Cryptic species of a water hyacinth biological control agent revealed in South Africa: host specificity, impact, and thermal tolerance
- Paterson, Iain D, Coetzee, Julie A, Weyl, Philip S R, Griffith, Tamzin C, Voogt, Nina, Hill, Martin P
- Authors: Paterson, Iain D , Coetzee, Julie A , Weyl, Philip S R , Griffith, Tamzin C , Voogt, Nina , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423982 , vital:72113 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12812"
- Description: The discovery that cryptic species are more abundant than previously thought has implications for weed biological control, as there is a risk that cryptic species may be inadvertently released with consequences for the safety of the practice. A cryptic species of a biological control agent released for the control of the invasive alien macrophyte, water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (C. Mart.) Solms. (Pontederiaceae), was recently discovered in South Africa. The two species were considered a single species prior to genetic analysis and interbreeding experiments. The original biological control agent retains the name Eccritotarsus catarinensis (Carvalho) (Heteroptera: Miridae) whereas the new species has been described as Eccritotarsus eichhorniae Henry. In this study, we compared the host specificity, efficacy, and thermal physiologies of the two species. The host specificity of the two species within the Pontederiaceae was very similar and both are safe for release in South Africa. Comparison of the per capita impact of the two species indicated that E. eichhorniae was the more damaging species but this is likely to be influenced by temperature, with E. catarinensis being more effective under lower temperatures and E. eichhorniae being more effective under higher temperatures. Releasing the correct species for the thermal environment of each release site will improve the level of control of water hyacinth in South Africa. This example highlights the need to keep populations of biological control agents from different native range collection localities separate, and to screen for host specificity and efficacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Paterson, Iain D , Coetzee, Julie A , Weyl, Philip S R , Griffith, Tamzin C , Voogt, Nina , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423982 , vital:72113 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12812"
- Description: The discovery that cryptic species are more abundant than previously thought has implications for weed biological control, as there is a risk that cryptic species may be inadvertently released with consequences for the safety of the practice. A cryptic species of a biological control agent released for the control of the invasive alien macrophyte, water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (C. Mart.) Solms. (Pontederiaceae), was recently discovered in South Africa. The two species were considered a single species prior to genetic analysis and interbreeding experiments. The original biological control agent retains the name Eccritotarsus catarinensis (Carvalho) (Heteroptera: Miridae) whereas the new species has been described as Eccritotarsus eichhorniae Henry. In this study, we compared the host specificity, efficacy, and thermal physiologies of the two species. The host specificity of the two species within the Pontederiaceae was very similar and both are safe for release in South Africa. Comparison of the per capita impact of the two species indicated that E. eichhorniae was the more damaging species but this is likely to be influenced by temperature, with E. catarinensis being more effective under lower temperatures and E. eichhorniae being more effective under higher temperatures. Releasing the correct species for the thermal environment of each release site will improve the level of control of water hyacinth in South Africa. This example highlights the need to keep populations of biological control agents from different native range collection localities separate, and to screen for host specificity and efficacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
CubiCal: a fast radio interferometric calibration suite exploiting complex optimisation
- Authors: Kenyon, Jonathan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Interferometry , Radio astronomy , Python (Computer program language) , Square Kilometre Array (Project)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92341 , vital:30711
- Description: The advent of the Square Kilometre Array and its precursors marks the start of an exciting era for radio interferometry. However, with new instruments producing unprecedented quantities of data, many existing calibration algorithms and implementations will be hard-pressed to keep up. Fortunately, it has recently been shown that the radio interferometric calibration problem can be expressed concisely using the ideas of complex optimisation. The resulting framework exposes properties of the calibration problem which can be exploited to accelerate traditional non-linear least squares algorithms. We extend the existing work on the topic by considering the more general problem of calibrating a Jones chain: the product of several unknown gain terms. We also derive specialised solvers for performing phase-only, delay and pointing error calibration. In doing so, we devise a method for determining update rules for arbitrary, real-valued parametrisations of a complex gain. The solvers are implemented in an optimised Python package called CubiCal. CubiCal makes use of Cython to generate fast C and C++ routines for performing computationally demanding tasks whilst leveraging multiprocessing and shared memory to take advantage of modern, parallel hardware. The package is fully compatible with the measurement set, the most common format for interferometer data, and is well integrated with Montblanc - a third party package which implements optimised model visibility prediction. CubiCal's calibration routines are applied successfully to both simulated and real data for the field surrounding source 3C147. These tests include direction-independent and direction dependent calibration, as well as tests of the specialised solvers. Finally, we conduct extensive performance benchmarks and verify that CubiCal convincingly outperforms its most comparable competitor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kenyon, Jonathan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Interferometry , Radio astronomy , Python (Computer program language) , Square Kilometre Array (Project)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92341 , vital:30711
- Description: The advent of the Square Kilometre Array and its precursors marks the start of an exciting era for radio interferometry. However, with new instruments producing unprecedented quantities of data, many existing calibration algorithms and implementations will be hard-pressed to keep up. Fortunately, it has recently been shown that the radio interferometric calibration problem can be expressed concisely using the ideas of complex optimisation. The resulting framework exposes properties of the calibration problem which can be exploited to accelerate traditional non-linear least squares algorithms. We extend the existing work on the topic by considering the more general problem of calibrating a Jones chain: the product of several unknown gain terms. We also derive specialised solvers for performing phase-only, delay and pointing error calibration. In doing so, we devise a method for determining update rules for arbitrary, real-valued parametrisations of a complex gain. The solvers are implemented in an optimised Python package called CubiCal. CubiCal makes use of Cython to generate fast C and C++ routines for performing computationally demanding tasks whilst leveraging multiprocessing and shared memory to take advantage of modern, parallel hardware. The package is fully compatible with the measurement set, the most common format for interferometer data, and is well integrated with Montblanc - a third party package which implements optimised model visibility prediction. CubiCal's calibration routines are applied successfully to both simulated and real data for the field surrounding source 3C147. These tests include direction-independent and direction dependent calibration, as well as tests of the specialised solvers. Finally, we conduct extensive performance benchmarks and verify that CubiCal convincingly outperforms its most comparable competitor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Culicoides species as potential vectors of African horse sickness virus in the southern regions of South Africa:
- Riddin, Megan A, Venter, G J, Labuschagne, K, Villet, Martin H
- Authors: Riddin, Megan A , Venter, G J , Labuschagne, K , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140727 , vital:37913 , DOI: 10.1111/mve.12391
- Description: African horse sickness (AHS), a disease of equids caused by the AHS virus, is of major concern in South Africa. With mortality reaching up to 95% in susceptible horses and the apparent reoccurrence of cases in regions deemed non‐endemic, most particularly the Eastern Cape, epidemiological research into factors contributing to the increase in the range of this economically important virus became imperative. The vectors, Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), are considered unable to proliferate during the unfavourable climatic conditions experienced in winter in the province, although the annual occurrence of AHS suggests that the virus has become established and that vector activity continues throughout the year. Surveillance of Culicoides within the province is sparse and little was known of the diversity of vector species or the abundance of known vectors, Culicoides imicola and Culicoides bolitinos. Surveillance was performed using light trapping methods at selected sites with varying equid species over two winter and two outbreak seasons, aiming to determine diversity, abundance and vector epidemiology of Culicoides within the province. The research provided an updated checklist of Culicoides species within the Eastern Cape, contributing to an increase in the knowledge of AHS vector epidemiology, as well as prevention and control in southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Riddin, Megan A , Venter, G J , Labuschagne, K , Villet, Martin H
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140727 , vital:37913 , DOI: 10.1111/mve.12391
- Description: African horse sickness (AHS), a disease of equids caused by the AHS virus, is of major concern in South Africa. With mortality reaching up to 95% in susceptible horses and the apparent reoccurrence of cases in regions deemed non‐endemic, most particularly the Eastern Cape, epidemiological research into factors contributing to the increase in the range of this economically important virus became imperative. The vectors, Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), are considered unable to proliferate during the unfavourable climatic conditions experienced in winter in the province, although the annual occurrence of AHS suggests that the virus has become established and that vector activity continues throughout the year. Surveillance of Culicoides within the province is sparse and little was known of the diversity of vector species or the abundance of known vectors, Culicoides imicola and Culicoides bolitinos. Surveillance was performed using light trapping methods at selected sites with varying equid species over two winter and two outbreak seasons, aiming to determine diversity, abundance and vector epidemiology of Culicoides within the province. The research provided an updated checklist of Culicoides species within the Eastern Cape, contributing to an increase in the knowledge of AHS vector epidemiology, as well as prevention and control in southern Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Cultural clusters as a local economic development strategy in rural, small town areas: the Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape of South Africa
- Authors: Drummond, Fiona Jane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Cultural industries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Creative ability -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Arts -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Culture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71568 , vital:29879
