Composition portfolio
- Authors: Cooper, Corinne Jane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Music , Musical bow -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sound recordings in ethnomusicology -- South Africa , Dywili, Nofinishi. The bow project , Music -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168338 , vital:41568
- Description: In June 2014, I was introduced to Christine Dixie by a film maker I had worked with on a previous project. Christine was looking for a composer who could arrange a soundtrack around musical themes that she had commissioned from Jared Lang to accompany her video installation To Be King (Dixie 2014. Jared composed five different melodies that I wove into a palette of sounds that comprised the soundtrack. To Be King was exhibited at the National Arts Festival in 2014 as part of the Main Festival. It moved to Cape Town in 2015 and 2017, to Venice and London in 2017, and to Lithuania in 2018. In 2017, Christine approached me to compose a soundtrack for a different work, based again on seventeenth century Spanish artist, Velázquez’ painting ‘Las Meninas’ (1656), but this time, using a series of sculptures representing the different figures in the painting, a reinterpretation with strong Eastern Cape (South Africa) themes and associations. Christine proposed reimagining the figures in the painting by clothing them in Shweshwe 1 material and placing African masks on each of them, masks that she had sought out during her travels around Africa. The use of Shweshwe material, ties the figures very closely to the Eastern Cape, and in particular, close to where I grew up in Alice, just 60 kilometres away from where it is manufactured in King William’s Town. Alice is important in the unfolding of this portfolio as Ntsikana, purportedly the first Xhosa person to be converted to Christianity and a prophet, lived in Peddie (which is about 70 kilometers from Grahamstown and Rhodes University) and Gqora, near the Kat River District which is located in the Amathola District near Alice. (Kumalo 2015, p.26). Alice is steeped in history, and is the town where Lovedale Mission Station was founded in 1824 and later, the Lovedale Press in 1861. Therefore, this project felt close to my roots, hence this interaction between Western and African cultures is very relevant to my world view and has impacted on my scoring of this music. I was initially challenged by the idea that the project would require a deeper understanding of traditional Xhosa music and while I had been exposed to Xhosa culture while growing up in Alice, my formative years were largely shaped by the culture of my Christian parents who immigrated to South Africa from England during the 1960s. During the first decade of the twentieth century, in my capacity as a sound engineer, I was tasked with recording and mastering a double CD called The Bow Project. Various South African composers were invited to transcribe and paraphrase or reimagine traditional Xhosa bow music for the classical string quartet. The uhadi songs 2 of Nofinishi Dywili formed the basis for many of these intercultural explorations, and I recorded and mastered the string quartets as well as 12 individual recordings of Dywili’s music. I spent many hours listening to Dywili’s recordings while I mastered them, but though I was very familiar with how they sounded, I realised, as I started compiling this portfolio, that I was not familiar with their notation and rhythmic structures. I approach sound engineering with a very different ear and sonic perspective to that of a composer. To learn more about uhadi bow music I visited the International Library of African Music (ILAM) which is housed by Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Here I consulted with sound engineer and African music specialist, Elijah Madiba, on Xhosa instruments and traditional music-making. With Madiba’s assistance I listened carefully to different bow performances and examined a variety of instruments. After this introduction I loaned a selection of recordings from the ILAM collection and listened to them as carefully as I could. Every time I listened, I seemed to hear something different, both melodically and rhythmically. To gain a deeper understanding of how this music was created I decided to transcribe some of the songs. Following a steep learning curve I completed transcriptions of two songs with my transcriptions including a wealth of vocal parts. As my ears grew accustomed to the sound world I heard additional counter melodies. Notating the rhythms using staff notation was challenging, as this music is created according to a different format, but I am familiar with staff notation and if I was going to use this material while composing then I needed to remain with that which was familiar. I finally settled on notating with shifting time signatures and the first song is scored in bars of 3/4, 4/4, and 2/4 while the other song uses 3/4, 2/4. It was a very worthwhile exercise and after completion I humbly set about composing the eleven pieces that would musically express Dixie’s new work: Worlding the White Spirit Maiden (2019).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cooper, Corinne Jane
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Xhosa (African people) -- Music , Musical bow -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Sound recordings in ethnomusicology -- South Africa , Dywili, Nofinishi. The bow project , Music -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MMus
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/168338 , vital:41568
- Description: In June 2014, I was introduced to Christine Dixie by a film maker I had worked with on a previous project. Christine was looking for a composer who could arrange a soundtrack around musical themes that she had commissioned from Jared Lang to accompany her video installation To Be King (Dixie 2014. Jared composed five different melodies that I wove into a palette of sounds that comprised the soundtrack. To Be King was exhibited at the National Arts Festival in 2014 as part of the Main Festival. It moved to Cape Town in 2015 and 2017, to Venice and London in 2017, and to Lithuania in 2018. In 2017, Christine approached me to compose a soundtrack for a different work, based again on seventeenth century Spanish artist, Velázquez’ painting ‘Las Meninas’ (1656), but this time, using a series of sculptures representing the different figures in the painting, a reinterpretation with strong Eastern Cape (South Africa) themes and associations. Christine proposed reimagining the figures in the painting by clothing them in Shweshwe 1 material and placing African masks on each of them, masks that she had sought out during her travels around Africa. The use of Shweshwe material, ties the figures very closely to the Eastern Cape, and in particular, close to where I grew up in Alice, just 60 kilometres away from where it is manufactured in King William’s Town. Alice is important in the unfolding of this portfolio as Ntsikana, purportedly the first Xhosa person to be converted to Christianity and a prophet, lived in Peddie (which is about 70 kilometers from Grahamstown and Rhodes University) and Gqora, near the Kat River District which is located in the Amathola District near Alice. (Kumalo 2015, p.26). Alice is steeped in history, and is the town where Lovedale Mission Station was founded in 1824 and later, the Lovedale Press in 1861. Therefore, this project felt close to my roots, hence this interaction between Western and African cultures is very relevant to my world view and has impacted on my scoring of this music. I was initially challenged by the idea that the project would require a deeper understanding of traditional Xhosa music and while I had been exposed to Xhosa culture while growing up in Alice, my formative years were largely shaped by the culture of my Christian parents who immigrated to South Africa from England during the 1960s. During the first decade of the twentieth century, in my capacity as a sound engineer, I was tasked with recording and mastering a double CD called The Bow Project. Various South African composers were invited to transcribe and paraphrase or reimagine traditional Xhosa bow music for the classical string quartet. The uhadi songs 2 of Nofinishi Dywili formed the basis for many of these intercultural explorations, and I recorded and mastered the string quartets as well as 12 individual recordings of Dywili’s music. I spent many hours listening to Dywili’s recordings while I mastered them, but though I was very familiar with how they sounded, I realised, as I started compiling this portfolio, that I was not familiar with their notation and rhythmic structures. I approach sound engineering with a very different ear and sonic perspective to that of a composer. To learn more about uhadi bow music I visited the International Library of African Music (ILAM) which is housed by Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape. Here I consulted with sound engineer and African music specialist, Elijah Madiba, on Xhosa instruments and traditional music-making. With Madiba’s assistance I listened carefully to different bow performances and examined a variety of instruments. After this introduction I loaned a selection of recordings from the ILAM collection and listened to them as carefully as I could. Every time I listened, I seemed to hear something different, both melodically and rhythmically. To gain a deeper understanding of how this music was created I decided to transcribe some of the songs. Following a steep learning curve I completed transcriptions of two songs with my transcriptions including a wealth of vocal parts. As my ears grew accustomed to the sound world I heard additional counter melodies. Notating the rhythms using staff notation was challenging, as this music is created according to a different format, but I am familiar with staff notation and if I was going to use this material while composing then I needed to remain with that which was familiar. I finally settled on notating with shifting time signatures and the first song is scored in bars of 3/4, 4/4, and 2/4 while the other song uses 3/4, 2/4. It was a very worthwhile exercise and after completion I humbly set about composing the eleven pieces that would musically express Dixie’s new work: Worlding the White Spirit Maiden (2019).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Computational analysis of missense mutations from the human Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) protein by Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Dynamic Residue Network Analysis:
- Kimuda, Phillip M, Brown, David K, Amamuddy, Olivier S, Ross, Caroline J, Matovu, Enock, Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Authors: Kimuda, Phillip M , Brown, David K , Amamuddy, Olivier S , Ross, Caroline J , Matovu, Enock , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163238 , vital:41021 , https://doi.org/10.21955/aasopenres.1115054.1
