The notion of a global knowledge society is somewhat of a misnomer due to the fact that large portions of the global community are not participants in this global knowledge society which is driven, shaped by and socio-technically biased towards a small fraction of the global population. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is culture-sensitive and this is a dynamic that is largely ignored in the majority of ICT for Development (ICT4D) interventions, leading to the technological determinism flaw and ultimately a failure of the undertaken projects. The deployment of ICT solutions, in particular in the context of ICT4D, must be informed by the cultural and socio-technical profile of the deployment environments and solutions themselves must be developed with a focus towards context-sensitivity and ethnocentricity. In this thesis, we investigate the viability of a software architectural framework for the development of ICT solutions that are context-sensitive and ethnocentric1, and so aligned with the cultural and social dynamics within the environment of deployment. The conceptual framework, named PIASK, defines five tiers (presentation, interaction, access, social networking, and knowledge base) which allow for: behavioural completeness of the layer components; a modular and functionally decoupled architecture; and the flexibility to situate and contextualize the developed applications along the dimensions of the User Interface (UI), interaction modalities, usage metaphors, underlying Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and access protocols. We have developed a proof-of-concept service platform, called KnowNet, based on the PIASK architecture. KnowNet is built around the knowledge base layer, which consists of domain ontologies that encapsulate the knowledge in the platform, with an intrinsic flexibility to access secondary knowledge repositories. The domain ontologies constructed (as examples) are for the provisioning of eServices to support societal activities (e.g. commerce, health, agriculture, medicine) within a rural and marginalized area of Dwesa, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The social networking layer allows for situating the platform within the local social systems. Heterogeneity of user profiles and multiplicity of end-user devices are handled through the access and the presentation components, and the service logic is implemented by the interaction components. This services platform validates the PIASK architecture for end-to-end provisioning of multi-modal, heterogeneous, ontology-based services. The development of KnowNet was informed on one hand by the latest trends within service architectures, semantic web technologies and social applications, and on the other hand by the context consideration based on the profile (IK systems dynamics, infrastructure, usability requirements) of the Dwesa community. The realization of the service platform is based on the JADE Multi-Agent System (MAS), and this shows the applicability and adequacy of MAS’s for service deployment in a rural context, at the same time providing key advantages such as platform fault-tolerance, robustness and flexibility. While the context of conceptualization of PIASK and the implementation of KnowNet is that of rurality and of ICT4D, the applicability of the architecture extends to other similarly heterogeneous and context-sensitive domains. KnowNet has been validated for functional and technical adequacy, and we have also undertaken an initial prevalidation for social context sensitivity. We observe that the five tier PIASK architecture provides an adequate framework for developing context-sensitive and ethnocentric software: by functionally separating and making explicit the social networking and access tier components, while still maintaining the traditional separation of presentation, business logic and data components.

M.A. (Development Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Access to adequate water and sanitation services in South Africa still remain a pipe dream for the millions who are trapped at the bottom of the class structures in the country. The poverty stricken communities living in Townships such as Motherwell, everyday long for water services infrastructure to be built in their places of residence. The costs of accessing water services also becomes a setback for many consumers in the area, this is after the infrastructure has been installed in their areas. The high unemployment rate plays an enormous role in many consumers not affording water services. Bureaucracy between the government department of Housing and the NMMBM also impedes delivery of water services for without formal housing, water and sanitation is impossible to be accessed within the households. The study revealed from the semi-structured interviews which were held with Mayoral Council official and Ward Councillors as well as with members of the communities NU 12 and 29 that access to adequate water services was not successful and satisfactory. The findings of the research demonstrate that the Municipality has a problem with retaining staff members in the portfolio of Infrastructure, Engineering, Electricity and Energy, which is the responsible department for providing water and sanitation services to the local inhabitants. This study was conducted from April 2009 to November 2009 and it was aimed at finding the Barriers to accessing water services in the Motherwell Township.

No description available.

