“Don’t be alarmed. It’s to do with sex.” Sherlock Holmes fanfiction and freedom of the imaginary domain
- Authors: van der Nest, Megan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Fan fiction , Fans (Persons) -- Fiction , Holmes, Sherlock , Literature and the internet , Sex in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124208 , vital:35576
- Description: In this thesis I argue that, for the individual fan, reading and writing fanfiction texts, and engaging with the online fandom communities within which these texts are produced, is a potentially valuable experience. This is because the kind of social and creative spaces found in these communities allow for, and celebrate, the free imaginative play with romantic and sexual desires, identities, and relationships. To articulate the importance of these spaces, I draw on Drucilla Cornell’s concept of the imaginary domain, defined as the psychic space each individual uses to explore different sexual desires and personae, which exploration is necessary for the development of full personhood. I also argue that the growing visibility and influence of fandom in modern society means that it could serve as a mechanism for social change, particularly in the acceptance and support of multiple sexual identities and forms of love. Selected texts, drawn from the Sherlock fandom, are discussed as representative of the approach taken within fanfiction communities towards various aspects of sexuality and sexual ethics. This approach combines the enthusiastic exploration of sexual desires without shame or fear of judgment with an ongoing, critical interrogation of sexual ethics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: van der Nest, Megan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Fan fiction , Fans (Persons) -- Fiction , Holmes, Sherlock , Literature and the internet , Sex in literature
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124208 , vital:35576
- Description: In this thesis I argue that, for the individual fan, reading and writing fanfiction texts, and engaging with the online fandom communities within which these texts are produced, is a potentially valuable experience. This is because the kind of social and creative spaces found in these communities allow for, and celebrate, the free imaginative play with romantic and sexual desires, identities, and relationships. To articulate the importance of these spaces, I draw on Drucilla Cornell’s concept of the imaginary domain, defined as the psychic space each individual uses to explore different sexual desires and personae, which exploration is necessary for the development of full personhood. I also argue that the growing visibility and influence of fandom in modern society means that it could serve as a mechanism for social change, particularly in the acceptance and support of multiple sexual identities and forms of love. Selected texts, drawn from the Sherlock fandom, are discussed as representative of the approach taken within fanfiction communities towards various aspects of sexuality and sexual ethics. This approach combines the enthusiastic exploration of sexual desires without shame or fear of judgment with an ongoing, critical interrogation of sexual ethics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
“A position of great trust and responsibility”: a social history of the Grahamstown Asylum, 1875 – c. 1905
- Authors: Van Zyl, Kylie
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mental health services -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Psychiatric hospitals -- South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Race relations -- Social aspects , Mentally ill -- Commitment and detention -- South Africa , Mentally ill -- Abuse of -- South Africa , Mental health policy -- South Africa , Asylums -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Discrimination in mental health services -- South Africa , Health and race -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/151031 , vital:39025
- Description: Much has been written about the inequalities inherent in the psychiatric care provided to mentally ill individuals in the Cape Colony, but to date few works have been produced that describe in detail the processes and care regimes at particular institutions. This thesis examines the history of care and custody provided by the Grahamstown Asylum in the Cape between the years of 1875 and 1905. The intention is to determine the means and methods by which the Asylum’s authorities developed, almost unchallenged, a system of unequal treatment and favouritism within that facility, and what this meant for the men and women committed to the Asylum’s custody. To this end, contemporaneous official reports from Asylum staff and Colonial authorities were consulted, in conjunction with the Asylum’s internal records such as registers and individual patient files. This thesis concludes that the evolution of the Colony’s psychiatric community’s beliefs around mental illness, philosophies of protective custody and moral treatment within the psychiatric community at the time, the region’s laws governing psychiatric institutionalisation, and the larger context of the Cape’s socio-political environment at the time converged to create an institution that practiced discrimination on both a macro- and micro-level. This discriminatory framework affected who was admitted, the diagnosis that each person received, the asylum facilities to which they had access, and further, to the odds against their recovery. The implications of this study are relevant in the present day, as the modern South African system of psychiatric institutionalisation, though embedded within a socio-political context of equality and non-discrimination nevertheless appears to suffer from a similarly undemocratic framework of operation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Van Zyl, Kylie
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mental health services -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope , Psychiatric hospitals -- South Africa -- History , South Africa -- Race relations -- Social aspects , Mentally ill -- Commitment and detention -- South Africa , Mentally ill -- Abuse of -- South Africa , Mental health policy -- South Africa , Asylums -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Discrimination in mental health services -- South Africa , Health and race -- South Africa -- History
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/151031 , vital:39025
- Description: Much has been written about the inequalities inherent in the psychiatric care provided to mentally ill individuals in the Cape Colony, but to date few works have been produced that describe in detail the processes and care regimes at particular institutions. This thesis examines the history of care and custody provided by the Grahamstown Asylum in the Cape between the years of 1875 and 1905. The intention is to determine the means and methods by which the Asylum’s authorities developed, almost unchallenged, a system of unequal treatment and favouritism within that facility, and what this meant for the men and women committed to the Asylum’s custody. To this end, contemporaneous official reports from Asylum staff and Colonial authorities were consulted, in conjunction with the Asylum’s internal records such as registers and individual patient files. This thesis concludes that the evolution of the Colony’s psychiatric community’s beliefs around mental illness, philosophies of protective custody and moral treatment within the psychiatric community at the time, the region’s laws governing psychiatric institutionalisation, and the larger context of the Cape’s socio-political environment at the time converged to create an institution that practiced discrimination on both a macro- and micro-level. This discriminatory framework affected who was admitted, the diagnosis that each person received, the asylum facilities to which they had access, and further, to the odds against their recovery. The implications of this study are relevant in the present day, as the modern South African system of psychiatric institutionalisation, though embedded within a socio-political context of equality and non-discrimination nevertheless appears to suffer from a similarly undemocratic framework of operation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
‘Implementation Strategies Used by Teachers’ Colleges to Prepare Pre-Service Teachers for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education in Harare Metropolitan Province in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Chimwe, Ananias
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teachers -- In-service training -- Zimbabwe Teachers -- Education (Primary) -- Zimbabwe Science|xStudy and teaching (Primary) -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Education)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17931 , vital:41981
- Description: The study was carried to establish the strategies used by teacher education colleges to prepare pre-service teachers for STEM Education in Zimbabwe. Invariably, the nature of research questions led the study to be located within the pragmatic paradigm. A mixed method approach and concurrent triangulation design was adopted to examine issues under study. The study adopted stratified random sampling and purposive sampling methods to identify its respondents and participants. Data were collected from respondents who were envisaged knowledgeable about critical issues under study. Several research instruments were used to solicit quantitative and qualitative data. These included: questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussions and documents. The sample of the study consisted of 20 lecturers, 50 pre-service teachers, 3 Department of Teacher Education lecturers and 2 Directors in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science Innovation, Technology and Development. The study established that 95%of the teacher educators had the requisite STEM content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of organisation and education purpose, engineering content and pedagogical content was found lacking. Furthermore, the teacher educators employed 21st century STEM specific inquiry based and constructivist teaching strategies. More so, it was established that government, the Department of Teacher Education and other development partners rendered support to teacher education colleges to prepare for pre-service teachers for STEM education. In addition, the study revealed that preparation of pre-service teachers for STEM was impeded by several structural factors that obtained in teacher education colleges. Overall, the study concluded that teacher educators had requisite STEM knowledge and employed inquiry-based strategies to prepare pre-service teachers for STEM Education. Furthermore, the study recommended that teacher educators’ knowledge in engineering needs further strengthening through workshops and synergies with industry. An alternative model for effective STEM preparation was recommended for consideration.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Chimwe, Ananias
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Teachers -- In-service training -- Zimbabwe Teachers -- Education (Primary) -- Zimbabwe Science|xStudy and teaching (Primary) -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Education)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17931 , vital:41981
- Description: The study was carried to establish the strategies used by teacher education colleges to prepare pre-service teachers for STEM Education in Zimbabwe. Invariably, the nature of research questions led the study to be located within the pragmatic paradigm. A mixed method approach and concurrent triangulation design was adopted to examine issues under study. The study adopted stratified random sampling and purposive sampling methods to identify its respondents and participants. Data were collected from respondents who were envisaged knowledgeable about critical issues under study. Several research instruments were used to solicit quantitative and qualitative data. These included: questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussions and documents. The sample of the study consisted of 20 lecturers, 50 pre-service teachers, 3 Department of Teacher Education lecturers and 2 Directors in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science Innovation, Technology and Development. The study established that 95%of the teacher educators had the requisite STEM content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of organisation and education purpose, engineering content and pedagogical content was found lacking. Furthermore, the teacher educators employed 21st century STEM specific inquiry based and constructivist teaching strategies. More so, it was established that government, the Department of Teacher Education and other development partners rendered support to teacher education colleges to prepare for pre-service teachers for STEM education. In addition, the study revealed that preparation of pre-service teachers for STEM was impeded by several structural factors that obtained in teacher education colleges. Overall, the study concluded that teacher educators had requisite STEM knowledge and employed inquiry-based strategies to prepare pre-service teachers for STEM Education. Furthermore, the study recommended that teacher educators’ knowledge in engineering needs further strengthening through workshops and synergies with industry. An alternative model for effective STEM preparation was recommended for consideration.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
‘Being regional’: an analysis of the conceptualisation, operations and embeddedness of regional non-governmental organisations responding to HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa
- Authors: Mushonga, Allan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Finance , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118733 , vital:34663
- Description: This thesis offers an original sociological analysis of regional Non-Governmental Organisations (RNGOs) responding to the HIV epidemic in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in respect of their emergence, constitution, role, function, embeddedness, accountability and practice of being regional in the HIV response. In doing so, it offers propositions on the conceptualisation of RNGOs and the concept being regional in clarifying regional HIV programming in the context of regionalisation. It also highlights the nexus between regional HIV work, and country and global HIV governance and programming as components of the global architecture of development regime under the tutelage of the United Nations as influenced by the dominant powers. The analysis is based on a hybrid of social systems, actor systems dynamics, institutional and network theoretical analytical frameworks. A triangulation of these frameworks provides a comprehensive grounding on which it is possible to identify and analyse RNGOs as social systems, institutions, actors and nodes that constitute part of the global architecture of the HIV response. This also facilitates the conceptualisation of being regional as both a programmatic typology and state of existence of RNGOs, thus locating these regional actors in the framework of the global HIV governance and programming. It locates them in the resultant web of social relations connecting various development agents in hierarchical and institutionalised structures constructed around HIV governance and responses. Social embeddedness and hence accountability of RNGOs is thus presented as determined by this complex context. Based on an extensive use of organisational documents as well as key informant interviews, the thesis reveals the dominance of funding organisations in determining regional and national HIV programme design and content as well as structuring the organisational practices of RNGOs and other development agents in the HIV response. Because of the demands by donors for accountability on the part of RNGOs for funds received, upward accountability becomes a major preoccupation of RNGOs and becomes privileged compared to downward accountability to their programme beneficiaries. However, RNGOs still enact agency in seeking to manoeuvre their way through the worldwide development system in order to advance the HIV response while also ensuring their own organisational sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mushonga, Allan
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: AIDS (Disease) -- South Africa -- Finance , Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118733 , vital:34663
- Description: This thesis offers an original sociological analysis of regional Non-Governmental Organisations (RNGOs) responding to the HIV epidemic in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in respect of their emergence, constitution, role, function, embeddedness, accountability and practice of being regional in the HIV response. In doing so, it offers propositions on the conceptualisation of RNGOs and the concept being regional in clarifying regional HIV programming in the context of regionalisation. It also highlights the nexus between regional HIV work, and country and global HIV governance and programming as components of the global architecture of development regime under the tutelage of the United Nations as influenced by the dominant powers. The analysis is based on a hybrid of social systems, actor systems dynamics, institutional and network theoretical analytical frameworks. A triangulation of these frameworks provides a comprehensive grounding on which it is possible to identify and analyse RNGOs as social systems, institutions, actors and nodes that constitute part of the global architecture of the HIV response. This also facilitates the conceptualisation of being regional as both a programmatic typology and state of existence of RNGOs, thus locating these regional actors in the framework of the global HIV governance and programming. It locates them in the resultant web of social relations connecting various development agents in hierarchical and institutionalised structures constructed around HIV governance and responses. Social embeddedness and hence accountability of RNGOs is thus presented as determined by this complex context. Based on an extensive use of organisational documents as well as key informant interviews, the thesis reveals the dominance of funding organisations in determining regional and national HIV programme design and content as well as structuring the organisational practices of RNGOs and other development agents in the HIV response. Because of the demands by donors for accountability on the part of RNGOs for funds received, upward accountability becomes a major preoccupation of RNGOs and becomes privileged compared to downward accountability to their programme beneficiaries. However, RNGOs still enact agency in seeking to manoeuvre their way through the worldwide development system in order to advance the HIV response while also ensuring their own organisational sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Zimbabwean women online: an investigation of how gendered identities are negotiated in Zimbabwean women’s online spaces
