Risk assessment to interpret the physiological host range of Hydrellia egeriae, a biocontrol agent for Egeria densa
- Smith, Rosali, Mangan, Rosie, Coetzee, Julie A
- Authors: Smith, Rosali , Mangan, Rosie , Coetzee, Julie A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/418053 , vital:71504 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-019-09942-4"
- Description: Egeria densa Planchon (Hydrocharitaceae) is a submerged macrophyte native to South America. It forms part of a new suite of invasive aquatic plants that has benefited from open nutrient-rich freshwater systems following the successful biological control of floating aquatic plants in South Africa. The specificity of the leaf-mining fly, Hydrellia egeriae Rodrigues (Diptera: Ephydridae) was tested, using traditional laboratory host-specificity testing (i.e., no-choice and paired choice). Only one non-target species, Lagarosiphon major Deeming (Hydrocharitaceae) supported larval development during pair-choice tests. In order to avoid the rejection of a safe and potentially effective agent, continuation (i.e., multiple generations) tests were conducted to measure the ability of the non-target species to nutritionally support a population indefinitely. None of these species could sustain a viable agent population for more than three generations. Laboratory host-specificity tests are limited as they exempt certain insect-host behaviours. To enhance the interpretation of host-specificity results, a risk assessment was conducted using agent preference (i.e., choice tests) and performance (i.e., choice and continuation tests) results. The feeding and reproductive risk that H. egeriae poses to non-target species is below 2%. Based on these findings, permission for its release in South Africa has been obtained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Smith, Rosali , Mangan, Rosie , Coetzee, Julie A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/418053 , vital:71504 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-019-09942-4"
- Description: Egeria densa Planchon (Hydrocharitaceae) is a submerged macrophyte native to South America. It forms part of a new suite of invasive aquatic plants that has benefited from open nutrient-rich freshwater systems following the successful biological control of floating aquatic plants in South Africa. The specificity of the leaf-mining fly, Hydrellia egeriae Rodrigues (Diptera: Ephydridae) was tested, using traditional laboratory host-specificity testing (i.e., no-choice and paired choice). Only one non-target species, Lagarosiphon major Deeming (Hydrocharitaceae) supported larval development during pair-choice tests. In order to avoid the rejection of a safe and potentially effective agent, continuation (i.e., multiple generations) tests were conducted to measure the ability of the non-target species to nutritionally support a population indefinitely. None of these species could sustain a viable agent population for more than three generations. Laboratory host-specificity tests are limited as they exempt certain insect-host behaviours. To enhance the interpretation of host-specificity results, a risk assessment was conducted using agent preference (i.e., choice tests) and performance (i.e., choice and continuation tests) results. The feeding and reproductive risk that H. egeriae poses to non-target species is below 2%. Based on these findings, permission for its release in South Africa has been obtained.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Chiral Modulation from Molecular to Macroscopic levels by synthetic chiral-amide-bonded porphyrin dimers
- Liang, Xu, Qin, Mingfeng, Zhang, Xiaomei, Mack, John, Soy, Rodah C, Nyokong, Tebello, Zhu, Weihua
- Authors: Liang, Xu , Qin, Mingfeng , Zhang, Xiaomei , Mack, John , Soy, Rodah C , Nyokong, Tebello , Zhu, Weihua
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/186802 , vital:44535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.107637"
- Description: Six different nanoarchitectures were constructed by a series of synthetic bio-inspired chiral porphyrin dimers through molecular self-assembly behaviour. A plausible mechanism of chiral expression from the molecular to the macroscopic levels was investigated through an analysis of the optical spectroscopy and theoretical calculations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Liang, Xu , Qin, Mingfeng , Zhang, Xiaomei , Mack, John , Soy, Rodah C , Nyokong, Tebello , Zhu, Weihua
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/186802 , vital:44535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.107637"
- Description: Six different nanoarchitectures were constructed by a series of synthetic bio-inspired chiral porphyrin dimers through molecular self-assembly behaviour. A plausible mechanism of chiral expression from the molecular to the macroscopic levels was investigated through an analysis of the optical spectroscopy and theoretical calculations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An RFID flock management system for rural areas
- Nyakonda, Tanaka, Tsietsi, Mosiuoa, Terzoli, Alfredo, Dlodlo, Nomusa
- Authors: Nyakonda, Tanaka , Tsietsi, Mosiuoa , Terzoli, Alfredo , Dlodlo, Nomusa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474303 , vital:77700 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8908190"
- Description: Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is interested in prototyping various software solutions to get non-commercial farmers to integrate into the agro-processing industry, particularly in the wool and fiber industry. The work reported in this paper proposes one of such software solution. It an initial implementation of a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID)-based flock management system. The project started with a review of existing RFID solutions for livestock as well as RFID technology itself. Then it designed, built and performed initial testing of the prototype of an Android mobile application which is supported by a backend application server called TeleWeaver. The application will allow testing the hypothesis that ICTs can help non-commercial farmers better manage their livestock to improve the quantity and quality of wool products produced. The research has paved the way for future work in the field of RFIDs for livestock control in marginalized rural areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nyakonda, Tanaka , Tsietsi, Mosiuoa , Terzoli, Alfredo , Dlodlo, Nomusa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474303 , vital:77700 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8908190"
