Getting to why? Contemplative practice as reflection on intentionality

In my experience, conflict and other forms of being stuck or (as it is commonly referred to in narrative texts) ‘stuckness’ are related to actions, behaviour or events. If we consider a narrative paradigm, they happen in the realm of the Bruner’s ‘landscape of action’. Efforts at escaping these problem-saturated experiences mostly resort to replacing these actions, habits, modes of operation or rules with a different set of rules, without first reflecting on the intentionality or ‘why’ behind the actions. Most often this only serves to perpetuate the problem. This article will attempt to show that alternating between various initiatives in the ‘landscape of action’ provides only temporary respite to the problem, if any; that the intentionality behind these actions needs to be revisited and that contemplative practice facilitate such reflection on intentionality. This is therefore an exercise in reflecting on intentionality or even purpose, that is, a teleological question. This process traverses the dimensions of ‘what’ (actions), ‘how’ (methodology) and ‘why’ (intentionality), referring to the biology of human decision-making in the process of doing so. This article posits that this reflection may be facilitated by contemplative practices such as mindfulness and reflecting on soul

Did Adolf Hitler have syphilis?

The evidence that Adolf Hitler may have suffered from incapacitating syphilis is reviewed. Rumours that he acquired syphilis from a prostitute at the age of 20 years, with possible re-infection during World War I, can no longer be verified. Evidence is that he was sexually rather inactive throughout his life. Suggestions that Hitler\'s cardiac lesion and complaints such as transitory blindness, tremor of his left arm and leg, recurring abdominal pain and a skin lesion of the leg were of syphilitic aetiology cannot be supported. Hitler\'s progressive mental and physical deterioration after 1942, his growing paranoia, fits of rage, grandiosity and symptoms of possible dementia would fit in with neurosyphilis. There are, however, also other explanations for his terminal syndrome, and evidence that repeated clinical examinations did not show the characteristic signs of dementia paralytica or tabes dorsalis, swings the balance of probability away from tertiary syphilis. South African Medical Journal Vol. 95(10) 2005: 750-75

Cost of therapy for allergic rhinitis

Objective. To describe the cost of medicines used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis in South Africa.Design. MIMS was used as the reference for the list of drugs, drug formulation and size, and recommended dosage. These figures were then checked against the package insert of each agent. The cost of each agent was originally derived from the same source, but for standardisation purposes the blue book price was used. Measure of effectiveness was derived from the International Consensus Report on the Diagnosis and Management of Rhinitis. Costs per treatment periods of 10 days (course) and 30 days (month) were calculated. The 'cost' differs from the 'price' in that it takes efficacy into account.Main outcome measures. Cost of drugs used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.Results. The least costly treatments for allergic rhinitis are the intranasal corticosteroids. Sodium cromoglycate was the most costly, being nearly 20 times more expensive than the nasal steroids. Anticholinergic sprays and topical decongestants were also more costly than nasal steroids, as were the antihistamines. The oldergeneration antihistamine, ketotifen, was not only more costly than the four oraJ newer-generation agents in this class but has the added disadvantage of greater sedative side-effects. All oral antihistamines were outclassed by the topical antihistamine, levocabastine.Conclusions. This study in no way aims to recommend treatment for allergic rhinitis. However, it highlights the need to consider efficacy of a drug before unit price in the selection of treatment regimens. It is therefore a comment on practical issues in drug selection in the treatment of allergic rhinitis

Career resilience : a pastoral narrative approach

Text in EnglishThis research investigated the ability of employees to survive experiences of major career changes and how they managed to build career resilience during the process. Adopting an action research approach, it continues to research the role the church can play in this process, suggesting ways in which the exponents of practical theology, and more specifically, pastoral ministries can extend their role into non- or de-institutionalised areas, becoming industrial or organisational pastoral professionals in their own right. The second research question investigated ways in which career resilience can improve agency in upholding values in the face of the employee exploitation onslaught? A narrative approach was used and discourses of ethics and power were discussed. It was indicated how these could be subjected to a process of deconstruction to create alternative and preferred career stories.Philosophy, Practical and Systematic TheologyM.Th. (Practical Theology - with specialisation in Pastoral Theraphy

