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Complexities of accessing finance from government institutions and its agencies

  • Authors: Mbundwini, Gracious Nomfuneko
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Business enterprises -- South Africa -- Finance Small business -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11772 , vital:26967
  • Description: Purpose: with the recent establishment of Small Business Development department, the ministry is tasked and will be responsible for ensuring that the business environment is enabling for new Small to Medium businesses. The real issue and the point of interest in researching this particular dissertation is the available literature around the issue of the SME sector which indicates that new SMEs in South Africa do not move from the first stage (existence) to other stages such as survival, success, take off and resource maturity. The study seeks to inaugurate two specific challenges (difficulties in accessing finance and to examine if there is sufficient non-financial SME incubators and mentorship programs post funding allocation). The area of study focused on SMEs that are concentrated in highly populated areas of Gauteng. Methodology: The study was conducted using qualitative research and a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The researcher was able to get valuable information on stakeholders in the SMME sector. This was done through the use of questionnaires to businesses, government funders and incubators. Results: when posed with a question of the start-up capital, a mere 17% responded to having obtained financial assistance from government institutions, 20% from friends and family while a massive 60% indicated they have used own capital to start businesses. When the researcher posed the question of the reasons that often leads to failure, approximately 23% of businesses mentioned lack of working equipment as the core reasons for the business failure while 17% indicated that lack of business opportunities or rather contracts of supply from government departments as the main impeding factor which resulted to failure. In terms of the availability of incubators, approximately 67% of respondents indicated that there were no business incubators available in their areas of business. Approximately 57% of businesses mentioned the inability to obtain loans from government funding institutions was the major business constraint that often leads to failure. The researcher posed a question to business incubators personnel that participated in the study to gain perspective as to why do they think SMEs fail within the first year of operation. Approximately 40% of respondents alluded that, barriers to entry by big corporates in South Africa force Small and Medium Enterprises out of businesses. Other participants added that the South African government procurement system does not provide opportunities to small businesses due to lack of experience. All government funding institutions participants mentioned that in most cases SMEs finance applications are rejected due to the fact that businesses fail to present viable business proposals that show the ability for business to remain operating for a long time Implications: The above analysed study findings indicate that there is a huge gap between small businesses and government funding institutions in terms of the awareness of the available financial support to SMEs. From the government perspective, it was indicated that businesses submit business plans that are not viable. There needs to be the middle ground where business plans compilation support currently provided by SEDA awareness should be spread across SMEs operating in the highly populated areas of Gauteng. Recommendations: Access to finance is a major constraint hindering the growth and success of small enterprises. The South African government has established a number of financial support programmes aimed to assist SMEs. With these financial support programmes, most of the SMEs are unsuccessful due to the fact that they cannot easily access those funds and as a result they remain stagnant for a very long time or end up shutting down. Conclusion: The effect of credit rationing is the potential loss of opportunity and or reduction in the scale of a business, neither of which is a desirable outcome. At the most fundamental level, there are lost opportunities for the borrower and the lender. There are implications for the wider economy also. SMEs are a key source of innovation, competition and choice.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Composing affect: reflection on configurations of body, sound and technology in contemporary South African performance

  • Authors: Cilliers, Ilana
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3377 , vital:20478
  • Description: This thesis engages with experiential performance modes through the lenses of phenomenology and affect theory. Because experiential performance relies per definition on personal, subjective ‘experience’, specific responses cannot be anticipated. However, by attempting to compose ‘affect’, a performance has the potential to ‘move’ an attendant towards response. Deleuze and Guattari define ‘affect’ as “an ability to affect and be affected….a prepersonal intensity corresponding to the passage from one experiential state of the body to another and implying an augmentation or diminution in that body’s capacity to act” (1987: xvi). One current strategy for manifesting affect in performance seems to be the ways in which different configurations of body, sound and technology are employed. The body is the means through which sound is received or ‘experienced’ in the phenomenological sense, but it can also act as a source for sonic material. The body is furthermore the means by which sonic technology is manipulated. It is the complex, reverberating relationships between body, sound and technology, and their potential for eliciting affective transformation, which is the focus of my enquiry. In the first chapter I unpack the roles of the natural phenomena, body and sound, and their complex relationships to affect. The chapter serves as philosophical basis for the rest of the investigation, and draws largely on works by philosophers Susan Kozel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Brian Massumi, Gille Deleuze and Félix Guatarri and sound theorists Don Ihde, Marshall McLuhan, Brandon LaBelle and Frances Dyson.In the remaining three chapters I discuss current South African theatre works that employ the strategy of placing emphasis on sound, sonic technology, and its relationship to the human body. These works are my own piece herTz (2014), Jaco Bouwer’s pieces Samsa-masjien (2014) and Na-aap (2013), and First Physical Theatre Company’s Everyday Falling (2010). While they range from being plays to physical theatre performances to performative experiments, they all place specific emphasis on sonic devices, drawing attention to sound by revealing microphones, speakers, midi boards, etc. to the attendants, and including the generation and manipulation of sound in the action of the performance.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Computer simulations of the interaction of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) aspartic protease with spherical gold nanoparticles: implications in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)

