Benefiting from the process of globalisation and becoming an information and knowledge society, has become the vision for many governments throughout the world. However, as it has been demonstrated in this thesis, becoming an information and knowledge society is much easier for developed countries that already possess some of the prerequisite criteria, such as an efficient and effective ICT infrastructure. By investing in such an infrastructure, the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge from a local knowledge system with the global knowledge system is enabled. Through this two-way flow of information, the other criteria these countries have to comply with are stimulated, making it much easier and faster for these countries to achieve their goal. However, for the developing countries that are still in the grip of the digital divide, the goal of becoming information and knowledge societies seem nearly unattainable. Owing to this digital divide that is experienced by developing countries, combined with other barriers such as the social barriers that include the overall health and education level of citizens, the citizens of these countries cannot take part in the interaction and exchange process. Thus, this interaction and exchange process cannot aid these countries in complying with the other criteria needed to become information and knowledge societies, and in this way, the progress of developing countries towards becoming information and knowledge societies are seriously hampered. How does the interaction and exchange of data, information, and knowledge between developing countries’ local knowledge systems and the global knowledge system contribute to their development and positive participation in the global information and knowledge society? This is the research question that has guided this thesis. To get an answer to this question the author addressed the following issues:<ul> <li>The author sketched the theoretical foundation of this thesis by providing a brief historical perspective of the Information Science domain. This provided a better understanding of concepts such as data, information, knowledge, global-, western-, and scientific knowledge as well as indigenous-, traditional-, and local knowledge as applied in this thesis. The underlying relationship between these concepts were also explored. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the global information and knowledge society was discussed as one of the opportunities presented by globalisation.</li> <li>The author then analysed the criteria of the information and knowledge society as discussed in Chapter 3, and identified indicators that the stated criteria are constructed from. To investigate whether developed countries are information and knowledge societies, these indicators were applied to Norway and the USA. It was concluded that both countries comply with the stated criteria and are thus information and knowledge societies. </li> <li>The author followed the same method of investigation and applied the indicators identified in Chapter 4 to two developing countries, namely Niger and South Africa. It was concluded that both these countries do not comply with the stated criteria and, thus, are not information and knowledge societies. Furthermore, barriers were identified by the author that inhibit these countries from becoming information and knowledge societies.</li> <li>Lastly, the author discussed proposed solutions and recommendations that can be used to overcome the various barriers that inhibit the progress of developing countries becoming information and knowledge societies. </li></ul> / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Information Science / DPhil / unrestricted

M.Tech. (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology. / In the present study, the removal of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from cooling tower water using Amberlite IR120 and Amberjet 1200 was studied by the application of one factor at a time method (OFAT) and response surface modelling (RSM). The effect of operational parameters such as contact time (min), pH, dosage (mL), concentration (mg/L) and temperature (K) were investigated using central composite design. The regeneration of the Amberlite IR120 and Amberjet were also studied. The purpose of the study was to apply OFAT and RSM to investigate and optimize the ion exchange operating parameters. Furthermore, the second-order empirical model that was developed, using the analysis of variance (ANOVA), presented a sufficient correlation to the ion exchange experimental data. The optimal ion exchange operating conditions for Amberlite IR120 and Amberjet 1200 were found to be: contact time was 120 min, dosage of 150mL, initial pH level of 2, concentration of 400mg/L and temperature of 343K. Regeneration of Amberlite IR120 and Amberjet 1200 using 0.5 M NaCl stripping solution initially showed an increase in % Ca2+ and Mg2+ removal, then a decrease in subsequent cycles. The correlation coefficients (R2) of Langmuir, Freudlich and Tempkin isotherms were found to range from 0.92 to 1 and this suggest that experimental data best described the models. However correlation coefficients (R2) for Dubinin–Radushkevich (D-R) model were found to range between 0.5 to 0.8 and this means that experimental data does not fit the model. Thermodynamic functions such as entropy (Δ𝑆𝑜), enthalpy (Δ𝐻𝑜) and change of free energy (Δ𝐺𝑜) were obtained from the gradient and intercepts of straight line graphs. The positive values of ΔG° were found meaning that the adsorption is not spontaneous and positive values of ΔH° were found meaning the endothermic type of adsorption which indicate the chances of physical adsorption.The correlation coefficient (R2) values of pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle models were found to range from 0.89 to 1 on both metals as shown in table 4.4. This observation clearly indicates that pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models best describe the experimental data in the removal Ca2+ and Mg2+ from cooling tower water.

Ce travail porte sur l'amélioration de la sélectivité préférentielle d'une membrane cationique à base d’ETFE pour une utilisation en électrodialyse afin de traiter des effluents industriels contenant un mélange d’acides et de sels métalliques. Pour cela, nous avons fait appel à la méthode de la modification chimique de la surface d’une membrane cationique par la formation d’un film superficiel mince portant des charges positives afin de former une barrière de répulsion électrostatique pour des cations bivalents tout en permettant le passage de cations monovalents tels que les protons.<p>La synthèse de la membrane cationique de base a été réalisée en passant par différentes étapes à savoir :le greffage du styrène - divinylbenzène (DVB), la chlorosulfonation et l’hydrolyse. <p>Au cours de ce travail, nous avons mis au point un protocole de greffage du styrène-DVB dans le film d’ETFE qui permet l’obtention d’un film ayant un taux de greffage reproductible assurant à la membrane cationique finale une bonne conductivité électrique et une capacité d’échange acceptable pour une membrane d’électrodialyse. Une étude de la réaction de greffage en fonction de la concentration en réticulant a été réalisée. <p>Nous avons procédé par la suite à la modification de la surface du film d’ETFE greffé styrène-DVB par la formation d’une couche superficielle mince fixée par des liens covalents. Les membranes modifiées ont été obtenues par la réaction d’une seule face du film d’ETFE greffé chlorosulfoné avec la 3-diméthylaminopropylamine. La modification chimique de la surface du film ETFE greffé chlorosulfoné a été suivie par la technique FTIR-ATR. L’effet de la concentration de la diamine sur les propriétés électrochimiques des différentes membranes modifiées a été étudié. La résistance électrique des membranes modifiées équilibrées au contact de solutions de chlorure de sodium et d'acide sulfurique a été mesurée par la technique d’impédance. La détermination du nombre de transport du proton et de l’ion sodium a été réalisée à partir de mesures du potentiel de membrane. La densité de courant limite des membranes a été évaluée sur base des courbes courant-tension. Les mesures de chronopotentiométrie ont été également effectuées sur les différentes membranes synthétisées.<p>Les résultats de ces caractérisations montrent que la modification de la surface engendre des changements considérables au niveau des propriétés électrochimiques des membranes résultantes. La résistance électrique, la densité de courant limite ainsi que les propriétés de transport de la membrane dépendent d’une part de la concentration de la diamine utilisée et d’autre part de la solution dans laquelle la membrane modifiée est équilibrée. <p>La sélectivité préférentielle des différentes membranes vis-à-vis des protons par rapport aux ions bivalents a été testée en réalisant des électrodialyses d’un milieu mixte H2SO4-NiSO4. Nos résultats montrent que la modification chimique de la surface de la membrane affecte d’une manière significative le transport des ions nickel tout en respectant le passage des protons. Une meilleure séparation a été obtenue pour une membrane modifiée en utilisant la diamine pure.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished