The informal trading of contraceptive pills in Kadoma, Zimbabwe

M.A. (Anthropology)Abstract: The intended purpose of family planning is to allow men and women the right to decide how many children they want to have, when they want to have those children, how to have them and if they want to have them. This paper draws from an ethnographic study that investigates the informal buying and selling of contraceptive pills in Kadoma, Zimbabwe with the main focus of trying to find out why some women would opt for informal means of access. Through the journey of coming to an understanding of this behaviour, a vital theme emerged from the interactions and it is that of autonomy, as some women utilised alternative pathways to access contraceptive pills to ensure they fulfilled their desired outcomes. The investigation of this informal trade was qualitative in nature, with a particular use of participant observation, in-depth semi-structured interviews and field notes. 13 key informants consisting of 12 women who used an array of family planning methods and a population centre ambassador, helped fuel the information that contextualised this dissertation. The experiences the women had with contraceptive devices in relation to their bodies portrayed the individual, social, cultural and political nuances that exist in Kadoma. Also, the existence of pharmaceutical products in the informal space is an indication of the social nature of contraceptive pills in Kadoma

Control of polymorphic transition inducing preferential enrichment

Preferential enrichment is an unusual symmetry-breaking enantiomeric resolution phenomenon that is initiated by the solvent-assisted solid-to-solid transformation of a metastable polymorphic form into a thermodynamically stable one during crystallization from the supersaturated solution of a certain kind of racemic crystals. On the basis of the proposed mechanism of preferential enrichment, both induction and inhibition of preferential enrichment were successfully achieved by controlling the mode of the polymorphic transition during crystallization either by minor molecular modification or with appropriate seed crystals. Furthermore, by inducing a desired polymorphic transition during crystallization of several α-amino acids or their cocrystals with dicarboxylic acids, which were classified as a racemic compound, preferential enrichment could also be accomplished

Colonialism, African Women, and Human Rights in Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1960, with its emphasis on protection and promotion of human rights, signalled a new path for the likely achievement of equality, democracy, and world peace. .However, challenges still exist for African women despite the promise that human rights hold. My curiosity is why this seemingly perfect solution to world problems has not worked and is not working. The study, firstly, aims at exploring the effect of colonialism on African women's lives in Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions and how it is still evident in postcolonial present. Secondly, it examines how the text challenges the classic bildungsroman and how this aids as a test to the celebratory human rights story of today. Finally, it investigates the relationship between colonialism and human rights and the role religion and patriarchy plays. In pursuit of the central research problem, I use Law and Literature in an attempt to understand the inadequacies of Law. Law and Literature allow for a detailed literary analysis of Law and legal systems. Nervous Conditions provides realistic scenarios of the continued oppression of African women in African society. While the celebratory human rights story is triumphant and successful, Dangarembga's subversion of the classic bildungsroman points to the oppressive condition of African women and the inadequacy of human rights. African women in Dangarembga's stories have no successful end as the norm for a classical bildungsroman plot. Colonialism and its legacy, patriarchy and religion still have a hold on African women, rendering promised celebratory human rights narrative unattainable. Literature has the opportunity to expose African women's issues not addressed by Law. . In a bid to show the effects of colonialism and its continual hold in Africa and specifically for African women, I employ the postcolonial theory that enables me to show a society divided along the lines of gender, race, and material possessions. The postcolonial theory also reflects the Eurocentric ideology that drives the colonial mind-set and its continual existence. I examine Nervous Conditions using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), which allows for dissection of the text through searching critically for incidents that display power, control, and authority along gender lines, places, and positions within the society. I also critically look at Dangarembga's language usage that reflects those power differences and structures in Nervous Conditions. As reflected in Nervous Conditions, struggles for African women continue even in post- independent Africa. The presence of human rights remains a promise for many African women.tm2017Centre for Human RightsMPhilUnrestricte

Relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility to Companies During Turbulent Economic Times: A Survey of Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Listed Companies