- Description: Siyakhula Living Lab (SLL) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, is interested in prototyping various software solutions to get non-commercial farmers to integrate into the agro-processing industry, particularly in the wool and fiber industry. The work reported in this paper proposes one of such software solution. It an initial implementation of a Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID)-based flock management system. The project started with a review of existing RFID solutions for livestock as well as RFID technology itself. Then it designed, built and performed initial testing of the prototype of an Android mobile application which is supported by a backend application server called TeleWeaver. The application will allow testing the hypothesis that ICTs can help non-commercial farmers better manage their livestock to improve the quantity and quality of wool products produced. The research has paved the way for future work in the field of RFIDs for livestock control in marginalized rural areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Enabling semantic interoperability of crowdsourced disease surveillance data for namibia through a health-standards-based approach
- Angula, Nikodemus, Dlodlo, Nomusa, Mtshali, Progress Q
- Authors: Angula, Nikodemus , Dlodlo, Nomusa , Mtshali, Progress Q
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474316 , vital:77701 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8764830"
- Description: The government of Namibia has invested significantly in Health Information Systems (HIS) for the purposes of quality healthcare. Despite the huge investment in HIS in the Namibian health sector, the challenge of interoperability remains a problem due to the fact that the silo HIS in the Namibian health environment are not integrated in order to exchange and communicate disease surveillance data with each other. The challenge is the HIS are heterogeneous systems with unstructured data, different data formats, developed by different vendors and are running on different software. One source of disease surveillance data is provided by communities in a phenomenon normally referred to as crowdsourcing. As a result, the objective of this study was to develop a prototype that allows crowdsource users to utilise their mobile devices to access, exchange and communicate disease surveillance data in real time directly to the District Health Information Systems (DHIS-2) in regional offices and the national office of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) in Namibia for semantic interoperability. The current method used for communicating disease surveillance information between the MoHSS, and its agency, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and public health institutions is a manual system which is not appropriate as it causes delays in the exchange of information among them. The prototype is grounded on health standards, such as Health Level Seven (HL7), and Integrated Health Exchange (IHE).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Angula, Nikodemus , Dlodlo, Nomusa , Mtshali, Progress Q
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474316 , vital:77701 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8764830"
- Description: The government of Namibia has invested significantly in Health Information Systems (HIS) for the purposes of quality healthcare. Despite the huge investment in HIS in the Namibian health sector, the challenge of interoperability remains a problem due to the fact that the silo HIS in the Namibian health environment are not integrated in order to exchange and communicate disease surveillance data with each other. The challenge is the HIS are heterogeneous systems with unstructured data, different data formats, developed by different vendors and are running on different software. One source of disease surveillance data is provided by communities in a phenomenon normally referred to as crowdsourcing. As a result, the objective of this study was to develop a prototype that allows crowdsource users to utilise their mobile devices to access, exchange and communicate disease surveillance data in real time directly to the District Health Information Systems (DHIS-2) in regional offices and the national office of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) in Namibia for semantic interoperability. The current method used for communicating disease surveillance information between the MoHSS, and its agency, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and public health institutions is a manual system which is not appropriate as it causes delays in the exchange of information among them. The prototype is grounded on health standards, such as Health Level Seven (HL7), and Integrated Health Exchange (IHE).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An internet of things-based system integrated with blockchain to manage patient data in the healthcare sector
- Muofhe, Mulalo, Dlodlo, Nomusa, Terzoli, Alfredo
- Authors: Muofhe, Mulalo , Dlodlo, Nomusa , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474290 , vital:77699 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8908221"
- Description: Health is the biggest challenge to a majority of citizens regardless of age group and with the shortage of major components in the healthcare sector, life expectancy tends to reduce due to a lack of facilities. Technology on the other hand is reaching out to meet some of the demands that the healthcare will continuously require in order to deliver their services on time. One such technology is known as the internet of things (IoT). IoT has already proven its great potential towards the healthcare domain. IoT has the ability to allow patients to be monitored from the comfort of their homes through sensors equipped within devices deployed to perform specific tasks. The other technology is none other than the Blockchain which was introduced to deliver its capabilities in the financial ledger. The Blockchain helps to keep track of all the transactions being recorded, which in healthcare sector the need for Blockchain can be transformed to keep a trace of patient records. Since the IoT devices have the capability to monitor vital signs in the human body, it will be of a great achievement to integrate it with the Blockchain to keep an efficient system of healthcare records. The approach of this work is presented based on an Blockchained-IoT system to improve challenges of storing patients’ data captured by wearable IoT devices to help medical caregivers to make more informed decisions based on the efficient healthcare record-keeping. The design science approach will be proposed in our research to run the full experiment of our work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Muofhe, Mulalo , Dlodlo, Nomusa , Terzoli, Alfredo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474290 , vital:77699 , xlink:href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8908221"
- Description: Health is the biggest challenge to a majority of citizens regardless of age group and with the shortage of major components in the healthcare sector, life expectancy tends to reduce due to a lack of facilities. Technology on the other hand is reaching out to meet some of the demands that the healthcare will continuously require in order to deliver their services on time. One such technology is known as the internet of things (IoT). IoT has already proven its great potential towards the healthcare domain. IoT has the ability to allow patients to be monitored from the comfort of their homes through sensors equipped within devices deployed to perform specific tasks. The other technology is none other than the Blockchain which was introduced to deliver its capabilities in the financial ledger. The Blockchain helps to keep track of all the transactions being recorded, which in healthcare sector the need for Blockchain can be transformed to keep a trace of patient records. Since the IoT devices have the capability to monitor vital signs in the human body, it will be of a great achievement to integrate it with the Blockchain to keep an efficient system of healthcare records. The approach of this work is presented based on an Blockchained-IoT system to improve challenges of storing patients’ data captured by wearable IoT devices to help medical caregivers to make more informed decisions based on the efficient healthcare record-keeping. The design science approach will be proposed in our research to run the full experiment of our work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Nonlinear optical behavior of n-tuple decker phthalocyanines at the nanosecond regime
- Sekhosana, Kutloano E, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Sekhosana, Kutloano E , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234603 , vital:50212 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA01836K"
- Description: The coordination system of rare-earth n-tuple decker phthalocyanines would be better suited with appropriate metal ions with the correct coordination number and the solvent system of the reaction, amongst other reasons, for the formation of n-tuple decker phthalocyanines. As a result, these complexes are very rare. In this manuscript, we present new n-tuple decker phthalocyanines in the form of double- (complex 2), quadruple- (complex 3a) and sextuple-decker phthalocyanines (complex 3b), all of which contain neodymium and cadmium metal ions. The primary focus is the investigation of the nonlinear optical (NLO) mechanisms responsible for the observed reverse saturable absorption. While the extension of the π-electron system has been found to enhance the nonlinear optical behavior of complexes 3a and 3b, a change in the NLO mechanisms has been observed, with complex 2 lacking the triplet state population, as revealed by a laser flash photolysis technique. It has also been established that the excited state absorption cross sections follow a clear order of magnitude for the complexes under investigation: σ23 (for 3b) > σ23 (for 3a) > σ1m (for 2). This trend evidences the effects of the extension of the π-electron system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Sekhosana, Kutloano E , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234603 , vital:50212 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA01836K"
- Description: The coordination system of rare-earth n-tuple decker phthalocyanines would be better suited with appropriate metal ions with the correct coordination number and the solvent system of the reaction, amongst other reasons, for the formation of n-tuple decker phthalocyanines. As a result, these complexes are very rare. In this manuscript, we present new n-tuple decker phthalocyanines in the form of double- (complex 2), quadruple- (complex 3a) and sextuple-decker phthalocyanines (complex 3b), all of which contain neodymium and cadmium metal ions. The primary focus is the investigation of the nonlinear optical (NLO) mechanisms responsible for the observed reverse saturable absorption. While the extension of the π-electron system has been found to enhance the nonlinear optical behavior of complexes 3a and 3b, a change in the NLO mechanisms has been observed, with complex 2 lacking the triplet state population, as revealed by a laser flash photolysis technique. It has also been established that the excited state absorption cross sections follow a clear order of magnitude for the complexes under investigation: σ23 (for 3b) > σ23 (for 3a) > σ1m (for 2). This trend evidences the effects of the extension of the π-electron system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An integrated framework for assessing coastal community vulnerability across cultures, oceans and scales
- Aswani, Shankar, Howard, J A, Gasalla, Maria A, Jennings, Sarah M, Malherbe, W, Martins, I M, Salim, Shyam S, Van Putten, Ingrid E, Swathilekshmi, P S, Narayanakumar, R, Watmough G R
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Swathilekshmi, P S , Narayanakumar, R , Watmough G R
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421581 , vital:71863 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795"
