M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

Particle precipitation involves the injection of energetic particles into the ionosphere which could increase the ionisation and conductivity of the upper atmosphere. The goal of this study was to examine the ionospheric response and changes due to particle precipitation in the region over South Africa, using a combination of groundbased and satellite instruments. Particle precipitation events were identified from satellite particle flux measurements of the Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Comprehensive studies were done on the events of 5 April, 2000 and 7 October, 2000. Analysis of the data from the satellite instruments indicates that no particle precipitation was observed over the South African region during these events and that it is unlikely to occur during other such events. To validate the data, methods and tools used in this study, precipitation in the South Atlantic anomaly (SAA) region is used. Satellite ion density measurements revealed that strong density enhancements occurred over the SAA region at satellite altitudes during the precipitation events, but this did not occur in the South African region. The measurements also revealed how the ionisation enhancements in the SAA region correlated with geomagnetic and solar activities. Particle precipitation and convective electric fields are two major magnetospheric energy sources to the upper atmosphere in the auroral and the SAA regions. These increase dramatically during geomagnetic storms and can disturb thermospheric circulation in the atmosphere and alter the rates of production and recombination of the ionised species. Ionosonde observations at Grahamstown, South Africa (33.30S, 26.50E), provided the data to build a picture of the response of the ionosphere over the South African region to particle precipitation during the precipitation events. This analysis showed that, within the confines of the available data, no direct connections between particle precipitation events and disturbances in the ionosphere over this region were revealed.

Adaptive water resource management requires sound scientific based decisions, emanating from robust scientific data. The Department of Environmental Affairs are mandated for collaborative management of the South African coast, including estuaries, through the Integrated Coastal Management Act (Act no 24 of 2008) (ICMA). The Department Water and Sanitation is mandated through the National Water Act (Act no 36 of 1998) (NWA) to design, test and implement monitoring programmes to provide water resource data. Extensive freshwater monitoring programmes exist in South Africa but there is no standard long-term monitoring programme for estuaries. This study designed and tested a National Estuarine Monitoring Programme (NESMP) that is anchored in the NWA and the ICMA. The design was based on a review of international estuary monitoring programmes, consultation with relevant role players and five decades experience in the design, testing and implementation of water resource monitoring programmes by DWS. The main objective of this thesis is 1) to design a national estuarine monitoring programme 2) test the design of the programme for practical implementation by reflecting on collected data from case studies, and 3) design a Decision Support System to translate complex monitoring data into management information. The main objective of the NESMP is 1) to collect long-term data to determine trends in the condition of estuaries in South Africa and 2) to provide management orientated information for effective estuary management. The National Estuary Monitoring programme consists of three tiers. Tier 1 focuses on basic data including system variables and nutrient data. Tier 2 collects data required for the determination of the Ecological Water Requirements (EWR) of estuaries in accordance with a standardised method used by DWS. A tailor made monitoring programme addressing specific issues including pollution incidents and localised development pressure, making use of a combination of Tier 1 and Tier 2 components, forms Tier 3 of the NESMP. This study tested the Tier 1 components of the programme on 28 estuaries across the South African coast since 2012. However, due to space constraints, the data reflected on in this thesis, is only for case studies on the Berg and Breede estuaries between 2012 and 2016. The results indicate that the establishment and operation of the NESMP on South African estuaries making use of monthly surveys, and the deployment of permanent water quality loggers, in line with the proposed protocol, are possible. This does however require collaboration with other role players in order to share responsibility and associated resources. A tiered management structure ensures national, regional and local level implementation takes place seamlessly. A decision support system (DSS) was also designed as part of this thesis to assist with data interpretation and the creation of management orientated information. This DSS includes a measurement of the percentage exceedance of the Threshold of Potential Concern (TPC), which acts as an early warning system for water resource deterioration. This study showed that effective collaboration will ensure the sustainability of the NESMP. Implementation of the more complex and resource intensive Tier 2 and Tier 3 sampling will however need to be investigated to establish the overall success of the NESMP.

It has been twenty years since F W De Klerk unbanned the African National Congress. This momentous occasion changed overnight the business landscape in South Africa and the way business were done for many decades. Before and after this crucial moment in South African history, leaders played a significant role in bringing change about as well as managing it. Whether hierarchical or non-hierarchical, leadership manifests itself through all spheres of civilisation. Within any collective, formal as well as informal leadership are always at work and within the environment there always seems to be an individual that appears to hold equal or more influence and sway over the collective. This research investigates the characteristics and role of this individual, the informal leader. In addition, against the melting pot of the diversity of culture, social structures, economics, and demographics in South Africa, the influence of culture on how leadership is being perceived and experienced is also researched. The research is grounded in a post-positivists approach and conducted within a constructivist-interpretative paradigm. A qualitative approach is followed with personal interviews as the method to collect the data from respondents. The interview protocol consists of a combination of questions containing questions of both a quantitative and qualitative nature. Questions of a qualitative nature were open-ended and of an in-depth nature. The research is two pronged. The focus of the research is an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the South African Motor Industry and for the primary goal of the research data was collected from employees within work groups of the OEM. The primary research goal investigates the role and characteristics of informal leaders in work groups as seen and experienced by their fellow employees and if there is any congruence with that of the role and characteristics of formal leaders. The study found no fundamental differences between the characteristics and role of formal and informal leaders. The characteristics and role of leaders between different cultures also appear to be the same. For the secondary research goal – determining whether the role and characteristics of informal leaders in work groups could be underpinned in the principles of Ubuntu and if consideration should be given to any cultural differences between leaders and followers by organisational hierarchies – the literature was reviewed in order to reach a conclusion with regards this goal. The literature indicates that culture does affect leadership, especially on how the leadership is executed and experienced in a multicultural society and if ignored, will have a detrimental effect on effective leadership. In order to strive towards achieving maximum productivity, it is imperative that management in South African organisations be aware of the changed dynamic within their organisations as well as on the global stage. The research therefore ends with the practical implications of informal leaders for organisations in South Africa. It is recommended that the importance and contribution of informal leaders within work groups in a multi-culture organisation needs not only to be considered as an element of group leadership, but should be accommodated by the organisation. It is also recommended that organisations recognise the cultural differences between leaders and followers in organisations and the possible consequences if ignored. If the competitive pressures and requirements of globalisation are ignored against the background of Afrocentric expectations and motivational imperatives of the South African workforce, it will result in an ineffective workforce, which will in due course render these organisations uncompetitive and non-sustainable locally and globally.

1, Eighteen species of aquatic Hyphomycetes are recorded from South Africa for the first time. All except two of these can be assigned to described species. The other two are new species of Articulospora and Anguillospora and are described in this thesis. Three unidentified spore types, an "Articulospora" type and "Anguillospora" type and a Y-shaped spore are also described. 2. Spore development in ten species is described. 3. A key to the fungi described in this thesis is given. 4. General notes on the ecology of these fungi and a table recording the fungi found in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, their distribution within the localities and the nature of the material on which they are growing are given. 5. The gross characteristics of plate cultures of six species, five growing on malt agar, Czapek agar, plain agar and maize agar and one on malt agar only are described. 6. Growth of four species in liquid culture using the Czapek-Dox medium is reported. 7. The results of an investigation into the effect of variations in temperature and medium on the growth of plate cultures of five species are analysed, discussed and conclusions are drawn. 8. Growth of certain isolates of four species on twigs is described.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The dynamic and rapidly changing society of the R.S.A. has brought about such urgent requirements/need for change in the teaching profession that the present adult image has been subjected to scrutiny. This image calls for urgent analysis and evaluation so that the problems which surround education can really be addressed. This study has formed part of a project in which an analysis and description of "Adulthood" has been made. This could give direction for education in the R. S. A. The aim of this empirical investigation was explicitly directed at the importance of the different pre-identified facets in the evaluation of adulthood namely responsibility, moral and religious values, labour-orientation and self-sufficiency, responsibility towards fellow human beings, self-concept (image) and self acceptance, time orientation, citizen expectations and duties, family responsibility, perspective of future and family planning conservation as well as the economic demands and financial management and duties. This specific examination concerns the sense of responsibility as a facet of adulthood. As a result of sense of responsibility being such a complex concept, the investigator was compelled to select certain aspects and the importance thereof in an empirical manner. These aspects of the sense of responsibility were examined and are as follows : liability, integrity, conscientiousness, trustworthiness, loyalty, liberty and self-control. After the theoretical basis of the sense of responsibility was established, the research subject used in the examination was stipulated and the development of the empirical examination was stated. The following conclusion could be drawn from these statistics : regardless of the independent differences ego sex, language, qualifications, vocations, lecturers, age, permanent homes, religious ties, marital status, children and income, few differences in the view points of the respondents with regard to the importance of the sense of responsibility as a facet of adulthood occurred. The differences in the perception of adulthood which appeared were between the different sexes; qualification groups and religious groups (Christians and those with no religious ties) were statistically indistinct and thus did not influence the perception of the sense of responsibility. The analysis of the empirical information reveals that the sense of responsibility and more specifically the essence thereof namely: the human ability of trustworthiness, honesty, sincerity as well as responsibility, were viewed as important by all respondents. The aspects regarded as very important were: trustworthiness, integrity and conscientiousness. Through this, those approaching adulthood can be prepared to play their role in life so that they can eventually be well-adjusted, happy adults in the new R.S.A.

M.A. / The aim of this dissertation is to establish the relevance, if not, of the debate surrounding standard and non-standard language with specific reference to the current South African situation. Some background to the debate is provided by means of a concise study of literature where opposing perspectives of several South African and foreign linguists are analysed. The debate is consequently viewed from an educational perspective. Attention is also paid to extra-linguistic factors currently influencing the unique linguistic situation in South Africa; South Africa's membership of Africa as well as its twenty-first century time-spirit comes under scrutiny. An empirical study tries to establish attitudes of a group tertiary college students towards varieties of English, i.e. Standard English, Black English Vernacular and Black South African English. Certain deductions are made from all aquired information whereupon some recommendations follow.

M.Com. / At present the macro business milieu in South Africa is prevailed by a climate which, more than ever, imposes high demands upon employers and employees. It is evident that organizational effectiveness and the occupational success of individuals are increasingly dependent upon a purposeful intervention, by which the establishment of optimal interfaces can be facilitated. These interfaces have a specific bearing on the imbalance which often exists between the needs and expectations of individuals and those of the organizations by which they are employed. In this regard, it must be stated that the behavioural sciences, and in particular occupational psychology, can fulfil an important function in the establishment of the above-mentioned interfaces. A special type of problem occurs as a manifestation of the imbalance referred to above. This problem is created in circumstances of a high demand for management staff, when professionals are promoted to managerial positions outside their fields of specialization, and irrespective of the nature of their managerial training, experience and aspirations. An occupational group which is especially characterized by this phenomenon is the accounting profession. This problem gave rise to the objective of the present study and it was consequently decided to gather information on accounting persons in the early career stage against a frame of reference pertaining to the behavioural sciences. The approach adopted for this purpose was the determination of the career orientation(s) of early career stage individuals in different phases of involvement in the accounting profession. A literature study undertaken consisted mainly of life cycle theory, the career anchor and -orientation model as proposed by Schein (1975), and the nature and effect of professional occupations. Against this theoretical background the Career Orientation Inventory was administered to persons in the accounting profession. The sample consisted of the following groups: 1) full-time first year accounting students; 2) part-time honours students in accounting; and 3) Chartered Accountants in auditing and other firms. The empirical study yielded the conclusion that managerial skill featured as the most prominent career orientation of accounting persons in the early career stage. It was also evident that respondents who had had occupational experience measured highest on the same orientation, that is managerial skill, irrespective of their phases within the early career stage. Furthermore, there were indications that career orientation differentiation increased in accordance with occupational experience. From the study it appeared that knowledge concerning career orientation may be conducive to occupational counselling and guidance processes. A resultant implication of this may then be the creation of more realistic expectations which could enhance the establishment of optimal interfaces between the respective needs of individuals and organizations. In conclusion, it can be stated that a need was identified for further research regarding the career orientations of other occupational groups. However, a prerequisite of such research efforts is the use of structured interviews in order to determine the career anchors of respondents, rather than merely the career orientations.

M.Com. (Financial Management) / In this study, the extent to which performance persistence exists within the scope of South African collective investment schemes was analysed. In addition, the current practices of financial planners were investigated to establish whether or not financial planners use past performance as a criterion for recommending specific investment funds to investors. In other words, the extent to which financial planners are justified in using past performance as a criterion for fund selection was investigated. The study is exploratory in nature and is comprised of two phases, both of a quantitative nature. During Phase A, secondary data relating to the historical returns of South African collective investment schemes was collected to determine the extent of performance persistence over a one- and three-year period respectively. During Phase B, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the practices of financial planners when advising investors on fund selection decisions. The findings revealed that performance persistence does not exist to the extent that past performance is an indicator of future performance. Financial planners, however, tend to utilise past performance as the main criterion for recommending specific collective investment schemes to investors.