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Information Technology Management IV: ITMA4110
No full textExamination on Information Technology Management IV: ITMA4110, Nov 201
Parental involvement in school governance: a case study of a secondary school in Okahandja, Namibia
No full textSince Namibia gained independence parents have increasingly been seen as equal partners in
the education process. The Education Act 16 of 2001 provides for the democratic
participation in schools by parents, learners and other education stakeholders through the
introduction of regional Education Forums and School Boards in schools Parental
involvement in school governance has been widely researched and has become a ‘hot topic’
worldwide, including in Namibia. This study investigated and described parental involvement
through the School Board in school governance in a secondary school in Otjozondjupa
region, Namibia. The study was conducted within a qualitative, interpretive paradigm. The
study employed three data collection tools namely, semi-structured interviews, document
analysis and observation.
The School Board was made up of parents of different classes and backgrounds, i.e.
employed, unemployed, professionals and business persons and with different levels of
educational background. These members create a network that represents the voices of
parents from different social groups, with different levels of social capital. The different
levels of social capital shape the nature of the contributions and interactions on the Board.
The study found that in spite of the frequency of interaction between the School Board,
parents and the community the School Board is still in a dilemma as it is unable to connect
with its prominent source of potential support, such as the business community, due to an
outdated view that the school is well-off based on its historic status of privilege. With respect
to communications with parents the focus tends to be on the negatives of learners’ behaviour
or performance and the task of the parents in this regard. Broadening the agenda of the
collaboration to include positive aspects of the child would add to the motivation of parents
and open possibilities for new forms of collaboration. The school lacks a well-coordinated
system for utilizing the available resources as well as community expertise for the benefit of
the school.
On the strength of the findings, one of the recommendations is for a more structured program
and strategy for the Boards various interactions with the community and parents
Base erosion and profit shifting by multinational corporations and weaknesses revealed in South African income tax legislation
No full textThis research examined the concept of base erosion and profit shifting in the context
of tax schemes employed by multinational corporations. The objective of this thesis
was to identify weaknesses within South Africa’s income tax legislation, based on
these schemes, and further to propose recommendations to counter the occurrence
of base erosion and profit shifting by multinational companies. The research also
comprised of a limited review of current global and South African initiatives to
address the problem of base erosion and profit shifting. It was concluded that there
are a number of weaknesses in the definitions and provisions of the South African
income tax legislation that need to be addressed in order to reduce base erosion and
profit shifting. Brief recommendations were proposed in relation to each of the
weaknesses, in order to address them
Taxing the Minerals Sector in South Africa : a comparative analysis of the proposed tax model for South Africa and the models adopted in selected African countries
No full textThe State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report emerged as a resolution during the 3rd National General Council Resolution on Economic Transformation held in 2012, during which the Council stated that: “The ANC’s approach to economic transformation of the South African economy should always be holistic and comprehensive, covering all sectors of the economy. In this regard, the ANC should ensure greater state involvement and control of strategic sectors of the economy, such as mining, energy, the financial sector and others.” It was for this reason that the National General Council mandated the National Executive Committee to ensure that further work be done on ways in which the African National Congress can implement economic transformation in sectors such as the mining industry. It was suggested that methods including research, study tours and discussions be conducted to gather the required information. As a result of the research, The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report emerged. In The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report, the mineral sectors of developed as well as developing countries are compared with each other. The developing countries compared included Botswana, Zambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and these countries have also been selected for the purpose of comparison in the present research.
The goal of this study is to analyse the recommendations made in The State Intervention in the Minerals Sector Report regarding State involvement in the minerals sector. To determine whether the economic situation in South Africa is comparable to the five other African countries, an analysis based on demographic indicators, the history of the minerals sector in the various countries, its contribution to the fiscal regime of that country, its economic contribution, as well as the extent of involvement from Government and the model implemented for its involvement, is conducted. According to a work paper published by the World Bank on the world development indicators for 2014, control over metal supply to the economy has been considered vital for political and economic reasons in most societies. It further states that most State-owned mining companies have over the years and, in particular, in developing countries, not been able to operate successfully, leading to privatisation. Poor performance is, however, not necessarily the reason for State ownership. Areas not addressed by this thesis include the Gold Mining industry in South Africa and the Diamond mining industry in Botswan
Understanding how grade 11 Biology teachers mediate learning of the topic on transpiration
No full textThis study emerged in response to the poor performance in Biology at my school. The
Ministry of Education Biology (NSSCO) Examiners’ report (2011) for Paper 3 indicates that
learners proved to have difficulties in designing experiments, failed to give a distinction
between apparatus and the experiment. The 2012 Examiners’ report on transpiration also
highlights that learners were not exposed to practical work. Furthermore, the 2012 report
notes that teachers need to work on their learners’ drawing and spelling of terms.
