Colonial displacements and African coping strategies: The experience of BaTonga of Binga, Zimbabwe, 1956-2008
- Authors: Dhodho, Codelia Govha
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Tonga (Zambezi people) Refugees , Subsistence farming Zambezi River Valley , Hunger Zambezi River Valley , Food security Zambezi River Valley , Adaptability (Psychology) , Food relief Zambezi River Valley , Non-governmental organizations , Kariba Dam (Zambia and Zimbabwe)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327642 , vital:61139 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327642
- Description: This study examines the challenges faced by BaTonga in livelihood reconstruction after involuntary displacement and resettlement from the Zambezi valley to pave way for the Kariba dam reservoir. It shows how they were forcibly evicted without compensation because of the racist policies of Southern Rhodesia. Their resettlement into an arid region infested with marauding elephants, malaria and tsetse fly undermined their complex livelihoods and eroded their self-sufficiency, but the study argues that they were active and resilient agents who adopted complex coping strategies. It shows how they had to adapt to dry-land farming and counter the effects of wildlife which plundered their crops and managed to secure the harvest in the drought-prone region. The study shows that although they adopted precarious livelihoods, they managed to survive under extreme circumstances for decades without any external assistance until the coming of NGOs who began to distribute free food from 1982. It argues that prolonged distribution of emergence food aid may not have been necessary, but its coming for almost three decades largely served political interests of both the NGOs and their governments. This perpetuated poverty as BaTonga also manipulated its distribution as a coping strategy against fragile livelihoods. This caused dependency which further plunged them into chronic food insecurity because they abandoned their traditional coping strategies. The study argues that both the colonial and postcolonial government as well as NGOs failed to address the root causes of livelihood insecurity in Binga for the five decades under study. It is therefore the contention of this study that the problem of food insecurity in Binga was not only an issue of recurring drought but was deeply rooted and pervasive due to multiple complex factors which made it difficult for the people to establish sustainable food production after displacement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Dhodho, Codelia Govha
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Tonga (Zambezi people) Refugees , Subsistence farming Zambezi River Valley , Hunger Zambezi River Valley , Food security Zambezi River Valley , Adaptability (Psychology) , Food relief Zambezi River Valley , Non-governmental organizations , Kariba Dam (Zambia and Zimbabwe)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327642 , vital:61139 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327642
- Description: This study examines the challenges faced by BaTonga in livelihood reconstruction after involuntary displacement and resettlement from the Zambezi valley to pave way for the Kariba dam reservoir. It shows how they were forcibly evicted without compensation because of the racist policies of Southern Rhodesia. Their resettlement into an arid region infested with marauding elephants, malaria and tsetse fly undermined their complex livelihoods and eroded their self-sufficiency, but the study argues that they were active and resilient agents who adopted complex coping strategies. It shows how they had to adapt to dry-land farming and counter the effects of wildlife which plundered their crops and managed to secure the harvest in the drought-prone region. The study shows that although they adopted precarious livelihoods, they managed to survive under extreme circumstances for decades without any external assistance until the coming of NGOs who began to distribute free food from 1982. It argues that prolonged distribution of emergence food aid may not have been necessary, but its coming for almost three decades largely served political interests of both the NGOs and their governments. This perpetuated poverty as BaTonga also manipulated its distribution as a coping strategy against fragile livelihoods. This caused dependency which further plunged them into chronic food insecurity because they abandoned their traditional coping strategies. The study argues that both the colonial and postcolonial government as well as NGOs failed to address the root causes of livelihood insecurity in Binga for the five decades under study. It is therefore the contention of this study that the problem of food insecurity in Binga was not only an issue of recurring drought but was deeply rooted and pervasive due to multiple complex factors which made it difficult for the people to establish sustainable food production after displacement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, History, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Colonial power and the transformation of feudal relations in Buganda 1900-1962
- Authors: Sekiswa, Peter
- Date: 2020-12
- Subjects: Uganda , Uganda (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55218 , vital:49670
- Description: This thesis has engaged in a debate that the establishment of colonial administration in Buganda in the 19th century more than anything else saw the transformation the Buganda state into an African feudal state. Basic explanation for this state of affairs was the need by the colonial authority to establish a dependent commodity producing economy in Buganda. The African feudal state contextually referred to is the transformation of power, labour and economic relations in this period to suit circumstances that favoured the process of commodity production in the Buganda state; a process that involved the strengthening of the political power base, by creating a landed oligarchy, thus destroying the traditional patron–client relations and creating out of such a relation a class of civil servants, yet also extracting land rent from siting tenant in an agrarian economic system. This period saw an interplay of numerous actors like the Christian missionaries and their Buganda collaborators, the Christian elite (Abasomi), the Learners. The second phase of this study examines the creation of a colonial economic system based on commodity production and the colonial authority creating a frame work of operation, as to how the economy-based commodity production was to operate as to either allow a settler plantation or a peasant mode of production. Coupled with the effects of the wars of nations the deteriorating economic conditions and the age of the rise of the spirit of nationalism in the 1950s, created a class of agitators against the colonial authority. Using the historical methodology, the study employed the use of oral interviews, archives, primary printed journals, and secondary sources, to trace the evolution of labour, political and economic relations in the Buganda state. This was in order to understand the process leading to the creation of the modern Buganda colonial state by 1962. The study puts it that the intercourse between the British colonial administrators and the Buganda state leaders was responsible for the resultant state of affairs. Intentionally or unintentionally, the British colonial authority created a new nation state dominated by a landed class elite. It is this elite class that led the independence struggle not for the whole nation but for one region of the country - their kingdom Buganda - the cause of conflict between the British colonial authority and the Buganda Kingdom, but also a source of economic and political competition between Buganda and other regions of Uganda. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-12
- Authors: Sekiswa, Peter
- Date: 2020-12
- Subjects: Uganda , Uganda (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55218 , vital:49670
- Description: This thesis has engaged in a debate that the establishment of colonial administration in Buganda in the 19th century more than anything else saw the transformation the Buganda state into an African feudal state. Basic explanation for this state of affairs was the need by the colonial authority to establish a dependent commodity producing economy in Buganda. The African feudal state contextually referred to is the transformation of power, labour and economic relations in this period to suit circumstances that favoured the process of commodity production in the Buganda state; a process that involved the strengthening of the political power base, by creating a landed oligarchy, thus destroying the traditional patron–client relations and creating out of such a relation a class of civil servants, yet also extracting land rent from siting tenant in an agrarian economic system. This period saw an interplay of numerous actors like the Christian missionaries and their Buganda collaborators, the Christian elite (Abasomi), the Learners. The second phase of this study examines the creation of a colonial economic system based on commodity production and the colonial authority creating a frame work of operation, as to how the economy-based commodity production was to operate as to either allow a settler plantation or a peasant mode of production. Coupled with the effects of the wars of nations the deteriorating economic conditions and the age of the rise of the spirit of nationalism in the 1950s, created a class of agitators against the colonial authority. Using the historical methodology, the study employed the use of oral interviews, archives, primary printed journals, and secondary sources, to trace the evolution of labour, political and economic relations in the Buganda state. This was in order to understand the process leading to the creation of the modern Buganda colonial state by 1962. The study puts it that the intercourse between the British colonial administrators and the Buganda state leaders was responsible for the resultant state of affairs. Intentionally or unintentionally, the British colonial authority created a new nation state dominated by a landed class elite. It is this elite class that led the independence struggle not for the whole nation but for one region of the country - their kingdom Buganda - the cause of conflict between the British colonial authority and the Buganda Kingdom, but also a source of economic and political competition between Buganda and other regions of Uganda. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-12
Comparative fish ecology in three periodically connected rivers in the upper Zambezi and Okavango ecoregions
- Authors: Taylor, Geraldine Claire
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fishes Ecology Zambia Zambezi District , Floodplain ecology Zambia Zambezi District , Stable isotopes , Fishes Food Zambia Zambezi District , Fishes Mortality Zambia Zambezi District , Fish populations Zambia Zambezi District , Fishes Growth
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65055 , vital:28660 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/65055
- Description: The Upper Zambezi, Kavango and Kwando rivers are three periodically interlinked floodplain rivers which share the same Upper Zambezian floodplain ichthyofauna. The aim of this thesis was to compare the biology and ecology of the fish communities in these three rivers. The objective was to test the hypothesis that fish community composition and assemblage structure, fish diets, food web structure and trophic dynamics, fish growth rates and total mortality are influenced by the differing flood magnitudes of the three rivers, in support of the flood pulse concept. To understand the abiotic characteristics of each river, water temperature, flood regime, total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations and water quality parameters were measured and compared between rivers. Water temperatures varied seasonally, and seven day moving averages peaked above 30 °C in January, and fell to between 16 and 19 °C in June. The Zambezi River had the largest flood (6.14 m), followed by the Kavango River (3.80 m), while the Kwando River had the smallest flood (0.65 m). Total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations were low in the Kavango and Zambezi Rivers (0.2 - 0.6 mg/l), and slightly higher in the Kwando River (<1 mg/l). Conductivity, total dissolved solids and total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations decreased with the flood (dilution effect). Using biomass catch per unit effort data from experimental gillnets, fish community composition and assemblage structure was described, and differed between rivers in all hydrological seasons. In the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, fish assemblages varied with hydrological season as a result of the homogenising influence of the flood pulse, while in the Kwando River fish assemblages did not differ seasonally as flood pulses were small and often irregular. Differences in community composition were attributed to the abundance of Hydrocynus vittatus, a large bodied open water predator, in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and its relative absence in the Kwando River. Based on the results of the community composition, six focus species were chosen that were abundant and representative of the various feeding modes and life history strategies of the fish community. These were the striped robber Brycinus lateralis, sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus, blunttooth catfish Clarias ngamensis, African pike Hepsetus cuvieri, silver catfish Schilbe intermedius and purpleface largemouth Serranochromis macrocephalus. Stomach contents analysis was then used to compare the feeding ecology of the six example species between rivers. Clarias gariepinus, C. ngamensis and S. intermedius were piscivorous in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and preyed upon more invertebrates in the Kwando River, while Hepsetus cuvieri and S. macrocephalus were piscivorous in all three rivers. Differences in diets were attributed to seasonal prey abundance, with prey fishes abundant during falling and low water when the Zambezi and Kavango rivers were sampled, while invertebrates were abundant during rising and high water when the Kwando River was sampled. Prey mastication by B. lateralis made prey identification difficult. For other predators, the usefulness of stomach contents analysis for dietary descriptions was restricted by the high proportion of empty stomachs. As a result, whole ecosystem stable isotope analysis was used to gain a holistic understanding of the food web structure and fish feeding ecology of the three rivers. The Zambezi and Kavango river food webs were supported by C enriched resources such as C4 and C3 riparian vegetation from the floodplain, while the Kwando River food web was based on C depleted resources such as filamentous algae and aquatic macrophytes. The Zambezi River food web had a restricted nitrogen range, with reduced food chain length and the predators in this river did not occupy such elevated trophic positions compared to in the Kavango and Kwando river food webs. This was attributed to the overfishing of the primary and tertiary consumers in the Zambezi River, a phenomenon known to reduce food chain length. Focussing on predator communities, in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, H. vittatus isotopic niche width was large and overlapped significantly with most other predators, while in the Kwando River predator niches were more distinct. This supported previously proposed hypotheses by describing H. vittatus as a dominant predator which excludes all other fishes by predation or competition. Despite the dominance of H. vittatus, C. gariepinus occupied the position of top predator in all three rivers, and information on the habitat use, feeding habits and trophic niches of the serranochromine cichlids added understanding of their ecology. Lastly, age was determined using sectioned sagittal otoliths for C. gariepinus, C. ngamensis, S. intermedius and S. macrocephalus and using whole asteriscus otoliths for B. lateralis and H. cuvieri, and growth was modelled using the von Bertalanffy growth equation. Growth performance was high in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and lower in the Kwando River, most likely in response to the varying flood magnitudes. Total mortality rates, estimated using Hoenig’s maximum-age based equation, were high in the Zambezi River as a result of the high fishing pressure on this river. Overall floodplain fish ecology in the Zambezi, Kavango and Kwando rivers was influenced by the flood pulse, as was predicted by the flood pulse concept. Periodic and equilibrium life history strategists were found to adapt either to the pulsing environments of the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, or to the more stable environment of the Kwando River, and large bodied, long lived periodic strategists such as C. gariepinus tended to be highly plastic and able to thrive in most conditions. Data also suggested that Zambezi River food web structure and fish mortality rates have been impacted by overfishing, for which more information is needed to conserve and manage this system. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2018
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Taylor, Geraldine Claire
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Fishes Ecology Zambia Zambezi District , Floodplain ecology Zambia Zambezi District , Stable isotopes , Fishes Food Zambia Zambezi District , Fishes Mortality Zambia Zambezi District , Fish populations Zambia Zambezi District , Fishes Growth
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/65055 , vital:28660 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/65055