- Description: It is increasingly recognized that the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) can play an important role in economic growth and development. Governments around the world, including South Africa, are implementing culture‐led economic growth and development strategies on national and regional scales. CCIs tend to cluster around large cities because of existing hard and soft infrastructure such as networking advantages and access to skilled labour, however, much less is known about the potential of the CCIs to drive rural development. This thesis thus investigates the potential of the CCIs to cluster in small towns and rural areas. Moreover, it examines the relationship between the CCIs and socio‐economic development. The CCIs have been touted as a catalyst for economic growth and development and so have often been used in urban regeneration schemes. The Sarah Baartman District (SBD) of South Africa’s Eastern Cape has identified culture as a potential new economic driver. Establishing a new development path is necessary as the former economic mainstay, agriculture, has declined in the region, creating poverty and unemployment problems. However, the SBD has only small towns which, according to the literature, are not suited to CCI clustering. Despite this, there is evidence of cultural clustering in some of the SBD’s small towns like Nieu Bethesda and Bathurst. This research therefore conducted an audit of the CCIs in the district and used geographic information systems (GIS) to map their locations by UNESCO Framework of Cultural Statistics (FCS) domains in order to determine the extent to which clustering has occurred in a small town setting. The audit identified 1 048 CCIs operating in the district and determined that clustering is possible within some small towns, depending on their demographic, economic, social, geographic and historic characteristics. For small towns where clusters exist or the potential for cluster formation is present, the domains in which the town holds a comparative advantage, based on domain proportions and location quotients, should be pursued for local economic development (LED). In this case, Visual Arts and Crafts and Cultural Heritage were prominent throughout the district while Design and Creative Services and Performance and Celebration had small regional concentrations. Theory suggests that the presence of CCIs is linked to higher levels of economic development as the creative class is more likely to be attracted to more highly developed areas, usually large cities. Furthermore, spillover effects from cultural activity promotes further development under the virtuous cycle. To investigate the relationship between CCI clusters and socio‐economic development, the locational data of municipal level CCI numbers is overlaid with a regional development indicator, a socio‐economic status index, which is based on census data and includes economic and social components. Results show that there is a general positive trend of CCIs locating in larger numbers (clustering) in areas with higher socio‐economic development performances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Drummond, Fiona Jane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Cultural industries -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Creative ability -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Arts -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Culture -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71568 , vital:29879
- Description: It is increasingly recognized that the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) can play an important role in economic growth and development. Governments around the world, including South Africa, are implementing culture‐led economic growth and development strategies on national and regional scales. CCIs tend to cluster around large cities because of existing hard and soft infrastructure such as networking advantages and access to skilled labour, however, much less is known about the potential of the CCIs to drive rural development. This thesis thus investigates the potential of the CCIs to cluster in small towns and rural areas. Moreover, it examines the relationship between the CCIs and socio‐economic development. The CCIs have been touted as a catalyst for economic growth and development and so have often been used in urban regeneration schemes. The Sarah Baartman District (SBD) of South Africa’s Eastern Cape has identified culture as a potential new economic driver. Establishing a new development path is necessary as the former economic mainstay, agriculture, has declined in the region, creating poverty and unemployment problems. However, the SBD has only small towns which, according to the literature, are not suited to CCI clustering. Despite this, there is evidence of cultural clustering in some of the SBD’s small towns like Nieu Bethesda and Bathurst. This research therefore conducted an audit of the CCIs in the district and used geographic information systems (GIS) to map their locations by UNESCO Framework of Cultural Statistics (FCS) domains in order to determine the extent to which clustering has occurred in a small town setting. The audit identified 1 048 CCIs operating in the district and determined that clustering is possible within some small towns, depending on their demographic, economic, social, geographic and historic characteristics. For small towns where clusters exist or the potential for cluster formation is present, the domains in which the town holds a comparative advantage, based on domain proportions and location quotients, should be pursued for local economic development (LED). In this case, Visual Arts and Crafts and Cultural Heritage were prominent throughout the district while Design and Creative Services and Performance and Celebration had small regional concentrations. Theory suggests that the presence of CCIs is linked to higher levels of economic development as the creative class is more likely to be attracted to more highly developed areas, usually large cities. Furthermore, spillover effects from cultural activity promotes further development under the virtuous cycle. To investigate the relationship between CCI clusters and socio‐economic development, the locational data of municipal level CCI numbers is overlaid with a regional development indicator, a socio‐economic status index, which is based on census data and includes economic and social components. Results show that there is a general positive trend of CCIs locating in larger numbers (clustering) in areas with higher socio‐economic development performances.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Culturally-informed coping strategies of posttraumatic stress disorders among the black Africans in the greater Accra region of Ghana and black Africans in the eastern cape of South Africa
- Authors: Thompson, Sandra
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Posttraumatic stress disorder
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44625 , vital:38154
- Description: The influence of culture in coping with Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) has been highlighted in literature. However, these culture specific coping strategies are not as yet, extensively explored. The research sought to explore and describe the culturally - informed coping strategies of PTS D among the black Africans in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and black Africans in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A qualitative methodological approach was used to explore the phenomenon under study. Purposive non - probability sampling was employed to obtain access to participants who could inform the objectives of the study. Data was collected using semi - structured interviews with traumatised individuals and focus group discussions with cultural leaders. All interviews were audio - recorded, transcribed, translated and analysed using thematic content analysis to facilitate the description and comparison of the similarities and distinctive features emerging from the two African communities. The findings indicated that a number of cultural factors influence interpretation of symptoms of PTSD and the adopted coping strategies. Participants’ understanding of symptoms of PTSD relied heavily on Christian Religious and African cultural understandings. It was evident that almost all explanations were purely spiritual and minimal knowledge was expressed on cognitive interpretations. A great deal of emphasis by the Ghanaians and isiXhosa of South Africa, was on dreams and such interpretations were deferred to an authoritative individual (especially the traditional healer). An obvious hierarchy for coping emerged with the traditional healer playing a major role for the Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants. Performing rites and the use of plants were essential to healing for these group of individuals. Whereas, the Coloured - Afrikaans made reference to a higher power “God”. An outstanding observation was the extent to which Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants have incorporated Christian and traditional practices (i.e. praying to God, performing rites and using herbs or plants). Even where an individual did not wish to mix practice because of upbringing, they acknowledged the existence and effectiveness of these practices. Colonisation was drawn on as an explanation for such mixed practices. The advent of Christianity was explained as having established Western culture (specifically Christianity) that is incorporated by participants. The Coloured - Afrikaans on the other hand, were consistent with the Christian practices “prayers to God”. A great deal of consistency however existed among all participants. Social support was considered very important. Talking with family and friends were relevant to the healing process as it gets rid of distorted thought patterns and avoids isolation considered as a serious current threat to healing. While there was an element of cognitive understanding, Western based treatment using cognitive restructuring was not a treatment option. Clinical practitioners or Psychologists that come into contact with the black Ghanaians and black South Africans should consider collaborative treatment strategies using the draft checklist as a guide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Thompson, Sandra
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Posttraumatic stress disorder
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44625 , vital:38154
- Description: The influence of culture in coping with Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) has been highlighted in literature. However, these culture specific coping strategies are not as yet, extensively explored. The research sought to explore and describe the culturally - informed coping strategies of PTS D among the black Africans in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and black Africans in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A qualitative methodological approach was used to explore the phenomenon under study. Purposive non - probability sampling was employed to obtain access to participants who could inform the objectives of the study. Data was collected using semi - structured interviews with traumatised individuals and focus group discussions with cultural leaders. All interviews were audio - recorded, transcribed, translated and analysed using thematic content analysis to facilitate the description and comparison of the similarities and distinctive features emerging from the two African communities. The findings indicated that a number of cultural factors influence interpretation of symptoms of PTSD and the adopted coping strategies. Participants’ understanding of symptoms of PTSD relied heavily on Christian Religious and African cultural understandings. It was evident that almost all explanations were purely spiritual and minimal knowledge was expressed on cognitive interpretations. A great deal of emphasis by the Ghanaians and isiXhosa of South Africa, was on dreams and such interpretations were deferred to an authoritative individual (especially the traditional healer). An obvious hierarchy for coping emerged with the traditional healer playing a major role for the Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants. Performing rites and the use of plants were essential to healing for these group of individuals. Whereas, the Coloured - Afrikaans made reference to a higher power “God”. An outstanding observation was the extent to which Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants have incorporated Christian and traditional practices (i.e. praying to God, performing rites and using herbs or plants). Even where an individual did not wish to mix practice because of upbringing, they acknowledged the existence and effectiveness of these practices. Colonisation was drawn on as an explanation for such mixed practices. The advent of Christianity was explained as having established Western culture (specifically Christianity) that is incorporated by participants. The Coloured - Afrikaans on the other hand, were consistent with the Christian practices “prayers to God”. A great deal of consistency however existed among all participants. Social support was considered very important. Talking with family and friends were relevant to the healing process as it gets rid of distorted thought patterns and avoids isolation considered as a serious current threat to healing. While there was an element of cognitive understanding, Western based treatment using cognitive restructuring was not a treatment option. Clinical practitioners or Psychologists that come into contact with the black Ghanaians and black South Africans should consider collaborative treatment strategies using the draft checklist as a guide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Culturally-informed coping strategies of posttraumatic stress disorders among the black Africans in the greater Accra region of Ghana and black Africans in the eastern cape of South Africa