It is against this backdrop that a qualitative study was conducted at a school in Oshikoto,
using a sample of two teachers. The study’s purpose was to investigate how grade 11 Biology
teachers mediate learning of the topic on transpiration. Social Constructivism and
Pedagogical Content Knowledge formed the framework used to analyse data gathered from
document analysis, interviews and observations.
The study findings were that teachers use locally available material for demonstration during
practical work, elicit prior knowledge, use a chalkboard to summarise content to learners, and
use a question and answer method as strategies in mediating learning on transpiration. In
addition, the teachers use homework, scaffolding activities, group work, code-switching,
feedback on activities, as well as the use of analogies. Despite efforts by participant teachers
to mediate learning of transpiration, shortage of equipment for conducting practical work,
poor English proficiency among teachers and learners, and little emphasis on graphing by the
syllabus proved to be barriers to their efforts. This study thus recommends that in order to
improve on teaching transpiration, teachers need to co-plan lessons, conduct practical work,
code-switch during lessons, ensure effective assessment, and include lessons on graphing.
Furthermore, teachers need continued training on how to teach transpiration
Understanding how Grade 11 life sciences teachers mediate biodiversity concepts in a second language context : a case study
No full textThis research focused on an investigation of the pedagogy and strategies used by Grade 11 Life Sciences teachers when mediating Biodiversity concepts with English second language learners. My interest in this investigation was triggered by the Examiners’ Reports for Life Sciences from 2009 to 2012 which consistently noted learner challenges in answering, interpreting and analysing questions during exams. The reports highlighted learners’ lack of understanding of the questions which led to them providing irrelevant information in their exam scripts. These reports claimed that challenges experienced by these learners could be attributed to language issues experienced by English second language learners.
Influenced by these reports, a qualitative case study of two Senior Secondary schools in East London, Eastern Cape South Africa was conducted. Underpinned by an interpretive paradigm and driven by the desire to achieve an in-depth understanding of the case under study, three phases of information gathering were followed. The first phase was that of gathering information through document analysis. Documents were analysed to gain insights and understanding of the issue before conducting interviews. The next phase was that of gathering information through semi-structured interviews followed by classroom observations. Findings from these observations were verified through stimulated recall interviews which provided clarity on the intentionality of choosing a certain method and strategy over another when assisting learners in making meaning of biodiversity concepts.
The main findings of this study are that factors which limit learner understanding of biodiversity concepts are a result of a combination of factors such as failure to interpret questions, spelling problems which alter meaning of concepts and an inability to make distinctions among closely related concepts within the topic of Biodiversity. Responding to these factors, teachers demonstrated knowledge of a variety of teaching strategies to support learners. The choice of teaching strategies seemed to be guided by their experiences as well as the challenges they often encounter. Furthermore, teachers’ reflections on their practice provided opportunities for them to identify strengths and limitations of their choice of strategies and possibilities for improvement.
It was also noted that factors such as large class sizes, gaps in content knowledge and a lack of detail in chalkboard summary limited the effectiveness of their teaching strategies.
The study recommends that:
• Teacher-learner ratio needs to be considered for effective support;
• There is still a need to capacitate educators in environmental education. In-service training should focus on developing teacher understanding of foundational knowledge in life sciences; and
• Teachers need to improve their chalkboard summary skills to increase the level of support that could be provided by comprehensive chalkboard summary through the elaboration of idea
Comparison of protein binding microarray derived and ChIP-seq derived transcription factor binding DNA motifs
No full textTranscription factors (TFs) are biologically important proteins that interact
with transcription machinery and bind DNA regulatory sequences to regulate
gene expression by modulating the synthesis of the messenger RNA. The
regulatory sequences comprise of short conserved regions of a specific length
called motifs . TFs have very diverse roles in different cells and play a very
significant role in development. TFs have been associated with carcinogenesis
in various tissue types, as well as developmental and hormone response
disorders. They may be responsible for the regulation of oncogenes and can be
oncogenic. Consequently, understanding TF binding and knowing the motifs to
which they bind is worthy of attention and research focus.
Various projects have made the study of TF binding their main focus;
nevertheless, much about TF binding remains confounding. Chromatin
immunoprecipitation in conjunction with deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) techniques are a popular method used to investigate DNA-TF interactions in
vivo. This procedure is followed by motif discovery and motif enrichment
analysis using relevant tools. Protein Binding Microarrays (PBMs) are an in
vitro method for investigating DNA-TF interactions. We use a motif enrichment
analysis tools (CentriMo and AME) and an empirical quality assessment tool
(Area under the ROC curve) to investigate which method yields motifs that are
a true representation of in vivo binding.
Motif enrichment analysis: On average, ChIP-seq derived motifs from the
JASPAR Core database outperformed PBM derived ones from the UniPROBE
mouse database. However, the performance of motifs derived using these two
methods is not much different from each other when using CentriMo and AME.