- Description: The Upper Zambezi, Kavango and Kwando rivers are three periodically interlinked floodplain rivers which share the same Upper Zambezian floodplain ichthyofauna. The aim of this thesis was to compare the biology and ecology of the fish communities in these three rivers. The objective was to test the hypothesis that fish community composition and assemblage structure, fish diets, food web structure and trophic dynamics, fish growth rates and total mortality are influenced by the differing flood magnitudes of the three rivers, in support of the flood pulse concept. To understand the abiotic characteristics of each river, water temperature, flood regime, total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations and water quality parameters were measured and compared between rivers. Water temperatures varied seasonally, and seven day moving averages peaked above 30 °C in January, and fell to between 16 and 19 °C in June. The Zambezi River had the largest flood (6.14 m), followed by the Kavango River (3.80 m), while the Kwando River had the smallest flood (0.65 m). Total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations were low in the Kavango and Zambezi Rivers (0.2 - 0.6 mg/l), and slightly higher in the Kwando River (<1 mg/l). Conductivity, total dissolved solids and total dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations decreased with the flood (dilution effect). Using biomass catch per unit effort data from experimental gillnets, fish community composition and assemblage structure was described, and differed between rivers in all hydrological seasons. In the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, fish assemblages varied with hydrological season as a result of the homogenising influence of the flood pulse, while in the Kwando River fish assemblages did not differ seasonally as flood pulses were small and often irregular. Differences in community composition were attributed to the abundance of Hydrocynus vittatus, a large bodied open water predator, in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and its relative absence in the Kwando River. Based on the results of the community composition, six focus species were chosen that were abundant and representative of the various feeding modes and life history strategies of the fish community. These were the striped robber Brycinus lateralis, sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus, blunttooth catfish Clarias ngamensis, African pike Hepsetus cuvieri, silver catfish Schilbe intermedius and purpleface largemouth Serranochromis macrocephalus. Stomach contents analysis was then used to compare the feeding ecology of the six example species between rivers. Clarias gariepinus, C. ngamensis and S. intermedius were piscivorous in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and preyed upon more invertebrates in the Kwando River, while Hepsetus cuvieri and S. macrocephalus were piscivorous in all three rivers. Differences in diets were attributed to seasonal prey abundance, with prey fishes abundant during falling and low water when the Zambezi and Kavango rivers were sampled, while invertebrates were abundant during rising and high water when the Kwando River was sampled. Prey mastication by B. lateralis made prey identification difficult. For other predators, the usefulness of stomach contents analysis for dietary descriptions was restricted by the high proportion of empty stomachs. As a result, whole ecosystem stable isotope analysis was used to gain a holistic understanding of the food web structure and fish feeding ecology of the three rivers. The Zambezi and Kavango river food webs were supported by C enriched resources such as C4 and C3 riparian vegetation from the floodplain, while the Kwando River food web was based on C depleted resources such as filamentous algae and aquatic macrophytes. The Zambezi River food web had a restricted nitrogen range, with reduced food chain length and the predators in this river did not occupy such elevated trophic positions compared to in the Kavango and Kwando river food webs. This was attributed to the overfishing of the primary and tertiary consumers in the Zambezi River, a phenomenon known to reduce food chain length. Focussing on predator communities, in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, H. vittatus isotopic niche width was large and overlapped significantly with most other predators, while in the Kwando River predator niches were more distinct. This supported previously proposed hypotheses by describing H. vittatus as a dominant predator which excludes all other fishes by predation or competition. Despite the dominance of H. vittatus, C. gariepinus occupied the position of top predator in all three rivers, and information on the habitat use, feeding habits and trophic niches of the serranochromine cichlids added understanding of their ecology. Lastly, age was determined using sectioned sagittal otoliths for C. gariepinus, C. ngamensis, S. intermedius and S. macrocephalus and using whole asteriscus otoliths for B. lateralis and H. cuvieri, and growth was modelled using the von Bertalanffy growth equation. Growth performance was high in the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, and lower in the Kwando River, most likely in response to the varying flood magnitudes. Total mortality rates, estimated using Hoenig’s maximum-age based equation, were high in the Zambezi River as a result of the high fishing pressure on this river. Overall floodplain fish ecology in the Zambezi, Kavango and Kwando rivers was influenced by the flood pulse, as was predicted by the flood pulse concept. Periodic and equilibrium life history strategists were found to adapt either to the pulsing environments of the Zambezi and Kavango rivers, or to the more stable environment of the Kwando River, and large bodied, long lived periodic strategists such as C. gariepinus tended to be highly plastic and able to thrive in most conditions. Data also suggested that Zambezi River food web structure and fish mortality rates have been impacted by overfishing, for which more information is needed to conserve and manage this system. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2018
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Comparative performance of 3-kWp ranges Solar Photovoltaic Systems under varying meteorological conditions in Alice, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Apeh, Oliver Okechukwu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4076-0613
- Authors: Apeh, Oliver Okechukwu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4076-0613
- Date: 2021-08
- Subjects: Photovoltaic power systems , Solar energy
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21567 , vital:48888
- Description: PVsystem has recently emerged in South Africa as a way to curb the country’s persistent shortage of electricity. A wide effort for the past few decades have targeted at study, testing and demonstration of PV power systems which was established all over the country as an appropriate measure to tackle transportation, agriculture, industry, commercial as well as domestic activities. In view of these drives, both off-grid and grid-connected PV systems are being applied. However, operating a building with an off-grid system is one of the means to providing the possibility of energy access to places far away from the national grid. As an off-grid choice, 50 W SHS is being distributed to customers in distant rustic parts of the country where grid option is difficult to access. But the SHS of the stated capacity can barely generate 0.3 to 0.4 kWh of electric energy per day, even at the optimal solar radiations. In view of this, more efforts are directed at expanding the off-grid systems to accommodate large rural households in South Africa. This thesis is dedicated to a study on the various configurations and components of PV power plant as a way to enhance electricity generations in South Africa. To this effect, different power plants were considered at SolarWatt park, University of Fort Hare with the aim to conduct a comparative analysis of the charge controllers with respect to the charge and discharge rates of their respective batteries. The grid-connected PV power generation was classified into hybrid PV and grid-assisted PV, while off-grid is a BIPV. These power plants generations were installed for the purpose of research level with a total capacity of 11.4 kW. The off-grid system is made up of HIT modules, FlexMax80 charge controller, Victron energy inverter and M-Molar battery bank. The hybrid and grid-assisted systems each consist of 15 polycrystalline modules and Microcare charge controllers. In addition, hybrid comprises SMA Sunny Island inverter and Trojan battery bank whereas grid-assisted consist of Microcare inverter and Hoppercke battery bank. The first part of the experimental work was monitored, and the meteorological parameters which are ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed, were measured and evaluated while electrical parameters includes PV current and voltage, MPPT current and voltage, battery current and voltage and inverter current and voltage were also measured and evaluated in the second part of the experiment. This lasted for a period of four years, starting from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2020. Similarly, the second aspect was to monitor the electrical performance of the three systems and was performed for a period of six months, starting from January to June 2019. During the second experiment, hybrid and grid-assisted systems were reconfigured to function as off-grid systems. Moreover, a detailed data acquisition system designed to measure and record both meteorological and electrical parameters affecting the performance of the systems. The electrical parameters include PV current and voltage, MPPT current, battery current and voltage and inverter current and voltage. Other parameters in the measurements are; inverter efficiency, active and apparent power, while meteorological parameters include; solar irradiance, ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. The meteorological results show that the maximum and minimum mean amount of global solar radiation was 7.34 kWh/m2/day in December and 3.03 kWh/m2/day in June, respectively, while the average radiation and temperature for the typical year were 4.98 kWh/m2/day and 16.88 oC respectively. The solar radiations obtained are within the range in major places in South Africa. Similarly, an average wind speed of 2.5 m/s is experienced in Alice in a year and average solar radiation of 606.06 W/m2 in summer and 346.17 W/m2 in winter. The three lead-acid battery systems monitored under the electrical aspect are M-Molar, Trojan and Hoppecke battery systems. It was established that the charging current decreases gradually from 27.7 to 18.5 A for the M-Molar while Hoppecke and Trojan deceased respectively from 15 to 10 A and 23 to 13 A at the end of each phase by charging it at the maximum power point of the PV array. It was equally found that the M-Molar battery current has the highest rate of charging and quickest rate of discharging in comparison to the other two batteries. Finally, from the results gotten from this research, we may propose that the solar PV system contributes significantly to the satisfaction of the needed electricity in South Africa. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-08
- Authors: Apeh, Oliver Okechukwu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4076-0613
- Date: 2021-08
- Subjects: Photovoltaic power systems , Solar energy
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/21567 , vital:48888
- Description: PVsystem has recently emerged in South Africa as a way to curb the country’s persistent shortage of electricity. A wide effort for the past few decades have targeted at study, testing and demonstration of PV power systems which was established all over the country as an appropriate measure to tackle transportation, agriculture, industry, commercial as well as domestic activities. In view of these drives, both off-grid and grid-connected PV systems are being applied. However, operating a building with an off-grid system is one of the means to providing the possibility of energy access to places far away from the national grid. As an off-grid choice, 50 W SHS is being distributed to customers in distant rustic parts of the country where grid option is difficult to access. But the SHS of the stated capacity can barely generate 0.3 to 0.4 kWh of electric energy per day, even at the optimal solar radiations. In view of this, more efforts are directed at expanding the off-grid systems to accommodate large rural households in South Africa. This thesis is dedicated to a study on the various configurations and components of PV power plant as a way to enhance electricity generations in South Africa. To this effect, different power plants were considered at SolarWatt park, University of Fort Hare with the aim to conduct a comparative analysis of the charge controllers with respect to the charge and discharge rates of their respective batteries. The grid-connected PV power generation was classified into hybrid PV and grid-assisted PV, while off-grid is a BIPV. These power plants generations were installed for the purpose of research level with a total capacity of 11.4 kW. The off-grid system is made up of HIT modules, FlexMax80 charge controller, Victron energy inverter and M-Molar battery bank. The hybrid and grid-assisted systems each consist of 15 polycrystalline modules and Microcare charge controllers. In addition, hybrid comprises SMA Sunny Island inverter and Trojan battery bank whereas grid-assisted consist of Microcare inverter and Hoppercke battery bank. The first part of the experimental work was monitored, and the meteorological parameters which are ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity and wind speed, were measured and evaluated while electrical parameters includes PV current and voltage, MPPT current and voltage, battery current and voltage and inverter current and voltage were also measured and evaluated in the second part of the experiment. This lasted for a period of four years, starting from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2020. Similarly, the second aspect was to monitor the electrical performance of the three systems and was performed for a period of six months, starting from January to June 2019. During the second experiment, hybrid and grid-assisted systems were reconfigured to function as off-grid systems. Moreover, a detailed data acquisition system designed to measure and record both meteorological and electrical parameters affecting the performance of the systems. The electrical parameters include PV current and voltage, MPPT current, battery current and voltage and inverter current and voltage. Other parameters in the measurements are; inverter efficiency, active and apparent power, while meteorological parameters include; solar irradiance, ambient temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. The meteorological results show that the maximum and minimum mean amount of global solar radiation was 7.34 kWh/m2/day in December and 3.03 kWh/m2/day in June, respectively, while the average radiation and temperature for the typical year were 4.98 kWh/m2/day and 16.88 oC respectively. The solar radiations obtained are within the range in major places in South Africa. Similarly, an average wind speed of 2.5 m/s is experienced in Alice in a year and average solar radiation of 606.06 W/m2 in summer and 346.17 W/m2 in winter. The three lead-acid battery systems monitored under the electrical aspect are M-Molar, Trojan and Hoppecke battery systems. It was established that the charging current decreases gradually from 27.7 to 18.5 A for the M-Molar while Hoppecke and Trojan deceased respectively from 15 to 10 A and 23 to 13 A at the end of each phase by charging it at the maximum power point of the PV array. It was equally found that the M-Molar battery current has the highest rate of charging and quickest rate of discharging in comparison to the other two batteries. Finally, from the results gotten from this research, we may propose that the solar PV system contributes significantly to the satisfaction of the needed electricity in South Africa. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-08
Comparison of behaviour between traditional male circumcision initiates of the yesteryears and those of the contemporary epoch in Cala and Mdantsane, Eastern Cape
- Mpateni, Aphiwe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6823-9179
- Authors: Mpateni, Aphiwe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6823-9179
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Circumcision , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22045 , vital:51968
- Description: Unequivocally, the traditional male circumcision as rite of passage in South African communities has been embraced for its role in shaping the behaviour among the initiates. This rite was highly valuable during the yesteryears as the traditional male circumcision initiates portrayed compliance with the society’s moral codes and cultural goalposts. Inopportunely, on the other hand, during the contemporary epoch this rite of passage and the cultural underpinnings embedded in it appear to be eroding and shifting from the initial purpose of inculcating good behaviour and morals. This study seeks to compare the behaviour of the yesteryears’ traditional male circumcision initiates and those of the contemporary epoch in Cala, Sakhisizwe Local Municipality and Mdantsane, Buffalo City Municipality in Eastern Cape. This study aimed to achieve the following objectives: (i) to explore the policy differences informing TMC practices in yesteryears and in the contemporary epoch; (ii) to identify the similarities and differences between the behaviour of the contemporary initiates and those of yesteryears; and (iii) to establish the environmental factors motivating the change of the behaviour apparent among the contemporary initiates as well as those of the yesteryears. This study is underpinned by the socio- cultural perspective, anomie theory, and social learning theory. Methodologically, this study was qualitative in nature, where the data was collected through one-on-one in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and Key informants interviews. An interview guide with open-ended questions was used to collect the data. A sample size of forty (40) participants was purposively selected for interviews. The data collection process was cross- sectional in design. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data and findings were presented thematically. The study established policy differences informing TMC during the yesteryears and the contemporary epoch, in that the yesteryears’ policy environment was culturally grounded; while the contemporary one’s is informed by the current national constitution and human rights perspectives. In relation to the policy issues, the study further established elements of illusionary interpretation of rights by the contemporary TMC initiates; poor implementation of policy guiding TMC practice. Further, the study revealed behavioural and morality differences between the yesteryears’ and the contemporary TMC initiates. For instance, the yesteryears’ TMC initiates were reported to be more responsible and well- mannered as compared to the contemporary ones. The shortfalls in expected behaviour and morality for the contemporary TMC initiates were attributed to modernization, and education in the contemporary initiation schools, which does not meet the societal expectations. On the environmental factors motivating the change of behaviour of the TMC initiates; Yesteryears’ TMC initiates complying with moral codes and cultural goalposts; Non-compliance to the moral codes and cultural goalposts by the contemporary TMC initiates; Culture of alcoholism during the contemporary epoch. Based on these findings, this study recommends that the government of South Africa should augment the existing TMC policies to ensure that traditional male circumcision as rite of passage achieves its socio-cultural objective of shaping behaviour and morals. The study further recommends training for traditional nurses “amakhankatha” and traditional surgeons “iingcibi”; and hosting cultural events for cultural resuscitation. The conclusions of this study state that the government must work hand in hand with cultural custodians to ensure that traditional male circumcision practice shapes good behaviour and morals of the initiates. This is because glaring gaps associated with the rite. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Mpateni, Aphiwe https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6823-9179
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Circumcision , Xhosa (African people) -- Rites and ceremonies
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22045 , vital:51968
