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Vice-Chancellor's welcoming address 2011

  • Authors: Badat, Saleem
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text
  • Identifier: vital:7591 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006582
  • Description: From introduction: The Purposes of a University. So permit me to spend a few minutes on the meaning of a university and the three purposes. Rhodes University exists to serve. The first purpose is to produce knowledge, so that we can advance understanding of our natural and social worlds and enrich our scientific and cultural heritage. This means that we ‘test the inherited knowledge of earlier generations’, we dismantle the mumbo jumbo that masquerades for knowledge, we ‘reinvigorate’ knowledge, and we share our findings with others. As a university, our second purpose is to disseminate knowledge and to develop your minds. Our goal is to ensure that you can think imaginatively, ‘effectively and critically’; that you ‘achieve depth in some field of knowledge’; that you can critique ideas and views and construct alternatives, and that you can communicate cogently, orally and in writing. Our final purpose as a university is to undertake community engagement, whether this is as part of academic courses or your voluntary participation in community projects organized by our Community Engagement Office.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Violence, postcolonial fiction, and the limits of sympathy:

  • Authors: Marais, Mike
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143993 , vital:38301 , DOI: 10.1353/sdn.2011.0034
  • Description: In this article, I consider the implications for fiction of Slavo Zizek’s argument that the violence of individual subjects is informed by ‘symbolic violence’ (1-2), that is, the distortions concomitant on languages’s constitutive, rather than merely referential, relation to the world.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Vision-guided tracking of complex tree-dimensional seams for robotic gas metal arc welding

  • Authors: Hamed, Maien
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Robot vision , Robotics , Gas metal arc welding
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEngineering (Mechatronics)
  • Identifier: vital:9646 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1428 , Robot vision , Robotics , Gas metal arc welding
  • Description: Automation of welding systems is often restricted by the requirements of spatial information of the seams to be welded. When this cannot be obtained from the design of the welded parts and maintained using accurate xturing, the use of a seam teaching or tracking system becomes necessary. Optical seam teaching and tracking systems have many advantages compared to systems implemented with other sensor families. Direct vision promises to be a viable strategy for implementing optical seam tracking, which has been mainly done with laser vision. The current work investigated direct vision as a strategy for optical seam teaching and tracking. A robotic vision system has been implemented, consisting of an articulated robot, a hand mounted camera and a control computer. A description of the calibration methods and the seam and feature detection and three-dimensional scene reconstruction is given. The results showed that direct vision is a suitable strategy for seam detection and learning. A discussion of generalizing the method used as an architecture for simultanious system calibration and measurement estimation is provided.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Vocabulary development in a grade 7 class using dictionary skills: an action research project

  • Authors: Wells, Stephanie Alice
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Vocabulary -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape English language Dictionaries -- Polyglot -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1822 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003708
  • Description: As I was involved as a voluntary, part-time teacher in a local, semi-rural school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, I became increasingly aware of the learners' lack of English literacy. I therefore decided to do a practical research on vocabulary development, focusing on dictionary skills. In this thesis I describe how I implemented a vocabulary development programme as an Action Research project. My research group was a grade 7 class of English First Additional Language learners who had minimal exposure to English at school and in their communities. The class was a mixture of Afrikaans and isiXhosa home language speakers and the medium of instruction was Afrikaans. The school served a low-income community and was poorly resourced. As dictionary skills is a requirement of the national curriculum, I used 10 time-tabled lessons over a 5 week period to introduce the learners to dictionaries. My data sources were a journal detailing my reflections on each lesson; a video-recording of the lessons; small group interviews after each lesson which were audio-recorded; tasksheets on the work covered in class and questionnaires asking the learners for written responses to the lessons. The class teacher who filmed the lessons was also asked for feedback during and after the programme. My goals were to assess my teaching approach in these circumstances and to what extent the outcomes were positive for the learners. As I had come from a background of English Home Language teaching in good, well-resourced schools I found I had to question many of my assumptions. Although I was an experienced, qualified and confident teacher, I was continually having to reassess my teaching methods which were being challenged by very different classroom conditions. The outcomes of the research show why I was not able to achieve what I had thought I could in the time given.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Volatility transmission across South African financial markets: does the bull – bear distinction matter?

