A framework for selecting NoSQL Databases:a NetFlow use case

  • Authors: Rheeder, Leon Albertus
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Non-relational databases , Database management Information technology Computer science
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35061 , vital:33611
  • Description: Making decisions regarding technology is difficult for IT practitioners, especially when they lack formal guidance. Ad hoc decisions are prone to be influenced by biases. This research study specifically considered decisions regarding NoSQL. The primary objective of this study was to develop a framework that can assist IT practitioners with decisions regarding NoSQL technologies. An investigation into typical decision-making problems encountered when having to make technology-based decisions provided an understanding of the problem context. The application context was explored through a literature study of the four NoSQL families. This study produces a framework to assist IT practitioners in making decisions regarding technology. The framework comprises two models. Firstly, a weighted decision model combines several constructs, thereby providing a general method of making decisions. Secondly, a 6-step process model that can be used to adapt the weighted decision-model to a specific type of technology and a specific use case is proposed. The feasibility and utility of the proposed framework are demonstrated by applying the framework to a NetFlow use case. If NetFlow data is to be used for analytical decision-making, the data must be stored long-term. NoSQL databases have increased in popularity, especially in decision-making contexts. Therefore, NoSQL is a logical storage choice. However, which NoSQL family to use is not self-evident. Therefore, the decision-maker may require assistance to make the right decision. To assist with this decision, the framework was adapted to be used in the NoSQL context. A set of criteria was developed to allow various NoSQL options to be uniformly compared. Furthermore, the four NoSQL families were graded based on this set of criteria. After adaptation, experts provided input regarding the requirements of the NetFlow use case. This resulted in the weighting of the criteria for this specific use case. Finally, a weighted score was calculated for each family. For the NetFlow use case, the model suggests that a document-based NoSQL database be used. The framework ensures that all NoSQL technologies are systematically investigated, thereby reducing the effect of biases. Thus, the problem identified in this study is addressed. The proposed model can also serve as a foundation for future research
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  • Date Issued: 2018

An information security governance model for industrial control systems

  • Authors: Webster, Zynn
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Computer networks -- Security measures , Data protection Computer security Business enterprises -- Computer networks -- Security measures
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36383 , vital:33934
  • Description: Industrial Control Systems (ICS) is a term used to describe several types of control systems, including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Distributed Control Systems (DCS) and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). These systems consist of a combination of control components (e.g. electrical, mechanical, pneumatic) which act together to achieve an industrial objective (e.g., manufacturing, transportation of matter or energy). ICS play a fundamental role in critical infrastructures such as electricity grids, oil, gas and manufacturing industries. Initially ICS had little resemblance to typical enterprise IT systems; they were isolated and running proprietary control protocols using specialized hardware and software. However, with initiatives such as Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the nature of ICS has changed significantly. There is an ever-increasing use of commercial operating systems and standard protocols like TCP/IP and Ethernet. Consequently, modern ICS are more and more resembling conventional enterprise IT systems, and it is a well-known fact that these IT systems and networks are known to be vulnerable and that they require extensive management to ensure Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. Since ICS are now adopting conventional IT characteristics they are also accepting the associated risks. However, owing to the functional area of ICS, the consequences of these threats are much more severe than those of enterprise IT systems. The need to manage security for these systems with highly skilled IT personnel has become essential. Therefore, this research was focussed to identify which unique security controls for ICS and enterprise IT systems can be combined and/or tailored to provide the organization with a single set of comprehensive security controls. By doing an investigation on existing standards and best practices for both enterprise IT and ICS environments, this study has produced a single set of security controls and presented how the security controls can be integrated into an existing information security governance model which organizations can use as a basis for generating a security framework, used not only to secure their enterprise IT systems, but also including the security of their ICS.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Analysis of the reliability for the 132/66/22 KV distribution network within Eskom’s Eastern Cape operating unit

