Section 38 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act (32 /2000) tasks municipalities to establish a performance management system that corresponds with resources, circumstances, objectives, indicators and targets as stated in the municipalities integrated development plan. The Act further states that a culture of performance management should be promoted amongst all stakeholders. Thus, the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has the statutory obligation to provide an effective and efficient people cantered administration that will ensure quality and sustainable service delivery. The Emfuleni Local Municipality tends to have a culture of non - performance or low service delivery which is prevalent amongst employee or personnel. Performance Management System (PMS) is the service delivery tool, which in this regard is designed to specifically enhance service delivery among the communities. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of implementation of PMS by officials and employees to ensure whether there is effective, efficient and economic delivery of services at ELM. For the purpose of this study, the hypothesis was formulated that due to the inability of integrating IDP planning system with performance management and service delivery, Emfuleni Local Municipality is ineffective in successful implementation of the IDP. To test the validity or otherwise of the hypothesis, use was made of theoretical review of literature on PMS as a tool for enhancing service delivery at ELM. Further there was an empirical research methodology of open - ended questionnaire that was used to test attitudes and perceptions of municipal officials and employees and effectiveness of implementation of PMS at ELM. It was found among others, that: there is lack of experience and proper training among municipal officials at ELM, ELM employs inexperienced and not well trained employee in the management level, balance scorecard remains a valid instrument at Emfuleni's disposal to influence commitment to the delivery of service, management at ELM did not market PMS effectively to the staff, the PMS has positive influence on production, the political and administrative accountability in a democratic government cannot be dissociated from each other. The study ends with recommendations for action to be taken by management of ELM. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Section 38 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act (32 /2000) tasks municipalities to establish a performance management system that corresponds with resources, circumstances, objectives, indicators and targets as stated in the municipalities integrated development plan. The Act further states that a culture of performance management should be promoted amongst all stakeholders. Thus, the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) has the statutory obligation to provide an effective and efficient people cantered administration that will ensure quality and sustainable service delivery. The Emfuleni Local Municipality tends to have a culture of non - performance or low service delivery which is prevalent amongst employee or personnel. Performance Management System (PMS) is the service delivery tool, which in this regard is designed to specifically enhance service delivery among the communities. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of implementation of PMS by officials and employees to ensure whether there is effective, efficient and economic delivery of services at ELM. For the purpose of this study, the hypothesis was formulated that due to the inability of integrating IDP planning system with performance management and service delivery, Emfuleni Local Municipality is ineffective in successful implementation of the IDP. To test the validity or otherwise of the hypothesis, use was made of theoretical review of literature on PMS as a tool for enhancing service delivery at ELM. Further there was an empirical research methodology of open - ended questionnaire that was used to test attitudes and perceptions of municipal officials and employees and effectiveness of implementation of PMS at ELM. It was found among others, that: there is lack of experience and proper training among municipal officials at ELM, ELM employs inexperienced and not well trained employee in the management level, balance scorecard remains a valid instrument at Emfuleni's disposal to influence commitment to the delivery of service, management at ELM did not market PMS effectively to the staff, the PMS has positive influence on production, the political and administrative accountability in a democratic government cannot be dissociated from each other. The study ends with recommendations for action to be taken by management of ELM. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Resumo: Este trabalho propõe uma metodologia monoscópica para a determinação automática da altura de edifícios em fotografias aéreas digitais, baseando-se no deslocamento radial dos pontos projetados no plano imagem e na geometria formada no momento de obtenção da fotografia aérea. O conhecimento da altura de edifícios pode ser utilizado para a modelagem da superfície em áreas urbanas, estudos para a instalação de antenas de transmissão de sinais, planejamento de rotas para aeronaves, geração de “true-orthophoto” etc.. A metodologia emprega um conjunto de etapas para a detecção das bordas dispostas radialmente em relação ao sistema de coordenadas fotogramétrico, sendo que estas bordas representam as arestas laterais dos edifícios registradas na fotografia. Na primeira etapa realiza-se a redução do espaço de busca através da detecção das sombras projetadas pelos edifícios, gerando sub-imagens das áreas no entorno de cada sombra detectada. Na seqüência, é realizada a extração de bordas e conexão dos pixels destas sub-imagens. As bordas são analisadas individualmente para identificar qual par, dentre os pontos que compõem a borda, melhor corresponde aos extremos da aresta lateral do