Evaluating the impact of the Institutional Repository, or positioning innovation between a rock and a hard place
- Authors: Thomas, G M E
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6988 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012411
- Description: Repositories remain an innovative but marginalized technology largely because there is no consensus about an agreed set of Performance Indicators (PIs) that demonstrate their overall impact on the research enterprise of our universities. A successful Institutional Repository should be evaluated in terms of the extent to which the open access repository builds a critical mass of scholarly content which is sustained and available through active university community engagement and ongoing scholarly contributions (faculty, researchers & students) that, when managed efficiently and effectively, ultimately strengthen, promote and give visibility to the research enterprise of the institution, and bring benefit to broader society. However, librarians are grappling with what and how best to demonstrate ‘institutional good’ but without clear evidence, assessment is fed by perception based on limited information which leads to diminished impact and value of the facility, a tyranny described as being caught between a rock and a hard place. Using Illuminative Evaluation to design a series of quantitative and qualitative metrics, it is proposed that a distinction be made between significant and secondary Performance Indicators where the former gather evidence to demonstrate the overall effect or impact of the IR on the individual and collective research community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Thomas, G M E
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6988 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012411
- Description: Repositories remain an innovative but marginalized technology largely because there is no consensus about an agreed set of Performance Indicators (PIs) that demonstrate their overall impact on the research enterprise of our universities. A successful Institutional Repository should be evaluated in terms of the extent to which the open access repository builds a critical mass of scholarly content which is sustained and available through active university community engagement and ongoing scholarly contributions (faculty, researchers & students) that, when managed efficiently and effectively, ultimately strengthen, promote and give visibility to the research enterprise of the institution, and bring benefit to broader society. However, librarians are grappling with what and how best to demonstrate ‘institutional good’ but without clear evidence, assessment is fed by perception based on limited information which leads to diminished impact and value of the facility, a tyranny described as being caught between a rock and a hard place. Using Illuminative Evaluation to design a series of quantitative and qualitative metrics, it is proposed that a distinction be made between significant and secondary Performance Indicators where the former gather evidence to demonstrate the overall effect or impact of the IR on the individual and collective research community.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
First evidence for the Cenomanian-Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2, Bonarelli event) from the Ionian Zone, western continental Greece
- Karakitsios, V, Tsikos, Harilaos, Van Breugel, Y, Koletti, L, Sinninghe Damsté, J S, Jenkyns, H C
- Authors: Karakitsios, V , Tsikos, Harilaos , Van Breugel, Y , Koletti, L , Sinninghe Damsté, J S , Jenkyns, H C
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6735 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007547
- Description: Integrated biostratigraphic (planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils), chemostratigraphic (bulk C and O isotopes) and compound-specific organic geochemical studies of a mid-Cretaceous pelagic carbonate—black shale succession of the Ionian Zone (western Greece), provide the first evidence for the Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2, ‘Bonarelli’ event) in mainland Greece. The event is manifested by the occurrence of a relatively thin (35 cm), yet exceptionally organic carbon-rich (44.5 wt% TOC), carbonate-free black shale, near the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary within the Vigla limestone formation (Berriasian–Turonian). Compared to the ‘Bonarelli’ black-shale interval from the type locality of OAE2 in Marche–Umbria, Italy, this black shale exhibits greatly reduced stratigraphic thickness, coupled with a considerable relative enrichment in TOC. Isotopically, enriched δ[superscript 13]C values for both bulk organic matter (−22.2‰) and specific organic compounds are up to 5‰ higher than those of underlying organic-rich strata of the Aptian-lower Albian Vigla Shale member, and thus compare very well with similar values of Cenomanian–Turonian black shale occurrences elsewhere. The relative predominance of bacterial hopanoids in the saturated, apolar lipid fraction of the OAE2 black shale of the Ionian Zone supports recent findings suggesting the abundance of N[subscript 2]-fixing cyanobacteria in Cretaceous oceans during the Cenomanian–Turonian and early Aptian oceanic anoxic events.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Karakitsios, V , Tsikos, Harilaos , Van Breugel, Y , Koletti, L , Sinninghe Damsté, J S , Jenkyns, H C
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6735 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007547
- Description: Integrated biostratigraphic (planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils), chemostratigraphic (bulk C and O isotopes) and compound-specific organic geochemical studies of a mid-Cretaceous pelagic carbonate—black shale succession of the Ionian Zone (western Greece), provide the first evidence for the Cenomanian–Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE2, ‘Bonarelli’ event) in mainland Greece. The event is manifested by the occurrence of a relatively thin (35 cm), yet exceptionally organic carbon-rich (44.5 wt% TOC), carbonate-free black shale, near the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary within the Vigla limestone formation (Berriasian–Turonian). Compared to the ‘Bonarelli’ black-shale interval from the type locality of OAE2 in Marche–Umbria, Italy, this black shale exhibits greatly reduced stratigraphic thickness, coupled with a considerable relative enrichment in TOC. Isotopically, enriched δ[superscript 13]C values for both bulk organic matter (−22.2‰) and specific organic compounds are up to 5‰ higher than those of underlying organic-rich strata of the Aptian-lower Albian Vigla Shale member, and thus compare very well with similar values of Cenomanian–Turonian black shale occurrences elsewhere. The relative predominance of bacterial hopanoids in the saturated, apolar lipid fraction of the OAE2 black shale of the Ionian Zone supports recent findings suggesting the abundance of N[subscript 2]-fixing cyanobacteria in Cretaceous oceans during the Cenomanian–Turonian and early Aptian oceanic anoxic events.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
How entrepreneurs deal with ethical challenges : an application of the Business Ethics Synergy Star Technique
