Earned value performance measurement : an alternative approach to measuring information systems project progress.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Commerce.Information Systems (IS) project management is fundamental to organlzations who are involved in the development of information systems, yet IS projects can fail for any number of reasons, and insome cases can result in consi derable financial losses for the organisations that undertake them. One pattern of failure is .hat the IS project takes on a life of its own, continuing to absorb valuable resources without reaching its cbjective. A significant number of these projects will ultimately fail, potentially weakening an organisation's competitive position while siphoning off resources that could be spent developing and implementing successful systems. Earned value performance measurement (EVPM) is a management technique that relates resource planning to schedules and to technical performance requirements. It is formed on a platform of fundamental project management, but with earned value performance measurement, with its focus being the continuous measurement of actual achievement against a detailed performance plan, thus providing a basis for problem identification, corrective actions, and management replanning, whilst providing the information necessary to be able to predict the final costs and fmal schedule forecasts for the project. The purpose of this study is to highlight the earned value performance measurement system, and propose it as an alternative approach that can be used for controlling the IS software development effort.AC 201

Remembering in the postcolony : refiguring the past with theatre

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis is a study of remembering in the postcolony. A remembering that is less about the need to forestall forgetting than it is about a putting back together of the fractured body. It suggests that while the postcolony demands remembering, its particularities render remembering highly problematic if not impossible. It argues that performance and a particular piece of dramaturgy is one way of intervening in this process of remembering; one way of making the silent dead speak, because performance is connected to both time and silence in key ways

Workshop Theatre in South Africa in the 1980s : a critical examination with specific reference to power, orality and the carnivalesque

This study attempts to critically examine the form of theatre practice which in South Africa has become known as workshop theatre focussing on the period of the 1980s. It examines the history of the form; the process by which it is made; and the kinds of plays it produces. The examination is centered around three philosophical concepts: discourse and power as understood within poststructuralist critical theory; orality and the oral tradition; and the carnivalesque as it is conceived of in the writing of Mikhail Bakhtin. Chapter One is a general introduction to the dissertation. In Part I of the study, it is argued that workshop theatre forms part of a power struggle within the field of theatre practice in South Africa because it is essentially an oral form. Chapter Two describes the rise of authorship within the European theatre practice in the seventeenth century resulting in the marginalisation of the improvisatory 'carnival' tradition, and suggests that it was this literary tradition of theatre practice that was imported to South Africa as part of the British colonial project. Chapter Three examines the indigenous oral performance forms that pre-existed the arrival of the literary theatre in southern Africa with particular reference to the Nguni oral narrative. Similarities are indicated between these oral forms of performance and the carnivalesque forms of the European tradition. Chapter Four traces the gradual involvement of members of the non-hegemonic group in theatre practice in South Africa from a predominantly literary practice limited to a select few participants to oppositional practice involving larger numbers across a wide range of social contexts. It is argued that workshop theatre facilitated this movement because it is an essentially oral form and incorporates popular carnival elements first introduced in the theatre of Gibson Kente. Part II of the study it is argued that workshop theatre is itself a site of numerous power struggles. Chapter Five examines the workshop process with specific reference to the role of improvisation. It is argued that improvisation potentially frees the performer to participate in the meaning-making process but that the extent of this participation is limited by struggles for power within the workshop group. Chapter Six examines the product of the workshop. It is argued that there is a dominant form of workshop play produced in the 1980s and that this form displays many oral and carnivalesque elements. It is further argued that there are movements away from this dominant form towards more literary forms and styles as a result of changes in the make-up of the workshop group and its relationships of power. In Chapter Seven the conclusion is drawn that workshop theatre reflects the current struggles within the South African social and political body, and that it continues to be a relevant form of theatre practice in South Africa because it diffuses strong centres of authorial power and presents possibilities for radical participatory democracy

A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2014

This paper presents the output of our fifth annual horizon-scanning exercise, which aims to identify topics that increasingly may affect conservation of biological diversity, but have yet to be widely considered. A team of professional horizon scanners, researchers, practitioners, and a journalist identified 15 topics which were identified via an iterative, Delphi-like process. The 15 topics include a carbon market induced financial crash, rapid geographic expansion of macroalgal cultivation, genetic control of invasive species, probiotic therapy for amphibians, and an emerging snake fungal disease. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

A 2018 Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues for Global Conservation and Biological Diversity.

