective performance Multidimensional Driving Style Inventory was measured once-off prior to completion of the testing sessions, whilst the NASA-Task Load Index scale and Perceived control of participants were assessed after each condition. The expected outcomes revealed that music had an effect on objective driving performance (tracking deviation and reaction time) and psychophysiological measures only for participants of certain personality types while other personality types were unaffected by music. The subjective performance measures did not follow the same trend as objective performance measures. The conditions did not reveal an effect on driving performance, for most of the psychophysiological parameters and subjective measures. There was mainly a significant time on task effect and interactional effects on the psychophysiological measures (physiological and oculomotor) parameters at (p<0.05), but not on the subjective measures as anticipated. The study illustrated that the there are differences between personality traits. There was difficulty in the interpretation of the results based on the complexity of the findings for which each hypothesis was partially accepted. The research may establish practical implications for traffic safety campaigns in South Africa, as well as influence driving education for citizens. Assessing the personality trait would help to form an understanding as to which of the personality traits might be affected negatively from listening to music while driving and those that might benefit. Moreover, this study may assist motorists in understanding the implications of listening to music while driving as this may sometimes elicit risky driving behaviour and possibly cause an accident that may result in death.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Isolation, characterization and biomimetic oxidation of selected marine natural products and their analogues
- Authors: Mutsvairo, Tafadzwa
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64685 , vital:28592
- Description: Marine brown algae produce a variety of terpenes with a wide range of biological activities. However, very few phytochemical studies of brown algae have been conducted in South Africa. Therefore, in our continued search for biologically active natural products, we examined the South African brown alga Brassicophycus brassicaeformis. The dichloromethane-methanol extract of B.brassicaeformis was fractionated by silica gel column chromatography followed by normal phase HPLC to give pure four pure compounds which were identified by spectroscopic methods as; fucosterol, fucoxanthin and two monogalactosyldiacylglycerol lipids. Many potential drug molecules such as natural products have failed to reach the market due to poor pharmacokinetic and metabolic profiles despite having potent biological activity. Therefore the importance of early drug metabolism studies in the drug development process is clear. A biomimetic oxidation model was used for in vitro drug metabolism studies to predict any possible metabolites that could be produced by these natural products. Two biomimetic oxidation models catalyzed by two water soluble metalloporphyrins as biomimics of cytochrome P450, in the presence of two terminal oxidants either hydrogen peroxide or iodobenzene diacetete were successfully developed. The models were applied to a range of natural products. The oxidation of the quinone natural products, sargahydroquinoic acid, and lapachol was most easily achieved by metalloporphyrins employed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Mutsvairo, Tafadzwa
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64685 , vital:28592
- Description: Marine brown algae produce a variety of terpenes with a wide range of biological activities. However, very few phytochemical studies of brown algae have been conducted in South Africa. Therefore, in our continued search for biologically active natural products, we examined the South African brown alga Brassicophycus brassicaeformis. The dichloromethane-methanol extract of B.brassicaeformis was fractionated by silica gel column chromatography followed by normal phase HPLC to give pure four pure compounds which were identified by spectroscopic methods as; fucosterol, fucoxanthin and two monogalactosyldiacylglycerol lipids. Many potential drug molecules such as natural products have failed to reach the market due to poor pharmacokinetic and metabolic profiles despite having potent biological activity. Therefore the importance of early drug metabolism studies in the drug development process is clear. A biomimetic oxidation model was used for in vitro drug metabolism studies to predict any possible metabolites that could be produced by these natural products. Two biomimetic oxidation models catalyzed by two water soluble metalloporphyrins as biomimics of cytochrome P450, in the presence of two terminal oxidants either hydrogen peroxide or iodobenzene diacetete were successfully developed. The models were applied to a range of natural products. The oxidation of the quinone natural products, sargahydroquinoic acid, and lapachol was most easily achieved by metalloporphyrins employed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Boetie is verlore: the reproduction of militarized white masculinities through the lens of Boetie gaan border toe! (1984)
- Authors: Coetzee, Joseph
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4245 , vital:20638
- Description: My father fought for the South African Defence Force (SADF) from 1983 to 1985. At that time the apartheid regime was involved in extensive military operations in what is now Namibia and Angola. This conflict was aimed at quelling the liberation movements in those countries and, as Gary Baines has noted, supported the United States of America’s Cold War interests (Baines 2007:1). When I was fourteen I found a piece written by my father in which he remembers the first person that he had killed in the aforementioned conflict. This was a child soldier who he compared to me as I was a similar age at the time of his writing. The idea of my father as a killer haunted me. He has carried the trauma of his experiences on the border with him; he has told me how the dead visit him in dreams. On the one hand, these memories, not my own, have been constructed through my interpretation of the events in my father’s stories. On the other hand, homologies may be drawn between his actual experiences and a fantasy representation of the conflict I have encountered, the film Boetie gaan border toe! or Brother goes to the border! (1984). This apartheid propaganda film presents an idealised representation of the conflict from the point of view of the apartheid state. The protagonist of the film, Boetie, is an example of the aspirational and dominant image of militarised masculinity the apartheid state wished young white men to emulate. The racist sexist, patriarchal and materialistic reality created within the film is one I am familiar with. The toys I grew up playing with, television shows, films, advertising and popular culture I consumed, alongside the boys’ school I attended and the University I currently attend are all rooted in and continue to reproduce this reality. I have encountered many similar archetypes to the Boetie character. With this in mind I wish through my art practice to create a work which draws upon my father’s writing and imagery from Boetie gaan border toe! (1984). I have placed these alongside windows into my contemporary context in order to emphasise the continual reproduction of these ideas. In reference to the Boetie film I have decided to create my own film entitled Boetie is verlore or Brother is lost. This is a magic realist documentary film that I have constructed through various interviews and fantasy dream sequences in order to paint a picture of the continual incubation and reproduction of realities similar to that of Boetie. Boetie is a rich white man who is characterised through his material possessions and his compulsive heterosexuality. White women are interchangeable to him whilst blackness in the film is made completely invisible. In South Africa such representations are strongly linked to the question of land and naturalising the white male coloniser’s dominance and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Coetzee, Joseph
