Causal determinants of the public's attitudes towards hunting as a basis for strategies to improve the social legitimacy of hunting
- Authors: Coetzer, Wentzel Christoffel
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Hunting -- South Africa , Wildlife management -- South Africa , Wildlife conservation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DTech
- Identifier: vital:10759 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021164
- Description: It is widely acknowledged that the organised wildlife and hunting industry in South Africa contributes significantly to the country’s economy, as well as to the effective management and conservation of wildlife on privately owned land. Despite this, hunting has come under increasing attack by anti-hunting proponents who wish to bring a ban on hunting. A number of broad shifts across society at large and lobbying against hunting by anti-hunting proponents have given rise to legitimate concerns regarding the social acceptability of hunting. To maintain the social legitimacy of hunting, it is imperative to put strategies in place to actively broaden the base of public acceptance of hunting. Towards this aim, this study is an empirical investigation of the causal determinants of the public’s attitudes towards hunting and of the implications it holds for improving the social legitimacy of hunting. The study commenced by building a sound theoretical foundation from the available literature on the measurement of attitudes, the structure and formation of attitudes, the instrumental and experiential aspects of attitudes, attitudinal ambivalence, the psychology of strong attitudes, as well as the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance. Thereafter, the study turned to identify an adequate and empirically valid research approach for investigating attitudes and its causal determinants. A popular attitude theory in social psychology, namely the theory of reasoned action, was identified as a suitable conceptual framework for conducting this study. According to the reasoned action model, the salient behavioural beliefs people associate with a particular behaviour form the informational foundation (or cognitive foundation) on which their attitudes towards the behaviour are based. More specifically, the model suggests that peoples’ overall attitude towards a behaviour is a function of their perceived probability that a behaviour will produce certain outcomes (belief strength), as well as the degree to which they judge the perceived outcomes of the behaviour as positive or negative (outcome evaluation). The methodological design of the study’s empirical component was strictly based on the standard procedures prescribed by the theory of reasoned action. Two consecutive and methodologically interrelated surveys were conducted amongst members of the public to collect the study’s primary data. The main salient behavioural beliefs on which different attitudes towards hunting are based were identified and further investigated. The results were analysed from the perspective of the theory of reasoned action and a clear understanding of the causal determinants of different attitudes towards hunting were attained. Based on the findings of the study, a number of conclusions and recommendations were made that may guide the development of future strategies to improve the social legitimacy of hunting. Amongst other things, it was suggested that public education programmes should be developed to address the public’s misconceptions of hunting; that public relation campaigns be undertaken to improve the public’s negative image of hunters; and that hunter education programmes be put in place to make hunters aware of the role they could play at community level to improve the social acceptability of hunting. Detailed guidelines regarding the contents of such education programmes and public relation campaigns were provided.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Causes and effects of non-payment of residential property rates in Mahikeng
- Authors: Asianoah, Rexford Kofi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Debts, Public -- South Africa -- Mahikeng , Municipal default -- South Africa -- Mahikeng , Public utilities -- South Africa -- Mahikeng , Collecting of accounts -- South Africa -- Mahikeng
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:9674 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020076
- Description: One of the major sources of income to South African Municipalities is property rates. Income generated from property rates is meant to develop and deliver services to residents living in the said Municipal area. The main aim of the research was to identify the causes and effects of the non-payment of residential property rates, and also to develop workable strategies to maximise the collection of residential property rates in order to ensure developmental growth sustenance, specifically in Mahikeng Municipal area. Related literature was reviewed on the non-financial viability of Municipalities, maintenance of public infrastructure, service delivery and Municipal development plans in establishing the relationship with non-payment of residential property rates. Four hypotheses were set to guide the research with two testing positive with high level of confidence using the chi square method of testing. The research methodology employed in the research was mainly quantitative where the results and findings obtained from the questionnaire were statistically analysed. The research revealed that: The Mahikeng Local Municipality has failed to find the right medium to send rates bills to clients on time, is not taking active responsibility to recover rates debts, does not provide quality service delivery and the reluctance by locals to pay their property rates. The effects thereof, are the inability of the Municipality to deliver effective and efficient services, lack of maintenance of public infrastructure and development in the area. By implementing various options such as email, sms and the post to send rates bills to property owners, by employing different payment options, for example debit orders, transfers, bank deposits and discounts for property owners and embarking on periodic public awareness campaigns in educating the community regarding the importance of payment of property rates could serve as effective mechanisms to address the non-payment of residential property rates faced by the Mahikeng Local Municipality.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenges faced by traditional healers when treating people living with HIV and AIDS: the case of Intsika Municipality, Eastern Cape province
- Authors: Zimba, Zibonele France
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: People with HIV and AIDS disease -- Healers -- South Africa , Traditional medicine -- South Africa , HIV infections -- Treatment -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M SW
- Identifier: vital:11768 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1015357 , People with HIV and AIDS disease -- Healers -- South Africa , Traditional medicine -- South Africa , HIV infections -- Treatment -- South Africa , AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- South Africa
