Burrow utilization by springhares (Pedetes capensis) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Peinke, Dean , Brown, C R
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447073 , vital:74582 , https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2005.11407307
- Description: The use of burrows by springhares was investigated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa using radio telemetry. Springhares utilized 4–27 different burrows scattered over areas ranging from 0.6–28.5 ha, with maximum distances of 170–1000 m between burrows. Springhares frequently changed burrows, seldom spending more than a few consecutive days in each, unless rearing young. The number of burrows used by individuals was correlated with the length of time they were tracked and, even after a year, some individuals were still occupying burrows previously unused by them. Males and females did not differ significantly in the mean number of burrows used, the mean area over which these were distributed, or the mean maximum distance between burrows. Springhares were generally solitary and occupied burrows were, with few exceptions, apparently avoided by conspecifics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Peinke, Dean , Brown, C R
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447073 , vital:74582 , https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2005.11407307
- Description: The use of burrows by springhares was investigated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa using radio telemetry. Springhares utilized 4–27 different burrows scattered over areas ranging from 0.6–28.5 ha, with maximum distances of 170–1000 m between burrows. Springhares frequently changed burrows, seldom spending more than a few consecutive days in each, unless rearing young. The number of burrows used by individuals was correlated with the length of time they were tracked and, even after a year, some individuals were still occupying burrows previously unused by them. Males and females did not differ significantly in the mean number of burrows used, the mean area over which these were distributed, or the mean maximum distance between burrows. Springhares were generally solitary and occupied burrows were, with few exceptions, apparently avoided by conspecifics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Critical perspectives on research on post-traumatic stress disorder and implications for the South African context
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6228 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007778
- Description: This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Psychology in Africa on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Africa and particularly in South Africa and examines the critical debate that has surrounded PTSD research. It begins with an examination of the meaning of the term trauma, and of its specialised use within the clinical context and with respect to the concept of PTSD. The diagnostic approach to the detection of PTSD is presented, criteria in the DSM-IV-TR and the ICD-10 are summarised and differences between the two manuals are discussed. Arguments presented by critics of the concept of PTSD are presented and discussed. These concern the historical evolution of the concept, concerns about the universality of PTSD cross-culturally, and problems arising from understanding human suffering from a narrow medical perspective. It is concluded that while there are dangers in thinking of the sequelae of trauma as a medical/psychiatric problem, and while the alarming rate of traumatic events needs to be addressed at the political, economic and societal level, there is an important place for the provision of assessment and treatment of PTSD within a psychiatric/psychological clinical setting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6228 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007778
- Description: This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Psychology in Africa on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Africa and particularly in South Africa and examines the critical debate that has surrounded PTSD research. It begins with an examination of the meaning of the term trauma, and of its specialised use within the clinical context and with respect to the concept of PTSD. The diagnostic approach to the detection of PTSD is presented, criteria in the DSM-IV-TR and the ICD-10 are summarised and differences between the two manuals are discussed. Arguments presented by critics of the concept of PTSD are presented and discussed. These concern the historical evolution of the concept, concerns about the universality of PTSD cross-culturally, and problems arising from understanding human suffering from a narrow medical perspective. It is concluded that while there are dangers in thinking of the sequelae of trauma as a medical/psychiatric problem, and while the alarming rate of traumatic events needs to be addressed at the political, economic and societal level, there is an important place for the provision of assessment and treatment of PTSD within a psychiatric/psychological clinical setting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Evaluating parts-of-speech taggers for use in a text-to-scene conversion system
- Glass, Kevin R, Bangay, Shaun D
- Authors: Glass, Kevin R , Bangay, Shaun D
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432654 , vital:72890 , https://www.cs.ru.ac.za/research/groups/vrsig/currentprojects/053texttoscene/paper01.pdf
- Description: This paper presents parts-of-speech tagging as a first step towards an autonomous text-to-scene conversion system. It categorizes some freely available taggers, according to the techniques used by each in order to automatically identify word-classes. In addition, the performance of each identified tagger is verified experimentally. The SUSANNE corpus is used for testing and reveals the complexity of working with different tagsets, resulting in substantially lower accuracies in our tests than in those reported by the developers of each tagger. The taggers are then grouped to form a voting system to attempt to raise accuracies, but in no cases do the combined results improve upon the individual accuracies. Additionally a new metric, agreement, is tentatively proposed as an indication of confidence in the output of a group of taggers where such output cannot be validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Glass, Kevin R , Bangay, Shaun D
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432654 , vital:72890 , https://www.cs.ru.ac.za/research/groups/vrsig/currentprojects/053texttoscene/paper01.pdf
- Description: This paper presents parts-of-speech tagging as a first step towards an autonomous text-to-scene conversion system. It categorizes some freely available taggers, according to the techniques used by each in order to automatically identify word-classes. In addition, the performance of each identified tagger is verified experimentally. The SUSANNE corpus is used for testing and reveals the complexity of working with different tagsets, resulting in substantially lower accuracies in our tests than in those reported by the developers of each tagger. The taggers are then grouped to form a voting system to attempt to raise accuracies, but in no cases do the combined results improve upon the individual accuracies. Additionally a new metric, agreement, is tentatively proposed as an indication of confidence in the output of a group of taggers where such output cannot be validated.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
From trauma debriefing to trauma support: a South African experience of responding to individuals and communities in the aftermath of traumatising events
- Van Wyk, G, Edwards, David J A
- Authors: Van Wyk, G , Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008266
- Description: This paper documents the approach and experience of Traumaclinic, a Cape Town based organisation offering a trauma support service. The controversy over single session debriefing interventions is examined and it is concluded that interventions that invite intense emotional expression should not be offered indiscriminately or forced on those who do not want them. When they do occur, they need to be carefully managed and take place over several sessions. A review of contemporary approaches to intervention following trauma highlights their comprehensive and flexible nature and the inclusion of multiple components that are introduced in a manner responsive to the needs of the situation. This is the basis of the current model used by Traumaclinic. The principles of that model are summarised and examples given of the application of the approach to specific cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Van Wyk, G , Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6267 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008266
- Description: This paper documents the approach and experience of Traumaclinic, a Cape Town based organisation offering a trauma support service. The controversy over single session debriefing interventions is examined and it is concluded that interventions that invite intense emotional expression should not be offered indiscriminately or forced on those who do not want them. When they do occur, they need to be carefully managed and take place over several sessions. A review of contemporary approaches to intervention following trauma highlights their comprehensive and flexible nature and the inclusion of multiple components that are introduced in a manner responsive to the needs of the situation. This is the basis of the current model used by Traumaclinic. The principles of that model are summarised and examples given of the application of the approach to specific cases.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Life history of the springhare (Pedetes capensis) from a strongly seasonal environment in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Peinke, Dean, Bernard, Ric T F
- Authors: Peinke, Dean , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447089 , vital:74583 , doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2005.11407327
- Description: The life history of the springhare (Pedetes capensis, Forster, 1778) at 33°S, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, was characterized by continuous, aseasonal and asynchronous reproduction. Females were monotocous and consecutive pregnancies were separated by a non pregnant period (30–50 days) similar in length to the period of lactation. Young were relatively large at birth (8% of adult body weight) but were altricial and only emerged from the burrow at weaning. Towards the end of lactation, many females mated again (20% of all females were both lactating and in early pregnancy) and annual fecundity was probably two but never more than three. For a rodent, albeit a large one, this is a very slow rate of reproduction and we propose that the ricochetal locomotion (jumping on the hind legs) and semi-fossorial life style of the springhare will have resulted in decreased juvenile and adult mortality, and increased longevity, and that these factors have shaped the evolution of the life history of the springhare.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Peinke, Dean , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447089 , vital:74583 , doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2005.11407327
- Description: The life history of the springhare (Pedetes capensis, Forster, 1778) at 33°S, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, was characterized by continuous, aseasonal and asynchronous reproduction. Females were monotocous and consecutive pregnancies were separated by a non pregnant period (30–50 days) similar in length to the period of lactation. Young were relatively large at birth (8% of adult body weight) but were altricial and only emerged from the burrow at weaning. Towards the end of lactation, many females mated again (20% of all females were both lactating and in early pregnancy) and annual fecundity was probably two but never more than three. For a rodent, albeit a large one, this is a very slow rate of reproduction and we propose that the ricochetal locomotion (jumping on the hind legs) and semi-fossorial life style of the springhare will have resulted in decreased juvenile and adult mortality, and increased longevity, and that these factors have shaped the evolution of the life history of the springhare.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in a young rape survivor: a case study
- Authors: Labe, Dana
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6271 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008271
- Description: This paper describes the psychodynamic psychotherapy of a 20-year-old African woman with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ‘Mphumi’ entered therapy a year after her father’s friend had repeatedly raped her. The paper documents the process of therapy and uses the case material to examine theoretical issues relevant to the treatment of PTSD. First, Horowitz’s (2001) theory is used as a basis for arguing that a histrionic personality style predisposed her to an extreme degree of denial and dissociation, which prevented her from processing the trauma at a cognitive or emotional level and contributed to the entrenched PTSD. It was only after she had suffered a breakdown, which necessitated hospitalisation, that her resistance to processing the trauma was overcome. Second, the case material is used to show how other significantly disturbing events earlier in her life shaped her response to the rape and to examine the extent to which effective processing of the current trauma calls for the acknowledgement and working through of earlier traumas and losses. Finally, the case narrative shows how the treatment of PTSD is of necessity a slow, complex process which takes into account the individual’s unique history, idiosyncratic vulnerabilities and socio-cultural context
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Labe, Dana
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6271 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008271
- Description: This paper describes the psychodynamic psychotherapy of a 20-year-old African woman with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ‘Mphumi’ entered therapy a year after her father’s friend had repeatedly raped her. The paper documents the process of therapy and uses the case material to examine theoretical issues relevant to the treatment of PTSD. First, Horowitz’s (2001) theory is used as a basis for arguing that a histrionic personality style predisposed her to an extreme degree of denial and dissociation, which prevented her from processing the trauma at a cognitive or emotional level and contributed to the entrenched PTSD. It was only after she had suffered a breakdown, which necessitated hospitalisation, that her resistance to processing the trauma was overcome. Second, the case material is used to show how other significantly disturbing events earlier in her life shaped her response to the rape and to examine the extent to which effective processing of the current trauma calls for the acknowledgement and working through of earlier traumas and losses. Finally, the case narrative shows how the treatment of PTSD is of necessity a slow, complex process which takes into account the individual’s unique history, idiosyncratic vulnerabilities and socio-cultural context
