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Building knowledge absorptive capacity in South African public companies through recruitment practices
No full textMost state-owned companies (SOCs) in South Africa are in a perpetual struggle to recruit human resources and replenish their intangible knowledge asset losses that are largely due to high employee turnover. The study is interdisciplinary in nature, presenting a strong link between recruitment practice, employee turnover, knowledge loss and knowledge absorptive capacity. The research project used a mixed methods exploratory sequential design by gathering in-depth qualitative data through interviews with 20 human resource managers in 9 SOCs. Survey data was collected from a 25% response rate to the 585 distributed questionnaires. The survey instrument was tested for reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha at 0.94. The qualitative data extracted through the interviews were analyzed thematically using Atlas.ti software, whilst the quantitative data were analysed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS). The findings revealed that due to increased human resources mobility, human resource management (HRM) establishments in many SOCs were in a perpetual struggle to fill vacancies in mission-critical areas. Knowledge-loss induced by human resource attrition was a serious challenge in most SOCs. On a positive note, the study revealed that recruitment practices were knowledge-driven, largely because they supported SOCs in the sourcing of the required company-specific human and knowledge resources, albeit some extant challenges. The study concluded that HRM recruitment practices build knowledge absorptive capacity in South African SOCs.</jats:p
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of the chiropractic students in South Africa
No full textDissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master of Health Sciences in Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2024.Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had an impact on tertiary education, especially
the practical courses, such as Chiropractics. Learning platforms were moved online and
exposure to practice, such as clinic interactions, was limited.
Aim: To determine the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the mental health of Chiropractic students in
South Africa
Methodology: A QuestionPro® survey link was sent to Chiropractic students registered at
Durban University of Technology and the University of Johannesburg. A total of 187 students
completed the survey and the data were captured for statistical analysis. Statistical analysis
was performed using Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software.
Result: Of the 187 who responded, 60.10% expressed discomfort if individuals did not wear
masks and 73.4% reported they experienced conflicts due to prolonged time spent with
household members in limited personal space. The pandemic also had personal effects, such
as 69% reported having reduced productivity, 42% increased financial difficulties, 50%
decreased physical activity, and 80.85% spending more time on social media. They reported
these challenges had detrimental effects on mental health, including increased anxiety
(92.02%), difficulties in thought control (75.5%), withdrawal from social interactions (80.32%),
decreased motivation (90.96%), and concentration issues (89.89%). A portion of the students
(43.62%) experienced a decline in academic marks.
Conclusion: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic lockdown had a negative effect on the majority of
Chiropractic students, especially in terms of their academic progress, mental health, social
and personal functioning.
Exploring the challenges and opportunities of farm school infrastructure in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
No full textSouth Africa is a country that has a rich history of segregation of races driven by a minority government. Through the ill system of apartheid, several aspects of human life became intolerable, one of which was the education system. The introduction of the Bantu Education Act of 1953 indoctrinated African learners by educating them to perform menial tasks and manual labour, becoming subservient to the white minority. This “knee on throat” system further oppressed Africans, making it difficult to progress and preserving the idea of education being a privilege and not a right. The act played out at various “black” schools in South Africa, especially farm schools, which created an economic benefit for the farmers. The farm school became a factory to create a new labour force, whose parents were smoke screened to believe paid education would benefit their children. In 1994, a new dawn for all the people of South Africa promised hope and freedom. The government promulgated laws that would benefit citizens’ human rights and allow those who needed them the most. The redress of education policies aimed at giving all South Africans a fair opportunity for education; however, this is seldom the case in most of the country’s impoverished rural and farm schools. The government, through legal frameworks, aims to convert schools on commercial farms to normal stateowned and managed institutions, removing the dependence on the farm owners. However, this process has been arduous, and the farmers’ kick has been great to the extent that children and teachers are restricted from entering the premises. Regular intervention by police and government officials assists; however, this is not long-term management of deep-seated