A taxonomic revision of the genera of the subtribe Dracophilinae (Aizoaceae: Ruschioideae)
- Authors: Mannheimer, Coleen Anne
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Aizoaceae , Plants -- Classification , Cladistic analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4247 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007461 , Aizoaceae , Plants -- Classification , Cladistic analysis
- Description: Namibia, Juttadinteria and Dracophilus, the three genera belonging to the subtribe Dracophilinae Schwantes (Aizoaceae: Ruschioideae) were revised. Macro-morphology, leaf anatomy and micromorphology of leaf epidermides, pollen, tapetal orbicules and seed were studied in order to test taxon limits, to determine relationships between taxa, and to improve knowledge of their characteristics as well as the taxonomy of the subtribe. The investigation was based on herbarium specimens, field observations and cultivated, living plants. Phenetic cluster analyses were used to confirm species while intergeneric and interspecific relationships of the taxa so indicated were later tested by means of a phylogenetic analysis. The existence of the three genera was provisionally upheld by this study although phylogenetic analysis showed Namibia nested as a strongly supported monophyletic group within a poorly supported luttadinteria. Further work is needed to clarify whether Namibia should be sunk into Juttadinteria. The latest treatments of Juttadinteria and Dracophilus by Hartmann (2001) were supprted. However, in contrast to her latest treatment of Namibia, N. pomonae was sunk into N. cinerea and N. ponderosa was reinstated and typified. Juttadinteria was found to be a poorly resolved genus with many intergrading and overlapping characters, possible due to recent speciation. Possible subspecific groups within J. deserticola and J. simpsonii were indicated by the phenetic study but further work is needed before any formal infraspecific taxonomic rank can be assigned to them. Detailed descriptions of the nine elucidated species and the three genera as well as new keys for their identification are provided in order to facilitate further work in this group. Distribution maps are provided for the genera and species, and the subtribe. Variation of character states within the subtribe, distribution area, ecology and biology are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Mannheimer, Coleen Anne
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Aizoaceae , Plants -- Classification , Cladistic analysis
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4247 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007461 , Aizoaceae , Plants -- Classification , Cladistic analysis
- Description: Namibia, Juttadinteria and Dracophilus, the three genera belonging to the subtribe Dracophilinae Schwantes (Aizoaceae: Ruschioideae) were revised. Macro-morphology, leaf anatomy and micromorphology of leaf epidermides, pollen, tapetal orbicules and seed were studied in order to test taxon limits, to determine relationships between taxa, and to improve knowledge of their characteristics as well as the taxonomy of the subtribe. The investigation was based on herbarium specimens, field observations and cultivated, living plants. Phenetic cluster analyses were used to confirm species while intergeneric and interspecific relationships of the taxa so indicated were later tested by means of a phylogenetic analysis. The existence of the three genera was provisionally upheld by this study although phylogenetic analysis showed Namibia nested as a strongly supported monophyletic group within a poorly supported luttadinteria. Further work is needed to clarify whether Namibia should be sunk into Juttadinteria. The latest treatments of Juttadinteria and Dracophilus by Hartmann (2001) were supprted. However, in contrast to her latest treatment of Namibia, N. pomonae was sunk into N. cinerea and N. ponderosa was reinstated and typified. Juttadinteria was found to be a poorly resolved genus with many intergrading and overlapping characters, possible due to recent speciation. Possible subspecific groups within J. deserticola and J. simpsonii were indicated by the phenetic study but further work is needed before any formal infraspecific taxonomic rank can be assigned to them. Detailed descriptions of the nine elucidated species and the three genera as well as new keys for their identification are provided in order to facilitate further work in this group. Distribution maps are provided for the genera and species, and the subtribe. Variation of character states within the subtribe, distribution area, ecology and biology are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Building cultural capital through value-driven leadership: a case study in an international finance company
- Authors: Ackerman, Mariana
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Financial institutions, International -- Namibia Case studies , Leadership -- Namibia Case studies , Corporate culture -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational change -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational effectiveness -- Namibia Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:2919 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002428 , Financial institutions, International -- Namibia Case studies , Leadership -- Namibia Case studies , Corporate culture -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational change -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational effectiveness -- Namibia Case studies
- Description: Today, organizations are placed under extreme pressure to adapt to the ever-increasing changes in their environments in order to survive. Research proves that corporate culture has the ability to either blunt or aid change. Past research conducted in Z-Nam, a subsidiary of an international finance company situated in Namibia, indicated that a divided culture resulted in limitations in their functioning, including their adaptability. Pressure was placed on Z-Nam by its majority shareholder to internalise a set of core values into its daily functioning in order to build a strong adaptable culture. This objective called for values-driven leadership. The four core values identified by Head Office were integrity, respect, accountability and pushing beyond boundaries. In becoming more values-driven, values theory posits that Z-Nam will build its cultural capital and so reap the benefits of higher performance, talent retention and adaptability. In this way Z-Nam will be able to combat the weaknesses in its current culture. Leadership adaptability and the capacity to lead change were seen to distinguish cultural changes that succeed from those that do not. Principles inherent in the field of OD were also considered, as they are seen to assist in the effective management of change. The methodology involved a purposive sample being drawn that included the top leadership team and internal OD consultant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematic analysis employed in analysing the resultant data with three main aims in mind. Firstly, to assess Z-Nam's top management's perception of the current set of values being lived in the organization, to establish their level of support for the desired set of values proposed by Head Office and lastly to establish whether the leadership team is ready to promote the adoption of a new set of core values. Through comparing the themes that emerged from the data with literature on OD, values, culture and change, the researcher was able to make inferences as to the leadership's readiness and capacity to successfully lead cultural change. These findings were substantiated with secondary data from previous research activities. It was found that Z-Nam was not utilising its culture as an asset and that several barriers existed to adopting and implementing the desired values. It was concluded that Z-Nam will not be able to successfully embark on cultural change until its leadership recognises the importance of culture and their personal responsibility in bringing about the desired change, adequately assimilates information from past research and comes to a consensus as to the necessary accommodations that need to be made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Ackerman, Mariana
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Financial institutions, International -- Namibia Case studies , Leadership -- Namibia Case studies , Corporate culture -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational change -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational effectiveness -- Namibia Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: vital:2919 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002428 , Financial institutions, International -- Namibia Case studies , Leadership -- Namibia Case studies , Corporate culture -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational change -- Namibia Case studies , Organizational effectiveness -- Namibia Case studies
- Description: Today, organizations are placed under extreme pressure to adapt to the ever-increasing changes in their environments in order to survive. Research proves that corporate culture has the ability to either blunt or aid change. Past research conducted in Z-Nam, a subsidiary of an international finance company situated in Namibia, indicated that a divided culture resulted in limitations in their functioning, including their adaptability. Pressure was placed on Z-Nam by its majority shareholder to internalise a set of core values into its daily functioning in order to build a strong adaptable culture. This objective called for values-driven leadership. The four core values identified by Head Office were integrity, respect, accountability and pushing beyond boundaries. In becoming more values-driven, values theory posits that Z-Nam will build its cultural capital and so reap the benefits of higher performance, talent retention and adaptability. In this way Z-Nam will be able to combat the weaknesses in its current culture. Leadership adaptability and the capacity to lead change were seen to distinguish cultural changes that succeed from those that do not. Principles inherent in the field of OD were also considered, as they are seen to assist in the effective management of change. The methodology involved a purposive sample being drawn that included the top leadership team and internal OD consultant. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematic analysis employed in analysing the resultant data with three main aims in mind. Firstly, to assess Z-Nam's top management's perception of the current set of values being lived in the organization, to establish their level of support for the desired set of values proposed by Head Office and lastly to establish whether the leadership team is ready to promote the adoption of a new set of core values. Through comparing the themes that emerged from the data with literature on OD, values, culture and change, the researcher was able to make inferences as to the leadership's readiness and capacity to successfully lead cultural change. These findings were substantiated with secondary data from previous research activities. It was found that Z-Nam was not utilising its culture as an asset and that several barriers existed to adopting and implementing the desired values. It was concluded that Z-Nam will not be able to successfully embark on cultural change until its leadership recognises the importance of culture and their personal responsibility in bringing about the desired change, adequately assimilates information from past research and comes to a consensus as to the necessary accommodations that need to be made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Feeding ecology, space use and habitat selection of elephants in two enclosed game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Roux, Candice
