A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg, South Africa March 2016 / This study examined the movements of white-backed (Gyps africanus) and Cape vultures (G. coprotheres) to assess their habitat preferences, measure seasonal changes in foraging behaviour, and examine where vultures are at risk of electrocution by and collision with power lines. White-backed and Cape vultures are two Old World vulture species found in southern Africa. They are listed as Critically Endangered and Endangered respectively, with massive population declines over the past three decades. These declines are due to poisoning, habitat loss, lack of food, use in traditional medicine, and electrical infrastructure mortality. Vultures provide key ecosystem services such as reducing disease transmission, cycling nutrients, and attracting tourists and therefore, a loss of vultures could cost the continent millions of US dollars. Thirteen vultures (five white-backed and eight Cape vultures) were tracked using either DUCK-4A or BUBO-4A GPS-GSM trackers (Ecotone Telemetry, Sopot, Poland). Birds were tracked between April 2013 and October 2014. These data were used to examine the habitat suitability of both species using MaxEnt habitat suitability modelling. Key drivers of country-wide habitat suitability for white-backed vultures were mean temperature (30.9% contribution), precipitation seasonality (22.0% contribution), and biome (19.5% contribution), while key drivers for Cape vultures were distance to artificial feeding station (24.8% contribution), and precipitation seasonality (50.5% contribution). Anthropological variables (land use, cattle density, and population density) contributed very little to the models. Using the same tracking data, seasonal changes in foraging movements were examined, particularly in relation to hypothetical food availability. Data were categorised by seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn) using weather data over the past decade. There was little evidence for seasonal movement in white-backed or Cape vultures which may be because food availability is not the limiting factor regardless of time of year. Lastly, a model was constructed in MaxEnt using the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Wildlife and Energy Programme dataset of white-backed and Cape vulture electrocutions by and collisions with power lines. Voltage was a major contributor to risk in every model for both collision and electrocution. This is likely to be related to the type and height of the power line structures rather than actual voltage. Either land use or population density also contributed to all four models. Slope contributed to white-backed vulture models while feeding station and elevation contributed to Cape vulture models. Each of these variables probably relates not only to the likelihood of vulture presence but also how vultures behave in the area (e.g. flying lower in natural or low population areas to forage more effectively therefore putting them at higher risk of collision). This study suggests that management initiatives should include carefully placing vulture feeding stations to change foraging patterns and provide safe, uncontaminated carrion, and proactive retrofitting of high risk power lines to reduce the high unnatural mortality in white-backed and Cape vultures in South Africa. It is important to continue to improve these models using more tracking data from more populations of white-backed and Cape vultures, and more electrocution and collision data gathered from regular, randomly selected power line surveys. / M T 2016

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business Executive Coaching Johannesburg, 2017 / “The obligation for working-mothers is a very precise one: the feeling that one ought to work as if one did not have children, while raising one’s children as if one did not have a job.” – Annabel Crabb, Author of The Wife Drought Women play a vital role in organisations, yet world-wide remain under-represented in key leadership positions. South Africa is no different. In addition, research indicates that professional women are ‘opting-out’ of the talent pipeline, further reducing the pool of women available to step in to senior leadership roles. Becoming a mother is life-changing, and when combined with a desire for a fulfilling career, role-conflict can occur. The guilt which accompanies role-conflict can often be overwhelming and may lead to professional women exiting organisations, taking with them valuable industry knowledge and expertise. Hence, retaining female talent is increasingly becoming a business imperative. This study aims to contribute to the field of Business Coaching by researching Maternity ‘Transition’ Coaching in an organisational context. As such, the study explored four research questions aimed at providing a systemic view of the experiences of professional women during the maternity transition period, the line manager’s role during this period, the influence of organisational culture on working-mothers, and the emergence of maternity transition coaching as a support mechanism in organisations. Following a detailed review of the literature, the research methodology of a qualitative, multiple-case study approach was selected. Two organisations (cases) were researched using semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 15 respondents, as the primary sources of data collection. The research was further supported by an analysis of secondary data, both of which allowed for a full investigation of the research questions. The key findings indicated that maternity transition coaching is a strategic necessity for organisations wishing to attract and retain female talent in the 21st Century. Transitional theory along with an understanding of life and career stages are important aspects of this genre of coaching. Coaching increased support at critical transition points, leading to the retention of the professional women in the study along with a more seamless re-integration with their careers. Further, it surfaced that line managers play a critical role in a successful maternity transition, and as such also require support. It was further concluded that a family-friendly organisational culture is an enabler to a successful maternity transition. Maternity transition coaching therefore supports professional women in their desire for a satisfying career and work-life integration. / MT2017