  • Authors: Whiteley, Chris G , Lee, Duu-Jong
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67083 , vital:29030 , https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/27/36/365101
  • Description: publisher version , The interaction of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) with human immune-deficiency virus aspartic protease (HIVPR) is modelled using a regime of molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations of the 'docking', first as a rigid-body complex, and eventually through flexible-fit analysis, creates 36 different complexes from four initial orientations of the nanoparticle strategically positioned around the surface of the enzyme. The structural deviations of the enzymes from the initial x-ray crystal structure during each docking simulation are assessed by comparative analysis of secondary structural elements, root mean square deviations, B-factors, interactive bonding energies, dihedral angles, radius of gyration (R g), circular dichroism (CD), volume occupied by C α , electrostatic potentials, solvation energies and hydrophobicities. Normalisation of the data narrows the selection from the initial 36 to one 'final' probable structure. It is concluded that, after computer simulations on each of the 36 initial complexes incorporating the 12 different biophysical techniques, the top five complexes are the same no matter which technique is explored. The significance of the present work is an expansion of an earlier study on the molecular dynamic simulation for the interaction of HIVPR with silver nanoparticles. This work is supported by experimental evidence since the initial 'orientation' of the AgNP with the enzyme is the same as the 'final' AuNP-HIVPR complex generated in the present study. The findings will provide insight into the forces of the binding of the HIVPR to AuNP. It is anticipated that the protocol developed in this study will act as a standard process for the interaction of any nanoparticle with any biomedical target.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Conceptualising an epistemically diverse curriculum for a course for academic developers

  • Authors: Quinn, Lynn , Vorster, Jo-Anne E
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66601 , vital:28970 , https://dx.doi.org/10.20853/30-6-717
  • Description: Pre-print , In this conceptual article we use Luckett’s model for an epistemically diverse curriculum, Kitchener’s levels of cognition and Maton’s concepts of knowledge and knowers to analyse a curriculum of a postgraduate diploma in higher education specifically for academic developers. We describe three meta-level frameworks which we offer to our participants to make explicit the pedagogy of the course. Our main argument is that a course which prepares participants to practise in the complex contemporary higher education context requires them to engage with specific kinds of knowledge, ways of thinking and ways of being so that they can contribute towards addressing the numerous and vexing teaching and learning challenges in their institutional contexts. We argue that analyses such as these help to make explicit the organising principles of a curriculum to the curriculum designers themselves who are then able to use the insights to strengthen the design, pedagogy and assessment of their courses. Keywords: academic development, pedagogy.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Conflict management in Kenyan electoral conflict: 2002-2012