- Robinson, David A, Davidsson, Per, Van der Mescht, Hennie, Court, Philip
- Authors: Robinson, David A , Davidsson, Per , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Court, Philip
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006123
- Description: Entrepreneurs typically live with the ever present threat of business failure arising from limited financial resources and aggressive competition in the marketplace. Under these circumstances, conflicting priorities arise and the entrepreneur is thus faced with certain dilemmas. In seeking to resolve these, entrepreneurs must often rely on their own judgment to determine ‘‘what is right’’. There is thus a need for a technique to assist them decide on a course of action when no precedent or obvious solution exists. This research paper examines how entrepreneurs experience and deal with these dilemmas. The research is based on interviews with seven entrepreneurs in established service-oriented ventures, which gave rise to 26 dilemmas. These dilemmas were analyzed by making use of the Synergy Star technique, which is introduced here as a tool that is useful in defining any dilemma, isolating the ethical component, and resolving the dilemma in a way that is congruent with the entrepreneur’s personal world-view.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Robinson, David A , Davidsson, Per , Van der Mescht, Hennie , Court, Philip
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6079 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006123
- Description: Entrepreneurs typically live with the ever present threat of business failure arising from limited financial resources and aggressive competition in the marketplace. Under these circumstances, conflicting priorities arise and the entrepreneur is thus faced with certain dilemmas. In seeking to resolve these, entrepreneurs must often rely on their own judgment to determine ‘‘what is right’’. There is thus a need for a technique to assist them decide on a course of action when no precedent or obvious solution exists. This research paper examines how entrepreneurs experience and deal with these dilemmas. The research is based on interviews with seven entrepreneurs in established service-oriented ventures, which gave rise to 26 dilemmas. These dilemmas were analyzed by making use of the Synergy Star technique, which is introduced here as a tool that is useful in defining any dilemma, isolating the ethical component, and resolving the dilemma in a way that is congruent with the entrepreneur’s personal world-view.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Impact of nutrients and herbivory by Eccritotarsus catarinensis on the biological control of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes
- Coetzee, Julie A, Byrne, Marcus J, Hill, Martin P
- Authors: Coetzee, Julie A , Byrne, Marcus J , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6945 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011973 , https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0579-5298
- Description: Many water hyacinth infestations in South Africa are the symptom of eutrophication, and as a result, biological control of this weed is variable. This study examined the effects of herbivory by the mirid, Eccritotarsus catarinensis, on water hyacinth grown at high, medium and low nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrient concentrations. Water nutrient concentration appears to be the overriding factor affecting plant growth parameters of water hyacinth plants—at high nutrient concentrations, leaf and daughter plant production were more than double than at low nutrient concentrations, while stem length was twice as great at high nutrient concentrations compared to low concentrations. Chlorophyll content was also twice as high at high nutrient concentrations than low concentrations. Conversely, flower production at high nutrient concentrations was less than half that at low concentrations. Herbivory by E. catarinensis did not have as great an effect on water hyacinth vigour as nutrient concentration did, although it significantly reduced the production of daughter plants by 23 ± 9%, the length of the second petiole by 13 ± 5%, and chlorophyll content of water hyacinth leaves by 15 ± 6%. In terms of insect numbers, mirids performed better on plants grown under medium nutrient conditions (99 ± 28 S.E.), compared to high nutrient concentrations (52 ± 27 S.E.), and low nutrient concentrations (25 ± 30 S.E.). Thus, these results suggest that the fastest and most significant reduction in water hyacinth proliferation would be reached by lowering the water nutrient concentrations, and herbivory by E. catarinensis alone is not sufficient to reduce all aspects of water hyacinth vigour, especially at very high nutrient concentrations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Coetzee, Julie A , Byrne, Marcus J , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6945 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011973 , https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0579-5298
- Description: Many water hyacinth infestations in South Africa are the symptom of eutrophication, and as a result, biological control of this weed is variable. This study examined the effects of herbivory by the mirid, Eccritotarsus catarinensis, on water hyacinth grown at high, medium and low nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrient concentrations. Water nutrient concentration appears to be the overriding factor affecting plant growth parameters of water hyacinth plants—at high nutrient concentrations, leaf and daughter plant production were more than double than at low nutrient concentrations, while stem length was twice as great at high nutrient concentrations compared to low concentrations. Chlorophyll content was also twice as high at high nutrient concentrations than low concentrations. Conversely, flower production at high nutrient concentrations was less than half that at low concentrations. Herbivory by E. catarinensis did not have as great an effect on water hyacinth vigour as nutrient concentration did, although it significantly reduced the production of daughter plants by 23 ± 9%, the length of the second petiole by 13 ± 5%, and chlorophyll content of water hyacinth leaves by 15 ± 6%. In terms of insect numbers, mirids performed better on plants grown under medium nutrient conditions (99 ± 28 S.E.), compared to high nutrient concentrations (52 ± 27 S.E.), and low nutrient concentrations (25 ± 30 S.E.). Thus, these results suggest that the fastest and most significant reduction in water hyacinth proliferation would be reached by lowering the water nutrient concentrations, and herbivory by E. catarinensis alone is not sufficient to reduce all aspects of water hyacinth vigour, especially at very high nutrient concentrations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Mapping GPS-derived ionospheric Total Electron Content over Southern Africa during different epochs of solar cycle 23
- Moeketsi, D M, Combrinck, W L, McKinnell, Lee-Anne, Fedrizz, M
- Authors: Moeketsi, D M , Combrinck, W L , McKinnell, Lee-Anne , Fedrizz, M
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6802 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004165
