The subject of 'independence' of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has emerged as a key issue in post-apartheid South African public discourse. While the importance of 'independence' has rarely been questioned, the term's meaning has been subject to fragmented understandings and vague interpretations. This thesis explores the origins of divergent conceptions of 'independence', examining how these conceptions are constructed by staff within the SABC. The central task of this thesis is to critically examine the contested concept of 'independence' a task it accomplishes by engaging with issues of power, knowledge and identity. To this end, the thesis reveals that the neo-liberal policies imposed by the Washington Consensus play a significant role in shaping conceptions of 'independence' through their power to dictate policy in countries in the Global South, including South Africa. This power, exercised through dominant Washington Consensus institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), inform knowledge and identities at a local level through the adoption of neo-liberal macro-economic strategies, such as Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR). As a result, there is no local without the global. The engagement with issues of power, identity and knowledge and their relationships to how 'independence' is understood ensures that meanings of 'independence' are contested and that 'independence' is not an immovable edifice. 'Independence' is only a product of an evolving matrix, in which the staff of the SABC, who are divided into four different tiers, construct their own interpretations of 'independence', shaped by their understandings of both organisational and external factors, such as politics and advertisers, in relation to their work. Using data from interview respondents and an analysis of key public policy documents, this thesis presents two key processes that influence understandings of 'independence' and, therefore, link the SABC to the larger external socio-political environment. These two key factors, the commercialisation of the SABC and the African National Congress (ANC) power struggles have helped to shape the four conceptions of 'independence' advanced in this thesis: namely, the legalistic, anti-establishment, political and professional conceptions of 'independence'. At the core of this thesis are two questions: How do staff within the SABC construct and understand the meaning of 'independence' of the SABC, and what has influenced these conceptions in post-apartheid South Africa? Consistent with these research questions, the thesis is located within the interpretive tradition, since it seeks to understand the world of the SABC through the lens of its staff. To complement the interpretivist approach, the thesis situates the SABC and its understandings of 'independence' within the wider South African context, in which the meaning of 'independence' should also be understood as being inextricably intertwined with and a product of the shifting developmental state of the macro-economic environment. The critical political economy of the media is, therefore, used as an explanatory framework for understanding how the macro-worlds of politics and economic strategies intersect within the micro-world of the SABC to shape conceptions of 'independence'. The thesis concludes by arguing that it is not a strong and domineering state that seeks to control public service broadcasting; instead, it is a weak state that does so because of a need to curtail public discourse, which might present a threat to its own existence if left uncontrolled. As a result, it is difficult to separate the SABC from the state and, for that reason, the role of the public service broadcaster (PSB) is tied to the national narrative which itself is tied to the larger global matrices of power.

Mémoire en recherche-création / L’essai Études des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz explore les stratégies développées par l’écrivain Jean Echenoz pour engager un dialogue inédit avec le thème de l’astronautique, qu’il met en récit dans son sixième roman. Caractérisé par une adhésion ludique et distanciée au genre romanesque, Nous trois multiplie les jeux stylistiques, référentiels et langagiers, inscrivant son univers thématique au sein d’une esthétique de la précarité, qui n’épargne aucune dimension de l’œuvre. La structure du récit induit une part troublante d’équivoque autour de l’identité des personnages et des instances narratives. Sur le plan diégétique, le romancier met en place un univers instable et inquiétant dans lequel le milieu de l’astronautique est exposé sans complaisance. Tirant profit de la précarité inhérente au langage, Echenoz s’approprie un lexique rattaché au thème de l’astronautique qu’il exploite à des fins stylistiques. Le roman Hellen-Freischmann raconte le parcours d’un personnage écrivain singulier qui cherche à faire publier un manuscrit ayant pour protagonistes des corps célestes. Cette trame narrative a pour contrepoint un récit mettant en scène l’éditrice d’une maison d’édition prestigieuse, qui doit composer avec cette soumission atypique. Ces personnages évoluent au sein d’un univers sombre où l’étrangeté côtoie le familier, où le vraisemblable menace de basculer dans le fantastique, où la fiction contamine la réalité. Le roman est porté par une voix narrative inusitée, instable, caractérisée par des jeux complexes de focalisation, des registres contrastés et une certaine indécidabilité quant au rapport de la narration à l’histoire racontée. Ce narrateur assimile une nomenclature propre à l’astronomie, qui sert tant le développement de l’intrigue que les jeux stylistiques du roman. / The essay entitled Études des procédés d’appropriation esthétique de l’astronautique dans Nous trois de Jean Echenoz explores the strategies employed by the author Jean Echenoz to engage in a new dialogue with the theme of astronautics, which he brings into play in his sixth novel. Characterized by a playful and distanced adherence to literary fiction, Nous trois plays with styles, references and language, inscribing his universe into an esthetic of precariousness, sparing no dimension of his work. His narrative structure induces a troubling ambiguity around the characters’ identities and narrative instances. On a diegesis level, the author sets an unstable and unsettling universe in which the subject of astronautics is exposed without any complacency. Taking advantage of the language’s inherent precariousness, Echenoz takes ownership of the astronautics’ lexicon which he employs to further his style. The novel Hellen-Freischmann narrates the journey of a peculiar author whose goal is to publish his manuscript starring celestial bodies as protagonists. This narrative is intertwined with the tale of a publisher from a prestigious publishing house who must come to terms with this atypical submission. These characters evolve within a dark universe where strangeness stands alongside familiarity, where likelihood threatens to fall into fantasy, and fiction contaminates reality. The novel is carried by an unusual and unstable voice, characterized by complex plays on focus, contrasted language use, and a certain indecision towards the role of narration in the story told. This playful narrator incorporates a nomenclature proper to astronomy, which serves both the intrigue and the style of the novel.

This dissertation investigates the process of translating contemporary African choir music for non-African choirs, as performed by African choirs themselves, in the Gauteng area, and mostly as part of the ‘traditional’ section of their repertoires, through the process of negotiation. The aim of this research is to contextualize relevant material and problematize the issues that arise when the music from an African choir culture is translated for non- African choirs in order for these choirs to perform this music as part of their repertoires. Issues that develop from the contextualization of the main problem of the research, namely translation as negotiation, are problematized and notions of hegemony, identity and cultural relationships are addressed and the compatibility of cultural systems within a performance context is explored. The methodology focuses on fieldwork, processing and publishing of the Choral Music from South Africa Series, a multimedia package of contemporary African choir music, for performance by non-African choirs as published by the researcher. The research is located within the theoretical framework of postcolonial studies, and concepts flowing from the study will be discussed, based on the works by prominent scholars in the field: firstly, the notion of difference, experienced as ‘otherness’, will refer to the world acclaimed work, Orientalism, by Edward Said (1978). Secondly, the notion of change, as expressed by Jean Comaroff (1985), in Body of Power Spirit of Resistance: Culture, Consciousness, and Structural Transformation, as well as thirdly, the negotiational aspect of dialogue between cultures as expressed by Bakhtin (1981) in The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin, will be addressed. Fourthly, boundaries and cultural hybridity viewed by Homi Bhabha (1994) as a concept of ‘third space’ in his work The Location of Culture and lastly the impact of commerce and technology on African music with reference to Walter Benjamin (1973), in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, as well as its significance in/for publication will be explored. The researcher argues that the translation of contemporary African music for choirs can only be brought about by means of cultural dialogue, within cultures and between cultures. / Dissertation (MMus (Music Education))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Music / unrestricted

Habituation is a filter that optimizes the processing of information by our brain in all sensory modalities. It results in an unconscious reduced responsiveness to continuous or repetitive stimulation. In olfaction, the main question is whether habituation works the same way for any odorant or whether we habituate differently to each odorant? In particular, whether chemical, physical or perceptual cues can limit or increase habituation. To test this, the odour intensity of 32 odorants differing in physicochemical characteristics was rated by 58 participants continuously during 120s. Each odorant was delivered at a constant concentration. Results showed odorants differed significantly in habituation, highlighting the multifactoriality of habituation. Additionally habituation was predicted from 15 physico-chemical and perceptual characteristics of the odorants. The analysis highlighted the importance of trigeminality which is highly correlated to intensity and pleasantness. The vapour pressure, the molecular weight, the Odor Activity Value (OAV) and the number of double bonds mostly contributed to the modulation of habituation. Moreover, length of the carbon chain, number of conformers and hydrophobicity contributed to a lesser extent to the modulation of habituation. These results highlight new principles involved in the fundamental process of habituation, notably trigeminality and the physicochemical characteristics associated.

