DSpace Repository

Welcome to the NWU Repository, the open access Institutional Repository of the North-West University (NWU-IR). This is a digital archive that collects, preserves and distributes research material created by members of NWU. The aim of the NWU-IR is to increase the visibility, availability and impact of the research output of the North-West University through Open Access, search engine indexing and harvesting by several initiatives.

Communities in NWU Repository

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 18

Recent Submissions

Academic librarians as strategic partners in supporting the university’s research outcomes
(North-West University, 2026) Mpikashe, Songezo; Notshokovu, Cwayita
The Metamorphosis: From Book Custodians to Research Architects For decades, the image of the academic librarian was one of a quiet guardian, reactive and focused on the management of physical books and localized collections. However, a paradigm shift is occurring within the halls of academia, transforming these professionals from passive custodians of information into strategic partners essential to a university's research success. The Digital Dilemma and the Funder's Mandate In today's digital landscape, producing high-quality research is no longer enough to ensure success. Researchers are facing a growing "digital dilemma": their online identities are often fragmented and scattered across various academic platforms, making their work difficult to find. This invisibility has real-world consequences, especially as research funders increasingly demand measurable impact. Institutions must now provide tangible evidence of societal impact, citation performance, and global accessibility to secure continued support. Architecting the Visibility Ecosystem To navigate this complex environment, librarians have stepped in as the architects of a research visibility ecosystem. They are no longer just answering questions; they are proactively curating unified online identities for researchers. By guiding scholars through platforms like ORCID, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate, librarians ensure that research outputs are discoverable and impactful on a global scale. This support is particularly vital for early-career researchers. Librarians help bridge mentorship gaps by providing structured guidance on how to navigate the intricate world of bibliometrics, teaching researchers how to use metrics like the h-index and citation velocity strategically to enhance their professional standing. The Library as a Growth Engine The modern library has evolved into a Collaborative Consultation Center, designed to break the isolation many researchers feel when dealing with data management and publishing challenges. By embedding themselves directly into faculty workflows, librarians help diagnose "friction points"-such as technological barriers and knowledge gaps-that hinder research visibility. This partnership creates what is known as the Institutional Growth Engine. When a librarian optimizes a researcher's profile, it leads to: Greater online dissemination and increased downloads. Higher citation rates driven by increased visibility. Improved institutional rankings and enhanced funding opportunities. This creates a compounding effect where visibility drives impact, and impact drives the overall success and global competitiveness of the university. Conclusion: Catalysts of Transformation Ultimately, the transition of librarians from reactive keepers of books to proactive research partners represents a fundamental academic transformation. By serving as coordinators of scholarly communication and experts in impact assessment, librarians have become strategic institutional investments. They are no longer on the sidelines; they are the catalysts ensuring that the future of global research is visible, accessible, and profoundly impactful.
Advancements in environmental monitoring: Integrating digital tools for enhanced MiniSASS assessment and regional diatom index calculation
(North-West University(South Africa)., 2026) Koen, Ruan; Taylor, J.C
Freshwater in South Africa is largely supplied by rivers. However, the availability of water is limited by a semi-arid climate, high evaporation and low precipitation rates, and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events that contribute to droughts and floods. Pollution from industrial, mining, agricultural, and domestic activities, including acid mine drainage, nutrient runoff, and organic waste, damages ecosystems and further reduces freshwater availability. To manage freshwater sustainably, continuous monitoring of water resources and public awareness are essential. A holistic approach to managing water resources can be achieved using the tools of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). Through the National Water Act (NWA) and the National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS), IWRM is implemented by Catchment Management Areas (CMA) within Water management Areas (WMA). Monitoring rivers, wetlands and estuaries is essential to inform sustainable water use, pollution control and ecological health. This is done, in part, through biomonitoring using diatoms (phytobenthos), aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish. Biomonitoring provides a holistic view of water quality changes over time using biological indicators. Unlike chemical analysis, biomonitoring integrates the responses of biota in the determination of water quality, ecosystem health and habitat degradation. Thephytobenthos and aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages together provide an integrated indication of ecosystem resilience. Macroinvertebrates are excellent indicators of ecosystem functioning while diatoms indicate more specific water quality changes. Diatom monitoring is implemented through indices such as the Indice de Polluosensibilité Spécifique (IPS), the Generic