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On 12 September 2019, the global Patient Reported Outcome for Multiple Sclerosis (PROMS) Initiative was launched at the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). The multi-stakeholder PROMS Initiative is jointly led by the European Charcot Foundation (ECF) and the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF), with the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Society (AISM) acting as the lead agency for and on behalf of the global MSIF movement. The initiative has the ambitious mission to (i) maximize the impact of science with and of patient input on the life of people affected by MS, and (ii) to represent a unified view on Patient-Reported Outcomes for MS to people affected by MS, healthcare providers, regulatory agencies and Health Technologies Assessments agencies. Equipped with an innovative participatory governance of an international and interdisciplinary network of different stakeholders, PROMS has the potential to guide future breakthroughs in MS patient-focused research and care. In this paper we present the progresses of the global PROMS Initiative and discuss the open questions that we aim to address.

Background: Top-soil microbiomes make a vital contribution to the Earth's ecology and harbor an extraordinarily high biodiversity. They are also key players in many ecosystem services, particularly in arid regions of the globe such as the African continent. While several recent studies have documented patterns in global soil microbial ecology, these are largely biased towards widely studied regions and rely on models to interpolate the microbial diversity of other regions where there is low data coverage. This is the case for sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of regional microbial studies is very low in comparison to other continents. Results: The aim of this study was to conduct an extensive biogeographical survey of sub-Saharan Africa's top-soil microbiomes, with a specific focus on investigating the environmental drivers of microbial ecology across the region. In this study, we sampled 810 sample sites across 9 sub-Saharan African countries and used taxonomic barcoding to profile the microbial ecology of these regions. Our results showed that the sub-Saharan nations included in the study harbor qualitatively distinguishable soil microbiomes. In addition, using soil chemistry and climatic data extracted from the same sites, we demonstrated that the top-soil microbiome is shaped by a broad range of environmental factors, most notably pH, precipitation, and temperature. Through the use of structural equation modeling, we also developed a model to predict how soil microbial biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa might be affected by future climate change scenarios. This model predicted that the soil microbial biodiversity of countries such as Kenya will be negatively affected by increased temperatures and decreased precipitation, while the fungal biodiversity of Benin will benefit from the increase in annual precipitation. Conclusion: This study represents the most extensive biogeographical survey of sub-Saharan top-soil microbiomes to date. Importantly, this study ha

Contains fulltext : 220710.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), Effective teaching is a key factor in educational effectiveness and improvement. To facilitate the knowledge exchange regarding effective teaching in secondary education internationally, there has been a growing interest in using classroom observation measures. However, little is known regarding the comparability of observation measures across various national contexts (measurement invariance). Consequently, comparing effective teaching behaviour across contexts is compromised by issues of construct and measurement equivalence. In the present study, we investigated measurement invariance of the International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) for measuring teaching behaviour across various national contexts including the Netherlands, South Korea, South Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong-China, and Pakistan. Results showed that ICALT indicates full strict invariance in four out of the six countries, which provides a possibility to compare teaching behaviour in the Netherlands, South Korea, South Africa, and Indonesia. South Korea indicated the highest quality of teaching behaviour, while Indonesia indicated the lowest.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of South African youth development policies in ensuring the development and empowerment, especially regarding employment, of young people in the country. The research is based on policies such as the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Act of 2008, the National Youth Policy 2015-2020, and the National Development Plan: Vision 2030, which is a policy that ensures effective service delivery in a cost-effective manner, while ensuring that the rights of all citizens of South Africa are protected. The study observed that unemployment is high amongst youth in South Africa and that this has a direct bearing on poverty levels and standards of living. The impact and effects of the strategies that are adopted to prevent youth unemployment are not reported in a manner that outlines their effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with youth development and employment. This scenario posed a problem for the research. Hence, the study focused on these policies to address the challenges facing youth and to attempt to synergise the policy implementation process for efficiency and accountability in governance. The study utilised qualitative research and the critical approach, as this is social studies research. Phenomenology was used to grasp the situation. The approach is meant to make an objective judgement and ensure an emancipation agenda, which exposed the needs and struggles of the youth. To achieve its objectives, the study introduced and defined concepts such as policy, policy process, policy analysis and policy theory, which were key in the analysis of policy. Within the policy process, the study focused on policy stages, such as problem identification, agenda setting, policy formulation, policy analysis, and policy implementation. Furthermore, the study defined the concept governance and its theories because these theories were later used in the application to decide on the relevant theory, which could work in

