In 1994 a brutal genocide took place in Rwanda were one part of the population killed over 800 000 of their own people over a period of one hundred days. Rwandan radio, the biggest and most influential medium in the country, played a crucial part in the tragedy and today, almost 22 years after the genocide, Rwanda is trying to rebuild the media system as well as the trust between the public and the journalists. Over recent years Rwanda has made a huge development within the media sector and keeps moving forward from its dark history. This study aims to examine how radio journalist at the government owned radio channel RBA, Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, experiences the changes in the media climate and focus will mainly lie on the period after the introduction of new media laws in 2013. This study also examines how journalists have experienced different international collaborations, especially between Western countries and Rwanda, that are aiming to develop the media system. In total eleven radio journalist from RBA were interviewed and our research questions were as follows; How do Rwandan radio journalists within the RBA experience the media situation in the country today? How do Rwandan radio journalists within the RBA regard their role within their profession? How can Rwanda’s media climate be interpreted through different normative media systems? To understand the media climate at RBA three theoretical perspectives were used as a base; Agenda Setting Theory, globalisation and domestication. To study the media situation an ethnographic method was applied and put into the context of Rwanda's history and culture. During our interviews we have talked about how the journalists regard their role in the society, how it has changed, what may still change, how they value their independency as journalists and what they think the future holds for Rwandan media development. The informants all agreed that Rwandan journalism is constantly developing and journalists are learning how to work in a society where the media's biggest aim is to be trusted by the public. Rwandan journalists and international journalists, the latter group also partly represented in the study, regard Rwanda's media situation differently but both parts agree upon the fact that the country has a long way to go to reach an open media climate. Our result leads up to a cultural conclusion; it is difficult to make a fair judgement of the media situation in Rwanda only by measuring the country's development and the journalistic competence according to Western ideals.

Organisations in the developing countries need to protect their information assets (IA) in an optimal way. This thesis is based upon the argument that in order to achieve fully effective information security management (ISM) strategy, it is essential to look at information security in a socio-technical context, i.e. the cultural, ethical, moral, legal dimensions, tools, devices and techniques. The motivation for this study originated from the concern of social chaos, which results from ineffective information security practices in organisations in the developing nations. The present strategies were developed for organisations in countries where culture is different to culture of the developing world. Culture has been pointed out as an important factor of human behaviour. This research is trying to enhance information security culture in the context of Zanzibar by integrating both social and technical issues. The theoretical foundation for this research is based on cultural theories and the theory of semiotics. In particular, the study utilised the GLOBE Project (House et al, 2004), Competing Values Framework (Quinn and Cameron; 1983) and Semiotic Framework (Liu, 2000). These studies guide the cultural study and the semiotics study. The research seeks to better understand how culture impact the governance of information security and develop a framework that enhances the governance of information security in non-profit organisations. ISO/IEC 27002 best practices in information security management provided technical guidance in this work. The major findings include lack of benchmarking in the governance of information security. Cultural issues impact the governance of information security. Drawing the evidence from the case study a framework for information security culture was proposed. In addition, a novel process model for information security analysis based on semiotics was developed. The process model and the framework integrated both social and technical issues and could be implemented in any non-profit organisation operating within a societal context with similar cultural feature as Zanzibar. The framework was evaluated using this process model developed in this research. The evaluated framework provides opportunities for future research in this area.

