UWCScholar

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 11

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How do brands exploit behavioural data in virtual spaces and what regulations curb manipulative practices?
(Intellect Ltd., 2026) Nyagadza, Brighton; Maziriri, Eugine Tafadzwa; Bashar, Abu
This article assesses how brands increasingly exploit behavioural data generated in virtual and immersive spaces to personalize experiences, push user options and deploy subtle forms of manipulation. It outlines the methods through which behavioural, biometric and interaction-level data are harvested and translated into predictive marketing strategies, highlighting the rising opacity and influence asymmetries inherent to virtual spaces. The viewpoint article reviews emerging regulations, particularly on platform governance, data protection and advertising. It offers practical implications for regulators, brands and platform designers, emphasizing the need for more transparent, user-friendly and centric design forms. It contributes to original insight by bridging digital marketing, behavioural economics and cyber-regulation to articulate a coherent framework for the responsible use of data in rapidly changing virtual environments.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the partnership for reviving routine immunization in Northern Nigeria programme in Jigawa State, Nigeria
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Adedayo, Adegbenga Ominiabohs; Ehimario, Igumbor; Segun, Oguntoyinbo
The weak routine immunization activities in Nigeria have led to an upsurge of vaccine preventable diseases such as poliomyelitis in the northern parts of the country. This made the federal government to intensify efforts to improve routine immunization activities with various intervention programmes over the years. This commitment of the federal government towards improving routine immunization as a way to promote infant and child survival led to the partnership between the UK. Department for International Development (DFID) to support the launching of Partnership for Reviving Routine Immunization in Northern Nigeria (PRRINN) programme in 2006. The programme, implemented in the northern states of Jigawa, Katsina, Y obe, and Zamfara was intended to augment other federal government immunization intervention efforts in improving routine immunizations services. After five years of programme implementation, assessment of the effectiveness of PRRINN had not be undertaken using a survey based immunization coverage to establish how well the primary objectives of the programme are being met in terms of improving routine immunization.
Comparative factor analytic study of the childhood trauma questionnaire (ctq) between trauma-exposed and non trauma exposed school-going adolescents in the greater cape town area
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Hanslo, Samantha
This study investigated the factor analytic structure of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) in school-going adolescents in the greater Cape Town area. This questionnaire is aretrospective method, assessing childhood exposure to trauma in the form of emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect and physical neglect (Bernstein & Fink, 1998). The data used originated from a survey where several questionnaires including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were used to examine perceived stress and resilience in adolescence. The primary study found that there is extensive published research on trauma exposure in adolescents. However, the investigators found that there is a lack of research on actual perceived stress in the context of certain traumatic experiences. This study examined one of the questionnaires used in the primary study, the CTQ. The question of how the factors cluster in a sample of 631 participants between the ages of 11 and 18 was answered by using exploratory factor analysis. Three factor analyses, using principal component analysis and Varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalisation were run. The three factor analyses are (i) the entire sample (adolescents, both trauma exposed and non trauma--exposed) (ii) the sample with moderate/severe childhood trauma and (iii) the sample with mild/no childhood trauma. The results of the current study revealed that for group one, five rotated factors were yielded that accounted for 59.22% of the variance among items, for group two, eight rotated factors was extracted that accounts for 62.47% of the variance among items and for group three, rune rotated factors which accounted for 65.38% of variance among the items was yielded. After conceptual analysis, it was found that only group two held to the five-factor structure described in the CTQ's manual. This indicates that the severity of trauma exposure does affect the factor structure of the CTQ in this sample of school-going adolescents.
Experiences and perceptions of parents of adolescents addicted to methamphetamine in Manenberg.
(University of the Western Cape, 2009-09) Abrahams, Clinton Clive; E. Koch
The increase of substance abuse among adolescents, especially methamphetamine (MA) abuse has lead to an international crisis in terms of social, health and economic policies. Consequently, studies have drawn attention to adolescent MA consumption as a means of coping with, or escaping from family strife where the influence of the parent decreased. The aim of this study was to explore parents' experiences and perceptions of adolescents addicted to methamphetamine in Manenberg. The objective of the study was to explore the experiences, internal conflicts and external forces impacting on parents as they sought to process their children's addiction. Another objective was to explore parents' perceptions of factors impacting on adolescent MA use. Purposive sampling was utilised in order to recruit adult participants whose children are addicted to MA in order to constitute focus groups. The aims, objectives and ethics; as well as the right to terminate participation was explained to participants and written, informed consent was obtained. This qualitative study was undertaken utilising semi-structured interviews, which were audiorecorded, translated and transcribed, coded and analysed in order to identify common themes presented by the participants. A Phenomenological theoretical framework provided insight and understanding of parent's perceptions and experiences. The study found that parents' experiences with adolescents revolved around physical confrontations, verbal abuse and parental hypervigilance. The study also found that parents experienced a progression of emotions toward adolescents ranging from covert P-A bonds, to a final silent 'death wish'. A 'normal' day for parents was characterised by practices of hyper-vigilance around valuables, while parental stress and experiences of economic instability contributed to health challenges. Perceptions of factors impacting on adolescent MA use included the private domain, the social influences of other parents who abused substances and peer pressure. Limtations of the study revolved around the small sample size and the focus groups consisting of females. Recommendations revolved around males in the sample and expanding the study to other metropolitan areas. By highlighting parents experiences and perceptions, the study has provided parents with a platform to raise their concerns.
Groupoids of homogenous factorisation of graphs
(University of the Western Cape, 2008) Onyumbe Okitowamba; Dr Mwambene
This thesis is study on confluence of algebraic structures and graph theory. Its aim is to consider groupoids from factorisation of complete graphs. We are especially interested in the case where the factors are isomorphic. We analyse the loops obtained from homogenous factorisation and ask if homogeneity is reflected in the kind of loops that are obtained. In particular we interested to see if we obtain either groups or quasi-associative Cayley sets from these loops