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Research Publications (Academic Support)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/211

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End date: 2019Has files: No

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 22
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    Investigating relationship between Accounting students’ learning style preferences and their academic performance at a University of Technology in South Africa
    (Taylor and Fancis Online, 2017-10-11) Cekiso, Madoda; Arends, Jeffery; Mkabile, Bulelwa; Meyiwa, Thenjiwe
    The purpose of this study was to explore the association between accounting students’ learning style preferences and their academic performance at an institution of higher learning in South Africa. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was used to identify the learning style preferences of the first, second and third year accounting students. The students’ academic performance for accounting was based on the scores obtained in the final examination assessment component. A purposeful sample of first, second and third year students registered for a Bachelor of Education degree were used in this study. The findings indicated that the majority of the first-year students were the convergers whereas the results for the second and third year students revealed that the majority were divergers. The results further revealed that the relationship between first year students’ learning styles and academic performance was significant whereas there was no significant relationship between second and third year students’ learning styles and their academic performance.
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    Exploring the potential reservoirs of non specific TEM beta lactamase (blaTEM) gene in the Indo-Gangetic region : a risk assessment approach to predict health hazards
    (Elsevier, 2016) Singh, Gulshan; Vajpayee, Poornima; Rani, Neetika; Amoah, Isaac Dennis; Stenström, Thor-Axel; Shanker, Rishi
    The emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria is an important public health and environ-mental contamination issue. Antimicrobials of -lactam group accounts for approximately two thirds, by weight, of all antimicrobials administered to humans due to high clinical efficacy and low toxicity. This study explores -lactam resistance determinant gene (blaTEM) as emerging con-taminant in Indo-Gangetic region using qPCR in molecular beacon format. Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) approach was adopted to predict risk to human health associated with consumption/exposure of surface water, potable water and street foods contaminated with bac-teria having blaTEM gene. It was observed that surface water and sediments of the river Ganga and Gomti showed high numbers of blaTEM gene copies and varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the sampling locations. The potable water collected from drinking water facility and clinical set-tings exhibit significant number of blaTEM gene copies (13 ± 0.44–10200 ± 316 gene copies/100 mL).
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    Optimal control intervention strategies using an n-patch waterborne disease model
    (Wiley, 2016-11) Collins, Obiora Cornelius; Duffy, Kevin Jan
    Waterborne diseases are an important concern in public health, especially in communities with limited access to clean water. Differ-ent community subpopulations can require different copping strategies for the same diseases. Modeling is one method to assist understanding and the development of effective strategies. To this end, we investigated the use of meta-population models with three types of control interventions: vaccination, treatment, and water purification. Important mathematical features of the model are determined and examined. Optimal control, applied to the model, is also formulated to determine the effective strategies to reduce the spread of the disease. For example, using optimal control, a four-fold reduc-tion in infected individuals is possible. The value of such an improvement to the communities involved would be significant.
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    Complete group classification of systems of two nonlinear second-Order ordinary differential equations of the form y′′=F(y)
    (Elsevier, 2017-03) Oguis, Giovanna Fae Ruiz; Moyo, Sibusiso; Meleshko, S. V.
    Extensive work has been done on the group classification of systems of equations in the literature. This paper identifies the gap in the literature which concerns the group classification of systems of two nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations. We provide a complete group classification of systems of two ordinary differential equations of the form, which occur in many physical applications using two approaches which form the essence of this paper.
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    Towards a comprehensive model of community-based tourism development
    (Taylor and Francis, 2016) Mtapuri, Oliver; Giampiccoli, Andrea
    Community-based tourism (CBT) offers both opportunities and challenges in the quest for holistic community development. The evolution and development of CBT projects can follow different trajectories. This conceptual paper’s main contribution is the formulation of a comprehensive model of the development of CBT. The model suggests that CBT projects can be initiated from within and outside the community by the private, public and non-governmental sectors or a combination of these using a top-down or bottom-up approach. It also posits that CBT projects can take a formal or informal character depending on the conditions leading to their initiation. The paper highlights the benefits and constraints to the scaling up or down of operations linked to informality. It supports further research in analyzing the various aspects associated with the shift from formality to the informality of CBT projects and vice versa and the relationship with CBT development and holistic community development.
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    Are ‘Albergo Diffuso’ and community-based tourism the answers to community development in South Africa?
