An interpretive analysis of the experiences of adults working as university support staff
- Authors: Zini, Thembela Nomonde
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Universities and colleges South Africa , Universities and colleges Employees , Universities and colleges Sociological aspects , Identity (Psychology) , Identity (Psychology) Social aspects , Work Psychological aspects , Work Social aspects , Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
- Language: English
- Type: Masters theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/188888 , vital:44795
- Description: Work means different things to different people and the different meanings they make of their work has the unique ability of contributing to a sense of identity. Support staff have to negotiate their personal identities and social identities to develop a work identity in the complex South African context that has its unique challenges. Exploring how support staff make sense of their experiences, when it comes to their identities, reveals what identity work strategies they use. An interpretative phenomenological method of inquiry was employed as an initial research method to explore the aspects that impact on the identity formation of support staff at Rhodes University. The study aims to investigate how support staff have constructed a work identity through their constructions of their experiences. Six participants were recruited through a purposive sampling method and data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The study revealed that support staff use the following identity work strategies to negotiate their identities: Financial, Personality, Career mobility, Roles, Status and Esteem, Subjective wellbeing. These themes were derived from the narratives of the participants, using the emphases in the data and suggest that support staff use identity work strategies both outside and within the workplace, when constructing their work identities. The study illustrates that as people ascribe different meanings to work, they will define and negotiate their identities in the workplace based upon those meanings. Identity work is indeed challenging for support staff because they need to use identity strategies that are enhancing to their self-esteem. Identity work is a challenging task because of the many tensions and demands of modern society, as adults negotiate their needs to provide for families and to find ways to construct their job status in positive ways. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Zini, Thembela Nomonde
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Universities and colleges South Africa , Universities and colleges Employees , Universities and colleges Sociological aspects , Identity (Psychology) , Identity (Psychology) Social aspects , Work Psychological aspects , Work Social aspects , Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
- Language: English
- Type: Masters theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/188888 , vital:44795
- Description: Work means different things to different people and the different meanings they make of their work has the unique ability of contributing to a sense of identity. Support staff have to negotiate their personal identities and social identities to develop a work identity in the complex South African context that has its unique challenges. Exploring how support staff make sense of their experiences, when it comes to their identities, reveals what identity work strategies they use. An interpretative phenomenological method of inquiry was employed as an initial research method to explore the aspects that impact on the identity formation of support staff at Rhodes University. The study aims to investigate how support staff have constructed a work identity through their constructions of their experiences. Six participants were recruited through a purposive sampling method and data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The study revealed that support staff use the following identity work strategies to negotiate their identities: Financial, Personality, Career mobility, Roles, Status and Esteem, Subjective wellbeing. These themes were derived from the narratives of the participants, using the emphases in the data and suggest that support staff use identity work strategies both outside and within the workplace, when constructing their work identities. The study illustrates that as people ascribe different meanings to work, they will define and negotiate their identities in the workplace based upon those meanings. Identity work is indeed challenging for support staff because they need to use identity strategies that are enhancing to their self-esteem. Identity work is a challenging task because of the many tensions and demands of modern society, as adults negotiate their needs to provide for families and to find ways to construct their job status in positive ways. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Application of computer-aided drug design for identification of P. falciparum inhibitors
- Authors: Diallo, Bakary N’tji
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum , Malaria -- Chemotherapy , Molecular dynamics , Antimalarials , Cheminformatics , Drug development , Ligand binding (Biochemistry) , Plasmodium falciparum1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (PfDXR) , South African Natural Compounds Database
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192798 , vital:45265 , 10.21504/10962/192798
- Description: Malaria is a millennia-old disease with the first recorded cases dating back to 2700 BC found in Chinese medical records, and later in other civilizations. It has claimed human lives to such an extent that there are a notable associated socio-economic consequences. Currently, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa holds the highest disease burden with 94% of deaths and 82% of cases with P. falciparum having ~100% prevalence. Chemotherapy, such as artemisinin combination therapy, has been and continues to be the work horse in the fight against the disease, together with seasonal malaria chemoprevention and the use of insecticides. Natural products such as quinine and artemisinin are particularly important in terms of their antimalarial activity. The emphasis in current chemotherapy research is the need for time and cost-effective workflows focussed on new mechanisms of action (MoAs) covering the target candidate profiles (TCPs). Despite a decline in cases over the past decades with, countries increasingly becoming certified malaria free, a stalling trend has been observed in the past five years resulting in missing the 2020 Global Technical Strategy (GTS) milestones. With no effective vaccine, a reduction in funding, slower drug approval than resistance emergence from resistant and invasive vectors, and threats in diagnosis with the pfhrp2/3 gene deletion, malaria remains a major health concern. Motivated by these reasons, the primary aim of this work was a contribution to the antimalarial pipeline through in silico approaches focusing on P. falciparum. We first intended an exploration of malarial targets through a proteome scale screening on 36 targets using multiple metrics to account for the multi-objective nature of drug discovery. The continuous growth of structural data offers the ideal scenario for mining new MoAs covering antimalarials TCPs. This was combined with a repurposing strategy using a set of orally available FDA approved drugs. Further, use was made of time- and cost-effective strategies combining QVina-W efficiency metrics that integrate molecular properties, GRIM rescoring for molecular interactions and a hydrogen mass repartitioning (HMR) molecular dynamics (MD) scheme for accelerated development of antimalarials in the context of resistance. This pipeline further integrates a complex ranking for better drug-target selectivity, and normalization strategies to overcome docking scoring function bias. The different metrics, ranking, normalization strategies and their combinations were first assessed using their mean ranking error (MRE). A version combining all metrics was used to select 36 unique protein-ligand complexes, assessed in MD, with the final retention of 25. From the 16 in vitro tested hits of the 25, fingolimod, abiraterone, prazosin, and terazosin showed antiplasmodial activity with IC50 2.21, 3.37, 16.67 and 34.72 μM respectively and of these, only fingolimod was found to be not safe with respect to human cell viability. These compounds were predicted active on different molecular targets, abiraterone was predicted to interact with a putative liver-stage essential target, hence promising as a transmission-blocking agent. The pipeline had a promising 25% hit rate considering the proteome-scale and use of cost-effective approaches. Secondly, we focused on Plasmodium falciparum 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (PfDXR) using a more extensive screening pipeline to overcome some of the current in silico screening limitations. Starting from the ZINC lead-like library of ~3M, hierarchical ligand-based virtual screening (LBVS) and structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) approaches with molecular docking and re-scoring using eleven scoring functions (SFs) were used. Later ranking with an exponential consensus strategy was included. Selected hits were further assessed through Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA), advanced MD sampling in a ligand pulling simulations and (Weighted Histogram Analysis Method) WHAM analysis for umbrella sampling (US) to derive binding free energies. Four leads had better predicted affinities in US than LC5, a 280 nM potent PfDXR inhibitor with ZINC000050633276 showing a promising binding of -20.43 kcal/mol. As shown with fosmidomycin, DXR inhibition offers fast acting compounds fulfilling antimalarials TCP1. Yet, fosmidomycin has a high polarity causing its short half-life and hampering its clinical use. These leads scaffolds are different from fosmidomycin and hence may offer better pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties and may also be promising for lead optimization. A combined analysis of residues’ contributions to the free energy of binding in MM-PBSA and to steered molecular dynamics (SMD) Fmax indicated GLU233, CYS268, SER270, TRP296, and HIS341 as exploitable for compound optimization. Finally, we updated the SANCDB library with new NPs and their commercially available analogs as a solution to NP availability. The library is extended to 1005 compounds from its initial 600 compounds and the database is integrated to Mcule and Molport APIs for analogs automatic update. The new set may contribute to virtual screening and to antimalarials as the most effective ones have NP origin. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Diallo, Bakary N’tji
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum , Malaria -- Chemotherapy , Molecular dynamics , Antimalarials , Cheminformatics , Drug development , Ligand binding (Biochemistry) , Plasmodium falciparum1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (PfDXR) , South African Natural Compounds Database
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192798 , vital:45265 , 10.21504/10962/192798
- Description: Malaria is a millennia-old disease with the first recorded cases dating back to 2700 BC found in Chinese medical records, and later in other civilizations. It has claimed human lives to such an extent that there are a notable associated socio-economic consequences. Currently, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa holds the highest disease burden with 94% of deaths and 82% of cases with P. falciparum having ~100% prevalence. Chemotherapy, such as artemisinin combination therapy, has been and continues to be the work horse in the fight against the disease, together with seasonal malaria chemoprevention and the use of insecticides. Natural products such as quinine and artemisinin are particularly important in terms of their antimalarial activity. The emphasis in current chemotherapy research is the need for time and cost-effective workflows focussed on new mechanisms of action (MoAs) covering the target candidate profiles (TCPs). Despite a decline in cases over the past decades with, countries increasingly becoming certified malaria free, a stalling trend has been observed in the past five years resulting in missing the 2020 Global Technical Strategy (GTS) milestones. With no effective vaccine, a reduction in funding, slower drug approval than resistance emergence from resistant and invasive vectors, and threats in diagnosis with the pfhrp2/3 gene deletion, malaria remains a major health concern. Motivated by these reasons, the primary aim of this work was a contribution to the antimalarial pipeline through in silico approaches focusing on P. falciparum. We first intended an exploration of malarial targets through a proteome scale screening on 36 targets using multiple metrics to account for the multi-objective nature of drug discovery. The continuous growth of structural data offers the ideal scenario for mining new MoAs covering antimalarials TCPs. This was combined with a repurposing strategy using a set of orally available FDA approved drugs. Further, use was made of time- and cost-effective strategies combining QVina-W efficiency metrics that integrate molecular properties, GRIM rescoring for molecular interactions and a hydrogen mass repartitioning (HMR) molecular dynamics (MD) scheme for accelerated development of antimalarials in the context of resistance. This pipeline further integrates a complex ranking for better drug-target selectivity, and normalization strategies to overcome docking scoring function bias. The different metrics, ranking, normalization strategies and their combinations were first assessed using their mean ranking error (MRE). A version combining all metrics was used to select 36 unique protein-ligand complexes, assessed in MD, with the final retention of 25. From the 16 in vitro tested hits of the 25, fingolimod, abiraterone, prazosin, and terazosin showed antiplasmodial activity with IC50 2.21, 3.37, 16.67 and 34.72 μM respectively and of these, only fingolimod was found to be not safe with respect to human cell viability. These compounds were predicted active on different molecular targets, abiraterone was predicted to interact with a putative liver-stage essential target, hence promising as a transmission-blocking agent. The pipeline had a promising 25% hit rate considering the proteome-scale and use of cost-effective approaches. Secondly, we focused on Plasmodium falciparum 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase (PfDXR) using a more extensive screening pipeline to overcome some of the current in silico screening limitations. Starting from the ZINC lead-like library of ~3M, hierarchical ligand-based virtual screening (LBVS) and structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) approaches with molecular docking and re-scoring using eleven scoring functions (SFs) were used. Later ranking with an exponential consensus strategy was included. Selected hits were further assessed through Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA), advanced MD sampling in a ligand pulling simulations and (Weighted Histogram Analysis Method) WHAM analysis for umbrella sampling (US) to derive binding free energies. Four leads had better predicted affinities in US than LC5, a 280 nM potent PfDXR inhibitor with ZINC000050633276 showing a promising binding of -20.43 kcal/mol. As shown with fosmidomycin, DXR inhibition offers fast acting compounds fulfilling antimalarials TCP1. Yet, fosmidomycin has a high polarity causing its short half-life and hampering its clinical use. These leads scaffolds are different from fosmidomycin and hence may offer better pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties and may also be promising for lead optimization. A combined analysis of residues’ contributions to the free energy of binding in MM-PBSA and to steered molecular dynamics (SMD) Fmax indicated GLU233, CYS268, SER270, TRP296, and HIS341 as exploitable for compound optimization. Finally, we updated the SANCDB library with new NPs and their commercially available analogs as a solution to NP availability. The library is extended to 1005 compounds from its initial 600 compounds and the database is integrated to Mcule and Molport APIs for analogs automatic update. The new set may contribute to virtual screening and to antimalarials as the most effective ones have NP origin. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Baseline description of the Benthic Biotopes for two Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) stations in Algoa Bay, Agulhas ecoregion, South Africa
- Authors: Parker-Nance, Shirley
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Benthic ecology South Africa Algoa Bay , Long-Term Ecological Research Program , Marine invertebrates South Africa Algoa Bay , Reef ecology South Africa Algoa Bay , Coastal zone management South Africa Algoa Bay , Reef fishes South Africa Algoa Bay , Ecological mapping South Africa Algoa Bay
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191680 , vital:45147 , 10.21504/10962/191680