- Description: Missense mutations are changes in the DNA that result in a change in the amino acid sequence. Depending on their location within the protein they can have a negative impact on how the protein functions. This is especially important for proteins involved in the body’s response to infection and diseases. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is one such protein that functions to recruit white blood cells to sites of inflammation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kimuda, Phillip M , Brown, David K , Amamuddy, Olivier S , Ross, Caroline J , Matovu, Enock , Tastan Bishop, Özlem
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/163238 , vital:41021 , https://doi.org/10.21955/aasopenres.1115054.1
- Description: Missense mutations are changes in the DNA that result in a change in the amino acid sequence. Depending on their location within the protein they can have a negative impact on how the protein functions. This is especially important for proteins involved in the body’s response to infection and diseases. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is one such protein that functions to recruit white blood cells to sites of inflammation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Computational fluid dynamics design and performance testing of a cyclone heat exchanger used in a gasification plant
- Authors: George, Tomy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics Renewable energy sources Biomass gasification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/19087 , vital:39877
- Description: Renewable energy resources are considered to be the most promising source of energy in the coming centuries owing to its potential to get replenished by the nature itself. However, there are a number of challenges that are to be addressed prior to considering a particular resource as a reliable and effective one according to the energy demand fluctuations. Energy extracted from the biomass available in the nature has a lot of potential especially in the case of producing energy from syngas produced by the controlled burning of wood. This research deals with the minimisation of energy wastage in a gasification plant where syngas is produced from wood and transferred to an internal combustion engine to further generate electrical energy. The syngas produced from the wood is to be fed through a cyclone for purification before it can be fed into the IC engine, where the dust, carbon and other impurities are separated from the syngas by making use of the centrifugal force developed inside the cyclone. This syngas is further cooled and fed into the IC engine in its purest form as specified by the requirements of the engine. It is envisaged that if it is possible to recover the heat energy otherwise wasted in the cyclone and through the cooling circuit, it can be used for preheating the wood or for other minor heating purposes, and thereby the heat wastage can be minimised. Therefore, in this research, a series of numerical investigation conducted which involved the modelling of heat exchanger around a cyclone in order to extract heat from the surface of the cyclone. Two basic design of the Heat exchanger were considered in the study, a rectangular and a conical design. With a water flow rate of 2 l/min in conical design, the heat absorbed by the water was found to be 5.555 kJ/s and in rectangular design, the heat absorbed by the water was 4.872 kJ/s. An experimental analysis conducted to validate the simulation by a rectangular Heat exchanger shows the amount of heat absorbed by the water is 4.87 kJ/s. In a study with variable water flow rate through the jacket, it is observed that heat absorbed by the water in conical heat exchanger is more than heat absorbed by the water in rectangular jacket within the flow rate of 4 l/min. and the heat absorbed by the water in rectangular heat exchanger is higher than conical heat exchanger with water flow rate above 4 l/min.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: George, Tomy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics Renewable energy sources Biomass gasification
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/19087 , vital:39877
- Description: Renewable energy resources are considered to be the most promising source of energy in the coming centuries owing to its potential to get replenished by the nature itself. However, there are a number of challenges that are to be addressed prior to considering a particular resource as a reliable and effective one according to the energy demand fluctuations. Energy extracted from the biomass available in the nature has a lot of potential especially in the case of producing energy from syngas produced by the controlled burning of wood. This research deals with the minimisation of energy wastage in a gasification plant where syngas is produced from wood and transferred to an internal combustion engine to further generate electrical energy. The syngas produced from the wood is to be fed through a cyclone for purification before it can be fed into the IC engine, where the dust, carbon and other impurities are separated from the syngas by making use of the centrifugal force developed inside the cyclone. This syngas is further cooled and fed into the IC engine in its purest form as specified by the requirements of the engine. It is envisaged that if it is possible to recover the heat energy otherwise wasted in the cyclone and through the cooling circuit, it can be used for preheating the wood or for other minor heating purposes, and thereby the heat wastage can be minimised. Therefore, in this research, a series of numerical investigation conducted which involved the modelling of heat exchanger around a cyclone in order to extract heat from the surface of the cyclone. Two basic design of the Heat exchanger were considered in the study, a rectangular and a conical design. With a water flow rate of 2 l/min in conical design, the heat absorbed by the water was found to be 5.555 kJ/s and in rectangular design, the heat absorbed by the water was 4.872 kJ/s. An experimental analysis conducted to validate the simulation by a rectangular Heat exchanger shows the amount of heat absorbed by the water is 4.87 kJ/s. In a study with variable water flow rate through the jacket, it is observed that heat absorbed by the water in conical heat exchanger is more than heat absorbed by the water in rectangular jacket within the flow rate of 4 l/min. and the heat absorbed by the water in rectangular heat exchanger is higher than conical heat exchanger with water flow rate above 4 l/min.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Concept cartoons as a formative assessment instrument in physics – a case study
- Nwaigwe, Chinelo Georgina Candy
- Authors: Nwaigwe, Chinelo Georgina Candy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Comic books, strips, etc., in education , Science -- Study and teaching Educational evaluation Educational toys
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42759 , vital:36689
- Description: Studies have shown that the practice of formative assessment is a challenge for many teachers in South Africa. Teachers are either entrenched in their old habits and methods of assessment, or they have not been adequately trained and supported to apply formative assessment in the instructional process. The aim of this research was to explore Physical Sciences teachers’ perceptions of formative assessment and the usefulness of Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument to assist teachers in their practice of formative assessment. The perceptions of eight Grade 11 Physical Sciences teachers on formative assessment were sought before and after an intervention. During the intervention, the teachers were trained to use Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument. The teachers’ perceptions were also sought after an implementation phase where they implemented Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument in their own classrooms. The teachers were purposefully selected from six schools in the Port Elizabeth area. A qualitative case study approach, informed by a constructivist perspective, was applied in this study. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and the participants’ post-implementation written reflections. These data were analysed and presented in both narrative and tabular formats, supported by verbatim quotes from the participants. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the use of Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument had a substantially positive influence on the Physical Sciences teachers’ understanding and practice of formative assessment. The data also suggest that Concept Cartoons supported both learner- and teacher learning, thus functioning as an Educative Curriculum Material (ECM). Another finding in this study was that a relatively short intervention (i.e. a workshop) could make a difference in teachers’ learning and professional development. Support, however, is needed, particularly in the form of teaching resources or materials, so as to ensure the translation of knowledge into practice. Though the findings are presented within the context of the six sampled schools, and focussed on Grade 11, further research may determine these findings to be informative for other institutions within similar settings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nwaigwe, Chinelo Georgina Candy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Comic books, strips, etc., in education , Science -- Study and teaching Educational evaluation Educational toys
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42759 , vital:36689
- Description: Studies have shown that the practice of formative assessment is a challenge for many teachers in South Africa. Teachers are either entrenched in their old habits and methods of assessment, or they have not been adequately trained and supported to apply formative assessment in the instructional process. The aim of this research was to explore Physical Sciences teachers’ perceptions of formative assessment and the usefulness of Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument to assist teachers in their practice of formative assessment. The perceptions of eight Grade 11 Physical Sciences teachers on formative assessment were sought before and after an intervention. During the intervention, the teachers were trained to use Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument. The teachers’ perceptions were also sought after an implementation phase where they implemented Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument in their own classrooms. The teachers were purposefully selected from six schools in the Port Elizabeth area. A qualitative case study approach, informed by a constructivist perspective, was applied in this study. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and the participants’ post-implementation written reflections. These data were analysed and presented in both narrative and tabular formats, supported by verbatim quotes from the participants. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the use of Concept Cartoons as a formative assessment instrument had a substantially positive influence on the Physical Sciences teachers’ understanding and practice of formative assessment. The data also suggest that Concept Cartoons supported both learner- and teacher learning, thus functioning as an Educative Curriculum Material (ECM). Another finding in this study was that a relatively short intervention (i.e. a workshop) could make a difference in teachers’ learning and professional development. Support, however, is needed, particularly in the form of teaching resources or materials, so as to ensure the translation of knowledge into practice. Though the findings are presented within the context of the six sampled schools, and focussed on Grade 11, further research may determine these findings to be informative for other institutions within similar settings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Conceptualizing, categorizing and recording the outcomes of biological control of invasive plant species, at a population level
- Hoffmann, John H, Moran, V Clifford, Hill, Martin P
- Authors: Hoffmann, John H , Moran, V Clifford , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423315 , vital:72047 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.02.005"
- Description: Rates of establishment of agents, their population dynamics after release, and measures of the damage they inflict on their target hosts are all useful indicators of progress and success in weed biological control but cannot account for the overall degree and extent of weed biocontrol achievements (i.e. outcomes) at a plant population level. Current conventions that describe weed biocontrol outcomes as ‘negligible’, ‘partial’, ‘substantial’ or ‘complete’, are often idiosyncratic and imprecise and are inadequate for describing the complexities involved. Using selected examples from South Africa, an extension of the present system is proposed for conceptualizing and categorizing weed biocontrol outcomes more easily; it incorporates four different invasion parameters i.e. density, area, biomass and number of propagules, for different regions and habitats. This approach should help to provide weed biocontrol practitioners with a shared basis for describing, succinctly and with greater precision, the results of their weed biocontrol programs, at a plant population level.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Hoffmann, John H , Moran, V Clifford , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/423315 , vital:72047 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2019.02.005"
- Description: Rates of establishment of agents, their population dynamics after release, and measures of the damage they inflict on their target hosts are all useful indicators of progress and success in weed biological control but cannot account for the overall degree and extent of weed biocontrol achievements (i.e. outcomes) at a plant population level. Current conventions that describe weed biocontrol outcomes as ‘negligible’, ‘partial’, ‘substantial’ or ‘complete’, are often idiosyncratic and imprecise and are inadequate for describing the complexities involved. Using selected examples from South Africa, an extension of the present system is proposed for conceptualizing and categorizing weed biocontrol outcomes more easily; it incorporates four different invasion parameters i.e. density, area, biomass and number of propagules, for different regions and habitats. This approach should help to provide weed biocontrol practitioners with a shared basis for describing, succinctly and with greater precision, the results of their weed biocontrol programs, at a plant population level.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Condition Report 3: Art History in Africa: debating localization,legitimization and new solidarities
- Simbao, Ruth K, Kouoh, Koyo, Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C, Sousa, Suzana, Koide, Emi
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K , Kouoh, Koyo , Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C , Sousa, Suzana , Koide, Emi
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146055 , vital:38491 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00456
- Description: Following on from the African Arts dialogue, “Zimbabwe Mobilizes: ICAC's Shift from Coup de Grăce to Cultural Coup” (Simbao et al. 2017) this dialogue considers another important event in the visual arts that recently took place on the African continent. Like the International Conference on African Cultures (ICAC) that was held in Harare in 2017, this event in Dakar contributes in important ways towards a shift of the center of gravity of the global academy, particularly the study of art history in and of Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Condition Report 3: Art History in Africa: debating localization,legitimization and new solidarities
- Authors: Simbao, Ruth K , Kouoh, Koyo , Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth C , Sousa, Suzana , Koide, Emi
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146055 , vital:38491 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00456
- Description: Following on from the African Arts dialogue, “Zimbabwe Mobilizes: ICAC's Shift from Coup de Grăce to Cultural Coup” (Simbao et al. 2017) this dialogue considers another important event in the visual arts that recently took place on the African continent. Like the International Conference on African Cultures (ICAC) that was held in Harare in 2017, this event in Dakar contributes in important ways towards a shift of the center of gravity of the global academy, particularly the study of art history in and of Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Conditions constraining and enabling research production in Historically Black Universities in South Africa
- Authors: Muthama, Evelyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Universities and colleges, Black -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Research -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131527 , vital:36591
- Description: The South African higher education system has a highly uneven landscape emerging from its apartheid past. Institutions remain categorised along racial lines within categories known as ‘Historically Black’ and ‘Historically White’ institutions, or alternatively ‘Historically Disadvantaged’ and ‘Historically Advantaged’ universities. Alongside such categorisations, universities fall within three types, which arose from the restructuring of the higher education landscape post-apartheid through a series of mergers: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. This study which is part of a larger National Research Foundation-funded project looking at institutional differentiation in South Africa, sought to investigate the conditions enabling and constraining production of research in the Historically Black Universities (HBUs). By providing clarity as to the nature of truth and the concept of knowledge underpinning study, Critical Realism ensures that the study moves beyond the experiences and events captured in the data to the identification of causal mechanisms. Archer’s theory of Social Realism is used alongside Critical Realism, both as a meta-theory to provide an account of the social world and as a more substantive theory in the analysis of data. Social Realism entails understanding that the social world emerges in a complex interplay of powers in the domains of structure, culture and agency. Identifying the powers in each of these domains that enabled or constrained research development meant moving beyond suggesting simple causal relationships to ensure that I identified the complexities of the interplay of mechanisms. Data was collected from all seven institutions designated by the Department of Higher Education and Training as HBUs, by online survey, in depth interviews with academics and heads of research, and through the collection of a range of national and institutional documentation. Using analytical dualism, I endeavoured to identify some of the enablements and constraints at play. There were a number of areas of strength in research in the HBUs. There has also been a significant increase in research output over the last decade; however, the study also identified a number of mechanisms that constrained research productivity. The study found that while there were a number of mechanisms that appeared to have causal tendencies across all the institutions, there were a number of very specific institutional differences. There was very little consistency in understanding of the purpose of research as being key to what universities and academics do. The implication of this incoherence in the domain of culture (i.e. beliefs and discourses in Archer’s terms) is that various interventions in the structural domain intended to foster increased research output often had unintended consequences. Unless there are explicit discussions about how and why research is valuable to the institution and to the country there is unlikely to be sustained growth in output. In particular, the data analysis raises concerns about an instrumentalist understanding of research output in the domain of culture. This in part emerged from the lack of a historical culture of research and was found to be complimentary to managerialist discourses. Another key mechanism identified in the analysis was the use of direct incentives to drive research productivity. Such initiatives seemed to be complementary to a more instrumentalist understanding of the purpose of research and thereby to potentially constrain the likelihood of sustained research growth. While many of the participants were in favour of the use of research incentives, it was also evident that this was often problematic because it steered academics towards salami slicing, and other practices focused on quantity as opposed to quality research. Predatory publications, in particular, have emerged as a problem whereby the research does not get read or cited and so it fails to contribute to knowledge dissemination. Another constraint to research production was related to the increased casualisation of academic staff, which has exacerbated difficulties in attracting and retaining staff especially in rural areas. In South Africa, 56% of academics in universities are now hired on a contract basis which constrained the nurturing of an academic identity and the extent of commitment to the university and its particular academic project. In the HBUs, these employment conditions were exacerbated by increased teaching loads as a result of increased number of students (undergraduates and postgraduates) that have not been matched with similar increases in academic staff. There was a nascent discourse of social justice that focused on research as a core driver of knowledge production in some of the HBUs. This is potentially an area of strength for the HBUs especially emerging from their rural position as there was a complementary culture of social concerns. There was evidence that the nexus between research and community engagement could be a strong means of both strengthening institutional identity and increasing research productivity. But unless the nexus is clearly articulated, a systematic process of support is unlikely to emerge. Given the extent to which the rural positioning of HBUs has been acknowledged to constrain research engagement, this finding has a number of positive implications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Muthama, Evelyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Universities and colleges, Black -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- Research -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- History , Black people -- Education -- South Africa -- History , Discrimination in higher education -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131527 , vital:36591