- Authors: Thompson, Sandra
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Ghana -- Accra , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Cultural psychiatry Psychoanalysis and culture
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45160 , vital:38259
- Description: The influence of culture in coping with Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) has been highlighted in literature. However, these culture specific coping strategies are not as yet, extensively explored. The research sought to explore and describe the culturally-informed coping strategies of PTSD among the black Africans in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and black Africans in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A qualitative methodological approach was used to explore the phenomenon under study. Purposive non-probability sampling was employed to obtain access to participants who could inform the objectives of the study. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with traumatised individuals and focus group discussions with cultural leaders. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated and analysed using thematic content analysis to facilitate the description and comparison of the similarities and distinctive features emerging from the two African communities. The findings indicated that a number of cultural factors influence interpretation of symptoms of PTSD and the adopted coping strategies. Participants’ understanding of symptoms of PTSD relied heavily on Christian Religious and African cultural understandings. It was evident that almost all explanations were purely spiritual and minimal knowledge was expressed on cognitive interpretations. A great deal of emphasis by the Ghanaians and isiXhosa of South Africa, was on dreams and such interpretations were deferred to an authoritative individual (especially the traditional healer). An obvious hierarchy for coping emerged with the traditional healer playing a major role for the Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants. Performing rites and the use of plants were essential to healing for these group of individuals. Whereas, the Coloured-Afrikaans made reference to a higher power “God”. An outstanding observation was the extent to which Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants have incorporated Christian and traditional practices (i.e. praying to God, performing rites and using herbs or plants). Even where an individual did not wish to mix practice because of upbringing, they acknowledged the existence and effectiveness of these practices. Colonisation was drawn on as an explanation for such mixed practices. The advent of Christianity was explained as having established Western culture (specifically Christianity) that is incorporated by participants. The Coloured-Afrikaans on the other hand, were consistent with the Christian practices “prayers to God”. A great deal of consistency however existed among all participants. Social support was considered very important. Talking with family and friends were relevant to the healing process as it gets rid of distorted thought patterns and avoids isolation considered as a serious current threat to healing. While there was an element of cognitive understanding, Western based treatment using cognitive restructuring was not a treatment option. Clinical practitioners or Psychologists that come into contact with the black Ghanaians and black South Africans should consider collaborative treatment strategies using the draft checklist as a guide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Thompson, Sandra
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Ghana -- Accra , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Cultural psychiatry Psychoanalysis and culture
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45160 , vital:38259
- Description: The influence of culture in coping with Posttraumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) has been highlighted in literature. However, these culture specific coping strategies are not as yet, extensively explored. The research sought to explore and describe the culturally-informed coping strategies of PTSD among the black Africans in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and black Africans in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A qualitative methodological approach was used to explore the phenomenon under study. Purposive non-probability sampling was employed to obtain access to participants who could inform the objectives of the study. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with traumatised individuals and focus group discussions with cultural leaders. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, translated and analysed using thematic content analysis to facilitate the description and comparison of the similarities and distinctive features emerging from the two African communities. The findings indicated that a number of cultural factors influence interpretation of symptoms of PTSD and the adopted coping strategies. Participants’ understanding of symptoms of PTSD relied heavily on Christian Religious and African cultural understandings. It was evident that almost all explanations were purely spiritual and minimal knowledge was expressed on cognitive interpretations. A great deal of emphasis by the Ghanaians and isiXhosa of South Africa, was on dreams and such interpretations were deferred to an authoritative individual (especially the traditional healer). An obvious hierarchy for coping emerged with the traditional healer playing a major role for the Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants. Performing rites and the use of plants were essential to healing for these group of individuals. Whereas, the Coloured-Afrikaans made reference to a higher power “God”. An outstanding observation was the extent to which Ghanaian and isiXhosa participants have incorporated Christian and traditional practices (i.e. praying to God, performing rites and using herbs or plants). Even where an individual did not wish to mix practice because of upbringing, they acknowledged the existence and effectiveness of these practices. Colonisation was drawn on as an explanation for such mixed practices. The advent of Christianity was explained as having established Western culture (specifically Christianity) that is incorporated by participants. The Coloured-Afrikaans on the other hand, were consistent with the Christian practices “prayers to God”. A great deal of consistency however existed among all participants. Social support was considered very important. Talking with family and friends were relevant to the healing process as it gets rid of distorted thought patterns and avoids isolation considered as a serious current threat to healing. While there was an element of cognitive understanding, Western based treatment using cognitive restructuring was not a treatment option. Clinical practitioners or Psychologists that come into contact with the black Ghanaians and black South Africans should consider collaborative treatment strategies using the draft checklist as a guide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Culture, language and productivity in the workplace within the BRICS Nations:
- Kaschula, Russell H, Mostert, André M, Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M , Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174624 , vital:42495 , https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.25159/2663-6697/5009
- Description: The changing economic environment globally carries challenges and opportunities for business. Cross-cultural environments and financial integration call for greater understanding of the workplace. The authors assess the usage and status of language and culture in workplaces within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries through a light touch survey to assist in framing further and deeper research activities. The objective is to develop a suitable research framework regarding the place of language and culture in the workplace in multilingual and multicultural contexts. The authors argue for the inclusion of a cultural dimension linked to multilingual strategies in the workplace. The inextricable link between language and culture is explored in this article.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kaschula, Russell H , Mostert, André M , Wolff, H Ekkehard
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/174624 , vital:42495 , https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.25159/2663-6697/5009
- Description: The changing economic environment globally carries challenges and opportunities for business. Cross-cultural environments and financial integration call for greater understanding of the workplace. The authors assess the usage and status of language and culture in workplaces within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries through a light touch survey to assist in framing further and deeper research activities. The objective is to develop a suitable research framework regarding the place of language and culture in the workplace in multilingual and multicultural contexts. The authors argue for the inclusion of a cultural dimension linked to multilingual strategies in the workplace. The inextricable link between language and culture is explored in this article.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Customary marriage and family practices that discriminate against amaXhosa women: a critical study of selected isixhosa literary text
- Authors: Mbatyoti, Pheliwe Yvonne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Forced marriage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Customary law -- South Africa Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D Litt et Phil (African Studies)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10736 , vital:35731
- Description: In many parts of Africa, the cultural practices and customs that were in use over the ages are still largely in place today. Many of these practices discriminate against individuals and compromise their human rights, particularly the rights of African women. The aim of this investigation is to study customary marital practices among the amaXhosa in order to establish their effect on modern amaXhosa society. In addition, this includes other discriminatory practices, such as the diminished status of wedded women. Within the study, the social status of women before and after 1994 is dealt with as depicted in the selected texts. The study further determines the current social status of married women under the current dispensation and finds out whether the rights of married women are sufficiently recognised in the texts under discussion. It is clear therefore that whilst Africa has made good progress on the political front, the same cannot be said for some of the cultural values that are still adhered to in the present age. This applies in particular to the rights of women in an African society. Globally, women and girls suffer the harmful and life-threatening effects of discriminatory traditional and cultural practices that continue under the guise of social, cultural and religious ceremonies. In the democratic South Africa, there is growing concern and awareness that some cultural practices are harmful to women and girls. The study analyses a number of texts namely, novels and drama, that were published before and after the 1994 era in South Africa with aims and objectives being outlined in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is devoted to the theoretical framework, which includes the general theory pertaining to the status of women, feminism and human rights. Secondly, it deals with African theory pertaining to the status of African women as well as their rights; finally, it reflects on the role of women in societies where traditional marriage custom is still in use. Chapter 3 analyses the depiction of customary marriage as a theme in isiXhosa prose before and after 1994. Chapter 4 examines the depiction of customary marriage in v isiXhosa drama before and after 1994 and focuses more on human rights elements. Chapter 5 summarises the arguments distilled from the analysed works. The researcher came to the conclusion that the practice of forced marriage does not occur in amaXhosa society only but it is also found on a wider scale on the rest of the African continent and beyond. The study was concluded with a set of recommendations that were made to combat the scourge of anti-feminism that is found in modern society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mbatyoti, Pheliwe Yvonne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Forced marriage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Customary law -- South Africa Xhosa (African people) -- Social life and customs