This dissertation deals with Swedish crime fiction and its successes on the Swedish book market in the early 2000s. The genre’s expansion, marketing and literary content is mapped and analysed in three studies that together paint a thorough picture of this literary phenomena in Swedish book trade. In study no 1 the development of the genre in Sweden in the last 40 years is discussed from a quantitative perspective. With the base in bibliographies of Swedish crime fiction publication trends are analysed in several ways and concerning topics such as genre growth, gender balance, publishing houses, successful authorships, bestsellers and library lending. The results include: a significant genre expansion in the 2000s; a great dominance for the genre on the bestseller charts in the 2000s; and a shift in the author group, from male dominance to even gender balance. In study no 2 the marketing of the genre is examined through an analysis of book covers, titles and other elements in the concrete packaging of just over 150 Swedish crime fiction paperbacks. With book history as an important theoretical influence book covers and other peritextual elements are understood as a significant part of the marketing of the genre, but also – and wider – as of crucial importance for how genres themselves are established, withheld and re-negotiated in the interplay between different actors in the society of literature – publishers, authors, booksellers, readers. In study no 3 a quantitative content analysis of 116 Swedish crime novels published 1998–2015 is used to chart and discuss recurring themes and tropes within the genre. Focus is primarily directed towards what is understood as the most central parts of crime fiction: murderers and their motives; methods used in committing murder; victims of murder; and detectives and other protagonists. The results include: a distinct dominance of female protagonists; a partial realism, where depictions of everyday life in general is realistic while the murder plots are spectacular and sensational; and a dominance of normality, where main characters and innocent victims confirms normality, while killers and unsympathetic victims are depicted as deviants in stark contrast with normality.

The clinical diagnostics of olfactory dysfunction in children turns out to be challenging due to low attention span, insufficient linguistic development and lack of odor experiences. Several smell tests have been developed for adults. Most of these examinations take a relatively long time and require a high level of concentration. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate an odor discrimination and olfactory threshold test using the frequently used “Sniffin’ Sticks” in children and adolescents in a simplified two-alternative-forced-choice version (2AFC) and compare it to the original three-alternative-forced-choice test (3AFC). One-hundred-twenty-one healthy participants aged between 5 and 17 years took part in this study. Within each of the two sessions participants underwent olfactory testing using the modified 2AFC as well as the standard 3AFC method. A better test-retest reliability was achieved using the original 3AFC method compared to the modified 2AFC. This was true for the odor discrimination as well as the olfactory threshold. Age had a significant influence on both tests, which should be considered when testing young children. We discuss these findings with relation to the existing norms and recommend using the 3AFC version due to a better test-retest reliability to measure olfactory function in children.

There have recently been considerable advances in our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms underlying multitasking, but the role of multimodal integration for this faculty has remained rather unclear. We examined this issue by comparing different modality combinations in a multitasking (stop-change) paradigm. In-depth neurophysiological analyses of event-related potentials (ERPs) were conducted to complement the obtained behavioral data. Specifically, we applied signal decomposition using second order blind identification (SOBI) to the multi-subject ERP data and source localization. We found that both general multimodal information integration and modality-specific aspects (potentially related to task difficulty) modulate behavioral performance and associated neurophysiological correlates. Simultaneous multimodal input generally increased early attentional processing of visual stimuli (i.e. P1 and N1 amplitudes) as well as measures of cognitive effort and conflict (i.e. central P3 amplitudes). Yet, tactile-visual input caused larger impairments in multitasking than audio-visual input. General aspects of multimodal information integration modulated the activity in the premotor cortex (BA 6) as well as different visual association areas concerned with the integration of visual information with input from other modalities (BA 19, BA 21, BA 37). On top of this, differences in the specific combination of modalities also affected performance and measures of conflict/effort originating in prefrontal regions (BA 6).

