THE KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN PRIVATE PRACTICE REGARDING HUMAN SEXUALITY AND SEX THERAPY

Sexual problems or dysfunctions remain one of the prominent reasons for marital and relationship problems. Sexuality is, however, only one of many components of a marriage or of a committed relationship. Relationship problems and sexual problems are often interlinked. The fact that sexual problems are often only symptoms of deeper relationship issues makes the social worker the ideal person to treat these sexual problems from a holistic perspective and within a relationship context. The nature of this research study thus evolved from the presumed lack of knowledge of social workers in private practice, and who specialise in couples therapy, regarding human sexuality and sex therapy. A qualitative research approach is used and applied research was conducted. An exploratory research design is utilised and a self-constructed, mailed questionnaire was used as method of data collection. This research study found that the respondents answered only 58.53% of the knowledge-based questions correctly, thereby confirming their suspected lack of knowledge regarding human sexuality and sex therapy. The research results indicated a need for specialised education and training of social workers in the field of human sexuality and sex therapy

Die potensiële waarde van gesinsrituele vir betekenisgewing deur kinders

The potential value of family rituals in children’s processes of meaning making This article reports on the findings of a qualitative study that explored family rituals as potential asset in children’s processes of giving meaning. As such, the purpose of the study was firstly to identify the dimensions of family rituals in one family that participated; and secondly, to explore potential ways in which the participation in family rituals could influence children’s processes of meaning making. The study was embedded in the interpretivist paradigm, rested on an instrumental case study design, and deployed educational psychological assessment, informal conversations, semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, visual data, observation and field notes as data collection and documentation methods. Two Afrikaans-speaking primary school children (a brother and sister) and their parents were purposefully selected as participants. During the study, the five basic dimensions of family rituals (structure, meaning, persistence and commitment, adaptability and gender relations) could be identified in the rituals practised by the participating family. In addition, six other dimensions were prominent, namely task completion, communication, roles, affective management, affective involvement and behaviour management. Based on the positive effect of family rituals on the meanings given by the participating children it is concluded that family rituals may serve as an asset within the family context and as such be employed during family intervention initiatives

The mature female clothing shopper : profiles and shopping behaviour

The original publication is available at http://www.sajip.co.zaCITATION: Visser, E.M., Du Preez, R. & Du Toit, J.B. 1996. The mature female clothing shopper : profiles and shopping behaviour. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 22(2):1-6, doi:10.4102/sajip.v22i2.603.This study was designed to profile the mature female clothing shopper. More specifically certain variables that could be attributed to differences in consumer behaviour were investigated. Mature female clothing shoppers were segmented as clothing moderates, clothing enthusiasts and the clothing unconcerned. These three cluster groups significantly differed regarding clothing involvement, clothing orientation, activities, interests, opinions, family orientation, needs and media usage. No significant differences were found among the three groups regarding evaluative criteria for clothing and clothing store attributes. Profiles of the clusters were developed, along with applicable marketing implications. Recommendations for further research are made.Hierdie studie is onderneem ten einde die vroulike kledingverbruikers van 55 en ouer te tipeer. Die veranderlikes wat 'n bydrae kon lewer ten opsigte van die verskille in verbruikersgedrag is ondersoek. Die verbruikers is gesegmenteer as die kledinggematigdes, kleding- entoesiaste en die kleding-onbetrokkenes. Die drie groeperings verskil beduidend van mekaar ten opsigte van die volgende veranderlikes naamlik: kleding-betrokkenheid, kleding-oriëntasie, aktiwiteite belangstellings, opinies, familie oriëntasie, behoeftes en media gebruik. Geen beduidende verskille kon gevind word tussen die drie groeperings ten opsigte van die veranderlikes evalueringskriteria van klere en winkeleienskappe nie. Profiele van die verskillende trosse is ontwikkel en die bemarkingsimplikasies is uitgewys. Aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing word gedoen.Publishers' Versio

Exposure of rural households to toxic cyanobacteria in container-stored water

Cyanobacteria are potent producers of cyanotoxins that may present a health risk to people. This is especially important in rural areas where people use untreated surface water, containing cyanobacteria, for household purposes including cooking and drinking. Water is collected from these sources mainly in plastic containers, transported home and stored during use. This study investigated the occurrence of cyanobacteria and their associated toxins in these containers as well as in the associated surface water sources. The results suggest that cyanobacteria are transferred from the water sources to the containers and then survive and possibly grow in biofilm forming inside the vessels. Their associated cyanotoxins were not found in any health-significant quantities in containers. However, the occurrence of cyanobacteria in the water used by the households collected in containers clearly indicates that it can be an important route of exposure especially if toxic cyanobacteria are present in the source water. In several cases a risk of cyano-intoxication might exist unless the households undertake preventative measures.Keywords: cyanobacteria, cyanotoxin, microcystin, surface water sources, drinking water containers, biofil

Toughness of Recursively Partitionable Graphs

A simple graph G = (V,E) on n vertices is said to be recursively partitionable (RP) if G ≃ K1, or if G is connected and satisfies the following recursive property: for every integer partition a1, a2, . . . , ak of n, there is a partition {A1,A2, . . . ,Ak} of V such that each |Ai| = ai, and each induced subgraph G[Ai] is RP (1 ≤ i ≤ k). We show that if S is a vertex cut of an RP graph G with |S| ≥ 2, then G−S has at most 3|S| − 1 components. Moreover, this bound is sharp for |S| = 3. We present two methods for constructing new RP graphs from old. We use these methods to show that for all positive integers s, there exist infinitely many RP graphs with an s-vertex cut whose removal leaves 2s + 1 components. Additionally, we prove a simple necessary condition for a graph to have an RP spanning tree, and we characterise a class of minimal 2-connected RP graphs

Degenerate Gaussian factors for probabilistic inference

In this paper, we propose a parametrised factor that enables inference on Gaussian networks where linear dependencies exist among the random variables. Our factor representation is effectively a generalisation of traditional Gaussian parametrisations where the positive-definite constraint of the covariance matrix has been relaxed. For this purpose, we derive various statistical operations and results (such as marginalisation, multiplication and affine transformations of random variables) that extend the capabilities of Gaussian factors to these degenerate settings. By using this principled factor definition, degeneracies can be accommodated accurately and automatically at little additional computational cost. As illustration, we apply our methodology to a representative example involving recursive state estimation of cooperative mobile robots.Comment: Accepted by International Journal of Approximate Reasoning on 17 January 202

Efficient approximations of the multi-sensor labelled multi-Bernoulli filter

In this paper, we propose two efficient, approximate formulations of the multi-sensor labelled multi-Bernoulli (LMB) filter, which both allow the sensors' measurement updates to be computed in parallel. Our first filter is based on the direct mathematical manipulation of the multi-sensor, multi-object Bayes filter's posterior distribution. Unfortunately, it requires the division of probability distributions and its extension beyond linear Gaussian applications is not obvious. Our second filter is based on covariance intersection and it approximates the multi-sensor, multi-object Bayes filter's posterior distribution using the geometric mean of each sensor's measurement-updated distribution. This filter can be used for distributed fusion under non-linear conditions; however, it is not as accurate as our first filter. In both cases, we approximate the LMB filter's measurement update using an existing loopy belief propagation algorithm, which we adapt to account for object existence. Both filters have a constant complexity in the number of sensors, and linear complexity in both number of measurements and objects. This is an improvement on an iterated-corrector LMB filter, which has linear complexity in the number of sensors. We evaluate both filters' performances on simulated data and the results indicate that the filters are accurate