- Authors: Ndlovu, Nonhlanhla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Woman -- Zimbabwe -- Social life and customs Social media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Facebook (Firm) Women -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140452 , vital:37890
- Description: This study is concerned with the construction of Zimbabwean women’s identities in this contemporary internet age. Two Facebook groups are of particular interest here due to the vibrant conversations that take place on a daily basis, that is, Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries. Conceiving these internet sites as discursive spaces, I unpack the contesting discourses and tensions in the different narratives offered by Zimbabwean women and identify and critique the competing sets of feminine subjectivities. I achieve this by drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonialist feminist theories in order to situate these groups as cultural sites that are particularly identity defining. I particularly draw on Foucauldian theories of discourse, power and the subject to conceptualise the formation of particular discursive gendered subjectivities. With an understanding that discourse is constitutive of power relations and contestations, and that discourse should be historically contextualised in order to take into account particular conditions of existence; I draw on Mamdani’s (1996) conceptualisation of how power is organised in Africa within a historical and institutional context, and identify the bifurcated nature of the postcolonial Zimbabwean state as a colonial residue as necessitating a particular kind of subjectivity. To this end, one can understand the different femininities on Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries as constituted within, and complexly negotiating, a traditional/customary discourse and a rights-based modern one. This qualitative inquiry is informed by an eclectic approach that combines methods of textual analysis that complements both critical linguistics and media studies and attends to lexical structure as well as narrative and rhetorical analysis respectively. Combined with an online ethnographic approach I employ these tools to analyse these particular Facebook groups with the understanding that as women converse daily on these platforms, they ‘govern’ each other’s conduct and thought processes in interesting ways. I argue that these conversations discursively constitute the performances of different femininities on both sites that also take into account the diasporic condition of Zimbabwean women. I show how they negotiate and mediate feminine performance and in so doing propose and contest certain ‘truths’ that are frequently validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndlovu, Nonhlanhla
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Woman -- Zimbabwe -- Social life and customs Social media -- Social aspects -- Zimbabwe Facebook (Firm) Women -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140452 , vital:37890
- Description: This study is concerned with the construction of Zimbabwean women’s identities in this contemporary internet age. Two Facebook groups are of particular interest here due to the vibrant conversations that take place on a daily basis, that is, Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries. Conceiving these internet sites as discursive spaces, I unpack the contesting discourses and tensions in the different narratives offered by Zimbabwean women and identify and critique the competing sets of feminine subjectivities. I achieve this by drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonialist feminist theories in order to situate these groups as cultural sites that are particularly identity defining. I particularly draw on Foucauldian theories of discourse, power and the subject to conceptualise the formation of particular discursive gendered subjectivities. With an understanding that discourse is constitutive of power relations and contestations, and that discourse should be historically contextualised in order to take into account particular conditions of existence; I draw on Mamdani’s (1996) conceptualisation of how power is organised in Africa within a historical and institutional context, and identify the bifurcated nature of the postcolonial Zimbabwean state as a colonial residue as necessitating a particular kind of subjectivity. To this end, one can understand the different femininities on Makhox Women’s League and Baking & Cooking: ZW Women’s Diaries as constituted within, and complexly negotiating, a traditional/customary discourse and a rights-based modern one. This qualitative inquiry is informed by an eclectic approach that combines methods of textual analysis that complements both critical linguistics and media studies and attends to lexical structure as well as narrative and rhetorical analysis respectively. Combined with an online ethnographic approach I employ these tools to analyse these particular Facebook groups with the understanding that as women converse daily on these platforms, they ‘govern’ each other’s conduct and thought processes in interesting ways. I argue that these conversations discursively constitute the performances of different femininities on both sites that also take into account the diasporic condition of Zimbabwean women. I show how they negotiate and mediate feminine performance and in so doing propose and contest certain ‘truths’ that are frequently validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Youth and Gang Violence in South Africa: An Intended or Unintended Outcome of Institutional Systems
- Ndhlovu, Gretchen Nokukhanya
- Authors: Ndhlovu, Gretchen Nokukhanya
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gangs Juvenile delinquency Youth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Work)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18041 , vital:42009
- Description: The issue of youth and gang violence in South Africa is not just an issue of crime, neither is it an issue of a violent and lost generation. It is about the struggle to have a normal life, a struggle for inclusion in mainstream society. Gang violence is, therefore, a result of the way in which essential institutional systems operate in the country, it is a social ill caused by weak and skewed institutional systems, which manifest in unequal access to resources and rights and the African youth of South Africa have been hardest hit. The focus of this study was to explore the intricate link between gang violence and institutional systems. The study specifically sought to examine how four specific institutional systems (the availability and management of resources, organisation of work and production, distribution of rights and responsibilities and processes of governance) have intentionally or unintentionally contributed to the escalation of gang violence in the country. The theoretical frameworks adopted are the social exclusion theory and the unanticipated consequences of purposive social action theory. The study was conducted in the African townships of Bophelong in Gauteng and Nyanga in the Western Cape. It adopted an exploratory qualitative approach for its ability to offer the researcher a platform to explore the experiences of both the youth and informants in detail. Data was collected through focus group discussions and faceto-face interviews. Tesch’s (1990) method of data analysis was used because of its explorative nature suitable for capturing qualitative data. Findings show that the issue of youth and gang violence in marginalised African communities is a social problem perpetuated by institutional systems. It was learned that institutional role players have neither developed nor sustained systems for the creation or management of resources used by marginalised township (ekasi) people vii for development, growth, empowerment and recreation. From the findings, it was learned that while other people in the country are going through various development challenges, young African township (ekasi) people are going through a crisis. Consequently, gangs have stepped in to serve as role players, filling the role that government and civil society is supposed to fill. Findings also show that youth are excluded from the socio-economic activities of the country and are pushed into the illicit economy. Overall, it was found that the socio-economic context, which the African youth in Bophelong and Nyanga found themselves in, is dire, further pushing them into a life of crime in order to meet their needs as well as those of their families. It was found that the structurally violent institutional systems have consequently given birth to a violent society. Therefore, youth gangs are an outcome of these violent institutional systems. The study concludes that the issue of youth and gang violence is both an intended and unintended outcome of institutional systems. It established that the quality of life of young people is affected by processes concerning the management of resources, organisation of work and production, distribution of rights and responsibilities as well as processes of governance. The study recommends that due to the multifaceted and complex nature of youth and gangs in African townships like Bophelong and Nyanga, priority should be placed on basic human needs and realities. This entails poverty eradication, creating employment/production opportunities, equal distribution of rights, good governance as well as effective and efficient management of resources that youth need and use for development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndhlovu, Gretchen Nokukhanya
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gangs Juvenile delinquency Youth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Work)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18041 , vital:42009
- Description: The issue of youth and gang violence in South Africa is not just an issue of crime, neither is it an issue of a violent and lost generation. It is about the struggle to have a normal life, a struggle for inclusion in mainstream society. Gang violence is, therefore, a result of the way in which essential institutional systems operate in the country, it is a social ill caused by weak and skewed institutional systems, which manifest in unequal access to resources and rights and the African youth of South Africa have been hardest hit. The focus of this study was to explore the intricate link between gang violence and institutional systems. The study specifically sought to examine how four specific institutional systems (the availability and management of resources, organisation of work and production, distribution of rights and responsibilities and processes of governance) have intentionally or unintentionally contributed to the escalation of gang violence in the country. The theoretical frameworks adopted are the social exclusion theory and the unanticipated consequences of purposive social action theory. The study was conducted in the African townships of Bophelong in Gauteng and Nyanga in the Western Cape. It adopted an exploratory qualitative approach for its ability to offer the researcher a platform to explore the experiences of both the youth and informants in detail. Data was collected through focus group discussions and faceto-face interviews. Tesch’s (1990) method of data analysis was used because of its explorative nature suitable for capturing qualitative data. Findings show that the issue of youth and gang violence in marginalised African communities is a social problem perpetuated by institutional systems. It was learned that institutional role players have neither developed nor sustained systems for the creation or management of resources used by marginalised township (ekasi) people vii for development, growth, empowerment and recreation. From the findings, it was learned that while other people in the country are going through various development challenges, young African township (ekasi) people are going through a crisis. Consequently, gangs have stepped in to serve as role players, filling the role that government and civil society is supposed to fill. Findings also show that youth are excluded from the socio-economic activities of the country and are pushed into the illicit economy. Overall, it was found that the socio-economic context, which the African youth in Bophelong and Nyanga found themselves in, is dire, further pushing them into a life of crime in order to meet their needs as well as those of their families. It was found that the structurally violent institutional systems have consequently given birth to a violent society. Therefore, youth gangs are an outcome of these violent institutional systems. The study concludes that the issue of youth and gang violence is both an intended and unintended outcome of institutional systems. It established that the quality of life of young people is affected by processes concerning the management of resources, organisation of work and production, distribution of rights and responsibilities as well as processes of governance. The study recommends that due to the multifaceted and complex nature of youth and gangs in African townships like Bophelong and Nyanga, priority should be placed on basic human needs and realities. This entails poverty eradication, creating employment/production opportunities, equal distribution of rights, good governance as well as effective and efficient management of resources that youth need and use for development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Writing and signing to develop written genres : a study of Nigerian hearing-loss students' writing
- Milaham, Rahila Samuel, Lundgren, Berit
- Authors: Milaham, Rahila Samuel , Lundgren, Berit
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Hearing impaired children -- Nigeria -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/47314 , vital:39842
- Description: The competence in writing of students with hearing loss has continued to generate concern among educational administrators, school authorities, teachers and parents (Oyetunde, 2009). Acquisition of written and signed language is vital for effective functioning of students with hearing loss in school. Writing and signing helps students to interact socially, culturally and intellectually with one another and within their social environment. Therefore, this study explores the writing of specific genres by students with hearing loss using signing and the Language Experience Approach, LEA, among Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) in a Nigerian school for the deaf. The study is a qualitative research study which was underpinned by an interpretive paradigm and was theoretically framed by Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, semiotic theory (Pierce, 1991) and socio-semiotic theory (Thibault, 2004: Kress, 1988 & Van Leeuwen, 2005). The ideological literacy perspective (Street 1984) and literacy as a social practice have provided a lens to analyse and explore the findings Class observations, students’ signed and written text samples as well as communication with teachers were used as the methods for data collection. The intervention study, which went on for 9 weeks, involved teaching and learning of three genres, namely retelling, narrative and descriptive writing. Twenty six students and two teachers were involved in the study. For the purpose of the analysis, six out of the 26 students’ written, and signed texts were purposively selected and analysed. The students’ signed and written texts were analysed according to the structure and special features of the genres. In the retelling genre, two concepts, breadth and depth vocabulary knowledge as special features, were used for the analysis of the texts. While in the narrative, students’ signed texts and written texts were analysed to know how the students use characters, settings and events in their texts. In the descriptive genre, students’ sign and written texts were analysed to see whether they gave concise descriptions, specifically using adjectives, of the object they identified in their signed text. The findings indicate that the students could retell the contextualized event with signs, using a vocabulary mostly from a breadth perspective. They also used the structure of retelling in a chronological order. In signing the narrative genre, the students were engaged in giving examples of the genre from which they derived the components of the story form such as character and events. Some could include aspects of character vi and events in their text, while others missed one structure or the other. In general, their narrative signed texts were better developed and showed a basic understanding of the storyline. In the descriptive genre, the students could describe some objects in their classroom and school environment. These descriptions were limited to adjectives like colours, as only colours were used in the teacher’s example. In general, their descriptive signed texts were short and seemed to follow a list structure. The students’ signing in descriptive genre showed an initial awareness of the genre. In this study, the teachers scaffolded and modelled the different genres with examples, stories and prompt pictures to a varying extent. The narrative writing had more scaffolding and modelling compared with the other genres. It also generated longer texts and an awareness of the structure. The teachers also supported the students with deeper exploration of examples in the narrative genre than in the retelling and descriptive genre. Data shows teacher’s interactions with the students while signing narratives indicates an understanding on how to develop a text in story form using narrative structures. LEA turned out to be a fruitful start in the retelling genre but was not as central in the teaching practice and meaningful in students’ writing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Milaham, Rahila Samuel , Lundgren, Berit
