OpenUCT is the open access institutional repository of the University of Cape Town (UCT). It preserves and makes UCT scholarly outputs digitally and freely available, including theses and dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, technical and research reports, as well as open educational resources.
Recent Submissions
Item
Open Access
Artificial Intelligence Affordances for Organisational Change: Perspectives from South African Artificial Intelligence Practitioners
(2024) Achmat, Luqman; Brown, Irwin
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been in use for several decades, but have seen substantial growth and commercialisation in the last decade, largely due to the available and growing ubiquitous access to more affordable computing resources. While some organisations have adopted these technologies fairly quickly, others grapple with understanding how these technologies would strategically benefit the organisation. The purpose of this research is to address this gap by theorising how AI could be positioned to influence strategic organisational change. It does so by delineating the AI features and drawing on affordance theory to explicitly identify the affordances, the types of organisational change and the constraining conditions under which such AI-related affordances may influence organisational change. This qualitative study adopts an interpretive epistemology, while lending itself towards a constructivist ontology. By adopting a qualitative interview strategy for data collection, and a thematic analysis to analyse the data, this study abductively theorises how AI affords organisational change from the perspective of the AI practitioner. It uses the Trajectory of Affordances as the underpinning lens to explore this phenomenon. Eight key affordances are identified: (i) Analysing risk, (ii) analysing needs, (iii) forecasting, (iv) assessing efficiency and effectiveness, (v) providing prediction criteria, (vi) translating information, (vii) tailoring information, and (viii) improving predictability as an affordance that results from an outcome or organisational change influenced by one or more of the other affordances.
Item
Open Access
Cio-cio-san no yuutsu: memoirs of magnetogenesis and turbulent dynamo theory
(2013) Adams, Patrick William; Osano, Bob
The origins of cosmic magnetic fields are not as yet well understood. In this dissertation we investigate, via direct numerical simulation, the temporal evolution and behaviour of magnetic fields that are generated from absolute zero initial conditions via a thermal battery term in the Induction Equations (i.e. the Magnetogenesis problem), whilst making use of the Ideal- and Chaplygin Gas equations of state, in turn, to model the relationship between pressure and density. The dependence of the onset of dynamo action on various values of the magnetic Reynolds- and Prandtl numbers for the cases of the Roberts Flow kinematic dynamo and a flow that, in turn, incorporates both a non-helical and helical forcing function that introduces turbulence into the system is also considered via direct numerical simulation. For the purposes of the simulation work conducted, we make use of the PENCIL CODE, which is a high-order finite-difference Magnetohydrodynamical code capable of performing simulation runs in parallel using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) system for parallel processing. Theoretical results relevant to the simulations conducted are partially recovered and discussed in detail. These include, and are not limited to, the emergence of the thermal battery term in the General Ohm's Law as a consequence of the two-fluid approximation of a plasma, derivation of the Induction Equations incorporating the aforementioned battery term, introduction and discussion of the Chaplygin Gas and its place in the field of Cosmology, energetics governing the flow of kinetic- and magnetic energy during the dynamo process, the Zel'dovich stretch-twist-fold dynamo as an example of both a fast dynamo and a cornerstone underlying the operation of all dynamos and, finally, the Kazantsev Theory for small-scale, turbulent dynamos. For our magnetogenesis simulations, it is found that the magnetic fields produced undergo two distinct growth phases (the first, classified as an initial “upshoot” that is possibly due to the battery term and the second, classified as an exponential growth phase), as well as two distinct phases of decay in strength, which is attributed to the effects of magnetic diffusion. This behaviour is observed for fields generated using both the Ideal- and Chaplygin Gas equations of state in turn and it is noted that the Chaplygin Gas equation of state produces magnetic fields that are of comparable strength to those produced by the Ideal Gas equation of state. Dynamo action simulations confirm the existence of a critical magnetic Reynolds number, beyond which, an initial prescribed magnetic field will grow exponentially in strength. In the case of the forced turbulence simulations, it is noted that the use of a helical forcing function greatly lowers the value of the critical magnetic Reynolds number required for the onset of guaranteed dynamo action and also produces stronger magnetic fields when compared to the cases that used a non-helical forcing function. In both cases of the forced turbulence, the magnetic field is observed to saturate when its kinematic (i.e. exponential growth) phase is complete, provided that the magnetic Reynolds number is above the aforementioned critical threshold. Results of the magnetogenesis simulations are also investigated for dynamo action, and it is concluded that a type of “kinematic dynamo” phase was most probably present when these fields underwent the observed phase of exponential growth.