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Shamwari Game Reserve (South Africa) , Kwandwe Game Reserve (South Africa) , Elephants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Feeding -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Nutrition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Habitat -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5699 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005385 , Shamwari Game Reserve (South Africa) , Kwandwe Game Reserve (South Africa) , Elephants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Feeding -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Nutrition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Habitat -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The development of small (<300 km²), private game reserves has become a trend, not only in the Eastern Cape Province, but also elsewhere in South Africa as a result of a shift in land use practise from agriculture to ecotourism. The resultant re-introduction of elephants to many of these reserves has lead to management concerns because of the limited research on small reserves regarding their impact on the vegetation. In this study I assessed the space use, habitat selection, diet and impact of two elephant populations on the vegetation in the Eastern Cape Province between February 2004 and March 2005. Home range sizes were calculated using the kernel utilization distribution method. Home range sizes for elephants on Kwandwe were significantly larger during summer than winter (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the home range sizes of the herds and males within a season and during summer the elephants utilized about 75 % of the reserve and only 54 % during winter. On Shamwari, the herd utilized about 92 % of the reserve during summer and 83 % during winter; while the males utilized 76 % of the reserve. Core areas for both elephant populations shrank from summer to winter and were concentrated around the permanent water sources on each reserve. Habitat selection was assessed using χ² tests and Bonferroni confidence intervals. On Kwandwe, there was a significant difference between observed and expected use of vegetation types (p<0.05) and karroid shrubland was strongly avoided by both herds during summer and winter. The preferred vegetation types of the males ranged from relatively open (short euphorbia thicket, bushclump karroid thicket and karroid shrubland) to completely open (old lands). On Shamwari, subtropical thicket, bontveld and montane grassland were avoided; while primary and secondary acacia thicket, riverine thicket and cultivated lands were preferred. The predominant vegetation type in the home ranges of herds on Kwandwe and Shamwari was subtropical thicket. The diet was assessed by direct observations over two seasons and dietary preferences were calculated. There was a significant difference in the frequency of occurrence of plants in the diet on the two reserves (p<0.05) and no significant effect of time of day or season (p>0.05). Seventeen woody plant species were utilized on Kwandwe and 23 species were utilized on Shamwari. Grass constituted a significantly greater percentage of the diet in summer than winter (p<0.05). Elephants on Kwandwe showed a selective preference for Ozoroa mucronata, Pappea capensis and Acacia karroo; while on Shamwari, A. karroo was selected. Transects were conducted in two different vegetation types on each reserve so as to assess the impact of elephant on the vegetation and damage scores were then calculated from these data. There was no significant effect of vegetation type or elephant density on mean damage scores in Kwandwe (p>0.05). Five hundred and seventy-eight plants were assessed in the subtropical thicket vegetation type and 225 plants were assessed in the savanna-type vegetation, with more than half the trees showing low levels of damage that could not only be attributed to elephants. Mean damage was highest for Portulacaria afra and Pappea capensis in subtropical thicket and for Rhus spp. in the savanna-type vegetation. On Shamwari, 408 plants were assessed in subtropical thicket and 215 in the savanna-type vegetation, with more than 70 % of trees showing low levels of damage. There was a significant effect of plant species and elephant density on the mean damage scores in subtropical thicket, with Aloe ferox showing more damage than the other plant species (p<0.01). In the savanna-type vegetation, A. karroo was the most severely damaged. Overall, damage was greater in the thicket vegetation type compared to the more open vegetation type on both reserves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Roux, Candice
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Shamwari Game Reserve (South Africa) , Kwandwe Game Reserve (South Africa) , Elephants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Feeding -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Nutrition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Habitat -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5699 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005385 , Shamwari Game Reserve (South Africa) , Kwandwe Game Reserve (South Africa) , Elephants -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Feeding -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Nutrition -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Behavior -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Elephants -- Habitat -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: The development of small (<300 km²), private game reserves has become a trend, not only in the Eastern Cape Province, but also elsewhere in South Africa as a result of a shift in land use practise from agriculture to ecotourism. The resultant re-introduction of elephants to many of these reserves has lead to management concerns because of the limited research on small reserves regarding their impact on the vegetation. In this study I assessed the space use, habitat selection, diet and impact of two elephant populations on the vegetation in the Eastern Cape Province between February 2004 and March 2005. Home range sizes were calculated using the kernel utilization distribution method. Home range sizes for elephants on Kwandwe were significantly larger during summer than winter (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the home range sizes of the herds and males within a season and during summer the elephants utilized about 75 % of the reserve and only 54 % during winter. On Shamwari, the herd utilized about 92 % of the reserve during summer and 83 % during winter; while the males utilized 76 % of the reserve. Core areas for both elephant populations shrank from summer to winter and were concentrated around the permanent water sources on each reserve. Habitat selection was assessed using χ² tests and Bonferroni confidence intervals. On Kwandwe, there was a significant difference between observed and expected use of vegetation types (p<0.05) and karroid shrubland was strongly avoided by both herds during summer and winter. The preferred vegetation types of the males ranged from relatively open (short euphorbia thicket, bushclump karroid thicket and karroid shrubland) to completely open (old lands). On Shamwari, subtropical thicket, bontveld and montane grassland were avoided; while primary and secondary acacia thicket, riverine thicket and cultivated lands were preferred. The predominant vegetation type in the home ranges of herds on Kwandwe and Shamwari was subtropical thicket. The diet was assessed by direct observations over two seasons and dietary preferences were calculated. There was a significant difference in the frequency of occurrence of plants in the diet on the two reserves (p<0.05) and no significant effect of time of day or season (p>0.05). Seventeen woody plant species were utilized on Kwandwe and 23 species were utilized on Shamwari. Grass constituted a significantly greater percentage of the diet in summer than winter (p<0.05). Elephants on Kwandwe showed a selective preference for Ozoroa mucronata, Pappea capensis and Acacia karroo; while on Shamwari, A. karroo was selected. Transects were conducted in two different vegetation types on each reserve so as to assess the impact of elephant on the vegetation and damage scores were then calculated from these data. There was no significant effect of vegetation type or elephant density on mean damage scores in Kwandwe (p>0.05). Five hundred and seventy-eight plants were assessed in the subtropical thicket vegetation type and 225 plants were assessed in the savanna-type vegetation, with more than half the trees showing low levels of damage that could not only be attributed to elephants. Mean damage was highest for Portulacaria afra and Pappea capensis in subtropical thicket and for Rhus spp. in the savanna-type vegetation. On Shamwari, 408 plants were assessed in subtropical thicket and 215 in the savanna-type vegetation, with more than 70 % of trees showing low levels of damage. There was a significant effect of plant species and elephant density on the mean damage scores in subtropical thicket, with Aloe ferox showing more damage than the other plant species (p<0.01). In the savanna-type vegetation, A. karroo was the most severely damaged. Overall, damage was greater in the thicket vegetation type compared to the more open vegetation type on both reserves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Cases of recontextualising the environmental discourse in the National Curriculum Statement (R-9)
- Authors: Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa -- Curricula Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003325
- Description: With an intention of opening a vantage point on the story of how curriculum is actually created, this study follows the recontextualising of the environmental discourse of the National Curriculum Statement (R-9) in three case sites. These are: Grade seven Department of Education training material developed to introduce educators to the NCS (R-9), Delta Environmental Centre an environmental education non-governmental organisation, a rural primary school situated south of Durban. Using elements of the Bernstein’s (1990) framework of pedagogic discourse, the study traces how the environmental discourse was de-located from the field of production and relocated into the pedagogic practice of each case. In trying to follow the continuity, changes and discontinuities in the official [environmental] discourse as it is recontextualised, the study utilises Bernstein’s conceptual constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation. These constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation enabled me to ‘look into’ each case and get a perspective of how to explain the recontextualising processes. The study acknowledged that discourses are shaped and steered by historical, political and economic realities and begins by tracing the genesis of the environmental discourse within formal curriculum policy in South Africa. This socio-historical review highlights the main factors and happenings that shaped the present curriculum discourse and its production as official policy discourse. The study highlighted that within each case the recontextualising story is unique but some clear patterns emerged as factors that impacted on recontextualising processes. These were the role of history and context, knowledge and experience of the discourse, ideology and emphasis, and the depth with which the discourse was engaged. The discussion of these factors gave valuable insights into the recontextualising of curriculum discourses. The study comments on the need to clarify the environmental focus in the Learning Areas and to actualise this into practice so that the discourse becomes an integral part of teaching, learning and assessment. The study also highlights the need for professional development opportunities that will enable educators to clarify the nature and focus of the environmental discourse in the NCS (R-9), and its articulation in Learning Area in context. In particular, the environment and social justice relationships appear to require greater clarity of focus and interpretation in recontextualising processes. There also appears to be a need to develop educators’ foundational knowledge of environmental issues to strengthen the recontextualising of this discourse.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Education -- South Africa -- Curricula Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003325
- Description: With an intention of opening a vantage point on the story of how curriculum is actually created, this study follows the recontextualising of the environmental discourse of the National Curriculum Statement (R-9) in three case sites. These are: Grade seven Department of Education training material developed to introduce educators to the NCS (R-9), Delta Environmental Centre an environmental education non-governmental organisation, a rural primary school situated south of Durban. Using elements of the Bernstein’s (1990) framework of pedagogic discourse, the study traces how the environmental discourse was de-located from the field of production and relocated into the pedagogic practice of each case. In trying to follow the continuity, changes and discontinuities in the official [environmental] discourse as it is recontextualised, the study utilises Bernstein’s conceptual constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation. These constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation enabled me to ‘look into’ each case and get a perspective of how to explain the recontextualising processes. The study acknowledged that discourses are shaped and steered by historical, political and economic realities and begins by tracing the genesis of the environmental discourse within formal curriculum policy in South Africa. This socio-historical review highlights the main factors and happenings that shaped the present curriculum discourse and its production as official policy discourse. The study highlighted that within each case the recontextualising story is unique but some clear patterns emerged as factors that impacted on recontextualising processes. These were the role of history and context, knowledge and experience of the discourse, ideology and emphasis, and the depth with which the discourse was engaged. The discussion of these factors gave valuable insights into the recontextualising of curriculum discourses. The study comments on the need to clarify the environmental focus in the Learning Areas and to actualise this into practice so that the discourse becomes an integral part of teaching, learning and assessment. The study also highlights the need for professional development opportunities that will enable educators to clarify the nature and focus of the environmental discourse in the NCS (R-9), and its articulation in Learning Area in context. In particular, the environment and social justice relationships appear to require greater clarity of focus and interpretation in recontextualising processes. There also appears to be a need to develop educators’ foundational knowledge of environmental issues to strengthen the recontextualising of this discourse.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Towards a post-sacrificial theory of identity formation
