Ounongo Repository (Namibia Univ. of Science and Technology)
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INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF CARGO THEFT ON WALVIS BAY PORT OPERATIONS IN NAMIBIA
No full textThe aim of this study was to investigate the effects of cargo theft on the Walvis Bay port operations. The study was grounded in the pragmatic worldview. The study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method. The sample size of 30 participants was drawn from an estimated population of 1000 officials at the Port of Walvis Bay using non-probability sampling technique. Purposeful sampling method was used to draw a sample of respondents from relevant departments. The study used an open-ended questionnaire containing semi-structured in-depth questions aimed at obtaining qualitative data and survey questionnaires consisting of closed-ended questions to collect quantitative data.
Based on the results, the study found that cargo theft has possible effects on port operations which are: financial loss, customer loss, sustainability of port operation, and unreliability of port services. Furthermore, the study found that cargo theft has subsided after the recruitment of port security officials and the inauguration of a mobile police station within the port in 2013. The two security measures assisted in combating crime at the port and subsequently minimised cargo theft. The study further found that stolen cargo was recovered within a short period. Regarding the payments of the stolen cargo, the findings revealed that Namport pays for stolen cargo on the basis of the investigation outcomes. In addition, insurance payments results show that insurance pay-outs are paid out in different percentages based on the investigations outcomes.
However, the performances at the port are fairly or less affected. Furthermore, cargo theft negatively affects other parties such as port customers, clearing agents and shipping lines. Cargo theft has negative threats on the supply chain of cargo which can have a negative effect on port operations.
Most noteworthy threats are loss of customer’s trust, the unreliability of services, negative influence on port customers’ shipping lines including cargo owners, resulting into dissatisfaction, loss of finance, and lastly threats to the economy at large.
The installation of CCTV cameras all over the port, the implementation of port security, the ISPS code compliance, security baselines, the complement of National Youth Service officials as well as the GIS system and Namibia police force officials are some of the strategies employed by the port to reduce and fight cargo theft at the port.
The researcher recommends that Namport adds modern technology to the security measures already in place in tracing and proving whether the loose items are lost in the port premises or in transit. Finally, Namport is recommended to adopt strategies that can eliminate threats that cargo theft imposes in the supply chain. The study concluded that theft at the Walvis Bay port has reduced for the past 5 years and the theft that is taking place currently at the port has minimal effect on port operations but on other parties, clearing agencies, port customers as well as shipping lines to mention a few. The adoption of new technology will assist in combating the theft of cargo at the port. However, port customers are advised to do a background check on the shipping companies before using their service to avoid occurrences of loose commodities getting lost
A cognitive stylistics study of The Other Presence and The Hopeless Hopes
No full textTHESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Supervisor: Prof Haileleul Zeleke WoldemariamThe research presents a cognitive stylistics study of two Namibian novels: Francis Sifiso Nyathi’s The Other Presence and Salom Shilongo’s The Hopeless Hopes. The novels have been selected because they presented Namibian societal problems from two different Namibian perspectives. The study also argues that only few such Namibian novels have been investigated conceptualising applied linguistic theories such as cognitivism, functionalism and structuralism. To guide the entire stream of the research, the researcher raised three fundamental questions: How does cognitive metaphor help explicate psychological hitches as captured creatively in the two novels? What is the mind’s contribution to conceptualise and comprehend contextual meanings in the two novels? How does content schema contribute to the understanding of the two novels? It is therefore against these three questions that the two novels have been purposefully selected and studied in order to address the gap. Conceptualising and implementing cognitive metaphor, the study also analyses the root causes of societal problems such as unemployment, unfair treatment of people, HIV/AIDS and witchcrafts in the Namibian social fabric. In The Other Presence, it is HIV/AIDS what is referred as the other presence of the other. Shilongo’s The Hopeless Hopes also reveals how Robert and the other fellow ex-combatants gathered at a Big House in Windhoek to hand over their petition to Honourable Zopa. This clearly indicates that the State House is being contextualised to a Big House, while The Founding Father and former President of the country, Honourable Sam Nuyoma referred to as Honourable Zopa. The contextual meaning of the selected novels can thus only understood if the readers of the concerned novel have general background of the Namibian society. Following cognitivism as a broader theoretical framework, the study has also followed a schema theory specifically to explain mental problems and contextual meanings. The study revealed and demonstrated how cognitive stylistics approach to Namibian novels can advance the literary understanding of multiplicities of themes such as culture, taboo, superstition, unemployment, colonialism and corruption
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree master of computer science in the department of computer science at the Namibia University of science and technology.
