UNAM Open Access Journal University of Namibia
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A Classification of Fuzzy Subgroups of Finite Abelian Groups
Get PDFThe knowledge of fuzzy sets and systems has become a considerable aspect to apply in various mathematical systems. In this paper, we apply a knowledge of fuzzy sets to group structures. We consider a fuzzy subgroups of finite abelian groups, denoted by G = Zpn +Zqm , where Z is an integer, p and q are distinct primes and m;n are natural numbers. The fuzzy subgroups are classified using the notion of equivalence classes. In essence the equivalence relations of fuzzy subsets X is extended to equivalence relations of fuzzy subgroups of a group G. We then use the notion of flags and keychains as tools to enumerate fuzzy subgroups of G. In this way, we characterized the properties of the fuzzy subgroups of G. Finally, we use maximal chains to construct a fuzzy subgroups-lattice diagram for these groups of G
Conventional and novel/creative metaphors: Do differing cultural environments affect parsing in a second language?
No full textMetaphors can be regarded as systemic interrelations of multiple experiences which map one relatively stable domain to another. A number of cognitive linguists, such as KOvecses (2005) and Lakoff (2006), suggest that much metaphorical thinking arises from recurring patterns of physical experiences and sensori-motor interactions with the physical world. Gibbs (1999, p. 152) furthermore states that "people clearly a/so learn conceptual metaphors from their experiences with language." Research findings indicate that the default interpretations by First Language speakers were octuol/y the idiomCltic understandings, not the literal ones. The question could be asked whether this would be the case with Second Language speakers when drawing inferences from metaphorical expressions used by first language speakers, and specifically in the case of novel/creative metaphorical expressions.I assumed that this process might pose difficulties for ESl readers from an African environment when reading a business article in English which contained a fair amount of metaphorical expressions. I looked at both conventional metaphors and novel(creative metaphors. These were the metaphors with a source domain that presupposed meta-knowledge of the British English cultural environment. I also included in the research instrument a few orientational metaphors that were used in the business artcle. The findings of this study indicate concurrence with Gibbs (1999, cited in Yu zoog) that "{c]ultura/ models 'in shaping what people believe, how they act, and how they speak about the world and their own experiences' set up specific perspectives from which aspects of 'embodied experiences are viewed as particularly salient and meaningful in people's lives. ... In short, 'social and cultural constructions of experience fundamentaJ/y shape embodied metaphor."
Waking the dead: Civilian casualties in the Namibian liberation struggle
No full textThe liberation Struggle is marked by an absence of archival sources. This absence leads to an impossibility of systematic historical analysis of conflicting archival evidence; as a result, history is created with a broad brush on a monumental landscape. In terms of public history, the emphasis has been placed on the memory of the soldiers who died fighting in the liberation struggle. A post-war publication has listed their names, although those who died on Namibian soil remain buried in anonymous graves. The internet provides a virtual graveyard, which attempts to unite all those who died on the South African side during their "Border War'. Such lists suggest that the compilers have been able to enter inaccessible archives and/or contact knowledgeable informants. Yet many of the soldiers who died, on both sides, during the Namibian liberation Struggle died in Southern Angola and the community memory of the war in Namibia is more closely linked to the many incidents in which civilians were killed inside Namibia during the conflict. In Namibia, almost a generation after the end of the war, it remains unknown how many Namibian civilians died during the Namibian Liberation Struggle. Where estimates are provided, the victims are reduced to nameless numbers. The absence of a consolidated archival record of these deaths means that an important dimension of the war remains hidden. This article will present the work that has been done to create an archive of Civilian Casualties of the Namibian liberation Struggle and discuss some of the challenges and difficulties associated with the project. It will argue that combining a range of sources into a new collection of consolidated information on individual deaths can challenge one of the archival absences on the liberation struggle and shape the historiography of the Namibian liberation struggle that is being created by a new generation of Namibian historians
Rape myths and victim blaming: A study of attitudes of university students in Namibia
