No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2013.

Man, his ideals and place in this world is a constant question for all people.How should man act in accordance with others? How should he perceivereality and himself? This essay attempts to answer these questions by lookingat Terre des Hommes (Wind, Sand and Stars) by the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) with an Objectivist perspective (the philosophy of AynRand). The essay analyzes the book by applying the four main principles ofObjectivism: reason, reality, rational self-interest and capitalism. It begins bylooking at how both Saint-Exupéry and Rand perceive the machine and laboras rational ways of self-sustainment and discovery. The machine serves as aphysical representation of rationality which furthers productivity and alsoeases labor. Later, the essay analyzes how charity, rational egoism and theirrepresentations in the book correspond with Objectivist philosophy.Afterwards it analyzes how reality and truth are represented with language asits proxy of representation and discovers that both authors perceive reality asan absolute and truth as its recognition. Lastly, the essay analyzes therelationship between war and ideology and Rand's and Saint-Exupéry'sthoughts on the subject. It finds some similarities between the two: they bothfind war distasteful and ultimately destructive. However, a difference wasdiscovered concerning the use of ideology. Saint-Exupéry finds little to nouse of it, whereas Rand sees it at man's main defense against philosophicalfallacies. Therefore, the final conclusion is that Terre des Hommes is notentirely an Objectivist book, but there are objectivist principles presented init.

Text in English / In this study, the research problem sought to explore, identify and acknowledge the value of vehicle tracking technology within the South African Police Service (SAPS). National legislation in the Republic of South Africa allows the SAPS and private organisations, such as Tracker, to create partnerships to successfully combat crime, such as vehicle related crimes. Data was collected by means of a literature study, together with semi-structured interviews that were individually conducted with non-commissioned officers of the SAPS: West Rand Flying Squad. These members are deployed daily, in an operational environment, to deal with the recovery of stolen and robbed motor vehicles; they utilise vehicle tracking technology to fulfil this function. A detailed study of literature relating to national legislation, SAPS directives, media and newspaper reports as well as library resources and international studies was conducted. The research indicates the importance of vehicle tracking technology in assisting specialized units within the SAPS to successfully and efficiently track and locate stolen or robbed motor vehicles. It is evident that the use of this type of technology has become an invaluable tool to the SAPS: West Rand Flying Squad members in their daily duties. Furthermore, members at grassroots level understand and appreciate the assistance and value of technology, especially as the technology enables them to effectively recover stolen or robbed motor vehicles, and to successfully arrest the perpetrators responsible for these thefts. The recommendations made in this study may provide a number of solutions to the South African government, SAPS, insurance industry and the general public, regarding the value of vehicle tracking technology. In addition, the study indicates how this technology can effectively assist in curbing vehicle crimes and the recovery of stolen or robbed motor vehicles; in the process, recovery affects the arrests of criminals, thus saving the economy a significant amount of money due to crimes of this nature. / Police Practice / M.A. (Criminal Justice)

Rand Water contracted UNISA to develop a monetary valuation method for its open spaces and their inherent ecological functions. This study began by reviewing existing contemporary definitions of open space in South Africa and then identifying their key characteristics. The research project then looked at the economic contribution that open spaces make to the economy as a basis for environmental valuation. By determining the economic value of open spaces, decision makers can be informed about the importance of open space provision, preservation and maintenance. The project applied the participatory action research method which requires the active participation of focus groups. The focus groups consisted of Rand Water employees who deal with open spaces in their respective areas of work. During the literature review and problem formulation the various limitations of environmental valuation methods became evident. It became apparent that the development of new valuation methods would not be possible before existing valuation methods had been tested to see if they could feasibly be applied to open space in the Rand Water context. A literature review also determined that open space valuation studies in South Africa are very limited, which made it difficult to formulate a localised context. It was furthermore found that environmental valuers prefer to use the contingent valuation, travel cost and hedonic pricing methods. These methods rely on revealed and stated preferences of open space users to infer an economic value for an open space. Access to Rand Water’s open spaces is largely limited owing to strict access control. The excludability of open space users therefore hampers the generation of sufficient data to apply revealed and stated preference valuation methods. On the basis of this finding, it was decided to eliminate the contingent valuation and travel cost methods from this study. It was decided to apply the constraint composition theory, under the grounded theory model, to study the constraints or moderators which could affect the feasibility of environmental valuation application to Rand Water open spaces. Four moderators were then identified which could influence the outcome of the feasibility assessment. These are the limitations of the methods, the limitations of the legal framework, the limitations of the user and the limitations of the study area. It was found that the limitations of the methods were a moderator owing to their inherent data requirements. The only suitable valuation methods vi were found to be market based as they were not influenced by the excludability factor. These methods include the replacement cost, damage cost avoided, restoration cost and defensive expenditure valuation methods. The focus group was introduced to each method by participating in a method application exercise. Questionnaires regarding each method were completed to test variables. The legal framework was found not to be a moderator since even though there are limited direct provisions in legislation to mandate environmental valuation, there are legal principles which require economic impacts to be measured and damage to the environment to be estimated. These principles in themselves have supported litigation cases and the mere admission of environmental value estimates in court as evidence and support to a case therefore sets the required legal precedence and mandates further application. The user was found not to be a moderator. Feedback from the focus groups as well as an environmental resource economics workshop held at the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment showed that users understood environmental valuation principles, their benefits and limitations. With training, environmental scientists can apply these methods. The study area was found to be a moderator. The limited access for potential open space users, limited harvesting, limited agriculture and limited open space categories result in limited values that can be measured. In conclusion, it was found that not all environmental valuation methods can be applied to Rand Water open space owing to inherent limitations of the methods and the study area. Only market-based methods were found to be suitable for use on Rand Water open space. Notwithstanding the limitations of the methods and study area, which restrict the ability of valuers to obtain a total economic value for Rand Water open space, the available suite of methods can provide an indicator of value for environmental goods and services that flow from the utility’s open spaces. It was concluded that the application of environmental valuation methods to Rand Water open space is feasible within the context of the identified limitations. / Environmental Sciences / M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

