Aim: The study was to explore and describe caregivers’ safety practices regarding unintentional poisoning in preschool children in the Elias Motsoaledi Sub-district, Limpopo Province. Background: Unintentional poisoning remains a global concern and is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality amongst preschool children. Although in the literature review, some authors show a decline of poisoning in different countries, the emergency and paediatric departments still admits children with poisonings from different agents. In response to increasing admissions of preschool children with poisoning in the paediatric department, this study was conducted to explore and describe caregivers’ safety practices regarding unintentional poisoning amongst preschool children in the Elias Motsoaledi Sub-district, Limpopo Province. The researcher had no prior information concerning safety practices of caregivers in Elias Motsoaledi Sub-district. Methods: The methodology utilised was a qualitative approach to explore and describe safety practices concerning unintentional poisoning within the local context. The target population were caregivers with preschool children residing in the Elias Motsoaledi sub-district in Limpopo province. Purposive sampling was use to select 57 caregivers with preschool children who received their healthcare services in four Primary Health Care clinics. Data collections was through conducting eight (8) focus group interviews, each comprising of five (5) to twelve (12) participants. Data was analyse using qualitative content analysis. Findings: Three themes emerged that were 1) Indoor safety practices, 2) Outdoor safety practices 3) and Consinderation of child’s developmental skills. These showed that caregivers’ safety practices concerning unintentional poisoning remains a challenge. There seemed to be a limited awareness of environmental safety harzards, limited knowledge of best indoor and outdoor safety habits and supervision of preschoolers at home to prevent unintentional poisoning. Conclusion: The recommendations made were in the form of health information and education (pamphlets, posters, workshop and radio broadcasts) of good indoor and outdoor safety practices to prevent unintentional poisoning in preschool children shared with the community and stake holders. In addition the findings of the research will be used to inform the reviewing of local prevention of childhood emergencies guidelines and further research into factors which influence unintentional poisoning. In conclusion the sharing of health information and education regarding the safe indoor outdoor practices with caregivers may improve their knowledge and therefore prevent unintentional poisoning in preschool children. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Nursing Science / MCur / Unrestricted

The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand area in 1886 led to the migration of black people from all over South Africa, as well as from neighbouring countries, to work in the mines in South Africa for a specific period of time. In the mines, they eventually intermingled with the people from the townships closer to the mines. Their languages soon had a changing effect on the language that the people spoke in many townships, such as Duduza. The Nationalist Party’s introduction of the Group Areas Act, 1950 (Act No. 41 of 1950) ensured that the South African landscape became segregated along racial lines. Higgs (1971:1) is of the view that - (t)he Group Areas Act (No.41 of 1950), described as one of the pillars of apartheid, was originally enacted by the South African Government in 1950 and was consolidated in 1966 by Act No. 36 of 1966. The Act, which enforces residential in the cities and towns of South Africa, was specifically condemned by the United Nations General Assembly. Under the Act, numerous settled communities, comprising a million persons, have been forcibly displaced. Duduza developed as a result of residents being moved from the interracial Charteston. This bold action by the apartheid regime mirrored what was happening with the development of the homeland system in South Africa. Abel (2015:1) points out that in an attempt to divide and marginalise the black opposition, the apartheid regime forcefully relocated some 3.5 million South Africans to rural homelands between 1960 and 1980. This event, considered as one of history’s largest social engineering exercises, created overcrowded and economically deprived communities of displaced people. The dislocation and the displacement of people, as well as racial political dynamics, which forced people to interact with one another from diverse language backgrounds, led to the development of dialects. / Die ontdekking van goud in die Witwatersrand-gebied in 1886 het gelei tot die migrasie van swart mense regoor Suid-Afrika asook vanaf buurlande om in die myne in Suid-Afrika vir ’n spesifieke tydperk te werk. Hulle het uiteindelik in die myne met die mense van die townships nader aan die myne, gemeng. Hulle tale het binnekort ’n verandering aangebring aan die taal wat die mense in baie townships, soos Duduza, gepraat het. Die Nasionalistiese Party se indiening van die Wet op Groepsgebiede (Nr 41 van 1950) het verseker dat die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap langs rasselyne geïsoleerd geword het. Higgs (1971:1) is van mening dat – (d)ie Wet op Groepsgebiede (Nr 41 van 1950), wat beskryf word as een van die pilare van apartheid, oorspronklik deur die Suid-Afrikaanse regering in 1950 uitgevaardig is en in 1966 deur Wetnr 36 van 1966 gekonsolideer is. Die Wet, wat residensieël in die stede en dorpe van Suid-Afrika toepas, is spesifiek deur die Algemene Vergadering van die Verenigde Nasies verwerp. Onder die Wet, is baie gevestigde gemeenskappe, bestaande uit ’n miljoen mense, met geweld verskuif. Duduza het ontwikkel as gevolg van inwoners wat uit die veelrassige Charteston verskuif is. Hierdie dapper daad deur die apartheidstelsel het weerspieël wat met die ontwikkeling van die tuislandstelsel in Suid-Afrika gebeur het. Abel (2015:1) wys daarop dat in ’n poging om die swart opposisie te verdeel en uit te rangeer, het die apartheidstelsel kragdadig omtrent 3.5 miljoen Suid-Afrikaners na plattelandse tuislande tussen 1960 en 1980 hervestig. Hierdie gebeurtenis, wat beskou word as een van die geskiedenis se grootste sosiale manipulasieoefeninge, het oorbevolkte en ekonomies-ontnemende gemeenskappe van vervange mense geskep. Die ontwrigting en die vervanging van mense, asook die hele rassepolitieke-dinamika wat mense gevorseer het om met mekaar in wisselwerking te wees uit diverse taalagtergronde, het tot die ontwikkeling van dialekte gelei. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / African Languages / MA / Unrestricted

