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A preliminary perspective on the Office of the Vice-Chancellor and appeals related to exclusions and admissions

  • Authors: Badat, Saleem
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Rhodes University
  • Language: English
  • Type: text
  • Identifier: vital:7644 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015772
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A probabilistic movement model for shortest path formation in virtual ant-like agents

  • Authors: Chibaya, Colin , Bangay, Shaun D
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: To be catalogued
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433125 , vital:72945 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1292491.1292493
  • Description: We propose a probabilistic movement model for controlling ant-like agents foraging between two points. Such agents are all identical, simple, autonomous and can only communicate indirectly through the environment. These agents secrete two types of pheromone, one to mark trails towards the goal and another to mark trails back to the starting point. Three pheromone perception strategies are proposed (Strategy A, B and C). Agents that use strategy A perceive the desirability of a neighbouring location as the difference between levels of attractive and repulsive pheromone in that location. With strategy B, agents perceive the desirability of a location as the quotient of levels of attractive and repulsive pheromone. Agents using strategy C determine the product of the levels of attractive pheromone with the complement of levels of repulsive pheromone. We conduct experiments to confirm directionality as emergent property of trails formed by agents that use each strategy. In addition, we compare path formation speed and the quality of the formed path under changes in the environment. We also investigate each strategy's robustness in environments that contain obstacles. Finally, we investigate how adaptive each strategy is when obstacles are eventually removed from the scene and find that the best strategy of these three is strategy A. Such a strategy provides useful guidelines to researchers in further applications of swarm intelligence metaphors for complex problem solving.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A proposed strategy for the implementation of total productive maintenance at Continental Tyre South Africa

  • Authors: Olivier, Christie
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Continental Tyre South Africa (Firm) , Total productive maintenance , Manufacturing industries
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:8576 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/799 , Continental Tyre South Africa (Firm) , Total productive maintenance , Manufacturing industries
  • Description: For a tyre manufacturing company to compete nationally and internationally, the maximum utilization of their equipment is extremely important. Thus, having a maintenance system in place that will ensure this will be essential. In today’s competitive environment, the need to go further than just scheduling maintenance in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations as a method of improving productivity and product quality was quickly recognized by those companies who were committed to total quality management programmes. The objective of this study was to propose an appropriate strategy for the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance at Continental Tyre South Africa. To achieve this, the current Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) programme, in the steel stock preparation division in affiliated Continental plants in Otrokovice in the Czech Republic and Puchov in the Slovak Republic was evaluated. A comprehensive literature study was performed on Total Productive Maintenance programmes. A questionnaire was designed based on the guidelines in the literature study in order to establish the effectiveness of implemented TPM programmes. The researcher used the random sampling method of selection and distributed the questionnaire to 62 potential respondents via hand-outs from each plant’s respective heads of departments. 56 completed questionnaires were returned and these were processed and analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2003, running on the Windows XP suite of computer packages. The opinions of the various respondents were compared with the guidelines provided in the literature survey, in order to identify how to answer two main questions the author wanted to use as part of selecting an appropriate implementation approach for TPM at Continental Tyre South Africa. These were: • How much are the employees involved and empowered to perform their TPM tasks?; and • How effective is the implemented TPM programme? The following were the main recommendations and conclusions: • The experiences gained by plants like Otrokovice and Puchov must be used as a guideline for introduction and implementation; • The employees that will be required to perform the TPM tasks must be properly trained and they should receive the necessary tools to perform their tasks; • It is essential that everyone throughout the entire manufacturing organization is involved from the start in the development, improvement and maintenance of the TPM programme and that the driving force behind it should be a combination of maintenance, production and quality; and • TPM will achieve it’s objectives if: • The equipment effectiveness can be improved; • Autonomous maintenance is achieved; • Planned maintenance is in place; • Staff are trained in relevant maintenance skills; and • Early equipment management can be achieved.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A railway terminus for the inner city of Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Scriba, Marco W
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Railroad terminals -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans , Terminals (Transportation) -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Designs and plans
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MArch
  • Identifier: vital:8154 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1016497
  • Description: In the late 1980s people and businesses started to move out of Port Elizabeth's Central District (CBD). Businesses moved to the city's edge establishing new business zones, which in turn threatened the existence of the original CBD. Most inner city buildings became derelict and property prices dropped accordingly. Buildings were neglected and vandalized. This resulted in spaces which were unfit for human habitation and encouraged areas characterized by crime. The regeneration of Port Elizabeth's CDB is very important bacause of its historical value and key position. To build the Metropol the historical ideals of the CDB need to be revitalized, giving the city a administrative and cultural core which is both friendly and safe. A few proposals have been introduced to help uplift areas in the CDB. The latest initiative is the upgrading of Govan Mbeki Street lead by the firm The Matrix. Their aim is to create architecture that creates a more interactive, habitable environment. This would be achieved by more pedestrian orientated spaces, natural landscaping and facilitating vendors and craft markets. Future proposals are the removal of railway lines, the Tank Farm and finally the Ore Dumps to allow the city to expand eastwards. This will allow the city to grow and connect with the seafront and the existing harbour. Consequently the development of a new Railway Terminus is central to the establishment of a bay which is consistent with international standards of key marine cities in the modern world. The old station has a beautiful sense of place in Strand Street, as does the Campanile, which is at the gateway to the harbour. Together they offer a unique experience in this historiacal precinct. This offers new opportunities for tourism and trade and the old station would therefore form part of Port Elizabeth's CDB rejuvenation.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A review of stakeholder interests and participation in the sustainable use of communal wetlands: the case of the Lake Fundudzi catchment in Limpopo Province, South Africa