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4245 , vital:20638
- Description: My father fought for the South African Defence Force (SADF) from 1983 to 1985. At that time the apartheid regime was involved in extensive military operations in what is now Namibia and Angola. This conflict was aimed at quelling the liberation movements in those countries and, as Gary Baines has noted, supported the United States of America’s Cold War interests (Baines 2007:1). When I was fourteen I found a piece written by my father in which he remembers the first person that he had killed in the aforementioned conflict. This was a child soldier who he compared to me as I was a similar age at the time of his writing. The idea of my father as a killer haunted me. He has carried the trauma of his experiences on the border with him; he has told me how the dead visit him in dreams. On the one hand, these memories, not my own, have been constructed through my interpretation of the events in my father’s stories. On the other hand, homologies may be drawn between his actual experiences and a fantasy representation of the conflict I have encountered, the film Boetie gaan border toe! or Brother goes to the border! (1984). This apartheid propaganda film presents an idealised representation of the conflict from the point of view of the apartheid state. The protagonist of the film, Boetie, is an example of the aspirational and dominant image of militarised masculinity the apartheid state wished young white men to emulate. The racist sexist, patriarchal and materialistic reality created within the film is one I am familiar with. The toys I grew up playing with, television shows, films, advertising and popular culture I consumed, alongside the boys’ school I attended and the University I currently attend are all rooted in and continue to reproduce this reality. I have encountered many similar archetypes to the Boetie character. With this in mind I wish through my art practice to create a work which draws upon my father’s writing and imagery from Boetie gaan border toe! (1984). I have placed these alongside windows into my contemporary context in order to emphasise the continual reproduction of these ideas. In reference to the Boetie film I have decided to create my own film entitled Boetie is verlore or Brother is lost. This is a magic realist documentary film that I have constructed through various interviews and fantasy dream sequences in order to paint a picture of the continual incubation and reproduction of realities similar to that of Boetie. Boetie is a rich white man who is characterised through his material possessions and his compulsive heterosexuality. White women are interchangeable to him whilst blackness in the film is made completely invisible. In South Africa such representations are strongly linked to the question of land and naturalising the white male coloniser’s dominance and privilege.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
A discussion of the concept, “place of effective management” and the proposed changes, in the context of South African tax law
- Authors: Singh, Nishika
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4166 , vital:20629
- Description: The concept, “place of effective management”, is used in South African tax legislation to determine the residency of companies and it is also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and in many tax treaties as a tie-breaker clause to determine the residency of companies that may appear to be dual resident or to determine which country has the taxing rights to income that may be subject to double tax due to the income being from a source outside of the company’s country of residence. The concept is not defined in any tax legislation and there is no uniform interpretation of the concept globally. The former guidance provided by the South African Revenue Services (SARS) adopted a hierarchal approach and the focus was the implementation of the Board of Directors’ decisions. This interpretation was not aligned to the guidance of the OECD whose focus is the place where the key management and commercial decisions of the entity are made. The current SARS guidance has been aligned to the OECD guidance and, essentially, the core principle is to determine who makes the key commercial and management decisions of the company and the place where these individuals are making these decisions. The current SARS and OECD guidance have now been aligned. The current SARS and OECD interpretations have been found to be a more effective tie-breaker clause than the former interpretations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Singh, Nishika
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4166 , vital:20629
- Description: The concept, “place of effective management”, is used in South African tax legislation to determine the residency of companies and it is also used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and in many tax treaties as a tie-breaker clause to determine the residency of companies that may appear to be dual resident or to determine which country has the taxing rights to income that may be subject to double tax due to the income being from a source outside of the company’s country of residence. The concept is not defined in any tax legislation and there is no uniform interpretation of the concept globally. The former guidance provided by the South African Revenue Services (SARS) adopted a hierarchal approach and the focus was the implementation of the Board of Directors’ decisions. This interpretation was not aligned to the guidance of the OECD whose focus is the place where the key management and commercial decisions of the entity are made. The current SARS guidance has been aligned to the OECD guidance and, essentially, the core principle is to determine who makes the key commercial and management decisions of the company and the place where these individuals are making these decisions. The current SARS and OECD guidance have now been aligned. The current SARS and OECD interpretations have been found to be a more effective tie-breaker clause than the former interpretations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Investigating the use of Arbuscular Mycorrhizas and Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria to improve the drought tolerance of maize (Zea mays L.)