Item
Open Access
Violence In Nursing: Perceived Prevalence and Impact in Community Health Clinics In Cape Town
(2010) Adams, Faiza Kajee; Khalil, Doris Deedei
The paper will be focusing on violence against nurses working in community health clinics in Cape Town. The study is a replication of Prof Doris Deedei Khalil‟s (principle researcher) larger studies on violence in all areas of nursing including general, paediatric and psychiatric nursing, midwifery and undergraduate nursing schools. Aim and objectives: to explore violence in nursing within community health care settings. Some of the objectives of the study examined the extent and frequency of violence against nursing staff in community health clinics. Research design: phenomenological approach was selected to capture experiences and views of nurses working in selected health centres. The sample group or research participants was drawn from seven sub-districts public funded clinics within the Cape Town Metropole Health District, namely Tygerberg, Mitchell‟s Plain and Klipfontein, Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern sub-districts. Categories of nurses that participated in the study were Professional Nurses (RN), Clinical Nurse Practitioners (CNP), Unit Mangers (UM), Registered Auxiliary Nurses, Enrolled Nurses (EN) and Student Nurses. Ethical approval to proceed with data collection and permission to access research sites was granted in 2008. Methods of data collection: data was collected from three sources, i.e. questionnaires, interviews and documents. Although phenomenological approach normally does not use questionnaires as a means of data collection because of the nature of the topic under study, confidentiality has to be assured to avoid the possibility of reprisals or intimidation. Analysis: computer software were utilised to capture information obtained from questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires and interview responses were compared for similarities and differences. Only official document was made available for the study; therefore triangulation of data sources was possible. Results: The main types of violence were verbal abuse, and threats to assault. Significant number of respondents indicated that women attack nurses more often than gang members and patients‟ relatives. Nevertheless, perpetrators of violence against nurses varied among the sub-districts, e.g. Western sub-district clinics identified women whereas, Klipfontein identified patient relatives and Tygerberg identified gang members as regular perpetrators of violence against staff in their clinics. Results indicated that violent incidences occur on Mondays and Fridays in all the participating clinics. The highest number of violent incidences in Tygerberg clinics occurred on Mondays. On the other hand, threats to assault nurses were high in Western and Southern sub districts clinics compared to the other sub-districts. Conclusions: violence against nurses in 16 most health clinics of the study is on the increase because of substance abuse and gang violence. Recruitment of additional staff could minimise the time patients have to wait to see a doctor. However, it is essential that some nurses working in these clinics be more compassionate and polite towards their patients. Recommendations: increase number of security personnel sub-districts with high frequency of attacks against nurses. Nurses should be encouraged to respect each other and minimise verbal abuses against each other. Nurses that violate patients should be dismissed from the profession
Item
Open Access
The narrative accounts of recovering drug users
(2010) Adams, Chantal; Boonzaier, Floretta
This study aims to provide pertinent information regarding the widespread use of methamphetamine occurring in South Africa. This study explores how individuals who were addicted to crystal methamphetamine (CM) create meaning of their experiences of addiction and recovery. Since most studies regarding CM use provide a quantitative focus this study provides a socially and culturally informed account of the subjective experiences of CM addiction. The researcher obtained access to a community-based organisation for recovering addicts and the snowball method of sampling was used to recruit 11 research participants. Participants were interviewed about their experiences of recovery and ethnographic field notes were written about the researcher's observations of and participation in the support group. The data were analysed using a narrative approach. This study adds to the current literature in the field of addiction. It particularly found that religion plays in integral role in assisting those recovering from the use of CM. The findings suggest that the experience of addiction and recovery is unique and that it occurs within a particular context that is continually evolving.
Item
Open Access
Prevalence of lifestyle cardiovascular risk factors and estimated framingham 10-year risk scores of adults with psychotic disorders compared to controls at a referral hospital in Eldoret, Kenya
(2023-12-05) Kwobah, Edith; Koen, Nastassja; Mwangi, Ann; Atwoli, Lukoye; Stein, Dan J.
Abstract
Introduction
Lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol use, suboptimal diet, and inadequate physical activity have been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. There are limited data on these risk factors among patients with psychosis in low- and middle-income countries.
Objectives
This study aimed to establish the prevalence of lifestyle cardiovascular risk factors, and the 10-year cardiovascular risk scores and associated factors in patients with psychosis compared to controls at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya.
Methods
A sample of 297 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar mood disorder; and 300 controls matched for age and sex were included in this analysis. A study specific researcher-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, antipsychotic medication use, smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and physical activity. Weight, height, abdominal circumference, and blood pressure were also collected to calculate the Framingham 10-year Cardiovascular Risk Score (FRS), while blood was drawn for measurement of glucose level and lipid profile. Pearson’s chi-squared tests and t-tests were employed to assess differences in cardiovascular risk profiles between patients and controls, and a linear regression model was used to determine predictors of 10-year cardiovascular risk in patients.
Results
Compared to controls, patients with psychosis were more likely to have smoked in their lifetimes (9.9% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.006) or to be current smokers (13.8% vs. 7%, p = 0.001). Over 97% of patients with psychosis consumed fewer than five servings of fruits and vegetables per week; 78% engaged in fewer than three days of vigorous exercise per week; and 48% sat for more than three hours daily. The estimated 10-year risk of CVD was relatively low in this study: the FRS in patients was 3.16, compared to 2.93 in controls. The estimated 10-year cardiovascular risk in patients was significantly associated with female sex (p = 0.007), older patients (p < 0.001), current tobacco smoking (p < 0.001), and metabolic syndrome (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
In the setting of Eldoret, there is suboptimal physical exercise and intake of healthy diet among patients with psychosis and controls. While the estimated risk score among patients is relatively low in our study, these data may be useful for informing future studies geared towards informing interventions to promote healthy lifestyles in this population.