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Hearing impaired children -- Nigeria -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/47314 , vital:39842
- Description: The competence in writing of students with hearing loss has continued to generate concern among educational administrators, school authorities, teachers and parents (Oyetunde, 2009). Acquisition of written and signed language is vital for effective functioning of students with hearing loss in school. Writing and signing helps students to interact socially, culturally and intellectually with one another and within their social environment. Therefore, this study explores the writing of specific genres by students with hearing loss using signing and the Language Experience Approach, LEA, among Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) in a Nigerian school for the deaf. The study is a qualitative research study which was underpinned by an interpretive paradigm and was theoretically framed by Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, semiotic theory (Pierce, 1991) and socio-semiotic theory (Thibault, 2004: Kress, 1988 & Van Leeuwen, 2005). The ideological literacy perspective (Street 1984) and literacy as a social practice have provided a lens to analyse and explore the findings Class observations, students’ signed and written text samples as well as communication with teachers were used as the methods for data collection. The intervention study, which went on for 9 weeks, involved teaching and learning of three genres, namely retelling, narrative and descriptive writing. Twenty six students and two teachers were involved in the study. For the purpose of the analysis, six out of the 26 students’ written, and signed texts were purposively selected and analysed. The students’ signed and written texts were analysed according to the structure and special features of the genres. In the retelling genre, two concepts, breadth and depth vocabulary knowledge as special features, were used for the analysis of the texts. While in the narrative, students’ signed texts and written texts were analysed to know how the students use characters, settings and events in their texts. In the descriptive genre, students’ sign and written texts were analysed to see whether they gave concise descriptions, specifically using adjectives, of the object they identified in their signed text. The findings indicate that the students could retell the contextualized event with signs, using a vocabulary mostly from a breadth perspective. They also used the structure of retelling in a chronological order. In signing the narrative genre, the students were engaged in giving examples of the genre from which they derived the components of the story form such as character and events. Some could include aspects of character vi and events in their text, while others missed one structure or the other. In general, their narrative signed texts were better developed and showed a basic understanding of the storyline. In the descriptive genre, the students could describe some objects in their classroom and school environment. These descriptions were limited to adjectives like colours, as only colours were used in the teacher’s example. In general, their descriptive signed texts were short and seemed to follow a list structure. The students’ signing in descriptive genre showed an initial awareness of the genre. In this study, the teachers scaffolded and modelled the different genres with examples, stories and prompt pictures to a varying extent. The narrative writing had more scaffolding and modelling compared with the other genres. It also generated longer texts and an awareness of the structure. The teachers also supported the students with deeper exploration of examples in the narrative genre than in the retelling and descriptive genre. Data shows teacher’s interactions with the students while signing narratives indicates an understanding on how to develop a text in story form using narrative structures. LEA turned out to be a fruitful start in the retelling genre but was not as central in the teaching practice and meaningful in students’ writing.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Water balance processes in indigenous and introduced spaces three production system in the Southern Cape region of South Africa
- Authors: Mapeto, Tatenda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Hydrology -- Research -- South Africa , Groundwater -- Research -- South Africa Trees -- Breeding Sustainable forestry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49325 , vital:41621
- Description: Forests and trees are important modulators of water flow and their position in the landscape impacts the spatial and temporal availability of ground water and surface water resources. As such, the global extent of natural forests is linked to the availability of water. In the circumstances where tree production systems have been introduced and are managed in landscapes previously populated with other forms of vegetation, it is necessary to understand their hydrological impact so as to ensure that the benefits derived from these tree systems do not outweigh the costs of water availability for sustaining human and environmental water requirements.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mapeto, Tatenda
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Hydrology -- Research -- South Africa , Groundwater -- Research -- South Africa Trees -- Breeding Sustainable forestry
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49325 , vital:41621
- Description: Forests and trees are important modulators of water flow and their position in the landscape impacts the spatial and temporal availability of ground water and surface water resources. As such, the global extent of natural forests is linked to the availability of water. In the circumstances where tree production systems have been introduced and are managed in landscapes previously populated with other forms of vegetation, it is necessary to understand their hydrological impact so as to ensure that the benefits derived from these tree systems do not outweigh the costs of water availability for sustaining human and environmental water requirements.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2020
Walking at the intersection of Seamon’s place ballet and Relph’s insideness: understanding how students experience the university as a place through their everyday habitual walking
- Mtolo, Siyathokoza Monwabisi
- Authors: Mtolo, Siyathokoza Monwabisi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Seamon, David , Relph, EC , College students -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Attitudes , Walking -- Sociological aspects , College students -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Political activity , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , Student movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162901 , vital:40995
- Description: Walking as a way to experience a place is a relatively understudied area of phenomenological study. Furthermore, globally (the world) and locally (South Africa) the study of the experience of tertiary education institutions as walked environments is minimal (see Puig-Ribera et al., 2008; Speck et al., 2010; Mtolo, 2017). However, the events of the South African #MustFall moment – especially the #RhodesMustFall part of the moment and how it began with the desecration of a statue that was walked past and found to be a misplaced artefact in a society that is in postcolonial/post-Apartheid times and space – highlighted the pressing need to study the experience of the university as a place through which habitual walking takes the student through moments of movement, rest, and encounter that are a highly consequential way in which placeness is experienced. This study is a way to document how students at Rhodes University experience the university’s placeness quality, through habitual walking, in an example of the way in which a place is experienced through moments of movement, rest, and encounter. For this study in-depth mobile interviews were conducted with 12 student participants from Rhodes University. The interviews were video-recorded as the participants talked while traversing through habitually walked areas of the campus that are the meaning-infused spaces which make up the Rhodes University that they traverse through on a daily basis. The dissertation found that in the experience of Rhodes University, through habitually walking its placeness, people experience moments of movement, rest, and encounter that are highly targeted and personalised. The experience of the Rhodes University campus is an experience of people and the built-up and decorated environment along similar lines. People bring to the experience of their walked space past experiences which inform consequentially how any space that is walked is experienced. People further employ strategies to ensure that the experience of walking a space is more to their desired quality as an experience, which ends up being meaningful and most likely to affect future instances of walking through meaning-infusing and meaning-infused space. Ultimately, the habitual walking of Rhodes University consequentially informs the relationship between students and Rhodes University’s placeness, as the walking is a way of learning how to be within a placeness that is engaged through alternating moments of movement, rest, and encounter that incrementally ‘open’ for experience Rhodes University in such a targeted manner that every student eventually has their personal and customised Rhodes University by virtue of it being just those sites and situations which have been engaged through habitual walking.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mtolo, Siyathokoza Monwabisi
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Seamon, David , Relph, EC , College students -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Attitudes , Walking -- Sociological aspects , College students -- South Africa -- Makhanda -- Political activity , Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes , Student movements -- South Africa -- Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/162901 , vital:40995
- Description: Walking as a way to experience a place is a relatively understudied area of phenomenological study. Furthermore, globally (the world) and locally (South Africa) the study of the experience of tertiary education institutions as walked environments is minimal (see Puig-Ribera et al., 2008; Speck et al., 2010; Mtolo, 2017). However, the events of the South African #MustFall moment – especially the #RhodesMustFall part of the moment and how it began with the desecration of a statue that was walked past and found to be a misplaced artefact in a society that is in postcolonial/post-Apartheid times and space – highlighted the pressing need to study the experience of the university as a place through which habitual walking takes the student through moments of movement, rest, and encounter that are a highly consequential way in which placeness is experienced. This study is a way to document how students at Rhodes University experience the university’s placeness quality, through habitual walking, in an example of the way in which a place is experienced through moments of movement, rest, and encounter. For this study in-depth mobile interviews were conducted with 12 student participants from Rhodes University. The interviews were video-recorded as the participants talked while traversing through habitually walked areas of the campus that are the meaning-infused spaces which make up the Rhodes University that they traverse through on a daily basis. The dissertation found that in the experience of Rhodes University, through habitually walking its placeness, people experience moments of movement, rest, and encounter that are highly targeted and personalised. The experience of the Rhodes University campus is an experience of people and the built-up and decorated environment along similar lines. People bring to the experience of their walked space past experiences which inform consequentially how any space that is walked is experienced. People further employ strategies to ensure that the experience of walking a space is more to their desired quality as an experience, which ends up being meaningful and most likely to affect future instances of walking through meaning-infusing and meaning-infused space. Ultimately, the habitual walking of Rhodes University consequentially informs the relationship between students and Rhodes University’s placeness, as the walking is a way of learning how to be within a placeness that is engaged through alternating moments of movement, rest, and encounter that incrementally ‘open’ for experience Rhodes University in such a targeted manner that every student eventually has their personal and customised Rhodes University by virtue of it being just those sites and situations which have been engaged through habitual walking.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Urbanisation, foraging and household food security in urban South Africa
- Authors: Garekae, Hesekia
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Food sovereignty -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa , Urban density -- South Africa , Urban agriculture -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Sustainable urban development -- South Africa , Urban ecology (Sociology) -- South Africa , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Potchefstroom , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Thabazimbi , Wild plants, Edible -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167054 , vital:41433
- Description: Over the past several decades, the world’s population has been rapidly urbanising, which has resulted in a marked shift of global population from rural to urban areas. About half of the global population now reside in urban areas and is projected to increase to two-thirds by the year 2050. However, the majority of the future urban population growth is projected to be largely concentrated in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the economic prospects normally synonymous with urbanisation, the current speed and scale of urban transformation comes with formidable challenges to contemporary urban society in these two continents. Urbanisation may presents social, economic, health and environmental challenges in urban areas, not least being a shift of the locus of food insecurity from rural to urban areas, leading to poor dietary diversity among many urban dwellers. Similarly, urbanisation alters key ecosystem services and drives habitat alteration and fragmentation, biodiversity loss, proliferation of non-native species and changes on species diversity and richness. The aforementioned changes can result in a deterioration of living conditions and decline on the quality of life for the urban dwellers. However, on the other hand, urban green infrastructure is posed as vital tool in promoting liveable cities and enhancing livelihood resilience. Against this backdrop, this study portrays wild plants, a component of urban green infrastructure, as a key resource in promoting food security and dietary diversity, thereby promoting livelihood resilience and reduced vulnerability, especially of the urban poor. Framed under the ‘right to the city’ approach, this study examined urban foraging practices and their potential contribution to dietary diversity and how they are shaped by and respond to urbanisation in two medium-sized South African towns. The study was conducted in the towns of Potchefstroom and Thabazimbi, South Africa. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed for data collection. Multi-stage sampling was employed in selecting the study participants. Firstly, the study towns were stratified into four socio-economic zones: informal, reconstruction and development programme, township and affluent. These zones resemble high density (informal, reconstruction and development programme), medium density (township) and low density (affluent) areas. Then, a total of 374 households were randomly sampled across the socio-economic zones for the main survey (Chapter 3 and 5). A subset of this sample, i.e. 72 participants was considered for dietary recalls, alongside with a random sample of 65 non-foragers (Chapter 4). An inventory of plant species available in a given foraging space was conducted from a total of 136 plots spread across different urban spaces (Chapter 2). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 81 participants (sub population of the main survey) for elucidating data on urban dynamics (Chapter 6). Lastly, complementary in-depth interviews with 46 participants were conducted. The findings showed that different urban spaces were constituted by diverse vegetation, with 262 distinct plant species encountered across the spaces. The majority (60.7%) were indigenous to South Africa. Species composition and diversity varied with space type, being significantly high in protected areas as compared to the other space types. About half (53%) of the identified plant species had at least one documented use, with medicine, food and firewood being modal, in order of frequency. Species composition and diversity differed between forageable and non-forageable species, being significantly high for forageable species. Urban foraging was widespread, about 68% of the respondents reported foraging. Foraging provided food, fuel energy, medicine, and cultural affirmation, among others. Despite the high prevalence rate of foraging, the study did not find any meaningful contribution of wild foods to overall diets. Nonetheless, wild foods demonstrated a substantial contribution in diversifying diets within particular food groups consumed such as vegetables, thus emerging essential in mitigating monotonous urban diets, particularly of the urban poor. Besides, the prevalence of foraging differed significantly between and within towns, being high for Thabazimbi (54.7%) and residents in the outskirts of town (86.2%) than Potchefstroom (45.3%) and residents in the inner part of town (33.3%). Participation in foraging was primarily a function of childhood (91.8%) exposure and experience with foraging, positive perceptions (79%) towards practice, resident in the outskirts of town (86.2%) and low household income (49.2%). The findings indicated that foraging was driven by multifaceted motivations, with culture (91.8%), health (88.7%), livelihoods needs (75.0%) and leisure (73.8%) being the most common. Vacant spaces (54.7%), riparian areas (30%), and domestic gardens (17.9%) were the most preferred foraging spaces, albeit with differences within towns. Similarly, the mean frequency of access varied with foraging spaces, being slightly high for vacant spaces than riparian areas and domestic gardens. The majority of the respondents were unaware of both formal and informal regulations managing urban landscapes, with those acknowledging some awareness falling short of articulating on the specificities of the regulations. Besides, the findings showed that foraging practice was threatened by urban transformation. Foragers perceived that the practice has changed over time, in terms of spaces, participants and regulations. There was a decreasing trend on the number and size of foraging spaces as well as shifting demographic trends of foragers. Moreover, urban transformation brought about a new set of regulations used for managing certain spaces within the urban landscape. However, some regulations prohibited or restricted access and rights to certain spaces for foraging. Hence, this prompted foragers to devise adaptation strategies to cope with the said changing dynamics. Exploring new foraging sites within and outside forager’s neighbourhoods and negotiating access entry were the most frequently mentioned adaptation strategies. This study contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on urban foraging, which has being seldom understood in the Global South.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Garekae, Hesekia