  • Authors: Silima, Vhangani
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Wetland ecology -- South Africa -- Limpopo Wetland management -- South Africa -- Limpopo Natural resources -- Management -- South Africa -- Limpopo Conservation of natural resources -- South Africa -- Limpopo Conservation of natural resources -- Citizen participation -- South Africa -- Limpopo Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Limpopo
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1745 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003629
  • Description: Many rural South African people depend on natural resources for their survival. Wetlands provide some of those natural resources. These are presently are under pressure due to high demand, overexploitation and poor land management. The history of South Africa has been characterised by exclusion of local communities in the process of decision-making and general management of natural resources. Participation of all stakeholders is crucial for successful sustainable natural resource management. Various South African departments are engaged in a number of strategies for promoting meaningful participation of local communities. The South African laws promoting protection and sustainable use of natural resources incorporate democratic principles that require high level of participation from resource users, local communities in particular. Most of the participation techniques used are focused on satisfying political mandates and do not respond to the social context of the resource users. The aim of the study was to review the participation of stakeholders in the project of promoting the sustainable use and protection of the Lake Fundudzi catchment. The idea was to probe stakeholder interests more carefully, and to research tensions that arise in the participation process, using qualitative methodologies. Through the use of questionnaires, observations and document analysis stakeholders’ interests were identified to assess their influence in the process of participation of local stakeholders. The review of stakeholders’ participation in the Lake Fundudzi Project showed that stakeholders’ interests are crucial for meaningful local community participation, communication and education influence. They enable meaningful participation and empowerment. A multi-stakeholders approach enables stakeholders to share roles and responsibilities and the participation process offers an opportunity for local stakeholders to participate democratically in the Project. Power relations affect stakeholder participation, capital dependant participatory initiatives are likely to be at risk, participatory processes are likely to promote the empowerment and knowledge exchange amongst stakeholders, the views of local stakeholders are not always considered by outside support organisation and multi-stakeholder participatory approaches enable the initiative/activity/project to achieve its objectives.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A social realist account of the emergence of a formal academic staff development programme at a South African university