- Authors: Moore, Nicolle Maureen
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54587 , vital:26591
- Description: Maize (Zea mays L.) is a direct staple food crop in Africa and remains an essential component of global food security, with maize crops accounting for over 60% of the total harvested area of annual food crops. Stress caused by drought and high soil salinity limits crop growth and productivity more than any other single environmental factor, with grain yield reductions up to 76% depending on the severity of the drought and the plant growth stage. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and Plant Growth Promotion Rhizobacteria (PGPR) have previously been shown to improve tolerance of plants to drought stress through a number of chemical and physiological processes. The aim of this investigation was to determine whether mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobacteria adapted to drought and saline conditions and possessing plant growth promoting (PGP) traits were able to stimulate plant growth responses when applied to Zea mays seeds growing under greenhouse conditions Bacterial isolates selected were tolerant to concentrations of NaCl up to 600 mM and maintained 50% growth at low water potentials (-1.44 MPa). They were positive for Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilisation and secretion of siderophores. Bacterial isolates showing plant growth promoting potential were identified using 16S rDNA gene sequencing as Achromobacter xylosoxidans strains A8 and C54 and Klebsiella oxytoca strain M1. Mixed inoculum was prepared from indigenous communities of mycorrhizas in soils sampled from the Cerebos Salt Pan and the Kalahari Desert. Mycorrhizal diversity was investigated using 454-Pyrosequencing which revealed that the community composition was dominated by species in the Ambispora, Glomus and Paraglomus genera with a rare component represented by species in the Redeckera, Archaeospora and Geosiphon genera. Microscopic examination of plant roots at the end of the trial revealed the presence of diagnostic mycorrhizal structures within the root cells, confirming that colonization was successful. Plant growth response to microbial inoculation was assessed by monitoring changes in plant photosynthetic capacity over the duration of a 7 week pot trial. A significant difference in photosynthetic and biomass data was observed between drought and well-watered groups but no mycorrhizal or bacterial treatment effect was evident within the groups, despite the high levels of colonization by mycorrhizas. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of mycorrhizal colonization may be primarily attributed to improved nutrient and mineral uptake in conditions where nutrients are limiting, resulting in improved growth. The improved growth may then have secondary effects on the plant‟s ability to withstand drought. Having controlled for nutrient deficiency, it was not evident in this study that mycorrhizal fungi were able to stimulate a change in plant physiology and confer drought tolerance under the conditions imposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Moore, Nicolle Maureen
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54587 , vital:26591
- Description: Maize (Zea mays L.) is a direct staple food crop in Africa and remains an essential component of global food security, with maize crops accounting for over 60% of the total harvested area of annual food crops. Stress caused by drought and high soil salinity limits crop growth and productivity more than any other single environmental factor, with grain yield reductions up to 76% depending on the severity of the drought and the plant growth stage. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and Plant Growth Promotion Rhizobacteria (PGPR) have previously been shown to improve tolerance of plants to drought stress through a number of chemical and physiological processes. The aim of this investigation was to determine whether mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobacteria adapted to drought and saline conditions and possessing plant growth promoting (PGP) traits were able to stimulate plant growth responses when applied to Zea mays seeds growing under greenhouse conditions Bacterial isolates selected were tolerant to concentrations of NaCl up to 600 mM and maintained 50% growth at low water potentials (-1.44 MPa). They were positive for Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilisation and secretion of siderophores. Bacterial isolates showing plant growth promoting potential were identified using 16S rDNA gene sequencing as Achromobacter xylosoxidans strains A8 and C54 and Klebsiella oxytoca strain M1. Mixed inoculum was prepared from indigenous communities of mycorrhizas in soils sampled from the Cerebos Salt Pan and the Kalahari Desert. Mycorrhizal diversity was investigated using 454-Pyrosequencing which revealed that the community composition was dominated by species in the Ambispora, Glomus and Paraglomus genera with a rare component represented by species in the Redeckera, Archaeospora and Geosiphon genera. Microscopic examination of plant roots at the end of the trial revealed the presence of diagnostic mycorrhizal structures within the root cells, confirming that colonization was successful. Plant growth response to microbial inoculation was assessed by monitoring changes in plant photosynthetic capacity over the duration of a 7 week pot trial. A significant difference in photosynthetic and biomass data was observed between drought and well-watered groups but no mycorrhizal or bacterial treatment effect was evident within the groups, despite the high levels of colonization by mycorrhizas. These results suggest that the beneficial effects of mycorrhizal colonization may be primarily attributed to improved nutrient and mineral uptake in conditions where nutrients are limiting, resulting in improved growth. The improved growth may then have secondary effects on the plant‟s ability to withstand drought. Having controlled for nutrient deficiency, it was not evident in this study that mycorrhizal fungi were able to stimulate a change in plant physiology and confer drought tolerance under the conditions imposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Stripe & dusk: a weekend odyssey
- Authors: Whitehorn, Daniel J
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6018 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021242
- Description: I love to take in and create playful fantasy, tales set in wild and fantastic worlds peopled by wild and fantastic characters - dragons and dinosaurs, knights and robots, stars and penguins. My novella is the story of a quest set in a colourful and wondrous fantasy universe. Along the journey's tumultuous trajectory fantasy tropes and protocols are encountered, subverted, teased at, appropriated, and renovated, in order to create something both original and familiar all at once. I am happy to acknowledge and salute the influences of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Walter Moers and Manuela Draeger.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Whitehorn, Daniel J
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6018 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021242
- Description: I love to take in and create playful fantasy, tales set in wild and fantastic worlds peopled by wild and fantastic characters - dragons and dinosaurs, knights and robots, stars and penguins. My novella is the story of a quest set in a colourful and wondrous fantasy universe. Along the journey's tumultuous trajectory fantasy tropes and protocols are encountered, subverted, teased at, appropriated, and renovated, in order to create something both original and familiar all at once. I am happy to acknowledge and salute the influences of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Walter Moers and Manuela Draeger.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The chemistry of Algoa Bay ascidians
- Authors: Bromley, Candice Leigh
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Sea squirts -- South Africa -- Algoa Bay , Marine metabolites , Chemistry, Analytic , Liquid chromatography , Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , Metal ions , Nucleosides , Vanadium
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4560 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020606