  • Authors: Pantshwa, Athini
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Electric power transmission -- Reliability , Electric power distribution Electric power Electric power systems
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34722 , vital:33429
  • Description: A stable and reliable electrical power supply system is an inevitable pre-requisite for the technological and economic growth of any nation. Due to this, utilities must strive and ensure that the customer’s reliability requirements are met and that the regulators requirements are satisfied at the lowest possible cost. It is known fact around the world that 90% of the customer service interruptions are caused due to failure in distribution system. Therefore, it is worth considering reliability assessments as it provides an opportunity to incorporate the cost or losses incurred by the utilities customer because of power failure. This must be considered in the planning and operating practices. The system modelling and simulation study is carried out on one of the district’s distribution system which consists of 132 kV, 66 kV and 22 kV network in Aliwal North Sector ECOU. The reliability assessment is done on the 22, 66 and 132 kV system to assess the performance of the present system and predictive reliability analysis for the future system considering load growth and system expansion. The alternative which gives low SAIDI, SAIFI and minimum breakeven costs is being assessed and considered. The reliability of 132 kV system could be further improved by constructing a new 132 kV line from a different source of supply and connecting with line coming from another district (reserve) at reasonable break-even cost. The decision base could be further improved by having Aliwal North Sector context interruption cost. However, the historical data which may be used in Aliwal North Sector to acquire interruption costs from the customers are being proposed. The focus should be on improving the power quality on constrained networks first, then the reliability. Therefore, for the Aliwal North power system network it is imperative that Eskom invest on the reliability of this network. This dissertation also analysed load reflected economic benefit versus performance expectations that should be optimized through achieving a balance between network performance (SAIDI) improvement, and total life cycle cost (to Eskom as well as the economy). Reliability analysis conducted in this dissertation used Aliwal North power system network as a case study; the results proved that the system is vulnerable to faults, planned and unplanned outages. Reliability evaluation studies were conducted on the system using DigSilent software in conjunction with FME. These two models gave accurate results with acceptable variance in most indices except for the ENS where the variance was quite significant. It can be concluded that DigSilent results are the most accurate results in all three reliability evaluation scenarios for the Aliwal North Power System, best interpretation being that of DigSilent.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Causes and impacts of delays in low-income housing projects in the greater Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffolo City Municipality

Construction company joint ventures in South Africa

  • Authors: Sisilana, Owethu
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- South Africa , Joint ventures Strategic alliances (Business) Project management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35554 , vital:33756
  • Description: In the construction industry, construction joint ventures (CJVs) have become one of the major organisational forms utilised in large-scale projects. However, because of the complexity of CJVs, the management of CJVs is much more difficult than that of usual projects undertaken by a single construction firm. In South Africa the existence of a clear and effective strategy for the successful transformation of organisational culture in a CJV is not clear. Similarly, poorly organised administrative structures in a CJV can also be a barrier to organisational performance. In South Africa there seems to be no evidence of a common understanding on the CJV formation process. According to CIDB (2004) there is no standard CJV agreement document. Therefore, a need arises to establish guidelines on the formation of a CJV agreement. Secondly, there is a need to establish strategies for the successful transformation of organisational culture in CJV. The research obtains an inside view with contractors who have participated in CJV’s, therefore, utilising the qualitative research method. The choice of data collection method was semi-structured one-on-one face to face interviews. In deriving the findings of the research, the ATLAS.ti software was used throughout the research process to manage both the secondary and primary data. The main factors which cause major problems in CJV's is the preliminary agreement, the partner selection and cultural differences. There is no evidence of a collective understanding among CJV partners regarding the successful formation processes of a CJV. The concept that the industry needs a standardised CJV agreement has been welcomed by the participants, the existence of a common CJV agreement would certainly resolve many problems in the way things are done currently including the implementation of joint venture projects. There is consensus between all participants that there is no standard CJV agreement in use in the South African construction industry and exploring a common approach is an idea that is viewed reasonable and to be one of the practical solutions to the problems in the industry. There are several limitations in this study. First, the sample included emerging and established contractors who are currently registered with the CIDB under Contractor Development Program only. While the sample size is relatively small, the researcher was cautious when interpreting the results. Secondly the targeted population for this research was selected using a sample of convenience method as opposed to a random sample, then the results of the study cannot be generally applied to a larger population. Thirdly, an obvious weakness of the research is the methodological difficulties related to qualitative research which relies on the inferences that are made by the researcher based on their own understanding of the data collected. It is therefore crucial that the data gathered is credible and that the findings represent the truth and actual sentiments as they appear from the data collection process. The research is of importance to managers and supervisors of construction companies of all sizes. The findings of this study will assist in ensuring that CJV are efficiently managed irrespective of the cultural differences.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Construction management’s perceptions of health and safety