- Authors: Menezes, Natalie
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Sacrifice -- Philosophy , Violence -- Philosophy , Forgiveness -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2862 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007626 , Sacrifice -- Philosophy , Violence -- Philosophy , Forgiveness -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Africa
- Description: In this thesis I shall outline various modernist authors' arguments that collectivities (such as ethnic groups, nations, states and cultures) and subjectivities employ sacrificial violence to establish and assert their identity where identity is inescapably (?) understood in terms of the sovereignty of the collective or the post-Oedipal autonomy of the individual. To this end, violence has been posited as a historical and conceptual inevitability and is set as the default-state of human nature and politics. In recent times, protesting voices (from post-feminist, post-colonial, post-modern and the emerging human rights discourses) have begun to rigorously contest the notion of violence as the default-state. As a result, the legitimacy of sacrifice as the primary modus to an autonomous selfhood has been radically problematised. I believe that a comprehensive understanding of the nature of this crisis of identity formation , and the possibility of transcending it, is to be found in the paradigmatic shift away from Newtonian thought toward a post-Newtonian worldview. In seeking to challenge the assumption of violence-as-default, I shall translate the comprehensive sacrificial nature of collective identity and subjectivity into a complexity-based model that allowed me to make three crucial conceptual moves toward a comprehensive understanding of post-sacrificial identities that occupy an important place in a post-Newtonian world. First, it will allow me to challenge the assumptions that supported the Hobbesian myth of autonomy/sovereignty sacrificially achieved by charting the ontological shift that compels us to understand "entities" (be it a cell, an individual or a state) not in terms of autonomy but interdependence. Secondly, it provides the conceptual tools needed to understand the systemic nature of sacrificial violence by reading subjectivity violence and collectivity violence in terms of their organic self-similarity. This will equip me to comprehensively explore a postsacrificial epistemology valid for both collective identities and subjectivity. Thirdly, I propose a model of post-sacrificial identities that are created and sustained at the edge of chaos through the dynamic interplay of order and disorder that reconciles creative and destructive forces in a generative unity. I believe that this post-Newtonian reading will clear the conceptual space needed to suggest there might yet be hope for a future that does not embrace violence as default-state.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Menezes, Natalie
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Sacrifice -- Philosophy , Violence -- Philosophy , Forgiveness -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2862 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007626 , Sacrifice -- Philosophy , Violence -- Philosophy , Forgiveness -- Philosophy , Philosophy -- Africa
- Description: In this thesis I shall outline various modernist authors' arguments that collectivities (such as ethnic groups, nations, states and cultures) and subjectivities employ sacrificial violence to establish and assert their identity where identity is inescapably (?) understood in terms of the sovereignty of the collective or the post-Oedipal autonomy of the individual. To this end, violence has been posited as a historical and conceptual inevitability and is set as the default-state of human nature and politics. In recent times, protesting voices (from post-feminist, post-colonial, post-modern and the emerging human rights discourses) have begun to rigorously contest the notion of violence as the default-state. As a result, the legitimacy of sacrifice as the primary modus to an autonomous selfhood has been radically problematised. I believe that a comprehensive understanding of the nature of this crisis of identity formation , and the possibility of transcending it, is to be found in the paradigmatic shift away from Newtonian thought toward a post-Newtonian worldview. In seeking to challenge the assumption of violence-as-default, I shall translate the comprehensive sacrificial nature of collective identity and subjectivity into a complexity-based model that allowed me to make three crucial conceptual moves toward a comprehensive understanding of post-sacrificial identities that occupy an important place in a post-Newtonian world. First, it will allow me to challenge the assumptions that supported the Hobbesian myth of autonomy/sovereignty sacrificially achieved by charting the ontological shift that compels us to understand "entities" (be it a cell, an individual or a state) not in terms of autonomy but interdependence. Secondly, it provides the conceptual tools needed to understand the systemic nature of sacrificial violence by reading subjectivity violence and collectivity violence in terms of their organic self-similarity. This will equip me to comprehensively explore a postsacrificial epistemology valid for both collective identities and subjectivity. Thirdly, I propose a model of post-sacrificial identities that are created and sustained at the edge of chaos through the dynamic interplay of order and disorder that reconciles creative and destructive forces in a generative unity. I believe that this post-Newtonian reading will clear the conceptual space needed to suggest there might yet be hope for a future that does not embrace violence as default-state.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Making sense of Men's Health: an investigation into the meanings men and women make of Men's Health
- Authors: McCance-Price, Maris
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3464 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002919 , Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Description: This study investigates the popular pleasures produced by readers of men's magazines, focusing primarily on the publication, Men's Health, which represents a new type of magazine catering for men. Using qualitative research methods such as textual analysis and reception analysis, the study explores the pleasures produced by both men and women from the consumption of such texts. The theoretical perspective of cultural studies informs this project, an approach that focuses on the generation and circulation of meanings in society. Focusing on the notion of the active audience and Hall's encoding/decoding model, this study examines readers' interpretations of the Men's Health text, focusing on the moment of consumption in the circuit of culture. Reception theory proposes the existence of "clustered readings" produced by interpretive communities that are socially rather than individually constructed. As a critical ethnography, the study interrogates these meanings with particular reference to questions of gender relations and power in society. Access to different discourses is structured by the social position of readers within relations of power and this study takes gender as a structuring principle. Therefore, this study also explores the particular discursive practices through which masculine and feminine imagery is produced by the Men's Health text and by its readers. The research findings support the more limited notion of the active audience espoused by theorists such as Hall (1980) offering further evidence to suggest that readers produce readings other than those preferred by the text and that therein lies the pleasure of the text for male and female readers. The research concludes that the popularity of Men's Health derives from the capacity of its readers to make multiple meanings of the text.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: McCance-Price, Maris
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3464 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002919 , Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Description: This study investigates the popular pleasures produced by readers of men's magazines, focusing primarily on the publication, Men's Health, which represents a new type of magazine catering for men. Using qualitative research methods such as textual analysis and reception analysis, the study explores the pleasures produced by both men and women from the consumption of such texts. The theoretical perspective of cultural studies informs this project, an approach that focuses on the generation and circulation of meanings in society. Focusing on the notion of the active audience and Hall's encoding/decoding model, this study examines readers' interpretations of the Men's Health text, focusing on the moment of consumption in the circuit of culture. Reception theory proposes the existence of "clustered readings" produced by interpretive communities that are socially rather than individually constructed. As a critical ethnography, the study interrogates these meanings with particular reference to questions of gender relations and power in society. Access to different discourses is structured by the social position of readers within relations of power and this study takes gender as a structuring principle. Therefore, this study also explores the particular discursive practices through which masculine and feminine imagery is produced by the Men's Health text and by its readers. The research findings support the more limited notion of the active audience espoused by theorists such as Hall (1980) offering further evidence to suggest that readers produce readings other than those preferred by the text and that therein lies the pleasure of the text for male and female readers. The research concludes that the popularity of Men's Health derives from the capacity of its readers to make multiple meanings of the text.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Food, philosophy and love
- Authors: Ristic, Nevenka
- Date: 2006 , 2013-06-14
- Subjects: Plato -- Symposium , Food -- Philosophy , Eating (Philosophy) , Love -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2738 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007478 , Plato -- Symposium , Food -- Philosophy , Eating (Philosophy) , Love -- Philosophy
- Description: This thesis is a metaphilosophical investigation into how food can be handled philosophically. The first chapter considers the question of whether food can be the subject matter of philosophy, and concludes that there are three possible ways: Foodist Philosophy, Philosophy of Food, and Philosophy and Food. This thesis focuses on the category Foodist Philosophy. The second chapter develops an account of foodist philosophy: it is a style of philosophy that assumes that our food and eating practices are fundamental aspects of the human condition. The third chapter analyses Plato's concept of love in the Symposium and these conclusions are objected to in a foodist critique in the fourth chapter. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Ristic, Nevenka
- Date: 2006 , 2013-06-14
- Subjects: Plato -- Symposium , Food -- Philosophy , Eating (Philosophy) , Love -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2738 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007478 , Plato -- Symposium , Food -- Philosophy , Eating (Philosophy) , Love -- Philosophy
- Description: This thesis is a metaphilosophical investigation into how food can be handled philosophically. The first chapter considers the question of whether food can be the subject matter of philosophy, and concludes that there are three possible ways: Foodist Philosophy, Philosophy of Food, and Philosophy and Food. This thesis focuses on the category Foodist Philosophy. The second chapter develops an account of foodist philosophy: it is a style of philosophy that assumes that our food and eating practices are fundamental aspects of the human condition. The third chapter analyses Plato's concept of love in the Symposium and these conclusions are objected to in a foodist critique in the fourth chapter. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