Soil properties of bare patches in rangelands of South African's grasslands

A loss of grassy cover accompanied by the development of bare soil patches, are the most notable forms of rangeland degradation in grasslands of South Africa. Concerns are growing over the threat of loss of nutritious perennial grass species and the lack of regrowth of the bare patches. Grazing and different rangeland tenure systems -communal and freehold, which is equal to continuous and rotational grazing system - are considered to be of major importance for rangeland degradation. The continuous grazing system is seen to be more affected, but the development of bare patches is not restricted to communal land. We hypothesized that (1) soil properties of bare patches in South Africa´s grasslands are not different in different tenure systems, and (2) soil properties differ with size of bare patches, where big patches are more degraded. To test this, we sampled soils at communal and commercial land in the Thaba Nchu area of South Africa with the following design: we selected three farms per tenure system, 6 randomly chosen plots (100x100m) per farm, and within these plots we sampled 5 bare patches of different sizes (0-10 cm) per plot, where the soil sample (3 replicates) were taken out of the middle of the bare patch. Additionally, soils of adjacent grass were sampled. The results showed that in total, there were more bare patches in continuous grazing systems, evaluated by aerial pictures, but we couldn´t find any differences in bulk density and carbon stocks, between the tenure systems. Additionally, and surprisingly, we found no significant differences in soil organic carbon stocks between bare soil samples and grass samples. There was no clear relationship between bare patch size and nutrient contents. Other nutrients like phosphor were significantly enlarged at the bare patch compared to the grass samples. According to our results, we conclude, that the bare patches seem to develop in different pathways: i) along tracks of grazing animals, (ii) around termite hills, where the termite construction seems to be an initial starting point of bare patches and (iii) on staying and lying places of the grazing animals, which aslo explain the higher nutrient contents at the bare patches

Caulerpa lentillifera (sea grapes) improves cardiovascular and metabolic health of rats with diet-induced metabolic syndrome

Caulerpa lentillifera (sea grapes) is widely consumed in South-East Asia as a low-energy food with high contents of vitamins and minerals. This study investigated dried sea grapes containing 16.6% insoluble fibre commercially produced in Vietnam as an intervention. We hypothesised that insoluble fibre is the primary metabolite that will reverse diet-induced metabolic syndrome. Male Wistar rats (n = 48) were randomly allocated to four groups in a 16 week protocol. Two groups were fed either corn starch (C) or high-carbohydrate, high-fat (H) diets for the full 16 weeks. The other two groups received C and H diets for eight weeks and then received C. lentillifera added to these diets for the final eight weeks (CCL and HCL, respectively). High carbohydrate, high-fat diet-fed rats developed obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, fatty liver disease and increased left ventricular collagen deposition. C. lentillifera supplementation in HCL rats decreased body weight, systolic blood pressure, plasma concentrations of total cholesterol and non-esterified fatty acids, inflammatory cells in heart and liver, and visceral adiposity. The Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio decreased in the gut microbiota of HCL rats. Therefore, C. lentillifera attenuated cardiovascular and metabolic symptoms of metabolic syndrome in rats, possibly by preventing infiltration of inflammatory cells together with modulating gut microbiota

Nannochloropsis oceanica as a microalgal food intervention in diet-induced metabolic syndrome in rats

The microalgal genus Nannochloropsis has broad applicability to produce biofuels, animal feed supplements and other value-added products including proteins, carotenoids and lipids. This study investigated a potential role of N. oceanica in the reversal of metabolic syndrome. Male Wistar rats (n = 48) were divided into four groups in a 16-week protocol. Two groups were fed either corn starch or high-carbohydrate, high-fat diets (C and H, respectively) for the full 16 weeks. The other two groups received C and H diets for eight weeks and then received 5% freeze-dried N. oceanica in these diets for the final eight weeks (CN and HN, respectively) of the protocol. The H diet was high in fructose and sucrose, together with increased saturated and trans fats. H rats developed obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, fatty liver disease and left ventricular fibrosis. N. oceanica increased lean mass in CN and HN rats, possibly due to the increased protein intake, and decreased fat mass in HN rats. Intervention with N. oceanica did not change cardiovascular, liver and metabolic parameters or gut structure. The relative abundance of Oxyphotobacteria in the gut microbiota was increased. N. oceanica may be an effective functional food against metabolic syndrome as a sustainable protein source