- Description: The South African higher education system has a highly uneven landscape emerging from its apartheid past. Institutions remain categorised along racial lines within categories known as ‘Historically Black’ and ‘Historically White’ institutions, or alternatively ‘Historically Disadvantaged’ and ‘Historically Advantaged’ universities. Alongside such categorisations, universities fall within three types, which arose from the restructuring of the higher education landscape post-apartheid through a series of mergers: traditional universities, comprehensive universities, and universities of technology. This study which is part of a larger National Research Foundation-funded project looking at institutional differentiation in South Africa, sought to investigate the conditions enabling and constraining production of research in the Historically Black Universities (HBUs). By providing clarity as to the nature of truth and the concept of knowledge underpinning study, Critical Realism ensures that the study moves beyond the experiences and events captured in the data to the identification of causal mechanisms. Archer’s theory of Social Realism is used alongside Critical Realism, both as a meta-theory to provide an account of the social world and as a more substantive theory in the analysis of data. Social Realism entails understanding that the social world emerges in a complex interplay of powers in the domains of structure, culture and agency. Identifying the powers in each of these domains that enabled or constrained research development meant moving beyond suggesting simple causal relationships to ensure that I identified the complexities of the interplay of mechanisms. Data was collected from all seven institutions designated by the Department of Higher Education and Training as HBUs, by online survey, in depth interviews with academics and heads of research, and through the collection of a range of national and institutional documentation. Using analytical dualism, I endeavoured to identify some of the enablements and constraints at play. There were a number of areas of strength in research in the HBUs. There has also been a significant increase in research output over the last decade; however, the study also identified a number of mechanisms that constrained research productivity. The study found that while there were a number of mechanisms that appeared to have causal tendencies across all the institutions, there were a number of very specific institutional differences. There was very little consistency in understanding of the purpose of research as being key to what universities and academics do. The implication of this incoherence in the domain of culture (i.e. beliefs and discourses in Archer’s terms) is that various interventions in the structural domain intended to foster increased research output often had unintended consequences. Unless there are explicit discussions about how and why research is valuable to the institution and to the country there is unlikely to be sustained growth in output. In particular, the data analysis raises concerns about an instrumentalist understanding of research output in the domain of culture. This in part emerged from the lack of a historical culture of research and was found to be complimentary to managerialist discourses. Another key mechanism identified in the analysis was the use of direct incentives to drive research productivity. Such initiatives seemed to be complementary to a more instrumentalist understanding of the purpose of research and thereby to potentially constrain the likelihood of sustained research growth. While many of the participants were in favour of the use of research incentives, it was also evident that this was often problematic because it steered academics towards salami slicing, and other practices focused on quantity as opposed to quality research. Predatory publications, in particular, have emerged as a problem whereby the research does not get read or cited and so it fails to contribute to knowledge dissemination. Another constraint to research production was related to the increased casualisation of academic staff, which has exacerbated difficulties in attracting and retaining staff especially in rural areas. In South Africa, 56% of academics in universities are now hired on a contract basis which constrained the nurturing of an academic identity and the extent of commitment to the university and its particular academic project. In the HBUs, these employment conditions were exacerbated by increased teaching loads as a result of increased number of students (undergraduates and postgraduates) that have not been matched with similar increases in academic staff. There was a nascent discourse of social justice that focused on research as a core driver of knowledge production in some of the HBUs. This is potentially an area of strength for the HBUs especially emerging from their rural position as there was a complementary culture of social concerns. There was evidence that the nexus between research and community engagement could be a strong means of both strengthening institutional identity and increasing research productivity. But unless the nexus is clearly articulated, a systematic process of support is unlikely to emerge. Given the extent to which the rural positioning of HBUs has been acknowledged to constrain research engagement, this finding has a number of positive implications.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Conflict transformation and campus protests at Rhodes University, 2015 - 2016
- Authors: Hunter, Andrew John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Student strikes -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , College students -- Political activity -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Protest movements -- South Africa Conflict management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40115 , vital:35756
- Description: This research explores the severe challenges of conflict resolution in the face of deep-rooted, intractable conflict. The dynamics of the student protests at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016 are used as a case study. There were four waves of protest at Rhodes University in 2015 and 2016: RhodesMustFall, around issues of transformation and decolonisation; FeesMustFall 2015 and 2016, with the demand for fee-free tertiary education; and ReferenceList, a protest against rape and rape culture. Each protest had its own dynamic, and provided to a greater or lesser extent the potential for resolution. The study was informed by conflict theory, models and approaches that included perspectives on decolonisation and transformation, social movement theory, conflict dynamics and conflict management strategies, rape culture and sexual violence. Key concepts were drawn from the works of Galtung on structural violence, and in particular his concept of the conflict triangle, and Lederach’s work on conflict transformation. This was qualitative research within the interpretivist paradigm. The chief sources of data were a series of semi-structured interviews; university statements and communications; statements by student protesters which appeared on social media; print and electronic media. The findings reveal that conflict resolution strategies were employed in all four protests. These succeeded in two of the protests: RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall 2015. The other two protests – ReferenceList and FeesMustFall 2016 - ended in deadlock and hurting stalemate. The most successful negotiations were those facilitated by mediators from within the university community. There were also some significant attempts at intervention from outside. However, mediators from outside were generally unaware of the dynamics, lacked the trust from both sides, were easily open to manipulation, and failed to achieve solutions. What has emerged from this study, and which is consistent with conflict theory, are the limitations of conflict resolution strategies in situations of intractable conflict. Of particular significance was role of emotion in the protests under study. Humiliation, shame, fear and hatred all played their part. The protests saw the emergence of the tactics of “reverse humiliation”: an unconscious strategy by protesters to use humiliation and shame to undermine and weaken others. Where one or more of the parties had nothing to lose by allowing the conflict to continue, the negotiations had little prospect of success. In the context of intractable conflict and deep emotion, conflict management strategies, though useful, are of limited value. A model of a ‘peace and transformation mosaic’ of conflict resolution is proposed, and a number of recommendations for policy and strategy are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Hunter, Andrew John
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Student strikes -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , College students -- Political activity -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Protest movements -- South Africa Conflict management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40115 , vital:35756