- Description: This thesis investigates the chemistry of 25 ascidian species collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa with a concerted focus on metal accumulation by these ascidians and the possible interaction of these metals with ascidian metabolites. Chapter 2 details the screening techniques employed to establish the presence of nitrogenous metabolites (1H- 15N HMBC), hyper-accumulated metal ions (ICP-MS) and potential metal ion/ ascidian metabolite complexes (LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS). Unfortunately, exhaustive attempts to detect intact metal ion/ascidian metabolite complexes through the use of liquid chromatography with parallel inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ICPMS/ ESI-MS) were unsuccessful. However, the LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS data obtained for the crude organic extracts of six of the Algoa Bay ascidian species, Distaplia skoogi, Aplidium monile, Aplidium sp., Didemnum sp., Leptoclindines sp. and Polycitor sp. enabled identification of a number of ten halogenated metabolites, namely the indoles 2.28-2.30, and the tyramine and tyrosine derivatives (2.31-2.33, 2.41, 2.43, 2.44 and 2.46), within the ascidian extracts. This study confirmed that LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS is a powerful tool for the dereplication of halogenated metabolites in complex mixtures especially where these compounds are present in very small amounts. This study is also the first report of these compounds (eight of which are known) in African ascidians. Compounds 2.32 and 2.46 have not been reported before from a marine source. Compounds 2.28-2.30 and 2.33 were present in sufficient amounts in the respective ascidian extracts to allow their isolation and structure elucidation using standard spectroscopic techniques Chapter 3 explores the ability of ascidians to accumulate a wide range of metal ions at concentrations which are often orders of magnitude higher than those of the surrounding sea water. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the total ion concentrations of 24 metals in 25 Algoa Bay ascidian species. To the best of our knowledge this is the largest and most extensive investigation of metal concentrations in a group of different ascidians occurring in the same area. Hypotheisizing that the metal ion concentrations for each ascidian specimen screened may represent a unique fingerprint for each specimen principal component analysis (PCA) was used in an attempt to establish whether there were spatial, temporal or phylogenetic relationships associated with the metal concentration fingerprints of the ascidians that formed part of this study. The PCA results showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between ascidian metal ion concentrations and either the collection year or the collection site of the ascidians. However, species from the family Didemnidae provided the clearest statistical evidence supporting a phylogenetic relationship between these ascidians and their hyperaccumulated metal ion profiles. Furthermore, these results suggested that ascidian species are indeed actively concentrating metal ions from the surrounding sea water and are not simply sinks for passively accumulated metal ions. Interestingly, the concentration of vanadium in the set of ascidians studied did not appear to correlate with any of the other metals accumulated by these ascidians suggesting that there is possibly a unique method employed for the accumulation of vanadium by ascidians. Chapter 4 investigated this possibility further after the nucleosides 4.10, 4.11, 4.13, 4.15, 4.17 and 4.40 were isolated from the vanadium accumulating ascidian Aplidium monile. Studies into the interactions between nucleosides and vanadyl are unfortunately rare and usually qualitative in nature with limited information provided about the stability or structures of the complexes formed. The vanadyl accumulating aplousobranch ascidians e.g. Aplidium monile dominated our study of Algoa Bay ascidians therefore providing us with the rationale to investigate the relatively little studied binding ability and stability of vandyl-nucleoside complexes. Potentiometric studies were conducted to determine the stability constants of complexes formed between the oxovanadium ion vanadyl (VO2+) and the commercially available nucleosides 4.10-4.14. The data afforded by this analysis clearly confirmed the complexity of the vanadyl/nucleoside complexation and suggested that guanosine (4.12) formed the most stable complex with oxovanadium ions. We were also able to establish a third protonation constant for the hydroxyl moiety in 4.12 with a logK 8.87 which has not been previously reported. Finally, Chapter 5 revisited the cytoxicity two Algoa Bay ascidians, Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense the extracts from which produced promising bioactivity results in previous studies against oesophageal cancer cells. The HP-20 fractionated extracts of Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense proved to be similalrly cytotoxic to breast cancer cells. With the exception for the 100% acetone(aq)fractions the NMR data for both species suggested that most active non polar fractions were dominated by what appeared to be structurally unremarkable fatty acid glycerides and as such were not pursued further. Purification of the 100% acetone(aq)fraction of A. marinense resulted in the isolation of a styrene trimer, 5.1, common to both ascidian extracts. The NMR simulation software WIN-DAISY was employed to confirm the structure of 5.1. Attempts to establish if 5.1 was an isolation artefact or a product of marine pollution were inconclusive
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Bromley, Candice Leigh
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Sea squirts -- South Africa -- Algoa Bay , Marine metabolites , Chemistry, Analytic , Liquid chromatography , Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , Metal ions , Nucleosides , Vanadium
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4560 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020606
- Description: This thesis investigates the chemistry of 25 ascidian species collected from Algoa Bay, South Africa with a concerted focus on metal accumulation by these ascidians and the possible interaction of these metals with ascidian metabolites. Chapter 2 details the screening techniques employed to establish the presence of nitrogenous metabolites (1H- 15N HMBC), hyper-accumulated metal ions (ICP-MS) and potential metal ion/ ascidian metabolite complexes (LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS). Unfortunately, exhaustive attempts to detect intact metal ion/ascidian metabolite complexes through the use of liquid chromatography with parallel inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ICPMS/ ESI-MS) were unsuccessful. However, the LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS data obtained for the crude organic extracts of six of the Algoa Bay ascidian species, Distaplia skoogi, Aplidium monile, Aplidium sp., Didemnum sp., Leptoclindines sp. and Polycitor sp. enabled identification of a number of ten halogenated metabolites, namely the indoles 2.28-2.30, and the tyramine and tyrosine derivatives (2.31-2.33, 2.41, 2.43, 2.44 and 2.46), within the ascidian extracts. This study confirmed that LC-ICP-MS/ESI-MS is a powerful tool for the dereplication of halogenated metabolites in complex mixtures especially where these compounds are present in very small amounts. This study is also the first report of these compounds (eight of which are known) in African ascidians. Compounds 2.32 and 2.46 have not been reported before from a marine source. Compounds 2.28-2.30 and 2.33 were present in sufficient amounts in the respective ascidian extracts to allow their isolation and structure elucidation using standard spectroscopic techniques Chapter 3 explores the ability of ascidians to accumulate a wide range of metal ions at concentrations which are often orders of magnitude higher than those of the surrounding sea water. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to determine the total ion concentrations of 24 metals in 25 Algoa Bay ascidian species. To the best of our knowledge this is the largest and most extensive investigation of metal concentrations in a group of different ascidians occurring in the same area. Hypotheisizing that the metal ion concentrations for each ascidian specimen screened may represent a unique fingerprint for each specimen principal component analysis (PCA) was used in an attempt to establish whether there were spatial, temporal or phylogenetic relationships associated with the metal concentration fingerprints of the ascidians that formed part of this study. The PCA results showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between ascidian metal ion concentrations and either the collection year or the collection site of the ascidians. However, species from the family Didemnidae provided the clearest statistical evidence supporting a phylogenetic relationship between these ascidians and their hyperaccumulated metal ion profiles. Furthermore, these results suggested that ascidian species are indeed actively concentrating metal ions from the surrounding sea water and are not simply sinks for passively accumulated metal ions. Interestingly, the concentration of vanadium in the set of ascidians studied did not appear to correlate with any of the other metals accumulated by these ascidians suggesting that there is possibly a unique method employed for the accumulation of vanadium by ascidians. Chapter 4 investigated this possibility further after the nucleosides 4.10, 4.11, 4.13, 4.15, 4.17 and 4.40 were isolated from the vanadium accumulating ascidian Aplidium monile. Studies into the interactions between nucleosides and vanadyl are unfortunately rare and usually qualitative in nature with limited information provided about the stability or structures of the complexes formed. The vanadyl accumulating aplousobranch ascidians e.g. Aplidium monile dominated our study of Algoa Bay ascidians therefore providing us with the rationale to investigate the relatively little studied binding ability and stability of vandyl-nucleoside complexes. Potentiometric studies were conducted to determine the stability constants of complexes formed between the oxovanadium ion vanadyl (VO2+) and the commercially available nucleosides 4.10-4.14. The data afforded by this analysis clearly confirmed the complexity of the vanadyl/nucleoside complexation and suggested that guanosine (4.12) formed the most stable complex with oxovanadium ions. We were also able to establish a third protonation constant for the hydroxyl moiety in 4.12 with a logK 8.87 which has not been previously reported. Finally, Chapter 5 revisited the cytoxicity two Algoa Bay ascidians, Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense the extracts from which produced promising bioactivity results in previous studies against oesophageal cancer cells. The HP-20 fractionated extracts of Clavelina sp. and Atriolum marinense proved to be similalrly cytotoxic to breast cancer cells. With the exception for the 100% acetone(aq)fractions the NMR data for both species suggested that most active non polar fractions were dominated by what appeared to be structurally unremarkable fatty acid glycerides and as such were not pursued further. Purification of the 100% acetone(aq)fraction of A. marinense resulted in the isolation of a styrene trimer, 5.1, common to both ascidian extracts. The NMR simulation software WIN-DAISY was employed to confirm the structure of 5.1. Attempts to establish if 5.1 was an isolation artefact or a product of marine pollution were inconclusive
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The knowledge-knower structures used in the assessment of graphic design practical work in a multi-campus context
- Authors: Giloi, Susan Louise
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1336 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021310
- Description: This case study explicates the knowledge-knower structures that are valued in the assessment of Graphic Design (GD) practical work in a multi-campus Private Higher Education (PHE) context. Assessment, which provides the measure for student success and progression, plays a significant role in Higher Education (HE). It is acknowledged that, in addition to increased pressure on educators to deliver high pass and throughput rates, there is often scrutiny of their assessment practice to ensure that it is fair, reliable, valid and transparent. The aspects of reliability and validity are particularly significant in for-profit private higher education institutions, where a strong focus on efficiency may result in added scrutiny of assessment practices. Although the assessment of GD practical work exemplifies these pressures and objectives, its characteristics and practices set it apart from many of the more standard forms of assessment found in HE. Not only is GD practical work predominantly visual rather than text-based, but complex achievements and tacit knowledge are assessed. This form of assessment traditionally relies on panel or group marking by connoisseurs who consider what is commonly termed ‘person’, ‘process’ and ‘product’ when making value judgements. Therefore, in GD assessment knowledge, the design product, the graphic designer and what the graphic designer does may all be valued. GD assessment, where outcomes are not easily stated, relies on the tacit expertise of assessors and can often be perceived to be subjective and unreliable. It therefore sits uncomfortably with results-driven HE and institutional priorities. In light of this context and the complex and social nature of GD assessment, a critical realist approach provided the guiding metatheory for this case study. Critical realism considers the unseen but real mechanisms that exist and interact within a context to create a phenomenon such as an assessment practice. In this case study the knowledge-structuring theories of Basil Bernstein and Karl Maton were used to uncover these mechanisms. Bernstein and Maton propose that new knowledge, the curriculum and pedagogy, which includes assessment, communicate the valued disciplinary knowledge and who controls these communications. For this study the institutional documents and voices of assessors provided insight into the GD assessment practice; data was generated through a lecturer survey, the study guides and assessor conversations at both the formative and summative assessment stages. Given the significance of both knowledge and expertise in GD, Specialisation, one of the Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) dimensions, provided the conceptual tool whereby the generated data were analysed and categorised, and the underlying valued knowledge-knower structures, or specialisation codes, were identified. The identified specialisation codes revealed a number of code clashes, matches and shifts, which highlighted instances of mixed or conflicting communication regarding what was valued and used in GD assessment. These clashes, matches and shifts have significant implications for curriculum design, pedagogy and assessment. As a result the findings may have relevance for students, lecturers and assessors who work in practice-based fields which require the assessment of complex achievements and rely on a specialised gaze to judge standards. Informed by the findings of this study, I argue that there is a fundamental conflict between what is valued within the broader national South African Higher Education system and Private Higher Education institutional context, and the nature of GD assessment. The broader structures, guided by a techno-rationalist approach to assessment and the pressures of massification, success, compliance and institutional efficiencies, value explicitly-stated outcomes and criteria, propositional knowledge and a positivist ideal of one correct mark for any one assessment, while the GD assessment practice values the more social and tacit elements of procedural knowledge and a specialist knower as evidenced in a largely tacit GD gaze that assessors possess and students aim to develop. The uncovering of the knowledge-knower structures used in GD assessment has the potential to make the assessed gaze more explicit to lecturers, assessors and ultimately to students. My findings offer a deeper understanding of the assessment of knower code disciplines which require a specialist gaze for the judgement of student work, and the pressures experienced in this type of assessment in a HE context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Giloi, Susan Louise
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1336 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021310
- Description: This case study explicates the knowledge-knower structures that are valued in the assessment of Graphic Design (GD) practical work in a multi-campus Private Higher Education (PHE) context. Assessment, which provides the measure for student success and progression, plays a significant role in Higher Education (HE). It is acknowledged that, in addition to increased pressure on educators to deliver high pass and throughput rates, there is often scrutiny of their assessment practice to ensure that it is fair, reliable, valid and transparent. The aspects of reliability and validity are particularly significant in for-profit private higher education institutions, where a strong focus on efficiency may result in added scrutiny of assessment practices. Although the assessment of GD practical work exemplifies these pressures and objectives, its characteristics and practices set it apart from many of the more standard forms of assessment found in HE. Not only is GD practical work predominantly visual rather than text-based, but complex achievements and tacit knowledge are assessed. This form of assessment traditionally relies on panel or group marking by connoisseurs who consider what is commonly termed ‘person’, ‘process’ and ‘product’ when making value judgements. Therefore, in GD assessment knowledge, the design product, the graphic designer and what the graphic designer does may all be valued. GD assessment, where outcomes are not easily stated, relies on the tacit expertise of assessors and can often be perceived to be subjective and unreliable. It therefore sits uncomfortably with results-driven HE and institutional priorities. In light of this context and the complex and social nature of GD assessment, a critical realist approach provided the guiding metatheory for this case study. Critical realism considers the unseen but real mechanisms that exist and interact within a context to create a phenomenon such as an assessment practice. In this case study the knowledge-structuring theories of Basil Bernstein and Karl Maton were used to uncover these mechanisms. Bernstein and Maton propose that new knowledge, the curriculum and pedagogy, which includes assessment, communicate the valued disciplinary knowledge and who controls these communications. For this study the institutional documents and voices of assessors provided insight into the GD assessment practice; data was generated through a lecturer survey, the study guides and assessor conversations at both the formative and summative assessment stages. Given the significance of both knowledge and expertise in GD, Specialisation, one of the Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) dimensions, provided the conceptual tool whereby the generated data were analysed and categorised, and the underlying valued knowledge-knower structures, or specialisation codes, were identified. The identified specialisation codes revealed a number of code clashes, matches and shifts, which highlighted instances of mixed or conflicting communication regarding what was valued and used in GD assessment. These clashes, matches and shifts have significant implications for curriculum design, pedagogy and assessment. As a result the findings may have relevance for students, lecturers and assessors who work in practice-based fields which require the assessment of complex achievements and rely on a specialised gaze to judge standards. Informed by the findings of this study, I argue that there is a fundamental conflict between what is valued within the broader national South African Higher Education system and Private Higher Education institutional context, and the nature of GD assessment. The broader structures, guided by a techno-rationalist approach to assessment and the pressures of massification, success, compliance and institutional efficiencies, value explicitly-stated outcomes and criteria, propositional knowledge and a positivist ideal of one correct mark for any one assessment, while the GD assessment practice values the more social and tacit elements of procedural knowledge and a specialist knower as evidenced in a largely tacit GD gaze that assessors possess and students aim to develop. The uncovering of the knowledge-knower structures used in GD assessment has the potential to make the assessed gaze more explicit to lecturers, assessors and ultimately to students. My findings offer a deeper understanding of the assessment of knower code disciplines which require a specialist gaze for the judgement of student work, and the pressures experienced in this type of assessment in a HE context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The development of a discovery and control environment for networked audio devices based on a study of current audio control protocols
- Authors: Eales, Andrew Arnold
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/539 , vital:19968
- Description: This dissertation develops a standard device model for networked audio devices and introduces a novel discovery and control environment that uses the developed device model. The proposed standard device model is derived from a study of current audio control protocols. Both the functional capabilities and design principles of audio control protocols are investigated with an emphasis on Open Sound Control, SNMP and IEC-62379, AES64, CopperLan and UPnP. An abstract model of networked audio devices is developed, and the model is implemented in each of the previously mentioned control protocols. This model is also used within a novel discovery and control environment designed around a distributed associative memory termed an object space. This environment challenges the accepted notions of the functionality provided by a control protocol. The study concludes by comparing the salient features of the different control protocols encountered in this study. Different approaches to control protocol design are considered, and several design heuristics for control protocols are proposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Eales, Andrew Arnold
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/539 , vital:19968
- Description: This dissertation develops a standard device model for networked audio devices and introduces a novel discovery and control environment that uses the developed device model. The proposed standard device model is derived from a study of current audio control protocols. Both the functional capabilities and design principles of audio control protocols are investigated with an emphasis on Open Sound Control, SNMP and IEC-62379, AES64, CopperLan and UPnP. An abstract model of networked audio devices is developed, and the model is implemented in each of the previously mentioned control protocols. This model is also used within a novel discovery and control environment designed around a distributed associative memory termed an object space. This environment challenges the accepted notions of the functionality provided by a control protocol. The study concludes by comparing the salient features of the different control protocols encountered in this study. Different approaches to control protocol design are considered, and several design heuristics for control protocols are proposed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
The effect of shaped nanoparticles on the photophysicochemical behaviour of metallophthalocyanines
- Authors: D'Souza, Sarah
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/529 , vital:19967
- Description: The synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and photophysicochemical analysis of novel and known metallophthalocyanines are reported in this thesis. The novel lowsymmetry compounds were extensively studied. Selected phthalocyanines were conjugated to a variety of nanoparticles consisting of silver (AgNPs), gold (AuNPs) and zinc oxide (ZnO NPs) in order to improve their photophysical and photochemical behaviour. As with the phthalocyanines, the nanoparticles and phthalocyaninenanoparticle conjugates were thoroughly investigated. Research on the effect of the solvent used, as well as the influence of nanoparticle composition and shape on the properties of the phthalocyanines, were performed. The findings showed that there was a general increase in triplet quantum yields of the phthalocyanines in the presence of the nanoparticles. It was also noted that the use of different solvents directly affected the photophysicochemical properties. In the case of the nanoparticle conjugates, photophysical and photochemical changes were observed. Of significance were the gold nanostars, which decreased the degree of phthalocyanine aggregation in water, resulting in increased fluorescence lifetimes. The studies also revealed that the effect of the nanoparticle shape on the phthalocyanine properties was highly dependent on the nanoparticle material. The photodynamic antimicrobial activity of selected phthalocyanine-zinc oxide nanoparticle conjugates was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in solution. The phthalocyanines alone exhibited remarkable growth inhibition, however the presence of the nanoparticles in the conjugates increased the photoinactivation of S. aureus.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: D'Souza, Sarah
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/529 , vital:19967
- Description: The synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and photophysicochemical analysis of novel and known metallophthalocyanines are reported in this thesis. The novel lowsymmetry compounds were extensively studied. Selected phthalocyanines were conjugated to a variety of nanoparticles consisting of silver (AgNPs), gold (AuNPs) and zinc oxide (ZnO NPs) in order to improve their photophysical and photochemical behaviour. As with the phthalocyanines, the nanoparticles and phthalocyaninenanoparticle conjugates were thoroughly investigated. Research on the effect of the solvent used, as well as the influence of nanoparticle composition and shape on the properties of the phthalocyanines, were performed. The findings showed that there was a general increase in triplet quantum yields of the phthalocyanines in the presence of the nanoparticles. It was also noted that the use of different solvents directly affected the photophysicochemical properties. In the case of the nanoparticle conjugates, photophysical and photochemical changes were observed. Of significance were the gold nanostars, which decreased the degree of phthalocyanine aggregation in water, resulting in increased fluorescence lifetimes. The studies also revealed that the effect of the nanoparticle shape on the phthalocyanine properties was highly dependent on the nanoparticle material. The photodynamic antimicrobial activity of selected phthalocyanine-zinc oxide nanoparticle conjugates was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in solution. The phthalocyanines alone exhibited remarkable growth inhibition, however the presence of the nanoparticles in the conjugates increased the photoinactivation of S. aureus.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Being civil
- Matshoba, Zongezile Theophilus
- Authors: Matshoba, Zongezile Theophilus
- Date: 2016
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021237
- Description: My collection of short stories delves into government and governance, democracy, citizenship, civil servants, poverty, corruption and nepotism. My stories draw on the traditions of gritty urban crime fiction uncovering crimes of violence, service delivery, vandalism and corruption. They explore themes of mental cruelty and greed, self- preservation and community in rural areas, farms, townships and cities characterized by wrenching contradictions and inequalities. , This epic dramatic poetic verse delves into government and school governance, labour unions, liberation struggle, parenting and a wide range of school perceptions. It interrogates the roles of parents, teachers, students, department of education officials and that of other stakeholders that make use of schools. Influenced by William Wellington Gqoba’s ‘A great debate on education: a Parable’ wayback, it continues the education debate in the current post-democratic South Africa characterized by wrenching contradictions and inequalities. , This thesis is presented in two parts: English and isiXhosa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Matshoba, Zongezile Theophilus
- Date: 2016
- Language: English , Xhosa
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:6017 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021237
- Description: My collection of short stories delves into government and governance, democracy, citizenship, civil servants, poverty, corruption and nepotism. My stories draw on the traditions of gritty urban crime fiction uncovering crimes of violence, service delivery, vandalism and corruption. They explore themes of mental cruelty and greed, self- preservation and community in rural areas, farms, townships and cities characterized by wrenching contradictions and inequalities. , This epic dramatic poetic verse delves into government and school governance, labour unions, liberation struggle, parenting and a wide range of school perceptions. It interrogates the roles of parents, teachers, students, department of education officials and that of other stakeholders that make use of schools. Influenced by William Wellington Gqoba’s ‘A great debate on education: a Parable’ wayback, it continues the education debate in the current post-democratic South Africa characterized by wrenching contradictions and inequalities. , This thesis is presented in two parts: English and isiXhosa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
A morphogenic and laminated system explanation of position-practice systems and professional development training in mainstreaming education for sustainable development in African universities
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa Vanessa
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/584 , vital:19972
- Description: This research focuses on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), particularly in Africa. It explores the roles and practices of these institutions, especially their professionals, in the Anthropocene era where increasing concern for contemporary environmental and sustainability issues and risks emerge. The study presents a longitudinal case study of institutions and participants of the Swedish/African/Asian International Training Programme (ITP) on ESD in Higher Education (HE), who are mostly university educators. This thesis however focuses on African ITP participants only. At a macro level, the research sought to examine how African university educators have contributed to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) through their participation in the ITP (which is a change oriented professional development training programme on ESD) and the associated ESD ‘change projects’. The change projects are ITP participants’ direct attempts to mainstream environment and sustainability issues, concerns, and concepts into core university functions and practices: teaching, research, community engagement, and management operations and policy engagement. At a meso level the study sought insight into how educators in national institutions were supported by sub-regional and regional initiatives, institutions and organisations, including the Mainstreaming of Environment and Sustainability in African (MESA) Universities Partnership programme, especially an initiative supported by the Southern African Development Community Regional Environmental Education Programme to provide (limited) seed funding to three southern African universities to establish what are known as ‘MESA Chairs’, with dedicated time and support for MESA activities in their universities . At a micro level, this research sought to investigate how the position-practice systems and the ITP shape (enable or constrain) effective ESD mainstreaming in higher education, and how the morphogenetic approach and laminated system can be used to understand and explain these dynamics and their relations with meso and macro level engagements. The research sought to understand these dynamics through empirical investigations using survey questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and field visits. The research is constituted as theoretical, conceptual, methodological and analytical exploration using a singular and nested case study research approach, underlaboured by a critical realist ontology, and drawing on a social learning epistemology and social realist morphogenetic interpretive lens. In particular, ontological depth was sought via critical realist laminated system explanation. See Chapter Two for details. This study was carried out in three phases. Phase one encapsulates the investigation of all ITP ESD in higher education alumni who were Asian and African participants from the inception of the ITP to its completion, over a six-year period (2008-2013). This included 280 academics from Asia and Africa in 35 countries in Asia and Africa from 106 institutions in Asia and Africa with their 139 change projects. The outcome of phase one of the research is only included in this thesis as an appendix (see Appendix 3; Agbedahin & Lotz-Sisitka, 2015). However, this phase provided and formed the foundational data that was expanded in phases two and three for the purpose of this study. Phase two of this research concentrated on a less broad population of research participants comprising only all African ITP alumni, from all regions in Africa. The overall data collection and analysis included 162 academics in 23 African countries from 66 institutions with their 81 change projects. The aim was to investigate and provide a morphogenetic explanation of their change projects and how the relationship between participants’ positions and practices (and that of others) may influence ESD mainstreaming in universities. The outcome of this phase two investigation is presented in Chapter Four. In phase three, (nested) case studies of Swaziland, Zambia, and Botswana (in the southern Africa region), which included all the ESD ITP HE participants therein and the three corresponding EE/ESD MESA Chairs, were developed. The population sample in this phase three therefore contained 20 academics, from six institutions with their nine change projects. This phase was characterised by field trips to these countries and in-depth data collection and analysis in order to investigate and deepen the morphogenetic explanations of their change projects and how the relationship between participants’ positions and practices (and that of others) have indeed influenced the ESD mainstreaming in universities. The outcome of this phase three research is presented in Chapters Five, Six and Seven. The final Chapter Eight of this thesis focuses on the seven scalar laminated system perspective and reflections on this research and discussion of these perspectives