The experiences of early childhood development home visitors in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa

BACKGROUND This article examines the development of early childhood development (ECD) home-visiting services in South Africa. AIM To examine the factors that could support the success of home-visiting programmes as well as to explore the experiences of bachelor’s-level home visitors rendering such services. SETTING This study was conducted in the Eastern Cape, a highly impoverished area of South Africa. METHODS It begins with a discussion of the emergence of home-visiting as a strategy for the delivery of ECD services in South Africa and a review of the literature on ECD home-visiting, particularly with highly vulnerable, impoverished families. Next a focus group conducted with a small sample of home visitors as part of a multi-faceted community assessment is described. The results are examined within the context of challenges facing this particular part of South Africa and the nation as a whole. RESULTS Four themes emerged as most prominent: (1) encountering the effects of extreme family poverty, (2) identifying high rates and multiple aspects of child maltreatment, (3) encountering scarce resources in high-need areas and (4) finding rewards and maintaining a desire to continue serving challenging populations. CONCLUSION This study provides a unique window on the challenges that ECD home visitors are likely to encounter when working with families living in extreme poverty, the resourcefulness that home visitors often demonstrate and the rewards to be found in this work.Published versio

Eliza Haywoods geschichte des fräuleins Elisabeth Thoughtless (1756): frühe selbsterkenntnis und ehekritik in der englischen ubersetzungsliteratur

Die Tradition, Frauenerleben aus weiblicher Perspektive zum Mittelpunkt eines Romans zu machen, beginnt in Deutschland nicht mit Sophie La Roches Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771), sondern mit den Werken englischer Schriftstellerinnen, die bereits bedeutend früher in deutschen Übersetzungen erschienen und bisher von der Germanistik nicht beachtet worden sind. An Eliza Haywoods Geschichte des Fräuleins Elisabeth Thoughtless (1756) soll hier exemplarisch gezeigt werden, wie in Deutschland Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts bereits eine Form der Literatur von Frauen erscheint, die die Entwicklung eines weiblichen Charakters zum Mittelpunkt hat. Obwohl der Übersetzer die in diesem Roman enthaltene Kritik an der patriarchalisch geführten Ehe und der Idealisierung der Frau durch eine bewusst gewählte Übersetzungsstrategie abschwächt, um der Leserschaft den für deutsche Verhältnisse zu radikalen Text angenehmer zu machen, ist dieser, von Lessing als das Werk eines Genies bewertete Roman ein Meilenstein in der Literatur von Frauen

Neglect of young children in South Africa: implications for prevention, identification, and intervention

This paper examines child neglect among young children in South Africa, including the challenges in obtaining information regarding its incidence, the relationship between poverty and neglect, and the ways in which neglect in early life can cause harm. Results from a focus group of home visitors working with families of young children in South Africa illustrate the challenges in identifying and intervening in cases of child neglect. Conclusions and recommendations for addressing this problem are provided.Accepted manuscrip

Natural and synthetic plagioclases: Surface charge characterization and sorption of trivalent lanthanides (Eu) and actinides (Am, Cm)

he environmental fate of radiotoxic actinides may be controlled by their interactions with feldspars. Here, the sorption of trivalent minor actinides (Am, Cm) and their rare earth analog Eu onto synthetic pure Ca-feldspar (anorthite) and natural plagioclases of different Ca contents is investigated, covering ranges of [M3+] (52 nM–10 μM), solid-liquid ratios (1–3 g/L), pH (3–9), and ionic strengths (0.01–0.1 M NaCl) under both ambient and CO2-free conditions. As a first step to understand the uptake behavior of the heavy metals, the hitherto unknown surface charge and (de-)protonation reaction of Ca-feldspars is characterized. The zeta potential shows an unusual increase and charge reversal between pH 4 and 7 , which becomes more pronounced with increasing amounts of Ca in the crystal lattice and is likely connected to adsorption and/or surface precipitation of dissolved Al3+. Streaming potential measurements yield (de)protonation constants for anorthite surface sites of log K- = −6.94 ± 0.38 and log K+ = +6.84 ± 0.38. Batch sorption data shows strong immobilization of M3+ by plagioclases at mildly acidic and basic pH. Time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy using Cm indicates the formation of an inner-sphere complex and its two hydrolyzed forms. The complex reactivity of dissolved Al3+ at the plagioclase-water interface severely complicated the development of a surface complexation model, emphasizing the need for additional research in this area. Our study highlights the importance of molecular-level studies to understand surface reactions and uncover unknown processes, which may have significant impact on the transport of (radiotoxic) contaminants in the geosphere

Unique establishment of procephalic head segments is supported by the identification of cis-regulatory elements driving segment-specific segment polarity gene expression in Drosophila

Anterior head segmentation is governed by different regulatory mechanisms than those that control trunk segmentation in Drosophila. For segment polarity genes, both initial mode of activation as well as cross-regulatory interactions among them differ from the typical genetic circuitry in the trunk and are unique for each of the procephalic segments. In order to better understand the segment-specific gene network responsible for the procephalic expression of the earliest active segment polarity genes wingless and hedgehog, we started to identify and analyze cis-regulatory DNA elements of these genes. For hedgehog, we could identify a cis-regulatory element, ic-CRE, that mediates expression specifically in the posterior part of the intercalary segment and requires promoter-specific interaction for its function. The intercalary stripe is the last part of the metameric hedgehog expression pattern that appears during embryonic development, which probably reflects the late and distinct establishment of this segment. The identification of a cis-regulatory element that is specific for one head segment supports the mutant-based observation that the expression of segment polarity genes is governed by a unique gene network in each of the procephalic segments. This provides further indication that the anterior-most head segments represent primary segments, which are set up independently, in contrast to the secondary segments of the trunk, which resemble true repetitive units

IMPULSPAPIER | 03 2024: Wie kann eine Circular Economy den Einsatz von Wasserstofftechnologien material- und ressourceneffizienter gestalten?

Circular Economy für Wasserstofftechnologien nutzbar machen - Auf dem Weg zur Dekarbonisierung spielen Wasserstofftechnologien in der Energieerzeugung eine wichtige Rolle. - Neues Impulspapier von DKE, VDI und DIN zeigt auf, dass Circular Economy für die Realisierung der nötigen Infrastruktur große Chancen bietet. - Kritische Rohstoffe wie Iridium oder Platin müssen im Produktkreislauf bleiben, um die Umwelt zu schonen und um Kosten sowie Verfügbarkeit planbar zu halten