A critical assessment of the implementation of community development projects in mitigating youth unemployment: A case of Mashonaland West province Zimbabwe
- Authors: Mafa, Dennyford
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Economic development projects -- Evaluation Poverty -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17473 , vital:41079
- Description: The aim of the study was to critically assess the implementation of community development projects in mitigating youth unemployment in Mashonaland province of Zimbabwe. The study used the mixed method which dwells beneath a social phenomenon in order to draw substantiated findings. Data was collected using three method and these include, individual face-to- face interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire administered to youth, government officials and the local authorities. The study was underpinned by the asset based community development theory and sustainable livelihood approach. Findings highlighted that the participants and the respondents meet the characteristics and criterion for selected community development projects aimed at mitigating youth unemployment. The study revealed that there has been lack on youth involvement in the planning and initiation of the youth community development projects which aim to mitigate youth unemployment and poverty eradication. It has been found out that the implementation process of the youth community development projects was surrounded by lack of knowledge and lack of the involvement of the youths, which resulted in the failure of mitigating youth unemployment and eradication of poverty. Although accessibility (to youth) of these community development projects was for all the community youth who were unemployed, it emerged that the access was not as indicated due to factors like, lack of funding, partisan distribution of resources. The study also realized that due to lack of involvement and proper implementation, the youth community development projects were not sustainable, which was evidenced by the high rate of youth unemployment and poverty levels. Furthermore, the study revealed that effectiveness of youth community development projects in v alleviating youth unemployment in the province has also been marred with pitfalls. Thus, there has been an increase of youth unemployment and poverty. Last but not least, the findings of the study revealed that there were a couple of challenges, which are rooted in partnerships, lack of youth inclusion and involvement, as well lack of involvement of other stakeholders with expertise on implementation of youth community development projects to eradicate poverty and alleviate youth unemployment. Regardless of the brilliant ideas and strategic interventions, the government lacks the practicality of the implementation of these intervention strategies. The study found that interventions were there. However, intervention entails a process which has different facets and obligates the government to function systematically to avoid default in the process of service delivery. It is recommended amongst others that the government and various stakeholders should take cognizance and develop mechanisms and strategies for poverty alleviation, growth, development and employment creation for the youth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mafa, Dennyford
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Economic development projects -- Evaluation Poverty -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17473 , vital:41079
- Description: The aim of the study was to critically assess the implementation of community development projects in mitigating youth unemployment in Mashonaland province of Zimbabwe. The study used the mixed method which dwells beneath a social phenomenon in order to draw substantiated findings. Data was collected using three method and these include, individual face-to- face interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire administered to youth, government officials and the local authorities. The study was underpinned by the asset based community development theory and sustainable livelihood approach. Findings highlighted that the participants and the respondents meet the characteristics and criterion for selected community development projects aimed at mitigating youth unemployment. The study revealed that there has been lack on youth involvement in the planning and initiation of the youth community development projects which aim to mitigate youth unemployment and poverty eradication. It has been found out that the implementation process of the youth community development projects was surrounded by lack of knowledge and lack of the involvement of the youths, which resulted in the failure of mitigating youth unemployment and eradication of poverty. Although accessibility (to youth) of these community development projects was for all the community youth who were unemployed, it emerged that the access was not as indicated due to factors like, lack of funding, partisan distribution of resources. The study also realized that due to lack of involvement and proper implementation, the youth community development projects were not sustainable, which was evidenced by the high rate of youth unemployment and poverty levels. Furthermore, the study revealed that effectiveness of youth community development projects in v alleviating youth unemployment in the province has also been marred with pitfalls. Thus, there has been an increase of youth unemployment and poverty. Last but not least, the findings of the study revealed that there were a couple of challenges, which are rooted in partnerships, lack of youth inclusion and involvement, as well lack of involvement of other stakeholders with expertise on implementation of youth community development projects to eradicate poverty and alleviate youth unemployment. Regardless of the brilliant ideas and strategic interventions, the government lacks the practicality of the implementation of these intervention strategies. The study found that interventions were there. However, intervention entails a process which has different facets and obligates the government to function systematically to avoid default in the process of service delivery. It is recommended amongst others that the government and various stakeholders should take cognizance and develop mechanisms and strategies for poverty alleviation, growth, development and employment creation for the youth.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A critical realist exploration of the culture of resistance in educational technology integration practices at a South African university
- Authors: Tshuma, Nompilo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Critical realism , Educational technology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Effect of technological innovations on -- South Africa , College teachers -- South Africa , College teaching -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72318 , vital:30033
- Description: This thesis seeks to address a number of troubling concerns related to research and practice in the field of educational technology in South African higher education. Firstly, educational technology research has been criticised for a lack of theoretical rigour resulting in perspectives that are tightly focused mostly on practice but fail to adequately interrogate the socio-political complexities of integrating educational technology. Secondly, while research in the field has been criticised for failing to adequately contextualise the study of educational technology, it also fails to interrogate the impact of colonial legacies and Western-developed technologies on integration practices. Thirdly, there seems to be a disconnect between academics’ practices and choices with educational technology, and the expectations and assumptions of educational technologists. As such, this thesis predominantly follows inductive reasoning where literature and theory are applied to the empirical situation retrospectively in order to avoid the potential influences and biases of mostly Western-driven discourses on educational technology integration practices. Critical realism is used to ‘underlabour’ this study. This meta-theory asserts that there are multiple perspectives of an independent reality, and the work of research is to use these perspectives to draw closer to an understanding of that reality. As such, it allows me to interrogate my perspectives firstly, and secondly those of my research participants, about factors that constrain educational technology integration in the South African context through the use of theory (abstract concepts) and data (research participants’ multiple perspectives). However, critical realism is somewhat cautious in how to access this reality. Therefore, a critical ethnographic epistemology is employed to strengthen critical realism’s aim of accessing knowledge. A critical epistemology emphasises exposing hidden power structures, value judgements as well as self-knowledge and reflexivity. The thesis thus shows how a critical realist ontology could be complemented by a critical ethnographic methodology, particularly in critically-orientated research that has an emancipatory focus which seeks to uncover the socio-political context within which educational technology practices take place. A key argument is that critical realism can be employed as an ontological underlabourer for critical research because of: 1) its immanent critique of traditionally-accepted philosophies, 2) its emphasis on critique of our knowledge claims and value judgements, 3) its insistence that knowledge of the social world necessarily precedes emancipation, and 4) its different conceptions of power (oppressive power and transformatory power). This critical ethnographic research is conducted in a South African university with eight female academics. Data collection is in the form of interviews, observations and reflections, as well as informal and work-related interactions. At each data collection moment, I have had to be reflexively aware of my positionality as an educational technologist, the impact of a colonially-motivated methodology and an ethically-aware approach that seeks to put the needs of the research participants first. Critical ethnography’s meaning-making and critical realism’s abduction and retroduction are used to analyse and make sense of the data. In my attempt to contextualise the study’s findings, I first uncover structural forces and their impact on the academic role before attempting to correlate this with educational technology practices. The study’s findings point to two main structural forces in the socio-political context of South African higher education: the teaching/research tension and the elevation of one dominant culture. In terms of the teaching/research tension, the female academics in this study have to balance the urgent teaching function with the valued research function. They struggle to find this balance because of ambiguous messages from different structures, their passion for teaching, oppressive departmental dynamics and the pressures of their career trajectory. The elevation of one dominant culture is demonstrated through both oppressive cultural practices and untransformed curricula. The study shows that academics mitigate these structural constraints mostly through subtle every day resistance that seeks to mitigate their effect on both the academics and, where applicable, their students. Archer’s morphogenetic/morphostatic cycle is used retrospectively, in response to fieldwork, to conceptualise why this resistance comes about. A resistance framework developed using Archer is then used to understand educational technology choices and practices. The results of the research show that while academics are often pictured as resistant to technology as a response to different barriers, they actually often employ technology to resist structural forces. That is, with this thesis I show that there is a focus on resistance with technology rather than resistance to technology. The study shows how the research participants resist structural forces (teaching tension and dominant culture) by using technology to create safe and responsive learning spaces. As such, this thesis challenges educational technologists to re-think the way they support academics by recommending support strategies that acknowledge both the structural forces in the South African higher education context, as well as the culture of resistance, both of which impact academics’ educational technology choices and practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Tshuma, Nompilo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Critical realism , Educational technology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Effect of technological innovations on -- South Africa , College teachers -- South Africa , College teaching -- Sociological aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72318 , vital:30033
- Description: This thesis seeks to address a number of troubling concerns related to research and practice in the field of educational technology in South African higher education. Firstly, educational technology research has been criticised for a lack of theoretical rigour resulting in perspectives that are tightly focused mostly on practice but fail to adequately interrogate the socio-political complexities of integrating educational technology. Secondly, while research in the field has been criticised for failing to adequately contextualise the study of educational technology, it also fails to interrogate the impact of colonial legacies and Western-developed technologies on integration practices. Thirdly, there seems to be a disconnect between academics’ practices and choices with educational technology, and the expectations and assumptions of educational technologists. As such, this thesis predominantly follows inductive reasoning where literature and theory are applied to the empirical situation retrospectively in order to avoid the potential influences and biases of mostly Western-driven discourses on educational technology integration practices. Critical realism is used to ‘underlabour’ this study. This meta-theory asserts that there are multiple perspectives of an independent reality, and the work of research is to use these perspectives to draw closer to an understanding of that reality. As such, it allows me to interrogate my perspectives firstly, and secondly those of my research participants, about factors that constrain educational technology integration in the South African context through the use of theory (abstract concepts) and data (research participants’ multiple perspectives). However, critical realism is somewhat cautious in how to access this reality. Therefore, a critical ethnographic epistemology is employed to strengthen critical realism’s aim of accessing knowledge. A critical epistemology emphasises exposing hidden power structures, value judgements as well as self-knowledge and reflexivity. The thesis thus shows how a critical realist ontology could be complemented by a critical ethnographic methodology, particularly in critically-orientated research that has an emancipatory focus which seeks to uncover the socio-political context within which educational technology practices take place. A key argument is that critical realism can be employed as an ontological underlabourer for critical research because of: 1) its immanent critique of traditionally-accepted philosophies, 2) its emphasis on critique of our knowledge claims and value judgements, 3) its insistence that knowledge of the social world necessarily precedes emancipation, and 4) its different conceptions of power (oppressive power and transformatory power). This critical ethnographic research is conducted in a South African university with eight female academics. Data collection is in the form of interviews, observations and reflections, as well as informal and work-related interactions. At each data collection moment, I have had to be reflexively aware of my positionality as an educational technologist, the impact of a colonially-motivated methodology and an ethically-aware approach that seeks to put the needs of the research participants first. Critical ethnography’s meaning-making and critical realism’s abduction and retroduction are used to analyse and make sense of the data. In my attempt to contextualise the study’s findings, I first uncover structural forces and their impact on the academic role before attempting to correlate this with educational technology practices. The study’s findings point to two main structural forces in the socio-political context of South African higher education: the teaching/research tension and the elevation of one dominant culture. In terms of the teaching/research tension, the female academics in this study have to balance the urgent teaching function with the valued research function. They struggle to find this balance because of ambiguous messages from different structures, their passion for teaching, oppressive departmental dynamics and the pressures of their career trajectory. The elevation of one dominant culture is demonstrated through both oppressive cultural practices and untransformed curricula. The study shows that academics mitigate these structural constraints mostly through subtle every day resistance that seeks to mitigate their effect on both the academics and, where applicable, their students. Archer’s morphogenetic/morphostatic cycle is used retrospectively, in response to fieldwork, to conceptualise why this resistance comes about. A resistance framework developed using Archer is then used to understand educational technology choices and practices. The results of the research show that while academics are often pictured as resistant to technology as a response to different barriers, they actually often employ technology to resist structural forces. That is, with this thesis I show that there is a focus on resistance with technology rather than resistance to technology. The study shows how the research participants resist structural forces (teaching tension and dominant culture) by using technology to create safe and responsive learning spaces. As such, this thesis challenges educational technologists to re-think the way they support academics by recommending support strategies that acknowledge both the structural forces in the South African higher education context, as well as the culture of resistance, both of which impact academics’ educational technology choices and practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A crowdsensing method for water resource monitoring in smart communities
- Authors: Banda, Clara Mloza
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Data collection platforms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42449 , vital:36658
- Description: Crowdsensing aims to empower a large group of individuals to collect large amounts of data using their mobile devices, with the goal of sharing the collected data. Existing crowdsensing studies do not consider all the activities and methods of the crowdsensing process and the key success factors related to the process. Nor do they investigate the profile and behaviour of potential participants. The aim of this study was to design a crowdsensing method for water resource monitoring in smart communities. This study opted for an exploratory study using the Engaged Scholarship approach, which allows the study of complex real-world problems based on the different perspectives of key stakeholders. The proposed Crowdsensing Method considers the social, technical and programme design components. The study proposes a programme design for the Crowdsensing Methodwhich is crowdsensing ReferenceFrameworkthat includes Crowdsensing Processwith key success factors and guidelines that should be considered in each phase of the process. The method also uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate citizens’intention to participate in crowdsensing for water resource monitoring and explores their attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control on these intentions. Understanding the profiles of potential participants can assist with designing crowdsensing systems with appropriate incentive mechanisms to achieve adequate user participation and good service quality. A survey was conducted to validate the theoretical TB model in a real-world context. Regression and correlation analyses demonstrated that the attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control can be used to predict participants’ intention to participate in crowdsensing for water resource monitoring. The survey results assisted with the development of an Incentive Mechanism as part of the Crowdsensing Method. This mechanism incorporates recruitment and incentive policies, as well as guidelines derived from the literature review and extant system analysis. The policies, called the OverSensepolicies, provide guidance for recruitment and rewarding of participants using the popular Stackelberg technique. The policies were evaluated using simulation experiments with a data set provided by the case study, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The results of the simulation experiments illustrated that the OverSenserecruitmentpolicycan reduce the computing resources required for the recruitment of participants and that the recruitment policy performs better than random or naïve recruitment policies. The proposed Crowdsensing Method was evaluated using an ecosystem of success factors for mobile-based interventions identified in the literature and the Crowdsensing Method adhered to a majority (90%) of the success factors. This study also contributes information systems design theory by proposing several sets of guidelines for crowdsensing projects and the development of crowdsensing systems. This study fulfils an identified need to study the applicability of crowdsensing for water resource monitoring and explores how a crowdsensing method can create a smart community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Banda, Clara Mloza
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Data collection platforms
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42449 , vital:36658
- Description: Crowdsensing aims to empower a large group of individuals to collect large amounts of data using their mobile devices, with the goal of sharing the collected data. Existing crowdsensing studies do not consider all the activities and methods of the crowdsensing process and the key success factors related to the process. Nor do they investigate the profile and behaviour of potential participants. The aim of this study was to design a crowdsensing method for water resource monitoring in smart communities. This study opted for an exploratory study using the Engaged Scholarship approach, which allows the study of complex real-world problems based on the different perspectives of key stakeholders. The proposed Crowdsensing Method considers the social, technical and programme design components. The study proposes a programme design for the Crowdsensing Methodwhich is crowdsensing ReferenceFrameworkthat includes Crowdsensing Processwith key success factors and guidelines that should be considered in each phase of the process. The method also uses the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to investigate citizens’intention to participate in crowdsensing for water resource monitoring and explores their attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control on these intentions. Understanding the profiles of potential participants can assist with designing crowdsensing systems with appropriate incentive mechanisms to achieve adequate user participation and good service quality. A survey was conducted to validate the theoretical TB model in a real-world context. Regression and correlation analyses demonstrated that the attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control can be used to predict participants’ intention to participate in crowdsensing for water resource monitoring. The survey results assisted with the development of an Incentive Mechanism as part of the Crowdsensing Method. This mechanism incorporates recruitment and incentive policies, as well as guidelines derived from the literature review and extant system analysis. The policies, called the OverSensepolicies, provide guidance for recruitment and rewarding of participants using the popular Stackelberg technique. The policies were evaluated using simulation experiments with a data set provided by the case study, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The results of the simulation experiments illustrated that the OverSenserecruitmentpolicycan reduce the computing resources required for the recruitment of participants and that the recruitment policy performs better than random or naïve recruitment policies. The proposed Crowdsensing Method was evaluated using an ecosystem of success factors for mobile-based interventions identified in the literature and the Crowdsensing Method adhered to a majority (90%) of the success factors. This study also contributes information systems design theory by proposing several sets of guidelines for crowdsensing projects and the development of crowdsensing systems. This study fulfils an identified need to study the applicability of crowdsensing for water resource monitoring and explores how a crowdsensing method can create a smart community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A curriculum framework for undergraduate coastal and marine tourism university programmes
- Authors: Jonas, Lynn Cindy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- Curricula , Tourism -- Study and teaching (Higher) Marine ecotourism Ecotourism -- Study and teaching (Higher) Tourism -- Environmental aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40006 , vital:35646
- Description: The ocean economy has gained increasing economic significance over the past several years. Marine tourism as an economic activity has increased tremendously over the past several years. Not only does marine tourism and leisure have the ability to create employment, but there are numerous entrepreneurial opportunities in the industry. The importance of the coastal and marine tourism sector is evident and research in this sector abounds however, the issue of marine tourism education has been neglected as an area of research. A need therefore exists for the creation of ocean economy related qualifications and programmes and this study developed a curriculum framework for undergraduate coastal and marine tourism university programmes around which future Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) programmes could be created. The research objectives were to firstly determine the coastal and marine tourism stakeholders and role players’ perceptions and expectations of undergraduate coastal and marine tourism education and graduate competencies. The second objective was to ascertain the statutory and policy matters that shape university programmes and finally to incorporate the UNESCO-IBE curriculum framework into undergraduate coastal and marine tourism university programmes. This study fit within the pragmatic paradigm and a mixed methods research approach was utilised with a multiphase design. The data collection process was divided into three phases with Phase One collecting qualitative data through content analysis, Phase Two collecting quantitative data through a survey with questionnaire as research instrument and Phase Three collecting qualitative data through a semi-structured interview with an interview schedule as research instrument. Phase One included document analysis in order to determine the subsectors of the CMT industry, statutory and policy documents to determine programme development regulations as well as collected information regarding the socio-economic environment of the country. Phase Two collected data from industry operators and Phase Three collected data from educators and industry association representatives. The study identified four sub-sectors of the CMT industry namely Conservation Areas, Coastal and Marine Adventure Activities, Land-based Marine Tourism Attractions and Marine Resources and Recreation. All three phases of data collection were utilised to develop these four sub-sectors. The pertinent findings of Phase One indicate that the socio-economic environment in which the CMT programme would be developed is one with a slow economic growth rate, low numeracy and literacy levels with high numbers of unemployed graduates. Language policies are critical in order to accommodate English second language speakers. Furthermore, there are low levels of academics with doctoral degrees with targets to improve the status quo. Phase Two data collection notes that industry operators would prefer a programme that has strong practical and vocational focus with matters such as excursions, work-based learning and alternative teaching methods being important. These findings are supported during Phase Three data collection with educators and industry association representatives placing stronger focus on practical presentation of content and engagement with industry through site visits and demonstration of activities to students. Based on the findings in all three phases, a schematic of the CMT curriculum framework is developed and presented. Recommendations are made for the implementation of the CMT curriculum framework in order to identify omissions and to include the student voice. Stronger linkages should also be forged between industry and academia in order to facilitate the CMT programme. Further research could also test and implement the four identified sub-sectors in order to determine its suitability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Jonas, Lynn Cindy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Education, Higher -- Curricula , Tourism -- Study and teaching (Higher) Marine ecotourism Ecotourism -- Study and teaching (Higher) Tourism -- Environmental aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40006 , vital:35646
- Description: The ocean economy has gained increasing economic significance over the past several years. Marine tourism as an economic activity has increased tremendously over the past several years. Not only does marine tourism and leisure have the ability to create employment, but there are numerous entrepreneurial opportunities in the industry. The importance of the coastal and marine tourism sector is evident and research in this sector abounds however, the issue of marine tourism education has been neglected as an area of research. A need therefore exists for the creation of ocean economy related qualifications and programmes and this study developed a curriculum framework for undergraduate coastal and marine tourism university programmes around which future Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT) programmes could be created. The research objectives were to firstly determine the coastal and marine tourism stakeholders and role players’ perceptions and expectations of undergraduate coastal and marine tourism education and graduate competencies. The second objective was to ascertain the statutory and policy matters that shape university programmes and finally to incorporate the UNESCO-IBE curriculum framework into undergraduate coastal and marine tourism university programmes. This study fit within the pragmatic paradigm and a mixed methods research approach was utilised with a multiphase design. The data collection process was divided into three phases with Phase One collecting qualitative data through content analysis, Phase Two collecting quantitative data through a survey with questionnaire as research instrument and Phase Three collecting qualitative data through a semi-structured interview with an interview schedule as research instrument. Phase One included document analysis in order to determine the subsectors of the CMT industry, statutory and policy documents to determine programme development regulations as well as collected information regarding the socio-economic environment of the country. Phase Two collected data from industry operators and Phase Three collected data from educators and industry association representatives. The study identified four sub-sectors of the CMT industry namely Conservation Areas, Coastal and Marine Adventure Activities, Land-based Marine Tourism Attractions and Marine Resources and Recreation. All three phases of data collection were utilised to develop these four sub-sectors. The pertinent findings of Phase One indicate that the socio-economic environment in which the CMT programme would be developed is one with a slow economic growth rate, low numeracy and literacy levels with high numbers of unemployed graduates. Language policies are critical in order to accommodate English second language speakers. Furthermore, there are low levels of academics with doctoral degrees with targets to improve the status quo. Phase Two data collection notes that industry operators would prefer a programme that has strong practical and vocational focus with matters such as excursions, work-based learning and alternative teaching methods being important. These findings are supported during Phase Three data collection with educators and industry association representatives placing stronger focus on practical presentation of content and engagement with industry through site visits and demonstration of activities to students. Based on the findings in all three phases, a schematic of the CMT curriculum framework is developed and presented. Recommendations are made for the implementation of the CMT curriculum framework in order to identify omissions and to include the student voice. Stronger linkages should also be forged between industry and academia in order to facilitate the CMT programme. Further research could also test and implement the four identified sub-sectors in order to determine its suitability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A deep learning approach to classifying tyres using sidewall images
- Authors: Gifford, Dean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Image processing -- Digital techniques , Image processing Computer science
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39720 , vital:35351
- Description: End of Life Tyres (ELT's) pose a potential health and environmental risk when dumped in illegal stockpiles. For recycling to be considered feasible, a profitable business opportunity needs to be created. One method of making the recycling process of tyres more profitable is by understanding the compounds found within each tyre. This study aims at classifying these tyres in order to achieve this knowledge. A literature review was done to investigate neural networks, convolutional neural networks as well as existing deep learning architectures for image classification. A deep learning approach was applied in order to classify the logos of tyres as these approaches have proved their success in both image classification and more specifically logo classification. Although tyre classification has been implemented in the past, a deep learning approach has not been applied and the logo has not been the classifying element in any other studies. The main difference of this study compared to previous research surrounding deep learning and logo classification is the properties of the tyre logo. Logos on tyres are very similar in colour as they are purely formed in rubber and very seldom have any colour to them. Additionally, the embossed logos can contain variation among same branded tyres due to small inconsistencies in the moulds. The implementation of this deep learning solution saw multiple convolutional neural networks implemented. Some of these architectures were also implemented using transferred learning. The metrics obtained as outputs from training and testing the architectures were the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. These metrics were compared in conjunction with the confusion matrix produced from testing. To ensure that variance was accounted for in the experiments, the k-fold cross-validation technique was adopted. The results of this study identified that one convolutional neural network model, MobileNet, was particularly well suited for the context of classifying logos on tyre sidewalls. The MobileNet architecture had the highest performance metrics for both training from scratch (96.7% accuracy) and transferred learning (98.8% accuracy). Three other models performed particularly well when trained from scratch, these were a modification of the LeNet architecture, ResNet50 and InceptionV3. The transferred learning results were also impressive with four out of the 5 models achieving an accuracy above 94%. Interestingly, the ResNet50 architecture failed to train when transferred learning was applied. Contrasting to this, the two models VGG16 and VGG19 failed to train when trained from scratch but performed equally as well as the other models when transferred learning was implemented. This indicates that although transferred learning can improve the performance of models, it is highly dependent on the task as well as the model. Overall the results obtained proved that a deep learning approach could be applied in order to classify tyres accurately.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Gifford, Dean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Image processing -- Digital techniques , Image processing Computer science
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39720 , vital:35351
- Description: End of Life Tyres (ELT's) pose a potential health and environmental risk when dumped in illegal stockpiles. For recycling to be considered feasible, a profitable business opportunity needs to be created. One method of making the recycling process of tyres more profitable is by understanding the compounds found within each tyre. This study aims at classifying these tyres in order to achieve this knowledge. A literature review was done to investigate neural networks, convolutional neural networks as well as existing deep learning architectures for image classification. A deep learning approach was applied in order to classify the logos of tyres as these approaches have proved their success in both image classification and more specifically logo classification. Although tyre classification has been implemented in the past, a deep learning approach has not been applied and the logo has not been the classifying element in any other studies. The main difference of this study compared to previous research surrounding deep learning and logo classification is the properties of the tyre logo. Logos on tyres are very similar in colour as they are purely formed in rubber and very seldom have any colour to them. Additionally, the embossed logos can contain variation among same branded tyres due to small inconsistencies in the moulds. The implementation of this deep learning solution saw multiple convolutional neural networks implemented. Some of these architectures were also implemented using transferred learning. The metrics obtained as outputs from training and testing the architectures were the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. These metrics were compared in conjunction with the confusion matrix produced from testing. To ensure that variance was accounted for in the experiments, the k-fold cross-validation technique was adopted. The results of this study identified that one convolutional neural network model, MobileNet, was particularly well suited for the context of classifying logos on tyre sidewalls. The MobileNet architecture had the highest performance metrics for both training from scratch (96.7% accuracy) and transferred learning (98.8% accuracy). Three other models performed particularly well when trained from scratch, these were a modification of the LeNet architecture, ResNet50 and InceptionV3. The transferred learning results were also impressive with four out of the 5 models achieving an accuracy above 94%. Interestingly, the ResNet50 architecture failed to train when transferred learning was applied. Contrasting to this, the two models VGG16 and VGG19 failed to train when trained from scratch but performed equally as well as the other models when transferred learning was implemented. This indicates that although transferred learning can improve the performance of models, it is highly dependent on the task as well as the model. Overall the results obtained proved that a deep learning approach could be applied in order to classify tyres accurately.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A design experiment exploring the influence of visual and kinesthetic tools in learning Grade 8 linear algebra in a Namibian secondary school
- Authors: Kalua, Enos
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Algebra -- Study and teaching (Secondary)-- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary)-- Namibia , Information visualization , Visual learning -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92683 , vital:30724
- Description: Based on a broad literature review, understanding algebra is a challenge among learners in middle schools around the world. Early researches also indicated that algebra is often taught through inherent symbols and procedures. This does not exclude Namibian learners in secondary schools whom I have worked with for over 10 years. Examination reports (2014, 2016 and 2017) serve as evidence that learners performed poorly (below 45%) in the area of algebra, with these reports indicating that teachers need to strongly emphasise the issue of solving linear equations. Therefore, this study presents a proposed design research in an attempt to help learners develop meaningful understanding of linear algebra at Grade 8 level. Eight learners whose ages ranged from 13 - 14 years from one Namibian secondary school in Oshikoto region, in northern Namibia, were the participants in this study. The learners represented different groups of learning abilities, ranging from low learning abilities to high learning abilities. The designed programme for this intervention consisting of eight lessons was planned for three weeks and the lessons were conducted in the afternoon to avoid any interruption with normal learning hours. The study used four tools for data collection, namely, benchmark tests (pre-test and post-test), observation, focus groups and unstructured interviews. The data collected for this study was inductively analysed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether and how the specific visual and kinaesthetic teaching tools (diagrams, expansion box and balance method) used may have contributed to learners’ understanding of algebraic concepts and techniques (variables, expressions and equations). The study used diagrams (geometrical plane shapes) for separating terms, an expansion box for expanding brackets and the balance method for solving linear equations. The study revealed the use of diagrams helped the learners in understanding the separation of variable and constant terms when simplifying expressions through addition and/or subtraction. Moreover, the study also revealed that the use of an expansion box was useful for the learners in understanding expansion of brackets in expressions with more than one term. Regarding the use of the balance method, the study showed that learners were already able to solve linear equations by the transfer method, hence, the balance method was not necessary.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kalua, Enos
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Algebra -- Study and teaching (Secondary)-- Namibia , Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary)-- Namibia , Information visualization , Visual learning -- Case studies
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/92683 , vital:30724
- Description: Based on a broad literature review, understanding algebra is a challenge among learners in middle schools around the world. Early researches also indicated that algebra is often taught through inherent symbols and procedures. This does not exclude Namibian learners in secondary schools whom I have worked with for over 10 years. Examination reports (2014, 2016 and 2017) serve as evidence that learners performed poorly (below 45%) in the area of algebra, with these reports indicating that teachers need to strongly emphasise the issue of solving linear equations. Therefore, this study presents a proposed design research in an attempt to help learners develop meaningful understanding of linear algebra at Grade 8 level. Eight learners whose ages ranged from 13 - 14 years from one Namibian secondary school in Oshikoto region, in northern Namibia, were the participants in this study. The learners represented different groups of learning abilities, ranging from low learning abilities to high learning abilities. The designed programme for this intervention consisting of eight lessons was planned for three weeks and the lessons were conducted in the afternoon to avoid any interruption with normal learning hours. The study used four tools for data collection, namely, benchmark tests (pre-test and post-test), observation, focus groups and unstructured interviews. The data collected for this study was inductively analysed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether and how the specific visual and kinaesthetic teaching tools (diagrams, expansion box and balance method) used may have contributed to learners’ understanding of algebraic concepts and techniques (variables, expressions and equations). The study used diagrams (geometrical plane shapes) for separating terms, an expansion box for expanding brackets and the balance method for solving linear equations. The study revealed the use of diagrams helped the learners in understanding the separation of variable and constant terms when simplifying expressions through addition and/or subtraction. Moreover, the study also revealed that the use of an expansion box was useful for the learners in understanding expansion of brackets in expressions with more than one term. Regarding the use of the balance method, the study showed that learners were already able to solve linear equations by the transfer method, hence, the balance method was not necessary.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A development method for deriving reusable concurrent programs from verified CSP models
- Authors: Dibley, James
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: CSP (Computer program language) , Sequential processing (Computer science) , Go (Computer program language) , CSPIDER (Open source tool)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72329 , vital:30035
- Description: This work proposes and demonstrates a novel method for software development that applies formal verification techniques to the design and implementation of concurrent programs. This method is supported by a new software tool, CSPIDER, which translates machine-readable Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) models into encapsulated, reusable components coded in the Go programming language. In relation to existing CSP implementation techniques, this work is only the second to implement a translator and it provides original support for some CSP language constructs and modelling approaches. The method is evaluated through three case studies: a concurrent sorting array, a trialdivision prime number generator, and a component node for the Ricart-Agrawala distributed mutual exclusion algorithm. Each of these case studies presents the formal verification of safety and functional requirements through CSP model-checking, and it is shown that CSPIDER is capable of generating reusable implementations from each model. The Ricart-Agrawala case study demonstrates the application of the method to the design of a protocol component. This method maintains full compatibility with the primary CSP verification tool. Applying the CSPIDER tool requires minimal commitment to an explicitly defined modelling style and a very small set of pre-translation annotations, but all of these measures can be instated prior to verification. The Go code that CSPIDER produces requires no intervention before it may be used as a component within a larger development. The translator provides a traceable, structured implementation of the CSP model, automatically deriving formal parameters and a channel-based client interface from its interpretation of the CSP model. Each case study demonstrates the use of the translated component within a simple test development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Dibley, James
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: CSP (Computer program language) , Sequential processing (Computer science) , Go (Computer program language) , CSPIDER (Open source tool)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/72329 , vital:30035
- Description: This work proposes and demonstrates a novel method for software development that applies formal verification techniques to the design and implementation of concurrent programs. This method is supported by a new software tool, CSPIDER, which translates machine-readable Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) models into encapsulated, reusable components coded in the Go programming language. In relation to existing CSP implementation techniques, this work is only the second to implement a translator and it provides original support for some CSP language constructs and modelling approaches. The method is evaluated through three case studies: a concurrent sorting array, a trialdivision prime number generator, and a component node for the Ricart-Agrawala distributed mutual exclusion algorithm. Each of these case studies presents the formal verification of safety and functional requirements through CSP model-checking, and it is shown that CSPIDER is capable of generating reusable implementations from each model. The Ricart-Agrawala case study demonstrates the application of the method to the design of a protocol component. This method maintains full compatibility with the primary CSP verification tool. Applying the CSPIDER tool requires minimal commitment to an explicitly defined modelling style and a very small set of pre-translation annotations, but all of these measures can be instated prior to verification. The Go code that CSPIDER produces requires no intervention before it may be used as a component within a larger development. The translator provides a traceable, structured implementation of the CSP model, automatically deriving formal parameters and a channel-based client interface from its interpretation of the CSP model. Each case study demonstrates the use of the translated component within a simple test development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A dynamics based analysis of allosteric modulation in heat shock proteins
- Authors: Penkler, David Lawrence
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Heat shock proteins , Molecular chaperones , Allosteric regulation , Homeostasis , Protein kinases , Transcription factors , Adenosine triphosphatase , Cancer -- Chemotherapy , Molecular dynamics , High throughput screening (Drug development)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115948 , vital:34273