  • Authors: Sigama, Takalani
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- Management , Building -- Safety measures Construction industry -- Health aspects Construction industry -- Safety regulations
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35713 , vital:33784
  • Description: Projects in the construction sector are reputed for poor health and safety (H&S) performance, compared to other industries. This can be attributed to, inter alia, a relatively uncontrolled working environment, inherent operational risks, workers' behaviour in relation to H&S commitment, cultural and religious beliefs, and uncertainties inherent in projects. Hazards and risk arising from poor H&S practices result in injuries, and in some cases, fatalities. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of construction management regarding H&S on construction sites. This study investigates the relationship between behaviours, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours towards H&S, and compares cultural divergences among levels of construction personnel, namely construction management, construction supervision, construction H&S personnel, and H&S representatives. The construction industry has for many years developed and maintained a very bad reputation for coping with project cost, H&S, quality, and schedule. The industry often delivers projects late, and contributes to a disproportionate rate of work-related injuries, and fatalities. Project H&S management is acknowledged as one of the techniques that could be improved on construction projects to enhance performance of construction contractors in South Africa. To answer the research question: ‘Why construction management perceive H&S as a hindrance to production?” the mixed-method research approach was used. An indepth literature review with respect to project H&S was carried out, followed by qualitative and quantitative empirical research. The study established the need for H&S training and awareness of Construction Managers, Construction Supervisors, Construction Health and Safety Managers (CHSMs), Officers (CHSOs), and H&S Representatives. The study recommends that an H&S training needs analysis is critical for all employees, since it raises H&S awareness among all stakeholders in the construction industry, and enables the development of training plans, thereby supporting the reduction of accidents and related incident.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Cost and time overruns on Mpumalanga Province infrastructure projects

  • Authors: Phalanndwa, Shonisani Aaron
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Project management -- South Africa -- Mpumalanga , Infrastructure (Economics) industrial management -- South Africa -- Mpumalanga Business enterprises -- South Africa -- Mpumalanga -- Finance
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34169 , vital:33248
  • Description: Cost and time overruns in construction projects are a common issue affecting project performance, and Mpumalanga is no exception. Completion of any project within the estimated cost of a project is a basic criterion for success of any project. The success of any project highly depends on adequate availability and efficient management of various resources. Construction projects often face a lot of uncertainties, which places building construction projects at the risk of cost, time overruns as well as poor quality delivery. This study assesses the causes, effects and measures of minimising construction project cost and time overrun in the Mpumalanga Province. The data used in this study were derived from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected through case study interviews with construction professionals, project owners, contractors and consultants involved in Mpumalanga construction projects. Findings from the case study revealed that clients inability to meet payment obligations on time, additional work requested by the client, proper feasibility study not done, ensuring transparency in awarding of contracts, contractors financial difficulties, late delivery of materials, contractors lack of experience, bribery and corruption involving the contractor or contractor’s team, and poor site management and consultants insufficient geotechnical investigations, insufficient/unknown information regarding site conditions during design phase, mistakes and discrepancies in design documents are the major causes of cost and time overruns that are incidental to project implementation in Mpumalanga. Furthermore the study also reveals that the major effect of cost and time overrun are: poor quality workmanship, total abandonment, and disputes, discouragement of investors, community unrest and service delivery is negatively affected. It was revealed that all stakeholders of construction parties are deeply involved in contributing to the causes of the problems, clients should bear the greatest responsibility and play the most important role in lessening the impact of cost and time overrun. Thus, interventions that could be adopted by the Mpumalanga province to achieve project delivery that is within estimated cost and time are: Government must adopt ‘financial assignment’ to deal with suppliers in order to supply materials to the contractor and have available funds for projects on time, soil investigation and testing should be conducted by clients prior to the commencement of a project; encourage whistleblowing and punish fraudsters more severely. Contractors must have enough cash before commencing of projects, v monitor financial spending of the projects and payments; consultants must review and approve design documents, shop drawings, and payments of contractor. It is recommended that training courses, seminars and workshops on project management should be made available to help improve the abilities of construction teams responsible for management and supervision of sites and client organisations should encourage whistleblowing, punish fraudsters more efficiently and pay commensurate reward to whistle-blowers in order to minimise cost and time overruns.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Guidelines for and evaluation of the design of technology-supported lessons to teach basic programming principles to deaf and hard of hearing learners: a case study of a school for the deaf

