Quest for space : Rhodes University Library odyssey 1904-2010

The completion in 2010 of the magnificent new and expanded Rhodes University Library, billed as Rhodes' most intelligent building, seems an appropriate time to trace its history and reflect on the events that led to this much-needed facility and the enormous amount of planning, canvassing, pleading, persuasion and fundraising that brought it to fruition. It is the nature of libraries to devour space. Collections grow exponentially, creating a voracious and insatiable appetite for more and more places in which to store them. In addition, as users’ needs change over time, there is an ongoing demand for working areas which are versatile, able to accommodate modern paradigms of teaching and learning which now necessitate group study areas with computer access, yet which remain inviting and attractive to a broad range of students and researchers who wish simply to find a congenial space to study. The ongoing shortage of space, and the need to accommodate evolving patterns of use, common to most academic libraries, fuelled the engine which drove the Rhodes Library on its circuitous journey from humble lodgings in a single room in the old Drostdy Building more than a hundred years ago, to its final destination in the imposing position it occupies today. A constant refrain was to be money – or more aptly, the lack of it

Geometric analysis of stent grafts to anticipate complications after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair

Endovascular treatment for elimination of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can be applied if sufficient contact surface (apposition) between the endoprosthesis and the aortic wall can be achieved (proximal sealing zone). An AAA distal to the renal arteries can be treated with endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). An AAA involving branching arteries from the aorta can be treated with fenestrated EVAR (FEVAR). During FEVAR, a personalized endoprosthesis with openings (fenestrations) is used in which balloon-expandable covered stents (BECS) are placed to provide blood flow to the branching arteries. EVAR and FEVAR are associated with lower 30-day mortality than open surgical repair, but the reintervention rate is higher after endovascular repair compared to open surgical repair. After endovascular treatment, patients undergo lifelong monitoring with imaging to detect complications. The most common indication for reintervention after EVAR is type 1a endoleak caused by failure of the proximal sealing zone. The most frequent indications for reintervention after FEVAR are BECS related endoleaks, renal or visceral artery occlusion and stenosis. Determination of the proximal sealing zone and geometric analysis of BECS on standard CTA scans using CTA applied software is a valuable tool after endovascular treatment. Parameters such as the length of the proximal sealing zone and the effective oversizing of the endoprosthesis in the aortic neck provide information about the success of the endovascular treatment and further monitoring of the patient. The ability to assess the 3D geometry of a BECS-related complication contributes to targeted reintervention

Geometric analysis of stent grafts to anticipate complications after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair

Endovascular treatment for elimination of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) can be applied if sufficient contact surface (apposition) between the endoprosthesis and the aortic wall can be achieved (proximal sealing zone). An AAA distal to the renal arteries can be treated with endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). An AAA involving branching arteries from the aorta can be treated with fenestrated EVAR (FEVAR). During FEVAR, a personalized endoprosthesis with openings (fenestrations) is used in which balloon-expandable covered stents (BECS) are placed to provide blood flow to the branching arteries. EVAR and FEVAR are associated with lower 30-day mortality than open surgical repair, but the reintervention rate is higher after endovascular repair compared to open surgical repair. After endovascular treatment, patients undergo lifelong monitoring with imaging to detect complications. The most common indication for reintervention after EVAR is type 1a endoleak caused by failure of the proximal sealing zone. The most frequent indications for reintervention after FEVAR are BECS related endoleaks, renal or visceral artery occlusion and stenosis. Determination of the proximal sealing zone and geometric analysis of BECS on standard CTA scans using CTA applied software is a valuable tool after endovascular treatment. Parameters such as the length of the proximal sealing zone and the effective oversizing of the endoprosthesis in the aortic neck provide information about the success of the endovascular treatment and further monitoring of the patient. The ability to assess the 3D geometry of a BECS-related complication contributes to targeted reintervention

'Astride a dangerous dividing line': Preschool teachers' talk about childhood sexuality