  • Authors: Quinn, Lynn
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa Education, Higher -- South Africa Graduate students -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Graduate work
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1321 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003954
  • Description: Using social realist theory and particularly the morphogenetic/morphostatic methodology advocated by Margaret Archer, this study offers a critical examination of the emergence of a formal academic staff development programme at a small South African university (SSAU). Archer’s morphogenetic approach enabled an investigation of the interface between culture, structure and agency (at macro, mezo and micro levels) in order to theorize about the material, ideational and agential conditions that obtained and which in turn enabled the emergence of the Postgraduate Diploma of Higher Education (PGDHE) at the SSAU. The study therefore advances concrete propositions about the cultural, structural and agential conditions for transformation which existed at a particular time in the history of higher education (and the subfield of educational development) which enabled the introduction of the PGDHE. Analysis of the data suggests that what occurred at SSAU was a disruption of the morphostatic synchrony between structure and culture brought about by new discourses and structures emanating from the broader international and national higher education context. In particular, it seems that attempts at reconciling the constraining contradictions between the discourses and structures related to quality assurance on the one hand and educational development on the other resulted in a conjunction between transformation at the levels of both the cultural system and social structure. This conjunction, along with the actions of key Institutional agents and the morphogenesis of the staff of the Educational Development Unit, created sufficiently enabling conditions in the Institution for the introduction of the PGDHE. The research adds to knowledge through insights into the contribution that the ideas, beliefs, values, ideologies and theories about higher education broadly and about educational development specifically make to enabling or constraining conditions for the professionalization of academic staff in higher education institutions. It uncovers how relevant structures at the international, national and institutional levels can shape the practice of educational development and specifically staff development. It has generated insights into how the relevant people and the positions they hold can impact on staff development practices. In summary, the research could contribute towards emancipatory knowledge which could be used by SSAU and educational development practitioners elsewhere to inform future planning and decision making in relation to educational development and more specifically staff development practices in their contexts.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A sociological analysis of intermediary non-governmental organizations and land reform in contemporary Zimbabwe

  • Authors: Helliker, Kirk David
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Non-governmental organizations -- Zimbabwe Land reform -- Zimbabwe Land use -- Zimbabwe Sociology -- Philosophy
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:3303 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003091
  • Description: The thesis offers an original sociological understanding of intermediary Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the modern world. This is pursued through a study of NGOs and land reform in contemporary Zimbabwe. The prevailing literature on NGOs is marked by a sociological behaviourism that analyses NGOs in terms of external relations and the object-subject dualism. This behaviourism has both ‘structuralist’ and ‘empiricist’ trends that lead to instrumentalist and functionalist forms of argumentation. The thesis details an alternative conceptual corpus that draws upon the epistemological and theoretical insights of Marx and Weber. The epistemological reasoning of Marx involves processes of deconstruction and reconstruction. This entails conceptualizing NGOs as social forms that embody contradictory relations and, for analytical purposes, the thesis privileges the contradiction between ‘the global’ and ‘the local’. In this regard, it speaks about processes of ‘glocalization’ and ‘glocal modernities’ in which NGOs become immersed. The social field of NGOs is marked by ambiguities and tensions, and NGOs seek to ‘negotiate’ and manoeuvre their way through this field by a variety of organizational practices. Understanding these practices necessitates studying NGOs ‘from within’ and drawing specifically on Weber’s notion of ‘meaning’. These practices often entail activities that stabilize and simplify the world and work of NGOs, and this involves NGOs in prioritizing their own organizational sustainability. In handling the tension between ‘the global’ and ‘the local’, NGOs also tend to privilege global trajectories over local initiatives. The thesis illustrates these points in relation to the work of intermediary NGOs in Zimbabwe over the past ten years. Since the year 2000, a radical restructuring of agrarian relations has occurred, and this has been based upon the massive redistribution of land. In this respect, local empowering initiatives have dramatically asserted themselves against globalizing trajectories. These changes have posed serious challenges to ‘land’ NGOs, that is, NGOs involved in land reform either as advocates for reform or as rural development NGOs. The thesis shows how a range of diverse ‘land’ NGOs has ‘handled’ the heightened contradictions in their social field in ways that maintain their organizational coherence and integrity.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A stability-indicating high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay for the simultaneous determination of atorvastatin and amlodipine in commercial tablets

  • Authors: Mohammadi, Ali , Rezanour, N , Ansari Dogaheh, M , Ghorbani Bidkorbeh, F , Hashem, M , Walker, Roderick B
  • Date: 2007
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:6403 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006340
  • Description: A simple, rapid, precise and accurate isocratic reversed-phase stability-indicating HPLC method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of atorvastatin (AT) and amlodipine (AM) in commercial tablets. The method has shown adequate separation for AM, AT from their associated main impurities and their degradation products. Separation was achieved on a Perfectsil® Target ODS-3, 5 μm, 250 mm × 4.6 mm i.d. column using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile–0.025 M NaH2PO4 buffer (pH 4.5) (55:45, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min and UV detection at 237 nm. The drugs were subjected to oxidation, hydrolysis, photolysis and heat to apply stress conditions. The linearity of the proposed method was investigated in the range of 2–30 μg/ml (r = 0.9994) for AT and 1–20 μg/ml (r = 0.9993) for AM. The limits of detection were 0.65 μg/ml and 0.35 μg/ml for AT and AM, respectively. The limits of quantitation were 2 μg/ml and 1 μg/ml for AT and AM, respectively. Degradation products produced as a result of stress studies did not interfere with the detection of AT and AM and the assay can thus be considered stability-indicating.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A study of the conflict between maintenance and production functions in a manufacturing organisation in Port Elizabeth