A research report submitted to The Faculty of Management University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management / Research in America shows that the traditional lifestyles (poor diet, lack of exercise, chronic illness, poor stress management and substance abuse) play a large role in causing the major dreaded diseases like cancer, coronary heart disease and strokes, and impact negatively on absenteeism. Traditional lifestyles and absenteeism (absent without permission and sick leave) of 126 employees were measured in a manufacturing plant, and the results correlated by using the Spearman's Rank Order Correlation Co-efficient and co- efficient of determination. It was established that the traditional lifestyle behaviours do impact on absenteeism i.e. the more severe the lifestyle and the unhealthier lifestyle practised, the higher the individual absenteeism is likely to be. There was no correlation between age and absenteeism and job grade and absenteeism. Before applying the traditional absentee reducing interventions, an organisation should measure lifestyles of their employees and if unhealthy, lifestyle change interventions should be introduced before or concurrently with traditional absentee reducing interventions if days absent are mainly due to sick leave. / AC2017

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Science University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg for the degree of Master of Science / AC 2018

A contentious area of clinical practice in the discipline of surgery, with ethical implications, relates to disclosure of clinician HIV status to patients, specifically where exposure prone procedures, performed in a confined body space using sharp instruments without full vision of the operative area, carrying a technical risk of blood borne pathogen transmission are being performed by HIV positive surgeons. Within the context of patient informed consent, it has been proposed that surgeons who are HIV positive make their status known to patients on whom they would perform such procedures. Failing which it is proposed that surgeons who are HIV positive should refrain from such procedures. It has been counterargued that such disclosure is an infringement on clinician privacy and that curtailing the scope of practice is prejudicial to both surgeon and patient. The former in terms of employment prospects and the latter based on the lack of data supporting a significant risk of clinician to patient transmission with a resultant unnecessary loss of surgical skills. Existing recommendations appear to be informed more by sentiment than science and are thus potentially unsatisfactory, more so in that they do not seem to confer benefit to either patients or clinicians. Further, whilst such policies emanate from developed countries they may not address the clinical realities or sentiment of the South African situation. Where such policies do exist, it is not clear to what extent the recommendations accord with clinician views. Against this background the current study surveyed views of practicing South African surgeons regarding aspects of this issue i.e. HIV and surgeons. Some of the salient findings included the view that a patient centred approach requiring HIV status disclosure to patients would be discriminatory to surgeons whilst not clearly of benefit to patients. Further that HIV positive surgeons should determine their own scope of practice. Certainly it appears that patient centered approaches and restrictive policies, related to this issue, do not appear to accord with clinician sentiment. In the absence of any comparable data either locally or internationally, the current study provides a preliminary indication of clinician views with implications for the development of locally relevant guidelines.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Laws, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 1983

