Background:Nordicfeel is an E-commerce company based in Vaxjo. Nordicfeel has recently approved theimplementation of a new checkout-system called “Ingrid”. The SaaS-application Ingrid is adelivery options module applied to a company’s checkout page. This module enablescompanies to customize available delivery options for the consumers based on rules andparameters associated with the consumer’s order, which the company presents. The objectivewith the implementation is to increase the net freight revenue without reducing the existingconversion rate.Purpose:The purpose of this study is to investigate how the implementation of Ingrid can increaseNordicfeel’s net freight revenue by improving the offering of delivery options. Furthermorethe purpose is to analyze whether the conversion rate of the customers is influenced by thenumber of available delivery options and by limitations in the delivery information. Finalobjective is to identify Nordicfeel’s balance between a high net freight revenue and and ahigh conversion rate between the consumers.Method:The study consists of a case study of Nordicfeel, grounded in both a qualitative andquantitative approach. The analysis method is based upon comparing expected patterns withexisting patterns. Existing patterns are gathered through interviews, focus groups and datacollection from Nordicfeel, to then analyze and identify an expected pattern.Results:The study confirms that limitations in delivery information and delivery options offered toconsumers will not significantly affect Nordicfeel’s conversion rate. By prioritizing profitabledelivery options and through small adjustments to freight prices and delivery times,Nordicfeel can increase their freight net revenue and maintain a stable conversion rate.Keywords: Checkout- System, Conversion rate, Delivery information, Delivery options,Freight Net, INGRID, Saas-Application

This research report explores the link between the novels of Ingrid Winterbach / Lettie Viljoen, a third culture and the neo-Victorian novel. The study is therefore situated within the cultural-philosophical framework of a third culture, which implies that the two cultures of science and literature do not function as separate disciplines, but as an organic unit. Researchers in the interdiscipline of literature and science identify the Age of Science (1879–1914) – including the Victorian era (1837–1901) – as a historical period where the existence of such a third culture was observed. This period was characterised by numerous scientific discoveries, and Darwin’s theory of evolution generated heated debates in Victorian society. Nineteenth-century literature (and specifically the Victorian novel) therefore reflects the spirit of an age where the interaction between science and literature was particularly evident. In our information-driven society, the focus is once again on scientific discovery and dissemination of knowledge, prompting social critics to typify the current period as “neo-” or “retro-Victorian”. The contemporary imagination still problematises Darwin’s theory of evolution, and fiction such as Winterbach’s therefore not only renegotiates the fixed modernistic boundaries between science and literature, but also revisits the nineteenth- century genres simptomatic of a similar third culture. Winterbach’s novels (1984–2006) display a distinctive predisposition towards natural history and Darwinistic principles and are therefore postmodern adaptations of nineteenth-century conventions. Darwinistic concepts such as growth, metamorphosis,transformation, evolution and the origin, naming and extinction of species are therefore accentuated. Winterbach’s fictionalisation of a nineteenth-century worldview can be linked to the work of her ancestors in the Afrikaans literary tradition, Eugène Marais and C. Louis Leipoldt (both amateur scientists). Her popularisation of scientific knowledge and revisitation of Victorian codes also link her to a neo-Victorian novelistic movement (a contemporary permutation of the Victorian tradition). Her oeuvre therefore also displays similarities to that of her British contemporary, A.S. Byatt, a prominent neo-Victorian novelist. An exploration of the natural world in this tradition, however, also implies an exploration of supernatural spheres, a trend which is equally evident in texts by congeners such as (George) Eliot, Marais, Leipoldt, Winterbach and Byatt. / Afrikaans / D.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans and Theory of Literature)

