A time dimensional extension to standard poverty analyses in South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDMost poverty studies ignore the dimension of time and are merely concerned if an individual meets certain money-metric or non-income welfare (e.g., access to services and asset ownership) criteria. They fail to recognise the limited time (24hours per day) available to complete tasks and the added difficulties they have even though there is an abundance of money-metric and asset-related non-money-metric poverty studies. (Kim et al. 2014:1). For example, individuals/households deemed poor by standard measures cannot afford market alternatives to assist them with non-market work (like childcare). Therefore, they find themselves spending all their time in market and non-market work without taking time for rest and improving themselves. Recognising non-market work and the allocation of time allows for a greater understanding into the role of women and Africans whose non-market work are unrecognised by standard economic measures such as GDP (Ferrant 2014:1). There are also only a few in-depth studies on time poverty, but they fail to utilise the most current data. Therefore, this study seeks to provide insights into how household production impacts on South African welfare. It explores the income, time poor and the extent of time allocation differences for various personal characteristics. It estimates the likelihood of time poverty based on an individual’s time schedule and the factors which most likely results in time poverty

Archaeology and education in South Africa : towards a People's Archaeology

Bibliography: pages 167-177.Accompanied by: Faizal's journey : discovering the past through objects.The topic of this dissertation developed out of the 1980s era of resistance to Apartheid. At that time, mass-campaigns produced the concept of People's Education, which challenged established State-structures. People's Education was based on participatory democracy and drew on communities' knowledge rather than state-sanctioned knowledge. The concept of People's Archaeology is a product of that time-period. It focuses on involving communities in the practice of archaeology, beyond the stage of consultation. Within the forthcoming election process, Black communities are to be empowered politically and this empowerment has, in other countries seen an accompanying growth in concerns about identity, cultural property and ownership. I argue that identity politics will be crucial in the future South African society and that archaeology will play an important role in this debate. The discipline faces transformation in the coming decade and education will be critical in this change. In this dissertation I contend that past attempts at popular education in archaeology have had very limited success. Archaeology still remains a discipline unknown to the majority of South Africans. This dissertation explores the reasons for the limited success of these attempts by critically examining the structure of the discipline in South Africa, and the perception that it creates to the public. It also goes further by exploring an alternative to these efforts at popular education through the use of principles and methods developed in People's Education. This project takes the debate about People's Archaeology beyond theory and attempts to implement some of the ideas through two projects, one dealing with an excavation, the other focusing on the production of a popular resource. I explore the pitfalls and benefits of these projects and make recommendations concerning the future of the discipline

A panel data analysis on the formal-informal sector linkages in South Africa

Magister Commercii - MCom (Economics)There are few studies on linkages between the formal and informal sectors in South Africa. This study explores the types of linkages between the informal and formal sectors with empirical research concentrating on labour churning (movements between the informal and formal sectors). Using National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS 2008-2014) data from four waves, individuals are classified into labour market statuses based on the Heintz & Posel (2008) methodology. This study conducts labour market transitional matrices and finds formal employment to provide the most stability in terms of employment. The main focus is on the following three groups of employed: working in the formal sector in all four waves; working in the informal sector in all four waves; moving between the formal and informal sectors across all four waves. For those always working in the formal sector, they are predominantly females and Africans. Those who always work in the formal sector are most educated, while those always working in the informal sector are associated with low educational attainment. The descriptive statistics are followed by econometric analysis: in terms of attaining employment, being male and a higher educational attainment significantly increase the probability of finding employment. In terms of sustaining work, the same two covariates significantly increase the probability of sustaining work. Being the head of household is also a key covariate in significantly increasing the probability in maintaining and sustaining employment. In terms of transitioning to formal employment, being male, an increase in education and living with a partner (married or unmarried) significantly increase the probability of moving to formal sector employment. In addition, multinomial logistic regressions are conducted, and the results indicate that being a male significantly increases the probability of working in the formal sector for all four waves. Africans are also significantly more likely to be employed informally for all four waves and an increase in the years of education significantly increases the probability of being formally employed for all four waves. The household-level variables reveal that being the head household significantly increases the probability of being employed (especially formally employed for all four waves) while having children has a negative impact on being employed for all four waves