- Description: The Southern African Development Community and the International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service (GNSS) network of dual frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers provide an opportunity to determine Total Electron Content (TEC) over Southern Africa by taking advantage of the dispersive nature of the ionospheric medium. For this task, the University of New Brunswick (UNB) ionospheric modelling technique which applies a spatial linear approximation of the vertical TEC above each station using stochastic parameters in Kalman filter estimation, primed with data from the Southern Africa GPS network, was used for mapping TEC at South African locations during selected days and hours of different epochs of solar cycle 23. Significant enhancements in the TEC value and features, which could be associated with frequent solar events, are evident around a day of extreme solar maximum. These observations are discussed and further investigated by analyzing the GOES 8 and 10 satellites X-ray flux (0.1–0.8 nm) and SOHO Solar EUV Monitor (26.0–34.0 nm) higher resolution data. Comparison of these physical quantities reveals that for each X-ray flare observed, there is an associated EUV flare event. The latter phenomenon causes photoionisation in the daytime ionosphere which results in significant TEC enhancement. The daytime UNB TEC compared with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2001 predicted TEC found both models to show a good agreement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Moeketsi, D M , Combrinck, W L , McKinnell, Lee-Anne , Fedrizz, M
- Date: 2007
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6802 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004165
- Description: The Southern African Development Community and the International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service (GNSS) network of dual frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers provide an opportunity to determine Total Electron Content (TEC) over Southern Africa by taking advantage of the dispersive nature of the ionospheric medium. For this task, the University of New Brunswick (UNB) ionospheric modelling technique which applies a spatial linear approximation of the vertical TEC above each station using stochastic parameters in Kalman filter estimation, primed with data from the Southern Africa GPS network, was used for mapping TEC at South African locations during selected days and hours of different epochs of solar cycle 23. Significant enhancements in the TEC value and features, which could be associated with frequent solar events, are evident around a day of extreme solar maximum. These observations are discussed and further investigated by analyzing the GOES 8 and 10 satellites X-ray flux (0.1–0.8 nm) and SOHO Solar EUV Monitor (26.0–34.0 nm) higher resolution data. Comparison of these physical quantities reveals that for each X-ray flare observed, there is an associated EUV flare event. The latter phenomenon causes photoionisation in the daytime ionosphere which results in significant TEC enhancement. The daytime UNB TEC compared with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2001 predicted TEC found both models to show a good agreement.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
Creating international support for the development of the news media in Africa
- Authors: Banda, Fackson
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008301
- Description: This article analyses the issues associated with providing support mechanisms for strengthening media institutions in Africa. It takes a historical look at the involvement of international actors in the evolution of African media, arguing that ideology plays a key role in the way international support is crafted for Africa's development, including media development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Banda, Fackson
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008301
- Description: This article analyses the issues associated with providing support mechanisms for strengthening media institutions in Africa. It takes a historical look at the involvement of international actors in the evolution of African media, arguing that ideology plays a key role in the way international support is crafted for Africa's development, including media development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Generic substitution: the use of medicinal products containing different salts and implications for safety and efficacy
- Verbeeck, R K, Kanfer, Isadore, Walker, Roderick B
- Authors: Verbeeck, R K , Kanfer, Isadore , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6445 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006632
- Description: In their quest to gain early entry of new generic products into the market prior to patent expiration, one of the strategies pursued by generic drug product manufacturers is to incorporate different salts of an approved active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in a brand company's marketed dosage form and subject such dosage forms to bioequivalence assessment. These initiatives present challenges to regulatory authorities where the decision to approve bioequivalent products containing such pharmaceutical alternatives must be considered in the light of safety and efficacy, and more particularly, with respect to their substitutability. This article describes the various issues and contentions associated with the concept of pharmaceutical alternatives, specifically with respect to the uses of different salts and the implications for safety, efficacy and generic substitution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Verbeeck, R K , Kanfer, Isadore , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6445 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006632
- Description: In their quest to gain early entry of new generic products into the market prior to patent expiration, one of the strategies pursued by generic drug product manufacturers is to incorporate different salts of an approved active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in a brand company's marketed dosage form and subject such dosage forms to bioequivalence assessment. These initiatives present challenges to regulatory authorities where the decision to approve bioequivalent products containing such pharmaceutical alternatives must be considered in the light of safety and efficacy, and more particularly, with respect to their substitutability. This article describes the various issues and contentions associated with the concept of pharmaceutical alternatives, specifically with respect to the uses of different salts and the implications for safety, efficacy and generic substitution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Novel amperometric glucose biosensor based on an ether-linked cobalt(II) phthalocyaninecobalt(II) tetraphenylporphyrin pentamer as a redox mediator
- Ozoemena, Kenneth I, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Ozoemena, Kenneth I , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004148