edifício. Os critérios utilizados para a seleção dos pares de pontos são os seguintes: análise do coeficiente linear da equação da reta formada pelo par de pontos; distância entre os pontos; e grau de sobreposição com a borda rotulada. Deste modo, a partir da seleção das arestas laterais, assim como o conhecimento da altura de vôo, são calculadas as alturas destes edifícios. Os resultados alcançados nos testes realizados com imagens reais se mostraram promissores para a identificação das arestas e cálculo da altura de edifícios. / Abstract: This work proposes an automatic extraction of buildings height in digital images through a monoscopic methodology. Surface modeling of urban areas planning of aircraft routes, true-orthophoto and so on, can be performed by knowing the buildings heights. In photographs taken from an aircraft the buildings edges appear as radial lines due to the relief displacement, which occurs radially from the principal point. The first step of the methodology consists on the sub-images creation with the aim to reduce the search space on image. Thus, its used a shadows extraction procedure, by selecting only those with the biggest area (projected at ground) according to threshold. The edge extraction and pixels connection are performed for each sub-image produced and analyzed individually in order to identify if they belong to a building. The adopted criteria are based on the linear coefficient of straight line, the distance and the overlapping degree with regard to the labeled edge. With the lateral edges selected and the knowledge of the flight height, the buildings heights can be calculated. The experimental results obtained with real images show that the proposed approach is suitable to perform the automatic identification of the buildings height in digital images. / Orientador: Júlio K. Hasegawa / Coorientador: Maurício Galo / Banca: Sergio Donizete Farias / Banca: Antônio Maria Garcia Tommaselli / Mestre

Background After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there was a significant need for basic services such as health, water, food, sanitation, school, protection and security in the largest camp in Port-au-Prince, Park Jean Marie Vincent (PJMV). PJMV IDP camp was located in the commune of Cité Soleil; a slum in Haiti labeled as a red zone and widely regarded as the most insecure place on earth. As a result, the camp residents were left to live on their own contradicting the humanitarian principle of humanity and impartiality. Strong solidarity developed amongst camp residents leading them to organize themselves in order to decrease structural violence. Zanmi Lasante (ZL), a healthcare and human rights organization that works with poorest and most vulnerable communities in Central Plateau, would cross the red zone to accompany the camp residents by providing training, materials, and resources to set up aid activities. Using a qualitative methodology, this study will describe the activities ZL completed and present the outcomes of those activities. This study will argue that the ZL accompaniment helped to decrease structural violence and chaos and allowed the camp residents to persevere. Methods This study is based on a personal story and experience of the researcher in PJMV IDP camp after the 2010 Haitian earthquake. We collected data from semi-structured interviews with 5 ZL staff, 7 camp leaders, and 5 camp residents. The researcher conducted a narrative analysis to recreate a collective memory from four viewpoints: 1) Zanmi Lasante staff; 2) camp leaders; 3) IDP camp residents and 4) the researcher. The researcher used processual methods of qualitative research to identify themes and exemplar narratives to compare and contrast these multiple viewpoints. Results The interviews offered multiple viewpoints on the activities in the camp both before and during the time ZL was active. Activities included creating and staffing a health clinic, training community health workers, establishing a nutrition center, ensuring HIV-AIDS care, and launching a response to the cholera outbreak. In addition, ZL conducted other kinds of activities that put health in the social context, including building a water purification system, establishing a tent village, creating a school program, launching an initiative to protect women from sexual violence, and advocating for food and sanitation. The researcher finds that those additional activities generated good outcomes such as health, security, job creation, capacity building, community engagement and participation, and community empowerment. ZL used a collaborative approach, integrating accompaniment into all activities by working with local residents, leaders and other organizations. This accompaniment decreased structural violence and helped camp residents to be more self-sufficient. The study also explores the challenges of accompaniment as responsibilities for these activities were shifted from ZL to the camp residents and local leaders. Conclusions The goal of this study is to describe the activities conducted by ZL in PJMV from January 2010 to January 2012 and how the approach of offering aid using the accompaniment model impacted the social context in the camp. The researcher recommends that humanitarian aid from within and beyond a disaster affected community be geared toward supporting and partnering with local communities and local organizations. In this way, humanitarian aid will strengthen local communities in a way that may be sustained once these organizations leave.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study analyses public participation in the formulation of the Integrated Development Planning in the Beaufort West Municipality. The aim of the study is to examine the nature and extent of public involvement in the formulation of the IDP document through the lens of legislative mandatory processes and public views. It looked at the extent to which the public’s view was considered and also focused on the quality of this engagement with citizens.