- Description: Coastal communities are some of the most at-risk populations with respect to climate change impacts. It is therefore important to determine the vulnerability of such communities to co-develop viable adaptation options. Global efforts to address this issue include international scientific projects, such as Global Learning for Local Solutions (GULLS), which focuses on five fast warming regions of the southern hemisphere and aims to provide an understanding of the local scale processes influencing community vulnerability that can then be up-scaled to regional, country and global levels. This paper describes the development of a new social and ecological vulnerability framework which integrates exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with the social livelihoods and food security approaches. It also measures community flexibility to understand better the adaptive capacity of different levels of community organization. The translation of the conceptual framework to an implementable method is described and its application in a number of “hotspot” countries, where ocean waters are warming faster than the rest of the world, is presented. Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons to uncover similarities and differences in vulnerability and adaptation patterns among the study’s coastal communities, which can provide accelerated learning mechanisms to other coastal regions, are highlighted. The social and ecological framework and the associated survey approach allow for future integration of local-level vulnerability data with ecological and oceanographic models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah M , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim, Shyam S , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Swathilekshmi, P S , Narayanakumar, R , Watmough G R
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421581 , vital:71863 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795"
- Description: Coastal communities are some of the most at-risk populations with respect to climate change impacts. It is therefore important to determine the vulnerability of such communities to co-develop viable adaptation options. Global efforts to address this issue include international scientific projects, such as Global Learning for Local Solutions (GULLS), which focuses on five fast warming regions of the southern hemisphere and aims to provide an understanding of the local scale processes influencing community vulnerability that can then be up-scaled to regional, country and global levels. This paper describes the development of a new social and ecological vulnerability framework which integrates exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with the social livelihoods and food security approaches. It also measures community flexibility to understand better the adaptive capacity of different levels of community organization. The translation of the conceptual framework to an implementable method is described and its application in a number of “hotspot” countries, where ocean waters are warming faster than the rest of the world, is presented. Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons to uncover similarities and differences in vulnerability and adaptation patterns among the study’s coastal communities, which can provide accelerated learning mechanisms to other coastal regions, are highlighted. The social and ecological framework and the associated survey approach allow for future integration of local-level vulnerability data with ecological and oceanographic models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Exploring and expanding transdisciplinary research for sustainable and just natural resource management
- Finca, Andiswa, Wolff, Margaret G, Cockburn, Jessica J, De Wet, Christopher J, Bezerra, Joana C, Weaver, Matthew J T, De Vos, Alta, Ralekhetla, Mateboho M, Libala, Notiswa, Mkabile, Qawekazi B, Odume, Oghenekaro N, Palmer, Carolyn G
- Authors: Finca, Andiswa , Wolff, Margaret G , Cockburn, Jessica J , De Wet, Christopher J , Bezerra, Joana C , Weaver, Matthew J T , De Vos, Alta , Ralekhetla, Mateboho M , Libala, Notiswa , Mkabile, Qawekazi B , Odume, Oghenekaro N , Palmer, Carolyn G
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416307 , vital:71337 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11077-240414"
- Description: Transdisciplinarity is gaining acceptance in sustainability science research as an approach to work across disparate types of knowledge and practices in order to tackle complex social-ecological problems. On paper, transdisciplinarity appears to be substantially helpful, but in practice, participants may remain voiceless and disadvantaged. In this paper, we retrospectively investigate four case studies using recent design principles for transdisciplinary research, to explore a deeper understanding of the practical successes and failures of transdisciplinary research engagement. We show that the transdisciplinary way of working is time consuming, challenging, and insists that researchers and participants contribute reflexively. Careful attention to research design and methodology is central. The acceptance that complexity renders knowledge provisional, and complete honesty about the purpose of the research are critical to building relationships between researchers and participants. Gaining an understanding of the values people hold influences the research process and the possible outcomes toward sustainable and just natural resource management. We suggest that in order to enable sustainable and just natural resource management, transdisciplinary research should include values and ethics in the design, implementation, and reporting of projects.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Finca, Andiswa , Wolff, Margaret G , Cockburn, Jessica J , De Wet, Christopher J , Bezerra, Joana C , Weaver, Matthew J T , De Vos, Alta , Ralekhetla, Mateboho M , Libala, Notiswa , Mkabile, Qawekazi B , Odume, Oghenekaro N , Palmer, Carolyn G
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416307 , vital:71337 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11077-240414"
- Description: Transdisciplinarity is gaining acceptance in sustainability science research as an approach to work across disparate types of knowledge and practices in order to tackle complex social-ecological problems. On paper, transdisciplinarity appears to be substantially helpful, but in practice, participants may remain voiceless and disadvantaged. In this paper, we retrospectively investigate four case studies using recent design principles for transdisciplinary research, to explore a deeper understanding of the practical successes and failures of transdisciplinary research engagement. We show that the transdisciplinary way of working is time consuming, challenging, and insists that researchers and participants contribute reflexively. Careful attention to research design and methodology is central. The acceptance that complexity renders knowledge provisional, and complete honesty about the purpose of the research are critical to building relationships between researchers and participants. Gaining an understanding of the values people hold influences the research process and the possible outcomes toward sustainable and just natural resource management. We suggest that in order to enable sustainable and just natural resource management, transdisciplinary research should include values and ethics in the design, implementation, and reporting of projects.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Collaborative stewardship in multifunctional landscapes: toward relational, pluralistic approaches