    (Taylor and Fancis Online, 2016-05-26) Giampiccoli, Andrea; Saayman, Melville; Jugmohan, Sean
    Conventional mass tourism shortcomings have facilitated the origin of alternative forms of tourism such as community-based tourism (CBT). Lately, another form of tourism known as ‘Albergo Diffuso’ (AD) has also been mentioned as a possible strategy to revive depressed specific local contexts, such as townships, villages and small towns. This article’s aim is twofold: first to contextualise the concept of AD in the South African milieu and secondly to investigate the possible relationship and role that CBT and AD could have. In this context, specific characteristics and similarities between CBT and AD are explored. The article’s main contribution concerns the exploration of the AD concept as an alternative form of tourism related to local community development. This is the first time that this concept has been presented in a South African context.
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    Lost in transition: the lives of African lifeguards
    (Taylor and Francis Online, 2015-08-20) Hemson, Crispin
    A study of 11 African surf lifeguards in Durban in 1997, as they were entering employment on the beachfront, revealed their aspirations for a confident and respectable masculinity. A study of the remaining 10 in 2012 instead demonstrated the extent to which their transition into employment was caught up in violence. It is argued that three key elements contributing to this have been the racist hostility that undermined the sense of possibility, the strength and nature of peer-group relationships and a masculinity focused on the display of women and possessions. Thus, some lifeguards replicated the same patterns of violence that they had hoped to leave behind in the township, while others severed connections and left. Following Walkerdine, this underlines the significance of the relationship between space and affect and the role of safety in developing imaginative possibilities. In a context of continued structural violence, spaces need to be developed within which people can reflect on their lives and the transitions they are making.
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    Quantification of pathogen inactivation efficacy by free chlorine disinfection of drinking water for QMRA
    (IWA Publishing, 2015-09-13) Petterson, S.R.; Stenström, Thor-Axel
    To support the implementation of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for managing infectious risks associated with drinking water systems, a simple modeling approach for quantifying Log10 reduction across a free chlorine disinfection contactor was developed. The study was undertaken in three stages: firstly, review of the laboratory studies published in the literature; secondly, development of a conceptual approach to apply the laboratory studies to full-scale conditions; and finally implementation of the calculations for a hypothetical case study system. The developed model explicitly accounted for variability in residence time and pathogen specific chlorine sensitivity. Survival functions were constructed for a range of pathogens relying on the upper bound of the reported data transformed to a common metric. The application of the model within a hypothetical case study demonstrated the importance of accounting for variable residence time in QMRA. While the overall Log10 reduction may appear high, small parcels of water with short residence time can compromise the overall performance of the barrier. While theoretically simple, the approach presented is of great value for undertaking an initial assessment of a full-scale disinfection contactor based on limited site-specific information.
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    Schools as potential risk sites for Vector-Borne disease transmission: mosquito vectors in rural schools in two municipalities in Colombia
    (The American Mosquito Control Association, Inc., 2015) Olano, Victor Alberto; Matiz, María Inés; Lenhart, Audrey; Cabezas, Laura; Vargas, Sandra Lucía; Jaramillo, Juan Felipe; Sarmiento, Diana; Alexander, Neil; Stenström, Thor-Axel; Overgaard, Hans J.
    Dengue and other vector-borne diseases are of great public health importance in Colombia. Vector surveillance and control activities are often focused at the household level. Little is known about the importance of nonhousehold sites, including schools, in maintaining vector-borne disease transmission. The objectives of this paper were to determine the mosquito species composition in rural schools in 2 municipalities in Colombia and to assess the potential risk of vector-borne disease transmission in school settings. Entomological surveys were carried out in rural schools during the dry and rainy seasons of 2011. A total of 12 mosquito species were found: Aedes aegypti, Anopheles pseudopunctipennis, Culex coronator, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and Limatus durhamii in both immature and adult forms; Ae. fluviatilis, Cx. nigripalpus, Cx. corniger, and Psorophora ferox in immature forms only; and Ae. angustivittatus, Haemagogus equinus, and Trichoprosopon lampropus in adult forms only. The most common mosquito species was Cx. quinquefasciatus. Classrooms contained the greatest abundance of adult female Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus. The most common Ae. aegypti breeding sites were containers classified as “others” (e.g., cans), followed by containers used for water storage. A high level of Ae. aegypti infestation was found during the wet season. Our results suggest that rural schools are potentially important foci for the transmission of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. We propose that public health programs should be implemented in rural schools to prevent vector-borne diseases.
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    On group classification of normal systems of linear second-order ordinary differential equations
    (Elsevier, 2015-05) Moyo, Sibusiso; Meleshko, Sergey; Oguis, Giovanna Fae Ruiz
    In this paper we study the general group classification of systems of linear second-order ordinary differential equations inspired from earlier works and recent results on the group classification of such systems. Some interesting results and subsequent theorem arising from this particular study are discussed here. This paper considers the study of irreducible systems of second-order ordinary differential equations.