The protection of human health and the environment are two major goals of international environmental law. However, there has been little coherent scrutiny of their scope or implementation at international and domestic levels in developing countries and Africa in particular. This thesis shows that international environmental law regimes with a health protection objective have not maximized opportunities to reinforce the promotion and protection of public health in Africa. Through inter alia a study of sustainable management of shared freshwaters, trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal and international climate law, the thesis shows that a range of legal frameworks comprised of substantive, institutional and procedural law mandates States to advance the health objective in international environmental law. However, the thesis demonstrates the limits of these regimes and suggests options to enhance their potential in promoting and protecting public health. An enhanced framework of adaptive governance is proposed to improve environmental health governance. The thesis illustrates how the discourse on health in international environmental law can strengthen international environmental health governance to improve environmental and public health outcomes. It contains seven publications that analyse the strengths and weaknesses and options for reform of the international environmental law regime for health. The implications of these findings for theory, practice and public policy are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

In the 1950s and 1960s, after gaining independence from their colonial powers, most developing countries adopted “market substitution” as their policy for economic development and growth. In essence, this was an industrialisation strategy followed by these developing economies to concentrate on home-grown products and nurture their expertise in order to reach the status of industrialised nations. However, by the end of 1970s, many developing countries began to realize the failures of their inward-looking approach to industrialization when their economies were mired with high unemployment, inflation and chronic external debt. By the middle of 1980s, many of these countries began to change their policies and reorient themselves into market economies. However, with financial crises and economic recessions that resulted from pursuing market driven liberalization policies, these economies began to realize the flaws of the market driven approach to industrialization. Nevertheless, they continued with the liberalised policies incorporating market as well as non-market (institutional) reforms, aimed at strengthening regulation, improving corporate governance and curbing corruption to avoid the destabilising consequences of financial liberalization. The evolving economic policies that influenced financial development and growth in developing economies came about with the objective of enhancing household and private sector‘s savings. These policies have been designed to influence financial development and economic growth (which can impact upon private savings) in two different ways: (i) by increasing saving due to households taking precautionary motives, or (ii) negatively by spending more due to increase in overall expenditures. Theoretically, the combined effect on private saving is therefore ambiguous. The purpose of this thesis is to assess empirically the importance of various economic factors influencing private sector savings in emerging market economies. In addition, the influence of non-market institutional factors on savings is explored from the incorporation of newly institutional measures into these countries economic policies. Several econometric methodologies are employed with empirical analysis conducted on data for twenty emerging economies across three primary regions in the world, i.e. Asia Pacific, Middle East and North African (MENA), and South America. The twenty countries also include other emerging economies that are proximate to MENA regions such as South Africa, Turkey and Israel. In general, the findings based on SUR (Seemingly Unrelated Regression) methodology show that per capita growth, financial development, government savings, and trade openness have a positive impact on private savings; while youth and old dependency-age groups, real interest rate, and urban growth have a negative effect on private savings. In general, most of these results are consistent with previous studies for other countries. Additionally, causality tests are conducted using Vector Autoregressive (VAR) methodology as well as Pedroni and Johansen cointegration methods within the Vector Error Correction (VEC) model to determine both short-term and long-term causality effects between financial development and economic growth. The results indicate that in the long run financial development has a causal effect on growth; however, in the short run the results are quite mixed. For example, the short run result using the VAR method shows that income growth has Granger causality effect on financial development, but the F-test result for the VEC method shows evidence of bivariate causality. The long-term causality results also confirm the finding of previous research about the importance of developing financial sector in order to spur the country‘s economic growth. The final empirical investigation is to conduct panel data regression to test the impact of non-market institutions on private savings. The main result here is that sound institutional factors based on respect for property rights (e.g. bureaucracy, accountability and regulation quality) have a positive effect on aggregate private savings. Furthermore, political stability is found to have a negative impact on savings while efficient bureaucracy has a positive impact on savings. It can be construed that with an uncertain political environment, i.e. diminishing political stability, the public in general would save more than spend. On the other hand, efficient bureaucracy would boost public confidence about the country‘s governance, which can lead to increased overall savings by the public.

The current research aimed to identify the main factors that affect students’ performance in web-based courses in a university in Jordan. In order to achieve this goal the current research design employed a mixed methods approach in that it embraced an exploratory approach in the first phase and moved to an explanatory approach in the second phase. The exploratory phase consisted of conducting four group interviews with students enrolled in web-based courses at the Accounting Department at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and one group interview with Accounting instructors. While the explanatory phase employed a quantitative method (questionnaire) to examine the study’s proposed models. Astin’s Input-Environment-Outcomes (I-E-O) guided the current study’s framework to investigate factors that may influence student performance in web-based courses. Input variables were computer experience, student attitude toward web-based learning, self-efficacy, motivation, and prior performance. Environmental variables included student perceptions of the interaction of instructors; use of technology; and participation in the online learning environment. Data was gathered from a survey of 461 undergraduate students enrolled in two web-based accounting courses at the Hashemite University in Jordan. The most important contribution of the current study is that it conducted the analysis in the context of a developing country (Jordan). Therefore, this study will fill the gap in the literature regarding the effect of using web-based learning on student performance in Jordan and will provide the basis for further research in developing countries on student performance in web-based learning. The study also adds to collective knowledge of the effects of e-learning by adding a case study set in a new context to the existing range of studies. In doing so it broadens the scope of research on e-learning effectiveness. The results indicated that the study’s model was valid and fit the data and it was reasonable to test the model in terms of path significance. The study explained 73% of the variance in student performance, but only 3% of the variation in change in performance was explained. The findings of the current research revealed that input variables (particularly prior performance and student attitudes toward web-based learning) were the most significant, direct input factors affecting student performance. In addition, it was found that environmental variables (particularly student participation in web-based courses and student perceptions of the interaction of their instructors) also had a significant direct effect on student performance. These findings underline that it is not the technology used in the learning process that makes a difference in student performance in web-based learning, but it is instructor interactivity and the pedagogy used in teaching the Accounting courses at the Hashemite University. This is not to say that technology is unimportant or that it can be ignored. However, the functionality, usability and reliability of e-learning technology have rapidly improved to the point where questions of how it is deployed and exploited become more important than what it is capable of doing.

<p>Water and sanitation are two of the world's most urgent current challenges (Elimelech, 2006). With a population racing towards seven billion people, over one sixth of the human population does not have access to adequate water and sanitation. Drinking water is inaccessible for approximately 783 million people living in the developing world (WHO, 2014). This is especially critical for people at risk of exposure to deadly pathogens such as <italic>Vibrio cholerae</italic>, <italic>Shigella</italic>, and <italic>Salmonella</italic>, such as those living in Haiti as <italic>Vibrio cholerae</italic> is now ubiquitous (Enserink, 2010). On the sanitation side, more than 2.5 billion people in the world still lack access to adequate resources (WHO, 2014). Almost half of these people have access to no sanitation facilities at all and practice open defecation (WHO, 2014). Thousands of small children still die every day from preventable diseases caused by inadequate sanitation (WHO, 2014). As global climate change is expected to exacerbate these issues, there is an urgent need for the development of sustainable treatment technologies to ensure a better tomorrow for our world (Ford, 1999). Safe water and sanitation technologies, while often disjointed, should be considered together as pathogens transmitted via drinking water are predominantly of fecal origin (Ashbolt, 2004; Montgomery, 2007). </p><p>In this dissertation project, I explore the use of both drinking water and wastewater treatment technologies which are cost effective and rely on locally available materials in low-income countries. For the drinking water treatment side, I focus on the use of biosand filters in Haiti with a specific interest in understanding their ability to remove the pathogen <italic>Vibrio cholerae</italic>, the causative agent for cholera. The wastewater treatment technology consists of biofilters packed with cocopeat, a waste product generated during coconut husk processing, and I investigate their use for the treatment of septic tank effluent in Vietnam. Both of these projects combine lab and field work. The specific objectives of this dissertation project are to 1) compare the removal efficiency of <italic>V. cholerae</italic> to indicator bacteria in field biosand filters and determine the parameters controlling removal; 2) investigate the correlation between removal efficiency of pathogens in field biosand filters having operated for varying lengths of time to schmutzdecke bacterial composition and influent water characteristics; 3) determine the effect of number of charges, total organic carbon loading, and schmutzdecke composition on <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficacy; 4) isolate the effect of biological removal mechanisms and physical/chemical removal mechanisms on <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficiency and determine the correlation to TOC concentration in water; 5) evaluate cocopeat as a packing medium for biofilters in terms of nitrogen, phosphorus and biological oxygen demand removal from simulated wastewater as compared to other traditional packing media; and 6) conduct an assessment of cocopeat-packed, vertical flow constructed wetlands treating septic tank effluent in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. </p><p>In the first part of this dissertation, biosand filters in the Artibonite Valley of Haiti, the epicenter of the cholera epidemic, were tested for total coliform and <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficiencies. In addition, schmutzdecke samples were collected in order to measure the amount of EPS in the biofilm, as well as characterize the microbial community. Total coliform and <italic>V. cholerae</italic> concentration were measured using novel membrane filtration technique methods. It was found that total coliform concentration does not indicate <italic>V. cholerae</italic> concentration in water, and total coliform removal efficiency does not indicate <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficiency within biosand filters. Additionally, parameters controlling biosand filter performance include: schmutzdecke composition, time in operation, and idle time.</p><p>In the second part of this dissertation, <italic>V. cholerae</italic> challenge tests were performed on laboratory-operated biosand filters receiving high, medium or low TOC influents in order to determine the effect of number of charges, total organic carbon loading, and schmutzdecke composition on <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficacy, as well as to isolate the effect of biological removal mechanisms and physical/chemical removal mechanisms on <italic>V. cholerae</italic> removal efficiency and determine the correlation to TOC concentration in water. To this end, three biosand filters were operated in the lab. Each received lake water or diluted lake water with high, medium or low concentrations of TOC. After being charged once per day for 6 days, the filters were charged with four consecutive charges of pure cultures of <italic>V. cholerae</italic> suspended in PBS buffer, at concentrations of 10<super>2</super>, 10<super>3</super>, 10<super>5</super>, and 10<super>7</super> cfu/mL. This challenge was repeated each time the filters received an additional 6 charges, up to 66 total charges. This was done to determine how number of charges, TOC loading, and schmutzdecke composition affects removal efficiency. Schmutzdecke was analyzed for amount of EPS and microbial community. It was found that parameters controlling biosand filter performance include: TOC loading, schmutzdecke composition, time in operation, and physical/chemical attachment. Additionally, it was shown that physical/chemical attachment is critical during startup, especially at low TOC concentrations. At steady state, physical/chemical attachment is more important than schmutzdecke effects in filters receiving low TOC, and schmutzdecke effect is more important than physical/chemical attachment in filters receiving high TOC.</p><p>For the third section of this dissertation, columns packed with cocopeat, celite, or sphagnum peat were charged with simulated wastewater and removal efficiencies of nitrogen, phosphorus, and biological oxygen demand were measured. Additionally, different redox zones were tested to determine if cocopeat could successfully accomplish nitrification and denitrification. It was found that cocopeat is comparable to traditional packing media and can successfully accomplish nitrification and denitrification in the treatment of synthetic wastewater.</p><p>In the final section of this dissertation, constructed wetlands were built and packed with cocopeat to determine if cocopeat is a suitable packing media in constructed wetlands treating wastewater in Vietnam. Removal efficiencies of nitrogen, phosphorus, and biological demand were measured. Microbial community samples were collected periodically in order to analyze community shifts between wetlands and over time. This work concluded that cocopeat can be used successfully as a packing media in constructed wetlands treating wastewater for the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and total coliform.