Exploring the implementation of discipline policy: a case study of three primary schools at Isipingo Circuit.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Teachers are at the forefront in ensuring that quality education is achieved and sustained. As such, they are regarded as the main source of information that learners would need to steer their lives forward. In doing that it is expected that they abide by the professional code of conduct. This study sought to explore the School Management Teams’ (SMTs) experiences in the implementation of teacher discipline policy in schools. In exploring this phenomenon, the focus is on the challenges that the SMTs face when implementing teacher discipline policy. This is a qualitative study located in the interpretive paradigm. The studied schools are located in Umlazi Town ship in Durban. In-depth semi-structured interviews constituted the data generating instruments. In this study I used purposive sampling to select the participants. My participants were handpicked on the bases of their experienced with the studied phenomenon. I used content analysis strategy to analyse the data. The study is underpinned by Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT). CLT presents organizations such as schools as complex. Schools are complex because they are populated by humans with self-interests. Having a number of groups with self-interests spark a serious competition and contestations which pose a considerable challenge to those who are at the forefront of the organization. The findings of the study reveal that the SMTs are finding it difficult to implement teacher discipline policies in the three selected schools. Teachers are flouting discipline policies, the principals, SMTs and the DoE are finding it difficult to deal with teachers who are flouting policies. Principals and the SMTs have very limited powers to deal with teachers who are misbehaving because they cannot suspend or expel teachers. Teacher unions tend to dominate teacher disciplinary processes; teachers who are flouting policies are not brought to book. Principals are not well capacitated about all the processes that need to be followed when charging a teacher who has misbehaved. Teachers who are not given a chance to participate in the crafting of the teacher disciplinary policies tend to disregard them

The endosymbiotic bacteria of the South African bird cherry-oat aphid, rhopalosiphum padi.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville.Cereal crops play a major role in human diet as staple foods, especially in developing countries. These crops are a part of a few edible crops that are widely cultivated globally. However, the production of these crops is constantly being put under strain by abiotic and biotic stresses in the environment, such as aphids. Aphids are the most important insects of cereal crops, not only causing damage through feeding. Aphids such as the bird cherry-oat aphid also transmit harmful plant viruses. They feed using piercing and sucking mouthparts that they insert into the plant while excreting saliva, which suppresses the plant’s defence mechanism. The plant sap these insects feed on is rich in sugars and deficient in essential nutrients required for their optimal growth and reproduction processes. These insects live in symbiotic associations with endosymbiotic bacteria, which synthesise the deficient nutrients for the aphids. These bacteria also produce a chaperon protein that has been hypothesised to be involved in protecting the viruses they transmit from degradation. In South Africa, there is limited information about the endosymbiotic bacteria of the bird cherry-oat aphid. This aphid is estimated to cause substantial cereal crop yield losses through feeding, mostly through transmitting barley yellow dwarf viruses. Persistence of these pests may lead to a reduced harvest of these crops, which might result in a drastic rise in hunger and poverty and serious economic consequences. This study aimed to investigate the association between the bird cherry-oat aphid and its endosymbiotic bacteria, with the hope that the findings will give further understanding on how to manage this pest. Molecular biology techniques were employed to identify the endosymbiotic bacteria of the bird cherry-oat aphid using 16S rDNA. Once identified, the effects of two antibiotics on the survival and reproduction of bird cherry-oat aphids were compared using a flask method which was found to be superior in rearing aphids compared to an artificial diet. This study also assessed the ability of bird cherry-oat aphids to acquire Hamiltonella defensa secondary endosymbiont from infested rose grain aphid through a shared food source. The results obtained in this study show that the obligate primary endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, was found across all the screened samples, while sporadic occurrence was observed for the secondary endosymbionts. In addition, this study also showed that in the absence of their primary endosymbiotic bacteria, bird cherry-oat aphids could not reproduce and though aphid death was not immediate, most of the aphids had died by the end of the experiment. Lastly, this study showed that secondary endosymbionts can be passed between aphids through a shared food source. The field provides crops with a vast number of microbes, which can be interchangeable between plants and aphids. However, the most essential microbe, B. aphidicola, uses the aphid as a host and controlling this endosymbiont might lead to a potential control measure for the bird cherry-oat aphid

The effectiveness of the organization’s system design management process and the applicability and benefits of concurrent engineering

Abstract: There are various and numerous SEM practices that have been established and published in literature. Thereby, the difficulty in designing engineering solutions does not just arise from simply the technical complexity but also in the managerial complexity necessary to manage the interactions between the different engineering disciplines. The main objective of this minor research dissertation was to understand the nonperformance of the organization’s SEM model and whether concurrent engineering can be considered as an alternative to the organization’s current SEM model. In order to understand the non-performance, three (3) questions together with their hypothesis and null hypothesis were posed. The first question was to see how the current SEM model compares with industry best practice. A review of the organization’s SEM model together supporting documentation such as engineering policy, instruction manuals and procedures revealed that the organization’s SEM model compares very well with best practice...M.Phil. (Engineering Management

