The author examines effective urban water management as a means to promote sustainable development and achieve water sensitive cities. A qualitative method is utilised in the collection of data through document studies, desktop analysis and a literature review. A review of the current national and local water policies and approaches within South Africa, and more specifically Cape Town, indicated the need for a coordinated, systems based and holistic approach to urban water management. Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) is considered as an alternative approach to urban water management in Cape Town to build resilience among local communities against the threat of drought and flood events, and promote sustainable development in moving toward a water sensitive city. A model for implementing WSUD in the context of limited resources and capacity within local municipal departments is considered. Incorporating the principles of WSUD within spatial planning initiatives to implement this approach and catalyse a systemic transition in urban water management is considered and assessed in a case study of the proposed development of the River Club. The case study considers a bottom-up approach to transforming urban water management and the capacity of WSUD, when implemented through spatial planning, to simultaneously address multiple objectives including those of sustainable development and those contained within national and local policies. The benefits of a WSUD approach for all are considered. Many if these benefits are as a result of reduced pressures on municipal infrastructure and increased water resources accrued as a product of the proposed implementation model. The implementation model proposed creates conditions in which municipal resources and investment can be redirected to promote equitable water resource and service provision distribution throughout the city. The model is proposed to effect a transformation in water policy, institutional structures and water resource management to reflect the principles of WSUD in a manner which is cognisant of the various limitations inherent to the City.

Across the academic sphere, much research has been conducted into the development of water-sensitive elements to address issues around urban water management. However, these elements are commonly investigated in isolation, with little consideration for initiatives from other disciplines that may support their success. This research aims to demonstrate the value that an architect may bring in incorporating ideas drawn from various disciplines to create a water- sensitive design solution with multiple ecosystem benefits, taking into account the human experience of space and place-making. In doing so, the design demonstrates that a water-sensitive building is aesthetically pleasing, viable and achievable. The feasibility of water-sensitive designs has been noted as a focus area by the South African Water Research Commission; one which is particularly pertinent in our present water-scarce environment in South Africa. This applied study is based on a previous Master of Architecture (Professional) dissertation building design, which is used as the unit of analysis. The building focuses on restoring the quality of water in the Liesbeek River in Cape Town using passive filtration methods. The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the design process and planning of water-sensitive architectural buildings, which assists in understanding when collaborating across disciplines. The research is guided by Deep Ecology, phenomenology and Ecological Urbanism. Research by Design is used as the method of the study, in which different design iterations based on the raw data of the original building are investigated and analysed, as well as evaluated by specialists from various disciplines in order to create a best-fit design solution. The revised building takes into account the practical, site-specific and architectural qualities of a water-sensitive design to create a people-centred building that incorporates ecological and engineering demands in greater detail. Key outcomes of the study include a typical design process for a WSAD and architectural guidelines for water-sensitive buildings, grounded in the diverse values of water and its relationship to people and nature. The dissertation aims to contribute to the academic discourse around water-sensitive design. Further, the guidelines developed may be used to inform the design of conventional buildings.

The presented diploma thesis deals with a targeted modification of the structural properties of hydrogels, which is closely related to the application properties of these materials (eg transport). Due to the desired pharmacological applications of the use of these materials for targeted drug release, hydrogels based on chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol as substances with good biocompatibility were selected for the study. The combination of these polymers ensured swelling (controlled by the presence of chitosan) and viscoelastic (influenced by the presence of polyvinyl alcohol) properties, which were characterized by a wide range of analytical and physicochemical methods (swelling, tensile strength, rheology, atomic force microscopy or specific surface area, etc.). Information on structural properties played a crucial role not only for a detailed description of the studied materials in terms of whether the structural properties can be changed in a targeted manner, but also served as an explanation for the different release of the active substance diclofenac from the hydrogel matrix. With regard to the literature search, the effect of pH and crosslinking was chosen to modify the properties. From the measured results it was found that even a slight change in pH has an effect on the transport or release of the active substance. The results obtained in this work may be useful in the formation of hydrogel matrices with drugs depending on the intended medical applications.