  • Authors: Muhindi, Solomon Peter Kavai
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Conflict management -- Africa Elections -- Kenya Kenya -- Politics and government
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/12286 , vital:27051
  • Description: In the recent years, majority of African countries have been faced by conflicts during election periods. Some of the electoral related conflicts escalated into violence, and they have been transformed or managed. While other electoral related conflicts have just been prevented during the election periods but remain latent conflicts that would escalate triggered by future elections. This study focuses specifically on electoral conflicts in Kenya and its conflict management perspective from 2002-2013. To transform and manage the conflict, peacebuilding initiatives have been integrated in the study. The prime actors in Kenya electoral conflict includes the; the ruling party coalition, the leading opposition coalition and ethnic groupings affiliated to the ruling party and opposition. Other peripheral actors include: the Independent, Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the judiciary. Triangulation (the combination of two or more methods of collecting and analysing data) has been adopted both in data collection and analysis. Focus group interviews, selected individual interviews, and literature reviews were used to collect data, while research findings were analysed systematically using the constructivist grounded theory. Moreover, the liberal peace theory, Institutionalisation before Liberalisation (IBL) and findings from other researchers like (Elder, Stigant and Claes 2014:1-20), and the Afrobarometer research findings (Kivuva 2015) have been used to authenticate the research findings. Research findings indicates that claims of election rigging, numerous institutional failures, negative ethnicity and economic disparity, among other factors heighten the fear and anxiety that escalates during elections. Towards achieving peacebuilding and sustainable peace, the following reforms were undertaken: constitutional changes and reviews, electoral body reform, judicial reform, pursuit of transitional justice, extensive range of local initiatives reforms and police reforms. However, findings in the study also reveal that despite the latter reforms, peacebuilding measures have been short-term, temporal, and not fully successful, leaving behind a latent conflict that could be triggered again with future electoral conflicts. Besides that, negotiation, dialogue and mediation played a role in restoring trust and confidence in the democratic structures after escalated elections. We also recommend that multi-ethnic composition for electoral coalitions should also be adopted as a means to mitigate ethnic triggered conflicts.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Conjugation of azide-functionalised CdSe/ZnS quantum dots with tetrakis (5-hexyn-oxy) Fe (II) phthalocyanine via click chemistry for electrocatalysis

  • Authors: Nxele, Siphesihle R , Nyokong, Tebello
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/188755 , vital:44782 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2016.01.234"
  • Description: In this work, azide-funtionalised CdSe/ZnS QDs are conjugated with tetrakis(5-hexyn-oxy) Fe(II) phthalocyanine for the electrocatalytic detection of paraquat. The conjugate was fully characterised using various techniques to confirm the success of the reaction. They also showed good electrocatalytic ability towards the electroreduction of paraquat with limits of detection (LoD) of 5.9 × 10−9 μM which is a great improvement compared to other reported sensors for this analyte.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Constitutionalism and separation of powers in South Africa after the promulgation of the 1996 constitution : a comparative perspective

  • Authors: Ramatsekisa, Tsietsi Given
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Separation of powers -- South Africa Constitutional law -- South Africa Democracy -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , LLD
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12642 , vital:39295
  • Description: Constitutionalism and separation of powers is the most dynamic topic worldwide. Montesquieu, the French philosopher is credited with the doctrine of separation of powers. Various countries adopted the doctrine and modified it, in order to fit their systems of governments. The reason behind is that there is no universally recognized model of separation of powers or one size fit all. Countries apply this doctrine differently in a fashion that fits their domestic laws and constitutional requirements. Montesquieu gave a classic exposition and the rationale for separation of powers in one of his well-celebrated work “The Spirit of Laws”. The concept of separation of powers emerged premised on the theory that the arms of state namely, the judiciary, the legislature and the executive, should operate within their providence without one interfering with the other. From the South African perspective, the Constitution of South Africa of 1996 requires separation of powers even though it is not explicitly so stated in the text. This research examines the unique South African model of separation of powers and how the courts have navigated through it from the time the Constitution was promulgated. It seeks to establish whether or not a South African model of separation of powers has come to the fore. The research further examines the problem of interference amongst the arms of state and mechanism of checks and balances which can be applied to prevent or minimise such interference. In doing so, the study pursued a desktop survey of primary and secondary materials, including scientific literature, legislation, courts’ jurisprudence, and official documents. A comparative perspective was also made in order to learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions where the doctrine is applied. The findings reveal that South Africa has a unique model of separation of powers. The model was learned and enriched from various foreign jurisdictions. The courts have contributed enormously to this model, which contrive to be fluid and living.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Constructing a local approach to journalism education: a study of Zambian educators’ conceptualisation of the ideal journalism curriculum