- Description: This research explores the severe challenges of conflict resolution in the face of deep-rooted, intractable conflict. The dynamics of the student protests at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016 are used as a case study. There were four waves of protest at Rhodes University in 2015 and 2016: RhodesMustFall, around issues of transformation and decolonisation; FeesMustFall 2015 and 2016, with the demand for fee-free tertiary education; and ReferenceList, a protest against rape and rape culture. Each protest had its own dynamic, and provided to a greater or lesser extent the potential for resolution. The study was informed by conflict theory, models and approaches that included perspectives on decolonisation and transformation, social movement theory, conflict dynamics and conflict management strategies, rape culture and sexual violence. Key concepts were drawn from the works of Galtung on structural violence, and in particular his concept of the conflict triangle, and Lederach’s work on conflict transformation. This was qualitative research within the interpretivist paradigm. The chief sources of data were a series of semi-structured interviews; university statements and communications; statements by student protesters which appeared on social media; print and electronic media. The findings reveal that conflict resolution strategies were employed in all four protests. These succeeded in two of the protests: RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall 2015. The other two protests – ReferenceList and FeesMustFall 2016 - ended in deadlock and hurting stalemate. The most successful negotiations were those facilitated by mediators from within the university community. There were also some significant attempts at intervention from outside. However, mediators from outside were generally unaware of the dynamics, lacked the trust from both sides, were easily open to manipulation, and failed to achieve solutions. What has emerged from this study, and which is consistent with conflict theory, are the limitations of conflict resolution strategies in situations of intractable conflict. Of particular significance was role of emotion in the protests under study. Humiliation, shame, fear and hatred all played their part. The protests saw the emergence of the tactics of “reverse humiliation”: an unconscious strategy by protesters to use humiliation and shame to undermine and weaken others. Where one or more of the parties had nothing to lose by allowing the conflict to continue, the negotiations had little prospect of success. In the context of intractable conflict and deep emotion, conflict management strategies, though useful, are of limited value. A model of a ‘peace and transformation mosaic’ of conflict resolution is proposed, and a number of recommendations for policy and strategy are made.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Conjuring our beings: Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali in conversational partnership
- Abe, Stacey Gillian, Mali, Immy
- Authors: Abe, Stacey Gillian , Mali, Immy
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145963 , vital:38482 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00457
- Description: The series of Conversational Partnerships began in 2017 in African Arts vol. 50, no. 2, with a conversation between two artists: Eria Nsubuga SANE from Uganda and Sikhumbuzo Makandula from South Africa. The format of a “conversational partnership” (Rubin and Rubin 2012: 7) emphasizes the cocreation of meaning by the interviewer and interviewee as coauthors. This enables a move away from the art history format of the interviewer (usually a writer) assuming the role of the sole author and the interviewee (often an artist) having no status as an author despite the fact that her or his practice-led creation of knowledge is foundational to the content of the interview. Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali participated in a joint artists' residency as part of the RAW program at Rhodes University in South Africa from November to December 2017. During this time, they engaged with each other's practice-led work, and they created this conversational partnership at a writing breakaway in the Eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Abe, Stacey Gillian , Mali, Immy
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145963 , vital:38482 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00457
- Description: The series of Conversational Partnerships began in 2017 in African Arts vol. 50, no. 2, with a conversation between two artists: Eria Nsubuga SANE from Uganda and Sikhumbuzo Makandula from South Africa. The format of a “conversational partnership” (Rubin and Rubin 2012: 7) emphasizes the cocreation of meaning by the interviewer and interviewee as coauthors. This enables a move away from the art history format of the interviewer (usually a writer) assuming the role of the sole author and the interviewee (often an artist) having no status as an author despite the fact that her or his practice-led creation of knowledge is foundational to the content of the interview. Stacey Gillian Abe and Immy Mali participated in a joint artists' residency as part of the RAW program at Rhodes University in South Africa from November to December 2017. During this time, they engaged with each other's practice-led work, and they created this conversational partnership at a writing breakaway in the Eastern Cape.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Consider the unexpected: Scaling ESD as a matter of learning
- Mickelsson, Martin, Kronlid, David O, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Mickelsson, Martin , Kronlid, David O , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182438 , vital:43830 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1429572"
- Description: This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of ‘scaling up’ or ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how ‘scaling up’ ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specifications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of significant importance to scaling research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mickelsson, Martin , Kronlid, David O , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182438 , vital:43830 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1429572"
- Description: This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of ‘scaling up’ or ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how ‘scaling up’ ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specifications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of significant importance to scaling research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Considering the links between non-timber forest products and poverty alleviation
- Shackleton, Charlie M, Pullanikkatil, Deepa
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Pullanikkatil, Deepa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433551 , vital:72983 , ISBN 978-3-319-75580-9 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75580-9_2
- Description: The debates around the value and importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are complex and ongoing. The complexity is a result of many factors, including the wide variety of species, products and uses, as well as the variety of constituencies and disciplines each seeing advantage from ‘co-opting’ the importance of the contribution of NTFPs to their own areas of interest and concern. Conservationists are interested in NTFPs because their combined high value in many settings offers a potential alternative to the destruction of forests by either commercial logging or their widespread conversion to other land uses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Pullanikkatil, Deepa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433551 , vital:72983 , ISBN 978-3-319-75580-9 , https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75580-9_2
- Description: The debates around the value and importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are complex and ongoing. The complexity is a result of many factors, including the wide variety of species, products and uses, as well as the variety of constituencies and disciplines each seeing advantage from ‘co-opting’ the importance of the contribution of NTFPs to their own areas of interest and concern. Conservationists are interested in NTFPs because their combined high value in many settings offers a potential alternative to the destruction of forests by either commercial logging or their widespread conversion to other land uses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Construction material logistics management: the case of north-central Nigeria
- Authors: Alumbugu, Polycarp Olaku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction projects-- Nigeria --Management Construction projects --Management Logistics-- Nigeria -- Management , Construction industry -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44879 , vital:38179
- Description: The Management of Construction Material Logistics Systems plays a significant role in meeting the goals of cost, quality and time to completion of a construction project. Studies have revealed that the cost of construction materials is usually about 50%-60% of the total cost of the project and that the logistic cost accounts for between 17%-35% of the cost material. Fundamentally, it is accepted that any inefficiency in the delivery of construction material could lead to a time overrun and thus, a rise in construction costs addressing the operational performance of logistics would have a positive impact on the goals of a construction project. The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the operational performance of material logistics in North-Central Nigeria as there is little specific research conducted on its effectiveness and efficiency. The methodology used included an extensive literature review and a field study conducted on ten quantitative approach that is rooted in the positivist paradigm, and purposive sampling techniques, was adopted. The descriptive method of data analysis was employed, and the findings and interpretations presented through graphs and images. Analysis of the findings led to the conclusion that material logistics did not operate as a system. There was almost no collaboration and integration of the logistics systems to create a synergistic interrelationship between functions in pursuit of higher overall effectiveness and efficiency. Improvement was needed in warehouse and transport operations and processes; technology and automation of logistics operations were absent, and delivery of material to customers was not effective. The implication was that the current materials logistics system did not meet the delivery goals of cost, quality and time of a construction project. The recommendations suggested included the adoption of the framework developed in this study. This would serve as a guide towards effective and efficient logistics management for material manufacturing firms, and for construction professionals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Alumbugu, Polycarp Olaku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction projects-- Nigeria --Management Construction projects --Management Logistics-- Nigeria -- Management , Construction industry -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44879 , vital:38179
- Description: The Management of Construction Material Logistics Systems plays a significant role in meeting the goals of cost, quality and time to completion of a construction project. Studies have revealed that the cost of construction materials is usually about 50%-60% of the total cost of the project and that the logistic cost accounts for between 17%-35% of the cost material. Fundamentally, it is accepted that any inefficiency in the delivery of construction material could lead to a time overrun and thus, a rise in construction costs addressing the operational performance of logistics would have a positive impact on the goals of a construction project. The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the operational performance of material logistics in North-Central Nigeria as there is little specific research conducted on its effectiveness and efficiency. The methodology used included an extensive literature review and a field study conducted on ten quantitative approach that is rooted in the positivist paradigm, and purposive sampling techniques, was adopted. The descriptive method of data analysis was employed, and the findings and interpretations presented through graphs and images. Analysis of the findings led to the conclusion that material logistics did not operate as a system. There was almost no collaboration and integration of the logistics systems to create a synergistic interrelationship between functions in pursuit of higher overall effectiveness and efficiency. Improvement was needed in warehouse and transport operations and processes; technology and automation of logistics operations were absent, and delivery of material to customers was not effective. The implication was that the current materials logistics system did not meet the delivery goals of cost, quality and time of a construction project. The recommendations suggested included the adoption of the framework developed in this study. This would serve as a guide towards effective and efficient logistics management for material manufacturing firms, and for construction professionals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Construction material logistics management: the case of North-Central Nigeria
- Authors: Alumbugu, Polycarp Olaku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction industry -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44556 , vital:38132
- Description: The Management of Construction Material Logistics Systems plays a significant role in meeting the goals of cost, quality and time to completion of a construction project. Fundamentally, it is accepted that any inefficiency in the delivery of construction material could lead to a time overrun and thus, a rise in construction costs. Therefore addressing the operational performance of logistics would have a positive impact on the goals of a construction project. The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the operational performance of material logistics in North-Central Nigeria as there is little specific research conducted on its effectiveness and efficiency. The methodology used included an extensive literature review and a field study conducted on ten quantitative approach that is rooted in the positivist paradigm, and purposive sampling techniques, was adopted. The descriptive method of data analysis was employed, and the findings and interpretations presented through graphs and images. Analysis of the findings led to the conclusion that material logistics did not operate as a system. There was almost no collaboration and integration of the logistics systems to create a synergistic interrelationship between functions in pursuit of higher overall effectiveness and efficiency. Improvement was needed in warehouse and transport operations and processes; technology and automation of logistics operations were absent, and delivery of material to customers was not effective. The implication was that the current materials logistics system did not meet the delivery goals of cost, quality and time of a construction project. The recommendations suggested included the adoption of the framework developed in this study. This would serve as a guide towards effective and efficient logistics management for material manufacturing firms, and for construction professionals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Alumbugu, Polycarp Olaku
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Construction industry -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44556 , vital:38132
- Description: The Management of Construction Material Logistics Systems plays a significant role in meeting the goals of cost, quality and time to completion of a construction project. Fundamentally, it is accepted that any inefficiency in the delivery of construction material could lead to a time overrun and thus, a rise in construction costs. Therefore addressing the operational performance of logistics would have a positive impact on the goals of a construction project. The aim of this study was to investigate and evaluate the operational performance of material logistics in North-Central Nigeria as there is little specific research conducted on its effectiveness and efficiency. The methodology used included an extensive literature review and a field study conducted on ten quantitative approach that is rooted in the positivist paradigm, and purposive sampling techniques, was adopted. The descriptive method of data analysis was employed, and the findings and interpretations presented through graphs and images. Analysis of the findings led to the conclusion that material logistics did not operate as a system. There was almost no collaboration and integration of the logistics systems to create a synergistic interrelationship between functions in pursuit of higher overall effectiveness and efficiency. Improvement was needed in warehouse and transport operations and processes; technology and automation of logistics operations were absent, and delivery of material to customers was not effective. The implication was that the current materials logistics system did not meet the delivery goals of cost, quality and time of a construction project. The recommendations suggested included the adoption of the framework developed in this study. This would serve as a guide towards effective and efficient logistics management for material manufacturing firms, and for construction professionals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Contribution of the Coega development corporation to small enterprise growth in Nelson Mandela Bay
- Authors: Nakimbugwe, Norris Linda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Coega Development Corporation , Small business -- Growth -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Small business -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42913 , vital:36705
- Description: This study seeks to investigate the contribution of the Coega Development Corporation to Small Enterprise growth in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Current discourse regarding IDZs suggests that their establishment is an engine to economic growth through the attraction of both domestic and foreign investments, as well as the promotion of exports through incentive packages for IDZ companies. While, the attraction of larger FDI corporations may be significant to the growth of the local economy, it can also be a barrier to Small Enterprise Growth due to the influx of larger corporations into the market although the synergetic co-existence of both the larger corporations and the local SMEs is crucial to the overall welfare of economy. With these potential challenges in mind research investigated into the contribution of the Coega IDZ project to the growth of local Small Enterprises in Nelson Mandela Bay. The study adopted a quantitative research design and self-administered questionnaires which were used for data collection from information rich respondents. Overall, findings of this study indicate that the Coega Development Corporation has to some extent contributed to small enterprise growth through its infrastructure projects, some of its existing labour regulations and also through the development of human capital skills of individuals within the small enterprises. These findings were in agreement with some of those from the literature review in the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nakimbugwe, Norris Linda
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Coega Development Corporation , Small business -- Growth -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Small business -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality -- Management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/42913 , vital:36705
- Description: This study seeks to investigate the contribution of the Coega Development Corporation to Small Enterprise growth in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. Current discourse regarding IDZs suggests that their establishment is an engine to economic growth through the attraction of both domestic and foreign investments, as well as the promotion of exports through incentive packages for IDZ companies. While, the attraction of larger FDI corporations may be significant to the growth of the local economy, it can also be a barrier to Small Enterprise Growth due to the influx of larger corporations into the market although the synergetic co-existence of both the larger corporations and the local SMEs is crucial to the overall welfare of economy. With these potential challenges in mind research investigated into the contribution of the Coega IDZ project to the growth of local Small Enterprises in Nelson Mandela Bay. The study adopted a quantitative research design and self-administered questionnaires which were used for data collection from information rich respondents. Overall, findings of this study indicate that the Coega Development Corporation has to some extent contributed to small enterprise growth through its infrastructure projects, some of its existing labour regulations and also through the development of human capital skills of individuals within the small enterprises. These findings were in agreement with some of those from the literature review in the study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Coping as a moderator between work-family conflict and psychological well-being among academic employees at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa
- Authors: Samkange, Victoria