  • Authors: Jaramba, Toddy
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Finance -- South Africa , Financial institutions -- South Africa , Monetary policy -- South Africa , Portfolio management -- South Africa , Stock exchanges -- South Africa , Foreign exchange -- Mathematical models , Bond market -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: vital:1106 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013396
  • Description: The volatility transmission in financial markets has important implications for investment decision making, portfolio diversification and overall macroeconomic stability. This paper analyses volatility transmission across four South African financial markets that is the stock, bond, money and foreign exchange markets, using daily data for the period 2000-2010. It also shows whether the volatilities in the SA financial markets present a different behaviour in bull and bear market phases. The effects of the international markets volatility to the local markets volatility was also looked at in this study. To obtain estimates of market volatility, the study experimented with various volatility models that include the GARCH, EGARCH and TARCH. To examine volatility interaction and the transmission of volatility shocks, a VAR model was estimated together with block exogeneity, impulse response and variance decomposition. The study found that there is limited volatility transmission across the SA financial markets. The study also found that the money market is the most exogenous of all markets since the other three financial markets volatility is insignificant to the money market (see impulse response results). For the bond market, volatility transmission was characterized with a decreasing trend. With regard to international markets volatility, it concluded that, the shocks in the international markets will eventually affect the movement in the local markets. The results also highlighted that, world and local markets are important in accelerating the volatility transmission in SA financial markets depending on whether they are in their bull or bear phases. In the case of South Africa, the study found that volatility transmission across markets is higher during bear market periods than bull market periods. Basing on the study results which show that the volatility transmission is limited across SA financial markets, the implication to local and international investors is that there is a greater potential for diversifying risk by investing in different South African financial markets.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of gold electrodes modified with CdTe quantum dots and their conjugates with nickel tetraamino phthalocyanine

  • Authors: Khene, Samson , Moeno, Sharon , Nyokong, Tebello
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247187 , vital:51554 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poly.2011.06.002"
  • Description: This work reports on the synthesis of conjugates of cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe-QDs) caped with thioglycolic acid and peripherally substituted nickel tetraamino phthalocyanine (NiTAPc) complex. The conjugates are characterized using cyclic (CV) and differential pulse (DPV) voltammetries, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and time correlated single photon counting. CV and DPV show that NiTAPc stabilizes the CdTe QDs against oxidation to metallic products.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Water chemistry and effect of evapotranspiration on chemical sedimentation on the Mkuze River floodplain, South Africa:

  • Authors: Humphries, M S , Kindness, A , Ellery, William F N , Hughes, J C
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144376 , vital:38340 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.01.013
  • Description: The Mkuze Wetland System, forming part of the iSimangaliso World Heritage Site, is South Africa’s largest freshwater wetland area and is known to act as a sink for naturally occurring solutes within the landscape. The chemistry of groundwater and porewater samples, collected from two transects on the Mkuze River floodplain, was investigated to identify processes involved in the control of solute concentrations. Results show that solutes in the groundwater become increasingly concentrated under the influence of evapotranspiration, resulting in the saturation, precipitation, and accumulation of less soluble compounds.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Water-soluble quaternized mercaptopyridine-substituted zinc-phthalocyanines

  • Authors: Durmuş, Mahmut , Yaman, Hanif , Göl, Cem , Ahsen, Vefa , Nyokong, Tebello
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/247133 , vital:51549 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2011.02.007"
  • Description: The synthesis and characterization of the new zinc phthalocyanine derivatives, tetra- (non-peripheral, 5) and octa-(peripheral, 6) substituted with 2-mercaptopyridine and their respective quaternized derivatives (8 and 9) are reported. Photochemical and photophysical properties of the new complexes are compared with those of the previously reported peripherally tetra-substituted complexes 7 and 10. The quaternized compounds exhibit excellent solubility in water, making them potential photosensitizers for use in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer. Spectroscopic, aggregation, photophysical and photochemical properties of these complexes are also investigated and compared. Photophysical (fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes) and photochemical (singlet oxygen and photodegradation quantum yield) properties of these phthalocyanine photosensitizers are very important for the assessment of these complexes as PDT agents. In this study, the effects of the position of the substituents and quaternization of the substituents on the photophysical and photochemical parameters of the zinc phthalocyanines are also reported. This study also showed that the water-soluble quaternized zinc phthalocyanines strongly bind to blood plasma proteins such as bovine serum albumin (BSA).
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Well-nourished women in a Solomon Islands society with a biased sex ratio

