A public health conflict : traditional medicinal practise and the bio-medical health norms and values at a time of HIV and AIDS in Swaziland

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-97).Medical pluralism and the co-existence of a variety of different medical systems within a chosen context are common features in southern Africa as in the rest of the developing world. How do the different systems or practices interact? How does the dual systems of healing impact on the HIV and AIDS national mitigation programmes. The study assumes that the existence of different kinds of medical practices in the same community over a long period of time is an indication of the reality of medical pluralism in Swaziland. It questions its conflicting impact on the public health messages for managing the epidemic. The existence of different healers e.g. faith healers, medical doctors and traditional healers and herbalists is a significant aspect of health seeking behaviours among the larger population in Swaziland (only 22% of Swaziland is urbanized). The people‟s attitude towards and reception of the states public health policies and public health messages are heavily interpreted along and in view of the highly respected traditional medical health care systems. This phenomena also covers the people‟s spiritual and emotional health care systems and points of references and health seeking behaviours. The study also reflects upon the bias by a number of postcolonial writing towards traditional healing driven by colonialists‟ impressions and local rulers left in charge thereafter. The study also refers to the bias of a number of African leaders and governments who readily give support to bio-medical doctors and are not equally supportive to the structures that support traditional healing and yet a bigger size of the population is mostly reliant upon traditional medical care. In southern Africa self-medication is documented as an integral part of the health care system. This research project reflects extensively on the attitude of traditional and developing communities towards ARVs, ART and biomedical interventions at a time of HIV and AIDS in southern Africa. The study concludes that there are no cultural barriers for the traditional healers to collaborate with the bio-medicine practitioners; however there seems to be a lot of „public health‟ constraints for the medical doctor to working collaboratively with the traditional healer. Is this a one sided conflict, tension, bias

Energy sustainability indicators for South Africa : 2004 report

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-98)

Review: Use of EEG on Measuring Stress Levels When Painting and Programming

For years, brain activity, stress level during programming and painting have been analyzed separately. As the world gets more digital and human life gets more dependent on technology, it has become more important to analyse the relationship between programming, software developers’ brain activity, creative practices (i.e painting) and stress level. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic literature review whereby the research questions are centred around analysing the relationship between stress levels and brain activity when a person is painting or writing a piece of software. The search for relevant studies was done on google scholar and IEEE Xplore. The results of our review show that: (1) EEG can be used to accurately measure stress levels, (2) there is limited research in the analysis of stress level pattern of the stress level when people paint depending on different situations and styles of painting. In light of the systematic literature review result, using EEG we plan to conduct experiments to measure the stress level when a person is painting a picture or programming

On the Computation of Blow-up Solutions for Semilinear ODEs and Parabolic PDEs

We introduce an adaptive numerical method for computing blow-up solutions for ODEs and well-known reaction-diffusion equations. The method is based on the implicit midpoint method and the implicit Euler method. We demonstrate that the method produces superior results to the adaptive PECE-implicit method and the MATLAB solver of comparable order

Mapping the National System of Innovation in Eswatini

This study maps the national system of innovation (NSI) in Eswatini using national research and experimental development (R&D), and innovation surveys. The study identifies the actors and activities in the NSI. It finds that investment in knowledge creation is very low; expenditure on R&D is 0.26% of GDP, while knowledge flow mechanisms between university and industry are weak. It also found that there is a low capacity of science, technology and innovation (STI) personnel in especially the fields of science and engineering. Additionally, the study found that a lack of resources, access to information and technology, limitations of policy, and inflexible regulation inhibit innovation in Eswatini. As a result, only 52% of the surveyed firms reported having come up with innovations, with more than 50% of the innovations originating from outside the country. These findings indicate that Eswatini’s NSI is relatively underfunded and weak. Efforts to augment the performance of the NSI in Eswatini should focus on developing a national STI strategy and establish appropriate institutions and innovation funding mechanisms. The government should strengthen its STI governance and provide a conducive environment for innovation within an STI framework that addresses national challenges and leverages on national resources and capacities.Keywords: Innovation; Science, Technology; Eswatini

Experimental verification of entanglement generated in a plasmonic system

A core process in many quantum tasks is the generation of entanglement. It is being actively studied in a variety of physical settings - from simple bipartite systems to complex multipartite systems. In this work we experimentally study the generation of bipartite entanglement in a nanophotonic system. Entanglement is generated via the quantum interference of two surface plasmon polaritons in a beamsplitter structure, i.e. utilising the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect, and its presence is verified using quantum state tomography. The amount of entanglement is quantified by the concurrence and we find values of up to 0.77 +/- 0.04. Verifying entanglement in the output state from HOM interference is a nontrivial task and cannot be inferred from the visibility alone. The techniques we use to verify entanglement could be applied to other types of photonic system and therefore may be useful for the characterisation of a range of different nanophotonic quantum devices.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Higher Order Compact Finite Difference Schemes for Unsteady Boundary Layer Flow Problems

We investigate the applicability of the compact finite difference relaxation method (CFDRM) in solving unsteady boundary layer flow problems modelled by nonlinear partial differential equations. The CFDRM utilizes the Gauss-Seidel approach of decoupling algebraic equations to linearize the governing equations and solve the resulting system of ordinary differential equations using compact finite difference schemes. The CFDRM has only been used to solve ordinary differential equations modelling boundary layer problems. This work extends its applications to nonlinear partial differential equations modelling unsteady boundary layer flows. The CFDRM is validated on two examples and the results are compared to results of the Keller-box method

Pre- and post-intervention survey on lung cancer awareness among adults in selected communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A quasi-experimental study

Background: Lung cancer remains the number one cause of cancer mortality estimated at 1.8 million deaths. There are limited studies in resource poor countries regarding knowledge, attitudes and practices towards lung cancer. Objective: This study aimed to assess the effects of a lung can-cer awareness intervention in selected communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental study design was conducted in the selected communities in KwaZulu-Natal. A community intervention was administered in the communities after a baseline survey. The intervention effects were assessed a month after implementation. Results: There were statistical differences in the mean age (p<0.001) and proportion of males and females (p<0.001) at base-line and post-intervention. There were no differences in terms of smoking status (p=0.958), however, there was a reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day (p<0.001) and the number of packs smoked per week (p=0.026). The mean knowledge score increased from 41.8% (95% CI 35.7 – 47.9) at baseline to 59.9 (95% CI 53.8 – 66.0) post-intervention (p<0.001). The proportion of participants who were aware that lung cancer can be detected early increased from 46.5% (95% CI 39.1 – 53.9) at baseline to 81.1% (95% CI 71.7 – 87.9) post-intervention (p<0.001). The intervention had a statistically significant effect (aOR 4.370, 95%CI 1.477-12.928) on the level of lung cancer knowledge in the selected communities (p<0.001). Conclusions: Interventions increasing the recognition of signs and symptoms, focusing on the importance of early detection and health seeking behaviour (including screening), smoking cessa-tion, and addressing the perceived health system barriers are required

Applying the Life Design Model (LDM) to the career development of Swazi women from polygynous family settings

The aim of the study was to apply the Life Design Model (LDM) as a career counselling intervention to the lives of 10 Swazi women from polygynous family settings experiencing career development challenges at work. The intervention sought to mitigate the effects of cultural values associated with polygyny that interfered with career life design choices and development among employees. Life designing, within this study was conceptualised as the approaches and strategies utilised by individuals to manage and negotiate their multiple subjective identities. This study used a qualitative research method. The 10 Swazi women were selected through convenience and snowball sampling methods and met the selection criteria of the age range of 30-45 years, from a Swazi polygynous family setting, were employed or entrepreneur’s, completed or were pursuing a higher education qualification. Data collection consisted of qualitative research instruments namely; biographical questionnaire and an individual indepth interview schedule, which followed the six steps of the Life Design career counselling intervention Model. Methodology consisted of thematic Content analysis with the Life Design Model serving as a lens for intepretation supported by literature on Career development. Research findings were captured in the following themes, focusing on their effects on career life design: (a) Swazi culture with sub-theme of cultural expectations, (b) polygynous family upbringing with subthemes of female parental role and male parental role and (c) career life design for Swazi women with subthemes of conceptions of work life, adaptability and concept of self. Implications of the study refer to the requirement for researchers, career counsellors and practitioners in the Psychology field to consider the idea that understanding how cultural role salience and non-salience is significant in the career life design of women as one of the multiple approaches that can facilitate the process of gender equality and transformation in the workplace. The application, therefore, of career counselling interventions such as the Life Design Model presents an opportunity for gaining this understanding from the narratives of the very clients facing work life challenges and by so doing thus facilitating the reconstruction of purposeful career identities. 4 Key words: Swazi culture, career development, life designing, women, patriarchy, meaning making, adaptability, role enactment, polygynous family, Life Design Model (LDM)