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A positive behaviour intervention approach to discipline at a primary school in Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Matthews, Thomas
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: School discipline -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth Behavior modification
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11564 , vital:26938
  • Description: Learner discipline has become a major concern in South African schools. A society of entitlement has been bred over the past 20 years. The school is an open system that influences its environment and is being influenced by it too. The most challenging concern, at least for teachers, is to create and to maintain a form of order and structure at schools. The troublesome situation has an impact on teachers as they have to spend more time addressing challenging behaviour instead of spending that time on teaching a set curriculum and syllabus. Unfortunately, teachers report feelings of being ill-prepared to deal effectively with the challenging behaviour of learners in schools. Hence it is imperative to consider strategies to foster school discipline to manage and modify challenging behaviour in schools. To date, most researches have shown a major paradigm shift from the punitive disciplinary measures of the past towards a rather preventive and more positive approach. It became inevitable that learner discipline should be correctional and educational – especially after the abolishment of corporal punishment in South African schools. An increase attention has started to concentrate on early identification and prevention of challenging behaviour and on strategies to resolve such behaviour at its earliest appearance. Some of the guiding determinants for this positive approach are vested in maintaining a safe, harmonious and orderly environment that is conducive to teaching and learning. The outcry is to promote and encourage discipline amongst learners. An approach that has been termed school-wide positive behaviour intervention and support seems to address most of the challenging behaviours. Through the use of document analysis, observation and group interviews school-wide positive behaviour intervention and support was embraced. The findings further revealed that through proper planning, implementation strategies, and in-service training positive behaviour approach can be implemented in schools as framework for school discipline in primary schools. School-wide positive behaviour intervention and support will contribute successfully in managing and modifying challenging behaviour, fostering discipline in schools, and to educate learners in the habit of accountability and responsibility for their actions without using punishment following specified rules. Doing so some of the critical and developmental outcomes of education in South Africa will be realized. Although research in this area is limited, there are encouraging signs that a coordinated adoption of validated practice could substantially reduce challenging behaviours and thereby enhance the social and emotional well-being of learners in today’s society.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A proposed Christian-based governing model to increase the success of entrepreneurial ventures in South Africa

  • Authors: Boshoff, Leslie Ian
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Entrepreneurship -- South Africa , Success in business -- South Africa , Business -- Religious aspects , Sustainable development -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DBA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4827 , vital:20712
  • Description: The Republic of South Africa (RSA) became a democracy when the African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994. However, more than twenty years after the apartheid era, the people of the RSA are highly politicised and society still shows an extremely high level of inequality in income that is aggravated by the lack of formal job opportunities in the country. Disturbingly, early-stage entrepreneurial activity in the RSA declined from 7.8 percent in 2008 to 5 percent in 2009. As a result, the low levels of entrepreneurial activity are partly responsible for the stagnation in the structural transformation of the economy. The economy remains dependent on sectors such as agriculture and mining where looting, instability, violence and rent-seeking are endemic in spite of plentiful natural resources. As a consequence of these factors, manufacturing is becoming increasingly uncompetitive and the economy is becoming increasingly less innovative. The RSA‟s government leaders should have used the strengths of the country to minimise or rectify the weaknesses of the extremely high levels of inequality in income and the lack of formal job opportunities. Instead, these leaders identified their supporters, satisfied their short-term consumption demands, distributed jobs to the party faithful and provided social welfare to the poor. Additionally, the majority of school leavers are not pursuing tertiary studies but, with limited or little education, they still have to form part of the potential labour force of the future. The youth employment rate for 15 to 24 year-olds, in the RSA, is as low as 12.5 percent. Again, this highlights the importance of finding alternative ways to increase the population‟s participation in the economy, probably through some form of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model with the main objective being to identify the factors (variables) that will promote growth, sustainability and good governance in Christian-owned Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME) within the RSA. Business is commonly viewed as a secular pursuit and religious people, particularly in Western societies, have a narrow view of the conceptual and practical application of their faith and spirituality in their businesses. As a result, the potential of businesses to influence communities, particularly with regard to issues such as social iniquities and cultural reform, good governance, responsible business behaviour, social capital, spiritual intelligence (SQ) and Christian entrepreneurship orientation appear to be, at worst, more or less irrelevant and, at best, greatly under-valued and under-utilised. The intersection of these constructs provides an understanding of how an entrepreneur‟s heightened consciousness in terms of his/her personal values and beliefs can affect his or her business activities and crucial characteristics of the entrepreneurial process, such as the recognition of opportunities, the creation of new ventures, as well as the operation and growth of these business ventures. This study uncovered a number of themes that shed light on how Christian SMME owner-managers rationalise the everyday dealings of their business lives as an expression of their faith. This study is an expression of a complex phenomenon that is extremely relevant in the present day and sharpens the focus on the important role that religious faith has to play in the field of business outcomes. Many Christian entrepreneurs express a motivational need to give back to their communities, customers and other stakeholders of the business venture. Christian entrepreneurs value intrinsic factors like purpose, passionate work and personal calling above wealth, fame, power, money, and recognition. A combination of Christian character traits forms the backbone of a Christian‟s internal power and purpose. God created people to glorify Him and this purpose is achieved through the fulfilling of a personal calling. A calling is often accompanied by a conviction of divine influence and the vocation in which one customarily engages. The call to the Christian entrepreneur is to be the salt and light in an environment (Mathew 5:13) like RSA, that is not conducive to entrepreneurial behaviour, where unemployment is very high, infrastructure is buckling under the pressures of bad management and corruption is rife.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A psychobiographical study of Charlize Theron

  • Authors: Prenter, Tracey
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Theron, Charlize -- Psychology , Motion picture actors and actresses -- South Africa -- Biography , Motion picture actors and actresses -- United States -- Biography , Psychology -- Biographical methods
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3272 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020843
  • Description: Psychobiographers study the lives of extraordinary, prominent, and enigmatic individuals. Psychobiographical research advances our insight into the uniqueness and complexity of the human personality and therefore makes a substantial contribution towards one of the major objectives of the field of psychology. Purposive sampling was employed to select Charlize Theron as the subject of this psychobiographical study. As the only South African who has won an Oscar, Theron is an exceptional individual who demonstrates tenacity and a will to succeed despite significant traumatic events in her childhood. The case study data was organised and analysed according to the general analytic approach developed by Huberman and Miles (2002) and one of Alexander’s (1990) strategies, namely questioning the data. Erikson’s psychosocial theory (1950, 1963, 1995) was selected to guide this study because it recognises the impact of socio-cultural influences on developmental processes and provides a comprehensive, staged framework for studying Theron’s personality development. This study contributes to the development of psychobiographical research in South Africa.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A psychobiographical study of Sybrand Gerhardus(Brand)Pretorius

  • Authors: Harwood, Craig Sean
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Pretorius, Brand, -- 1948 Psychology -- Biographical methods , Psychology -- Biographical methods Industrialists -- South Africa -- Biography Businessmen -- South Africa -- Biography
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7567 , vital:21929
  • Description: The South African businessman, Brand Pretorius, was born in the rural Orange Free State town of Steynsrus in 1953. Pretorius rose to prominence in the motor industry in South Africa and he retired in 2011 as Chairman of McCarthy Motor Holdings Limited the largest motor retailer in South Africa. Pretorius was selected for this psychobiographical study by means of purposive sampling, given his extraordinary business achievements. Pretorius is publicly recognised as one of South Africa’s most successful businessmen and leaders. Psychobiographical research typically takes into consideration the entire life of an individual with the aim of uncovering the story of an individual’s life through the lens of a particular theory. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the leadership development of Brand Pretorius juxtaposed against the model of authentic leadership proposed by Avolio and Luthans (2003). The life history of Brand Pretorius was studied using a qualitative single-case study design. The psychobiographical research method allowed the single-case to be studied spanning his entire career. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Conceptual matrices were used to organise and integrate the findings against the model of authentic leadership. The use of multiple data sources increased the validity and reliability of the research process and findings. To ensure ethical integrity the researcher obtained informed consent from Pretorius. The findings of this research study indicate that Pretorius was able to successfully display the authentic leadership dimensions of self-awareness, internalised moral perspective, balanced processing, relational transparency and positive psychological capacities throughout the course of his career.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A psychobiographical study of Theodore Robert Bundy

  • Authors: McGivern, Kelly Berene
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Psychology -- United States -- Biographical methods Serial murderers -- United States -- Biography
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11742 , vital:26964
  • Description: This study is a psychobiographical study aiming to explore and describe the life of Theodore Robert Bundy, a serial killer who confessed to approximately 30 homicides committed in various states of America between 1974 and 1978. The study used Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development to examine Bundy’s life and to understand his unique character and personality development. The subject was chosen based on interest value through purposive sampling and the study utilises a qualitative single case study approach. Archival data were collected from primary and secondary sources in order to enhance the trustworthiness and credibility of the study. All materials collected and analysed, were published and publically available. Data were analysed by first organising and reducing the information obtained, and then displaying it for a discussion of Bundy’s life. Themes of discussion centred around Bundy’s lack of resolution of psychosocial crises and the development of malignancies and maladaptations which impacted negatively on his later development and identity formation. The study emphasises the importance of psychobiographical research studies and the value of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development in understanding personality development. Recommendations for future research in this field were made in the hope of further uncovering and understanding personality and its development.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A qualitative study: educator-targeted bullying by learners in a high school in Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Campher, Roelof Petrus
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Bullying in schools -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Educators -- Abuse of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4709 , vital:20655
  • Description: This study explores the phenomenon of educator targeted-bullying (ETB) by learners as an educational problem in terms of the incidence, frequency, severity and the impact on effective teaching and learning in classrooms. Abuse or bullying in schools usually happens amongst learners or to learners targeted by educators. However, the phenomenon of educator abuse by learners is escalating, internationally as well as nationally, and is experienced by many educators, especially by those teaching in secondary schools. An extensive literature review on numerous research national and international studies reports on the fact that the bullying of educators in all its forms, including physical, verbal, emotional and cyber bullying, impacts negatively on the emotional and psychological well-being of educators who are also stressed by other work demands, resulting in ineffective teaching and learning experiences in schools. The over-arching purpose of this local study was to determine the impact of ETB by learners on the effectiveness of teaching and learning in classrooms. In addition, other aspects of ETB were examined, namely the types of bullying, its severity and frequency, and the emotional and psychological effects on educators’ general well-being as victims. The study was conducted in a private high school in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area, Eastern Cape, South Africa. A qualitative methodology was used and all the educators employed at this particular school took part in the study. Convenience sampling was thus applied in the selection of the participants and questionnaires and written narratives were used as data gathering instruments. Twelve educators completed questionnaires to gather information-rich qualitative data to investigate the abovementioned aspects of this study. Four educators wrote narratives on their experiences of ETB by learners in this school context. The results of this research provided valuable evidence that ETB by learners in this school has a distressing impact on the educators and their psychological well-being, impairing teaching quality and learning outcomes in classrooms and, ultimately, with adverse educational consequences for all learners. The theoretical framework for this study was based on the ecological systems theory of the developmental psychologist and theorist, Urie Bronfenbrenner. Bronfenbrenner (1979) suggested that the process of human development is shaped and moulded by a person’s v environment and all the people and institutions that play a role in that environment. In my view, this theory may explain to some extent why some children are moulded and shaped as bullies as a result of the child’s exposure to and interaction with his/her environment. The main findings of this study include the fact that ETB is a serious phenomenon that an increasing number of educators are exposed to. It also appears that the incidences are becoming more severe and involve serious physical threats and bodily harm. Educators are also exposed to ETB on a regular basis, with many educators being bullied on a daily basis. It is clear that verbal abuse is the most prominent form of ETB leading to emotional damage, feelings of incompetence and reduced motivation to teach with innovation and enthusiasm. This in turn leads to the very concerning fact that ETB negatively affects successful teaching and learning in classrooms, adding more problems to an already embattled education system. Participants also provided some guidelines to reduce and possibly prevent ETB by learners. In doing so, these data can hopefully be used in the formulation of anti-bullying programmes for educators, which can result in safer working environments and more effective teaching and learning for learners.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A review of generalized linear models for count data with emphasis on current geospatial procedures

  • Authors: Michell, Justin Walter
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Spatial analysis (Statistics) , Bayesian statistical decision theory , Geospatial data , Malaria -- Botswana -- Statistics , Malaria -- Botswana -- Research -- Statistical methods
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: vital:5582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019989
  • Description: Analytical problems caused by over-fitting, confounding and non-independence in the data is a major challenge for variable selection. As more variables are tested against a certain data set, there is a greater risk that some will explain the data merely by chance, but will fail to explain new data. The main aim of this study is to employ a systematic and practicable variable selection process for the spatial analysis and mapping of historical malaria risk in Botswana using data collected from the MARA (Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa) project and environmental and climatic datasets from various sources. Details of how a spatial database is compiled for a statistical analysis to proceed is provided. The automation of the entire process is also explored. The final bayesian spatial model derived from the non-spatial variable selection procedure using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation was fitted to the data. Winter temperature had the greatest effect of malaria prevalence in Botswana. Summer rainfall, maximum temperature of the warmest month, annual range of temperature, altitude and distance to closest water source were also significantly associated with malaria prevalence in the final spatial model after accounting for spatial correlation. Using this spatial model malaria prevalence at unobserved locations was predicted, producing a smooth risk map covering Botswana. The automation of both compiling the spatial database and the variable selection procedure proved challenging and could only be achieved in parts of the process. The non-spatial selection procedure proved practical and was able to identify stable explanatory variables and provide an objective means for selecting one variable over another, however ultimately it was not entirely successful due to the fact that a unique set of spatial variables could not be selected.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A review of local government performance from 2004 - 2008: Sakhisizwe Local Municipality