Empirical research in the previous years has shown the history and the evolution of takeovers and mergers in South Africa. Many theories have emerged to show the advancement in the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the new Act) from the old Companies Act 61 of 1973 especially on issues relating to takeovers and reorganisations. These include measures in the new Act that are designed to protect shareholders and creditors in the context of takeovers. Cassim and several other writers have provided insight into the changes brought about by the new Act with regards to the protection of shareholders and creditors. This research identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the measures introduced in the new Companies Act 71 of 2008 which protect the shareholders and creditors in the context of mergers and takeovers. This will be done through a critical analysis of the shareholder and creditor protective measures contained in the new Act and a comparative analysis of the takeover regulations in South Africa, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

“Forgive me reader. It has been two months since my last confession. Ere I err let me confess that this reasearch is to be understood as a confession and this abstract (also a confession) written after the fact. My confession: an admission to another party in order to gain some form of transendance, is this research. All the research is done as a confession where I aim to speak as a parrehesiate- one who speaks frankly what they know to be true. I the confessant speak (or rather write) to you my confessor who will offer me absolution and transfering on to me the status of one who has completed a Masters research dessertation. My research is autoethnographical, that is to say that as I write (about) myself into the research as an individual, in a social construct which also operates on me I am doing the reseach. My research in my confessional; the liminal, or outside of time and space, from which I speak. This research explores how online confession can function as a performance strategy- the sum of force relations of a dramatic presentation intended to affect an audience- in cyber performance on Social media. Where cyber performance is a performance that uses internet technologies for both content and form to connect performers to near or remote audiences. Social media is the user generated internet platform that uses ones social networks as a means of communal connection. / Dissertation (MA (Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Drama / MA (Drama) / Unrestricted

The main research question of this study is: What influences the choice of entry modes for the BoP markets in Sub-Saharan Africa? A literature review was conducted which assisted in developing a case study research design, involving three South African Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry, serving both the wealthy consumers and the BoP markets. Only MNEs who have been operating in other sub-Saharan Africa countries for more than 10 years were selected. Content analysis was used to code and analyse the qualitative data collected through semi structured in-depth interviews conducted with three heads of the Sub-Saharan Africa within these FMCGs that have already expanded into the BoP markets of Sub-Saharan Africa. The study found that in order to choose modes of entry that works, the MNEs must first identify the characteristics of the BoP market they want to enter, then choose the positioning strategy in line with these characterises. Both the characteristics of the BoP market within the chosen country, and the positioning strategy chosen influences the MNE’s choice of modes of entry. This study found that positioning strategies linked to BoP characteristics ensures that MNEs’ product offering are acceptable in the BoP markets, thus ensuring that the companies’ products are acceptable, affordable and accessible to BoP consumers. The study also found the modes of entry which are applicable for the affluent markets do not always work for the BoP markets. As a result, four modes of entry which were found to be working for the BoP markets in sub-Saharan Africa were joint venture, franchise, partnership and direct export. Direct export was found to working where distribution networks are available to reach rural consumers. The study concludes by presenting a conceptual framework that can be used by MNEs when choosing modes of entry for the BoP markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Business Management / PhD / Unrestricted