  • Authors: Milupi, Mulako
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:3552 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021228
  • Description: This research is an investigation of Zambian journalism educators’ conception of the knowledge, competencies and values that should inform their teaching practice. The study establishes how such educators conceptualise of the purpose of journalism education within the Zambian context. As part of this examination, it identifies characteristics of this context that educators regard to be of relevance to their conceptualisation of such purpose. It then identifies what they understand as the implications for the design of the ideal journalism education curriculum. The study assesses the relevance of these perspectives to the teaching of journalism in Zambia, as an example of an African country with a ‘developing’ economy. The study draws for its theoretical framework on journalism studies generally and scholarship about journalism education more specifically. It is argued that a review of the global history of journalism education points to the existence of three main traditions of teaching that have developed internationally. The first of these traditions is described as being dedicated to the project of ‘professionalisation’; the second to the production of ‘critical practitioners’, and the third to the project of ‘social development’. These traditions are based on different understandings with regard to the principles on which journalism education programmes should be based and the kind of knowledge that they should draw on. It is noted that this body of literature does not include extensive research of the way in which particular groups of African journalism educators respond to these traditions. In order to contribute to such research, the empirical component of this study sets out to explore Zambian journalism educators’ conceptualisation of journalism education within their own social context. It does so by means of an exploration of journalism educators based, respectively, at the Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts (EHC) and the University of Zambia (UNZA)’s Mass Communication Department. The foremost conclusion of the research is that both the professionalising and developmental tradition can be observed to influence the participants’ discussion.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Construction project manager health and safety interventions towards improving workers' performance

  • Authors: Ayessaki, Winn-Yam Houdou
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- Management -- Health aspects Construction workers -- Health aspects -- South Africa Construction workers -- Safety measures
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/12275 , vital:27050
  • Description: Optimum construction worker (CW) performance is required to achieve project delivery within project parameters. It is not always the case as CWs are regularly exposed to hazards, involved in accidents, their productivity is poor, they suffer from ill health, suffer from work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and contractors lack resources to allocate towards H&S. However, the lack or the absence of health and safety (H&S) measures, which the aforementioned depend on, has a negative impact on workers’ performance. Two descriptive surveys were conducted among professional construction project managers (CPMs) registered with the South African Council for Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP) and general contractors (GCs) registered with the East Cape Master Builders Association (ECMBA). Interviews were also conducted with CPMs registered with the SACPCMP residing in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan area. The salient findings include: • Accidents, which occur on construction sites, impact workers’ performance; • Inadequate H&S implementation affects both CW skills and motivation, which in turn affects their performance; • Poor constructability is relevant to H&S and CWs’ skills; • Provision and maintenance of welfare facilities are commonly inadequate and affect workers’ performance, and • Projects do not benefit from the adequate financial provision for H&S. It was concluded that exposure to hazards, poor site conditions, inadequate provision of welfare facilities, WMSDs, and insufficient financial provision for H&S affect workers’ performance by either incapacitating or demotivating them. Recommendations include : CPMs should make better use of their influence on clients; they should improve communication channels between project stakeholders; legislators need to raise awareness regarding H&S and worker welfare, and training and education institutions need to empower workers and professionals with H&S knowledge.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Construction small and medium enterprise development

  • Authors: Mbambe, Putumani
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Construction industry -- Management Small business -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth Building -- Development
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11681 , vital:26950
  • Description: The objective of this treatise study was to determine the leading causes which limit the development of SMME contractors, to ascertain the accessibility of SMME incubators available to support SMME development and to identify the cause of poor management performance by SMME contractors based in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. A qualitative method was adopted for this study. The primary data was collected using a structured interview guide which incorporated the sub problems and the research questions. The salient findings of this study are: SMME contractors are unaware of the available business information and government support programmes designed to assist them; SMME contractors do not receive capital from banks when they don‟t have collateral; Desperation to secure projects among SMME contractors is the leading cause for under-pricing; SMME contractors are still paid later than the 30 day period for completed work; SMME owners who had started their construction companies lacked training and do not have the relevant experience and knowledge required to manage a construction company. In summary the study concluded that SMME who have access to capital have high growth prospects than those that have not. Accessibility to information and awareness of available opportunities remains significant for the growth of SMMEs. Construction related knowledge and training for SMME owners contributes vastly to the success of SMME companies. The study recommended that; Government needs to promote the accessibility of SMME incubators and ensure institutions designed to assist SMMEs with finance are accessible; The effectiveness of current development programs for small enterprises and skills development programs should be reviewed; MMBM should setup a mentoring program to help train SMME contractors theoretically and practically; NMBM local government should promote women to own SMMEs in order to close the gap of inequality in the built environment; Banks must work with government institutions to ensure that they are able to fund SMMEs.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Constructions of roles in studio teaching and learning