  • Authors: Wassermann, Ulza
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Deaf -- Education , Hearing impaired children -- Education Computers and people with disabilities Communication devices for people with disabilities Information technology -- Education
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36347 , vital:33925
  • Description: Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) learners are part of a diverse population with unique learning challenges, strengths and needs. Learning material should be developed specifically for them to provide for their needs and capitalise on their strengths. These materials should include visual material and strategies as well as sign language. Furthermore, DHH learners have the same capacity for learning as hearing learners. However, in South Africa, DHH learners do not have adequate access to training in computer-related subjects, and therefore no material exists that has been developed specifically for DHH learners who want to learn a programming language. This research provides guidelines on the way technology-supported lessons can be designed to teach basic programming principles using the programming language Scratch, to DHH learners. Provision was made for the South African context where limited technology is available at most schools for DHH learners, but where most educators have access to Microsoft Office applications – specifically MS PowerPoint. Two goals were pursued. The primary goal of this research project was to determine the user experience (UX) of the participants (both learners and educators) during and after using and attending the technology-supported lessons. This was achieved through a case study. Four UX evaluation elements were evaluated in this project. They were: usability, accessibility, emotional user reaction, and hedonic aspects. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews as well as participant-observation were used to determine the UX of participants. The UX evaluation provided sufficient evidence to claim that UX of participants was satisfactory, and therefore the guidelines that were developed to create technology-supported lessons to teach basic programming principles to DHH learners were appropriate. The secondary goal was to develop guidelines for the design of technology-supported lessons to teach programming to DHH learners, and to apply these guidelines to develop a high-fidelity, fully functional prototype – a set of technology-supported lessons. This was achieved through a prototype construction research strategy. The lessons consisted of two vocabulary lessons and one programming lesson. The words that were taught in the vocabulary lesson were either terms appearing in the interface of Scratch, or words needed in the explanation of programming principles and Scratch context. The programming lesson (a PowerPoint slide show) was a guide for the educator to present the content in a logical way, and not to leave out important information. It used multimedia techniques (colour, pictures, animation) to explain programming concepts, and to display the tasks to be completed to the learners, so that they could remember the sequence of the steps. Practical strategies have been included in the guidelines to address the learning challenges DHH experience in the following areas: Comprehension skills, application of knowledge and knowledge organisation, relational and individual-item orientations, metacognition, memory, distractibility. The guidelines referred to techniques and principles that can be followed to design the interface and navigation tools of a technology-supported lesson; enhance communication with DHH learners, and provide support for them to work independently; specify the educator’s role and attitude when facilitating or presenting programming lessons and to structure a programming lesson.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Guidelines for the protection of stored sensitive information assets within small, medium and micro enterprises

  • Authors: Scharnick, Nicholas
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Computer security , Information technology -- Security measures Data protection Business -- Data processing -- Security measures Small business -- Data processing -- Security measures -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34799 , vital:33452
  • Description: Technology has become important in the business environment as it ensures that a business is competitive and it also drives the business processes. However, in the era of mobile devices, easy access to the internet and a wide variety of other communication mechanisms; the security of the business from a technological perspective is constantly under threat. Thus, the problem that this research aims to address is that there is currently a lack of understanding by SMMEs in protecting their stored sensitive information assets. This study intends to assist small businesses, such as those within the Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) on how to protect and secure information while it is in storage. SMMEs usually do not have available resources to fully address information security related concerns that could pose a threat to the well being and success of the business. In order to address the problem identified, and assist SMMEs with better protecting their stored information assets, the outcomes of this research is to develop guidelines to assist SMMEs in protecting stored sensitive information assets. Through the use of a qualitative content analysis, a literature review, a number of information security standards, best practices, and frameworks, including the ISO27000 series of standards, COBIT, ITIL, and various NIST publications were analysed to determine how these security approaches address security concerns that arise when considering the storage of sensitive information. Following the literature analysis, a survey was developed and distributed to a wide variety of SMMEs in order to determine what their information security requirements might be, as well as how they address information security. The results obtained from this, coupled with the literature analysis, served as input for the development of a number of guidelines that can assist SMMEs in protecting stored sensitive information assets.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Labour and external stakeholder management in construction projects

  • Authors: Sisilana, Vuyisile
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Strategic planning , Project management Customer services -- Management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35622 , vital:33764
  • Description: In the face of the unemployment crisis in South Africa, organisations involved in infrastructure projects are encouraged to engage local communities, to source any available skills as a form of labour on those projects, as an initiative to alleviate unemployment. This initiative presents numerous challenges in the coordination of resources and activities across organisations. Although this collaborative effort is for combating social problems in our local communities; it has resulted in costing organisations and government millions of Rands because of delays due to work stoppages and cost overruns in construction projects. Stakeholder management theory provides the grounding for this research. Although a framework already exists in project management for stakeholder management, but there is lack of research in the engagement of external stakeholders especially in local community projects and project managers struggle to make the stakeholder management processes relevant to this stakeholder. A qualitative study was undertaken, and the data was collected in the form of semi-structured interviews, to collect the views and perceptions from construction project managers involved in projects affected by local labour work stoppages. This study seeks to find out the real causes and effects of local labour work stoppages and finding efficient ways of resolving this. This research seeks to be a starting point for further research in work stoppages caused by business forums as it was concluded as a major cause during interviews with industry professionals. This research found that disruptions from business forums are one of the causes of work stoppages, which was not found in literature. This research concluded that government intervention is required to resolve this growing challenge. It has been concluded that the project stakeholder management processes are not applied in construction projects by project managers.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Prioritisation of spaces and services in on-campus student housing facilities in southern Ghana universities

  • Authors: Simpeh, Fredrick
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Student housing -- Ghana , College students -- Housing -- Ghana Student housing , Facility management -- Ghana Building management -- Ghana
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35637 , vital:33769
  • Description: Student housing facilities (SHFs) are an integral part of universities’ physical facilities. Therefore, the management of SHF should be seen as part of broader university facility management. Moreover, it can be argued that by understanding the requirements of occupants, facility managers would be able to effectively prioritise the spaces and services required in the SHFs. However, studies from many parts of the world, including Ghana, show that users’ requirements and expectations are not duly incorporated into the management process of university building facilities. As a result, users’, in this case students requirements are not well prioritised by facility managers. Thus, the facility departments are unable to adequately provide and deliver SHF spaces and services to meet students’ requirements. With this in mind, this research aimed to develop a prioritisation and a standard SHF frameworks to enhance the provisioning and management of the on-campus SHF spaces and services at southern Ghana universities. The overarching research methodology was subjective. The qualitative method was adopted for the study. The research was conducted within the southern part of Ghana and limited to five universities. A total of ten focus group discussions were carried out in the five universities. Other sources of primary data were interviews and site visit. The study found that washrooms (toilet and bath), sleeping spaces, kitchens, study areas, libraries, sick bays, computer labs, bookshops, drying areas and discussion rooms as well as electricity, water, security, internet, cleaning services, maintenance services, generators, ventilation (fans), health services, library services, electric sockets, study furniture, refuse collection, pest control and fire extinguishers are extremely important spaces and services that students expect to have in a SHF. Furthermore, it was found that only 3 spaces out of the 10 rated as extremely important were rated as basic, whilst 10 out of the 15 services rated as extremely important received a basic priority rating. However, the study also found that some of these extremely important spaces and services such as study areas, computer labs, kitchens and internet were not provided in some SHFs. The study also revealed that students were generally not satisfied with some of the spaces and services that were provided in the SHFs; dissatisfaction was expressed with: the infrequent water supply; the poor condition of washrooms, i.e. bath and toilet facilities; the lack of study areas and also the condition, adequacy and availability of chairs and tables in the study rooms; the slow response of maintenance departments; the poor standard/quality of cleaning and availability of cleaners; the lack of adequate kitchens and the lack of stable internet connectivity. The study has achieved its aim by developing a prioritisation framework as well as an ideal SHF framework to enhance the provision and management of the on-campus SHF spaces and services at southern Ghana universities. It is recommended that SHFs which do not meet average students’ expected standards should be upgraded to meet such standards. The frameworks developed in the study could be used by facility managers or departments as a guide for effective on-campus SHF management.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Project management in the Mauritian construction industry

  • Authors: Paurobally, Mohamad Ali Zeeshan
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Project management -- Mauritius , Construction industry -- Mauritius Construction industry -- Forecasting
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34499 , vital:33386
  • Description: The main objective of this research study was to find out the various factors affecting the success of projects, with specific reference to the client’s related factors, consultant’s related and main contractor’s related factors. Completion of the construction project within the required cost, time and quality parameters was identified as the motivation for the study. The objectives of the study were achieved by reviewing literature relevant to the topic. The study investigated whether certain assumptions being made were corresponding with already published literature. Data were sourced both from primary and secondary sources. The quantitative part of the research was carried out by analyzing the literature and by envisaging possible scenarios which could be implemented for the completion of projects, within the three parameters (Time, cost and quality). Not being able to complete a project within the required cost, time and quality parameters will ultimately result in time and cost overruns up to the dissatisfaction of the client. As such, the various stages of the construction cycle need to be monitored and controlled as from the inception stage up to the close out stage by the various stakeholders involved on the project in order to obtain a positive project outcome. The research sample was focused mainly on professionals in the built environment, since a better understanding and reliable feedback would be obtained due to their understanding of the relevant topic. The study first introduces project management as a background, and then focuses on the different factors that influence successful project outcome.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

Scaffold accidents relative to South African construction

  • Authors: Rantsatsi, Ndaleni Phinias
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- Accidents -- South Africa , Construction industry -- Safety measures -- South Africa Building -- Accidents Accidents -- Prevention
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35114 , vital:33627
  • Description: The aim of this research is to highlight the types, frequency and causes of accident experienced by the scaffold workers on construction sites. As a result, provide recommendations on how to prevent or reduce accidents of scaffolding contractors on construction sites A review of related literature was conducted, primarily to avoid repeating existing research, to generate new findings. The quantitative research approach was adopted, and a non-experimental research design was used for this research which prompted the use of questionnaires for scaffold site management and scaffold workers. The sampling included site scaffold management, supervisors, health and safety practitioners, scaffold labourers, scaffold fixers/erectors, scaffold team leaders/ charge hands and scaffold inspectors in the South African construction industry in all nine provinces. The research findings revealed that slips, trips and falls accidents, struck by accidents and caught in/between accidents were the common accidents affecting scaffold workers on construction sites. The results further revealed that unsafe acts and conditions were the main causes of scaffold accidents. The empirical findings also revealed that most scaffold accidents occur during dismantling, manual handling and erection of scaffolding. The respondents are mostly working in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa. The research is vitally important for construction industry, scaffold contractors, clients and South African Department of Labour. It is recommended that a national accident register system be developed where accidents are captured and analysed to prevent possible accidents relative to scaffold contractors.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

The adoption of green building in South Africa

  • Authors: Simpeh, Eric Kwame
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Ecological houses -- Design and construction -- South Africa , Sustainable buildings -- Design and construction -- South Africa Sustainable construction -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/35653 , vital:33771
  • Description: In South Africa there is pressure to deliver green building due to environmental issues such as climate changes, the energy crisis, as well as persistent water shortages. Although awareness and promotional effort have increased drastically concerning the adoption of green buildings, the South African design and construction industry is still lagging due to the conservativeness and slow rate of change in the construction industry. While enablers / facilitators have been recognised as opportunities to advance green building development, the South African built environment has not extensively explored the various possibilities to initiate enablers / facilitating conditions to enhance the adoption of green building. This study therefore investigates the critical factors impeding the adoption of green building and to explore the economic and non-economic facilitators / enablers regarded as the most important to stimulate stakeholders’ behavioural intentions to adopt green building. After an extensive review of literature with respect to barriers and factors that engender green building adoption, coupled with theoretical arguments relating change agents to construction innovation and sustainability theory, an exhaustive mixed-mode research approach was adopted. The sampling frame for the study was limited to four provinces, namely the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Kwazulu–Natal, and Western Cape, given that 99% of the green building accredited professionals registered with the GBCSA are from these four provinces. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, namely paired sample test, ANOVA test, Factor Analysis (FA), and logistic regression analysis (LRA). The qualitative data obtained across individual cases by means of a semi-structured interview was analysed using content analysis. In total, 106 professionals participated in the survey, and three respondents indicated their willingness and availability to be interviewed, hence three case studies were conducted. The results emanating from the study, inter-alia, indicate that the factors constraining the adoption of green building are categorised as: lack of information and incentives; inadequate skilled professionals; behavioural barriers; regulatory and steering factors, and the cost of green building. The results also indicate that green building consultants and environmental groups are classified as ‘innovators’, whilst architects are ‘early adopters’. However, government; municipalities, and general contractors are characterised as ‘late majority’. It was also evident from the empirical findings that the key attributes of adopters that encourage the adoption of green building were classified as: qualities of consultant team and contractor, and developers / clients’ experience. The perceived benefits of green buildings emanating from the findings were categorised as socio-economic, financial, and health and community benefits. The enablers that engender the adoption of green building were also categorised as: extended knowledge base and technical capacity; research and training of professionals; green lending incentives; progressive green building policy; economic incentives, and reward scheme and technical assistance. Two models have been developed using logistic regression model (LRM), model one (1) examined the predictable effect of economic and non-economic factors on the intention to adopt green building, whereas model two (2) examined the likelihood of the extent of green building adoption. The LRM results revealed five predictors and two control variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to model 1. The strongest predictor to enhance the intention to adopt green building was financial benefit (FB), recording an odds ratio of 9.1, which indicates that the likelihood to adopt is approximately 9.1 times more if financial benefits is evident. With respect to Model two (2), the LRM results showed that only two of the independent variables and three control variables contributed significantly to the model. The strongest predictor that determines the extent of adoption of green building was research and training of professionals (RTP), with odd ratio equal to 2.9. In effect, to engender the adoption of green building within the South African built environment, there is the need for an integrated and holistic approach forecasting on the importance of economic and non-economic enablers / facilitators in enhancing decision to adopt green building.
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  • Date Issued: 2018