for supporting the mainstreaming of ESD in African higher education institutions and more specifically in the three case countries and respective institutions presented in Chapters Five, Six, and Seven. The seven scalar laminated system is presented in relation to the position-practice system, and draws on morphogenetic social realist and social learning theory to provide perspective on the actual change processes. Chapter Eight also includes a discussion on social learning and its implication for ESD mainstreaming, and provides recommendations for further research. The outcome of the theoretical exploration underpinning this study provided a potential model for understanding ESD learning and change processes that are facilitated by professional development training programmes in the context of ESD in HE. This study also provides a model for appraising educational changes in time and in space, especially in relation to ESD, or the types of changes that can be brought about by professional development interventions such as those provided by the ITP and how they can be tracked, monitored and documented. For the field of professional or academic development in higher education, this research highlights the significance of the relationship between position-practice systems, professional development interventions and institutional transformation. For the field of ESD in higher education, this study shows the need for in-depth consideration of the position-practice system and sphere of influence of change agents and related stakeholders in and around their institutions in the design and development of professional development programmes. It further sheds light on the laminated system of factors that contextually constrain and/or enable effective ESD mainstreaming at individual, collective, institutional, national, regional and global levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa Vanessa
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/584 , vital:19972
- Description: This research focuses on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), particularly in Africa. It explores the roles and practices of these institutions, especially their professionals, in the Anthropocene era where increasing concern for contemporary environmental and sustainability issues and risks emerge. The study presents a longitudinal case study of institutions and participants of the Swedish/African/Asian International Training Programme (ITP) on ESD in Higher Education (HE), who are mostly university educators. This thesis however focuses on African ITP participants only. At a macro level, the research sought to examine how African university educators have contributed to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) through their participation in the ITP (which is a change oriented professional development training programme on ESD) and the associated ESD ‘change projects’. The change projects are ITP participants’ direct attempts to mainstream environment and sustainability issues, concerns, and concepts into core university functions and practices: teaching, research, community engagement, and management operations and policy engagement. At a meso level the study sought insight into how educators in national institutions were supported by sub-regional and regional initiatives, institutions and organisations, including the Mainstreaming of Environment and Sustainability in African (MESA) Universities Partnership programme, especially an initiative supported by the Southern African Development Community Regional Environmental Education Programme to provide (limited) seed funding to three southern African universities to establish what are known as ‘MESA Chairs’, with dedicated time and support for MESA activities in their universities . At a micro level, this research sought to investigate how the position-practice systems and the ITP shape (enable or constrain) effective ESD mainstreaming in higher education, and how the morphogenetic approach and laminated system can be used to understand and explain these dynamics and their relations with meso and macro level engagements. The research sought to understand these dynamics through empirical investigations using survey questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and field visits. The research is constituted as theoretical, conceptual, methodological and analytical exploration using a singular and nested case study research approach, underlaboured by a critical realist ontology, and drawing on a social learning epistemology and social realist morphogenetic interpretive lens. In particular, ontological depth was sought via critical realist laminated system explanation. See Chapter Two for details. This study was carried out in three phases. Phase one encapsulates the investigation of all ITP ESD in higher education alumni who were Asian and African participants from the inception of the ITP to its completion, over a six-year period (2008-2013). This included 280 academics from Asia and Africa in 35 countries in Asia and Africa from 106 institutions in Asia and Africa with their 139 change projects. The outcome of phase one of the research is only included in this thesis as an appendix (see Appendix 3; Agbedahin & Lotz-Sisitka, 2015). However, this phase provided and formed the foundational data that was expanded in phases two and three for the purpose of this study. Phase two of this research concentrated on a less broad population of research participants comprising only all African ITP alumni, from all regions in Africa. The overall data collection and analysis included 162 academics in 23 African countries from 66 institutions with their 81 change projects. The aim was to investigate and provide a morphogenetic explanation of their change projects and how the relationship between participants’ positions and practices (and that of others) may influence ESD mainstreaming in universities. The outcome of this phase two investigation is presented in Chapter Four. In phase three, (nested) case studies of Swaziland, Zambia, and Botswana (in the southern Africa region), which included all the ESD ITP HE participants therein and the three corresponding EE/ESD MESA Chairs, were developed. The population sample in this phase three therefore contained 20 academics, from six institutions with their nine change projects. This phase was characterised by field trips to these countries and in-depth data collection and analysis in order to investigate and deepen the morphogenetic explanations of their change projects and how the relationship between participants’ positions and practices (and that of others) have indeed influenced the ESD mainstreaming in universities. The outcome of this phase three research is presented in Chapters Five, Six and Seven. The final Chapter Eight of this thesis focuses on the seven scalar laminated system perspective and reflections on this research and discussion of these perspectives for supporting the mainstreaming of ESD in African higher education institutions and more specifically in the three case countries and respective institutions presented in Chapters Five, Six, and Seven. The seven scalar laminated system is presented in relation to the position-practice system, and draws on morphogenetic social realist and social learning theory to provide perspective on the actual change processes. Chapter Eight also includes a discussion on social learning and its implication for ESD mainstreaming, and provides recommendations for further research. The outcome of the theoretical exploration underpinning this study provided a potential model for understanding ESD learning and change processes that are facilitated by professional development training programmes in the context of ESD in HE. This study also provides a model for appraising educational changes in time and in space, especially in relation to ESD, or the types of changes that can be brought about by professional development interventions such as those provided by the ITP and how they can be tracked, monitored and documented. For the field of professional or academic development in higher education, this research highlights the significance of the relationship between position-practice systems, professional development interventions and institutional transformation. For the field of ESD in higher education, this study shows the need for in-depth consideration of the position-practice system and sphere of influence of change agents and related stakeholders in and around their institutions in the design and development of professional development programmes. It further sheds light on the laminated system of factors that contextually constrain and/or enable effective ESD mainstreaming at individual, collective, institutional, national, regional and global levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016