Diatom Index (GDI), Trophic Diatom Index (TDI) and the Biological Diatom Index (BDI), whilst aquatic macroinvertebrates are implemented using the South African Scoring System (SASS5) and the mini Stream Assessment Scoring System (miniSASS). These indices are used as proxies for water quality that inform on pollution and water quality changes to, in turn, inform management of aquatic resources. Development of regional diatoms indices, as well as simplifying the available tools can help support water management in South Africa by increasing broader public awareness and providing experts and non-experts with newly revised tools. Implementing digital tools that integrate diatom and macroinvertebrate indices will improve data collection and reduce data loss when communicating with online data repositories and cloud-storage. Additionally, incorporating training tools and machine learning techniques can increase identification accuracy, and in turn increase the reliability of data generated by these tools. Digital tools can bridge knowledge gaps and engage citizen scientists and experts to provide better information on water quality. By combining these tools, South Africans can stand as advocates for sustainable water management and aquatic ecosystem health. This study aimed to develop a miniSASS mobile application that fully incorporates and improves data capturing for miniSASS surveys and incorporating machine learning to automatically identify macroinvertebrates to improve the applicability of miniSASS as a citizen science tool. Furthermore, this study aimed to develop new regional riverine diatom indices by using Weighted Averaging (WA), Generalised Logit Regression (GLR) and inferred knowledge to calculate diatom optimal environmental conditions and tolerance ranges, under nutrient content, organic content and ionic load. Additionally, a diatom index to detect Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in wetlands surrounding coalmines is also included. The novel diatom indices are further incorporated into digital platforms that provide easy-to-use software for diatom index calculation and data generation without the need for OMNIDIA. The miniSASS mobile application provides a holistic and modern tool to simplify and increase the efficiency of river health assessment. The mobile application includes a landing page with relevant information on how to use the app, a map page where users can explore monitoring sites and a sites creation page which houses the full capability of a miniSASS survey whilst including a newly designed digital classification key to improve identification and classification accuracy. Furthermore, the site creation page also incorporates a machine learning model trained on 13 000 images of macroinvertebrates to help alleviate the bottleneck of manual verification of site scores on the miniSASS website. An additional about page is included that provides tutorials, support and extra resources to educated users. Riverine diatom indices were developed by incorporating optima and tolerances calculated using WA, for electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and orthophosphate (PO43-). Species optima were also inferred from expert knowledge related to nutrient levels, organic load and ionic composition. Indices were accordingly calculated for each parameter and combined into a final multimetric average index using weights. The GLR approach was tested but ultimately rejected due to the nature of the dataset. The available datasets were sparse and zero-inflated, with an infrequent occurrence of species along environmental gradients, ultimately making WA are more feasible approach. The calculated optima and tolerances for many species aligned with those present in the IPS, confirming the use of WA for optima and tolerance calculation The calculated indices correlated strongly with water quality and accurately reflected the ecological condition of the rivers used to create the indices. The indices calculated for the individual parameters reflect specific water quality changes more accurately, where the combined multimetric indices and the IPS reflect overall water quality best. A dedicated AMD index was developed by calculating species optima for sulphate, EC, pH, alkalinity and chloride, as these parameters characterize AMD disturbance in wetlands. These optima were integrated with AMD and osmotic tolerance values together with life-form categories (motile, attached and tube-forming) to calculate a final multimetric index score. The index successfully distinguished between AMD disturbed and non-disturbed sites with pH and sulphate emerging as the strongest environmental drivers. The correlation of the index scores with water quality was confirmed using bootstrapping with 1000 iterations of index scores. Four key taxa were identified as early indicators of AMD disturbance in wetlands. Nitzschia capitellata and Frustulia crassinervia indicate AMD impacted sites with low pH and high sulphate. Amphora veneta and Craticula molestiformis indicate AMD free sites, correlating with increased chloride and alkalinity. The diatom indices developed in this study were fully integrated into digital tools that support efficient and accessible water-quality assessment of rivers and wetlands. A Diatom Indexer was created to house the riverine indices calculated using WA and knowledge inferred, as well as the widely used IPS index. The software generates an interpretable, illustrative graph that allows users to track changes in water quality across sites and provides autecological information on the species included in the index calculation together with the scores for each index. A separate AMD Indexer was created to process a species matrix and produce a summary of AMD index scores. Both digital tools use a separate standard list as a reference for calculated optima and tolerances, and contain the AMD tolerances, osmotic tolerances and life-form scores for AMD index calculation. Together these tools enhance data generation, data throughput and knowledge dissemination, by providing free to use- user friendly software that streamlines the efficiently of diatom index calculation. The miniSASS mobile application helps bridge the gap between public awareness of water quality and scientific knowledge. Coupled with the additional newly developed diatom index tools biomonitoring is made simpler by providing visual, accessible as easyto-use tools to empower citizens and community members to engage and participate in river health assessments. Simultaneously, these digital tools provide a reliable and scientific method that can support decision makers and management practitioners. Therefore, by improving public awareness and bolstering water quality monitoring, these tools help South Africa move closer to achieving SDG6 - ensuring the availability and sustainable management of clean water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Regional policy coherence for resilience and sustainable development frameworks in the SADC Region
(North-West University(South Africa)., 2026) Kalonga, Clement Herbert; van Niekerk, D; Nemakonde, L.D
The Southern African Development Community (SADC)'s strategic ambitions for sustainable development (SD) risk not being achieved due to competing demands from unharmonised, incoherent, and uncoordinated multiple global, regional, and national frameworks, especially those linked to disaster resilience (DR). This thesis, therefore, built its case on the conceptualisation and application of disaster resilience policy coherence (DRPC) in SADC as a guide for the formulation and implementation of coherent policies at various levels to build disaster resilience and sustainable development in the region. It establishes a framework that provides strong interrelationships among policy coherence, disaster resilience, and sustainability. The thesis has a total of seven chapters, and four of these illustrate the four main objectives of the research. The main research objective was to develop a SADC Regional disaster policy coherence framework to enhance decision-making for fostering synergies across policy areas in support of disaster resilience and SD in the region. The first objective focused on providing the conceptual understanding and application of disaster resilience policy coherence and its implications on SADC. The second objective provided an analysis of existing case studies as evidence of prevailing disaster resilience policy coherence practices in the region. The third objective proposed a SADC disaster resilience policy coherence framework towards enhancing the application and the achievement of disaster resilience policy. The fourth objective dealt with determining the relevance via an exploratory approach to reviewing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting approaches to disaster resilience policy coherence in SADC. The study was based on a non-experimental mixed methods research approach, leveraging the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Both primary and secondary data were collected via a key informant survey questionnaire (88 respondents), 45 key informant interviews (KII), and document analysis. The study respondents were SADC Member States, SADC Secretariat staff, United Nations (UN) agencies, International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), donors, and the private sector working in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation (CCA), and the SD sectors. Purposive and convenience sampling were used for the survey participants. Document analysis was employed to review 95 selected international, regional, and national policy frameworks, utilising purposive sampling within the DRR, CCA, and SD thematic areas. KII data was coded, thematically analysed, and interpreted through themes and patterns. Data from the semi-structured 4 survey questionnaire were analysed through simple descriptive analysis, thematic analysis, and narrative analysis aligned to the set research questions. This study unpacked the conceptual understanding and practical application of policy coherence within the domains of disaster resilience and sustainable development in the SADC Region. Key findings reveal that while the SADC Secretariat and Member States have made indirect efforts toward policy coherence-through regional protocols and integration strategies-these have not been substantially operationalised. Recent global and regional frameworks on DRR, CCA, and sustainable development have, however, provided an impetus for greater policy coherence within SADC's disaster resilience agenda. At the national level, Member States recognise the need for improved policy alignment, though progress remains in its initial stages. Despite being a relatively new concept in SADC, policy coherence has a solid foundation within existing strategic frameworks, offering an opportunity to harmonise policies for DRR, CCA, and SD. Achieving this requires utilising a dedicated framework as proposed to influence deliberate coordination across sectors, fostering integration between different policies, frameworks, and stakeholders. The study concluded that limited conceptual understanding, case study compilation, and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting (MER) for disaster resilience policy coherence in SADC undermine the region's disaster resilience and sustainable development outcomes. While frameworks and projects increasingly reflect integration of DRR, CCA, and SD, persistent gaps remain, particularly in political leadership, urban resilience inclusion, and sustainable financing. The study recommends the need to strengthen national and SADC level MER linked to policy coherence processes that improve the alignment of global MER with MS and SADC disaster resilience strategies and promote a more integrated approach to CCA, DRR, and SD.
Ten years after the implementation of SPLUMA: a critical review of the planning system in South Africa
(North-West University(South Africa)., 2026) Heukelman, Aneri
The spatial planning and land use management system is the world in which urban and regional planning is practiced and functions. The framework of this system was fundamentally changed with the implementation of Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 16 of 2013 (SPLUMA), two years after it was promulgated, with an implementation target of five years. This study considers the domain in which planning functions and determines the functional system in which urban and regional planning functions. The entrenchment of the system in its given domain provides perspective and highlights certain aspects of planning that should be considered in its functional system. A reflection on the implementation of SPLUMA, through the lens of the local government project that implemented the said system and that stretched over four years, contributed to significant insights into the nuances entrenched in the planning system and emphasises certain issues that should have received more attention in planning and structure, as well as identifying certain gaps in the system. The administrative system in which planning functions, in terms of decision-making, is fully vested in local government in the foundational change brought about by SPLUMA and other mentioned influences, including the Constitution of 1996. The physical administration of spatial planning, land use planning and management underwent a fundamental change upon the enactment and implementation of SPLUMA, partly because section 33(1) of this Act provides that the municipality is the body of first instance for land use applications. The structural and administrative change of decisionmaking and record-keeping moved from being a dual system of land-use administration, formerly shared by the provincial government and the local government, entirely to being the responsibility of the local government. This included the land use administration of traditional areas, mostly land owned by national government. This also implies that the historical division between urban, rural, traditional and agricultural areas have been unified under the municipal area in terms of the wall-to-wall land use scheme and subsequent land use planning and development administration. This follows the 1996 constitutional requirement that municipal areas cover the entire country. This thesis considers the transformation of the spatial planning and land use planning administration and governance in terms of land use planning and development administration. It considers the legislative frameworks, before and after the promulgation of the Constitution of 1996, that inform land use planning and relevant to the transformation to the SPLUMA spatial planning and land use management system. The administrative effects that changing legislation and geographical structures have on the land use system are discussed.
Assessment and development of membrane materials and chemistries for the iron-chromium redox flow battery
(North-West University (South Africa)., 2026) du Toit, Johannes Petrus
The mitigation of climate change demands large-scale energy storage solutions (LSESSs) that can integrate electrical grids with renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Flow batteries (FBs) have been identified as promising LSESSs due to their high safety and scalable capacity, which is coupled to their electrolyte volumes. While the vanadium flow battery (VFB) is considered the most developed FB, the high cost of electrolyte remains the most significant barrier when competing with lithiumion (Li-ion) batteries. The electrolyte of the iron-chromium flow battery (ICFB) is made from cheaper and more abundant metals, which would enable a more cost-effective up scaling. Additionally, the large ferrochrome ore reserves of South Africa, coupled with its low population density and high annual solar irradiance, gives the technology a unique opportunity to benefit the country by storing renewable solar energy, thereby reducing CO2 and pollutant emissions by replacing coal plants. To feasibly reach grid-scale development, flow batteries need to be low maintenance, safe, highly cost-effective, environmentally benign, while having recyclable active materials, long cycling life and high efficiencies. The high cost of the benchmark membrane used in the ICFB (perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA)) is the biggest challenge towards commercialisation of the technology, however, there is limited