Using chaos and complexity theory to design robust leadership architecture for South African technology businesses

research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree: Master of Science in Engineering. 03 November 2015South African technology businesses are seeing an increasing number of young professionals from diverse backgrounds joining their ranks. Managing diversity in the workplace is perceived to be poorly handled in the South African business arena and may be responsible for the large turnover of employed professionals observed. There is a high rate at which young professionals are changing jobs, leaving the country and/ or becoming unproductive or complacent within relatively short periods of time. This situation is of serious concern due to the severe shortage of skills in the country, especially in the technology sector. On the one hand it creates a major upset or disruption for companies that invest significant resources in the training and development of these individuals. On the other hand, it leads to a vast knowledge gap within the industry since the time horizon of incumbents in specific positions or in companies is seldom long enough to fully develop specialist knowledge within the various technical niches. Chaos and complexity theories are applied in the study to understand this problem better in the context of interactions between constituent parts of a dynamic system within itself and with the environment, and, specifically, to determine the degree to which the problem is influenced by leadership interactions. In the process a framework for designing leadership architecture was developed with the aim of helping business leaders better manage the problem. A mixed method approach was used to conduct the research, in which a survey with over ninety respondents and focus group of selected individuals were used to obtain quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The data were then analysed to provide useful insight. The results showed that leadership, particularly the relationship between professionals and their direct managers, has a significant influence on the decision to stay or leave a company and/ or to change professions

Peranan dan amalan perhubungan awam di Malaysia : satu kajian kes terhadap pegawai perhubungan awam kerajaan

Kajian ini adalah merupakan satu kes terhadap peranan dan amalan pegawai perhubungan awam kerajaan di Malaysia. Kajian ini dijalankan berpandukan tipologi peranan atau role typology dan model perhubungan awam. Seramai 48 orang pegawai perhubungan awam telah di pilih sebagai sampel kajian menggunakan kaedah sampel rawak bebas. Metod soal selidik dan temubual telah digunakan untuk mengumpul data kajian ini. Statistik deskriptif telah digunakan untuk menganalisis data kajian. Data di analisis menggunakan sistem SPSS. Hasil kajian menunjukkan tipologi peranan 'pemudah cara komunikasi' ataupun model craft, yang meliputi model 'perantara akhbar/publisiti' dan 'informasi publik' menonjol sebagai peranan dan amalan dominan di kalangan pegawai perhubungan awam kerajaan. This study is a case study on the roles and practices of government public relations officers in Malaysia through the application of role typology and public relations models. A survey among 48 government public relations officers was conducted. A simple random type sampling was adopted for this study. Data were obtained through a self-administered set of questionnaire and in-depth interview. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data. SPSS System was utilized to analyze the data. The findings suggest that the 'Communication facilitator' role and 'press agentry/publicity' and 'public information' of the 'craft' model emerged as a dominant role and practice among government public relations officers

Probing Arabidopsis Chloroplast Diacylglycerol Pools by Selectively Targeting Bacterial Diacylglycerol Kinase to Suborganellar Membranes

Diacylglycerol (DAG) is an intermediate in metabolism of both triacylglycerols and membrane lipids. Probing the steady-state pools of DAG and understanding how they contribute to the synthesis of different lipids is important when designing plants with altered lipid metabolism. However, traditional methods of assaying DAG pools are difficult, because its abundance is low and because fractionation of subcellular membranes affects DAG pools. To manipulate and probe DAG pools in an in vivo context, we generated multiple stable transgenic lines of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) that target an Escherichia coli DAGkinase (DAGK) to each leaflet of each chloroplast envelope membrane. E. coli DAGKis small, self inserts into membranes, and has catalytic activity on only one side of each membrane. By comparing whole-tissue lipid profiles between our lines, we show that each line has an individual pattern of DAG, phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylcholine, and triacylglycerol steady-state levels, which supports an individual function of DAG in each membrane leaflet. Furthermore, conversion of DAG in the leaflets facing the chloroplast intermembrane space by DAGK impairs plant growth. As a result of DAGK presence in the outer leaflet of the outer envelope membrane, phosphatidic acid accumulation is not observed, likely because it is either converted into other lipids or removed to othermembranes. Finally, we use the outer envelope-targeted DAGK line as a tool to probe the accessibility of DAG generated in response to osmotic stress