  • Authors: Dyani, Christopher Sidima
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Public administration -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/6271 , vital:21064
  • Description: Loosely defined as “political units or instruments constituted by law (the peculiar or unique characteristics of which is their subordinate status to the central government) which have substantial control over local affairs and likewise have the power to tax” (Nyalunga, 2006: 15), local governments, and municipalities in particular, have been in existence since the early history of Anglo-Saxon England (post 1870). As political units, local governments have defined areas, defined populations, organised administrative structures and the authority to undertake and the power to carry out public activities within such defined areas (Nyulunga, 2006: 15). In the three-tiered form of government that is dominant world-wide, local government is the lowest sphere of government and, as such, “is often the first point of contact between an individual and a government institution” (Thornhill, 2008: 492). Although a number of different forms and structures of local government exist in the world, as it evolved, three critical matters defined the nature of local government in any particular country. Firstly, local government is defined by the extent of local self-government. Secondly, it is the autonomy and discretionary powers of the municipality and, thirdly, it is the extent to which the municipality is a momentous force in the lives of the people within a given area (Nyulunga, 2006: 16). Therefore, a consideration if these three defining factors provide clarity in terms of the nature of local government in a particular country. Due to the form of the South African state, which is a unitary state, South Africa established a system of local government aimed at governing various areas throughout the country. For the greater part of the country‟s history prior the 1994 democratic elections, what distinguished the South African local government system from the rest of the world was its relationship with the people it sought to govern. While in the majority of cases around the world municipalities were concerned with the welfare of all their citizens, in South Africa, the successive apartheid regimes worked tirelessly at the adoption and systematic enforcement of draconian policies that effectively brought misery to the majority of the South African population. Pieces of legislation, such as the various Natives Acts, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, and the Group Areas Act, implemented through local government – the form of government closest to the people – ensured that South Africa experienced gross human rights violations, the economic exclusion of the majority of the populace, separate and unequal development and, in effect, an absolute monopoly of social, economic and political power by the white minority (Landsberg and Mackay, 2006: 1). Given the immediate impact municipal policies had on the people they sought to govern - this as a direct result of the proximity of this sphere of government to the people - it is not surprising that this level of government was the first casualty in the apartheid resistance campaign led by various liberation movements in the country. With systematic protests against various local government actions, coupled with boycotts of municipal rates and taxes, local government increasingly became detached from the population it served and consequently, was rendered dysfunctional. The election of F.W. De Klerk as the president of South Africa in 1989 proved to be a turning point in the historical trajectory of the country. Understanding the deleterious effects that the repressive policies had on the country‟s social structure, both economically and politically, De Klerk embarked on a road less travelled by opening channels for negotiation between government (and by extension the National Party) and the liberation movements in the country (particularly the African National Congress). As such, from 1990, various political organisations, such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) among others, which had, for many years, been banned on the basis of them being seen as terrorist organisations, were unbanned. This was accompanied by the unconditional release of political prisoners, including South Africa‟s first democratically elected President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. One of the key outcomes of the negotiations that took place in the early 1990s was the development of the Interim, or Transitional, Constitution, Act 200 of 1993. This was an important document in that it provided a „historic bridge‟ between the apartheid state and the democratic dispensation that millions of South Africans aspired to. Additionally, this document provided a framework for the continued governance of South Africa pending the country‟s first democratic elections. The continued governance that the Interim Constitution provided for meant balancing human rights and the continued existence of the state and/or government. This was an important matter, particularly for local government, in that “a fragmented and incoherent range of local authorities cannot be transformed in one process as the negotiators for a democratic system of government wanted to ensure continuity in service provision” (Thornhill, 2008: 494). The temporal reprieve provided by the Interim Constitution allowed the negotiators to deal with the details of what would be the post-apartheid local government system of South Africa. The democratic government that emerged after the watershed event of 1994, under the stewardship of Nelson Mandela, had the immediate task of dismantling the apartheid legacy that had defined the country for many years and moving the country closer to achieving the democratic promise of a better life for all citizens. Practically, and importantly for the transformation of local government, this meant instilling democratic values and principles that would ensure that local government was responsive to the needs of the people and that it remained accountable to the electorate (the Presidency, 2003: 11). The ideal of the incoming democratic government was to transform this sphere of government into one that would ensure inclusive growth and development and equitable redistribution of the wealth of the country such that all people would have equal opportunity for a better life. It is important to note that the elections that were held on 27 April 1994 were only national and provincial elections. Local government elections could not be held at this point, simply because the new constitutional dispensation had not been finalised (Thornhill, 2008: 495). All parties to the negotiations agreed that the process of finalising the Constitution would be done through a democratically elected Constitutional Assembly. It was only after the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 (the Constitution), was finalised, that the first local government elections could be held.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A review of the Lukhanji Local Municipality's recruitment and retention policy

A review of the water service development plan and service delivery budget and implementation plan (SDBIP) alignment with performance management system in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