- Description: The 70 kDa and 90 kDa heat shock proteins (Hsp70 and Hsp90) are molecular chaperones that play central roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis in all organisms of life with the exception of archaea. In addition to their general chaperone function in protein quality control, Hsp70 and Hsp90 cooperate in the regulation and activity of some 200 known natively folded protein clients which include protein kinases, transcription factors and receptors, many of which are implicated as key regulators of essential signal transduction pathways. Both chaperones are considered to be large multi-domain proteins that rely on ATPase activity and co-chaperone interactions to regulate their conformational cycles for peptide binding and release. The unique positioning of Hsp90 at the crossroads of several fundamental cellular pathways coupled with its known association with diverse oncogenic peptide clients has brought the molecular chaperone under increasing interest as a potential anti-cancer target that is crucially implicated with all eight hallmarks of the disease. Current orthosteric drug discovery efforts aimed at the inhibition of the ATPase domain of Hsp90 have been limited due to high levels of associated toxicity. In an effort to circumnavigate this, the combined focus of research efforts is shifting toward alternative approaches such as interference with co-chaperone binding and the allosteric inhibition/activation of the molecular chaperone. The overriding aim of this thesis was to demonstrate how the computational technique of Perturbation response scanning (PRS) coupled with all-atom molecular dynamics simulations (MD) and dynamic residue interaction network (DRN) analysis can be used as a viable strategy to efficiently scan and accurately identify allosteric control element capable of modulating the functional dynamics of a protein. In pursuit of this goal, this thesis also contributes to the current understanding of the nucleotide dependent allosteric mechanisms at play in cellular functionality of both Hsp70 and Hsp90. All-atom MD simulations of E. coli DnaK provided evidence of nucleotide driven modulation of conformational dynamics in both the catalytically active and inactive states. PRS analysis employed on these trajectories demonstrated sensitivity toward bound nucleotide and peptide substrate, and provided evidence of a putative allosterically active intermediate state between the ATPase active and inactive conformational states. Simultaneous binding of ATP and peptide substrate was found to allosterically prime the chaperone for interstate conversion regardless of the transition direction. Detailed analysis of these allosterically primed states revealed select residue sites capable of selecting a coordinate shift towards the opposite conformational state. In an effort to validate these results, the predicted allosteric hot spot sites were cross-validated with known experimental works and found to overlap with functional sites implicated in allosteric signal propagation and ATPase activation in Hsp70. This study presented for the first time, the application of PRS as a suitable diagnostic tool for the elucidation and quantification of the allosteric potential of select residues to effect functionally relevant global conformational rearrangements. The PRS methodology described in this study was packaged within the Python programming environment in the MD-TASK software suite for command-line ease of use and made freely available. Homology modelling techniques were used to address the lack of experimental structural data for the human cytosolic isoform of Hsp90 and for the first time provided accurate full-length structural models of human Hsp90α in fully-closed and partially-open conformations. Long-range all-atom MD simulations of these structures revealed nucleotide driven modulation of conformational dynamics in Hsp90. Subsequent DRN and PRS analysis of these MD trajectories allowed for the quantification and elucidation of nucleotide driven allosteric modulation in the molecular chaperone. A detailed PRS analysis revealed allosteric inter-domain coupling between the extreme terminals of the chaperone in response to external force perturbations at either domain. Furthermore PRS also identified several individual residue sites that are capable of selecting conformational rearrangements towards functionally relevant states which may be considered to be putative allosteric target sites for future drug discovery efforts Molecular docking techniques were employed to investigate the modulation of conformational dynamics of human Hsp90α in response to ligand binding interactions at two identified allosteric sites at the C-terminal. High throughput screening of a small library of natural compounds indigenous to South Africa revealed three hit compounds at these sites: Cephalostatin 17, 20(29)-Lupene-3β isoferulate and 3'-Bromorubrolide F. All-atom MD simulations on these protein-ligand complexes coupled with DRN analysis and several advanced trajectory based analysis techniques provided evidence of selective allosteric modulation of Hsp90α conformational dynamics in response to the identity and location of the bound ligands. Ligands bound at the four-helix bundle presented as putative allosteric inhibitors of Hsp90α, driving conformational dynamics in favour of dimer opening and possibly dimer separation. Meanwhile, ligand interactions at an adjacent sub-pocket located near the interface between the middle and C-terminal domains demonstrated allosteric activation of the chaperone, modulating conformational dynamics in favour of the fully-closed catalytically active conformational state. Taken together, the data presented in this thesis contributes to the understanding of allosteric modulation of conformational dynamics in Hsp70 and Hsp90, and provides a suitable platform for future biochemical and drug discovery studies. Furthermore, the molecular docking and computational identification of allosteric compounds with suitable binding affinity for allosteric sites at the CTD of human Hsp90α provide for the first time “proof-of-principle” for the use of PRS in conjunction with MD simulations and DRN analysis as a suitable method for the rapid identification of allosteric sites in proteins that can be probed by small molecule interaction. The data presented in this section could pave the way for future allosteric drug discovery studies for the treatment of Hsp90 associated pathologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Penkler, David Lawrence
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Heat shock proteins , Molecular chaperones , Allosteric regulation , Homeostasis , Protein kinases , Transcription factors , Adenosine triphosphatase , Cancer -- Chemotherapy , Molecular dynamics , High throughput screening (Drug development)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115948 , vital:34273
- Description: The 70 kDa and 90 kDa heat shock proteins (Hsp70 and Hsp90) are molecular chaperones that play central roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis in all organisms of life with the exception of archaea. In addition to their general chaperone function in protein quality control, Hsp70 and Hsp90 cooperate in the regulation and activity of some 200 known natively folded protein clients which include protein kinases, transcription factors and receptors, many of which are implicated as key regulators of essential signal transduction pathways. Both chaperones are considered to be large multi-domain proteins that rely on ATPase activity and co-chaperone interactions to regulate their conformational cycles for peptide binding and release. The unique positioning of Hsp90 at the crossroads of several fundamental cellular pathways coupled with its known association with diverse oncogenic peptide clients has brought the molecular chaperone under increasing interest as a potential anti-cancer target that is crucially implicated with all eight hallmarks of the disease. Current orthosteric drug discovery efforts aimed at the inhibition of the ATPase domain of Hsp90 have been limited due to high levels of associated toxicity. In an effort to circumnavigate this, the combined focus of research efforts is shifting toward alternative approaches such as interference with co-chaperone binding and the allosteric inhibition/activation of the molecular chaperone. The overriding aim of this thesis was to demonstrate how the computational technique of Perturbation response scanning (PRS) coupled with all-atom molecular dynamics simulations (MD) and dynamic residue interaction network (DRN) analysis can be used as a viable strategy to efficiently scan and accurately identify allosteric control element capable of modulating the functional dynamics of a protein. In pursuit of this goal, this thesis also contributes to the current understanding of the nucleotide dependent allosteric mechanisms at play in cellular functionality of both Hsp70 and Hsp90. All-atom MD simulations of E. coli DnaK provided evidence of nucleotide driven modulation of conformational dynamics in both the catalytically active and inactive states. PRS analysis employed on these trajectories demonstrated sensitivity toward bound nucleotide and peptide substrate, and provided evidence of a putative allosterically active intermediate state between the ATPase active and inactive conformational states. Simultaneous binding of ATP and peptide substrate was found to allosterically prime the chaperone for interstate conversion regardless of the transition direction. Detailed analysis of these allosterically primed states revealed select residue sites capable of selecting a coordinate shift towards the opposite conformational state. In an effort to validate these results, the predicted allosteric hot spot sites were cross-validated with known experimental works and found to overlap with functional sites implicated in allosteric signal propagation and ATPase activation in Hsp70. This study presented for the first time, the application of PRS as a suitable diagnostic tool for the elucidation and quantification of the allosteric potential of select residues to effect functionally relevant global conformational rearrangements. The PRS methodology described in this study was packaged within the Python programming environment in the MD-TASK software suite for command-line ease of use and made freely available. Homology modelling techniques were used to address the lack of experimental structural data for the human cytosolic isoform of Hsp90 and for the first time provided accurate full-length structural models of human Hsp90α in fully-closed and partially-open conformations. Long-range all-atom MD simulations of these structures revealed nucleotide driven modulation of conformational dynamics in Hsp90. Subsequent DRN and PRS analysis of these MD trajectories allowed for the quantification and elucidation of nucleotide driven allosteric modulation in the molecular chaperone. A detailed PRS analysis revealed allosteric inter-domain coupling between the extreme terminals of the chaperone in response to external force perturbations at either domain. Furthermore PRS also identified several individual residue sites that are capable of selecting conformational rearrangements towards functionally relevant states which may be considered to be putative allosteric target sites for future drug discovery efforts Molecular docking techniques were employed to investigate the modulation of conformational dynamics of human Hsp90α in response to ligand binding interactions at two identified allosteric sites at the C-terminal. High throughput screening of a small library of natural compounds indigenous to South Africa revealed three hit compounds at these sites: Cephalostatin 17, 20(29)-Lupene-3β isoferulate and 3'-Bromorubrolide F. All-atom MD simulations on these protein-ligand complexes coupled with DRN analysis and several advanced trajectory based analysis techniques provided evidence of selective allosteric modulation of Hsp90α conformational dynamics in response to the identity and location of the bound ligands. Ligands bound at the four-helix bundle presented as putative allosteric inhibitors of Hsp90α, driving conformational dynamics in favour of dimer opening and possibly dimer separation. Meanwhile, ligand interactions at an adjacent sub-pocket located near the interface between the middle and C-terminal domains demonstrated allosteric activation of the chaperone, modulating conformational dynamics in favour of the fully-closed catalytically active conformational state. Taken together, the data presented in this thesis contributes to the understanding of allosteric modulation of conformational dynamics in Hsp70 and Hsp90, and provides a suitable platform for future biochemical and drug discovery studies. Furthermore, the molecular docking and computational identification of allosteric compounds with suitable binding affinity for allosteric sites at the CTD of human Hsp90α provide for the first time “proof-of-principle” for the use of PRS in conjunction with MD simulations and DRN analysis as a suitable method for the rapid identification of allosteric sites in proteins that can be probed by small molecule interaction. The data presented in this section could pave the way for future allosteric drug discovery studies for the treatment of Hsp90 associated pathologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework for capital structure decision-making in South African businesses
- Authors: Du Toit, Jan Lodewicus
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Corporations -- Finance -- South Africa , Business enterprises -- South Africa Decision making
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39567 , vital:35291
- Description: The research is undertaken to understand how businesses make their capital structure decisions by identifying and evaluating the factors to be considered in making capital structure decisions in South African businesses. Qualitative research methods are used in two phases. In phase one, a literature review is conducted to create a framework of strategic aspects to consider when making capital structure decisions. In phase two the framework is evaluated by conducting in-depth interviews. The purpose of phase two is to identify the strategic aspects that are considered in the South African business context. The literature overview identified twelve strategic aspects for consideration when making capital structure decisions, namely business risk, control, flexibility, growth rate, long-run viability, management constraints, management conservatism, market conditions, rating agencies, size, taxation and transactional cost. The framework of twelve strategic aspects to be considered when making capital structure decisions was empirically evaluated by means of interviews. The interview responses regarding the initial twelve strategic aspects were coded and three themes emerged, namely critical strategic decision-making factors (business risk, financial flexibility, tax advantage, and volatility of earnings cash flows); factors relating specifically to markets in South Africa (growth rate, long-term viability, market conditions, credit rating, and transaction costs) and autonomy of the decision-making process (control, management constraints, managerial conservatism, and size). During the interview process, it was indicated that the autonomy of the decision-making process theme (control structure, management constraints, managerial conservatism and business size) do not form part of the strategic capital structure decision-making process in their companies and should be omitted. The interviewees highlighted four additional themes that may affect their capital structure decisions, namely government interference in the market and in the local business; Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) rating; political stability, and state capture. The study suggests a proposed framework consisting of six themes that can be used to guide capital structure decisions in South Africa businesses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Du Toit, Jan Lodewicus
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Corporations -- Finance -- South Africa , Business enterprises -- South Africa Decision making
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39567 , vital:35291
- Description: The research is undertaken to understand how businesses make their capital structure decisions by identifying and evaluating the factors to be considered in making capital structure decisions in South African businesses. Qualitative research methods are used in two phases. In phase one, a literature review is conducted to create a framework of strategic aspects to consider when making capital structure decisions. In phase two the framework is evaluated by conducting in-depth interviews. The purpose of phase two is to identify the strategic aspects that are considered in the South African business context. The literature overview identified twelve strategic aspects for consideration when making capital structure decisions, namely business risk, control, flexibility, growth rate, long-run viability, management constraints, management conservatism, market conditions, rating agencies, size, taxation and transactional cost. The framework of twelve strategic aspects to be considered when making capital structure decisions was empirically evaluated by means of interviews. The interview responses regarding the initial twelve strategic aspects were coded and three themes emerged, namely critical strategic decision-making factors (business risk, financial flexibility, tax advantage, and volatility of earnings cash flows); factors relating specifically to markets in South Africa (growth rate, long-term viability, market conditions, credit rating, and transaction costs) and autonomy of the decision-making process (control, management constraints, managerial conservatism, and size). During the interview process, it was indicated that the autonomy of the decision-making process theme (control structure, management constraints, managerial conservatism and business size) do not form part of the strategic capital structure decision-making process in their companies and should be omitted. The interviewees highlighted four additional themes that may affect their capital structure decisions, namely government interference in the market and in the local business; Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) rating; political stability, and state capture. The study suggests a proposed framework consisting of six themes that can be used to guide capital structure decisions in South Africa businesses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework for ethical sourcing of construction materials
- Authors: Ibrahim, Kabir
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction industry -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria , Building materials -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria Building -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria Environmental protection -- Nigeria Conservation of natural resources -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42140 , vital:36629
- Description: Climate change and a speedily depreciating ecosystem are global challenges. These challenges are, in the main, attributed to activities in the construction industry, which relies heavily on the environment to provide materials. Studies show that the impact in developing countries is worse, due to the low level of awareness. Consequently, there is a dearth of research-based evidence on the ethics of sourcing of materials. This research aimed at changing that by investigating the ethics of materials sourcing in Nigeria. Epistemologically, the research is subjective and paradigmatically phenomenological. The methods used for data collection include a comprehensive literature review, collection of archival records, empirical studies of sixteen organisations that are involved in materials sourcing, transportation and production of eight construction materials across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, that were purposefully selected. The findings reveal that the majority of the processes employed to source, transport and produce materials for the construction industry are not ethical environmentally due to their contribution to air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and vibration, landscape damage, harm to flora and fauna and waste production. Furthermore, the study found that the majority of the organisations studied, do not produce sustainability reports for their operations. The study developed a framework for ethical sourcing of construction materials. The study recommends that organisations should utilise the framework developed in this study to enhance their sustainability practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ibrahim, Kabir
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction industry -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria , Building materials -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria Building -- Environmental aspects -- Nigeria Environmental protection -- Nigeria Conservation of natural resources -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42140 , vital:36629
- Description: Climate change and a speedily depreciating ecosystem are global challenges. These challenges are, in the main, attributed to activities in the construction industry, which relies heavily on the environment to provide materials. Studies show that the impact in developing countries is worse, due to the low level of awareness. Consequently, there is a dearth of research-based evidence on the ethics of sourcing of materials. This research aimed at changing that by investigating the ethics of materials sourcing in Nigeria. Epistemologically, the research is subjective and paradigmatically phenomenological. The methods used for data collection include a comprehensive literature review, collection of archival records, empirical studies of sixteen organisations that are involved in materials sourcing, transportation and production of eight construction materials across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria, that were purposefully selected. The findings reveal that the majority of the processes employed to source, transport and produce materials for the construction industry are not ethical environmentally due to their contribution to air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and vibration, landscape damage, harm to flora and fauna and waste production. Furthermore, the study found that the majority of the organisations studied, do not produce sustainability reports for their operations. The study developed a framework for ethical sourcing of construction materials. The study recommends that organisations should utilise the framework developed in this study to enhance their sustainability practices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework for scoring and tagging NetFlow data
- Authors: Sweeney, Michael John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: NetFlow , Big data , High performance computing , Event processing (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65022 , vital:28654
- Description: With the increase in link speeds and the growth of the Internet, the volume of NetFlow data generated has increased significantly over time and processing these volumes has become a challenge, more specifically a Big Data challenge. With the advent of technologies and architectures designed to handle Big Data volumes, researchers have investigated their application to the processing of NetFlow data. This work builds on prior work wherein a scoring methodology was proposed for identifying anomalies in NetFlow by proposing and implementing a system that allows for automatic, real-time scoring through the adoption of Big Data stream processing architectures. The first part of the research looks at the means of event detection using the scoring approach and implementing as a number of individual, standalone components, each responsible for detecting and scoring a single type of flow trait. The second part is the implementation of these scoring components in a framework, named Themis1, capable of handling high volumes of data with low latency processing times. This was tackled using tools, technologies and architectural elements from the world of Big Data stream processing. The performance of the framework on the stream processing architecture was shown to demonstrate good flow throughput at low processing latencies on a single low end host. The successful demonstration of the framework on a single host opens the way to leverage the scaling capabilities afforded by the architectures and technologies used. This gives weight to the possibility of using this framework for real time threat detection using NetFlow data from larger networked environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Sweeney, Michael John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: NetFlow , Big data , High performance computing , Event processing (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65022 , vital:28654
- Description: With the increase in link speeds and the growth of the Internet, the volume of NetFlow data generated has increased significantly over time and processing these volumes has become a challenge, more specifically a Big Data challenge. With the advent of technologies and architectures designed to handle Big Data volumes, researchers have investigated their application to the processing of NetFlow data. This work builds on prior work wherein a scoring methodology was proposed for identifying anomalies in NetFlow by proposing and implementing a system that allows for automatic, real-time scoring through the adoption of Big Data stream processing architectures. The first part of the research looks at the means of event detection using the scoring approach and implementing as a number of individual, standalone components, each responsible for detecting and scoring a single type of flow trait. The second part is the implementation of these scoring components in a framework, named Themis1, capable of handling high volumes of data with low latency processing times. This was tackled using tools, technologies and architectural elements from the world of Big Data stream processing. The performance of the framework on the stream processing architecture was shown to demonstrate good flow throughput at low processing latencies on a single low end host. The successful demonstration of the framework on a single host opens the way to leverage the scaling capabilities afforded by the architectures and technologies used. This gives weight to the possibility of using this framework for real time threat detection using NetFlow data from larger networked environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework for the adoption and optimization of technology within Coega Business Center
- Authors: Zulu, Zwelibanzi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Technological innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40206 , vital:35982
- Description: The special economic zone sector plays an important role in economies across the African continent. The mission of the COEGA Development Corporation (CDC) is to provide a competitive investment location supported by value added business services that ultimately enable socio-economic development. The Entity is mandated to develop and operate the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), which is located adjacent to the modern deep-water port facility, Port of Ngqura, developed and owned by Transnet National Ports Authority. The CDC attracts investors from all over the world and in different business sectors through investment promotion as well as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Coega Development Corporation whose core mandate is to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) struggles to adopt innovative information technologies expeditiously, which is problem for the organization. The organization currently has Information Technology (IT) systems and applications such as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other IT systems that have been used, but there has been failure in maximizing the IT capabilities implemented internally. Employees are not understanding and seeing the benefit of using IT systems and there is no integration of systems within the CDC. This paper aims to acquire underlying knowledge of how IT is adopted in private sector organizations and further explore what factors impact its adoption. The main objective of this study was to propose a framework for adopting an optimizing technology usage within the Coega development Corporation to enhance productivity and efficiency. The study focused on the effect of components such as top management involvement, management styles, innovative organization culture, end user training, innovation diffusion, championship and knowledge management. In conclusion, this study showed the importance of optimizing technology, within the Coega Business Center. The author presented and made Recommendations on how to integrate the independent variables identified can influence the optimization of technology. v The proposed conceptual IT innovation adoption and optimization framework is a contribution to theory. This framework presents a detailed list of internal factors that influence IT adoption and optimization in government sector organizations such as the Coega Development Corporation. The author inferences that each factor within this framework signifies its importance and must be considered by organizations while adopting innovation technologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Zulu, Zwelibanzi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Technological innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40206 , vital:35982
- Description: The special economic zone sector plays an important role in economies across the African continent. The mission of the COEGA Development Corporation (CDC) is to provide a competitive investment location supported by value added business services that ultimately enable socio-economic development. The Entity is mandated to develop and operate the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), which is located adjacent to the modern deep-water port facility, Port of Ngqura, developed and owned by Transnet National Ports Authority. The CDC attracts investors from all over the world and in different business sectors through investment promotion as well as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The Coega Development Corporation whose core mandate is to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) struggles to adopt innovative information technologies expeditiously, which is problem for the organization. The organization currently has Information Technology (IT) systems and applications such as the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other IT systems that have been used, but there has been failure in maximizing the IT capabilities implemented internally. Employees are not understanding and seeing the benefit of using IT systems and there is no integration of systems within the CDC. This paper aims to acquire underlying knowledge of how IT is adopted in private sector organizations and further explore what factors impact its adoption. The main objective of this study was to propose a framework for adopting an optimizing technology usage within the Coega development Corporation to enhance productivity and efficiency. The study focused on the effect of components such as top management involvement, management styles, innovative organization culture, end user training, innovation diffusion, championship and knowledge management. In conclusion, this study showed the importance of optimizing technology, within the Coega Business Center. The author presented and made Recommendations on how to integrate the independent variables identified can influence the optimization of technology. v The proposed conceptual IT innovation adoption and optimization framework is a contribution to theory. This framework presents a detailed list of internal factors that influence IT adoption and optimization in government sector organizations such as the Coega Development Corporation. The author inferences that each factor within this framework signifies its importance and must be considered by organizations while adopting innovation technologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework of macroeconomic factors to be considered when evaluating commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa
- Authors: Lawson, Stephen
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Commercial real estate -- Development -- Sub-Saharan Africa , Real estate investment -- Sub-Saharan Africa Macroeconomics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40072 , vital:35745
- Description: Sub-Saharan Africa as a region is one with great potential given the positive demographic trends experienced in recent history, trends expected to continue into the future. The factors contributing to this positive demographic trend include, improved healthcare, education and life expectancy, all of which have contributed to a younger and growing population. The younger and growing population, the majority of which are located within the working age group, have resulted in high rates of urbanisation as the populous move from traditional rural areas to more urbanised areas and cities in search of greater opportunities, employment, and ultimately, better quality of life. The positive population growth and urbanisation trends exhibited in the region provide an opportunity to the role players in industry and commerce, as they seek to take advantage of the growing consumer base. Accordingly, commercial real estate developers active within the region have an opportunity to satisfy the growing needs of the market given the low levels of commercial real estate stock available in the region. However, historically the region has served as a poor investment destination for commercial real estate given the dynamic and occasionally volatile political, economic and legal environments. The opportunity presented to commercial real estate developers as a result of the positive demographic trends is met with large scale risks in the form of a dynamic and ever-changing macroeconomic environment within the region. To ensure the success, profitability and longevity of their commercial real estate developments, active real estate developers and in pursuit of commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa need to approach the opportunities in a cautious and informed manner. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework which will identify a common set of macroeconomic factors and associated variables in order to assist South African real estate developers in the identification, mitigation and management of macroeconomic risks when evaluating commercial real estate in sub- Saharan Africa. A frame of reference was developed on the PESTEL Analysis in order to identify factors within the macroeconomic environment, following which a literature-driven framework was developed after an extensive literature review process, which identified macroeconomic risk variables associated with each of the factors identified. The literature-driven framework was then tested through a series of semi-structured interviews, which comprised five suitably qualified and experienced respondents who are real estate developers currently active in pursuit of commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa and are currently employed by or own a real estate development organisation. Following the data analysis of the respondent interviews, a proposed framework was developed which detailed the macroeconomic factors and associated variables to be considered when evaluating commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa, by providing a ranked scale of relevance for the variables associated with the respective macroeconomic risk factors identified. The development of the proposed framework is intended to assist South African real estate developers in the identification, mitigation and management of macroeconomic risks when evaluating the development of commercial real estate in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Lawson, Stephen
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Commercial real estate -- Development -- Sub-Saharan Africa , Real estate investment -- Sub-Saharan Africa Macroeconomics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40072 , vital:35745
- Description: Sub-Saharan Africa as a region is one with great potential given the positive demographic trends experienced in recent history, trends expected to continue into the future. The factors contributing to this positive demographic trend include, improved healthcare, education and life expectancy, all of which have contributed to a younger and growing population. The younger and growing population, the majority of which are located within the working age group, have resulted in high rates of urbanisation as the populous move from traditional rural areas to more urbanised areas and cities in search of greater opportunities, employment, and ultimately, better quality of life. The positive population growth and urbanisation trends exhibited in the region provide an opportunity to the role players in industry and commerce, as they seek to take advantage of the growing consumer base. Accordingly, commercial real estate developers active within the region have an opportunity to satisfy the growing needs of the market given the low levels of commercial real estate stock available in the region. However, historically the region has served as a poor investment destination for commercial real estate given the dynamic and occasionally volatile political, economic and legal environments. The opportunity presented to commercial real estate developers as a result of the positive demographic trends is met with large scale risks in the form of a dynamic and ever-changing macroeconomic environment within the region. To ensure the success, profitability and longevity of their commercial real estate developments, active real estate developers and in pursuit of commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa need to approach the opportunities in a cautious and informed manner. The purpose of the study is to develop a framework which will identify a common set of macroeconomic factors and associated variables in order to assist South African real estate developers in the identification, mitigation and management of macroeconomic risks when evaluating commercial real estate in sub- Saharan Africa. A frame of reference was developed on the PESTEL Analysis in order to identify factors within the macroeconomic environment, following which a literature-driven framework was developed after an extensive literature review process, which identified macroeconomic risk variables associated with each of the factors identified. The literature-driven framework was then tested through a series of semi-structured interviews, which comprised five suitably qualified and experienced respondents who are real estate developers currently active in pursuit of commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa and are currently employed by or own a real estate development organisation. Following the data analysis of the respondent interviews, a proposed framework was developed which detailed the macroeconomic factors and associated variables to be considered when evaluating commercial real estate development in sub-Saharan Africa, by providing a ranked scale of relevance for the variables associated with the respective macroeconomic risk factors identified. The development of the proposed framework is intended to assist South African real estate developers in the identification, mitigation and management of macroeconomic risks when evaluating the development of commercial real estate in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework to implement information security awareness, education and training within the Limpopo economic development agency group
- Authors: Mokobane, Ntsewa Benjamin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computer security , Computer networks -- Security measures Data protection
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42063 , vital:36622
- Description: Cybersecurity awareness, education and training of employees is key in reducing and preventing cyber-attack opportunities. The ignorance and/or lack of understanding of employees about the information security risks around them might expose the LEDA Group to cyber-attacks. This led to the problem that the level of awareness of employees regarding information security was not known. The implication of this not knowing was that an argument for the nature of an intervention to ensure awareness, as well as to educate and train employees regarding information security was not possible. The aim of this treatise was to develop a framework as an effective guideline for the implementation of cybersecurity awareness, education and training of employees. In the study, the LEDA Group employees were surveyed to determine their cybersecurity knowledge gap. An online questionnaire was randomly sent to 314 LEDA Group employees. The survey was voluntary and confidential. One hundred and thirty seven (137) employees completed the survey. The results of the survey were analysed to determine the gap between the current cybersecurity knowledge of the LEDA Group employees and state-of-the-art cybersecurity knowledge. The gap was used in the development of the framework for the implementation of the cybersecurity awareness, education and training (F-CSAET). Central to F-CSAET is the governance principles guided by best practices such as King IV, COBIT5, ISO27001, ISO27005, ISO27008 and ISO27032 and the compliance requirements to POPIA, the Copyright Act and the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill. The F-CSAET has six steps, namely Assess, Analyse, Create, Plan, Implement and Reinforce. The framework was evaluated for applicability by the team called the cyber security interest team, which was established specifically for the purpose of the F-CSAET.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mokobane, Ntsewa Benjamin
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computer security , Computer networks -- Security measures Data protection
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42063 , vital:36622
- Description: Cybersecurity awareness, education and training of employees is key in reducing and preventing cyber-attack opportunities. The ignorance and/or lack of understanding of employees about the information security risks around them might expose the LEDA Group to cyber-attacks. This led to the problem that the level of awareness of employees regarding information security was not known. The implication of this not knowing was that an argument for the nature of an intervention to ensure awareness, as well as to educate and train employees regarding information security was not possible. The aim of this treatise was to develop a framework as an effective guideline for the implementation of cybersecurity awareness, education and training of employees. In the study, the LEDA Group employees were surveyed to determine their cybersecurity knowledge gap. An online questionnaire was randomly sent to 314 LEDA Group employees. The survey was voluntary and confidential. One hundred and thirty seven (137) employees completed the survey. The results of the survey were analysed to determine the gap between the current cybersecurity knowledge of the LEDA Group employees and state-of-the-art cybersecurity knowledge. The gap was used in the development of the framework for the implementation of the cybersecurity awareness, education and training (F-CSAET). Central to F-CSAET is the governance principles guided by best practices such as King IV, COBIT5, ISO27001, ISO27005, ISO27008 and ISO27032 and the compliance requirements to POPIA, the Copyright Act and the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill. The F-CSAET has six steps, namely Assess, Analyse, Create, Plan, Implement and Reinforce. The framework was evaluated for applicability by the team called the cyber security interest team, which was established specifically for the purpose of the F-CSAET.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A framework to measure human behaviour whilst reading
- Salehzadeh, Seyed Amirsaleh, Greyling, Jean
- Authors: Salehzadeh, Seyed Amirsaleh , Greyling, Jean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computational intelligence , Machine learning Artificial intelligence Neural networks (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43578 , vital:36921
- Description: The brain is the most complex object in the known universe that gives a sense of being to humans and characterises human behaviour. Building models of brain functions is perhaps the most fascinating scientific challenge in the 21st century. Reading is a significant cognitive process in the human brain that plays a critical role in the vital process of learning and in performing some daily activities. The study of human behaviour during reading has been an area of interest for researchers in different fields of science. This thesis is based upon providing a novel framework, called ARSAT (Assisting Researchers in the Selection of Appropriate Technologies), that measures the behaviour of humans when reading text. The ARSAT framework aims at assisting researchers in the selection and application of appropriate technologies to measure the behaviour of a person who is reading text. The ARSAT framework will assist to researchers who investigate the reading process and find it difficult to select appropriate theories, metrics, data collection methods and data analytics techniques. The ARSAT framework enhances the ability of its users to select appropriate metrics indicating the effective factors on the characterisation of different aspects of human behaviour during the reading process. As will be shown in this research study, human behaviour is characterised by a complicated interplay of action, cognition and emotion. The ARSAT framework also facilitates selecting appropriate sensory technologies that can be used to monitor and collect data for the metrics. Moreover, this research study will introduce BehaveNet, a novel Deep Learning modelling approach, which can be used for training Deep Learning models of human behaviour from the sensory data collected. In this thesis, a comprehensive literature study is presented that was conducted to acquire adequate knowledge for designing the ARSAT framework. In order to identify the contributing factors that affect the reading process, an overview of some existing theories of the reading process is provided. Furthermore, a number of sensory technologies and techniques that can be applied to monitoring the changes in the metrics indicating the factors are also demonstrated. Only, the technologies that are commercially available on the market are recommended by the ARSAT framework. A variety of Machine Learning techniques were also investigated when designing the BehaveNet. The BehaveNet takes advantage of the complementarity of Convolutional Neural Networks, Long Short-Term Memory networks and Deep Neural Networks. The design of a Human Behaviour Monitoring System (HBMS), by utilising the ARSAT framework for recognising three attention-seeking activities of humans, is also presented in this research study. Reading printed text, as well as speaking out loudly and watching a programme on TV were proposed as activities that a person unintentionally may shift his/her attention from reading into distractions. Between sensory devices recommended by the ARSAT framework, the Muse headband which is an Electroencephalography (EEG) and head motion-sensing wearable device, was selected to track the forehead EEG and a person’s head movements. The EEG and 3-axes accelerometer data were recorded from eight participants when they read printed text, as well as the time they performed two other activities. An imbalanced dataset consisting over 1.2 million rows of noisy data was created and used to build a model of the activities (60% training and 20% validating data) and evaluating the model (20% of the data). The efficiency of the framework is demonstrated by comparing the performance of the models built by utilising the BehaveNet, with the models built by utilising a number of competing Deep Learning models for raw EEG and accelerometer data, that have attained state-of-the-art performance. The classification results are evaluated by some metrics including the classification accuracy, F1 score, confusion matrix, Receiver Operating Characteristic curve, and Area under Curve (AUC) score. By considering the results, the BehaveNet contributed to the body of knowledge as an approach for measuring human behaviour by using sensory devices. In comparison with the performance of the other models, the models built by utilising the BehaveNet, attained better performance when classifying data of two EEG channels (Accuracy = 95%; AUC=0.99; F1 = 0.95), data of a single EEG channel (Accuracy = 85%; AUC=0.96; F1 = 0.83), accelerometer data (Accuracy = 81%; AUC = 0.9; F1 = 0.76) and all of the data in the dataset (Accuracy = 97%; AUC = 0.99; F1 = 0.96). The dataset and the source code of this project are also published on the Internet to help the science community. The Muse headband is also shown to be an economical and standard wearable device that can be successfully used in behavioural research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Salehzadeh, Seyed Amirsaleh , Greyling, Jean
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computational intelligence , Machine learning Artificial intelligence Neural networks (Computer science)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/43578 , vital:36921
- Description: The brain is the most complex object in the known universe that gives a sense of being to humans and characterises human behaviour. Building models of brain functions is perhaps the most fascinating scientific challenge in the 21st century. Reading is a significant cognitive process in the human brain that plays a critical role in the vital process of learning and in performing some daily activities. The study of human behaviour during reading has been an area of interest for researchers in different fields of science. This thesis is based upon providing a novel framework, called ARSAT (Assisting Researchers in the Selection of Appropriate Technologies), that measures the behaviour of humans when reading text. The ARSAT framework aims at assisting researchers in the selection and application of appropriate technologies to measure the behaviour of a person who is reading text. The ARSAT framework will assist to researchers who investigate the reading process and find it difficult to select appropriate theories, metrics, data collection methods and data analytics techniques. The ARSAT framework enhances the ability of its users to select appropriate metrics indicating the effective factors on the characterisation of different aspects of human behaviour during the reading process. As will be shown in this research study, human behaviour is characterised by a complicated interplay of action, cognition and emotion. The ARSAT framework also facilitates selecting appropriate sensory technologies that can be used to monitor and collect data for the metrics. Moreover, this research study will introduce BehaveNet, a novel Deep Learning modelling approach, which can be used for training Deep Learning models of human behaviour from the sensory data collected. In this thesis, a comprehensive literature study is presented that was conducted to acquire adequate knowledge for designing the ARSAT framework. In order to identify the contributing factors that affect the reading process, an overview of some existing theories of the reading process is provided. Furthermore, a number of sensory technologies and techniques that can be applied to monitoring the changes in the metrics indicating the factors are also demonstrated. Only, the technologies that are commercially available on the market are recommended by the ARSAT framework. A variety of Machine Learning techniques were also investigated when designing the BehaveNet. The BehaveNet takes advantage of the complementarity of Convolutional Neural Networks, Long Short-Term Memory networks and Deep Neural Networks. The design of a Human Behaviour Monitoring System (HBMS), by utilising the ARSAT framework for recognising three attention-seeking activities of humans, is also presented in this research study. Reading printed text, as well as speaking out loudly and watching a programme on TV were proposed as activities that a person unintentionally may shift his/her attention from reading into distractions. Between sensory devices recommended by the ARSAT framework, the Muse headband which is an Electroencephalography (EEG) and head motion-sensing wearable device, was selected to track the forehead EEG and a person’s head movements. The EEG and 3-axes accelerometer data were recorded from eight participants when they read printed text, as well as the time they performed two other activities. An imbalanced dataset consisting over 1.2 million rows of noisy data was created and used to build a model of the activities (60% training and 20% validating data) and evaluating the model (20% of the data). The efficiency of the framework is demonstrated by comparing the performance of the models built by utilising the BehaveNet, with the models built by utilising a number of competing Deep Learning models for raw EEG and accelerometer data, that have attained state-of-the-art performance. The classification results are evaluated by some metrics including the classification accuracy, F1 score, confusion matrix, Receiver Operating Characteristic curve, and Area under Curve (AUC) score. By considering the results, the BehaveNet contributed to the body of knowledge as an approach for measuring human behaviour by using sensory devices. In comparison with the performance of the other models, the models built by utilising the BehaveNet, attained better performance when classifying data of two EEG channels (Accuracy = 95%; AUC=0.99; F1 = 0.95), data of a single EEG channel (Accuracy = 85%; AUC=0.96; F1 = 0.83), accelerometer data (Accuracy = 81%; AUC = 0.9; F1 = 0.76) and all of the data in the dataset (Accuracy = 97%; AUC = 0.99; F1 = 0.96). The dataset and the source code of this project are also published on the Internet to help the science community. The Muse headband is also shown to be an economical and standard wearable device that can be successfully used in behavioural research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A gatherer's paradise? Early humans and plant foraging on the cape south coast, South Africa