  • Authors: Petronio, Riccardo Vinicio
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
  • Identifier: vital:8737 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/794 , Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
  • Description: If manufacturing organisations are to improve their competitive positions in the global arena and increase profitability, their operations strategies need to be focused on: reducing cost, improving quality, increasing efficiency, improving the speed of delivery, developing and improving process flexibility, and ensuring that higher service levels are achieved and maintained. One of the critical success factors in implementing these strategies, within manufacturing organisations, is the relationship that exists between the maintenance and production functions. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that in many manufacturing organisations, the relationship that exists between these two functions is usually one of conflict, which if left unmanaged or unresolved has the potential to severely hamper effectiveness, productivity, creativity, and profitability of the organisation. The overall purpose of this research was to identify the interventions that manufacturing organisations can pursue, to effectively manage and resolve the conflict between the production and maintenance functions, in order to improve their competitive position in the global economy. The study was conducted in one particular manufacturing organisation in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. A research questionnaire was used as a means for collecting empirical data. The research questionnaire included various instruments used by previous conflict researchers, to identify and analyse the following dimensions of conflict within the organisation: conflict management styles used, the types of conflict perceived, and the amount of conflict perceived. The questionnaire was also designed to identify the sources of conflict, collect demographic information, identify issues relating to diversity, and indicate the respondents’ preferences to various organisational reporting structures. The results of the survey revealed key findings, which enabled the researcher to draw meaningful conclusions, and make recommendations as to how organisations can effectively manage and resolve the conflict that exists between maintenance and production functions.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A study of the summarizing strategies used by ESL first year science students at the University of Botswana

  • Authors: Chimbganda, Ambrose Bruce
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching (Foreign speakers) -- Botswana English language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Botswana Science -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Botswana Language and education -- Botswana College students -- Botswana -- Language
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:2341 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002623
  • Description: One of the major problems faced by speakers of English as a second language (ESL) or non-native speakers of English (NNS) is that when they go to college or university, they find themselves without sufficient academic literacy skills to enable them to navigate their learning successfully, such as the ability to summarize textual material. This thesis examines the summarizing strategies used by ESL first year science students at the University of Botswana. Using multiple data collection methods, otherwise known as triangulation or pluralistic research, which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, one hundred and twenty randomly sampled students completed questionnaires and summarized a scientific text. In order to observe the students more closely, nine students (3 high-, 3 average- and 3 low-proficiency) were purposively selected from the sample and wrote a further summary. The nine students were later interviewed in order to find out from them the kinds of strategies they had used in summarizing the texts. To obtain systematic data, the summaries and the taped interview were coded and analyzed using a hybrid scoring classification previously used by other researchers. The results from the Likert type of questionnaire suggest that the ESL first year science students are 'aware' of the appropriate reading, production and self-assessment strategies to use when summarizing. However, when the data from the questionnaire were cross-checked against the strategies they had used in the actual summarization of the text, most of their claims, especially those of the low-proficiency students, were not sustained. As a whole, the results show that high-proficiency students produce more accurate idea units and are more capable of generalizing ideas than low-proficiency students who prefer to "cut and paste" ideas. There are also significant differences between high- and low proficiency students in the manner in which they decode the text: low-proficiency students produce more distortions in their summaries than high-proficiency students who generally give accurate information. Similarly, high-proficiency students are able to sort out global ideas from a labyrinth of localized ideas, unlike average- and low-proficiency students who include trivial information. The same trend is observed with paraphrasing and sentence combinations: high-proficiency students are generally able to recast and coordinate their ideas, unlike low-proficiency students who produce run-on ideas. In terms of the discrete cognitive and meta-cognitive skills preferred by students, low proficiency students are noticeably unable to exploit pre-summarizing cognitive strategies such as discriminating, selecting, note-making, grouping, inferring meanings of new words and using synonyms to convey the intended meanings. There are also greater differences between high- and low-proficiency students when it comes to the use of meta-cognitive strategies. Unlike high-proficiency students who use their reservoir of meta-cognitive skills such as self-judgment, low-proficiency students ostensibly find it difficult to direct their summaries to the demands of the task and are unable to check the accuracy of their summaries. The findings also show that some of the high-proficiency students and many average- and low-proficiency students distort idea units, find it difficult to use their own words and cannot distinguish between main and supporting details. This resulted in the production of circuitous summaries that often failed to capture the gist of the argument. The way the students processed the main ideas also reveals an inherent weakness: most students of different proficiency levels were unable to combine ideas from different paragraphs to produce a coherent text. Not surprising, then, there were too many long summaries produced by both high- and low-proficiency students. To tackle some of the problems related to summarization, pre-reading strategies can be taught, which activate relevant prior knowledge, so that the learning of new knowledge can be facilitated. During the reading process students can become more meta-cognitively aware by monitoring their level of understanding of the text by using, for example, the strategy suggested by Schraw (1998) of "stop, read and think". Text analysis can also be used to help the students identify the main themes or macro-propositions in a text, and hence gain a more global perspective of the content, which is important for selecting the main ideas in a text. A particularly useful approach to fostering a deeper understanding of content is to use a form of reciprocal or peer-mediated teaching, in which students in pairs can articulate to each other their understanding of the main ideas expressed in the text. As part of the solution to the problems faced by students when processing information, we need to take Sewlall's (2000: 170) advice that there should be "a paradigm shift in the learning philosophy from content-based to an emphasis on the acquisition of skills". In this regard, both content and ESL teachers need to train their students in the explicit use of summarizing strategies, and to plan interwoven lessons and learning activities that develop the learners' intellectual ways of dealing with different learning problems so that they can make learning quicker, easier, more effective and exciting.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A study of the teaching of reading in Grade 1 in the Caprivi region, Namibia