  • Authors: Furusawa, Takuro , Aswani, Shankar
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/422173 , vital:71917
  • Description: This study reports on the growth and nutritional status of females in Roviana (population 12 235), Solomon Islands, where there are fewer surviving females than males in all age groups (male/female= 1.10; Solomon Islands Government 2000). Anthropometric measurements were performed for 1243 voluntary participants from seven villages. The results showed that females were better nourished than males; weight-forage z-scores, for instance, were better for females than those for males throughout all age groups, with statistical significance in the following age groups: younger than 5 years, 10–14 years and 15–19 years. The same pattern was also observed for adults. Results suggest that gender inequality might not be caused by social discrimination.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

What challenges are being faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing micro finance services in Zimbabwe

  • Authors: Mushanguri, Mejury
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Self-employed women -- Zimbabwe , Women-owned business enterprises -- Finance -- Zimbabwe , Financial services industry -- Zimbabwe , Entrepreneurship -- Zimbabwe , Microfinance -- Zimbabwe
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:9094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011765 , Self-employed women -- Zimbabwe , Women-owned business enterprises -- Finance -- Zimbabwe , Financial services industry -- Zimbabwe , Entrepreneurship -- Zimbabwe , Microfinance -- Zimbabwe
  • Description: The research seeks to explore why women in Zimbabwe still face hindrances in accessing micro finance services and what can be done to meet their needs in a more holistic and effective way. Women play a crucial role in the economic development of their families and communities but are faced with certain obstacles that hinder them from performing their role effectively. Such hindrances as poverty, unemployment, low household income and societal discrimination. UNIFEM (1992) confirms that the majority of the world‟s poor have a predominantly female face and argues that women earn only 10 percent of world‟s income and own less than 10 percent of the world‟s property. African women have been characterised by the lack of empowerment caused by societal perceptions and negative cultural practice. In many cases of women rights violation it has been noted that this has been exacerbated by the over reliance on the male counterpart. Development practitioners have noted that micro finance as one of the strategies needed for women empowerment. Despite the concept having been practiced for at least 15 years now, women still face challenges in accessing micro finance services. There is need for Micro Finance Institutions to recognise the position of women in relation to men as actors in society.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

When breast is not best: young women and breast reduction surgery

  • Authors: Lamb, Tessa , Vincent, Louise
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141832 , vital:38008 , DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2011.610978
  • Description: Most cosmetic surgery patients in South Africa are younger than 21, and in this focus we examine narrative accounts from young South African women who have chosen to undergo cosmetic breast reduction surgery. Feminist debates on cosmetic surgery have focused on the question of whether to regard women who modify their bodies in this way as active agents engaged in liberatory ‘body projects’, or whether such projects are evidence of their subjection to oppressive stereotypes and beauty norms. The latter perspective is challenged here by the participants’ characterisation of breast reduction surgery as profoundly ‘freeing’. The article deals in particular with the conscious choice of participants to knowingly risk not being able to breastfeed children in future in order to achieve a body type which conforms to their understanding of youthful beauty and sexuality.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Where leaders learn: constructions of leadership and leadership development at Rhodes University

  • Authors: Andrews, Rushda Ruth
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Leadership -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Leadership -- Research -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Development leadership -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Rhodes University -- Management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:782 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003903
  • Description: This thesis explores the Where Leaders Learn slogan of Rhodes University. It does this by means of an analysis of discourses constructing leadership and leadership development within the institutional context. The discourse analysis was made possible as a result of interviews with a range of people involved in leadership and leadership development at the University. The analysis revealed that leadership development is constructed as taking place within a highly structured system that enables instructional and managerial leadership but constrains transformational leadership. The discourses that give meaning and understanding to the construct of leadership draw heavily on position within a hierarchy. The discourse of functional efficiency is enabled through practices related to reward, recognition, succession planning and mentorship which all serve to replicate the existing leadership structures creating more of the same and in essence stifling the potential for emancipatory leadership. The analysis also shows that a discourse of collegiality serves to create a false sense of a common understanding of leadership in the light of evidence of uncertainty and contestation around the meaning of the slogan Where Leaders Learn and, by association, the very construct of leadership. The discursive process of understanding leadership and developing an institutional theory for the purposes of infusing this into a curriculum poses many challenges. Barriers to new ways of thinking reside within the researchers' ontological and epistemological commitments. This amplifies the need for a more reflective ontology towards leadership and its consequences, especially so in a multidisciplinary environment such as Rhodes University.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Widows' experiences of spousal mourning among AmaXhosa: an interpretative phenomenological study

