How Do We Do It? The English Language Proficiency of Second Language Learners in the Foundation Phase of an English Medium School: Challenges and Strategies

Pulished ArticleThe language of instruction in South Africa is currently a very controversial issue. As a result of South Africa’s political history, English is almost always chosen as the language of instruction. However, in many cases, as is the case in the current study, the learners have not been adequately exposed to English when they enter the Foundation Phase. This study reports research conducted at a former privileged primary school in South Africa with English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT). The aim of the study was to explore the practices implemented by the Foundation Phase teachers to teach the learners English, and to ascertain how the school has managed to maintain a consistently high academic standard, despite the language difficulties of their learners. The findings of the study may be of value to schools which are faced with similar challenges as the sample school

Developing training and assessment of radiation safety regulations

Published ArticleThe absence of standardised training and assessment for radiation safety requirements at tertiary training institutions offering the radiography qualification in South-Africa, necessitated investigation. The methods included a literature review to contextualise and develop the outcomes for the training and assessment; a Delphi survey to establish a set of criteria suitable for a basic or advanced component of the training and assessment; and a questionnaire for radiography students to determine the knowledge of the radiation worker before and after training. The findings of this study can be a guide in the process to determine content and assessment criteria for other learning areas

Factors hindering strategy implementation as perceived by top, middle and frontline managers in a South African electronics organisation

This paper contributes to the debate on strategy implementation failure. It reports on a qualitative case study that explored factors that hindered strategy implementation at a South African electronics organisation. A blue-chip organisation whose performance had deteriorated over a period of time, was purposively selected for this study. Data was collected from top, middle and frontline managers of the organisation by means of interviews. Data was qualitatively analysed. Findings include that strategy implementation failed because strategy had not been designed to facilitate implementation. The reasons for the strategy implementation failure originated in the strategy formulation phase, a finding that is consistent with previous research. It is concluded and recommended that strategy formulation should be revisited with a focus on the design of an implementable strategy, as formulation and implementation are inextricably interwoven. The interwoven nature of strategy formulation and implementation contributes to the complexity of the phenomenon, which is poorly understood.Business Managemen

Emergency contraception: practice of service providers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A quantitative, descriptive, explorative, contextual study was conducted to determine pharmacists' and drug vendors' levels of knowledge, and attitudes towards and practices of emergency contraceptives (ECs) services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. From all licensed pharmacies and drug shops in Addis Ababa, 40 service providers were randomly selected, during 2008, and interviewed using structured interview schedules. The findings revealed that although these service providers were knowledgeable about the purpose and dosing schedules of EC, they lacked knowledge about side-effects, contra-indications, and types of ECs. Most respondents portrayed subjective attitudes towards easy EC access, especially for adolescent girls, since they believed that it would encourage promiscuity and unprotected sexual intercourse. The knowledge, practices and attitudes of these pharmacists and drug vendors should be improved, as it has a direct effect on potential EC users for preventing unwanted pregnancies among young women, especially adolescent girls.Health Studie

Professional nurses' attitudes towards providing termination of pregnancy services in a tertiary hospital in the North West Province of South Africa

The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (no 92 of 1996) was implemented during 1997. This study attempted to investigate professional nurses’ attitudes towards rendering termination of pregnancy (TOP) services at a tertiary hospital in the North West Province of South Africa. A quantitative descriptive research design was used to study professional nurses’ attitudes towards providing TOP services. The research results, obtained from questionnaires completed by professional nurses, indicated that most professional nurses’ attitudes included that women should be at least 16 years of age to access these services; women should not be able to access repeated TOPs; nurses would prefer to administer pills rather than to use vacuum aspirations; nurses should work in TOP services by choice only. TOP centers should have better equipment, more resources and more staff members. Nurses working in TOP services would appreciate receiving more support from their families, friends, managers and communities. Some professional nurses experienced guilt, depression, anxiety and religious conflicts as a result of providing TOP services. Despite the legalisation of TOPs, these services remained stigmatised. Professional nurses did not want to work in these services and also did not want to be associated with them.Health Studie

Radiation safety requirements for training of users of diagnostic X-ray equipment in South Africa

Published ArticleGlobally, the aim of requirements regarding the use and ownership of diagnostic medical X-ray equipment is to limit radiation by abiding by the ‘as low as reasonably achievable’ (ALARA) principle. The ignorance of radiographers with regard to radiation safety requirements, however, is currently a cause of concern. The enhancement of the 4-year radiography curriculum leading to a Bachelor’s qualification provides an opportunity to explore the training and assessment to meet, among others, the ALARA principle, which addresses national and international concerns and criteria. Healthcare workers outside the scope of radiography, who are also considered radiation workers, may be even more ignorant and are therefore also implicated. The process of investigation included a contextualisation of the available regulation documents, the Delphi technique to determine the content of the training, and a questionnaire to test students’ knowledge before and after training. Objectives. To determine the content of the radiation safety requirements training and assessment to implement standardised teaching, learning activities and assessment to prepare radiographers as radiation workers well trained for practice. Methods. The content of the radiation safety requirements training was determined with the Delphi technique. Results. Consensus regarding the content of the radiography students’ training was reached and implemented. Furthermore, it guided the development of teaching and learning activities complemented by aligned assessment. Conclusion. Standardised education and assessment for radiation safety requirements have the potential to ensure that radiation safety regulations are implemented optimally in diagnostic imaging

Regional projections of extreme apparent temperature days in Africa and the related potential risk to human health

Regional climate modelling was used to produce high resolution climate projections for Africa, under a “business as usual scenario”, that were translated into potential health impacts utilizing a heat index that relates apparent temperature to health impacts. The continent is projected to see increases in the number of days when health may be adversely affected by increasing maximum apparent temperatures (AT) due to climate change. Additionally, climate projections indicate that the increases in AT results in a moving of days from the less severe to the more severe Symptom Bands. The analysis of the rate of increasing temperatures assisted in identifying areas, such as the East African highlands, where health may be at increasing risk due to both large increases in the absolute number of hot days, and due to the high rate of increase. The projections described here can be used by health stakeholders in Africa to assist in the development of appropriate public health interventions to mitigate the potential health impacts from climate change.A Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Parliamentary Grant.http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerpham201