Get PDFRape myths serve to blame the victim, justify the perpetrator's actions, and discount the violence of rape. For perpetrators, these rape myths are thought to reduce the expected negative consequences of committing rape. It is believed that endorsement of rape myths might precede sexual aggression and rape. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the extent of endorsement for rape myths by a sample of university students and to establish whether there was any gender difference in this endorsement. A quantitative, descriptive and crosssectional research framework was adopted. A non-probability stratified convenience sample of 152 students was employed. The 20-item short-form of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA-SF) was administered to assess how strongly the participants agreed with rape myths overall. A rape vignette (acquaintance rape scenario) and an accompanying questionnaire were used to assess victim and perpetrator-blaming. The results suggested that at least some students tend towards endorsing some of the rape myths. Male participants endorsed rape myths slightly more than female participants. There were no statistically significant differences in the pattern of responses of male and female respondents regarding the rape vignette. Gender seemed to make no difference with regard to the degree of victim blaming on the acquaintance rape scenario. However, rape myth endorsement on the IRMA-SF scale was significantly associated with victim blaming. In light of the results indicating a presence of rape myth, suggestions are made for possible interventions to reduce rape myths. The overall findings suggest a need to provide more accurate information that will undo myths and by doing so reduce attitudes towards rape and other forms of sexual violence
Types of parent involvement in schools in the Omusati education region of Namibia
Get PDFLittle research has been conducted in the areas of parental involvement in education in Namibia. In this article the views of parents regarding their involvement in education were investigated. Data were collected using a questionnaire which was administered to a systematic sample of one hundred and fifty six (156) parents of learners in grades eight to ten from a random sample of ten (10) combined and junior secondary schools. It is clear from the study that parents are involved only in some activities such as feeding and dressing the children for school, attending parent -teacher meetings, discussing school matters, voting in school board elections, helping children with homework, ensuring that children behave well both at home and at school, providing a quiet place for homework, teaching children the alphabet and that they attend school functions. However, parents were less frequently involved in activities such as attending parents’ evenings, helping elsewhere, helping with special groups such as sport and drama, , limiting TV viewing, helping the school to set challenging academic grades, discussing the child’s progress, and checking homework every night
Educational Emulation of a Soft Handoff Teaching Model (EESH-TM)
Get PDFThe use of fixed Base and Mobile Stations offer a set of challenges dealing with the movement of a Mobile Station away from one Base Station toward a second Base Station. In this situation, the signal strength decreases as the distance of the mobile position increases (following an inverse-square law) from the first station; while an increase in signal strength is experienced as the distance decreases from the second one. Gradually the signal from the former is lost. This is a difficult problem in wireless technology, not only to picture but also to solve. This problem which is prominent in mobile and wireless applications is called ”Soft Handoff”, the solution of which applies the concept of ”make-before-break”, which postulates the smooth and gradual transition of signals from the previous Base Station to the next one without causing a sharp break or interruption of the signal. Such a hypothetically smooth and soft hand over signal mechanism is very difficult for students to understand especially those who have had little or no experience with telecommunication equipment, with the analysis of wireless circuits or with hands-on experience with the technology. This became evident when the topic was initially covered in a Telecommunications course at University of Namibia. It was within this context that the Educational Emulation of Soft Handoff Teaching Model (EESH-TM) was designed and developed to model the mechanism of Soft Handoff. The EESH-TM is comprised of: two Base Stations, two Cells, a Mobile Station, and two interacting signals. This teaching model clearly demonstrated, step-by-step, various scenarios with a mobile unit moving between two Base Stations clearly illustrating how Soft Handoff works. Hence, the utilization of this teaching tool presented inexperienced students with an opportunity to observe and understand how signal hand off works in a wireless network. The success of the model was demonstrated by higher examination scores and greater student interest in the topic
Host specificity, prevalence and intensity of infestation of fleas (Order Siphonaptera) of small mammals atselected sites in the city of Windhoek, Namibia.
Get PDFSmall mammals host diverse communities of parasites including fleas. There is considerable research interest in effects of parasites on their hosts. Host specificity, prevalence and intensity of infestation of fleas on small mammals were studied at selected sites in the city of Windhoek, Namibia from April to July 2005. Small mammals were live-trapped using Sherman traps and autopsied before collection of fleas. Fleas were processed using standard parasitological procedures and were mounted permanently onto slides using Canada balsam. Small mammal hosts and fleas were identified to species level. A total of sixty one (61) small mammals belonging to four rodent species, i.e. bushveld gerbil Gerbilliscus leucogaster, hairy-footed gerbil Gerbillurus paeba, black-tailed tree rat Thallomys nigricauda and the four-stripped mouse Rhabdomys pumilio and one insectivore, bushveld sengi Elephantulus intufi, were captured. One hundred and thirty six (136) fleas belonging to eight species, i.e. Xenopsylla brasiliensis, Xenopsylla cheopis, Xenopsylla hirsuta, Xenopsylla trispinis, Dinopsyllus ellobius, Dinopsyllus zuluensis, Epirimia aganipes and Listropsylla aricinae were collected from infested hosts. Dinopsyllus ellobius and X. trispinis and L. aricinae were host specific, being collected only from G. leucogaster and G. paeba, respectively. No fleas were collected from E. intifi and R. pumilio. The prevalence of fleas ranged from zero in E. entufi and R. pumilio through 50 % in T. nigricauda, 55.1% in G. leucogaster to 61.1% in G. paeba. High species richness of fleas was recorded in G. leucogaster (seven out of eight flea species) and in G. paeba (six out of eight flea species). The overall prevalence of fleas was higher in male (54.3%) than in female (34.6%) hosts. There was no association between the body mass of small mammal hosts and the intensity of flea infestation. The intensity of infestation of fleas did not vary significantly by host species and sex of hosts