  • Authors: Belluigi, Dina Z
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: article , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59792 , vital:27651 , https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12042
  • Description: Various constructions of supervisors and students emerge from education literature on art, design and architecture studio pedagogy. Constructions of the supervisor within the studio and during assessment are considered, with a discussion of the threads which underpin them. This is followed by a discussion of some of the current dominant constructions of the student, and possible effects of these roles and relationships on their engagement with learning. As many of these constructions may be inherited or unconscious, a concern for the agency of those involved to rupture, subvert, rescript or resist such constructions motivates this research, while acknowledging that this may be limited by structural and cultural contexts.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Consumer decision-making processes for scholar transportation in South African cities: the case of Johannesburg and Pretoria

  • Authors: Letsholonyane, Nelly
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Consumer behavior -- South Africa -- Johannesburg Consumer behavior -- South Africa -- Pretoria
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/13283 , vital:27171
  • Description: Scholar transport in South Africa remains an area that needs to be addressed in the interest of all communities, rich and poor alike. The National Development Plan 2030, provides a clarion call for nation building to develop highly knowledgeable South African citizens for building innovative capacity for the nation as a whole(NDP, 2014).
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Consumer perceptions and microbial quality of meat sold in the informal markets of Nkonkobe and Buffalo City municipalities in the Eastern province, South Africa

  • Authors: Mazizi, Bulelani Elvis
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Meat -- Quality -- South Africa --Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/15365 , vital:40401
  • Description: The main objective of the study was to determine consumer perceptions and microbial quality of meat sold in the informal markets found in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. To determine consumer perceptions of the quality of the meat and meat products sold in the informal markets in Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities, a survey was conducted. A total of 160 consumers from two municipalities in the Eastern Cape (EC) Province of South Africa was randomly sampled and interviewed. A questionnaire was used to gather information about consumer perceptions of meat and meat products sold in the informal markets regarding their knowledge about safety, food-borne diseases, hygiene, and the quality of the meat among others. The study showed that Alice Town has a larger (66.25percent) proportion of consumers with knowledge about foodborne diseases while King Williams’s Town had a larger proportion (48.75percent) of respondents who had no knowledge about Food-borne diseases. However, a large proportion of consumers in King Williams’s Town considered vendor (82.5percent) and environmental hygiene (93.75percent) than in Alice Town. Consumers (83.75percent) in King Williams’s Town viewed the meat from street vendors to be of low quality while a small proportion (18.75percent) of consumers in Alice Town viewed it as the meat of good quality. Alice had a large proportion (61.25percent) of consumers, which had knowledge of the meat safety law than King Williams’s Town. More consumers from King Williams’s Town (31.25percent) agreed that government plays a role while Alice had a small proportion (26.25percent) which disagreed. The results also showed that consumer perceptions about the safety of meat and meat products are focused more on hygiene, neglecting other important aspects such as vending infrastructure. However, most consumers do not have enough knowledge concerning meat safety. The second study determined the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors based in Alice and Kind Williams Town in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa. A total of 48 fresh and uncooked meat samples (beef, pork, and mutton), 48 surface contact plates and 40 water samples was collected from 4 street vendors from each town for microbial analysis (n=48). After collection, all samples were subjected to Aerobic plate count (APC), Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The results revealed that Salmonella spp tested negative across all the meat samples used in the study. However, no significant differences were found in the microbial quality of meat sold by street vendors in Alice and King Williams town. Furthermore, there were no significant differences (P>0.05) between the APC of raw beef (4.8 Log CFU/g), mutton (3.7 Log CFU/g) and pork (2.8 Log CFU/g) and also the cooked beef (1.5 Log CFU/g), mutton (1.3 Log CFU/g) and pork (1.9 Log CFU/g) samples. A similar trend was observed in the values of Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) counts in raw and cooked meat samples. However, a positive correlation between Aerobic plate counts (APC) and Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) (P<0.001) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) (P<0.01) was found in the study. It can, therefore, be concluded that there were no differences in the microbial counts of raw and cooked meat sold in the informal markets of Nkonkobe and Buffalo City Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Contesting masculinities: a study of selected texts of resistance to conscription into the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the 1980s

