Includes bibliography. / The high turnover of IS staff in South Africa continues to be a source of concern to organisations relying on Information Technology. Such turnover is costly, and leads to delays in project completion; loss of valuable experience; and reductions in IS department productivity. One of the suggestions for reducing turnover that is frequently encountered in the literature is for organisations to implement a dual-career path for their IT staff. This advice is based on the assumption that IT personnel hold either a Managerial or Technical Career Orientation, and that the dual-career path will, therefore, meet the needs of all IT personnel. This study shows that such an assumption is invalid. As a group, IT professionals in South Africa are shown to have a wide diversity of career orientations. In addition, professionals with different career orientations are shown to be very different types of employee, having different needs and values, and exhibiting different levels of performance in the job. As expected, professionals also tend to occupy jobs that are most likely to fulfil their career orientations. Furthermore, IT professionals whose jobs are congruent with their orientations show significantly greater job and career satisfaction, higher organisational commitment, and less intention to leave their organisations, than their counterparts who experience a mismatch. In contrast, the matched group as a whole did not show superior perceived performance in the mismatched group, although certain orientations did exhibit such differences. It is critical that organisations take cognisance of the diversity of IT personnel in their employ, and adopt career planning and motivational strategies flexible enough to accommodate each orientation. This study has shown that the implementation of a dual-career path will satisfy a scant 10.2% of the individuals surveyed. Thus, greater focus by organisations on understanding the individual, and less on seeking to manage the IT profession as a group, will result in personnel experiencing greater satisfaction, as well as more commitment to, and less likelihood of leaving, their employing organisations. It is recommended that research is continued into the career orientations of IS personnel. Specifically, it would be valuable to improve and refine the instrument assembled in this study, the aim of producing a measure that researchers and, moreover, employers can utilise to assess how various jobs match the different career orientations known to exist. Also, it would be beneficial to examine further the performance levels of individuals in positions incompatible with their orientations, and to examine why different levels of performance between matched and mismatched individuals were exhibited by only certain of the orientations. Finally, research should be performed into the different career paths, positions and assignments most suited to the individual orientations, in order to enable organisations to achieve a better fit between the needs of the organisation, and the needs of the IT employee. It is recommended that research is continued into the career of IS personnel. Specifically, it would be valuable to improve and refine the instrument assembled in this study, with aim of producing a measure that researchers and, moreover, employers can utilise to assess how various jobs match the different career orientations known to it would be beneficial to examine further the performance levels of individuals positions incompatible with orientations, and to examine different levels of between matched and mismatched individuals were by only certain of the orientations. Finally, research should performed into the different career paths, positions and assignments most suited to the individual in order to enable organisations to achieve a between the needs of the and the needs of the employee.

Software Testing is both a vital and expensive part of the software development lifecycle. Improving the testing process has the potential for large returns. Current testing methodologies used to test real-time embedded devices are examined and the weaknesses in them are exposed. This leads to the introduction of a new graphical testing methodology based on flowcharts. The new approach is both a visual test creation program and an automated execution engine that together frame a new way of testing. The new methodology incorporates flow-based diagrams, visual layouts, and simple execution rules to improve upon traditional testing approaches. The new methodology is evaluated against other methodologies and is shown to provide significant improvements in the area of software testing.

Health professionals in the developing world face the twin challenge of growing populations requiring services and dwindling resources in the face of reduced funding. Developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) present an opportunity to streamline service offering in a way that maximises the available meagre resources. Such innovations require the input and support of the public that these institutions serve. Design thinking has over the last 20 years developed into a “design paradigm” that can assist service providers to craft solutions to problems that take into account the views of the stakeholders involved. This work explored how information technology can be used to improve service delivery. Adopting a pragmatic philosophical paradigm and a design science research approach, the researcher used concepts underlying the theory of service dominant logic, coupled with technology capability concepts, to develop a conceptual framework for use in design thinking projects. The development of the Technovation Framework continued over three design cycles, in which a number of design teams focused their efforts on how ICT could be used to improve post-natal care services. The empathy input for these workshops was derived from an eight-week-long in-depth study into the lives of new mothers, using journals and interviews. Interviews with midwives and doctors provided a healthcare perspective of the provision of post-natal care. The first design workshop was made up of four teams, each consisting of two midwives, two mobile developers and two mothers in a design thinking workshop. The workshop resulted in the development of four prototypes of mobile applications aimed at assisting midwives in educating mothers as well as providing off-site monitoring. Two further workshops were conducted, providing two more iterations of the design process and resulting in further prototypes of potential solutions for use in healthcare. A final evaluation workshop was conducted to validate the fully developed Technovation Process. This study contributes to knowledge in a number of ways. The first is a deep understanding of the lives of new mothers and challenges they face in a low-resource environment as they struggle with raising their babies in the first eight weeks after giving birth. The second contribution is a framework and an enhanced design thinking process that streamlines the process of consolidating empathy output while providing a mechanism to apply technology capabilities to proposed solutions. A third contribution is the set of lessons that arise from observing design teams at work. The final contribution is in the form of a number of prototypes that could be developed into solutions for use in a developing environment healthcare setting. Keywords: ICT in healthcare, e-Health, innovation, co-creation, design thinking, developing country, post-natal care, design science research, Technovation, technology capabilities / Thesis (PhD) - University of Pretoria, 2017. / Informatics / PhD / Unrestricted