The uncertain nature of agricultural production makes risk management essential in providing farmers with protection against potential losses. Crop insurance is a sustainable risk management tool that ensures the sustainability of agricultural enterprises by reducing income risks. The main focus has been on the supply and penetration of crop insurance, with limited attention paid to the demand and to farmers’ preferences for crop insurance. In Swaziland, the crop insurance industry is still under-developed; hence, an empirical gap exists in knowledge of farmers’ preferences for crop insurance. This study identifies the conditions that farmers prefer to accept with regard to crop insurance, as well as the factors that influence them in purchasing it. It provides an understanding of the need of farming households for crop insurance, and seeks to identify the best ways of protecting farmers’ livelihoods from agricultural risks. It also provides an account of the effects of ineffective risk management strategies. The study employed descriptive statistics to analyse primary data: snowballing sampling methods were used to collect survey data from 150 households in the Hhohho and Lubombo regions of Swaziland. Results show that 52% of the sampled households expressed an interest in purchasing crop insurance; the other 48% were not interested in purchasing crop insurance and gave reasons for this. The probit model was used to determine the factors that influence the likelihood of farmers indicating an interest in purchasing crop insurance: these included gender, marital status, occupation, education, location, savings and farming experience. Farmers based their preferences on crop insurance features such as risk cover, coverage levels and the nature of cover, compensation and premiums. Binary logistic regressions were used to identify factors that influence farmers’ preferences regarding crop-insurance features. Respondents preferred the multi-peril crop insurance cover, higher coverage levels, lower premiums and compensation based on market price. They also wanted their coverage to include both crops and livestock, and to be involved in the designing of crop insurance programmes. A lack of farmer education regarding the purpose and benefits of crop insurance was one of the causes of farmers’ lack of interest in purchasing crop insurance. Evidence from this study indicated that farmers in the Lubombo region were more interested in crop insurance than farmers in the Hhohho region. This was predictable, considering that the more risk or uncertainty farmers face, the more likely they are to show an interest in purchasing a sustainable risk management strategy like crop insurance. Farmers are currently more responsive to crop insurance and their preferences are important in informing the ex-ante design process and finding ways of improving crop insurance programmes in Swaziland. This study recommends education for farmers on the role and benefits of crop insurance; it also suggests that the Swazi government to consider implementing crop insurance subsidies and engage with insurance providers to tailor programmes to meet the needs and constraints faced by farmers. Understanding farmers’ preferences for particular attributes of crop insurance is imperative in informing and designing improved insurance contracts. / Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / MSc (Agric) / Unrestricted

No abstract / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Information Science / PhD