- Authors: Gummow, William Thomas
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Soil amendments , Plants -- Nutrition Plant physiology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39687 , vital:35348
- Description: South Africa is a semi-arid country that is experiencing population growth and the associated pressure of producing sufficient crops to sustain the population. Furthermore, poor land management has also led to increased degradation of valuable arable land. To improve poor soil quality and possibly avoid or reverse degradation and ultimately desertification, it was suggested that soil amendments are a potential solution to some of these problems. Although soil amendment is a relatively well-known practice to improve soil quality, the use of rubber crumb as a soil amendment is not well studied. Rubber crumb is produced from end-of-life tyres that have been ground up to fine particles and as such can be used as a secondary resource to replace the use of virgin materials. Rubber crumb has been used in an array of industries, however, the present study investigated the possibility that rubber crumb might be used as a soil amendment to alleviate various forms of soil degradation, specifically soil compaction and crusting, and potentially improve crop establishment and growth.To determine this, a soil that is prone to crusting and compaction was amended with rubber crumb at rates of 5%, 15% and 25%. Various soil physical characteristics, such as bulk density, particle density, porosity, field capacity and penetration resistance were investigated and it was determined that as the percentage rubber crumb increases in the soil, so do the beneficial characteristics of the soil. Furthermore, the rubber crumb was also treated in various ways in order to determine how the treatments might affect the chemical properties of the soil, as well as the amount of zinc that is leached from the rubber crumb. It was found that washing the rubber with a weak acid or even water prior to adding it to the soil resulted in more desirable chemical condition compared to untreated rubber crumb. Lastly, maize (Zea mays L.) was used to determine whether amending soil with pre-treated rubber crumb in different percentages had an influence on the germination success and growth rate of maize. In terms of germination success, amending soil with rubber crumb does not seem to have a significant influence, however, growth rate decreased as the percentage rubber crumb increased, while treating the rubber with a weak acid or water prior to adding it to soil had the most positive effect on plant growth. It can therefore be concluded that rubber crumb amendment rates between 5% and 15% resulted in the most desirable soil physical properties and plant growth amongst the amendments. However the best plant growth was still seen in the control soil, to which no rubber crumb had been added.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Gummow, William Thomas
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Soil amendments , Plants -- Nutrition Plant physiology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39687 , vital:35348
- Description: South Africa is a semi-arid country that is experiencing population growth and the associated pressure of producing sufficient crops to sustain the population. Furthermore, poor land management has also led to increased degradation of valuable arable land. To improve poor soil quality and possibly avoid or reverse degradation and ultimately desertification, it was suggested that soil amendments are a potential solution to some of these problems. Although soil amendment is a relatively well-known practice to improve soil quality, the use of rubber crumb as a soil amendment is not well studied. Rubber crumb is produced from end-of-life tyres that have been ground up to fine particles and as such can be used as a secondary resource to replace the use of virgin materials. Rubber crumb has been used in an array of industries, however, the present study investigated the possibility that rubber crumb might be used as a soil amendment to alleviate various forms of soil degradation, specifically soil compaction and crusting, and potentially improve crop establishment and growth.To determine this, a soil that is prone to crusting and compaction was amended with rubber crumb at rates of 5%, 15% and 25%. Various soil physical characteristics, such as bulk density, particle density, porosity, field capacity and penetration resistance were investigated and it was determined that as the percentage rubber crumb increases in the soil, so do the beneficial characteristics of the soil. Furthermore, the rubber crumb was also treated in various ways in order to determine how the treatments might affect the chemical properties of the soil, as well as the amount of zinc that is leached from the rubber crumb. It was found that washing the rubber with a weak acid or even water prior to adding it to the soil resulted in more desirable chemical condition compared to untreated rubber crumb. Lastly, maize (Zea mays L.) was used to determine whether amending soil with pre-treated rubber crumb in different percentages had an influence on the germination success and growth rate of maize. In terms of germination success, amending soil with rubber crumb does not seem to have a significant influence, however, growth rate decreased as the percentage rubber crumb increased, while treating the rubber with a weak acid or water prior to adding it to soil had the most positive effect on plant growth. It can therefore be concluded that rubber crumb amendment rates between 5% and 15% resulted in the most desirable soil physical properties and plant growth amongst the amendments. However the best plant growth was still seen in the control soil, to which no rubber crumb had been added.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A gatherer’s paradise? early humans and plant foraging on the Cape south coast, South Africa
- Authors: Botha, Maria Susan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Plant remains (Archaeology) -- South Africa , Plant physiology Plant ecology Botany -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37139 , vital:34124
- Description: Humans were driven to refugia during the cold and dry glacial Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS6) (~195–125 ka); only a few places, including the Cape south coast, show archaeological evidence of continuous human occupation. It has been hypothesised that the Cape south coast provided the requisite shelter to ensure human’s earliest survival because it provided all the right ingredients. The shores offer abundant shellfish, the land a diverse array of plants, and the climate was ameliorated due to the proximity of the then exposed Palaeo-Agulhas Plain to the warm Agulhas current. The aim of this study is to determine whether the indigenous flora of this region could have provided a sufficient edible resource for early humans. Residents of the Cape south coast have genetic ancestry linking them to the Khoe-San, the original inhabitants of the area, and still have an extensive knowledge of the local edible plants. With their help, I set out to determine a) whether humans have been utilising the same plant species over time, b) what the foraging potential of the edible plants in the region is and c) how resilient these plants are to human foraging. If we know whether the plant species known and used today were the same as those that were utilised by past humans, we can then use the contemporary knowledge to make predictions about past utilisation. To answer this question, I collated two databases: archaeological (all plant species found in archaeological sites [dating 0 to 80,000 BP]) and contemporary (all plant species in the modern-day ethnographic literature [last 400 years]) that occur within the Greater Cape Floristic Region(GCFR). I found a significant number of plant species shared between the two databases, which suggests that at least some plant species have been used by humans over a long period of time. To determine the indigenous plant foraging potential of the region, I foraged for food in the Cape south coast (451 bouts) monthly over a two-year period with the help of local inhabitants. The findings show that edible plant resources are distributed patchily and focusing on specific vegetation types would greatly enhance chances of harvesting 2,000 kcal per day, which is considered the daily calorific requirements for a typical hunter-gatherer. I then sought to understand how resilient these plants [(with an emphasis on plants with an underground storage organ (USO)] would be to human foraging. To do this, I set out plots and harvested all edible foods for three consecutive years with the help of foragers. Results indicate that there was a significant reduction in edible weight only in the third year of consecutive harvesting. In conclusion, using various approaches, this study investigates the plant food potential of the Cape south coast from the perspective of early human consumers. The findings suggest that knowledge regarding useful plants dates back to at least 80,000 BP. Food resources are patchily distributed across the main vegetation types found within the Cape south coast and occur in hotspots, i.e. concentrated areas hosting high densities of edible plant foods, surrounded by areas with very low plant food densities. Foragers could have harvested their daily calorific quota more easily if they focused their harvesting efforts in specific vegetation types found in the Cape south coast. Furthermore, many USOs circumvent climatic fluctuations, herbivory or both by staggering their emergence over multiple years, which implies they have some resilience to human foraging.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Botha, Maria Susan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Plant remains (Archaeology) -- South Africa , Plant physiology Plant ecology Botany -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/37139 , vital:34124
- Description: Humans were driven to refugia during the cold and dry glacial Marine Isotope Stage 6 (MIS6) (~195–125 ka); only a few places, including the Cape south coast, show archaeological evidence of continuous human occupation. It has been hypothesised that the Cape south coast provided the requisite shelter to ensure human’s earliest survival because it provided all the right ingredients. The shores offer abundant shellfish, the land a diverse array of plants, and the climate was ameliorated due to the proximity of the then exposed Palaeo-Agulhas Plain to the warm Agulhas current. The aim of this study is to determine whether the indigenous flora of this region could have provided a sufficient edible resource for early humans. Residents of the Cape south coast have genetic ancestry linking them to the Khoe-San, the original inhabitants of the area, and still have an extensive knowledge of the local edible plants. With their help, I set out to determine a) whether humans have been utilising the same plant species over time, b) what the foraging potential of the edible plants in the region is and c) how resilient these plants are to human foraging. If we know whether the plant species known and used today were the same as those that were utilised by past humans, we can then use the contemporary knowledge to make predictions about past utilisation. To answer this question, I collated two databases: archaeological (all plant species found in archaeological sites [dating 0 to 80,000 BP]) and contemporary (all plant species in the modern-day ethnographic literature [last 400 years]) that occur within the Greater Cape Floristic Region(GCFR). I found a significant number of plant species shared between the two databases, which suggests that at least some plant species have been used by humans over a long period of time. To determine the indigenous plant foraging potential of the region, I foraged for food in the Cape south coast (451 bouts) monthly over a two-year period with the help of local inhabitants. The findings show that edible plant resources are distributed patchily and focusing on specific vegetation types would greatly enhance chances of harvesting 2,000 kcal per day, which is considered the daily calorific requirements for a typical hunter-gatherer. I then sought to understand how resilient these plants [(with an emphasis on plants with an underground storage organ (USO)] would be to human foraging. To do this, I set out plots and harvested all edible foods for three consecutive years with the help of foragers. Results indicate that there was a significant reduction in edible weight only in the third year of consecutive harvesting. In conclusion, using various approaches, this study investigates the plant food potential of the Cape south coast from the perspective of early human consumers. The findings suggest that knowledge regarding useful plants dates back to at least 80,000 BP. Food resources are patchily distributed across the main vegetation types found within the Cape south coast and occur in hotspots, i.e. concentrated areas hosting high densities of edible plant foods, surrounded by areas with very low plant food densities. Foragers could have harvested their daily calorific quota more easily if they focused their harvesting efforts in specific vegetation types found in the Cape south coast. Furthermore, many USOs circumvent climatic fluctuations, herbivory or both by staggering their emergence over multiple years, which implies they have some resilience to human foraging.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A hydrogeological investigation of Grahamstown, assessing both the dynamics and quality of the local groundwater system
- Authors: Smetherham, Kyle Norman
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Hydrogeology -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Water quality -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Groundwater -- Quality -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94444 , vital:31045
- Description: In many parts of South Africa, complete allocation of surface water reservoirs together with current drought conditions has led to serious water shortages and subsequent awareness regarding the importance to save water. Grahamstown is no different, with water problems relating to low supply and high demand being compounded by insufficient treatment capacity and aging infrastructure. Groundwater is an alternative water resource that could potentially act as a supplementary and/or emergency supply to the town, reducing the reliability on surface reservoirs. Groundwater however, is a hidden resource and requires an understanding of various aquifer properties and continuous monitoring and modelling so not to permanently disrupt the natural system but rather achieve sustainable management. Grahamstown is situated towards the northern extent of the Cape Fold Belt (CFB) system, within a synclinal fold structure. The local geology forms two local aquifer systems beneath Grahamstown that directly influence both the dynamics and quality of the groundwater. These underground reservoirs are the Witpoort and Dwyka aquifers and can be described as a semi-confined, fractured, quartzitic sandstone aquifer and an unconfined, fractured, tillite aquifer, respectively. Separating these aquifer systems is a shale aquitard, although due to the fractured nature of the rocks in the region there is most likely some groundwater interaction between them. Evaluation of geological formations together with the monitoring of 31 local boreholes presented a valuable conceptualisation of the local system and allowed for the application of methods to estimate recharge. Recharge estimation is one of the most crucial factors when managing aquifer systems as it can be used to determine what proportion of rainfall contributes to the subsurface reservoir and therefore, the sustainable amount that can be extracted. Various methods have been developed to estimate recharge, however due to the uncertainty surrounding groundwater systems, especially fractured aquifers, it was important to apply multiple methods to validate results. The water-table fluctuation (WTF) and cumulative rainfall departure (CRD) are two methods that were used in the present study to determine recharge. These methods rely on water-table changes in boreholes and specifically how they respond to rainfall events. Along with the WTF and CRD methods, a modelling approach was also used to estimate recharge which focused on the dynamics of a natural groundwater outlet, termed the Fairview Spring. This natural spring system is located just outside the main town of Grahamstown, within the Witpoort aquifer system, and is an important water resource to many residents due to poor supply and quality of municipal water. Monitoring the discharge of this spring allowed for the development of a model which attempts to recreate the discharge conditions observed. Along with groundwater recharge, other processes added to the model include evapotranspiration, storage, interflow spring outflow and groundwater outflow. Several different model simulation scenarios provided valuable insight into the greater groundwater dynamics. In terms of groundwater quality, nine borehole samples and one spring sample were analysed for major ions (Ca, Na, K, Cl, Mg, SO4, HCO3), metals (Cu, Fe, Mn) as well as pH and electrical conductivity. Overall electrical conductivity levels and major ion concentrations were lower in the Witpoort aquifer indicating a better groundwater quality compared to that of the Dwyka aquifer. Of the three metals included in the analysis, Mn proved to be the most significant and the highest concentrations were produced for samples that intersected the shale aquitard unit, suggesting that Mn-containing groundwater is drawn from this geological layer. Development of a supplementary and/or emergency groundwater supply requires careful consideration of the geology, quantity, quality, and recharge in the study site. All these aspects were assessed as well as deliberation into the potential infrastructural costs involved. Through conceptualisation of the system; evidence gathered during basic monitoring; and a simple spring model, the current study aimed to explore certain management strategies and recommend potential options going forward. The hidden nature of the resource together with the heterogeneity of fracture networks creates an inevitable uncertainty surrounding the system. Proper development and management of the aquifer can only be achieved if the system is continually monitored, modelled and utilised sustainably.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Smetherham, Kyle Norman