  • Authors: Nzwala, Kenneth
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Reading (Primary) -- Namibia Teachers -- Attitudes -- Namibia Teaching -- Namibia
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
  • Identifier: vital:1785 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003670
  • Description: This study was conducted in order to understand how Grade 1 teachers teach reading in mother tongue with a focus, firstly, on teacher beliefs and how such beliefs influence teachers’ practice, and secondly, on the methods they use to teach reading. The study was carried out in the Caprivi Region of Namibia. It took the form of an interpretive case study. Three schools were selected for study: one urban, one peri-urban and one rural. The purpose of this sampling was to consider the influence of context on teachers’ practice. The data was gathered by using semi-structured interviews with open ended questions, as well as lesson observations and stimulated recall with the individual teachers after every lesson. This was important in order to have clarity on areas that were not clear during lesson presentations. The key findings are that the teachers I studied taught reading without using books, and there was an absence of shared reading with the learners. Other key findings are: teachers had great love for stories; they had a problem of language, and had no proper understanding of the concept ‘literacy’.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A taxonomic revision of the southern African endemic genus Gazania (Asteraceae) based on morphometric, genetic and phylogeographic data

  • Authors: Howis, Seranne
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Compositae Plant genetics DNA Endemic plants -- South Africa Plant ecology -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:4200 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003769
  • Description: Gazania is a small genus of the subtribe Gorteriinae, tribe Arctoteae, that is endemic to southern Africa. The genus was last revised in 1959 by Roessler, who noted that delimitation of the species of Gazania can be “extraordinarily difficult”. Morphometric data was collected to test the reality of the 16 species as delimited by Roessler, who based species boundaries on morphological characters. Only six taxa were found to be morphologically distinct, while the remaining samples showed no species cohesion. DNA sequence data from two nuclear spacer regions (ITS and ETS) and four chloroplast noncoding regions (the trnL and rpS16 introns, and the psbA-trnH and trnL-F spacers) of 43 samples were utilised to create a species level phylogeny and to investigate correlations between genetically delimited units and morphologically defined taxa. DNA sequence data reveal that seven species (as delimited by Roessler) are morphologically and genetically distinct. The remaining nine of Roessler’s species fall into a morphologically and genetically overlapping continuum that forms an ochlospecies. Phylogeographic methods (based on an expanded ITS and ETS DNA sequence data set from 169 samples) were employed to further resolve the limits of species, with special focus on the clades within the ochlospecies. These genetically defined clades were correlated with their geographical distributions, and in combination with molecular dating techniques, used to elucidate the recent climatic or environmental factors that may have shaped the phylogeographic structure of the genus. Phylogeographic patterns and molecular dating reveals that the genus Gazania is an example of a South African endemic clade that has undergone episodic cladogenesis in response to fluctuating climatic conditions over the last seven million years. The ochlospecies within Gazania is a result of repeated cycles of climate driven isolation in refugia and subsequent expansion and hybridization events during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Comparisons with phylogeographic studies on other organisms reveal a common pattern indicative of the presence and evolutionary importance of an ancestral refugium in the arid Richtersveld / Namib region of southern Africa.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

