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Strength of Materials IV: STMC 4/0
Examination on Strength of Materials IV: STMC 4/0, June 201
Applied Strength of Materials III: STMB3/0
Examination of Applied Strength of Materials III: STMB3/0, Special Exam October 201
Fluid Mechanics IIIA: FMEA3/0
Examination on Fluid Mechanics IIIA: FMEA3/0, Supp July 201
Commercial Law for Accountants II: CLA2022
Examination on Commercial Law for Accountans II: CLA 2022, Nov 201
Development Software 1(EXT YR 2): EDEV 120/EDEV 130, DEV 12EO / DEV 13EO
Examination Development Software 1(EXT YR 2): EDEV 120/EDEV 130, DEV 12EO / DEV 13EO, Nov 201
Business Calculations 1: BLCA1/0
Examinatin on Business Calculations 1: BLCA1/0, July 201
An investigation into how grade 9 girls participate during practical work in Physical Science lessons : a case study
This research report documented in this thesis focused mainly on the participation of grade 9
girls during practical work in the topic of ‘Electricity’ in Physical Science lessons at Mwatya
(pseudonym) Junior Secondary School in Ohangwena region of Namibia. The study was
triggered by the lack of participation of girls during practical work.
Underpinned by an interpretive paradigm, the study took the form of a qualitative case study and my
unit of analysis was girls’ participation during practical work on electricity in particular. The
perceptions and experiences of girls about practical work in Physical Science were investigated
using the administered questionnaires. The participation of girls during practical work was
further explored using interviews (semi-structured and focus group interviews) and observations
of selected girls. A thematic approach to data analysis was adopted.
The qualitative data from the audio and video transcripts were analysed according to the categories
developed and themes that emerged from the analysis process. The categories developed for
presenting the data are: teaching methods preferred by girls; importance and roles of practical
activities; things that girls enjoy during practical activities; problems experienced by girls during
practical activities; preference for doing practical work in groups or as an individual task; if
practical work given in groups should the sex of learners be considered or not; activities
preferred by girls when they are in single sex and in mixed sex groups; factors that enable girls to
participate; and factors that prevent girls from participating.
The study found that girls’ perceptions about practical work affect their participation during
practical work in the topic of Electricity. It also revealed different factors that contribute to either
good or poor participation of girls, namely, factors such as mixed-sex group-work, limited
science prior experience (knowledge), unequal treatment from teachers during lessons and home
environment were identified as contributing to poor participation. Girls however suggested some
factors that they think could enable them to participate freely and actively during practical work.
In view of these findings, this study recommends that teacher training institutions should train
teachers to plan practical work in a gender sensitive manner. Schools should be provided with enough materials as sharing materials can contribute to poor participation of girls during
practical work especially when they are in mixed groups with boys. There is a need for science
teachers to assess the learning taking place during practical work and, finally, textbook suppliers
should be monitored in a way that enables the supply of gender sensitive printed materials
A water footprint assessment of primary citrus production in the Lower Sundays River Valley Citrus Farms, Eastern Cape, South Africa
With the current implementation of the South African National Water Act (NWA) underway, comprehensive tools to assist in the efficient, fair and sustainable management of water resources are needed. Water footprints (WFs) are increasingly being recognised as a meaningful way to represent human appropriation of water resources and provide a framework for assessing the sustainability of water use.
The study calculated blue, green and grey WFs for the lower Sundays River Valley (LSRV) citrus sector across dry, humid and long-term average climates for a number of cultivars. The sustainability of both the LSRV and the production process of citrus were examined through the adoption of a number of environmental, social and economic indicators. The study revealed that there was no water scarcity in the area because of an inter-basin transfer and that water pollution levels attributed to citrus production required a more comprehensive indicator than the grey WF.
Results showed that navels, despite being the dominant cultivar, had the highest WF and the lowest water productivity and technical efficiency. It also provided lower benefits of income and employment in terms of water use in comparison to other cultivars. Conversely, cultivars such as lemons, which required a greater amount of water and fertiliser, were the most productive cultivar with the lowest blue, green and grey WF. The study demonstrated the complexity of decisions regarding water management and the need to assess accurately the environmental, social and economic implications of strategies to increase efficiency of water. The importance of incorporating local data and verifying WFs was also illustrated.
The analysis highlighted that WF assessments could be useful for the South African government and agricultural sectors to assist in future water management decisions and promote increased collaboration between stakeholders. The study found that the adoption of local benchmarks could be useful in aiding the promotion of more efficient water use and could factor in sensitive economic and social attributes. WFs in conjunction with other economic and social indicators could also be used to evaluate the sustainability of current and future allocations pertaining to the implementation of the NWA. It was however noted that this requires vast amounts of accurate data.With the current implementation of the South African National Water Act (NWA) underway, comprehensive tools to assist in the efficient, fair and sustainable management of water resources are needed. Water footprints (WFs) are increasingly being recognised as a meaningful way to represent human appropriation of water resources and provide a framework for assessing the sustainability of water use.
The study calculated blue, green and grey WFs for the lower Sundays River Valley (LSRV) citrus sector across dry, humid and long-term average climates for a number of cultivars. The sustainability of both the LSRV and the production process of citrus were examined through the adoption of a number of environmental, social and economic indicators. The study revealed that there was no water scarcity in the area because of an inter-basin transfer and that water pollution levels attributed to citrus production required a more comprehensive indicator than the grey WF.
Results showed that navels, despite being the dominant cultivar, had the highest WF and the lowest water productivity and technical efficiency. It also provided lower benefits of income and employment in terms of water use in comparison to other cultivars. Conversely, cultivars such as lemons, which required a greater amount of water and fertiliser, were the most productive cultivar with the lowest blue, green and grey WF. The study demonstrated the complexity of decisions regarding water management and the need to assess accurately the environmental, social and economic implications of strategies to increase efficiency of water. The importance of incorporating local data and verifying WFs was also illustrated.
The analysis highlighted that WF assessments could be useful for the South African government and agricultural sectors to assist in future water management decisions and promote increased collaboration between stakeholders. The study found that the adoption of local benchmarks could be useful in aiding the promotion of more efficient water use and could factor in sensitive economic and social attributes. WFs in conjunction with other economic and social indicators could also be used to evaluate the sustainability of current and future allocations pertaining to the implementation of the NWA. It was however noted that this requires vast amounts of accurate data
Women's micro-narratives of the process of abortion decision-making : justifying the decision to have an abortion
Much of the research on abortion is concerned with determining women’s psychological outcomes post-abortion. There is a small, but increasing, body of research around women’s experiences of abortion (conducted predominantly in Scandinavian countries where abortion laws are liberal). However, research around the decision-making process regarding abortion, particularly research that locates the decision to have an abortion within the economic, religious, social, political, and cultural aspects of women’s lives and that looks at women’s narratives, is virtually non-existent. Drawing on Foucauldian and feminist post-structuralism as well as a narrative-discursive approach, this study sought to explore women’s micro-narratives of the abortion decision-making process in terms of the discourses used to construct these micro-narratives and the subject positions made available within these discourses. This study also sought to determine whether the power relations referred to by participants contributed to unsupported and unsupportable pregnancies and the implications this had for reproductive justice. Purposive sampling was used to recruit a total of 25 participants from three different abortion facilities in the Eastern Cape. Participants were ‘Black’ women, mostly unemployed and unmarried with ages ranging between 19 and 35 years old.
In analysing and interpreting participants’ narratives, the picture that emerged was an over-arching narrative in which women described the abortion decision as something that they were ‘forced’ into by their circumstances. To construct this narrative, women justified the decision to have an abortion by drawing on discourses that normalise certain practices located within the husband-wife and parent-child axes and make the pregnancy a problematic, unsupported and unsupportable one. Gendered and generational power relations reinforced this and contributed to the denial of reproductive justic