Using iterative learning to improve understanding during the informed consent process in a South African psychiatric genomics study
- Campbell, Megan M, Susser, Ezra, Mall, Sumaya, Mqulwana, Sibonile G, Mndini, Michael M, Ntola, Odwa A, Nagdee, Mohamed, Zingela, Zukiswa, Van Wyk, Stephanus, Stein, Dan J
- Authors: Campbell, Megan M , Susser, Ezra , Mall, Sumaya , Mqulwana, Sibonile G , Mndini, Michael M , Ntola, Odwa A , Nagdee, Mohamed , Zingela, Zukiswa , Van Wyk, Stephanus , Stein, Dan J
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Informed consent (Medical law) , Patient education
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6114 , vital:45124 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188466
- Description: Obtaining informed consent is a great challenge in global health research. There is a need for tools that can screen for and improve potential research participants’ understanding of the research study at the time of recruitment. Limited empirical research has been conducted in low and middle income countries, evaluating informed consent processes in genomics research. We sought to investigate the quality of informed consent obtained in a South African psychiatric genomics study. A Xhosa language version of the University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent Questionnaire (UBACC) was used to screen for capacity to consent and improve understanding through iterative learning in a sample of 528 Xhosa people with schizophrenia and 528 controls. We address two questions: firstly, whether research participants’ understanding of the research study improved through iterative learning; and secondly, what were predictors for better understanding of the research study at the initial screening? During screening 290 (55%) cases and 172 (33%) controls scored below the 14.5 cut-off for acceptable understanding of the research study elements, however after iterative learning only 38 (7%) cases and 13 (2.5%) controls continued to score below this cut-off. Significant variables associated with increased understanding of the consent included the psychiatric nurse recruiter conducting the consent screening, higher participant level of education, and being a control. The UBACC proved an effective tool to improve understanding of research study elements during consent, for both cases and controls. The tool holds utility for complex studies such as those involving genomics, where iterative learning can be used to make significant improvements in understanding of research study elements. The UBACC may be particularly important in groups with severe mental illness and lower education levels. Study recruiters play a significant role in managing the quality of the informed consent process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Campbell, Megan M , Susser, Ezra , Mall, Sumaya , Mqulwana, Sibonile G , Mndini, Michael M , Ntola, Odwa A , Nagdee, Mohamed , Zingela, Zukiswa , Van Wyk, Stephanus , Stein, Dan J
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Informed consent (Medical law) , Patient education
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6114 , vital:45124 , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188466
- Description: Obtaining informed consent is a great challenge in global health research. There is a need for tools that can screen for and improve potential research participants’ understanding of the research study at the time of recruitment. Limited empirical research has been conducted in low and middle income countries, evaluating informed consent processes in genomics research. We sought to investigate the quality of informed consent obtained in a South African psychiatric genomics study. A Xhosa language version of the University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent Questionnaire (UBACC) was used to screen for capacity to consent and improve understanding through iterative learning in a sample of 528 Xhosa people with schizophrenia and 528 controls. We address two questions: firstly, whether research participants’ understanding of the research study improved through iterative learning; and secondly, what were predictors for better understanding of the research study at the initial screening? During screening 290 (55%) cases and 172 (33%) controls scored below the 14.5 cut-off for acceptable understanding of the research study elements, however after iterative learning only 38 (7%) cases and 13 (2.5%) controls continued to score below this cut-off. Significant variables associated with increased understanding of the consent included the psychiatric nurse recruiter conducting the consent screening, higher participant level of education, and being a control. The UBACC proved an effective tool to improve understanding of research study elements during consent, for both cases and controls. The tool holds utility for complex studies such as those involving genomics, where iterative learning can be used to make significant improvements in understanding of research study elements. The UBACC may be particularly important in groups with severe mental illness and lower education levels. Study recruiters play a significant role in managing the quality of the informed consent process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Tracking the decline of the world’s largest seabream against policy adjustments
- Kerwath, Sven E, Parker, Denham, Winker, A Henning, Potts, Warren M, Mann, Bruce, Wilke, Christopher, Attwood, Colin G
- Authors: Kerwath, Sven E , Parker, Denham , Winker, A Henning , Potts, Warren M , Mann, Bruce , Wilke, Christopher , Attwood, Colin G
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131433 , vital:36571 , https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12853