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych)The focus of this thesis is preschool teachers' talk about childhood sexualities. A literature review of empiricist, psychoanalytic, feminist, social constructionist and post-structural approaches to childhood sexuality suggests that it is a marginalized research topic. Moreover, emphasis tends to fall on the problems associated with childhood sexuality, rather than regarding it as part of everyday life. In this study, I facilitated a focus group discussion with eight preschool teachers. The complexities of analyzing a text produced by participants with multiple identities are acknowledged: The discussion was hinged around vignettes and questions about childhood sexuality, and was transcribed into a written text. Using discourse analysis, I explore some of the 'taken-for-granted' assumptions about childhood sexuality, within 15 extracts from the text. I argue that multiple, paradoxical constructions of childhood sexuality position children 'astride a dangerous dividing line', which can be read on many levels. This unstable positioning both creates and is created by multiple discourses of 'taking charge'. The discourses of 'taking charge' impel preschool teachers to police 'dangerously' sexual children and protect 'innocent' children from corruption. These discourses are gendered: girl children are constructed as more vulnerable to corruption; boy children tend to be constructed with 'sexdrives' needing to be tamed; and adult women are constructed as the monitors of childhood sexuality. Furthermore, silences or taboos about childhood sexuality are integral to these discourses. Although there are hints of childhood agency, I suggest that the teachers themselves have limited access to or use for feminist and other liberatory discourses. More subtle resistance may be evident in many examples of laughter in the text. While this is project situated on the margins of psychology, by virtue of its subject, epistemology and methodology, I conclude by discussing various limitations

Cost-effectiveness of DNA-diagnosis for four monogenic diseases

In this paper the costs and benefits associated with DNA-diagnosis of individuals who are at risk of a child with a monogenic disease and who seek genetic counselling because of their reproductive plans are predicted under various assumptions using a mathematical model. Four monogenic diseases have been considered: cystic fibrosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy and fragile X syndrome. Counselling (triggered by prior information) on the basis of DNA-diagnosis is compared to the situation that only risk evaluation based on pedigree analysis is possible. The results show for each disease that with DNA-diagnosis couples can be more confident in choosing (further) offspring leading to the birth of more healthy children while the number of affected children is reduced. The costs minus savings within the health care sector depend on the prior risks and to the future burden of the monogenic illness considered. DNA-diagnosis of relative "low" prior risks of a child with CF (e.g. 1:180, 1:240 and 1:480) leads to costs in stead of savings. For higher prior risks of CF and for the three other diseases DNA-diagnosis induces considerable savings. This result remains valid when assumptions regarding behaviour regarding reproduction and receiving DNA-diagnosis under different circumstances are varied

Un estudi de la política de promoció de llengües minoritàries a la Xina / A study of the policy of promotion of minority languages in China