This research report explores the link between the novels of Ingrid Winterbach / Lettie Viljoen, a third culture and the neo-Victorian novel. The study is therefore situated within the cultural-philosophical framework of a third culture, which implies that the two cultures of science and literature do not function as separate disciplines, but as an organic unit. Researchers in the interdiscipline of literature and science identify the Age of Science (1879–1914) – including the Victorian era (1837–1901) – as a historical period where the existence of such a third culture was observed. This period was characterised by numerous scientific discoveries, and Darwin’s theory of evolution generated heated debates in Victorian society. Nineteenth-century literature (and specifically the Victorian novel) therefore reflects the spirit of an age where the interaction between science and literature was particularly evident. In our information-driven society, the focus is once again on scientific discovery and dissemination of knowledge, prompting social critics to typify the current period as “neo-” or “retro-Victorian”. The contemporary imagination still problematises Darwin’s theory of evolution, and fiction such as Winterbach’s therefore not only renegotiates the fixed modernistic boundaries between science and literature, but also revisits the nineteenth- century genres simptomatic of a similar third culture. Winterbach’s novels (1984–2006) display a distinctive predisposition towards natural history and Darwinistic principles and are therefore postmodern adaptations of nineteenth-century conventions. Darwinistic concepts such as growth, metamorphosis,transformation, evolution and the origin, naming and extinction of species are therefore accentuated. Winterbach’s fictionalisation of a nineteenth-century worldview can be linked to the work of her ancestors in the Afrikaans literary tradition, Eugène Marais and C. Louis Leipoldt (both amateur scientists). Her popularisation of scientific knowledge and revisitation of Victorian codes also link her to a neo-Victorian novelistic movement (a contemporary permutation of the Victorian tradition). Her oeuvre therefore also displays similarities to that of her British contemporary, A.S. Byatt, a prominent neo-Victorian novelist. An exploration of the natural world in this tradition, however, also implies an exploration of supernatural spheres, a trend which is equally evident in texts by congeners such as (George) Eliot, Marais, Leipoldt, Winterbach and Byatt. / Afrikaans / D.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans and Theory of Literature)

The MA thesis Ingrid Kurz and her Contribution to the Development of the Theory of Interpreting is a descriptive theoretical study dealing with the work of the conference and television interpreter, Interpreting Studies scholar and professor of Translation Studies at University of Vienna Ingrid Kurz, born Pinter. This thesis analyses individual stages of her research and looks into the development of her opinions and interests, which can be followed chronologically in her articles, studies and extensive publications. It also informs on teaching and interpreting projects of this researcher and, last but not least, reflects her contribution in the area of interdisciplinary cooperation. The interconnection of psychological and interpreting education inspired her towards the first experiments in the field of simultaneous interpreting. Keywords: Ingrid Kurz, theory of interpreting, interdisciplinary research, cognitive psychology, quality of simultaneous interpreting, stress, the media, audiovisual interpreting, didactics.

The thesis Ingrid Kurz and her Contribution to the Development of the Theory of Interpreting is a descriptive theoretical study dealing with the work of the conference and television interpreter, Interpreting Studies scholar and professor of Translation Studies at University of Vienna Ingrid Kurz, born Pinter. This thesis analyses individual stages of her research and looks into the development of her opinions and interests, which can be followed chronologically in her articles, studies and extensive publications. It also informs on teaching and interpreting projects of this researcher and, last but not least, reflects her contribution in the area of interdisciplinary cooperation. The interconnection of psychological and interpreting education of the author inspired her towards the first experiments in the field of simultaneous interpreting. Keywords Ingrid Kurz, theory of interpreting, interdisciplinary research, cognitive psychology, quality of simultaneous interpreting, stress, the media, audiovisual interpreting, didactics.