- Description: The aim of the study was to examine the procedures followed by traditional healers treating people living with HIV and AIDS in the Instika Municipality and the challenges faced by them in this endeavour. Using the qualitative research method, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with twenty traditional healers. Among the significant findings of this study were the hardships encountered by traditional healers in terms of finance, the transport needed to collect medicinal plants, the shortage of medicinal plants, the lack of co-operation from the formal health care sector and the discrimination and abuse suffered at the hands of members of the community, with Christians and members of the SAPS being among the chief antagonists. It is also acknowledged in this study that traditional healers have been trained by the Department of Health concerning issues of hygiene and that traditional healers have knowledge of the symptoms of HIV and AIDS. It can therefore be concluded that traditional healers have a significant role to play in preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS if they employ preventative measures such as the use of protective gloves and limiting the use of a blade to one patient only. However, traditional healers are not supplied with safety kits or condoms to distribute to patients who consult them for treatment of STIs.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenges facing smallholder farmers in accessing credit in Gauteng province: South Africa
- Authors: Mashile, Daphne Mmapabala
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Agricultural credit -- South Africa -- Gauteng , Agriculture -- Finance
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7991 , vital:24335
- Description: Credit plays a significant role in agricultural growth, and it is understood that development of credit programmes will have a valuable impact on agricultural production earnings of smallholder farmers. It is also a strategic factor to poverty alleviation. In Gauteng, smallholder farmers source their loans commonly from informal moneylenders. This results in access to formal credit being at a low rate. Results show that low level of education, main occupation, group membership and household income are significant and have encouraging effects on access to credit financial services. The results also reveal that threats associated with borrowing are high interest rates and unavailability of credit financial institutions. These threats are the main challenges faced by smallholder farmers in this study. Financial institutions claim that farming is a risky business; the distance of getting to farmers makes the evaluation procedure challenging, and strict principles in the aspect of collateral is a main challenge in providing credit to smallholder farmers. It is recommended that accessibility to credit by smallholder farmers be developed by providing advanced financing schemes that will address problems of smallholder farmers who do not have security and thus reduce lengthy processing of documents and other requirements. In this manner, smallholder farmers may be stimulated to use formal credit and decrease their dependence on informal moneylenders, thus avoid higher interest rates, which will positively lead to increased smallholder farm production and household income.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenges facing SMME's in the film industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
- Authors: Ncoyo, Nosiphiwo
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Small business -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Motion picture industry -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/8945 , vital:26445
- Description: The Film Industry is regarded as a vital part of the South African economy. One of the advantages of this sector is the potential to create jobs. This has been evidenced over the years by direct jobs created for people in the entire film value chain. The Film industry has also generated many more jobs indirectly and sectors such as transport, catering and hospitality benefited enormously. The NFVF (2010) 10 years review of the Film and Video industry states that the South African government has identified the film industry as one of the catalytic vehicles for job creation and economic growth. Given the importance of the contribution of the Film Industry to job creation and economic development, there is a demand for SMMEs in this sector to be supported by Government. Not until recently the support given to Filmmakers was biased to Gauteng, Cape Town and Kwa-Zulu Natal as a result film makers would go to these Provinces for opportunities. This study has examined the challenges faced by SMMEs in the film industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in acquiring Government support and to seek ways of addressing the challenges. There has been limited research undertaken on the support given to SMMEs in film particularly the Eastern Cape Province. After a comprehensive literature review was undertaken on SMMEs, the following variables were identified as conceivably affecting growth and development of SMMEs in the film industry: Enabling Legal and regulatory environment; Financial support; Technological support; Managerial support. This study followed a quantitative research method. A measuring instrument in the form of a questionnaire was compiled from secondary sources of literature. The respondents were identified through convenience sampling technique. The sample comprised of 35 out of 50 SMMEs in film. The empirical results showed that all of the variables, enabling legal and regulatory environment, financial support, technological support and managerial support had a relationship with growth and development of SMMEs in film.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenges to corporate and brand image in multinational companies across different linguistic and socio-economic markets : a semiotic analysis
- Authors: Lukusa, Adolphine Cama
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Advocacy advertising , Mass media -- Semiotics , Figures of speech , Branding (Marketing)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:8430 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020189
- Description: Doing business "the French way" in a Francophone market niche may be somehow different from doing it "the English way" in an Anglophone market niche. Since both the employees’ and the customers’ knowledge of an organisation underpins the organisation’s performance in complex business world environments, Multinational Organisations (MNOs) need to find a manner in which they can achieve coherence between their strategic vision, organisational culture and corporate image across the different linguistic and socio-economic markets they interact with through the various marketing tools they use to stimulate recognition. As a result this can support the integrity and sustainability of their corporate brand across markets and across different linguistics landscapes while interacting with their existing and new foreign markets. This study concentrates particularly on the rhetoric figures and visual cues employed in the selected French and English advertising/promotional messages from different types of advertisements and different product packages of multinational organisation subsidiaries. The study looks