The effect of the van Staden wind farm on the power quality of the rural distribution network

  • Authors: Venter, Clement
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Electric transformers , Wind power Electric power production
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36761 , vital:34051
  • Description: Connection of wind farms to weak networks with a typically low X/R and short circuit ratio could result in a larger variation of voltage for corresponding variation in wind farm generation output. This variation in voltage could negatively affect the quality of electrical power in the vicinity of the connected wind farm. The analysis was based on actual on-site measurement data at individual consumers’ point of supply and the effect of the Van Stadens Wind Farm integration as seen by the consumers can be determined. It was found through statistical and correlative analysis that the voltage quality measured at the test sites were not negatively affected by the presence of generation at the Metrowind Van Stadens Wind Farm. The voltage was found to be more negatively affected by the load current drawn by the consumer at the test site and that it is foremost when the loading current was higher. No definitive evidence of an increase in voltage harmonics due to generation output or loading current was found. At two sites it was however found that the 7th order harmonic is eliminated or reduced by an increase in the generation of the wind farm above approximately 20% of maximum output. Power Factory simulations, using the Quasi Dynamic simulation tool, was performed to validate the voltage findings of the on-site power quality measurements and two things were clear from the simulations. Firstly the voltage at the point of connection has a strong negative correlation with the consumer loading current and means that the voltage will usually decrease with an increase in the loading current and vice versa. Secondly, as with the analysis of the on-site measurement results, it can be said that when current is low, then the generation output of the wind farm will have a proportional effect on the voltage. From the findings of the on-site measurements it was concluded that the wind farm did not have a negative effect on the test site consumers in the vicinity and the Power factory simulations confirmed the conclusions on the voltage analysis. It was also concluded that the local consumer load current has a larger effect on the local measured voltage than the generation output of the wind farm.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2018

The influence of construction project managers’ experience on project performance: the case of Nelson Mandela Bay infrastructure projects

  • Authors: Parazee, Viahn
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Infrastructure (Economics) -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality -- Management Public works -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality -- Management Project Management -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Construction industry -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34510 , vital:33387
  • Description: When you start out in the engineering industry especially in the public sector, one seldom has the mentorship required to equip you with the skills to succeed in successfully implementing projects. It has furthermore been observed that there is a major difference between project management competencies and merely having a qualification in the same field as the project’s core business. The role of Construction Project Managers is especially unique within public sector projects as these projects often involve multiple stakeholders whose opinions can strongly influence the project(Jalocha et al., 2014). This has been the case within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality where labour and community unrest often result in project stoppages and delays which ultimately lead to project failure. Stakeholder engagement, an inherently social competence, is a key component of Project Management Competence and falls outside the curriculum of most technical qualifications in the built environment. Project Management failure within the public sector has become rife and the research findings of this study should be helpful in assisting the local government in attaining higher project success rates. A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study making use of a descriptive research design, yielding qualitative data which was summarised by the researcher through statistical analyses. The data were obtained through questionnaires distributed to the various Clients, Consultants and Contractors within the NMBM via email. The questionnaires were furthermore only distributed to government parastatals within the construction industry in the NMBM, Consultants and Contractors who have completed or are working on projects for these parastatals within the public sector. Key findings from the research note a positive relationship between competency and project success; that there is not enough mentorship received by Construction Project Managers in the built environment sectors; that there is a positive relationship between mentorship received and project success and that there is a significant difference in the number of professionally registered personnel in the Consulting Sector compared to that of the Public-Sector. It furthermore indicated that there was a positive correlation between supervisors being professionally registered and their junior Construction Project Managers achieving project success from the research findings, recommendations were made to aid the increase in project success rates and decrease project management failure within the NMBM. For this to be achieved, the following areas need to be addressed: Assigning of projects to Construction Project Managers, Mentorship provided to Construction Project Managers and ultimately their Project Management Competence.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2018