- Description: Shallow coastal marine ecosystems provide important resources to society but are increasingly under threat from anthropogenic impacts. These systems form an interface between land and sea, providing valuable resources. Global environmental change, overexploitation, habitat transformation, pollution and policies aimed at short-term socio-economic gains are driving the loss of natural resources, productivity and biodiversity. Consequently, a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the current and future states of marine ecosystems is essential. This requires insight into the processes involved in maintaining genetic, species, habitat, community and biotope diversity at an ecosystem level. An understanding of ecosystem processes and the ability to detect changes in biodiversity, biotopes, seascape composition and ecosystem functioning require observation made over time and space. In response to this need, Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) programmes such as those established by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) supported by the Department of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI) collect long–term observational data from different environments and systems. This study aimed to evaluate data collected as part of the developmental phase of a newly established benthic research platform. The datasets constructed are used to develop a baseline description of the benthic biotopes of two study areas within Algoa Bay. It aimed to gain insight into the feasibility of the methods used and the value of the data and derived essential biological variables (EVB). Assessing the sustainability of the programme over time was done through a practical evaluation of the methodology to be used and the technical feasibility of data collection and analysis. It furthermore aimed to assess the data usefulness in describing biodiversity at various scales and its sensitivity in reporting change. This pilot study provides valuable insight into data collection methodologies and introduces new sampling platforms. The baseline dataset consisted of data collected during the first 18 months of the SAEON Benthic Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (BELTER) platform in Algoa Bay, Agulhas ecoregion, Western Indian Ocean, South Africa. This comprised of the collection of images for 150 m2 of the researched benthic seascape and 306 stereo video data streams. The 77 760 point dataset allowed the identification of 12 substrate types, 7 biotopes, 44 sub-biotope units, 377 sessile and sedentary benthic species and 51 ichthyofauna species. The described habitat and benthic communities and the defined benthic biotopes allowed for the assessment of biotope heterogeneity and the construction of a provisional distribution map for the broader biotopes. This work includes a study into the infra- and supra-benthic ichthyofauna associated with the defined biotopes and investigates the role habitat and benthic communities play in the distribution of these fish 3 assemblages. Lastly, it assesses the value of morphological traits and diversity indices for describing and comparing abiotic and biotic components of observed systems within the shallow coastal marine seascape. This study shows that species composition differs significantly between biotopes with habitat type playing a key role in the composition of the benthos. Substrate type, consolidated or unconsolidated, depth and the composition of the soft sediment is the most important determining factors. The White Sands Reef station has a higher species diversity than the St Croix Island Complex station with a higher percentage cover associated with the hard substrate. The dissimilarity between biotopes and communities are generally high although similarity within the biotopes or communities was found to be relatively low. This was considered indicative of high heterogeneity within the biotopes and a patch or mosaic-like distribution of communities within the broader biotope. A fine-scale a posteriori analysis of the data collected confirmed the high heterogeneous nature of both habitat and communities within the broader biotope. The description of the abiotic and biotic variables resulted in the identification of a diverse suite of biotope subunits. The character of the biotope hinges not only on the composition of the substrate and biota present but the contribution of smaller distinct biotopes subunits, their distribution and representation within broader biotopes and the degree these are shared with other broader biotopes. The distribution of these biotope units at different scales is believed to be important in understanding inherent diversity, niche partitioning and connectivity within a highly heterogeneous seascape. Ichthyofauna associated with the broader biotopes were indicative of the substrate type. Low profile reef systems with interspaced sandy stretches supported both reef fish and those typically associated with sandy substrates. Benthic biotopes associated characteristically with higher profile reef systems and less sand or soft sediment were mainly utilized by reef-associated fish species. Substrate type, depth and seasonality were found to be important factors in the observed composition and distribution of ichthyofauna over the seascape. Although fish species were found to have a wide distribution and made use of multiple biotopes the average abundance of the species within the observed assemblages differed. Analysis of ichthyofauna species composition indicated that observed fish assemblages were homogeneous within five of the seven biotopes. Broader biotopes that were found to be significantly different between sample locations are characterised by a diverse complement of biotope subunits and are highly heterogeneous. Traits and diversity indices are important tools for assessing and comparing different systems within the seascape, both spatially and temporally. The classification of the biota into broader phylogenetic groups indicated a significant difference between biotopes. This is especially useful when detailed 4 analysis or species identification is not possible or the skill set is not available. Morphological traits included in this study informed on the physical structure of the communities present and in combination with substrate type provided insight into the three-dimensional structure of the biotope. Species diversity, abundance, density estimates and the Shannon-Weiner diversity index were found to be the most useful diversity indices characterising and comparing biotopes. This was less so for ichthyofauna. Significant differences in the number of species observed were evident only between consolidated and unconsolidated dominated substrates. Although there was no significant difference in the number of individuals observed, both the Shannon-Weiner and Simpson Diversity indices were able to highlight differences in the fish assemblages observed for the different biotopes. The data collected, although permitting a comprehensive baseline assessment of the benthic environment for two research stations within the SAEON Algoa Bay LTER Sentinel Site, is temporally limited. The ichthyofauna dataset used was small and it is understood that the addition of length-frequency analysis of observed ichthyofauna will benefit our understanding of the biotope use by infra- and supra-benthic fish species over their life history within the larger seascape. Seasonal differences were evident and it is expected that datasets spanning several years, including LTER stations within different marine ecosystems types, will provide valuable insights on system dynamics in the short and long term both spatially and temporally. This study is the first attempt to evaluate the methodology developed and data collected in the South African Environmental Observation Network’s, Elwandle Coastal Node as part of the Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure Benthic Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (BELTER) platform. Newly designed and developed sample equipment and a sampling regime allowed for the collection of data on a long-term basis. The study was successful in the description of the biotope and biotope subunits for two research stations in Algoa Bay. It permitted the construction of comprehensive species lists for both benthic sessile and sedentary biota and the associated ichthyofauna. The subset of data used was successful in reporting on both spatial and temporal change. This work demonstrates that in the absence of detailed species identifications, traits may be used to describe habitat and community structure and report on abiotic and biotic biotope characteristics. This study furthermore allowed for the comparison of a comprehensive suite of diversity indices highlighting indices that may be especially useful in routine BELTER reporting. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Parker-Nance, Shirley
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Benthic ecology South Africa Algoa Bay , Long-Term Ecological Research Program , Marine invertebrates South Africa Algoa Bay , Reef ecology South Africa Algoa Bay , Coastal zone management South Africa Algoa Bay , Reef fishes South Africa Algoa Bay , Ecological mapping South Africa Algoa Bay
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191680 , vital:45147 , 10.21504/10962/191680
- Description: Shallow coastal marine ecosystems provide important resources to society but are increasingly under threat from anthropogenic impacts. These systems form an interface between land and sea, providing valuable resources. Global environmental change, overexploitation, habitat transformation, pollution and policies aimed at short-term socio-economic gains are driving the loss of natural resources, productivity and biodiversity. Consequently, a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the current and future states of marine ecosystems is essential. This requires insight into the processes involved in maintaining genetic, species, habitat, community and biotope diversity at an ecosystem level. An understanding of ecosystem processes and the ability to detect changes in biodiversity, biotopes, seascape composition and ecosystem functioning require observation made over time and space. In response to this need, Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) programmes such as those established by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) supported by the Department of Science and Innovation’s (DSI) Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI) collect long–term observational data from different environments and systems. This study aimed to evaluate data collected as part of the developmental phase of a newly established benthic research platform. The datasets constructed are used to develop a baseline description of the benthic biotopes of two study areas within Algoa Bay. It aimed to gain insight into the feasibility of the methods used and the value of the data and derived essential biological variables (EVB). Assessing the sustainability of the programme over time was done through a practical evaluation of the methodology to be used and the technical feasibility of data collection and analysis. It furthermore aimed to assess the data usefulness in describing biodiversity at various scales and its sensitivity in reporting change. This pilot study provides valuable insight into data collection methodologies and introduces new sampling platforms. The baseline dataset consisted of data collected during the first 18 months of the SAEON Benthic Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (BELTER) platform in Algoa Bay, Agulhas ecoregion, Western Indian Ocean, South Africa. This comprised of the collection of images for 150 m2 of the researched benthic seascape and 306 stereo video data streams. The 77 760 point dataset allowed the identification of 12 substrate types, 7 biotopes, 44 sub-biotope units, 377 sessile and sedentary benthic species and 51 ichthyofauna species. The described habitat and benthic communities and the defined benthic biotopes allowed for the assessment of biotope heterogeneity and the construction of a provisional distribution map for the broader biotopes. This work includes a study into the infra- and supra-benthic ichthyofauna associated with the defined biotopes and investigates the role habitat and benthic communities play in the distribution of these fish 3 assemblages. Lastly, it assesses the value of morphological traits and diversity indices for describing and comparing abiotic and biotic components of observed systems within the shallow coastal marine seascape. This study shows that species composition differs significantly between biotopes with habitat type playing a key role in the composition of the benthos. Substrate type, consolidated or unconsolidated, depth and the composition of the soft sediment is the most important determining factors. The White Sands Reef station has a higher species diversity than the St Croix Island Complex station with a higher percentage cover associated with the hard substrate. The dissimilarity between biotopes and communities are generally high although similarity within the biotopes or communities was found to be relatively low. This was considered indicative of high heterogeneity within the biotopes and a patch or mosaic-like distribution of communities within the broader biotope. A fine-scale a posteriori analysis of the data collected confirmed the high heterogeneous nature of both habitat and communities within the broader biotope. The description of the abiotic and biotic variables resulted in the identification of a diverse suite of biotope subunits. The character of the biotope hinges not only on the composition of the substrate and biota present but the contribution of smaller distinct biotopes subunits, their distribution and representation within broader biotopes and the degree these are shared with other broader biotopes. The distribution of these biotope units at different scales is believed to be important in understanding inherent diversity, niche partitioning and connectivity within a highly heterogeneous seascape. Ichthyofauna associated with the broader biotopes were indicative of the substrate type. Low profile reef systems with interspaced sandy stretches supported both reef fish and those typically associated with sandy substrates. Benthic biotopes associated characteristically with higher profile reef systems and less sand or soft sediment were mainly utilized by reef-associated fish species. Substrate type, depth and seasonality were found to be important factors in the observed composition and distribution of ichthyofauna over the seascape. Although fish species were found to have a wide distribution and made use of multiple biotopes the average abundance of the species within the observed assemblages differed. Analysis of ichthyofauna species composition indicated that observed fish assemblages were homogeneous within five of the seven biotopes. Broader biotopes that were found to be significantly different between sample locations are characterised by a diverse complement of biotope subunits and are highly heterogeneous. Traits and diversity indices are important tools for assessing and comparing different systems within the seascape, both spatially and temporally. The classification of the biota into broader phylogenetic groups indicated a significant difference between biotopes. This is especially useful when detailed 4 analysis or species identification is not possible or the skill set is not available. Morphological traits included in this study informed on the physical structure of the communities present and in combination with substrate type provided insight into the three-dimensional structure of the biotope. Species diversity, abundance, density estimates and the Shannon-Weiner diversity index were found to be the most useful diversity indices characterising and comparing biotopes. This was less so for ichthyofauna. Significant differences in the number of species observed were evident only between consolidated and unconsolidated dominated substrates. Although there was no significant difference in the number of individuals observed, both the Shannon-Weiner and Simpson Diversity indices were able to highlight differences in the fish assemblages observed for the different biotopes. The data collected, although permitting a comprehensive baseline assessment of the benthic environment for two research stations within the SAEON Algoa Bay LTER Sentinel Site, is temporally limited. The ichthyofauna dataset used was small and it is understood that the addition of length-frequency analysis of observed ichthyofauna will benefit our understanding of the biotope use by infra- and supra-benthic fish species over their life history within the larger seascape. Seasonal differences were evident and it is expected that datasets spanning several years, including LTER stations within different marine ecosystems types, will provide valuable insights on system dynamics in the short and long term both spatially and temporally. This study is the first attempt to evaluate the methodology developed and data collected in the South African Environmental Observation Network’s, Elwandle Coastal Node as part of the Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure Benthic Ecosystem Long-Term Ecological Research (BELTER) platform. Newly designed and developed sample equipment and a sampling regime allowed for the collection of data on a long-term basis. The study was successful in the description of the biotope and biotope subunits for two research stations in Algoa Bay. It permitted the construction of comprehensive species lists for both benthic sessile and sedentary biota and the associated ichthyofauna. The subset of data used was successful in reporting on both spatial and temporal change. This work demonstrates that in the absence of detailed species identifications, traits may be used to describe habitat and community structure and report on abiotic and biotic biotope characteristics. This study furthermore allowed for the comparison of a comprehensive suite of diversity indices highlighting indices that may be especially useful in routine BELTER reporting. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Biton’s Lost Siege Engine: Experimental archaeology in Classical Studies
- Authors: Rademan, David John
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Pergamum (Extinct city) , Dimensional analysis , Engineering History To 168 B.C. , Fluid mechanics History To 168 B.C. , Byzantine literature History and criticism , Siege warfare History To 168 B.C. , Biton of Pergamon , Isidorus of Abydos , Poliorcetics
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192330 , vital:45216
- Description: This thesis entails an examination of several problems inherent in placing a technical treatise by the Hellenistic Greek engineer, Biton of Pergamon, at a siege of 156-154BCE, with a view to galvanising the existing case of previous scholarship through a combined approach of literary, textual, geographical, and technical analysis. Particular focus is given to the following problems: technical errors in current translations of the treatise of Biton; technical considerations in scholars’ reproductions of a particular engine in the treatise; an assessment of the practical implications of the treatise in situ at the physical site of the ancient city of Pergamon in the second century BCE, as evidenced by archaeological findings and surveys; assessment of those implications by way of historical records of similar conflicts from the Hellenistic period; and suggesting a procedure of dimensional analysis for testing a hypothesis regarding the feasibility of the ancient engineer’s recommended engines as a stand-in for the city’s original defenses, in a manner that harmonises the methodologies of historicism and experimental archaeology with sound and appropriate modern engineering practice from the field of Fluid Mechanics. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Rademan, David John
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Pergamum (Extinct city) , Dimensional analysis , Engineering History To 168 B.C. , Fluid mechanics History To 168 B.C. , Byzantine literature History and criticism , Siege warfare History To 168 B.C. , Biton of Pergamon , Isidorus of Abydos , Poliorcetics
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192330 , vital:45216
- Description: This thesis entails an examination of several problems inherent in placing a technical treatise by the Hellenistic Greek engineer, Biton of Pergamon, at a siege of 156-154BCE, with a view to galvanising the existing case of previous scholarship through a combined approach of literary, textual, geographical, and technical analysis. Particular focus is given to the following problems: technical errors in current translations of the treatise of Biton; technical considerations in scholars’ reproductions of a particular engine in the treatise; an assessment of the practical implications of the treatise in situ at the physical site of the ancient city of Pergamon in the second century BCE, as evidenced by archaeological findings and surveys; assessment of those implications by way of historical records of similar conflicts from the Hellenistic period; and suggesting a procedure of dimensional analysis for testing a hypothesis regarding the feasibility of the ancient engineer’s recommended engines as a stand-in for the city’s original defenses, in a manner that harmonises the methodologies of historicism and experimental archaeology with sound and appropriate modern engineering practice from the field of Fluid Mechanics. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Cellphones and whistles: Exploring the communicative ecology and sociality of the Enkanini informal settlement in Makhanda
- Authors: Baloyi, Karabo
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Communication models , Cell phones Social aspects South Africa Makhanda , Cell phones Economic aspects South Africa Makhanda , Squatter settlements South Africa Makhanda , South Africa Social conditions 1994- , South Africa Economic conditions 1991- , South Africa Social life and customs , Communication Economic aspects South Africa Makhanda , Whistles South Africa Makhanda , Decolonization South Africa Makhanda , Communicative ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191046 , vital:45053