The spectral topology in rings

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract.M.Sc. (Mathematics

The critical role of relationship in education

A TED talk by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh entitled ‘The gentle genius of the bonobos’ tells the story of the learning ability of these gentle primates. Although these animals were never deliberately taught any skills – cognitive, linguistic or technical – they managed to learn a vast amount from the scientists in the program by just observing, experimenting and imitating them. And the key to this learning process was the significance these humans had in the lives of the bonobos. The relationship between the scientists and the bonobos was therefore key to the learning experience and the learning process. This reminded me of the success stories I have witnessed within our therapist training program at the counselling centre where I have been lecturing. We used to train pastoral therapists within the narrative paradigm. Within this paradigm, reality is considered to be socially constructed, thus emphasising the relational nature of identity, agency and knowledge. Aligning the ‘teaching methodology’ with this epistemology invariably requires a participatory approach to training, which in our context led to the adoption of seminars rather than lectures, and a conversational style of learning (with the lecturer – or more aptly, the facilitator – becoming a co-learner!). This article will now explore what the effect of relationship building as a deliberate prerequisite for learning might be on learner agency.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Narrative reflections on a life that matters

This study was inspired by the ever growing need for significance expressed both by my life coaching and pastoral therapy clients as well as the need for existential meaning reported both in the lay press and academic literature. This study reflected on a life that matters with a group of co-researchers in a participatory action research context. The study has been positioned within pastoral theology and invited the theological discourse into a reflection of existential meaning. Adopting a critical relational constructionist epistemology, the research was positioned within a postmodern paradigm. The implications for meaning and research were explored and described. My fellow researchers were invited to reflect on what constitutes a meaningful life or “a life that matters” to them personally. These stories of meaning were explored and situated within personal meaning histories. Meaning discourses introduced to the discussion of “a life that matters” were deconstructed, their effects externalised and embedded in life long meaning stories. In the process outsider witnesses were introduced to these stories, enriching these as we did. Together the research community made up of me and my fellow researchers, reflected on the meaning discourses introduced to the conversation on a life that matters in this way. These discourses included spirituality, purpose, and being meaningful in somebody else’s life. Only then did the group decide that perhaps these discourses were complemented by identity discourses. When we reflected upon the value of the research process as meaning enhancing action in their lives, my co-researchers suggested that it was the reflection process which added most value to their own experiences of meaningfulness. Throughout the research process, the voices of literature were invited into the conversation, exploring their perspectives on existential meaning. These voices acted as outsider witnesses, authenticating the stories of meaningfulness which were introduced by my fellow researchers. This study may serve to revive the conversation both in the practical theology discourse and the pastoral theology discourse. It positions existential meaning within an uncertainty discourse and suggests that reflexive co-construction in the manner suggested previously, can contribute to the meaning enhancing multilogue. Meaning making is introduced in a non-totalitarian way, strongly suggesting that an experience of meaningful living is possible even in postmodern times often described as confusing and potentially relativistically or nihilistically meaningless. This study creates space for spirituality in the existential meaning conversation; perhaps even strongly proclaiming that it should be part of any conversation on meaningfulness. Meaningfulness has been introduced as a local experience devoid of the power discourses of meta narratives and do-it-yourself recipes. Local process rather than universal content was positioned as meaning enhancing in the study, thus opening space for local life knowledges and negating the need to conform to meta-narratives of meaningfulness which may in effect be alienating and disempowering in that they relegate the life knowledges of objectified people into anecdotal and fictional.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Practical Theologyunrestricte

The critical role of relationship in education

A TED talk by Susan Savage-Rumbaugh entitled ‘The gentle genius of the bonobos’ tells the story of the learning ability of these gentle primates. Although these animals were never deliberately taught any skills – cognitive, linguistic or technical – they managed to learn a vast amount from the scientists in the program by just observing, experimenting and imitating them. And the key to this learning process was the significance these humans had in the lives of the bonobos. The relationship between the scientists and the bonobos was therefore key to the learning experience and the learning process. This reminded me of the success stories I have witnessed within our therapist training program at the counselling centre where I have been lecturing. We used to train pastoral therapists within the narrative paradigm. Within this paradigm, reality is considered to be socially constructed, thus emphasising the relational nature of identity, agency and knowledge. Aligning the ‘teaching methodology’ with this epistemology invariably requires a participatory approach to training, which in our context led to the adoption of seminars rather than lectures, and a conversational style of learning (with the lecturer – or more aptly, the facilitator – becoming a co-learner!). This article will now explore what the effect of relationship building as a deliberate prerequisite for learning might be on learner agency.http://www.hts.org.zaam201