D.Phil. / This research will focus on a description and exploration of the management principles, procedures and processes in a university-based, in-service training programme for unqualified practicing teachers in community schools in the Orange Farm area. It is aimed at the construction of a theoretical framework, illuminating the evolving management model in such a way that it could be conceptually transferred to similar organic training programmes. The conceptual framework, which will be constructed from a literature investigation, will be complemented and integrated with a problematised and interpretive documentation of the management structures as they evolved in the project. Main theory concepts that will be investigated are community education, inservice teacher education, educational management and adult education. The research report commences with an orientation to the study in which the groundedness of the design is presented and discussed. It includes a brief presentation of the researcher's presuppositions and assumptions as well as a - description of the context of the research. The main research question is of an open and ethnographic nature and states the problem as being the unknownness of management structures in organic community education programmes. The need for an ecologically or conceptually valid management model is expressed concisely in the literature on NGO education programmes. Management models that function successfully in formal education are assumed to fail in community programmes, which often reveal highly idiosyncratic characteristics. The literature study is presented subsequently. General management principles are explored and discussed. This is followed by a detailed discussion on educational management and its relation to general management. A discussion of the function of INSET and the management of change conclude this section. In the following section of the research report the design of the field research is discussed against the background of the paradigm of qualitative research, describing the case format as mode of exploratory descriptive research. The analysis of the written documentation as major research activity is emphasised. The data of the report are then presented in the format of examples and description of the various management activities in the programme. The final categories of data are emphasised with a view to support the construction of the envisaged management model. The report is concluded with the interpretation and validation of the data.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / This study analyses the impact of Namibia’s currency peg on its domestic inflation. This is because theoretical argument suggests that currency peg (fixed exchange rate) provides nominal anchor for domestic price level, in particular when the domestic currency is pegged to a stable foreign currency. Following the method of hypothesis testing, data on Namibia and South Africa are used in this regard. Three main findings emerged from this study. Firstly, it was shown that the two inflation rates are positively correlated.Secondly, the study shows that there is no statistical significance difference between the inflation rates of the two countries. This gives an indication that the currency peg served as a nominal anchor, because as the SA inflation rate came down, so did the Namibian inflation rate. Thirdly, the study also shows that the growth of money stock in Namibia does not deviate from the growth of money stock in SA. This gives an indication that the authorities have maintained the peg through control of monetary growth.

In this article, I investigate the video game BioShock for its political and cultural work and argue that it offers a popular platform to discuss the politically charged question of choice, both inside and outside the realm of video games. In a first section, I introduce the game’s basic plot and setting, propose a way to study how video games operate narratively, and briefly discuss the ‘political’ dimension of games in general. Afterwards, I look at how BioShock is influenced by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism, a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of individual choice and self-interest, and I trace this influence specifically in the game’s main antagonist, Andrew Ryan, and its setting, the underwater city of Rapture. With these elements as a basis, I analyze how BioShock engages with the politics of choice, focusing on a major twist scene in the game to demonstrate how BioShock deals with the question of choice on a metatextual level. Reading this scene in the context of the game’s overall narrative, specifically of moral choices in the game that lead to different endings, I argue that the game metatextually connects the political question of choice inherent in objectivism to the narrative and the playing of the game, pointing to the ambivalences inherent in questions of choice, agency, and free will.