</p><p>Overall, this dissertation work contributes to the body of knowledge on point-of-use water and wastewater technologies. The biosand filter was studied in both lab and field conditions and it was found that total coliform is not a reliable indicator for <italic>V. cholerae</italic>, and that there are several factors controlling biosand filter performance, including idle time, TOC, filter time in operation, physical/chemical attachment, and schmutzdecke composition. Cocopeat was studied for its ability to promote nitrification and denitrification in lab-scale vertical flow columns treating synthetic wastewater. It was shown that cocopeat achieved similar levels of nitrification and denitrification as traditional packing media. Finally, cocopeat packed vertical flow constructed wetlands were operated in Vietnam for the treatment of septic tank effluent. This setup proved effective for the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and total coliform in the treatment of wastewater.</p> / Dissertation

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Thesis (MCurr)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to explore the perceived need among nurses from different cultures in a private hospital in Saudi Arabia for a program to teach cultural sensitivity. The hypotheses for this study were:  Diverse bio- and demographical/cultural/educational backgrounds of nursing staff have an input on their cultural knowledge and sensitivity of care given in the hospital  The amount of occurrence reports generated due to cultural differences and clashes indicate the need for a program to teach cultural sensitivity. A descriptive quantitative study was done, using a self administrative questionnaire on a randomly selected sample 15.8% (n=200) of the population (N=1272) of registered nurses. The data was collected by structured questionnaires with sections requiring the following:  Biographical information (age, gender, nationality)  Amount of experience in nursing of patients with diverse cultures  Nursing education received about caring for patients of diverse cultures  Cultures of colleagues and patients in the hospital  Whether incidents occur because of cultural differences  Amounts of incident reports generated by each respondent per month The study is descriptive and made use of non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis, Mann- Whitney U and Chi-square computations to determine relationships between the answers of the different respondents to be able to come to a conclusion about the research question. The study reflects a youthful component of nurses from very diverse cultures working in the hospital, with a large variety of patients of equally diverse cultures. Only 1:5 of the nurses felt that they have enough knowledge about each others’ and their patients’ cultures. Recommendations for the implementation of a program for cultural sensitivity are the end result of this study. The ultimate goal for such a program is culturally sensitive nursing where the patients would experience that their culture has been considered in the planning and implementation of their nursing care. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelwit van hierdie navorsing was om te bepaal of geregistreerde verpleegkundiges van verskillende kulture by ’n privaat hospitaal in Saudi Arabië die behoefte ervaar en herken vir die aanleer van kulturele sensitiwiteit. Die hipoteses van die navorsing was soos volg:  Diverse bio- en demografiese/kulturele/opvoedkundige agtergrond van verpleeglui sal hul kulturele kennis en dus kultuur sensitiewe verpleging in die hospitaal beinvloed.  Die aantal insidente wat voorkom oor kultuurverskille en botsings is ‘n aanduiding vir die nodigheid van ‘n program om kulturele sensitiwiteit aan te leer. ’n Beskrywende navorsingsontwerp met ‘n kwantitatiewe benadering is in die studie gevolg. ’n Vraelys wat deur die respondente self voltooi moes word, is ingevul deur die ewekansige verkose steekproef van 15.8% (n=200) van die bevolking van geregistreerde verpleegkundiges (N=1272).Die gestruktureerde vraelys het afdelings bevat wat die volgende inligting verlang het:  biografiese inligting (ouderdom, geslag, nasionaliteit),  hoeveelheid ondervinding van verpleging van ander kulture,  verpleegonderrig ontvang in die hantering van pasiёnte met diverse kulture,  kulture van kollegas en pasiёnte in die hospitaal,  of daar insidente voorkom weens kultuur verskille,  hoeveelheid insidentverslae wat elke deelnemer moet invul per maand. Die studie is beskrywend van aard en daar is gebruik gemaak van nie-parametriese Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U en Chi-kwadraat berekeninge om verhoudinge tussen die antwoorde van die verskillende respondente te bepaal en om tot ‘n gevolgtrekking te kom oor die navorsingsvraag. Die resultate van die navorsing toon dat daar ’n jonger komponent van geregistreerde verpleegkundiges van baie diverse kulture in die hospitaal werk met ‘n groot verskeidenheid van pasiente van ewe diverse kulture. Slegs 1:5 van die verpleegkundiges in die steekproef het gevoel dat hulle oor die nodige kennis beskik m.b.t. mekaar en hul pasiёnte se kulture. Aanbevelings vir die implementering van ’n program vir kulturele sensitiwiteit is die eindresultaat van hierdie navorsing. Die uiteindelike doel van so ‘n program is kultureel sensitiewe. verpleegsorg waar pasiёnte ervaar dat hul kultuur aangespreek word in die beplanning en implementering van sulke sorg