- Description: Unequivocally, the traditional male circumcision as rite of passage in South African communities has been embraced for its role in shaping the behaviour among the initiates. This rite was highly valuable during the yesteryears as the traditional male circumcision initiates portrayed compliance with the society’s moral codes and cultural goalposts. Inopportunely, on the other hand, during the contemporary epoch this rite of passage and the cultural underpinnings embedded in it appear to be eroding and shifting from the initial purpose of inculcating good behaviour and morals. This study seeks to compare the behaviour of the yesteryears’ traditional male circumcision initiates and those of the contemporary epoch in Cala, Sakhisizwe Local Municipality and Mdantsane, Buffalo City Municipality in Eastern Cape. This study aimed to achieve the following objectives: (i) to explore the policy differences informing TMC practices in yesteryears and in the contemporary epoch; (ii) to identify the similarities and differences between the behaviour of the contemporary initiates and those of yesteryears; and (iii) to establish the environmental factors motivating the change of the behaviour apparent among the contemporary initiates as well as those of the yesteryears. This study is underpinned by the socio- cultural perspective, anomie theory, and social learning theory. Methodologically, this study was qualitative in nature, where the data was collected through one-on-one in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and Key informants interviews. An interview guide with open-ended questions was used to collect the data. A sample size of forty (40) participants was purposively selected for interviews. The data collection process was cross- sectional in design. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data and findings were presented thematically. The study established policy differences informing TMC during the yesteryears and the contemporary epoch, in that the yesteryears’ policy environment was culturally grounded; while the contemporary one’s is informed by the current national constitution and human rights perspectives. In relation to the policy issues, the study further established elements of illusionary interpretation of rights by the contemporary TMC initiates; poor implementation of policy guiding TMC practice. Further, the study revealed behavioural and morality differences between the yesteryears’ and the contemporary TMC initiates. For instance, the yesteryears’ TMC initiates were reported to be more responsible and well- mannered as compared to the contemporary ones. The shortfalls in expected behaviour and morality for the contemporary TMC initiates were attributed to modernization, and education in the contemporary initiation schools, which does not meet the societal expectations. On the environmental factors motivating the change of behaviour of the TMC initiates; Yesteryears’ TMC initiates complying with moral codes and cultural goalposts; Non-compliance to the moral codes and cultural goalposts by the contemporary TMC initiates; Culture of alcoholism during the contemporary epoch. Based on these findings, this study recommends that the government of South Africa should augment the existing TMC policies to ensure that traditional male circumcision as rite of passage achieves its socio-cultural objective of shaping behaviour and morals. The study further recommends training for traditional nurses “amakhankatha” and traditional surgeons “iingcibi”; and hosting cultural events for cultural resuscitation. The conclusions of this study state that the government must work hand in hand with cultural custodians to ensure that traditional male circumcision practice shapes good behaviour and morals of the initiates. This is because glaring gaps associated with the rite. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
Compartmentalization of mineral elements, nutritional factors, biological potentials and phytochemical profiles in the fruits of Musa sinensis L.(Banana) and Musa paradisiaca L.(Plantain): A comparison among soft flesh, peel and boiled peel extract
- Oyeyinka, Barnabas Oluwatomide https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1191-9365
- Authors: Oyeyinka, Barnabas Oluwatomide https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1191-9365
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Bananas , Plantain banana
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23655 , vital:58274
- Description: Fruits are key contributors to human nutrition and health. However, banana and plantain are typical examples of fruits that have nutritionally under-utilized peel by-products. This study was thus carried out to investigate the compartmental distribution (soft flesh, peel, and boiled peel extract) of mineral elements, nutritional factors, biological potentials, and phytochemical profiles in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca fruits (ripening stage 4-5), with focus on the peels. Proximal and and antinutritive analyses were done with standard methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), while mineral element composition in the fruit components was analyzed with the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The pharmacological potential of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca fruit components was investigated spectrophotometrically by evaluating the polyphenolic constituents (total phenol, proanthocyanidin, flavonoid) and in vitro radical scavenging activities of the aqueous, acetone and ethanol extracts, using DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assay models. The correlational evaluation of the polyphenolics and antioxidant activity in the components of both fruits using Pearson’s correlational coefficient (r). The proximal assays revealed that moisture content, fiber content, and carbohydratecontent were substantially present in the flesh and peel of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca, while lipid content was low. The antinutritive results revealed safe levels of alkaloid, oxalate, phytate, and saponin factors in the flesh and peel by-products. Mineral analysis results indicated substantial levels of the macroelements K, Mg, Ca, and P in the peels. Other results revealed that acetone extracts had the highest phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid constituents respectively, across the soft flesh components ofM. sinensis (119.05 ± 5.80 mgGAE/g; 337.48 ± 13.16 mgCE/g; 602.64 ± 3.65 mgQE/g), M. paradisiaca (114.80 ± 1.49 mgGAE/g; 436.09 ± 36.44 mgCE/g; 777.35 ± 150.95mgQE/g) and the peel component of M. paradisiaca (136.87 ± 5.69 mgGAE/g; 530.06 ± 53.51 mgCE/g; 750.87 ± 55.61 mgQE/g), with an exception of the phenolic content of M. sinensis peel, where it was highest in the ethanol extract (157.19 ± 4.76 mgGAE/g). The ABTS (0.03 mg/mL) and DPPH (0.03 mg/mL) activities were at their highest in the boiled peel extracts of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca, while ferric reducing power was highest in ethanol extracts across M. sinensis soft flesh, peel, and M. paradisiaca flesh. Acetone extract of M. paradisiaca peel had the highest ferric reducing capacity at peak concentration (0.1 mg/mL). Correlational analysis revealed a negative correlation between respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin, and flavonoid content and the IC50DPPH antioxidant capacity in M. sinensis flesh, M. sinensis peel and M. paradisiaca flesh. Conversely, there was positive correlation between IC50 DPPH with proanthocyanidin and flavonoid in M. paradisiaca peel. Negative correlation was detected between the phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contents and IC50ABTS in M. sinensis flesh. Positive correlation was observed between respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contentwith IC50 ABTS in M. sinensis peel, M. paradisiaca flesh and M. paradisiaca peel. There was negative correlation between the respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contents and IC50 FRAP in the flesh of M. sinensis, while positive correlation was observed in M. sinensis peel. M. paradisiaca flesh on the other hand, showed positive correlation between the IC50 FRAP and the respective phytochemical contents. However, the peel, there was negative correlation. The correlational evaluation in this study revealed general positive and negative correlational patterns, which implies that no polyphenolic constituent contributed exclusively to antioxidant activity, but rather in combination. Ultrastructure and elemental spectra of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca exocarps were analysed with electron microscopy (SEM)and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX). Microstructures such as interlocked, polyhedral epidermal cells, ellipsoid-shaped stomata, guard cells, intercellular space, anticlinal-patterned walls, and subsidiary cells were observed. The elemental spectra revealed the presence of elements such as potassium, iron, carbon, oxygen, silicon, and gold, with consistently high to relatively high carbon and oxygen peaks in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca exocarps. The relative similarity observed in the constituents of a number of the elemental spectra in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca peels, reflects some degree of relatedness. These outcomes indicate that banana and plantain peel and boiled peel extracts are nutritive, medicinal and potential nutraceuticals, with food preservative, shelf-life and quality enhancement potentials. The instrumentation in this study also have potential relevance in industrial food product analysis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
- Authors: Oyeyinka, Barnabas Oluwatomide https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1191-9365
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Bananas , Plantain banana
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23655 , vital:58274
- Description: Fruits are key contributors to human nutrition and health. However, banana and plantain are typical examples of fruits that have nutritionally under-utilized peel by-products. This study was thus carried out to investigate the compartmental distribution (soft flesh, peel, and boiled peel extract) of mineral elements, nutritional factors, biological potentials, and phytochemical profiles in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca fruits (ripening stage 4-5), with focus on the peels. Proximal and and antinutritive analyses were done with standard methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC), while mineral element composition in the fruit components was analyzed with the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The pharmacological potential of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca fruit components was investigated spectrophotometrically by evaluating the polyphenolic constituents (total phenol, proanthocyanidin, flavonoid) and in vitro radical scavenging activities of the aqueous, acetone and ethanol extracts, using DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assay models. The correlational evaluation of the polyphenolics and antioxidant activity in the components of both fruits using Pearson’s correlational coefficient (r). The proximal assays revealed that moisture content, fiber content, and carbohydratecontent were substantially present in the flesh and peel of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca, while lipid content was low. The antinutritive results revealed safe levels of alkaloid, oxalate, phytate, and saponin factors in the flesh and peel by-products. Mineral analysis results indicated substantial levels of the macroelements K, Mg, Ca, and P in the peels. Other results revealed that acetone extracts had the highest phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid constituents respectively, across the soft flesh components ofM. sinensis (119.05 ± 5.80 mgGAE/g; 337.48 ± 13.16 mgCE/g; 602.64 ± 3.65 mgQE/g), M. paradisiaca (114.80 ± 1.49 mgGAE/g; 436.09 ± 36.44 mgCE/g; 777.35 ± 150.95mgQE/g) and the peel component of M. paradisiaca (136.87 ± 5.69 mgGAE/g; 530.06 ± 53.51 mgCE/g; 750.87 ± 55.61 mgQE/g), with an exception of the phenolic content of M. sinensis peel, where it was highest in the ethanol extract (157.19 ± 4.76 mgGAE/g). The ABTS (0.03 mg/mL) and DPPH (0.03 mg/mL) activities were at their highest in the boiled peel extracts of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca, while ferric reducing power was highest in ethanol extracts across M. sinensis soft flesh, peel, and M. paradisiaca flesh. Acetone extract of M. paradisiaca peel had the highest ferric reducing capacity at peak concentration (0.1 mg/mL). Correlational analysis revealed a negative correlation between respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin, and flavonoid content and the IC50DPPH antioxidant capacity in M. sinensis flesh, M. sinensis peel and M. paradisiaca flesh. Conversely, there was positive correlation between IC50 DPPH with proanthocyanidin and flavonoid in M. paradisiaca peel. Negative correlation was detected between the phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contents and IC50ABTS in M. sinensis flesh. Positive correlation was observed between respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contentwith IC50 ABTS in M. sinensis peel, M. paradisiaca flesh and M. paradisiaca peel. There was negative correlation between the respective phenolic, proanthocyanidin and flavonoid contents and IC50 FRAP in the flesh of M. sinensis, while positive correlation was observed in M. sinensis peel. M. paradisiaca flesh on the other hand, showed positive correlation between the IC50 FRAP and the respective phytochemical contents. However, the peel, there was negative correlation. The correlational evaluation in this study revealed general positive and negative correlational patterns, which implies that no polyphenolic constituent contributed exclusively to antioxidant activity, but rather in combination. Ultrastructure and elemental spectra of M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca exocarps were analysed with electron microscopy (SEM)and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX). Microstructures such as interlocked, polyhedral epidermal cells, ellipsoid-shaped stomata, guard cells, intercellular space, anticlinal-patterned walls, and subsidiary cells were observed. The elemental spectra revealed the presence of elements such as potassium, iron, carbon, oxygen, silicon, and gold, with consistently high to relatively high carbon and oxygen peaks in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca exocarps. The relative similarity observed in the constituents of a number of the elemental spectra in M. sinensis and M. paradisiaca peels, reflects some degree of relatedness. These outcomes indicate that banana and plantain peel and boiled peel extracts are nutritive, medicinal and potential nutraceuticals, with food preservative, shelf-life and quality enhancement potentials. The instrumentation in this study also have potential relevance in industrial food product analysis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science and Agriculture, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
Competing policy imperatives in Post-Apartheid South Africa: An analysis of the effects and larger significance of ESKOM restructuring on the South African automotive industry, 2005-2014
- Authors: Sibuyi, Lucas Nkosana
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , South Africa Colonial influence , Electric power Conservation South Africa , Electric utilities Government ownership South Africa , Electric utilities Privatization South Africa , Import substitution South Africa , Government business enterprises South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192911 , vital:45278 , 10.21504/10962/192911
- Description: The state has played an indispensable, major role in the industrialisation of South Africa, and its transformation from an economy of agriculture and mining to one based on manufacturing and services by the 1970s. Large state-owned corporations in communications and transportation, finance, industry and power have been key to this process, which also involved an extensive (and racist form of) import substitution industrialisation (ISI) from the 1920s. The 1970s saw a shift towards neoliberal policies, first under the National-Party-led apartheid government and then under the African-National-Congress-led democratic government formed in 1994. Since the 1980s, this restructuring has profoundly affected state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the monopoly electricity utility ESKOM, and manufacturing industries, such as the automotive sector. This thesis examines the evolution of and interaction between different areas of neoliberal policy, and their evolution over time through a consideration of the relationship between the restructuring of SOEs and manufacturing, with a focus on ESKOM and autotomotives respectively. Relying on interviews with senior officials, policymakers, union leaders and industrialists, as well as primary documents, the study examines the responses of OEMs in South Africa (BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes Benz/Daimler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen) to ESKOM’s actions, and analyses the root of these actions. It argues that while restructuring has been framed by a common framework, policy development and implementation is not coordinated or cohesive. ESKOM, for example, gutted investment in electricity and maintenance generation capacity to become profitable and create space for Independent Power Providers (IPPs) – neoliberal measures for which it was rewarded and lauded. This took place at a time when national policy emphasised the need to grow manufacturing and attract direct investment by creating an investor-friendly climate resting on infrastructure. It also took place when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) rolled out highly successful plans – also praised and rewarded – to help adjust automotives to open markets; the sector grew much larger than under ISI, while other sectors like textiles collapsed. ESKOM’s measures, however, led to a rapid decline in the capacity and stability of the power system, and directly contradicted the drive to expand and globalise manufacturing, in which automotives was now the leading edge. Corruption in the utility worsened, much of it through subcontracting measures rooted in neoliberal reforms, but this did not cause the basic problems. It is argued that this situation of competing policy imperatives reflects deeper, long-term problems in the South African state, including contradictory policies, uneven capacity and a lack of coordination. For example, there was no coordination between the DTI and stakeholder departments that regulate ESKOM, being the shareholder ministry, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and its policy ministry, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). These types of problems did not start postapartheid, and post-1994 reforms have not adequately addressed them. What exists is not a “developmental” state, as policymakers hope, but a fractured state of an intermediate type that combines “developmental” and “predatory” features in a oneparty dominant system in which lines between ruling party and state blur, and state resources are leveraged for elite class formation. Such was the case under apartheid skippered by the NP, with Afrikanerisation, and it continues today post-apartheid under the ANC with BEE. Major reforms are needed, but not just in SOE governance or budgets, as many have suggested. If we are to take the nation forward, the basic design of the state must be reformed. The state needs professionalised, coherent policy-making and implementation, proper coordination of state entities and hard decisions. It should manage high levels of public infrastructure, guarantee political stability and credit ratings, and provide policy certainty and predictability. Without big reforms it will remain a chronic underperformer. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Sibuyi, Lucas Nkosana
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Eskom (Firm) , South Africa Colonial influence , Electric power Conservation South Africa , Electric utilities Government ownership South Africa , Electric utilities Privatization South Africa , Import substitution South Africa , Government business enterprises South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192911 , vital:45278 , 10.21504/10962/192911
- Description: The state has played an indispensable, major role in the industrialisation of South Africa, and its transformation from an economy of agriculture and mining to one based on manufacturing and services by the 1970s. Large state-owned corporations in communications and transportation, finance, industry and power have been key to this process, which also involved an extensive (and racist form of) import substitution industrialisation (ISI) from the 1920s. The 1970s saw a shift towards neoliberal policies, first under the National-Party-led apartheid government and then under the African-National-Congress-led democratic government formed in 1994. Since the 1980s, this restructuring has profoundly affected state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including the monopoly electricity utility ESKOM, and manufacturing industries, such as the automotive sector. This thesis examines the evolution of and interaction between different areas of neoliberal policy, and their evolution over time through a consideration of the relationship between the restructuring of SOEs and manufacturing, with a focus on ESKOM and autotomotives respectively. Relying on interviews with senior officials, policymakers, union leaders and industrialists, as well as primary documents, the study examines the responses of OEMs in South Africa (BMW, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes Benz/Daimler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen) to ESKOM’s actions, and analyses the root of these actions. It argues that while restructuring has been framed by a common framework, policy development and implementation is not coordinated or cohesive. ESKOM, for example, gutted investment in electricity and maintenance generation capacity to become profitable and create space for Independent Power Providers (IPPs) – neoliberal measures for which it was rewarded and lauded. This took place at a time when national policy emphasised the need to grow manufacturing and attract direct investment by creating an investor-friendly climate resting on infrastructure. It also took place when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) rolled out highly successful plans – also praised and rewarded – to help adjust automotives to open markets; the sector grew much larger than under ISI, while other sectors like textiles collapsed. ESKOM’s measures, however, led to a rapid decline in the capacity and stability of the power system, and directly contradicted the drive to expand and globalise manufacturing, in which automotives was now the leading edge. Corruption in the utility worsened, much of it through subcontracting measures rooted in neoliberal reforms, but this did not cause the basic problems. It is argued that this situation of competing policy imperatives reflects deeper, long-term problems in the South African state, including contradictory policies, uneven capacity and a lack of coordination. For example, there was no coordination between the DTI and stakeholder departments that regulate ESKOM, being the shareholder ministry, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and its policy ministry, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). These types of problems did not start postapartheid, and post-1994 reforms have not adequately addressed them. What exists is not a “developmental” state, as policymakers hope, but a fractured state of an intermediate type that combines “developmental” and “predatory” features in a oneparty dominant system in which lines between ruling party and state blur, and state resources are leveraged for elite class formation. Such was the case under apartheid skippered by the NP, with Afrikanerisation, and it continues today post-apartheid under the ANC with BEE. Major reforms are needed, but not just in SOE governance or budgets, as many have suggested. If we are to take the nation forward, the basic design of the state must be reformed. The state needs professionalised, coherent policy-making and implementation, proper coordination of state entities and hard decisions. It should manage high levels of public infrastructure, guarantee political stability and credit ratings, and provide policy certainty and predictability. Without big reforms it will remain a chronic underperformer. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Composition Portfolio
- Authors: Hanmer, Paul Dylan
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Composition (Music) , String quartets Scores , Symphonies Scores , Music South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327283 , vital:61100 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327283
- Description: Extract from Introduction: “In the cover bands I worked with, I used to do what all my colleagues in these bands were doing to learn and remember repertoire; transcribe “by ear” and then rehearse with the whole band. Later, when I joined “909” [a cover band named after the “909” model of drum-box developed and built by the Japanese company, Roland] I learned to extend that skill by notating my transcriptions and then playing from these self-made keyboard parts. All the instrumentalists in that band likewise played from their own notated transcriptions and, from that time onward it became rarer for me to do any kind of performance work without a set of self-made parts to read from or refer to. I had thus reverted to performing from musical notation. Even later, when I became involved almost exclusively in improvisational music performance, I never quite abandoned the notion of having notated keyboard or piano parts to hand, as a reference or guide. Since about 1990, I have led a life that has increasingly left pop music behind and instead embraced working with improvising musicians; those who wish to explore South African folk idioms in their compositional and performance output, as well as others who have a deep love of jazz music. At the same time, I have re-entered the realm of classical music and music-making; often through writing arrangements of my own music, which would incorporate classically trained players, as well as in response to commissions to compose [for particular musicians or groups of musicians] fully notated pieces of music – such as the works in this PhD portfolio. Yet, there are many circumstantial factors that feed into my composing, and exert an influence on my creativity. A major step in this particular direction came during 2002 when composer, Michael Blake, asked me to contribute to The Bow Project. This commission brought me into close contact with the [then intact and very active] Sontonga Quartet. Several further requests for, and commissions of, new works followed on from there. Two such works constitute the major portion of the portfolio to which these reflexive commentaries refer.” , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Music and Musicology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
- Authors: Hanmer, Paul Dylan
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Composition (Music) , String quartets Scores , Symphonies Scores , Music South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327283 , vital:61100 , DOI 10.21504/10962/327283
- Description: Extract from Introduction: “In the cover bands I worked with, I used to do what all my colleagues in these bands were doing to learn and remember repertoire; transcribe “by ear” and then rehearse with the whole band. Later, when I joined “909” [a cover band named after the “909” model of drum-box developed and built by the Japanese company, Roland] I learned to extend that skill by notating my transcriptions and then playing from these self-made keyboard parts. All the instrumentalists in that band likewise played from their own notated transcriptions and, from that time onward it became rarer for me to do any kind of performance work without a set of self-made parts to read from or refer to. I had thus reverted to performing from musical notation. Even later, when I became involved almost exclusively in improvisational music performance, I never quite abandoned the notion of having notated keyboard or piano parts to hand, as a reference or guide. Since about 1990, I have led a life that has increasingly left pop music behind and instead embraced working with improvising musicians; those who wish to explore South African folk idioms in their compositional and performance output, as well as others who have a deep love of jazz music. At the same time, I have re-entered the realm of classical music and music-making; often through writing arrangements of my own music, which would incorporate classically trained players, as well as in response to commissions to compose [for particular musicians or groups of musicians] fully notated pieces of music – such as the works in this PhD portfolio. Yet, there are many circumstantial factors that feed into my composing, and exert an influence on my creativity. A major step in this particular direction came during 2002 when composer, Michael Blake, asked me to contribute to The Bow Project. This commission brought me into close contact with the [then intact and very active] Sontonga Quartet. Several further requests for, and commissions of, new works followed on from there. Two such works constitute the major portion of the portfolio to which these reflexive commentaries refer.” , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Music and Musicology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
Computational analysis of known drug resistant mutants of Plasmodium falciparum Dihydrofolate Reductase (PfDHFR) and screening for novel antifolates against the enzyme
- Authors: Tata, Rolland Bantar
- Date: 2022-04-08
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234184 , vital:50170
- Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04-08
- Authors: Tata, Rolland Bantar
- Date: 2022-04-08
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/234184 , vital:50170
- Description: Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04-08
Conflict-induced displacement: a study of risk and support for the older refugees in South Africa
- Yusuf, Mohammed Sanusi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-0186
- Authors: Yusuf, Mohammed Sanusi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-0186
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Migration, Internal , Displacement (Psychology) , Refugees -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22231 , vital:52001
- Description: With the exponential rise in conflict scenarios globally, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in foreign countries continues to grow. Although there has been several international efforts and conventions aimed at alleviating the global refugee crisis, the international community has not found a sustainable answer to this knotty problem. In Africa, with some of the worst conflict situations, the scourge of social displacement resulting in migrations have caused different levels of risks and vulnerability for the refugees, as well as capacity constraints for the host communities, governments of host countries and non-governmental bodies working with refugees. In South Africa, with one of the highest numbers of refugees in Africa, especially those coming from African countries, contention for socio-economic space and cultural differences occasionally result in violence between refugees and local people. For the older refugees, the level of risk exposure and hardship have generated interests for both scholars and officials. This thesis explores the risks and support systems for older refugees in South Africa, with specific focus on the Eastern Cape province. Various stakeholders (such as government, NGOs, host communities and the older refugees) in refugee management in South Africa have argued differently on ‘how best’ to manage older refugees in the country. Using qualitative data gathered from refugee communities in the Eastern Cape province and documentary analysis, the study found that the experiences of older refugees in the Eastern Cape province are nuanced. The dominant narrative on the experiences of older refugees indicate peaceful coexistence and resilient organic community support systems, with minor conflicts – often associated with contestations for scarce economic opportunities. Although the study focuses on one province of South Africa, this finding challenges the often-overgeneralised perception of South Africa as ‘xenophobic’. It unpacks the hidden resilient social systems and networks of relationships that bind local populations and the refugees, especially the older ones. In the search for national, regional and global answers on the best way to manage refugee crisis, this study provides insights into community-level structures and dynamics that would benefit policymaking at the national and international levels , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
- Authors: Yusuf, Mohammed Sanusi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6871-0186
- Date: 2021-09
- Subjects: Migration, Internal , Displacement (Psychology) , Refugees -- Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22231 , vital:52001
- Description: With the exponential rise in conflict scenarios globally, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in foreign countries continues to grow. Although there has been several international efforts and conventions aimed at alleviating the global refugee crisis, the international community has not found a sustainable answer to this knotty problem. In Africa, with some of the worst conflict situations, the scourge of social displacement resulting in migrations have caused different levels of risks and vulnerability for the refugees, as well as capacity constraints for the host communities, governments of host countries and non-governmental bodies working with refugees. In South Africa, with one of the highest numbers of refugees in Africa, especially those coming from African countries, contention for socio-economic space and cultural differences occasionally result in violence between refugees and local people. For the older refugees, the level of risk exposure and hardship have generated interests for both scholars and officials. This thesis explores the risks and support systems for older refugees in South Africa, with specific focus on the Eastern Cape province. Various stakeholders (such as government, NGOs, host communities and the older refugees) in refugee management in South Africa have argued differently on ‘how best’ to manage older refugees in the country. Using qualitative data gathered from refugee communities in the Eastern Cape province and documentary analysis, the study found that the experiences of older refugees in the Eastern Cape province are nuanced. The dominant narrative on the experiences of older refugees indicate peaceful coexistence and resilient organic community support systems, with minor conflicts – often associated with contestations for scarce economic opportunities. Although the study focuses on one province of South Africa, this finding challenges the often-overgeneralised perception of South Africa as ‘xenophobic’. It unpacks the hidden resilient social systems and networks of relationships that bind local populations and the refugees, especially the older ones. In the search for national, regional and global answers on the best way to manage refugee crisis, this study provides insights into community-level structures and dynamics that would benefit policymaking at the national and international levels , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-09
Constraints and enablements on quality improvement in higher education
- Authors: Browning, Leanne Elizabeth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Education, Higher Aims and objectives South Africa , Education, Higher Evaluation , Quality assurance South Africa , Educational evaluation South Africa , Self-evaluation , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294956 , vital:57273 , DOI 10.21504/10962/294956
- Description: This study contributes to the literature on quality improvement in higher education by examining the structural, cultural and agential constraints and enablements on a quality process at a university in South Africa. It examined four cases and developed an understanding of the complex interaction of structure, culture and agency and the mechanisms that enable or constrain quality improvement in higher education. The study drew on the literature on higher education quality for the theoretical basis for what is known contributes to the way in which quality assurance and improvement is implemented and its impact on the higher education context. Critical Realism provided the ontological framework and conceptual tools to understand and explore the complex social world within which the quality process took place. The literature on the morphogenetic approach provided the analytical framework for the data analysis and findings. The data consisted of a set of documents from a quality process that took place over a five-year period. The data analysis revealed that different departmental contexts impact on how mechanisms are activated. Each school context shapes the way in which people engage with the review process and consequently, processes and procedures are mediated in each context. This research therefore adds to the understanding of the way in which quality processes take place at a micro-level within an institutional context and informs the approach to quality improvement more broadly, nationally and internationally. The research contributes to the knowledge that will inform planning, policies and practices in quality improvement processes in higher education and the findings identify a number of factors (mechanisms) that should inform the way in which a quality process is facilitated, will enable effective self-evaluation and review processes, and consequently are more likely to lead to quality improvement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Browning, Leanne Elizabeth
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Education, Higher Aims and objectives South Africa , Education, Higher Evaluation , Quality assurance South Africa , Educational evaluation South Africa , Self-evaluation , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294956 , vital:57273 , DOI 10.21504/10962/294956
- Description: This study contributes to the literature on quality improvement in higher education by examining the structural, cultural and agential constraints and enablements on a quality process at a university in South Africa. It examined four cases and developed an understanding of the complex interaction of structure, culture and agency and the mechanisms that enable or constrain quality improvement in higher education. The study drew on the literature on higher education quality for the theoretical basis for what is known contributes to the way in which quality assurance and improvement is implemented and its impact on the higher education context. Critical Realism provided the ontological framework and conceptual tools to understand and explore the complex social world within which the quality process took place. The literature on the morphogenetic approach provided the analytical framework for the data analysis and findings. The data consisted of a set of documents from a quality process that took place over a five-year period. The data analysis revealed that different departmental contexts impact on how mechanisms are activated. Each school context shapes the way in which people engage with the review process and consequently, processes and procedures are mediated in each context. This research therefore adds to the understanding of the way in which quality processes take place at a micro-level within an institutional context and informs the approach to quality improvement more broadly, nationally and internationally. The research contributes to the knowledge that will inform planning, policies and practices in quality improvement processes in higher education and the findings identify a number of factors (mechanisms) that should inform the way in which a quality process is facilitated, will enable effective self-evaluation and review processes, and consequently are more likely to lead to quality improvement. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Constructing an intergrated service excellence model for the South African police service
- Authors: Modise, Motsamai John
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55020 , vital:48823
- Description: This study is set within the South African Police Service (SAPS). The purpose of the study is to construct an integrated service excellence model, in order to improve service quality in the South African Police Service as a whole and to continuously improve service excellence in the assistance provided in the Northern Cape in particular. Furthermore, the study was intended to identify gaps in the quality of services provided by the SAPS to the various communities in the Northern Cape. The development of a service excellence model for the assessment of the services provided by the SAPS is justified, because it is an essential means to improving the services rendered, which will be beneficial to both the SAPS and the community. Service failures negatively impact relationships and marketing efforts and thus complicate service providers’ relationship-building efforts. Therefore, service providers endeavour to restore customers’ post-recovery satisfaction through service recovery efforts to retain their customers. However, the influence that customers’ relationship intentions have on this process has not been considered. Previous research on relationship intention in South Africa focussed only on developing a valid and reliable relationship intention measurement scale. This study employed both the quantitative and qualitative research approaches to validate the research questions and authenticate the problem statement. The triangulation approach allowed the researcher to effectively engage the strengths of both research methodologies. The research findings from the empirical survey were statistically analysed using statistical procedures. The data analysis, derived from the qualitative research approach, involved thematic content analysis. The sample populations for the study comprised ward councillors, selected senior officials and community members. For the quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to respondents. One-on–one interviews were conducted with senior managers as the qualitative component of the study. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
- Authors: Modise, Motsamai John
- Date: 2020-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/55020 , vital:48823
- Description: This study is set within the South African Police Service (SAPS). The purpose of the study is to construct an integrated service excellence model, in order to improve service quality in the South African Police Service as a whole and to continuously improve service excellence in the assistance provided in the Northern Cape in particular. Furthermore, the study was intended to identify gaps in the quality of services provided by the SAPS to the various communities in the Northern Cape. The development of a service excellence model for the assessment of the services provided by the SAPS is justified, because it is an essential means to improving the services rendered, which will be beneficial to both the SAPS and the community. Service failures negatively impact relationships and marketing efforts and thus complicate service providers’ relationship-building efforts. Therefore, service providers endeavour to restore customers’ post-recovery satisfaction through service recovery efforts to retain their customers. However, the influence that customers’ relationship intentions have on this process has not been considered. Previous research on relationship intention in South Africa focussed only on developing a valid and reliable relationship intention measurement scale. This study employed both the quantitative and qualitative research approaches to validate the research questions and authenticate the problem statement. The triangulation approach allowed the researcher to effectively engage the strengths of both research methodologies. The research findings from the empirical survey were statistically analysed using statistical procedures. The data analysis, derived from the qualitative research approach, involved thematic content analysis. The sample populations for the study comprised ward councillors, selected senior officials and community members. For the quantitative approach, questionnaires were distributed to respondents. One-on–one interviews were conducted with senior managers as the qualitative component of the study. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2020
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020-04
Constructing an online serviceScape for the funeral industry
- Authors: Coetzee, Cornelis Albertus
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Funeral supplies industry , Funeral service , Service industries -- Marketing
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/57611 , vital:58186
- Description: An online servicescape serves as a moderator for excellence in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The study approached the online servicescape from the perspective of the funeral industry. Nowhere is the relevance of an online servicescape more apparent than in an industry which is firstly, unsought, and secondly, perceived as dismal. During the process of arranging a funeral, the customer is experiencing an unusual purchase situation as it is a purchase that cannot be avoided. The possibility also exists that the customer most likely did not seek information about a funeral home prior to the demise of a loved one. A third contributing factor is the emotional state of the customer which will, in a time of bereavement, have a strong impact on the rational decision-making process. Considering these conditions, the study approached the online servicescape based on three elements, namely Search Engine Optimisation, perceived value, and perceived usefulness of the online servicescape. These elements contribute to trust in the funeral home’s online offerings, which could influence the purchase outcomes significantly. The aim of the study was to construct a functional servicescape for an unsought business such as a funeral home, hence contributing significantly to the CRM body of knowledge as it was determined that this has not been explored before from an academic perspective. A quantitative, exploratory methodology was implemented. The exploration is depended on Bitner's (1992a:60) seminal model of servicescapes, Harris and Goode's (2010:230-243) model for online servicescapes, and the key constructs of Simon's (1996:141-142) Design Theory to provide a methodological basis with which to construct the key elements for a funeral industry based online servicescape. The data collection process followed a twostep process. A content analysis was conducted on existing websites from five English speaking countries, followed by a survey that largely reflected the content analysis variables to gain customer insights. The data was analysed using a descriptive analysis process. v It was determined that customers would trust a functional servicescape, which will most probably lead to a purchase situation. However, customers also indicated the opposite if they detect anything on the website that might lead to distrust. It was therefore concluded that it is imperative for a funeral home to ensure that their online servicescape meets the functional needs of customers in order ensure trust and purchase intention. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04
- Authors: Coetzee, Cornelis Albertus
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Funeral supplies industry , Funeral service , Service industries -- Marketing
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/57611 , vital:58186
- Description: An online servicescape serves as a moderator for excellence in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The study approached the online servicescape from the perspective of the funeral industry. Nowhere is the relevance of an online servicescape more apparent than in an industry which is firstly, unsought, and secondly, perceived as dismal. During the process of arranging a funeral, the customer is experiencing an unusual purchase situation as it is a purchase that cannot be avoided. The possibility also exists that the customer most likely did not seek information about a funeral home prior to the demise of a loved one. A third contributing factor is the emotional state of the customer which will, in a time of bereavement, have a strong impact on the rational decision-making process. Considering these conditions, the study approached the online servicescape based on three elements, namely Search Engine Optimisation, perceived value, and perceived usefulness of the online servicescape. These elements contribute to trust in the funeral home’s online offerings, which could influence the purchase outcomes significantly. The aim of the study was to construct a functional servicescape for an unsought business such as a funeral home, hence contributing significantly to the CRM body of knowledge as it was determined that this has not been explored before from an academic perspective. A quantitative, exploratory methodology was implemented. The exploration is depended on Bitner's (1992a:60) seminal model of servicescapes, Harris and Goode's (2010:230-243) model for online servicescapes, and the key constructs of Simon's (1996:141-142) Design Theory to provide a methodological basis with which to construct the key elements for a funeral industry based online servicescape. The data collection process followed a twostep process. A content analysis was conducted on existing websites from five English speaking countries, followed by a survey that largely reflected the content analysis variables to gain customer insights. The data was analysed using a descriptive analysis process. v It was determined that customers would trust a functional servicescape, which will most probably lead to a purchase situation. However, customers also indicated the opposite if they detect anything on the website that might lead to distrust. It was therefore concluded that it is imperative for a funeral home to ensure that their online servicescape meets the functional needs of customers in order ensure trust and purchase intention. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-04
Consumerism, authenticity and African communalism
- Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Authors: Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Consumption (Economics) , Authenticity (Philosophy) , Philosophy, African
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23958 , vital:62022
- Description: Let me state, from the outset, that the issues raised below may be considered from various vantage points – Capitalism, Marxism, etc. However, this thesis is an endeavour to account for the loss of authenticity due to the most salient features of the consumer paradigm, which is the manufactured object, the production line and the proliferation of said objects. True relationships, or shall we say authentic dialogue, is based upon a difference of viewpoints – or epistemic distance – between the interlocutors. This difference of opinion, it may be argued, allows for a cognitive jostling between the subjects involved and represents, as it were, the reciprocal back and forth movement of ideas that betokens actively engaged dialogue. Crucial, then, to true, and by extension authentic, relationships is an epistemic distance steeped in variegated, heterogeneous points of view. For it is in sharing the differences in our points of view or interpretations of the world that we may start a dialogue far removed from each other and then sustain said dialogue in an attempt to reconcile our differences. The continuation of the dialogue, then, depends upon difference. Without the latter difference, the conditions of true dialogue, which is also a marker of authentic relationships, the need for sustained debate is forfeited and the dialogue ceases to serve a purpose – for the subjects involved in the intellectual jostling and exchange of ideas may already anticipate the thoughts of the other. In so anticipating the thoughts of the other, what is brought to the fore is not the ideas of the other, and by extension the other’s existence distinct from mine, but rather my own existence and thoughts. Were I and the other to share a constellation of beliefs, I am left with only that which I already believe in and so only with my own thoughts. The other’s differing opinion is crucial to their appearing to me as an element discreet and distinct from me. For if the other’s being is in essence of the same ilk as mine – and with that I mean if the other’s points of view and adopted systems of praxis mirror mine – we are like trees in a forest. The existence of collective nouns attests to this latter remark; we are prone to see the forest, not the similar trees that constitute it. Now the question arises as to the constitution of the self; what is it that makes up the character and nature of a person and how, if at all, may subjects be said to differ epistemically? According to Sartre, the ego is a transcendent object for consciousness, meaning that it exists out there in the world just like other objects. This is the case because consciousness is essentially empty. Recall Sartre’s famous claim that existence precedes essence, which in turn means that consciousness, or the ego, is filled up inchmeal with contents outside itself. In other words, that with which we are engaged constitutes the contents of consciousness. Repeated exposure to certain objects, or phenomena, brings about the cultivation of states and qualities – these, as it were, constituting the ego in the end. Moreover, these states and qualities, as arisen from repeated exposure to like phenomena, will instil in the subject a certain proclivity for a certain manner of action under specific conditions. As such, having been presented with something disagreeable many times over, a state of repulsion might gain a foothold in my ego regarding the phenomenon in question. This in turn will dictate how I act in the presence of said phenomenon or any other phenomena that include, adumbrationally, some of the qualities of the original phenomenon. As such, then, my actions are reflections of the states that I experience in the presence of certain objects or phenomena and, it may be argued, reflexively represent the world around me as that which constitutes my ego. The facticity of the world, then, has a great bearing upon the manner in which I perceive and engage the world. However, claims Sartre, facticity is but one side of the coin. The world and its meaning are constituted by what Sartre calls brute meaning. This refers to the fact that meaning is a matter of public opinion and does not precede the phenomenon or object itself – the latter being, in essence, but a bare, pliable, monstrous mass of being-in-itself. Due to this occurrence of meaning being man made, we are in a unique position of freedom. We are, he further claims, capable of transcending these brute meanings, enabling us to avail ourselves of the objects or phenomena in question in a bespoke manner. Freedom to choose how we interact with and interpret the world is thus the ontological ground of choice. We have, on the one side, the world in its undifferentiated state – being-in-itself – and on the other the possibility to give this world a specific meaning in accordance with our intentions – being-for-itself. Freedom to choose, so construed, thus ontologically underlies the very fabric of our existence, hence the claim that we are condemned to be free. Choosing whether to continue along the path set out by our original factual condition or to transcend it and make of it something different altogether is thus not a choice at all, but the obligatory condition of the human condition. Once again, this is the case because consciousness, as per Sartre, is empty to start with and can only be filled with the contents of phenomena or objects in accordance with our intentional engagement of them. However, Sartre continues, this freedom of meaning and the fact that brute existents represent nothing more than the convergence of publicly ascribed meaning awaken in the subject a certain nausea – a nausea born of the fact that we, the people, are at every junction in a position where we have to choose the meaning of life. Determinism, thusly, does not exist and we are not only free to choose the meanings of our own lives, but are responsible for what our lives become. This realisation proves to be too much for most to stomach and leads them along a specific path of choice: over-identification with either their factual realities or with the possibility to transcend the latter. Either way, what they aim to achieve with this overidentification is the suppression of the nauseating reality that reality is nought but what we make it to be and we are thus responsible for what it becomes. Sartre calls this bad faith. Pandering to this proclivity towards bad faith, or alternatively, the propensity for overidentification with either side on the facticity/transcendence dichotomy, we find consumerism. The consumer paradigm delineates happiness as an objective ideal, attainable through the acquisition of specific markers of demonstrable happiness. At the same time, it also provides an answer to the nauseating reality that we, humans, are never fully determined beings, but find ourselves vacillating between our factual constraints and our transcendences thereof. It offers us the crystalised means of becoming this or that individual by way of populating our immediate and personal surroundings with signifiers of happiness. Considering, moreover, that a liberalist conception of human being clearly indicates that individuation of each subject is an important aspect of existence, authenticity in terms of rights emerge as a corollary of said individuation. Each individual, so construed, is given the opportunity, the right, to acquire said markers of happiness and individuation. Obtaining these, it may be argued, allows the individual two things: firstly, to quell the nausea that haunts our dualistic lives by concretising it altogether and so doing highlighting the factual side of things; and secondly, to become discreet and individuated subjects, authentic in their beings. However, the authenticity so begotten provides nought but a thin veneer of idiosyncrasy, as the markers of said authenticity are publicly available and so the same for everyone. The problem, thus, of self-individuation is resolved by providing the subject the means of over-identification with their factual realities whilst convincing them, the consumers, that the objects on offer will afford them a degree of happiness and set them apart from their fellow subjects. The unfortunate upshot of this is that subjects all avail themselves of the same set of objects in an attempt to quell the nausea that besets the individual plunged into an undifferentiated existence. We are here at the heart of the matter. Due to the proliferation of like objects throughout the life-world, a specific system of praxis is implied. So as to navigate the life-world and utilise the similar objects that populate it, consumers are driven towards shared ideologies and courses of action. Moreover, their intentions also converge, as they all seek to establish a web of objects around them that would bespeak their individuation and happiness. Where the life-world has become such a homogeneous landscape, it may be argued, in line with Sartrean thought, that the contents of consciousness would also be similar for all. And where the contents of consciousness is similar for all, we may argue that reasoning would be similar for all. It is at this point that dialogue breaks down, for there is nothing epistemically to separate interlocutors and therefore no differences of opinion to sustain true dialogue. If, as it was reasoned some pages prior, it is the case that sustained dialogue provides the predicate upon which authentic relationships are to be based, the collapse of this epistemic distance between consumers must then also lead to a collapse of authentic relationships. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