The impacts from climate change is among the most pressing issues that the international community is currently faced with. Climate change makes that thousands of people all over the world are and will continue to be forced to flee from their homes, thus becoming displaced. Very little is written about this group of environmental IDP´s and their protection by national policies. This is especially problematic for less developed countries, where little focus is on the IDP´s but where their plight is even more dire. This is due to the fact that those countries to a greater extent lack resources to manage climate change disasters in effective ways. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the debate on IDP´s, and to address the need to involve IDP´s in national policies, in an effort to protect those groups. This research problem was examined through analysing two cases, i.e. the development countries, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea, which have been studied through a qualitative case study with the use of structured focused comparison.    The analytical framework used to analyse the findings retrieved from the cases was the Policy implementation process framework, which offered different variables to examine and guide the analysis. This was further complemented by the concept vulnerability, in order to get a more comprehensive picture on influencing variables.     The findings illustrate that both cases has managed to introduce extensive policy frameworks on the subject of climate change and environmental disasters, but only PNG explicitly incorporates IDP´s in their policy plan. The study further recognised the shared challenges for both cases on policy implementations. Insufficient human and financial resources due to lack of commitment and mainstreaming at government-levels are the main problems facing both Cambodia and Papua New Guinea. For future research it is therefore important to continue efforts of recognising the need for national protection for environmental IDP´s and to continue evaluating national frameworks.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a territorial and ethnic conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that has led to war, displacement, trauma and continuing animosities. This thesis examines the differential long-term effects of the conflict in the lives of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and refugees from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh who have remained largely excluded from current peacebuilding initiatives. Ethnographic fieldwork and interviews were conducted with displaced and refugee women and with queers in Sumgayit and Baku in Azerbaijan and around Tbilisi in Georgia. The research uses an intersectional sensibility to explore the constitution and effects of economic hardship, ill-health and social exclusion as well the militarization in the life histories and everyday experiences of IDP and refugee women and queers. On this basis, it reflects what their participation, insights and concerns could contribute to the stalled peace processes and what cultural and societal changes will be required for peacebuilding and a more lasting resolution of this frozen conflict. Key words: Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, gender, ethnicity, intersectionality, peacebuilding, militarization, queer community, IDP and refugee women 1

In the last 20 years, on-going conflicts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries have led to massive displacements. In the province of Nord-Kivu, epicentre of the crisis, there are currently 53 displacement sites that host about 185,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs). IDPs tend to leave camps as soon as they consider their home villages to be safe. At the same time, camps are also being closed for political motivations, creating large flows of IDPs to unknown areas. The World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian actors need to track returnees and understand their need for assistance. WFP conducts a monthly phone survey in Mugunga III, an IDP camp on the outskirts of Goma, the capital of Nord-Kivu. The main goal of this remote survey is to monitor the food security situation in the camp. However, this paper demonstrates that this innovative tool also proves successful in monitoring the situation of returnees and understanding the dynamics of their returns. This remote monitoring technology is expected to be even more useful when the authorities decide to close the camp. If the results are disseminated, an increase in government accountability should be observed. This research was conducted in collaboration with WFP in an attempt to extend the applications of high frequency survey data. To continue this research, methodological adjustments should be taken before considering applying the tool to another displacement site.