Seasonal changes in avian assemblages in kaokoland (mopane) savanna in the ogongo game reserve, north-central Namibia
Get PDFStudies were conducted at UNAM Game Reserve (c. 1000 ha) in the BIOTA Observatory ’Ogongo’, which is located c. 50 km NW of Oshakati, north-central Namibia (17 700S, 15 310E). The natural vegetation of this area is the Koakoland (Mopane) Savanna. In 2011-2012, the line transect method has been employed to assess the species composition, dominance structure, and relative abundance of all bird species, and their seasonal changes in the late rainy season (March), middle of dry season (July), and beginning of rainy season (November). In total, 66 resident (46 in late rainy season, only 35 in the middle of dry season and 39 at the beginning of rainy season) and 19 non-resident species were recorded. Only two resident species have been classified as dominants in all three seasons: Plocepasser mahali and Uraeginthus angolensis; five species were dominants in two, and four species in one season. The avian assemblage undergoes significant seasonal changes, mostly related to the water regime in oshanas. Although the number and proportion of dominant species changed only slightly from season to season (6-7 species; 58.8-62.4% of contribution), highly significant seasonal differences in abundance were recorded for 18 resident species. Clear seasonal changes were also found in the proportions of main feeding guilds, i.e. granivores and insectivores. In comparison with other habitats in Namibia, Ogongo Game Reserve has a rich and diverse avifauna. For many bird species the reserve constitutes a safe breeding habitat, and a rich feeding area. It is fully justified to retain its status as nature sanctuary in Cuvelai Drainage ecosystem
Determination of some hydraulic characteristics of bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris (Schrad)) pipe
Get PDFThe hydraulic characteristics (HCs) of any pipe are important in determining its acceptability for water conveyance. Bamboo culms made into pipes by drilling through their septa at the nodes have been in use for many years but very few documented researches have been reported on their HCs. The HCs of Bambusa vulgaris (Schrad) pipe were therefore investigated to contribute to knowledge of its potential usage in irrigation of agricultural land. Three drilling bits namely hole saw drilling bit (HSDB), Ethiopian drilling bit (EDB) and Tanzanian drilling bit (TDB) were studied and compared, in the removal of the septa at the nodes to make bamboo pipes (BPs) from the Bambusa vulgaris culms. Experimental set-ups were made using 9 m length of the BPs to determine hydraulic parameters such as the head loss due to the nodes and the internodes; friction factors and flow types. The data obtained were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance which were further tested using Duncan post-hoc test. The HSDB performed significantly better (p < 0:05) than the TDB and EDB in the smoothness of septa removal at the nodes with the average percentage head loss value of 0.36%, 0.42% and 0.46% respectively. Average friction factor obtained were 0.037, 0 047 and 0.049 for HSDB, TDB and EDB prepared BPs respectively. All these values are within the acceptable limits for a good hydraulic pipe. The flow type through the BPs was turbulent like for most manufactured pipes presently in use for water conveyance. Based on the determined values of its hydraulic characteristics, B.vulgaris pipe is suitable for usage in irrigation and drainage practices
Assessment of male infertility causes in Mozambique: A case study of working class patients by IVF at Medicos associados clinica Cruz Azul laboratory Maputo
Get PDFA total of 105 semen specimens from infertile patients from different economic backgrounds collected throughout the country, were analyzed at IVF laboratory Medicos Associados Clinica Cruz Azul, Maputo between 2008 and 2010. The semen from patients were collected at the laboratory and quality assessment was carried out through microscopic observation. The objective of this study was to: (a) evaluate semen specimen’s prior IFV; (b) provide appropriate prognosis; and (c) find out alternative reproductive techniques to apply. Results revealed 17.14% with normo spermia; 36.2% with moderate oligospermia; 24.8% with severe oligospermia; 9.5% with presence of crystals consisting epithelial and germ cells within the seminal plasma specimens and 21.9% with high semen specimen viscosity (HSSV). These results indicate a significant level of infertility caused by both moderate and severe oligospermia, while the rest of the observed infertility is attributed to HSSV, followed by possible coital disorders which affected 17.14% of patients with standard semen parameters. Introduction of Intra- Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection techniques and counseling measures in the IVF laboratory are advised given their contribution in achieving both fertilization and acceptable conception rates, concurrently with observation of health care, towards keeping active and functional reproductive organs and standard semen quality.