No full textPublic participation and visitor satisfaction in museums are directly related to the experience of learning, discovery and involvement in motivating learning behaviours. In most cases, visitors’ experiences are significantly improved if they gain substantial knowledge on each artefact of interest from the museum guides and this is critical to user satisfaction, however, the ratio of human guides to visitors is grossly inadequate. A visitor touring in a group is hardly taken care of individually by the human guide. In addition, existing information systems for museums guides are often limited to museum-based gadgets or platform-specific smart devices provided by the museums, but not always familiar to the visitor. This study explored alternative ways that avail museum content to a broader user base while offering an increasing and personalised interactive content through multiple visitors' own smart devices. A constructive research methodology that uses quantitative and qualitative data plus incremental software prototyping development and testing were used in this study, with the main objective of producing a location-aware interactive virtual guide that is easy to use, stable and able to run on a broad range of mobile device operating systems.
The outcome systems were developed with AngularJS Framework (Web application) and Ionic Framework (cross-platform mobile application), these two combined constitutes an overall museum’s mobile guide system-iMuseum. The system aims to offer the museum a platform that will enable more visitors to have individual experience and interact with historical artefacts, plus additionally offer relevant information when and wherever a visitor needs it without having an employee going around with everyone. This study was contextualized to Namibian museums using the Independence Memorial Museum (IMM) as a testing site. The contributions of this study can then be used to implement related systems in other learning and cultural heritage institutions like galleries, libraries, achieves and museums(GLAM)
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
No full textA determination of the phenotypic frequencies of blood group systems C, c, E, e and Kell among the Namibian blood donors and pregnant women and the prevalence of these antigens in Namibia was carried out. Two thousand nine hundred and eight six blood donor specimens and four hundred and eighty-four specimens from pregnant women were randomly selected for antigen characterisation. Donated specimens that were processed for grouping and Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTIs) by NaMBTS and ready for discard were collected by the researcher for testing.
The main aim was to determine the prevalence of C, c, E, e and Kell antigens among the Namibia blood donors and pregnant women and advice NaMBTS and the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) on the findings in order to improve the outcome of patients who will be receiving donated blood and the pregnant women. This was to lay the foundation for further studies to establish a database for typed donors in Namibia and then store blood that is antigen negative and reduce the risks of Haemolytic Disease of the Foetus and the New-born (HDFN) and Haemolytic Transfusion Reaction (HTR). In some cases, the survival of the red blood cells that will have been transfused is shortened by the effect of transfused antigens. This is the first time this research has been carried out in Namibia
Investigating Ubuntu in selected plays by David Ndjavera
No full textTHESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYThis study investigated the concept of Ubuntu as portrayed in David Ndjavera’s selected plays ‘The Evil That People Do’, ‘I’ll Marry Who I Want’ and ‘Burning Issues…’. Through theatre, Ndjavera not only dramatises and raises awareness of issues that relate to violation or recognition of Ubuntu, but he also personifies literal work so that it relates vividly with the scholars at different academic levels. The concept of Ubuntu is about the African art of being a true human being through other true human beings. In view of the preceding, the concept of Ubuntu is substitution to utilitarian and individualistic philosophies that tend to dominate in the West. Relevant literature was consulted for the literature review and aspects pertaining to the definition of Ubuntu, assumptions and implications of Ubuntu as well as challenges and criticism of Ubuntu formed part of the literature review amongst other critical issues. The study adopted a qualitative research approach as it was a desktop type of research. Data were collected through intense reading of Ndjavera’s selected plays and analysed