- Description: This thesis explores the communicative ecology in the Enkanini informal settlement in Makhanda, and in particular their use of mobile phones and whistles to build a sense of community. It makes the case for word-of-mouth as an integral part of the communicative ecology despite not being a technological device. It then examines the sociality that arises from the use of these devices, and how coloniality impacts on the participants’ everyday experiences. The research was conducted through telephonic in-depth interviews with participants. To corroborate some of the content drawn from interviews, I used Grocott’s Mail, Makhanda’s only independent newspaper as an archival source, as well as some of the participants’ Facebook profiles. This research argues that as a consequence of coloniality, Enkanini’s residents suffer socio-economic challenges, and thus are unable to use digital technologies as much as they might like to, to communicate with their neighbours. As a consequence, word-of-mouth is their main form of communication with one another. Whistles are the ‘low-tech’ device used for community-wide communication to alert residents of an emergency, or about a meeting or protest. My findings contest generalised claims of society moving towards a network sociality, where individuality and project-based communication is valued over more communal forms of living. They also demonstrate the ways in which coloniality shapes almost every aspect of marginalised people’s lives, making word of mouth the most significant form of communication, notwithstanding the apparent availability of digital technology. It also shows how a marginalised group uses the resources it has to pressure local government officials to provide them with the basis infrastructure they need for survival. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Baloyi, Karabo
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Communication models , Cell phones Social aspects South Africa Makhanda , Cell phones Economic aspects South Africa Makhanda , Squatter settlements South Africa Makhanda , South Africa Social conditions 1994- , South Africa Economic conditions 1991- , South Africa Social life and customs , Communication Economic aspects South Africa Makhanda , Whistles South Africa Makhanda , Decolonization South Africa Makhanda , Communicative ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191046 , vital:45053
- Description: This thesis explores the communicative ecology in the Enkanini informal settlement in Makhanda, and in particular their use of mobile phones and whistles to build a sense of community. It makes the case for word-of-mouth as an integral part of the communicative ecology despite not being a technological device. It then examines the sociality that arises from the use of these devices, and how coloniality impacts on the participants’ everyday experiences. The research was conducted through telephonic in-depth interviews with participants. To corroborate some of the content drawn from interviews, I used Grocott’s Mail, Makhanda’s only independent newspaper as an archival source, as well as some of the participants’ Facebook profiles. This research argues that as a consequence of coloniality, Enkanini’s residents suffer socio-economic challenges, and thus are unable to use digital technologies as much as they might like to, to communicate with their neighbours. As a consequence, word-of-mouth is their main form of communication with one another. Whistles are the ‘low-tech’ device used for community-wide communication to alert residents of an emergency, or about a meeting or protest. My findings contest generalised claims of society moving towards a network sociality, where individuality and project-based communication is valued over more communal forms of living. They also demonstrate the ways in which coloniality shapes almost every aspect of marginalised people’s lives, making word of mouth the most significant form of communication, notwithstanding the apparent availability of digital technology. It also shows how a marginalised group uses the resources it has to pressure local government officials to provide them with the basis infrastructure they need for survival. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation in rural border communities in Southern Africa: A case study of Ezondweni Village in Mchinji, Malawi
- Authors: Simango, Kennedy Khuzwayo
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Farms, Small Malawi Mchinji , Climatic changes Economic aspects Malawi Mchinji , Climatic changes Risk management Malawi Mchinji , Crops and climate Malawi Mchinji , Sustainable agriculture Malawi Mchinji , Farmers Social networks Malawi Mchinji , Farm income Malawi Mchinji
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190008 , vital:44955
- Description: Southern Africa is a region increasingly experiencing the detrimental effects of climate change and variability. The rural areas in particular face unprecedented climate change-induced challenges in relation to small-scale farmers being able to pursue household-based livelihoods, and these farmers seek ways of adapting to climate change and variability in doing so. Some rural communities exist along territorial borders and their attempts at adapting to climate change entails cross-border networks and activities. In this context, this thesis examines small-scale farmer adaptation to climate change and variability in the small village of Ezondweni in Malawi near the Zambian border. Analytically, the study draws upon the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework as well as social network theory and the theory of reflexive agency put forward by Margaret Archer. A qualitative research design entailed informal interviews with a small number of Ezondweni villagers, focusing on their perceptions of climate change and their practices of climate change adaptation. The study demonstrates the diverse activities pursued by villagers, both within Malawi and beyond, in seeking to maintain household-based livelihoods, as well as the significance of mutually-supportive social networks which facilitate these livelihood processes. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Social Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Simango, Kennedy Khuzwayo
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Farms, Small Malawi Mchinji , Climatic changes Economic aspects Malawi Mchinji , Climatic changes Risk management Malawi Mchinji , Crops and climate Malawi Mchinji , Sustainable agriculture Malawi Mchinji , Farmers Social networks Malawi Mchinji , Farm income Malawi Mchinji
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190008 , vital:44955
- Description: Southern Africa is a region increasingly experiencing the detrimental effects of climate change and variability. The rural areas in particular face unprecedented climate change-induced challenges in relation to small-scale farmers being able to pursue household-based livelihoods, and these farmers seek ways of adapting to climate change and variability in doing so. Some rural communities exist along territorial borders and their attempts at adapting to climate change entails cross-border networks and activities. In this context, this thesis examines small-scale farmer adaptation to climate change and variability in the small village of Ezondweni in Malawi near the Zambian border. Analytically, the study draws upon the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework as well as social network theory and the theory of reflexive agency put forward by Margaret Archer. A qualitative research design entailed informal interviews with a small number of Ezondweni villagers, focusing on their perceptions of climate change and their practices of climate change adaptation. The study demonstrates the diverse activities pursued by villagers, both within Malawi and beyond, in seeking to maintain household-based livelihoods, as well as the significance of mutually-supportive social networks which facilitate these livelihood processes. , Thesis (MSocSci) -- Faculty of Humanities, Social Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Climate for changing lenses: Reconciliation through site-specific, media arts-based environmental education on the water and climate change nexus in South Africa and Canada
- Authors: Van Borek, Sarah
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Environmental education South Africa , Environmental education Canada , Climatic changes in art , Water-supply Climatic factors , Decolonization , Reconciliation South Africa , Curriculum change , Traditional ecological knowledge
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192754 , vital:45260 , 10.21504/10962/192754
- Description: This study took place in the context of a growing racialised global water crisis and increasing demands worldwide for transforming higher education at institutions of ongoing settler colonialism. It presents a conceptualisation of what education, research and activism can look like and unfolded inside a doctoral research project that expands what doctoral education can look like. Using a media arts-based praxis process, I developed a relational model of university curriculum –site-specific, media arts-based, environmental education –with potential to cultivate relations (human and nonhuman) towards reconciliation while contributing to justice at the water-climate change nexus. My aim as a settler-ally was to expand my teaching and curriculum practices, thereby also offering curriculum transformation inspiration to others. My research was rooted in my concept of reconciliation as a practice towards thriving together, where the ‘together’ was inclusive of both humans and nonhumans. The curriculum engaged students in de/re/constructing water narratives through making site-specific videos focused on local water bodies. Decolonising artistic approaches known as slow media and soundscape recording were strategically incorporated into audio/video mapping assignments where students observed water aesthetics in ways that shifted their perceptions about water and entities entangled with it. Students met with Knowledge Keepers (Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from outside the academy with existing relationships to water bodies). A photovoice methodology was used in these meetings with Knowledge Keepers to reconfigure traditional film director-subject power relations. Guest lecturers from non-traditional backgrounds contributed diverse perspectives. Ecomotricity was incorporated, whereby students were in deliberate movement in/with water bodies through canoeing together. The curriculum culminated in a public screening/education event where resulting videos, interspersed with educational games facilitated by students, surfaced emotions, knowledge co-production and new synergies amongst the event’s temporary community. Through two iterations of the curriculum, where I co-designed and taught a course called Making Waveforms, one in Vancouver, Canada and one in Cape Town, South Africa, I explored the primary research question: How can a relational site specific, media arts-based university environmental education curriculum cultivate students’ relational sensibilities and abilities oriented towards reconciliation of diverse peoples and ecosystems in South Africa and Canada? Iterating the curriculum across these two contexts allowed me to assess which aspect(s)of the curriculum may have been applicable across these and other contexts. By using mixed methods of data collection and sharing throughout the research journey, I explored the sub-questions: a) How is reconciliation understood currently by university students in South Africa and Canada? and b) How can a relational site-specific, media arts-based university environmental education curriculum and my PhD methodologies (PhD-by-publication, website, and participatory approaches to podcasting, video making, and song creation), contribute to decolonising higher education, and thereby further contribute to reconciliation of diverse peoples and ecosystems in South Africa and Canada? Integral to my praxis process, I undertook a PhD-by-publication that involved writing four academic journal articles, with each paper presenting a key stage in the process. The papers, all of which have been submitted to peer-reviewed academic journals, form part of this thesis and can be found in the Appendices. The course was originally developed around Donati’s (2011) relational sociology and Gergen’s (2009) relational education theory. Throughout my praxis process, I expanded my theoretical influences as called for by the research and teaching practice. The journey behind my first PhD paper, (Towards) Sound research practice: Podcast-building as modeling relational sensibilities at the water-climate change nexus in Cape Town, began when I officially started my doctoral studies in early 2018. The paper was co-authored with a fellow PhD scholar from Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC), Anna James. It presents an experimental arts-based methodology we co-developed for doing contextual profiling by building a socially-engaged podcast series, called Day One, to explore the lived experiences of the Cape Town water crisis of 2018. It includes my initial tool of analysis for exploring how the curriculum might cultivate relational sensibilities and abilities towards reconciliation. The podcast pedagogy offered opportunities to develop some relational learning processes. The analytical tool was developed from cross-referencing reconciliation and relational educational theories. This paper also incorporated theories in relational solidarity and social movement learning. The podcast episodes included personal narratives that, in turn, revealed diverse ideologies and polarisations in the water situation. Working with the audio medium highlighted possibilities for creating and shifting affective relations. Recording and editing soundscapes of waterbodies began explorations of the agential qualities of water. These were foundational dynamics to explore in building the reconciliation curriculum. The paper is published in the International Journal of New Media, Technology, and the Arts (2019, Volume14, Issue1). My second PhD paper, A media arts-based praxis process of building towards a relational model of curriculum oriented towards reconciliation through water justice, presents my methodology for and analysis of a pilot course I co-designed and taught at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD) in Vancouver, Canada in 2018. This course served as contextual profiling around the water situation in Vancouver. The course was offered in partnership with a science-based environmental non-profit called the David Suzuki Foundation and an Indigenous-led post-secondary school called the Native Education College. The course’s public event was hosted at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. At this stage, I was introduced to Cree/Métis filmmaker, Gregory Coyes, and his Indigenous cinematic narrative approach known as Slow Media. Integrating slow media into video mapping assignments presented exciting possibilities for shifting views and valuing of water. This was the stage at which my concept of reconciliation expanded to explicitly include nonhumans. I applied my initial analytical tool to the curriculum here, which revealed the three most prominent relational sensibilities and abilities towards reconciliation cultivated by students through the course: (1) knowledge ecologies; (2) a hopeful social imaginary; and (3) embodied ways of knowing. I began to make connections between the curriculum and Mi’kmaq elder Albert Marshall’s concept of ‘Two-Eyed-Seeing’, and expanded the notion to ‘Three-Eyed-Seeing’ to include artistic approaches. Deeply inspired by Bekerman and Zembylas’s (2012) Teaching Contested Narratives, I began to see the growing importance of the narrative aspects of reconciliation education. The paper is published in the University of Pretoria’s Journal of Decolonising Disciplines (2021, Volume 1, Issue 2). My third PhD paper, Water as artist-collaborator: Posthumanism and reconciliation in relational media arts-based education, presents a 2019 iteration of the curriculum at ECUAD in Vancouver, and illustrates my shift to include posthuman theories in my analysis. This course was offered in affiliation with the David Suzuki Foundation, and in collaboration with the Native Education College. The culminating public event was hosted by the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Decentring the human in this data analysis better supported my research and curricular aims. The strong technoculture of the media arts-based curriculum fits well with many posthuman concepts. This posthuman reading of the course and data enabled me to see what changes were emerging through student-water-technology intra-actions, and how these supported relations towards reconciliation as well as water justice. Most notable of these changes was the emergence of water’s agential qualities, specifically of water as becoming collaborator in artistic/knowledge co-production, where students think with water. I argued this contributes to reconciliation by decentring the human, enabling relations in which power is more equal, and where there are greater possibilities for mutual responsibility between related entities. This is where I developed the concept of audio/video as relational texts, supporting the creating and shifting of affective relations more than the monumentalised verbal/written knowledge of traditional universities. This is also where I realised that relational work towards reconciliation would require engaging with the hidden curriculum of institutions. The paper is published in the journal Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology (2021, Volume 12, Issue 1), as part of a special issue on Posthuman Conceptions of Change in Empirical Educational Research. My fourth PhD paper, originally entitled Making waveforms: Implicit knowledge representation through video water narratives as decolonising practice towards reconciliation in South Africa’s higher education, presents an analysis of the 2019 iteration of the curriculum in South Africa. I co-designed and led a course called Making Waveforms at the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute (FWI) in collaboration with Rhodes University. The course was co-designed/facilitated with FWI’s Research Fellow Amber Abrams, who also co-authored this paper. The course’s public event was hosted by a non-profit organisation called the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education. This paper explored the ways that non-verbalisable, implicit learning –understood as part of many non-Euro/Western ways of knowing– takes place in the Making Waveforms course and how this influenced water-specific climate behaviours while contributing to decolonised reconciliation practice for higher education institutions. Drawing on theories of implicit and explicit knowledge, we first showed how implicit learning primarily took place through: 1) site-specific audio/video mapping of water bodies; 2) meetings with Knowledge Keepers; and 3) an interactive public screening event. We highlighted how this non-verbalisable learning produced feelings of empathy for diverse peoples and waterways, as well as aesthetic appreciation of water, and how this can contribute to more response-able water behaviours. This, we argued, supported the valuing of implicit knowledge within a traditional educational setting, thereby pluralising knowledge, and was key to reconciliation/decolonisation in higher education. Iterating the curriculum for the South African context emphasised the importance of context-specificity of the course overall, and also of the relational work embedded in the curriculum. This paper is under review by the University of Toronto’s journal Curriculum Inquiry (CI). Following receipt of CI's internal review process, the title of the paper has since been updated to Non-verbalisable, implicit knowledge through cellphilms as decolonised reconciliation practice towards response-able water behaviours in South Africa. Through reflective analysis of my four papers, I developed a concept for an Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum consisting of five key parts: 1) relationality; 2) multimodality; 3) narratives/counter-narratives; 4) context-specificity; and 5) unhidden curriculum. Four meta reflections have been included in this thesis, each corresponding with one of the four papers, and presented chronologically according to the stage of the praxis process with which they correspond. In these meta reflections, I applied Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle model for reflective writing, based on the premise that through experiences we can expand our understanding, and included four key stages: 1) concrete experience; 2) reflective