literature focussing on alternative suitable membrane materials. While these PFSA membranes are highly chemically stable, they also exhibit a low metallic-ion selectivity with severe electro-osmotic crossover of iron-chrome electrolyte volumes. To address this research gap, various membrane materials and chemistries were assessed and developed in this study. After construction and optimisation of a lab-scale ICFB test station, the first materials tested were simple and low-cost commercial hydrocarbon-based microporous separators (MPSs) that had been developed for the lithium-ion and lead-acid battery industries. Despite low air-permeabilities and relatively equalised differential pressures, most of the tested MPSs displayed high crossover rates resulting in reduced energy efficiency (EE) values and self-discharge times (4.3% and 40.5% below the benchmark cation exchange Nafion-212 (N-212) membrane, respectively), where 6 of the 10 MPSs were suitable for short-term cycling (10 cycles). The dynamic behaviour of the asymmetrical electrolyte viscosities, linked to the state of charge, led to changes in the differential pressures across MPSs which worsened convection. Despite pulse dampening and asymmetrical pumping, which reduced the convection and capacity decay, MPSs should be further optimised specifically for the ICFB. Further research should focus on MPS thickness and wettability, since they were shown to have the largest impact on the performance of an ICFB. Since anion exchange membranes (AEMs) have the potential for a high cation selectivity with no published successful cycling in an ICFB to date, a range of AEMs were manufactured and tested. Most of the AEMs failed to discharge the electrolyte due to membrane fouling by ferric chlorides, where adding sulfates (as sulfuric acid) only worsened the measured resistance due to sluggish anion migration. However, one cross-linked AEM consisting of m-polybenzimidazole (m-PBI) and phosphonated poly(pentafluorostyrene) was able to charge and discharge the ICFB electrolyte without electro-osmosis, yielding a 4.9% higher 30-cycle average coulombic efficiency (CE = 96.7%) and 1.3% higher EE (76.1%) than the N-212 cation exchange membrane (CEM). The successful application of mPBI was attributed to the high degree of swelling, due to the protonation of the imidazolium groups, that likely enabled proton migration through enlarged molecular spaces and electrolyte channels. Finally, a wide variety (nanofibre reinforced, phosphonated, sulfonated, blends, ionically cross-linked and ionically-covalently cross-linked blends) of cation exchange membranes (CEMs) were manufactured and tested in the ICFB. Initial screening results showed an inherent incompatibility between phosphonic acid-based ionomers and the ICFB electrolyte. Accordingly, sulfonated ionomers were developed further. A low-cost and highly sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) SPEEK was cross-linked with a diphenylether-containing PBI (OPBI) and optimised for the ICFB in terms of conductivity and selectivity by varying the acid-base blend ratios. A 55 µm CEM with a SPEEK-95 to OPBI blend ratio of 89:11 obtained a 3.3% lower EE than N-212 and 1.7% higher CE, while reducing the benchmark 30-cycle electrolyte imbalance levels from 33% to 4%. A novel sulfonated ionomer, SFS, was ionically and covalently ([1,1'biphenyl]-4,4'-dithiol) cross-linked with OPBI and optimised, yielding an IEC of 1.54 mmol g−1, outperforming the benchmark N-212 with an EE of 1.4% (76.2%) with no electro-osmotic crossover. Various membrane types (MPSs, AEMs and CEMs) of cost-effective materials that have not previously been considered for the ICFB were sourced and manufactured in this study. The ICFB feasibility of these PFSA alternative materials, including hydrocarbon-based separators, polybenzimidazoles and various other aromatic polymers, were demonstrated on lab-scale. The AA900 MPS, the MIG-15 AEM and three OPBI containing CEMs (SPEEK-OPBI 89:11, SFS-OPBI 84:16 and SFS-OPBI (I+C)) all had comparable efficiencies, but significantly lower electro-osmosis, than N-212. Combining the different advantages of the ion-selective AEMs, conductive CEMs and low-cost porous hydrocarbon separators could further improve their ICFB performance. Longer term studies (multiple years of cycling) should also be considered to further validate the promising alternative materials. This would however require a capacity rebalancer, as well as the development of an ICFB electrolyte containing anionic ligands, alternative to Cl− and H2O, to ensure a sustained discharge capacity and Cr couple redox activity.