Alumni perceptions of registered psychological counsellor training at a South African university

In this article the strengths, caveats and suggestions for improvement of a BEd Hons programme in Educational Psychology presented at a traditional South African university from the viewpoint of 10 alumni students who were part of the 2016 cohort, are explored. The programme under investigation has been running since 2003 and is aimed at training mid-level psychological counsellors who have to pass the Health Professions Council of South Africa’s (HPCSA) board examination for Psychology to formally qualify as registered counsellors. The HPCSA instituted the category of registered counsellor early in the 2000s to provide a route to basic psychological support for the majority of citizens without access to registered psychologists. In order to achieve the aim of this research, qualitative individual telephone interviews were conducted in 2017 to gather data from the counsellor alumni of the 2016 cohort. In total, 10 of a possible 26 participants voluntarily participated in the study. The perceptions of the participants were analysed, and findings suggest that the BEd Hons programme has the following strengths: weekly supervision by experienced lecturers enabled knowledge obtained through theoretical coursework to be applied during the practicum; various professional skills were also gained during the practicum, enabling students to feel competent in the workplace. A very strong focus on clients from disadvantaged communities was also seen as a particular strength. Some caveats were inadequate information about the psychological and job-related implications of the programme. Suggestions indicated that the organisation of the theoretical and practicum components could be reconsidered so as to optimise the programme in future. Furthermore, it was found that transformation in this type of higher education programme is needed on a theoretical and practical level by ensuring broadened access to the programme and listening to the voices of the students regarding the curriculum

Comparative advantage of potato production in seven regions of South Africa

The focus of this research was to investigate the comparative advantage of the potato industry in seven potato production regions in South Africa. Potatoes are the most important vegetable crop produced in South Africa. In 2008 it contributed more than 40% to the total production of vegetables in South Africa and it accounted for more than 20% of the value of all fresh produce sold on all the major national fresh produce markets. This study uses the Resource Cost Ratio (RCR) methodology that provides an explicit indication of the efficiency with which production alternatives uses domestic resources to generate or save foreign exchange. The Nominal Protection Ratio (NPR) and Effective Protection Coefficient (EPC) were also calculated. The results show that current policies that affects the input market for potato production in South Africa is constraining the potato industry. This was confirmed by the results obtained from the NPR and EPC analysis, and the size of the policy distortions was shown through the calculation of market and economic profitability. If current policies prevail potato production in the Eastern Free State will not have a comparative advantage, but in the absence of such policies all production regions have a comparative advantage.Crop Production/Industries,

Energy deposited by neutrons and gamma rays in the cryogenic system of SISSI

International audienc

Designing multi-band and high bandwidth antennas with heterogeneous substrates

This paper investigates the concept of creating substrates with heterogeneous dielectric properties. By suitably locating areas of low and high permittivity, the second resonance can be moved closer to the 1st resonance and multiband antennas can be created. By combining, the resonances, the bandwidth of the antenna can be increased

A Deoxyribonucleic Acid Decoy Trapping DUX4 for the Treatment of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy

Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is characterized by a loss of repressive epigenetic marks leading to the aberrant expression of the DUX4 transcription factor. In muscle, DUX4 acts as a poison protein though the induction of multiple downstream genes. So far, there is no therapeutic solution for FSHD. Because DUX4 is a transcription factor, we developed an original therapeutic approach, based on a DNA decoy trapping the DUX4 protein, preventing its binding to genomic DNA and thereby blocking the aberrant activation of DUX4’s transcriptional network. In vitro, transfection of a DUX4 decoy into FSHD myotubes reduced the expression of the DUX4 network genes. In vivo, both double-stand DNA DUX4 decoys and adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) carrying DUX4 binding sites reduced transcriptional activation of genes downstream of DUX4 in a DUX4-expressing mouse model. Our study demonstrates, both in vitro and in vivo, the feasibility of the decoy strategy and opens new avenues of research

Structure Functions of the Nucleon in a Statistical Model

Deep inelastic scattering is considered in a statistical model of the nucleon. This incorporates certain features which are absent in the standard parton model such as quantum statistical correlations which play a role in the propagation of particles when considering Feynman diagrams containing internal lines. The inclusion of the ${\cal O}(\alpha_{s})$ corrections in our numerical calculations allows a good fit to the data for $x\geq 0.25$. The fit corresponds to values of temperature and chemical potential of approximately $T=0.067$ GeV and $\mu=0.133$ GeV. The latter values of parameters, however, give rise, for all $x$, to a large value for $R=\sigma_{L}/\sigma_{T}$.Comment: 16 pages TeX, 11 figures available as Postscript files, University of Bielefeld preprint BI-TP 93/3

Developing fencing policies in dryland ecosystems

The daily energy requirements of animals are determined by a combination of physical and physiological factors, but food availability may challenge the capacity to meet nutritional needs. Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are an interesting model for investigating this topic because they are folivore-frugivores that adjust their diet and activities to seasonal variation in fruit availability. Observations of one habituated group of western gorillas in Bai-Hokou, Central African Republic (December 2004-December 2005) were used to examine seasonal variation in diet quality and nutritional intake. We tested if during the high fruit season the food consumed by western gorillas was higher in quality (higher in energy, sugar, fat but lower in fibre and antifeedants) than during the low fruit season. Food consumed during the high fruit season was higher in digestible energy, but not any other macronutrients. Second, we investigated whether the gorillas increased their daily intake of carbohydrates, metabolizable energy (KCal/g OM), or other nutrients during the high fruit season. Intake of dry matter, fibers, fat, protein and the majority of minerals and phenols decreased with increased frugivory and there was some indication of seasonal variation in intake of energy (KCal/g OM), tannins, protein/fiber ratio, and iron. Intake of non-structural carbohydrates and sugars was not influenced by fruit availability. Gorillas are probably able to extract large quantities of energy via fermentation since they rely on proteinaceous leaves during the low fruit season. Macronutrients and micronutrients, but not digestible energy, may be limited for them during times of low fruit availability because they are hind-gut fermenters. We discuss the advantages of seasonal frugivores having large dietary breath and flexibility, significant characteristics to consider in the conservation strategies of endangered species

A systematic approach for performance assessment using process mining. An industrial experience report

Software performance engineering is a mature field that offers methods to assess system performance. Process mining is a promising research field applied to gain insight on system processes. The interplay of these two fields opens promising applications in the industry. In this work, we report our experience applying a methodology, based on process mining techniques, for the performance assessment of a commercial data-intensive software application. The methodology has successfully assessed the scalability of future versions of this system. Moreover, it has identified bottlenecks components and replication needs for fulfilling business rules. The system, an integrated port operations management system, has been developed by Prodevelop, a medium-sized software enterprise with high expertise in geospatial technologies. The performance assessment has been carried out by a team composed by practitioners and researchers. Finally, the paper offers a deep discussion on the lessons learned during the experience, that will be useful for practitioners to adopt the methodology and for researcher to find new routes