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D Litt et Phil (African Studies)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/10736 , vital:35731
- Description: In many parts of Africa, the cultural practices and customs that were in use over the ages are still largely in place today. Many of these practices discriminate against individuals and compromise their human rights, particularly the rights of African women. The aim of this investigation is to study customary marital practices among the amaXhosa in order to establish their effect on modern amaXhosa society. In addition, this includes other discriminatory practices, such as the diminished status of wedded women. Within the study, the social status of women before and after 1994 is dealt with as depicted in the selected texts. The study further determines the current social status of married women under the current dispensation and finds out whether the rights of married women are sufficiently recognised in the texts under discussion. It is clear therefore that whilst Africa has made good progress on the political front, the same cannot be said for some of the cultural values that are still adhered to in the present age. This applies in particular to the rights of women in an African society. Globally, women and girls suffer the harmful and life-threatening effects of discriminatory traditional and cultural practices that continue under the guise of social, cultural and religious ceremonies. In the democratic South Africa, there is growing concern and awareness that some cultural practices are harmful to women and girls. The study analyses a number of texts namely, novels and drama, that were published before and after the 1994 era in South Africa with aims and objectives being outlined in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 is devoted to the theoretical framework, which includes the general theory pertaining to the status of women, feminism and human rights. Secondly, it deals with African theory pertaining to the status of African women as well as their rights; finally, it reflects on the role of women in societies where traditional marriage custom is still in use. Chapter 3 analyses the depiction of customary marriage as a theme in isiXhosa prose before and after 1994. Chapter 4 examines the depiction of customary marriage in v isiXhosa drama before and after 1994 and focuses more on human rights elements. Chapter 5 summarises the arguments distilled from the analysed works. The researcher came to the conclusion that the practice of forced marriage does not occur in amaXhosa society only but it is also found on a wider scale on the rest of the African continent and beyond. The study was concluded with a set of recommendations that were made to combat the scourge of anti-feminism that is found in modern society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Customer loyalty programmes in the South African grocery and retail sector
- Authors: Harmse, Nyree
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Customer loyalty programs -- South Africa , Customer clubs -- South Africa Grocery trade -- South Africa Food industry and trade -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39599 , vital:35331
- Description: While there has been substantial research on loyalty programmes, few studies specifically focus on the attitudinal and behavioural components of a loyalty programmes within grocery and retail sector programmes in South Africa. This study is part of a broader study of South African loyalty programmes, but specifically examines the attitudinal and behavioural influences on loyalty programmes in the South African grocery and retail sector. A comprehensive literature review was conducted and factors influencing loyalty programmes were identified. The literature reviewed informed the conceptual model that proposed purchasing behaviour, trust, communication, personalisation, flexibility, rewards and method of participation influenced the success of grocery and retail sector loyalty programmes with attitude and behaviour serving as intermediate variables. The academic literature selected for the study is grounded in the academic theories of social exchange and planned behaviour. The methodology followed was through self-administered questionnaires developed from academic literature. Data were collected from 1090 respondents across South Africa, of which 643 respondents were members of grocery and retail sector loyalty programmes. The data analysis conducted through various descriptive and inferential statistical tests and exploratory factors analysis identified that factors of purchasing behaviour, trust, communication, personalisation, flexibility, rewards and general assessment were factors influencing loyalty programmes. Loyalty programme studies in South Africa are generally conducted on specific loyalty programmes, which are owned by the programme owners and therefore unpublished. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by using academic theory to establish the attitudinal and behavioural factors that affect loyalty programmes within the South African grocery and retail sector. The study concludes with managerial recommendations that grocery and retail sector managers can implement to influence the success of loyalty programmes. Some of the recommendations include the use of communication as a lever to influence other factors and the overall effectiveness of the programme. Other recommendations include data management and rewards that create flexible and personalised experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Harmse, Nyree
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Customer loyalty programs -- South Africa , Customer clubs -- South Africa Grocery trade -- South Africa Food industry and trade -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39599 , vital:35331
- Description: While there has been substantial research on loyalty programmes, few studies specifically focus on the attitudinal and behavioural components of a loyalty programmes within grocery and retail sector programmes in South Africa. This study is part of a broader study of South African loyalty programmes, but specifically examines the attitudinal and behavioural influences on loyalty programmes in the South African grocery and retail sector. A comprehensive literature review was conducted and factors influencing loyalty programmes were identified. The literature reviewed informed the conceptual model that proposed purchasing behaviour, trust, communication, personalisation, flexibility, rewards and method of participation influenced the success of grocery and retail sector loyalty programmes with attitude and behaviour serving as intermediate variables. The academic literature selected for the study is grounded in the academic theories of social exchange and planned behaviour. The methodology followed was through self-administered questionnaires developed from academic literature. Data were collected from 1090 respondents across South Africa, of which 643 respondents were members of grocery and retail sector loyalty programmes. The data analysis conducted through various descriptive and inferential statistical tests and exploratory factors analysis identified that factors of purchasing behaviour, trust, communication, personalisation, flexibility, rewards and general assessment were factors influencing loyalty programmes. Loyalty programme studies in South Africa are generally conducted on specific loyalty programmes, which are owned by the programme owners and therefore unpublished. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by using academic theory to establish the attitudinal and behavioural factors that affect loyalty programmes within the South African grocery and retail sector. The study concludes with managerial recommendations that grocery and retail sector managers can implement to influence the success of loyalty programmes. Some of the recommendations include the use of communication as a lever to influence other factors and the overall effectiveness of the programme. Other recommendations include data management and rewards that create flexible and personalised experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Damage recovery for robot controllers and simulators evolved using bootstrapped neuro-simulation
- Authors: Leonard, Brydon Andrew
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Robots -- Control systems , Robots -- Programming Robotics Neural networks (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40424 , vital:36164
- Description: Robots are becoming increasingly complex. This has made manually designing the software responsible for controlling these robots (controllers) challenging, leading to the creation of the field of evolutionary robotics (ER). The ER approach aims to automatically evolve robot controllers and morphologies by utilising concepts from biological evolution. ER techniques use evolutionary algorithms (EA) to evolve populations of controllers - a process that requires the evaluation of a large number of controllers. Performing these evaluations on a real-world robot is both infeasibly time-consuming and poses the risk of damage to the robot. Simulators present a solution to the issue by allowing the evaluation of controllers to take place on a virtual robot. Traditional methods of controller evolution in simulation encounter two major issues. Firstly, physics simulators are complex to create and are often very computationally expensive. Secondly, the reality gap is encountered when controllers are evolved in simulators that are unable to simulate the real world well enough due to implications or small inaccuracies in the simulation, which together cause controllers in the simulation to be unable to transfer effectively to reality. Bootstrapped Neuro-Simulation (BNS) is an ER algorithm that aims to address the issues inherent with the use of simulators. The algorithm concurrently creates a simulator and evolves a population of controllers. The process starts with an initially random population of controllers and an untrained simulator neural network (SNN), a type of robot simulator which utilises artificial neural networks (ANNs) to simulate a robot's behaviour. Controllers are then continually selected for evaluation in the real world, and the data from these real-world evaluations is used to train the controller-evaluation SNN. BNS is a relatively new algorithm that has not yet been explored in depth. An investigation was, therefore, conducted into BNS's ability to evolve closed-loop controllers. BNS was successful in evolving such controllers, and various adaptations to the algorithm were investigated for their ability to improve the evolution of closed-loop controllers. In addition, the factors which had the greatest impact on BNS's effectiveness were reported upon. Damage recovery is an area that has been the focus of a great deal of research. This is because the progression of the field of robotics means that robots no longer operate only in the safe environments that they once did. Robots are now put to use in areas as inaccessible as the surface of Mars, where repairs by a human are impossible. Various methods of damage recovery have previously been proposed and evaluated, but none focused on BNS as a method of damage recovery. In this research, it was hypothesised that BNS's constantly learning nature would allow it to recover from damage, as it would continue to use new information about the state of the real robot to evolve new controllers capable of functioning in the damaged robot. BNS was found to possess the hypothesised damage recovery ability. The algorithm's evaluation was carried out through the evolution of controllers for simple navigation and light-following tasks for a wheeled robot, as well as a locomotion task for a complex legged robot. Various adaptations to the algorithm were then evaluated through extensive parameter investigations in simulation, showing varying levels of effectiveness. These results were further confirmed through evaluation of the adaptations and effective parameter values in real-world evaluations on a real robot. Both a simple and more complex robot morphology were investigated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Leonard, Brydon Andrew
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Robots -- Control systems , Robots -- Programming Robotics Neural networks (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40424 , vital:36164
