Polarimetric CCD images of HII regions were obtained using a rotating polarizer device designed, built, and used in conjunction with the Spectral Line Imaging Camera (SLIC) at Virginia Tech's Martin Observatory in Giles County, Virginia. The SLIC uses a narrow bandpass interference filter coupled with a 58 mm camera lens and cryogenically cooled CCD camera to image diffuse, extended H-alpha emission over a 10° angular extent. A rotating polarizer device was placed in front of the H-alpha filter with images recorded at every 45° with respect to a fiducial setting. Stoke's parameters and were obtained and polarization maps of selected HII regions were created. Maps of the Monoceros supernova remnant and the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237-9) were made in an attempt to detect polarization by selective extinction in H light. While this was not detected, polarization by scattering in a dust shell around the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237-9) was observed. Scattered continuum light from the central star cluster NGC 2244 in the H-alpha bandpass was ruled out. Using Celnik's (1985) map of extinction across the Rosette Nebula at the H wavelength, coupled with Serkowski's empirical relationship between maximum polarization and color excess, it was shown that the maximum degree of polarization seen in the Rosette Nebula should be no more than 3% to 4%. The polarization observed in this project reaches values as high as 10%. It was found that a correlation exists between the H-alpha intensity and infrared emission by dust grains in all four IRAS waveband images in the suspected scattering region of the Rosette Nebula. A radial comparison between [SII] images and H-alpha images in the region of high polarization showed that the H-alpha intensity in that region is dominated by scattered H-alpha light from the Rosette Nebula. A single scattering model was constructed in an effort to predict the observed polarization. The model used parameters based on 21 cm observations by Kuchar and Bania (1993) of the HI shell which surrounds the HII region of the Rosette Nebula. The single scattering model can not accurately predict the degree of polarization. It was concluded that a multiple scattering model is required. A spatial comparison of the 12 m emission with the degree of polarization strongly suggested that multiple scattering is important in describing the observed radial behavior of polarization. Polarization images of regions in Cygnus were obtained. A polarization map of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and surroundings reveals a large amount of polarization. The map reveals that scattering of H-alpha light from the North America Nebula is the most likely cause of polarization in these images. From the analysis in this thesis, I conclude that in the northwest quadrant, at radial distances greater than 40 from the center of the Rosette Nebula, the observed H-alpha intensity is due to scattered H light from the nebula itself. This implies that, in H-alpha , the Rosette Nebula appears slightly larger than it actually is. With evidence of polarization by scattered H supported by the polarization map of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), it is concluded that other HII regions may very well appear larger in H-alpha than they actually are. Thus, scattered H-alpha light may account for a small part of the more extended warm ionized medium as well. / Ph. D.

Zugl.: Linz, Univ., Diss., 2001.

Published Article / The issue of language of learning and instruction in communities with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, globally and in South Africa, is always shaped by socio-economical, political, ideological and hegemonic factors. The language of instruction and learning in South Africa is politically charged, not only because of colonial legacy, but more profoundly because of the apartheid legacy. This article reports on the results of the pedagogies of teachers teaching in English. The researcher found that most non-native English teachers use their native language pronunciation when teaching English, which results in mother tongue interference. On-native speakers end up transferring articulation habits of first language to second language. There is thus a need to improve quality in pedagogical practices in this diverse South African background since the language of instruction is different from the learners' first language for the majority of the population. The research in this article aims to investigate current pedagogic practices engaged by teachers from different cultural backgrounds when teaching English as a medium of instruction and how their practices affect learners in acquiring knowledge of the English language. The study uses an interpretive paradigm and in particular, adopts social constructivism to embed discussions. The study mainly implements a qualitative approach although the quantitative approach is used to quantify biographical data. The researcher found that two educational systems seem to exist in South African schools: some educators use English as a medium of instruction only, whereas others allow code switching. Education thus becomes a reproductive mechanism of social class differences.

Published Article / With the recent explosion of global marketing strategies, business enterprises have to contend with severe and escalating competition. To sustain competitiveness, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa should produce high-quality, customised goods and services efficiently. Adoption of Internet marketing technologies is fundamental towards meeting this challenge. However, the adoption and diffusion of technologies in marketing practices is the outcome of purposeful processes emanating from the realisation by SMEs that adoption of these technologies yields significant paybacks. The purpose of this study was to establish the managers' perceptions of the benefits of Internet marketing adoption in small and medium enterprises. Using a quantitative approach, a questionnaire was administered to owner-managers of small and medium enterprises in the Vaal Triangle in South Africa. A total of 269 questionnaires were completed, returned and considered useful for the survey. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis in order to establish the factors considered to be the salient Internet marketing benefits. Four underlying factors were extracted namely: customer relationship building, information gathering, promotion and enhanced productivity. The mean scores indicated that information gathering was perceived as most important, but after sturdier tests for association were applied to the data set, customer relationship management demonstrated the most significant and positive correlation with SME productivity. As such, there is need for the small and medium enterprises to develop strategies to expand and sustain the identified benefits of Internet marketing.