Probing Arabidopsis Chloroplast Diacylglycerol Pools by Selectively Targeting Bacterial Diacylglycerol Kinase to Suborganellar Membranes

Diacylglycerol (DAG) is an intermediate in metabolism of both triacylglycerols and membrane lipids. Probing the steady-state pools of DAG and understanding how they contribute to the synthesis of different lipids is important when designing plants with altered lipid metabolism. However, traditional methods of assaying DAG pools are difficult, because its abundance is low and because fractionation of subcellular membranes affects DAG pools. To manipulate and probe DAG pools in an in vivo context, we generated multiple stable transgenic lines of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) that target an Escherichia coli DAGkinase (DAGK) to each leaflet of each chloroplast envelope membrane. E. coli DAGKis small, self inserts into membranes, and has catalytic activity on only one side of each membrane. By comparing whole-tissue lipid profiles between our lines, we show that each line has an individual pattern of DAG, phosphatidic acid, phosphatidylcholine, and triacylglycerol steady-state levels, which supports an individual function of DAG in each membrane leaflet. Furthermore, conversion of DAG in the leaflets facing the chloroplast intermembrane space by DAGK impairs plant growth. As a result of DAGK presence in the outer leaflet of the outer envelope membrane, phosphatidic acid accumulation is not observed, likely because it is either converted into other lipids or removed to othermembranes. Finally, we use the outer envelope-targeted DAGK line as a tool to probe the accessibility of DAG generated in response to osmotic stress

Micropropagation of an endangered Indian sandalwood (Santalum album L.)

Santalum album is known as East Indian sandalwood. It is the most economically important tree harvested for heartwood oil, and India is among the chief exporters of sandalwood and its products. Multiple shoots were induced from nodal shoot segments derived from a 50- to 60-year-old candidate plus tree (CPT) on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.53þinspaceµM α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 11.09þinspaceµM 6-benzylaminopurine (BA). In vitro differentiated shoots were multiplied on MS medium with 0.53þinspaceµM NAA, 4.44þinspaceµM BA, and additives: 283.93þinspaceµM ascorbic acid, 118.10þinspaceµM citric acid, 104.04þinspaceµM cystine, 342.24þinspaceµM glutamine, and 10% (v/v) coconut milk. New shoots were harvested repeatedly for up to three subculture passages on fresh medium at 4-week intervals. Microshoots treated with 98.4þinspaceµM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) for 48þinspaceh produced roots on growth-regulator-free, quarter-strength MS basal salts medium with vitamin B5 and 2% sucrose. In vitro root induction was achieved from microshoots pulsed with 1230þinspaceµM IBA for 30þinspacemin in soilrite rooting medium. The percentage of rooting in soilrite was higher than that for agar medium, and in vitro raised plants were established in the field and showed normal growth

Factors influencing in vivo and in vitro micrografting of sandalwood (Santalum album L.):an endangered tree species

In vivo micrografting of Santalum album was achieved (50%) by grafting 4- to 5-cm-long scions, collected from a candidate plus tree (CPT) of 50--60 years of age, onto 90-day-old nursery-grown rootstock. Scion size, rootstock age, and scion collection season were found to influence graft success. Grafted plants were incubated under greenhouse conditions for 6--8 weeks during the graft union process. In vitro micrografts were achieved by placing 1- to 2-cm-long scions derived from nodal shoot segments (collected from CPT) onto the hypocotyl of 45-day-old in vitro rootstocks. Use of in vitro grown shoots as a source of scion gave better graft success (60%) than scions collected directly from field-grown trees. In vitro grafting was also influenced by scion size and rootstock age. Under favorable conditions, scions and hypocotyls unite to form complete plants that produced two to four leaves after 6--8 weeks. This is the first report on in vivo and in vitro micrografting of S. album having potential for production of disease-free clonal plants for conservation and improvement targets