UWCScholar

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

Recent Submissions

Substrate blockchain-enabled interplanetary file system for distributed data storage
(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Nododile, Thandile
Distributed data storage systems are vital in the era of expanding data across various applications. Industries like finance, healthcare, and the Internet of Things (IoT) require efficient management of vast and significantly growing data. Traditional centralised storage systems face challenges in scalability, security, and availability. They’re prone to bottlenecks, cyber-attacks, and data loss together with latency during network failures. These limitations significantly impact the reliability and efficiency of data storage, making them unsuitable for critical IoT applications where real-time data access and integrity are important.
Interrogating the “Subalternising Potential” of Article 13(b) of Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Mbadlanyana, Thembani Lucius
This study problematises and critically interrogates the provisions of the Rome Statute— particularly those relating to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) referral of non-party states to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The study’s preoccupation is on the different ways through which ICC may become seized with jurisdiction over a situation under the Rome Statute. But more importantly, the study casts some critical light on the different “regimes” of co-operation under the Rome Statute. Using the Rome Statute as a “metaphoric” door through which to enter the scholarly debates and discourse on the history, current realities and future outlook of international criminal law; the ultimate goal is to disinter and critically interrogate the ICC’s jurisdiction mechanisms and what seem to be the “subalternsing potential” of Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute.
Expert performance in exodontia – redesigning an exodontia block course using deliberate practice as a teaching strategy
(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Behardien, Nashreen
The education and training in exodontia, an important part of dental education, teaches how to extract a tooth indicated for removal for a number of reasons, primarily to treat pain and sepsis. Dental extraction requires basic core competencies that reduce surgical intervention, patient morbidity, healing time, and return to function, thus benefitting the economy. Deliberate practice helps to build skills and expertise. Deliberate practice has, however, not been used in oral surgery training. The aim of this study was to redesign an Exodontia Block Course by including deliberate practice as a teaching and learning strategy. A qualitative research study using a two-phased approach was conducted. Phase One consisted of two stages and endeavoured to explore the applications of deliberate practice in health professions education using a systematic review and to evaluate the traditional course that is used to teach the skill of tooth extraction (exodontia). There were 30 participants in Phase One. Phase Two, the redesign phase, built on the findings of Phase One and comprised 33 participants. Phase Two involved a consensus workshop consisting of three rounds. Round 1 was a pilot study, Round 2 comprised a panel of experts who were academics in the field of dental and general education, and Round 3 included a panel of stakeholders consisting of students and clinical teachers. The findings of the study highlighted areas for improvement in the traditional exodontia course in respect of the curriculum elements of the course objectives, content, teaching and learning strategies, assessment, and clinical teaching and training.
Five shaky pillars – a criticism of the reasoning on which the stay at South Point properties v Mqulwana (SCA) decision rests
(North-West Unversity, 2025) Fick, Sarah
In July 2023 in the case of Stay at South Point Properties (Pty) Ltd v Mqulwana the Supreme Court of Appeal (the SCA) found that student accommodation does not constitute a "home" in terms of section 26(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereafter the Constitution). Section 26(3) of the Constitution provides that "[n]o one may be evicted from their home … without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances." The students' "residence" was not their "home". This meant that they could not rely on the protection provided by section 26(3) of the Constitution or the legislation giving effect to this right, the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 (hereafter PIE). This note identifies five shaky pillars that the decision rests on and argues that these pillars may be too weak to uphold the judgment. Importantly, the note does not aim to determine whether a residence should in fact be considered a home. Rather the note intends to highlight the problems with the reasoning of the court in coming to its conclusion.
The multi-wavelength tully-fisher relation in the TNG50 cosmological simulation
(EDP Sciences, 2025) Kunene Sabelo.; Leeuw, Lerothodi L.; Baes, Maarten
Context. The Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) is one of the most important and widely used empirical correlations in extragalactic astronomy. Apart from its importance as a secondary distance indicator, the TFR relation serves as a test for galaxy evolution models, because it connects the baryonic and dark matter components of galaxies. Aims. We aimed at simulating the multi-wavelength TFR relation from UV to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths for the TNG50 cosmological simulation at z = 0, and at comparing the results with observational TFR studies. Our goal was to compare the wavelength dependence of the slope and scatter with the observed values, and to search for secondary parameters that reduce the scatter in the TFR. Methods. We selected a large sample of simulated late-type, disc-dominated galaxies from the TNG50 simulation. For each galaxy, we used the SKIRT radiative transfer code to generate realistic synthetic global fluxes in 12 UV to MIR broadbands and synthetic integrated HI line profiles. We used bivariate linear regression to determine the TFR in each band, and we searched for a second TFR parameter by correlating the residuals with different physical parameters. Results. Our TNG50 TFR reproduces the characteristic behaviour of the observed TFR in many studies: the TFR becomes steeper and tighter as we move from UV/optical to infrared wavelengths. The slope changes from-7.46 ± 0.14 mag dex-1 in the NUV band to-9.66 ± 0.09 mag dex-1 in the IRAC [4.5] band. Quantitatively, our slopes are well within the spread of different observational results. The u-r colour or the sSFR can significantly reduce the scatter in the UV and optical bands. Using u-r colour as second parameter, the modified TFR has a roughly constant intrinsic tightness of over the entire UV to MIR range. Conclusions. The combination of the TNG50 cosmological simulation and the SKIRT radiative transfer postprocessing is capable of broadly reproducing the multi-wavelength TFR. A better matched sample selection, the use of different characteristic velocity scales, and more advanced internal dust attenuation correction are steps towards a more stringent comparison of the simulated and observed multi-wavelength TFR