  • Authors: Sali, Bongani Zandisile
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Sustainable urban development Environmental management Municipal services
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MPA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12755 , vital:39358
  • Description: In South Africa, the Constitution, 1996, the Municipal Structures Act,1998 (Act 117 of 1998), the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) and the Municipal Finance Management, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003) place municipalities at the forefront for providing basic services such as waste management, electricity, water, sanitation, roads and transport to the communities. The journey that the local government sphere in South Africa has taken over the last 22 years has not gone smoothly, in some respects it has been a bumpy ride one. A single, unified local government had to be established from the fragmented, undemocratic, unaccountable and racially divided local government system that was inherited. The constitutional and political structure of local government, its promise of democratic accountability, and the delivery of services to improve the lives of citizens has proven to be challenging in their implementation. Performance management was introduced in the local government sphere to improve performance by establishing a rational planning process based on the assumption that “business methods” would be more effective than traditional public administration approaches. There is a problem with municipalities such as the BCMM; the problem is that they operate their WSDP, SDBIP, IDP, budget and PMS in silos. The WSDP, SDBIP, IDP, budget and PMS must be aligned so that BCMM can be able to deliver basic services like water and sanitation. The study sought to review the Water Services Development Plan and Service Budget Implementation Plan Alignment with the Performance Management System in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. Data was collected using interviews from a sample of participants comprising mainly of managers of the BCMM, revealed that most of the performance targets set in the financial years 2009 to 2015 were not achieved. The study came up with the following recommendations that there should be regular workshops, training of BCMM officials in the importance of the alignment of the WSDP and SDBIP with the performance management system in the BCMM. The PMS should contribute in the improvement of productivity, through achieving set targets and goals as planned. The processes must be fully integrated. Challenges facing BCMM in terms of alignment must be addressed. There is also a need for sound annual plans with targets (quarterly) that show how the annual targets will be achieved.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A River of Blood Flows: Lerato Shadi’s ‘Noka Ya Bokamoso’

  • Authors: Makandula, Sikhumbuzo
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147258 , vital:38609 , https://artthrob.co.za/2016/07/13/a-river-of-blood-flows-lerato-shadis-noka-ya-bokamoso/
  • Description: The title of Lerato Shadi’s show, ‘Noka Ya Bokamoso,’ which opened at National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, translates from Setswana to ‘a river of tomorrow.’ In the Albany gallery you encounter Shadi performing Mosako Wa Nako. She sits silently crocheting a ball of red wool into a scroll which unfurls with indecipherable writing. Shadi’s isolation from the rest of the artworks on the exhibition draws you closer, emphasising the rhythmic movement of her hands.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A rural xhosa woman's experience of marital satisfaction

  • Authors: Mavumengwana, Ziyanda
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Love -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Psychological aspects Marriage counseling -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Marital psychotherapy
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11509 , vital:26933
  • Description: Satisfaction (fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations and needs or the pleasure derived from this) has been shown by studies to be manifested through various things, including marriage. It has been found that marriage and the satisfaction experienced are positively correlated to higher levels of happiness. Marital satisfaction (also referred to as marital quality and marital happiness) is defined as one's subjective evaluation of favourability towards one’s spouse and the marital relationship and the mental state of perceived gains and losses of the marriage. Research shows that the factors that affect marital satisfaction vary across cultures as well as geographic space within cultures, as well as gender. The present case study explored marital satisfaction as experienced by a Xhosa woman who resides in a rural setting in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This qualitative exploratory-descriptive study utilised an in-depth case study method and the subject was selected by purposive sampling. Thibaut and Kelley’s (1959) Interdependence Theory, in conjunction the life-cycle stages of marriage as proposed by Markey (2005), were used as a framework to understand dynamics that occur in the course of a marital relationship as well as the variations in satisfaction in the different stages of marriage. Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and a content analysis approach proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was followed as a framework for data analysis. The findings of the present study are presented according to two broad groupings: 1) marital satisfaction arises from one’s state of mind, and 2) the participant provided lessons on dealing with issues that arise in marriage. These in turn permitted the identification of sub-themes connected to each main theme allowing recommendations for future research to be deduced.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A sharing platform for Indicators of Compromise

  • Authors: Rudman, Lauren , Irwin, Barry V W
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/427831 , vital:72465 , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barry-Ir-win/publication/327622961_A_sharing_platform_for_Indicators_of_Compromise/links/5b9a1ad1a6fdcc59bf8dfe51/A-sharing-platform-for-Indicators-of-Compromise.pdf
  • Description: In this paper, we will describe the functionality of a proof of concept sharing platform for sharing cyber threat information. Information is shared in the Structured Threat Information eXpression (STIX) language displayed in HTML. We focus on the sharing of network Indicators of Compromise generated by malware samples. Our work is motivated by the need to provide a platform for exchanging comprehensive network level Indicators. Accordingly we demonstrate the functionality of our proof of concept project. We will discuss how to use some functions of the platform, such as sharing STIX Indicators, navigating around and downloading defense mechanisims. It will be shown how threat information can be converted into different formats to allow them to be used in firewall and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) rules. This is an extension to the sharing platform and makes the creation of network level defense mechanisms efficient. Two API functions of the platform will be successfully tested and are useful because this can allow for the bulk sharing and of threat information.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A situational survey of Siyazondla homestead food production programme and food security, poverty alleviation in selected communities of Nkonkobe local municipality of the Eastern Cape