This is our ninth annual horizon scan to identify emerging issues that we believe could affect global biological diversity, natural capital and ecosystem services, and conservation efforts. Our diverse and international team, with expertise in horizon scanning, science communication, as well as conservation science, practice, and policy, reviewed 117 potential issues. We identified the 15 that may have the greatest positive or negative effects but are not yet well recognised by the global conservation community. Themes among these topics include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessments of global change, and the development of strategic infrastructure to facilitate global economic priorities

Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) Science: Solar and stellar observations

Observations at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths offer a complementary perspective on our Sun and other stars, offering significant insights into both the thermal and magnetic composition of their chromospheres. Despite the fundamental progress in (sub-)millimeter observations of the Sun, some important aspects require diagnostic capabilities that are not offered by existing observatories. In particular, simultaneously observations of the radiation continuum across an extended frequency range would facilitate the mapping of different layers and thus ultimately the 3D structure of the solar atmosphere. Mapping large regions on the Sun or even the whole solar disk at a very high temporal cadence would be crucial for systematically detecting and following the temporal evolution of flares, while synoptic observations, i.e., daily maps, over periods of years would provide an unprecedented view of the solar activity cycle in this wavelength regime. As our Sun is a fundamental reference for studying the atmospheres of active main sequence stars, observing the Sun and other stars with the same instrument would unlock the enormous diagnostic potential for understanding stellar activity and its impact on exoplanets. The Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), a single-dish telescope with 50\,m aperture proposed to be built in the Atacama desert in Chile, would be able to provide these observational capabilities. Equipped with a large number of detector elements for probing the radiation continuum across a wide frequency range, AtLAST would address a wide range of scientific topics including the thermal structure and heating of the solar chromosphere, flares and prominences, and the solar activity cycle. In this white paper, the key science cases and their technical requirements for AtLAST are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Open Research Europe as part of a collection on the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST

Preclinical development of a stabilized RH5 virus-like particle vaccine that induces improved antimalarial antibodies

Plasmodium falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 (RH5) is a leading blood-stage malaria vaccine antigen target, currently in a phase 2b clinical trial as a full-length soluble protein/adjuvant vaccine candidate called RH5.1/Matrix-M. We identify that disordered regions of the full-length RH5 molecule induce non-growth inhibitory antibodies in human vaccinees and that a re-engineered and stabilized immunogen (including just the alpha-helical core of RH5) induces a qualitatively superior growth inhibitory antibody response in rats vaccinated with this protein formulated in Matrix-M adjuvant. In parallel, bioconjugation of this immunogen, termed "RH5.2," to hepatitis B surface antigen virus-like particles (VLPs) using the "plug-and-display" SpyTag-SpyCatcher platform technology also enables superior quantitative antibody immunogenicity over soluble protein/adjuvant in vaccinated mice and rats. These studies identify a blood-stage malaria vaccine candidate that may improve upon the current leading soluble protein vaccine candidate RH5.1/Matrix-M. The RH5.2-VLP/Matrix-M vaccine candidate is now under evaluation in phase 1a/b clinical trials

Remote sensing and machine learning to improve aerial wildlife population surveys

Technological and methodological advances in remote sensing and machine learning have created new opportunities for advancing wildlife surveys. We assembled a Community of Practice (CoP) to capitalize on these developments to explore improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of aerial wildlife monitoring from a management perspective. The core objective of the CoP is to organize the development and testing of remote sensing and machine learning methods to improve aerial wildlife population surveys that support management decisions. Beginning in 2020, the CoP collaboratively identified the natural resource management decisions that are informed by wildlife survey data with a focus on waterbirds and marine wildlife. We surveyed our membership to establish 1) what management decisions they were using wildlife count data to inform; 2) how these count data were collected prior to the advent of remote sensing/machine learning methods; 3) the impetus for transitioning to a remote sensing/machine learning methodological framework; and 4) the challenges practitioners face in transitioning to this framework. This paper documents these findings and identifies research priorities for moving toward operational remote sensing-based wildlife surveys in service of wildlife management