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Food sovereignty -- South Africa , Food security -- South Africa , Urban density -- South Africa , Urban agriculture -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Sustainable urban development -- South Africa , Urban ecology (Sociology) -- South Africa , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Potchefstroom , Nutrition surveys -- South Africa -- Thabazimbi , Wild plants, Edible -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167054 , vital:41433
- Description: Over the past several decades, the world’s population has been rapidly urbanising, which has resulted in a marked shift of global population from rural to urban areas. About half of the global population now reside in urban areas and is projected to increase to two-thirds by the year 2050. However, the majority of the future urban population growth is projected to be largely concentrated in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the economic prospects normally synonymous with urbanisation, the current speed and scale of urban transformation comes with formidable challenges to contemporary urban society in these two continents. Urbanisation may presents social, economic, health and environmental challenges in urban areas, not least being a shift of the locus of food insecurity from rural to urban areas, leading to poor dietary diversity among many urban dwellers. Similarly, urbanisation alters key ecosystem services and drives habitat alteration and fragmentation, biodiversity loss, proliferation of non-native species and changes on species diversity and richness. The aforementioned changes can result in a deterioration of living conditions and decline on the quality of life for the urban dwellers. However, on the other hand, urban green infrastructure is posed as vital tool in promoting liveable cities and enhancing livelihood resilience. Against this backdrop, this study portrays wild plants, a component of urban green infrastructure, as a key resource in promoting food security and dietary diversity, thereby promoting livelihood resilience and reduced vulnerability, especially of the urban poor. Framed under the ‘right to the city’ approach, this study examined urban foraging practices and their potential contribution to dietary diversity and how they are shaped by and respond to urbanisation in two medium-sized South African towns. The study was conducted in the towns of Potchefstroom and Thabazimbi, South Africa. An explanatory sequential mixed method design was employed for data collection. Multi-stage sampling was employed in selecting the study participants. Firstly, the study towns were stratified into four socio-economic zones: informal, reconstruction and development programme, township and affluent. These zones resemble high density (informal, reconstruction and development programme), medium density (township) and low density (affluent) areas. Then, a total of 374 households were randomly sampled across the socio-economic zones for the main survey (Chapter 3 and 5). A subset of this sample, i.e. 72 participants was considered for dietary recalls, alongside with a random sample of 65 non-foragers (Chapter 4). An inventory of plant species available in a given foraging space was conducted from a total of 136 plots spread across different urban spaces (Chapter 2). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 81 participants (sub population of the main survey) for elucidating data on urban dynamics (Chapter 6). Lastly, complementary in-depth interviews with 46 participants were conducted. The findings showed that different urban spaces were constituted by diverse vegetation, with 262 distinct plant species encountered across the spaces. The majority (60.7%) were indigenous to South Africa. Species composition and diversity varied with space type, being significantly high in protected areas as compared to the other space types. About half (53%) of the identified plant species had at least one documented use, with medicine, food and firewood being modal, in order of frequency. Species composition and diversity differed between forageable and non-forageable species, being significantly high for forageable species. Urban foraging was widespread, about 68% of the respondents reported foraging. Foraging provided food, fuel energy, medicine, and cultural affirmation, among others. Despite the high prevalence rate of foraging, the study did not find any meaningful contribution of wild foods to overall diets. Nonetheless, wild foods demonstrated a substantial contribution in diversifying diets within particular food groups consumed such as vegetables, thus emerging essential in mitigating monotonous urban diets, particularly of the urban poor. Besides, the prevalence of foraging differed significantly between and within towns, being high for Thabazimbi (54.7%) and residents in the outskirts of town (86.2%) than Potchefstroom (45.3%) and residents in the inner part of town (33.3%). Participation in foraging was primarily a function of childhood (91.8%) exposure and experience with foraging, positive perceptions (79%) towards practice, resident in the outskirts of town (86.2%) and low household income (49.2%). The findings indicated that foraging was driven by multifaceted motivations, with culture (91.8%), health (88.7%), livelihoods needs (75.0%) and leisure (73.8%) being the most common. Vacant spaces (54.7%), riparian areas (30%), and domestic gardens (17.9%) were the most preferred foraging spaces, albeit with differences within towns. Similarly, the mean frequency of access varied with foraging spaces, being slightly high for vacant spaces than riparian areas and domestic gardens. The majority of the respondents were unaware of both formal and informal regulations managing urban landscapes, with those acknowledging some awareness falling short of articulating on the specificities of the regulations. Besides, the findings showed that foraging practice was threatened by urban transformation. Foragers perceived that the practice has changed over time, in terms of spaces, participants and regulations. There was a decreasing trend on the number and size of foraging spaces as well as shifting demographic trends of foragers. Moreover, urban transformation brought about a new set of regulations used for managing certain spaces within the urban landscape. However, some regulations prohibited or restricted access and rights to certain spaces for foraging. Hence, this prompted foragers to devise adaptation strategies to cope with the said changing dynamics. Exploring new foraging sites within and outside forager’s neighbourhoods and negotiating access entry were the most frequently mentioned adaptation strategies. This study contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on urban foraging, which has being seldom understood in the Global South.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Uphicotho lweencwadi zabantwana ezikhethiweyo eziguqulelwe esiXhoseni
- Authors: Madolo, Yolisa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Children's literature, South African , Xhosa fiction -- Juvenile literature , Xhosa language -- Juvenile literature , Translating and interpreting in literature , Xhosa literature , Xhosa language -- Translating
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150515 , vital:38981
- Description: Appraisal of African languages’ children’s literature and its translation seems to be developing at a slow pace. This literary genre seems to be the last on the literary critics’ list. As a result, children’s literature translators seem to do as they please, with no fear that there is someone to critique the work. Translation for children is more than just literary translation, because it is meant for a special audience, whose language skills are still developing. The translator, therefore, needs to be someone dedicated in target language development. This translation needs a translator with a deep knowledge of both the source and target languages and their cultures. This will result in a translation that is readable and acceptable in the target language. The aim of this study was to critically analyse 20 selected isiXhosa translated stories, looking at how they have been translated in order to sound original in the target language. A sample of five stories were taken and analysed looking at their macrostructure. The findings of the analysis were that the isiXhosa stories resembled the English ones. Even the equivalence of the translated versions showed that the translation transferred the message in the source texts. However there were challenges as indicated. The study was done using Skopos theory, which advocates for the translator to always keep their audience in mind. It suggests that the translator should always strive for a translation that is acceptable to the target language. Various strategies can be used by the translator to fulfil this. Some of the strategies found to have been used in the translations are adaptation through omission, addition, addition of target culture specific terms, and changing sentence mode. Generally, the source language message seems to have been successfully transferred to the target language. However, errors in some stories were a cause for concern, as they could deter the target reader’s interest in the stories. Such errors are spelling mistakes, word division errors, incorrect concord use, etc. These errors are a matter of concern in literature, more especially children’s literature where children are still developing their reading skills.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Madolo, Yolisa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Children's literature, South African , Xhosa fiction -- Juvenile literature , Xhosa language -- Juvenile literature , Translating and interpreting in literature , Xhosa literature , Xhosa language -- Translating
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150515 , vital:38981
- Description: Appraisal of African languages’ children’s literature and its translation seems to be developing at a slow pace. This literary genre seems to be the last on the literary critics’ list. As a result, children’s literature translators seem to do as they please, with no fear that there is someone to critique the work. Translation for children is more than just literary translation, because it is meant for a special audience, whose language skills are still developing. The translator, therefore, needs to be someone dedicated in target language development. This translation needs a translator with a deep knowledge of both the source and target languages and their cultures. This will result in a translation that is readable and acceptable in the target language. The aim of this study was to critically analyse 20 selected isiXhosa translated stories, looking at how they have been translated in order to sound original in the target language. A sample of five stories were taken and analysed looking at their macrostructure. The findings of the analysis were that the isiXhosa stories resembled the English ones. Even the equivalence of the translated versions showed that the translation transferred the message in the source texts. However there were challenges as indicated. The study was done using Skopos theory, which advocates for the translator to always keep their audience in mind. It suggests that the translator should always strive for a translation that is acceptable to the target language. Various strategies can be used by the translator to fulfil this. Some of the strategies found to have been used in the translations are adaptation through omission, addition, addition of target culture specific terms, and changing sentence mode. Generally, the source language message seems to have been successfully transferred to the target language. However, errors in some stories were a cause for concern, as they could deter the target reader’s interest in the stories. Such errors are spelling mistakes, word division errors, incorrect concord use, etc. These errors are a matter of concern in literature, more especially children’s literature where children are still developing their reading skills.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Unpacking the link between adaptive capacity, assets and responses of rural livelihoods facing multiple stressors in the Eastern Cape
- Dalu, Mwazvita Tapiwa Beatrice
- Authors: Dalu, Mwazvita Tapiwa Beatrice
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , Ph.D
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147103 , vital:38593 , doi:10.21504/10962/147103
- Description: Thesis (PhD.)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2020.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Dalu, Mwazvita Tapiwa Beatrice
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , Ph.D
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147103 , vital:38593 , doi:10.21504/10962/147103
- Description: Thesis (PhD.)--Rhodes University, Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2020.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding climate change and rural livelihoods in Zimbabwe: adaptation by communal farmers in Ngundu, Chivi District
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nciizah, Elinah
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agriculture -- Zimbabwe , Agriculture -- Climatic factors -- Chivi District (Zimbabwe) , Chivi District (Zimbabwe) -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118765 , vital:34666
- Description: Climate change and variability is a global phenomenon which has deeply localised patterns, dynamics and effects. Amongst those people who are particularly vulnerable to climate change effects are small-scale farmers who are dependent in large part on rain-fed agriculture in pursuing their livelihoods. This is true of small-scale farmers in contemporary Zimbabwe and, more specifically, farmers in communal areas. At the same time, at international and national levels, there are attempts currently to minimise the effects of, and to adapt to, climate change. However, adaptation measures also exist at local levels amongst small-scale farmers, such as communal farmers in Zimbabwe. In this context, as its main objective, this thesis examines climate change and small-scale farmer livelihood adaptation to climate change with specific reference to communal farmers in Chivi District in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in Ward 25 which is popularly known as Ngundu. In pursuing this main objective, a number of subsidiary objectives are addressed, including a focus on the established livelihoods of Ngundu farmers, the perceptions and concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change, the coping and adaptation measures of Ngundu farmers, and the enablements and constraints which affect attempts by Ngundu farmers to adopt such measures. The fieldwork for the thesis involved a diverse array of research methods, such as a questionnaire survey, life-history interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks. In terms of theoretical framing, the thesis makes use of both middle-level theory (the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework) and macro-theory in the form of the sociological work of Margaret Archer. Combined, these two theories allow for a focus on both structure and agency when seeking to understand livelihood adaptations to climate change by communal farmers in Ngundu. The thesis concludes that there are massive constraints inhibiting adaptation measures by Ngundu farmers, but that this should not distract from the deep, often historically-embedded, concerns of Ngundu farmers about climate change and the multiple ways in which they express agency in and through adaptation and coping activities. It also highlights the need for more specifically sociological investigations of climate change and small-scale farmer adaptation, as well as the need for localised studies which are able to identify and analyse the specificities of adaptation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding biotic interactions in invaded pond communities in the Sundays River irrigation network, South Africa
- Authors: Mofu, Lubabalo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mozambique tilapia -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Western mosquitofish -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Gobiidae -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Clupeidae -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Reservoirs -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Zooplankton -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Freshwater ecology -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Biotic communities -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Fishes -- Effect of temperature on -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Stable isotopes , Relative Impact Potential
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167089 , vital:41436
- Description: The Sundays River valley irrigation ponds provide a unique opportunity to investigate biotic interactions within a biological invasions context, as they contain both native and non-native fish species. This study focusses on two native species (Glossogobius callidus and Gilchristella aestuaria) and two non-native species (Oreochromis mossambicus and Gambusia affinis). The ecology of the ponds was driven by physico-chemical variables, mainly temperature, but the interactions between fishes were a complex interplay between temperature, pond community ecology and food web structure. Seasonal changes in temperature and subsequent fluctuations in water levels resulted in changes in zooplankton community. Chlorophyll-a, temperature, G. callidus and G. affinis were the drivers of the seasonal changes in macroinvertebrate composition. Stable isotope analysis identified substantial ontogenetic dietary shifts in all species, corresponding to changes in body size. Stable isotope analysis revealed that the niche space occupied by G. affinis was broad and overlapped with that of the other three focal species. Stable isotope metrics showed that G. affinis and O. mossambicus utilised a wide range of resources compared to G. callidus and G. aestuaria. Stomach content analysis showed that G. callidus, O. mossambicus and G. affinis fed predominantly on benthic resources, while G. aestuaria fed mainly plankton resources. Functional response experiments revealed that G. callidus and G. affinis both displayed Type II functional responses. In single fish trials, G. affinis had significantly higher functional responses than G. callidus. In heterospecific G. callidus-G. affinis combinations the functional response of G. callidus was reduced by the presence of G. affinis, whereas, this combination greatly enhanced G. affinis functional response magnitudes. The functional response of G. callidus, O. mossambicus and G. affinis under two temperature treatments along with fish abundance data was used to determine temporal differences in the ecological impacts of each fish species between seasons. The relative impact potential of O. mossambicus was consistently higher than that of G. callidus and G. affinis. This study demonstrates how seasonal temperature fluctuations affect the relative impact capacities of introduced species. Overall, this thesis showed that high temperature along with life-history traits contributes to the biotic interactions between native and non-native species in novel environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mofu, Lubabalo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mozambique tilapia -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Western mosquitofish -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Gobiidae -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Clupeidae -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Reservoirs -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Zooplankton -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Freshwater ecology -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Biotic communities -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Fishes -- Effect of temperature on -- South Africa -- Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Stable isotopes , Relative Impact Potential
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167089 , vital:41436
- Description: The Sundays River valley irrigation ponds provide a unique opportunity to investigate biotic interactions within a biological invasions context, as they contain both native and non-native fish species. This study focusses on two native species (Glossogobius callidus and Gilchristella aestuaria) and two non-native species (Oreochromis mossambicus and Gambusia affinis). The ecology of the ponds was driven by physico-chemical variables, mainly temperature, but the interactions between fishes were a complex interplay between temperature, pond community ecology and food web structure. Seasonal changes in temperature and subsequent fluctuations in water levels resulted in changes in zooplankton community. Chlorophyll-a, temperature, G. callidus and G. affinis were the drivers of the seasonal changes in macroinvertebrate composition. Stable isotope analysis identified substantial ontogenetic dietary shifts in all species, corresponding to changes in body size. Stable isotope analysis revealed that the niche space occupied by G. affinis was broad and overlapped with that of the other three focal species. Stable isotope metrics showed that G. affinis and O. mossambicus utilised a wide range of resources compared to G. callidus and G. aestuaria. Stomach content analysis showed that G. callidus, O. mossambicus and G. affinis fed predominantly on benthic resources, while G. aestuaria fed mainly plankton resources. Functional response experiments revealed that G. callidus and G. affinis both displayed Type II functional responses. In single fish trials, G. affinis had significantly higher functional responses than G. callidus. In heterospecific G. callidus-G. affinis combinations the functional response of G. callidus was reduced by the presence of G. affinis, whereas, this combination greatly enhanced G. affinis functional response magnitudes. The functional response of G. callidus, O. mossambicus and G. affinis under two temperature treatments along with fish abundance data was used to determine temporal differences in the ecological impacts of each fish species between seasons. The relative impact potential of O. mossambicus was consistently higher than that of G. callidus and G. affinis. This study demonstrates how seasonal temperature fluctuations affect the relative impact capacities of introduced species. Overall, this thesis showed that high temperature along with life-history traits contributes to the biotic interactions between native and non-native species in novel environments.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Understanding a West African recreational fishery as a complex social-ecological system – a case study of the fishery for giant African threadfin Polydactylus quadrifilis (Cuvier, 1829) in the Kwanza Estuary, Angola
- Authors: Butler, Edward C
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Cuanza River (Angola) , Fishing -- Angola , Polynemidae , Fishes -- Angola -- Ecology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146688 , vital:38548
- Description: Despite increasing global recognition of the importance of recreational fisheries, their management largely remains poor. This is because they exhibit unique human-nature relationships and are nested within complex social-ecological systems (SESs). Recreational fisheries in the developing world have large potential for socio-economic development, but are generally underappreciated, in terms of their value and their impact, and are poorly governed. This is particularly concerning as they are highly complex and often compete for resources with dependent artisanal and subsistence fisheries. Developing world recreational fishery SESs are not well understood and present an important research gap for improved governance. The general aim of this thesis was to explore the recreational fishery targeting Polydactylus quadrifilis on the Kwanza Estuary, Angola, and provide context for how managers should approach recreational fisheries in the developing world and in Africa. To do this, the recreational fishery SES was explored using a combination of methodologies including those characteristic of traditional fisheries science, and new methods involving biology, sociology, and economics. The thesis contains an introductory chapter, a chapter describing the background, study area and study species, five data chapters and a discussion chapter. Chapter 3 aimed to investigate the reproductive style of P. quadrifilis. Results identified the species as a protandrous hermaphrodite. Evidence to suggest this included degenerating testicular tissue and the presence of early developing ovarian tissues in transitional individuals. Early-stage oocytes were commonly found in the outer area of male regions and residual late-stage spermatids and spermatozoa were found in the luminal space of ovarian regions, suggesting a process of sex change from the outside inwards. Owing to the species’ reliance on large highly fecund females for reproduction, it is likely that P. quadrifilis will be sensitive to fisheries that target larger individuals, such as trophy recreational fisheries and line fisheries within other sectors. Chapter 4 aimed to investigate alternative methods for adequately describing the growth of P. quadrifilis individuals belonging to either one of two distinct hypothetical life-history pathways: pathway I (‘changers’) – initial maturation as a primary male followed by a sex change to female; pathway II (‘non-changers’) – initial maturation as a male fish with no subsequent sex change, using von Bertalanffy Growth Functions (VBGFs). Other specific objectives included determining the size- and age-at-maturity and size- and age-at-sex-change for P. quadrifilis. Otolith aging revealed rapid growth and early maturation (L50 = 399.2 mm FL, A50 = 1.50 years) and sex change occurred over a wide size (790–1125 mm FL) and age (3–8 years) range. There was strong evidence for partial protandry in P. quadrifilis with several extremely old male fish (up to 22 years) observed in the population. When compared to the conventional model produced for the entire population, there were significant differences in the models for the ‘non-changers’ (LRT, p < 0.01) and their parameters L∞ (full model = 130.8, ‘non-changers’ = 113.3, p < 0.01), k (0.32, 0.44, p < 0.01) and t0 (0.23, 0.43, p = 0.03) in the first approach and the models (LRT, p < 0.01) and their L∞ (‘changers’ = 113.7, p < 0.01) values in the second approach. This suggests that utilising conventional modelling techniques may be inappropriate for the stock assessment and management of P. quadrifilis and, potentially, other sequentially hermaphroditic fishery species. Chapter 5 aimed to assess the sensitivity of P. quadrifilis to recreational C&R within the foreign recreational fishery using a rapid assessment approach. To do this, a number of C&R variables including fight time, air exposure, hook placement, hooking injury, total time of the stress event, river depth and angling method were measured and related to two indicators of fish health and survival – the physiological stress indicators blood glucose and blood lactate concentration and reflex action mortality predictors (RAMPs). Air exposure was identified as a major contributor to motor impairment (Cumulative Link Model: p < 0.01) and fight time was an important contributor to motor impairment via its interaction with air exposure (Cumulative Link Model: p = 0.02). Handling practices appear to be particularly important for larger individuals as fish size was positively correlated with air exposure (Pearson’s r coefficient = 0.41, p < 0.01) and fight times (0.88, p < 0.01). The findings suggest that recreational C&R may result in mortalities directly, via C&R, and indirectly, via predation, and several recommendations were made for best practice. Chapter 6 aimed to assess the direct economic contribution of the recreational fishery for Polydactylus quadrifilis on the Kwanza Estuary. Results indicated that the recreational fishery for contributed significantly to the economy of an area that would otherwise likely receive little external input ($282 054 per four-month fishing season). However, high rates of economic leakage from the study area were identified (58.7%–92.9% of locally spent revenue) and were attributed to the sourcing of lodge supplies, services and staff outside of the local area and the repatriation of profit by foreign business owners. Capacity building within the local community is likely required to develop ‘linkages’ between the local community and the recreational fishery. Greater community involvement in the fishery is suggested to incentivise the protection of recreationally important fishery species and their associated ecosystems. Chapter 7 aimed to investigate the resource user groups involved within the SES. Results illustrated that artisanal and domestic recreational anglers are well-established and are characterised by long histories of participation. The artisanal fishery was highly valued as a source of livelihoods for the local community. Artisanal fishers were eager for involvement in the recreational sector, through the chartering of their vessels, due to the attractiveness of extra earnings. Both recreational and artisanal fishers reported recent decreases in P. quadrifilis catch and anticipated further declines. Domestic recreational anglers appeared to be highly consumptive in their use of the fishery and C&R angling was uncommon. User conflict may be problematic for future management as recreational anglers perceived the artisanal gill-net fishery to be a threat towards P. quadrifilis stocks. In conclusion, the open-access nature of the fishery was identified as the most pertinent threat to its sustainability and likely needs to be addressed. Potential solutions involve offering users the opportunity to purchase access rights (e.g. day permits), thus initiating the concept that users must pay for their use of public resources. Management should aim to protect large female fish due to their increased reproductive value and worth as trophy fish. Thus, C&R angling is likely to be an important interaction between users and the resource. However, angler behaviour will need to be manipulated to promote C&R and minimise C&R-related mortalities. Solutions include angler educational drives and interventions and the implementation of competitive C&R-only angling. Foreign recreational fisheries, although touted as potential ecotourism ventures, will only succeed in improving the lives of local people if they fully integrate the community into the operation of the fishery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Butler, Edward C
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Cuanza River (Angola) , Fishing -- Angola , Polynemidae , Fishes -- Angola -- Ecology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146688 , vital:38548
- Description: Despite increasing global recognition of the importance of recreational fisheries, their management largely remains poor. This is because they exhibit unique human-nature relationships and are nested within complex social-ecological systems (SESs). Recreational fisheries in the developing world have large potential for socio-economic development, but are generally underappreciated, in terms of their value and their impact, and are poorly governed. This is particularly concerning as they are highly complex and often compete for resources with dependent artisanal and subsistence fisheries. Developing world recreational fishery SESs are not well understood and present an important research gap for improved governance. The general aim of this thesis was to explore the recreational fishery targeting Polydactylus quadrifilis on the Kwanza Estuary, Angola, and provide context for how managers should approach recreational fisheries in the developing world and in Africa. To do this, the recreational fishery SES was explored using a combination of methodologies including those characteristic of traditional fisheries science, and new methods involving biology, sociology, and economics. The thesis contains an introductory chapter, a chapter describing the background, study area and study species, five data chapters and a discussion chapter. Chapter 3 aimed to investigate the reproductive style of P. quadrifilis. Results identified the species as a protandrous hermaphrodite. Evidence to suggest this included degenerating testicular tissue and the presence of early developing ovarian tissues in transitional individuals. Early-stage oocytes were commonly found in the outer area of male regions and residual late-stage spermatids and spermatozoa were found in the luminal space of ovarian regions, suggesting a process of sex change from the outside inwards. Owing to the species’ reliance on large highly fecund females for reproduction, it is likely that P. quadrifilis will be sensitive to fisheries that target larger individuals, such as trophy recreational fisheries and line fisheries within other sectors. Chapter 4 aimed to investigate alternative methods for adequately describing the growth of P. quadrifilis individuals belonging to either one of two distinct hypothetical life-history pathways: pathway I (‘changers’) – initial maturation as a primary male followed by a sex change to female; pathway II (‘non-changers’) – initial maturation as a male fish with no subsequent sex change, using von Bertalanffy Growth Functions (VBGFs). Other specific objectives included determining the size- and age-at-maturity and size- and age-at-sex-change for P. quadrifilis. Otolith aging revealed rapid growth and early maturation (L50 = 399.2 mm FL, A50 = 1.50 years) and sex change occurred over a wide size (790–1125 mm FL) and age (3–8 years) range. There was strong evidence for partial protandry in P. quadrifilis with several extremely old male fish (up to 22 years) observed in the population. When compared to the conventional model produced for the entire population, there were significant differences in the models for the ‘non-changers’ (LRT, p < 0.01) and their parameters L∞ (full model = 130.8, ‘non-changers’ = 113.3, p < 0.01), k (0.32, 0.44, p < 0.01) and t0 (0.23, 0.43, p = 0.03) in the first approach and the models (LRT, p < 0.01) and their L∞ (‘changers’ = 113.7, p < 0.01) values in the second approach. This suggests that utilising conventional modelling techniques may be inappropriate for the stock assessment and management of P. quadrifilis and, potentially, other sequentially hermaphroditic fishery species. Chapter 5 aimed to assess the sensitivity of P. quadrifilis to recreational C&R within the foreign recreational fishery using a rapid assessment approach. To do this, a number of C&R variables including fight time, air exposure, hook placement, hooking injury, total time of the stress event, river depth and angling method were measured and related to two indicators of fish health and survival – the physiological stress indicators blood glucose and blood lactate concentration and reflex action mortality predictors (RAMPs). Air exposure was identified as a major contributor to motor impairment (Cumulative Link Model: p < 0.01) and fight time was an important contributor to motor impairment via its interaction with air exposure (Cumulative Link Model: p = 0.02). Handling practices appear to be particularly important for larger individuals as fish size was positively correlated with air exposure (Pearson’s r coefficient = 0.41, p < 0.01) and fight times (0.88, p < 0.01). The findings suggest that recreational C&R may result in mortalities directly, via C&R, and indirectly, via predation, and several recommendations were made for best practice. Chapter 6 aimed to assess the direct economic contribution of the recreational fishery for Polydactylus quadrifilis on the Kwanza Estuary. Results indicated that the recreational fishery for contributed significantly to the economy of an area that would otherwise likely receive little external input ($282 054 per four-month fishing season). However, high rates of economic leakage from the study area were identified (58.7%–92.9% of locally spent revenue) and were attributed to the sourcing of lodge supplies, services and staff outside of the local area and the repatriation of profit by foreign business owners. Capacity building within the local community is likely required to develop ‘linkages’ between the local community and the recreational fishery. Greater community involvement in the fishery is suggested to incentivise the protection of recreationally important fishery species and their associated ecosystems. Chapter 7 aimed to investigate the resource user groups involved within the SES. Results illustrated that artisanal and domestic recreational anglers are well-established and are characterised by long histories of participation. The artisanal fishery was highly valued as a source of livelihoods for the local community. Artisanal fishers were eager for involvement in the recreational sector, through the chartering of their vessels, due to the attractiveness of extra earnings. Both recreational and artisanal fishers reported recent decreases in P. quadrifilis catch and anticipated further declines. Domestic recreational anglers appeared to be highly consumptive in their use of the fishery and C&R angling was uncommon. User conflict may be problematic for future management as recreational anglers perceived the artisanal gill-net fishery to be a threat towards P. quadrifilis stocks. In conclusion, the open-access nature of the fishery was identified as the most pertinent threat to its sustainability and likely needs to be addressed. Potential solutions involve offering users the opportunity to purchase access rights (e.g. day permits), thus initiating the concept that users must pay for their use of public resources. Management should aim to protect large female fish due to their increased reproductive value and worth as trophy fish. Thus, C&R angling is likely to be an important interaction between users and the resource. However, angler behaviour will need to be manipulated to promote C&R and minimise C&R-related mortalities. Solutions include angler educational drives and interventions and the implementation of competitive C&R-only angling. Foreign recreational fisheries, although touted as potential ecotourism ventures, will only succeed in improving the lives of local people if they fully integrate the community into the operation of the fishery.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Ultra-high precision diamond turning of advanced contact lens polymers
- Authors: Liman, Muhammad Mukhtar
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Contact lenses , Electrostatic lenses Lenses -- Design and construction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46108 , vital:39496
- Description: Contact lens polymer-based materials are extensively used in the optical industry owing to their excellent corrosion resistance, the possibility of mass production and their ability to be processed without external lubrication. Owing to the fast growth in optical industries, contact lens (CL) requires high accuracy and a high surface quality. The demand for high-accuracy and minimal surface roughness drives the development of ultra-high precision machining technology with regard to single point diamond turning (SPDT). Ultra-high precision diamond turning is an advanced manufacturing technique employed in the machining of CLs owing to its capability of producing high optical surfaces with complex shapes and nanometric accuracy. Yet, even with the advances in ultra-high precision machining (UHPM), it is not continuously easy to achieve a highquality surface finish during polymers machining as the adhesion of the tool chip around the tool dictates the presence of electrostatic charges. The electrostatic charges encountered by a cutting tool when turning advanced CLs are important as they reflect the quality and condition of the tool, machine, fixture, and sometimes even the finished surface, which is responsible for tool wear and poor surface quality. This study investigates the role of cutting parameters, namely cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on surface roughness (Ra), electrostatic charge (ESC) and material removal rate (MRR), which determines machine economics and the quality of machining contact lens polymers. The experiments were mainly conducted on two different advanced polymeric materials: polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and Optimum Extreme (Roflufocon E) CLs. Experimentation was carried out on the Nanoform 250 ultra-grind turning machine with a monocrystalline diamond-cutting tool for machining the PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, covering a wide range of machining parameters. Before conducting the experiments, a design of experiment was conducted according to the response surface methodology (RSM) that is based on the Box-Behnken Design (BBD). In addition, the research study focused on the determination of the optimum cutting conditions leading to minimum Ra and ESC as well as maximum productivity in the SPDT of the PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, using a monocrystalline diamondcutting tool. The optimization was based on RSM together with the desirability function approach. In addition, a mathematical model was developed for Ra, ESC and MRR using a RSM regression analysis for PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers by means of Design Expert software. RSM allowed for the optimization of the cutting conditions for minimal Ra and ESC as well as maximal MRR, which provides an effective knowledge base for process parameters to enhance process performance in the SPDT of CL polymers. Furthermore, this study also deals with the development of Ra, ESC and MRR prediction models for the diamond turning of PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, using the fuzzy logic based artificial intelligence (AI) method. The fuzzy logic model has been developed in terms of machining parameters for the prediction of Ra, ESC and MRR. To judge the accuracy and ability of the fuzzy logic model, an average percentage error was used. The comparative evaluation of experiments and the fuzzy logic approach suggested that the obtained average errors of Ra, ESC and MRR using the fuzzy logic system were in agreement with the experimental results. Hence, the developed fuzzy logic rules can be effectively utilized to predict the ESC, Ra and MRR of PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers in automated optical manufacturing environments for high accuracy and a reduction of computational cost. Moreover, owing to the brittle nature of optical polymers, the Roflufocon E CL polymer requires ductile-mode machining for improved surface quality. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation methods are thus applied to investigate the atomistic reaction at the tool/workpiece surface to clearly study and observe conditions occurring at nanometric scale in polymer machining. This research study is particularly concerned with the comparative analysis of experiments and a MD study of the Roflufocon E optical polymer nano cutting approach to the atomistic visualization of the plastic material flow at the tool/workpiece interface during cutting. The simulated MD acting force, machine stresses, and the temperature at the cutting region were evaluated to access the accuracy of the model. Hence, the nanomachining simulations were found to have a correlation to the experimental machining results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Liman, Muhammad Mukhtar
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Contact lenses , Electrostatic lenses Lenses -- Design and construction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46108 , vital:39496
- Description: Contact lens polymer-based materials are extensively used in the optical industry owing to their excellent corrosion resistance, the possibility of mass production and their ability to be processed without external lubrication. Owing to the fast growth in optical industries, contact lens (CL) requires high accuracy and a high surface quality. The demand for high-accuracy and minimal surface roughness drives the development of ultra-high precision machining technology with regard to single point diamond turning (SPDT). Ultra-high precision diamond turning is an advanced manufacturing technique employed in the machining of CLs owing to its capability of producing high optical surfaces with complex shapes and nanometric accuracy. Yet, even with the advances in ultra-high precision machining (UHPM), it is not continuously easy to achieve a highquality surface finish during polymers machining as the adhesion of the tool chip around the tool dictates the presence of electrostatic charges. The electrostatic charges encountered by a cutting tool when turning advanced CLs are important as they reflect the quality and condition of the tool, machine, fixture, and sometimes even the finished surface, which is responsible for tool wear and poor surface quality. This study investigates the role of cutting parameters, namely cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on surface roughness (Ra), electrostatic charge (ESC) and material removal rate (MRR), which determines machine economics and the quality of machining contact lens polymers. The experiments were mainly conducted on two different advanced polymeric materials: polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and Optimum Extreme (Roflufocon E) CLs. Experimentation was carried out on the Nanoform 250 ultra-grind turning machine with a monocrystalline diamond-cutting tool for machining the PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, covering a wide range of machining parameters. Before conducting the experiments, a design of experiment was conducted according to the response surface methodology (RSM) that is based on the Box-Behnken Design (BBD). In addition, the research study focused on the determination of the optimum cutting conditions leading to minimum Ra and ESC as well as maximum productivity in the SPDT of the PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, using a monocrystalline diamondcutting tool. The optimization was based on RSM together with the desirability function approach. In addition, a mathematical model was developed for Ra, ESC and MRR using a RSM regression analysis for PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers by means of Design Expert software. RSM allowed for the optimization of the cutting conditions for minimal Ra and ESC as well as maximal MRR, which provides an effective knowledge base for process parameters to enhance process performance in the SPDT of CL polymers. Furthermore, this study also deals with the development of Ra, ESC and MRR prediction models for the diamond turning of PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers, using the fuzzy logic based artificial intelligence (AI) method. The fuzzy logic model has been developed in terms of machining parameters for the prediction of Ra, ESC and MRR. To judge the accuracy and ability of the fuzzy logic model, an average percentage error was used. The comparative evaluation of experiments and the fuzzy logic approach suggested that the obtained average errors of Ra, ESC and MRR using the fuzzy logic system were in agreement with the experimental results. Hence, the developed fuzzy logic rules can be effectively utilized to predict the ESC, Ra and MRR of PMMA and Roflufocon E CL polymers in automated optical manufacturing environments for high accuracy and a reduction of computational cost. Moreover, owing to the brittle nature of optical polymers, the Roflufocon E CL polymer requires ductile-mode machining for improved surface quality. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation methods are thus applied to investigate the atomistic reaction at the tool/workpiece surface to clearly study and observe conditions occurring at nanometric scale in polymer machining. This research study is particularly concerned with the comparative analysis of experiments and a MD study of the Roflufocon E optical polymer nano cutting approach to the atomistic visualization of the plastic material flow at the tool/workpiece interface during cutting. The simulated MD acting force, machine stresses, and the temperature at the cutting region were evaluated to access the accuracy of the model. Hence, the nanomachining simulations were found to have a correlation to the experimental machining results.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Transformative ICT education practices in rural secondary schools for developmental needs and realities: the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Data processing , Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) --South Africa , Educational technology -- Developing countries , Rural development -- Developing countries , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in education -- South Africa , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150631 , vital:38991
- Description: The perceived social development significance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically expanded the domains in which this cluster of ICTs is being discussed and acted upon. The action to promote community development in rural areas in South Africa has made its way into the introduction of ICT education in secondary schools. Since rural secondary schools form part of the framework for rural communities, they are being challenged to provide ICT education that makes a difference in learners’ lives. This requires engaging education practices that inspire learners to construct knowledge of ICT that does not only respond to examination purposes but rather, to the needs and development aspirations of the community. This research examines the experience of engaging learners and communities in socially informed ICT education in rural secondary schools. Specifically, it seeks to develop a critique of current practices involved in ICT education in rural secondary schools, and explores plausible alternatives to such practices that would make ICT education more transformative and structured towards the developmental concerns of communities. The main empirical focus for the research was five rural secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The research involved 53 participants that participated in a socially informed ICT training process. The training was designed to inspire participants to share their self-defined ICT education and ICT knowledge experiences. Critical Action Learning and Philosophical Inquiry provided the methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on Foucault’s philosophical ideas on power-knowledge relations. Through this theoretical analysis, the research examines the dynamic interplay of practices in ICT education with the values, ideals, and knowledge that form the core-life experiences of learners and rural communities. The research findings of this study indicate that current ICT education practices in rural secondary schools are endowed with ideologies that are affecting learners’ identity, social experiences, power, and ownership of the reflective meaning of using ICTs in community development. The contribution of this thesis lies in demonstrating ways that reframe ICT education transformatively, and more specifically its practices in the light of the way power, identity, ownership and social experience construct and offer learners a transformative view of self and the world. This could enable ICT education to fulfil the potential of contributing to social development in rural communities. The thesis culminates by presenting a theoretical framework that articulates the structural and authoritative components of ICT education practices – these relate to learners’ conscious understandings and represented thoughts, sensations and meanings embedded in the context, and actions and locations of using their knowledge of ICT.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Data processing , Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) --South Africa , Educational technology -- Developing countries , Rural development -- Developing countries , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in education -- South Africa , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150631 , vital:38991