observation; 3) abstract conceptualisation; and 4) active experimentation. For the concrete experience, I provided a thick description of my process in writing the paper, as well as aspects of the phase in my praxis process that was the focus of the paper, not included in but relevant to the paper. For the reflective observation, I identified any aspects of the experience that were new to me and which therefore presented opportunities for me to learn. For the abstract conceptualisation, I critically analysed my concrete experience and reflective observation to determine which, if any, of the five key parts of the Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum that I outline in my introduction relate to this phase of my PhD praxis process. For the active experimentation, I made conclusions about the extent to which this phase of my PhD embraced decoloniality in practice, and built on this new understanding to make recommendations for myself and others committed to the decolonial project as part of my contribution to knowledge. These meta reflections also invite readers to follow my personal narrative of becoming-with water, meaning my transformation from being water illiterate to embracing a ‘watershed mind’ (Wong,2011). Multimodality, which I propose as a key part of an Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum, is embedded in the representational aspects of this thesis. The courses I co-designed and taught as part of this project resulted in the creation of 20 short student films. My contextual profiling involved a podcast methodology that was ongoing throughout my study, as a model of decolonised research-communication-education-action at the water-climate change nexus. This methodology resulted in the creation of four Day One podcast episodes, co-produced with a PhD colleague, Anna James. Some of these episodes are available in all three main languages of Cape Town (Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English). I evolved the podcast methodology in a later stage of my praxis process as a form of member checking with contributors involved in various stages and aspects of the research. Once the four papers were written, I created a series of four short videos called In the Flow, with each video representing a translation of one of the four papers. I invited various contributors of the research project to either watch one or more of the In the Flow videos and/or read one or more of the academic papers, and then to respond in a Zoom call with me. The responses were then shared publicly in a series of seven Climate for Changing Lenses podcast episodes. Parts of these are included in a final song/music video called Please Don’t Blow It. A Climate for Changing Lenses website was created to host all of this multimedia content that forms part of this thesis. A link to this website is provided in the Introduction section of this thesis. My research contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of relational and reconciliation pedagogy, decolonising higher education, arts-based teaching, learning and research methodologies and the water-climate change nexus. My praxis process provided a relational model of reconciliation curriculum that has been tried and tested in two international contexts: Canada and South Africa. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Van Borek, Sarah
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Environmental education South Africa , Environmental education Canada , Climatic changes in art , Water-supply Climatic factors , Decolonization , Reconciliation South Africa , Curriculum change , Traditional ecological knowledge
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192754 , vital:45260 , 10.21504/10962/192754
- Description: This study took place in the context of a growing racialised global water crisis and increasing demands worldwide for transforming higher education at institutions of ongoing settler colonialism. It presents a conceptualisation of what education, research and activism can look like and unfolded inside a doctoral research project that expands what doctoral education can look like. Using a media arts-based praxis process, I developed a relational model of university curriculum –site-specific, media arts-based, environmental education –with potential to cultivate relations (human and nonhuman) towards reconciliation while contributing to justice at the water-climate change nexus. My aim as a settler-ally was to expand my teaching and curriculum practices, thereby also offering curriculum transformation inspiration to others. My research was rooted in my concept of reconciliation as a practice towards thriving together, where the ‘together’ was inclusive of both humans and nonhumans. The curriculum engaged students in de/re/constructing water narratives through making site-specific videos focused on local water bodies. Decolonising artistic approaches known as slow media and soundscape recording were strategically incorporated into audio/video mapping assignments where students observed water aesthetics in ways that shifted their perceptions about water and entities entangled with it. Students met with Knowledge Keepers (Indigenous and non-Indigenous people from outside the academy with existing relationships to water bodies). A photovoice methodology was used in these meetings with Knowledge Keepers to reconfigure traditional film director-subject power relations. Guest lecturers from non-traditional backgrounds contributed diverse perspectives. Ecomotricity was incorporated, whereby students were in deliberate movement in/with water bodies through canoeing together. The curriculum culminated in a public screening/education event where resulting videos, interspersed with educational games facilitated by students, surfaced emotions, knowledge co-production and new synergies amongst the event’s temporary community. Through two iterations of the curriculum, where I co-designed and taught a course called Making Waveforms, one in Vancouver, Canada and one in Cape Town, South Africa, I explored the primary research question: How can a relational site specific, media arts-based university environmental education curriculum cultivate students’ relational sensibilities and abilities oriented towards reconciliation of diverse peoples and ecosystems in South Africa and Canada? Iterating the curriculum across these two contexts allowed me to assess which aspect(s)of the curriculum may have been applicable across these and other contexts. By using mixed methods of data collection and sharing throughout the research journey, I explored the sub-questions: a) How is reconciliation understood currently by university students in South Africa and Canada? and b) How can a relational site-specific, media arts-based university environmental education curriculum and my PhD methodologies (PhD-by-publication, website, and participatory approaches to podcasting, video making, and song creation), contribute to decolonising higher education, and thereby further contribute to reconciliation of diverse peoples and ecosystems in South Africa and Canada? Integral to my praxis process, I undertook a PhD-by-publication that involved writing four academic journal articles, with each paper presenting a key stage in the process. The papers, all of which have been submitted to peer-reviewed academic journals, form part of this thesis and can be found in the Appendices. The course was originally developed around Donati’s (2011) relational sociology and Gergen’s (2009) relational education theory. Throughout my praxis process, I expanded my theoretical influences as called for by the research and teaching practice. The journey behind my first PhD paper, (Towards) Sound research practice: Podcast-building as modeling relational sensibilities at the water-climate change nexus in Cape Town, began when I officially started my doctoral studies in early 2018. The paper was co-authored with a fellow PhD scholar from Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC), Anna James. It presents an experimental arts-based methodology we co-developed for doing contextual profiling by building a socially-engaged podcast series, called Day One, to explore the lived experiences of the Cape Town water crisis of 2018. It includes my initial tool of analysis for exploring how the curriculum might cultivate relational sensibilities and abilities towards reconciliation. The podcast pedagogy offered opportunities to develop some relational learning processes. The analytical tool was developed from cross-referencing reconciliation and relational educational theories. This paper also incorporated theories in relational solidarity and social movement learning. The podcast episodes included personal narratives that, in turn, revealed diverse ideologies and polarisations in the water situation. Working with the audio medium highlighted possibilities for creating and shifting affective relations. Recording and editing soundscapes of waterbodies began explorations of the agential qualities of water. These were foundational dynamics to explore in building the reconciliation curriculum. The paper is published in the International Journal of New Media, Technology, and the Arts (2019, Volume14, Issue1). My second PhD paper, A media arts-based praxis process of building towards a relational model of curriculum oriented towards reconciliation through water justice, presents my methodology for and analysis of a pilot course I co-designed and taught at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECUAD) in Vancouver, Canada in 2018. This course served as contextual profiling around the water situation in Vancouver. The course was offered in partnership with a science-based environmental non-profit called the David Suzuki Foundation and an Indigenous-led post-secondary school called the Native Education College. The course’s public event was hosted at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. At this stage, I was introduced to Cree/Métis filmmaker, Gregory Coyes, and his Indigenous cinematic narrative approach known as Slow Media. Integrating slow media into video mapping assignments presented exciting possibilities for shifting views and valuing of water. This was the stage at which my concept of reconciliation expanded to explicitly include nonhumans. I applied my initial analytical tool to the curriculum here, which revealed the three most prominent relational sensibilities and abilities towards reconciliation cultivated by students through the course: (1) knowledge ecologies; (2) a hopeful social imaginary; and (3) embodied ways of knowing. I began to make connections between the curriculum and Mi’kmaq elder Albert Marshall’s concept of ‘Two-Eyed-Seeing’, and expanded the notion to ‘Three-Eyed-Seeing’ to include artistic approaches. Deeply inspired by Bekerman and Zembylas’s (2012) Teaching Contested Narratives, I began to see the growing importance of the narrative aspects of reconciliation education. The paper is published in the University of Pretoria’s Journal of Decolonising Disciplines (2021, Volume 1, Issue 2). My third PhD paper, Water as artist-collaborator: Posthumanism and reconciliation in relational media arts-based education, presents a 2019 iteration of the curriculum at ECUAD in Vancouver, and illustrates my shift to include posthuman theories in my analysis. This course was offered in affiliation with the David Suzuki Foundation, and in collaboration with the Native Education College. The culminating public event was hosted by the Beaty Biodiversity Museum. Decentring the human in this data analysis better supported my research and curricular aims. The strong technoculture of the media arts-based curriculum fits well with many posthuman concepts. This posthuman reading of the course and data enabled me to see what changes were emerging through student-water-technology intra-actions, and how these supported relations towards reconciliation as well as water justice. Most notable of these changes was the emergence of water’s agential qualities, specifically of water as becoming collaborator in artistic/knowledge co-production, where students think with water. I argued this contributes to reconciliation by decentring the human, enabling relations in which power is more equal, and where there are greater possibilities for mutual responsibility between related entities. This is where I developed the concept of audio/video as relational texts, supporting the creating and shifting of affective relations more than the monumentalised verbal/written knowledge of traditional universities. This is also where I realised that relational work towards reconciliation would require engaging with the hidden curriculum of institutions. The paper is published in the journal Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology (2021, Volume 12, Issue 1), as part of a special issue on Posthuman Conceptions of Change in Empirical Educational Research. My fourth PhD paper, originally entitled Making waveforms: Implicit knowledge representation through video water narratives as decolonising practice towards reconciliation in South Africa’s higher education, presents an analysis of the 2019 iteration of the curriculum in South Africa. I co-designed and led a course called Making Waveforms at the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute (FWI) in collaboration with Rhodes University. The course was co-designed/facilitated with FWI’s Research Fellow Amber Abrams, who also co-authored this paper. The course’s public event was hosted by a non-profit organisation called the Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education. This paper explored the ways that non-verbalisable, implicit learning –understood as part of many non-Euro/Western ways of knowing– takes place in the Making Waveforms course and how this influenced water-specific climate behaviours while contributing to decolonised reconciliation practice for higher education institutions. Drawing on theories of implicit and explicit knowledge, we first showed how implicit learning primarily took place through: 1) site-specific audio/video mapping of water bodies; 2) meetings with Knowledge Keepers; and 3) an interactive public screening event. We highlighted how this non-verbalisable learning produced feelings of empathy for diverse peoples and waterways, as well as aesthetic appreciation of water, and how this can contribute to more response-able water behaviours. This, we argued, supported the valuing of implicit knowledge within a traditional educational setting, thereby pluralising knowledge, and was key to reconciliation/decolonisation in higher education. Iterating the curriculum for the South African context emphasised the importance of context-specificity of the course overall, and also of the relational work embedded in the curriculum. This paper is under review by the University of Toronto’s journal Curriculum Inquiry (CI). Following receipt of CI's internal review process, the title of the paper has since been updated to Non-verbalisable, implicit knowledge through cellphilms as decolonised reconciliation practice towards response-able water behaviours in South Africa. Through reflective analysis of my four papers, I developed a concept for an Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum consisting of five key parts: 1) relationality; 2) multimodality; 3) narratives/counter-narratives; 4) context-specificity; and 5) unhidden curriculum. Four meta reflections have been included in this thesis, each corresponding with one of the four papers, and presented chronologically according to the stage of the praxis process with which they correspond. In these meta reflections, I applied Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle model for reflective writing, based on the premise that through experiences we can expand our understanding, and included four key stages: 1) concrete experience; 2) reflective observation; 3) abstract conceptualisation; and 4) active experimentation. For the concrete experience, I provided a thick description of my process in writing the paper, as well as aspects of the phase in my praxis process that was the focus of the paper, not included in but relevant to the paper. For the reflective observation, I identified any aspects of the experience that were new to me and which therefore presented opportunities for me to learn. For the abstract conceptualisation, I critically analysed my concrete experience and reflective observation to determine which, if any, of the five key parts of the Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum that I outline in my introduction relate to this phase of my PhD praxis process. For the active experimentation, I made conclusions about the extent to which this phase of my PhD embraced decoloniality in practice, and built on this new understanding to make recommendations for myself and others committed to the decolonial project as part of my contribution to knowledge. These meta reflections also invite readers to follow my personal narrative of becoming-with water, meaning my transformation from being water illiterate to embracing a ‘watershed mind’ (Wong,2011). Multimodality, which I propose as a key part of an Anatomy of Decoloniz/sed Curriculum, is embedded in the representational aspects of this thesis. The courses I co-designed and taught as part of this project resulted in the creation of 20 short student films. My contextual profiling involved a podcast methodology that was ongoing throughout my study, as a model of decolonised research-communication-education-action at the water-climate change nexus. This methodology resulted in the creation of four Day One podcast episodes, co-produced with a PhD colleague, Anna James. Some of these episodes are available in all three main languages of Cape Town (Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English). I evolved the podcast methodology in a later stage of my praxis process as a form of member checking with contributors involved in various stages and aspects of the research. Once the four papers were written, I created a series of four short videos called In the Flow, with each video representing a translation of one of the four papers. I invited various contributors of the research project to either watch one or more of the In the Flow videos and/or read one or more of the academic papers, and then to respond in a Zoom call with me. The responses were then shared publicly in a series of seven Climate for Changing Lenses podcast episodes. Parts of these are included in a final song/music video called Please Don’t Blow It. A Climate for Changing Lenses website was created to host all of this multimedia content that forms part of this thesis. A link to this website is provided in the Introduction section of this thesis. My research contributes to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of relational and reconciliation pedagogy, decolonising higher education, arts-based teaching, learning and research methodologies and the water-climate change nexus. My praxis process provided a relational model of reconciliation curriculum that has been tried and tested in two international contexts: Canada and South Africa. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Concerning Marya Schechtman’s narrative account
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Schechtman, Marya, 1960- Criticism and interpretation , Narrative inquiry (Research method) , Identity (Psychology) , Identity (Philosophical concept) , Self , Individuality
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190748 , vital:45024