  • Authors: Mason, Paul
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2332 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1020842
  • Description: The theoretical framework for this thesis and analysis of primary texts revolves around the problem of conscription into the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the 1980s. The ideology of masculinity that underpinned and sustained the practice of conscription is referred to throughout as the hegemonic version. This term is interchangeable with others, namely masculinism and ‗the real man.‘ The aim is to interpret the selected texts for strains of resistance to the practice of conscription and its assumptions as to what to what constitutes the natural or real man. In the Introduction to this thesis I begin by explaining the personal dimension of my role as researcher, after which I motivate my research project and explain its theoretical and methodological orientation, focusing on the concepts that play a significant role in analysis of the primary texts. The Introduction concludes with an outline of the content of Chapters 1–5. Chapter 1 begins with a brief discussion, on the general level, of the practice of conscription and resistance to it, and proceeds to a concern with conscription in 1980s South Africa. Attention is paid to prevailing attitudes towards gender and sexuality within both the SADF and the End Conscription Campaign (ECC). Discussion of gender and sexuality as constructs of identity proceeds to a focus on the conceptual tools for textual analysis provided by theories of masculinity. The final section of this chapter pays attention to specific post-structuralist notions of identity that serve analysis of the primary texts, that is, the notions of the subject, agency and the author. Having engaged mainly with secondary texts in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 presents the first sustained critical engagement with primary texts in which resistance was expressed against the institution of conscription and the hegemonic version of masculinity that underpinned it. These expressions of resistance occurred within a rock music counter-culture of the period, known as the Voëlvry movement. Attention is given to overlaps or links between this counter-culture and that of America in the 1960s, as well echoes between the Vietnam and Border Wars. Analysis of these links is applied to a memoir selected for its appropriateness. Threaded through the chapter is a concern with expressions of masculine identity within the Voëlvry counter-culture, the SADF and the ECC. Chapter 3 focuses on three novels and one collection of short stories, each narrated in the first person and written by gay authors who performed their National Service. Attention is paid to the protagonists‘ perceptions of themselves, their troubled relationships with their fathers, and the struggle to come out within a context that prohibited them from doing so. Chapter 4 concerns three wartime memoirs and two written by men who refused to perform their National Service. Underlying concerns in this chapter are the question of fact versus fiction in the genre of the memoir, authors‘ perceptions of and relationships with women, and expressions of vulnerability. Chapter 5 concentrates on the interviews that comprise the Appendix. The chapter establishes its theoretical ground by focusing on principles of narrative structure and the relation of personal to narrative identity. The chapter pays attention to the displays of power and the vulnerabilities of both veteran soldiers and resisters. Theory deployed in analysis of the primary texts serves the principal concerns articulated in the title to the thesis.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Contesting masculinities: two border war memoirs

  • Authors: Mason, Paul
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/458488 , vital:75748 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC193816
  • Description: This article begins by discussing what Christo Doherty in his article "Trauma and the Conscript Memoirs of the South African 'Border War'," published in English in Africa 42.2 (2015), calls the "explanatory schema" for the analysis of "anti-heroic" conscript memoirs. At the centre of Doherty's schema is the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with its satellite concerns of "trauma narratives" and the "victim-perpetrator." In contrast, my analysis of two memoirs hinges upon a concern with the contest between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses of masculinity that prevailed in the 1980s. The memoirs I focus upon are two that are briefly discussed by Doherty - Rick Andrew's Buried in the Sky (2001) and Anthony Feinstein's Battle Scarred: Hidden Costs of the Border War (1998/2011). The aim of the article is to apply to the memoirs an analytic framework that does justice to a wider range of intra- and inter-masculine dynamics than can be accommodated by a trauma-centred analysis.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Continuous flow synthesis of silicon compounds as feedstock for solar-grade silicon production