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation I investigate how aesthetics, politics and ethics intersect as material flows in translation, and how these actualise in the oeuvre of Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach. With the emphasis on praxis, I explore these three threads through the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in particular, though not exclusively. With reference to Deleuze and Guattari’s project on ‘minor literature’, I demonstrate that Viljoen/Winterbach’s oeuvre contains a high degree of deterritorialisation through methods such as thematic refrains, stylistic devices and her use of Engfrikaans. In translation these methods are investigated in terms of the ethico-aesthetic framework developed by Guattari, the role of capitalism in its relation to translation and the publishing industry (i.e. the political), and how translation and/as praxis may begin to develop a nomadic ethics. Aesthetics, from a Deleuzo-Guattarian perspective is shown to be not about the value produced by capitalism, but rather about that which deterritorialises as a singularity. Such a singularity in literature may be said to actualise as a minor literature or, more accurately, a becoming-minor. With regards to politics in translation/translation in politics, I argue that the question of translation should no longer be What does this word/text mean? but rather What is the word/text/translation doing? When the emphasis moves from semantics to praxis I argue that translation, like other forms of literature, has the potential to affect social transformation. I put forth as part of my argument that this is possible through deterritorialising practices like écriture féminine and Viljoen/Winterbach’s use of Engfrikaans and the trickster figure, as such methods allow for bifurcations away from State territorialisations. And finally, I examine how translators might begin to develop a praxis informed by a nomadic ethics which is not reliant on a normative morality, but rather constitutes an orientation founded on heterogeneity and the repudiation of universality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie proefskrif word daar ondersoek hoe estetika, politiek and etiek as reële elemente saamvloei in vertaling, en hoe dit aktualiseer in the oeuvre van Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach. Met die klem op praxis ondersoek ek dié drie elemente in besonder in terme van die filosofie van Gilles Deleuze en Félix Guattari, alhoewel nie eksklusief nie. Met verwysing na Deleuze end Guattari se projek aangaande ’n ‘klein (mindere) literatuur’, demonstreer ek dat Viljoen/Winterbach se oeuvre ’n hoë graad van deterritorialisasie weerspieël wat uit haar gebruik van metodes soos tematiese refreine, stilistiese instrumente en die gebruik van Engfrikaans voortspruit. In vertaling word hierdie metodes ondersoek in terme van die eties-estetiese raamwerk wat deur Guattari ontwikkel is asook die politieke rol van kapitalisme in verhouding tot vertaling en die publikasiebedryf, sowel as hoe vertaling as praxis daartoe mag bydra om ’n nomadiese etiek te ontwikkel. Vanuit ’n Deleuzo-Guattariaanse perspektief word daar aangetoon dat estetika nie handel oor die waarde wat kapitalisme voortbring nie, maar eerder oor die enkele-uniekheid (“singularity”) wat deterritorialisering meebring. Dit kan gestel word dat in literatuur sodanige enkele-uniekheid as mindere (“minor”) literatuur gesien kan word of, om meer akkuraat te wees, die voortbring daarvan kan aktualiseer. Betreffende politiek in vertaling/vertaling in politiek word daar aangevoer dat die vraagstuk van vertaling voortaan nie moet wees Wat beteken hierdie woord of teks? nie, maar eerder Wat vermag ’n woord of teks in die vertaling? Daar word verder aangevoer dat wanneer die klem vanaf semantiek na praxis verskuif vertaling, soos ander vorme van literatuur, die potensiaal inhou om sosiale transformasie te beïnvloed. As deel van die onderliggende argument word daar gepostuleer dat die voorgenoemde inderdaad moontlik is deur deterritorialiserende paraktyke soos écriture féminine en Viljoen/Winterbach se gebruik van Engfrikaans asmede die triekster-figuur omdat sulke metodes die geleentheid skep vir splitsing (“bifurcation”) weg van Staatsterritorialisering af. Ten slotte word ondersoek ingestel na hoe vertalers ’n praxis sou kon ontwikkel wat deur ’n nomadiese etiek en nie’n normatiewe moraliteit gelei word nie, maar wat eerder op ’n orientasie van heterogeniteit en die verwerping van essensie gebaseer is.