  • Authors: Bulelani, Phezisa
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc Agric (Agricultural Economics)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/723 , vital:26491
  • Description: People living in rural areas are continually losing their value, dignity, ubuntu and rural nature of livelihood. Agriculture in these areas characterises the nature of rural livelihood. Traditionally, people living in rural areas were highly dependent on their production from gardens for food, income (barter exchange), and other social activities. Nowadays, that motive and interest is no longer operating at its full potential, so to revive that history and nature, household (homestead) production, certain programmes were introduced to greatly improved the standard of living of the poor, and it has proved to have an impact as it has generated income, and created food stability and employment through the project. Home gardens are there and can be used as the method and the strategy toward improvement and development of the people around the world, more especial to developing countries. Certain programmes that are initiated for acting against the challenges faced by rural people have failed to materialise and operate on their fully potential. The Siyazondla homestead food production programme is the one of the programmes practiced by the government of South Africa to act against such challenges, affecting especially poor people. This study was aimed at assessing the role of Siyazondla homestead food production programme in food security and poverty alleviation in selected communities of Nkonkobe local municipality of the Eastern Cape. It took the form of a case study in Msobomvu, Ngcothoyi and Binfield locations. The Nkonkobe local municipality is demarcated into five major areas: Middledrift, Alice, Seymour, Fort Beaufort and Balfour. The study sample was collected from beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Siyazondla programme. The sample size was 90 respondents, from which in one area, a 15 beneficiaries and anticipated non-beneficiaries were targeted. The target sample from each village was collected from 15 beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Many farmers from the study area benefited from the programme, though a limited number was targeted. Therefore, a probability sampling was applied and employed, where there were more than required number of beneficiaries of the programme and anticipated beneficiaries of the programme. The study was effectively and efficiently carried out and achieved with the use of personal interviewing of the recipients by use of questionnaires. The study was analysed by a computerised programme of analyses called SPSS v.2.1 and excel. The objectives of the study based on food security, poverty alleviation and reduction, and also improving nutritious status. The finding of the research clearly indicates the outcome of the programme on livelihood basis of the beneficiaries. Some of the objectives of the programme were achieved, such as food security and nutritious levels, whilst other objectives had shortcomings. The finding of the study also shows that programme, though had original benefits but also there are the anticipated and probable benefits of the programme Siyazondla, such as income, skill of farming, improving social status, and there are some possibilities when the programme is properly implemented. Though the majority of people are concentrated in rural areas, the programme on its own had shortcoming to meet needs of the whole population, as food insecurity, unemployment and poverty are taking its course. The programme on its own had shortcoming such as lack of adequate resource and as results, very few people benefited from the programme. Another shortcoming of the programme is the effectiveness of agricultural extension personnel to certain aspect such as marketing of farmers produce and proper monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Therefore, in the long run programmes of this nature are promising, there will be some development and improvement toward growth and better standards of livelihood. It is through this study that had to assess the structure, procedure, strategies implemented of the programme and impact of the programme to both beneficiaries and anticipated beneficiaries of the programme. Keywords: rural area, social challenges, home garden, home based food production and Siyazondla.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A situational survey of Siyazondla homestead food production proogramme and food security, poverty alleviation in selected communities of Nkonkobe Local Municipality of the Eastern Cape

  • Authors: Phezisa, Bulelani
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Food security -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Food supply -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/2392 , vital:27795
  • Description: People living in rural areas are continually losing their value, dignity, ubuntu and rural nature of livelihood. Agriculture in these areas characterises the nature of rural livelihood. Traditionally, people living in rural areas were highly dependent on their production from gardens for food, income (barter exchange), and other social activities. Nowadays, that motive and interest is no longer operating at its full potential, so to revive that history and nature, household (homestead) production, certain programmes were introduced to greatly improved the standard of living of the poor, and it has proved to have an impact as it has generated income, and created food stability and employment through the project. Home gardens are there and can be used as the method and the strategy toward improvement and development of the people around the world, more especial to developing countries. Certain programmes that are initiated for acting against the challenges faced by rural people have failed to materialise and operate on their fully potential. The Siyazondla homestead food production programme is the one of the programmes practiced by the government of South Africa to act against such challenges, affecting especially poor people. This study was aimed at assessing the role of Siyazondla homestead food production programme in food security and poverty alleviation in selected communities of Nkonkobe local municipality of the Eastern Cape. It took the form of a case study in Msobomvu, Ngcothoyi and Binfield locations. The Nkonkobe local municipality is demarcated into five major areas: Middledrift, Alice, Seymour, Fort Beaufort and Balfour. The study sample was collected from beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Siyazondla programme. The sample size was 90 respondents, from which in one area, a 15 beneficiaries and anticipated non- beneficiaries were targeted. The target sample from each village was collected from 15 beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Many farmers from the study area benefited from the programme, though a limited number was targeted. Therefore, a probability sampling was applied and employed, where there were more than required number of beneficiaries of the programme and anticipated beneficiaries of the programme. The study was effectively and efficiently carried out and achieved with the use of personal interviewing of the recipients by use of questionnaires. The study was analysed by a computerised programme of analyses called SPSS v.2.1 and excel. The objectives of the study based on food security, poverty alleviation and reduction, and also improving nutritious status. The finding of the research clearly indicates the outcome of the programme on livelihood basis of the beneficiaries. Some of the objectives of the programme were achieved, such as food security and nutritious levels, whilst other objectives had shortcomings. The finding of the study also shows that programme, though had original benefits but also there are the anticipated and probable benefits of the programme Siyazondla, such as income, skill of farming, improving social status, and there are some possibilities when the programme is properly implemented. Though the majority of people are concentrated in rural areas, the programme on its own had shortcoming to meet needs of the whole population, as food insecurity, unemployment and poverty are taking its course. The programme on its own had shortcoming such as lack of adequate resource and as results, very few people benefited from the programme. Another shortcoming of the programme is the effectiveness of agricultural extension personnel to certain aspect such as marketing of farmers produce and proper monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Therefore, in the long run programmes of this nature are promising, there will be some development and improvement toward growth and better standards of livelihood. It is through this study that had to assess the structure, procedure, strategies implemented of the programme and impact of the programme to both beneficiaries and anticipated beneficiaries of the programme.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A sociological analysis of the experiences of acceptance of Christian gay men within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) in Grahamstown