A transdisciplinary explanatory critique of environmental education

  • Authors: Price, Leigh
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Environmental education Business enterprises -- Environmental aspects Corporations -- Environmental aspects Social responsibility of business Social responsibility of business -- Study and teaching Environmental education -- Philosophy Environmental ethics -- Study and teaching
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1804 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003689
  • Description: This study originates out of my experience as an environmental educator working within business and industry in Zimbabwe and South Africa. It is motivated by my observation that, despite much environmental rhetoric and training, environmental education in industry rarely leads to significant advances towards environmental protection. I assume that the problem of the mismatch between rhetoric and action involves both semiotic and non-semiotic components and therefore, after a thorough exploration of my methodological options, I adopt a qualitative transdisciplinary textual analysis of relevant documents using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Bhaskar’s Dialectical Critical Realism, with some insights taken from Bhaskar’s more recent concept of Meta-Reality. My main conclusions from the study indicate that causally efficacious philosophical mistakes, relating to theories of structure/agency and theories of epistemology, are an important aspect of the problem being considered. Specifically, I demonstrate that these mistakes function to buttress ideology and its attendant contradictions which in turn function to provide the preconditions that maintain inequalities and poor environmental practice in business and industry. Prior and current events, such as climate change and the trend towards globalisation, the ‘free market economy’ and psychological characteristics of the author, relevant to the problem, are also important. In line with Bhaskar’s emancipatory aim for explanatory critique, I end with tentative recommendations for a re-imagined environmental education for business and industry which require (un)action. Consistent with my methodological choices, my recommendations have a (qualified) universal application, despite my focus on texts from South Africa and Zimbabwe. My recommendations are summarised below: • there should be consistency between theory and practice such that performance contradictions are avoided; • we should not act from a fear of survival based on past, no longer relevant experiences (e.g. from childhood) as this is unlikely to be an adequate base for present actions; • we should avoid voluntarism by acting with the resources at our disposal, based on a true understanding of our strengths and weaknesses and our own specificities; • we should avoid assuming the stance of the ‘victim’ by refusing to blame other agents or circumstances, without distorting or underestimating the causal efficacy of those agents or circumstances (related to avoiding voluntarism, whilst nevertheless not resorting to determinism either); • we should direct our action towards the abolition of inequalities and master-slave relationships (related to the avoidance of performance contradictions); • we should act from the position of epistemological humility, rather than from the position of epistemological privilege; • we should consider action as ‘shedding’ based on an understanding of the Transformational Model of Social Activity (TMSA); and • we should consider learning to be ‘shedding’ based on the necessity of (un)knowledge, or ignorance, as a requirement of arriving at relatively new knowledge. This study is also a contribution to contemporary methodological discussions relevant to Critical Discourse Analysis in that it extends these discussions to include psychoanalytical (as well as the more familiar phenomenological and ideological) depth explanations of lived illusion. Furthermore, this study is an experimental attempt to apply the concept of ‘meta-reflexivity’ in Critical Discourse Analysis.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

Academic literacy right from the start?: a critical realist study of the way university literacy is constructed at a Gulf university