FIFA 2010 soccer world cup in south Africa: an analysis of the perception of public sector workers in KZN, Durban

Thesis presented in fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Masters of Politics and Public Administration (Department of Politics and Public administration) at the Zululand University, South Africa, 2011.Football in South Africa can be traced back to the 19th century and the first recognized club was formed as early as 1879 under the title of Pietermaritzburg Country. The South African Football Association (SAFA) was set up in 1882, but after 100 years it was reconstituted under its first name to represent all country’s diverse communities. A national team first represented South Africa in England in 1897 and secondly in America Racial integration in football has always been a source of pride with the sport helping to break the apartheid barriers. The South African Soccer Federation (SAFA), which led the campaign against segregated sport and received its first major boost in Paris in 1955 when the International Olympics acknowledged and recorded that discrimination against “non white” sportspeople in South Africa existed. Professional soccer was introduced to South Africa in 1959 with the formation of the National Football League (NPSL). In 1971, the National Professional Soccer League came into existence with Orlando Pirates crowned as the first national champions. Today the Professional League is known as Premier Soccer League and they are still sprinkling clubs from the first league in 1971 playing in the top flights. The South African Football Association was founded on 8 December 1991.South Africa achieved a remarkable success with qualification for 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France. (Adam Ward: 2000) In 1998, at Africa Cup of Nations final in Burkina Faso, the South African Football Association (SAFA) signaled its interest to launch a bid to host the 2006 FIFA Soccer World Cup finals. This followed in the wake of South Africa’s successful hosting of the two World games, Rugby World Cup in1995 and Africa Cup of Nations in1996.The two sports came at a particularly fundamental moment in the reconciliation and nation building efforts of post apartheid government and they resonated strongly in the domestic sphere. The tournament has been a showcase of the continent’s talent to the rest of the world and without doubt lifted the awareness and contributed to a greater appreciation of the game of soccer within the context of Africa. (Mark Gleeson: 1999) FIFA chooses which country will host a World Cup tournament. Being the host is a big deal. New stadia have to be built and infrastructure to be developed. Extra police are needed to keep things running smoothly. South Africa hosted 2010 games and Brazil will be hosting 2014 games. The focus of the study is to examine the perceptions of the public sector workers towards the potential impacts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in terms of benefits and potential challenges. There are various advantages that can be achieved from hosting such advantageous event hence people need to be aware of such advantages in order to benefit from them. On the other hand there are potential problems in hosting such big event. In 1972 terrorist attack in Germany Olympics had left the sporting community shocked. Though there are many benefits in hosting a 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup there are also many problems that are challenging South Africa such as crime and technological challenges. The greatest benefits that we (South Africans) and the Global Community need to learn is, what lesson can be learned by using sport as a yardstick for unity and what lesson can other Countries learn from South Africa as a united rainbow nation

The regulation of dividends in terms of companies Act 71 of 2008: can a company distribute disproportionate dividends to shareholders of the same class of shares?

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws (by Coursework and Research Report) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2018This report critically analyses the current regulation of dividends in South Africa with a specific reference to disproportionate dividends. The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the ‘Companies Act’) does not expressly provide for disproportionate dividends. There is equally no prohibition on declaring and distributing disproportionate dividends. The law is therefore unsettled as far as disproportionate dividends are concerned. The uncertainty requires clarification either through legislative intervention or judicial determination. The report proposes solutions to circumstances under which it is inevitable to distribute proportionate dividends to holders of shares of the same class. I argue that treating shares of the same class dissimilarly should be permitted to the extent that it is justifiable in order to achieve economic results and growth in the company. Furthermore, I recommend possible amendments to the Companies Act. Lastly, the report examines the liability for declaring dividends contrary to the Companies Act. To add a comparative perspective, I make reference to the laws in foreign jurisdictions such as, New Zealand and the United States of America. In addition, the position under the Model Business Corporation Act will be observed.XL201

Septic Arthritis in adult patients at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital: a clinical audit