The focus of this research was to determine the multi-temporal land cover changes (LCC) of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) environment over 5 decades. The HartRAO site is a strategic point in the mapping system of South Africa and acts as fundamental reference node in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). In this study, the conducted field assessments determined the land cover type of the study area and its environment. The use of aerial photographs, Google Earth images, satellite images and climate data were platforms to assess the LCC of the area and surroundings. The ENVI 5.1 software package was used to determine the LCC of the area from the Landsat TM and Landsat OLI satellites using image analysis. In addition, ArcGIS 10.2 was used to determine the hydrology of the area from the SRTM DEM file, provide a platform to view aerial photographs, and map out LC images determined from ENVI 5.1. Field assessments and demarcation of the study area were conducted using Google Earth images. The e-Water TREND software proved useful in determining the statistical significance of climate data over 5 the decade period. Microsoft Excel software was used to tabulate, generate graphs and charts from satellite image and climate data analysis. According to the first objective the delineation of land cover types in the area was done using aerial photographs and field assessments of the study provided pictorial information to interpret land cover changes over the years of the study. Analysis of satellite data for the last 19 years also showed the changes in the land cover type and this was used to delineate land cover types. This was followed by satellite image processing and analysis over the last 19 years involving: image ratioing, image classification, change detection and accuracy assessment. Trends in rainfall and temperature of the area over period in the study area were determined using climatic data. Combining primary and secondary data to provide visual interpretation on the changes in land cover type and the seasonal variability were tools identified for the study. Hence there is a note that there is an increase in woody vegetation within HartRAO and changes in land cover and land use activity which does affect the changes in climate and land cover type. Image processing: image ratioing of the Landsat TM and Landsat OLI images, the EVI, NDVI, NDBI and NDBaI spectral indices were used to give an overview of the land cover type and coverage in the area using the ENVI 5.1 software. A supervised image classification technique (pixel-based) was the ideal method for the Landsat images in this study this is because of the variability of the land cover type and when analysing will depend on spectral information. The second and third objective focuses on remote sensing techniques, where there is an importance in removing biasness when comparing of classification algorithms to determine the most suitable algorithm for image classification. Therefore in the study maximum-likelihood (parametric) and support vector machine (non-parametric) classification algorithms were used to determine the extent of the land cover type in the area. Change detection in the study was used to determine the level of changes within and between the land cover type in the area of study. The aim of accuracy assessment is to determine the performance of the classification algorithms based on the land cover type. This proved that both performed well but SVM had a slightly higher accuracy with most land cover types and as part of the study, classification algorithms can be used individually while assessing specific land cover types. By combining the first three objectives together, the results and discussion draw us to the fourth objective which brings us to what the changes in the land cover are caused by, and the rate of changes. In the results and discussion chapter by interpreting aerial photographs, Google Earth images and field assessment images and data illustrate there is an increase of vegetation within the immediate HartRAO environment. Surrounding areas of HartRAO indicate an increase in the proportion of agricultural land, and an increase of bare-lands due to mining activities within the surrounding areas. Outcomes from climatic data analysis conducted through the Mann-Kendall test using the e-Water TREND software indicated an increasing trend (mean annual temperatures) for the first normal of the years in the study. Climate data analysis of the second normal indicates that MATmax has an increasing trend. While MATmin and TAR are decreasing with a statistical significance at 95% confidence interval of Z = -2.194 and -1.998 respectively. Utilizing satellite image analysis, image ratioing shows that there is an increase in vegetation ratio results in both NDVI and EVI. The NDVI images have higher values than EVI images for the Landsat TM while EVI have higher values in Landsat OLI as recognized in the summer images and winter images. The NDBI is higher which does not depict what the area is, as the built-up index reflects the milky-quartz rocks as built-up structures. The NDBaI is lower in the study. From the image classification results, the ML classification algorithm classifies forests and grasslands well. In SVM the scattered vegetation and grasslands are classified well. Both classification algorithms provide poor results for the milky-quartz with scattered vegetation and shale-rock with scattered vegetation. In relation to the accuracy of the ML and SVM classification, both had higher accuracies when classifying the Landsat summer images with values above 90% and overall accuracy for winter images was between 82% - 90%. However, the July 2007 satellite images had the lowest overall accuracies for both ML and SVM classification algorithms. There is a negative annual rate of change for all the land cover types throughout the years (1960 - 2017) the study covers. A higher negative value from the rate of change is illustrated from the grassland cover type for all summer and winter images used in the study. The forestland cover and built-up land cover type has an increase in negative change noted from the classification of the winter images. Comparison of both classification algorithms using Chi-square test illustrate no statistical significance, which concludes that both perform equally well in terms of overall accuracy and land cover. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / MSc / Unrestricted

The representation of female Information Technology Executives in South Africa is far from ideal. Research shows that there are more women in Information Technology management support functions than in leadership roles. Even though every year the total number of Information Technology Executives profiled has increased, from 153 in 2011 to 172 in 2016, only 10% average of them are female. This is despite women comprising the majority of South Africa’s population. Given the existence of female Information Technology Executives, albeit a few, this study discusses factors that contribute to the success of South African female Information Technology professionals in achieving Information Technology Executive positions, despite the challenges they are faced with. A qualitative research approach was followed in conducting the study. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with fifteen (15) South African female Information Technology Executives. The Individual Differences Theory of Gender and Information Technology was employed to understand each Information Technology Executive’s influence on her career progression. The results indicated the approximate age that female Information Technology professionals are likely to achieve Information Technology leadership levels. In addition, the results indicated the type of Information Technology management experience that is advantageous to female Information Technology professionals’ advancement to Information Technology Executive positions. Considering the masculine nature of the Information Technology field, the results further indicated the type of support structures that are valuable in manoeuvring through the Information Technology leadership labyrinth. The study also found that cultural beliefs were changing to accommodate and accept femininity within masculine roles. The study contributes to both academia and the Information Technology industry. First, Eileen Trauth’s Individual Differences Theory of Gender and Information Technology theory was used to understand how Information Technology career challenges faced by South African female Information Technology professionals could be overcome to reach Information Technology Executive positions. Secondly, the adoption of interpretive methods enabled an analysis of multiple case studies, thereby adding to the body of knowledge on women in Information Technology. Lastly, the research findings were used to develop a theoretical framework that female Information Technology professionals in South Africa could adopt on their career advancement journeys. This, in turn, may improve the representation of female Information Technology Executives in South Africa. / Informatics / PhD / Unrestricted