The fisheries potential of Marcusenius pongolensis, Oreochromis mossambicus and Schilbe intermedius in Mnjoli dam, Swaziland
- Authors: Khumalo, Nokuthula
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Mozambique tilapia , Marcusenius pongolensis , Schilbe intermedius , Fishes -- Swaziland , Fisheries -- Swaziland , Tilapia -- Swaziland
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5283 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005127 , Mozambique tilapia , Marcusenius pongolensis , Schilbe intermedius , Fishes -- Swaziland , Fisheries -- Swaziland , Tilapia -- Swaziland
- Description: This thesis investigates aspects of the diversity, abundance and biology of the fish species inhabiting Mnjoli Dam, an irrigation dam that is located in the rural lowveld region of Swaziland. Specific objectives for this thesis were: to determine the fish species present and select three principal species based on their abundance; to investigate the relative abundance and distribution of the three selected species; and to describe key population parameters, such as growth, maturity, reproductive seasonality and mortality. The three dominant species were selected on their fisheries potential. These were Marcusenius pongolensis, Oreochromis mossambicus and Schilbe intermedius. Marcusenius pongolensis was the most abundant species in terms of both catch per unit effort and mass. Catch rates were shown to vary according to habitat type. Age and growth parameters were obtained from sectioned otoliths. Marginal zone analysis showed that annulus formation occurred in winter for all three species. The maximum-recorded ages were 8, 6 and 8 for M. pongolensis, O. mossambicus and S. intermedius, respectively. Growth for the three species was best described by the three parameter von Bertalanffy growth model as Lt = 1.88.67(1- exp⁻¹·⁴⁸⁽t⁺°·⁶⁷⁾) mm FL for M. pongolensis; Lt = 226.83(1- exp⁻°·⁴⁽t⁺²·°²⁾) mm TL for O. mossambicus and Lt = 214.59(1- exp⁻°·⁶°⁽t⁺¹·²°⁾) mm FL for S. intermedius. Sexual maturity was estimated for male and female M. pongolensis at 134 mm FL and 119 mm FL, respectively. Oreochromis mossambicus matured at 239 mm TL and S. intermedius at 205 mm FL. Two spawning peaks for M. pongolensis and S. intermedius were observed, one at the onset of summer (November) and the second at the beginning of autumn (February-March). Oreochromis mossambicus also exhibited two spawning peaks, one in spring (September) and the second in autumn (February –March). Mean mortality rate (Z), estimated using catch curve analysis was 0.77 year⁻¹ for M. pongolensis, 0.49 year⁻¹ for O. mossambicus and 0.79 year⁻¹ for S. intermedius. Natural mortality was assumed to be equal to Z since there is no fishery activity at the dam. Size specific selectivity curves were developed for each species. Of all the mesh sizes used, the 44 mm mesh size net had the highest catch rates in terms of numbers for M. pongolensis and S. intermedius. The 75mm mesh caught the highest catch rates for O. mossambicus. . The 44mm and 75 mm meshes seem to be the most suitable mesh sizes for harvesting the candidate species. It is concluded that no commercial fishery should be established on the dam, yet a small subsistence fishery could be a possible option. Management options such as input controls, open and closed seasons and areas and minimum sizes are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Khumalo, Nokuthula
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Mozambique tilapia , Marcusenius pongolensis , Schilbe intermedius , Fishes -- Swaziland , Fisheries -- Swaziland , Tilapia -- Swaziland
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5283 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005127 , Mozambique tilapia , Marcusenius pongolensis , Schilbe intermedius , Fishes -- Swaziland , Fisheries -- Swaziland , Tilapia -- Swaziland
- Description: This thesis investigates aspects of the diversity, abundance and biology of the fish species inhabiting Mnjoli Dam, an irrigation dam that is located in the rural lowveld region of Swaziland. Specific objectives for this thesis were: to determine the fish species present and select three principal species based on their abundance; to investigate the relative abundance and distribution of the three selected species; and to describe key population parameters, such as growth, maturity, reproductive seasonality and mortality. The three dominant species were selected on their fisheries potential. These were Marcusenius pongolensis, Oreochromis mossambicus and Schilbe intermedius. Marcusenius pongolensis was the most abundant species in terms of both catch per unit effort and mass. Catch rates were shown to vary according to habitat type. Age and growth parameters were obtained from sectioned otoliths. Marginal zone analysis showed that annulus formation occurred in winter for all three species. The maximum-recorded ages were 8, 6 and 8 for M. pongolensis, O. mossambicus and S. intermedius, respectively. Growth for the three species was best described by the three parameter von Bertalanffy growth model as Lt = 1.88.67(1- exp⁻¹·⁴⁸⁽t⁺°·⁶⁷⁾) mm FL for M. pongolensis; Lt = 226.83(1- exp⁻°·⁴⁽t⁺²·°²⁾) mm TL for O. mossambicus and Lt = 214.59(1- exp⁻°·⁶°⁽t⁺¹·²°⁾) mm FL for S. intermedius. Sexual maturity was estimated for male and female M. pongolensis at 134 mm FL and 119 mm FL, respectively. Oreochromis mossambicus matured at 239 mm TL and S. intermedius at 205 mm FL. Two spawning peaks for M. pongolensis and S. intermedius were observed, one at the onset of summer (November) and the second at the beginning of autumn (February-March). Oreochromis mossambicus also exhibited two spawning peaks, one in spring (September) and the second in autumn (February –March). Mean mortality rate (Z), estimated using catch curve analysis was 0.77 year⁻¹ for M. pongolensis, 0.49 year⁻¹ for O. mossambicus and 0.79 year⁻¹ for S. intermedius. Natural mortality was assumed to be equal to Z since there is no fishery activity at the dam. Size specific selectivity curves were developed for each species. Of all the mesh sizes used, the 44 mm mesh size net had the highest catch rates in terms of numbers for M. pongolensis and S. intermedius. The 75mm mesh caught the highest catch rates for O. mossambicus. . The 44mm and 75 mm meshes seem to be the most suitable mesh sizes for harvesting the candidate species. It is concluded that no commercial fishery should be established on the dam, yet a small subsistence fishery could be a possible option. Management options such as input controls, open and closed seasons and areas and minimum sizes are discussed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Ameliorating poverty in South Africa through natural resource commercialisation
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6651 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007062
- Description: This short policy brief advocates for more attention to be paid to the potential of natural resource commercialisation as a means to livelihood security and poverty alleviation in rural South Africa. It is one of a set of four policy briefs based on the findings of several case studies across the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6651 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007062
- Description: This short policy brief advocates for more attention to be paid to the potential of natural resource commercialisation as a means to livelihood security and poverty alleviation in rural South Africa. It is one of a set of four policy briefs based on the findings of several case studies across the country.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Engaging sense of place in an environment of change: youth, identity and place-based learning activities in environmental education
- Authors: Farrington, Katie
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Place-based education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007931
- Description: This case study investigates sense of place of youth amidst a background of change in postapartheid South Africa. As used in this study, sense of place refers to the attachments made to both physical and social places, and the social and cultural interactions and meanings associated with such places. The research was conducted with a group of 13 young adults at Mary Waters Senior Secondary School in Grahamstown. The literature suggests that the changes that occur in the lives of the participants at school-leaving age such as new opportunities to identify with global aspirations, tend to influence their sense of place in local contexts. Social change that occurs due to globalising forces such as access to new technologies and improved personal mobility, also influences sense of place in this context. Another integral factor is the structural influence of changing cultural and educational norms. These notions form part of the backdrop of this study. The research project was developed in response to calls for learning approaches that are situated more in local contexts and which include the youth as intrinsic participants informing environmental education approaches. This research draws attention to the significance of finding sustainable ways that enhance opportunities for agency on the part of the youth in future local and global environmental care-taking. The study took place over a period of 15 months in which time the participants undertook place-based activities in their communities around self-identified environmental concerns. The study was intentionally generative in approach as this allowed the voices of the participants and their environmental perspectives to be considered in developing methods and activities that were suitable to their particular contexts and interests. The study highlights the relevance of particular social contexts, through the perspectives of people and in this case learners, as key to environmental education enquiries. The combination of approaches that consider: a) knowledge about social context, b) the educational intervention (place-based activities) and, c) the situated social capital of the participants, all form the basis of meaningful pedagogical engagements and serve to address my research question: How is learners' sense of place developed and articulated through place-based activities, and what are the implications for environmental education amidst a contemporary landscape of change in South Africa?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Farrington, Katie
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Place-based education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007931
- Description: This case study investigates sense of place of youth amidst a background of change in postapartheid South Africa. As used in this study, sense of place refers to the attachments made to both physical and social places, and the social and cultural interactions and meanings associated with such places. The research was conducted with a group of 13 young adults at Mary Waters Senior Secondary School in Grahamstown. The literature suggests that the changes that occur in the lives of the participants at school-leaving age such as new opportunities to identify with global aspirations, tend to influence their sense of place in local contexts. Social change that occurs due to globalising forces such as access to new technologies and improved personal mobility, also influences sense of place in this context. Another integral factor is the structural influence of changing cultural and educational norms. These notions form part of the backdrop of this study. The research project was developed in response to calls for learning approaches that are situated more in local contexts and which include the youth as intrinsic participants informing environmental education approaches. This research draws attention to the significance of finding sustainable ways that enhance opportunities for agency on the part of the youth in future local and global environmental care-taking. The study took place over a period of 15 months in which time the participants undertook place-based activities in their communities around self-identified environmental concerns. The study was intentionally generative in approach as this allowed the voices of the participants and their environmental perspectives to be considered in developing methods and activities that were suitable to their particular contexts and interests. The study highlights the relevance of particular social contexts, through the perspectives of people and in this case learners, as key to environmental education enquiries. The combination of approaches that consider: a) knowledge about social context, b) the educational intervention (place-based activities) and, c) the situated social capital of the participants, all form the basis of meaningful pedagogical engagements and serve to address my research question: How is learners' sense of place developed and articulated through place-based activities, and what are the implications for environmental education amidst a contemporary landscape of change in South Africa?