- Description: For most rare marine species, abundance trends are poorly estimated. This uncertainty often translates into disagreement on management regulations, impeding conservation efforts when they are most urgently required. The world’s largest sea bream, the red steenbras Petrus rupestris, has undergone a substantial and widely acknowledged decline during the 20th century. Standardised probability of encounter over the last 3 decades was used to track red steenbras abundance trajectories in 2 regions, which together represent the species’ distribution. The results predicted a reduction in abundance of 44% in the East region and 96% in the South-West region, from what was already considered to be a collapsed population at the start of the time series. The species is now largely confined to areas in the centre of its historical abundance. Content analysis of a recreational angling magazine revealed a concurrent 50% decrease in reported size between 1984 and 2012. Shore-based observer data (2009-2010) indicate that the impact of recreational fishers on this species far exceeded that of commercial fishers at the time. Regulations in the form of progressively more stringent catch and effort restrictions appear to have been largely ineffective, too lenient, implemented too late or were unsuitable to control fishing mortality for this species. This study highlights 2 fundamental challenges in management of rare marine fish species: (1) providing decision makers with a credible measure of abundance for species whose rarity limits data availability and (2) implementing effective policy changes before the specific measures become ineffective and obsolete.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Kerwath, Sven E , Parker, Denham , Winker, A Henning , Potts, Warren M , Mann, Bruce , Wilke, Christopher , Attwood, Colin G
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/131433 , vital:36571 , https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12853
- Description: For most rare marine species, abundance trends are poorly estimated. This uncertainty often translates into disagreement on management regulations, impeding conservation efforts when they are most urgently required. The world’s largest sea bream, the red steenbras Petrus rupestris, has undergone a substantial and widely acknowledged decline during the 20th century. Standardised probability of encounter over the last 3 decades was used to track red steenbras abundance trajectories in 2 regions, which together represent the species’ distribution. The results predicted a reduction in abundance of 44% in the East region and 96% in the South-West region, from what was already considered to be a collapsed population at the start of the time series. The species is now largely confined to areas in the centre of its historical abundance. Content analysis of a recreational angling magazine revealed a concurrent 50% decrease in reported size between 1984 and 2012. Shore-based observer data (2009-2010) indicate that the impact of recreational fishers on this species far exceeded that of commercial fishers at the time. Regulations in the form of progressively more stringent catch and effort restrictions appear to have been largely ineffective, too lenient, implemented too late or were unsuitable to control fishing mortality for this species. This study highlights 2 fundamental challenges in management of rare marine fish species: (1) providing decision makers with a credible measure of abundance for species whose rarity limits data availability and (2) implementing effective policy changes before the specific measures become ineffective and obsolete.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Academic Practice & Reasoning: APR 122F
- Authors: Siziba, L P , Makwela, N
- Date: 2011-11
- Language: English
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18275 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1011271
- Description: Academic Practice & Reasoning: APR 122F, examination November 2011.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011-11
- Authors: Siziba, L P , Makwela, N
- Date: 2011-11
- Language: English
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18275 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1011271
- Description: Academic Practice & Reasoning: APR 122F, examination November 2011.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2011-11
Semi-submersible rigs: a vector transporting entire marine communities around the world
- Wanless, Ross M, Scott, Sue, Sauer, Warwick H H, Andrew, Timothy G, Glass, James P, Godfrey, Brian, Griffiths, Charles, Yeld, Eleanor
- Authors: Wanless, Ross M , Scott, Sue , Sauer, Warwick H H , Andrew, Timothy G , Glass, James P , Godfrey, Brian , Griffiths, Charles , Yeld, Eleanor
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126920 , vital:35935 , https://doi.10.1007/s10530-009-9666-2
- Description: A virtually intact subtropical reef community (14 phyla, 40 families and 62 non-native taxa) was associated with a rig under tow from Brazil that became stranded on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha. This exposes rigs as a significant vector spreading alien marine organisms, and includes the first records of free-swimming marine finfish populations becoming established after unintentional movement. With relatively trivial effort, a pre-tow clean would have obviated the need to salvage and dispose of the rig (undertaken largely to address concerns about invasive species), at a cost of *US$20 million. Our findings show that towing biofouled structures across biogeographic boundaries present unexcelled opportunities for invasion to a wide diversity of marine species. Better control and management of this vector is required urgently. Simultaneous, unintentional introductions of viable populations of multiple marine organisms are rare events, and we develop a basic framework for rapid assessment of invasion risks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Wanless, Ross M , Scott, Sue , Sauer, Warwick H H , Andrew, Timothy G , Glass, James P , Godfrey, Brian , Griffiths, Charles , Yeld, Eleanor
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126920 , vital:35935 , https://doi.10.1007/s10530-009-9666-2