Medical tourism is a relatively recent global economic and political phenomenon which has assumed increasing importance for developing countries, particularly in Asia. It has been slower to develop within the context of the tourism industry in English-speaking Caribbean countries but there is evidence that the tourism policy makers in the region perceive medical tourism as a potentially lucrative niche market. However, while the potential of medical tourism has seemingly been embraced by the region's political directorate, there has been limited discussion of the extent to which this market niche can realistically provide competitive advantage for the region. The argument of this conceptual paper is that the English-speaking Caribbean cannot hope to compete successfully in the global medical tourism market with many developing world destinations in Asia, or even with other Caribbean countries such as Cuba, on factors such as low cost, staff expertise, medical technological capability, investment in healthcare facilities or even in terms of the natural resources of sun, sea and sand. Rather, in order to achieve competitive advantage the countries of the region should, on the one hand, identify and develop their unique resources and competences as they relate to medical tourism, while, on the other hand, they should exploit the demand of the postmodern tourist for authentic experiences. Both these supply and demand side issues, it is argued, can be addressed through the development of a medical tourism product that utilises the region's indigenous herbal remedies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]; Medical tourism is a relatively recent global economic and political phenomenon which has assumed increasing importance for developing countries, particularly in Asia. It has been slower to develop within the context of the tourism industry in English-speaking Caribbean countries but there is evidence that the tourism policy makers in the region perceive medical tourism as a potentially lucrative niche market. However, while the potential of medical tourism has seemingly been embraced by the region's political directorate, there has been limited discussion of the extent to which this market niche can realistically provide competitive advantage for the region. The argument of this conceptual paper is that the English-speaking Caribbean cannot hope to compete successfully in the global medical tourism market with many developing world destinations in Asia, or even with other Caribbean countries such as Cuba, on factors such as low cost, staff expertise, medical technological capability, investment in healthcare facilities or even in terms of the natural resources of sun, sea and sand. Rather, in order to achieve competitive advantage the countries of the region should, on the one hand, identify and develop their unique resources and competences as they relate to medical tourism, while, on the other hand, they should exploit the demand of the postmodern tourist for authentic experiences. Both these supply and demand side issues, it is argued, can be addressed through the development of a medical tourism product that utilises the region's indigenous herbal remedies. Reprinted by permission of Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Thesis: M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering, 1981 / Bibliography: leaves 174-179. / by Wee Beng Aw. / M.S. / M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil Engineering

This is a comparative case study of the relationship between telecommunications decision-making and sector development. It employs a resource dependence model of organizational decision making (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Cohen, Grindle and Walker 1985) to explain the development of voice communications (telephony) in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) from the early 1970s to late 1980s. The study finds that the autonomy of the telecommunication operating entity from domestic political organizations (for financial resources) and from technological organizations (for equipment and services) is associated with the supply and quality of telephone services. Dependence on external financial and technological organizations influences the decisions of the telecommunications operating entity in terms of the levels and priorities of investment, the level and role of technical expertise and choices of technology. The findings of the study confirm preliminary research by Hirschman (1967), Saunders, Warford and Wellenius (1983), Israel (1987), and Roth (1987), among others, that the autonomy of the telecommunications entity is associated with improved supply and quality of telecommunications services. It is inconsistent with the expectations of earlier studies insofar as it finds that greater autonomy is not always associated with higher levels of investment in the sector. Greater autonomy is associated with higher quality, wider distribution and a comparable provision of services. This occurs (in Algeria) where investment in telecommunications was lower as percentage of GDP than Tunisia. The entities of Tunisia and Morocco (until 1984) were less autonomous, and showed lower levels of technical expertise, and lower quality and supply of services. Given the tendency of a technical organization to function more effectively than a non-technical organization, this study concludes that organizational autonomy is more important to the supply and quality of services than the amount of funds handled by the entity. / Ph. D.