at how both the rhetoric figures and visual cues in the selected advertising/promotional messages support the integrity and maintain the sustainability of the corporate brand of the selected companies. The latter is examined across different linguistic and socio-economic markets. The study explores and examines how the possible linguistic properties are used in the selected French and English advertising/promotional messages from different types of advertisements, including those on different product packages. It also looks at how the linguistic properties in selected advertising/promotional messages belonging to different types of advertisements are used in creating and maintaining a positive corporate image of the MNOs and that of their parent companies. In addition, this study analyzes the potential impacts and challenges on moral, cultural and life-style values that multinational subsidiaries inflict on customers through the advertising/promotional messages from different types of advertisements in the promotion and branding of their products and how this affects their corporate image and that of their parent organisations. This is a content analytical study of language features evident in the selected advertising/promotional messages from different types of advertisements and different product packages at the lexical, syntactic and discourse levels and their role and impact on selected multinational parent organisations and their subsidiaries’ corporate images together with those of their selected products. In order to conduct a data-driven study, the author built a data corpus based on 29 advertising messages from different types of advertisements and advertising messages printed on different product packages. The types of advertisements include the photographs and scanned images of billboards, mural billboards, outdoor advertising billboards and leaflets advertising/promoting specific services or products. The product packages include photographs and scanned images of product covers/wraps, primary packages of products, product containers’ stickers with messages printed on them, and primary boxes. The sample comes from six selected multinational subsidiary organisations from two different countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Francophone and multilingual country, and the Republic of South Africa, an Anglophone and multilingual country. Through a detailed content analysis of the advertising/promotional messages from a diversity of sources used as a means of communication, with a focus on rhetoric figures ,visual cues and language features, their roles and potential impact on MNO’s, corporate images in foreign markets will be summarized. In the end, possible conclusions are drawn in the light of the role and impact that they have on the selected companies’ corporate image across different linguistic and socio-economic markets.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenging desire : performing whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Smit, Sonja
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Performance art -- South Africa , Bailey, Brett, 1967- , Cohen, Steven, 1962- , Antwoord (Musical group) , MacGarry, Michael , Eurocentrism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2164 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016358
- Description: The central argument of this thesis asserts that in the process of challenging dominant subject positions, such as whiteness, performance creates the possibilities for new or alternative arrangements of desire. It examines how the creative process of desire is forestalled (reified) by habitual representations of whiteness as a privileged position, and proposes that performance can be a valid form of resistance to static conceptions of race and subjectivity. The discussion takes into account how the privilege of whiteness finds representation through forms of neo-liberalism and neo-colonialism in the post apartheid context. The analysis focuses on the work of white South African artists whose work offers a critique from within the privileged “centre” of whiteness. The research is situated within the inter-disciplinary field of performance studies entailing a reading and application of critical texts to the analysis. Alongside this qualitative methodology surfaces a subjective dialogue with the information presented on whiteness. Part Two includes an analysis of Steven Cohen’s The Cradle of Humankind (2011), Brett Bailey’s Exhibit A (2011) and Michael MacGarry’s LHR-JNB (2010). Each section examines the way in which the respective works engage in a questioning of whiteness through performance. Part Three investigates South African rap-rave duo, Die Antwoord and how their appropriation of Zef interrogates desires for an essential authenticity. Part Four focuses on my own performance practice and the proposed value of engaging with a form of practice-led research. This is particularly relevant in relation to critical race studies that require a level of self-reflexivity from the researcher. It presents an analysis of the work entitled Villain (2012) as a disturbance of theatrical desire through a process of ‘becoming’. This notion of meaning and identity as ‘becoming’ is argued as a strategy to challenge prevailing modes of perception which can possibly restore the production of desire to the viewer. The thesis concludes with the notion that performance can offer a mode of immanent ethics which is significant in creating both vulnerable and critical forms of whiteness.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Challenging hegemony? : a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge in the South African state
- Authors: Reynolds, John
- Date: 2014 , 2014-06-24
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013031
- Description: This thesis provides a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge within the post-apartheid South African state. This perspective is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which is one of the poorest of the nine provinces into which the national territory was divided during the constitutional negotiations prior to the landmark democratic elections of 1994. The empirical foundation for this perspective is an analysis of the process of developing the Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan 2004-2014 (PGDP), which took place in 2002-2004. Starting with a broader theoretical discussion, followed by a brief contextual analysis of the South African economy, the structure of the post-apartheid South African state, and key growth and development policies, the more detailed engagement with the PGDP process is undertaken. Drawing on Jessop’s (2008) strategic-relational approach, this thesis argues that the PGDP process arose within a particular spatio-temporal context where new opportunities for policy challenge were possible, but that such challenge had to be negotiated on a strategically selective terrain on which that challenge was neutralised. The PGDP process unfolded as a complex dialectic of agency and a range of path-dependent institutional processes with varying temporal and spatial horizons (cf. Pierson, 2004, 2005) in which no particular outcomes were guaranteed, but in terms of which some outcomes were more likely than others. Although the organisation of state power was expressed in the content of the PGDP, that power had to be understood as fractured across a range of state and non-state institutions, but with the state as the primary site of the contingent organisation of power. The provincial sphere of government faces particular constraints with the South African state, which has implications for its policy scope and the possibilities of policy challenge, even where wider social support is achieved.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Change in narrative therapy : a pragmatic hermeneutic case study
- Authors: McLean, Neville Terence
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Narrative therapy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3235 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013164
- Description: The client of this case study was a twenty two year old female in her first year at university. The client had come into therapy because she had felt depressed, lonely and riddled with selfdoubt. The author used a Narrative Therapy approach with the client and was focussed on helping the client generate new meanings and stories that were more useful and empowering for the client. In this case study, the author was interested in exploring the process of change that the client underwent during the therapy process and he would rely on identifying innovative moments to track these changes. This interest informed the research question; what is the process of change in narrative therapy as tracked through the therapeutic dialogue? How does the change process in this case study track with the heuristic model of change put forward by Gonçalves and his colleagues? The author chose to use a pragmatic hermeneutic case study method in order to analyse the data and the results were organised into a coherent narrative. The data was collected from twenty two therapy sessions and these were grouped together into themes, namely a quick start, the beginning of change, thickening the innovative moments and lighting the fire. The results of this study reveal that despite being considered a good outcome case by the author, the process of change differed somewhat to that proposed by the heuristic model of change.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Changes and continuities in the labour process on commercial farms in post-Apartheid South Africa : studies from Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces
- Authors: Kheswa, Nomzamo Sybil
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditions , KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) -- Rural conditions , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Apartheid -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3366 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011978 , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Rural conditions , KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) -- Rural conditions , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal , Apartheid -- South Africa
- Description: This thesis examines the agricultural labour process on commercial farms in post-apartheid South Africa with a particular focus on systems of labour control on these farms. Considerable literature exists about the labour process in capitalist society but the capitalist labour process does not exist in any pure form. Rather, different labour processes exist and the specific form they take depends on spatial and temporal conditions. Additionally, labour processes are often economic sector-specific. Because of variation in capitalist labour processes, differences in systems of labour control (or labour control regimes) also arise. Historically, up until the end of apartheid in 1994, the labour control regime on commercial farms in South Africa was marked by a paternalistic despotism of a racialised kind. This in part reflected the fact that commercial farms were simultaneously sites of both economic production and social reproduction and, further, they were very privatised agrarian spaces largely unregulated (specifically with regard to labour) by the state. Since the end of apartheid, commercial farms have been subjected to multiple pressures. Notably, the South African state has strongly intervened in labour relations on commercial farms, and commercial farms have been subjected to ongoing neo-liberal restructuring. This has led to the prospects of changes in the prevailing labour control system on commercial farms. In this context, the thesis pursues the following key objective: to understand changes and continuities in the labour process on commercial farms – and particularly labour control systems – subsequent to the end of apartheid in South Africa. It does so with reference to four farms in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Changing marriage practices: the case of urban working class in East London, South Africa
- Authors: Stofile, Zimkhitha Sphokazi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Marriage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Interpersonal relations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (African Studies)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1283 , vital:26542 , Marriage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Interpersonal relations
- Description: This research sought to examine changing meaning of marriage and meaning of family among urban working class residing in East London and how their perceptions of marriage have shifted from the orthodox norms. This study was conducted in Amalinda, which is one of the East London suburbs. Interviews were conducted with male and female informants. It is acknowledged in this study that marriage has traditionally been regarded as imperative in both African and Western cultures. However, there have been some drastic changes in the marriage institution in the twenty-first century. This study found out that people have shifted from the orthodox practices of marriage. The traditional culture has been influenced by various factors such as education, globalisation, and urbanisation. Furthermore, there has been a rise in the number of people who cohabit, increase in the age of first marriage, premarital childbearing and there has been a decline in the number of polygamous marriages and arranged marriages and a number of people have no problem with same-sex marriages. Furthermore, financial implications and financial securities play are influences on why some people choose or not choose to marry.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterisation of Young's modulus and loss factor of damping materials
- Authors: Nortemann, Markus
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Elasticity , Simulation methods , Damping (Mechanics)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEngineering (Mechatronics)
- Identifier: vital:9662 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021036