A time dimensional extension to standard poverty

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDMost poverty studies ignore the dimension of time and are merely concerned if an individual meets certain money-metric or non-income welfare (e.g., access to services and asset ownership) criteria. They fail to recognise the limited time (24hours per day) available to complete tasks and the added difficulties they have even though there is an abundance of money-metric and asset-related non-money-metric poverty studies. (Kim et al. 2014:1). For example, individuals/households deemed poor by standard measures cannot afford market alternatives to assist them with non-market work (like childcare). Therefore, they find themselves spending all their time in market and non-market work without taking time for rest and improving themselves. Recognising non-market work and the allocation of time allows for a greater understanding into the role of women and Africans whose non-market work are unrecognised by standard economic measures such as GDP (Ferrant 2014:1). There are also only a few in-depth studies on time poverty, but they fail to utilise the most current data. Therefore, this study seeks to provide insights into how household production impacts on South African welfare. It explores the income, time poor and the extent of time allocation differences for various personal characteristics. It estimates the likelihood of time poverty based on an individual’s time schedule and the factors which most likely results in time poverty. In this study, various time concepts and measures were explored adding to the scarcely found South African time poverty studies which lack in-depth exploration. At the same time the study highlighted household production, an aspect closely linked to time poverty which affects certain groups of people more (females and Africans), and its welfare implications completely ignored by standard measures of the economy. The study also aimed to examine the relationship between time and income poverty. The study utilised the 2000 and 2010 South African Time Use Survey data by focusing on two main themes: time use patterns (to better understand household production) and time poverty (to measure it and understands its relationship with income poverty). The descriptive results revealed that both mean SNA (System of National Accounts internationally agreed standard for production)) and non-SNA production time increased over time at the cost of the non-productive time. Also, mean paid and unpaid work increased over time

A panel data analysis of the formal-informal sector labour market linkages in South Africa

This study explores the labour market linkages between the informal and formal sectors, using the first four waves of the National Income Dynamics Study data. The main focus is on three groups of employed: worked in the formal sector in all waves; worked in the informal sector in all waves; moved between the two sectors across the waves. Only 27% of informal sector workers in wave 1 transitioned to the formal sector in wave 4; 38% remained in the informal sector while 33% had their status changed to either inactive or unemployed. The econometric analysis indicates that older and more educated individuals living in urban areas and coming from households with fewer old-age grant recipients are significantly more likely to work in the formal sector, whereas more educated white males are associated with a significantly greater likelihood of transitioning from informal to formal sector employment

DNMT (DNA methyltransferase) inhibitors radiosensitize human cancer cells by suppressing DNA repair activity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Histone modifications and DNA methylation are two major factors in epigenetic phenomenon. Unlike the histone deacetylase inhibitors, which are known to exert radiosensitizing effects, there have only been a few studies thus far concerning the role of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors as radiosensitizers. The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of DNMT inhibitors on the radiosensitivity of human cancer cell lines, and to elucidate the mechanisms relevant to that process.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A549 (lung cancer) and U373MG (glioblastoma) cells were exposed to radiation with or without six DNMT inhibitors (5-azacytidine, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, zebularine, hydralazine, epigallocatechin gallate, and psammaplin A) for 18 hours prior to radiation, after which cell survival was evaluated via clonogenic assays. Cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed via flow cytometry. Expressions of DNMT1, 3A/3B, and cleaved caspase-3 were detected via Western blotting. Expression of γH2AX, a marker of radiation-induced DNA double-strand break, was examined by immunocytochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Pretreatment with psammaplin A, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, and zebularine radiosensitized both A549 and U373MG cells. Pretreatment with psammaplin A increased the sub-G1 fraction of A549 cells, as compared to cells exposed to radiation alone. Prolongation of γH2AX expression was observed in the cells treated with DNMT inhibitors prior to radiation as compared with those treated by radiation alone.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Psammaplin A, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, and zebularine induce radiosensitivity in both A549 and U373MG cell lines, and suggest that this effect might be associated with the inhibition of DNA repair.</p

Quorum Sensing Influences Vibrio harveyi Growth Rates in a Manner Not Fully Accounted For by the Marker Effect of Bioluminescence

The light-emitting Vibrios provide excellent material for studying the interaction of cellular communication with growth rate because bioluminescence is a convenient marker for quorum sensing. However, the use of bioluminescence as a marker is complicated because bioluminescence itself may affect growth rate, e.g. by diverting energy. quorum mutants. growth rate can be either positive or negative and includes both bioluminescence-dependent and independent components. Bioluminescence tends to slow growth rate but not enough to account for the effects of quorum sensing on growth rate

Novel post-synthetic generation, isomeric resolution, and characterization of Fapy-dG within oligodeoxynucleotides: differential anomeric impacts on DNA duplex properties

Accumulation of damaged guanine nucleobases within genomic DNA, including the imidazole ring opened N6-(2-Deoxy-α,β-D-erythro-pentafuranosyl)-2,6-diamino-4-hydroxy-5-formylamidopyrimidine (Fapy-dG), is associated with progression of age-related diseases and cancer. To evaluate the impact of this mutagenic lesion on DNA structure and energetics, we have developed a novel synthetic strategy to incorporate cognate Fapy-dG site-specifically within any oligodeoxynucleotide sequence. The scheme involves the synthesis of an oligonucleotide precursor containing a 5-nitropyrimidine moiety at the desired lesion site via standard solid-phase procedures. Following deprotection and isolation, the Fapy-dG lesion is generated by catalytic hydrogenation and subsequent formylation. NMR assignment of the Fapy-dG lesion (X) embedded within a TXT trimer reveals the presence of rotameric and anomeric species. The latter have been characterized by synthesizing the tridecamer oligodeoxynucleotide d(GCGTACXCATGCG) harboring Fapy-dG as the central residue and developing a protocol to resolve the isomeric components. Hybridization of the chromatographically isolated fractions with their complementary d(CGCATGCGTACGC) counterpart yields two Fapy-dG·C duplexes that are differentially destabilized relative to the canonical G·C parent. The resultant duplexes exhibit distinct thermal and thermodynamic profiles that are characteristic of α- and β-anomers, the former more destabilizing than the latter. These anomer-specific impacts are discussed in terms of differential repair enzyme recognition, processing and translesion synthesis

Klipfonteinrand 2 : a sign of the times

Archaeological research into the late Holocene in the western Cape has been directed towards the question of pastoralism and its effect on the local gatherer-hunters. Consequently a model has arisen out of this research and observations have been built around it to create a supportive picture of the past. Evidence from Klipfonteinrand 2 (KFR2 ), in the absence of radiocarbon dates, appear to contradict an important aspect of this model, ie. that adzes are predominantly found in the last 2000 years. This questioning could lead to the reviewing of this "pastoralist-package" and its validity. Furthermore, the KFR2 sequence is hoped to add to that of Klipfonteinrand 1, in order to complete the culture history of the area, in the light of the fact that the upper stratigraphic horizons of Klipfonteinrand 1 was disturbed

A Time Dimensional Extension to Standard Poverty Analyses in South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDMost poverty studies ignore the dimension of time and are merely concerned if an individual meets certain money-metric or non-income welfare (e.g., access to services and asset ownership) criteria. They fail to recognise the limited time (24hours per day) available to complete tasks and the added difficulties they have even though there is an abundance of money-metric and asset-related non-money-metric poverty studies. (Kim et al. 2014:1). For example, individuals/households deemed poor by standard measures cannot afford market alternatives to assist them with non-market work (like childcare). Therefore, they find themselves spending all their time in market and non-market work without taking time for rest and improving themselves. Recognising non-market work and the allocation of time allows for a greater understanding into the role of women and Africans whose non-market work are unrecognised by standard economic measures such as GDP (Ferrant 2014:1). There are also only a few in-depth studies on time poverty, but they fail to utilise the most current data. Therefore, this study seeks to provide insights into how household production impacts on South African welfare. It explores the income, time poor and the extent of time allocation differences for various personal characteristics. It estimates the likelihood of time poverty based on an individual’s time schedule and the factors which most likely results in time poverty