- Cockburn, Jessica J, Cundell, Georgina, Shackleton, Sheona E, Rouget, Mathieu, Zwinkels, Marijn, Cornelius, Susanna A, Metcalfe, Liz, Van den Broek, D
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica J , Cundell, Georgina , Shackleton, Sheona E , Rouget, Mathieu , Zwinkels, Marijn , Cornelius, Susanna A , Metcalfe, Liz , Van den Broek, D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390297 , vital:68535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11085-240432"
- Description: Landscape stewardship offers a means to put social-ecological approaches to stewardship into practice. The growing interest in landscape stewardship has led to a focus on multistakeholder collaboration. Although there is a significant body of literature on collaborative management and governance of natural resources, the particular challenges posed by multifunctional landscapes, in which there are often contested interests, require closer attention. We present a case study from South Africa to investigate how collaborative stewardship can be fostered in contested multifunctional landscapes. We conducted this research through an engaged transdisciplinary research partnership in which we integrated social-ecological practitioner and academic knowledge to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges of fostering collaboration. We identified five overarching factors that influence collaboration: contextual, institutional, social-relational, individual, and political-historical. Collaborative stewardship approaches focused on the development of formal governance institutions appear to be most successful if enabling individual and social-relational conditions are in place. Our case study, characterized by high social diversity, inequity, and contestation, suggests that consensus-driven approaches to collaboration are unlikely to result in equitable and sustainable landscape stewardship in such contexts. We therefore suggest an approach that focuses on enhancing individual and social-relational enablers. Moreover, we propose a bottom-up patchwork approach to collaborative stewardship premised on the notion of pluralism. This would focus on building new interpersonal relationships and collaborative capacity through small collective actions. Taking a relational, pluralistic approach to fostering collaborative stewardship is particularly important in contested, socially heterogeneous landscapes. Drawing on our study and the literature, we propose guiding principles for implementing relational, pluralistic approaches to collaborative stewardship and suggest future research directions for supporting such approaches.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica J , Cundell, Georgina , Shackleton, Sheona E , Rouget, Mathieu , Zwinkels, Marijn , Cornelius, Susanna A , Metcalfe, Liz , Van den Broek, D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390297 , vital:68535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11085-240432"
- Description: Landscape stewardship offers a means to put social-ecological approaches to stewardship into practice. The growing interest in landscape stewardship has led to a focus on multistakeholder collaboration. Although there is a significant body of literature on collaborative management and governance of natural resources, the particular challenges posed by multifunctional landscapes, in which there are often contested interests, require closer attention. We present a case study from South Africa to investigate how collaborative stewardship can be fostered in contested multifunctional landscapes. We conducted this research through an engaged transdisciplinary research partnership in which we integrated social-ecological practitioner and academic knowledge to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges of fostering collaboration. We identified five overarching factors that influence collaboration: contextual, institutional, social-relational, individual, and political-historical. Collaborative stewardship approaches focused on the development of formal governance institutions appear to be most successful if enabling individual and social-relational conditions are in place. Our case study, characterized by high social diversity, inequity, and contestation, suggests that consensus-driven approaches to collaboration are unlikely to result in equitable and sustainable landscape stewardship in such contexts. We therefore suggest an approach that focuses on enhancing individual and social-relational enablers. Moreover, we propose a bottom-up patchwork approach to collaborative stewardship premised on the notion of pluralism. This would focus on building new interpersonal relationships and collaborative capacity through small collective actions. Taking a relational, pluralistic approach to fostering collaborative stewardship is particularly important in contested, socially heterogeneous landscapes. Drawing on our study and the literature, we propose guiding principles for implementing relational, pluralistic approaches to collaborative stewardship and suggest future research directions for supporting such approaches.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An Evaluation of Text Mining Techniques in Sampling of Network Ports from IBR Traffic
- Chindipha, Stones D, Irwin, Barry V W, Herbert, Alan
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones D , Irwin, Barry V W , Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473740 , vital:77677 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stones-Chindi-pha/publication/335910179_An_Evaluation_of_Text_Mining_Techniques_in_Sampling_of_Network_Ports_from_IBR_Traffic/links/5d833084458515cbd1985a38/An-Evaluation-of-Text-Mining-Techniques-in-Sampling-of-Network-Ports-from-IBR-Traffic.pdf"
