Cape Peninsula University of Technology
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Teachers’ and parents’ experiences regarding the no-fee policy in a historically disadvantaged school
No full textThesis (MEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Many schools in the Western Cape Province of South Africa have opted to change from a
fee-paying school to that of no-fee paying school, due to the small or no income of funding
received annually from learners from poor economic backgrounds. The study aimed to
investigate whether this school fee system was able to successfully address barriers which
the previous system was unable to, and for this reason I addressed the stakeholders who are
involved in the implementation of this no-fee school policy. This study aimed to explore the
experiences of teachers and parents at the no-fee school well after its transition from feepaying.
In summary, the study examined whether the no-fee allocated funds per learner were
able to improve the school performance indicators (school facilities, resources, teacher
complement, pass rates, infrastructure, etc.), since the change took place.
The study applied a qualitative case study methodology to realize its purpose. I used
purposeful sampling to select one newly declared no-fee school. From this school, one
principal, six teachers and four sets of parents were interviewed on their experiences
regarding this policy. Semi-structured interviews and observation with document analysis
were triangulated to collect and enrich the data. The study revealed that this no-fee school
was able to address the needs of the poor in the Lotus River historically disadvantaged
community
Usage barriers and effectiveness of social media platforms by small businesses in the Cape Metropole, in South Africa
No full textThesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.SMMEs have been touted as the major driver of any economy – they create jobs, reduce poverty level and generally improve the livelihood of a society. Even with these lofty advantages, SMMEs encounter numerous challenges. These range from lack of access to funding, poor education and understanding of small business management practices. Embedded in small business management practice, is the need to undertake proper marketing. Marketing has recently featured as one of the main challenges of small businesses. Lately several marketing channels have emerged in response to this challenge. These channels have been reported to have positive impact on the bottom line of businesses.
This study sought to discover whether social media platforms are deployed within the hospitality sector in the Cape Metropole, Western Cape Province, South Africa, to enhance the growth of restaurants. The study was motivated by the lack of alternative marketing channels using social media platforms, especially in the hospitality industry in the Cape Metropole.
Essentially, to achieve this aim, a survey was conducted of SMMEs with employment capacity of not more than 50 employees, specifically within the hospitality sector in the Cape Metropole. A quantitative methodology was applied, using a self-administered questionnaire, distributed to 100 SMMEs in the Cape Metropole. The method of data analysis was purposive.
The findings of this research indicate that most of the sampled small businesses used social media platforms. The findings also suggest that SMMEs perceived social media to have moderately effective marketing tools, with WhatsApp as the most effective, followed by Facebook and Twitter. The findings suggest that most respondents used the platform to inform their clients about a business promotion; for new product marketing; for customer loyalty, and for socialising with clients. It was found that if the highest percentage, used for socialising, was then channelled towards strategic marketing, it would significantly boost small business marketing capabilities. This could fill the gap of sustainable marketing strategies
People management factors militating against public servants’ professionalism in Nigeria
No full textThesis (DTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.The Nigerian public service has been perceived over the years as not delivering its services effectively and in most cases leadership has been assumed to be the problem. However, from the perspective of human resource management (HRM) this study seeks to examine the people management practices that could have contributed to this ineffectiveness. It has been observed that the importance of people as the most important element of productivity cannot be underestimated, because machines can be replaced, money can be recovered but diligent, competent and professional employees are an organisational asset that cannot easily be replaced. The professional employee is described as the one with the right skills, knowledge, qualifications and attitudes that support organisational effectiveness.
The study was carried out at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria where all public servants from Grades 07 or above in Nigeria are expected to attend at least one course before the end of their careers. Questionnaires were administered to about one thousand, one hundred (1,100) randomly selected participants while four hundred and seventy six (476) useable ones were retrieved. Likewise, a focus group discussion was held with three different groups. Quantitative data collected was cleaned and coded appropriately for the Statistical Program for Social Science (SPSS) and used to generate descriptive statistics. Recordings of focus group discussions were also transcribed and organised into themes according to the discussion content.
All research objectives were achieved relying on both qualitative and quantitative data output. Various statistical analyses were used for the quantitative analysis and factor correlation showed that organisational culture, organisational climate, human resource retention and development, employment relations climate and exit management have significant relationship with professionalism at various levels. Other statistical measures (t-Test and Analysis of Variance) were adopted to determine the relationship of demographic variable and it was shown that age, work grade level and work experience have significant relationship with professionalism. Employee resourcing (recruitment and selection) was also found to have a significant effect on professionalism, having been statistically analysed using ANOVA. Likewise, all qualitative themes acknowledged the significance of the people management role in public servants’ professionalism
Control and protection analysis for power distribution in a distributed generation system
No full textThesis (MTech (Electrical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology.Distributed Generation systems based on renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar are mostly intermittent sources, due to their dependency on the weather, whereas those based on other primary energy sources are non-intermittent. All of them are specially designed to be integrated into distribution systems, in order to improve the power demand of consumers. In the last few decades of the twentieth century, several different factors have played a key role in increasing interest in systems. Distributed Generation (DG) is gaining more and more attention worldwide as an alternative to large-scale central generating stations. The aim of this research project is to investigate the contribution of distributed generation in fault current level in a power distribution system. The simulation results indicate that DG can have a positive or negative impact, on the fault current level in distribution network systems. The DG location and size affect the fault level. The second aim of this research was to suggest a model-based method for design, and implementation of a protection scheme for power distribution systems, by establish algorithms in a hardware environment. The overcurrent relay was chosen for the model development because it is considered a simple and popular protection scheme, and it is a common scheme in relaying applications. The proposed relay model was tested for fault conditions applied on a simple power system in different scenarios. The overcurrent relay model was implemented in MATLAB/Simulink, by using MATLAB programming languages and the SimPowerSystem (SPS) Tool. MATLAB/SIMULINK software is applicable to the modelling of generation, transmission, distribution and industrial grids, and the analysis of the interactions of these grids. This software provides a library of standard electrical components or models such as transformers, machines, and transmission lines. Therefore, the modelling and simulations are executed using MATLAB/Simulink version 2014
The application of Sr-spec resin in the analysis of 90Sr in effluent and environmental samples at KNPS
No full textThesis (MTech (Chemistry))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Radiostrontium (90Sr and 89Sr) has been released to the environment by global fall-out
following atmospheric nuclear explosions, by waste discharges and fall-out from the
Chernobyl. 89Sr, with a half-life of 50.5 days, quickly decays to undetectable levels, while 90Sr is radiobiologically more important because of its longer half-life of 28.78 years, and because it behaves chemically similar to Ca, and accumulates in bones and teeth. Cost effective and relatively simple procedures for determination of radiostrontium are desirable. An accurate determination of radionuclides from various sources in the environment is essential for assessment of the potential hazards and suitable countermeasures both in case of accidents, authorised releases and routine surveillances. Reliable radiochemical separation and detection techniques are needed for accurate determination of alpha and beta emitters. Rapid analytical methods are needed in case of an accident for early decision-making. At the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station (KNPS), 90Sr analysis are performed on liquid effluent
samples making use of the traditional fuming nitric acid method, and subsequent counting of
particulate samples on an alpha/beta proportional counter. This method is often at times very
time – consuming, and involves many precipitation steps. The use of fuming nitric acid is also
very dangerous and could lead to severe personnel injuries in the event of an accident. This
project focussed on the application of Sr-Spec resin in the analysis of 90Sr. This work
presents the methods for 90Sr analysis for both effluent samples as well as environmental
samples. This research also focussed on the calibration of the different radiometric
instruments, which are the Liquid Scintillation Counter, the Alpha/Beta Counter as well as the
Gamma Detector
The impact of human resources information systems in selected retail outlets in Western Cape
No full textThesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Human Resource Information Systems (HRISs) are systems that merge Human Resources (HR) and Information Systems (ISs) for a fast, easy, and convenient way of operating and reporting the human and material resources in an organisation. The retail sector is an important and active sector in terms of its job creation and a major contributor to the economy.
This research focuses on the level of impact HRISs have in the retail sector by reassessing its functions, problems, prospects, and benefits to the retail industries. This research further focuses on two retail outlets that use HRISs to explore how effective HRIS implementation is, the benefits these systems are able to offer, and its contribution to the organisation. A multiple case study was used as research strategy. Interviews and semi-structured questionnaires were conducted to collect the data. Data was analysed using summarising, categorising and thematic analysis. The problem statement is that HRISs are difficult to implement and maintain and as a result, organisations cannot effectively utilise these systems to their benefit. The aim of this research is based on exploring how HRISs can be implemented and maintained in order for organisations to gain the expected benefits of the system.
