Dream-Spirits and Innovation in Aboriginal Australia’s Western Desert

Among the Mardu Aborigines, dreams (kapukurri; jukurrpa) may carry at least the same weight as the events of waking life. ‘Travelling’ in dream-spirit form enhances the possibility of revelations both dangerous and enlightening. In the Australian case, a major cultural dilemma is to accommodate and rationalize an inevitable dynamism when the dominant ideology is one of timelessness and stasis. Two key cultural symbols, the Dreaming and the Law, still substantially shape worldviews and behaviour of the Martu people, who live in the remote Western Desert region. Much of my focus is on a category of popular, largely public contemporary ritual called partunjarrijanu ‘from the dream-spirit’. Discussion of how such rituals come into being highlights the notable importance of altered states of consciousness in creativity. However, in role and status individuals are positioned as conduits for the flow of knowledge and power from the spiritual into the earthly realm. Thus distanced from their own creativity, they are not perceived as creators in their own right. I also show that, in Western Desert society, cultural capital accrues to groups through playing the advantageous role of host to neighboring groups, using new dream-spirit rituals as a kind of currency within broader regional systems of exchange

The management of learners diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in special schools.

Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.The purpose of this study is to investigate how educators at schools for learners with special needs manage learners diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Two major themes were investigated, namely, the organisational structure in these schools and the interventions utilised to manage these children. This study has focused on educators in these special schools who teach learners diagnosed with this disorder. A questionnaire was administered to 31 class educators from Grade One to Grade Seven in two of these special schools in the North Durban area. Survey data indicated that educators at these two schools for learners with special needs organised their learning environment so as to facilitate the efficient management of ADHD learners. Educators utilised a range of interventions both inside and outside the classroom. The implications of these findings are for those who teach learners diagnosed with this disorder, as well as those who are involved in designing learning environments and curricula, especially in the South African context

ANALYSIS OF A TWO LACTATION TARGET ANIMAL SAFETY STUDY OF SOMIDOBOVE SUSTAINED RELEASE INJECTION IN MULTIPAROUS DAIRY COWS

An overview is given of the primary basis for the scientific inference that somidobove sustained release injection is safe for multiparous dairy cows. The process of analysis and interpretation of the voluminous data collected from a target animal safety study which started with 28 cows and lasted two lactations is described. This was a repeated measures study with most of 60 variables being measured or summarized every 28 days resulting in approximately 1500 measurements per cow. The statistical analysis was designed to screen the variables for biological change caused by treatment and consisted of a univariate analysis of variance for repeated measures data both within a lactation and across two lactations. Graphs of least squares means with error bounds and p-value plots of ANOVA p-values helped communicate statistical findings. A cross disciplinary approach interpreted analyses and arrived at inferences