Cost-effectiveness of ceftriaxone in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adult hospital patients

Objectives. A retrospective analysis was conducted to assess the cost-effectiveness of four intravenous antibiotic treatment regimens in the treatment of severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults in a private hospital setting. The study compared some third-generation cephalosporin regimens with a second-generation cephalosporin and an amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (co-amoxiclav) regimen to investigate published South African treatment guidelines from a pharmacoeconomic point of view.Method. A phanmaco-economic model of local costs, from a payer perspective, was based on the results of a meta-analysis of clinical papers from peer-reviewed journals. The study compared intravenous (IV) ceftriaxone (2 g once daily), cefotaxime (IV 2 g 3 times a day), cefuroxime (IV 750 mg 3 times a day, followed by 500 mg orally 3 times a day) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (IV 750 mg 3 times a day, followed by 625 mg orally 3 times a day).Results. An analysis of the odds ratios (ORs) of all two-way comparisons indicated that ceftriaxone ensured significantly higher probabilities of successful outcomes than the other antibiotic treatment regimens (ORs in the order of two were indicated). The phanmaco-economic results suggested that the ceftriaxone treatment regimen was the most cost-effective in the hospital treatment of CAP in adult patients. These results proved to be robust across sensitivity analyses for success rates and treatment days. A sensitivity analysis testing the assumption that patients could be discharged once the oral treatment was initiated indicated that the amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and cefuroxime treatment arms were more cost-effective. The clinical validity of such an assumption is questionable.Conclusion. Despite the conservative approach followed in terms of ceftriaxone data, both the clinical results and cost-effectiveness supported the use of ceftriaxone in the treatment of CAP in adults in the hospital setting

Acquisition of securities : section 48 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008

This work comprises a critical analysis of the section 48 acquisition of shares. Various predicaments inherent to such distributions are noted, and the financial, accounting, economic and statistical aspects pertaining to such distributions are used as yardstick in an effort to come to terms with the provisions of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. Initially, the section 48 distributions are analysed from a capital-related perspective in order to describe the application of the solvency and liquidity test, the fiction of beneficial interest in the current Act, as well as the effect of the exclusion of shareholder-specific distributions. Apart from capital rules, the internal actions’ description extends to the iusta causae of and minority protection relating to the section 48 distributions. Specific attention is given to board resolutions, the capacity of management to effect such transactions, as well as the duties of directors that have been rendered ineffective due to a change in the role of principal in the principal-agency problem underlying companies. Shareholder protection (specifically the effect of substituting shareholder’s resolutions with impractically phrased board resolutions) and creditor protection (specifically the cumbersome inclusion of “debt instruments” and its illogical nature) are discussed and, where possible, solutions are submitted. As a pragmatic step as an addition to director’s duties, targeted share repurchases have also been discussed. Apart from discussing the common misperceptions inherent to some common terminology, an indication to the meaning of “acquisition of own shares” in section 48(2)(a) is sought, and the different forms that such distributions can take are briefly discussed (including the possibilities pertaining to introducing equity derivatives to create synthetic share repurchases). As for take-overs and fundamental transactions, the relevant scheme of arrangement provisions are taken note of, and themes underlying that topic – disclosure to shareholders, mandatory offers and share repurchases in order to deter take-overs – are included. The section 48(2)(b) subsidiaries’ acquisition of shares in a holding company is not only compared to its version in the 1973 Act, but is also discussed from the perspective of the subsidiaries and of the holding company. Central to the latter is also the possibility of treasury shares and the liberal approach to financial assistance in the current Act. CopyrightDissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012.Mercantile Lawunrestricte