- Description: The persistence of personal identity stands at the heart of many human practices, such as paying individuals for their work or holding people responsible for their actions. As such, it seems important that theories of personal identity are able to account for the practical implications of continuity of personal identity. Mindful of the practical importance of personal identity, Marya Schechtman (1994) argues that her narrative view only accounts for the four features that persons must possess. Any account of personal identity is supposed to make persons capable of possessing these features. She then posits her narrative self-constitution view as an account of personal identity she feels is capable of explaining the link between personal identity and certain features of persons. In this thesis project, I present how the narrative views, as described by Schechtman and others, are interpretive enterprises and that this leads them to a potentially devastating conclusion. The narratives must be constructed from something, and I argue that it is memory. But empirical facts about memory do not allow for it to persist in a quantitative way, but rather in a qualitative way, much like persons. Upon making this argument, I further argue that if mainstream psychological views is correct, this reduces the persistence of memory to resemblance relations. And memory is the building blocks of narrative. If this is the case, then narrative is also reduced to resemblance relations. Narrative, therefore, does not persist through time in a non-qualitative way, and one is better off accepting a psychological theory by virtue of parsimony. Ultimately, I argue that Schechtman and narrative theorists may save narrative views by adopting what I call as a ‘causal narrative view’. A causal narrative view will encapsulate all of the relevant features of the typical narrative view, including the emphasis on construction, but will also add the addendum that narrative states must be placed in a causal relation to each other. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Schechtman, Marya, 1960- Criticism and interpretation , Narrative inquiry (Research method) , Identity (Psychology) , Identity (Philosophical concept) , Self , Individuality
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/190748 , vital:45024
- Description: The persistence of personal identity stands at the heart of many human practices, such as paying individuals for their work or holding people responsible for their actions. As such, it seems important that theories of personal identity are able to account for the practical implications of continuity of personal identity. Mindful of the practical importance of personal identity, Marya Schechtman (1994) argues that her narrative view only accounts for the four features that persons must possess. Any account of personal identity is supposed to make persons capable of possessing these features. She then posits her narrative self-constitution view as an account of personal identity she feels is capable of explaining the link between personal identity and certain features of persons. In this thesis project, I present how the narrative views, as described by Schechtman and others, are interpretive enterprises and that this leads them to a potentially devastating conclusion. The narratives must be constructed from something, and I argue that it is memory. But empirical facts about memory do not allow for it to persist in a quantitative way, but rather in a qualitative way, much like persons. Upon making this argument, I further argue that if mainstream psychological views is correct, this reduces the persistence of memory to resemblance relations. And memory is the building blocks of narrative. If this is the case, then narrative is also reduced to resemblance relations. Narrative, therefore, does not persist through time in a non-qualitative way, and one is better off accepting a psychological theory by virtue of parsimony. Ultimately, I argue that Schechtman and narrative theorists may save narrative views by adopting what I call as a ‘causal narrative view’. A causal narrative view will encapsulate all of the relevant features of the typical narrative view, including the emphasis on construction, but will also add the addendum that narrative states must be placed in a causal relation to each other. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Constraints and enablements on quality improvement in higher education
- Authors: Browning, Leanne Elizabeth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Education, Higher Aims and objectives South Africa , Education, Higher Evaluation , Quality assurance South Africa , Educational evaluation South Africa , Self-evaluation , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294956 , vital:57273 , DOI 10.21504/10962/294956
- Description: This study contributes to the literature on quality improvement in higher education by examining the structural, cultural and agential constraints and enablements on a quality process at a university in South Africa. It examined four cases and developed an understanding of the complex interaction of structure, culture and agency and the mechanisms that enable or constrain quality improvement in higher education. The study drew on the literature on higher education quality for the theoretical basis for what is known contributes to the way in which quality assurance and improvement is implemented and its impact on the higher education context. Critical Realism provided the ontological framework and conceptual tools to understand and explore the complex social world within which the quality process took place. The literature on the morphogenetic approach provided the analytical framework for the data analysis and findings. The data consisted of a set of documents from a quality process that took place over a five-year period. The data analysis revealed that different departmental contexts impact on how mechanisms are activated. Each school context shapes the way in which people engage with the review process and consequently, processes and procedures are mediated in each context. This research therefore adds to the understanding of the way in which quality processes take place at a micro-level within an institutional context and informs the approach to quality improvement more broadly, nationally and internationally. The research contributes to the knowledge that will inform planning, policies and practices in quality improvement processes in higher education and the findings identify a number of factors (mechanisms) that should inform the way in which a quality process is facilitated, will enable effective self-evaluation and review processes, and consequently are more likely to lead to quality improvement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Browning, Leanne Elizabeth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Education, Higher Aims and objectives South Africa , Education, Higher Evaluation , Quality assurance South Africa , Educational evaluation South Africa , Self-evaluation , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294956 , vital:57273 , DOI 10.21504/10962/294956
- Description: This study contributes to the literature on quality improvement in higher education by examining the structural, cultural and agential constraints and enablements on a quality process at a university in South Africa. It examined four cases and developed an understanding of the complex interaction of structure, culture and agency and the mechanisms that enable or constrain quality improvement in higher education. The study drew on the literature on higher education quality for the theoretical basis for what is known contributes to the way in which quality assurance and improvement is implemented and its impact on the higher education context. Critical Realism provided the ontological framework and conceptual tools to understand and explore the complex social world within which the quality process took place. The literature on the morphogenetic approach provided the analytical framework for the data analysis and findings. The data consisted of a set of documents from a quality process that took place over a five-year period. The data analysis revealed that different departmental contexts impact on how mechanisms are activated. Each school context shapes the way in which people engage with the review process and consequently, processes and procedures are mediated in each context. This research therefore adds to the understanding of the way in which quality processes take place at a micro-level within an institutional context and informs the approach to quality improvement more broadly, nationally and internationally. The research contributes to the knowledge that will inform planning, policies and practices in quality improvement processes in higher education and the findings identify a number of factors (mechanisms) that should inform the way in which a quality process is facilitated, will enable effective self-evaluation and review processes, and consequently are more likely to lead to quality improvement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Curriculum adjustment and adaptive leadership in two service-learning courses at Rhodes University as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Authors: Khuhlane, Heide Nozuko
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease) , Curriculum planning South Africa Makhanda , Rhodes University , Service learning South Africa Makhanda , Educational leadership South Africa Makhanda , Educational change South Africa Makhanda , Adaptive leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191192 , vital:45069
- Description: The COVID-19 global pandemic altered many aspects of learning. Learning through service, a component of community engagement in higher education linking academic learning and the community was no exception. Informed by Experiential Learning Theory, this study investigated the curriculum adjustment of two service-learning courses at Rhodes University and the leadership development of those who lead the courses as a consequence of COVID-19. The study’s initial goal was to highlight the position of service-learning as a component of academic learning. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the goal was extended to understanding the impact of the pandemic not only on service-learning, but on leadership as well. Furthermore, the study sought to determine the responsiveness of service-learning policies at Rhodes University at a time of crisis. The study was designed as an interpretivist case study with four participants and one secondary participant. The study employed document analysis, individual interviews and a focus group interview to collect data. Data analysis took the form of content analysis and coding, through the lens of Experiential Learning Theory and an alternative service-based model. The study findings revealed that as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic both service-learning courses had to be adapted to ensure successful completion. The adaptations included attention to scaffolded learning, assessment and course outcomes; in one course the service engagement aspect with the community was lost entirely to ensure the saftey of students through adherence to COVID-19 safety regulations. The study also found that the participants developed adaptive leadership competencies and skills, technological and collaboration skills as well as a heightened regard for pastoral care and social justice. However, it was evident that the pandemic revealed gaps in the conceptual understanding of service-learning in the context of the two courses, a need for responsive policy, and practical strategies to implement those policies in smaller units in the institution. The study thus recommends an alternative service-based model approach to service-learning, increased policy responsiveness to issues posed by the ‘new normal’ to support adaptive leadership development, re-defining of the university-community partnership and the identification of opportunities for innovation and collaboration intra-departmentally through service-learning. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Khuhlane, Heide Nozuko
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: COVID-19 (Disease) , Curriculum planning South Africa Makhanda , Rhodes University , Service learning South Africa Makhanda , Educational leadership South Africa Makhanda , Educational change South Africa Makhanda , Adaptive leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191192 , vital:45069
- Description: The COVID-19 global pandemic altered many aspects of learning. Learning through service, a component of community engagement in higher education linking academic learning and the community was no exception. Informed by Experiential Learning Theory, this study investigated the curriculum adjustment of two service-learning courses at Rhodes University and the leadership development of those who lead the courses as a consequence of COVID-19. The study’s initial goal was to highlight the position of service-learning as a component of academic learning. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the goal was extended to understanding the impact of the pandemic not only on service-learning, but on leadership as well. Furthermore, the study sought to determine the responsiveness of service-learning policies at Rhodes University at a time of crisis. The study was designed as an interpretivist case study with four participants and one secondary participant. The study employed document analysis, individual interviews and a focus group interview to collect data. Data analysis took the form of content analysis and coding, through the lens of Experiential Learning Theory and an alternative service-based model. The study findings revealed that as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic both service-learning courses had to be adapted to ensure successful completion. The adaptations included attention to scaffolded learning, assessment and course outcomes; in one course the service engagement aspect with the community was lost entirely to ensure the saftey of students through adherence to COVID-19 safety regulations. The study also found that the participants developed adaptive leadership competencies and skills, technological and collaboration skills as well as a heightened regard for pastoral care and social justice. However, it was evident that the pandemic revealed gaps in the conceptual understanding of service-learning in the context of the two courses, a need for responsive policy, and practical strategies to implement those policies in smaller units in the institution. The study thus recommends an alternative service-based model approach to service-learning, increased policy responsiveness to issues posed by the ‘new normal’ to support adaptive leadership development, re-defining of the university-community partnership and the identification of opportunities for innovation and collaboration intra-departmentally through service-learning. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Development of a 3D bioprinting and standalone bioreactor unit for the production and maintenance of bioscaffolds in vitro
- Authors: Hundling, Jethro Daniel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Bioreactors , Tissue scaffolds , Cell culture , Polyethylene glycol Biotechnology , 3D bioprinting , Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192063 , vital:45192
- Description: The most common method for in vitro cell culture currently is to grow a specific cell type in isolation, in monolayer format, adhered to a 2D culture surface. This brings about many limitations in comparison to in vivo models due to altered cell phenotypes, as caused by the culturing technique itself, and the lack of naturally occurring cell-to-cell interactions. Three dimensional mammalian cell culture technologies have the potential to overcome these limitations, and provide models more representative of natural systems. Unfortunately, the cost and difficulty associated with achieving sustainable and useful 3D mammalian cell culture is still very high, preventing its widespread adoption across scientific platforms. In this research, we investigate the feasibility of developing and producing a visible light-based 3D stereolithographic bioprinter to produce 3D scaffolds for cell culture. Furthermore, we investigate the possibility of developing and implementing a forced perfusion bioreactor system, which would support the produced scaffold and improve longer-term culture conditions. The developed 3D bioprinter, and bioreactor designs were developed and tested alongside Poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), a versatile synthetic scaffold material. PEGDA itself was also evaluated for its printability, robustness in culture conditions over time, and its ability to maintain 3D mammalian cell culture. This research showed that both the developed 3D bioprinter, and bioreactor unit were capable of producing and maintaining an easily modifiable PEGDA scaffold, in culture conditions. In addition, the PEGDA formulation developed was shown to allow for the effective and reproducible 3D cell culture conditions over the medium term, with automated media feeding. The research presented here aimed to illustrate a proof of concept that the low-cost development and production of 3D culture scaffold production and maintenance systems was feasible to the scientific research environment. This technology can then be built upon, into a system that would then allow for the broader adoption and investigation of 3D cell culture as a tool within the scientific community. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Hundling, Jethro Daniel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Bioreactors , Tissue scaffolds , Cell culture , Polyethylene glycol Biotechnology , 3D bioprinting , Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA)
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192063 , vital:45192
- Description: The most common method for in vitro cell culture currently is to grow a specific cell type in isolation, in monolayer format, adhered to a 2D culture surface. This brings about many limitations in comparison to in vivo models due to altered cell phenotypes, as caused by the culturing technique itself, and the lack of naturally occurring cell-to-cell interactions. Three dimensional mammalian cell culture technologies have the potential to overcome these limitations, and provide models more representative of natural systems. Unfortunately, the cost and difficulty associated with achieving sustainable and useful 3D mammalian cell culture is still very high, preventing its widespread adoption across scientific platforms. In this research, we investigate the feasibility of developing and producing a visible light-based 3D stereolithographic bioprinter to produce 3D scaffolds for cell culture. Furthermore, we investigate the possibility of developing and implementing a forced perfusion bioreactor system, which would support the produced scaffold and improve longer-term culture conditions. The developed 3D bioprinter, and bioreactor designs were developed and tested alongside Poly (ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), a versatile synthetic scaffold material. PEGDA itself was also evaluated for its printability, robustness in culture conditions over time, and its ability to maintain 3D mammalian cell culture. This research showed that both the developed 3D bioprinter, and bioreactor unit were capable of producing and maintaining an easily modifiable PEGDA scaffold, in culture conditions. In addition, the PEGDA formulation developed was shown to allow for the effective and reproducible 3D cell culture conditions over the medium term, with automated media feeding. The research presented here aimed to illustrate a proof of concept that the low-cost development and production of 3D culture scaffold production and maintenance systems was feasible to the scientific research environment. This technology can then be built upon, into a system that would then allow for the broader adoption and investigation of 3D cell culture as a tool within the scientific community. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Employee views on organisational effectiveness of Chinese organisations operating in Kenya
- Mlotshwa, Minenhle Petronella
- Authors: Mlotshwa, Minenhle Petronella
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Organizational effectiveness Kenya , Corporate culture Kenya Cross-cultural studies , China Foreign economic relations Kenya , International business enterprises Kenya , International business enterprises Personnel management , Bilingual communication in organizations Kenya , Religion in the workplace Kenya Cross-cultural studies , Work ethic Kenya Cross-cultural studies