Following a close reading strategy, the research seeks to discover what the intratextual relations of each selected poem, three by Ingrid Jonker and three by Sylvia Plath, reveal. Flowing from the thematic overlaps that exist between the selected Jonker poems and Plath poems, it explores what similarities or differences in poetic form, the use of poetic devices and content, in other words intratextual relations, can be discovered via a comparison. Given that Jonker and Plath were contemporaries and shared biographical events, and after having considered and compared the intratextual relations of the selected poems, the research seeks to show what similarities or differences can be discovered in the exploration and comparison of the intertextual and extratextual relations of the selected poems. Thus, the thesis’ critical approach includes the close investigation of the structure of each of the selected poems, in order to discover its communication first, before delving into biographical, historical, social, political, and thematic approaches and interpretations. The research reveals that exercises of close reading, with a few exceptions, have not been the main focus in the discussion of either poet’s poetry. In other words, context has, for the most part, been favoured over text and over form. What the research reveals is that there are overlaps in the intratextual, intertextual, and extratextual relations of the selection of poems, but also differences. A comparison of intratextual relations reveals Plath’s formal training in comparison to Jonker’s largely informal training, for example, and that generally Plath was the more disciplined author of the two. The intertextual and extratextual relations of each poem (and how these relations compare) reveal and highlight that the selection of poems is a reflection or sampling of the poets’ ‘own’ voices. It also reveals the development of their maturity as writers and the development of themes across their poetry and collections of poems. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Afrikaans / unrestricted

The focus of this dissertation is a comparative study of Ingrid Winterbach's Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat (2006) [The Book of Happenstance (2008)] and Etienne van Heerden's Asbesmiddag (2007) [Asbestos Afternoon] within an intertextual and socio-political framework. Both novels show strong links to the literary traditions of which they form part through a high degree of intertextuality with literary predecessors (intertexts from Afrikaans and South African English literature, but also classical intertexts emanating from the larger field of world literature). Both texts exhibit an overt metatextual consciousness. The protagonists in each of these novels are portrayed as novelists. One of the main aims of the study is to interrogate the implied ideological perspectives in both novels - the nature and extent of the reflection of the current South African socio-political system. Winterbach and Van Heerden‘s texts may both be read as fictionalised forms of "protest" against the extrinsic South African socio-political order. These forms of protest focus on the inevitable change from one stage/era to the next, the old South Africa to the new, in a quest for artistic (creative writing and literature) and cultural (Afrikaner identity and language) survival. Die boek van toeval en toeverlaat (2006) and Asbesmiddag (2007) contribute to contemporary discourse by offering implied ideological insights into specific socio-political and metatextual phenomena. This is done in fictional guise - through the characters populating the fictional world of the novel, and also through the authors' implied ideological views. Both novels are intensely concerned with language issues, as well as the status of literature as cultural product. On the metatextual level theoretical issues concerning literature are in the focus, such as the precarious position of the novelist (and the academic) in contemporary South African society, and the status of literature and Afrikaans as a minority language. The purpose of this comparative study is to look at the metatextual, ideological and linguistic aspects of the novels through an extensive intertextual study, in order to interrogate and illustrate the socio-political discourse embedded in them.

Graduate school has been a time of travel through experimentation. The journey has almost always been a search for materials and sources that match my need for working with the self-referential narrative within the framework of a process. Repeatedly, I would venture out and turn back, only to venture out again, packed with new materials and image sources, in search of a complete process. In retrospect, there have been no dead ends, only quenched curiosities that sometimes cleanly, often clumsily, lead one to the other. What is left is a series of explorations from which I can pluck similarities, clues to my core interests and methods. In the end, I believe I have found a place of clarity, where interests and process converge.

