UWCScholar

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

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Provincial intervention in local municipalities: the case of South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2025) Qonongo, Nomxolisi Stella; Fessha, Yonatan
The thesis examines provincial interventions in South African local governments by focusing on Section 139 of the Constitution, which allows provincial governments to intervene when local councils fail to meet certain executive obligations, particularly those related to service delivery and financial management. While South Africa’s Constitution grants autonomy to local municipalities, it simultaneously permits provincial intervention under specific conditions. This brings to light an inherent tension between empowering local governments on the one hand and ensuring accountability and effective governance on the other. The thesis argues that this balance – meant to facilitate oversight without undermining local governance – has been inconsistently managed, resulting in interventions that may, in some cases, encroach on local government autonomy.
Career wellbeing: exploring the alignment of employees’ skills to job functions within financial institution in South Africa
(Univesity of the Western Cape, 2025) Parenzee, Janicke; February, Colette
This study explores career wellbeing from the perspective of employees within a professional South African financial organization, focusing on how the alignment; or misalignment; of employee skill sets to allocated job functions influences career development. More specifically, it examines employee perceptions of appropriate skills alignment and its perceived role in promoting and sustaining career wellbeing. The research responds to a gap in the literature that highlights how persistent misalignment between employee skills and job requirements may hinder both individual and organizational growth. Adopting an interpretive paradigm, this qualitative case study used semi-structured interviews to gather data from participants. Findings suggest that appropriate alignment of skills to job roles can significantly enhance job satisfaction, skill utilization, and career progression. Conversely, perceived misalignment may impede professional development and limit organizational effectiveness. Participant insights underscore the complex interplay between education, employment, and wellbeing, with implications for policy, education reform, and workplace strategies. The study recommends targeted professional development initiatives, mentorship programs, and improved recruitment practices to ensure optimal alignment between skills and job roles. It further highlights the need for longitudinal and comparative studies to deepen understanding of what constitutes optimal alignment in advancing both career wellbeing and organizational performance.
Thiol-mediated electrochemical sensor for the breast cancer biomarker CA 15-3
(Frontiers Media SA, 2026) Ghaffari, Nastaran; Baker, Priscilla
Cancer antigen 15-3 (CA 15-3), a circulating fragment of the MUC1 glycoprotein, is widely used for monitoring breast cancer progression. In this study, we report a label-free, receptor-free electrochemical detection strategy based on adsorption-mediated modulation of gold surface oxidation. Pencil graphite electrodes (PGEs) were modified with electrochemically deposited gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using a reproducible multi-electrode fabrication system. The nanostructured AuNP surface exhibited enhanced electroactive area and improved electron-transfer properties, as confirmed by ferri/ferrocyanide characterization. Analytical detection was performed in phosphate-buffered saline by monitoring the intrinsic gold oxidation peak. Following incubation with CA 15-3, a concentration-dependent decrease in the gold oxidation current was observed, attributed to adsorption-induced surface passivation of electrochemically active gold sites. The platform demonstrated a linear response across the tested concentration range with a calculated limit of detection of 1.2 × 10−4 U/mL. Measurements in spiked plasma samples confirmed the feasibility of detecting CA 15-3 in complex matrices under controlled conditions. This work establishes a chemically driven, adsorption-based electrochemical sensing strategy that exploits gold surface chemistry for label-free biomarker detection.
Dynamic evolving neuro-fuzzy inference system-based maximum power tracking controller for variable speed WECS
(Elsevier Ltd, 2026) Mabiala, Floyd; Nyirenda, Clement; Raji, Atanda
Reliable MPPT models are essential for maximizing energy conversion efficiency in wind energy conversion systems operating under highly dynamic atmospheric conditions. While most artificial intelligence (AI) controllers such as ANN and ANFIS provide robust control surfaces, their real-time deployment is frequently constrained by a reliance on static parameters, a lack of online adaptability, or severe computational burdens. To address these limitations, this paper presents an intelligent, self-organizing MPPT controller utilizing a DENFIS for a variable-speed PMSG wind turbine framework. By leveraging the Evolving Clustering Method, the proposed DENFIS-MPPT controller dynamically instantiates, updates, and discards localized fuzzy rules online, enabling continuous adaptive learning and rapid convergence without requiring extensive offline training or pre-calculated datasets. The computational and transient effectiveness of the proposed architecture is validated using 3 kW wind turbine model simulated within the MATLAB/Simulink environment. System performance is systematically evaluated under stochastic and gust wind profiles, with execution and event-driven characteristics benchmarked via the Simulink and Solver Profilers against ANN and ANFIS configurations. The empirical results demonstrate that DENFIS achieves superior maximum power extraction over a wide operational envelope. Detailed computational profiling reveals that DENFIS yields an optimized average execution cost of (24.92 (Formula presented) per iteration compared to 130.00 (Formula presented) for ANFIS, achieving an 80.8% reduction in structural computational overhead while incurring only a marginal execution premium over the rigid ANN baseline (14.11 (Formula presented) ). In terms of transient performance, DENFIS successfully stabilizes electrical variations, restricting output active power overshoot to a minimized 5.47%, thereby outperforming both ANFIS (9.00%) and the baseline ANN. These findings demonstrate that DENFIS provides an optimal architectural compromise between micro-level processing efficiency and macro-level adaptive intelligence, offering a highly viable, scalable control paradigm for next-generation real-time WECS applications.
Malware as a service in human trafficking operations at a scam compound: cybercrime infrastructure and forced labor as structurally interdependent
(Routledge, 2026) Lazarus, Suleman; Sarkar, Gargi
Industrial-scale online fraud in Southeast Asia increasingly depends on advanced malware and forced labor. This brief report presents a secondary documentary analysis of publicly available cybersecurity and investigative sources. It applies a human trafficking framework to technical evidence. The primary source is an investigation by Infoblox and Chong Lua Dao, corroborated by (i) The Economist and (ii) the Cyber Scam Monitor profile of K99 Triumph City. The sources document an Android banking trojan linked to K99 Triumph City in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. K99 Triumph City is a scam compound with reported ties to trafficking-based forced labor. The Trojan operates as a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platform. Documented capabilities include real-time surveillance, credential theft, biometric capture, and fraud. More than 400 lure domains targeting victims in over 20 countries have been identified. Survivors rescued from K99 Triumph City reported beatings and electrocution for missing fraud targets. Screenshots and chat logs reportedly linked tracked domains to operators inside the compound. Cybercrime infrastructure and trafficking-based coercion are structurally intertwined. Anti-trafficking scholarship must therefore engage directly with cybersecurity evidence, methods, and researchers.