  • Authors: Sipungu, Thoko Andy
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3961 , vital:20573
  • Description: Buffington, Luibhéid, & Guy (2014: 1) argue that “in the contemporary world, our own sexuality and our sense of the sexualities of others colour all aspects of contemporary life, from interpersonal relations to foreign affairs.” In line with this statement, this study provides an account of how a person’s gay sexuality can possibly colour that person’s experience of acceptance by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) in Grahamstown. Samuel Hill (2008: 6) notes that there is an urgent need to create a dialectic between religious and secular discourse with regards to furthering our understanding of sexuality. Thus this thesis seeks to contribute to the body of scholarship that explores and discusses the disjuncture between one’s homosexual identity and one’s religious identity. Barton (2012: 2) notes that “gay people are often talked about but seldom listened to; rarely are they asked about their own oppression and the individuals and institutions oppressing them.” While adopting a qualitative approach utilising interviews to explore the stories of the respondents, this study applies Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, social capital and symbolic violence in order to analyse the experiences of acceptance of gay men within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) in Grahamstown. With regard to the use Bourdieu’s concepts in the analysis of the experiences, the following dimensions were considered: i) construction of a gay identity within the field of Christianity as represented by the MCSA in this context, ii) the impact the field has on the ‘gay habitus’, iii) Social capital as an advantageous strategy in constructing a gay identity within the church, and iv) symbolic violence that gay men experience within the church. In analysing the conditions of the acceptance that gay men receive within the church, this study also uses Jacques Derrida’s concept of hospitality.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A strategic analysis on the meaning of work: a focus on the fashion retail industry

  • Authors: Van Heerden, Lisle
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Retail trade -- South Africa Job satisfaction -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/13936 , vital:27360
  • Description: The primary objective of this research study was to strategically analyse the meaning of work for fashion retail industry employees with the aim of developing a calling orientation to work.A sample of 84 fashion retail industry employees from Port Elizabeth, South Africa indicated their perception of callings in work; the pathways to callings in work and job satisfaction. Furthermore, fashion retail industry employees also indicated their use of job crafting techniques as a tool to foster meaningful work. This is one of the first studies conducted on callings in work in the fashion retail industry.Findings of the study indicated that although on average fashion retail industry employees are neutral about having a calling orientation to work, 24-27% indicated to having a calling orientation to work. Furthermore the study showed that there is a positive correlation between 1) transcendent guiding force; 2) value-driven behaviour and sense and meaning; 3) identification with one’s work and person-environment fit and a calling orientation to work. The study also indicated that the presence of a transcendent guiding force and job satisfaction are the two independent variables that are influential in achieving calling orientation to work for fashion retail industry employees of Port Elizabeth. Implications and recommendations from this study are outlined.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A study of factors enhancing truck driver retention at Tanker Services, Imperial Logistics, South Africa

  • Authors: Goss, Cayley Amy
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:868 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021250
  • Description: The aim of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the factors that enhance truck driver retention at Tanker Services, Imperial Logistics, South Africa. The specific objectives of the study were to (1) explore factors which influence the retention of truck drivers from the perspectives of immediate supervisors of these drivers at Tanker Services Branches in Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town; (2) to identify the means Tanker Services adopts in meeting factors influential to truck driver retention; and (3) to provide recommendations on how to successfully retain truck drivers in this logistics organisation in South Africa. The research methodology of this study involved interviewing ten immediate managers of truck drivers at Tanker Services, Imperial Logistics. Specifically, data was collected through the use of individual, in-depth and semi-structured interviews to investigate the most influential factors affecting truck driver retention. The results of this research outline factors important to the truck drivers at Tanker Services from the perspectives of their immediate supervisors - most of whom were previously truck drivers themselves. The findings of this research identified the general factors that affect Tanker Services Truck drivers as follows: formal and informal rewards, competitive compensation, a work environment of quality equipment, high safety standards and recreational facilities. Furthermore, interpersonal relations and company reputation were found most influential to truck drivers in this South African logistics context.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A study of lanthanide complexes with di-2-pyridyl ligands