- Description: A virtually intact subtropical reef community (14 phyla, 40 families and 62 non-native taxa) was associated with a rig under tow from Brazil that became stranded on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha. This exposes rigs as a significant vector spreading alien marine organisms, and includes the first records of free-swimming marine finfish populations becoming established after unintentional movement. With relatively trivial effort, a pre-tow clean would have obviated the need to salvage and dispose of the rig (undertaken largely to address concerns about invasive species), at a cost of *US$20 million. Our findings show that towing biofouled structures across biogeographic boundaries present unexcelled opportunities for invasion to a wide diversity of marine species. Better control and management of this vector is required urgently. Simultaneous, unintentional introductions of viable populations of multiple marine organisms are rare events, and we develop a basic framework for rapid assessment of invasion risks.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Rinistachya hilleri gen. et sp. nov.(Sphenophyllales), from the upper Devonian of South Africa
- Prestianni, Cyrille, Gess, Robert W
- Authors: Prestianni, Cyrille , Gess, Robert W
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/73883 , vital:30238 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-018-0385-3
- Description: A rich and diverse plant assemblage has been excavated from latest Devonian (Famennian) black shales of the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group) at Waterloo Farm, close to the city of Grahamstown (South Africa). Several specimens of a new sphenopsid have been collected. The description of this as a new taxon, here named Rinistachya hilleri, gen. et sp. nov., provides an important addition to the scarce early record of the group. Rinistachya hilleri presents a novel architecture that include apparently plesiomorphic characters, reminiscent of the organisation of the Iridopteridales (including the production of two types of laterals at one node, the location of fertile parts in loose whorls on lateral branches and an organisation of the fertile parts in which they branch several times before bearing distally elongate sporangia). Other characters unambiguously nest Rinistachya within the Sphenopsida (including presence of planate and slightly webbed ultimate appendages and lateral strobili made of successive whorls of fertile leaves with fertile parts located at their axil). This provides strong support for a close relationship between Sphenopsida and Iridopteridales. Rinistachya furthermore represents the first record of a Devonian sphenopsid from Gondwana and extends the known distribution of the Sphenopsida from the tropics to very high palaeolatitudes. It is a new sphenopsid with a peculiar organisation. The new taxon allows better characterization of the initial evolutionary radiation at the base of the group.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Prestianni, Cyrille , Gess, Robert W
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/73883 , vital:30238 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-018-0385-3
- Description: A rich and diverse plant assemblage has been excavated from latest Devonian (Famennian) black shales of the Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group) at Waterloo Farm, close to the city of Grahamstown (South Africa). Several specimens of a new sphenopsid have been collected. The description of this as a new taxon, here named Rinistachya hilleri, gen. et sp. nov., provides an important addition to the scarce early record of the group. Rinistachya hilleri presents a novel architecture that include apparently plesiomorphic characters, reminiscent of the organisation of the Iridopteridales (including the production of two types of laterals at one node, the location of fertile parts in loose whorls on lateral branches and an organisation of the fertile parts in which they branch several times before bearing distally elongate sporangia). Other characters unambiguously nest Rinistachya within the Sphenopsida (including presence of planate and slightly webbed ultimate appendages and lateral strobili made of successive whorls of fertile leaves with fertile parts located at their axil). This provides strong support for a close relationship between Sphenopsida and Iridopteridales. Rinistachya furthermore represents the first record of a Devonian sphenopsid from Gondwana and extends the known distribution of the Sphenopsida from the tropics to very high palaeolatitudes. It is a new sphenopsid with a peculiar organisation. The new taxon allows better characterization of the initial evolutionary radiation at the base of the group.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Art investment in South Africa: portfolio diversification and art market efficiency
- Botha, Ferdi, Snowball, Jeanette D, Scott, Brett
- Authors: Botha, Ferdi , Snowball, Jeanette D , Scott, Brett
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64794 , vital:28601 , http://www.dx.doi.org/10.17159/2222-3436/2016/v19n3a4
- Description: Art has been suggested as a good way to diversify investment portfolios during times of financial uncertainty. The argument is that art exhibits different risk and return characteristics to conventional investments in other asset classes. The new Citadel art price index offered the opportunity to test this theory in the South African context. Moreover, this paper tests whether art prices are efficient. The Citadel index uses the hedonic regression method with observations drawn from the top 100, 50 and 20 artists by sales volume, giving approximately 29 503 total auction observations. The Index consists of quarterly data from the period 2000Q1 to 2013Q3. A vector autoregression of the art price index, Johannesburg stock exchange all-share index, house price index, and South African government bond index were used. Results show that, when there are increased returns on the stock market in a preceding period and wealth increases, there is a change in the Citadel art price index in the same direction. No significant difference was found between the house price index and the art price index, or between the art and government bond price indices. The art market is also found to be inefficient, thereby exacerbating the risk of investing in art. Overall, the South African art market does not offer the opportunity to diversify portfolios dominated by either property, bonds, or shares.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Botha, Ferdi , Snowball, Jeanette D , Scott, Brett
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/64794 , vital:28601 , http://www.dx.doi.org/10.17159/2222-3436/2016/v19n3a4