- Description: The development of cobalt(II) phthalocyanine–cobalt(II) tetra(5-phenoxy-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin), (CoPc–(CoTPP)[subscript 4]) pentamer as a novel redox mediator for amperometric enzyme electrode sensitive to glucose is described. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was first modified with the pentamer, then followed by the immobilization onto the GCE–CoPc–(CoTPP)[subscript 4] with glucose oxidase (GOx) through cross-linking with glutaraldehyde in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Nafion® cation-exchange polymer. The proposed biosensor displayed good amperometric respose charateristics to glucose in pH 7.0 PBS solution; such as low overpotentials (+400 mV versus Ag|AgCl), very fast amperometric response time (~5 s), linear concentration range extended up to 11 mM, with 10 μM detection limit. The biosensor exhibited electrochemical Michaelis–Menten kinetics and showed an average apparent Michaelis–Menten constant (K′M) of 14.91 ± 0.46 mM over a storage period of 2 weeks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Ozoemena, Kenneth I , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004148
- Description: The development of cobalt(II) phthalocyanine–cobalt(II) tetra(5-phenoxy-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin), (CoPc–(CoTPP)[subscript 4]) pentamer as a novel redox mediator for amperometric enzyme electrode sensitive to glucose is described. A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was first modified with the pentamer, then followed by the immobilization onto the GCE–CoPc–(CoTPP)[subscript 4] with glucose oxidase (GOx) through cross-linking with glutaraldehyde in the presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Nafion® cation-exchange polymer. The proposed biosensor displayed good amperometric respose charateristics to glucose in pH 7.0 PBS solution; such as low overpotentials (+400 mV versus Ag|AgCl), very fast amperometric response time (~5 s), linear concentration range extended up to 11 mM, with 10 μM detection limit. The biosensor exhibited electrochemical Michaelis–Menten kinetics and showed an average apparent Michaelis–Menten constant (K′M) of 14.91 ± 0.46 mM over a storage period of 2 weeks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Will the invasive mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lamarck replace the indigenous Perna perna L. on the south coast of South Africa?
- Bownes, Sarah J, McQuaid, Christopher D
- Authors: Bownes, Sarah J , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6926 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011914
- Description: The mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is invasive worldwide, has displaced indigenous species on the west coast of South Africa and now threatens Perna perna on the south coast. We tested the hypothesis that Mytilus will replace Perna by examining changes in their distribution on shores where they co-exist. Total cover, adult density, recruit density, recruit/adult correlations and mean maximum lengths of both species were measured in 2001 at two contrasting sites (Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma) 70 km apart, each including two locations 100 m apart. Cover and density were measured again in 2004. Total mussel abundance was significantly lower in Tsitsikamma, and recruit density was only 17% that of Plettenberg Bay. Abundance and cover increased upshore for Mytilus, but decreased for Perna, giving Mytilus higher adult and recruit density and total cover than Perna in the upper zones. Low shore densities of recruits and adults were similar between species but cover was lower for Mytilus, reflecting its smaller size, and presumably slower growth or higher mortality there. Thus, mechanisms excluding species differed among zones. Recruitment limitation delays invasion at Tsitsikamma and excludes Perna from the high shore, while Mytilus is excluded from the low shore by post-recruitment effects. Recruitment limitation also shapes population structure. Recruit/adult correlations were significant only where adult densities were low, and this effect was species-specific. Thus, at low densities, larvae settle or survive better near adult conspecifics. After 3 years, these patterns remained strongly evident, suggesting Mytilus will not eliminate Perna and that co-existence is possible through partial habitat segregation driven by recruitment limitation of Perna on the high shore and post-settlement effects on Mytilus on the low shore.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Bownes, Sarah J , McQuaid, Christopher D
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6926 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011914
- Description: The mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis is invasive worldwide, has displaced indigenous species on the west coast of South Africa and now threatens Perna perna on the south coast. We tested the hypothesis that Mytilus will replace Perna by examining changes in their distribution on shores where they co-exist. Total cover, adult density, recruit density, recruit/adult correlations and mean maximum lengths of both species were measured in 2001 at two contrasting sites (Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma) 70 km apart, each including two locations 100 m apart. Cover and density were measured again in 2004. Total mussel abundance was significantly lower in Tsitsikamma, and recruit density was only 17% that of Plettenberg Bay. Abundance and cover increased upshore for Mytilus, but decreased for Perna, giving Mytilus higher adult and recruit density and total cover than Perna in the upper zones. Low shore densities of recruits and adults were similar between species but cover was lower for Mytilus, reflecting its smaller size, and presumably slower growth or higher mortality there. Thus, mechanisms excluding species differed among zones. Recruitment limitation delays invasion at Tsitsikamma and excludes Perna from the high shore, while Mytilus is excluded from the low shore by post-recruitment effects. Recruitment limitation also shapes population structure. Recruit/adult correlations were significant only where adult densities were low, and this effect was species-specific. Thus, at low densities, larvae settle or survive better near adult conspecifics. After 3 years, these patterns remained strongly evident, suggesting Mytilus will not eliminate Perna and that co-existence is possible through partial habitat segregation driven by recruitment limitation of Perna on the high shore and post-settlement effects on Mytilus on the low shore.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
Cholera in KwaZulu-Natal : probing institutional governmentality and indigenous hand-washing practices
- Authors: O’Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008616