- Description: Robots are becoming increasingly complex. This has made manually designing the software responsible for controlling these robots (controllers) challenging, leading to the creation of the field of evolutionary robotics (ER). The ER approach aims to automatically evolve robot controllers and morphologies by utilising concepts from biological evolution. ER techniques use evolutionary algorithms (EA) to evolve populations of controllers - a process that requires the evaluation of a large number of controllers. Performing these evaluations on a real-world robot is both infeasibly time-consuming and poses the risk of damage to the robot. Simulators present a solution to the issue by allowing the evaluation of controllers to take place on a virtual robot. Traditional methods of controller evolution in simulation encounter two major issues. Firstly, physics simulators are complex to create and are often very computationally expensive. Secondly, the reality gap is encountered when controllers are evolved in simulators that are unable to simulate the real world well enough due to implications or small inaccuracies in the simulation, which together cause controllers in the simulation to be unable to transfer effectively to reality. Bootstrapped Neuro-Simulation (BNS) is an ER algorithm that aims to address the issues inherent with the use of simulators. The algorithm concurrently creates a simulator and evolves a population of controllers. The process starts with an initially random population of controllers and an untrained simulator neural network (SNN), a type of robot simulator which utilises artificial neural networks (ANNs) to simulate a robot's behaviour. Controllers are then continually selected for evaluation in the real world, and the data from these real-world evaluations is used to train the controller-evaluation SNN. BNS is a relatively new algorithm that has not yet been explored in depth. An investigation was, therefore, conducted into BNS's ability to evolve closed-loop controllers. BNS was successful in evolving such controllers, and various adaptations to the algorithm were investigated for their ability to improve the evolution of closed-loop controllers. In addition, the factors which had the greatest impact on BNS's effectiveness were reported upon. Damage recovery is an area that has been the focus of a great deal of research. This is because the progression of the field of robotics means that robots no longer operate only in the safe environments that they once did. Robots are now put to use in areas as inaccessible as the surface of Mars, where repairs by a human are impossible. Various methods of damage recovery have previously been proposed and evaluated, but none focused on BNS as a method of damage recovery. In this research, it was hypothesised that BNS's constantly learning nature would allow it to recover from damage, as it would continue to use new information about the state of the real robot to evolve new controllers capable of functioning in the damaged robot. BNS was found to possess the hypothesised damage recovery ability. The algorithm's evaluation was carried out through the evolution of controllers for simple navigation and light-following tasks for a wheeled robot, as well as a locomotion task for a complex legged robot. Various adaptations to the algorithm were then evaluated through extensive parameter investigations in simulation, showing varying levels of effectiveness. These results were further confirmed through evaluation of the adaptations and effective parameter values in real-world evaluations on a real robot. Both a simple and more complex robot morphology were investigated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Data quality issues in electronic health records for large-scale databases
- Authors: Saiod, Abdul Kader
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Electronic Health Records , Electronic Health Records--organization & administration Database management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44940 , vital:38190
- Description: Data Quality (DQ) in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is one of the core functions that play a decisive role to improve the healthcare service quality. The DQ issues in EHRs are a noticeable trend to improve the introduction of an adaptive framework for interoperability and standards in Large-Scale Databases (LSDB) management systems. Therefore, large data communications are challenging in the traditional approaches to satisfy the needs of the consumers, as data is often not capture directly into the Database Management Systems (DBMS) in a seasonably enough fashion to enable their subsequent uses. In addition, large data plays a vital role in containing plenty of treasures for all the fields in the DBMS. EHRs technology provides portfolio management systems that allow HealthCare Organisations (HCOs) to deliver a higher quality of care to their patients than that which is possible with paper-based records. EHRs are in high demand for HCOs to run their daily services as increasing numbers of huge datasets occur every day. Efficient EHR systems reduce the data redundancy as well as the system application failure and increase the possibility to draw all necessary reports. However, one of the main challenges in developing efficient EHR systems is the inherent difficulty to coherently manage data from diverse heterogeneous sources. It is practically challenging to integrate diverse data into a global schema, which satisfies the need of users. The efficient management of HER systems using an existing DBMS present challenges because of incompatibility and sometimes inconsistency of data structures. As a result, no common methodological approach is currently in existence to effectively solve every data integration problem. The challenges of the DQ issue raised the need to find an efficient way to integrate large EHRs from diverse heterogeneous sources. To handle and align a large dataset efficiently, the hybrid algorithm method with the logical combination of Fuzzy-Ontology along with a large-scale EHRs analysis platform has shown the results in term of improved accuracy. This study investigated and addressed the raised DQ issues to interventions to overcome these barriers and challenges, including the provision of EHRs as they pertain to DQ and has combined features to search, extract, filter, clean and integrate data to ensure that users can coherently create new consistent data sets. The study researched the design of a hybrid method based on Fuzzy-Ontology with performed mathematical simulations based on the Markov Chain Probability Model. The similarity measurement based on dynamic Hungarian algorithm was followed by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, which will increase the quality of service over HCOs in adaptive frameworks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Saiod, Abdul Kader
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Electronic Health Records , Electronic Health Records--organization & administration Database management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44940 , vital:38190
- Description: Data Quality (DQ) in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is one of the core functions that play a decisive role to improve the healthcare service quality. The DQ issues in EHRs are a noticeable trend to improve the introduction of an adaptive framework for interoperability and standards in Large-Scale Databases (LSDB) management systems. Therefore, large data communications are challenging in the traditional approaches to satisfy the needs of the consumers, as data is often not capture directly into the Database Management Systems (DBMS) in a seasonably enough fashion to enable their subsequent uses. In addition, large data plays a vital role in containing plenty of treasures for all the fields in the DBMS. EHRs technology provides portfolio management systems that allow HealthCare Organisations (HCOs) to deliver a higher quality of care to their patients than that which is possible with paper-based records. EHRs are in high demand for HCOs to run their daily services as increasing numbers of huge datasets occur every day. Efficient EHR systems reduce the data redundancy as well as the system application failure and increase the possibility to draw all necessary reports. However, one of the main challenges in developing efficient EHR systems is the inherent difficulty to coherently manage data from diverse heterogeneous sources. It is practically challenging to integrate diverse data into a global schema, which satisfies the need of users. The efficient management of HER systems using an existing DBMS present challenges because of incompatibility and sometimes inconsistency of data structures. As a result, no common methodological approach is currently in existence to effectively solve every data integration problem. The challenges of the DQ issue raised the need to find an efficient way to integrate large EHRs from diverse heterogeneous sources. To handle and align a large dataset efficiently, the hybrid algorithm method with the logical combination of Fuzzy-Ontology along with a large-scale EHRs analysis platform has shown the results in term of improved accuracy. This study investigated and addressed the raised DQ issues to interventions to overcome these barriers and challenges, including the provision of EHRs as they pertain to DQ and has combined features to search, extract, filter, clean and integrate data to ensure that users can coherently create new consistent data sets. The study researched the design of a hybrid method based on Fuzzy-Ontology with performed mathematical simulations based on the Markov Chain Probability Model. The similarity measurement based on dynamic Hungarian algorithm was followed by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, which will increase the quality of service over HCOs in adaptive frameworks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Data quality issues in electronic health records for large-scale databases
- Authors: Saiod, Abdul Kader
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Healthcare -- Data quality
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44577 , vital:38145
- Description: Data Quality (DQ) in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is one of the core functions that play a decisive role to improve the healthcare service quality. The DQ issues in EHRs are a noticeable trend to improve the introduction of an adaptive framework for interoperability and standards in Large-Scale Databases (LSDB) management systems. Therefore, large data communications are challenging in the traditional approaches to satisfy the needs of the consumers, as data is often not capture directly into the Database Management Systems (DBMS) in a seasonably enough fashion to enable their subsequent uses. In addition, large data plays a vital role in containing plenty of treasures for all the fields in the DBMS. EHRs technology provides portfolio management systems that allow HealthCare Organisations (HCOs) to deliver a higher quality of care to their patients than that which is possible with paper-based records. EHRs are in high demand for HCOs to run their daily services as increasing numbers of huge datasets occur every day. Efficient EHR systems reduce the data redundancy as well as the system application failure and increase the possibility to draw all necessary reports. However, one of the main challenges in developing efficient EHR systems is the inherent difficulty to coherently manage data from diverse heterogeneous sources. It is practically challenging to integrate diverse data into a global schema, which satisfies the need of users. The efficient management of EHR systems using an existing DBMS present challenges because of incompatibility and sometimes inconsistency of data structures. As a result, no common methodological approach is currently in existence to effectively solve every data integration problem. The challenges of the DQ issue raised the need to find an efficient way to integrate large EHRs from diverse heterogeneous sources. To handle and align a large dataset efficiently, the hybrid algorithm method with the logical combination of Fuzzy-Ontology along with a large-scale EHRs analysis platform has shown the results in term of improved accuracy. This study investigated and addressed the raised DQ issues to interventions to overcome these barriers and challenges, including the provision of EHRs as they pertain to DQ and has combined features to search, extract, filter, clean and integrate data to ensure that users can coherently create new consistent data sets. The study researched the design of a hybrid method based on Fuzzy-Ontology with performed mathematical simulations based on the Markov Chain Probability Model. The similarity measurement based on dynamic Hungarian algorithm was followed by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, which will increase the quality of service over HCOs in adaptive frameworks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Saiod, Abdul Kader
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Healthcare -- Data quality
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44577 , vital:38145