  • Authors: Akol, Grace
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Widowhood -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Widows -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) -- Funeral customs and rites , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Bereavement -- Psychological aspects , Mourning customs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Death -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Psych)
  • Identifier: vital:11609 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/523 , Widowhood -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Widows -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Xhosa (African people) -- Funeral customs and rites , Xhosa (African people) -- Psychology , Bereavement -- Psychological aspects , Mourning customs -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Death -- Social aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
  • Description: This study was conducted on the mourning rituals of the AmaXhosa widows of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study focused on the descriptive presentation of the experiences of the AmaXhosa widows in the Buffalo City municipality of the Province. The study sought to establish the widows’ perceptions regarding the mourning rituals and to interpret their experiences within the context of contemporary cultural, religious, gender and socio-political influences. The experiences among the widows interviewed were found to have a similar context but their perceptions about the mourning rituals were different between the widows younger than 40 years and those older than 50 years. Widows from urban and rural areas of East London, Mdantsane Township and from within a 60 kilometre radius of East London were interviewed. Purposive random sampling was used to identify an equal number of either urban or rural voluntary participants for the study. Structured interviews were held with widows ranging in age from 29 to 91 years. An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the recorded discussions was conducted. The experiences of the AmaXhosa widows during the conduct of the mourning rituals are described. The key findings of the study indicated that most of the widows felt they had to go through the mourning rituals mainly to show respect for their departed husbands and so that the dignity of the family and clan was maintained. The mourning rituals seemed mostly to have negative implications for the widows such as a lack of family and financial support and being treated as social outcasts; however the rituals also seemed to help the women adjust to their new status as widows. Although the mourning rituals were embedded in the socio-cultural tradition generally followed by the AmaXhosa, religious beliefs also influenced some of the traditions by introducing changes in the way some widows conducted the mourning rituals. For example, some religions advocated for shorter periods of mourning than usual as well as wearing different types of mourning clothes from the usual black or purple dress. Overall the perceptions of the older widows aged above 50 years revealed that they had no reservations about performing the mourning rituals and quite readily and unquestioningly accepted the customs. The younger widows aged below 40 years on the other hand felt that the mourning rituals were biased against women and did not serve a useful purpose and even proposed changes to the manner in which the mourning rituals are conducted particularly the shortening of the mourning period from 12 to 6 months or less. However, they seemed to recognize the role played by the mourning ritual in lessening and possibly healing the pain and sorrow caused by their bereavement.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Willingness to pay for water quality changes in the Swartkops Estuary