- Description: The paper reviews education activities in a successful anti-cholera campaign amongst rural communities in eastern southern Africa. It is centred on probing how a modern institutional governmentality was relatively blind to an historical legacy of Nguni hand-washing practices and came to exclude use of simple tests for coliform contamination in rural health education activities. The study examines institutional processes, probing discontinuities between the health education message and the complex social ecology of cholera. In so doing, it uncovers how a post-apartheid institutional rhetoric of participation, empowerment and social transformation is playing out in communicative interventions to instil healthier practices amongst the rural poor. Institutional perspectives such as this are rooted in an institutional legacy of appropriation and control. Despite the current rhetoric of participation, instrumental orientations are being sustained as the radical critique of struggle for freedom and change gives way, through comfortable submission and intellectual conformity, to an instrumental conservatism in many post-apartheid institutional settings today. The study notes and probes a surprising resonance between the ecology of the disease and an intergenerational social capital of indigenous hand-washing practices. The evidence suggests that these patterns of hand-washing practice would have served to contain the disease in earlier times and points to this social capital as a focus for co-engaged action on environment and health concerns. The findings suggest that an opposing of institutional and indigenous knowledge is not a simple matter and that moving beyond a legacy of cultural exclusion and marginalisation remains a challenge as the first decade of post-apartheid democratic governance comes to a close.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: O’Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008616
- Description: The paper reviews education activities in a successful anti-cholera campaign amongst rural communities in eastern southern Africa. It is centred on probing how a modern institutional governmentality was relatively blind to an historical legacy of Nguni hand-washing practices and came to exclude use of simple tests for coliform contamination in rural health education activities. The study examines institutional processes, probing discontinuities between the health education message and the complex social ecology of cholera. In so doing, it uncovers how a post-apartheid institutional rhetoric of participation, empowerment and social transformation is playing out in communicative interventions to instil healthier practices amongst the rural poor. Institutional perspectives such as this are rooted in an institutional legacy of appropriation and control. Despite the current rhetoric of participation, instrumental orientations are being sustained as the radical critique of struggle for freedom and change gives way, through comfortable submission and intellectual conformity, to an instrumental conservatism in many post-apartheid institutional settings today. The study notes and probes a surprising resonance between the ecology of the disease and an intergenerational social capital of indigenous hand-washing practices. The evidence suggests that these patterns of hand-washing practice would have served to contain the disease in earlier times and points to this social capital as a focus for co-engaged action on environment and health concerns. The findings suggest that an opposing of institutional and indigenous knowledge is not a simple matter and that moving beyond a legacy of cultural exclusion and marginalisation remains a challenge as the first decade of post-apartheid democratic governance comes to a close.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Students’ engagement with learning theory
- Authors: Schudel, Ingrid J
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6093 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008615
- Description: This paper reflects on a module on ‘Teaching and Learning Interactions’, presented as part of the Rhodes University Advanced Certificate in Education (Environmental Education).The module is designed to help students use theoretical logic to enhance (not replace) their practical logic of how teaching and learning takes place. Data was analysed from three teaching and learning activities in the module. After the first participatory activity on water and sanitation, students narrated what teaching and learning had taken place using language available from their prior experiences. In a second activity students were introduced to explanations of learning, provided by learning theorists. In the third activity students analysed a case study, using a variety of questions relating to teaching and learning. They then had to consider these same questions in the light of a participatory on-course teaching and learning activity. The paper reflects on how students have used understandings of the nature of reality, the construction of knowledge, the use of language, situated learning, action competence and social change, in order to narrate their teaching and learning experiences on the ACE(EE) course. Through this, the paper trials a reflexive approach to the teaching of learning theory in environmental education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Schudel, Ingrid J
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6093 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008615
- Description: This paper reflects on a module on ‘Teaching and Learning Interactions’, presented as part of the Rhodes University Advanced Certificate in Education (Environmental Education).The module is designed to help students use theoretical logic to enhance (not replace) their practical logic of how teaching and learning takes place. Data was analysed from three teaching and learning activities in the module. After the first participatory activity on water and sanitation, students narrated what teaching and learning had taken place using language available from their prior experiences. In a second activity students were introduced to explanations of learning, provided by learning theorists. In the third activity students analysed a case study, using a variety of questions relating to teaching and learning. They then had to consider these same questions in the light of a participatory on-course teaching and learning activity. The paper reflects on how students have used understandings of the nature of reality, the construction of knowledge, the use of language, situated learning, action competence and social change, in order to narrate their teaching and learning experiences on the ACE(EE) course. Through this, the paper trials a reflexive approach to the teaching of learning theory in environmental education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The effect of prolonged cold storage of eland (Taurotragus oryx) cauda epididymides on the spermatozoa: possible implications for the conservation of biodiversity
- Bissett, Charlene, Bernard, Ric T F
- Authors: Bissett, Charlene , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6947 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011976
- Description: The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of prolonged storage of cauda epididymides at 4 °C on spermatozoa, and to determine the practicality of utilising epididymal sperm, harvested from testes collected during routine culling of game animals, in assisted reproductive technologies. Testes from eland (Taurotragus oryx) were collected and epididymides removed and maintained at 4 °C. Sperm motility, viability, morphology and membrane integrity were examined at 12 h intervals for 108 h. Sperm motility and viability were significantly lower at the end of the experiment than at the start (P < 0.05) and there was individual variation in the rate at which motility and viability declined. The total number of normal sperm decreased significantly with prolonged storage at 4 °C. Midpiece defects were the most common and head and tail abnormalities were rare. A significant decrease in acrosomal and nuclear membrane integrity was observed with prolonged cold storage but there was no significant change in cell membrane integrity. However, about 30% of epididymal sperm survived for 3 days at 4 °C and more than 10% survived for 4 days, and it should be possible to use sperm from culled animals in some assisted reproductive technologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Bissett, Charlene , Bernard, Ric T F
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6947 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011976
- Description: The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of prolonged storage of cauda epididymides at 4 °C on spermatozoa, and to determine the practicality of utilising epididymal sperm, harvested from testes collected during routine culling of game animals, in assisted reproductive technologies. Testes from eland (Taurotragus oryx) were collected and epididymides removed and maintained at 4 °C. Sperm motility, viability, morphology and membrane integrity were examined at 12 h intervals for 108 h. Sperm motility and viability were significantly lower at the end of the experiment than at the start (P < 0.05) and there was individual variation in the rate at which motility and viability declined. The total number of normal sperm decreased significantly with prolonged storage at 4 °C. Midpiece defects were the most common and head and tail abnormalities were rare. A significant decrease in acrosomal and nuclear membrane integrity was observed with prolonged cold storage but there was no significant change in cell membrane integrity. However, about 30% of epididymal sperm survived for 3 days at 4 °C and more than 10% survived for 4 days, and it should be possible to use sperm from culled animals in some assisted reproductive technologies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
The use of actually in spoken Xhosa English : a corpus study
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6136 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011588
- Description: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mothertongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontaneous dialogue between Xhosa English speakers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: De Klerk, Vivian A
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6136 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011588
- Description: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mothertongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontaneous dialogue between Xhosa English speakers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
A capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for the determination of cyclizine hydrochloride in tablets and suppositories
- Mohammadi, I, Kanfer, Isadore, Walker, Roderick B
- Authors: Mohammadi, I , Kanfer, Isadore , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006479
- Description: Current compendial methods of assay for the analysis of cyclizine tablets involve the use of UV spectrophotometry. Since this is a non-selective technique its application to more complex dosage forms, such as suppositories, is unlikely to be appropriate. There is therefore a need for the development of a highly specific quantitative analytical method, such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE). The latter technique was chosen in view of some specific advantages over HPLC, such as the use of relatively non-toxic aqueous buffers, as opposed to organic solvents, which obviates the use of expensive HPLC grade solvents making CE more cost effective. Cyclizine was analyzed in 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.3) and run at an applied voltage 25 kV. Detection sensitivity was enhanced by using a wavelength of 200 nm and samples were loaded hydrodynamically onto an uncoated fused-silica capillary (60 cm×50 mm i.d.). Chlorcyclizine was used as the internal standard and resolution of both compounds was achieved in less than 7 min. Stress testing was undertaken in order to investigate the appearance of breakdown products. The method has the requisite accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity and precision to assay cyclizine in tablets and suppositories. Degradation products resulting from the stress studies did not interfere with the detection of cyclizine and the assay is thus stability-indicating.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Mohammadi, I , Kanfer, Isadore , Walker, Roderick B
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006479
- Description: Current compendial methods of assay for the analysis of cyclizine tablets involve the use of UV spectrophotometry. Since this is a non-selective technique its application to more complex dosage forms, such as suppositories, is unlikely to be appropriate. There is therefore a need for the development of a highly specific quantitative analytical method, such as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE). The latter technique was chosen in view of some specific advantages over HPLC, such as the use of relatively non-toxic aqueous buffers, as opposed to organic solvents, which obviates the use of expensive HPLC grade solvents making CE more cost effective. Cyclizine was analyzed in 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.3) and run at an applied voltage 25 kV. Detection sensitivity was enhanced by using a wavelength of 200 nm and samples were loaded hydrodynamically onto an uncoated fused-silica capillary (60 cm×50 mm i.d.). Chlorcyclizine was used as the internal standard and resolution of both compounds was achieved in less than 7 min. Stress testing was undertaken in order to investigate the appearance of breakdown products. The method has the requisite accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity and precision to assay cyclizine in tablets and suppositories. Degradation products resulting from the stress studies did not interfere with the detection of cyclizine and the assay is thus stability-indicating.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
A Trypanosoma cruzi heat shock protein 40 is able to stimulate the adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis activity of heat shock protein 70 and can substitute for a yeast heat shock protein 40
- Edkins, Adrienne L, Ludewig, M H, Blatch, Gregory L
- Authors: Edkins, Adrienne L , Ludewig, M H , Blatch, Gregory L
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6465 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005794 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocel.2004.01.016