problems. Although the government has taken many steps in the right direction, at the very core, farm schools still suffer from infrastructural issues that are so profoundly entrenched in the buildings that it is difficult to dismantle. Perhaps, like most of South Africa, the apartheid regime is built in brick and mortar. These farm schools, in most instances, do not comply with the basic regulations of the South African Schools Act of 1996. However, these schools continue to operate and educate students across the country. Using a phenomenological paradigm and a qualitative approach, this research uses semi-structured interviews conducted at two farm schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, to gather rich data from participants. This study is limited by cost and time. The researcher used a purposive sampling technique to identify four participants who were probed on different aspects of the farm school infrastructure and experiences working and using the facilities. This research aims to understand the challenges and opportunities that farm schools offer. Findings from the data reveal that although farm schools have several infrastructural challenges, the staff and community adapt the use of these buildings to suit the needs of the activities, albeit with challenges. The researcher proposes adaptive reuse of the infrastructure to suit a school’s programme and provide space for a community
Perceptions and experiences of indigenous black South Africans receiving chiropractic treatment at a teaching chiropractic clinic at a University of Technology in Durban
No full textDissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the degree of
Master’s degree in technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2024.The Chiropractic profession mainly focuses on the prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. The profession is a young profession mainly
in South Africa as it was only recognized recently in 1971, therefore, perceptions
about this profession are continually evolving as people continue to experience this
profession.
The study aimed to determine the different perceptions of Black indigenous South
African people over the ages of eighteen, both males and females, and to further
check if their perceptions are influenced by their first-time experience with the
Chiropractic student intern at a University Chiropractic teaching clinic in Durban. The
information obtained in the study may further assist in outlining the misconceptions
the public may have about the profession and assist in the areas that need to be
improved.
The qualitative study approach utilized exploratory and descriptive approach to
reveal a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of Chiropractic. Data collection
was carried out using semi-structured interviews of fourteen participants, first time
experience with the Chiropractor and indigenous Black South Africans. All interviews
were voice recorded, transcribed and analyzed, which resulted to three domains with
numerous themes and subthemes. All the above were explored to fulfil the main aim
and objectives of the study.
Majority of the research participants were females and middle aged and were
referrals from individuals that had been to a Chiropractor before. The understanding
of Chiropractic care theme revealed limited awareness and understanding of the
profession, the perception theme revealed a confusion of the profession with other
medical professions like conventional medicine and physiotherapy. The experience
theme revealed meeting expectations and having gained more knowledge and clarity
about the profession, a desire to return for a follow up treatment and recommending
Chiropractic care to others.
A new iterative approximation of a split fixed point constraint equilibrium problem
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an iterative algorithm for approximat
ing an element in the solution set of the common split feasibility problem for fixed points of
demimetric mappings and equilibrium problem for monotone mapping in real Hilbert spaces.
Motivated by self-adaptive step size method, we incorporate the inertial technique to acceler
ate the convergence of the proposed method and establish a strong convergence of the sequence
generated by the proposed algorithm. Finally, we present a numerical example to illustrate the
significant performance of our method. Our results extend and improve some existing results in
the literature
Driving sustainable growth for small and medium enterprises in emerging urban–rural economies
No full textRural economies are crucial for global development, with more than 80% of the world’s population living in rural areas and agriculture providing livelihoods for approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide. However, these economies are often vulnerable to various factors, including climate change, natural disasters, and a lack of progressive economic policies. The main aim of making rural economies more sustainable is to promote long-term economic development, protect the environment, and improve the quality of life in urban–rural communities. This paper explored certain strategies for enhancing rural economies to be more sustainable. The results show that smart growth has been rapidly growing in urban cities, while certain communities outside urban areas have been left behind. However, both urban and rural communities need economic growth and be adaptive to smart growth to serve their communities and adhere to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the new era of innovation. Thus, we argue that rural areas are a big part of emerging economies. As such, they cannot be left behind in any smart growth. In this study, we found that rural economies need training and up-skilling in order to improve their sustainability and efficiency targets. Through a systematic review, this paper looked at various ways rural communities can solve their challenges toward smart growth and the sustainability of their resources. As a result, we propose solutions for urban–rural communities to implement in daily activities in terms of policy and practice approaches