Fungal Planet description sheets : 320–370

Novel species of fungi described in the present study include the following from Malaysia: Castanediella eucalypti from Eucalyptus pellita, Codinaea acacia from Acacia mangium, Emarcea eucalyptigena from Eucalyptus brassiana, Myrtapenidiella eucalyptorum from Eucalyptus pellita, Pilidiella eucalyptigena from Eucalyptus brassiana and Strelitziana malaysiana from Acacia mangium. Furthermore, Stachybotrys sansevieriicola is described from Sansevieria ehrenbergii (Tanzania), Phacidium grevilleae from Grevillea robusta (Uganda), Graphium jumulu from Adansonia gregorii and Ophiostoma eucalyptigena from Eucalyptus marginata (Australia), Pleurophoma ossicola from bone and Plectosphaerella populi from Populus nigra (Germany), Colletotrichum neosansevieriae from Sansevieria trifasciata, Elsinoë othonnae from Othonna quinquedentata and Zeloasperisporium cliviae (Zeloasperisporiaceae fam. nov.) from Clivia sp. (South Africa), Neodevriesia pakbiae, Phaeophleospora hymenocallidis and Phaeophleospora hymenocallidicola on leaves of a fern (Thailand), Melanconium elaeidicola from Elaeis guineensis (Indonesia), Hormonema viticola from Vitis vinifera (Canary Islands), Chlorophyllum pseudoglobossum from a grassland (India), Triadelphia disseminata from an immunocompromised patient (Saudi Arabia), Colletotrichum abscissum from Citrus (Brazil), Polyschema sclerotigenum and Phialemonium limoniforme from human patients (USA), Cadophora vitícola from Vitis vinifera (Spain), Entoloma flavovelutinum and Bolbitius aurantiorugosus from soil (Vietnam), Rhizopogon granuloflavus from soil (Cape Verde Islands), Tulasnella eremophila from Euphorbia officinarum subsp. echinus (Morocco), Verrucostoma martinicensis from Danaea elliptica (French West Indies), Metschnikowia colchici from Colchicum autumnale (Bulgaria), Thelebolus microcarpus from soil (Argentina) and Ceratocystis adelpha from Theobroma cacao (Ecuador). Myrmecridium iridis (Myrmecridiales ord. nov., Myrmecridiaceae fam. nov.) is also described from Iris sp. (The Netherlands). Novel genera include (Ascomycetes): Budhanggurabania from Cynodon dactylon (Australia), Soloacrosporiella, Xenocamarosporium, Neostrelitziana and Castanediella from Acacia mangium and Sabahriopsis from Eucalyptus brassiana (Malaysia), Readerielliopsis from basidiomata of Fuscoporia wahlbergii (French Guyana), Neoplatysporoides from Aloe ferox (Tanzania), Wojnowiciella, Chrysofolia and Neoeriomycopsis from Eucalyptus (Colombia), Neophaeomoniella from Eucalyptus globulus (USA), Pseudophaeomoniella from Olea europaea (Italy), Paraphaeomoniella from Encephalartos altensteinii, Aequabiliella, Celerioriella and Minutiella from Prunus (South Africa). Tephrocybella (Basidiomycetes) represents a novel genus from wood (Italy). Morphological and culture characteristics along with ITS DNA barcodes are provided for all taxa.Alina V. Alexandrova was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project N 14-50-00029). Ekaterina F. Malysheva, Olga V. Morozova, Alexander E. Kovalenko and Eugene S. Popov acknowledge financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 13-04-00838a and 15-04-04645a). Margarita Dueñas, María P. Martín and M. Teresa Telleria acknowledge financial support from the Plan Nacional I+D+I projects No. CGL2009-07231 and CGL2012-3559. Cony Decock gratefully acknowledges the financial support received from the FNRS / FRFC (convention FRFC 2.4544.10), the CNRS-French Guiana and the Nouragues staff, which enabled fieldwork in French Guiana, and the Belgian State – Belgian Federal Science Policy through the BCCMTM research programme.http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/pimjam201

A framework to facilitate the promotion of women nurses of colour to leadership positions in hospitals

Despite the implementation of the Employment Equity Act in 1998, African and Coloured women are under-represented in leadership positions in private healthcare in South Africa. African nurses are well presented in leadership positions in public healthcare in most provinces except the Western Cape where Coloured nurses have improved leadership representation. This study aimed to develop a framework to facilitate the appointment of women nurses of colour (African and Coloured nurses for the purpose of this study) to leadership positions in hospitals. A concurrent mixed method design was employed comprising a survey and interpretive phenomenology. The study was conducted in public and private hospitals in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. Six hundred and eighty-eight professional nurses consented to participate and n = 573 (83%) completed the survey. Five interviews were conducted with nurse leaders in SA and another 40 with persons who had participated in the selection processes of nurses to leadership positions. The quantitative findings revealed caution to admit that the Employment Equity Act contributed to the promotion of African, Coloured and Indian nurses, a divide between nursing management and nurses on ward level, inferior viewing of African and the superior viewing of White nurses. Qualitative findings suggested efforts to consider the Employment Equity Act, racial discrimination, and questionable promotion practices. Meta-inferences were drawn from the qualitative and quantitative findings. A framework was developed from these meta-inferences that focused on credible promotion practices, diversity training, succession-planning and healthy managerial structures. Keywords: Nurses, Promotion, Employment equity, Race, Class, Gende

Analysis of referrals received by a psychiatric unit in a general hospital Part 1: the need for and research design adopted to study referrals received by a psychiatric unit in a general hospital

In order to receive holistic care, patients requiring psychiatric care, need to be referred to psychiatric services. The first part of this report reviews the need to analyse the referrals received by a psychiatric unit in a general hospital in the Republic of South Africa. The research design adopted to study this phenomenon will also be addressed. The research results, obtained from analysing the referred patients' records, will be discussed in Part 2 of this report.Health Studie