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Towards a new approach for coastal governance with an assessment of the Plettenberg Bay nearshore linefisheries
- Smith, Martin Kyle Stratford
- Authors: Smith, Martin Kyle Stratford
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Fishery management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Fisheries -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Coastal zone management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5327 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005173 , Fishery management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Fisheries -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Coastal zone management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
- Description: Under the guidance of the new coastal management policies within South Africa this thesis advocates a more integrated, co-operative approach to local coastal management. The project aimed to acquire baseline information on the local nearshore fishery and resource state and to propose a set of indicators that could be incorporated into the new management strategy. To gather the required information the project was split into two parts: 1) An assessment of the local linefisheries and 2) A comparative study of the reef fish community structure between exploited and unexploited reefs. The local linefisheries were assessed through the use of launch records, commercial catch records, access point and boat based surveys. A questionnaire was used to gather data on catch and effort, fisher demographics, fisher attitudes towards and knowledge of the current management regulations, assess the efficacy of the fisheries inspectorate and highlight spatial areas of fishing pressure. A total of 252 interviews and catch inspections were conducted. Total effort for the ski-boat fishery estimated from the access point survey was 890 boat days.year⁻¹ or 3560 fisher days. year⁻¹ compared to 736 boat days.year⁻¹ or 2944 fisher days. year⁻¹ recorded in the launch records. Effort was seasonal with greater pressure occurring over the summer holiday period. Analysis of the catch showed that Merluccius capensis, Argyrozona argyrozona, Argyrosomus inodorus, Chrysoblephus laticeps and Atractoscion aequidens were the most frequently caught species. The overall CPUE was 3.00±5.54kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 4.71±4.117 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹. Estimated targeted CPUE was 0.91±0.67kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 0.97±0.77 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for C. laticeps, 8.47±8.57kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 1.24±1.16 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for A. aequidens and 2.05±3.78kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 1.10±1.80 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for A. inodorus. Issues identified included poor fisher knowledge regarding linefish regulations, the low occurrence of fishery inspections and a limited degree of noncompliance. Although most fishers supported the current linefish management regulations, when tested on the size limits, bag limits and closed seasons of their target species a high proportion of fishers did not know the regulations (recreational 64%, charter 53%, commercial 42%). Furthermore only 27% of fishers had had their catch inspected whilst fishing in Plettenberg Bay and the majority of these had only been inspected once. Just over half the interviewees (60%) indicated that fishing had deteriorated within Plettenberg Bay with fewer and smaller fish being caught. The most common causes cited for this decline were commercial and recreational overfishing respectively. Underwater point counts and experimental angling were used to rapidly assess the state of the reef fish resource in Plettenberg Bay through a comparative study of the community structure between two exploited sites in Plettenberg Bay and two protected sites within the Tsitsikamma National Park. Generalized linear modeling showed that relative density of certain species was significantly different between the protected reefs inside the TNP and those exploited reefs within Plettenberg Bay. Both P. rupestris and C. laticeps had greater densities within the protected area whilst Chisquared tests showed that the size frequency distributions were significantly different with larger size-classes and the maximum size of fish greater within the reserve. These trends were noted with both the underwater visual surveys and the experimental angling. Multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis showed that there was an overall difference in the community structure between the study sites. It is hypothesised that through removal of key reef species and larger individuals that fishing has directly and indirectly affected the overall community structure. Within a simple framework based on ecological, institutional and social sustainability domains along with the results of the study area, a set of indicators is proposed and the sustainability of the local fishery scored within a rapid assessment matrix. The socio-economic domain scored the highest (83%) whilst the institutional domain scored the lowest (8.3%) and the ecological domain scored 25%, giving a total sustainability score of 38.8%. The results of this matrix show that at present the local fishery is non-sustainable and in need of greater management. By synthesizing papers dealing with and based on the concepts involved in Integrated Coastal Management, a structured approach is proposed to developing and implementing more holistic local coastal governance. It is envisaged that the framework to implement such an approach should be through the development of a local Coastal Management Plan and a subsidiary Bay Management Plan. Although stakeholder participation and representation is an essential component in the development of these plans, it is recommended that the local municipality should be the lead agent and incorporate the plans into the local Integrated Development and Spatial Plans thereby gaining long term local government support.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Smith, Martin Kyle Stratford
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Fishery management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Fisheries -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Coastal zone management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:5327 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005173 , Fishery management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Fisheries -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Reef fishes -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay , Coastal zone management -- South Africa -- Plettenberg Bay
- Description: Under the guidance of the new coastal management policies within South Africa this thesis advocates a more integrated, co-operative approach to local coastal management. The project aimed to acquire baseline information on the local nearshore fishery and resource state and to propose a set of indicators that could be incorporated into the new management strategy. To gather the required information the project was split into two parts: 1) An assessment of the local linefisheries and 2) A comparative study of the reef fish community structure between exploited and unexploited reefs. The local linefisheries were assessed through the use of launch records, commercial catch records, access point and boat based surveys. A questionnaire was used to gather data on catch and effort, fisher demographics, fisher attitudes towards and knowledge of the current management regulations, assess the efficacy of the fisheries inspectorate and highlight spatial areas of fishing pressure. A total of 252 interviews and catch inspections were conducted. Total effort for the ski-boat fishery estimated from the access point survey was 890 boat days.year⁻¹ or 3560 fisher days. year⁻¹ compared to 736 boat days.year⁻¹ or 2944 fisher days. year⁻¹ recorded in the launch records. Effort was seasonal with greater pressure occurring over the summer holiday period. Analysis of the catch showed that Merluccius capensis, Argyrozona argyrozona, Argyrosomus inodorus, Chrysoblephus laticeps and Atractoscion aequidens were the most frequently caught species. The overall CPUE was 3.00±5.54kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 4.71±4.117 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹. Estimated targeted CPUE was 0.91±0.67kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 0.97±0.77 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for C. laticeps, 8.47±8.57kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 1.24±1.16 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for A. aequidens and 2.05±3.78kg.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ or 1.10±1.80 fish.fisher⁻¹.day⁻¹ for A. inodorus. Issues identified included poor fisher knowledge regarding linefish regulations, the low occurrence of fishery inspections and a limited degree of noncompliance. Although most fishers supported the current linefish management regulations, when tested on the size limits, bag limits and closed seasons of their target species a high proportion of fishers did not know the regulations (recreational 64%, charter 53%, commercial 42%). Furthermore only 27% of fishers had had their catch inspected whilst fishing in Plettenberg Bay and the majority of these had only been inspected once. Just over half the interviewees (60%) indicated that fishing had deteriorated within Plettenberg Bay with fewer and smaller fish being caught. The most common causes cited for this decline were commercial and recreational overfishing respectively. Underwater point counts and experimental angling were used to rapidly assess the state of the reef fish resource in Plettenberg Bay through a comparative study of the community structure between two exploited sites in Plettenberg Bay and two protected sites within the Tsitsikamma National Park. Generalized linear modeling showed that relative density of certain species was significantly different between the protected reefs inside the TNP and those exploited reefs within Plettenberg Bay. Both P. rupestris and C. laticeps had greater densities within the protected area whilst Chisquared tests showed that the size frequency distributions were significantly different with larger size-classes and the maximum size of fish greater within the reserve. These trends were noted with both the underwater visual surveys and the experimental angling. Multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis showed that there was an overall difference in the community structure between the study sites. It is hypothesised that through removal of key reef species and larger individuals that fishing has directly and indirectly affected the overall community structure. Within a simple framework based on ecological, institutional and social sustainability domains along with the results of the study area, a set of indicators is proposed and the sustainability of the local fishery scored within a rapid assessment matrix. The socio-economic domain scored the highest (83%) whilst the institutional domain scored the lowest (8.3%) and the ecological domain scored 25%, giving a total sustainability score of 38.8%. The results of this matrix show that at present the local fishery is non-sustainable and in need of greater management. By synthesizing papers dealing with and based on the concepts involved in Integrated Coastal Management, a structured approach is proposed to developing and implementing more holistic local coastal governance. It is envisaged that the framework to implement such an approach should be through the development of a local Coastal Management Plan and a subsidiary Bay Management Plan. Although stakeholder participation and representation is an essential component in the development of these plans, it is recommended that the local municipality should be the lead agent and incorporate the plans into the local Integrated Development and Spatial Plans thereby gaining long term local government support.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
An investigation into the neuroprotective properties of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents tolmetin, sulindac and turmeric
- Authors: Dairam, Amichand
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents Antioxidants Tolmetin -- Therapeutic use Sulindac -- Therapeutic use Turmeric -- Therapeutic use Nervous system -- Degeneration -- Prevention Alzheimer's disease
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3752 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003230
- Description: Accumulating evidence suggests that anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants have neuroprotective properties and may be beneficial in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. In the present study, the possible neuroprotective properties of tolmetin, sulindac and turmeric were investigated. The antioxidant effects of tolmetin and sulindac were determined by inducing free radical generation with quinolinic acid (QA), cyanide or iron (II) in rat brain homogenates or primary hippocampal neurons. Tolmetin and sulindac significantly reduce lipid peroxidation and scavenge the superoxide anion. Metal binding studies were conducted to determine whether metal chelation is a possible mechanism through which these agents reduce QA and iron (II)-induced lipid peroxidation. UV/VIS, infrared spectroscopy as well as electrochemical studies show that both agents bind to iron (II) and/or iron (III). Histological examination of the hippocampus showed that pre-treatment of animals with tolmetin or sulindac offers protection against intrahippocampal injections of QA. These agents also attenuate QA-induced apoptosis and reduce the loss of neurons in the hippocampus. The co-incubation of primary hippocampal neurons with the NSAIDS also enhanced cell viability which is significantly reduced by QA. Behavioural studies using a water maze showed that the treatment of animals after QA-induced neurotoxicity reduces QA-induced spatial memory loss. Tolmetin and sulindac also reduced glutathione depletion and protein oxidation in rat hippocampus. Both NSAIDS inhibit liver tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase activity in vitro and in vivo and subsequently increased hippocampal serotonin levels. However, both NSAIDS also reduce dopamine levels in rat striatum. Tolmetin but not sulindac increased the synthesis of melatonin by the pineal gland. The active components of turmeric known as the curcuminoids were separated using preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC). The purity was confirmed by TLC, NMR and mass spectrometry. The environmental toxin lead, induces lipid peroxidation and reduces primary hippocampal neuronal viability. The co-incubation of the neurons with the curcuminoids significantly reduces lead-induced lipid peroxidation and enhances neuronal cell viability in the presence of lead. Lead-induced spatial memory deficit is also attenuated with curcumin, demethoxycurcumin but not bisdemethoxycurcumin. The curcuminoids also reduce lead-induced hippocampal glutathione depletion and protein oxidation. Metal binding studies show that the curcuminoids bind to lead and is another possible mechanism through which the curcuminoids reduce lead-induced neurotoxicity. The findings of this study indicate a possible role of tolmetin, sulindac and turmeric in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, tolmetin and sulindac reduce dopamine levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Dairam, Amichand