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Work and family -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Psychological aspect Job stress -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom (Industrial Psychology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12524 , vital:39271
- Description: The effects of changing academic environments at universities have attracted considerable research attraction on the psychological well-being of academics. The growing number of students entering tertiary education, the increase of emphasis on research, and higher quality learning this puts pressure on the academics leading to psychological distress. This study investigated the relationship that exists between work family conflict and psychological well-being among academic staff at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The main aim of this study was to investigate the moderating role of the use of coping strategies as a moderator of the relationship between work-family conflict among the academic staff at the university of Fort Hare. A quantitative research design was adopted in conducting this study. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire to academics from all faculties within the university of Fort Hare. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling method, from 350 academic staff members a sample size of 184 respondents was used in this study. Five-point Likert scale was used to measure the responses. Data analysis methods used include descriptive statistics, one sample statistic test, Chi-square tests and independent t-test. The validity and reliability of the research instrument and the findings were assured through pilot study and Cronbach alpha reliability test. The results indicate that the use of coping strategies moderates the relationship between work family conflict and psychological well-being. Recommendations to reduce work family conflict and promoting psychological well-being among academic staff were also discussed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Samkange, Victoria
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Work and family -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Psychological aspect Job stress -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom (Industrial Psychology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/12524 , vital:39271
- Description: The effects of changing academic environments at universities have attracted considerable research attraction on the psychological well-being of academics. The growing number of students entering tertiary education, the increase of emphasis on research, and higher quality learning this puts pressure on the academics leading to psychological distress. This study investigated the relationship that exists between work family conflict and psychological well-being among academic staff at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The main aim of this study was to investigate the moderating role of the use of coping strategies as a moderator of the relationship between work-family conflict among the academic staff at the university of Fort Hare. A quantitative research design was adopted in conducting this study. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire to academics from all faculties within the university of Fort Hare. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling method, from 350 academic staff members a sample size of 184 respondents was used in this study. Five-point Likert scale was used to measure the responses. Data analysis methods used include descriptive statistics, one sample statistic test, Chi-square tests and independent t-test. The validity and reliability of the research instrument and the findings were assured through pilot study and Cronbach alpha reliability test. The results indicate that the use of coping strategies moderates the relationship between work family conflict and psychological well-being. Recommendations to reduce work family conflict and promoting psychological well-being among academic staff were also discussed in this study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Cordidepsine is A Potential New Anti-HIV Depsidone from Cordia millenii
- Zeukang, Rostanie D, Siwe-Noundou, Xavier, Fotsing, Maurice T, Mbafor, Joseph T, Krause, Rui W M, Choudhary, Muhammad I, Atchade, Alex de Theodore
- Authors: Zeukang, Rostanie D , Siwe-Noundou, Xavier , Fotsing, Maurice T , Mbafor, Joseph T , Krause, Rui W M , Choudhary, Muhammad I , Atchade, Alex de Theodore
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193988 , vital:45413 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24173202"
- Description: Chemical investigation of Cordia millenii, Baker resulted in the isolation of a new depsidone, cordidepsine (1), along with twelve known compounds including cyclooctasulfur (2), lup-20(29)-en-3-triacontanoate (3), 1-(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)glycerol (4), glyceryl-1-hexacosanoate (5) betulinic acid (6), lupenone (7), β-amyrone (8), lupeol (9), β-amyrin (10), allantoin (11), 2′-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethylpropanoate (12) and stigmasterol glycoside (13). Hemi-synthetic reactions were carried out on two isolated compounds (5 and 6) to afford two new derivatives, that is, cordicerol A (14) and cordicerol B (15), respectively. The chemical structures of all the compounds were established based on analysis and interpretation of spectroscopic data such as electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI–MS), high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI–MS), fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB–MS), one dimension and two dimension nuclear magnetic resonance (1D and 2D-NMR) spectral data as well as X-ray crystallography (XRC). Lupeol ester derivatives [Lup-20(29)-en-3-triacontanoate (3)], monoglycerol derivatives [1-(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)glycerol (4) and glyceryl-1 hexacosanoate (5)] were isolated for the first time from Cordia genus while sulfur allotrope [cyclooctasulfur (2)] was isolated for the first time from plant origin. Biological assays cordidepsine (1) exhibited significant anti-HIV integrase activity with IC50 = 4.65 μM; EtOAc extract of stem barks, EtOAc fraction of roots and leaves were not toxic against 3T3 cells.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Zeukang, Rostanie D , Siwe-Noundou, Xavier , Fotsing, Maurice T , Mbafor, Joseph T , Krause, Rui W M , Choudhary, Muhammad I , Atchade, Alex de Theodore
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/193988 , vital:45413 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24173202"
- Description: Chemical investigation of Cordia millenii, Baker resulted in the isolation of a new depsidone, cordidepsine (1), along with twelve known compounds including cyclooctasulfur (2), lup-20(29)-en-3-triacontanoate (3), 1-(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)glycerol (4), glyceryl-1-hexacosanoate (5) betulinic acid (6), lupenone (7), β-amyrone (8), lupeol (9), β-amyrin (10), allantoin (11), 2′-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethylpropanoate (12) and stigmasterol glycoside (13). Hemi-synthetic reactions were carried out on two isolated compounds (5 and 6) to afford two new derivatives, that is, cordicerol A (14) and cordicerol B (15), respectively. The chemical structures of all the compounds were established based on analysis and interpretation of spectroscopic data such as electron ionization mass spectrometry (EI–MS), high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HR-ESI–MS), fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB–MS), one dimension and two dimension nuclear magnetic resonance (1D and 2D-NMR) spectral data as well as X-ray crystallography (XRC). Lupeol ester derivatives [Lup-20(29)-en-3-triacontanoate (3)], monoglycerol derivatives [1-(26-hydroxyhexacosanoyl)glycerol (4) and glyceryl-1 hexacosanoate (5)] were isolated for the first time from Cordia genus while sulfur allotrope [cyclooctasulfur (2)] was isolated for the first time from plant origin. Biological assays cordidepsine (1) exhibited significant anti-HIV integrase activity with IC50 = 4.65 μM; EtOAc extract of stem barks, EtOAc fraction of roots and leaves were not toxic against 3T3 cells.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Cormac McCarthy and the South Africans
- Authors: Cornwell, Gareth D N
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/458189 , vital:75722 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-184061729f
- Description: In his well-known interview with Richard Woodward, Cormac McCarthy had occasion to remark: “The ugly fact is books are made out of books” (Woodward). Using his words as the point of departure for a detailed investigation of a multi-stranded case of intertextuality, I examine the influence of McCarthy’s Blood Meridian on three South African novels – Mike Nicol’s Horseman, Damon Galgut’s The Quarry and James Whyle’s The Book of War – in a way that I hope sheds light on the provenance, literariness and meaning of these texts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cornwell, Gareth D N
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/458189 , vital:75722 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-184061729f
- Description: In his well-known interview with Richard Woodward, Cormac McCarthy had occasion to remark: “The ugly fact is books are made out of books” (Woodward). Using his words as the point of departure for a detailed investigation of a multi-stranded case of intertextuality, I examine the influence of McCarthy’s Blood Meridian on three South African novels – Mike Nicol’s Horseman, Damon Galgut’s The Quarry and James Whyle’s The Book of War – in a way that I hope sheds light on the provenance, literariness and meaning of these texts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Corporate Social Responsibility as a strategy for community development in the Eastern Cape Province: The Case of Volkswagen in Uitenhage
- Authors: Mutongoza, Bonginkosi Hardy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social responsibility of business Community development
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom (Development Studies)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16963 , vital:40789