  • Authors: Magobiane, Siyathemba Emmanuel
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Water quality -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Swartkops Estuary , Water quality -- Management , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Swartkops River
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: vital:9000 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011505 , Water quality -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Swartkops Estuary , Water quality -- Management , Estuaries -- South Africa -- Swartkops River
  • Description: South Africa, like the rest of the world, is vulnerable to the impact of climate change and loss of biodiversity. Water pollution is one of the six global threats to freshwater biodiversity. The future health status and productivity of South Africa’s estuaries is dependent on two main factors: management and quality and quantity of freshwater inputs. South Africa has around 250 functioning estuaries along its 3000 km coastline (Hosking 2004). They play an invaluable role in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity conservation. Estuaries are amongst the richest and most productive parts of the marine environment and as such call for careful management. Some of these ecosystems are focus areas for urban an industrial development. Urbanization and industrialization pose a serious threat to these sensitive systems. Increased water pollution from domestic use, industry and agriculture affect the ecology of these estuarine, river and lake systems. A large number of South African estuaries are still in excellent or good condition, but these are mainly the very small systems. The larger systems, like the Swartkops estuary, often very important in terms of conservation value, are also often compromised in some way or other. The reasons why they are compromised include habitat destruction, artificial breaching and pollution, especially those close to urban areas. This situation is aggravated by outdated and inadequate sewage treatment plant infrastructure and unskilled operators that dispose untreated waste into these systems. Pollution into estuaries can result in the partial loss of the environmental service flows supplied by them. The result of lost environmental service flows has adverse consequences, such as diminished residential and holiday recreational appeal, as well as reduced capacity to support subsistence livelihoods. Poor water quality not only limits its utilisation value, but is also places added economic burden on society, through both the primary treatment costs and the secondary impacts on the economy. Healthy estuarine ecosystems are essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and a wide range of environmental goods and services. Without a drastic improvement in water quality management approaches and treatment technologies, the continuous deterioration in water quality will decrease benefits and increase costs affiliated with use of these water resources.The market-based system of the South African economy has to a large extent failed to account for the value of the “free” goods and services provided by the natural environment. When the true value of the natural resources is unknown, there is a risk that less financial resources and capacity are made available to manage and protect these natural resources than is efficient. To ensure that these goods are properly taken into account, they must be valued and these values incorporated in social decision making. This study uses the contingent valuation method (CVM) to establish the value of the Swartkops estuary for changes to water quality. The CVM is a non-market valuation method that is widely used in cost-benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment. The CVM establishes the economic value of the good by asking the users of an environmental good to state their willingness to pay for a hypothetical scenario to prevent, or bring about, certain changes in the current condition of the environmental good. This method is subjected to some criticism. This criticism revolves around the validity and the reliability of estimated results and the effects of various biases and errors on them. The North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Blue-Ribbon panel investigating the validity of the CVM resolved that the CVM can be used to guide social decision making, if a series of guidelines are followed. The Swartkops contingent valuation (CV) was conducted with these guidelines in mind. The results of the Swartkops CV indicate that the user population has a total willingness to pay (TWTP) of R68848 (median bid) and R203632 (mean bid) annually for the implementation of a project to improve the water quality in the Swartkops estuary. User population is an important determinant of the TWTP value. As a result, using a more broadly defined user population, TWTP per annum was calculated to be R3481987 (median bid) and R10298688 (mean bid). Management of natural resources should be informed by values that reflect efficient balances, so as to obtain the most efficient use of them (Trupie 2008). Polluted water inflows into South Africa’s estuaries are a threat to their biodiversity. Healthy estuarine ecosystems are essential for the maintenance of biodiversity and human well-being (Water Assessment Programme Report 2006: 15). As a result, this study recommends that a project be implemented by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to improve water quality in the Swartkops estuary.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Wireless rotational process monitoring system

  • Authors: Odendaal, Morné
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Manufacturing processes -- Automation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
  • Identifier: vital:9599 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1347 , Manufacturing processes -- Automation
  • Description: The manufacturing industry is constantly looking for ways to reduce production costs and at the same time to increase productivity. Automation of common manufacturing operations is one of these methods. By automating common manufacturing operations; various machines, robots, control systems and information technologies are used to reduce the overall human input requirement (mental and physical). Recent advances in technology have made it possible to now also automate (or facilitate) the maintenance requirement of these machines and tools. Modern tools and machines, which can estimate when it will fail or when failure is imminent have obvious advantages for predictive maintenance purposes. Another function of this technology is to determine how efficiently a tool or machine operates, or what the quality of the produced goods is. Predictive maintenance can decrease manufacturing plant or machine down times – which have a positive effect on cost-savings – has gained considerable importance over the last two decades.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Women's empowerment in the post-1994 Rwanda: the case study of Mayaga Region

  • Authors: Hategekimana, Celestin
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Women in development -- Rwanda , Women -- Rwanda -- Social conditions , Women -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:9068 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1314 , Women in development -- Rwanda , Women -- Rwanda -- Social conditions , Women -- Economic conditions
  • Description: This research looks at the process of women’s empowerment in post- 1994 Rwanda, with special focus on twelve cooperatives working in Mayaga region and the way these cooperatives empower women, their households and the community at large. Traditional Rwandan society has been always bound by patriarchy which has not valued the reproductive roles of women as economically productive in their households and the society as a whole. On the one hand, this understanding was reversed in the post-1994 Rwanda by the commitment of the government to gender equality at the highest level of political leadership through progressive policies and legislation. On the other hand, in Mayaga region, cooperatives brought about socio-economic development and changed relationships of gender and power in a patriarchal post-conflict society. The findings from cooperatives in Mayaga region show that to prevent women from reaching their full potential is economic folly. If women are empowered, they can generate important development outcomes such as improved health, education, income levels and conflict resolution. The findings further indicate how women’s empowerment is determined by the livelihood strategies women adopt themselves to respond to their vulnerability, and by the ways in which they express their agency in making a living in a sustainable way, with the available community assets that they have access to (financial, social, human, natural and physical). This research highlights that the accessibility of the community assets used by women in Mayaga region and in Rwanda as a whole is also determined by policies, institutions and processes that are able to influence their livelihoods positively.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Work-family conflict, stress and some demographic and occupational variables among female factory workers in East London, South Africa

  • Authors: Dywili, Mtutuzeli
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Work and family -- South Africa , Job stress -- South Africa , Women employees -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Master's theses , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24128 , vital:62382
  • Description: The study examines work-family conflict, stress, and some demographic and occupational variables among female factory workers in East London, South Africa. The participants were female factory workers in East London, South Africa. The independent variables for the study were, demographic and occupational variables, while stress is the dependent variable. Work-family conflict is dependent on demographic and occupational variables, while on the other hand is independent to stress. The demographic variables concerned are age, marital status, number of children and age of the last born child. The occupational variable on the other hand is occupational level, i.e. managerial versus non-managerial. The measuring instruments were a self-designed questionnaire to measure the demographic and occupational variables, a questionnaire developed by Stephens and Sommer (1996) to measure work-family conflict (cronbach’s alpha = 0,90) and the Effort – Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire (Pikhart, Bobak, Siegrist, Pajak, Rywick, Kyshegyi, Gostaus, Skodova& Marmot, 1996) to measure stress at workplace. Cronbach’s alpha for the whole questionnaire reaches the value of 0,89. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2011
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Would an asset-based community development approach counteract a community deficit mindset in Leliefontein?

  • Authors: Hopkins, Grant Camden
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Community development , Rural development , Sustainable development
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:8691 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1009316 , Community development , Rural development , Sustainable development
  • Description: This research report aims to explore the potential of an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach in Leliefontein. Through the ABCD process, an inventory of the individual capacities of a sample group will be undertaken, as well as an inventory of the significant local associations, organisations and institutions, as well as their capacities. The objective will be to use the asset-mapping process to challenge negative community self-perceptions, enabling them to build new, positive images that empower and release latent potential. The information gathered will also be made available to the individuals, organisations, associations and institutions within the community, along with some ideas on how mutually beneficial partnerships can be developed. The key objective will be to assist the community of Leliefontein, to no longer regard themselves from a deficit mindset, but positively, as a community with tremendous resources, assets and relationships that can be harnessed for 4 community economic development. Asset-mapping can then be used by local organisations to build new relationships within the community, as well as relationships that harness resources outside of the immediate community.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Xenophobia and media: an exploratory study on the public perception of the Nelson Mandela Bay Community

  • Authors: Mohamed, Osman Abdi
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Xenophobia -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa , Mass media -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:9066 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1330 , Xenophobia -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa , Mass media -- South Africa
  • Description: Development in South Africa at present is at a crossroads; it could become injected with new energy or it could collapse. The presence of foreigners, especially those from Africa is in contention. Some argue that they help the economy whilst others argue they are a hindrance to locals and their employment worth. The “truth” regarding these may not be immediately recognisable and thus open to questioning depending on perception. The press plays a large role in these perceptions and has been criticised for the way it covers issues of public interest. it is envisaged that this study will be a useful contribution to the limited body of literature on xenophobia and media. The purpose of the study is to give foundation to the assumption that the media's constantly negative coverage of foreigner poses a very real threat to human rights as purported in South Africa‟s constitution, in addition to the economic significance, whether positive or not. This study highlights the perception that Nelson Mandela Bay residents have of foreign nationals, and whether negative reporting in the media has influenced residents' views of foreign nationals.
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  • Date Issued: 2011

Zimbabwe's Land Reform: myths and realities

  • Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
  • Date: 2011
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144710 , vital:38372 , DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2011.581502
  • Description: Zimbabwe’s land reform is the first book on contemporary Zimbabwe that offers an empirically-rich and detailed account of redistributed farms that arose from ‘fasttrack’ land reform 10 years ago. In order to fully appreciate the significance of this book, it is necessary to outline briefly recent intellectual debates on Zimbabwe. Two main positions exist on Zimbabwean politics and society. The first position argues that the radical restructuring of agrarian relations (including undermining white agricultural capital and breaking up large commercial farms into smaller units) is a progressive tendency that has opened up opportunities for black small-scale farmers. Simultaneously, this position often underplays the existence of state restructuring of an authoritarian kind. The second position argues that land redistribution has dramatically undercut agricultural production thereby severely compromising food security for all Zimbabweans. It brings to the fore violent state action in instigating land occupations and in thwarting political opposition to ‘fast-track’.
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  • Date Issued: 2011
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