- Authors: Smook, E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4226-6029
- Date: 2022-09
- Subjects: Consumption (Economics) , Authenticity (Philosophy) , Philosophy, African
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/23958 , vital:62022
- Description: Let me state, from the outset, that the issues raised below may be considered from various vantage points – Capitalism, Marxism, etc. However, this thesis is an endeavour to account for the loss of authenticity due to the most salient features of the consumer paradigm, which is the manufactured object, the production line and the proliferation of said objects. True relationships, or shall we say authentic dialogue, is based upon a difference of viewpoints – or epistemic distance – between the interlocutors. This difference of opinion, it may be argued, allows for a cognitive jostling between the subjects involved and represents, as it were, the reciprocal back and forth movement of ideas that betokens actively engaged dialogue. Crucial, then, to true, and by extension authentic, relationships is an epistemic distance steeped in variegated, heterogeneous points of view. For it is in sharing the differences in our points of view or interpretations of the world that we may start a dialogue far removed from each other and then sustain said dialogue in an attempt to reconcile our differences. The continuation of the dialogue, then, depends upon difference. Without the latter difference, the conditions of true dialogue, which is also a marker of authentic relationships, the need for sustained debate is forfeited and the dialogue ceases to serve a purpose – for the subjects involved in the intellectual jostling and exchange of ideas may already anticipate the thoughts of the other. In so anticipating the thoughts of the other, what is brought to the fore is not the ideas of the other, and by extension the other’s existence distinct from mine, but rather my own existence and thoughts. Were I and the other to share a constellation of beliefs, I am left with only that which I already believe in and so only with my own thoughts. The other’s differing opinion is crucial to their appearing to me as an element discreet and distinct from me. For if the other’s being is in essence of the same ilk as mine – and with that I mean if the other’s points of view and adopted systems of praxis mirror mine – we are like trees in a forest. The existence of collective nouns attests to this latter remark; we are prone to see the forest, not the similar trees that constitute it. Now the question arises as to the constitution of the self; what is it that makes up the character and nature of a person and how, if at all, may subjects be said to differ epistemically? According to Sartre, the ego is a transcendent object for consciousness, meaning that it exists out there in the world just like other objects. This is the case because consciousness is essentially empty. Recall Sartre’s famous claim that existence precedes essence, which in turn means that consciousness, or the ego, is filled up inchmeal with contents outside itself. In other words, that with which we are engaged constitutes the contents of consciousness. Repeated exposure to certain objects, or phenomena, brings about the cultivation of states and qualities – these, as it were, constituting the ego in the end. Moreover, these states and qualities, as arisen from repeated exposure to like phenomena, will instil in the subject a certain proclivity for a certain manner of action under specific conditions. As such, having been presented with something disagreeable many times over, a state of repulsion might gain a foothold in my ego regarding the phenomenon in question. This in turn will dictate how I act in the presence of said phenomenon or any other phenomena that include, adumbrationally, some of the qualities of the original phenomenon. As such, then, my actions are reflections of the states that I experience in the presence of certain objects or phenomena and, it may be argued, reflexively represent the world around me as that which constitutes my ego. The facticity of the world, then, has a great bearing upon the manner in which I perceive and engage the world. However, claims Sartre, facticity is but one side of the coin. The world and its meaning are constituted by what Sartre calls brute meaning. This refers to the fact that meaning is a matter of public opinion and does not precede the phenomenon or object itself – the latter being, in essence, but a bare, pliable, monstrous mass of being-in-itself. Due to this occurrence of meaning being man made, we are in a unique position of freedom. We are, he further claims, capable of transcending these brute meanings, enabling us to avail ourselves of the objects or phenomena in question in a bespoke manner. Freedom to choose how we interact with and interpret the world is thus the ontological ground of choice. We have, on the one side, the world in its undifferentiated state – being-in-itself – and on the other the possibility to give this world a specific meaning in accordance with our intentions – being-for-itself. Freedom to choose, so construed, thus ontologically underlies the very fabric of our existence, hence the claim that we are condemned to be free. Choosing whether to continue along the path set out by our original factual condition or to transcend it and make of it something different altogether is thus not a choice at all, but the obligatory condition of the human condition. Once again, this is the case because consciousness, as per Sartre, is empty to start with and can only be filled with the contents of phenomena or objects in accordance with our intentional engagement of them. However, Sartre continues, this freedom of meaning and the fact that brute existents represent nothing more than the convergence of publicly ascribed meaning awaken in the subject a certain nausea – a nausea born of the fact that we, the people, are at every junction in a position where we have to choose the meaning of life. Determinism, thusly, does not exist and we are not only free to choose the meanings of our own lives, but are responsible for what our lives become. This realisation proves to be too much for most to stomach and leads them along a specific path of choice: over-identification with either their factual realities or with the possibility to transcend the latter. Either way, what they aim to achieve with this overidentification is the suppression of the nauseating reality that reality is nought but what we make it to be and we are thus responsible for what it becomes. Sartre calls this bad faith. Pandering to this proclivity towards bad faith, or alternatively, the propensity for overidentification with either side on the facticity/transcendence dichotomy, we find consumerism. The consumer paradigm delineates happiness as an objective ideal, attainable through the acquisition of specific markers of demonstrable happiness. At the same time, it also provides an answer to the nauseating reality that we, humans, are never fully determined beings, but find ourselves vacillating between our factual constraints and our transcendences thereof. It offers us the crystalised means of becoming this or that individual by way of populating our immediate and personal surroundings with signifiers of happiness. Considering, moreover, that a liberalist conception of human being clearly indicates that individuation of each subject is an important aspect of existence, authenticity in terms of rights emerge as a corollary of said individuation. Each individual, so construed, is given the opportunity, the right, to acquire said markers of happiness and individuation. Obtaining these, it may be argued, allows the individual two things: firstly, to quell the nausea that haunts our dualistic lives by concretising it altogether and so doing highlighting the factual side of things; and secondly, to become discreet and individuated subjects, authentic in their beings. However, the authenticity so begotten provides nought but a thin veneer of idiosyncrasy, as the markers of said authenticity are publicly available and so the same for everyone. The problem, thus, of self-individuation is resolved by providing the subject the means of over-identification with their factual realities whilst convincing them, the consumers, that the objects on offer will afford them a degree of happiness and set them apart from their fellow subjects. The unfortunate upshot of this is that subjects all avail themselves of the same set of objects in an attempt to quell the nausea that besets the individual plunged into an undifferentiated existence. We are here at the heart of the matter. Due to the proliferation of like objects throughout the life-world, a specific system of praxis is implied. So as to navigate the life-world and utilise the similar objects that populate it, consumers are driven towards shared ideologies and courses of action. Moreover, their intentions also converge, as they all seek to establish a web of objects around them that would bespeak their individuation and happiness. Where the life-world has become such a homogeneous landscape, it may be argued, in line with Sartrean thought, that the contents of consciousness would also be similar for all. And where the contents of consciousness is similar for all, we may argue that reasoning would be similar for all. It is at this point that dialogue breaks down, for there is nothing epistemically to separate interlocutors and therefore no differences of opinion to sustain true dialogue. If, as it was reasoned some pages prior, it is the case that sustained dialogue provides the predicate upon which authentic relationships are to be based, the collapse of this epistemic distance between consumers must then also lead to a collapse of authentic relationships. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-09
Contextually based model of an early childhood home-visiting programme for vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Schmidt, Kim
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Poverty -- South Africa , Orphans -- Abuse of , Children -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27380 , vital:66965
- Description: In South Africa, there are many vulnerable children. Vulnerability refers to the child’s potential to be harmed either physically or psychologically with multiple exposures to stress resulting in children becoming vulnerable (Matengu, 2018). Factors that place young children at risk of being harmed include poverty, being orphaned, not living with their biological parents or having a disability. In South Africa, more than 50% of children are impacted by these very factors (DSD, 2018). Vulnerable children can be supported through various interventions to overcome the challenges they face, in spite of the stress that they may experience. This results in a great need for prevention and early intervention services particularly during early childhood when children are most vulnerable because of their complete dependency on caregivers for care and protection. This study adopted an interpretivist, qualitative approach using an intervention research design to develop guidelines for a model of an early childhood home-visiting programme that supports the optimal development of vulnerable children, aged 0–2 years in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Findings confirmed that vulnerable children need responsible caregiving and a nurturing environment yet they are exposed to risk factors such as extreme levels of poverty, ongoing and severe child maltreatment and poor physical health. In addition findings confirmed that there was support available to vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape province but that there were gaps in these services. Furthermore findings indicated that there is a need for an early childhood home-visiting programme, that such a programme should be implemented by a multidisciplinary workforce and that the guidelines for such a programme must include a range of practice principles and processes. In conclusion the study found that vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape province continue to be exposed to a complex range of risk factors with devastating consequences for their immediate and future well-being and that the gaps in services to vulnerable children further hinders their development. Lastly it was concluded that there is a need for a multidisciplinary team to implement a home-visiting programme and that such a programme would hold many potential benefits for the young and vulnerable child. Guidelines for a model of an early childhood home visiting programme were developed and refined to include five practice principles which outline processes in relation to the engagement and advocacy with stakeholders and role players, the recruitment and selection of a home-visiting workforce, the content of a training programme for a home visiting workforce, the implementation of the home-visiting programme and the monitoring and evaluation of the programme. This model draws together the disciplines of health, social work and early childhood education to provide transdisciplinary training to a home-visiting workforce that is then equipped to engage with communities and caregivers in support of ensuring that vulnerable children are able to achieve optimal development. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
- Authors: Schmidt, Kim
- Date: 2022-10
- Subjects: Poverty -- South Africa , Orphans -- Abuse of , Children -- Social conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27380 , vital:66965
- Description: In South Africa, there are many vulnerable children. Vulnerability refers to the child’s potential to be harmed either physically or psychologically with multiple exposures to stress resulting in children becoming vulnerable (Matengu, 2018). Factors that place young children at risk of being harmed include poverty, being orphaned, not living with their biological parents or having a disability. In South Africa, more than 50% of children are impacted by these very factors (DSD, 2018). Vulnerable children can be supported through various interventions to overcome the challenges they face, in spite of the stress that they may experience. This results in a great need for prevention and early intervention services particularly during early childhood when children are most vulnerable because of their complete dependency on caregivers for care and protection. This study adopted an interpretivist, qualitative approach using an intervention research design to develop guidelines for a model of an early childhood home-visiting programme that supports the optimal development of vulnerable children, aged 0–2 years in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Findings confirmed that vulnerable children need responsible caregiving and a nurturing environment yet they are exposed to risk factors such as extreme levels of poverty, ongoing and severe child maltreatment and poor physical health. In addition findings confirmed that there was support available to vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape province but that there were gaps in these services. Furthermore findings indicated that there is a need for an early childhood home-visiting programme, that such a programme should be implemented by a multidisciplinary workforce and that the guidelines for such a programme must include a range of practice principles and processes. In conclusion the study found that vulnerable children in the Eastern Cape province continue to be exposed to a complex range of risk factors with devastating consequences for their immediate and future well-being and that the gaps in services to vulnerable children further hinders their development. Lastly it was concluded that there is a need for a multidisciplinary team to implement a home-visiting programme and that such a programme would hold many potential benefits for the young and vulnerable child. Guidelines for a model of an early childhood home visiting programme were developed and refined to include five practice principles which outline processes in relation to the engagement and advocacy with stakeholders and role players, the recruitment and selection of a home-visiting workforce, the content of a training programme for a home visiting workforce, the implementation of the home-visiting programme and the monitoring and evaluation of the programme. This model draws together the disciplines of health, social work and early childhood education to provide transdisciplinary training to a home-visiting workforce that is then equipped to engage with communities and caregivers in support of ensuring that vulnerable children are able to achieve optimal development. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022-10
Continuing teacher professional development in the Environment Sector: A case study of Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme
- Authors: Nkhahle, Lebona Jerome
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Environmental education South Africa , Pedagogical content knowledge , Teachers In-service training South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment South Africa , Fundisa for Change , Practice Architectures