- Description: Information retrieval (IR) has had techniques that have been used to gauge the extent to which certain keywords can be retrieved from a document. These techniques have been used to measure similarities in duplicated images, native language identification, optimize algorithms, among others. With this notion, this study proposes the use of four of the Information Retrieval Techniques (IRT/IR) to gauge the implications of sampling a/24 IPv4 ports into smaller subnet equivalents. Using IR, this paper shows how the ports found in a/24 IPv4 net-block relate to those found in the smaller subnet equivalents. Using Internet Background Radiation (IBR) data that was collected from Rhodes University, the study found compelling evidence of the viability of using such techniques in sampling datasets. Essentially, being able to identify the variation that comes with sampling the baseline dataset. It shows how the various samples are similar to the baseline dataset. The correlation observed in the scores proves how viable these techniques are to quantifying variations in the sampling of IBR data. In this way, one can identify which subnet equivalent best represents the unique ports found in the baseline dataset (IPv4 net-block dataset).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones D , Irwin, Barry V W , Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473740 , vital:77677 , xlink:href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stones-Chindi-pha/publication/335910179_An_Evaluation_of_Text_Mining_Techniques_in_Sampling_of_Network_Ports_from_IBR_Traffic/links/5d833084458515cbd1985a38/An-Evaluation-of-Text-Mining-Techniques-in-Sampling-of-Network-Ports-from-IBR-Traffic.pdf"
- Description: Information retrieval (IR) has had techniques that have been used to gauge the extent to which certain keywords can be retrieved from a document. These techniques have been used to measure similarities in duplicated images, native language identification, optimize algorithms, among others. With this notion, this study proposes the use of four of the Information Retrieval Techniques (IRT/IR) to gauge the implications of sampling a/24 IPv4 ports into smaller subnet equivalents. Using IR, this paper shows how the ports found in a/24 IPv4 net-block relate to those found in the smaller subnet equivalents. Using Internet Background Radiation (IBR) data that was collected from Rhodes University, the study found compelling evidence of the viability of using such techniques in sampling datasets. Essentially, being able to identify the variation that comes with sampling the baseline dataset. It shows how the various samples are similar to the baseline dataset. The correlation observed in the scores proves how viable these techniques are to quantifying variations in the sampling of IBR data. In this way, one can identify which subnet equivalent best represents the unique ports found in the baseline dataset (IPv4 net-block dataset).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Quantifying the accuracy of small subnet-equivalent sampling of IPv4 internet background radiation datasets
- Chindipha, Stones D, Irwin, Barry V W, Herbert, Alan
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones D , Irwin, Barry V W , Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473818 , vital:77684 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3351108.3351129"
- Description: Network telescopes have been used for over a decade to aid in identifying threats by gathering unsolicited network traffic. This Internet Background Radiation (IBR) data has proved to be a significant source of intelligence in combating emerging threats on the Internet at large. Traditionally, operation has required a significant contiguous block of IP addresses. Continued operation of such sensors by researchers and adoption by organisations as part of its operation intelligence is becoming a challenge due to the global shortage of IPv4 addresses. The pressure is on to use allocated IP addresses for operational purposes. Future use of IBR collection methods is likely to be limited to smaller IP address pools, which may not be contiguous. This paper offers a first step towards evaluating the feasibility of such small sensors. An evaluation is conducted of the random sampling of various subnet sized equivalents. The accuracy of observable data is compared against a traditional 'small' IPv4 network telescope using a /24 net-block. Results show that for much of the IBR data, sensors consisting of smaller, non-contiguous blocks of addresses are able to achieve high accuracy rates vs. the base case. While the results obtained given the current nature of IBR, it proves the viability for organisations to utilise free IP addresses within their networks for IBR collection and ultimately the production of Threat intelligence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Chindipha, Stones D , Irwin, Barry V W , Herbert, Alan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473818 , vital:77684 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3351108.3351129"
- Description: Network telescopes have been used for over a decade to aid in identifying threats by gathering unsolicited network traffic. This Internet Background Radiation (IBR) data has proved to be a significant source of intelligence in combating emerging threats on the Internet at large. Traditionally, operation has required a significant contiguous block of IP addresses. Continued operation of such sensors by researchers and adoption by organisations as part of its operation intelligence is becoming a challenge due to the global shortage of IPv4 addresses. The pressure is on to use allocated IP addresses for operational purposes. Future use of IBR collection methods is likely to be limited to smaller IP address pools, which may not be contiguous. This paper offers a first step towards evaluating the feasibility of such small sensors. An evaluation is conducted of the random sampling of various subnet sized equivalents. The accuracy of observable data is compared against a traditional 'small' IPv4 network telescope using a /24 net-block. Results show that for much of the IBR data, sensors consisting of smaller, non-contiguous blocks of addresses are able to achieve high accuracy rates vs. the base case. While the results obtained given the current nature of IBR, it proves the viability for organisations to utilise free IP addresses within their networks for IBR collection and ultimately the production of Threat intelligence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Political constellations: an analysis of the use of language in positioning South African political parties in the Daily Sun
- Authors: Siebörger, Ian
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Daily Sun , Political culture South Africa , Systemic grammar , Political parties South Africa , Functionalism (Linguistics) , Mass media and language South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113934 , vital:33846 , http://doi.org/10.21504/10962/113934