- Description: The process of assisted protein folding, characteristic of members of the heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and heat shock protein 40 (Hsp40) molecular chaperone families, is important for maintaining the structural integrity of cellular protein machinery under normal and stressful conditions. Hsp70 and Hsp40 cooperate to bind non-native protein conformations in a process of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-regulated assisted protein folding. We have analysed the molecular chaperone activity of the cytoplasmic inducible Hsp70 from Trypanosoma cruzi (TcHsp70) and its interactions with its potential partner Hsp40s (T. cruzi DnaJ protein 1 [Tcj1] and T. cruzi DnaJ protein 2 [Tcj2]). Histidine-tagged TcHsp70 (His-TcHsp70), Tcj1 (Tcj1-His) and Tcj2 (His-Tcj2) were over-produced in Escherichia coli and purified by nickel affinity chromatography. The in vitro basal specific ATP hydrolysis activity (ATPase activity) of His-TcHsp70 was determined as 40 nmol phosphate/min/mg protein, significantly higher than that reported for other Hsp70s. The basal specific ATPase activity was stimulated to a maximal level of 60 nmol phosphate/min/mg protein in the presence of His-Tcj2 and a model substrate, reduced carboxymethylated α-lactalbumin. In vivo complementation assays showed that Tcj2 was able to overcome the temperature sensitivity of the ydj1 mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain JJ160, suggesting that Tcj2 may be functionally equivalent to the yeast Hsp40 homologue (yeast DnaJ protein 1, Ydj1). These data suggest that Tcj2 is involved in cytoprotection in a similar fashion to Ydj1, and that TcHsp70 and Tcj2 may interact in a nucleotide-regulated process of chaperone-assisted protein folding.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Edkins, Adrienne L , Ludewig, M H , Blatch, Gregory L
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6465 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005794 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocel.2004.01.016
- Description: The process of assisted protein folding, characteristic of members of the heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and heat shock protein 40 (Hsp40) molecular chaperone families, is important for maintaining the structural integrity of cellular protein machinery under normal and stressful conditions. Hsp70 and Hsp40 cooperate to bind non-native protein conformations in a process of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-regulated assisted protein folding. We have analysed the molecular chaperone activity of the cytoplasmic inducible Hsp70 from Trypanosoma cruzi (TcHsp70) and its interactions with its potential partner Hsp40s (T. cruzi DnaJ protein 1 [Tcj1] and T. cruzi DnaJ protein 2 [Tcj2]). Histidine-tagged TcHsp70 (His-TcHsp70), Tcj1 (Tcj1-His) and Tcj2 (His-Tcj2) were over-produced in Escherichia coli and purified by nickel affinity chromatography. The in vitro basal specific ATP hydrolysis activity (ATPase activity) of His-TcHsp70 was determined as 40 nmol phosphate/min/mg protein, significantly higher than that reported for other Hsp70s. The basal specific ATPase activity was stimulated to a maximal level of 60 nmol phosphate/min/mg protein in the presence of His-Tcj2 and a model substrate, reduced carboxymethylated α-lactalbumin. In vivo complementation assays showed that Tcj2 was able to overcome the temperature sensitivity of the ydj1 mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain JJ160, suggesting that Tcj2 may be functionally equivalent to the yeast Hsp40 homologue (yeast DnaJ protein 1, Ydj1). These data suggest that Tcj2 is involved in cytoprotection in a similar fashion to Ydj1, and that TcHsp70 and Tcj2 may interact in a nucleotide-regulated process of chaperone-assisted protein folding.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Mythic and theoretic aspects of the concept of 'the unconscious' in popular and psychological discourse
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6227 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007777
- Description: From the introduction: In Greek mythology, Typhon was the youngest son of Gaea (the Earth) and Tartarus (the underworld). Typhon was not a beautiful baby. He was a grisly monster with a hundred dragons' heads. He was one of the Titans, a group of powerful and dangerous creatures who rebelled against Zeus, the King of the Gods. The rebellion was crushed and Typhon was imprisoned under Mount Etna, the volcano in Sicily which was active in classical times and remains active today. It was said that when Typhon raged, the earth shook and Etna erupted. Many such tales from mythology from all over world seem to dramatize aspects of our relationship with potent forces of which we have little understanding and over which we have little control. Many of these forces are less concrete than the forces of nature. They arise from our apprehension of our existential predicaments, our interpersonal vulnerability and the intensity of our own psychological pain. In many contemporary discourses this territory is referred to more neutrally as ‘the unconscious;’ but the unconscious will always elude our attempts to capture it in words.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6227 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007777
- Description: From the introduction: In Greek mythology, Typhon was the youngest son of Gaea (the Earth) and Tartarus (the underworld). Typhon was not a beautiful baby. He was a grisly monster with a hundred dragons' heads. He was one of the Titans, a group of powerful and dangerous creatures who rebelled against Zeus, the King of the Gods. The rebellion was crushed and Typhon was imprisoned under Mount Etna, the volcano in Sicily which was active in classical times and remains active today. It was said that when Typhon raged, the earth shook and Etna erupted. Many such tales from mythology from all over world seem to dramatize aspects of our relationship with potent forces of which we have little understanding and over which we have little control. Many of these forces are less concrete than the forces of nature. They arise from our apprehension of our existential predicaments, our interpersonal vulnerability and the intensity of our own psychological pain. In many contemporary discourses this territory is referred to more neutrally as ‘the unconscious;’ but the unconscious will always elude our attempts to capture it in words.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Solvent effects on the photochemical and fluorescence properties of zinc phthalocyanine derivatives
- Ogunsipe, Abimbola Olukayode, Maree, D, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Ogunsipe, Abimbola Olukayode , Maree, D , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6586 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004162 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2860(03)00155-8
- Description: The effects of solvents on the singlet oxygen, photobleaching and fluorescence quantum yields for zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and its derivatives; (pyridino)zinc phthalocyanine ((py)ZnPc), zinc octaphenoxyphthalocyanine (ZnOPPc) and zinc octaestronephthalocyanine (ZnOEPc), is presented. The effects of the solvents on the ground state spectra are also discussed. The largest red shift of the Q band was observed in aromatic solvents, the highest shift being observed for 1-chloronaphthalene. Higher singlet fluorescence quantum yields were observed in THF for ZnPc and ZnOPPC. Also in the same solvent phototransformation rather than photobleaching was observed for ZnOPPc. Split Q band in the emission and excitation spectra of ZnOPPc was observed in some solvents and this is explained in terms of the lowering of symmetry following excitation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Ogunsipe, Abimbola Olukayode , Maree, D , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6586 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004162 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2860(03)00155-8