A review on conventional and novel adsorbents to boost the sorption capacity of heavy metals : current status, challenges and future outlook
No full textABSTRACT
Heavy metal contamination in aquatic environments has attracted global concern due to its
detrimental impact on living organisms, including toxicity and carcinogenicity. Therefore,
initiatives to remove these contaminants from wastewater to protect both the environment and
the well-being of humans is imperative. Materials utilized for wastewater treatment in the
developing world needs to satisfy the main criterion of being locally available, inexpensive and
that do not require additional energy input or modifications. Adsorption is the foremost used
technique to eliminate heavy metals due to its attractive features including flexible design,
operation, and cost-effectiveness. This review article potentially focusses on the use of novel
and conventional adsorbents such as g-C3N4, graphene, cellulosic aerogel, natural occurring soil
and minerals, aquatic and terrestrial biomass-based adsorbents for heavy metal adsorption,
whilst focusing the discussion on the context of the developing world. This heightened interest
in g-C3N4, and graphene-based adsorbents owes their unique properties such as great surface
area, impressive chemical and thermal stability, three-dimensional structure, and functionalized
derivatives which have shown great adsorption capabilities for heavy metals elimination.
Additionally, cellulosic aerogel, natural occurring soil and minerals, aquatic and terrestrial
biomass is low cost, easily available and effectively removes heavy metals. Finally, current
progress, major challenges and future outlook of novel and conventional adsorbent materials
for heavy metal removal are discussed. Herein a roadmap is presented together with
recommendations for future research to enhance the successful utilization of bio-sorbents in
water purification systems such as wastewater treatment plants
A museum theatre approach to museum communication in Durban, South Africa
No full textThis article explores how museum communication can be enhanced in museums in Durban, South Africa, using the Old Court House Museum (OCHM) in Durban, South Africa, as a point of departure for analysis and discussion. The aim is to close the gap between the humanities disciplines through disciplinary hybridisation while focusing on exploring the intersection of theatre arts and museums through applied theatre (AT) strategies to enhance museum communication. Grounded in Richard Schechner’s multidisciplinary approach to performance studies (PS), it incorporates the viewpoints of Dwight Conquergood on PS. The argument is that the humanities disciplines are historically and conceptually linked through cultural performance. The research employs qualitative methods, including historical-analytic analysis, key informant interviews (KIIs), and direct observation. The findings suggest the practice of the museum theatre (MT) concept in some parts of the South African cultural ecosystem, but with scant attention on Durban municipal museums
Charged dust in Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet models
No full textWe investigate the influence of the higher order curvature terms on the static configuration of a charged dust distribution in EGB gravity. The EGB field equations for such a fluid are generated in higher dimensions. The governing equation can be written as an Abel differential equation of the second kind, or a second order linear differential equation. Exact solutions are found to these equations in terms of special functions, series and polynomials. The Abel differential equation of the second kind is reducible to a canonical differential equation; three new families of solutions are found by constraining the coefficients of the canonical equation. The charged dust model is shown to be physically well behaved in a region at the centre, and dust spheres can be generated. The higher order curvature terms influence the dynamics of charged dust and the gravitational behaviour which is distinct from general relativity
Isotropic perfect fluids in modified gravity
No full textWe generate the Einstein–Gauss–Bonnet field equations in higher dimensions for a spherically symmetric static spacetime. The matter distribution is a neutral fluid with isotropic pressure. The condition of isotropic pressure, an Abel differential equation of the second kind, is transformed to a first order nonlinear canonical differential equation. This provides a mechanism to generate exact solutions systematically in higher dimensions. Our solution generating algorithm is a different approach from those considered earlier. We show that a specific choice of one potential leads to a new solution for the second potential for all spacetime dimensions. Several other families of exact solutions to the condition of pressure isotropy are found for all spacetime dimensions. Earlier results are regained from our treatments. The difference with general relativity is highlighted in our study