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Nothing can exist, live, survive or thrive without water. Water is the basis of life for all living organisms and the centre of life for all societies. The global attitude around water has become territorial as it encompasses an intricate link to the development of nations. Centralising main water supplies beyond urban boundaries may have improved the utilisation of water but has also resulted in the separation of society and water. Water is what gave rise to the city of Cape Town, as there was an abundance of rivers and springs located on and around Table Mountain. This water was first used by the Khoi people and became the reason for colonial settlers residing in the Cape. The City is currently experiencing the worst water crisis in over a century due to increased temperatures and decreased rainfall. Amid the water crisis there appears to be underused, freshwater below Cape Town's CBD, flowing to the Atlantic Ocean via the stormwater reticulation system. This water originates from Table Mountain's rivers, streams and, to an extent, springs. Naturally, the drought has sparked widespread concern for, and attention given to, water and its sustainable usage. This dissertation explores the ways in which the City's water, environmental and spatial planning policies could spark a new and improved water-culture within Cape Town to ensure sustainable, long-term water availability. This is done through investigating the potential of Oranjezicht in becoming a catalytic area for water sustainability due to the locations of the Field of Springs and the Platteklip Stream. This dissertation proposes using water sensitive urban design as well as integrated, collaborative partnerships and management mechanisms to encourage an improved urban water culture.

Two new aspects of the dynamic behaviour in the audible frequency range of magneto-sensitive (MS) rubber are highlighted: the existence of an amplitude dependence of the shear modulus—referred to as the Fletcher–Gent effect—for even small displacements, and the appearance of large MS effects. These results have been obtained experimentally and are subsequently used to model two examples of magneto-sensitive rubber isolators to show how by means of MS rubber they can be improved. The first model calculates the transfer stiffness of a torsionally excited isolator and the second one the energy flow into the foundation for a bushing inserted between a vibrating mass and an infinite plate. In both examples notable improvements in isolation can be obtained / QC 20101125

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are attractive nanomaterials due to their superior mechanical properties, renewability, and natural abundance. Their surface hydroxyl groups, along with surface charges induced during their production, allow CNCs to be easily dispersed in an aqueous medium, especially with sustainable water-based production methods such as emulsion polymerization. Moreover, their surface functionality makes them highly suitable for modification, thereby making them even more versatile. Emulsion polymer latexes are heterogeneous mixtures, having a continuous aqueous phase along with a dispersed organic phase. Latex polymers are used in a wide range of applications such as in coating and adhesive films. Because of the bi-phasic nature of emulsion polymerizations, the surface properties of CNCs play a crucial role in their location relative to the organic phase, and how well-dispersed they are in the cast films. In this thesis, three grades of CNCs (Celluforce Inc.) with either hydrophilic, partially-hydrophobic, or hydrophobic surface properties, were combined with conventional emulsion and miniemulsion polymer formulations to investigate their effect on the properties of pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) films. In the first instance, hydrophilic CNCs were tested in a seeded semi-batch emulsion polymerization. Using a sequential experimental design, the effects of polar comonomer, surfactant, chain transfer agent, and CNC loading on latex stability and PSA properties were studied. By increasing polymer chain entanglements and the work of adhesion, the hydrophilic CNCs were observed to simultaneously improve the three key properties of acrylic-based PSA films, i.e., tack, peel strength and shear strength. In the second part of this project, we compared the role of hydrophilic and partially-hydrophobic CNCs in PSA property modification. Viscosity measurements and atomic force microscopy revealed differences in the degree of association between the two types of CNCs and the latex particles. Dynamic strain-sweep tests showed that hydrophilic CNC nanocomposites softened at lower strains than their partially-hydrophobic counterparts. This behaviour was confirmed via dynamic frequency tests and modelling of the nanocomposites’ storage moduli, which suggested the formation of CNC aggregates of, on average, 3.8 and 1.3 times the length of CNCs. These results confirmed that the partially-hydrophobic CNCs led to improved CNC dispersion in the PSA films and ultimately, enhanced PSA properties. In the third part of the project, mini-emulsion polymerization (MEP) was used to embed the hydrophobic CNCs within the polymer particles in contrast to the hydrophilic and partially-hydrophobic CNCs which resided mainly in the aqueous phase or near the water-particle interface. Higher CNC loadings led to increased particle size, decreased polymerization rate and number of particles, while only slightly increased the viscosity and the work of adhesion. PSA film properties decreased upon the incorporation of hydrophobic CNCs. Transmission electron microscopy showed that CNCs were expelled from the latex particles at higher loadings, suggesting the incompatibility of the acrylic polymer and the CNCs’ modifying agents. The ability to modify CNCs enables one to achieve a range of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity. This makes them extremely versatile in a heterogeneous mixture such as in an emulsion polymerization. Because emulsion polymers are used in a wide range of applications with a broad spectrum of properties (i.e., not only as adhesives but as non-tacky coatings), our ability to control CNC location relative to the polymer particles in the latex opens the door to a world of high value-added sustainable polymer products.