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The development phase of a case study of outcomes-based education assessment policy in the Human and Social Sciences learning area of C2005
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6106 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009735
- Description: The second phase, the 'development phase' (January to December 2003), of an ongoing research project on policy implementation with specific reference to Grade 9 of the Human and Social Sciences (HSS) learning area of C2005 is described. More specifically, a journey, in which nine History and Geography teachers at two independent schools and one university lecturer, working collaboratively as an HSS research team, navigated their way through the national curriculum and assessment policy arena, pushed the boundaries of their own practice as reflexive practitioners, and implemented the first national application of the new General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), is outlined. The article consists of three sections. The first outlines and offers critical commentary on the national policy context in which the research was located, and in which all South African educators currently work. Drawing on national and international literature, it illuminates a number of issues pertinent to national policy enactment. The second section describes the Development Phase. It outlines two areas of curriculum innovation at the two schools, namely enquiry-based learning and the development of a learning process 'map', before honing in on Grade 9 CASS. Section three describes the implementation at the two schools of the HSS Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) in October/November 2003. The conclusion synthesises the narrative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6106 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009735
- Description: The second phase, the 'development phase' (January to December 2003), of an ongoing research project on policy implementation with specific reference to Grade 9 of the Human and Social Sciences (HSS) learning area of C2005 is described. More specifically, a journey, in which nine History and Geography teachers at two independent schools and one university lecturer, working collaboratively as an HSS research team, navigated their way through the national curriculum and assessment policy arena, pushed the boundaries of their own practice as reflexive practitioners, and implemented the first national application of the new General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), is outlined. The article consists of three sections. The first outlines and offers critical commentary on the national policy context in which the research was located, and in which all South African educators currently work. Drawing on national and international literature, it illuminates a number of issues pertinent to national policy enactment. The second section describes the Development Phase. It outlines two areas of curriculum innovation at the two schools, namely enquiry-based learning and the development of a learning process 'map', before honing in on Grade 9 CASS. Section three describes the implementation at the two schools of the HSS Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) in October/November 2003. The conclusion synthesises the narrative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The diet and ecological role of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) introduced to the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Parker, Daniel M, Bernard, Ric T F
- Authors: Parker, Daniel M , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis Herbivore
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011967
- Description: With an increase in the popularity of wildlife ranching in southern Africa has come the introduction of non-native (extralimital) mammalian herbivores. Financial gain has arguably been at the forefront of these introductions, with little or no assessment of the ecological consequences. The diet of three populations of introduced giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis was assessed by direct observation in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa between January 2002 and October 2003, as the first step towards understanding the ecological role played by giraffe in the region. Similar to the diet of giraffe within their native range, a deciduous species from the genus Acacia (Acacia karroo) was the most important species in the diet. Giraffe in the Eastern Cape Province, however, consumed more evergreen species than those within their native range. The relative lack of deciduous species in the Eastern Cape Province provides a probable explanation for such a result. Seasonal variation in the consumption of the most important species in the diet was evident with members of the genus Rhus being more important in the winter months. This was attributed to the deciduous nature of A. karroo. The potential for giraffe to have a detrimental effect on the indigenous vegetation is discussed. We conclude that the study provides a much-needed list of plant species threatened by giraffe browsing in a region where the vegetation is thought to have evolved in the absence of such a browser.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Parker, Daniel M , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis Herbivore
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011967
- Description: With an increase in the popularity of wildlife ranching in southern Africa has come the introduction of non-native (extralimital) mammalian herbivores. Financial gain has arguably been at the forefront of these introductions, with little or no assessment of the ecological consequences. The diet of three populations of introduced giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis was assessed by direct observation in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa between January 2002 and October 2003, as the first step towards understanding the ecological role played by giraffe in the region. Similar to the diet of giraffe within their native range, a deciduous species from the genus Acacia (Acacia karroo) was the most important species in the diet. Giraffe in the Eastern Cape Province, however, consumed more evergreen species than those within their native range. The relative lack of deciduous species in the Eastern Cape Province provides a probable explanation for such a result. Seasonal variation in the consumption of the most important species in the diet was evident with members of the genus Rhus being more important in the winter months. This was attributed to the deciduous nature of A. karroo. The potential for giraffe to have a detrimental effect on the indigenous vegetation is discussed. We conclude that the study provides a much-needed list of plant species threatened by giraffe browsing in a region where the vegetation is thought to have evolved in the absence of such a browser.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
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