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191898 , vital:45177
- Description: Over the years there has been a growing interest in the relations between Africa and Asia. This is attributed to what is perceived as increasing Chinese influence and presence in Africa. During the past decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth and expansion which has contributed to its need for additional resources and expanding its geographic footprint into Africa and especially Kenya. The growing presence of Chinese organisations in Africa has also faced challenges. Chinese organisations operating in Kenya have been cited as facing cultural challenges, human resource management issues and external pressures which affect Chinese organisations thus impacting organisational effectiveness and performance. While there has been an abundance of research conducted at a macro level, mainly anecdotal knowledge on Chinese organisational values and management, little information exists at the organisation and community level. This study aimed to contribute an in-depth understanding of Chinese and Kenyan employee relationships in organisations at a micro level. Furthermore, this study assesses employees’ views on organisational effectiveness in a cross-cultural research setting of selected Chinese organisations operating in Kenya using the Burke-Litwin model (1992) of organisational effectiveness. This study is qualitative in nature within the interpretivistic research paradigm and used a case study approach to generate detailed comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Two Chinese organisations specialising in importing and exporting of diverse products, which had expanded its operations to Kenya in order to reach Africa’s growing consumer markets were selected for this study. The selected organisations were chosen under the premises that they had been operating in Kenya for more than 20 years, they are reputable organisations in their industries and were international role players. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to select the two organisations who were willing to participate. Purposive sampling was used to identify employees from different job levels and types of work in the selected organisations who were willing to participate in this study. Data was collected by means of face-to-face open-ended semi-structured interviews, with five Chinese and 12 Kenyan employees. The findings of this study were guided by the dimensions of the Burke-Litwin model, comprising the external environment, transformational dimensions (including mission and strategy, leadership and organisational culture) and transactional dimensions (including management practices, organisational structure, systems [policies and procedures], motivation, work climate, task requirements and individual skills and abilities). Based on the findings, organisational culture was the dominant theme that had a large influence on the organisational performance. Within the context of organisational culture, the main challenges faced by employees were religious, work ethic and communication barriers. Leadership and the organisational structure set by senior managers was also impacted by culture. It is evident that the Chinese organisations are dominated by Chinese employees at senior managerial levels – except for one Indian Kenyan manager – and non-managerial levels are dominated by Kenyan employees. Between these two managerial levels there is lack of trust as well as trade union interference favouring Kenyan employees. Leadership of the selected organisations aimed at recruiting candidates who have the necessary skills to contribute toward organisational effectiveness and performance. However, recruited Kenyan employees indicated that they require strategy visibility, effective communication, and structured processes in order to be effective. Despite challenges faced, Chinese and Kenyan employees both strongly agree with and support the efforts of management for providing training and development and creating an environment that accommodates personal growth. The external environment has exerted pressure on the said Chinese organisations. The Kenyan trade unions favour Kenyan employees and place huge pressure on Chinese management. In addition the trade unions bribe locals while making it difficult for Chinese organisations operating in Kenya to conduct business. Through the empirical development of organisational-level research on the case of Chinese organisations operating in Kenya, insightful management knowledge was gathered and shared to assist Chinese and Kenyan employees in their individual and organisational performance. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce, Management, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Mlotshwa, Minenhle Petronella
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Organizational effectiveness Kenya , Corporate culture Kenya Cross-cultural studies , China Foreign economic relations Kenya , International business enterprises Kenya , International business enterprises Personnel management , Bilingual communication in organizations Kenya , Religion in the workplace Kenya Cross-cultural studies , Work ethic Kenya Cross-cultural studies
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191898 , vital:45177
- Description: Over the years there has been a growing interest in the relations between Africa and Asia. This is attributed to what is perceived as increasing Chinese influence and presence in Africa. During the past decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth and expansion which has contributed to its need for additional resources and expanding its geographic footprint into Africa and especially Kenya. The growing presence of Chinese organisations in Africa has also faced challenges. Chinese organisations operating in Kenya have been cited as facing cultural challenges, human resource management issues and external pressures which affect Chinese organisations thus impacting organisational effectiveness and performance. While there has been an abundance of research conducted at a macro level, mainly anecdotal knowledge on Chinese organisational values and management, little information exists at the organisation and community level. This study aimed to contribute an in-depth understanding of Chinese and Kenyan employee relationships in organisations at a micro level. Furthermore, this study assesses employees’ views on organisational effectiveness in a cross-cultural research setting of selected Chinese organisations operating in Kenya using the Burke-Litwin model (1992) of organisational effectiveness. This study is qualitative in nature within the interpretivistic research paradigm and used a case study approach to generate detailed comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Two Chinese organisations specialising in importing and exporting of diverse products, which had expanded its operations to Kenya in order to reach Africa’s growing consumer markets were selected for this study. The selected organisations were chosen under the premises that they had been operating in Kenya for more than 20 years, they are reputable organisations in their industries and were international role players. Non-probability convenience sampling was used to select the two organisations who were willing to participate. Purposive sampling was used to identify employees from different job levels and types of work in the selected organisations who were willing to participate in this study. Data was collected by means of face-to-face open-ended semi-structured interviews, with five Chinese and 12 Kenyan employees. The findings of this study were guided by the dimensions of the Burke-Litwin model, comprising the external environment, transformational dimensions (including mission and strategy, leadership and organisational culture) and transactional dimensions (including management practices, organisational structure, systems [policies and procedures], motivation, work climate, task requirements and individual skills and abilities). Based on the findings, organisational culture was the dominant theme that had a large influence on the organisational performance. Within the context of organisational culture, the main challenges faced by employees were religious, work ethic and communication barriers. Leadership and the organisational structure set by senior managers was also impacted by culture. It is evident that the Chinese organisations are dominated by Chinese employees at senior managerial levels – except for one Indian Kenyan manager – and non-managerial levels are dominated by Kenyan employees. Between these two managerial levels there is lack of trust as well as trade union interference favouring Kenyan employees. Leadership of the selected organisations aimed at recruiting candidates who have the necessary skills to contribute toward organisational effectiveness and performance. However, recruited Kenyan employees indicated that they require strategy visibility, effective communication, and structured processes in order to be effective. Despite challenges faced, Chinese and Kenyan employees both strongly agree with and support the efforts of management for providing training and development and creating an environment that accommodates personal growth. The external environment has exerted pressure on the said Chinese organisations. The Kenyan trade unions favour Kenyan employees and place huge pressure on Chinese management. In addition the trade unions bribe locals while making it difficult for Chinese organisations operating in Kenya to conduct business. Through the empirical development of organisational-level research on the case of Chinese organisations operating in Kenya, insightful management knowledge was gathered and shared to assist Chinese and Kenyan employees in their individual and organisational performance. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce, Management, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Ethics of climate change: a normative account
- Authors: Afolabi, Abiodun Paul
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Climatic changes Senegal Saint-Louis , Climatic changes Moral and ethical aspects , Cultural property Senegal Saint-Louis , Ethics Senegal Saint-Louis , Applied ethics , Environmental justice Senegal Saint-Louis , Philosophy, African , Normativity (Ethics)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192864 , vital:45272 , 10.21504/10962/192864
- Description: Consider, for instance, you and your family have lived around a place where you enjoyed the flora and fauna of the land as well as the natural environment. Fishing and farming were pleasant activities for your family, and anyone in the community not only to survive but thrive. Your neighbours and the people in the community pride themselves so much in their farming abilities and fishing techniques. Suddenly things start taking a different turn because of rising sea level and changing weather pattern. First, your land began to give way because of sweeping erosion, and later the riverbank serving the community starts drying up. Your neighbour could not hold their own in this grim condition as they started relocating. You even witnessed some of your family and friends leaving the community and you later heard that they have become climate refugees. To put it all together, you were told that what you are experiencing is one of climate change effects. You were told that the loss of the place that you once cherished is not an act of God but the result of the reckless flaring of greenhouse gasses harmful to the environment by some powerful but polluting nations. What will you do? This might sound like a fairy tale. In reality, this is the story of the people of Saint Louis Atlantic Coasts in Senegal, captured by the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus Initiative.1 Their situation has been described as ‘living on the edge’ because for centuries, Saint Louis Atlantic Coasts, home to around 230,000 inhabitants, also known as the ‘Venice of Africa’ has been protected from the pounding Atlantic waves by the ‘Langue de Barbarie,’ a narrow, 30 km peninsula at the mouth of the Senegal river. However, the low-lying sandy spit of land along this World Heritage site is itself rapidly disappearing in the present. This is the consequence of a changing climate and other man-made problems such as illegal sand-mining and over-development. Today, the southern part of the Langue de Barbarie is an island, and the village of Doune Baba Dieye is under more than a metre of water. The villagers have become climate refugees, forced to live in temporary camps on the mainland. Not only have they lost their homes, but they have also lost significant cultural heritage like the farming and fishing culture tied to this place. The ethical considerations that emerge from climate change impacts on the world’s cultural heritage are varied. However, it seems not as self-evident in the way that research on climate change ethics has been framed around economic interest and direct threats to human life and other species. Even when they mention climate impacts on heritage sites around the world, those of Africans have been side-lined. For instance, the impact of climate change on small island nations like Tuvalu, Kiribati2 have gained much traction in climate change discourse, but we do not get to see stories of Africans whose cherished cultural heritage are affected by climate despoliation. How do we respond to this intractable challenge? This is a question of justice and, to be more precise, climate justice. Many principles and proposals for climate justice have been put forward, but the insufficient attention to the vulnerabilities or loss of cultural heritage values of Africans, which is a critical aspect of their social realities, make these theories less persuasive on a global level. This thesis, then, fills this gap in the literature by suggesting that the failure to take cognizance of the injustice in neglecting cultural heritage values when dealing with the burden of climate change is the effect of three problems. One, the value of culture is less understood in this environmental age. Hence, cultural values are excluded or made to be secondary in consideration of principles of climate justice. Second, the idea of Personhood has been neglected in climate ethics and climate justice discourse. Yet, this idea of Personhood can be an enabler of climate justice in that a realization of the significance of cultural heritage to the wellness of the human persons in Africa, makes it loss morally reprehensible. Third, those whose cultural heritage is significantly affected do not get represented in the debate about sharing the burden of climate change. This dissertation thereby builds upon the general findings of the past about anthropogenic climate change, its causes and consequences. Adopting a discursive normative framework, I also address the significance of cultural heritage in this contemporary environmental age and discuss the global justice implications of cultural heritage loss to climate change. This dissertation further provides a critique of mainstream climate justice theories, especially their marginalization of the cultural dimension of climate change. In this regard, the metaphor - ‘cultural storm’ was deployed to argue that climate justice discourses have neither factored the deep socio-cultural impact of climate change nor do they draw on the cultural understanding of justice in putting forward their theories. Given the nature of the indirect, cumulative, and interconnected invisible losses to cultural heritage from climate change, it seems unlikely that they can be addressed by simple tweaks of the climate justice status quo. This dissertation proposes that the idea of personhood in African philosophy, can be conceived to ensure climate justice live up to its expectations in a world of diverse persons dealing with a complex phenomenon like climate change. It argues that a cultural dimension of climate ethics has implications for how mitigation, adaptation and compensation plans should be furthered for global climate justice. At the foundation of my argument, I suggest that what is needed in climate justice discourse is a commitment to explore new and innovative alternatives that will produce an inclusive global climate treaty that is sensitive to the cultural heritage assets that is destroyed by climate change in Africa. This will require a multi-dimensional framework that allows fundamentally different kinds of values and benefits to be given equal visibility and standing in global climate negotiations. The dissertation proceeds in six chapters. In the first chapter, I discuss how climate change denies, damage and destroys cultural heritage values in Africa and argue that it is unjust to ignore this dimension of climate change impact, particularly on the African continent. In the second chapter, I critically discuss the normative value of cultural heritage in an environmentally sustainable and morally appropriate way for this global age. I argue that what is lost when climate change affects cultural heritage is a significant cultural asset that ought to be seriously considered in climate ethics. The third chapter addresses the global justice implications of the destruction of Africa's cultural heritage by climate change that must be paid attention to. In chapter four, I evaluate the plausibility of some of the mainstream climate justice proposals. I offered a different possible critique of current approaches to climate justice to show how they have furthered cultural injustice. The critique of current climate justice theories that I offer, stems from an uninspiring approach that belies logic permitting the sacrificing of that which is connected to others wellbeing as well as the implicit assumptions and the limitation of the idea of justice that undergird these climate justice theories. I offer, in chapter five, a plausible climate ethics theory that recognizes culturally embedded ideas of justice and empower all stakeholders to build by themselves, lives that are, in the light of these ideas, deemed to be adversely impacted by climate change. This theory advances a socio-cultural perspective to climate change which could provide a nuanced basis for understanding and addressing global climate duties that will be sensitive to the loss of cultural heritage. Specifically, I apply the African conception of personhood, to provide a normative basis for a different but intuitive understanding of the cultural dimension of climate ethics. In the final chapter, I discuss how this theory can be applied to rethink current global responses in the form of mitigation, adaptation and compensation in such a way that it takes seriously the impacts of climate change on Africa’s cultural heritage and values. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Afolabi, Abiodun Paul
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Climatic changes Senegal Saint-Louis , Climatic changes Moral and ethical aspects , Cultural property Senegal Saint-Louis , Ethics Senegal Saint-Louis , Applied ethics , Environmental justice Senegal Saint-Louis , Philosophy, African , Normativity (Ethics)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192864 , vital:45272 , 10.21504/10962/192864