- Description: The effects of solvents on the singlet oxygen, photobleaching and fluorescence quantum yields for zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and its derivatives; (pyridino)zinc phthalocyanine ((py)ZnPc), zinc octaphenoxyphthalocyanine (ZnOPPc) and zinc octaestronephthalocyanine (ZnOEPc), is presented. The effects of the solvents on the ground state spectra are also discussed. The largest red shift of the Q band was observed in aromatic solvents, the highest shift being observed for 1-chloronaphthalene. Higher singlet fluorescence quantum yields were observed in THF for ZnPc and ZnOPPC. Also in the same solvent phototransformation rather than photobleaching was observed for ZnOPPc. Split Q band in the emission and excitation spectra of ZnOPPc was observed in some solvents and this is explained in terms of the lowering of symmetry following excitation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Mental illness and the consciousness of freedom: the phenomenology of psychiatric labelling
- Authors: Bradfield, Bruce
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007882
- Description: Paradigmatically led by existential phenomenological premises, as formulated by Jean-Paul Sartre and Edmund Husserl specifically, this paper aims at a deconstruction of the value of psychiatric labelling in terms of the implications of such labelling for the labelled individual's experience of freedom as a conscious imperative. This work has as its intention the destabilisation of labelling as a stubborn and inexorable mechanism for social propriety and regularity, which in its unyielding classificatory brandings is.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Bradfield, Bruce
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007882
- Description: Paradigmatically led by existential phenomenological premises, as formulated by Jean-Paul Sartre and Edmund Husserl specifically, this paper aims at a deconstruction of the value of psychiatric labelling in terms of the implications of such labelling for the labelled individual's experience of freedom as a conscious imperative. This work has as its intention the destabilisation of labelling as a stubborn and inexorable mechanism for social propriety and regularity, which in its unyielding classificatory brandings is.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Some factors governing the water quality of microtidal estuaries in South Africa
- Authors: Allanson, Brian R
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7096 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012439
- Description: The role of coastal geomorphology and Man-made alterations, including reduced river flow through dam construction, determines, at least in part, the water quality of South African microtidal estuaries. To offer increased understanding of the manner in which these features may modify water quality, a short description of the biogeochemical processes in estuaries is provided. Comment on the present limitations of modelling some of the estuarine processes in South African investigations is given.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Allanson, Brian R
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7096 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012439
- Description: The role of coastal geomorphology and Man-made alterations, including reduced river flow through dam construction, determines, at least in part, the water quality of South African microtidal estuaries. To offer increased understanding of the manner in which these features may modify water quality, a short description of the biogeochemical processes in estuaries is provided. Comment on the present limitations of modelling some of the estuarine processes in South African investigations is given.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
The role of ‘African Chemists’ in the health care system of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa
- Cocks, Michelle L, Dold, Anthony P
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2000
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7105 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010675
- Description: Self-medication is documented as an integral part of health care therapy in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda and Mexico. In South Africa the types of illnesses and health problems that are referred to both traditional healers and biomedical practices have been well documented. However, very little literature exists on self-diagnosis, self-medication or sources of the medicines used for self-medication. This bias in the literature has come about largely because anthropological studies have focused on the later stages of the illness referral system when treatment is sought from a specialist for symptoms which have not responded to forms of self-medication. As a result of this, health care studies have documented the more exceptional exotic healing rituals and culturally bound syndromes of a particular society or community, and not discussed the more ordinary practices of self-medication of everyday illness. Self-medication is however an important initial response to illness and many illnesses are successfully managed at this stage. Amayeza stores (singular-iyeza store) — or ‘African chemists’ — are an important source of medicines for self-diagnosed illnesses. The current discussion focuses on the types of medicines and treatments that are obtained from amayeza stores without professional consultation in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2000
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7105 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010675
- Description: Self-medication is documented as an integral part of health care therapy in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda and Mexico. In South Africa the types of illnesses and health problems that are referred to both traditional healers and biomedical practices have been well documented. However, very little literature exists on self-diagnosis, self-medication or sources of the medicines used for self-medication. This bias in the literature has come about largely because anthropological studies have focused on the later stages of the illness referral system when treatment is sought from a specialist for symptoms which have not responded to forms of self-medication. As a result of this, health care studies have documented the more exceptional exotic healing rituals and culturally bound syndromes of a particular society or community, and not discussed the more ordinary practices of self-medication of everyday illness. Self-medication is however an important initial response to illness and many illnesses are successfully managed at this stage. Amayeza stores (singular-iyeza store) — or ‘African chemists’ — are an important source of medicines for self-diagnosed illnesses. The current discussion focuses on the types of medicines and treatments that are obtained from amayeza stores without professional consultation in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000