Topic map for representing network security competencies

  • Authors: Yekela, Odwa
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Computer networks , Computer networks -- Security measures Computers -- Access control
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MIT
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/36368 , vital:33931
  • Description: Competencies represent the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for job roles. Organisations need to understand and grow competencies within their workforce in order to be more competitive and to maximise new market opportunities. Competency Management is the process of introducing, managing and enforcing competencies in organisations. Through this process, occupational competencies can be assessed to see if candidates match the required job role expectations. The assessment of competencies can be conceptualised from two perspectives. The rst is `competency frameworks', which describe competencies from a high-level overview. As such, they are regarded as theWhat" element of competency. The second perspective is `competencybased learning', which focuses on addressing competencies from a more detailed, task-oriented perspective. Competency-based learning is regarded as the How" element of competency. Currently, there is no available tool that can map the What" with the How" element of competency. Such a mapping would provide a more holistic approach to representing competencies. This dissertation adopts the topic map standard in order to demonstrate a holistic approach to mapping competencies, specially in network security. This is accomplished through the design and evaluation of a Design Science artefact. In this research process a topic map data model was constructed from mapping the `What' and `How' elements together. To demonstrate the applicability of the model, it was implemented in a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) recruitment scenario. The aim of this demonstration was to prove that the topic map could be implemented in an organisational context.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2018

User experience factors for mobile banking adoption: South African case study

  • Authors: Louw, Jacques Gerrit
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Consumer satisfaction -- South Africa , Banks and banking -- Technological innovations -- South Africa , Mobile commerce -- South Africa , Telecommunication -- South Africa -- Finance
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39207 , vital:35059
  • Description: Smartphone devices are driving the transformation of online banking to satisfy the needs and desires of the consumer. This has led South African commercial banks to launch mobile banking applications on smartphones to enhance the growth of the economy and to provide more opportunities to improve the deprived sector of the economy, at acceptable rates. Moreover, opportunities exist for revenue growth, such as the delivery of greater real-time access to products and the offering of a wide variety of banking services. South African commercial banks could realise opportunities for economical and revenue growth should they focus on specific criteria that could enhance mobile banking adoption. Such criteria could not until recently, be realised by commercial banks in South Africa as the adoption rate of mobile banking remained low at 9%. Numerous South African studies have attempted to determine factors that could enhance mobile banking adoption in South Africa. There is, however, a lack of South African studies attempting to identify user experience factors that could enhance mobile banking adoption in South Africa. User experience refers to the subjective feeling of the user that results from their interaction or intention to interact with a product, to perform a specific task in a specific environment. One of the most important components for the success of any product is a positive user experience. When the user interface and functionality of a product match the expectations of the users and make the users effective and efficient, feel safe and attain some level of self-worth from using or possessing the product, their interaction with the product becomes more satisfactory. Consequently, the importance of designing for a positive user experience opens up the potential for identifying potential user experience factors that could enhance mobile banking adoption in South Africa. The user experience factors identified in this study infer their components from the user experience aspect of persuasive design and its elements, namely persuasion and trust, that led to the emergence of scarcity, reciprocation and security factors that could enhance mobile banking adoption in South Africa. A case study was employed to confirm the factors that could enhance mobile banking adoption in South Africa. The findings from the case study and the extensive literature review culminated in a set of user experience factors that in future could enhance the adoption of mobile banking in South Africa.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2016
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