  • Authors: Coetzee, Louis-Charl Cloete
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Rare earth metals
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4731 , vital:20659
  • Description: The ligands di(2-pyridyl) ketone (DPK) and cis-1,2 di(2-pyridyl) ethylene (DPE) are N,N,Odonor ligands that can undergo nucleophilic addition and become more flexible for coordination. The reaction between the lanthanide thiocyanate salt and DPK gave rise to seven novel complexes of the general formula [Ln(NCS)3(DPKOH)3], where Ln = La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Tb, Dy and Ho. 1H NMR spectroscopy verified that the ligand underwent nucleophilic addition upon coordination. This was further confirmed using UV-Vis spectroscopy which showed a shift in the absorption bands due to conjugation of electrons within the pyridyl ring upon coordination. UV-Vis spectroscopy was also utilised to test the covalent character of the neodymium and holmium complexes. X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy showed that three DPK ligands coordinated bidentately through a pyridinic nitrogen and a hydroxyl oxygen, while three isothiocyanato molecules completed the coordination environment around each metal. Furthermore, X-ray diffraction also revealed that these complexes are isostructural, ninecoordinate and the polyhedron which encloses each ion is of trigonal tricapped prismatic shape with D3h symmetry. Micro-analysis on all the complexes, except lanthanum and holmium confirmed the molecular formulae produced from the crystallographic data of each complex. The reaction between the lanthanide thiocyanate salt and DPE produced poor quality crystals which could not be detected by X-ray diffraction. The lanthanide salts used for this reaction were lanthanum, neodymium, europium, dysprosium and holmium. Upon coordination, conductivity measurements detected the presence of lanthanide ions in each solution. 1H NMR and IR spectroscopic studies showed that the ethylenic moiety of DPE underwent nucleophilic addition upon coordination. UV-Vis spectroscopy further confirmed nucleophilic addition upon coordination due to shifts in absorption bands. IR spectroscopy verified the possibility of a bidentate coordination to each metal through a pyridinic nitrogen and a hydroxyl oxygen as well as a monodentate coordination through isothiocyanato ligands. A micro-analysis on all the complexes provided the molecular formulae that can best fit each complex. The effect of the solvent molecules on the bonding parameters of the lanthanum complex was investigated. An analysis of the results produced from crystallographic data revealed the presence of intermolecular forces which interacted and stabilised the complex.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

A study of the art object as performative

  • Authors: Minkley, Emma Smith
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Arts -- Miscellanea , Art objects
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/12042 , vital:27022
  • Description: My research project explores conventions in art-making and viewing via the notion of the performative art object. The performative (derived from J.L. Austin and Judith Butler’s formulations of the word) is here used predominantly as a term to denote a generative, experiential and iterative process (in this case outlined by art theorist Barbara Bolt) in which intuitive or playful actions of both artist and spectator dictate the route of research. The project, following an A/r/tographical cycle of theoriapraxis-poesis (or theory/research - doing/learning - art/making) as defined by Rita Irwin, thus investigates the relations inherent between artists, spectators or viewers, and objects, and how these may change according to the spaces they are conceived in; from art gallery to urban “non-art” environments. It deals with the inclusion of process or performativity within, or in relation to the art object and how this take on the traditionally static object may have the capacity to change how artworks are envisaged, and more significantly, how they are received, in terms of the effects they (in combination with the viewer) have on the world around them. Blurred in the context of performativity, the art object may become a means of documenting process and in a sense may act as a ‘prop’ for artistic research. This enquiry has involved the study of process and play, as related to creative practice, via a series of object-based events or interventions (including gallery exhibitions and other “non-art” events initiated by the artist outside of conventional art-related space) which have been documented and included in the theoretical research as a means of providing a first-hand narrative of theoretical ideas put into practice. Here Diana Taylor’s understanding of interrelated modes of storing and enacting knowledge as posed in the notion of the archive and repertoire has been utilised as a means of collecting and collating performative and ephemeral research. These events/interventions have further served as a means of gauging viewer interaction and participation, thus actively involving the viewer in the creative act. Jacques Rancière’s notion of the emancipated spectator is here utilised to activate the role of the viewer. In this regard, Martin Heidegger’s concept of handiness or handling serves as a means of “emancipating” spectators by encouraging tactile viewership. It is my intent to open up or reveal new modes of thinking or doing within the viewer when he or she enters a state of performative play within these events. Here the status of the art object is challenged and in this way has the potential to subvert or confront problematic repetitions, both in the identity of the viewer and the space occupied in each event.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2016
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