under the guidance of the reviewed literature as well as the framing of the Ubuntu Philosophy. Nevertheless, the philosophy of Ubuntu appears not to explicitly belong to anyone in particular but believed to be a traditional African ode or humanist and social value that advances a perception of ourselves in relation with the world, focusing on people’s commitments and contacts with one another. The values embraced in Ubuntu emphasize sharing, reciprocity, caring, and empathy, co-operation and compassion in recognition that for human beings to develop, flourish and reach their full potential, they need to conduct their relationships in a manner that promotes the well-being of others. It appears, the advancement of Ubuntu is visible in the selected plays as Ndjavera wrote the plays maybe with the intention to teach society on the importance of Ubuntu if ever society chooses to live peacefully and harmoniously. Also, with the advancement of Ubuntu in the three plays ‘The Evil That People Do’; ‘I’ll Marry Who I Want’; and ‘Burning Issues…’ it is shown that once the Ubuntu philosophy is followed, it automatically calls for a collaborative effort where everyone has to take part as well as being sensitive and considerate about the next person and the society at large. The study concluded that the Ubuntu philosophy could be the ideal view point to adopt, whether in Namibia or beyond its borders, as it allows peace and harmony to prevail amongst people in any society. As one of its recommendations, the study suggests that for future studies, one may consider analysing the other three plays from the anthology in which the selected plays were extracted or may consider analysing all six in the collection at once
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
No full textGroup B streptococcus (GBS) naturally colonises the lower gastrointestinal and female genitourinary tract. It poses a great risk of morbidity and mortality to infants born to colonised mothers. It is highly implicated in maternal infections such as endometritis and chorioamnionitis as well as neonatal infections such as pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia. It also causes stillbirths and miscarriages in colonised women.
Group B streptococcus infection in neonates is classified in two clinical syndromes, which are Early Onset Disease (EOD) and Late Onset Disease (LOD). Early Onset Disease presents between day zero and day seven, and LOD between day eight and day ninetieth (third month) of the infant’s life. GBS is classified into capsular types Ia, Ib and II – IX, based on the polysaccharide capsular antigens of the bacterium. This study aimed at determining the prevalence rate, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and molecular characteristics of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from pregnant women at 35 weeks of gestation and above, who attended antenatal screening at selected hospitals in Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions of Namibia
A linguistic error analysis of examination scripts by students at the University of Namibia’s Southern campus
No full textTHESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SUPERVISOR: PROF. R. MAKAMANI
OCTOBER 2019At the University of Namibia Southern Campus, students commit recurrent written errors in daily tasks as well as examinations. This poor writing proficiency has been a great concern to the University of Namibia as the University is held accountable if it produces graduates who lack proficiency in writing. Writing is an integral part of any profession and an acceptable standard of writing in the official language is essential.
Therefore, it is against this background that this study aims to investigate linguistic errors made in the English Language and Literacy (LEP 2500) examination answer scripts of the year 2018 by students at the University of Namibia, Southern Campus. The researcher used a combination of error analysis and document analysis as this study’s theoretical framework. The qualitative method was used to identify the students’ written errors from the examination scripts. A total of 72 students’ answer scripts comprised the population of this study and 56 samples formed the sample size of this study. The 56 research samples were then analysed based on Corder’s (1974) five steps in error analysis research, namely: (1) collection of a sample of learners’ language; (2) identification of errors; (3) description of errors; (4) explanation of errors; and (5) evaluation of errors. The findings revealed that a total number of 17 categories of different types of errors were analysed from the students’ examination scripts in the LEP 2500 module for the 2018 academic year.