- Description: Art has been suggested as a good way to diversify investment portfolios during times of financial uncertainty. The argument is that art exhibits different risk and return characteristics to conventional investments in other asset classes. The new Citadel art price index offered the opportunity to test this theory in the South African context. Moreover, this paper tests whether art prices are efficient. The Citadel index uses the hedonic regression method with observations drawn from the top 100, 50 and 20 artists by sales volume, giving approximately 29 503 total auction observations. The Index consists of quarterly data from the period 2000Q1 to 2013Q3. A vector autoregression of the art price index, Johannesburg stock exchange all-share index, house price index, and South African government bond index were used. Results show that, when there are increased returns on the stock market in a preceding period and wealth increases, there is a change in the Citadel art price index in the same direction. No significant difference was found between the house price index and the art price index, or between the art and government bond price indices. The art market is also found to be inefficient, thereby exacerbating the risk of investing in art. Overall, the South African art market does not offer the opportunity to diversify portfolios dominated by either property, bonds, or shares.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Xhosa Non-Mother Tongue: XNM 122E
- Authors: Satyo, N , Myoli, N
- Date: 2010-12
- Subjects: Xhosa language -- Foreign speakers
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18375 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1011532
- Description: Xhosa Non-Mother Tongue: XNM 122E, examination December 2010.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010-12
- Authors: Satyo, N , Myoli, N
- Date: 2010-12
- Subjects: Xhosa language -- Foreign speakers
- Language: Xhosa
- Type: Examination paper
- Identifier: vital:18375 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1011532
- Description: Xhosa Non-Mother Tongue: XNM 122E, examination December 2010.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010-12
Contrasting responses in the niches of two coral reef herbivores along a gradient of habitat disturbance in the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia
- Plass-Johnson, Jeremiah G, Bednarz, Vanessa N, Hill, Jaclyn M, Jompa, Jamaluddin, Ferse, Sebastian C A, Teichberg, Mirta
- Authors: Plass-Johnson, Jeremiah G , Bednarz, Vanessa N , Hill, Jaclyn M , Jompa, Jamaluddin , Ferse, Sebastian C A , Teichberg, Mirta
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69135 , vital:29398 , hhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00032
- Description: Habitat modification of coral reefs is becoming increasingly common due to increases in coastal urban populations. Coral reef fish are highly dependent on benthic habitat; however, information on species-specific responses to habitat change, in particular with regard to trophic strategies, remains scarce. This study identifies variation in the trophic niches of two herbivorous coral reef fishes with contrasting trophic strategies, using Stable Isotopes Bayesian Ellipses in R, along a spatial gradient of changing coral reef habitats. In the parrotfish Chlorurus bleekeri, a roving consumer, the range of δ15N and δ13C and their niche area displayed significant relationships with the amount of rubble in the habitat. In contrast, the farming damselfish, Dischistodus prosopotaenia, showed a narrow range of both δ15N and δ13C, displaying little change in niche parameters among sites. This may indicate that parrotfish vary their feeding according to habitat, while the damselfish continue to maintain their turf and invertebrate resources. Assessing isotopic niches may help to better understand the specific trophic responses to change in the environment. Furthermore, the use of isotopic niches underlines the utility of stable isotopes in studying the potential impacts of environmental change on feeding ecology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Plass-Johnson, Jeremiah G , Bednarz, Vanessa N , Hill, Jaclyn M , Jompa, Jamaluddin , Ferse, Sebastian C A , Teichberg, Mirta
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69135 , vital:29398 , hhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00032
- Description: Habitat modification of coral reefs is becoming increasingly common due to increases in coastal urban populations. Coral reef fish are highly dependent on benthic habitat; however, information on species-specific responses to habitat change, in particular with regard to trophic strategies, remains scarce. This study identifies variation in the trophic niches of two herbivorous coral reef fishes with contrasting trophic strategies, using Stable Isotopes Bayesian Ellipses in R, along a spatial gradient of changing coral reef habitats. In the parrotfish Chlorurus bleekeri, a roving consumer, the range of δ15N and δ13C and their niche area displayed significant relationships with the amount of rubble in the habitat. In contrast, the farming damselfish, Dischistodus prosopotaenia, showed a narrow range of both δ15N and δ13C, displaying little change in niche parameters among sites. This may indicate that parrotfish vary their feeding according to habitat, while the damselfish continue to maintain their turf and invertebrate resources. Assessing isotopic niches may help to better understand the specific trophic responses to change in the environment. Furthermore, the use of isotopic niches underlines the utility of stable isotopes in studying the potential impacts of environmental change on feeding ecology.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Versions of hospitality in recent writing on the fiction of JM Coetzee:
- Authors: Marais, Mike
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144039 , vital:38305 , DOI: 10.4314/eia.v40i1.8
- Description: In one of the interviews in Summertime, Martin, a former colleague, claims that he and the deceased John Coetzee felt their "presence" in South Africa "was legal but illegitimate," that it "was grounded in a crime, namely colonial conquest," which rendered them "sojourners, temporary residents, and to that extent without a home, without a homeland" (209-10). With this statement in mind, Maria J. Lopez argues that a sense of unbelonging underlies J. M. Coetzee's entire oeuvre, including the Australian fiction, and forms a kind of "imaginative and intellectual masterplot" (xii). ). It is this "narrative" that she traces in her monograph, starting with the early fiction and concluding with chapters on the fictionalised autobiographies and Australian fiction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Marais, Mike
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144039 , vital:38305 , DOI: 10.4314/eia.v40i1.8
- Description: In one of the interviews in Summertime, Martin, a former colleague, claims that he and the deceased John Coetzee felt their "presence" in South Africa "was legal but illegitimate," that it "was grounded in a crime, namely colonial conquest," which rendered them "sojourners, temporary residents, and to that extent without a home, without a homeland" (209-10). With this statement in mind, Maria J. Lopez argues that a sense of unbelonging underlies J. M. Coetzee's entire oeuvre, including the Australian fiction, and forms a kind of "imaginative and intellectual masterplot" (xii). ). It is this "narrative" that she traces in her monograph, starting with the early fiction and concluding with chapters on the fictionalised autobiographies and Australian fiction.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
ROB report to the COSATU Western Cape Regional Congress
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Mar 1991
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135365 , vital:37261
- Description: In this report we have focused more on policy issues than on an assessment of problems in the region, as we need to use our Regional Congresses in preparation for the issues which will be debated at National Congress. The government and the bosses are also trying to stop us making further gains. How do we respond? STATE OF THE NATION In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In October 1990, the SCN accord was signed, which gave us back the old Unfair Labour Practice definition, and also set the scene for introducing new legislation for farm, domestic and public sector workers. Since then, a number of unions have been meeting with sub-committees of the National Manpower Commission as well as the Commision for Administration (CFA) to argue for basic rights and legislation for these workers. COSATU now has a national Public Sector Forum under the COSATU Organising Department, and we are gearing up for this struggle as well as the struggle for an entirely and progressive Labour Relations Act.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Mar 1991
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Mar 1991
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135365 , vital:37261
- Description: In this report we have focused more on policy issues than on an assessment of problems in the region, as we need to use our Regional Congresses in preparation for the issues which will be debated at National Congress. The government and the bosses are also trying to stop us making further gains. How do we respond? STATE OF THE NATION In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In October 1990, the SCN accord was signed, which gave us back the old Unfair Labour Practice definition, and also set the scene for introducing new legislation for farm, domestic and public sector workers. Since then, a number of unions have been meeting with sub-committees of the National Manpower Commission as well as the Commision for Administration (CFA) to argue for basic rights and legislation for these workers. COSATU now has a national Public Sector Forum under the COSATU Organising Department, and we are gearing up for this struggle as well as the struggle for an entirely and progressive Labour Relations Act.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Mar 1991
Virtual Activism: internet memes and political discourse in Nigeria
- Authors: Jimoh, Ganiyu
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146767 , vital:38555 , http://www.tajuniuyo.ng/Virtual%20Activism%20Internet%20Memes%20and%20Political%20Discourse%20in%20Nigeria.html
- Description: This paper examines internet memes as a unique form of narratives about political discourse in Nigeria. Through the use of social media platforms as a vehicle of political communication, internet memes about politics explore issues that contain visual metaphors aimed at provoking discourse and stimulate political participation. By employing semiotic theory, this paper examines 200 pictorial internet memes on Nigerian politics between 2015 and 2018. I argue that internet memes about politics are related to political cartoons in form and context. But unlike cartoons, memes require less artistic prowess and figurative expression in rendition but could achieve the same desire in viewers. Owing to their composition of easily digestible visual elements, they appeal to more audience who in turn could easily lend their voices to a popular meme by adding more textual or visual enhancement to create more layers of meaning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Jimoh, Ganiyu
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146767 , vital:38555 , http://www.tajuniuyo.ng/Virtual%20Activism%20Internet%20Memes%20and%20Political%20Discourse%20in%20Nigeria.html
- Description: This paper examines internet memes as a unique form of narratives about political discourse in Nigeria. Through the use of social media platforms as a vehicle of political communication, internet memes about politics explore issues that contain visual metaphors aimed at provoking discourse and stimulate political participation. By employing semiotic theory, this paper examines 200 pictorial internet memes on Nigerian politics between 2015 and 2018. I argue that internet memes about politics are related to political cartoons in form and context. But unlike cartoons, memes require less artistic prowess and figurative expression in rendition but could achieve the same desire in viewers. Owing to their composition of easily digestible visual elements, they appeal to more audience who in turn could easily lend their voices to a popular meme by adding more textual or visual enhancement to create more layers of meaning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Politics in the slum: a view from South Africa