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents Antioxidants Tolmetin -- Therapeutic use Sulindac -- Therapeutic use Turmeric -- Therapeutic use Nervous system -- Degeneration -- Prevention Alzheimer's disease
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3752 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003230
- Description: Accumulating evidence suggests that anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants have neuroprotective properties and may be beneficial in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. In the present study, the possible neuroprotective properties of tolmetin, sulindac and turmeric were investigated. The antioxidant effects of tolmetin and sulindac were determined by inducing free radical generation with quinolinic acid (QA), cyanide or iron (II) in rat brain homogenates or primary hippocampal neurons. Tolmetin and sulindac significantly reduce lipid peroxidation and scavenge the superoxide anion. Metal binding studies were conducted to determine whether metal chelation is a possible mechanism through which these agents reduce QA and iron (II)-induced lipid peroxidation. UV/VIS, infrared spectroscopy as well as electrochemical studies show that both agents bind to iron (II) and/or iron (III). Histological examination of the hippocampus showed that pre-treatment of animals with tolmetin or sulindac offers protection against intrahippocampal injections of QA. These agents also attenuate QA-induced apoptosis and reduce the loss of neurons in the hippocampus. The co-incubation of primary hippocampal neurons with the NSAIDS also enhanced cell viability which is significantly reduced by QA. Behavioural studies using a water maze showed that the treatment of animals after QA-induced neurotoxicity reduces QA-induced spatial memory loss. Tolmetin and sulindac also reduced glutathione depletion and protein oxidation in rat hippocampus. Both NSAIDS inhibit liver tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase activity in vitro and in vivo and subsequently increased hippocampal serotonin levels. However, both NSAIDS also reduce dopamine levels in rat striatum. Tolmetin but not sulindac increased the synthesis of melatonin by the pineal gland. The active components of turmeric known as the curcuminoids were separated using preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC). The purity was confirmed by TLC, NMR and mass spectrometry. The environmental toxin lead, induces lipid peroxidation and reduces primary hippocampal neuronal viability. The co-incubation of the neurons with the curcuminoids significantly reduces lead-induced lipid peroxidation and enhances neuronal cell viability in the presence of lead. Lead-induced spatial memory deficit is also attenuated with curcumin, demethoxycurcumin but not bisdemethoxycurcumin. The curcuminoids also reduce lead-induced hippocampal glutathione depletion and protein oxidation. Metal binding studies show that the curcuminoids bind to lead and is another possible mechanism through which the curcuminoids reduce lead-induced neurotoxicity. The findings of this study indicate a possible role of tolmetin, sulindac and turmeric in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. However, tolmetin and sulindac reduce dopamine levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Democracy in Lesotho: theory and practice of opposition
- Authors: Mohapi, Refiloe Alphonce
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Democracy -- Lesotho , Political parties -- Lesotho , Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2806 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003016 , Democracy -- Lesotho , Political parties -- Lesotho , Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Description: Using theoretical insights from elsewhere, this thesis examines and explains Lesotho’s opposition. It argues that the decline of single-member constituency and the rise of Mixed Member Proportionality (MMP) has weakened the prospects for a strong opposition in Lesotho; more parties in parliament have strengthened the hold of the ruling party. These parties cannot overturn the parliamentary decisions of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), which continues to win more than 90% of majority seats in successive elections. So, most bills and motions passed in parliament have support of the majority of the MPs of LCD. Opposition parties have little legislative impact in challenging the policies of government. Paradoxically, MPs of the LCD are often the only source of opposition in the country’s parliament.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Mohapi, Refiloe Alphonce
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Democracy -- Lesotho , Political parties -- Lesotho , Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2806 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003016 , Democracy -- Lesotho , Political parties -- Lesotho , Lesotho -- Politics and government
- Description: Using theoretical insights from elsewhere, this thesis examines and explains Lesotho’s opposition. It argues that the decline of single-member constituency and the rise of Mixed Member Proportionality (MMP) has weakened the prospects for a strong opposition in Lesotho; more parties in parliament have strengthened the hold of the ruling party. These parties cannot overturn the parliamentary decisions of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), which continues to win more than 90% of majority seats in successive elections. So, most bills and motions passed in parliament have support of the majority of the MPs of LCD. Opposition parties have little legislative impact in challenging the policies of government. Paradoxically, MPs of the LCD are often the only source of opposition in the country’s parliament.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Negotiating impoverishment: Farm worker responses to displacement following land invasions in Zimbabwe's "Fast Track Land Reform Programme"
- Hartnack, Andrew Michael Carl
- Authors: Hartnack, Andrew Michael Carl
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/197076 , vital:45834
- Description: This thesis investigates the impacts of sudden, unplanned, and violent displacement on farm workers such as Frank Juwawo during Zimbabwe’s recent Fast Track Land Reform Programme. It seeks to illustrate how the members of a complex community were differentially impacted by displacement and displayed differing abilities to mitigate the resulting social and economic impoverishment. In order to illuminate this particular displacement scenario, this thesis uses theoretical and analytical tools developed in the field of displacement studies, adapting them to suit the kind of displacement experienced by Zimbabwean farm workers. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2006
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Hartnack, Andrew Michael Carl
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/197076 , vital:45834
- Description: This thesis investigates the impacts of sudden, unplanned, and violent displacement on farm workers such as Frank Juwawo during Zimbabwe’s recent Fast Track Land Reform Programme. It seeks to illustrate how the members of a complex community were differentially impacted by displacement and displayed differing abilities to mitigate the resulting social and economic impoverishment. In order to illuminate this particular displacement scenario, this thesis uses theoretical and analytical tools developed in the field of displacement studies, adapting them to suit the kind of displacement experienced by Zimbabwean farm workers. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology, 2006
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
A critical investigation of a Future Search Conference as a planned organisational change initiative within the National Health Training Network in Namibia
- Authors: Hausiku, Marthina Ndahepa
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Future Search Conference National Health Training Network Organizational change -- Namibia Research -- Methodology Interviewing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1478 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003359
- Description: “The world is changing faster than the experts” (Weisbord & Janoff, 2000:xi). Change, according to Meyer & Botha (2000:223), is the movement of people from a current state to a defined, different, improved and desired new state. Change is needed in all organisations because it has direct influence on the organisation’s performance, and the National Health Training Network in Namibia is no exception. The Future Search Conference as a powerful organisation development strategy, can help people transform their capacity for action. The National Health Training Network (NHTN), like any other institution, has been experiencing some managerial/administrative problems. I, being a member of the NHTN, together with most of the organisation, was faced with the challenge of not knowing what to do. Learning about approaches that might help organisations to develop, concepts such as organisation development in general and Future Search in particular, I developed an interest especially in the Future Search Conference. My interest was based on successful developmental stories of Future Search Conferences in organisations across the world. I decided to introduce the Future Search Conference to our organisation, which I thought might be a remedy for our problems at a later stage. The aim of the study was to investigate participants' experiences and the perception of the Future Search Conference as an approach to organisational change, through interviews. The study found that Future Search was a new concept/approach to the NHTN as well as to the whole Ministry, and it is different from the traditional strategic planning. The difference is seen in the way Future Search involves all stakeholders in issues of concern, while strategic planning involves only managers. The responses revealed the willingness of participants to implement the Future Search Conference in their organisation. Data also revealed, however, that it was not clear how ready the managers were to carry out this task, as they are the gatekeepers. Participants suggested a separate Future Search Conference with managers, to sensitise them to the approach, so that they can see whether it addresses the values and goals of the organisation and can be implemented for developmental purposes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Hausiku, Marthina Ndahepa
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Future Search Conference National Health Training Network Organizational change -- Namibia Research -- Methodology Interviewing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1478 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003359
- Description: “The world is changing faster than the experts” (Weisbord & Janoff, 2000:xi). Change, according to Meyer & Botha (2000:223), is the movement of people from a current state to a defined, different, improved and desired new state. Change is needed in all organisations because it has direct influence on the organisation’s performance, and the National Health Training Network in Namibia is no exception. The Future Search Conference as a powerful organisation development strategy, can help people transform their capacity for action. The National Health Training Network (NHTN), like any other institution, has been experiencing some managerial/administrative problems. I, being a member of the NHTN, together with most of the organisation, was faced with the challenge of not knowing what to do. Learning about approaches that might help organisations to develop, concepts such as organisation development in general and Future Search in particular, I developed an interest especially in the Future Search Conference. My interest was based on successful developmental stories of Future Search Conferences in organisations across the world. I decided to introduce the Future Search Conference to our organisation, which I thought might be a remedy for our problems at a later stage. The aim of the study was to investigate participants' experiences and the perception of the Future Search Conference as an approach to organisational change, through interviews. The study found that Future Search was a new concept/approach to the NHTN as well as to the whole Ministry, and it is different from the traditional strategic planning. The difference is seen in the way Future Search involves all stakeholders in issues of concern, while strategic planning involves only managers. The responses revealed the willingness of participants to implement the Future Search Conference in their organisation. Data also revealed, however, that it was not clear how ready the managers were to carry out this task, as they are the gatekeepers. Participants suggested a separate Future Search Conference with managers, to sensitise them to the approach, so that they can see whether it addresses the values and goals of the organisation and can be implemented for developmental purposes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Ameliorating poverty in South Africa through natural resource commercialisation : how can NGO's make a difference?