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine, Orthopaedic Surgery, Johannesburg, 2019As the third-largest hospital in the world, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital treats a very large number of patients, many of whom are impoverished, and many who are infected with the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV). As a referral centre, a significant number of these patients are afflicted with osteoarticular infection. We wanted to quantify this number and document the clinical, laboratory and microbiological profile of these patients. We retrospectively reviewed almost 200 cases of suspected osteoarticular infections over a four-year period. Seventy-six patients had confirmed bacterial septic arthritis, eleven had confirmed tuberculous arthritis, and there were two cases of fungal septic arthritis. The knee joint was the most commonly involved in all groups. The mean age of all the patients was 42 years (+/- 3years). The male to female ratio was 2:1. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacterial organism isolated (42%). There was a relatively high prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae (21%) in our series, most of whom (56%) had concurrent HIV infection. The HIV seroprevalence of the whole group was 51%, with a higher prevalence seen amongst the tuberculous and fungal arthritis groups. There was a statistically significant difference in the white cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) levels of the bacterial, tuberculous and negative arthrotomy groups (p = 0.01). Bacterial septic arthritis tends to have CRP levels above 100 mg/L and ESR levels between 50 mm/hour and 100 mm/hour. Tuberculous arthritis tends to have CRP levels between 50 mg/L and 100 mg/L, while the ESR tends to be higher than 100 mm/hour. Negative arthrotomies tend to have ESR levels around 50 mm/hour and CRP levels below 50 mg/L. Osteoarticular infection remains a big problem in developing countries, such as South Africa. There is a high rate of HIV co-infection. Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus is also a significant risk factor. Tuberculosis and fungal infections are important considerations in the immunocompromised patient. Laboratory diagnosis is challenging in adult patients. It appears that 5to 10-fold increases in CRP and ESR levels (above the normal reference ranges) have a higher positive predictive value for infection, as opposed to inflammatory arthropathies. Future research must incorporate prospective study designs and focus on the value of using other (more sensitive) laboratory tests to make the diagnosis of septic arthritis easier.PH201