  • Authors: Chigondo, Fidelis
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Silicon -- Synthesis , Homogeneous catalysis
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DTech
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4529 , vital:20613
  • Description: This thesis describes the key steps in the production of high purity (solar-grade) silicon from metallurgical-grade silicon for use in the production of photovoltaic cells as alternative renewable, environmentally benign and cheap energy source. The initial part of the project involves the development and optimization of a small chemical production platform system capable of producing alkoxysilanes from metallurgical-grade silicon as green precursors to solar-grade silicon production. Specifically, the main aim of the study was to synthesize trialkoxysilanes in continuous flow mode, although the synthesis on monosilane was also done in batch mode. The alkoxylation reaction was carried out in a traditional slurry phase batch reactor, packed bed flow tubular reactor and also attempted in a continuous flow falling film tubular reactor. The effect of key parameters which affect the silicon conversion and selectivity for the desired trialkoxysilane were investigated and optimized using ethanol as a reagent model. The synthesis was then extended to the other alcohols namely methanol, n-propanol and n-butanol. Copper catalysts which were tested in the alkoxylation reaction included: CuCl, Cu(OH)2, CuO and CuSO4. CuCl and Cu(OH)2 showed comparable activity in the batch mode but the former was more efficient in the packed bed flow tubular reactor. Cu(OH)2 could be used as a non-halide catalyst but its activity is limited to short reaction cycles (<10 h). The uncatalysed reaction resulted in negligible reaction rates in both types of reactors. High temperature catalyst pre-heating (>500 oC) resulted in a lower rate of reaction and selectivity than when slightly lower temperatures are used (<350 oC) in both reactors, although much difference was noticed in the packed bed flow tubular reactor. Synthesis in the batch reactor needed longer silicon-catalyst activation time, higher pre-heating temperature and higher catalyst amounts as compare to the packed bed flow tubular reactor. Reaction temperature and alcohol flow rate influenced the reaction in both methods. The optimum reaction temperature range and alcohol flow rate was comparable in both reactors (230 to 240 oC) and 0.1mL/min respectively. The effect of alcohol R-group (C1 to C4) on the reaction revealed that conversion and selectivity generally decrease with an increase in carbon chain length in both methods. Ethanol showed highest selectivity (>95% in batch and >97% in flow) and conversion (about 88% in batch and about 64% in flow) as compared to all other alcohols studied showing that it could be the most efficient alkoxylation alcohol for this reaction. Overally, the packed bed flow tubular reactor resulted in higher selectivity to trialkoxysilanes than the batch system. Performing the reaction under pressure resulted in increased conversion but selectivity to the desire trialkoxysilane diminished. Synthesis in a continuous flow falling film tubular reactor was not successful as it resulted in very poor conversion and selectivity. Monosilane was successfully synthesized from the disproportionation of triethoxysilane using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts in batch mode. The results obtained from homogeneous catalysis showed that the reaction can be conducted at room temperature. The heterogeneous catalysis method resulted in slow conversion at room temperature but mild heating up to 55 oC greatly improved the reaction. Conducting the reaction under neat conditions produced comparable results to reactions which were carried out using solvents. The disproportionation reaction was best described by the first order kinetic model. The results obtained in this research indicate that the packed bed flow tubular reactor can be utilized with future modifications for continuous flow synthesis of alkoxysilanes as feedstock for the solar-grade silicon production.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2016

Controls on the distribution of manganese in banded iron-formations (BIF) of the palaeoproterozoic transvaal supergroup, South Africa

  • Authors: Fryer, Lindi
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2926 , vital:20343
  • Description: The 2.65 to 2.05 Ga Transvaal Supergroup comprises one of the best-preserved and largely continuous successions in the world of Banded Iron-Formation (BIF), a chemical sedimentary rock composed of fine (mm to cm scale) interbanded iron-rich and iron-poor bands, developed atop the Archaean Kaapvaal Craton of southern Africa. The Transvaal BIF sequence contains at its upper stratigraphic part, an intriguing interlayered BIF-Mn association, namely the Hotazel Formation in the Kalahari Manganese Field, which constitutes the largest land-based manganese deposit on record. The genesis of the Hotazel deposits, and their exact significance in terms of atmosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere evolution, remain as elusive as they are challenging. In this thesis, an attempt is made to illuminate the origin and diagenesis of the Hotazel Formation and its post-depositional hydrothermal modification, through a highresolution geochemical study of the narrowest of the three BIF-Mn sedimentary cycles present in the Hotazel stratigraphy. This approach is coupled with a preliminary geochemical study of the distribution of Mn in older BIF of the Transvaal Supergroup as well (Kuruman and Griquatown Formations), so as to test recent models that causally link all BIFs in the Transvaal Supergroup under a common and evolving palaeo-environment of deposition. The results indicate that the cyclic deposition of the Hotazel BIF and enveloped Mn-rich sediments would have taken place in a stratified basin with a well-developed chemocline in terms of the vertical distributions of Mn and Fe, much like recent anoxic stratified basins such as the Orca Basin in the Gulf of Mexico. The increased Mn abundances as Mn-bearing ferrous carbonates in the upper part of the Griquatown BIF predating the Hotazel strata, also seems to lend support to the notion that the two BIFs are temporally interlinked as part of a broader sedimentary continuum. Finally, the largely conservative behaviour of Mn and associated elements during hydrothermal alteration of the Hotazel rocks is re-assessed, and renewed emphasis is placed on the possibility that brine metasomatism may have been a key factor in Mn redistribution and residual enrichment.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Cosmological structure formation using spectral methods