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6615 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016222
- Description: [From Introduction] Some of the poorest rural people in South Africa are turning to the natural resource base for income generation. Using traditional skills they are converting a variety of wild resources into commodities that are sold in the market place. Wood and woven craft, medicines, fresh and processed wild foods, alcoholic beverages, building materials, fuelwood, dried mopane worms, cultural artefacts and brooms are just some examples of the array of natural resource products increasingly seen for sale in local and external markets. Many of the participants in this trade have minimal education, few assets to draw on, and little access to alternative sources of income or jobs. A significant proportion are women, with more than half heading their own households. Many come from households devastated by HIV/AIDS. The cash earned from selling natural resource products, however modest, is of critical importance to the households involved, preventing them from slipping deeper into poverty. “Since I have been making brooms my children no longer go to bed crying of hunger” observed one broom producer. NGOs, particularly those involved in rural development, can play an important role in assisting producers overcome some of the obstacles they face and in enhancing the opportunities to grow this informal sector. , This policy brief is based on the original brief made available for a workshop in August 2006. It draws on, amongst other sources, the results of several case studies of natural resource commercialisation undertaken across South Africa. The project was funded by the South Africa-Netherlands Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD), BP South Africa and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The Center for International Forestry Research, with support from SIDA, provided the funding to share these findings with key stakeholders including government policy and decision makers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Shackleton, Sheona E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6615 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016222
- Description: [From Introduction] Some of the poorest rural people in South Africa are turning to the natural resource base for income generation. Using traditional skills they are converting a variety of wild resources into commodities that are sold in the market place. Wood and woven craft, medicines, fresh and processed wild foods, alcoholic beverages, building materials, fuelwood, dried mopane worms, cultural artefacts and brooms are just some examples of the array of natural resource products increasingly seen for sale in local and external markets. Many of the participants in this trade have minimal education, few assets to draw on, and little access to alternative sources of income or jobs. A significant proportion are women, with more than half heading their own households. Many come from households devastated by HIV/AIDS. The cash earned from selling natural resource products, however modest, is of critical importance to the households involved, preventing them from slipping deeper into poverty. “Since I have been making brooms my children no longer go to bed crying of hunger” observed one broom producer. NGOs, particularly those involved in rural development, can play an important role in assisting producers overcome some of the obstacles they face and in enhancing the opportunities to grow this informal sector. , This policy brief is based on the original brief made available for a workshop in August 2006. It draws on, amongst other sources, the results of several case studies of natural resource commercialisation undertaken across South Africa. The project was funded by the South Africa-Netherlands Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD), BP South Africa and the National Research Foundation (NRF). The Center for International Forestry Research, with support from SIDA, provided the funding to share these findings with key stakeholders including government policy and decision makers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
'Show and tell': a discursive analysis of women's written accounts of their self-injuring practices
- Authors: Morison, Tracy
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Self-injurious behavior , Psychology, Pathological
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3026 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002535 , Self-injurious behavior , Psychology, Pathological
- Description: Self-injuring is a practice that involves self-administered damage to one’s body, most commonly cutting of the skin on the forearms. (The practice is distinguished from other intentional and in/direct self-harmful or self-damaging behaviours that cause bodily harm). Dominant psychiatric, psychological or medical approaches construct self-injuring as deviant, socially unacceptable or abnormal behaviour that is indicative of more or less severe psychopathology, and importantly as a stereotypically female practice. This research is conducted within a post-essentialist framework and views self-injuring, and the injured body, as discursively constituted as well as a cultural and political act. It therefore moves away from pathologising discourses in which those who self-injure typically find themselves and their own accounts of their behaviour invalidated and silenced. Instead, the mental health perspective is viewed as one party among many that may contribute to the conceptualisation of ‘self-injuring’ practices as socially meaningful and thus self-injuring is critically interpreted without reliance on a medical model of ‘normalcy’. As part of attempts to challenge medical models and cultural ideals of normalcy, this research presents a critical discursive analysis of a series of narratives provided by 5 female participants in which they record their own experiences, feelings and thoughts related to their practices of selfinjuring. It makes use of critical discourse analytic methodology to identify certain characteristics of these narratives as representations of larger collective meaning systems. It analyses the ways in which self-injuring is constructed in women’s stories of their self-injuring experiences, focusing particularly on the subject positions available in these discourses, as well as their ideological effects. The analysis focuses particularly on constructions of the body and subject positions as they enable or undermines the self-injuring subject’s agency. Finally, it attempts to determine the limitations of certain accounts of self-injuring, pursuing multiple meanings of self-injuring and illuminating new dimensions of talk on self-injuring and novel ways of conceptualising and understanding the practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Morison, Tracy
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Self-injurious behavior , Psychology, Pathological
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3026 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002535 , Self-injurious behavior , Psychology, Pathological
- Description: Self-injuring is a practice that involves self-administered damage to one’s body, most commonly cutting of the skin on the forearms. (The practice is distinguished from other intentional and in/direct self-harmful or self-damaging behaviours that cause bodily harm). Dominant psychiatric, psychological or medical approaches construct self-injuring as deviant, socially unacceptable or abnormal behaviour that is indicative of more or less severe psychopathology, and importantly as a stereotypically female practice. This research is conducted within a post-essentialist framework and views self-injuring, and the injured body, as discursively constituted as well as a cultural and political act. It therefore moves away from pathologising discourses in which those who self-injure typically find themselves and their own accounts of their behaviour invalidated and silenced. Instead, the mental health perspective is viewed as one party among many that may contribute to the conceptualisation of ‘self-injuring’ practices as socially meaningful and thus self-injuring is critically interpreted without reliance on a medical model of ‘normalcy’. As part of attempts to challenge medical models and cultural ideals of normalcy, this research presents a critical discursive analysis of a series of narratives provided by 5 female participants in which they record their own experiences, feelings and thoughts related to their practices of selfinjuring. It makes use of critical discourse analytic methodology to identify certain characteristics of these narratives as representations of larger collective meaning systems. It analyses the ways in which self-injuring is constructed in women’s stories of their self-injuring experiences, focusing particularly on the subject positions available in these discourses, as well as their ideological effects. The analysis focuses particularly on constructions of the body and subject positions as they enable or undermines the self-injuring subject’s agency. Finally, it attempts to determine the limitations of certain accounts of self-injuring, pursuing multiple meanings of self-injuring and illuminating new dimensions of talk on self-injuring and novel ways of conceptualising and understanding the practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Implementing performance management at local government level in South Africa : a case study on the impact of organisational culture
- Authors: Williams, Quinton Walter
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Buffalo City (South Africa) Local government -- South Africa Municipal government -- South Africa Performance -- Management -- South Africa Corporate culture -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003870
- Description: Local Government in South Africa has undergone much transformation since 2000. Although much of the change has been to correct imbalances, inequities and disparities within our local communities as a result of Apartheid, change has also been motivated by National Government’s realisation that, as with governments throughout the world, there is a need to modernise all spheres of Government. Part of this transformation process at a local government level in South Africa has been to ensure that municipalities become more responsive to the communities’ needs. The guiding principles for this transformation are contained in the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (1995) and the Batho Pele White Paper (1997). This has informed the Municipal Systems Act: Act 32 of 2000 of which Chapter 6 determines that municipalities will have a performance management system to promote a culture of performance management amongst the political structures, political office bearers, councillors and administration. The performance management system must ensure that the municipality administers its affairs in an economical, effective, efficient and accountable manner. A literature review contained in this research, indicates that internationally, implementing performance management systems at a local government level is impact upon by a number of factors such as the organizational culture of an institution. This research, which has been grounded within a constructivist paradigm, describes the impact organizational culture has had on the implementation process of the performance management system at Buffalo City Municipality. Interviews were conducted amongst the Section 57 employees (i.e. the Directors) and those employees directly responsible for implementing performance management. The four Directors, two General Managers and the portfolio councilor were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the interviewees and this culminated in a total of 10 hours of interviewing. The protocols were analyzed using the guidelines suggested by Boyatzis (1998) and the findings are detailed in two chapters. The findings of the research were that the implementation of the performance management system at Buffalo City Municipality has been impacted on by the dichotomy between the political and administrative leadership, resulting in non-implementation of council resolutions, the lack of an organizational strategy, poor institutional arrangements and inadequate resource allocation, are reported. However, the most important finding was the impact that a culture of fear has had on the implementation process. This culture of fear and its impact on the implementation of performance management system is described as the most pervasive and insidious of all the findings to have negatively impacted on the implementation process. This research ends with recommendations for further research and it is argued that each organization has its own unique organizational culture. The conclusion is that no single typology, as contained in the literature, which can account for the specific impact organizational culture will have on the implementation process of a performance management system at local government level in South Africa. Consequently, implementers of performance management systems must assess the unique characteristics of each organization’s culture prior to implementation, in order to evaluate its impact that the organizational culture can have on the process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Williams, Quinton Walter
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Buffalo City (South Africa) Local government -- South Africa Municipal government -- South Africa Performance -- Management -- South Africa Corporate culture -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:749 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003870