- Description: Consider, for instance, you and your family have lived around a place where you enjoyed the flora and fauna of the land as well as the natural environment. Fishing and farming were pleasant activities for your family, and anyone in the community not only to survive but thrive. Your neighbours and the people in the community pride themselves so much in their farming abilities and fishing techniques. Suddenly things start taking a different turn because of rising sea level and changing weather pattern. First, your land began to give way because of sweeping erosion, and later the riverbank serving the community starts drying up. Your neighbour could not hold their own in this grim condition as they started relocating. You even witnessed some of your family and friends leaving the community and you later heard that they have become climate refugees. To put it all together, you were told that what you are experiencing is one of climate change effects. You were told that the loss of the place that you once cherished is not an act of God but the result of the reckless flaring of greenhouse gasses harmful to the environment by some powerful but polluting nations. What will you do? This might sound like a fairy tale. In reality, this is the story of the people of Saint Louis Atlantic Coasts in Senegal, captured by the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus Initiative.1 Their situation has been described as ‘living on the edge’ because for centuries, Saint Louis Atlantic Coasts, home to around 230,000 inhabitants, also known as the ‘Venice of Africa’ has been protected from the pounding Atlantic waves by the ‘Langue de Barbarie,’ a narrow, 30 km peninsula at the mouth of the Senegal river. However, the low-lying sandy spit of land along this World Heritage site is itself rapidly disappearing in the present. This is the consequence of a changing climate and other man-made problems such as illegal sand-mining and over-development. Today, the southern part of the Langue de Barbarie is an island, and the village of Doune Baba Dieye is under more than a metre of water. The villagers have become climate refugees, forced to live in temporary camps on the mainland. Not only have they lost their homes, but they have also lost significant cultural heritage like the farming and fishing culture tied to this place. The ethical considerations that emerge from climate change impacts on the world’s cultural heritage are varied. However, it seems not as self-evident in the way that research on climate change ethics has been framed around economic interest and direct threats to human life and other species. Even when they mention climate impacts on heritage sites around the world, those of Africans have been side-lined. For instance, the impact of climate change on small island nations like Tuvalu, Kiribati2 have gained much traction in climate change discourse, but we do not get to see stories of Africans whose cherished cultural heritage are affected by climate despoliation. How do we respond to this intractable challenge? This is a question of justice and, to be more precise, climate justice. Many principles and proposals for climate justice have been put forward, but the insufficient attention to the vulnerabilities or loss of cultural heritage values of Africans, which is a critical aspect of their social realities, make these theories less persuasive on a global level. This thesis, then, fills this gap in the literature by suggesting that the failure to take cognizance of the injustice in neglecting cultural heritage values when dealing with the burden of climate change is the effect of three problems. One, the value of culture is less understood in this environmental age. Hence, cultural values are excluded or made to be secondary in consideration of principles of climate justice. Second, the idea of Personhood has been neglected in climate ethics and climate justice discourse. Yet, this idea of Personhood can be an enabler of climate justice in that a realization of the significance of cultural heritage to the wellness of the human persons in Africa, makes it loss morally reprehensible. Third, those whose cultural heritage is significantly affected do not get represented in the debate about sharing the burden of climate change. This dissertation thereby builds upon the general findings of the past about anthropogenic climate change, its causes and consequences. Adopting a discursive normative framework, I also address the significance of cultural heritage in this contemporary environmental age and discuss the global justice implications of cultural heritage loss to climate change. This dissertation further provides a critique of mainstream climate justice theories, especially their marginalization of the cultural dimension of climate change. In this regard, the metaphor - ‘cultural storm’ was deployed to argue that climate justice discourses have neither factored the deep socio-cultural impact of climate change nor do they draw on the cultural understanding of justice in putting forward their theories. Given the nature of the indirect, cumulative, and interconnected invisible losses to cultural heritage from climate change, it seems unlikely that they can be addressed by simple tweaks of the climate justice status quo. This dissertation proposes that the idea of personhood in African philosophy, can be conceived to ensure climate justice live up to its expectations in a world of diverse persons dealing with a complex phenomenon like climate change. It argues that a cultural dimension of climate ethics has implications for how mitigation, adaptation and compensation plans should be furthered for global climate justice. At the foundation of my argument, I suggest that what is needed in climate justice discourse is a commitment to explore new and innovative alternatives that will produce an inclusive global climate treaty that is sensitive to the cultural heritage assets that is destroyed by climate change in Africa. This will require a multi-dimensional framework that allows fundamentally different kinds of values and benefits to be given equal visibility and standing in global climate negotiations. The dissertation proceeds in six chapters. In the first chapter, I discuss how climate change denies, damage and destroys cultural heritage values in Africa and argue that it is unjust to ignore this dimension of climate change impact, particularly on the African continent. In the second chapter, I critically discuss the normative value of cultural heritage in an environmentally sustainable and morally appropriate way for this global age. I argue that what is lost when climate change affects cultural heritage is a significant cultural asset that ought to be seriously considered in climate ethics. The third chapter addresses the global justice implications of the destruction of Africa's cultural heritage by climate change that must be paid attention to. In chapter four, I evaluate the plausibility of some of the mainstream climate justice proposals. I offered a different possible critique of current approaches to climate justice to show how they have furthered cultural injustice. The critique of current climate justice theories that I offer, stems from an uninspiring approach that belies logic permitting the sacrificing of that which is connected to others wellbeing as well as the implicit assumptions and the limitation of the idea of justice that undergird these climate justice theories. I offer, in chapter five, a plausible climate ethics theory that recognizes culturally embedded ideas of justice and empower all stakeholders to build by themselves, lives that are, in the light of these ideas, deemed to be adversely impacted by climate change. This theory advances a socio-cultural perspective to climate change which could provide a nuanced basis for understanding and addressing global climate duties that will be sensitive to the loss of cultural heritage. Specifically, I apply the African conception of personhood, to provide a normative basis for a different but intuitive understanding of the cultural dimension of climate ethics. In the final chapter, I discuss how this theory can be applied to rethink current global responses in the form of mitigation, adaptation and compensation in such a way that it takes seriously the impacts of climate change on Africa’s cultural heritage and values. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Evaluating and predicting impacts of Australian redclaw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus and Louisiana red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii invasions
- Madzivanzira, Takudzwa Comfort
- Authors: Madzivanzira, Takudzwa Comfort
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Cherax Africa , Procambarus clarkii Africa , Freshwater crabs Africa , Crayfish Zambezi River , Crayfish Food Zambezi River , Aquatic biodiversity Africa , Conservation biology Zambezi River , Fishing Catch effort Africa , Introduced freshwater organisms Africa , Fish populations Africa , Functional response (FR)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191137 , vital:45064 , 10.21504/10962/191137
- Description: Freshwater crayfish have become one of the most widely introduced freshwater taxa globally. Crayfish introductions have not spared the African continent, which, apart from Madagascar, is naturally devoid of native freshwater crayfish. These introductions are of concern because invasive crayfish have generally been shown to cause strong impacts on recipient ecosystems outside Africa. This study therefore set out to compile up-to-date information regarding crayfish introductions in Africa, their pathways and distributions and to improve our understanding of the nature and magnitude of their environmental impacts. A systematic review revealed that nine crayfish species have been introduced into the continent with five of those, Astacus astacus, Cherax quadricarinatus, Faxonius limosus, Procambarus clarkii and Procambarus virginalis, having established naturalised populations in fourteen African countries (Chapter 2). The main driver of these crayfish introductions was to provide socio-economic benefits but there is limited evidence of success. The thesis further documents attempts made to address crayfish knowledge gaps in Africa, including standardisation of C. quadricarinatus sampling gear (Chapter 3), determination of the distribution of C. quadricarinatus in the recently invaded Upper Zambezi Basin (Chapter 4), and predicting ecological and socioeconomic impacts of two crayfish species that are spreading rapidly in Southern Africa, namely, C. quadricarinatus and P. clarkii (Chapters 5 – 8). To standardise C. quadricarinatus sampling methods in Africa, two methods used in Southern Africa were compared and the Promar® collapsible trap baited with dry pellets was recommended as the best approach for C. quadricarinatus abundance studies due to the high catch per unit effort (CPUE), probability of capture and the suitability of dry dog food as a standard bait. This standard approach was used for crayfish surveys in the Zambezi Basin to comprehensively determine the spread and establishment of C. quadricarinatus across the basin. The establishment of C. quadricarinatus in the Barotse Floodplain, Upper Zambezi Floodplains freshwater ecoregion was confirmed. Although the probability of capture and catch per unit effort (CPUE) of C. quadricarinatus in the Barotse floodplain were similar to that of older invasions in the basin (Lake Kariba and Kafue River), morphometric differences among C. quadricarinatus populations sampled from these invaded regions were detected. Although crayfish were not detected in other regions, for example, the Okavango Floodplains ecoregions, C. quadricarinatus have the potential to spread at a downstream and upstream rate of 49 and 12 km·year-1, impacting native biota therein. To evaluate the potential for ecological impacts, the consumer-resource dynamics of C. quadricarinatus and P. clarkii were described in comparison to a native trophic analogue, the freshwater crab of the Potamonautes genus, preying on various native taxa ubiquitous to African aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The use of functional response (FR) and consumption experiments in this study showed the potential impacts of the two crayfish species on native resources and on resources that support livelihoods in invaded ecosystems. This in most cases was a result of their high attack parameter, which also resulted in high functional responses ratios (FRRs) compared to native crabs. The crayfish FR, FRRs and consumption rates were mostly enhanced under the high temperature treatments. The FRs and consumption results were then combined with the field biomasses of crayfish and crabs to calculate the relative impact potential (RIP) to successfully predict the degree of impact caused by crayfish species relative to crabs. Crayfish species consistently displayed RIP scores > 1 relative to the native crab irrespective of region, which were higher for the summer than the winter season, suggesting greater impact of the invaders compared to the native species. This study further estimated the socioeconomic losses due to catch spoilage by C. quadricarinatus which are up to 1500 t per year in the invaded Kafue River Basin, which translates to an annual income loss of US$ 2 million. Information provided in this study is vital for conservation management and to compel policymakers to develop appropriate conservation management tools within regulatory frameworks, which could stop or minimise the spread of crayfish species and protect Africa from further losing aquatic biodiversity. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Madzivanzira, Takudzwa Comfort
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Cherax Africa , Procambarus clarkii Africa , Freshwater crabs Africa , Crayfish Zambezi River , Crayfish Food Zambezi River , Aquatic biodiversity Africa , Conservation biology Zambezi River , Fishing Catch effort Africa , Introduced freshwater organisms Africa , Fish populations Africa , Functional response (FR)
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191137 , vital:45064 , 10.21504/10962/191137
- Description: Freshwater crayfish have become one of the most widely introduced freshwater taxa globally. Crayfish introductions have not spared the African continent, which, apart from Madagascar, is naturally devoid of native freshwater crayfish. These introductions are of concern because invasive crayfish have generally been shown to cause strong impacts on recipient ecosystems outside Africa. This study therefore set out to compile up-to-date information regarding crayfish introductions in Africa, their pathways and distributions and to improve our understanding of the nature and magnitude of their environmental impacts. A systematic review revealed that nine crayfish species have been introduced into the continent with five of those, Astacus astacus, Cherax quadricarinatus, Faxonius limosus, Procambarus clarkii and Procambarus virginalis, having established naturalised populations in fourteen African countries (Chapter 2). The main driver of these crayfish introductions was to provide socio-economic benefits but there is limited evidence of success. The thesis further documents attempts made to address crayfish knowledge gaps in Africa, including standardisation of C. quadricarinatus sampling gear (Chapter 3), determination of the distribution of C. quadricarinatus in the recently invaded Upper Zambezi Basin (Chapter 4), and predicting ecological and socioeconomic impacts of two crayfish species that are spreading rapidly in Southern Africa, namely, C. quadricarinatus and P. clarkii (Chapters 5 – 8). To standardise C. quadricarinatus sampling methods in Africa, two methods used in Southern Africa were compared and the Promar® collapsible trap baited with dry pellets was recommended as the best approach for C. quadricarinatus abundance studies due to the high catch per unit effort (CPUE), probability of capture and the suitability of dry dog food as a standard bait. This standard approach was used for crayfish surveys in the Zambezi Basin to comprehensively determine the spread and establishment of C. quadricarinatus across the basin. The establishment of C. quadricarinatus in the Barotse Floodplain, Upper Zambezi Floodplains freshwater ecoregion was confirmed. Although the probability of capture and catch per unit effort (CPUE) of C. quadricarinatus in the Barotse floodplain were similar to that of older invasions in the basin (Lake Kariba and Kafue River), morphometric differences among C. quadricarinatus populations sampled from these invaded regions were detected. Although crayfish were not detected in other regions, for example, the Okavango Floodplains ecoregions, C. quadricarinatus have the potential to spread at a downstream and upstream rate of 49 and 12 km·year-1, impacting native biota therein. To evaluate the potential for ecological impacts, the consumer-resource dynamics of C. quadricarinatus and P. clarkii were described in comparison to a native trophic analogue, the freshwater crab of the Potamonautes genus, preying on various native taxa ubiquitous to African aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The use of functional response (FR) and consumption experiments in this study showed the potential impacts of the two crayfish species on native resources and on resources that support livelihoods in invaded ecosystems. This in most cases was a result of their high attack parameter, which also resulted in high functional responses ratios (FRRs) compared to native crabs. The crayfish FR, FRRs and consumption rates were mostly enhanced under the high temperature treatments. The FRs and consumption results were then combined with the field biomasses of crayfish and crabs to calculate the relative impact potential (RIP) to successfully predict the degree of impact caused by crayfish species relative to crabs. Crayfish species consistently displayed RIP scores > 1 relative to the native crab irrespective of region, which were higher for the summer than the winter season, suggesting greater impact of the invaders compared to the native species. This study further estimated the socioeconomic losses due to catch spoilage by C. quadricarinatus which are up to 1500 t per year in the invaded Kafue River Basin, which translates to an annual income loss of US$ 2 million. Information provided in this study is vital for conservation management and to compel policymakers to develop appropriate conservation management tools within regulatory frameworks, which could stop or minimise the spread of crayfish species and protect Africa from further losing aquatic biodiversity. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Exploring targeted metagenomics and untargeted metabolomics for characterising aquaponics bacterial ecology and phytochemistry
- Authors: Abraham, Benjamin Melakail
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192453 , vital:45227
- Description: Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Abraham, Benjamin Melakail
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192453 , vital:45227
- Description: Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Exploring the political economy of the broadcast and distribution of the Mzansi Super League in South Africa
- Authors: Pettitt, Stephen John
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Cricket Political aspects South Africa , Discrimination in sports South Africa , South Africa Social conditions , South Africa Economic conditions , Broadcasting South Africa , Cricket South Africa (Organization) , Television broadcasting of sports , Free-to-air broadcasting (FTA) South Africa , Mzansi Super League
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192308 , vital:45215
- Description: This thesis is a critical political economy analysis of the role played by the broadcast and distribution of the Mzansi Super League (MSL), a T20 cricket tournament in South Africa, in the transformation project of Cricket South Africa (CSA). The case study methodology is based on the four-leaf clover framework developed by Ruth Teer-Tomaselli. Cricket in South Africa is often viewed as a white and middle-class dominated sport, and CSA has been mandated to redress the historical racially segregated sport through a transformation agenda that focuses on changing the demographics of cricket. This paper investigates how the broadcast of a cricket tournament like the MSL on a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) can have a positive effect on transformation due to the increased access and wider distribution. The broadcast regulations acknowledge this, as is seen in the introduction of ICASA draft regulations seeking to make more sport available on PSBs. The South African sports broadcast landscape is dominated by MultiChoice’s SuperSport, which has acquired a monopoly on sports broadcasting. The South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) cannot compete, given its financial difficulties. A fall-out between CSA and SuperSport meant the SABC broadcast the MSL tournament, which lost CSA revenue but gained it a bigger audience. This thesis uses lived experiences and examples to illustrate that despite a financial loss, the wider media distribution of cricket will have positive effects on transformation that could counter the financial loss, especially if CSA creates new streams of income so that it relies less on broadcast revenue. In the current climate, however, compounded by internal financial and management issues, CSA cannot afford to forego the revenue from a private broadcaster and thus has no choice but to pursue a deal with a private broadcaster and lose out on the potential benefits of a wider audience. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Pettitt, Stephen John