ABSTRACT Every year, physiotherapists leave the South African public sector in large numbers, citing reasons such as low salaries and unsatisfactory working conditions as the main contributing factors. However, despite this, there are some physiotherapists who continue to choose to stay for the duration of their careers, and it is the aim of this study to investigate the factors that influence these choices. The author has tried to achieve this by trying to predict those factors that cause physiotherapists to stay at their current work places and by finding out if these physiotherapists share any common characteristics and motivations which contribute to their decisions to stay. The participants were also asked to rate their current job satisfaction, rank the importance of given motivation factors for retention and what they knew about their own institutions’ retention strategies. The study population was made up of all the qualified physiotherapists working for the South African public sector in Gauteng between January and December 2006. There were 93 physiotherapists who met these study criteria, 76 (82.0%) of whom completed the questionnaire. The research revealed that characteristics such as gender, age, race, marital status, having children and being the family breadwinner played a significant role as determinants of whether physiotherapists left or stayed at their current public sector jobs in 2007. For example, the female participants and those who had children were twice as likely to stay as the male participants and those who did not have children, respectively. Similarly, the white participants and those who were family breadwinners were three times more likely to stay than those of other racial groups and non-breadwinners, respectively. Physiotherapists over the age of thirty-one were almost five times more likely to stay than their younger counterparts. On the other hand, factors such as professional rankings, having postgraduate qualifications and the type or level of institution seemed to play relatively insignificant roles. According to the results, the respondents’ main source of dissatisfaction was their salaries, followed by what they felt were poor opportunities for promotion. Feeling unappreciated and undervalued in their workplaces, as well as poor recognition for their professional status, were also rated as contributors to dissatisfaction. They felt that more attention needed to be given to improve on these factors if the retention of physiotherapists was to be achieved successfully. The factors which received the highest importance rating and ranking as retention factors, included, once again, better salaries, promotion opportunities, career development and training opportunities, as well as receiving the scarce skills allowance. In terms of knowledge of the existence of retention strategies for physiotherapists in their institutions, only 29% responded positively, the most commonly cited one being the scarce skills allowance. The main conclusion that was drawn from this study is that in addition to better salaries, improved working conditions and more promotion opportunities, there are more characteristic features that are shared by those physiotherapists that stay in the South African public sector. These, as mentioned earlier, include being a female, being over the age of 31, being married, having children and carrying the financial responsibilities of a family breadwinner. Finally, in terms of some of the key recommendations made, the findings of this study reveal a heightened necessity for the government of South Africa to review the salary structure of public sector physiotherapists in an effort to motivate them and encourage them to stay. Furthermore, it is recommended that physiotherapy managers improve their human resource record keeping, particularly worker flow and turnover data, and that they encourage more evidence-based research in the field of physiotherapy human resources.

This study examines that which forms the 'centre' of Pentecostal Missiology and makes it particularly relevant to the South African context. In order to arrive at my conclusions I have concentrated on the history and present situation in postapartheid South Africa of the three oldest classical Pentecostal movements, the Apostolic Faith Mission, the Full Gospel Church of God and the Assemblies of God. Chapter one describes the rise of the Pentecostal movement and its arrival in South Africa shortly after the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). That Pentecostalism took root among the poor in this country is a matter of historical record. The dimensions of poverty in South Africa are probed in order to evaluate Pentecostalism' s success with that class of people. Chapter two examines the Pentecostal model of mission and its essentially holistic nature in order to understand why it so effectively helped the poor to escape the enslaving cycle of poverty. However, Pentecostalism around the world and in South Africa appears to be in crisis. Chapter three discusses the reasons for the crisis and outlines the nature and evidence of it - the 'centre' of Pentecostalism seems to be fragmenting, and with it the relevance of the Pentecostal Church to the South African situation. The book of Exodus provides a metaphor that naturally holds together dimensions of the model of mission essential to Pentecostalism. Chapter four describes the metaphor, how it applies to Pentecostal missiology and why the struggle for the 'centre' is a struggle vital to the mission of the Pentecostal Church. The thesis concludes with a reminder that Pentecostals have a history of 'success' among the poor and that perhaps it is within this stratum of society that Pentecostals should focus their efforts. With a renewed model of mission the Pentecostal Church can still be relevant to the situation of poverty in post-apartheid South Africa. However, Pentecostals need to clarify the distinctives that lie at the 'centre' of their existence and mission and be prepared to struggle for them / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D.Th. (Missiology)