This study is an investigation of the contribution of second language learning experience to the professional knowledge and beliefs of teachers of ESL to adults. The literature reveals that very little has been written about the language background of the ESL teacher who teaches English through English to adult immigrants. The thesis proposes an explanation for this based on the historical development of the profession, and argues that despite vast changes in second language acquisition theory and pedagogy in the last fifty years, an English-only classroom fronted by a teacher who is monolingual or who is encouraged to behave as if he or she is monolingual, has remained the dominant practice in Australia. The research study is not a consideration of the merits of bilingual teaching versus monolingual teaching in English-only. Instead, it seeks to understand whether teachers who do have another language draw on it in ways relevant to the teaching of English, and to suggest reasons why teachers' languages are disregarded in the profession. In doing so, the thesis draws on key bodies of literature in bilingualism, second language acquisition, teacher cognition and critical studies in an attempt to provide a framework for considering the research questions. The study employed a qualitative, interpretive research design involving semi-structured interviews and the taking of detailed language biographies from a total of thirty-one practising teachers of ESL. Language biographies were analysed and categorised along several parameters, and the major distinctions made were between circumstantial bilinguals, elective bilinguals and monolinguals. Three key themes emerged: teachers' beliefs about learning a second language, the contribution made by teachers' language learning experience to their reported beliefs and practices, and teachers' beliefs about the role of the first language in second language learning. Bilingual teachers, both circumstantial and elective, appeared to have more realistic and optimistic beliefs about the nature of language learning than did monolingual teachers. Bilingual teachers appeared to see language learning as challenging but achievable. They recognised the dynamic nature of learning as incorporating progress, stagnation, attrition and re-learning. Monolingual teachers tended to see second language learning as almost impossible, and fraught with the potential for loss of self-esteem. Both groups talked about their own language learning as a private undertaking unrelated in any public way to their professional lives. The contribution made by language learning background fell into two groupings: of insights about language and language use, and about language learning and language teaching. Four key aspects of the former were insights about language in general deriving from knowledge of more than one; insights from contrasting LOTE and English; insights about the language-using experiences of bilinguals and biculturals, and insights about the possibilities of LOTE as a pedagogical tool in the ESL class. The second grouping included insights into learning strategies; insights about the affective aspects of being a language learner; knowledge of different teaching approaches from experience, and insights from different teaching contexts made possible by bilingualism. Overall the broader and richer the language background, the more sophisticated and developed were the insights which appeared to be relevant to teaching ESL. The third data chapter analysed teachers' expressed beliefs about the role of learners' first language(s) (L1) in the ESL class. Here little difference was found between bilingual and monolingual teachers, but overall L1 was characterised as an undesirable element in the ESL class. Teachers' discourse regarding L1 was analysed and found to be heavily characterised by negative and pejorative terms. This finding, combined with the teachers' generally weakly-articulated rationales for the exclusion of L1, led to the conclusion that beliefs and practices regarding L1 are a consequence of the monolingual focus of the ESL profession. The findings of the study in general are that ESL teachers draw on any language learning experience as a resource in teaching, and 'experiential knowledge' seems to be readily available to them in the ways they represent their own knowledge and beliefs in talk. It appears to be important in informing and shaping their conceptions of their practice as language teachers. There are differences between bilingual and monolingual teachers in that the former have much richer resources on which to draw. There are added insights which come from circumstantial or elective bilingual experience, from being a non-native English speaker, and from formal and informal learning experience. In general, the more and varied the language learning experience, the deeper and more sophisticated the resource it is to draw on in teaching. It is argued that the teaching of ESL is constructed as "the teaching of English" rather than as "the teaching of a second language", meaning that the 'experiential knowledge' (Wallace 1991) of bilingual teachers is unvalued. It appears to be accepted and unquestioned that a monolingual teacher can teach a learner to be bilingual. These propositions are discussed in the light of the writings of critical theorists to give a wider perspective on the monolingual discourse of the ESL profession. Bourdieu's notion of 'habitus' as strategic practice which is structured by a sociocultural environment (Bourdieu 1977a) is the basis for Gogolin's (1994) idea of a 'monolingual habitus' in education. Their work, and that of Skutnabb-Kangas (2000a) who refers to 'monolingual reductionism', suggest a social, political and discursal explanation for the invisibility of teachers' languages in the ESL profession. It is suggested that teacher language learning background should become a legitimate topic for discussion and further research.