Many proteins contain disordered domains under physiological conditions. These disordered regions may be functional, although under pathological conditions they may lead to protein aggregation and degradation, as observed in proteins related to neurodegenerative diseases. In my thesis study, I aimed to understand how the primary sequence of these proteins encodes for the diverse ensemble of conformations rather than a stable folded state. I focused on the role of disordered domains in the activity of RNA-binding proteins involved in post-transcriptional regulation, but may lead to pathogenesis in many diseases. The human TIS11 proteins bind to AU-rich elements in the 30 UTR of mRNAs through a CCCH-type tandem zinc finger (TZF) domain. Mutations in these proteins have been linked to cancer. A member of this protein family, Tristetraprolin (TTP), is partially unfolded in the C-terminal zinc finger in the apo state, but folds upon RNA binding. The homolog protein TIS11d is folded in both free and bound states. Previous studies have shown that the extent of structure of the TZF domain in the apo state does not affect the affinity to target RNA in vitro, however it modulates the activity of the protein in cell. To understand which interactions determine the zinc affinity of the C-terminal zinc fingers of TTP and TIS11d, I investigated the stability of their TZF domains using homology modeling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. I found that, in the C-terminal zinc finger of TIS11d, a hydrogen bond is necessary to allow for [pi-[pi] stacking between the side chains of a conserved phenylalanine and the zinc-coordinating histidine. Using mutagenesis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, I demonstrated that the lack of this hydrogen bond is responsible for the reduced zinc affinity, and thus lack of structure, of the C-terminal zinc finger in TTP. These results suggest that the CCCH-type TZF domain in different proteins have evolved to differentiate their function through a disorder-to-order transition. In Caenorhabditis elegans several RNA-binding proteins contain a TZF domain homologous to the RNA-binding domain of TIS11 proteins, but have different RNA-binding specificity. I characterized the structure and the dynamics of the C. elegans protein MEX-5 using NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations. I found that MEX-5, like its mammalian counterpart TTP, contains a zinc finger that is partially unfolded in the free state but that folds upon RNA-binding. To assess if the disorder-to-order transition upon RNA-binding contributes to MEX-5 function, I designed a variant MEX-5 where both zinc fingers are stably folded in the absence of RNA. I characterized the RNA-binding activity of this variant MEX-5 and I found that the binding affnity and specificity are unchanged compared to the wild type protein. Together with Ryder's lab, we used CRISPR-hr to introduce this variant into the endogenous C. elegans mex-5 locus. Homozygotes animals are sterile, form massive uterine tumors within a few days of reaching adulthood, and often die by bursting. These results show that the unfolded state of MEX-5 is critical to its function in vivo by a mechanism distinct from its RNA-binding activity. To further investigate how the equilibrium between structural order and disorder affects the function of a protein in the cell, I focused on the human protein TDP-43, a major component of the cellular proteinaceous aggregates found in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. Previous studies have shown, both in vitro and in vivo, that the second RNA recognition motif (RRM2) of TDP-43 domain contains peptide regions that are particularly prone to fibril formation. In addition, RRM2 has been shown to populate, to a small degree, one or more partially folded states under native conditions. To determine if the partially folded states of TDP-43 RRM2 contribute to the formation of aggregates observed in the human diseases, I characterized the structures of these states using MD simulations including enhanced sampling methods and restraints from experimental chemical shifts. I found that in these states the protein exposes to the solvent aggregation-prone regions that are instead buried in the protein core in the native state. These results suggest a role in fibrogenesis for the transient partially folded states of TDP-43 RRM2.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(薬科学) / 甲第20299号 / 薬科博第68号 / 新制||薬科||8(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院薬学研究科薬科学専攻 / (主査)教授 松﨑 勝巳, 教授 加藤 博章, 教授 石濱 泰 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Pharmaceutical Sciences / Kyoto University / DGAM