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 3 June 2016. / Currently Eucalyptus plantations in the warm and cool temperate parts of South Africa are being exposed to damaging temperature extremes and unseasonal frost events that, in particular, have detrimental effects on juvenile plantations. To accommodate these conditions, E. grandis and E. nitens have been selected for hybridization in efforts to identify and select clones suitable for successful plantation establishment in affected areas. Biochemical and physiological responses of plants to cold shock and simulated frost conditions offers a means for this type of selection. In this study, the responses of E. grandis, E. nitens and 8 characterized E. grandis x E. nitens (GN) hybrid clones to cold shock and simulated frost conditions were evaluated. The responses elicited were used as an indication of the eucalypts low temperature and frost tolerance potential, based on levels of: reactive oxygen species (ROS), phenolic acids (PA), starch, total soluble sugars (TSS), chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) and relative electrolyte conductance (REC). Plants were subjected to standard growth conditions of 25°C day/14°C night temperature and a 12h photoperiod for 7 days and subsequently cold shocked at 5°C for 24h. Frost conditions were simulated by freezing excised leaf discs from 2°C to -6°C at a rate of -4°C/h with a one hour hold at -6°C. The results showed an upregulation of ROS in E. grandis, GN 1, GN 4 and GN 6, 30-90 minutes into the cold shock; and levels were highest in E. nitens, GN 3 and GN 7 only 24h after the cold shock exposure. PA levels changed marginally under cold shock conditions, with levels of GN 4 increasing the most by 58%. Starch levels of GN 6 were the most affected by the cold shock, where a 33% increase in levels was recorded. TSS levels of E. grandis and GN 6 increased by 201% and 409% respectively, while TSS levels of GN 2 and GN 3 decreased by 41% and 76% respectively. CF levels of E. nitens and two GNs were most affected by the cold shock, however, all the eucalypts tested, except GN 2, GN 3 and GN 6, displayed a high recovery potential to the cold shock. REC levels fluctuated slightly between unfrozen and frozen samples under standard and cold shock conditions and it was found that E. grandis, GN 1 and GN 3 were the least frost tolerant; and GN 4, GN 7 and GN 8 were the most frost tolerant according to REC levels under cold shock and simulated frost conditions. The results indicate that of all the tested eucalypts, only three GNs were not tolerant to the cold shock and E. grandis and two GNs were not tolerant to the simulated frost. Therefore, it was concluded that all of the eucalypts investigated, apart from E. grandis, GN 1 and GN 3, may be suitable for plantation establishment in areas prone to frost in South Africa. / GR2016

A comprehensive re-assessment of the South African ovuliferous glossopterid fructifications was conducted. This involved the creation of a database of quantitative and descriptive information based on over 500 specimens from 14 localities in the northern and eastern Karoo Basin and the Bushveld Basin. Specimens belonging to four families, thirteen genera and 24 species were measured in detail, re-described, re-evaluated and in many cases, existing diagnoses were emended. In total, this revision effected the creation of four new genera, one new species and emendations to two families, seven genera and thirteen species. All taxa were photographed, and representative specimens were drawn and reconstructed. An illustrated key to the ovuliferous glossopterid fructifications was compiled as a guide to the identification of all known species from South Africa. The South African literature on glossopterid polysperms was reviewed, with reference to discoveries from other parts of Gondwana. All the glossopterid ovuliferous fructifications examined were impression fossils, and a major component of the project was to re-evaluate the structure and morphology of the specimens from a taphonomic perspective. Although not widely taken into account in palaeobotanical studies, impression fossils are essentially moulds of the original plant, providing valuable three-dimensional information which is easily overlooked. This approach led to the discovery of several radical, new morphological types in well-known taxa. These discoveries could change the way glossopterid homologies are interpreted in the future. Additionally, these structures may help to resolve some of the conflicting reports regarding the presence of more than one set of cuticle per fructification, and sterile scales. Hirsutum intermittens was found to have a peculiar dual wing structure, and was transferred to a new genus, Bifariala. In addition to the primary wing with its tapered base, extended apex and apically inclined striations, an additional, secondary wing was recognised in these fructifications, which has a structure similar to that of Scutum and Gladiopomum. Hirsutum leslii was found to possess a unique, hood-like wing which arched over the seed-bearing surface iv of the fructification, partially enclosing the ovules, which were in many cases found still attached to the fructification. The species was deemed to be a junior synonym of Elatra. The semi-enclosed structure of Elatra raised questions regarding the pollination and seed dispersal mechanisms employed by members of this genus. A review of the literature on Arberia, and examination of South African specimens, led to emendation of the genus to include the presence of a scalelike extension distal to the single seed attachment point at ultimate branch termini. Appreciation of the bifacial nature of some Arberia species, which bear lateral branches across one surface of a laminate primary axis has important implications for the recognition of homologies and establishment of evolutionary trends among members of the glossopterids. Existing ideas regarding the homologies and phylogeny of the glossopterids were refined and developed further. The glossopterid polysperms are considered to have evolved from a basal member of the Arberiaceae, with planation, fusion and reduction of lateral branches having given rise to fructifications of the Rigbyaceae and Dictyopteridiaceae. Members of the Lidgettoniaceae are thought to have been derived from members of the Dictyopteridiaceae. The hypothesised derivation of the glossopterid fertile structures from modified shoots rather than leaves, supports an affiliation with the cordaitaleans rather than the pteridosperms. The biostratigraphic and biogeographical significance and application of the South African genera of glossopterid polysperms was briefly evaluated.