Contains fulltext : 217213.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), The purpose of this study is to examine measurement invariance of scoring of teaching behavior, as perceived by students, across six cultural contexts (Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, and Indonesia). It also aims to compare perceived teaching behavior across the six countries based on a uniform student measure. Results from multi-group confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA) showed perceived teaching behavior in the six countries to be adequately invariant. Perceived teaching behavior was the highest in South Korea and the lowest in Indonesia. The findings provide new insights into the relevance and differences of teaching behavior across cultural contexts.

The Public Protector (PP) is a genus of the Ombudsman and its status within governance has been a controversial subject in the national discourse in South Africa. This institution was created in terms of Section 181 of the Constitution as part of the coterie of institutions mandated to protect and strengthen constitutional democracy. These institutions are colloquially called the Chapter 9 institutions. They have been described as not forming part of government, although they are an integral part of the governance system in South Africa. It has become necessary to study the status of one of these institutions, namely the PP, within the governance framework in South Africa. The governance framework consists of the institutions that form the trias politica, the co-operative government and the organs of state, as defined in Section 239 of the Constitution. This research has indicated that the PP, like all other Chapter 9 institutions, exists outside the trias politica and co-operative government framework, but it is an organ of state as defined in Section 239. As a result of this complex status of the PP within the governance framework, the researcher has defined its place as being part of co- operative governance, although it is not part of co-operative government, as defined in Chapter 3 of the Constitution. This characterisation of the status of the PP means that it is not part of the intergovernmental framework and it is not restricted by the legal and structural strictures of this framework, but it is required to co-operate with other organs of state to achieve its objectives of protecting and strengthening constitutional democracy and promoting good governance. This study has been a normative exercise, which places the PP within the trilogy of normative frameworks: the governance and Ombudsman theoretical frameworks; good governance as a normative function; and the normative values that inform the ethics of the PP as a genus of the Ombudsman. The study’s findings

In South Africa, the legislative mandate brought about the transition to democracy, and the subsequent policy and legislation framework, such as the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996; the White Paper on Local Government, 1998; the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, Act 117 of 1998; and the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, permitted citizens to take part in governance and policy-making. Yet, according to observation and the views of citizens in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipally (MMM), the importance of participation as per the Constitution, as preached by the President and promoted by democrats, has yet to be translated into a lived reality at local government level. Furthermore, the service delivery protests that have taken place since 2004 are the result of poor participatory governance. In this regard, participatory governance in the development of municipal plans appears not to be realising its anticipated goals of closing the gap between government and its constituents because of a lack of consultation in the planning process and decision-making. Brynard (1996:138) states that local government is viewed as a means and a first point of contact to encourage the participation of people in the planning and policy-making process. This study involved a literature study, which included an extensive review of the relevant literature, legislation, policy documents, journal articles, books, conference papers and government reports on the purpose of local government, the developmental role of local government, as well as the requirements, purpose, roles, functions and mandate of municipal councillors, ward councillors, and ward committees. Newspaper articles were used to find examples of successful or unsuccessful participation. This study provides recommendations on how to ensure the continuation of participatory governance in MMM. In this regard, the findings and recommendations outline the parameters against which to

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This thesis sets out to confirm the relationship between corruption and political transformation. The thesis commences by investigating different modes of political change with particular emphasis on the characteristics, nature and content of political transformation. With the relationship of the above phenomena being the focal point, the thesis extensively examines the concept of corruption by interrogating different definitions, its causes and consequences. It was also the aim of the study to context the role of ethics/morality as well as that of leadership within the relationship. The study applied a deductive and qualitative approach in exploring case studies in three African states prior to shifting focus to South Africa where both public sector departments as well as private sector experiences come under scrutiny. Apart from the broader South African environment, selected departments of the Eastern Provincial Government were also placed under the microscope as a continuation of the case-study approach. Drawing on the theories on the one hand and the case studies on the other, significant evidence could be found to categorically confirm the relationship between corruption and transformation. Overall this study is part of a growing body of research dealing with the effect of corruption in countries undergoing processes of political change. The study concludes by providing recommendations aimed at the development of an effective anti-corruption framework.

English: The main aim of this study was to develop a more comprehensive theoretical perspective of the occurrence of vigilantism in post-1994 South Africa as available literature lack order and structure in their explanations of this phenomenon. The study started with the development of a metatheoretical framework for the investigation in which it was concluded that the development of a theory for vigilantism through this presentation will be influenced by life experience and philosophical framework, the selection of available valid and reliable information by means of a literature study as well as the selection of scientific methodology; and by the fact that the study will be undertaken within the Political Science discipline. The aim would therefore be to provide an analytical component by answering the question “What is vigilantism?”, a strategic component by answering the question “How does vigilantism take place?” and a normative component by answering the questions “Why does vigilantism take place? and When would it most probably take place?” Literature selected for the study was divided into two categories, namely contextual conceptual frameworks and specific conceptual frameworks. Contextual conceptual frameworks utilised were those of Huntington, Duvenhage, Geldenhuys, Migdal and Zartman, while the specific conceptual frameworks were those of Strange, Black, De la Roche, Abrahams, Johnston and Minnaar. A common denominator that was identified in all the contextual and specific typologies, models and theories discussed, supports the idea that vigilantism is a feature of political decay, since its manifestation is always explained on the basis of law and order lacking, a weak government, an inability of the state to provide security and social needs, social organisations (vigilantes) applying their own rules, low bureaucratic abilities and the state failing to perform all its functions. Four broad contextual criteria were identified while studying the context, Afrikaans: Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie was om ‘n meer omvattende teoretiese perspektief van die voorkoms van vigilantisme in post-1994 Suid-Afrika te ontwikkel, aangesien beskikbare literatuur mank gaan aan orde en struktuur in hul verduidelikings van dié fenomeen. Die studie is ingelei deur die ontwikkeling van ʼn metateoretiese raamwerk vir die ondersoek waarin daar tot die gevolgtrekking geraak is dat die ontwikkeling van die teorie vir vigilantisme deur hierdie aanbieding beïnvloed sal word ten gevolge van die toepassing van lewenservaring en filosofiese raamwerk, die keuring van beskikbare geldige en betroubare inligting aan die hand van ʼn literatuurstudie asook die keuse van ʼn wetenskaplike metodologie asook die feit dat die studie binne die dissipline van Politieke Wetenskap onderneem sal word. Die doel sou dus wees om ʼn analitiese komponent te voorsien deur die vraag “Wat is vigilantisme?”, ʼn strategiese komponent deur die vraag “Hoe vind vigilantisme plaas?” en ʼn normatiewe komponent deur die vraag “Waarom vind vigilantisme plaas? en In watter omstandighede sal dit eerder plaasvind?” te beantwoord. Literatuur wat vir die studie gekies is, is in twee kategorieë verdeel, naamlik kontekstuele konseptuele raamwerke en spesifieke konseptuele raamwerke. Kontekstuele konseptuele raamwerke wat benut is, is dié van Huntington, Duvenhage, Geldenhuys, Migdal en Zartman, terwyl die spesifieke konseptuele raamwerke dié van Strange, Black, De la Roche, Abrahams, Johnston en Minnaar is. ʼn Gemene deler wat geïdentifiseer is in al die kontekstuele en spesifieke tipologieë, modelle en teorieë wat bespreek is, ondersteun die gedagte dat vigilantisme ʼn kenmerk is van politieke verval, aangesien die manifestasie daarvan altyd verklaar word op grond van ʼn gebrek aan wet en orde, ʼn swak regering, die staat se onvermoë om sekuriteit en in sosiale behoeftes te voorsien, die feit dat sosiale organisasies (vigilante) hulle eie reëls toepas, beperkte burokratiese vermoëns en die st

English: The role of traditional leadership in South Africa has remained a controversial issue over the past fifteen years. The focus of this research is to investigate the relationship between the modern political system of governance and the traditional leadership as forms of dual system of governance in South Africa. The thesis raises issues as catalysts for robust debated, to move beyond standard political arguments particularly when it comes to the meaningful role traditional leaders must play in South Africa today. Debates surrounding the institution of uBukhosi primarily polarised the South African society and this is normal as it is the case with all other issues. There seems to be two opposing schools of thought on the subject of traditional leaders, even within the African National Congress’ ranks. The thesis also gives a background to these two theoretical schools of thought and attempts to explain the reason why there is some difficulties formulating a policy document that is implemental. In this thesis, the two opposing viewpoints are represented by ‘modernists’ and ‘traditionalists’ respectively. The other position is recognising the role traditional leaders played and believe that traditional leaders have a role in the democratic dispensation and must form part of local governance in rural areas. This relationship is examined from the government’s documentations, official political statements by politicians and most importantly, how policy (theory) is implemented (praxis) by both government and the institution of traditional leadership. The argument brought forward in this thesis holds a view that the institution of traditional leadership possesses the ability for understanding how to govern and effectively make people come to an agreement through consensus about social problems that they share and the possible solutions to these problems, rather than depend on political elites and bureaucrats. In this way the system of traditional leadership provides, Afrikaans: Die rol van tradisionele leierskap het die afgelope 15 jaar ‘n omstrede kwessie in Suid- Afrika gebly. Die fokus van hierdie navorsing is om die verhouding tussen die moderne politieke stelsel van regering en tradisionele leierskap as vorms van ‘n tweeledige stelsel van regering in SuidAfrika te ondersoek. Die tesis roep kwessies as katalisators vir robuuste debat op om verder as die gewone politieke argumente te gaan, veral met betrekking tot die betekenisvolle rol wat tradisionele leiers vandag in Suid-Afrika moet vervul. Debatte rondom die instelling van uBukhosi het die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap gepolariseer en dit is, soos in die geval van ander kwessies, normaal. Dit lyk of daar twee teenstellende gedagtegange oor die onderwerp van tradisionele leiers is – en dit is selfs in die geledere van die African National Congress die geval. Die tesis verstrek ook agtergrond oor hierdie twee teoretiese gedagtegange en probeer om te verklaar waarom daar probleme is om ‘n beleidsdokument te formuleer wat toepasbaar is. In hierdie tesis word die twee teenstellende standpunte respektiewelik deur die ‘moderniste’ en die ‘tradisionaliste’ verteenwoordig. Die ander posisie erken die rol wat tradisionele leiers vervul het en glo dat hulle ‘n plek in die demokratiese bedeling het en deel van die plaaslike regering in landelike gebiede moet wees. Hierdie verhouding word uit regeringsdokumente en amptelike verklarings deur politici ondersoek asook, en dit is belangrik, hoe beleid (teorie) deur beide die regering en die instelling van tradisionele leierskap toegepas word (praktyk). Die argument wat in hierdie tesis na vore kom, behels die standpunt dat die instelling van tradisionele leierskap die vermoë het om te verstaan hoe om te regeer en hoe om mense effektief deur middel van konsensus tot instemming te bring oor gemeenskaplike maatskaplike probleme en oor die moontlike oplossing van diesulke probleme, eerder as om op die politieke elite en burokrate staat te maak.