The contribution of the study is a proposed guideline for retail organisations to assist in the effective implementation and maintenance of their preferred HRISs. All ethical standards as required by CPUT were followed. Consent was obtained in writing from the companies as well as the interviewees
Real-time decision support systems in a selected big data environment
No full textThesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.The emergence of big data (BD) has rendered existing conventional business intelligence (BI) tools inefficient and ineffective for real-time decision support systems (DSS). The inefficiency and ineffectiveness is perceived when business users need to make decisions based on stale and sometimes, incomplete data sets, which potentially leads to slow and poor decision making. In recent years, industry and academia have invented new technologies to process BD such as Hadoop, Spark, in-memory databases and NOSQL databases. The appearance of these new technologies have escalated to an extent, that organisations are faced with the challenge of determining most suitable technologies that are appropriate for real-time DSS requirements. Due to BD still being a new concept, there are no standard guidelines or frameworks available to assist in the evaluation and comparing of BD technologies. This research aims to explore factors that influence the selection of technologies appropriate for real-time DSSs in a BD environment. In addition, it further proposes evaluation criteria that can be used to compare and select these technologies. To achieve this aim, a literature analysis to understand the concept of BD, real-time DSSs and related technologies is conducted. Qualitative as well as quantitative research techniques are used after interviews are conducted with BI experts who have BD knowledge and experience. Experimental research in a computer laboratory is also conducted. The purpose of the interviews is to ascertain which technologies are being used for BD analytics and in addition, which evaluation criteria organisations use when choosing such a technology. Furthermore, a comparative computer laboratory experiment is conducted to compare three tools which run on Hadoop namely; Hive, Impala and Spark. The purpose of the experiment is to test if system performance is different for the three tools when analysing the same data set and the same computer resources. The impirical results reveals nine main factors which impact the selection of technologies appropriate for real-time DSS in a BD environment, and ten application independent evaluation criteria. Furthermore, the experiment results indicate that system performance in terms of latency, is significantly different among the three tools compared
An assessment of quality management in the South African Police service: a case study of selected community service centres in the Western Cape, South Africa
No full textThesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.This study examined concerns relating to the provision of quality service by the community service centres of police stations and identified how this provision is linked to quality management practices. The researcher adopted a mixed method approach, utilising both qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the service provided to the clients of three police stations in Mfuleni, Kuilsriver and Kleinvlei
Synthesis of zeolite (ZSM-5 and Faujasite) and geopolymer from South African coal fly ash
No full textThesis (MTech (Chemical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Population growth in South Africa has led to a direct increase in electricity demand. Due to the
abundance of coal in the country, most of the energy requirement is met through coal combustion.
Although there is a vast coal resource, the natural high grade coal is mainly exported, while the
low grade coal is exploited for electricity generation. The combustion of low grade coal during
electricity production results in huge quantities of coal fly ash (CFA) that require careful
disposal, due to its toxicity. Poor management of this waste constitutes serious human and
environmental problems, such as respiratory diseases, contamination of soil, surface water and
groundwater. This is in part due to the fact that only a small percentage of fly ash is utilised
efficiently in the construction industry. Several studies have recently been conducted into the use
of CFA as a starting material for the synthesis of zeolites and geopolymers, due to its high
silicon and aluminium content. However, the synthesis of zeolites from CFA has been subject to
criticism, because the synthesis of zeolites from the bulk CFA results in zeolite products that are
mixed with non-reacted fly ash and toxic elements. On the other hand, pure phase zeolites can only
be synthesised from CFA extracts, which results in a small yield of the zeolite products and a huge
amount of solid waste. Therefore, this does not facilitate either the use of fly ash-based zeolites
as catalysts in advanced chemical processes or scaling up of the synthesis process. This study seeks to make optimal use of CFA by developing a method for optimal extraction of Si and Al for the synthesis of ZSM-5 and faujasite zeolites, and use the resulting solid waste for the synthesis of geopolymers such that the resultant waste is minimised or completely eliminated. Two distinct processes are employed in this study to synthesise ZSM-5 or faujasite zeolite from CFA extracts, while the solid residue is transformed into a geopolymer. In the first process, an alkaline leaching method is employed for extraction of Si from CFA using 8 M NaOH at 150 0C for 24 h. It was found that the Si extract contained a certain amount of Al, enough for the synthesis of a high silica zeolite such as ZSM-5. However, the Si extract had to be treated with oxalic acid in order to remove the excess Na in the extract, since this could prevent the formation of ZSM-5. The obtained Si extract was then used as a feedstock for the synthesis of Zeolite ZSM-5 with NaOH and tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) as mineralising and structure directing agents respectively. The obtained gel underwent hydrothermal synthesis at 160 °C for 72 h, while the solid residue obtained after Si extraction was used in the synthesis of geopolymer at 70 °C for 5 days. The obtained ZSM-5 and geopolymer products were characterised using ICP, XRD, SEM, FTIR and NMR techniques
Accessibility to patients’ own health information: a case in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa
No full textThesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Access to healthcare is regarded as a basic and essential human right. It is widely known that ICT solutions have potential to improve access to healthcare, reduce healthcare cost, reduce medical errors, and bridge the digital divide between rural and urban healthcare centres. The access to personal healthcare records is, however, an astounding challenge for both patients and healthcare professionals alike, particularly within resource-restricted environments (such as rural communities). Most rural healthcare institutions have limited or non-existent access to electronic patient healthcare records. This study explored the accessibility of personal healthcare records by patients and healthcare professionals within a rural community hospital in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The case study was conducted at the St. Barnabas Hospital with the support and permission from the Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Semi-structured interviews, observations, and interactive co-design sessions and focus groups served as the main data collection methods used to determine the accessibility of personal healthcare records by the relevant stakeholders. The data was qualitatively interpreted using thematic analysis. The study highlighted the various challenges experienced by healthcare professionals and patients, including time-consuming manual processes, lack of infrastructure, illegible hand-written records, missing records and illiteracy. A number of recommendations for improved access to personal healthcare records are discussed. The significance of the study articulates the imperative need for seamless and secure access to personal healthcare records, not only within rural areas but within all communities