These errors were classified into three major categories, namely: morphology, syntax and semantics. The observed errors in students’ examination scripts were: errors in verb tense, subject verb agreement, use of pronouns, capitalisation, punctuation, articles, singular and plural linkage, use of inflections, use of auxiliary verbs, spelling, use of colloquialism, use of compounds, omission of letters, mis-selection of letters, mis-ordering of letters, and errors in sentences and paragraphs.
The study further revealed that these errors are attributed to: inter-lingual transfer, intra-lingual transfer; over-generalisation, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules, and technological interference. On the strength of the findings, the study recommends that English language instructions be emphasised across all the field of studies, provision of extensive online end of the semester examination reports, consider the process approach to teaching grammar and spelling, and a consideration of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in all courses
Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
No full textPurpose of the research: Globally, puerperal infections cause morbidity in 5-10% of all pregnant
women each year. To date, there is very little data in Namibia on the colonization and antibiotic
susceptibility patterns of S. pyogenes in pregnant women and neonates. This study aimed at
determining the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and genetic based resistance of the
isolates from pregnant women at 35 weeks to 37 weeks gestation and neonates at 6 week postdelivery
follow up at the Windhoek Central Hospital (WCH) maternity ward
Investigation of productivity and efficiency of a passive solar desalination technology for brackish water in North-Central Namibia.
No full textThesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
No full textQuarry mining produces substantial dust amounts bearing an adverse effect on human health in several ways, mainly the respiratory system. Even though employers are obligated to protect their employees from occupational hazards, the quarry mining industry in Namibia has failed to honour that obligation. This study investigated quarry workers and the surrounding community’s exposure to dust as well as their risk of getting chronic respiratory diseases in the Erongo region of Namibia.
Objectively the study assessed the amount of silica emitted in quarry dust emissions from selected Namibian quarry mines in compliance with national and WHO Air Quality Standards. Secondly, this study made an evaluation of health risks connected to dust exposure amid quarry workers and surrounding communities of 1km radius to selected quarry sites. Lastly, this study established appropriate interventions to deter dust exposure effects on quarry workers and the surrounding community.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was done with 233 quarry workers and community members from selected quarry mines around Karibib. Self-administered interview questionnaires were used to both quarry workers and community members. Respirable dust levels were evaluated in different work stations using Spirometry. Binominal logistic regression analysis was used to predictable the overall outcome of quarry dust exposure on respiratory outcomes, while linear regression predicted the exposure-related effect on lung function. Workers were stratified according to the cumulative dust exposure category.
The highest mean dust level, by quarry site, was 1.13 mg/m³ (SD: 0.58) recorded among workers from Site A and the lowest was 0.63 mg/m³ (SD=0.38) at Site B. In relation to job types, excavation had the highest mean dust level of 1.20 mg/m³ (SD: 0.65) and wire saw the lowest at 0.54 mg/m³ (SD=0.42). The most prevalent of the respiratory symptoms reported by the quarry workers were coughing (57%) and the corresponding percentage among the community members was lower (14%).
There were more respondents with 10 or more years in quarrying (78%) who reported coughing compared to 58% or less among workers with less than 10 years in the job. Statistical links between the lung function assessments and quarry site, job specification, or years in quarrying among the quarry workers (p>0.05) were not established. Lung function outcomes between the quarry workers and community members (p>0.05) did not also show a substantive difference. However, a significant statistically difference between quarry workers and community members, with 13 of the 120 of quarry
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workers (11%) diagnosed with obstructive or restrictive lung functioning compared to none of the 96 community members. There were statistically significant associations between smoking history and the lung function assessments FVC1 Pred% and FEV1 Pred%. Workers with 6-10 years of smoking history had significantly lower mean scores on both these measures compared to non-smokers.
The study found that there were no medical examinations records at any of the studied sites. The study recommended that routine occupational medical check-up is performed for each and every worker of the quarry mines. Environmental administration systems, such as dust management plan, can be used in quarries to minimise the generation of dust. Regular environmental audit and monitoring of quarrying activities should be enforced in order to ensure adherence to the standards and limits of the concentrations of the dust generated from the different stages of their operations