Ethics beyond the code of conduct - understanding the ethical dilemmas of entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs choose a particular way of life with the dual aim of maximising profit and gaining a sense of self-satisfaction. In these endeavours, entrepreneurs typically live with the threat of competition and the risk of business failure, while attempting to do their best within the limitations of their resources. This qualitative study first examines existing theories of ethics and ways of applying business ethics and thereafter investigates entrepreneurs' actual experiences by means of in-depth interviews and the use of phenomenology. It finds that entrepreneurs are not guided by any specific code of conduct, and must decide for themselves what is right. It describes the entrepreneurial business ethic, some of the types of dilemmas that they experience and the methods that they have developed to deal with the dilemmas

Trialling meta-research in comparative cognition: claims and statistical inference in animal physical cognition

Scientific disciplines face concerns about replicability and statistical inference, and these concerns are also relevant in animal cognition research. This paper presents a first attempt to assess how researchers make and publish claims about animal physical cognition, and the statistical inferences they use to support them. We surveyed 116 published experiments from 63 papers on physical cognition, covering 43 different species. The most common tasks in our sample were trap-tube tasks (14 papers), other tool use tasks (13 papers), means-end understanding and string-pulling tasks (11 papers), object choice and object permanence tasks (9 papers) and access tasks (5 papers). This sample is not representative of the full scope of physical cognition research; however, it does provide data on the types of statistical design and publication decisions researchers have adopted. Across the 116 experiments, the median sample size was 7. Depending on the definitions we used, we estimated that between 44% and 59% of our sample of papers made positive claims about animals’ physical cognitive abilities, between 24% and 46% made inconclusive claims, and between 10% and 17% made negative claims. Several failures of animals to pass physical cognition tasks were reported. Although our measures had low inter-observer reliability, these findings show that negative results can and have been published in the field. However, publication bias is still present, and consistent with this, we observed a drop in the frequency of p-values above .05. This suggests that some non-significant results have not been published. More promisingly, we found that researchers are likely making many correct statistical inferences at the individual-level. The strength of evidence of statistical effects at the group-level was weaker, and its p-value distribution was consistent with some effect sizes being overestimated. Studies such as ours can form part of a wider investigation into statistical reliability in comparative cognition. However, future work should focus on developing the validity and reliability of the measurements they use, and we offer some starting points

Comparative phylogeography of parasitic Laelaps mites contribute new insights into the specialist-generalist variation hypothesis (SGVH)

BACKGROUND: The specialist-generalist variation hypothesis (SGVH) in parasites suggests that, due to patchiness in habitat (host availability), specialist species will show more subdivided population structure when compared to generalist species. In addition, since specialist species are more prone to local stochastic extinction events with their hosts, they will show lower levels of intraspecific genetic diversity when compared to more generalist. RESULTS: To test the wider applicability of the SGVH we compared 337 cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial DNA and 268 nuclear tropomyosin DNA sequenced fragments derived from two co-distributed Laelaps mite species and compared the data to 294 COI mtDNA sequences derived from the respective hosts Rhabdomys dilectus, R. bechuanae, Mastomys coucha and M. natalensis. In support of the SGVH, the generalist L. muricola was characterized by a high mtDNA haplotypic diversity of 0.97 (±0.00) and a low level of population differentiation (mtDNA Fst= 0.56, p < 0.05; nuDNA Fst = 0.33, P < 0.05) while the specialist L. giganteus was overall characterized by a lower haplotypic diversity of 0.77 (±0.03) and comparatively higher levels of population differentiation (mtDNA Fst = 0.87, P < 0.05; nuDNA Fst = 0.48, P < 0.05). When the two specialist L. giganteus lineages, which occur on two different Rhabdomys species, are respectively compared to the generalist parasite, L. muricola, the SGVH is not fully supported. One of the specialist L. giganteus species occurring on R. dilectus shows similar low levels of population differentiation (mtDNA Fst= 0.53, P < 0. 05; nuDNA Fst= 0.12, P < 0.05) than that found for the generalist L. muricola. This finding can be correlated to differences in host dispersal: R. bechuanae populations are characterized by a differentiated mtDNA Fst of 0.79 (P < 0.05) while R. dilectus populations are less structured with a mtDNA Fst= 0.18 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that in ectoparasites, host specificity and the vagility of the host are both important drivers for parasite dispersal. It is proposed that the SGHV hypothesis should also incorporate reference to host dispersal since in our case only the specialist species who occur on less mobile hosts showed more subdivided population structure when compared to generalist species

Gewestelike verskynsels in die Afrikaanse spreektaal van Oos-Kaapland met spesiale verwysing na Albanie

By 'n dialekgeografiese studie van hierdie aard sal dit by uitstek die verstandigste wees om te begin by 'n omgewing waarin die ondersoeker gebore is en grootgeword het. Die omgang van die ondersoek en die uitgestrektheid van die gebied wat hierby betrokke is maak dit egter vir 'n boorling net so moeilik as vir 'n goeie waarnemer uit enige ander spraakgebied wat ook daartoe in staat behoort te wees om bepaalde foniese, leksikale, grammatiese, semantiese en sintaktiese verskynsels, eienaardighede en tendensies in die spreektaal op te merk. My bekendheid en omgang met Afrikaanssprekendes in hierdie streek wil ek nietemin kortliks soos volg aandui: (a) Wat vir hierdie studie as "randgebiede" beskou kan word. Gebore en opgegroei in Willowmore (19 jaar), onderwysopleiding op Graaff-Reinet (3 jaar). Onderwysondervinding In die distrik Steytlerville (2 ½ jaar). (b) Die eintlike ondersoekgebied. Onderwysondervinding in Oos-Londen en omgewing (6 jaar) , Grahamstad (10 ½ jaar) afgesien van talle lisensies in Oos-Londen en Port E1izabeth en besoeke aan omliggende dorpe en distrikte

Beplanning as basiese komponent van gevallewerk soos toegepas deur maatskaplike werkers van die Kaapse streekkantoor van die Department van Gesondheid, Welsyn en Pensioene

Proefskrif (M.A. in Maatskaplike Werk) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 1981.Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record

Bantoe-onderwys sedert die Wet op Bantoe-onderwys, 1953

Proefskrif (M. Ed.) -- Universiteit van Stellenbosch, 1965.Full text to be digitised and attached to bibliographic record