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008579
- Description: [From introduction]The modern state, and its civil society, have always been comfortable with workers in their allotted place – be it formed around the immediate needs of industrial production, like the migrant workers hostels in apartheid South Africa or contemporary Dubai, or an attempt at creating a haven, like the suburban home which has its roots in the gendered and raced class compromise reached in North America after the Second World War. When there has been a part of the population rendered or considered superfluous to the immediate needs of production there has been a degree of comfort with the inevitably bounded spaces into which these people have been abandoned or contained – prisons, ghettos, Bantustans etc. But both the modern state and civil society have always been acutely uncomfortable with that part of the ‘dangerous class’ - vagabonds or squatters - that are, by virtue of their occupation of space outside of state regulation, by definition out of place and threatening to domination constructed, along with other lines of force, on the ordering of space.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6209 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008579
- Description: [From introduction]The modern state, and its civil society, have always been comfortable with workers in their allotted place – be it formed around the immediate needs of industrial production, like the migrant workers hostels in apartheid South Africa or contemporary Dubai, or an attempt at creating a haven, like the suburban home which has its roots in the gendered and raced class compromise reached in North America after the Second World War. When there has been a part of the population rendered or considered superfluous to the immediate needs of production there has been a degree of comfort with the inevitably bounded spaces into which these people have been abandoned or contained – prisons, ghettos, Bantustans etc. But both the modern state and civil society have always been acutely uncomfortable with that part of the ‘dangerous class’ - vagabonds or squatters - that are, by virtue of their occupation of space outside of state regulation, by definition out of place and threatening to domination constructed, along with other lines of force, on the ordering of space.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
Xenophobia, sovereign power and the limits of citizenship:
- Idahosa, Grace E, Vincent, Louise
- Authors: Idahosa, Grace E , Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141970 , vital:38020 , DOI: 10.1080/09744053.2014.914637
- Description: African foreigners in South Africa have frequently been the targets of violent and discriminatory practices, which occur in the enabling context of negative discourses concerning African foreigners that circulate in various spheres of public life. This study is interested in one particular field of interaction between African foreigners and the South African state, namely the public health sector. Discriminatory and, sometimes, violent practices towards African foreigners on the part of South African citizens are widely documented. Less discussed are the ways in which these practices of violence and discrimination are in fact state practices. We show this with reference to the treatment of African foreigners in the public health sector. We refer to this prejudicial treatment as health-care Xenophobia which is made possible by a wider set of discourses related to citizenship and the rights accruing to citizens which suggest the ‘non-rights’ of the non-citizen.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Idahosa, Grace E , Vincent, Louise
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141970 , vital:38020 , DOI: 10.1080/09744053.2014.914637
- Description: African foreigners in South Africa have frequently been the targets of violent and discriminatory practices, which occur in the enabling context of negative discourses concerning African foreigners that circulate in various spheres of public life. This study is interested in one particular field of interaction between African foreigners and the South African state, namely the public health sector. Discriminatory and, sometimes, violent practices towards African foreigners on the part of South African citizens are widely documented. Less discussed are the ways in which these practices of violence and discrimination are in fact state practices. We show this with reference to the treatment of African foreigners in the public health sector. We refer to this prejudicial treatment as health-care Xenophobia which is made possible by a wider set of discourses related to citizenship and the rights accruing to citizens which suggest the ‘non-rights’ of the non-citizen.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Some life-history parameters of the non-native amphipod Platorchestia platensis (Talitridae) in a warm temperate South African estuary
- Hodgson, Alan N, Booth, Anthony J, David-Engelbrecht, Viginia, Henninger, Tony O
- Authors: Hodgson, Alan N , Booth, Anthony J , David-Engelbrecht, Viginia , Henninger, Tony O
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126976 , vital:35940 , https://doi.10.1080/0035919X.2014.941961
- Description: Density, population structure, growth, mortality and aspects of reproduction of the non-native amphipod Platorchestia platensis were studied for 20 consecutive months (October 2008 to May 2010) in the supralittoral wrack of the Knysna Estuary, South Africa. Amphipod density varied over the sampling period with the lowest numbers recorded in summer (January and February). Ovigerous females with embryos, and juveniles were found in most months with peaks in recruitment found in both April and October, suggesting that in Knysna this species is a biannual breeder. Average female size was significantly greater in winter, with larger females tending to brood more embryos. The largest adults (13.5 mm total length) were always male although the monthly sex ratio was nearly always female biased. Growth rate estimated from a cohort analysis was about 1 mm per month and monthly survival about 69%. The ability to reproduce all year round may be one reason why this introduced species has become established within this warm temperate estuary.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Hodgson, Alan N , Booth, Anthony J , David-Engelbrecht, Viginia , Henninger, Tony O