The advent of new technology and ever-escalating fuel prices would make alternative energy sources increasingly important in coming years. This study is aimed to develop the tools required to analyze the feasibility of alternate energy sources. Although the study refers specifically to solar energy, the methodology is good for any alternative energy source. Four models are used to analyze complete performance of a photovoltaic(PV) system. The SOLAR model estimates the total radiation at a site. The PVPM model calculates the PV output for this total radiation. The PRODCOST and LIFECC models analyze the economic performance of the photovoltaic system. This works as a complete package which by itself will help to make preliminary analysis of various sites before making a further in-depth study for a selected few. The model is intended to be a part of a larger model, which will be a complete planning tool for power system expansion in developing countries. The efforts towards this direction can be continued further by developing various models, each analyzing a special task. The models can be integrated to form a hierarchical structure which completely models the power system in developing countries. / M.S.

Food Security can be defined in terms of establishing national or regional minimum nutritional standards, or in terms of securing national or regional self-sufficiency production levels. In this research, food security is viewed from a nutritional-economic standpoint. The prevalence of severe malnutrition and food production instability, especially in Sub-Saharan African Countries, creates the impetus to identify the several economic aspects which characterize the overall food sector and its security floor. Hence, LDC governments, drawing on the WFP (World Food Program) and other international agencies, are interested in formulating a desirable national food strategy which, to a certain degree, secures a balanced national food production sector and consumption pattern. Food aid, in turn, is an essential mechanism designed to serve developmental purposes, such as income redistribution or provision of food as a real resource. Food-for-Work (FFW), as a specific form of food aid programs, represents a short-run food supply shock in the market environment of the recipient country's economy, since it is used as a "bridge" for meeting the basic nutritional requirements of the poorest households in the short-run. In the long-run, FFW can be used for developing infrastructure, creating jobs and advancing working skills, providing additional income to participants, and further improving the overall nutritional status of the poor. Recognizing these features of food aid, this research focused on the empirical estimation of the specific nutritional contribution of a FFW project, implemented at the community level in the Ewalel and Marigat locations of the Baringo District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya. The primary objectives were to measure empirically the magnitude of the FFW contribution on the nutritional status of the participant households, and to determine the relationship between consumption patterns and domestic (local) food prices. In this research, FFW participants' consumption behavior was hypothesized to be differentiated from the non-participants in terms of their income elasticities of demand for nutrients. Also, it was hypothesized that the FFW nutritional contribution to participants was greater than the equivalent net income gains through the value of the FFW provided food items (monetary market value of provided food items). Both hypotheses are supported by the analysis. To determine the course of this research, a two step analytical procedure was followed. First, following Lancaster's conceptual setting on the "Goods' Characteristics Theory." / Master of Science

In accordance with the notion of the so-called “new musicology” that musicological studies should steer away from the canon of masterpieces, this study concentrates on Robert Fuchs as an example of a Kleinmeister. His Piano Trio in C major, Op. 22, is a demonstration of developing variation, a term coined by Arnold Schoenberg to refer to the technique of motivic development within a musical composition as a whole. According to Schoenberg, the music of Johannes Brahms illustrates the most advanced manifestation of developing variation in that he often starts to develop his motives from the very opening of a piece. The technique of developing variation became one solution to the key problem composers faced in the later nineteenth century, namely how to create large forms from very concise thematic material. The purpose of this study is, firstly, to describe the concept of developing variation, providing** a historical perspective with specific reference to Brahms, and, secondly, to trace the manifestation of developing variation in Robert Fuchs‟s Piano Trio in C major, Op. 22, a work which Fuchs dedicated to Brahms. The empirical section of this study shows that the characteristic feature of the germ cell (G-A-G) that appears at the beginning of this composition, namely a movement away from and a return to the point of departure, manifests on micro- (motivic), meso- (thematic), and macro- (structural) level. On micro-level the germ cell grows teleologically by means of metric displacement, rhythmic changes, augmentation, diminution, intervallic expansion, inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion, extension, sequential treatment, liquidation and further derivatives of the germ cell until a large form is created: a four-movement work for three instruments. This study also demonstrates how the shape of the germ cell can be found in larger structures as themes and the overall structure of each of the four movements. / PhD (Music Performance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015