- Description: Data Quality (DQ) in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is one of the core functions that play a decisive role to improve the healthcare service quality. The DQ issues in EHRs are a noticeable trend to improve the introduction of an adaptive framework for interoperability and standards in Large-Scale Databases (LSDB) management systems. Therefore, large data communications are challenging in the traditional approaches to satisfy the needs of the consumers, as data is often not capture directly into the Database Management Systems (DBMS) in a seasonably enough fashion to enable their subsequent uses. In addition, large data plays a vital role in containing plenty of treasures for all the fields in the DBMS. EHRs technology provides portfolio management systems that allow HealthCare Organisations (HCOs) to deliver a higher quality of care to their patients than that which is possible with paper-based records. EHRs are in high demand for HCOs to run their daily services as increasing numbers of huge datasets occur every day. Efficient EHR systems reduce the data redundancy as well as the system application failure and increase the possibility to draw all necessary reports. However, one of the main challenges in developing efficient EHR systems is the inherent difficulty to coherently manage data from diverse heterogeneous sources. It is practically challenging to integrate diverse data into a global schema, which satisfies the need of users. The efficient management of EHR systems using an existing DBMS present challenges because of incompatibility and sometimes inconsistency of data structures. As a result, no common methodological approach is currently in existence to effectively solve every data integration problem. The challenges of the DQ issue raised the need to find an efficient way to integrate large EHRs from diverse heterogeneous sources. To handle and align a large dataset efficiently, the hybrid algorithm method with the logical combination of Fuzzy-Ontology along with a large-scale EHRs analysis platform has shown the results in term of improved accuracy. This study investigated and addressed the raised DQ issues to interventions to overcome these barriers and challenges, including the provision of EHRs as they pertain to DQ and has combined features to search, extract, filter, clean and integrate data to ensure that users can coherently create new consistent data sets. The study researched the design of a hybrid method based on Fuzzy-Ontology with performed mathematical simulations based on the Markov Chain Probability Model. The similarity measurement based on dynamic Hungarian algorithm was followed by the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, which will increase the quality of service over HCOs in adaptive frameworks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
David Kolaone fought for the right to define himself and his art:
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146981 , vital:38582 , https://theconversation.com/david-koloane-fought-for-the-right-to-define-himself-and-his-art-120687
- Description: Dr David Nthubu Koloane, who was born in South Africa in 1938, was an extraordinary pioneer in the visual arts who fiercely defied any form of categorisation. As an artist, teacher, mentor, curator, arts administrator and author, he fought for the human right to define oneself and to determine one’s own future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146981 , vital:38582 , https://theconversation.com/david-koloane-fought-for-the-right-to-define-himself-and-his-art-120687
- Description: Dr David Nthubu Koloane, who was born in South Africa in 1938, was an extraordinary pioneer in the visual arts who fiercely defied any form of categorisation. As an artist, teacher, mentor, curator, arts administrator and author, he fought for the human right to define oneself and to determine one’s own future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Deactivation of field cultivation in communal areas of South Africa: Patterns, drivers and socio-economic and ecological consequences
- Shackleton, Charlie M, Mograbi, Penelope, Drimie, Scott, Fay, Derick, Hebinck, Paul, Hoffman, Michael T, Maciejewski, Kristine, Twine, Wayne
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Mograbi, Penelope , Drimie, Scott , Fay, Derick , Hebinck, Paul , Hoffman, Michael T , Maciejewski, Kristine , Twine, Wayne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/398210 , vital:69384 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.01.009"
- Description: Smallholder production is a significant contributor to rural livelihoods and rural economies in much of the developing world. Yet, there is evidence of increasing disengagement in some regions, including southern Africa. However, there has been little consideration of the rates and the livelihood, ecological and policy implications of such. In this paper we examine previous studies on rates of deactivation of crop fields by smallholders in the communal areas of South Africa, supported by repeat photo images and case study material. Together these various methods show that it is a widespread phenomenon occurring at variable rates. Over short periods deactivation of crop fields can be balanced through some reactivation or intensification of homegardens. But over longer periods there is a net decline in the area of fields cultivated in many areas, with corresponding increases in the area of fallow land which, through time, may undergo changes towards more natural vegetation. We review the drivers of this deactivation of field cropping, and then contemplate the possible socio-economic and ecological implications at local and national scales. We show that there are numerous and profound implications that require greater understanding and policy responses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Mograbi, Penelope , Drimie, Scott , Fay, Derick , Hebinck, Paul , Hoffman, Michael T , Maciejewski, Kristine , Twine, Wayne
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/398210 , vital:69384 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.01.009"
- Description: Smallholder production is a significant contributor to rural livelihoods and rural economies in much of the developing world. Yet, there is evidence of increasing disengagement in some regions, including southern Africa. However, there has been little consideration of the rates and the livelihood, ecological and policy implications of such. In this paper we examine previous studies on rates of deactivation of crop fields by smallholders in the communal areas of South Africa, supported by repeat photo images and case study material. Together these various methods show that it is a widespread phenomenon occurring at variable rates. Over short periods deactivation of crop fields can be balanced through some reactivation or intensification of homegardens. But over longer periods there is a net decline in the area of fields cultivated in many areas, with corresponding increases in the area of fallow land which, through time, may undergo changes towards more natural vegetation. We review the drivers of this deactivation of field cropping, and then contemplate the possible socio-economic and ecological implications at local and national scales. We show that there are numerous and profound implications that require greater understanding and policy responses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Deconstructing “the South African jazz feel”: roots, rhythms and features of South African jazz
- Authors: Thorpe, Christopher John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Jazz -- History and criticism , Jazz -- African influences , Jazz -- Africa --History and criticism , Jazz -- South Africa --History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76649 , vital:30612
- Description: South African jazz has established itself as a distinct and influential genre in modern popular music that merges musical elements from traditional South African musics with influences from U.S.-American jazz. Formed during a time of extreme social inequality in a divided country, South African jazz became the soundtrack of the struggle against social injustice and racial oppression, and was brought to international attention by artists such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim who gave poignant musical expression to the hardships of the time. South African jazz is celebrated for its unique sound, original catalogue and all-important “feel”. To many listeners, performers and musicologists, it is this concept of feel that makes South African jazz so distinctive and inimitable. To date, however, much of the scholarly and popular literature on South African jazz has centred on the historical, social and political aspects of the music, with less attention given to close musical-textual analysis. A few studies have considered the melodic and harmonic language of iconic saxophonists and bass players but there are – to date – no close studies of rhythm and feel in South African jazz. Beginning to address this gap in the literature, this study uncovers some of the elements that constitute the South African jazz feel through close rhythmic and more general musical analyses of a selection of South African jazz recordings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Thorpe, Christopher John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Jazz -- History and criticism , Jazz -- African influences , Jazz -- Africa --History and criticism , Jazz -- South Africa --History and criticism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76649 , vital:30612
- Description: South African jazz has established itself as a distinct and influential genre in modern popular music that merges musical elements from traditional South African musics with influences from U.S.-American jazz. Formed during a time of extreme social inequality in a divided country, South African jazz became the soundtrack of the struggle against social injustice and racial oppression, and was brought to international attention by artists such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim who gave poignant musical expression to the hardships of the time. South African jazz is celebrated for its unique sound, original catalogue and all-important “feel”. To many listeners, performers and musicologists, it is this concept of feel that makes South African jazz so distinctive and inimitable. To date, however, much of the scholarly and popular literature on South African jazz has centred on the historical, social and political aspects of the music, with less attention given to close musical-textual analysis. A few studies have considered the melodic and harmonic language of iconic saxophonists and bass players but there are – to date – no close studies of rhythm and feel in South African jazz. Beginning to address this gap in the literature, this study uncovers some of the elements that constitute the South African jazz feel through close rhythmic and more general musical analyses of a selection of South African jazz recordings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Deeper knowledge of shallow waters: reviewing the invertebrate fauna of southern African temporary wetlands
- Bird, Matthew S, Mlambo, Musa C, Wasserman, Ryan J, Dalu, Tatenda, Holland, Alexandra J, Day, Jenny A, Villet, Martin H, Bilton, David T, Barber-James, Helen M, Brendonck, Luc
- Authors: Bird, Matthew S , Mlambo, Musa C , Wasserman, Ryan J , Dalu, Tatenda , Holland, Alexandra J , Day, Jenny A , Villet, Martin H , Bilton, David T , Barber-James, Helen M , Brendonck, Luc
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140784 , vital:37918 , DOI: 10.1007/s10750-018-3772-z
- Description: Temporary lentic wetlands are becoming increasingly recognised for their collective role in contributing to biodiversity at the landscape scale. In southern Africa, a region with a high density of such wetlands, information characterising the fauna of these systems is disparate and often obscurely published. Here we provide a collation and synthesis of published research on the aquatic invertebrate fauna inhabiting temporary lentic wetlands of the region. We expose the poor taxonomic knowledge of most groups, which makes it difficult to comment on patterns of richness and endemism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Bird, Matthew S , Mlambo, Musa C , Wasserman, Ryan J , Dalu, Tatenda , Holland, Alexandra J , Day, Jenny A , Villet, Martin H , Bilton, David T , Barber-James, Helen M , Brendonck, Luc
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140784 , vital:37918 , DOI: 10.1007/s10750-018-3772-z
- Description: Temporary lentic wetlands are becoming increasingly recognised for their collective role in contributing to biodiversity at the landscape scale. In southern Africa, a region with a high density of such wetlands, information characterising the fauna of these systems is disparate and often obscurely published. Here we provide a collation and synthesis of published research on the aquatic invertebrate fauna inhabiting temporary lentic wetlands of the region. We expose the poor taxonomic knowledge of most groups, which makes it difficult to comment on patterns of richness and endemism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Deriving a tool to aid maintenance budget forecasting within universities of selected countries of Southern Africa
