Experiences of sexual relationships of young black women in an atmosphere of coercion

Negotiations surrounding sexual activity are characterised by multiple power disparities that include race, social status and age, with gender being the most dominant differential in heterosexual interactions. Research has shown that women are physiologically more at risk of contracting HIV than men, as indicated by the higher infection rates of the former. Many African societies operate via a hegemonic masculinity, with patriarchal governance and female subordination being the norm, placing women at even greater risk of HIV infection. In this qualitative phenomenological study, four black school-going adolescent women living in Grahamstown were interviewed using a semi-structured interview to gather data. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on the data to provide subjective insights of the experiences of the participants with regard to their interactions with men. From the findings, it became apparent that the participants felt pressured, coerced or manipulated by male counterparts. This pressure and coercion was not just felt in their interactions with older men, but also in their romantic  partnerships. Three of the participants experienced pressure to engage in sexual intercourse with their boyfriends when they were unwilling or unready, and they reported being faced with additional pressure to engage in unprotected sex. Furthermore, it became apparent that each participant had an underlying fear of being raped and considered this as a genuine threat to her safety and sexual health. The atmosphere within which these participants negotiate their sexual agency is thus heavily informed by male control, coercion and the threat of violence or rape.Keywords: coercion, female sexual health, HIV/AIDS, interpretative phenomenological analysis, qualitative, South Afric

Spelling improvement through letter-sound and whole-word training in two multilingual Greek- and English- speaking children

Case studies of two children with spelling difficulty are reported. LK was multilingual and ED bilingual. A training programme that targeted phonic decoding (or sublexical) spelling processes was conducted with both children. Immediate and delayed post-training assessments showed improvement in spelling nonwords for LK but not for ED. Training that targeted whole word (or lexical) spelling processes was then conducted with ED. Improvement in spelling of irregular words (a marker for lexical spelling processes) was observed. Research into literacy difficulties with multilingual children is sparse, although multilingualism is increasingly widespread. Up to now theoretically based training studies have focused on monolingual children and results were promising. The present findings indicate that theoretically based training programmes for literacy difficulties can also be effective for multilingual children

Grain and seed protein functionality

Editado por Jiménez-López, José Carlos (CSIC

Genetic Enhancement Perspectives and Prospects for Grain Nutrients Density

Diet-induced micronutrient malnutrition continues to be a major challenge globally, especially in the developing world. With the ever-increasing population, it becomes a daunting task to feed millions of mouths with nutritious food. It is time to reorient agricultural systems to produce quality food to supply the calorie and nutrient requirements needed by the human body. Biofortification is the process of improving micronutrients density by genetic means. It is cheaper and sustainable and complements well with the nutrient supplementation and fortification— the short-term strategies that are currently deployed to address the micronutrient malnutrition. Sorghum is one of the important food crops globally, adapted to semi-arid tropics, and there is increased awareness on its nutritional importance. Further, there is great opportunity to improve sorghum for nutritional quality. This chapter deals about the genetic enhancement perspectives and prospects for improving the nutritional quality with main emphasis on grain micronutrient density in sorghum

Опосредствование и действие: сдвиг объекта изучения

The paper suggests a new notion on the object of study and practice in the modern Cultural-Historical psychology. The approach is based on the phenomenological method of analysis by versions of Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The object of the study as well as the center of practices should be mediation itself – its source and conditions, – but not the form of a consciousness (its concentration), which is understood as an objective action derivative. Mediation is carried out as a combined Intermediary Action. Conditions of its accomplishment and development are the subject of researches and practicesВ статье предложено новое представление об объекте изучения и практикования в современной культурно-исторической психологии. Подход основан на феноменологическом способе анализа в версиях Э. Гуссерля и М. Хайдеггера. Объектом изучения и центром практик должно стать само опосредствование – его исток и условия, – а не форма сознания (его концентрация), понятая как производная от предметного действия. Опосредствование осуществляется как совокупное посредническое действие. Условия его выполненности и развертывания – предмет исследований и практи

Source and Driving Forces for Development

Based on the classic for the Russian childrens psychology attitudes about the contradiction of the ideal form and the level of somatic organization of a child, the idea about the causes of the development, as the question why when you reach certain key points of development, the process does not stop and does not turn into the functioning according to the already known schemes, but develops further, is researched and developed. It is alleged that the development of an action as the development of the world has two focusing and two completions. Firstly, the completion of the development in the construction of an individual action and, secondly, its completion in the construction of the combined, mutual action. The importance of realizing that mediacy - transferring samples - is not completed by the formation of the separate cultural skills, but finds its fullness by being included into the management of the nature of movement, finding its rhythm and measure - the step of development, is emphasized.Опираясь на классические для отечественной детской психологии положения о противоречии идеальной формы и уровне соматической организации ребенка, критически осмысливается и развивается идея о причинах возникновения самого шага развития как вопроса о том, почему при достижении некоей ключевой точки процесс развития не останавливается, не превращается в функционирование по уже готовым схемам, а, наоборот, развертывается дальше. Утверждается, что в освоении действия как освоении Мира есть две фокусировки и два завершения. Во-первых, завершение освоения в построении индивидуального действия и, во-вторых, его завершение в построении совместного, совокупного действия. Подчеркивается важность понимания того, что опосредствование - передача образцов - не завершается формированием отдельных культурных навыков, а обретает свою полноту, будучи включенной в управление стихией движения, в обретение ею ритма и меры, т.е. шага развития