Landscapes of division: social movements and the politics of urban and rural space in the Grahamstown region of the Eastern Cape

This thesis investigates the politics of two grassroots social movements, the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM), based in Grahamstown, and the Rural People’s Movement (RPM), based in the rural areas near Peddie, forty miles east. Observing that urban and rural are political designations, the primary question of this thesis is: Do the politics of these social movements challenge the conception of urban and rural as discrete political spaces? To some extent, it responds to and complicates Mamdani’s theory of a bifurcated state in post-apartheid South Africa in which urban zones are the site of civil society and rural zones the site of traditional authorities, and only the former a democratised space (1996). Three themes—race, space, and citizenship—are employed and interrogated in the process of answering the principal question. Broadly historical in nature, and understanding the present political context to be a product of historical processes, the thesis begins with an historical study of the Grahamstown region from the time of the town’s founding in 1812 until the end of apartheid in 1994, keeping the three key themes in focus. Then the politics of UPM and RPM are explored through a series of interviews aimed at understanding the context and experience of movement members and seeking their insight into the question of urban and rural space. Their responses are presented as a dialogue employing a theoretical strategy from Aguilar (2014) that distinguishes between and provides a framework to measure the ‘practical scope’ and the ‘interior horizon’ of movements. The thesis concludes with a discussion of important themes arising in the interviews: citizenship, NGOs, and political parties, and, of course, space. The backdrop to this concluding discussion is the xenophobic violence which occurred in Grahamstown in October 2015, helping situate the research and themes within the broader context of South African politics

Generation Y Women’s Perception of Female Gender Roles in Advertising

Prior studies have demonstrated the complexities of Generation Y, and the difficulty advertisers are facing in reaching this group effectively. Due to the increasing number Generation Y females with advanced degrees high power jobs, it is important for advertisers to reach this group in advertisements. Research on gender roles in advertising indicate that attitudes about traditional and modern female gender roles have changed over time and vary by role identity. This study aims to help advertisers better understand Generation Y collegeaged women’s perceptions of gender roles in advertising so as to better target and reach this audience. Using a sample of 210 Bryant University undergraduate students, an online survey instrument was used to measure attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the product based on exposure to one of four randomly assigned advertisements. The questionnaire also measured role identity, as well as demographic and personal information. Findings from this study, similar to findings from studies in the 1970s, indicate that Generation Y females are not very critical of traditional role portrayals, but that they are rather positive and accepting of this role portrayal

Pathways to care : The experience of new mother’s perinatal mental health in rural areas

This qualitative study sought to explore the lived experience of new mothers in rural areas. Specifically the experience of the women’s perinatal mental health was studied to understand the type of care they required in the early stages of motherhood. Findings indicate the women were unprepared for the difficulties of new motherhood which was isolating and lacking in support. New mothers found little help from the health care professionals such as GPs, CHN and Midwives due to professional time constraints and inability to develop a relationship. In addition new mothers were uncertain how unwell they needed to be before seeking help. Recommendations are made to escalate the presence of psychologists in the perinatal information groups currently running. This will ensure new mothers have timely information on perinatal mental health and provide the opportunity for early intervention and continuity of care

On the cohomology of stable map spaces

We describe an approach to calculating the cohomology rings of stable map spaces. The method we use is due to Akildiz-Carrell and employs a C^*-action and a vector field which is equivariant with respect to this C^*-action. We give an explicit description of the big Bialynicky-Birula cell of the C^*-action on Mbar_00(P^n,d) as a vector bundle on Mbar_0d. This is used to calculate explicitly the cohomology ring of Mbar_00(P^n,d) in the cases d=2 and d=3. Of particular interest is the case as n approaches infinity.Comment: 63 page

Firm Behavior In Oligopolistic Markets: Evidence From A Business Simulation Game

Oligopolistic markets are known to be associated with a high degree of price and output rigidity. This is due to mutual interdependencies among firms in the market with regard to price and production. The primary objective of this research is to use a business simulation game to observe the convergence in pricing that is part and parcel of the gamesmanship that occurs in an oligopoly market. A second objective of this research is to observe how a firms investments influence future productive potential. A third objective is to explore whether firm behavior changes after the other firms ex post decisions are revealed after the first four quarters of the simulation. Both descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used. Given the longitudinal nature of the data, random-effects specifications in all regressions were employed. Evidence of price rigidity was observed, especially within the first four periods when firms are not able to observe the other firms choices. Furthermore, investments in marketing and robotics appear to positively impact production.Confirming theory and previous literature, oligopolistic firms need to contend with the jockeying for position and the concomitant stickiness in prices. Therefore, it is of critical importance for firms to formulate appropriate strategies in order to succeed in an oligopoly setting

AN EXAMINATION OF INTRAROWER COORDINATION MOVEMENT COUPLING

The purpose of this study was to identify the coupling relationships between body segments joint angles created in completion of the rowing stroke. A dynamical systems approach utilising continuous relative phase was used to investigate the higher order dynamics of the movement. Five rowers (1 experienced, 4 novice) completed a 2000m row on a RowPerfect ergometer; the kinematics of which were captured using a 200Hz motion analysis system. The results indicate that purely upper limb, and one joint upperone joint lower limb coupling, show much larger variation than purely lower limb coupling. In particular the knee-elbow coupling relationship differs dramatically between the experienced rower and novices. From a practical viewpoint this coupling relationship should be focused upon to improve the rowing ability of the novice

DATA REDUCTION AS A NECESSARY TOOL IN BIOMECHANICAL KINEMATIC DATA ANALYSIS

The purpose of this study was to evaluate four possible methods of data reduction for the subsequent use of the data with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Functional data analysis and dynamical systems theory approaches were used to investigate the kinematic dynamics of gait and rowing movements. Five rowing participants completed a 2000m row on a RowPerfect ergometer and 24 gait participants completed treadmill running. The results indicate that each of the four methods provides possibilities for use in an ANN by utilising data reduction. In particular the continuous relative phase, with its use of two joint position and velocity, can compress four variables into one, and can maintain the trends of the data

Speech pathologists’ experiences with stroke clinical practice guidelines and the barriers and facilitators influencing their use: a national descriptive study

BACKGROUND: Communication and swallowing disorders are a common consequence of stroke. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been created to assist health professionals to put research evidence into clinical practice and can improve stroke care outcomes. However, CPGs are often not successfully implemented in clinical practice and research is needed to explore the factors that influence speech pathologists’ implementation of stroke CPGs. This study aimed to describe speech pathologists’ experiences and current use of guidelines, and to identify what factors influence speech pathologists’ implementation of stroke CPGs. METHODS: Speech pathologists working in stroke rehabilitation who had used a stroke CPG were invited to complete a 39-item online survey. Content analysis and descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. RESULTS: 320 participants from all states and territories of Australia were surveyed. Almost all speech pathologists had used a stroke CPG and had found the guideline “somewhat useful” or “very useful”. Factors that speech pathologists perceived influenced CPG implementation included the: (a) guideline itself, (b) work environment, (c) aspects related to the speech pathologist themselves, (d) patient characteristics, and (e) types of implementation strategies provided. CONCLUSIONS: There are many different factors that can influence speech pathologists’ implementation of CPGs. The factors that influenced the implementation of CPGs can be understood in terms of knowledge creation and implementation frameworks. Speech pathologists should continue to adapt the stroke CPG to their local work environment and evaluate their use. To enhance guideline implementation, they may benefit from a combination of educational meetings and resources, outreach visits, support from senior colleagues, and audit and feedback strategies