- Authors: Peters, Peter Herman
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Budget forecasting -- Universities -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44574 , vital:38137
- Description: In general, facilities are constructed and equipment is procured to meet the functional and utilitarian needs of an organisation. Daily use and abuse can affect the functional value of these resources and without regular maintenance there will be no real benefits derived from non-functional facilities and equipment. Conducting effective and systematic maintenance is one of the fundamentals which underpins the success of an organisation and if ignored, could be costly to rectify. Costs escalate in the form of deferred maintenance budgets, which have a knock-on effect of growing year on year. This highlights the context of universities’ operations managers who may lack proper management and planning tools to either use or apply effective maintenance budget forecasting models. Having properly maintained facilities is imperative since deferring maintenance will adversely affect employees’ occupational health and safety, impact on the cost of operations and the morale of those who use the dysfunctional facility. The most daunting task of facility managers, is to ensure that all facilities remain fully and consistently operational. This entails providing an efficient maintenance service, which prevents system failures and extends the useful life of both the production plant and facilities to be managed. The need to protect costly and varied assets against the depredation of time and keeping it maintained for current use takes significant and continuous investment of time, money and human resources. Due to the cost of maintenance, in most instances maintenance is scheduled to be done when actual facilities are not in operation, usually at the end of a financial or calendar year. The intangible nature of the maintenance function and the inability to completely justify maintenance funding budgets, lead to the required funding not being obtained from a budgetary request. This inevitably has the undesirable consequences of huge capital backlogs in the form of deferred maintenance. This study moves the research problem and argument away from strictly for-profit business (manufacturing) entities to interrogate service-oriented parastatal and hybrid funded University facilities’ operations and maintenance management. Universities are multidisciplinary structures that encompass a broad spectrum of services required to ensure the effective and efficient academic, administrative, experimental and research focused operation of the Institution. Universities are not excluded from ensuring that sufficient funding is obtained for the effective maintenance of their facilities. This research aims to derive a tool to simplify the selection of a suitable maintenance budget forecasting model and to recommend a maintenance budgeting model for use within universities of selected countries of Southern Africa. The literature survey revealed that there are numerous maintenance budgeting forecasting models already in existence in many different shapes and sizes. For this reason, a content analysis was conducted of 31 maintenance budget forecasting models in order to be able to differentiate between the numerous models. This empirical study conducted among universities of selected countries of Southern Africa outlined the current maintenance funding models being used, inclusive of the amount of funding obtained and the existence/lack of deferred maintenance of various Institutions. After analysing the secondary data (in the form of a content analysis) and the empirical data collected, a model was chosen to recommend for implementation in future institutional planning and business practice. Based on the content analysis and empirical review, the recommended maintenance budget selection tool was derived focusing on sharpening the decision making process of selecting a suitable, fit for purpose, maintenance funding model. After this phase of the research, a follow up phase was conducted amongst high level executive decision makers, to qualitatively verify or support the findings from the first phase of the data collection. This research therefore concludes with recommendations to the respondent universities of selected countries of Southern Africa, about a suitable maintenance budgeting forecasting model. It also recommends a selection tool to use if alternative maintenance budget funding models need to be selected. This multidisciplinary study contributes to the literature by contextualising the maintenance budget forecasting for operational universities and in future adding significant value to the proactive management of deferred maintenance in practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Peters, Peter Herman
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Budget forecasting -- Universities -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44574 , vital:38137
- Description: In general, facilities are constructed and equipment is procured to meet the functional and utilitarian needs of an organisation. Daily use and abuse can affect the functional value of these resources and without regular maintenance there will be no real benefits derived from non-functional facilities and equipment. Conducting effective and systematic maintenance is one of the fundamentals which underpins the success of an organisation and if ignored, could be costly to rectify. Costs escalate in the form of deferred maintenance budgets, which have a knock-on effect of growing year on year. This highlights the context of universities’ operations managers who may lack proper management and planning tools to either use or apply effective maintenance budget forecasting models. Having properly maintained facilities is imperative since deferring maintenance will adversely affect employees’ occupational health and safety, impact on the cost of operations and the morale of those who use the dysfunctional facility. The most daunting task of facility managers, is to ensure that all facilities remain fully and consistently operational. This entails providing an efficient maintenance service, which prevents system failures and extends the useful life of both the production plant and facilities to be managed. The need to protect costly and varied assets against the depredation of time and keeping it maintained for current use takes significant and continuous investment of time, money and human resources. Due to the cost of maintenance, in most instances maintenance is scheduled to be done when actual facilities are not in operation, usually at the end of a financial or calendar year. The intangible nature of the maintenance function and the inability to completely justify maintenance funding budgets, lead to the required funding not being obtained from a budgetary request. This inevitably has the undesirable consequences of huge capital backlogs in the form of deferred maintenance. This study moves the research problem and argument away from strictly for-profit business (manufacturing) entities to interrogate service-oriented parastatal and hybrid funded University facilities’ operations and maintenance management. Universities are multidisciplinary structures that encompass a broad spectrum of services required to ensure the effective and efficient academic, administrative, experimental and research focused operation of the Institution. Universities are not excluded from ensuring that sufficient funding is obtained for the effective maintenance of their facilities. This research aims to derive a tool to simplify the selection of a suitable maintenance budget forecasting model and to recommend a maintenance budgeting model for use within universities of selected countries of Southern Africa. The literature survey revealed that there are numerous maintenance budgeting forecasting models already in existence in many different shapes and sizes. For this reason, a content analysis was conducted of 31 maintenance budget forecasting models in order to be able to differentiate between the numerous models. This empirical study conducted among universities of selected countries of Southern Africa outlined the current maintenance funding models being used, inclusive of the amount of funding obtained and the existence/lack of deferred maintenance of various Institutions. After analysing the secondary data (in the form of a content analysis) and the empirical data collected, a model was chosen to recommend for implementation in future institutional planning and business practice. Based on the content analysis and empirical review, the recommended maintenance budget selection tool was derived focusing on sharpening the decision making process of selecting a suitable, fit for purpose, maintenance funding model. After this phase of the research, a follow up phase was conducted amongst high level executive decision makers, to qualitatively verify or support the findings from the first phase of the data collection. This research therefore concludes with recommendations to the respondent universities of selected countries of Southern Africa, about a suitable maintenance budgeting forecasting model. It also recommends a selection tool to use if alternative maintenance budget funding models need to be selected. This multidisciplinary study contributes to the literature by contextualising the maintenance budget forecasting for operational universities and in future adding significant value to the proactive management of deferred maintenance in practice.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Descriptive guidelines for mediation to enhance the parental involvement of unmarried fathers
- Authors: Nordien-Lagardien, Razia
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mediation , Unmarried fathers -- South Africa Father and child -- South Africa Unmarried mothers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30462 , vital:30948
- Description: A significant change brought about by the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), is that of the status of unmarried fathers. The parental rights of unmarried fathers have evolved in South Africa, especially since the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006) now recognises that unmarried fathers should have inherent right of contact, guardianship and care. These rights are, however, not automatic and need to be acquired through a process of mediation. While this legislation aims to facilitate the parental involvement of fathers by giving them rights as per Section 21 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), the reality is that many unmarried fathers still remain challenged in this regard despite the change in their legal position as fathers. Unmarried fathers are often compelled to take the matter further through protracted court processes. Unmarried fathers face unique challenges with parental involvement after separation and they often need to negotiate their involvement with the mother after separation. Given that mediation between unmarried parents is in its infancy in South Africa, very little research has been done in this area. It was envisaged that this study would highlight the important aspects of mediation which need to be considered in order for mediation outcomes to be more successful and to enhance the co-parenting relationship. The study employed a qualitative research approach that was exploratory, descriptive and contextual in design. The research study consisted of three phases. Phase 1 employed a multiple case study design in order to develop an understanding of the experiences and perceptions of unmarried fathers and mothers, as well as mediators, regarding the parental responsibilities of unmarried fathers in addition to their experiences of mediation. The data collection process comprised in-depth semi-structured interviews with three sample groups, namely unmarried fathers, and mothers, and mediators. The data collected from the interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed by the researcher through the use of two techniques, namely: within-case analysis and cross-case synthesis. An independent coder was utilised to verify the coding and analysis process. The analysis of the data in Phase 1 revealed that the construction of the role of unmarried fathers is influenced by various factors such as cultural and religious influences; childhood experiences of fatherhood; societal constructions of the father’s role, and the perception of the legal rights of unmarried fathers. The new legislation pertaining to the responsibilities and rights of unmarried fathers, as contained in the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), has resulted in increased parental conflict between parents after separation owing to their lack of awareness and confusion regarding the changes in legislation pertaining to the rights of unmarried fathers and the role of customary law in this regard. This has resulted in misconceptions about the legal rights of unmarried fathers, which have influenced unmarried parents’ attitudes and receptiveness to mediation. A significant barrier to father involvement emanating from the findings was relationship conflict experienced after separation, which was also identified as a significant challenge in mediation. The discussion of the themes reflected both positive and negative experiences of mediation for the study participants. While the parents derived educational and therapeutic benefits from mediation; there were also several factors such as relationship conflict, cultural barriers, influences of the extended family, and the approach and skills of the mediator, which influenced the mediation process. In Phase 2 of the study an integrative literature review and synthesis of the literature was conducted and critically appraised in terms of emergent themes and relevant research in the area of family mediation, which would inform the process of developing the descriptive guidelines for mediation with unmarried parents. The empirical findings from the study were synthesised with the findings from the integrative literature review, thus enabling conclusions to be drawn in order to generate descriptive guidelines for mediation. Phase 3 of the study describes the guidelines for mediation which emanated from the synthesis of the findings in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the study. As part of a qualitative evaluation, the guidelines were presented to an expert panel for review, after which the guidelines were finalised. The proposed guidelines for mediation to enhance the parental involvement of unmarried fathers is based on the hybrid model of mediation, which incorporates elements from the Transformative approach, the African centred approach and the co-mediation model. The guidelines are further described in terms of a phased approach to mediation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nordien-Lagardien, Razia