Background: Studies have shown that the traditional banking sector is under threat from digital banks and financial technology (fintech) organisations that can operate with a lower cost base and respond to the market faster. In response to this threat, leading banks have implemented Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to reduce costs and simplify operations. The adoption of RPA has, however, proven to be challenging as in many cases the impact of automation technology implementations is perceived to affect the livelihoods of staff who work in banks. Within the South African banking context, there is a particular sensitivity to factors that impede employment and labour unions are deeply involved in protecting workers. Objective: While there is research on RPA implementations, it is limited in the banking context. Further, there is currently little to no RPA adoption research specifically in the South African banking context. This study seeks to investigate the factors that drive RPA adoption in South African banks. Method: This study has used the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, extended with Institution Theory, as a lens to structure an approach in organising RPA adoption factors in an extensive literature review on the phenomenon. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data that was collected. Themes were aggregated and organised by the TOE perspectives to create structure throughout the study. Results: The findings were that the adoption of RPA in South African banks is driven by the expected benefits of RPA which are achieved when well-suited processes are targeted, an effective operating model for the program including business and IT personnel, with the right skills. A well-designed change program is critical for RPA adoption in banks. South African banks are also working closely with the trade unions and are, on the whole, following best practices when automating parts of their workforce's roles by ensuring that they are given the opportunity to work on more engaging tasks.

Background: The use of mobile devices for learning has been on the increase due to the availability of affordable data and free WiFi networks across institutions of higher learning. However, very few studies seek to understand if there is any impact that these devices have on a student's overall learning experience particularly from a developing country's perspective. Objectives: This research study determines the positive and negative impacts smartphone use has on a student's learning experience and whether this leads to overall satisfaction with mobile learning. Methods/Approach: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through an online survey that was distributed via email to a student body from the sample. Statistica software was used to analyse the quantitative data while Nvivo software was used to analyse the qualitative data. Results: With over 400 responses, we found evidence for some, but not all hypothesized positive and negative impacts. Additionally, there was very strong support for how these impacts contribute to the overall satisfaction of using a smartphone for learning, explaining more than 60% of the variance. Conclusions: We found that the overall positive satisfaction leads to differentiated, continued uses of the smartphone for learning.

This study set out to investigate the factors affecting digital innovation development, and the relationship between these factors in the context of Small and Medium Enterprises in Zimbabwe. The research is founded on the seminal work of other scholars who have worked tirelessly to bring understanding to the contemporary phenomenon that is digital innovation. Unfortunately, SMEs in developing countries remain an under-researched and marginalised group – a gap which this explanatory research is intended to cover. The research is curious about the types of digital innovations that occur in Zimbabwe's SMEs, the factors affecting development of these digital innovations and areas of ameliorative action for improving the digital innovation performance of SMEs. The research is guided by a conceptual model developed through a literature review and utilises both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse data which was collected from SME business owners, managers and partners. Although there is evidence of digital innovation in the country, the study establishes that both the innovative capacity and performance of SMEs is very low. Additionally, the results also point to a deliberate tendency to suppress the introduction of digital products by some businesses due to the prevalent market demands. Other notable outcomes include the impact of constrained financial resources on digital innovation performance, lack of knowledge management frameworks and more critically a general lack of understanding on what digital innovation is about. It was also established that culture, firm demographics and industry impact a firm's digital innovation capacity significantly while the market and opportunities for external collaboration is a significant moderator of the relationship between digital innovation capacity and performance. Fundamentally, this empirically grounded study represents a timely approach to technology, innovation, and intellectual integration which can be continuously enhanced to improve the narrative and comprehension on digital innovation especially in developing countries.

Access to information is one of the key ways of assisting farmers to improve their agricultural output, gain access to markets and generate income. Governments, NGOs, Universities and other institutions have volumes of information that can benefit farmers, but lack the means to timeously and easily share this information with the farmers. There exists a large gulf between those that need information and the entities that possess information, and bridging this gap is crucial. The advancement of mobile phones and their high adoption levels by developing countries makes them one of the most ideal means of disseminating information amongst farmers. The use of mobile phones by farmers not only benefits farmers, but also the organizations supporting them by improving the means of communication. This research looks at the effects mobile phone communications has on farmers and the organisations supporting farmers. The use of mobile phones enhances means of communications, improves internal processes within organisations and also ameliorates means of engagement with farmers. This study follows the Design Science Research approach to develop a communications module for a project working with smallholder farmers in Eswatini. The developed artefact is designed to benefit both parties, the farmers receiving the information and the organisations supporting them, the content creators.