- Description: The perceived social development significance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically expanded the domains in which this cluster of ICTs is being discussed and acted upon. The action to promote community development in rural areas in South Africa has made its way into the introduction of ICT education in secondary schools. Since rural secondary schools form part of the framework for rural communities, they are being challenged to provide ICT education that makes a difference in learners’ lives. This requires engaging education practices that inspire learners to construct knowledge of ICT that does not only respond to examination purposes but rather, to the needs and development aspirations of the community. This research examines the experience of engaging learners and communities in socially informed ICT education in rural secondary schools. Specifically, it seeks to develop a critique of current practices involved in ICT education in rural secondary schools, and explores plausible alternatives to such practices that would make ICT education more transformative and structured towards the developmental concerns of communities. The main empirical focus for the research was five rural secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The research involved 53 participants that participated in a socially informed ICT training process. The training was designed to inspire participants to share their self-defined ICT education and ICT knowledge experiences. Critical Action Learning and Philosophical Inquiry provided the methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on Foucault’s philosophical ideas on power-knowledge relations. Through this theoretical analysis, the research examines the dynamic interplay of practices in ICT education with the values, ideals, and knowledge that form the core-life experiences of learners and rural communities. The research findings of this study indicate that current ICT education practices in rural secondary schools are endowed with ideologies that are affecting learners’ identity, social experiences, power, and ownership of the reflective meaning of using ICTs in community development. The contribution of this thesis lies in demonstrating ways that reframe ICT education transformatively, and more specifically its practices in the light of the way power, identity, ownership and social experience construct and offer learners a transformative view of self and the world. This could enable ICT education to fulfil the potential of contributing to social development in rural communities. The thesis culminates by presenting a theoretical framework that articulates the structural and authoritative components of ICT education practices – these relate to learners’ conscious understandings and represented thoughts, sensations and meanings embedded in the context, and actions and locations of using their knowledge of ICT.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Towards development of a malaria diagnostic: Generation, screening and validation of novel aptamers recognising Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase
- Authors: Frith, Kelly-Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum , Malaria -- Chemotherapy , Oligonucleotides , Lactate dehydrogenase , Biochemical markers , Systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment (SELEX)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142247 , vital:38062
- Description: Malaria, caused by infection with the Plasmodium parasite, is one of the leading causes of death in under-developed countries. Early detection is crucial for the effective treatment of malaria, particularly in cases where infection is due to Plasmodium falciparum. There is, therefore, an enduring need for portable, sensitive, reliable, accurate, durable, self-validating and cost-effective techniques for the rapid detection of malaria. Moreover, there is a demand to distinguish between various infectious species causing malaria. Research in the area of malarial biomarkers has identified a unique, species-specific, epitope of P. falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH), enhancing prospects for the development of diagnostics capable of identifying the species causing malarial infection. In recent years, improvements have been made towards the development of rapid diagnostic tests for detecting malarial biomarkers. Owing to their low cost, ease of labeling, and high thermal stability (relative to antibodies), the development and synthesis of aptamers that target the malarial lactate dehydrogenase represents one of the key innovations in the field of rapid diagnostics for malaria. This study explored the generation of aptamers that specifically target P. falciparum. Two sets of aptamers with diagnostically-supportive functions were generated independently, through parallel SELEX of recombinantly-expressed, full-length Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (rPfLDH), and an oligopeptide comprising the P. falciparum-specific epitope on lactate dehydrogenase (LDHp). The latter offers a promising solution for generating aptamers capable of binding with high specificity to P. falciparum. In this work, an rLDH class of aptamers was generated when SELEX was performed using the full-length rPfLDH protein as the target and the LDHp class of aptamers was generated when SELEX was performed using the oligopeptide LDHp as a target. Aptamers were successfully generated through the process of SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment) following the study and application of several optimisation steps, particularly during the amplification stage of SELEX. Optimisation steps included the study of improvements in PCR conditions; role of surfactants (Triton-X), modifying the PCR clean-up protocol; and agarose gel excision. Structurally-relevant moieties with particular consensus sequences (GGTAG and GGCG) were found in aptamers both reported here and previously published, confirming their importance in recognition of the target. Novel moieties particular to this work (ATTAT and poly-A stretches) were identified. Clades of consensus sequences were identified in both the rLDH and LDHp groups of aptamers, where sequences in the rLDH clade did not show preferential binding to rPfLDH while those in the LDHp clade (particularly LDHp 3 and 18) were able to recognise and bind only LDHp. Of the 19 sequences returned from the parallel SELEX procedures for rPfLDH (11 sequences) and LDHp (8 sequences), six rPfLDH and all eight LDHp sequences underwent preliminary screening and those with low responses eliminated. Of the eight LDHp-targeting aptamer sequences, five were preliminarily shown to bind to LDHp, whereas only two rPfLDH-targeting sequences were shown to bind to the target (rLDH 4 and 7). To this small selection of rPfLDH oligonucleotide sequences, two more (rLDH 1 and 15) were chosen for further study based on their sequences, secondary and predicted tertiary conformations. Sequences chosen for further study were therefore: rLDH 1, 4, 7 and 15 in the rLDH class, and LDHp 1, 3, 11, 14 and 18 in the LDHp class. Binding properties of the aptamers towards their targets were investigated using enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assays (ELONA), fluorophore-linked oligonucleotide assays (FLONA), electromobility shift assays (EMSA), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and GelRed dissociation assays, while applications towards aptasensors were explored using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and fluorescent microscopy. Some inconsistencies were seen for specific aptamer to target binding interactions using specific techniques; however, generally, binding to the targets was observed across the techniques assessed. These varied responses demonstrate the need to screen and validate aptamers using a variety of techniques and platforms not necessarily specific for the proposed application. From the aptamer binding screening studies using ELONA, the most promising aptamers generated were identified as LDHp 11, rLDH 4, rLDH 7 and rLDH 15. Aptamer rLDH 4, which was generated against rPfLDH, exhibited preferential and specific binding to the lactate dehydrogenase from P. falciparum, over the recombinantly-expressed lactate dehydrogenase from Plasmodium vivax (rPvLDH), albeit with lowered responses compared to LDHp 11 in ELONA and EMSA studies. However, in kinetic ELONA studies rLDH 4 showed binding to both rPfLDH and rPvLDH. Aptamer rLDH 7 showed high affinity for rPfLDH and rPvLDH in kinetic studies using ELONA. However, screening studies with ELONA indicates that aptamer rLDH 7 may not be suitable for diagnostic tests in serum samples given its non-specific binding to human serum albumin (HSA). Aptamer rLDH 15 exhibited species specificity for rPfLDH in screening studies using ELONA but showed affinity towards rPvLDH (albeit lower relative to its affinity for rPfLDH) in kinetic studies using ELONA. LDHp 11, generated against the PfLDH peptide, showed a clear preference for rPfLDH when compared to rPvLDH and other control proteins, in both sets of ELONA studies conducted, as well as EMSA, thus possessing a strong ability to identify the presence of Plasmodium falciparum owing to its generation against the species-specific epitope. While LDHp 1 demonstrated binding to plasmodial LDH in a flow-through system (SPR), so reiterating ELONA responses, it did not perform well in the remaining methodologies. Aptamers rLDH 1 and 15 and LDHp 3, 14 and 18 exhibited a mixed set of results throughout the target protein screening analyses and were, thus, not considered for selective binding in P. falciparum parasite bodies. In studies aimed at exploring biosensor assemblies utilising the developed aptamers, both rLDH 4 and LDHp 11, along with rLDH 7, LDHp 1 and pL1, demonstrated in situ binding to the native PfLDH in fluorescent microscopy. LDHp 11 exhibited FITC-based fluorescence equivalent to the anti-rPfLDHp IgY antibody in confocal fluorescent microscopy indicating superior binding to the native PfLDH compared to the remaining aptamers. An examination of electrochemical impedance as a platform for a biosensor assembly did not, in these studies, exhibit the required sensitivity using physiologically relevant concentrations of analyte expected for pLDH following infection with Plasmodium spp. Malstat/LDH activity was explored for application in a colorimetric aptasensor. A decrease in both rPfLDH and rPvLDH activity was observed following incubation with the tested aptamers, but rLDH 1, rLDH 7 and LDHp 14 did not exhibit similar decreases in rPvLDH activity. Aptamers rLDH 1, 4 and 7 and LDHp 11 and 14 were, therefore, not selected as candidates for LDH capture in LDH activity-based diagnostic devices for P. falciparum. The decreases in pLDH activity in the presence of aptamers could hold promise as direct or antagonistic malaria therapeutic agents. Preliminary studies on the application of aptamers as malaria therapeutic agents, while of interest, should be viewed with due caution given the challenges of aptamers reaching the intracellular native plasmodial LDH hosted within the red blood cells. In conclusion, this work has shown the ability of the LDHp 11 aptamer, generated in these studies, to selectively bind rPfLDH over rPvLDH, and to bind to the native PfLDH in fluorescent microscopy, indicating that this aptamer holds promise as a biorecognition element in malaria biosensors and other diagnostic devices for the detection, and differentiation, of P. falciparum and P. vivax. The use of a species-specific epitope of P. falciparum as a target in aptamer generation paves the way for similar such studies aimed at generating aptamers with species selectivity for other Plasmodium species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Frith, Kelly-Anne
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Plasmodium falciparum , Malaria -- Chemotherapy , Oligonucleotides , Lactate dehydrogenase , Biochemical markers , Systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment (SELEX)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/142247 , vital:38062
- Description: Malaria, caused by infection with the Plasmodium parasite, is one of the leading causes of death in under-developed countries. Early detection is crucial for the effective treatment of malaria, particularly in cases where infection is due to Plasmodium falciparum. There is, therefore, an enduring need for portable, sensitive, reliable, accurate, durable, self-validating and cost-effective techniques for the rapid detection of malaria. Moreover, there is a demand to distinguish between various infectious species causing malaria. Research in the area of malarial biomarkers has identified a unique, species-specific, epitope of P. falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (PfLDH), enhancing prospects for the development of diagnostics capable of identifying the species causing malarial infection. In recent years, improvements have been made towards the development of rapid diagnostic tests for detecting malarial biomarkers. Owing to their low cost, ease of labeling, and high thermal stability (relative to antibodies), the development and synthesis of aptamers that target the malarial lactate dehydrogenase represents one of the key innovations in the field of rapid diagnostics for malaria. This study explored the generation of aptamers that specifically target P. falciparum. Two sets of aptamers with diagnostically-supportive functions were generated independently, through parallel SELEX of recombinantly-expressed, full-length Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase (rPfLDH), and an oligopeptide comprising the P. falciparum-specific epitope on lactate dehydrogenase (LDHp). The latter offers a promising solution for generating aptamers capable of binding with high specificity to P. falciparum. In this work, an rLDH class of aptamers was generated when SELEX was performed using the full-length rPfLDH protein as the target and the LDHp class of aptamers was generated when SELEX was performed using the oligopeptide LDHp as a target. Aptamers were successfully generated through the process of SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment) following the study and application of several optimisation steps, particularly during the amplification stage of SELEX. Optimisation steps included the study of improvements in PCR conditions; role of surfactants (Triton-X), modifying the PCR clean-up protocol; and agarose gel excision. Structurally-relevant moieties with particular consensus sequences (GGTAG and GGCG) were found in aptamers both reported here and previously published, confirming their importance in recognition of the target. Novel moieties particular to this work (ATTAT and poly-A stretches) were identified. Clades of consensus sequences were identified in both the rLDH and LDHp groups of aptamers, where sequences in the rLDH clade did not show preferential binding to rPfLDH while those in the LDHp clade (particularly LDHp 3 and 18) were able to recognise and bind only LDHp. Of the 19 sequences returned from the parallel SELEX procedures for rPfLDH (11 sequences) and LDHp (8 sequences), six rPfLDH and all eight LDHp sequences underwent preliminary screening and those with low responses eliminated. Of the eight LDHp-targeting aptamer sequences, five were preliminarily shown to bind to LDHp, whereas only two rPfLDH-targeting sequences were shown to bind to the target (rLDH 4 and 7). To this small selection of rPfLDH oligonucleotide sequences, two more (rLDH 1 and 15) were chosen for further study based on their sequences, secondary and predicted tertiary conformations. Sequences chosen for further study were therefore: rLDH 1, 4, 7 and 15 in the rLDH class, and LDHp 1, 3, 11, 14 and 18 in the LDHp class. Binding properties of the aptamers towards their targets were investigated using enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assays (ELONA), fluorophore-linked oligonucleotide assays (FLONA), electromobility shift assays (EMSA), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and GelRed dissociation assays, while applications towards aptasensors were explored using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and fluorescent microscopy. Some inconsistencies were seen for specific aptamer to target binding interactions using specific techniques; however, generally, binding to the targets was observed across the techniques assessed. These varied responses demonstrate the need to screen and validate aptamers using a variety of techniques and platforms not necessarily specific for the proposed application. From the aptamer binding screening studies using ELONA, the most promising aptamers generated were identified as LDHp 11, rLDH 4, rLDH 7 and rLDH 15. Aptamer rLDH 4, which was generated against rPfLDH, exhibited preferential and specific binding to the lactate dehydrogenase from P. falciparum, over the recombinantly-expressed lactate dehydrogenase from Plasmodium vivax (rPvLDH), albeit with lowered responses compared to LDHp 11 in ELONA and EMSA studies. However, in kinetic ELONA studies rLDH 4 showed binding to both rPfLDH and rPvLDH. Aptamer rLDH 7 showed high affinity for rPfLDH and rPvLDH in kinetic studies using ELONA. However, screening studies with ELONA indicates that aptamer rLDH 7 may not be suitable for diagnostic tests in serum samples given its non-specific binding to human serum albumin (HSA). Aptamer rLDH 15 exhibited species specificity for rPfLDH in screening studies using ELONA but showed affinity towards rPvLDH (albeit lower relative to its affinity for rPfLDH) in kinetic studies using ELONA. LDHp 11, generated against the PfLDH peptide, showed a clear preference for rPfLDH when compared to rPvLDH and other control proteins, in both sets of ELONA studies conducted, as well as EMSA, thus possessing a strong ability to identify the presence of Plasmodium falciparum owing to its generation against the species-specific epitope. While LDHp 1 demonstrated binding to plasmodial LDH in a flow-through system (SPR), so reiterating ELONA responses, it did not perform well in the remaining methodologies. Aptamers rLDH 1 and 15 and LDHp 3, 14 and 18 exhibited a mixed set of results throughout the target protein screening analyses and were, thus, not considered for selective binding in P. falciparum parasite bodies. In studies aimed at exploring biosensor assemblies utilising the developed aptamers, both rLDH 4 and LDHp 11, along with rLDH 7, LDHp 1 and pL1, demonstrated in situ binding to the native PfLDH in fluorescent microscopy. LDHp 11 exhibited FITC-based fluorescence equivalent to the anti-rPfLDHp IgY antibody in confocal fluorescent microscopy indicating superior binding to the native PfLDH compared to the remaining aptamers. An examination of electrochemical impedance as a platform for a biosensor assembly did not, in these studies, exhibit the required sensitivity using physiologically relevant concentrations of analyte expected for pLDH following infection with Plasmodium spp. Malstat/LDH activity was explored for application in a colorimetric aptasensor. A decrease in both rPfLDH and rPvLDH activity was observed following incubation with the tested aptamers, but rLDH 1, rLDH 7 and LDHp 14 did not exhibit similar decreases in rPvLDH activity. Aptamers rLDH 1, 4 and 7 and LDHp 11 and 14 were, therefore, not selected as candidates for LDH capture in LDH activity-based diagnostic devices for P. falciparum. The decreases in pLDH activity in the presence of aptamers could hold promise as direct or antagonistic malaria therapeutic agents. Preliminary studies on the application of aptamers as malaria therapeutic agents, while of interest, should be viewed with due caution given the challenges of aptamers reaching the intracellular native plasmodial LDH hosted within the red blood cells. In conclusion, this work has shown the ability of the LDHp 11 aptamer, generated in these studies, to selectively bind rPfLDH over rPvLDH, and to bind to the native PfLDH in fluorescent microscopy, indicating that this aptamer holds promise as a biorecognition element in malaria biosensors and other diagnostic devices for the detection, and differentiation, of P. falciparum and P. vivax. The use of a species-specific epitope of P. falciparum as a target in aptamer generation paves the way for similar such studies aimed at generating aptamers with species selectivity for other Plasmodium species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Towards a reconstruction of Marion Island’s glacial history
