YM v LB (465/09) [2010] ZASCA 106 (17 September 2010)

In this matter, which resulted in an enquiry by the Supreme Court of Appeal and ultimately a unanimous decision, the facts were the following: the appellant, Mrs Y M (M) appealed against an order that she and her minor daughter (Y) submit to DNA testing to determine whether Mr L B (B), the respondent, was the biological father of Y. The order was sought by B, who also claimed that, if the tests proved that he was indeed the father, he should be given full parenting rights. The North Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) (Murphy J sitting as court of first instance), ordered that M submit herself and Y to DNA tests within 30 days of the date of the order, and postponed the other relief sine die. The Supreme Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal. On appeal, B filed no heads of argument, and nor was there any appearance on his behalf.https://journals.co.za/journal/obiteram2022Mercantile La

Public Opinions on Using Social Media Content to Identify Users With Depression and Target Mental Health Care Advertising: Mixed Methods Survey

Background: Depression is a common disorder that still remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in the UK National Health Service. Charities and voluntary organizations offer mental health services, but they are still struggling to promote these services to the individuals who need them. By analyzing social media (SM) content using machine learning techniques, it may be possible to identify which SM users are currently experiencing low mood, thus enabling the targeted advertising of mental health services to the individuals who would benefit from them. Objective: This study aimed to understand SM users’ opinions of analysis of SM content for depression and targeted advertising on SM for mental health services. Methods: A Web-based, mixed methods, cross-sectional survey was administered to SM users aged 16 years or older within the United Kingdom. It asked participants about their demographics, their usage of SM, and their history of depression and presented structured and open-ended questions on views of SM content being analyzed for depression and views on receiving targeted advertising for mental health services. Results: A total of 183 participants completed the survey, and 114 (62.3%) of them had previously experienced depression. Participants indicated that they posted less during low moods, and they believed that their SM content would not reflect their depression. They could see the possible benefits of identifying depression from SM content but did not believe that the risks to privacy outweighed these benefits. A majority of the participants would not provide consent for such analysis to be conducted on their data and considered it to be intrusive and exposing. Conclusions: In a climate of distrust of SM platforms’ usage of personal data, participants in this survey did not perceive that the benefits of targeting advertisements for mental health services to individuals analyzed as having depression would outweigh the risks to privacy. Future work in this area should proceed with caution and should engage stakeholders at all stages to maximize the transparency and trustworthiness of such research endeavors

Values that you hold: encountering change in an adult community education program in Victoria

This thesis research reports on the Adult Community Education (ACE) sector in the Australian State of Victoria. Although it concentrates on Moreland Adult Education Assoc. (MAE) as a case study, it places MAE in the wider context of ACE in the local area of the Northern Metropolitan region of Melbourne. Although periodically referred to as the 'fourth educational sector' and funded by the same government departments as mainstream post-secondary sectors, ACE has always had a low profile and quasi-educational status due to the extreme variety of its venues, courses and locations, making it difficult to define and market as an entity. This study uses a range of qualitative methodologies suited to historical, educational research to provide a framework based around the initial guiding questions: 'Is ACE becoming TAFE?' and 'Who uses ACE and Why?' MAE was used as a case study because it was created by its local community in 1982 after which it expanded and developed from one-to-one pairs of volunteer tutors and literacy students to being a nationally Registered Training Organisation delivering accredited courses up to Diploma level. This expansion placed great strain on the infrastructure and personnel of the organisation, particularly during the main period of this research (1994 to 2004). Beginning with a review of the ACE sector, the thesis then describes the northern region of the Melbourne suburbs by using the data gained from a survey questionnaire. Further narrowing the research focus, the thesis analyses the development of the organisation over the ten year study period. The second half of the thesis emphasises the people of MAE through 18 interviews by analysing their opinions, life-experiences and perceptions of change to create a sense of their connectedness to the local community and MAE. The primary aims of this thesis are to document an example of the development of an ACE centre and how it managed change during a ten year period. It records a sense of how and why people engaged in the sector and some of their lived-experiences and their responses to changes. Data analysis results in three sets of findings and propositions in the categories of sectoral, organisational and personal. These key findings involve a range of externally applied pressures being brought to bear on both ACE and MAE. This is counteracted by individual resistance to change, creating a tension which threatens MAE's long-term sustainability

Playing the Agnes : Hester Thrale-Piozzi and Frances Burney

Guided by the feminist intention of reasserting the importance of neglected female writers, I have used this work to re-examine the lives and texts of eighteenth-century diarists Hester Thrale-Piozzi and Frances Burney. Adopting an interdisciplinary methodology, I draw on both literary and non-literary material to examine the effect of familial and social patriarchy in eighteenth-century England. Using the diaries, journals and letters of Hester and Frances, I ask why female conformity to masculine domination was expected, and how violence was used to extract subserviant behaviour from women. Beginning with gossip, and encompassing social, editorial and physical abuse, I use the medical profession\u27s manipulation of female vulnerability to exemplify the way society legitimates violence to ensure female ductility. Moving beyond this physical aspect, I then examine the psychical, and question the existence of a ‘self’ which is vulnerable to external manipulation. By diverging from the influence of Freudian psychology, and developing a form of Jungian feminism, I propose the existence of an essential female Self which transcends the constraints of societal expectations and physical violence. In this work, both Hester and Frances emerge as physically and psychically strong entities who were forced to adopt socially conformist personae to survive

Die reg op regsverteenwoordiging tydens verrigtinge voor die Kommissie vir Versoening Bemiddeling en Arbitrasie (Afrikaans)

The South African labour law stands central in the economic sphere of the country. The relationship between an employer and an employee is therefore paramount. When an employee is dismissed, such person is subjected to the strictest possible sanction in the workplace environment and ultimately it also deprives a household of a major (sometimes exclusive) source of income. Unemployment holds economic and social consequences for both the person as well as the economy as a whole. The fairness of any possible dismissal is for this reason an important point of departure. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 emphasise the importance hereof, inter alia, by the enschrined right to fair labour practices, a right not only reflected in the Labour Relations Act of 1995, but also acknowledged in case law. The focus areas discussed in this dissertation are the importance of and the manner in which legal representation (being a fundamental principle underlying the right to fair labour practices and the notion of “fairness”) is applied in the current labour dispute resolution forums of South Africa. The dissertation engages in the debate regarding the question whether legal representation should always be allowed and should be recognized as an undisputed right and in all fora or not. Various interests are considered against the historical background and development of this issue in our law, legislation and the interpretation thereof by stakeholders. The specific focus of this study within the South African context includes the following: The concept “legal practitioner” in the general legal profession. The right to legal representation at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (hereinafter the “CCMA”). The historical development of the CCMA and the existence of specialist tribunals. The possible constitutional attack on the regulatory framework of legal representation before the CCMA. The benefits and the criticism attached to the current legal position regarding legal representation in the CCMA. This study recommends that our law should be revised regarding the issue of the regulation of legal representation before the CCMA and to unify and / or simplify the law in this regard in order to create legal clarity and certainty once and for all. This should be done without parting with the principles already referred to. The recommendation is that legal representation should be allowed in all labour fora and under all circumstances, obviously with the only limitation that it may be excluded in exceptional circumstances similar to the rules regulating for example criminal procedure. It is also suggested that constitutional intervention is necessary to adhere to the requirements of modern labour law. The right to be represented have always been part of our law in general. The process, procedure, rights and regulations setting the parameters of the game should therefore be clear, unambiguous, direct in application and uniform in labour law as well. This will ensure settlement of labour law disputes in accordance with constitutional principles as could be expected in an open and democratic society. CopyrightDissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Mercantile Lawunrestricte

General surgery: Is it time for a name change in an era of unprecedented sub specialisation?

In an era of increasing medical sub-specialisation, is the title of ‘general surgery’ still fit for purpose? The practicalities of a name change are considered alongside the potential benefits. We argue that traditional dogma should not mean ambiguous or inaccurate specialty titles are kept

Strafregtelike aanspreeklikheidsvereistes van die nuwe bree basis swart ekonomiese bemagtiging (SEB) statutêre “front” misdryf

Die implementering van regsraamwerk en -beleid in 2004 om ekonomiese bemagtiging in Suid Afrika vir swart mense te bevorder, is gedoen in lyn met die voorskrifte van die Grondwet, 1996 om gelykheid te bevorder en armoede te beveg. Die implementeringsraamwerk en -beleid maak voorsiening vir besighede om deur vrywillige deelname hulle bydrae tot transformasie-aktiwiteite te laat meet en daarvolgens gegradeer te word. Sodanige gradering hou voordeel in vir besighede om meer kompeterend te wees vir die doen van besigheid met die staat, staatsondernemings en ander groot korporatiewe instellings. Ongelukkig het verskeie besighede hulle gewend tot oneerlike transaksies wat skyn van transformasie skep waar die besigheid inderdaad die kompeterende voordeel ontvang, maar die transaksie inderwaarheid net “front” of voordoening is. Pogings van die owerhede om die praktyke hok te slaan as opsetlike wanvoorstellings ooreenkomstig die gemeenregtelike misdryf, bedrog, was nie suksesvol nie. Dit het ook duidelik geword dat ongewenste transaksies en praktyke wat besighede onregverdige voordeel verskaf toenemend gesofistikeerd en ingewikkeld raak. Weens die stadige pas van transformasie is die bemagtigingsbeleid in 2013 hersien met die afkondiging van gewysigde metingsdoelwit asook die implementering van wetswysiging in die vorm van die Breë Basis Swart Ekonomiese Bemagtiging Wysigingswet 46 van 2013 wat op 24 Oktober 2014 in werking getree het. Weens die hoër vereistes wat die nuwe bemagtigingsraamwerk stel, veral die oordrewe fokus op swart eienaarskap gekoppel aan die feit dat strafregtelike vervolging vir wanvoorstelling in die verlede onsuksesvol was, het die wetgewer ongewenste praktyk waarna as “front praktyk” in die wet verwys word gekriminaliseer met hoë boetes en vonnisse. Statutêre liggaam in die vorm van SEB Kommissie is ook ingestel met wye magte om nakoming te verseker, ondersoeke van stapel te stuur, persone te ondervra en dokumente te subpoena. Kommentators het vanuit die staanspoor die omskrywing van die “front praktyk”-misdryf as wyd en vaag beskou.http://www.lexisnexis.co.zaam2019Mercantile La

The implications of the use of cannabidiol-related products in a safety-sensitive drug testing environment : a medical-legal perspective

Cannabis access laws allow for the use of cannabis in private and the trade, purchase and use of hemp-related products as a complementary medicine and for other benefits. Cannabidiol (CBD) has the treatment potential for several conditions but, with the lack of resources in South Africa to maintain the legislation, products contaminated with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9 -THC) are sold by some suppliers who do not comply with the legislative provisions in terms of the threshold concentrations for Δ9 -THC. This dilemma complicates a medical review officer’s decision regarding intentional use of Δ9 -THC or otherwise, since a CBD user may have purchased the product legally and in good faith. Hemp- and CBD-containing products were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and compliance was assessed for CBD and Δ9 -THC purity against the legislative thresholds. A strategy based on metabolite ratios is suggested to distinguish between intentional or irresponsible cannabis use and legitimate CBD usehttp://www.samj.org.zadm2022ChemistryProcedural LawProcedural La

Mechanisms underlying the diminished sensitivity to prolactin negative feedback during lactation: Reduced STAT5 signaling and up-regulation of cytokine-inducible SH2 domain-containing protein (CIS) expression in tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons

Hyperprolactinaemia during lactation is a consequence of the sucking stimulus and in part due to reduced prolactin (PRL) negative feedback. To date, the mechanisms involved in this diminished sensitivity to PRL feedback are unknown but may involve changes in PRL signal transduction within tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic (TIDA) neurons. Therefore, we investigated signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) 5 signaling in the TIDA neurons of lactating rats. Dual-label confocal immunofluorescence studies were used to determine the intracellular distribution of STAT5 within TIDA neurons in the dorsomedial arcuate nucleus. In lactating rats with pups removed for 16 h, injection of ovine PRL significantly (P < 0.05) increased the STAT5 nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio compared with vehicle-treated mothers. In contrast, ovine PRL injection did not increase the STAT5 nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio in lactating mothers with pups, demonstrating that PRL signal transduction through STAT5 is reduced in TIDA neurons in the presence of pups. To investigate possible mechanisms involved in reduced PRL signaling, we examined the expression of suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) proteins. Northern analysis on whole hypothalamus showed that CIS (cytokine-inducible SH2 domain-containing protein), but not SOCS1 or SOCS3, mRNA expression was significantly (P < 0.01) up-regulated in suckled lactating rats. Semiquantitative RT-PCR on arcuate nucleus micropunches also showed up-regulation of CIS transcripts. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated that CIS is expressed in all TIDA neurons in the dorsomedial arcuate nucleus, and the intensity of CIS staining in these neurons is significantly (P < 0.05) increased in lactating rats with sucking pups. Together, these results support the hypothesis that loss of sensitivity to PRL-negative feedback during lactation is a result of increased CIS expression in TIDA neurons