Country risk components and financial asset markets interdependence: evidence from South Africa=Izinkomba-ngozi Zezwe Kanye Nokubambisana Ezimpahleni Zomnotho Ezimaketheni: Ubufakazi Obuvela eNingizimu Afrikha.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Over the last few decades, financial markets have become more interlinked. As a result, there has been an increased demand for information across markets and thus, a need for country-specific risk ratings. Risk ratings are vital for attracting investments and capital inflows in financial markets by providing signals regarding a country’s economic, financial and political fundamentals. However, there remains a lack of consensus on the nature of the relationship between country risk and key asset markets, namely, the stock market, bond market, housing market, and gold and oil markets. This doctoral study evaluates the impact of country risk components on asset returns and their interlinkages for the period from February 2000 to December 2019 within the South African context. The first analytical paper (presented in Chapter 3) evaluates the dynamic relationship between South African asset markets using the Markov Switching Vector Autoregressive (MSVAR) model. The findings showed that the response of all asset returns to shocks in the economic system was regime-dependent. Moreover, shocks emanating from the exchange rate market and bond market explained most of the variation in the bull and bear regimes. The second paper (presented in Chapter 4) investigates the impact of country risk on various asset markets ing a Non-Linear Autoregressive Lag model (NARDL). This study fills the gap in understanding the reaction of stock, bond, housing, currency, gold and oil markets to positive and negative innovations in country risk components. The findings show evidence of long-run cointegrating relationships between asset returns and country risk components and indicate that country risk components are effective determinants of domestic asset market returns. The third paper (presented in Chapter 5) examines the effects of economic, financial and political risk on asset market linkages using a combination of the Dynamic Conditional Correlation Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (DCC-GARCH) and NARDL models. The findings show that the correlation between asset markets was positive in stable market conditions and showed negative comovements during periods of market turmoil. Financial and political risk ratings were found to be the main drivers of asset market comovements in the short run. Anincrease in South African (domestic) political risk had a larger effect in the long run and was found to be an important determinant of asset return comovements. This result provides evidence suggesting that asset markets are informationally inefficient and changes in financial and political risk ratings can be used to predict price movements. Overall, this doctoral dissertation’s findings highlight the diversification benefits of domestic assets during periods of market uncertainty. Moreover, the results show that examining the different components of country risk provides better insight into the impact of country risk on asset markets. The results of this dissertation have significant implications for asset allocation decisions and risk management. From a policy perspective, it is crucial to formulate policies that address political instability as it plays a pivotal role in determining asset return behaviour, and consequently, the financial stability of the country. Furthermore, the results have implications for traditional asset pricing models that only capture the effects of market risk to predict future asset market behaviour. A more comprehensive understanding of the risks of specific markets is vital for more informed financial decision-making. Future research could extend the scope of the study to investigate the composite political risk factors that explain asset market behaviour. Iqoqa Ukuqagula ngenzuzo yempahla kusemqoka, ikakhulu ezimaketheni ezisathuthuka, ikakhulu ngoba abatshalizimali emhlabeni bazifaka engozini enkulu ngenxa yalezi zimakethe. Okugcina ngokuthi kube nesidingo esikhulu sokuthi amazwe afakwe esikalini njengalokhu ababambi-qhaza kwezomnotho befisa ukunciphisa ubungozi abazifaka kubo. Ukukalwa kobungozi kubalulekile ukuheha abatshali zimali kanye nokuhelela kwengqalabhizinisi emaketheni yezimali ngokunika izinkomba zomnotho, ezezimali kanye nesisekelo sezombangazwe wezwe. Kushosha ukuvulana komsuka wobudlelwane phakathi kobungozi obuthathwa yizwe, singabala isitokwe semakethe, imakethe yesivumelwano sembolekomali, imakethe yezindlu kanye nemakethe yegolide nemakethe kawoyela. Lolu cwaningo luhlole ubudlelwane phakathi kwezimpahla ezisezimakethe eNingizimu Afrikha kusetshenziswa imodeli i-Markov Switching Vector Autoregressive (MSVAR) nemodeli i-Dynamic Conditional Correlation Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (DCC-GARCH). Umthelela wobungozi obuthathwa yizwe enzuzweni yempahla kanye ne-covariance yayo ihlolwe kusetshenziswa imodeli i-Non-Linear Autoregressive Lag (NARDL). Ngaphezukwakho konke, imiphumela iveze ukwehluka kwenzuzo empahleni yangaphakathi ngesikhathi sokungazinzi kwezimakethe. Imiphumela yocwaningo iveza ukuthi izimpendulo zayo yonke inzuzo yezimpahla azinalo uzinzo kwezomnotho kuncike kuHulumeni osuke uphethe. Ukungazinzi okusukela enanini lokuhwebelana kwezimakethe kanye nesivumelwano sobolekomali ezimaketheni kucacise ukungefani okuningi koHulumeni be-the bull and bear regimes. Ubungozi bezomnotho nezepolitiki kube yikho okuyizizathu zesixakaxaka ezimpahleni zezimakethe, esikhathini esifushane. Ukuthuthuka kobungozi kwezepolitiki eNingizimu Afrikha (ngaphakathi) kube nomthelela ngokuhamba kwesikhathi kwaphinde kwaba nesandla kwi-asset return linkages. Lokhu kuchaza ukuthi izimpahla zezimakethe azinalo ulwazi oluphelele kanye nezinguquko zokukalwa kwezomnotho nezepolitiki kungasetshenziswa ukuqagula ukunyakaza kwamanani. Imiphumela isemqoka kakhulu kubabumbi-zinqubomgomo, kangangoba, izinqubomgomo mazibunjwe ukudambisa ukungazinzi kwezepolitiki njengoba ineqhaza elibalulekile kwezomnotho wezwe. Ngaphezu kwalokho, imiphumela inomthelela kumamodeli ajwayelekile e-asset pricing avame ukuveza umthelela wobungozi bezimakethe ukuqagula ikusasa lezimpahla nemikhuba yakhona. Ukuqonda ubungozi ngokusabalele kwezimakethe kubalulekile ekuthathweni kwezinqumo ezinqala kwezomnotho

A visual analytics approach to characterising disease progression among adults with chronic diseases in rural Agincourt northeast South Africa

A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Epidemiology (Public Health Informatics) to the Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2024Chronic diseases pose a significant challenge to the healthcare systems in South Africa, calling for innovative approaches for comprehensive understanding and management. This research study utilizes the Agincourt HDSS-Clinic dataset to design and implement a visual analytics system using the R Shiny web application framework. Focused on adults with chronic diseases, the tool employs dynamic visualizations to show patterns of healthcare utilization and disease progression. Through the R Shiny platform, the system provides a user-friendly interface for exploring and interpreting complex data, offering valuable insights into patient healthcare behaviours and the dynamics of chronic illnesses. The study used data from a total of 26 426 patients consisting of 19 265 (73%) females and 7 161 (27%) males. The study revealed previously unrecognized associations between specific chronic conditions including the existence of a substantial intersection between HIV, Hypertension, and Diabetes with 101 patients experiencing the coexistence of all the three conditions. Notably, the visual analytics system facilitated the identification of distinct healthcare utilization patterns across different demographic groups highlighting the most frequently visited health facility accounted for 5 912 patient visits overall while the least visited health facility accounted for 1 447 patient visits. The findings underscore the effectiveness of visual analytics in uncovering trends within complex datasets. The implications of these findings extend beyond the immediate research scope, influencing healthcare strategies and contributing to the ongoing discussions on innovative solutions for chronic disease management. This study contributes to the evolving field of visual analytics in healthcare, demonstrating the potential for such tools to inform decision-making and enhance patient outcomesWits Health ConsortiumMM202