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Hydrogeology -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Water quality -- South Africa -- Makhanda , Groundwater -- Quality -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94444 , vital:31045
- Description: In many parts of South Africa, complete allocation of surface water reservoirs together with current drought conditions has led to serious water shortages and subsequent awareness regarding the importance to save water. Grahamstown is no different, with water problems relating to low supply and high demand being compounded by insufficient treatment capacity and aging infrastructure. Groundwater is an alternative water resource that could potentially act as a supplementary and/or emergency supply to the town, reducing the reliability on surface reservoirs. Groundwater however, is a hidden resource and requires an understanding of various aquifer properties and continuous monitoring and modelling so not to permanently disrupt the natural system but rather achieve sustainable management. Grahamstown is situated towards the northern extent of the Cape Fold Belt (CFB) system, within a synclinal fold structure. The local geology forms two local aquifer systems beneath Grahamstown that directly influence both the dynamics and quality of the groundwater. These underground reservoirs are the Witpoort and Dwyka aquifers and can be described as a semi-confined, fractured, quartzitic sandstone aquifer and an unconfined, fractured, tillite aquifer, respectively. Separating these aquifer systems is a shale aquitard, although due to the fractured nature of the rocks in the region there is most likely some groundwater interaction between them. Evaluation of geological formations together with the monitoring of 31 local boreholes presented a valuable conceptualisation of the local system and allowed for the application of methods to estimate recharge. Recharge estimation is one of the most crucial factors when managing aquifer systems as it can be used to determine what proportion of rainfall contributes to the subsurface reservoir and therefore, the sustainable amount that can be extracted. Various methods have been developed to estimate recharge, however due to the uncertainty surrounding groundwater systems, especially fractured aquifers, it was important to apply multiple methods to validate results. The water-table fluctuation (WTF) and cumulative rainfall departure (CRD) are two methods that were used in the present study to determine recharge. These methods rely on water-table changes in boreholes and specifically how they respond to rainfall events. Along with the WTF and CRD methods, a modelling approach was also used to estimate recharge which focused on the dynamics of a natural groundwater outlet, termed the Fairview Spring. This natural spring system is located just outside the main town of Grahamstown, within the Witpoort aquifer system, and is an important water resource to many residents due to poor supply and quality of municipal water. Monitoring the discharge of this spring allowed for the development of a model which attempts to recreate the discharge conditions observed. Along with groundwater recharge, other processes added to the model include evapotranspiration, storage, interflow spring outflow and groundwater outflow. Several different model simulation scenarios provided valuable insight into the greater groundwater dynamics. In terms of groundwater quality, nine borehole samples and one spring sample were analysed for major ions (Ca, Na, K, Cl, Mg, SO4, HCO3), metals (Cu, Fe, Mn) as well as pH and electrical conductivity. Overall electrical conductivity levels and major ion concentrations were lower in the Witpoort aquifer indicating a better groundwater quality compared to that of the Dwyka aquifer. Of the three metals included in the analysis, Mn proved to be the most significant and the highest concentrations were produced for samples that intersected the shale aquitard unit, suggesting that Mn-containing groundwater is drawn from this geological layer. Development of a supplementary and/or emergency groundwater supply requires careful consideration of the geology, quantity, quality, and recharge in the study site. All these aspects were assessed as well as deliberation into the potential infrastructural costs involved. Through conceptualisation of the system; evidence gathered during basic monitoring; and a simple spring model, the current study aimed to explore certain management strategies and recommend potential options going forward. The hidden nature of the resource together with the heterogeneity of fracture networks creates an inevitable uncertainty surrounding the system. Proper development and management of the aquifer can only be achieved if the system is continually monitored, modelled and utilised sustainably.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A leadership development model to enhance ethical governance in South Africa
- Authors: Els, Ryno Juan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Leadership -- South Africa , Public administration -- Moral and ethical aspects Corporate governance Business ethics -- South Africa Africa Professional ethics Organizational behavior -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39863 , vital:35489
- Description: From the United States of America’s White House to the Vatican in Vatican City, from Harare, Zimbabwe to the Union buildings in South Africa, to large organisations like Volkswagen, BP and KPMG, leadership failures are prolific. Globalised and local leadership failures and scandals are plagued by narcissistic, toxic, corrupt and dishonest behaviour by heads of state, CEOs and clergy. The effect of executive leadership failures is that they set the tone for a corrupt culture that spirals negatively down to grass-roots level. Unethical leadership in organisations manifests in various ways including misconduct, deception and cheating. Apart from regular exposés of leadership scandals globally, there has been a notable increase in ethical leadership derailments caused by unethical behaviour. The question is why leaders, who are considered to understand value-based morality, engage in unethical behaviour when confronted with the opportunity. In recent, empirical research in behavioural ethics and moral psychology, it was found that morally sound leaders often indulge in unethical behaviour. Unethical leadership behaviour includes misdemeanours in tax returns, overstating performance, inflating business expense accounts, involvement in corruption, counter-productive work behaviour, being morally disengaged and being untruthful during negotiations. Recent research indicates that unethical leadership leads to an increase in poor governance and propels vicious cycles that have a negative impact on human development, economic growth and the environment. This research study includes traditional and contemporary leadership theories that have been evaluated as well as an in-depth discussion of the necessity and importance of ethical governance. An innovative, ethical leadership development model has been designed and aligned with servant, ethical, authentic and integrated leadership styles where spiritual, cultural and emotional intelligences play a significant role in leadership maturity. A fresh perspective on the King IV Report (2016) as an international benchmark together with other authoritative literature and case studies of unethical governance have been discussed to shed light on the latest leadership theories and ethics in the 21st century. The findings of this study have been tested statistically by means of structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings confirmed empirically that accountability, stakeholders’ interests and the regulatory environment need to be implemented by ethical leaders in order to enhance ethical governance. The lack of a practical, outcome-based, leadership development model provided an opportunity to develop an ethical leadership development model that would have a positive impact on ethical governance, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Els, Ryno Juan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Leadership -- South Africa , Public administration -- Moral and ethical aspects Corporate governance Business ethics -- South Africa Africa Professional ethics Organizational behavior -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39863 , vital:35489
- Description: From the United States of America’s White House to the Vatican in Vatican City, from Harare, Zimbabwe to the Union buildings in South Africa, to large organisations like Volkswagen, BP and KPMG, leadership failures are prolific. Globalised and local leadership failures and scandals are plagued by narcissistic, toxic, corrupt and dishonest behaviour by heads of state, CEOs and clergy. The effect of executive leadership failures is that they set the tone for a corrupt culture that spirals negatively down to grass-roots level. Unethical leadership in organisations manifests in various ways including misconduct, deception and cheating. Apart from regular exposés of leadership scandals globally, there has been a notable increase in ethical leadership derailments caused by unethical behaviour. The question is why leaders, who are considered to understand value-based morality, engage in unethical behaviour when confronted with the opportunity. In recent, empirical research in behavioural ethics and moral psychology, it was found that morally sound leaders often indulge in unethical behaviour. Unethical leadership behaviour includes misdemeanours in tax returns, overstating performance, inflating business expense accounts, involvement in corruption, counter-productive work behaviour, being morally disengaged and being untruthful during negotiations. Recent research indicates that unethical leadership leads to an increase in poor governance and propels vicious cycles that have a negative impact on human development, economic growth and the environment. This research study includes traditional and contemporary leadership theories that have been evaluated as well as an in-depth discussion of the necessity and importance of ethical governance. An innovative, ethical leadership development model has been designed and aligned with servant, ethical, authentic and integrated leadership styles where spiritual, cultural and emotional intelligences play a significant role in leadership maturity. A fresh perspective on the King IV Report (2016) as an international benchmark together with other authoritative literature and case studies of unethical governance have been discussed to shed light on the latest leadership theories and ethics in the 21st century. The findings of this study have been tested statistically by means of structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings confirmed empirically that accountability, stakeholders’ interests and the regulatory environment need to be implemented by ethical leaders in order to enhance ethical governance. The lack of a practical, outcome-based, leadership development model provided an opportunity to develop an ethical leadership development model that would have a positive impact on ethical governance, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
A local portrait of South African counselling psychologists’ endorsement of the values and scope of practice of their profession in relation to their career satisfaction
- Authors: Ngobeni, Nhlori
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Counseling psychology -- South Africa , Counseling psychologists -- South Africa , Psychology -- South Africa , Psychologists -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94350 , vital:31038
- Description: The 2011 revision to the scope of practice of counselling psychology in South Africa has renewed debates about what is it that should distinguish counselling psychology as a distinctive area of practice and research in South Africa. This study reports the findings of a survey of a sample of 228 South African registered counselling psychologists, including the extent to which they endorse the traditional values of their category, the extent to which they endorse the current scope of practice for counselling psychology, and measures of career satisfaction. Findings are that women and white practitioners comprise the large majority of the category. Counselling psychologists strongly endorse most of the traditional values of the category and are generally highly satisfied with their careers. Surprisingly, given these findings, only a large minority indicate that they would choose counselling psychology again knowing what they know now. Most significant, the findings of a multiple regression analysis indicate that endorsement of the scope of practice most strongly predicts career satisfaction scores, followed closely by black racial identification, years of experience, and then endorsement of counselling psychology values. Logistic regression analysis to predict which counselling psychologists would choose counselling psychology again knowing what they know now, revealed that only endorsement of counselling psychology values and endorsement of the scope practice made a significant contribution to predictions. This study provides a snapshot of the current status of South African counselling psychology today and it remains that in the next ten years, there will be significant changes as the category changes across the globe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ngobeni, Nhlori
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Counseling psychology -- South Africa , Counseling psychologists -- South Africa , Psychology -- South Africa , Psychologists -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/94350 , vital:31038
- Description: The 2011 revision to the scope of practice of counselling psychology in South Africa has renewed debates about what is it that should distinguish counselling psychology as a distinctive area of practice and research in South Africa. This study reports the findings of a survey of a sample of 228 South African registered counselling psychologists, including the extent to which they endorse the traditional values of their category, the extent to which they endorse the current scope of practice for counselling psychology, and measures of career satisfaction. Findings are that women and white practitioners comprise the large majority of the category. Counselling psychologists strongly endorse most of the traditional values of the category and are generally highly satisfied with their careers. Surprisingly, given these findings, only a large minority indicate that they would choose counselling psychology again knowing what they know now. Most significant, the findings of a multiple regression analysis indicate that endorsement of the scope of practice most strongly predicts career satisfaction scores, followed closely by black racial identification, years of experience, and then endorsement of counselling psychology values. Logistic regression analysis to predict which counselling psychologists would choose counselling psychology again knowing what they know now, revealed that only endorsement of counselling psychology values and endorsement of the scope practice made a significant contribution to predictions. This study provides a snapshot of the current status of South African counselling psychology today and it remains that in the next ten years, there will be significant changes as the category changes across the globe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019