- Description: As a young democracy, post-apartheid South Africa has both a complex and rapidly changing political landscape, and a developing system of interconnected public spheres in which ordinary citizens engage in political discourses. In this context, this thesis examines the ways in which language is used to position South Africa's political parties in the Daily Sun, the country's most widely-read tabloid newspaper. It uses a complex, multi-stage method of analysis to develop tools for describing how different policy positions and moral evaluations are associated with political parties. This is accomplished through complementary analyses using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). The study describes current political discourses in South Africa as the products of a long process of historical development extending through the segregationist and apartheid eras to the post-apartheid present. It also situates the Daily Sun within South Africa's current media landscape and argues that the newspaper is to some extent successful in facilitating a vibrant alternative public sphere in which readers engage with the news. The study's multi-stage method of analysis begins with a corpus analysis of all political news articles from the Daily Sun dating from January to June 2015. This analysis reveals various tendencies in the positioning of South Africa's three largest political parties that are investigated further in later stages of analysis. Three selected individual articles are subjected to fine-grained analysis in an exploratory analysis stage, and three others in a targeted analysis stage. The exploratory analyses are designed to investigate the contribution of various linguistic and discursive resources to political positioning in the data, while the targeted analyses demonstrate the contribution of these resources to positioning in articles that were carefully selected to reflect as many of the trends found in the corpus analysis as possible. These analyses enact the concept of axiological-semantic density from LCT to show the ways in which political knowledge is condensed in the articles. This condensation produces constellations of people, policy positions and moral evaluations in each article. These constellations, in turn, give indications of the cosmologies, or organizing principles, behind the Daily Sun's political news coverage. On the basis of the exploratory analyses, a multi-level translation device for axiological-semantic density is developed to describe the ways in which this concept is enacted in the analysis. The use of this translation device is then demonstrated using the targeted analyses. This study adapts the concepts of iconization, aggregation and technicality from SFL, collectively referred to as 'mass', to show how language works to position political parties. It finds that the use of intertextual references and lexical strings makes a considerable contribution toward political positioning in the data. Repeated couplings of the abovementioned resources in complexes (also known as syndromes) drive the process of political positioning. The Daily Sun is found to report primarily on concrete actions by individual politicians, and contains little to no information on policy decisions. No one political party is favoured, but coverage tends to emphasize accusations against politicians. This may reinforce distrust in politics and a withdrawal from engagement in political processes among readers. By contrast, this study shows that engagement in South Africa's public discourses can be encouraged through stronger promotion of critical language awareness in education, the growth of civil society organizations as vehicles for dialogue and social action on matters of public interest, and a variety of initiatives by the media designed to show the relevance of policy decisions to individuals' lives and increase participation in the news-making process. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, English Language and Linguistics, 2019
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Siebörger, Ian
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Daily Sun , Political culture South Africa , Systemic grammar , Political parties South Africa , Functionalism (Linguistics) , Mass media and language South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113934 , vital:33846 , http://doi.org/10.21504/10962/113934
- Description: As a young democracy, post-apartheid South Africa has both a complex and rapidly changing political landscape, and a developing system of interconnected public spheres in which ordinary citizens engage in political discourses. In this context, this thesis examines the ways in which language is used to position South Africa's political parties in the Daily Sun, the country's most widely-read tabloid newspaper. It uses a complex, multi-stage method of analysis to develop tools for describing how different policy positions and moral evaluations are associated with political parties. This is accomplished through complementary analyses using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). The study describes current political discourses in South Africa as the products of a long process of historical development extending through the segregationist and apartheid eras to the post-apartheid present. It also situates the Daily Sun within South Africa's current media landscape and argues that the newspaper is to some extent successful in facilitating a vibrant alternative public sphere in which readers engage with the news. The study's multi-stage method of analysis begins with a corpus analysis of all political news articles from the Daily Sun dating from January to June 2015. This analysis reveals various tendencies in the positioning of South Africa's three largest political parties that are investigated further in later stages of analysis. Three selected individual articles are subjected to fine-grained analysis in an exploratory analysis stage, and three others in a targeted analysis stage. The exploratory analyses are designed to investigate the contribution of various linguistic and discursive resources to political positioning in the data, while the targeted analyses demonstrate the contribution of these resources to positioning in articles that were carefully selected to reflect as many of the trends found in the corpus analysis as possible. These analyses enact the concept of axiological-semantic density from LCT to show the ways in which political knowledge is condensed in the articles. This condensation produces constellations of people, policy positions and moral evaluations in each article. These constellations, in turn, give indications of the cosmologies, or