This thesis sets out to analyse the policy of promotion of standardised minority languages and scripts, alongside the universal promotion of the standard Mandarin Han language and script, among minority language speakers of southwestern China lacking a previous tradition of widespread popular literacy. Two case studies are described, evaluated and contrasted, in which the same basic policy has produced significantly different results. Firstly, under the Relative Success Question, light is shed on why the promotion of the Nuosu script among Nuosu-speakers in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan) has been significantly more successful than that of the Zhuang script among Zhuang-speakers in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, based on the perception that in Liangshan the spread of rural adult minority language literacy and bilingual education have been basically achieved and gained popular acceptance, but not in Guangxi. 8 main hypotheses explaining the differences were explored and found to be valid. These related to ethnic identity, the linguistic behaviour of minority elites, the degree of grass-roots support for the promotion of minority languages and their scripts, attitudes towards minority language medium teaching (and its role in learning Han), the degree of identification with the type of script and oral standard being promoted and to whether or not the promoted script is considered a vehicle of socioeconomic development. Secondly (under the Implementation Question) some of the limitations of the promotion of even the Nuosu script and the large gap between the constitutionally guaranteed principle of linguistic equality and the stark reality of minimal promotion and use of minority language scripts are explored, particular attention being paid to the passive opposition of many state employees towards the promotion of minority languages. Many of Zhuang (a Tai language)s 17 million speakers have a limited ethnic consciousness and reject the label Zhuang, dialectal fragmentation and unintelligibility being very marked. Although popularly thought to be largely hanised, this is only true of the urbanised minority and peasants living in close proximity with Han. Most Zhuang live Michael Prosser van der Riet Summary of doctoral thesis ii in poor rural areas of western Guangxi where they form the overwhelming majority and have no or minimal contact with the Han language outside the school context. Zhuang traditionally adapted Han characters to record regional Zhuang variants. In the 1950s a romanised script was created and promoted briefly in some rural areas, chiefly through literacy campaigns. It was reformed and relaunched in 1980 via literacy campaigns and experimental bilingual classes. By the mid-1980s the promotion had met with considerable, largely covert, opposition, and initial optimism among the promoters had given way to disillusion and pessimism. Officially the project of the Zhuang script is still there but in practice it is dead. The 2 million Nuosu speakers (classified as Yi) of Liangshan have a strong ethnic consciousness. Before 1950 shamans and some nobles used a complex 8,000 character script. In the 1950s a romanised script was promoted with little success, while simultaneously a spontaneous grass-roots movement sprang up among ordinary people to informally learn the traditional script to cover their increasing literacy needs. After the Cultural Revolution a reformed 819 character syllabary based on the traditional script was created and used in adult literacy campaigns and many schools, sometimes with Nuosu as a subject and sometimes as the sole or joint medium of instruction. In core Nuosu areas (in contrast to core Zhuang areas) the new script and its popular use is much in evidence, a large part of the rural population being literate in Nuosu. However, the promotion is far from ensuring the long-term use and maintenance of Nuosu and its implementation has met with serious obstacles. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ RESUM Aquesta tesi pretén analitzar la política de promocionar (o no) les llengües i les escriptures estandarditzades minoritàries no hans, al costat de la promoció de la llengua i lescriptura hans mandarines, entre els membres de nacionalitats minoritàries del sudoest de la Xina que prèviament no posseïen una tradició literària popular estesa. Amb aquesta finalitat es descriuran, savaluaran i es contrastaran dos estudis de cas en els quals la implementació de la mateixa política bàsica ha produït resultats significativament diferents. Sota la qüestió de lèxit relatiu del nuosu sexploren vuit hipòtesis per a aclarir per què la promoció de lescriptura nuosu (=yi de Liangshan) ha tingut significativament més acceptació, efecte i èxit entre els parlants de nuosu de la prefectura autònoma yi de Liangshan (Sichuan) que no la de lescriptura zhuang a la regió autònoma zhuang de Guangxi. Aquestes hipòtesis estan relacionades amb la identitat ètnica, el comportament lingüístic de les elits minoritàries, el grau de suport popular, les actituds cap a lensenyament descriptures no hans (i el paper daquestes escriptures en laprenentatge de lhan), el grau didentificació amb el tipus descriptura i lestàndard oral promoguts, i amb el fet que lescriptura promoguda es considere o no com a vehicle de desenvolupament socioeconòmic. Sota la qüestió de la implementació sanalitzen algunes de les limitacions que afecten, fins i tot, la promoció de lescriptura nuosu. Altrament dit, sintenta explicar per què hi ha una divergència tan gran entre el principi constitucionalment reconegut digualtat lingüística (segons el qual es fomentaria una situació de bilingüisme a llarg termini) i la realitat duna promoció i un ús mínims de les escriptures de les llengües minoritàries. Sexaminarà sobretot loposició passiva de molts funcionaris envers la promoció de llengües minoritàries. Aquestes dues situacions de llengües minoritàries (la majoria de parlants de les quals té cap o un mínim de coneixements dhan) mostren dos resultats radicalment diferents de la mateixa política lingüística bàsica. Generalment la promoció de lescriptura nuosu a Liangshan es considera com un èxit relatiu, mentre que la de lescriptura zhuang a Guangxi és vista com un fracàs

Mediation and the nature of cognitive socialization in the crèche and the home in a black rural context

This thesis examines socialization in the homes and crèches of a rural area in a time of change. Change which is controlled and initiated from outside the local context, creates a dilemma for socialization agents when it introduces a knowledge paradigm different from that operating locally. Rural South African communities frequently experience exogenous change. The introduction of rural preschools, locally known as crèches, provides one example of such change challenging local socialization agents. While rural residents may not operate within knowledge paradigms to deal effectively with such change, they are not necessarily defeated by it. They "grapple" with the uncertainty, developing ways of coping and containing the change. This forms the focus of this thesis. Vygotsky's concept of mediation and conceptualization of the individual/society relationship, informs the examination of "grappling" with change. Two central questions are addressed: In an unfamiliar situation, what is mediated and what resources are drawn on? The research was designed around the recognition of the process nature of research, the constructivism inherent in research and the significance of the social context. Two central mediators, the mother and the crèche teacher, and the broader social context of the home and the creche, were examined. Three levels of investigation were utilised. An analysis of mediation in dyads working on an unfamiliar task provided insight into the social/psychological dynamics. Interviews with residents highlighted socialization beliefs and practices and the social context. Analysis of verses and stories taught to children revealed the inherent ideology of socialization. The main findings of this study are that: Rural residents "grapple" with social change by drawing on their own resources; in "grappling" with the unfamiliar what is mediated is an adult/child interactional status based on the inherent ideology of socialization and the dominant resource drawn on is the "culture of orality". It is argued that in the situation of neither mastery nor defeat, rural residents have used intermediary strategies of coping and containing the effect of the preschool as an agent of exogenous, social change. Recommendations are made for integrating "socialized" and "learned" knowledge from the home and the crèche