- Description: Given the importance of simulation techniques in automotive engineering, there is a lack of implementation regarding these techniques in the acoustics of damping materials for air-borne sound. Biot’s calculations have proven its abilities to simulate the acoustic characteristics of these damping materials. However, the characterisation of essential structural parameters, such as Young’s modulus and loss factor, in order to conduct Biot’s calculations have been inconclusive. Thus, the primary research objective of this study is to propose a new measurement system for the structural Biot parameters. After a comprehensive literature review has been undertaken on damping materials, as well as measurement apparatuses for Young’s modulus and loss factor of damping materials, two causes of measurement errors have been identified. Unknown stresses in measurement apparatuses and inhomogeneous, polytrophic and viscoelastic behaviour of specimens. A new measurement system that does not affect the specimens with unknown stresses and accounts for their complex behaviour required investigation. Non-contact ultrasound had been selected as a solution to determine the aforementioned parameters, since these methods do not necessarily touch or compress the specimen, which led to unknown stresses and neglection of the complex specimen behaviour with the aforementioned techniques. Although ultrasound had been used to determine structural parameters on various types of materials, it has never been used to measure soft porous damping materials. In order to find possible solutions, various sources using ultrasonics to investigate struc- tural parameters had been reviewed. In order to calculate structural parameters, the longitudinal and transversal wave velocity inside the specimen had to be determined. The main findings showed that non-contact ultrasound will be able to evaluate the Young’s modulus, loss factor as well as Poisson’s ratio. Consequently, it was shown that longitudinal velocity measurements could be conducted using well known transmission measurements. However, well known approaches would not be sufficient measuring the transversal wave velocity in soft damping materials. This problem was addressed with a special gas to be used, with lower sound speed velocity in the fluid than in the solid. Moreso, a new method determining the transversal wave velocity had been found, as it would enable the use of an even larger range of damping materials, especially ones with heavy frames and lower porosity. It will use refracted waves inside the specimen and the determination of the convertion position of the transversal to the longitudinal wave at the rear specimen surface. At the end of the study, hardware components were selected and a test rig was constructed, which should be able to prove that a determination of structural Biot parameters with non-contact ultrasound is possible with less errors instead of using mechanical transfer function systems. The development of measurement software as well as the testing of the measurement system and its validation was not under investigation in this dissertation. This study has expanded on the body of literature knowledge regarding non-contact ultrasound. Furthermore, a significant contribution has been made towards a new measurement system measuring Young’s modulus and loss factor which circumvents errors in mechanical transfer function systems. This will contribute to more precise simulations of damping materials and damped enclosures, which may ultimately result in enhanced efficiency of damping materials as well as the acoustic packaging of cars.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterization and application of phthalocyanine-magnetic nanoparticle conjugates anchored to electrospun polyamide nanofibers
- Authors: Ledwaba, Mpho
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54610 , vital:26593
- Description: This work presents the syntheses, photophysical and photochemical characterization of zinc tetracarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine (ZnTCPPc, 3) and its gadolinium oxide nanoparticle conjugate (4). By means of spectroscopic and microscopic characterization, the conjugation of the ZnTCPPc to the silica coated gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (Si-Gd2O3 NPs, 2) through an amide bond was confirmed. The thermal stability, morphology, nanoparticle sizes and their conjugates with the Pc were studied using ThermoGravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD). Conjugation of ZnTCPPc to the magnetic nanoparticles, proved to have a negligible effect on the photophysical parameters of the phthalocyanine, where a slight decrease in fluorescence and triplet quantum yields and lifetimes was observed. The singlet oxygen quantum yield, however, increased slightly upon conjugation, suggesting that the overall efficiency of the ZnTCPPc as a photosensitizer had improved. Physical mixing of the ZnTCPPc and the silica-coated gadolinium nanoparticles also showed an improvement in the singlet oxygen quantum yield and triplet lifetime, also showing an enhanced efficiency for the photosensitizer and therefore photocatalysis. ZnTCPPc (3) alone and the Pc-gadolinium oxide nanoparticle conjugate (4) were therefore electrospun into nanofibers to create a solid support. The fibers were characterized and their diameter sizes and composition was studied confirming the incorporation of the phthalocyanine and gadolinium oxide nanoparticle. Increased singlet oxygen generation resulted in increased Photodegradation of the environmental pollutant Orange G and the fibers were found to be more efficient as photocatalysts compared to the photosensitizer in solution. The nanomaterial may therefore be applied to the photodegradation of Orange G.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterization and computer simulation of corn stover/coal blends for co-gasification in a downdraft gasifier
- Authors: Mabizela, Polycarp Sbusiso
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc (Physics)
- Identifier: vital:11600 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1020203
- Description: The need for sustainable alternative energy technology is becoming more urgent as the demand for clean energy environment increases. For centuries, electricity in South Africa has been derived mostly from coal with results growing in multifold annually due to concerns about the impact of fossil fuel utilization related to emission of greenhouse gasses. It is practically impossible at the moment to replace coal with biomass resources because of the low energy value of biomass. However, the conversion of coal has experienced some challenges especially during its gasification which includes, but are not limited to a high reaction temperature exceeding 900°C which most gasifiers cannot achieve, and if achieved in most cases, combustion of the resulting syngas usually occur, leading to low conversion efficiency and the risk of reaching extremely high temperatures that may result in pressure build up and explosion may also occur. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the possibility of co-gasifying corn stover with coal with the ultimate aim establishing the best mixing ratio that would result in optimum co-gasification efficiency after computer simulation. Proximate and ultimate analysis, including energy values of corn stover and coal as well as their blends were undertaken and results showed significant differences between the two feedstocks and narrow range composition betwee their blends in terms of properties and energy value. Corn stover showed a higher fraction of volatile matter and lower ash content than coal, whereas those of their blends vary considerably in terms of physical properties. Differences in chemical composition also showed higher fraction of hydrogen and oxygen, and less carbon than coal while those of their blends vary according to the ratio of corn stover to coal and vice versa in the blends. The thermal stability of corn stover and coal as well as their blends were also established and the maximum temperature reached for thermal degradation of their blends was 900°C as depicted by TGA analysis. The SEM results revealed no changes in morphology of the pure samples of corn stover and coal which was due to the fact that a pre-treatment of the samples were not undertaken, whereas the blends showed significant changes in morphology as a result of blending. However, luminous and non-luminous features were noticed in both SEM images of the blends with the 10% coal/90% corn stover blend having higher percentages of luminosity as a result of higher quantities of coal in the blend. The energy density of the samples were also measured and found to be 16.1 MJ/kg and 22.8 MJ/kg for corn stover and coal respectively. Those of their blends varied from 16.9 to approximately 23.5 MJ/kg. These results were used to conduct computer simulation of the co-gasification process in order to establish the best blend that would result in maximum co-gasification efficiency. The blend 90% corn stover/10% coal was found to be the most suitable blend for co-gasification resulting in an efficiency of approximately 58% because its conversion was efficiently achieved at a temperature that is intermediate to that of coal and biomass independently. The simulation results were, however, compared with experimental data found in the literature and results showed only slight variation between them.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterization of animal fibres
- Authors: Notayi, Mzwamadoda
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Animal fibres , Textile fabrics , Animal science
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020426
- Description: Identification of fibres, particularly in blends, requires knowledge of their characteristics. Individual Identifying features between wool and mohair fibres were investigated in this study using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared-Attenuated Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR), Fourier Transform Raman and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). This study confirmed that wool and mohair can be differentiated and identified in blends using the cuticle scale height (CSH) criterion, wool having an average CSH of 0.6 ± 0.1 μm and mohair having an average CSH of 0.4 ± 0.1 μm. The AFM provided highly reproducible CSH results, which also confirmed the SEM results that indeed wool and mohair could be differentiated using the CSH as criterion. The AFM gave a CSH value of 0.9 ± 0.2 μm for wool and 0.6 ± 0.2 μm for mohair, the difference between the two results being statistically significant according to the student t-test. It has been demonstrated that wool and mohair identification in blends is possible, by using the AFM to measure CSH, although the method is very time consuming and might be expensive. The FTIR-ATR showed similar spectra for wool and mohair fibres, confirming that the two fibre types consist of the same polymer material. Nevertheless, a difference was observed in the ratios of the relative intensities of the amide I (around 1630 cm-1) to the amide II (around 1515cm-1) absorption bands. The FT Raman provided similar spectra for the wool and mohair fibres, although a possible distinguishing feature between the two fibres could be the intensities of the alkyl side chains chemical band near 2940 cm-1 in the spectra of the two fibre types. According to the results obtained in this study, the FTIR-ATR and the FT Raman techniques may have potential for differentiating between wool and mohair but this requires further investigation.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterization of chromatic dispersion in single mode fibre
- Authors: Wassin, Shukree
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Fiber optics Electromagnetic waves , Electromagnetic waves -- Transmission
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/47807 , vital:40379
- Description: In this dissertation, an investigation of chromatic dispersion is presented. The Pulse delay and phase Shift chromatic dispersion characterization techniques were used for conducting the measurements. The experiments were performed in a modern optical fibre research laboratory and chromatic dispersion measurements were carried out on several lengths of G.652 and G.655 single mode fibres. The pulse delay characterization technique measures the time of flight between two modulated optical signals whilst propagating along the fibre under test. During phase shift experiments, the group delay is obtained by measuring the relative phase difference as a function of wavelength, between adjacent sinusoidal light signals. The pulse delay and phase shift characterization techniques illustrated excellent agreement in the measured! chromatic Dispersion coefficients along the G.652 standard single mode! fibre as well as the G.655 positive and negative non-zero dispersion shifted fibre. It was found that the measurement accuracy improved as the fibre length increased. A periodic shift between the modulated optical signals, propagating along the fibre was experimentally observed. It is to be remarked that the longer wavelength signals propagated faster along the G.655 positive non-zero dispersion shifted fibre in comparison to its transmission within the G.655 negative non-zero dispersion shifted fibre. Furthermore, it was found that the sinusoidal signal shifted towards the left along the G.655 negative NZDSF fibre whilst the shift occurred towards the right along the G.655 positive NZDSF fibre. Generally, the shift arising along the G.655 fibres was found to be smaller than the shift seen throughout the G.652 fibres. Towards the end of this study, a chromatic dispersion compensation system was designed and tested. Once characterization of the compensation link was completed, it was experimentally illustrated that the chromatic dispersion across the system was successfully reduced. Finally, a sum of squares of error statistical test showed that the phase shift technique is more accurate in comparison to the pulse delay method. This result was found to be in good agreement with published work found in literature.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Characterization of the Hsp40 partner proteins of Plasmodium falciparum Hsp70
- Authors: Njunge, James Mwangi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum , Heat shock proteins , Malaria -- Chemotherapy , Protein-protein interactions , Erythrocytes -- Biotechnology , Molecular chaperones , Host-parasite relationships , Mitochondria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013186