The dynamic mathematical models for direct expansion air conditioning (DX A/C) systems with respect to indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, relative humidity and air temperature and the coupling effects among them have been built in this thesis. To reduce the energy cost and improve the energy efficiency for DX A/C systems while maintaining both indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort at acceptable levels, a hierarchical control structure is proposed in this thesis. This control structure includes two levels. The upper level is an open loop optimal controller to generate the optimal setpoints of indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature for the lower level controller. The lower level designs a closed-loop model predictive control (MPC) controller to optimize the transient processes reaching the setpoints where the energy efficiency improvement and energy cost savings are achieved. In Chapter 2, the control objective is to improve both IAQ and thermal comfort as well as energy efficiency for a DX A/C system. The details of a hierarchical control structure in this chapter are as follows: In the upper layer, an energy-optimised open loop controller is proposed based on an optimization of energy consumption of the DX A/C system and given reference points of indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature to generate a unique and optimised steady state for the lower layer controller. In the lower layer, the closed-loop MPC controller is proposed such that the indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature follow the steady state computed by the upper layer, whereas the energy efficiency is improved. To facilitate the MPC design, the nonlinear DX A/C control system is linearized around the optimised steady state. In Chapter 3, the control objective is to lower the energy cost and consumption of a DX A/C system while maintaining both IAQ and thermal comfort at comfort levels. To achieve this purpose, an autonomous hierarchical control (AHC) structure is designed and described below. The upper level is an open loop nonlinear optimal controller, which optimizes the predicted mean vote (PMV) index and the energy cost for the DX A/C system under a time-of-use (TOU) price structure of electricity according to the changing environment over a 24-hour period, to generate the tradeoff setpoints of indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature for the lower level controller. The lower layer is formed as a closed-loop MPC to track the trajectory reference points calculated by the optimization layer. This AHC strategy means the upper controller can adaptively and automatically set the setpoints and the lower layer adaptively and optimally tracks them, minimizing energy consumption and costs. In addition, in this chapter, the volumes of outside air allowed to enter the DX A/C system are regarded as varying with the changing circumstance over a day and are optimized by the AHC. Moreover, a supply fan to steer the pressure swing absorption with a built-in proportional-integral (PI) controller is proposed to lower the indoor CO2 concentration such that it would reduce the complexity of computation for the AHC and the cost of hardware. In Chapter 4, the control objective is to reduce energy cost, improve energy efficiency, and reduce communication resources, computational complexity and conservativeness, as well as peak demand for a multi-zone building multi-evaporator air conditioning (ME A/C) system while maintaining multi-zones’ thermal comfort and IAQ at comfort levels. To realize this objective and to consider the interaction effects between rooms, we present an autonomous hierarchical distributed control (AHDC) method. The upper level is an open loop nonlinear optimizer, which only collects measurement information and solves a distributed steady state optimization problem to adaptively and automatically generate time-varying and optimised reference points of indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature for the lower-layer controllers, by minimizing the demand and energy costs of a multi-zone building ME A/C system under the TOU price structure of electricity according to the changing circumstance during the day. The lower level also uses local information to track the trajectory references calculated by the upper-layer distributed controller, via distributed MPC controllers. The proposed hierarchical control strategy is distributed in two layers since they use only local information from the working zone and its neighbours. To validate the performance of these hierarchical control strategies for DX A/C systems, simulation tests are performed in this thesis. In Chapter 2, simulations are provided to show that the closed-loop regulation of the MPC controller and the energy-optimised open loop controller can maintain indoor CO2 concentration, relative humidity and air temperature at their desired setpoints with small deviations and reduce the effect of indoor cooling and pollutant loads. The simulations also demonstrate that the controllers are superior to conventional controllers in terms of energy efficiency. In Chapter 3, the simulation tests show that the AHC strategy can reduce more energy consumption and cost than the baseline strategy. In addition, the tests demonstrate that the AHC scheme is not sensitive to the physical parameters of the DX A/C system. In Chapter 4, to show the performance of the two-layer distributed control strategies, a case study is given. The simulation tests demonstrate that the AHDC strategy is capable of shifting demand from peak hours to off-peak hours and reducing the energy cost for a multi-zone building ME A/C system while maintaining multi-zones’ IAQ and thermal comfort at comfort levels. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted