Effect of laundry activities on in-stream concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate in a small rural South African river
- Gordon, Andrew K, Muller, Wilhelmine J, Gysman, N, Marshall, S J, Sparham, C J, O'Connor, S M, Whelan, M J
- Authors: Gordon, Andrew K , Muller, Wilhelmine J , Gysman, N , Marshall, S J , Sparham, C J , O'Connor, S M , Whelan, M J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012427
- Description: In many parts of the world clothes are washed near to or in rivers and streams. Little information is available on resulting concentrations of detergent ingredients or on any potential effects caused. In this study, the fate of a commonly used anionic surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) was investigated in a reach of the Balfour River (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) which was regularly used as a site for laundry activity. Samples of river water were collected upstream of the main washing site and at a number of locations downstream on several occasions in winter and summer. Sediment samples were also collected and analysed. In addition, a household survey was conducted to ascertain the amount of detergent used and the distribution of washing practices. The results of the survey suggested that the use of riverside locations for laundry activities was seasonal. Most washing tended to be done at home during the winter with riverside sites used more frequently during the summer months. The monitoring data showed that LAS concentrations in water were very variable. They were occasionally high in the immediate vicinity of the laundry site (up to 342 µg L− 1) but were generally very low (< 11 µg L− 1) at downstream monitoring stations, suggesting that LAS was rapidly dissipated by a combination of degradation, hydrodynamic dispersion and dilution. Concentrations in the immediate vicinity of the washing site were lower than expected on the basis of the household survey because most waste water was disposed of on the river bank rather than directly in the river. No ecological effects are expected from LAS emissions at this site.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Gordon, Andrew K , Muller, Wilhelmine J , Gysman, N , Marshall, S J , Sparham, C J , O'Connor, S M , Whelan, M J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012427
- Description: In many parts of the world clothes are washed near to or in rivers and streams. Little information is available on resulting concentrations of detergent ingredients or on any potential effects caused. In this study, the fate of a commonly used anionic surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) was investigated in a reach of the Balfour River (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) which was regularly used as a site for laundry activity. Samples of river water were collected upstream of the main washing site and at a number of locations downstream on several occasions in winter and summer. Sediment samples were also collected and analysed. In addition, a household survey was conducted to ascertain the amount of detergent used and the distribution of washing practices. The results of the survey suggested that the use of riverside locations for laundry activities was seasonal. Most washing tended to be done at home during the winter with riverside sites used more frequently during the summer months. The monitoring data showed that LAS concentrations in water were very variable. They were occasionally high in the immediate vicinity of the laundry site (up to 342 µg L− 1) but were generally very low (< 11 µg L− 1) at downstream monitoring stations, suggesting that LAS was rapidly dissipated by a combination of degradation, hydrodynamic dispersion and dilution. Concentrations in the immediate vicinity of the washing site were lower than expected on the basis of the household survey because most waste water was disposed of on the river bank rather than directly in the river. No ecological effects are expected from LAS emissions at this site.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Compositional varition of the Essential Oils of Artemisia afra Jacq. from three Provinces in South Africa- A Case Study of its safety
- Oyedeji, O A, Afolayan, A J, Hutchings, A
- Authors: Oyedeji, O A , Afolayan, A J , Hutchings, A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/748 , vital:29679
- Description: In South Africa, Centella asiatica. (L.) Urb is used traditionally for the treatment of various diseases. Analyses of the essential oil of this medicinal plant revealed 11 monoterpenoid hydrocarbons (20.20%), nine oxygenated monoterpenoids (5.46%), 14 sesquiterpenoid hydrocarbons (68.80%), five oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (3.90%), and one sulfide sesquiterpenoid (0.76%). α.-Humulene (21.06%), β.-caryophyllene (19.08%), bicyclogermacrene (11.22%), germacrene B (6.29%), and myrcene (6.55%) were the predominant constitutes. The essential oil extract exhibited a broad spectrum of antibacterial activities against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus.) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei.) organisms.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Oyedeji, O A , Afolayan, A J , Hutchings, A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/748 , vital:29679
- Description: In South Africa, Centella asiatica. (L.) Urb is used traditionally for the treatment of various diseases. Analyses of the essential oil of this medicinal plant revealed 11 monoterpenoid hydrocarbons (20.20%), nine oxygenated monoterpenoids (5.46%), 14 sesquiterpenoid hydrocarbons (68.80%), five oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (3.90%), and one sulfide sesquiterpenoid (0.76%). α.-Humulene (21.06%), β.-caryophyllene (19.08%), bicyclogermacrene (11.22%), germacrene B (6.29%), and myrcene (6.55%) were the predominant constitutes. The essential oil extract exhibited a broad spectrum of antibacterial activities against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus.) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei.) organisms.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
Who uses the fishery resources in South Africa’s largest impoundment? Characterising subsistence and recreational fishing sectors on Lake Gariep
- Ellender, Bruce R, Weyl, Olaf L F, Winker, A Henning
- Authors: Ellender, Bruce R , Weyl, Olaf L F , Winker, A Henning
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6778 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008088
- Description: The African Union’s prioritisation of inland fisheries as an investment area for poverty alleviation and regional economic development will require the development of management plans. These should be based on sound knowledge of the social dynamics of the resource users. In South Africa the social dynamics of resource users of inland fisheries have never been assessed. The purpose of this study was to assess the human dimensions of the anglers utilising the fishery in Lake Gariep, South Africa’s largest impoundment. The study was based on 357 first-time interviews conducted on the lakeshore between October 2006 and December 2007. Anglers were categorised as recreational (39%) or subsistence (61%) based on their residency, occupation, primary motivation for angling, mode of transport and gear use. Subsistence anglers were local (99%), residing within 10 km of the place where they were interviewed, while recreational anglers included both local resident and non-resident members. The racial composition of anglers was dependent on user group and differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) from the demographic composition of the regional population. Recreational anglers were predominantly White (≥ 60% of interviews) and Coloured (≥ 25%), while 84% of subsistence anglers were Coloured and 16% Black African. Most recreational anglers had permanent employment or were pensioners while <30% of subsistence anglers were permanently employed. Most recreational users (82%) accessed the lake with their own vehicle while subsistence anglers mainly walked (63%) or used a bicycle (28%). Recreational interviewees either consumed (59%), sold (11%), gave away (10%) or released (20%) some of their catch. Subsistence anglers either ate their catch (53%) and/or sold (41%) their catch. Within the subsistence sector no anglers released fish after capture or gave some of the catch away. We conclude that this inland fishery contributes to the livelihood of the rural poor who use the lake on a subsistence basis and that recreational-angler based tourism may contribute to increased income and employment opportunities through related service industries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Ellender, Bruce R , Weyl, Olaf L F , Winker, A Henning
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6778 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008088
- Description: The African Union’s prioritisation of inland fisheries as an investment area for poverty alleviation and regional economic development will require the development of management plans. These should be based on sound knowledge of the social dynamics of the resource users. In South Africa the social dynamics of resource users of inland fisheries have never been assessed. The purpose of this study was to assess the human dimensions of the anglers utilising the fishery in Lake Gariep, South Africa’s largest impoundment. The study was based on 357 first-time interviews conducted on the lakeshore between October 2006 and December 2007. Anglers were categorised as recreational (39%) or subsistence (61%) based on their residency, occupation, primary motivation for angling, mode of transport and gear use. Subsistence anglers were local (99%), residing within 10 km of the place where they were interviewed, while recreational anglers included both local resident and non-resident members. The racial composition of anglers was dependent on user group and differed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) from the demographic composition of the regional population. Recreational anglers were predominantly White (≥ 60% of interviews) and Coloured (≥ 25%), while 84% of subsistence anglers were Coloured and 16% Black African. Most recreational anglers had permanent employment or were pensioners while <30% of subsistence anglers were permanently employed. Most recreational users (82%) accessed the lake with their own vehicle while subsistence anglers mainly walked (63%) or used a bicycle (28%). Recreational interviewees either consumed (59%), sold (11%), gave away (10%) or released (20%) some of their catch. Subsistence anglers either ate their catch (53%) and/or sold (41%) their catch. Within the subsistence sector no anglers released fish after capture or gave some of the catch away. We conclude that this inland fishery contributes to the livelihood of the rural poor who use the lake on a subsistence basis and that recreational-angler based tourism may contribute to increased income and employment opportunities through related service industries.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Intellectual challenge is as necessary as breathing: an interview with Laurence Wright
- Authors: Wright, Laurence , Pearce, B
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7059 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007422
- Description: Professor Laurence Wright is Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University. In 2009, he will have completed 25 years of research, teaching and scholarship at Rhodes University and this interview marks the occasion. A Rhodes Scholar and a Commonwealth Scholar, he studied at the universities of Rhodes, Warwick and Oxford. He is also Honorary Life President of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. He has published widely in literary studies and is the Managing Editor of two academic journals as well as of the poetry magazine New Coin. He currently serves on the Council of the English Academy and is a co-opted member of the English National Language Body. He has taken a broad interest in the role of English in this country, ranging from language policy and teacher education matters, to archival research and the role of the humanities in public life. I thought that it would be worthwhile to interview him as his knowledge of literature is substantial, while his incisive and engaging thoughts on a range of topics are worth hearing. The interview was conducted intermittently by email between July and October, 2008.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Wright, Laurence , Pearce, B
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7059 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007422
- Description: Professor Laurence Wright is Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University. In 2009, he will have completed 25 years of research, teaching and scholarship at Rhodes University and this interview marks the occasion. A Rhodes Scholar and a Commonwealth Scholar, he studied at the universities of Rhodes, Warwick and Oxford. He is also Honorary Life President of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. He has published widely in literary studies and is the Managing Editor of two academic journals as well as of the poetry magazine New Coin. He currently serves on the Council of the English Academy and is a co-opted member of the English National Language Body. He has taken a broad interest in the role of English in this country, ranging from language policy and teacher education matters, to archival research and the role of the humanities in public life. I thought that it would be worthwhile to interview him as his knowledge of literature is substantial, while his incisive and engaging thoughts on a range of topics are worth hearing. The interview was conducted intermittently by email between July and October, 2008.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
'Fetal "rights"? The need for a unified approach to the fetus in the context of feticide'
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54163 , vital:26397 , https://store.lexisnexis.co.za/products/tydskrif-vir-hedendaagse-romeinshollandse-reg-journal-of-contemporary-romandutch-law-skuZASKU9780409079241/details
- Description: The issues of fetal protection, fetal rights and the status of unborn life have been debated on a variety of levels in a variety of disciplines over the past centuries. One needs only think of John Milton who asked the “hard” question: “For man to tell how human life began / Is hard: for who himself beginning knew?” (Paradise lost (1667) Bk 8 251–252). While the issue of fetal rights most often arises in abortion debates, the issue of fetal rights in the context of feticide has received scant attention in South Africa. (For a thought-provoking general discussion of fetal rights, see Du Plessis “Jurisprudential reflections on the status of unborn life” 1990 TSAR 44; Van Niekerk (ed) The status of prenatal life (1991) and Kahn (ed) The sanctity of human life (1983).) This note seeks to initiate a discussion on the current legal position in South Africa in respect of feticide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54163 , vital:26397 , https://store.lexisnexis.co.za/products/tydskrif-vir-hedendaagse-romeinshollandse-reg-journal-of-contemporary-romandutch-law-skuZASKU9780409079241/details
- Description: The issues of fetal protection, fetal rights and the status of unborn life have been debated on a variety of levels in a variety of disciplines over the past centuries. One needs only think of John Milton who asked the “hard” question: “For man to tell how human life began / Is hard: for who himself beginning knew?” (Paradise lost (1667) Bk 8 251–252). While the issue of fetal rights most often arises in abortion debates, the issue of fetal rights in the context of feticide has received scant attention in South Africa. (For a thought-provoking general discussion of fetal rights, see Du Plessis “Jurisprudential reflections on the status of unborn life” 1990 TSAR 44; Van Niekerk (ed) The status of prenatal life (1991) and Kahn (ed) The sanctity of human life (1983).) This note seeks to initiate a discussion on the current legal position in South Africa in respect of feticide.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Synthesis and Pd(II) binding studies of octasubstituted alkyl thio derivatised phthalocyanines
- Ogunbayo, T B, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Ogunbayo, T B , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004170
- Description: Synthesis and characterization of non-peripherally (4,5) and peripherally (6,7) substituted metal free and Pd octapentylthiophthalocyanine and coordination of palladium ions to these Pcs are reported. The unmetalated complexes (4 and 6) show Pd coordination at the central metal and at the ring. The number of Pd ions bound to complex 4 were found to be five and to complex 6 were three. The equilibrium constant for the binding of Pd to complexes 4 was lower (K = 1.2 × 109 dm3 mol−1) than for complex 6 (K = 5.7 × 1010 dm3 mol−1).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Ogunbayo, T B , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004170
- Description: Synthesis and characterization of non-peripherally (4,5) and peripherally (6,7) substituted metal free and Pd octapentylthiophthalocyanine and coordination of palladium ions to these Pcs are reported. The unmetalated complexes (4 and 6) show Pd coordination at the central metal and at the ring. The number of Pd ions bound to complex 4 were found to be five and to complex 6 were three. The equilibrium constant for the binding of Pd to complexes 4 was lower (K = 1.2 × 109 dm3 mol−1) than for complex 6 (K = 5.7 × 1010 dm3 mol−1).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Geomorphology and dynamics of the Mfolozi River floodplain, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Grenfell, Suzanne E, Ellery, William F N, Grenfell, Michael C
- Authors: Grenfell, Suzanne E , Ellery, William F N , Grenfell, Michael C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6633 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006827
- Description: The geomorphology and dynamics of the Mfolozi River floodplain and estuary, located in the subtropical region of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were considered with respect to existing models of avulsion and alluvial stratigraphy. The Mfolozi River floodplain may be divided into regions based on longitudinal slope and dominant geomorphic processes. Confinement of the Mfolozi River above the floodplain has led to the development of an alluvial fan at the floodplain head, characterized by a relatively high sedimentation rate and avulsion frequency, at a gradient of 0.10%. The lower floodplain is controlled by sea level, with an average gradient of 0.05%. Between the two lies an extremely flat region with an average gradient of 0.02%, which may be controlled by faulting of the underlying bedrock. Avulsion occurrences on the Mfolozi floodplain are linked to the two main zones of aggradation, the alluvial fan at the floodplain head, and toward the river mouth in the lower floodplain. On the alluvial fan, normal flow conditions result in scour from local steepening. During infrequent, large flood events, the channel becomes overwhelmed with sediment and stream flow, and avulses. The resulting avulsion is regional, and affects the location of the channel from the floodplain head to the river mouth. Deposits resulting from such avulsions contribute significantly to the total volume of sediment stored in the floodplain, and tend to persist for long periods after the avulsion. Contrastingly, on the lower floodplain, reaching of the avulsion threshold is not necessarily linked to large flood events, but rather to long-term aggradation on the channel that decreases the existing channels gradient while increasing its elevation above the surrounding floodplain. Resultant avulsions tend to be local and do not contribute significantly to the overall volume of floodplain alluvium.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Grenfell, Suzanne E , Ellery, William F N , Grenfell, Michael C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6633 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006827
- Description: The geomorphology and dynamics of the Mfolozi River floodplain and estuary, located in the subtropical region of northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were considered with respect to existing models of avulsion and alluvial stratigraphy. The Mfolozi River floodplain may be divided into regions based on longitudinal slope and dominant geomorphic processes. Confinement of the Mfolozi River above the floodplain has led to the development of an alluvial fan at the floodplain head, characterized by a relatively high sedimentation rate and avulsion frequency, at a gradient of 0.10%. The lower floodplain is controlled by sea level, with an average gradient of 0.05%. Between the two lies an extremely flat region with an average gradient of 0.02%, which may be controlled by faulting of the underlying bedrock. Avulsion occurrences on the Mfolozi floodplain are linked to the two main zones of aggradation, the alluvial fan at the floodplain head, and toward the river mouth in the lower floodplain. On the alluvial fan, normal flow conditions result in scour from local steepening. During infrequent, large flood events, the channel becomes overwhelmed with sediment and stream flow, and avulses. The resulting avulsion is regional, and affects the location of the channel from the floodplain head to the river mouth. Deposits resulting from such avulsions contribute significantly to the total volume of sediment stored in the floodplain, and tend to persist for long periods after the avulsion. Contrastingly, on the lower floodplain, reaching of the avulsion threshold is not necessarily linked to large flood events, but rather to long-term aggradation on the channel that decreases the existing channels gradient while increasing its elevation above the surrounding floodplain. Resultant avulsions tend to be local and do not contribute significantly to the overall volume of floodplain alluvium.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
New soluble methylendioxy-phenoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanine derivatives : synthesis, photophysical and photochemical studies
- Erdoğmuş, Ali, Nyokong, Tebello
- Authors: Erdoğmuş, Ali , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6572 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004135
- Description: The syntheses of new three phthalonitriles (1, 2 and 3), together with photophysical and photochemical properties of the resulting peripherally and non-peripherally tetrakis- and octakis 3,4-(methylendioxy)-phenoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are described for the first time. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy and mass spectra. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have good solubility in organic solvents such as CHCl3, DCM, DMSO, DMF, THF and toluene and are mainly not aggregated (except for complex 6 in DMSO) within a wide concentration range. General trends are described for singlet oxygen, photodegradation, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times of these complexes in DMSO and toluene. Complex 4 has higher singlet oxygen quantum yields, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times than complexes 5 and 6. The effect of the solvents on the photophysical and photochemical parameters of the zinc(II) phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are also reported.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Erdoğmuş, Ali , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6572 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004135
- Description: The syntheses of new three phthalonitriles (1, 2 and 3), together with photophysical and photochemical properties of the resulting peripherally and non-peripherally tetrakis- and octakis 3,4-(methylendioxy)-phenoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are described for the first time. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy and mass spectra. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have good solubility in organic solvents such as CHCl3, DCM, DMSO, DMF, THF and toluene and are mainly not aggregated (except for complex 6 in DMSO) within a wide concentration range. General trends are described for singlet oxygen, photodegradation, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times of these complexes in DMSO and toluene. Complex 4 has higher singlet oxygen quantum yields, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times than complexes 5 and 6. The effect of the solvents on the photophysical and photochemical parameters of the zinc(II) phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are also reported.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Towards a GPS-based TEC prediction model for Southern Africa with feed forward networks
- Habarulema, John B, McKinnell, Lee-Anne, Opperman, Ben D L
- Authors: Habarulema, John B , McKinnell, Lee-Anne , Opperman, Ben D L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6806 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004192
- Description: In this paper, first results from a national Global Positioning System (GPS) based total electron content (TEC) prediction model over South Africa are presented. Data for 10 GPS receiver stations distributed through out the country were used to train a feed forward neural network (NN) over an interval of at most five years. In the NN training, validating and testing processes, five factors which are well known to influence TEC variability namely diurnal variation, seasonal variation, magnetic activity, solar activity and the geographic position of the GPS receivers were included in the NN model. The database consisted of 1-min data and therefore the NN model developed can be used to forecast TEC values 1 min in advance. Results from the NN national model (NM) were compared with hourly TEC values generated by the earlier developed NN single station models (SSMs) at Sutherland (32.38°S, 20.81°E) and Springbok (29.67°S, 17.88°E), to predict TEC variations over the Cape Town (33.95°S, 18.47°E) and Upington (28.41°S, 21.26°E) stations, respectively, during equinoxes and solstices. This revealed that, on average, the NM led to an improvement in TEC prediction accuracy compared to the SSMs for the considered testing periods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Habarulema, John B , McKinnell, Lee-Anne , Opperman, Ben D L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6806 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004192
- Description: In this paper, first results from a national Global Positioning System (GPS) based total electron content (TEC) prediction model over South Africa are presented. Data for 10 GPS receiver stations distributed through out the country were used to train a feed forward neural network (NN) over an interval of at most five years. In the NN training, validating and testing processes, five factors which are well known to influence TEC variability namely diurnal variation, seasonal variation, magnetic activity, solar activity and the geographic position of the GPS receivers were included in the NN model. The database consisted of 1-min data and therefore the NN model developed can be used to forecast TEC values 1 min in advance. Results from the NN national model (NM) were compared with hourly TEC values generated by the earlier developed NN single station models (SSMs) at Sutherland (32.38°S, 20.81°E) and Springbok (29.67°S, 17.88°E), to predict TEC variations over the Cape Town (33.95°S, 18.47°E) and Upington (28.41°S, 21.26°E) stations, respectively, during equinoxes and solstices. This revealed that, on average, the NM led to an improvement in TEC prediction accuracy compared to the SSMs for the considered testing periods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Treating posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa : an integrative model grounded in case-based research
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6232 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007782
- Description: The article presents a model for formulating and planning treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in South Africa derived from the existing literature and in conjunction with a review of a series of studies of cases treated using the guidelines of Ehlers and Clark's cognitive therapy. It is argued that the construction of psychotherapies (or even components of psychotherapy) for PTSD in terms of traditional categories ("psychodynamic", "cognitive-behavioural", "narrative" etc.) is misleading and unhelpful. Instead, superordinate concepts derived from thinking about evidence-based practice provide a more grounded focus on the practical issues faced by therapists treating PTSD. These concepts, which include competences and metcacompetences, therapist responsiveness, stages of therapy and case formulation, provide a basis for a genuinely integrative approach. The proposed model suggests seven broad areas of clinical focus for work with PTSD which can be arranged at three levels of priority: level 1 crisis intervention and stabilization; level 2 promoting engagement with treatment, and level 3 selection, sequencing and timing of active treatment interventions. Material from the case series is used to illustrate the application of the model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6232 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007782
- Description: The article presents a model for formulating and planning treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in South Africa derived from the existing literature and in conjunction with a review of a series of studies of cases treated using the guidelines of Ehlers and Clark's cognitive therapy. It is argued that the construction of psychotherapies (or even components of psychotherapy) for PTSD in terms of traditional categories ("psychodynamic", "cognitive-behavioural", "narrative" etc.) is misleading and unhelpful. Instead, superordinate concepts derived from thinking about evidence-based practice provide a more grounded focus on the practical issues faced by therapists treating PTSD. These concepts, which include competences and metcacompetences, therapist responsiveness, stages of therapy and case formulation, provide a basis for a genuinely integrative approach. The proposed model suggests seven broad areas of clinical focus for work with PTSD which can be arranged at three levels of priority: level 1 crisis intervention and stabilization; level 2 promoting engagement with treatment, and level 3 selection, sequencing and timing of active treatment interventions. Material from the case series is used to illustrate the application of the model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
The WHO UNESCO FIP Pharmacy Education Taskforce (commentary)
- Anderson, Claire, Bates, Ian, Beck, Diane, Penick Brock, Tina, Futter, William T, Mercer, Hugo, Rouse, Mike, Whitmarsh, Sarah, Wuliji, Tana, Yonemura, Akemi
- Authors: Anderson, Claire , Bates, Ian , Beck, Diane , Penick Brock, Tina , Futter, William T , Mercer, Hugo , Rouse, Mike , Whitmarsh, Sarah , Wuliji, Tana , Yonemura, Akemi
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6347 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006020
- Description: Pharmacists' roles are evolving from that of compounders and dispensers of medicines to that of experts on medicines within multidisciplinary health care teams. In the developing country context, the pharmacy is often the most accessible or even the sole point of access to health care advice and services. Because of their knowledge of medicines and clinical therapeutics, pharmacists are suitably placed for task shifting in health care and could be further trained to undertake functions such as clinical management and laboratory diagnostics. Indeed, pharmacists have been shown to be willing, competent, and cost-effective providers of what the professional literature calls "pharmaceutical care interventions"; however, internationally, there is an underuse of pharmacists for patient care and public health efforts. A coordinated and multifaceted effort to advance workforce planning, training and education is needed in order to prepare an adequate number of well-trained pharmacists for such roles. Acknowledging that health care needs can vary across geography and culture, an international group of key stakeholders in pharmacy education and global health has reached unanimous agreement that pharmacy education must be quality-driven and directed towards societal health care needs, the services required to meet those needs, the competences necessary to provide these services and the education needed to ensure those competences. Using that framework, this commentary describes the Pharmacy Education Taskforce of the World Health Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Pharmaceutical Federation Global Pharmacy and the Education Action Plan 2008–2010, including the foundation, domains, objectives and outcome measures, and includes several examples of current activities within this scope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Anderson, Claire , Bates, Ian , Beck, Diane , Penick Brock, Tina , Futter, William T , Mercer, Hugo , Rouse, Mike , Whitmarsh, Sarah , Wuliji, Tana , Yonemura, Akemi
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6347 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006020
- Description: Pharmacists' roles are evolving from that of compounders and dispensers of medicines to that of experts on medicines within multidisciplinary health care teams. In the developing country context, the pharmacy is often the most accessible or even the sole point of access to health care advice and services. Because of their knowledge of medicines and clinical therapeutics, pharmacists are suitably placed for task shifting in health care and could be further trained to undertake functions such as clinical management and laboratory diagnostics. Indeed, pharmacists have been shown to be willing, competent, and cost-effective providers of what the professional literature calls "pharmaceutical care interventions"; however, internationally, there is an underuse of pharmacists for patient care and public health efforts. A coordinated and multifaceted effort to advance workforce planning, training and education is needed in order to prepare an adequate number of well-trained pharmacists for such roles. Acknowledging that health care needs can vary across geography and culture, an international group of key stakeholders in pharmacy education and global health has reached unanimous agreement that pharmacy education must be quality-driven and directed towards societal health care needs, the services required to meet those needs, the competences necessary to provide these services and the education needed to ensure those competences. Using that framework, this commentary describes the Pharmacy Education Taskforce of the World Health Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Pharmaceutical Federation Global Pharmacy and the Education Action Plan 2008–2010, including the foundation, domains, objectives and outcome measures, and includes several examples of current activities within this scope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Pointfree pseudocompactness revisited
- Authors: Dube, T , Matutu, Phethiwe P
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6781 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006924
- Description: We give several internal and external characterizations of pseudocompactness in frames which extend (and transcend) analogous characterizations in topological spaces. In the case of internal characterizations we do not make reference (explicitly or implicitly) to the reals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Dube, T , Matutu, Phethiwe P
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6781 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006924
- Description: We give several internal and external characterizations of pseudocompactness in frames which extend (and transcend) analogous characterizations in topological spaces. In the case of internal characterizations we do not make reference (explicitly or implicitly) to the reals.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
What services and supports are needed to enable trauma survivors to rebuild their lives? Implications of a systematic case study of cognitive therapy with a township adolescent girl with PTSD following rape
- Payne, Charmaine, Edwards, David J A
- Authors: Payne, Charmaine , Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6278 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008279
- Description: This systematic clinical case study describes the psychological assessment and treatment with cognitive therapy of Zanele, a Xhosa-speaking adolescent rape survivor with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A case narrative was developed to document the main features of the therapy process and progress was monitored using scales measuring symptoms of depression and PTSD. The narrative documents the operation in a local context of factors that maintain PTSD that have been identified in the international literature and, with the self-report scales, provides evidence for Zanele’s recovery from PTSD and the transportability to this context of an evidence-based psychological treatment. The narrative also documents the lack of safety for young women and girls in a South African township as well as significant limitations in the professional services available: in this case, Zanele was infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases but medical management had not been followed through, and criminal charges against the rapist were dropped, and dropped again even after he had committed another rape on a six-year-old girl. This provides a basis for examining the complementary roles that can be played by psychologists and other professionals in empowering trauma survivors to regain a sense of dignity and control over their lives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Payne, Charmaine , Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6278 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008279
- Description: This systematic clinical case study describes the psychological assessment and treatment with cognitive therapy of Zanele, a Xhosa-speaking adolescent rape survivor with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A case narrative was developed to document the main features of the therapy process and progress was monitored using scales measuring symptoms of depression and PTSD. The narrative documents the operation in a local context of factors that maintain PTSD that have been identified in the international literature and, with the self-report scales, provides evidence for Zanele’s recovery from PTSD and the transportability to this context of an evidence-based psychological treatment. The narrative also documents the lack of safety for young women and girls in a South African township as well as significant limitations in the professional services available: in this case, Zanele was infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases but medical management had not been followed through, and criminal charges against the rapist were dropped, and dropped again even after he had committed another rape on a six-year-old girl. This provides a basis for examining the complementary roles that can be played by psychologists and other professionals in empowering trauma survivors to regain a sense of dignity and control over their lives.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
The thoroughly democratic logic of refusing to vote
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6202 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008570
- Description: [From introduction]: Poor people’s movements like the Landless People’s Movement in Johannesburg, the Anti-Eviction Campaign in Cape Town and Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban and Cape Town, along with a host of smaller community organisations around the country, have announced their refusal to vote in the coming election.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6202 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008570
- Description: [From introduction]: Poor people’s movements like the Landless People’s Movement in Johannesburg, the Anti-Eviction Campaign in Cape Town and Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban and Cape Town, along with a host of smaller community organisations around the country, have announced their refusal to vote in the coming election.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Antiretroviral therapy in a South African public health care setting – facilitating and constraining factors
- Ruud, K W, Srinivas, Sunitha C, Toverud, E-L
- Authors: Ruud, K W , Srinivas, Sunitha C , Toverud, E-L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6453 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006831
- Description: The objective of the study was to identify and document facilitating and constraining factors in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in a public health care setting in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Observations for the study were carried out in a district hospital and two down-referral clinics in Makana Local Services Area in the Eastern Cape Province. Two discussion groups with key stakeholders were conducted to gather information about opinions and experiences among the health care providers (HCPs). It was found that the operating ART programme in this setting has been integrated in the existing down-referral health care system, based on follow-up in primary health care (PHC) clinics. Treatment is provided free of charge. The treatment programme provides the patients with access to counselling, nutritional assistance, psychosocial support and social welfare evaluation. However, increasing patient numbers and lack of human resources leads to a heavy workload for the HCPs involved with the ART programme. The need for additional, educated health workers is a major constraint for progress in provision of health care to patients who have accepted their HIV status, and are enrolled, or waiting to be enrolled, on the ART. However, delegation of work tasks among available HCPs and good communication between HCPs in the different clinics is a facilitating factor that ensures efficient use of the human resources available. Conclusion: Taking into account the challenges in a resource-constrained setting, this programme shows potential for functioning well as a provider of ART for those who are able and willing to access it. Considering an already heavy workload for HCPs, limitations and challenges still exist in reaching out with adequate treatment to a greater number of people who need ART.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Ruud, K W , Srinivas, Sunitha C , Toverud, E-L
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6453 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006831
- Description: The objective of the study was to identify and document facilitating and constraining factors in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in a public health care setting in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Observations for the study were carried out in a district hospital and two down-referral clinics in Makana Local Services Area in the Eastern Cape Province. Two discussion groups with key stakeholders were conducted to gather information about opinions and experiences among the health care providers (HCPs). It was found that the operating ART programme in this setting has been integrated in the existing down-referral health care system, based on follow-up in primary health care (PHC) clinics. Treatment is provided free of charge. The treatment programme provides the patients with access to counselling, nutritional assistance, psychosocial support and social welfare evaluation. However, increasing patient numbers and lack of human resources leads to a heavy workload for the HCPs involved with the ART programme. The need for additional, educated health workers is a major constraint for progress in provision of health care to patients who have accepted their HIV status, and are enrolled, or waiting to be enrolled, on the ART. However, delegation of work tasks among available HCPs and good communication between HCPs in the different clinics is a facilitating factor that ensures efficient use of the human resources available. Conclusion: Taking into account the challenges in a resource-constrained setting, this programme shows potential for functioning well as a provider of ART for those who are able and willing to access it. Considering an already heavy workload for HCPs, limitations and challenges still exist in reaching out with adequate treatment to a greater number of people who need ART.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Elections: a dangerous time for poor people's movements in South Africa
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6203 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008572
- Description: [From introduction]: History groans with the suffering caused by authoritarian individuals and regimes that were elected to power. For this reason the only useful measure of the commitment of any political project to democracy is to see how it responds to challenges to its own position and ideas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Pithouse, Richard, 1970-
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6203 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008572
- Description: [From introduction]: History groans with the suffering caused by authoritarian individuals and regimes that were elected to power. For this reason the only useful measure of the commitment of any political project to democracy is to see how it responds to challenges to its own position and ideas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
An account of the life of Captain Samuel Jervois
- Authors: Jervois, W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7005 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008380
- Description: [From the introduction]: In this paper, an attempt is made to link the known details of the life of Samuel Jervois with a chain of hypotheses that are based on a study of the people, places and events that made up the environment in which he lived.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Jervois, W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7005 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008380
- Description: [From the introduction]: In this paper, an attempt is made to link the known details of the life of Samuel Jervois with a chain of hypotheses that are based on a study of the people, places and events that made up the environment in which he lived.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2009
Danger and disease in sex education : the saturation of ‘adolescence’ with colonialist assumptions
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:6252 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007870
- Description: The United Nations Development Programme’s Millennium project argues for the importance of sexual and reproductive health in the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals. Sex education programmes, aimed principally at the youth, are thus emphasised and are in line with the specific Millennium Development Goals of reducing the incidence of HIV and improving maternal health. In this paper I analyse recent South African sex education and Life Orientation (a learning area containing sex education) manuals. Danger and disease feature as guiding metaphors for these manuals, with early reproduction and abortion being depicted as wholly deleterious and non-normative relationships leading to disease. I argue, firstly, that these renditions ignore well-designed comparative research that calls into questions the easy assumption of negative consequences accompanying ‘teenage pregnancy’ and abortion, and, secondly, that the persistence of danger and disease in sex education programmes is premised on a discourse of ‘adolescence’. ‘Adolescence’ as a concept is always already saturated with the colonialist foundation of phylogeny re-capitulating ontogeny. Individual development is interweaved with collective development with the threat of degeneration implied in both. This interweaving allows for the instrumentalist goal of sex education in which social changes are sought through changing individuals’ sexual attitudes and behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:6252 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007870
- Description: The United Nations Development Programme’s Millennium project argues for the importance of sexual and reproductive health in the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals. Sex education programmes, aimed principally at the youth, are thus emphasised and are in line with the specific Millennium Development Goals of reducing the incidence of HIV and improving maternal health. In this paper I analyse recent South African sex education and Life Orientation (a learning area containing sex education) manuals. Danger and disease feature as guiding metaphors for these manuals, with early reproduction and abortion being depicted as wholly deleterious and non-normative relationships leading to disease. I argue, firstly, that these renditions ignore well-designed comparative research that calls into questions the easy assumption of negative consequences accompanying ‘teenage pregnancy’ and abortion, and, secondly, that the persistence of danger and disease in sex education programmes is premised on a discourse of ‘adolescence’. ‘Adolescence’ as a concept is always already saturated with the colonialist foundation of phylogeny re-capitulating ontogeny. Individual development is interweaved with collective development with the threat of degeneration implied in both. This interweaving allows for the instrumentalist goal of sex education in which social changes are sought through changing individuals’ sexual attitudes and behaviour.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Spectroscopic and photophysicochemical behaviour of novel cadmium phthalocyanine derivatives tetra-substituted at the alpha and beta positions
- Nyokong, Tebello, Chidawanyika, Wadzanai J U
- Authors: Nyokong, Tebello , Chidawanyika, Wadzanai J U
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004147
- Description: The syntheses of three cadmium phthalocyanine derivatives tetrakis{1,(4)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (5a), tetrakis{1,(4)-(2-pyridyloxy)phthalocyaninato} (5b) and tetrakis{2,(3)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (6a) are reported here for the first time. Spectroscopic and photophysical properties have also been determined and the results are discussed here paying particular attention to the influence of various organic solvents in relation to the position and type of substitution. Singlet oxygen quantum yields (ΦΔ) and photodegradation quantum yields (ΦPd) have also been discussed. The triplet quantum yields have been determined and ranged from ΦT = 0.36 to 0.85, where the peripherally (β) substituted derivatives generally give higher values than those substituted at the non-peripheral (α) positions. The triplet lifetimes ranged from τT = 5 to 40 μs. In all cases (except toluene, due to the lack of data), the highest singlet oxygen quantum yields obtained were for the pyridyloxy-substituted derivatives 5b (ΦΔ = 0.60 in DMF) and 6b (ΦΔ = 0.74 in DMSO).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Nyokong, Tebello , Chidawanyika, Wadzanai J U
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004147
- Description: The syntheses of three cadmium phthalocyanine derivatives tetrakis{1,(4)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (5a), tetrakis{1,(4)-(2-pyridyloxy)phthalocyaninato} (5b) and tetrakis{2,(3)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (6a) are reported here for the first time. Spectroscopic and photophysical properties have also been determined and the results are discussed here paying particular attention to the influence of various organic solvents in relation to the position and type of substitution. Singlet oxygen quantum yields (ΦΔ) and photodegradation quantum yields (ΦPd) have also been discussed. The triplet quantum yields have been determined and ranged from ΦT = 0.36 to 0.85, where the peripherally (β) substituted derivatives generally give higher values than those substituted at the non-peripheral (α) positions. The triplet lifetimes ranged from τT = 5 to 40 μs. In all cases (except toluene, due to the lack of data), the highest singlet oxygen quantum yields obtained were for the pyridyloxy-substituted derivatives 5b (ΦΔ = 0.60 in DMF) and 6b (ΦΔ = 0.74 in DMSO).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
Why we should avoid the use of the term “Post-Abortion Syndrome” : commentary on Boulind and Edwards (2008)
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6277 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008277
- Description: Boulind and Edwards (2008) present a case study of Grace, a women suffering, in their words, from post-abortion syndrome (PAS). In this commentary I argue that while Boulind and Edwards’ (2008) report is useful in terms of documenting the therapeutic processes engaged in, they would have been better served in not hanging the distress experienced by Grace on the diagnostic category of post-abortion syndrome. Reasons for this are that: PAS is not a recognised category of diagnosis, despite having been initially proposed in 1981; applying a PTSD framework to abortion is questionable; PAS focuses attention on the abortion itself in isolation from the fact that abortion occurs in the context of severely problematic pregnancies and other important socio-cultural stressors; PAS, in the very manner in which it is formulated, invokes to a very complex politics of the foetus. Boulind and Edwards (2008) are careful in their documentation of the complexities of the case, and thus their use of PAS is unfortunate.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6277 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008277
- Description: Boulind and Edwards (2008) present a case study of Grace, a women suffering, in their words, from post-abortion syndrome (PAS). In this commentary I argue that while Boulind and Edwards’ (2008) report is useful in terms of documenting the therapeutic processes engaged in, they would have been better served in not hanging the distress experienced by Grace on the diagnostic category of post-abortion syndrome. Reasons for this are that: PAS is not a recognised category of diagnosis, despite having been initially proposed in 1981; applying a PTSD framework to abortion is questionable; PAS focuses attention on the abortion itself in isolation from the fact that abortion occurs in the context of severely problematic pregnancies and other important socio-cultural stressors; PAS, in the very manner in which it is formulated, invokes to a very complex politics of the foetus. Boulind and Edwards (2008) are careful in their documentation of the complexities of the case, and thus their use of PAS is unfortunate.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009