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/126976 , vital:35940 , https://doi.10.1080/0035919X.2014.941961
- Description: Density, population structure, growth, mortality and aspects of reproduction of the non-native amphipod Platorchestia platensis were studied for 20 consecutive months (October 2008 to May 2010) in the supralittoral wrack of the Knysna Estuary, South Africa. Amphipod density varied over the sampling period with the lowest numbers recorded in summer (January and February). Ovigerous females with embryos, and juveniles were found in most months with peaks in recruitment found in both April and October, suggesting that in Knysna this species is a biannual breeder. Average female size was significantly greater in winter, with larger females tending to brood more embryos. The largest adults (13.5 mm total length) were always male although the monthly sex ratio was nearly always female biased. Growth rate estimated from a cohort analysis was about 1 mm per month and monthly survival about 69%. The ability to reproduce all year round may be one reason why this introduced species has become established within this warm temperate estuary.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The Educational Journal
- Date: 1965-04
- Subjects: Education –- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34227 , vital:33273 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1965-04
- Date: 1965-04
- Subjects: Education –- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government , Government, Resistance to -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/34227 , vital:33273 , Bulk File 7
- Description: The Educational Journal was the official organ of the Teachers' League of South Africa and focussed on education within the context of a racialized South Africa.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1965-04
Aphid (Sitobion yakini) investigation shows thin-walled sieve tubes in barley (Hordeum vulgare L) to be more functional than thick-walled sieve tubes
- Matsiliza, Balbalwa, Botha, Christiaan E J
- Authors: Matsiliza, Balbalwa , Botha, Christiaan E J
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005960
- Description: Barley, like most other grasses that have been studied, contains two kinds of sieve tube. The first formed are called thinwalled sieve tubes because of their thin wall compared to the late-formed, and are associated with companion cells. The late-formed are thick-walled sieve tubes, which differentiate next to the metaxylem vessels and lack companion cells. Aphid (Sitobion yakini (Eastop) feeding was studied using light microscopy to determine if they preferentially feed from thin- or thick-walled sieve tubes in the barley leaf. Penetration of the stylets through the leaf epidermis and mesophyll was largely intercellular, becoming partly intercellular and, partly, intracellular inside the vascular bundle. Sixteen of 19 pairs of stylets (84%), and 293 of 317 (92%) stylet tracks terminated at the thin-walled sieve tubes, suggesting that Sitobion yakini feeds preferentially on the thin-walled sieve tubes which seem to be more attractive to the aphid. These thin-walled sieve tubes are thus probably the most functional in terms of phloem loading and transport.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Matsiliza, Balbalwa , Botha, Christiaan E J
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1005960
- Description: Barley, like most other grasses that have been studied, contains two kinds of sieve tube. The first formed are called thinwalled sieve tubes because of their thin wall compared to the late-formed, and are associated with companion cells. The late-formed are thick-walled sieve tubes, which differentiate next to the metaxylem vessels and lack companion cells. Aphid (Sitobion yakini (Eastop) feeding was studied using light microscopy to determine if they preferentially feed from thin- or thick-walled sieve tubes in the barley leaf. Penetration of the stylets through the leaf epidermis and mesophyll was largely intercellular, becoming partly intercellular and, partly, intracellular inside the vascular bundle. Sixteen of 19 pairs of stylets (84%), and 293 of 317 (92%) stylet tracks terminated at the thin-walled sieve tubes, suggesting that Sitobion yakini feeds preferentially on the thin-walled sieve tubes which seem to be more attractive to the aphid. These thin-walled sieve tubes are thus probably the most functional in terms of phloem loading and transport.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Making sense of the unknown: a narrative analysis of COVID-19 stories as told by WSU research students
- Jayakrishnan, Lakshmi, van der Spuy, Alicia
- Authors: Jayakrishnan, Lakshmi , van der Spuy, Alicia
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Mthatha Research and Innovation Day , COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-
- Language: English
- Type: lecture , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6254 , vital:45365
- Description: The original objectives of this research was to find a research project for third year students which they could do during lockdown (National Diploma: Journalism). To find a research project for Advanced Diploma in Public Relations Management that they can do during lockdown. To introduce Year 1 Communication students to the basic principles of research through a project that they can relate to. to use the online platform for teaching and to discover people’s personal stories of their COVID-19 experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Jayakrishnan, Lakshmi , van der Spuy, Alicia
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Mthatha Research and Innovation Day , COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-
- Language: English
- Type: lecture , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6254 , vital:45365