Die vorliegende retrospektive Studie untersuchte die lokale Rezidiv- und Überlebensrate von Patienten mit Plattenepithelkarzinomen in Abhängigkeit vom Randstatus und Resektionsabstand der Tumorresektion sowie von der postoperativen Therapie. Dabei wurden Daten von 351 Patienten mit Plattenepithelkarzinomen des Oropharynx, Hypopharynx und Larynx ausgewertet, welche zwischen 2005 und 2009 reseziert wurden. Der gesundheitliche Zustand der Patienten wurde anschließend bis Dezember 2011 beobachtet. Im Ergebnis konnte kein Einfluss des Randstatus und des Resektionsabstandes auf die lokale Rezidivrate nachgewiesen werden. Beide Faktoren hatten jedoch einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Letalitätsrate. Die postoperative Therapie zeigte einen positiven Einfluss auf die lokale Rezidivrate. Sie konnte aber die negativen Prognosefaktoren, die eine Indikation dieser Therapie darstellen, bezüglich der Letalitätsrate nicht ausgleichen. Weiterhin war ein positiver Einfluss der postoperativen Therapie auf das rezidivfreie Überleben (DFS-disease-free survival) sowohl uni- als auch multivariat nachweisbar. Die Gesamtüberlebensrate (OS-overall survival) wurde signifikant positiv durch einen geringeren Randstatus und einen zunehmenden Resektionsabstand (ASR Klassifikation) beeinflusst. Das krankheitsspezifische Überleben (DSS-disease-specific survival) sank bei Auftreten eines lokalen Rezidivs. Aus diesen Ergebnissen kann geschlussfolgert werden, dass eine postoperative Therapie zur Kontrolle lokaler Rezidive von hoher Bedeutung ist. Da lokale Rezidive die Überlebensrate signifikant senken, hat die postoperative Therapie indirekt einen positiven Effekt auf das Überleben. Des Weiteren zeigt sich bei Patienten mit freien Resektionsrändern die höchste Überlebensrate, wobei diese mit zunehmendem Abstand des Karzinoms vom Resektionsrand steigt.

This thesis examines four tracts authored by three Christian Identity rhetors. The study argues that these rhetors employ elements of the narrative paradigm to spread their own brand of hate-based theology. This study employs a method of narrative criticism as outlined by Foss ( 1996) in examining Howard B. Rand's "Who Crucified Jesus?" and "The Verdict of Time"; Wesley A. Swift's "Who Crucified Christ?"; and Sheldon Emry's "Who Killed Christ?" Howard B. Rand was the leader of the Anglo-Saxon Federation of America during the 1930s, an organization which was the forerunner of the contemporary Christian Identity movement. Wesley A. Swift was a major leader of Christian Identity during the late 1940s through the 1960s.

Droplet evaporation (and condensation) is one of the most common instancesof multiphase flow with phase change, encountered in nature as well as intechnical and industrial applications. Examples include falling rain drops, fogsand mists, aerosol applications like electronic cigarettes and inhalation drugdelivery, engineering applications like spray combustion, spray wet scrubbing orgas absorption, spray drying, flame spray pyrolysis.Multiphase flow with phase change is a challenging topic due to the inter-twined physical phenomena that govern its dynamics. Numerical simulation isan outstanding tool that enables us to gain insight in the details of the physics,often in cases when experimental studies would be too expensive, impracticalor limited.In the present work we focus on simulation of the evaporation of smalldroplets. We perform simulation of evaporation of a pure and two−componentdroplet, that includes detailed thermodynamics and variable physical andtransport properties. Some of the conclusions drawn include the importance ofenthalpy transport by species diffusion in the thermal budget of the system, andthe identification and characterization of evaporating regimes for an azeotropicdroplet.In the second part we develop a method based on the immersed boundaryconcept for interface resolved numerical simulation of laminar and turbulentflows with a large number of spherical droplets that undergo evaporation orcondensation. / Droppförångning (och kondensation) är en av de vanligaste fallen av flerfasflöde med fasförändring, både i naturen och i tekniska och industriella tillämpningar. Exempel är fallande regndroppar, dimma, aerosol-tillämpningar som elektroniskacigaretter och läkemedelsleverans via inandning, tekniska tillämpningar som sprayförbränning, våtskrubbning med sprayning, gasabsorption, spraytorkning samt flammsprayspyrolys. Flerfasflöde med fasförändring är ett utmanande ämne på grund av de sammanflätade fysikaliska fenomen som styr dess dynamik. Numerisk simulering är ett utmärkt verktyg som gör det möjligt för oss att få insikt i detaljerna i fysiken, ofta i fall då experimentella studier skulle vara för dyra, opraktiska eller begränsade. I det nuvarande arbetet fokuserar vi på simulering av förångning av små droppar. Vi utför simulering av förångning av en ren och två−komponentdroppe, som inkluderar detaljerad termodynamik samt varierande fysikaliska och transportegenskaper. Några av de slutsatser som dras inbegriper betydelsen av entalpitransport genom diffusion av olika ämnen i systemets termiska budget samt identifieringen och karakterisering av förångningsregimer för en azeotropiskdroppe. I den andra delen utvecklar vi en metod baserad på det nedsänkta rand konceptet för gränssnittskompletterad numerisk simulering av laminära och turbulenta flöden med ett stort antal sfäriska droppar som genomgår förångning eller kondensering. / <p>QC 20171117</p>