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The Internet of Things is Changing the World - Canadian Researcher

2017/03/18 02:34:00 PM

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been described as a giant network of connected things – including people! Forbes, the United States business magazine, says – simply put – IoT is the concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet and/or each other. Devices include items such as cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps and also components of machines including a jet engine of an aircraft or the drill of an oil rig.

Professor Virendra Bhavsar (front) of the University of New Brunswick in Canada presented a guest lecture to staff and postgraduate students.

Winning the annual Ellie Newman Moot Court competition, beating 320 participants by showcasing outstanding legal skills, is a sure sign that fourth-year Law student Mr Elisha Kunene is equipped for success in the legal profession.

Kunene competed in the Moot final - hosted by the School of Law in Durban - alongside finalists Ms Jolene Thompson, Mr Andile Mabaso and Mr Connor Alexander.

The finalists displayed their legal prowess in front of judges, Law School academics Professor Karthy Govender, Ms Lindiwe Maqutu, Professor Tanya Woker and Mr Vishal Surbun as well as family and friends.

A highlight at the final was third-year Law student Mr Andile Mcineka being awarded the Yunus Mohammed Public Interest Law Award by Madam Justice Dhaya Pillay for his article: “Winnie Getting the Short End of the Stick”, which was published in The Sunday Tribune.

The award recognises Mcineka’s valuable contribution to knowledge in the field of public law.

‘There was depth in his argument; he drew on judgments in a coherent manner; it was a pleasure interacting with him…’ these were some of the comments made by the judges on Kunene’s performance before his announcement as the winner which was greeted with resounding applause and a standing ovation from the audience.

‘Winning the Ellie Newman award means the world to me. It’s literally a dream come true. My time in ‘varsity has been quite difficult in a number of ways but I was determined to finish strongly and I sort of viewed this year as a rebuilding period,’ says Kunene.

‘Earlier in the year a good friend of mine and I won the Southern African National Debating Championships and I ranked first in the country. So I really feel like God is with me on this winning streak.’

The great debater who used his skills to coach school debating teams to generate funds for his university tuition got academic merit scholarships from UKZN for his first and second year. However, monetary challenges nearly saw Kunene being financially excluded in his second year.

‘In a remarkable turn of events I was able to stay and complete my studies thanks to a generous intervention by Norton Rose Fulbright. The firm and I parted ways this year but I will always be grateful to them and to everyone else who have contributed to keeping me going,’ he said.

Looking to the future, Kunene said: ‘I have been granted the great privilege of being accepted to clerk for Justice Raymond Zondo at the Constitutional Court next year.’  His long-term plans include becoming an advocate.

Thandiwe Jumo
“Quality Control Within Audit Firms and Auditors’ Liability” was the topic for a panel discussion hosted on the Westville campus by the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

The inaugural forum provided a platform for panelists from leading auditing firms PwC, KPMG, and Deloitte, and representatives from the Auditor-General’s office, to inform students about practical aspects associated with auditing practices.

Risked based audits versus auditor liability, quality assurance reviews and quality control manuals were among issues discussed by the panelists: Manager at the Auditor-General’s office, Ms Amanda Zungu;   Audit Manager at KPMG, Ms Simone Esbend; Mr Manqoba Zungu of Deloitte, and Mr Yusuf Kharwa of PwC.

The School’s Acting Dean, Dr Mabutho Sibanda, said the aim of the event was to develop and nurture sustainable partnerships with the accounting profession.

‘We need to be responsive and proactive to industry needs as we try to move away from being just knowledge factories that regurgitate text book theories. This discussion is aimed at creating new dynamics in teaching and learning in response to the dynamic student, industry and society needs,’ said Sibanda.

Discussions included subjects such as the media’s interpretation or misinterpretations of the Auditor-General’s municipality audits and the manufacturing of audit information due to time constraints.

‘All auditors face auditor liability - it depends on the financials we audit,’ said Zungu. ‘If the risk is high and the audit is politically sensitive it is signed off by a senior member. When it comes to municipality audits, there are instances where the culture of the municipality makes you think everything is risky due to poor controls. Hence, liability depends on the organisation,’ said Zungu.

Regarding the value of employing UKZN graduates, all firms unanimously highlighted the value they added.

‘Trainees play a key role in our teams because no-one can do an audit alone. The expectation is that these trainees have theoretical knowledge which is important as they know the risk involved and they benefit from well-rounded knowledge through being part of the team,’ said Kharwa.
“Quality Control Within Audit Firms and Auditors’ Liability” was the topic for a panel discussion hosted on the Westville campus by the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

The inaugural forum provided a platform for panelists from leading auditing firms PwC, KPMG, and Deloitte, and representatives from the Auditor-General’s office, to inform students about practical aspects associated with auditing practices.

Risked based audits versus auditor liability, quality assurance reviews and quality control manuals were among issues discussed by the panelists: Manager at the Auditor-General’s office, Ms Amanda Zungu;   Audit Manager at KPMG, Ms Simone Esbend; Mr Manqoba Zungu of Deloitte, and Mr Yusuf Kharwa of PwC.

The School’s Acting Dean, Dr Mabutho Sibanda, said the aim of the event was to develop and nurture sustainable partnerships with the accounting profession.

‘We need to be responsive and proactive to industry needs as we try to move away from being just knowledge factories that regurgitate text book theories. This discussion is aimed at creating new dynamics in teaching and learning in response to the dynamic student, industry and society needs,’ said Sibanda.

Discussions included subjects such as the media’s interpretation or misinterpretations of the Auditor-General’s municipality audits and the manufacturing of audit information due to time constraints.

‘All auditors face auditor liability - it depends on the financials we audit,’ said Zungu. ‘If the risk is high and the audit is politically sensitive it is signed off by a senior member. When it comes to municipality audits, there are instances where the culture of the municipality makes you think everything is risky due to poor controls. Hence, liability depends on the organisation,’ said Zungu.

Regarding the value of employing UKZN graduates, all firms unanimously highlighted the value they added.

‘Trainees play a key role in our teams because no-one can do an audit alone. The expectation is that these trainees have theoretical knowledge which is important as they know the risk involved and they benefit from well-rounded knowledge through being part of the team,’ said Kharwa.
“Quality Control Within Audit Firms and Auditors’ Liability” was the topic for a panel discussion hosted on the Westville campus by the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

The inaugural forum provided a platform for panelists from leading auditing firms PwC, KPMG, and Deloitte, and representatives from the Auditor-General’s office, to inform students about practical aspects associated with auditing practices.

Risked based audits versus auditor liability, quality assurance reviews and quality control manuals were among issues discussed by the panelists: Manager at the Auditor-General’s office, Ms Amanda Zungu;   Audit Manager at KPMG, Ms Simone Esbend; Mr Manqoba Zungu of Deloitte, and Mr Yusuf Kharwa of PwC.

The School’s Acting Dean, Dr Mabutho Sibanda, said the aim of the event was to develop and nurture sustainable partnerships with the accounting profession.

‘We need to be responsive and proactive to industry needs as we try to move away from being just knowledge factories that regurgitate text book theories. This discussion is aimed at creating new dynamics in teaching and learning in response to the dynamic student, industry and society needs,’ said Sibanda.

Discussions included subjects such as the media’s interpretation or misinterpretations of the Auditor-General’s municipality audits and the manufacturing of audit information due to time constraints.

‘All auditors face auditor liability - it depends on the financials we audit,’ said Zungu. ‘If the risk is high and the audit is politically sensitive it is signed off by a senior member. When it comes to municipality audits, there are instances where the culture of the municipality makes you think everything is risky due to poor controls. Hence, liability depends on the organisation,’ said Zungu.

Regarding the value of employing UKZN graduates, all firms unanimously highlighted the value they added.

‘Trainees play a key role in our teams because no-one can do an audit alone. The expectation is that these trainees have theoretical knowledge which is important as they know the risk involved and they benefit from well-rounded knowledge through being part of the team,’ said Kharwa.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been described as a giant network of connected things – including people!

Forbes, the United States business magazine, says – simply put – IoT is the concept of connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet and/or each other. Devices include items such as cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps and also components of machines including a jet engine of an aircraft or the drill of an oil rig.

The concept was further unpacked at UKZN’s School of Management, IT and Governance recently by Professor Virendra Bhavsar of the University of New Brunswick in Canada during a guest lecture to staff and postgraduate students.

Bhavsar, an Honorary Research Professor and founding Director of the Advanced Computational Research Laboratory (ACRL), spoke on: “The Convergence of the Internet of Things, Big Data and High Performance Computing: Challenges and Opportunities”.

His talk focused on the challenges and opportunities in selected applications and how IoT, in many applications, would result in the generation of large amounts of data.

According to Bhavsar, in some applications, the data is continuously generated as a stream, wherein the data could be volatile. ‘Such big data needs to be curated, aggregated, and analysed at different levels, often using artificial intelligence algorithms for knowledge extraction and learning. In autonomic big data computing applications, the extracted knowledge is used for planning and executing the sequence of actions necessary for the application.’

He said IoTs could be used in a wide range of fields including agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, social media, transportation and forestry. In forestry it could be used to predict weather conditions.

Bhavsar said high performance computing (HPC) was crucial in satisfying computing requirements in many high end IoT applications, and to process large data.

He added that the challenges included complex optimisation problems, security risks (eg hacking), and programming languages, software and deployment.

However, Bhavsar said there were a number of opportunities being created in the process, including advances in medical supervision, creating smart cities, competitive and strategic advantages and revolutionary breakthroughs.

Other benefits included being able to get a two-week weather forecast, opportunities for new businesses and start-ups, and high-speed low-cost networks.

Sithembile Shabangu

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