  • Authors: Picard, Michelle Yvette
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Gulf University Education, Higher -- Persian Gulf Literacy -- Persian Gulf Academic writing -- Study and teaching -- Persian Gulf English language -- Study and teaching -- Persian Gulf
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
  • Identifier: vital:1323 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004121
  • Description: The aim of this research was to examine how university literacy is constructed at a university in the Arabian Gulf and to evaluate the appropriateness of this construction where students of a low level of English are exposed to academic English (Right from the Start). Unpacking this construction is a complex task and to gain even a limited insight into the numerous Discourses, epistemologies and pedagogies constituting the construction of university literacy at Gulf universities, a stratified approach that probes the layers of ‘reality’ is necessary. Therefore, a critical realist approach is engaged, along with a variety of methods to probe the layers of the phenomenon. In terms of thesis organization, the traditional empirical structure common to the Social Sciences and the argumentative structure common to the Humanities are integrated. While the information obtained by a variety of methods is analysed and conclusions are reached, this material is also used along with additional literature to support the central contention that university literacy and academic English are possible ‘right from the start’, if the students’ literacy is examined from a certain perspective and if there is an appropriate pedagogy which promotes the desired literacies. This combination of thesis structures would be deemed appropriate in the critical realist ontological framework since the rigour of the thesis lies both in its “reliability” resulting from the empirical data and its focus on the ‘real’; and its “reflexivity” and “persuasivness” arising from the transparently ‘critical’ argument of the thesis (Cadman 2002). In order to conduct the empirical research, the lenses suggested by each of the major views of literacy as outlined by Lea and Street (1998) - namely the “study skills” view, the narrow “academic socialization view” and the “academic literacies view” are utilized in succession. However, the central argument is revealed as the manifestations of each ‘view’ of literacy in the specific context are examined, the research outcomes obtained by utilizing each view in succession are outlined and both are critiqued from the perspective of the “academic literacies” view. Corpus research is undertaken from a “study skills” perspective and the effect of the vocabulary taught to the students on their use of vocabulary in their writing is examined. Also, using the “study skills” lens, the students’ “global language development” in terms of changes or fluctuations in “fluency, accuracy and complexity” (Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki et al. 1998) over a period of at least three semesters is examined. Utilizing a narrow “academic socialization lens”, studies conducted at the University on learning strategies and motivation and the comments made by respondents in interviews and on an electronic discussion board are compared to comments made by teachers and lecturers. Major flaws in these views of academic literacy are acknowledged and the way each view manifests itself in the Discourse(s) prevalent at this particular university is demonstrated. Finally, Discourses evidenced in the student interviews in particular, are unpacked and then compared and contrasted with those in the lecturer interviews as well as the curriculum and other university documents. The limitations of the study are examined and suggestions for further research and ways to address ‘problems’ associated with university literacy are given.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

Accelerated staff turnover among professional nurses at a district hospital

  • Authors: Toni, Gladys Nosisana
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Labor turnover -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Nurses -- Employment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Hospitals -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Personnel management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:10039 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/620 , Labor turnover -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Nurses -- Employment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Hospitals -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Personnel management
  • Description: The study emanated from the researcher’s experience and involvement in clinical nursing and nursing management. The researcher noted how heavy losses of recruited professional nurses might have had an influence on the quality of service delivery. It is a costly and time-consuming task to recruit enough nurses into the profession and retention of staff is especially difficult. There had been a significant increase in the number of professional nurses leaving the district hospitals either to primary health care service, private hospitals or other countries. Before the commencement of the study the turnover rate at the district hospital where the study was conducted, almost doubled the accepted norm, which was ten percent of the staff. For those reasons the researcher decided to conduct a study named, “Accelerated staff turnover among professional nurses at a district hospital.” The constant heavy losses of qualified nurses from the profession constitute one of the serious challenges for nursing managers. The researcher wanted answers to the following question: “What were your experiences of your job as a professional nurse at the district hospital?” The objectives of the study were: · to explore and describe factors leading to high staff turnover of professional nurses at a district hospital · to develop guidelines to help retain professional nurses. The design of this study, which was conducted in one of the district hospitals in the Makana Local Service Area in the Eastern Cape, is qualitative, descriptive and contextual. Informed permission for conducting the research was obtained from relevant authorities and participants were asked to sign a consent form before the researcher proceeded with the study. Participants that met the selection criteria were selected by means of purposive sampling. Data was obtained by means of semi-structured telephonic interviews that were audio-taped and later transcribed verbatim. To ensure trustworthiness of the study, the researcher applied the four strategies as proposed by Lincoln and Guba (De Vos, 2002:351) namely, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Collected data was analysed according to the descriptive method proposed by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:154). The services of an independent coder, who was provided with transcripts and a protocol to guide data analysis, were utilised. A consensus meeting was held between the researcher and the independent coder to discuss the identified themes and sub-themes. Following the data analysis, a literature control was undertaken to highlight the similarities to and differences in comparison between this and previous studies. Four major themes and sub-themes were identified through analysis.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

