Toward a reinterpretation of sacramental theology in the context of pandemics: The case of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe

The advent of Covid-19 and the subsequent closing of religious institutions through lockdowns created a pandemonium that saw churches not being able to meet physically for worship. Covid-19 lockdowns diluted the traditional meaning of sacramental theology for mainline churches. The effects of the pandemic were bad that, churches in Zimbabwe were closed towards lent season in 2020. Mainline churches that used to shun the technologisation of religion were forced to embrace technology in order to be relevant. Unfortunately, sacraments that demanded face to face administration remained a theological dilemma. Using the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as a case study, the aim of this paper was to challenge the church’s traditional sacramental theology and propose a theological treatise that has relevance in the context of pandemics like Covid-19. The paper proposed a reinterpretation of sacramental theology that makes the rite sacredness to the lives of the parishioners even during pandemics

A Socio-Technical Approach to Information Security

The main objective of this paper is to present a preliminary socio-technical information security (STInfoSec) framework for the development of online information security applications that addresses both social and technical aspects of information security design. The paper looks at theoretical aspects related to a view of information security as a soci0-technical system in the context of online banking. The STInfoSec framework investigates usability and security requirements for an improved online banking system that seeks to improve the adoption and continued use of the service. The STInfoSec framework proposes 12 usable security design principles that assist in addressing security and usability requirements in online applications such as online banking. The framework seeks to influence the behaviour of designers of online information security applications by incorporating principles that consider the end user behaviour of such applications. The validation of the framework is beyond the scope of this paper

Effectiveness of Implemented School Development Plan in Enhancing Quality Education in Public Secondary Schools in Ulanga District, Tanzania

The study examined the effectiveness of implemented School Development Planning (SDP) in enhancing quality education a case of public secondary schools in Ulanga District. Four research questions and one null hypothesis guided the study to elucidate the perception of heads of schools on the SDP. The study was guided by convergent parallel design under mixed research approach. The target population comprised of 17 public secondary schools and 17 heads of schools. Two secondary schools were used for pilot study. While the remaining 15 public secondary schools were all involved in the study. All the 15 heads of public secondary schools were involved in the study by virtue of their position and responsibility. Questionnaires and interview guide were administered to collect relevant data for the study. The study found out that not all the schools in Ulanga District had SDP. Also, the SDPs were not highly effective in enhancing quality education since some of the elements that enhance quality education were not implemented. The study further revealed that majority of the heads of schools had positive perception on the SDP as a tool toward improvement of teaching and learning in the schools; while a few of them had negative perception. The results from the tested null hypothesis reveals a moderate relationship between implementation of SDP and quality education. Thus, implementation of SDP to some extent enhances quality education which in turn improves students’ academic performance. The study concluded that the implemented SDP are moderately effective in enhancing various factors that ensure quality education in secondary schools. Furthermore, the study suggested that high cooperation should be emphasized between educational stakeholders in implementing SDPs for the improvement of quality of education in Ulanga District. The researcher suggested close follow up of the DEO, DQA and WEC on the development and implementation of SDP for effective improvement of teaching and learning

System usability scale evaluation of online banking service: A South African study

Online banking is a critical service offered by financial institutions to their clientele to facilitate easier and faster access to financial services and transactions. Banks currently spend huge amounts of money on development and maintenance of websites and backend systems that offer online banking facilities to clients. Here we address the effect of moderating factors on online banking usability assessment in South Africa. Using statistical analysis techniques that included t-tests, ANOVA and correlation, we investigated whether there are statistically significant mean differences in system usability scale (SUS) scores based on a variety of moderating factors in South Africa. Findings based on a sample of 540 respondents show that SUS scores differ significantly based on factors such as age, experience and income, whereas factors such as gender, use frequency and employment did not affect the mean SUS scores. Given the individual SUS scores for a variety of users based on different demographics, the financial institutions might improve service usability to target specific user groups and realise their return on investment in digital banking channels. Therefore improving service usability might go a long way in encouraging online banking adoption in South Africa.School of Computin

Towards a framework for online information security applications development: A socio-technical approach

The paper presents a validated socio-technical information security (STInfoSec) framework for the development of online information security (InfoSec) applications. The framework addresses both social and technical aspects of InfoSec design. The preliminary framework was developed using a mixed methods research design that collected data from 540 surveys by online banking users and six interviews with online banking personnel. The preliminary framework was presented in another publication and it is beyond the scope of this paper. The scope of this paper is limited to the validation findings of the evaluation process that involves seven evaluators. In the socio-technical context, the STInfoSec framework facilitates acceptance and usability of online applications based on online banking as a case study. The authors argue that usability of online InfoSec applications such as online banking significantly affects the adoption and continued use of such applications. As such, the paper investigates design principles for usable security and proposes a validated STInfoSec framework that consists of 12 usable security design principles. The design principles have been validated through heuristic evaluation by seven field experts for inclusion in the final STInfoSec framework. The development of InfoSec applications can be improved by applying these design principles.School of Computin

IPSec overhead analysis in dual stack IPv4/IPv6 transition mechanisms

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the current IP in use at the backbone of the Internet. Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) is proposed to succeed IPv4 by IETF. IPv6 addresses among other issues the lack of security in IPv4 at network layer, in IPv6 this is addressed by the use of Internet protocol security (IPSec). This research reports on the evaluation of IPSec in an IPv4/IPv6 dual stack networ