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192724 , vital:45254 , 10.21504/10962/192724
- Description: The importance of teachers being engaged in professional development initiatives is widely acknowledged in the literature and in most cases these initiatives are largely focused on addressing teachers’ lack of subject content knowledge. The problem of teachers having inadequate environmental knowledge is common in South Africa due to the fact that much of the environmental content knowledge in the curriculum is new, and environmental education itself is a new field. This is an area of interest in South Africa as a third iteration of the post-apartheid curriculum, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) has recently been introduced into schools and many subjects have environmental learning content. Inadequate subject content knowledge influences teachers’ abilities to choose appropriate teaching and assessment methods and this might negatively affect the process of teaching and learning. Knowledgeable teachers are needed to help learners understand the current issues affecting citizens, and in particular, environmental issues, which form the focus of this study. The main research questions addressed are: 1. What are the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme in relation to environment and sustainability content knowledge? 2. How does the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme influence teachers’ practice? 3. What practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme are characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives? 4. How are (if at all) the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, teaching and assessment of Biodiversity content in CAPS living practices? This work was conducted as a qualitative case study and it was carried out in the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga in South Africa. It included four teachers from the Eastern Cape and five from Mpumalanga. Seven teacher trainers also participated, two of which were based in Gauteng and the rest in the Eastern Cape. Data were generated through interviews and document analysis, and included analysis of teacher portfolios showing evidence of classroom practice. The study explored teachers’ experiences of an environmental education training programme called ‘Fundisa for Change’, which has been set up as a national partnership initiative to strengthen teachers’ environmental knowledge and teaching skills in order to address the above-mentioned problem. It focused on training teachers in the Life Sciences, particularly on new content knowledge on Biodiversity, and on teaching and assessment skills. It also looked into how the training influenced teaching practice. The study worked with practice theory, in particular Kemmis and Grootenboer’s (2008) theory of practice architectures, to look at the sayings, doings and relatings pertaining to the teaching of Biodiversity, and the enabling and constraining of this practice. The features and the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change professional development programme have been presented and explained. The study also used the ecologies of practices theory to describe the living nature of practices. The following are the key findings: • The Fundisa for Change programme improved the participating teachers’ Biodiversity content knowledge, teaching and assessment skills. • Practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives are: duration; active involvement of teachers; providing teachers with subject content knowledge; promoting establishment of professional learning communities; coherence; follow-up; and assessment of teachers. • The conditions that affect the participating teachers’ teaching practice are: the use of language (both scientific and instructional); infrastructure (availability of computer laboratories, science laboratories, extra classrooms and libraries); teaching and learning support materials including laboratory apparatus; class size; and policies. • The Fundisa for Change programme encourages teachers to improvise and use the local environment in their teaching to try to tackle the problem of lack of funds and equipment. • Teaching Biodiversity practice is ‘living’ as it is characterised by the principles of living ecologies. Recommendations based on the findings are: • There is a need for more teacher training by Fundisa for Change and other organisations whose training activities are SACE approved to cater for more teachers. • A more structured plan of action from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is needed to assist and involve more organisations and stakeholders. • Provision of infrastructure and teaching and learning resource materials to schools by the DBE needs to be accelerated as it is legally binding. • Follow-up should be formally incorporated into Fundisa for Change programme activities. • Formation of professional learning communities is very important to help new teachers as there is no formal induction programme in South Africa. • An induction policy by the DBE needs to be formulated to help establish an induction programme for newly qualified teachers. Recommendations for further research are: • Use of lesson observation for data collection to improve results. • A larger sample could be used to expand the insights gained in this study. • Fundisa for Change practices can be studied at the level of teacher professional development practices. • Other modes of teacher professional development initiatives such as Lesson Study can be tested out to overcome the challenge of teachers not wanting to be observed. • More research can be carried out on the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, student learning and assessment, as practices associated with teaching Biodiversity. The study was important in that it gave an understanding of what makes continuing teacher professional development initiatives effective. The study also looked at teaching Biodiversity through the use of contemporary forms of a practice theory which are the theory of practice architectures and the theory of the ecologies of practices. This provided understandings into how professional development programmes are experienced in practice, and showed that though the teachers were trained and positive benefits accrued, there are factors which enable or constrain their actual teaching Biodiversity practice. The study also showed that practices are interrelated in ecologies of practices. These factors need to be considered in professional development programming. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
- Authors: Nkhahle, Lebona Jerome
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Environmental education South Africa , Pedagogical content knowledge , Teachers In-service training South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment South Africa , Fundisa for Change , Practice Architectures
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192724 , vital:45254 , 10.21504/10962/192724
- Description: The importance of teachers being engaged in professional development initiatives is widely acknowledged in the literature and in most cases these initiatives are largely focused on addressing teachers’ lack of subject content knowledge. The problem of teachers having inadequate environmental knowledge is common in South Africa due to the fact that much of the environmental content knowledge in the curriculum is new, and environmental education itself is a new field. This is an area of interest in South Africa as a third iteration of the post-apartheid curriculum, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) has recently been introduced into schools and many subjects have environmental learning content. Inadequate subject content knowledge influences teachers’ abilities to choose appropriate teaching and assessment methods and this might negatively affect the process of teaching and learning. Knowledgeable teachers are needed to help learners understand the current issues affecting citizens, and in particular, environmental issues, which form the focus of this study. The main research questions addressed are: 1. What are the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme in relation to environment and sustainability content knowledge? 2. How does the Fundisa for Change continuing teacher professional development programme influence teachers’ practice? 3. What practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme are characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives? 4. How are (if at all) the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, teaching and assessment of Biodiversity content in CAPS living practices? This work was conducted as a qualitative case study and it was carried out in the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga in South Africa. It included four teachers from the Eastern Cape and five from Mpumalanga. Seven teacher trainers also participated, two of which were based in Gauteng and the rest in the Eastern Cape. Data were generated through interviews and document analysis, and included analysis of teacher portfolios showing evidence of classroom practice. The study explored teachers’ experiences of an environmental education training programme called ‘Fundisa for Change’, which has been set up as a national partnership initiative to strengthen teachers’ environmental knowledge and teaching skills in order to address the above-mentioned problem. It focused on training teachers in the Life Sciences, particularly on new content knowledge on Biodiversity, and on teaching and assessment skills. It also looked into how the training influenced teaching practice. The study worked with practice theory, in particular Kemmis and Grootenboer’s (2008) theory of practice architectures, to look at the sayings, doings and relatings pertaining to the teaching of Biodiversity, and the enabling and constraining of this practice. The features and the teachers’ experiences of the Fundisa for Change professional development programme have been presented and explained. The study also used the ecologies of practices theory to describe the living nature of practices. The following are the key findings: • The Fundisa for Change programme improved the participating teachers’ Biodiversity content knowledge, teaching and assessment skills. • Practices of the Fundisa for Change teacher professional development programme characteristic of effective continuing teacher professional development initiatives are: duration; active involvement of teachers; providing teachers with subject content knowledge; promoting establishment of professional learning communities; coherence; follow-up; and assessment of teachers. • The conditions that affect the participating teachers’ teaching practice are: the use of language (both scientific and instructional); infrastructure (availability of computer laboratories, science laboratories, extra classrooms and libraries); teaching and learning support materials including laboratory apparatus; class size; and policies. • The Fundisa for Change programme encourages teachers to improvise and use the local environment in their teaching to try to tackle the problem of lack of funds and equipment. • Teaching Biodiversity practice is ‘living’ as it is characterised by the principles of living ecologies. Recommendations based on the findings are: • There is a need for more teacher training by Fundisa for Change and other organisations whose training activities are SACE approved to cater for more teachers. • A more structured plan of action from the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is needed to assist and involve more organisations and stakeholders. • Provision of infrastructure and teaching and learning resource materials to schools by the DBE needs to be accelerated as it is legally binding. • Follow-up should be formally incorporated into Fundisa for Change programme activities. • Formation of professional learning communities is very important to help new teachers as there is no formal induction programme in South Africa. • An induction policy by the DBE needs to be formulated to help establish an induction programme for newly qualified teachers. Recommendations for further research are: • Use of lesson observation for data collection to improve results. • A larger sample could be used to expand the insights gained in this study. • Fundisa for Change practices can be studied at the level of teacher professional development practices. • Other modes of teacher professional development initiatives such as Lesson Study can be tested out to overcome the challenge of teachers not wanting to be observed. • More research can be carried out on the practices of teacher training, teacher learning, student learning and assessment, as practices associated with teaching Biodiversity. The study was important in that it gave an understanding of what makes continuing teacher professional development initiatives effective. The study also looked at teaching Biodiversity through the use of contemporary forms of a practice theory which are the theory of practice architectures and the theory of the ecologies of practices. This provided understandings into how professional development programmes are experienced in practice, and showed that though the teachers were trained and positive benefits accrued, there are factors which enable or constrain their actual teaching Biodiversity practice. The study also showed that practices are interrelated in ecologies of practices. These factors need to be considered in professional development programming. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Contract compliance in procuring and disposing entities (PDES) in state departments in Uganda: subtitle if needed. If no subtitle follow instructions in manual
- Authors: Babirye, Hamidah
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Communication , Records -- Management , Public contracts -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/50933 , vital:43173
- Description: Contract compliance has continuously played a vital role in the development of nations globally. It is important, because it enhances the efficiency and success of projects; ensures value for money; mitigates risks and saves a considerable amount of time and resources. Despite its importance, projects continue to fail due to poor communication, untimely deliveries, poor quality deliveries and the lack of a suitable compliance environment. This study helped to address the aforementioned challenges by creating an enabling environment for contract compliance in procuring and disposing entities (PDEs) in state departments in Uganda. The purpose of this study was to determine the enabling factors necessary for contract compliance and how it can be effectively used to assist PDEs in the Ugandan context. This purpose was achieved through a qualitative research approach that provided insights into the need for contract compliance among PDEs and the perceptions thereof; the contract compliance processes; challenges associated with contract compliance and the factors to be considered when creating an enabling environment for contract compliance. Data was gathered from telephonic interviews with twenty one participants and focus group discussions via the Zoom online platform with eight participants, bringing the total number of participants to twenty nine. Participants included auditors, accounting officers, heads of finance departments, heads of procurement departments and procurement officers. Data was collected using an interview guide and analysed by means of content and thematic analyses. A conceptual framework for creating a suitable environment for contract compliance in PDEs was developed. Findings indicate that the critical factors for creating an enabling environment include: communication; reporting; records management; institutional structure; compliance checks; enforcement; a legal and regulatory framework; and evaluation. Other factors include: stakeholder involvement; contract management; funding; openness; ethical orientation; and capacity building. The proposed conceptual framework serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, especially those involved in public procurement. , Thesis (DPhil) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Business Management, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Babirye, Hamidah
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Communication , Records -- Management , Public contracts -- Uganda
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/50933 , vital:43173
- Description: Contract compliance has continuously played a vital role in the development of nations globally. It is important, because it enhances the efficiency and success of projects; ensures value for money; mitigates risks and saves a considerable amount of time and resources. Despite its importance, projects continue to fail due to poor communication, untimely deliveries, poor quality deliveries and the lack of a suitable compliance environment. This study helped to address the aforementioned challenges by creating an enabling environment for contract compliance in procuring and disposing entities (PDEs) in state departments in Uganda. The purpose of this study was to determine the enabling factors necessary for contract compliance and how it can be effectively used to assist PDEs in the Ugandan context. This purpose was achieved through a qualitative research approach that provided insights into the need for contract compliance among PDEs and the perceptions thereof; the contract compliance processes; challenges associated with contract compliance and the factors to be considered when creating an enabling environment for contract compliance. Data was gathered from telephonic interviews with twenty one participants and focus group discussions via the Zoom online platform with eight participants, bringing the total number of participants to twenty nine. Participants included auditors, accounting officers, heads of finance departments, heads of procurement departments and procurement officers. Data was collected using an interview guide and analysed by means of content and thematic analyses. A conceptual framework for creating a suitable environment for contract compliance in PDEs was developed. Findings indicate that the critical factors for creating an enabling environment include: communication; reporting; records management; institutional structure; compliance checks; enforcement; a legal and regulatory framework; and evaluation. Other factors include: stakeholder involvement; contract management; funding; openness; ethical orientation; and capacity building. The proposed conceptual framework serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners, especially those involved in public procurement. , Thesis (DPhil) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Business Management, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
Contributions to the study of nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds
- Authors: Barrett, Dennis Ian
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Riemannian manifolds , Curvature , Lie groups , Geometry, Riemannian , Tensor fields
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7554 , vital:21272 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/7554