- Description: The original objectives of this research was to find a research project for third year students which they could do during lockdown (National Diploma: Journalism). To find a research project for Advanced Diploma in Public Relations Management that they can do during lockdown. To introduce Year 1 Communication students to the basic principles of research through a project that they can relate to. to use the online platform for teaching and to discover people’s personal stories of their COVID-19 experiences.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Rhodes University 1983 Graduation Ceremonies Address
- Authors: Henderson, Derek Scott
- Date: 1983
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7451 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018328
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
- Authors: Henderson, Derek Scott
- Date: 1983
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:7451 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018328
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1983
Preliminary assessment of the gender aspects of disaster vulnerability and loss of human life in South Africa
- Tandlich, Roman, Chirenda, Tatenda G, Srinivas, Sunitha C
- Authors: Tandlich, Roman , Chirenda, Tatenda G , Srinivas, Sunitha C
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76183 , vital:30518 , https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v5i2.84
- Description: South Africa has reached a medium level of human development and has a heterogeneous situation with respect to disaster risk management. In this article, a preliminary assessment of the gender aspects of disaster vulnerability and fatalities is presented. The United Nations, the Health Systems Trust and Statistics South Africa were used as data sources for the following gender-segregated values: the life expectancy at birth, unemployment rates, the human development index values, the maternal mortality rates and the number of deaths from unnatural and non-natural causes. The relevant inequality indices were then calculated and used to draw conclusions regarding the gender aspects of disaster risk management in South Africa. Results of the calculations indicate that between 1980 and 2011 men were 10% more vulnerable with respect to their health status. However, the gender differences have been decreasing in recent years. Access of women to healthcare is decreasing with time, potentially decreasing the recovery potential of whole families. Women are more economically vulnerable than men in South Africa, as they are 16.3% – 33% more likely to be unemployed than men. Educational status of both genders in South Africa is comparable based on literacy and enrolment rates at primary and secondary level. On the other hand, men are five times more likely to suffer fatal injuries during disasters.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Tandlich, Roman , Chirenda, Tatenda G , Srinivas, Sunitha C
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/76183 , vital:30518 , https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v5i2.84
- Description: South Africa has reached a medium level of human development and has a heterogeneous situation with respect to disaster risk management. In this article, a preliminary assessment of the gender aspects of disaster vulnerability and fatalities is presented. The United Nations, the Health Systems Trust and Statistics South Africa were used as data sources for the following gender-segregated values: the life expectancy at birth, unemployment rates, the human development index values, the maternal mortality rates and the number of deaths from unnatural and non-natural causes. The relevant inequality indices were then calculated and used to draw conclusions regarding the gender aspects of disaster risk management in South Africa. Results of the calculations indicate that between 1980 and 2011 men were 10% more vulnerable with respect to their health status. However, the gender differences have been decreasing in recent years. Access of women to healthcare is decreasing with time, potentially decreasing the recovery potential of whole families. Women are more economically vulnerable than men in South Africa, as they are 16.3% – 33% more likely to be unemployed than men. Educational status of both genders in South Africa is comparable based on literacy and enrolment rates at primary and secondary level. On the other hand, men are five times more likely to suffer fatal injuries during disasters.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Teacher code switching consistency and precision in a multilingual mathematics classroom:
- Chikiwa, Clemence, Schäfer, Marc
- Authors: Chikiwa, Clemence , Schäfer, Marc
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141087 , vital:37943 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2016.1228823
- Description: This paper reports on a study that investigated teacher code switching consistency and precision in multilingual secondary school mathematics classrooms in South Africa. Data was obtained through interviewing and observing five lessons of each of three mathematics teachers purposively selected from three township schools in the Eastern Cape Province. Elements of Gumperz and Mercer’s work on lesson categories and Dowling’s Domains of Mathematical Practice were used to analyse data. Results showed that code switching frequency in general was inconsistent across different lessons for the same teacher.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Chikiwa, Clemence , Schäfer, Marc
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141087 , vital:37943 , https://doi.org/10.1080/18117295.2016.1228823
- Description: This paper reports on a study that investigated teacher code switching consistency and precision in multilingual secondary school mathematics classrooms in South Africa. Data was obtained through interviewing and observing five lessons of each of three mathematics teachers purposively selected from three township schools in the Eastern Cape Province. Elements of Gumperz and Mercer’s work on lesson categories and Dowling’s Domains of Mathematical Practice were used to analyse data. Results showed that code switching frequency in general was inconsistent across different lessons for the same teacher.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016