During tissue invasion individual tumor cells exhibit two interconvertible migration modes, namely mesenchymal and amoeboid migration. The cellular microenvironment triggers the switch between both modes, thereby allowing adaptation to dynamic conditions. It is, however, unclear if this amoeboid-mesenchymal migration plasticity contributes to a more effective tumor invasion. We address this question with a mathematical model, where the amoeboid-mesenchymal migration plasticity is regulated in response to local extracellular matrix resistance. Our numerical analysis reveals that extracellular matrix structure and presence of a chemotactic gradient are key determinants of the model behavior. Only in complex microenvironments, if the extracellular matrix is highly heterogeneous and a chemotactic gradient directs migration, the amoeboid-mesenchymal migration plasticity allows a more widespread invasion compared to the non-switching amoeboid and mesenchymal modes. Importantly, these specific conditions are characteristic for in vivo tumor invasion. Thus, our study suggests that in vitro systems aiming at unraveling the underlying molecular mechanisms of tumor invasion should take into account the complexity of the microenvironment by considering the combined effects of structural heterogeneities and chemical gradients on cell migration.

The ability of humans to discriminate enantiomeric odour pairs is substance –specific. Current literature suggests that psychophysical discrimination of odour enantiomers mainly depends on the peripheral processing at the level of the olfactory sensory neurons (OSN). To study the influence of central processing in discrimination, we investigated differences in the electrophysiological responses to psychophysically indistinguishable (+)- and (−)- rose oxide enantiomers at peripheral and central-nervous levels in humans. We recorded the electro-olfactogram (EOG) from the olfactory epithelium and the EEG-derived olfactory event-related potentials (OERP). Results from a psychophysical three alternative forced choice test indicated indistinguishability of the two odour enantiomers. In a total of 19 young participants EOG could be recorded in 74 and OERP in 95% of subjects. Significantly different EOG amplitudes and latencies were recorded in response to the 2 stimuli. However, no such differences in amplitude or latency emerged for the OERP. In conclusion, although the pair of enantiomer could be discriminated at a peripheral level this did not lead to a central-nervous/cognitive differentiation of the two stimuli.

Le droit d'auteur – dont l'identité reste controversée – n'échappe pas à la discussion quant à la nature et au régime des contrats qui le mettent en œuvre. D'une terminologie légale ancrée dans une certaine tradition, mais hasardeuse, on infère l'originalité de l'ensemble des contrats de la matière. Or, la spécificité n'est sur ce point qu'apparente. De l'édition littéraire aux contrats de l'audiovisuel et aux œuvres diffusées sur les réseaux, l'analyse démontre que si l'auteur peut "céder" son œuvre – ce que dit la loi – il peut aussi la louer, c'est-à-dire en concéder la licence – ce qu'elle ne dit pas. Ce constat s'appuie sur une méthode de lecture renouvelée des contrats du droit d'auteur. L'attention portée par la loi impérative à certains contrats (édition, production audiovisuelle, etc.), a pu perturber l'étude de la licence, l'acte par lequel l'auteur se borne à autoriser l'exploitation de son œuvre pour un temps. Or, si la licence apparaît dans un premier temps en contrat spécial du droit d'auteur, elle sera également amenée à devenir la composante élémentaire d'un contrat complexe organisant une exploitation. Il importe donc de distinguer ces deux objets pour mieux en apprécier ensuite les interactions. Le droit d'auteur, droit "spécial", fait ainsi la preuve de son aptitude à accueillir - autant que de raison - les mécanismes du droit des contrats, droit "commun". Cette étude a pour ambition une meilleure compréhension de cette matière complexe des contrats du droit d'auteur, sans omettre le principal objectif de notre loi : la protection de l'auteur. / In the field of the author's right (a concept with a controversial identity), the nature and regime of many contracts is a subject for debate. A traditional but somehow uncertain terminology has often led to infer the originality of most of these contracts. However, this peculiarity is only apparent. From literary publishing to audiovisual contracts through creations published on networks, not only can the author of a work "assign" it – as stated by the law – but also rent it, or in other words license it – even though the law does not state it. This observation rests on a renewed reading method applied to the author's right contracts. Focusing on some of these contracts (e. g. books publishing, audiovisual production, etc.), mandatory copyright law hindered the study of license itself, i. e. the act by which an author authorizes the exploitation of his work for a fixed time. License is a special contract in the field of author's right ; it is also a basis element in a complex agreement designed to organize an exploitation. These two objects should therefore be distinguished and their interactions thoroughly analysed. A "special" right, the author's right nevertheless proves able to host (to a certain extent) the typical process of contract right – a "common" right. The present study aims to attain a better understanding of a complex matter, the author's right contracts, not forgetting the main purpose of the law itself : the protection of the author.