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Cricket Political aspects South Africa , Discrimination in sports South Africa , South Africa Social conditions , South Africa Economic conditions , Broadcasting South Africa , Cricket South Africa (Organization) , Television broadcasting of sports , Free-to-air broadcasting (FTA) South Africa , Mzansi Super League
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192308 , vital:45215
- Description: This thesis is a critical political economy analysis of the role played by the broadcast and distribution of the Mzansi Super League (MSL), a T20 cricket tournament in South Africa, in the transformation project of Cricket South Africa (CSA). The case study methodology is based on the four-leaf clover framework developed by Ruth Teer-Tomaselli. Cricket in South Africa is often viewed as a white and middle-class dominated sport, and CSA has been mandated to redress the historical racially segregated sport through a transformation agenda that focuses on changing the demographics of cricket. This paper investigates how the broadcast of a cricket tournament like the MSL on a Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) can have a positive effect on transformation due to the increased access and wider distribution. The broadcast regulations acknowledge this, as is seen in the introduction of ICASA draft regulations seeking to make more sport available on PSBs. The South African sports broadcast landscape is dominated by MultiChoice’s SuperSport, which has acquired a monopoly on sports broadcasting. The South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) cannot compete, given its financial difficulties. A fall-out between CSA and SuperSport meant the SABC broadcast the MSL tournament, which lost CSA revenue but gained it a bigger audience. This thesis uses lived experiences and examples to illustrate that despite a financial loss, the wider media distribution of cricket will have positive effects on transformation that could counter the financial loss, especially if CSA creates new streams of income so that it relies less on broadcast revenue. In the current climate, however, compounded by internal financial and management issues, CSA cannot afford to forego the revenue from a private broadcaster and thus has no choice but to pursue a deal with a private broadcaster and lose out on the potential benefits of a wider audience. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Fabrication of gold-nanoparticle/conductive polymer composite materials: application to aptamer-based impedimetric biosensors for detection of histamine
- Authors: Ojo, Dupe Ruth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192550 , vital:45236
- Description: Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Ojo, Dupe Ruth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192550 , vital:45236
- Description: Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Biotechnology Innovation Centre, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Formulation and optimization of lamotrigine liquid loaded self-microemulsifying emulsion
- Authors: Mano, Tanaka
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192430 , vital:45225
- Description: Thesis (MSc (Pharm)) -- Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmacy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Mano, Tanaka
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192430 , vital:45225
- Description: Thesis (MSc (Pharm)) -- Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmacy, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Generation news: Consuming, sharing, and producing news across generations in five Johannesburg households
- Authors: Silber, Gerson Russel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Baby boom generation South Africa , Generation Y South Africa , Conflict of generations South Africa Johannesburg , Generations South Africa Johannesburg , Digital media South Africa , Social media and journalism South Africa , Digital media Social aspects South Africa , News audiences South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192342 , vital:45217
- Description: This study sets out to explore the meaning, extent, and impact of the generational divide, between so-called Baby Boomers and their Millennial offspring, on the way news is accessed, consumed, shared, and produced in five purposively selected households in the Johannesburg area. Aside from these widely-used generational identifiers, Baby Boomers and Millennials are also commonly referred to as Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, respectively. However, in a world where smartphones have become commonplace, and internet connectivity via fixed broadband and mobile data is ubiquitous, it can be argued that digital technologies now serve as a link, or perhaps even a bridge, between younger and older generations living in the same household. The study aims to put this proposition to the test, by interrogating the role of news as a conduit for storytelling and information-sharing in environments where each occupant will typically be using their own devices, with a wide variety of personally-curated news sources and platforms at their fingertips. This fragmentation or individualisation of access to news stands in sharp contrast to the communal traditions of the pre-Internet era, during which families would gather around the TV set to watch the evening newscast, or share sections of the Sunday newspaper according to their age and interest. This research, which seeks to address a gap in the literature of research into intra-generational news consumption in family households in the digital era, identifies points of intersection as well as diversion in media usage habits. An example of the former is the prevalence of WhatsApp as a centralised "meeting-point" for the sharing of useful, hyper-localised information within the family group, and beyond that, as a cross-generational news and discussion platform in its own right. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the study explores strict and seemingly counterintuitive divides between the generations, with some Millennial respondents rejecting social media platforms as "pointless and invasive, and some Baby Boomer parents embracing the platforms as forums for free expression and networking. In line with the key research question, which seeks to identify and analyse news usage and consumption across the generations in a selection of family households, the study considers the ways in which families in the digital era are creating a culture of shared interests and the active sharing of news, breaching the boundaries of their private spaces in a microcosm of the Habermasian public sphere of discourse and opinion. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Silber, Gerson Russel
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Baby boom generation South Africa , Generation Y South Africa , Conflict of generations South Africa Johannesburg , Generations South Africa Johannesburg , Digital media South Africa , Social media and journalism South Africa , Digital media Social aspects South Africa , News audiences South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192342 , vital:45217
- Description: This study sets out to explore the meaning, extent, and impact of the generational divide, between so-called Baby Boomers and their Millennial offspring, on the way news is accessed, consumed, shared, and produced in five purposively selected households in the Johannesburg area. Aside from these widely-used generational identifiers, Baby Boomers and Millennials are also commonly referred to as Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives, respectively. However, in a world where smartphones have become commonplace, and internet connectivity via fixed broadband and mobile data is ubiquitous, it can be argued that digital technologies now serve as a link, or perhaps even a bridge, between younger and older generations living in the same household. The study aims to put this proposition to the test, by interrogating the role of news as a conduit for storytelling and information-sharing in environments where each occupant will typically be using their own devices, with a wide variety of personally-curated news sources and platforms at their fingertips. This fragmentation or individualisation of access to news stands in sharp contrast to the communal traditions of the pre-Internet era, during which families would gather around the TV set to watch the evening newscast, or share sections of the Sunday newspaper according to their age and interest. This research, which seeks to address a gap in the literature of research into intra-generational news consumption in family households in the digital era, identifies points of intersection as well as diversion in media usage habits. An example of the former is the prevalence of WhatsApp as a centralised "meeting-point" for the sharing of useful, hyper-localised information within the family group, and beyond that, as a cross-generational news and discussion platform in its own right. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the study explores strict and seemingly counterintuitive divides between the generations, with some Millennial respondents rejecting social media platforms as "pointless and invasive, and some Baby Boomer parents embracing the platforms as forums for free expression and networking. In line with the key research question, which seeks to identify and analyse news usage and consumption across the generations in a selection of family households, the study considers the ways in which families in the digital era are creating a culture of shared interests and the active sharing of news, breaching the boundaries of their private spaces in a microcosm of the Habermasian public sphere of discourse and opinion. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Journalism and Media Studies, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Genetic connectivity of the roundjaw bonefish (Albula glossodonta) in the Southwest Indian Ocean
- Talma, Sheena Claudia Aisa Lydie
- Authors: Talma, Sheena Claudia Aisa Lydie
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Bonefish Mauritius , Bonefish Seychelles , Bonefish Genetics , Bonefish Habitat , Bonefish Geographical distribution , Bonefish Larvae Dispersal , Genetic markers , Cytochrome b , Fish populations Mauritius , Fish populations Seychelles , Marine ecotourism , Saltwater fly fishing , Bonefish fisheries Catch effort
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192174 , vital:45202
- Description: The Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) islands of Mauritius and Seychelles are both highly dependent on tourism and fisheries for their economies. One of the growing ecotourism sectors is saltwater fly fishing, an industry based on catch-and-release fishing for a host of species, including bonefishes. Bonefishes (Albula spp.) have received significant research attention in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, with only sporadic research conducted in the Indian Ocean. My project aimed to investigate the genetic connectivity of the roundjaw bonefish (Albula glossodonta) in two island states (Seychelles and Mauritius) within the SWIO using a mitochondrial genetic marker (cyt-b) and next generation sequencing (ddRADseq). Samples collected were grouped based on their spatial distribution. The Seychelles consisted of four island groups (Inner Island Group, Aldabra Group, Amirantes and Alphonse Group, and Farquhar Group) whereas Mauritius was represented by one island group (Saint Brandon). Genetic analyses were undertaken between and within each of these groups. Mitochondrial cytochrome-b identified two species of bonefish: Albula glossodonta and Albula oligolepis; the latter was only genetically identified from the Inner Island Group. I hypothesise that this is due to habitat partitioning, with A. oligolepis being a deeper dwelling bonefish species compared to A. glossodonta, which occupies shallow water habitats such as sand flats, atoll lagoons and reef flats. Neutral SNP loci revealed a panmictic pattern of distribution for A. glossodonta throughout the Seychelles Island groups but showed a pattern of weak structure between Seychelles and Mauritius. Genetic diversity indices such as allelic richness, showed low diversity across the sampling sites (AR range: 1.761-1.889). Population structure tests such as pairwise FST showed low but significant population structure. The highest FST indices were recorded between the Aldabra and Farquhar Groups, as well as the Aldabra and Saint Brandon Groups (0.044 ± 0.000 and 0.040 ± 0.000, respectively). Descriptive tests such as PCA and DAPC showed similar trends, whereby Saint Brandon clustered separately from the other samples from the Seychelles Island groups. However, these trends were Abstract seen at very low variations (PCA axes 1 and 2 accounted for only 2.0 and 1.9 % of the total variation, respectively). A population assignment test grouped the individuals as one ancestral population. A spatial principal component analysis showed that Saint Brandon was dissimilar to the Seychelles Island groups. Like other Elopomorph species, bonefishes have leptocephalus larvae capable of long-distance dispersal which may explain the well-mixed genetic population observed within the Seychelles islands. Although currents within the Indian Ocean, especially on a mesoscale, are not well understood, the South Equatorial Current likely facilitates connectivity between the Seychelles islands while also limiting gene flow between Seychelles and Mauritius. Understanding population structure is important for informing the appropriate management and conservation strategies, especially in oceanic nations where data informing important industries like tourism and fisheries are often limited. The bonefish fly fishing industry is well-known to be a lucrative sector, generating, for example US$ 1.4 million a year in the Bahamas. This study recognised that there are numerous knowledge gaps relevant to the bonefish industry that need to be addressed, including: 1) understanding the socio-economic importance of fly fishing to island states like Seychelles, 2) estimating the abundance and species distribution of bonefishes within Seychelles, 3) understanding effectiveness of MPAs for recreational fishery species like bonefish and, lastly, 4) generating more fishery-relevant biological information on the heavily targeted fly fishing species within Seychelles. These needs must be met to inform management plans and to better manage the fly fishing ventures that target species like bonefish. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Talma, Sheena Claudia Aisa Lydie
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Bonefish Mauritius , Bonefish Seychelles , Bonefish Genetics , Bonefish Habitat , Bonefish Geographical distribution , Bonefish Larvae Dispersal , Genetic markers , Cytochrome b , Fish populations Mauritius , Fish populations Seychelles , Marine ecotourism , Saltwater fly fishing , Bonefish fisheries Catch effort
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192174 , vital:45202
- Description: The Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) islands of Mauritius and Seychelles are both highly dependent on tourism and fisheries for their economies. One of the growing ecotourism sectors is saltwater fly fishing, an industry based on catch-and-release fishing for a host of species, including bonefishes. Bonefishes (Albula spp.) have received significant research attention in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, with only sporadic research conducted in the Indian Ocean. My project aimed to investigate the genetic connectivity of the roundjaw bonefish (Albula glossodonta) in two island states (Seychelles and Mauritius) within the SWIO using a mitochondrial genetic marker (cyt-b) and next generation sequencing (ddRADseq). Samples collected were grouped based on their spatial distribution. The Seychelles consisted of four island groups (Inner Island Group, Aldabra Group, Amirantes and Alphonse Group, and Farquhar Group) whereas Mauritius was represented by one island group (Saint Brandon). Genetic analyses were undertaken between and within each of these groups. Mitochondrial cytochrome-b identified two species of bonefish: Albula glossodonta and Albula oligolepis; the latter was only genetically identified from the Inner Island Group. I hypothesise that this is due to habitat partitioning, with A. oligolepis being a deeper dwelling bonefish species compared to A. glossodonta, which occupies shallow water habitats such as sand flats, atoll lagoons and reef flats. Neutral SNP loci revealed a panmictic pattern of distribution for A. glossodonta throughout the Seychelles Island groups but showed a pattern of weak structure between Seychelles and Mauritius. Genetic diversity indices such as allelic richness, showed low diversity across the sampling sites (AR range: 1.761-1.889). Population structure tests such as pairwise FST showed low but significant population structure. The highest FST indices were recorded between the Aldabra and Farquhar Groups, as well as the Aldabra and Saint Brandon Groups (0.044 ± 0.000 and 0.040 ± 0.000, respectively). Descriptive tests such as PCA and DAPC showed similar trends, whereby Saint Brandon clustered separately from the other samples from the Seychelles Island groups. However, these trends were Abstract seen at very low variations (PCA axes 1 and 2 accounted for only 2.0 and 1.9 % of the total variation, respectively). A population assignment test grouped the individuals as one ancestral population. A spatial principal component analysis showed that Saint Brandon was dissimilar to the Seychelles Island groups. Like other Elopomorph species, bonefishes have leptocephalus larvae capable of long-distance dispersal which may explain the well-mixed genetic population observed within the Seychelles islands. Although currents within the Indian Ocean, especially on a mesoscale, are not well understood, the South Equatorial Current likely facilitates connectivity between the Seychelles islands while also limiting gene flow between Seychelles and Mauritius. Understanding population structure is important for informing the appropriate management and conservation strategies, especially in oceanic nations where data informing important industries like tourism and fisheries are often limited. The bonefish fly fishing industry is well-known to be a lucrative sector, generating, for example US$ 1.4 million a year in the Bahamas. This study recognised that there are numerous knowledge gaps relevant to the bonefish industry that need to be addressed, including: 1) understanding the socio-economic importance of fly fishing to island states like Seychelles, 2) estimating the abundance and species distribution of bonefishes within Seychelles, 3) understanding effectiveness of MPAs for recreational fishery species like bonefish and, lastly, 4) generating more fishery-relevant biological information on the heavily targeted fly fishing species within Seychelles. These needs must be met to inform management plans and to better manage the fly fishing ventures that target species like bonefish. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29