- Description: Human malaria is an economically important disease caused by single-celled parasites of the Plasmodium genus whose biology displays great evolutionary adaptation to both its mammalian host and transmitting vectors. This thesis details the 70 kDa heat shock protein (Hsp70) and J protein chaperone complements in malaria parasites affecting humans, primates and rodents. Heat shock proteins comprise a family of evolutionary conserved and structurally related proteins that play a crucial role in maintaining the structural integrity of proteins during normal and stress conditions. They are considered future therapeutic targets in various cellular systems including Plasmodium falciparum. J proteins (Hsp40) canonically partner with Hsp70s during protein synthesis and folding, trafficking or targeting of proteins for degradation. However, in P. falciparum, these classes of proteins have also been implicated in aiding the active transport of parasite proteins to the erythrocyte cytosol following erythrocyte entry by the parasite. This host-parasite “cross-talk” results in tremendous modifications of the infected erythrocyte, imparting properties that allow it to adhere to the endothelium, preventing splenic clearance. The genome of P. falciparum encodes six Hsp70 homologues and a large number of J proteins that localize to the various intracellular compartments or are exported to the infected erythrocyte cytosol. Understanding the Hsp70-J protein interactions and/or partnerships is an essential step for drug target validation and illumination of parasite biology. A review of these chaperone complements across the Plasmodium species shows that P. falciparum possesses an expanded Hsp70-J protein complement compared to the rodent and primate infecting species. It further highlights how unique the P. falciparum chaperone complement is compared to the other Plasmodium species included in the analysis. In silico analysis showed that the genome of P. falciparum encodes approximately 49 J proteins, 19 of which contain a PEXEL motif that has been implicated in routing proteins to the infected erythrocyte. Most of these PEXEL containing J proteins are unique with no homologues in the human system and are considered as attractive drug targets. Very few of the predicted J proteins in P. falciparum have been experimentally characterized. To this end, cell biological and biochemical approaches were employed to characterize PFB0595w and PFD0462w (Pfj1) J proteins. The uniqueness of Pfj1 and the controversy in literature regarding its localization formed the basis for the experimental work. This is the first study showing that Pfj1 localizes to the mitochondrion in the intraerythrocytic stage of development of P. falciparum and has further proposed PfHsp70-3 as a potential Hsp70 partner. Indeed, attempts to heterologously express and purify Pfj1 for its characterization are described. It is also the first study that details the successful expression and purification of PfHsp70-3. Further, research findings have described for the first time the expression and localization of PFB0595w in the intraerythrocytic stages of P. falciparum development. Based on the cytosolic localization of both PFB0595w and PfHsp70-1, a chaperone – cochaperone partnership was proposed that formed the basis for the in vitro experiments. PFB0595w was shown for the first time to stimulate the ATPase activity of PfHsp70-1 pointing to a functional interaction. Preliminary surface plasmon spectroscopy analysis has revealed a potential interaction between PFB0595w and PfHsp70-1 but highlights the need for further related experiments to support the findings. Gel filtration analysis showed that PFB0595w exists as a dimer thereby confirming in silico predictions. Based on these observations, we conclude that PFB0595w may regulate the chaperone activity of PfHsp70-1 in the cytosol while Pfj1 may play a co-chaperoning role for PfHsp70-3 in the mitochondrion. Overall, this data is expected to increase the knowledge of the Hsp70-J protein partnerships in the erythrocytic stage of P. falciparum development, thereby enhancing the understanding of parasite biology.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Child justice: an analysis of the development of child justice reform in Botswana
- Authors: Isaacs, Nthabiseng Rosalind Bertha
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Juvenile justice, Administration of -- Botswana , Criminals -- Rehabilitation -- Botswana , Children's rights -- Botswana
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: vital:10184 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020094
- Description: This dissertation addresses the developments of child justice in Botswana. The first ever child justice that was established is discussed with the aim to understand the influence it had on Botswana with regard to the nature of the proceedings and the founding principles of child justice and its application in the courts. International Conventions that have a bearing on the rights of children in Botswana, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child are discussed. The measures that are currently in place for the protection of children who are in conflict with the law are examined with particular emphasis on those children that are arrested and detained. A comparison is drawn between the Children’s Act CAP [28:04] OF 1981, the Children’s Act 8 of 2009 and the South African Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 and the differences between the systems are highlighted. The provisions of the 2009 Act pertaining to children in conflict with the law are discussed in depth and shortfalls of the 2009 Children’s Act are identified. Diversion, as a form of correctional action, is discussed in light of international conventions. The provisions regarding the diversion of child offenders in the Child Justice Act are interrogated. Trial procedures under the 2009 Children’s Act are discussed and compared to those in South Africa including measures in place for the sentencing child offenders in both Botswana and South Africa. After an analysis of the international conventions, legislation and case law, the conclusion is reached that there is a commitment in Botswana towards the protectionand realization of children’s rights especially those who are in conflict with the law. It is recommended in the conclusions that Botswana import some provisions of the Child Justice Act into domestic legislation in order to comprehensively address the plight of children in trouble with the law so as to strive towards maximum compliance with conventions that Botswana has signed.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Chinese tourists' intentions to visit South Africa: an extended model of the theory of planned behaviour
- Authors: Han, Xiliang
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Market segmentation , Tourists -- Attitudes , Sustainable tourism -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9325 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020945