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has remained topical and contentious as various schools of thought are put forward on its relationship to cost versus profitability for businesses. This study explored the relevance of CSR and its effect on the survival of businesses during an economic meltdown in Zimbabwe. The study purposively sampled 31 companies that are listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and have sound CSR programmes. A total of 93 questionnaires were administered and a Chi-square was conducted to test and establish the relationship between CSR strategies and business survival. The study concluded that companies with CSR strategies had a higher chance of surviving during turbulent times. Following the findings of the study, it is recommended that government comes up with CSR policies for different industries and that organisations continue investing in CSR especially in times of economic challenges

Characterization and application of phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates

This work presents the syntheses, photophysical and photochemical characterization of arylthio zinc phthalocyanines and their gold nanoparticle conjugates. Spectroscopic and microscopic studies confirmed the formation of the phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates which exhibited enhanced photophysicochemical properties in comparison to the phthalocyanines. The studies showed that the presence of gold nanoparticles significantly lowered fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes. However, this interaction did not restrict the formation of excited singlet and triplet states and hence the formation of singlet oxygen required for photocatalysis. The conjugates showed significantly higher singlet oxygen quantum yields and therefore enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to the phthalocyanines. The zinc phthalocyanines and their gold nanoparticle conjugates were successfully incorporated into electrospun polymer fibers. Spectral characteristics of the functionalized electrospun fibers indicated that the phthalocyanines and phthalocyanine-gold nanoparticle conjugates were bound and their integrity was maintained within the polymeric fiber matrices. The photophysical and photochemical properties of the complexes were equally maintained within the electrospun fibers. The functionalized fibers were applied for the photoconversion of 4-chlorophenol and Orange G as model organic pollutants.Microsoft� Word 2010Adobe Acrobat 9.53 Paper Capture Plug-i

Integration experiences and challenges of immigrant students : a case study of a private secondary school in the Tshwane North district in Gauteng

The research sought to study the integration experiences and challenges of immigrant students in a private secondary school in the Tshwane North district in Gauteng. The study focused on investigating the experiences of immigrant learners when integrating with the local learners at the private secondary school. Integration denotes how various cultural groups interact within the bounds of a single society. Scholars argue that the dominant group in a society sets the tone and determines the nature of the integration activities and objectives. However, in other instances integration is facilitated by both the immigrants and the host people. Literature review helped the researcher to gain a broader and deeper knowledge base of the concept of migration and experiences faced. Literature review indicated the sociological and economic explanations for migration. Literature covered integration of immigrants, assimilation and acculturation. Sources of stress for immigrant students and cross-cultural adaptation were also outlined. The investigation was a case study research. Mixed methods were used to collect data. The researcher used questionnaires, interviews and observations. Questionnaires were issued to 28 immigrant learners who participated in the study. The 28 immigrant learners were also interviewed in order to obtain richer data. All indications show that the integration process at the school was positive. The results of the study showed that most immigrant learners have friends among local learners. The immigrant learners disclosed that local learners were friendly to them. Many immigrant learners indicated that they would be interested in learning local languages.M. Ed. (Socio-Education

Optical and electronic properties of methylammonium lead halide perovskite solar cells

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Chemistry)Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have emerged as promising materials for next-generation photovoltaics with certified efficiency of 22.1%. Despite rapid developments, achieving precise control over the morphologies of the perovskite films, enhanced stability and reproducibility of the devices remains challenging. In this work, we employed a low-temperature solution processing technique to attain high efficiency inverted planar heterojunction devices with device architecture ITO/PEDOT:PSS/Perovskite/PCBM/Al (indium doped tin oxide; poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate; [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester; aluminium). A perovskite solar cell fabrication technique is developed and opto-electronic characterization of solution-processed planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells based on methylammonium (MA) lead halide derivatives, MAPbI3-xYx (Y = Cl, Br, I) is presented in this thesis work. By employing lead iodide (PbI2) with various amounts of additional methylammonium halides, perovskite precursor solutions were obtained, which were used in the fabrication of four perovskite systems, MAPbI3, MAPbI3-xClx and MAPbI3-xBrx and MAPbBr3. The absorption and photoluminescence (steady state and temperature-dependent) behavior were explored in this compositional space

Epilepsy South Africa, Western Cape, Content Management System: User Manual

Assisting in development of an electronic database to manage client and activity data. The User Manual provides the information necessary for the user to effectively use the automated information system