- Description: The turn of the new millennium has brought with it a heightened emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), particularly more recently in the global South where underdevelopment is more prevalent. While corporates continue to be viewed as more better-placed than global South governments in the attempt to deal with underdevelopment, this contribution of corporates does not come naturally since their primary focus is making profit. In the case of South Africa, the CSR agenda is regulated primarily by two legal instruments: the B-BBEE Act and the Companies Act. This study set out to determine whether CSR is an effective strategy for community development (CD). The study relied on a qualitative research methodology, employing face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions as the primary sources of data. Data was gathered primarily from two sets of samples: a community sample which comprised of members from wards 47, 50 and 51 in Uitenhage; and a sample comprising of officials from the B-BBEE Commission, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Local Economic Development, and the Volkswagen Community Trust. Participants were purposively sampled in order to save time and resources. The study established that although CSR can be employed for the purposes of achieving community development, there is need for dedicated policies that deal specifically with CSR and set the parameters within which CSR can be carried out. The effectiveness of the CSR agenda in South Africa, thus, relies heavily on the institution of an effective regulatory framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mutongoza, Bonginkosi Hardy
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Social responsibility of business Community development
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom (Development Studies)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16963 , vital:40789
- Description: The turn of the new millennium has brought with it a heightened emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), particularly more recently in the global South where underdevelopment is more prevalent. While corporates continue to be viewed as more better-placed than global South governments in the attempt to deal with underdevelopment, this contribution of corporates does not come naturally since their primary focus is making profit. In the case of South Africa, the CSR agenda is regulated primarily by two legal instruments: the B-BBEE Act and the Companies Act. This study set out to determine whether CSR is an effective strategy for community development (CD). The study relied on a qualitative research methodology, employing face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions as the primary sources of data. Data was gathered primarily from two sets of samples: a community sample which comprised of members from wards 47, 50 and 51 in Uitenhage; and a sample comprising of officials from the B-BBEE Commission, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Local Economic Development, and the Volkswagen Community Trust. Participants were purposively sampled in order to save time and resources. The study established that although CSR can be employed for the purposes of achieving community development, there is need for dedicated policies that deal specifically with CSR and set the parameters within which CSR can be carried out. The effectiveness of the CSR agenda in South Africa, thus, relies heavily on the institution of an effective regulatory framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Correlation of Total Phenolic, Flavonoid and Tannin Content of Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) (Crassulaceae) Extract with the Antioxidant and Anticholinesterase Activities
- Elufioye, Taiwo O, Olusola, Damilare M, Oyedeji, Adebola Omowunmi
- Authors: Elufioye, Taiwo O , Olusola, Damilare M , Oyedeji, Adebola Omowunmi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Cholinesterase inhibitors , Antioxidants , Bryophyllum pinnatum
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1536 , vital:37776 , https://doi.org/10.5530/pj.2019.11.158
- Description: Bryophyllum pinnatum is a perennial herb used in traditional medicine against varieties of ailments such as memory disorder. This study quantitatively estimated the total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC) and total proautocyanidin (TPA) contents of extract and fractions of B. pinnatum and correlated them with its antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities. Methanolic extract of the dried leaves was partitioned into n-hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions. Total phenolic, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins content were estimated as gallic acid or quercetin equivalents. DPPH and nitric oxide scavenging activity as well as ferric reducing power assays were used to evaluate antioxidant activity, using 2,6-di-tert-butyl4-methylphenol (DDM) and ascorbic acid as standards. In vitro anticholinesterase activity was evaluated by Ellmann’s colorimetry assay with phsiostigmine (serine) and donepezil as positive control. The crude methanol extract had the highest phenolic, flavonoid and tannin content. The ethyl acetate fraction had the highest DPPH radical scavenging effect (IC50 0.004 mg/ml) while the aqueous fraction had the highest NO scavenging and ferric reducing effects with values of IC50 0.012 mg/ml and 0.007 mg/ml respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction had the best cholinesterase inhibitory effect (IC50 0.951 µg/ml AChE; 3.546 µg/ml BuChE). DPPH radical scavenging effect correlated strongly with total phenolic, flavonoids and proautocyanidins (r2 0.896, 0.651 and 0.619 respectively) while ferric reducing power showed weak correlation and NO scavenging as well as AChE inhibition had no correlation. The study shows DPPH radical scavenging could be due to the phenolic content while other class of compounds are responsible for the cholinesterase inhibition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Elufioye, Taiwo O , Olusola, Damilare M , Oyedeji, Adebola Omowunmi
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Cholinesterase inhibitors , Antioxidants , Bryophyllum pinnatum
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1536 , vital:37776 , https://doi.org/10.5530/pj.2019.11.158
- Description: Bryophyllum pinnatum is a perennial herb used in traditional medicine against varieties of ailments such as memory disorder. This study quantitatively estimated the total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC) and total proautocyanidin (TPA) contents of extract and fractions of B. pinnatum and correlated them with its antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities. Methanolic extract of the dried leaves was partitioned into n-hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions. Total phenolic, flavonoids and proanthocyanidins content were estimated as gallic acid or quercetin equivalents. DPPH and nitric oxide scavenging activity as well as ferric reducing power assays were used to evaluate antioxidant activity, using 2,6-di-tert-butyl4-methylphenol (DDM) and ascorbic acid as standards. In vitro anticholinesterase activity was evaluated by Ellmann’s colorimetry assay with phsiostigmine (serine) and donepezil as positive control. The crude methanol extract had the highest phenolic, flavonoid and tannin content. The ethyl acetate fraction had the highest DPPH radical scavenging effect (IC50 0.004 mg/ml) while the aqueous fraction had the highest NO scavenging and ferric reducing effects with values of IC50 0.012 mg/ml and 0.007 mg/ml respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction had the best cholinesterase inhibitory effect (IC50 0.951 µg/ml AChE; 3.546 µg/ml BuChE). DPPH radical scavenging effect correlated strongly with total phenolic, flavonoids and proautocyanidins (r2 0.896, 0.651 and 0.619 respectively) while ferric reducing power showed weak correlation and NO scavenging as well as AChE inhibition had no correlation. The study shows DPPH radical scavenging could be due to the phenolic content while other class of compounds are responsible for the cholinesterase inhibition.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Corrosion resistance of aluminum against acid activation: Impact of benzothiazole-substituted gallium phthalocyanine
- Nnaji, Nnaemeka, Nwaji, Njemuwa N, Mack, John, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Nnaji, Nnaemeka , Nwaji, Njemuwa N , Mack, John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187545 , vital:44670 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24010207"
- Description: This study describes the adsorption behavior of organic inhibitors at the aluminum-HCl solution interface and their corrosion inhibition performance. The organic inhibitors employed are: 4-(benzo [d]thiazol-2ylthio)phthalonitrile (BTThio) and tetrakis[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl-thio)phthalocyaninato]gallium(III) chloride (ClGaBTThioPc). The corrosion behavior of these inhibitors is investigated using electrochemical and computational techniques. Open circuit potential results reveal predominant cathodic character for the mechanism of aluminum corrosion inhibition by the inhibitors. Inhibition efficiency values from potentiodynamic polarization measurements increase from 46.9 to 70.8% for BTThio and 59.7 to 81.0% for ClGaBTThioPc within the concentration range of 2 to 10 µM. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements reveal protection of the metal surface from acid attack, in the presence of the inhibitors and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) measurements show that the most probable way by which the inhibitors protect the metal surface would be by shielding it from the corrosion attacks of Cl− from the acid. Quantum chemical parameters corroborate well with experimental findings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Nnaji, Nnaemeka , Nwaji, Njemuwa N , Mack, John , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/187545 , vital:44670 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24010207"
- Description: This study describes the adsorption behavior of organic inhibitors at the aluminum-HCl solution interface and their corrosion inhibition performance. The organic inhibitors employed are: 4-(benzo [d]thiazol-2ylthio)phthalonitrile (BTThio) and tetrakis[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl-thio)phthalocyaninato]gallium(III) chloride (ClGaBTThioPc). The corrosion behavior of these inhibitors is investigated using electrochemical and computational techniques. Open circuit potential results reveal predominant cathodic character for the mechanism of aluminum corrosion inhibition by the inhibitors. Inhibition efficiency values from potentiodynamic polarization measurements increase from 46.9 to 70.8% for BTThio and 59.7 to 81.0% for ClGaBTThioPc within the concentration range of 2 to 10 µM. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements reveal protection of the metal surface from acid attack, in the presence of the inhibitors and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) measurements show that the most probable way by which the inhibitors protect the metal surface would be by shielding it from the corrosion attacks of Cl− from the acid. Quantum chemical parameters corroborate well with experimental findings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019