organizing principles, behind the Daily Sun's political news coverage. On the basis of the exploratory analyses, a multi-level translation device for axiological-semantic density is developed to describe the ways in which this concept is enacted in the analysis. The use of this translation device is then demonstrated using the targeted analyses. This study adapts the concepts of iconization, aggregation and technicality from SFL, collectively referred to as 'mass', to show how language works to position political parties. It finds that the use of intertextual references and lexical strings makes a considerable contribution toward political positioning in the data. Repeated couplings of the abovementioned resources in complexes (also known as syndromes) drive the process of political positioning. The Daily Sun is found to report primarily on concrete actions by individual politicians, and contains little to no information on policy decisions. No one political party is favoured, but coverage tends to emphasize accusations against politicians. This may reinforce distrust in politics and a withdrawal from engagement in political processes among readers. By contrast, this study shows that engagement in South Africa's public discourses can be encouraged through stronger promotion of critical language awareness in education, the growth of civil society organizations as vehicles for dialogue and social action on matters of public interest, and a variety of initiatives by the media designed to show the relevance of policy decisions to individuals' lives and increase participation in the news-making process. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, English Language and Linguistics, 2019
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2019
“It is a thing that depends on God”
- Samandari, Ghazaleh, Grant, Carolyn, Brent, Lily, Gullo, Sara
- Authors: Samandari, Ghazaleh , Grant, Carolyn , Brent, Lily , Gullo, Sara
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281091 , vital:55691 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0757-y"
- Description: Background: Pregnancy among adolescent girls in Niger contributes to 34% of all deaths among females ages 15–19, but there is a dearth of research as to the specific contextual causes. In Zinder region, an area that is especially impoverished and where girls are at heightened risk, there is very little information on the main obstacles to improving adolescents’ health and well-being. This qualitative study examines the underlying social, individual and structural factors influencing married girls’ early first birth and participation in alternative opportunities (such as education or economic pursuits) in Niger. Methodology: In July of 2017, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a non-probability sample of community members in three communes of Zinder Region, Niger. Participants (n = 107) included adolescent girls, husbands of adolescent girls, influential adults, community leaders, health providers, and positive deviants. All interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using Dedoose software. Results: Participants recognize the health benefits of delaying first birth, but stigma around infertility and contraceptive use, desire for children, and belief that childbirth is “God’s will” interfere with a girl’s ability to delay. Girls’ social isolation, lack of mobility or autonomy, and inability to envision alternatives to early motherhood compound the issue. Participants favor adolescents’ pursuit of increased economic opportunities or education, but would not support delaying birth to do so. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need for a holistic approach to delaying early birth and stimulating girls’ participation in economic and educational pursuits. Potential interventions include mitigating barriers to reproductive health care; training adolescent girls on viable economic activities; and providing educational opportunities for girls. Effective programs should also include or target immediate members of the girls’ families (husbands, parents, in-laws), influential local leaders and members of the community at large.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Samandari, Ghazaleh , Grant, Carolyn , Brent, Lily , Gullo, Sara
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281091 , vital:55691 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0757-y"
- Description: Background: Pregnancy among adolescent girls in Niger contributes to 34% of all deaths among females ages 15–19, but there is a dearth of research as to the specific contextual causes. In Zinder region, an area that is especially impoverished and where girls are at heightened risk, there is very little information on the main obstacles to improving adolescents’ health and well-being. This qualitative study examines the underlying social, individual and structural factors influencing married girls’ early first birth and participation in alternative opportunities (such as education or economic pursuits) in Niger. Methodology: In July of 2017, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a non-probability sample of community members in three communes of Zinder Region, Niger. Participants (n = 107) included adolescent girls, husbands of adolescent girls, influential adults, community leaders, health providers, and positive deviants. All interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using Dedoose software. Results: Participants recognize the health benefits of delaying first birth, but stigma around infertility and contraceptive use, desire for children, and belief that childbirth is “God’s will” interfere with a girl’s ability to delay. Girls’ social isolation, lack of mobility or autonomy, and inability to envision alternatives to early motherhood compound the issue. Participants favor adolescents’ pursuit of increased economic opportunities or education, but would not support delaying birth to do so. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need for a holistic approach to delaying early birth and stimulating girls’ participation in economic and educational pursuits. Potential interventions include mitigating barriers to reproductive health care; training adolescent girls on viable economic activities; and providing educational opportunities for girls. Effective programs should also include or target immediate members of the girls’ families (husbands, parents, in-laws), influential local leaders and members of the community at large.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019