- Description: Local Government in South Africa has undergone much transformation since 2000. Although much of the change has been to correct imbalances, inequities and disparities within our local communities as a result of Apartheid, change has also been motivated by National Government’s realisation that, as with governments throughout the world, there is a need to modernise all spheres of Government. Part of this transformation process at a local government level in South Africa has been to ensure that municipalities become more responsive to the communities’ needs. The guiding principles for this transformation are contained in the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (1995) and the Batho Pele White Paper (1997). This has informed the Municipal Systems Act: Act 32 of 2000 of which Chapter 6 determines that municipalities will have a performance management system to promote a culture of performance management amongst the political structures, political office bearers, councillors and administration. The performance management system must ensure that the municipality administers its affairs in an economical, effective, efficient and accountable manner. A literature review contained in this research, indicates that internationally, implementing performance management systems at a local government level is impact upon by a number of factors such as the organizational culture of an institution. This research, which has been grounded within a constructivist paradigm, describes the impact organizational culture has had on the implementation process of the performance management system at Buffalo City Municipality. Interviews were conducted amongst the Section 57 employees (i.e. the Directors) and those employees directly responsible for implementing performance management. The four Directors, two General Managers and the portfolio councilor were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the interviewees and this culminated in a total of 10 hours of interviewing. The protocols were analyzed using the guidelines suggested by Boyatzis (1998) and the findings are detailed in two chapters. The findings of the research were that the implementation of the performance management system at Buffalo City Municipality has been impacted on by the dichotomy between the political and administrative leadership, resulting in non-implementation of council resolutions, the lack of an organizational strategy, poor institutional arrangements and inadequate resource allocation, are reported. However, the most important finding was the impact that a culture of fear has had on the implementation process. This culture of fear and its impact on the implementation of performance management system is described as the most pervasive and insidious of all the findings to have negatively impacted on the implementation process. This research ends with recommendations for further research and it is argued that each organization has its own unique organizational culture. The conclusion is that no single typology, as contained in the literature, which can account for the specific impact organizational culture will have on the implementation process of a performance management system at local government level in South Africa. Consequently, implementers of performance management systems must assess the unique characteristics of each organization’s culture prior to implementation, in order to evaluate its impact that the organizational culture can have on the process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Ideology in editorials : a comparison of selected editorials in English-medium newspapers after September 11
- Authors: Lagonikos, Irene Theodosia
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 , Editorials , Terrorism in mass media
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2354 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002636 , September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 , Editorials , Terrorism in mass media
- Description: September 11, 2001 presented the world with events that challenged its conception of reality and called into question current ideologies. In order to make sense of the attacks, people turned to the media for information and interpretation. My interest lies in the media’s role in shaping ideologies as a result of the events of September 11, 2001. I focus on the newspaper editorial because it, in particular, functions not only to report the news but also to interpret the news for the reader. My analysis is centred on the first reaction to the events in five ‘core’ editorials drawn, respectively, from an American, British, South African, Zimbabwean and Kenyan newspaper. The specific focus, in each case, is the representation and evaluation of social actors, the events themselves and the schematic structure of the editorial. I adopt a critical perspective through the use of Critical Discourse Analysis, supported by Systemic Functional Grammar and APPRAISAL. This perspective involves three inter-connected stages of analysis: a Description of the formal discourse properties of each editorial; an Interpretation of the prevailing situational context; and an Explanation of the sociohistorical context in each case. Language, being a form of social practice, is a means by which power relations in society are reproduced or contested (Janks 1997). By analysing the editorials’ discourse I identify whose interests are being served and how each text positions a reader’s attitudes and opinions. My analysis reveals the fact that the editorials distinguish between “us” and “them” groups for the purposes of advancing and confirming in-group ideologies and agendas. This is achieved in each case through comparing the paper’s ideology with the opposing ideology, which is presented as deviant and unsupportive of the in-group. My analysis of the African editorials, in particular, further reveals the exploitation of this division for the purposes of promoting and interpreting local political and social issues. Examination of the processes and conditions surrounding the production of the editorials shows how they are significantly influenced and constrained by the ideologies of both the writer and newspaper owner as well as by the situational context within which they were written. My analysis of the schematic structure of the editorials, in line with Bolivar (1994), reveals consistent use of three-part structures by which editorial opinions are evaluated. In concluding I provide suggestions, based on my research, for how critical language awareness can inform media education at high school level in South Africa. I argue that students should be equipped with tools, such as those I employed, to critically analyse and uncover how language is used to promote ideologies in the editorial of newspapers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Lagonikos, Irene Theodosia
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 , Editorials , Terrorism in mass media
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2354 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002636 , September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 , Editorials , Terrorism in mass media
- Description: September 11, 2001 presented the world with events that challenged its conception of reality and called into question current ideologies. In order to make sense of the attacks, people turned to the media for information and interpretation. My interest lies in the media’s role in shaping ideologies as a result of the events of September 11, 2001. I focus on the newspaper editorial because it, in particular, functions not only to report the news but also to interpret the news for the reader. My analysis is centred on the first reaction to the events in five ‘core’ editorials drawn, respectively, from an American, British, South African, Zimbabwean and Kenyan newspaper. The specific focus, in each case, is the representation and evaluation of social actors, the events themselves and the schematic structure of the editorial. I adopt a critical perspective through the use of Critical Discourse Analysis, supported by Systemic Functional Grammar and APPRAISAL. This perspective involves three inter-connected stages of analysis: a Description of the formal discourse properties of each editorial; an Interpretation of the prevailing situational context; and an Explanation of the sociohistorical context in each case. Language, being a form of social practice, is a means by which power relations in society are reproduced or contested (Janks 1997). By analysing the editorials’ discourse I identify whose interests are being served and how each text positions a reader’s attitudes and opinions. My analysis reveals the fact that the editorials distinguish between “us” and “them” groups for the purposes of advancing and confirming in-group ideologies and agendas. This is achieved in each case through comparing the paper’s ideology with the opposing ideology, which is presented as deviant and unsupportive of the in-group. My analysis of the African editorials, in particular, further reveals the exploitation of this division for the purposes of promoting and interpreting local political and social issues. Examination of the processes and conditions surrounding the production of the editorials shows how they are significantly influenced and constrained by the ideologies of both the writer and newspaper owner as well as by the situational context within which they were written. My analysis of the schematic structure of the editorials, in line with Bolivar (1994), reveals consistent use of three-part structures by which editorial opinions are evaluated. In concluding I provide suggestions, based on my research, for how critical language awareness can inform media education at high school level in South Africa. I argue that students should be equipped with tools, such as those I employed, to critically analyse and uncover how language is used to promote ideologies in the editorial of newspapers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Development and assessment of azithromycin paediatric suppository formulations
- Authors: Mollel, Happiness
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Azithromycin , Pediatrics , Clinical pharmacology , Pharmacokinetics , Suppositories , Drugs -- Dosage forms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3774 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003252 , Azithromycin , Pediatrics , Clinical pharmacology , Pharmacokinetics , Suppositories , Drugs -- Dosage forms
- Description: The use of the oral route of administration for the treatment of young children with antibiotics can at times be problematic since, factors such as nausea, vomiting, taste and/or smell, in addition to the challenges associated with the administration of suspensions, may contribute to poor patient compliance. In such cases, the use of the rectal route of administration may be appropriate. Therefore, suppositories containing 250 mg azithromycin (AZI) were manufactured and assessed for potential as an antibiotic suppository dosage form. Suppositories, containing AZI dihydrate were manufactured by the fusion method, using different grades of PEG, Witepsol® and Suppocire® bases. The rate and extent of AZI release was evaluated using USP apparatus I, and samples were analyzed using a validated HPLC method. Differences in the rate and extent of AZI release were observed with the greatest amount of AZI being released from PEG formulations. The rate and extent of AZI release from formulations manufactured using fatty bases were influenced by physicochemical properties, such as melting rate and hydroxyl value, of the bases. In addition drug partitioning appeared to favor the lipid phase and had a negative impact on AZI release characteristics. Two different formulation approaches were used in an attempt to increase the rate and extent of AZI release from fatty base formulations. The use of surfactants significantly increased AZI release from formulations manufactured with fatty bases with high hydroxyl values. The use of urea or Povidone K25 in combination with AZI as a physical mixture or solid dispersion did not increase the rate and extent of AZI release from the fatty suppositories, to any significant extent. The mechanism of drug release was evaluated using several mathematical models, including the Higuchi, Korsmeyer- eppas, Zero and, First order models. In addition, in vitro dissolution profiles were characterized by the difference and similarity factors, f1 and f2 and by use of the Gohel similarity factor, Sd. AZI release kinetics were best described by the Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models and the values of the release exponent, n, revealed that drug release was a consequence of the combined effects of AZI diffusion, rate of melting of the base and partitioning of the drug which can be considered to be anomalous release.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Mollel, Happiness
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Azithromycin , Pediatrics , Clinical pharmacology , Pharmacokinetics , Suppositories , Drugs -- Dosage forms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:3774 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003252 , Azithromycin , Pediatrics , Clinical pharmacology , Pharmacokinetics , Suppositories , Drugs -- Dosage forms
- Description: The use of the oral route of administration for the treatment of young children with antibiotics can at times be problematic since, factors such as nausea, vomiting, taste and/or smell, in addition to the challenges associated with the administration of suspensions, may contribute to poor patient compliance. In such cases, the use of the rectal route of administration may be appropriate. Therefore, suppositories containing 250 mg azithromycin (AZI) were manufactured and assessed for potential as an antibiotic suppository dosage form. Suppositories, containing AZI dihydrate were manufactured by the fusion method, using different grades of PEG, Witepsol® and Suppocire® bases. The rate and extent of AZI release was evaluated using USP apparatus I, and samples were analyzed using a validated HPLC method. Differences in the rate and extent of AZI release were observed with the greatest amount of AZI being released from PEG formulations. The rate and extent of AZI release from formulations manufactured using fatty bases were influenced by physicochemical properties, such as melting rate and hydroxyl value, of the bases. In addition drug partitioning appeared to favor the lipid phase and had a negative impact on AZI release characteristics. Two different formulation approaches were used in an attempt to increase the rate and extent of AZI release from fatty base formulations. The use of surfactants significantly increased AZI release from formulations manufactured with fatty bases with high hydroxyl values. The use of urea or Povidone K25 in combination with AZI as a physical mixture or solid dispersion did not increase the rate and extent of AZI release from the fatty suppositories, to any significant extent. The mechanism of drug release was evaluated using several mathematical models, including the Higuchi, Korsmeyer- eppas, Zero and, First order models. In addition, in vitro dissolution profiles were characterized by the difference and similarity factors, f1 and f2 and by use of the Gohel similarity factor, Sd. AZI release kinetics were best described by the Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas models and the values of the release exponent, n, revealed that drug release was a consequence of the combined effects of AZI diffusion, rate of melting of the base and partitioning of the drug which can be considered to be anomalous release.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006