Address at the opening of the OutRhodes Pride Week, 21 August 2007

  • Authors: Badat, Saleem
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Rhodes University
  • Language: English
  • Type: text
  • Identifier: vital:7652 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015780
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  • Date Issued: 2007

Address at the unveiling of the plaque in memory of Ruth First at the Ruth First residence, Aug 2007

African customary law and gender justice in a progressive democracy

  • Authors: Ozoemena, Rita Nkiruka
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Customary law -- Africa , Women's rights -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Women and democracy -- Africa , Culture and law -- Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
  • Identifier: vital:3692 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003207 , Customary law -- Africa , Women's rights -- Africa , Human rights -- Africa , Sex discrimination against women -- Africa , Women and democracy -- Africa , Culture and law -- Africa
  • Description: The constant clash of African culture and traditions with human rights continue to militate against the adequate protection of women’s rights. Thus, African women constantly face challenges resulting from restrictions under customary laws of succession and inheritance, witchcraft violence, degrading treatment to widows, domestic violence; women killed by their partners, rape of women and children under all kinds of circumstances. This thesis was prompted by the issues raised in the Bhe case of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. In this landmark judgment, Ngcobo J dealt with the development of customary law, and how it must be approached by the courts in a manner that would have due regard to the rights of women on one hand and, on the other, would also accord customary law of its proper place, purpose and values within the African context. Against this background, the thesis focused on South Africa, Nigeria and Lesotho as excellent models of the broader challenges for women as well as governments; despite certain legislative measures put in place by the latter, the battle continues unabated for the balance of traditions and culture with women’s rights issues. Although South Africa is more progressive in terms of Constitution and practice than Nigeria and Lesotho, a lot still needs to be done particularly in the area of harmonization of laws. Regrettably, in Nigeria and Lesotho respect for the Constitution is superficial and lacks substantive policies that would promote women’s rights. To this extent, the balance of democratic values and promotion of women’s rights issues within the continent lie in women being partners in development rather than unduly suffering under intense burden of culture, tradition and societal stereotypes.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

AfrOBIS: a marine biogeographic information system for sub-Saharan Africa

  • Authors: Grundlingh, M L , St Ange, U B , Bolton, John J
  • Date: 2007
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: vital:7137 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011813
  • Description: AfrOBIS is one of 11 global nodes of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), a freely accessible network of databases collating marine data in support of the Census of Marine Life.Versatile graphic products, provided by OBIS, can be used to display the data. To date, AfrOBIS has loaded about 3.2 million records of more than 23 000 species located mainly in the seas around southern Africa. This forms part of the 13.2 million records of more than 80 000 species currently stored in OBIS. Scouting for South African data has been successful, whereas locating records in other African countries has been much less so.
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  • Date Issued: 2007

An action learning based reflection on participative drama as a tool for transformation of identity in the spirals programme

  • Authors: Edlmann, Tessa Margaret
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Spirals Trust (South Africa) , Drama in education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Participatory theater -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Active learning
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
  • Identifier: vital:2159 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008202
  • Description: This thesis is a reflection on both the conceptual frameworks and the personal narratives that have shaped the development of the Spirals Programme. The Programme is a participatory drama and creative arts based initiative established in 2000 in Grahamstown, South Africa, to explore issues of identity in the emerging democratic context of South African society - and support both personal and contextual processes of transformation. Working within a poststructuralist and social constructionist paradigm, Spirals works with groups and communities to facilitate and enable experiential links between the drama based and performative nature of identity construction - and the possibilities for transformation and healing provided by participative drama methodologies. The structure of the thesis follows the principles of the Freirian based Action Learning praxis within which Spirals works. It begins with an account of the contextual dynamics and events that gave rise to the development of the Programme, followed by a reflection on the conceptual frameworks regarding both identity construction and participative drama methodologies that informed Spirals' development. These paradigms are then analysed in relation to the articulated experiences of three workshop participants using critical discourse analysis. The thesis concludes with an assessment of the issues emerging from this analysis - the aspects of the Programme that need to be strengthened and sustained, those that need to be changed and possible new strategies that could be developed. , Also known as: Edlmann, Theresa
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  • Date Issued: 2007
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