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Mediation , Unmarried fathers -- South Africa Father and child -- South Africa Unmarried mothers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30462 , vital:30948
- Description: A significant change brought about by the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), is that of the status of unmarried fathers. The parental rights of unmarried fathers have evolved in South Africa, especially since the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006) now recognises that unmarried fathers should have inherent right of contact, guardianship and care. These rights are, however, not automatic and need to be acquired through a process of mediation. While this legislation aims to facilitate the parental involvement of fathers by giving them rights as per Section 21 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), the reality is that many unmarried fathers still remain challenged in this regard despite the change in their legal position as fathers. Unmarried fathers are often compelled to take the matter further through protracted court processes. Unmarried fathers face unique challenges with parental involvement after separation and they often need to negotiate their involvement with the mother after separation. Given that mediation between unmarried parents is in its infancy in South Africa, very little research has been done in this area. It was envisaged that this study would highlight the important aspects of mediation which need to be considered in order for mediation outcomes to be more successful and to enhance the co-parenting relationship. The study employed a qualitative research approach that was exploratory, descriptive and contextual in design. The research study consisted of three phases. Phase 1 employed a multiple case study design in order to develop an understanding of the experiences and perceptions of unmarried fathers and mothers, as well as mediators, regarding the parental responsibilities of unmarried fathers in addition to their experiences of mediation. The data collection process comprised in-depth semi-structured interviews with three sample groups, namely unmarried fathers, and mothers, and mediators. The data collected from the interviews were transcribed, coded and analysed by the researcher through the use of two techniques, namely: within-case analysis and cross-case synthesis. An independent coder was utilised to verify the coding and analysis process. The analysis of the data in Phase 1 revealed that the construction of the role of unmarried fathers is influenced by various factors such as cultural and religious influences; childhood experiences of fatherhood; societal constructions of the father’s role, and the perception of the legal rights of unmarried fathers. The new legislation pertaining to the responsibilities and rights of unmarried fathers, as contained in the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 (RSA, 2006), has resulted in increased parental conflict between parents after separation owing to their lack of awareness and confusion regarding the changes in legislation pertaining to the rights of unmarried fathers and the role of customary law in this regard. This has resulted in misconceptions about the legal rights of unmarried fathers, which have influenced unmarried parents’ attitudes and receptiveness to mediation. A significant barrier to father involvement emanating from the findings was relationship conflict experienced after separation, which was also identified as a significant challenge in mediation. The discussion of the themes reflected both positive and negative experiences of mediation for the study participants. While the parents derived educational and therapeutic benefits from mediation; there were also several factors such as relationship conflict, cultural barriers, influences of the extended family, and the approach and skills of the mediator, which influenced the mediation process. In Phase 2 of the study an integrative literature review and synthesis of the literature was conducted and critically appraised in terms of emergent themes and relevant research in the area of family mediation, which would inform the process of developing the descriptive guidelines for mediation with unmarried parents. The empirical findings from the study were synthesised with the findings from the integrative literature review, thus enabling conclusions to be drawn in order to generate descriptive guidelines for mediation. Phase 3 of the study describes the guidelines for mediation which emanated from the synthesis of the findings in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the study. As part of a qualitative evaluation, the guidelines were presented to an expert panel for review, after which the guidelines were finalised. The proposed guidelines for mediation to enhance the parental involvement of unmarried fathers is based on the hybrid model of mediation, which incorporates elements from the Transformative approach, the African centred approach and the co-mediation model. The guidelines are further described in terms of a phased approach to mediation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Design and Characterization of a 5 kw Xe-Lamp Solar Simulator
- Authors: Nwodo, Julian Chizoba
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Solar energy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/14671 , vital:40042
- Description: The design and characterisation of a 5kW Xenon lamp solar simulator is presented. This was accomplished through considering the design features of an ellipsoidal reflector, Xe lamp characteristics and casing, and power supply; assembly of an ellipsoidal, Xe-lamp simulator; design and building of an automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator; establishing the 3 scenarios that must be met to conform to a AAA class simulator; characterization of the simulator in terms of temporal stability, irradiance uniformity and spectral match; and application of the simulator and comparing it with STC rated values. The considerations for the type of material used for housing the components of the solar simulator were made. A 5kW DC power supply and igniter for the Xe-lamp was carefully selected since they provide necessary power for running the simulator. The simulator has the ability to be used in either horizontal or vertical position by adjusting the reflector. An automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator was built for this study, this system enables the simulator to be operated in either auto or manual modes. It also incorporates an irradiance, temperature, current and voltage feedback. The characterisation of the solar simulator was over a 2.1 m X 1.6 m test plane. The area under which the characterisation was carried out within the test plane is 110 cm x 129.5 cm. At the end of the steady state large area solar simulator characterisation, a class A spectral match, class A spatial uniformity, and a class B temporal instability was obtained
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nwodo, Julian Chizoba
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Solar energy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/14671 , vital:40042
- Description: The design and characterisation of a 5kW Xenon lamp solar simulator is presented. This was accomplished through considering the design features of an ellipsoidal reflector, Xe lamp characteristics and casing, and power supply; assembly of an ellipsoidal, Xe-lamp simulator; design and building of an automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator; establishing the 3 scenarios that must be met to conform to a AAA class simulator; characterization of the simulator in terms of temporal stability, irradiance uniformity and spectral match; and application of the simulator and comparing it with STC rated values. The considerations for the type of material used for housing the components of the solar simulator were made. A 5kW DC power supply and igniter for the Xe-lamp was carefully selected since they provide necessary power for running the simulator. The simulator has the ability to be used in either horizontal or vertical position by adjusting the reflector. An automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator was built for this study, this system enables the simulator to be operated in either auto or manual modes. It also incorporates an irradiance, temperature, current and voltage feedback. The characterisation of the solar simulator was over a 2.1 m X 1.6 m test plane. The area under which the characterisation was carried out within the test plane is 110 cm x 129.5 cm. At the end of the steady state large area solar simulator characterisation, a class A spectral match, class A spatial uniformity, and a class B temporal instability was obtained
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Design and evaluation of bulk data transfer extensions for the NFComms framework
- Bradshaw, Karen L, Irwin, Barry V W, Pennefather, Sean
- Authors: Bradshaw, Karen L , Irwin, Barry V W , Pennefather, Sean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430369 , vital:72686 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-1d75c01e79
- Description: We present the design and implementation of an indirect messaging extension for the existing NFComms framework that provides communication between a network flow processor and host CPU. This extension addresses the bulk throughput limitations of the framework and is intended to work in conjunction with existing communication mediums. Testing of the framework extensions shows an increase in throughput performance of up to 268 that of the current direct message passing framework at the cost of increased single message latency of up to 2. This trade-off is considered acceptable as the proposed extensions are intended for bulk data transfer only while the existing message passing functionality of the framework is preserved and can be used in situations where low latency is required for small messages.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Bradshaw, Karen L , Irwin, Barry V W , Pennefather, Sean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/430369 , vital:72686 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-1d75c01e79
- Description: We present the design and implementation of an indirect messaging extension for the existing NFComms framework that provides communication between a network flow processor and host CPU. This extension addresses the bulk throughput limitations of the framework and is intended to work in conjunction with existing communication mediums. Testing of the framework extensions shows an increase in throughput performance of up to 268 that of the current direct message passing framework at the cost of increased single message latency of up to 2. This trade-off is considered acceptable as the proposed extensions are intended for bulk data transfer only while the existing message passing functionality of the framework is preserved and can be used in situations where low latency is required for small messages.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019