The E-values from Motif enrichment analysis were not too different from each
other or 0. CentriMo showed that in 35 cases JASPAR Core ChIP-seq derived
motifs outperformed UniPROBE mouse PBM derived motifs, while it was only
in 11 cases that PBM derived motifs outperformed ChIP-seq derived motifs.
AME showed that in 18 cases JASPAR Core ChIP-seq derived motifs did better,
while only it was only in 3 cases that UniPROBE motifs outperformed ChIP-seq
derived motifs. We could not distinguish the performance in 25 cases.
Empirical quality assessment: Area under the ROC curve values computations
followed by a two-sided t-test showed that there is no significant difference in
the average performances of the motifs from the two databases (with 95%
confidence, mean of differences=0.0088125 p-value= 0.4874, DF=47)
Sunrays in a chilly winter
No full textIn both my English and IsiXhosa poetry, my themes are love, politics, and the social issues of
rural communities, and include my own life experiences, both good and bad. My poems are
mainly short narrative accounts of township life. Although they do have a broad educational
purpose, they do not preach to the reader. In IsiXhosa, my poetic forms are influenced by the
works of J J R Jolobe, W N Mbovane, P T Mtuze, and my English poems by Pablo Neruda,
Mafika Pascal Gwala, Garcia Lorca and other
"Soap operas as a platform for disseminating health information regarding ART and the use of 'reel' versus 'real' role models"
No full textThe media, through development communication and edutainment, plays a critical role in the transformation of societies. In line with this, this thesis discusses the extent to which commercially driven prosocial soap operas can provide a platform for public health messaging, in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, for antiretroviral treatment (ART) and for encouraging ART adherence to foster national development. Furthermore, this thesis examined the potential of celebrities as HIV/AIDS ambassadors and the potential of both fictional characters and ‘real-life’ celebrities to disseminate these health messages. Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is stabilising, this is not the time to relax the communication around the disease, particularly regarding adherence to ARVs, considering that South Africa has the largest ARV rollout in the world. The qualitative methodological approach taken for this thesis is a three-step approach examining the intended message, the text and the appropriated message by viewers. Firstly, a thematic content analysis of an episode of Isidingo, that illustrated Nandipha as HIV-positive and the side-effects that came with her ART adherence, and the 3Talk interview with Lesego Motsepe, where she announced that she was weaning herself off ART, was done in order to understand the intended health messaging in the soap opera and the health message disseminated by an HIV-positive actress with regards to ART. Thereafter interview responses by the production team as well as by HIV-positive viewers, using ARVs, were thematised. In addition media texts which provided commentary on the use of a celebrity as a HIV-positive role model were examined. In doing this, this thesis has offered up the meanings of how HIV-positive women taking ARVs and living in Makana experience and understand the media, particularly health messaging relating to ARVs. The findings of this study suggest that commercial soap operas are the perfect platform to address HIV/AIDS and that prosocial health messaging regarding ARV adherence is still necessary in this country. Soap operas have the potential to have an educational angle. Although, HIV-positive individuals serve as better role models as they are authentic; given human nature, fictional characters, such as Nandipha Matabane in Isidingo, may be more sustainable role models as their message can be scientifically-based and well-researched. Realistic characters serve as role models whose behaviour is to be emulated. Soap operas appeal to a wide audience and so storylines can be tailor-made according to the times and the needs in terms of health issues and messaging. Thus, soap operas are not a single platform but rather one which can be exploited to maximum advantage for public health messaging
Tug of war : a critical discourse analysis of Punch and Daily Trust newspapers' coverage of polio eradication in Nigeria
No full textThe resurgence of the polio virus in Nigeria following vaccine rejections poses a severe threat to the total worldwide eradication of polio. Vaccine refusals are a huge problem in Nigeria, especially in the North, which accounts for about 60 percent of polio cases in 2013. These refusals were informed by claims that polio vaccines contained anti-fertility properties that were designed by the ‘West’ to reduce the Muslim population. These claims and subsequent vaccine rejections culminated in the killing of health workers during an immunisation exercise in February 2013.
This study is an analysis of the coverage of the polio eradication controversy by two newspapers- Punch and Daily Trust, following the killings of the health workers. Daily Trust is situated in Northern Nigeria, while Punch is situated in the South. The choice of these newspapers is based on the argument by Ayodele (1988) and Omenugha (2004) that the Nigerian press has been accused of escalating tension in the country because they view many aspects of the Nigerian reality from the lenses of religious, political and cultural prejudices.
Because it is a text-based study, the chosen research method is Fairclough’s (1995) model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), following a preliminary thematic content analysis. In addition to Fairclough’s model, the study employs textual analytic tools such as narrative analysis and rhetoric/argumentative analysis. The selected texts, which comprise editorials and news stories are analysed based on the themes identified during the thematic content analysis.
The study concludes that while the two newspapers differ in their locations and stylistic approach to news, they are similar in their coverage of the polio eradication crisis. They both side with the Federal Government and help perpetuate the South versus North animosity thereby ignoring the intricacies involved in the polio eradication controversy