  • Authors: Funcke, Michelle
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/2969 , vital:20348
  • Description: Numerical simulations are becoming an increasingly important tool for understanding the growth and development of structure in the universe. Common practice is to discretize the space-time using physical variables. The discreteness is embodied by considering the dynamical variables as fields on a fixed spatial and time resolution, or by constructing the matter fields by a large number of particles which interact gravitationally (N-body methods). Recognizing that the physical quantities of interest are related to the spectrum of perturbations, we propose an alternate discretization in the frequency domain, using standard spectral methods. This approach is further aided by periodic boundary conditions which allows a straightforward decomposition of variables in a Fourier basis. Fixed resources require a high-frequency cut-off which lead to aliasing effects in non-linear equations, such as the ones considered here. This thesis describes the implementation of a 3D cosmological model based on Newtonian hydrodynamic equations in an expanding background. Initial data is constructed as a spectrum of perturbations, and evolved in the frequency domain using a pseudo-spectral evolution scheme and an explicit Runge-Kutta time integrator. The code is found to converge for both linear and non-linear evolutions, and the convergence rate is determined. The correct growth rates expected from analytical calculations are recovered in the linear case. In the non-linear model, we observe close correspondence with linear growth and are able to monitor the growth on features associated with the non-linearity. High-frequency aliasing effects were evident in the non-linear evolutions, leading to a study of two potential resolutions to this problem: a boxcar filter which adheres to“Orszag’s two thirds rule” and an exponential window function, the exponential filter suggested by Hou and Li [1], and a shifted version of the exponential filter suggested, which has the potential to alleviate high frequency- ripples resulting from the Gibbs’ phenomenon. We found that the filters were somewhat successful at reducing aliasing effects but that the Gibbs’ phenomenon could not be entirely removed by the choice of filters.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Creating evidence-based guidelines for healthy eating educational campaigns aimed at low-income South Africans: a case study of Grahamstown

  • Authors: Booth, Christopher
  • Date: 2016
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3336 , vital:20485
  • Description: Through a literature review and qualitative research, this study explores what a media-centric nutritional intervention needs to include in order to be effective amongst those whose health is most impacted by poor nutrition – poorer and mostly black South Africans. The study sketches the current nutritional landscape of South Africa, and draws on both Behaviour Change Communication and Media Effect theories to hypothesise how a campaign might be devised to change popular understandings of the relationship between health and nutrition, and inspire some change in food consumption behaviours and choices. The study explores the key factors that drive nutritional behaviours (including the environmental constraint of cost, the peer pressure and socialisation of food, and the desire for knowledge and change) and explores how media-based interventions could be more effective. To do this, this study creates three layers of an idealised and hypothetical “Super 7” fruit and vegetable consumption promotion campaign. From this data, and the insights developed, new guidelines for possible future nutritional education campaigns are suggested and developed.
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  • Date Issued: 2016

Creation and detection of Vector Bessel Beams

  • Authors: Omoefe, Idisi David , Forbes, Andrew
  • Date: 2016
  • Subjects: Vector analysis Quantum theory
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/1785 , vital:27558
  • Description: Bessel beams are optical fields which falls into the category of non-diffracting beams. Vector Bessel beams are vector beams possessing cylindrical symmetry. Cylindrically symmetric beams tend to have a tight focal point during propagation. The tight focal beam nature of vector Bessel beams makes them a good potential in various facets of science such as biological optical trapping, wireless communications, remote sensing, microscopy etc. In this research work, vector Bessel beams were generated using the phase of an Axicon that was encoded into a spatial light modulator. Firstly, scalar Bessel beams which possess linear polarization were generated and converted to circularly polarized vector beams by the use of a q-plate. The orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes that are embedded in the vortex beams were detected using modal decomposition technique. This was implemented for both the scalar and vector case using a quarter wave plate. The measure of the degree of non-separability of the vector Bessel beams using tomographic quantum tools was also implemented where the density matrix was reconstructed. The concurrence and fidelity which explore the measure of vectorness of both scalar and vector Bessel beams were calculated from the density matrix. The obtained results show that the spatial modes and polarization are coupled in the vector case as expected.
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  • Date Issued: 2016
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