- Description: The South African National Department of Tourism has recently initiated the National Tourism Sector Strategy aimed at developing a sustainable tourism economy, and making the country a Top 20 global tourism destination by 2020.China is one of South Africa’s major non-African sources of tourist arrivals. To ensure a growing share of this booming market, South African tourism scholars and practitioners have to pay close attention to the behaviour of Chinese outbound tourists, particularly their destination choice behaviour. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)– an extension of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)– can serve as a basis for researching destination choice. According to the TPB literature, intention is the most immediate and important determinant of behaviour. Three direct predictors of intention, namely, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived control, are functions of latent behavioural, normative, and control beliefs, respectively. The TPB is parsimonious but open to the inclusion of additional predictors if there is evidence that these predictors may explain a significant proportion of the variance in intention and behaviour after the basic predictors (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived control) have been accounted for. The current research successfully extended the TPB model for predicting potential Chinese tourists’ intentions to visit South Africa by adding two additional variables: travel motivation and travel constraints. The push-pull motivation framework discussed in the study postulates that people travel because they are pushed by internal forces (inner needs) and pulled by external forces (destination attributes). Typical barriers to travel include intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints. The new model makes an important contribution to the literature on destination choice, and provides South Africa’s destination marketers with suggestions for attracting and serving Chinese tourists. In addition, the research shows that both travel motivation and travel constraints can be used as bases for segmenting the outbound Chinese tourist market interested in visiting South Africa. A survey approach and a structured questionnaire distributed electronically to the online panel members of a Chinese market research company were instrumental in collecting the empirical data for the study. The questionnaire was originally written in English and translated into Chinese (Mandarin) via a blind translation-back-translation method. Attitude, subjective norms, perceived control, and visit intention were all operationalised as unidimensional and used scales adapted from previous studies. New scales were developed for travel motivation and travel constraints– both operationalised as multidimensional. Quota sampling, used to identify respondents aged 18 or older and living in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, resulted in 630 usable questionnaires obtained from 1,510 sent invitation e-mails, yielding a response rate of 41.7%. The raw data collected were prepared through the sequential steps of editing, coding, and filing, and then analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive analysis suggested that broadening personal horizons, viewing the natural scenery, and seeing something different were the top motives for visiting South Africa, while language, fear of crime, and lack of travel companions were the top barriers to visiting South Africa. According to the factor analysis, travel motivation had three underlying dimensions – learning, escape, and aesthetics and appreciation, while operational, risk and fear, and social barriers were three underlying dimensions of travel constraints. Regression analysis showed that the proposed extended TPB model had higher predictive power for visit intention than both TRA and TPB models; the basic predictors – attitude, subjective norms, and perceived control – all had a significant impact on visit intention; and in terms of the additional predictors, learning, operational constraints, and social constraints had a significant impact on visit intention. The analysis of variance indicated that travel frequency and age were the most profound background factors with an influence on the extended TPB model. Finally, cluster analysis resulted in two market segments with distinct profiles, that is, High-Motivation/ Low-Constraint (HMLC) tourists and Low-Motivation/High-Constraint (LMHC) tourists. Based on the theoretical and empirical findings of the current research, it is recommended that destination marketers in South Africa: advertise specific benefits of touring South Africa, namely, increasing knowledge, relieving stress, and enjoying high environmental quality, to advance Chinese residents’ perceptions of the country; develop tourism experiences that can be taken in a week or shorter to cater for the unique annual leave and public holiday policy in China; launch a media relations campaign in China to ensure that the facts about South Africa are communicated without distortion; collaborate with other destination stakeholders such as government and businesses, to actively attract and retain Chinese tourists for example by educating the public about Chinese culture and training employees to improve the quality of service; target the HMLC tourists via the Internet (particularly the social media) and by developing holiday packages that include activities related to cultural tourism, rest and relaxation, and nature-based tourism; and target the LMHC tourists by cooperating with local travel agencies and by developing holiday packages that highlight the diversity of tourism activities and offer value-added products/services.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Classification of the difficulty in accelerating problems using GPUs
- Authors: Tristram, Uvedale Roy
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Graphics processing units , Computer algorithms , Computer programming , Problem solving -- Data processing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:4699 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012978
- Description: Scientists continually require additional processing power, as this enables them to compute larger problem sizes, use more complex models and algorithms, and solve problems previously thought computationally impractical. General-purpose computation on graphics processing units (GPGPU) can help in this regard, as there is great potential in using graphics processors to accelerate many scientific models and algorithms. However, some problems are considerably harder to accelerate than others, and it may be challenging for those new to GPGPU to ascertain the difficulty of accelerating a particular problem or seek appropriate optimisation guidance. Through what was learned in the acceleration of a hydrological uncertainty ensemble model, large numbers of k-difference string comparisons, and a radix sort, problem attributes have been identified that can assist in the evaluation of the difficulty in accelerating a problem using GPUs. The identified attributes are inherent parallelism, branch divergence, problem size, required computational parallelism, memory access pattern regularity, data transfer overhead, and thread cooperation. Using these attributes as difficulty indicators, an initial problem difficulty classification framework has been created that aids in GPU acceleration difficulty evaluation. This framework further facilitates directed guidance on suggested optimisations and required knowledge based on problem classification, which has been demonstrated for the aforementioned accelerated problems. It is anticipated that this framework, or a derivative thereof, will prove to be a useful resource for new or novice GPGPU developers in the evaluation of potential problems for GPU acceleration.
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- Date Issued: 2014