- Description: In this thesis we consider nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds, and in particular, left- invariant nonholonomic Riemannian structures on Lie groups. These structures are closely related to mechanical systems with (positive definite) quadratic Lagrangians and nonholo- nomic constraints linear in velocities. In the first chapter, we review basic concepts of non- holonomic Riemannian geometry, including the left-invariant structures. We also examine the class of left-invariant structures with so-called Cartan-Schouten connections. The second chapter investigates the curvature of nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds and the Schouten and Wagner curvature tensors. The Schouten tensor is canonically associated to every non- holonomic Riemannian structure (in particular, we use it to define isometric invariants for structures on three-dimensional manifolds). By contrast, the Wagner tensor is not generally intrinsic, but can be used to characterise flat structures (i.e., those whose associated parallel transport is path-independent). The third chapter considers equivalence of nonholonomic Rie- mannian manifolds, particularly up to nonholonomic isometry. We also introduce the notion of a nonholonomic Riemannian submanifold, and investigate the conditions under which such a submanifold inherits its geometry from the enveloping space. The latter problem involves the concept of a geodesically invariant distribution, and we show it is also related to the curvature. In the last chapter we specialise to three-dimensional nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds. We consider the equivalence of such structures up to nonholonomic isometry and rescaling, and classify the left-invariant structures on the (three-dimensional) simply connected Lie groups. We also characterise the flat structures in three dimensions, and then classify the flat structures on the simply connected Lie groups. Lastly, we consider three typical examples of (left-invariant) nonholonomic Riemannian structures on three-dimensional Lie groups, two of which arise from problems in classical mechanics (viz., the Chaplygin problem and the Suslov problem). , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Mathematics (Pure and Applied), 2017
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Barrett, Dennis Ian
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Riemannian manifolds , Curvature , Lie groups , Geometry, Riemannian , Tensor fields
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7554 , vital:21272 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/7554
- Description: In this thesis we consider nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds, and in particular, left- invariant nonholonomic Riemannian structures on Lie groups. These structures are closely related to mechanical systems with (positive definite) quadratic Lagrangians and nonholo- nomic constraints linear in velocities. In the first chapter, we review basic concepts of non- holonomic Riemannian geometry, including the left-invariant structures. We also examine the class of left-invariant structures with so-called Cartan-Schouten connections. The second chapter investigates the curvature of nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds and the Schouten and Wagner curvature tensors. The Schouten tensor is canonically associated to every non- holonomic Riemannian structure (in particular, we use it to define isometric invariants for structures on three-dimensional manifolds). By contrast, the Wagner tensor is not generally intrinsic, but can be used to characterise flat structures (i.e., those whose associated parallel transport is path-independent). The third chapter considers equivalence of nonholonomic Rie- mannian manifolds, particularly up to nonholonomic isometry. We also introduce the notion of a nonholonomic Riemannian submanifold, and investigate the conditions under which such a submanifold inherits its geometry from the enveloping space. The latter problem involves the concept of a geodesically invariant distribution, and we show it is also related to the curvature. In the last chapter we specialise to three-dimensional nonholonomic Riemannian manifolds. We consider the equivalence of such structures up to nonholonomic isometry and rescaling, and classify the left-invariant structures on the (three-dimensional) simply connected Lie groups. We also characterise the flat structures in three dimensions, and then classify the flat structures on the simply connected Lie groups. Lastly, we consider three typical examples of (left-invariant) nonholonomic Riemannian structures on three-dimensional Lie groups, two of which arise from problems in classical mechanics (viz., the Chaplygin problem and the Suslov problem). , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Mathematics (Pure and Applied), 2017
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Coordination polymers for denitrogenation of fuel oils
- Authors: Dembaremba, Tendai O
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/53630 , vital:45682
- Description: In this thesis, we present adsorptive removal of nitrogen-containing compounds from fuel oil as an alternative to complement conventional hydrotreatment to obtain ultra-low sulfur and nitrogen levels. This is in cognizance of the challenges nitrogen-containing compounds pose to the hydrotreatment process, particularly their inhibition and/or poisoning of the catalysts used in the process, of which basic nitrogen-containing compounds are the major culprits. Selectivity is the biggest challenge for adsorptive removal of nitrogen-containing compounds. We explore reticular synthesis of metal organic frameworks and the use of coordinatively unsaturated metal sites in 1-dimensional coordination polymers to achieve good selectivity for nitrogen-containing compounds. In the first part of the thesis, reticular synthesis of metal organic frameworks to control the size of the cavity, and strategically use the linkers and metal centres was envisaged. In this work we explored variation of the metal centres in the secondary building units (SBUs of the MOFs as the first step to the testing and implementation of the design strategies. Carbazole, representing carbazoles which the major compounds that remain in hydrotreated fuel, was the target compound. Four MOFs of zinc (Zn-CDC-bpe), copper (Cu-CDC-bpe), nickel (Ni-CDC-bpe) and cobalt (Co-CDC-bpe) based on the formation of a dinuclear metal paddlewheel SBUs with the ligand 9H-Carbazole-3,6-dicarboxylic acid (H2CDC) and occupation of the axial positions of the paddlewheel by 1,2-Bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpe) to form porous networks were synthesized. A fifth MOF containing only CDC which forms a [Zn4O(O2C-R)5(O2HC-R)] SBU was also synthesized (Zn-CDC). The ligand H2CDC was inspired by the possibility of improving selectivity for carbazole via π–π interactions through the more preferred parallel-offset stacking as well as the possibility for further substitution of the carbazole N-H to add groups that improve selectivity. The sizes of the MOF cavities can then be controlled by choosing different lengths of ligands analogous to 1,2-Bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpe), e.g. 4,4’-bipyridine and pyrazine. All the MOFs showed good selectivity of carbazole. The Zn-CDC MOF also had good selectivity for the basic nitrogen-containing compounds tested: quinoline, isoquinoline, quinaldine and 1-naphthylamine. Its uptake of carbazole was also slightly higher. This was attributed to the presence of an unsaturated Zn site in the SBU. Adsorption in all the MOFs was primarily due to physisorption. It was concluded that the role of the metal centre does not play a significant role in the adsorption of carbazole besides providing a template for reticular synthesis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2021-12
- Authors: Dembaremba, Tendai O
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/53630 , vital:45682
- Description: In this thesis, we present adsorptive removal of nitrogen-containing compounds from fuel oil as an alternative to complement conventional hydrotreatment to obtain ultra-low sulfur and nitrogen levels. This is in cognizance of the challenges nitrogen-containing compounds pose to the hydrotreatment process, particularly their inhibition and/or poisoning of the catalysts used in the process, of which basic nitrogen-containing compounds are the major culprits. Selectivity is the biggest challenge for adsorptive removal of nitrogen-containing compounds. We explore reticular synthesis of metal organic frameworks and the use of coordinatively unsaturated metal sites in 1-dimensional coordination polymers to achieve good selectivity for nitrogen-containing compounds. In the first part of the thesis, reticular synthesis of metal organic frameworks to control the size of the cavity, and strategically use the linkers and metal centres was envisaged. In this work we explored variation of the metal centres in the secondary building units (SBUs of the MOFs as the first step to the testing and implementation of the design strategies. Carbazole, representing carbazoles which the major compounds that remain in hydrotreated fuel, was the target compound. Four MOFs of zinc (Zn-CDC-bpe), copper (Cu-CDC-bpe), nickel (Ni-CDC-bpe) and cobalt (Co-CDC-bpe) based on the formation of a dinuclear metal paddlewheel SBUs with the ligand 9H-Carbazole-3,6-dicarboxylic acid (H2CDC) and occupation of the axial positions of the paddlewheel by 1,2-Bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpe) to form porous networks were synthesized. A fifth MOF containing only CDC which forms a [Zn4O(O2C-R)5(O2HC-R)] SBU was also synthesized (Zn-CDC). The ligand H2CDC was inspired by the possibility of improving selectivity for carbazole via π–π interactions through the more preferred parallel-offset stacking as well as the possibility for further substitution of the carbazole N-H to add groups that improve selectivity. The sizes of the MOF cavities can then be controlled by choosing different lengths of ligands analogous to 1,2-Bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpe), e.g. 4,4’-bipyridine and pyrazine. All the MOFs showed good selectivity of carbazole. The Zn-CDC MOF also had good selectivity for the basic nitrogen-containing compounds tested: quinoline, isoquinoline, quinaldine and 1-naphthylamine. Its uptake of carbazole was also slightly higher. This was attributed to the presence of an unsaturated Zn site in the SBU. Adsorption in all the MOFs was primarily due to physisorption. It was concluded that the role of the metal centre does not play a significant role in the adsorption of carbazole besides providing a template for reticular synthesis. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2021-12
Corrosion and hydrogen resistant modified zirlo surfaces for nuclear fuel cladding
- Authors: Ngongo, Sinoyolo
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54077 , vital:46252
- Description: Zirconium (Zr) alloys are used as fuel cladding material in all modern water cooled commercial nuclear reactors. Zr alloys have many desirable properties for the nuclear reactor core environment, however, it also has a weakness in that overheated zirconium alloy fuel rods react with hot steam resulting in the release of hydrogen. High temperatures increase the oxidation rate and hence the hydrogen production rate which in turn increase the risk of a hydrogen gas explosion such as what is surmised to have happened in the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant incident. The some of the hydrogen produced will also diffuse into the zirconium alloy and form zirconium hydrides which will weaken the original zirconium alloy material. The development of accident tolerant fuel became a major focus area after the Fukushima event in March 2011 with the U.S. congress directing the U.S. Department of Energy to develop fuel with enhanced accident tolerance at high temperatures. The main objective in the case of zirconium alloy cladding has been the modification of cladding surface layers by coating or doping in order to reduce the oxidation rate and hydrogen generation rate by the reaction of steam with zirconium alloy cladding at high temperatures. This thesis focuses on two surface modifications to decrease the surface corrosion rate of ZIRLOTM (the Zr alloy used in this study) and reduce hydrogen uptake by ZIRLO. The first modification involves an oxidation-resistant nano-crystalline diamond (NCD) film deposited on ZIRLO. The NCD layer was deposited in a microwave plasma-enhanced linear antenna chemical vapor deposition (MW-LA-PECVD) system after immersion of the ZIRLO tubes in a water-based solution containing nanodiamonds. ZIRLO tube samples were coated with 200 nm and 500 nm thick NCD layers. The 200 nm thick NCD coated ZIRLO was kept as control sample whereas the 500 nm thick NCD coated ZIRLO was exposed to steam oxidation at 360 °C for 90 days. The results revealed that the NCD exfoliated in some areas leaving the ZIRLO exposed to the steam. In the areas where the diamond did not exfoliate, the diamond was still attached to the ZIRLO with an amorphous carbon layer present between the NCD and the zirconium oxide layer.The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results of this study indicate the presence a sp3 – hybridised diamond phase for the NCD layer as well as an intermediate amorphous carbon layer between the NCD and ZrO2 layers. Analyses of the area where the NCD layer had exfoliated showed no evidence of an NCD layer. It is possible that the amorphous carbon layer between the diamond and the zirconium oxide is responsible for weak interfacial bonding leading to partial exfoliation during oxidation in steam 360 °C for 90 days. In the second modification, the effectiveness of a Cr doped ZrO2 layer to reduce the migration rate of hydrogen in ZrO2 was investigated. The ZIRLO tube used for this part of the study did not have a thin oxide passivation surface layer. Two different procedures were used to create chromium doped zirconium oxide surface layers on ZIRLO. The ZIRLO surface was coated with chromium using cathodic arc deposition followed compression plasma flow (CPF) treatment to facilitate intermixing of the Cr and the ZIRLO. In procedure 1, the surface modification was achieved through the incorporation of chromium into the zirconium surface layer using a compression plasma flow (CPF) technique, followed by the oxidation of the chromium doped zirconium. The oxidation process was conducted at 500 °C for 6 hours. In procedure 2, the chromium was incorporated into the zirconium oxide layer again using the CPF technique. Hydrogen desorption was measured from pure ZIRLO and CPF modified samples using a special gas reaction controller system. The key finding of the results is that the chromium doped (incorporated) zirconium oxide layer on ZIRLO sample exhibited the lowest hydrogen desorption rate of all the samples analysed. This indicates that H in the Cr doped zirconium oxide layer had the lowest mobility of all the samples investigated. This is consistent with the theoretical predictions that the doping of ZrO2 by Cr reduces the solubility of hydrogen in ZrO2. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2021-12
- Authors: Ngongo, Sinoyolo
- Date: 2021-12
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54077 , vital:46252
- Description: Zirconium (Zr) alloys are used as fuel cladding material in all modern water cooled commercial nuclear reactors. Zr alloys have many desirable properties for the nuclear reactor core environment, however, it also has a weakness in that overheated zirconium alloy fuel rods react with hot steam resulting in the release of hydrogen. High temperatures increase the oxidation rate and hence the hydrogen production rate which in turn increase the risk of a hydrogen gas explosion such as what is surmised to have happened in the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant incident. The some of the hydrogen produced will also diffuse into the zirconium alloy and form zirconium hydrides which will weaken the original zirconium alloy material. The development of accident tolerant fuel became a major focus area after the Fukushima event in March 2011 with the U.S. congress directing the U.S. Department of Energy to develop fuel with enhanced accident tolerance at high temperatures. The main objective in the case of zirconium alloy cladding has been the modification of cladding surface layers by coating or doping in order to reduce the oxidation rate and hydrogen generation rate by the reaction of steam with zirconium alloy cladding at high temperatures. This thesis focuses on two surface modifications to decrease the surface corrosion rate of ZIRLOTM (the Zr alloy used in this study) and reduce hydrogen uptake by ZIRLO. The first modification involves an oxidation-resistant nano-crystalline diamond (NCD) film deposited on ZIRLO. The NCD layer was deposited in a microwave plasma-enhanced linear antenna chemical vapor deposition (MW-LA-PECVD) system after immersion of the ZIRLO tubes in a water-based solution containing nanodiamonds. ZIRLO tube samples were coated with 200 nm and 500 nm thick NCD layers. The 200 nm thick NCD coated ZIRLO was kept as control sample whereas the 500 nm thick NCD coated ZIRLO was exposed to steam oxidation at 360 °C for 90 days. The results revealed that the NCD exfoliated in some areas leaving the ZIRLO exposed to the steam. In the areas where the diamond did not exfoliate, the diamond was still attached to the ZIRLO with an amorphous carbon layer present between the NCD and the zirconium oxide layer.The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results of this study indicate the presence a sp3 – hybridised diamond phase for the NCD layer as well as an intermediate amorphous carbon layer between the NCD and ZrO2 layers. Analyses of the area where the NCD layer had exfoliated showed no evidence of an NCD layer. It is possible that the amorphous carbon layer between the diamond and the zirconium oxide is responsible for weak interfacial bonding leading to partial exfoliation during oxidation in steam 360 °C for 90 days. In the second modification, the effectiveness of a Cr doped ZrO2 layer to reduce the migration rate of hydrogen in ZrO2 was investigated. The ZIRLO tube used for this part of the study did not have a thin oxide passivation surface layer. Two different procedures were used to create chromium doped zirconium oxide surface layers on ZIRLO. The ZIRLO surface was coated with chromium using cathodic arc deposition followed compression plasma flow (CPF) treatment to facilitate intermixing of the Cr and the ZIRLO. In procedure 1, the surface modification was achieved through the incorporation of chromium into the zirconium surface layer using a compression plasma flow (CPF) technique, followed by the oxidation of the chromium doped zirconium. The oxidation process was conducted at 500 °C for 6 hours. In procedure 2, the chromium was incorporated into the zirconium oxide layer again using the CPF technique. Hydrogen desorption was measured from pure ZIRLO and CPF modified samples using a special gas reaction controller system. The key finding of the results is that the chromium doped (incorporated) zirconium oxide layer on ZIRLO sample exhibited the lowest hydrogen desorption rate of all the samples analysed. This indicates that H in the Cr doped zirconium oxide layer had the lowest mobility of all the samples investigated. This is consistent with the theoretical predictions that the doping of ZrO2 by Cr reduces the solubility of hydrogen in ZrO2. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, 2021
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2021-12