ABSTRACT Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SMEs) have long been recognised as the major drivers of economic activities due to their entrepreneurial traits of being innovative which lead to job creation, sustaining economic growth, export expansion, and efficient allocation of resources in line with their competitive goals and their respective country’s objectives. In their pursuit as major economic drivers in their respective economies, SMEs are barely exposed to hostile environments triggering fierce competition from Multinational Corporations. This has entailed that SMEs need to enhance their capabilities in such environments to sustain their competitive advantage by reconfiguring their internal and external competences and resources in response to changing environments. Surprisingly, literature on how SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in such markets is limited and inconsistent. Therefore, this thesis explores how SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in emerging markets specifically in African markets.   The central purpose of the study is to explore how SMEs in emerging markets such as Africa develop dynamic capabilities to compete alongside MNCs. Building on prior researches which conceptually suggested that market orientation, learning orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation in separate cases, enables SMEs to build dynamic capabilities in dynamic environments, this study explored this viewpoint through a qualitative case study data. Comparative multiple case studies are developed in order to have a holistic understanding of how SMEs across sectors develop dynamic capabilities. The study employs empirical data collected through the use of semi-structured interviews in which samples are purposively selected from 10 firms from separate industries in Africa, in which five were drawn from Cameroon and other five drawn from Zambia. The study follows a qualitative-deductive approach.   Findings indicate that SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in emerging market principally through the lenses of market orientation and learning orientation. While entrepreneurial orientation is found lacking the potential to enable SMEs build-up the required dynamic capabilities due to the fact that it places huge demand on SMEs who are short of adequate financial resources to meet up with the contingencies of being fully entrepreneurial. That is to say, market orientation and learning orientation other than entrepreneurial orientation are the enablers of dynamic capabilities in emerging market. The findings contribute to existing literature by building an empirically-grounded synthesis of the constructs of market orientation, learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation involved in the development of dynamic capabilities which validates earlier claims on the development of dynamic capabilities in dynamic environment. Second, the results contribute to theory by advancing an original model which brings together all standalone models in the field of dynamic capabilities development into one, thereby harmonising the polarisation of facts. Furthermore, the findings bear potential for researchers and entrepreneurs intending to invest in emerging markets such as Africa.   To improve on this study, we suggest undertaking a related cross-comparative case study on similar grounds which takes into account homogeneity and age parameters at industry level from two or more countries. We believe this might provide an additional explanation on how SMEs in emerging markets develop dynamic capability and may also shed more light on whether age of a firm has an effect on the build-up of dynamic capabilities.

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs, hereafter) are important drivers of the global economic development. For the SMEs, to establish and growth, having access to the sources of finance is of great importance. Anecdotal evidence suggeststhat while the importance of having access for the SMEs is apparent, they have been disadvantageous in many different ways. The disadvantage position of the SMEs can even be worse when they are younger (e.g., The World bank, 2001, p. 6-7). Prior research documents many factors that affect the financial constraints of SMEs. In this study, we investigate the association between SMEs age and financial constraints. In addition, we test the moderating effect of collectivism on SMEs’ financial constraints, as collectivism is documented to have an effect on bank corruption. We first hypothesize that there is a negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints. We further propose that the negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints decreases as collectivism (at the country level) increases. Using a World Bank’s sample of 31422 firms across 38 countries, we find that younger firms, compared to the older firms, experience higher level of financial constraints.Further, we observe an insignificant results regarding the moderating effect of collectivism on the proposed association.We offer contribution to the existing empirical evidence onfactors that affect financial constraints. Providing such an evidence may be found relevant to the economic institutions such as the World Bank and regulatory bodies, as they are allocating resources and making macro level decisions regarding the economicdevelopment through SMEs around the world.

This qualitative study looks into some Kenyan school teachers strategies in the multilingual environment they work in. The school of this study uses a foreign language as the medium of instruction, instead of the mother tongue culturally spoken by both teachers and students. It presents some of the strategies observed and at the same time looks closely into the possible positive and negative outcomes it has on the students learning. It also looks into the reason for why the medium of instruction is another than mother tongue and the cultural effects of this. By observations and interviews data has been collected and presented aiming to show the teachers thoughts about their working situation, and also their thoughts about their role in the classroom.

This thesis comprehensively explores the credit risk of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) using transactional characteristics, financial variables and market information. It contributes SMEs credit risk modelling by exploring a range of soft features, such as management capability, industrial sectors, entity type, etc. It is the first study of investigating the concept of management capability through quantitative transactional information. Firstly, models are proposed to assess the credit risk of SMEs by identifying the significant factors. To fulfill this, two studies are carried out. In the first study, logistic regression, survival analysis and ordinal regression are used to model the relationship between transformed financial variables and probability of default. Both the traditional AUROC measure and Hand Statistic are used to evaluate the performances of the models, and they both indicate that logistic regression on weights of evidence transformed data yields the best prediction. Survival model takes an extra element of the time dimension into consideration. Ordinal regression performs poorly possibly due to impact of sample sizes. The factors appeared with highest frequencies are ratios associated with liquidity and growth. The other study predicts the credit risk (‘good’ ‘bad’ and ‘indeterminate’) of the SMEs using transactional characteristics. 35000 SMEs are clustered by different clustering algorithms. It is notably found that most ‘indeterminate’ observations are clustered with ‘bad’ observation, which is different from industry habit of combining ‘indeterminate’ and ‘good’. Logistic regression performs better than ordinal regression according to AUROC measure. In addition, some key points raised in focus group interview with bank managers are seen in the modelling process as significant variables, such as sector belonging to, entity type, region/location, time associated with bank, and account conduct. Secondly, the informational bases of two major models, which are accounting based credit scoring models and Merton type models, are explored to figure out aspects which affect SMEs’ credit risk. 33 financial variables covering nine financial categories are considered. It employs other modelling frameworks rather than the often-used linear regression, which are linear regression with interactions and the Cox proportional hazard model. It is found that weak relationship exists between these two models. The two major models capture different aspects of corporate information, it is suggested that a hybrid model, which incorporate both sources of information, might be considered to predict SMEs financial health. Thirdly, management capability of SMEs is elicited by applying principal component analysis to their transactional characteristics. Management capability is a qualitative idea, and its manifestation in quantitative variables was not explored in previous research. This study indicates some success in determining management capability. It is found that financial measure (credit turnover and debit turnover) and the performance measure (number of days in excess of the account) could be considered as reflecting management capability. Good management can identify trends at a very early stage and take action to mitigate the issue.

The principal research question of this study is framed as: Do prevailing, industrially and politically sourced definitions of Digital Exhibition faithfully represent the phenomenon's position within the contemporary media theory framework? Within this work Digital Exhibition is defined as: The practice of presenting moving images, either live or pre-recorded, to paying audiences, in public spaces, by means of digital distribution and projection. The majority of established literatures concerning Digital Exhibition are aimed at producing categorical definitions of the phenomenon. These 'meaning making' discourses commonly stem from potentially ideologically affected sources. To address this issue, the author has investigated the political economy of key commentators, and Digital Exhibition has been impartially researched following a 'case studies' methodology; with an analytical framework based upon a series of 'plausible rival hypotheses'. These hypotheses include that Digital Exhibitionism is: • a form of the cinema • a form of television • a new (new media) medium • multiple media • not a medium. It is presented that each investigated hypothesis can be argued to be legitimate when employing established media theories as the means of rationalisation. Nevertheless, the author concludes that individual industrially/politically charged definitions still do not provide an adequately comprehensive account as to the wealth of interpretations that can be drawn for Digital Exhibition. The author also presents his own perspective as to the subjective nature of contemporary media taxonomies, and ultimately proposes that Digital Exhibition is not a medium, but is a designation offered to a subjectively defined collection of events made possible through the transmission of computational binary pulse signals.

This dissertation is a study of the physical conditions in star-forming regions, and combines observational data and theoretical calculations. We studied the physical conditions of Orions Veil, which is an absorbing screen that lies along the line of sight to the Orion H II region. We computed photoionization models of the Veil. We combined calculations with UV, radio, and optical spectra that resolve the Veil into two velocity components. We derive many physical parameters for each component seen in 21 cm absorption. We find the magnetic field energy dominates turbulent and thermal energies in one component while the other component is close to equipartition between turbulent and magnetic energies. We observe H2 absorption for highly excited levels. We find that the low ratio of H2/H0 in the Veil is due to the high UV flux incident upon the Veil. We detect blueshifted S+2 and P+2 ions which must arise from ionized gas between the neutral portions of the Veil and the Trapezium and shields the Veil from ionizing radiation. We determine the ionized and neutral layers of the Veil will collide in less than 85,000 years. The second part of this dissertation involved self-consistently calculating the thermal and chemical structure of an H II region and photodissociation region (PDR) that are in pressure equilibrium. This differs from previous work, which used separate calculations for each gas phase. Our calculations span a wide range of initial conditions. We describe improvements made to the spectral synthesis code Cloudy which made these calculations possible. These include the addition of a molecular network with ~1000 reactions involving 68 molecules and improved treatment of the grain physics. Archival data are used to derive important physical characteristics of observed H II regions and PDRs. These include stellar temperatures, electron densities, ionization parameters, UV flux, and PDR density. The contribution of the H II region to PDR emission line diagnostics is also calculated. Finally, these calculations are used to derive emission line ratios than can tell us the equation of state in star-forming regions.