Bibliography: pages 167-170. / The purpose of this thesis was to develop a near real time photogrammetric PC based system to study the regional body surface motions of human beings during respiration. By being able to measure the body surface motion of the human torso during breathing it is possible to evaluate the respiratory muscle functions, i.e. the functions of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, the only skeletal muscles that are essential to life and which enable us to breathe. Previous studies in this field over the past years have successfully employed stereophotogrammetric analysis. The traditional photogrammetric method however was very time consuming in that it involved the taking of stereo pictures with 35mm cameras, developing the negatives and measuring them in a stereocomparator. The time factor involved severely restricted the research to physiologic studies. For the study to be expanded so that it could be used as a diagnostic tool in the hospital ward environment the time to obtain the necessary results had to be considerably reduced and simplified. A near real time photogrammetric PC based system had to be designed to replace the traditional photogrammetric method. A near real time system was developed for capturing dynamic pictures of the breathing cycle of the patients using a pair of video cameras, a two channel split screen vision mixer and a video cassette recorder with digital storage, all mounted on a custom built hospital cot for easy use in the hospital ward. The images to be measured are selected by viewing the split screen in dynamic stereoscopic mode and selected images are captured on an IBM personal computer equipped with an image processing card. A computing package called TAG has been designed for easy use by non-photogrammetric personnel to evaluate stored images. TAG guides the user through the different processing stages from connecting the video machine to the IBM computer, transferring the selected images, measuring control and object points on the images, and processing the data.

archives@tulane.edu / Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common joint disorder with significant economic and healthcare impact. The knee joint is composed of cartilage and the adjoining bone, a synovial capsule, the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP), and other connective tissues such as tendons and ligaments. Adipose tissue has recently been highlighted as a major contributor to OA through strong inflammation mediating effects. Type II diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a weight independent risk factor for OA, suggesting a link between OA and adipose dysfunction that has yet to be elucidated. There is a critical need for development of new methodologies to investigate the interaction between an osteochondral interface and extra-synovial tissue. There is also a need for investigating adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) isolated from the IPFP of T2D patients as a potential cell source to model diabetic complications. In this work, we develop a novel 3D printed bioreactor model for incorporation into a previously established osteoarthritic knee microphysiological system. Using our established model, we investigated xenoprotein free (XPF) media as a potential commercial product for the MPS industry. Additionally, differences in inflammatory and adipokine related mRNA expression of IPFP-ASCs isolated from non-diabetic (Non-T2D), pre-diabetic (Pre-T2D), and type II diabetes mellitus (T2D) patient samples were analyzed. After 28 Days of differentiation, 3D printer bioreactors using commercially available AdipoQual media exhibited robust increase in adipokine expression and neutral lipid accumulation. Bioreactors cultured with a novel XPF supplemented AdipoQual had similar adipokine expression but no neutral lipid accumulation. Pre-T2D IPFP-ASCs exhibited a robust decrease in CD90 and CD105 levels with no corresponding increase in markers for potentially contaminating cell types. Cox-2 expression and PGE2 secretion were significantly increased in IL-1β stimulated Pre-T2D IPFP-ASCs compared to Non-T2D and T2D IPFP-ASCs. When the Pre-T2D ASCs were co-cultured with M1-induced macrophages, the macrophages significantly reduced expressions of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and IL-6 compared to M1-induced macrophages co-cultured with Non-T2D and T2D IPFP-ASCs. Taken together, this work has taken significant steps towards establishment of a model for the IPFP and establishment of important phenotypic and genotypic changes of IPFP-ASCs isolated from Pre-T2D patients. / 1 / Benjamen O'Donnell

A conceptual model of Computerised Hospital Information System (CHIS) use was developed and refined, in order to improve understanding of factors associated with successful CHIS implementation in level 1 and level 2 public sector hospitals in two South African provinces. The study drew on models of information system (IS) success, insights from the HIS evaluation literature and studies of risk factors associated with the implementation of clinical information systems (CISs), in order to synthesise relevant results. A multi method approach was used to investigate the complex study environment. Pilot case studies were conducted in three level 2 hospitals in Province 1, in order to understand the use of CHISs in these environments. The major output of this phase was the initial conceptual model of CHIS use, which identified seven factors associated with successful CHIS implementation. In the second phase of the study, a further case study was conducted at a fourth level 2 hospital in Province 1, and interviews were conducted with three South African CHIS experts. An extended conceptual model of CHIS use was developed on the basis of the data from this phase. In the third and final phase of the study, a survey of CHIS use was conducted in more than thirty level 1 and level 2 hospitals, in two provinces, using one of three CHISs, in order to validate the conceptual model developed in the previous study phase. The results of the case study informed the refinement of the conceptual model to create the revised conceptual model of CHIS use. The conceptual model of CHIS use is a major output of this study. The survey results confirmed that the factors of the conceptual model are associated with CHIS success in level 1 and level 2 hospitals in the study provinces, and supported most of the relationships between the factors in the model. The study provides unique insights into the CHIS implementations in rather poorly resourced environments, thereby contributing to a growing literature on health information system development, implementation and use in developing areas from the perspective of information system success modelling, health information system evaluation, and a developing country context.