- Authors: Rudolph, Elizabeth
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Glacial landforms Geomorphological mapping
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Geography)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18531 , vital:42581
- Description: Southern Hemisphere glacial chronologies can provide valuable insights into interactions between glaciation and past climate changes. The sub-Antarctic Islands provide a valuable terrestrial record of glacial chronologies for the Southern Hemisphere, since they are unique, not only in size and topography, but also in oceanic situation when compared to other continental landmasses (e.g. Antarctica or Patagonia). On sub-Antarctic Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean, the exact timing and extent of the local Last Glacial Maximum is not yet known as glacial reconstructions have mostly been based on palynological proxies and relative-age dating techniques. This study presents 29 cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages of deglaciated bedrock surfaces and moraine deposits from Marion Island. In addition, a comprehensive glacial-geomorphological map, which in conjunction with exposure ages provide improved temporal and spatial constraints for the island’s glacial history. Results show that the ice reached a local Last Glacial Maximum before 56 ka ago and retreated, with minor stillstands, until ~17 ka. This early deglaciation left island surfaces below 850 m a.s.l. ice-free after ~19 ka, and any subsequent advances during the Late Glacial or Holocene cooling periods would have been restricted to the interior. This glacial chronology is similar to that of some other sub-Antarctic Islands (e.g. the Kerguelen archipelago, Auckland and Campbell islands, and possibly South Georgia) and a number of other Southern Hemisphere glaciers (e.g. in Patagonia and New Zealand) and adds to evidence that suggest the Southern Hemisphere was in a glacial maximum earlier than the global LGM. A combination of climatic drivers such as declining temperatures, a northward migration of oceanic fronts and the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (causing precipitation changes), as well as the physiography of Marion Island, created optimal conditions for glacier growth during Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS 4; ~65 ka ago) instead of the global LGM in MIS 2 (~18 ka). These findings redefine the glacial history of Marion Island, and have implications for future investigations on post-glacial landscape development and ecological succession.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rudolph, Elizabeth
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Glacial landforms Geomorphological mapping
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Geography)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/18531 , vital:42581
- Description: Southern Hemisphere glacial chronologies can provide valuable insights into interactions between glaciation and past climate changes. The sub-Antarctic Islands provide a valuable terrestrial record of glacial chronologies for the Southern Hemisphere, since they are unique, not only in size and topography, but also in oceanic situation when compared to other continental landmasses (e.g. Antarctica or Patagonia). On sub-Antarctic Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean, the exact timing and extent of the local Last Glacial Maximum is not yet known as glacial reconstructions have mostly been based on palynological proxies and relative-age dating techniques. This study presents 29 cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages of deglaciated bedrock surfaces and moraine deposits from Marion Island. In addition, a comprehensive glacial-geomorphological map, which in conjunction with exposure ages provide improved temporal and spatial constraints for the island’s glacial history. Results show that the ice reached a local Last Glacial Maximum before 56 ka ago and retreated, with minor stillstands, until ~17 ka. This early deglaciation left island surfaces below 850 m a.s.l. ice-free after ~19 ka, and any subsequent advances during the Late Glacial or Holocene cooling periods would have been restricted to the interior. This glacial chronology is similar to that of some other sub-Antarctic Islands (e.g. the Kerguelen archipelago, Auckland and Campbell islands, and possibly South Georgia) and a number of other Southern Hemisphere glaciers (e.g. in Patagonia and New Zealand) and adds to evidence that suggest the Southern Hemisphere was in a glacial maximum earlier than the global LGM. A combination of climatic drivers such as declining temperatures, a northward migration of oceanic fronts and the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (causing precipitation changes), as well as the physiography of Marion Island, created optimal conditions for glacier growth during Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS 4; ~65 ka ago) instead of the global LGM in MIS 2 (~18 ka). These findings redefine the glacial history of Marion Island, and have implications for future investigations on post-glacial landscape development and ecological succession.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Towards a community-based model for Agricultural development in Uganda : a case study of Kumi and Gomba districts
- Authors: Kiggundu, Joseph
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agricultural development projects -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48654 , vital:41056
- Description: This study intended to design a community-based model for agricultural development in Uganda, using Kumi and Gomba districts as case studies. The surge in attention towards community-based development is attributed to the growing challenges posed by the traditional approaches to community development, dominated by top-down mechanisms during the planning, implementation, management, monitoring, and evaluation phases of community development programmes. Driven by Robert Chambers and Conway’s theoretical perspectives, this study discusses that a community-based model is capable of filling knowledge gaps, not only in scientific research, but also in the community development process of many developing nations, such as Uganda. In this study particularly, a community-based approach has been identified as the better option in aiding and facilitating the current government efforts to transform the agricultural sector from its predominantly subsistence nature to commercial orientation. It has been acknowledged that the Ugandan government and its development partners do realise the significant role agriculture plays in directly or indirectly impacting the social welfare of Ugandans. The agricultural sector has been identified as a major source of livelihood for most rural Ugandans (over 95% depend on it for food, employment and income). Unfortunately, even with such recognition, coupled with many reforms initiated by government and supported by various development partners who have invested huge sums of money into the sector, agricultural productivity and profitability has remained extremely low. Most rural Ugandans still languish in abject poverty, hunger, malnutrition, vulnerability and powerlessness. This study has established that, while the agricultural sector in Uganda suffers from enormous institutional, technological, market, research and land-oriented challenges, if all these factors are kept constant, an effective community-based approach is capable of facilitating effective planning, implementation, management, monitoring, and evaluation of agricultural reforms, for increased agricultural productivity and profitability hence the improved quality of life of Ugandans. A qualitative elicitation interviewing technique involving in-depth discussions with agricultural extension workers, community development officers, representatives from NGOs, local farmers, farmers’ associations, local and religious leaders as well as key persons from the Ministry of Agriculture and other line ministries was conducted. The participants were selected through chain referrals until the level of theoretical saturation. In addition, directed field observations, document analysis and key informant interviews with other respondents selected through theoretical sampling enhanced the robustness of data acquisition methods. Group-based participatory data analysis and reflexive pragmatism also enhanced the rigour and quality of research findings intended to balance the knowledge generated from the recognised scientific audience and the views of the important but unknown “knowledge generators” (the local experts).The key findings indicate that, historically and currently, agriculture has been and is the predominant community development activity at household, community and national levels in Uganda. It is also anticipated that agriculture will remain a major contributor to the national economic development of Uganda even over the next hundred years. The efforts by government and its development partners to transform the sector are therefore justified by the sector’s strategic importance. It has been found out that although the sector faces huge challenges, there are numerous opportunities for the sector to become a driver of Uganda’s socio-economic development. A community-based model has been proposed as a viable option for facilitating faster agricultural development in Uganda, where technocratic developers tend to impose development reforms on local people. With the traditional approaches to planning and implementation, it was thought that local people do not know what they want, they are illiterate and ignorant and therefore incapable of driving government crafted programmes for effective change. From the proposed model, government technocratic development agents should engage local farmers who practically experience poverty, powerlessness, hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability, to jointly craft effective agricultural reforms that are not only life-changing, but also relevant and sustainable within the confines of community needs. Under this approach, the designers, planners, implementers, monitors, and evaluators, whether of government-initiated reforms, or initiatives from other development agencies, should learn to treat local people as subjects of the community development processes, as opposed to the traditional top-down mechanisms which view them as objects to be used and abused. The involvement of local experts during the planning, implementation, and management of development reforms, should cease to be applied as merely routine fulfilment of donor conditionality and requirements. Rather, the participation of local farmers during all phases of community programming should become intentional and consciously aimed at empowering local people to actively participate in the making of decisions critical to their own development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Kiggundu, Joseph
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Agricultural development projects -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/48654 , vital:41056
- Description: This study intended to design a community-based model for agricultural development in Uganda, using Kumi and Gomba districts as case studies. The surge in attention towards community-based development is attributed to the growing challenges posed by the traditional approaches to community development, dominated by top-down mechanisms during the planning, implementation, management, monitoring, and evaluation phases of community development programmes. Driven by Robert Chambers and Conway’s theoretical perspectives, this study discusses that a community-based model is capable of filling knowledge gaps, not only in scientific research, but also in the community development process of many developing nations, such as Uganda. In this study particularly, a community-based approach has been identified as the better option in aiding and facilitating the current government efforts to transform the agricultural sector from its predominantly subsistence nature to commercial orientation. It has been acknowledged that the Ugandan government and its development partners do realise the significant role agriculture plays in directly or indirectly impacting the social welfare of Ugandans. The agricultural sector has been identified as a major source of livelihood for most rural Ugandans (over 95% depend on it for food, employment and income). Unfortunately, even with such recognition, coupled with many reforms initiated by government and supported by various development partners who have invested huge sums of money into the sector, agricultural productivity and profitability has remained extremely low. Most rural Ugandans still languish in abject poverty, hunger, malnutrition, vulnerability and powerlessness. This study has established that, while the agricultural sector in Uganda suffers from enormous institutional, technological, market, research and land-oriented challenges, if all these factors are kept constant, an effective community-based approach is capable of facilitating effective planning, implementation, management, monitoring, and evaluation of agricultural reforms, for increased agricultural productivity and profitability hence the improved quality of life of Ugandans. A qualitative elicitation interviewing technique involving in-depth discussions with agricultural extension workers, community development officers, representatives from NGOs, local farmers, farmers’ associations, local and religious leaders as well as key persons from the Ministry of Agriculture and other line ministries was conducted. The participants were selected through chain referrals until the level of theoretical saturation. In addition, directed field observations, document analysis and key informant interviews with other respondents selected through theoretical sampling enhanced the robustness of data acquisition methods. Group-based participatory data analysis and reflexive pragmatism also enhanced the rigour and quality of research findings intended to balance the knowledge generated from the recognised scientific audience and the views of the important but unknown “knowledge generators” (the local experts).The key findings indicate that, historically and currently, agriculture has been and is the predominant community development activity at household, community and national levels in Uganda. It is also anticipated that agriculture will remain a major contributor to the national economic development of Uganda even over the next hundred years. The efforts by government and its development partners to transform the sector are therefore justified by the sector’s strategic importance. It has been found out that although the sector faces huge challenges, there are numerous opportunities for the sector to become a driver of Uganda’s socio-economic development. A community-based model has been proposed as a viable option for facilitating faster agricultural development in Uganda, where technocratic developers tend to impose development reforms on local people. With the traditional approaches to planning and implementation, it was thought that local people do not know what they want, they are illiterate and ignorant and therefore incapable of driving government crafted programmes for effective change. From the proposed model, government technocratic development agents should engage local farmers who practically experience poverty, powerlessness, hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability, to jointly craft effective agricultural reforms that are not only life-changing, but also relevant and sustainable within the confines of community needs. Under this approach, the designers, planners, implementers, monitors, and evaluators, whether of government-initiated reforms, or initiatives from other development agencies, should learn to treat local people as subjects of the community development processes, as opposed to the traditional top-down mechanisms which view them as objects to be used and abused. The involvement of local experts during the planning, implementation, and management of development reforms, should cease to be applied as merely routine fulfilment of donor conditionality and requirements. Rather, the participation of local farmers during all phases of community programming should become intentional and consciously aimed at empowering local people to actively participate in the making of decisions critical to their own development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020