Voltage sensitive dyes are a family of chemical sensors which enable optical recording of electrical activities from large populations of neurons, but nevertheless suffer from the lack of delivery and targeting strategies in brain tissue due to their generally high lipophilicity. In this dissertation, I present a purely chemical approach to target voltage sensitive dyes to natively expressed protein targets in live brain tissue and achieve functional voltage imaging with the limited photon budget afforded by the small number of sensors targeted to endogenous molecular targets. To our knowledge, this study represents the first example of functional optical recording from specific neuronal types and their axons in live brain tissue without any genetic manipulation. Such approach is vastly significant in the long run when we ultimately need to translate findings from model animals in research laboratories to benefit real human patients in clinical settings, to which imaging and diagnostic methods requiring genetic modification are and will remain problematic in the foreseeable future. In addition, we demonstrate the high modularity and versatility of our chemical approach in targeting different voltage sensitive dyes to various molecular targets in the brain. We believe that the same concept can be applied to the targeting and delivery of other important lipophilic cargos, such as drugs and other sensors, to enable genetic modification-free, cell- or molecule-specific imaging and pharmacology in the brain.

Increased internal and external training approaches are elements senior leaders need to know before creating a training plan for security professionals to protect sensitive information. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore training strategies telecommunication industry leaders use to ensure security professionals can protect sensitive information. The population consisted of 3 senior leaders in a large telecommunication company located in Dallas, Texas that has a large footprint of securing sensitive information. The conceptual framework on which this study was based was the security risk planning model. Semistructured interviews and document reviews helped to support the findings of this study. Using the thematic approach, 3 major themes emerged. The 3 themes included security training is required for all professionals, different approaches to training are beneficial, and using internal and external training's to complement each other. The findings revealed senior leaders used different variations of training programs to train security professionals on how to protect sensitive information. The senior leaders' highest priority was the ability to ensure all personnel accessing the network received the proper training. The findings may contribute to social change by enhancing area schools' technology programs with evolving cyber security technology, helping kids detect and eradicate threats before any loss of sensitive information occurs.

The focus of this study was to understand my experiences of teaching sensitive topics in my professional capacity, as a female beginner teacher who has an Islamic upbringing and strong religious views according to which I live. The purpose of this study was to make sense of these personal and professional experiences when teaching sensitive topics as an Islamic beginner female teacher. In so doing this study sought to contribute to body of knowledge about key concepts namely sensitive topics, an Islamic context, female beginner teacher identity and autoethnography as research design. The literature reviewed for this research study was centred around the said key concepts and included scholarly work by Collins (2017), Lowe and Jones (2015), Du Bois (2014), and Anacona (2014). Theoretically, this study was underpinned by an interpretivist epistemological paradigm informed by Berg (2007) and from a conceptual point of view I drew on tenets of both the religion and feminist theory guided by the work of Rambo (1999). Data was generated in the form of short anecdotal self-reflective narratives spanning over 25 years and encapsulated the gist of my upbringing and later experiences which all influenced the ways in which I have experienced the teaching of sensitive topics as a female beginner teacher female within an Islamic context. Findings were divided into three main themes, namely the Islamic religion, Islam and gender and teaching sensitive topic as a Muslim, female beginner teacher. Findings were refined into relevant subthemes. The gist of the findings revealed that a strict Islamic upbringing contributed largely to the discomfort experienced by a female teacher when teaching topics of a sensitive nature, such as sexual education which is compulsory in the current Life Orientation curriculum. Findings further pointed to the fact that this discomfort can be alleviated through self-talk, engagement with scholarly work and deep thought incited by engagement with sensitive topics. Recommendations were suggested for classroom practice. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted